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^^  GENEALOGY  COLLECTIQI^  M.  I— 

974.801 

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Ai  I  PN  rniJNTY  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

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3  1833  02232  0821 


Old  Westmoreland 


A  HISTORY  OF 
WESTERN  PENNSYLVANIA 
DURING   THE   REVOLUTION. 


BY 

Edgar  W.  Hassler 


J.  R.  WEI.DIN  &  CO. 
PITTSBURG 

1900 


Copyright,  1900,  by 
Edgar  \Vakefield  Hassler. 


M411S0 


PREFACE. 


This  book  represents  an  effort  to  tell  the  revolutionary 
history  of  the  Western  Pennsylvania  border;  to  describe 
the  trials,  the  sacrifices,  the  errors  and  the  heroisms  of  the 
frontiersmen,  in  their  conflicts  with  tories,  British  par- 
tisans and  savages,  during  the  years  when  Washington 
and  his  generals  were  fighting  for  independence  along  the 
Atlantic  seaboard.  The  American  Revolution  covered 
many  fields  of  action,  and  the  operations  on  each  con- 
tributed to  the  grand  result.  The  men  who  defended  the 
western  border  against  the  savage  tribes  were  doing  their 
work  essential  to  the  cause  of  freedom  as  well  as  the  ragged 
Continentals  who  faced  British  and  Hessian  battalions  in 
New  York  or  New  Jersey. 

Naturally  the  operations  in  the  East,  where  the  main 
conflict  raged  and  the  issue  was  decided,  have  received  the 
chief  attention  of  historians ;  but  the  struggles  on  the  west- 
ern frontier  have  been  unduly  neglected.  Some  attention 
has  been  given  to  the  revolutionary  history  of  the  New 
York  and  Tennessee  frontiers,  but  no  book  tells,  in  con- 
nected form,  of  the  important  operations  in  that  great  trans- 
montane  region  of  which  Ft.  Pitt  was  the  center,  during 
the  years  from  1775  to  1783. 

Many  volumes  of  border  history  have  been  published 
but  none  of  them  has  been  devoted  to  this  period.  Most 
of  them  are  out  of  print  or  beyond  the  reach  of  the  average 
reader.  Those  that  have  enjoyed  the  greatest  popularity 
have  been  collections  of  frontier  adventures,  based  chiefly 
oh  unreliable  traditions,  marvelous  and  often  absurd,  in 
many  cases  disproven  by  contemporary  records  made  pub- 
lic in  recent  years. 

(3) 


I  have  tried,  by  a  study  of  the  original  records,  to  find 
the  facts  and  to  set  them  forth  in  plain,  condensed  and  im- 
partial form.  The  tale  is  sufficiently  interesting  and  more 
instructive  without  the  embellishments  of  fiction. 

A  prime  object  of  this  publication  is  to  stimulate  a  local 
interest  in  pioneer  history.  It  is  good  for  those  who  par- 
ticipate in  the  wondrous  industrial  development  of  Western 
Pennsylvania  and  Eastern  Ohio  to  know  how  this  fertile 
region  was  won  and  held  from  savagery. 

The  inhabitants  of  Pittsburg  and  its  neighborhood  who 
feel  an  inclination  to  study  the  early  times,  enjoy,  at  the 
present  day,  facilities  which  were  beyond  their  reach  only 
half  a  dozen  years  ago.  These  facilities  have  come  through 
the  establishment  and  rapid  up-building  of  the  Carnegie 
Library  of  Pittsburg.  Without  that  institution  this  work 
could  not  have  been  written  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  The 
library  already  contains  almost  every  book  and  pamphlet 
that  has  been  published,  within  130  years,  bearing  on  our 
pioneer  history.  Many  of  these  works  are  extremely  rare 
and  valuable,  but  they  are  now  within  the  reach  of  (all.  The 
library  contains  all  the  authorities  quoted  in  this  volume, 
so  that  any  reader  who  may  desire  to  investigate  for  him- 
self will  find  ample  opportunity. 

EDGAR  W.   HASSLER. 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  May  i,  1900. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES. 


American  Archives,  edited  by  Peter  Force,  gv.,  1837-53. 

Annals  of  the  West,  James  R.  Albach,  Pittsburg,  1856. 

Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers,  Richmond,  1875. 

Chronicles  of  Border  Warfare,  A.  S.  Withers,  Cincinnati,  1895. 

Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,  Published  by  the  State,  i6v., 
1851-3. 

Conquering  the  Wilderness,  Frank  Triplett,  New  York,  1883. 

Diary  of  David  McClure,  New  York,  1899. 

Fort  Mcintosh,  Its  Times  and  Men,  Daniel  Agnew,  1893. 

Fort  Pitt  and  Letters  from  the  Frontier,  edited  by  Mrs.  M.  C. 
O'H.  Darlington,  Pittsburg,  1892. 

Frontier   Forts  of   Pennsylvania,   Published  by  the   State,   2v., 
Harrisburg,  1896. 

Historical  Account  of  the  Expedition  Against  Sandusky,  C.  W. 
Butterfield,  Cincinnati,  1873. 

Historical   Collections  of  Ohio,   Henry  Howe,   revised  edition, 
Norwalk,  O.,  1896. 

Historical   Collections  of  the   State  of   Pennsylvania,   Sherman 
Day,  Philadelphia,  1843. 

Historical  Register,  Published  Monthly  in  Pittsburg,  1883-4. 

History,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Natives,  etc.,  John 
Heckewelder,  Philadelphia,  1818. 

History  of  Allegheny  County,  Published  by  Warner  &  Co.,  Chi- 
cago, 1890. 

History  of  Huntingdon  County,  Pa.,  M.  S.  Lytle,  Lancaster,  Pa., 
1876. 

History  of  Indiana  County,  Pa.,  Caldwell. 

History  of  Ohio,  James  W.  Taylor,  Cincinnati,  1854. 

History  of  Pennsylvania,  W.  H.  Egle,  Harrisburg,  1876. 

History  of  Pittsburg,  N.  B.  Craig,  Pittsburg,  185 1. 

History  of  the  Juniata  Valley,  U.  J.  Jones,  Philadelphia,  1856. 

History  of  the  Missions  of  the  United  Brethren,  George  Henry 
Loskiel,  London,  1794. 

History  of  Washington  County,  Pa.,  Boyd  Crumrine,  Philadel- 
phia, 1882. 

History  of  West  >  oreland  County,  edited  by  G.  Dallas  Albert, 
1882. 

Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Published 
by  Congress,  1851-5. 

(i) 


ii  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Journal  of  Two  Visits,  etc.,  Rev.  David  Jones,  New  York,  1865. 

Magazine  of  American  History. 

Memoirs  of  John  Bannister  Gibson.  Tiiomas  P.  Roberts,  Pitts- 
burg, 1890. 

Memoirs  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

Monongahela  of  Old,  James  Veech,  Pittsburg,  1852-1892. 

Narrative  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,  John  Hecke- 
welder,  Philadelphia.  1820. 

Notes  and  Queries,  W.  H.  Egle,  Harrisburg. 

Notes  on  the  Settlements  and  Indian  Wars,  etc.,  Joseph  Dod- 
dridge, revised  edition,  1876. 

Olden  Time,  edited  by  N.  B.  Craig.  Pittsburg.  1846-8. 

Old  Redstone.  Rev.  Joseph  Smith,  Philadelphia,  1854. 

Otzinachson,  or  a  History  of  the  West  Branch  Valley.  John  F. 
Meginness,  1857. 

Our  Western  Border.  Charles  McKnight,  Pittsburg,  1875. 

Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  Published  by  the  State,  I2v., 
1852-6. 

Pennsylvania  Archives,  Second  Series,  Published  by  the  State, 
20V.,  1875-90. 

Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography. 

Pioneer  History,  Samuel  P.  Hildreth,  Cincinnati,  1848. 

Romance  of  Western  History,  James  Hall,  Cincinnati,  1885. 

St.  Clair  Papers,  edited  by  W.  H.  Smith,  Cincinnati,  1882. 

The  Girtys.  C.  W.  Butterfield,  Cincinnati,  1890. 

Three  Villages  (Gnadenhuetten),  William  Dean  Howells,  Bos- 
ton, 1884. 

Washington-Crawford  Letters,  C.  W.  Butterfield,  Cincinnati, 
1877. 

Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  C.  W.  Butterfield,  Madison, 
Wis.,  1882. 

Washington's  Letters  to  the  American  Congress,  New  York, 
1796. 

Westward  Movement,  Justin  Winsor,  Boston,  1897. 

Winning  of  the  West,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  New  York,  1889. 

Writings  of  George  Washington,  P.  L.  Ford,  New  York,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Old  Westmoreland.— Its  Erection  as  a  County. — Boundaries  and 
Area.— Sources  of  Settlement. — Territorial  Conflict  with  Virginia. — 
Early  Centers  of  Population.— The  Men  of  Ulster.— Pittsburg. — 
Leaders  Among  the  Pioneers S-io 

CHAPTER    n. 

The  Outbreak  of  Revolution. — Delegates  Sent  to  the  Provin- 
cial Convention  of  1774. — Sympathy  with  Boston. — Royalist  Efforts 
of  John  Connolly. — Patriot  Meeting  at  Pittsburg. — Association  of 
Westmoreland  Formed  at  Hannastown. — Military  Organization. — 
The  Rattlesnake  Flag.— Ft.  Pitt  Occupied  by  Virginia  Militia.  .11-17 

CHAPTER    HI. 

WiLLL\M  Wilson's  Indian  Tour. — The  Savage  Menace  to  the 
Frontier. — Ft.  Pitt  Treaty  in  October,  1775. — Iroquois  Hostility. — 
George  Morgan,  Indian  Agent. — Wilson  Sent  as  a  Peace  Messenger 
to  the  Ohio  Tribes. — His  Peril  at  Pluggystown. — Before  Governor 
Hamilton  at  Detroit.— The  Unavailing  Treaty  at  Ft.  Pitt,  October, 
1776 18-23 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Capture  of  Andrew  McFarlane. — First  Indian  Depredations. — 
McFarlane's  History. — A  Prisoner  of  the  Virginians. — Love  Ro- 
mance and  Marriage. — A  Trader  at  Kittanning. — Without  Military 
Protection. — The  Tradition  of  the  Lewis  Family. — McFarlane  Taken 
Prisoner. — His   Captivity  and  Release 24-30 

CHAPTER.    V. 

Gibson's  Powder  Exploit. — Scarcity  of  Ammunition  on  the 
Frontier. — George  Gibson  and  William  Linn. — The  Lambs. — Journey 
to  New  Orleans. — Oliver  Pollock. — Gibson  in  a  Spanish  Prison. — 
Return  by  Sea  and  River 31-36 

CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Squaw  Campaign. — Congress  Takes  Charge  of  the  Frontier 
Defense. — Brigadier  General  Edward  Hand  Appointed  Command- 
ant at  Ft.  Pitt. — Indian  Raiders  from  Detroit. — Depredations  in 
Westmoreland. — Expedition  Up  the  Mahoning  Valley. — Hand's  Dis- 
appointment and  Resignation 37-43 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Flight  of  the  Pittsburg  Tories. — British  Agents  in  Western 
Pennsylvania. — Captain  Alexander  McKee. — Matthew  Elliott. — Es- 
cape from  McKees  Rocks. — Simon  Girty. — Renegades  in  Coshocton. 
— Baffled  by  White  Eyes. — Welcomed  at  Detroit. — Traitors  in  the 
Ft.  Pitt  Garrison. — Their  Flight,  Recapture  and  Punishment. .  .44-48 

(iii) 


iV  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Tories  of  Sinking  Valley. — The  Spy  Among  the  Moun- 
taineers.— Conspiracy  for  Murder  and  Spoliation. — John  Weston. — 
Panic  on  the  Juniata. — The  Flight  to  Kittanning.— Fate  of  the  Tory 
Leader.— Dispersal  of  the   Plotters 49-53 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Fatal  Voyage  of  David  Rodgers. — Second  Effort  to  Procure 
Powder  from  the  Spaniards.— Captain  David  Rodgers.— His  Red- 
stone Company. — Time  Lost  on  the  Mississippi. — The  Surprise  at  the 
Licking  River. — Rodgers  Mortally  Wounded. — Singular  Experience 
of  Robert  Benham  and  Basil  Brown 54-59 

CHAPTER    X. 

The  Eighth  Pennsylvania. — Brigadier  General  Lachlan  Mc- 
intosh ordered  to  Ft.  Pitt. — His  Two  Border  Regiments. — Mack- 
ay's  Battalion. — The  Winter  March  Over  the  Mountains. — Fatalities 
Among  Officers  and  Privates. — Daniel  Brodhead  Colonel. — Morgan's 
Rifle  Corps. — Thirteenth  Virginia 60-66 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Back  to  the  Harried  Frontier. — March  of  the  Regulars  for  Ft. 
Pitt. — The  Big  Runaway. — The  Massacre  of  Wyoming. — Eighth 
Pennsylvania  Sent  Up  the  Susquehanna. — Captain  John  Brady's  Fort 
at  Muncy. — The  Killing  of  James  Brady. — Samuel  Brady,  the  Rifle- 
man.—The  Eighth  at  Ft.   Pitt 67-72 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Alliance  with  the  Dela  wares.— Mcintosh's  Design 
Against  Detroit. — Seeking  Indian  Allies. — The  Ft.  Pitt  Treaty  with 
the  Delawares. — White  Eyes. — Proposal  for  an  Indian  State.  ..  .73-79 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Fort  Laurens. — jMcIntosh  Advances  Vv^'estward. — Ft.  Mcintosh. 
— Death  of  White  Eyes. — Building  of  Ft.  Laurens. — A  Winter  in  the 
Wilderness. — Colonel  Gibson  Besieged. — Captain  Bird  and  Simon 
Girty. — Ft.  Laurens  Relieved. — Resignation  of  Mcintosh. — Colonel 
Brodhead  in  Command. — Ft.  Laurens  Deserted 80-87 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Samuel  Brady's  Revenge.— Incursions  from  the  North.— Mili- 
tary Scouts. — Brady  Hears  of  His  Father's  Death. — Attack  on  Ft. 
Hand. — Raid  on  the  Sewickley  Settlement. — Brady  on  the  Trail. — 
Indians  Surprised  in  their  Camp. — Death  of  the  Muncv  Captain. 
.' 88-94 

CHAPTER     XV. 

Brohhead's  Raid  Up  the  Allegheny. — The  Hostile  Senecas. — 
Sullivan's  Expedition.— Brodhead's  Co-operation.— Difficult  March 
Up  the  Allegheny.- Fight  with  the  Indians.— Devastation  of  Seneca 
Cornfields.— Muncy  Village  Destroyed.— Return  by  the  Venango 
Path. — Thanks  of  Congress 95-I0I 


CONTENTS.  V 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

The  Winter  of  the  Deep  Snow. — Influence  of  Weather  on 
the  Frontier. — Severest  Winter  on  Record. — Suffering  of  Soldiers. — 
Animals  and  Birds  Killed. — Raids  in  the  Ohio  River  Settlements  by 
Western  Indians. — Rewards  for  Scalps  and  Prisoners. — Brady's 
Daring  Journey  to  the  Sandusky. — Rescue  of  Mrs.  Stoops 102-108 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Summer  of  the  Big  Harvest. — Great  Crops  of  Wheat  and 
Corn,  but  no  Water  for  the  Mills. — Cattle  Scarce. — Money  Deprecia- 
tion.— Agitation  for  a  New  State.— Soldiers  Suffer  for  Food. — On 
the  Verge  of  Mutiny. — Brady  Sent  Out  to  Impress  Live  Stock. — Fu- 
tile Efforts  to  Organize  an  Expedition  Into  the  Indian  Country. — 
Buffaloes  for  Food 109-115 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

The  Derry  Settlement. — A  Typical  Ulster  Population  and  Its 
Leaders. — The  Three  Forts. — Major  Campbell  and  Companions  Cap- 
tured on  Blacklick. — The  Unsolved  Fate  of  Lieutenant  Craig. — At- 
tack on  Ft.  Wallace. — Retaliation  by  the  Borderers. — Defeat  of  Cap- 
tain Hopkins. — Escape  of  Ebenezer  Finley. — Major  Wilson's  Combat 
Near  Ft.  Wallace. — John  Pomeroy's  Defense  of  His  Cabin.  .116-122 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  Destruction  of  Coshocton. — Delawares  Join  the  Hostile 
League. — Chief  Killbuck  Ostracized.— Brodhead's  Expedition. — Ren- 
dezvous at  Wheeling. — Indian  Capital  Surprised. — Assault  in  the 
Rain. — Warriors  Killed. — Coshocton  Plundered  and  Burned. — Kind- 
ness of  the  Moravians. — Chief  Killbuck's  Stroke. — The  Misrepresen- 
tations of  Doddridge. — Migration  of  the  Delawares 123-130 

CHAPTER  XX. 

General  Clark's  Draft. — Design  Against  Detroit. — Buying  Pro- 
visions.— George  Rogers  Clark  in  Western  Pennsylvania. — Raising 
Volunteers. — Factions  Among  the  Settlers.— Official  Approval— Help 
from  the  Westmoreland  Militia. — Erection  of  Washington  County. — 
Efforts  to  Enforce  the  Draft. — Pillage  and  Personal  Violence. — Small 
Force  Assembled. — Clark  Discouraged  but  Persistent. — Failure  of 
His  Expedition 131-138 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Lochry's  Disaster.— Westmoreland  Detachment  to  Aid  Clark. — 
Rendezvous  at  Carnaghan's.— March  to  Wheeling.— Left  Behind  by 
the  Main  Body. — Slow  Journey  Down  the  Ohio. — Loss  of  Captain 
Shannon. — Ambush  at  Lochry's  Run. — Joseph  Brant  and  His  Mo- 
hawks.— Killing  of  Lochry.— Entire  Party  Slain  or  Taken 139-145 

CHAPTER    XXIL 

Moravians  and  Wyandots. — Lochry  Succeeded  as  County  Lieu- 
tenant by  Edward  Cook. — Charges  Against  Brodhead. — Ordered  by 
Washington  to  Resign. — His  Successor  Brigadier  General  William 
Irvine. ^Moravian  Missions  on  the  Tuscarawas  Broken  Up  by  British 
and  Indians.- Privations  of  the  Red  Converts.— Sons  of  the  Half- 
King  Raid  Washington  County. — Adventure  of  the  Poe  Brothers 
146-152 


Vi  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

The  Slaughter  at  Gnadexhuetten. — Williamson's  First  Visit 
to  the  Tuscarawas. — Indian  Towns  Deserted. — Washington  County 
Raided. — Mrs.  Wallace  and  Her  Children  Captured. — The  Escape 
and  Revelations  of  John  Carpenter. — Williamson's  Second  Campaign 
to  the  Tuscarawas. — Mutilated  Corpses  Beside  the  Trail. — Rage  of 
the  Frontiersmen. — Moravian's  Surprised  Gathering  Corn. — Telltale 
Trophies. — The  Vote  for  Life  or  Death. — Condemnation. — ^Massacre 
of  the  Guilty  and  the  Innocent. — Indian  Villages  Burned. — The  Raid 
on  Smoky  Island. — Investigation  Thwarted 153-161 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Cr,\vvford's  Expedition  and  Deajh. — Plans  for  the  Destruction 
of  Wyandot  Towns  on  the  Sandusky. — Aid  from  General  Irvine. — 
Muster  at  Mingo. — Crawford  Chosen  to  Command. — His  Stafif  and 
Captains. — March  Into  the  Wilderness. — Enemy  Forewarned. — Bat- 
tle on  Sandusky  Plain. — Night  Retreat  and  Panic. — Crawford's  Cap- 
ture.— Williamson's  Retreat. — Crawford  and  Others  Burned  at  the 
Stake 162-169 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  Wounded  Indian. — Attack  on  Walthour's  Station. — Killing 
of  Willard  and  Daughter. — The  Lame  Delaware  at  Pittsburg. — His 
Confession. — Clamor  of  the  Settlers  for  His  Death. — Davy  Delivered 
Up. — His  Escape  from  the  Blockhouse. — The  Gray  Mare. — Never 
Reached  Home 170-175 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

The  Destruction  of  Hannastown. — Savage  Inroad  from  the 
Seneca  Land. — Guyasuta. — Escape  of  the  Harvesters. — Refuge  in  the 
Stockade. — Assault  Repelled. — Death  of  Margaret  Shaw. — Burning  of 
the  Town. — Raid  on  Miller's  Station. — Killing  of  Lieutenant  Brown- 
lee  and  Others. — The  End  of  Hannastown 176-181 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

The  Abandoned  Expedition. — Plannmg  Another  Campaign  ' 
Against  Sandusky. — General  Irvine  to  Command. — Approved  by 
Government. — Attack  on  Wheeling. — Gallant  Defense  of  Rice's 
Blockhouse. — Savages  Called  Off  by  General  Carleton. — Expedition 
Countermanded  by  General  Washington. — Clark's  Raid  on  the  Shaw- 
nee Towns. — General   Thanksgiving  Day 182-188 

CHAPTER    XXVIIL 

The  Peace  Journey  of  Ephraim  Douglass.— Isolated  Depreda- 
tions in  Washington  County. — Appeal  to  Congress. — Douglass  Com- 
missioned.—His  Journey  to  Sandusky.— Before  DePeyster  at  Detroit. 
—Douglass  Sent  to  Niagara.— Talk  with  Joseph  Brant.— End  of  the 
Border  War 189-194 


Old  Westmoreland. 


CHAPTER   I. 


OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


The  County  of  Westmoreland  was  erected  by  the  As- 
sembly of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  by  an  act  signed 
by  Lieutenant  Governor  Richard  Penn,  on  Friday,  Feb- 
ruary 26,  177 Z-  It  was  the  eleventh  county  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  the  last  erected  under  the  proprietary  gov- 
ernment. Like  all  the  earlier  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  ex- 
cept Philadelphia,  it  received  its  name  from  a  county  in 
England.  This  name,  as  applied  to  the  most  distant  terri- 
tory of  the  Province,  was  especially  appropriate. 

The  land  comprised  in  the  new  county  was  bought  by 
the  Penns  from  the  Six  Nations  or  Iroquois  Indians,  at  a 
treaty  held  at  Fort  Stanwix,  N.  Y.,  in  November,  1768, 
and  was  opened  for  settlement  in  the  following  April.  Its 
northern  boundary  was  a  line  extending  from  Canoe  Point, 
on  the  West  Branch  of  the  Susquehanna  river,  west  by 
north  to  the  site  of  the  Indian  town  called  Kittanning,  on 
the  Allegheny  river,  thence  down  along  the  Allegheny  and 
the  Ohio  rivers  to  the  western  limit  of  the  Province,  while 
its  western  and  southern  lines  were  to  be  the  western  and 
southern  boundaries  of  Pennsylvania,  not  yet  definitely  as- 
certained. In  1771  this  wide  region  was  included  in  the 
county  of  Bedford,  but  settlements  grew  so  rapidly  west  of 

(5) 


6  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  mountains  during  the  year  1772  that  a  new  frontier 
county  was  soon  demanded.  The  evacuation  of  Fort  Pitt 
by  the  British  troops,  in  the  fall  of  1772,  also  led  the  bor- 
derers to  demand  a  stronger  civil  organization. 

When  Westmoreland  was  erected  it  covered  all  of  the 
Province  west  of  the  Laurel  Hill,  being  what  is  broadly 
known  as  Southwestern  Pennsylvania.  In  included  the 
present  counties  of  Westmoreland,  Fayette,  Greene  and 
Washington,  the  parts  of  Allegheny  and  Beaver  counties 
south  of  the  Ohio  river,  about  two-thirds  of  the  county  of 
Indiana  and  one-third  of  the  county  of  Armstrong,  the  total 
area  being  about  4,700  square  miles. 

While  this  was  the  area  of  Westmoreland  in  theory, 
it  was  restricted  in  fact  by  Virginia's  seizure  and  govern- 
ment of  a  large  portion  of  the  territory.  After  the  capture 
of  Fort  Duquesne  from  the  French  in  1758  and  the  con- 
struction of  Fort  Pitt  in  the  following  year,  a  few  settle- 
ments were  made  along  the  Forbes  and  Braddock  roads, 
by  permission  of  the  Fort  Pitt  commandant.  These  per- 
missions were  granted  to  tavern  keepers,  that  they  might 
give  shelter  and  entertainment  to  persons  traveling  on  the 
king's  business.*  The  general  settlement  of  the  country 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  did  not  begin  until  the 
Pennsylvania  land  oflfice  was  opened  for  the  granting  of 
warrants,  in  the  spring  of  1769. 

Population  flowed  into  the  new  region  through  two 
channels.  Scots  from  the  Cumberland  Valley  and  other 
settled  parts  of  the  Province  made  their  way  westward  by 
the  Forbes  military  road  and  planted  their  cabins  along 
its  course,  from  the  lovely  Ligonier  Valley  to  Fort  Pitt. 
These  men  were  faithful  to  Pennsylvania,  under  whose  seal 
they  held  their  lands.  From  the  Valley  of  Virginia  other 
Scots  crossed  the  mountains  by  way  of  the  old  Braddock 
road  and  occupied  the  rich  lands  along  the  Monongahela 
and  Youghiogheny  rivers  and  Chartiers  creek.  These  men 
were    Virginians    and    believed     that     their     settlements 


1  Cnlendnr  of  Virginia  State   Papers,    Richmond.  1875,  vol.    1.,   under 
date  of   March   10.   1777. 


OLD   WESTMORELAND.  7 

were  still  within  the  territory  of  the  Old  Dominion.  It  had 
not  yet  been  determined  by  survey  how  far  Pennsylvania 
extended  westward  of  the  mountains.  Virginia  claimed 
all  the  interior  country  west  of  Pennsylvania  and  asserted 
that  the  entire  valley  of  the  Monongahela,  including  Pitts- 
burg, was  within  her  jurisdiction. 

A  lively  contest  for  the  control  of  the  region  tributary 
to  Pittsburg  began  between  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  The 
organization  of  Westmoreland  county  was  designed  to 
strengthen  the  Pennsylvania  authority,  and  sixteen  magis- 
trates were  appointed  to  administer  justice  within  its  bound- 
aries. The  county  seat  was  established  at  Robert  Hanna's 
little  settlement  on  the  Forbes  road,  35  miles  east  of  Pitts- 
burg, and  at  Hannastown  the  first  Pennsylvania  court  west 
of  the  mountains  was  held  in  April,  1773.  These  pro- 
ceedings stirred  up  the  Virginia  authorities.  The  Earl  of 
Dunmore,  governor  of  Virginia,  took  forcible  possession  of 
the  disputed  territory.  He  appointed  John  Connolly,  of 
Pittsburg  "captain  commandant  of  Pittsburg  and  its  de- 
pendencies." Connolly  mustered  the  militia  under  Virginia 
law,  seized  and  garrisoned  Fort  Pitt,  intimidated  the  Penn- 
sylvania magistrates,  marched  some  of  them  ofi.  to  prison, 
and  established  the  authority  of  Virginia  throughout  all  the 
region  between  the  Monongahela  and  the  Ohio.  Pennsyl- 
vania, having  no  militia  law,  was  powerless  to  resist  this 
usurpation.^ 

Thus  it  came  about  that,  during  the  Revolution,  the 
authority  of  Westmoreland  county  was  limited  to  about 
half  of  its  actual  area.  It  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1780 
that  Virginia  agreed  to  accept  the  results  of  a  joint  survey 
which  would  extend  the  southern  boundary  line  of  Penn- 
sylvania (Mason  and  Dixon's  line)  to  a  distance  of  five 
degrees  of  longitude  west  of  the  Delaware  river.  This 
joint  survey  was  delayed,  by  official  quibbling  and  the  hos- 
tility of  the  Virginia  settlers,  until  the  fall  of  1782.  In  the 
the  spring  of  1781  that  part  of  Westmoreland  lying  west  of 


2  See  St.  Clair  Papers,   Cincinnati,  1882,  vol.   i.;  and  Force's  Ansori- 
can  Archives,  vol.  i.,   many  letters  under  date  of  1774. 


8  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  Monongahela  was  set  off  as  a  new  county,  named 
Washington,  so  that  the  officers  of  Westmoreland  never  had 
the  privilege  of  exercising  their  authority  over  the  whole 
extent  of  their  large  territory. 

In  177s  the  Ligonier  Valley,  extending  along  the  east- 
ern border  of  the  county,  was  well  settled.  The  focus  of 
settlement  was  the  village  of  Ligonier,  where  a  British  fort 
had  been  built  in  1758,  and  the  principal  man  was  Captain 
Arthur  St.  Clair,  a  Scotchman  who  had  served  under  Wolf 
at  Quebec  and  had  afterward  become  the  agent  of  the  Penn 
family  in  Western  Pennsylvania.'  West  of  the  Chestnut 
Ridge,  along  Loyalhanna  and  its  little  tributaries,  settle- 
ments were  rather  numerous  as  far  as  Hannastown.  on  the 
Forbes  road.  To  the  north  of  the  road,  between  the  Loyal- 
hanna and  theConemaugh.was  the  Derry  settlement,  so  call- 
ed from  the  city  of  Ireland  whence  most  of  its  people  came. 
Nearly  all  the  pioneers  in  this  eastern  part  of  the  county 
were  Scots  from  Ulster,  or  their  immediate  descendants, 
with  a  slight  sprinkling  of  Irish  of  Presbyterian  faith. 
Another  center  of  Ulster  settlement  was  at  the  Braddock 
road  crossing  of  Big  Sewickley  creek,  a  tributary  of  the 
Youghiogheny ;  while  lower  down  on  that  creek  and  on 
Turtle  and  Brush  creeks  were  the  cabins  and  blockhouses 
of  German  emigrants  from  the  Rhine  Palatinate. 

Among  the  Virginia  settlers  along  the  Youghiogheny 
and  Monongahela  rivers  and  westward  to  the  Ohio  there 
were  not  many  natives  of  either  Scotland  or  Ireland.  The 
people  were  two  or  three  generations  removed  from  the 
old  country,  but  nearly  all  were  of  Scotch  stock.  The  larger 
land  owners  had  brought  their  slaves  with  them  from  Vir- 
ginia and  negroes  were  held  in  bondage  in  Soutliwestern 
Pennsylvania  until  long  after  the  Revolution. 

At  Pittsburg  some  of  the  principal  characters,  chiefly 
traders,  were  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  it 
was  among  these  men  that  the  tory  sentiment  developed, 
during  the  Revolution.  Old  Westmoreland  was,  however, 
decidedly  a  Scotch  and  Calvinistic  settlement.     While  the 

3  St.   Clair   Tapers,   vol.    I.,   p.    7. 


OLD  WESTMORELAND.  9 

territorial  dispute  between  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  was 
very  bitter,  it  was  doubtless  because  the  opposing  forces 
consisted  of  men  of  the  same  race  and  creed  that  no  homi- 
cides were  committed  during  the  long  period  of  contention. 

The  Scotch  pioneers  of  this  western  region  were  bold, 
stout  and  mdustrious  men,  sharp  at  bargains,  fond  of  re- 
ligious and  political  controversy  and  not  strongly  attached 
to  government  either  of  the  royal  or  the  proprietary  kind. 
In  nearly  every  cabin  three  articles  were  to  be  found :  a  Bible, 
a  rifle  and  a  whisky  jug.  A  strong  characteristic  of  the 
settlers  was  an  intense  hatred  of  the  Indians,  for  whose 
treatment  the  exteimination  policy  of  Joshua  toward  the 
heathen  beyond  Jordan  was  generally  considered  to  be 
the  proper  model.* 

At  the  opening  of  the  Revolution  the  village  of  Pitts- 
burg was  the  largest  center  of  population  west  of  the  moun- 
tains. When  Washington  visited  the  place  in  the  autumn 
of  1770,  he  found  about  twenty  log  houses  ranged  along 
the  Monongahela  shore,  "inhabited,"  he  wrote  in  his  jour- 
nal, "by  Indian  traders.'"  During  the  succeeding  four  years 
emigration  to  the  west  was  so  heavy  that  by  1775  the  town 
had  probably  trebled  in  size  and  the  traders  were  no  longer 
in  the  majority,  although  they  formed  the  influential  ele- 
ment. These  traders  were  nearly  all  Pennsylvanians,  but 
most  of  the  other  inhabitants  were  Virginians.  With  its 
taverns,  its  hard  drinking  traders,  trappers  and  mule  driv- 
ers, its  fugitives  from  eastern  justice  and  its  frequent  Indian 
visitors,  Pittsburg  was  a  rude  and  boisterous  frontier  set- 
tlement. Rev.  David  Jones,  a  Baptist  missionary  who  vis- 
ited the  town  in  June,  1772,  described  it  as  "a  small  town 
chiefly  inhabited  by  Indian  traders  and  some  mechanics. 
.  .  Part  of  the  inhabitants  are  agreeable  and  worthy  of 
regard,  while  others  are  lamentably  dissolute  in  their  mor- 
als.'" 


4  Doddridge's  Notes  of  the  Settlements,  etc. 

5  The  Writings  of  George  Washington,  P.  L.  Ford,  New  Yorlj,  1889, 
vol.  ii..   p.   290. 

6  A  Journal  of  Two  Visits,  etc..  New  York.  1865.  See  also  the 
Diary  of  David  MeClure,  New  York,  1899,  for  an  accurate  account  of 
social   conditions  at   Pittsburg  in   1772   and  1773. 


lO  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

The  one  man  of  most  influence  in  this  community  was 
the  fat  old  trader  and  Indian  agent,  Colonel  George  Crog- 
han,  who  lived  on  a  pretentious  plantation  about  four  miles 
up  the  Allegheny  river.  He  was  an  Irishman  by  birth  and 
an  Episcopalian  by  religion,  when  he  permitted  religion  to 
trouble  him.  He  had  long  been  a  resident  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  his  landed  interests  attached  him  to  Virginia.  His 
nephew,  Captain  Connolly,  who  was  the  official  representa- 
tive of  the  Virginia  government  and  a  petty  despot  on  the 
frontier,  was  under  Croghan's  guidance.  Other  leaders  of 
the  Virginia  party  on  the  border  were  John  Campbell,  a 
trader  and  land  owner  at  Pittsburg ;  Dorsey  Pentecost,  who 
dwelt  on  a  large  estate  called  "Green way"  in  the  Forks 
of  the  Youghiogheny,  and  William  Crawford,  surveyor, 
land  owner  and  agent  for  George  Washington,  living  at 
Stewart's  Crossing  (now  New  Haven),  on  the  Youghio- 
gheny. Pentecost  and  Crawford  were  Virginians  who  had 
once  held  commissions  as  Pennsylvania  magistrates  but  had 
later  become  violent  partisans  of  the  Virginia  claims. 

In  1775  tlie  most  prominent  representative  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania interest  in  old  Westmoreland  was  Captain  Arthur 
St.  Clair,  at  Ligonier;  while  others  who  took  active  parts 
were  John  Proctor  and  Archibald  Lochry,  living  near  the 
Forbes  road  west  of  Chestnut  ridge ;  Robert  Hanna  and 
Michael  HufTnagle,  at  Hannastown ;  James  Cavet  and 
Christopher  Hays,  of  the  Sewickley  settlement ;  John  Orms- 
by,  Devcreux  Smith  and  Aeneas  Mackay,  traders  and  store- 
keepers at  Pittsburg ;  Edward  Cook,  living  in  the  Forks  of 
the  Youghiogheny  a  short  distance  below  Redstone,  and 
George  Wilson,  whose  plantation  was  on  the  Mononga- 
hcla  at  the  mouth  of  George's  creek,  in  the  very  heart  of 
Virginianism. 


THE   OUTBREAK   OF  REVOLUTION. 


CHAPTER   II. 


THE   OUTBREAK   OP   REVOLUTION. 


During  1774  the  pioneers  of  Westmoreland  were  so  oc- 
cupied by  their  labor  in  clearing  the  forest,  by  the  civil  con- 
tention with  Virginia  and  by  the  war  between  Virginia  and 
the  Shawnee  Indians,  that  most  of  them  heard  little  and 
thought  little  of  the  eastern  agitation  against  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  British  Parliament.  Yet  scraps  of  news  con- 
cerning the  struggle  going  on  in  Boston  occasionally 
reached  the  frontier  and  a  few  of  the  pioneers  who  had  per- 
sonal and  ofificial  connection  with  Philadelphia  kept  in  touch 
with  the  momentous  contest  then  beginning  with  the  moth- 
er country. 

In  May,  1774,  on  an  appeal  from  Boston,  a  committee 
of  correspondence  was  formed  in  Philadelphia.  Under  the 
date  of  June  12,  a  circular  letter  was  addressed  by  this  com- 
mittee to  certain  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  other 
counties  in  the  Province,  advising  the  formation  of  a  similar 
committee  in  each  county ;  and  on  June  28  the  Philadelphia 
committee  called  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  the  several 
county  committees.  In  response  to  this  call,  a  "very  re- 
spectable body  of  people'"  met  at  Hannastown  on  Monday, 
July  II,  and  chose  Robert  Hanna  and  James  Cavet  to  repre- 
sent Westmoreland  in  the  delegate  convention.  On  July 
15  this  convention  met  in  Philadelphia  and  its  minutes  show 


1  St.  Clair  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  325;  American  Arctiives,  Fourth  Series, 
vol.    i.,   p.    549. 


12  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  presence  of  Hanna  and  Cavet.  They  could  not  have 
reached  the  provincial  capital  within  four  days  after  their 
election,  but  were  doubtless  in  attendance  before  the  meet- 
ing adjourned  on  July  21." 

This  convention  was  not  revolutionary.  It  expressly 
declared  allegiance  to  King  George,  but  denounced  recent 
acts  of  the  British  Parliament,  especially  those  for  the  clos- 
ing of  the  port  of  Boston  and  the  annulment  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts charter,  as  unconstitutional.  It  approved  a  pro- 
posal for  a  colonial  congress  and  pledged  the  readiness  of 
the  people  of  Pennsylvania  to  cease  all  commercial  inter- 
course with  Great  Britain  if  necessary  to  secure  a  repeal 
of  the  obnoxious  laws. 

A  fair  inference  from  these  proceedings  is  that  a  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  was  organized  in  Westmoreland 
in  the  early  summer  of  1774  and  continued  its  existence 
until  succeeded,  a  year  later,  by  the  revolutionary  associa- 
tion. No  records  of  this  committee  have  been  found.  They 
were  probably  destroyed  when  the  Indians  burned  Han- 
nastown. 

The  American  cause  was,  at  the  same  time,  arousing  the 
sympathy  of  the  leaders  among  the  Virginia  settlers  in 
Southwestern  Pennsylvania,  although  they  were  actively 
engaged  in  an  Indian  war.  On  October  i,  1774,  while  serv- 
ing in  Dunmore's  army  against  the  Shawnees,  Valentine 
Crawford,  brother  of  William  Crawford,  wrote  from  Wheel- 
ing to  George  Washington  that  the  frontiersmen  all  hoped 
for  an  early  peace  with  the  savages,  "in  order  that  we  may 
be  able  to  assist  you  in  relieving  the  poor  distressed  Bos- 
tonians.  If  the  report  here  is  true  that  General  Gage  has 
bombarded  the  city  of  Boston,  this  is  a  most  alarming  cir- 
cumstance and  calls  on  every  friend  of  the  liberty  of  his 
country  to  exert  himself  at  this  time  in  its  cause.'" 

After  the  Shawnees  had  been  forced  to  make  peace  in 
the  vallev  of  the  Scioto  river,  the  officers  of  Lord  Dun- 


2  Amcrlcnn   Archives,   Fourth  Series,   vol.   1.,  p.  555. 

3  The    WnsliltiKlon-Cniwford    Letters.     Butterfleld,    Clucluiiatl,     1S77, 
p.  09. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  REVOLUTION.  I3 

more's  army,  on  the  homeward  march,  held  a  meeting  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Hocking  river,  on  November  5,  1774,  and 
unanimously  declared  their  intention,  as  soldiers,  to  exert 
"every  power  within  us  for  the  defense  of  American  liberty 
and  for  the  support  of  our  just  rights  and  privileges."* 

When  it  began  to  appear  probable,  early  in  1775,  that  an 
armed  conflict  would  occur  between  the  colonies  and  the 
home  government.  Captain  Connolly  undertook  to  organize 
the  chief  men  in  Pittsburg  and  its  neighborhood  in  the  in- 
terest of  Great  Britain,  He  was  of  Irish-English  blood,  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  England  and  a  devout  follower 
of  the  Earl  of  Dunmore.  He  wholly  misapprehended  the 
spirit  of  the  Presbyterian  Scots  with  whom  he  had  been 
associated  in  the  Virginia  boundary  contest.  His  efiforts 
to  seduce  the  pioneers  from  the  American  cause  were  al- 
most entirely  unavailing.  They  had  stood  by  him  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  territorial  claims  of  the  Penns,  but  when  he 
sought  to  enlist  them  in  opposition  to  the  general  colonial 
cause,  they  and  he  parted  company. 

The  news  of  Lexington  and  Concord  reached  Pitts- 
burg during  the  first  week  in  May,  1775.  To  the  Hberty 
loving  Scots  and  Irish  of  the  frontier  it  was  a  signal  to 
forget,  for  the  time,  their  local  jealousies  and  quarrels  and  to 
unite  and  organize  in  defense  of  their  mutual  rights  as 
Americans.  Pennsylvanians  and  Virginians  joined  hands 
to  resist  the  hard  enactments  of  the  British  Parliament. 
The  committees  of  correspondence,  one  in  eastern  West- 
moreland and  the  other  in  West  Augusta,  as  the  Virginians 
called  the  portion  of  the  border  which  they  controlled,  at 
once  called  meetings  of  the  settlers  to  declare  their  minds 
on  the  sudden  crisis. 

The  Pittsburg  meeting  was  held  on  Tuesday,  May  16, 
being  the  day  for  the  opening  of  the  Virginia  court  in  that 
village,  and  the  attendance  was  large.  The  assembly  chose 
a  committee  of  28  men,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  more  or  less 
famous  in  the  border  annals.  Colonel  George  Croghan, 
who  was  afterward  suspected  of  being  lukewarm  in  the 

4  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  i.,  p.  962. 


14  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

American  cause,  was  chairman,  and  other  committeemen 
were  Edward  Ward,  who  surrendered  the  site  of  Fort  Pitt 
to  Contrecoeur  in  1754;  John  Canon,  the  founder  of  Can- 
onsburg;  John  McCulloch,  a  daring  frontiersman;  John 
Gibson,  the  interpreter  of  the  celebrated  speech  of  Logan 
the  Mingo ;  Edward  Cook,  the  founder  of  Cookstown,  now 
Fayette  City ;  WilHam  Crawford,  the  surveyor  and  land 
agent  of  Washington,  and  David  Rodgers,  a  partisan  leader 
who  fell  in  combat  with  the  Indians  on  the  site  of  New- 
port, Ky.  Of  the  28  members  of  the  body,  at  least  five  were 
Pennsylvania  partisans  in  the  territorial  dispute.  This  com- 
mittee adopted  unanimously  a  resolution  approving  the  acts 
of  the  New  Englanders  in  resisting  "the  invaders  of  Ameri- 
can rights  and  privileges  to  the  utmost  extreme,"  and  form- 
ulated plans  for  the  organization  of  military  companies  to 
be  ready  for  the  country's  call.° 

These  proceedings  gave  great  offense  to  Connolly  and 
were  a  stinging  personal  rebuke  to  his  royalist  schemings. 
His  uncle,  Croghan,  and  his  father-in-law,  Samuel  Semple, 
were  members  of  the  committee.  Two  days  after  the  meet- 
ing Connolly  sat  for  the  last  time  as  a  member  of  the  West 
Augusta  court  at  Pittsburg,  but  for  two  months  he  re- 
mained in  the  settlement,  endeavoring  perseveringly  to  in- 
fluence his  acquaintances  to  support  the  royalist  cause  and 
plotting  with  Indian  chiefs  to  make  war  on  the  colonists  in 
the  event  of  an  actual  revolution." 

On  the  day  succeeding  the  meeting  at  Pittsburg,  "a. 
general  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Westmoreland"  was 
held  in  the  log  cabin  settlement  at  Hannastown.  Here  also 
the  action  taken  was  distinctly  revolutionary,  for  while  the 
assembled  borderers  declared  their  allegiance  to  King 
George,  they  voted  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  true  American, 
"by  every  means  which  God  has  put  in  his  power,"  to  resist 
the  oppression  of  the  British  Parliament  and  ministry,  and 
they  proceeded  to  form  a  military  organization  called  the 


5  Crnig'.s   History  of   Pittsburg,   p.   128. 

G  Connolly's   Narrative,    Pennsylvania   Magazine  of   History   and    Bi- 
ography, vol.  xii..  pp.  314-321. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  REVOLUTION.  1 5 

Association  of  Westmoreland  County,  whose  purpose  was 
declared  to  be  forcible  resistance  to  the  power  of  Great 
Britain.' 

Captain  St.  Clair,  who  evidently  took  part  in  this  meet- 
ing, was  not  in  full  sympathy  with  its  radicalism.  On  May 
i8  he  wrote  to  Joseph  Shippen,  Jr.,  the  provincial  secretary : 
"Yesterday  we  had  a  county  meeting  and  have  come  to 
resolutions  to  arm  and  discipline,  and  have  formed  an  as- 
sociation, which  I  suppose  you  will  soon  see  in  the  papers. 
God  grant  an  end  may  be  speedily  put  to  any  necessity  of 
such  proceedings.  I  doubt  their  utility  and  am  almost  as 
much  afraid  of  success  in  this  contest  as  of  being  van- 
quished."^ 

In  accordance  with  the  Hannastown  resolutions,  meet- 
ings were  held  in  every  township  one  week  later,  on 
Wednesday,  May  24,  to  form  military  companies.  St.  Clair 
wrote  to  Governor  Penn  on  May  25 :  "We  have  nothing 
but  musters  and  committees  all  over  the  country  and  every- 
things  seems  to  be  running  into  the  wildest  confusion.  If 
some  conciliating  plan  is  not  adopted  by  the  congress, 
America  has  seen  her  golden  days :  they  may  return,  but 
will  be  preceded  by  scenes  of  horror." 

His  forecast  was  correct.  It  was  because  the  prospect 
of  civil  war  appalled  him  that  St.  Clair  doubted  and  held 
back  at  the  outset.  But  he  did  not  hesitate  long.  When 
he  realized  that  the  crisis  could  not  be  avoided,  he  earnestly 
devoted  his  life  and  his  fortune  to  the  patriot  cause. 

The  yeomen  of  Westmoreland  formed  themselves  into 
companies,  elected  their  company  officers  and  were  arranged 
in  two  battalions.  Of  the  first  battalion  the  officers  were : 
colonel,  John  Proctor,  the  first  sheriff  of  the  county ;  lieu- 
tenant colonel,  Archibald  Lochry ;  major,  John  Shields.  The 
officers  of  the  second  battalion  were :  colonel,  John  Carna- 
ghan,  then  sherifif ;  lieutenant  colonel.  Providence  Mountz ; 
major,  James  Smith,  a  famous  character  on  the  frontier, 
whose  narrative  of  captivity  among  the  Indians  is  one  of 


7  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  ii.,  p.  615. 

8  St.  Clair  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  353. 


1 6  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

the  interesting  stories  of  the  border."  It  was  Colonel  Proc- 
tor's battalion  which  adopted  as  its  banner  the  celebrated 
rattlesnake  flag.  It  is  of  crimson  silk,  having,  in  the  cor- 
ner, on  a  blue  field,  the  red  and  white  crosses  of  St.  George 
and  St.  Andrew.  The  emblems  are  worked  in  gold.  Above 
a  rattlesnake,  coiled  to  strike,  are  the  characters,  "i.  B.  W. 
C.  P.,"  meaning.  First  Battalion,  Westmoreland  County, 
Pennsylvania,  and  below  the  serpent  is  the  motto,  "Don't 
Tread  on  Me."  Xear  the  flag's  upper  margin  is  a  mono- 
gram of  J.  P.,  the  initials  of  John  Proctor. 

This  flag  was  never  carried  into  battle,  but  it  was, 
doubtless,  borne  to  Philadelphia  when  the  battalion  was 
called  to  the  succor  of  that  city  at  the  beginning  of  1777. 
The  standard  bearer  was  Lieutenant  Samuel  Craig,  of  the 
Derry  settlement,  and  the  silken  relic  is  still  carefully  kept 
by  his  descendants  in  Westmoreland. 

The  tory  conduct  of  Captain  Connolly  at  Pittsburg  be- 
came so  bold  and  obnoxious  that  in  June,  1775,  he  was 
seized  by  twenty  men,  under  the  orders  of  Captain  St.  Clair, 
and  carried  to  Ligonier,  with  the  intention  of  delivering 
him  to  the  revolutionary  government  in  Philadelphia.  His 
arrest  was  misunderstood  by  many  of  the  Virginia  settlers, 
who  thought  it  a  blow  at  their  territorial  claims,  and  they 
made  such  violent  demonstration  that  Captain  St.  Clair  con- 
sidered it  advisable  to  let  the  prisoner  go."  Soon  after  his 
release,  Connolly  fled  from  Pittsburg  by  night  and  made 
his  way  to  Portsmouth,  Va.,  where  he  joined  Lord  Dun- 
more  on  a  man-of-war.  From  that  refuge  he  continued  his 
efforts,  by  correspondence,  to  influence  border  leaders  in 
the  king's  cause  and  to  stir  up  the  Ohio  tribes  against  the 
colonists." 

Some  knowledge  of  Connolly's  machinations  and  a 
fear  of  an  Indian  uprising  persuaded  the  Virginia  conven- 
tion, in  August,  to  direct  Captain  John  Neville,  a  militia 
ofiicer  and  a  member  of  the  patriot  committee  at  Pittsburg, 

9  ronnsylvania   Archives,   Second  Series,  vol.   xiv.,  p.  675. 

10  Connolly's  Narrative,    Ta.    Mag.   of  Hist,   and  Biog.,  vol.   xii.,   pp. 
317-320;    Washington-Crawford   Letters,   p.   102. 

11  American   Archives,    Fonrth   Series,   vol.    iii.,   p.    72. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  REVOLUTION.  1 7 

to  occupy  Fort  Pitt  with  his  company  from  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley.  With  about  one  hundred  men,  Captain  Neville 
marched  from  Winchester  and  took  possession  of  the  fort 
on  September  ii.''  He  continued  in  command  there  until 
June  I,  1777,  when  he  transferred  the  post  to  General  Ed- 
ward Hand,  the  representative  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. For  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  Revolution  began  the 
civil  government  of  Western  Pennsylvania  was  under  the 
control  of  the  two  committees,  one  meeting  at  Hannas- 
town  and  the  other  at  Pittsburg,  acting  in  conjunction  with 
the  justices  of  the  peace  who  espoused  the  patriot  cause  ;  and 
this  loose  system  of  government  continued  until  the  autumn 
of  1776,  when  both  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  had  adopted 
state  constitutions. 


12  American  Archives,  Fourtli  Series,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  370,  376  aud  717. 


l8  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  III. 


WILLIAM   WILSON  S   INDIAN   TOUR. 


The  men  of  the  border  did  not  feel  themselves  in  danger 
from  the  British  armies  landed  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  but 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  their  homes  and  fam- 
ilies were  menaced  by  a  more  dreaded  foe — the  savage 
tribes  of  the  wilderness.  The  quickly  revealed  plottings  of 
Connolly  at  Ft.  Pitt,  to  incite  the  Indians  against  the  set- 
tlements, were  believed  to  be  a  sample  of  what  the  British 
government  would  attempt  on  a  general  scale. 

As  early  as  July,  1775,  the  second  Colonial  Congress 
initiated  measures  to  secure  the  friendship  of  the  savages. 
The  frontier  was  divided  into  three  Indian  departments, 
of  which  the  middle  department  included  the  tribes  west 
of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and  three  members  of  Con- 
gress, Benjamin  Franklin  and  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Patrick  Henry,  of  Virginia,  were  appointed  to 
hold  a  treaty  with  the  Indians  at  Ft.  Pitt.^  This  treaty  was 
held  in  October,  with  a  few  chiefs  of  the  Senecas,  Dela- 
wares,  Shawnees  and  Wyandots.  Guyasuta  was  the  prin- 
cipal Seneca  chief  in  attendance,  representing  the  Iroquois 
dwelling  in  the  Allegheny  valley  and  in  the  Ohio  country. 
As  an  Iroquois,  he  assumed  to  speak  for  the  western  tribes, 
and  thereby  aroused  White  Eyes,  the  Delaware  orator,  to 
declare  the  absolute  independence  of  the  Delawares.  The 
council  was  not  harmonious,  but  the  chiefs  protested  their 


American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  li.,  pp.  1879,  1883. 


WILLIAM   WILSON  S   INDIAN  TOUR.  1 9 

intentions  to  remain  neutral,  and  Guyasuta  promised  to  use 
his  influence  with  the  great  council  of  the  Iroquois  in  New 
York,  to  obtain  a  decision  in  favor  of  peace/ 

The  Indians  remained  quiet  during  1775  and  the  fol- 
lowing winter,  but  it  was  not  long  until  the  agents  of  the 
British  government  outbid  the  colonists  for  a  savage  alli- 
ance. The  British  were  able  to  give  the  greater  bribes  and 
to  impress  the  savages  with  the  greater  display  of  military 
force.  Sir  Guy  Johnson  and  Colonel  John  Butler  held  a 
great  council  with  the  Iroquois  at  Ft.  Niagara,  in  May, 
1776,  when  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Iroquois  voted 
to  accept  the  war  hatchet  and  to  fight  for  the  king.^  That 
was  the  beginning  of  the  mischief  on  the  border.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Six  Nations  soon  made  itself  manifest  among 
the  western  tribes. 

The  Westmoreland  settlers  apprehended  the  storm  long 
before  it  broke.  They  observed  an  alteration  in  the  man- 
ner of  the  Indians  with  whom  they  came  in  frequent  con- 
tact. In  February,  1776,  settlers  near  Pittsburg  sent  a  me- 
morial to  Congress,  complaining  that  Indian  hunters  were 
encroaching  on  the  lands  of  the  white  people.^  Van  Swear- 
ingen,  a  pioneer  of  the  Monongahela  valley  and  one  of  the 
Pennsylvania  magistrates,  although  a  Virginian,  raised  a 
company  of  young  riflemen  and  established  a  patrol  along 
the  Allegheny  river.^ 

The  Indian  commissioners,  at  the  treaty  in  October, 
1775,  selected  John  Gibson  as  Indian  agent  for  the  Ohio 
tribes.  Gibson  had  intimate  relations  with  the  savages  and 
was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  work,  but  had  not  sufficient 
influence  at  Philadelphia  to  retain  his  office.  After  a  short 
term,  he  was  succeeded  by  Richard  Butler,  another  Pitts- 
burg trader.     In  the  spring  of  1776  Congress  took  direct 


2  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  x.,  p.  266;  American 
Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  v.,  p.  815;  Albach's  Annals  of  the  West, 
Pittsburg,  1856,  p.  241;  McKnight's  Our  Western  Border,  1875,  pp.  389, 
390. 

3  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  764;  Fifth  Series, 
vol.   i.,    p.   867. 

4  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  v.,  p.  1654. 

5  American  Archives,   Fourth   Series,   vol.  vi.,   pp.  858-859. 


20  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

control  of  the  Indian  agencies,  and  for  the  important  post 
at  Pittsburg  chose  George  Morgan,  a  man  of  education,  high 
family  connections  and  considerable  wealth.  Morgan's 
home  was  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  his  mercantile  interests  were 
in  Philadelphia,  and  as  agent  of  his  own  trading  house  he 
had  traveled  extensively  in  the  Indian  country,  from  the 
Allegheny  to  the  Illinois.  He  arrived  at  Pittsburg  about 
the  first  of  May,  1776,  and  at  once  began  to  arrange  for  a 
more  satisfactory  treaty  with  the  tribes.  He  sent  agents, 
with  pacific  messages,  into  the  Indian  country,  employing 
in  this  service  William  Wilson,  Peter  Long.  Simon  Girty 
and  Joseph  Nicholson." 

The  mission  of  Wilson  was  the  most  important.  He 
was  an  Indian  trader  and  acquainted  with  the  tribes  between 
the  Ohio  river  and  Detroit.  It  was  his  duty  to  invite  the 
Delaware,  Shawnee  and  Wyandot  chiefs  to  a  council  at 
Pittsburg  some  time  in  August  or  September.  Early  in 
June,  he  left  Pittsburg,  accompanied  by  Nicholson,  and 
went  on  horseback  to  the  Delaware  towns  on  the  Mus- 
kingum river.  There  his  reception  was  hospitable  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  Delawares  accepted  his  invitation.  He  jour- 
neyed thence  to  the  seats  of  the  Shawnees  on  the  Scioto, 
where  he  discovered  many  of  the  young  warriors  to  be  in 
a  doubtful  humor.  The  chief  sachem,  the  Hardman,  and 
the  war  chief,  the  Cornstalk,  were  inclined  to  peace  and 
promised  to  attend  the  treaty,  if  possible ;  but  they  had  re- 
ceived an  invitation  to  take  part  in  a  great  council  with 
the  British  governor  at  Detroit,  and  must  go  there  first. 
While  Wilson  was  at  the  Shawnee  towns,  Morgan  himself 
arrived  there  and  endeavored  to  arrange  a  definite  date  for 
the  treaty.  The  Shawnees,  however,  referred  him  to  the 
Wyandots  or  Hurons.  from  whom  the  Shawnees  had  re- 
ceived permission  to  dwell  in  the  Ohio  country. 

Before  Morgan  departed  for  Pittsburg,  he  gave  to 
Wilson  a  large  peace  belt  of  wampum  and  a  written  mes- 
sage to  deliver  to  the  Wyandot  chiefs.    Wilson,  Nicholson 

C  NMcholson  was  the  Interpreter  who  accompanied  Washington  on  his 
voyage  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Kanawha,  In  the  fali  of  1770.  During  his 
youth  he  had  been  a  prisoner  among  the  Delawares. 


WILLIAM   WILSON'S   INDIAN   TOUR.  21 

and  the  Cornstalk  set  out  in  company  for  the  Wyandot 
towns  on  the  Sandusky  river,  but  advanced  only  as 
far  as  Pluggystown,  on  the  upper  Scioto.  This  place  was 
inhabited  by  renegade  Indians  from  various  tribes,  princi- 
pally Iroquois.  The  chief,  Pluggy,  was  a  Mohawk,  and  his 
followers,  called  Mingoes,  were  horse  thieves  and  murder- 
ers. Wilson  learned  that  a  band  of  these  rascals  had  al- 
ready been  on  a  raid  into  Kentucky  and  had  taken  some 
prisoners.  Pluggy's  warriors  formed  a  plot  to  seize  Wilson 
and  Nicholson  and  carry  them  to  the  British  fort  at  Detroit. 
This  was  revealed  by  Cornstalk,  who  advised  the  white  men 
to  flee  to  the  Delaware  town  of  Coshocton.  They  were 
able  to  escape  by  night  and  placed  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  old  King  Newcomer.  That  venerable  sachem, 
believing  it  to  be  unsafe  for  Wilson  to  proceed  to  Sandusky, 
lest  the  Mingoes  should  waylay  the  trail,  sent  Killbuck,  a 
noted  war  captain,  to  bear  the  American  message  to  the 
Wyandot  chiefs.  In  eleven  days  Killbuck  returned,  with 
word  from  the  Wyandots  that  they  wished  to  see  Wilson 
himself,  as  an  evidence  of  his  good  intentions,  but  that  they 
could  not  give  an  answer  to  his  invitation  until  they  had 
consulted  their  great  council  beyond  the  lake.  The  chief 
seat  of  the  Wyandot  nation  was  in  Canada,  near  Detroit, 
and  the  portion  of  the  tribe  dwelHng  south  of  Lake  Erie 
was  under  the  rule  of  a  deputy  chief,  Dunquat,  called  the 
Half-King. 

Wilson  then  determined  to  go  to  Sandusky  and  the 
Delaware  council  appointed  Killbuck  and  two  young  war- 
riors to  escort  him.  The  journey  had  barely  begun  when 
Killbuck  fell  ill  and  his  place  was  taken  by  the  celebrated 
White  Eyes.  Nicholson  was  no  longer  of  the  party,  having 
gone  to  Pittsburg  to  carry  a  message  to  Morgan ;  but  at 
a  Delaware  town  on  the  Walhonding,  Wilson  was  joined 
by  John  Montour,  grandson  of  the  famous  Catherine  Mon- 
tour or  Queen  Esther.  John  was  an  Iroquois  with  an  admix- 
ture of  French  blood,  spoke  English  well,  was  master  of 
several  Indian  languages  and  served  Wilson  faithfully.' 

7  John  Montour  was  the  owner  of  Montour's  Island,  now  called 
Neville's,  in  the  Ohio  river  below  Pittsburg,  and  his  name  is  preserved 
by  Montour  Run,  in  Allegheny  County,  Pa. 


