LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

THIS BOOK

C. HALE SII'E. A. H

THE INDIAN WARS

of PENNSYLVANIA

An Account of the Indian Events, in Pennsylvania, of The French and Indian War, Pontiac s War, Lord Dunmore's War, The Revolutionary War and the Indian Uprising from 1789 to 1795

Tragedies of the Pennsylvania Frontier

Based Primarily on the Penna. Archives and Colonial Records

By C. HALE SIPE

of the Pittsburgh and Butler Bars; Member of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania; Author of "The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" and "Mount Vernon and the Washington Family"

Introduction by

DR. GEORGE P. DONEHOO, Former State

Librarian of Pennsylvania

For Schools, Colleges, Libraries and Lovers of Informative Literature

THE TELEGRAPH PRESS

HARRISBURG. PA. 1929

Price $5.00, postpaid. Order from C. Hale Sipe, Butler, Pa.

De.r.

Eve

P4561

Copyrighted 1929

By C. HALE SIPE

Printed in the United States of America

To the Memory of his Sainted Mother,

from Whom he Inherited a Love for

the History of Pennsylvania,

this Book is Reverently

Dedicated by The

Author

Principal Sources Utilized in the Preparation of this Work

Archives of Pennsylvania.

Colonial Records of Pennsylvania.

Egle's History of Pennsylvania.

Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.

Day's Historical Collections.

Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.

Pennypacker's Pennsylvania, the Key- stone.

Loudon's Indian Narratives.

Rupp's County Histories.

Magazines of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Egle's Notes and Queries.

Miner's History of Wyoming.

Jenkin's Pennsylvania, Colonial and Fed" eral.

Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution.

On the Frontier with Colonel Antes.

Meginness' Otzinachson.

Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley.

Hassler's Old Westmoreland.

Fisher's Making of Pennsylvania.

McClure's Old Time Notes.

Parkman's Works.

Jones' Juniata Valley.

Hanna's Wilderness Trail.

March's History of Pennsylvania.

Smith's History of Armstrong County.

Veech's Monongahela of Old.

McKnight's Pioneer History of North- western Pennsylvania.

Conover's Journal of the Military Ex- pedition of Major-General Sullivan against the Six Nations of New York in 1779.

Craig's The Olden Time.

Darlington's Fort Pitt and Letters from the Frontier.

Darlington's Christopher Gist's Journals.

Hodge's Handbook of American Indians.

Sylvester's Indian Wars of New England.

Hulbert's Historic Highways of America.

Rupp's Early History of Western Penn- sylvania and the West.

Thwaites' Early Western Travels.

Thwaites' Documentary History of Lord Dunmore's War.

Walton's Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania.

Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare.

Craig's History of Pittsburgh.

Cort's Henry Bouquet.

Keith's Chronicles of Pennsylvania.

Boucher's History of Westmoreland County.

Albert's History of Westmoreland County.

Donehoo's Pennsylvania — A History.

DeSchweinitz's Life of David Zeisberger.

Espenshade's Pennsylvania Place Names.

Heckewelder's Works.

Mann's Life of Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg.

Father Lambing's Works.

Butterfield's Washington- Irvine Corres- pondence.

Washington's Journal.

Celeron's Journal.

Colden's History of the Five Nations.

Volwiler's George Croghan.

Johnson's Swedish Settlements on the Delaware.

Loskiel's History of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians of North America.

Patterson's History of the Backwoods.

Doddridge's Settlement and Indian Wars of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Godcharles' Daily Stories of Pennsyl- vania.

Sawvel's Logan, the Mingo.

And many others.

INTRODUCTION

IT affords me much pleasure to write these few words of intro- duction to "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," of which I have read the manuscript.

Mr. Sipe has wisely followed the same scientific method in the collection of his data for this work which he did in his "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania." As a consequence the two books give a thoroughly accurate picture of the thrillingly romantic period of Pennsylvania history from 1755 to 1795, during which the mountains and the valleys of the frontiers of Pennsylvania were literally drenched with blood.

For nearly three quarters of a century after the Treaty of William Penn with the Indians on the Delaware, the settlements of the European races had spread peacefully westward to the Blue Mountains. Even though there were occasional rumblings of a threatening storm, the sky was still clear and peace dwelt in the far-flung settlements, which stretched westward to the foothills of the Alleghenies.

The struggle between France and Great Britain for the posses- sion of the Ohio valley and the consequent effort on the part of both of these rivals for the friendship of the Indian was the final cause for the conflict between the Indian and the English settler. The French had traded with the Delaware and the Shawnee, but had not taken his lands for settlement. On the other hand, the English had driven the Delaware from his ancestral habitat on the river which bears his name to the Susquehanna and then to the Ohio by his land purchases, just and unjust, and the same fact applies to the Shawnee. The English had, in their spreading settlements, taken up Indian lands, until practically nothing was left of their lands east of the mountain ridges. Even their last place of refuge on the waters of the Ohio, which they were oc- cupying by permission of the Iroquois, was sought for by the "land hungry" English.

This land hunger was, so far as the English were concerned, a hunger for homes by these people of the British Empire, who had never known what it was to own lands of their own. It was the real motive in all of the migrations of these peoples from the lands across the seas. And yet, it caused as serious consequences to the Indian as did the Spanish search for gold.

INTRODUCTION

After the defeat of the army of General Edward Braddock by the French and Indians in 1755, the storm which had been slowly gathering along the waters of the upper Ohio, broke in all of its mad fury along the eastern foothills of the Alleghenies and for a period of forty years it raged with but few slight intermissions.

After the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 1763-4, the scene of action for the worst Indian wars was shifted west of the Alleghenies. The Purchase of 1768 opened the lands west of the mountains to the settlers who poured over the mountain ridges in an ever in- creasing tide. The occupation of these lands along the Ohio by the white settlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia met with the armed opposition of the Indians. As a consequence, there was the long series of Border Wars, expeditions into the "Indian country" west of the Ohio, and later the union of the British with the Indians against all of the settlement? in western Penn- sylvania. These wars did not end until the final overthrow of the Indian and British by General Anthony Wayne, at Fallen Timbers, and the Treaty at Greenville, which resulted, in 1795.

The hardships and sufferings of the pioneer settlers of Pennsyl- vania during these long, weary years of border wars was, however, the foundation upon which a new nation was to be builded. Without the training and the discipline in hardship of those years the War of the American Revolution, which followed so closely upon these Indian wars, would have been doomed to failure. These frontiers-men were trained in the use of the rifle and in the methods of warfare. The generation of young men, which made up the very backbone of Washington's army had known nothing but warfare and strife from their earliest infancy. The war- whoop of the Indian and the whistle of rifle bullets were the familiar sounds of childhood.

Germantown, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown could not have been without these years of bitter training, in the making of Morgan's Riflemen, Proctor's Brigade, the Eighth Pennsylvania, the Thirteenth Virginia and the other bodies making up the Continental Army from the frontiers of Pennsylvania.

Not only the enlisted men, but also the great majority of the most effective officers of the Army of Washington were trained for war on the frontiers of Pennsylvania. Washington, Wayne, Mercer, Morgan, Armstrong, Proctor, Burd, Clapham, Shippen, Brodhead, St. Clair, Irvine, Crawford and Sullivan are but a few

INTRODUCTION

of the graduates of this "West Point" of the frontiers of Penn- sylvania.

Mr. Sipe in his "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" has given a critical, and romantic picture of the Indian chiefs who played such vital parts upon the stage of history during this period. In the present work, "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," he tells what these chiefs did to make the pioneer history of the frontiers of Pennsylvania one of the most thrilling chapters in American history. He fully and accurately covers the events of these Border Wars, which had so much to do with the Birth of a Nation.

GEORGE P. DONEHOO.

PREFACE

ii^ I '^HE Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" has been written in

X response to the requests of many historians and educators, not only in Pennsylvania but in other parts of the United States, who were well pleased with the author's "Indian Chiefs of Penn- sylvania." Until the appearance of "The Indian Chiefs of Penn- sylvania," in April, 1927, the author was unknown to the lovers of the history of the Keystone State; and he believes that the fine reception given this book was due, in large measure, to the fact that it was highly endorsed by that eminent authority on Pennsylvania history. Dr. George P. Donehoo, whose "History of the Indian Place Names in Pennsylvania" and forthcoming "History of the Indian Trails of Pennsylvania" should find a place in the library of every lover of the history of the Penn- sylvania Indians.

"The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" is based primarily on the Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Records. No effort has been spared to make the book a trustworthy and authoritative work on the great Indian wars and uprisings which crimsoned the soil of Pennsylvania with the blood of both the Indian and the white man during the long period from 1755 to 1795. Throughout the book will be found many references to the Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Re- cords and many quotations from these and other trustworthy sources.

The need for the present volume is apparent. There is no more thrilling and tragic chapter in American History than the period of the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsylvania. Penn- sylvania suffered more than did any other Colony during this period. Yet how few are familiar with this important period in the history of Pennsylvania! And the reason is that historical writers have not given the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsyl- vania the attention that their importance deserves.

We read the history of Greece, of Rome, of England. Why should we neglect the history of the great race that roamed the hills and vales of Pennsylvania and left its sounding names on the Pennsylvania mountains, valleys and streams?

The reader will note that more than one hundred and seventy- five pages of the present volume deal with the Indian events in

PREFACE

Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. The author be- lieves that students of the Revolutionary struggle will appreciate this fact. Few historians seem to realize how largely the Revolu- tionary War was fought on the frontiers of Pennsylvania.

Perhaps a few words should be said concerning the plan of "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania." The author thought it well not to have the book begin abruptly with the account of the first conflict between the Indian and the white man in Pennsylvania. Hence, the opening chapters are devoted to the Indian's religion and character; to a view of the Indian tribes that inhabited Pennsylvania; to a discussion of the Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware and of William Penn; and to the leading events in the Indian history of Pennsylvania before the bloody warfare between the two races began. This plan, the author believes, will enable the reader to make a more intelligent and satisfactory study of the many years of bloody conflict between the two races in Pennsylvania. The volume is thus much more than a history of the Indian wars and uprisings in the state bearing the name of Penn, the apostle.

C. HALE SIPE. Butler, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1929.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE author desires to thank the hundreds of Pennsylvanians and others who subscribed for "The Indian Wars of Penn- sylvania" before the manuscript was handed to the printer. He especially thanks the following persons for substantial sub- scriptions :

Governor John S. Fisher and State Librarian Frederick A. Godcharles of Pennsylvania; Prof. John A, Anthony, Pittsburgh, Penna., Jos. A. Beck, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.; G. H. Blakeley, Bethlehem, Penna.; Hon. Marshall Brown, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Capt. W. R. Furlong, Washington, D. C.; Earle R. Forrest, Washington, Penna.; John Gribbel and W. Grififin Gribbel, Wyncote, Penna.; Jos. F. Guflfey, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon. D. B. Heiner, Kittanning, Penna.; Dr. C. G. Hughes, Pittsburgh, Penna.; E. H. Hutchison, Harmony, Penna.; Dr. C. E. Imbrie, Butler, Penna.; Prof. V. K. Irvine, Butler, Penna.; Mrs. Cecelia R. Jamison, Greensburg, Penna.; Hon. J. W. King, Kittanning, Penna.; Hon. Richard H. Koch, Pottsville, Penna.; H. K. Landis, Lancaster, Penna.; J. B. Landis, Butler, Penna.; Rachel R. Lowe, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon. W. Frank Mathues, Philadelphia, Penna. ; Hon. Geo. W. Maxey, Scranton, Penna. ; W. H. McClane, Washington, Penna.; Harry A. Neeb, Jr., Pittsburgh, Penna.; H. R. Pratt, Baltimore, Md.; W. L. Riggs, Esq., McKeesport, Penna.; A. C. Robinson, Sewickley, Penna.; J. V. Scaife, Pitts- burgh, Penna.; Samuel Shoemaker, Philadelphia, Penna.; Homer H. Swaney, Esq., Beaver Falls, Penna.; Vernon F. Taylor, Indiana, Penna.; Hon. Henry W. Temple, Washington, Penna.; Hon. Theo. L, Wilson, Clarion, Penna; Henry Wittmer, Pitts- burgh, Penna.; J. E. Henretta, Kane, Penna.; J. B. Warriner, Lansford, Penna.; W. M. Laverty, Philadelphia, Penna.; and M. Wilson Stewart, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.

The author is under great obligation to Dr. George P. Donehoo for his careful reading of the proofs and making many suggestions.

Additional thanks are due State Librarian Frederick A. God- charles for many courtesies extended the author in the use of rare volumes in the Pennsylvania State Library. Finally, the author thanks the many educators and historians in Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States, who suggested to him the writing of this specialized history, and he hopes the book will come up to their expectations.

C. HALE SIPE. Butler, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1929.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Captain John Smith's Sketch of a Susquehanna or Cones- toga Chief 28

Conrad Weiser's Home and Monument 100

Marker Near Grave of Shikellamy 134

Statue to George Washington at Waterford, Pa 148

View of Braddock's Field in 1803 190

Marker at Kittanning 312

Statue of "The White Woman of The Genessee" 380

Monument Marking the Approximate Spot Where Wash- ington Was Fired Upon, December 27th, 1753 400

Ravine on Battle Field of Bushy Run and Brush Creek

Church 440

Plan of the Battle of Bushy Run 448

A War Poster Used in Western Pennsylvania During the

Revolution 506

Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) 558

Major-General John Sullivan, Brigadier-General Edward

Hand and view of the Genesee River 604

Colonel (later Brevet General) Daniel Brodhead 628

Monument at Grave of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland 684

Monument at Grave of General Arthur St. Clair 698

CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I — The Pennsylvania Indians — Their ReHgion and

Character 17

II — The Pennsylvania Indian Tribes 28

III — The Swedes and William Penn 59

IV — Principal Indian Events from 1701 to 1754. ... 82

V — Opening of the French and Indian War 152

VI — General Braddock's Campaign 177

VII — The First Delaware Invasion 203

VIII — Invasion of the Great and Little Coves and the

Conolloways 217

IX — Massacres of November and December, 1755. . 230

X — Massacres Early in 1756 255

XI — Carlisle Council — War Declared 276

XII — Atrocities in the Summer and Autumn of 1756 . . 284

XIII — Destruction of Kittanning 304

XIV— Efforts for Peace in 1756 321

XV— Events of the Year 1757 333

XVI — Post's Peace Missions — Grand Council at

Easton 356

XVII — General Forbes' Expedition against Fort Du-

quesne 387

XVIII— Pontiac's War 407

XIX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 439

XX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 450

XXI— Pontiac's War (Continued) 470

XXII— Lord Dunmore's War 488

XXIII— The Revolutionary War (1775, 1776 and 1777). 506

XXIV— The Revolutionary War (1778) 527

XXV— The Revolutionary War (1779) 573

XXVI— The Revolutionary War (1780) : 607

XXVII— The Revolutionary War (1781) 627

XXVIII— The Revolutionary War (1782-1783) 647

XXIX — The Post- Revolutionary Uprising 685

Appendix 720

Index 762

CHAPTER I

The Pennsylvania Indians — Their Religion and Character

Go where we may, in Pennsylvania, we are put in remem- brance of the American Indian by the beautiful names he gave to the valleys, streams and mountains where he roamed for untold generations, never dreaming that from afar would come a stronger race which would plant amid the wilderness the hamlet and the town and cause cities to rise where the forest waved over the home of his heart. The Wyoming Valley; the Tuscarora Valley; the winding Susquehanna; the blue Juniata; the broad Ohio; the Kittatinny Mountain ; the Allegheny Mountains — these are but a few of the everlasting reminders of the Pennsylvania Indians. Until the new heavens arch themselves and until the new earth comes, our Pennsylvania valleys will lie smiling in the sunlight, our Pennsylvania streams will go singing to the sea, and our Pennsylvania mountains will lift their summits to the sky; and throughout the ages may succeeding generations of Pennsylvanians realize that the Indian loved these valleys, these streams, these mountains, with a love as strong as that hallowing passion which touched the Grecian mountain-pass of Thermo- pylae more than twenty-four hundred years ago, and has caused it to glow with never-dying lustre through the long night of centuries. It was love for the land of his fathers that caused the Indian to fight to the death for his home and hunting grounds. A child of nature, the Indian knew not the God of revelation; but the God of the universe and nature he acknowledged in all things around him, — the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the singing birds, the mighty oaks and sighing pines of the forest, the pleasant valleys, the babbling brooks, the dashing water-falls, the rushing rivers, the lofty mountains. Reverently he wor- shipped the Great Spirit, who created him, who governed the world, who taught the streams to flow and the bird to build her nest, who caused day and night and the changing seasons, who

18 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

stocked the streams with fish and the forests with game for his Red Children. To the Great Spirit went up many a pure prayer from the Indian's dark bosom. He prayed when he went on the chase; he prayed when he sat down to partake of the fruits of the chase; he prayed when he went to war. And when he closed his eyes in death, it was in the firm belief that death was mere transition to the Happy Hunting Ground, where, with care and sorrow removed, he would pursue the deer throughout the endless ages of eternity.

The Testimony of Heckewelder

The Moravian missionary. Rev. John Heckewelder, who labored for many years among the Delawares of Pennsylvania and Ohio, beginning his work in 1762, makes the following state- ments concerning the Indian's religion and character, in his "Indian Nations", published in 1818:

"The Indian considers himself as being created by an all- powerful, wise, and benevolent Mannito (Manitou); all that he possesses, all that he enjoys, he looks upon as given to him or allotted for his use by the Great Spirit who gave him life. He therefore believes it to be his duty to adore and worship his Creator and benefactor; to acknowledge with gratitude his past favours, thank him for present blessings, and solicit the con- tinuation of his good will. An old Indian told me, about fifty years ago, that when he was young, he still followed the custom of his father and ancestors, in climbing upon a high mountain or pinnacle, to thank the Great Spirit for all the benefits before bestowed, and to pray for a continuance of his favor; that they were sure their prayers were heard, and acceptable to the Great Spirit, although he did not himself appear unto them.

"They think that he, the Great Spirit, made the earth and all that it contains for the common good of mankind ; when he stocked the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for the benefit of a few, but of all. Every thing was given in common for the sons of men . . . From this principle, hos- pitality flows as from its source. With them, it is not a virtue, but a strict duty. Hence they are never in search of excuses to avoid giving, but freely supply their neighbour's wants from the stock prepared for their own use. They give and are hospitable to all, without exception, and will always share with each other and often with the stranger, even to their last morsel. They

INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 19

rather would lie down themselves on an empty stomach, than have it laid to their charge that they had neglected their duty by not satisfying the wants of the stranger, the sick or the needy. . .

"They treat each other with civility, and show much affection on meeting after an absence . . . They are not quarrelsome, and are always on their guard, so as not to offend each other. They do not fight with each other; they say that fighting is only for dogs and beasts. They are, however, fond of play, yet very careful that they do not offend. They are remarkable for the particular respect which they pay to old age. In all their meetings, whether public or private, they pay the greatest attention to the observations and advice of the aged ; no one will attempt to contradict them, nor to interfere in any manner or even to speak, unless he is specially called upon."

Heckewelder says that, while marriages among the Indians were not contracted for life, it being understood that the parties were not to live together longer than they should be pleased with each other, yet both parties, sensible of this understanding, did every thing in their power to please each other. The husband built the home, and considered himself bound to support the wife and family by his exertions as hunter, fisher and trapper, while the wife took upon herself the labor of planting and raising corn and other products of the soil. The wife, he says, considered her labor much lighter than that of the husband, "for they them- selves say that, while their field labour employs them at most six weeks in the year, that of the men continues the whole year round. Neither creeks nor rivers, whether shallow or deep, frozen or free from ice, must be an obstacle to the hunter, when in pursuit of a wounded deer, bear, or other animal, as is often the case. Nor has he then leisure to think on the state of his body, and to con- sider whether his blood is not too much heated to plunge without danger into the cold stream, since the game he is in pursuit of is running off from him with full speed. Many dangerous accidents often befall him, both as a hunter and a warrior (for he is both), and are seldom unattended with painful consequences, such as rheumatism, or comsumption of the lungs, for which the sweat- house, on which they so much depend, and to which they often resort for relief, especially after a fatiguing hunt or warlike ex- pedition, is not always a sure preservative or an effectual remedy."

Heckewelder also says that, if the sick squaw longed for an article of food, be it what it may or however difficult to procure, the husband would at once endeavor to get it for her, and that

20 THE^INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

he knew of instances where the husband would go forty or fifty miles for a mess of cranberries to satisfy his wife's longing.

Speaking of the Indians' cruelty to their enemies, Heckewelder says:

"The Indians are cruel to their enemies! In some cases they are, but perhaps not more so than white men have sometimes shewn themselves. There have been instances of white men flaying or taking off the skin of Indians who had fallen into their hands, and then tanning those skins, or cutting them in pieces, making them up into razor-straps, and exposing those for sale, as was done at or near Pittsburg, sometime during the Revolutionary War. Those things are abominations in the eyes of the Indians, who, indeed, when strongly excited, inflict torments on their prisoners and put them to death by cruel tortures, but never are guilty of acts of barbarity in cold blood. Neither do the Dela- wares, and some other Indian nations, ever, on any account, disturb the ashes of the dead."

Contrary to the general supposition, the Indian was not cruel by nature. His cruelty was confined to the times when he was on the war path; and even then, there is no record of his having committed a deed as disgusting, revolting and horrible as the murder of the ninety-six Christian Delawares, at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, on the 8th of March, 1782, by Colonel David Williamson and his band of Scotch-Irish settlers from Washington County, Pennsylvania.

During the long Indian wars, in Pennsylvania, from 1755 to 1795, hundreds of white persons, captured by the Indians, were adopted into Indian families, to take the places mostly of war- riors who had fallen on the field of the slain. These captives, so adopted, were treated with great kindness, and were looked upon by the Indians as their own flesh and blood. Many, indeed, were the instances of captives, recovered by the whites, who later returned to the forest homes of their Indian friends and adopted Indian relatives. Heckewelder speaks of the humanity and delicacy with which the Indians treated female prisoners whom they intended to adopt. The early Indian never captured women, white or red, for immoral purposes. (Page 381.)

The fiercest passion in the Indian's wild heart was the love of revenge, but, on the other hand, he would give his life for the protection of a friend. There was none more constant and stead- fast as a friend. He would share his last morsel with the stranger within his gates. He was the noblest type of primitive man that ever trod the earth.

INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 21

Among the children of men there were none who could equal him in power of endurance and capacity for suffering. He could travel on foot for days without food. He could be tortured to death by fire without a groan escaping his lips, and he chanted his death song with his latest breath.

The Indian's Pride

Says, Heckewelder, speaking of the Delawares or Lenni-Lenape;

"They will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They say that the hair of their heads, their features, the various colours of their eyes, evince that they are not like themselves Lenni Lenape, an Original People, a race of men that has existed un- changed from the beginning of time; but they are a mixed race, and therefore a troublesome one. Wherever they may be, the Great Spirit, knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found it necessary to give them a great Book, and taught them how to read it, that they might know and observe what he wished them to do and to abstain from. But they, the Indians, have no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker; they find it engraved on their own hearts; they have had sufficient discernment given to them to distinguish good from evil, and by following that guide, they are sure not to err.

"It is true, they confess, that when they first saw the whites, they took them for beings of a superior kind. They did not know but that they had been sent to them from the abode of the Great Spirit for some great and important purpose. They therefore welcomed them, hoping to be made happier by their company. It was not long, however, before they discovered their mistake, having found them an ungrateful, insatiable people, who, though the Indians had given them as much land as was necessary to raise provisions for themselves and their families, and pasture for their cattle, wanted still to have more, and at last would not be contented with less than the whole country. 'And yet,' say those injured people, 'these white men would always be telling us of their great Book which God had given to them; they would persuade us that every man was good who believed in what the Book said, and every man was bad who did not believe in it. They told us a great many things, which, they said, were written in the good Book, and wanted us to believe it all. We would probably have done so, if we had seen them practise what they pretended to believe, and act according to the good words which

22 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

they told us. But no! While they held their big Book in one hand, in the other, they had murderous weapons, guns and swords wherewith to kill us, poor Indians. Ah! and they did so, too; they killed those who believed in their Book, as well as those who did not. They made no distinction!"

Effects of the White Man's Rum and Vices

Having seen that the Indian had many virtues, it is but fair to add that many of these virtues were broken down by the white man. We refer particularly to the ruin wrought among the Indians by the white man's rum and vices. The Indian knew neither rum nor shameful diseases until his contact with the white man. Hear Heckewelder:

"So late as about the middle of the last century (the eighteenth century), the Indians were yet a hardy and healthy people, and many very aged men and women were seen among them, some of whom thought they had lived about one hundred years. They frequently told me and others that, when they were young men, their people did not marry so early as they did since, that even at twenty they were called boys, and durst not wear a breech- clout, as the men did at that time, but had only a small bit of skin hanging before them. Neither, did they say, were they sub- ject to so many disorders as in later times, and many of them calculated on dying of old age. But since that time, a great change has taken place in the constitution of those Indians who live nearest to the whites. By the introduction of ardent spirits among them, they have been led into vices which have brought on disorders which, they say, were unknown before; their blood be- came corrupted by a shameful complaint, which, they say, they had never known or heard of until the Europeans came among them. Now the Indians are affected with it to a great degree; children frequently inherit it from their parents, and after lingering for a few years, at last die victims to this poison. Our vices have destroyed them more than our swords.

"The general prevalence of drunkenness among the Indians is, in a great degree, owing to the unprincipled white traders, who persuade them to become intoxicated that they may cheat them the more easily, and obtain their lands or pelfries for a mere trifle. Within the last fifty years, some instances have even come to my knowledge of white men having enticed Indians to drink, and when they were drunk, murdered them. The effects which

INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 23

intoxication produces upon the Indians are dreadful. It has been the cause of an infinite number of murders among them. I can- not say how many have died of colds and other disorders, which they have caught by lying upon the cold ground, and remaining exposed to the elements, when drunk; others have lingered out their lives in excruciating rheumatic pains and in wasting con- sumptions until death came to relieve them of their sufferings. I once asked an Indian at Pittsburgh, whom I had not seen before, who he was. He answered in broken English: 'My name is Blackfish ; when at home with my nation, I am a clever fellow, and when here, a hog.' He meant that by means of the liquor which the white people gave him, he was sunk to the level of that beast."

Heckewelder says that reflecting Indians keenly remarked "that it was strange that a people who professed themselves believers in a religion, revealed to them by the Great Spirit him- self; who say that they have in their houses the Word of God and his laws and commandments textually written, could think of making a beson (liquor), calculated to bewitch people and make them destroy one another."

Heckewelder's observations concerning the English traders are the sad truth. They took advantage of the Indians' inordinate appetite for rum; they cheated them out of their skins and furs; they debauched their women. The Pennsylvania Assembly, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, February 27th, 1754, character- ized the traders as "the vilest of our own inhabitants and convicts imported from Great Britain and Ireland." The traders of other Colonies, many of whom entered Pennsylvania, were no better than the Pennsylvania traders. Said Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, May 21st, 1753: "The Indian traders, in general, appear to me to be a set of abandoned wretches." In a word, the English traders, with few exceptions, were a vile and infamous horde, who, in- stead of contributing to the betterment of the Indian, corrupted and debauched him.

Protests Against the Rum Traffic

Rum was the curse of the Red Man, and the leading Indian chiefs recognized it as such. Hence, from the very beginning of the rum trafific among the Pennsylvania Indians, we find a series of protests by their chiefs to the Pennsylvania Authorities. When

24 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the Conestoga or Susquehanna chief, Oretyagh, with a number of other chiefs of the Conestogas and Shawnees, bade farewell to William Penn, on October 7th, 1701, just a short time before Penn left his Province never to return, this sachem, in the name of the rest, told him that the Indians had long suffered from the ravages of the rum traffic, and Penn informed Oretyagh and associate chiefs that the Assembly was at that time enacting a law, according to their desire, to prevent their being abused by the selling of rum among them. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, pages 45- 46.) Penn early saw the degredation which the Indians' un- quenchable thirst for strong drink wrought among them, and he did all in his power to remedy this matter. But the law was no sooner enacted than it was disregarded by the traders. Then, in the minutes of a council held at Philadelphia, on May 16th, 1704, we read the last reference to Oretyagh in recorded history, a protest against the rum traffic, as follows:

"Oretyagh, the chief now of Conestoga, requested him [Nicole Godin, a trader] to complain to the Governor [John Evans] of the great quantities of rum continually brought to their town, insomuch that they [the Conestogas] are ruined by it, having nothing left, but have laid out all, even their clothes for rum, and may now, when threatened with war, be surprised by their enemies, when besides themselves with drink, and so utterly be destroyed." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, page 141.)

The great Shikellamy, the most renowned Indian that ever lived in Pennsylvania, shortly after taking up his residence on the Susquehanna, as vice-gerent of the Six Nations over the Delawares, Shawnees and other Indians in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, served notice on the Colonial Authorities that, if the rum traffic among the Indians were not better regulated, friendly relations between the Six Nations and the Colony of Pennsylvania would cease.

As we shall see in the next chapter, the Shawnees, who entered eastern Pennsylvania as early as 1694, began, about 1724 to 1727, to migrate to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. One of the reasons why they migrated to the western part of the state, was to escape the ruinous effects of strong liquor. But the trader with his rum followed them into the forests of their western homes.

Then the Shawnee on the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny took steps, in 1738, to restrain this pernicious traffic. On March 20th of that year, three of their chiefs in this region, namely; "Loyporcowah (Opessah's Son), Newcheconneh (Deputy

INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 25

King), and Coycacolenne, or Coracolenne (Chief Counsellor)," wrote a letter to Thomas Penn and James Logan, Secretary of the Provincial Council, in which they acknowledged the receipt of a present from Penn and Logan of powder, lead, and tobacco, delivered to them by the trader, George Miranda; in which they say they have a good understanding with the French, the Five Nations, the Ottawas, and all the French Indians; that the tract of land reser\'ed for them by the Proprietory Government on the west side of the Susquehanna does not suit them at present; and that they desire to remain in the region of the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas, make a strong town there, and keep their warriors from making war upon other nations at a distance. They then add:

"After we heard your letter read, and all our people being gathered together, we held a council together, to leave ofif drinking for the space of four years . . . There was not many of our traders at home at the time of our council, but our friends, Peter Chartier and George Miranda; but the proposal of stopping the rum and all strong liquors was made to the rest in the winter, and they were all willing. As soon as it was concluded of, all the rum that was in the towns was staved and spilled, belonging both to Indians and white people, which in quantity consisted of about forty gallons, that was thrown in the street; and we have appoint- ed four men to stave all the rum or strong liquors that is brought to the towns hereafter, either by Indians or white men, during the four years." A pledge signed by ninety-eight Shawnees and the two traders above named accompanied this letter, agreeing that all rum should be destroyed, and four men appointed in every town to see that no strong liquor should be brought into the Shawnee towns for the term of four years. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 549-55L)

Previous to this action on part of Loyparcowah and other chiefs of the Shawnees, the Delawares at Kittanning made com- plaints concerning the rum traffic. In 1732, the trader, Edmund Cartlidge, wrote the Governor from Kittanning that the chiefs there made reflections on the Government for permitting such large quantities of rum to be carried to the Allegheny and sold to the Indians at that place, contrary to law. Also, in 1733, the Shawnee chiefs in the Allegheny region wrote the Governor re- questing that he send them an order permitting them "to break in pieces all kegs of rum so brought yearly and monthly by some new upstart of a trader without a license, who comes amongst us

26 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

and brings nothing but rum, no powder, nor lead, nor clothing, but takes away with him those skins which the old licensed traders who bring us everything necessary, ought to have in return for their goods sold us some years since." Also in 1734, the Shawnee chiefs at Allegheny wrote the Governor and requested that none of the licensed traders be allowed to bring them more than thirty gallons of rum twice in a year, except Peter Chartier, who "trades further than ye rest."

Also, the able Indian orator and wise counselor, Scarouady, later successor to Tanacharison, the Half King, protested to the Pennsylvania Commissioners at the Carlisle Conference of Octo- ber, 1753, as follows:

"Your traders now bring scarce any thing but Rum and Flour . . . The Rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming in such quantities by regulating the traders . . . When these Whiskey Traders come, they bring thirty or forty Caggs (kegs) and put them down before Us and make Us drink, and get all the Skins that should go to pay the Debts We have contracted for Goods bought of the Fair Traders, and by these means we not only ruin Ourselves but them too. These wicked Whiskey Sellers, when they have once got the Indians in Liquor, make them sell the very Clothes from their Backs. In short, if this Practice be continued. We must inevitably be ruined. We most earnestly, therefore, beseech You to remedy it." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 5, page 676.)

The whiskey traders were not checked. They continued their work unabated, in spite of the solemn protestations of the Indian chiefs and in spite of the protestations of such good white men as Conrad Weiser, who, on November 28th, 1747, wrote the Provin- cial Council of Pennsylvania characterizing the havoc wrought among the Pennsylvania Indians as "an abomination before God and man." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 5, page 167.)

The Testimony of Adario

The foregoing statements relate principally to the Pennsylvania Indians. Let us, at this point, hear the testimony of a great Indian chief whose tribe did not inhabit Pennsylvania, the brave and sagacious Huron chief, Adario, who was gathered to his fathers in 1701. Out of the past comes the voice of Adario:

"As for the maple-water that we drink, 'tis sweet, well tasted, healthful, and friendly to the stomach, whereas your wine and

INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 27

brandy destroy the natural heat, pall the stomach, inflame the blood, intoxicate, and create a thousand disorders. A man in drink loses his reason before he is aware, or, at least, his reason is so drowned that he is not capable of distinguishing what he ought to do." When told that God had sent the Europeans to America to save the souls of the Indians, this great Huron replied that it was more likely that God had sent the Europeans to this continent to learn to be good ; "for", said he, "the innocence of our lives, the love we tender to our brethren, and the tranquility of mind which we enjoy in contemplating business to our interest, these, I say, are the three great things that the Great Spirit requires of all men in general. We practice all these things in our villages naturally ; while the Europeans defame, kill, rob, and pull one another to pieces, in their towns. Your money is the father of luxury, lasciviousness, intrigues, tricks, lying, treachery, falseness, and, in a word, all the mischief in the world . . . Consider this and tell me if we are not right in refusing to finger it, or so much as look upon the cursed metal, since all these evils caused by it are unknown to us . . . All our actions are guided by justice, equity, charity, sincerity and true faith . . . Using bad language and cursing the Great Spirit were never heard among us."

The Author's Purpose

The author's purpose in writing this chapter and the three which follow before the wars between the Pennsylvania Indians and the white man are treated, is to give the reader and student that background which any fair minded student of the Indian wars of Pennsylvania should have. As the reader proceeds, he will find many things that reflect no honor on the whites. But it is the author's duty to record the wrongs committed upon the Indian as well as the wrongs committed by him. History must not hide the truth.

CHAPTER II

The Pennsylvania Indian Tribes

We shall devote this chapter to a brief view of the Indian tribes that inhabited Pennsylvania within the historic period.

The Susquehannas, Minquas, or Conestogas

THE Susquehannas is the general term applied to the Indians living on both sides of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, in Pennsylvania, at the beginning of the historic period. Racially and linguistically, they were of Iroquoian stock, but were never taken into the league of the Iroquois, except as subjects. These related tribes were known by various names. Captain John Smith, the Virginia pioneer, who met them while exploring Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1608, called them the "Susquehannocks." The French called them the Andastes, while the Dutch and Swedes called them Minquas. In the latter days of their history as a tribe, they were called the Conestogas. To Captain John Smith, of the Colony of Virginia, belongs the distinction of being the first white man to see the Indians of Pennsylvania, though he never set foot on Pennsylvania soil; and the Indians meeting him and his companions, beheld for the first time the race that was coming to drive them from their streams and hunting grounds. These Indians were the Sus- quehannas. Smith held a conference with sixty of the Susque- hannocks, near the head of Chesapeake Bay, about August 1, 1608, as he and twelve companions were making an exploring expedition. The sixty Susquehannocks had come from one of their principal towns in what is now Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania. Smith gives the following interesting description of these Indians:

"Such great and well proportioned men are seldom seen, for they seemed like giants to the English, yea, and to their neighbors, yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition. They were with much ado restrained from adoring us as gods. These are the

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CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S SKETCH OF A SUSQUEHANNA OR CONESTOGA CHIEF.

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 29

strangest people of all these countries, both in language and attire; for their language it may well become their proportions, sounding from them as a voice in the vault. Their attire is the skins of bears and wolves; some have cossacks made of bears' heads and skins, that a man's head goes through the skin's neck, and the ears of the bear fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging down his breast, another bear's face split behind him, and at the end of the nose hung a paw, the half sleeves coming to the elbows were the necks of bears, and the arms through the mouth with paws hanging at their noses. One had the head of a wolfe hanging in a chain for a jewel, his tobacco pipe three quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird, a deer, or some such device at the great end, sufficient to beat out one's brains; with bows, arrows, and clubs, suitable to their greatness. Five of their chief Werowances came aboard us and crossed the bay in the barge. The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the map. The calf of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hair, the one side was long, the other shorn close with a ridge over his crown like a cock's comb. His arrows were five quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white christall-like stone, in form of a heart, an inch broad, an inch and a half or more long. These he wore in a wolf's skin at his back for his quiver, his bow in the one hand and his club in the other, as is described."

Smith goes on to say that these Susquehannas were scarce known to Powhatan, the great Virginia chief, but that they were a powerful tribe living in palisaded towns to defend them from the Massawomeks, or Iroquois, and having six hundred warriors. During the ceremonies connected with the visit of this band of Susquehannas, Smith says that they first sang "a most fearful song," and then, "with a most strange, furious action and a hellish voice began an oration." When the oration was ended, they decorated Smith with a chain of large white beads, and laid presents of skins and arrows at his feet, meanwhile stroking their hands about his neck. They told him about their enemies, the Iroquois, who, they said, lived beyond the mountains far to the north and received their hatchets and other weapons from the French in Canada. They implored Smith to remain with them as their protector, which, of course, he could not do. "We left them at Tockwogh," he says, "sorrowing for our departure."

Smith's account of the large stature of the Susquehannas has

30 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

been corroborated by subsequent discoveries, when burying grounds of this tribe, in Lancaster County, were opened and very large human skeletons found.

The Susquehannas, in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury, carried on war with the "River Indians," as the Delawares, or Lenape then living along the Delaware River, were called. The Susquehannas were friendly with both the Swedes and the Dutch, and shortly after the Swedes arrived on the Delaware in 1638, they sold part of their lands to them. The Swedes equipped these Indians with guns, and trained their warriors in European tactics. When the Hurons were being worsted by the Iroquois in 1647, the Susquehannas offered the friendly Hurons military assistance, "backed by 1300 warriors in a single palisaded town, who had been trained by Swedish soldiers." They were also friendly with the colony of Maryland in the early days of its history, selling part of their lands to the Marylanders, and receiving military supplies from them.

The Swedes, during their occupancy of the lower Delaware, carried on trade with the Susquehannas, the extent of which is seen in the report of Governor-General John Printz, of New Sweden, for 1647, in which he states that, because of the conflict of his colonists with the Dutch, he had suffered a loss of "8,000 or 9,000 beavers which have passed out of our hands" and which, but for the Dutch, would have been gotten from "the great traders, the Minquas."

The French explorer, Champlain, says that, in 1615, the Car- antouannais, as he calls the Susquehannas, had many villages on the upper part of the Susquehanna, and that their town, Caran- touan, alone, could muster more than eight hundred warriors. The exact location of Carantouan has been a matter of much conjecture, but the weight of authority places it on or near the top of Spanish Hill, in Athens Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and within sight of the town of Waverly, New York

In the summer of 1615, Champlain was assisting the Hurons in their war against the Iroquois, and when he was at the lower end of Lake Simcoe, making preparations for advance against the Iroquois town located most likely near the present town of Fenner, in Madison County, New York, he learned from the Hurons that there was a certain nation of their allies dwelling three days journey beyond the Onondagas, who desired to assist the Hurons in this expedition with five hundred of their warriors. These allies were none other than that portion of the Susque-

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 31

hannas, living along the Susquehanna River, near the boundary between the states of Pennsylvania and New York. Accordingly, Champlain sent his interpreter, Estienne Brule, with twelve Huron companions, to visit Carantouan, the chief town of the Susquehannas in that region, for the purpose of hastening the coming of the five hundred warriors.

Brule and his five hundred allies from Carantouan arrived be- fore the Onondaga fortress too late to be of any assistance to Champlain, who had already made two attacks upon the town, had been wounded twice by the Onondagas, and, despairing of the arrival of the promised assistance of five hundred warriors, had already retreated toward Canada several days before the arrival of Brule and his Indians. Brule then returned with his five hundred warriors to the town of Carantouan.

Brule spent the autumn and winter of 1615 and 1616 in a tour of exploration into the very heart of Pennsylvania, visiting the various clans of the Susquehannas and, some authorities say, the Eries. He followed the Susquehanna River to its mouth, and returned to Carantouan. This intrepid Frenchman thus gained, by actual observation, a knowledge of a large section of the state and of its primitive inhabitants almost one hundred years before any other white man set foot within the same region.

Another town of the Susquehannas was the one, later called Gahontoto, at the mouth of Wyalusing Creek, Bradford County. The Moravian missionaries, Bishop Commerhoff and David Zeisberger, visited the site of this town in the summer of 1750.

Another of the towns of the Susquehannas is believed to have been at the mouth of Sugar Creek, in Bradford County, above the present town of Towanda. Still another of their towns, this one fortified, was near the mouth of Octorara Creek, on the east side of the Susquehanna River, in Maryland, about ten miles south of the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. One of their forts was in Manor Township, Lancaster County, near the Susquehanna River, between Turkey Hill and Blue Rock. Another was on Wolf Run near Muncy, Lycoming County. The location of their principal fort was long a matter of dispute, and, at one time, actual warfare, between the heirs of Lord Baltimore and the heirs of William Penn, for the reason that the southern boundary of Penn's colony was supposed to be marked by it. The weight of authority seems to place its location on the west side of the Susquehanna River, in York County, Pennsylvania, opposite Washington Borough.

32 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

The Iroquois, the mortal enemies of the Susquehannas, at- tacked them at one of their principal towns, in either York or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1663, sending down the Sus- quehanna River, in April of that year, an expedition of eight hundred Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. On their arrival, they found the town defended on one side by the river and on the other by tree trunks; it was fianked by two bastions, constructed after the European method, and had also several pieces of artillery. The Iroquois decided not to make an assault, but to attempt to outwit the Susquehannas by a ruse. Twenty-five Iroquois were admitted into the fort, but these were seized, placed on high scafTolds, and burned to death in sight of their comrades. The humiliated Iroquois now returned to their home in New York.

After this defeat of the Iroquois, the war was carried on by small parties, and now and then a Susquehanna was captured and carried to the villages of the Iroquois, and tortured to death. In 1669, the Susquehannas defeated the Cayugas, and offered peace; but their ambassador was put to death, and the war went on. At this time, the Susquehannas had a great chief named Hochitqgete, or Barefoot; and the medicine men of the Iroquois assured the warriors of the confederacy that, if they would make another attack on the Susquehannas, their efforts would be re- warded by the capture of Barefoot and his execution at the stake. So, in the summer of 1672, a band of forty Cayugas descended the Susquehanna in canoes, and twenty Senecas marched over- land to attack the enemy in the fields; but a band of sixty Sus- quehanna boys, none over sixteen, routed the Senecas, killing one and capturing another. The band of youthful warriors then pressed on against the Cayugas, and defeated them, killing eight and wounding fifteen or sixteen more, but losing half of their own gallant band. At this time, it is said, the Susquehannas were so reduced by war and pestilence that their fighting force con- sisted of only three hundred warriors.

Finally, in 1675, according to the Jesuit Relation and Colden in his "History of the Five Nations", the Susquehannas fell be- fore the arms of the Iroquois; but the details of the defeat are sadly lacking. It seems that the Iroquois, about this time, had driven them down upon the tribes of the South who were then allies of the English, and that this involved them in war with Maryland and Virginia. Finding themselves surrounded by enemies on all sides, a portion of the Susquehannas left the land of their forefathers and the beautiful river bearing their name.

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 33

and took up their abode in the western part of Maryland, near the Piscataways.

In the summer of 1675, a white man was murdered by some Indians, most probably Senecas, on the Virginia side of the Potomac; whereupon, a party of Virginia militia killed fourteen of the Susquehannocks and Doeg Indians in retaliation. Shortly afterwards several other whites were murdered on both sides of the Potomac. The colony of Virginia then organized several companies, led by Colonel John Washington, great-grandfather of George Washington, to co-operate with a Maryland force of two hundred and fifty troops, led by Major Thomas Truman. The Susquehannocks claimed that they were entirely innocent of any of these murders and sent four of their chiefs as an embassy to Major Truman, who were knocked on the head by his soldiers. This so enraged the Susquehannocks that a long border warfare ensued which was kept up until they became lost to history.

Another portion of the Susquehannocks remained near their old home at Conestoga, Lancaster County, where they were later joined by a third portion which had been taken by the Iroquois to the Oneida country in New York, and there retained until they lost their language, when they were permitted to join their brethren at Conestoga. Here William Penn and his son, William, visited the Conestogas during his last stay in his province in 1701. Here, also, the Conestogas lived until the descendants of this remnant of a once powerful tribe were killed in December, 1763, by a band of Scotch-Irish settlers from Donegal and Paxtang, — the last melancholy chapter in the history of the Susquehannas, or Conestogas. Conestoga, for generations the central seat of this tribe in the lower Susquehanna region, was about four miles southwest of Millersville, Lancaster County. A monument marks the site of this historic Indian town. It was erected in 1924 by the Lancaster County Historical Society and the Penn- sylvania Historical Commission.

The Delawares or Lenape

At the dawn of the historic period of Pennsylvania, we find the basin of the Delaware River inhabited by an Indian tribe called the Delawares, or Lenape. The English called them Dela- wares from the fact that, upon their arrival in this region, they found the council-fires of this tribe on the banks of the Delaware River. The French called them Loups, "wolves", a term probably

34 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

first applied to the Mohicans, a kindred tribe, on the Hudson River in New York. However, in their own language, they were called Lenape, or Lenni-Lenape, meaning "real men", or "original men."

The Lenape belonged to the great Algonquin family — by far the greatest Indian family in North America, measured by the extent of territory occupied. This family surrounded on all sides the Iroquoian family, of which we shall hereafter speak, and extended from Labrador westward through Canada to the Rocky Mountains and southward to South Carolina. It also extended westward through the Mississippi Valley to the RockyMountains. The most important tribes of this family were the Mohican, Massachuset, Miami, Sac and Fox, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Illinois, Shawnee, and Lenape; and among the great personages of the Algonquins were King Philip, Pocahontas, Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Tamenend, the last of whom made the historic treaty with William Penn described in Chapter III.

Traditional History of the Lenape

The early traditional history of the Lenape is contained in their national legend, the Walum Olum. According to this sacred tribal history, the Lenape, in long ages past, lived in the vast region west of the Mississippi. For some reason not known, they left their western home, and, after many years of wandering east- ward, reached the Namaesi Sipu, or Mississippi, where they fell in with the Mengwe, or Iroquois, who had likewise emigrated from the distant West in search of a new home, and had arrived at this river at a point somewhat higher up. The spies sent for- ward by the Lenape for the purpose of reconnoitering, had dis- covered, before the arrival of the main body, that the region east of the Mississippi was inhabited by a powerful nation called the Talligewi, or Alligewi, whose domain reached eastward to the Allegheny Mountains, which together with the beautiful Alle- gheny River, are named for this ancient race. The Alligewi had many large towns on the rivers of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, and had built innumerable mounds, fortifications and intrenchments, hundreds of which still remain, and are called the works of the "Mound Builders". Says Schoolcraft: "The banks of the Allegheny were, in ancient times, occupied by an important tribe, now unknown, who preceded the Delawares and Iroquois. They were called Alleghans (Alligewi) by Colden." It is related

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 35

that the Alligewi were tall and stout, and that there were giants among them.

When the Lenape arrived at the Mississippi, they sent a mes- sage to the Alligewi requesting that they be permitted to settle among them. This request was refused, but the Lenape obtained permission to pass through the territory of the Alligewi and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Mississippi; but the Alligewi, seeing that their num- bers were vastly greater than they had supposed, made a furious attack upon those who had crossed, and threatened the whole tribe with destruction, if they dared to persist in crossing to the eastern side of the river.

Angered by the treachery of the Alligewi and not being pre- pared for conflict, the Lenape consulted together as to whether they should make a trial of strength, and were convinced that the enemy were too powerful for them. Then the Mengwe, who had hitherto been spectators from a distance, offered to join the Lenape, on condition that, after conquering the Alligewi, they should be entitled to share in the fruits of the conquest.

Having united their forces, the Lenape and the Mengwe de- clared war against the Alligewi, and started on their onward march eastward across the continent, gradually driving out the Alligewi, who fled down the Mississippi Valley never to return. This conquest lasted many years, during which the Lenape lost great numbers of their best warriors, while the Mengwe would always lag back in the rear leaving them to bear the brunt of battle. At the end, the conquerors divided the possessions of the defeated race; the Mengwe taking the country in the vicinity of the Great Lakes and their tributary streams, and the Lenape tak- ing the land to the south. There has been much conjecture as to who the ancient Alligewi were, some historians believing them to have been the "Mound Builders," but most modern authorities believe them to have been identical with the Cherokees.

For a long period, possibly many centuries, according to the Walum Olum, the Mengwe and Lenape resided peacefully in this country, and increased rapidly in population. Some of their hunters and warriors crossed the Allegheny Mountains, and, arriv- ing at the streams flowing eastward, followed them to the Sus- quehanna River, and this stream to the ocean. Other enterprising pathfinders penetrated the wilderness to the Delaware River, and exploring still eastward, arrived at the Hudson. Some of these

36 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

explorers returned to their nation and reported the discoveries they had made, describing the country as abounding in game and the streams as having an abundance of water-fowl and fish, with no enemy to be dreaded.

The Lenape considered these discoveries as fortunate for them, and believed the newly found region to be the country destined for them by the Great Spirit as their permanent abode. Con- sequently they began to migrate thither, settling on the four great rivers, — the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the Delaware, and the Hudson. The Walum Olum states, however, that not all of the Lenape reached the eastern part of the United States, many of them having remained behind to assist a great body of their people who had not crossed the Mississippi, but had retreated into the interior of the country on the other side, on being in- formed of the treacherous attack of the Alligewi upon those who had attempted to cross this stream. It is further stated that another part of the Lenape remained near the eastern bank of the Mississippi.

According to this traditional history, therefore, the Lenape nation finally became divided into three separate bodies; the part that had not crossed the Mississippi; the part that remained near the eastern bank of the Mississippi ; and the part that settled on the four great eastern rivers above named.

That branch of the Delawares which settled in the eastern part of the country divided into three divisions, or clans, — the Munsee, (later corrupted to Monsey), the Unami, and the Unalachitgo. These were called the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Turkey clans re- spectively, from their respective animal types of totems. With these creatures which they had adopted as their symbols, they believed themselves connected by a mystic and powerful tie.

The Munsee (Wolf Clan), at the dawn of the historic period, were living in the mountain country, from about the mouth of the Lehigh River northward into New York and New Jersey, em- bracing the territory between the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains and the sources of the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. A part of the tribe, also, dwelt on the Susquehanna, and still another part had a village and peach orchard near Nazareth in North- ampton County, in the triangle between the Delaware and Lehigh. However, their chief village was Minisink, in Sussex County, New Jersey. The Munsee were the most warlike of the Dela- wares; they took a prominent part in the Indian wars of Colonial

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 37

Pennsylvania. Being defrauded out of their lands by the noto- rious "Walking Purchase" of 1737, which obliged them to move, first to the Susquehanna and then to the Ohio, they became the bitter enemies of the white man, and drenched the frontier settle- ments with the blood of the pioneers. The Munsee have fre- quently been considered a separate tribe, inasmuch as they diflFered greatly from the other clans of the Lenape, and spoke a different dialect.

The Unami (Turtle Clan), "down river people," at the open- ing of the historic period dwelt on both sides of the Delaware from the mouth of the Lehigh to the line dividing the states of Pennsyl- vania and Delaware. Their chief village was Shackamaxon, which was probably the capital of the Lenape nation, and it stood on about the site of Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia. The principal chief of the Unami was the "King" of the united Lenape nation, by immemorial custom presiding at all the councils of the tribe.

The Unalachtigo (Turkey Clan) "people living near the sea," at the opening of the historic period, occupied the land on the lower reach of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Their villages were on both sides of the river; and their chief village, or capital of the clan, was Chikoki, on the site of Burlington, New Jersey.

From these three clans, or tribes, comprising the great body of the Delawares, have sprung many others, who, for their own convenience, chose distant parts in which to settle. Among these were the Mahicans, or Mohicans, who by intermarriage became a detached body, and crossing the Hudson River, dwelt in eastern New York and western Connecticut; and the Nanticokes, who had proceeded to the South, and settled in Maryland and Virginia. It is to be noted, too, that the Delawares, by reason of priority of political rank and of occupying the central home territory from which the kindred tribes had diverged, were assigned special dig- nity and authority. It is said that forty tribes looked up to them with respect, and that, in the great councils of the Algonquins, they took first place as "grandfathers" of the race, while others were called by them ' 'children , " ' 'grandchildren , ' ' and "nephews. ' ' It is not certain that this precedence of the Delawares had any importance within the period of white settlement, but it no doubt had in the far dim past. And it seems true that the Algonquin tribes refrained from war with one another.

38 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

The Iroquois Form a Great Confederation and Subjugate the Lenape

It will be remembered that, when the Lenape, or Delawares, and the Mengwe, or Iroquois, divided the country of the Alligewi between them, the Mengwe took the part in the vicinity of the Great Lakes and their tributary streams, north of the part taken by the Lenape. The Mengwe later proceeded farther and settled below the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence River, so that when the Lenape had moved to the eastern part of the United States, the Mengwe became their northern neighbors. The Mengwe now became jealous of the growing power of the Lenape, and finally assumed dominion over them.

To the Moravian Missionary, Rev. John Heckewelder, who had lived among the Delawares for more than thirty years, they related how this dominion came about. The great chiefs of the Delawares stated to Heckewelder that the Mengwe clandestinely sought to start quarrels between the Lenape and distant tribes, hoping thus to break the might of the Lenape. Each nation had a particular mark on its war clubs, different from that of any other nation. So the Mengwe, having stolen into the Cherokee country and secretly murdered a Cherokee and left beside the victim a war club, such as the Lenape used, the Cherokees natur- ally concluded that the Lenape committed the murder, and fell suddenly upon them, and a long and bloody war ensued between the two nations. The treachery of the Mengwe having been at length discovered, the Lenape resolved upon the extermination of this deceitful tribe. War was declared against the Mengwe, and carried on with vigor, when the Mengwe, finding that they were no match for the powerful Lenape and their kindred tribes, re- solved upon uniting their clans into a confederacy. Up until this time, each tribe of the Mengwe had acted independently of the others, and they had not been inclined to come under any supreme authority. Accordingly, about the year 1570, the Mengwe formed the great confederacy of their five kindred tribes, the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, known as the Five (later Six) Nations.

Thus the Delawares claimed that the Iroquois Confederacy was formed for the purpose of preventing the extermination of the Mengwe by the Lenape. Other authorities say that the pur- pose was to end inter-tribal feud and war among the Mengwe, themselves; to enable the allied tribes to make mutual offense and

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 39

defense, and to advance their general welfare. Thannawage, it is claimed, was the aged Mohawk chief who first proposed the alliance. Other authorities say that Dekanawida, the Iroquois statesman, prophet and law giver, planned and formed the historic confederation; and that he was assisted in this work by his disciple and co-adjutor, Hiawatha, whose name has been im- mortalized by the poet, Longfellow, in his charming poem. It is to be noted, however, that, while in "Hiawatha", Longfellow gave the English language one of its finest poems ; yet, due to his adopting the error of Schoolcraft in applying to Hiawatha the myths and legends relating to the Chippewa deity, Manabozho, this poem does not contain a single fact or fiction relating to the great chieftain of the Iroquois.

The following chiefs, also, assisted in forming the confederacy: Toganawita, representing the Onondagas; Togahayon, represent- ing the Cayugas; and Ganiatario and Satagaruyes, representing the Senecas. This confederacy is known in history as the Five Nations, until the Tuscaroras, a tribe having been expelled from North Carolina and Virginia in 1712 or 1713, and having sought an asylum among the Iroquois of Pennsylvania and New York, were formally admitted to the alliance in 1722, after which time the confederacy is known as the Six Nations. The French gave the Indians of the confederacy the name of Iroquois, while the Delawares continued to call them Mengwe, later corrupted to Mingo. The Mohicans and the Dutch called them Maquas, while Powhatan called them Massawomekes.

But, to resume the story which the Delawares told Hecke- welder. They said that, after the forming of the confederacy, very bloody wars were carried on between the Iroquois and them- selves in which they were generally successful, and while these wars were in progress, the French landed in Canada and com- bined against the Iroquois, inasmuch as the Five Nations were not willing that these Europeans should establish themselves in that country. At last the Mengwe, or Iroquois, seeing them- selves between two fires, and not seeing any prospect of conquer- ing the Lenape by arms, resorted to a stratagem to secure do- minion over them.

The plan was to persuade the Lenape to abstain from the use of arms, and to assume the station of mediators and umpires among their warlike neighbors. In the language of the Indians, the Lenape were to be made "women." As explaining the signifi- cance of this expression, the Delawares said that wars among the

40 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Indians in those days were never brought to an end, but by the interference of the weaker sex. It was not considered becoming for a warrior to ask for peace. He must fight to the end. "With these dispositions, war would never have ceased among Indians, until the extermination of one or the other party, if the tender and compassionate sex had not come forward, and by their moving speeches, persuaded the enraged combatants to bury their hatchets, and make peace. On these occasions they were very eloquent . . . They would describe the sorrows of widowed wives, and, above all, of bereaved mothers. The pangs of child- birth, they had willingly suffered. They had carefully reared their sons to manhood. Then how cruel it was to see these promising youths fall victims to the rage of war, — to see them slaughtered on the field, or burned at the stake. The thought of such scenes made them curse their own existence and shudder at the thought of bearing children." Speeches like these generally had the desired effect, and the women, by the honorable function of peace-makers, held a very dignified position. Therefore, it would be a magnanimous and honorable act for a powerful nation like the Lenape to assume that station by which they would be the means of saving the Indian race from extinction.

Such, according to Heckewelder, were the arguments used by the artful Iroquois to ensnare the Lenape. Unfortunately the Delawares listened to the voice of their enemies, and consented to become the "woman nation" among the Indians. With elab- orate ceremonies, they were installed in their new function. Eloquent speeches were made, accompanied with belts of wam- pum. The place of the ceremony of "taking the hatchet out of the hand of the Lenape" and of placing them in the situation of "the woman" was at Nordman's Kill, about four miles south of Albany, New York. The year of the alleged occurrence is un- known, but it is said to have been somewhere between 1609 and 1620. Both the Delawares and the Mohicans told Heckewelder that the Dutch were present at this ceremony and had no incon- siderable part in the intrigue, the Mohicans explaining that it was fear that caused the Dutch of New York to conspire with the Mengwe against the Lenape. It appears that, at the place where the Dutch were then making their settlement, great bodies of warriors would pass and repass, interrupting their undertakings; so that they thought it well to have an alliance with the Iroquois. Furthermore, the Delawares told Heckewelder that, when the

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 41

English took New York from the Dutch, they stepped into the same alHance with the Iroquois that their predecessors had made.

The Iroquois denied that such an intrigue as related above ever took place. They alleged, on the other hand, that they had conquered the Lenape in battle and had thus compelled them to become "women,"— to submit to the greatest humiliation a spirited and warlike nation can suffer. Many historians believe that the Delawares imposed upon the venerable Rev. Hecke- welder by inventing a cunning tale in explanation of the humilia- tion under which they were smarting. Also, President William Henry Harrison, in his "Aborigines of the Ohio Valley", gives the story of the Delawares little credence. He says that the Dela- wares were too sagacious a race to fall into such a snare as they allege the Iroquois laid for them. Rev. Heckewelder, the staunch friend of the Delawares, calls attention to the fact that, while the Iroquois claim they conquered the Delawares by force of arms and not by stratagem, yet the Iroquois have no tradition among them of the particulars of the conquest.

So much for the story which the Delawares told Heckewelder. Many authorities state, however, that the time of the subjugation of the Delawares was much later than the date given Heckewelder. Some have stated that the Delawares were not made tributaries of the Iroquois until after the coming of William Penn; but the celebrated Delaware chief, King Beaver, told Conrad Weiser at Aughwick on September 4, 1754, that the subjugation took place before Penn's arrival. It has been contended that, when the Iroquois finally conquered the Susquehannas, in 1675, the Delawares were allies of the Susquehannas, and that therefore the overcoming of the Susquehannas included the subjugation of the Delawares. At the first extended conference between the Pennsylvania Authorities and the Indians, of which a record has been preserved, held at Philadelphia on July 6, 1694, the Dela- ware chief, Hithquoquean, or Idquoquequoan, advised the Colonial Authorities that he and his associate chiefs had shortly before this time received a message from the Onondagas and Senecas containing the following statement: "You Delaware Indians do nothing but stay at home and boil your pots, and are like women ; while we Onondagas and Senecas go ahead and fight the enemy." We, therefore, conclude that it cannot be stated with exactness, just when the subjugation of the Delawares took place; and, inasmuch as there is no record of any conquest after

42 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the time of Penn's arrival, it may be that the subjugation took place through fear and intimidation rather than by war.

Whatever may be the facts as to how the Iroquois reduced the Delawares to a state of vassalage — whether by artifice, intimida- tion, or warfare — the fact remains that about the year 1720, this powerful northern confederacy assumed active dominion over them, forbidding them to make war or sales of lands, — a condition that existed until the time of the French and Indian War. During the summer of 1755, the Delawares declared that they were no longer subjects of the Six Nations, and, at Tioga, in the year 1756, their great chieftain, Teedyuscung, extorted from the chiefs of the Iroquois an acknowledgment of Delaware independence. However, from time to time, after 1756, the Iroquois persisted in claiming the Delawares were their vassals, until shortly before the treaty of Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, in August, 1795, when they formally declared the Delaware nation to be no longer "women," but MEN.

Westward Migration of the Delawares

As early as 1724, Delawares of the Turtle and Turkey clans began, by permission of the Six Nations, to migrate from the region near the Forks of the Susquehanna to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, coming chiefly from the country to the east and southeast of Shamokin (Sunbury). They proceeded up the east side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna as far as Lock Haven, where they crossed this stream, and ascended the valley of Bald Eagle Creek to a point near where Milesburg, Center County, now stands. From there, they went in a westerly direc- tion along Marsh Creek, over or near Indian Grave Hill, near Snowshoe and Moshanon, Center County, crossing Moshanon Creek; and from there through Morris, Graham, Bradford, and Lawrence Townships, Clearfield County, reaching the West Branch of the Susquehanna again at Chinklacamoose on the site of the present town of Clearfield, Clearfield County. From this point, they ascended the West Branch of the Susquehanna for a few miles; thence up Anderson's Creek, crossing the divide between this stream and the Mahoning, in Brady Township, Clearfield County; thence down the Mahoning Valley through Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, to a point on the Allegheny River, about ten miles below the mouth of the Mahoning, where they built their first town in the course of their westward migra-

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 43

tion, which they called Kittanning, — a town famous in the Indian annals of Pennsylvania. Other Delaware towns were soon established in the Allegheny Valley and other places in the western part of the state to which the migration continued until the out- break of the French and Indian War. The "Walking Purchase" of 1737 caused the westward migration of the Delawares of the Wolf clan. Thus it is seen that the Delawares retraced their steps across Pennsylvania. By the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, nearly all the Delawares had been pressed westward into Ohio.

Domain of the Iroquois

When the historic period of Pennsylvania begins, we find the domain of the Five Nations extending from the borders of Ver- mont to Lake Erie, and from Lake Ontario to the headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Allegheny. This territory they called their "long house." The Senecas, who lived on the head- waters of the Allegheny, and many of whose settlements were in Pennsylvania, guarded the western door of the house, the Mohawks, the eastern, and the Cayugas, the southern, or that which opened on the Susquehanna.

The principal village and capital of these "Romans of Ameri- ca," as DeWitt Clinton called them, was called Onondaga, later Onondaga Castle, and was situated from before 1654 to 1681, on Indian Hill, in the present town of Pompey, near Onondaga Lake, in central New York. In 1677 it contained 140 cabins. After- ward it was removed to Butternut Creek, where the castle was burned in 1696, in the war between the Five Nations and the French. In 1 720, it was again removed to Onondaga Creek, a few miles south of Lake Onondaga.

The Smithsonian Institution, in its "Handbook of American Indians," says the following of the Iroquois: "Around the Great Council Fire of the League of the Iroquois at Onondaga, with punctilious observance of the parliamentary proprieties recog- nized in Indian diplomacy and statescraft, and with a decorum that would add grace to many legislative assemblies of the white man, the federal senators of the Iroquois tribes devised plans, formulated policies, and defined principles of government and political action, which not only strengthened their state and promoted their common welfare, but also deeply affected the contemporary history of the whites in North America. To this body of half-clad federal chieftains were repeatedly made over-

44 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

tures of peace and friendship by two of the most powerful king- doms of Europe, whose statesmen often awaited with apprehen- sion the decisions of this senate of North American Savages." And Colden in his "History of the Five Nations," says: "The Five Nations are a poor and, generally called barbarious people; and yet a bright and noble genius shines through these black clouds. None of the greatest Roman heroes discovered a greater love to their country, or a greater contempt of death, than these people called barbarians have done, when liberty came in competition . . . They carried their arms as far southward as Carolina, to the northward of New England, and as far west as the River Mississippi, over a vast country, which extends twelve hundred miles in length, and about six hundred miles in breadth; where they entirely destroyed many nations, of whom there are now no accounts remaining among the English . , . Their great men, both Sachems and Captains, are generally poorer than the com- mon people; for they affect to give away and distribute all the presents and plunder they get in their treaties or in war, so as to leave nothing to themselves . . . There is not the least salary or any sort of profit annexed to any office, to tempt the covetous or sordid; but, on the contrary, every unworthy action is unavoid- ably attended with the forfeiture of their commission; for their authority is only the esteem of the people, and ceases the moment that esteem is lost."

Says Governor DeWitt Clinton in his discourse on the Iroquois: "All their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation, and were distinguished for order, decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of profound policy, they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were perhaps not far inferior to the great Amphyctionic Council of Greece."

So great was the scourge of the Iroquois that, during the clos- ing decades of the seventeenth century and the first two decades of the eighteenth century, the region south of Lake Erie on both sides of the upper Ohio and Allegheny contained practically no Indian population; and the Iroquois looked upon this vast terri- tory as their great hunting ground. (Speaking of the warfare of the Iroquois, DeWitt Clinton said: "They reduced war to a science, and all their movements were directed by system and policy. They never attacked a hostile country until they had sent out spies to explore and designate its vulnerable points, and when they encamped, they observed the

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 45

greatest circumspection to guard against spies. Whatever supe- riority of force they might have, they never neglected the use of stratagem, employing all the crafty wiles of the Carthagenians." The Iroquois commenced their conquests of all the tribes to the south and west of them, soon after these "Romans of America" acquired firearms from the Dutch on the Hudson River. Tribes that were not utterly destroyed or absorbed by them, were held in subjugation and ruled by Iroquois deputies or vice-gerents. The greatest of these vice-gerents was the renowned Shikellamy, who, in 1727 or 1728, was sent by the Great Council at Onondaga to rule over the Delawares, Shawnees and other tribes in the valley of the Susquehanna, taking up his residence first near Milton and later at Shamokin (Sunbury), Pennsylvania. Two other vice-gerents sent by the Iroquois to rule over subjugated tribes in Pennsylvania were Tanacharison, the Half King, and Scarouady, his successor. The former ruled over the Delawares and Mohicans of the Ohio Valley, with his residence at Logstown, on the north bank of the Ohio, about eighteen miles below Pitts- burgh ; and the latter ruled over the Shawnees of the Ohio Valley, with his residence also at Logstown. Tanacharison and Scarou- ady took up their duties as vice-regents in the year 1747. As we shall see, the Iroquois Confederation played an important part in the Indian history of Pennsylvania.

The Shawnees

The Shawnees, too, occupied parts of Pennsylvania during the historic period. The name means "Southerners." They were a branch of the Algonquin family, and are believed to have lived in the Ohio Valley in remote ages, and to have built many of the mounds and earthworks found there. Some have attempted to identify them with the Eries of the early Jesuits, the Massawo- mecks of Smith, and the Andaste, but without success. The tra- ditional history of the Lenape, the Walum Olum, connects them, the Lenape, and Nanticokes as one people, the separation having taken place after the Alligewi, (Cherokees) were driven from the Ohio Valley by the Lenape and the Mengwe (Iroquois) on their onward march eastward across the continent. Then the Shaw- nees went south. Their real history begins in 1669-70, when they were living in two bodies a great distance apart, — one body being in South Carolina and the other in the Cumberland basin in Ten- nessee. Between these two bodies were the then friendly Chero-

46 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

kees, who claimed the land vacated by the Shawnees when the latter subsequently migrated to the North. The Shawnees living in South Carolina were called Savannahs by the early settlers.

As we shall see, later in this chapter, the Iroquois destroyed the Eries about 1655 or 1656. Shortly thereafter, these northern conquerors began a conquest of the Shawnees, which, according to Charlevoix, they completed in 1672.

On account, probably, of dissatisfaction with the early settlers, the Shawnees of South Carolina began a general movement to the north in 1690, and continued it at intervals for thirty years. The first reference to this tribe to be found in the Provincial records of Pennsylvania is probably a deposition made before the Provincial Council, December 19, 1693, by Polycarpus Rose. In this deposi- tion there is a reference to "strange Indians" called "Shallna- rooners." These strange Indians appear to have made a tempo- rary stop in Chester County in migrating possibly from Maryland to the Forks of the Delaware or to Pequea Creek. Many authori- ties believe these "strange Indians" mentioned in the affidavit of Polycarpus Rose to have been Shawnees. This is conjecture.

But, leaving the realm of conjecture and entering the realm of historical truth, we find that the first Shawnees to enter Penn- sylvania were a party who settled on the Delaware at Pecho- quealin near the Water Gap, in the summer of 1694, or shortly thereafter. These came from the Shawnee villages on the lower Ohio. Arnold Viele, a Dutch trader, from Albany, New York, spent the winter of 1692-1693 with the Shawnees on the lower Ohio, returning in the summer of 1694, and bringing with him a number of this tribe who settled at Pechoquealin. Pechoquealin was a regional name whose center seems to have been the mouth of Shawnee Run in Lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County, and which included the surrounding territory on both sides of the Delaware, above the Delaware Water Gap. Viele was probably the first white man to explore the region between the valleys of the Susquehanna and the Ohio.

About four years later, or in 1697 or 1698, about seventy families of Shawnees came from Cecil County, Maryland, and settled on the Susquehanna River, near the Conestoga Indians, in Lancaster County. Probably at about the same time others migrated to the Ohio Valley. At the mouth of Pequea Creek, Lancaster County, the seventy families come from Maryland, built their village, also called Pequea. Their chief was Wapatha, or Opessah. They secured permission from the Colonial Govern-

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 47

ment to reside near the Conestogas, and the latter became security for their good behavior, under the authority of the Iroquois Con- federation. By invitation of the Delawares, a party of seven hundred Shawnees came soon after and settled with the Munsee Clan on the Delaware River, the main body taking up their abode at the mouth of the Lehigh, near Easton, while others went as far south as the mouth of the Schuylkill. Those who had settled on the Delaware afterwards removed to the Wyoming Valley near the present town of Plymouth, Luzerne County, on a broad plain still called Shawnee Flats. This band under Kakowatcheky re- moved from Pechoquealin to the Wyoming Valley in 1728; and it is probable that they were joined there by those who had settled at Pequea, which was abandoned about 1730.

The Shawnees also had a village on the flats at the mouth of Fishing Creek, near Bloomsburg, and another at Catawissa, — both being in Columbia County. They had other villages in the eastern part of the state on the Swatara, Paxtang, Susquehanna, and Delaware. Several villages were scattered along the west side of the Susquehanna, between the mouth of Yellow Breeches Creek and the Conodoguinet, in Cumberland County. Another of their villages, called Chenastry, was at the mouth of Chillisquaque Creek on the east side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, in Northumberland County.

The Shawnees from Tennessee migrated to the Ohio Valley, finally collecting along the north bank of the Ohio in Penn- sylvania as far as the mouth of the Monongahela, about the year 1730. Sauconk and Logstown were villages on the Ohio which they established possibly as early as that time. The former was at the mouth of the Beaver, and the latter on the north bank of the Ohio, about eighteen miles below Pittsburgh.

Another clan of Shawnees, called the Sewickleys, Asswikales, Shaweygila, and Hathawekela, came from South Carolina prior to 1730 by way of Old Town, Maryland and Bedford, Pa., and settled in different parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Their principal village called Sewickley Town was at the junction of this creek and the Youghiogheny River, in Westmoreland County. They were probably the first Shawnees to settle in Western Pennsylvania.

The Shawnees of the eastern part of Pennsylvania eventually went to the Ohio and Allegheny Valleys. In the report of the Albany congress of 1754, it is found that some of the tribe had moved from the eastern part of the state to the Ohio about thirty

48 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

years previously; and, in 1734, another Shawnee band consisting of about forty famiUes and described as living on the Allegheny, refused to return to the Susquehanna at the solicitation of the Delawares and Iroquois. During their westward migration, they established villages on the Juniata and Conemaugh. About the year 1755 or 1756, practically all the Shawnees abandoned the Susquehanna and other parts of eastern Pennsylvania, and joined their brethren on the Ohio, where they became allies of the French in the French and Indian War. By the outbreak of the Rev- olutionary War, nearly all the Shawnees had been pressed west- ward into Ohio.

There is something mysterious in the wanderings of the Shaw- nees. As we have seen, their home, in remote times, was in the Ohio Valley; then we later hear of them in the South; and still later they came to Pennsylvania. There is good evidence, how- ever, tending to show that that body of the Shawnees which entered Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1697 or 1698, came originally from as far west as the region of Fort St. Louis, near the town of Utica, LaSalle County, Illinois, leaving that place in 1683 and being accompanied in their wanderings to Maryland by Martin Chartier, a French Canadian, who had spent some eight or nine years among them. At any rate, this band reached Mary- land near the mouth of the Susquehanna in 1692, and such is the story they told. They gradually moved up the Susquehanna to Lancaster County, as we have seen, where Chartier became a trader at their village of Pequea, on the east side of the Susque- hanna near the mouth of Pequea Creek, and only a few miles from Conestoga, which was on the north side of Conestoga Creek.

The Shawnees who settled at Paxtang, on or near the site of Harrisburg, most likely came from Pequea.* Before 1727, many of this tribe from Paxtang and Pequea had settled on the west side of the Susquehanna River at what is now New Cumberland, near the mouth of Yellow Breeches Creek and as far north as the mouth of the Conodoquinet. These dwellers on the west side of the Susquehanna, about the year 1727, crossed the mountains to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. Some, however, had gone to Big Island (Lock Haven) before going to the Ohio region.

Opessah, the chief of the Shawnees on the lower Susquehanna, did not remove to the Ohio or Allegheny Valley. He remained at Pequea until 1711, when he abandoned both his chieftainship and his tribe, and sought a home among the Delawares of Sassoonan's clan. It is not clear why he abandoned his people. There is a

♦There were never many Shawnees at Paxtang, their larger settlements in this region being on the west side of the Susquehanna.

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 49

traditionary account that he left because he became enamoured of a Delaware squaw, who refused to leave her own people. Later, in 1722, he removed to what was called Opessah's town on the Potomac, now Old Town, Maryland.

Neither the Pennsylvania Archives nor the Colonial Records show the name of the chief of those Shawnees who settled at Pechoquealin until 1728, when their head man was Kakowatchey. Some of Kakowatchey's clan removed directly to the Ohio before 1732, but a majority seem to have gone only as far as the Wyom- ing Valley in Luzerne County, where, as we have seen, they took up their abode on the west side of the North Branch of the Sus- quehanna at a place subsequently known as Shawnee Flats, just below the site of the present town of Plymouth. Their town at this place was called Skehandowana (Iroquois for "Great Flats"), and it remained a town of considerable importance until 1743. Some time after April of that year, Kakowatchey himself, with a number of his followers removed from Skehandowana and settled at Logstown on the Ohio.

After Kakowatchey left Wyoming, Paxinosa became chief of the Shawnees who still remained at that place. He said that he was born "at Ohio", and possibly he was one of the company cf Shawnees who accompanied Arnold Viele to the Pechoquealin territory.

A number of the Shawnees at Chenastry, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Chillisquaque Creek, ^ye^t to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny prior to the autumn Cff 1727 to hunt, and no doubt some of them made their permaner.t homes or took up their abode in this western region, during or prior to the summer of 1727. - -.

But sorne of the Shawnees went directly from Maryland to the Ohio and Allegheny, Two chiefs of the Potomac Shawn2&s, Opaketchwa and Opakeita, by name, came from the Ohio Valley to Philadelphia in September, 1732, after they had abandoned their town on the north branch of the Potomac. Governor Gordon asked them why they had gone "so far back into the woods as Allegheny," and they replied that "formerly they had lived at 'Patawmack' [Potomac], where their king died; that, having Iqst him, they knew not what to do; that they then took their wives and children and went over the mountains (to Allegheny) to live."

In concluding this sketch of the Shawnees, we state that one of their reasons for migrating from Eastern Pennsylvania to the

so THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Ohio Valley was to escape the ruinous effects of the rum traffic. The Colony of Pennsylvania made many attempts to persuade them to return to their eastern homes, fearing that they would yield to French influence if they remained in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. The powerful Iroquois were asked to join in the attempt to persuade them to return. The Iroquois, at the Treaty of 1732, promised the Pennsylvania Authorities to use their influence with the Shawnees, and kept their promise. But all efforts to persuade them to return nearer the eastern settle- ments of the Colony were without avail.

The Tuscaroras

Another Indian tribe inhabiting portions of Pennsylvania within the historic period was the Tuscaroras. They were of the Iroquoian linguistic group. It will be recalled that this tribe, after being expelled from North Carolina and Virginia, sought an asylum with the Five Nations, and was later, in 1722, admitted formally as an addition to the Iroquois Confederacy, making the Six Nations. The Tuscaroras had suffered greatly in wars with the people of North Carolina and Virginia, before they were ex- pelled in 1712. Their women were debauched by the whites, and both men and women were kidnapped and sold into slavery.

'Some were brought as far north as Pennsylvania, and sold as

^ slaves.

. '.' "Surveyor-General Lawson, of North Carolina, who, in Septem-

. bar, 1711, was captured and executed by the Tuscaroras, says

"tli'e following of these Indians:

-"They have really been better to us [the people of North Caro- lina] than we have been to them, as they always freely give us of their victuals at their quarters, while we let them walk by our doors hungry, and do not often relieve them. We look upon them with disdain and scorn, and think them little better than beasts in. human form; while, with all our religion and education, we pos'sess more moral deformities and vices than these people do." ' ^'Moreover, the colonists of North Carolina, like the Puritans of N'ew England, did not recognize in the Indian any right to the goil r and so the lands of the Tuscaroras were appropriated with- out any thought of purchase. They had suffered these and similar wrongs for many years, and, as early as 1710, sent a petition to the Government of Pennsylvania reciting their wrongs and stating that they desired to remove to a more just and friendly

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 51

government. Governor Charles Gookin and the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania dispatched two commissioners to meet the embassy which brought the petition, at Conestoga, Lancaster County, on June 8, 1710, where they found not only the Tus- carora embassy, but Civility and four other Conestoga chiefs, as well as Opessah, head chief of the Shawnees.

The names of the Tuscarora ambassadors were: Iwaagenst, Terrutawanaren and Teonnotein. The account of their meeting with the Pennsylvania commissioners is contained in Pa. Ar- chives, Vol. 2, pages 511 and 512.

In the presence of the Pennsylvania officials, the Tuscarora ambassadors delivered their proposals, which were attested by eight belts of wampum. This petition was a very lucid and condensed statement of the wrongs suffered by the Tuscaroras in their southern home.

By the first belt, the aged women and mothers of the tribe be- sought the friendship of the Christian people and the Indians and Government of Pennsylvania, so that they might bring wood and water without danger. By the second, the children, born and unborn, implored that they might be permitted to play without danger of slavery. By the third, the young men sought the privilege of leaving their towns to pursue the game in the forest for the sustenance of the aged, without fear of death or slavery. By the fourth, the old men sought the privilege of spending their declining days in peace. By the fifth, the entire Tuscarora nation sought a firm and lasting peace with all the blessings attached thereto. By the sixth, the chiefs and sachems sought the estab- lishment of lasting peace with the Government and Indians of Pennsylvania, so that they would be relieved from "those fearful apprehensions which they have these several years felt." By the seventh, the Tuscaroras implored a "cessation from murder- ing and taking them," so that they might not be in terror upon every rustling of the leaves of the forest by the winds. By the eighth, the entire Tuscarora tribe, being hitherto strangers to the colony of Pennsylvania, implored that the sons of "Brother Onas" might take them by the hand and lead them, so that they might lift up their heads in the wilderness without fear of slavery or death.

This petition, it is seen, was couched in the metaphorical lan- guage of the Indian; but its plain meaning proves it to be a state- ment of a tribe at bay, who, on account of the large numbers of their people killed, kidnapped, or sold into slavery by the settlers

52 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

of North Carolina, were endeavoring to defend their offspring, friends, and kindred, and were seeking a more friendly dwelling place in the North, within the domain of the just government of Penn, the apostle.

The Provincial Council of Pennsylvania advised the Tusca- rora ambassadors that, before they could consent to the Tusca- roras taking up their abode within the bounds of Penn's Province, they should first be required to produce a certificate from the colonial authorities of North Carolina as to their good behavior in that colony. This, of course, the Tuscaroras were unable to do. Then, the Conestoga chiefs, by the advice of their council, determined to send the wampum belts, or petition, of the Tusca- roras to the Five Nations of New York. This was done, and it was the reception of these belts, setting forth the pitiful message of the Tuscaroras, that moved the Five Nations to take steps to shield and protect the Tuscaroras, and eventually receive them, in 1722, as an additional member of the Iroquois Confederation.

In their migration northward, the Tuscaroras did not all leave their ancient southern homes at once. Some sought an asylum among other southern tribes, and lost their identity. However, the major portion came north, and many of them resided for a number of years in Pennsylvania, before going to New York, the seat of the Five Nations. In fact, the Tuscaroras were ninety years in making their exodus from their North Carolina home to more friendly dwelling places in the North.

One body of the Tuscaroras, on their way north, tarried in the Juniata Valley in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, for many years, giving their name to the Tuscarora Mountain. There is evidence of their having been there as late as 1755. Another band settled about two miles west of Tamaqua, in Schuylkill County, where they planted an orchard and lived for a number of years. Also, in May, 1766, a band of Tuscaroras halted at the Moravian mission at Friedenshuetten, on the Susquehanna in Bradford County, and remained there several weeks. Some remained at the mission, and these had planted their crops in 1766, at the mouth of Tuscarora Creek, Wyoming County.

In a word, the residence places of the Tuscaroras in Pennsyl- vania during their migration to New York, were those localities where their name has been preserved ever since, such as: Tusca- rora Mountain dividing Franklin and Perry Counties from Hunt- ingdon and Juniata; Tuscarora Path Valley (now Path Valley) in the western part of Franklin County at the eastern base of Tusca-

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 53

rora Mountain ; Tuscarora Creek running through the valley be- tween Tuscarora and Shade mountains, which valley forms the greater part of Juniata County; and also the stream called Tusca- rora Creek running down through the southeastern part of Brad- ford County and joining the North Branch of the Susquehanna in the northwestern part of Wyoming County. The Tuscarora Path marks the route followed by the Tuscaroras during their migration to New York and of their subsequent journeyings to and fro between New York and Pennsylvania on the north and Virginia and North Carolina on the south.

The Conoy, Ganawese or Piscataway

The Conoy, also called the Ganawese and the Piscataway, in- habited parts of Pennsylvania during the historic period. They were an Algonquin tribe, closely related to the Delawares, whom they called "grandfathers," and from whose ancestral stem they no doubt sprang. Heckewelder, an authority on the history of the Delawares and kindred tribes, believed them to be identical with the Kanawha, for whom the chief river of West Virginia is named ; and it seems that the names, Conoy and Ganawese, are simply different forms of the name Kanawha, though it is difficult to explain the application of the same name to the Piscataway tribe of Maryland, except on the theory that this tribe once lived on the Kanawha.

As stated formerly, the Conestogas, when defeated by the Iroquois in 1675, invaded the territory of the Piscataways in western Maryland. This, it is believed, caused the northward migration of the Piscataways. At any rate, they shortly there- after retired slowly up the Potomac, some entering Pennsylvania about 1698 or 1699, and the rest a few years later. The Iroquois assigned them lands at Conejoholo, also called Connejaghera and Dekanoagah, on the east side of the Susquehanna at the present town of Washington Borough, Lancaster County. Later they removed higher up the Susquehanna to what was called Conoy Town, at the mouth of Conoy Creek, in Lancaster County. Still later they gradually made their way up the Susquehanna, stopping at Harrisburg, Shamokin (Sunbury), Catawissa, and Wyoming; and in 1765, were living in southern New York. After their arrival in Pennsylvania, they were generally called Conoy. During their residence in Pennsylvania, their villages, especially those on the lower Susquehanna, were stopping places for war

54 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

parties of the Iroquois on their way to and return from attacks upon the Catawbas in the South ; and this fact made considerable trouble for the Colonial Authorities as well as the Conoy.

The Nanticokes

The Nanticokes, also, dwelt within the bounds of Pennsyl- vania during the historic period. These were an Algonquin tribe, formerly living on the Nanticoke River on the eastern shore of Maryland, where Captain John Smith, in 1608, located their prin- cipal village called Nanticoke. They were of the same parent stem as the Delawares. The tenth verse of the fifth song of the Walum Olum, the sacred tribal history of the Lenape, contains the statement that "the Nanticokes and the Shawnees went to the Southlands." It is not clear, however, where the separation of the Nanticokes from the Lenape took place, but Heckewelder states that they separated from the Lenape after these had reached the eastern part of the United States, and that the Nanticokes then went southward in search of hunting and trap- ping grounds, they being great hunters and trappers.

A short time after the settlement of Maryland, they had diffi- culties with the settlers of that colony. They were formally de- clared enemies in 1642, and the strife was not ended until a treaty entered into in 1678. A renewal of hostilities was threatened in 1687, but happily prevented, and peace was once more reaffirmed. In 1698, and from that time forward as long as they remained within the bounds of Lord Baltimore's colony, reservations were set aside for them. At this early day they began a gradual migra- tion northward, though a small part remained in Maryland. The migration to the North covered many years. On their way they stopped for a time on the Susquehanna as guests of the Conoy; later at the mouth of the Juniata; and still later, in 1748 the greater part of this tribe went up the Susquehanna, halting at various points and finally settling, during the French and Indian War, under the protection of the Iroquois, at Chenango, Chugnut, and Owego, on the east branch of the Susquehanna in southern New York. For a number of years, their principal seat in Penn- sylvania was on the east bank of the Susquehanna below the mouth of the Lackawanna, not far from Pittston, Luzerne County. Other villages of this tribe were on Nanticoke Creek and at or near the site of the present town of Nanticoke, Luzerne County.

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 55

As late as 1766 and 1767, bands of Nanticokes passed through the Moravian mission at Wyalusing (Friedenshuetten), Bradford County, on their way to what is now the state of New York.

Many marvelous stories were told concerning this tribe. One was that they were said to have been the inventors of a poisonous substance by which they could destroy a whole settlement at once. They were also accused of being skilled in the art of witchcraft, and, on this account they were greatly feared by the neighboring tribes. Heckewelder states that he knew Indians who firmly be- lieved that the Nanticokes had men among them who, if they wished, could destroy a whole army by merely blowing their breath toward them.

They had the singular custom of removing the bones of their dead from place to place during their migrations, and this they would do even in cases where the dead had not been buried long enough to be reduced to a skeleton. In cases where the dead had not been buried long, they would scrape the flesh from the bones, reinter it, and then take the skeleton with them. Heckewelder re- lates that between the years 1750 and 1760 he saw several bands of Nanticokes go through the Moravian town of Bethlehem, Penn- sylvania, on their migration northward, loaded with the bones of their relatives and friends. At this time Heckewelder was a boy, having been born in 1743.

The Tutelo

The Tutelo were a Siouan tribe, related to the Sioux, of Dakota of the far Northwest. For some time before their entering Penn- sylvania soon after 1722, they had been living in North Carolina and Virginia. They were first mentioned by Captain John Smith, of Virginia, in 1609, as occupying the upper waters of the James and Rappahannock, and were described by him as being very barbarous. Their first seat in Pennsylvania was at Shamokin (Sunbury) where they resided under Iroquois protection. At this place, the Rev. David Brainerd found them in 1745. Later they moved up the Susquehanna to Skogari. In 1771, the Tutelo were settled on the east side of Cayuga inlet about three miles from the south end of the lake of that name in New York. How this tribe became so widely separated from the western Sioux still remains unknown.

The Conoy, the Nanticoke, and the Tutelo were not large tribes. In 1763, according to Sir William Johnson, the three tribes numbered about one thousand souls.

56 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

As has been stated, the Shawnees, the Conoy, and the Nanti- cokes, belonged to the Algonquin parent stem; the Tutelo to the Siouan; and the Tuscarora to the Iroquoian. These three groups were widely separated. It is thus seen that, at the time when the English, the Germans and the Scotch-Irish, and other European races were coming to Pennsylvania, as widely separated races of North American Indians were coming from the South to make their homes in its wilderness and along its streams. Of these in- coming tribes, the one to figure most prominently in the history of Pennsylvania was the Shawnee. Following Braddock's defeat, July 9th, 1755, Pennsylvania suffered the bloodiest Indian in- vasion in American history, — the invasion of the Shawnees and Delawares, brought about in part, by the fact that the Shawnees yielded to French influence. However, as we shall see, the fraudulent "Walking Purchase" of 1737 and the Purchase of 1754 had much to do with causing these two powerful Indian tribes to take up arms against Pennsylvania.

The Eries

The Eries, also known as the Erieehronons, were populous sedentary tribe of Iroquoian stock, which, in the seventeenth cen- tury, inhabited that part of Pennsylvania extending from Lake Erie to the Allegheny River, possibly as far south as the Ohio River, and eastward to the lands of the Susquehannas. They are also known as the Cat Nation, from the abundance of wild cats and panthers in their territory. Recorded history gives only glimpses of them; but it appears that they had many towns and villages, and that their town, Rique, had, in 1654, between 3,000 and 4,000 combatants, exclusive of women and children. Rique was located, as nearly as can be determined, at or near where the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, now stands.

In the Jesuit Relation of 1653, it is stated that the Eries were forced to proceed farther inland in order to escape their enemies dwelling west of them. Who these enemies were is not positively known. Finally, about 1655 or 1656, they were conquered by the Iroquois. The conquerors entered their palisaded town of Rique, and there "wrought such carnage among the women and children that the blood was knee-deep in places." However, this victory at Rique was dearly bought by the Iroquois, who were compelled to remain in the country of the Eries two months to care for the wounded and bury the dead. The Erie power now being broken,

A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 57

the people were either destroyed, dispersed, or led into captivity. Six hundred Eries, who had surrendered at one time, were taken to the Iroquois country and adopted. There is a tradition that, some years after the defeat of the Eries, a band of their descend- ants came from the West, ascended the Allegheny River, and attacked the Senecas, and were slain to a man.

According to the Jesuit Relation of 1655-56, the cause of the war between the Iroquois and the Eries was the accidental killing of a Seneca by one of thirty Erie ambassadors who had gone to the Seneca capital, Sonontouan, to renew the then existing peace between these two tribes. The Senecas then put all the Erie ambassadors to death, except five, and determined to exterminate the tribe. However, before being utterly defeated at Rique, the Eries were successful in burning a Seneca town and in defeating a body of Senecas, which events aroused the Senecas to savage wrath, causing them to invade the Erie country with eighteen hundred warriors and to destroy the town of Rique.

The estimated population of the Eries in 1654 was 14,500. Be- sides Rique, they had another large town, Gentaienton, located, it seems, in the southern part of Erie County, New York.

The Wenro

The Wenro, a tribe of Iroquoian stock, also known as the Ahouenrochrhonons, are mentioned in the Jesuit Relation as hav- ing dwelt some time prior to 1639, "beyond the Erie," or Cat Nation; and it is probable that their habitat was on the upper territory of the Allegheny, and, part of it at least, within the bounds of the State of Pennsylvania. This tribe, too, fell before the arms of the Iroquois. A notation on Captain John Smith's map of his explorations, says that they traded with the whites on the Delaware River.

The Black Minquas

The Wenro seem to have been allied with the Black Minquas who, according to Herrmann's map of 1670, are placed in the region west of the Allegheny Mountains, and on the Ohio, or "Black Minquas River." The Jesuit Relation states that both the Wenro and the Black Minquas traded with the people on the upper Delaware, some going by way of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, down to Sunbury (Shamokin), up to Wyoming,

58 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

and then across to the Delaware River, near the Water Gap ; and others reaching the Delaware by way of the Conemaugh, Juniata, and Susquehanna. The Black Minquas were so called because "they carried a black badge on their breast." About all that is known of the fate of this tribe is the legend on Herrmann's map, which reads: "A very great river called Black Minquas River — where formerly those Black Minquas came over the Susque- hanna, as far as the Delaware to trade; but the Sasquhana and the Sinnicus Indians went over and destroyed that very great nation."

The Akansea

A Siouan tribe, the Akansea, in remote times, occupied the upper Ohio Valley, according to many historians, and were driven out by the Iroquois. This stream was called the "River of the Akansea," because this tribe lived upon its shores. When or how long this river valley was their habitat, is not known.

No other rivers in Pennsylvania, or on the continent, have seen more changes in the races of Indians living in their valleys than have the Ohio and the Allegheny, — the dwelling place of the Alligewi; the Delawares, or Lenape, in the course of their migra- tion eastward; the Akansea; the Shawnees; the Black Minquas; the Eries ; the Wenro ; the Senecas ; then once more the Shawnees and Delawares in their march toward the setting sun before the great tide of white immigration. What battles and conquests, all untold, took place in the valleys of these historic streams be- fore the white man set foot upon their shores! Who would not seek to draw aside the curtain, which, it seems, must forever hide this unrecorded history from our view?