22  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

Before  reaching  Sandusky  Wilson  learned  that  the 
chief  there  had  gone  to  the  Detroit  council,  and  he  there- 
upon made  up  his  mind  to  venture  into  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  British  post,  in  order  that  he  might 
deliver  his  message  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Wyandot  nation. 
It  was  the  decision  of  a  bold  man.  He  found  the  Wyandots 
assembled  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Detroit  river,  on  the 
site  of  Windsor.  By  most  of  the  chiefs  he  was  received 
with  apparent  friendliness,  and  on  September  2  addressed 
them  in  council,  presenting  his  peace  belt  and  message  from 
Morgan,  and  invited  them  to  attend  at  Pittsburg  in  25  days 
from  that  time.  The  delays  to  which  he  had  been  subjected 
had  forced  him  to  postpone  the  date  for  the  intended  treaty. 
Wilson's  speech  was  supplemented  by  one  from  White 
Eyes.  The  Wyandots,  in  their  reply,  avowed  their  desire 
for  peace,  but  did  not  commit  themselves  on  the  invitation. 
They  promised  a  more  definite  answer  in  two  days. 

On  the  next  morning  the  Wyandots  betrayed  Wilson's 
presence  to  the  British  lieutenant-governor  in  Detroit, 
Col.  Henry  Hamilton.  They  returned  the  belt  to  Wilson  and 
advised  him  to  explain  his  errand  to  the  British  commander. 
Wilson,  White  Eyes  and  Montour  were  compelled  4:o  go 
with  the  Wyandot  chiefs  to  the  great  council  house  in  De- 
troit, where  they  found  themselves  in  the  presence  of 
Colonel  Hamilton  and  an  imposing  assemblage  of  Indian 
sachems.  Wilson  frankly  announced  his  purpose  in  com- 
ing to  Detroit,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, again  presented  the  peace  wampum  and  the  written 
message  to  the  Wyandot  chief  sachem.  That  personage 
passed  the  articles  to  Colonel  Hamilton. 

The  British  commander  thus  addressed  the  Indians : 
"Those  people  from  whom  you  receive  this  message  are 
enemies  and  traitors  to  my  king,  and  before  I  would  take 
one  of  them  by  the  hand  I  would  suffer  my  right  hand  to 
be  cut  off.  When  the  great  king  is  pleased  to  make  peace 
with  his  rebellious  children  in  this  big  island,  I  will  then 
give  my  assistance  in  making  peace  between  them  and  the 
Indians,  and  not  before." 


WILLIAM   WILSON'S   INDIAN   TOUR.  23 

Hamilton  thereupon  tore  the  speech,  cut  the  belt  into 
pieces  and  scattered  the  fragments  about  the  council  house. 
He  then  harangued  the  Wyandots  on  a  tomahawk  or  war 
belt,  but  as  he  spoke  to  the  interpreter  in  French,  Wilson 
did  not  understand.  Hamilton  chided  Montour  for  aiding 
the  Americans  and  unsparingly  denounced  White  Eyes, 
whom  he  ordered  to  leave  Detroit  within  twenty-four  hours, 
as  he  valued  his  life.  Hamilton,  notwithstanding  his  anger, 
respected  Wilson's  character  as  an  ambassador  and  gave 
him  safe  conduct  through  the  Indian  country.  The  trader 
returned  to  Ft.  Pitt  much  discouraged  by  the  outlook  and 
reported  to  Morgan  that  many  of  the  Wyandots  were  likely 
to  go  upon  the  warpath  in  a  few  weeks.  The  Mingoes  or 
Ohio  Iroquois  were  already  committed  to  hostilities.' 

In  spite  of  Hamilton's  opposition,  Indians  of  four  tribes 
did  attend  a  council  with  the  "rebels"  at  Ft.  Pitt  in  the 
latter  part  of  October.  The  Delawares  were  represented 
by  all  their  ruling  chiefs,  the  Wyandots  by  the  Half-King, 
the  Shawnees  by  the  great  Cornstalk  and  a  few  companions, 
and  the  distant  Ottawas  by  one  sachem.  Costly  presents 
were  given  by  the  commissioners,  and  effusive  peace 
speeches  were  made  by  the  savages ;  but  only  the  Dela- 
wares were  sincere.  The  commissioners  were  persuaded 
that  an  Indian  war  had  been  averted,  but  they  were  de- 
ceived. At  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  George  Morgan 
wrote  to  the  president  of  the  Congress,  "The  cloud  which 
threatened  to  break  over  this  part  of  the  country  appears 
now  to  be  entirely  dissipated."*  While  the  council  was 
being  held,  Indian  bands  were  raiding  the  Ohio  river  fron- 
tier, and  early  in  the  following  year  all  the  tribes  repre- 
sented at  the  treaty,  except  the  Delawares,  were  on  the 
warpath. 


8  Wilson's  report  to    George  Morgan  is   given  in   ttie   American   Ar- 
chives,  Fifth   Series,   vol.   ii.,   pp.   514-518. 

9  American  Archives,   Fifth  Series,   vol.  iii.,   pp.  599-600. 


24  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CAPTURE   OF   ANDREW   M  FARLANE. 


The  first  depredations,  in  the  fall  of  1776,  were  along  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Ohio  river,  between  Yellow  creek  and 
the  Big  Kanawha,  by  small  parties  of  Mingoes  from  Phig- 
gystown.  It  was  in  1777  that  the  frontier  war  really  began, 
with  fury,  on  the  part  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  general.  The 
first  outrage  on  the  frontier  of  Westmoreland  was  the  cap- 
ture of  Andrew  McFarlane,  at  the  outpost  of  Kittanning. 

JNIcFarlane,  who  was  of  Scotch  descent,  came  from  the 
County  Tyrone,  in  Ireland,  to  Philadelphia,  soon  after  the 
close  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  and  made  his  way  to 
Pittsburg.  There  he  was  employed  in  the  Indian  trade  and 
was  joined  by  his  brother  James.  When  the  territorial  dis- 
pute with  Virginia  became  acute,  in  January,  1774,  Andrew 
McFarlane  was  one  of  the  additional  justices  of  the  peace 
appointed  by  Governor  Penn,  and  he  was  vigorous  in  his 
efforts  to  uphold  the  Pennsylvania  authority  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Pittsburg.^ 

In  April,  1774,  Captain  Connolly,  with  his  Virginia 
militia,  interrupted  the  sessions  of  the  Pennsylvania  court  at 
Hannastown  and  arrested  the  three  Pennsylvania  justices 
who  lived  in  Pittsburg.  These  were  Andrew  McFarlane, 
Devereux  Smith  and  Captain  Aeneas  Mackay.  They  were 
taken  as  prisoners  to  Staunton,  Va.,  and  there  detained  four 


1  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,   vol.   x.,   under  date  of  January 
19.  1774. 


CAPTURE  OF  ANDREW  M  FAR  LANE.  25 

weeks,  until  released  by  the  order  of  Governor  Dunmore/ 
On  the  evening-  of  his  arrest  in  Pittsburg,  McFarlane 
managed  to  send  a  letter  to  Governor  Penn,  in  which  he 
said :  "I  am  taken  at  a  great  inconvenience,  as  my  business 
is  sufifering  much  on  account  of  my  absence,  but  I  am  will- 
ing to  suffer  a  great  deal  more  rather  than  bring  a  disgrace 
upon  the  commission  which  I  bear  under  your  honor.'  One 
result  of  his  arrest  indicates  that  McFarlane  did  not  really 
suffer  much  during  his  captivity  at  Staunton.  In  that  town 
the  young  trader  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Margaret  Lynn 
Lewis,  the  daughter  of  William  Lewis,  one  of  five  brothers 
famous  in  the  military  history  of  Virginia.  It  must  have 
been  a  case  of  love  on  sight,  for  Andrew  McFarlane  and 
Miss  Lewis  were  married  that  summer  and  she  went  with 
her  husband  to  his  log  home  at  the  frontier  post  at  the 
forks  of  the  Ohio. 

To  escape  from  the  exactions  and  persecutions  of  the 
Virginia  militia  officers,  Andrew  and  his  brother  removed 
their  store,  in  the  autumn  of  1774,  from  Fort  Pitt  to  Kit- 
tanning,  on  the  Allegheny,  the  extreme  limit  of  white  settle- 
ment toward  the  north.  At  that  time  probably  not  more 
than  half  a  dozen  huts  existed  there.  Joseph  Speer,  an-  - 
other  Pennsylvania  trader,  established  a  branch  store  at 
Kittanning,  and  the  two  houses  soon  built  up  a  vigorous 
fur  trade  with  the  Indians  on  the  tributaries  of  the  upper 
Allegheny.  When  the  Revolution  came  the  McFarlanes 
were  prospering. 

In  July,  1776,  when  it  began  to  appear  probable  that 
the  Iroquois  were  going  to  war,  the  Continental  Congress 
ordered  the  raising  of  a  W^estern  Pennsylvania  regiment, 
consisting  of  seven  companies  from  Westmoreland  and  one 
company  from  Bedford,  to  build  and  garrison  forts  at  Kit- 
tanning,  Le  Boeuf  and  Erie,  to  protect  that  region  from 
British  and  Iroquois  attacks  by  way  of  Lake  Erie.  This 
battalion  of  frontier  riflemen  w^as  raised  rapidly,  largely  out 
of  the  ranks  of  the  Associators,  and  the  following  officers 


2  Warner's  History  of  Allegheny  County,  chapter  iv.  Pennsylvania 
Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  487,  488.  American  Archives,  Fourth 
Series,  vol.  i.,  p.  264. 


26  OLD   WESTMORELAND, 

were  appointed  to  its  command :  colonel,  Aeneas  Mackay ; 
lieutenant  colonel,  George  Wilson ;  major,  Richard  But- 
ler/ After  its  formation  it  went  into  camp  at  Kittanning 
and  was  there  preparing  for  an  advance  up  the  Allegheny, 
to  build  the  two  other  forts,  when  a  call  was  received  for 
it  to  march  eastward,  across  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to 
join  the  hard-pressed  army  of  General  Washington  on  or 
near  the  Delaware. 

This  call  raised  a  storm  of  protest  on  the  frontier  but 
it  was  not  to  be  disobeyed,  and  early  in  January,  1777, 
Colonel  Mackay 's  regiment,  afterward  known  as  the  gal- 
lant Eighth  Pennsylvania,  set  out  on  its  long  and  disastrous 
march  across  the  mountains. 

At  that  time  many  persons,  not  well  informed,  thought 
the  frontier  was  not  in  danger,  but  this  was  not  the  belief 
of  Andrew  McFarlane  and  his  neighbors  living  at  the  ex- 
posed settlement  of  Kittanning.  Immediately  after  the  de- 
parture of  Colonel  Mackay's  regiment.  Magistrate  McFar- 
lane wrote  to  the  commissioners  of  Westmoreland  county, 
begging  that  a  company  of  armed  men  be  sent  to  Kittan- 
ning. He  feared  that  the  Iroquois  would  attack  the  little  set- 
tlement. His  neighbors  were  uneasy  and  he  said  that  he 
remained  only  to  keep  them  from  running  away.*  It  seems, 
however,  that  most  of  the  other  settlers  at  Kittanning  did  run 
away  during  the  winter,  for  in  February,  when  McFarlane 
was  taken,  the  only  other  men  at  the  place  were  two  ser- 
vants in  charge  of  Joseph  Speer's  store. 

It  appears  that  no  soldiers  were  at  once  available  to 
occupy  Kittanning  and  guard  the  stores  left  there  by 
Colonel  Mackay.  In  this  emergency  Samuel  Moorhead, 
who  lived  at  Black  Lick  creek,  north  of  the  Kiskiminetas, 
began  the  formation  of  a  company  of  volunteer  rangers  for 
frontier  protection.  He  chose  McFarlane  as  his  lieutenant 
and  these  two  men  were  at  work  during  the  winter  trying 
to  embody  the  scattered  settlers  into  a  small  company. 


3  American  Archives,  Fifth  Series,  vol.  i.,  pp.  1300,  1574,  1578,  1583, 
158G. 

4  Notes  and  Queries,   W.  H.  Egle,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  1.,  p.  19. 


CAPTURE   OF  ANDREW   M'FARLANE.  27 

The  story  of  McFarlane's  capture  is  preserved  in  two 
forms.  One  is  gathered  from  letters  written  at  the  time, 
while  the  other  is  a  tradition  handed  down  in  the  Lewis 
family  of  Virginia.  These  two  accounts  illustrate  the  frailty 
of  tradition  as  a  source  of  historical  narrative.  No  tale 
transmitted  by  word  of  mouth  for  two  or  three  generations 
is  to  be  rehed  upon  unless  corroborated  by  contemporary 
documents,  though  the  tradition  often  forms  the  more  in- 
teresting story.  The  Lewis  story  is  now  preserved  in  a 
history  of  Lynchburg,  Va.,  and  runs  thus : 

"When  Margaret  Lynn  Lewis  married  Mr.  McFar- 
lane,  of  Pittsburg,  and  left  the  parental  roof,  she  traveled 
through  a  wilderness  infested  with  hostile  Lidians  till  she 
reached  that  place,  where  they  did  not  consider  themselves 
safe,  constantly  expecting  attacks  from  Indians.  Once, 
when  they  least  apprehended  danger,  a  warwhoop  was 
heard,  her  husband  taken  prisoner,  the  tomahawk  raised 
and  she  averted  her  eyes  to  avoid  witnessing  the  fatal  stroke. 
The  river  was  between  them,  and  she,  with  her  infant  and 
maid  servant,  of  course,  endeavored  to  fly,  knowing  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  delay.  After  starting  the  ser- 
vant reminded  Mrs.  McFarlane  of  her  husband's  money 
and  valuable  papers,  but  she  desired  the  girl  not  to  mention 
anything  of  that  sort  at  such  a  moment;  but,  regardless 
of  the  commands  of  her  mistress,  the  servant  returned  to 
the  dwelling,  bringing  all  of  the  money  and  as  many  of 
the  papers  as  she  could  hold  in  her  apron,  overtaking,  in 
a  short  time,  her  mistress,  as  the  snow  was  three  feet  deep. 
On  looking  back  she  saw  the  house  in  flames,  and  pursuing 
their  journey,  they,  with  incredible  fatigue,  reached  the 
house  of  Colonel  Crawford,  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles. 

"Through  the  space  of  three  years  the  brave  heart  of 
this  remarkable  woman  was  buoyed  up  with  the  firm  hope 
and  belief  that  she  should  again  behold  her  beloved  husband 
alive,  and  at  length  she  received  intelligence  that  he  had  been 
carried  captive  to  Quebec,  where  he  had  encountered  in- 
credible hardships ;  but  the  chiefs  had  agreed  that  for  a 
heavy  ransom  he  might  be  restored  to  his   friends.     Of 


28  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

course,  this  ransom  was  paid  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  his 
brother  going  on  and  returning  with  Mr.  McFarlane  to 
Staunton.  In  a  short  time  the  husband  and  wife  returned 
to  their  desolated  home  at  Pittsburg,  where  they  literally 
found  nothing  left,  the  Indians  having  destroyed  house, 
stock  and  everything  pertaining  to  their  establishment.  They 
rebuilt  their  dwelling  in  the  same  spot  and  for  many  years 
they  happily  and  peacefull}'  resided  there,  leaving  a  large 
family,  all  respectably  settled  about  Pittsburg,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  sons,  who  engaged  in  the  fur  trade.''* 

The  contemporary  account  of  this  event  is  found  in  let- 
ters from  the  frontier,  written  to  the  officers  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania government  at  Philadelphia  and  made  public  in 
recent  years.'  The  British  authorities,  in  Canada,  who  were 
preparing  to  send  rangers  and  Indians  against  the  Western 
Pennsylvania  border,  wished  to  get  a  reliable  account  of  the 
situation  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Pitt  and  decided  to 
send  down  a  small  party  to  take  a  prisoner  and  carry  him 
to  Canada,  that  he  might  be  examined. 

Two  British  subalterns,  two  Chippewas  and  two  Iro- 
quois were  sent  out  by  the  commandment  at  Fort  Niagara, 
to  descend  the  Allegheny.  At  a  Delaware  town  not  far  from 
the  site  of  the  present  Franklin  the  white  men  were  ex- 
hausted and  stopped  to  rest,  but  the  four  Indians  con- 
tinued their  journey  down  the  west  bank  of  the  river.  On 
February  14,  1777,  they  arrived  opposite  the  little  settle- 
ment of  Kittanning.  Standing  on  the  shore,  they  shouted 
over,  calling  for  a  canoe.  Thinking  that  the  Indians  might 
have  come  to  trade  or  to  bring  important  news,  McFarlane 
decided  to  venture  across.  The  instant  he  stepped  from  his 
boat  he  was  seized  by  the  savages  and  told  that  he  was  a 
prisoner. 

His  capture  was  undoubtedly  seen  by  his  wife  and  by 
two  other  men  at  the  settlement,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  a 
tomahawk  was  brandished  over  his  head.    The  Indians  had 


5  Historical  Register,  September,  1S84;  Notes  and  Queries,  Third 
Series,  vol.  ii.,  p.  281;  Hlldreth's  Ploueer  History,  Cincinnati,  1848, 
p.  114.  I 


CAPTURE  OF   ANDREW  M'FARLANE.  29 

orders  from  the  officer  who  sent  them  to  treat  their  captive 
kindly  and  to  return  with  him  as  quickly  as  possible  to 
Niagara.  To  that  point  McFarlane  was  hurried,  through 
the  deep  snow,  and  there  he  was  subjected  to  the  most  rigid 
examination  concerning  the  condition  of  the  frontier  de- 
fenses. He  was  then  taken  to  Quebec.  His  capture  caused 
great  alarm  on  the  border  and  stimulated  the  frontiersmen 
to  the  enrolling  of  the  militia.  Captain  Moorhead  hurried 
with  his  recruits  to  Kittanning  and  took  charge  of  the 
houses  and  stores  there,  and  all  along  the  border  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  repel  the  expected  attacks  of  the  savages, 
which  came  quickly  with  the  opening  of  spring. 

It  is  probable  that  Mrs.  McFarlane  did  flee  from 
Kittanning  after  the  capture  of  her  husband,  for  there  was 
every  reason  to  expect  an  Indian  attack ;  but  the  place 
where  she  took  refuge  coula  not  have  been  the  house  of 
Colonel  Crawford.  That  gentleman  lived  at  New  Haven, 
on  the  Youghiogheny  river,  nearly  sixty  miles  away,  in  a 
straight  line.  At  the  time  of  the  capture  Crawford  was 
in  Maryland,  on  a  journey  to  Philadelphia.  Fourteen  miles 
would  have  taken  the  fugitives  to  a  little  settlement  of  two 
or  three  huts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kiskiminetas  river,  but 
the  nearest  place  of  real  refuge  was  Carnaghan's  blockhouse, 
not  less  than  20  miles  south  of  Kittannmg.  The  Lewis 
tradition  knows  nothing  of  Kittanning  but  locates  the  event 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Pittsburg. 

At  the  time  of  Andrew's  capture  his  brother  James 
was  a  lieutenant  in  the  First  Pennsylvania,  under  General 
Washington.  It  was  through  his  efforts  that  Andrew  was 
exchanged,  in  the  fall  of  1780.  The  released  man  rejoined 
his  wife  and  child  at  Staunton,  and  they  soon  afterward  re- 
turned to  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg.  Kittanning  was  now  de- 
serted and  exposed  to  frequent  Indian  raids,  and  Andrew 
McFarlane  opened  a  store  on  Chartiers  creek,  within  the 
present  limits  of  Scott  township,  where  he  lived  for  many 
years.  During  the  later  years  of  the  Revolution  he  was  a 
commissioner  of  purchases  for  the  continental  troops  serv- 
ing on  the  border. 


30  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

His  eldest  son,  Andrew,  doubtless  the  infant  whom 
Mrs.  McFarlane  carried  in  her  arms  when  she  fled  from 
Kittanning,  became  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  on  the  She- 
nang-o,  near  the  present  New  Castle,  Pa.,  and  his  descend- 
ants are  numerous  in  Lawrence  county. 


GIBSON'S   POWDER  EXPLOIT.  31 


CHAPTER  V. 


GIBSON'S   POWDER   EXPLOIT. 


When  the  Indian  outbreak  began,  in  the  spring  of 
I777>  the  borderers  found  themselves  in  a  desperate  situa- 
tion, because  of  the  lack  of  powder.  In  those  days,  the  few 
gunpowder  factories  in  the  colonies  were  all  near  the  sea- 
board, and  the  supply  for  the  settlers  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania was  carried  by  pack  horses,  in  small  quantities,  over 
the  mountains.  It  commanded  a  high  price  at  Ft.  Pitt,  and 
was  usually  paid  for  with  furs.  Indian  hostilities  closed  the 
fur  trade,  and  made  it  impossible  for  the  traders  to  buy 
powder,  save  on  credit.  This,  however,  was  not  the  chief 
reason  for  the  shortage.  The  Revolution  caused  a  demand 
in  the  East  for  more  powder  than  the  factories  could  pro- 
duce, and  none  could  be  spared  for  the  country  beyond  the 
mountains. 

To  be  sure,  each  settler  kept  a  small  stock  for  his  own 
use  in  hunting,  but  in  all  the  region  around  Fort  Pitt  there 
was  no  supply  to  meet  the  emergency  of  an  Indian  war. 

The  savages  began  to  break  in  at  many  places,  striking 
the  isolated  cabins,  burning,  murdering  and  pillaging.  The 
best  method  of  defending  the  scattered  settlements  was  to 
organize  companies  of  rangers,  to  patrol  the  course  of  the 
Allegheny  and  Ohio,  and  to  pursue  the  bands  of  Indian 
marauders.  Several  such  companies  were  formed,  but  with- 
out gunpowder  they  could  render  little  service. 

For  a  few  weeks  the  frontier  was  almost  helpless,  but 
at  the  very  verge  of  the  crisis  it  was  relieved  by  a  daring 


32  OLD   WESTMORELAND, 

exploit  accomplished  by  a  band  of  hardy  pioneers,  led  by 
Captain  George  Gibson  and  Lieutenant  William  Linn. 
These  bold  adventurers  descended  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers  to  New  Orleans,  bought  powder  from  the  Spanish 
government,  and  successfully  returned  with  it  to  Fort  Pitt. 
This  achievement  has  received  little  attention  from  the  his- 
torians of  the  frontier  days. 

George  Gibson  was  the  son  of  a  Lancaster  tavern 
keeper.  He  had  been  engaged  in  the  fur  trade  with  his 
brother  John  at  Pittsburg.  In  his  youth  he  had  made  sev- 
eral voyages  at  sea,  and  he  had  traveled  much  in  the  Indian 
country.  William  Linn  was  a  Marylander,  who  had  served 
with  Braddock  as  a  scout  and  afterward  settled  on  the 
Alonongahela  river,  on  the  site  of  Fayette  City.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  a  skillful  hunter.  He  served  in  the  Dunmore 
war  under  Major  Angus  McDonald  and  was  wounded  in 
the  shoulder  in  a  fight  with  the  Shawnees  at  Wapatomika. 
These  men  were  of  sterling  stock.  A  son  of  George  Gib- 
son became  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  a  grandson  of  William  Linn  became  United 
States  senator  from  Missouri.^ 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  Revolution  Gibson  and 
Linn  raised  a  company  of  young  men  about  Pittsburg  and 
along  the  Monongahela  valley  and  entered  the  service  of 
Virginia.  The  company  marched  to  the  Virginia  seaboard, 
and  its  members  so  distinguished  themselves  for  fierce  valor 
in  two  conflicts  with  the  British  and  tories  under  Dunmore 
that  they  were  called  "Gibson's  Lambs." 

They  were  soon  sent  back  to  the  Monongahela  valley, 
for  frontier  defense,  and  the  alert  and  vigorous  government 
of  Virginia  commissioned  Gibson  and  Linn  to  undertake 
the  hazardous  journey  to  New  Orleans. 

Fifteen  of  Gibson's  Lambs — the  hardiest  and  the  brav- 
est— were  selected  to  accompany  the  two  officers.  Flat- 
boats  were  built  at  Pittsburg  and  the  voyagers  set  forth  on 


1  George  Bannister  Glbsou,  son  of  Georjre  Gibson,  was  a  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  from  181G  to  18.">.S  and  chief  justice 
for  24  years  of  that  time.  Lewis  Fields  Linn,  grandson  of  Wni.  Linn, 
was  United  States  senator  for  Missouri,  1833  to  1843. 


GIBSON'S   POWDER   EXPLOIT.  33 

Friday,  July  19,  1776.     They  had  barely  time,  before  their 
departure,  to  learn  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

At  that  time  a  voyage  down  the  Ohio  was  extremely 
dangerous.  The  lower  river  was  closely  watched  by  sav- 
ages. Shawnees,  Miamies  and  Wabash  Indians  were  al- 
ready at  war  with  the  Kentucky  settlements.  If  informa- 
tion of  the  enterprise  should  reach  the  British  ofificers  at 
the  western  posts,  special  endeavors  would  be  made  to  in- 
tercept and  destroy  or  capture  the  adventurers.  The  Lambs 
left  behind  them  all  evidences  that  they  were  soldiers.  They 
retained  their  rifles,  tomahawks  and  knives,  but  they  were 
clad  coarsely  as  boatmen  or  traders.  .  Even  at  Pittsburg 
the  nature  of  their  errand  was  kept  secret,  for  that  frontier 
post  was  beset  by  tory  spies.  It  was  given  out  that  the  party 
was  going  down  the  river  on  a  trading  venture. 

Gibson's  band  was  both  vigilant  and  fortunate.  It 
passed  several  parties  of  refugees,  fleeing  to  Fort  Pitt  from 
the  Indian  ravages  in  Kentucky.  Bands  of  savages  were 
all  along  the  river,  yet  Gibson's  barges  passed  unscathed. 
At  Limestone  (now  Maysville,  Ky.),  Lieutenant  Linn  and 
Sergeant  Lawrence  Harrison  took  to  the  shore,  and  made 
an  overland  journey  through  Kentucky  to  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio  (now  Louisville),  where  the  barges  waited  for  them. 
Both  were  desirous  of  spying  out  good  land,  and  Linn  af- 
terward became  a  Kentucky  settler.  In  the  Kentucky 
woods  they  met  John  Smith,  a  friend,  who  had  been  hunting 
land,  but  was  then  on  his  homeward  journey  toward  Peter's 
creek,  on  the  Monongahela.  Him  they  persuaded  to  ac- 
company the  expedition.  The  entire  river  voyage  was  made 
in  safety,  the  British  post  at  Natchez  was  passed  in  the 
night,  and  the  powder  hunters  arrived  at  New  Orleans  in 
about  five  weeks. 

Louisiana  was  then  a  Spanish  province,  under  the  gov- 
ernorship of  Don  Louis  de  Unzaga.  Captain  Gibson  bore 
letters  of  commendation  and  credit  to  Oliver  Pollock  and 
other  American  merchants  living  in  New  Orleans.  Pollock, 
a  Philadelphian  of  wealth,  had  great  influence  with  the 
Spanish  authorities,  and  through  him  the  negotiations  for 


34  OLD   WESTMOIIELAKD. 

the  gunpowder  were  conducted.  Spain  was  at  peace  with 
Great  Britain,  but  was  ready  to  give  secret  aid  to  the  Amer- 
icans for  the  mere  sake  of  weakening  her  traditional  British 
enemy. 

EngHsh  agents  in  New  Orleans  discovered  the  arrival 
of  Gibson's  party,  and,  suspecting  that  their  errand  was  to 
obtain  munitions  of  war,  complained  to  the  Spanish  officers 
that  rebels  against  the  British  government  were  in  the  city. 
Captain  Gibson  w^as  therefore  arrested  and  lodged  in  a 
Spanish  prison,  where  he  was  treated  with  the  greatest 
consideration.  While  he  w^as  locked  up  Oliver  Pollock  se- 
cured the  pow^der  and  secreted  it  in  his  w^arehouse.  The 
purchase  amounted  to  12,000  pounds,  at  a  cost  of  $1,800. 

The  powder  was  divided  into  two  portions.  Three 
thousand  pounds  of  it  was  packed  in  boxes,  marked  falsely 
as  merchandise  of  various  kinds,  and  quietly  conveyed  to  a 
sailing  vessel  bound  by  way  of  the  gulf  and  ocean  to  Phila- 
delphia. On  the  night  when  this  ship  sailed  Captain  Gib- 
son "escaped"  from  his  prison,  got  on  board  the  vessel  and 
accompanied  the  precious  powder  safely  to  its  destination. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  gunpowder,  9,000  pounds, 
being  intended  for  the  western  frontier,  was  turned  over 
to  the  care  of  Lieutenant  Linn.  It  was  in  half  casks,  each 
containing  about  sixty  pounds.  These  casks  were  smuggled 
by  night  to  the  barges,  tied  up  in  a  secluded  place  in  the 
river  above  the  city. 

Lieutenant  Linn  hired  more  than  a  score  of  extra  boat- 
men, most  of  them  Americans,  and  on  September  22,  1776, 
the  little  flotilla  got  away  without  discovery,  and  began  its 
journey  up  the  Mississippi.  The  ascent  of  the  rivers  was  slow 
and  toilsome,  occupying  more  than  seven  months.  At  the 
falls  of  the  Ohio  it  was  necessary  to  unload  the  cargoes  and 
to  carry  the  heavy  casks  to  the  head  of  the  rapids.  The 
barges  were  dragged  up  with  heavy  ropes  and  reladen.  Sev- 
eral times  ice  forced  the  expedition  to  tie  up,  and  many  hard- 
ships were  endured  before  the  return  of  the  spring  weather. 
On  May  2,  1777,  Lieutenant  Linn  arrived  at  the  little  set- 
t'.cn:ent  of  Wheeling,  where  Fort  Henry  had  been  erected. 


1441180 

GIBSON'S  POWDER  EXPLOIT.  35 

There  he  turned  over  his  precious  cargo  to  David  Shep- 
herd, county  Heutenant  of  the  newly  erected  Ohio  county, 
Virginia.' 

On  the  arrival  of  Gibson  at  Philadelphia,  he  communi- 
cated to  the  Virginia  authorities  the  information  that  Linn 
was  returning  with  his  cargo  by  river.  Orders  were  at  once 
sent  to  Fort  Pitt  for  the  raising  of  a  body  of  lOO  militia  to 
descend  the  Ohio  and  meet  the  expedition.  The  Ohio  was 
considered  the  most  dangerous  part  of  the  journey,  and  it 
was  feared  that  Linn  might  be  set  upon  and  overwhelmed 
by  savages.  The  ofBcers  directed  to  raise  the  relief  force 
were  so  tardy  in  their  work,  that  they  were  hardly  yet 
ready  to  start  when  Linn's  arrival  at  Wheeling  was  an- 
nounced. Long  as  the  journey  was,  it  had  been  made  by 
Linn  more  quickly  than  had  been  reckoned  on  by  the  fron- 
tier officers. 

Lieutenant  Linn's  responsibility  ended  at  Wheeling. 
County  Lieutenant  Shepherd  there  took  charge  of  the  pow- 
der and  conveyed  it,  under  heavy  guard,  to  Fort  Pitt,  where 
it  was  given  into  the  care  of  Colonel  William  Crawford, 
of  the  Thirteenth  Virginia,  and  was  stored  in  the  brick- 
vaulted  magazine  of  the  fort.  Its  safe  arrival  was  the  sub- 
ject of  general  rejoicing,  and  nothing  was  too  good  for 
Lieutenant  Linn  and  his  fearless  Lambs. 

The  action  of  Virginia  in  this  affair  was  liberal  and 
patriotic.  The  powder  had  been  paid  for  by  her  govern- 
ment and  procured  by  her  soldiers,  but  it  was  not  held  for 
her  exclusive  use.  The  receipt  for  it,  given  by  Colonel 
Crawford,  states  that  it  was  "for  the  use  of  the  continent." 
Portions  of  it  were  distributed  to  the  frontier  rangers  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Pitt  and  to  the  two  regiments 
being  mustered  in  Southwestern  Pennsylvania  for  the  con- 
tinental service.  It  was  from  this  stock  that  Colonel  George 
Rogers  Clark  drew  his  supply,  in  the  spring  of  1778,  for 

2  The  District  of  West  Augusta,  Virginia,  was  divided,  on  Novem- 
ber 8,  1776,  into  Ohio,  Yohogania  and  Monongalia  counties.  Yohogania 
county  was  wholly  within  the  present  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  including 
Pittsburg  and  the  lower  valleys  of  the  Monongahela  and  Youghiogheny 
rivers.  The  northern  part  of  Monongalia  and  the  eastern  part  of  Ohio 
were  in  Pennsylvania. 


36  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

his  famous  and  successful  expedition  to  the  Ilhnois  coun- 
try. 

George  Gibson  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  heutenant 
colonel  in  the  Virginia  service  and  William  Linn  was  made 
a  captain,  in  command  of  the  gallant  Lambs.  To  each 
officer  the  Virginia  Legislature  made  a  grant  of  money  in 
addition  to  the  regular  pay. 

Both  of  these  men  did  other  gallant  service  during  the 
Revolution,  and  both  were  killed  by  Indians.  Linn  made 
a  settlement  about  ten  miles  from  Louisville.  On  March 
5,  1 78 1,  while  riding  alone  on  his  way  to  attend  court  at 
Louisville,  he  was  surprised  by  a  small  party  of  Indians 
in  the  forest.  Next  day  his  mutilated  body  was  found  near 
the  road,  with  his  horse  standing  guard  over  it.  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Gibson  was  mortally  wounded  at  St.  Clair's  defeat, 
in  Northwestern  Ohio,  November  4,  1791,  and  died  a  few 
days  afterward,  during  the  retreat  to  the  Ohio  river.' 


3  Notes  and  Queries,  vol.  ii.,  p.  274;  Third  Series,  Tol.  iii  (whole 
No.  v.),  p.  421;  Memoirs  of  John  Bannister  Gibson,  T.  P.  Roberts,  Pitts- 
burg,  1890.  pp.  20-21,  225. 


THE  SQUAW   CAMPAIGN.  37 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   SQUAW  CAMPAIGN. 


It  was  apparent  to  General  Washington  and  other  pa- 
triots that  the  Indian  uprising  which  the  agents  of  Great 
Britain  were  organizing  on  the  frontiers  was  a  part  of  the 
general  campaign  for  the  subjugation  of  the  rebellious  col- 
onies. It  seemed  proper,  under  these  circumstances,  that 
the  Continental  Congress  should  take  charge  of  the  western 
defense,  and  it  offered  to  take  Fort  Pitt  under  its  care  and 
provide  a  garrison  at  the  continental  expense.  The  offer 
was  accepted  by  Virginia,  and  Captain  Neville  was  directed 
to  transfer  the  fort  to  the  United  States  officer  appointed  to^ 
its  command. 

For  this  important  place  General  Washington  selected 
Brigadier  General  Edward  Hand,  whose  brave  and  efficient 
work  in  the  continental  army  led  the  commander  to  believe 
that  he  would  do  well  in  an  independent  command  and 
would  be  an  able  defender  of  the  border.  Fighting  British 
and  Hessians  on  the  seaboard  and  Indians  in  the  western 
woods  are  two  quite  different  things,  as  General  Hand  dis- 
covered in  a  short  time. 

Edward  Hand  was  not  a  stranger  at  Fort  Pitt,  but  dur- 
ing his  earlier  service  there  he  had  no  experience  in  Indian 
warfare.  He  was  a  native  of  the  County  of  Kings,  Ireland, 
and  was  educated  to  be  a  physician.  At  the  age  of  23  he 
obtained  the  place  of  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Eighteenth 
Regiment  of  Foot,  known  as  the  Royal  Irish,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1767  he  accompanied  the  regiment  to  America. 


38  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

He  was  stationed  for  a  time  in  the  Illinois  country  and 
afterward  at  Fort  Pitt.  In  1774  he  resigned  his  commission 
and  took  up  the  practice  of  medicine  at  Lancaster,  Pa. 
Soon  after  Lexington  and  Concord  he  interested  himself 
in  the  raising  of  troops  and  was  commissioned  lieutenant 
colonel  of  Thompson's  celebrated  battalion  of  Pennsylvania 
riflemen,  afterward  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania 
line.  In  March,  1776,  Hand  succeeded  as  colonel  and 
under  his  command  the  regiment  did  gallant  work  in  the 
battles  of  Long  Island,  Trenton  and  Princeton.  On  April 
i>  '^717 1  Hand  was  rewarded  for  his  really  exceptional  ser- 
vices by  promotion  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general,  and 
soon  thereafter  General  Washington  further  displayed  his 
appreciation  and  confidence  by  assigning  Greneral  Hand, 
then  33  years  old,  to  the  Pittsburg  post,  to  defend  the 
western  border. 

It  was  on  Sunday,  June  i,  1777,  that  General  Hand 
arrived  at  Fort  Pitt  and  took  over  the  property  from  Cap- 
tain Neville.  He  led  no  force  across  the  mountains.  He 
was  accompanied  only  by  a  few  officers.  His  garrison  con- 
sisted of  but  two  companies  of  the  Thirteenth  Virginia, 
raised  in  and  near  Pittsburg  and  rather  hard  to  manage. 
The  larger  part  of  this  regiment  was  with  Washington  in 
New  Jersey.  Hand  carried  authority  to  call  upon  the  militia 
officers  of  the  frontier  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia for  assistance  in  whatever  undertaking  he  might  plan, 
but  he  found  this  assistance  very  unreliable. 

In  the  East,  Hand  had  been  engaged  in  a  system  of 
warfare  where  it  was  never  difficult  to  find  the  enemy,  in 
large  bodies,  ready  to  stand  up  and  fight.  Tliere  the  Amer- 
icans did  most  of  the  dodging.  On  the  frontier  the  condi- 
tions were  reversed.  Tlie  enemy  could  not  be  found  and 
yet  seemed  to  be  ever  present.  In  small  bands,  often  con- 
taining only  three  or  four  warriors,  the  savages  entered  the 
settlements  at  isolated  places,  struck  quick  but  terrible 
blows,  and  then  by  night  fled  away  into  the  forest.  Where 
they  had  been  was  shown  by  dead  bodies  and  ashes,  but 
they  left  no  trail  that  white  men  could  discover.     What 


THE  SQUAW   CAMPAIGN.  39 

could  either  regular  troops  or  militia  do  with  such  a  foe? 
To  General  Hand  the  conditions  were  perplexing. 

Many  murders  had  been  committed  before  Hand's  ar- 
rival, but  they  became  more  numerous  in  the  mid-summer 
and  autumn/  Colonel  Hamilton,  at  Detroit,  began,  about 
June  I,  to  equip  and  send  out  war  parties  to  attack  the  set- 
tlements of  Kentucky,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  Toward 
the  end  of  July  he  reported  to  his  superior  at  Quebec  that 
he  had  sent  out  15  parties,  consisting  of  30  white  men  and 
289  Indians,  an  average  of  only  21  in  each  band.^  These 
Indians  were  chiefly  Wyandots  and  Miamis  from  North- 
western Ohio  and  Shawnees  from  Southern  Ohio.  At  the 
same  time  parties  of  Senecas  invaded  the  Pennsylvania 
settlements  from  Western  New  York.  Beside  the  bodies 
of  many  of  the  victims  of  these  raids  were  found  the  proc- 
lamations by  Hamilton,  ofifering  protection  and  reward  to 
all  settlers  who  would  make  their  way  to  any  of  the  British 
posts  and  join  the  cause  of  the  King. 

General  Hand  had  not  studied  the  situation  long  when 
he  made  up  his  mind  that  there  was  but  one  way  to  fight  the 
Indians;  that  was  to  invade  their  country  and  destroy  their 
towns  and  provisions.  The  Ohio  tribes  were  not  nomadic. 
They  had  permanent  villages  of  rude  huts  and  grew  great 
crops  of  corn,  beans  and  pumpkins.  These  products  were 
stored  in  large  cabins  or  in  earth  silos.  Tlie  hardest  blow 
to  the  savages  was  to  burn  their  cornfields  or  to  destroy 
their  garnered  stores.  Left  without  food  for  the  winter, 
they  were  driven  to  the  chase  for  subsistence,  and  found  no 
time  for  the  warpath. 

Hand  decided  to  gather  a  large  force  of  militiamen,  to 
descend  the  Ohio  river  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Big 
Kanawha  and  to  march  thence  overland  against  the  Shaw- 
nee towns  on  the  Scioto.  Letters  were  sent  to  the  militia 
commanders  of  Westmoreland  and  Bedford  counties,  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  of  all  the  frontier  counties  of  Virginia, 


1  Washington-Crawford   Letters,   Crawford  to  President  of  Congress, 
April  22,  1777;    Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,   viii.,   pp.  549,  550. 

2  The  Westward   Movement,  Winsor,   Boston,   1897,   pp.    Ill,    127. 


40  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

from  the  Monongahela  to  the  Kanawha,  asking  them  to 
muster  their  men  for  the  expedition.  Hand  appealed  to 
the  revolutionary  governments  of  both  states,  and  they 
directed  their  officers  to  respond  to  the  calls.  The  project 
was  even  formally  endorsed  by  the  Continental  Congress. 
In  spite  of  all  these  efforts,  the  expedition  was  a  failure. 

Hand  expected  500  men  from  Westmoreland  and  Bed- 
ford, who  were  to  assemble  at  Pittsburg,  and  1,500  from 
Western  Virginia,  who  were  to  gather  at  two  points.  Fort 
Henry,  at  Wheeling,  and  Fort  Randolph,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Big  Kanawha.^  His  expectations  were  unreasonable. 
He  did  not  take  into  account  the  drained  and  distressed  con- 
dition of  the  border.  The  hardiest  and  most  adventurous 
young  men  of  this  region  had  gone  away  to  the  East  to 
fight  the  British.  Most  of  those  who  remained  in  the  scat- 
tered settlements  felt  that  they  were  needed  at  home,  to 
protect  their  own  families,  exposed  daily  to  the  raids  of 
savage  warriors.  The  Indians  were  penetrating  to  the 
Ligonier  Valley,  and  even  occasional  outrages  were  perpe- 
trated as  far  east  as  Bedford. 

It  seems  that  no  men  were  furnished  by  Bedford 
county,  and  Colonel  Lochry,*  of  Westmoreland,  raised  only 
100,  who  marched  to  Fort  Pitt.  On  October  19,  1777, 
General  Hand  left  Fort  Pitt  and  went  down  the  river  to 
Wheeling.  There  he  remained  about  a  week,  waiting  in 
vain  for  the  assembling  of  a  considerable  body  of  Virginians. 
Only  a  few  poorly  equipped  squads  appeared.  Hand  then 
gave  up  the  project  and  returned  in  disgust  to  Fort  Pitt. 
The  largest  body  of  volunteers  rallied  at  Fort  Randolph, 
where  it  waited  for  two  or  three  weeks  without  hearing  a 
word  from  Hand,  and  then  dispersed." 

3  Ft.  Pitt  and  Letters  from  the  Frontier,  Darlington,  Pittsburg,  1892, 
pp.  226,  227.  Chronicles  of  Border  Warfare,  Withers,  pp.  151,  1.52.  Notes 
and  Queries,'  Third  Series,  vol.  11..  Letter  of  Jasper  Ewlng  to  Jasper 
Yeates.     Frontier  Forts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  326. 

4  The  system  of  county  lieutenants,  modeled  after  Virginia,  was  es- 
tablished in  PoiHisylvania  in  March.  1777,  under  the  new  state  ronsti- 
tution.  The  county  lieutenant  was  the  commander  of  the  county  militia 
and  lield  the  rani;  of  colouei.  The  Supreme  Executive  Council  appointed 
Archibald  Lochry  connty  lieutenant  of  Westmoreland  on  March  21,   1777. 

5  Ft.  Pitt,  p.  228:  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  Butterfleld, 
M.idlson,  Wis.,  1882,  p.  11.  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vl., 
p.  08.     Frontier  Forts,   vol.   ii.,   p.  244. 


THE   SQUAW   CAMPAIGN.  4 1 

During  October  and  November,  while  Hand  was  try- 
ing to  form  his  army  for  the  invasion  of  the  Indian  country, 
many  raids  were  made  in  Westmoreland  county.  Near 
Palmer's  Fort,  in  the  lower  end  of  the  Ligonier  Valley,  ii 
men  were  killed  and  scalped,  and  a  few  days  later  four 
■children  were  killed  within  sight  of  the  fort.  Three  men 
were  killed  and  a  woman  was  captured  within  a  few  miles 
of  Ligonier.  A  band  of  Indians,  led  by  a  Canadian,  made 
a  fierce  attack  on  Fort  Wallace,  a  stockade  about  a  mile 
south  of  Clairsville,  but  the  white  leader  was  killed  and  the 
assailants  were  repulsed.  The  marauders  were  pursued  by 
a  party  of  rangers,  led  by  the  celebrated  Captain  James 
Smith,  who  overtook  the  savages  near  Kittanning,  killed 
iive  of  them  and  triumphantly  returned  to  the  settlements 
with  the  five  Indian  scalps.  The  snow  put  an  end  to  the 
inroads,  as  the  Indians  would  not  expose  themselves  to  the 
certainty  of  being  trailed  in  the  snow." 

About  Christmas  General  Hand  learned  that  a  British 
expedition,  by  lake  from  Detroit,  had  built  a  magazine  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  river  (within  the  present  con- 
fines of  Cleveland)  and  had  stored  there  arms,  ammunition, 
clothing  and  provisions,  to  be  used  by  the  Indians  on  the 
opening  of  spring.  He  saw  another  chance  to  do  some- 
thing for  the  frontier,  and  prepared  to  lead  an  expedition 
for  the  destruction  of  this  magazine.  He  sent  out  calls  for 
"brave,  active  lads"  to  assemble  at  Fort  Pitt.  He  required 
that  each  man  be  mounted  and  provided  with  food  for  a 
short  campaign.  He  promised  to  furnish  ammunition  and 
a  few  arms.  As  an  incentive  for  enlistment,  the  General 
announced  that  all  the  plunder  would  be  sold,  and  the 
cash  proceeds  divided  among  the  members  of  the  force.  It 
was  not  until  February  15  that  about  500  horsemen  were 
at  Pittsburg  ready  for  the  adventure.  A  considerable  body 
of  them  was  from  the  Youghiogheny,  under  command  of 
Colonel  William  Crawford.  This  was  a  formidable  force 
and  General  Hand  was  sanguine  that  at  last  he  should  ac- 
complish something." 

6  Penosylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  v.,   p.  741;    vol.  vi..  p.  68. 
Frontier  Forts,   vol.   ii.,  p.  236,   etc. 

7  Washiugton-Crawford   Letters,    pp.   66,  67. 


42  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Tlie  expedition  followed  the  old  Indian  trail  which 
descended  the  Ohio  to  the  Beaver  and  then  ascended  that 
stream  and  the  Mahoning  toward  the  Cuyahoga.  Snow 
covered  the  ground  when  Hand  started,  but  rain  soon  began 
to  fall,  and  continued  for  several  days,  making  travel  exceed- 
ingly difficult. 

By  the  time  the  Mahoning  was  reached  that  stream  had 
become  excessively  swollen  and  the  crossing  of  its  tributa- 
ries became  more  and  more  difficult.  In  some  places  the 
level  valleys  were  covered  with  water  for  wide  stretches 
The  horsemen  began  to  grumble,  and  Hand  was  just  abouv 
to  give  up  the  expedition  when  the  foot  prints  of  Indians 
were  discovered  on  some  high  ground.  The  tracks  were 
followed  until  the  Americans  discovered  a  small  village  of 
huts  in  a  grove.  This  was  a  village  of  the  Wolf  clan  of  the 
Delawares.  A  sudden  attack  was  made,  but  the  place  con- 
tained only  one  old  man,  some  squaws  and  children.  The 
warriors  were  away  on  a  hunt.  The  startled  savages  scat- 
tered in  every  direction  through  the  woods,  and  all  escaped 
except  three.  The  old  man  and  one  of  the  women  were 
shot  down  and  another  woman  was  captured.  Some  of  the 
borderers  tried  to  kill  her,  but  she  was  saved  by  Hand  and 
his  officers. 

This  affair  took  place  about  where  Edenburg  is.  in 
Lawrence  county.  The  Indian  woman  told  her  captors 
that  ten  Wolf  or  Muncy  Indians  were  making  salt  at  a 
lick  ten  miles  farther  up  the  Mahoning.  Hand  sent  a 
strong  detachment  to  take  these  savages,  while  he  went 
into  camp,  under  most  uncomfortable  circumstances,  at  the 
Indian  village. 

The  reported  Wolves  turned  out  to  be  four  squaws 
and  a  boy.  The  borderers  fell  upon  them  as  fiercely  as  if 
they  were  Indian  warriors,  and  killed  three  of  the  squaws 
and  the  boy.  The  other  squaw  was  taken  prisoner.  Some 
defense  must  have  been  made  here  by  the  Indians,  as  one 
of  Hand's  men  was  wounded.  Another  man  was  drowned 
during  the  expedition. 

It  was  no  longer  possible,  on  account  of  the  weather, 


THE  SQUAW  CAMPAIGN.  45 

to  continue  the  campaign,  and  General  Hand  led  his  dis- 
pirited and  hungry  men  back  to  Fort  Pitt.  His  trophies 
were  two  Indian  women.  His  formidable  force  had  slain 
one  old  man,  four  women  and  a  boy.  On  his  arrival  at  Fort 
Pitt  his  work  was  generally  derided  by  the  frontiersmen 
and  his  expedition  was  dubbed  the  Squaw  Campaign." 

This  finished  Hand  as  the  defender  of  the  frontier. 
He  at  once  wrote  to  General  Washington  a  request  to  be 
relieved  of  his  command,  his  request  was  laid  before  Con- 
gress, and  that  body,  on  May  2,  1778,  voted  his  recall*  He 
could  not  fight  Indians,  but  he  attained  distinction  in  other 
directions.  He  became  adjutant  general  of  the  army  of 
the  United  States  before  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  was 
a  member  of  Congress  from  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1798, 
when  war  was  expected  with  France,  he  was  made  a  major 
general  in  the  Provisional  Army.  He  died  at  Lancaster 
September  3,  1802. 


8  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  p.  15.     Tlie  Girtys,   Butterfleld,. 
Cincinnati,/  1890,    p.    47. 

9  Pennsylvania  Arcliives,   First   Series,  vol.   vi.,  p.  461. 


OI.D  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


FLIGHT   OF   THE   PITTSBURG   TORIES. 


The  one  event  in  the  Revolutionary  history  oi  the 
border  which  had  the  most  calamitous  results  was  the  flight 
of  the  tories  from  Fort  Pitt  in  the  spring  of  1778.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  struggle  for  liberty  many  partisans  of 
King  George  were  to  be  found  on  the  frontier.  Some  of 
these  were  men  who  had  been  in  the  British  service,  most 
of  them  members  of  the  Church  of  England.  Others  were 
animated  by  that  natural  reverence  which  many  men  feel 
for  their  sovereign.  Many  were  adventurous  and  ambi- 
tious spirits  seduced  by  the  British  promises  of  reward. 
There  were  some  who  did  not  believe  that  the  Revolution 
would  succeed,  and  others  grew  dissatisfied  with  the  perils 
and  the  hard  circumstances  of  frontier  life  in  a  time  of  war. 
A  few  were  simply  scoundrels,  desiring  turmoil  and  plunder. 
The  failure  of  General  Hand's  two  expeditions  had  much 
to  do  with  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  American  cause 
which  developed  on  the  border  in  the  spring  of  1778. 
During  the  winter  the  British  had  been  in  possession  of 
Philadelphia,  the  American  Congress  had  been  driven  to 
York,  and  Washington's  army  was  reduced  to  a  half-naked 
and  half-starved  remnant  at  Valley  Forge.  The  cause  of 
liberty  languished,  and  there  were  many  defections. 

Governor  Hamilton,  at  Detroit,  sent  many  agents,  red 
and  white,  to  penetrate  the  border  settlements,  to  circulate 
ofTers  of  pardon  and  reward  and  to  organize  the  tories. 
In  February  and  March,  1778,  a  daring  and  shrewd  British 


FLIGHT   OF  THE   PITTSBURG  TORIES.  45 

spy  visited  Pittsburg  and  carried  on  his  plotting  almost 
under  the  nose  of  General  Hand.  A  British  flag  was  set 
up,  for  a  short  time,  in  the  King's  Orchard,  which  bordered 
the  Allegheny  river  within  gunshot  of  the  fort,  and  there 
meetings  were  held  by  the  disaffected  among  the  soldiers 
of  the  garrison.  Most  of  the  tory  gatherings  in  this  neigh- 
borhood were  at  the  house  of  Alexander  McKee,  at  what 
is  now  called  McKees  Rocks.  Another  place  of  assembly 
was  at  Redstone,  where  a  British  flag  flew  during  all  of  that 
winter.^ 

The  tory  leader  at  Pittsburg  was  Captain  Alexander 
]\IcKee,  a  man  of  education  and  wide  influence  on  the  bor- 
der. He  had  been  an  Indian  trader,  and  for  12  years  prior 
to  the  Revolution  had  been  the  King's  deputy  agent  for 
Indian  affairs  at  Fort  Pitt.  For  a  short  time  he  had  been 
one  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  Westmoreland  county. 
He  was  intimately  acquainted  with  most  of  the  Indian 
chiefs  and  even  had  an  Indian  family  in  the  Shawnee  nation.^ 
In  1764  he  received  a  grant  of  1,400  acres  of  land  from 
Colonel  Bouquet,  at  the  mouth  of  Chartiers  creek,  and  he 
divided  his  time  between  his  house  in  Pittsburg  and  his 
farm  at  McKees  Rocks. 

In  the  spring  of  1776  McKee  was  found  to  be  in  cor- 
respondence with  British  oflicers  in  Canada,  and  he  was 
put  on  his  parole  not  to  give  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
of  American  liberty,  and  not  to  leave  the  vicinity  of  Pitts- 
burg without  the  consent  of  the  Revolutionary  Committee. 
In  February,  1778,  General  Hand  had  reason  to  suspect 
that  McKee  had  resumed  or  was  continuing  his  correspond- 
ence with  the  British  authorities  and  was  organizing  disaf- 
fection, and  he  ordered  the  Captain  to  go  to  York,  Pa., 
and  report  himself  to  the  Continental  Congress.  For  a 
short  time  McKee  avoided  compliance  with  this  order 
on  the  plea  of  sickness,  but  not  being  able  to  shirk  obedi- 
ence permanently,  he  decided  to  escape  to  Detroit  and 
openly  ally  himself  with  the  British  cause." 

1  Deposition  of  John  Green,  Notes  and  Queries,  Fourth  Series,  vol.  i., 
p.  68. 

2  Jones's  Journal  of  Two  Visits,  under  date  of  January  23,   177.3. 

3  American    Archives,    Fourth    Series,    vol.    v.,    p.    815;     Washington- 
Irvine  Correspondence,   p.  17. 


46  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

About  a  year  before  this  a  young  trader  of  the  name 
of  Matthew  Elliott,  who  understood  the  Shawnee  language, 
had  been  employed  by  the  Americans  to  carry  messages 
from  Fort  Pitt  to  the  Shawnees  and  other  Indian  tribes  to 
the  westward,  in  the  interest  of  peace.  He  had  been  made 
captive  by  hostile  savages  and  carried  to  Detroit,  where, 
after  a  short  imprisonment,  he  had  been  released  on  parole. 
He  returned  to  Pittsburg  by  way  of  Quebec,  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  all  then  in  British  possession.  He  had 
been  impressed  by  the  show  of  British  power  in  the  East, 
in  contrast  with  the  miserable  condition  of  the  American 
forces.  He  became  convinced  that  the  Revolution  would 
be  a  failure,  and,  on  his  return  to  Pittsburg,  got  into  com- 
munication with  McKee  and  others  of  the  tory  party. 

Elliott  is  suspected  of  having  poured  into  the  ears  of 
McKee  a  tale  that  he  was  to  be  waylaid  and  killed  on  his 
journey  to  York.  It  is  certain  that  McKee  heard  such  a 
story  and  believed  it,  and  that  it  decided  him  in  his  plan  to 
escape  from  Fort  Pitt  to  the  West.* 

The  flight  of  the  tories  took  place  from  Alexander 
McKee's  house  during  the  night  of  Saturday,  jMarch  28, 
1778.  A  hint  of  McKee's  intention  was  given  to  General 
Hand  early  in  the  evening,  and  he  ordered  a  squad  of  sol- 
diers to  go  to  McKee's  house  Sunday  morning  and  remove 
the  suspected  man  to  the  fort.     The  soldiers  were  too  late. 

The  members  of  the  little  party  which  fled  into  the 
Indian  land  in  that  rough  season  of  the  year  were  Captain 
McKee,  his  cousin  Robert  Surphlit,  Simon  Girty,  Matthew 
Elliott,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Higgins,  and  two  negro  slaves 
belonging  to  McKee.' 

Girty  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  who  had  been  captured  by 
the  Indians  when  11  years  old,  kept  in  captivity  for  three 
years  by  the  Senecas,  and  afterward  employed  at  Fort  Pitt 
as  an  interpreter  and  messenger.     Until  within  a  few  weeks 

4  Goorge  Morgan  to  Honry  Laurens,  March  31,  1778.  MS.  In  the  Pitts- 
burg Carnegie  Library. 

r>  Morgan  to  Laurens,  as  In  note  4;  The  Girtys,  p.  50;  Rev.  A.  A. 
Lambing.  In  Warner's  History  of  Allegheny  County,  p.  83;  Pennsyl- 
vania Arohives,  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  44.');  Howe's  Historical  Col- 
lections of  Ohio,  edition  of  1890,  vol.  i..  p.  910. 


FLIGHT   OF  THE   PITTSBURG   TORIES.  47 

of  the  time  of  his  flight  he  had  been  a  faithful  servitor  of  the 
American  interests,  and  had  participated  earnestly  in  the 
Squaw  Campaign  under  General  Hand.  In  the  absence  of 
positive  knowledge  of  the  reason  for  his  desertion,  it  must 
be  presumed  that  he  was  tempted  by  McKee  with  promises 
of  preferment  in  the  British  service. 

The  seven  renegades  made  their  way  through  the 
woods,  which  they  knew  well,  to  the  chief  town  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  Coshocton,  where  they  tarried  several  days  and 
endeavored  to  arouse  that  tribe  to  rise  against  the  colonists. 
Their  efforts  were  thwarted  by  White  Eyes.  That  remark- 
able savage  had,  during  the  winter  of  1776-7,  been  elected 
chief  sachem  of  the  Delaware  nation  in  the  place  of  old 
Newcomer,  who  had  died  in  Pittsburg.  White  Eyes  had 
declared  his  friendship  for  the  ''buckskins,"  as  he  called  the 
Americans,  and  he  proved  his  sincerity  with  his  life. 

A  great  debate  took  place  in  the  Coshocton  council, 
Captain  Pipe,  an  influential  chief,  haranguing  the  savages 
in  advocacy  of  war,  and  White  Eyes  pleading  the  cause  of 
peace.  The  oratory  and  character  of  White  Eyes  prevailed, 
and  the  tories  departed  to  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Scioto. 
There  they  were  welcomed.  Many  of  the  Shawnees  were 
already  on  the  warpath  and  all  were  eager  to  hear  the 
speeches  of  their  friend  McKee.  James  Girty,  a  brother 
of  Simon,  was  then  with  the  Shawnee  tribe,  having 
been  sent  from  Fort  Pitt  by  the  American  authorities 
on  a  futile  peace  embassy.  He  had  been  raised  among 
the  Shawnees,  was  a  natural  savage  and  at  once  joined  his 
brother  and  the  other  tories.^ 

Governor  Hamilton  heard  of  the  escape  of  McKee  and 
companions  from  Fort  Pitt  and  sent  Edward  Hazle  to  the 
Scioto  to  conduct  the  renegades  safely  through  the  several 
Indian  tribes  to  Detroit.'  Hamilton  received  them  cor- 
dially and  gave  them  commissions  in  the  British  service. 
For  16  years  McKee,  Elliott  and  the  Girtys  were  the  mer- 


6  Heckewelder's  Narrative,  p.   182;    Schoolcraft's  Indiau  Tribes,   vol. 
vi.,  p.  300. 

7  Tlie  Girtys,   pp.  58,  59;    Winning  of  tlie  West,    Roosevelt,  vol.   ii., 
pp.  4,  5. 


4b  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

ciless  scourgers  of  the  border.  They  were  the  instigators 
and  leaders  of  many  Indian  raids  and  their  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  frontier  rendered  their  operations  especially 
effective.  Long  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution  they  con- 
tinued their  deadly  enmity  to  the  American  cause  and  were 
largely  responsible  for  the  general  Indian  war  of  1790-94. 

McKee  and  his  associates  left  behind  them  a  band  of 
tories  organized  among  the  members  of  the  Thirteenth 
Virginia,  of  which  a  detachment  was  stationed  in  Fort  Pitt. 
These  rascals  had  formed  a  plot  to  blow  up  the  fort  and 
escape  in  boats  by  night.  In  some  way  this  scheme  was 
frustrated  at  the  last  moment,  probably  by  the  confession 
of  one  of  the  conspirators,  and  the  explosion  was  prevented. 
Sergeant  Alexander  Ballantine  and  about  a  score  of  the 
traitors  were  able  to  get  away  in  one  of  the  large  boats 
belonging  to  the  post,  and  in  the  night  of  April  20  fled  down 
the  Ohio  river.  On  the  following  day  they  were  pursued 
by  a  large  party  of  their  comrades  and  were  overtaken  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum.  Eight  of  the  runaways  es- 
caped to  shore  and  were  lost  in  the  trackless  woods,  some 
were  killed  in  conflict  on  the  spot  and  others  were  returned 
as  prisoners  to  Fort  Pitt.  They  were  tried  by  a  court- 
martial,  of  which  Colonel  William  Crawford  was  president. 

The  leaders  were  found  to  be  Sergeant  Ballantine, 
William  Bentley  and  EJiezer  Davis.  Two  of  these,  were 
shot  and  the  other  was  hanged.  Two  other  men  were 
publicly  whipped  on  the  fort  parade  ground,  each  receiving 
100  lashes  on  the  bare  back.* 

The  punishment  of  these  men  was  almost  the  last  act 
performed  by  General  Hand  before  his  departure  for  the 
East.  For  a  time  it  put  an  end  to  the  machinations  of  the 
tories  at  Pittsburg,  but  it  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
most  cruel  and  disastrous  warfare  since  the  uprising  of  the 
tribes  under  Pontiac  in  1763. 


8  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  p.  18;    The  Girtys.  p.  53;    Penn- 
sylvania  Archives,    Second   Series,   vol.    ill.,    p.   189. 


THE  TORIKS  OF  SINKING  VALLEY.  49 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  TORIES   OF  SINKING  VALLEY. 


One  of  the  melancholy  tragedies  of  the  revolutionary 
frontier  is  connected  with  the  effort  of  a  band  of  tories  to 
escape  from  Bedford  county  and  join  the  British  and  Indians 
on  the  Allegheny  river.  While  the  tory  plotting,  which  led 
to  the  flight  of  McKee,  Girty  and  associates,  was  going  on 
at  Fort  Pitt,  during  the  winter  of  1777-78,  British  agents 
were  busy  at  many  places  on  the  western  border  seeking 
to  corrupt  the  frontier  settlers.  During  that  winter  these 
agents,  from  Niagara  and  Detroit,  visited  the  lonely  settle- 
ments of  Bedford  and  Westmoreland  counties,  insinuating 
sentiments  of  discontent  into  the  minds  of  the  border  farm- 
ers, assuring  them  that  the  American  cause  was  sure  to 
fail,  and  making  glittering  promises  of  reward  for  those 
who  should  join  the  cause  of  the  King. 

One  of  these  agents,  who  spent  the  winter  months  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  in  what  is  now 
Blair  county,  but  was  then  a  part  of  Bedford,  was  success- 
ful in  deluding  a  considerable  band  of  ignorant  frontiers- 
men by  the  most  despicable  methods. 

The  villain  did  not  confine  himself  to  the  promises  au- 
thorized by  the  British  authorities,  as  endorsed  by  Governor 
Hamilton,  of  Detroit.  These  promises  were  that  any  man 
who  deserted  the  American  cause  and  joined  the  British 
should  have  200  acres  of  land,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace, 
and  that  any  officer  of  the  American  forces  should  receive 
a  corresponding  commission  under  the  King.     The  rascal 


5©  OLD   WESTMORELAND, 

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

One  of  the  men  who  entered  into  this  desperate  plot 
afterward  confessed  that  it  was  the  design  to  slaughter  the 
peaceable  inhabitants  without  mercy,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  to  sieze  their  property  and  lands.  Such  a  scheme 
could  be  taken  up  only  by  men  of  the  lowest  character 
and  the  most  cruel  instincts,  but  such  men  were  not  want- 
ing on  the  border,  either  at  that  time  or  in  later  years,  when 
the  frontier  had  been  pressed  hundreds  of  miles  farther  to 
the  westward. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Blair  county  is  a  deep  valley 
amid  the  mountains,  called  Sinking  Spring  valley.  It  is 
still  a  wild  and  romantic  country,  but  120  years  ago  was 
a  singularly  desolate  and  lonely  spot,  almost  unknown,  ex- 
cept to  those  few  persons  who  lived  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. It  was  a  fitting  place  for  the  meeting  of  such 
conspirators  as  had  been  enlisted  in  this  cruel  tory  plot. 
In  that  isolated  valley  the  tory  band  held  its  gatherings 
in  February  and  March,  1778.  Many  of  the  plotters  were 
from  the  frontier  settlement  of  Frankstown,  near  what  is 
now  Hollidaysburg.  The  leader  of  the  enterprise  was  John 
Weston,  a  bold  and  lawless  man,  half  farmer  and  half  hunter, 
who  lived  with  his  wife  and  brother  Richard  in  one  of  the 
secluded  mountain  cabins. 

The  British  agent,  having  fully  enlisted  Weston  in  {he 
murderous  undertaking,  returned  up  the  Allegheny,  prom- 


1  See  the  confession  of  Ricbard  Weston,  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First 
Series,  vol.   vl.,  p.  542. 


THE  TORIES   OF  SINKING  VALLEY.  5 1 

ising  to  come  to  Kittanning  about  the  middle  of  April  with 
300  Indians  and  white  men,  there  to  meet  his  mountain 
friends,  and  with  them  swoop  down  on  Fort  Pitt,  Franks- 
town  and  the  other  settlements,  and  make  all  of  his  parti- 
sans weary  with  the  burden  of  their  rich  plunder. 

Weston  carried  on  the  propaganda,  and  early  in  April 
had  enlisted  some  30  of  his  neighbors  in  the  adventure.  All 
were  ignorant  men,  Irish,  German  and  Scotch  settlers,  al- 
though it  appears  that  only  one  Scotch  family  was  involved. 

Alarming  intelligence  of  the  tory  plans  leaked  out  and 
reached  the  settlement  of  Standing  Stone,  now  Hunting- 
don. It  was  reported  that  a  thousand  Indians  and  tories 
were  about  to  fall  on  the  frontier,  and  the  greatest  alarm 
was  felt.  Although  a  stockade  fort  had  been  erected  at 
the  Standing  Stone,  it  had  a  garrison  of  not  more  than  a 
score  of  militiamen,  and  the  borderers  did  not  feel  that  it 
would  afford  protection.  There  was  a  general  fhght  of 
the  terrified  people  from  the  upper  valley  of  the  Juniata 
toward  Carlisle  and  York,  and  by  the  middle  of  April  that 
region  of  country  was  depopulated  except  by  a  party  of 
bold  men  who  still  held  the  little  fort,  determined  to  stand 
until  the  last. 

The  band  of  schemers  meeting  in  the  Sinking  Spring 
valley  was  joined,  about  the  first  of  April,  by  a  man  of  the 
name  of  McKee,  who  came  from  Carlisle.  There  he  had 
been  in  communication  with  a  British  ofificer  confined  at 
Carlisle  with  other  prisoners  of  war.  The  ofificer  gave  to 
McKee  a  letter  addressed  to  all  British  officers,  vouching 
for  the  loyalty  of  McKee  and  his  associates.  It  was  to 
be  used  in  securing  protection  and  a  welcome  for  the  Sink- 
ing Spring  plotters  when  they  should  meet  with  the  force 
of  British  and  Indians  on  their  flight  to  the  Allegheny. 

At  the  appointed  time  word  reached  the  valley  that 
a  large  force  of  Indians  had  gathered  at  Kittanning,  where 
they  had  occupied  the  rude  fort  deserted  by  the  Americans 
in  the  preceding  year.  Weston  and  his  associates  felt  that 
their  time  had  come,  and  that  their  enterprise  was  assured 
of  success.     The  last  meeting  of  the  tories  was  held  in  the 


52  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

forest,  at  the  loneliest  spot  in  the  glen.  There  31  men  took 
the  oath  of  fidelity  to  King  George,  and  pledged  themselves 
to  adhere  to  Weston. 

In  the  morning  they  set  out  on  their  march  over  the 
mountains.  They  crossed  the  main  range  at  Kittanning 
Point  and  struck  the  old  Indian  trail  leading  toward  Kit- 
tanning.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  they  came 
within  a  few  miles  of  their  destination,  when  they  encoun- 
tered a  band  of  Iroquois  Indians,  numbering  about  100. 
The  savages  burst  suddenly  out  of  a  thicket,  clad  in  war 
paint  and  feathers. 

John  Weston,  who  was  in  advance  of  his  party,  ran 
forward,  waving  his  hand  and  crying  out,  "  Friends ! 
Friends !"  Tlie  Indians  were  not  in  the  conspiracy.  They 
were  out  on  a  plundering  raid,  on  their  own  account,  and 
regarded  Weston  and  his  men,  all  armed,  as  a  hostile  array. 

The  Indian  war  captain  fired  at  Weston.  The  aim 
was  quick  but  accurate,  and  the  tory  leader  fell  dead.  His 
followers  halted  in  dread  astonishment.  Another  of  the 
savages  sprang  forward,  and,  before  the  ignorant  borderers 
could  recover  from  their  surprise  or  comprehend  what  was 
being  done,  tore  the  scalp  from  Weston's  head.  The  sav- 
age uttered  the  scalp  halloo  and  darted  back  into  the 
thicket. 

McKee,  holding  aloft  in  one  hand  the  letter  from  the 
British  officer  at  Carlisle,  and  in  the  other  hand  waving  a 
white  handkerchief,  called  out  to  the  Indians,  "Brothers! 
Brothers!"  The  savages  did  not  respond.  Almost  as  sud- 
denly as  they  had  appeared  they  vanished  into  the  under- 
growth, leaving  the  bewildered  mountaineers  alone  with 
their  dead  and  mutilated  leader.  Weston  was  buried  where 
he  had  fallen,  and  his  resting  place  was  unmarked.  It 
was  a  just  end  for  one  who  had  entertained  such  sanguinary 
projects. 

The  thirty  other  tories,  left  leaderless.  in  a  wilderness, 
whence  hostile  savages  sprang  apparently  from  the  very 
earth,  were  completely  dazed  and  disorganized.  They  fear- 
ed to  go  forward;  many  of  them  feared  to  return  to  their 


THE  TORIES  OF  SINKING  VALLEY.  53 

homes.  They  retired  to  a  sheltered  place  and  held  a  con- 
sultation. Some  declared  their  intention  to  return  to  Bed- 
ford county,  but  those  who  were  best  able  to  appreciate 
the  nature  of  their  ofifense  apprehended  arrest  and  announc- 
ed that  they  would  seek  safety  elsewhere." 

Hard  was  the  fate  of  this  company.  Some  of  them 
wandered  in  the  forests  and  perished  from  hunger.  Others 
made  their  way  southward,  and  reached  British  posts  in  the 
southern  colonies  after  great  suffering.  Five  of  them, 
returning  to  their  homes,  were  seized  by  the  aroused  fron- 
tiersmen, and  conducted  to  the  log  jail  in  Bedford.  Richard 
Weston,  brother  of  the  dead  leader,  was  caught  in  Sinking 
Spring  valley  by  a  party  of  Americans  going  to  work  the 
lead  mines  there,  and  was  sent  under  guard  to  Carlisle. 
He  confessed  the  whole  plot,  but  claimed  that  he  had  been 
misled  by  his  older  brother.  He  escaped  from  imprison- 
ment before  he  could  be  brought  to  trial.^ 

A  special  court,  of  which  General  John  Armstrong,  of 
Carlisle,  was  president,  was  appointed  by  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  to  try  the  prisoners  at  Bedford.  It  held 
two  sessions  in  the  fall  of  1778  and  the  spring  of  1779,  but 
did  not  convict  any  of  the  defendants  of  high  treason.  The 
leaders  of  the  conspiracy  were  either  dead  or  out  of  the 
country,  and  the  few  men  brought  before  the  court  were 
but  ignorant  and  deluded  yeomen,  who  were  sufficiently 
punished  by  their  imprisonment  and  the  contempt  of  their 
neighbors.* 

Those  who  had  fled  away  were  attainted  of  treason, 
and  their  estates  were  declared  forfeited.  It  appears  that 
a  few  of  them  returned  to  Pennsylvania,  after  the  war  was 
over,  and  procured  the  removal  of  the  attainder  and  the 
restoration  of  their  land. 


2  Day's  Historical  Collections  of  Pennsylvania,  p  S72;  Pennsylvania 
.Archives.  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  436,  43S,  446,  467,  469,  512;  Lytle's 
History  of  Huntingdon  County,  Lancaster,  1876,  pp.  80,  283;  Jones's 
History   of  the  .Tuniata  Valley,   Philadelphia,    1856,   pp.  250-257. 

8  His  escape  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  attainted  of  treason 
with  all  those  who  fled  to  the  southern  states;  see  Pennsylvania  Ar- 
chives,  First   Series,   vol.   x.,  p.  259. 

4  The  court  did  not  report  any  treason  convictions  to  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council,  hut  did  report  one  conviction  for  murder,  Colonial 
Records,  vol.  xi.,  p.  581.  See,  also,  on  this  court,  Colonial  Records, 
vol.  X.,  p.  556;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  569, 
750.  769;    vol.  vii.,  p.  297. 


54  OLD   WESTMORELAND 


CHAPTER  IX. 


FATAL  VOYAGE  OF  DAVID  RODGERS. 


An  attempt  was  made,  in  1778,  to  repeat  the  feat  of 
Gibson  and  Linn,  in  brino^ing  powder  from  New  Orleans 
by  river.  Tlie  store  of  ammunition  conveyed  to  Fort  Pitt 
by  Lieutenant  Linn,  in  the  spring  of  1777,  had  been  almost 
exhausted.  A  large  part  of  it  had  been  taken  to  Kentucky, 
Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia  by  George  Rogers  Clark,  and 
much  of  it  had  been  used  for  the  defense  of  the  immediate 
frontier. 

The  second  undertaking  was,  like  the  first,  ordered  and 
directed  by  the  government  of  Virginia.  In  this  instance 
the  powder  was  bought  in  advance,  by  correspondence  with 
Oliver  Pollock,  and  was  transported  by  the  Spaniards  from 
New  Orleans  to  the  little  post  of  St.  Louis,  where  the 
Spaniards  had  established  their  authority  in  1768.  It 
seems  that  the  removal  of  the  powder  to  St.  Louis  was  not 
understood  in  Virginia,  and  the  expedition  which  went 
after  it  lost  much  time  in  going  down  the  Mississippi  to 
find  it. 

To  organize  and  command  the  second  expedition.  Gov- 
ernor Patrick  Henry  chose  Captain  David  Rodgers,  of  Red- 
stone. This  gentleman  was  a  native  of  Old  Virginia,  and 
had  been  engaged  with  distinction  in  the  frontier  conflicts 
of  that  colony.  He  settled  on  a  farm  near  the  present  site 
of  Brownsville,  Pa.,  about  1773,  and  in  March,  1775,  was 
appointed  a  Virginia  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  district 
of  West  Augusta,  which  included  Southwestern  Pennsyl- 


FATAL  VOYAGE  OF  DAVID  RODGERS.  55 

vania.  He  sat  in  court  at  Pittsburg  and  at  Andrew  Heath's 
house,  near  Monongahela.  When  the  news  of  Lexington 
and  Concord  reached  the  frontier,  in  May,  1775,  David 
Rodgers  took  part  in  the  patriotic  meeting  held  at  Pittsburg 
and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  revolutionary  committee 
of  West  Augusta.  He  entered  the  Virginia  service  and 
became  a  captain.  Before  proceeding  on  his  Louisiana 
adventure  he  sent  his  wife  and  children  to  Oldtown,  Md., 
for  safety.     They  never  saw  him  again. 

When  he  received  his  orders  from  Governor  Henry, 
in  the  spring  of  1778,  to  bring  the  powder  from  New  Or- 
leans, he  raised  a  special  company  of  men  in  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Redstone  settlement.  The  band  numbered 
about  40.  Most  of  its  members  were  hardy  young  farm- 
ers, but  not  many  of  them  were  experienced  in  military 
service.  Isaac  Collie  was  commissioned  lieutenant,  Pat- 
rick McElroy  ensign,  and  Robert  Benham  commissary. 

Two  large  flatboats,  partially  covered,  were  built  at 
Pittsburg.  These  were  operated  by  long  sweeps  and  a 
steering  pole.  One  of  them  was  taken  up  the  Monongahela 
to  Redstone  and  there  received  a  stock  of  provisions  and 
the  men  who  were  to  make  the  expedition.  Among  those 
who  embarked  was  Basil  Brown,  younger  brother  of 
Thomas  Brown.  These  brothers  were  the  sons  of  Thomas 
Brown,  and  were  the  founders  of  Brownsville. 

The  expedition  of  Captain  Rodgers  left  Fort  Pitt  in 
June,  1778.  For  some  days  it  was  accompanied  by  two  family 
boats,  carrying  settlers  to  Kentucky.  The  voyage  down  the 
Mississippi,  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  river,  passed 
without  special  incident.  Rodgers  entered  the  Arkansas 
and  ascended  it  a  few  miles  to  a  small  Spanish  fort.  There 
he  learned  that  the  powder  had  been  sent  up  the  Mississippi 
to  St.  Louis. 

Having  had  no  communication  with  the  Spanish  com- 
mander at  St.  Louis,  Captain  Rodgers  considered  it  neces- 
sary to  go  to  New  Orleans,  and  there  procure,  from  the 
governor,  an  order  on  the  St.  Louis  officer  for  the  powder. 
He  left  his  boats  and  most  of  his  men  at  the  post  on  the 


56  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Arkansas,  embarked  with  six  companions  in  a  large  canoe, 
and  floated  down  to  the  Spanish  capital  of  Louisiana.  There 
he  obtained  the  paper  which  he  desired,  and  set  out  on  his 
return. 

Not  wishing  to  take  a  second  risk,  especially  on  an 
up-stream,  by  passing  the  British  fort  at  Natchez,  Rodgers 
and  his  comrades  returned  overland  from  New  Orleans  to  the 
Arkansas.  This  was  a  toilsome  and  dangerous  tramp  through 
the  swamps  and  forests  along  the  western  shore  of  the  great 
river.  Doubtless  the  little  party  had  a  guide,  for,  after 
many  wearisome  days,  it  came  safely  to  the  place  where 
the  flatboats  lay  in  the  Arkansas.  The  voyage  thence  to 
St.  Louis  was  made  successfully,  and  the  powder  was  pro- 
cured. At  that  time  St.  Louis  had  a  population  of  about 
800  persons,  mostly  French  refugees  from  the  Illinois. 
The  Spanish  garrison,  of  100  soldiers,  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Don  Francisco  de  Leyba.  The  sale  by  the  Span- 
iards of  this  powder  to  the  Americans  was  a  violation  of  in- 
ternational law,  but  its  actual  delivery  to  Rodgers  probably 
did  not  take  place  until  after  Spain  had  declared  war  against 
Great  Britain  in  May,  1779.' 

The  slow  and  laborious  voyage  up  the  Ohio,  with  the 
heavily  laden  flatboats,  was  made  during  the  summer  and 
autumn,  and  all  went  well  until  the  expedition  reached  the 
Licking  river,  opposite  the  site  of  Cincinnati.  That  region 
then  was  unbroken  wilderness,  nearly  the  whole  course  of 
the  Ohio  being  bordered  by  great  forests,  with  dense  under- 
growth. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Licking,  the  great  Indian  war- 
path from  the  Maumee  and  the  valleys  of  the  two  Miamis, 
struck  the  Ohio  valley,  on  the  way  to  Kentucky  and  the 
land  of  the  Cherokees.  As  Indian  bands  were  frequently 
crossing  there,  it  was  a  point  of  danger  for  boats  passing 
up  and  down  the  Ohio. 

On  an   October  afternoon,   as   the   craft   of   Rodgers 
approached  the  mouth  of  the  Licking,  keeping  rather  close 
to  the  Kentucky  shore,  a  few  Indian  warriors,  in  three  or 
1  Annals  of  the  West.  pp.  312.  313. 


FATAL  voyage;  OF  DAVID  RODGERS.  5/ 

four  canoes,  were  discovered  crossing  the  Ohio  to  the 
southern  shore,  nearly  a  mile  up  stream.  The  savages 
gave  no  sign  that  they  had  seen  the  Americans,  and 
Rodgers  believed  that  his  boats,  close  to  the  heavy  foliage 
of  the  bank,  had  not  been  observed.  He  had  no  doubt  that 
the  Indians  were  on  their  way  to  attack  some  Kentucky  set- 
tlement. He  decided,  therefore,  to  land  his  party  and  at- 
tempt to  surprise  and  destroy  the  savages  in  the  woods. 

The  fiatboats  were  guided  into  the  mouth  of  the  Lick- 
ing and  pulled  up  on  a  sandy  beach  at  the  southeastern 
point  between  the  two  rivers.  The  scene  of  the  ensuing 
conflict  is  now  occupied  by  the  town  of  Newport,  Ky. 

Being  confident  of  overcoming  easily  the  small  party  of 
savages,  the  Americans  advanced  into  the  woods  with  some 
eagerness.  They  had  not  penetrated  far  when  they  rushed 
into  an  ambush.  They  had  been  cleverly  entrapped.  The 
few  warriors  crossing  the  river  in  the  canoes  were  but 
decoys.  A  strong  force  of  savages,  led  by  Simon  Girty  and 
Matthew  Elliott,  lay  hidden  in  the  dense  forest.  They  out- 
numbered the  white  men  two  to  one.  On  every  side  they 
sprang  up  amid  the  underbrush,  shrieking  their  terrifymg 
warwhoops,  pouring  a  deadly  fire  into  the  astonished  bor- 
derers. 

Many  of  the  Americans  fell  at  the  first  discharge,  and 
panic  seized  the  remainder.  They  were  almost  instantly 
overwhelmed  and  scattered.  With  tomahawk  and  knife, 
the  savages  rushed  in  upon  them,  and  the  only  hope  of  es- 
cape for  any  one  was  by  rapid  flight  through  the  forest. 
Many  of  the  frontiersmen  were  slain  and  scalped  on  the  spot, 
and  others  were  overtaken  and  killed  in  the  woods  as  they 
ran.  It  was  only  because  of  the  denseness  of  the  under- 
growth and  the  quick  approach  of  night  that  any  escaped. 
Of  the  company  of  40  men,  only  13  got  away  with  their  lives. 
Some  of  these  were  sorely  wounded  and  endured  great 
agony  in  the  wilderness.  Those  who  were  unscathed  made 
their  way  to  the  little  settlements  in  the  interior  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

Captain  Rodgers  received  a  bullet  wound  in  the  abdo- 


58  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

men,  but  managed  by  the  help  of  John  Knotts  to  get  away 
from  the  scene  of  conflict  and  hide  in  a  dark  ravine.  For- 
tunately for  the  hunted  Americans,  nightfall  soon  put  an 
end  to  the  pursuit.  The  scattered  savages  called  to  one 
another  with  wierd  cries,  soon  assembled,  and  after  plun- 
dering the  flatboats  on  the  Licking  beach,  went  entirely 
away.  Their  trophies  were  enough  to  satisfy  them,  and 
they  probably  crossed  to  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  that 
night. 

All  through  the  darkness  Captain  Rodgers  lay  in  great 
torment.  Knotts  could  do  nothing  for  him  save  to  make 
his  resting  place  soft  and  to  bring  water  from  a  neighboring 
brook.  In  the  morning  the  wounded  man  was  delirious 
and  evidently  near  death.  Knotts  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
save  himself,  if  he  could.  He  screened  the  form  of  the 
dying  Captain  with  bushes  and  set  out  through  the  wilder- 
ness. After  great  hardship  he  reached  his  home  on  the 
Monongahela.  Afterward  search  was  made  for  the  body 
of  Captain  Rodgers,  but  it  could  not  be  found.  It  had  prob- 
ably been  torn  to  pieces  by  wolves. 

Robert  Benham,  the  commissary  of  the  expedition, 
was  wounded  through  both  legs,  but  was  able  to  conceal 
himself  in  the  top  of  a  fallen  tree.  He  had  clung  to  his 
rifle,  but  for  a  long  time  feared  to  fire  it  or  to  make  other 
alarm,  lest  the  Indians  might  still  be  in  the  neighborhood. 
It  was  not  until  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  after  the 
battle  that  hunger  persuaded  him  to  shoot  a  raccoon  which 
ventured  within  his  range.  The  sound  of  his  gun  had 
scarcely  died  away  when  he  heard  the  call  of  a  human  voice. 
He  suspected  that  it  was  the  shout  of  a  savage,  and  hurried- 
ly reloaded  his  rifle;  but  footsteps  were  soon  heard  in  the 
thicket,  and  a  haggard  and  ragged  white  man,  covered  with 
blood,  pushed  his  way  through.  It  was  Basil  Brown.  He 
was  wounded  in  the  right  arm  and  the  left  shoulder,  so  that 
both  hands  hung  helpless  at  his  sides.  He,  like  Benham, 
had  been  in  hiding  until  he  heard  the  sound  of  the  rifle 
shot. 

Here,  in   the   wilderness   woods,  were   two   wounded 


FATAL  VOYAGE  OF  DAVID  RODGERS.  59 

Americans,  having  between  them  only  one  pair  of  good 
arms  and  one  pair  of  good  legs !  It  was  a  singular  situation, 
and  it  was  a  queer  partnership  of  mutual  aid  which  they 
formed  for  their  preservation.  Benham  pointed  out  the 
dead  raccoon.  Brown  kicked  it  to  the  place  where  Benham 
reclined.  The  latter  built  a  fire,  dressed  and  cooked  the 
anim.al  and  fed  his  companion  as  well  as  himself. 

To  procure  water,  Benham  placed  a  folded  hat  between 
Brown's  teeth  and  Brown  then  waded  into  the  Licking 
river,  dipped  the  hat  into  the  water  and  carried  it  full  to 
his  thirsty  comrade.  Thus  these  two  men  in  distress  sup- 
plemented the  actions  of  one  another  for  many  days.  Brown 
made  wide  circuits  in  the  woods,  shouting  and  kicking  the 
underbrush,  driving  rabbits,  squirrels  and  wild  turkeys 
within  the  range  of  Benham's  accurate  rifle.  When  the 
game  had  been  brought  down.  Brown  kicked  it  to  the  fire 
and  Benham  did  the  rest. 

Every  day  Brown  spent  much  of  his  time  on  the  bank 
of  the  Ohio,  watching  for  a  passing  boat.  It  was  not  until 
19  days  after  the  disaster  that  a  flatboat  descending  the 
river  was  attracted  by  Brown's  cries.  The  wounded  men 
were  rescued  and  taken  to  the  new  settlement  at  the  falls 
of  the  Ohio  (Louisville).  After  their  wounds  were  healed 
they  returned  to  their  homes  at  Redstone,  and  both  lived 
for  many  years  afterward.  Basil  Brown  died  about  1835, 
at  the  age  of  75.  He  never  married,  but  lived  at  Browns- 
ville with  his  crippled  sister,  Sally.  Robert  Benham,  when 
the  war  was  over,  bought  and  settled  on  the  land  where 
Rodgers  met  his  disaster  and  death,  and  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Newport.' 


2  Annals  of  the  West,  p.  306;  Affidavit  of  Basil  Brown,  in  Notes 
and  Queries,  Third  Series,  vol.  iii.,  p.  423;  Howe's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Ohio, 
vol.  il.,  p.  741;  winning  of  the  West,  Roosevelt,  vol.  ii.,  p.  136;  The 
Oirtys,  p.  110. 


6o  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE   EIGHTH   PENNSYLVANIA, 


The  activities  of  the  tones  and  the  excessive  malignity 
of  the  Indian  attacks  on  the  frontier,  in  the  spring  of  1778,. 
alarmed  the  Continental  Congress.  It  recommended  to 
Washington  that  more  vigorous  measures  be  taken  to  de- 
fend the  western  border.  The  Commander-in-Chief,  hard 
pressed  as  he  was  in  the  East,  responded  promptly  to  the 
appeal.  Congress  voted  the  recall  of  General  Hand  on 
May  2,  and  on  the  same  day  Washington  appointed  Briga- 
dier General  Lachlan  Mcintosh  to  succeed  in  the  com- 
mand at  Fort  Pitt."  Three  weeks  later  the  Eighth  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  Thirteenth  Virginia  were  detached  from 
the  army  at  Valley  Forge — an  army  already  too  small — 
and  ordered  to  march  to  the  Ohio  river." 

Mcintosh  was  a  Scotch  Highlander,  53  years  old.  He 
was  born  near  Inverness,  the  son  of  the  head  of  the  Borlam 
branch  of  the  Clan  Mcintosh.  When  the  boy  was  11  years 
old,  his  father  and  mother,  with  other  Highlanders,  left 
their  native  land  and  joined  General  Oglethorpe's  new 
colony  of  Georgia.  The  Mcintosh  settled  a  plantation  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha  river,  in  what  is  now  Mcintosh 
county.  A  few  years  later  the  father  was  captured  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  died  in  a  prison  at  St.  Augustine. 

Lachlan  Mcintosh  owed  most  of  his  education  to  his 
excellent  mother.     At  17  he  entered  a  mercantile  house  in 


1  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vl.,  pp.  460,  461,  467,  528. 

2  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  556,  564. 


THE   EIGHTH   PENNSYLVANIA.  6l 

Charleston,  but  an  indoor  life  was  not  to  his  liking.  As 
soon  as  he  was  a  man,  he  returned  to  the  plantation,  learned 
the  trade  of  surveyor,  and  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
militia.  He  married  a  Highland  woman,  and  became  a 
leader  in  his  part  of  the  colony. 

While  many  of  the  Scots  of  Georgia  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  King  and  Parliament,  Mcintosh  was  an  enthusi- 
astic American,  and  at  the  outburst  of  the  Revolution  be- 
came a  colonel  in  the  colonial  service.  In  1776  he  was 
made  a  brigadier  general.  In  1777  he  became  involved 
in  a  quarrel  with  Button  Gwinnett,  one  of  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration.  Gwinnett  challenged  Mcintosh  to  a  duel, 
and  the  challenger  was  mortally  wounded.  Mcintosh  was 
tried  for  murder  and  acquitted,  but  the  resulting  feud  ren- 
dered life  in  Georgia  unpleasant  and  unprofitable.  He 
asked  for  a  transfer,  and  early  in  1778  was  ordered  to  join 
Washington  at  Valley  Forge.  The  Georgia  Scotchman  at 
once  made  a  good  impression  on  the  great  Commander- 
in-Chief.  In  writing  to  Congress  of  his  appointment  of 
Mcintosh  to  the  western  command,  Washington  said:  "I 
part  with  this  gentleman  with  much  reluctance,  as  I  esteem 
him  an  officer  of  great  worth  and  merit,  and  as  I  knov/ 
his  services  here  are  and  will  be  materially  wanted.  His 
firm  disposition  and  equal  justice,  his  assiduity  and  good 
understanding,  added  to  his  being  a  stranger  to  all  parties 
in  that  quarter,  point  him  out  as  a  proper  person.'"  Such 
was  the  man  who  went,  with  high  expectations,  to  succeed 
Hand  as  the  defender  of  the  Pennsylvania  frontier. 

It  was  at  the  request  of  the  Board  of  War  that  Wash- 
ington ordered  two  regiments  of  regulars  to  Fort  Pitt,  and 
the  regiments  chosen  were  the  two  that  had  been  raised 
about  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio.  In  marching  to  what 
was  then  the  far  West,  the  men  of  these  commands  were 
simply  marching  home.  Because  they  were  frontiersmen, 
already  acquainted  with   Indian  warfare,  Washington  be- 


3    W'ashiugton's  Letters  to  the  American  Congress,   New  York,  1796, 
vol.   li.,    p.    224. 


62  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

lieved  that  they  would  be  the  most  effective  defenders  of  the 
border.* 

The  Eighth  Pennsylvania  was  one  of  the  notable  or- 
ganizations of  the  Revolution,  and  well  deserves  to  be  re- 
membered by  succeeding  generations,  especially  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  where  live  many  of  the  descendants  of  its 
brave  ofticers  and  privates.  Seven  of  its  companies  were 
raised  in  Westmoreland,  and  the  eighth  in  Bedford  county. 
The  names  of  most  of  its  officers  are  still  familiar  names 
in  Westmoreland,  Allegheny,  Washington  and  Fayette. 
The  original  stafif  officers,  commissioned  by  Congress  in 
the  summer  of  1776,  were:  Colonel,  Aeneas  jMackay,  of 
Pittsburg;  Lieutenant  Colonel,  George  Wilson,  of  George's 
creek,  Fayette  county ;  Major,  Richard  Butler,  Indian 
agent  at  Pittsburg ;  Quartermaster,  Ephraim  Douglass,  a 
Pittsburg  trader;  Commissary,  Ephraim  Blaine,  great- 
grandfather of  James  G.  Blaine;  Adjutant,  Michael  Huflf- 
nagle,  of  Hannastown ;  Chaplain,  David  McQure ;  Paymas- 
ter, John  Boyd,  of  Pittsburg.' 

With  the  exceptions  of  Ephraim  Blaine  and  David 
McClure,  the  officers  and  men  were  frontiersmen.  Blaine 
was  an  Ulsterman,  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,  a  merchant 
and  landed  proprietor,  a  man  of  great  energy,  who  became 
afterward  commissary  general  of  the  revolutionary  army. 
Rev.  David  McClure  was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  of  Ulster 
parentage,  who  went  as  a  missionary  to  the  Delaware  In- 
dians in  the  Tuscarawas  valley  in  1772.  Being  rejected  by 
the  savages,  he  remained  in  Westmoreland  county  as  an 
itinerant  preacher  until  June,  1773,  when  he  returned  to 
New  England,  and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  never  joined  the  regiment  to  which  he  was  appointed 
chaplain.^ 

The  captains  were  Van  Swearingen,  Moses  Carson, 
Samuel  Miller,  James  Piggott,  Wendel  Ourry,  David  Kill- 

4  W^^shlnJ;ton-C^awfo^'l  Lcttors,  WashlnRton  to  the  Board  of  War, 
May  23.   1778. 

.5  American  Archives,  Fifth  Series,  vol.  1.,  pp.  1574,  1578,  1583,  158G; 
YOl.  11.,  pp.  1.333,   13.38,  140.-). 

6  See  Diary  of  David  McClure,   New  York,  1899. 


THE   EIGHTH   PENNSYLVANIA.  63 

gore,  Eliezer  Myers  and  Andrew  Mann.  Of  these,  Carson 
was  the  only  one  who  proved  false  to  his  country/ 

The  nucleus  of  the  regiment  was  the  company  of  rifle- 
men formed  by  Van  Swearingen,  in  May,  1776,  for  defense 
against  the  Indians.  Swearingen  was  one  of  the  noted 
characters  of  the  border.  With  his  father  and  brothers, 
he  moved  from  Virginia  and  became  a  pioneer  of  the  upper 
Monongahela  valley.  He  was  of  great  stature  and  fear- 
less spirit.  By  the  time  of  the  Revolution  he  had  acquired 
on  the  frontier  the  name  of  "Indian  Van."  One  of  his 
brothers  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  and  became  a  chief  of 
the  Shawnee  nation. 

Swearingen's  company  was  stationed  at  Kittanning 
for  two  months  and  then  joined  the  new  continental  bat- 
talion, ordered  by  Congress  on  July  11,  1776.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  organization  of  this  battalion  or  regiment  was 
to  garrison  the  western  posts  and  protect  the  frontier.  It 
was  an  easy  matter  to  recruit  the  borderers  for  the  defense 
of  their  own  homes,  and  the  very  best  men  of  Westmoreland 
joined  the  organization.  Between  August  9  and  December 
16,  1776,  630  men  were  enlisted. 

Mackay's  battalion,  as  it  was  formed,  went  into  camp 
at  Kittanning,  where  the  men  built  their  own  rude  cabins  for 
the  winter.  They  had  settled  down  for  the  cold  season, 
sending  out  scouting  parties  up  and  down  the  river,  when, 
on  December  4,  the  regiment  was  surprised  by  the  receipt 
of  an  order  from  the  Continental  Congress  to  march  to 
New  Jersey  and  join  the  army  of  General  Washington.  At 
that  time  the  Commander-in-Chief  was  being  driven,  by 
the  British,  across  New  Jersey  to  the  Delaware  river,  Phila- 
delphia was  in  danger,  the  Revolution  seemed  to  be  at  its 
lowest  ebb,  great  alarm  prevailed  in  the  East,  and  the  call 
for  aid  went  out  to  all  parts  of  the  colonies.  The  Eighth 
Pennsylvania,  encamped  on  the  Allegheny  river,  was  the 
most  distant  command  summoned  to  the  support  of  the 
patriot  cause. 


7  American   Archives,    Fifth    Series,    vol.    ii.,   p.    1340. 


64  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

The  order  caused  much  discontent  in  >\Iackay's  bat- 
talion, for  ofificers  and  men  felt  it  a  hardship  to  be  called 
away  from  the  duty  for  which  they  had  enlisted,  leaving 
their  families  unprotected  in  the  face  of  an  impending  Indian 
warfare.  The  regiment,  moreover,  was  badly  provided  for  a 
mid-winter  march  over  the  mountain  ranges.  It  was  with- 
out uniforms  or  tents,  and  was  scantily  furnished  with 
blankets  and  cooking  utensils.  Yet  there  was  little  hesita- 
tion. The  scouting  parties  were  called  in,  pack  horses  were 
collected,  and  the  command  began  its  desperate  journey 
on  January  6,  1777,  at  the  very  worst  period  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania winter.^ 

This  was  a  trying  match  across  the  state,  along  bad 
roads,  amid  deep  snows,  by  mountain  passes,  through  deso- 
late forests,  without  tents  or  sufficient  food  or  clothing. 
The  whole  distance  exceeded  300  miles,  of  which  more 
than  100  was  through  a  region  of  rough  mountains  and 
their  intervening  valleys.  Encampments  were  made  in  the 
most  sheltered  places,  amid  heavy  timber,  and  great  fires 
were  kept  going  all  night,  that  the  men  might  not  perish 
from  the  cold.  Hunting  parties  procured  some  meat,  but 
for  most  of  the  journey  the  only  food  consisted  of  cakes 
and  bread.  Arnold's  winter  toil  through  the  Maine  woods 
into  Canada  was  the  only  march  of  the  Revolution  that  ex- 
ceeded this  in  severity. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  some  of  the  men  deserted  and 
returned  to  their  homes.  Toward  the  end  of  February 
the  regiment  reached  Ouibbletown,  near  Philadelphia,  and 
went  into  camp  in  miserable  quarters.  One-third  of  the 
men  were  ill,  and  within  two  weeks  there  were  50  deaths. 
Among  those  who  died  as  the  result  of  their  terrible  priva- 
tions were  Colonel  Mackay  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Wilson." 

S  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  v.,  p.  93.  For  the  early 
history  of  the  regiment,  Its  winter  march  and  service  in  the  east,  see 
Pennsylvania    Archives,    Second    Series,    vol.    x..    pp.    641-618. 

9  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  v..  p.  283.  Many  writers 
have  idcntiflert  Colonel  Aeneas  Mackay  -with  the  Captain  .Tames  Mackay, 
of  South  (Carolina,  who  assisted  Washington  in  the  defense  of  Ft.  Neces- 
sity in  17.")4.  This  is  a  mistake.  Aeneas  Mackay  came  to  America  about 
17G7  as  a  commissary  with  the  Royal  Irish  reffiment  (Eighteenth  Foot*. 
For  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  George  Wilson,  see  Veech's 
Monongahela  of  Old. 


THE   EIGHTH   PENNSYLVANIA.  65 

While  this  perilous  march  was  making,  Washington 
had  won  the  victories  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  had  re- 
lieved Pennsylvania  from  the  danger  of  immediate  invasion, 
and  had  taken  post,  with  his  little  army,  north  of  the  Rari- 
tan  river,  in  New  Jersey.  To  that  place,  after  a  short  rest, 
the  Eighth  proceeded,  and  there  it  received  new  officers. 
Daniel  Brodhead  became  colonel ;  Richard  Butler  was  pro- 
moted to  be  lieutenant  colonel,  and  Stephen  Bayard,  a 
son-in-law  of  Aeneas  Mackay,  was  made  major.  The  regi- 
ment was  placed  in  the  second  brigade  of  General  Anthony 
Wayne's  Pennsylvania  division. 

In  June  Washington  formed  Morgan's  famous  rifle 
corps,  of  the  best  sharp-shooters  to  be  found  in  the  whole 
army.  There  is  a  general  impression  that  this  corps  of 
500  dead-shots  was  made  up  of  Virginians,  but  this  is  an 
error.  Virginia  contributed  only  163  men.  More  were 
chosen  from  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  than  from  any  other 
command.  It  furnished  139,  including  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Butler  and  Captain  Swearingen.  The  First  Pennsylvania 
furnished  54  men,  from  that  part  of  the  regiment  recruited 
on  the  upper  Susquehanna,  among  the  number  being  the 
celebrated  Lieutenant  Samuel  Brady.^"  This  corps  was  sent 
to  the  northern  army  under  General  Gates.  It  did  the  most 
effective  fighting  at  Stillwater  and  Saratoga,  and  participat- 
ed in  the  triumph  when  Burgoyne  surrendered. 

Late  in  the  fall  Morgan  rejoined  Washington  near 
Philadelphia.  The  men  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  returned 
to  their  regiment,  and  Lieutenant  Brady  was  transferred 
to  that  organization.  Thus  he  obtained  the  opportunity 
which  gave  him  lasting  fame  on  the  western  border.  The 
portion  of  the  regiment  which  had  remained  with  Wash- 
ington's army  had  been  engaged,  under  Wayne,  in  the  de- 
feats of  Brandywine,  Paoli  and  Germantown,  and  the  re- 
united command  passed  the  winter  of  1777-78  in  the  distress- 
ful encampment  of  Valley  Forge. 

Daniel  Brodhead,  who  led  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania 
back  to  the  West  and  subsequently  acted  an  important  part 

10  Pennsylvania  Archives,  Second  Series,  vol.  s.,  pp.  311-313,  315,  643. 


66  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

in  the  history  of  the  frontier,  was  the  son  of  a  pioneer 
tavern-keeper  hving  near  the  Delaware  Water  Gap.  He 
had  early  experience  in  Indian  war,  learned  surveying, 
settled  in  Reading,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  agita- 
tion against  the  oppressions  of  the  British  Parliament.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention  in  1775, 
raised  soldiers  for  the  revolutionary  army,  and  in  1776 
became  a  lieutenant  colonel  in  the  Pennsylvania  service. 
He  acquitted  himself  gallantly  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island, 
August  ^y,  1776,  and  won  promotion.  He  was  a  man  of 
energy  and  persistence,  bold  in  planning,  fearless  in  exe- 
cuting, keen  to  assert  his  authority,  well  set  in  his  opinions 
and  of  hasty  temper. 

The  other  regiment  ordered  to  Fort  Pitt,  the  Thirteenth 
Virginia,  had  been  raised  by  Colonel  William  Crawford  in 
the  territory  now  included  in  the  counties  of  Fayette,  Wasli- 
ington  and  Greene.  Its  formation  in  1777  had  been  some- 
what slow,  and  before  it  was  completed  about  200  of  the 
men  were  ordered  to  the  East.  The  remainder  of  the  com- 
mand, about  100  men,  when  enlisted,  was  detained  at  Fort 
Pitt,  and  was  still  there,  under  Colonel  William  Russell, 
when  the  eastern  detachment,  with  Washington's  army, 
was  ordered  to  return  to  the  West. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Gibson  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  colonel,  went  west  with  the  main  part  of  the  regi- 
ment, and  took  command  of  the  reunited  force  under  Mc- 
intosh.    Colonel  Russell  was  called  to  the  E^st." 


11  Washington's  Letters  to  the  American  Congress,  vol.   ii..  pp.  229, 
232. 


BACK  TO   THE   HARRIED   FROKTIER.  67 


CHAPTER  XI. 


BACK   TO   THE   HARRIED   FRONTIER. 


In  both  of  its  marches  across  the  state  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  Eighth  regiment  was  unfortunate.  The  first, 
from  Kittanning  to  Philadelphia,  was  made  in  the  dead  of 
winter;  the  second,  from  Valley  Forge  to  Fort  Pitt,  was 
in  the  heat  of  midsummer,  and  included  a  long  diversion  up 
the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna. 

General  Mcintosh,  with  the  detachment  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Virginia,  left  camp  toward  the  end  of  May  and 
marched  to  Lancaster,  where  the  fugitive  Congress  was  in 
session.  The  Eighth  Pennsylvania,  under  Colonel  Brod- 
head,  did  not  march  from  Valley  Forge  until  the  middle 
of  June,  and  then  proceeded  by  way  of  Lancaster  to  Car- 
lisle. Before  their  departure  into  the  borderland  the  men 
of  the  Westmoreland  regiment  received  uniforms.  The 
officers  were  outfitted  with  the  traditional  blue  of  the  con- 
tinental line,  but  the  men  were  clad  in  hunting  shirts,  with 
broad-brimmed  hats  looped  up,  and  long  leggings.  When 
organized  in  the  West,  the  men  carried  long  rifles,  but  these 
were  replaced,  on  the  advice  of  General  Wayne,  by  mus- 
kets and  bayonets,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  detach- 
ment of  sharp-shooters,  who  retained  their  rifles  for  scout- 
ing and  skirmishing  work. 

While  the  Thirteenth  Virginia  pushed  onward,  over 
the  mountain  road  toward  the  Ohio,  General  Mcintosh 
waited  at  Carlisle  until  the  Eighth  regiment  arrived  there 
early  in  July.     The  most  alarming  news  had  been  received 


68  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

from  the  upper  branches  of  the  Susquehanna.  In  May 
the  Iroquois  came  down  on  the  scattered  settlements  of 
the  West  Branch  and  in  two  weeks  killed  and  captured 
more  than  30  persons.  This  caused  what  was  known  as 
the  Big  Runaway,  when  nearly  all  the  settlers  on  the  West 
Branch,  from  Bald  Eagle  creek  down  to  the  junction  with 
the  North  Branch,  fled  by  boats,  on  horses  and  afoot  to 
Sunbury,  Carlisle,  York  and  Lancaster.  Great  was  the 
suffering  of  the  thousands  of  fugitives.'  General  Mcintosh 
reached  the  Susquehanna  to  find  himself  surrounded  and 
beset  by  the  fleeing  settlers  and  their  families,  crying  for 
protection  and  relief.  He  determined  to  send  some  of 
his  troops  up  the  Susquehanna  to  stop  the  Indian  incur- 
sions, but  before  the  Eighth  arrived  at  Carlisle  the  news  of 
a  greater  calamity  was  received. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  1778,  took  place  the  "massacre"  of 
Wyoming,  most  notably  but  untruthfully  commemorated  by 
Thomas  Campbell  in  his  poem,  "Gertrude  of  Wyoming." 
Four  hundred  British  and  tories  and  700  Iroquois  In- 
dians, from  Central  New  York,  burst  into  the  beautiful  val- 
ley on  the  North  Branch  of  the  Susquehanna  with  gun, 
tomahawk,  scalping  knife  and  torch,  and  in  a  few  days  swept 
it  clean  of  its  inhabitants  and  habitations. 

At  once  Colonel  Brodhead  was  ordered  to  march  up 
the  Susquehanna,  drive  out  the  enemy  and  encourage  the 
settlers  to  return  to  their  plantations.  The  baggage  and 
pack  horses  were  left  at  Carlisle,  and  on  July  12,  the  regi- 
ment marched  in  light  order,  about  340  strong.^  Several 
small  detachments  had  already  preceded  the  regiment  on  the 
road  toward  Fort  Pitt,  to  prepare  provisions  for  the  men 
and  forage  for  the  horses  at  points  along  the  route.  The 
command  hurried  to  Sunbury,  where  Fort  Augusta  was 
held  by  100  bold  volunteers.  From  that  place  Colonel 
Brodhead  sent  details  up  both  branches  of  the  great  river. 

The  British  and  Indians  had  retired  from  the  Wyoming 


1  Pennsylvania    Archives,    First    Series,    vol.    vl.,    pp.    499,    615,    631; 
Day's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Pa.,  p.  451. 

2  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First   Series,  vol.   vl.,  p.  635. 


BACK  TO  THE  HARRIED  FRONTIER.  69 

valley  and  the  commander  found  that  it  was  too  late  to  as- 
sist the  inhabitants  there  against  their  enemy.  The  ruin 
had  been  wrought,  and  all  the  settlers  had  either  been 
killed,  carried  away  captives  or  driven  across  the  mountains 
toward  the  Delaware  river. 

On  the  West  Branch  the  situation  was  not  quite  so  bad, 
for  there  the  harvests  had  not  been  destroyed,  and  many 
cabins  were  yet  standing.  It  became  Brodhead's  duty  to 
clear  the  region  of  bands  of  prowling  savages,  guard  the 
trails  and  place  detachments  at  the  principal  centers  of  set- 
tlement to  encourage  the  farmers  to  return  and  do  their 
harvesting. 

Major  Butler  was  sent  up  the  ]North  Branch  to  Nesco- 
pec,  with  two  companies;  Captain  John  Finley,  who  had 
succeeded  Moses  Carson  when  that  individual  deserted, 
was  detailed  with  his  company  into  Penn's  valley,  west  of 
the  Susquehanna,  and  with  the  remainder  of  the  command 
Brodhead  advanced  up  the  West  Branch  to  Muncy,  to  cover 
the  harvesters  in  that  rich  agricultural  region.  On  July 
24  Brodhead  wrote  from  Muncy:  "Great  numbers  of  the 
inhabitants  returned  upon  my  approach,  and  are  now  col- 
lected in  large  bodies,  reaping  their  harvests.'" 

The  Nescopec  and  Muncy  detachments  had  few  op- 
portunities to  fire  their  muskets  at  skulking  Indians,  but 
the  men  of  Captain  Finley's  company,  sent  into  Penn's 
valley,  had  the  only  serious  encounter.  They  were  posted 
at  the  settlement  of  Colonel  James  Potter,  the  pioneer  of 
that  region,  who  had  built  a  stockade  around  his  house, 
about  nine  miles  southeast  of  the  present  town  of  Belle- 
fonte.  Center  county.  On  an  evening  of  July  a  detail  of 
the  soldiers,  being  at  a  little  distance  from  the  stockade, 
was  attacked  by  a  band  of  savages,  and  made  a  running 
fight  for  shelter.  Two  of  the  men  were  killed  in  sight  of 
the  fort,  but  their  scalps  were  saved  by  a  relief  party. 
One  of  the  Indians  was  killed  and  another  severely 
wounded. 

At  Muncy  a  stockade  fort  had  been  built  by  Captain 

3    Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  G60. 


70  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

John  Brady,  the  father  of  the  famous  Samuel,  and  there 
some  of  the  bolder  settlers  had  made  a  stand  until  the  regu- 
lars came  to  their  relief.  John  Brady  had  commanded  a 
company  in  the  Twelfth  Pennsylvania,  had  been  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  and  had  been  honorably  dis- 
charged from  the  continental  service  that  he  might  assist 
in  the  defense  of  the  northern  frontier.  Lieutenant  Samuel 
Brady  returned  with  his  regiment  to  Muncy,  and  for  the 
first  time  after  three  years  of  service  in  the  army  of  the 
Revolution,  was  permitted  to  revisit  his  parents,  brothers 
and  sisters.  The  family  reunion  was  not  a  long  one.  The 
Eighth  Pennsylvania  was  relieved,  at  the  end  of  July,  by 
the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania,  and  Colonel  Brodhead's  men 
returned  down  the  Susquehanna  to  Carlisle,  arriving  there 
on  August  6* 

Before  taking  the  road  over  the  mountains  to  the  West, 
the  command  rested  at  Carlisle  one  week.  Just  before  it 
marched,  Lieutenant  Brady  suffered  a  terrible  blow.  He 
received  word  that  his  younger  brother  James,  from  whom 
he  had  so  recently  parted,  had  been  scalped  by  Indians  and 
was  dying  at  his  home. 

It  was  on  Saturday,  August  8,  1778,  at  the  settlement 
of  Peter  Smith,  about  one  mile  below  the  site  of  Williams- 
port,  on  the  bank  of  the  West  Branch,  that  James  Brady 
received  his  mortal  wounds. 

On  the  preceding  day  14  reapers  and  binders,  accom- 
panied by  eight  soldiers,  went  from  Fort  Brady  to  Smith's 
place  to  cut  oats.  The  work  of  the  first  day  was  carried  on 
without  molestation.  In  the  evening  four  of  the  men  grew 
uneasy  and  went  away.  The  morning  of  Saturday  was 
very  foggy.  Tlie  cradlers  began  work  at  one  side  of  the 
large  field,  under  the  protection  of  the  soldiers.  Six  bind- 
ers, of  whom  Brady  was  one,  proceeded  to  the  farther  side 
of  the  field,  separated  from  the  view  of  the  cradlers 
and  soldiers  by  a  ridge.  Five  of  the  binders  placed  t'.eir 
rifles  against  one  tree,  but  Brady  stocKl  his  apart. 


4  Pennsylvania   Archives,   First   Series,  vol.    vl.,   p.   GSO. 


BACK   TO   THE   HARRIED   FRONTIER.  7 1 

About  an  hour  after  sunrise,  under  cover  of  the  fog, 
30  Seneca  and  Muncy  Indians  sh"pped  up  on  the  binders 
and  opened  fire  on  them.  The  moment  they  were  dis- 
covered Brady  ran  for  his  rifle,  but  the  five  other  men  took 
to  their  heels  across  the  oatfield,  leaving  their  guns  un- 
touched. Brady  was  shot  and  fell,  but  he  sprang  up,  ran 
several  rods,  and  fell  again.  Three  Indians  pounced  upon 
him.  He  was  wounded  by  a  spear,  struck  on  the  head  with 
a  tomahawk  and  scalped.  The  soldiers  and  cradlers,  hear- 
ing the  firing,,  appeared  on  the  ridge.  The  Indians  ex- 
changed a  few  shots  with  them,  killing  two  of  the  white 
men,  and  then  ran  away  into  the  forest.  In  the  other  di- 
rection the  soldiers  and  the  harvesters,  with  one  exception, 
fled  as  rapidly  toward  Muncy. 

The  one  exception  was  Jerome  Veness.  He  discover- 
ed that  young  Brady  was  not  dead,  but  was  trying  to  make 
his  way  toward  Smith's  cabin,  near  the  field.  Veness 
assisted  the  wounded  man  into  the  cabin,  and  remained  with 
him  during  the  day,  dressing  his  wounds  as  well  as  he  was 
able.  In  the  evening  a  company  of  soldiers  reached  Smith's 
plantation  from  Muncy.  They  made  a  rude  litter  and  car- 
ried Brady  on  it  to  the  house  of  his  parents.  There  he 
lingered  in  a  delirium  for  five  days,  but  expired  before  his 
brother  Samuel  arrived  from  Carlisle.' 

The  Bradys  were  a  family  of  vigorous  bodies  and 
strong  passions.  Samuel  Brady's  rage  over  the  cruel  death 
of  his  favorite  brother  was  intense,  and  his  soul  was  pos- 
sessed with  a  craving  for  revenge.  Tradition  tells  us  that 
he  ascertained  that  Bald  Eagle,  of  the  Wolf  clan  of  the 
Delawares,  and  Cornplanter,  a  Seneca,  were  the  chiefs  of 
the  Indian  band  and  that  he  was  relentless  in  his  pursuit 
of  those  two  savages,  Brady  had  the  satisfaction  of  killing 
Bald  Eagle  at  the  mouth  of  Red  Bank  creek,  on  the  Alle- 
gheny, in  June,  1779.°  He  was  never  able  to  accomplish 
the  death  of  Cornplanter. 

5  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  6S8,  689,  691;  Con- 
quering  the  Wilderness,   Triplett,   New   York,    1883,    p.  213. 

6  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  xii.,  p.  131;  Washington- 
Irvine  Correspondence,  p.  41;  William  Young  Brady,  in  Pittsburg  Post, 
January  8,  1893. 


72  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Lieutenant  Brady  was  excused,  doubtless  because  of 
his  brother's  death,  from  accompanying  the  regiment  on 
its  march  to  Fort  Pitt.  During  the  month  of  September 
he  was  detailed  as  a  recruiting  officer  in  Cumberland 
county. 

Before  the  Westmoreland  regiment  reached  Fort  Pitt 
it  suffered  another  loss.  Early  in  the  year  Captain  Samuel 
Miller  had  been  sent  to  Westmoreland  county  on  the  re- 
cruiting service.  His  home  was  about  two  miles  northeast 
of  the  site  of  Greensburg.  In  July  he  was  engaged,  with 
several  men  of  his  company,  in  providing  at  Hannastown, 
near  his  home,  a  stock  of  forage  and  provisions  for  the 
coming  regiment.  On  the  7th  of  July,  while  he  and  nine 
soldiers  were  conveying  grain  from  a  farm  near  the  Kis- 
kiminetas,  they  were  waylaid  and  attacked  by  Indians,  and 
only  two  of  the  white  men  escaped  alive.  The  bodies  of 
Captain  Miller  and  his  seven  companions  were  afterward 
found,  scalped  and  stripped." 

The  Eighth  regiment  left  Carlisle  on  August  13  and 
moved  slowly.*  It  was  two  weeks  going  as  far  as  Bed- 
ford, and  two  weeks  more  in  making  the  journey  over 
the  mountains,  past  Ligonier  and  Hannastown,  to  Fort 
Pitt.  It  arrived  at  its  destination,  footsore  and  weary,  on 
September  10,  1778,  having  been  nearly  three  months  on 
the  road  from  the  camp  on  the  Schuylkill.*  After  it  reached 
Bedford  it  was  in  its  own  country.  From  that  place  to 
Pittsburg,  all  along  the  line  of  march,  there  were  many 
joyful  reunions,  and  doubtless  the  travel-stained  soldiers 
were  well  served  with  food  and  drink  as  they  passed  through 
Westmoreland.  Yet  many  tearful  women  sat  at  the  way- 
side cabins  and  sad-faced  parents  looked  in  vain  for  the 
familiar  figures  of  beloved  sons.  Nearly  three  hundred  of 
the  stout  frontier  youths  who  marched  away  to  the  East 
to  help  Washington  did  not  return  to  the  defense  of  their 
own  borderland. 


7  Peimsylvanla  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vl.,  p.  G"."^;  Frontier  Forts, 
vol.  11..  p.  323. 

8  Pennsylvania  Archives,   First  Series,   vol.   vl.,   p.  700. 

9  Frontier  Forts,   vol.   11.,  p.  130. 


THE   ALWANCE   WITH   THE   DELAWARES.  73 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  ALLIANCE   WITH  THE   DELAWARES. 


The  plan  of  General  Mcintosh  for  the  protection  of  the 
frontier  was  to  attack  Detroit.  In  this  he  was  encouraged 
by  the  opinions  of  many  officers  and  members  of  Congress. 
The  difficulty  and  hazard  of  such  an  undertaking  was  not 
appreciated  in  the  East.  It  involved  a  march  of  more  than 
300  miles  through  a  wilderness  inhabited  by  savages,  most 
of  whom  were  hostile  to  the  American  cause.  It  must  car- 
ry an  army  far  from  its  base  of  supplies,  and  that  base,  at 
Fort  Pitt,  a  precarious  one.  It  was  against  an  enemy  hav- 
ing greater  resources  and  a  superior  line  of  communication, 
by  water,  through  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.  It  was  a  pro- 
ject which  Hand  had  meditated  and  which  other  command- 
ers after  Mcintosh  essayed ;  but  all  were  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment.^ 

The  two  regiments  of  regulars,  the  Eighth  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  Thirteenth  Virginia,  were  to  be  augmented  by 
the  militia  from  Westmoreland,  and  the  three  Virginia 
counties  of  Yohogania,  Monongalia  and  Ohio,  and  there 
was  hope  of  adding  to  these  a  force  of  Delaware  warriors. 

The  Delawares,  living  on  the  Tuscarawas  and  the  Mus- 
kingum, were  the  only  Indians  who  had  maintained  neu- 
trality between  the  Americans  and  the  British.  This  was 
the  tribe  which  had  made  the  treaty  with  William  Penn,  un- 
der the  elm  at  Shackamaxon,  and  its  traditions  attached  it 


1  Hand  expressed   the  opinion   that  3,000  men,   with   light  artillery, 
would  be  necessary  for  the  capture  of  Detroit.     See  Ft.  Pitt,  p.  229. 


74  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

to  the  white  man's  council  w'nich  sat  at  Philadelphia.  ]\Iore- 
over,  its  head  sachem,  White  Eyes,  the  greatest  chieftain 
ever  produced  by  this  remarkable  Indian  nation,  was  pe- 
culiarly devoted  to  the  American  cause.  He  revealed  a 
spirit  of  intelligent  sympathy  with  the  struggle  for  liberty, 
and  even  hoped  that  a  Delaware  Indian  state  might  form  a 
fourteenth  star  in  the  American  Union. 