Having given this survey of the Indian tribes that inhabited Pennsylvania, we shall devote the next chapter to a brief treat- ment of the Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware and William Penn.

CHAPTER III

The Swedes and William Penn

Founding of New Sweden

AS early as 1624, Sweden's most famous king, Gustavus ^Adolphus, one of the heroic and admirable characters of all time, proposed to found a free state in the New World, "where the laborer should reap the fruits of his toil, where the rights of conscience should be inviolate," and which should be an asylum for the persecuted of every nation and every clime. At that time, the awful Thirty Years War was raging in Europe, and amid its fire and blood and desolation, the Swedish King had a vision of such a "Holy Experiment" as William Penn started more than half a century later. Before he could carry out his plans of colonization, the noble Gustavus Adolphus laid down his life on the bloody battle-field of Lutzen, Germany, on November 16th, 1632. According to Bancroft and others, the King, just a few days before his death, recommended his noble enterprise to the people of Germany, as he had before to the people of his beloved Sweden.

Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded her father to the throne of Sweden, and was destined to play a vital part in the development of the plans of her illustrious parent. Late in the autumn of 1737, two ships left Sweden carrying a small band of resolute emigrants purposing to establish a Swedish colony in ihe New World under the patronage of Queen Christina. These ships, commanded by Peter Minuit, who had been the Dutch Company's director at Manhattan from 1626 to 1632, arrived on the west bank of the Delaware River, in the middle of March, 1638. Charmed by the beauty of the region, the Swedes gave the name of Paradisudden (Paradise Point) to a particularly beautiful spot where they landed temporarily. Passing on up the river, their ships arrived at the Minquas Kill of the Dutch (White Clay and Christina Creeks), which enters the Delaware from the west. The ships then sailed up the Minquas Kill some

60 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

distance, and cast anchor at a place where some Indians had pitched their wigwams.

Peter Minuit then fired a salute of two guns and went ashore with some of his men to reconnoiter and establish connection with the Indians. They also went some distance into the country. Minuit then returned to his ship. The roar of his cannon had the desired elTect; several Indian chiefs made their appearance, and Minuit at once arranged a conference with them for the sale of land. The leader of these chiefs was Mattahorn. Possibly Minuit from his acquaintance with the Dutch trade on the Dela- ware River during his administration at Manhattan, had some previous knowledge of this chieftain. Minuit and the chiefs had no difftculty in coming to an agreement. He explained to the Indians that he wanted ground on which to build a "house," and other ground on which to plant. For the former he ofTered a "kettle and other articles," and for the latter, half of the tobacco raised upon it. On the same, or following day, Mattahorn and five other chiefs went aboard one of the ships of the Swedes and sold as much "of the land on all parts and places of the river, up the river, and on both sides, as Minuit requested."

The merchandise specified in the deeds being given to them, the chiefs traced their totem marks on the documents, and Peter Minuit, Mans Kling, and others signed their names below. The extent of this purchase embraced the territory lying below the Minquas Kill to Duck Creek, a distance of forty miles and up the river to the Schuylkill, a distance of twenty-seven miles along the bank of the Delaware, in both cases stretching an indefinite dis- tance to the westward. The purchase being concluded, Minuit with his ofificers and soldiers went ashore. A pole was then erected with the Coat of Arms of Sweden upon it; "and with the report of cannon, followed by other solemn ceremonies, the land was called New Sweden."

To be specific, the lands purchased by the Swedes from the Indians extended along the west bank of the Delaware from the mouth of Minquas Creek to a point opposite Trenton, New Jersey. Near the mouth of Minquas Creek, so named by them because it was one of the main trails to the land of the Minquas or Susquehannas, they erected Fort Christina, named in honor of the Swedish Queen. As stated in Chapter II, the Swedes also purchased lands from the Susquehanna tribe. It is probable that a large part of this purchase was a confirmation of the purchase from the Delawares.

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 61

The first Indians with whom the Swedes dealt in making the first settlements within the bounds of Pennsylvania, were the Delawares or Lenape of the Unalachtigo or Turkey Clan. At that time, the Delawares on the lower reaches of the river of the same name were called "River Indians," and it seems true that they were subject to the authority of the Minquas or Susque- hannas. It has been contended, as pointed out in Chapter II, that the conquering of the Susquehannas by the Iroquois, in 1675, carried with it the subjugation of the Delawares. Soon after the founding of their first settlements on Pennsylvania soil, the Swedes dealt also with the Minquas or Susquehannas, carry- ing on a vast fur trade with them and thereby incurring the jealousy and enmity of the Dutch at Manhattan, a fact which led to the overthrow of New Sweden by the Dutch, in 1655. It is said that the Swedes exported 30,000 skins during the first year of their occupancy of Fort Christina, and, as was stated in Chapter II, Governor-General John Printz, of New Sweden, in his report for the year 1647, says that, because of the conflict of his colonists with the Dutch, he had suffered a loss of "8,000 or 9,000 beavers which have passed out of our hands" and which, but for the Dutch, would have been gotten from "the great traders, the Minquas." As was stated in Chapter II, the Swedes assisted the Susquehannas in their struggle against the might of the Iroquois, furnishing them arms for their warriors after the manner of European soldiers.

Indian Policy of the Swedes

The principles on which New Sweden was founded and the benevolent intentions of the Swedes towards the Indians are thus set forth in the letter granting the privileges to the colonists, signed by Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, of Sweden, dated January 24th, 1640, and directed to the Commandant and inhabitants of Fort Christina.

"As regards religion, we are willing to permit that, besides the Augsburg Confession, [of the Lutheran Church], the exercise of the pretended reformed religion may be established and observed in that country, in such manner, however, that those who profess the one or the other religion live in peace, abstaining from every useless dispute, from all scandal and all abuse. The patrons of this colony shall be obliged to support, at all times, as many ministers and school masters as the number of inhabitants shall

62 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

seem to require, and to choose, moreover, for this purpose, persons who have at heart the conversion of the pagan inhabitants to Chris- tianity.''

The policy of the Swedes towards the Indians is more speci- fically set forth in the "Instructions to Governor John Printz," dated at Stockholm, August 15th, 1642, as follows:

"The wild nations, bordering on all sides, the Governor shall treat with all humanity and respect, and so that no violence or wrong be done to them by Her Royal Majesty or her subjects aforesaid; but he shall rather . . . exert himself that the same wild people may be gradually instructed in the truths and wor- ship of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought to civilization and good government, and in this manner properly guided. Especially shall he seek to gain their confidence, and impress upon their minds that neither he, the Governor, nor his people and subordinates are come into these parts to do them any wrong, or injury, but much more for the purpose of furnishing them with such things as they may need for the ordinary wants of life."

These "Instructions" further admonished the Governor that he "must bear in mind that the wild inhabitants of the country" are "its rightful lords."

There is no sublimer chapter in American history than the story of the relations between the Swedes on the Delaware and the aborigines of Pennsylvania. The Swede treated the Indian with justice. He recognized that there was a title in the Indian to the land which he loved with an undying love, the land where he was born and where his fathers were born for countless genera- tions. Furthermore, the Swede labored with success in convert- ing the Indians to the Christian faith. The Swedish Lutheran clergyman, the Reverend John Campanius, who accompanied Governor John Printz to New Sweden in 1643, was active as a missionary among the Delawares and translated Martin Luther's Catechism into the Delaware tongue, — the first book to be trans- lated into the language of the North American Indians. The petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," Campanius trans- lated, "Give us this day a plentiful supply of venison and corn." This Lutheran clergyman was the first missionary of the Christian religion to labor among the Indians of Pennsylvania; and the Swedish Lutheran church at Tinicum, which he dedicated on September 4th, 1646, and of which he was pastor, "was the first regularly dedicated church building within the limits of Penn-

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 63

sylvania." The Rev. Campanius is sometimes referred to as Campanius Holm. "Holm" indicates that he was from Stock- holm.

The year 1644 was the only year in which Indian troubles threatened New Sweden, The cause of this trouble was the fact that the Dutch at Manhattan adopted a course of "exter- mination" of the Indians on the lower reaches of the Hudson, and during the years 1644 and 1645, had killed sixteen hundred of the natives at Manhattan and in its neighborhood. They slaughtered all ages and both sexes; and the word of these shocking and un- pardonable cruelties spread along the Atlantic Ocean, causing the Indians of the Delaware to feel bitter towards all newcomers. In the spring of 1644, a Swedish woman and her husband, an Englishman, were killed not far from the site of Chester, Penn- sylvania,— the first white blood shed in Pennsylvania by the Indians. Governor John Printz of the Swedish colony then assembled his people for the defense of Chester; but the Indian chiefs of that region came to him disowning the act and desiring peace. He then made a treaty of peace with them, distributing presents and restoring friendly relations. During this year there was a great Indian council held, which has been described by Rev. John Campanius, over which the Delaware Chief, Mattahorn, presided and in which the destruction of the Swedes was con- sidered. Mattahorn is said to have presented the question for the consideration of the council; but the decision was that the Swedes should not be molested. The warriors said that the Swedes should be considered "good friends," and that the Indians had "no complaint to make of them."

On June 17th, 1654, a great council of the Delawares was held at Printz Hall, at Tinicum, for the purpose of renewing the ancient bond of friendship that existed between the Indians and the Swedes. At this council the Delaware, (some say Minquas or Susquehanna) chief, Naaman, whose name is preserved in Naaman's Creek, near the Delaware line, praised the virtues of the Swedes. Campanius thus describes the occasion:

"The 17th June, 1654, was gathered together at Printz Hall at Tinicum, ten of the sachemans of the Indian chiefs, and there at that time was spoken to them in the behalf of the great Queen of Sweedland for to renew the old league of friendship that was be- twixt them, and that the Sweeds had bought and purchased land of them. They complained that the Sweeds they should have brought in with them much evil, because so many of them since

64 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

are dead and expired. Then there was given unto them consider- able presents and parted amongst them. When they had received the presents they went out, and had a conference amongst them a pretty while, and came in again, and then spoke one of the chiefs, by name Noaman [Naaman], rebuked the rest, and that they had spoken evil of the Sweeds and done them harm, and that they should do so no more, for they were good people. Look, said he, pointing upon the presents, what they have brought us, and they desire our friendship, and then he stroked himself three times down his arm, which was an especial token of friendship. After- wards he thanked for the presents they had received, which he did in all their behalfs, and said that there should hereafter be ob- served and kept a more strict friendship amongst them than there hath been hitherto. That, as they had been in Governor Printz his time, one body and one heart, (beating and knocking upon his breast), they should henceforward be as one head. For a token waving with both his hands, and made as if he would tye a strong knot; and then he made this comparison, that as the calli- bash is of growth round without any crack, also they from hence- forth hereafter as one body without any separation, and if they heard or understood that any one would do them or any of theirs any harm, we should give them timely notice thereof, and like- wise if they heard any mischief plotting against the Christians, they would give them notice thereof, if it was at midnight. And then answer was made unto them, that that would be a true and lasting friendship, if everyone would consent to it. Then the great guns were fired, which pleased them exceedingly well, say- ing,'Pu-hu-hu! mo ki-rick pickon.' That is, 'Hear! now believe! The great guns are fired.' And then they were treated with wine and brandy. Then stood up another of the Indians and spoke, and admonished all in general that they should keep the league and friendship with the Christians that was made, and in no man- ner or way violate the same, and do them no manner of injury, not to their hogs or their cattle, and if any one should be found guilty thereof, they should be severely punished, others to an example. They advised that we should settle some Sweeds upon Passaiunck, where then there lived a power of Indians for to ob- serve if they did any mischief, they should be confirmed, the copies of the agreements were then punctually read unto them. But the originals were at Stockholm, and when their names (were read) that had signed, they seemed when they heard it rejoiced, but when anyone's name was read that was dead, they hung their

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 65

heads down and seemed to be sorrowful. And then there was set upon the floor in the great hall two great kettles, and a great many other vessels with sappan, that is, mush, made of Indian corn or Indian wheat, as groweth there in abundance. But the sachemans they sate by themselves, but the common sort of Indians they fed heartily, and were satisfied. The above men- tioned treaty and friendship that then was made betwixt the Sweeds and the Indians, hath been ever since kept and observed, and that the Sweeds have not been by them molested."

As stated earlier in this chapter. New Sweden was overthrown by the Dutch in 1655. However, the Swedes were permitted to remain on their lands. The Indian's love for the Swede never abated, and when William Penn came to his Province in 1682, he used Swedes as his interpreters in getting in touch with the Indians. Indeed, the just and kindly treatment of the Dela- wares by the Swedish settlers caused that friendly reception which these children of the forest William Penn, when, with open heart and open hand, they welcomed him to the shores of the Western World.

Dr. William M. Reynolds, in the introduction to his transla- tion of Acrelius' "History of New Sweden," emphasizes a great historical truth when he says:

"The Swedes inaugurated the policy of William Penn, for which he has been deservedly praised, in his purchase of the soil from the Indians, and his uniformly friendly intercourse with them."

A Contrast

The Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware stands out in strong contrast with the Indian policy of many other colonies, especially with the Indian policy of early New England. At this point, let us raise the curtain and take a view of what was happen- ing on the shores of New England while the sublime things we have just related were happening on the shores of the Delaware, on Pennsylvania soil. The "Pilgrim Fathers" came to New Eng- land in 1620. They were kindly welcomed and kindly treated by the Indians. Not long after the landing at Plymouth, the Indian, Samoset, entered the town, exclaiming, "Welcome, Englishmen!" He was a member of the Wampanoag tribe, and, in the name of his nation, invited the Pilgrims to possess the soil. In a few days, he returned with another of his tribe, Squanto by name, who

66 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

became a benefactor of the infant colony, teaching the white men many things about fishing and raising corn.

Soon the aborigines of New England were given the white man's rum, the curse of the Red man. Soon troubles came on apace between the Indian and the New Englander, caused, in large measure, by the New Englander's trickery and failure to recognize in the Indian a title to the land of himself and his fathers. Soon we see the Puritan antagonizing the Indian and deliberately planning his utter extinction. Soon we see Captain Miles Standish disturbing and despoiling the resting places of the Indian dead, to the horror and rage of the Indians. Soon we see Standish stabbing the Indian, Pecksuot, to death and Stand- ish's men killing many of Pecksuot's companions, which caused the Rev. John Robinson, father of the Plymouth church, to ex- claim: "It would have been happy if they had converted some before they killed any."

Time passes, and we see the Puritan hunting the Indian through the forests and swamps of New England like a wild beast. We see the Puritan trafficking in Indian women and children, and selling them into slavery. Many were shipped to the slave markets of the West Indies. At one time, as many as fifty Indian women and children were captured for the purpose of selling them as slaves.

The intolerance of the Puritan found a natural vent in the ex- tinction of the Indian. The Puritan lauded his treacheries and inhumanities towards the unsophisticated children of the forest. Puritan malignity reached a climax in the offering of a reward for Indian scalps, irrespective of sex or age. And then, there rise up in history the grim and grisly features of those Puritan clergymen who gloried in the extinction of the Indian, especially the Mathers. The New Englanders shot and burned to death six hundred men, women and children of the Pequot tribe in one day. Concerning this horrible affair, the "learned and pious Rev. Cotton Mather" wrote: "Many of them were broiled unto death in the avenging flames;" while Increase Mather wrote exultingly concerning the same slaughter of women and children: "It was supposed that no less than 500 or 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell that day." Thus did these "great New England divines and theologians" glory in the slaughter of the Indians, irrespective of age or sex. Thus were these clergymen "inspired to prayers of thankfulness and praise." (For the Puritan's Indian policy, see

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 67

Sylvester's "Indian Wars of New England," Vol. 1, pages 97 to 99, 156 to 162, 169 and 170, 293 and 313.)

Many school books contain pictures of the Puritans going to church with guns on their shoulders to defend themselves from the Indians. These pictures tell only a half truth, which is often as misleading as a downright falsehood. There should be ex- planatory notes at the bottom of tl^e pictures telling why it was necessary for the Puritans to carry guns as they went to worship the Prince of Peace.

New England historians and New England poets have thrown a glamour around the early history of New England which the facts do not justify. The Puritan, by his barbarous treatment of the Indian, has left a stain on the early history of New England which no New England historian and no New England poet, however friendly or however gifted, can ever efface.

In addition to its just Indian policy, New Sweden had many other excellencies that stand out in strong contrast with the early history of New England. With her, liberty of conscience was a historical fact, and not a mockery or a myth, as with the "Pilgrim Fathers" of New England. She laid down the principles of liberty of conscience and education of the people, as the foundation of her political structure, before William Penn was born; and she steadfastly adhered to these principles to the end of her separate and independent existence, giving them an impetus that con- tributed very largely to their adoption as the most cherished and sacred principles in the structure of our American Common- wealth. No man had his ears cut off, no man had his tongue bored through, no man was hanged for not adhering to the Lutheran Church of New Sweden — all this in striking contrast with the way the "Pilgrim Fathers" of New England persecuted those who did not accept the Puritan type of religion. The Lutheran Swedes who landed on the shores of the Delaware and made the first settlements in Pennsylvania, had far more to do with molding American history than had the "Pilgrim Fathers" of New England. "America," says Woodrow Wilson, "did not come out of New England." Well for us that America did not take on the stamp of the bigotry and intolerance of the "Pilgrim Fathers" of New England, but took on the stamp of liberty of conscience of the Lutheran Swedes of Pennsylvania.

The history of the beginnings in Pennsylvania is as much more glorious than the history of the beginnings in New England as the light of the sun is more glorious than the light of a candle. The

68 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Swedes on the Delaware deserve monuments of marble and bronze, medals of silver and gold; but their best monument is the best love of the best American hearts, and the truest impression of their image is in the improved condition of mankind, which came about as the fruits of the immortal principles to which they adhered.

The Coming of William Penn

After the conquest of New Sweden, in the autumn of 1655, the Dutch continued their rule on the Delaware until the autumn of 1664, when English rule began on this stream. Charles II granted to his brother James, Duke of York, the territory em- bracing the states of New York and New Jersey, and, by a later grant, the state of Delaware. The Dutch colony on the Dela- ware yielded to the Duke of York without bloodshed. On March 4th, 1681, Charles II afhxed his signature to William Penn's charter for the Province of Pennsylvania. As the great founder of the Province was on his way to the shores of this Western World to treat the Red Man with justice and to establish an asylum for the persecuted of every sect and every creed, the following letter was written by the "great New England divine and theologian, " Cotton Mather:

"September ye 15, 1682.

To ye aged and beloved Mr. Jolui Higginson:

There is now at sea a ship called the Welcome, which has on board an hundred or more of the heretics and malignants called Quakers, W. Penn, who is the chief scamp, at the head of them.

The general court has accordingly given secret orders to Master Malachi Huscott of the brig Porpoise to waylay the said Welcome slyly, as near the Cape of Cod as may be, and make captive the said Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with the heathen worship of these people. Much spoil can be made by selling the whole lot to Barbados, where slaves fetch good prices in rum and sugar, and we shall not only do the Lord great service by punishing the wicked but we shall make great good for his Minister and people.

Master Huscott feels hopeful and I will set down the news when the ship comes back.

Yours in ye bowels of Christ,

COTTON MATHER."

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 69

The Indian Policy of William Penn

William Penn did not set foot upon the soil of his Province until the 29th day of October, 1682 ; but, after maturing his plans for the new colony during the summer of 1681, he appointed his cousin, William Markham, to be his deputy governor. Markham left England in the spring of 1682, and arrived at New York about the middle of June of that year. He then proceeded to Upland, or Chester, Pennsylvania, and, no doubt, presented his creden- tials to the justices and announced to them and the settlers that once more a change of government had been decreed.

William Penn decided to follow the advice of the Bishop of London and the example of the Swedes, and purchase from the Indians inhabiting his Province whatever lands, within the bounds of the same, might from time to time, become occupied by his colonists. The first Indian deed of record was a purchase of lands in Bucks County, made by Deputy Governor Markham for William Penn, dated the 15th day of July, 1682. The native grantors were fourteen Delaware chiefs or "sachemakers," bear- ing the following names: Idauahon, leanottowe, Idquoquequon, Sahoppe for himself and Okonikon, Merkekowon, Orecton for Nannacussey, Shaurwawghon, Swanpisse, Nahoosey, Tomak- hickon, Westkekitt and Tohawsis.

Markham paid the Indians for this purchase: 350 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of "stroudwaters," 20 white blankets, 20 guns, 20 coats, 40 shirts, 40 pairs of stockings, 40 hose, 40 axes, 2 barrels of powder, 60 fathoms of "dufihelds," 20 kettles, 200 bars of lead, 200 knives, 200 small glasses, 12 pairs of shoes, 40 copper boxes, 40 tobacco tongs, 2 small barrels of pipes; 40 pairs of scis- sors, 40 combs, 20 pounds of red lead, 100 awls, two handfuls of fish hooks, two handfuls of needles, 40 pounds of shot, 10 bundles of beads, 10 small saws, 12 drawing knives, 2 ankers of tobacco, 2 ankers of rum, 2 ankers of cider, 2 ankers of beer, and 300 guilders in money, — a formidable list, indeed, and all very accept- able to the Indians.

William Penn Purchases Land from Tamanend

On June 23rd, 1683, William Penn, at a meeting with Taman- end and a number of other Delaware chiefs at Shakamaxon, with- in the limits of Philadelphia, purchased two dififerent tracts of land from the Indians. The first deed was from Tamanend, who

70 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

made "his mark" to the same, being a snake coiled. This deed conveyed all of Tamanend's lands "lying betwixt the Pem- mapecka [Pennypack] and Nessaminehs [Neshaminy] Creeks, and all along Nessaminehs Creek." The consideration was "so many guns, shoes, stockings, looking glasses, blankets, and other goods as the said William Penn shall please to give."

On the same date, (June 23, 1683), William Penn purchased a second tract of land from Tamanend, the deed being signed by Tamanend and Metamequan. It conveyed all the grantors' lands "lying betwixt and about Pemmapecka and Nessaminehs Creeks, and all along Nessaminehs Creek." The consideration was "so much wampum and other goods as he, the said William Penn, shall be pleased to give unto us." However, there is a receipt attached to this deed for the following articles : 5 pairs of stock- ings, 20 bars of lead, 10 tobacco boxes, 6 coats, 2 guns, 8 shirts, 2 kettles, 12 awls, 5 hats, 25 pounds of powder, 1 peck of pipes, 38 yards of "duffields," 16 knives, 100 needles, 10 glasses, 5 caps, 15 combs, 5 hoes, 9 gimlets, 20 fish hooks, 10 tobacco tongs, 10 pairs of scissors, 7 half-gills, 6 axes, 2 blankets, 4 handfuls of bells, 4 yards of "stroudswaters" and 20 handfuls of wampum.

Also, on the 5th day of July 1697, "King Taminy [Taman- end], and Weheeland, my Brother and Weheequeckhon alias Andrew, who is to be king after my death, Yaqueekhon alias Nicholas, and Quenameckquid alias Charles, my Sons," granted to William Penn, who was then in England, all the lands "between the Creek called Pemmapeck [Pennypack] and the Creek called Neshaminy, in the said province extending in length from the River Delaware so far as a horse can travel in two summer dayes, and to carry its breadth according as the several courses of the said two Creeks will admit, and when the said Creeks do so branch that the main branches or bodies thereof cannot be discovered, then the Tract of Land hereby granted, shall stretch forth upon a direct course on each side and so carry on the full breadth to the extent of the length thereof." For copies of Tamanend's deeds of June 23d, 1683 and July 5th, 1697, see Penna. Archives First Series, Vol. I, pages 62, 64 and 124.

It is to be noted that in the list of articles which Penn gave in exchange for the various tracts of land purchased from Tamanend and his associate chiefs, no brandy or other strong liquor appeared It will be recalled that in Markham's purchase in Bucks County on the 15th of July, 1682, he gave the contracting sachems, rum, cider and beer as part of the purchase price. Penn, however.

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 71

was more scrupulous than his deputy governor, doubtless having realized more strongly than Markham, the injury done the Indians by liquor. Indeed, in the "Great Law" which Penn drew up shortly after his arrival, there was a provision for punishing any person by fine of five pounds who should "presume to sell or exchange any rum or brandy or any strong liquors at any time to any Indian, within this province." Later the Indians found their appetite for strong liquor to be so strong that they agreed, if the colonists would sell them liquor, to submit to punishment by the civil magistrates "the same as white persons."

Penn's Treaty with Tamanend

Penn's memorable treaty with Tamanend and other Delaware chiefs, of the Turtle Clan, under the great elm at Shakamaxon, within the limits of Philadelphia, is full of romantic interest. Unarmed, clad in his sombre Quaker garb, he addressed the Indians assembled there, uttering the following words, which will be admired throughout the ages: "We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good-will ; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. We are the same as if one man's body was to be divided into two parts; we are of one flesh and one blood." The reply of Tamanend, is equally noble: "We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."

No authentic record has been preserved of the "Great Treaty," made familiar by Benjamin West's painting and Voltaire's allu- sion to it "as the only treaty never sworn to and never broken;" and there has been a lack of agreement among historians as to the time when it took place. Many authorities claim that the time was in the November days, shortly after Penn arrived in his Province. "Under the shelter of the forest," says Bancroft, "now leafless by the frosts of autumn, Penn proclaimed to the men of the Algonquin race, from both banks of the Delaware, from the borders of the Schuylkill, and, it may have been, even from the Susquehanna, the same simple message of peace and love which George Fox had professed before Cromwell, and Mary Fisher had borne to the Grand Turk."

Other authorities, in recent times, fix the time of the treaty as on the 23rd day of June, 1683, when Penn, as has been seen, purchased the two tracts of land from Tamanend and his associ-

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ates; in other words, that the purchase of land and the "Great Treaty" took place at the same time and at the same place. More- over, a study of West's painting of the treaty scene shows the trees to be in full foliage, thus not suggesting a late autumn or winter day, as contended by Bancroft, but rather a day in the leafy month of June, Even if we should not grant the purchase of the two tracts of land from Tamanend and others on the 23rd of June, 1683, the distinction of being the "Great Treaty," it was most certainly a treaty of great importance and entitled to a prominent place in the Indian history of Pennsylvania and the Nation.

Says Jenkins, in his "Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal": "In the years following 1683, far down into the next century, the Indians preserved the tradition of an agreement of peace made with Penn, and it was many times recalled in the meetings held with him and his successors. Some of these allusions are very definite. In 1715, for example, an important delegation of the Lenape chiefs came to Philadelphia to visit the Governor. Sas- soonan — afterward called Allummapees, and for many years the principal chief of his people — was at the head, and Opessah, a Shawnee chief, accompanied him. There was 'great ceremony,' says the Council record, over the 'opening of the calumet.' Rattles were shaken, and songs were chanted. Then Sassoonan spoke, offering the calumet to Governor Gookin, who in his speech spoke of 'that firm Peace that was settled between William Penn, the founder and chief governor of this country, at his first coming into it,' to which Sassoonan replied that they had come 'to renew the former bond of friendship; that William Penn had at his first coming made a clear and open road all the way to the Indians, and they desired the same might be kept open and that all ob- structions might be removed,' etc. In 1720, Governor Keith, writing to the Iroquois chiefs of New York, said : 'When Govern- or Penn first settled this country he made it his first care to culti- vate a strict alliance and friendship with all the Indians, and con- descended so far as to purchase his lands from them.' And in March, 1722, the Colonial Authorities, sending a message to the Senecas, said: 'William Penn made a firm peace and league with the Indians in these parts near forty years ago, which league has often been repeated and never broken.' " In fact, the "Great Treaty" was never broken until the Penn's Creek Massacre of October 16, 1755.

Unhappily, then, historians are not able to agree in stating the

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 73

exact date of the "Great Treaty" under the historic elm on the banks of the Delaware, — a treaty that occupies a high and glorious place in the Indian history and traditions of Pennsylvania and the Nation. Though the historian labors in vain to establish the date, the fact of the treaty remains as inspiring to us of the present day as it was to the historians, painters, and poets of the past.

On August 16th, 1683, William Penn wrote a long letter to the Free Society of Traders, in which he describes a council that he had with the Indians, — possibly the "Great Treaty":

"I have had occasion to be in council with them (the Indians) upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. Their order is thus: The King sits in the middle of an half moon, and hath his council, the old and wise, on each hand; behind them or at a little distance, sit the younger fry in the same figure . . . When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun and moon give light; which done, another made a speech to the Indians in the name of all the Sachamakers or Kings, first to tell them what was done; next to charge and command them to love the Christians, and particularly live in peace with me, and the people under my Government; that many Governors had been on the River, but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here before; and having now such an one that treated them well, they should never do him or his any wrong. At every sentence of which they shouted and said Amen in their way."

The "Great Treaty" was preserved by the head chiefs of the Turtle Clan of Delawares for generations. Chief Killbuck is said to have lost the historic document when, on March 24th, 1782, he fled to Fort Pitt to escape death at the hands of the Scotch- Irish settlers who attacked him and other friendly Delawares on Smoky Island, also called Killbuck's Island, in the Ohio River, near the fort.

Tamanend

The great Delaware chief, Tamanend, (Tammany, etc.) from whom William Penn and his agents purchased lands and with whom Penn made the "Great Treaty," was head chief of the Unami or Turtle Clan of Delawares from before 1683 until 1697 and, perhaps, later. He is referred to in the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania as "King" of the Delawares, owing to the fact that

74 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the head chief of the Turtle Clan always presided at the councils of the three clans composing the Delaware nation. Heckewelder thus describes Tamanend :

"The name of Tamanend is held in the highest veneration by all the Indians. Of all the chiefs and great men which the Lenape nation ever had, he stands foremost on the list. But, although many fabulous stories are circulated about him among the whites, but little of his real history is known. The misfortunes which have befallen some of the most beloved and esteemed personages among the Indians since the Europeans came among them, pre- vent the survivors from indulging in the pleasure of recalling to mind the memory of their virtues. No white man who regards their feeling, will introduce such subjects in conversation with them. All we know, therefore, of Tamanend is that he was an ancient Delaware chief who never had an equal. He was, in the highest degree, endowed with wisdom, virtue, prudence, charity, affability, meekness, hospitality; in short with every good and noble qualification that a human being may possess. He was supposed to have had intercourse with the great and good Spirit; for he was a stranger to everything that is bad. The fame of this great man extended even among the whites, who fabricated numerous legends concerning him, which I never heard, however, from the mouth of an Indian, and, therefore, believe to be fabulous. In the Revolutionary War, his enthusiastic admirers dubbed him a saint and he was established under the name of Saint Tammany, the Patron Saint of America. His name was inserted in some calendars and his festival celebrated on the first day of May in every year."

Heckewelder then describes the celebrations in honor of Saint Tammany. They were conducted along Indian lines, and in- cluded the smoking of the calumet and Indian dances in the open air. "Tammany Societies" in the early part of our history as a nation, were organized in several American cities.

Tamanend 's last appearance in recorded history was when he, his brother and sons, conveyed the lands to William Penn on July 5th, 1697. But three years prior thereto, or on July 6th, 1694, he appeared at a council at Philadelphia, a number of other Delaware chiefs accompanying the venerable sachem. At this council, he thus expressed his friendly feelings for the colonists, in a speech addressed to Lieutenant-Governor Markham: "We and the Christians of this river [Delaware] have always had a free road- way to one another, and although sometimes a tree has fallen

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 75

across the road, yet we have still removed it again, and kept the path clean ; and we design to continue the old friendship that has been between us and you."

Tamanend died before July, 1701, but the date of his death is not known. All that is mortal of this great and good chieftain reposes in the soil of the beautiful valley of the Neshamminy, — the region which he and his associate chiefs conveyed to "Mi- quon," or "Brother Onas," as the Indians affectionately called William Penn. His grave is believed to be in "Tammany Burial Ground," near Chalfonte, Bucks County.

Penn's Two Sojourns in his Province

William Penn remained in his Province until June 12th, 1684, on which date he sailed for England. Before leaving, he provided for the administration of the government of the Province, lodging the executive power with the Provincial Council. During the spring or summer of 1683, he had visited the interior of the Pro- vince, going as far as the Susquehanna and holding many friendly conferences with the Indians of the interior.

William Penn returned to Pennsylvania in December, 1699, after an absence of fifteen years ; and he remained in his Province until the autumn of 1701, when he left finally, arriving in England about the middle of December of that year. During his second sojourn in Pennsylvania, he made his home in his commodious Manor House, at Pennsbury, in Falls Township, Bucks County, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. The erection of the man- sion had been started during his absence and was completed by him after his return. Here he received many visits from different Indian chiefs, a room in the mansion having been set apart for Indian conferences.

During Penn's second sojourn in his Province, he endeavored to obtain additional legislation placing restrictions on the inter- course with the Indians, in order to protect them from the arts of the whites and the ravages of the rum trafific. He also endeavored to have the natives instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. In order to improve the temporal condition of the natives, he held frequent conferences at his manor house with various sachems; and frequently visited them in their forest homes, participating in their festivals. When they visited him at Pennsbury, it is said that he joined with them in their sports and games, ate hominy, venison, and roasted acorns with them, and matched them in

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strength and agility. It is recorded that nineteen Indian treaties were concluded and conferences held at Pennsbury.

Penn's Treaty with the Susquehannas, Shawnees, Conoys and Five Nations

After the close of King William's war, the governor of New York made a treaty of peace with the Five Nations; and at William Penn's suggestion it was extended to the other English colonies. On April 23rd, 1701, Penn entered into "Articles of Agreement," or a treaty at Philadelphia, with the Susquehannas, Minquas, or Conestogas, the Shawnees, the Ganawese, Conoys, or Piscataways, the latter then dwelling on the northern bank of the Potomac, and the Five Nations. In this treaty the Susquehannas were represented by Connodaghtoh, their "King," and three chiefs of the same; the Shawnees were represented by Opessah, or Wopaththa, their "King," and two other chiefs; the Conoys, Ganawese, or Piscataways, were represented by four of their chiefs; and the Five Nations were represented by Ahoakassongh, "brother to the emperor or great king of the Onondagas."

We are now ready to state the provisions of the treaty. After first reciting the good understanding that had prevailed between William Penn and his lieutenants, on the one hand, and the vari- ous Indian nations inhabiting his Province, on the other hand, since his first arrival in Pennsylvania, and expressing that there should be forever a hrm and lasting peace between Penn and his successors and the various Indian chiefs of his Province, the treaty provided as follows:

First. That the said "kings and chiefs" and the various In- dians under their authority should, at no time, hurt, injure or de- fraud any inhabitants of the Colony of Penn ; and that Penn and his successors should not sufifer any injury to be done the Indians by any of his colonists.

Second. That the Indians should, at all times, behave them- selves in a sober manner according to the laws of the Colony where they lived near or among the Christian Inhabitants thereof; and that they should have the full and free privileges and immunities of the laws of the Colony of Penn in the same manner as the whites, and acknowledge the authority of the crown of England in the Province.

Third. That none of the Indians should, at any time, aid.

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assist or abet any other nation, whether of Indians or others, that would at any time not be in amity with the king of England.

Fourth. That, if at any time, the Indians should hear from evil-minded persons or sowers of sedition any unkind reports of the English, representing that the English had evil designs against the Indians, in such case the Indians should send notice thereof to Penn or his successors, and not give credence to such reports until fully satisfied concerning the truth of the same. Penn agreed that he and his successors should at all times act in the same manner toward the Indians.

Fifth. That the Indians should not suffer any strange nations of Indians to settle on the farther side of the Susquehanna or about the Potomac, except those that were already seated there, nor bring any other Indians into any part of the Province without the permission of Penn or his successors.

Sixth. Penn, for the purpose of correcting abuses that were too frequently connected with the fur trade with the Indians, agreed on the part of himself and his successors, that no one should be permitted to trade with the Indians without first securing a license under the Governor's hand and seal; and the Indians agreed, on their part, not to permit any person whatsoever to buy or sell, or have any trade with them, without first having a license so to do.

Seventh. The Indians agreed not to sell or dispose of any of their skins or furs to any person whatsoever outside of the Pro- vince; and Penn bound himself and his successors to furnish the Indians with all kinds of necessary goods for their use, at reason- able rates.

Eighth. The Conoys, Ganawese, or Piscataways, should have leave of Penn and his successors to settle on any part of the Poto- mac River within the bounds of Penn's Province. (At this time, the vexed question as to the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland was unsettled.)

Ninth. The Susquehannas, or Conestogas, as a part of these articles of agreement, absolutely ratified and confirmed the sale of lands lying near and about the Susquehanna, formerly conveyed to William Penn, by deed of Governor Dongan of New York, and later confirmed by the deed of the Conestogas, dated the 13th day of September, in the year 1700. The Susquehannas also agreed to be, at all times, ready further to confirm and make good the said sale, according to the tenor of the same, and that they would be answerable to Penn and his successors for the good behavior

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of the Conoys or Ganawese, and for their performing of their several agreements which were a part of this treaty.

Tenth. In the last item of the agreement, Penn promised, for himself and his successors, that they would, at all times, show themselves true friends and brothers to all of the Indians by assist- ing them with the best of their "advices, directions and counsel," and would, in all things just and reasonable, befriend them; and the chiefs promised, for themselves and their successors, to behave themselves according to the tenor of the agreement, and to submit to the laws of the Province in the same manner as "the English and other Christians therein do." The agreement was then con- cluded by the exchange of skins and furs, on the part of the In- dians, and goods and merchandise, on the part of Penn.

At about the time of making this historic treaty of peace with the Indians on the Susquehanna, William Penn had journied into the interior of his Province, and conferred with the Conestogas at Conestoga, their principal town, in Lancaster County, the Cones- togas being responsible for the good behavior of the Shawnees in their vicinity, as was pointed out in Chapter II. Penn wrote to James Logan, in June, 1701, of his visit to the Conestoga region, as follows : "We were entertained right nobly at the Indian King's palace at Conestoga." At that time, Penn intended the founding of a "great city" in the Conestoga region, on the Susquehanna.

At the time of this treaty, most of the Conoy were living on the north bank of the Potomac, though some had already entered Pennsylvania as early as 1698 or 1699, as stated in Chapter II. Some years after the treaty, or in the summer of 1705, the Dela- ware chief, Manangy, living on the Schuylkill, interviewed Gov- ernor John Evans, at Philadelphia, explaining that the Conoy, "settled in this Province near the head of the Potomac, being now reduced by sickness to a small number, and desirous to quit their present habitation where they settled about five years ago with the Proprietor's consent, the Conestoga Indians then becoming guarantees of a treaty of friendship, made between them, and showing a belt of wampum they had sent to the Schuylkill Indians to engage their friendship and consent that they might settle amongst them near Tulpehocken, request of the Governor that they may be permitted to settle in the said place." The Governor then permitted the Conoy to settle in the valley of the Tulpe- hocken, Manangy and his band on the Schuylkill guaranteeing their good behavior.

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 79

The historic Treaty or Articles of Agreement of April 23d, 1701 should have a high and glorious place in the history of Penn- sylvania. The articles are recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, pages 15 to 18; also in Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 144 to 147. The treaty was carefully preserved by the Shawnees for many decades. On November 12th, 1764, when Colonel Henry Bouquet was holding conferences with Nimwha, Red Hawk, Cornstalk and other Shawnee chiefs, on the Muskingum, relative to the part this tribe had taken in Pontiac's War, Red Hawk produced this historic document and three messages or letters from the Governor of Pennsylvania of different dates, and said:

"Now, Brother, I beg we, who are warriors, may forget our disputes, and renew the friendship which appears by these papers to have subsisted between our fathers."

Indians Bid Farewell to William Penn

Shortly before embarking for England, in the autumn of 1701, William Penn assembled a large company of the Delawares at his manor house at Pennsbury to review and confirm the covenants of peace and good will, which he had formerly made with them. The meeting was held in the great hall of the manor house. The sachems assured him that they had never broken a covenant "made with their hearts and not with their heads." After the business of the conference had been transacted, Penn made them many presents of coats and other articles, and then the Indians retired into the courtyard of the mansion to complete their ceremonies.

By some authorities it is said that Queen Allaquippa, of the Senecas, with her husband and infant visited William Penn at New Castle, Delaware, shortly before he sailed for England the last time. These authorities say that Queen Allaquippa's infant was Canachquasy, the great peace apostle among the Delawares during the early days of the French and Indian War. In this connection, we point out that, in the minutes of a meeting of the Provincial Council, August 22nd, 1755, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 588 and 589), Canachquasy is referred to as "the son of old Allaguipas, whose mother was now alive and living near Ray's Town"; also that George Croghan wrote from Aughwick, December 23d, 1754, (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 218), that, "Alequeapy, ye old quine, is dead and Left several children." It seems quite likely, therefore, that Canachquasy was the son of

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the Iroquois chief, Allaguipas, whose name was similar in sound to that of Queen Allaquippa.

Likewise, Oretyagh, with a number of the sachems of the Conestogas and Shawnees, came to Philadelphia shortly before Penn's final departure for England, to take leave of their beloved "Brother Onas." At this conference, which was held on October 7th, 1701, Penn informed the chiefs that it was likely the last inter- view that he would ever have with them ; that he had ever loved and been kind to them and ever would continue so to be, not through political designs or for a selfish interest, but out of real affection. He desired them, in his absence to cultivate friendship with those whom he would leave in authority, so that the bond of friendship already formed might grow the stronger throughout the passing years. He also informed them that the Assembly was at that time enacting a law, according to their desire, to pre- vent their being abused by the selling of rum among them, with which Oretyagh, in the name of the rest, expressed great satis- faction, and desired that the law might speedily and efifectually be put into execution. Oretyagh said that his people had long suffered from the ravages of the rum traffic, and that he now hoped for redress, believing that they would have no reason for complaint of this matter in the future.

Penn early saw the degradation which the Indians' unquench- able thirst for strong drink wrought among them, and he did all in his power to remedy this matter. He said that it made his heart sick to note the deterioration of character and the degrada- tion which the strong liquor and vices of the white man wrought among the Indians during his short stay in the Province.

Finally, at this leavetaking, Penn requested the Indians that, if any of his colonists should ever transgress the law and agree- ment, which he and his governor had entered into with them, they should at once inform the government of his Province, so that the offenders might be prosecuted. This they promised to observe faithfully, and that, if any rum were brought among them, they would not buy it, but send the person who brought it back with it again. Then, informing the chiefs that he had charged the mem- bers of his Council that they should, in all respects, be kind and just to the Indians in every manner as he had been, and making them presents, he bade them adieu never to meet them again.

Well would it have been for the Colony of Pennsylvania, if Penn's successors had always emulated his example, and the example of the Swedes, in dealing with the Indians — if his sue-

THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 81

cessors had been imbued with his kindly spirit, and had treated the natives with justice. He died on the 30th of July, 1718, at Ruscombe, near Tywford, in Buckinghamshire, England, at the age of seventy-four; and when his great heart was cold and still in death, the Red Man of the Pennsylvania forests lost his truest friend. During Penn's life there were no serious troubles between his colony and the Indian, and no actual warfare, as we shall see, for some years thereafter; but, less than a generation after this great apostle of the rights of man was gathered to his fathers, the Delawares, who had welcomed him so kindly, and the Shawnees, rose in revolt, after a long series of wrongs, and spread terror, devastation, and death throughout the Pennsylvania settlements. Says Dr. George P. Donehoo: "The memory of William Penn lingered in the wigwams of the Susquehanna and the Ohio until the last red man of this generation had passed away; and then the tradition of him was handed down to the generations which fol- lowed until today, when it still lingers, like a peaceful benediction, among the Delaware and Shawnee on the sweeping plains of Oklahoma."

CHAPTER IV

Principal Indian Events From 1701 to 1754

As stated in the preceding chapter, WilHam Penn left his ^/~\Province in the autumn of 1701 never to return. For many years after his departure, there was much uneasiness among the Indians of the lower Susquehanna due to the following facts: (1) The Iroquois regarded the Shawnees as enemies because of the latter's alliance with the Susquehannas or Conestogas. (2) The Iroquois made the villages of the Conoys on the lower Sus- quehanna their stopping places while going to and returning from the Carolinas in their war against the Catawbas and Cherokees. (3) The boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland caused friction between the white traders of the Cones toga region, and led to open hostility of the people of Maryland to the Sus- quehannas, Shawnees, Conoys and other Indians of this region.

At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on May 9, 1704 and reported in Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, page 138, Edward Farmer reported to Governor John Evans that "Carolina Indians" (most likely Catawbas), to the number of forty, had recently made a raid into the Conestoga region in revenge for the capture of one of their number by the Iroquois the year before. Farmer, who had received his information from Nicole Godin, a trader at Conestoga, further advised the Governor that the "Carolina Indians" declared that for many years they had been attacked by Indians from the northward, "whom they had always hitherto taken to be those of Canada, but now found who they were, viz: ye Senecas & those Potomock & Conestogoe, & that they were Resolved to be Revenged, & to that end three nations had Joyned & would shortly come up & either destroy or be destroyed by them." Two weeks later Peter Bezallion, a French trader in the Conestoga region, reported to the Provincial Council that he had heard that the Five Nations were coming into the Province to carry off the Shawnees settled near Conestoga and

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 83

those settled at the mouth of the Lehigh, "they being colonies of a nation that were their enemies."

Council with Conestogas, Shawnees, and Conoys

On the sixth and seventh of June, 1706, a council was held at Philadelphia between Governor John Evans and "the chiefs of the Conestogas, Shawnees, and Ganawese, or Conoys," con- cerning public affairs relating to these tribes. Indian Harry, of the Conestogas, was the interpreter. In the minutes of the council, the Colonial Records do not specifically state that Opessah was present, but, being the head of the Shawnees at Pequea, there is no doubt that he attended the council. This council opened with Secretary James Logan's account of his journey to the Conestogas and Conoy during the preceding October and the treaty which was then held with the Conoy at their town (Connejaghera, Cone- joholo, Dekanoagah) near the site of Washington Borough, Lancaster County, by the terms of which treaty, the Conoy were assured that they would be safe in Penn's Province. The Conoy explained to James Logan, at the time of his visit, that they had had much trouble with the Virginians, and, considering it not safe to dwell in their old abode on the Potomac, had come within the bounds of Pennsylvania, where they hoped to dwell in peace.

At the meeting at Conestoga, in October, 1705, Secretary Logan reminded the assembled chiefs that "Governor W. Penn, since first he came into this Countrey, with all those under him, had always inviolably maintain'd a perfect Friendship with all the natives of this Countrey, that he found Possess'd of it at his first arrival" and that "when he was last in the Countrey he visited those of that place Conestoga, and his son upon his arrival did the same, in order to cultivate the ancient friendship:" and complaint was also made that John Hans Steelman was building a trading house at Conestoga, much to the annoyance of Penn- sylvania, as Steelman was represented to be a Marylander, and had no license to trade with the Indians of Penn's Province. The chiefs informed Logan that they did not encourage Steelman's activities.

During this council at Philadelphia, Andaggy-Junguagh, chief of the Conestogas, laid before Governor Evans a very large belt of wampum, which he said was a pledge of peace formerly delivered by the Onondagas to the Nanticokes when the Ononda- gas had subjugated this tribe. He explained that the Nanticokes,

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being lately under some apprehension of danger from the Five Nations, some of them had, in the spring of 1706, come to the region of the Conestogas, and had brought this belt with them, as well as another belt, which, the chief explained, he left at his village in Lancaster County. He further advised the Governor that the Five Nations, of whom the Onondagas, as has been seen, were a member, were presently expected to send deputies to receive the tribute of the Nanticokes; that he had brought this belt to Philadelphia in order that the Colonial Authorities might be able to show it to any of the Five Nations, who might come to Philadelphia, as evidence to them that peace had been made. The Provincial Council, after considering the matter, concluded to keep the belt according to the proposal of the Conestogas; and the Conestogas promised to retain the other belt at their chief town, to be shown to the Five Nations if any of their deputies should come to Conestoga.

The remaining time of the council was taken up by explaining to the chiefs of these three nations the laws which had been re- cently enacted regulating the intercourse between the Province and these Indians. Evans explained to the chiefs that a law had recently been enacted providing that no person should trade with them but such as should first have a license from the Governor under his hand and seal. The chiefs requested the Governor that only two traders be licensed, but Evans explained that the fewer the number of traders the more likely it would be that the Indians would be imposed upon. They then desired of the Governor that he would not permit the traders to go beyond their towns and meet the Indians returning from hunting, explaining that it had been the traders' custom to meet the Indians returning from their hunt, when they were loaded with furs and peltries, make them drunk, and get all of the fruits of their hunt before they returned to their wives and families. The Governor agreed to this proposal and told the chiefs that their people should have no dealings with the traders, except at their own villages, and that he would in- struct the traders not to go any farther into the Susquehanna region than the principal Indian towns, and to do no trading whatever, except in those places. Liberal presents were then given the chiefs, and the council adjourned.

The minutes of this important council are found in the Penn- sylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, pages 244 to 248.

At a meeting of the Provincial Council on the 31st of August, 1706, it was decided that Governor Evans should visit Conestoga

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 85

and the region round about it, for the purpose of further strength- ening the bond of friendship between the Indians and the Colony. The Governor accordingly journeyed to this region early in Sep- tember, where he was well received by the Conestogas, Shawnees and Conoys; but his visit was the cause of much scandal on ac- count of his actions while there.

Governor Evans' Journey to the Susquehanna Region

The French, as early as 1707, had their emissaries among the Conestogas under the guise of traders, miners or colonists in an effort to draw them away from their allegiance to the English. Likewise, the colony of Maryland was pushing her pioneers over the boundary, in an effort to forestall the claims of William Penn by actual settlement.

In the month of June, 1707, Governor Evans, accompanied by Colonel John French, William Tonge, and several other Friends, and four servants, made a journey among the Susquehanna In- dians, upon receiving a message from the Conestogas that the Nanticokes, who now had been tributaries of the Five Nations for twenty-seven years, intended journeying to the Onondagas in New York. He visited the following places : Pequea, Dekanoagah Conestoga, and Paxtang, near Harrisburg.

At Pequea, the Governor and his party were received by the Shawnees with a discharge of firearms, and a conference was held, on June 30th, with Opessah, in which the chief told the Governor that he and his people were "happy to live in a country at peace, and not as in those parts where we formerly lived, for then, upon returning from hunting, we found our town surprised, and our women and children taken prisoners by our enemies." While the Governor was at Pequea, several Shawnees from the South came to settle there, and were permitted to do so by Opessah, with the Governor's consent.

At Dekanoagah, the Governor was present at a meeting of the Shawnees, Conoys, and Nanticokes from seven of the surrounding towns. After having satisfied himself that the Nanticokes were a well meaning people, the Governor guaranteed them the pro- tection of the Colony of Pennsylvania.

The Governor, having received information at Pequea that a Frenchman, named Nicole, was holding forth among the Indians at Paxtang, about whom he had received many complaints, and having advised the chief at Paxtang of his intention to seize this

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French trader, captured Nicole, after much difficulty, and, having mounted him on a horse with his legs tied, conveyed him through Tulpehocken and Manatawney, to Philadelphia, and lodged him in jail.

The report of Governor Evans' trip is recorded in the Penn- sylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, pages 386 to 390.

Troubles Between the Northern and the Southern Indians Continue — Great Conferences at Conestoga

As was pointed out in Chapter II, the Tuscaroras began their migration from the Carolinas and Virginia to the territory of the Five Nations in New York, in 1712 or 1713, and were formally admitted, in 1722, as a constituent part of the Iroquois Con- federation. While the Tuscaroras were still living in their southern home, they were bitter enemies of the Catawbas, and their hatred did not abate upon their removing to New York. Almost every summer after 1713, roving bands of the Tuscaroras and other members of the Five Nations, followed the mountain valleys through Pennsylvania to the South, on their way to attack the Catawbas and Cherokees; and many Conestogas joined these war parties. Some destruction was done by these bands within the Province of Pennsylvania, but presently the Colonial Au- thorities adopted the method of having the farmers, whose crops . were injured, place their bill in the hands of the nearest justice of the peace, who would, in turn, forward it to the Provincial Coun- cil; and, at the next conference with the Indians, the Council would deduct the amount of the bill from the present given to the Indians at that conference. This method made Pennsylvania practically free from ravages wrought by these bands. The colony of Virginia, however, did not fare so well, and both lives and property were destroyed by these bands of warriors from the North.

These war parties of the Iroquois frequently made Conestoga their stopping place on their way to and return from the territory of the Catawbas and Cherokees, and many a captive Catawba and Cherokee was tortured to death at Conestoga. Finally a treaty of peace was made between the Conestogas and Catawbas, on August 31st, 1715, but this did not put a stop to the expeditions of the Iroquois against the Southern Indians.

In June, 1717, Governor William Keith received a message from the Conestoga chief, Civility, and several other chiefs of the

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 87

Conestoga region, desiring him to visit them without delay to consult about affairs of great importance. The Governor, ac- cordingly, journeyed to Conestoga, in July, where he met the chiefs of the Conestogas, Delawares, Shawnees, and Conoys, and inquired of them the cause of their alarm. He ascertained that about two months previously a young Delaware, son of a chief, had been killed on one of the branches of the Potomac by a party of Virginians accompanied by some Indians. These latter were no doubt Catawbas, who, at that time, were at peace with Virginia. At this meeting at Conestoga, Governor Keith brought to the attention of the Indians that many complaints had been made by the inhabitants of Virginia concerning the destruction caused by the war parties of the Iroquois against the Catawbas; and he reminded them of the fact that, although divided into different colonies, the English were one people; that to injure or make war upon one body of them was to make war upon all, and that the Indians, therefore, must never molest or trouble any of the English colonists, nor make war upon any Indians who were in friendship with, or under the protection of, the English.

At this conference, Keith stressed the fact that recently a band of Senecas had attacked some Catawbas near Fort Christian, in the colony of Virginia, killing six and capturing a woman; and he called upon the Indians of the Conestoga region to explain their connection with this insult to Virginia. The Shawnee chief told the Governor that six young men of this tribe had accom- panied the party of Senecas who made the attack upon the Cataw- bas, but explained that none of the six were present at the time and place of this conference, "their settlements being much higher up the Susquehanna River." The chief further stated that the six Shawnees declared, upon their return, that they had nothing to do with the attack upon the Catawbas.

Governor Keith closed the conference with the following stipu- lations, quoted from the minutes of the conference:

"1st. That he expected their strict observance of all former contracts of friendship made between them and the Govern- ment of Pennsylvania.

"2dly. That they must never molest or disturb any of the English Governments, nor make war upon any Indians whatso- ever who are in friendship with and under the protection of the English.

"3dly. That, in all cases of suspicion or danger, they must

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advise and consult with this Government before they undertook or determined any thing.

"4thly. That, if through accident any mischief of any sort should happen to be done by the Indians to the English, or by the English to them, then both parties should meet with hearty in- tention of good will to obtain an acknowledgment of the mistake, as well as to give or receive reasonable satisfaction.

"5thly. That, upon these terms and conditions, the Governor did, in the name of their great and good friend, William Penn, take them and their people under the same protection, and in the same friendship with this Government, as William Penn himself had formerly done, or could do now if he was here present.

"And the Governor hereupon did promise, on his part, to encourage them in peace, and to nourish and support them like a true friend and brother.

"To all which the several chiefs and their great men presently assented, it being agreed, that, in testimony thereof, they should rise up and take the Governor by the hand, which accordingly they did with all possible marks of friendship in their countenance and behaviour."

The chiefs taking part in these councils at Conestoga, in July, 1717, represented the Conestogas or Susquehannas, the Dela- wares, the Shawnees and the Conoys. Peter Bezallion was the interpreter. For a detailed account of the conferences, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages 19 to 25.

In 1719, great difficulties arose concerning the hunting grounds of the Northern and the Southern Indians. The Iroquois sent out many war parties, which stopped at Conestoga on their way south, and were joined by many of the Conestogas. These raids into the Shenandoah Valley brought many white settlers of Virginia and the Carolinas into hostility to the Iroquois; for these colonies were then on friendly terms with the Catawbas and Cherokees, against whom the raids were directed. In fact, a general uprising of the settlers of Virginia and the Carolinas was imminent. The Iroquois conducted their warfare on the Southern Indians with great brutality, torturing many captives to death at Conestoga and villages on the Susquehanna.

On receiving a letter from Civility and other chiefs at Cones- toga advising that some of their Indians had been killed by the Southern Indians, Governor Keith sent Colonel John French to Conestoga, where a council was held on June 28th, 1719, with

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 89

Civility and Queen Canatowa of the Conestogas, "Wightomina, King of the Delawares, Sevana, King of the Shawnees," who suc- ceeded Opessah at Pequea, and "Winninchack, King of the Cana- wages" [Conoys]. In the name of Governor Keith, Colonel French made the following demands of Civility and the other chiefs: That they should not receive the war parties of the Tuscaroras, or any other tribes of the Five Nations, if coming to their towns on their way to or return from the South; and that they would have to answer to the Colonial Authorities, if any prisoner were tortured by them. It appeared, however, that the warriors of the Five Nations, on their way southward, practically forced the young men of the Conestogas, Shawnees, and Conoy to accompany them. As the conquerors of these tribes, the Iroquois demanded their allegiance and help. The chiefs promised faith- fully to obey the commands of Governor Keith, but the war went on.

James Logan, Secretary of the Provincial Council, on June 27, 1720, held a conference at Conestoga with Civility and chiefs of the Shawnees, Delawares, and Conoy, in an attempt to dissuade these Indians from making raids into Virginia. Not long before, ten Iroquois and two Shawnees had been killed by the Southern Indians about one hundred and sixty miles from Conestoga. At this conference, Logan learned that the Pequea Shawnees could not be restrained from assisting the Iroquois, inasmuch as since the departure of Opessah, no one could control them. True, the Conestogas were answerable for the behavior of these Shawnees, but Civility advised Logan that he "had only the name without any authority, and could do nothing." Moreover, it was difficult for Logan to impress upon the minds of these Indians the fact that the English of Virginia and Maryland were not at war with the English of Pennsylvania. They could not see why the Indians in friendship with Pennsylvania should not go to war against the Virginians, just as the Iroquois went to war against the Indians of Virginia and the Carolinas.

At the close of the conference. Civility told Logan privately that the Five Nations, especially the Cayugas, were much dis- satisfied because of the large settlements the English were making on the Susquehanna, and that the Iroquois claimed a property right in those lands. As to the Iroquois' claim to a property right in the Susquehanna lands, Logan told Civility that the Indians well knew that the Iroquois had long before conveyed those lands to the Governor of New York, and that William Penn had pru-

% THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

chased this right, as will be pointed out later in this chapter. Civility acknowledged this fact.

Realizing the awful consequences of a general war between the Iroquois and their allies, on the one side, and the Southern In- dians on the other, involving the settlers of the South, Governor Keith, in the spring of 1721, visited Governor Spotswood of Virginia with whom he framed an agreement, by the terms of which the tributary Indians of Virginia would not, in the future, pass the Potomac nor "the high ridge of mountains extending along the back of Virginia; provided that the Indians to the north- ward of the Potomac and to the westward of those mountains" would observe the same limits.

Governor Keith, accompanied by seventy armed horsemen, visited Conestoga on July 5th, 1721, where he conferred, at Civility's lodge, not only with the Conestogas but also with four deputies of the Five Nations, who had recently arrived there, telling the spokesman of the Five Nations, Ghesoant, that, "whereas the English from a very small beginning had now be- come a great people in the Western World, far exceeding the num- ber of all the Indians, which increase was the fruit of peace among themselves, the Indians continued to make war upon one another and were destroying one another, as if it was their pur- pose that none of them should be left alive." He called attention to the suffering that their wars caused to the women and children at home, and, in various ways, tried to mollify their warlike passions, but stated that, if they were determined to continue warfare, they must, in journeying to and from the South, take another path lying farther to the west, and not pass through the settled parts of the Province. The result of the conference was the ratifying by the Conestogas and Five Nations of the agree- ment arranged by Governor Keith and Governor Spotswood as to the limits of the hunting grounds of the Virginia and the Penn- sylvania Indians. Keith closed the conference by giving Ghesoant a gold coronation medal of George, the First, which he asked him to take as a token of friendship to the greatest chief of the Five Nations, Kannygoodk. Thus, happily, the immediate danger of a general Indian uprising was averted.

This was the most important Indian treaty ever held at Con- estoga. Its details are recorded in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol, 3, pages 121 to 130. Later, troubles came on apace between the Iroquois and the Southern Indians, but the Iroquois abandoned the Susquehanna route to the South, taking the

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 91

Warrior's Path, which crossed the Potomac at Old Town (Opes- sah's Town), and, still later, when white settlers occupied the valley along Warrior Ridge, a trail farther westward, crossing the counties of Westmoreland and Fayette.

Sassoonan's Deed of Release

In the autumn of 1718, Sassoonan and several other chiefs of the Delawares came to Philadelphia, claiming that they had not been paid for their lands. Then, James Logan, secretary of the Provincial Council, produced to them, in the presence of the Council, a number of deeds, and convinced Sassoonan and his brother chiefs that they were mistaken in their contention. Ac- cordingly, Sassoonan and six other chiefs executed a release on the 17th day of September, 1718, by the terms of which they acknowledged that their ancestors had conveyed to William Penn, in fee, all the land and had been paid for the same. By the same instrument these Indians released all the land "between the Delaware and the Susquehanna from Duck Creek [in Delaware] to the mountains [the South Mountain] on this side of Lechay [by the Lehigh River]."

At the time of executing this deed of release, Sassoonan was living at Paxtang, and adjacent parts; but it is probable that shortly thereafter he took up his abode at Shamokin (Sunbury), which became his home for the remainder of his life.

Tawena and Springettsbury Manor

Tawena, a chief of the Conestogas, claims our remembrance on account of his connection with the survey of Springettsbury Manor, in June, 1722. At that time, the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland was still in dispute, and Maryland settlers were encroaching on territory claimed by Pennsylvania. In order to secure a right and title to the lands, in Pennsylvania upon which these settlers had encroached, Governor William Keith, before he went to attend the Albany treaty, or conference, of September, 1722, conceived the. idea of obtaining permission of the Indians along the lower Susquehanna to lay off a large manor, and accordingly went to Conestoga, where, on June 15th and 16th of that year, he held a conference with the Conestoga, Shawnee and Conoy chiefs, telling them of the encroachments of the Marylanders in what is now York County, and suggesting

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the plan to take up a large tract of land on the west side of the Susquehanna for Springett Penn, grandson of the founder of th*> Province. Keith spoke at great length and with great earnestness. He told the Indians that the grandson had the same kind of heart as his grandfather had, and that he would be glad to give the Indians a part of the land for their use and occupation. He further said that the land should be marked with Springett Penn's name upon the trees, so that the Maryland people would then keep off, and that such marking would prevent all white persons from settling near enough the Indians to disturb them.

Owing to the love of these Indians for William Penn, Governor Keith won his point. They replied through Tawena, agreeing to give up the land, but requesting that the Governor take up the matter further with the Cayugas when he would attend the Albany conference. However, they requested that the land be surveyed at once. The warrant was made out, and John French, Francis Worley and James Mitchell surveyed the tract on June 20th and 21st. It was named Springettsbury Manor, and con- tained 75,520 acres, according to the survey. The boundary line began opposite the mouth of Conestoga Creek, and ran south- west ten miles, thence northwest twelve miles to a point north of the present city of York, thence northeast to the Susquehanna River, thence along this stream to the place of beginning. The Marylanders paid no attention to the survey. The Manor was surveyed again, in 1768.

The warrant and survey were not returned to the land office, and the entire transaction appears to have been done under the private seal of Governor Keith. Nor was any actual purchase made from the Indians, at the conference of June 15th and 16th, 1722. Springett Penn held whatever title he had in trust for the proprietaries.

The Threatened Uprising of 1728

On May 6, 1728, Governor Gordon advised the Provincial Council that he had recently received a letter from John Wright, a trader, at Conestoga, stating that two Conestogas had been murdered by several of the Shawnees in that neighborhood, and that the Conestogas seemed to be preparing to declare war on the Shawnees, in retaliation. The Governor also advised the Council, at this time, that he had received a petition signed by a great number of the settlers in the back parts of Lancaster County, setting forth that they were under great apprehension of being

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attacked by the Indians, and that many families had left their homes through fear of an Indian uprising. Wright further in- formed the Governor, in his letter, that the Shawnees had brought the Shawnee murders as far as Peter Chartier's house, at which place the party engaged in much drinking, and, through the connivance of Chartier, the two Shawnee murderers escaped. It is not surprising that Chartier let the murderers escape, as he him- self was a half blood Shawnee. He was at that time trading at Pequea Creek. His action so incensed the Conestogas that they threatened to destroy all the Shawnees in that region.

Almost at the same time that the murder of the Conestogas occurred, the settlers along the valley of the Schuylkill became much alarmed for their safety from another quarter. Kako- watcheky, who was the head of the Shawnees living at Pecho- quealin, in what is now lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County, claimed that he had learned that the Flatheads, or Catawbas, from North Carolina, had entered Pennsylvania with the intention of striking the Indians along the Susquehanna; and he, accordingly, led eleven warriors to ascertain the truth of this rumor, who, when they came into the neighborhood of the Dur- ham Iron Works, near Manatawny, in the northern part of Berks County, their provisions failed, and they forced the settlers to give them food and drink. The settlers did not know these Indians, and believing the chief of the band to be a Spanish Indian, they were in great terror; families fled from their planta- tions and women and children suffered greatly from exposure, as the weather was raw and cold. There seems to be little doubt that Kakowatcheky was leading this band to Paxtang to assist the Shawnees of that place, who had been threatened by the Conestogas on account of the above mentioned murder of the two Conestogas.

A band of about twenty settlers took up arms and approached the invaders, sending two of their number to treat with the chief, who, instead of receiving them civilly, brandished his sword, and commanded his men to fire, which they did, and wounded two of the settlers. The settlers thereupon returned the fire, upon which the chief fell, but afterwards got up and ran into the woods, leav- ing his gun behind him. The identity of this Indian band was not known until May 20th, when two traders from Pechoquealin, John Smith and Nicholas Schonhoven, came to Governor Gordon and delivered to him a message from Kakowatcheky, explaining the unfortunate affair, sending his regrets, and asking the Gover-

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nor for the return of the gun which he dropped when wounded. The Governor, then, accompanied by many citizens of Phila- delphia,went to the troubled district, and personally pleaded with those settlers who had left their plantations to return. He found them so excited that they seemed ready to kill Indians of both sexes, but finally succeeded in pacifying them.

The Governor was about ready to return home when he received the melancholy news from Samuel Nut that an Indian man and two women were cruelly murdered, on May 20th, at Cucussea, then in Chester County, by John and Walter Winters, without any provocation whatever, and two Indian girls badly wounded ; upon which a hue was immediately issued in an effort to apprehend the murderers. It appeared from investigation that, on the day of this murder, an Indian man, two women, and two girls, appeared at John Roberts' house, and that their neigh- bors noticing this, rallied to their defense, shot the man and one of the women, beat out the brains of the other woman, and wounded the girls, their excuse being that the Indian had put an arrow into his bow, and that they, having heard reports that some settlers had been killed by Indians, believed that the settlers might lawfully kill any Indian they could find.

The murderers were apprehended and placed in jail at Chester, for trial. A message was then sent to Sassoonan, Opekasset, and Manawkyhickon, acquainting them with the unhappy affair and requesting them to come to Conestoga, where a treaty would be held with Chief Civility and the other Indians at that place. The Provincial Council being apprehensive that this barbarous mur- der would stir up the Indians to take revenge on the settlers, a commission was appointed to get the inhabitants together and put them in a state to defend themselves. This commission con- sisted of John Pawling, Marcus Hulings, and Mordecai Lincoln, the great-great-grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, whose home was about ten miles east of the present town of Reading. Hav- ing sent Kakowatcheky the gun he had dropped, as well as the tomahawks dropped by his eleven warriors when they fled from the band of twenty settlers, as related above, together with a request that he warn the Indians under his authority to be more careful in the future, the Governor, accompanied by thirty resi- dents of Philadelphia, met the Indians at a council at Conestoga on the 26th of May, where he conferred with Civility and other Conestoga, Shawnee, Conoy, and Delaware chiefs, made them many presents, and promised to punish the two murderers, if

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 95

found guilty. John and Walter Winters were subsequently tried, found guilty, and hanged for the murder of the Indian man and two women.

At this point, the author desires to say that, in no work on Abraham Lincoln or his ancestry, has he been able to find a reference to the fact that the Great Emancipator's ancestor, Mordecai Lincoln, was a man of such ability and prominence as to be appointed by the Governor and Provincial Council of Pennsylvania as one of the three members of the important com- mission whose duty it was to place the Province in a state of defense during the threatened Indian uprising in 1728, For the account of Mordecai Lincoln's appointment, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, page 304.

Sassoonan and the Tulpehocken Lands

At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on June 5th, 1728 and reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages 318 to 321, the great Delaware chief, Sassoonan, or Al- lummapees, then residing at Shamokin (Sunbury), complained that the Palatines (immigrants from Germany) were settling on lands in the valley of the Tulpehocken, in Berks and Lebanon Counties, which, he claimed, had not been purchased from the Indians. These particular Palatines had first settled in the Schoharie Valley in New York, where they endured much suf- fering. When Governor Keith attended the Albany Conference, the hardships of these Germans were brought to his attention; whereupon his interest and sympathy were aroused, and he offered them a home in Pennsylvania. The next year (1723) some of these Palatines emigrated from New York to the Tulpe- hocken Valley, but a much greater number, about fifty families, came in 1727. They descended the Susquehanna to the mouth of Swatara Creek, in Dauphin County. Ascending this stream and crossing the divide between the Susquehanna and the Schuylkill, they entered the fertile and charming valley of the Tulpehocken. They had scarcely erected their rude cabins and commenced to plant their little patches of corn in the clearings in the wilderness, when the Indians of the neighborhood informed them that this land had never been purchased by the Pennsylvania Govern- ment. The Indians were much surprised that these settlers should be permitted to take up their abode on unpurchased land.

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"Surely," said they, "if Brother Onas were living, such things would never happen."

At this conference, Sassoonan said that he could not have be- lieved that these lands were settled upon, if he had not gone there and seen the settlements with his own eyes. In the minutes of the conference, we read: "He (Sassoonan) said he was grown old and was troubled to see the Christians settle on lands that the Indians had never been paid for; they had settled on his lands for which he had never received anything. That he is now an old man, and must soon die; that his children may wonder to see all their father's lands gone from them without his receiving any- thing for them; that the Christians now make their settlements very near them (the Indians); and they shall have no place of their own left to live on ; that this may occasion a difference be- tween their children and us, and he would willingly prevent any misunderstanding that may happen."

Governor Gordon suggested to Sassoonan that possibly the lands in dispute had been included in some of the other purchases; but Sassoonan and his brother chiefs replied that no lands had ever been sold northwest of the Blue Ridge, then called the Lehigh Hills. This conference did not succeed in settling the matter of these settlements in the Tulpehocken Valley. The matter dragged along until 1732, when Sassoonan, Elalapis, Ohopamen, Pesqueetamen, Mayemoe, Partridge, and Tepakoas- set, on behalf of themselves and all other Indians having a right in the lands, in consideration of 20 brass kettles, 20 fine guns, 50 tomahawks, 60 pairs of scissors, 24 looking glasses, 20 gallons of rum, and various other articles so acceptable to the Indians, con- veyed unto John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, pro- prietors of the Province, all those lands "situate, lying and being on the River Schuylkill and the branches thereof, between the mountains called Lechaig (Lehigh) to the south, and the hills or mountains, called Keekachtanemin, on the north, and between the branches of the Delaware River on the east, and the waters falling into the Susquehanna River on the west," — a grant which embraced the valley of the Tulpehocken. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 344 to 346.)

Sassoonan was head chief of the Turtle Clan of Delawares from a date prior to June 14th, 1715 until his death in the autumn of 1747. By some very high authorities, it is claimed that he was a son of Tamanend and, as a little boy, was with his father at the "Great Treaty" at Shackamaxon. These authorities make

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 07

Sassoonan identical with "Weheequeckhon, alias Andrew," who as stated in Chapter II, joined with his father, Tamanend, his two brothers, and his uncle, in conveying to William Penn, on the fifth day of July, 1697, certain lands between the Pennypack and Neshaminy Creeks, and whom Tamanend describes in the deed, as, "my son who is to be king after my death."

At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held in August, 1731, and reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages 404 to 406, the frequent complaints made by the Indians on ac- count of the large quantities of rum being carried to them by the traders, were taken up. The Council's attention was called to the fact that the pernicious liquor traffic had recently caused a very unhappy incident in the family of Sassoonan. In a fit of drunken- ness, he had killed his nephew, (some authorities say his cousin) Shackatawlin, at their dwelling place at Shamokin, now Sunbury. Sassoonan's grief over the unhappy incident was so great that it almost cost him his life. It was at this meeting of the Provincial Council that the great Shikellamy, who accompanied Sassoonan, issued an ultimatum to the Colonial Authorities that, if the liquor traffic among the Indians were not better regulated, friend- ly relations between Pennsylvania and the powerful Confedera- tion of the Six Nations would cease.

At Shamokin, on the banks of the beautiful Susquehanna, in the autumnal days of 1747, the aged Sassoonan, who had done so much to preserve the friendship that William Penn established with the Indians, yielded up his soul to the Great Spirit. Great changes in the relations between the Delawares and the Colony had taken place during the span of his life, and still greater changes were destined to come. In life's morning and noontide, he beheld the Delawares contented and happy in the bond of affec- tion between them and "Onas;" yet, before the night had come, his dim eyes saw on the horizon the gathering clouds of the storm that, in the autumn of 1755, broke with fury upon the land of his birth.

Efforts to Have the Shawnees Return and the Treaty of 1732

As has been seen in a former chapter, the abuses of the liquor traffic among the Shawnees were among the causes which forced a large number of this tribe to migrate from the Susquehanna to the Ohio and Allegheny valleys several years prior to 1730, when

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French emissaries, coming from Canada, seized upon this op- portunity to alienate the Shawnees from the Enghsh interest. Therefore, Governor Gordon at a council held at Philadelphia on August 16th, 1731, decided to adopt the suggestion of Secretary James Logan that a treaty be arranged with the Six Nations "to renew and maintain the same good-will and friendship for the Five Nations which the Honorable William Penn always expressed to them in his lifetime," and to prevail upon the Six Nations to assist in holding the Shawnees in their allegiance to the English. Accordingly, at this same conference, it was decided to send Shikellamy, "a trusty, good man and a great lover of the Eng- lish" to Onondaga, the capital of the Six Nations, to invite them to send deputies to Philadelphia to arrange a treaty.

In keeping with Pennsylvania's efforts to retain the friendship of the Shawnees on the Allegheny, Governor Gordon sent them a message in December, 1731, reminding them of the benefits they had received from William Penn and his successors, while they lived in the eastern part of the Province, to which message Neucheconneh and other Shawnee chiefs on the Allegheny, re- plied in their letter to the Governor, of June, 1732, giving the reasons why they had removed from the Susquehanna.

In the autumn of 1731, a tract of land, called the "Manor of Conodoguinet" and located on the west side of the Susquehanna between Conodoguinet and Yellow Breeches Creeks, was set aside for the Shawnees in an effort to induce those of this tribe who had gone to the Ohio and Allegheny, to return to the Susquehanna. Peter Chartier conveyed this information to the Shawnees on the Ohio, but they still refused to return to the eastern part of the Province.

Shikellamy returned to Philadelphia from his journey to Onondaga, on December 10th, 1731, accompanied by a Cayuga chief named Cehachquely, and Conrad Weiser and John Scull as interpreters. He reported that the Six Nations were very much pleased to hear from the Governor of Pennsylvania, but that, as winter was now coming on and their chiefs were too old to make such a fatiguing journey in the winter time, they would come to Philadelphia in the spring to meet the Governor and enter into a treaty.

On his way to meet the Governor at this time, Shikellamy stopped at the home of Conrad Weiser, near Womelsdorf, in the present county of Berks, took him along to Philadelphia and introduced him to Governor Gordon as "an adopted son of the

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Mohawk Nation;" and as this conference (December 10, 1731,) is Weiser's first connection with the Indian affairs of Pennsylvania, it will be well to pause long enough, at this point, to give a short sketch of the history of this noted man of the frontier, who later had so much to do with bringing about the ascendency of the Anglo-Saxon in the Western World.

This sturdy German was born at Afsteadt, in Herrenberg, near Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1696. At the age of thirteen, he ac- companied his father to America, and, for several years, assisted him in making tar and raising hemp on Livingston Manor, New York. The Weiser family spent the winter of 1713 and 1714 with several of the Iroquois at Schenectady, New York, where Conrad doubtless secured his first lessons in the Iroquois tongue. In the spring of 1714, he accompanied his father to the Schoharie Valley, where they endured much hardship in company with the other Palatines in that valley. When he was seventeen years old, young Weiser went to live with Quagnant, a prominent Iroquois chief, who, taking a great fancy to Conrad, requested the father that the young man might dwell with him for a time. He re- mained with the Iroquois chief for eight months, learning the Iroquois language and customs thoroughly, and was adopted by them.

In 1729, Conrad Weiser and his young wife went from New York to the Tulpehocken Valley, Pennsylvania, where, as has been related, a number of Palatines from the Schoharie Valley had settled, in 1727. The young couple built their home about one mile east of Womelsdorf, Berks County, where Weiser continued to reside until a few years before his death, when he removed to Reading. It is said that while on a hunting trip he met the great Iroquois chief, Shikellamy, the vice-gerent of the Six Nations, who was well pleased with Weiser on account of his being able to speak the Iroquois tongue, and they became fast friends.

While visiting his old home near Womelsdorf, he died July 13, 1760, much lamented by the Colony of Pennsylvania as well as by the Indians. Said a great Iroquois chieftain, commenting on the death of Weiser: "We are at a loss, and sit in darkness."

If all white men had been as just to the Indians as was this sturdy German, the history of the advance of civilization in America undoubtedly would not contain so many bloody chapters. Conrad Weiser's home is still standing, and in the orchard above the house, rests all that is mortal of this distinguished frontiers- man; while beside him are the graves of several Indian chiefs.

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Having loved him in life, they wished to repose beside him in death. A beautiful monument has been erected to his memory in the "Conrad Weiser Memorial Park," near Womelsdorf, hav- ing thereon the words which George Washington uttered concern- ing him, while standing at his grave, in 1793:

"Posterity Will Not Forget His Services."*

The Six Nations, no doubt mistrusting the motives of the English, failed to send deputies to Philadelphia in the spring of 1732, as they had promised Shikellamy. In the meantime, traders in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny reported that the French were rapidly gaining the friendship of the Shawnees in the Ohio Valley; that these Indians complained bitterly about the great quantities of rum brought to them by the English traders ; and that they would have declared war against the English, on this account, save for the influence of Peter Chartier. The Shawnees said, furthermore, that it had been only five years since the Six Nations themselves had endeavored to persuade the Ohio Indians to declare war on the English. In view of these facts, there was much anxiety on the part of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, over the failure of the deputies of the Six Nations to make their appearance in Philadelphia in the spring of 1732.

Finally, on August 18th, 1732 the deputies of the Six Nations arrived, consisting of a number of Oneida, Cayuga, and Onondaga chiefs, among whom was the celebrated Shikellamy. A few days' time being given the chiefs in which to refresh themselves after their long and toilsome journey, the famous treaty of August 23rd to September 2nd, 1732, was entered into between the Six Nations and the Colony of Pennsylvania.

We have stated that Secretary James Logan suggested this treaty; but Logan's knowledge of the influence and importance of the Six Nations and their power over the Shawnees, Delawares and other tributary tribes, was gotten from Conrad Weiser. Not until the coming of Weiser did the Colony fully realize the im- portance of this powerful confederation.

The deputies of the Six Nations, who arrived in Philadelphia some days before the opening of the conference, as we have seen, were chiefs of only the Oneida, Cayuga, and Onondaga tribes; but they claimed that they were authorized to speak for the other members of the Iroquois Confederation. In the early stages of the conference, complaints were made, possibly by members of the Assembly, against the private nature of the council; and Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, was selected to interview the

* Weiser was the grandfather of the Lutheran clergyman and noted Revolutionary General, Peter Muhlenberg, about whom the poet, Read, wrote "The Rising of 1776."

ABOVE — Monument to Conrad Weiser, Indian Interpreter of the Colony of Pennsylvania, in Conrad Weiser Memorial Park, near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa.

BELOW^Home of Conrad Weiser, in Conrad Weiser Memorial Park, erected about 1732. Here the famous clergyman, Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., founder of the Lutheran Church in America, for whom Muhlenberg College, at Allentown, Pa., is named, wooed and won Weiser's daughter, Anna.

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Iroquois deputies to learn their pleasure in the matter. The chiefs replied that they were content to continue in secret session, but were willing to deal in a more public manner, if such was desired. Thomas Penn, son of the founder of the Colony, having lately arrived in Philadelphia, spoke for the Province. He called the attention of the chiefs to the policy which his father had pursued in dealing with the Indians, and assured them that he came to the Province with a desire and design to follow in the footsteps of his parent. He then asked the Iroquois deputies how their Confederation stood toward the French, their former enemies. He inquired how the French behaved toward the Six Nations, and how all the other nations of Indians to the northward or the westward were affected toward the Iroquois.

The Iroquois deputies replied through their speaker, Heta- quantagechty, that they had no great faith in the governor of Canada, or the French, who had deceived them. "The Six Nations," said they, "are not afraid of the French. They are always willing to go and hear what they have to propose. Peace had been made with the French. A tree had been planted big enough to shelter them both. Under this tree, a hole had been dug, and the hatchets had been buried therein. Nevertheless, the chiefs of the Six Nations thought that the French charged too much for their goods, and, for this reason, they recommended their people to trade with the English, who would sell cheaper than the French." The deputies confided to the Governor that, when representatives of the Six Nations were at Montreal, in 1727, the governor of Canada told them that he intended to make war upon Corlear (the term applied to the governors of New York), and that he desired the Six Nations to remain neutral. On this occasion, one of the chiefs answered, saying: "Onontejo [the Indian name for the governor of Canada], you are very proud. You are not wise to make war with Corlear, and to propose neutrality to us. Corlear is our brother; he came to us when he was very little and a child. We suckled him at our breasts; we have nursed him and taken care of him till he is grown up to be a man. He is our brother and of the same blood. He and we have but one ear to hear with, one eye to see with, and one mouth to speak with. We will not forsake him nor see any man make war upon him without assisting. We shall join him, and, if we fight with you, we may have our own father, Onontejo, to bury in the ground. We would not have you force us to this, but be wise and live in peace."

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The Iroquois deputies were told, through Conrad Weiser, that the Shawnees who were settled to the southward, being made un- easy by their neighbors, had come up to Conestoga about thirty- five years before, and desired leave of the Conestoga Indians located at that place, to settle in the neighborhood; that the Conestogas applied to the Government of Pennsylvania that the Shawnees might be permitted to settle there, and that they would become answerable for their good behavior; that William Penn, shortly after the arrival of the Shawnees, agreed to their settle- ment, and the Shawnees thereupon came under the protection of the Pennsylvania Colony; that, from that time, greater numbers of the Shawnee Indians followed, settling upon the Susquehanna and the Delaware. The deputies were further told that the Colony of Pennsylvania had held several treaties with the Shaw- nets, treating them from their first coming as "our own Indians," but that some of their young men, four or five years previously, being afraid of the Six Nations, had removed to the Allegheny Valley, and put themselves under the protection of the French, who had received them as children; that the Colony had sent a message asking them to return, and to encourage them, had laid out a large tract of land on the west side of the Susquehanna near Paxtang, and desired, by all means, that they would return to that place.

The Iroquois answered that they never had intended to harm the Shawnees, and that, as they were coming on their way to Philadelphia, they had spoken with Kakowatcheky, their (the Shawnees') old chief, then at Wyoming, and told him that he should not "look to Ohio, but turn his face to us." They had met Sassoonan, too, the old chief of the Delawares, then at Shamokin, and told him that the Delawares, too, should not settle in the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, upon which Sassoonan had sent messengers to the Delawares lately gone to the Ohio and Alle- gheny Valleys, requiring them to return. It will be remembered that, in the times of which we are writing, and for a long period thereafter, the Allegheny River was considered simply as a con- tinuation of the Ohio, and was generally called the Ohio.

The deputies were then told that, as they were the chiefs of all the northern Indians in the Province, and the Shawnees had been under their protection, they should oblige them to return nearer the Pennsylvania settlements; whereupon the chiefs asked if the Six Nations should do this themselves, or join with the Authorities of Pennsylvania. They were told that it was the de-

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sire of the Pennsylvania Colony that the Six Nations should join with the Colonial Authorities in efforts to have the Shawnees return.

The representatives of the Six Nations told the Governor that they believed that they could bring the Shawnees back, if Penn- sylvania would prohibit her traders from going to the Allegheny Valley, explaining that, as long as the Shawnees were supplied at that place with such goods as they needed, they would be more unwilling to remove. It was finally agreed that Pennsylvania would remove such traders, and that the Six Nations would see that the French traders in the Ohio region were also removed.

The main purpose of this treaty was to secure the aid of the Six Nations in efforts to bring the Shawnees from the Allegheny Valley; but it contained other provisions, notably the one obligat- ing the Six Nations to "forbid all their warriors, who are often too unruly, to come amongst or near the English settlements, and especially that they never, on any account, rob, hurt, or molest any English subjects whatsoever, either to the Southward or else- where."

The Iroquois delegation having requested that, in their future dealings with Pennsylvania, Conrad Weiser should continue to be the interpreter, this request was granted, and the conference came to an end by the giving of many presents to the deputies, among which were six japanned and gilt guns, which were to be delivered one to each chief of the Six Nations. These guns were the gift of Thomas Penn, which he had brought with him from England for this purpose.

A full account of the Treaty of 1732, the first treaty to bring the powerful Confederation of the Six Nations into definite rela- tions with Pennsylvania, is found in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages 435 to 452. The Six Nations were faithful to their promise, in this treaty, to induce the Shawnees of the Allegheny Valley to take up their abode in the Valley of the Sus- quehanna. They used every means short of war, to accomplish this result, but in vain.

One of the efforts of the Six Nations to induce the Shawnees of the Ohio and Allegheny valleys to return to the eastern part of the Province is recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 3, pages 607 to 609. At a meeting of the Provincial Council, September 10th, 1735, Hetaquantagechty, a Seneca chief, and Shikellamy gave the Council a report concerning a mission the Six Nations had sent to the Hathawekela or Asswikales Clan of Shawnees, urging

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them to take up their abode near the Susquehanna. Heta- quantagechty said that a great chief of the Iroquois, named Sagohandechty, who Hved on the Allegheny went with other chiefs of the Six Nations in 1 734 to prevail upon the Shawnees to return. Sagohandechty pressed the Shawnees so closely to return that they took a great dislike to him, and some months after the other chiefs had returned, they cruelly murdered him. Heta- quantagetchty said that this murder had been committed by the Asswikales, who then fled southward, and as he supposed had returned "to the place from whence they first came, which is below Carolina." Hetaquantagechty described them as "one tribe of those Shawnees who had never behaved themselves as they ought," The Asswikales were probably the first Shawnees to settle in Western Pennsylvania within historic times, coming by way of Old Town, Maryland, to Bedford, and then westward. Sewickley Creek, in Westmoreland County, Sewickley Town, at the mouth of that creek, and another placed called Sewickley Old Town, which some authorities locate on the Allegheny River some miles below Chartier's Old Town, (Tarentum), were their places of residence.

The Treaty of 1736

At the instigation of Shikellamy and Conrad Weiser, the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania were very anxious to have the treaty of August, 1732, confirmed by deputies representing all the members of the Iroquois Confederation, and Conrad Weiser was directed to employ his influence with Shikellamy to the end that these two mediators between the Colony of Pennsylvania and Great Council of the Six Nations might bring about a conference that would represent every member of that great Confederation. The summers came and went, and still the promised visit of the Iroquois was deferred. Finally, at a conference of Delaware and Conestoga chiefs, among whom were Sassoonan, representing the Delawares, and Civility, representing the Conestogas, held at Philadelphia on August 20, 1736, an appeal was made to them to explain why the Iroquois did not send deputies to Philadelphia, as they had promised. Sassoonan said that he knew nothing particularly of the Iroquois; that he had been in expectation to see them for three years past, but understood that they had been detained by nations that came to treat with them. He further stated that he expected that they would be on hand the next spring. The Provincial Council made a very liberal present to

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 105

the Delawares and Conestogas on the occasion of this conference, accompanying it with the special request that they make an effort to ascertain from the Six Nations why they had not sent their deputies as they promised the preceding year, or at least to send a message stating the reasons for their delay.

This present to the Delawares had the desired effect, and in less than six weeks thereafter, Conrad Weiser sent word to the Provincial Council from his home near Womelsdorf , in the Tulpe- hocken Valley, that he had received intelligence that one hundred chiefs, representing all members of the Iroquois Confederation, had arrived at Shamokin (Sunbury) on their way to Philadelphia. On the 27th of September, Weiser arrived at Philadelphia, accom- panied by this delegation of one hundred Iroquois. At this time, smallpox was raging in Philadelphia, on account of which Weiser took the Indians to James Logan's mansion at Stenton, a few miles from the city (now in the Twenty-second Ward, Philadelphia), and invited the provincial officers and proprietors out to meet them. The Indians were greatly pleased with Weiser's care for their health, and the esteem in which they held him increased by this act of solicitation on his part. The Iroquois had told the Colonial Authorities at the treaty of 1732 that Weiser and Shikel- lamy were the proper persons "to go between the Six Nations and this government." They said that their bodies were to be equally divided between "the Sons of Onas and the Red Men, half to the Indian and half to the white man." Weiser, said they, was faith- ful, honest, good, and true; that he had spoken their words for them and not his own.

The Iroquois delegation, by far the largest that ever appeared at Philadelphia at a treaty, was entertained for three nights at Stenton. The sessions of the different conferences connected with the making of this treaty lasted until the 25th of October. They were held in the great meeting house at Fifth and Arch Streets. The Iroquois deputies reported that, following the sug- gestion of the Provincial Council at the treaty of 1732, they had strengthened their confederation by entering into firm leagues of friendship and alliance with other nations around them, to-wit: Onichkaryagoes, Sissaghees, Troumurtihagas, Attawantenies, Twechtwese, and Oachtaumghs. All these tribes, said the depu- ties, had promised to acknowledge the Iroquois as their elder brother and to act in concert with them.

The Iroquois deputies made the request that the Pennsylvania traders be removed from the Ohio and Allegheny country, but the

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Provincial Council politely refused this request, arguing that its Indians there could not live without being supplied with goods, and that, if the Pennsylvania traders did not supply them with goods others from Maryland and Virginia would. The Iroquois also asked that no strong drink be sold at Allegheny by the traders. This petition was evaded. James Logan, President of the Council, upon which the administration of the government devolved since the death of Governor Gordon, on August 5th, 1736, rebuked the Indians for not controlling their appetite for rum. "All of us here," said he, "and all you see of any credit in this place, can every day have as much rum of their own to drink as they please, and yet scarce one of us will take a dram, at least not one man will, on any account, be drunk, no, not if he were hired to it with great sums of money."

But the most important part of this treaty was the execution and delivery of two deeds by the Iroquois to the Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania — a momentous transaction brought about by that astute Iroquois statesman, Shikellamy, assisted by Conrad Weiser.

The first was a deed to all the lands on both sides of the Sus- quehanna, extending as far east as the heads of the streams run- ning into the Susquehanna, as far west "as the setting of the sun" (afterwards interpreted by the Indians to mean as far as the crest of the Allegheny Mountains), as far south as the mouth of the Susquehanna, and as far north as the Blue, Kittatinny, or Endless Mountains.

The following is the interesting history of these Susquehanna lands :

By deed dated September 10th, 1683, the Conestoga or Sus- quehanna chief, Kekelappan, conveyed to William Penn "that half of all my lands betwixt the Susquehanna and Delaware, which lieth on the Susquehanna side." Then, on October 18th, 1683, the Conestoga chief, Machaloha, who claimed to exercise authority over the Indians "on the Delaware River, Chesapeake Bay and up to ye falls of ye Susquehanna River," conveyed to Penn his right in his lands. Penn thought it advisable to get the consent of the Five Nations to his possession of these lands, no doubt knowing that the Five Nations had conquered the Sus- quehannas. Accordingly he sent agents to confer with the Iro- quois chiefs in New York, and also wrote acting Governor Brock- holls of New York, "about some Susquehanna land on ye back of us, where I intend a colony forthwith." About the time of his

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 107

writing Governor Brockholls, Governor Thomas Dongan dis- placed Brockholls, Governor Dongan persuaded some of the Iroquois chiefs to give him a deed for these same lands. This he did, in order to get the matter in his own hands. Then, in the late autumn of 1683, he wrote Penn, advising him of the pur- chase and saying that he and Penn would not "fall out" over the matter. Thus the matter stood until January 13th, 1696, on which date Penn got a deed of lease and release from Dongan for the lands. In order to get indisputable title to these lands, Penn, on September 13th, 1700, concluded a treaty with Oretyagh and Andaggy-Junkquagh, chiefs of the Susquehannas or Conestogas, by the terms of which they ratified Dongan's deed to Penn. This sale was further confirmed in the "Articles of Agreement" of April 23d, 1701, between Penn and the Five Nations, Susque- hannas, Shawnees and Conoys. However, the Iroquois contended that they had deeded the Susquehanna lands to Dongan simply in trust and did not release any control over or rights in the same. At the time of this treaty of 1736, the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania were impressed by Conrad Weiser with the power and influence of the Six Nations, and, accordingly, did not dis- pute with their deputies when they claimed indemnity for all the Susquehanna lands south and east of the Blue Mountains.

The consideration of the deed for these lands, dated October 11th, 1736, was 500 pounds of powder, 600 pounds of lead, 45 guns, 100 blankets, 200 yards of cloth, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 hoes, 100 tobacco tongs, 100 scissors, 500 awls, 120 combs 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 20 looking glasses, 2 pounds of Vermillion, 100 tin pots, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, 1000 pipes, and 24 dozens of garters. That part of these goods which represented the consideration for the lands on the east side of the Susquehanna, was delivered, but that which rep- resented the consideration for the lands on the west side of the river, was, at the Indians' desire, retained, and was finally delivered in 1742.

Shikellamy and twenty-two other chiefs of the Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Tuscaroras and Cayugas, all the allied tribes of the great Iroquois Confederation, except the Mohawks, signed this deed, a copy of which is recorded in the Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. 1, pages 494 to 498.