Preparations  were  made  to  enter  into  a  formal  treaty  of 
alliance  with  this  Indian  tribe.  In  June,  1778,  Congress 
ordered  the  treaty  to  be  held  at  Fort  Pitt  on  July  23,  and  re- 
quested Virginia  to  name  two  commissioners  and  Pennsyl- 
vania one.  Virginia  chose  General  Andrew  Lewis,  the  vic- 
tor of  Point  Pleasant,  and  his  brother,  Thomas  Lewis,  a 
civilian ;  Pennsylvania  neglected  to  appoint.  It  being 
found  impossible  for  the  continental  troops  to  reach  Pitts- 
burg at  the  time  first  set,  the  treaty  was  postponed  until 
September. 

When  Colonel  Brodhead  and  his  Westmoreland  reg- 
ulars marched  into  Fort  Pitt,  on  September  10,  1778,  they 
found  the  wigwams  of  the  Delaware  chiefs  and  v/arriors 
pitched  near  the  shore  of  the  Allegheny  river,  a  short  dis- 
tance above  the  fort.  Two  days  later,  the  conference  between 
white  men  and  red  was  begun  in  one  of  the  buildings  with- 
in the  walls  of  Fort  Pitt. 

This  was  probably  the  most  remarkable  treaty  ever 
made  on  behalf  of  the  United  States.  Its  proceedings  are 
worthy  of  preservation  as  matters  of  curiosity  and  as  illus- 
trating one  of  the  strange  developments  of  the  revolution- 
ary struggle.  They  are  handed  down  to  us  in  the  manu- 
script letter  book  of  Colonel  George  Morgan,  Indian  agent 
at  Fort  Pitt.'  By  this  treaty  the  United  States  entered  into 
an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  a  tribe  of  savages, 
recognizing  that  tribe  as  an  independent  nation,  guarantee- 
ing its  integrity  and  territory.  Each  party  bound  itself  to  as- 
sist the  other  against  its  enemies.  The  treaty  laid  the 
groundwork  for  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  judiciary 


2  In   the   possession   of   the    I'lttsburg   Carnegie  Library. 


THE  ALLIANCE  WITH  THE   DELAWARES.  75 

in  the  Delaware  nation  and  contained  a  provision  for  the 
admission  of  an  Indian  state  into  the  American  Union.  The 
commissioners  who  made  the  treaty  must  have  known  that 
such  a  state  was  an  impossibility,  yet  they  dehberately  pro- 
vided for  it  in  a  solemn  treaty,  takmg  care,  however,  to  sub- 
ject the  scheme  to  the  approval  of  Congress.  It  v/as  a 
"gold  brick,"  presented  by  the  white  men  to  their  red 
brethren. 

It  was  a  courageous  act  for  the  Delaware  chiefs  to  form 
this  alliance  witli  the  Americans.  All  other  Indian  tribes 
of  the  West  were  in  league  with  the  British,  and  for  months 
had  been  coaxing  and  threatening  the  Delawares  to  draw 
them  into  the  general  combination.  By  daring  to  form 
an  open  union  with  the  United  States,  White  Eyes  exposed 
his  people  to  absolute  destruction  by  the  British  and  their 
red  allies.  He  fully  realized  his  danger,  yet  he  had  the 
courage  to  do  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right  thing.  He 
fell  a  martyr  to  his  convictions. 

The  Americans  had  sent  messengers  to  the  Shawnees, 
inviting  them  to  come  with  the  Delawares  to  the  treaty,  but 
that  warHke  tribe  did  not  respond.  The  deputies  of  the 
Delawares  were  White  Eyes,  the  chief  sachem ;  Killbuck, 
a  famous  medicine  man  and  war  chief,  and  Pipe,  the  chief 
warrior  of  the  Wolf  clan.  These  three  red  men  appeared 
at  the  council  in  holiday  regalia,  painted,  feathered  and 
beaded.  Captain  Pipe  was  especially  celebrated  for  the 
gaudiness  of  his  attire.  The  scene  in  the  assembly  room 
must  have  been  picturesque.  The  councils  were  attended 
by  General  Mcintosh  and  his  colonels  and  staff  officers,  in 
new  uniforms,  and  the  Indian  deputies  were  supported  by  a 
band  of  warriors  in  bright  paint  and  gay  blankets.  The  in- 
terpreter was  Job  Chilloway,  a  Delaware  from  the  Susque- 
hanna, who  had  lived  many  years  among  the  white  people.' 
Soldiers  in  hunting  shirts  patrolled  before  the  barrack  doors 
or  stood  in  groups  on  the  parade  ground,  watching  the 
coming  and  going  of  the  bedizened  Indians. 

3  Morgan  to  the  Delawares,  August  12,  1778,  MS.  in  Pittsburg  Car- 
negie Library. 


76  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

On  the  Saturday  forenoon  when  the  conference  began, 
General  Lewis  ofifered  the  friendship  of  the  United  States 
and  presented  to  the  Indians  a  belt  of  white  wampum,  em- 
blematic of  peace.  He  praised  the  Delawares  because  they 
alone,  of  the  many  Indian  tribes,  had  been  faithful  to  their 
treaties ;  and  in  token  of  this  fidelity  he  presented  a  broad 
belt  of  white  wampum,  having  worked  into  it,  in  black,  the 
figures  of  a  white  man  and  an  Indian,  connected  by  a  black 
line,  denoting  a  road  or  path.  He  then  proposed  a  formal 
alliance,  giving  another  white  belt,  showing  a  white  man 
and  an  Indian  clasping  hands. 

General  Lewis  stated  the  intention  of  sending  an  army 
against  Detroit,  and  asked  the  permission  of  the  Delawares 
for  a  passage  through  their  territory.  The  Delawares  claim- 
ed control  over  the  country  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Al- 
legheny and  Ohio  rivers,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Hocking 
and  Sandusky.  Lewis  expressed  a  desire  that  the  western 
expedition  might  be  so  conducted  as  to  cover  and  protect 
the  Delaware  towns  in  the  Muskingum  valley. 

Chief  White  Eyes  gave  thanks  for  the  ofifer  of  friend- 
ship and  alliance.  It  was  to  form  such  an  alliance  that  he 
and  his  comrades  had  come  into  council.  He  promised  a 
prompt  consultation  and  an  answer  in  the  afternoon.  At 
this  conference  all  the  talking  for  the  Indians  was  done  by 
White  Eyes.  The  speeches  of  this  chief,  on  all  occasions, 
were  notable  for  their  directness,  force  and  clearness.  He 
did  not  indulge  in  that  metaphorical  verbiage  and  tiresome 
prolixity  by  which  Indian  oratory  is  characterized.  He  had 
mingled  much  with  white  men,  had  studied  their  ways  and 
imitated  their  style  of  speech. 

In  the  afternoon  there  was  no  meeting,  for  another 
delegation  of  Indians  arrived  in  camp,  with  firing  of  guns 
and  beating  of  tom-toms,  and  the  ceremionies  of  their  recep- 
tion occupied  the  time.  They  were  led  by  Wingenund,  the 
Delaware  wise  man,  and  by  Nimwha,  chief  of  a  small  band 
of  Shawnecs  who  lived  with  the  Delawares  at  Coshocton. 

It  was  on  a  fair  Sunday  that  the  conference  was  re- 
sumed.     White  Eyes  announced  the  readiness  of  the  In- 


THE  ALLIANCE  WITH  THE  DELAWARES.  77 

dians  to  accept  the  alliance.  "We  have  taken  fast  hold  of 
the  chain  of  friendship,"  he  said,  "and  are  determined  never 
to  part  the  hold,  though  we  should  lose  our  lives."  The 
commissioners  then  announcing  that  they  would  write  out 
and  submit  the  words  of  the  treaty,  White  Eyes  said :  "Bro- 
thers, we  are  become  one  people.  The  enemy  Indians,  as 
soon  as  they  hear  it,  will  strike  us.  We  desire  that  our 
brethren  would  build  some  place  for  our  old  men,  women 
and  children  to  remain  in  safety  whilst  our  warriors  go  with 
you." 

On  Monday  the  articles  of  confederation  between  a 
civilized  and  a  savage  nation  were  interpreted  and  explain- 
ed to  the  Indians.  There  was  a  heavy  rainstorm  on  Tuesday, 
which  prevented  a  meeting,  but  on  Wednesday  White  Eyes 
accepted  the  treaty  on  behalf  of  the  Delawares  and  the  Ma- 
quegea  branch  of  the  Shawnees. 

It  was  a  momentous  event  in  the  life  of  this  Indian  chief 
and  he  delivered  an  affecting  address,  a  brief  outline  of 
which  has  been  preserved  for  us.  "We  now  inform  you," 
he  said,  "that  as  many  of  our  warriors  as  can  possibly  be 
spared  will  join  you  and  go  with  you."  Thus  he  pronounced 
his  own  death  warrant.  "We  are  at  a  loss  to  express 
our  thoughts,  but  we  hope  soon  to  convince  you  by  our  ac- 
tions of  the  sincerity  of  our  hearts.  We  desire  you  not  to 
think  any  of  our  people  will  have  any  objection  to  your 
marching  through  our  country ;  on  the  contrary,  they  will 
rejoice  to  see  you." 

He  requested  that  Colonel  John  Gibson  be  appointed 
Indian  agent,  saying:  "He  has  always  acted  an  honest  part 
by  us,  and  we  are  convinced  he  will  make  our  common  good 
his  chief  study,  and  not  think  only  how  he  may  get  rich."  It 
appears  that  some  of  the  Indian  agents  had  the  same  weak- 
ness then  as  now.^ 


4  This  request  of  White  Eyes  was,  of  course,  a  reflection  on  Colonel 
Morgan,  then  Indian  agent.  Morgan  was  in  Philadelphia  at  the  time 
of  the  treaty  and  when  he  learned  its  terms  he  denounced  it  as  Im- 
proper and  villainous.  See  Taylor's  History  of  Ohio,  Cincinnati,  1S.'>4, 
p.  291.  Killbuck,  who  succeeded  White  Eyes  as  chief  sachem  of  t)ie 
Delawares,  sent  word  to  Morgan  that  he  had  not  agreed  with  White 
Eyes   in  asking  for  the  appointment   of   Gibson. 


78  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

"When  we  were  last  in  Philadelphia,"  White  Eyes  con- 
cluded, "our  wise  brethren  in  Congress  may  remember,  we 
desired  them  to  send  a  schoolmaster  to  our  towns  to  in- 
struct our  children.  As  we  think  it  will  be  for  our  mutual 
interest,  we  request  it  may  be  complied  with." 

The  petitions  of  this  wise  Indian  concerning  Gibson 
and  the  schoolmaster  were  both  neglected  by  the  continen- 
tal government. 

On  the  following  day,  Thursday,  September  17,  1778, 
the  articles  of  confederation  were  signed  in  triplicate,  one 
copy  for  Congress,  one  for  the  Delawares  and  one  for  Gen- 
eral Mcintosh.  There  were  six  articles,  to  the  following 
effect .  First,  all  offenses  were  to  be  mutually  forgiven ; 
second,  a  perpetual  peace  and  friendship  was  pledged,  each 
party  to  assist  the  other  in  any  just  war ;  third,  the  Dela- 
wares gave  permission  for  the  passage  through  their  coun- 
try of  an  American  army,  agreed  to. sell  corn,  meat  and 
horses  to  that  army,  and  to  furnish  guides  and  a  bod\'  of 
warriors,  while  the  United  States  bound  themselves  to  erect 
and  garrison,  within  the  Delaware  country,  a  fort  for  the 
protection  of  the  old  men,  women  and  children ;  fourth, 
each  party  agreed  to  punish  ofifenses  committed  by  citizens 
of  the  other  only  by  trial  by  judges  or  jurors  of  both  parties, 
according  to  a  system  thereafter  to  be  arranged ;  fifth,  the 
United  States  pledged  the  establishment  of  a  fair  trade  un- 
der the  control  of  an  honest  agent. 

The  sixth  article  was  the  most  remarkable.  It  guar- 
anteed the  integrity  of  the  Delaware  territory,  so  long  as  the 
nation  should  keep  the  peace  with  the  United  States,  and 
concluded  with  the  following  provision,  apparently  drawn 
rather  hastily  : 

"And  it  is  further  agreed  on  between  the  contracting 
parties  that,  should  it,  in  future,  be  found  conducive  to  the 
mutual  interest  of  both  parties,  to  invite  any  other  tribe  who 
have  been  friendly  to  the  interest  of  the  United  States  to 
join  the  present  confederation  and  to  form  a  state,  whereof 
the  Delaware  nation  shall  be  the  head,  and  have  a  represen- 
tative in  Congress ;  provided  nothing  contained  in  this  ar- 


THE   ALLIANCE  WITH  THE   DELAWARES.  79 

tide  be  considered  as  conclusive  until  it  meets  with  the  ap- 
probation of  Congress." 

This  is  certainly  as  strange  a  proposition  as  ever  was 
made  to  a  savage  nation.  Of  course,  it  never  went  any  far- 
ther than  the  piece  of  parchment  on  which  it  was  written.  It 
was  probably  never  intended  to  go  any  farther. 

The  treaty  was  signed  by  the  several  deputies,  Andrew 
and  Thomas  Lewis,  White  Eyes,  the  Pipe  and  John  Kill- 
buck,  the  Indians  making  their  marks.  The  following  sig- 
natures were  attached  as  those  of  witnesses  :  Lachlan  Mc- 
intosh, Brigadier  General,  Commander  of  the  Western  De- 
partment ;  Daniel  Brodhead,  Colonel  of  the  Eighth  Penn- 
sylvania Regiment ;  W.  Crawford,  Colonel ;  John  Campbell, 
John  Stephenson,  John  Gibson,  Colonel  of  the  Thirteenth 
Virginia  Regiment;  Arthur  Graham,  Brigade  Major; 
Lachlan  Mcintosh,  Jr.,  Brigade  Major;  Benjamin  Mills, 
Joseph  L.  Finley,  Captain  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania 
Regiment,  and  John  Finley,  Captain  of  the  Eighth  Pennsyl- 
vania Regiment. 

On  the  succeeding  day  presents  were  given  to  the  Dela- 
wares  on  behalf  of  Congress  and  the  Indians  then  departed 
for  Coshocton,  to  make  preparations  for  joining  the  expe- 
dition against  Detroit. 


8o  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


FORT   LAURENS. 


In  the  notice  of  General  Mcintosh,  in  the  "Dictionary 
of  American  Biography,"  is  to  be  found  this  statement :  "In 
a  short  time  he  restored  peace  to  the  frontier  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia."  Unfortunately  for  the  frontier,  he 
did  not  do  anything  of  the  sort.  He  was  as  much  a  fail- 
ure on  the  border  as  his  predecessor,  Hand,  not  because  of 
his  own  lack  of  ability,  but  because  of  the  want  of  men  and 
supplies  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  plans.  Immediate- 
ly after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  with  the  Delawares,  in 
the  middle  of  September,  1778,  Mcintosh  prepared  to  exe- 
cute his  design  against  Detroit.  He  had  already  summon- 
ed the  militia  from  the  frontier  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia.  Westmoreland  county  failed  to  contribute,  as 
her  own  borders  were  almost  daily  harried  by  savage  bands. 
The  Virginia  counties,  Yohogania,  Monongalia  and  Ohio, 
furnished  nearly  800  men,  but  they  gathered  at  Fort  Pitt 
slowly  and  provisions  for  the  long  campaign  were  collected 
with  difificulty. 

About  October  i  the  army,  consisting  of  1,300  men, 
of  whom  500  were  regulars  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  and 
the  Thirteenth  Virginia,  moved  from  Fort  Pitt  down  the 
Ohio,  constructing  a  road  along  the  southern  bank  of  the 
river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Beaver. 

Four  weeks  were  occupied  in  the  building  of  a  fort  on 
the  high  bluff  overlooking  the  Ohio,  on  the  western  side 
of  the  Beaver  river.      The  site  of  this  fort  was  within  the 


FORT  IvAURTiNS.  8 1 

present  town  of  Beaver,  just  above  the  station  of  the  Cleve- 
land and  Pittsburg  railroad.  It  was  built  under  the  di- 
rection of  Colonel  Cambray,  a  French  engineer  and  chief 
of  the  artillery  in  Mcintosh's  army.  The  walls  were  of 
heavy  logs,  filled  in  with  earth,  and  on  them  six-pound  can- 
non were  mounted.  The  fort  contained  barracks  for  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers.  The  commander  designed  Fort  Mcin- 
tosh as  an  advanced  depot  for  munitions  and  provisions.  It 
was  the  most  western  point  to  which  supplies  could  be  con- 
veyed with  ease  by  water,  but  from  the  mouth  of  the  Bea- 
ver onward  the  expedition  must  go  entirely  by  land.^ 

While  Fort  Mcintosh  was  building,  the  general  was 
trying  to  get  forward  his  stores,  in  preparation  for  the 
march  into  the  wilderness.  But  things  moved  slowly  over 
the  bad  roads  of  the  frontier.  Every  delay  was  annoying  to 
the  Scotch  commander.  The  fine  days  of  autumn  were  slip- 
ping by  and  Detroit  was  still  far  away.  The  Delaware  In- 
dians, of  whom  a  band  of  60  warriors  accompanied  the 
army,  could  not  understand  why  so  much  time  was  spent 
in  building  a  fort  which  would  not  be  needed  when  Detroit 
was  captured,  and  some  of  the  American  officers  considered 
the  month  passed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Beaver  as  that  much 
time  wasted. 

On  November  3  a  herd  of  lean  cattle,  driven  over  the 
mountains,  arrived  at  Fort  Mcintosh,  and  two  days  later 
the  army  began  its  march  westward  through  the  Indian 
country.  The  pack  horses  and  cattle  were  so  poor  and 
weak  that  they  could  not  make  more  than  five  or  six  miles 
a  day,  and  it  was  November  19  when  the  force  reached  the 
Tuscarawas  river,  at  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Bolivar, 
near  the  line  between  Stark  and  Tuscarawas  counties. 

According  to  the  pledge  contained  in  the  treaty  with 
the  Delawares,  to  erect  a  fort  in  their  country  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  women  and  children,  it  was  the  intention  of 
General  Mcintosh  to  build  a  stockade  at  the  Delaware  cap- 
ital of  Coshocton,  at  the  junction  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  the 

1  Fort  Mcintosh  and  Its  Times,  monograph  by  Daniel  Agnew;    Wash- 
ington-Irvine  Correspondence,    p.    23,    etc. 


82  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Walhonding,  but  several  things  conspired  to  thwart  this 
plan."  During  the  march  to  the  Tuscarawas  the  Delaware 
chief,  White  Eyes,  was  "treacherously  put  to  death."  The 
exact  manner  of  his  killing  is  unknown,  but  it  is  believed 
that  he  was  shot  by  a  Virginia  militiaman.'  His  death 
caused  dismay  among  his  warriors  and  most  of  them  de- 
serted the  American  force  and  returned  to  Coshocton.  It 
became  thereafter  uncertain  whether  the  Americans  would 
be  received  kindly  at  the  Delaware  capital.  A  march  south 
to  Coshocton  would  take  the  army  far  out  of  its  way.  Be- 
yond all,  the  season  had  now  become  so  late  that  Detroit 
was  out  of  the  question.  A  winter  campaign  through  the 
land  of  the  savages  was  not  to  be  considered. 

With  great  reluctance  Mcintosh  was  driven  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  could  not  continue  his  campaign  during  tliat 
season.  He  was  not  willing,  however,  to  letire  without  ac- 
complishing something.  He  decided  to  build  a  stockade 
fort  at  Tuscarawas,  where  the  army  was  then  encamped, 
to  hold  that  place  during  the  winter  and  from  it  to  set  forth 
in  the  spring  on  another  attempt  against  Detroit.  Such 
a  fort  would  fulfill  the  pledge  of  the  treaty  to  build  a  place 
of  refuge  in  the  Delaware  country,  and  Mcintosh  hoped 
to  send  out  war  parties  from  it  to  strike  the  towns  on  the 
Sandusky  river.  Even  this  hope  was  ruined  by  the  gen- 
eral's failure  to  bring  forward  sufficient  provisions. 

The  fort  at  the  Tuscarawas  was  built  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  river,  about  half  a  mile  below  the  present  village  of 
Bolivar.  It  was  a  small  thing,  enclosing  only  about  an 
acre  of  ground.  High  embankments  of  earth  were  raised 
and  topped  with  pickets,  consisting  of  logs  set  upright  and 
pointed  at  the  top.  Colonel  Cambray  superintended  the 
building  of  this  fort,  which  was  named  Laurens,  after  the 
president  of  the  Continental  Congress." 

While  this  work  was  going  on,  Mcintosh  found  that 
he  could  not  get  forward  sufficient  provisions  to  maintain 

2  Ft.  Pitt,  p.  2.34. 

3  Criimrine's   History  of  Washington  County,   Pa.,  note  on  p.   220. 

4  Albaoh's    Western    Annals,    p.    300;     Pennsylvania    Archives,    First 
Series,  vol.  vli.,  p.  131. 


FORT   LAURENS.  83 

his  large  force  in  the  Indian  country  long  enough  even  for 
an  expedition  against  the  Sandusky  towns.  The  commis- 
sary department  seems  to  have  been  managed  miserably,  al- 
though it  contended  with  great  difficulties.'' 

The  time  of  the  Virginia  militia  ran  only  until  the  end 
of  the  year.  The  weather  began  to  grow  cold,  and  to  pre- 
vent starvation  and  disaster  in  the  snows,  Mcintosh  was 
forced  to  return  with  his  army  to  the  Ohio.  He  left  at  Fort 
Laurens  150  men  of  the  Thirteenth  Virginia,  under  Colonel 
John  Gibson,  the  stout-hearted  and  active  frontiersman. 
Colonel  Brodhead,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Eighth  Penn- 
sylvania, formed  the  winter  garrison  of  Fort  Mcintosh, 
while  General  Mcintosh  took  up  his  quarters  in  Fort  Pitt, 
and  there  brooded  over  his  disappointments. 

A  terrible  winter  was  spent  by  the  little  garrison  of 
Fort  Laurens.  Colonel  Gibson  did  not  have  sufficient 
food  to  last  him  until  spting,  and  hunting  in  the  woods  was 
soon  stopped  by  the  appearance  of  hostile  Indians.  The 
savages  began  to  prowl  about  the  post  early  in  January, 
1779.  The  erection  of  this  fort,  almost  in  the  heart  of  the 
Indian  country,  greatly  provoked  the  savages  of  the  Wyan- 
dot, Miami  and  Mingo  tribes,  and  they  plotted  its  destruc- 
tion.' 

Mcintosh  had  promised  to  send  back  provisions,  and 
about  the  middle  of  January  Captain  John  Clark,  of  the 
Eighth  Pennsylvania,  was  sent  from  Fort  Mcintosh  with  15 
men  to  convoy  pack  horses,  with  flour  and  meat,  to  the  lit- 
tle post  on  the  Tuscarawas. 

Captain  Clark  reached  the  fort  in  safety  on  January  21 
and  tv/o  days  later  set  out  on  his  return  to  the  Ohio.  Three 
miles  from  the  fort  he  was  ambushed  by  Simon  Girty  and 
17  Mingo  Indians,  who  killed  two  of  the  soldiers,  wounded 
four  and  captured  one.^  Captain  Clark  was  driven  back  to 
the  fort,  but  a  few  days  afterward  he  again  started  and  went 


5  Frontier    Forts,    vol.    ii.,    p.    489;     Pennsylvania    Archives,    First 
Series,    vol.   viii.,   pp.   109,  405. 

6  Zeisberger  to  Morgan,  January  20,  1779,  MS.   in  Pittsburg  Carnegie 
Library. 

7  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vii.,  p.  173. 


84  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

through  without  molestation.  Girty  carried  his  prisoner 
to  Detroit,  where  he  raised  a  much  larger  force  and  return- 
ed to  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Laurens. 

About  the  middle  of  February  the  wilderness  post  was 
surrounded  by  a  band  of  200  Indians,  mostly  Miamis  and 
Mingoes,  led  by  Captain  Henry  Bird  and  Girty."  Gibson 
succeeded  in  sending  a  messenger  through  the  savage  lines, 
who  carried  the  news  of  the  situation  to  General  Mcintosh, 
with  this  word  from  Gibson  : 

"You  may  depend  upon  my  defending  the  fort  to  the 
last  extremity." 

On  February  23  the  garrison  suffered  a  severe  loss. 
Early  in  the  winter  the  men  had  cut  a  lot  of  firewood  and 
piled  it  in  the  forest  not  far  from  the  fort.  On  the  day  men- 
tioned a  wagon  was  sent  out,  under  an  escort  of  18  soldiers, 
to  haul  some  of  the  wood  into  the  stockade.  At  about  half 
a  mile  from  the  fort  the  little  party  passed  by  an  ancient  In- 
dian mound,  and  behind  that  mound  a  band  of  savages  lay 
hidden.  As  the  white  men  went  along  one  side  of  the 
mound  the  Indians  burst  upon  them,  both  in  front  and  rear, 
took  them  completely  by  surprise  and  quickly  killed  and 
scalped  every  member  of  the  party  except  two,  who  were 
taken  prisoners. 

The  Indians  now  laid  regular  siege  to  the  fort  and  en- 
deavored to  starve  it  into  surrender.  The  camp  fires  of  the 
savages  were  seen  at  night  in  the  bleak  woods,  and  in  the 
daytime  the  warriors  showed  themselves  on  the  adjacent 
hills,  shaking  their  guns  at  the  fort  and  waving  aloft  the 
scalps  of  the  slain  soldiers.  The  food  of  the  garrison  grew 
so  scanty  that  Colonel  Gibson  cut  down  the  daily  ration  to 
a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  flour  and  the  same  weight  of  meat. 
Gibson  sent  another  messenger  for  help,  a  courageous  fel- 
low, who  eluded  the  watchful  Indians  and  reached  Fort  Mc- 
intosh on  March  3.  At  once  the  general  set  about  to  gath- 
er a  relieving  force,  but  it  was  two  weeks  before  he  collected 
enough  men  to  do  any  good. 


8  The  Westward  Movement.  Justin  Winsor.  p.  13S;  The  Girtys,  p.  94. 


FORT   LAURENS,  85 

111  the  meantime  the  straits  of  the  garrison  grew  des- 
perate. A  sortie  in  force  was  contemplated,  but  this  v;as 
given  up  when  a  count  was  made  of  the  besieging  savages. 
The  Indians  paraded  over  the  crest  of  a  hill  within  plain 
sight  of  the  garrison,  and  about  850  warriors  were  counted. 
This  kept  the  garrison  closely  within  the  walls.  It  was 
learned  years  afterward  that  there  were  not  more  than  200 
Indians,  but  they  had  exaggerated  their  real  strength  by 
marching  around  the  farther  base  of  the  hill  and  showing 
themselves  in  long  single  file,  four  or  five  times  over,  within 
sight  of  the  white  men. 

Captain  Bird,  after  this  stratagem,  sent  in  a  demand  for 
surrender,  promising  safe  passage  for  the  soldiers  to  Fort 
Mcintosh,  but  Gibson  sternly  refused.  The  Indians  then 
promised  to  withdraw  if  Gibson  would  furnish  them  with  a 
barrel  of  flour  and  a  barrel  of  meat.  Bird  believed  that  the 
garrison  was  reduced  to  its  last  provisions  and  would  re- 
fuse the  request.  In  such  an  event,  he  felt  certain  that  star- 
vation would  bring  the  white  men  to  terms  in  a  few  days. 
Gibson  had  but  a  few  barrels  of  food,  and  that  in  bad  con- 
dition, but  he  quickly  complied  with  the  demand,  sent  out 
the  two  barrels  and  said  that  he  had  plenty  left.  The  sav- 
ages were  discouraged,  for  they  were  almost  without  food 
themselves.  The  snow  was  so  deep  that  they  were  not  able 
to  replenish  their  larder.  They  had  a  feast  on  the  flour  and 
pork,  and  on  the  following  day  left  the  vicinity  and  return- 
ed to  their  towns  in  Northwestern  Ohio. 

On  March  23  General  Mcintosh  appeared  with  his  re- 
lieving force  of  300  regulais  and  200  militiamen,  escorting 
a  train  of  pack  horses  with  provisions.  The  joy  of  the  gar- 
rison was  excessive.  For  more  than  a  week  the  men  had 
been  living  on  roots  and  soup  made  by  boiling  rawhides. 

The  famished  men  sallied  forth  with  their  rifles  and 
fired  a  volley  to  express  their  gladness.  The  shooting 
frightened  the  pack  horses  and  they  stampeded  through  the 
woods,  scattering  their  provisions  in  every  direction.  Some 
of  the  horses  were  never  recovered  and  not  more  than  half 
of  the  food  was  gathered  up. 


86  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

General  Mcintosh  remained  only  two  or  three  days  at 
Fort  Laurens.  Colonel  Gibson  and  his  hungry  Virginians 
were  relieved  and  returned  with  the  general  to  Fort  Pitt, 
while  Major  Vernon  and  lOO  men  of  the  Eighth  Pennsyl- 
vania were  subsituted  as  the  garrison  of  the  wilderness 
post. 

In  February,  before  going  to  the  relief  of  Fort  Laurens, 
General  Mcintosh  had  concluded  that  he  was  a  failure  as  a 
frontier  ofificer,  and  had  written  to  General  Washington 
asking  to  be  recalled.  The  Commander-in-Chief  acceded 
to  the  request,  wdth  evident  chagrin,  and  named  Colonel 
Daniel  Brodhead,  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania,  as  com- 
mander of  the  Western  Department  The  nomination  of 
Brodhead  was  commimicated  to  Congress  on  ]\Iarch  5  and 
was  approved  by  that  body.  On  his  return  to  Fort  Pitt, 
April  3,  Mcintosh  received  the  notification  of  his  release 
from  command,  and  soon  afterward  departed  for  Philadel- 
phia, while  Colonel  Brodhead  went  from  Fort  Mcintosh  to 
Fort  Pitt  and  took  charge  of  affairs." 

In  writing  of  Mcintosh,  under  date  of  February  20, 
1779,  General  Washington  said  :  "I  wish  matters  had  been 
more  prosperously  conducted  under  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Mcintosh.  This  gentleman  was  in  a  manner  a  stranger 
to  me,  but  during  the  time  of  his  residence  at  Valley 
Forge  I  had  imbibed  a  good  opinion  of  his  good  sense,  at- 
tention to  duty  and  disposition  to  correct  public  abuses, 
qualifications  much  to  be  valued  in  a  separate  and  distinct 
command.  To  these  considerations  were  added  (and  not 
the  least)  his  disinterested  concern  with  respect  to  the  dis- 
putes which  had  divided  and  distracted  the  inhabitants  of 
that  western  world,  and  which  would  have  rendered  an  of- 
ficer from  either  Pennsylvania  or  Virginia  improper,  while 
no  one  could  be  spared  from  another  state  with  so  much 
convenience  as  Mcintosh.  He  is  now  coming  away,  and 
the  second  in  command,  Brodhead  (as  there  will  be  no 
military  operations  of  consequence  to  be  conducted),  will 


9  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  p.  35. 


FORT  LAURENS.  87 

succeed  him.  But  once  for  all,  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  me 
to  conclude  with  this  observation,  that,  with  such  means  as 
are  provided,  I  must  labor."^" 

Brodhead  was  one  of  the  officers  who  believed  that  the 
building  of  Fort  Mcintosh  was  useless  and  the  erection  of 
Fort  Laurens  foolish.  During  April  and  May  the  soldiers 
in  Fort  Laurens,  though  free  from  serious  Indian  attacks, 
suffered  great  privations  through  the  shortage  of  food.  A 
few  deer  were  killed  by  Delaware  Indian  hunters  and  sold 
to  the  garrison,  but  in  the  middle  of  May  Brodhead  order- 
ed the  greater  part  of  the  force  to  return  to  Fort  Mcintosh 
to  escape  actual  starvation.  Major  Vernon  remained  with 
only  25  men  until  August  i,  part  of  the  time  being  reduced 
for  food  to  herbs,  salt  and  boiled  hides.  It  was  impossible 
to  keep  the  place  provisioned  so  far  in  the  wilderness.  The 
fort  was  finally  dismantled,  by  Brodhead's  orders,  and  the 
last  little  handful  of  men  returned  to  Fort  Pitt.  The  stock- 
ade remamed  for  many  years,  falling  into  decay  slowly. 
Fifty  years  ago  some  of  the  pickets  were  standing,  and  even 
now  the  outlines  of  the  embankments  can  be  made  out  on 
the  western  bank  of  the  Tuscarawas  river.'^ 


10  Magazine   of   American  History,   vol.    iii.,    p.   132. 

11  Historical  Collections  of  Ohio,  vol.  ii.,   p.  693. 


OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


SAMUEL  BRADY'S  REVENGE. 


General  Washington  excused  the  appointment  of  Col- 
onel Brodhead  to  the  command  of  the  Western  Department 
on  the  plea  that  no  important  operations  were  to  be  under- 
taken in  that  quarter.  Brodhead  did  not  understand  the 
matter  in  that  light.  He  had  his  own  ideas  about  ihe  de- 
fense of  the  frontier  and  proceeded  actively  to  put  them  in- 
to execution ;  and  although  not  much  was  expected  of  him, 
he  proved  to  be  the  most  vigorous  and  the  most  successful 
in  punishing  the  savages  among  all  the  commanders  at  Fort 
Pitt  during  the  Revolution,  including  his  two  successors  as 
well  as  two  predecessors. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  1779,  Alclntosh  transferred 
to  Brodhead  J22  men,  regulars  and  militia.^  Most  of  these 
troops  were  at  Forts  Pitt  and  Mcintosh,  but  small  parties 
garrisoned  Fort  Henry,  at  Wheeling;  Fort  Randolph,  at 
Point  Pleasant,  and  Fort  Hand,  near  the  Kiskiminetas, 
three  and  a  half  miles  southwest  of  the  site  of  Apollo.  About 
the  middle  of  April,  Lieutenant  Lawrence  Harrison,  for- 
merly one  of  Gibson's  Lambs,  but  now  connected  with  the 
Thirteenth  Virginia,  was  sent  to  occupy  Fort  Crawford,  a 
small  stockade  built  by  Colonel  William  Crawford  at  Par- 
nassus, during  the  preceding  summer.  Forts  Hand  and 
Crawford  were  intended  to  protect  the  northern  border  of 
Westmoreland  county  from  the  raids  of  the  Iroquois  who 

1  Pennsylvania    Archives,    First    Series,    vol.    sii.,    p.    lOG;     Frontier 
Forts,    vol.    11.,   p.   327. 


SAMUEL  BRADY'S  REVENGE.  89 

lived  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Allegheny  river,  but  they 
were  not  altogether  effective. 

With  the  first  mild  weather  of  spring  the  incursions  of 
the  savages  began.  The  Senecas  and  Muncys  descended 
the  Allegheny  in  canoes  until  within  striking  distance  of  the 
Westmoreland  settlements,  hid  their  canoes  in  the  thickets 
and  scattered  in  little  bands  through  the  country.  They 
burned  cabins,  killed  and  scalped  the  men,  carried  off  the 
women,  children  and  household  goods,  regained  their  ca- 
noes and  ascended  the  river  before  they  could  be  overtaken 
by  the  soldiers  or  aroused  settlers.  It  was  almost  impos- 
sible for  regular  troops  to  accomplish  anything  in  this  kind 
of  predatory  warfare.  The  movements  of  the  Indians  were 
secret  and  swift.  Except  when  snow  was  on  the  ground, 
they  usually  left  no  trail  that  could  be  followed  save  by  the 
most  experienced  woodsman.  The  spring  and  early  sum- 
mer of  1779  present  a  terrible  record  of  Indian  depredations 
on  the  border,  and  the  northern  portion  of  Westmoreland 
county,  between  the  Forbes  road  (nearly  the  present  line  of 
the  Pennsylvania  railroad)  and  the  Kiskiminetas  river,  was 
almost  depopulated. 

Brodhead  put  into  operation  a  system  of  scouting  along 
the  border,  from  one  fort  to  another,  and  from  the  regulars 
at  Fort  Pitt  he  organized  a  number  of  ranging  bands,  com- 
posed of  the  boldest  and  most  experienced  frontiersmen, 
whom  he  sent  on  extended  tours  into  the  forests.  To  com- 
mand these  ranging  parties  he  selected  three  of  the  bravest 
and  keenest  woodsmen  in  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania,  Cap- 
tain Van  Swearingen,  Lieutenant  Samuel  Brady  and  Lieu- 
tenant John  Hardin.  It  was  in  this  work  that  Brady  won 
fame  as  an  Indian  fighter  and  killer. 

Daniel  Boone  said,  in  his  elder  days,  that,  while  he  had 
fought  Indians  for  many  years,  he  did  not  know  positively 
that  he  had  ever  killed  one.  Such  was  not  the  case  with 
Samuel  Brady.  His  hatred  of  the  red  men  was  personal 
and  he  made  it  his  business  to  kill  them.  He  had  abund- 
ant justification.  The  cruel  death  of  his  brother,  in  Au- 
gust, 1778,  was  followed  by  the  killing  of  his  father,  Cap- 


90  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

tain  John  Brady,  on  April  ii,  1779.  Captain  Brady  was 
conveying  supplies  from  Fort  Wallis  to  Muncy,  on  the  west 
branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  when  he  was  shot  dead  from  his 
horse  by  three  Iroquois  Indians  secreted  in  a  thicket.  His 
body  was  recovered  unscalped  and  was  buried  at  Muncy, 
where  a  handsome  monument  was  erected  by  public  sub- 
scription in  1879.'  Samuel  Brady  received  news  of  his 
father's  death  about  the  time  he  was  chosen  by  Brodhead 
as  a  forest  ranger.  It  swelled  his  hatred  of  the  Indian  race, 
gave  him  additional  eagerness  on  the  warpath  and  nerved 
his  arm  to  execute  vengeance. 

Only  a  brief  review  is  possible  of  the  Indian  depreda- 
tions in  Westmoreland  county  in  that  terrible  spring  of 
1779.  On  April  15  Colonel  Brodhead  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
the  East,  "The  Indians  are  daily  committing  murders  in 
Westmoreland  to  such  a  degree  that  it  is  apprehended  they 
have  formed  a  camp  on  some  of  the  waste  lands  of  the  in- 
habitants." Toward  the  end  of  April  a  strong  band  of 
Iroquois  entered  the  Ligonier  settlement,  slaughtered  cat- 
tle and  hogs,  killed  one  man  and  carried  two  families  into 
captivity.^ 

It  was  probably  the  same  band,  estimated  to  be  100 
strong  and  accompanied  by  several  tories,  that  attacked 
Fort  Hand  on  April  26.  The  garrison  consisted  of  17  men, 
under  Captain  Samuel  Moorhead  and  Lieutenant  William 
Jack.  About  i  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  savages  fired 
from  the  woods  at  two  ploughmen,  who  escaped  unharmed 
into  the  stockade.  The  team  of  horses  and  the  yoke  of 
oxen  with  which  they  were  working  were  killed  by  the  In- 
dians, who  then  spread  around  the  place  and  shot  down  all 
the  domestic  animals  in  sight.  The  savages  hid  behind 
stumps,  fences  and  sheds  and  opened  fire  on  the  fort,  which 
Avas  returned  with  vigor  by  the  garrison.  Several  women 
within  the  stockade  molded  bullets  for  the  riflemen,  and  the 
firing  kept  up  briskly  until  nightfall.       Three  members  of 


2  Meglnness's  History  of  the  West  Branch;    Notes  and  Queries,  vol. 
1.,  p.  123.  ;1| 

3  Pennsylvania    Archives,    First   Series,   vol.    vil.,    p.    345. 


SAMUEL   BRADY  S   REVKNGE.  9 1 

the  garrison  were  wounded  and  one  of  them  died  a  few  days 
later.  He  was  Sergeant  PhiHp  McGraw.  who  occupied  a 
sentry  box  in  a  corner  bastion.  A  bullet  entered  a  narrow 
porthole,  and  after  McGraw  had  been  shot  and  removed, 
a  man  of  the  name  of  McCauley  ^^  as  wounded  in  the  same 
manner. 

During  the  night  the  Indians  continued  to  whoop  and 
shoot  at  the  stockade.  They  mimicked  the  sentinel's  cry, 
"All's  well !"  About  midnight  the  savages  set  fire  to  John 
McKibben's  large  log  house  not  far  from  the  fort,  and  as 
the  flames  poured  upward  and  illuminated  the  stockade,  the 
tories  among  the  Indians  cried,  "Is  all  well  now  ?"  There 
was  but  little  wind  and  the  fire  did  not  spread.  In  the 
morning  the  savages  were  still  about  the  fort,  but  during 
the  forenoon  they  gave  up  the  siege  and  Avent  away  to  the 
northward.  During  the  night  a  messenger  had  been  sent 
out  and  he  made  his  way  to  Fort  Pitt  for  aid.  Forty  sol- 
diers were  hurried  to  Fort  Hand,  but  they  were  too  late  to 
intercept  the  marauders." 

During  May  Brodhead  kept  his  scouts  out  along  the 
upper  Allegheny,  to  give  warning  of  the  approach  of  any 
other  hostile  bands,  and  he  was  employing  every  exertion 
to  prepare  for  an  expedition  into  the  Seneca  country.  He 
was  much  hampered  by  the  lack  of  supplies,  which  came 
Avith  painful  slowness  over  the  mountain  roads  from  the 
East.  For  many  days  his  men  were  without  meat.  Flour 
was  bought  only  at  a  high  price.  The  soldiers  were  clothed 
in  rags  and  many  were  without  shoes.  They  learned  to 
make  Indian  moccasins,  and  Brady  and  his  scouts  were  clad 
almost  entirely  in  the  Indian  fashion.  On  all  their  forest 
excursions  they  painted  their  bodies  and  faces  as  the  sav- 
ages did,  wore  feathers  in  their  long  hair  and  were  to  be  dis- 
tinguished only  by  close  scrutiny  from  the  red  m.en  whom 
they  hunted.  They  were  accompanied  by  a  few  Delaware 
warriors,  who  rendered  excellent  service  in  trailing  the 
Seneca  war  parties.      A  young  Delaware  chief,  Nanowland, 


4  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,   p.   39;    Pennsylvania   Archives, 
J'irst  Series,   vol.   vii.,  p.   362;    Frontier  Forts,   vol.  ii.,   p.   328. 


92  OLD   WESTMORELAND, 

took  an  especial  fancy  to  Brady  and  was  with  him  so  con- 
stantly as  to  becon\e  known  as  Brady's  "Pet  Indian." 

About  the  first  of  Jvine  Brodhead  was  informed  that  a 
large  band  of  Seneca  Indians  and  tories,  under  Colonel 
John  Butler,  was  preparing  to  descend  the  Allegheny  river 
and  ravage  the  settlements.  He  sent  three  scouts  in  a  ca- 
noe up  the  Allegheny  as  far  as  Venango  (the  present  Frank- 
lin). There  they  were  discovered  by  a  party  of  hostile  In- 
dians, who  pursued  them  in  canoes  almost  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Kiskiminetas.  The  scouts  had  a  narrow  escape  and  the 
news  they  brought  to  Fort  Pitt  satisfied  Brodhead  that  the 
threatened  invasion  was  at  hand. 

The  savages  were  not  as  numerous,  however,  as  was 
supposed.  There  were  but  seven  of  them.  They  hid  their 
canoes  on  the  Allegheny  and  penetrated  into  Westmoreland 
county  between  Fort  Hand  and  Fort  Crawford.  There 
they  encountered  a  solitary  soldier,  and  left  him  dead  and 
scalped  in  the  woods.  They  surprised  the  little  settlement 
at  James  Perry's  mill,  on  Big  Sewickley  creek,  killed  a 
woman  and  four  children  and  carried  off  two  children,  half 
a  dozen  horses,  blankets,  jewelry  and  articles  of  female 
raiment." 

When  the  news  of  this  raid  reached  Fort  Pitt  two  par- 
ties were  sent  out  after  the  Indians.  One  considerable 
company  marched  to  the  Sewickley  settlement  and  attempt- 
ed from  there  to  follow  the  Indian  trail.  The  other  band, 
consisting  of  20  men  under  Brady,  all  painted  and  dressed 
like  Indians,  ascended  the  Allegheny  river.  Brady  was 
satisfied  that  the  marauders  came  from  the  north  and  would 
return  in  that  direction,  regain  their  hidden  canoes  and  seek 
to  escape  by  water.  His  experience  told  him  that  the  sur- 
est way  to  cut  them  of(  would  be  to  make  a  rapid  march  up 
the  stream.  His  men  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  Indian 
canoes  and  toward  an  evening  found  them  drawn  up  amid 
shrubbery,  on  the  beach  within  the  mouth  of  one  of  the 
large  creeks  entering  the  Allegheny  from  the  east.       The 


5  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vii.,  p.  505. 


SAMUEL  BRADY'S  REVENGE.  93 

authorities  differ  as  to  the  identity  of  this  creek.  McCabe, 
who  compiled  a  series  of  traditions  concerning  Brady's  ex- 
ploits, says  that  it  was  the  Big  Mahoning.  Colonel  Brod- 
head.  in  his  contemporary  report  to  General  Washington, 
says  that  it  was  "about  15  miles  above  Kittanning."  This 
agrees  with  the  location  of  Red  Bank  creek,  and  would 
make  the  scene  of  Brady's  adventure  not  far  from  the  place 
since  called  Brady's  Bend. 

The  Indians  had  gone  into  camp  in  the  woods,  on  a  lit- 
tle knoll  north  of  the  creek,  and  were  preparing  their  even- 
ing meal  when  discovered  by  Brady.  They  had  hobbled 
the  stolen  horses  and  turned  them  out  to  graze  on  the  mea- 
dow between  their  camp  and  the  creek.  This  stream  was 
very  high  and  the  scouts  were  compelled  to  ascend  it  two 
miles  before  they  were  able  to  wade  across. 

After  nightfall  Brady  and  his  men  stealthily  descended 
the  northern  side  of  the  creek  until  they  were  near  the  In- 
dian camp,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  tall  grass  of  the  mea- 
dow. Crawling  on  their  stomachs,  they  approached  closer 
and  closer  to  the  hill  where  the  Indians  and  their  prisoners 
were  sleeping  around  the  campfire.  They  were  much  an- 
noyed by  the  horses  in  the  meadow,  which  threatened  to 
betray  the  presence  of  the  strange  creatures  in  the  grass, 
but  the  animals  were  probably  too  weary  with  their  long 
journey  of  the  day  to  make  any  demonstrations  of  alarm. 

Brady  and  Nanowland,  laying  aside  their  tomahawks, 
knives,  powder  horns  and  bullet  pouches,  crept  to 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  Indian  camp,  to  count  the 
savages  and  ascertain  the  position  of  the  captive  children. 
One  of  the  Indian  warriors  suddenly  cast  off  his  blanket, 
arose,  stepped  forth  to  within  six  feet  of  where  Brady  lay, 
stood  there  awhile,  stretched  himself  and  then  returned  to 
his  slumber.  Brady  and  Nanowland  then  crawled  silently 
back  to  their  companions  and  prepared  for  an  attack  at  day- 
break. 

The  whole  party  of  scouts  made  their  way  amxid  the 
grass  and  bushes  as  near  the  Indian  camp  as  was  considered 
safe,  and  lay  awaiting  the  dawn.     By  and  by,  as  morn- 


94  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

ing  began  to  come,  one  Indian  awoke  and  aroused 
the  others.  They  stood  about  the  fire,  laughing  and  chatting, 
when  a  deadly  volley  blazed  forth  from  the  ad- 
jacent bushes.  The  chief  of  the  seven  Indians  fell 
dead  and  the  others  fled  almost  naked  into  the  dense  forest, 
two  of  them  being  severely  wounded.  Brady's  own  rifle 
brought  down  the  Indian  captain,  and,  with  a  shout  of  al- 
most fiendish  triumph,  Brady  sprang  forward  and  scalped 
the  fallen  chief.  The  traditions  of  the  Brady  family  say  that 
this  chief  was  the  very  Indian,  Bald  Eagle,  who  had  struck 
down  and  scalped  Brady's  younger  brother  on  the  Susque- 
hanna ten  months  before.  Brodhead  informed  Washington 
that  he  was  "a.  notorious  warrior  of  the  Muncy  nation." 

The  two  wounded  Indians  were  trailed  for  some  dis- 
tance by  the  drops  of  blood  on  the  ground,  but  they  quickly 
staunched  their  wounds  with  leaves  and  were  lost  in  the 
dense  thickets.  Nanowland  uttered  the  cry  of  a  young 
wolf,  the  peculiar  call  of  the  Muncys,  and  it  was  twice  an- 
swered by  the  fugitives ;  but  further  calls  brought  no  re- 
sponse and  the  wounded  savages  could  not  be  found.  Three 
weeks  later  Brady  was  in  the  same  neighborhood  and  ob- 
served a  flock  of  crows  hovering  about  a  thicket.  On 
searching  there,  he  found  the  partially  devoured  body  of  an 
Indian." 

The  children  captured  at  Sewickley  were  recovered  un- 
harmed and  Brady  and  his  men  returned  to  Fort  Pitt  with 
the  stolen  horses  and  plunder,  the  blankets,  guns,  toma- 
hawks and  knives  of  the  savages.  The  punishment  of  this 
Indian  band  was  so  severe  that  not  another  inroad  was  made 
by  the  northern  savages  into  Westmoreland  county  during 
that  vear. 


6  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  xii.,   p.  131;  Wasliington- 
Irvlne   Correspondence,  p.   41;    Hist.  ColL   of  Pa.,  p.   99. 


BRODHEAD'S   RAID  UP  THE  ALLEGHENY.  95 


CHAPTER  XV. 


BRODHEAD'S  RAID  UP  THE  ALLEGHENY. 


The  raids  on  the  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  frontier 
in  1778  were  made  by  the  Indians  of  the  Ohio  country;  those 
of  1779  by  the  Senecas  and  Mtincys  of  the  North,  from 
the  upper  tributaries  and  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny.  The 
western  tribes  were  temporarily  disorganized  by  Clark's 
capture  of  Hamilton,  the  governor  of  Detroit,  at  Vincennes, 
in  February,  1779,  and  by  a  destructive  raid  made  by  Ken- 
tuckians  on  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Scioto,  in  May, 
1779. 

The  Seneca  tribe  of  Western  New  York  was  the  largest 
of  the  Six  Nations.  Its  warriors  were  second  only  to  the 
Mohawks  in  courage  and  military  prowess.  Under  Corn- 
planter,  Guyasuta  and  other  war  captains  they  distressed 
a  wide  extent  of  country  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
and  decorated  their  huts  in  the  valley  of  the  Genesee  with 
the  scalps  of  hundreds  of  white  persons. 

It  was  to  these  marauders  that  Colonel  Brodhead  di- 
rected his  attention,  and  he  begged  General  Washington 
for  permission  to  lead  an  expedition  into  the  Seneca  land. 
Early  in  the  summer  the  Commander-in-Chief  directed  the 
formation  of  a  large  army  under  General  John  Sullivan,  to 
invade  the  Iroquois  territory  from  the  east,  and  about  the 
middle  of  July  Colonel  Brodhead  received  permission  from 
General  Washington  to  undertake  a  movement  of  co-opera- 
tion up  the  Allegheny  valley.^ 


1  See  Brodheacl's  Letter  Book  in  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series, 
vol.  xii.,  Brodhead  to  County  Lieutenants,  July  17.  1779;  Brodhead  to 
Bayard,   July  20,    1779;    Brodhead  to  Washington,   July  31,    1779. 


96  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Amid  great  difficulty  Brodhead  acted  promptly,  for  he 
was  prepared  to  depart  from  Fort  Pitt  within  four  weeks 
from  the  time  he  received  Washington's  letter.  He  had 
been  making  preparations  for  such  an  expedition  ever  since 
he  took  command  of  the  department.  Workmen  from 
Philadelphia  had  built  60  boats,  some  in  the  form  of  large 
skififs  and  others  hollowed  out  of  great  poplar  logs.  Extra 
provisions  had  been  slowly  collected,  more  than  200  pack- 
horses  were  ready,  and  a  large  drove  of  live  cattle  had  been 
brought  over  the  mountains.  In  June  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Bayard  built  a  stockade  at  Kittanning,  which  was  called 
Fort  Armstrong,  after  General  John  Armstrong,  of  Carlisle. 
This  served  as  a  sort  of  way-station  on  the  march.  The  last 
remnant  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Laurens,  on  the  Tuscara- 
was, came  into  Fort  Pitt  early  in  August  and  Colonel  Brod- 
head was  then  ready  to  proceed." 

The  expedition  left  Pittsburg  on  August  11,  1779.  It 
numbered  605  men.  Small  garrisons  of  regulars  were  left 
in  Forts  Mcintosh,  Pitt,  Crawford  and  Armstrong.  A  part 
of  the  force  consisted  of  militiamen  and  volunteers  from  the 
surrounding  country,  to  whom  Brodhead  had  promised  a 
share  of  the  plunder.  A  small  band  of  Delawares  accom- 
panied the  expedition,  and  acted  with  the  scouting  parties 
under  Brady  and  Hardin. 

The  flour,  liquors  and  other  provisions  were  conveyed 
by  boats  up  the  Allegheny  river  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Big  Mahoning.  The  main  body  marched  along  the  eastern 
bank,  past  Forts  Crawford  and  Armstrong.  The  cattle 
followed  under  a  strong  guard.  Amid  these  conditions 
progress  was  necessarily  slow.  When  the  army  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Mahoning,  a  heavy  rain  set  in  and  con- 
tinued for  four  days.  Tents  were  insufficient  to  shelter  the 
whole  force.  The  men  suffered  great  discomfort,  and  many 
were  afflicted  with  rheumatism.  The  supplies  were  taken 
from  the  boats  and  loaded  on  the  horses,  and  when  the  rain 
ceased  the  expedition  proceeded  under  most  unfavorable 
conditions. 


2  Brodboad's  Report  to  Washington,  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  xii., 
p.   155;     Mag.   of  Amer.    History,   vol.   ill.,   p.  649. 


BRODHEAD'S  RAID   UP  THE  AI.LEGHENY.  97 

At  this  point  the  army  left  the  river,  which  flows  down 
from  the  northwest,  and  followed  an  Indian  trail  which 
ran  almost  due  north  through  the  forest  wilderness  of  what 
is  now  Clarion  county.  The  use  of  this  path  stretched 
out  the  army  into  a  long,  thin  line,  whose  weakness  was 
covered  by  the  scouts,  kept  well  out  in  front  and  on  flank. 
This  trail  was  so  bad  that  on  the  return  Brodhead  preferred 
another  route.  Even  now  the  country  is  a  rough  one.  The 
woods  were  full  of  broken  timber,  and  many  swollen  streams 
were  forded. 

The  trail  crossed  the  Tionesta  near  its  mouth  and  re- 
turned to  the  Allegheny  river  at  the  site  of  an  old  Indian 
town  which  Brodhead  called  Cushcushing.  This  is  a  Dela- 
ware name,  more  accurately  written  Quoshquoshink,  and 
means  Place  of  Hogs.  It  had  for  a  few  years  been  de- 
serted, but  was  marked  by  the  ruins  of  the  Indian  huts.  It 
was  not  far  from  the  present  town  of  Tionesta." 

At  Cushcushing  the  troops  crossed  the  Allegheny  river 
to  the  right  bank  and  pushed  on  toward  the  mouth  of 
Brokenstraw  creek.  At  that  place  there  had  been  an  Indian 
town  called  Buckaloons,  but  this  was  known  to  be  de- 
serted. Brodhead  hoped,  however,  to  strike  the  Senecas 
at  their  village  of  Conewago,  at  the  mouth  of  what  is  now 
called  Conewango  creek,  where  Warren  has  been  built.* 

A  few  miles  below  the  Brokenstraw,  the  expedition  had 
its  only  fight  with  the  savages.  It  was  near  Thompson, 
a  station  on  the  Western  New  York  &  Pennsylvania  rail- 
road, where  there  is  an  island  in  the  Allegheny  river.  In 
that  neighborhood  the  river  hills  are  high  and  so  close  to 


3  This  Indian  village  site  has  sometimes  been  confused  with  Kus- 
kuskee,  at  the  fork  of  the  Beaver  river.  Quashquoshink  was  visited  by 
Rev.  David  Zeisberger,  the  Moravian  missionary,  in  1767,  and  he  dwelt 
there  for  two  years.  The  villagers  were  notorious  for  their  immorality 
and  debauchery,  and  were  probably  of  the  Wolf  clan  of  Delawares. 
See  Loskiel's  History  of  the  Moravian  Mission.  General  Irvine,  who 
surveyed  this  region  in  1785,  located  "Cuskushing"  25  miles  up  the  Alle- 
gheny from  the  mouth  of  French  creek.  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First 
Series,  vol.  xi.,   p.  516. 

4  The  stream  then  called  Conewago  is  now  Conewango  and  is  the 
outlet  of  Chautauqua  Lake.  Conewago  is  the  same  word  as  Caughnewago, 
used  to  designate  an  Indian  village  near  Montreal  and  a  mixed  band  of 
Indians   living  in   northern   Ohio. 


"98  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  stream,  that  there  are,  in  some  places,  very  narrow 
passes.  It  was  in  one  of  these  passes  that  the  encounter 
took  place." 

Lieutenant  Hardin  was  in  advance,  with  15  white 
scouts  and  eight  Delaware  Indians,  when  they  discovered, 
coming  down  the  river,  seven  canoes,  containing  more  than 
30  Seneca  warriors.  The  captain  of  this  war  party,  on  its 
way  to  raid  the  settlements,  may  have  been  Guyasuta.  Tra- 
dition has  assigned  the  command  to  Cornplanter,  but  at 
that  time  Cornplanter  was  in  the  Genesee  country,  trying 
to  withstand  the  advance  of  Sullivan's  army.  Each  party 
observed  the  other  at  almost  the  same  moment.  The 
Senecas  at  once  ran  their  canoes  to  shore,  threw  ofT  their 
shirts  and  prepared  for  battle.  The  Indians  always  entered 
a  conflict  as  nearly  naked  as  possible.  The  boldness  with 
which  the  savages  prepared  for  the  fray  shows  that  they 
did  not  believe  their  opponents  to  be  numerous.  They 
would  never  have  prepared  for  the  fight  in  this  manner  had 
they  suspected  the  presence  of  a  large  force. 

Both  sides  took  to  trees  and  rocks  and  began  a  sharp 
fusillade.  For  only  a  few  minutes  this  conflict  lasted,  when 
another  party  of  scouts,  moving  over  the  hills,  took  the 
Senecas  in  flank  and  poured  down  a  hot  fire  upon  them. 
At  the  sound  of  the  firing  in  front  Brodhead  formed  his 
column  so  as  to  protect  the  pack-train  and  then  hurried 
forward  with  reinforcements.  He  was  just  in  time  to  wit- 
ness the  retreat  of  the  Senecas.  They  quickly  discovered 
that  they  were  overpowered  and  took  to  rapid  flight.  Some 
of  them  leaped  into  the  river  and  waded  and  swam  across. 
The  shooting  of  the  scouts  was  so  accurate  that  the  savages 
dared  not  pause  on  the  shore  to  push  off  their  canoes.  Most 
of  the  Indians  escaped  along  the  bank  and  were  soon  out 
of  sight  amid  the  trees  and  thickets. 

Five  dead  Indians  lay  on  the  field.     Several  others  had 


5  Brodhead  said,  iu  his  report,  that  the  flRlit  took  place  "teu  miles 
this  side  the  town,"  meaning  ten  miles  below  ConewaRo  or  Warren. 
Not  being  acquainted  with  the  country,  his  estimate  of  the  distance 
was  not  nicely  to  be  accurate.  Thompson's  station,  supposed  to  be  the 
site  of   the   slcirmish,    is  about    fourteen   miies  below   Warren. 


BRODHEAD'S   raid  up  the  ALLEGHENY.  99 

gone  away  wounded,  leaving  trails  of  blood.  Eight  of  their 
guns  were  left  behind,  as  well  as  their  seven  canoes,  con- 
taining their  blankets,  shirts  and  provisions.  Only  three 
of  Brodhead's  men  were  wounded,  and  they  so  slightly 
that  they  continued  on  the  march  the  following  morning. 
One  of  the  wounded  was  Jonathan  Zane,  the  Wheeling 
scout  and  guide,  who  received  a  nip  in  the  arm,  and  the 
two  others  were  Nanowland,  the  young  Delaware  chief,  and 
Joseph  Nicholson,  the  interpreter. 

The  army  went  into  camp  near  the  scene  of  conflict, 
and  on  the  following  morning  moved  up  to  the  Broken- 
straw.  Here  Brodhead  decided  to  leave  his  stores  and 
baggage  and  march  light  to  Conewago.  A  rude  breast- 
work, guarded  by  fallen  trees  and  bundles  of  fagots,  was 
constructed  on  a  high  bluff  commanding  an  extensive  view 
up  and  down  the  river.  A  captain  and  40  men  remained 
in  charge,  and  the  expedition  pushed  on  for  Conewago. 
There  Brodhead  was  disappointed  by  finding  the  Iroquois 
town  deserted  and  the  huts  falling  to  decay.  This  was  as 
far  as  his  guides  were  acquainted  with  the  country,  but  the 
commander  determined  to  follow  an  Indian  trail  which  led 
over  the  hills  toward  the  northeast. 