The sale of the Susquehanna lands greatly off'ended the Shawnees. When this tribe came to Pennsylvania, they were

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given permission by the Iroquois to live on these lands. There- fore, when the Shawnees learned of the treaty of 1736, they sent one hundred and thirty of their leaders with a belt to the French, saying; "Our lands have been sold from under our feet; may we come and live with you?" The French readily consented, and ofTered to come and meet them with provisions. This informa- tion came from the Mohawks, who received no share of the ar- ticles given for the lands. Indeed, this sale of the Susquehanna lands had much to do with bringing about finally the total alienation of the Shawnees from the English cause. Conrad Weiser, the advisor of the Pennsylvania authorities, had a great love and admiration for the Iroquois, but little or no respect for the Shawnees, and it was his opinion that the Province would establish a dangerous precedent, if it were to recognize the claims of the Shawnees to these lands, inasmuch as they were only so- journers on the same.

But the sale of the Susquehanna lands involved Maryland and Virginia, which colonies had never paid the Iroquois for the lands in their dominions to which the Iroquois claimed title as the conquerors of the tribes formerly owing them. As we shall see, this matter was adjusted at the Lancaster Treaty of 1744 by the purchase of these lands by Maryland and Virginia.

On October 25th, just two weeks after the signing of the deed of the Susquehanna lands, when most of the influential deputies of the Iroquois had left Philadelphia, and after those who re- mained had been drinking heavily, another deed was drawn up embracing all the Six Nations' claim to lands within Pennsylvania "beginning eastward on the River Delaware, as far northward as the ridge or chain of Endless Mountains as they cross ye country of Pennsylvania, from eastward to the West." This deed estab- lished a precedent for an Iroquois claim to all the lands owned by the Delaware Indians, and was the cause, as we shall see, of greatly embittering the Delawares.

Shikellamy was one of the signers of this deed to the Delaware lands, which, in addition to conveying the lands of the Dela- wares, contained the solemn promise that at no time would the Six Nations sell any lands within the Province of Pennsylvania to any person or persons, Indians or white men, except to "the said Wm. Penn's Children." For copy of the deed, see Pennsyl- vania Archives, Vol. 1, pages 498 and 499.

It is clear that, while William Penn recognized the claim of the Six Nations to the lands of the Susquehannas or Conestogas,

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 109

yet he never recognized any claim on the part of the Six Nations to the lands of the Delawares; and, prior to this treaty of 1736, it cannot be found that the Iroquois themselves ever made any claim to the lands of the Delawares, although of course, they had exercised an overlordship over them, "declaring them women and forbidding them to make war," It is very probable that, at the time of making the Iroquois deed for the Delaware lands, no one realized what the outcome of such a deed would be. It was an indirect way of denying to the Delaware Indians all title to their lands. The Iroquois had promised that in the future they would never sell any land within the limits of Pennsylvania to anyone except Penn's heirs, and, probably, the chief purpose in securing this deed was to place this promise of the Six Nations perma- nently in writing.

This action in purchasing the Delaware lands from the Iro- quois marked a great change in the Indian policy of Pennsylvania — a change brought about by Shikellamy and Conrad Weiser. Weiser interpreted the deed to the Iroquois, and they were evi- dently aware that they had gained a most important point; that, henceforth, the Colony of Pennsylvania would be a sponsor for their claims on the Delaware River; and that all the ancient dis- putes with the Delawares in this matter were settled. Further- more, by this action, the Colony of Pennsylvania had taken sides in the age-long quarrel between the Iroquois on the one hand and the Delawares on the other. William Penn had refused to take sides in any Indian differences, but his sons were more bent on personal profit than on public justice and public security.

From the date of this purchase, it was no longer possible for the Colony of Pennsylvania to treat the Delawares as formerly. The Six Nations had been recognized as the favorite people and the Delawares, the affectionate friends of William Penn, as under- lings. The Delawares had already been offended through the long delay in purchasing from them the Tulpehocken lands, which had been settled many years before the Colony got an Indian title for the same. Now, in purchasing their lands from the Iroquois, the Colony started that long series of events with the Delawares, which resulted in the bloodiest invasion in colonial history — an invasion which drenched Pennsylvania in blood from 1755 to 1764; but at the same time, while thus bringing upon herself a Delaware and Shawnee war, she escaped a Six Nation war, which no doubt would have been much more serious in its consequences.

The two deeds gotten from the Iroquois at the Treaty of 1736

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embraced the counties of York, Adams, and Cumberland, that part of FrankHn, Dauphin, and Lebanon southeast of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains, and that part of Berks, Lehigh, and North- ampton not already possessed.

For a full account of the Treaty of 1736, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages 79 to 95.

During the spring following the treaty of 1736, Conrad Weiser, at the solicitation of Governor Gooch of Virginia, was sent by the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania to the central seat of the Six Nations at Onondaga, New York, in an effort to arrange a peace between the Iroquois and the Catawbas, Cherokees and allied tribes of the South. On this terrible journey through the deep snows of Pennsylvania and New York, Weiser was accom- panied by a neighbor, named Stoffel Stump, Shikellamy and an Onondaga Indian, named Owisgera. The Iroquois agreed to an armistice of one year. Weiser's account of his mission is found in Vol. 1 of the Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania, and is one of the most interesting and valuable documents relating to the early history of the Keystone State.

"The Walking Purchase"

While the Six Nations at the treaty held at Philadelphia in October, 1736, just described, went on record in declaring that the Delaware nation had no lands to sell, yet the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania depended for quiet enjoyment upon the old deeds from the Delawares to William Penn and his heirs, men- tioned in an earlier chapter. In 1734, Thomas Penn, son of the founder of the Colony, claimed to have found a copy of a certain deed from the Delaware chiefs, Mayhkeerickkishsho, Taugh- houghsey, and Sayhoppy, to his father, dated August 30, 1686, calling for a dimension "as far as a man can go in a day and a half" and thence to the Delaware River and down the courses of the same. The original of this deed, Thomas Penn claimed, had been lost for many years. The alleged description set forth in the original deed was as follows :

"All those lands lying and being in the province of Pennsyl- vania, beginning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner spruce tree, by the river Delaware, and from thence running along the ledge or the foot of the mountains west northwest (west south- west) to a corner white oak marked with the letter P. standing by the Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwiskey,

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 111

and from thence extending westward to Neshaminy Creek, from which said Hne, the said tract or tracts thereby granted doth ex- tend itself back into the woods, as far as a man can go in one day and a half, and bounded on the westerly side with the creek called Neshaminy, or the most westerly branch thereof, and from thence by a line to the utmost extent of said creek one day and a half's journey to the aforesaid river Delaware, and thence down the several courses of the said river to the first mentioned spruce tree."

The Delaware town, Playwiskey, or Playwickey, was the resi- dence of the great Delaware chief, Tamanend, or Tammany, and was located about two and a half miles west of the present town of Langhorne, Bucks County. A monument now marks its site.

The dimension set forth in the foregoing alleged deed was never "walked" in the lifetime of William Penn. Thomas Penn and the other Colonial Authorities were anxious that the lands described in the alleged deed should be measured without further delay. Some of the Delawares did not wish the line measured, but, on August 25, 1737, the more influential chiefs of the Munsee Clan, among whom were "King Nutimus" and Manawkyhickon, entered into a treaty with Thomas Penn by the terms of which they agreed that the land should be measured by a walk according to the provisions of the deed. This agreement of August 25th was virtually a deed of release of the lands claimed to have been granted by the deed of August 30, 1686. We shall now see how well Thomas Penn and his associates were prepared for the "walk" and how it was accomplished :

The 19th day of September, 1737, was the day appointed for the "walk." It was agreed that the starting point should be a chestnut tree standing a little above the present site of Wrights- town, Bucks County. Timothy Smith, the sheriff of Bucks Coun- ty, and Benjamin Eastburn, the surveyor-general, supervised the so-called walk. The persons employed by the Colonial Authori- ties to perform the walk, after the Proprietaries had advertised for the most expert walkers in the Province, were athletes famous for their abilities as fast walkers; and, as an inducement for their making this walk a supreme test of their abilities, a compensation of five pounds in money and 500 acres of land was offered the one who could go the longest distance in the allotted time. Their names were Edward Marshall, a native of Bucks County, a noted chain carrier, hunter and backwoodsman; James Yates, a native of the same county, a tall and agile man, with much speed of foot;

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and Solomon Jennings also a man of remarkable physique. These men had been hunted out by the Proprietaries' agents as the fastest backwoodsmen in the Province, and as a preliminary measure, they had been taken over the ground before, spending some nine days, during which their route was marked off by blazing the trees and clearing away the brush.

At sunrise on the day appointed, these three athletes, accom- panied by a number of Indians and some white persons, some of whom carried refreshments for them, started from the chestnut tree above Wrightstown; and, at first, they walked moderately, but before long they set such a pace that the Indians frequently called upon them to walk and not run. The remonstrance of the Indians producing no effect, most of them left in anger and dis- gust, asserting that they were basely cheated. By previous ar- rangement, a number of white people were collected about twenty miles from the starting point, to see the "walkers" pass. Yates was much in the lead, and was accompanied by several persons on horseback; next came Jennings, but out of sight; and lastly, Marshall, proceeding in an apparently careless manner, eating a biscuit and swinging a hatchet from hand to hand, evidently to balance the motion of his body. The above mentioned body of whites bet strongly in favor of Yates. Jennings and two of the Indians who accompanied him were exhausted before the end of the first day, and were unable to keep up with the other two. Jennings never thereafter recovered his health. However, Yates and Marshall kept on, and, at sunset, had arrived at the north side of the Blue Mountains.

At sunrise of the next day, Yates and Marshall started again, but, when crossing a stream at the foot of the mountain, Yates fell into the water, and Marshall turned back and supported him until some of the attendants came up, and then continued on his way alone. Yates was stricken with blindness and lived only three days. At noon Marshall threw himself full length upon the ground and grasped a sapling which stood on a spur of the Second or Broad Mountain, near Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, which was then declared to mark the distance that a man could travel on foot in a day and a half — estimated to be about sixty-five miles from the starting point. Thus, one man out of three covered this distance, and lived.

In the agreement with Thomas Penn to have the bounds of the alleged deed made by a walk, the Delawares believed that as far as a man could go in a day and a half would not extend beyond

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 113

the Lehigh Hills, or about thirty miles from the place of begin- ning; but the crafty and unprincipled Colonial Authorities had laid their plans to extend the walk to such a point as to include the land in the Forks of the Delaware and also farther up that river, it being their desire to obtain, if possible, the possession of that desirable tract of land along the Delaware River above the Blue Mountains, called the "Minisink Lands." Having, as we have seen, reached a point more than thirty miles farther to the northwestward than the Delawares had anticipated, the Colonial Authorities now proceeded to draw a line from the end of the walk to the Delaware River. The alleged deed did not describe the course that the line should take from the end of the walk to the river; but any fair-minded person would assume that it should follow the shortest distance between these two places. However, the agent of the Proprietaries, instead of running the line by the nearest course to the Delaware, ran it northeastward across the country so as to strike the river near the mouth of the Lackawaxen, which flows into the Delaware River in the northern part of Pike County. The extent of this line was sixty-six miles. The territory as thus measured was in the shape of a great triangle whose base was the Delaware River and whose apex was the end of the walk, and included the northern part of Bucks, almost all of Northampton, and a portion of Pike, Carbon, and Monroe Counties. This fraudulent measurement thus took in all the Minisink Lands and many thousand acres more than if the line had been run by the nearest course from the end of the walk to the Delaware.

Delawares Driven from Lands of "Walking Purchase"

When the settlers began to move upon the lands covered by the Walking Purchase of 1737, which they did soon after the "walk" was made, King Nutimus and several of the other Dela- ware chiefs who had signed the treaty or deed of release of 1737, were not willing to quit the lands or to permit the new settlers to remain in quiet possession. Indeed, they remonstrated freely and declared their intention to remain in possession, even if they should have to use force of arms.

In the spring of 1741, a message was sent by the Colonial Authorities to the Six Nations, requesting them to come down and force the Delawares of the Munsee Clan to quit these lands. The Six Nations complied and sent their deputies to Philadelphia,

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where this and other matters were taken up in the treaty of July, 1 742, to be described presently. At this treaty. Governor Thomas called the attention of Canassatego, the speaker of the Iroquois delegation, to the fact that a number of the Delaware Indians, residing on the Minisink lands above the mouth of the Lehigh River, had refused to surrender peaceful possession of the territory secured to the Colony by the Walking Purchase. However, the Governor did not tell Canassatego that, when John and Thomas Penn were persuading the Delawares to confirm the deeds covered by the Walking Purchase, they had promised these Indians that the said papers "would not cause the removal of any Indians then living on the Minisink Lands." These Delawares had re- quested that they be permitted to remain on their settlements, though within the bounds of the Walking Purchase, without being molested, and their request was granted. Later, on August 24, 1737, just the day before the Delaware chiefs signed the deed, or treaty, confirming the alleged deed of August 30, 1786, the assur- ances given the Delawares by John and Thomas Penn were re- peated and confirmed at a meeting of the Provincial Council at Philadelphia.

Canassatego, unaware of the assurances given the Delawares, replied as follows:

"You informed us of the misbehavior of our cousins, the Dela- wares, with respect to their continuing to claim and refusing to remove from some land on the River Delaware, notwithstanding their ancestors had sold it by deed under their hands and seals to the Proprietors for a valuable consideration, upwards of fifty years ago, and notwithstanding that they themselves had about five years ago, after a long and full examination, ratified that deed of their ancestors, and given a fresh one under their hands and seals; and then you requested us to remove them, enforcing your request with a string of wampum. Afterwards you laid on the table, by Conrad Weiser, our own letters, some of our cousins* letters, and the several writings to prove the charge against our cousins, with a draught of the land in dispute. We now tell you that we have perused all these several papers. We see with our own eyes that they [the Delawares] have been a very unruly people, and are altogether in the wrong in their dealings with you. We have concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over the River Delaware, and to quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they have received pay for them, and it has gone through their guts long ago. To confirm to you that we

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 115

will see your request executed, we lay down this string of wampum in return for yours."

Attending the treaty were some Delawares from the Sunbury region, headed by Sassoonan, and a delegation from the Forks of the Delaware, headed by Nutimus. As soon as Canassatego finished the foregoing speech, taking a belt of wampum in his hand, he turned to the Delawares, and delivered the following humiliating address:

"COUSINS: — Let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you; you ought to be taken by the hair of the head and shaked severely till you recover your senses and become sober; you don't know what ground you are standing on, or what you are doing. Our Brother Onas' case is very just and plain, and his intentions to preserve friendship; on the other hand your cause is bad; your head far from being upright, you are maliciously bent to break the chain of friendship with our Brother Onas. We have seen with our eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors above fifty years ago for this very land, and a release signed not many years since by some of yourselves and chiefs now living to the number of fifteen or upwards.

"But how came you to take upon you to sell land at all? We conquered you ; we made women of you ; you know you are women and can no more sell land than women. Nor is it fit that you should have the power of selling land, since you would abuse it. This land that you claim is gone through your guts. You have been furnished with clothes and meat and drink by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again like children, as you are. But what makes you sell land in the dark? Did you ever tell us that you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even the value of a pipe shank for it?

"You have told us a blind story that you sent a messenger to inform us of the sale, but he never came amongst us, nor we never heard anything about it. This is acting in the dark, and very different from the conduct which our Six Nations observe in their sales of land. On such occasions, they give public notice and in- vite all the Indians of their united nations, but we find that you are none of our blood. You act a dishonest part, not only in this, but in other matters. Your ears are ever open to slanderous re- ports about our brethren . . . And for all these reasons we charge you to remove instantly; we don't give you liberty to think about it. You are women; take the advice of a wise man, and remove immediately. You may return to the other side of

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the Delaware, where you came from, but we don't know whether, considering how you have demeaned yourselves, you will be per- mitted to live there, or whether you have not swallowed that land down your throats, as well as the land on this side. We, therefore, assign you two places to go,— either to Wyoming or Shamokin. You may go to either of these places, and then we shall have you more under our eye, and shall see how you behave. Don't de- liberate, but remove away, and take this belt of wampum."

Canassatego spoke with the air of a conqueror and one having authority; and both the manner of the delivery of his speech and the manner in which it was received by the trembling Delawares, would indicate that the Six Nations must have been right in their contention that they gained the ascendency over the Delawares, not by artifice, as the Delawares told Heckewelder, but by force of arms, some authorities asserting that, when the Iroquois con- quered the Susquehannas in 1675, this conquest carried with it the subjugation of the Delawares, inasmuch as the Susquehannas were overlords of the Delawares. "When this terrible sentence was ended," says Watson, "it is said that the unfeeling political philosopher [Canassatego] walked forward, and, taking strong hold of the long hair of King Nutimus, of the Delawares, led him to the door and forcibly sent him out of the room, and stood there while all the trembling inferiors followed him. He then walked back to his place like another Cato, and calmly pro- ceeded to another subject as if nothing happened. The poor fel- lows [Nutimus and his company], in great and silent grief, went directly home, collected their families and goods, and, burning their cabins to signify they were never to return, marched reluc- tantly to their new homes."

Shortly after the treaty of 1742, the Delawares of the Munsee Clan left the bounds of the "Walking Purchase" and the beauti- ful river bearing their name, and began their march toward the setting sun. The greater part of them, under Nutimus settled on the site of Wilkes-Barre, opposite Wyoming Town, and at "Niske- beckon," on the left bank of the North Branch of the Susque- hanna, not far from the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, in Luzerne County. The town which they established near the mouth of Nescopeck Creek was called "Nutimy's Town." Others went to the region around Sunbury; and others took up their abode on the Juniata, near Lewistown, Mifflin County. Later all went to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny with their wrongs rankling in their bosoms. Furthermore, these Delawares of the Munsee

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 117

or Wolf Clan went to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio at a critical time, — when the French were coming into the same valleys, asserting their claim to the region drained by these beautiful rivers, a claim based on the explorations of La Salle and the heroic Jesuit Missionaries, those true Knights of the Cross, to whom any one who correctly writes the early history of the region between the Mississippi River and the Allegheny Moun- tains must needs pay a high tribute of esteem. The French sympathized with the wronged Delawares. It is no wonder, then, that the Delawares joined the French in the French and Indian War, and brought upon defenseless Pennsylvania the bloodiest Indian invasion in American history.

The term "Walking Purchase" is a term of derision. This fraudulent purchase has been called "the disgrace of the Col- onies." It was the subject of much discussion between the Quaker and Proprietary parties as being one of the chief causes of the alienation of the Delawares and of their taking up arms against the Colony during the French and Indian War, until the charge of "fraud" was withdrawn and the Delawares were recon- ciled through the influence of the Moravian missionary. Christian Frederick Post, at the treaty at Easton, in the summer of 1758. Says Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his recent great work, "Pennsyl- vania— A History" : "It matters little whether the Delaware were influenced by the Quakers to complain of the 'fraud,' or whether they themselves felt that they had been cheated, the fact still remains that the 'Walking Purchase' directly and indirectly, led to the gravest of consequences, so far as the warlike Munsee Clan of the Delaware was concerned."

In connection with the removal of the Delawares from the bounds of the Walking Purchase, is the case of Captain John and Tatemy, two worthy Delaware chiefs who had always been warm friends of the white man. In November, 1742, they petitioned Governor Thomas, setting forth that they had embraced Christi- anity, and desired to live where they were, near the English. The Governor sent for them, and they appeared before the Provincial Council. Captain John did not own any ground, but advised the Governor, if permitted to live among the English, he would buy some. Tatemy owned three hundred acres of land, granted him by the Proprietaries; and he said he simply wanted to spend the remaining years of his life on his own plantation in peace with all men. The Governor ordered that Canassatego's speech be read to these poor Indians, refused their petition, and told them they

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would have to secure the consent of the Six Nations, the con- querors of the Delawares. Evidently the Six Nations made no objections, as Tatemy continued to live on his tract near Stocker- town, Northampton County, until his death, which took place about 1761. His house was one of the landmarks of the region. Here he was visited by Count Zinzendorf, in 1742. He attended many important councils with the Colonial Authorities. As we shall see later in this volume, his son, William, was mortally wounded while on his way to attend the Easton conference of July and August, 1757.

The Shawnee Treaty of 1739

The Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania, realizing that the Shawnees were rapidly being won over by the French, induced Kakowatcheky, of Wyoming, Kishacoquillas of the Juniata, and Neucheconneh and Tamenebuck, of the Allegheny, and other Shawnee chiefs, whose settlements were scattered from Wyoming and Great Island (Lock Haven) to the Allegheny, to come to a conference, or treaty, at Philadelphia on July 27th to August 1st, 1739. At this conference the Conestoga and Shawnee agreement with William Penn, dated April 23rd, 1701, was brought to the attention of the chiefs; and they were told that the Colonial Authorities thought it proper to remind them of this solemn en- gagement which their ancestors had entered into with Penn, inas- much as the said Authorities knew that the emissaries of the French were endeavoring to prevail upon the Shawnees to re- nounce their agreement with the Colony. In other words, the Governor and Provincial Council put the plain question of the Shawnees' loyalty to past agreements with Pennsylvania. The chiefs desired that their reply be postponed until the following day, explaining that "it was their custom to speak or transact business of importance only whilst the sun was rising, and not when it was declining." In the morning, they showed that all past agree- ments had been kept by them quite as faithfully as by the white men. And since Pennsylvania had, about a year previously, promised to issue an order forbidding the sale of any more rum among them, they had sent one of their young men to the French, as an agent to induce them 'for all time, to put a stop to the sale of rum, brandy, and wine.' " The result of the conference was that the Shawnees, with the full understanding that the rum traffic was to be stopped, promised not to join any other nation.

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«

and confirmed the old Conestoga and Shawnee agreement or treaty of April 23rd, 1701. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 4, pages 336 to 347.)

The Treaty of 1742

Reference has been made to the Treaty of 1742 in connection with Canassatego's ordering the Delawares of the Munsee Clan from the bounds of the Walking Purchase. For a full account of this treaty, see the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages 559 to 586.

This treaty of July, 1742, was called for the purpose of paying the Iroquois for that part of the land purchased from them by Pennsylvania at the treaty of 1736 which lay west of the Susque- hanna River. Shikellamy and the other deputies of the Six Nations were expected to arrive in Philadelphia in May, 1742, but it was not until June 30th that the deputies, representing all tribes of the Confederation, except the Senecas and the Mohawks, arrived at Philadelphia, empowered to receive the pay for the lands west of the Susquehanna. The Senecas were not present at this treaty, because of a great famine among them ; nor were the Mohawks, because they were not considered to have any claims upon the Susquehanna lands. The sessions of the treaty began on July 2nd. The three remaining nations of the Iroquois con- federacy, early in the conference, received the goods in payment of that part of the Susquehanna lands lying west of the Susque- hanna River, comprising the counties of York, Cumberland, Adams, and most of Franklin.

Soon after the goods in payment of the Susquehanna lands were divided, the Iroquois deputies expressed their dissatisfaction with the amount, although admitting that it was as agreed upon. They said they felt sure that, if the sons of William Penn, who were then in England, were present, they would agree to giving a large amount out of pity for the Indians on account of their pov- erty and wretchedness. Through their chief speaker, Canassatego an Onondago chieftain, they begged Governor Thomas, inasmuch as he had the keys to the Proprietors' chest, to open the same and take out a little more for them. Governor Thomas replied that the Proprietors had gone to England and taken the keys with them; whereupon, the Indians, as an additional reason for their request, called attention to the increasing value of the lands sold, and also to the fact that the whites were daily settling on Indian lands that had not been sold. They called attention to the fact

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that, at the last treaty with the Colony, the Iroquois had com- plained about the whites settling on unsold lands, and that the Governor, at that time, agreed to remedy this wrong.

Said Canassatego: "Land is everlasting, and the few things we receive for it are soon worn out and gone; for the future, we will sell no lands but when Brother Onas [meaning the sons of William Penn] is in the country, and we will know beforehand the quality of goods we are to receive. Besides, we are not well used with respect to the lands still unsold by us. Your people daily settle on these lands and spoil our hunting. We must insist on your removing them, as you know they have no right to the north- ward of the Kittochtinny Hills [Kittatinny, or Blue Mountains]. In particular, we renew our complaints against some people who are settled at Juniata, a branch of the Susquehanna, and all along the banks of that river as far as Mahaniay, and desire that they be forwith made to go off the land, for they do great damage to our cousins, the Delawares."

Canassatego further called attention to the fact that Maryland and Virginia had not paid the Iroquois for lands within their bounds upon which the whites were settling, and that, at the treaty of 1736, the Governor of Pennsylvania had promised to use his influence with Maryland and Virginia in their behalf in regard to this matter. "This affair," said Canassatego, "was recom- mended to you by our chiefs at our last treaty and you then, at our earnest desire, promised to write a letter to that person who has authority over those people, and to procure us an answer. As we have never heard from you on this head, we want to know what you have done in it. If you have not done anything, we now re- new our request, and desire you will inform the person whose people are seated on our lands that that country [western Mary- land and Virginia] belongs to us by right of conquest, we having bought it with our blood, and taken it from our enemies in fair war." Canassatego threatened that, if Maryland and Virginia did not pay for these lands, the Iroquois would enforce payment in their own way.

Governor Thomas replied that he had ordered the magistrates of Lancaster County to drive off the squatters from the Juniata lands, and was not aware that any had stayed. The Indians in- terrupted, and said that the persons who had been sent to remove the squatters, did not do their duty; that, instead of removing them from the Juniata lands, they were in league with the squat- ters, and had made large surveys for themselves. The earnest

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arguments of Canassatego had the desired effect. The Provincial Council decided to add to the value of the goods a present of three hundred pounds.

The Governor advised Canassatego that, shortly after the treaty of 1736, James Logan, President of the Council, had written the Governor of Maryland about the lands, but received no reply. Now the Governor promised to intercede with Maryland and Vir- ginia, and, if possible, to secure payment for the lands of the Iro- quois upon which the whites of those colonies were settling. He also renewed his promise to remove the squatters from the Juniata Valley.

The squatters in the Juniata Valley were Germans. True to his promise to Canassatego, Governor Thomas had these persons removed the following year. But the squatters in the Big Cove, Little Cove, Big Connoloways, Little Connoloways, and the majority of those in Path Valley and Sherman's Valley were Scotch-Irish. These dwellers on lands not yet purchased from the Indians were not removed until May 1750, when Lieutenant- Governor Morris, after the organization of Cumberland County, in that year, sent Richard Peters, George Croghan, Conrad Weiser, James Galbraith and others with the under-sheriff of Cumberland County, to remove all persons who had settled north of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains. Some of the cabins of these intruders were burned after the families had moved out, so as to prevent settlements in the future. It is thus that Burnt Cabins, in the north eastern part of Fulton County, got its name. Among the settlers removed on this occasion was Simon Girty, the elder, father of Simon, Jr., Thomas, George and James Girty. A sketch of the Girtys will appear later in this volume. In 1752, Governor Hamilton directed Andrew Montour to take up his residence in what is now Perry County for the purpose of pre- venting settlements being made on lands not purchased from the Indians.

The Lancaster Treaty of 1744

Hardly had the Iroquois deputies returned home from the treaty of 1742 when fresh troubles started between the Confed- eration of the Six Nations and the Catawbas and Cherokees of the South. These troubles involved Virginia, as some Iroquois were killed by Virginia settlers while on their way to attack the Catawbas. Learning of these matters, the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser to Shamokin to interview

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Shikellamy. Weiser held conferences with this great Iroquois vice-gerent on February 4th and April 9th, 1743. About this time, Governor Gooch of Virginia sent word to Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania that Virginia would accept the latter's mediation with the Six Nations. The Pennsylvania Authorities then sent Weiser and Shikellamy to Onondaga to arrange for a time and place of holding a treaty or conference between the Six Nations and Virginia. The Great Council at Onondaga accepted the offer of Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania and Governor Gooch of Virginia for a conference or treaty at Harris Ferry (Harrisburg) the next spring. Later, on account of the inconvenience of meet- ing at Harrisburg, it was decided to hold the treaty at Lancaster, a small town then sixteen years old.

At Onondaga, the Iroquois chief, Zillawallie, gave the cause of the war between the Six Nations and the Catawbas. Addressing Weiser, he said; "We are engaged in a great war with the Cataw- bas, which will last to the end of the world ; for they molest us, and speak contemptuously of us, which our warriors will not bear, and they will soon go to war against them again. It will be in vain for us to dissaude them from it."

On this mission to Onondaga, Conrad Weiser prevented a war between Virginia and the Six Nations — a war which would event- ually have involved the other colonies.

Before describing the Lancaster Treaty, we call attention to the fact that, scarcely had the treaty of 1742 been concluded, when the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania were asked by the Governor of Maryland for advice and assistance in that Colony's trouble with the Six Nations. It appeared that, in the early part of the summer of 1742, some Nanticokes in Maryland were im- prisoned, and that their friends, the Shawnees and Senecas, threatened to make trouble unless they were released. Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania engaged Conrad Weiser to accompany the Maryland messenger to the region of the Six Nations, as in- terpreter, for the purpose of inviting the Six Nations to a treaty to be held at Harris' Ferry (Harrisburg) in the spring of 1743. It does not appear that the Iroquois did any more than simply deliberate on this matter; but Maryland's advances at least had the virtue of opening negotiations at the Great Council of the Six Nations on the part of that Colony.

On Friday, June 22nd, 1744, the long expected delegation of the Six Nations arrived at Lancaster for the purpose of entering into a treaty with Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The

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delegation consisted of two hundred and forty-two, and was headed by Canassatego. There were many squaws and children mounted on horseback. Arriving in front of the Court House, the leaders of the delegation saluted the commissioners from Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, with a song. This was an invitation to the whites to renew former treaties and to make good the one now proposed.

When the Maryland commissioners came to the Lancaster treaty, they had no intention whatever of recognizing any Iro- quois claims to lands within the bounds of their province, basing their position upon the following facts : (1 ) Maryland had bought from the Minquas, or Susquehannas, in 1652, all their claims on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay as far north as the mouth of the Susquehanna River. (2) The Minquas, aided by troops from Maryland, had, in 1663, defeated eight hundred Senecas and Cayugas of the Iroquois Confederation.

But the Iroquois never abandoned their war on the Minquas until they overwhelmingly defeated this tribe in 1675, when they were reduced by famine and Maryland had withdrawn her al- liance. Now, in view of their conquest of the Minquas, the Six Nations claimed a right to the Susquehanna lands to the head of Chesapeake Bay.

The Maryland commissioners receded from their position. The release for the Maryland lands was signed, on Monday, July 2nd, at George Sanderson's Inn, instead of at the Court House. Conrad Weiser signed in behalf of the absent member of the Iro- quois Confederation, (Mohawk), both with his Indian name of Tarach-a-wa-gon, and that of Weiser. By his dexterous man- agement, the lands released were so described as not to give Mary- land a title to lands claimed by Pennsylvania, the boundary dis- pute between Maryland and Pennsylvania being at the time still pending. The release was for all "lands lying two miles above the upperm^ost forks of Patowmack or Cohongoruton River, near which Thomas Cresap has his hunting or trading cabin, [at Old Town fourteen miles east of Cumberland, Maryland,] by a line north to the bounds of Pennsylvania. But, in case such limits shall not include every settlement or inhabitant of Maryland, then such other lines and courses from the said two miles above the forks to the outermost inhabitants or settlements, as shall include every settlement and inhabitant in Maryland, and from thence by a north line to the bounds of Pennsylvania, shall be the limits. And, further, if any people already have or shall settle beyond the

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lands now described and bounded, they shall enjoy the same free from any disturbance of us in any manner whatsoever, and we do and shall accept these people for our Brethren, and as such will always treat them." Thus was the purchase happily affected.

However, Shikellamy refused to sign the deed of the Maryland lands, being determined not to recognize that Maryland had any land claims north of the disputed boundary line between herself and Pennsylvania.

The Virginia commissioners had their negotiations with the Iroquois deputies in progress at the same time as Maryland. They found the Iroquois very determined not to yield any part of their claim to the Virginia lands. Said Tachanoontia, an Onondaga chieftain: "We have the right of conquest— a right too dearly purchased, and which cost us too much blood to give up without any reason at all." Finally, after much oratory, the Six Nations released all their land claims in Virginia for a consideration of two hundred pounds in goods and two hundred pounds in gold, with a written promise to be given additional remuneration as the settlements increased to the westward; and the Virginia com- missioners guaranteed the Indians an open road to the Catawba country, promising that the people of Virginia would do their part if the Iroquois would perform theirs. The Iroquois understood this to mean that the Virginians would feed their war parties, if they (the Iroquois) would not shoot the farmers' cattle, chickens, etc., when passing to and from the Catawba country.

"When the treaty was over, the Indians believed that they had established land claims in Virginia, that the open road was guar- anteed, that their warriors were to be fed while passing through the state, and that they had sold land only to the head-waters of the streams feeding the Ohio River. The Virginians, on the other hand, believed that they had extinguished all Iroquois land claims forever within the charter limits of their colony." The western bounds of the Virginia purchase were set forth as "the setting sun," leading Virginia to believe that the purchase in- cluded the Ohio Valley, but the Iroquois afterwards explained that by "the setting sun" was meant the crest of the Allegheny Mountains. It was after the treaty that large tracts of land were granted the Ohio Company; and it was not until the year 1768 that the Six Nations, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, New York, relinquished all their rights to the region on the east and south side of the Ohio, from the Cherokee River, in Tennessee, to Kittanning, Pennsylvania.

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Pennsylvania, the Peacemaker

In the Lancaster Treaty, Pennsylvania was the mediator and peacemaker, inducing Maryland and Virginia to lay aside their opposition to Iroquois land claims, and settle in such a manner as to secure the friendship of the Six Nations. Thus the French were thwarted, and the English frontier from New England to the Carolinas was protected. Pennsylvania also confirmed her former treaties with the Iroquois.

But while Pennsylvania was acting as peacemaker, she had trouble of her own to adjust with the Iroquois deputies. On April 9th, 1744, John (Jack) Armstrong, a trader on his way to the Allegheny, and his two servants, James Smith and Woodward Arnold, were murdered at Jacks Narrows (named for "Jack" Armstrong), on the Juniata, in Huntingdon County, by a Dela- ware Indian named Musemeelin. It appeared that Musemeelin owed Armstrong some skins, and Armstrong seized a horse and rifle belonging to the Indian in lieu of the skins. Later Muse- meelin met Armstrong near the Juniata and paid him all his in- debtedness except twenty shillings, and demanded his horse, but Armstrong refused to give the animal up until the entire debt was paid. Shortly after this, Armstrong and his servants passed the cabin of Musemeelin on their way to the Allegheny, and Musemeelin's wife demanded the horse, but by this time Arm- strong had sold it to James Berry. Musemeelin was away on a hunting trip at the time his wife made the demand on Armstrong, and, when he returned, she told him about it. This angered him and he determined on revenge. Taking two young Indians with him, Musemeelin went to the camp of Armstrong, shot Smith who was there alone and Arnold whom they found returning to camp, and, meeting Armstrong, who was sitting on an old log, he demanded his horse. Armstrong replied: "He will come by and by." "I want him now," said Musemeelin. "You shall have him. Come to the fire and let us smoke and talk together," said Armstrong. As they proceeded, Musemeelin shot and toma- hawked him.

The matter was placed by Governor Thomas in the hands of Shikellamy at Shamokin, who caused the murderers to be appre- hended, and, after a hearing, ordered two of them to be sent to the Lancaster jail to await trial. Conrad Weiser was the bearer of the Governor's message to Shikellamy and Sassoonan. While

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Shikellamy's sons were conveying the prisoners to Lancaster, the friends of Musemeelin, who was related to some important Dela- ware chiefs, induced Shikellamy's sons to allow Musemeelin to escape. The other Indian was locked in jail.

At the Lancaster treaty, Governor Thomas demanded of the Iroquois that they command their subjects, the Delawares, to surrender Musemeelin to the Provincial Authorities, and the In- dians were invited to Lancaster to witness the trial. The Iro- quois deputies replied that the Provincial Authorities should not be too much concerned; that three Indians had been killed at different times on the Ohio by the whites, and the Iroquois had never mentioned anything concerning them to the Colony. How- ever, they stated that they had severely reproved the Delawares, and would see that the goods which the murderers had stolen from Armstrong be restored to his relatives, and Musemeelin be re- turned for trial, but not as a prisoner. Later on August 21st, 1744, Shikellamy brought the two prisoners to the Provincial Authorities at Philadelphia. Musemeelin was not convicted. He returned to his wigwam.

No Delawares, the friends of William Penn, were present at the Lancaster Treaty, the Iroquois having forbidden them to attend.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Lancaster Treaty — in many respects the most important Indian Council ever held in Pennsylvania up to this time. War between England and France, King George's War, was then raging. At the opening of this conflict, the question uppermost in the minds, not only of the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, but of all the colonies, was, "What will be the attitude of the powerful Six Nations?" The successful settling of the disputed land claims of the Iroquois in Maryland and Virginia, by this treaty, through the mediation of Pennsylvania, with Weiser as mentor, had much to do with making possible the success of Weiser's future negotia- tions with the Onondaga Council, negotiations that resulted in the neutrality of the Iroquois during King George's War. Had not the Iroquois deputies, at the Treaty of Lancaster, promised to inform the Governor of Pennsylvania as to the movements of the French? Had this great Confederation sided with the French, the English colonies would have been swept into the sea.

A full account of the Lancaster Treaty of 1744 is found in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages 698 to 737.

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Peter Chartier Deserts to the French

Peter Chartier was the only son of Martin Chartier, who ac- companied the Shawnees, under Opessah, to Pequea, Lancaster County, in 1697 or 1698, and his mother was a Shawnee squaw. The father was a Frenchman, who had Hved among this band of Shawnees for many years prior to their entering Pennsylvania, and accompanied them in their wanderings. He set up a trading house at Pequea a few years after the Shawnees took up their abode there. At least, he traded at Pequea as early as 1707. Some years later, he removed his trading post to Dekanoagah, which we have seen was located on or near the present site of Washington Borough, Lancaster County. Here he died in 1718.

Peter Chartier is said to have followed his father's example by marrying a Shawnee squaw. In 1718, he secured a warrant for three hundred acres of land "where his father is settled, on Sus- quehanna river." For some years he traded with the Shawnees who had left Pequea and settled near the site of Washington Borough and at Paxtang. Later he traded with those members of this tribe who had settled on the west side of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Shawnee (now Yellow Breeches) Creek, on the site of the present town of New Cumberland, Cumberland County. We have already seen how he, in 1728, aided in the escape of the Shawnees who had murdered the two Conestogas. Still later, he is said to have removed to the valley of the Conoco- cheague. About 1730, he commenced trading with the Shawnees on the Conemaugh, and Kiskiminetas, and a little later, on the Allegheny.

Chartier's principal seat on the Allegheny was Chartier's, Town, sometimes called Chartier's Old Town and Neucheconneh's Town, located near the site of Tarentum, Allegheny County. No doubt he and the Shawnee chief, Neucheconneh founded Char- tier's Town, about 1734. Chartier carried on a large trade with the Shawnees, and was the trusted interpreter in many councils between the Shawnees and the Colonial Authorities. However, he yielded to French influence, and, in the summer of 1745, with about four hundred Shawnees, deserted to the French. He and his followers went from his seat on the Allegheny, thence down the Allegheny and Ohio, robbing English traders as they de- scended the rivers. At Logstown, they made an unsuccessful attempt to have the aged Shawnee chief, Kakowatcheky, join

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them. They proceeded on down the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto, at which place another Shawnee settlement had been made possibly a decade before, and known for many years after- wards as the Lower Shawnee Town. From the Lower Shawnee Town, Chartier and his Shawnees proceeded southward along the Catawba Trail, and established a town about twelve miles east of the site of the present town of Winchester, Kentucky. Their object was to be nearer the French settlements on the Mis- sissippi.

Some time after Chartier's desertion, many of his followers returned, among these being Neucheconneh and his band. In 1747, the Council of the Six Nations placed the Oneida chief, Scarouady, in charge of Shawnee affairs, with his central seat at Logstown. Shortly thereafter, Neucheconneh, with Kako- watcheky, applied submissively to Scarouady to intercede for the returned Shawnees with the Colonial Authorities. Then, at a meeting on July 21st, 1748, at Lancaster, with the commissioners appointed by the Colony to hold a conference with the Six Na- tions, Twightwees and other Indians, the apology of the former deserters was received. At this meeting, the Shawnee chief, Tamenebuck, the famous Cornstalk of later years, eloquently pled that the misled Shawnees be forgiven. Said he: "We pro- duce to you a certificate of the renewal of our friendship in the year 1739, by the Proprietor and Governor. Be pleased to sign it afresh, that it may appear to the world we are now admitted into your friendship, and all former crimes are buried and entirely forgotten."

The request of Tamenebuck was rejected. The commission- ers refused to sign the certificate, and the Shawnees were told that it was enough for them to know that they were forgiven on condi- tion of future good behavior, and that when that condition was performed, it would be time enough for them to apply for such testimonials. It is not known whether Weiser advised this course or not, but it is certain that he could have prevented it, and in- duced the Colonial Authorities to make a valuable peace with the Shawnees now when they were so submissive and humble. Other tribes received presents at this Lancaster conference, but the Shawnees only had their guns mended. They went away in dis- grace, brooding over such treatment. Arriving at their forest homes in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, they were met by the sympathizing French, and, in a few short years, became allies of the French, in the French and Indian War, and spread

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terror, devastation and death throughout the Pennsylvania settle- ments. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 4, page 757 ; Vol. 5, pages 311 to 315.)

Efforts to make Peace Between the Iroquois and the Southern Indians

As early as 1744, many Shawnees of the upper part of the Ohio began to move down this stream to the mouth of the Scioto, and it was believed that the Catawbas were the instigators of this action. Fearing that, not only the Catawbas, but the whole Muskokee Confederation would join the French, Virginia and Carolina renewed their efforts to bring about a peace between the Catawbas and Iroquois; and Governor Gooch of Virginia wrote Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania in November of that year advising that the Catawbas were willing to make peace and requesting that Conrad Weiser get in touch with the Six Nations in the matter.

Accordingly Weiser was sent once more to Onondaga on a peace mission. On May 19th, 1745, in company with Shikellamy, Shikellamy's son, Andrew Montour (son of Madam Montour), Bishop Spangenberg of the Moravian Church and two other Moravian missionaries, this veteran Indian Agent of the Colony of Pennsylvania set out from Shamokin for Onondaga, at which place he arrived on the 6th day of June. Weiser urged the Onon- daga Council to enter into peace negotiations with the Catawbas for the sake of the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, if for no other reason. The Black Prince of the Onondagas, the speaker of the Iroquois, replied that the Great Council would be willing to send deputies to Philadelphia to meet the deputies of the Catawbas, but that they could not be sent until the summer of 1746.

At this point we call attention to the fact that, at the Albany Treaty, held in October, 1745, between the Six Nations and New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, in an un- successful attempt to persuade the Iroquois to take up arms against the French in King George's War, the matter of the Ca- tawba war again came up, but was not pressed. On that occasion, Canassatego explained to Thomas Laurence, John Kinsey, and Isaac Norris, the Commissioners from Pennsylvania, that the chiefs of the Six Nations were not able to restrain their young warriors from making raids into the Catawba country until peace was declared. The Great Council of the Six Nations had all it

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could do, at that time, to preserve neutrality in the struggle be- tween the French and English, known as King George's War. In fact the Iroquois and Catawba War went on intermittently until 1769.

Shikellamy and Weiser found the Great Council at Onondaga very much incensed at the conduct of Peter Chartier, in deserting to the French and leading a band of Shawnees down the Ohio. They asked why Pennsylvania did not declare war against him at once.

The reason why Bishop Spangenberg and the other Moravian missionaries accompanied Shikellamy and Weiser on this journey, was that the Moravians at that time had a project on foot to transfer their mission at Shekomeko, New York, to the Wyoming Valley, on the North Branch of theSusquehanna,in Pennsylvania; and this necessitated negotiations with the Great Council at Onondaga to whose dependencies Wyoming belonged. Count Zinzindorf had held a conference with the great Iroquois chief- tain, Canassatego, at Weiser's home near Womelsdorf , in August, 1742, when the Iroquois deputies were returning from the treaty of 1742, at which conference the Moravians were given permission by the Iroquois to establish their missions in Pennsylvania. Now the Onondaga Council replied to the request of Bishop Spangen- berg that they were glad to renew their contract with Count Zin- zindorf and the Moravians, and they gave their consent to the proposed Moravian settlement at Wyoming.

The Moravians founded the town of Bethlehem in December, 1741, which has ever since been the central seat of the Moravian Church in America. Later, they established a mission at Frieden- sheutten, near Bethlehem, another called Friedensheutten, (Tents of peace), the Indian town of Wyalusing, Bradford County, another at Gnadenhuetten (Tents of grace), near Weissport, in Carbon County, another at Shamokin, the great Indian capital, and another at Wyoming, Luzerne County. They also established missions in the western part of the state. These were at and in the vicinity of the Munsee Delaware town of Goschgoschunk, near Tionesta, Forest County, and Friedensstadt (City of peace) on the Beaver, in Lawrence County. In 1772, the Moravian missionaries, John Etwein and John Roth, conducted the con- gregation from Wyalusing to Friedensstadt on the Beaver. The efforts of the Moravian Church to convert the Delawares and other Indians of Pennsylvania to the Christian faith is one of the most delightful chapters in the history of the Commonwealth.

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The First Embassy to the Indians of the Ohio

Soon after the first Delawares and Shawnees of Eastern Penn- sylvania went to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, Penn- sylvania traders followed them to their new forest homes. The first mention of both these traders and the region of the Ohio and Allegheny, in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, is in the minutes of a conference held at Philadelphia, July 3rd to 5th, 1727, reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages 271 to 276, between the Provincial Council and a number of chiefs of the Six Nations, in which the chiefs requested that "none of the traders be allowed to carry any rum to the remoter parts where James Le Torte trades, that is Allegheny on the Branches of Ohio." Even at this early day, French agents and traders also were among the Delawares and Shawnees of the Allegheny and Ohio; for, in the minutes of this same conference, we find a reference to a "fort" (no doubt a trading house), which the French had erected in the Allegheny Valley. Throughout the passing years, the Pennsylvania trader and the Frenchman sought to gain first place in the hearts of the Indians of these valleys. After the Lancaster Treaty of 1744, the Indian trade of Penn- sylvania increased in these valleys and spread as far as the shores of the Great Lakes and the banks of the Wabash, and, at the same time, the French became more active among the Indians in this trackless wilderness.

Two Pennsylvanians realized the importance of keeping the Indians of the western region on friendly terms with the Colony. One was George Croghan, the "king of traders," who wrote to Richard Peters of the Provincial Council, on May 26th, 1747, that "some small presents" should be sent the Indians dwelling in the region of Lake Erie. The other was Conrad Weiser, who wrote Richard Peters, on July 20th, 1747, that "a small present ought to be made to the Indians on Lake Erie to acknowledge the receipt of theirs. It may be sent by some Honest Trader. I think George Croghan is fit to perform it. I always took him for an honest man, and have as yet no Reason to think otherwise of him." The present to which Weiser refers was a French scalp and some wampum which the Lake Erie Indians had just sent by the hand of Croghan for the Governor of Pennsylvania. Croghan had just returned from a trading journey among them, and had found them unfriendly to the French. (See Penna. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 742, 761 and 762.)

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Later, in the summer of 1747, it was decided by the Colonial Authorities to send a handsome present to the Indians of the Ohio and Lake Erie. George Croghan was selected as the person to carry the Pennsylvania present to the shores of the Ohio and while arrangements were being made for the mission, ten chiefs from Kuskuskies, among whom was Canachquasy, came to Phila- delphia in November, and gave the Provincial Council authentic information of the operations of the French in the western region. They were told by President Palmer that Croghan would bring the Pennsylvania present the following spring. This information soon reached the shores of the Ohio.

Accordingly Croghan took the present to the Indians of the Ohio, in the spring of 1748. At Logstown, on April 28th, he held council with the chiefs of several tribes, and gave them the present of powder, lead, vermillion and flints. When he began to dis- tribute the articles, he found they were not enough to satisfy the fifteen hundred Indians, and so he added much from his own trading stores. He told the Indians that, in answer to their complaints against the whiskey traders, the Governor had issued a proclamation forbidding the carrying of this liquor into the Indian country. Finally he told them that Conrad Weiser would come with a much larger present, on behalf of Pennsylvania, about the first of August.

Conrad Weiser arrived at Logstown on the evening of August 27th as the head of what is generally called the first embassy ever sent by the Colony of Pennsylvania to the Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny, although it would be more nearly correct to say that Croghan's mission of the preceeding April was the first. The Indians had been anxiously awaiting his coming. He notes in his journal that when they saw him, "great joy appeared in their countenances." Weiser distributed the goods making up the Pennsylvania present, and held many conferences with the In- dians during his two weeks stay among them. He visited the Delaware town of Sawcunk at the mouth of the Beaver and sent Andrew Montour, who accompanied him, to Kuskuskies to sum- mon the chiefs of that place to councils at Logstown. Kuskuskies was a group of villages on the upper Beaver, its centre being at or near the site of the city of New Castle.

On September 8th, Weiser requested the chiefs with whom he held the conferences at Logstown to give him "a list of their fighting men." The chiefs complied with this request, and under this date he noted in his journal:

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"The following is the number of every Nation given to me by their several Deputies in Council in so many sticks tied up in a bundle: The Senecas, 163; Shawonese, 162; Owendaets (Wyan- dots), 100; Tisagechroanu, 40; Mohawks, 74; Onondagers (Onon- dagas), 35; Mohickons, 15; Cajukas (Cayugas), 20; Oneidas, 15; Delawares, 165; in all, 789."

While at Logstown, Weiser made George Croghan's trading house his headquarters. He raised the British flag over this famous Indian town. On September 11th, he and Croghan smashed an eight gallon keg of rum which the trader, Henry Norland, had brought to the town. Among the noted sachems with whom he held important conferences were the Oneida chief, Tanacharison, also called the Half King, and the Oneida chief, Scarouady, who, upon the death of Tanacharison in the autumn of 1754, became his successor as "Half King." Tanacharison promised Weiser that he would keep Pennsylvania posted as to the movements of the French in the valleys of the Ohio and "Let us," said he, "keep up true correspondence, and always hear of one another." His protestation of friendship for the English was sincere. He remained faithful to the English interest to the end of his eventful life. Before leaving Logstown, Weiser paid a visit to the aged and infirm Shawnee chief, Kakowatcheky, and presented him with a blanket, a coat, stockings and tobacco. Kakowatcheky had removed from Wyoming to Logstown in 1743 taking many of his tribe with him.

This embassy to the Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas and other Indians on the Ohio was eminently successful. It left Pennsyl- vania in possession of the Indian trade from Logstown to the Mississippi and from the Ohio to the Great Lakes. Moreover, its success was most gratifying to all the frontier settlers. Not only Pennsylvania, but Maryland and Virginia were active in following up the advantage thus gained. A number of Maryland and Virginia traders pushed into the Ohio region, and presently the Ohio Company, formed by leading men of Virginia and Maryland, among whom were George Washington's half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, sought to secure the Forks of the Ohio.

For Weiser's journal of this important mission, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 5, pages 348 to 358.

Death of Shikellamy

On the 17th day of December in the eventful year of 1748, occurred the death of Shikellamy, "Our Enlightener," the most picturesque and historic Indian character that ever lived in Penn-

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sylvania. As we have seen, his residence was at Sunbury. Con- rad Weiser, in the later years of the old chief's life, had built him a substantial house which rested upon pillars for safety, and in which he always shut himself up when any drunken frolic was going on in the village. He had been taken ill in Philadelphia, but so far recovered that he had visited his old friend, Weiser, at his home near Womelsdorf, in April, 1748, and was able to com- plete his journey to Shamokin. Upon his return to Shamokin, he was again taken ill, and in June the Provincial Council was advised that he was so ill that he might lose his eyesight; but he recovered sufficiently to make a trip to Bethlehem early in Decem- ber, On his return from that place, he became so ill that he reached home only by the assistance of the Moravian missionary, David Zeisberger. His daughter and Zeisberger were with him during his last illness and last hours. David Zeisberger and Henry Frye made the old chief a coffin, and the Indians painted the body in their gayest colors, bedecked it with his choicest orna- ments, and placed with it the old chief's weapons according to the Indian custom. Then, after Christian burial services, conducted by David Zeisberger, Shikellamy was buried in the Indian bury- ing ground of his people in the present town of Sunbury.

Shikellamy left to mourn him his three sons and a daughter. Another son. Unhappy Jake, was killed in the war with the Catawbas. The three sons who survived were: (1) Taghnegh- doarus, also known as John Shikellamy, who succeeded his hon- ored and distinguished father in authority, but never gained the confidence with which the father was held by both the Indians and the whites; (2) Taghahjute, or Sayughdowa, better known in history as Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, having been given the name of James Logan by Shikellamy, in honor of the distinguished secretary of the Provincial Council ; (3) John Petty. His daughter was the widow of Cajadies, known as the "best hunter among all the Indians," who died in November, 1747. After the death of Shikellamy, Shamokin (Sunbury) rapidly declined as a center of Indian afifairs, as his son who succeeded him was not able to restrain the Indians under his authority.

Among the tributes which have been paid to this great chief- tain are the following: "He was a truly good man, and a great lover of the English," said Governor Hamilton, of the Colony of Pennsylvania. Said Count Zinzindorf, Moravian missionary, who, like all the prominent leaders of the Moravian Church, had been kindly received by Shikellamy: "He was truly an excellent

SHIKELLAMY'S MARKER, NEAR HIS GRAVE, AT SUNBURY, PA.

A number of years ago, the great Vice-Gerent's grave was opened, and his pipe, a British medal and a number of other articles belonging to him were found therein. His grave is near the bridge leading to Northumberland.

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and good man, possessed of many noble qualities of mind, that would do honor to many white men, laying claims to refinement and intelligence. He was possessed of great dignity, sobriety and prudence, and was particularly noted for his extreme kindness to the inhabitants with whom he came in contact." Also, the Mora- vian historian, Loskiel, says of him: "Being the first magistrate, and the head chief of all the Iroquois Indians living on the banks of the Susquehanna, as far as Onondaga, he thought it incumbent upon himself to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white people. He assisted the Missionaries in building, and defended them against the insults of the drunken Indians; being himself never addicted to drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never wished to become a fool."

The dust of this astute Iroquois statesman reposes at Sunbury on the banks of his long loved Susquehanna; and, as one stands near his grave and looks at the high and rocky river hill on the opposite side of the river, he beholds a strange arrangement of the rocks on the mountainside, resembling the countenance of an Indian warrior, and known locally as "Shikellamy's Profile." Thus, his face carved by nature's hand in the imperishable rock, gazes on the region where "Our Enlightener" had his home for so many years.

The Purchase of 1749

On July 1, 1749, a number of Seneca, Onondaga, Tutelo, Nan- ticoke, and Conoy chiefs came to Philadelphia to interview Gov- ernor Hamilton, with reference to the settlements which the white people were making "on the other side of the Blue Moun- tains." This delegation had gone first to Wyoming, the place appointed for the gathering of the deputies of the various tribes, had waited there a month for the other deputies, and then decided to go on to Philadelphia. Governor Hamilton advised the chiefs that the Province had been doing everything in its power to pre- vent persons from settling on lands not purchased from the In- dians. Immediately after the conference the Governor issued a proclamation, which was distributed throughout the Province, and posted upon trees in the Juniata and Path valleys, and other places where settlers had built their homes beyond the Blue Mountains, ordering all such settlers to remove from these lands by the first of November. As has already been related in this chapter, these settlers were removed by Conrad Weiser, George

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Croghan, Benjamin Chambers, James Galbraith and others, in May, 1750, acting under orders of Lieutenant-Governor Morris.

The delegation of chiefs had left Philadelphia but a short time when Governor Hamilton received word from Conrad Weiser that the other Indian deputies, who had failed to join the previous delegation at Wyoming, were at Shamokin (Sunbury) on their way to Philadelphia. The Governor then sent word to Weiser, urging him to divert this new delegation from coming to the city. Weiser did all in his power to carry out the Governor's orders, but the Indians soon let him see that they were determined to go on to Philladelphia, at which place they arrived on the 16th of August, numbering two hundred and eighty, and led by Canassa- tego, the speaker at the former treaties at Lancaster and Phila- delphia.

Canassatego was the speaker of the Indian delegation at the conferences which were then held with the Governor and Provin- cial Council. When advised of the efforts that Pennsylvania had made to prevent her people from settling on unpurchased land, Canassatego excused the Government for this, saying: "White people are no more obedient to you than our young Indians are to us." He thus also excused the war parties of young Iroquois who went against the Catawbas. Canassatego further offered to remedy the situation by saying that the Iroquois were "willing to give up the Land on the East side of Susquehannah from the Blue Hills, or Chambers' Mill to where Thomas McGee [McKee], the Indian trader, lives, and leave it to you to assign the worth of them." This great Iroquois statesman complained especially of the settlements on the branches of the Juniata, saying that these were the hunting grounds of the Nanticokes and other Indians under the jurisdiction of the Iroquois. He told the Governor that, when the Nanticokes had trouble with Maryland, where they formerly lived, they had been removed by the Six Nations and placed at the mouth of the Juniata, and that there were three settlements of the tribe still remaining in Maryland. These latter, he explained, wished to join their relatives in Pennsylvania, but that Maryland would not permit them to do so, "where they make slaves of them and sell their Children for Money." He then asked the Governor to intercede with the Governor of Maryland to the end that the Nanticokes in Maryland might be permitted to join their brethren on the Juniata. Explaining why the pro- posed treaty with the Catawbas had not taken place, Canas- satego said that King George's War breaking out had prevented

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them from getting together, "and now we say we neither offer nor reject Peace." He also let it be known that he did not believe that the Catawbas were sincere in their offers of peace.

Governor Hamilton then took up with Canassatego the pro- posed sale of lands, and, after much discussion, the Six Nations' deputies sold to the Colony of Pennsylvania a vast tract of land between the Susquehanna and the Delaware, including all or parts of the present counties of Dauphin, Northumberland, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Columbia, Carbon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and Wayne. This is known in Pennsylvania history as the "Pur- chase of 1749," the deed having been signed on the 22nd of August of that year. Nutimus joined in the deed as chief of the Delawares at Nutimus' Town, at the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, Luzerne County. Also, Paxinosa, then residing at Wyoming, and the leading chief of the Shawnees of Eastern Pennsylvania, joined in this deed.

Celoron's Expedition

In the summer of 1749, the year following the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle, which ended King George's War, Marquis de la Galis- soniere, then Governor-General of New France, sent Captain Celoron de Bienville with a detachment composed of one captain, eight subaltern officers, six cadets, one chaplain, twenty soldiers, one hundred and eighty Canadians and about thirty Indians, approximately half of whom were Iroquois, down the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio to take formal possession of the region drained by these rivers for Louis XV of France. Coming down Conewango Creek to the Allegheny, Celoron, on July 29th, buried a leaden plate on the bank of the river, opposite the mouth of the Conewango, with an inscription thereon proclaiming that all the region drained by the "Beautiful River" and tributaries belonged to the Crown of France forever. This plate was after- wards stolen by some Indians, and several Cayuga chiefs carried it to Sir William Johnson at his residence on the Mohawk, on December 4th, 1750. Then, on January 29th, 1751, Governor George Clinton of New York sent a copy of the inscription on the plate to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania.

As Celoron floated down the beautiful and majestic rivers, whose forest-lined banks were clothed with the verdure of mid- summer, he buried other leaden plates, mostly at the mouths of tributary streams. One of these was buried near the "Indian God Rock," on the east side of the Allegheny, seven or eight miles

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below Franklin; one at the mouth of the Monongahela; one at the mouth of the Muskingum, and one at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. The one at the mouth of the Muskingum was found in 1798, and the one at the mouth of the Great Kanawha was found in 1846. The former has been preserved by the American Antiquarian Society, and the latter by the Virginia Historical Society. Several others were buried at places which cannot be definitely ascertained. The last was buried at the mouth of the Great Miami, where Celoron left the Ohio returning to Canada by way of Detroit.

On his way down the Allegheny and Ohio, Celoron stopped at the principal Indian towns and held conferences with the natives, — at the village of Cut Straw, also called Buccaloons, at the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek in Warren County; at Venango (Franklin); at Attique or Attigue (Kittanning); at Chartier's Town, on or near the site of Tarentum; at Logstown and at other places. At Venango he found the English trader, John Frazer, who was driven from that place by the French in the summer of 1753, and removed to the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monongahela. At Kittanning, he found that the inhabitants had fled to the woods, although he had sent Joncaire ahead to that place to request its chiefs to await his arrival without fear. At Chartier's Town, or probably at Logstown, he found six English traders with fifty horses and one hundred and fifty bales of fur. Ordering these traders to remove, he sent a letter to Governor Hamilton of Penn- sylvania, telling him to warn his traders "not to return into these territories" of the French King. This letter was dated August 6th. At or near the site of Pittsburgh, he met Queen Allaquippa of the Senecas, whom he describes in his journal as "entirely devoted to the English." At Logstown, which he reached on August 8th, he ordered the British flag which Conrad Weiser had placed there the preceeding September, to be torn down and the French flag to be raised in its place. At his village on the Miami, Celoron held a conference with Old Britian, or La Demoiselle (the Young Lady), the great chief of the Miamis, and endeavored to draw him into a French alliance, but without success. The Joncaire brothers, Philip and Chabert, who for many years had been active agents of the French among the Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny, accompanied this historic expedition, as did Contrecoeur, who afterwards built Fort Duquesne, and M. de Villiers, who compelled Washington to surrender at Fort Neces- sity, July 4th, 1754.

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On June 30th, 1749, Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, received a letter from Governor Clinton, of New York, advising that he had received information that an army of French was about to make its way into the valley of the "Belle Riviere." This was, of course, Celoron's expedition, just described. Gover- nor Hamilton sent word to George Croghan to go to the Allegheny to ascertain "whether any French were coming into those parts, & if any, in what numbers & what appearance they made, that the Indians might be apprised & put upon their guard." (See Penna. Col. Rec, Vol. V., page 387.) Croghan arrived at Logs- town immediately after Celoron had left, and, in councils with Tanacharison and Scarouady, counteracted the influence of the Frenchman.

Attention is called to the fact that, before Croghan left Logs- town Tanacharison and Scarouady gave him three deeds for large tracts of land, about 200,000 acres in all. A large part of the city of Pittsburgh and all the towns on the south side of the Ohio River as far as the mouth of Raccoon Creek, in Beaver County, are located on two of these tracts. The third tract, 60,000 acres, was located on the Youghiogheny in the region of the mouth of Big Sewickley Creek, Westmoreland County. These were the first grants of land by the Indian to the white man in the valley of the Ohio. Croghan must have dated the deeds back about a week, as they bear date of August 2nd. Two of these deeds are recited in the records of the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland County, one in deed book. No. A. page 395, and the other in deed book. No. A, page SIL

The Virginia Treaty at Logstown

Shortly after the forming of the Ohio Company, in 1748, the King of England granted the company two hundred thousand acres of land to be taken on the south side of the Allegheny and Ohio between the Kiskiminetas River and Buffalo Creek and on the north side of the Ohio between Yellow Creek and Cross Creek, or in such other part of the region west of the Allegheny Mountains as the company should think proper. The grant contained the condition that the company should settle one hundred families thereon within seven years and erect a fort*. On the company's compliance with this condition, it was to receive three hundred thousand acres more, south of the first grant. The company built a storehouse at Will's Creek (Cumberland, Mary-

*The Ohio Company requested Pennsylvania Germans to settle on these lands. They declined , as they desired clergymen of their own language and faith (Lutheran and Reformed) instead of clergymen of the established church of Virginia (Episcopal). Later hundreds of German fam- ilies received Pennsylvania titles to lands in this region. (Writings of Washington, by Sparks, Vol. 2, page 481).

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land), and, in 1751, opened a road towards the Ohio as far as Turkey Foot, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania claimed that a large part of the company's grant was within the bounds of Charles IPs charter to William Penn ; and a dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia, with reference to these lands, continued with vary- ing degrees of intensity until its happy consummation in the Act of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, passed April 1, 1784.

As we have seen, Pennsylvania was following up the advant- ages gained by Croghan's and Weiser's embassy to Logstown in 1748. In the meantime the Colony of Virginia had not relin- quished its claim to the Ohio Valley. In June, 1752, the com- missioners of Virginia, Joshua Fry, L. Lomax, and James Patton, held a treaty with the Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes of the Ohio Valley, at Logstown. Christopher Gist, the agent of the Ohio Company, George Groghan, and Andrew Montour were present, the latter acting as interpreter. The Great Council of the Six Nations declined to send deputies to attend the treaty. Said they: "It is not our custom to meet to treat of affairs in the woods and weeds. If the Governor of Virginia wants to speak with us, and deliver us a present from our father [the king], we will meet him at Albany, where we expect the Governor of New York will be present."

The object of the treaty was to obtain from the Indians a con- firmation of the Lancaster Treaty of 1 744, by the terms of which Virginia claimed that the Iroquois had ceded to her their right to all lands in the valley of the Ohio. The task of the Virginia com- missioners was not an easy one for the reason that the Pennsyl- vania traders had prejudiced the Indians against Virginia. How- ever, the commissioners secured permission to erect two forts and to make some settlements. Tanacharison, who was present and took a prominent part in the negotiations, advised that his broth- ers of Virginia should build "a strong house" at the mouth of the Monongahela to resist the designs of the French. A similar request had been made to the Governor of Pennsylvania by the chiefs at Logstown when George Crogan was at that place in May, 1751.

The Virginians, we repeat, laid claim to all the lands of the Ohio Valley by virtue of the purchase made at the treaty of Lancaster, in 1744, in which the western limit of the Iroquois sale was set forth as the "setting sun." Conrad Weiser had advised the Governor of Pennsylvania that the Six Nations never contemplated such sale, explaining that by the "setting sun" was

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meant the crest of the Allegheny Mountains, the divide between streams flowing to the Atlantic Ocean on the East and the Miss- issippi River on the West. At this Logstown treaty one of the Iroquois chiefs told the Virginia commissioners that they were mistaken in their claims. The chiefs agreed with the commis- sioners not to molest any settlements that might be made on the southeast side of the Ohio. At the treaty, two old chiefs, through an interpreter, said to Mr. Gist: "The French claim all on one side of the river [the Ohio], and the English all on the other side. Where does the Indian's land lie. " This question Gist found hard to answer.

During the proceedings of the Virginia treaty, Tanacharison, as the representative of the Six Nations, bestowed, on June 11th, the sachemship of the Delawares on Chief Shingas, later called King Shingas, believed by many authorities to have been a nephew of the great Sassoonan, since whose death, in the autumn of 1747, the kingship of the Delawares had been vacant. Also, Tanacharison's friendship for George Croghan was shown at this treaty. He spoke of him as "our brother, the Buck, who is ap- proved by our Council at Onondaga."

As to the kingship of Shingas, we call attention to the fact that he was not really king of the three Delaware Clans. He belonged to the Turkey Clan. As pointed out, in Chapter II, the head chief of the Turtle Clan was regarded as king of the three Clans of Delawares.

Tanacharison Forbids French to Advance

In the early part of the summer of 1753, the French, coming from Canada, erected Fort Presqu' Isle, where the city of Erie now stands, and later in the same year erected Fort Le Boeuf, where Waterford, Erie County, now stands. But before the erection of these forts, or on May 7, 1753, a message was sent down from Venango to George Croghan at his trading house, near the mouth of Pine Creek, about six miles up the Allegheny from the mouth of the Monongahela, by the trader, John Frazer, to the effect that the French were coming with three brass cannon, amunition and stores. Croghan and his associates were thrown into consternation. On the following day, two Iroquois runners from the Great Council House at Onondaga brought similar news; and on May 12th, a message was received from Governor Hamil- ton, of Pennsylvania, stating that he had received word from Sir

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William Johnson, of New York, that a large French expedition was marching towards the Ohio for the purpose of expelling the English and erecting forts.

The entire party at Croghan's Pine Creek trading house looked to him as leader. A conference was at once held there with Tanacharison and Scarouady. After much deliberation, the sachems decided "that they would receive the French as friends, or as enemies, depending upon their attitude, but the English would be safe as long as they themselves were safe." Croghan's partners, Teafee and Calendar, taking with them the two messen- gers who had brought Governor Hamilton's warning, returned to Philadelphia, on May 30th, and reported in person. The fol- lowing day. Governor Hamilton laid the report of Teafee and Calendar before the Pennsylvania Assembly, which, on the same day, made an appropriation of eight hundred pounds for guns and amunition for the friendly Indians on the Ohio. A large part of the Assembly's appropriation was to be a present of condolence to the Twightwees on account of the murder of their king, "Old Britain," at his village on the Miami, on June 21, 1752, by a band of Ottawas and Chippewas, led by Charles Langlade, a Frenchman, of Detroit.

For more than three months. Governor Hamilton held this money. In the meantime, Tanacharison and Scarouady, on June 23d, wrote Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, appealing for help in resisting the French invasion. In September, these chiefs sent a delegation of one hundred deputies to Winchester, Vir- ginia, to arrange for aid and supplies at a treaty then and there held between Virginia, in the interest of the Ohio Company, and the Six Nations and their tributary tribes in the valley of the Ohio, — the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Miamis or Twightwees, and the Wyandots. Scarouady headed the delegation of Indian deputies.

While attending the Winchester treaty, the Indians heard of the appropriation which had been voted by the Pennsylvania Assembly; and thereupon, although no invitation had been re- ceived by them, they sent a portion of their deputies, under the leadership of Scarouady, to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to ascertain whether the report were true. This delegation consisted of a number of the important chiefs of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnees, Twightwees, or Miamis, and the Owendats, or Wyan- dots. Governor Hamilton sent Conrad Weiser, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin to Carlisle to meet these

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deputies, October 1st to 4th, 1753. George Croghan was present to give advice. These commissioners had gone to Carlisle without presents, and they had Conrad Weiser interview one of the chiefs to ascertain if it were not possible to go through the forms of condolence on the promise to pay when the goods should arrive later. The chief replied that his people could and would not do any public business while the blood of their tribe remained upon their garments, and that "nothing would wash it unless the presents intended to cover the graves of the departed were actually spread upon the ground before them."

Presently the presents arrived and were distributed.

While the commissioners and Indians were awaiting for the goods to arrive, Conrad Weiser learned from Scarouady that, when the Ohio Indians received the messages in May, 1753, ad- vising them of the threatened French invasion, they at once sent a warning to the French, who were then at Niagara, forbidding them to proceed further toward the Ohio Valley. This notice not deterring the French, the Indians then held a conference at Logs- town, and sent a second notice to the French when they were approaching the headwaters of French Creek, as follows:

"Your children on Ohio are alarmed to hear of your coming so far this way. We at first heard that you came to destroy us. Our women left off planting, and our warriors prepared for war. We have since heard that you came to visit us as friends without design to hurt us, but then we wondered you came with so strong a body. If you have had any cause of complaint, you might have spoken to Onas or Corlear [meaning the Governors of Pennsyl- vania and New York], and not come to disturb us here. We have a Fire at Logstown, where are the Delawares and Shawnees and Brother Onas; you might have sent deputies there and said openly what you came about, if you had thought amiss of the English being there, and we invite you to do it now before you proceed any further."

The French replied to this notice, stating that they would not come to the council fire at Logstown ; that they meant no harm to the Indians; that they were sent by command of the king of France, and that they were under orders to build four forts, — one at Venango, one at the Forks of the Ohio, one at Logstown, and another on Beaver Creek. The Ohio Indians then held another conference, and sent a third notice to the French, as follows: "We forbid you to come any farther. Turn back to the place from whence you came."

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Tanacharison was the bearer of this third notice to the French, the equivalent of a declaration of war, and very likely, of the other two. Before the conference at Carlisle ended, it was learned that Tanacharison had just returned to Logs town from delivering the third notice; that he had been received in a very contemptuous manner by the French; and that, upon his return, had shed tears, and actually warned the English traders not to pass the Ohio.

For account of the Carlisle Conference of October, 1753, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 5, pages 665 to 686.

Washington's Mission to the French

The necessity for prompt and energetic action for the vindica- tion of the rights of the English in respect to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny became apparent to Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia shortly after Celeron's expedition in the summer of 1749. The French energetically seeking to ingratiate themselves with the Indians of this region, Governor Dinwiddle, in the summer of 1753, sent Captain William Trent to expostulate with the French commander on the Ohio for his invasion of this territory. Captain Trent did not have the qualities necessary for a fit performance of his duties. He came to the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh), and then proceeded to the Indian town of Piqua, in Ohio, where Christopher Gist and George Croghan had been well received some time before. Discovering that the French flag waved there and that the aspect of things on the frontier was more threatening than he had anticipated, Trent abandoned his purpose and re- turned to Virginia.

Governor Dinwiddle then resolved upon the appointment of Captain Trent's successor; but it was a difficult task to find a person of the requisite moral and physical capacity for so respon- sible and dangerous an enterprise. The position was offered to several Virginians, by all of whom it was declined, when Din- widdle received an intimation that it would be accepted by George Washington, then a youth of twenty-one years. Wash- ington had recently come into possession of the fine estate of Mount Vernon, upon the death of his half-brother, Lawrence, and had, therefore, unusual temptations to avoid such a hazar- dous untertaking. But Washington's whole constitution was

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heroic. A constant patriot, he did not shrink from any honorable service, however dangerous, which he could render his country. He therefore accepted the appointment and, on the very day he received his commission, October 31st, 1753, he started on his dangerous journey of more than five hundred miles through the wilderness to deliver to St. Pierre, commander of the French forces on the headwaters of the Allegheny, the protest of Gover- nor Dinwiddie against the encroachments of the French on terri- tory claimed by the English.

On November 1st, Washington arrived at Fredericksburg, where he arranged with Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman, who had been his old fencing master and who claimed to have a knowledge of the French language, to be his interpreter. Washington and Van Braam then proceeded to Alexandria, where they procured a supply of provisions. Proceeding from that place to Win- chester, they procured baggage and horses, and from there pro- ceeded to Wills Creek (Cumberland, Maryland), at which place they arrived on November 14th.

At Wills Creek, Washington engaged Christopher Gist, as he says in his journal, "to pilot us out." Gist was a surveyor, and during the years, 1750 and 1751, had made a journey through the Ohio Valley, exploring the region as the agent of the Ohio Com- pany. With only one companion on this journey, Gist proceeded through the wilderness to the Allegheny River, arriving at the same at Shannopin's Town, named for the Delaware chief, Shann- opin, a few miles above the mouth of the Monongahela. Swimming the Allegheny at this place, he and his companion then pro- ceeded to what is now the central part of Ohio, thence back to Virginia through the heart of Kentucky, many years before Daniel Boone penetrated its wilderness. It is thus seen that Christopher Gist was well fitted by experience in the wilderness "to pilot" Washington through the forests to the French forts.

At Wills Creek, Washington hired four servants, Barnaby Currin and John McGuire, who were Indian traders, and Henry Stewart and William Jenkins. He and his companions left Wills Creek on November 15th, and on November 22nd, arrived at the cabin of John Frazer, an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle Creek. Frazer, as has been seen, had been driven away from Venango by the French in the summer of 1753. From Frazer's, Washington and Gist went overland to Shannopin's Town. From Shannopin's Town, they proceeded to the mouth of the Monongahela, where they met their baggage which had been

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brought down the Monongahela from Frazer's by the others of Washington's party.

While at the mouth of the Monongahela, Washington was im- pressed by the desirability of the place for the erection of a fort. From this place, he and his companions proceeded to the site of the present town of McKees Rocks, where he met the Delaware chief, Shingas, and invited him to accompany them to Logstown, at which latter place they arrived on November 24th. At Logs- town, Washington held many conferences with Tanacharison and Scarouady, concerning the encroachments of the French. At this famous Indian town, the party was detained until Novem- ber 30th, on which day they set out for Venango by way of the Venango Indian Trail, accompanied by Tanacharison, Jeskakake, White Thunder, the Hunter, or Guyasuta and John Davidson, Indian interpreter. On December 4th, the entire party arrived at Venango, which Washington describes in his journal as "an old Indian town, situated at the mouth of French Creek, and Ohio, and lies north about sixty miles from Logstown, but more than seventy miles by the way we were obliged to go."

At Venango, they found the French colors hoisted on the trad- ing house from which the French had driven the trader, John Frazer. Washington immediately went to this house and in- quired where the commander resided. There were three French officers present, one of whom was Captain Joncaire, who in- formed him that it would be necessary for him to deliver Gover- nor Dinwiddle's protest to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf, situated on the site of the present town of Waterford, Erie County. The French officers at Venango treated Washington very courteously and invited him to dine with them which in- vitation he accepted, and during the course of the meal, the officers let it be plainly known that the French were determined to use every means in their power to retain possession of the dis- puted territory.

At this point we anticipate events somewhat by stating that, in April, 1754, the French erected Fort Machault at Venango (Franklin). The English referred to it as "the French fort at Venango." In 1760, after the close of the French and Indian War, the English erected Fort Venango near where Fort Machault had stood.

Washington remained at Venango until December 7th. During this time, the French officers used every art in their power to alienate Tanacharison from the English interest. Leaving Ven-

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ango, Washington and his companions proceeded up French Creek to Custaloga's Town, located about twelve miles above the mouth of French Creek and near the mouth of Deer Creek in French Creek Township, Mercer County, and named for the Delaware chief, Custaloga. From Custaloga's Town, they went up French Creek to the Indian town of Cussewago, located on the site of Meadville, Crawford County, and thence to Fort Le- Boeuf (Waterford), at which place they arrived on December 11th. The journey up French Creek was very difficult, by reason of rains, mires and swamps. It was impossible to cross the creek, "either by fording or rafting, the water was so high and rapid."

On December 12th, Washington delivered to St. Pierre, the commander of Fort Le Boeuf , the protest of Governor Dinwiddie. This protest demanded that the French depart from the disputed region. St Pierre's reply was that he would transmit Governor Dinwiddie's protest to Marquis Duquesne, Governor of Canada, "to whom," he observed, "it better belongs than to me to set forth the evidence and reality of the rights of the King, my master, upon the lands situated along the river Ohio, and to contest the pretensions of the King of Great Britain thereto." St. Pierre, like the French officers at Venango, treated Washing- ton with courtesy, but did all in his power to alienate Tanachari- son and the other Indians from the English interest. He gave them liquor and presents. Commenting on the efforts of the commander and his officers, Washington says in his journal: "I can not say that ever in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I did in this affair." Under this terrible strain, Washington re- mained alert and carefully observed that the fort was garrisoned by more than one hundred men and officers and that there were two hundred and twenty canoes in readiness, and many more in process of being built, for the purpose of conveying the French forces down the river in the spring.

Having received St. Pierre's reply, Washington and his com- panions left Fort Le Boeuf on December 16th, and arrived at Venango on December 22nd, after "a tedious and very fatiguing passage down the creek." The next day, all of Washington's party except Tanacharison and White Thunder started from Venango by the same route which they had followed in the journey from Logstown to that place. White Thunder was sick and unable to walk, and so Tanacharison took him down the Allegheny in a canoe. After Washington and his companions had journied three days on the way south, the horses became

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weak, feeble and almost unable to travel. Accordingly, on December 26th, Washington and Gist proceeded ahead on foot, leaving the rest of the party to follow by easy stages with Van Bream in charge of the horses and baggage.

Indian Attempts to Kill Washington

On the evening of December 27th, an incident occurred in Washington's journey back to Virginia that has world wide publicity. We refer to the attempt of a hostile Indian to kill him. The exact location of this attempt to kill the future Father of his Country will remain forever unknown, but the approximate location is a few miles from Evans City, Butler County. We shall let Washington relate the incident in his own words as he wrote them in his journal:

"The day following [December 27th], just after we had passed a place called Murdering Town (where we intended to quit the path and steer across the country for Shanapin's Town), we fell in with a party of French Indians, who had laid in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed. We took this fellow into custody, and kept him until about nine o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked all the remaining part of the night, without making any stop, that we might get the start so far as to be out of reach of their pursuit the next day, since we were assured they would follow our track as soon as it was light. The next day we continued travel- ling until quite dark, and got to the river [Allegheny] about two miles above Shahapins."

Christopher Gist, in his journal, describes the attack on Wash- ington in more detail. He says that he and Washington met this Indian at Murdering Town, and believed that they had seen him at Venango. The Indian called Gist by the latter's Indian name and pretended to be very friendly. After some conversation with the Indian, Washington and Gist asked him to accompany them and show them the nearest way to Shannopin's Town. The Indian seemed very glad to accompany them. He led the way from Murdering Town, but seemed to take a course too much to the north-east, which caused both Washington and Gist to mis- trust him. Finally, when they came to a snow-covered meadow, the Indian suddenly turned and fired at Washington. He was immediately seized and disarmed before he could re-load his rifle. Gist wanted to kill him on the spot, but Washington would

STATUE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, ON SITE OF FORT LE BOEUF, WATERFORD, PA. The statue represents him in the act of delivering the protest of Gov- ernor Dinwiddle to St. Pierre.

INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 149

not permit him to do so. After he was kept in custody until late in the evening, they let him go. Says Gist: "He was glad to get away. I followed him and listened until he was fairly out of the way, and then we set out about half a mile, when we made a fire, set our compass, and fixed our course, and travelled all night."

For many years, the author felt that a suitable monument should be erected to mark the approximate spot where the hostile Indian attempted to take the life of Washington. During the year 1924, he wrote several articles for the "Butler Eagle,'' Butler, Pennsylvania, in an effort to arouse interest in the work he had in mind. These appeals through the newspaper brought results. A committee, consisting of Hon. A. E. Reiber, Captain James A, McKee, and the author, erected such monument in the autumn of 1924, and on July 3rd, 1925, it was unveiled with ap- propriate exercises. The author had the honor of delivering the historical address on this occasion.

At this point, the author asks that the reader indulge him in making the statement that he traces his love for the history of Pennsylvania to the story of the attack on Washington by the hostile Indian on that December evening of 1753, told him under the following circumstances: On the farm on which he was reared in Armstrong County, the ancestral home of his paternal ancestors since 1795, is a high hill, commanding a majestic sweep of the horizon in all directions. To the eastward, the blue out- line of the Chestnut Ridge can be seen, on a clear day, almost fifty miles away, while to the westward are the undulating hills of Butler County. One of his earliest recollections is that of his accompanying his revered mother to this hilltop on summer evenings and, with her, watching the sun set in floods of gorgeous and golden beauty behind the western hills. On those occasions she told him that the western region, where the sun was setting, was Butler County, and that it was in this county where George Washington was shot at by a hostile Indian in the dead of winter and in the depth of the forest. The author shall always cherish the recollection of those summer evenings, when, as a child in company with his mother in the grace and beauty of her young womanhood, he watched those golden sunsets bathe the Butler County hills in glory, and in his fancy, pictured the region of the sunset as an enchanted land, inhabited by the ghosts and shadows of the past and hallowed by the footsteps of Washington.

Students of the life of Washington are familiar with the fact that, in crossing the Allegheny on his journey back to Virginia,

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Washington was almost drowned in its icy waters. He and Gist were crossing the stream on a raft which they had made. Wash- ington thrust out his pole to propel the raft, but it was caught between blocks of ice with such force as to throw him into the water. Swimming to an island near the Washington Crossing Bridge in the city of Pittsburgh, Washington almost froze to death during the terrible night. This incident took place on December 29th.

On December 30th, Washington and Gist arrived at John Frazer's cabin, at Turtle Creek. The next day, they paid a visit to Queen Allaquippa, who was then residing where McKeesport now stands. Washington presented her with a coat and a bottle of rum, "which latter," he said, "was thought much the best present of the two."

On January 2nd, 1754, Washington and Gist arrived at the latter's plantation near Mount Braddock, Fayette County, where some Virginia families had settled at least as early as the spring of 1753, On January 6th, they arrived at Wills Creek. On the same day, they "met seventeen horses loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, and the day after, some families going out to settle." Washington arrived at Williams- burg, then the capital of Virginia, on January 16th, and delivered St. Pierre's reply.

The war between the Iroquois and the Cherokees and Catawbas was being carried on during the winter of 1753 and 1754, accord- ing to the following statement in Washington's journal, under date of December 30th or 31st, 1753:

"We met here [at Frazer's, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela] with twenty warriors, who were going to the southward to war; but coming to a place on the head of the Great Kanawha, where they found seven people killed and scalped, (all but one woman with very light hair) they turned about and ran back for fear the inhabitants should rise and take them as the authors of the murder. They report that the bodies were lying about the house, and some of them much torn and eaten by the hogs. By the marks which were left, they say they were French Indians of the Ottoway nation, and who did it."

The author has narrated Washington's mission rather fully on account of its historical importance and for the reason that Pennsylvanians should know the details of the perils which the youthful Washington encountered on Pennsylvania soil in his haz- ardous journey through the wilderness. As a closing statement,

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attention is called to the fact that Washington's journal, which was widely published in both England and America, reciting his experiences and giving information of vital import as to the plans for the French for occupying the valleys of the Ohio and Alle- gheny, made him an outstanding figure in the Colonies.

Clash of Arms About to Begin

This chapter has been devoted to a narration of the leading events in the Indian history of Pennsylvania from the departure of William Penn, in 1701, to the opening of the French and Indian War, the author's purpose being to prepare the reader for a study of the events about to be related. In the next chapter, we shall see the breaking of the storm which had long been gathering over the waters of the Ohio.

CHAPTER V

Opening of the French and Indian War

The French Occupy the Forks of the Ohio

IN January, 1754, George Croghan and Andrew Montour were sent to Logstown by Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, to ascertain from Tanacharison and Scarouady a full account of the activities of the French in the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, the attitude of the Western Indians, and what assistance in the way of arms and ammunition Virginia had given these Indians. Croghan and Montour found some French soldiers at Logstown, and most of the Indians drunk. John Patten, a trader, who ac- companied Croghan and Montour, was captured by the French, but Tanacharison caused his release. The Pennsylvania emissaries remained at Logstown until February 2nd. They found the In- dians determined to resist the French. A few days before they left, Tanacharison, Scarouady, and Shingas addressed a speech to Governor Hamilton in which they said: "We now request that our brother, the Governor of Virginia, may build a strong house at the Forks of the Mohongialo [Monongahela], and send some of our young brethren, the warriors, to live in it. And we expect our brother of Pennsylvania will build another house somewhere on the river, where he shall think proper, where whatever assis- tance he will think proper to send us may be kept for us, as our enemies are just at hand, and we do not know what day they may come upon us."

On February 20th, Andrew Montour was closely examined by Governor Hamilton and the Pennsylvania Assembly as to the location of Shannopin's Town, Logstown and Venango. Montour proved that these towns were all within the limits of the Province of Pennsylvania; but the Assembly decided that the encroach- ments of the French on the Ohio and Allegheny did not concern Pennsylvania any more than they did Virginia. In the mean-

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time, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, commissioned Captain William Trent to raise a force of one hundred men and proceed to the Forks of the Ohio to erect a fort at that place. Trent raised a force of seventy men and at once proceeded to Cumberland, Maryland; thence along the Nemacolin Indian Trail to Gist's Plantation (Mount Braddock, Fayette County, Pa.); thence by the Redstone trail to the mouth of that creek, where he built a storehouse; thence to the Forks of the Ohio. He arrived at the Forks of the Ohio on February 17th, and immediately began the erection of a fort, called Fort Trent. As Washington was return- ing to Virginia from his mission to St. Pierre, he met part of the Virginia force, the company consisting of Captain Trent, Lieu- tenant John Frazer (the former trader at Venango and the mouth of Turtle Creek) and Edward Ward, ensign.*

After the work of erecting Fort Trent was well started, Captain Trent returned to Will's Creek (Cumberland, Maryland), leaving Ensign Edward Ward, a half-brother of George Croghan, in com- mand. The French on the upper Allegheny were promptly warned of the arrival of Trent's forces, and with the opening of spring, marshalled their forces, to the number of about one thousand, including French-Canadians and Indians of various tribes, with eighteen cannon, in all a flotilla of about sixty battaux and three hundred canoes, and descended the Allegheny from Le Boeuff and Venango. The French forces arrived at the Forks of the Ohio on the evening of the 16th of April, under com- mand of Captain Contrecoeur. Planting his artillery, Contre- coeur sent Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of the artillery of Canada, with a summons to Ensign Ward, demanding immediate surrender. This was the first overt act of war on the part of the French, in the conflict known as the French and Indian War.

Ward thus found himself surrounded by a force of one thous- and French and Indians with the fort still uncompleted. Lieu- tenant Frazer was at his house at Turtle Creek at the time.

The Half King, Tanacharison, was present, and advised En- sign Ward to reply to the demand of Contrecoeur that he was not an officer of rank to answer the demand, and to request a delay until he could send for his superior in command. Contrecoeur, however, refused to parley; whereupon. Ward, having less than forty men, and, therefore, being utterly unable to resist the oppos- ing force, prudently surrendered the half-finished stockade with- out further hesitation.

Contrecoeur, upon the surrender of Ward, treated him with

*The Ohio Company had intended to erect a fort at the mouth of Chartiers Creek, where McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, now stands.

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the utmost politeness, invited him to sup with him, and wished him a pleasant journey back to Virginia. The French commander permitted him to withdraw his men, and take his tools with him; and on the next morning, he started on his return to Virginia going up the Monongahela to the mouth of Redstone Creek (Brownsville, Fayette County), where the Ohio Company had a stockade, erected by Trent on his way to the Ohio Valley. George Croghan, about the time Trent began erecting the fort at the Forks of the Ohio, had contracted with the Ohio Company to furnish provisions for Trent's forces, valued at five hundred pounds, from the back parts of Pennsylvania; and half of these were on their way to the Ohio when Contrecoeur captured the fort.

The French then took possession of the half-finished fort, completed it early in June, and named it Fort Dusquesne, in honor of Marquis DuQuesne, then the Gdvernor-General of Canada, In the meantime, the French destroyed Croghan's trading house at Logstown, taking 20,000 pounds of skins and furs.

Washington's Campaign of 1754

While Captain William Trent was engaged in the work of erecting a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, in the early part of 1754, Colonel Joshua Fry, with George Washington second in com- mand, was raising troops in Virginia to garrison the fort Trent was building. On April 2nd, Washington, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, marched from Alexandria, Virginia, with a detachment of two companies of infantry, commanded by Cap- tain Peter Hogg and Lieutenant Jacob Van Braam, the latter being Washington's interpreter on his mission to the French in the latter part of 1753. About fifteen days later, he was joined by Captain Stephen with a company of men. On April 20th, Washington's forces reached Old Town, Maryland and received information of the surrender of Ensign Ward at the Forks of the Ohio. On April 22nd, Washington reached Will's Creek, where he met Ward and learned the details of his surrender. On April 23d, a council of war was held at Will's Creek, at which it was agreed that it would be impossible to march to the Forks of the Ohio without reinforcements, but that it would be proper to advance as far as Redstone Creek, on the Monongahela, about thirty-seven miles this side of the fort [Fort Duquesne], and there to raise a fortification, "clearing a road wide enough to pass with

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 155

all our artillery and baggage, and there to await for fresh orders." At Redstone [Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa.], a storehouse had been erected, as we have already seen, by Captain William Trent when on his way to the Forks of the Ohio. Here Washing- ton's cannon and ammunition could be stored until reinforce- ments should arrive. From Will's Creek, Washington sent En- sign Ward to report to Governor Dinwiddie and a runner to notify Tanacharison, the Half King, of his intention to advance to Redstone with his force of one hundred and fifty men.

Let us now follow Washington as he advances into Pennsyl- vania over the Nemacolin Indian Trail, in the first military campaign of his illustrious career. On April 25th, he sent a de- tachment of sixty men to open the road towards Redstone, which detachment was joined by the main body on May 1st. On May 9th, Washington's forces reached the Little Crossings (Grants- ville.Md.), having crossed over Will's Mountain, Dan's Mountain, Big Savage Mountain, Little Savage Mountain and Meadow Mountain. On May 11th, Washington sent out a scouting party from the Little Crossings, in command of Captain Stephen and Ensign Peyronie, with instructions to advance along the line of march as far as Gist's Plantation (Mount Braddock, Fayette County) in an effort to discover scouting parties of the French. On May 12th, Washington's forces left the Little Crossings, fording the Castleman River, and, on the same day, the com- mander received word that Colonel Fry was at Winchester, Virginia, with about one hundred and fifty men, and would join him in a few days; also that Colonel Innis would soon join him with three hundred and fifty men. On May 16th, two traders, fleeing from the French, who had been seen near Gist's Plantation, joined Washington's forces, while, on May 17th, Ensign Ward returned from Williamsburg, Virginia, with the word that Captain Mackay, with an Independent Company of one hundred and fifty men, was on his way to join the forces of the future Father of his Country.

On May 18th, Washington and his troops reached the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny, at Somerfield, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Here they were obliged to remain several days on account of the swollen condition of the river. Washington had been told by the two traders, above mentioned, that it was not practicable to open a road to Redstone. Therefore, while at the Great Crossings, he determined to examine the Youghiogheny to ascertain whether or not guns and baggage could be transported

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down this stream; and, on May 20th, with four white men and an Indian, he went down the river in a canoe as far as Ohiopyle Falls, in Fayette County, and found the stream too rocky and rapid for navigation. On May 21st, he returned to Turkey Foot (Confluence, Somerset County), where he seems to have had an intention of building a fort. From Turkey Foot, Washington returned to his camp at the Great Crossings, from which place he led his forces to the Great Meadows, situated along the Na- tional Pike, a few miles east of the Summit, in Fayette County, arriving there on the afternoon of May 24th. "I hurried to this place," says Washington, "as a convenient spot. We have, with nature's assistance, made a good entrenchment, and by clearing the bushes out of the meadows, prepared a charming field for an encounter." Also, on May 24th, two Indian runners came to Washington from the Ohio, with a message from Tanacharison, informing him that the French had marched from Fort Duquesne to meet the Virginians and that Tanacharison would soon join him with other Indian chiefs from the Ohio region.

Also, on the afternoon of May 24th, a trader came to the Great Meadows with the information that he had been at Gist's Planta- tion the evening before, had seen two Frenchmen there, and had heard that French troops were near Stewart's Crossing, now Connellsville, Fayette County. The next day, Washington sent out several scouting parties from the Great Meadows to examine the woods, the road leading to Gist's Plantation and the sur- rounding region, in an effort to locate the French force. The scouts returned the same evening without having located the French.

Christopher Gist visited Washington's camp at the Great Meadows early in the morning of May 27th, coming from his plantation at Mount Braddock, thirteen miles distant, and re- porting that on May 26th, M. La Force, with fifty French soldiers had been at his plantation the day before, and that on his way to Washington's camp, he had seen the tracks of the same party only five miles from the encampment at the Great Meadows. Tan- acharison, with a number of his warriors was but six miles from the Great Meadows, and a little after eight o'clock on the night of the same day, May 27th, he sent Washington intelligence that he had seen the tracks of Frenchmen, and had traced them to an obscure retreat. Washington feared that this might be a strata- gem of the French for attacking his camp, and so, placing his ammunition in a place of safety and leaving a strong guard to

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protect it, he set out before ten o'clock with a band of soldiers, and reached Tanacharison's camp a little before sunrise, march- ing through a heavy rain, a night of intense darkness and the obstacles offered by an almost impenetrable forest. In a letter to Governor Dinwiddle, he says: "We were frequently tumbled over one another, and often so lost that fifteen or twenty minutes' search would not find the path again."

Just a word, at this point, as to the number of soldiers Wash- ington had with him on this night march through the forest. Most historians have placed the number as forty, but Washing- ton's notes indicate that he left forty soldiers to guard the camp at the Great Meadows and took the rest of his force with him. It will be recalled that his whole force, at that time, consisted of one hundred and fifty men.

Tanacharison Helps Washington Fight First Battle of His Career

At early dawn (May 28th), Washington held a council with Tanacharison at the latter's camp, which was near a spring, now known as Washington's Spring, about two miles north of the Summit on the old National Pike, near Uniontown; and it was agreed at this council to unite in an attack upon the French, Washington's forces to be on the right and Tanacharison's war- riors on the left. The French were soon traced to an almost in- accessible rocky glen in the Allegheny Mountains, about three miles north of the Summit. The forces of Washington and Tan- acharison advanced until they came so near as to be discovered by the French, who instantly ran to their arms. The firing con- tinued on both sides for about fifteen minutes, when the French were defeated with the loss of their whole party, ten of whom (some authorities say twelve), including their commander, M. de Jumonville, were killed, one wounded, and twenty-one taken prisoners. Of the prisoners, the two most important were an officer named Drouillon, and the redoubtable LaForce. The prisoners were marched to the Great Meadows, and from there sent over the mountains to Virginia. Of Washington's party, only one was killed, and two or three were wounded. Tanachari- son's warriors sustained no loss, as the fire of the French was aimed exclusively at Washington and his soldiers.

It is said that Washington fired the first shot in this skirmish, the opening conflict of the French and Indian War. Jumonville

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was buried where he fell, and a tablet marks the spot where his remains lie. The warriors of Tanacharison and Scarouady scalped the dead Frenchmen, and sent their scalps and a string of black wampum to the tribes on the Ohio, with the request that they take up arms against the French. The scene of this en- counter, the first battle of Washington's illustrious career and an event that changed the course of modern history, is almost as wild and primitive as it was on that fateful morning of the 28th day of May, 1754.

At a council held at Philadelphia on December 19th, 1754, be- tween Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, and Scarouady, Jagrea, a Mowhawk, and Aroas, a Seneca, the said Scarouady gave the following account of events leading up to the fight with Jumon- ville and the part that the Indian allies took in the same:

"This belt [holding up a belt of wampum] was sent by the Governor of Virginia and delivered by Captain Trent. You see in it the representation of an hatchet. It was an invitation to us to join with and assist our brethren to repel the French from the Ohio. At the time it was given, there were but four or five of us, and we were all that knew any thing about the matter; when we got it, we put it into a private pocket on the inside of our garment. It lay next to our breasts.

"As we were on the road going to Council with our brethren, a company of French, in number thirty-one, overtook us and desired us to go and council with them ; and when we refused, they pulled us by the arm and almost stripped the chain of covenant from off it, but still I would suffer none to go with them. We thought to have got before them, but they passed us; and when we saw they endeavored to break the chain of friendship, I pulled this belt out of my pocket and looked at it and saw there this hatchet, and then went and told Colonel Washington of these thirty-one French Men, and we and a few of our brothers fought with them. Ten were killed, and twenty-one were taken alive whom we delivered to Colonel Washington, telling him that we had blooded the edge of his hatchet a little."

John Davidson, the Indian trader, acted as interpreter, at the above council. He was in the action, and gave Governor Morris the following account of the same :

"There were but eight Indians, who did most of the execution that was done. Colonel Washington and the Half King [Tana- charison] differed much in judgment, and on the Colonel's re- fusing to take his advice, the English and Indians separated.

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After which the Indians discovered the French in an hollow and hid themselves, lying on their bellies behind a hill ; afterwards they discovered Colonel Washington on the opposite side of the hollow in the gray of the morning, and when the English fired, which they did in great confusion, the Indians came out of their cover and closed with the French and killed them with their toma- hawks, on which the French surrendered."

In writing to his brother, John Augustine, Washington, refer- ring to the engagement with Jumonville said:

"I have heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound."

This remark was reported later to George the Second, King of England, who commented: "He would not say so if he had been used to hearing many.

Washington Gives Tanacharison an English Name

Two days after the death of Jumonville, Colonel Fry died at the camp at Will's Creek on his way to join the army, and the chief command now devolved upon Colonel Washington. Wash- ington immediately commenced enlarging the intrenchment at the Great Meadows, and erecting palisades, anticipating an at- tack from the French. The palisaded fort at the Great Meadows having been completed, Washington's forces were augmented to three hundred by the arrival from Will's Creek of the forces which had been under Colonel Fry. With these was the surgeon of the regiment. Dr. James Craik, a Scotchman by birth, who was destined to be a faithful friend of Washington throughout the remainder of his life, and was present at his bedside, when he closed his eyes in death within the hallowed walls of his beloved Mount Vernon.

On the 9th of June, Washington's early instructor. Adjutant Muse, George Croghan and Andrew Montour, then Provincial Captain, arrived at the Great Meadows with reinforcements, powder and ball. Adjutant Muse brought with him a belt of wampum, and a speech from Governor Dinwiddle to Tanachari- son, with medals and presents for the Indians under his com- mand. Says Washington Irving in his classic "Life of Washing- ton " : ' 'They were distributed with that grand ceremonial so dear to the Red Man. The chiefs assembled, painted and decorated in all their savage finery. Washington wore a medal sent to him by the Governor for such occasions. The wampum and speech

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having been delivered, he advanced, and, with all due solemnity, decorated the chiefs and the warriors with the medals, which they were to wear in remembrance of their father, the King of Eng- land." Among the warriors thus decorated, was Canachquasy, the son of old Queen Allaquippa, who, with her son, had arrived at the Great Meadows on June 1st. Upon his decoration Canachquasy was given the English name of Lord Fairfax. Tana- charison was given the English name of Dinwiddle on this occa- sion, and returned the compliment by giving Washington the Indian name of Connotaucarius.

On the 10th day of June, Washington wrote Governor Dinwid- dle from the camp at the Great Meadows, concerning the decora- tion of Canachquasy, as follows:

"Queen Allaquippa desired that her son, who was really a great warrior, might be taken into Council, as she was declining and unfit for business; and that he should have an English name given him. I therefore called the Indians together by the advice of the Half-King, presented one of the medals, and desired him to wear it in remembrance of his great father, the King of England ; and called him by the name of Colonel Fairfax, which he was told signified 'the First in Council.' This gave him great pleasure."

At the end of the ceremonies of giving English names to Tana- charison and Canachquasy, Washington read the morning service of the Episcopal Church. Dr. James Craik, who was present, said, in a letter home, that the Indians "believed he was making magic."

Washington Advances to Gist's Plantation

On the 10th of June, there was great agitation in the camp at the Great Meadows over the report that a party of ninety French- men were approaching, which report was later found to be in- correct. On the same day, Captain Mackay of the Royal Army, in command of an independent company of one hundred riflemen from South Carolina, arrived at the Great Meadows, increasing Washington's forces to about four hundred men. The arrival of these forces encouraged Washington. He now hoped to capture Fort Duquesne, and selected Mount Braddock as his battle ground. Leaving one company under Captain Mackay to guard the fort, Washington pushed on over the Laurel Hill as far as Christopher Gist's Plantation at Mount Braddock, near Connells- ville, Fayette County. So difficult was the passage over Laurel Hill that it took approximately two weeks for Washington's

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forces to reach Gist's plantation from Great Meadows, a distance of thirteen miles. Washington's Indian allies Tanacharison, Sca- rouady and others, refused to accompany him as far as Gist's, and returned to the Great Meadows. The trouble was that Washing- ton and Tanacharison could not agree as to the method of con- ducting the campaign. On the 27th of June, Washington had sent a party of seventy men under Captain Lewis to clear a road from Gist's to the mouth of the Redstone (Brownsville), and another party under Captain Poison was, on the same day, sent ahead to reconnoiter.

While these movements of Washington's forces were taking place, a force of five hundred French and some Indians, after- wards augmented to about four hundred, left Fort Duquesne on the 28th of June to attack Washington, the French being com- manded by M. DeVilliers, a half-brother of Jumonville, who it is said, sought the command from Contrecoeur as a special favor that he might avenge his half-brother's "assassination." This force went up the Monongahela in large canoes, and on the 30th of June, reached the mouth of Redstone, and encamped on the rising ground about half a mile from the stockade, which, it will be recalled. Captain Trent had erected during the preceding winter as a storehouse for the Ohio Company. M. DeVilliers described it as "a sort of fort built of logs, one upon another, well notched in, about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide."

While at the mouth of the Redstone, M. DeVilliers learned that Washington's forces were entrenching themselves at Gist's plantation. He thereupon disencumbered himself of all his heavy stores, and leaving a sergeant and a few men to guard the boats, pushed on in the night, cheered by the hope that he was about to capture the forces of Washington. Arriving at Gist's Plantation in the early morning of July 2nd, he saw the intrenchments which Washington had there begun to erect, at once invested them, and fired a general volley. No response came from the intrenchments ; for the prey had escaped. However, at Mr. Gist's house, some Indians with the French captured Elizabeth Williams and three of James Lowrey's traders, named Andrew McBriar, John Ken- nedy and Nehemiah Stevens. (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 6, pages 142- 143.) M. DeVilliers was then about to retrace his steps, when a deserter named Barnabas Devan, coming from the Great Mea- dows, disclosed to him the whereabouts and the half-famished condition of Washington's forces. Having made a prisoner of the deserter with a promise to reward or hang him after proving his

162 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

story true or untrue, M. DeVilliers continued the pursuit. While he is pursuing Washington, we will relate how the latter's forces escaped capture.

At Gist's Plantation, on June 28th, Washington held a council of war, upon receipt of intelligence that the French in large num- bers, accompanied by many Indians, were marching against him. At this council, it was resolved to send a message to Captain Mackay, who was then at the Great Meadows, desiring him to join Washington at once, and also to call in Captain Lewis and Captain Poison, who, as we have seen, had been sent forward to cut the road from Gist's to Redstone, and to reconnoiter. Captain Mackay and his company arrived on the evening of the 28th, and the foraging parties on the morning of the 29th, when a second council of war was held, and it was decided to retreat as speedily as possible. In order to expedite the retreat to the Great Meadows, Washington impressed the pack-horses of George Croghan, who had been furnishing flour and ammunition for the Virginians.

Washington Surrenders at Fort Necessity

The troops, with great difificulty, succeeded in retreating to the Great Meadows. Here they halted on July 1st. The suffer- ing among Washington's forces was great. For eight days they had no bread, and had taken little of any other food. It was not the intention of Washington at first to halt at this place, but his men had become so fatigued from great labor and hunger that they could draw the swivels no further. Here, then, it was re- solved to make a stand. Trees were felled, and a log breastwork was raised at the fort, in order to strengthen it in the best manner that the circumstances would permit. Washington now named the stockade "Fort Necessity" from the circumstances attending its erection. At this critical juncture, many of Washington's Indian allies, under Tanacharison, deserted him, being dis- heartened at the scant preparations of defense against the superior force, and offended at being subject to military command. On July 2nd, Washington received information that the French were at Gist's Plantation.

Early on the morning of July 3rd an alarm was received from a sentinel, who had been wounded by the enemy, and, at nine o'clock, word was received that the whole body of the French and Indian allies amounting, as some authorities say, to nine hundred men, was only four miles off. Before noon, distant firing was

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heard, and the enemy reached a woods about a third of a mile from the fort. Washington had drawn his men up on the open and level ground outside the trenches, and waited for the attack, which he thought would be as soon as the enemy emerged from the woods ; and he ordered his troops to reserve their fire until they should be near enough to do execution. The French did not in- cline to leave the woods and to attack the fort by assault. Wash- ington then drew his men back within the trenches, and gave them orders to fire at their discretion, as suitable opportunities might present themselves. The enemy remained on the side of the rising ground next to the fort, and were sheltered by the trees. They kept up a brisk fire of musketry, but never appeared in open view. In the meantime, rain was falling in torrents, the trenches were filled with water, and many of the arms of Wash- ington's men were out of order. Until eight o'clock at night — the rain falling without intermission — both parties kept up a desultory fire, the action having started at about eleven o'clock in the morning. By that time, the French had killed all the horses and cattle at the fort.

At eight o'clock at night, the French requested a parley, but Washington, suspecting this to be a feint to procure the admission of an officer into the fort to discover his condition, declined. They repeated their request with the additional request than an officer might be sent to them, they guaranteeing his safety. Washington then sent Captain Jacob Van Braam, the only person under his command who understood the French language, with the excep- tion of Chevalier de Peyrouny, an Ensign in the Virginia regi- ment, who was dangerously wounded. Van Braam returned and brought with him from M. DeVilliers, the French commander, the proposed articles of capitulation. Villiers was a half-brother of the ill-fated Jumonville. Owing to the overpowering number of the enemy, Washington decided to come to terms. After a notification of the proposed articles, he consented to leave the fort the next morning, July 4, 1754, but was to leave it with the honors of war, and with the understanding that he should sur- render nothing but the artillery.

French Accuse Washington of Having Assassinated Jumonville

Considerable dissatisfaction was expressed with regard to several of the articles of capitulation when they were made public.

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One of these was an article, by consenting to which Washington virtually admitted that Jumonville had been "assassinated" in the action of May 28th. Another was an article, by consenting to which, Washington virtually admitted the validity of the French claim to the Ohio Valley. M. De Villiers, the com- mandant of the French forces, in his account of the march from Fort Duquesne and the affair at the Great Meadows said, "We made the English consent to sign that they had assassinated my brother in his camp." A copy of the capitulation was subse- quently laid before the House of Burgesses of Virginia, with ex- planations. The conduct of Washington and his officers was pro- perly appreciated, and they received a vote of thanks for their gallant defense of their country. However, from this vote of thanks, two officers were excepted — Major Muse, who was charged with cowardice, and Captain Jacob VanBraam, who was accused of treachery in purposely misinterpreting the articles of capitulation. The truth is that Washington had been greatly deceived by VanBraam, through either ignorance or design. An officer of his regiment, who was present at the reading and signing of the articles of capitulation, wrote a letter to a friend, in which he discusses the true intent and meaning of the articles and of their bungling translation by VanBraam, as follows:

"When Mr. VanBraam returned with the French proposals, we were obliged to take the sense of them from his mouth; it rained so hard that he could not give us a written translation of them; we could scarcely keep the candle lighted to read them by; and every officer there is ready to declare that there was no such word as 'assassination' mentioned. The terms expressed were 'the death of Jumonville.' If it had been mentioned, we would by all means have had it altered, as the French, during the course of the interview, seemed very condescending and desirous to bring things to a conclusion ; and, upon our insisting, altered the articles relating to the stores and ammunition, which they wanted to de- tain; and that of the cannon, which they agreed to have 'de- stroyed,' instead of 'reserved for their use.'

"Another article, which appears to our disadvantage, is that whereby we oblige ourselves not to attempt an establishment be- yond the mountains. This was translated to us, not 'to attempt' buildings or 'improvements on the lands of his most Christian Majesty.' This we never intended, as we denied he had any there, and therefore thought it needless to dispute this point.

"The last article, which relates to the hostages, is quite dif-

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ferent from the translation of it given to us. It is mentioned 'for the security of the performance of this treaty,' as well as for the return of the prisoners. There was never such an intention on our side, or mention of it made on theirs, by our interpreter. Thus, by the evil intention or negligence of VanBraam, our conduct is scrutinized by a busy world, fond of criticizing the proceedings of others, without considering circumstances, or giving just atten- tion to reasons which might be offered to obviate their censures.

"VanBraam was a Dutchman, and had but an imperfect knowledge of either the French or English language. How far his ignorance should be taken as an apology for his blunders, is uncer- tain. Although he had proved himself a good officer, yet there were other circumstances, which brought his fidelity in question. Governor Dinwiddie, in giving an account of this affair to Lord Albermarle says: 'In the capitulation they made use of the word 'assassination,' but Washington, not understanding French, was deceived by the interpreter, who was a paltroon, and though an officer with us, they say he has joined the French."

Also, Washington expressed himself on Van Braam's transla- tion, as follows:

"That we were willfully or ignorantly deceived by out inter- preter in regard to the word 'assassination,' I do aver and will to my dying moment; so will every officer who was present. The in- terpreter was a Dutchman little acquainted with the English tongue, and therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English ; but whatever his motives were for so doing, certain it is he called it the 'death' or the 'loss' of the Sieur Jumon- ville. So we received and so we understood it until, to our great surprise and mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal trans- lation."

Washington Marches Out With Honors of War

On the morning of July 4th, Washington and his forces marched out of the Fort with the honors of war, taking with them their regimental colors, but leaving behind a large flag, too cumberous to be transported. His forces set out for Will's Creek, but had scarcely left the Great Meadows when they encountered one hundred Indian allies of the French, who, in defiance of the terms of capitulation, began plundering the baggage, and committing other irregularities. Seeing that the French did not or could not prevent their Indian allies, Washington's men destroyed their

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powder and other stores, including even their private baggage, to prevent its falling into the hands of the Indians. M. DeVilliers sent a detachment to take possession of the fort as soon as Wash- ington's forces defiled therefrom. Washington's regiment left twelve dead on the ground, and the number left by Captain Mackay's company is not known. DeVillier said that the number of dead excited his pity. He reported that the "English have had 70 or 80 men killed or mortally wounded, and many others slightly," that two French-Canadians were killed and seventy wounded, and that two Indian allies of the French were wounded. (Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, pages 168-170.)

Thus ended the affair at the Great Meadows, Washington's first and last surrender. On reaching Will's Creek, where his half-famished troops found ample provisions in the military magazine, he hastened with Captain Mackay, to Governor Din- widdle, at Williamsburg, whom they particularly informed of the events of their expedition. Washington soon thereafter resigned his commission, and retired to private life at Mount Vernon. His first act, after relinquishing his command, was to visit his mother, inquire into the state of her affairs, and look after the welfare of his younger brother and his sister, Betty. He continued his resi- dence at Mount Vernon until the following year, when he again entered the service of Virginia in the army of General Braddock.

DeVilliers' Indian allies were Nipissings and Algonquins from Canada, and when he advanced from Gist's Plantation towards Fort Necessity, they were reluctant to accompany him. At this point, attention is called to the fact that DeVilliers had two rea- sons, both unknown to Washington, for requesting the cessation of hostilities, which led to Washington's surrender. One was the fact that the Indian allies of the French commander intended to leave him the next day, which would have reduced his force to five hundred Frenchmen, and the other was that the French were almost out of ammunition.

Fearing that Washington would be reinforced, the French com- mander, after destroying Fort Necessity, the cannon and a quantity of rum, which he did not wish to fall into the hands of his Indian allies, hastened away from the Great Meadows. On the morning of the 5th of July, he arrived at Gist's Plantation, where his forces demolished the stockade whVc\v Washington had erected. All the houses in the settlement were burned, including one which had been built in 1753 by William Stewart, where Connellsville now stands. On July 6th, DeVilliers' forces arrived

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at Redstone (Brownsville), where they burned the storehouse or Hangard which Captain Trent had erected near that place early in 1754. On July 7th, they arrived at Fort Duquesne. A little later they rebuilt Logstown which had been burned by Scarouady about June 24th.

Washington's surrender might well have filled the English with gloom, says Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his "Pennsylvania — A History:"

"When Washington's force marched out of Fort Necessity, carrying the British flag with them, the flag of France flew over the continent from the waters of the Potomac and Susquehanna to the Mississippi. The British dominated the narrow strip along the Atlantic, and that was all. There was not left a single trading house or dwelling place of the English west of the blue ridges of mountains. France had its chain of forts connecting the posses- sions in Canada with the Ohio Valley, and it was only a question of time when this chain would be completed to the possessions on the Mississippi. The prospect for the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the continent was not a bright one."

Washington's Love for the Great Meadows

To the day of his death, Washington loved the Great Meadows. While the spot on which Jumonville was slain is the site of the first skirmish in which the Revolutionary General was engaged, the Great Meadows is the the site of his first real battle. Here he erected Fort Necessity. Here he valiantly defended the fort against overpowering numbers and amid the drenching rain. Here he occupied a position against which the heaviest fire of the French and Indians was directed. Here he saw his companions sink in death. Here he was compelled to surrender, but with honor. It was the memory of these things that caused the Great Meadows to have a lasting place in his afi^ections. In 1769, he acquired a pre-emption right to two hundred and thirty-four acres of these meadows, including the site of the fort. Later his title was confirmed by Pennsylvania. He referred to these mea- dows in his will; he owned them at the time of his death, and they were sold by his executors. Throughout our country's history to the last, may the traveler on the National Pike pause amid the mountains of Fayette County to pay homage to the memory of Washington on the spot where he, a Virginia youth, received his baptism of fire and blood.

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Captains Van Braam and Stobo

According to the terms of Washington's capitulation, Jacob Van Braam and Robert Stobo, the engineer of Fort Necessity, were given up as hostages to the French until the British should return to Fort Duquesne the French prisoners taken when Jumon- ville was slain. The Governor of Virginia refused to return the French prisoners, and Van Braam and Stobo were then taken to Canada. While a prisoner at Fort Duquesne, Stobo wrote two letters to the Governor of Virginia, which were entrusted to two Indians friendly to the British, and safely delivered. The first letter, written on July 28th, 1754, and sent by the Indian, Moses, advised the Governor that the French had circulated a rumor among the Indians at and in the vicinity of Fort Duquesne, that Scarouady and other Indians friendly to the British had been killed and their wives and children delivered to the Cherokees and Catawbas for torture. The second letter, written the following day, and sent by Delaware George, contained a sketch of Fort Duquesne. These letters were carefully kept, and delivered to General Braddock, when he took command of the expedition against Fort Duquesne the following year. They were found among his effects on the field of battle, and were sent to Canada. Stobo, who was then a prisoner at Quebec, was tried, and sen- tenced to be executed, but made his escape. After the close of the French and Indian War, Van Braam lived in Wales and Eng- land until the outbreak of the Revolution, when, much against his will, it seems, he entered the service of the British against the Colonies. After the close of the Revolution, Washington received a long letter from his former fencing master and interpreter, giving an account of his experiences after the surrender at Fort Necessity and stating that he was spending his declining days in France. Here this interesting character disappears from history. (See Stobo's letters in Vol. 6 of Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, pages 141 and 161.)

Croghan, Montour and Gist

At this point, it will be well to devote a few paragraphs to three noted characters whom we have met a number of times thus far in this history and who assisted Washington in his campaign of 1754, — George Croghan, Andrew Montour and Christopher Gist.

Croghan was born in Ireland and educated in Dublin. He came to America somewhere between the years 1740 and 1744. He en-

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gaged in the Indian trade and appears to have been first licensed as an Indian trader in Pennsylvania, in 1744. In 1746, he was located in Silver Spring Township, in the present county of Cum- berland, a few miles west of Harris'Ferry, now Harrisburg. Dur- ing the same year, he was made a counsellor of the Six Nations at Onondaga, according to his sworn statement; and in March, 1749, he was appointed by the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania one of the justices of the peace in Common Pleas for Lancaster County.

As early as the years 1746 and 1747, he had gone as far as the southwestern border of Lake Erie in his trading expeditions. In 1748, he had a trading house at Logstown, which was made the headquarters of Weiser upon his visit to the Indians of that place, in the month of September, 1748. He had also branch trading establishments at the principal Indian towns in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, one being on the northwestern side of the Allegheny River, at the mouth of Pine Creek, five or six miles above the forks of the Ohio. From this base of operations and from Logstown, trading routes "spread out like the sticks of a fan." One of these routes went up the Allegheny past Venango, (Franklin), where Croghan had a trading house and competed with John Frazer, a Pennsylvania trader from Paxtang, who for some years, had traded at Venango, maintaining both a trading house and gunsmith shop until he was driven off by the French, as has already been seen. Croghan's abilities and influence among the Indians soon attracted the attention of Conrad Weiser, who, in 1747, recommended him to the Pennsylvania Authorities, and, in this way, he entered the service of the Province.

His part in Washington's campaign consisted in furnishing the Virginia forces with flour and ammunition. On May 30th, 1754, he contracted with Governor Dinwiddle, at Winchester, Virginia, to transport to Redstone ten thousand pounds of flour by means of packhorses. Much of the powder and lead used by Washing- ton at Fort Necessity was furnished by Croghan and Captain William Trent, who was his partner and brother-in-law. How- ever, Croghan was so much delayed in furnishing flour that, as we have seen, Washington's forces suffered greatly from hunger in the latter days of the campaign.

The outbreak of the French and Indian War ruined Croghan's prosperous trading business. He was brought to the verge of bankruptcy and threatened with imprisonment for debt. Then the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act giving him immunity

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from arrest for ten years, in order that the Province might have the benefit of his services and influence among the Indians. To add to his financial troubles, the Irish traders, because most of them were Roman Catholics, fell under suspicion of acting as spies for the French, and Croghan was unjustly suspicioned by many in authority. He was granted a captain's commission to command the Indian allies during Braddock's campaign, and was at Braddock's defeat.

Early in 1756, Croghan resigned from the Pennsylvania service and went to New York, where his distant relative, Sir William Johnson, chose him deputy Indian agent, and appointed him to manage the Allegheny and Susquehanna tribes. From this time, he was engaged for several years in important dealings with the Western Indians, and had much to do in swaying them to the British interest and making possible the success of General Forbes, in 1758. In 1763, he went to England on private business, and was shipwrecked upon the coast of France. Upon his return to America in 1765, he was dispatched to Illinois, going by way of the Ohio River, and was taken prisoner near the mouth of the Wabash, and carried to the Indian towns upon that river. Here he not only secured his own release, but conducted negotiations putting an end to Pontiac's War. He also took part in the Great Treaty of Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York), in 1768, and, as a reward, was given a grant of land in Cherry Valley, New York. Shortly prior to this, however, he had purchased a tract on the Allegheny, about four miles above the mouth of the Monongahela, where he entertained George Washington in 1770. When the Revolutionary War came on, it seems he embarked in the patriotic cause, and later was an object of suspicion; and then Penn- sylvania proclaimed him a public enemy, and his place as Indian agent was conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued, however, to reside in Pennsylvania — the scene of his early activ- ities and the Colony which he rendered such signal service — and died at Passayunk on August 31, 1782. His funeral was con- ducted at the Episcopal Church of St. Peter's in Philadelphia, but the place of his burial remains unknown.

Croghan's Mohawk daughter became the third wife of the celebrated Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant.

Andrew Montour, the "Half Indian," whose Indian name was Sattelihu, was the eldest and most noted of the children of Madam Montour. He is one of the most picturesque Indian characters in the early history of Pennsylvania, and accompanied George

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Croghan on many of his missions to the Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny valleys. Governor Dinwiddie gave him a captain's commission "to head a select company of friendly Indians, as scouts for our small army," when Virginia was raising forces for the occupation of the Forks of the Ohio, early in 1754. Montour, however, did not organize a company of Indians, as he had been instructed, but raised a company of traders and woodsmen, who had been driven from the valley of the Ohio on the approach of the French. His company consisted of eighteen men, and with these, he and Croghan joined Washington at the Great Meadows on the 9th of June. Montour and his forces assisted Washington in the battle of Fort Necessity, on July 3rd and 4th, where two of his men, Daniel Lafferty and Henry O'Brien, were taken prisoners

In the spring of 1755, Montour and Croghan, with about fifty Indian braves, joined Braddock's army at Cumberland ; but after the army began to advance on Fort Duquesne, many of these Indian allies deserted or were dismissed by Braddock. However, Montour continued with the army and took part in its over- whelming defeat. Throughout the French and Indian War, he took part as interpreter in many Indian councils with the Penn- sylvania and New York authorities, and was sent on a number of important missions. In Pontiac's War, he was also faithful to the English. He was one of the interpreters at the treaty with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), in October, 1768, at which the Penns made their last purchase of lands from the Indians. During the year 1769, Montour was granted a tract of three hundred acres, situated on the south side of the Ohio River opposite Montour's Island, about nine miles below the mouth of the Monongahela. Soon thereafter this picturesque character dis- appears from history. A town, a creek, an island, a county, a mountain range — all in Pennsylvania — are named for him and his mother.

We have met Christopher Gist a number of times in this history — as the explorer and surveyor of the Ohio Company, as Washington's guide on his mission to St. Pierre, and in Washing- ton's campaign of 1754. At least as early as the spring of 1753, this noted pathfinder had made a settlement of some Virginia families in the vicinity of what is now Mount Braddock, Fayette County. He served faithfully in Braddock's campaign of 1755 and with his sons, Nathaniel and Thomas, was in the terrible de- feat of the haughty British general on the banks of the Monon- gahela. After Braddock's defeat, he raised a company of scouts

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in Virginia and Maryland and rendered service on the harried frontier, being then called Captain Gist. In 1756, he was sent to the Carolinas to enlist the Cherokee Indians in the British service in the French and Indian War. In 1757, he became deputy In- dian agent in the South, a position "for which," said Washington, "I know of no person so well qualified. He has had extensive dealings with the Indians, is in great esteem among them, well acquainted with their manners and customs, indefatigable and patient." According to most authorities, he died of smallpox in the summer of 1759, in either South Carolina or Georgia.

This trusted friend of Washington deserves to be remembered for all time. He was one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon explorers of the vast region comprising the states of Ohio and Kentucky. Con- cerning this region he reported to the Ohio Company: "Nothing is wanted but cultivation to make this a most delightful country."

(For account of Christopher Gist's explorations for the Ohio Company, the reader is referred to W^illiam M. Darlington's "Christopher Gist's Journals.")

The Albany Treaty and Purchase of 1754

In order to combine the efforts of the Colonies in resisting the encroachments of the French, a conference was ordered by the British Ministry, to be held at Albany, New York, in June and July, 1754, to which the Six Nations were invited. Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, unable to be present, commissioned John Penn and Richard Peters of the Provincial Council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, of the Assembly, to attend the conference in his stead. Conrad Weiser also attended the conference as interpreter in the negotiations with the Six Nations. At this conference, a plan was proposed for a political union, and adopted on the very day that Washington surrendered at Fort Necessity. It was subsequently submitted to the Home Govern- ment and the Provincial Assemblies. The Home Government condemned it, according to Franklin, on account of its being too democratic; and the various Provincial Assemblies objected to it as containing too much power of the King. Pennsylvania nega- tived it without discussion.

At this Albany Conference, the title of the Iroquois to the Ohio Valley was recognized, and the Pennsylvania commissioners secured from the Iroquois a great addition to the Province, to which the Indian title was not extinct. The deed, which was

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signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations on July 6, 1754, conveyed to Pennsylvania all the land extending on the west side of the Susquehanna River from the Blue Mountains to a mile above the mouth of Kayarondinhagh (Penn's) Creek; thence northwest by west to the western boundary of the Province; thence along the western boundary to the southern boundary; thence along the southern boundary to the Blue Mountains; and thence along the Blue Mountains to the place of beginning.

Although the Great Council of the Iroquois declared at the Albany Treaty that they would not sell their lands in the Wyom- ing Valley to either Pennsylvania or Connecticut, but would reserve them as a hunting ground and for the residence of such Indians as cared to remove from the French and settle there, and also declared that the Onondaga Council had appointed Shikel- lamy's son, John, in charge of this territory; yet, before the Treaty was closed, the Mohawks very irregularly sold the Wyom- ing lands to Connecticut.

This Albany Treaty, which secured the neutrality of the Six Nations during the French and Indian War, was the first official acknowledgment of the independence of the Iroquois Confedera- tion by delegates from all the Colonies. It was a truly historic assembly. Even until the present day, the Iroquois Confedera- tion has been considered an independent Nation by the United States Government. (For account of the Albany Conference and Treaty, see Penna. Col. Rec. Vol. 6, pages 57 to 128.)

Tanacharison Complains of Washington and Protests Albany Purchase

After the defeat of Washington at the Great Meadows, Tana- charison and Scarouady, with some of their followers, "came down to the back parts of Virginia," and then with Seneca George and about three hundred Mingos (Iroquois), retreated to George Crog- han's trading post at Aughwick, now Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County. At about the same time, some Shawnees, Delawares, and an inconsiderable number of renegades of the Seneca tribe of the Six Nations, joined the French. Tanacharison and Scarouady after retreating to Aughwick, sent out messages to assemble the friendly Delawares and Shawnees at that place, and asked the Colony of Pennsylvania to support their women and children while the warriors fought on the side of the English, whom they expected speedily to take decisive steps against the French. In

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response to these messages, great swarms of excited Indians came to Aughwick, clamoring for food, and were fed at the expense of the Colony throughout the fall and winter. Here most of them remained until General Braddock's army arrived at Cumberland Maryland, in the spring of 1755, when they went to join his army. Here, also Queen Allaquippa died in December, 1754.

George Croghan was in charge of distributing provisions and supplies to the friendly Indians, who had assembled at Aughwick after Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity. The bills which he was sending the Colonial Authorities for feeding these Indians having grown rather large, Croghan was suspicioned as not being reliable, and finally there were hints that he was in league with the French. The Pennsylvania Assembly then cut down his bills, and he decided to leave Aughwick. Conrad Weiser was then directed by the Colonial Authorities to go to Aughwick, and make a report on Croghan. He reached this place on August 31st, 1754, being accompanied by Tanacharison from Harris' Ferry, now Harrisburg.

"On the way," says Weiser, "Tanacharison complained very much of the behavior of Colonel Washington, (though in a very moderate way, saying the Colonel was a good-natured man, but had no experience); that he took upon him to command the In- dians as his slaves, and would have them every day upon the Out Scout, and attack the Enemy by themselves, and that he would by no means take advice from the Indians; that he lay at one place from one full moon to another, and made no fortifica- tions at all but that little thing upon the meadow, [Fort Necess- ity] where he thought the French would come up to him in open field; that had he taken the Half King's advice and made such fortifications as the Half King advised him to make, he would certainly have beat the French off; that the French had acted as great cowards and the English as fools in that engagement; that he [the Half King] had carried off his wife and children; so did other Indians before the battle begun, because Colonel Washing- ton would never listen to them, but was always driving them on to fight by his directions."

Weiser found that Croghan was entirely worthy of being trusted. He also found that the inhabitants of Cumberland County caused much trouble in selling so much strong liquor to the Indians assembled at Aughwick. In the conferences which he held with Tanacharison, Scarouady, King Beaver, and various other chiefs, he completely won old Tanacharison and his people

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back to the English cause after their anger at Washington and the Virginians. Moreover, at these conferences, Weiser learned that the Shawnees and Delawares had formed an alliance; that the French had offered them presents, either to join them or to re- main neutral, and that to these proposals, the Delawares made no reply, but at once sent their deputies to Aughwick for the pur- pose, as Weiser thought, of learning the attitude of the English.

Near the close of the conference, Tanacharison and Scarouady pressed Weiser to tell them what transpired at the Albany Treaty; and he then told them all about the purchase of the vast tract west of the Susquehanna. "They seemed not to be very well pleased," says Weiser, "because the Six Nations had sold such a large tract." Weiser then explained that the purchase was made in order to frustrate land schemes of the Connecticut interests, and of the French on the Ohio. This appeared to satisfy them, though they resented not receiving a part of the consideration. For a time they were content, not knowing that the purchase in- cluded most of the lands on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. The Shawnee and Delaware deputies then went back to the Ohio into danger and temptations, and to learn from the French that their vast hunting grounds on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna had been sold to the Province of Pennsylvania at the Albany Treaty.

No wonder that Tanacharison and Scarouady complained to Weiser. The Albany purchase was a very powerful factor in alienating, not only the Delawares, but the other Indians, from Pennsylvania. The Shawnees and Delawares of the Munsee Clan (Monseys) in the valleys of the Susquehanna, Juniata, Allegheny, and Ohio, thus found their lands "sold from under their feet" which the Six Nations had guaranteed to them, so they claimed, on their migration to these valleys. It was pro- vided in the contract of sale of these lands that half of the pur- chase price should be paid upon delivery of the deed, and the remainder was not to be paid until the settlers had actually crossed the Allegheny Mountains, and taken up their abode in the purchased territory. The Indians declared in July, 1755, that they would not receive the second installment, but the Mohawk chief, Hendricks, persuaded them to stand by the deed. After Braddock was defeated on July 9, 1755, the entire body of dis- satisfied Indians on the Albany Purchase took bitter vengeance on Pennsylvania. After three years of bloodshed, outrage and murder, Conrad Weiser persuaded the Proprietaries of Pennsyl-

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vania to deed back to the Indians that part of the Albany pur- chase which lay west of the Allegheny Mountains. This was done at the treaty at Easton, in October, 1758, which treaty will be discussed in a later chapter.

Death of Tanacharison

After the series of conferences with Conrad Weiser at Augh- wick, in September, 1754, Tanacharison returned to the trading house of John Harris, at Harris' Ferry, where he became danger- ously ill; and a conjuror, or "medicineman," was summoned to make inquiry into the cause and nature of his malady. The "medicineman" gave it as his opinion that the French had be- witched Tanacharison in revenge for the great blow he had struck them in the affair of Jumonville; for the Indians gave him the whole credit of that success, Tanacharison having made it clear that it was he who killed Jumonville, in revenge of the French, who, as he declared, had killed, boiled, and eaten his father. Fur- thermore, Tanacharison had sent around the French scalps taken at that action, as trophies. All the friends of the old chieftain concurred in the opinion of the "medicineman," and when Tana- charison died at the house of John Harris, on October 4, 1754, there was great lamentation among the Indians, mingled with threats of immediate vengeance. Thus was this noted sachem gathered to his fathers in the "Happy Hunting Ground," at a time when his services and influence among the Western Indians were greatly needed by the English.

CHAPTER VI

General Braddock's Campaign

THE news of Washington's surrender at the Great Meadows produced a feeling of alarm throughout the Colonies and also among the members of the King's cabinet. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which closed King George's War, was still in force. Officially, at least. Great Britain and France were at peace. Yet the British Government realized that France meant to take and retain possession of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny by force of arms. Great Britain, therefore, began to make arrangements for sending troops to America to resist the aggressions of the French. General Edward Braddock was se- lected as commander-in-chief of these forces.

Braddock sailed for Virginia on December 21st, 1754, with his stafif and a small part of his troops, leaving the main body to follow on January 14th, 1755. On February 20th, he arrived in Virginia. At a council of Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, Governor Delancy of New York, Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, Governor Sharpe of Maryland and Governor Dobbs of North Carolina, held at Alexandria, Virginia, on April 14th, 1755, the plans of military operations were definitely formed. Three expeditions were decided upon: one against Niagara and Frontenac, under General Shirley; one against Crown Point, under General William Johnson; and one against Fort Duquesne, under General Braddock. The expedi- tion against Fort Duquesne was considered the most important, and is the only one we shall discuss in this history. It was made up of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Royal Regiments of Foot, commanded by Sir Peter Halket and Colonel Thomas Dun- bar, of New York Independent Companies of Foot, and of South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia troops.

The Army Assembles at Cumberland

Without setting forth the details of the forming of Braddock's expedition, we state that his army assembled at Will's Creek, or

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Fort Cumberland, where the city of Cumberland, Maryland now stands. Braddock joined his forces here early in May. Here came Colonel George Washington, who was chosen as one of Braddock's aides-de-camp. Here, also, Braddock received two hundred wagons and two hundred and fifty horses from York and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania, principally through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, who, in the latter part of April, sent hand- bills throughout the counties of York, Lancaster and Cumberland, containing the threat of Quartermaster-General Sir John St. Clair to send an armed force into these counties to seize wagons and horses for the expedition.

In this connection we state that Braddock told Franklin he was sure his army would not be detained long at Fort Duquesne and that, after capturing that place, he would press on to Niagara and Frontenac without any obstruction being offered. Franklin then warned him of the danger of being ambushed by Indian allies of the French. "He smiled at my ignorance," says Franklin in his Autobiography, "and replied: 'These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible that they should make any impression.' "

Braddock planned to advance on Fort Duquesne over the route followed by Washington's expedition of the preceeding summer, which, it will be recalled, was originally the Nemacolin Indian Trail. In order that his army might procure food and other supplies from the fertile counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Province of Pennsylvania directed Colonel James Burd to cut a road from McDowell's Mill, in the western part of Franklin County, to join the Braddock road at or near Turkey Foot, now Confluence. Braddock was very anxious that the Burd road be completed before his army would arrive at the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny (Somerfield, Somerset County). He issued orders later that the work of cutting a road from Raystown (Bedford, Pa.) to Fort Cumberland be left unfinished until Colonel Burd would finish cutting the road to Turkey Foot, and he sent one hundred troops from Fort Cumberland under Captain Hogg to act as a guard for Burd's road-cutters. However, Colonel Burd had cut his road only to the crest of the Allegheny Moun- tains by the time of Braddock's defeat.

Most students of Braddock's expedition are of the opinion that the starting place for Fort Duquesne should have been Phila- delphia or Carlisle. Probably the starting place would have been

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in Pennsylvania, if the Pennsylvania Assembly had realized the impending danger of a successful French invasion and occupation of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, and had not spent its time disputing with Governor Morris. After the Governor had called the attention of the Assembly to the fact that the French had invaded a large part of the Province, this body replied, on January 3d, 1755, that "the French Forts and their other Acquisi- tions on the Ohio are constantly considered and called in Great Britain an Invasion upon His Majesty's Territory of Virginia." Pennsylvania had been requested to enlist men to fill the gaps in the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Regiments. This was not done. Furthermore, early in January, the Assembly adjourned until May, without doing anything to put the Province in a state of defense. Governor Morris then told the Assembly that "all the fatal Consequences that may attend your leaving the Province in this defenseless State must lie at your Doors." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 227 to 247, especially pages 233, 234, 240 and 247.) Without going further into the dispute between the Pennsyl- vania Assembly and Governor Morris, we state that, on account of this dispute and consequent inaction on the part of Pennsyl- vania, the British Government realized that any movement of troops against Fort Duquesne would have to be made from Vir- ginia and by Virginia's assistance.

Braddock's Indian Allies

Braddock expected to receive many Indian allies, especially Catawbas and Cherokees of the South, which Governor Din- widdle had promised. None of these southern warriors came. He urged George Croghan, Cristopher Gist and Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, to persuade Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny to join his forces. But the Delawares and Shawnees of these valleys, alienated from the English interest by the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737, the land sales at the Treaty of 1736, and es- pecially by the Albany Purchase of 1754, were in no frame of mind to take up arms against the sympathizing French. At best, they were waiting to see which side would win in the impending con- test. Finally, in the latter part of May, George Croghan and Andrew Montour brought from Aughwick (Shirleysburg, Pa.) to Braddock's camp at Cumberland about fifty warriors, mostly of the Six Nations. Many of these Indians had been in Washing- ton's campaign of the preceeding summer, had deserted him be-

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fore the battle at Fort Necessity, and then had been fed at the expense of Pennsylvania, by Croghan, at Aughwick, throughout the autumn and winter.

Scarouady, successor to Tanacharison, was the leader of the Indians brought by Croghan and Montour. Other chiefs were White Thunder (The Belt), Silver Heels (Aroas), so called, pro- ably, on account of being fleet of foot, Canachquasy (Captain New Castle) and Carondowanen (Great Tree). Scarouady ad- dressed the assembled Indians, and urged them to take up the English cause with vigor.

Washington Irving's "Life of Washington" contains the follow- ing interesting paragraphs concerning the assembling of Sca- rouady and his warriors at Cumberland.

"Notwithstanding his secret contempt for the Indians, Brad- dock, agreeably to his instructions, treated them with great cere- mony. A grand council was held in his tent, at Fort Cumberland, where all his officers attended. The chiefs, and all the warriors, came painted and decorated for war. They were received with military honors, the guards resting on their firearms. The general made tham a speech through his interpreter, expressing the grief of their father, the great King of England, at the death of the Half King, Tanacharison, and made them presents to console them. They in return promised their aid as guides and scouts, and declared eternal enmity to the French, following the declaration with the war song, 'making a terrible noise.'

"The general, to regale and astonish them, ordered all the artillery to be fired, 'the drums and fifes playing and beating the point of war;' the fete ended by their feasting in their own camp on a bullock which the general had given them, following up their repast by dancing the war dance round a fire, to the sound of their uncouth drums and rattles, 'making night hideous,' by howls and yellings.

"For a time all went well. The Indians had their separate camp, where they passed half the night singing, dancing, and howling. The British were amused by their strange ceremonies, their savage antics, and savage decorations. The Indians, on the other hand, loitered by day about the English camp, fiercely painted and arrayed, gazing with silent admiration at the parade of the troops, their marchings and evolutions; and delighted with the horse-races, with which the young officers recreated them- selves.

"Unluckily the warriors had brought their families with them

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to Will's Creek, and the women were even fonder than the men of loitering about the British camp. They were not destitute of attractions; for the young squaws resemble the gypsies, having seductive forms, small hands and feet, and soft voices. Among those who visited the camp was one who no doubt passed for an Indian princess. She was the daughter of the sachem. White Thunder, and bore the dazzling name of Bright Lightning. The charms of these wild-wood beauties were soon acknowledged. 'The squaws,' writes Secretary Peters, 'bring in money plenty; the officers are scandalously fond of them.'

"The jealousy of the warriors was aroused; some of them be- came furious. To prevent discord, the squaws were forbidden to come into the British camp. This did not prevent their being sought elsewhere. It was ultimately found necessary, for the sake of quiet, to send Bright Lightning, with all the other women and children, back to Aughwick. White Thunder, and several of the warriors, accompanied them for their protection.

"As to the Delaware chiefs, they returned to the Ohio, promis- ing the general they would collect their warriors together, and meet him on his march. They never kept their word. 'These people are villians, and always side with the strongest,' says a shrewd journalist of the expedition,

"Either from disgust thus caused, or from being actually dis- missed, the warriors began to disappear from the camp. It is said that Colonel Innes, who was to remain in command at Fort Cumberland, advised the dismissal of all but a few to serve as guides; certain it is, before Braddock recommended his march, none remained to accompany him but Scarouady and eight of his warriors."

Neither White Thunder nor any of the other Indians who con- ducted the Indian women back to Aughwick returned to Brad- dock's army. The faithful eight Iroquois chiefs who remained with the army and fought in the battle on the banks of the Monon- gahela, were thanked by Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, at a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on August 15th, 1755, in whose minutes their names are given. They were at the meet- ing. (See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 524).

"Captain Jack"

At this point attention is called to the fact that many historians have made the statement that, when Braddock arrived at the

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Little Meadows, soon to be mentioned again, "Captain Jack, the Wild Hunter of the Juniata," offered him the services of himself and his band of backwoodsmen, which offer was distainfully refused. But "Captain Jack, the Wild Hunter," was a mythical character. He never existed, except as the beau ideal of the period. Many legends concerning this mythical frontiersman, "with the eye of an eagle and an aim that was unerring, are given in McKnights "Captain Jack, the Scout."

Many have confused the mythical "Captain Jack" with the real Captain Patrick Jack, of the Cumberland Valley, who, it is claimed, at the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, offered Brad- dock the services of his band of foresters as guides, which offer the General declined to accept, giving as a reason that he already had secured guides for his expedition. At least this is the tradi- tion that has been handed down to the descendants of Captain Patrick Jack. Many, too, have confused the mythical character with Andrew Montour, the Half Indian; others with the White Mingo ; and others with Captain William Patterson, of the Juniata Valley. (See Frontier Forts of Penna., Sec. Edition, Vol. 2, page 643; also Hanna's "Wilderness Trail," Vol. 2, page 57).

The March from Cumberland to the Fatal Field

On June 7th, Sir Peter Halket's division took up the march from Cumberland, followed, on June 8th, by Lieutenant-Colonel Burton's division, and, on June 10th, by Colonel Thomas Dun- bar's division, accompanied by Braddock and his aides. Colonel Innes was left in command of Fort Cumberland, with a detach- ment of Colonial troops.

On June 16th, the army reached the Little Meadows, about three miles east of Grantsville, Maryland. Here Braddock decided to divide his army. On the 18th of June, four hun- dred men were sent forward to cut the road to the Little Cross- ing, (Grantsville) and, on the following day, Braddock followed with a detachment of five hundred men, the officers, and the "two eldest Grenadier Companies," making, in all, somewhat more than twelve hundred officers and men. The rest of the army about eight hundred and fifty men and officers, under command, of Colonel Dunbar, was to follow by slower stages, with the heavy baggage, heavy artillery and stores and with most of the women accompanying the army. 1 1 was Washington who advised hasten- ing forward with the best troops and as little baggage as possible.

GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 183

For several days he had been very ill of fever. On account of this illness, he was left, on June 19th, at the camp at the Little Crossing, under the care of Dr. Craik, by the positive orders of Braddock. He traveled with Dunbar's division, until July 3d, then hastened forward from a point near the Great Meadows, weak as he was, and joined the main army under Braddock the day before the battle.

Leaving Colonel Dunbar, we shall follow General Braddock's army on its march through the wilderness and over the mountains to the fatal field. On June 19th, his army reached Bear Camp, which was almost on the Maryland and Pennsylvania line, about three miles southeast of Addison, Somerset County. During this day's march, Scarouady and his son, who were marching with the other Indian allies as an advanced party and were some distance from the line of march, were surrounded and captured by some French and Indians. The son escaped and brought the intelli- gence to the warriors, who hastened to rescue or avenge the aged chief, but found him tied to a tree. The French had been disposed to kill him; but the Indians with them declared that they would abandon the French should they do so, thus showing some tie of friendship or kindred with Scarouady, who then rejoined Brad- dock's forces unharmed.

By the 23rd of June, the army reached Squaw Fort, situated a short distance southeast of Somerfield, Somerset County. On June 24th, it passed over the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny and encamped three or four miles east of the Great Meadows, the site of Fort Necessity, where Washington surrendered the year before. On June 25th, it marched over the very spot where Braddock was buried a fortnight later, and encamped at the Orchard Camp, where he died on the night of July 13th. Both the Orchard Camp and the place of Braddock's burial are not far from the Summit on the National Pike, in Fayette County. On the morning of this day (June 25th), three men, venturing be- yond the sentinels, were shot and scalped by Indians. On June 26th, the army encamped at Rock Fort Camp, not far from Wash- ington's Spring, where, it will be remembered, Tanacharison was encamped with his warriors when he and Washington set out to make the attack on Jumonville. On June 27th, the army reached Gist's Plantation, the present Mount Braddock, in Fayette County. On June 28th, the army reached Stewart's Crossing on the Youghiogheny, at Connellsville, Fayette County, where it encamped on the western side of this stream. The army remained

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in camp all day during the 29th, and crossed to the eastern side of the Youghiogheny, on the 30th, encamping about a mile from the river.

At this point, attention is called to the fact that, from Gist's Plantation to Stewart's Crossing, Braddock's army followed the course of the Catawba Indian Trail, leading from the domain of the Senecas and other members of the Iroquois Confederation to the territory of the Catawbas and Cherokees; also to the fact that, at his camp on the eastern side of the Youghiogheny, on June 30th, General Braddock wrote what was very likely the last letter, official or otherwise, penned by his hand. This was a letter to Governor Morris, urging that Colonel Burd's road be speedily completed and advising of attacks upon some settlers near Fort Cumberland by hostile Indians. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 475-476).

On July 1st, the army encamped at what is known as the Camp at the Great Swamp, the location of which was near the old Iron Bridge, southeast of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, and near the headwaters of Jacob's and Mount's creeks. On July 2nd, the army encamped at Jacob's Cabin, making a march of about six miles. This "cabin" belonged to the famous Delaware chief. Captain Jacobs. On July 3rd, the army passed near Mount Pleasant, and encamped at the headwaters of Sewickley Creek, about five miles southeast of Madison, Westmoreland County. The camp at this place was called Salt Lick Camp. On July 4th, the army encamped at Thicketty-Run (Sewickley Creek), about a mile west of Madison. From this camp two Indians were sent forward as scouts, as was also Christopher Gist. All three re- turned on the 6th, the Indians bringing the scalp of a French officer they had killed near Fort Duquesne. Mr. Gist had in- tended to spy around the fort at night, but was discovered and pursued by two Indians. He narrowly escaped with his life. On July 6th, the army reached Camp Monacatoocha, so named in honor of Scarouady, or Monacatoocha, on account of the follow- ing sad event:

On the 6th of July, three or four soldiers, loitering in the rear of Braddock's forces, were killed and scalped by the Indian allies of the French, and several of the grenadiers set off to take revenge. These came upon a party of the Indians who held up boughs and grounded their arms as the sign of amity. Either Braddock's grenadiers did not perceive this sign, or else misunderstood it. At any rate, they fired upon the Indians and one of them fell, who

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proved to be the son of Scarouady. The grenadiers brought the body of the young warrior to camp. Braddock then sent for Scarouady and the other Indians, and condoled with them on the lamentable occurrence, making them the customary presents to wipe away their tears. He also caused the young man to be buried with the honors of war, and at his request the officers attended the funeral and fired a volley over the grave. The camp that night, located about two miles southeast of Irwin, Westmoreland County was given the name of Camp Monacatoocha, in honor of Sca- rouady. Says Irving:

"These soldier-like tributes of respect to the deceased and sympathy with the survivors, soothed the feelings and gratified the pride of the father, and attached him more firmly to the service. We are glad to record an anecdote so contrary to the general contempt for the Indians with which Braddock stands charged. It speaks well for the real kindness of his heart."

On July 7th, Braddock on advice of Gist and Montour, aban- doned the Indian trail, in order to avoid the dangerous Narrows of Turtle Creek; and turning sharply westward, the army followed the valley of Long Run at or near Stewartsville, and encamped on the night of July 8th, about two miles from the Monongahela and an equal distance from the mouth of the Youghiogheny, near McKeesport, Allegheny County. This was the last camp of the army before the fatal encounter. Here George Washington, who had been left at the Little Crossing near Grantsville, Maryland, on June 19th, on account of illness, rejoined the army on the evening of July 8th, bringing with him from Dunbar's division a detachment, sent to guard a pack-horse train carrying provisions for Braddock's army. It is seen, therefore, that Washington had not been with Braddock's army during the long march from the Little Crossing, near Grantsville, Maryland.

After the arrival of Washington's detachment, Braddock's forces numbered 1,460 officers and men besides women and camp followers. July 9th dawned bright and clear. Braddock would reach Fort Duquesne before evening. He felt certain of victory. Although French and Indians had lurked in the woods, near his line of march, from the time his army left Cumberland, yet there had been no ambush.of his forces, owing to the vigilance of Christopher Gist, Andrew Montour, Scarouady and other scouts. As has been seen, his Indian scouts had approached near the fort. They and Gist reported, on July 6th, that there were

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no signs of ambush and no signs of preparations for resistance. Nor, in fact, was Braddock ambushed on the fatal ninth day of July, when his army went down to overwhelming and inglorious defeat at the hands of the French and their Indian allies. It is true that the French officer, Beaujeu, had planned an ambush, and picked a place for it on the evening of July 8th. In the mean- time, Braddock had crossed the Monongahela and started up the slopes of the field of encounter before the French and Indians ar- rived at the place which they had selected for ambushing him. We think it well to point out this fact before we describe the battle (See the French account of the battle, in Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, page 256).

But to return to the early morning of the fatal day. To reach Fort Duquesne, it was necessary for Braddock's army to cross to the south side of the Monongahela, march some distance along the south bank, then return to the north bank by again fording the stream.

At three o'clock on the morning of July 9th, Colonel Gage was sent with about four hundred men to secure both fords of the river and to hold the northern bank of the second ford. At four o'clock. Sir John St. Clair, with a detachment of two hundred and fifty men, was sent to make a road for transporting the artillery and baggage. At eight o'clock, Braddock crossed the first ford to the south bank of the Monongahela, Here his forces took up the line of march along the south shore, and, when they had gone about a mile, Braddock received word from Colonel Gage that he had carried out the General's orders and posted himself on the north bank to secure the second ford. Presently the entire army crossed the second ford, and formed along the north shore, just below the mouth of Turtle Creek, where the town of Braddock now stands.

The march along the south shore of the Monongahela was an imposing spectacle — with arms cleaned the night before, gleaming in the summer sunshine, with officers and men, clad in their best uniforms, stepping buoyantly to the inspiring music of the "Grenadiers' March," which the drums and fifes were beating and playing, with the flag of England flying in the breeze, Washing- ton looked upon the scene with deep emotion, and, in after years, spoke of it as the most beautiful sight he ever beheld. The ford- ing to the north shore was made with bayonets fixed, drums beat- ing, fifes playing and colors flying, as before.

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The Battle of the Monongahela

The army is now on the north shore of the Monongahela. Fort Duquesne is only ten miles away. It is almost two o'clock. After a halt, General Braddock has arranged the order of march. First moves the advance, under Colonel Gage, preceeded by the engineers and six light horsemen. These are followed by Sir John St. Clair and the working party, with wagons and two cannon, four flanking parties being thrown out on each side. General Braddock is soon to follow with the main body, the artillery and baggage, preceeded and flanked by light horse and infantry; while the Virginia and other Colonial troops are to form the rear guard.

The advanced party, under Gage, has proceeded beyond the first high ground and is just going up the second when one of the engineers, marking the course of the road, sees French and In- dians directly in front of him. He gives the alarm, "French and Indians"! Beaujeu, their leader, is wearing a gay hunting shirt and silver gorget on his breast, as he leads them on. They are on the run, indicating that they have just come from Fort Duquesne. Both sides are equally surprised. Both sides fire upon each other. Beaujeu is killed at the first fire. Upon his fall, the Indians begin to waver, terrified at the roar of St. Clair's cannon. The com- mand of the French and Indians now devolves upon M. Dumas. With great presence of mind, he rallies the Indians and orders his officers to lead them to the wings and attack the British on the flank, while he, with the French soldiers, will maintain a position in front. His orders are promptly obeyed.

General Braddock hears the quick and heavy firing in front and the terrible yelling of the Indians. He orders Colonel Burton to hasten to the assistance of the advanced party, with the van guard, eight hundred strong. The rest of the army, four hundred strong, are halted and posted to protect the artillery and baggage. The General sends an aid-de-camp forward to bring him an ac- count of the attack. He does not wait for the aid-de-camp's re- turn, but, finding the turmoil and uproar increasing, he and Washington move forward, leaving Sir Peter Halket in charge of the baggage.

In the meantime Gage has ordered his men to fix bayonets and form in order of battle. They do so in terror, and he now orders them to scale the hill on the right from which there is the heaviest

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firing, but they will not quit the line of march, dismayed by the terrible yells of the Indians, who have now extended themselves along the hill and in the ravines which traverse the field.

The whereabouts of the Indians are known only by their blood- curdling cries and the puffs of smoke from their rifles. The sol- diers fire when they see the smoke. The offtcers' orders are not heeded. The men shoot at random, killing some of their own flanking parties and of the van guard. In a few minutes most of the officers and men of the advance are killed or wounded. Gage himself is wounded. His detachment falls back upon the detach- ment which followed.

Braddock has now arrived, and is trying to rally the men, but they heed neither his entreaties nor his threats. They will not fight when they can not see the enemy. The Virginia troops, how- ever, accustomed to the Indian mode of fighting, spring into the forest, take post behind trees and rocks, and, in this manner, pick off some of the lurking foe. Washington urges Braddock to adopt the same plan with the regulars, but he persists in forming them into platoons. Consequently they are cut down without mercy. Some, indeed, attempt to take to trees, but the General storms at them and calls them cowards. He even strikes them with the flat of his sword. In the meantime, the regulars kill many of the Virginians, firing as they see the puffs of smoke from their rifles in the forest.

The slaughter of the officers is terrible. The Indians fire from their coverts at every one on horseback, or who appears to have command. Colonel Burton, and Sir John St. Clair are wounded. Sir Peter Halket is shot down at the head of his regiment. Secre- tary Shirley is shot through the head, falling by the side of Brad- dock, who still remains in the center of the field in the hope of retrieving the fortunes of the day. He has seen his trusted officers shot down all around him. Two of his aides. Captain Robert Orme and Captain Roger Morris, are wounded. Four horses have now been shot and killed under Braddock; still he keeps his ground. At length, as he mounts a fifth horse, a bullet passes through his right arm and lodges itself in his lungs. He falls from his horse into the arms of Captain Robert Stewart, of the Virginia Light Horse. The mortally wounded General asks to be left amid the dead and dying on the scene of slaughter, but Captain Stewart and another Virginian officer assisted by Brad- dock's servant. Bishop, later carry him from the field in his military scarf.

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Amid the carnage, with the war-whoop of the Indians ringing in his ears, with the groans of the dying bringing unutterable sadness to his soul, Washington distinguishes himself by his courage and presence of mind. His brother aides, Orme and Morris, having been wounded early in the action, the whole duty of carrying the orders of the General has devolved on him. He dashes to every part of the field, and is a conspicuous mark for the rifles of the Indians. A chief and his warriors single him out, and, after firing at him many times, the chief orders the warriors to desist, believing the life of the brave young Virginian is pro- tected by the Great Spirit. (When Washington, in 1770, in company with Dr. Craik and William Crawford, made a journey down the Ohio River to explore lands given the Virginia soldiers, the Indian chief who fired at him so often in this battle, made a long journey to meet him.) The men who should have served Sir Peter Halket's cannon are paralyzed with terror. Washington springs from his horse, wheels and points a brass field-piece with his own hands, and directs an effective discharge into the woods. Two horses are shot under him. Four bullets pass through his coat. Dr. James Craik, as he attends the wounded, watches him with great anxiety, as he dashes from place to place in the most exposed manner. Yet Washington miraculously escapes without a wound.

The battle lasted until five o'clock. Just before Braddock was shot, the drums beat a retreat, but, by this time, most of the survivors, abandoning their arms, had crossed the Monongahela in headlong flight, at the same ford across which they had come, in proud array, to the field of death a few hours before. Neither the French nor the Indians pursued the fugitives. The Indians remained on the field to scalp and plunder the dead. This saved the life of many a fugitive. Had the French and Indians followed the broken fragments of the army, it is likely that none would have escaped. Later many of the Indians returned home, being dissatisfied with their share of the spoils.

This was the most crushing defeat ever administered to a British army on American soil. Throughout that dreadful after- noon, death, like a hungry Moloch, eager for a royal feast, stalked by the side of Mars and drank his fill of blood amid the gloom of the forest. The slaughter of trained soldiers by Indians, in this battle, has no comparison except the slaughter of General George A. Custer's troops at the battle of the Little Big Horn, on June 25th, 1876.

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Of the 1460, besides women and other camp followers, who on that July day crossed the sparkling Monongahela, 456 were killed and 421 wounded, many of them mortally. Out of 89 commissioned ofificers, 63 were killed or wounded. In no other battle in history were so many officers slain in proportion to the number engaged. The Virginians suffered the most. One com- pany was almost annihilated, and another, besides those killed and wounded in its ranks, lost all its officers, even to the corporal. Of the three Virginia companies, Washington said that they "be- haved like men and died like soldiers" and that "scarce thirty men were left alive."

The French Account of the Battle

The French account of the battle, among other things, bears out the contention that Braddock was not ambushed. In this account, we read:

"That officer (Contrecoeur, commander of Fort Duquesne) em- ployed the next day (July 8th) in making his arrangements; and on the ninth detached M. de Beaujeu, seconded by Messers. Dumas and de Lignery, all three Captains, together with four Lieutenants, 6 Ensigns, 20 cadets, 100 soldiers, 100 Canadians and 600 Indians, with orders to lie in ambush at a favorable spot, which had been reconnoitered the previous evening. The detach- ment, before it could reach its place of destination, found itself in the presence of the enemy within three leagues of that fort. M. de Beaujeu, finding his ambush had failed, decided upon an attack. This he made with so much vigor as to astonish the enemy, who were waiting for us in the best possible order; but their artillery, loaded with grape (a cartouche) having opened fire, our men gave way in turn. The Indians, also frightened by the report of the cannon rather than by any damage it could inflict, began to yield, when M. de Beaujeu was killed. M. Dumas began to en- courage his detachment."

(See Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, page 256.)

The French account, just quoted, goes on to state that "the enemy left more than 1,000 men on the field of battle;" while, in the "Memoirs des Pouchot," Vol. 1, page 37, the following is stated :

"There were counted dead on the battle field six hundred men, on the retreat about four hundred; along a little stream three hundred. Their total loss was reckoned at twelve hundred and

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seventy . . . The wounded were abandoned, and almost all perished in the woods."

The official reports of the French show that Contrecoeur, frightened by the exaggerated statements given him as to the number of Braddock's forces, had prepared to surrender Fort Duquesne when the British army should arrive at that place. Reluctantly did he give assent to any resistance; and when his officers selected a place of ambush on the evening of June 8th, it was merely to dispute the passes of the Monongahela and to annoy and retard the march of Braddock's army.

In this connection we state that there were few, if any, Dela- wares and Shawnees among the Indian allies of the French at Brad- dock's defeat. These tribes did not go over to the French to the ex- tent of taking up arms against the English until after Braddock's defeat. They were simply waiting to see which side would win. The Indians with the French at this battle were the Tisagech- roann, Chippewas, Ottawas and other tribes from the region of the Great Lakes. Contrary to the statements of many historians, it may well be doubted that Pontiac commanded the Ottawas at this battle. (See W. N. Loudermilk's "History of Cumberland," page 177.) It has also been stated that the Seneca chief, Corn- planter, fought on the side of the French in this battle. This, too, may well be doubted.

The Retreat— Death of Braddock

At the time of the battle. Colonel Dunbar, who followed, as has been seen, with the heavy artillery and heavy stores, was in camp at a place since known as "Dunbar's Camp," and located not far from the spot where Jumonville was killed in Washington's campaign of 1754. This place is almost fifty miles from the place of Braddock's defeat. Dunbar has been greatly criticised on account of the slowness with which he followed Braddock; but it should be remembered that he had the poorest troops, many of whom sickened and died on the way; that he had the heaviest stores, and an insufficient number of horses to transport them; and that he was almost constantly harrassed by French and In- dians, as his poor, jaded horses dragged the heavily laden wagons up the mountain sides in the summer heat. Moreover, the In- dians got in his rear and cut oflf much of his supplies.

When General Braddock was carried from the field, he was taken to the other side of the Monongahela, where about one

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hundred men had gathered, among them being Washington, the aides, Orme and Morris, and Dr. Craik, who here dressed the General's wound. This place was about a quarter of a mile from the ford. From here Braddock ordered Washington to go to Dunbar's camp with orders to send wagons for the wounded, hospital stores, provisions and other supplies, escorted by two Grenadier companies. Colonel Burton posted sentries here and intended to hold the place until he could be reinforced. But most of the men took to flight within an hour, and then Burton retreated up and across the stream to the camp ground from which the army had marched on the morning of that fatal day. Here Burton and his companions were joined by Colonel Gage and eighty men whom he had rallied. From this place. Burton and Gage, uniting their detachments and carrying the wounded General with them, marched all that night and the next day, and arrived at Gist's Plantation at ten o'clock at night. Around the Indian spring at Gist's, on that warm, summer night, the dying General and the other wounded lay sleepless and hungry, waiting for surgical aid and food from the camp of Dunbar.

Now, to return to Washington. After receiving the General's orders to hasten to Dunbar's camp, he with two companions, rode all through the melancholy, dark and rainy night, and ar- rived at the camp in the evening of July 10th. But the tidings of Braddock's defeat had preceded Washington. These were borne by wagoners, who had mounted their horses when the day was lost, and fled from the field of battle. Haggard and terrified, the Indian yell ringing in their ears, these wagoners had ridden into Dunbar's camp at noon, on July 10th, exclaiming, "All is lost! Braddock is killed! The troops are cut to pieces!" A panic then fell upon the camp, which Washington found still prevailing upon his arrival. The orders which he brought with him were executed during the night. Early the next morning (July 11th), he accompanied the convoy of supplies to Gist's Plantation, eleven miles away. Here he found General Brad- dock sufi"ering intense agony of body and mind. In this agony the dying General's thoughts were on the poor soldiers, who were wandering in the woods to die from their wounds, from ex- haustion, from starvation, or at the hands of the Indians.

The wounded were attended to at Gist's on the 1 1th. Then the survivors retreated to Dunbar's camp. Here confusion still reigned. Orme says in his journal that Dunbar's forces "seemed

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to have forgot all discipline." Dunbar's wagoners were nearly all Pennsylvanians, and, like those who were with Braddock, had fled, taking the best horses with them.

All the wagons being needed to carry the wounded, most of Dunbar's ammunition and other military stores were destroyed and buried to prevent their falling into the hands of the French.

General Braddock died at the Orchard Camp, west of the Great Meadows, during the night of July 13th, and was buried in the middle of the road, the troops, horses and wagons passing over the grave to obliterate its traces and thus prevent its dese- cration by the Indians. Some historians say that the time of the burial was before daylight and that Washington read the burial service amid the flickering light of torches, after the manner of the burial of Sir John Moore. However, Veech, in his "Monon- gahela of Old," says the burial took place after daylight, on the morning of the 14th.

After the burial of Braddock, the wreck of his former proud array continued its retreat without molestation. Had the French known the fear and panic that seized Dunbar's soldiers and that no reinforcements were coming, they would no doubt have annihilated the remnants of the British forces.

Hon. William Findley, of Westmoreland County, wrote that Washington advised him that he intended to erect a monument at the place where Braddock was buried, but had no opportunity to do so until after the Revolutionary War; that in 1784, he made diligent search for the grave, but could not find it. (See Niles' Register, XIV, page 179.)

Colonel James Burd located the grave in 1759 when on his way to Redstone, and said that it was "about two miles from Fort Necessity, and about twenty yards from a little hollow, in which there was a small stream of water, and over it a bridge." In 1812, some workmen, under the direction of Abraham Stewart, repairing the road at a point near the place mentioned by Colonel Burd, unearthed the skeleton and trappings of a British officer. These were, very probably, General Braddock's bones. Some of the bones were taken away by relic hunters, but all were later collected by Mr. Stewart. In 1820, the skeleton was reinterred a few rods from the original grave. A monument now marks the spot where these bones repose in the soil of the historic county of Fayette. Thousands of travelers on the National Pike pause at "Braddock's Grave" to pay tribute to the memory of the haughty and unfortunate British General. Peace to his ashes!

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Thomas Fossit

Thomas Fossit (Fausset), a soldier in Braddock's army, said by some to have been enlisted at Shippensburg, maintained to the end of his long life that he fired the bullet that gave General Braddock his mortal wound. Fossit claimed that his brother, Joseph, was killed by Braddock for attempting to seek shelter, during the battle; whereupon he, in revenge, shot the General. For a number of years, Fossit conducted a small tavern not far from Braddock's burial place, where he related his story to the passing traveler. Some historians, among them Bancroft and Egle, accept Fossit's story as true; others give it little or no credence. Perhaps the fairest comment to make is to say that the truth of the old soldier's statement can be neither proved nor disproved.

Torture of the Prisoners

James (later Colonel) Smith, a young man eighteen years of age, was one of the force of three hundred men, under Colonel James Burd, engaged in cutting the Pennsylvania road from Mc- Dowell's Mill to Turkey Foot as Braddock was marching on Fort Duquesne. At a point four or five miles above Bedford, he was captured, about July 5th, by Indian allies of the French and carried to Fort Duquesne, where he was a prisoner on the day of Braddock's defeat. He gives the following description of the happenings at the fort on that dreadful day:

"Shortly after this, on the 9th day of July, 1755, in the morn- ing, I heard a great stir in the fort. As I could then walk with a staff in my hand, I went out of the door, which was just by the wall of the fort, and stood upon the wall and viewed the Indians in a huddle before the gate, where were barrels of powder, bullets, flints, &c., and every one taking what suited; I saw the Indians also march off in rank entire — likewise the French Canadians, and some regulars. After viewing the Indians and French in different positions, I computed them to be about four hundred, and won- dered that they attempted to go out against Braddock with so small a party. I was then in high hopes that I would soon see them fly before the British troops, and that General Braddock would take the fort and rescue me.

"I remained anxious to know the advent of this day; and, in the afternoon, I again observed a great noise and commotion in the fort, and though at that time I could not understand French,

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yet I found that it was the voice of joy and triumph, and feared that they had received what I called bad news.

"I had observed some of the old country soldiers speak Dutch [German]; as I spoke Dutch, I went to one of them, and asked him, what was the news? He told me that a runner had just arrived, who said that Braddock would certainly be defeated; that the Indians and French had surrounded him, and were con- cealed behind trees and in gullies, and kept a constant fire upon the English, and that they saw the English falling in heaps, and if they did not take the river, which was the only gap, and make their escape, there would not be one man left alive before sun- down. Some time after this, I heard a number of scalp halloos, and saw a company of Indians and French coming in. I observed they had a great many bloody scalps, grenadiers' caps, British canteens, bayonets, &c., with them. They brought the news that Braddock was defeated. After that, another company came in which appeared to be about one hundred, and chiefly Indians, and it seemed to me that almost every one of this company was carrying scalps; after this, came another company with a number of wagon horses, and also a great many scalps. Those that were coming in, and those that had arrived, kept a constant firing of small arms, and also the great guns in the fort, which were ac- companied with the most hideous shouts and yells from all quarters; so that it appeared to me as if the infernal regions had broke loose.

"About sundown I beheld a small party coming in with about a dozen prisoners, stripped naked, with their hands tied behind their backs, and part of their bodies blackened, — these prisoners they burned to death on the bank of the Allegheny River opposite the fort. I stood on the fort wall until I beheld them begin to burn one of these men; they had him tied to a stake, and kept touching him with fire-brands, red-hot irons, &c., and he scream- ing in the most doleful manner, — the Indians in the meantime yelling like infernal spirits. As this scene appeared too shocking for me to behold, I retired to my lodgings both sore and sorry."

This is the first torture of white prisoners by Indians that we have seen thus far in this volume. We shall see many others be- fore the end of the book. In this connection we state that Hon. Warren K. Moorehead, of the United States Board of Indian Commissioners, who has made the American Indians a life study, believes that they learned their cruel treatment of prisoners from the early Spanish explorers. However this may be, certainly the

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Indians never exceeded the Spanish explorers in cruelty. And the eternal pages of history will say that the American Indians never inflicted more horrible tortures on prisoners, white or red, than civilized white men — Christians, both Catholic and Protes- tant— inflicted on one another, in religious persecutions only a few centuries ago. It is well to keep this great fact of history in mind as we read the accounts of Indian tortures.

But to quote a little more from James Smith's account: "When I came into my lodgings, I saw Russel's Seven Ser- mons, which they had brought from the field of battle, which a Frenchman made a present of to me. From the best information I could receive, there were only seven Indians and four French killed in this battle, and five hundred British lay dead on the field, besides what were killed in the river on their retreat. The morning after the battle, I saw Braddock's artillery brought into the fort; the same day I also saw several Indians in British officers' dress, with sash, half moons, laced hats, &c., which the British then wore."

Smith was a native of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He remained in captivity among the Indians at Fort Duquesne, Ma- honing, and Muskingum. He was adopted by his captors. Dur- ing his captivity among the Indians, he was carried from place to place, spending most of his time at Mahoning and Muskingum. In about 1759, he accompanied his Indian relatives to Montreal, where he managed to secrete himself on board a French ship. He was again taken prisoner and confined for four months, but was finally exchanged and reached his home in 1760, to find the sweet- heart of his boyhood married, and all his friends and relatives supposing him dead. He became a very prominent man on the Pennsylvania frontier, and during the Revolution, was a captain on the Pennsylvania line, being promoted, in 1778, to the rank of colonel. In 1788, he removed to Kentucky, where he at once took a prominent part in public affairs, serving in the early Ken- tucky conventions and in the legislature. He died in Washington County, Kentucky, in 1812, leaving behind him as a legacy to historians a very valuable account of his Indian captivity.

A Final View of the Field

Let us take a final view of the field of blood and death by the limpid waters of the Monongahela. Hundreds of scalped and mutilated bodies lie amid the ferns, the laurel, the clinging vines,

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and by the mossy logs of these sylvan shades. They He on the bank of the river; they He on the sides of the ravines; they He by the rivulets. The ferns, the laurel, the vines, the moss are stained with blood. The rivulets run red with blood. Far from the scene of battle, bodies lie — bodies of the wounded who dragged them- selves deeper into the forest to die, or perished on the flight from the scene of slaughter. Soon these bodies will be torn asunder by wild beasts. Soon wolves and bears will devour their flesh and crunch their bones. Later the voice of lamentation will be heard in hundreds of homes, far away from the banks of the Monon- gahela — agonizing cries of fathers, of mothers, of sisters, of brothers, of wives, of sweethearts of the fallen. For long, sad years, the mystic cords of memory and affection, stretching from hundreds of homes in Virginia, in Maryland, and across the sea, will bind these homes to this Monongahela battle ground — bind them until these relatives, wives and sweethearts meet the loved and lost in the land where there are no wars, no partings and no death.

General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne, on November 25th, 1 758. Three days later he sent a detachment to bury the bones of the soldiers slain at Braddock's defeat. Among those who went to the scene of the battle was the then Sir Peter Halket, son of the Sir Peter Halket who was killed at the battle, as was also one of his sons. Young Sir Peter Halket had accompanied the High- landers to America in the hope of finding the bones of his father and brother. By interrogating some Indians who had fought against Braddock young Sir Peter Halket found one who stated that at the massacre he had seen an officer fall near a tree, that a young subaltern ran to his assistance, was shot when he reached the spot, and fell across the other's body. On hearing the Indian's story, Halket had a mournful conviction that the two officers were his father and brother.

Captain West, a brother of the famous painter, Benjamin West, piloted by Indians who had been in the battle, led the detachment which buried the bones of Braddock's soldiers. In Gait's "Life of Benjamin West," we learn that the Indian who told young Sir Peter Halket the incident just related, accompanied the latter and companions to the scene of the battle. They found the ground covered with skeletons. Some were lying across trunks of fallen trees. Skulls and bones were scattered on the ground — a certain indication that the bodies had been torn asunder and devoured by wild beasts. In a short time, the Indian informant

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uttered a cry, announcing that he had found the tree near which he had seen the officers fall on the day of battle. Then the Indian removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground. Presently two skeletons were found, as the Indian had expected, lying one across the other. Young Peter Halket then remember- ing that his father had an artificial tooth, examined the jaw bones of the skeletons for this mark of identification. In a short time he exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell into the arms of his companions. The two skeletons, covered with a Highland plaid, were then buried together.

Sargent, one hundred years after Braddock's defeat, published his "History of Braddock's Expedition." He describes the ap- pearance of the place of battle as then being a tranquil, rural landscape of rare charm and beauty, where ''Peaceful smiles the harvest, And stainless flows the tide.''

Today, one hundred and seventy-four years after the battle, the town of Braddock has replaced the forest of 1755 and the rural landscape of 1855. Today the greater part of the battle- field is covered by the Edgar Thompson Steel Works, where men face the hot furnaces, instead of the rifle of the Indian— where men labor amid the clang and roar of machinery, instead of being shot down with the blood-curdling yells of the Indians ringing in their ears.

Some of the Survivors

Among the survivors of the Braddock campaign, were men who lived to take a prominent part in the Revolutionary War. Colonel Gage who led the advance on the day of battle, was the General Gage who led the British forces at Bunker Hill. Captain Horatio Gates, who commanded one of the New York indepen- dent companies in the Braddock campaign, was the General Gates to whom Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. Captain Hugh Mercer Avho was in the battle on the banks of the Monon- gahela, was the General Mercer who laid down his life for the American cause at the battle of Princeton. General Daniel Morgan, whose famous riflemen from Pennsylvania and Virginia rendered the American cause such great service during the Revolutionary War, was a teamster in Braddock's army. For some real or supposed affront, a haughty British officer caused him to be whipped on the bare back.

Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky pioneer, was in Brad-

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dock's fatal expedition. (Hanna's Wilderness Trail, Vol. 2, pages 213 and 214.)

Effects of Braddock's Defeat

The news of Braddock's defeat quickly spread throughout the settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and later to the other Colonies, filling the hearts of all, especially the in- habitants of the frontiers, with dismay. Fear traveled on the wings of the wind, bringing terror to those who had believed Braddock's proud army to be invincible but now learned that it was overwhelmingly defeated.

The terrified Colonel Dunbar, with 1,800 troops, 300 of whom were sick and wounded, continued his retreat to Fort Cumber- land, at which place he arrived on July 22nd. About the only reason he gave for retreating was that that many of his soldiers had lost their clothes in the battle. It was midsummer. Why he should attach so much importance to lack of clothes at this time of year, as a reason for retreating, especially when he had so great a supply of ammunition and other supplies that he had to destroy most of the same, is hard to see. Then, on August 2nd, he marched away to "winter quarters" at Philadelphia, shamefully leaving Fort Cumberland, the only fort on the frontier, with a small garrison and four hundred sick and wounded soldiers. On October 1st, his army, fifteen hundred strong, took up the march from Philadelphia to New York and Albany. When the news of Dunbar's cowardly and traitorous action spread throughout the settlements, the terror in the log cabins on the frontier was greatly increased.

If, instead of destroying the larger part of his stores and am- munition and then retreating, Dunbar had rested his troops and gotten reinforcements from Fort Cumberland, he could no doubt have captured Fort Duquesne. This is unquestionably what he should have done. With reinforcements from Fort Cumberland, he would have had about three times as many troops as had the French at Fort Duquesne. The French were nearly as badly frightened as was he. They expected the British army to be reinforced and then return. Moreover, nearly all of their Indian allies had returned to their forest homes along the Great Lakes. Gist, Scarouady, Montour and the other scouts with Dunbar, could easily have ascertained the situation and number of the French. Had poor Braddock lived, he would undoubtedly have done just what we say Dunbar should have done.

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The news of Dunbar's action soon spread among the Delawares and Shawnees. Hesitating no longer, they went over to the French and prepared to strike the frontier settlements. The Delawares threw off the yoke of subserviency to the Six Nations. In doing this, they declared they were no longer "women" but MEN with the right to determine their own actions. Soon the mountains of Pennsylvania were filled with war parties of Dela- wares and Shawnees, coming from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. They rushed down the Braddock road into Maryland, and killed and scalped settlers almost up to the gates of Fort Cumberland. A little later, they entered the Pennsylvania settle- ments by way of the various Indian trails, traders' routes and the road Colonel Burd had cut to the crest of the Allegheny Moun- tains.

The bitter fruits of the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737 and the Albany Purchase of 1754 are about to be gathered. The Delawares and Shawnees are about to wreak terrible and bloody vengeance on defenseless Pennsylvania. In our next chapter, we shall see the beginning of their work of blood and death.

A Final Word as to General Braddock

General Edward Braddock was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1695. He became Lieutenant-Colonel, in 1745, Brigadier- General, in 1746, and Major-General, in 1754. He fought val- iantly at Fontenoy and Culloden.

General Braddock's principal shortcomings were that he paid too little attention to those who warned him of the dangers of Indian warfare and that he underestimated the worth of the Colonial troops. We have already called attention to the fact that he told Benjamin Franklin that it was impossible for the Indians to make any impression whatever on the British regulars. But it must be remembered that it was natural for him to have an exalted opinion of the efficiency of the mode of warfare in which he had been schooled since his fifteenth year, at which early age he entered the British army as an Ensign in the Cold- stream Guards, a very aristocratic division of the army, the body- guard of British Royalty. He could hardly be expected suddenly to adopt a radically different mode of warfare in his sixtieth year.

His Secretary, William Shirley, son of Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, wrote Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, from Fort Cumberland, almost a month before the army left that

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place for Fort Duquesne: "We have a general most judiciously chosen for being disqualified for the service he is employed in, in almost every respect." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 405.) Wash- ington, too, criticised him "for want of that temper and modera- tion which should be used by a man of sense" and for being in- capable of arguing military questions without inordinate warmth of feeling. (Washington's letter of June 7th, 1755, to William Fairfax.) Also, the Indian chief, Scarouady, at a meeting of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, on August 22nd, 1755, com- plained to Governor Morris concerning Braddock: "It is now well known to you how unhappily we have been defeated by the French near Monongahela. We must let you know that it was the pride and ignorance of that great general that came from England. He is now dead; but he was a bad man when he was alive; he looked upon us [the Indians who were with Braddock] as dogs; would never hear anything that was said to him. We often endeavored to advise him, and to tell him of the danger he v/as in with his soldiers; but he never appeared pleased with us, and that was the reason a great many of our warriors left him, and would not be under his command." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 589.)

Bitterly criticised in life, reproach did not spare the unfortunate Braddock in his grave. In both England and America, the failure of the expedition was attributed to his obstinacy, pedantry and conceit. But the mistakes of a man who fails are always magnified. Furthermore, his bitterest critics and defamers were compelled to admit his bravery. He was as brave as the bravest of the brave. Nor was he without kindness of heart. Before he closed his eyes in death, in that Allegheny Mountain camp, he acknowledged his mistake in not heeding the advice of Washing- ton to order the British regulars to fight the Indians in the manner of the Virginia troops. "We shall know better how to deal with them another time," he said. It is also said that, in the shadows of the receding world, he bequeathed Washington his favorite charger and his body servant, Bishop, an evidence of his affection for the Virginia youth. And we call attention to the fact that Washington, in mature years, after his military judgement had been strengthened and broadened amid the mighty throes of the American Revolution, said the following of his former General :

"True, he was unfortunate, but his character was much too severely treated. He was one of the honestest and best men of

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the British officers. Even in the manner of fighting he was not more to blame than others, for of all that were consulted, only one person [probably, Washington, himself] objected to it. He was both my General and my physician."

General Braddock and the soldiers who went down to death in his campaign against Fort Duquesne, did not die in vain. From the time of his bloody defeat, the frontiersmen of Virginia, Maryland and the other American Colonies, had no doubt that they were the equal of the British regulars. Therefore, they did not fear to take up arms against them later on, in resisting British tyranny. It is not too much to say, then, that Braddock's defeat was the first step in the direction of American independence — that, in the Providence of God, his defeat was one of the links in the chain of events that led to American independence — that, out of that travail of blood and death on the banks of the Monon- gahela, was born the greatest Nation that ever stepped forth upon the stage of time.

But—

''No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode.''

Let us hope that, after the warfare of life, General Braddock and those who criticised him so severely, have reached a common consummation. Let us hope that his soul and theirs found the golden key that unlocked the palace of a peaceful eternity.

CHAPTER VII

The First Delaware Invasion

IT is the autumn of 1755. By this time, nearly all the Dela- wares and Shawnees have gone over to the French. They are about to invade the Pennsylvania settlements with rifle, toma- hawk and scalping knife. The storm which has been gathering in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, is about to pass over the Allegheny Mountains and deluge the frontiers with indescribable horror.

But, before taking up the recital of the massacres of the autumn of 1755, let us again call attention to the defenseless condition of the Pennsylvania frontier. When Governor Morris of Penn- sylvania, learned that Colonel Dunbar was bringing his army to Philadelphia to go into "winter quarters" in midsummer, leaving the Pennsylvania frontier exposed and unprotected, he was astounded, and wrote Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to this effect. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 513.) Shirley was now com- mander-in-chiefs, after the death of Braddock. Furthermore, Governor Morris wrote Dunbar, urging him to keep his army on the frontiers for the protection of the settlers. Colonel James Burd urged the same in an interview with Dunbar at Cumber- land. When Governor Shirley received the information that Dunbar intended to march to Philadelphia, he wrote that there never was any thing equal to Braddock's defeat "unless the re- treat of the 1,500 men and the scheme of going into Winter Quarters when his Majesty's Service stands so much in need of the troops." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 548.) Then, on August 6th, Governor Shirley ordered Dunbar to proceed to Albany, New York, with his troops. Six days later, he ordered him, with the assistance of troops to be raised in Pennsylvania, to attack Fort Duquesne and Fort Presu' Isle, and, in case of failure in both these attempts, then to make such a disposition of his troops as to protect the frontiers of Pennsylvania, especially in the neigh- borhood of Shippensburg, Carlisle and McDowell's Mill. In these orders of August 12th, Shirley told him that, should he, "through

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any unforeseen Accident," find it "absolutely impracticable" to put them into execution, then he was to carry out the orders of August 6th, and come to Albany. The orders of August 6th were the orders Dunbar found "practicable." He led his army from Philadelphia to New York, as was seen in the preceding chapter. Furthermore, Governor Morris was not able to raise troops in Pennsylvania, and wrote Governor Shirley, on August 19th, tell- ing him that "uncommon pains have been taken by the Quakers to dissuade the people from taking up arms upon the present occasion," and explaining that a great majority of the Pennsyl- vania Assembly were Quakers. Such was the state of affairs in Pennsylvania when the Delawares and Shawnees, in the autumn of 1755, began their bloody invasion of the frontier settlements. (See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 558 to 563.)

On October 9th, George Croghan wrote from Aughwick to Charles Swaine at Shippensburg that a friendly Indian, coming from the Ohio, warned him that one hundred and sixty Indians were ready to set out for the Pennsylvania settlements. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 642.) This Indian gave it as his opinion that these Indians would attack the Province as soon as they could persuade the Indians on the Susquehanna to join them. Said Croghan: "He desires me, as soon as I see the Indians remove from Susquehanna back to Ohio, to shift my quarters, for he says that the French will, if possible, lay all the back frontiers in ruins this Winter." In a postscript to this letter, Croghan asks for guns and powder, and says that he is building a stockade, which he expects to complete by the middle of the next week.

Penn's Creek Massacre

On October 16th, 1755, just one week after George Croghan wrote the foregoing letter, began the terrible massacre of the German settlers along Penn's Creek, which empties into the Sus- quehanna near Selinsgrove, Snyder County — the first Indian outrage in Pennsylvania, after Braddock's defeat, and the first actual violation, by the Delawares, of the treaty of peace which William Penn entered into with the great Tamanend shortly after his arrival in the Province. The massacre extended from a point near New Berlin, Union County to a point near Selinsgrove, and lasted for two days, according to the statements of Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy (Mary King), two girls captured on this occasion. The Indians, fourteen in number, and all Dela-

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wares, came from the Allegheny Valley, principally from Kit- tanning, over the trail used by the Delawares in their first great exodus from the region of Shamokin to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, One of the leaders of the Indian band was the chief, Keckenepaulin, who lived for some time near Jenners' Cross Roads, in Somerset County, and whose name has been applied to the Shawnee town at the mouth of the Loyalhanna, possibly due to the fact that he resided there for a time. Other members of the band were Joseph Compass, young James Compass, young Thomas Hickman, Kalasquay, Souchy, Machynego and Katooch- quay.

The first account of this massacre was given by John Harris (later founder of Harrisburg), writing from his trading house at Paxtang (Harrisburg), to Governor Morris, on October 20th:

"I was informed last night by a person that came down our river that there was a Dutch [German] woman who had made her escape to George Gabriel's, [near Selinsgrove], and informs that last Friday Evening on her way home from this Settlement to Mahanoy [Penn's Creek] where her family lived, she called at a Neighbor's House and saw two persons laying by the door of said house murdered and scalped, that there were some Dutch [Ger- man] familys that lived near left their places immediately, not thinking it safe to stay any longer. It's the opinion of the people up the river that the familys on Penn's Creek, being but scattered, that few in number are killed or carried off, except the above said woman, the certainty of which will soon be known, as there are some men gone out to bury the dead." (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 6, page 645.)

In a postscript to the above letter, Harris says that a man has just arrived with additional information as to the number of settlers killed and captured along Penn's Creek. He adds that the Indians at Paxtang, mostly of the Six Nations, urge the Gover- nor to put the Province in a state of defense. Their chief, Belt of Wampum, strongly insisted on this. Then Conrad Weiser, on October 22nd, wrote from Reading to the Governor, stating that information has been received that six families have been mur- dered on Penn's Creek, about four miles from its mouth; that altogether twenty-eight are missing; that the people of those parts are leaving their plantations in consternation, and that two of his sons have gone to Penn's Creek to help one of their cousins and his family escape with their lives.

On the same day (October 20th), the following petition of the

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inhabitants "living near the mouth of Penn's Creek on the West side of the Susquehanna," signed by seventeen, giving some of the details of the massacre, was sent the Governor:

"That on or about the sixteen of this instant, October, the Enemy came down upon the said Creek and killed, scalped and carried away all the men, women and children, amounting to 25 persons in number, and wounded one man who fortunately made his escape and brought us the news; whereupon we, the Subscribers, went out and buried the dead, whom we found most barbarously murdered and scalped. We found but 13, which were men and elderly women, and one child of two weeks old, the rest being young women and children we suppose to be carried away prisoners; the House (where we suppose they finished their Murder), we found burnt up, and the man of it, named Jacob King, a Swissar, lying just by it; he lay on his back barbarously burnt and two Tomahawks sticking in his forehead; one of the tomahawks, marked newly with W. D., we have sent to your Honour. The terror of which has drove away almost all these back inhabitants except us, the Subscribers, with a few more who are willing to stay and endeavor to defend the land; but as we are not able of ourselves to defend it for want of Guns and Ammu- nition, and but few in number, so that, without assistance we must fly and leave the Country at the mercy of the Enemy." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 647-648.)

The persons captured during this horrible massacre were: Barbara Leininger, Rachel (Regina) Leininger, Marie le Roy, Jacob le Roy, Marian Wheeler, Hanna, wife of Jacob Breylinger, and two of their children, one of whom died at Kittanning of starvation, Peter Lick and his two sons, John and William. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 633.)

Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy were neighbor girls, aged about twelve years, living about one half mile apart and near the present town of New Berlin, Marie le Roy was a daughter of Jean Jaques le Roy, alias Jacob King, one of the victims of the massacre. The Indians took these girls and others with them. When they arrived at Chinklacamoose (Clearfield), Marie's brother Jacob was left with the Delawares of that place. The Indians then took the two girls to Punxsutawney, thence to Kittanning, at which place they arrived in December and re- mained until after Colonel John Armstrong destroyed this noted Delaware town, September 8th, 1756. Here they were compelled to witness the torture of some English prisoners. In their "Nar-

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rative," found in Pa. Ar., Sec. Series Vol. 7, pages 401 to 412, they describe one of these tortures, that of a woman who had attempted to escape. It is a shocking recital. After the woman was dead,

"an English soldier, named John , who escaped from prison

at Lancaster, and joined the French, had a piece of flesh cut from her body, and ate it."