After  a  march  of  20  miles  the  troops  came  again  within 
sight  of  the  Allegheny  river,  and  from  a  hilltop  discovered 
a  number  of  Indian  villages,  surrounded  by  great  fields  of 
splendid  corn  and  patches  of  beans,  squashes  and  melons. 
This  Iroquois  settlement  extended  for  eight  miles  along  the 
fertile  bottom  land  of  the  Allegheny  river,  where  the  Corn- 
planter  reservation  was  afterward  established. 

The  soldiers  hurriedly  descended  into  the  villages,  but 
found  that  all  the  houses  were  deserted.  The  Indian  spies 
had  discovered  the  approach  of  the  Americans,  and  the 
warriors  had  fled  so  hurriedly  with  their  women  and  chil- 
dren that  they  had  left  behind  many  deer  skins  and  other 
articles  of  value. 

The  Iroquois  had  long  before  this  learned  to  build 
substantial  log  houses,  even  squaring  the  timbers  as  the 
white  pioneers  did.     In  this  Allegheny  river  settlement  there 


lOO  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

were  about  130  houses,  some  of  them  being  large  enough 
for  three  or  four  famiHes.  In  the  uppermost  village  stood 
a  great  war  post,  painted  and  decorated  with  dog  skins, 
and  that  village  was  evidently  the  dwelling  place  of  the 
chief. 

In  his  report  to  Washington,  Brodhead  wrote:  "The 
troops  remained  on  the  ground  three  whole  days,  destroy- 
ing the  towns  and  corn  fields.  I  never  saw  finer  corn, 
although  it  was  planted  much  thicker  than  is  common  with 
our  farmers.  The  quantitv  of  corn  and  veeetables  de- 
stroyed at  the  several  towns,  from  the  best  accounts  I  can 
collect  from  the  officers  employed  to  destroy  it,  must  cer- 
tainly exceed  500  acres,  w^hich  is  the  lowest  estimate,  and 
the  plunder  taken  is  estimated  at  $3,000.  From  the  great 
quantity  of  corn  in  the  ground  and  the  number  of  new 
houses  built  and  building,  it  appears  that  the  whole  Seneca 
and  Muncy  nations  intended  to  collect  in  this  settlement." 

On  the  return  march  the  supplies  were  picked  up  at 
Buckaloons,  and  the  troops  marched  across  country  to 
French  creek.  At  Oil  creek  the  soldiers  rubbed  them- 
selves freely  with  the  oil  which  they  found  floating  on  the 
water,  and  received  great  relief  from  their  rheumatic  pains 
and  stiffness.  For  many  years  this  petroleum  was  called 
Seneca  oil,  and  was  supposed  to  be  valuabale  only  for  its 
medicinal  qualities.  The  army  reached  French  creek  at  the 
mouth  of  Conneaut  creek,  where  the  Muncy  town  of 
ATaghingue-chahocking  w^as  found  to  be  deserted.  It  was 
composed  of  35  large  huts,  which  were  burnend.  The 
Muncys  formed  a  branch  of  the  Wolf  clan  of  the  Delawares, 
and  had  long  lived  and  associated  with  the  Iroquois.  Their 
reputation  as  thieves,  murderers  and  general  reprobates  was 
very  bad. 

The  army  descended  French  creek  almost  to  its  mouth 
and  thence  returned  to  Fort  Pitt  by  what  is  known  as  the 
Venango  path.  This  was  an  old  Indian  trail  running  almost 
due  north  and  south  through  the  heart  of  Butler  county. 
It  crossed  Slippery  Rock  and  Connoquenessing  creeks, 
and  came  down  to  the  Allegheny  river  along  the  course  of 


BRODHEAD'S   raid  up  the   ALLEGHENY.  lOI 

Pine  creek.  It  was  a  much  more  direct  route  than  that 
followed  by  the  troops  in  marching  northward,  along  the 
course  of  the  Allegheny  river. 

It  is  said  that  Slippery  Rock  creek  received  its  name 
from  an  accident  that  occurred  during  this  return  march. 
The  troops  crossed  the  creek  at  a  point  where  the  bed  of 
the  stream  is  composed  of  smooth,  level  rock,  like  a  floor. 
On  this  the  horse  of  John  Ward  slipped  and  fell  and  severely 
injured  the  rider. 

The  expedition  arrived  at  P'ort  Pitt  on  September  14, 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  man  or  horse.  In  summing 
up  the  results,  Brodhead  wrote:  "I  have  a  happy  presage 
that  the  counties  of  Westmoreland,  Bedford  and  Northum- 
berland, if  not  the  whole  western  frontier,  will  experience 
the  good  effect  of  it.  Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given 
to  both  officers  and  soldiers  of  every  corps  during  the 
whole  expedition.  Their  perseverance  and  zeal  during  the 
whole  (through  a  country  too  inaccessible  to  be  described) 
can  scarcely  be  equaled  in  history." 

The  thanks  of  Congress  were  voted  to  Colonel  Brod- 
head, and  in  a  general  order,  issued  on  October  18,  General 
Washington  said:  "The  activity,  perseverance  and  firmness 
which  marked  the  conduct  of  Colonel  Brodhead,  and  that 
of  all  the  officers  and  men  of  every  description  in  this  ex- 
pedition, do  them  great  honor,  and  their  services  entitle 
them  to  the  thanks  and  to  this  testimonial  of  the  General's 
acknowledgment." 


OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  WINTER  OF  THE  DEEP  SNOW. 


A  winter  and  a  summer,  each  remarkable  in  its  way, 
followed  the  expedition  of  Brodhead  to  the  upper  Alle- 
gheny. These  seasons  were  known  as  "the  winter  of  the 
deep  snow"  and  "the  summer  of  the  big  harvest."  The 
soldiers  and  settlers  on  the  frontier  were  much  indebted 
to  the  character  of  that  winter  for  their  immunity  from 
Indian  raids.  It  bound  their  enemies,  but  also  afflicted 
them.  Hunger  and  cold  are  probably  preferable,  however, 
to  the  torch,  the  rifle  and  the  scalping  knife  of  the  savage. 

While  the  incursions  to  the  Seneca  country  had  much 
to  do  with  checking  the  savage  inroads  in  the  autumn,  the 
border  was  poorly  prepared  for  defense  during  the  winter. 
The  Indian  raids  of  the  spring  and  summer  of  1779  had  in- 
terfered with  sowing  and  reaping,  and  there  was  small  sur- 
plus of  food  in  the  barns  and  cellars  of  the  settlers.  A 
quarrel  in  the  autumn  between  Colonel  Brodhead  and  the 
militia  officers  of  Westmoreland  county  prevented  co-opera- 
tion on  any  system  for  guarding  the  border.  Had  the  en- 
suing season  been  an  open  one,  Westmoreland  county 
would  have  been  devastated.  During  the  12  months  be- 
ginning with  November,  1779,  the  influence  of  the  weather 
on  human  affairs  was  strongly  manifested. 

Both  Colonel  Brodhead,  the  regular  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  Western  Department,  and  Archibald  Lochry, 
the  county  lieutenant  of  Westmoreland,  claimed  author- 
ity over  the  two  companies  of  rangers  formed  in  West- 


THE  WINTER  OF   THE  DEEP  SNOW.  I03 

moreland.  On  the  approach  of  winter,  Brodhead  ordered 
these  two  companies  to  evacuate  Forts  Armstrong  and 
Crawford,  where  they  lacked  supplies  and  clothing,  and 
join  the  regulars  at  Fort  Pitt.  Lochry  ordered  them  to 
Hannastown,  that  he  might  post  them  along  the  line  of  the 
Kiskiminetas  river.  Much  time  was  wasted  by  the  dis- 
pute, but  Lochry  showed  that  he  had  authority  to  direct 
the  movements  of  the  rangers  except  in  times  of  aggressive 
action,  and  they  marched  to  Hannastown.  Then  Brod- 
head, in  a  fit  of  pique,  refused  to  provide  the  rangers  with 
food  and  ammunition,  although  they  were  in  the  conti- 
nental service.  Lochry  had  no  supplies  for  them,  and  he 
was  forced  to  quarter  them,  in  little  parties  of  four  and 
five,  at  the  houses  of  the  principal  settlers.  These  settlers 
were  willing  to  feed  the  men  out  of  their  slender  stores, 
rather  than  lose  their  protection." 

The  winter  of  1779-80  began  early  and  continued  until 
March.  It  was  perhaps  the  severest  winter  in  the  history 
of  the  United  States.  In  January  the  harbor  of  New  York 
was  frozen  over  so  solidly  that  the  British  drove  laden 
wagons  on  the  ice  from  the  city  to  Staten  Island.  In  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  the  snow  began  to  fall  heavily  about  the 
holidays  and  was  followed  by  exceedingly  cold  weather  for 
two  months. 

The  snow  accum.ulated  at  intervals,  and  by  February 
I  was  four  feet  deep  in  the  woods  and  on  the  mountains. 
This  stopped  all  the  supply  trains  from  the  East,  and  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Pitt  suffered  severely  for  food  and  clothing. 
Many  of  the  soldiers  were  without  shoes,  and  scouting 
expeditions  were  out  of  the  question.  The  officers  we'-e 
without  money  or  credit,  and  were  reduced  to  extreme 
straits.  Delaware  Indians,  who  visited  the  fort  in  the  fall, 
clung  to  it  all  winter,  and  seem  to  have  found  whisky  easier 
to  procure  than  bread.* 

1  For  Brodhead's  quarrels  with  the  frontier  officers  and  for  other 
facts  narrated  in  this  chapter,  see  the  numerous  letters  from  the  fron- 
tier in  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vols.  viii.  and  xii.  The 
latter  volume   contains   Brodhead's   Letter  Book. 

2  Albach's  Western  Annals,  p.  311;  Magazine  of  American  His- 
tory, vol.  iii. 


104  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

Great  was  the  destruction  of  animals  and  birds  in  the 
forest.  The  snow  was  so  deep  that  they  could  not  get  food, 
and  when  the  spring  came  the  hunters  found  only  the  dead 
bodies  of  deer,  turkeys  and  smaller  game.  The  Indians 
suffered  sorely  in  their  woodland  villages.  Especially  was 
the  destitution  great  among  the  Senecas,  whose  corn  and 
vegetables  had  been  destroyed  by  Sullivan  and  Brodhead. 
In  Western  New  York  scores  of  Senecas  died  of  starvation 
and  cold.  Increased  hatred  of  the  Americans  was  the  result, 
and  revenge  is  very  sweet  to  the  Indian.' 

This  hard  winter  so  weakened  and  distressed  the  Sen- 
ecas that  when  spring  came  they  could  not  renew  their  raids 
on  Westmoreland  county.  Their  hunters  found  it  neces- 
sary to  look  after  game,  and  this  was  exceedingly  scarce 
and  poor.  The  settlers  of  Westmoreland  thus  enjoyed  an 
unusual  opportunity  to  plant  their  fields  and  gardens,  but 
this  immunity  was  not  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
region  between  the  Monongahela  and  Ohio  rivers,  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia. 

That  part  of  the  frontier  was  troubled  by  the  Indians 
of  the  Ohio  tribes,  either  Shawnees  from  the  Scioto,  or 
Wyandots  and  Muncys  from  the  Sandusky.  These  tribes 
had  not  been  without  plentiful  stores  of  corn,  and  had  passed 
a  comfortable  winter.  They  were  supplied  with  guns,  am- 
munition and  clothing  by  the  Biitish  at  Detroit  and  were 
ready  to  take  the  warpath  as  soon  as  the  snow  began  to 
melt.  The  Shawnees  were  occupied  with  the  growing  and 
aggressive  settlements  of  Kentucky.  The  bold  warriors  of 
the  Wyandot  or  Huron  nation  fell  upon  the  settlements  on 
the  Ohio  river  and  its  tributaries. 

On  a  Sunday  morning,  March  12,  1780,  a  party  of 
five  men  and  six  children  were  at  a  sugar  camp  on  Raccoon 
creek,  in  the  southern  end  of  what  is  now  Beaver  county. 
They  had  probably  been  at  the  camp  all  night,  boiling  the 
maple  syrup.  At  dawn  a  party  of  Wyandots,  having  crept 
up  cautiously,  shot  and  tomahawked  the  five  men  and  car- 
ried away  the  children,  three  boys  and  three  girls.     This 


6  Magazine  of   Amerlcau   History,    vol.    iii.,    p.   C67. 


THE  WINTER   OF   THE   DEEP  SNOW.  lOS 

was  the  first  blow  of  the  opening  season.*  Others  fol- 
lowed, along  the  Ohio  border.  In  some  instances  the  In- 
dians only  stole  horses  or  slaughtered  cattle  and  hogs. 

Toward  the  end  of  March  a  band  of  Muncy  warriors, 
led  by  Washnash,  a  notorious  bandit,  attacked  and  captured 
a  flatboat  going  down  the  Ohio  river  to  Kentucky.  Three 
men  were  killed  and  21  men,  women  and  children  were 
captured.'  On  April  27  Colonel  Brodhead  wrote  to  the 
president  of  Pennsylvania:  "Between  40  and  50  men, women 
and  children  have  been  killed  or  taken  from  what  are  now 
called  the  counties  of  Yohogania,  Monongalia  and  Ohio, 
but  no  damage  is  yet  done  in  Westmoreland."' 

Brodhead  wrote  to  the  militia  ofificers  of  the  frontier 
counties  to  get  men  ready  to  aid  him  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Ohio  Indians,  but  when  he  began  to  make  his 
preparations  he  found  that  he  could  not  gather  enough 
provisions  for  a  week  ahead.^  Throughout  the  war  the 
western  garrisons  were  hampered  by  lack  of  commissary 
supplies.  The  cost  of  carrying  stores  over  the  mountain 
roads  was  great,  frequently  exceeding  the  original  cost  of 
the  articles.  The  pack  trains  were  delayed  by  many  cir- 
cumstances. There  were  frequent  robberies,  sometimes  by 
the  men  in  charge  of  the  transportation.  Money  was  scarce, 
officials  were  incompetent,  and  administration  lacked  sys- 
tem. A  great  part  of  the  expense  and  labor  was  wasted  on 
whisky,  which  was  considered  a  necessary  feature  of  the 
commissary  supply. 

Westmoreland  county  raised  a  few  militiamen,  who  re- 
occupied  posts  along  the  Allegheny  and  Kiskiminetas  rivers. 
The  state  was  so  poor  and  so  slow  that  for  two  months 
the  expense  was  paid  by  a  subscription  among  the  principal 
settlers.  The  governing  authorities  at  Philadelphia  were, 
in  fact,  losing  faith  in  the  militia,  and  even  in  regulars,  as 
a  means  of  frontier  protection.  In  spite  of  these  soldiers, 
permanent  and  temporary,  the  Indians  made   their  raids 

4  Pennsylvania  Archives,   vol.   viii.,   pp.   140,   152,   159. 

5  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  159. 

6  Pennsvlvania  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  210. 

7  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  249,  518:    Ft.  Pitt,  pp.  235.  236. 


I06  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

and  their  slaughters  year  after  year,  with  trifling  losses 
to  themselves.  The  Supreme  Executive  Council  decided 
to  try  another  method,  and  rewards  were  offered  for  Indian 
and  tory  prisoners  and  scalps,  $1,500  for  a  male  prisoner 
and  $1,000  for  a  male  scalp.  It  was  hoped  that  this  would 
stimulate  the  young  men  of  the  frontier  to  active  opera- 
tions.' 

Early  in  May,  Brodhead  sent  Godfrey  Lanctot,  a 
Frenchman  who  spoke  several  Indian  languages,  to  visit 
the  Ohio  tribes  and  endeavor  to  persuade  them  into  peace, 
but  his  efforts  were  fruitless.  The  Shawnees,  Wyandots 
and  Muncys  would  not  listen  to  him.' 

In  May  the  Senecas,  having  somewhat  recovered  from 
the  blow  inflicted  upon  them,  came  down  the  Allegheny 
again  in  small  bands  and  did  considerable  damage  in  West- 
moreland. They  killed  and  captured  five  persons  near  Lig- 
onier,  burned  Laughlin's  mill,  killed  two  men  on  Bushy 
run  and  killed  two  on  Braddock's  old  road  near  Turtle 
creek.""  The  settlers  left  their  scattered  homes  and  gath- 
ered in  the  stockade  forts  and  blockhouses,  but  the  danger 
was  soon  over.  The  season  was  a  very  dry  one,  and  the 
Allegheny  river  became  so  low  that  even  the  Indian  canoes 
could  not  navigate  it.  The  incursions  from  the  north  there- 
upon ceased. 

Danger  still  threatened  from  the  west  and  Brodhead 
received  a  report  that  an  army  of  British  and  Indians  was 
assembling  on  the  Sandusky  river,  in  preparation  for  an 
attack  in  force  on  Fort  Pitt,  He  directed  Lieutenant  Brady 
to  take  a  few  chosen  men,  go  to  Sandusky  and  find  out  what 
was  going  on  there.  With  five  white  companions  and  two 
Delawares,  all  dressed  and  painted  like  Indians,  Brady  set 
out  late  in  May.  His  journey  was  a  long,  arduous  and  dan- 
gerous one.  As  they  approached  the  Wyandot  country 
the  scouts  traveled  only  by  night,  hiding  in  the  thickest 
woods  by  day.  One  of  the  Delawares  lost  heart  and  return- 
ed to  Fort  Pitt. 


8  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.   vlii..  pp.   217.  218,  28.S. 

9  Pennsylvania  Archives,   vol.   vlli..   pp.  301,  ."SSI. 

10  Pennsylvania    Archives,    vol.    vlii.,    pp.    246.   282. 


THE  WINTER  OP  THE  DEEP  SNOW.  I07 

Brady  and  his  men  drew  near  the  Wyandot  capital,  near 
Upper  Sandusky,  and  at  night  the  lieutenant  and  one  Dela- 
ware companion  waded  to  a  wooded  island,  directly  oppo- 
site the  Indian  town.  There  they  lay  in  a  thicket  all  the 
next  day,  watching  the  savages  enjoying  a  horse  race  near 
the  river  bank.  The  town  was  overcrowded  with  warriors, 
and  their  festivities  indicated  preparations  for  the  warpath. 

At  nightfall  Brady  and  his  Indian  withdrew,  rejoined 
their  waiting  companions  and  hurried  away  toward  Fort 
Pitt.  About  two  miles  from  Sandusky  they  surprised  and 
captured  two  young  squaws  at  an  Indian  camp,  and  took 
them  along,  thinking  they  might  give  valuable  information. 
At  the  end  of  six  days  one  of  the  squaws  escaped.  The 
food  carried  by  the  scouts  was  exhausted,  and  for  a  week 
they  lived  on  berries.  Game  was  exceedingly  scarce.  Brady 
shot  an  otter,  but  its  flesh  was  so  rank  that  even  these 
hungry  men  could  not  eat  it. 

Near  the  old  Indian  town  of  Kuskuskee,  at  the  junction 
of  the  Mahoning  and  Shenango  rivers,  when  their  powder 
was  reduced  to  only  two  charges,  Brady  saw  a  deer  and 
was  able  to  approach  within  certam  shooting  distance  of  it. 
He  pulled  the  trigger,  but  his  gun  flashed  in  the  pan.  He 
quickly  stirred  up  the  priming,  and  was  preparing  again  to 
fire,  when  he  heard  human  voices,  the  voices  of  Indians. 
Keeping  well  concealed,  he  saw,  coming  along  a  trail 
through  the  forest,  an  Indian  captain  riding  a  gray  horse, 
followed  by  six  warriors  afoot.  Riding  behind  the  captain 
was  a  captive  woman,  and  the  Indian  held  the  woman's 
child  in  his  arms. 

Brady  knew  the  woman  as  Mrs.  Jennie  Stoops,  of  the 
Chartiers  creek  settlement,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  for  an 
instant.  As  the  Indian  leader  came  opposite  him  he  took 
careful  aim  and  shot  him  through  the  head.  Tlie  savage 
fell  dead  from  his  horse,  dragging  the  woman  and  child 
with  him.  Brady  dashed  forward,  shouting  for  his  men 
to  come  on.  The  surprised  warriors  fired  a  shot  or  two  and 
fled  into  the  woods.  Brady  lifted  the  woman.  She  did  not 
know  him  for  a  white  man.     'T  am  Sam  Brady,"  he  said; 


I08  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

"follow  me."  Then  he  seized  the  child  and  hurried  away, 
followed  by  the  woman.  He  found  his  men,  cowering  in 
the  thickets.  In  their  fear  and  excitement,  they  had  allowed 
the  other  Wyandot  squaw  to  escape. 

After  going  a  few  miles  along  the  trail  toward  Fort 
Mcintosh,  the  scouts  met  a  band  of  settlers  from  the  Char- 
tiers  valley,  pursuing  the  marauders.  Mrs.  Stoops  and  her 
infant  were  restored  unharmed  to  the  husband  and  father. 
Brady  then  returned  with  a  party  to  the  scene  of  the  ad- 
venture, where  he  found  and  scalped  the  Wyandot  captain. 
He  returned  to  Fort  Pitt,  after  an  absence  of  32  days.  The 
one  Delaware  who  had  run  away  had  reported  that  the 
whole  party  had  been  killed  or  captured,  and  so  great  was 
the  joy  of  the  garrison  over  Brady's  return  that  he  was 
greeted  with  volley  after  volley  of  musketry  as  he  crossed 
the  river  and  entered  the  fort.  Colonel  Brodhead  recom- 
mended Brady's  promotion,  and  on  July  25  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  made  him  a  captain,  dating  his  com- 
mission and  pay  from  the  preceding  September." 

11  Penns.vlvania  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  378,  769;  Colonial  Records, 
vol.  xil.,  p.  436;  Winning  of  the  West,  vol.  iii.,  p.  57;  Hist.  Coll.  of 
Pa.,  p.  105. 


THE   SUMMER   OF  THE   BIG   HARVEST.  I09 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THK  SUMMER  OF  THE  BIG   HARVEST, 


During  the  summer  of  1780  the  soldiers  in  Fort  Pitt 
were  hungry  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  It  was  a  strange  situa- 
tion. The  wheat  harvest  was  bounteous,  and  afterward  the 
corn  came  very  heavy.  It  has  often  been  noted  that  the 
land  yields  well  when  the  winter  has  been  hard.  Some  say 
that  the  deep  frost,  stirring  and  loosening  the  soil,  makes 
the  earth  richer.  The  gardens  are  more  productive  in 
vegetables,  but  severe  cold  is  hard  on  the  fruit  trees. 

After  the  Westmoreland  farmers  had  cut  and  threshed 
their  wheat,  beating  it  out  with  the  flail,  the  streams  were 
so  dry  that  no  mills  could  run,  and  so  there  was  no  flour 
for  Colonel  Brodhead  to  buy.^  But  this  was  not  the  only 
reason  he  did  not  get  food  for  his  garrison.  His  men 
suffered  for  fresh  meat,  and  the  farmers  would  not  sell  their 
cattle.  To  be  honest  with  them,  they  did  not  have  many 
cattle  to  sell.  The  Indian  raids  of  the  preceding  three  years 
had  been  destructive  to  the  live  stock.  A  dozen  Indians 
would  kill  a  great  many  domestic  animals.  They  not  only 
shot  the  animals  for  their  own  eating,  but  slaughtered  them 
out  of  pure  wantonness  and  to  deprive  the  white  men  of 
food. 

The  settlers  were  reluctant  to  part  with  their  cattle, 
because  Colonel  Brodhead  had  no  good  money  to  pay  for 
them.  He  could  offer  nothing  but  due  bills,  to  be  redeemed 
by  the  government  in  its  continental  currency.     This  cur- 

1  Archives,   vol.   viii.,   pp.   487,    514;    vol.    xii.,    p.  252. 


no  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

rency  the  western  farmers  did  not  desire,  because  it  was 
so  depreciated  that  $40  of  it  were  equal  to  but  $1  of  the 
money  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  Moreover,  to  get 
these  due  bills  redeemed  it  was  necessary  to  carry  them  or 
send  them  all  the  way  to  Philadelphia.  The  colonel  might 
have  been  more  successful  with  state  money,  but  of  that 
he  did  not  have  much.  It  maintained  its  credit  largely 
because  it  was  scarce.  Even  the  state  money,  in  this  year 
of  1780,  was  not  in  full  favor  west  of  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains.' 

The  pioneers  conceived  that  they  had  been  neglected  by 
the  state,  and  a  spirit  of  discontent  and  sedition  was  widely 
prevalent  on  the  western  border.  This  had  been  stimulated 
by  the  territorial  dispute  between  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia, which  involved  the  entire  Monongahela  valley  re- 
gion. Many  of  the  pioneers  favored  the  erection  of  a  new 
state,  to  be  composed  of  the  over-mountain  lands  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia,  believing  that  they  would  receive 
better  treatment  from  a  state  capital  in  the  Ohio  valley, 
than  from  the  distant  governments  at  Philadelphia  and 
Richmond.  The  agitation  for  a  new  state  was  vigorous 
during  this  summer,  and  the  settlers  who  favored  it  looked 
with  hostility  upon  the  garrison  of  regular  soldiers  kept  at 
Fort  Pitt.  The  removal  of  that  garrison  by  starvation 
would  not  have  been  considered  by  the  pioneers  as  a 
calamity.^ 

Colonel  Brodhead  was  driven  to  many  expedients  to 
get  food.  On  August  18,  1780,  he  wrote  to  the  president 
of  Pennsylvania:  "The  troops  have  been  without  bread  for 
several  days  and  begin  to  murmur;  but  I  expect  to  get  a 
little  grain  chopped  in  a  bad  horse  mill  near  this  place,  and, 
if  possible,  prevent  a  mutiny  until  a  further  supply  can  be 
procured.  I  hear  the  pack  horse  men  have  left  the  service, 
so  that  not  a  shilling  have  we  to  purchase  with."  At  this 
time  the  lack  of  food  had  compelled  the  evacuation  of  Forts 
Armstrong  and  Crawford  on  the  Allegheny  river.* 

2  Archives,   vol.    vlil.,   p.  515. 

3  Archives,   vol.  vil.,   pp.   280.   713. 

4  Archives,  vol.  vii.,  p.  513. 


THE  SUMMER  OF  THE   BIG   HARVEST.  Ill 

The  Pennsylvania  authorities  gave  up  the  plan  of  carry- 
ing suppUes  to  Fort  Pitt  on  horses  from  the  eastern  part 
of  the  state,  and  made  effort  to  furnish  the  garrison  from 
the  county  of  Westmoreland.  For  this  work  they  appointed 
William  Amberson,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Pittsburg, 
as  commissary,  and  directed  him  to  furnish  flour,  corn  and 
whisky  to  Colonel  Brodhead.  Amberson  seems  to  have 
been  but  partially  successful  in  getting  supplies,  for  on 
September  5  Colonel  Brodhead  wrote:  "The  troops  have 
alternately  been  destitute  of  bread  and  meat.  At  present 
I  am  not  possessed  of  two  days'  allowance,  and  I  have  a  dull 
prospect  as  to  further  supplies.  I  have  been  compelled  to 
hire  a  few  horses  to  send  to  the  mills  below.  .  .  .  Unless 
something  is  speedily  done,  these  posts,  which  are  of  the 
utmost  importance,  must  be  evacuated,  and  the  country 
will,  of  course,  be  deserted,  or,  as  some  have  hinted,  join 
the  enemy.'" 

About  a  week  after  this  letter  was  written,  the  entire 
garrison  of  Fort  Pitt  paraded  one  morning  before  the  house 
of  Colonel  Brodhead,  ragged  and  gaunt,  led  by  their  ser- 
geants. When  the  commander  asked  the  cause  of  the  dem- 
onstration, the  sergeants  replied  that  the  men  had  been  with- 
out bread  for  five  days  and  were  hungry. 

Colonel  Brodhead  was  able  to  tell  them  only  that  every 
effort  was  making  to  get  food  for  them,  and  that,  during 
the  period  of  scarcity,  their  officers  were  suffering  equally 
with  the  rank  and  file.  The  men  were  well  behaved  and 
quietly  returned  to  their  barracks.  A  few  days  afterward 
a  few  horse  loads  of  flour  and  some  live  cattle  arrived  from 
Cumberland  county,  but  this  supply  did  not  last  long.* 

During  this  time  the  surrounding  country  was  being 
ravaged  by  the  Indians,  and  a  starving  garrison  could 
offer  no  protection.  On  August  11  a  party  of  Wyandot 
Indians  killed  ten  men  near  the  site  of  Morgantown,  W.  Va.^ 
On  September  4  two  settlers  were  killed  near  Robinson's 

5  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  536. 

6  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  558. 

7  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  513. 


112  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

run,  now  in  Allegheny  county.  The  same  day  two  men 
going  down  the  Ohio  river  in  a  canoe  to  Wheeling  were 
fired  upon  from  the  bank,  and  one  of  them  was  wounded.* 
About  the  middle  of  September  the  Wyandots  fell  upon 
the  settlements  on  Ten  ]\Iile  creek  and  killed  and  carried 
away  seven  persons."  Brodhead  was  fretting  over  his  com- 
pulsory inaction.  Time  and  again  he  summoned  the  militia 
to  rally  for  a  raid  into  the  Wyandot  land  and  each  time  he 
was  baffled  by  the  lack  of  supplies. 

At  length,  in  September,  Colonel  Brodhead,  driven  to 
desperation,  determined  to  take  extreme  measures  to  get 
food  for  his  hungry  soldiers.  He  had  received  from  the 
continental  authorities  permission  to  take  supplies  by  force 
from  the  inhabitants,  in  case  of  dire  need,  and  to  this  resort 
he  was  now  driven.  He  chose  Captain  Samuel  Brady  to  do 
this  work,  with  a  detachment  from  his  company." 

Brady  was  instructed  to  attempt  to  buy  cattle  and  sheep 
only  from  those  who  had  them  to  spare,  and,  if  the  farmers 
would  not  sell,  he  was  then  to  take  the  animals  by  force. 
He  was  not  to  molest  the  poor  or  those  who  had  suffered 
from  the  Indians.  All  cattle  and  sheep  siezed  were  to  be 
appraised  and  Brady  was  to  give  a  receipt  for  them,  so 
that  the  owners  might  have  a  chance  some  time  to  recover 
from  the  United  States  government.  Brady  went  into  the 
country  along  Chartiers  creek  and  on  the  western  side  of 
the  Monongahela  river,  while  Lieutenant  Uriah  Springei 
headed  another  party  east  of  the  Monongahela. 

News  of  Brady's  mission  seems  to  have  spread  rapidly 
before  him.  Many  of  the  larger  herds  of  cattle  were  driven 
into  secluded  forest  recesses.  In  few  places  did  the  soldiers 
find  stock  to  be  spared,  within  the  terms  of  their  instructions. 
Tliey  did  get  some  and  sent  them  back  to  the  fort,  but 
they  were  not  sufficient  for  the  daily  wants  of  the  garrison. 
There  was  show  of  strong  resistance  to  the  impressing 
squad.     In  some  places  Brady  was  threatened  with  writs 

8  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  p.  MB. 

9  Archives,  vol.  vili.,  p.  559. 

10  Crumrine's   History   of  Washington   County,   p.   89;     Pennsylvania 
Archives,    vol.   viii.,   pp.  56.'),   .'589;    vol.   xii.,   pp.   276.   278. 


THE  SUMMER  OF  THE   BIG  HARVEST.  II3 

of  trespass.  Crowds  of  angry  and  armed  settlers  gath- 
ered and  made  show  of  forcible  resistance.  Brady's  in- 
structions commanded  him  not  to  provoke  violence,  with- 
out extreme  cause,  but  the  signs  began  to  multiply  that  the 
country  was  preparing  to  rise  against  him.  It  was  probably 
the  most  unpleasant  task  he  was  ever  called  upon  to  per- 
form. He  was  himself  a  farmer,  and  could  not  fail  to  sym- 
pathize with  these  badgered  and  distressed  pioneers.  For 
two  months  he  and  Springer  were  kept  in  the  field  before 
the  persistent  Brodhead  ordered  their  withdrawal. 

Early  in  October,  when  Brodhead  had  hope  that  Brady 
would  bring  enough  beef  and  mutton  to  supply  an  expe- 
dition into  the  Wyandot  country,  he  sent  out  another  appeal 
to  the  lieutenants  of  the  adjacent  counties  to  raise  volun- 
teers and  join  him  at  Fort  Pitt.  This  appeal  was  a  total 
failure.  Colonel  Beelor,  of  Yohogania  county,  replied  that 
he  could  not  get  volunteers.  The  only  way  he  could  help 
Brodhead  was  to  draft  men,  and  this  he  feared  to  attempt, 
as  he  did  not  know  whether  to  proceed  under  the  law  of 
Pennsylvania  or  Virginia.  It  was  just  about  this  time  that 
the  governments  of  the  two  states  were  coming  to  an 
agreement  on  the  boundary  line,  and  reports  had  reached 
the  frontier  that  all  the  disputed  territory  would  fall  within 
the  bounds  of  Pennsylvania.  These  reports  caused  legal 
chaos  in  what  is  now  Southwestern  Pennsylvania.  The 
laws  of  Virginia  lost  their  binding  efifect  and  the  executive 
and  judicial  machinery  of  Pennsylvania  had  not  yet  been 
extended  over  the  region  so  long  in  contention.  Thus  it 
was  that  Beelor  found  himself  powerless  to  act,  and  in 
signing  his  name  to  his  letter  to  Brodhead  he  rather  pathet- 
ically added,  ''Without  law  to  protect  me."" 

The  reply  of  Colonel  William  McCleery,  of  Monongalia 
county,  is  interesting  as  revealing  the  stubborn  self-reliance 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers  on  the  upper  Monongahela  and 
Cheat  rivers.  The  militia  ofiEicers  of  that  county  met  and 
decided  that  they  could  not  spare  any  men  to  assist  the 

11  Pennsylvania  Archives,   vol.    viii.,    pp.   3.52,   583,   589;    vol.   x.,   pp. 
171,   173;    Craig's   History  of  Pittsburg,    p.   124. 


114  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

regulars  in  an  expedition  to  the  northwest.  Colonel  Mc- 
Cleery  wrote: 

"From  his  (Brodhead's)  never  having  it  in  his  power, 
for  want,  as  we  conceive,  of  the  necessary  supplies  to  put 
his  schemes  in  execution,  during  the  whole  course  of  last 
summer  and  fall,  and  our  unhappy  people  daily  falling  an 
easy  prey  to  the  enemy,  obliges  them  to  throw  ofif  all  de- 
pendence on  any  natural  aid  on  this  side  of  the  mountains 
this  fall,  but  that  of  themselves,  for  their  relief,  and  there- 
fore they  mean  to  embody  and  and  take  the  most  plausible 
methods  for  their  defense,  and  under  the  circumstances 
they  think  their  number  is  already  too  small  without  any 
division."" 

The  Delaware  chiefs,  still  true  to  their  alliance  with  the 
Americans,  came  to  Fort  Pitt  with  a  large  band  of  warriors, 
to  take  part  in  the  Wyandot  campaign.  Their  chagrin  was 
keen  when  Brodhead  told  them  of  his  poverty  and  want  of 
food,  and  that  they  could  not  have  the  opportunity  of  going 
with  him  on  a  war  raid. 

While  these  Indians,  with  their  women  and  children, 
were  encamped  near  the  fort,  a  large  party  of  settlers  from 
Hannastown,  led  by  militia  officers,  marched  to  Fort  Pitt 
for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  friendly  savages.  A  ma- 
jority of  the  pioneers  of  that  day  did  not  distinguish  between 
one  redskin  and  another.  All  were  "pizen  varmints,"  and 
equally  deserving  of  death.  Colonel  Brodhead  was  fore- 
warned and  threw  a  heavy  guard  of  regulars  around  the 
Indian  camp.  The  design  of  the  Westmorelanders  was 
frustrated,  and  they  were  forced  to  return  with  bloodless 
hands  to  Hannastown.  The  same  spirit  which  animated 
them  led  the  men  of  Washington  county,  i6  months 
afterward,  to  murder  the  Christianized  Delawares  at  Gnad- 
enhuetten." 

It  was  fortunate  for  Brodhead  that  he  was  able  to  pro- 
tect these  Indians,  for  he  found  use  for  them  after  the  failure 
of  Brady's  cattle  impressment.     He  made  arrangement  for 


12  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.   vlil.,  p.  684. 

13  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.   vlll.,   p.  596, 


THE  SUMMER   OF  THE   BIG   HARVEST.  II5 

a  considerable  body  of  them,  as  well  as  some  of  the  best 
hunters  among  his  soldiers,  to  go  to  the  Great  Kanawha 
valley,  to  spend  the  winter  there  hunting  buffaloes  and  to 
bring  the  meat  to  Fort  Pitt  as  soon  as  the  river  should 
open  in  the  spring."  It  was  to  such  measures  that  he  was 
driven  to  feed  his  soldiers.  During  the  winter,  however, 
some  meat  and  flour  were  procured  from  the  eastern 
counties,  and  the  garrison  managed  to  live  without  leaving 
any  record  of  a  death  from  actual  starvation.  The  number 
of  the  garrison  during  the  winter  of  1780-81  was  about  300. 

14  Olden  Time,  vol.  11.,  pp.  377,  378. 


ri6  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE   DERRY   SETTLEMENT. 


The  afflictions  and  daring  deeds  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
Derry  settlement  during  the  Revolution  will  illustrate  the 
experiences  of  other  districts  in  the  Westmoreland  country. 
Derry  was  a  long,  triangular  territory  near  the  northern 
border  of  the  county,  bounded  on  the  east  by  Chestnut 
Ridge,  on  the  north  by  Conemaugh  river,  and  on  the  south- 
west by  Loyalhanna  creek.  Its  first  settlers  were  from 
the  Cumberland  Valley,  and  were  either  natives  of  Derry, 
in  Ireland,  or  their  immediate  descendants.  The  circum- 
stances under  which  these  pioneers  went  to  the  border  show 
that  they  were  bold  and  self-reliant.  The  time  was  a  year 
or  two  prior  to  the  purchase  of  the  land  from  the  Indians, 
and  the  settlers  were  trespassers.  Yet  they  fearlessly  pene- 
trated the  forest,  built  their  cabins  and  hewed  out  their 
clearings,  taking  their  chances  of  withstanding  the  savages 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  colonial  authorities  on  the  other. 
When  the  land  offtce  opened,  in  the  spring  of  1769,  most 
of  these  Derry  "squatters"  were  successful  in  obtaining 
warrants  for  their  holdings. 

The  leaders  in  this  Derry  settlement  were  Robert  Barr, 
James  Wilson,  John  Pomeroy,  William  Guthrie,  John 
Shields,  Samuel  Craig  and  Richard  Wallace.  A  few  of  their 
compatriots,  among  them  Charles  Campbell  and  George 
Findley.  ventured  to  settle  north  of  the  Conemaugh  river, 
in  the  valley  of  Blacklick  creek,  where  they  were  in  the  most 
exposed  situation  in  all  the  border  region. 


THE  DERRY  SETTLEMENT.  II7 

The  cabins  of  the  Derry  men  were  of  logs,  and,  being 
furnished  with  loop-holes  for  rifles,  were  capable  of  stout 
defense  against  the  Indians.  Richard  Wallace  built  on  a 
hill  near  the  Conemaugh,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south 
of  the  site  of  Blairsville.  He  erected  a  grist  mill  which 
ground  the  grain  of  the  entire  settlement.  When  Dun- 
more's  war  began,  in  the  spring  of  1774,  he  constructed  a 
strong  stockade  around  his  house,  which  afforded  a  refuge 
for  the  neighborhood.  This  stockade  became  known  as 
Fort  Wallace. 

About  five  and  a  half  miles  to  the  southwest,  on  a 
tributary  of  the  Loyalhanna,  settled  Robert  Barr  and  his 
sons,  and  when  the  Revolution  began  a  stockade  was  con- 
structed there,  known  as  Fort  Barr.  A  mile  farther  south, 
immediately  overlooking  the  Loyalhanna,  was  the  log  house 
of  John  Shields,  and  it  also  was  surrounded  by  a  stockade. 
These  three  stockades  were  the  strong  places  of  the  Derry 
settlement,  frequently  assailed  but  never  overcome  by  the 
savages.  Robert  Barr's  two  sons-in-law,  James  Wilson  and 
John  Fomeroy,  dwelt  in  isolated  clearings  between  Fort 
Barr  and  Fort  Wallace. 

The  official  records  of  Pennsylvania  contain  only  occa- 
sional references  to  the  perils  of  the  Derry  settlement  dur- 
ing the  Revolution.  Details  of  the  adventures  of  the  pio- 
neers have  been  preserved  in  family  traditions,  and  some 
of  these  have  been  collected  in  print.  Tliese  traditions 
are  far  from  trustworthy,  save  as  corroborated  or  corrected 
by  contemporary  records.  Two  events  are  sometimes  min- 
gled into  one,  circumstances  are  distorted  or  exaggerated, 
and  dates  are  often  far  out  of  the  way.  The  men  who 
cleared  the  woods  and  fought  the  savages  were  either  un- 
lettered or  too  busy  with  deeds  to  find  time  for  writing. 
The  human  memory  is  very  fallible,  and  tradition  is  a 
fragile  support  for  the  historian;  yet  it  serves  to  give  life 
and  color  to  the  dull  statements  of  official  reports. 

It  was  in  harvest  time  of  1777  that  the  Indians  first 
raided  the  northern  border  of  Westmoreland.  North  of 
the  Kiskiminetas  a  few  men  were  killed  or  captured,  and 


Il8  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  Blacklick  settlers  fled  away  to  Fort  Wallace  with  their 
wives  and  cattle.  Among  the  fugitives  was  Randall  Laugh- 
lin,  whose  horses  escaped  from  the  pasture  at  Fort  Wallace 
and  returned  to  the  Blacklick  farm.  Laughlin  determined 
to  venture  back  after  them,  and  was  accompanied  by  four 
of  his  neighbors,  Charles  Campbell,  a  major  of  the  militia; 
two  brothers  Gibson,  and  a  man  of  the  name  of  Dixon. 
In  safety  they  reached  Laughlin's  cabin,  and  while  resting 
there  on  Sept.  25,  they  were  surprised  and  surrounded  by 
a  band  of  savages,  probably  Wyandots,  led  by  a  French- 
man. On  the  promise  that  their  lives  would  be  spared,  the 
settlers  surrendered.  They  were  permitted  to  write  a  note, 
describing  their  capture,  and  to  tack  it  on  the  cabin  door. 
Then  they  were  hurried  away,  through  the  wilderness,  to 
Detroit.  Rangers  who  went  in  search  of  the  missing  men, 
found  the  note  on  the  door  and  within  the  cabin  four  printed 
proclamations,  from  Governor  Hamilton,  of  Detroit,  offer- 
ing reward  to  all  who  would  desert  the  American  cause. 
Along  the  Blacklick  valley  the  rangers  discovered  the 
scalped  bodies  of  four  settlers,  whose  lives  had  been  the 
forfeit  of  their  temerity.' 

Major  Campbell  and  his  companions  were  taken  to 
Quebec,  where  they  were  liberated  on  exchange  in  the  fall 
of  1778.  Dixon  and  one  of  the  Gibsons  died  on  shipboard 
during  the  voyage  to  Boston,  but  the  three  others  returned 
to  the  Westmoreland  frontier,  where  Campbell  subsequently 
attained  high  position. 

Several  small  parties  of  savages  prowled  through  the 
Derry  settlement  during  the  autumn  of  1777,  stealing  and 
killing  live  stock  and  burning  deserted  cabins.  The  settlers 
kept  close  in  the  three  forts  and  suffered  little  personal  in- 
jury. On  November  i  Lieutenant  Samuel  Craig,  who  lived 
near  Shields's  fort,  was  riding  toward  Ligonier  for  salt, 
when  he  was  waylaid  and  killed  or  captured  at  the  western 
base  of  Chestnut  Ridge.     Rangers  found  his  beautiful  mare 


1  Pennaylvania  Archives,  vol.  v.,  p.  741;  Caldwell's  History  of  In- 
diana County,  p.  140;  Thomas  Galbralth's  Journal,  in  Frontier  Forts, 
vol.  il..  p.  2?.-. 


THE  DERRY  SETTLEMENT.  II9 

lying  dead  near  the  trail,  with  eight  bullets  in  her, but  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  the  rider  was  ever  discovered.* 

Three  days  after  the  taking  of  Craig,  the  Indians  at- 
tacked Fort  Wallace.  The  savages  opened  fire  from  the 
edge  of  the  woods  on  one  side  of  the  fort,  while  on  the 
other  side  a  white  man  appeared,  wading  in  the  shallow 
water  up  the  tail  race  of  the  mill  and  waving  a  red  flag. 
His  action  was  a  mystery  to  the  defenders  of  the  stockade, 
but  their  curiosity  did  not  restrain  their  triggers.  As  the 
flag  bearer  approached  the  palisade,  he  received  a  volley 
and  fell  dead  with  seven  bullets  in  his  body.  In  a  bag  sus- 
pended from  a  cord  around  his  neck  were  found  two  proc- 
lamations like  those  left  in  Randall  Laughlin's  cabin  on  the 
Biacklick.  He  was  one  of  Hamilton's  emissaries  from  De- 
troit, and  when  he  fell  his  savage  followers  glided  away  into 
the  woods." 

The  Indians  did  not  leave  the  settlement.  Major  James 
Wilson,  working  about  his  farm,  heard  the  firing  of  guns 
at  the  cabin  of  a  neighbor.  Wilson  got  his  rifle  and  went 
to  investigate.  He  found  his  neighbor's  body,  the  head 
being  severed  and  lying  near.  Wilson  then  hurried  his 
wife  and  children  to  Fort  Barr,  and  a  party  of  the  bor- 
derers, led  by  Robert  Barr,  was  soon  gathered  to  pursue  the 
marauders.  This  party  included  two  of  the  most  expe- 
rienced Indian  trailers  on  the  frontier,  Major  James  Smith 
and  Captain  John  Hinkston.  The  Indians  were  followed 
across  the  Kiskiminetas  toward  the  Allegheny  river,  and 
were  overtaken  near  Kittanning.  A  sharp  conflict  ensued, 
five  of  the  savages  were  killed  and  the  others  were  dispersed. 
The  dead  savages  were  scalped,  and  the  ghastly  trophies 
were  sent  to  Philadelphia  for  reward.* 

In  the  spring  of  1778  the  Indians  came  down  again, 
across  the  Kiskiminetas  and  the  Conemaugh.  On  April 
28  a  score  of  rangers,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Hop- 
kins, who  had  gone  out  from  Fort  Wallace,  were  surprised 

2  Galbraith's   Journal,  Frontier   Ports,    vol.    il.,    pp.   244,    287. 

3  Frontier   Forts,    vol.  ii.,    p.   244. 

4  Greensburg    Herald,  November   2-3,    1870;     Pennsylvania    Archives, 
vol.  vi..  p.  69. 


I20  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

by  a  superior  force  of  savages  in  the  forest  and  were  de- 
feated after  a  hard  fight.  Nine  of  the  rangers  were  slain 
and  their  bodies  left  behind;  Captain  Hopkins  was  slightly 
wounded,  and  four  of  the  Indians  fell." 

This  is  probably  the  combat  in  which  Ebenezer  Finley 
took  part,  described  in  Dr.  Joseph  Smith's  "Old  Redstone."* 
Ebenezer  was  the  son  of  the  celebrated  pioneer  preacher, 
Rev.  James  Finley,  and,  according  to  the  story  related  of 
him,  was  serving  a  tour  at  Fort  Wallace  as  a  member  of 
a  small  militia  company  from  the  Monongahela  valley.  A 
horseman  dashed  into  the  fort,  with  an  alarm  that  Indians 
were  in  the  vicinity,  that  he  had  left  two  men  and  a  woman 
coming  in  through  the  woods  afoot,  and  that  they  must 
be  overtaken  if  not  rapidly  succored.  Eighteen  or  twenty 
militiamen  sallied  forth,  and,  at  a  distance  of  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  fort,  fell  into  an  Indian  ambush.  After 
the  first  exchange  of  shots,  the  militiamen  retreated,  and  a 
running  fight  took  place  nearly  to  the  gate  of  the  fort. 
Many  of  the  white  men  "were  shot  down  or  tomahawked." 
Finley  fell  behind  while  trying  to  prime  his  gun,  and  was 
in  imminent  danger  of  being  overtaken.  Putting  forth 
extra  effort,  he  succeeded  in  passing  a  comrade  by  striking 
the  other  man  on  the  shoulder  with  his  elbow,  and  a  moment 
later  this  comrade  was  felled  with  a  tomahawk.  Thus 
young  Finley  saved  himself  by  sacrificing  the  life  of  an- 
other, and  the  pious  author  would  have  it  that  Finley  es- 
caped by  the  interposition  of  Providence.  Rev.  James  Fin- 
ley was  in  Philadelphia  at  the  time,  and  at  the  very  hour  of 
the  ambuscade  was  affected  by  a  strong  impression  that 
his  son  was  in  danger.  He  betook  himself  to  intense 
prayer,  and  after  a  short  period  was  relieved  by  a  feeling 
that  the  danger  had  passsed.  It  was  not  until  several  weeks 
later  that  he  learned  the  nature  of  his  son's  peril  and  the 
manner  of  his  escape. 

Certain  family  traditions  of  the  Derrv  settlement  relate 


5  Pennsylvania   Archives,   vol.   vl.,  pp.  469,  495. 

6  Old  RodHtone,   or  Historical  Sketches  of  Western   Presbyterianlsm, 
Philadelphia,    1&'54,   p.   284. 


THE  DERRY  SETTLEMENT.  121 

to  another  bitter  combat  with  the  savages  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  Fort  Wallace,  at  an  uncertain  period  dur- 
ing the  Revolution.  This  affair  may  have  taken  place  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1778,  for  it  is  known  that  desperate 
inroads  were  made  by  the  Indians  at  that  time  into  the 
northern  precincts  of  Westmoreland.'  The  story  goes  that 
signs  of  Indians  were  seen  near  Fort  Barr,  and  the  settlers 
throughout  the  southern  part  of  Derry  took  refuge  there. 
They  were  preparing  to  withstand  an  attack,  when  brisk 
firing  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  Fort  Wallace.  Major 
James  Wilson,  at  the  head  of  about  forty  men,  promptly 
set  out  from  Barr's  to  the  relief  of  the  other  post.  They 
arrived  within  sight  of  Fort  Wallace,  which  they  found 
heavily  besieged,  but  as  soon  a?  Wilson's  company  ap- 
peared, the  savages  turned  upon  it  and  assailed  it  in  over- 
whelming force.  The  principal  conflict  took  place  on  a 
bridge  over  a  deep  gully,  about  500  yards  from  the  fort. 
Several  Indians  were  there  slain  and  others  were  thrown 
over  the  bridge;  but  Wilson's  party  was  forced  to  retreat 
and  fought  desperately  all  the  way  back  to  Fort  Barr. 
During  this  retreat  two  of  Robert  Barr's  sons,  Alexander 
and  Robert,  were  killed,  but  their  bodies  were  saved  from 
the  scalping  knife.  All  others  gained  the  stockade  in 
safety,  and  the  Indians  soon  afterward  disappeared  from  the 
settlement." 

No  record  has  been  found  of  further  Indian  attacks  on 
the  Derry  district  until  the  spring  of  1781.  On  the  first 
day  of  April,  while  Colonel  John  Pomeroy  and  at  least  three 
hired  men  were  at  work  in  a  field,  they  were  fired  upon  by 
Indians  and  one  of  the  men  was  killed.  Pomeroy  fled  to 
his  cabin,  while  the  two  hired  men  ran  for  Fort  Barr,  about 
a  mile  away.  Only  one  of  them  reached  the  fort,  where  he 
related  what  had  occurred.  Very  few  men  were  in  the  fort, 
but  James  Wilson  and  James  Barr  mounted  horses  and 
rode  away  to  Pomeroy's  assistance.     From  a  hilltop  near 


7  Fort  Pitt,  pp.  232,  238. 

8  Greensburg   Herald,    November  23,    1870;     Frontier    Forts,    vol. 
p.  347. 


122  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

the  house  they  saw  several  Indians  skulking  about  Pome- 
roy's  barn,  but  no  sound  came  from  the  cabin.  Wilson 
called  out,  "Pomeroy,  are  you  alive?"  From  the  cabin 
came  the  lusty  response,  "Yes;  come  on  and  we'll  kill  all 
the  rascals  yet."  Wilson  and  Barr  left  their  horses,  made 
a  dash  for  the  dwelling  and  entered  it  unharmed.  There 
they  found  that  the  owner  and  his  wife  Hannah  had  been 
making  a  gallant  defense  for  nearly  three  hours.  They 
had  hidden  their  children  under  the  heavy  oak  floor  and  had 
betaken  themselves  to  the  loft,  from  whose  port  holes  Pom- 
eroy  had  been  firing.  He  had  two  good  rifles,  and,  while 
he  was  handling  one,  Hannah  loaded  the  other,  taking, 
meanwhile,  frequent  liberal  pinches  of  snufif. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Wilson  and  Barr,  the  Indians,  who 
were  few  in  number,  ran  to  the  woods.  The  children  were 
drawn  from  their  hiding  place  and  Pomeroy's  family  was 
conducted,  without  molestation,  to  Fort  Barr."  On  the 
following  day  Colonel  Archibald  Lochry,  the  county  lieu- 
tenant, arrived  in  the  settlement  with  a  company  of  militia 
and  visited  Pomeroy's  farm.  The  dwelling  had  been  broken 
open  by  the  Indians,  and  nearly  all  the  contents  carried 
away.  In  the  field  the  body  of  the  scalped  laborer  was  found 
and  buried.  A  second  hired  man,  who  had  fled,  was  never 
found." 


9  Greensburg  Herald,   November  23.   1870. 

10  Peunsylvania    Archives,    First    Series,    vol.    ix.,    p.    51. 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF  COSHOCTON.  1 23 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF  COSHOCTON. 


Colonel  Brodhead  was  never  able  to  execute  his  de- 
sign to  lead  a  force  against  the  Wyandot  or  the  Shawnee 
towns  in  Ohio.  He  had  expected  to  get  help,  for  such  an 
expedition,  from  the  Delaware  warriors  at  Coshocton,  but 
in  the  spring  of  1781  a  change  in  the  situation  impelled 
him  to  strike  the  Delawares  themselves.  Until  the  be- 
ginning of  that  year  the  Delawares  took  no  part,  as  a  tribe, 
in  the  war  against  the  frontier.  The  alliance  with  the 
United  States,  made  by  their  three  principal  chiefs  in  the 
autumn  of  1778,  was  outwardly  observed  for  more  than  two 
years.  The  death  of  White  Eyes  had  been  followed  by 
the  election  of  Killbuck,  a  famous  medicine  man  and  war- 
rior, to  the  ofifice  of  chief  sachem,  and  he  proved  himself  to 
be  an  unswerving  friend  to  the  Americans.  It  was  soon 
developed,  however,  that  he  represented  a  minority  of  his 
tribe.  His  influence  was  sufficient  merely  to  delay  the  union 
of  the  Delawares  with  the  other  hostile  nations. 

Brodhead  had  nothing  to  give  to  the  Indians ;  British 
agents  from  Detroit  gave  not  only  promises  but  presents. 
Envoys  from  the  Senecas,  the  Wyandots,  the  Miamis  and 
tribes  farther  to  the  west  visited  the  Delaware  towns  often, 
threatening  and  persuading  and  using  all  savage  arts  to 
draw  the  chiefs  and  warriors  into  the  league  against  the 
Americans.  Raiding  parties  going  homeward  from  the 
frontier  flaunted  their  trophies  in  the  Delaware  villages 
and  stirred  the  envy  and  ambition  of  the  young  bucks.  The 


124  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

Indian  inclines  to  war  rather  than  to  peace.  Captain  Pipe 
became  the  leader  of  the  war  party  and  soon  controlled  the 
tribal  council. 

In  February,  i/Si,  during  the  absence  of  Killbuck  at 
Fort  Pitt,  the  council  at  Coshocton  yielded  to  the  pressure, 
voted  to  join  the  hostile  league  and  permitted  bands  of  war- 
riors to  go  out  against  the  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  bord- 
er. 

Killbuck  feared  to  return  to  Coshocton,  for  threats  had 
been  boldly  uttered  against  his  life.  He  made  his  residence 
with  the  Moravians  or  United  Brethren  and  their  converted 
Indians  at  Salem,  on  the  v»?estern  bank  of  the  Tuscarawas 
river,  14  miles  below  New  Philadelphia.  He  even  pro- 
fessed conversion  to  Christianity,  was  baptized  and  received 
a  Christian  name,  William  Henry,  in  honor  of  a  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Lancaster,  Pa.  Thereafter  the  Indian 
sachem,  who  held  a  commission  from  the  United  States 
Congress,  was  proud  to  call  himself  "Colonel  Henry."  He 
drew  to  Salem  with  him  his  own  family,  the  family  of  White 
Eyes  and  a  few  other  Delawares,  including  the  war  captains 
Big  Cat  and  Nanowland.  From  Salem  Chief  Killbuck 
wrote,  by  the  hand  of  the  Missionary  Heckevvelder,  a  long 
letter  to  Colonel  Brodhead,  informing  him  of  the  hostile 
acts  of  the  council  at  Coshocton.' 

This  letter  was  accompanied  by  one  from  Heckevveld- 
er and  both  were  carried  to  Fort  Pitt  by  John  Montour. 
Heckewelder  suggested  an  expedition  against  Coshocton, 
adding:  "I  trust  that  your  honor  will  do  al!  that  lies  in  your 
power  to  prevent  mislisting  anybody  belonging  to  our 
towns;  and  you  may  depend,  sir,  that  in  case  any  of  your 
men  should  have  occasion  to  come  by  any  of  our  towns, 
they  would  meet  with  much  kindness  from  our  people." 

Brodhead  determined  to  attack  Coshocton  and  punish 
the  Delawares  for  their  perfidy.  Vigorous  exertions  by 
the  Pennsylvania  government  had  given  him  a  supply  of 
provisions,  but  his  force  of  regulars  at  Fort  Pitt  had  been 
reduced,  from  various  causes,  to  about  200  men.       To  the 


1  Pennsylvaiiiii    Archives.    First    Series,    vol.    vill. 


THE    DESTRUCTION  OF  COSHOCTON.  125 

officers  of  the  border  counties  he  sent  a  call  for  militia  as- 
sistance, but  this  call  was  fruitless.'  By  the  help  of  Col- 
onel David  Shepherd,  of  Wheeling,  who  was  county  lieu- 
tenant of  Ohio  county.  Pa.,  Brodhead  was  able  to  secure 
a  body  of  excellent  volunteers.  There  were  134  of  them, 
members  of  the  Virginia  militia,  arranged  in  four  com- 
panies, under  Captains  John  Ogle,  Benjamin  Royce,  Jacob 
Lefier  and  William  Crawford.'  These  men  were  hardy 
young  farmers  and  hunters  from  the  settlements  in  Wash- 
ington county  and  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio.  Most 
of  them  rode  their  own  horses  and  joined  in  the  raid  under 
Colonel  Shepherd's  command. 

Fort  Henry,  the  stockade  at  Wheeling,  was  the  place 
of  assembly,  and  to  that  place  Brodhead  and  his  soldiers 
went  down  in  boats  during  the  first  week  in  April.  On 
Tuesday,  April  10,  the  little  army,  about  300  strong,  was 
ferried  over  the  Ohio  river  and  took  the  Indian  trail  for  the 
Muskingum  river.  John  Montour,  Nanowland  and  three 
other  Delaware  braves  went  with  the  Americans  to  fight 
their  own  tribesmen. 

It  was  very  desirable  that  the  expedition  should  move 
rapidly,  so  that  it  might  take  the  Indian  village  by  surprise ; 
yet  it  was  ten  days  before  Brodhead's  force  appeared  before 
Coshocton.  The  weather  was  bad,  a  great  deal  of  rain  fell 
and  progress  was  difficult.  The  commander  paused  awhile, 
when  he  neared  the  Tuscarawas,  for  a  conference  with  Rev. 
John  Heckewelder,  the  missionary  among  the  Delawares. 
A  messenger  sent  ahead  had  summoned  the  Moravian  min- 
ister from  his  Huts  of  Grace  on  the  Tuscarawas  river,  and 
he  met  Brodhead  on  the  trail.  Brodhead  wished  to  know 
if  any  of  the  Christian  Indians  were  in  the  hostile  towns. 
Heckewelder  said  there  was  none.  Brodhead  wished  the 
Moravians  to  prepare  some  corn  and  cattle  for  the  soldiers 
against  their  return  march.  Heckewelder  departed  to  see 
that  it  was  done.  Back  to  Gnadenhuetten  and  Salem  the 
missionary  bore  the  news  that  the  Americans  were  in  the 

2  Pennsylvania   Archives,    First   Series,    vol.    ix..    pp.   51,    52. 

3  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,   p.  52. 


126  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Indian  country,  and  Chief  Killbuck  and  his  few  warriors 
put  on  their  paint  and  went  forth  to  strike  a  blow  for  the 
American  cause.  Thus  the  forces  of  savagery  were  divid- 
ed against  themselves. 

From  the  Ohio  river  to  the  forking  of  the  Muskingum 
was  hardly  70  miles,  and  that  this  required  ten  days  showed 
how  bad  the  weather  and  the  way  must  have  been.  Yet  in 
spite  of  this  slow  toil,  the  Delawares  were  really  taken  by 
surprise.  They  had  no  expectation  of  such  prompt  action 
by  the  American  commander  and  kept  no  scouts  abroad  in 
the  rainy  weather.  Perhaps  most  important  of  all,  some  of 
their  chief  men  were  at  Detroit,  attending  a  great  council  of 
all  the  tribes  of  the  northwest,  with.  DePeyster,  the  British 
governor.  This  embassy  probably  included  the  Pipe,  v;ho 
had  become  chief  sachem  of  the  tribe  in  place  of  Killbuck, 
deposed,  and  the  famous  war  chief  called  the  Beloved. 
Buckongahelas  or  He-Who-Fulfils,  the  next  chief  in  au- 
thority, was  probably  away  with  a  raiding  band,  and  thus 
Coshocton  was  without  a  head  and  unprepared  even  for  de- 
fensive action. 

On  Friday,  April  20,  in  the  morning,  while  the  rain 
was  pouring,  the  American  advance  guard  came  upon  three 
Indians  in  the  woods,  not  more  than  a  mile  from  Coshoc- 
ton. One  of  the  savages  was  captured,  but  the  two  others, 
of  whom  one  was  wounded,  escaped  to  the  town  and  gave 
the  first  alarm.  The  captured  Indian  said  there  were  not 
many  warriors  at  home,  that  a  band  of  40  had  just  returned 
from  a  raid  on  the  settlements,  with  scalps  and  prisoners, 
but  had  crossed  to  the  farther  side  of  the  river,  a  few  miles 
above  the  town,  to  enjoy  a  drunken  revel. 

Brodhead  hurried  forward  and  dashed  into  the  Dela- 
ware capital.  But  15  warriors  were  there,  who  made  as 
brave  a  resistance  as  they  could,  but  every  one  of  them  was 
cither  shot  down  or  tomahawked  to  death  in  the  resistless 
rush  of  the  Americans.  The  mounted  volunteers  were 
naturally  first  into  the  town  and  they  neither  accepted  sur- 
render by  an  Indian  buck  nor  suffered  any  of  the  wounded 
to  linger  long  in  agony.       No  harm  was  done  to  the  old 


THE   DESTRUCTION  OF  COSHOCTON.  1 27 

men,  women  or  children,  of  whom  more  than  a  score  were 
captured.  These  were  removed,  under  guard,  to  a  place 
outside  the  town,  and  the  log  cabins  composing  Coshocton 
were  then  given  to  the  flames. 

The  colonel  said,  in  nis  official  report,  that  his  men 
took  "great  quantities  of  peltry  and  other  stores"  and  de- 
stroyed about  40  head  of  cattle.  Doubtless  there  was  a 
great  feast  on  beef  when  the  work  of  killing  and  burning 
was  over,  for  the  tired  troops  were  not  so  well  provisioned 
that  they  would  let  fresh  meat  go  to  waste. 

Brodhead  desu-ed  to  cross  the  river  and  attack  the 
drunken  war  party,  but  the  stream  was  swollen  to  the  tops 
of  its  banks  and  the  Indians  had  all  their  canoes  on  the  far- 
ther side.  It  was  the  high  water  which  had  prevented  the 
escape  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Coshocton.  The  com- 
mander then  proposed  to  send  a  detail  to  the  Moravian 
towns,  up  the  Tuscarawas,  to  procure  boats,  but  against  this 
the  volunteers  protested.  They  said  they  had  done  enough, 
had  sufifered  sorely  from  the  weather,  had  almost  worn  out 
their  horses  and  proposed  to  return  home.  As  they  were 
in  no  way  subjected  to  military  discipline.  Colonel  Brod- 
head could  not  help  himself. 

On  the  return  journey,  the  Americans  followed  the 
Tuscarawas  to  Newcomer's  Town,  where  they  found  about 
30  friendly  Delawares  who  had  withdrawn  from  Coshocton, 
when  war  was  voted.  Colonel  Brodhead  says :  "The 
troops  experienced  great  kindness  from  the  Moravian  In- 
dians and  those  at  Newcomer's  Town  and  obtained  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  meat  and  corn  to  subsist  the  men  and  horses 
to  the  Ohio  river." 

If  Brodhead  was  unable  to  strike  the  hostile  band  on 
the  farther  side  of  the  river,  that  work  was  done  by  Chief 
Killbuck  and  his  adherents.  While  the  Americans  rested  at 
Newcomer's  Town,  Killbuck  appeared  in  the  camp  and 
threw  at  the  colonel's  feet  the  fresh  scalp  of  "one  of  the 
greatest  villains"  among  the  hostiles. 

The  expedition  returned  to  Wheeling  about  the  be- 
ginning of  May,  where  the  furs  and  other  captured  goods 


128  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

were  sold  at  vendue,  bringing  the  astonishing  sum  of  So,- 
ooo  pounds.  The  furs  were  the  product  of  a  winter's  hunt- 
ing.* 

Quite  a  different  story  of  this  expedition  is  to  be  found 
in  the  old  histories.  Its  author  was  Rev.  Joseph  Doddridge, 
of  Washington  county,  who  gave  it  forth  in  his  once  popu- 
lar "Notes  on  the  Settlements  and  Indian  Wars,  etc."  His 
story  was  copied  almost  word  for  word  in  Craig's  "History 
of  Pittsburg,"  and  is  adhered  to  in  Howe's  "Historical  Col- 
lections of  Ohio,"  revised  as  recently  as  1890." 

Doddridge  said  that  the  raid  took  place  in  the  summer 
of  1780,  which  was  nearly  a  year  out  of  the  way,  and  that 
the  force  consisted  of  about  800  regulars  and  "militia."  No 
militia  responded  as  an  organization  to  Brodhead's  call,  and 
that  officer,  in  his  report,  was  careful  to  refer  to  the  Vir- 
ginians who  aided  him  as  "volunteers."  The  whole  force, 
said  Brodhead,  was  "about  300  men." 

Doddridge  said :  "The  whole  number  of  the  Indians 
in  the  village  .  .  .  were  made  prisoners  without  firing  a 
single  shot.  ...  A  little  after  dark  a  council  of  war  was 
held  to  determine  on  the  fate  of  the  warriors  in  custody. 
They  were  doomed  to  death,  and,  by  order  of  the  command- 
er, they  were  bound,  taken  a  little  distance  below  the  town 
and  dispatched  with  tomahawks  and  spears  and  scalped." 

This  was  a  vicious  accusation  against  Colonel  Brod- 
head and  is  contradictory  of  the  whole  history  of  that  strict 
disciphnarian  and  high-minded  officer.  The  town  was  not 
taken  without  a  shot.  Brodhead's  report  said  :  "The 
troops  behaved  with  great  spirit,  and  although  there  was 
considerable  firing  between  them  and  the  Indians,  I  had 
not  a  man  killed  or  wounded,  and  only  one  horse  shot." 

But  Rev.  Mr.  Doddridge  was  only  warming  to  his 
work.  Here  is  his  conclusion  of  the  story:  "Brodhead 
committed  the  care  of  the  prisoners  to  the  militia.  They 
were  about  20  in  number.       After  marching  about  half  a 


4  For  Brodhead's   Report,    Pennsylvania   Archives,    First   Series,   vol. 
Jx.,  p.  161. 

5  DoddridRO's   Notes,   p.  291;     Howe's  Historical   Collections   of  Ohio, 
vol.   1..  p.   480;     Western   Annals,   p.  330. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  COSHOCTON.  1 29 

mile,  the  men  commenced  killing  them.  In  a  short  time 
they  were  all  dispatched,  except  a  few  women  and  children, 
who  were  spared  and  taken  to  Fort  Pitt,  and,  after  some 
time,  were  exchanged  for  an  equal  number  of  their  prison- 
ers." 

The  only  truth  in  this  statement  consists  in  the  num- 
ber of  the  prisoners.  It  may  be  said  that  Colonel  Brod- 
head  would  not  be  likely  to  mention  so  disgraceful  an  affair 
in  his  report,  and  that  his  silence  is  therefore  no  evidence 
that  the  prisoners  were  not  butchered.  But  the  story  is 
disproved  by  the  testimony  of  the  enemy.  A  few  days  after 
Colonel  Brodhead  retired,  the  ruins  of  Coshocton  were 
visited  by  twenty  Wyandots,  who  learned  from  the  released 
prisoners  and  other  survivors  the  particulars  of  the  Ameri- 
can raid.  These  Wyandots  quickly  bore  the  news  to  Si- 
mon Girty,  at  Upper  Sandusky,  and  he  promptly  sent  a  let- 
ter to  Lieutenant  Governor  DePeyster  at  Detroit.  Girty 
had  reasons  to  hate  Colonel  Brodhead  and  would  have  re- 
ported that  officer's  conduct  in  the  worst  possible  light.  Yet 
Girty  wrote  that  Brodhead  had  released  the  prisoners,  in- 
cluding four  warriors  who  had  satisfied  him  that  they  had 
not  engaged  in  hostilities  against  the  frontier,  and  had  even 
expressed  regret  to  these  Indian  men  that  their  tribesmen 
had  been  killed  during  the  attack  on  the  Indian  town.' 

Doddridge's  book  has  still  thousands  of  readers. 
Doubtless,  it  well  describes  the  conditions  of  pioneer  life  in 
Western  Pennsylvania,  but  as  to  historical  events  it  is  to- 
tally unreliable.  At  the  time  Brodhead  destroyed  Coshoc- 
ton, Joseph  Doddridge  was  about  12  years  old,  and  he  did 
not  write  his  "Notes"  until  40  years  afterward.  His  only 
sources  of  information  were  the  exaggerated  yarns  told  by 
ignorant  frontiersmen,  beside  the  log  cabin  fires,  into  the 
ears  of  the  wondering  boy.  Long  years  afterward  he  en- 
deavored to  recall  and  set  down  these  stories  heard  in  child- 
hood, and  many  persons  have  considered  the  result  history. 
The  official  report  of  Colonel  Brodhead,  kept  among  the 
archives  at  Harrisburg,  was  not  made  public  until  1854,  and 

6  The  Girtys,  p.  128.     See  also  Winsor's  Westward  Movement,  p.  192. 


13©  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Other  contemporary  records,  bearing  on    the    Coshocton 
campaign,  have  come  to  light  in  later  years. 

As  a  result  of  the  Coshocton  campaign,  the  hostile 
Delawares  migrated  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Sandusky  and 
to  other  places  farther  westward,  while  the  portion  of  the 
tribe  adhering  to  Killbuck  and  the  American  moved  to 
Pittsburg  and  erected  their  rude  cabins  on  Smoky  Island, 
at  the  northern  side  of  the  junction  of  the  Allegheny  and 
the  Mononsrahela. 


GENERAL  CLARK'S  DRAFT.  I31 


CHAPTER  XX. 


GENERAL  CLARK'S  DRAFT. 


During  the  spring  and  summer  months  of  1781  the 
Pennsylvania  frontier  was  sorely  disturbed  by  the  efforts  of 
General  George  Rogers  Clark  to  raise  troops  for  an  expe- 
dition, in  the  interest  of  Virginia,  against  the  British  post 
at  Detroit.  In  the  summer  of  1778  Clark  had  conquered 
the  Illinois  country  and  the  valley  of  the  Wabash  for  Vir- 
ginia, and,  as  it  afterward  turned  out,  for  the  United  ^States. 
Virginia  claimed  all  that  northwestern  country  by  king's 
charter,  but,  since  king's  charters  had  fallen  into  disfavor  in 
America,  she  felt  more  reliance  in  a  claim  based  on  actual 
conquest.  Clark  was  ambitious  for  the  enterprise  against 
Detroit  and  was  supported  by  many  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  borders.  They  saw  Detroit  as 
the  source  of  all  their  afiflictions,  and  were  eager  for  the  con- 
quest of  that  breeding  place  of  savage  warfare. 

Clark  was  in  Richmond  in  January,  1781,  where  the 
prestige  of  his  exploits  easily  gained  for  him  the  approval 
and  support  of  the  state  government.  He  received  a  com- 
mission as  brigadier  general  and  ample  funds  to  buy  provi- 
sions in  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  A 
small  body  of  Virginia  regulars,  about  140,  was  placed  at  his 
service  and  he  was  empowered  to  raise  and  equip  volunteers 
in  the  border  counties. 

Agents  were  sent  ahead  of  Clark  into  the  country  be- 
tween Laurel  Hill  and  the  Ohio  river  and  began  to  buy 


132  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

flour  and  live  cattle/  Colonel  Brodhead  complained  to  the 
president  of  Pennsylvania  that  the  food  supply  on  which  he 
was  dependent  was  to  be  taken  out  of  the  country  in  the  in- 
terest of  Virginia,  and  he  revealed  a  jealousy  of  Clark's  en- 
terprise. "I  have  hitherto  been  encouraged  to  flatter  my- 
self," he  wrote,  "that  I  should,  sooner  or  later,  be  enabled  to 
reduce  that  place  (Detroit),  but  it  seems  the  United  States 
cannot  furnish  either  troops  or  resources  for  the  purpose, 
but  the  state  of  Virginia  can."' 

Brodhead  threatened  to  prevent  the  sending  of  any 
supplies  out  of  the  country,  but  in  February  he  received  a 
letter  from  General  Washington,  directing  him  to  give  aid 
to  General  Clark's  undertaking  and  to  detach  from  his  own 
little  force  Captain  Isaac  Craig's  field  artillery  and  at  least  a 
captain's  command  of  infantry,  to  assist  the  Virginia  expe- 
dition.'' 

General  Clark  arrived  on  the  Pennsylvania  frontier 
about  the  beginning  of  March  and  made  his  headquarters 
at  the  house  of  Colonel  Crawford,  on  the  Youghiogheny.  A 
part  of  his  time  he  spent  with  Colonel  Dorsey  Pentecost,  on 
Chartiers  creek.  He  instituted  vigorous  efforts  to  raise 
men  in  the  same  region  where  he  had  found  the  hardy  vol- 
unteers for  his  first  raid  into  the  western  territory.  Then 
arose  a  bitter  contention  throughout  all  Southwestern 
Pennsylvania.  The  frontiersmen  seemed  to  be  about  equal- 
ly divided  between  support  and  opposition  to  Clark's  plans. 
It  was  generally  known  by  this  time  that  all  of  the  Virginia 
county  of  Yohogania  and  much  of  the  counties  of  Mo- 
nongalia and  Ohio  belonged  to  Pennsylvania,  but  the 
boundary  line  had  not  been  surveyed  west  of  the  Monon- 
gahela  river  and  the  magistrates  from  Pittsburg  southward 
were  all  Virginians. 

Among  the  settlers  there  were  many  factions.  Some 
would  obey  no  law  but  that  of  Pennsylvania,  and  declared 
that  Clark,  as  a  \'irginia  officer,  had  no  business  in  that 
neighborhood.       Others  adhered  to  Virginia  until  the  line 

1  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  vlll.,  p.  767;  vol.  Ix.,  p.  190. 

2  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  vlli..  pp.  743,  7G6.  7G9. 


GENERAL  CLARK'S  DRAFT.  I33 

should  be  officially  surveyed  and  ardently  supported  Clark's 
plans.  A  few  refused  to  obey  any  law  or  acknowledge 
any  jurisdiction,  saying  they  did  not  know  which  state  was 
over  them.  They  could  not  decide  such  a  great  dispute, 
and  had  enough  to  do  to  plant  their  corn  and  potatoes  and 
to  keep  their  rifles  in  good  condition  for  the  savages.  Some 
were  for  a  new  state  of  their  own,  stoutly  protesting  that  the 
wiseacres  at  Philadelphia  and  Richmond  never  could  under- 
stand the  needs  of  the  over-mountain  people.  Many  of  the 
bolder  spirits  on  the  border  said  they  did  not  care  a  bad 
penny  whether  Clark  were  a  Virginian  or  a  Pennsylvanian ; 
if  he  could  clean  out  Detroit  he  would  strike  a  heart  blow  to 
the  enemy  and  rescue  the  border  from  savage  depredations. 
So  they  were  for  him. 

Clark's  intention  was  to  raise  2,000  men  in  Southwest- 
ern Pennsylvania,  float  them  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Wa- 
bash, ascend  that  stream  as  far  as  possible  and  march  over- 
land to  Detroit.  When  he  arrived  at  Colonel  Crawford's 
he  found  that  the  frontiers  were  being  raided  by  bands  of 
Shawnees  from  the  Scioto,  Delawares  from,  the  Muskingum 
and  Wyandots  from  the  Sandusky.  An  expedition  against 
those  tribes  was  more  popular  among  the  Pennsylvanians 
than  a  campaign  against  distant  Detroit,  and  therefore 
Clark  made  an  ostensible  change  in  his  plans.  He  gave 
it  out  that  he  was  going  against  the  Ohio  savages,  for  the 
immediate  benefit  of  the  Westmoreland  frontier :  but  his 
real  aim  was  not  altered  to  conquer  Detroit  and  an  addi- 
tional empire  for  the  Old  Dominion.' 

Brodhead  was  not  deceived,  but  many  Pennsylvania  of- 
ficers were.  On  March  23  Clark  wrote  to  President  Reed, 
of  Pennsylvania,  asking  his  endorsement  of  the  project,  for 
the  effect  it  would  have  on  the  frontiersmen  who  called 
themselves  Pennsylvanians.  Clark  wrote:  "If  our  re- 
sources should  not  be  such  as  to  enable  us  to  remain  in  the 
Indian  country  during  the  fair  season,  I  am  in  hopes  they 
will  be  sufficient  to  visit  the  Shawnees,  Delawares  and  San- 


3  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  189,  239. 


134  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

dusky  towns.  Defeating  the  enemy  and  laying  those  coun- 
tries waste  would  give  great  ease  to  the  fiontiers  of  both 
states."* 

President  Reed  approved  of  the  campaign,  but  the  let- 
ters of  both  Clark  and  Reed  were  unreasonably  delayed. 
President  Reed  wrote,  on  May  15:  "It  will  give  us  great 
satisfaction  if  the  inhabitants  of  this  state  cheerfully  concur 
in  it,  and  we  authorize  you  to  declare  that,  so  far  from  giv- 
ing offense  to  their  government,  we  shall  consider  their  ser- 
vice with  you  as  highly  meritorious.'"  This  letter  was  car- 
ried to  the  frontier  by  Colonel  Christopher  Hays,  the  West- 
moreland county  member  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Coun- 
cil. Hays  was  directed  by  the  council  to  aid  Clark's  expe- 
dition, but  it  soon  developed  that  he  was  opposed  to  it.  Al- 
though he  arrived  in  Westmoreland  about  the  beginning  of 
June,  the  letter  which  he  carried  was  not  delivered  to  Clark 
until  July  3,  when  it  was  too  late  to  do  much  good.' 

Hays  called  a  meeting  of  all  the  commissioned  officers 
of  the  Westmoreland  militia  to  arrange  a  plan  for  the  fron- 
tier defense.  Doubtless  he  was  confident  that  he  and  his 
friends  could  control  this  meeting,  but  he  was  disappointed. 
The  officers  met  on  June  18,  at  the  home  of  Captain  John 
McClelland,  on  Big  Sewickley  creek,  and,  to  the  chagrin  of 
Colonel  Hays,  decided  by  a  majority  vote  to  give  aid  to 
General  Clark.  It  was  resolved  to  furnish  300  men  out  of 
the  county  militia  to  join  Clark's  army,  and  Colonel  Lochry 
was  directed  to  see  that  this  quota  was  raised  "by  volun- 
teers or  draft."^ 

This  was  the  first  effort  made  on  the  Pennsylvania 
frontier  to  raise  soldiers  by  draft  and  it  caused  a  great  out- 
cry. The  meeting  of  officers  directed  Colonel  Lochry  to 
consult  General  Clark  respecting  the  manner  of  drafting 
men  in  Virginia  and  to  agree  on  a  day  for  a  general  rendez- 
vous. Lochry  met  Clark  one  week  later  at  Crawford's  set- 
tlement and  the  rendezvous  was  ordered  for  Monday,  July 

4  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  p.  23. 

5  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  p.  137. 

6  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  pp.  141,    331. 

7  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  pp.  239.  247,  369,  559. 


GENERAL  CLARK'S  DRAFT. 


135 


16.  This  day  was  chosen  to  enable  the  farmers  to  finish 
their  wheat  and  oats  harvesting  before  taking  down  their 
rifles  and  powder  horns. 

By  act  of  March  28,  1781,  the  General  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania  created  the  county  of  Washington,  to  com- 
prise all  the  territory  of  the  state  west  of  the  Monongahela 
river.  James  Marshel  was  appointed  county  lieutenant 
and  he  set  to  work  to  establish  the  Pennsylvania  jurisdic- 
tion in  a  region  where  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  \'ir- 
ginians.  The  Virginia  officers  clung  to  their  commissions 
and  were  supported  by  the  stronger  faction.  Such  men 
as  Colonel  Pentecost,  John  Canon,  Gabriel  Cox  and  Daniel 
Leet  worked  hard  to  muster  men  for  General  Clark,  while 
Marshel  and  his  adherents  were  just  as  active  to  defeat  the 
Virginia  project.  This  rivalry,  which  grew  exceedingly 
bitter,  was  fatal  to  Clark's  enterprise  and  unfortunate  for 
the  real  interests  of  the  frontier.  It  is  probable  that  Clark, 
if  unitedly  supported,  would  have  taken  Detroit,  overawed 
the  savages  and  saved  the  border  many  years  of  desolating 
warfare.^ 

On  the  day  of  the  rendezvous  the  attendance  at  the 
several  designated  places  was  discouragingly  small.  Clark 
and  his  lieutenants  immediately  proceeded  to  raise  men  by 
draft.  Such  action  was  without  warrant  of  law.  It  gave 
opportunity  for  the  rougher  element  among  the  Virginians 
to  exploit  their  hatred  of  their  Pennsylvania  neighbors.  The 
work  of  drafting  was  carried  on  with  many  examples  of 
pillage,  cruelty  and  personal  violence.  Virginia  raiding 
parties  scoured  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  seizing  and  beating  men,  frightening  and  abusing 
women,  breaking  houses  and  barns,  plundering  cellars,  im- 
pressing grain  and  live  stock  and  causing  a  general  reign  of 
terror.  The  long  restrained  animosities  growing  out  of 
the  boundary  dispute  now  had  play.  Examples  of  the  acts 
of  violence  have  been  preserved  in  letters  written  by  the 
pioneers. 


8  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  193,  233,  304,  315,  332,  356,  367. 


136  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

One  of  the  men  most  vigorous  in  denouncing  the  Vir- 
ginia proceedings  and  advising  their  neighbors  to  resist  the 
draft  was  Captain  John  Hardin,  who  kept  a  grist  mill  near 
Redstone.  His  eldest  son  was  Lieutenant  John  Hardin,  of 
the  Eighth  Pennsylvania,  afterward  famous  as  General 
Hardin,  of  Kentucky.  At  the  head  of  40  or  50  horsemen. 
General  Clark  visited  Hardin's  settlement,  announcing  his 
purpose  to  hang  the  stubborn  old  pioneer.  Hardin  could 
not  be  found,  but  the  Virginians  caught  one  of  his  sons  and 
kept  him  bound  for  several  days.  They  broke  open  the 
mill,  fed  the  grain  to  their  horses,  took  possession  of  the 
dwelling,  killed  sheep  and  hogs  for  their  food  and  feasted 
for  three  days  at  Hardin's  expense.  Then  General  Clark 
declared  the  old  man's  estate  forfeited  for  treason,  but  was 
kind  enough  to  give  the  property  to  the  wife.' 

A  settler  who  visited  one  of  Clark's  camps  made  so 
bold  as  to  say  that  the  draft  was  illegal.  He  was  arrested 
and  confined  in  a  log  jail  and  Clark  gave  judgment  that  the 
man  should  be  hanged  in  due  course  of  time.  The  threat  of 
execution  was  not  carried  out.  It  was  merely  one  of  the 
general's  "bluffs,"  for  which  he  was  somewhat  notorious. 
Some  of  the  events  of  this  time  suggest  that  Clark  had 
begun  to  drink  pretty  hard.  He  was  in  the  home  of  Mo- 
nongahela  rye  and  the  wealthier  Virginia  settlers  were  gen- 
erous in  their  hospitality. 

Colonel  Gabriel  Cox,  who  lived  on  Peter's  creek,  near 
Finleyville,  went  about  with  a  band  of  armed  men,  drafting 
the  reluctant  settlers.  He  sought  John  Douglass,  one  of 
the  newly  elected  magistrates  for  Washington  county,  but 
did  not  find  him  at  home.  Thinking  to  catch  John  in  bed, 
Cox  and  his  men  returned  to  the  house  at  night,  burst  in 
the  door  and  frightened  wife  and  children  nearly  to  death. 
Douglass  was  not  there  and  Cox  threatened  the  trembling 
wife  with  his  sword.  The  poor  woman  could  not  or  would 
not  tell  where  her  husband  was. 

Colonel  Marshel  wrote  to  Philadelphia :  "Cox  and  his 

9  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  pp.  343-345. 

10  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  p.  344;    vol.  x.,   p.  81. 


GENERAL  CLARK  S  DRAFT. 


137 


party  have  taken  and  confined  a  considerable  number  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  county ;  in  a  word,  the  instances  of 
high  treason  against  the  state  are  too  many  to  be  enumer- 
ated.' Thomas  Scott,  an  honored  leader  among  the  pio- 
neers, wrote  that  Clark's  conduct  had  been  "highly  oppres- 
sive and  abusive,"  adding,  "The  particulars  are  numerous 
and  horrid.""  Christopher  Hays  and  Scott  wrote  jointly, 
"The  general's  expedition  has  been  wished  well,  and  vol- 
unteers to  that  service  have  been  encouraged,  .  .  .  but  we 
have  heartily  reprobated  the  general's  standing  over  these 
two  counties  with  an  armed  force,  in  order  to  dragoon  the 
inhabitants  into  obedience  to  a  draft  under  the  laws  of 
Virginia.'"' 

The  factional  contentions  among  the  borderers  caused 
the  failure  of  Clark's  expedition.  The  Virginia  general 
mustered  his  forces  at  the  mouth  of  Chartiers  creek,  a  short 
distance  below  Pittsburg,  and  thence  marched  to  Wheeling, 
where  his  boats  were  built.  Above  Wheeling  the  Ohio 
was  too  shallow  in  midsummer  to  permit  of  navigation, 
Clark  waited  at  Wheeling  at  least  two  weeks,  vainly  ex- 
pecting other  additions  to  his  band.  Realizing,  at  length, 
that  the  army  which  he  had  hoped  to  lead  could  not  be  as- 
sembled, and  that  he  must  move,  if  at  all,  before  his  stock 
of  provisions  was  seriously  reduced  or  many  of  his  volun- 
teers had  changed  their  minds,  he  embarked  his  men,  on 
the  morning  of  August  8,  and  began  the  descent  of  the  Ohio 
river.  His  force  numbered  about  400,  with  Captain  Craig's 
battery  of  three  field  pieces.  Although  his  proud  spirit 
would  not  permit  him  to  give  over  his  enterprise,  he  felt 
little  confidence  in  its  success.  Just  before  his  embarka- 
tion he  wrote  to  Governor  Jeflferson,  of  Virginia,  that  he 
had  "relinquished  all  expectation,"  adding,  "I  have  been  at 
so  much  pains  that  the  disappointment  is  doubly  mortify- 
ing." 

Had  General  Clark  waited  but  a  few  hours  longer,  his 
expedition  might  not  have  been  entirely  fruitless.       In  the 


11  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  p.  325. 

12  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  p.  355. 


138  OLD  WESTMORELAND, 

evening  of  the  day  in  whose  morning  he  departed  from 
Wheeling,  there  arrived  at  that  place,  by  overland  march, 
about  100  volunteers  from  Westmoreland  county,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Archibald  Lochry.  These  fine  rifle- 
men would  have  been  a  material  addition  to  Clark's 
strength  and  a  junction  of  forces  would  have  avoided  that 
grievous  disaster  which  befell  Lochry  at  the  mouth  of  the 
little  stream  which  has  since  borne  his  name. 

At  every  opportunity  on  the  voyage  down  the  Ohio 
some  of  Clark's  men  ran  away,  and  by  the  time  he  reached 
Fort  Nelson,  opposite  Louisville,  his  force  was  wholly  in- 
adequate for  a  march  into  the  Indian  country.  He  re- 
mained in  Fort  Nelson  several  weeks,  but  before  the  cold 
weather  came  on  most  of  his  men  dispersed  and  returned  in 
small  parties  to  their  homes  in  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia." 

13  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  p.  333;  Winsor's  Westward  Move- 
ment, p.   193;     Frontier  Forts,   vol.   ii.,   p.   194. 


LOCHRY'S  DISASTER.  139 


CHAPTER  XXL 


lochry's  disaster. 


The  destruction  of  Colonel  Lochry's  detachment,  while 
it  was  trying  to  overtake  General  Clark,  was  the  heaviest 
loss  suffered  by  Westmoreland  county  during  the  Revo- 
lution. It  involved  about  one  hundred  choice  men  of  the 
border,  including  the  energetic  county  lieutenant  and  half 
a  dozen  capable  officers.  In  the  spring  of  1781  the  General 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  voted  the  formation  of  four 
companies  of  rangers,  to  be  enlisted  and  employed  in  the 
northern  and  western  counties  for  the  remainder  of  the 
war.  One  of  these  companies  was  allotted  to  Westmore- 
land, and  was  raised  by  Captain  Thomas  Stokely.  It  was 
made  up  of  experienced  woodsmen,  and,  being  intended 
for  a  permanent  corps,  was  counted  on  to  perform  much 
better  service  in  defense  of  the  settlements  than  had  been 
rendered  by  the  small  bodies  of  militia  called  out  at  in- 
tervals for  short  periods.  This  company,  recruited  to  the 
number  of  38,  was  involved  in  Lochry's  disaster.  Another 
party  lost  in  this  expedition  was  Captain  Samuel  Shannon's 
company  of  volunteers,  about  20  strong,  enlisted  for  four 
months  for  the  frontier  defense.  Captain  Robert  Orr,  of 
Hannastown,  raised  and  equipped  a  small  company  of  rifle- 
men, and  Captain  William  Campbell  commanded  a  squad  of 
horsemen.^ 

The  militia  of^cers  of  the  county  had  directed  Colonel 

1  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  749,  751;    vol.  ix.,  pp.  18,  28, 
330;    Western   Annals,    p.   332. 


I40  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Lochry  to  raise  300  men  for  Clark's  campaign,  but  only 
one-third  of  that  number  could  be  enlisted.  Tlie  reluctance 
of  the  settlers  to  engage  in  an  incursion  into  the  Indian 
country  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  their  own  homes  were 
threatened  daily.  During  the  summer  of  1781  the  Indian 
raids  into  Westmoreland  county  were  unprecedented  in 
number  and  destructiveness.  Many  families  deserted  their 
improvements  and  sought  safety  east  of  the  mountains,  and 
most  of  those  who  stood  their  ground  felt  it  to  be  their 
chief  duty  to  protect  their  families  and  property.  It  was 
with  great  urging  and  exertion  that  Colonel  Lochry  se- 
cured nearly  100  men  for  the  western  campaign.  It  is 
probable  that  he  ordered  the  companies  of  Stokely  and 
Shannon  into  this  special  service,  but  the  two  other  com- 
panies were  strictly  volunteer  formations  of  militiamen. 
No  evidence  is  found  that  Lochry  resorted  to  the  draft  to 
raise  his  contingent. 

Lochry's  men  were  detained  until  the  harvest  was  fin- 
ished, but  on  August  i  they  began  to  gather  at  Carnaghan's 
blockhouse,  eleven  miles  northwest  of  Hannastown."  There 
the  formal  muster  was  held  on  the  following  day,  and  on 
Friday,  August  3,  the  little  band,  under  Colonel  Lochry's 
command,  began  its  march  to  join  Clark  at  Wheeling. 
Only  83  men  took  the  road.  These  were  the  pick  of  the 
frontier  riflemen,  but  they  were  poorly  provided  for  a  cam- 
paign. Their  chief  article  of  food  was  flour,  carried  on 
horses.  They  were  badly  clothed,  one  writer  saying  that 
they  were  "in  a  manner  naked."  Before  their  arrival  at 
Wheeling,  they  were  joined  by  a  few  additional  men,  so  that 
the  entire  force  was  nearly  100. 

The  first  camp  was  at  Gaspard  Alarkle's  mill,  on  Big- 
Sewickley  creek,  two  miles  east  of  West  Newton.  At  that 
place  Lochry  received,  by  a  fast-iiding  express,  a  letter 
from  the  president  of  Pennsylvania,  approving  Westmore- 
land's participation  in  Clark's  enterprise.     In  reply  to  this^ 

2  For  the  details  of  the  expedition  see  Lieutenant  Isaac  Anderson's 
Journal,  In  Pennsylvania  Archives,  Second  Series,  vol.  xiv.  Also  Fron- 
tier Forts,  vol.  11.,  p.  334;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  ix.» 
p.  369. 


lochry's  disaster.  141 

before  marching  in  the  morning,  Lochry  wrote  his  last  letter 
that  has  been  preserved,  saying  therein:  "I  am  now  on 
my  march  with  Captain  Stokely's  company  of  rangers  and 
about  50  volunteers  from  this  county.  We  shall  join  Gen- 
eral Clark  at  Fort  Henry.  ...  I  expected  to  have  had 
a  number  more  volunteers,  but  they  have  by  some  insinua- 
tions been  hindered  from  going.'" 

The  determined  little  band  did  not  travel  by  way  of 
Fort  Pitt.  It  crossed  the  Youghiogheny  at  the  site  of 
West  Newton,  crossed  the  Monongahela  at  Devore's  ferry, 
where  Monongahela  City  now  is;  went  overland  by  the 
settlements  on  the  headwaters  of  Chartiers  and  Raccoon 
creeks,  and  reached  Fort  Henry  in  the  evening  of  Wednes- 
day, August  8.  Here  was  a  disappointment.  General 
Clark  had  departed  by  boats  that  morning.  To  prevent  the 
desertion  of  his  men,  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  remove 
farther  from  the  settlements,  and  he  left  a  message  that 
he  would  wait  for  Lochry  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Ka- 
nawha. But  Lochry  had  no  boats  and  could  not  follow 
immediately.  For  four  days  he  was  detained  at  Wheeling 
while  seven  boats  were  built,  and  these  four  days  were 
fatal. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Kanawha  Clark's  men 
began  to  desert,  cutting  across  through  the  woods  toward 
the  settlements  on  the  Monongahela,  and  to  prevent  the 
entire  breaking  up  of  his  small  force  the  general  was  com- 
pelled to  move  on  down  the  river. 

On  August  13  Lochry 's  boats  were  ready  and  most  of 
his  men  embarked  in  them,  while  the  horses  were  conducted 
along  shore.  At  this  time  the  Ohio  river  was  the  dividing 
line  between  the  white  man's  country  and  the  Indian's. 
The  boats  kept  near  the  southern  shore  and  all  encamp- 
ments were  on  the  left  bank.  Although  Colonel  Lochry 
and  his  men  did  not  know  it,  they  were  watched  by  Indian 
spies  following  them  through  the  forests  and  thickets  on 
the  farther  shore,  keeping  in  touch  by  swift  runners  with 
the  Indian  chiefs  on  the  Scioto  and  the  Miamis.     On  those 


3  Peunsylvania   Archives,    First    Series,   vol.    ix.,   p.   333. 


142  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

Streams  the  red  warriors  were  gathering  to  resist  Clark's 
advance,  and  a  greater  chief  than  any  among  the  Ohio 
tribes  had  come  with  his  Mohawks  from  Central  New  York 
to  fight  the  white  invaders. 

At  Fishing  creek  Lochry  met  17  men  who  had  de- 
serted from  Clark  and  were  trying  to  make  their  way  to 
Fort  Pitt.  These  he  forced  to  join  his  party.  At  the  Three 
Islands,  below  the  Long  Reach,  Lochry  found  Major 
Charles  Crascraft  and  six  men  who  had  been  left  by  Clark 
in  charge  of  a  large  horse  boat  for  Lochry's  animals.  Into 
this  boat  the  horses  were  put,  and  after  that  the  party 
was  able  to  move  with  increased  speed.  Crascraft  did 
not  remain  with  Lochry,  but  in  a  skiff  hurried  away  after 
Clark. 

On  the  following  day,  August  16,  Colonel  Lochry  sent 
Captain  Shannon  and  seven  men  in  a  small  boat,  to  en- 
deavor to  overtake  Clark  and  beg  him  to  leave  some  pro- 
visions for  the  Westmoreland  men.  Lochry's  flour  was 
almost  exhausted,  and  food  could  be  secured  only  by  send- 
ing out  hunters,  whose  excursions  delayed  progress.  On 
August  17  two  men  who  were  sent  out  to  hunt  did  not 
return,  and  they  were  never  heard  of.  It  is  probable  they 
were  killed  by  Indians. 

Three  days  later  two  of  Captain  Shannon's  men,  half 
starved,  were  picked  up  from  the  southern  shore.  They 
told  a  story  of  the  first  disaster.  Their  little  party  had 
landed  on  the  Kentucky  side,  below  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto, 
to  cook  a  meal,  and  the  two  survivors,  with  a  sergeant,  had 
gone  out  to  hunt.  When  they  were  about  half  a  mile  in 
the  woods  they  heard  the  firing  of  guns  in  the  direction 
of  their  camp.  They  had  no  doubt  that  Indians  had  fallen 
upon  Shannon  and  his  four  companions,  and,  being  too 
badly  frightened  to  return  to  the  river  bank  to  investigate, 
they  immediately  set  out  up  stream  to  rejoin  Lochry.  In 
scrambling  through  the  underbrush  the  sergeant's  knife  fell 
from  its  sheath,  and,  sticking  upward  in  the  bush,  the 
sergeant  instantly  trod  upon  its  keen  point.  The  blade 
passed  through  his  foot,  and  the  unfortunate  man  died  in 
a  few  hours,  after  suffering  great  agony. 


lochry's  disaster.  143 

The  direst  result  of  this  calamity  was  not  the  death  of 
the  captain  and  his  men,  but  the  capture  from  them  of  a 
letter  from  Lochry  to  Clark,  revealing  the  weakness  of 
Lochry's  party  and  its  distressed  condition.  Through  this 
information  the  fate  of  the  Westmoreland  men  was  sealed. 

Lochry  was  now  fully  aware  that  both  shores  of  the 
river  were  beset  by  savages,  and  for  two  days  and  nights  no 
landing  or  halt  was  made.  The  little  flotilla  passed  swiftly 
down  the  stream.  But  this  could  not  be  long  continued.  It 
became  absolutely  necessary  to  land  somewhere,  to  feed  the 
horses  and  seek  meat  for  the  men. 

In  the  forenoon  of  Friday,  August  24,  the  boats  ap- 
proached a  quiet  and  charming  level  spot  at  the  mouth  of  a 
little  creek  on  the  Indian  shore.  This  stream  has  since  been 
called  Lochry's  run.  It  is  the  dividing  line  between  Ohio 
and  Dearborn  counties,  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  Indi- 
ana. On  that  quiet  summer  morning  it  seemed  to  be  the 
abode  of  eternal  peace.  Tlie  river  was  low,  and  a  long- 
sandbar,  reaching  out  from  the  Kentucky  shore,  compelled 
the  boats  to  pass  close  to  the  level  spot  on  the  northern 
bank.  A  buflfalo  was  drinking  at  the  river's  edge,  and 
one  of  the  riflemen  brought  it  down.  Colonel  Lochry  at 
once  ordered  a  landing,  for  here  was  meat  for  his  hungry 
men  and  luxuriant  grass  for  his  horses.  The  boats  were 
beached  and  men  and  horses  were  soon  ashore. 

Suddenly  half  a  hundred  rifles  blazed  from  the 
wooded  bank  that  flanked  the  little  strip  of  mead- 
ow. Some  of  the  whites  were  instantly  killed  and 
others  wounded.  The  men  made  for  the  boats  and 
many  got  into  them,  shoving  ofif  toward  the  southern  shore. 
Painted  savages  then  appeared,  shrieking  and  firing,  and 
a  fleet  of  canoes,  filled  with  other  savages,  shot  out  from 
the  Kentucky  shore,  completely  cutting  ofl  the  escape  of 
the  white  men.  The  Westmorelanders  returned  the  fire 
for  a  minute  or  two,  but  were  fatally  entrapped,  and  Colonel 
Lochry  stood  up  and  called  out  a  surrender.  The  combat 
ceased,  the  boats  were  poled  back  to  shore  and  the  little 
force  landed  a  second  time.     Human  blood  was  now  min- 


144  OLD  WESTMORELAJTO. 

gled  with  that  of  the  buffalo  in  the  languidly  flowing  river. 

The  Westmoreland  men  found  themselves  the  prisoners 
of  Joseph  Brant,  the  famous  war  chief  of  the  Mohawks, 
with  a  large  band  of  Iroquois,  Shawnees  and  Wyandots. 
George  Girty,  a  brother  of  Simon,  was  in  command  of  some 
of  the  Indians.  The  fierce  Shawnees  could  not  be  con- 
trolled, and  began  at  once  to  kill  their  share  of  the  pris- 
oners. While  Lochry  sat  on  a  log  a  Shawnee  warrior 
stepped  behind  him  and  sank  his  tomahawk  into  the  col- 
onel's skull,  tearing  off  the  scalp  before  life  was  gone.  It 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  Brant  prevented  the  massacre 
of  the  men  assigned  to  the  Mohawks  and  Wyandots. 

About  40  of  the  Westmorelanders  were  slain,  most  of 
them  after  the  surrender.  The  captives  whose  lives  were 
spared  numbered  64.  Among  those  who  escaped  death 
were  Captains  Stokely  and  Orr,  the  latter  being  severely 
wounded  in  the  left  arm." 

The  mutilated  dead  were  left  unburied  on  that  lovely 
spot  beside  the  Ohio,  and  the  prisoners  were  hurried  away 
into  the  Indian  country.  Some  of  them  were  scattered 
among  the  savage  tribes,  but  most  of  them  were  taken  by 
the  Mohawks  to  Detroit,  where  they  were  given  up  to 
Major  DePeyster,  the  British  commandant.  They  were 
transferred  to  a  prison  in  Montreal.  From  that  place  a 
few  escaped  and  the  remainder  were  released  and  sent 
home  after  the  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States. 

As  far  as  the  records  show,  the  following  were  the  only 
members  of  this  expedition  who  returned  to  their  homes  in 
Westmoreland:" 

Richard  Wallace,  of  Fort  Wallace,  who  was  quarter- 
master to  Colonel  Lochry. 

Captain  Thomas  Stokely,  Lieutenant  Richard  Fleming, 
Robert  Watson,  John  Marrs,  Michael  Hare,  John  Guthrie, 

4  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  p.  458;  Washlngton-Irvlne  Cor- 
respondence, p.  67;  Western  Annals,  p.  333;  The  Glrtys,  p.  129;  Hist. 
Collections   of   Pa.,    p.    97;     Winsor's  Westward    Movenu^nt,    p.    193. 

5  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  ix.,  i)p.  .574.  7.'{3;  Colonial 
Records  of  Pa.,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  325,  473;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  Second 
Series,  vol.  xiv. 


lochry's  disaster.  145 

John  Scott,  James  Robinson,  James  Kane,  John  Crawford, 
IPeter  McHarge  and  James  Dunseath. 

Lieutenant  Isaac  Anderson,  of  Captain  Shannon's  com- 
pany. 

Ezekiel  Lewis,  of  Captain  Campbell's  company. 

Captain  Robert  Orr,  Lieutenant  Samuel  Craig,  Jr., 
Ensign  James  Hunter  and  Manasseh  Coyle. 

James  McPherson,  one  of  the  captives,  accepted  British 
service,  and  acted  with  the  Indians  on  the  northwestern 
border  until  after  Wayne's  victory  in  1794."' 

6  Howe's   Historical  Collections  of  Ohio,   vol.   ii.,   p.    104. 


146  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


MORAVIANS  AND   WYANDOTS. 


For  some  time  before  his  fatal  journey,  Colonel  Locliry 
had  been  losing  favor  with  the  Supreme  Executive  Council 
in  Philadelphia.  No  question  was  raised  concerning  his 
sinceriry  and  energy  in  the  patriot  cause,  but  his  failures  to 
co-operate  with  Colonel  Brodhead,  his  tardiness  and  irreg- 
ularity in  rendering  accounts  of  his  large  public  expendi- 
tures and  the  looseness  of  his  militia  discipline  were  charged 
against  him  openly.  A  secret  cause  of  dissatisfaction  was 
his  personal  antagonism  to  Colonel  Christopher  Hays,  who 
wielded  at  that  time  a  stronger  political  influence  in  Phila- 
delphia than  any  other  resident  of  Westmoreland.  Early  in 
the  summer  Hays  was  authorized  by  President  Reed  to  con- 
sult with  Thomas  Scott  and  other  close  friends  on  the 
frontier  and  to  nominate  a  successor  to  Lochry.' 

On  August  15,  1781,  while  Colonel  Lochry  was  de- 
scending the  Ohio  to  his  death,  Hays  and  Scott,  in  a  joint 
letter  to  President  Reed,  nominated  Edward  Cook  for 
county  lieutenant''  and  the  nomination  was  confirmed 
by  the  Supreme  Council  before  the  news  was  received  that 
the  office  had  been  rendered  vacant  by  the  blow  of  a  Shaw- 
nee's tomahawk.  Edward  Cook  was  one  of  the  notable 
men  of  early  Westmoreland.  He  was  born  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Pa.,  in  1741,  and  at  the  age  of  30  settled  between  the 
Monongahela  and  the  Youghiogheny  in  what  is  now  Wash- 

1  Pennsylvania   Archives,   vol.   Ix..  pp.  301,   307. 

2  Pennsylvania    Archives,    vol.    ix.,    pp.   354,    440. 


MORAVIANS  AND  WYANDOTS.  1 47 

ington  township,  Fayette  county.  In  1772  he  built  the  first 
stone  mansion  in  that  region  and  built  it  so  stoutly  that  it 
is  still  occupied  by  his  descendants.  His  plantation  com- 
prised 3,000  acres,  fronting  on  the  Monongahela  and  in- 
cluding the  land  now  occupied  by  Fayette  City.  He  owned 
many  slaves,  was  a  man  of  large  wealth  and  famous  hospi- 
tality and  exercised  the  most  extensive  influence  through- 
out the  Monongahela  valley.  He  was  a  ruling  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  and  the  chief  founder  of  the  pioneer 
congregation  of  Rehoboth.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  correspondence  of  Westmoreland  county  and 
was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  of  1776,  which  formed  the 
first  state  constitution  of  Pennsylvania.  For  more  than 
four  years  he  was  a  sub-lieutenant  under  Lochry. 

Another  important  change  took  place  on  the  frontier 
in  the  fall  of  1781.  Several  times  Colonel  Brodhead  had 
been  involved  in  quarrels,  not  only  with  the  local  militia  of- 
ficers, but  with  members  of  his  own  staff  at  Forts  Pitt  and 
Mcintosh;  and  when  he  was  accused  by  Alexander  Fow- 
ler, a  Pittsburg  merchant,  who  had  been  appointed  to  audit 
the  military  accounts  in  the  West,  of  speculating  with  pub- 
lic money,  the  officers  insisted  that  he  should  resign  his 
command  to  Colonel  John  Gibson,  the  next  in  rank.  Al- 
though a  court-martial  had  been  ordered  to  try  him,  Brod- 
head declined  to  retire,  and  made  it  necessary  for  Wash- 
ington to  write  to  him  under  date  of  September  6,  to  turn 
over  his  command  to  Colonel  Gibson.^  Brodhead  obey- 
ed this  order  on  September  17  and  departed  for  Philadel- 
phia. He  was  acquitted  of  the  charges  against  him  and  for 
many  years  afterward  occupied  offices  of  trust  and  profit  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  died  in  1809  and  was  buried  at  Mil- 
ford,  Pa. 

His  successor  in  the  command  of  the  Western  Depart- 
ment was  Brigadier  General  William  Irvine,  appointed  by 
Congress  on  September  24,  1781.*  He  was  a  native  of 
Ireland,  of  Scotch  descent,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 

3  Washington-Irvine   Correspondence,    p.    62. 

4  Pennsylvania    Archives,    vol.    ix.,    pp.    419,    425,   433. 


148  OLD  WESTMORELAND 

Dublin  and  had  served  for  a  short  season  as  a  surgeon  of 
the  British  navy.  At  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years  War 
he  quit  the  service,  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania  and  became 
a  physician  in  the  town  of  Carlisle.  He  attained  a  local 
eminence  and  some  degree  of  fortune,  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  patriotic  agitation  of  1774,  was  a  member  of  the  pro- 
vincial convention  of  that  year  which  recommended  a  gen- 
eral congress  and  afterward  gave  his  attention  to  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Cumberland  county  associators  or  ''minute 
men."  In  January,  1776,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
Sixth  Pennsylvania,  formed  his  regiment  and  marched 
through  New  York  to  participate  in  the  invasion  of  Can- 
ada. At  the  battle  of  Three  Rivers,  June  16,  1776,  he  was 
captured,  was  released  on  parole  seven  weeks  later,  but  was 
compelled  to  remain  out  of  the  service  until  May  6,  1778, 
when  he  was  exchanged.  As  colonel  of  the  Second  Penn- 
sylvania and  brigadier  general  in  the  Pennsylvania  line,  he 
served  with  distinction  under  General  Wayne  in  New  Jer- 
sey and  was  in  several  sharp  engagements.  When  he  was 
ordered  to  Ft.  Pitt  he  was  40  years  old  and  was  the  most 
capable  and  accomplished  officer  in  command  of  tlie  West- 
ern Department  during  the  war. 

General  Irvine  arrived  at  Ft.  Pitt  about  the  first  of  No- 
vember, 1 78 1,  and  set  to  work  energetically  to  introduce 
system  into  the  several  branches  of  the  military  service,  to 
restore  discipline  among  the  troops  and  to  conciliate  the 
factions  among  the  settlers  and  militiamen  of  the  frontier. 
It  was  his  good  fortune  to  be  able  to  signalize  his  assump- 
tion of  command  by  a  public  celebration  of  the  surrender  of 
Cornwallis,  which  had  taken  place  at  Yorktown  on  October 
19. 

Just  before  the  arrival  of  General  Irvine  in  the  West, 
an  event  took  place  in  the  valley  of  the  Tuscarawas  river, 
which  entailed  many  evil  results  to  the  frontier.  A  large 
body  of  savages  forcibly  removed  the  Moravian  mission- 
aries and  their  Indian  converts  from  their  three  settlements 
on  the  Tuscarawas  to  the  valley  of  the  Sandusky,  where 
they  were  planted  ?mid  the  villages  of  the  hostile  Wyan- 
dots  and  Delawares. 


MORAVIANS  AND   WYANDOTS.  1 49 

This  removal  was  ordered,  with  good  reason,  by  Col- 
onel DePeyster,  the  British  commandant  at  Detroit.  The 
presence  of  the  Moravians  almost  midway  betv/een  the 
British  and  the  American  posts  had  seriously  interfered 
with  the  prosecution  of  the  war  by  the  British  and  Indians 
against  the  colonies.  The  missionaries  and  their  converts 
claimed  a  strict  neutrality  but  did  not  observe  it.  Zeis- 
berger  and  Heckewelder  were  secretly  the  friends  of  the 
Americans  and  conducted  a  regular  clandestine  correspond- 
ence with  the  officers  at  Ft.  Pitt,  giving  valuable  informa- 
tion of  the  movements  of  the  British  and  hostile  savages. 
This  correspondence  was  suspected  by  DePeyster  and  his 
partisan  leaders  and  they  had  several  times  urged  the  Mora- 
vians to  move  nearer  to  Detroit.  The  hostile  Indians 
threatened  the  converts  with  destruction  because  they 
would  not  join  in  the  war,  while  many  of  the  borderers  be- 
lieved that  the  men  of  the  Tuscarawas  villages  did  occasion- 
ally participate  in  raids  on  the  settlements.  The  settlers 
had  little  or  no  faith  in  the  Christianity  of  the  Moravian  red 
men.  To  save  the  Moravians  from  danger  on  both  sides, 
Colonel  Brodhead  advised  them  to  take  up  their  residence 
near  Ft.  Pitt,  but  they  refused  to  heed  his  warnings.  The 
convert  villages  were  between  two  fires,  constantly  liable  to 
be  consumed  by  one  or  the  other,  but  Zeisberger  and 
Heckewelder  were  blind  to  the  peril. 

In  August,  1 78 1,  DePeyster  became  convinced  that  the 
missionaries  were  giving  information  to  the  Americans. 
Thereupon  he  sent  Captain  Matthew  Elliott,  with  a  small 
party  of  tories  and  French-Canadians,  to  secure  Indian  as- 
sistance and  remove  the  Moravians  to  the  Sandusky.  El- 
liott was  joined  by  about  250  savages,  including  Wyan- 
dots,  under  Dunquat,  the  half-king ;  Delawares,  led  by  Cap- 
tain Pipe,  and  a  few  Shawnees.'  Elliott's  party  performed 
its  errand  with  unnecessary  harshness. 

The  Moravian  Indians  numbered  about  one  hundred 
families'  and  occupied  three  villages  on    the    Tuscarawas 

5  The    Girtys,    p.    132. 
6.  Ft.  Pitt,  p.  240. 


150  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

river.  Schoenbrun  (Beautiful  Well)  was  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  stream,  two  miles  below  the  present  town  of  New 
Philadelphia.  Seven  miles  farther  down  the  river,  on  the 
eastern  bank,  was  the  principal  village,  Gnadenhuetten 
(Tents  or  Huts  of  Grace),  and  again  on  the  western  bank, 
five  miles  farther  down,  was  Salem.'  These  villages  con- 
sisted of  fairly  comfortable  log  cabins  and  were  surrounded 
by  vegetable  gardens  and  large  fields  of  maize.  The  In- 
dians possessed  herds  of  cattle  and  hogs  and  many  horses. 

Elliott's  band  seized  and  confined  the  missionaries  and 
their  families  and  gathered  them  and  all  the  converted  In- 
dians at  GnadenhueUen.  The  prisoners  were  permitted  to 
prepare  food  for  the  journey  and  to  pack  up  some  of  their 
goods,  but  their  huts  were  looted  and  many  things  were 
stolen  by  the  hostiles.  On  September  ii  the  movement 
from  Gnadenhuetten  began.  Blankets,  furs,  utensils  and 
provisions  were  carried  on  the  horses  and  the  cattle  were 
driven  along,  but  the  Moravians  were  forced  to  leave  be- 
hind their  great  stock  of  corn,  unhusked  in  the  fields.  Men, 
women  and  children  trudged  afoot,  and  the  feeble  ones, 
white  and  red,  suffered  sorely  from  fatigue  and  hunger. 

The  sad  procession  descended  the  Tuscarawas  to  its 
junction  with  the  Walhonding  and  passed  up  the  latter 
stream  to  its  sources,  thence  over  the  dividing  ridge  to  the 
Sandusky.  In  the  ascent  of  the  Walhonding  the  greater 
part  of  the  provisions  was  conveyed  in  canoes,  and  during  a 
wild  rain  storm  two  of  these  canoes  were  sunk,  with  their 
valuable  cargoes.' 

By  the  time  the  Moravians  had  reached  the  Sandusky 
river  they  had  been  robbed  of  their  best  blankets  and  cook- 
ing vessels  and  their  food  was  exhausted.  On  the  east  side 
of  the  stream,  about  two  miles  above  the  site  of  Upper 
Sandusky,  they  settled  down  in  poverty  and  privation,  built 
rude  shelters  of  logs  and  bark  and  spent  a  winter  of  great 
distress. 

In  the  following  March  the  missionaries  were  taken,  by 
order  of  DePevster,  to  Detroit  for  a  second  time,  where 


7  Historical   Collections  of  Ohio.  vol.   ii.,   p.  682. 

8  Western    Annals,    p.    373;     Westward    Movement,    p.    194;   Taylor's 
History  of  Ohio,   Cincinnati,   1854,   p.  357. 


MORAVIANS  AND  WYANDOTS.  151 

they  were  closely  examined  on  the  charge  of  having  corre- 
sponded with  the  Americans  at  Ft.  Pitt.'  Although  they 
were  guilty  of  this  charge,  the  evidence  was  not  at  hand  to 
convict  them.  DePeyster  treated  them  kindly  but  would  not 
permit  them  to  return  to  the  Sandusky.  They  were  com- 
pelled to  make  a  new  settlement  on  the  Huron  river. 

A  striking  incident  in  the  history  of  Washington  covm- 
ty  was  connected  with  the  removal  of  the  Moravians.  While 
the  exiles  were  being  conducted  up  the  Walhonding,  seven 
Wyandot  warriors  left  the  company  and  went  on  a  raid 
across  the  Ohio  river.  Among  the  seven  were  three  sons 
of  Dunquat,  the  half-king,  and  the  eldest  son,  Scotosh, 
was  the  leader  of  the  party.  They  crossed  the  Ohio  on  a 
raft,  which  they  hid  in  the  mouth  of  Tomlinson's  run.  They 
visited  the  farm  of  Philip  Jackson,  on  Harman's  creek,  and 
captured  Jackson  in  his  flax  field.  The  prisoner  was  a  car- 
penter, about  60  years  old,  and  his  trade  made  him  valu- 
able to  the  Indians,  as  he  could  build  houses  for  them..  The 
savages  did  not  return  directly  to  their  raft,  but  traveled  by 
devious  ways  to  the  river,  to  baffle  pursuit.  The  taking  of 
the  carpenter  was  seen  by  his  son,  who  ran  nine  miles  to 
Ft.  Cherry,  on  Little  Raccoon  creek,  and  gave  the  alarm. 
Pursuit  the  same  evening  was  prevented  by  a  heavy  rain, 
but  the  next  morning  seventeen  stout  young  men,  all 
mounted,  gathered  at  Jackson's  farm.  Most  of  the  bord- 
erers decided  to  follow  the  crooked  and  half  obliterated 
trail,  but  John  Jack,  a  professional  scout,  declared  that  he 
believed  he  knew  where  the  Indians  had  hidden  their  raft 
and  called  for  followers.  Six  men  joined  him,  John  Cherry, 
Andrew  Poe,  Adam  Poe,  WilHam  Castleman,  William  Ran- 
kin and  James  Whitacre,  and  they  rode  on  a  gallop  direct- 
ly for  the  mouth  of  Tomlinson's  run. 

Jack's  surmise  was  a  shrewd  one,  based  on  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Ohio  river  and  the  habits  of  the  Indians. 
At  the  top  of  the  river  hill  the  borderers  tied  their  horses  in 
a  grove  and  descended  cautiously  to  the  river  bank.  At  the 
mouth  of  the  run  were  five  Indians,  with  their  prisoner,  pre- 
paring to  shove  ofif  their  raft.  John  Cherry  fired  the  first 
9  The  Girtys,    p.    145. 


152  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

shot,  killed  an  Indian,  and  was  himself  killed  by  the  return 
fire.  Four  of  the  five  Indians  were  slain,  Philip  Jackson 
was  rescued  without  injury,  and  Scotosh  escaped  up  the 
river  with  a  wound  in  his  right  hand. 

Andrew  Poe,  in  approaching  the  river,  had  gone  aside 
to  follow  a  trail  that  deviated  to  the  left.  Peering  over  a 
little  blufif,  he  saw  two  of  the  sons  of  the  half-king  sitting 
by  the  stream.  The  sound  of  the  firing  at  the  mouth  of 
the  run  alarmed  them  and  they  arose.  Poe's  gun  missed 
fire  and  he  jumped  directly  upon  the  two  savages,  throw- 
ing them  to  the  ground.  A  fierce  wrestling  contest  took 
place.  Andrew  Poe  was  six  feet  tall,  of  unusual  strength 
and  almost  a  match  for  the  two  brothers.  One  of  them 
wounded  him  in  the  wrist  with  a  tomahawk,  but  he  got  pos- 
session of  the  only  rifle  that  was  in  working  order  and  load- 
ed, and  fatally  shot  the  one  who  had  cut  him.  Poe  and  the 
other  savage  contested  for  the  mastery,  awhile  on  the  shore 
and  then  m  the  water,  where  Andrew  attempted  to  drown 
his  antagonist.  The  Indian  escaped,  reached  land  and  be- 
gan to  load  his  gun,  when  Andrew  struck  out  for  the  oppo- 
site shore,  shouting  for  his  brother  Adam.  At  the  oppor- 
tune moment,  Adam  appeared  and  shot  the  Indian  tlirough 
the  body,  but  before  he  expired  the  savage  rolled  into  the 
water  and  his  corpse  was  carried  away  down  the  stream. 
One  of  the  borderers,  mistaking  Andrew  in  the  stream  for 
an  Indian,  fired  at  him  and  wounded  him  in  the  shoulder. 
The  triumphant  return  of  the  party  to  Ft.  Cherry  was  sad- 
dened by  the  death  of  John  Cherry,  who  was  a  man  of  great 
popularity  and  a  natural  leader  on  the  frontier." 