Barbara and Marie were taken to Fort Duquesne soon after Colonel Armstrong's expedition, where they remained for two months. They say that the French at the fort tried to persuade them to leave the Indians captors and stay with them, but that they "could not abide the French," and felt that they were better off among the Indians. From Fort Duquesne, they were taken to Sauconk, at the mouth of the Beaver, where they remained until the spring of 1757, when they were taken up the Beaver to Kuskuskies. They were among the Delawares at Kuskuskies when Christian Frederick Post visited that place, in the autumn of 1758, on his peace mission to the Western Delawares. They met him, but the Indians did not permit them to speak with him. Shortly after General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne, on Novem- ber 25th, 1758, they were taken to the Muskingum, to which place the Delawares then fled from Sauconk,, Logstown, Kus- kuskies, Shenango (located on the Shenango River, just below the town of Sharon, Mercer County) and other Indian towns in Western Pennsylvania. From Muskingum, the girls made their escape, on March 16th, 1759, coming to the newly erected Fort Pitt, thence by way of Ligonier, Bedford and Carlisle to Phila- delphia, at which place they arrived on May 6th, being conducted part of the way from Fort Pitt by soldiers commanded by Captain Samuel Weiser, son of the famous Indian interpreter of Pennsyl- vania, Conrad Weiser. After arriving at Philadelphia, they appeared before the Provincial Council, and gave an account of their terrible experiences. (See Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 633.) Later they published their "Narrative," from which we quote the following about the Penn's Creek massacre:

"Early in the morning of the 16th of October, 1755, while le Roy's [the father of Marie] hired man went out to fetch the cows, he heard the Indians shooting six times. Soon after, eight of them came to the house, and killed Barbara (Marie) le Roy's father with tomahawks. Her brother defended himself des- perately for a time, but was at last overpowered. The Indians did not kill him, but took him prisoner, together with Marie le Roy and a little girl who was staying with the family. Thereupon

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they plundered the homestead, and set it on fire. Into this fire they laid the body of the murdered father, feet foremost, until it was half consumed. The upper half was left lying on the ground, with the two tomahawks with which they had killed him, sticking in his head. Then they kindled another fire, not far from the house. While sitting around it, a neighbor of le Roy, named Bastian, happened to pass by on horseback. He was immediately shot down and scalped.

"Two of the Indians now went to the house of Barbara Leinin- ger, where they found her father, her brother, and her sister, Regina. Her mother had gone to the mill. They demanded rum, but there was none in the house. They then called for tobacco, which was given them. Having filled and smoked a pipe, they said: 'We are Allegheny Indians, and your enemies. You must all die!' Thereupon, they shot her father, tomahawked her brother, who was twenty years of age, took Barbara and her sister Regina prisoners, and conveyed them into the forest for about a mile. They were soon joined by the other Indians, with Marie le Roy and the little girl.

"Not long after, several of the Indians led the prisoners to the top of a high hill, near the two plantations. Toward evening the rest of the savages returned with six fresh and bloody scalps, which they threw at the feet of the poor captives, saying that they had a good hunt that day.

"The next morning we were taken about two miles further into the forest, while the most of the Indians again went out to kill and plunder. Toward evening they returned with nine scalps and five prisoners.

"On the third day the whole band came together and divided the spoils. In addition to large quantities of provisions, they had taken fourteen horses and ten prisoners, namely: One man, one woman, five girls and three boys. We two girls, as also two of the horses, fell to the share of an Indian named Galasko. We traveled with our new master for two days. He was tolerably kind, and allowed us to ride all the way, while he and the rest of the Indians walked."

It is significant that the Penn's Creek Massacre took place almost on the line of the Albany Purchase of July, 1754, which so offended the Delawares and Shawnees. It is said that the line would have passed through the land of Jacob King, alias le Roy. The Penn's Creek settlers had come to this place in 1754.

Also, it is a strange anomaly in the record of Pennsylvania's

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relations with the Indians that the first blow struck by the Indians against the Province fell upon the German settlers, who had always treated the Indian kindly. While others went to the Indian "with a musket in one hand and a bottle of rum in the other," the German settlers on the border land did not cheat him or take advantage of him in any way. There is no sublimer chapter in American history than the account, for instance, of the efforts of the Moravian Missionaries, Germans, to win the Indians of Pennsylvania to the Christian faith.

Attack on John Harris

On October 23d, John Harris, Thomas Forster, Captain McKee and Adam Terence went from Harris' trading house at Paxtang to Penn's Creek, with a force of between forty and fifty men, to bury the dead of the massacre of October 16th and 17th. When they arrived, they found that this had already been done. They then decided to return immediately to the settlement at Paxtang, but were urged by John Shikellamy, son of the vice-gerent of the Six Nations, and the Belt of Wampum, (or the Belt, also called White Thunder), a Seneca chief, to go to Shamokin (Sunbury), about five miles farther up the Susquehanna, in order to ascertain the feelings of the Indians at that place, which they did.

Harris and his companions found many strange Delawares at Shamokin, all painted black, Andrew Montour being with them and also painted black. These Delawares had come from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny to advise the Delawares at Shamokin and other places on the Susquehanna that the Dela- wares of the Ohio and Allegheny had taken up arms against the English, and to warn all those of this tribe on the Susquehanna who would not join them to move away.

Harris and his men spent the night (October 24th) at Shamokin. In the night time, Adam Terrence overheard Delawares talking as follows: "What are the English [Harris and his men] come here for? To kill us, I suppose. Can't we then send off some of our nimble young men to give our friends notice that will soon be here." Then, after they had sung a war song, four of them went off, well armed, in two canoes, one across the Susquehanna and the other down the river.

At this point, we call attention to the fact that, after the councils held at Shamokin that night and later, the hostile Dela- wares gathered at Nescopeck, at the mouth of the creek of the

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same name, in Luzerne County, where later many a bloody ex- pedition was planned by Shingas, Captain Jacobs, Teedyuscung and other of their chiefs. Also, at the time of these councils at Shamokin, the Moravian missionary, Keifer, was residing at that place, exposed to imminent danger, whereupon the friendly Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, of Wyoming, sent two of his sons who rescued the missionary and conducted him safely to the Moravian mission at Gnadenhuetten.

But to return to Harris and his band. They left Shamokin on the morning of October 25th. Before leaving they were advised by Scarouady and Andrew Montour, who were present, not to follow the western side of the river on their return. However, disregarding this advice, they marched down the west side of the river. When they reached the mouth of Penn's Creek, they were fired upon by Delawares hidden in the bushes. Harris describes the attack as follows :

"We were attacked by about twenty or thirty Indians, received their fire, and about fifteen of our men and myself took to the trees and attacked the villians, killed four of them on the spot, and lost but three men, retreating about half a mile through the woods and crossing the Susquehanna, one of which was shot from off an horse, riding behind myself through the river. My horse before was wounded, and falling in the river, I was obliged to quit and swim part of the way. Four or five of our men were drowned crossing the river." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 654, 655.)

John Harris gave the above account in a letter written to Governor Morris, on October 28th. He adds:

"The old Belt of Wampum promised me at Shamokin to send out spies to view the enemy, and upon his hearing of our Skirmish was in a rage, gathered up 30 Indians immediately and went in pursuit of the enemy, I am this day informed . . . The Indians are all assembling themselves at Shamokin to counsel; a large body of them were there four days ago. I cannot learn their in- tentions, but it seems Andrew Montour and Scarouady are to bring down the news from them. There is not a sufficient num- ber of them to oppose the enemy ; and perhaps they will all join the enemy against us. There is no dependence on Indians, and we are in imminent danger.

"I got information from Andrew Montour and others that there is a body of French with fifteen hundred Indians coming upon us, — Picks, Ottawas, Orandox, Delawares, Shawnees, and a number

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of the Six Nations, — and are not many days march from this Province and Virginia, which are appointed to be attacked. At the same time, some of the Shawnee Indians seem friendly, and others appear Hke enemies. Montour knew many days ago of the Indians being on their march against us before he informed; for which I said as much to him as I thought prudent, considering the place I was in."

"I just now received information that there was a French Officer, supposed to be a Captain, with a party of Shawonese, Delawares, etc., within six miles of the Shamokin two days ago, and no doubt intends to take possession of it, which will be of dreadful consequence to us if suffered. The inhabitants are abandoning their plantations, and we are in a dreadful situation."

Then in a postscript, he says: "The night ensuing our attack the Indians burnt all George Gabriel's Houses, danced around them, etc."

The report to the effect that there was a "body of French with fifteen hundred Indians" on the march from the Ohio to the Pennsylvania settlements was but one of the rumors that, at that dreadful time, filled the unprotected frontier with terror.

Massacre on East Side of the Susquehanna

On the same day that the Delawares made the attack on John Harris, or probably the next day, they crossed the Susquehanna and killed many settlers from Thomas McKee's to Hunter's Mill. Conrad Weiser, in a letter, written from his home near Womels- dorf to James Reed at Reading late in the night of October 26th, describes this incursion as follows:

"This evening, about an hour ago, I received the news of the Enemy having crossed the Susquehanna and killed a great many people from Thomas McKee's down to Hunter's Mill. Mr. Elders [the Rev. John Elder, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Paxtang, later Colonel], the minister of Paxton, wrote this to another Presbyterian Minister in the neighborhood of Adam Reed Esq." (Squire Adam Read who lived on Swatara Creek.) (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 650.)

Learning of this incursion so closely following the Penn's Creek massacre and the attack on his party, John Harris nevertheless determined not to flee. On October 29ch, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 656), he wrote Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, that he had that day cut holes in his trading house and "determined to hold

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out to the last extremity." "We expect the Enemy upon us every day, and the Inhabitants are abandoning their Plantations," further wrote Harris, in his letter.

Attention is called to the fact that in this same letter John Harris urged the erection of a fort at some "convenient place up the Susquehannah," as a gathering place for friendly Delawares on this river as well a place for the defense of the Province by its white inhabitants. In doing this he was in line with the urgent request of the Belt, the friendly Seneca. There is no doubt that the lack of such a fort had much to do with the going over to the French of many Delawares and Shawnees on the Susquehanna, who otherwise would have remained at peace with Pennsylvania. The English trade was blotted out by the French, who, after having gotten complete possession of the Ohio and Allegheny and the allegiance of the Delawares and Shawnees of their valleys, were now planning to take possession of the Susquehanna and erect a fort at Shamokin. The French and their Indian allies had the supplies the Delawares and Shawnees on the Susquehanna so sorely need, and being unable to get ammunition and other supplies from the English, many of the Indians on the Susquehanna now turned to the French.

Weiser Plans Defense of the Province

The news of the massacres at Penn's Creek and its vicinity spread fast, and from a letter written from Reading by Conrad Weiser to Governor Morris on October 30th, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 656-659), we find that he immediately alarmed the settlers of Berks County. The farmers, to the number of more than two hundred, armed with guns, swords, axes, pitchforks and whatever they chanced to possess, gathered at Benjamin Spicker's near Stouchsburg, about six miles from Weiser's home. Weiser sent privately for Rev. J. N. Kurtz, a Lutheran clergyman, who resided about a mile from Spicker's, and after an exhortation and prayer by this clergyman, the farmers were divided into com- panies of thirty, each under a captain selected by themselves. Weiser then took up his march towards the Susquehanna in the early morning of October 28th, having sent fifty men "to Tolheo in order to possess themselves of the Capes or Narrows of Swaha- tawro, where we expected the enemy would come through." These carried a letter from Weiser to William Parsons, who happened to

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be at his plantation. Weiser's force increased rapidly in number on the way, and at ten o'clock (October 28th), reached Adam Read's on Swatara Creek, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County. Here intelligence was received of the attack on John Harris and his party who had gone to bury the dead of the Penn's Creek Massacre. This news dampened the ardor of Weiser's men, and they concluded that they could afiford more protection to their families by remaining at home. They accordingly wended their way back to their homes, hearing a rumor as they were re- turning, that the Indians had already made their way through Tolheo Gap and killed a number of people.

William Parsons received the letter sent him by Weiser. In a letter, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 443, he tells that he met the advance guard of Weiser's forces, and advised them to make a breastwork of trees at Swatara Gap. They went as far as the top of the mountain, fired their guns in the air, and then came back, firing the whole way to the terror of the inhabitants. Presently came the news of the murder of a certain Henry Hartman, who lived over the mountain just beyond Swatara Gap. As Mr. Parsons and a party were on their way to bury Hartman 's body, they were told of two more men who had recently been killed and scalped, and of several others who were missing. It was a terrible time. The roads were filled with settlers fleeing from their homes. Confusion reigned supreme. Though the settlers lacked military experience, they were, at heart, brave and true men. Governor Morris, on October 31st, answered Weiser's letter of October 30th, commending his conduct and zeal, and enclosing him a commis- sion as Colonel that he might have greater authority in those trying times. A few days later, Weiser accompanied Scarouady, Andrew Montour and "drunken Zigrea" to Philadelphia, where Scarouady held the important conferences with Governor Morris, on November 8th to 14th, described later in this history.

Benjamin Spicker or Spycker, above mentioned, lived in what is now Jackson Township, Lebanon County, not far from the Berks County line. Several miles west of Spicker's and a short distance east of Myerstown, Lebanon County, was the fortified house of Philip Breitenbach. On several occasions, when there were Indian alarms, Mr. Breitenbach took a drum and beat it on a little hill near his house, to collect his neighbors from their labors into the blockhouse. On one occasion, the Indians pursued them so close to the blockhouse that one of the inmates shot one of the red men dead on the spot.

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Regina, the German Captive

We close this chapter with the interesting narrative of "Regina, the German Captive," first quoting it as it appears in "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," and then adding some com- ments which show that its inclusion in the present chapter is not inappropriate. The story is as follows:

"The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg [a son-in-law of Con- rad Weiser] relates in the 'Hallische Nachrichten,' page 1029, a touching incident, which has been frequently told, but is so 'apropos' to this record that it should not be omitted. It was of the widow of John Hartman who called at his house in February, 1765, who had been a member of one of Rev. Kurtz's [a Lutheran pastor in Berks County] congregations. She and her husband had emigrated to this country from Reutlingen, Wurtemberg, and settled on the frontiers of Lebanon County. The Indians fell upon them in October, 1755, killed her husband, one of the sons, and carried off two small daughters into captivity, whilst she and the other son were absent. On her return she found the home in ashes, and her family either dead or lost to her, whereupon she fled to the interior settlements at Tulpehocken and remained there.

"The sequel to this occurrence is exceedingly interesting The two girls were taken away. It was never known what became of Barbara, the elder, but Regina, with another little girl two years old, were given to an old Indian women, who treated them very harshly. In the absence of her son, who supplied them with food, she drove the children into the woods to gather herbs and roots to eat, and, when they failed to get enough, beat them cruelly. So they lived until Regina was about nineteen years old and the other girl eleven. Her mother was a good Christian woman, and had taught her daughters their prayers, together with many texts from the Scriptures, and their beautiful German hymns, much of which clung to her memory during all these years of captivity.

"At last, in the providence of God, Colonel Bouquet brought the Indians under subjection in 1764, [at the end of Pontiac's War] and obliged them to give up their captives. More than two hundred of these unfortunate beings were gathered together at Carlisle, amongst them the two girls, and notices were sent all over the country for those who had lost friends and relatives, of that fact. Parents and husbands came, in some instances, hundreds of miles, in the hope of recovering those they had lost,

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the widow being one of the number. There were many joyful scenes, but more sad ones. So many changes had taken place, that in many instances, recognition seemed impossible. This was the case with the widow. She went up and down the long line, but, in the young women who stood before her, dressed in Indian costume, she failed to recognize the little girls she had lost. As she tood, gazing and weeping, Colonel Bouquet compassionately suggested that she do something which might recall the past to her children. She could think of nothing but a hymn which was formerly a favorite with the little ones:

'AUein, und doch nicht ganz allein.

Bin ich in meiner Einsamkeit.' [The English translation of the first stanza of this hymn is as follows :

'Alone, yet not alone am I,

Though in this solitude so drear;

I feel my Saviour always nigh.

He comes the very hour to cheer;

I am with Him, and He with me.

E'en here alone I cannot be.' ]

"She commenced singing, in German, but had barely completed two lines, when poor Regina rushed from the crowd, began to sing also and threw her arms around her mother. They both wept for joy and the Colonel gave the daughter up to her mother. But the other girl had no parents, they having probably been murdered. She clung to Regina and begged to be taken home with her. Poor as was the widow she could not resist the appeal and the three departed together."

The foregoing account is all based on the original account written by the Rev. Henry Melchior, Muhlenberg, D.D., in his "Hallische Nachrichten," with the exception of the family name of the mother and daughter. Muhlenberg does not give the name of the family and does not definitely give the location of the tragedy. In time the belief became quite general among Penn- sylvania historians that Regina was a daughter of John Hartman, born June 20th, 1710, and that the scene of the tragedy is at or near the site of the town of Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County.

Captain H. M. M. Richards, a descendant of Muhlenberg, con- tends in his "The Pennsylvania-German in the French and Indian War" (Vol. XV of the Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society), that Regina was none other than Regina Leininger, who,

216 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

as we have seen, was captured at the Penn's Creek massacre of October 16th, 1755, the very date Muhlenberg gives as the date of the tragedy described in his account. In addition to the date of the alleged Hartman tragedy being the same as the date of the Leininger tragedy, the following points of similarity in the narrative of Rev. Muhlenberg and the narrative of Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger will be noted: In each tragedy, the mother was absent, the father was killed, a son was killed and two daughters, one named Regina and the other Barbara, were captured.

Furthermore, Muhlenberg says that the father "was already advanced in years, and too feeble to endure hard labor;" but John Hartman would have been only forty-five years old at the time of the tragedy. Also, there is no record of Indian outrages east of the Susquehanna until after the attack on John Harris (October, 25th), and none in the neighborhood of Orwigsburg until at least the middle of November.

We believe that any one who will closely compare the narrative of Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy with Muhlenberg's ac- count will agree with Captain Richards that each narrative describes the same tragedy — that Regina "Hartman" was Regina Leininger, and that she became permanently separated from her sister Barbara at the time of the flight of the Indians and their captives from Kuskuskies to the Muskingum, after General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne.

"Regina, the German Captive," and her mother are said to be buried in Christ Lutheran Cemetery, near Stouchsburg, Berks County. Whether or not the dust of this daughter of the Penn- sylvania frontier reposes in this cemetery, and whether her name was Regina Leininger or Regina Hartman, God knows where she sleeps and has written her name in his book of ever- lasting remembrance.

CHAPTER VIII

Invasion of Great and Little Coves and the Conolloways

ON October 31st, 1755, one hundred Delawares and Shawnees from the Ohio and Allegheny began an invasion of the Scotch Irish settlements in the Great or Big Cove and along the Big and Little Conolloway Creeks in Fulton County and the Little Cove in Franklin County. This incursion lasted for several days and virtually blotted out these settlements. Of the ninety-three settlers in the Great Cove, forty-seven were killed and captured. No pen can describe the horrors of this bloody incursion. In- furiated Indians dashed out the brains of little children against the door-posts of cabins of the settlers in the presence of shrieking mothers, and, it is said, in some cases, cut off the heads of children and drank their warm blood. Wives and mothers were tied to trees, and compelled to witness the torture of their husbands and children. One woman, over ninety years of age, was found with her breasts cut ofif and a stake driven through her body. Scores of houses and barns were burned. Horses and cattle were killed or driven off. The captured settlers were taken to Kittanning and other Delaware and Shawnee towns in the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, and later to the Tuscarawas and Muskin- gum, few of whom ever returned.

The leader of the Indians was Shingas, the "Delaware King," a brother of King Beaver or Tamaque, and Pisquetomen and said by some authorities to have been a nephew of the great Sassoonan, or Allumapees. This was the first of those incursions which made the name of Shingas "a terror to the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania." Heckewelder says of him: "Were his war ex- ploits all on record, they would form an interesting document, though a shocking one. Conococheague, Big Cove, Sherman's Valley and other settlements along the frontier felt his strong arm sufficiently that he was a bloody warrior, cruel his treat-

218 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

ment, relentless his fury. His person was small, but in point of courage and activity, savage prowess, he was said to have never been exceeded by any one." Yet Heckewelder further says that, though Shingas was terrible and vindictive in battle, he was nevertheless kind to prisoners whose lives he intended to spare. "One day," he says, "in the summer of 1762, while passing with him [Shingas] near by where two prisoners of his, boys about twelve years of age, were amusing themselves with his own boys, as the chief observed that my attention was arrested by them, he asked me at what I was looking. Telling him in reply that I was looking at his prisoners, he said: 'When I first took them, they were such ; but now they and my children eat their food from the same bowl, or dish.* Which was equivalent to saying that they were, in all respects, on an equal footing with his own children, or alike dear to him." Shingas was at that time living on the Muskingum.

But let us return to the scenes of blood and death in the Coves and along the Conolloways. The following letters vividly tell the story of this incursion :

Benjamin Chambers (later Colonel), writing from his home at Falling Springs, now Chambersburg, Franklin County, on Nov- ember 2nd, "to the inhabitants of the lower part of the County of Cumberland," tells of this bloody incursion as follows:

"If you intend to go to the assistance of your neighbours, you need wait any longer for the certainty of the news. The Great Cove is destroyed ; James Campbell left this company last night and went to the fort at Mr. Steel's meeting house, and there saw some of the inhabitants of the Great Cove, who gave this account that, as they came over the hill, they saw their houses in flames. The messenger says that there is but 100, and that they divided into two parts. The one part to go against the Cove and the other against the Conolloways, and that there are no French among them. They are Delawares and Shawnees. The part that came against the Cove are under the command of Shingas, the Dela- ware King; the people of the Cove that came off saw several men lying dead; they heard the murder shout and the firing of guns, and saw the Indians going into the houses that they had come out of before they left sight of the Cove. I have sent express to Marsh Creek at the same time that I send this, so I expect there will be a good company from there this day, and as there is but 100 of the enemy, I think it is in our power (if God permit) to put them to flight, if you turn out well from your parts. I understand that

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 219

the west settlement is designed to go if they can get any assistance to repel them." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 675-676.)

Likewise, John Armstrong (later Colonel) wrote Governor Morris from Carlisle, on November 2nd:

"At four o'clock this afternoon by expresses from Conego- chego, we are informed that yesterday about 100 Indians were seen in the Great Cove. Among whom was Shingas, the Delaware King; that immediately after the discovery, as many as had notice fled, and looking back from an high hill, they beheld their houses on fire, heard several guns fired and the last shrieks of their dying neighbours; 'tis said the enemy divided and one part moved towards Canallowais. Mr. Hamilton was here with 60 men from York County when the express came, and is to march early tomorrow to the upper part of the county. We have sent out expresses everywhere, and intend to collect the forces of this lower part, expecting the enemy every moment at Sherman's Valley, if not nearer hand. I'm of opinion that no other means than a chain of block houses along or near the south side of the Kittatinny Mountain, from Susquehannah to the temporary line, can secure the lives and properties even of the old inhabitants of this county, the new settlement being all fled except Sherman's Valley, whom (if God do not preserve) we fear will suff'er very soon." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 676.)

The following day (November 3d), Adam Hoops wrote Gover- nor Morris, from Conococheague, concerning the same incursion, as follows:

"I am sorry I have to trouble you with this melancholy and disagreeable news, for on Saturday I received an express from Peters Township that the inhabitants of the Great Cove were all murdered or taken captive and their houses and barns all in flames. Some few fled, upon notice brought them by a certain Patrick Burns, a captive, that made his escape that very morning before this sad tragedy was done.

"Upon this information, John Potter, Esq., and self, sent ex- press through our neighborhood, which induced many of them to meet with us at John McDowell's Mill, where I with many others had the unhappy prospect to see the smoke of two houses that were set on fire by the Indians, viz, Matthew Patton's and Mes- check James', where their cattle were shot down, the horses standing bleeding with Indian arrows in them, but the Indians fled.

"The Rev. Mr. Steel, John Potter, Esq., and several others

220 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

with us, to the number of about an hundred, went in quest of the Indians, with all the expedition imaginable, but to no success. These Indians have likewise taken two women captives, belonging to said township. I very much fear the Path Valley has under- gone the same fate. George Croghan was at Aughwick, where he had a small fort and about 35 men, but whether he has been molested or not we cannot say.

"We, to be sure, are in as bad circumstances as ever any poor Christians were in, for the cries of the widowers, widows, father- less and motherless children, with many others, for their relations, are enough to pierce the hardest of hearts; likewise it's a very sor- rowful spectacle to see those that escaped with their lives with not a mouthful to eat, or bed to lie on, or clothes to cover their nakedness, or keep them warm, but all they had consumed into ashes.

"These deplorable circumstances cry aloud for your Honour's most wise consideration, that you would take cognizance of and grant what shall seem most meet, for it is really very shocking, it must be, for the husband to see the wife of his bosom, her head cut off, and the children's blood drank like water by these bloody and cruel savages as we are informed has been the fate of many.

"Whilst I am writing, I had intelligence by some that fled out of the Coves that chiefly the upper part of it was killed and taken. One, Galloway's son, escaped after he saw his grand-mother shot down and other relations taken prisoners. Likewise, from some news I have likewise heard, I am apprehensive that George Croghan is in distress, though just now Mr. Burd, with about 40 men, left my house and we intend to join him tomorrow at McDowell's Mill, with all the force we can raise, in order to see what damages are done, and for his relief. As we have no magazines at present to supply the guards or scouts, the whole weight of their maintenence lies chiefly upon a few persons." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 462 and 463.)

Also, on November 3d, John Potter, Sheriff of Cumberland County, wrote Secretary Richard Peters, from Conococheague, as follows:

"Sir: This comes ye melancholy account of the ruin of the Great Cove, which is reduced to ashes, and numbers of the in- habitants murdered and taken captives on Saturday last about three of the clock in the afternoon. I received intelligence in conjunction with Mr. Adam Hoopes, and sent immediately and appointed our neighbors to meet at McDowell's. On Sunday

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 221

morning, I was not there six minutes till we observed, about a mile and half distant, one Mathew Patton's house and barn in flames, on which we sat off with about forty men, tho' there was as least one hundred and sixty there. Our old officers hid them- selves for (ought as I know) to save their scalps until afternoon when danger was over; we went to Patton's with a seeming resolu- tion and courage but found no Indians there, on which we advanced to a rising ground, where we immediately discovered another house and barn on fire belonging to Mesach James, about one mile up the creek from Thomas Bar's; we set off directly for that place, but they had gone up the creek to another plantation left by one widow Jordan the day before, but had unhappily gone back that morning with a young woman, daughter to one William Clark, for some milk for childer, were both taken captives but neither house nor barn hurt. I have heard of no more burnt in that valley yet, which makes me believe they have gone off for some time, but I much fear they will return before we are prepared for them, for it was three of the clock in the afternoon before a recruit came of about sixty men. Then we held council whether to pursue up the valley all night or return to McDowell's, the former of which I and Mr. Hoop and some others plead for, but could not obtain without putting it to votes, which done, we were out voted by a considerable number, upon which I and my company was left by them that night and came home, for I will not guard a man that will not fight when called in so eminent manner, for there was not six of these men that would consent to go in pursuit of the Indians.

"I am much afraid that Juniata, Tuscaroro, and Sherman's Valley hath suffered. There is two-thirds of the inhabitants of this valley who hath already fled, leaving their plantations, and, without speedy succor be granted, I am of opinion this county will be lead dissolute without inhabitant. Last night I had a family of upwards of an hundred of women and children who fled for succor. You cannot form no just idea of the distressed and distracted condition of our inhabitants unless your eyes seen and your ears heard their crys. I am of opinion it is not in the power of our representatives to meet in assembly at this time. If our Assembly will give us any additional supply of arms and am- munition, the latter of which is most wanted, I could wish it were put into the hands of such persons as would go out upon scouts after the Indians rather than for the supply of forts." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 673, 674.)

222 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Then, on November 6th, Adam Hoops again wrote Governor Morris, from Conococheague :

"I have Sent in Closed, Is 2 quaUfications of which is Patrick Burns, who is the bearer, and a tameyhak which was found Sticking in the brest of one, David McClellan. The people of the path valley is all Gethered Unto a small fort, and the last account, was Safe. The Great Cove and Kennalaways is all Burned to Ashes, and about 50 persons killed or taken. There is numbers of the inhabitants of this County have moved their families. Sum to York County, and Sum to Maryland; Hans Hamilton, Esq. is now at John McDowell's mill with upwards of 200 men and about 200 from this County, in all about four hundred men, and tomorrow we entends To go into the Cove and to the Path Valley, in order To Bring what Cattle and horses that the Indians hath Left alive; we are informed by a Dolloway Indian, which lives munghts us, on the same day The Murder was Committed, he Seen four hundred Indians in the Cove, and we have Sum Reason to Believe they are about there yet; the people of Sheer Man's Crick and Juneate is all Cum away and left there houses, and there is now about 30 miles Of this County laid waste, and I am afraid there will Be Soon more.

"P. S. I just now have received ye Account of one, George McSwane, who was taken captive about 14 Days ago, and has made his Escape, and has brought two Scalps and a Tomahawk with Him." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 474, 475.)

The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 13th, 1755, gives a partial list of those killed and captured in the Great Cove, Little Cove and the Conolloways, as follows: Elizabeth Galloway, William Fleming's son and one, Hicks, Henry Gilson, Robert Peer and David McClellan were all killed; while John Martin's wife and five children, William Galloway's wife and two children, a certain young woman, Charles Stewart's wife and two children, David McClellan's wife and two children and William Fleming and wife were captured.

Other captives, taken in this incursion and later delivered up by the Delaware chief, King Beaver, at the Lancaster Council of August, 1762, were Elizabeth McAdam and John Lloyd, from the Little Cove, and Dorothy Shobrian, from the Big Cove. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 728.) Many of the captives, taken in this incursion, were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet at the time of his expedition to the Muskingum, in the autumn of 1764.

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 223

In the Penna. Col. Records, Vol. 6, page 767, is found another reference to this incursion, as follows:

"October 31st. An Indian Trader and two other men in the Tuscarora Valley were killed by Indians, and their Houses burnt, on which most of the Settlers fled and abandoned their Planta- tions.

(One of these men was the Indian trader, Peter Shaver, for whom Shaver's Creek, in Huntingdon County, is named. An- other was John Savage.)

"November 3d. Two women are carried away from Conego- chege (Conococheague) by the Indians, and the same day the Canalaways and Little Cove, two other considerable settlements, were attacked by them, their Houses burnt, and the whole Settlement deserted."

The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 12th, 1756, gives the number of people murdered and captured along the Conolloways. James Seaton, Catherine Stillwell and one of her children were killed and scalped, while two others of her children, one aged eight years and the other three, were captured. Richard Still- well, her husband, was at a neighbors when the tragedy at his home occurred, and made his escape to a block house in the neighborhood. The houses of Elias Stillwell, John McKinney and Richard Malone were burned.

Rev. John Steel

The "fort at Mr. Steel's meeting house," mentioned in Ben- jamin Chambers' letter of November 2nd, where the survivors of the Great Cove massacre found refuge, was named in honor of the Presbyterian minister. Rev. John Steel, and was one of the first forts erected after Braddock's defeat, being a stockade around the church, and located about three miles east of Mercers- burg, Franklin County. It was known as the "Old White Church," and was subsequently burned by the Indians in one of their forays. In 1756, Rev. Steel was appointed Captain in a company in the pay of the Province, and for a time, made his headquarters at McDowell's Mill, or Fort McDowell, located in the western part of Franklin County. From this place he de- tached parties from time to time to scour the woods in search of hostile Indians. About 1758, he took charge of the Presbyterian church at Carlisle, where he ended his days. In March and April, 1768, he and John Allison, Cristopher Lemes and James

224 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Potter were sent by Governor John Penn to warn the settlers in the vicinity of Redstone (Brownsville) to remove from lands not purchased from the Indians. Rev. Steel and his men are fre- quently mentioned in the records of the troublesome times of which we are writing. On page 553 of Vol. 1 of "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," we read the following concerning this preacher and soldier of the Pennsylvania frontier:

"At one time, it is stated. Rev. Steel was in charge of Fort Allison, located just west of the town, near what afterward be- came the site of McCaulay's Mill. At this time the congregation had assembled in a barn . . . During this period, when Mr. Steel entered the church and took his place back of the rude pulpit, he hung his hat and rifle behind him, and this was done also by many of his parishoners. On one occasion, while in the midst of his discourse, some one stepped into the church quietly, and called a number of the congregation out, and related the facts of a murder of a family by the name of Walker by the Indians at Rankin's Mill. The tragic story was soon whispered from one to another. As soon as Mr. Steel discovered what had taken place, he brought the services to a close, took his hat and rifle, and at the head of the members of his congregation, went in pursuit of the murderers."

The murder above mentioned, was probably that of William Walker, in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, on May 13th, 1757.

Capture of the Martin and Knox Families

Among the outrages committed by Shingas during the above incursion into Fulton County, was as has been seen, the capture of the family of John Martin, a settler in the Big Cove. On Saturday morning, November 1, 1755, Mrs. Martin learned that Indians were in the neighborhood, and, thereupon, sent her son, Hugh, aged seventeen, to their neighbor, Captain Stewart, re- questing him to come and take her family with his to the block- house, as her husband, John Martin, had gone to Philadelphia for supplies for the family, and had not returned. When Hugh came in sight of his home on his way back from Captain Stewart's, whose house was burned, he saw the Indians capture his mother; his sister, Mary, aged nineteen; his sister, Martha, aged twelve; his sister, Janet, aged two; his brother, James aged ten; and his brother, William, aged eight. Hugh hid where a fallen tree lay

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 225

on the bank of Cove Creek not far from the Martin house, which the Indians now burned to the ground.

It has been said that there were some Tuscaroras among the band that captured Mrs. Martin and her children. At least such is the tradition among her descendants. It may be that some of this tribe were among the hostile Delawares and Shawnees in this incursion, as there is evidence that there were a few Tuscaroras lingering in the Tuscarora or Path Valley as late as 1755, stragglers of the Tuscarora migration to New York. These may have been influenced by the hostile Delawares and Shawnees.

After the Indians left, Hugh started toward Philadelphia to meet his father. All that day he found nothing but desolation, and in the evening, he came to a stable with some hay in it. Here he lay until morning. During the night something jumped on him, which proved to be a dog. In the morning he found some fresh eggs in the stable, which he ate. When he was ready to leave, a large colt came to the stable. Making a halter of rope, he mounted the colt and rode on his way. In the afternoon, he met some men who had gathered to pursue the Indians, among them being the owner of the colt, who was much surprised to find it so easily managed, as it was considered unruly. It is not known when Hugh met his father, but, at any rate, they returned and rebuilt the house.

Mrs, Martin and her children were taken to the Indian town of Kittanning. A warrior wished to marry Mary, which made the squaws jealous and they beat her dreadfully, so much so that her health rapidly declined, and one morning she was found on her knees dead in the wigwam. An Indian squaw claimed little Janet, and tied her to a rope fastened to a post. While she was thus confined, a French trader named Baubee came to the child, and she reached out her arms and called him father. He then took her in his arms, and the Indian woman who claimed her sold her to the trader for a blanket, who carried her to Quebec intending to adopt her. Later, Mrs. Martin was bought by the French, and also taken to Quebec, not knowing her child was there. Still later, Mrs. Martin bought her own freedom, and one day she found little Janet on the streets of Quebec. Janet was well dressed and had all appearances of being well cared for, but did not recognize the mother. Mrs. Martin followed Janet to the home of the French family who had her, identified her by some mark, and the family reluctantly gave up the child to the mother, who paid them what they had paid the Indians for her.

226 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Mrs. Martin then sailed with Janet to Liverpool, England, from which place she took ship to Philadelphia, and joined her husband.

The boys, James and William, and the daughter, Martha, were taken to the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, in the state of Ohio. After Mrs. Martin and Janet returned to their home in the Big Cove, Mr. Martin, upon the close of the French and Indian War, endeavored to recover his child from the Indians. Traveling on horseback to the Ligonier Valley, he found an encampment of Indians, and tried to make arrangements with them for the return of his children, when they claimed to have raised his family and wanted pay. Being unable to pay them, he said something about not having employed them to raise his family; thereupon, they became angry, and he made his escape as fast as he could, being chased by two Indians on horseback to a point on the Allegheny Mountain, where the sound of the bells of the Indian horses ceased.

In the Penna. Archives (Vol. 4, page 100), is a petition of John Martin, dated August 13th, 1762, presented to Governor James Hamilton at the Lancaster Council of that month and year, in which he says:

"I, one of the bereaved of my wife and five children, by savage war, at the captivity at the Great Cove, after many and long journeys, lately went to an Indian town, viz.^ Tuskoraways [Tuscarawas, a Delaware and Wyandot village on the Tuscarawas River just above the mouth of Big Sandy Creek, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio] 150 miles beyond Fort Pitt, and entreated in Colonel Bouquet's and Colonel Croghan's favour, so as to bear their letters to King Beaver and Captain Shingas, desiring them to give up one of my daughters to me, while I have yet two sons and one other daughter, if alive, among them — and after seeing my daughter with Shingas, he refused to give her up, and after some expostulating with him, but all in vain, he promised to deliver her up with the other captives, to your Excellency."

Many captives were delivered by King Beaver at the Lancaster Council of August, 1762, but the Martin children were not among them. These Martin children, James, William and Martha, were finally liberated by Colonel Henry Bouquet when he made his expedition to the Muskingum and Tuscarawas, in the late autumn of 1764. He brought them to Pittsburgh. Here Mr. Martin received them on November 28th, 1764, and then

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 227

returned with them to his home, taking with him another liberated captive, John McCuUough, who was captured in Frank- lin County, on July 26th, 1756. (*See John McCullough's" Narra- tive.") Martha could read when captured, but during her captivity, she had forgotten this art. William and James, during their captivity, assisted the squaws in raising vegetables, caring for the children and old people, and grew up as Indians, in con- trast to their brother, Hugh, who had escaped capture and be- came a man of considerable influence on the Pennsylvania frontier. Before being taken to the Muskingum, Martha, James, and William spent some time with their Indian captors on Big Sewickley Creek, in Westmoreland County. The boys be- came attached to the locality, and after their return, they patented two tracts of land in that vicinity, and lived there most of their lives.

Janet Martin, in 1774, married John Jamison. She has many descendants in Western Pennsylvania, especially in Westmore- land County, among them being the well-known Robert S. Jamison family, of Greensburg.

During the same incursion, occurred the capture of the Knox family, who lived some distance from the Big Cove. On Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1755, while the family were engaged in morning worship, they were alarmed by the barking of their dogs. Then, two men of their acquaintance, who had come to the Knox home on Saturday evening for the purpose of attending religious services the next day, went to the door. They were immediately shot down by the Indians, and the rest of the family taken prisoners. After the Indians returned to the town from where they had come, no doubt Kittanning, each warrior who had lost a brother in the incursion was given a prisoner to kill. As there were not enough men to go around, little Jane Knox was given to one of the warriors as his victim. Placing her at the root of a tree, this savage commenced throwing his tomahawk close to her head, exclaiming that his brother, who was killed, was a warrior, and that the other Indians had given him only a squaw to kill. Jane expected that every moment would be her last. Presently, an Indian squaw came running and claimed Jane as her child, thus saving her life. She later returned to the settlements, and be- came the wife of Hugh Martin, mentioned above.

* While this is McCullough's statement, data in the possession of the descendants of Janet Martin indicates that the Martin children were delivered by the Shawnees to George Croghan, at Fort Pitt, early in May, 1765.

228 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Conclusion

In concluding this chapter on the bloody incursion of the Dela- wares and Shawnees into the Scotch- Irish settlements in Fulton and Franklin Counties, in the late autumn days of 1755, we call attention to the fact that some historians have erroneously stated that the massacres mentioned in Penna, Archives, Vol. 2, page 375, and Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 641 and 642, took place on Pennsylvania soil, the former in the Great Cove and on the Conolloways, in Fulton County, and the latter in the vicinity of Patterson's Fort, in Juniata County. The former took place in the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland, shortly after General Braddock's army left that place on its March against Fort Duquesne. The latter took place, October 2nd, 1755, on Patter- son's Creek, Maryland, a few miles from its mouth. The error on page 600 of Vol. 1 of "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" in stating that this massacre of October 2nd took place near Patterson's Fort, in Juniata County, no doubt is due to confusing Patterson's Creek, in Maryland, with Patterson's Fort, in Juniata County, Pennsylvania. As stated in Chapter VII, the Penn's Creek massacre of October 16th, 1755, was the first massacre committed by the Indians on Pennsylvania soil following Brad- dock's defeat.

We also, at this point, call attention to the fact that Scotch- Irish settlers entered Franklin County prior to 1730. In this year, Benjamin and Joseph Chambers located at Falling Springs, now Chambersburg, coming from the east side of the Susquehanna above Harrisburg, and erecting a log house, a saw mill and grist mill at Falling Springs. After Braddock's defeat, Benjamin (Colonel) Chambers erected a large stone house at Falling Springs for the security of his family and neighbors. It was surrounded by water from the spring, the roof was of lead to prevent its being set on fire by the Indians, and it was also stockaded. The stockade also included the mill near the house. This fort was known as Chambers' Fort.

About 1740, many Scotch Irish settlers, mostly from Mary- land entered the Great Cove and the valleys of the Conol- loways.

As was pointed out in Chapter IV, in connection with the account of the Treaty of 1742, the Iroquois complained at this treaty, through their spokesman, Canassatego, that Pennsyl- vania was permitting squatters to remain on lands not purchased

INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 229

irom the Six Nations — in the Juniata Valley, in the Great and Little Coves, in the valleys of Big and Little Conolloways, in the valley of Aughwick Creek, in Path Valley and Sherman's Valley. But Pennsylvania made no really energetic effort to remove these settlers until May, 1750, when, as was also pointed out in Chapter IV, they were removed by Richard Peters, George Cro- ghan, Conrad Weiser, James Galbraith and others by authority of Lieutenant-Governor Morris. Many of their cabins were burned on this occasion. But the restless spirit of these settlers impelled them to return to their desolated homes, and with them came others willing to risk the wrath of the Indians. Then came the Albany Purchase of July 6th, 1754, by which the Iroquois conveyed these lands to Pennsylvania — a purchase which mor- tally offended the Delawares and Shawnees, who claimed that the Six Nations, their conquerors, had guaranteed these lands to them upon their migration from the Susquehanna. "Our lands are sold from under our feet," said they. Later came Brad- dock's defeat, which gave the Delawares and Shawnees an op- portunity to wreak awful vengenance upon the Scotch-Irish settlers within the bounds of the Albany Purchase.

CHAPTER IX

Massacres of November and December, 1755

THIS chapter will be devoted principally to massacres east of the Susquehanna in November and December, 1755, but, before narrating their details, we shall devote a few paragraphs to events that preceded them.

On November 3d, 1755, Governor Morris received John Arm- strong's letter, quoted in Chapter VHI, advising him of the mur- der of the settlers in the Great Cove. He immediately called the attention of the Assembly to the acts of the hostile Indians and the terror throughout the frontier, and asked that something be done to put the Province in a state of defense. The Assembly replied, on November 5th, that it "requires great Care and Judge- ment in conducting our Indian Affairs at this critical Juncture," and requested the Governor to inform the House "if he knew of any injury which the Delawares and Shawnees had received to alienate their affections, and whether he knew the part taken by the Six Nations in relation to this incursion."

Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, and Thomas Cadwalader, were appointed a committee to inspect all "minutes of Council and other books and papers" relating to Pennsylvania's trans- actions with the Delawares and Shawnees from the beginning of the Colony. The committee made an elaborate report, which was approved and sent to the House on November 22nd, setting forth the findings of the committee that "the conduct of the Proprietaries and this Government has been always uniformly just, fair, and generous towards these Indians."

In the meantime, the Governor had informed the inhabitants of the frontier counties from whom he received petitions for arms and ammunition that, if they would organize themselves into com- panies, he would give commissions to fit persons as officers. As a result of his offer, companies were raised and officers commis- sioned. Then, on November 8th, the Governor sent a message

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to the Assembly in which he said: "You have now been sitting six days, and instead of strengthening my Hands and providing for the safety and defense of the people and Province in this Time of imminent danger. You have sent me a message wherein you talk of retaining the Affections of the Indians now em- ployed in laying waste the Country and butchering the Inhabi- tants, and of inquiring what injustice they have received, and into the Causes of their falling from their alliance with us and taking part with the French." In the same message, he informed the Assembly that the Provincial Council had advised him to visit the frontiers in order to superintend the work of organizing the settlers for defense; that he had waited to see what the As- sembly would do before his setting out, but now realizing that the Assembly would do nothing, he proposed to start on his journey at once. However, Conrad Weiser, Scarouady, Andrew Montour and "drunken Zigrea," a Mohawk, arrived at Philadelphia that very day (November 8th) for the councils presently to be men- tioned, which caused the Governor to postpone his trip until early in 1756. The cause of the lack of action to put the Province in a state of defense at this terrible time was the endless discus- sion, to be mentioned later in this chapter, between the Governor and the Assembly as to whether the proprietary estates should be taxed in raising money for defense. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 676 to 681.)

Scarouady Threatens to Go to the French

While the terrible things related in Chapter VIII were hap- pening, Scarouady was exerting his utmost influence on behalf of the English. On November 1st, he and Andrew Montour came from Shamokin to Harris' Ferry, where he delivered a message to John Harris, who forwarded it to the Governor, advising, among other things, that "about twelve days ago the Delawares sent for Andrew Montour to go to Big Island [Lock Haven], on which he [Scarouady] and Montour with three more Indians went up immediately, and found there about six of the Delawares and four Shawnees, who informed them that they had received a hatchet from the French, on purpose to kill what game they could meet with, and to be used against the English if they proved saucy."

At this time (November 1st), Scarouady and Montour both told John Harris that a fort should immediately be erected at

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Shamokin. "They said that our own Neglect had brought all this upon us; That the Delawares being asked why they took up the Hatchet, said the English had for some time called them Frenchmen, and yet fell upon no measures to defend themselves, whereupon they thought it not safe to stick by Us, and would now publicly declare themselves Frenchmen. That Scarouady En- quiring from George Croghan was answered by Mr. Buchannan he was fortified at Aughwick, whereupon the Indian desired Mr. Buchannan to give him speedy notice to remove, or he would certainly be killed. They say Carlisle is Severly threatened, and Adviseth that the Women and Children be removed." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 452.)

On November 8th, Scarouady and Montour, accompanied by Conrad Weiser, appeared before the Provincial Council, and, gave additional details of their trip to Big Island. Scarouady said that two Delawares from the Ohio appeared at the meeting at Big Island and spoke as follows: "We the Delawares of Ohio, do proclaim war against the English. We have been their friends many years, but now have taken up the hatchet against them, and will never make it up with them whilst there is an English man alive.

"When Washington was defeated, we, the Delawares, were blamed as the cause of it. We will now kill. We will not be blamed without a cause. We make up three parties of Delawares. One party will go against Carlisle; one down the Susquehanna; and . . . another party will go against Tulpehocken to Conrad Weiser. And we shall be followed by a thousand French and Indians, Ottawas, Twigh twees, Shawnees, and Delawares."

It will be noted that the Delawares gave their being blamed for Washington's defeat at the Great Meadows, in the summer of 1754, as the cause of their having taken up arms against Penn- sylvania. Later they told the Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, of Wyoming, that the cause of their hostility was the Walking Pur- chase of 1737 and the Albany Purchase of 1754; and the great Delaware chief, Teedyuscung, stoutly insisted that it was these wrongs upon the Delawares that caused these friends of William Penn to take up arms against the Colony he founded.

On the afternoon of the same day, November 8th, Scarouady again appeared before the Governor, his Council, and the Provin- cial Assembly, and told them of the journey which he had recently made in the interest of the English, up the North Branch of the Susquehanna "as far as the Nanticokes live." He stated that he

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had told the Nanticokes and other Indians on the Susquehanna that the defeat of General Braddock had brought about a great turn of affairs; that it was a great blow, but that the English had strength enough to recover from it. He further said that there were three hundred friendly Indians on the Susquehanna. (Dela- wares and Nanticokes) "who were all hearty in the English in- terest." For these he desired the Colony's assistance with arms and ammunition. He insisted that they should be given the hatchet and that a fort should be built for the protection of their old men, women, and children. They had told him, he said, that whichever party, the French or English, would seek their assis- tance first, would be first assisted; and that he "should go to Philadelphia and apply immediately to the Government and ob- tain explicit answer from them whether they would fight or no." These Indians "waited with impatience to know the success of his application."

Then the old chief threw down his belts of wampum upon the table before the members of the Assembly and said: "I must deal plainly with you, and tell you if you will not fight with us, we will go somewhere else. We never can nor ever will put up the affront. If we cannot be safe where we are, we will go somewhere else for protection and take care of ourselves. We have no more to say, but will first receive your answer to this, and as the times are too dangerous to admit of our staying long here, we therefore entreat you will use all the dispatch possible that we may not be detained." It is possible that Scarouady meant that he and his followers would go to one of the other colonies, but he was under- stood as meaning that, unless the Pennsylvania Authorities acted promptly, he and his followers would go over to the French.

Governor Morris then said to the Provincial Assembly: "You have heard what the Indians have said. Without your aid, I can not make a proper answer to what they now propose and expect of us." The Assembly replied that, as Captain General, the Governor had full authority to raise men, and that "the Bill now in his hands granting Sixty Thousand Pounds will enable him to pay the expenses." This was a bill just passed by the Assembly, granting this sum for the defense of the Colony, to be raised by a tax on estates. The Governor opposed the bill on the ground that the Proprietary estates should not be taxed. He then explained to Scarouady how his controversy with the Assembly stood, and that he did not know what to do. Scarouady was amazed and said that Pennsylvania's failure to comply with his (Scarouady's)

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request in behalf of his three hundred friendly Indians would mean their going over to the French. However, he still offered his own services and counseled the Governor not to be cast down, but to keep cool.

After long consultations between Scarouady and Conrad Weiser, it was determined that Scarouady could render an im- portant service to the Colony by visiting the Six Nations and Sir William Johnson, and, after gaining what intelligence he could on his way to New York, as to the actions of the Indians on the Sus- quehanna, by laying before the Great Confederation such intelli- gence as well as the recent conduct of the Delawares.

Scarouady's decided stand had a good effect on the Governor and Council. On November 14th, the old chief and Andrew Montour were sent by the Governor on a mission to the Six Nations. They were instructed to convey the condolence of Penn- sylvania to the Six Nations on the death of several of their warriors who had joined General Shirley and General Johnson and had fallen in battle with the French, and to advise the Six Nations how the Delawares had, in a most cruel manner, fallen upon and murdered so many of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. In a word, Scarouady was to give the Six Nations a complete account of the terrible invasion of the Delawares and Shawnees and to ascertain whether or not this invasion was made with the knowledge, consent, or order of the Six Nations, and whether the Six Nations would chastise the Delawares. (For account of above conferences between Scarouady and the Governor, see Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 682 to 689.)

Swatara and Tulpehocken Massacres

While Conrad Weiser, Scarouady and Andrew Montour were holding their final councils with Governor Morris, on November 14th, the hostile Delawares, possibly accompanied by some Shawnees, entered Berks County, the home of Weiser, and com- mitted terrible atrocities upon the German settlers. On this day, as six settlers were on their way to Dietrick Six's plantation, near what is now the village of Millersburg, they were hred upon by a party of Indians. Hurrying toward a watch-house, about half a mile distant, they were ambushed before reaching the same, and three of them killed and scalped. A settler named Ury, however, succeeded in shooting one of the Indians through the heart, and his body was dragged off by the other savages. The Indians then

MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 235

divided into two parties. The one party, lying in ambush near the watch-house, waylaid some settlers who were fleeing toward that place, and killed three of them.

The next night some savages crept up to the home of Thomas Bower, on Swatara Creek, and pushing their guns through a win- dow of the house, killed a cobbler who was repairing a shoe. They set fire to the house before being driven off. The Bower family, having sought refuge through the night at the home of a neighbor, named Daniel Snyder, and returning to their home in the morn- ing, saw four savages running away and having with them the scalps of three children, two of whom were still alive. They also found the dead body of a woman with a two week's old child under her body, but unharmed.

Such, in brief, is the account of the atrocities committed in Berks County during the absence of Weiser at Philadelphia. It is interesting to read his report of the same, written to Governor Morris on November 19th, after arriving at his home in Heidel- berg Township, as follows :

"On my return from Philadelphia, I met in the township of Amity, in Berks County, the first news of our cruel enemy having invaded the Country this Side of the Blue Mountains, to witt, Bethel and Tulpenhacon [Tulpehocken]. I left the papers as they were in the messengers Hands, and hastened to Reading, where the alarm and confusion was very great. I was obliged to stay that Night and part of the next Day, to witt, the 17th of this Instant, and sat out for Heidelberg, where I arrived that Evening. Soon after, my sons Philip and Frederick arrived from the Persuit of the Indians, and gave me the following Relation, to witt, that on Saturday last about 4 of the Clock, in the Afternoon, as some men from Tulpenhacon were going to Dietrich Six's Place under the Hill on Shamokin Road to be on the watch appointed there, they were fired upon by the Indians but none hurt nor killed, (Our people were but Six in number, the rest being behind.) Upon which our people ran towards the Watch-house which was about one-half mile off, and the Indians persued them, and killed and scalped several of them. A bold, Stout Indian came up with one Christopher Ury, who turned about and shot the Indian right through his Breast. The Indian dropped down dead, but was dragged out of the way by his own Companions. (He was found next day and scalped by our People.)

' 'The Indians devided themselves into two Parties. Some came this way to meet the Rest that was going to the Watch, and killed

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some of them, so that six of our men were killed that Day, and a few wounded.

"The Night following the Enemy attacked the House of Thos. Bower, on Swatara Creek. They came to the House in the Dark night, and one of them put his Fire-arm through the window and shot a Shoemaker (that was at work) dead upon the spot. The People being extremely Surprised at this Sudden attack, defended themselves by firing out of the windows at the Indians. The Fire alarmed a neighbor who came with two or three more men ; they fired by the way and made a great noise, scared the Indians away from Bower's House, after they had set fire to it, but by Thomas Bower's Deligence and Conduct was timely put out again. So Thos. Bower, with his Family, went off that night to his neighbour, Daniel Schneider, who came to his assistance.

"By 8 of ye Clock, Parties came up from Tulpenhacon and Heidelberg. The first Party saw four Indians running off. They had some Prisoners whom they scalped immediately, three children lay scalped yet alive, one died since, the other two are likely to do well. Another Party found a woman just expired, with a male Child on her side, both killed and scalped. The woman lay upon her Face, my son Frederick turned her about to see who she might have been and to his Companion's Surprize they found a Babe of about 14 Days old under her, rapped up in a little Cushion, his nose quite flat, which was set right by Frederick, and life was yet in it, and recovered again. Our people came up with two parties of Indians that Day, but they hardly got sight of them, the Indians Ran off Immediately. Either our party did not care to fight them if they could avoid it, or (which is most likely) the Indians were too alarmed first by the loud noise of our People coming, because no order was observed. Upon the whole, there is about 15 killed of our People, Including men, women and children, and the Enemy not beat but scared off. Several Houses and Barns are Burned; I have not true account how many. We are in a Dismal Situation, Some of this murder has been committed in Tulpenhacon Township. The People left their Plantation to within 6 or 7 miles from my house [located near the present town of Wolmesdorf] against another attack,

"Guns and Ammunition is very much wanted here, my Sons have been obliged to part with most of that, that was sent up for the use of the Indians. I pray your Honour will be pleased, if it lies in your Power, to send us up a quantity upon any Con- dition. I must stand my Ground or my neighbours will all go

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away, and leave their Habitations to be destroyed by the Enemy or our own People.

"P. S. I am creditably informed just now that one Wolf, a Single man, killed an Indian the same Time when Ury killed the other but the Body is not found yet. The Poor Young Man since died of his wound through his Belly." (Pa. Archives Vol. 2, pages 503, 504.)

The following is a partial list of the slain :

A man named Beslinger, Sebastian Brosius, the wife and eight- year-old child of a settler named Cola, Rudolph Candel, John Leinberger, Casper Spring, a child of Jacob Wolf and a young man also named Wolf.

Following the murders, the Rev. J. N. Kurtz conducted funeral services for seven of the victims of the Indians' wrath who were buried from his church, Christ Lutheran, near Stouchsburg, at one time. The opening hymn at these solemn services was Martin Luther's famous "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A Mighty Fortress is Our God). Rev. Kurtz was pastor of the Lutheran congregation at Tulpehocken to which Conrad Weiser and many of his neighbors belonged.

At various other times during the French and Indian War, the soil of Berks County was stained with the blood of the German settlers. It is claimed that, during this conflict, almost one hundred and fifty inhabitants of Bethel and Tulpehocken Town- ships were slain, and more than thirty carried into captivity, most of whom never returned.

Weiser and Scarouady in Danger from Settlers

Conrad Weiser, as has been seen, returned home from Philadel- phia on November 17th, accompanied by Scarouady and Andrew Montour on their way to the Six Nations. He found the Berks County settlers in a state of great excitement, on account of the Indian outrages. The settlers of Berks County knew that he had frequently accompanied delegations of friendly Indians to Phila- delphia. To many of the settlers whose homes and barns were destroyed and whose dear ones were murdered or carried into captivity, all Indians looked alike. Consequently, many of the settlers were now suspicious of Weiser, and believed that he was protecting Indians who did not deserve it. Consequently, also, he had now great difficulty in conducting Scarouady and Montour towards the Susquehanna. Said he, in another letter to Governor

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Morris on November 19th : "I made all the haste with the Indians [Scarouady and Montour] I could, and gave them a letter to Thomas McKee, to furnish them with necessaries for their journey. Scarouady had no creature to ride on. I gave him one. Before I could get done with the Indians, three or four men came from Benjamin Spikers to warn the Indians not to go that way for the people were so enraged against all the Indians and would kill them without distinction. I went with them. So did the gentlemen before named. When we came near Benjamin Spikers, I saw about 400 or 500 men, and there was loud noise. I rode before, and in riding along the road and armed men on both sides of the road, I heard some say: 'Why must we be killed by the Indians, and not kill them. Why are our hands so tied. ' I got the Indians into the house with much ado, where I treated them with a small dram, and so parted in love and friendship. Captain Diefenback undertook to conduct them, with five of our men, to the Susquehanna." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 504 to 506.)

Continuing the above letter, Weiser says:

"After this, a sort of a counsel of war was held by the ofificers present, the before named, and other Freeholders.

"It was agreed that 150 men should be raised immediately to serve as out scouts, and as Guards at Certain Places under the Kittitany Hills for 40 days. That those so raised to have 2 Shill- ings a Day and 2 Pounds of Bread, 2 Pounds of Beafif and a jill of rum, and Powder and lead. Arms they must find themselves.

"This Scheme was signed by a good many Freeholders, and read to the people. They cried out that so much for an Indian scalp would they have, be they friends or enemies, from the Gov- ernor. I told them I had no such power from the Governor nor Assembly. They began some to curse the Governor; some the As- sembly; called me a traitor of the country, who held with the In- dians, and must have known this murder beforehand. I sat in the house by a lowe window; some of my friends came to pull me away from it, telling me some of the people threatened to shoot me.

"I offered to go out to the people and either pasefy them or make the King's Proclamation. But those in the house with me would not let me go out. The cry was. The Land was betrayed and sold. The common people from Lancaster [now Lebanon County] were the worst. The wages they said was a Trifle and some Body pocketed the Rest, and they would resent it. Some Body had put it in their head that I had it in my power to give

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them as much as I pleased. I was in danger of being shot to death.

"In the meantime, a great smoke arose under Tulpenhacon Mountain, with the news following that the Indians had com- mitted a murder on Mill Creek (a false alarm) and set fire to a barn; most of the people ran, and those that had horses rode off without any order or regulation. I then took my horse and went home, where I intend to stay and defend my own house as long as I can. The people of Tulpenhacon all fled; till about 6 or 7 miles from me some few remains. Another such attack will lay all the country waste on the west side of Schuylkill,"

In a subsequent chapter will be found Scarouady's report of his mission to the Six Nations. In the meantime, the Indians, entering the passes of the Blue Mountains, committed many murders and devastations in Berks, Lebanon, Northampton and Carbon Counties. Independent companies were hastily organized which later were incorporated into the Provincial Regiment. Captain Thomas McKee ranged the territory along the Susque- hanna; Colonel Conrad Weiser, Captain Adam Read, of Swatara Creek and Captain Peter Heydrick, of Swatara Gap, ranged the territory between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill Rivers; the two Captains Wetterholt ranged the district along the Lehigh; and Captains Wayne, Hays, Jenning, McLaughlin and Van Etten ranged the territory between the Lehigh and Delaware. Never- theless, the Indians crept stealthily upon the settlers, murdered them in cold blood, often in the dead hours of the night, and then disappeared before the alarm could be spread to the citizen soldiers.

The Kobel Atrocity

On November 24th, 1755, Governor Morris received a letter from Conrad Weiser in which he describes the attack on the Kobel family, one of the atrocities committed by the Indians in the invasion of Berks County, described in this chapter. The letter, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 511 and 512, is as follows :

"I cannot forbear to acquaint your Honor of a certain Cir- cumstance of the late unhappy Affair: One Kobel,

with his wife and eight children, the eldest about fourteen Years and the youngest fourteen Days, was flying before the Enemy, he carrying one, and his wife and a Boy another of the Children,

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when they were fired upon by two Indians very nigh, but hit only the Man upon his Breast, though not Dangerously. They, the Indians, then came with their Tomahawks, knocked the woman down, but not dead. They intended to kill the Man, but his Gun (though out of order so that he could not fire) kept them off. The Woman recovered so farr, and seated herself upon a Stump, with her Babe in her Arms, and gave it Suck, and the Indians driving the children together, and spoke to them in High Dutch, 'Be still; we won't hurt you.' Then they struck a Hatchet into the woman's Head, and she fell upon her Face with her Babe under her, and the Indian trod on her neck and tore off the scalp. The children then run; four of them were scalped, among which was a Girl of Eleven Years of Age, who related the whole Story; of the Scalped, two are alive and like to do well. The Rest of the Children ran into the Bushes and the Indians after them, but our People coming near to them, and hallowed and made noise; the Indians Ran, and the Rest of the Children were saved. They ran within a Yard by a Woman that lay behind an Old Log, with two Children; there was about Seven or Eight of the Enemy."

Other Atrocities of 1755

Other atrocities, committed in the autumn of 1755, were the following:

Two brothers, named Ney, were ambushed by Indians, in the Tulpehocken region, while gathering a load of fire wood for winter. The one brother, Michael, was killed and scalped. The other brother was tomahawked and left for dead, but afterwards regained consciousness and made his way back home. Some neighbors then went in pursuit of the Indians. They found the body of Michael, but the Indians had fled.

As the Indian depredations spread eastward from Swatara Gap, they reached the vicinity of the present town of Pine Grove. Schuylkill County. Here George Everhart and his entire family except his little daughter, Margaret, were killed. The little girl was taken captive. She was released by Colonel Bouquet, when he made his expedition to the Muskingum, in the autumn of 1764, and returned to her friends. (H. M. M. Richards' "Pennsylvania Germans in the French and Indian War," pages 79 to 81.)

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Moravians Massacred

Scarouady was hardly started on his journey to the Six Nations when the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Delawares became stained anew with the blood of the settlers of Eastern Pennsyl- vania. On November 24th, the Moravian missionaries at Gnaden- huetten. Carbon County, were cruelly murdered by a band of twelve warriors of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, led by Jachebus, chief of the Assinnissink, a Munsee town in Steuben County, New York. The bodies of the dead were placed in a grave. A monument marks the spot where the dust of these victims of savage cruelty reposes, a short distance from Lehighton, and bears the following inscription :

"To the memory of Gottlieb and Joanna Anders, with their child, Christiana; Martin and Susanna Nitschman; Anna Cath- erine Senseman; John Gattermeyer; George Fabricius, clerk; George Schweigert; John Frederick Lesly; and Martin Presser; who lived here at Gnadenhuetten unto the Lord, and lost their lives in a surprise from Indian warriors, November 24, 1755. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."

Bishop Loskiel's "History of the Moravian Mission" thus dej^cribes the massacre of the Moravians at Gnadenhuetten:

"The family were at supper; and on the report of a gun, several ran together to open the house-door; the Indians instantly fired and killed Martin Nitschman. His wife and some others were wounded, but fled with the rest to the garret, and barricaded the door. Two escaped by leaping out of a back window. The savages pursued those who had taken refuge in the garret, but finding the door too well secured, they set fire to the house, which was soon in flames. A boy and a woman leaped from the burning roof, and escaped almost miraculously. Br. Fabricius then leaped off the roof, but he was perceived by the Indians, and wounded with two balls; they dispatched him with their hatchets, and took his scalp. The rest were all burnt alive, except Br. Sense- man, who got out at the back door. The house being consumed, the murderers set fire to the barns and stables, by which all the corn, hay and cattle were destroyed."

The light of the burning buildings was seen at Bethlehem, although nearly thirty miles distant and with the ridge of the Blue Mountains between.

On the day of the massacre, the Moravian missionary, David

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Zeisberger, had been sent from Bethlehem to Gnadenhuetten, bearing a letter relative to the convoy of some friendly Indians at Wyoming who wished to visit the Governor. He had reached the Lehigh River and was just ready to cross to the other side, before it became quite dark, when he heard gun-shots, which he supposed to be those of militia patroling the woods. Suddenly a piteous cry floated on the evening air, but Zeisberger did not hear it, as his horse was now wading the river and the splashing water and the crack of the stones under his horse's hoofs prevented his hearing anything else. Nor did he see the flames, as the thick underbrush of the river bank and the bluff beyond concealed their light from him. Having reached the west shore, he paused a moment and took in the awful situation, just as young Joseph Sturgis, who had escaped with a slight wound on his face, rushed down to the river. Turning his horse, he crossed back to the east side of the stream, where he found some Moravian Indians in great terror. Gathering what particulars he could, he rode through the night to Bethlehem, arriving there at three o'clock in the morning and telling Bishop Spangenberg of the Moravian Church the terrible story, (See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 736, 737.)

For some time prior to the massacre of the Moravian mission- aries, these good people had been suspected of being in sympathy with the French and their Indian allies — an altogether unjust suspicion. Just prior to the outbreak of the war, unfriendly Indians made frequent visits to the Delawares who had been converted to the Christian religion by the Moravians, and made efforts to win them to their cause. Some of the Christianized Delawares yielded to the persuasion of the unfriendly Indians, and, in time, were recognized among the marauders. Then the cry went up that the Moravian missionaries were training the Indians for the French service. Furthermore, the fact that the missionaries spoke German, a language foreign to that of their English and Scotch-Irish neighbors, tended to put them under suspicion. But now that these missionaries fell victims to the wrath of the Indians in league with the French, the eyes of their traducers were opened. Even before the corpses of the murdered Moravians were buried, it is said, many people came to the scene of the massacre and shed tears of penitence.

In closing the account of this terrible atrocity, we call attention to the fact that Susanna Nitschman, long believed to have been killed at the time of the massacre of the other missionaries, was.

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according to De Schweinitz's "Life of David Zeisberger," carried to Tioga, where she was compelled to share the wigwam with a brutal Indian and where, having lapsed into profound melancholy, death came to her relief after a half year of captivity.

Attack on the Hoeth and Brodhead Families

On December 10th and 11th, 1755, occurred the attack on the Hoeth and Brodhead families. The Frederick Hoeth family lived on Poco-Poco Creek, afterwards known as Hoeth's Creek, and now generally known as Big Creek, a tributary to the Lehigh above Weissport. The Indians attacked the house on the evening of the 10th, killing and capturing all the family except a son and a smith, who made their escape. This son, John Michael Hoeth, or Hute as he is called in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, made a deposition before William Parsons at Easton, on Decem- ber 12th, as follows:

"The 12th Day of December, 1755, Personally appeared before me, William Parsons, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Northampton, Michael Hute, aged about 21 Years, who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God did depose and declare that last Wednesday, about 6 of the Clock, Afternoon, a Company of Indians, about 5 in number, attacked the House of Frederick Hoeth, about 12 miles East- ward from Gnadenhutten, on Pocho-Pocho Creek. That the family being at Supper, the Indians shot into the House and wounded a woman ; at the next shot they killed Frederick Hoeth himself, and shot several times more, whereupon all ran out of the house that could. The Indians immediately set fire to the House, Mill and Stables. Hoeth's wife ran into the Bakehouse, which was also set on fire. The poor woman ran out thro' the Flames, and being very much burnt she ran into the water and there dyed. The Indians cut her belly open, and used her other- wise inhumanely. They killed and Scalped a Daughter, and he [Hute] thinks that three other Children who were of the Family were burnt. Three of Hoeth's Daughters are missing with an- other Woman, who are supposed to be carried off. In the action one Indian was killed and another wounded." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 758, 759.)

Attention is called to the fact that Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy, in their Narrative, recorded in Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 7, pages 401 to 412, state that, at the time of their

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escape from the Indians, March 16th, 1759, three sisters "from the Blue Mountains, Mary, CaroUne and Catherine Hoeth," were still in captivity among the Indians, but do not state whether at Sauconk, Kuskuskies or Muskingum.

The Hoeth tragedy occurred in the vicinity of where Fort Norris, about a mile southeast of Kresgeville, Monroe County, was afterwards built. Other families in the vicinity of the Hoeths — the Hartmans, the Culvers and the McMichaels — were at- tacked by daylight the next morning. Many of their members were killed and captured, and their buildings were burned. Terror spread throughout the region upon the report that there were two hundred Indians ravaging that part of the frontier. Families fled to the Moravian stockades at Nazareth, North- ampton County, and the infants of that place were taken to Bethlehem for greater security. Among the fugitives who took refuge among the Moravians at Nazareth were a poor German, his wife and child, the latter only several days old. It was late at night when he received word of the tragedy at Hoeth 's. Taking his wife and child on his back, he fled for his life.

On the morning of December 1 1th, the Indians who committed the atrocities at Hoeth's and in the vicinity, made an assault on Brodhead's house, near the mouth of Brodhead Creek, not far from where Stroudsburg, Monroe County, now stands. The barracks and barn at Brodhead's were set on fire. Refugees hastening to Easton heard firing and crying at Brodhead's throughout the day. However, the Indians met such a deter- mined resistance by the Brodhead family that they were finally obliged to retire. All the members of this family were noted for their bravery. Among the sons was the famous Colonel (later General) Brodhead of the Revolutionary War, who no doubt aided in the defense of his father's home. For account of the outrages at Hoeth's and Brodhead's, the reader is referred to Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 756 to 760.

Massacres Continue

The Indians continued their murders and depredations in Monroe, Carbon and Northampton Counties throughout the month of December and into the following January, as we shall see in the next chapter. The following quotation from Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 767, briefly describes, under date of December 29th, their atrocities and devastation in this region in December:

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"During all this month [December, 1755] the Indians have been burning and destroying all before them in the County of North- ampton, and have already burned fifty houses here, murdered above one hundred persons, and are still continuing their Ravages, Murders and Devastations, and have actually overrun and laid waste a great part of that County, even as far as within twenty miles of Easton, its chief Town. And a large Body of Indians, under the Direction of French Officers, have fixed their head Quarters within the Borders of that County for the better security of their Prisoners and Plunder . . . All the settlements between Shamokin and Hunter's Mill for a space of 50 Miles along the River Susquehanna were deserted."

Continuing, the same account describes the horrors on the Pennsylvania frontier at the time of which we are writing, as follows :

"Such schocking descriptions are given by those who have escaped of the horrid Cruelties and Indecencies committed by these merciless Savages on the Bodies of the unhappy wretches who fell into their Barbarous hands, especially the Women, without regard to Sex or Age, as far exceeds those related of the most abandoned Pirates; which has occasioned a general Conster- nation and has struck so great a Pannick and Damp upon the Spirits of the people that hitherto they have not been able to make any considerable resistance or stand against the Indians."

One of the atrocities, committed in the Minisink region, in December, 1755, was that described in the affidavit of Daniel McMullen, found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 282 and 283. A party of five Delawares captured McMullen and a woman, and at the same time, killed eight men in the neighborhood. Mc- Mullen and the woman were taken to Tioga, where McMullen was sold to a Mohawk, who treated him very kindly, and after- wards sold him to the daughter of French Margaret, who was the daughter of Madam Montour. Later French Margaret's daughter went to see Colonel Johnson in order to ransom the woman who was taken when McMullen was captured. While French Margaret's daughter was absent on this journey, Mc- Mullen made his escape, and he and Thomas Moffit, another captive belonging to French Margaret's daughter, made their way down the Susquehanna to Fort Augusta, in September, 1756.

In December, 1755, Nicholas Weiss was killed, near Fenners- ville, Monroe County, and his family captured and taken to Canada (Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," page 948.)

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During November and December, 1755, as stated in a former chapter, the Shawnee and Delaware town of Nescopeck at the site of the present town of Nescopeck, in Luzerne County, was the rallying point for the Indians who were devastating the settlements and murdering the inhabitants. Many bloody ex- peditions were sent out from this place until the building of Fort Augusta, at Shamokin (Sunbury), in the summer and autumn of 1756, drove the hostile Indians away from Nescopeck. They then went up the North Branch of the Susquehanna to the Dela- ware town of Assarughney, located about two miles north of the mouth of the Lackawanna, near the present town of Ransom, in Luzerne County. At the time of the assembling of the hostile Indians at Nescopeck, John Shikellamy, son of the great vice- gerent of the Six Nations, moved away from that place to Wyoming, near Plymouth, Luzerne County, where the friendly Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, lived.

About the middle of December, some settlers at Paxtang "took an enemy Indian on the other side of the Narrows above Samuel Hunter's and brought him down to Carson's, where they examining him, the Indian begged for his Life and promised to tell all what he knew tomorrow morning, but (shocking to me) they shot him in the midst of them, scalped him and threw his Body into the River. The Old Belt told me that, as a child of Onontio [the French], he deserved to be killed, but that he would have been glad if they had delivered him up to the Governor in order to be examined stricter and better." Thus wrote Conrad Weiser to Governor Morris, on December 22nd.

Capture of Peter Williamson

Loudon's "Indian Narratives" contains an account of the capture and subsequent experiences of Peter Williamson, who, according to Loudon, was living near the "Forks of the Dela- ware" in the terrible autumn of 1755. He was alone at midnight, when the Indians came upon him, his wife being away visiting relatives at the time. They made him prisoner, burned his house, barn, cattle and 200 bushels of grain. Taking him with them, they fell upon the Jacob Snyder family "at the Blue Hills near the Susquehanna," killing the parents and their five chil- dren, burning the house, and capturing the hired man, whom they tortured to death after going some distance. The band then lay hid near the Susquehanna for several days. They then

MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 247

attacked the home of an old man, named John Adams, burning the home and killing Mrs. Adams and her four small children before the eyes of the horrified father. Taking Mr. Adams with them, they went to the "Great Swamp," where they remained eight or nine days, inflicting many cruelties on Mr. Adams in the meantime. While at the "Great Swamp," twenty-five Indians arrived one night from the Conococheague, with twenty scalps and three prisoners. This second band had murdered John Lewis, his wife and three small children, also Jacob Miller, his wife and six children. The prisoners from the Conococheague were tortured to death at the "Great Swamp." Peter Williamson was then taken to the Indian town of Alamingo, where he re- mained two or three months until the snow was gone. In the spring, one hundred and fifty Indians left Alamingo, taking Williamson with them, to attack the settlements along the base of the Blue Mountains and along the Conococheague. Arriving near the settlements, the Indians separated into small bands. Williamson and ten Indians were left behind at a certain place to await the return of the rest who went to kill and scalp the settlers. Before the marauders returned, Williamson made his escape from his ten Indian companions. For some time he hid in a hollow log, and then made his way through the forest and over the mountains to the home of his father-in-law, in Chester County to receive the sad news that his wife had died two months before his return.

Murder of William McMullin and James Watson

In Loudon's "Indian Narratives" is found the account of the murder of William McMullin and his brother-in-law, James Watson. This murder most likely occurred in November, 1755. These men went from a block house between the Conodoguinet Creek, in Cumberland County, and the Blue Mountains to their home to look after things there. While in the barn, they were attacked by Indians. They then started to flee to the block house, and, as they were running through a buckwheat field, other Indians hidden there, attacked them, and fatally wounded McMullin, who crawled into a thicket, where he died and his body was afterwards found. During this attack, Watson shot four or five Indians in a running fight. Finally, while going up a hill, he was shot, then tomahawked and scalped. When found, his hands were full of an Indian's hair.

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Samuel Bell

In Loudon's "Indian Narratives" is also found the account of the experiences of Samuel Bell, who, in the late autumn of 1755, with his brother, James, left their home on Stony Ridge, five miles below Carlisle, Cumberland County, to go into Sherman's Valley, Perry County, to hunt deer. The brothers agreed to meet at Croghan's (now Sterret's) Gap, in the Blue Mountains, but for some reason they failed to meet. Samuel spent the night in a deserted cabin on Sherman's Creek, belonging to a Mr. Patton. In the morning he had not gone far before he saw three Indians, who saw him at same time and each party fired at the other. Samuel wounded one of the Indians and several bullets passed through his own clothes. Each side took to trees. Samuel took his tomahawk and stuck it into the tree, so that he might be prepared if the Indians advanced. The tree was hit with several bullets. After some time, the two Indians carried the wounded one over the fence, and one ran one direction and the other an- other, trying to get on both sides of the tree where Bell was. Bell shot one of them dead and the other took the dead Indian on his back with a leg over each shoulder. Bell ran after him and fired a bullet through the dead Indian's body into the body of the one who was carrying him. The Indian dropped the dead com- panion and ran off. Bell then ran away, and found the first Indian dead, and later the bodies of the three were found.

Hugh McSwane

Loudon also relates the account of the experiences of Hugh McSwine (McSwane), who was captured by a band of Delawares, led by the noted Delaware chief, Captain Jacobs, during one of the incursions into the counties of Fulton, Franklin and Cumber- land, in the autumn of 1755. McSwine was away from home at the time when the Indians came into his neighborhood. He followed them, and the place of his capture was at Tussey's Narrows. There was with the Indians a man named Jackson, who had joined them. Captain Jacobs left McSwine and another prisoner under care of Jackson and another Indian, while the rest went against other settlers. The Indian and Jackson, with two prisoners, travelled all night, and then they entered a deserted cabin and sent McSwine to cut rails to make a fire. McSwine took his ax and killed the Indian and then tried to kill Jackson. They

MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 249

had a desperate struggle. Both were v^ery strong. McSwine's strength began to fail and he kept calling on the other white man to assist, but he stood trembling. Finally McSwine got hold of one of the guns and killed Jackson and scalped both him and the Indian. The next evening McSwine arrived at Fort Cumberland with Captain Jacobs' gun and horse, which had been left with him. George Washington sent McSwine to Winchester where he got paid for horse, gun, and scalps, and was made a lieutenant.

About this time the Cherokees came to help Pennsylvania. They pursued a band of Indians to the west side of Sidling Hill where they started back. Among the Cherokees was Hugh McSwine. On their way back they fell in with another party of Indians and had a battle with them. McSwine was parted from the rest. He was pursued by three Indians. He turned and shot one, and ran some distance and turned and shot another. Then the third Indian turned back. The Cherokees soon after brought 14 scalps and two prisoners, one of whom was a squaw who had been twelve times at war.

About the same time some Cherokees and white men scouted in neighborhood of Fort Duquesne. Coming back the white men were not able to keep up with the Indians and arrived home in very distressing condition. Hugh McSwine later was killed by the Indians, near Ligonier.

Such is Loudon's account. It may be that Hugh McSwane was the same person mentioned by Adam Hoops in a letter written from Conococheague to Governor Morris, on November 6th: "I just now have received ye account of one George McSwane, who was taken Captive about 14 Days ago, and has made his escape, and has brought two Scalps and a Tomahawk with Him."

Assistance of Cherokees and Catawbas

Loudon, as has been seen, mentions the fact that the Cherokees of the South helped the English to resist the bloody incursions of the Delawares and Shawnees. In the latter part of 1755, Gover- nor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, succeeded in persuading the Chero- kees to declare war against the Shawnees. They then sent one hundred and thirty of their warriors to protect the frontiers of Virginia, and later sent many to assist Pennsylvania, especially into the Cumberland Valley. The Cherokees occupied a very dangerous position on the Pennsylvania frontier, especially among the Scotch-Irish settlers of the Cumberland Valley, who,

250 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

on account of the terrible atrocities committed upon them, were ready to shoot and scalp any Indian on sight. Colonel John Armstrong, in a letter written to Governor Denny, from Carlisle, on May 5th, 1757, and recorded in Pa. Col, Rec, Vol, 7, pages 503-505, mentions a case in point. The Catawbas also sent many of their warriors to assist Pennsylvania, as will be seen later in this history. While these Southern tribes were assisting the English, the French were busy in efforts to persuade them to join the Delawares and Shawnees in their incursions into the English settlements.

Tom Quick

Frederick A, Godcharles, in his "Daily Stories of Pennsyl- vania," gives an interesting account of the experiences of Tom Quick, "the Indian killer," who is said to have declared on his death bed, in 1795, that he had killed ninety-nine Indians, and begged that an old Indian, who lived near, might be brought to him in order that he might kill this old red man and thus bring his record to an even hundred. Early in the French and Indian War, no doubt in the autumn of 1755, Tom Quick's father, also named Tom, was killed by the Delawares, in Pike County, in the presence of the son and his brother-in-law. Young Tom was wounded at the same time, and almost frantic with rage and grief, he swore that he would never make peace with the Indians as long as one remained on the banks of the Delaware, Some years later, he met an Indian, named Muskwink, at Decker's Tavern, on the Neversink, Muskwink, on this occasion, claimed that it was he who scalped the elder Quick. Tom followed him from the tavern about a mile, and then shot him dead. Some time later, he espied an Indian family in a canoe on Butler's Rift. Concealing himself in the tall grass, he shot the Indian warrior, and then tomahawked his squaw and three children. He sank the bodies, and destroyed the canoe. Upon being asked later why he killed the children, he replied: "Nits make lice," On another oc^i-asion, several Indians came to him while he was splitting rails, and told him to go along with them. Quick asked them to help him to split open the last log, and as they put their fingers in the crack to help pull the log apart, Tom knocked out the wedge, and thus caught them all. He then killed them. On another occasion, he killed an Indian, while hunting with him, by shooting him in the back. At another time he killed an In-

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dian, while hunting with him, by pushing him off the high rocks into the ravine below.

Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," says that Tom Quick made a vow early in life to kill one hundred Indians; that he took seriously ill before he had slain the hundred, and prayed earnestly for life and health to carry out his "project;" that he eventually recovered, and succeeded in bringing the number to one hundred; whereupon he laid aside his rifle, and died soon thereafter. He is buried on the banks of the Delaware, between the towns of Milford and Shohola, Pike County.

Governor and Assembly Dispute as Settlers Die

Indeed, from the Penn's Creek massacre until well into the year of 1756, terror reigned throughout the Pennsylvania settle- ments. It is a sad fact, already referred to in this chapter, that, while the Delawares and Shawnees were thus burning and scalping on the frontier, the Assembly and Governor, instead of putting the Province in a state of defense, spent their time in disputes as to whether or not the Proprietary estates should be taxed to raise money to defend the settlers against the hostile Indians. Noted men on the frontier, such as Rev. John Elder, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Paxtang, raised their voice in protest against such action on the part of the Colonial Author- ities. William Plumstead, Mayor of Philadelphia, and the Aldermen and Common Council of that city remonstrated in the most forceful language. The smoke of burning farm houses darkened the heavens; the soil of the forest farms of the German and Scotch-Irish settlers was drenched with their blood; the tomahawk of the savage dashed out the brains of the aged and the infant; hundreds were carried into captivity, many of whom were tortured to death by fire at Kittanning and other Indian towns in the valleys of the Allegheny and the Ohio to which they were taken — all of these dreadful things were taking place as the disputes between the Governor and the Assembly continued.

Says Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania:" "The cold in- difference of the Assembly at such a crisis awoke the deepest in- dignation throughout the Province. Public meetings were held in various parts of Lancaster and in the frontier counties, at which it was resolved that they would repair to Philadelphia and compel the Provincial authorities to pass proper laws to defend the country and oppose the enemy. In addition, the dead bodies

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of some of the murdered and mangled were sent to that city and hauled about the streets, with placards announcing that these were the victims of the Quaker policy of non-resistance. A large and threatening mob surrounded the house of Assembly, placed the dead bodies in the doorway, and demanded immediate relief for the people of the frontiers. Such indeed were the desperate measures resorted to for self defense."

Some of these dead bodies were those of the victims of the raids of Shingas in October and November, described in Chapter VIII.

Finally, on November 26th, the very day that the news reached Philadelphia of the slaughter of the Moravian missionaries at Gnadenhuetten, "An Act For Granting 60,000 pounds to the King's Use" was passed, after the Proprietaries had made a grant of 5,000 pounds in lieu of the tax on the Proprietary estates,

Pennsylvania Begins Erection of Chain of Forts

Pennsylvania then began erecting a chain of forts and block- houses to guard the frontier. These forts extended along the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains from the Delaware River to the Maryland line, and the cost of erection was eighty-five thousand pounds. They guarded the important mountain passes, were gar- risoned by from twenty-five to seventy-five men in pay of the Province, and stood almost equi-distant, so as to be a haven of refuge for the settlers when they fled from their farms to escape the tomahawk and scalping knife. The Moravians at Bethlehem cheerfully fortified their town and took up arms in self-defense. Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton were directed to go to the Forks of the Delaware and raise troops in order to carry the plan into execution. On December 29th, 1755, they arrived at Easton, and appointed William Parsons major of the troops to be raised in the county of Northampton. In the meantime. Captain Hays had been ordered to New Gnadenhuetten, the scene of the massacre of the Moravian missionaries on November 24th, with his militia from the Irish settlement in the county. The attack on these militia on New Year's Day, 1756, will be described in Chapter X. Finally, the Assembly requested Franklin's ap- pearance, and, responding to this call, he turned his command over to Colonel William Clapham.

This chain of forts began with Fort Dupui, erected on the property of the Hugenot settler, Samuel Dupui, in the present town of Shawnee, on the Delaware River, in Monroe County.

MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 253

Next came Fort Hamilton, on the site of the present town of Stroudsburg, in Monroe County. Fort Penn was also erected in the eastern part of this town. These three forts were in the heart of the territory of the Munsee Clan of Delawares. Next was Fort Norris, about a mile southeast of Kresgeville, Monroe County; and fifteen miles west was Fort Allen where Weissport, Carbon County now stands. Then came Fort Franklin near Snydersville Schuylkill County; and nineteen miles west was, Fort Lebanon, also known as Fort William, not far from the present town of Auburn, in Schuylkill County. Then came Fort Henry at Die- trick Six's, near Millersburg, Berks County. This post is some- times called "Busse's Fort" from its commanding olilicer, also the "Fort at Dietrick Six's." Fort Lebanon and Fort Henry were twenty-two miles apart, and midway between them was the small post, Fort Northkill, near Strausstown, Berks County. Next came Fort Swatara, located in the vicinity of Swatara Gap, or Tolihaio Gap, Lebanon County; then Fort Manada at Manada Gap, Dauphin County; then Fort Hunter, on the east bank of the Susquehanna River at the mouth of Fishing Creek, six miles north of Harrisburg; then Fort Halifax at the mouth of Arm- strong Creek, half a mile above the present town of Halifax, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, in Dauphin County; then Fort Augusta at Sunbury, Northumberland County. While there were numerous block-houses, these posts were the principal forts east of the Susquehanna.

Crossing the Susquehanna, we find Fort Patterson in the Tuscarora Valley at Mexico, Juniata County; Fort Granville, near Lewistown, Mifflin County; Fort Shirley, at Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County; Fort Lyttleton at Sugar Cabins, in the northeastern part of Fulton County; Fort McDowell, where Mc- Dowell's Mill, Franklin County, now stands; Fort Loudon, about a mile distant from the town of Loudon, Franklin County; Fort Morris at Shippensburg, Cumberland County; and Fort Lowther, at Carlisle, Cumberland County. Like the forts east of the Susquehanna, these forts were supplemented with block- houses in the vicinity. The erection of the entire chain of forts was completed in 1756.

To garrison these forts and intervening posts and for patroling the neighborhood of each, a body of troops, called the "Pennsyl- vania Regiment," was organized, of which the Governor was, ex- ofificio, commander-in-chief. It was divided into three battalions. The First Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Conrad

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Weiser, consisting of ten companies and five hundred men, guarded the territory along the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains from the Susquehanna to the Delaware. The Second Battalion, com- manded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Armstrong, consisting of eight companies and four hundred men, guarded the district west of the Susquehanna, The Third Battalion, commanded by Colonel William Clapham, consisting of eight companies and four hundred men, guarded the region at and around Fort Augusta. Because of its location, it was called the "Augusta Regiment." Major James Burd was also in command of this regiment for a time. The troops not only garrisoned the regular forts, but were also located at stockaded mills and farm houses, from three to twenty at a place, at the disposition of the captains of the companies.

A final word as to the distinction between the various places of defense and refuge. Reference is made in all chronicles deal- ing with the border wars in Pennsylvania to "forts," "block- houses" and "stations." Frequently the term "fort" is applied as well to "block-houses" and "stations." A "fort," especially the forts erected by the Colony of Pennsylvania, was a strong place of defense and refuge, stockaded and embracing cabins for the accommodation of the garrison and of families who sought refuge there. A "station" was a parallelogram of cabins, so united by palisades as to present a continued wall on the outer side. A "block-house" was a strong, square, two-storied struc- ture, having the upper story projecting over the lower about two feet, so that the inmates could shoot from above upon the Indians attempting to fire the building, to burst open the door or to climb its walls. Many stations and block-houses were erected by the harrassed settlers at their own expense and by their own labors.

CHAPTER X

Massacres Early In 1756

GOVERNOR MORRIS spent the greater part of January, 1756, in visiting the frontiers for the purpose of seeing to the erection of forts and block houses. He was at Reading on January 5, and attended the Carhsle council of January 13th to 17th, to be described in Chapter XL Taking leave, very largely, of the Governor, the Provincial Council and the Assembly for a time, we shall devote the present chapter to the narration of Indian atrocities in the early part of 1756.

Massacre of Soldiers at Gnadenhuetten

After the massacre of the Moravian missionaries at Gnaden- huetten, now Weissport, Carbon County, on the evening of November 24th, 1755, the surviving missionaries and the Chris- tianized Delawares of that place hastened to Bethlehem, leaving their effects and harvest behind. As stated in Chapter IX, the hostile Indians spread devastation and death throughout that region in the closing weeks of 1755, and a thorough and systematic plan of defense was formulated. Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton, being selected to execute this plan, went to Easton, and, on December 29th, after their arrival, appointed William Parsons Major of the troops to be raised in Northampton County. In the meantime. Captain Hayes had been ordered to lead his company of troops from the Irish Settlement in Northampton County to Gnadenhuetten to guard the mills of the Moravians, which were filled with grain and had escaped the torch of the Indians, to keep the property of the Christian Delawares from being destroyed, and to protect the few settlers who still remained in the neighborhood. Hayes stationed his troops in the forsaken village and erected a temporary stockade.

Then, on January 1st, 1756, a number of the soldiers, due to their lack of experience, fell victims to an Indian stratagem. While amusing themselves by skating on the Lehigh River, not far from

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the stockade, they saw two Indians farther up the stream, and, thinking to kill or capture them, gave chase while the Indians ran further up the river. These two Indians were decoys, who skillfully drew the soldiers into an ambush. After the soldiers had pursued them for some distance, a large party of Indians rushed out behind the troops, cut off their retreat, fell upon them with great fury, and quickly dispatched them. Some of the soldiers, remaining in the stockade, terrorized and horrified by the murder of their companions, deserted, while the others, despairing of defending the place, fled, leaving the mills, the stockade and the houses of the Christian Indians to be burned to ashes by the hostile Indians.

Massacres in Monroe County

Also, on January 1st, 1756, the Delaware chief, Teedyuscung led a band of about thirty Indians into lower Smithfield Town- ship, Monroe County, destroying the plantation of Henry Hess, killing Nicholas Colman and a laborer named Gotlieb, and captur- ing Peter Hess and young Henry Hess, son of Peter Hess and nephew of Henry Hess, the owner of the plantation. This attack took place about nine o'clock in the morning. Teedyuscung's band then went over the Blue Mountains and overtook five In- dians with two prisoners, Leonard and William Weeser, and a little later killed Peter Hess in the presence of his son.

In a few days the Indians over-ran the country from Fort Allen as far as Nazareth, burning plantations, and killing and scalping settlers. During this same month, the Delawares entered Moore Township, Northampton County, burning the buildings of Christian Miller, Henry Shopp, Henry Diehl, Peter Doll, Nicholas Scholl, and Nicholas Heil, and killing one of Heil's children and John Bauman. The body of Bauman was found two weeks later, and buried in the Moravian cemetery at Nazareth.

Young Henry Hess, one of the captives in this incursion, was delivered up by the Indians at the Easton Conference of Novem- ber, 1756, at which conference he made an affidavit, recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 56, from which the following state- ments are taken:

That, on January 1st, 1756, he was at the plantation of his uncle, Henry Hess, in Lower Smithfield Township, and that his father, Peter Hess, Nicholas Coleman and one, Gotlieb, a laborer, were also there; that, about nine o'clock in the morning,

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they were surprised by a party of twenty-five Indians, let by Teedyuscung, some of whom were then attending the Easton Conference, namely, Peter Harrison, Samuel Evans, Christian, and Tom Evans; that the Indian band killed Nicholas Coleman and Gotlieb, took him and his father prisoners, set fire to the stable, and then hunted up the horses and took three of them; that the Indians then went over the second range of the Blue Mountains, and overtook five other Indians with two prisoners, Leonard and William Weeser; that a little later, they killed and scalped his father, Peter Hess, in his presence; that the two bands, now being united, stopped in the evening, kindled a fire, tied him and the two Weesers to a tree with ropes, in which manner they remained all night, although the night was extremely cold, the coldest night of the year; that the next day he and the other prisoners were taken to Wyoming, which they found deserted, its Indian population having fled to the Delaware village of Tunkhannock, the site of the present town of the same name, in Wyoming County; that their captors then took them to Tunk- hannock, where they found about one hundred and fifty Indians; that after the severe weather abated, all the Indians left Tunk- hannock, taking the prisoners with them, and went to Tioga, near the present town of Athens, Bradford County; that, during his stay with the Indians, small parties of five or six warriors, oc- casionally went to war, and returned with scalps and captives, which they said they had taken at Allemangle, in the northern part of Berks County, and in the Minisink region; and that he frequently heard his captors say that "all the country of Penn- sylvania did belong to them, and the Governors were always buying their lands from them but did not pay them for it."

Leonard Weeser, one of the captives taken in this incursion, was also delivered up at the Easton Conference of November, 1756, at which conference he made the following affidavit, giving the date of the beginning of the incursion as December 31st, 1 755 :

"This examinant says that on the 31st of Dec'r last, he was at his father's House beyond the Mountains, in Smithfield Town- ship, Northampton County, w'th his Father, his Bro'r William and Hans Adam Hess; that Thirty Indians from Wyomink sur- rounded them as they were at Work, killed his Father and Hans Adam Hess and took this Examinant and his Brother William, aged 17, Prisoners. The next day the same Indians went to Peter Hess's, Father of the s'd Hans Adam Hess; they killed two young men, one Nicholas Burman, ye others name he knew not,

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and took Peter Hess and his elder son, Henry Hess, and went off ye next morning at the great Swamp, distant about 30 miles from Weeser's Plantation; they killed Peter Hess, sticking him with their knives, as this Examinant was told by ye Indians, for he was not present. Before they went off, they burned the Houses and a Barrack of Wheat, killed all ye Cattle and Horses and Sheep and destroyed all they could. Thro' ye Swamp they went directly to Wyomink, where they stayed only two days and then went up the river to Diahogo [Tioga], where they stayed till the Planting Time, and from thence they went to little Passeeca, an Indian Town up the Cayuge Branch, and there they stayed till they brought him [Leonard Weeser] down. Among the Indians who made this attack and took him Prisoner, were Teedyuscung, alias Gideon, alias Honest John, and three of his Sons, Amos and Jacob, ye other's name he knew not. Jacobus and his Son, Samuel Evans and Thomas Evans were present; Daniel was present, one Yacomb, a Delaware who used to live in his Father's Neighborhood. They said that all the country was theirs and they were never paid for it, and this they frequently gave as a reason for their conduct. The King's [Teedyuscung] Son, Amos, took him, this Examinant, and immediately gave him over to his Father . . . This Examinant saw at Diahogo a Boy of Henry Christmans, who lived near Fort Norris, and one Daniel William's Wife and five children, Ben Feed's wife and three children; a woman, ye wife of a Smith, who lived with Frederick Head, and three children; a woman taken at Cushictunk, a boy of Hunt's who lived in Jersey, near Canlin's Kiln and a Negro man; a boy taken about four miles from Head's, called Nicholas Kainsein, all of which were prisoners with the Indians at Diahogo and Passeeca, and were taken by the Delaware Indians; that Teedy- uscung did not go against the English after this Examinant was taken, Tho' his Sons did." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 45.)

It will be noted that, in the above affidavit, Leonard Weeser says that the Indians said "that all the country was theirs and they were never paid for it, and this they frequently gave as a reason for their conduct." The murders that these Delawares committed were within the bounds of the "Walking Purchase." In a subsequent chapter, we shall find the able Delaware chief, Teedyuscung, of the Turtle Clan, boldly telling Governor Denny at the Easton Conference of November, 1756, that the injustice done the Delawares in this fraudulent land purchase was the principal reason why they took up arms against the Province.

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Not only the atrocities we are now describing, but those at Hoeth's and Brodheads, described in Chapter IX, were committed within the bounds of the "Walking Purchase." It was natural that the Delawares of the Munsee Clan headed for their own locality in striking their blows against the Province.

The massacres of the first week in January filled the Province with alarm and confusion. Governor Morris was discouraged, as is shown in his letter written from Reading, on January 5th, to the Provincial Council, recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 771 and 772:

"The Commissioners [Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton] have done everything that was proper in the County of North- ampton, but the People are not satisfied, nor, by what I can learn from the Commissioner, would they be unless every Man's House was protected by a Fort and a Company of Soldiers, and them- selves paid for staying at home and doing nothing. There are in that County at this time three hundred Men in Pay of the Gov- ernment, and yet from Disposition of the Inhabitants, the want of Conduct in the Officers and of Courage and Discipline in the Men, I am fearful that the whole Country will fall into the Enemy's Hands.

"Yesterday and the day before I received the melancholy News of the Destruction of the Town of Gnadenhuetten, and of the greatest part of the Guard of forty Men placed there in order to erect a Fort. The particulars you will see by the inclosed Papers, so far as they are yet come to hand, but I am in hourly Expectation of further Intelligence by two Men that I dispatched for that Purpose upon the first News of the Afifair, whose long stay makes me apprehend some mischief has befallen them.

"Last night an Express brought me an acco't that seven Farm Houses between Gnadenhuetten and Nazareth were on the First Instant burnt, about the time that Gnadenhuetten was, and some of the People destroyed, and the accounts are this date confirmed.

"Upon this fresh alarm it is proposed that one of the Com- missioners return to Bethlehem and Easton, and there give fresh Directions to the Troops and post them in the best Manner for the Protection of the remaining Inhabitants."

The commissioner, selected to "return to Bethlehem and Easton, and there give fresh direction to the troops," was Ben- jamin Franklin. This energetic and capable man at once went to Bethlehem from which place he wrote Governor Morris, on January 14th, telling him of the progress already made in raising

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additional troops and bringing order out of chaos. He then went to Gnadenhuetten, and superintended the erection of Fort Allen at that place, the site of which is now occupied by the "Fort Allen Hotel," at Weissport. He tells in his "Autobiography" some of the details of erecting Fort Allen, as follows:

"Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found there, who had been half interred by the country people; the next morning our fort was planned and marked out, the circumference measuring four hundred fifty-five feet, which would require as many palisades to be made, one with another of a foot diameter each. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. When they were set up, our carpenters made a platform of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand on when to fire through the loop holes. We had one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces; and thus our fort (if that name may be given to so miserable a stockade) was finished in a week, though it rained so hard every other day that the men could not well work."

Franklin's letter to Governor Morris of January 25th, and his official report of January 26th, give the details of the erecting of Fort Allen. These are found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 15 and 16. He named the fort in honor of Judge William Allen, father of James Allen, who laid out Allentown in 1762, and was Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania. Franklin, early in 1756, also superintended the erection of Fort Franklin, in the southeastern part of Schuylkill County, Fort Hamilton, where the town of Stroudsburg, Monroe County, now stands. Fort Hyndshaw, in Monroe County, about one mile from the Dela- ware River and near the Pike County line, and Fort Norris, near Kresgeville, Monroe County. Forts Hamilton and Hyndshaw stood in the very heart of the Minisink region, occupied by the Munsee or Wolf Clan of Delawares until their expulsion following the fraudulent "Walking Purchase" of 1737.

In his official report, above mentioned, Franklin said that he had 522 men under his command, divided into companies whose heads were officers Trump, Aston, Wayne, Foulk, Trexler, Wetterholt, Orndt, Craig, Martin, Van Etten, Hays, McLaughlin and Parsons.

This bloody incursion caused the settlers to flee in terror from their forest farms, and seek safety within the more thickly settled

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parts of the Province. As pointed out in Chapter IX, hundreds fled to the Moravian settlement at Nazareth, where, in Decemebr, 1755, sentry boxes had been erected near the principal buildings, and stockades near by, at Gnadenthal (Vale of Grace), Friedens- thal (Vale of Peace), Christian's Spring and the Rose Inn. On January 29th, 1756, according to the annals of the Moravians, there were 253 fugitives at Nazareth, 52 at Gnadenthal, 48 at Christian's Spring, 21 at the Rose Inn and 75 at Friedensthal. Of these fugitives, 226 were children.

Other forts, stockades and block houses, not already mentioned, erected at about the time the stockades at Nazareth were erected, and a little later, were: Breitenbach's Block House, near Myers- town, Lebanon County; Brown's Fort, in East Hanover Town- ship, Dauphin County; Davis' Block House, in the south-western part of Franklin County; Doll's Block House, in Moore Town- ship, Northampton County; Fort Everett, near where the town of Lynnport, Lehigh County, now stands; Harper's Block House, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County; Hess' Block House, in Union Township, Lebanon County; the Fort or Block House at Lehigh Gap, on the north side of the Blue Mountains, in Carbon County, and, a little later, the stockade at Trucker's (Kern's) mill, three or four miles south of Lehigh Gap and in Lehigh County; Fort McCord, in Hamilton Township, Franklin County; Bingham's Fort, in Tuscarora Township, Juniata County; Mc- Kee's Fort, on the east shore of the Susquehanna, in the southern part of Northumberland County; Ralston's Fort, in the Irish Settlement in Northampton County, about five miles northwest of Bethlehem; Read's Block House, the stockaded residence of Adam Read, on Swatara Creek, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County; Robinson's or Robeson's Fort, a stockaded mill, in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County; Robinson's Fort, or Block House, in Sherman's Valley, Perry County; Dietrich Snyder's Stockade, erected around his residence, in Berks County, on the road leading from the vicinity of Fort Northkill, near Strausstown, over the Blue Mountains to Pottsville, Schuyl- kill County; Benjamin Spycker's (Spiker) Stockade, around his residence in Jackson Township, Lebanon County, not far from the Berks County line and not far from Stouchsburg, Berks County, at which fortified house the German farmers, under Conrad Weiser, rendezvoused, in the latter part of October, 1755, as described in Chapter VII; Ulrich's Fort, near Annville, Lebanon County, being a mural dungeon or vault built into the

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hillside, with an air hole walled out and closed by a large stone on which was the inscription, "So oft die Dier den Ankel went. An deinen Tod, O Mensch, gedenk" (As oft as this door on its hinge doth swing. To thee, O Man, thought of death may it bring); Wind Gap Fort, near Wind Gap, Northampton County; and Zeller's Block House, near Newmanstown, in the south-eastern part of Lebanon County.

Teedyuscung

We shall meet Teedyuscung again in the course of this history, not as a bloody warrior, but as an advocate of peace between the Eastern Delawares and the Province; but, inasmuch as he was the leader of the incursion of January 1st, just described, we deem it appropriate to give a short sketch, at this point, of his life up to the time of which we are writing. He was the son of the Delaware chief, John Harris, of the Turtle Clan, and was born at Trenton, New Jersey, about 1705. The early part of his life is clouded in obscurity; but, when he was about fifty years of age, he was chosen chief of the Delawares on the Susquehanna, and from that time until his tragic death on April 16th, 1763, he was one of the chief figures in the Indian history of Pennsylvania.

He came under the influence of the Moravian missionaries, and was baptized by them as Brother Gideon. Honest John was also a name applied to him by the Moravians and others. Later he became an apostate, and endeavored to induce the Christian Delawares of Gnadenhuetten to remove to Wyoming, actually succeeding in gaining a party of seventy of the converts, who left Gnadenhuetten, April 24th, 1754, and took up their abode at Wyoming.

In April, 1755, he attended a conference with the Provincial Authorities at Philadelphia, assuring them of his friendship for the English. At that time, he was living at Wyoming. His friendship for the English and Pennsylvania did not continue long after the conference of April, 1755. When the Delawares and Shawnees took up arms against Pennsylvania following Brad- dock's defeat, Teedyuscung, at Nescopeck with Shingas and other leaders of the hostile Indians, planned many a bloody ex- pedition against the frontiers of Eastern Pennsylvania.

In March, 1756, he and the Delawares under him left the town of Wyoming and removed to Tioga (now Athens, Bradford County), followed at about the same time by the Shawnees from

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their town where Plymouth, Luzerne County, now stands, under the leadership of Paxinosa. After the death of Shikellamy, in 1748, some of the Shamokin Delawares had settled at Tioga, and upon Teedyuscung's removal to that place, they and the Dela- wares of the Munsee Clan chose him "King of the Delawares." He was at that time busily engaged in forming an alliance be- tween the three clans of Delawares and the Shawnees, Nanticokes, and Mohicans of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Massacre Near Schupp's Mill

On January 15th, some refugees at Bethlehem went out into the country to look after their farms and cattle, among them being Christian Boemper. The party and some friendly Indians who escorted them, were ambushed by hostile Delawares near Schupps Mill, and all were killed except one named Adam Hold, who was so severely wounded that it was necessary later to amputate his arm. Those killed were Christian Boemper, Felty Hold, Michael Hold, Laurence Knuckel, and four privates of Captain Trump's Company then stationed at Fort Hamilton (Stroudsburg).

At about the same time, a German, named Muhlhisen while breaking flax on the farm of Philip Bossert, in Lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County, was fatally wounded by an unseen Indian. One of Bossert's sons, hearing the report of the Indian's rifle, ran out of the house and was killed. Then old Philip Bos- sert, the owner of the farm, appeared on the scene, wounded one of the Indians, and was himself wounded badly. Neighbors then arrived upon the scene, and the Indians retreated. ("Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 200-201.)

Massacres in Juniata and Perry Counties

On January 27th, a band of Delawares from the Susquehanna, attacked the home of Hugh Mitchelltree, near Thompsontown, Juniata County, killing Mrs. Mitchelltree and a young man, named Edward Nicholas, Mr. Mitchelltree being then absent at Carlisle. The same band then went up the Juniata River. William Wilcox at that time lived on the opposite side of the river, whose wife and eldest son had come over the river on some business. The Indians came while they were there and killed old Edward Nicholas and his wife and took Joseph Nicholas, Thomas Nicholas, Catherine Nicholas, John Wilcox and Mrs. James Arm-

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strong and two children prisoners. An Indian named James Cotties and an Indian boy went to Sherman's Creek, Perry County, and killed William Sheridan and his family, 13 in num- ber. They then went down the creek to where three old persons lived, two men and a woman by the name of French whom they killed. Cotties afterward boasted that the boy took more scalps than the whole party.

The above is the account of this massacre, found in Loudon's "Indian Narratives." In Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 566, is found the following letter of Governor Morris, dated February 3d, relative to this massacre:

"I have just received the melancholy intelligence from Cum- berland County that a fresh party of Indians are again fallen upon ye settlements, on Juniata, and have carry'd off several of ye people there to ye number of 15 or upwards."

Also, on page 568 of the same volume of the Pennsylvania Archives, is found the letter of Rev. Thomas Barton, dated February 6th, referring to this massacre, as follows:

"Within three miles of Patterson's Fort was found Adam Nicholson and his wife, dead and scalped; his two sons and a Daughter are carried off, Hugh Mitchelltree and a son of said Nicholson, dead and scalped, with many children, in all about 17. The same Day, one Sherridan, a Quaker, his wife, three children and a Servant were kill'd and scalped, together with one, Wm. Hamilton and his Wife, his Daughter and one, French, within ten miles of Carlisle, a little beyond Stephen's Gap.

"It is dismal. Sir, to see the Distress of the People; women and Children screaming and lamenting, men's hearts failing them for Fear under all the Anguish of Despair. The Inhabitants over the Hills are entirely fleeing, so that in two or three Days the North Mountain will be the Frontier. Industry droops, and all Sorts of Work seem at an End. In short. Sir, it appears as if this Part of the Country breath'd its last. I remember you dreaded this blow would be struck in February; and now we know that our Danger hastens with the Encrease of the Moon, and we expect nothing but Death and Ruin every night."

Mrs. James Armstrong later escaped, and waded across the Susquehanna to Fort Augusta, June 26th, 1757, where her husband was then a soldier. On April 12th, 1759, the Iroquois delivered up one of the children, Elizabeth Armstrong, at Canajoharie, New York. She had been given to them by the Delawares, and was then only four years old.

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Loudon relates of the Indian, James Cotties, that in the autumn of 1757, he went to Fort Hunter, and killed a young man, named William Martin, while gathering chestnuts; also, that after the French and Indian War, he came to Fort Hunter and boasted what a good friend he had been to the white people dur- ing the war, whereupon a friendly Delaware, named Hambus, accused him of having killed young Martin, and the two Indians began to fight. A little later in the day, Cotties got drunk and fell asleep near the fort, whereupon Hambus slipped up and killed him with his tomahawk.

During the incursion of January 27th, occurred the murder of the Woolcomber family, Quakers, on Sherman's Creek, Perry County, thus described in Loudon's "Indian Narratives," as if it took place in the latter part of 1755:

"The next I remember of was in 1755, the Woolcombers family on Shearman's Creek; the whole of the inhabitants of the valley was gathered at Robinson's, but Woolcomber would not leave home, he said it was the Irish [Scotch-Irish] who were killing one another; these peaceable people, the Indians would not hurt any person. Being at home and at dinner, the Indians came in, and the Quaker asked them to come and eat dinner; an Indian an- nounced that he did not come to eat, but for scalps; the son, a boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age when he heard the Indian say so, repaired to a back door, and as he went out he looked back, and saw the Indian strike the tomahawk into his father's head. The boy then ran over the creek, which was near the house, and heard the screams of his mother, sisters and brother. The boy came to our Fort [Robinson] and gave us the alarm; about forty went to where the murder was done and buried the dead."

A few days after the massacre of January 27th, some Indians, probably members of this same band, had a skirmish with thirteen soldiers from Croghan's Fort, at Aughwick, within a short distance of the fort. One of the soldiers was wounded, and two of the Indians were killed, on this occasion. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 571.)

Two months later, or on March 29th, 1756, the Indians again came to the neighborhood where the murders of January 27th were committed. They attacked Patterson's Fort, and, accord- ing to a letter written by Captain Patterson to his wife, they carried ofT Hugh Mitchelltree, about five o'clock in the evening, while foddering his cattle within sight of the fort. Evidently, then, Rev. Thomas Barton was mistaken in his letter, quoted

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above, in saying that Hugh Mitchelltree was killed in the massa- cre of January 27th. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 613.)

On March 24th, Captain William Patterson with a scouting party had an encounter with a party of Delawares on Middle Creek, in what is now Snyder County, killing and scalping one and routing the rest. On his return to his fort, he reported that the country from the forks of the Susquehanna (Sunbury) to the Juniata was "swarming with Indians, looking for scalps and plunder, and burning all the houses and destroying all the grain which the fugitive settlers had left in the region." ("Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 594-595.)

Patterson's Fort near which some of the murders of January 27th, were committed, was the fortified residence of Captain James Patterson, situated where the town of Mexico, Juniata County, now stands. The residence was fortified before the close of 1755. Captain James Patterson was the father of Captain William Patterson. The son lived opposite Mexico, and had a fortified residence, also called Fort Patterson, but it seems that the son's fort was not erected until the time of Pontiac's War.

There has been much confusion as to these two forts. By in- structions given by Benjamin Franklin to George Croghan, on December 17th, 1755, the latter was to "fix on proper places for erecting three stockades, one back of Patterson's." This stockade "back of Patterson's" was to be called Pomfret Castle, and was to be erected on Mahantango Creek, near Richfield, Juniata County, but within the limits of Snyder County. Many his- torians doubt whether Pomfret Castle was ever erected. Gov- ernor Morris wrote on January 29th, 1756, saying it was erected. Then, hearing of the massacre of January 27th, he wrote to Captain Burd, on February 3d, reprimanding him and Captain Patterson for being remiss in not having erected the fort that was "order'd to be built at Matchitongo." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 556 and 566.)

Capture of John and Richard Coxe and John Craig

On February 11th, 1756, occurred the capture of John Coxe, his brother Richard, and John Craig, thus described in the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania":

"At a council, held at Philadelphia, Tuesday, September 6th, 1756, the statement of John Coxe, a son of the widow Coxe, was made, the substance of which is: He, his brother Richard, and

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John Craig were taken in the beginning of February of that year by nine Delaware Indians from a plantation two miles from Mc- Dowell's mill, [Franklin County], which was between the east and west branches of the Conococheague Creek, about 20 miles west of the present site of Shippensburg, in what is now Cumberland County, and brought to Kittanning on the Ohio. On his way hither he met Shingas with a party of 30 men, and afterward Capt. Jacobs and 15 men, whose design was to destroy the settle- ments on Conococheague. When he arrived at Kittanning, he saw here about 100 fighting men of the Delaware tribe, with their families, and about 50 English prisoners, consisting of men, women and children. During his stay here, Shingas' and Jacobs' parties returned, the one with nine scalps and ten prisoners, the other with several scalps and five prisoners. Another company of 18 came from Diahogo with 17 scalps on a pole, which they took to Fort Duquesne to obtain their reward. The warriors held a council, which, with their war dances, continued a week, when Capt. Jacobs left with 48 men, intending as Coxe was told, to fall upon the inhabitants at Paxtang. He heard the Indians fre- quently say that they intended to kill all the white folks, except a few, with whom they would afterwards make peace. They made an example of Paul Broadley, who, with their usual cruelty, they beat for half an hour with clubs and tomahawks, and then, having fastened him to a post, cropped his ears close to his head, and chopped off his fingers, calling all the prisoners to witness the horrible scene."

Additional details of the incursion which the Coxe boys and John Craig were captured are given in Egle's "History of Penn- sylvania," as follows:

"In February, 1756, a party of Indians made marauding in- cursions into Peters Township. They were discovered on Sunday evening, by one Alexander, near the house of Thomas Barr. He was pursued by the savages, but escaped and alarmed the fort at McDowell's mill. Early on Monday morning a party of fourteen men of Captain Croghan's company, who were at the mill, and about twelve other young men, set off to watch the motion of the Indians. Near Barr's house they fell in with fifty, and sent back for a reinforcement from the fort. The young lads proceeded by a circuit to take the enemy in the rear, whilst the soldiers did attack them in front. But the impetuosity of the soldiers defeated their plan. Scarce had they got within gunshot, they fired upon the Indians, who were standing around the fire, and killed several

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of them at the first discharge. The Indians returned fire, killed one of the soldiers, and compelled the rest to retreat. The party of young men, hearing the report of firearms, hastened up, finding the Indians on the ground which the soldiers had occupied, fired upon the Indians with effect; but concluding the soldiers had fled, or were slain, they also retreated. One of their number, Barr's son, was wounded, would have fallen by the tomahawk of an Indian, had not the savage been killed by a shot from Armstrong, who saw him running upon the lad. Soon after soldiers and young men being joined by a reinforcement from the mill, again sought the enemy, who, eluding the pursuit, crossed the creek near William Clark's, and attempted to surprise the fort; but their design was discovered by two Dutch lads, coming from foddering their master's cattle. One of the lads was killed, but the other reached the fort, which was immediately surrounded by the In- dians, who, from a thicket, fired many shots at the men in the garrison, who appeared above the wall, and returned the fire as often as they obtained sight of the enemy. At this time, two men crossing to the mill, fell into the middle of the assailants, but made their escape to the fort, though fired at three times. The party at Barr's house now came up, and drove the Indians through the thicket. In their retreat they met five men from Mr. Hoop's, riding to the mill; they killed one of these and wounded another severely. The sergeant at the fort having lost two of his men, declined to follow the enemy until his commander, Mr. Crawford, who was at Hoop's, should return, and the snow falling thick, the Indians had time to burn Mr. Barr's house, and in it consumed their dead. On the morning of the 2nd of March, Mr. Crawford, with fifty men, went in quest of the enemy, but was unsuccessful in his search."

John Coxe further said in his statement, which is found in Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 7, pages 242 and 243, that in March following his capture, he was taken by three Indians to Tioga, where he found about fifty warriors of the Delawares and Mohicans, and about twenty German captives; that, while he was there, the Indians frequently went out in parties of twelve to murder the settlers and as often returned with scalps but no prisoners; that, on the 9th of August, he left Tioga with his Indian master, Makomsey, and came down the Susquehanna to the Indian town of Gnahay, whose location is unknown, to get some corn; and that he here made his escape, on August 14th, and arrived at Fort Augusta (Sunbury) that evening.

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The following letter, written by Captain William Trent, at Carlisle, on Sunday evening, February 15th, 1756, and sent to Richard Peters, fixes the date of the capture of the Coxe boys and John Craig, and shows how Shingas and Captain Jacobs were keeping the settlers in a state of terror :

"Wednesday evening two lads were taken or killed at the Widow Cox's, just under Parnell's Knob, and a lad who went from McDowell's Mill to see what fire it was never returned, the horse coming back with the Reins over his Neck; they burnt the House and shot down the Cattle. Just now came News that a Party of Indian Warriors were come out against the Inhabitants from some of the Susquehanna Towns, and yesterday some people who were over in Sherman's Valley, discovered fresh Tracks; all the People have left their Houses betwixt this and the Mountain, some coming to town [Carlisle] and others gathering into little Forts; they are moving their Effects from Shippensburg, every one thinks of flying; unless the Government fall upon some Method, and that immediately, of securing the Frontiers, there will not be one Inhabitant in this Valley one Month longer." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 575.)

Murder of Frederick Reichelsdorfer's Daughters

"The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" contains the following account of one of the saddest tragedies of the terrible winter of which we are writing, the date of the atrocity being February 14th, 1756:

"The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., in the Hall- ische Nachrichten, tells the soul-stirring story of Frederick Reich- elsdorfer, whose two grown daughters had attended a course of instruction, under him, in the Catechism, and been solemnly ad- mitted by confirmation to the communion of the Ev. Lutheran Church, in New Hanover, Montgomery County.

"This man afterwards went with his family some distance into the interior, to a tract of land which he had purchased in Albany Township, Berks County. When the war with the Indians broke out, he removed his family to his former residence, and occasion- ally returned to his farm, to attend to his grain and cattle. On one occasion he went, accompanied by his two daughters, to spend a few days there, and bring away some wheat. On Friday evening, after the wagon had been loaded, and everything was ready for their return on the morrow, his daughters complained

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that they felt anxious and dejected, and were impressed with the idea that they were soon to die. They requested their father to unite with them in singing the famiHar German funeral hymn, 'Wer weiss wie nahe meine Ende. ' [Who knows how near my end may be. ] after which they commended themselves to God in prayer, and retired to rest.

"The light of the succeeding morn beamed upon them, and all was yet well. Whilst the daughters were attending to the dairy, cheered with the joyful hope of soon greeting their friends, and being out of danger, the father went to the field for the horses, to prepare for their departure home. As he was passing through the field, he suddenly saw two Indians, armed with rifles, tomahawks and scalping knives, making towards him at full speed. The sight so terrified him that he lost all self command, and stood motion- less and silent. When they were about twenty yards from him, he suddenly and with all his strength, exclaimed 'Lord Jesus, living and dying, I am thine!' Scarcely had the Indians heard the words 'Lord Jesus' (which they probably knew as the white man's name of the Great Spirit), when they stopped short, and uttered a hideous yell.

"The man ran with almost supernatural strength into the dense forest, and by taking a serpentine course, the Indians lost sight of him, and relinquished the pursuit. He hastened to an adjoining farm, where two German families resided, for assistance, but on approaching near it, he heard the dying groans of the families, who were falling beneath the murderous tomahawks of some other Indians.

[One of these families was the family of Jacob Gerhart. One man, two women and six children were murdered. Two children hid under the bed, one of which was burned to death, and the other escaped and ran a mile for help. ("Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania," Vol. 1, pages 152 and 153.) ]

"Having providentially not been observed by them, he has- tened back to learn the fate of his daughters. But, alas! on ar- riving within sight, he found his home and barn enveloped with flames. Finding that the Indians had possession here too, he hastened to another adjoining farm for help. Returning, armed with several men, he found the house reduced to ashes and the Indians gone. His eldest daughter had been almost entirely burnt up, a few remains only of her body being found. And, awful to relate, the younger daughter though the scalp had been cut from

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her head, and her body horribly mangled from head to foot with the tomahawk, was yet living. 'The poor worm,' says Muhlen- berg, 'was able to state all the circumstances of the dreadful scene.' After having done so she requested her father to stoop down to her that she might give him a parting kiss, and then go to her dear Saviour; and after she had impressed her dying lips upon his cheek, she yielded her spirit into the hands of that Redeemer, who, though His judgments are often unsearchable, and His ways past finding out, has nevertheless said, ' I am the resurrection and the life; if any man believe in me, though he die yet shall he live.' "

Attack on Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt

On March 7th, Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt, settlers in the Wiconisco, or Lykens Valley in Dauphin County, went out early in the morning to feed their cattle when they were fired upon by Indians. Hastening into the house, they prepared to defend themselves. The Indians concealed themselves behind a pig-pen some distance from the dwelling. Lycans' son, John, John Re- walt, and Ludwig Shutt, a neighbor, upon creeping out of the house, in an effort to discover the whereabouts of the Indians, were fired upon and each one wounded, Shutt very dangerously. At this point Andrew Lycans discovered an Indian named Joshua James and two white men running away from their hiding place near the pig-pen. The elder Lycans then fired, killing the Indian ; and he and his party then sought safety in flight, but were closely pursued by at least twenty of the Indians. John Lycans and John Rewalt, although badly wounded, made their escape with the aid of a negro servant, leaving Andrew Lycans, Ludwig Shutt, and a boy to engage the Indians. The Indians then rushed upon these and, as one of their number, named Bill Davis, was in the act of striking the boy with his tomahawk, he was shot dead by Shutt, while Andrew Lycans killed another and wounded a third. Andrew Lycans also recognized two others of the band, namely, Tom Hickman and Tom Hays, members of the Delaware tribe. The Indians then momentarily ceased their pursuit, and Lycans, Shutt, and the boy, weak from the loss of blood, sat down on a log to rest, believing that they were no longer in imminent danger. Later, Lycans managed to lead his party to a place of conceal- ment and then over the mountain into Hanover Township, where they were given assistance by settlers. Andrew Lycans, however,

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died from his wounds and terrible exposure. His name has been given to the charming valley of the Wiconisco. (Penna. Gazette, March 18th, 1756.)

Attack on Zeislof and Kluck Families

On March 24th, some settlers with ten wagons went to Albany, Berks County, for the purpose of bringing a family with their effects to a point near Reading. As they were returning, they were fired upon by a number of Indians on both sides of the road. The wagoners, leaving the wagons, ran into the woods, and the horses, frightened at the terrible yelling of the Indians, ran off. The Indians on this occasion, killed George Zeislof and his wife, a boy aged twenty, another aged twelve, and a girl aged fourteen. Another girl of the party was shot through the neck and mouth, and scalped, but made her escape.

On the same day the Indians burned the home of Peter Kluck, about fourteen miles from Reading, and killed the entire family. While the Kluck home was burning, the Indians assaulted the house of a settler named Lindenman nearby, in which there were two men and a woman, all of whom ran upstairs, where the woman was killed by a bullet which penetrated the roof. The men then ran out of the house. Lindenman was shot through the neck. In spite of his wound, Lindenman succeeded in shooting one of the Indians.

At about the same time a boy named John Schoep, who lived in this neighborhood, was captured and taken seven miles beyond the Blue Mountains where, according to the statement of Schoep, the Indians kindled a fire, tied him to a tree, took off his shoes, and put moccasins on his feet. They then prepared themselves some mush, but gave him none. After supper they took young Schoep and another boy between them, and proceeded over the second mountain. During the second night of his captivity, when the Indians were asleep, young Schoep made his escape, and re- turned home.

During the raid in which the above outrages occurred, the In- dians killed the wife of Baltser Neytong, and captured his son aged eight. And in November, the Indians entered this region, and carried off the wife and three children of Adam Burns, the youngest child being only four weeks old. They also killed a man named Stonebrook, and captured a girl in this raid. ("Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 153 to 155.)

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Shingas Burns McCord's Fort

On April 1st, 1756, Shingas attacked and burned Fort McCord, a private fort, erected in the autumn of 1755, and located several miles north-east of Fort Loudon, Franklin County, and not far from the Yankee Gap in the Kittatinny Mountains, west of Chambersburg. All the inmates of the fort, twenty-seven in number, were either killed or captured. After the destruction of the fort, Shingas' band was pursued by three bodies of settlers and soldiers. One body, commanded by Captain Alexander Culbertson, overtook the Indians on Sideling Hill. Here a fierce battle was fought for two hours, but Shingas being reinforced, the white men were defeated with great loss, twenty-one killed and seventeen wounded.

Among the killed were: Captain Alexander Culbertson, John Reynolds, William Kerr, James Blair, John Leason, William Denny, Francis Scott, William Boyd, Jacob Painter, Jacob Jones, Robert Kerr and William Chambers. Among the wounded were Francis Campbell, Abraham Jones, William Reynolds, John Barnet, Benjamin Blyth, John McDonald and Isaac Miller. The Indians, according to the statement of one of their number who was captured, lost seventeen killed and twenty-one wounded in this engagement.

Another body, commanded by Ensign Jamison, from Fort Granville, went in pursuit of the same band of Indians, and was also defeated. Among the killed were: Daniel McCoy, James Robinson, James Pierce, John Blair, Henry Jones, John McCarty and John Kelly. Among the wounded were: Ensign Jamison, James Robinson (There were two James Robinsons in Ensign Jamison's party), William Hunter, Matthias Ganshorn, William Swails and James Louder, the last of whom later died of his wounds.

Captain Hance Hamilton, in a letter written to Captain Potter, dated Fort Lyttleton, April 4th, and recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 77, says the following concerning the terrible events of which we are writing:

"These come to inform you of the melancholy news of what occurred between the Indians, that have taken many captives from McCord's Fort and a party of men under the command of Captain Alexander Culbertson and nineteen of our men, the whole amounting to about fifty, with the captives, and had a sore en- gagement, many of both parties killed and many wounded, the

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number unknown. Those wounded want a surgeon, and those killed require your assistance as soon as possible, to bury them. We have sent an express to Fort Shirley for Doctor Mercer, sup- posing Doctor Jamison is killed or mortally wounded in the ex- pedition. He being not returned, therefore, desire you will send an express, immediately, for Doctor Prentice to Carlisle; we imagining Doctor Mercer cannot leave the fort under the cir- cumstances the fort is under. Our Indian, Isaac, has brought in Captain Jacobs' scalp."

The scalp brought in by the friendly Indian, Isaac, was not that of Captain Jacobs. This chief was not killed until the destruction of Kittanning, by Colonel John Armstrong and his Scotch-Irish troops from the Cumberland Valley, September 8th, 1756.

Likewise, Robert Robinson thus describes the attack on Mc- Cord's Fort and the pursuit of the savages:

"In the year 1756 a party of Indians came out of the Conoco- cheague to a garrison named McCord's Fort, where they killed some and took a number prisoners. They then took their course near to Fort Lyttleton. Captain Hamilton being stationed there with a company, hearing of their route at McCord's Fort, marched with his company of men, having an Indian with him who was under pay. The Indians had McCord's wife with them; they cut off Mr. James Blair's head and threw it into Mrs. McCord's lap, saying that it was her husband's head; but she knew it to be Blair's."

Mrs. McCord was taken to Kittanning, where she was rescued when Colonel John Armstrong's forces destroyed this noted stronghold of the Delawares.

The terrible disaster of Fort McCord and vicinity caused the greatest consternation among the harried settlers of the Cumber- land Valley. Block houses and farms were abandoned, and refugees came streaming into Carlisle.

A monument now marks the site of Fort McCord, having there- on a list of the killed and wounded — members of the leading pioneer families of the present counties of Cumberland, Frank- lin and Fulton.

Conclusion

This chapter brings us up to the time of Pennsylvania's decla- ration of war against the Delawares and Shawnees. It is a story of outrage, devastation and murder. But many of the horrors

MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 275

on the Pennsylvania frontier during the early part of 1756 will remain forever unrecorded. The statement of the French that, from Braddock's defeat until the middle of March, 1756, more than seven hundred people in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina were killed and captured by the Delawares and Shaw- nees, gives one an idea of the appalling tragedies in the cabin homes of the pioneers.

CHAPTER XI

Carlisle Council — War Declared

ON January 13th to January 17th, 1756, an important In- dian council was held at Carlisle between Governor Morris, James Hamilton, Richard Peters, William Logan, Joseph Fox, Conrad Weiser and George Croghan, on the one hand, and the following Indians, on the other hand: The Belt of Wampum, Aroas (Silver Heels), Jagrea (Zigera, Sata Karoyis), Canachquasy (Kos Showweyha, Captain New Castle), Seneca George, Isaac, and several chiefs of the Conestogas. The council had particular reference to affairs on the Ohio.

George Croghan reported, at this council, that, in the latter part of 1755, at the request of Governor Morris, he had sent Delaware Jo, a friendly Indian, to the Ohio to gain what informa- tion he could about the attitude and actions of the Delawares and Shawnees of that place. Delaware Jo returned to Croghan's fortified trading house, often called Croghan's Fort, at Aughwick, now Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County, on January 8th, 1756. On his journey to the Ohio, he visited Kittanning and Logstown. He reported that, at Kittanning, then the residence of Shingas and Captain Jacobs, he found one hundred and forty warriors, mostly Delawares and Shawnees, and about one hundred English prisoners, captured on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania; that, at Kittanning, he met the Delaware chief, King Beaver, or Tamaque, a brother of Shingas and Pisquetomen, and that King Beaver told him that the French had often offered the Delawares and Shawnees the "French Hatchet," but they had refused it until April or May, 1755, when some Iroquois, Adirondack and Caughnawage warriors, stopping at Fort Duquesne, on their way to attack the Catawbas and Cherokees, were prevailed upon by the French to offer the "French Hatchet" to the Delawares and Shawnees, who then and there accepted the hatchet, and went with the other Indians into Virginia. King Beaver further told Delaware Jo that neither he nor the other chiefs of the Dela- wares and Shawnees approved the action of the members of their

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tribes who had accepted the "French Hatchet," that they were sorry for this action, and wished to "make Matters up with the EngUsh."

At Logstown, Delaware Jo found about one hundred Indians and thirty EngUsh prisoners. These prisoners had been captured on the frontiers of Virginia. The French had tried to buy the prisoners, but the Indians refused to sell them until they should hear from the Six Nations. Delaware Jo further reported that there were some warriors of the Six Nations living with the Dela- wares and Shawnees on the Allegheny and Ohio, and that they often went with them in their incursions into the settlements. When at Logstown, this friendly Delaware intended to go to Fort Duquesne to see what the French were doing, but found he could not cross the river for the driving of the ice. He was in- formed, however, that the number of the French did not exceed four hundred. From Logstown, he returned to Kittanning, and there learned that ten Delawares had recently left for the Sus- quehanna, "as he supposed to persuade those Indians to strike the English, who might perhaps be concerned in the Mischief lately done in the County of Northampton" — atrocities described in Chapter X. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 781, 782.)

James Hamilton reported, at this council, that, in November, 1755, he had sent Aroas, or Silver Heels, to the Indian towns on the Susquehanna to gain information, whereupon Aroas was called in and gave the following account of his journey:

"That he found no Indians at Shamokin, and therefore pro- ceeded higher up Sasquehanna, as far as to Nescopecka, where he saw one hundred and forty Indians, all Warriors; that they were dancing the war dance; expressed great bitterness against the English, and were preparing for an expedition against them, and he thought would go to the Eastward. He did not stay with them, finding them in this disposition, but went to the House of an uncle of his, at a little distance from Nescopecka, between that and Wyoming, who told him the Delawares and Shawnees on the Ohio were persuaded by the French to strike the English, and had put the Hatchet into the Hands of the Susquehannah Indians, a great many of whom had taken it greedily, and there was no persuading them to the Contrary, and that they would do abundance of mischief to the People of Pennsylvania, against whom they were preparing to go to War." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 783.)

The Belt of Wampum, at this council, made a long speech in

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which he reviewed the events that had taken place on the Ohio and Allegheny from the time the French had first occupied this region until the Delawares and Shawnees took up arms against Pennsylvania. Being the official keeper of the wampum belts, this chief was well qualified to review these events. Among other things, he said that, after Tanacharison had delivered his third notice to the French to withdraw from the valleys of the Al- legheny and Ohio, it was learned that "the French had prevailed upon the Shawonese, who were a Nation in alliance with the Six Nations, and living by their Sufferance upon a part of their Country, and upon the Delawares, who were a tribe conquered by and entirely dependent upon them, to enter into a separate and private Treaty with them, by which they, the Shawonese and Delawares, had agreed not only to permit the French to take Possession of the Country upon the Ohio, as far as they would, but to assist them against the English, if their Aid should be found necessary in the Contest, which the taking Possession of that Country should occasion. That, in consequence of this secret Treaty, and upon the Persuasions of the French, who have acquired a considerable Influence over these Two Tribes, they had fallen upon the English and done the mischief already com- plained of without any just Reason or Cause." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 3 and 4.)

There are several significant things in the above statement of the Belt of Wampum. One is that the Delawares and Shawnees were endeavoring to break away from the overlordship of the Six Nations, their conquerors, and to make treaties for themselves. Another is, as Dr. George P. Donehoo points out in his "Penn- sylvania— A History," that "the attempts of the Quaker element in the Assembly to justify the action of these hostile tribes, from the standpoint of the Six Nations, was without any real founda- tion." This is evident from the great historical fact that those Iroquois on the Ohio and Allegheny who went with the Shawnees and Delawares on their incursions into the settlements were not genuine members of the great Iroquois or Six Nation Confedera- tion, but a mixture of Iroquoian stock on the outskirts of the habitat of the Senecas. In other words, these Indians who joined the Delawares and Shawnees, were a mongrel population of the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, known as the Mingoes; they were not true representatives of the Confederation of the Six Nations, and were beyond the jurisdiction of the historic Con- federation.

CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 279

George Croghan said, at this Carlisle council, that he believed the Delawares and Shawnees were acting in their hostile manner with the approval of the Six Nations; but he should have con- sidered that the Mingoes were a rabble element beyond the jurisdiction of the Six Nations, and that the true representatives of the great Iroquois Confederation on the Ohio, such as Tanacha- rison, Scarouady, The Belt of Wampum, Captain New Castle and Seneca George, never wavered in their friendship for the English and always disapproved of the hostile actions of the Mingoes. They even succeeded in keeping many of the Dela- wares and Shawnees friendly to the English.

Scarouady Returns From His Mission to the Six Nations

We shall now learn from Scarouady the real attitude of the Six Nations. As stated in Chapter IX, Governor Morris, in the middle of November, 1755, sent Scarouady and Andrew Montour on a mission to the Six Nations — a mission in which they were instructed to give the real authorities of the Six Nations a com- plete account of the bloody invasion of the Delawares and Shaw- nees and to ascertain whether or not this invasion was made with the knowledge, consent or order of the Six Nations, also to ascertain whether the Six Nations would chastise the Delawares and Shawnees for their hostile action.

Scarouady and Montour returned to Philadelphia from this mission on March 21, 1756, and on the 27th of that month, they appeared before the Provincial Council, and made a report of their journey. They had gone by way of Tulpehocken and Thomas McKee's trading post to Shamokin; and from there through Laugpaughpitton's Town and Nescopeck to Wyoming (Plymouth, Luzerne County). At Wyoming they found a large number of Delawares, some Shawnees, Mohicans, and members of the Six Nations. They next came to Asserughney, a Delaware Town, twelve miles above Wyoming, near the junction of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna. Their next stop was at Chink- annig (Tunkhannock), twenty miles farther up the Susquehanna, where they found the great Delaware chief, Teeduscung, with some Delawares and Nanticokes. Their next stop was at Diahogo (Tioga), a town composed of Mohicans and Delawares of the Munsee Clan, located where Athens, Bradford County, now stands, at which place they found ninety warriors. About twenty- five miles beyond, they came to the deserted town of Owegy.

280 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Leaving this place they arrived at Chugnut, about twenty miles distant. About five miles above Chugnut, was the town of Otseningo, where they found thirty cabins and about sixty war- riors of the Nanticokes, Conoys, and Onondagas. Fourteen miles beyond this place they came to Oneoquagque, where they sent a message to the Governor of Pennsylvania, written by Rev. Gideon Hawley. From there they proceeded to Teyonnoderre and Teyoneandakt, and next to Caniyeke, the Lower Mohawk Town, located about two miles from Fort Johnson, and about forty miles from Albany, New York. At Fort Johnson, they held a conference in February, 1756, with Sir William Johnson and the chiefs of the Six Nations, who expressed great resentment over the action of the hostile Delawares.

This was a very dangerous journey for Scarouady and Mon- tour. While they were at Wyoming, their lives were threatened by a party of eighty Delaware warriors, who came soon after their arrival. While Scarouady was consulting with the oldest chief in the evening, the rest cried out of doors: "Let us kill the rogue; we will hear of no mediator, much less of a master; hold your ton- gue, and be gone, or you shall live no longer. We will do what we please." Said Scarouady: "All the way from Wyoming to Diahogo, a day never passed without meeting some warriors, six, eight, or ten in a party ; and twenty under command at Cut Finger Pete, going after the eighty warriors which we saw at Wyoming. . . . All the way we met parties of Delawares going to join the eighty warriors there."

Scarouady reported that, at Wyoming he and Montour found John Shikellamy, son of the great vice-gerent of the Six Nations, with the hostile Delawares. They took him aside, and upbraided him severely for his ingratitude to Pennsylvania, "which had ever been extremely kind to his father when alive." Then John Shikellamy explained that he was with the enemies of the Colony, because he could not help it, as they had threatened to kill him if he did not join them.

Scarouady again appeared before the Provincial Council on April 3d and gave additional details of his journey. Said he: "You desired us in your instructions to inquire the particular rea- sons assigned by the Delawares and Shawnees for their acting in the manner they do against this Province. I have done it and all I could get from the Indians is that they heard them say their brethren, the English, had accused them very falsely of joining with the French after Colonel Washington's defeat, and if they

CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 281

would charge them when they were innocent, they could do no more if they were guilty; this turned them against their brethren and now indeed the English have good reason for any charge they may make against them, for they are heartily their enemies."

As to the attitude of the Six Nations, Scarouady reported: "The Six Nations in their reply expressed great resentment of the Delawares; they threatened to shake them by the head, saying they were drunk and out of their senses and would not consider the consequences of their ill behavior and assured them that, if they did not perform what they had promised they should be severely chastized." At this meeting of the Provincial Council and at others held early in April, Scarouady expressed himself as favoring a declaration of war by Pennsylvania against the Dela- wares, and ventured the opinion that the Six Nations would approve of such action. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 64 to 72.)

Pennsylvania Declares War Against Delawares and Shawnees, and Offers Rewards for Scalps

Not only Scarouady, but many other prominent men, including James Hamilton, strongly urged that Pennsylvania should de- clare war against the Delawares and Shawnees, and offer bounties for their scalps. As a result of the foregoing conferences with Scarouady, Governor Morris, on April 8th, 1756, delivered an address to this great sachem and Andrew Montour, which had been approved by the Provincial Council, in which he said:

"I therefore, by this Belt, declare War against the Delawares and all such as act in conjunction with them. I offer you the Hatchet, and expect your hearty Concurrence with us in this just and Necessary War. I not only invite you, but desire you will send this Belt to all your Friends everywhere, as well on the Susquehannah, as to the Six Nations and to their Allies, and engage them to join us heartily against these false and perfidous Enemies. I promise you and them Protection and Assistance, when you shall stand in need of it against your Enemies.

"For the Encouragement of you, and all who will join you in the Destruction of our Enemies, I propose to give the following Bounties or Rewards, Vist: for every Male Indian Prisoner above Twelve Years Old that shall be delivered at any of the Government's Forts, or Towns, One Hundred and Fifty Dollars.

"For every Female Prisoner, or Male Prisoner of Twelve years old, one hundred and thirty Dollars.

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"For the Scalp of every male Indian of above Twelve Years old, one hundred and thirty dollars.

"For the scalp of every Indian Woman, Fifty Dollars.

"To our own People, I shall observe our own forms; to you I give the Hatchet according to yours.

"Agreeable to your repeated Request, I am now going to Build a Fort at Shamokin. Forces are raising for that Purpose, and everything will soon be in Readiness." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 75 and 76.)

Having used the Indian forms in declaring war, the Governor now made good his promise to Scarouady to "observe our own forms to our own people." The formal declaration of war and the bounty offered for prisoners and scalps was signed by the Commissioners, James Hamilton, Joseph Fox, Evan Morgan, John Mififlin and John Hughes. Then, against the protests of Samuel Powell and others, on behalf of the Quakers, the procla- mation of war against the Delawares and Shawnees, was "pub- lished at the Court House, on April 14th, in the presence of the Provincial Council, Supreme Judges, Magistrates, Officers and a large Concourse of People." The language of that part of the formal declaration, relating to the bounties ofTered for Indian scalps, is as follows:

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

CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 283

tive premiums and bounties." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 88 and 89.)

The Scalp Act had the effect of causing hundreds of brave warriors of the Delawares and Shawnees who were up to that time undecided, to take up arms against the Colony. "A mighty shout arose which shook the very mountains, and all the Delawares and Shawnees, except a few old sachems, danced the war dance."

James Logan, a prominent Quaker member of the Provincial Council, and former Secretary of the same, opposed the declara- tion of war, though he was a strict advocate of defensive warfare. Conrad Weiser was in favor of the declaration of war, but strongly opposed to offering rewards for sdalps. He said that the Colony might offer rewards for Indian prisoners, but that a bounty for scalps would certainly tend to aggravate existing affairs. He argued that anyone could bring in these scalps, and there was no means of distinguishing the scalps of friendly Indians. "Indeed," says Walton, "this was the core of the whole difficulty. Scalps of friendly Indians were taken, and the peace negotiations with the Eastern Indians frustrated."

Sir William Johnson was displeased with Pennsylvania's declaration of war and offering of bounties for scalps, at a time when a great council was about to be held at Onondaga. The opposition of the Quakers to these measures was due largely to the fact that they believed the Delawares had been unjustly treated by the Province, after the Six Nations came into such prominence in Pennsylvania's relations with the Indians. The Quakers called attention to the fraudulent "Walking Purchase," by which the Delawares had been compelled by the Iroquois to surrender possession of their ancestral possessions, and to the Purchase of July, 1754, by which the Iroquois sold the land of the Delawares and Shawnees "from under their feet." The land sales drove the Delawares from one place to another. Wherever they went, the land on which they erected their wigwams was sold by their Iroquois conquerors without their being consulted or having any say whatever in the matter. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Quakers sympathized with the Delawares, the affectionate friends of the greatest of the Quakers, William Penn, the Founder of the Province.

Great Britain did not declare war against France until May 17th, 1756, an act which was not known in Pennsylvania until about two months later. The declaration was published at Easton, July 30th, and a little later in Philadelphia.

CHAPTER XII

Atrocities in the Summer and Autumn of 1756

THE erection of frontier forts, the organization of military companies, and the scalp bounties did not prevent the Dela- wares and Shawnees from making bloody raids into the settle- ments. Crossing the mountains through the various gaps, the Indians fell upon the settlements along the Conococheague, in Franklin County, along Tuscarora Creek, in Juniata County, also upon various settlements in the counties of Perry, Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Carbon, Berks, Lehigh, North- ampton and Monroe.

The failure of the "Scalp Act" to bring the desired results is seen in a letter sent to Governor Morris, on June 14th, 1756, by the Commissioners, Benjamin Franklin, John Mifflin, Joseph Fox, Evan Morgan and John Hughes, in which they say that they are disappointed in the number of persons volunteering to "go out on the Scalping." They then add:

"We think, however, that the Indians ought to be persued and Hunted ; and as the back Inhabitants begin now to request Guards to protect them in getting in their Harvest, we submit it to the Governor's Consideration whether the best means of affording them the Protection will not be to order out parties from the Forts to range on the West side of Susquehannah, quite to the Ohio and the Neighbourhood of Fort Duquesne, to Annoy the Enemy, take Prisoners, and obtain Intelligence, which may be of great use," etc. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 153.)

The harvest of the summer of 1756 was, according to Joseph Armstrong and Adam Hoops, the most bountiful in the "Memory of Man." Yet, on account of the tomahawk, rifle, scalping knife and torch of the Delawares and Shawnees, the settlers fled from their farms, leaving their abundant crops of grain and corn stand- ing in the fields. Every time an attempt was made to harvest the

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 285

crops, it was necessary to guard the farmers by Provincial troops. Even then, many troops and farmers were killed and captured by the lurking foe.

In June, 1756, a Mr. Dean, who lived about a mile east of Shippensburg, Cumberland County, was found murdered in his cabin, his skull having been cleft with a tomahawk; and it was supposed that the deed was committed by some Indians who had been seen in the neighborhood the day before. On the 6th of this month, a short distance from where Burd's Run crosses the road leading from Shippensburg to Middle Spring Church, a band of Indians killed John McKean and John Agnew, and captured Hugh Black, William Carson, Andrew Brown, James Ellis and Alex McBride. A party of settlers from Shippensburg pursued the Indians through McAllister's Gap into Path Valley. On the morning of the third day of the pursuit, they met all the prisoners except James Ellis, on their way home, after having made their escape. Ellis was never heard from again. The pursuers returned with the men who had escaped. A few days before the murder of Mr. Dean, John Wasson was murdered and his body frightfully mangled, in Peters Township, Franklin County.

On June 8th, a band of Indians crept up on Felix Wuench as he was ploughing on his farm near Swatara Gap, and shot him through the breast. The poor man cried lamentably and started to run, defending himself with a whip; but the Indians overtook him, tomahawked and scalped him. His wife, hearing his cries and the report of the guns, ran out of the house, but was captured with one of her own and two of her sister's children. A servant boy who saw this atrocity ran to a neighbor named George Miess, who, though he had a crippled leg, ran directly after the Indians and made such a noise as to scare them off.

On June 24th, Indians attacked the home of Lawrence Dieppel, in Bethel Township, Berks County, carrying off two of the chil- dren, one of whom they later killed and scalped. (Penna. Gazette, June 17th, 1756; Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 164.)

On June 26, in the same neighborhood in which the above atrocities were committed, a band of Indians surprised and scalped Franz Albert and Jacob Handschue, also two boys, Frederick Weiser and John George Miess, who were plowing in the field of a settler named Fischer. (See "Frontier Forts," Vol. I, page 65.)

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Burning of Bingham's Fort

On June 11th or 12th, 1756, Bingham's Fort, the stockaded home of Samuel Bingham, or Bigham, in Tuscarora Township, Juniata County, was attacked and burned by a band of Indians led by the Delaware chief. King Beaver. All the occupants of the fort were either killed or captured. On the day of the attack, John Gray and Francis Innis were returning from Carlisle, where they had gone for salt. As they were descending the Tuscarora Mountain, in a narrow defile, Gray's horse taking fright at a bear which crossed the road, became unmanageable and threw him off. Innis, anxious to see his wife and family, went on, but Gray was detained for nearly two hours in catching his horse and righting his pack. In the meantime, Innis pressed on rapidly toward the fort. What happened to him, we shall presently see. John Gray's detention saved him from death or capture. He arrived at the fort just in time to see the last of its timbers consumed. With a heart full of anguish, he examined the charred remains of the bodies inside the fort, in an efifort to ascertain whether any were those of his family. It subsequently was found that his wife, Hannah, and his only daughter, Jane, three years of age, were among the captured.

The Pennsylvania Gaze//e, June 24th, 1756, gave the following list of persons killed and captured on this occasion :

"The following is a list of persons killed and missing at Bing- ham's Fort, namely: George Woods, Nathaniel Bingham, Robert Taylor, his wife and two children, Francis Innis, his wife and three children, John McDonnell, Hannah Gray and one child, missing. Some of these are supposed to be burnt in the fort, as a number of bones were found there. Susan Giles was found dead and scalped in the neighborhood of the fort. Robert Cochran and Thomas McKinney found dead and scalped. Alexander McAllister and his wife, James Adams, Jane Cochran and two children missed. McAllister's house was burned and a number of cattle and horses driven off. The enemy was supposed to be numerous, as they did eat and carry off a great deal of beef they had killed."

All the prisoners taken at Bingham's Fort were marched to Kittanning and from there to Fort Duquesne, where they were parceled out and adopted by the Indians. George Woods, one of these prisoners, was given to an Indian named John Hutson, who removed him to his own wigwam. Woods later purchased his ransom, and returned to the settlements. He was a surveyor,

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and followed this vocation in the counties of Juniata, Bedford and Allegheny. When Pittsburgh was laid out, in 1784, he assisted in this work, and one of its principal streets. Wood Street, is named for him.

Hannah Gray and her daughter, Jane, were carried to Canada. Later in the summer of 1756, her husband, John Gray, joined Colonel John Armstrong's expedition against Kittanning, in the hope of either recovering his wife and daughter or gaining some intelligence of their whereabouts. He returned disappointed, and a few years thereafter died. After about four years of cap- tivity, Mrs. Gray, by the assistance of some traders, made her escape, and reached her home in safety, but unhappily, was compelled to leave her daughter with the Indians. The little girl never returned. At the close of Pontiac's War, many children, captured by the Indians during this and the French and Indian War, were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet, and brought to Carlisle and Philadelphia to be recognized and claimed by their relatives and friends. Mrs. Gray, at Philadelphia, searched in vain among these returned captives for her daughter, and then took one of them, a girl of about her daughter's age. The taking of this child in the place of her own daughter brought on a famous law suit over the title of the farm her husband had devised to her and the daughter in case they returned from captivity. This law suit is known as "Frederick et al. versus Gray. It finally reached the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and is reported in the Reports of this tribunal, in No. 10 Sergeant and Rawle, pages 182 to 188.

Francis Innis and his wife were sold to the French and taken to Canada in December, 1756, after the wife had been severely in- jured in running the gauntlet. While the Indians were taking the family to Montreal, they put the youngest of the children, who was sickly, under the ice of one of the rivers. While in Montreal, another child, James, was born. Mr. and Mrs. Innis were re- leased by the French, and returned to their home. Their sur- viving children remained among the Indians until the autumn of 1764, when they were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet, and soon returned to their parents. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, pages 586 to 591 ; Day's Historical Collections," pages 383 to 385.)

Capture of John McCullough

On July 26th the Indians entered the valley of the Conoco- cheague, in Franklin County, killing Joseph Martin, and taking

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captive two brothers, John and James McCullough. James Mc- Cullough, the father of these boys, had only a few years before removed from Delaware into what is now Montgomery Town- ship, Franklin County. At the time of this Indian incursion, the McCullough family were residing temporarily in a cabin three miles from their home, and the parents and their daughter, Mary, on the day of the capture, went home to pull flax. A neighbor, named John Allen, who had business at Fort Loudon, accom- panied them to their home, and promised to return that way in the evening, and accompany them back to their cabin. However, he did not keep his promise, and returned by a circuitous route. When he reached the McCullough cabin on his return, he told John and James to hide, that Indians were near and that he sup- posed they had killed Mr. and Mrs. McCullough, John was but eight years old, and James but five at the time. They alarmed their neighbors, but none would volunteer to go to the Mc- Cullough home to warn Mr. and Mrs. McCullough, being too much interested in making preparations to hurry to the fort a mile distant for safety.

Then the boys determined to warn their parents themselves. Leaving their little sister, Elizabeth, aged two, asleep in bed, they proceeded to a point where they could see the McCullough home, and began to shout. When they had reached a point about sixty yards from the house, five Indians and a Frenchman, who had been secreted in the thicket, rushed upon them and took them captive. The parents were not captured, inasmuch as the father, hearing the boys shout, had left his work and thus the Indians missed him, and they failed to notice the mother and Mary at work in the field.

John and James were taken to Fort Duquesne. From this place James was carried to Canada, and all trace of him became lost. John was taken to Kittanning, Kuskuskies, Shenango, Mahoning and the Muskingum, was adopted by the Delawares, and remained among them for nine years until liberated by Colonel Bouquet in the autumn of 1764. At one time his father came to Venango (Franklin) to recover him, and at another time to Mahoning, for the same purpose, but the boy had been so long among the Indians that he preferred the Indian life to returning with his father, and succeeded in eluding him. After his liberation by Colonel Bouquet, he returned to the community from which he had been taken nine years before, and lived there nearly sixty years. He wrote a most interesting account of his captivity,

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which sheds much Hght on the manners and customs of the Dela- wares at that time.

Other Outrages In Perry, Franklin and and Cumberland Counties

During the same month (July), Hugh Robinson was captured and his mother killed at Robinson's Fort, in Perry County. Hugh, after being carried to the western part of the state, made his es- cape. Also, during this same month a number of Indians ap- peared near Fort Robinson, killed the daughter of Robert Miller, the wife of James Wilson, and a Mrs. Gibson, and captured Hugh Gibson and Betty Henry.

Robert Robinson, in his Narrative, says that nearly all the occupants of the fort were out in the harvest fields reaping their grain, when the Indians waylaid the place. The reapers, forty in number, returned to the fort, and the Indians then fled. While one of the Indians was scalping the wife of James Wilson, Robert Robinson shot and wounded him. The captives were taken to Kittanning.

Hugh Gibson was 14 years old at the time of his capture. He was adopted by an Indian, named Busqueetam, who was lame from a knife wound, received when skinning a deer. Gibson had to build a lodge for the Indian. At one time the lodge fell down on the Indian and injured him. He then called for his knife and ordered Gibson and some Indians to carry him into another hut. While they were carrying the Indian, Gibson saw him hunt for the knife and Gibson's Indian mother concealed it. When they put the Indian to bed, the Indian mother ordered Gibson to con- ceal himself, and he afterwards heard the Indian reprove his wife for hiding the knife. The old Indian soon forgot his anger and treated Gibson well thereafter.

Sometime later all the prisoners were collected to see the torture of a woman prisoner. She had fled to the white men at the time Colonel Armstrong burned Kittanning. They stripped her naked, bound her to a post and applied hot irons to her, while the skin stuck to the irons at every touch. Thus was she tortured to death.

Also, in July, 1756, a band of Indians attacked the plantation of Robert Baskins, who lived near Baskinsville railroad station. They murdered Mr. Baskins, burned his house, and captured his wife and children. Part of the same band captured Hugh Carroll

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and his family. The Indians, committing these outrages, were Delawares, who had come down the Juniata into Perry County after having appeared near Fort Granville, July 22nd, and challenged the garrison to fight — a challenge which was declined on account of the weakness of the garrison.

About the same time, according to Egle's "History of Penn- sylvania," a band of Indians murdered a family of seven persons, on Sherman's Creek, Perry County, and then passed over the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains at Sterrett's Gap, wounding a man and capturing a Mrs. Boyle, her two sons and a daughter, living on Conodoguinet Creek, Cumberland County. These are probably the same atrocities mentioned by Colonel John Arm- strong in a letter written from Carlisle to Governor Morris, on July 23d, 1756, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 719, in which he says:

"Being just got home, I am unable to furnish your Honor with the Occurrences of these two days past, in which time the Indians have begun to take advantage of the Harvest Season. Seven people on this side of the Kittatinney Hills being Kill'd and miss- ing within this county, and two on the South Side of the Tem- porary line."

About this time, occurred the Williamson and Nicholson trag- edies in Mifflin Township, Cumberland County, though neither the date nor the details of the same can be definitely set forth. It seems that eight or nine members of the Williamson family, all except Mrs. Williamson and her babe, were victims of the toma- hawk, rifle and scalping knife of the Indians. Mr. Nicholson was shot at the door of his cabin, but his wife and brother within, suc- ceeded in keeping the Indians at bay until morning, when they left the neighborhood. Tradition says that the mother and brother each mounted a horse, the former carrying two children and the latter his slain brother, and rode to Shippensburg, where they buried the murdered man. (See "History of Cumberland and Adams Counties," Werner, Beers and Co., Chicago, 1886, pages 308, 309.)

Probably during the summer of 1756, though Loudon gives the date as April 2nd, 1757, William McKinney, who had sought shelter with his family at Fort Chambers, where Chambersburg, Franklin County, now stands, ventured out of the fort, accom- panied by his son, for the purpose of visiting his dwelling and plantation. They were surprised by the Indians, and both were

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 291

killed and scalped. Their bodies were brought to the fort and buried. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, page 532.)

Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," mentions another tragedy which, he says happened in Franklin County, in the summer of 1756, as follows:

"William Mitchell, an inhabitant of Conococheague, had col- lected a number of reapers to cut down his grain; having gone out to the field, the reapers all laid down their guns at the fence, and set in to reap. The Indians suffered them to reap on for some time, till they got out in the open field. They secured their guns, killed and captured every one."

James Young's letter, written at Carlisle on July 22nd, 1756, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 716 and 717, describes other atrocities, committed in Franklin and Cumberland counties during the terrible summer of which we are writing:

"On the 20th Inst., in the morning, a party of Indians Surpriz'd two of Captain Steel's [Rev. John Steel] men on this side McDow- ell's mill; they killed and scalped one; the other they carried off; the Reapers made their escape; also, one of the soldiers from Mc- Dowell's Mill that went with two Women to the Spring for some water is missing; the women got off safe to the fort, and almost at the same time, a man and a women were scalped a few miles on the other side of the mill. And yesterday morning, Eight Indians came to the house of Jacob Peeble, near the great Spring and McCluker's Gap, about ten miles from this place, on this side the mountain; they killed an Old Woman and carried off two children, and an old man is missing; they pursued a boy who was on horse back a long way, but he escaped ; there were some people Reaping at a small distance from the house, but knew nothing of what was doing at home, for the Indians did not fire a Gun ... A party went from this town to bury the dead, and are returned again; they inform me that the Country People are all leaving their houses to come down, as there is great reason to fear many more Indians will soon be among them."

On August 28th, according to Loudon, Betty Ramsey, her son and cropper were killed, and her daughter was taken captive, probably in Franklin County. This same authority relates that on one occasion, probably in 1756, a band of Indians came into the valley of the Conococheague, and killed and scalped many persons, whereupon a large party of settlers pursued them, over- taking them on Sideling Hill, and compelling them to flee leaving their guns behind.

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At the time of these murders, incursions were being made into that part of Maryland lying south of Franklin County, Pennsyl- vania. On August 27th, occurred the terrible massacre on Salis- bury plain, near the mouth of the Conococheague, in which thirty-nine persons were killed. An attack was made on a funeral party, in which fifteen were killed and many wounded. The same day six men went from Israel Baker's on a scout. Of these, four were killed, one was captured, and another, though wounded, escaped. The same day, also, some soldiers going from Shirley's Fort, were killed and captured. On the following day Captain Emmett and a party of scouts were attacked while cross- ing the South Mountain. Three of them were killed and two wounded.

Massacre Near McDowell's Mill

Early in November, 1756, the beautiful valley of the Conoco- cheague, in Franklin County, was again devastated and many of its inhabitants were killed by the hostile Indians. Robert Callender, writing from Carlisle, on November 4th, thus in- formed Governor Denny of these atrocities:

"This Day I received Advice from Fort McDowell that, on Monday or Tuesday last, one Samuel Perry, and his two Sons went from the Fort to their Plantation, and not returning at the Time they proposed, the Commanding Ofificer there sent a Cor- poral and fourteen Men to know the Cause of their Stay, who not finding them at the Plantation, they marched back towards the Fort, and on their Return found the said Perry killed and scalped, and covered over with Leaves; immediately after a Party of Indians, in Number about thirty, appeared and attacked the Soldiers, who returned the Fire, and fought for Sometime until four of our People fell ; the rest then made off, and six of them got into the fort, but what became of the rest is not yet known; there are also two families cut off, but cannot tell the Number of People. It is likewise reported that the Enemy in their Retreat burnt a Quantity of Grain and sundry Houses in the Coves." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 29.)

Four days later. Colonel John Armstrong wrote Governor Denny, from Carlisle, giving the list of the killed and missing in this bloody raid, as follows:

"Soldiers Kill'd — James and William McDonald, Bartholomew McCafferty, Anthony McQuoid.

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 293

"Of the Inhabitants Kill'd— John Culbertson, Samuel Perry, Hugh Kerrel, John Woods, with his Wife and Mother-in-law, Elizabeth Archer, Wife to J no. Archer.

"Soldiers Missing — James McCorkem, William Cornwall.

"Of the Inhabitants Missing — Four Children belonging to John Archer, Samuel Neely, a Boy, James McQuoid, a Child." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 40 and 41.)

Attack on the Boyer Family

Sometime during the summer of 1756, though authorities differ as to the exact date, occurred the attack on the Boyer family, who lived in the vicinity of Fort Lehigh, at Lehigh Gap. The "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" thus describes this event:

"His [Boyer's] place was about IJ^ miles east of the Fort, on land now owned by Josiah Arner, James Ziegenfuss and George Kunkle. With the other farmers he had gathered his family into the blockhouse for protection. One day, however, with his son Frederick, then thirteen years old, and the other children, he went home to attend to the crops. Mr. Boyer was ploughing and Fred was hoeing, whilst the rest of the children were in the house or playing near by. Without any warning they were surprised by the appearance of Indians. Mr. Boyer, seeing them, called to Fred to run, and himself endeavored to reach the house. Finding he could not do so, he ran towards the creek, and was shot through the head as he reached the farther side. Fred, who had escaped to the wheat field, was captured and brought back. The Indians, having scalped the father in his presence, took the horses from the plough, his sisters and himself, and started for Stone Hill, in the rear of the house. There they were joined by another party of Indians and marched northward to Canada. On the march the sisters were separated from their brother and never afterwards heard from. Frederick was a prisoner with the French and In- dians in Canada for five years, and was then sent to Philadelphia. Of Mrs. Boyer, who remained in the blockhouse, nothing further is known. After reaching Philadelphia, Frederick made his way to Lehigh Gap, and took possession of the farm. Shortly after he married a daughter of Conrad Mehrkem, with whom he had four sons and four daughters. He died October 31, 1832, aged 89 years."

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Murder at the Bloody Spring

During July, Samuel Miles and Lieutenant Atlee were am- bushed by three Indians near a spring about half a mile from Fort Augusta, at Sunbury. A soldier who had come to the spring for a drink, was killed. Miles and Atlee made their escape. A rescuing party came out from the fort, and found the soldier scalped, with his blood trickling into the spring, giving its waters a crimson hue. The spring was ever afterwards called the Bloody Spring. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, page 362.)

Captain Jacobs Captures Fort Granville

On August 1st, 1756, the Delaware chief. Captain Jacobs, at the head of a band of his tribe from Kittanning, accompanied by some French soldiers, captured and burned Fort Granville, on the Juniata, near Lewistown, Mifflin County. We quote the fol- lowing account of this event from the "Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania":

"The attack upon Fort Granville was made in harvest time of the year 1756. The Fort at this time was commanded by Lieut. Armstrong, a brother of Colonel Armstrong, who destroyed Kit- tanning. The Indians, who had been lurking about this fort for some time, and knowing that Armstrong's men were few in num- ber, sixty of them appeared, July 22nd, before the fort, and chal- lenged the garrison to a fight; but this was declined by the com- mander in consequence of the weakness of his force. The Indians fired at and wounded one man, who had been a short way from it, yet he got in safe; after which they divided themselves into small parties, one of which attacked the plantation of one Baskins, near the Juniata, whom they murdered, burnt his house and carried off his wife and children. Another made Hugh Carroll and his family prisoners.

"On the 30th of July, 1756, Capt. Edward Ward, the com- mandant of Granville, marched from the fort with a detachment of men from the garrison, destined for Tuscarora Valley, where they were needed as guard to the settlers while they were engaged in harvesting their grain. The party under Capt. Ward embraced the greater part of the defenders of the fort, under command of Lieut. Edward Armstrong. Soon after the departure of Capt. Ward's detachment, the fort was surrounded by the hostile force of French and Indians, who immediately made an attack, which

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 295

they continued in their skulking, Indian manner through the afternoon and following night, but without being able to inflict much damage on the whites. Finally, after many hours had been spent in their unsuccessful attacks, the Indians availed themselves of the protection afforded by a deep ravine, up which they passed from the river bank to within twelve or fifteen yards of the fort, and from that secure position, succeeded in setting fire to the logs and burning out a large hole, through which they fired on the defenders, killing the commanding officer, Lieut. Armstrong, and one private soldier and wounding three others.

"They then demanded the surrender of the fort and garrison, promising to spare their lives if the demand was acceded to. Upon this, a man named John Turner, previously a resident in the Buffalo valley, opened the gates and the besiegers at once entered and took possession, capturing as prisoners twenty-two men, three women and a number of children. The fort was burned by the chief, Jacobs, by order of the French officer in command, and the savages then departed, driving before them their prisoners, heavily burdened with the plunder taken from the fort and the settlers' houses, which they had robbed and burned. On their arrival at the Indian rendezvous at Kittanning, all the prisoners were cruelly treated, and Turner, the man who had opened the gate at the fort to the savages, suffered the cruel death by burning at the stake, enduring the most horrible torment that could be inflicted upon him for a period of three hours, during which time red hot gun barrels were forced through parts of his body, his scalp torn from his head and burning splinters were stuck in his flesh, until at last an Indian boy was held up for the purpose who sunk a hatchet in the brain of the victim and so released him from this cruel torture."

Colonel John Armstrong, brother of Lieutenant Edward Arm- strong who was killed at the destruction of Fort Granville, wrote Governor Morris, from Carlisle, on August 20th, giving additional details of this event. Lieutenant Armstrong behaved with great- est bravery to the last, "despising all the Terrors and Threats of the Enemy, whereby they Often urged him to Surrender. Tho' he had been near two Days without Water, but a little Ammuni- tion left, the Fort on Fire, and the Enemy situate within twelve or fourteen Yards of the Fort, he was as far from Yielding as when at first attacked. A French Man in our Service, fearful of being burned up, asked leave of the Lieutenant to treat with his Country Men in the French Language. The Lieutenant answered,

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'The First word of French you speak in this Engagement, I'll blow your brains out,' telling his Men to hold out bravely for the flame was falling and he would soon have it extinguished, but soon after received the fatal Ball. The French Officers refused the Soldiers the Liberty of interring his Corps, though it was to be done in an instant, where they raised the Clay to quench the Fire."

The above information came to Colonel Armstrong from Peter Walker, one of the captives taken at Fort Granville and later escaping. Walker had been informed by an interpreter for the French, named McDowell, that the Indians "designed very soon to attack Fort Shirley with four hundred men," and that "Cap- tain Jacobs said he could take any Fort that would Catch Fire, and would make Peace with the English when they had learned him to make Gunpowder." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 231 to 233.)

For many years, the friendly Shawnee chief, Kishacoquillas, lived at the mouth of the creek of this name, a few miles from Fort Granville. He died in the summer of 1754. He was a firm friend of Arthur Buchanan, who lived near Fort Granville. Some of the followers of Kishacoquillas are said to have warned Buchanan and his sons of the expected attack on the fort, en- abling them and their families to escape to Carlisle.

The destruction of Fort Granville exposed the whole western frontier to Indian incursions. Settlers fled in terror from the Juniata Valley, Sherman's Valley, the Tuscarora Valley, and the valleys of the Conococheague and Conodoguinet. Rev. Thomas Barton, writing from Carlisle, on August 22nd, described the dismal situation on the frontier, as follows:

"I came here this Morning, where all is Confusion. Such a Panick has seized the Hearts of the People in general, since the Reduction of Fort Granville, that this County is almost relin- quished, and Marsh Creek in York [Adams] County is become a Frontier." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 756.)

Captain Jacobs

Captain Jacobs, the destroyer of Fort Granville, was one of the Delaware chiefs who took up arms against Pennsylvania after Braddock's defeat. He had at one time resided near Lewistown, where he sold lands to Colonel Buchanan, who gave him the name of Captain Jacobs, because of his close resemblance to a

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burly German in Cumberland County. Later he resided at "Jacob's Cabin," not far from Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County. His principal residence was the famous Indian town of Kittanning, Armstrong County, which, as we have seen in an earlier chapter, was the first town established by the Delawares on their migration into the Allegheny Valley with the consent of the Iroquois Confederation. From this town, he and that other noted chief, Shingas, led many an expedition against the frontier settlements. In our next chapter, we shall record the fate that befell Captain Jacobs at the hands of Colonel John Armstrong.

Murders Near Brown's Fort and Fort Swatara

On August 6th, 1756, a soldier named Jacob Ellis, of Brown's Fort, located several miles north of Grantville, Dauphin County, desired to cut some wheat on his farm, a few miles from the fort, and, accordingly, took with him a squad of ten soldiers as a guard. At about ten o'clock, a band of Indians crept up on the reapers, shot the corporal dead, and wounded another of the soldiers. After this attack, a soldier named Brown was missing, and the next morning his body was found near the harvest field. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 738, 740.)

On October 12th, 1756, a band of Shawnees entered the neigh- borhood near where the murders of August 6th were committed. Adam Read, writing from his stockaded residence, on Swatara Creek, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County, thus de- scribes the murder of Noah Frederick, by this hostile band :

"Last Tuesday, the 12th of this Instant, ten Indians came on Noah Frederick plowing in his Field, killed and Scalped him, and carried away three of his Children that was with him, the eldest but Nine Years old, plundered his House, and carried away every thing that suited their purpose, such as Cloaths, Bread, Butter, a Saddle and good Riffle Gun, it being but two short miles from Captain Smith's Fort [Fort Swatara, in Union Township, Lebanon County], at Swatawro Gap, and a little better than two from my House." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 303.)

Noah Frederick's wife and small daughter were at the barn, where the mother was threshing the seed wheat, when the Indians made their appearance. They saw the murderers in time to make their escape. The captured children, one of whom was named Thomas, after a few days of captivity, were separated. They never met again. Thomas was carried to the Muskingum, where

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he grew up with the Indians and was given the name, Kee-saw- so-so. He was one of the prisoners deUvered up by the Shawnees at the close of Pontiac's War, most Hkely at Fort Pitt, on May 9th, 1765. He then went to Philadelphia, where he learned the shoemaker trade. Several years later, he went to the neighbor- hood where he had been captured. Here he was so fortunate as to find his mother, who identified him by a certain scar on his neck. He left numerous descendants, among whom is C. W. Frederick, of Rochester, N. Y., who furnished the author with some of the material used in this paragraph.

The above letter of Adam Read describes other atrocities in the same neighborhood in which Noah Frederick was killed :

"Yesterday Morning, two miles from Smith's Fort, at Swataro, in Bethel Township, as Jacob Fornwall was going from the House of Jacob Meyler to his own, he was fired upon by two Indians and wounded, but escaped with his life, and a little after, in the said Township, as Frederick Henley and Peter Stample was carrying away their Goods in Waggons, was met by a parcel of Indians and all killed, five lying Dead in one place and one man at a little distance, but what more is done is not come to my Hand as yet, but that the Indians was continuing their Murders. The Frontiers is employed in nothing but carrying ofT their Effects, so that some Miles is now waist."

Loudon, in his "Indian Narratives," mentions the following events, which he says took place in Dauphin County, probably in 1756. He does not give the exact location of the first, but its scene was probably near Fort Manada, a stockade erected in the autumn of 1755, near the east bank of Manada Creek, in East Hanover Township, a few miles north-west of Grantville. Here is Loudon's account:

"At another time they [the Indians] attacked a man in Dauphin County who was endeavoring to move off in a wagon with some others. Those in the wagon fled to a fort. The men in the fort came to see what was happening and met a woman running toward them crying. They then came to where the wagon stood and behind it found the owner, a German, tomahawked and scalped but still breathing. The next day twelve men were sent to inform the soldiers at the next fort about eight miles distance, but were fired upon from ambush and all but two were killed. These two were wounded but made their escape.

"Mrs. Boggs in the same neighborhood while riding to a neighbors house was fired upon and her horse killed and she, with

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a young child, taken prisoner. The child was badly treated and after three days, they murdered it.

"Four men living in one house, in Paxton, erected a stockade around it. A Captain and his company, being overtaken at night, stopped to pass the night. They went in but had neglected to fasten the gate. A party of Indians entered the gate and closed it, and then called upon those in the house to open the door. The Indians likely did not know that there were soldiers in the house. The Captain opened the door, keeping some of his men in reserve. When the Indians entered, they were fired upon and began to retreat. The soldiers in reserve then pursued them, and, since they had closed the gate of the stockade, they could not get out, and were slain to a man."

Expedition Against Great Island and Other Indian Strongholds

During the summer of 1756, Fort Augusta was built and garrisoned, at Sunbury. At this fort, on October 18th of this year, Colonel William Clapham, the commander, was informed by Ogagradarisha, a Six Nations scout, that, as the result of a treaty recently held by the commander of Fort Duquesne with the Chippewas, Tawas, Twightwees (Miamis), Notowas, Dela- wares and Shawnees, a large body of French and one thousand Indians "were getting ready for an Expedition against this place, and are determined to take your Fort" (Augusta). (Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 299 to 302.) Colonel Clapham immediately got ready for any attack that might be made on Fort Augusta. Scouting parties were sent out in an endeavor to locate the French and Indian forces. It seems that the invaders did march from Fort Duquesne, but, probably because they learned through their scouts that Fort Augusta and other frontier forts had received information as to their advance, their large force was divided into smaller bodies, which made incursions into the frontier settle- ments.

Colonel Clapham directed Captain John Hambright, of Lan- caster, to lead a company of thirty-eight men against the Indian towns of Chincklacamoose (Clearfield, Clearfield County), Great Island (Lock Haven, Clinton County) and other places on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 41 and 42). There is no doubt that Captain Hambright carried out his instructions, but, unhappily, no records giving the details

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of his expedition are to be found. In this connection, we state that Colonel Clapham was one of the most conspicuous figures on the frontier. In the early spring of 1763, he removed with his family to Sewickley Creek, where the town of West Newton, Westmoreland County, now stands. Here he and his entire family were cruelly murdered on the afternoon of May 28, 1763, by The Wolf, Kekuscung, and two other Indians, one of whom was called Butler.

Massacres Near Forts Henry, Lebanon, Northkill and Everett

On October 19, 1756, Conrad Weiser wrote Governor Denny that the Indians had again entered Berks County, killing and scalping two married women and a boy fourteen years old, wounding two children about four years of age, and capturing two more, near Fort Henry. One of the wounded children, he said, was scalped and likely to die, while the other had two cuts on her forehead, inflicted by an Indian when making an unsuc- cessful attempt to scalp her. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 302.)

Captain Jacob Morgan, writing to Governor Denny from Fort Lebanon, on November 4th, 1756, describes the following murders which were committed by the Indians, near the fort on the preceding day:

"Yesterday morning, at break of day, one of the neighbors discovered a fire at a distance from him. He went to the top of another mountain to take a better observation, and make a full discovery of the fire, and supposed it to be about seven miles off, at the house of John Finsher [Fincher]. He came and informed me of it. I immediately detached a party of ten men (we being but 22 men in the fort) to the place where they saw the fire at the said Finsher's house, it being nigh Schuylkill; and the men, anxious to see the enem_y if there, ran through the water and bushes to the fire, where, to their disappointment, they saw none of them, but the house, barn and other out-houses all in flames, together with a considerable quantity of corn. They saw a great many tracks, and followed them, and came to the house of Philip Culmore, thinking to send from thence to alarm the other in- habitants to be on their guard, but instead of that, found the said Culmore's wife and daughter and son-in-law all just killed and scalped. There is likewise missing out of the same house Martin Fell's wife and child about one year old and another boy about

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 301

seven years of age. The said Martin Fell was killed. It was done just when the scouts came there, and they seeing the scouts, ran off. The scouts divided into two parties. One came to some other houses nigh at hand, and the other to the fort, it being within half a mile of the fort [Fort Lebanon], to inform me. I immediately went out with the scouts again, and left in the fort no more than six men, but could not make any discovery, but brought all the families to the fort, where now, I believe, we are upward of sixty women and children that are fled here for refuge. "And at twelve o'clock at night, I received an express from Lieutenant Humphreys, commander at Fort Northkill, who in- formed me that the same day, about eleven o'clock in the fore- noon, about half a mile from his fort, as he was returning from his scout, came upon a body of Indians to the number of twenty at the house of Nicholas Long, where they had killed two old men and taken another captive, and doubtless would have killed all the family, there being nine children in the house. The Lieu- tenant's party, though seven in number, fired upon the Indians, and thought they killed two . . . The Lieutenant had one man shot through the right arm and right side, but hopes not mortal, and he had four shots through his own clothes." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 28, 30, 31 and 36.)

James Read, Esq., writing Governor Denny from Reading, on November 7th, gives an account of the murders near Fort Leb- anon, stating that the sister and mother of Mrs. Martin Fell were scalped, the young woman not being dead when the scouts arrived, "but insensible, and stuck in the throat as butcher's kill a pig." The poor woman soon died.

Fort Lebanon was not far from the town of Auburn, Schuylkill County; Fort Northkill was in upper Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, eleven miles from Fort Lebanon; and Fort Henry was near Millersburg, Berks County.

Near Adam Harper's fortified residence, at a place now known as "Harper's Tavern" in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County, hostile Indians, in October, 1756, killed five or six settlers. They scalped a woman, a sister of Major Leidig, who neverthe- less lived for many years thereafter. One of the families murdered in this raid was that of Andrew Berryhill. On October 22nd, John Craig and his wife were killed, and a boy was captured. The next day a German settler was killed and scalped.

Timothy Horsfield, writing Governor Denny from Bethlehem, on November 30th, 1756, which letter is reported in Pa. Archives,

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Vol. 3, page 77, says that, on the evening on November 28th, a band of Indians came to the home of a settler named Schlosser, most likely in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, killing a man named Stonebrook and capturing a child. At first two children were captured, but some of the men at the house fired upon the Indians, wounding one, whereupon one of the children, a girl, made her escape.

At the same time he informed the Governor of the attempt by some settlers to kill one of the Christian (Moravian) Delawares, near Bethlehem. In the terror and excitement on the frontier, the settlers sometimes made no distinction between hostile In- dians and friendly Indians.

Some events that took place in Lebanon County, probably in Union Township, during the French and Indian War, and likely in 1756, were the following:

Philip Mauer was shot dead by Indians while reaping oats. A Mr. Noacre or Noecker was shot dead while plowing, Mathias Boeshore fled from Indians to the house of Martin Hess. Just as he got inside the house, he leveled his rifle at one of his pursuers, and was in the act of pulling the trigger, when a bullet from the rifle of one of the Indians struck that part of Boeshore's weapon, to which the flint was attached, and glancing, wounded him in the left side. On one occasion Indians entered the neighborhood in great numbers, when nearly all the settlers were in their houses. Peter Heydrich gave immediate notice to all the people to resort to a blockhouse in the neighborhood, probably that of Martin Hess. In the meantime, taking a fife and drum from the block- house, he went into the woods or thicket nearby. Now beating the drum, then blowing the fife, then again giving the word of command in a loud and distinct voice, as if to a large force, he managed to keep the Indians away, and collect his neighbors safely. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, pages 58 and 59.)

The Prowess of Mrs. Zellers

On page 63 of Vol. I, of the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," is the following account of the attack on the fortified home of Heinrich Zellers, near Newmanstown, Lebanon County, some time during the French and Indian War, probably in 1756:

"It is related of the original Mrs. Zellers that she superintended the construction of the house, whilst her husband was out on an expedition against the Indians, and that her laborers were colored

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slaves. It is said, also, of this same Christine Zellers that one day, whilst alone in the fort, she saw three prowling savages approaching and heading for the small hole in the cellar shown on the picture attached. She quickly descended the cellar steps and stationed herself at this window with an uplifted axe. Pres- ently the head of the first Indian protruded through the hole, when she quickly brought down the weapon with an effective blow. Dragging the body in, she disguised her voice and in Indian language, beckoned his companions to follow, which they did and were all dispatched in like manner."

As stated formerly, in this history, hundreds of the atrocities of the French and Indian War, in Pennsylvania, will remain for- ever unrecorded. However, the present chapter, like several that have preceded it, gives one an idea of the horrors of the crimson tide that flowed down from the mountains into the Pennsylvania settlements during the first two years of this tragic period.

CHAPTER XIII

Destruction of Kittanning

September 8th, 1756

As stated, in Chapter XII, the destruction of Fort Granville _/~\ left the frontiers of the counties of Juniata, Perry, Fulton, Franklin and Cumberland exposed to the bloody incursions of the Delawares and Shawnees of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, especially the Delawares of Kittanning. In Chapter XII, also, as well as in chapters preceding it, we saw the horrors of the incursions which these Indians made into the counties above named — families murdered at midnight and their cabin homes burned to ashes; parents and children captured and, in many cases, separated forever; captives tortured to death at Kittanning and other Indian towns; relief parties burying the mutilated bodies of the dead amid the shades of the forest; the pale and tear-stained faces of women, with babes in their arms, and the anxious faces of men, fleeing in terror to the more thickly settled parts of the Province with the war-whoop of the Indian ringing in their ears.

In the letter written by Colonel John Armstrong, at Carlisle, on August 20th, quoted in part, in Chapter XII, he calls attention to the unprotected state of the Cumberland and Franklin County frontier, as follows:

"Lyttleton, Shippensburg, and Carlisle (the last two not finished), are the only Forts now built that will, in my Opinion, be Serviceable to the public. McDowell's or thereabouts is a necessary Post, but the present Fort not defencible. The Duties of the Harvest has not admitted me to finish Carlisle Fort with the Soldiers; it shou'd be done, and a Barrack erected within the Fort, otherwise the Soldiers cannot be so well governed, and may be absent or without the Gates at a time of the greatest necessity."

On the very day Colonel Armstrong's letter was written. Governor Morris was superseded by Governor William Denny — a change of governors at a most critical time — but, before Gover- nor Denny's arrival, Governor Morris, in response to the cries

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for help from the frontier, especially from Cumberland County, had arranged with Colonel Armstrong for an expedition against the Indian town of Kittanning. Colonel Armstrong had urged Governor Morris to give him permission to make this expedition, and Benjamin Franklin had earnestly advocated this plan of attacking this Indian stronghold from which Shingas, Captain Jacobs and King Beaver liad led so many incursions into the Pennsylvania settlements.

Colonel Armstrong's small army consisted of about three hundred men, Scotch-Irish from the Cumberland Valley, divided into seven companies whose captains were himself, Hance Hamil- ton, Dr. Hugh Mercer, Edward Ward, Joseph Armstrong, John Potter and Rev. John Steel. Armstrong marched from Fort Shirley (Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County), on August 30th, and arrived at the "Beaver Dams," near Hollidaysburg, on Septem- ber 3d, where his forces joined the advance party. Leaving this place on September 4th and following the Kittanning Indian Trail, his army arrived at a point within fifty miles of Kittanning two days later. From this point Armstrong sent out scouts to reconnoitre the famous Delaware town and get information as to the number of the Indians there. The day following, the scouts returned and reported that the road was clear of the enemy, but it appeared later that they had not been near enough the town to learn its exact situation or the best way to approach the same.

Armstrong then continued his march. At about ten o'clock on the night of September 7th, one of his guides reported that he had discovered a fire by the road, a short distance ahead and within six miles of Kittanning, with three or four Indians seated around the fire. Deeming it not prudent to attack this party, Lieutenant Hogg and thirteen men were left to watch them, with orders to attack them at break of day. The main body then, making a circuit, stole silently through the night to the Allegheny, reaching it just before the setting of the moon, about three o'clock in the morning, and at a point about one hundred perches below the town. They learned the position of the town by the beating of a drum and the whooping of the warriors at a dance.

Colonel Armstrong's Account of the Battle

We shall now let Colonel Armstrong describe the battle, quot- ing from his report, written at Fort Littleton, on September 14th, 1756, and sent to Governor Denny:

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"It then, after ascertaining the location of the town, became us to make the best use of the remaining Moon Light, but ere we were aware, an Indian whistled in a very singular manner, about thirty perches from our front in the foot of a Corn Field; upon which we immediately sat down, and after passing Silence to the rear, I asked one Baker, a Soldier, who was our best assistant, whether that was not a Signal to the Warriors of our Approach. He answered no, and said it was the manner of a Young Fellow's calling a Squaw after he had done his Dance, who accordingly kindled a Fire, cleaned his Gun and shot it off before he went to Sleep. All this time we were obliged to lie quiet and hush, till the Moon was fairly set. Immediately after, a Number of Fires appeared in different places in the Corn Field, by which Baker said the Indians lay, the night being warm, and that these fires would immediately be out, as they were designed to disperse the Gnats.

"By this time it was break of Day, and the Men, having marched thirty Miles, were most asleep; the line being long, the Companies of the Rear were not yet brought over the last precipice. For these, some proper Hands were immediately dis- patched, and the weary Soldiers, being roused to their Feet, a proper Number under sundry Officers were ordered to take the End of the Hill, at which we then lay, and march along the top of the said Hill at least one hundred perches, and so much further, it then being day light, as would carry them opposite the upper part or at least the body of the Town. For the lower part thereof and the Corn Field, presuming the Warriors were there, I kept rather the larger Number of the Men, promising to postpone the Attack in that part for eighteen or twenty Minutes, until the Detachment along the Hill should have time to advance to the place assigned them, in doing of which they were a little un- fortunate. The Time being elapsed, the Attack was begun in the Corn Field, and the Men, with all Expedition possible, dispatched thro' the several parts thereof; a party being also dispatched to the Houses, which were then discovered by the light of the Day. Captain Jacobs immediately gave the War-Whoop, and with sundry other Indians, as the English Prisoners afterwards told, cried the White Men were at last come, they would then have Scalps enough, but at the same time ordered their Squaws and Children to flee to the Woods.

"Our Men with great Eagerness passed thro' and fired in the Corn Field, where they had several Returns from the Enemy, as

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they also had from the opposite side of the River. Presently after, a brisk fire began among the Houses, which, from the House of Captain Jacobs, was returned with a great deal of Resolution ; to which place I immediately repaired, and found that from the Advantage of the House and the Port Holes, sundry of our People were wounded, and some killed; and finding that returning the Fire upon the House was ineffectual, ordered the contiguous houses to be set on fire; which was performed by sundry of the Officers and Soldiers with a great deal of Activity, the Indians always firing whenever an object presented itself, and seldom missed of wounding or killing some of our People; From which House, in moving about to give the necessary orders and direc- tions, I received a wound from a large Musket Ball in the Shoul- der. Sundry persons during the action were ordered to tell the Indians to surrender themselves prisoners; but one of the Indians, in particular, answered and said he was a Man and would not be a Prisoner, upon which he was told in Indian he would be burnt. To this he answered he did not care for he would kill four or five before he died, and had we not desisted from exposing ourselves, they would have killed a great many more, they having a number of loaded Guns by them.

"As the fire began to approach and the Smoak grew thick, one of the Indian Fellows, to show his manhood, began to sing. A Squaw, in the same House, and at the same time, was heard to cry and make Noise, but for so doing was severely rebuked by the Men; but by and by the Fire being too hot for them, two Indian Fellows and a Squaw sprung out and made for the Corn Field, who were immediately shot down by our People then surrounding the House. It was thought Captain Jacobs tumbled himself out at a Garret or Cock Loft Window, at which he was shot, our Prisoners offering to be qualified to the powder horn and pouch there taken off him, which, they say, he had lately got from a French Officer in exchange for Lieutenant Armstrong's Boots, which he carried from Fort Granville, where the Lieutenant was killed. The same Prisoners say they are perfectly assured of his Scalp, as no other Indians there wore their Hair in the same Manner. They also say they knew his Squaw's Scalp by a par- ticular bob; and also knew the Scalp of a young Indian called the King's Son.