Scotosh,  the  only  survivor  of  the  raiding  band,  suc- 
ceeded in  swimming  the  Ohio  and  hid  over  night  in  the 
woods.  In  the  morning  he  made  a  small  raft,  recrossed 
the  stream,  recovered  the  body  of  his  brothei-  lying  on  the 
beach,  conveyed  it  to  the  Indian  side  of  the  river  and  buried 
it  in  the  woods.  He  then  made  his  way  to  Upper  San- 
dusky, with  a  sad  message  for  his  father  and  the  tribe." 

10  The  account  of  this  affair  Is  based  principally  upon  the  Narrative 
of  Adam  I'oe,  grandson  of  the  original  Adam  l*oe.  published  in  serial 
form  in  the  East  Liverpool  (O.)   Crisis,   during  July  and   August,   1891. 

11  The  Glrtys,  pp.  134.   151. 


THE  SLAUGHTER  AT  GNADENHUETTEN.         1 53 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


THE  SLAUGHTER  AT  GNADENHUETTEN. 


In  the  fall  of  1781,  Pennsylvania  frontiersmen  decided 
that  their  safety  would  no  longer  permit  the  residence  of 
the  Moravians  on  the  Tuscarawas.  Even  if  it  were  not 
true  that  the  mission  Indians  sometimes  went  on  the  war 
trail,  it  was  certain  that  they  gave  food  and  shelter  to  war 
parties.  Colonel  David  Williamson,  one  of  the  battalion 
commanders  of  Washington  county,  gathered  a  company 
of  from  75  to  100  men  and  rode  to  the  Tuscarawas  in  No- 
vember, with  the  purpose  of  com.pelling  the  Moravians 
either  to  migrate  into  the  hostile  country  or  to  move  in  a 
body  to  Ft.  Pitt.  This  company  discovered  what  Captain 
Elliott  and  his  Indians  had  accomplished  two  months 
earlier.  They  found  the  mission  villages  deserted  save 
by  a  few  Indian  men  and  women  who  had  wandered  back 
from  the  Sandusky  to  gather  corn.  Williamson  conducted 
these  Indians  safely  to  Ft.  Pitt  and  placed  them  under  the 
care  of  General  Irvine.  Food  being  scarce  at  the  fort,  Ir- 
vine did  not  keep  the  Indians  long,  but  permitted  them  to 
go  to  their  brethren  on  the  Sandusky.^ 

Already  a  small  settlement  of  Delawares  had  been  es- 
tablished near  Ft.  Pitt.  After  Colonel  Brodhead  destroyed 
Coshocton  in  the  spring  of  1781,  Killbuck,  the  chief 
sachem  of  the  Delaware  tribe,  with  his  immediate  kindred 
and  the  families  of  Big  Cat,  Nanowland  and  a  few  other 
chiefs  who  remained  friendly  to  the  American  cause,  took 

1  Crumrine's   History   of  Washington   County,    p.    102. 


154  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

possession  of  a  small  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Allegheny 
river,  opposite  Ft.  Pitt,  built  bark  wigwams,  grew  corn  and 
vegetables  and  otherwise  supported  themselves  by  the  chase 
and  the  sale  of  furs.  Members  of  this  settlement  on  what 
was  called  Killbuck  island — afterward  Smoky  island — ac- 
companied military  scouting  parties  and  were  of  service  in 
the  defense  of  the  frontier.  Killbuck  was  a  colonel  in  the 
United  States  army  and  some  of  his  men  received  commis- 
sions as  captains. 

The  spring  of  1782  was  unusually  early.  Mild  weather 
began  about  the  first  of  February  and  with  it  came  the  ma- 
rauding Indians.  The  first  blow  in  Southwestern  Penn- 
sylvania fell  on  February  8,  when  John  Fink,  a  young  man, 
was  killed  near  Buchanan's  fort,  on  the  upper  Mononga- 
hela."  On  Sunday,  February  10,  a  large  body  of  Indians 
visited  the  dwelling  of  Robert  Wallace,  on  Raccoon  creek. 
The  head  of  the  family  was  away  from  home.  The  savages 
killed  his  cattle  and  hogs,  plundered  the  cabin  of  household 
utensils,  bedding,  clothing  and  trinkets,  and  carried  away 
Mrs.  Wallace  and  her  three  children,  a  boy  of  10  years,  an- 
other boy  of  3  years,  named  Robert,  and  an  infant.^ 

In  the  evening  Robert  Wallace  returned  to  his  deso- 
lated home.  He  ran  and  told  his  neighbors  and  in  the 
morning  an  effort  was  made  to  follow  the  trail ;  but  snow 
had  fallen  and  obliterated  the  tracks.  Enough  was  seen 
around  the  cabin  to  show  that  the  Indians  numbered  about 
forty. 

These  raids,  much  earlier  in  the  year  than  usual,  great- 
ly alarmed  and  perplexed  the  settlers.  They  could  scarce- 
ly believe  that  the  savages  had  come  all  the  way  from  the 
Sandusky  so  quickly,  and  suspicion  arose  that  hostile  In- 
dians had  taken  possession  of  the  deserted  cabins  on  the 
Tuscarawas. 

About  the  15th  of  February  six  Indians  captured  John 
Carpenter  with  two  of  his  horses  on  the  Dutch  fork  of  Buf- 

2  Pennsylvania    Archives,    First   Series,    vol.    ix.,    p.   496;     Cnimrine, 
p.  103;  Wlthers's  Chronioles  of  Border  Warfare,  pp.  232,  2.33. 

3  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  p.  511;    The  Girtys.  p.  IM;    Crum- 
rine,  pp.  103,  104;  Washington-Irviue  Correspondence,  p.  101. 


THE  SLAUGHTER   AT   GNADENHUETTEN.  1 55 

falo  creek.  They  crossed  the  Ohio  at  Mingo  Bottom  and 
made  off  with  him  toward  the  Tuscarawas  villages.  Four 
of  the  captors  were  Wyandots  but  the  other  two  spoke 
Dutch  and  told  Carpenter  they  were  Moravians.  On  the 
morning  of  the  second  day  after  crossing  the  river,  Car- 
penter was  sent  into  the  woods  to  get  the  horses.  He 
found  them  at  some  distance  from  the  campfire,  mounted 
one  of  them,  on  a  sudden  impulse,  and  rode  hard  for  liberty. 
He  struck  the  Ohio  near  Ft.  Mcintosh,  went  thence  up  to 
Ft.  Pitt,  where  he  told  his  story  to  Colonel  Gibson,  and 
then  returned  to  his  home  in  the  Buffalo  creek  settlement.* 

Colonel  Marshel,  the  county  lieutenant,  had  already 
called  out  some  of  the  militia  for  the  frontier  defense,  but 
when  Carpenter  told  what  he  had  learned,  that  a  large  body 
of  Indians  was  on  the  Tuscarawas  and  that  Moravians  were 
among  the  border  raiders,  it  was  determined  to  muster 
more  men  and  destroy  the  Tuscarawas  valley  villages  as 
harboring  places  for  the  "red  vipers."  The  young  men  of 
Washington  county  turned  out  to  the  number  of  i6o,  all 
well  mounted,  and  Colonel  Williamson  was  placed  in  com- 
mand. With  much  difficulty  the  force  crossed  the  swollen 
Ohio  to  the  Mingo  Bottom  on  the  morning  of  Monday, 
March  4,  and  pursued  the  well-beaten  trail  leading  toward 
Gnadenhuetten.  In  this  expedition  Robert  Wallace  was 
an  eager  volunteer. 

Not  far  from  the  river  the  horsemen  came  upon  a  spec- 
tacle that  aroused  their  fiercest  indignation.  Beside  the 
trail,  impaled  upon  the  sharpened  trunk  of  a  sapling,  was 
the  naked  and  torn  corpse  of  Mrs.  Wallace.  Nearby  lay 
the  mutilated  body  of  her  hapless  infant.  Imagine,  if  pos- 
sible, the  grief  and  rage  of  the  husband  and  father  and  the 
stern  oaths  with  which  his  rough  companions  pledged  them- 
selves to  execute  his  cries  for  vengeance.  On  the  border 
of  the  forest  the  bodies  of  the  poor  victims  were  buried  and 
the  grim-visaged  frontiersmen  remounted  their  horses  and 
hurried  their  course  onward  along  the  trail  of  the  murder- 

4    The    Girtys,    p.    155;    Crumrine,    p.    103;    Washington-Irvine    Cor- 
respondence,  pp.   101,   102. 


156  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

ers.  In  the  evening  of  March  6  the  cavalcade  w^as  within 
striking  distance  of  Gnadenhuetten  and  scouts  brought  back 
the  news  to  the  night  camp  that  the  once  deserted  town  was 
again  full  of  Indians.  There  could  not  be  much  doubt  in 
the  minds  of  Williamson's  men  that  the  red  fiends  whom 
they  were  seeking  were  in  the  village  before  them  and  that 
vengeance  should  be  executed  in  the  morning. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  nearly  all  the  temporary  occupants 
of  Gnadenhuetten  and  the  two  other  Moravian  villages  were 
mission  Indians  from  the  Sandusky,  who  had  come  back 
to  their  old  homes  to  gather  their  corn.  Some  of  them  had 
left  the  Sandusky  as  early  as  the  middle  of  January,  and 
others  had  followed  in  small  parties,  until  about  150  men, 
women  and  children  were  in  the  Tuscarawas  valley  by  the 
beginning  of  March.''  Not  all  the  men  who  made  this 
journey  were  mission  Delawares.  At  least  ten  of  them 
were  Wyandot  warriors,"  who  halted  but  a  short  time  at 
Gnadenhuetten  and  then  proceeded  on  their  way  to  pillage 
the  settlements  east  of  the  Ohio.  All  the  circumstances  of 
the  time,  the  many  tracks  seen  in  the  Raccoon  valley,  the 
narrative  of  John  Carpenter  and  the  subsequent  discoveries 
in  the  Tuscarawas  villages,  show  that  these  Wyandot  war- 
riors were  accompanied  in  their  raiding  by  a  considerable 
number  of  the  Moravian  Indian  men,  whose  savage  in- 
stincts were  not  entirely  destroyed  by  the  teachings  of  the 
missionaries.  The  women  and  the  children  had  been  left 
to  do  the  corn  gathering,  with  some  of  the  men  too  old 
to  go  upon  the  war  trail  . 

Colonel  Williamson's  cautious  plan  for  the  capture  of 
Gnadenhuetten  indicates  that  he  believed  the  town  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  hostile  warriors.  He  divided  his  force  into  three 
parties,  sending  one  company  to  strike  the  river  below  the 
town,  a  second  to  cross  the  stream  above  and  cut  off  retreat 
in  that  direction,  while  the  third  company,  forming  the  cen- 
ter, should  advance  upon  the  place  directly.  The  attack 
M'as  made  in  the  morning  of  March  7  and  not  a  shot  was 

5  The  Glrtys.   p.   154. 

6  Pennsylvania    Aroblves,    vol.    i.^.,    p.    540. 


THE  SLAUGHTER  AT   GNADENHUETTEN.  1 57 

fired  by  the  center  or  the  left.  The  presence  of  women 
and  children  warned  the  frontiersmen,  when  they  came 
within  view  of  the  village,  that  it  was  not  occupied  simply  by 
a  war  party,  and  Colonel  Williamson  quickly  learned  that 
the  Indians  were  Moravians.  No  resistance  was  made, 
there  was  no  show  of  hostile  action  and  white  men  and  red 
were  soon  mingling  freely.  A  few  of  the  Indian  men  spoke 
English.  With  these  Colonel  Williamson  held  council  and 
told  them  that  they  must  go  to  Ft.  Pitt  instead  of  returning 
to  Sandusky.  The  Indians  appeared  to  be  willing  to  ac- 
cept this  new  destination,  and,  at  the  colonel's  suggestion, 
they  sent  messengers  down  the  river  to  Salem,  to  tell  the 
people  there  to  come  to  Gnadenhuetten. 

The  men  composing  the  right  wing  of  Williamson's 
command  had  a  more  stirring  experience.  They  found  the 
Tuscarawas  in  flood  and  with  so  swift  a  current  that  they 
could  not  trust  their  horses  to  it.  A  young  man  of  the 
name  of  Sloughter  swam  the  stream  to  get  what  he  took  to 
be  a  canoe,  but  which  turned  out  to  be  a  "sugar  trough,"  a 
half  log  hollowed  out  as  a  receptacle  for  maple  water.  He 
pushed  it  back  to  the  eastern  shore,  and  with  the  help  of 
this  trough  nearly  a  score  of  the  borderers  crossed  the  riv- 
er. Each  man  stripped,  placed  his  clothing  and  rifle  in  the 
trough  and  pushed  it  before  him  as  he  swam.  Advancing 
afoot  down  the  western  shore,  toward  corn  fields  where  In- 
dians had  been  seen  at  work,  a  solitary  Indian  was  en- 
countered and  was  instantly  fired  at.  He  was  wounded  in 
the  arm,  and  as  the  white  men  rushed  upon  him  he  called 
out  that  he  was  a  friend  and  the  son  of  Shebosh  (a  Moravian 
preacher).  Charles  Bilderback  slew  the  half-breed  with  a 
tomahawk  and  tore  off  the  scalp.  This  act  was  seen  by  an- 
other Indian  called  Jacob,  who  sought  to  slip  away  unseen 
to  a  canoe  he  had  hidden  by  the  river  bank.  He  was  espied 
by  some  of  the  raiders  and  shot  dead  on  the  shore.  His 
body  was  pushed  into  the  river  and  floated  away  with  the 
flood.' 


7  Heckewelder's  Narrative  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren, 
pp.  320,  321;  Crumrine,  p.  105;  Historical  Collections  of  Ohio,  vol.  ii., 
p.  684. 


158  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

The  company  advanced  upon  the  Indians  in  the  corn 
field,  discovered  in  some  way  that  they  were  Moravians, 
made  friends  with  them  and  conducted  them  to  Gnaden- 
huetten.  Soon  afterward  the  party  from  Salem  arrived,  so 
that  the  whole  number  of  Indians  assembled  was  not  less 
than  96.  They  were  confined  in  the  log  church,  after  the 
Indian  men  had  all  been  disarmed,  even  to  their  pocket- 
knives. 

While  the  Indians  were  being  assembled  and  conducted 
to  the  church,  certain  discoveries  were  made  which  con- 
firmed the  first  suspicions  of  the  borderers  and  again  excit- 
ed their  anger  and  passion  for  revenge.  One  of  the  Indian 
women  was  found  to  be  wearing  the  dress  of  Mrs.  Wallace. 
The  garment  was  identified  by  the  bereaved  husband.  A 
search  of  the  cabins  resulted  in  the  finding  of  household 
utensils  apparently  stolen  from  the  settlements.  Some  of 
them  were  lecognized  by  Robert  Wallace  as  his  own  prop- 
erty.* The  volunteers  immediately  began  to  clamcr  for 
the  death  of  the  prisoners.  Williamson  withstood  their  de- 
mand and  consulted  his  captains.  Some  of  them  favored 
the  execution  of  the  whole  band.  It  appears  that  a  long 
council  was  held  and  that  many  of  the  Indian  men  were 
brought  before  it,  one  at  a  time,  and  closely  examined.  Not 
one  of  them  acknowledged  his  own  guilt  but  confessions 
were  made  that  some  of  the  prisoners  had  been  upon  the 
war  path.  In  a  few  cases  the  trimming  of  the  hair  and  paint 
upon  the  face  indicated  that  the  men  were  warriors.'  These 
revelations  produced  such  an  effect  upon  the  frontiersmen 
that  the  colonel  was  no  longer  able  to  resist  the  outcry  for 
vengeance.  He  put  the  question  to  vote  whether  the  pris- 
oners should  be  taken  to  Ft.  Pitt  or  put  to  death  on  the 
spot,  and  it  is  recorded  that  only  18  of  the  whole  body  of 
volunteers  stood  up  for  mercy.  It  was  decided  to  slay  all 
the  Indians  in  the  morning. 

Bishop  Loskiel  in  his  History  of  the  Mission 
of    the     United     Brethren,"     says     that      the      prisoners 

8  Crumrliie,    p.    106. 

9  The  Glrtys,    p.    157. 

10  Loskiel's  History,   vol.  111.,   pp.    177  to   182. 


THE  SLAUGHTER  AT  GNADENHUETTEN.         1 59 

were  informed  in  the  evening  of  their  condemnation  and 
that  they  spent  the  night  in  praying,  singing  hymns  and  ex- 
horting one  another  to  die  with  the  fortitude  of  Christians, 
His  precise  narrative  of  the  things  said  and  done  by  the  cap- 
tives in  the  Httle  church  during  that  night  of  agony  must 
be  largely  the  product  of  imagination. 

In  the  morning  of  Friday,  March  8,  the  decree  of  con- 
demnation was  executed.  The  Indian  men  were  led,  two 
by  two,  to  the  cooper  shop  and  there  beaten  to  death  with 
mallets  and  hatchets.  Some  of  them  died  praying ;  others 
strode  to  their  doom  chanting  the  savage  war  song.  Two 
broke  away  and  ran  for  the  river,  but  were  shot  dead.  The 
women  and  children  were  led  into  another  building  and 
slain  like  the  men.  Not  more  than  40  of  the  raiders  took 
part  in  these  murders.,  There  were  slaughtered,  on  that 
day,  two  score  of  men,  a  score  of  women  and  34  children.  It 
is  probable  that  even  the  frontiersmen  who  stood  aside  and 
looked  on  did  not  consider  this  deed  a  crime.  It  was,  in 
their  view,  justifiable  retaliation  for  the  almost  numberless 
acts  of  outrage  and  murder  perpetrated  in  the  settlements 
by  savage  marauders  through  a  series  of  bloody  years.  It 
was  considered  no  worse  to  slay  an  Indian  than  to  shoot  a 
wolf,  and  the  children  of  the  red  men  were  but  wolf  cubs, 
whose  appetites  and  fangs  were  not  yet  developed. 

From  this  massacre  two  Indian  boys  escaped.  One 
hid  himself  in  the  cellar  under  the  house  where  the  women 
and  children  were  butchered  and  crept  forth  after  nightfall. 
The  other  was  scalped  among  the  men,  but  revived  and 
crawled  out  to  the  woods  under  cover  of  darkness.  They 
found  each  other  in  the  forest  and  carried  the  horrid  tale 
to  the  villages  on  the  Sandusky. 

During  the  day  the  militiamen  gathered  the  plunder 
from  the  Indian  cabins  and  found  a  goodly  quantity  of  it, 
including  pelts,  blankets  and  a  great  store  of  corn  in  bags. 
A  large  party  ascended  the  river  to  take  and  kill  the  Mo- 
ravians in  the  village  of  Schoenbrun,  but  found  not  a  soul 
there.  Some  Indians  traveling  from  Schoenbrun  toward 
Gnadenhuetten  had  come  upon  the  scalped  body  of    young 


l6o  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

Shebosh,  and,  spying  about  Gnadenhuetten,  had  learned 
what  was  doing  there.  They  had  returned  and  warned  their 
companions  in  Schoenbrun,  and  all  who  were  there  had  es- 
caped to  the  northward. 

The  cabins  at  Schoenbrun  were  burned,  and  during  the 
ensuing  night  every  building  in  Gnadenhuetten  was  con- 
sumed by  fire,  including  the  two  slaughter  houses  with  their 
heaped-up  corpses.  Salem  was  also  destroyed  and  in  the 
morning  the  frontiersmen  departed  on  their  march  to  the 
Ohio,  with  their  booty  loaded  upon  80  horses  taken  from 
their  Indian  victims.  At  Mingo  Bottom  the  spoil  was  di- 
vided among  the  raiders,  who  then  scattered  to  their  sev- 
eral settlements,  big  with  stories  of  their  famous  victory." 

After  they  had  been  at  home  nearly  two  weeks,  the 
militiamen  who  belonged  in  the  Chartiers  settlement  assem- 
bled again  and  marched  toward  Pittsburg,  to  kill  the  Dela- 
wares  who  were  living  on  Killbuck  island.  The  attack  was 
made  on  Sunday  morning,  March  24.  On  the  island  was 
an  officer  with  a  small  guard  of  regular  soldiers.  These 
were  surprised  by  the  Chartiers  men  and  made  prisoners, 
and  the  Indians  were  then  assailed.  Several  were  killed, 
includmg  Nanowland,  the  friend  of  Brady,  and  one  other 
who  held  a  captain's  commission.  Chief  Killbuck  and 
most  of  his  band  escaped  in  canoes  to  Ft.  Pitt,  where  Col- 
onel Gibson  was  in  temporary  command.  Two  of  the  war- 
riors fled  into  the  woods  on  the  northern  side  of  the  river 
and  made  their  way  to  Sandusky.  One  of  these  was  the 
chief  Big  Cat,  who  was  afterward  a  bitter  and  effective  foe 
of  the  Americans.  Before  the  Chartiers  men  returned 
home  they  sent  word  into  Ft.  Pitt  that  they  would  kill  and 
scalp  Colonel  Gibson  at  the  first  opportunity,  simply  be- 
cause he  had  been  the  protector  of  friendly  Indians.'^ 

General  Irvine,  who  had  been  at  Philadelphia  and  Car- 
lisle, returned  to  Ft.  Pitt  on  the  day  following  the  attack 
on  the  island  and  immediately  took  measures,  by  confer- 

11  Washington-Irvino  Correspondence,  pp.  101,  102;    Pennsylvania  Ar- 
chives,   vol.    ix.,    pp.    523   to   525. 

12  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  pp.  100  to  103,  108;    Ft.   Pitt, 
p.  239. 


•     THE  SLAUGHTER  AT  GNADENHUETTEN .  l6l 

ences  with  the  militia  officers  of  the  neighboring  counties, 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  criminal  and  reckless  raids.  A  few 
weeks  afterward  he  received  an  order  from  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania  to  investigate  and  report 
on  the  affair  at  Gnadenhuetten.  He  made  diligent  inquiry 
of  the  chief  men  of  the  frontier,  including  Colonel  William- 
son and  some  of  his  captains,  but  was  unable  to  uncover  all 
the  details  and  responsibilities  of  the  transaction.  He 
soon  learned  that  the  sentiment  of  the  border  sustained  the 
acts  of  Williamson's  men  and  that  any  formal  inquiry  or  at- 
tempt at  punishment  would  be  violently  resisted.  He  was 
persuaded  at  length  to  report  to  Philadelphia  that  the  pre- 
cise facts  could  not  be  ascertained  and  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  let  the  affair  drop.  That  was  the  end  of  the  mat- 
ter." 


13  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  525,  540,  541,  552;  Washington- 
Irvine  Correspondence,  pp.  236-242,  245,  246.  See  Three  Villages  (Gnaden- 
huetten), by  W.  D.  Howells,  Boston,  1884;  this  publication  is  entertain- 
ing literature  but  not  history. 


1 62  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


CRAWFORD'S   EXPEDITION   AND   DEATH. 


The  disgraceful  exploit  of  David  Williamson,  at  Gna- 
denhuetten,  whetted  the  Scotch  appetite  for  Indian  blood. 
Although  many  frontiersmen  approved  Williamson's  butch- 
ery of  women  and  children,  they  felt,  after  all,  that  it  was 
hardly  a  glorious  deed,  and  it  did  not  satisfy  them  as  being 
a  real  revenge  on  their  savage  foes.  A  general  desire  was 
expressed  for  a  campaign  against  Indians  whose  hostility 
was  beyond  question,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  blow  ought 
to  fall  on  the  Wyandot  and  Delaware  towns  along  the  San- 
dusky river.  A  successful  raid  into  that  nest  of  vipers 
might  obliterate  the  stain  and  obscure  the  recollection  of 
Gnadenhuetten.  So  a  general  call  went  throughout  rhe 
Washington  county  border,  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Cheat 
river,  for  volunteers  to  invade  again  the  land  of  the  Indians 
and  strike  the  savage  tribes  in  one  of  their  chief  dwelling 
places. 

This  was  not  a  militia  movement.  It  did  not  issue 
from  the  county  lieutenant  or  from  any  man  in  authority. 
It  came  from  the  leading  men  in  the  several  centers  of  set- 
tlement, and  met  with  a  hearty  response.'  Through  hard 
experience  the  borderers  had  become  convinced  that  they 
must  be  their  own  defenders,  and  that  the  best  way  to  pro- 
tect their  homes,  their  women  and  children,  was  to  carry 
the  war  into  the  Indian  country.  They  no  longer  relied 
on  the  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt.  They  knew  that  garrison  to 
1  Pennsylvania   Archives,    First   Series,    vol.    ix.,   p.   540. 


Crawford's  expedition  and  death.  163 

be  too  feeble  and  too  miserably  equipped  to  do  any  effective 
work.  Moreover,  the  Scotch  pioneers  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania were  by  nature  self-reliant.  They  were  men  of 
spunk,  quite  ready  to  do  their  own  fighting  in  their  own 
rough  way. 

The  promoters  of  the  movement  requested  General  Ir- 
vine to  lead  them,  but  he  declined  to  command  a  purely 
volunteer  force  and  could  spare  no  soldiers  from  his  slender 
garrison.  He  was  then  asked  to  give  to  the  expedition  his 
approval  and  some  little  assistance.  To  this  he  agreed,  re- 
quiring a  pledge  from  the  border  leaders  that  they  would 
furnish  their  own  equipment  and  provisions,  would  conform 
to  militia  laws  and  regulations  and  would  acknowledge  their 
conquests  as  made  m  behalf  of  the  United  States.  He  fur- 
nished some  gun-flints  and  a  small  supply  of  powder  and  de- 
tailed for  the  expedition  Surgeon  John  Knight,  of  the 
Seventh  Virginia,  and  one  of  his  own  aides,  Lieutenant 
John  Rose,  a  Russian  nobleman,  who  served  the  American 
cause  with  singular  fidelity,  energy  and  ability.' 

While  the  expedition  was  forming  Indian  ravages  on 
the  frontier  became  more  virulent.  The  butchery  on  the 
Tuscarawas  had  stirred  the  savages  to  a  fiercer  hostility. 
Small  war  parties  invaded  Washington  and  Westmoreland 
counties  and  killed  or  captured  many  of  the  settlers  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  companies  of  mustering 
yeomanry.  Thomas  Edgerton  was  captured  on  Harman's 
creek  and  John  Stevenson  near  West  Liberty.  Five  sol- 
diers were  ambushed  in  the  woods  near  Ft.  Mcintosh ;  two 
were  killed  and  the  three  others  were  taken  to  Lower  San- 
dusky, where  they  successfully  ran  the  gauntlet."  Two  men 
were  killed  on  the  border  of  Washington  county.*  At 
Walthour's  blockhouse,  near  Brush  creek,  in  Westmore- 
land, a  man  of  the  name  of  Willard  was  killed  and  his 
daughter  carried  away  and  murdered  in  the  woods."      On 

2  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  pp.  113  to  117.     The  real  name 
of  John  Rose   was  Henri  Gustave   Rosenthal. 

3  The    Girtys,    p.    141;    Ft.    Pitt,    p.    240;    Historical    Collections    of 
Ohio.   vol.   li..   p.  531. 

4  Pennsylvania   Archives,    vol.   ix.,   p.   541. 

5  Pa.    Magazine  of  History   and    Biography,    vol.    i.,    pp.   46  to  48. 


1 64  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

Sunday,  May  12,  Rev.  John  Corbly  and  his  family,  while 
walking  to  their  meeting  house  on  Muddy  creek,  in  what  is 
now  Greene  county,  were  attacked  by  savages.  The 
preacher  alone  escaped  without  injury.  The  wife  and  three 
children  were  killed  and  scalped.  Two  daughters  were 
scalped,  but  survived  to  endure  years  of  suffering.* 

The  general  muster  was  fixed  for  Monday,  May  20,  at 
Mingo  Bottom,  a  beautiful  level  on  the  Ohio  river,  three 
miles  below  Steubenville.  Edward  Cook  and  James  Mar- 
shel,  the  lieutenants  of  Westmoreland  and  Washington 
counties,  had  agreed  that  every  man  who  joined  this  expe- 
dition, providing  his  own  horse,  gun  and  food,  should  be 
excused  from  two  tours  of  militia  duty.  It  was  a  cavalry 
force  of  Scotch  farmers  and  their  sons  who  trooped  to  the 
place  of  rendezvous  during  three  or  four  days.  By  Friday 
480  horsemen  were  assembled,  who  then  proceeded  to  or- 
ganize by  electing  officers. 

Colonel  William  Crawford,  who  was  at  the  time  a 
regular  officer  of  the  Virginia  line,  was  the  principal  candi- 
date for  the  chief  comm.and,  and,  through  the  influence  of 
General  Irvine,  was  elected  by  five  votes  over  David  Will- 
iamson. The  staff  was  chosen  as  follows:  majors,  David 
Williamson,  Thomas  Gaddis,  John  McClelland  and  John 
Brinton;  brigade  major,  Daniel  Leet.  Major  Rose  served 
as  adjutant,  and  the  wilderness  guides  were  Jonathan  Zane, 
John  Slover  and  Thomas  Nicholson.  Gaddis  and  McClel- 
land were  from  Westmoreland  county.  The  companies 
from  the  several  communities  attended  under  their  own  mil- 
itia officers.  Of  some  companies  nearly  all  the  members 
volunteered,  while  of  others  there  were  only  ten  or  fifteen. 
In  all,  there  were  18  companies,  with  the  following  cap- 
tains :  Josph  Bane,  John  Beeson,  John  Biggs,  Charles 
Bilderback,  William  Bruce,  Timothy  Downing,  WilHam 
Fife,  John  Hardin,  John  Hoagland,  Andrew  Hood,  William 
Leet,  Duncan  McGeehan,  John  Miller,  James  Munn, 
Thomas  Rankin,  David  Reed,  Craig  Ritchie  and  Ezekiel 
Ross. 


6  Historical    Collections   of   Pennsylvania,    p.   359. 

7  Washjngtou-Irvlue  Correspondence,   p.    114. 


CRAWFORD'S   EXPEDITION   AND   DEATH.  1 65 

The  rolls  of  this  expedition  show  that  nearly  all  of  its 
members  were  of  Scotch  descent.  With  them  were  a  few 
Irishmen  and  an  occasional  German  was  represented  on  the 
lists. 

It  was  on  Saturday,  May  25,  that  the  expedition  left 
the  Ohio  and  followed  the  Indian  trail  toward  the  north- 
west. Almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  march  the  whites 
were  watched  by  Indian  spies,  and  swift  runners  bore  the 
news  to  Sandusky  and  onward  to  Detroit.  Crawford's  ex- 
pectation of  success  was  based  on  a  hope  that  he  could  sur- 
prise the  Indian  towns.  This  hope  was  not  reaUzed.  The 
borderers  were  ten  days  riding  to  the  Sandusky  river,  and  in 
that  time  the  savages  had  ample  opportunity  to  prepare  for 
battle.  Their  women  and  children  were  hurried  away  down 
the  river,  the  warriors  were  summoned  from  the  scattered 
villages  and  a  body  of  British  partisans  came  to  their  aid 
from  Detroit.  This  force  of  white  men  consisted  of  a  corn- 
pan)^  of  rangers  under  Lieutenant  John  Turney  and  Cana- 
dian volunteers  commanded  by  Captain  William  Caldwell, 
somewhat  exceeding  100  men.  While  Crawford  was  ad- 
vancing leisurely  his  enemies  were  moving  with  remark- 
able celerity. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  their  march  the  Pennsylvanians 
turned  aside  to  visit  the  ruins  of  the  Moravian  town  at 
Schoenbrun.  They  found  little  plunder  there,  but  fed  their 
horses  on  the  standing  corn.  The  entire  distance  traveled 
from  the  Ohio  to  Upper  Sandusky  was  about  160  miles.  The 
cavalcade  reached  the  upper  Indian  town,  on  the  Sandusky 
river,  in  the  evening  of  Monday,  June  3.  The  place  was 
deserted  and  Colonel  Crawford  learned  that  the  Indians  had 
abundant  warning  of  his  approach.  In  view  of  this  fact, 
Crawford  advised  a  retirement",  but  a  majority  of  the  council 
decided  to  make  another  day's  march,  toward  the  principal 
Wyandot  town.  In  the  morning  the  command  went  for- 
ward, through  the  beautiful  green  plain  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Sandusky  river,  seeing  no  enemy  until  afternoon. 

As  they  drew  near  to  a  large  grove,  standing  like  an 

8  Pennsylvania    Archives,    vol.    ix.,    p.    557. 


1 66  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

island  in  the  broad  meadow,  Crawford's  men  were  saluted 
with  a  volley,  and  discovered  the  British  and  Indians  dart- 
ing among  the  trees.  The  Americans  charged,  drove  their 
enemies  from  the  covert  and  occupied  the  grove.  The  men 
dismounted,  formed  line  along  the  northern  side  of  the  for- 
est and  for  several  hours  exchanged  a  brisk  fire  with  the 
British  and  Indians  lying  in  the  grass  and  bushes.  Dark- 
ness closed  the  combat.  In  this  first  day's  fight  five 
Americans  were  killed  and  19  wounded,  while  the  enemy 
lost  six  killed  and  1 1  wounded.  One  of  the  wounded  was 
Captain  Caldwell,  the  British  commander. 

During  the  night  the  savages  howled  and  hooted  all 
about  the  grove,  and  occasional  shots  allowed  the  frontiers- 
men little  rest.  When  day  came  the  Indians  lay  at  a  dis- 
tance and  the  opposing  sides  engaged  in  long-range  fight- 
ing. A  band  of  Shawnee  warriors,  140  in  number,  joined 
the  foe  in  the  afternoon.  Their  arrival  was  observed  by 
the  Americans,  who  were  convinced  that  they  were  greatly 
outnumbered.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  two  forces 
were  about  equal.  Toward  evening  the  savages  made  a 
vigorous  attack,  but  were  repulsed.  Crawford  held  another 
council  of  war  and  decided  to  retreat  during  the  night. 
Watch  fires  were  built  along  the  edge  of  the  grove,  pickets 
were  stationed  in  the  shadows  near  them  to  discharge  an 
occasional  shot  toward  the  enemy,  and  then,  late  in  the 
night,  the  main  body  of  Crawford's  force  began  its  silent  re- 
treat toward  the  Ohio. 

Soon  after  the  beginning  of  this  night  march  one  of 
the  strange  panics  common  in  Indian  warfare,  seized  upon 
the  Scotch  volunteers.  On  many  occasions  during  the 
border  wars  bodies  of  ordinarily  brave  and  well  armed  white 
men  were  afifected  by  an  unreasonable  fear,  especially  dur- 
ing the  night  time,  in  the  presence  of  savage  foes,  and  fled 
away  through  the  forest  as  if  pursued  by  demons.  This 
almost  supernatural  dread  often  turned  victory  into  defeat. 
There  is  no  other  explanation  for  the  unexpected  retreats 
that  followed  many  a  good  fight. 

The  silent  retreat  became  a  noisy  one.     Men  called  to 


CRAWFORD'S  EXPEDITION  AND  DEATH.  1 67 

one  another.  Some  fired  their  guns  into  the  darkness. 
Others  left  the  ranks  and  ran  away,  like  insane  men,  across 
the  pathless  prairie.  Then  the  savages  came  upon  them  in 
the  night  and  began  to  slay  and  scalp  the  straggling  fugi- 
tives. Many  of  the  whites  were  without  horses.  Some  of 
the  animals  had  been  shot ;  others  had  been  lost.  The  re- 
treat led  into  swamps  where  horses  stuck  fast  and  were  de- 
serted. A  few  of  the  men,  Aveary  of  long  lighting,  had  fal- 
len asleep  in  the  grove  and  were  left  behind.  They  awoke 
to  find  themselves  deserted,  and  in  little  bands  they  set  out, 
with  no  idea  of  direction,  to  escape  from  the  savage  terror. 
They  heard  the  firing  of  guns  to  the  southward  and  that 
sound  they  avoided.  Some  of  them  were  overtaken  and 
killed ;  others  made  their  way  to  their  homes  after  remark- 
able escapes  and  excessive  hardships.  The  Indians  ranged 
widely  over  the  level  country  and  glutted  themselves  with 
blood. 

Among  the  members  of  the  expedition  were  three  of 
Colonel  Crawford's  kinsmen,  John  Crawford,  his  only  son ; 
William  Crawford,  a  nephew,  and  William  Harrison,  a  son- 
in-law.  Not  one  of  these  could  Colonel  Crawford  find.  He 
stood  by  the  trail,  as  the  long  Hne  passed,  and  called  for  his 
son.  No  answer  came  and  the  colonel  fell  to  the  rear.  He 
became  lost,  but  met  with  Dr.  Knight  and  nine  other  men. 
They  wandered  for  two  days  and  were  then  captured  by  a 
band  of  Delawares. 

Colonel  Williamson  and  Lieutenant  Rose  kept  the 
main  body  of  the  Americans  together.  When  day  returned 
the  panic  subsided  and  order  was  restored.  On  the 
Olentangy,  in  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  Crawford 
county,  the  Delawares  and  Shawnees  viciously  assailed  the 
rear  guard,  but  the  men  stood  firm  and  the  savages  were 
driven  of¥  with  loss.  After  that  the  Indians  did  not  molest 
the  main  force,  but  scattered  in  search  of  the  many  strag- 
glers. Colonel  Williamson  reached  the  Ohio,  at  Mingo 
Bottom,  on  June  12,  with  about  300  men,  and  he  safely 
brought  home  20  of  the  wounded.  During  the  succeeding 
two  weeks  other  members  of  the  expedition  reached  the  set- 


1 68  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

tlements,  singly  or  in  bands  of  three  and  four.  Ultimately 
the  number  of  the  missing  was  very  small.  Indeed,  the 
killed  did  not  exceed  fifty  during  the  whole  campaign,  and  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  at  least  half  of  these  were  slain  by  the  In- 
dians after  they  were  made  prisoners.  In  revenge  for  the 
deed  at  Gnadenhuetten,  all  of  the  prisoners  were  doomed 
to  die.  They  were  divided  among  the  several  villages  and 
put  to  death  with  every  device  of  savage  ingenuity.  So 
far  as  known,  only  two  of  the  captives  escaped  from  their 
tormentors.  These  were  Dr.  Knight,  the  Virginia  sur- 
geon, and  John  Slover,  one  of  the  guides. 

Colonel  William  Crawford  was  burned  at  the  stake  m 
the  valley  of  Tymoochee  creek,  about  five  miles  west  of  Up- 
per Sandusky.  His  torture  was  inflicted  chiefly  by  women 
and  children.  It  endured  during  four  hours,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Dr.  Knight,  Captain  ]\Iatthew  Elliott  and  Si- 
mon Girty.  The  miserable  man  was  tied  by  a  long  rope 
to  a  pole,  his  body  was  shot  full  of  powder,  his  ears  were  cut 
ofif,  burning  faggots  were  pressed  against  his  skin,  he  was 
gashed  with  knives.  When  he,  at  length,  fell  unconscious, 
his  scalp  was  torn  off  and  burning  embers  were  poured  up- 
on his  bleeding  head.  He  arose,  then,  to  his  feet,  began  to 
walk  around  the  pole,  groaned  and  fell  dead.  The  sav- 
ages heaped  fire  upon  his  body,  and  it  was  consumed  to 
ashes.  Thus  perished  a  man  who  had  performed  a  prom- 
inent but  not  always  a  creditable  part  in  the  development  of 
the  frontier.  Because  he  was  the  friend  and  land  agent 
of  Washington,  he  has  been  the  object  of  praise  he  did  not 
deserve.' 

Crawford's  son  John,  after  perilous  trials,  reached 
home  in  safety,  but  William  Crawford  the  younger  and 
William  Harrison  were  put  to  death  by  the  Shawnees.  Their 
bodies  were  cut  to  pieces  and  hung  on  poles.  Dr.  Knight 
saw  nine  prisoners  killed  by  squaws.  One  old  woman  cut 
off  the  head  of  John  McKinley,  and  it  was  kicked  about  like 


9  Concerning  the  character  of  Crawford,  see  Washington-Irvine  Cor- 
respondence, note  to  p.  115;  Diary  of  David  McClure,  p.  108;  St.  Clair's 
letter  to  Gov.   Penn,   July  22,   1774,   in  St.  Clair  Papers,    vol.  1. 


Crawford's  expedition  and  death.  169 

a  football.  Among  others  who  met  death  were  Captains 
John  Biggs  and  John  Hoagland,  Major  John  McClelland 
and  Lieutenant  Ashley.  All  the  officers  were  tortured, 
while  the  captured  private  soldiers  were  killed  in  a  plain  and 
unornamental  manner.  The  melancholy  result  of  the  ex- 
pedition encouraged  the  savages  and  brought  upon  the 
frontiers  a  still  greater  visitation  of  desolation." 


10  By  far  the  best  narrative  of  this  expedition  is  An  Historical  Ac- 
count of  the  Expedition  Against  Sandusljy,  by  C.  W.  Butterfield,  Cin- 
cinnati,   1873.     See  also   Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West,   vol.   ii. 


I70  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE  WOUNDED   INDIAN. 


Striking  characteristics  of  border  life  during  the  Revo- 
lution were  exhibited  in  the  episode  of  the  lame  Indian.  This 
was  a  Delawaie  warrior,  wounded  during  a  raid  on  a  settle- 
ment, who  surrendered  at  Fort  Pitt  to  escape  starvation  and 
was  afterward  given  up  to  a  band  of  frontiersmen  for  exe- 
cution.    His  story  is  rather  an  interesting  one. 

The  settlement  attacked  was  Walthour's  station.  It 
was  a  small  stockade  surrounding  the  log  house  of  Christo- 
pher Walthour,  on  an  elevated  spot  south  of  Brush  creek, 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Irwin.  It  was  the  chief  ral- 
lying place  for  the  Brush  creek  settlement,  composed  al- 
most exclusively  of  German  families,  whose  descendants  are 
still  numerous  in  that  neighborhood.  The  Indian  raid  took 
place  in  April,  1782.  Depredations  by  the  savages  had 
already  been  committed  in  several  parts  of  Westmoreland 
county  and  the  families  of  the  farmers  were  gathered  for 
refuge  in  the  stockades  scattered  about  the  frontier.  From 
these  stockades  the  men  issued  in  small  parties,  well  armed, 
to  perform  the  necessary  work  of  planting  the  crops.  Near 
Walthour's  station  half  a  dozen  men  were  at  work  in  a  field. 
Among  them  was  a  son-in-law  of  Christopher  Walthour,  of 
the  name  of  Willard,  whose  daughter,  16  years  old,  was  also 
with  the  party,  probably  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  water 
to  the  men. 

The  workers  were  surprised  by  a  band  of  Delawares, 
who  captured  the  girl.  The  laborers  seized  their  guns  and 


THE  WOUNDED  INDIAN.  I7I 

made  a  running  fight  as  they  retired  toward  the  fort  in  the 
face  of  superior  numbers.  Two  of  the  white  men  were  killed. 
One  of  them,  Willard,  fell  not  far  from  the  stockade.  An 
Indian  rushed  out  of  the  bushes  to  scalp  Willard,  and  was 
just  twisting  his  fingers  in  the  white  man's  long  hair  when 
a  rifle  bullet,  fired  from  the  fort,  wounded  the  savage  severe- 
ly in  the  leg.  The  Delaware  uttered  a  howl  of  pain  and 
limped  away  into  the  thicket,  leaving  his  gun  behind  him, 
beside  the  body  of  his  victim. 

As  soon  as  a  considerable  band  of  frontiersmen  could 
be  collected,  pursuit  of  the  savages  was  undertaken.  Their 
trail  was  followed  to  the  Allegheny  river,  over  which  they 
had  escaped  into  the  Indian  coimtry.  It  was  almost  tv/o 
months  afterward  when  hunters  found  the  decomposed 
body  of  the  girl  in  the  woods,  not  far  from  Negley's  run. 
The  head  had  been  crushed  with  a  tomahawk  and  the  scalp 
was  gone. 

One  evening,  38  days  after  the  attack  on  Walthour's 
station,  a  lame  Indian  hobbled  into  the  village  of  Pittsburg 
and  made  his  way  to  the  porch  of  one  of  the  houses.  He 
walked  with  the  aid  of  a  pole,  and  was,  in  appearance,  a  liv- 
ing skeleton.  A  young  woman  stepped  forth  to  see  him. 
He  asked,  feebly,  for  a  drink,  and  she  gave  him  a  cup  of 
milk.  It  was  evident  that  he  was  nearly  starved.  After 
he  had  eaten  ravenously  of  the  food  given  to  him,  he  told 
the  members  of  the  family,  in  broken  English,  that  he  had 
been  hunting  on  Beaver  river  with  a  Mingo,  v/ho  had  quar- 
reled with  him  and  had  shot  him  in  the  leg. 

Word  was  sent  to  the  garrison,  and  the  Indian  was 
taken  down  to  the  fort.  There  he  was  recognized  as  Davy, 
a  Delaware  sub-chief,  who  had  often  visited  the  fort.  The 
surgeon  discovered  that  the  Indian's  wound  was  an  old  one, 
and  the  officers  told  Davy  that  his  story  about  the  Mingo 
was  plainly  a  lie. 

After  being  treated  tenderly  and  having  recovered 
somewhat  from  his  fatigue  and  hunger,  the  Indian  confessed 
that  he  was  the  man  who  had  killed  Willard  and  had  been 
wounded  while  trying  to  take  the  scalp.       The  shot  had 


172  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

broken  the  bone  of  his  leg  and  he  was  unable  to  keep  up 
with  his  comrades  when  they  fled.  He  had  dragged  him- 
self into  a  dense  thicket,  where  he  lay  in  one  spot  for  three 
days.  During  that  time  the  settlers  were  scouring  the 
woods  and  the  wounded  man  was  afraid  to  stir.  When  the 
pursuit  was  given  up  Davy  crawled  forth  and  sought  for 
food.  He  found  nothing  but  berries  and  roots  and  on  such 
articles  he  lived  for  more  than  five  weeks.  They  barely 
kept  soul  and  body  together  and  he  was  also  weakened  by 
the  loss  of  blood  from  his  painful  wound.  He  made  pro- 
gress slowly  toward  the  Allegheny  river.  He  came  within 
sight  of  a  small  stockade  on  Turtle  creek  and  for  a  long 
time  lay  on  a  hill,  meditating  surrender.  He  finally  satis- 
fied himself  that  the  garrison  of  the  little  fort  consisted  of 
militiamen  and  he  knew  that  surrender  to  them  meant  death. 
The  Indians  were  well  aware  of  the  difference  between 
militia  and  regulars  and  knew  that  from  the  buck-skinned 
frontiersmen  they  could  expect  no  mercy.  Davy  hobbled 
onward  until  he  reached  the  Allegheny  river. 

On  the  bank  of  the  river  the  wounded  Indian  lay  for 
many  days,  finding  scanty  food  while  he  watched  for  some 
of  his  countrymen.  No  one  came  and  no  possibility  of- 
fered of  his  being  able  to  cross  the  stream.  Driven  to  des- 
peration by  hunger,  he  decided  to  make  his  way  to  Fort  Pitt 
and  give  himself  up  to  the  regular  soldiers. 

Davy  was  confined  in  the  guard  house  in  the  fort,  in 
the  expectation  that  opportunity  might  offer  to  exchange 
him  for  some  white  person  held  prisoner  by  the  Indians.  The 
news  of  his  capture  and  his  identity  reached  the  settlement 
at  Brush  creek  and  caused  considerable  excitement  there. 
The  kindred  and  neighbors  of  the  victims  of  the  Indian  raid 
were  hot  for  revenge  and  now  the  chance  for  it  was  pre- 
sented. Mrs.  Mary  Willard,  the  widow  of  the  man  whom 
Davy  had  killed,  went  to  Fort  Pitt  in  company  with  a  party 
of  neighbors  and  asked  General  Irvine  to  give  up  the  pris- 
oner, that  he  might  be  "properly  dealt  with"  by  those  who 
had  suffered. 

At  that  time  it  was  not  known  that     Mrs.    Willard's 


THE  WOUNDED  INDIAN. 


173 


daughter  had  been  killed  by  her  captors  and  the  prospect 
was  presented  to  the  woman  that  Davy  might  be  traded 
for  her  daughter.  In  the  hope  of  such  an  arrangement 
Mrs.  Willard  consented  that  the  Indian  should  remain  some 
time  longer  at  Ft.  Pitt.  But  when  the  mutilated  body  of 
the  girl  was  found,  the  people  of  Brush  creek  demanded  the 
life  of  the  captive  savage.  A  mass  meeting  was  held  and 
a  committee  was  chosen  to  go  to  Fort  Pitt  and  renew  ne- 
gotiations with  General  Irvine  for  the  surrender  of  the  In- 
dian. The  members  of  this  delegation  were  Joseph  Stude- 
baker,  Jacob  Byerly,  Francis  Byerly,  Jacob  Rutdorf, 
Henry  Willard  and  Frederick  Willard.  The  last  two  were 
probably  brothers  of  the  man  who  was  slain. 

Having  many  other  things  to  worry  him  at  that  time, 
General  Irvine  yielded  to  the  pleadings  of  the  committee 
and  surrendered  the  prisoner ;  but  he  compelled  the  dele- 
gates to  agree  to  a  method  of  procedure,  which  he  hoped 
would  save  the  Indian  from  abuse  and  torture.  Here  is  the 
order  of  General  Irvine  given  to  the  six  frontiersmen : 

"You  are  hereby  enjoined  and  required  to  take  the  In- 
dian delivered  into  your  charge  by  my  order  and  carry  him 
safe  into  the  settlement  of  Brush  creek.  You  will  after- 
ward warn  two  justices  of  the  peace,  and  request  their  at- 
tendance at  such  place  as  they  shall  think  proper  to  appoint, 
with  several  other  reputable  inhabitants.  Until  this  is  done 
and  their  advice  and  direction  had  in  the  matter  you  are, 
at  your  peril,  not  to  hurt  him  nor  sufifer  any  person  to  do  it. 
Given  under  my  hand  at  Fort  Pitt,  July  21,  1782. 

"William  Irvine." 

At  the  same  time  the  general  sent  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Wil- 
lard, urging  her  to  do  nothing  rashly  in  retaliating  her  ven- 
geance on  the  prisoner  and  not  to  permit  him  to  be  put  to 
death  until  after  "some  form  of  trial." 

With  great  glee  the  borderers  set  their  prisoner  on  a 
horse  and  conducted  him  to  Walthour's.  There  prepara- 
tions was  made  to  burn  him  on  the  very  spot  where  Willard 
died.  The  frontiersmen  felt  sure  of  the  acquiesence  of  the 
two  justices,  for  all  through  the  settlements  there  was  but 


174  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

one  opinion  as  to  the  proper  way  to  deal  with  Indians.  Davy 
was  placed  in  a  log  blockhouse  for  two  or  three  days  and 
nights,  while  word  went  out  for  the  assembling  of  the  mag- 
istrates and  the  settlers  on  a  certain  day.  Then  a  form  of 
trial  was  to  be  gone  through  with  and  the  fiery  execution 
was  to  be  witnessed  by  the  multitude. 

On  the  night  preceding  the  great  day  the  young  men 
who  were  stationed  outside  of  the  blockhouse  to  guard  it 
all  fell  asleep.  The  one  who  first  awoke  in  the  morning 
peeped  in  to  see  if  the  prisoner  was  still  there.  The  block- 
house was  empty !  The  guard  aroused  his  companions  and 
an  investigation  quickly  established  the  fact  that  Davy  had 
actually  escaped.  The  great  door  had  been  securely  locked. 
No  human  being  could  go  through  one  of  the  loop- 
holes. There  was  but  one  way  for  escape,  and  that  was 
through  the  narrow  space  between  the  overjutting  roof  and 
the  top  of  the  wall.  It  seemed  almost  impossible  for  the 
crippled  savage  to  have  climbed  up  the  wall  and  squeezed 
through  that  opening,  but  there  was  no  other  way  out 
of  it. 

Great  was  the  disappointment  and  rage  among  the  as- 
sembled settlers  when  they  learned  that  their  prey  had  es- 
caped. In  all  directions  eager  searching  parties  ranged  the 
country,  but  found  not  the  wounded  Delaware.  For  two 
days  the  hunt  was  maintained,  but  Davy  had  left  no  trail. 

On  the  third  day  a  lad  who  had  gone  into  the  wood  to 
bring  in  some  horses,  ran  almost  breathless  to  Walthour's 
station  and  said  that  an  Indian  had  stolen  a  gray  mare.  He 
had  discovered  the  savage,  who  seemed  to  be  crippled, 
mounting  the  mare  from  a  large  log.  The  Indian  got 
astride,  belabored  the  beast  with  a  stout  stick  and  went  can- 
tering off  toward  the  Allegheny  river. 

Then  the  pursuit  was  taken  up  by  a  large  body  of  men. 
The  trail  of  the  horse  was  followed  with  some  difficulty.  The 
Indian  had  ridden  along  the  beds  of  shallow  streams  and  on 
hard,  stony  places  where  the  footprints  were  faint.  But  the 
tracks  were  followed  patiently  until  they  approached  the 
river  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kiskiminetas.      There  the  gray 


THE  WOUNDED   INDIAN. 


175 


mare  was  found,  covered  with  sweat,  cropping  grass  in  a 
glade  near  the  water's  edge,  but  no  trace  of  the  Indian  was 
discovered.  The  river  bank  was  searched  for  miles,  up  and 
down,  but  the  frontiersmen  were  forced  to  return  home 
empty  handed. 

A  few  years  later,  when  peace  had  been  restored,  in- 
quiries were  made  of  members  of  the  Delaware  tribe  con- 
cerning Davy's  fate.  He  had  never  returned  to  his  home. 
He  had  either  been  drowned  while  trying  to  swim  the  river, 
or  had  starved  to  death  in  the  forest  wilderness.' 

respordeucf  P.^'s?!.'    ^"-    "-    ""•    '"'    *"   '''=     Wasbington-Irvioe  Cor- 


176  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   HANNASTOWN. 


Hannastown,  the  county  seat  of  Westmoreland,  was 
destroyed  by  Indians  on  Saturday,  July  13,  1782.  This 
was  the  hardest  blow  inflicted  by  savages  during  the  Revo- 
lution within  the  limits  of  the  Western  Pennsylvania  settle- 
ments. It  put  an  end  to  Hannastown,  effacing  it  so  thor- 
oughly that  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Westmoreland 
county  do  not  know  where  its  first  county  seat  was  lo- 
cated. 

Hannastown  was  a  little  more  than  three  miles  north- 
east of  Greensburg.  It  grew  around  the  tavern  of  Robert 
Hanna,  who  set  up  a  house  of  entertainment  for  travelers 
on  the  old  Forbes  road,  some  time  before  the  Revolution. 
It  never  grew  much,  containing  only  about  30  log  houses 
at  the  time  of  its  destruction.  One  of  the  structures  was 
the  court  house,  two  stories  high,  and  another  was  the 
jail,  only  one  story.  At  the  northern  end  of  the  village 
a  small  stockade  fort,  made  of  pointed  logs  set  upright,  had 
been  constructed  in  1773,  around  a  blockhouse  and  a  spring. 
It  was  this  fort,  called  Ft.  Reed,  that  saved  the  villagers 
when  the  attack  came.' 

Hannastown  and  its  neighborhood  had  suffered  heavy 
loss  in  the  preceding  year  by  the  destruction  of  Colonel 
Lochry's  party  on  the  lower  Ohio.  Many  of  the  best  men 
in  the  settlement  had  joined  that  expedition,  and  they  car- 
ried with  them  most  of  the  good  guns.     In  1782  the  Han- 


1  Ft.  Pitt,  p.  220,  memorandum  in  General  O'Hara's  notebook. 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OP  HANNASTOWN.  177 

nastown  community  was  not  in  fit  condition  for  defense 
against  the  Indians. 

The  blow  that  fell  upon  this  frontier  county  seat  came 
from  the  North.  Early  in  the  summer  the  Johnsons  and 
the  Butlers,  the  tory  leaders  of  Western  New  York,  gath- 
ered a  strong  force  at  Niagara  to  descend  the  Allegheny 
river  and  attack  Fort  Pitt.  Three  hundred  British  and 
Canadian  soldiers  and  five  hundred  Indians,  with  twelve 
pieces  of  artillery,  advanced  to  Lake  Chautauqua  and  lay 
there  while  spies  penetrated  the  neighborhood  of  Pitts- 
burg. The  report  of  these  spies,  that  General  Irvine  had 
greatly  strengthened  the  fort  and  increased  its  ordnance, 
caused  the  abandonment  of  the  expedition,  as  far  as  its 
primary  aim  was  concerned.  Most  of  the  British  force 
returned  to  Niagara,  but  the  Indians  were  not  willing  to 
go  home  without  scalps  and  plunder.  They  divided  into 
war  parties,  and  went  against  the  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania settlements. 

The  largest  predatory  band  consisted  of  more  than 
100  Seneca  warriors,  under  the  command  of  Guyasuta,  and 
about  60  Canadian  rangers.  Most  of  the  white  men  were 
dressed  and  painted  as  Indians.  Tliis  was  the  force  that 
attacked  and  destroyed  Hannastown.  It  descended  the 
Allegheny  river,  partly  in  canoes  and  partly  on  horseback 
along  shore,^  to  a  point  a  short  distance  above  Kittanning, 
left  the  canoes  on  the  river  bank  and  marched  overland  into 
the  Westmoreland  settlements.  While  the  expedition  was 
at  its  bloody  work,  many  of  the  canoes  worked  loose  and 
floated  down  the  river.  Several  of  them  were  picked  up  at 
Fort  Pitt. 

At  that  time  the  people  of  the  frontier  were  in  constant 
apprehension  of  Indian  raids,  but  there  was  no  expectation 
of  an  attack  by  a  large  band  of  savages.  Men  never  went 
to  their  farm  work  without  their  rifles,  but  so  long  had  the 
frontiersmen  been  exposed  to  alarms  and  dangers  that  they 
had  grown  indifferent  and  careless.  Thus  it  occurred  that 
at  Miller's  station,  about  two  miles  south  of  Hannastown, 


2  Some  of  the  raiders  were  mounted;  see  Wash.-Irvine  Corr.,  p.  170. 


178  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

men  and  women  were  gathered  at  a  frolic,  wholly  unpre- 
pared to  resist  an  attack. 

On  the  Saturday  when  the  blow  fell,  a  party  of  har- 
vesters was  at  work  cutting  the  wheat  of  Michael  Huffnagle, 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  Hannastown.  Huffnagle 
was  the  county  clerk  and  lived  at  the  county  seat.  One 
of  the  harvesters,  going  to  the  edge  of  the  field,  discovered, 
creeping  through  the  woods,  a  band  of  Indians,  stripped 
and  painted  for  war.  He  quietly  informed  his  companions, 
and  the  harvesters,  taking  up  their  guns,  fled  unseen  to  the 
village. 

The  alarm  was  spread  in  the  little  settlement  and  every- 
body was  warned  to  take  refuge  within  the  stockade. 
Great  was  the  consternation  and  confusion.  About  60 
persons,  men,  women  and  children,  were  in  the  village  that 
day,  and  most  of  these  fled  into  the  stockade  without  paus- 
ing to  save  any  of  their  goods.  Huffnagle  and  a  few  other 
men  rescued  the  bulk  of  the  county  records  and  carried 
them  safely  into  the  fort.  Sheriff  Matthew  Jack  mounted 
his  horse  and  rode  away  to  warn  the  neighboring  settlers, 
while  four  young  men  went  out  scouting,  to  observe  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  They  came  upon  the  savages 
advancing  cautiously  through  the  thick  woods  across  the 
valley  of  Crabtree  creek,  and  narrowly  escaped  capture. 
They  fled  back  to  the  fort  with  tlie  whole  pack  close  at  their 
heels.  The  Indians  evidently  expected  to  take  the  place  by 
surprise,  for  they  did  not  shoot  or  yell  until  they  rushed 
in  among  the  log  houses.  All  the  whites  escaped  except 
one  man.  He  had  lingered  to  gather  up  his  personal  prop- 
erty, and  was  slightly  wounded  before  he  reached  the  stock- 
ade gate. 

About  one  hundred  Indians  and  white  men  attacked 
Hannastown."  They  drove  into  the  woods  all  the  horses 
found  in  the  pasture  lots  and  stables,  killed  a  hundred 
cattle,  many  hogs  and  domestic  fowls  and  plundered  the 
deserted  dwellings.  Some  of  the  white  raiders  threw  off 
their  jackets  and  donned  better  coats  found  in  the  houses, 

3  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.   Ix.,   p.  506. 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF  HAKNASTOWN.  1 79 

and  after  the  assailants  had  retired  several  jackets  were 
found  bearing  buttons  of  the  King's  Eighth  regiment. 

From  the  shelter  of  the  cabins  a  hot  rifle  fire  was 
opened  on  the  stockade.  Tlie  fort  contained  20  men,  who 
had  17  guns.  It  was  found,  however,  that  only  nine  of 
these  were  fit  for  use,  and  with  this  small  number  of 
weapons  the  men  took  turns  at  the  loopholes.  The  main 
thing  for  them  to  do  was  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  as- 
saulting and  battering  the  gates,  and  in  this  they  were 
successful.  The  borderers  were  good  marksmen,  and  kept 
the  besiegers  at  a  distance.  It  was  certain  that  two  of  the 
Indians  were  killed,  and  the  defenders  believed  that  they 
killed  or  wounded  several  others. 

But  one  person  inside  of  the  stockade  was  wounded. 
This  was  Margaret  Shaw,  16  years  old,  who  exposed  herself 
before  a  large  hole  in  one  of  the  gates  to  rescue  a  child, 
which  had  toddled  into  danger.  Margaret  received  a  bullet 
in  the  breast,  from  which  she  died  after  suffering  for  nearly 
two  weeks.  She  is  buried  a  short  distance  north  of  Mt. 
Pleasant,  and  her  memory  should  be  kept  green. 

The  firing  on  the  fort  continued  until  nightfall.  Then 
the  assailants  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  danced  and  whooped 
in  the  glare  of  the  flames.  Only  two  houses  escaped 
destruction.  Tliese  were  the  court  house  and  one  cabin. 
Fire  was  set  to  them  but  went  out,  and  as  they  stood  near 
the  stockade  a  renewal  of  the  attempt  to  burn  them  was 
frustrated  by  the  rifles  of  the  frontiersmen.  Fortunately 
the  wind  blew  strongly  from  the  north,  and  carried  the 
flames  and  blazing  embers  away  from  the  little  fort.*  After 
the  buildings  were  well  consumed,  the  savages  and  their 
white  allies  retired  to  the  valley  of  Crabtree  creek,  where 
they  feasted  and  reveled  until  a  late  hour.  There  was  little 
sleep  in  the  fort,  and  those  who  watched  along  the  stock- 
ade heard  the  voices  of  white  men  mingling  with  those  of 
the  Indians  in  the  enemy's  camp. 

A  renewal  of  the  attack  was  looked  for  in  the  morning, 


4  Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  Ix.,  p.  606;  Washington-Irvine  Cor- 
respondence, pp.  176,  250,  251,  252;  Frontier  Forts,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  299 
to  321. 


l8o  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

but  it  did  not  come.  Parties  of  horsemen  from  other  set- 
tlements began  to  arrive  early  at  the  little  fort,  and  when 
a  reconnaissance  of  the  creek  valley  was  made,  it  was  found 
that  the  enemy  had  slipped  away.  Guyasuta's  raiders  had 
departed  with  many  stolen  horses,  laden  with  household 
goods,  and  they  left  a  plain  trail,  but  it  was  not  until  i\Ion- 
day  that  the  borderers  had  the  nerve  to  follow  them,  and 
then  60  men  pursued  the  trail  only  to  the  crossing  of  the 
Kiskiminetas. 

The  enemy  being  gone,  it  was  soon  learned  that  great 
devastation  had  been  inflicted  in  the  surrounding  country. 
A  strong  detachment  of  the  savages  had  fallen  upon  Miller's 
station,  two  miles  south  of  Hannastown,  where  they  had 
killed  eleven  white  persons  and  carried  four  into  captivity. 
This  station  took  its  name  from  Samuel  Miller,  a  captain 
in  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  regiment,  who  was  killed  by 
the  Indians  in  July,  1778.'  His  widow  married  Andrew 
Cruikshank,  but  the  settlement  retained  Miller's  name.  A 
wedding  took  place  at  Cruikshank's  house  on  July  12,  and 
on  the  following  day  many  persons  were  gathered  there  for 
the  celebration.  Upon  this  gay  party  the  Indians  swooped 
down. 

Tlie  warning  was  barely  sufficient  to  allow  the  escape 
of  perhaps  a  dozen  persons,  who  found  hiding  places  in 
grain  fields  and  forest  thickets.  Several  men  were  shot 
dead  while  preparing  for  defense,  and  15  men,  women  and 
children  were  taken  prisoners.  The  houses  were  plun- 
dered and  burned,  and  the  Indians  set  out  to  rejoin  their 
main  force  at  Crabtree  creek. 

Among  those  taken  captive  were  Lieutenant  Joseph 
Brownlee,  his  wife  and  several  children,  Mrs.  Robert 
Hanna  and  her  daughter  Jennie,  a  Mrs.  White  and  two  of 
her  children.  Lieutenant  Brownlee  had  served  in  the 
Eighth  Pennsylvania,  but  had  been  discharged  because  of 
a  wound.  As  the  prisoners  were  being  driven  through  the 
woods,  Mrs.  Hanna  addressed  Brownlee  as  "Captain."  The 
Indians  at  once  fell  upon  Brownlee  and  killed  him,  as  well 
5  See  page  72  of  this  work. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF   HAISTNASTOWN.  iSl 

as  a  little  son  whom  he  was  carrying,  and  nine  others  of 
the  captives.  Mrs.  Brownlee  and  her  infant  and  Mrs. 
Hanna  and  her  daughter  were  spared  and  taken  to  Canada, 
"but  were  afterward  released  when  the  war  was  over. 
Tradition  says  that  Jennie  Hanna  married  a  British  officer 
in  Canada.^ 

On  Sunday  morning  a  band  of  Indians  attacked  Free- 
man's settlement,  on  the  Loyalhanna  creek,  a  few  miles 
northeast  of  Hannastown,  killed  one  of  Freeman's  sons 
and  captured  two  of  his  daughters.  At  tliF"same  time  a 
demonstration  was  made  against  the  Brush  creek  settle- 
ment, to  the  westward,  but  the  damage  was  confined  to 
the  killing  of  live  stock  and  the  burning  of  some  farm 
buildings.' 

At  Hannastown  a  small  force  of  militia  was  stationed 
by  Colonel  Edward  Cook,  the  county  lieutenant,  and  the 
settlers  were  advised  to  return  and  rebuild  their  houses. 
Only  a  few  of  them  did  so.  Court  was  continued  there  for 
a  few  sessions  and  the  owners  of  the  property  made  an 
effort  to  retain  the  county  seat.  The  General  Assembly 
ordered  the  construction  of  a  new  road  from  Bedford  to 
Pittsburg,  and  its  course  was  located  nearly  three  miles 
south  of  Hannastown,  on  the  line  of  the  present  pike.  This 
destroyed  the  last  chance  of  the  original  county  seat,  and  in 
January,  1787,  the  Westmoreland  court  began  its  sessions  at 
Greensburg,  on  the  new  road. 

At  present  Hannastown  does  not  rise  to  the  dignity 
of  a  village.  Three  or  four  houses  and  a  blacksmith  shop 
cluster  at  the  cross  roads,  with  a  schoolhouse  on  the  hill 
half  a  mile  to  the  westward.  Between  the  cross-roads  and 
the  schoolhouse  the  pioneer  settlement  lay,  on  what  is  now 
the  farm  of  William  Steel.  The  plow  still  turns  up  nu- 
merous bits  of  burned  wood,  and  Mr.  Steel  has  many  little 
relics  gathered  from  the  fields.  Among  these  is  a  pon- 
derous iron  key,  which  once  unlocked  the  oaken  door  of 
Westmoreland  county's  log  jail. 

6  Pension  petition  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Guthrie,  formerly  Mrs.  Brownlee, 
made  Feb.  5,  1829,  published  in  Westmoreland  Democrat,  May  24,  1899; 
Frontier  Forts,  vol.   ii.,  pp.  308,   324;    Washington-Irvine  Corr.,  p.   251. 

7  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,   p.  383. 


l82  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE   ABANDONED    EXPEDITION. 


The  Scots  and  other  frontiersmen  were  far  from  being 
discouraged  by  their  sad  experience  under  Colonel  Craw- 
ford. The  fugitives  from  the  Sandusky  plain  had  barely 
returned  to  their  homes,  when  they  began  to  prepare  for 
another  campaign.  A  fierce  determination  possessed  the 
borderers  to  crush  the  "red  vipers"  along  the  Sandusky  riv- 
er and  arrangements  were  made  to  invade  the  Indian  coun- 
try once  more  as  soon  as  the  wheat  and  oats  were  harvest- 
ed. 

Brigadier  General  Irvine  was  asked  to  take  the  com- 
mand and  the  principal  men  on  the  frontier  agreed  to  fur- 
nish the  provisions,  not  only  for  the  volunteers,  but  for  the 
regulars  from  Fort  Pitt.  The  general  agreed  to  lead  the 
expedition  if  he  should  be  satisfied  with  its  size  and  equip- 
ment, and  subscription  papers  were  circulated  for  men, 
horses  and  food.  ]\Ien  of  means  who  were  too  old  for  cam- 
paigning agreed  to  assist  with  horses  and  provisions.'  The 
time  for  starting  was  first  set  for  early  in  August,  but  the 
summer  being  dry  and  the  grist  mills  without  water,  flour 
could  not  be  ground  and  a  postponement  was  announced 
until  September  20. 

General  Irvine  informed  the  Pennsylvania  government 
of  the  preparation  on  the  border,  at  the  same  time  intimat- 
ing that  aid  from  the  state  and  from  Congress  would  be  ac- 


1  Washington-Irvine  Correspondenco,  pp.  123,  124,  175;    Pennsylvania 
Archives,    First    Series,    vol.    ix.,    p.    576. 


THE  ABANDONED   EXPEDITION.  1 83 

ceptable.  A  conference  was  held  between  members  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Supreme  Council  and  members  of  Congress, 
Vt^hich  resulted  in  a  recommendation  to  General  Washing- 
ton, about  the  first  of  September,  1782,  that  the  United 
States  government  should  take  part  in  a  general  campaign 
against  the  savages.  At  that  time  aggressive  warfare  had 
been  suspended  in  the  East  and  there  was  expectation  of 
early  peace  with  Great  Britain.  General  Washington 
agreed  that  three  expeditions  should  penetrate  the  Indian 
country,  each  to  be  composed  of  regulars,  militia  and  \olun- 
teers,  and  Congress  voted  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  regu- 
lar contingents. 

One  expedition,  to  be  commanded  by  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral Irvine,  was  to  move  from  Fort  Pitt  against  the  Wyan- 
dots  and  Delawares  on  the  Sandusky  river ;  a  second,  under 
Major  General  James  Potter,  was  to  advance  from  Sunbury, 
Pa.,  into  the  Seneca  land,  in  the  Genesee  valley,  and  a  third 
was  to  be  sent  by  the  state  of  New  York  against  the  eastern 
Iroquois  in  the  neighborhood  of  Oswego.^ 

Two  companies  of  militia,  one  from  York,  and  the 
other  from  Cumberland  county,  were  sent  to  Westmore- 
land to  guard  its  settlements  while  its  own  men  were  absent 
in  the  Indian  country.  Detachments  of  Colonel  Moses 
Hazen's  "Canadian  regiment,"  stationed  at  Lancaster  and 
Carlisle,  were  ordered  to  march  to  Fort  Pitt  and  join  Gen- 
eral Irvine,  who  had  at  that  post  two  companies  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania line  under  Captains  Samuel  Brady  and  John  Clark. 

General  Lincoln,  the  Secretary  at  War,  proposed  that 
Irvine's  force  should  aggregate  1,200  men,  made  up  as  fol- 
lows: regulars  from  Ft.  Pitt,  150;  detachment  from  Ha- 
zen's regiment,  200 ;  Pennsylvania  rangers,  60 ;  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia  militia,  300 ;  frontier  volunteers,  490.  The 
day  for  setting  forth  on  the  campaign,  October  8,  was  fixed 
by  General  Lincoln,  and  Irvine  was  assured  that  by  that 
time  Hazen's  regulars  and  the  militia  from  the  middle  coun- 
ties would  be  at  Ft.  Pitt.      General  Irvine  immediately  be- 

2  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,   pp.  133,  134,   181,  183;    Peniisyl- 
Tania   Archives,    vol.    ix.,    pp.    626.    630,    635,   636. 


1 84  OLD  WESTMORELAND. 

gan  his  arrangements  for  operations  on  an  enlarged  scale, 
but  when  October  8  came  he  found  himself  short  of  the 
promised  reinforcements.  On  that  day  he  wrote  to  the 
president  of  Pennsylvania  that  no  rangers  had  appeared, 
that  the  few  militiamen  who  had  arrived  were  miserably 
furnished,  and  that  he  could  not  understand  why  Hazen  s 
men  had  been  detained.  Still,  he  was  determined  to  pro- 
ceed if  he  could  gather  a  force  of  600  regulars  and  volun- 
teers, and  he  had  sent  an  officer  (Captain  Brady)  along  the 
road  to  hasten  Hazen's  detachment.  He  had  again  post- 
poned the  date  until  October  20.' 

While  preparations  were  making  for  this  campaign  the 
Indians  came  again  against  the  border.  At  the  beginning 
of  September,  1782,  Captain  Andrew  Bradt,  with  his  com- 
pany of  40  Canadian  rangers  and  238  Indians,  Wyandots, 
Delawares  and  Shawnees,  set  out  from  Upper  Sandusky  to 
attack  Wheeling.  That  settlement  was  defended  by  a 
stockade,  called  Fort  Henry,  which  contained  one  swivel 
gun.  The  weapon  was  a  useful  relic.  It  had  been  thrown 
into  the  Ohio  river  by  the  French  when  they  evacuated  Fort 
Duquesne  in  1758,  and  had  been  recovered  by  the  pioneers.' 
It  had  been  made  and  brought  to  America  for  service 
against  the  British  flag,  but  never  fulfilled  its  mission  until 
used  on  the  fort  at  Wheeling.  Within  the  stockade,  when 
the  approach  of  the  enemy  was  discovered,  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  settlement  took  refuge.  There  were  27  men  in 
the  place,  but  only  18  were  fit  for  duty.  Colonel  Ebenezer 
Zane,  the  pioneer  settler,  commanded  the  little  garrison. 

Captain  Bradt's  force  crossed  the  Ohio  and  paraded 
before  Fort  Henry  in  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  Septem- 
ber II.  The  captain  displayed  the  British  flag  and  de- 
manded a  surrender.  The  demand  was  rejected,  and  soon 
afterward  firing  was  opened  at  long  range.  At  midnight 
the  savages  attempted  to  carry  the  stockade  by  storm,  but 
were  repulsed.  The  French. swivel  gun  was  used  with  good 
eflPect,  as  the  Indians  were  very  much  afraid  of  any  sort  of  a 
cannon.      Two  more  futile  assaults  were  made  before  day- 

::   I'onnsylvnnia   Archlvps,  vol.    Is.,   p.   G48. 


THE  ABANDONED  EXPEDITION.  185 

light,  and  the  besiegers  then  retired  to  a  distance  and  kept 
up  a  steady  firing  during  the  day.  Captain  Bradt  sent  a 
negro  to  the  fort  with  a  second  but  unavailing  demand  for 
surrender,  and  during  Thursday  night  a  fourth  desperate  ef- 
fort was  made  to  storm  the  stockade.  The  brave  riflemen 
again  repulsed  the  savage  horde,  and  shortly  after  dawn  the 
discouraged  assailants  withdrew  and  recrossed  the  Ohio 
river.  Among  the  fort's  defenders  one  man  had  been 
wounded  in  the  foot.* 

After  the  failure  at  Wheeling  about  70  of  the  Indians, 
anxious  for  scalps  and  plunder,  cut  loose  from  the  mahi 
body  of  the  marauders  and  went  against  the  blockhouse  of 
Abraham  Rice  on  Bufifalo  creek,  within  the  present  town- 
ship of  Donegal,  Washington  county.  From  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  September  13  until  2  o'clock  the 
following  morning  that  blockhouse  was  successfully  de- 
fended by  only  six  men.  They  killed  four  of  the  Indians 
and  lost  one  of  their  own  number,  George  Felebaum,  who 
was  shot  in  the  brain  while  peering  through  a  loophole.  The 
savages  killed  many  cattle  and  burned  a  barn.  On  their 
return  toward  the  Ohio  river  they  met  and  killed  two  set- 
tlers who  were  going  to  Rice's  relief.  This  was  the  last 
invasion  of  Western  Pennsylvania  by  a  large  body  of  In- 
dians.° 

At  Ft.  Pitt  General  Irvine's  preparations  had  been 
made  and  he  was  anxiously  awaiting  the  arrival  of  Hazen's 
regulars,  when,  on  October  23,  he  received  from  Phila- 
delphia information  that  the  Indian  war  was  at  an  end  and 
that  his  expedition  was  countermanded." 

The  cessation  of  Indian  depredations,  which  had  been 
carried  on  with  terrible  results  for  six  years,  was  the  work 
of  General  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who  had  recently  been  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  of  the  British  forces  in  Ameri- 
ca.     He  was  a  humane  man,  and  had  never  approved  the 

4  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  "-pp.  312,  397;    Pennsylvania  Ar- 
chives,   vol.    ix.,   p.   638;    Western   Annals,   p.  405. 

5  Western    Annals,    p.    406;     Historical    Collections   of   Pennsylvania, 
p.    661;     Frontier   Forts,    vol.    ii.,    pp.   404   to   410. 

6  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  p.   134. 


1 86  OLD  WESTMORELAND, 

employment  of  savages.  Soon  after  his  appointment  to 
the  supreme  command  he  was  shocked  by  the  burning  of 
Crawford  and  other  American  prisoners  at  Sandusky,  and 
orders  were  conveyed  to  all  British  officers  engaged  on  the 
border  to  exert  their  efforts  to  prevent  further  outrages  by 
their  red  allies. 

It  is  interesting  to  read  the  reply  of  Captain  Alexander 
McKee,  at  that  time  a  British  agent  among  the  Shawnees 
on  the  Great  Miami  and  Mad  rivers,  to  the  letter  which  he 
received  in  regard  to  the  Indian  cruelties.  "It  is  true,"  he 
wrote,  "they  have  made  sacrifices  to  their  revenge  after  the 
massacre  of  their  women  and  children,  some  being  known 
to  them  to  be  perpetrators  of  it,  but  it  was  done  in  my  ab- 
sence or  before  I  could  reach  any  of  the  places  to  interfere. 
And  I  can  assure  you,  sir,  that  there  is  not  a  white  person 
here  wanting  in  their  duty  to  represent  to  the  Indians  in 
the  strongest  terms  the  highest  abhorrence  of  such  conduct, 
as  well  as  the  bad  consequence  that  may  attend  it,  to  both 
them  and  us,  being  contrary  to  the  rule  of  carrying  on  war 
by  civilized  nations." 

General  Carleton's  protest  against  cruelties  was  soon 
followed  by  more  radical  action.  He  sent  an  order  to  the 
officers  in  command  at  Niagara  and  Detroit  to  cease  entire- 
ly the  sending  out  of  Indian  parties  against  the  American 
frontiers  and  to  act  only  on  the  defensive.  This  order 
reached  DePeyster,  at  Detroit,  late  in  August,  and  he  at 
once  sent  couriers  to  the  British  officers  at  the  Indian  towns 
in  Ohio  to  stop  all  incursions.  The  runner  sent  to  Upper 
Sandusky  reached  there  too  late  to  stop  Captain  Bradt,  who 
had  already  marched  against  Wheeling. 

General  Washington,  in  quarters  at  Xewburg-on-the- 
Hudson,  did  not  learn  of  General  Carleton's  action  until 
September  23,  when  he  immediately  wrote  to  the  authori- 
ties in  Philadelphia  to  stop  the  expeditions  at  Sunbury  and 
Fort  Pitt.' 

General  Lincoln,  on  September  27,  wrote  to  Generals 

7  WashlnKtoii-Irvlne  Correspondence,  p.  135;    Penusylvaula  Archives, 
vol.  Ix.,    p.    G41. 


THE  ABANDONED  EXPEDITION.  1 87 

Hazen  and  Irvine  that  the  expedition  was  off.  The  letter 
to  Hazen  reached  that  officer  promptly  and  he  returned  with 
his  command  to  Lancaster.  The  letter  to  Irvine  was  not 
sent  by  express  rider,  as  it  should  have  been,  but  was  en- 
trusted to  some  person  traveling  on  private  business.  The 
bearer  lingered  by  the  way  and  was  making  little  progress 
toward  Ft.  Pitt,  when  Captain  Brady,  riding  in  quest  of 
Hazen's  detachment,  found  the  bearer  of  the  letter  at  some 
wayside  inn.  Thus  it  was  that  the  countermand  reached 
General  Irvine  so  late.^ 

The  last  stroke  in  the  border  war  of  the  Revolution  was 
inflicted  by  the  Americans.  While  General  Irvine  was 
making  ready  to  invade  the  Indian  country  from  the  east- 
ward. General  George  Rogers  Clark  was  preparing  a  sim- 
ilar movement  from  Kentucky.  Correspondence  passed  be- 
tween these  officers  for  the  purpose  of  securing  simultane- 
ous action.  Clark's  plan  was  to  ascend  the  Great  Miami 
and  strike  the  Shawnee  towns  at  the  time  when  Irvine  was 
operating  against  the  Wyandots  and  Delawares.  Early  in 
October  General  Irvine  sent  a  messenger  down  the  Ohio 
river  to  Clark  with  the  information  that  the  Fort  Pitt  expe- 
dition would  move  on  October  20,  and  Clark  arranged  to 
cross  the  Ohio  from  Kentucky  at  the  same  time.  Wash- 
ington's countermand  held  Irvine,  but  it  was  too  late  to  stop 
Clark. 

With  1,000  horsemen,  General  Clark  crossed  the  Ohio 
at  the  site  of  Cincinnati,  marched  up  the  Great  Miami  and 
destroyed  the  two  Shawnee  towns  of  Lower  and  Upper 
Piqua,  in  what  is  now  Miami  county,  Ohio.  A  detachment 
burned  also  the  trading  post  of  Peter  Loramie  and  the  ad- 
jacent Indian  town,  on  the  west  branch  of  the  Miami.  The 
Indians  had  warning  in  time  to  hide  the  women  and  child- 
ren in  the  woods,  but  they  saved  none  of  their  property  and 
the  Kentuckians  carried  away  a  great  quantity  of  plunder. 
Ten  Indian  scalps  and  seven  prisoners  were  taken,  while  two 
of  the  Kentuckians  were  mortally  wounded. 

General  Carleton's  order  concluded  the  Indian  war  of 


8  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  pp.   134,   184. 


l8S  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

the  Revolution.  That  is,  it  ended  the  incursions  of  the  sav- 
ages as  the  alHes  of  Great  Britain,  acting  with  British  aid 
and  under  the  direction  of  British  oiBcers,  but  it  did  not  al- 
together stop  the  depredations  of  some  of  the  Ohio  savages 
acting  on  their  own  account.  Small  bands  of  Shawnees, 
seeking  revenge  for  General  Clark's  work  of  destruction, 
invaded  the  settlements  in  the  spring  of  1783  and  inflicted 
considerable  injury.  In  the  autumn  of  1782,  however,  the 
sorely  harried  borderers  were  encouraged  to  believe  that 
their  distresses  were  at  an  end,  and  with  earnestness  they 
participated  in  the  observance  of  the  first  general  Thanks- 
giving Day  celebrated  in  the  United  States  on  the  last 
Thursdav  of  November." 


Pennsjivauia  Archives,   vol.  Ix.,   p.  650. 


THE  PEACE  JOURNEY  OF  EPHRAIM  DOUGLASS. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


THE  PEACE  JOURNEY  OF  EPHRAIM  DOUGLASS. 


The  residents  of  the  frontier,  in  the  opening  of  1783, 
were  happy  in  the  expectation  of  peace,  when  they 
were  startled  and  distressed  by  a  series  of  Indian  depreda- 
tions. Several  small  parties  of  savages,  in  the  latter  part 
of  March  and  the  first  week  of  April,  invaded  Westmoie- 
land  and  Washington  counties,  struck  severe  blows  and 
escaped  quickly  into  the  wilderness. 

Four  Indians  appeared  at  a  clearing  in  the  valley  of 
Brush  creek,  killed  James  Davis  and  his  son  in  a  field,  took 
two  other  men  captive  and  tried  to  break  into  the  cabin, 
which  was  defended  by  a  woman  and  an  old  man.  One  of 
the  Indians  tried  to  pry  open  the  door  with  his  gun,  which 
he  thrust  in  between  the  door  and  its  frame.  The  man  and 
the  woman  within  seized  the  gun  barrel  and  broke  it  loose 
from  its  stock,  whereupon  the  Indians  went  away." 

In  Washington  county  a  man  was  killed  within  a  mile 
of  the  new  county  seat  on  Chartiers  creek,  and  a  dozen  per- 
sons were  captured.  Two  of  the  prisoners,  Mrs.  Walker 
and  a  boy,  regained  their  liberty,  but  the  others  were  car- 
ried to  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Big 
Miami  river.' 

Some  of  the  frontiersmen  suspected  tha't  these  raids 
were  made  by  bands  that  had  been  out  hunting  all  winter, 
and  did  not  know  of  the  peace  made  between  Great  Britain 

1  Washington-Irvine  Correspondence,  p.  408;    Pennsylvania  Archives, 
vol.  X.,  p.  22. 

2  Pennsylvania    Archives,    vol.    x.,    p.    167. 


igo  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

and  the  United  States,  or  of  the  orders  issued  by  the  British 
commanders.  Fear  was  felt  that  the  Indians  might  keep 
up  the  war  without  British  support,  and  appeals  were  sent 
to  Philadelphia  for  peace  treaties  with  the  savage  tribes. 
On  April  4  the  Pennsylvania  Council  asked  Congress  to 
take  some  action  to  pacify  the  Indians,  and  on  April  29 
the  request  was  repeated,  with  the  statement  that  40  per- 
sons had  been  killed  and  captured,  since  spring  opened,  on 
the  Pennsylvania  frontiers. 

Two  days  later  Congress  voted  to  send  a  messenger 
into  the  Indian  country  to  inform  the  tribes  that  the  King 
of  Great  Britain  had  been  compelled  to  make  peace  with 
the  United  States;  that  the  British  had  agreed  to  evacuate 
the  forts  at  Detroit  and  Niagara,  leaving  the  Indians  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  and  that  the  United  States  desired 
peace  with  the  Indians,  but  were  prepared  for  vigorous 
action  if  the  tribes  should  prefer  war.  To  execute  this 
hard  and  dangerous  mission  the  Secretary  at  War,  ]\Iajor 
General  Benjamin  Lincoln,  chose  Major  Ephraim  Douglass, 
of  Pittsburg.' 

Ephraim  Douglass  was  the  son  of  Adam  Douglass,  a 
Scot,  and  was  born  in  Carlisle,  in  1750.  At  the  age  of  18 
he  went  to  Fort  Pitt,  where  he  Avorked  for  a  few  years  as 
a  carpenter.  He  afterward  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade  at 
Pittsburg  and  Kittanning  in  partnership  with  Devereux 
Smith  and  Richard  Butler. 

In  1776  Douglass  was  appointed  by  Congress  quarter- 
master of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  regiment.  He  was 
captured  by  the  British  at  Bound  Brook,  N.  J.,  on  April 
13,  1777,  and  for  more  than  two  years  was  a  prisoner  in 
New  York.  After  his  exchange,  much  broken  in  health, 
he  was  made  the  assistant  commissary  for  the  department 
of  Fort  Pitt.  In  the  autumn  of  1781  he  was  sent  on  a 
dangerous  mission  alone  into  the  Indian  country  of  South- 
ern Ohio,  and  did  not  return  until  May,  1782.  Major 
Douglass  was  a  tall  man,  of  great  strength.     His  fearless- 


3  Washlngton-Irvlnc  Correspondence,  p.  188;    reuu.sylvaula  Archives, 
vol.  X.,  pp.  45,   46. 


THE   PEACE  JOURNEY  OF  EPHRAIM   DOUGLASS,  I9I 

ness,  energy  and  persistence,  added  to  his  knowledge  of 
the  Indian  country,  recommended  him  to  the  Secretary  at 
War/ 

Douglass  was  accompanied  on  his  journey  by  Captain 
George  McCully,  who  had  been  associated  with  him  in  the 
Indian  trade  and  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  by  a  wilderness  guide.  These  three  men,  well 
mounted  and  carrying  a  white  flag,  left  Fort  Pitt  on  June 
7,  1783,  and  rode  to  the  Sandusky  river,  where  they  ar- 
rived on  June  i6.°  They  went  to  the  principal  town  of 
the  Delawares,  where  they  were  received  with  cordiality  by 
Captain  Pipe,  the  chief  sachem.  With  him,  for  one  reason 
and  another,  the  messengers  were  compelled  to  remain  for 
two  weeks.  The  Indians  were  extremely  punctilious  in 
all  matters  of  negotiations,  either  for  peace  or  war,  clinging 
to  ancient  forms  with  much  solemn  ceremony.  While  Cap- 
tain Pipe  declared  himself  to  be  strongly  in  favor  of  peace, 
he  declined  to  enter  into  a  council  on  the  subject  until  after 
Major  Douglass  had  treated  with  the  Wyandots  and  the 
Shawnees.  This  was  because  the  Wyandots  and  the  Shaw- 
nees  had  taken  up  the  hatchet  first  and  had  forced  the  Dela- 
wares into  the  war. 

The  chief  of  the  Wyandots  along  the  Sandusky  river 
was  Dunquat,  the  celebrated  Half-King,  and  he  was  away 
at  Detroit,  but  his  wife  thought  that  he  would  soon  come 
home,  and  persuaded  Douglass  to  wait  for  him.  Captain 
Pipe  was  kind  enough  to  send  a  runner  to  the  Shawnee 
towns  on  the  Big  Miami,  asking  their  chiefs  to  come  to 
Sandusky  to  meet  the  American  agent.  In  five  days  this 
runner  returned  with  the  news  that  the  Shawnees  had  just 
been  called  to  Detroit,  to  attend  a  great  Indian  council  with 
the  British  commander  there. 

Pipe  now  advised  Douglass  to  go  to  Detroit  and  meet 
all  the  Indian  chiefs  in  the  British  presence.  Dunquat  did 
not  return  at  the  time  his  wife  expected  him,  and  Pipe  said 


4  Biographical  slietchi  of  Ephraim  Douglass,  in  Veech's  Monongahela 
of  Old. 

5  See  the  official  report  of  Douglass  to  the  Secretary  at  War,  Penn- 
sylvania  Archives,    vol.    x.,    p.    83. 


192  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

that  even  the  Half-King  could  not  make  peace  with  the 
Americans  without  the  authority  of  the  Wyandot  great 
council,  which  had  its  seat  in  Canada,  near  Detroit.  Doug- 
lass, therefore,  decided  to  go  to  the  British  fort,  and  on  the 
last  day  of  June  he  and  McCully  set  forth,  in  company 
with  Captain  Pipe  and  two  other  Delawares.  The  time 
spent  by  Douglass  at  Sandusky  had  not  been  wasted.  He 
had  talked  much  with  Pipe  and  other  chiefs,  and  had  in- 
fluenced them  to  a  friendly  feeling  toward  the  American 
states.  He  had  likewise  made  a  good  impression  among 
the  old  men  and  women  in  the  Wyandot  towns. 

On  the  second  day  of  their  journey  Douglass  and  his 
companions  were  met  by  Captain  Matthew  Elliott  and  three 
ether  persons,  sent  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  DePeyster,  the 
commander  at  Detroit,  to  conduct  the  Americans  to  the 
British  post.  This  Elliott  was  one  of  the  tories  who  had 
fled  from  Pittsburg  "in  the  spring  of  1778,  and  he  and 
Douglass  had  formerly  been  acquainted.  Elliott  carried  a 
letter  from  DePeyster,  inviting  Douglass  to  attend  the 
Indian  council  at  Detroit." 

Douglass  arrived  at  the  British  post  on  July  4  and 
had  a  very  civil  reception.  DePeyster  lodged  him  well  and 
treated  him  kindly.  Douglass  soon  learned,  however,  that 
the  British  commander  would  not  permit  him  to  hold  a 
conference  with  the  Indian  chiefs. 

DePeyster  pleaded  that  he  had  no  authority  from  his 
government  to  permit  such  a  conference.  He  objected, 
moreover,  to  some  of  the  language  in  Douglass's  letter  of 
instruction.  It  would  never  do  to  allow  the  Indians  to  be 
told  that  the  King  of  England  had  been  compelled  to  make 
peace.  Such  a  statement  might  lead  the  tribes  to  feel  a 
dangerous  contempt  for  the  British  power.  Neither  was 
DePeyster  willing  that  Douglass  should  tell  the  Indians 
that  the  British  had  agreed  to  evacuate  Detroit.  He  had 
no  knowledge  that  such  an  agreement  had  been  made.  He 
advised  Douglass  to  go  down  to  Niagara  and  state  the  terms 


C  rcnusylvanla  Archives,  vol.  x.,  p.  02. 


THE   PEACE  JOURNEY   OF   EPHRAIM   DOUGLASS.  1 93 

of  his  mission  to  Brigadier  General  Allan  Maclean,  who 
had  greater  authority  in  such  affairs. 

DePeyster  did  give  material  assistance  to  the  object 
of  Douglass's  journey,  by  persuading  the  Indians  to  peace. 
On  July  6  the  great  council  was  held  in  Fort  Detroit.  It 
was  attended  by  the  chiefs  of  ii  tribes,  representing  nearly 
all  the  Indians  from  the  Scioto  river  to  Lake  Superior.^ 
To  them  DePeyster  made  a  long  talk,  conveying  the  es- 
sential part  of  Douglass's  message.  He  told  the  chiefs  of 
the  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  and 
that  he  could  no  longer  give  them  help  in  their  war  against 
the  Americans.  He  announced  that  the  Americans  desired 
peace  with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  had  sent  Major  Douglass 
to  invite  them  to  a  treaty,  and  he  advised  all  the  Indians  to 
cease  their  warfare  against  the  United  States. 

This  address  had  a  good  effect  on  the  assembled  sav- 
ages, and  although  they  could  hold  no  council  with  the 
American  envoy,  they  surrounded  his  lodging  and  saluted 
him  with  pronounced  expressions  of  friendship.  On  the 
day  after  the  council  Douglass  and  McCully  left  Detroit 
and  traveled  overland,  through  Ontario,  toward  Niagara. 
At  that  British  post,  which  they  reached  in  four  days.  Gen- 
eral Maclean  raised  the  same  objections  as  those  offered  by 
Lieutenant  Colonel  DePeyster.  He  would  not  permit  Ma- 
jor Douglass  to  speak  directly  to  the  Iroquois  chiefs,  but  on 
his  own  account  and  through  Colonel  Butler,  the  Indian 
superintendent,  he  informed  the  chiefs  of  the  desires  of  the 
United  States  for  peace  with  all  the  tribes. 

While  at  Fort  Niagara,  Douglass  had  a  long  private 
conversation  with  Joseph  Brant,  the  celebrated  war  chief 
of  the  Mohawks,  and  did  what  he  could  to  persuade  Brant 
of  the  kindly  intentions  of  the  Americans  toward  the  In- 
dians. 

General  Maclean  urged  Douglass  to  go  to  Quebec  and 
confer  with  the  governor  general  of  Canada,  but  the  major 
felt  that  he  had  fulfilled,  as  far  as  possible,  the  duties  of  his 


7  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  Wyandots,    Shawnees,    Delawares,    Kickapoos, 
Weas,  Miamis,  Pottawattamies,  Piankeshaws  and  a  few  Senecas. 


194  OLD   WESTMORELAND. 

mission,  and  desired  to  return  to  the  states.  General  Mac- 
lean sent  him  by  boat  to  Oswego,  whence  Douglass  jour- 
neyed, by  way  of  Albany,  to  Princeton,  N.  J.,  where  the 
federal  government  was  then  located,  and  made  his  report 
to  General  Lincoln. 

This  mission  of  Douglass  effected  complete  peace  on 
the  frontiers.  To  his  efforts  were  due  the  cessation  of  the 
Indian  War  of  the  Revolution  on  the  borders  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia. 

[The  End.] 


INDEX. 


Amberson,  William,  Pittsburg 
merchant,  iii. 

Anderson,   Isaac,  soldier,   145. 

Armstrong,  Ft.,  at  Kittan- 
ning,  96,  103,  no. 

Armstrong,  John,  soldier,  53, 
96. 

Association  of  Westmoreland 
county,  IS,  25. 

Bald  Eagle,  Delaware  chief, 
71,  94- 

Ballantine,  Alexander,  48. 

Bane,  Joseph,   164. 

Barr,  Ft.,  in  Derry  settlement, 
117,  119,  121. 

Barr,  Robert,  116,  117,  119, 
121. 

Bayard,  Stephen,  officer  of  the 
Revolution,  65,  96. 

Beaver  river,  42,  80. 

Bedford  county,  40,  49-53. 

Beelor,  Joseph,  lieutenant  of 
Yohogania  county,  Va.,  113. 

Beeson,  John,  164. 

Beloved,  Delaware  war  chief 
(See  Wingenund). 

Benham,  Robert,  55,  58. 

Big  Cat,  Delaware  chief,  124, 
153,  160. 

Biggs,  John,  militia  officer, 
164,  169. 

Big  Runaway  on  the  Susque- 
hanna, 68. 

Bilderback,  Charles,  militia  of- 
ficer, 157,  164. 

Bird.  Henry,  British  officer, 
84.  85. 

Blacklick  creek,  26,  116,  118. 

Blaine,  Ephraim,  merchant 
and  army  contractor,  62. 

Boundary  dispute  between 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia, 
6,  7,  24,  no,  113,  132,  135. 

Boyd,  John,  62 

Braddock  road,  6,  8. 

Bradt,  Andrew,  British  of- 
ficer, 184,  185,  186. 

Brady.  James,  brother  of  Sam- 
uel, killed  bv  Indians,  70. 

Brady,  John,  officer  of  the 
Revolution,  70,  90. 


Brady,  Samuel,  soldier  and 
scout,  65,  70,  71,  89-94,  96, 
106-108,  112-113,  183,  184, 
187. 

Brant,  Joseph,  Mohawk  war 
chief,  144,  193. 

Brinton,  John,  164. 

Brodhead,  Daniel,  officer  of 
the  Revolution,  68,  79,  83, 
90,102,  105,  109,  110-114,  132, 
149;  colonel  of  the  Eighth 
Pennsylvania,  65,  66;  com- 
mander of  the  Western  De- 
partment, 86,  88;  expedition 
against  the  Senecas,  95-101; 
expedition  against  the  Del- 
awares,  123-130;  relieved  of 
his  command,  147. 

Brokenstraw  creek.  97,  99. 

Brown,  Basil.  55,  58-59. 

Brown,  Thomas,  55. 

Brownlee,  Joseph,  killed  by 
Indians,  180. 

Brownsville.  55. 

Bruce,  William,  164. 

Brush  creek,  8,  170,  173,  181, 
189. 

Buckaloons,  Indian  town  on 
Allegheny  river.  97. 

Buckongahelas,  Delaware  war 
chief,   126. 

Butler,  John,  tory  leader  in 
New  York,  19,  92.  177. 

Butler.  Richard,  trader  and 
soldier,  19.  26,  62,  65,  69,  190. 

Caldwell.  William,  British  of- 
ficer, 165,  166. 

Cambray,  Chevalier  de,  mili- 
tary engineer,  81,  82. 

Campbell.  Charles,  militia  of- 
ficer. 116,  118. 

Campbell.  John,  trader  and 
land  owner.  10.  79. 

Campbell.  William,  139. 

Canon.  John,  founder  of  Can- 
onsburg.   14.   135. 

Carleton.  Sir  Guy,  British  gen- 
eral. 185.  t86. 

Carnaghan,  John,  Militia  of- 
ficer, 15. 

Carnaghan's  blockhouse,  29, 
140. 

(195) 


196 


OLD  WESTMORELAND. 


Carpenter,  John,  his  capture 
by  Indians,    154. 

Carson,  Moses,  62,  69. 

Cavet,  James,  leader  on  the 
frontier,   10,    11. 

Chartiers  settlement,  6,  107, 
112,  160. 

Cherry,  Ft.,  on  Little  Raccoon 
creek,  151. 

Cherry,  John,  his  death,  151, 
152. 

Chestnut  Ridge,  8. 

Chilloway,  Job,  Delaware  In- 
dian and  interpreter,  75. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  fa- 
mous American  officer,  35, 
54,  95.  131-138,  141,  187. 

Clark,  John,  American  officer, 
83.  183. 

Collie,  Isaac,  55. 

Conemaugh  river^  8,  116,  119. 

Conewango  creek,  97,  99. 

Connolly,  John,  Dunmore's 
agent  at  Pittsburg,  7,  10,  13, 
14,  16,  24. 

Cook,  Edward,  frontier  leader 
and  magistrate,  10,  14;  lieu- 
tenant of  Westmoreland 
county,  146,  164,  i8r. 

Corbly,  John,  Rev.,  massacre 
of  his  family,  164. 

Cornplanter,  Seneca  chief,  71, 
95,  98,  99- 

Cornstalk,  Shawnee  war  chief, 
20,  23, 

Coshocton,  chief  town  of  the 
Delawares,  21,  47,  81,  82; 
destroyed  by  Brodhead, 
April,  1781,  123-130. 

Cox,  Gabriel,  militia  officer, 
135,  136. 

Cracraft,  Charles,  American 
ofificer,   142. 

Craig,  Isaac,  artillery  officer, 
132,  1.37- 

Craig,  Samuel,  militia  officer, 
16,  116,  118. 

Craig.  Samuel,  Jr.,  145. 

Crawford,  Ft.,  on  the  Alleghe- 
ny river,  88,  103,  no. 

Crawford,  John,  son  of  Colo- 
nel William,  167.  168. 
Crawford,    Valentine,    brother 
of  William,  12. 


Crawford,  William,  surveyor 
and  American  officer,  10,  12, 
14,  27,  29,  35,  41,  48,  66,  79. 
88,  132;  his  capture  and 
death  at  the  stake,  164-168. 

Crawford,  William,  son  of 
Valentine,   167,    168. 

Croghan,  George,  trader,  In- 
dian agent  and  land  owner, 
10,   13,    14. 

Cuyahoga  river,  41. 

Delaware  Indians,  18,  20,  23, 
47.  Tz,  81,  82,  96,  106,  149, 
156,  167,  170,  184,  191;  alli- 
ance with  the  United  States, 
74-79,  114,  123;  joined  the 
hostile  league,  124;  driven 
from  the  iMuskingum,  130. 

DePeyster,  Arent  Schuyler. 
British  commander  at  De- 
troit, 126.  129,  144,  149,  150, 
186,   192,  193. 

Derry  settlement.  8,   116. 

Detroit,  British  headquarters 
in  the  west,  20,  22,  "]},,  126. 
I3i>  133,  144,  149.  165.  190, 
192,    193- 

Doddridge,  Joseph,  pioneer 
historian,  128. 

Douglass.  Ephraim,  trader 
and  soldier,  62,  190-194. 

Douglass,  John,  magistrate, 
136. 

Downing,  Timothy,    164. 

Dunmore,  John  ISlurray, 
Earl  of,  7,  16,  32. 

Dunmore's  war,  11,  12. 

Dunquat,  Wyandot  half- 
king.  21.   149,   151,  191- 

Eighth  Regiment  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Line,  organization, 
25.  62,  190;  march  to  the 
East,  26,  63,  64;  return  to 
the  border,  60,  67-72;  ser- 
vices on  the  frontier,  So,  83, 
86. 

Elliott,  Matthew,  renegade 
and  British  officer,  46,  57, 
149,  168,  192. 

Fayette   City,  32,    147. 

Fife.  William,  164. 

Findley.   George,   it6. 

Fink.  John,  154. 

Finley.  Ebenezer,  son  of  Rev. 
James,  120. 


INDEX. 


197 


Finley,  James,  Rev.,  pioneer 
preacher,  120. 

Finley,  John,  soldier,  69,  79. 

Finley,  Joseph  L.,  soldier,  79. 

Fleming,  Richard,  144. 

Food,  scarcity  of  on  the  fron- 
tier,  103,  109-113,  115. 

Forbes  road,  6,  8. 

Fowler,  Alexander,  merchant, 
147. 

Franklin,   Benjamin,   18. 

French  creek,   100. 

Gaddis,  Thomas,   164. 

Gibson,  George,  trader  and 
soldier,  32-36. 

Gibson,  John,  trader  and  sol- 
dier, 14,  19,  32,  66,  ^^,  79, 

147,  160;  in  command  at  Ft. 
Laurens,   83-86. 

Girty,  George,  brother  of 
Simon,    144. 

Girty,  James,  brother  of 
Simon,  47. 

Girty,  Simon,  interpreter  and 
tory,  20,  57,  129;  flight  from 
Ft.  Pitt,  46;  at  siege  of  Ft. 
Laurens,  83-85;  at  the  tor- 
ture of  Crawford,   168. 

Gnadenhuetten,  Moravian  In- 
dian town  on  the  Tuscara- 
was, 125,  150;  massacre  of 
March,  1782,  153-161. 

Graham,   Arthur,   soldier,  79. 
•Greensburg,    176,    181. 

Guthrie,  William,  116. 

Guyasuta  (Big  Cross),  Sene- 
ca chief,   18,  95,  98,   177. 

Half-king  of  the  Wyandots 
(see  Dunquat). 

Hamilton,  Henry,  British 
commander  at  Detroit,  22, 
39,  44,  47,  49,  95- 

Hand,  Edward,  American 
general,  17,  37-43.  45,  48,  60. 

Hand,  Ft.,  in  Northern  West- 
moreland, 88,  90. 

Hanna,  Robert,  tavern  keeper 
and  magistrate,  7,  10,  11, 
176;  capture  of  his  wife  and 
daughter,    180. 

Hannastown,  county  seat  of 
Westmoreland,  7,  24,  ^2, 
103,  114;  patriotic  meetings 
there,  11,  14;  destruction  by 
Indians.  July  13.  1782,  176. 

Hardin,   John,    136. 


Hardin,  John,  Jr.,  American 
officer,  89,  98,  136,  164. 

Hardman,  head  chief  of  the 
Shawnees,   20. 

Harrison,  Lawrence,  Ameri- 
can officer,  ZZ,  88. 

Harrison,  William,  167,  168. 

Hays,  Christopher,  West- 
moreland leader  and  legis- 
lator,  10,  134,  137,  146. 

Hazen,  Moses,  American  of- 
ficer, 183,  187. 

Heath,  Andrew,  55. 

Heckewelder,  John,  Moravian 
missionary,   124,  125,   149. 

Henry,  Ft.,  at  Wheeling,  34, 
88,   125,   141,   184. 

Henry,  Patrick,  governor  of 
Virginia,    18,   54. 

Hinkston,  John,  Indian 
fighter,  119. 

Hoagland,  John,  164,  169. 

Hood,  Andrew,    164. 

Hopkins,  Captain,  119. 

HufTnagle,  Michael,  10,  62, 
178. 

Huntingdon,  51. 

Huron  Indians  (see  Wyan- 
dots). 

Indian  treaties,  at  Ft.  Pitt,  Oc- 
tober, 177s,  18;  at  Ft.  Pitt, 
October,  1776,  23;  at  Ft. 
Pitt,  September,  1778,  74-79. 

Iroquois  Indians,  5,  18,  19,  28, 
52,  68,  90,  144,  193. 

Irvine,  William,  American 
general,  97  (note),  147,  153, 
160,  163,  164,  172,  173,  182, 
185,  187. 

Jack,  John,  scout,  151. 

Jack,  Matthew,  soldier,  178. 

Jack,  William,  soldier  and 
magistrate,   90. 

Jackson,  Philip,  151. 

Johnson,  Sir  Guy,  British  In- 
dian agent.  19. 

Jones,  David,  Rev.,  mission- 
ary to  the  Indians,  9. 

Killbuck,  Delaware  chief,  21, 
75,  79,  '^^i,  124,  125,  126,  130, 
153,   160. 

Killgore.  David,  American  of- 
ficer, 62. 

King's  Orchard,  at  Pittsburg, 

45-      .  .  ^ 

Kiskimmetas  river,  26,  29,  103, 
119. 


198 


OLD  WESTMORELAND . 


Kittanning,  5,  25,  29,  51,  63, 
96,  119. 

Knight,  John,  military  sur- 
geon, 163.  167.  168. 

Knotts,  John,   58. 

Kuskuskee,  Indian  town  on 
Beaver  river,  97  (note),  107. 

Lame  Indian,  story  of,   170. 

Lanctot.   Godfrey,    106. 

Laughlin.    Randall,   118. 

Laurel  Hill,  6. 

Laurens,  Ft.,  on  the  Tuscara- 
was, 82-87,  96. 

Leet,  Daniel,  135,  164. 

Leet,  William,  164. 

Lewis,  Andrew.  American  of- 
ficer, 74-79. 

Lewis,  Thomas,  brother  of 
Andrew,  74. 

Leyba,  Francisco  de.  Spanish 
commandant  at  St.  Louis, 
56. 

Licking  river,  scene  of  Rod- 
gers's  defeat,  56-59. 

Ligonier,  8,  41,  90,  106. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  secretary 
at  war,   183,  186,  190,  194. 

Linn,   William,  32-36. 

Lochry.  Archibald,  10,  146; 
lieutenant-colonel  of  asso- 
ciators,  15;  lieutenant  of 
Westmoreland,  40,  102,  122, 
134,  138,  146;  fatal  voyage 
down  the  Ohio,  139-145. 

Long,  Peter,  hunter  and 
scout,  20. 

Loskiel,  George  Henry,  Mo- 
ravian missionary  and  histo- 
rian, 158. 

Loyalhanna  creek,  8,  116,  181. 

McCleery,  William,  militia  of- 
ficer,  113. 

McClelland,  John,  militia  of- 
ficer. 134.  164,  169. 

McClure.  David,  Rev.,  62. 

McCulloch,  John,   14. 

McCully.   George,   191,   192. 

McElroy,   Patrick.  55. 

McFarlane.  Andrew,  capture 
by   Indians.  24. 

McFarlane.  James,  24.  29. 

McGechan,  Duncan,   164. 

Mcintosh,  Ft.,  at  mouth  of 
Beaver  river,  S0-81.  87. 

Mcintosh,  Lachlan,  American 
general,  60,  67,  7;^,  79,  80-86. 


Mackay,  Eneas,  magistrate 
and  American  officer.  10, 
24,  26,  62,  64. 

McKee.  Alexander,  45.  186; 
flight  from  Pittsburg,  46. 

McKee's  Rocks,  45. 

Maclean,  Allan,  British  of- 
ficer, 193. 

Mahoning  river,  tributary  of 
the  Allegheny,  93,  96. 

Mahoning  river,  tributary  of 
the   Beaver,  42. 

Mann,  Andrew,  63. 

Markle.  Gaspard,   140. 

Marshel.  James,  lieutenant  of 
Washington  county,  135, 
136,  15s.   164. 

^Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  7. 

Miami  Indians,  2,2,  83,  84. 

Miami  river,  mi.  186,  187. 

]\Iiller,  John,  164. 

IMiller.  Samuel,  62,  180;  killed 
by  Indians,  72. 

Mills.  Benjamin,  79. 

Mingo  Bottom,  on  Ohio  river, 
155.  160,  164,  167. 

Mingo  Indians,  Iroquois  liv- 
ing in  Ohio,  18,  21,  23,  24, 
83.  84. 

Money  depreciation,  109. 

Monongahela  river,  8,  32, 
no,  113,  132,  135,  141. 

]\Ionongalia  county,  Va.,  35 
(note),  80,  113,  132. 

Montour.  John,  French-Iro- 
quois,  21,  23,  124,  125. 

Moorhead,  Samuel,  border 
leader,  26,  29,  90. 

Moravian  missions,  124,  125, 
153;  driven  from  the  Tus- 
carawas, 148-151;  massacre 
at   Gnadenhuetten,    155-160. 

Morgan.  Daniel,  American 
general,  65. 

Morgan,  George,  merchant 
and  Indian  agent,  20,  23,  74, 
77  (note). 

Morgan's  Rifle  Corps,  65. 

Mountz.    Providence.    15. 

Muncy  Indians,  a  clan  of  the 
Delawares.  42,  71,  89,  94, 
100,  104,  105. 

Munn,  James,   164. 

Muskingum  river.  20.   126. 

Myers,  Eliezer,  soldier,  63. 


199 


Nanowland,  Delaware  war- 
rior, 91,  93,  99,  124,  125,  153, 
160. 

Neville,  John,  Virginia  of- 
ficer, 16,  yj,  38. 

Newcomer,  chief  sachem  of 
the  Delawares,  21,  47. 

iNewcomer's  Town,  127. 

New  Orleans,  33,  56. 

Nicholson,  Joseph,  interpreter 
and  guide,  20,  21,  99. 

Nicholson,  Thomas,  164. 

Nimwha,  Shawnee  chief,  76. 

Ohio  county,  Va.,  35,  80,  125, 
132. 

Ohio  river,  zz,  56,  I37.  I4I- 

Oil  creek,  100. 

Olentangy,  Battle  at,  167. 

<Drmsby,  John,  10. 

brr,  Robert,  139,  144,  145- 

Ourry,  Wendel,  62. 

Palmer's  Fort,  Ligonier  val- 
ley, 41- 

Pentecost,  Dorsey,  surveyor 
and  magistrate,  10,  132,  135. 

Perry,  James,  92. 

Piggott,  James,  62. 

Pipe,  Delaware  chief,  47,  75, 
79,  124,  126,  149,  IQI- 

Pittsburg,  9,  13;  character  of 
its  population,  8,  9;  patriotic 
meeting  there,  13;  occupied 
by  Virginia  troops,  16-17; 
transferred  to  continental 
care,  ZT,  tory  plots,  44. 

Pluggy,   Mohawk  warrior,  21. 

Pluggystown,  Mingo  village 
on  Scioto,  21,  24. 

Poe,  Adam,  151,  152. 

Poe,  Andrew,  151,  152. 

Pollock,  Oliver,  merchant  at 
New  Orleans,  ZZ-:  54- 

Pomeroy,  John,  militia  of- 
ficer, 116,  117,  121. 

Powder,  procured  from  the 
Spaniards,  31-35,  S4-S6. 

Proctor,  John,  pioneer  leader, 
10,  15. 

Quoshquoshink,  Delaware 

town  on  the  Allegheny,  97. 

Raccoon  creek,   104,   154. 

Randolph,  Ft.,  at  Point  Pleas- 
ant. 40,  88. 

Rankin,  Thomas,  164. 

Rattlesnake  flag,  16. 

Red  Bank  creek,  71,  93. 


Redstone,  45,  54,  55,  136. 

Reed,  David,  164. 

Reed,  Ft.,  at  Hannastown, 
176. 

Reed,  Joseph,  President  of 
Pennsylvania,  133,  134,  146. 

Rice's  blockhouse,  185. 

Ritchie,  Craig,  164. 

Roads  of  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia, 6,  8,  181. 

Rodgers,     David,     his     defeat 

'  and  death  at  Licking  river, 
14,  54-58. 

Rose,  John,  (Henri-Gustave 
Rosenthal),  Russian  volun- 
teer in  America,  163,  164, 
167. 

Ross,  Ezekiel,  164. 

Russell,  William,  Virginia  of- 
ficer, 66. 

Saint  Clair,  Arthur,  American 
officer,  8,  10,  15,  16. 

Salem,  Moravian  Indian  town 
on  the  Tuscarawas,  124,  150, 
157,  158,  160. 

Sandusky  plain,  battle  of,  166. 

Sandusky  river,  21,  104,  106, 
130,  148,  150,  156,  165,  191. 

Sandusky,  Upper,  107,  129, 
152,  165.  168,  184. 

Scalps,  rewards  for,  106. 

Schoenbrun  (Beautiful  Well), 
Moravian  Indian  town,  150, 
159,  160,  165. 

Scioto  river,  20,  104,  141. 

Scotosh,  Wyandot  chief,  son 
of  the  Half-King,  151,  152. 

Scott,  Thomas,  frontier  leader, 
137,  146. 

Semple,  Samuel,  tavern  keep- 
er at  Pittsburg,  14. 

Seneca  Indians,  18,  39>  71,  89, 
95-100,  IG4,  106,  177- 

Seventh     Virginia     Regiment, 

Sewickley  settlement,  8,  lO, 
92,  134-  140. 

Shannon,  Samuel,  militia  of- 
ficer, 139,  142. 

Shawnee  Indians,  11,  12,  18, 
20,  23,  33,  39,  46,  47.  75,  17^ 
95,  104,  144,  166,  168,  184, 
186,  187,  189. 

Shepherd,  David,  lieutenant 
of  Ohio  county,  Va.,  35,  125. 

Shields,  John,  15,  116,  117. 


200 


OLD   WESTMORELAND. 


Sinking  Spring  valley,  50. 

Slaves  in  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia, 8,   146. 

Slippery  Rock  creek,  loi. 

Slover,  John,  guide,  164,  168. 

Smith,  Devereux,  10,  24,  190. 

Smith,  James,  pioneer  and  sol- 
dier, 15,  41,  119. 

Smoky  Island,  at  Pittsburg, 
130,  153,  160. 

Snow,  the  deep,  102. 

Speer,  Joseph,  trader,  25. 

Springer,  Uriah,  soldier,  112. 

Squaw  campaign  of  General 
Hand,  37-43. 

Stephenson,  John,  79. 

Stokely,  Thomas,  soldier,  139, 
144. 

Stoops,  Mrs.  Jennie,  107. 

Surphlit,  Robert,  tory,  46. 

Swearingen,  Van,  border  lead- 
er and  soldier,  19,  62,  6i,  65, 
89. 

Thanksgiving  day,  188. 

Thirteenth  Virginia  regiment, 
35.  38,  48,  66,  67,  80,  83. 

Tionesta  river,  97. 

Tomlinson's  run,  151. 

Tories,  at  Pittsburg.  44-48;  in 
Bedford  county,  49. 

Turney,  John,  British  of- 
ficer,   165. 

Turtle  creek,  8,  106,  172. 

Tuscarawas  river,  81,  124,  127, 
148-150,  153,  157. 

Upper  Sandusky  (see  San- 
dusky). 

Venango  trail,  100. 

Veness,  Jerome,  71. 

Vernon,  Frederick,  American 
of=ficer,  86,  87. 

Walhonding  river,  21,  150,  151. 

Wallace,  Ft.,  near  the  Kiski- 
minetas.  41,  117,  119-121. 

Wallace,  Richard,  of  Ft.  Wal- 
lace, 116,  117,  144. 

Wallace,  Robert,  of  Raccoon 
creek,  155,  158;  capture  of 
his  family,  154. 

Walthour's  blockhouse,  163, 
170. 

Ward,  Edward  ,  prominent 
resident  of  Pittsburg.   14. 

Washington  county,  8,  135, 
151. 


Washington.  George,  his  con- 
nection with  frontier  opera- 
tions, 9,  12,  ^7,  43,  60,  61.  86, 
95.  loi.  132,  147,  183,  186. 

Washnash,  Muncy  war  chief, 
105. 

West  Augusta.  District  of,  13, 
14,  35  (note). 

Westmoreland  county,  erec- 
tion and  extent,  5;  character 
of  its  settlers.  6.  8-10;  patri- 
otic organizations,  il,  14; 
military  bodies,  14,  15,  62,  63, 
105,  139;  Col.  Lochry's  ex- 
pedition and  disaster,  139; 
destruction  of  Hannastown, 
.176. 

Weston,  John,  Bedford  tory, 
50-52. 

Weston,  Richard,  50,  53. 

Wheeling,  34,  40,  125,  127,  137, 
141,  184. 

White  Eyes,  Delaware  chief 
sachem.  18,  21,  23,  47,  74-/9. 
124;  his  death.  82. 

Willard, .  killed  by  the  In- 
dians, 163,  170.  171. 

Williamson.  David,  militia  of- 
ficer, 153;  raid  on  Gnaden- 
huetten,  155-161;  in  Craw- 
ford's expedition,  164,  167. 

Wilson,  George,  magistrate 
and  soldier,  10,  26,  62,  64. 

Wilson,  James,  leader  of  the 
Derry  settlement,  116,  117, 
119,  121. 

Wilson,  William,  trader,  20- 
23. 

Wingenund,  Delaware  chief, 
76,   126. 

Wolf  clan  of  the  Delawares 
(See  Muncy  Indians). 

Wyandot  Indians.  18,  20, 
23,  29,  83,  104,  106,  III, 
129.  144,  149,  151,  156, 
184,  191. 

Wyoming,  massacre  of,  6 

Yohogania     county,     Va. 
(note),  80,  113,  132. 

Youghiogheny  river,  8,  141. 

Zane,  Ebenezer,  Wheeling  pi- 
oneer, 185. 

Zanc,  Jonathan,  scout  and 
guide,  99,  164. 

Zeisberger,  David,  Moravian 
missionarj-,  97  (note).  149. 


22, 
112, 
165, 


35 


3142