"Before this time, Captain Hugh Mercer, who early in the Action was wounded in the Arm, had been taken to the top of a Hill above the Town, to whom a number of Men and some of

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the Officers were gathered, from whence they had discovered some Indians cross the River and take the Hill with an intent, as they thought, to surround us and cut off our retreat, from whom I had sundry pressing Messages to leave the Houses and retreat to the Hill or we should all be cut off; but to this could by no means consent until all the Houses were set on fire. Tho' our spreading upon the Hills appeared very necessary, yet did it pre- vent our Researches of the Corn Field and River side, by which means sundry Scalps were left behind, and doubtless some Squaws Children and English Prisoners that otherwise might have been got. During the burning of the Houses, which were near thirty in number, we were agreeably entertained with a quick succes- sion of charged Guns gradually firing off as reached by the Fire, but much more so with the vast explosion of sundry Bags and large Cags of Gunpowder, wherewith almost every House abounded; the Prisoners afterwards informing that the Indians had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for ten Years War with the English.

"With the roof of Captain Jacobs' House, when the powder blew up, was thrown the Leg and Thigh of an Indian with a Child three or four years old, such a height that they appeared as nothing and fell in the adjacent Corn Field. There was also a great Quantity of Goods burnt, which the Indians had received in a present but ten days before, from the French. By this time I had proceeded to the Hill to have my wound tyed up and the Blood stopped, where the Prisoners, which in the Morning had come to our People, informed me that that very day two Battoas of French Men, with a large party of Delaware and French In- dians, were to join Captain Jacobs at the Kittanning, and to set out early the next Morning to take Fort Shirley, or as they called it, George Croghan's Fort, and that twenty-four Warriors who had lately come to the Town, were set out before them the Even- ing before, for what purpose they did not know, whether to pre- pare Meat, to spy the Fort, or to make an attack on some of our back inhabitants. Soon after, upon a little Reflection, we were convinced these Warriors were all at the Fire we had discovered the Night before, and began to doubt the fate of Lieutenant Hogg and his Party, from the Intelligence of the Prisoners.

"Our Provisions being scaffolded some thirty miles back, except what were in the Men's Haversacks, which we left with the Horses and Blankets with Lieutanant Hogg and his Party, and a number of wounded People then on hand, by the advice of the

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Officers it was thought imprudent then to wait for the cutting down the Corn Field (which was before designed), but im- mediately to collect our Wounded and force our march back in the best manner we could, which we did by collecting a few In- dian horses to carry off our wounded. From the apprehension of being waylaid (especially by some of the Woodsmen), it was difficult to keep the men together, our march for sundry miles not exceeding two miles an hour, which apprehensions were heightened by the attempts of a few Indians who for some time after the march fired upon each wing and immediately ran off, from whom we received no other Damage but one of our men's being wounded thro' both Legs. Captain Mercer, being wounded, was induced, as we have reason to believe, by some of his Men, to leave the main Body with his ensign, John Scott, and ten or twelve men, they being heard to tell him they were in great Danger, and that they could take him into the Road a nigh Way, is probably lost, there being yet no Account of him; the most of the Men come in detachment was sent back to bring him in, but could not find him, and upon the return of the detachment, it was generally reported he was seen with the above number of Men taking a different Road.

"Upon our return to the place where the Indian Fire had been discovered the Night before, we met with a Sergeant of Captain Mercer's Company and two or three other of his Men who had deserted us that Morning, immediately after the action at Kittan- ning. These men, on running away, had met with Lieutenant Hogg, who lay wounded in two different parts of his Body by the Road side. He there told them of the fatal mistake of the Pilot, who had assured us there were but three Indians, at the most, at this Fire place, but when he came to attack them that Morning according to orders, he found a number considerably superior to his, and believes they killed and mortally wounded three of them the first fire, after which a warm engagement began, and con- tinued for above an Hour, when three of his best men were killed and himself twice wounded; the residue fleeing off, he was obliged to squat in a thicket, where he might have laid securely until the main Body had come up, if this cowardly Sergeant and others that fled with him had not taken him away; they had marched but a short Space when four Indians appeared, upon which these deserters began to flee. The Lieutenant then, not- withstanding his wounds, as a brave Soldier, urging and com- manding them to stand and fight, which they all refused. The

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Indians pursued, killing one Man and wounding the Lieutenant a third time through the Belly, of which he died in a few Hours; but he, having some time before been put on Horse back, rode some miles from the place of action. But this last attack of the Indians upon Lieutanant Hogg and the deserters was, by the before mentioned Sergeant, represented to us in quite a different light, he telling us that there were a far larger number of the Indians there than appeared to them, and that he and the Men with him had fought five Rounds; that he had there seen the Lieutenant and sundry others killed and scalped, and had also discovered a number of Indians throwing themselves before us, and insinuated a great deal of such Stuff, as threw us into much Confusion, so that the Officers had a great deal to do to keep the Men together, but could not prevail with them to collect what Horses and other Baggage that the Indians had left after their Conquest of Lieutenant Hogg and the Party under his command in the Morning, except a few of the Horses, which some of the bravest of the Men were prevailed on to collect; so that, from the mistake of the Pilot, who spied the Indians at the Fire, and the cowardice of the said Sergeant and other Deserters, we have sus- tained a considerable loss of our Horses and Baggage.

"It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of the Enemy killed in the Action, as some were destroyed by Fire and others in different parts of the Corn Field, but, upon a moderate Com- putation, it is generally believed there cannot be less than thirty or Forty killed and mortally wounded, as much Blood was found in sundry parts of the Corn Field, and Indians seen in several places crawl into the Weeds on their Hands and Feet, whom the Soldiers, in pursuit of others, then overlooked, expecting to find and scalp them afterwards; and also several killed and wounded in crossing the River. On beginning our March back, we had about a dozen of Scalps and eleven English Prisoners, but now find that four or five of the Scalps are missing, part of which were lost on the Road and part in possession of those Men who, with Captain Mercer, separated from the main Body, with whom also went four of the Prisoners, the other seven being now at this place [Fort Littleton], where we arrived on Sunday Night, not being ever separated or attacked thro' our whole March by the Enemy, tho' we expected it every Day. Upon the whole, had our Pilots understood the true situation of the town and the paths leading to it, so as to have posted us at a convenient place, where the disposition of the Men and the Duty assigned to them could

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have been performed with greater Advantage, we had, by divine Assistance, destroyed a much greater Number of the Enemy, recovered more Prisoners, and sustained less damage than what we at present have; but tho' the Advantage gained over these, our Common Enemy, is far from being satisfactory to us, must we not despise the smallest degrees of Success that God has pleased to give, especially at a time of such general Calamity, when the attempts of our Enemys have been so prevalent and successful." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 257 to 263.)

Such is the account of the destruction of Kittanning, written by the leader of the heroic men who inflicted this telling blow upon the Indians. Hitherto the English had not attacked the Indians in their towns, which led the leaders of the bloody incur- sions to fancy that the settlers would not venture to follow them into their western strongholds. But now the Western Delawares dreaded that, when absent on incursions into the settlements, their wigwams might be burned to ashes by the outraged frontiers- men. From now on, they feared Colonel Armstrong and his Scotch-Irish troops. Most of the Indians, therefore, left Kit- tanning, refusing to settle east of Fort Duquesne, and determined to place this fort between them and the English. They went to Logstown, located on the north bank of the Ohio, just below the site of the present town of Ambridge, Beaver County; to Sau- conk, located at or near the mouth of the Beaver, and known also as Shingas' Old Town and King Beaver's Town ; to Kuskuskies, a group of villages whose centre was at or near the present city of New Castle; to Shenango, located on the river of this name, a short distance below the present town of Sharon, Mercer County, and to other towns in the western region. However, Kittanning was not deserted, though it ceased to be a gathering place for the hostile Delawares during the French and Indian War. As we saw in Chapter XII and as we shall see in subsequent chapters, the destruction of Kittanning did not put an end to the Indian raids. But it did have a great moral effect. It struck fear into the hearts of the Indians, and it caused the forntiersmen to have confidence in their ability to meet the Indians on their own ground and defeat them.

"The corporation of Philadelphia, on occasion of this victory, on the 5th of January following, addressed a complimentary letter to Colonel Armstrong, thanking him and his ofhcers for their gallant conduct, and presented him with a piece of plate. A medal was also struck, having for device an officer followed by two sol-

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diers, the officer pointing to a soldier shooting from behind a tree, and an Indian prostrate before him; in the background Indian houses in flames. Legend: Kittanning, destroyed by Colonel Armstrong, September the 8th, 1756. Reverse device: The Arms of the corporation. Legend : The gift of the corporation of Phila- delphia."— Egle's "History of Pennsylvania."

The report of the explosion of the magazine at Kittanning was heard at Fort Duquesne, upon which some French and Indians set off from that place to Captain Jacobs' stronghold, but did not reach the town until the next day. They found among the ruins the blackened bodies of the fallen chieftain, his wife and his son. Robert Robinson says in his Narrative that a boy named Crawford, then a captive among the Delawares, told him that he accompanied the French and Indians on this occasion. He also says that, after Armstrong's forces had returned to the east side of the Allegheny Mountains, one of his soldiers, named Samuel Chambers, disregarding the advice of the Colonel, went back to the "Clear Fields," in Clearfield Township, Cambria County, to get his coat and three horses; that, at the top of the mountain, he was fired upon by Indians, and then fled towards the Great Island; and that the Indians pursued him, and, on the third day, killed him on French Margaret's Island, as they later told Cap- tain Patterson.

Many blankets of Armstrong's soldiers were afterwards found on the ground where Lieutenant Hogg and his party were de- feated. Hence this place has ever since been called "Blanket Hill." It is in Kittanning Township, Armstrong County.

List of the Slain — The English Prisoners

Colonel Armstrong's report of the destruction of Kittanning is also found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 767 to 775, with a list of the killed, wounded and missing, as well as a list of the English prisoners recovered. This list is as follows:

"Lieutenant-Colonel John Armstrong's Company — killed; Thomas Power and John McCormick. Wounded: Lieutenant- Colonel John Armstrong, James Carruthers, James Strickland and Thomas Foster.

Captain Hance Hamilton's Company — Killed: John Kelley.

Captain Hugh Mercer's Company — Killed : John Baker, John McCartney, Patrick Mullen, Cornelius McGinnis, Theophilus Thompson, Dennis Kilpatrick and Bryan Carrigan. Wounded:

Marker at the Site of the Delaware Indian Town of Kittanning. near the bridge across the Allegheny River, at Kittanning, Pa.

In the foreground Chief Strong Wolf, of the Ojibway Tribe, and Hon. James W. King, President of the Armstrong County Historical Society.

From a photograph taken on the occasion of the dedication of the Marker, September 8th, 1926, the One Hundred and Seventieth Anniversary of the Destruction of Kittanning by Colonel John Armstrong.

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Richard Fitzgibbins. Missing: John Taylor, John — , Francis PhilHps, Robert Morrow, Thomas Burk and PhiUp Pendergrass.

Captain Joseph Armstrong's Company — Killed: Lieutenant James Hogg, James Anderson, Holdcraft Stringer, Edward Obrians, James Higgins and John Lasson. Wounded: William Findley, Robert Robinson, John Ferrol, Thos. Camplin and Charles O'Neal. Missing: John Lewis, William Hunter, William Baker, George Appleby, Anthony Grissy and Thos. Swan.

Captain Edward Ward's Company — Killed: William Welch. Wounded: Ephriam Bratten. Missing: Patrick Myers, Lawr- ence Donnahow and Samuel Chambers.

Captain John Potter's Company — Wounded: Ensign James Potter and Andrew Douglass.

Captain John Steel's Company — Missing: Terrence Canna- berry."

The English prisoners recovered from the Indians at the de- struction of Kittanning were:

Ann McCord, wife of John McCord, and Martha Thorn, a child seven years of age, both captured at Fort McCord, on April 1st, 1756; Barbara Hicks, captured at ConoUoways; Catherine Smith, a German child captured near Shamokin; Margaret Hood, captured near the mouth of the Conococheague, Maryland; Thomas Girty, captured at Fort Granville; Sarah Kelly, captured near Winchester, Virginia; a woman, a boy, and two little girls, who were with Captain Mercer and Ensign Scott, and had not reached Fort Littleton when Colonel Armstrong made his report.

Barbara Leininger and Marie Le Roy, who, it will be recalled, were captured at the Penn's Creek massacre of October 16th, 1755, were prisoners among the Indians at Kittanning at the time when Colonel Armstrong destroyed the town. However, they were on the other (west) side of the river at the time the attack began, and were then taken ten miles back into the interior, in order that they might not have a chance to escape. After Arm- strong's forces had withdrawn, Barbara and Marie were brought back to the ruins of the town. Here they witnessed the torture of a woman who had attempted to escape with Armstrong's troops, but was recaptured. An English renegade ate a piece of the woman's flesh.

After describing the torture of the woman, Barbara and Marie, in their Narrative, relate the following:

"Three days later an Englishman was brought in, who had like- wise attempted to escape with Col. Armstrong, and he was burned

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alive in the same village. His torments, however, continued only about three hours; but his screams were frightful to listen to. It rained that day very hard, so that the Indians could not keep up the fire. Hence they began to discharge gunpowder at his body. At last, amidst his worst pains, when the poor man called for a drink of water, they brought melted lead, and poured it down his throat. This draught at once helped him out of the hands of the barbarians, for he died on the instant."

Relatives of Captain Jacobs, who were also killed at the de- struction of Kittanning, are mentioned in a letter written at Carlisle, on December 22nd, 1756, by Adam Stephen: "A son of Captain Jacobs is kill'd and a Cousin of his about seven foot high, call'd young Jacob, at the Destroying of the Kittanning." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 83.) Probably another relative was the Delaware Chief, called Captain Jacobs, who attended the con- ference held at Fort Pitt in April and May, 1768. (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 9, page 543.)

A Retrospect

The author was born and reared within ten miles of Kittanning. Often he has stood on the river hill above the site of the former Indian town, and contemplated its history. On these occasions, the past rose before him, as a dream. He could see the Dela- wares, in the course of their westward migration, as early as 1724, floating down the beautiful Allegheny, in their canoes, from the mouth of the Mahoning, and erecting their wigwams on the wide flats, naming the town "Kittanning," that is Kit, "great"; hanna, "a stream"; ing, "at, or at the place of" — "at the great river." He could see Jonas Davenport, James Le Tort and other traders, a few years later, visit the place and barter with the Indians, giving them rum, powder, lead, guns, knives and blankets in exchange for skins and furs. He could see French emisaries holding councils with the Indians here, as early as 1727, and for many years thereafter. He could see Celoron visit the town, in the summer of 1749. He could see the clouds of war gathering over the valley for many years, and finally breaking in a storm of fury, in the autumn of 1755. He could see Shingas, King Beaver and Captain Jacobs holding their councils of war here, far into the night, and inflaming the wild passions of the warriors as the council fire lit up their savage features, and as their shouts echoed from hill to hill. He could see bands of warriors go forth from the town on bloody incursions into the settlements of Pennsylvania,

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Mar\'land and Virginia, and return with sorrowing, sad-faced captives and the bloody scalps of the slain. He could see hun- dreds of these captives tortured to death — burned to death, tied to the black post in the village. He could see their bodies pierced with red-hot gun barrels and their bloody scalps torn from their heads. He could hear their agonizing cries and see the fiendish looks of their tormentors. He could see Colonel John Armstrong's forces wend their way silently over the forest-covered mountains, and, in the early hours of that September morning, visit retribu- tion and vengeance on Captain Jacobs and his warriors. He could see the village sink in flames, and hear the death chants of the warriors, as they perished in the fire. He could see the Indian women and children fleeing in terror to the forest, as their hus- bands, fathers and brothers were shot down or burned to death, by the frontiersmen, or dragged themselves into the forest to die of their wounds. He could see many of the survivors return, and erect their wigwams amid the ashes of their former homes. He could see hundreds of warriors assemble here, to march against Colonel Bouquet, in the summer of 1763. He could see the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment assemble here in the latter days of 1776. He could see Fort Armstrong erected, a short distance below the village, in the summer of 1779, and Colonel Daniel Brodhead's army march past the place, in the same summer, on its way to attack the Senecas and Munsees. He could see the Indians once more assemble here, to march against Hannastown, in the summer of 1782. He could see the Indian finally depart from this ancient seat, and float in his canoe down the "Ohio" of the Senecas, the "La Belle Riviere" of the French and "The Beautiful River" of the English — terms that mean the same — to the "Land of the Lost Ones." He could see the pioneers, with their rifles and axes, entering the valley and erecting their cabin homes. He could see the Kittanning of the white man rise where the Kittanning of the Indian had stood for so many years, in the valley of the beautiful and historic Allegheny. As he stood on the river hill and gazed into the valley below, the past rose before him, as a dream, and these things passed before him, as a panorama.

Captain Hugh Mercer

As was seen earlier in this chapter, Captain Hugh Mercer was wounded in the engagement at Kittanning. Unhappily he was persuaded by some of his men to leave the main party. These

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men were old traders, and they proposed to conduct Captain Mercer by a nearer route to the settlements than the Kittanning Indian Trail, by which the army of Colonel Armstrong had come to the famous Indian town. Presently Mercer's party fell in with the Indians with whom Lieutenant Hogg had the engage- ment in the morning, and some of the Captain's companions were killed. Mercer made his escape with two others. In a short time, he and these two halted in order to adjust the bandage on his arm. At this moment an Indian was seen approaching, whereupon Mercer's two companions, sprang upon the horse from which he had just alighted, and hurried away, abandoning him. He hastily concealed himself behind a log overgrown with weeds. The Indian approached to within a few feet of where he lay, when, seeing the other two hurrying away on horseback, he uttered the war-whoop, and ran after them.

The wounded captain soon crawled from his place of con- cealment, and descended into a plum-tree bottom, where he re- freshed himself with the fruit and remained until night. Then he began his terrible journey over the mountains to the settlements, a journey which consumed an entire month, and during which he became so ravenously hungry that he killed and ate a rattle-snake raw. Reaching the west side of the Allegheny Mountain, he discovered a person whom he supposed to be an Indian. Both took to trees, and remained in this position a long time. At length Captain Mercer concluded to go forward and meet his enemy; but when he came near, he found the other to be one of his own men. The two then proceeded on over the mountain, so weak that they could scarcely walk. Near Frankstown, the soldier sank down with the expectation never more to rise. Cap- tain Mercer then struggled about seven miles further, when he, too, lay down on the leaves, abandoning all hope of reaching the settlements. At this time, a band of Cherokees in the British service, coming from Fort Littleton on a scouting expedition, found the exhausted captain, and a little later, the soldier, and carried them safely to the fort on a bier of their own making. The Cherokees had taken fourteen scalps on this scouting expedition. We shall meet Captain Mercer several places in this history. He became one of Washington's able generals in the Revolu- tionary War, and laid down his life on the bloody battlefield of Princeton that liberty might live. Mercersburg and Mercer County are named for him.

DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 317

The Girtys

As stated earlier in this chapter, Thomas Girty, who was captured at Fort Granville, was one of the English prisoners re- covered by Colonel Armstrong at the destruction of Kittanning. The family to which he belonged figured prominently in the Indian history of Pennsylvania, not as defenders of the Province but as allies of the hostile Indians.

Reference was made, in a former chapter, to the fact that Simon Girty, Sr., an Irish trader, was one of the squatters whom the Provincial Authorities compelled to remove, in 1750, from lands not yet purchased from the Indians, north of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains. He was an Indian trader, and had settled on Sherman's Creek, in Perry County, about 1740. Here his son, Simon, who figured notoriously in the annals of border life, was born, January 16th, 1744. After the elder Girty was com- pelled to remove from Sherman's Creek, he settled on the east side of the Susquehanna River, near where the town of Halifax now stands. Here he was killed in a drunken brawl, it is said, by his wife's paramour, John Turner. Here his widow married John Turner, and soon thereafter they removed to the Buffalo Valley, Union County. About 1755, the family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Turner, their infant son, John Turner, Jr., and the four sons of Simon Girty, Sr. — Simon, James, George and Thomas — re- moved to the vicinity of Fort Granville. The whole family was captured at the destruction of the fort, by Captain Jacobs. John Turner, it will be recalled, was the person who opened the gates of the fort to the enemy, and was later tortured to death at Kittanning, in the presence of his wife, his son, John Turner, Jr., and the four sons of Simon Girty, the elder, all the family having been taken to Kittanning by their captors.*

Thomas Girty was the only member of the family liberated by Colonel John Armstrong, when his forces destroyed Kittanning. Mrs. Turner and her son, John, then a child less than three years of age, were taken to Fort Duquesne, where the child was baptized on August 18th, 1756, by the Reverend Baron, chaplain of the Roman Catholic chapel at the post. This John Turner was liberated by Colonel Bouquet in the autumn of 1764, and then joined his mother at Fort Pitt, to which place she seems to have made her escape. During the Revolutionary War, he fought on the American side, although his half-brothers, Simon, George and

♦Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," erroneously says that Simon Girty, Sr., was tortured to death at Kittanning.

318 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

James Girty, early espoused the British cause. He died in Pitts- burgh at an advanced age.

Simon, the most notorious of the Girty brothers, was adopted by the Senecas, and given the name of Katepacomen. He soon became in dress, language and habits a thorough Indian, and lived among the Indians continuously until Colonel Henry Bou- quet led his army to the Muskingum in the autumn of 1764 and liberated over two hundred white captives. Among these was Simon Girty. Brought back to Fort Pitt, he took up his residence on a little run, emptying into the Allegheny from the west a few miles above Fort Pitt, and since known as Girty's Run. In Lord Dunmore's war of 1774, he, in company with Simon Kenton, served as a scout. He subsequently acted as an Indian agent, and became well acquainted with Colonel William Crawford, at whose cabin on the Youghiogheny, where Connellsville now stands, he was a frequent and welcome guest. On the outbreak of the Rev- olution, he was commissioned an officer of militia at Fort Pitt, but on March 28, 1778, deserted to the British, in company with Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott.

The atrocities committed by Simon Girty after he deserted to the British fill many pages of border annals. His name became a terror in the frontier cabin, causing the mother's cheek to blanch and the children to tremble with fear. He fully earned the name given him by Heckewelder — the "White Savage." His brutality reached its climax when he viewed with apparent satisfaction the burning of his former friend, Colonel William Crawford, at the stake, in the summer of 1782, as will be related in a subse- quent chapter. On one occassion he committed a hostile act against the Americans shortly after the Revolutionary War was proclaimed at an end. This was the capture of a lad, named John Burkhart, at the mouth of Nine Mile Run, near Pittsburgh, in May, 1783, by a war party of Indians led by him. The guns of Fort Pitt were firing at the very time of the boy's capture, on account of the reception of the news that Washington had dis- charged the American Army on April 19th, and announced that the long war was over. This fact was made known to Girty by the boy; yet he was carried to Detroit. However, he was well treated by Girty, and, in July, was permitted by Colonel De Peyster, then commandant at Detroit, to return to his friends.

In the defeat of General St. Clair's army in the autumn of 1791, as will be related in a subsequent chapter, the "White Savage" saw and knew General Richard Butler, who was writhing

According to Butterfield: Simon Girty, Sr. was killed by an Indian named "The Fish", who was later killed by John Turner; Simon, Jr., bom in 1741, died, Feb. 18, 1818; James, bom in 1743, died at Goshfield, Canada, Apr. IS, 1817; George, born in 1745, died near Ft. Wayne prior to 1812; Thomas, born in 1739, died in Pittsburgh, Nov. 3, 1820; Simon, Jr., James, George, Mrs. Turner and her son, John, delivered up at Fort Pitt, in 1759.

DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 319

in the agony of his wounds. Girty told an Indian warrior that General Butler was a high officer, whereupon the Indian buried his tomahawk in the unfortunate General's skull, scalped him, took his heart out, and divided it into as many pieces as there were tribes in the battle in which St. Clair went down to over- whelming and inglorious defeat.

There is no doubt, however, that Simon Girty was blamed for many atrocities of v.hich he was innocent, especially atrocities committed by his brothers George and James. At times, too, when sober, he was moved by considerations of humanity, as when he saved his friend, Simon Kenton, from death at the hands of the Indians, and when he caused Mrs. Thomas Cunningham, of West Virginia, to be returned to her husband, after her son had been tomahawked and scalped and her little daughter's brains dashed out against a tree, in her presence. Such occasional gleamings of his better nature stand out in strong relief against a career of outrage, blood and death.

After General Anthony Wayne defeated the western tribes at the battle of the Fallen Timbers in August, 1794, Simon Girty removed to Canada, where he settled on a small farm, near Maiden, on the Detroit River and became the recipient of a British pension. Here he resided, undisturbed and almost blind, until the War of 1812. After the capture of the British fleet on Lake Erie by Commodore Perry, in this war, Girty followed the British in retreat, and remained away from home until the treaty of peace was signed. Then he returned to his farm, where he died in 1815 — the passing of the most notorious renegade of the Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio borders. Girty's Gap, or Girty's Notch, on the west side of the Susquehanna, a few miles below Liverpool, Perry County, is named for him. At this place the rocks of the precipitous river hill form almost a perfect Indian head, a wonderful likeness in stone of the primitive American race.

George Girty was adopted by the Delawares. and became a terror to the Pennsylvania and Ohio frontiers. As will be seen in a subsequent chapter, he was among the Indian forces which ambushed Colonel Lochry's troops in the summer of 1781.

James Girty was one of the messengers sent to the Shawnees, in the summer of 1778, in an effort to have this tribe join with the Delawares in an alliance with the Americans, at a treaty at Fort Pitt, in that year. He did not return from this mission, but deserted the Americans, was adopted by the Shawnees, and be- came an infamous and blood-thirsty raider of the Kentucky

320 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

frontier, "not sparing even women and children from horrid tortures."

Simon, George and James Girty were underHngs of Henry Hamilton, the British "Hair Buyer General," who was in com- mand at Detroit during a large part of the Revolutionary War, and had charge of operations against the western frontier. Hamil- ton was so named by the Americans on account of his giving his Indian allies rewards for American scalps, even the scalps of women and children.

Thomas Girty was the best of the four brothers. He took no part in raids against the Americans, but served his Country loyally. For many years he made his home near Fort Pitt, and was living in Pittsburgh in May, 1782, at which time he joined with other inhabitants of the town in a petition to General William Irvine, asking that the General order the soldiers of Fort Pitt to discontinue their practice of "playing at long bullets" in the streets, and thus endangering the lives of the children of the petitioners. This petition was granted.

Some time prior to 1800, Thomas Girty took up a tract of four hundred acres of land, a few miles south of Prospect, Butler County. Some authorities say he lived here until his death, which, they say, occurred prior to 1803, while other authorities say he died in Pittsburgh, on November 3d, 1820. Whateve may be the fact as to the time of the death of Thomas Girty, «' settler, named David Kerr, laid claim to the Girty land, and, oni evening in 1803, came to the cabin when no one was there excep Ann Girty, wife of Thomas, and fatally shot her. Kerr had come for the purpose of ejecting Mrs. Girty. During the argument, which took place between them, Mrs. Girty struck Kerr in the face with a clapboard with which she was raking the fire, where- upon he shot her in the breast with his pistol. She died of the wound several weeks later. Kerr was never brought to justice for his crime, on account of the stigma attaching to the Girty name, and, for the same reason, the body of poor Ann Girty was refused burial in the Mount Nebo Presbyterian cemetery near her home. She was laid to rest in the forest, where the author has often seen her grave. Yet, the Butler County settlers bore testimony to the fact that the family of Thomas Girty were good and peaceable neighbors. Thomas Girty, Jr., lived on the Butler County plantation for some years after his mother's death. On December 26th, 1807, he sold all his interest in the farm to Thomas Ferree, for a consideration of one hundred dollars, the instrument being recorded in the ofiice of the recorder of deeds in and for Butler County, in deed book A, page 558.

CHAPTER XIV

Eflforts for Peace in 1756

THE declaration of war against the Delawares and Shawnees was very distasteful to the Quaker members of the Provincial Assembly. They believed that these tribes would not have taken up arms against the Province without a reason. Furthermore, they believed that adequate efforts had not been made towards reconciliation before war was declared. Without going into details, we state that, a few days after war was declared, Israel Pemberton waited upon Governor Morris on behalf of numerous members of the Society of Friends, and, as a result, Canachquasy, or Captain New Castle, was sent to the Delawares and Shawnees of the Susquehanna with overtures of peace, while Scarouady was sent to the territory of the Six Nations and to Sir William Johnson to acquaint them with the efforts Pennsylvania was in- stituting to bring about peace with the Delawares and Shawnees. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 103 to 109.)

Canachquasy spent four days at Wyoming, and then went on to Tioga, an important town of the Six Nations, Nanticokes, and Munsee Clan of Delawares, situated on the site of Athens, Brad- ford County. It was the southern gateway to the country of the Iroquois, and all the great war paths and hunting trails from the South and Southwest centered there. He held conferences with the Indians of this place and the surrounding towns, and made known to them the Governor's message. These Indians agreed to lay aside the hatchet and enter into negotiations for peace; but they cautioned Canachquasy not to charge them with anything that may have been done by the Delawares of the Ohio and Alle- gheny Valleys under the influence of the French.

Canachquasy then returned to Philadelphia early in June, and laid his report before the Governor and Provincial Council. The Governor and Council, upon hearing the favorable report, drafted a proclamation for a suspension of hostilities with the enemy Indians of the Susquehanna Valley for a period of thirty days, and desired that a conference with them for the purpose of making

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peace, should be held at the earliest possible date. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 137 to 142).

Canachquasy then left once more for Tioga, bearing the Governor's message, advising the Susquehanna Indians that the Colony would agree to a truce of thirty days and that, as one of the conditions of making peace, the prisoners taken on both sides should be delivered up. Shortly after he left, messengers were sent to him by the Governor carrying a few additional instruc- tions, which were delivered to him at Bethlehem. In the mean- time. Sir William Johnson, of New York, was holding a peace con- ference with the Six Nations at Otseningo, at which the assembled sachems of the Iroquois decided that the Delawares were acting like drunken men, and sent deputies to order them to become sober and cease their warfare against the English. This con- ference was composed of only a portion of the Iroquois, and the Delawares replied very haughtily saying that they were no longer women but men. "We are determined," said they, "to cut off all the English except those that make their escape from us in ships."

After a dangerous journey over the mountains and through the wilderness, Canachquasy reached Tioga, held conferences with the great Delaware chieftain, Teedyuscung, and persuaded him to bury the hatchet, — a most remarkable victory.

First Conference with Teedyuscung

Canachquasy then returned to Philadelphia in the middle of July, 1756, and laid before the Governor and Provincial Council the results of his second mission to Tioga.

Immediately upon Canachquasy's return to Philadelphia from his second mission to Tioga, arrangements were made for a con- ference with Teedyuscung at Easton, which place Governor Morris with the Provincial Council, reached on July 24, 1756. The conference formally opened on July 28th, Conrad Weiser in the meantime having posted his troops in the vicinity of Easton. Teedyuscung and the fourteen other chiefs accompanying him were formally welcomed by Governor Morris. Teedyuscung made the following reply:

"Last spring you sent me a string [of wampum], and as soon as I heard the good words you sent, I was glad, and as you told us, we believed it came from your hearts. So we felt it in our hearts and received what you said with joy. The first messages you sent me came in the spring; they touched my heart; they gave me

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abundance of joy. You have kindled a council fire at Easton. I have been here several days smoking my pipe in patience, wait- ing to hear your good words. Abundant confusion has of late years been rife among the Indians, because of their loose ways of doing business. False leaders have deceived the people. It has bred quarrels and heart-burnings among my people.

"The Delaware is no longer the slave of the Six Nations. I, Teedyuscung, have been appointed King over the Five United Nations [meaning the three Clans of Delawares, the Shawnees and the Nanticokes], and representative of the Five Iroquois Nations. What I do here will be approved by all. This is a good day; whoever will make peace, let him lay hold of this belt, and the nations around shall see and know it. I desire to conduct myself according to your words, which I will perform to the ut- most of my power. I wish the same good that possessed the good old man, William Penn, who was the friend to the Indian, may inspire the people of this Province at this time."

In the conferences that followed, the Governor insisted that, as a condition for peace, Teedyuscung and the Indians under his command should return all the prisoners that they had captured since taking up arms against the Colony; and Teedyuscung in- sisted that his people on the Susquehanna were not responsible for the actions of the Delawares and Shawnees on the Ohio. But, inasmuch as only a small delegation of chiefs had accompanied Teedyuscung to Easton, it was desired that he and Canachquasy should go back among the Indians, give the "Big Peace Halloo," and gather their followers together for a larger peace conference that would be more representative of the Indians, and to be held in the near future.

The Governor then gave Teedyuscung a present, informing him that a part of it "was given by the people called Quakers, who are descendants of those who first came over to this country with your old friend, William Penn, as a particular testimony of their regard and affection for the Indians, and their earnest desire to promote the good work of peace, in which we are now engaged."

This first peace conference with Teedyuscung, at Easton, closed on July 31st, 1756, the very day the Delaware chief, Captain J acobs, attacked Fort Granville. A full account of the conference is found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 204 to 220.

After the conference, Teedyuscung and Canachquasy, as stated above, started to give the "Big Peace Halloo" among the hostile tribes, but Teedyuscung remained for a time at Fort Allen, where

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he secured liquor and remained intoxicated for a considerable time. Lieutenant Miller was in charge of the fort at this time, and Teedyuscung brought sixteen deer skins which he said he was going to present to the Governor "to make him a pair of gloves." Lieutenant Miller insisted that one skin was enough to make the Governor a pair of gloves, and after supplying Teedy- uscung liberally with rum, he secured from him the entire sixteen deer skins for only three pounds. The sale was made while the chief was intoxicated, and afterwards he remained at the fort demanding more rum, which Miller supplied, Canachquasy in the meantime having gone away in disgust.

On August 21st, Teedyuscung and his retinue went to Bethle- hem, where his wife, Elizabeth, and her three children desired to remain while the "King" went on an expedition to the Minisinks, for the purpose of putting a stop to some depredations which they were committing in New Jersey. Returning from this expedition, he went to Wyoming, where he sent word to Major Parsons at Easton requesting that his wife and children be sent to join him. Upon Parson's making known the King's desire, the wife deter- mined to stay at Bethlehem. He then made frequent visits to this place, much to the annoyance of the Moravian missionaries.

When the Provincial Authorities learned of the cause of Teedy- uscung's detention at Fort Allen, Lieutenant Miller was dis- charged, and Teedyuscung went to Wyoming, thence up the North Branch of the Susquehanna, persuading the Indians to lay down their arms, and to send deputies to a second conference to be held at Easton, in October. However, in the meantime, Governor William Denny, who succeeded Governor Morris in August, becoming suspicious of the chief's long delay at Forf Allen and being influenced, no doubt by the statements of many Indians on the border that Teedyuscung was not sincere in his peace professions, that he was a traitor, and that the Easton con- ference was but a ruse to gain time, sent Canachquasy secretly to New York to ascertain from the Six Nations whether or not they had deputized Teedyuscung to represent them in important treaties. Canachquasy returned, on October 24th, with the re- port that the Six Nations denied Teedyuscung's authority. Ap- pearing before the Provincial Council, he gave the following report :

"I have but in part executed my commission, not having op- portunity of having done it so fully as I wished. I met with Canyase, one of the principal counsellors of the Six Nations, a

EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 325

Mohawk chief, who has a regard for Pennsylvania ... I related to this chief very particularly the manner in which Teedyuscung spoke of himself and his commission and authority from the Six Nations at the treaty at Easton. I gave him a true notion of all he said on this head and how often he repeated it to the Governor, and then asked whether he knew anything of this matter. Canyase said he did; Teedyuscung did not speak the truth when he told the Governor he had a regular authority from the Six Nations to treat with Onas. Canyase then proceeded and said: 'Teedy- uscung on behalf of the Delawares did apply to me as chief of the Six Nations. He and I had long discourses together and in these conversations, I told him that the Delawares were women and always treated as such by the Six Nations.' " (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 296 to 298.)

Governor Denny endeavored to have Teedyuscung attend a conference in Philadelphia, in an effort to continue the peace work begun at the Easton Conference of July of that year. Teedy- uscung sent the following reply by Conrad Weiser to Governor Denny's invitation: "Brother, you remember very well that in time of darkness and danger, I came in here at your invitation. At Easton, we kindled a small council fire ... If you should put out this little fire, our enemies will call it only a jack lantern, kindled on purpose to deceive those who approach it. Brother, I think it by no means advisable to put out this little fire, but rather to put more sticks upon it, and I desire that you will come to it [at Easton] as soon as possible, bringing your old and wise men along with you, and we shall be very glad to see you here."

Second Conference with Teedyuscung

Upon Teedyuscung's refusal to go to Philadelphia, Governor Denny decided to meet the chief at Easton, where the second great conference with him and the Indians under his command opened on November 8, 1756. "The Governor marched from his lodgings to the place of conference, guarded by a party of Royal Americans on the front and on the flanks, and a detachment of Colonel Conrad Weiser's provincials in subdivisions in the rear, with colors flying, drums beating, and music playing, which order was always observed in going to the place of conference." Says Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his "Pennsylvania — A History":

"Teedyuscung opened the council with a speech and with all of the usual formalities of an Indian council. This Indian chief,

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called a 'King', was a most gifted orator and talented diplomat. His one most bitter enemy was his own vice of drunkenness which led to all of his troubles and to his death. The one marvel about him was that when he had been on a drunken spree all night and kept so by his enemies, he would appear the next day with a clear head, fully fit to deal with all of the complex problems which arose. His foes among the Indians and among the English kept him filled with rum in the hope that he could be rendered so drunk that he could not attend to his business. He would sleep out all night, under a shed, anywhere, in a drunken stupor, and appear the next day with a clear head and an eloquent tongue to 'fight for peace, at any price.' In his opening address, in referring to the tales which had been told about him he says: 'Many idle reports are spread by foolish and busy people; I agree with you that on both sides they ought to be no more regarded than the chirping of birds in the woods.' What great orator today could express himself more perfectly and beautifully?"

Teedyuscung Charges That Delawares Were Defrauded Out of Their Lands

Governor Denny in his reply to Teedyuscung's speech, asked him why the Delawares had gone to war against the English. Teedyuscung in his reply stated that great injustice had been done the Delawares in various land purchases. The Governor then asked him to be specific in his statements and point out what land sales, in his opinion, had been unjust. Then Teedyuscung stamped his foot upon the ground and made the following heated reply :

"I have not far to go for an instance; this very ground that is under me [striking it with his foot] was my land and inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud. When I say this ground, I mean all the land lying between Tohiccon Creek and Wyoming, on the River Susquehannah. I have not only been served so in this Government, but the same thing has been done to me as to several tracts in New Jersey over the River. When I have sold lands fairly, I look upon them to be really sold. A bargain is a bargain. Tho' I have sometimes had nothing for the lands I have sold but broken pipes or such triffles, yet when I have sold them, tho' for such triffles, I look upon the bargain to be good. Yet I think that I should not be ill used on this account by those very people who have had such an advantage in their purchases, nor be called

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a fool for it. Indians are not such fools as to bear this in their minds."

Governor Denny then asked him if he (Teedyuscung) had ever been dealt with in such a manner, and the chief replied :

"Yes, I have been served so in this Province; all the land ex- tending from Tohiccon, over the great mountain, to Wyoming, has been taken from me by fraud ; for when I agreed to sell the land to the old Proprietary, by the course of the River, the young Proprietaries came and got it run by a straight course by the compass, and by that means took in double the quantity intended to be sold. ... I did not intend to speak thus, but I have done it at this time, at your request; not that I desire now you should purchase these lands, but that you should look into your own hearts, and consider what is right, and that do."

It is thus seen that Teedyuscung referred directly to the noto- rious Walking Purchase of 1737. Governor Denny then consulted Richard Peters and Conrad Weiser about the transactions com- plained of. Peters said that Teedyuscung's charges should be considered, inasmuch as they had been made before; but Weiser advised that none of the Indians attending Teedyuscung at this second Easton conference had ever owned any of the lands in question ; that if any were living who had at one time owned the lands, they had long since removed to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. Weiser further told the Governor that the land in question had been bought by the Proprietaries when John and Thomas Penn were in the Colony; that a line was soon after run by Indians and surveyors; and that, when a number of the chiefs of the Delawares complained about the Walking Purchase after- wards, the deeds were produced and the names of the grantors attached to them examined at the council held in Philadelphia, in 1742, at which council, after a long hearing, Canassatego as the speaker of the Six Nations declared that the deeds were correct, and ordered the Delawares to remove from the bounds of the purchase.

The Governor then advised Teedyuscung that the deeds to which he referred were in Philadelphia; that he would examine them upon his return to the city, and if any injustice had been done the Delawares, he would see that they should receive full satisfaction. Some days later, however, Governor Denny denied that any injustice had been done the Delawares by the Walking Purchase, but offered a very handsome present to make satisfac- tion for the injuries which they complained of. This present

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Teedyuscung refused to receive; and the matter was then placed in charge of an investigating committee.

It was then decided that a general peace should be proclaimed, provided that the white prisoners were delivered up, and that the declaration of war and Scalp Act should not apply to any Indians who would promise to lay down their arms.

Teedyuscung then made the following promise in regard to the delivery of the captives :

"I will use my utmost endeavors to bring you down your prisoners. I have to request you that you would give liberty to all persons and friends to search into these matters; as we are all children of the Most High, we should endeavor to assist and make use of one another, and not only so, but from what I have heard, I believe there is a future state besides this flesh. Now I en- deavour to act upon both these principles, and will, according to what I have promised, if the Great Spirit spare my life, come next spring with as great a force of Indians as I can get to your satis- faction."

At the close of the conference, Teedyuscung's delegation was given a present to the value of four hundred pounds, the Governor advising that the larger part of it was from the Quakers. Teedy- uscung in his reply urged that the work of peace be continued.

The second peace conference with Teedyuscung, at Easton, closed on November 17th, 1756. In its minutes, recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 313 to 338, we read: "Teedyuscung showed great pleasure in his countenance, and took a kind leave of the Governor and all present."

Upon the close of the conference, Conrad Weiser, Joseph Pumpshire and the friendly Delaware chief, Moses Tatemy, ac- companied Teedyuscung to Bethlehem, and then to Fort Allen, on his way back to his people. Says Weiser: "Teedyuscung, quite sober, parted with me with tears in his eyes, recommended Pumpshire to the Government of Pennsylvania, and desired me to stand a friend to the Indians, and give good advice, till every thing that was designed was brought about. Though he is a drunkard and a very irregular man, yet he is a man that can think well, and I believe him to be sincere in what he said.'' (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 67 and 68.)

About this time, Conrad Weiser had a conversation with Joseph Pumpshire and the friendly Delaware chief, Moses Tatemy, in which Tatemy informed him of the full speech Teedyuscung was to have made, but did not make, through fear of the Six

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Nations' chiefs present at the treaty. The undelivered speech dealt, in part, with the occupation of the Wyoming Valley by the Connecticut settlers as being one of the causes of the hostility of the Indians.

Shortly after the Easton Conference of November, 1756, mur- ders were committed below the Blue Mountains, which the Wyoming Delawares disavowed, and when the Governor sent Mr. Hill with a message to Teedyuscung, he was waylaid on his journey from Minisink, and murdered, it was claimed, by Iro- quois. Heckewelder states that the Delawares assured him that many murders were committed by the Iroquois in order to "pre- vent the effects of the [Easton] treaty."

Subsequent peace conferences with Teedyuscung, during the years 1757 and 1758, will be described in later chapters of this history. The plan was first to work out peace with the Delawares and Shawnees on the Susquehanna, whose leader Teedyuscung claimed to be, and then to draw the Delawares and Shawnees of the Ohio and Allegheny away from the French interest. This latter was suggested by Teedyuscung and accomplished through the peace missions of the Moravian missionary. Christian Fred- erick Post, in the summer and autumn of 1758, as will be seen in a later chapter.

Obstacles in the Way of Peace

J. S. Walton, in his "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," thus sets forth the obstacles which con- fronted Pennsylvania in her efforts to make peace with the hostile Delawares and Shawnees:

"The prospects of peace were growing more and more embar- rassing. England, now that war was declared with France, sent Lord Loudon to America to take charge. Indian affairs were placed under the control of two men. Sir William Johnson for the northern, and Mr. Atkins for the southern colonies. Loudon's policy was to secure as many Indians as possible for allies, and with them strike the French. To this end Mr. Atkins secured the alliance of the Cherokee and other southern tribes. These were immediately added to the armies of Virginia and Western Penn- sylvania. This act stirred the Northern Indians. The Iroquois and the Delawares declared that they could never fight on the same side with the despised Cherokees. This southern alliance meant northern revolt, and threatened to crush the peace negotia- tions at Easton. At this critical juncture. Lord Loudon, whose

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ignorance of the problem before him was equalled only by his contempt for provincialism, ordered the Governor of Pennsyl- vania to have nothing whatever to do with Indian affairs. Sir William Johnson, only, should control these things. Moreover, all efforts towards peace were advantages given to the enemy. Johnson, however was inclined towards peace, but he seriously complicated affairs in Pennsylvania by appointing George Cro- ghan his sole deputy in the Province. Croghan and Weiser had quite different views upon Indian affairs. The Indians were quick to notice these changes. Jonathan, an old Mohawk chief, in conversation with Conrad Weiser said: 'Is it true that you are become a fallen tree, that you must no more engage in Indian affairs, neither as counsellor nor interpreter? What is the reason? Weiser replied, 'It is all too true. The King of Great Britain has appointed Warruychyockon [Sir William Johnson] to be manager of all Indian affairs that concern treaties of friendship, war, etc. And that accordingly the Great General (Lord Loudon) that came over the Great Waters, had in the name of the King ordered the Government of Pennsylvania to desist from holding treaties with the Indians, and the Government of Pennsylvania will obey the King's command, and consequently I, as the Government's ser- vant, have nothing more to do with Indian affairs.' Jonathan and his companion replied in concert, 'Ha! Ha!' meaning 'Oh, sad.' The two Indians then whispered together a few minutes, during which Weiser politely withdrew into another room. When he returned Jonathan said, 'Comrade, I hear you have engaged on another bottom. You are made a captain of warriors and laid aside council affairs and turned soldier.'

"To this Weiser replied with some spirit, setting forth his reasons for self-defense, the bloody outrages of the Indians, the reception of the first peace messengers. 'You know,' said Weiser. 'that their lives were threatened. You know the insolent answer which came back that caused us to declare war. I was at Easton working for peace and if I had my wish there would be no war at all. . . . So, comrade, do not charge me with such a thing as that.' The Indians thanked Weiser for the explanation and went away satisfied. But at the same time Weiser was shorn of his power among the Indians. Making him commander of the Pro- vincial forces robbed Pennsylvania of her most powerful advocate at the council fires of the Indians." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 491 and 492.)

'1 o the above statements of Walton we would add that Croghan

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and Weiser never did agree in the conduct of Indian affairs; that Croghan, on account of his long trading with the Delawares and Shawnees, was more of a friend of them than he was of the Six Nations; that Weiser, on account of his having Hved among the Six Nations in his youth and having always been in close relations with their great chiefs, especially Shikellamy, was always on their side in any disputes with the Delawares and Shawnees; that now, since the chief Indian character in the peace measures, was Teedy- uscung, a Delaware, Weiser's influence became less than that of Croghan; that the hatred of the Delawares, Shawnees and Six Nations for the Catawbas and Cherokees was too deep-seated to be wiped out by a few conferences; that these Southern tribes had been driven out of the Ohio Valley, generations before, by the Iroquois, Delawares and Shawnees, and ever since that time, not only the Iroquois, but also the Delawares and Shawnees had been sending war parties against the Catawbas and Cherokees — a warfare that the Iroquois said had existed "since the world began and would last forever;" and that the French took advan- tage of this age-long feud between the Northern and the Southern Indians, in telling the Delawares and Shawnees, when the Ohio Company began to open a road to the Ohio, that it was for the purpose of making a route over which the Cherokees and Ca- tawbas could come to enter their former habitat and to kill them — a statement that the French repeated to the Delawares and Shaw- nees when Braddock was marching over the mountains against Fort Duquesne, in the summer of 1755, causing such fear to remain in the hearts of the Delawares as seriously to hinder peace negotiations, even the peace mission of Christian Frederick Post, in the autumn of 1758.

Death of Canachquasy

While attending the first conference with Teedyuscung, at Easton, Canachquasy had a presentiment of death — a presenti- ment soon to be fulfilled. Shortly after his appearance before the Provincial Council, on October 24th, when he gave a report of his mission to the Six Nations, he contracted small-pox, which was then raging in Philadelphia, and before the middle of November, this firm friend of the English, this great peace apostle among the Indians, was no more. At the closing session of the second con- ference with Teedyuscung, at Easton, Governor Denny informed the assembled Indians of the death of Canachquasy and several

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other friendly Indians who had recently died of small-pox, at Philadelphia. Said the Governor to Teedyuscung and the other chiefs: "I wipe away your tears; I take the grief from your hearts: I cover the graves; eternal rest with their spirits." Then Teedy- uscung addressed the chiefs on this mournful occasion. They remained silent for some time. Then the oldest of them arose and pronounced a funeral oration, after which Teedyuscung again spoke, praising the efforts Canachquasy had made in pro- moting the good work of peace. Canachquasy's devotion to the cause of the English commands our great admiration and respect. He said he would die for the sons of Onas.

CHAPTER XV

Events of the Year 1757

ON January 13th, 1757, Governor William Denny issued a proclamation suspending hostilities with the Delawares and Shawnees on the Susquehanna for the period of fifty days. How- ever, this proclamation did not prevent the soldiers and inhabi- tants of the Province from defending themselves, or from killing any Indians committing acts of hostility against any of the forts or against any of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 300.)

Lancaster Council of May, 1757

At about this time, as stated in a former chapter. Sir William Johnson, who had been put in charge of Indian affairs in the colonies, appointed George Croghan as his deputy in charge of Indian affairs in Pennsylvania. During the first few days of April, Croghan held a council with a large body of Delawares, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Nanticokes, at Harris' Ferry (Harrisburg). Rev. John Elder, Captain Thomas McKee, John Harris, Hugh Crawford and Joseph Armstrong also attended this council. Not being able to accomplish much at Harris' Ferry, Croghan urged the Indians to go to Philadelphia to hold a treaty. They declined to do this, but consented to go to Lancaster, to which place the council fire was removed on April 7th.

Teedyuscung, did not attend the Lancaster Council, being still among the Indians, working for peace. It was the desire of Johnson and Croghan that all friendly Indians should take up the hatchet in the English cause; but Teedyuscung opposed this, and contended that the friendly Indians should be asked no more than to remain neutral. While the delegation of chiefs was wait- ing near Lancaster for Teedyuscung, Governor Denny received orders from Lord Loudon not to take part in Indian treaties, and to forbid the Quakers from attending such treaties or contributing

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thereto in any manner. The Governor then decHned to take part in the Lancaster treaty.

Says Walton: "Letters and petitions now poured in upon the Governor. WilHam Masters and Joseph Galaway, of Lancaster, voiced the sentiment of that vicinity in a letter urging the Gover- nor to come to Lancaster immediately, and use every possible means to ascertain the truth or falsity of Teedyuscung's charges. 'The Indians now present have plainly intimated that they are acquainted with the true cause of our Indian war.' The Friendly Society for the Promotion of Peace Among the Indians asked permission of the Governor to examine the minutes of the Pro- vincial Council and the Proprietaries' deeds, in order to 'assist the Proprietaries in proving their innocence of Teedyuscung's charges.' The Governor positively refused to show them any papers. The Commissioners in charge of Indian affairs were also refused the same request. The Governor then lost his temper and charged the Quakers of Pennsylvania with meddling in affairs which did not concern them. The Assembly then sent a message to the Governor, denying that the people of the Province ever interfered with his majesty's prerogative of making peace and war . . . 'Their known duty and loyalty to his majesty, not- withstanding the pains taken to misrepresent their actions, for- bids such an attempt. It is now clear by the inquiries made by your Honor, that the cause of the present Indian incursions in this Province, and the dreadful calamities many of the inhabitants have suffered, have arisen in a great measure from the exorbitant and unreasonable purchases made or supposed to have been made of the Indians, that the natives complain that there is not a country left to hunt or subsist in.'

Governor Denny was compelled by pressure of the people to go to the Lancaster conference. He arrived there on May 11th. At this time, the Cherokees, who were serving in the army at Fort Loudon and Fort Cumberland, were particularly opposed to any peace with the Delawares. While the conferences were in progress at Lancaster, some Indian outrages occurred on the Swatara, so exasperating the people that they brought the mutilated body of a woman, whom the Indians had scalped, and left it on the court house steps, at Lancaster, as the silent witness, as they said, of the fruits of an Indian peace. All these matters, together with the absence of the great Teedyuscung, made it impossible to accomplish anything definite at Lancaster. George Croghan was anxious that the Western Indians be taken into a

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 335

treaty of peace at Lancaster, and this question was therefore postponed on account of the absence of Teedyuscung.

While Teedyuscung did not attend the Lancaster treaty, he sent a message complaining bitterly of the Moravians at Bethle- hem, as follows:

"Brothers, there is one thing that gives us a great deal of con- cern, which is our flesh and blood that live among you at Bethle- hem and in the Jersies, being kept as if they were prisoners. We formally applied to the minister at Bethlehem [probably meaning Bishop Spangenberg] to let our people come back at times and hunt, which is the chief industry we follow to maintain our families; but that minister has not listened to what we said to him, and it is very hard that our people have not the liberty of coming back to the woods where game is plenty, and to see their friends. They have complained to us that they cannot hunt where they are. If they go to the woods and cut down a tree, they are abused for it, notwithstanding that very land we look upon to be our own ; and we hope, brothers, that you will consider this matter and let our people come back into the woods, and visit their friends, and pass and repass, as brothers ought to do."

The Moravian missionaries resented this message of Teedy- uscung, claiming that he well knew the sentiments of the Indian converts at Bethlehem, and that they were there of their own free will. The Colonial Government, however, paid no attention to the message.

The matter of the fraudulent land sales came up at this confer- ence at Lancaster. One of the chiefs of the Six Nations, Little Abraham, a Mohawk, spoke as follows concerning the frauds upon the Delawares:

"They lived among you, brothers, but upon some difference between you and them, we [the Six Nations] thought proper to remove them, giving them lands to plant and hunt on at Wyo- ming and Juniata on Susquehanna. But you, covetous of land, made plantations there and spoiled their hunting grounds. They then complained to us, and we looked over those lands and found the complaints to be true . . . The French became ac- quainted with all the causes of complaint that the Delawares had against you ; and as your people were daily increasing their settle- ments, by this means you drove them [the Delawares] back into the arms of the French, and they took the advantage of spiriting them up against you by telling them: 'Children, you see, and we have often told you, how the English, your brethren, did serve;

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they plant all the country, and drive you back; so that in a little time you will have no land. It is not so with us. Though we built trading houses on your land, we do not plant it. We have our provisions from over the great waters.' "

The Six Nations' chiefs at this conference then advised that part of the lands of the Delawares be given back to them and promised to make both the Delawares and Shawnees return the captives. They further urged that another invitation be sent to Teedyuscung to come and bring some Senecas with him, in order that the land question might be fully settled. Governor Denny followed the suggestion of the chiefs of the Six Nations made at the Lancaster conference, and accordingly arranged for the third council or treaty at Easton, where the complaints of the Dela- wares might be more fully heard. This treaty we shall discuss later in this chapter.

Little Abraham also gave information as to the things that took place at the Indian council at Otseningo (Chenango), when the Delawares threw off the yoke of the Six Nations, and said: "We are men, and are determined not to be ruled any longer by you as Women; and we are determined to cut off all the English, except those that make their Escape from us in Ships."

While the Indians were encamped at Lancaster, Scarouady left with some Mohawk warriors to reconnoitre the wilderness in the vicinity of Fort Augusta and the region towards the Ohio. The old chief asked permission from Croghan to make this expedition, saying that he was apprehensive that the French and their Indian allies would make an attempt against this fort.

Some of the messengers, sent by Croghan to the Ohio, returned to Lancaster on May 9th. They had gone to Venango, Kuskus- kies and other towns in the western part of the Province. They reported that the most of the Delawares who formerly lived at Kittanning, were living at Kuskuskies; that, at Venango, they were well received by the Delaware chief, Custaloga, at which place they found but fifteen Frenchmen at the French fort (Fort Machault); that the Delawares at Venango advised them that they would be very glad to enter into peace negotiations, but must first consult the Senecas; that the messengers then went to a town some miles from Venango where they consulted with the Seneca chief, Garistagee, who then and there advised the Venango Delawares not to accept Croghan's overtures, giving, as a reason, that the messengers had not brought "proper belts for this occa- sion," but further saying that, if Croghan would send "a proper

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belt with men wrought in it for the several tribes he wants to meet with, made of old council wampum, which is the custom of the Six Nations, I will go down with you and see him." The returned scouts and messengers further reported that they were sure the French intended to make an attack of importance against the English, but that they could not tell where this attack would take place. Then they gave the following infor- mation as to the activities of the Cherokees and Catawbas in behalf of the English :

"The Ohio Indians are much afraid of the Southern Indians, having been struck three times by them this spring — twice near Fort Duquesne and once at the Logs Town."

The Lancaster Council closed on May 22nd. During its ses- sions, many of the Indians contracted small-pox, and some of them died. For account of this council, the reader is referred to Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 510 to SSL

In the spring of 17S7, a number of Cherokees and Catawbas came to Pennsylvania to assist the English. They were brought by Captain Paris, a trader among them. Reference has been made in a former chapter, to the fact that the presence of the Cherokees and Catawbas among the forces of the English hindered peace negotiations with the Delawares and Shawnees, their age-long enemies. From the time when the Ohio Company began to open a road to the Ohio, the French never ceased to tell the Delawares and Shawnees that the English were planning to cause the Catawbas and Cherokees to destroy these tribes. In 17S6, the French were especially active in spreading this propa- ganda among the Delawares and Shawnees. John A. Long, who was captured near Cumberland, Maryland, in April of that year, and carried to the Indian town of Buccaloons, or Buckaloon, at the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek, Warren County, reported to Governor Dinwiddle, after his return to Fort Cumberland, in September (17S6), that the Iroquois of Buckaloons had heard a report that the English had joined with the Cherokees and Catawbas. (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 7, page 289.) Furthermore, Croghan was distasteful to these southern tribes. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 5S7.) All these things, added to the fact that Cro- ghan and Weiser differed in their ideas as to the manner of con- ducting Indian affairs, threw many obstacles in the way of attaining peace with the Delawares and Shawnees.

The Cherokees and Catawbas acted principally as scouts. They were familiar with the Indian trails of Western Pennsylvania,

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from the long warfare they had carried on against the Iroquois, Shawnees and Delawares. Their principal base of operations in Pennsylvania were Forts Loudon and Littleton. On May 20th, 1757, a scouting party of five soldiers and fifteen Cherokees went out from Fort Cumberland, led by Lieutenant Baker. They went almost to the walls of Fort Duquesne, and had an engagement with some French and Indians within two miles of the fort, in which a number of scalps were taken and a French officer was captured. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 603.)

Third Conference with Teedyuscung at Easton

The third council with Teedyuscung at Easton opened on July 21, 1757, and continued until August 7th. The friendly Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, was also present. There were almost endless discussions about Teedyuscung's having a secretary of his own, deeds, frauds, and other matters which had come before Indian councils for many years prior to this council. Finally, John Pumpshire was selected by Teedyuscung as his interpreter, and Charles Thomson, master of the Quaker school in Philadel- phia, as his clerk. Thomson, in writing of this affair to Samuel Rhodes, says:

"I need not mention the importance of the business we are come about. The welfare of the Province and the lives of thou- sands depend upon it. That an affair of such weight should be transacted with soberness, all will allow; how, then, must it shock you to hear that pains seem to have been taken to make the King [Teedyuscung] drunk every night since the business began. The first two or three days were spent in deliberating whether the King should be allowed the privilege of a clerk. When he was resolute in asserting his right and would enter into no business without having a secretary of his own, they at last gave it up, and seem to have fallen on another scheme which is to unfit him to say anything worthy of being inscribed (?) by his secretary. On Saturday, under pretense of rejoicing for the victory gained by the King of Prussia and the arrival of the fleet, a bonfire was ordered to be made and liquor given to the Indians to induce them to dance. For fear they should get sober on Sunday and be fit next day to enter on business, under pretense that the Mohawks had requested it, another bonfire was ordered to be made, and more liquor given them. On Monday night the King was made drunk by Conrad Weiser, on Tuesday by G. Croghan; last night

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 339

he was very drunk at Vernon's, and Vernon lays the blame on Comin and G. Croghan. He did not go to sleep last night. This morning he lay down under a shed about the break of day and slept a few hours. He is to speak this afternoon. He is to be sure in a fine capacity to do business. But thus we go on. I leave you to make reflections. I for my part wish myself at home."

Teedyuscung Renews Charge of Fraud

Teedyuscung entered this third Easton council with his mind made up not to reiterate the charge of fraud concerning the Walk- ing Purchase, doubtless fearing the Six Nations. His advisors told him that he could afford to wait until peace was fully estab- ished, before asserting the Delaware rights to lands drained by the Delaware River. However, Governor Denny was determined to make the great chief deny that any fraud had been practiced upon the Delawares in land purchases. When pressed for the cause of the alienation of the Delawares, Teedyuscung unequi- vocally asserted that it was the land purchases. Said he:

"The complaint I made last fall I yet continue. I think some lands have been bought by the Proprietors or his agents from Indians who had not a right to sell ... I think, also, when some lands have been sold to the Proprietors by Indians who had a right to sell to a certain place, whether that purchase was to be measured by miles or hours walk, that the Proprietors have con- trary to agreement or bargain, taken in more lands than they ought to have done, and lands that belonged to others. I there- fore now desire that you will produce the writings and deeds by which you hold the land, and let them be read in public, and ex- amined, that it may be fully known from what Indians you have bought the lands you hold; and how far your purchases extend; that copies of the whole may be laid before King George, and published to all the Provinces under his Government. What is fairly bought and paid for I make no further demand about. But if any lands have been bought of Indians to whom these lands did not belong, and who had no right to sell them, I expect a satisfaction for those lands; and if the Proprietors have taken in more lands than they bought of true owners, I expect likewise to be paid for that."

Teedyuscung Requests Benefits of Civilization

Said Teedyuscung, further, at this conference: "We [the Dela- wares] intend to settle at Wyoming, and we want to have certain

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boundaries fixed between you and us, and a certain tract of land fixed which it shall not be lawful for us or our children ever to sell, nor for you or any of your children ever to buy . . . To build different houses from what we have done before, such as may last not only for a little time, but for our children after us; we desire you will assist us in making our settlements, and send us persons to instruct us in building houses and making such necessaries as shall be needed, and that persons be sent to instruct us in the Christian religion, and to instruct our children in reading and writing, and that a fair trade be established between us, and such persons appointed to conduct and manage these affairs as shall be agreeable to us."

Walton's Account of the Council

The remaining matters taken up at this great conference are thus succinctly set forth by J. S. Walton, in his "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Pennsylvania":

"Teedyuscung then asked that the territory of Wyoming be reserved to the Indians forever. That it might be surveyed and a deed given to the Indians, that they might have something to show when it became necessary to drive the white men away. After these charges [concerning fraudulent land purchases] were again made the Governor called Croghan and Weiser together to know what was the best thing to do. Each of these men with his large share of experience in Indian affairs agreed in the opinion that some outside influence had induced Teedyuscung to revive these charges. They also united in the opinion that the Indians merely wanted a glimpse of the old deeds, and would be satisfied with a cursory examination of the signatures.

"Upon these assertions the Governor and Council were induced to grant Teedyuscung's request and to show him the deeds of 1736 and 1737 from the Delawares, and of 1749 from the Iroquois. When the Governor applied to Mr. Peters for the papers and deeds they were again refused. Peters declared that he held them as a sacred trust from the Proprietors and would neither surrender them nor permit himself to be placed under oath and give testi- mony. These two things could only be done, he insisted, in the presence of Sir William Johnson, before whom as a final abritrator, the Proprietors desired that these charges should be laid. James Logan immediately opposed Richard Peters. He insisted that all deeds relating to lands which the Indians claimed were fraudu- lently purchased, should be shown. To refuse this would be un-

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just to the Indians and dangerous to the cause of peace. Logan explained that the Proprietary instructions should not be too literally construed and obeyed. The Indians were opposed to having their case settled before Sir William Johnson. After an animated discussion in council it was reluctantly agreed that the deeds should be shown. The Council only consented to this after Conrad Weiser had assured them that Teedyuscung did not insist upon seeing all the deeds, but only those pertaining to the back lands. R. Peters again protested, but was overruled. The deeds were laid on the table August 3, 1757.

"Charles Thomson, at Teedyuscung's request, copied these deeds. The chief said he would have preferred to have seen the deeds of confirmation given to Governor Keith in 1718, but the great work of peace was superior to the land dispute, and if the Proprietors would make satsfaction for the lands which had been fradulently secured, he would return the English prisoners held captive among the Indians. The peace belt was then grasped by the Governor and Teedyuscung, and the two years' struggle for peace was crowned with victory. After much feasting and danc- ing, drinking and burning of bonfires the treaty closed.

"Teedyuscung promised to fight for the English on condition that his men should not be commanded by white captains. The Governor and his party returned to Philadelphia, deeply worried over the publicity of the Indian charges of fraud which had occur- red at the Easton conference. Peace to the Proprietors was dearly purchased, if the people of the Province were confirmed in their belief that the Indian outrages had been caused by fraud in land purchases."

For a full account of the third conference or treaty with Teedy- uscung at Easton — a treaty of peace between Pennsylvania and the Delawares and Shawnees of the Susquehanna, leaving the Delawares and Shawnees of the Ohio and Allegheny yet to be won over from the French — the reader is referred to Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 649 to 714.

The council ended on Sunday, August 7th. Governor Denny then returned to Philadelphia realizing that two things were im- perative. One was to disprove Teedyuscung's charge of fraud, in order to remove from the Proprietaries of the Colony the respon- sibility for the hostility of the Delawares and Shawnees; the other was to make peace with the Indians of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, in order that the expedition of General Forbes, then planned, might be a success. The Governor was very apprehen-

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sive that, on account of the allegiance of the Western Indians with the French, the proposed expedition of General Forbes would meet with the same fate as the expedition of the ill-fated Brad- dock in the summer of 1755. Besides, unless the hostile Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny could be persuaded to sever their allegiance with the French, there was little chance of ending the barbarous raids which they were making on the frontier settle- ments. How these Western Indians were induced by the Mor- avian missionary. Christian Frederick Post, to sever their allegi- ance with the French, will be told in a subsequent chapter.

Chief Tatemy and his Son, William

Mention has been made, in a former chapter, that the Delaware chief, Tatemy, or Titami, after petitioning the Colonial Autho- rities, in November, 1742, and evidently obtaining the consent of the Iroquois, was permitted to reside on his tract of land, near Stockertown, Northampton County, after the other Delawares of the Munsee Clan had removed from the bounds of the Walking Purchase. This chief, who had been baptized by the missionary. Rev. David Brainerd, on July 21st, 1746, and given the name of Moses Fonday Tatemy, was closely associated with Teedy- uscung in the attempt to win back the Delawares to friendly relations with the Province, and acted as interpreter at the various councils at Easton. He was also sent on important missions with Isaac Still and others, and interpreted at several conferences at Philadelphia. He died about 1761. A town in Northampton County perpetuates the name of this noted chief.

When Teedyuscung and his party of more than 200 Indians were on their way to the Easton Council of July and August, 1757, Tatemy's son, William, who had strayed from the main body, was mortally wounded by a fifteen year old Irish boy. This wanton act threatened to break up the peace negotiations, and it was feared that the Delawares, angered by the outrage, would take revenge. Teedyuscung demanded, at the council, that, if young Tatemy should die, the Irish boy who shot him, should be tried and punished, according to law, before a deputation of In- dians. Governor Denny replied, expressing his sorrow to the father, and promised that the boy should be punished. Young Tatemy was taken to the house of a farmer, named John Jones, near Bethlehem, where he was attended by Dr. John Matthew Otto. However, in spite of all that medical skill could do for

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 343

him, the unfortunate Indian, after suffering for more than a month, died on August 1st. The gentle Moravian missionaries soothed his dying hours with their kind ministrations. At Bethlehem, in the presence of more than 200 Indians, Rev. Jacob Rogers conducting the funeral services, the friendly young Delaware, with marble face upturned to the glorious summer sky, was laid away from sight until the heavens be no more.

We shall now narrate the principal atrocities, committed by the Delawares and Shawnees in 1757.

Atrocities in Monroe County

On March 25th, the Delawares made an incursion into Monroe County, killing Sergeant Leonard Den within two miles of Fort Dupui. This was followed by another on April 20th, spreading terror, devastation and death in this region. On this day, Andreas (Casper) Gundryman was killed within sight of Fort Hamilton, while bringing fire wood to his father's house, near the fort. Michael Roup, an inhabitant of Smithfield Township, Monroe County, made the following affidavit before William Parsons, at Easton, on April 24th, describing some of the murders committed during this incursion :

"That, on Friday morning last, John Lefever, passing the houses of Philip Bozart and this deponent [Roup] informed them that the Indians had murdered Casper Gundryman last Wednes- day evening, whereupon this deponent went immediately to the house of Philip Bozart to consult what was best to be done, their houses being about half a mile apart. That they concluded it best for the neighbours to collect themselves together, as many as they could, in some one house. That he immediately re- turned home and loaded his wagon as fast as he could with his most valuable effects, which he carried to Bozart's house. That as soon as he unloaded his wagon, he drove to his son-in-law, Peter Soan's house, about two miles, and loaded as much of his effects as the time and hurry would admit, and took them also to Bozart's, where nine families were retired. That a great num- ber of the inhabitants also retired to the houses of Conrad Bitten- bender and John McDowell. That Bozart's house is seven miles from Fort Hamilton and twelve miles from Fort Norris. That yesterday morning, about nine o'clock, the said Peter Soan and Christian Klein with his daughter about thirteen years of age went from Bozart's house to the house of the said Klein and thence

344 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

to Soan's house to look after their cattle and bring off more effects. That about half an hour after these three persons had gone from Bozart's house, a certain George Hartleib, who also fled with his family to Bozart's and who had been at his own house about a mile from Soan's to look after creatures and to bring away what he could, returned to Bozart's and reported that he had heard three guns fired very quickly one after another towards Soan's place, which made them all conclude that the above three persons were killed by the Indians. That the little company was afraid to venture to go and see what happened that day, as they had many women and children to take care of, who, if they had left, might have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. That this morning, nine men of the neighbourhood armed them- selves as well as they could, and went towards Peter Soan's house, in order to discover what was become of the above three persons. That when they came within three hundred yards of the house, they found the bodies of the said Soan and Klein about twenty feet from each other, killed and scalped, but did not find Klein's daughter. Soan was killed by a bullet which entered the upper part of his back and came out at his breast. Klein was killed with their tomahawks. The nine men immediately re- turned to Bozart's and reported as above. That this deponent was not one of the nine, but that he remained at Bozart's with the women and children. That the rest of the people desired this deponent to come to Easton and acquaint the Justice with what had happened. That the nine men did not think it safe to bury the dead." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 492 to 494.)

On June 20th, 1757, George Ebert, who was captured in this same incursion, made an affidavit at Easton, in which he said that Conrad Bittenbender, Jacob Roth, and John Nolf were killed and Peter Sheaffer was captured in this incursion, adding that "they [the Indians] immediately set off; that on the evening of the second day they fell in with another Company of about Twenty-four Indians, who had Abraham Miller, with his Mother, and Adam Snell's Daughter, Prisoners; that on their way on this Side of Diahogo they saw Klein's Daughter, who had been taken Prisoner about a week before this deponent was taken; that a Day's Journey beyond Diahogo, they came to some French In- dian Cabbins, where they saw another Prisoner, a girl about Eight or nine Years old, who told this deponent that her name was Catherine Yager, that her father was a Lock Smith and lived at Allemangle, and that she had been a Prisoner ever since

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 345

Christmas." Ebert also stated in his affidavit that the Indians killed Abraham Miller's mother when she became unable to travel further, on account of weakness, likewise Snell's daughter, "who had received a Wound in her Leg by a Fall when they first took her Prisoner." At the "French Indian Cabbins," both George Ebert, the deponent, and Abraham Miller made their escape. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 620 and 621.)

Shortly after the capture of George Ebert and the murder of Bittenbender, Roth and Nolf, the Indians killed a certain Mrs. Marshall near the same place. On June 23l1, of this year (1757), a large body of Indians attacked and burned the home of Broad- head in sight of Fort Hamilton, killing and scalping a man named John Tidd. During the same month, also, Peter Geisinger was shot and scalped while plowing in his field between Fort Henry and Fort Northkill, and Adam Drum was killed in AUemangle.

Murder of John Spitler and Barnabas Tolon

On May 16th, John Spitler while fixing up a pair of bars on his farm a few miles from Stumpton, was shot and his body cruelly mangled. His body was buried in the graveyard at Hebron, near Lebanon. The following account of his murder and burial is contained in the records of the Hebron church:

"1757, May den 16, wurde Johannes Spitler, Jr. ohnweit von seinem Hause, an der Schwatara von moerderischen Indianern ueberfallen und ermordert. Er war im acht unddreisigsten Jahr seines Alters, und verwichenes Jahr im April, an der Schwatara aufgenommen. Seine uebelzugerichtette Leiche wurde den 17ten May hieher gebracht, und bei einer grossen Menge Leute begleitet auf unsern hiesigen Gottesacker beerdigt."

The following is the translation of the record:

"On the 16th of May, 1757, John Spitler, Jr. was fallen upon and murdered by savage Indians not far from his house on the Swatara. He was in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and had taken up his residence on the Swatara in April of the preceding year. His badly mangled body was brought here on the 17th of May, accompanied by a large concourse of people, and buried in the graveyard of this place."

The Lancaster Council, described earlier in this chapter, was in session at the time of these atrocities. In its minutes, under date of May 18th, we read: "This day four persons that were killed

346 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

on the frontiers, in the settlement of Swatara, were brought to this town." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 538.)

On May 22nd, Barnabus Tolon was killed and scalped in Han- over Township, Lebanon County. "We are," says the editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette, "well informed that 123 persons have been murdered and carried off from that part of Lancaster [Lebanon] County by Indians since the war commenced, and that lately three have been scalped and are yet living."

Other atrocities were committed in this neighborhood during the summer of 1757, thus referred to in the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania":

"A correspondent from this township Hanover of the Pennsyl- vania Gazette, says in its issue of May, 1757, that the house of Isaac Snevely was set on fire and entirely consumed, with eighteen horses and cows, and that, on May 17th, five men and a woman were killed and scalped about thirty miles from Lancaster. In another letter, dated August 11th, it is stated that, on Monday the 8th, George Mauerer was killed and scalped whilst cutting oats in George Scheffer's field."

Massacre on Quitapahilla Creek

"Londonderry Township (Lebanon County) being more towards the interior, was not so much exposed to the depredations of the savages as those on the northern frontiers. Nevertheless, in the more sparsely settled parts they committed various murders. June 19, 1757, nineteen persons were killed in a mill on the Quita- pahilla Creek, and on the 9th of September, 1757, one boy and a girl were taken from Donegal Township, a few miles south of Derry. About the same time, one Danner and his son Christian, a lad of twelve years, had gone into the Conewago hills to cut down trees; after felling one, and while the father was cutting a log, he was shot and scalped by an Indian, and Christian, the son, taken captive into Canada, where he remained until the close of the war when he made his escape. Another young lad, named Steger, was surprised by three Indians and taken captive whilst cutting hoop-poles, but, fortunately, after remaining with the Indians some months made his escape." — (Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.)

Murder of Adam Trump

On June 22nd occurred the murder of Adam Trump, in Albany Township, Berks County, thus referred to in a letter of James Read, from Reading, on June 25th:

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 347

"Last night Jacob Levan, Esq., of Maxatawney, came to see me and showed me a letter of the 22d inst. from Lieutenant Engel, dated in Allemangel, by which he advised Mr. Levan of the mur- der of one Adam Trump in Allemangel, by Indians, that evening, and that they had taken Trump's wife and his son, a lad nineteen years old, prisoners; but the woman escaped, though upon her flying, she was so closely pursued by one of the Indians, (of which there were seven) that he threw his tomahawk at her, and cut her badly in the neck, but 'tis hoped not dangerously. This murder happened in as great a thunderstorm as has happened for twenty years past; which extended itself over a great part of this and Northampton Counties. * * * *

"I had almost forgot to mention (but I am so hurried just now, 'tis no wonder), that the Indians after scalping Adam Trump left a knife, and a halbert, or a spear, fixed to a pole of four feet, in his body."

Other Atrocities East of the Susquehanna

About the middle of May, 1757, a boy was killed and scalped, and another who had small-pox was dangerously wounded, about one half mile from Fort Northkill. The Indians did not scalp the wounded boy for fear of infection. Four persons were killed and four captured near this fort, about October 1st, 1757.

On June 22nd, 1757, as already narrated, Peter Geisinger was killed and scalped by Indians in the vicinity of Fort Northkill. On the following day, a girl about fifteen years old, a daughter of Balser Smith, was captured by two Indians, near the same neighborhood. On June 29th, in the vicinity of this fort, Frederick Myers and his wife were killed and scalped. Three of Myers' children, a boy aged ten years, a girl aged eight years, and a boy aged six years were captured, while another child, aged one and one half years, was scalped, but was alive when some scouts from Fort Northkill found it late that afternoon. It was lying in a ditch crying, with the water just up to its mouth. ("Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," Vol. 1, pages 108 and 110.)

The Pennsylvania Gaze/Ze of July, 1757, contains a letter written from Heidelberg, Berks County, on July 9th, as follows:

"Yesterday, about three o'clock in the afternoon, between Val- entine Herchelroar's and Tobias Bickell's, four Indians killed two children. They, at the same time, scalped a young woman of about sixteen; but, with proper care, she is likely to live and do well.

348 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

"A woman was terribly cut with a tomahawk, but not scalped. Her life is despaired of. Three children were carried off prisoners. One Christian Schrenk's wife being among the rest, bravely defended herself and children for a while, wrestling the gun out of the Indian's hands, who assaulted her, also his tomahawk, and threw them away, and afterwards was obliged to save her own life. Two of her children were taken captive in the meantime. In this house were also twenty women and children who had fled from their own habitations to take shelter. The men belonging to them were about one half mile off, picking cherries. They came as quickly as possible, and went in pursuit of the Indians, but to no purpose. The Indians had concealed themselves."

Lieutenant Jacob Wetterhold, in a letter written from Lynn Township, Lehigh County, to Major William Parsons at Easton, on July 9th, 1757, describes an atrocity which took place that day in Lynn Township. This letter, recorded in Penna. Archives, Vol. 3, page 211, is quoted verbatim, except as to spelling:

"These are to acquaint you of a murder happened this day at the house of Adam Clauce, in said Township of Lynn, where three or four neighbors was cutting said man's corn; as they was eating their dinner, they were fell upon by a party of savages, Indians, and five of the whites took to their heels, two men, two women and one girl, and got safe out of their hands. Was killed and scalped, Martin Yager and his wife, and John Croushores, wife and one child, and the wife of Abraham Secies, and one child of one Adam Clouce, and the wife of John Croushore, and the wife of Abram Secies was scalped and is yet alive, but badly wounded, one shot through the side and the other in the thigh, and two children killed belonging to said Croushore, and one to said Secies, and one belonging to Philip Antone not scalped, and this was done at least three miles within the outside settlers and four miles from John Everett's, and Philip Antone's wife was one that took her Tilit [?], and came home and acquainted her husband, and he came and acquainted me, and I immediately went to the place with seven men, besides myself, and saw the murder, but the Indians was gone, and I directly pursued them about four miles and came up with them in the thick groves where we met with nine Indians, and one sprung behind a tree, and took sight at me, and I run direct at him, and another one flashed at me, and then both took to their heels, and I shot one through the body, as he fell on his face, but I loaded and after another that was leading a

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 349

mare, and in the meantime he got up and ran away, and I fired one the other, and, I think, shot him."

Lieutenant Wetterhold's letter is not very clear as to the num- ber killed by the Indians on this occasion. However, Conrad Weiser, writing Governor Denny, from Easton, on July 15th, mentions this atrocity, and says that ten were killed. (Penna. Archives, Vol. 3, page 218.)

Loudon says that, on August 27th, "one, Beatty, was killed in Paxton." On Sunday, August 21st, according to the Pennsylvania Gazette of September 1st, 1757, Indians burned the house and barn of Peter Semelcke, within two miles of Fort Lebanon, and carried off three of his children, Mr. Semelcke, his wife and one child being away from home at the time. About the same time Peter Wampler's four children were carried off from Lebanon Township, Lebanon County, as they were going to the meadow for a load of hay. About the same time, also, some settlers in Berne Township, Berks County, were murdered. On September 27th, four persons were killed and four captured near Fort North- kill. The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 27th says that, on October 17th, Alexander Watt and John McKennet were killed and scalped as they were cutting corn, near Fort Hunter, and that some soldiers of the Augusta Regiment, coming down from Fort Halifax, met the murderers and had a skirmish with them. On November 25th, Thomas Robinson and a son of Thomas Bell were killed, in the Swatara region. In August, John Winkelbach's two sons and Joseph Fischbach were fired upon while bringing in their cows at sunrise, in Lebanon County. Both Winkelbach boys were killed, and Fischbach was badly wounded. About the same time, Leonard Long's son was killed and scalped while plowing in his father's field, and Isaac Williams' wife was killed, both these murders taking place in Lebanon County.

The Mackey Atrocity

During one of the incursions into Dauphin County, in the summer of 1757, Elizabeth Dickey, her child, and the wife of Samuel Young were captured. On the same day a Mr, Barnett and a Mr. Mackey were at work on the former's farm near Manada Creek, when news reached them that their families were murdered in the block house nearby. They at once started for the scene of horror, but had not gone far until they were ambushed by a party of Indians who killed Mackey and severely wounded

350 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Barnett who, nevertheless, was able to escape, owing to the swift- ness of his horse. He concealed himself until the Indians left the neighborhood the next day, when he learned that his family was safe with the exception of his son, William, aged nine, whom the Indians had captured, together with Mackey's son about the same age. The Indians proceeded westward with the two little boys. Upon learning that one of the boys was the son of Mackey, whom they had just killed, they forced him to stretch his father's scalp. For a time, the little Mackey boy carried his father's scalp, which he would often stroke with his little hand, and say, "My father's pretty hair."

Mr. Barnett at length recovered from his wound. In the hope of recovering his son, he accompanied George Croghan to Fort Pitt, and attended the council which Croghan, Colonel Hugh Mercer, Captain William Trent, and Captain Thomas McKee held with the Shawnees, Delawares, and other Indians at that place on July 5th, 1759. One day during his stay at the fort, he wished to get a drink of water from Grant's Spring, above the fort, so named from the defeat of Major James Grant at that place in the preceding September. He had proceeded only a short dis- tance, when something told him to turn back. At the same instant, he heard the report of a rifle, and looking towards the spring, saw the smoke of the rifle and an Indian scalping a soldier, who had gone to the spring for a drink.

Mr. Barnett returned home without recovering his son, but Croghan promised to use every endeavor to obtain the child. At length the boy was brought to Fort Pitt, but so great was his in- clination to return to the Indians that it was necessary to guard him closely until there would be an opportunity to send him to his father. On one occasion, he jumped into a canoe, and was half way across the Allegheny River before he was observed. Quick pursuit followed; but he reached the other side and hid in the bushes, where it took a search of several hours to find him. Soon thereafter, he was sent to Carlisle, where the father received him with tears of joy, and took him home to the arms of the mother. During his captivity, the Indians frequently broke the ice on rivers and creeks, and dipped him in "to make him hardy." This treatment impaired his constitution. He sank into the grave in early manhood, leaving a wife and daughter. Shortly thereafter, the mother died. Then Mr. Barnett, the elder, re- moved to Allegheny County, where he died at the great age of

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eighty-two years. His dust reposes in the church yard of Leb- anon, Mifflin Township, Allegheny County.

But, to return to the Mackey boy. The Indians gave this child to the French, and at the close of the French and Indian War, he passed into the hands of the English, was taken to Eng- land, and later, became a soldier in the British army, and was sent to America during the Revolutionary War. He procured a furlough, and sought out his widowed mother, who had mourned him as dead. As he stood before her in the strength of robust manhood, she was unable to see in him any trace of her long lost boy. "If you are my son," said she, "you have a mark upon your knee that I will know." He then exposed his knee to her view; whereupon she threw her arms around his neck in unrestrained joy. He never returned to the British army, but remained with his mother to the end of her days, often meeting William Barnett, and recounting with him their experiences while captives among the Indians.

Atrocities in Cumberland and Franklin Counties

Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," in the chapter on Cumberland County, relates the following atrocities that were perpetrated by the Indians, in this county, during the summer of 1757:

"In the spring and summer of 1757, the Indians invaded East Pennsboro. On May 13th, 1757, William Walker and another man were killed near McCormick's Fort, at Conodoguinet. In July of the same year, four persons were killed near Tobias Hendricks' . . . Companies of rangers scoured, in the summer of 1757, the country between the Conodoguinet Creek and the Blue Mountain, from the Susquehanna westward as far as Shippens- burg, to route the savages who usually lurked in small parties, stealing through the woods and over fields to surprise laborers, to attack men, women and children in the 'light of day and dead of night,' murdered all indiscriminately whom they had sur- prised, fired houses and barns, abducted women and children. On July 18, 1757, six men were killed or taken away near Ship- pensburg, while reaping in John Cesney's field. The savages murdered John Kirkpatrick, Dennis Oneidan; captured John Cesney, three of his grandsons, and one of John Kirkpatrick's children. The day following, not far from Shippensburg, in Joseph Stevenson's harvest field, the savages butchered inhu-

352 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

manely Joseph Mitchell, James Mitchell, William Mitchell, John Finlay, Robert Stevenson, Andrew Enslow, John Wiley, Allen Henderson and William Gibson, carrying off Jane McCammon, Mary Minor, Janet Harper and a son of John Finlay. July 27, Mr, McKisson was wounded, and his son taken from the South Mountain. A letter, dated Carlisle, September 5, 1757, says three persons were killed by the Indians, six miles from Carlisle, and two persons about two miles from Silver's old place."

The list of those murdered in John Cesney's field is also given on page 219 of Vol. 3, of the Penna. Archives, where it is stated that the tragedy took place about seven miles from Shippensburg, and that, "these people refused to join with their neighbors who had a guard appointed them, because they couldn't have their fields reaped the first."

Says Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," in the chapter on Franklin County:

"The following are the names of persons killed and taken cap- tive on the Conococheague : on the 23d of April, 1757, John Mar- tin and William Blair were killed, and Patrick McClelland wounded, who died of his wounds, near Maxwell's Fort; May 12th John Martin and Andrew Paul, both old men, were captured; June 24th, Alexander Miller was killed and two of his daughters, from Conococheague; July 27th, Mr. McKisson was wounded, and his two sons were captured, at the South Mountain; August 15th, William Manson and his son were killed near Cross' Fort; September 26th, Robert Rush and John McCracken, with others, were killed and taken captive, near Chambersburg." It will be noted that Dr. Egle mentions Mr. McKisson in both the chapter on Cumberland County and the chapter on Franklin County.

Loudon, in his "Indian Narratives," gives a list of atrocities that took place in 1757, the list being compiled by John McCul- lough whose captivity we have narrated in a former chapter. The list includes many already narrated in this chapter, as well as the following:

"March 29th, the Indians took one person from the South Mountain. May 16th, eleven persons killed at Paxton, by the Indians. June 6th, two men killed and five taken, near Shippens- burg. June 9th, four men killed in Sherman's Valley, June 17th, one man killed at Cuthbertson's Fort; four men shot at the Indian while scalping the man. June 24th, Alexander Miller killed and two of his daughters taken from Conococheague, and Gerhart Pendergras' daughters killed at Fort Littleton. (See Pa. Col.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1757 353

Rec, Vol. 7, page 632.) July 2nd, one woman and four children taken from Trent's Gap; same day one, Springson, killed, near Logan's Mill, Conococheague. July 9th, Trooper Wilson's son killed at Antietam Creek. July 10th, ten soldiers killed at Clapham's Fort. August 19th, one man killed, near Harris Ferry. September 2nd, one man killed near Digger's Gap, and one Indian killed. August 19th, fourteen people killed and taken from Mr. Cinky's congregation. On July 8th, two boys were taken from Cross' Fort in Conococheague."

One or more of the above murders probably took place within the limits of the state of Maryland.

The Eckerlin Tragedy

A few years prior to the French and Indian War, the three Eckerlin (Eckerling) brothers, Samuel, Israel and Gabriel, who were Pennsylvania-German mystics, settled near the mouth of a stream flowing into the Monongahela in the southeastern part of Green County, since known as Dunkard Creek from the fact that the Eckerlin brothers and their associates who formed the settlement, were German Baptists, or Dunkards. They had come from Ephrata, in Lancaster County. For several years the brothers lived in their new home in the western wilderness, in the midst of the Delaware Indians, and at peace with the world. Understanding the French language, they soon learned that the French were coming into the Ohio Valley and making prepara- tions to assert their claim with force of arms; but the brothers gave no thought to the preparations for war on the part of the French, inasmuch as they (the brothers) felt that they were safe, being much beloved by the Indians. Samuel had a knowledge of medicine and surgery, and often ministered to his Indian neigh- bors in times of illness. On account of this, he was known as "Doctor Eckerlin." As the Indian troubles increased, the friendly Delawares advised them to remove to a safer position on the Cheat River, as their settlement near the mouth of Dunkard Creek was directly on the line of the old Catawba War Trail. Accordingly the brothers removed to a place since called Dunker's Bottom, near the mouth of the Cheat River, a few miles from their first settlement.

Late in August, 1757, Samuel started on one of his trading trips to Winchester, Virginia, after the harvest had been gathered. Upon his return, he was stopped at Port Pleasant, on the South

354 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Branch, where he was accused of being a spy and in confederacy with the Indians. In vain he protested his innocence, and it was not until he appealed to the Governor that he was allowed to start on his homeward journey, accompanied by a squad of soldiers, who were ordered to follow him to his home on the Cheat River.

When Samuel and the soldiers were within a day's march of the Dunker settlement, a party of Indians led by a French priest, attacked the other brothers and their companions. Israel, who had absolute faith in divine protection, would neither defend himself nor attempt to escape, and he, Gabriel and a servant named Schilling were captured. The other members of the household were killed and scalped, and the cabins were pilfered and burned. The two brothers and Schilling were taken to Fort Duquesne, where the Indians scalped Gabriel. Schilling was kept by the Indians as their slave, while Gabriel and Israel were later taken to Montreal, and thence to Quebec. What eventu- ally became of the two brothers, is not definitely known. One report says they were carried to France, where they died as prisoners, while another report says they died at sea.

It was not until seven years after their capture that definite rumors reached Ephrata as to the fate of the brothers. Samuel, who, upon his return to the settlement on the Cheat River, found the ashes of the cabins, the half-decaying bodies of the Dunkers, and the hoops on which their scalps had been dried, once wrote a letter of inquiry to Benjamin Franklin, who was then in France. This letter is among the Franklin correspondence now in the pos- session of the American Philosophical Society.

George Croghan, in the journal of his journey to Logstown, in the spring of 1751, says, under date of May 25th, that "a Dunkar from the Colony of Virginia came to the Logs Town, and re- quested Liberty of the Six Nation Chiefs to make [a settlement] on the River Yough-yo-gaine, a branch of Ohio." This Dunkar (Dunker) was doubtless Samuel Eckerlin. For the details of the Eckerlin tragedy, the reader is referred to Dr. Julius F. Sachse's "German Sectarians of Pennsylvania," also to Captain H. M. M. Richards* "Pennsylvania-Germans in the French and Indian War," Vol. XV of the Publications of the Pennsylvania-German Society,

Conclusion

The year 1757 was one full of horrors on the Pennsylvania frontier, yet it witnessed the bringing about of peace between the

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Province and the Eastern Delawares and Shawnees. It also witnessed the recalling of Lord Loudon as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America and the appointment of Major- General James Abercrombie in his place. This change in supreme commanders was made by William Pitt soon after he assumed the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain; and, on December 30th, he wrote Governor Denny, giving him notice of the appoint- ment of General Abercrombie. This letter Governor Denny received on March 7th, 1758.

In 1757, also, upon a report that French and Indians from the Ohio were on their way over the Indian trail along the West Branch of the Susquehanna to attack Fort Augusta, Colonel Burd sent a detachment under the command of Captain Patterson to scout as far as the town of Chlnklacamoose (Clearfield). The detachment soon returned, having met with no Indians. Captain Patterson's men found Chlnklacamoose burned and unoccupied. (Pa. Archives, Sec. Ser., Vol. 2, page 777).

During 1757, only fragmentary news was received from time to time from Indian scouts and captured hostile Indians as to the strength of the garrison at Fort Duquesne. One of these reports placed the strength of the garrison as only two hundred, during the first months of the year. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 147.) Another placed it as high as six hundred, in the month of June, Captain Lignery being the Commander. Other reports, coming from the Ohio and Allegheny during this year, were to the effect that many Shawnees in these valleys were moving to the mouth of the Scioto and that many Delawares were moving up the Allegheny towards the Seneca habitat: also that the Western Delawares would be willing to make peace with the English if the latter would send a sufficiently strong expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. The year, 1758, saw both these things accomplished.

CHAPTER XVI

Post's Peace Missions — Grand Council at Easton

(1758)

MAJOR-General James Abercrombie having been ap- pointed commander-in-chief of all the British forces in America, three expeditions were planned for the year 1758. (1) Generals Amherst and Wolf were to join with Admiral Boscawen's fleet for the recapture of Louisburg. (2) General Abercrombie, with Lord Howe as real leader, was to move against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. (3) Brigadier-General John Forbes was placed in command of an expedition against Fort Duquesne. We shall not discuss the first two expeditions in this history, but shall treat the expedition of General Forbes in the following chapter. In the meantime, while Forbes' forces were assembling and later marching over the mountains against Fort Duquesne, other im- portant events were taking place, which claim our attention in the present chapter.

Post's Missions to Teedyuscung

Teedyuscung came to Philadelphia on March 13th, 1758, and advised Governor Denny and the Provincial Council that, in compliance with his promise at the third Easton conference of July and August, 1757, he had given the "Big Peace Halloo," and had secured the alliance of eight nations of the Western Indians, who had taken hold of the peace belt, in addition of the ten for whom he had spoken at the Easton treaty. Among these eight nations were the Ottawas, Twightwees and Chippewas. The calumet which these new allies sent to Teedyuscung was smoked by Teedyuscung, the Governor, and members of the Provincial Council and Assembly during the councils which followed Teedy- uscung's arrival.

During the conferences that attended the above visit of Teedy- uscung to the Governor and Provincial Council, the old chief urged that the Provincial Authorities should not neglect the op-

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portunity to do everything possible to strengthen the alHance with the eight western nations who had agreed to his peace pro- posal. He urged that a messenger should be sent to his friends on the Ohio, warning them to sever their allegiance with the French. He said: "I have received every encouragement from the Indian nations. Now, brother, press on with all your might in promoting the good work we are engaged in. Let us beg the God that made us to bless our endeavours, and I am sure if you assert yourselves, God will grant a blessing, and we shall live."

Governor Denny then, on March 24th, instructed Teedyuscung to see that the peace belt and calumet pipe were carried to the Western Indians, especially the Delawares and Shawnees on the Ohio. Teedyuscung then appointed five Indians, led by his son, Hans Jacob, to carry the peace message to the Ohio.

At this time, the Cherokees were coming to join the expedition of General Forbes against Fort Duquesne, much to the displeasure of the friendly Delawares and Shawnees; and Teedyuscung, dur- ing the above conferences, requested that a messenger be sent to stop these Southern Indians from coming further. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 29 to 56.) The friendly Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, of Wyoming, was especially wrought up over the presence of the Cherokees at Carlisle, Fort Littleton and other places, and threatened to leave Wyoming and join the French on the Ohio. Finally, on account of his fear of the Cherokees and Catawbas, he left for the Ohio early in May, saying he was going back to "Ohio where he was born."

Fearing that the peace efforts would be frustrated by the actions of the wise and able Paxinosa, the Governor and General Forbes decided to send the Moravian missionary, Christian Frederick Post, on a mission to Wyoming to explain the situation concerning the Cherokees, and to request the Indians on the Susquehanna to call all friendly Indians east of the mountains while the General advanced against Fort Duquesne. Post and Charles Thompson left Philadelphia on June 7th, and arrived at Bethlehem on the following day, having engaged the friendly Delaware chief, Moses Tatemy, and the Moravian Delaware, Isaac Still, on the way, to accompany them to Wyoming. At Bethlehem, they engaged three other friendly Indians to accom- pany them. From that place they went to the Nescopeck Moun- tains, about fifteen miles from Wyoming, where they met a party of nine Indians on their way to Bethlehem, who warned them not to go to Wyoming, as the woods were full of strange Indians. It

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was then decided to go back to the east side of the mountain, and to send two messengers forward to invite Teedyuscung to meet them. The next day Teedyuscung came from his residence at Wyoming. Post complained to him that the path to Wyoming was closed, and that it was his (Teedyuscung's) business to keep it open. The Delaware "King" replied that the road had been closed by the Six Nations, explaining that a war party of about two hundred Senecas had recently passed through several towns on the Susquehanna to attack some Virginians who had treach- erously killed a party of Senecas three years previously, as they were going against the Catawbas.

Post gained much valuable information from Teedyuscung as to the situation among the Indians on the Ohio. The old chief told him that his son, Hans Jacob, one of the five messengers he had sent to carry the peace message to the Ohio, had killed a French soldier a short distance from Fort Duquesne; that the commander of this fort then called the Senecas of the Ohio to- gether, and told them the Catawbas had killed the soldier, where- upon the Senecas told the commander that the Delawares com- mitted this deed; and that a heated argument then took place between the commander and the Senecas, in which the leader of the Senecas told the commander that "the English are coming up, and as soon as they strike you on the one side, I will strike you on the other." Many other reports from the Ohio were made to Post by Teedyuscung tending to show that the time was ripe for authoritative peace overtures to be made by Pennsylvania to the Indian allies of the French on the Ohio. Post and Thomp- son then returned to Philadelphia, on June 16th, and delivered the report of their journey. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 412 to 422.)

On June 20th, a peace message and accompanying belts from the Cherokees to the Eastern Delawares were delivered to Gover- nor Denny. This message, coming from two of the principal chiefs of the Cherokees, assured the friendly Delawares that the Cherokees had no intention of harming the friendly Delawares or any other Indians in alliance with the English. It also contained the request that the Eastern Delawares should cause all friendly members of their tribe on the Ohio to come east of the mountains, so as not to be in danger of being harmed by the Cherokees in attacking the Indian allies of the French. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 135, 136.)

Governor Denny deemed the peace message from the Cherokees

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so important that he decided to send the same at once to Teedy- uscung at Wyoming. Post was the messenger selected for this purpose, who set out for Wyoming over the same course that he had recently traveled, at which place he arrived on June 27th, and delivered the message to Teedyuscung. At Wyoming, Post met a number of chiefs from the Allegheny, to whom he explained all about the peace measures that were under way. An old sachem from the Allegheny, named Katuaikund, upon hearing the good news, "lifting up his hands to heaven wished that God would have mercy upon them, and would help them to bring them and the English together again, and to establish an ever- lasting ground foundation for peace among them. He wished further that God would move the Governor and the people's hearts toward them in love, peace, and union. . . He said further that it would be well if the Governor sent somebody with them at their return home, for it would be of great consequence to them who lived above Allegheny to hear from the Governor's mind from their own mouths." At Wyoming, Post learned that the garrison at Fort Duquesne consisted of about eleven hundred French, almost starved, who would have abandoned the fort, had not the Mohawks sent them assistance, and that the com- mander had recently said that, "if the English come too strong upon me, I will leave." Two of the messengers who had come from the Allegheny with news concerning the situation of the French, were Keekyuscung and Pisquetomen, the latter a brother of Shingas and King Beaver. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 142 to 145.)

Post's First Mission to the Western Delawares

Post then returned to Fort Allen (Weissport) on June 30th accompanied by fifty Indians. After the Governor heard his report and had talked with Pisquetomen and Keekyuscung, it was decided to send these two Indians to the Ohio, in order to gain information as to the situation among the Indians there, and to advise them of the peace measures. Post was requested to accompany these messengers, and he agreed to do so, if Charles Thomson were permitted to go with him. The Governor replied that "he might take any other person." Post then left Philadel- phia on July 15th, reaching Bethlehem on the 17th, at which place he made preparations for his journey to the Ohio. On the 19th he reached Fort Allen (Weissport), where Teedyuscung tried to dissuade him from going on his dangerous mission. Post says:

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"He [Teedyuscung] was afraid I should never return, that the Indians would kill me." Post replied to Teedyuscung that he was obliged to go, even if he should lose his life. On the 22nd, when Post again prepared to set out, Teedyuscung again protested saying that he was afraid that the Indians would kill Post, or that the French would capture him. Post then made the final reply to Teedyuscung that he would go on this peace mission to the Ohio, even if he died in the undertaking, and that, if, un- happily, he should die before completing the mission, he hoped that his death would be the means of saving many hundreds of lives. Without further delay, he therefore set forth on his first mission to the Ohio, accompanied by Pisquetomen, Keekyus- cung and Shamokin Daniel.

Before narrating Post's mission to the Western Delawares, we call attention, at this point, to the fact that no more suitable person could have been found in all the colonies for carrying the peace proposal to these Indians than the gentle and honest Moravian missionary. Weiser's influence was waning. He was an Iroquois at heart; Teedyuscung disliked him; he was a Colonel in the armed forces of the Province. Most of the Dela- wares and Shawnees disliked him. For these reasons, he was not the proper person to send on this important mission. Nor would George Croghan have been the proper person, at the time of which we are writing. He was a trader, bent on personal gain. But Post was not a military man. He had no selfish interest, and the Delawares knew this. Born in Germany, he came to America and labored as a Moravian missionary among the Delawares, being located for some time at Wyoming. He knew Shingas, King Beaver and all the important Delaware chiefs. The Dela- wares loved and trusted him. For years he had lived among them in all the intimacy of friends and companions. His first wife, Rachel, was a Delaware convert, whom he married in 1743, and who died at Bethlehem in 1747. In 1749, he chose as his second wife, Agnes, a dusky Daughter of the Delawares, who was bap- tized by Bishop Cammerhof on March 5th of that year and who died at Bethlehem in 1751. So that, in dealing with Post, the Delawares looked upon him as one of their own flesh and blood.

We shall now follow Post on his journey to the Western Dela- wares. He arrived at Fort Augusta at Sunbury, on July 25th, having passed many devastated and deserted plantations on the way. From this point, he followed the trail the Delawares used in their first migration from the region of Sunbury to the Alle-

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gheny, mentioned in Chapter II, as far as a point near the town of Punxsutawney in the southern part of Jefferson County. Here the trail branched, one branch leading in a north-western direc- tion across Jefferson, Clarion and Venango Counties to Venango (Franklin), at which place he arrived on August 7th. The next morning, while hunting his horses, he passed within ten yards of Fort Machault. He then set out for Kuskuskies, but proceeded too far to the southward, and on the 10th, his party met a renegade English trader and an Indian, who told them they were then within twenty miles of Fort Duquesne. Thus having lost their way, they spent almost two days in trying to find the right trail to Kuskuskies. Reaching an Indian town on Conoqueness- ing Creek, about fifteen miles from Kuskuskies, Post sent Pisquetomen on ahead to let the chiefs know that he was coming with a message from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania and the King of England. Shortly after Pisquetomen left. Post met some Shawnees, who formerly lived at Wyoming. They recognized him and treated him very kindly.

Arriving at Kuskuskies that same day (August 12th), Post was kindly welcomed by King Beaver, and ten other chiefs saluted him. They had long conversations with Post around the council fire until midnight. Post was now among the leaders of the bloody raids into the Pennsylvania settlements — King Beaver, Keckenepaulin and Shingas, the last of whom was the terror of the frontier, for whose head Governor Denny, in 1756, set a price of two hundred pounds. Other chiefs with whom Post held councils at Kuskuskies until August 20th, were Delaware George, who was his former disciple at the Moravian mission, and Killbuck. He made known to all the chiefs the peace be- tween Pennsylvania and the Eastern Delawares brought about at the treaty with Teedyuscung at Easton. After one of the councils, lasting far into the night, Delaware George was unable to sleep, so affected was he by the peace message of his former teacher and mentor. A French Captain and fifteen soldiers came to Kuskuskies to build houses for the Indians, and they used every art to get possession of Post, but to no avail. Even the bloody Shingas loved the gentle Moravian, and protected him.

On August 20th, Post, accompanied by twenty-five horsemen and fifteen footmen, went to Sauconk at the mouth of the Beaver. Here he was not well received, being surrounded by Indians with drawn knives. Finally recognizing a few and talking with them, their manner suddenly changed. Post went from here' to Logs-

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town, at which place he arrived on the evening of August 23d. Here he met many English captives, and was permitted to shake hands with them — a thing he was not permitted to do at Kus- kuskies where he saw Marie le Roy and Barbara Leininger, as well as other English captives. Leaving Logstown on August 25th, Post's party arrived on the right bank of the Allegheny, just opposite Fort Duquesne, in the afternoon. Here King Beaver introduced him to the Indians who came over from the fort. All were glad to see him except "an Old deaf Onondaga Indian who rose up and signified his displeasure." He apologized, however, the next day, when some Delaware and Shawnee friends of Post gave him a roll of tobacco.

Post's situation was now most critical. French officers de- manded that he be taken to the fort, but his Indian friends would "not suffer him to be blinded and carried into the Fort." The next day, the Indians told him the French had offered a reward for his scalp and that he should "not stir from the Fire." "Ac- cordingly," he says in his journal, "I stuck constantly as close to the fire as if I had been charm'd there." The Indian to whom the French offered a reward for Post's scalp was Shamokin Daniel, one of his own party, and from this time on, Post had much trouble with this Delaware, to whom the French had given a string of wampum "to leave me there."

Here, on August 26th, on the bank of the Allegheny, under the guns of Fort Duquesne, in»the presence of French officers, who, with paper and pen, took down every word he spoke, and in the presence of three hundred Indians — Delawares, Shawnees, Mingoes and Ottawas, — this heroic Knight of the Cross, Christian Frederick Post, delivered the peace message of the Governor of Pennsylvania and the King of England to the as- sembled warriors, and pleaded that they accept the message and withdraw from their allegiance with the French. After he ended his plea for peace, the French held a council with their most devoted Indian allies, at Fort Duquesne, and urged that, inas- much as the Delawares accompanying Post were wavering in their allegiance and inclining to the English interest, they should all be killed, to which proposal the Ottawas objected and prevented its being carried into execution.

Realizing that it was too dangerous for Post to remain longer so near Fort Duquesne, a party of his Indian friends left with him for Sauconk before daylight, on August 27th, by a different trail than the one over which they had come. They passed

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through three Shawnee towns on the way, at all of which Post was well received, and arrived at Sauconk in the evening, where he was also gladly welcomed. In the Shawnee towns. Post saw many Indians he became acquainted with at Wyoming.

On August 28th, Post and a party of twenty set out from Sauconk for Kuskuskies. One of the party was Shingas. "On the road," says Post, "Shingas addressed himself to me, and asked if I did not think that, if he came to the English, they would hang him, as they had offered a great reward for his head. He spoke in a very soft and easy manner. I told him that was a great while ago ; it was all forgotten and wiped clean away ; that the English would receive him very kindly." At this point Shamokin Daniel interrupted, and told Shingas not to believe Post; that the English had hired hundreds of Cherokees to kill the Delawares; and that both he (Daniel) and Post had seen an Indian woman lying dead in the road, murdered by the Cherokees. "D — n you," said Daniel, "why do not you (the English) and the French fight on the sea? You come here only to cheat the poor Indians, and take their land from them." That night Post and his party arrived at Kuskuskies.

Post remained at Kuskuskies until September 7th, holding many councils with Shingas, King Beaver, Pisquetomen, Dela- ware George and other leaders of the Western Delawares. In these councils, Shingas told him that the English and French were fighting for lands that belonged to neither, but to the In- dians, and that this fighting was taking place "in the Land that God has given us." Said this Delaware chief, in a speech as patriotic as ever fell from the lips of Daniel Webster:

"The English intend to destroy us, and take our lands, but the land is ours, and not theirs . . . It is you that have begun the war . . . We love you more than you love us; for, when we take any prisoners from you, we treat them as our own children. We are poor, and we cloathe them as well as we can, though you see our children are as naked as at the first. By this you may see that our hearts are better than yours. . . Why do not you and the French fight in the old country, and on the sea? Why do you come to fight on our land? . . . You want to take the land from us by force, and settle it. The white people think we have no brains in our heads."

Shingas and his associate chiefs "had brains in their heads." They saw through the schemes and plans of both the English and the French. Like all races, primitive and civilized, the Indians

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had their faults — faults that were increased by the white man's rum and vices — but no close student of Indian history will say that they did not have an intelligence far beyond that of other primitive races. Furthermore, no citizen of old Rome loved his country more than these children of the American forests loved the mountains, the valleys, the streams, the hunting grounds, for which they were fighting and dying — the beautiful and loved region which Shingas described as "the Land that God has given us."

From what Post told them and from what was promised in various conferences to be discussed in a subsequent chapter, the Western Delawares and Shawnees believed that, as soon as the English would succeed in driving the French from the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, they (the English) would withdraw east of the Allegheny Mountains and leave the western lands to the Indian. It was this understanding that caused Shingas, King Beaver, Delaware George and the other chiefs with whom Post held his conferences, to accept the peace message of which he was the bearer.

On September 3d, Post was given a peace belt of eight rows of wampum. It was delivered by King Beaver, Delaware George, Pisquetomen, John Hickman, Killbuck, Keckenepaulin and eight other chiefs, representing the three clans of the Delawares.

On September 4th, two hundred French and Indians came to Kuskuskies on their way to Fort Duquesne. They stayed all night. During the middle of the night. King Beaver's daughter died, "on which," says Post, "a great many guns were fired in the town."

Just before Post left, September 7th, King Beaver and Shingas, referring to the fact that Governor Denny and Teedyuscung had entrusted Post to their brother, Pisquetomen, addressed their brother as follows:

"Brother, you told us that the Governor of Philadelphia and Teedyuscung took this man out of their bosoms, and put him into your bosom, that you should bring him here; and you have brought him here to us; and now we give him into your bosom, to bring him to the same place again, before the Governor; but do not let him quite loose; we shall rejoice when we shall see him here again."

Post and his companions then hastened on their way over the mountains to Eastern Pennsylvania, bearing the peace belt of the Western Delawares. During the night of September 13th, at

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a point near Punxsutawney, rustling was heard in the bushes near their camp, whereupon Post's Indian companions kept watch, one after another, all the rest of the night. "In the morning," says Post, "I asked them what made them afraid. They said I knew nothing ; the French had set a great price on my head; and they knew there was gone out a great scout to lie in wait for me."

Arriving at the Great Island (Lock Haven), on September 19th, Post met a war party of twenty Delawares and Mingoes, return- ing from the settlements with five prisoners and one scalp. Post informed them where he had been and what he had accomplished, whereupon the warriors said that, if they had known this, they would not have gone to war.

Post arrived at Fort Augusta on September 22nd. At Harris' Ferry, he sent Pisquetomen and Thomas Hickman, a friendly Delaware, on to Philadelphia to deliver the peace belt and message of the Western Delawares, while he went on to see General Forbes, who was then at Raystown (Bedford) with the main part of his army. (Thomas Hickman was brutally murdered by a white man, in the Tuscarora Valley, in 1761.) Pisquetomen and Thomas Hickman went to the "Grand Council," which convened at Easton, on October 8th, described later in this chapter, where the former delivered the peace belt and message, and where Governor Denny prepared a reply to the same, and directed Pisquetomen and Hickman to carry this reply back to the Western Delawares. Then, on October 22nd, just as Pisquetomen and Hickman were leaving, Post arrived at the Council with the news from General Forbes that twelve hundred French and two hundred Indians had attacked his advance guard at Loyal- hanning (Ligonier), on October 12th. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 187, 188, 212.)

For Post's journal of his mission, see Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 520 to 544.

Post's Second Mission to the Western Delawares

Governor Denny's message in reply to the message and peace belts brought by Post from the Western Delawares, contained assurance of pardon for past hostile acts of these Indians and their allies, upon their agreeing to withdraw from the French allegiance. It also contained a request that the chiefs of the Western Dela- wares come to Philadelphia for a conference with the Colonial Authorities.

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As stated above, Pisquetomen and Thomas Hickman were ready to start from Easton with the Governor's message when Post arrived at the Grand Council at that place, on October 22nd. These messengers were to be accompanied by Togennontawly, a Cayuga chief, the youngest son of Shikellamy, Captain John Bull, William Hays and the Delaware, Isaac Still, the last being a Moravian convert — the first two being appointed by the Six Nations' chiefs and the rest by the Governor.

On October 25th, Post received orders from Governor Denny, at Easton, to go once more to Kuskuskies, carrying the Gover- nor's reply. He left Easton that day, going to Bethlehem, where he prepared for his journey. On the 27th, he arrived at Reading, where he met Captain John Bull, William Hays and the above named Indians, who were to accompany him. At the house of Conrad Weiser, at Reading, he read the Governor's letter of instructions in which he was requested to go on this journey by the same route that the army of General Forbes was following, instead of the route he had followed on his first mission. Pisque- tomen and the other Indians were at first unwilling to travel by the route followed by Forbes' army, as it led through the Scotch- Irish settlements in Cumberland and Franklin Counties, where so many atrocities had been committed since the beginning of the war. The Indians feared they might be harmed by the in- habitants of these counties, but finally gave their consent to travel by this route. The party arrived at Carlisle on the even- ing of October 29th, where the Indians spent the night in a house just outside Fort Lowther. The next day, the party arrived at Shippensburg, where all spent the night in Fort Morris.

While Post and his companions were passing Chambers' Fort, now Chambersburg, on October 31st, some Scotch-Irish settlers, recognizing the Indians, "exclaimed against them in a rash man- ner." Post had some difficulty in getting his Indian companions through this neighborhood, but reached Fort Littleton the next day, where he and his party remained until November 3d, when they set out for Raystown (Bedford), arriving there that night and remaining there until November 6th. On November 7th, they arrived at Loyalhanning (Ligonier), where they were received by General Forbes, who gave them a message and a belt of wampum for the Western Delawares.

On November 9th, Post and his party left Loyalhanning, es- corted by one hundred troops under Captain John Haselet, and went to a fortified place ten miles west, still known as Breast-

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work Hill, in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, where they spent the night. The next day, after travelling about five miles. Captain Haselet and his company proceeded towards the Ohio by the old trading path, while Post and his party, accom- panied by Lieutenant Hays and fourteen troops, went down the Loyalhanna to the Shawnee and Delaware town, called Keckene- paulin's Town, then deserted, located at the mouth of the Loyal- hanna and just opposite the town of Saltsburg; thence to Kis- kemeneco, or Kiskiminetas Town, also then deserted, located on the south bank of the Kiskiminetas River, about seven miles from its mouth, where they encamped the night of November 11th. Here Captain Hays and his party of fourteen men left Post's party. We shall learn the fate of Captain Hays presently. Leaving Kiskiminetas Town, Post arrived at the Allegheny River on the afternoon of November 12th, at that part of Chartier's Old Town on the east side of the river, the principal part of the town being on the west side. Here he spent the night in this deserted Shawnee town. "The wolves and owls made a great noise in the night," he said. Crossing the Allegheny the next day, Post and his party proceeded through the northern end of Allegheny County, the south-central part of Butler County, and into Lawrence County, to Kuskuskies, consisting, at that time, of four villages whose center was at or near the site of the present city of New Castle.

Post arrived at Kuskuskies on November 16th, where he found only two men, the rest of the warriors being away in the service of the French. On November 17th, Post held a conference with Delaware George, to whom he delivered the wampum and mes- sage sent by General Forbes. That evening the Delaware chief, Kechenepaulin, returned to Kuskuskies, and brought the sad news that his party of Indians had attacked the party of Lieu- tenant Hays, about twelve miles from Fort Duquesne, killing the Lieutenant and four of his soldiers and capturing five others, one of whom, Henry Osten, then at Sauconk, was to be burned at the stake. The Indians attacking Lieutenant Hays and his party, had first attacked the scouting parties of Colonel George Washington and Colonel Hugh Mercer, near Ligonier, on Nov- ember 12th, and had been repulsed. An account of this skirmish will be given in the following chapter. Post at once sent an Indian to Sauconk with the message that the prisoner, Henry Osten, was one of the party guarding him on his mission of peace, where-

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upon the prisoner was not burned, but was sent to Kuskuskies, on November 20th, where he ran the gauntlet.

Post says, in his journal, under date of November 17th, that the warriors gave the following explanation as to how the attack on Captain Hays' party took place: That the Indians were on their way to see General Forbes and hold a conference with him, when some French with them "made a division among them;" that the Delaware chief, Kekeuscung, told the others that he would go on and meet the General, if the others would follow him; "but the others would not agree to it; and the French per- suaded them to fall upon the English at Loyalhanning; they accordingly did, and as they were driven back, they fell in with that party that guided us, which they did not know. They seemed sorry for it."

The next three days filled the heart of Post with dread. The warriors who had been repulsed at Loyalhanning had returned, "possessed with a murdering spirit." They had a French captain with them, who endeavored to get possession of Post. Post and his companions were warned not to go from the house. Finally in conferences with the French captain, in which he endeavored to get the support of the Indians, they refused to accept his wampum belt, whereupon he "looked pale as death."

On November 22nd, Kittiuskund (Kekeuscung) returned to Kuskuskies with the information that General Forbes was only fifteen miles from Fort Duquesne, and that the French had taken the roofs off the buildings near the fort and placed them around it, so as to be able quickly to set the place on fire rather then let it fall into the hands of the English. On this day, also, some of the Indians told Post that Shamokin Daniel, who accompanied him on his former mission, "had fairly sold me to the French ; and the French had been much displeased that the Indians brought me away."

Under date of November 24th, Post wrote in his journal : "We hanged out the English flag in spite of the French; on which our prisoners folded their hands, in hopes that their redemption was nigh; looking up to God, which melted my heart in tears, and prayers to God, to hear their prayers, and change the times, and the situation, which our prisoners are in, and under which they groan."

That day King Beaver returned to Kuskuskies and saluted the heroic peace messenger in a very friendly manner. Shingas returned on November 25th,, whereupon Post called

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the chiefs and warriors together, told them of the Grand Council at Easton, delivered the peace belt and strings of wampum, and read the letter of General Forbes. Says Post: "The messages pleased and gave satisfaction to all the hearers except the French captain. He shook his head with bitter grief, and often changed his countenance." On that very day, as we shall see in the follow- ing chapter, the English flag was raised above the smouldering ruins of Fort Duquesne.

On November 28th, all the chiefs and warriors at Kuskuskies met in council to frame an answer to the letter of General Forbes and the peace belt and message from Governor Denny. Their deliberations lasted long into the night and the greater part of the next day. The matter that disturbed the chiefs was fear that the English would not withdraw east of the Allegheny Mountains after having driven the French from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. Kittiuskund, one of the principal chiefs, secretly told Post this day :

"That all the nations had jointly agreed to defend their hunting place at Allegheny, and suffer nobody to settle there; and as these Indians are very much inclined to the English interest, so he begged us very much to tell the Governor, General, and all other people not to settle there. And if the English would draw back over the mountain, they would get all the other nations into their interest; but if they staid and settled there, all nations would be against them; and he was afraid it would be a great war, and never come to peace again."

As we have already pointed out and as we shall see further on in this chapter and a subsequent chapter, the reason why the Delawares and their allies, the Shawnees, accepted the peace messages of Governor Denny, carried over the mountains to them by the heroic Moravian missionary, was their belief and under- standing that the English would withdraw from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny after they had driven the French from this region. We shall also see, in a subsequent chapter, that the failure of the English to keep their many promises to withdraw from this region after the expulsion of the French therefrom, was the prime cause of Pontiac's War — mis-named "Pontiac's Con- spiracy."

On November 29th, Post and his party went to Sauconk, ac- companied by twenty Indians, arriving there in the evening. ■Here- they met George Croghan and Andrew Montour, who had come to' that place from the ruins of Fort Duquesne. The next

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day Post read the messages of the Governor and General Forbes, this time in the presence of Croghan and Mountour, as well as Shingas, King Beaver and the other Delaware chiefs. Confer- ences were held here on December 1, at which the Delawares asked Post to come and live among them and to preach to them. On December 2nd, Post, his party, and many chiefs of the Dela- wares, left Sauconk, and travelled to within eight miles of the ruins of Fort Duquesne, which he now calls Pittsburgh, doubtless having been advised by Croghan of the new name given the place by General Forbes. On their way they passed through several deserted Shawnee towns as well as Logstown. He specifically describes Logstown as follows: "On the east end is a great piece of low land, where the old Logstown used to stand. In the new Logstown the French have built about thirty houses for the Indians. They have a large corn-field on the south side, where the corn stands ungathered."

On December 3d, Post's party reached the Allegheny, opposite Pittsburgh, but were unable to cross the river, being obliged to remain "on that island where I had kept council with the In- dians, in the month of August last." This was Killbuck's or Smoky Island. While Post says in the journal of his first mission to the Ohio that the councils of August 26th, were held on the west bank of the Allegheny, it would seem from the above quoted statement in the journal of his second mission that these councils were held on Smoky Island.

Post and his party finally got across the Allegheny on December 4th. Arriving at the ruins of Fort Duquesne, Post learned from Mr. Hays that Colonel Henry Bouquet, whom Forbes had left in command, was much displeased with the answer that Shingas, King Beaver and the other Delaware chiefs had made to the letter of General Forbes — an answer in which they insisted that the English withdraw east of the Allegheny Mountains. Bouquet desired that the chiefs change their answer, but they declined to do so. That afternoon the Delaware chiefs held a council, in which King Beaver said : "We likewise join, and accept the peace offered to us; and we have already answered your messenger what we have to say to the General, that he should go back over the mountains; we have nothing to say to the contrary."

The events now being narrated have such an important bearing on more serious events to follow, when the warriors of Pontiac, Guyasuta and Custaloga rose in savage wrath to drive the English into the sea, that we shall let Post tell in his own words what

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happened after King Beaver made the statement, above quoted :

"Neither Mr. Croghan nor Andrew Montour would tell Colonel Bouquet the Indians' answer. Then Mr. Croghan, Colonel [John] Armstrong and Colonel Bouquet went into a tent by themselves, and I went upon my business. What they have further agreed to I do not know; but when they had done, I called King Beaver, Shingasand Kekeuscung, and said: 'Brethren, if you have any alteration to make, in answer to the General, concerning leaving this place, you will be pleased to let me know.' They said they would alter nothing. 'We have told them three times to leave the place, and go back; but they insist upon stay- ing here; if, therefore, they will be destroyed by the French and Indians, we cannot help them."

Colonel Bouquet set out for Loyalhanning that day (December 5th.) Under date of December 6th, Post wrote the following in his journal:

"Mr. Croghan told me that the Indians had spoke, upon the same string that I had, to Colonel Bouquet, and altered their mind; and had agreed and desired that 200 men should stay at the fort. I refused to make any alteration in the answer to the General, till I myself did hear it of the Indians; at which Mr. Croghan grew very angry. I told him I had already spoke with the Indians; he said it was a d — d lie; and desired Mr. Hays to enquire of the Indians, and take down in writing what they said. Accordingly, he called them, and asked them if they had altered their speech or spoke to Colonel Bouquet on that string they gave me. Shingas and the other counsellor said they had spoken nothing to Colonel Bouquet on the string they gave me, but what was agreed between the Indians at Kushkushking [Kuskuskies.] They said Mr. Croghan and Henry [Andrew] Montour had not spoke and acted honestly and uprightly; they bid us not to alter the least, and said: 'We have told them three times to go back; but they will not go, insisting upon staying here. Now you will let the Governor, General, and all the people know that our desire is that they should go back, till the other nations have joined in the peace, and then they may come and build a trading house.' Then they repeated what they had said on the 5th instant."

Post left Pittsburgh on December 6th. He arrived at Loyal- hanning on December the 8th. He remained here until December 27th, having given General Forbes a report of his mission, in the meantime. On December 14th, he had a long talk with the Gen-

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eral, at Loyalhanning. General Forbes also set out from Loyal- hanning on December 27th, Post accompanying him as far as Carlisle, at which place they arrived on January 7th, 1759. Post set out on foot from Carlisle, on January 8th, and arrived at Lancaster, on January 10th.

Thus ends the account of the historic missions of Christian Frederick Post to the Western Indians — missions whose impor- tance it would indeed be difficult to overestimate. If Shingas and his associate chiefs had not welcomed the peace message of the gentle Moravian missionary, who can tell how different would have been the result? Would the Anglo-Saxon today have the ascendancy in the Western World? Would America be speaking English today? Logstown and Sauconk were filled with war- riors, and in the villages in the valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum were hundreds of others. One word from Shingas or King Beaver, and they would have arisen in savage wrath. But that word was not spoken, because Post, whom they loved and in whom they had confidence, held them silent and kept them from assisting the French, as the army of General Forbes marched over the mountains and through the wilderness to dislodge the French from the beautiful and fertile valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, and to end the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania. Let us pay due tribute to the memory of Christian Frederick Post. Let us admire his sublime courage. At Pittsburgh, the "Gateway to the West," and at New Castle, there should be monuments pro- claiming to future generations the deeds and worth of this honest, courageous and noble character of the early days of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1710, and died at German town, on April 29th, 1785. His dust reposes in the "Lower Graveyard" at German- town.

Post's journal of his second mission to the Western Delawares is published in several historical works, among them being, Thwaites' "Early Western Travels," Vol. 1, pages 234 to 291. George Croghan's journal of November and December, 1758, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 560 to 565, is erroneously attributed to Post.

Kuskuskies

Kuskuskies, or Kuskuski, where Post held the momentous treaty with King Beaver, Shingas and their associate chiefs, was, at that time, a group of four Delaware towns whose center was, as has already been stated, at or near the site of the present city

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of New Castle, Lawrence County. In the journal of his first mission to this place, Post describes the Indian settlement as follows: "Cuskusking is divided into four towns, each at a dis- tance from the others, and the whole consists of about ninety Houses and two hundred able Warriors."

Delawares of the Wolf and Turkey Clans took up their abode here at least as early as 1742, possibly soon after the founding of the Delaware town of Kittanning. Prior to the coming of the Delawares, however, the Senecas had a village, called Kuskuski, at the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango Rivers and another of the same name on the Shenango at the mouth of Neshannock Creek, both within the limits of the present city of New Castle.

Kuskuskies was a regional term, applied by the Delawares, not only to the four towns mentioned by Post, but to the territory for many miles along the Beaver, the Mahoning, the Shenango and the Neshannock, as General William Irvine pointed out in the report of his exploration of the Donation and Depreciation Lands in Western Pennsylvania, in 1785.

For a comprehensive sketch of Kuskuskies, see Dr. George P. Donehoo's "Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania," pages 85 to 87.

The Grand Council at Easton

While Christian Frederick Post was on his first mission to the Ohio Indians, Teedyuscung was persuading the Six Nations to send deputies to a fourth grand peace conference at Easton. His purpose was to draw all the Indians into an alliance with the English, and to secure a general and lasting peace. As a pre- liminary, he had induced the Minisink Indians and a number of Senecas to go to Philadelphia in August and hold a conference with the Governor.

The Grand Council at Easton, known as the Fourth Easton Council, opened on Sunday, October 8, 1758, with more than five hundred Indians in attendance, representing all the tribes of the Six Nations, the Delawares, Conoys, Tuteloes, and Nanticokes. Governor Denny, members of the Provincial Council and Assem- bly, Governor Bernard, of New Jersey, Commissioners for Indian affairs in New Jersey, Conrad Weiser, George Croghan, and a number of Quakers from Philadelphia, made up the attendance of the whites. Those who acted as interpreters were Conrad Weiser, Isaac Still, Moses Tatemy and Andrew Montour.

Three great land disputes came before this council. The first

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was the Albany purchase of 1754, which, as we have already seen, caused the Delawares of the West Branch of the Susquehanna and the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny to go over to the French. To the credit of Conrad Weiser, it must be said that he had all along insisted that this was not a just purchase; that the Indians were deceived, and that the running of the lines had been greatly misrepresented. Furthermore, the Six Nations had declared to Sir William Johnson in 1755, that they would never consent to this sale, pointing out that the West Branch of the Susquehanna was held by them simply in trust as a hunting ground for their cousins, the Delawares. The matter was adjusted at this treaty by Governor Denny, on behalf of the Proprietaries, telling the Six Nations that Conrad Weiser and Richard Peters would deed back to them all of the Albany Purchase west of the summits of the Allegheny Mountains, if the Six Nations would confirm the residue of the purchase. This they agreed to, and the mutual releases were executed October 24th.

The second land dispute taken up at the Grand Council was the complaint of the Munsee Clan of Delawares (Munseys) that their lands in New Jersey had never been purchased. Governor Bernard, of New Jersey, when asked by the Munseys what he should pay for the New Jersey land, offered them eight hundred dollars, saying that it was a very extraordinary offer. The Munseys then asked the Iroquois deputies for their opinion as to the price. The Iroquois replied that the offer was fair and honorable; that if it were their own case, they would cheerfully accept it; but, as there were a great many of the Munseys to share in the purchase money, they would recommend that the Governor add two hundred dollars more. To this Governor Bernard agreed, and so this second great land dispute was settled.

The third land dispute to come before the Grand Council was the old complaints made by Teedyuscung concerning the Walking Purchase. The Six Nations had not met with the Delawares at any public treaty with Pennsylvania since the treaty of 1742, in which Canassatego, as the spokesman of the Six Nations, ordered the Delawares to remove from the bounds of the Walking Pur- chase. Three questions called for an answer at the Grand Coun- cil: (1) Was the Walking Purchase just? (2) Had the Six Nations any right to sell lands on the Delaware? (3) Were the Delawares subject to the Iroquois, or were they independent?

Before taking up the matter of the Walking Purchase, the Iroquois deputies concluded that the first thing to do was to

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humble Teedyuscung, and break down his influence and standing. The great Delaware had entered this council more humbly than he did the councils of 1756 and 1757, realizing that his bitter enemy, Nickas, a Mohawk chief, was in attendance. George Croghan's Mohawk wife was a daughter of Nickas, according to Charles Thompson and others.

Nickas began the attack on Teedyuscung, designed to break down his influence. Pointing to Teedyuscung, he spoke with great vigor and bitterness. Conrad Weiser was ordered to in- terpret Nickas' speech, but declined, and desired that Andrew Montour should do it. Weiser clearly saw that the interpretation of his speech would cause great discord, and he planned to have the interpretation postponed until the anger of the Iroquois had time to cool. He therefore advised that the speech be interpreted at a private conference, which was arranged to take place the next morning, October 14th. The next morning came; but there was no conference. Weiser had succeeded in causing more delay to avert the threatening storm. However, on the morning of the 15th, Nickas, at a private conference, said: "Who made Teedy- uscung chief of the nations? If he be such a great man, we desire to know who made him so? Perhaps you have, and if this be the case, tell us so. It may be the French have made him so. We want to inquire and know where his greatness arose."

Nickas was followed by Tagashata, chief of the Senecas, who said: "We do not know who made Teedyuscung this great man over ten nations, and I want to know who made him so." Then Assarandonquas, chief of the Onondagas, said: "I never heard before now that Teedyuscung was such a great man, and much less can I tell who made him so. No such thing was ever said in our towns." Then Thomas King, in behalf of the Oneidas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes, and Conoys, said: "I now tell you we, none of us, know who has made Teedyuscung such a great man. Perhaps the French have, or perhaps you have, or some among you, as you have different governments and are different people. We for our parts entirely disown that he has any authority over us, and we desire to know from whence he derives his authority."

The following day, October 16th, after Conrad Weiser had time to advise Governor Denny and Governor Bernard as to the proper reply to make to these speeches of the Iroquois deputies, Governor Denny advised them that he had never made Teedyus- cung a great chief. He further told the deputies that, at the for- mer Easton conferences, Teedyuscung had spoken of the Iroquois

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as his uncles and superiors; and Governor Bernard also denied making Teedyuscung a great chief, or king. Thus, the skillful guidance of Conrad Weiser, in delaying the outburst of Iroquois anger and in framing the proper speeches for the Governors, smoothed matters over, and prevented the cause of peace from suffering a serious setback.

After the apologies of Governor Denny and Governor Ber- nard, Teedyuscung arose to speak on his land claims. Said he: "I did let you know formerly what my grievance was. I told you that from Tohiccon, as far as the Delawares owned, the Pro- prietaries had wronged me. Then you and I agreed that it should be laid before the King of England, and likewise you told me you would let me know as soon as ever he saw it. You would lay the matter before the King, for you said he was our Father, that he might see what was our differences; for as you and I could not decide it, let him do it. Now let us not alter what you and I have agreed. Now, let me know if King George has decided the matter between you and me. I don't pretend to mention any of my uncles' [Iroquois'] lands. I only mention what we, the Delawares, own, as far as the heads of Delaware. All the lands lying on the waters that fall into the Susquehanna belong to our uncles."

He then took another belt and turned to address the Iroquois, but these proud sachems had, during his speech to Governors Denny and Bernard, noiselessly left the room. Teedyuscung then declined to speak further. The next day, October 17th, the Indians spent in private conferences. On October 18th, after Governor Denny had had a private interview with the Six Nations Teedyuscung came to his headquarters, stating that the Dela- wares did not claim the land high up on the Delaware, as those belonged to their uncles, the Iroquois, but that the land which he did specifically complain about, was included in the Walking Pur- chase. Governor Denny avoided giving Teedyuscung a direct reply until he would lay the land dispute before the Six Nations' deputies.

He then explained to the deputies that Pennsylvania had bought land from them which the Delawares claimed, advising that this was a matter which should be settled among themselves. The Six Nations replied that they did not understand the Gover- nor. They said that he had left matters in the dark; that they did not know what lands he meant; that if he meant the lands on the other side of the Blue Mountains, he knew that the Proprie- taries had a deed for .them (.the Purchase of 1749), which ought to

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be produced and shown to them ; that their deeds had their marks, and when they should see them, they would know their marks again. Conrad Weiser then brought the deed. The Iroquois examined it and said : "The land was ours and we can justify it."

Teedyuscung said no more at the Easton conference concern- ing the Walking Purchase, but he charged the Six Nations with selling his land at Wyoming to the Connecticut interests at the Albany treaty of 1754. In fact, one of the conditions upon which he was willing to make peace was that he and his Delawares be settled at Wyoming, and that a deed be given to them for these lands. Addressing the Iroquois deputies, he said:

"Uncles, you may remember that you placed us at Wyoming and Shamokin, places where Indians have lived before. Now, I hear since that you have sold that land to our brethren, the English, [meaning the Connecticut commissioners]. Let the matter now be cleared up in the presence of our brothers, the English. I sit here as a bird on a bough. I look about and do not know where to go. Let me therefore come down upon the ground and make that my own by a good deed, and I shall then have a home forever; for if you, my uncles, or I, die, our brethren, the English, will say they bought it from you, and so wrong my posterity out of it."

The Oneida chief, Thomas King, promised to lay Teedyus- cung's request for the Wyoming lands before the great council of the Six Nations.

It is well to explain, at this point, that Connecticut's claim to the Wyoming Valley had another basis than the irregular pur- chase made by the Connecticut interests from the Mohawks at the Albany Treaty of 1754. The Wyoming lands were included in the grant of Charles I, of England, to the Plymouth Company, which, in 1631, conveyed them to Connecticut. Then this latter grant was confirmed by Royal Patent from Charles II, in 1662. By a confusing error, Charles II, in making the grant of what is now the State of Pennsylvania, to William Penn, in 1681, in- cluded the Wyoming lands in the same. This error caused a bitter controversy between Pennsylvania and Connecticut over the Wyoming lands for about a century.

The Grand Council ended on October 26th. Peace was secured, and through the efforts of Post, the Ohio Indians had been drawn away from the French. For a full account of the Grand Council at Easton, see Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 175 to 223.

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While Governor Denny, Teedyuscung and Christian Frederick Post were working for peace and General Forbes was preparing to advance against Fort Duquesne, Indian outrages were com- mitted, which we shall now narrate.

Mary Jemison, White Woman of Genessee

On April 5th, 1758, a band of Indians and Frenchmen from the Ohio attacked the home of Thomas Jemison, near the confluence of Sharp's Run and Conewago Creek in Adams County. On the morning of that day, Jemison's daughter, Mary, aged about fifteen, had returned from an errand to a neighbor's, and a man* took her horse to go to his house after a bag of grain. Her father was busy with chores about the house, her mother was getting breakfast, her two elder brothers were at the barn, while the smaller children of the family and a neighbor woman, f were in the house. Suddenly they were alarmed by the discharge of a number of guns. Opening the door they found the man and the horse lying dead. The Indians then captured Mr. Jemison, his wife, his children, Robert, Matthew, Betsy, and Mary, together with the neighbor woman and her three children, the two brothers in the barn making their escape. The attacking party consisted of six Indians and four Frenchmen. They set out with their prisoners in single file, using a whip when anyone lagged behind. At the end of the second day's march, Mary was separated from her parents. During the night her parents and all the other prisoners, except Mary and a neighbor boy, were cruelly put to death, and their bodies left in the swamps to be devoured by wild beasts. As an Indian took Mary and this little boy by the hand, to lead them from the rest of the prisoners, her mother exclaimed, "Don't cry, Mary — don't cry, my child. God will bless you! Farewell — fare- well!" These were the last words she ever heard fall from the lips of her mother. During the next day's march, the unhappy girl had to watch the Indians scrape and dry the scalps of her parents, brothers, sisters, and neighbors. Her mother had an abundance of beautiful, red hair, and she could easily distinguish her scalp from the others, — a sight which remained with her to the end of her days. The neighbor boy was given to the French, and Mary given to two Shawnee squaws, and carried to the Shawnee towns on the Scioto. Here these squaws adopted her, replacing a brother who had been killed during the French and Indian War.

Mary was given the name of Deh-ge-wanus by the squaws, who

♦Robert Buck. tMrs. William Mann.

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had lost a beloved brother who had fallen on the field of the slain ; and according to Seaver, in his "Life of Mary Jemison," the name means, "a handsome girl," while, according to other authorities, it means "two falling voices" or "two females letting words fall." On the occasion of giving her the Indian name, the squaws, crying bitterly and shedding an abundance of tears, recited the virtues of their brother, ending with the following chant:

"Oh, helpless and wretched, our brother has gone. Well we remember his deeds. The deer he could take on the chase. The panther shrunk back at the sight of his strength. His enemies fell at his feet. He was brave and courageous in war. As the fawn, he was harmless; his friendship was ardent; his temper was gentle; his pity was great. Though he fell on the field of the slain, with glory he fell, and his spirit went up to the land of his fathers in war. Then why do we mourn? With transports of joy, they received him, and fed him, and clothed him, and wel- comed him there. Oh, friends, he is happy; then dry up your tears. His spirit has seen our distress, and sent us a helper whom with pleasure we greet. Deh-ge-wanus has come: then let us receive her with joy. She is handsome and pleasant. Oh! she is our sister, and gladly we welcome her here. In the place of our brother she stands in our tribe. With care, we will guard her from trouble; and may she be happy till her spirit shall leave us."

In the autumn of 1759, she was taken to Fort Pitt, when the Shawnees and other western tribes went to that place to make peace with the English. She accompanied them with a light heart, as she believed she would soon be restored to her brothers who had made their escape when she was captured. The English at Fort Pitt asked her a number of questions concerning herself, which so alarmed her adopted Indian sisters that they hastily took her down the Ohio in a canoe. Afterwards she learned that some settlers had come to the fort to take her away, but could not find her.

She married two Indian chiefs of renown. The first was a Delaware named Sheninjee, of whom she spoke as "noble, large in stature, elegant in appearance, generous in conduct, courageous in war, a friend of peace, and a great lover of justice." To this husband she bore two children. The first died soon after birth, but the second, who was born in the fourth year of her captivity, she named in memory of her father, Thomas Jemison. Her first husband died while they were enroute with her child to her new home in the Genesee Valley in New York. Several years after

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the death of her first husband, she married Hiokatoo, also known as Gardow, by whom she had four daughters and two sons. This second husband was a cruel and vindictive warrior. He was a Seneca, and as early as 1731, was appointed a runner to collect an Iroquois army to go against the Cherokees and Catawbas of the South. The Iroquois army, after a fatiguing march, met its enemies in what was then called "the low, dark and bloody lands," near Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. In a two days' battle in which the Southern Indians lost twelve hundred warriors, the Iroquois were successful. At Braddock's defeat, he is said to have captured two white prisoners whom he burned to death in a fire of his own kindling. He took part in almost every engagement in the French and Indian War. As will be seen he commanded the Senecas at the capture of Fort Freeland, July 28th, 1779. Seaver, in his "Life of Mary Jemison," says that it was this chief who painted Doctor John Knight on the occasion of Colonel William Crawford's defeat and torture, in June, 1782. Altogether, according to Seaver, Hiokatoo was in seventeen campaigns. He ended his days in November, 1811, at the great age of more than one hundred years.

Two great sorrows came into Mary Jemison's life. The first was when her son, John killed his brother, Thomas, her comforter and namesake of her father. The second was when this same John a few years later killed his other brother, Jesse. Her grief became somewhat assuaged when John was murdered later in a drunken quarrel with two Indians.

Mary Jemison continued to live in the Gardeau Flats, New York, and upon the death of her second husband, she became possessed of a large tract of valuable land. She was naturalized April 19, 1817, and received a clear title to her land. In 1823, she sold a major portion of her holdings, reserving a tract two miles long and one mile wide.

This remarkable lady who preserved the sensibilities of a white woman amidst the surroundings of barbaric life, died September 19, 1833, at the age of ninety-one years, and was buried, with Christian rites, in the cemetery of the Seneca Mission on the Buffalo Creek Reservation, in New York. On March 17, 1874, her body was removed to the Indian Council House Grounds at Letchworth Park, where a beautiful bronze statue marks the grave of "The White Woman of the Genesee."

We close this sketch with the following appropriate quotation

STATUE OF MARY JEMISON "The White Woman of the Genessee," erected near the Jesuit Mission in Buchanan Valley, Adams County, Pennsylvania.

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from page 421 of the twenty-second edition of Seaver's "Life of Mary Jemison":

"From all history and tradition, it would appear that neither seduction, prostitution, nor rape, was known in the calendar of crimes of this rude, savage race, until the females were contami- nated by the embrace of civilized men. And it is a remarkable fact that, among the great number of women and girls who have been taken prisoners by the Indians during the last two centuries, although they have often been tomahawked and scalped, their bodies ripped open while alive, and otherwise barbarously tortured, not a single instance is on record, or has ever found currency in the great stock of gossip and story which civilized society is so prone to circulate, that a female prisoner has ever been ill-treated, abused, or her modesty insulted, by an Indian, with reference to her sex."

Capture of the Family of Richard Bard (Baird)

On the morning of April 13th, 1758, the family of Richard Bard (Baird) was captured by a band of nineteen Delawares from the Ohio. The family resided near a place since known as Mar- shall's Mills, in Adams County. On their way to the Bard home, the Indians captured Samuel Hunter and Daniel McManiny, who were working in a field near the home; also a boy named William White, who was coming to a mill near Bard's home.

In the Bard home, at the time of the attack, were Richard Bard; his wife Katherine; his infant son, John; Frederick Ferrick, his servant, about fourteen years old; Hannah McBride, eleven years old; and Lieutenant Thomas Potter, a brother of General James Potter. One of the Indians attacked Lieutenant Potter with a cutlass, but he succeeded in wresting it from the savage. Mr. Bard seized a pistol and snapped it at the breast of one of the Indians, but it failed to fire. As there was no ammunition in the home, the occupants of the house, fearing a slaughter or being burned alive, surrendered, as the Indians promised no harm would be done to them. The savages then went into the field nearby, where they captured Samuel Hunter, Daniel McManiny, and a boy named William White, who was coming to a mill near the Bard home.

The Indians then secured the prisoners, plundered the house, and burned the mill. At a point about seventy rods from the home, contrary to their promises, they killed Lieutenant Potter,

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and having proceeded over the mountain for several miles, one of them sunk the spear of his tomahawk into the breast of the child, and scalped it. When they had proceeded with their prisoners past the fort into Path Valley, they encamped for the night. The next day they discovered a party of settlers in pursuit. They then hastened the pace of their prisoners under threat of tomahawking them. Reaching the top of Tuscarora Mountain, the party sat down to rest, and one of the Indians, without giving any warning whatever, buried his tomahawk in the head of Samuel Hunter, and scalped him. They then passed over Sidling Hill and the Alle- gheny Mountains by Blair's Gap, and encamped beyond Stony Creek. Here they painted Bard's head red on one side, indicating that a council had been held ; that an equal number were for kill- ing him and for saving his life, and that his fate would be deter- mined in the next council.

Bard then determined to attempt his escape and, while assist- ing his wife in plucking a turkey, he told her of his intentions. Some of the Indians were asleep, and one was amusing the others by parading around in Mrs. Bard's gown. As this Indian was thus furnishing amusement for the others. Bard was sent to the spring for water, and made his escape. After having made an un- successful search for Bard, the party proceeded to Fort Duquesne and then to Kuskuskies, where Mrs. Bard, the two boys and the girl were compelled to run the gauntlet, and were beaten in a most inhuman manner. Here also Daniel McManiny was put to death by being tied to a post, scalped alive, and pierced through the body with a red-hotgun barrel.

Mrs. Bard was separated from the other prisoners, led from one Indian town to another, and finally adopted by two warriors, to take the place of a deceased sister. Finally she was taken to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, and during the journey, suffered greatly from fatigue and illness. She lay for two months, a blanket her only covering and boiled corn her only food. She remained in captivity two years and five months.

Mr. Bard, after having made his escape and after a terrible journey of nine days, during which his only food was a few buds and four snakes, finally reached Fort Littleton, Fulton County. After this, he wandered from place to place throughout the frontier, seeking information concerning his wife. After having made several perilous journeys to Fort Duquesne for the same purpose, and in which he narrowly escaped capture on several

POST'S PEACE MISSIONS— GRAND COUNCIL 383

occasions, he finally learned that she was at Fort Augusta (Sun- bury), where he redeemed her.

During Mrs. Bard's captivity, she was kindly treated by the warriors who had adopted her. Before the Bards left Fort Augusta, Mr. Bard requested one of his wife's adopted brothers to visit them at their home. This he did some time afterwards, when the Bards were living about ten miles from Chambersburg, re- maining at the Bard home for some time ; but finally he went one day to McCormack's Tavern, where he became intoxicated and got into a quarrel with a rough frontier character by the name of Newgen, who stabbed him dangerously in the neck. Newgen fled from the vicinity in order to escape the wrath of Bard's neighbors. , The wounded Indian, however, recovered after being tenderly nursed by his adopted sister, Mrs. Bard. He then returned to his people, who put him to death on the pretext of having, as they claimed, joined the white people.

For account of the capture and escape of Richard Bard, see his affidavit in Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 396 and 397.

Other Atrocities in 1758

Other atrocities than the attacks on the Jemison and Bard families, were committed in Eastern Pennsylvania in the month of April, 1758. A man, named Lebenguth, and his wife were killed in the Tulpehocken Valley. Also, at Northkill, Nicholas Geiger's wife and two children and Michael Ditzelar's wife were killed.

On May 21st, 1758, Joseph Gallady was killed by Indians, and his wife and one child were taken captive, in Franklin County. On June 18th, Adam Read wrote from his home on the Swatara to Edward Shippen that, as Leonard Long was riding along the road about a mile from Read's house, he was killed and scalped. Read and some other men found the body lying in the road bleeding, but could not track the murderers. The son of Jacob Snabele was murdered not far from Fort Henry, on June 19th. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 426.)

On the morning of June 19th, 1758, occurred the attack on the home of John Frantz, about six miles from Fort Henry, Berks County. Captain Christian Busse, in a letter written on the day of the event to Conrad Weiser, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 425, says that Mrs. Frantz and three children were cap- tured. It seems, however, that before Mrs. Frantz was taken

384 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

far, she was killed by her captors. The "Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania," following closely an account of the tragedy appearing in the Pennsylvania GazeZ/g of June, 1758, contains the following in regard to this atrocity:

"At the time this murder was committed, Mr. Frantz was out at work. His neighbors, having heard the firing of guns by the Indians, immediately repaired to the house of Frantz. On their way they apprised him of the report. When they arrived at the house, they found Mrs. Frantz dead (having been killed by the Indians because she was rather infirm and sickly, and so unable to travel), and all the children gone. They then pursued the Indians some distance, but all in vain. The children were taken and kept captives for several years.

"A few years after this horrible affair, all of them, except one, the youngest, were exchanged. The oldest of them, a lad of twelve or thirteen years of age, at the time when captured, related the tragical scent of his mother being tomahawked and shamefully treated. Him they compelled to carry the youngest.

"The anxious father, having received two of his children as from the dead, still sighed for the one that was lost. Whenever he heard of children being exchanged, he mounted his horse to see whether, among the captured, was not his dear little one. On one occasion he paid a man forty pounds to restore his child, who had reported that he knew where it was. To another he paid a hundred dollars, and himself went to Canada in search of the lost one — but, to his sorrow, never could trace his child. A parent can realize his feelings — they cannot be described."

The Mohawks, being inclined to side with the French, formed a large party, in June, 1758, to attack the Minisink settlement in Monroe County. Teedyuscung endeavored to dissuade them, but was not entirely successful. Two men were killed and scalped and another wounded in the vicinity of Fort Hamilton. Also a fort, located at the upper end of the Minisink region, was captured. Samuel Dupui, in a letter written from Smithfield on the night of June 15th, says that this band of Indians consisted of about forty in number, and that the men of "that Garrison were Farmers, and were out on their plantations when the Indians fired on them and killed them, whereupon the Indians marched up to the Fort, and took all the women and children captive." Also, in August, 1758, a party of Mohawks and a French Captain reached Tioga with the intention of making war on the English. The friendly Delawares at that place persuaded some of the

POST'S PEACE MISSIONS— GRAND COUNCIL 385

Mohawks to turn back, but ten of them and the French Captain proceeded apparently in the direction of the Minisink region, whereupon Teedyuscung sent word to Governor Denny of this fact, and messengers were sent to warn the Minisink settlers. In his message, which was delivered on August 9th, by the friendly Delawares, Zacheus and Jonathan, Teedyuscung said: "I con- sider the English our Brethren, and we have but one Ear, one Mouth, one Eye; you may be sure I shall apprize them of every motion of the Enemy." (Penna. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 424 and 509.)

In fact, from the time Canachquasy persuaded him to "bury the hatchet," Teedyuscung worked steadfastly for peace, and in- sisted from time to time that a strong fort be built at Wyoming. However, he was unable to remain neutral, and he petitioned the Governor for reward on scalps, believing that if the white man could enjoy the profits of such a bounty, there was no reason why the Indians friendly to the Province should not come in for their share. He even sent friendly Indians to protect the fron- tiers. When Will Sock, a Conestoga, had been over the country carrying a French flag, and had murdered Chagrea and a German in Lancaster County, Teedyuscung took away the flag, sent it to Philadelphia, and gave him an English flag. In the meantime, also, he kept urging the Provincial authorities to build houses for the friendly Indians at Wyoming, in accordance with Pennsyl- vania's promise at the Easton conference of 1757 to enact a law which would settle the Wyoming lands upon him and his people forever.

Death of Scarouady

We are now ready to describe General Forbes' march against and capture of Fort Duquesne; but before doing so, we call atten- tion to the fact that the summer of 1758 marked the passing of the wise and able Scarouady. The date of his death is not known, but it was prior to August 26th, 1758, on which day several Mohawks came to Philadelphia from the territory of the Six Nations, bringing with them Scarouady 's wife and all her children. She presented Governor Denny with "her husband's calumet pipe, and desired that he and the Indians might smoke it together; she intended to have gone into the Cherokee country, but had altered her mind, and would stay here with her children." Prob- ably the old chief lost his life in one of Johnson's expeditions in New York.

386

THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

It is with sincere regret that we take leave of Scarouady, an admirable character, a forceful orator, the leading speaker at many important conferences, the wise counselor, the strong enemy of the French, the firm friend of the English. Far past the prime of life when he first appears upon the scene, his aged shoulders bore a mighty burden to the end of his eventful career.

CHAPTER XVII

General Forbes' Expedition Against Fort Duquesne

(1758)

As stated at the beginning of Chapter XVI, when the power- 2\ ful hand of William Pitt took hold of the helm of the British Ship of State, three expeditions were planned for gaining possession of the territory claimed by the French, in America, one of these expeditions being against Fort Duquesne. On the same day on which General Abercrombie was appointed to suc- ceed Lord Loudon, as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, Brigadier-General John Forbes was appointed com- mander of the Southern District, including Pennsylvania, Virginia Maryland and the Carolinas. A large volume could be written on General Forbes' expedition against Fort Duquesne, but, in the limits of this history, it is possible to give only the main facts.

In the first place, let us take a view of the forces making up

the army of General Forbes. Probably as accurate a list of these

forces as has ever been given is the following from Lowdermilk's

"History of Cumberland":

Field Co. Name of Corps Officers Officers Total

Division of 1st Battalion of Royal Americans. . . 1 12 363

Highland, or 62d Regiment 3 37 998 Ij 267

Division of 62d Regiment 3 12 269 J '

1st Virginia Regiment 3 32 782

2nd Virginia Regiment 3 35 702

3rd North Carolina Companies 1 10 141

4th Maryland Companies 1 15 270

1st Battalion Pennsylvania 3 41 755 1

2nd Battalion Pennsylvania 3 40 666^2,192

3rd Battalion Pennsylvania 3 46 771 J

Three Lower Counties (Delaware) 3 46 263

Total 5,980

Detachments on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and the road of communication :

Major Captains Subalterns Total From the Pennsylvania Regiments 1 10 17 563

From North Carolina Regiments . . 1 3 61 624

j 1,484

388 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

As indicated in the list of Forbes' forces, part of his army was composed of "Royal Americans." This was the name given to a force to consist of four battalions of one thousand men each — a force neither strictly British nor strictly Colonial, the men being recruited in the Colonies and the officers being comissioned by the King of England. The men were composed largely of Pennsylvania-Germans and other non-English speaking inhabi- tants of the Colonies. The law creating this force provided that fifty of the commissioned officers might be chosen from among Protestant foreign officers of ability and experience.

At this point, it will be well to state a few facts about the most noted officer of the Royal Americans, Colonel Henry Bouquet, commander of the first battalion. He was born at Rolle, in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, about 1719. Having had much experience in the regiment of Constance and in the service of the King of Sardinia, in whose wars he distinguished himself, he, in 1748, entered the Swiss Guards as Lieutenant-Colonel. When war broke out between England and France, in 1754, he entered the service of the British, and was sent to America, where he became the most distinguished and successful soldier of foreign birth, in Indian warfare. In the latter part of 1757, he was in South Carolina with four companies of Royal Americans, and on February 14th, 1758, was ordered to New York by General Forbes, at which place he landed on April 15th, with four com- panies of his Royal Americans and some Virginia troops. He then came to Philadelphia, and at once took an active part in the preparations for the advance against Fort Duquesne. In fact, he led the advance, and, on account of the physical weakness of General Forbes, who became seriously ill upon his arrival at Philadelphia, in April, most of the work of carrying out his plans of campaign devolved upon Colonel Bouquet. Not only was Colonel Bouquet an able and energetic soldier, but he was a scholar, as well, speaking and writing good French, German and English. In fact, he wrote better English than most British officers of his time. He was fond of the society of men of science. At the close of the Pontiac and Guyasuta War, he was made Brigadier-General and commandant in the Southern Colonies of British America, leaving New York for Pensacola, on April 10th, 1765. His new honors were not long enjoyed, as he died of yellow fever at Pensacola, in the summer of 1765, "lamented by his friends and regretted universally." He sleeps in an un- known grave in the summer land of our country.

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 389

For this expedition, Pennsylvania equipped twenty-seven hundred troops, but some of the companies were assigned to garrisoning Fort Augusta and other posts. The three Pennsyl- vania battalions, called a regiment, set forth in the above list, had, as their general officers Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Shippen; Commissary of the Musters and Paymaster, James Young; Surgeon, Dr. Bond; Chaplain, Rev. Thomas Barton; Wagon Master, Robert Irwin; and Deputy Wagon Master, Mordecai Thompson.

The first battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Armstrong, of Kittanning expedition fame. Under him were Lieutenant-Colonel Hance Hamilton; Major Jacob Orndt, who was assigned to garrison duty; Surgeon Blain; Chaplain, Rev. Charles Beatty; Adjutant, John Philip de Hass; and Quarter- master, Thomas Smallman. Among the Captains in this batta- lion were: Samuel Allen, James Potter, Jacob Snaidor, George Armstrong, Edward Ward, Robert Callender, John Nicholas Wetterhold, William Lyon, Patrick Davis, Charles Garraway, William Armstrong, Richard Walter, John McKnight and David Hunter.

The second battalion was commanded by Colonel James Burd. Under him were Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Lloyd; Major David Jamison; Surgeon, John Morgan; Chaplain, Rev. John Steel; Adjutant, Jacob Kern; Quartermaster Asher Clayton; and Commissary Peter Bard. Among the Captains of the second battalion were: Christian Busse, Joseph Scott, Samuel J. Atlee, William Patterson, William Reynolds, Levi Trump, Jacob Morgan, Samuel Weiser (son of Conrad Weiser), Alexander McKee, John Byers, John Haslett, John Singleton and Robert Eastburn.

The third battalion was commanded by Colonel Hugh Mercer. Under him were Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Work; Major George Armstrong; Surgeon, Robert Bines; Chaplain, Rev. Andrew Bay; Adjutant, James Ewing; Quartermaster, Thomas Hutchins; and Sergeant-Major Samuel Culbertson. Among the captains of the third battalion were: Robert Boyd, John Black- wood, James Sharp, Adam Read, Samuel Nelson, John Mont- gomery, George Aston, Charles McClung, Robert McPherson, Paul Jackson, John Bull, William Biles, Archibald McGrew, Thomas Hamilton, Ludowick Stone, John Clark, John Allison, Job Rush ton, Thomas Smith, Alexander Graydon, James Hyndshaw, William Biles and Thomas Armour.

390 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

The list of the officers of these three Pennsylvania Battalions is found in Pa. Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. 1, pages 178 to 185.

The Southern troops were commanded by Colonel George Washington, Colonel Byrd, Colonel Stephens, Major Lewis and others. They assembled, first at Winchester, Virginia, and then at Cumberland, Maryland.

Like Braddock, General Forbes had Indian allies — Cherokees and Catawbas. Like Braddock, also, nearly all of his Indian allies left him before he came near Fort Duquesne. Edmund Atkins, who, as was seen in a former chapter, was superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern provinces, being a member of the Council in South Carolina, had succeeded in procuring the Cherokees and Catawbas. As Forbes was advancing towards Fort Duquesne, many of these Indians went to the Ohio above and below the fort, in order to "annoy the enemy, get intelligence, and bring away prisoners." By the middle of May there were more than seven hundred of these Southern Indians in Forbes' service. However, it was necessary to give them presents almost constantly to keep them scouting. Six thousand pounds were spent to keep them out scouting. They gradually left the service, sighing for their southern homes. When July came, they had all gone home except about two hundred. By the first of September, all were gone home except about eighty; and, on October 27th, General Forbes wrote from "Camp at Top of Alleganey Mountains": "The Cherokee and other Southern Indians who came last winter and so early in the Spring to join us, after having by every Art they were Masters off, gott every- thing they could expect from us, left us without any remorse when they found they were not likely to get any more presents for retaining them, so that I have now left with me above fifty, and am now on my march to the Ohio, as the season will not admitt of one Moment's delay."

The Route Followed by General Forbes

Having taken this brief view of the forces, white and red, making up General Forbes' expedition, we shall now take a view of the route over which his army advanced against Fort Du- quesne. On March 28th, 1758, the General wrote Governor William Denny from New York, giving directions for raising troops in Pennsylvania, and also saying: "I propose assembling the Regular Troops and those of Pennsylvania, at Conegochie

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 391

[Conococheague — the mouth of the creek of this name at Will- iamsport, Maryland], about the 20th of April." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 59, 60.) In making the mouth of the Conococheague the rendezvous and base of supplies for the Pennsylvania forces, he did so at the suggestion of Sir John St. Clair, his Quarter- master-General, who had held this same position in Braddock's army, and no doubt expected that Forbes would advance against Fort Duquesne over the same road that Braddock used, making, like Braddock, Fort Cumberland the starting point.

Washington and the other \'irginians took it for granted that the Braddock road would be followed by Forbes. However, before the campaign was far advanced. Colonel Bouquet, who, as we have seen, led the advance, hoped to find a better way over the mountains than the Braddock road, and General Forbes shared this hope. Bouquet carefully studied the reports of his scouts and became strongly of the opinion that the route to be followed should start at Fort Loudon, thence to Raystown (Bed- ford), thence to Loyalhanna (Ligonier), thence to Fort Duquesne; that Fort Loudon should be the real starting point of the expedi- tion and base of supplies, and that the assembling place of the southern troops should be Bedford, where a stockade (Fort Bed- ford) had been erected by Colonel John Armstrong in 1756. The Pennsylvania officers agreed with Colonel Bouquet. Conferences were held between Bouquet and the Pennsylvania officers, on the one hand, and Washington and the Virginia officers, on the other. An animated controversy soon arose, and continued for many weeks. At one time during the controversy, it was pro- posed that Washington lead the southern troops over the Brad- dock road from Fort Cumberland and join the main army on the Monongahela, just before the attack on Fort Duquesne. This proposal was rejected after General Forbes received reports from Colonel Bouquet which set forth the investigations his scouts had made of both routes. From first to last Washington was in favor of the Braddock road. He wrote to Major Peter Halket, one of Forbes' aides:

"I am just returned from a conference held with Colonel Bouquet. I find him fixed — I think I may say unalterably fixed — to lead you a new way to the Ohio through a road every inch of which is to be cut at this advanced season, when we have scarcely time left to tread the beaten track universally confessed to be the best passage through the mountains. If Colonel Bouquet succeeds in this point with the General, all is lost! all is

392 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

lost, indeed! our enterprise is ruined! and we shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, except the kind which cover the mountains."

In pressing the claims of the Braddock road, Washington and the other Virginians pointed out that it was nineteen miles shorter than the proposed new road and that it would not re- quire so much work and expense as cutting the new road, over- looking, seemingly, the fact that it was then grown up with sprouts and brush.

Virginia had made the first settlements (the Ohio Company's) in the valley of the Ohio ; she had constructed the first road to the Ohio, the Nemacolon Indian trail, which the Ohio Company cleared and widened; she claimed the valley of the Ohio, which Pennsylvania also claimed. Therefore it is fair to assume that Virginia feared her claim to the Ohio Valley would be endangered if a new road, leading directly from the settled parts of Pennsyl- vania to the Ohio Valley, were opened. Such road would afiford easy access to the Ohio Valley for the Pennsylvania traders. The Pennsylvania officers, in urging the claims of the proposed new road, pointed out that it would afford direct communication to the fertile farms of Eastern Pennsylvania, from which food and other supplies for the army could be obtained. They also called attention to the fact that, when Braddock was marching against Fort Duquesne, work was in progress of cutting a road from McDowell's Mill, in Franklin County, to join the Braddock road at Turkey Foot (Confluence), by which supplies, so sorely needed by Braddock's army, could be brought from Eastern Penn- sylvania,— a road which Colonel James Burd had completed as far as the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, when Braddock's defeat put an end to its construction.

At length the recommendation of Colonel Bouquet and the Pennsylvania officers was adopted by General Forbes, and as we shall presently see. Bouquet began the work of cutting the new road. The course followed by Forbes' army followed very closely the course of the old Indian trail which ran through Bedford to the "Forks of the Ohio," — a trail that had been used very much by the Shawnees and Delawares in their migration from the valley of the Susquehanna to the valleys of the Ohio and Alle- gheny. Christopher Gist had followed this trail from Bedford to the Ohio, in 1750, when exploring for the Ohio Company. The Lincoln Highway follows its general course over the mountains to Pittsburgh today.

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 393

The starting point of the "Forbes Road" was Fort Loudon. Part of its course from this place to Bedford was over the road Colonel Burd had cut from McDowell's Mill to the crest of the Allegheny Mountain, in 1755. It (the "Forbes Road") ran from Fort Loudon to Fort Littleton ; thence to Sideling Hill ; thence to the crossing of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata; thence through Everett to Bedford; thence to Wolfsburg and Schells- burg; thence through Edmund's Swamp; thence near Stoystown, Quemahoning and Jenner; thence over the Laurel Hills to Ligonier; thence over the Chestnut Ridge to Youngstown; thence past old Unity Church to Hannastown; thence across the head- waters of Brush Creek to Murraysville, not, however, passing through the battlefield of Bushy Run, as some historians have stated, but turning to the northwest about four miles east of the battlefield; thence (from Murraysville) to Shannopin's Town, now within the limits of Pittsburgh, on the east bank of the Allegheny, about two miles from its mouth.

The present "Forbes Street," in Pittsburgh, does not mark the course General Forbes followed. After reaching Shannopin's Town, located between the present Penn Avenue and the Alle- gheny River at about Thirtieth Street, the army advanced along the bank of this river, and not the Monongahela, to the French fort.

For an accurate account of the course of the "Forbes Road," especially its course through the city of Pittsburgh to Fort Duquesne, the reader is referred to Dr. George P. Donehoo's "Pennsylvania— A History," Vol. 2, pages 823, 824, 831 and 832.

The March Over the Mountains

Colonel Bouquet arrived at Bedford early in July, where he enlarged and strengthened the stockade already erected there, in 1756, (Fort Bedford), and constructed entrenchments and palisades. By the first of August, a large part of Bouquet's forces was at work cutting the new road through the mountain forests towards Ligonier. His total forces at that time were about seventeen hundred men. By the sixteenth of August, Bouquet's forces, woodcutters and troops, consisted of thirty-nine hundred men, including two Virginia companies; and fourteen hundred were employed at that time in cutting the new road towards Ligonier, which place they reached about September 1st. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 510.) The best information as to the time

394 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

when Bouquet himself reached Ligonier is his letter of September 17th, in which he says: "The day on which I arrived at the camp, which was the 7th [of September], it was reported to me that we were surrounded by parties of Indians, several soldiers having been scalped or made prisoners." (Frontier Forts of Pennsyl- vania, Vol. 2, pages 254-255.) By that time, all his force had reached that place. Here, on the banks of the Loyalhanna, Bouquet erected Fort Ligonier. He also erected the fortificai on known as Breastwork Hill, on Nine Mile Run, in what is now Unity Township, Westmoreland County, about ten miles west of Ligonier.

The work of cutting, hewing and blasting the road over the main range of the Allegheny Mountains and, particularly, the parallel range of the Laurel Hills to the westward, was prodigious. In many places, the road was cut in the rock on the sides of steep declivities. As far as the eye could reach, the vast and primeval forest covered the mountain ranges and the valleys between. Forbes described the mountain region through which the road was cut as an "immense uninhabited wilderness, overgrown every- where with trees and brushwood, so that nowhere can one see twenty yards." At the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, not far from the Wilderness Club House, one can see today the most perfectly preserved of the breastworks which Colonel Bouquet erected while cutting this wilderness and mountain road. The earthen embankments can be plainly traced. It was known as McLean's Redoubt.

Washington arrived at Bedford on September 16th, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen, with six companies of Virginia troops, having reached that place previously.

General Forbes arrived in Philadelphia in April, 1758. At the head of the British regulars, he marched from Philadelphia about the last of June to effect a union with the other troops at Bed- ford. Reaching Carlisle, he was detained for some time on ac- count of his severe illness. In fact, on account of bodily weakness, he was carried in a hurdle between two horses all the way from Carlisle to Fort Duquesne and back to Philadelphia. He reached Bedford about the middle of September, where he met the southern troops under Washington. Forbes' rear division left Bedford on October 23d (Penna. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 224- 225); he and his advance troops reached Ligonier about Novem- ber 1st; but his entire army did not arrive there until about a week later. Christian Frederick Post, an account of whose

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 395

peace missions to the Western Delawares was given in Chapter XVI, says in his journal that he passed Forbes' artillery on Laurel Hill, on November 7th.

Grant's Defeat

The most disasterous event connected with General Forbes' advance against Fort Duquesne was the defeat of Major James Grant, of the Highlanders, where the Allegheny Court House now stands, in the city of Pittsburgh, on September 14th, 1758. Major Grant, with a force of thirty-seven officers and eight hun- dred and five privates, was sent from Ligonier by Bouquet to reconnoiter the fort and adjacent country. Grant had begged Bouquet for permission to make this expedition. Grant's in- structions were not to approach too near the fort and not to attack it. The wilderness between Ligonier and Fort Duquesne was filled with Indians constantly watching the movements of Grant's little army; yet he succeeded in coming within sight of the fort without being discovered. Late at night he drew up his troops on the brow of the fatal hill in the city of Pittsburgh, which still bears his name.

Not having met with either French or Indians on the march, and believing from the stillness of the enemy's quarters that the forces in the fort were small. Grant at once determined to make an attack. Accordingly, two officers and fifty men were directed to approach the fort and fall upon the French and Indians that might be outside. They saw none and were not challenged by the sentinels; and as they returned, they set fire to a large storehouse, but the fire was extinguished. At the break of day, September 14th, Grant sent Major Andrew Lewis with two hundred regulars and Virginia volunteers to take a position about a half mile back, and lie in ambush where they had left their baggage. Four hundred men were posted along the hill facing the fort, while Captain McDonald's company, with drums beating and bagpipes playing, marched toward the fort in order to draw out the garri- son. The music of the drums and bagpipes aroused the garrison from their slumber, and both the French and Indians sallied out in great numbers, the latter probably led by Guyasuta.

The British officers marshalled their men according to European tactics. Major Lewis, at the beginning of the attack, left Cap- tain Bullitt, with fifty Virginians, to guard the baggage, and hastened with the main part of his men to the scene of action. Lewis engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with an Indian warrior.

396 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

whom he killed, ^but^was compelled to surrender to a French officer.

The French and Indians separated into three divisions. The first two were sent under the cover of the banks of the Mononga- hela and Allegheny to surround the main body of Grant's troops, while the third was delayed awhile to give the others time, and then lined up before the fort as if exhibiting the whole strength of the garrison. This plan worked admirably. Captain McDonald was obliged to fall back on the main body, and at the same time, Grant found himself flanked by the detachments on both sides. A desperate struggle ensued. The Highlanders, exposed to the enemy's fire without cover, fell in great numbers. The provin- cials, concealing themselves among the trees, made a good defense for a while, but not being supported and being overpowered by numbers, were compelled to fall back. The result was that Grant's forces were overwhelmingly and ingloriously defeated. Many of his brave troops were driven into the Allegheny River and drowned. The total loss was two hundred and seventy killed, forty-two wounded, and a number taken prisoners. Among the latter were Major Grant, Major Lewis and about nineteen other officers. The French account says that five officers and one hundred men were captured and that the French loss was only eight killed and eight wounded.

Captain Bullitt rallied some of the fugitives, and, dispatching some of the most valuable baggage with the best horse, made a barricade of the wagons, behind which he posted his men. After having finished the plunder of the battlefield, the Indians hastened in pursuit of the fugitives. They attacked Bullitt's men, who opened a destructive fire upon them from behind the baggage wagons. This checked them for a time, but they soon came with greater numbers. Then Bullitt and his men held out the signal of surrender, and advanced as if to lay down their arms. When within eight yards of the Indians, Bullitt's men suddenly leveled their rifles, poured in a destructive fire, and charged with the bayonet. The Indians then fled in order to get reinforcements. Bullitt took advantage of this check to collect some of the wounded and fugitives, with whom he hastened back to the camp at Ligonier. The Highlanders and the Virginians were those who fought the best and suffered the most in this bloody engagement. Six officers and sixty-two privates of the Virginia forces lay dead on the field. The road back to Ligonier was strewn with the dead. A boy twelve years of age, who had been two years a prisoner

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 397

among the French and Indians, made his escape from Fort Duquesne, on November 2nd, then succeeded in reaching Forbes' army, and gave the information that five of the prisoners taken at Grant's defeat had been burned to death by the Indians on the parade ground at Fort Duquesne and that several others were tomahawked. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 428.) One of the Highlanders, after witnessing the burning of several of his com- panions, planned a stratagem to avoid his being tortured by fire. He told one of the Indians that he could make a concoction of the juices of herbs that, when applied to any part of the body, would render that part invulnerable. He begged for permission to prove the truth of his statement. Permission was granted. Then, gathering some leaves and roots of plants, he squeezed out their juices, smeared his neck with the same, lay down with his neck across a log, and asked a warrior to attempt to cut off his head with an axe. The warrior swung the axe with all his might, and the Highlander's head was severed from his body. Seeing the trick that had been played upon them, the Indians praised the cunning of the soldier.

Grant's expedition was a monstrous blunder. General Forbes, with the main body of the army was as far in the rear as Bedford, and neither he nor Colonel Bouquet had any definite knowledge of the strength of the French and Indians at Fort Duquesne. In view of these facts, it seems strange, indeed, that Colonel Bouquet permitted Grant to advance into a death trap. Grant himself showed utter lack of judgment in playing the bagpipes and beat- ing the drums at daylight, which had only the effect of telling the enemy of his advance. Neither the French nor the Indians knew of Grant's presence until the music broke the stillness of the autumn morning. How Grant's conduct impressed the Indians was expressed by one of the Delaware chiefs, Tecaughretango, in a conversation with James Smith, at that time a captive among them. This chief told Smith that the Indians believed that Grant "had made too free with spiritous liquors during the night, and had become intoxicated about daylight."

For account of Major Grant's defeat, see "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," Vol. 2, pages 80 to 90, also 197, 198 and 262 to 264.

Attack on the Camp on the Loyalhanna

After Major Grant's defeat, many of the Delawares, Shawnees and Mingoes in alliance with the French left Fort Duquesne, and

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returned to their villages, laden with the spoils of the battlefield. It was the custom of the Indians to return home after a battle, whether successful or not. Furthermore, owing to the success of the first peace mission of Christian Frederick Post to the Western Delawares, they and their allies were becoming dissatisfied with the French.

Colonel James Smith, then a prisoner among the Delawares and adopted by them, says in his Narrative that, after Grant's defeat, the Indians held a council, and were divided in their opinions, some saying that Forbes would now retreat, and others saying that he would come on. Many of the Delawares then, according to Smith, went back to their villages, not wishing to be absent from their squaws and children at this season of the year. The French were thus practically deserted by the Indians. Yet, emboldened by the crushing defeat of Grant, Captain De Ligneris, then commandant of Fort Duquesne, sent about one thousand French and two hundred Indians to attack Colonel Bouquet's camp at Ligonier, hoping to compel Bouquet to retreat, as did Dunbar after the defeat of General Braddock. This force of French and Indians attacked Bouquet's camp on October 12th. The following letter, written at Ligonier, on October 14th, probably by Colonel James Burd, and found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 392, thus describes this attack:

"We were attacked by 1200 French and 200 Indians, com- manded by M. de Vetri, on Thursday, 12th current, at 11 o'clock, A. M., with great fury until 3 P. M., when I had the great pleas- ure of seeing victory attend the British arms. The enemy at- tempted in the night to attack us a second time; but in return for their most melodious music, we gave them a number of shells, which soon made them retreat. Our loss on this occasion is only 62 men and 5 officers, killed, wounded and missing. The French were employed all night in carrying off their dead and wounded, and, I believe, carried off some of our dead in mistake."

On the day of the attack, Colonel James Burd was in command of the fort and camp at Ligonier, and Colonel Bouquet was back at Stony Creek, near Stoystown, with seven hundred men and a detachment of artillery. After the first repulse of the French and Indians, Colonel Burd wrote Colonel Bouquet an account of the engagement. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 392; Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 2, pages 199 to 204, also page 264.)

As stated earlier in this chapter, General Forbes arrived at Ligonier about November 1st, although it was about a week later

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 399

that all his troops had assembled at that place. On account of his illness, he was not able to keep up with the army, although it pushed on by slow stages and very wisely established fortified magazines as it went. The General's purpose was to assemble all his army at the camp at Ligonier preparatory to making the final advance

Washington's Engagement Near Ligonier

On November 12th, Colonel George Washington was out with a scouting party which attacked a number of French and Indians about three miles from the camp at Ligonier, killing one and taking three prisoners — an Indian man, a squaw, and an English- man, named Johnson, who had been captured by the Indians several years before, in Lancaster County. Colonel Hugh Mer- cer, hearing the firing, was sent with a party of Virginians to the assistance of Washington. Mercer's men approached in the dusk of the evening, and, seeing Washington's party, with the three Indians, about a fire from which they had driven the enemy, mistook them for the enemy. Washington's party also mistook Mercer's men for the enemy. Both parties fired on each other, killing a lieutenant and thirteen or fourteen privates.

Such is the account of the unfortunate event, as given in the Pennsylvania Gazette, November 30th, 1758. However, Wash- ington, in his account of the engagement, says that, when it was learned at Ligonier that the French and Indians were within two miles of the camp, a party commanded by Colonel Mercer, of the Virginia Line, was sent to dislodge them; that soon hot firing was heard which seemed to approach the camp, making General Forbes believe that Mercer's party was yielding ground; and that Washington, with permission of the General, then called for volunteers, and marched at their head to sustain Colonel Mercer. Washington, led on by the firing until he came within less than half a mile, and it then ceasing, sent scouts to investigate and to communicate his approach to Colonel Mercer. In the meantime he cautiously advanced, and the intelligence of his coming was not fully disseminated among Colonel Mercer's men. Night was now settling down the forests of Westmoreland. Taking Wash- ington's men for the enemy, who had retreated, and thinking that they (the enemy) were now approaching in another direction, Colonel Mercer's men commenced a heavy fire upon Washington's relief party, which, in turn, drew the fire of Washington's men in

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spite of the exertions of the officers in Washington's party, one of whom and several privates were killed and many wounded. In order that the terrible mistake might not result in more deaths, Washington rushed between the two parties, knocking up their presented muskets with his sword. Being thus between two fires, he was never in more imminent danger of death. (Fron- tier Forts of Penna., Vol. 2, pages 206 to 208 and authorities there referred to.)

As stated in Chapter XVI, the Indians who had been attacked and routed in this engagement, came upon the party of Lieutenant William Hays, who escorted Christian Frederick Post as far as Kiskiminetas Town, killing the Lieutenant and four of his men, and capturing five others.

Washington's skirmish, on November 12th, was the last clash of arms between the French and Indians on the one side and the British on the other, in the Ohio Valley during the French and Indian War. It will be remembered that Washington was a leading figure in the opening conflict in this war, the attack on Jumonville, May 28th, 1754.

Fort Duquesne Falls

Upon General Forbes' arrival at Bouquet's camp on the Loyal- hanna, he decided to go into winter quarters there, as the season was advanced. At this time, the French at Fort Duquesne were in a desperate situation. Practically deserted by their Indian allies, who, as an additional reason for returning to their villages, were in genuine fear of the Virginia troops, the French suffered the loss of the Louisiana and Illinois militia, who left Fort Duquesne in November. Worse still, the supplies intended for Fort Duquesne, had been destroyed by Colonel Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac. For this reason De Ligneris, the commandant at Fort Duquesne, was compelled through fear of starvation to dismiss the greater part of his force. All these things, however, were unknown to General Forbes at the time he intended to go into winter quarters on the Loyalhanna. (Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 91 to 94 and authorities there referred to.)

The Englishman, Johnson, captured on November 12th, gave General Forbes the following information relative to the situation of the French at Fort Duquesne:

"That the Canadians who had been with Mons. Vetri at Loyal- Hanriing [the attack of October 12th J were, all gone home; that

Two views of the monument located on the Butler-Evans City Road, at a point ten miles south of Butler and two miles north of Evans City, Butler County, Pa., marking the approximate spot where Major George Washington narrowly escaped death when he was fired upon by a hostile Indian, less than fifteen steps distant, on the evening of December 27th, 1753, as he and Christopher Gist were on their way back to Virginia from Washington's historic mission to Fort Le Boeuf (Waterford. Pa.),

This monument was erected during the summer of 1924, and was dedicated, July 3d, 1925.

For account of Washington's Mission, see pages 144 to 149. The account of the Indian's attempt to kill him is found on pages 148 and 149.

-Photographs by H. E. Ripper, Evans City, Pa.

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 401

the Ohio Indians had also returned to their several towns; that the attempt made by Vetri at Loyal Hanning was only to make us apprehend their strength at Fort Duquesne to be very great, whereas they were very weak there . . . and our army would certainly succeed." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 393.)

This information caused General Forbes to decide not to go into winter quarters on the Loyalhanna but to press on against Fort Duquesne at once. Accordingly, on November 13th, Colo- nel John Armstrong, who was next in command to Colonel Bouquet, was ordered to advance with one thousand men. Washington was then already in the advance with about fifteen hundred men, building a road towards the French fort, and had erected one or more redoubts near Hannastown. On November 17th, General Forbes left Loyalhanning with forty- three hundred effective men, without wagons or heavy baggage, leaving a garri- son at Fort Ligonier. On this same day, Washington had advanced as far as Bushy Run, and, on the 18th, Colonel Arm- strong had reached a point within seventeen miles of Fort Duquesne. On the 24th, the entire army was within twelve miles of the fort, being encamped a few miles west of Turtle Creek. While here, a report was brought by Indian scouts that the fort was on fire, and Captain Haslet was sent with a detach- ment to endeavor to extinguish the fire. At midnight, Forbes' pickets "heard a dull and heavy sound booming over the western woods." The magazine at the fort had blown up.

The entire army advanced early the next morning, November 25th, and took possession of the smouldering ruins of Fort Duquesne, the coveted goal of the British for more than four long and bloody years. The same day Delaware messengers arrived at Kuskuskies, with the joyful news to Christian Fred- erick Post that "the English had the field, and that the French had demolished and burnt the place entirely, and went off; that the commander is gone with two hundred men to Venango, and the rest gone down the river in battoes, to the lower Shawnee town; they were seen yesterday passing by Sawcung [Sauconk]."

It was a Pennsylvanian, Colonel John Armstrong, who raised the British flag over the smoking embers this great stronghold of the French in the valley of the Ohio. French dominion in this valley was forever at an end. The joy in the British army was unbounded. By order of General Forbes, November 26th was observed by the army as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God

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for the success of the British arms, and the day following a grand celebration was held.

Says Bancroft: "As the banners of England floated over the waters, the place, at the suggestion of Forbes, was with one voice called Pittsburgh. It is the most enduring monument to William Pitt. America raised to his name statues that have been wrong- fully broken, and granite piles of which not one stone remains upon another; but, long as the Monongahela and the Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio, long as the English tongue shall be the language of freedom in the boundless valley which their waters traverse, his name shall stand inscribed on the gateway of the West."

Forbes' troops found many of the dead of Grant's defeat within a quarter of a mile of the fort. They also found a number of stakes driven into the ground on which were stuck the heads and kilts of the Highlanders, killed on that fateful September morning. Detachments then buried Grant's dead and the bones of those who were slain at Braddock's defeat over three years before. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, pages 428 to 431; Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 231 to 234.)

As stated in Chapter XVI, General Forbes left Pittsburgh on December 3d, and went to Fort Ligonier, where he remained, on account of illness, until December 27th. He reached Carlisle, on January 7th, 1759, and from there went on to Philadelphia, where he was welcomed with great enthusiasm and joy. Here this great Scotchman of iron will died on March 11th, and was buried in the chancel of Christ Church.

Colonel Bouquet, next in command to General Forbes, re- mained at Pittsburgh until December 5th, when he left for Fort Ligonier, as was also seen in Chapter XVI. Colonel Hugh Mercer, with two hundred men, was then left in command at Pittsburgh, and immediately commenced erecting palisades and temporary quarters. By January 8th, 1759, his force was in- creased to two hundred and eighty men.

Thus began the occupation of the Ohio and Allegheny by the English. General Forbes was succeeded by General John Stanwix on March 15th, 1759, who soon arranged to erect a permanent fortification near the site of the former Fort Duquesne — Fort Pitt. Stanwix arrived at Pittsburgh, in August, 1759, and, on Septem- ber 3d, the work of erecting Fort Pitt was commenced. By December 8th, the work was well advanced, and a garrison was being formed of 300 Provincials, one half of whom were Penn-

GENERAL FORBES' EXPEDITION 403

sylvanians and the other half Virginians, and 400 of the first battaUon of Royal Americans. General Stanwix remained at Fort Pitt until March 21st, 1760, but the fort was not finally completed until the summer of 1761, under Colonel Bouquet, although it was occupied early in 1760.

The French had not more than four or five hundred troops at Fort Duquesne at the time when they set fire to the works and fled. On abandoning the fort one part of the French garrison went down the Ohio to the Illinois country, one hundred went by land to Fort Presqu' Isle, and two hundred went up the Allegheny to Fort Machault (Venango), while the Indians scattered to their various towns on the Ohio, Beaver and Muskingum. Fort Machault was strengthened, and it was proposed to remain there and defend the place if attacked. In the summer of 1759, great apprehension was felt at the temporary Fort Pitt that the French would descend the Allegheny from Fort Machault, and capture the place. George Croghan wrote Governor Denny from Fort Pitt on July 15th, and Colonel Hugh Mercer wrote the Governor from the same place on July 17th, both stating that two Indian spies whom Croghan had sent to Venango to ascertain the truth of the rumor that the French and Indians were gathering at that place to descend upon Fort Pitt, had returned and reported that seven hundred French and upwards of one thousand Indians had assembled at Venango before the middle of July, and were ready to descend the Allegheny on the 13th, when messengers arrived, advising that the British were marching on Niagara, which in- telligence caused the French to abandon the project against Fort Pitt, and hasten to the relief of Niagara. Both before and after the French abandoned Venango, bands of Indians, led by French Canadians, went from that place and other Indian towns on the Allegheny, and attacked convoys on the road to Fort Pitt. In Colonel Mercer's letter, written at Fort Pitt on July 17th, he tells Governor Denny of a recent attack on Fort Ligonier by a band of Indians from Venango. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 671 and 674.)

General Robert Monckton succeeded General Stanwix at Fort Pitt, on June 29th, 1760. He immediately gave orders for the march of a large detachment to Presqu' Isle to take possession of the upper French posts and those along the frontier to Detroit and Mackinaw. This detachment consisted of four companies of the Royal Americans, under Colonel Bouquet, Captain Mc- Neil's company of the Virginia Regiment, and Colonel Hugh

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Mercer's five companies of the Pennsylvania Regiment, the Captains being Biddle, Anderson, Clapham, Atlee and Miles.

During the autumn of 1759, Fort Redstone, also called Fort Burd, was erected at Redstone (Brownsville), by Colonel James Burd. During the summer of 1760, the English took possession of the sites of Fort Le Boeuf (Waterford) and Fort Presqu' Isle (Erie), and erected Fort Venango, almost on the site of the former Fort Machault, at Franklin.

Return of the White Captives

In the meantime, George Croghan, Deputy Indian Agent of Sir William Johnson, was receiving many white captives, de- livered to him at Fort Pitt by the Delawares and Shawnees. From June, 1759 to October, 1761, he secured the release of three hundred and thirty-eight captives, at Fort Pitt.

Early in February, 1762, Governor James Hamilton received a letter from Shingas and King Beaver, then living on the Tus- carawas, through their faithful friend. Christian Frederick Post, advising the Governor that they desired to hold a treaty with him the following spring.

The Colonial Authorities had made many efforts after Post's mission to the Western Indians in 1758, to induce Shingas and King Beaver to come to Philadelphia for a conference. Shingas had declined to come, fearing that the English would retaliate upon him for the terrible atrocities that he had committed upon the frontier settlements during the French and Indian War. Now, however, that peace was secure and the Indian raids upon the border had stopped, Shingas wanted to meet the Governor in con- ference.

In March, the Governor sent a reply to Shingas and Beaver through Post, inviting these two chiefs to come to Lancaster to hold a conference at that place, inasmuch as smallpox was raging in Philadelphia. Post was appointed as the guide and escort, not only for the two chiefs and their delegation of Indians, but also for the captives which were to be returned by the Indians from the villages on the Muskingum and Tuscarawas, as well as the villages on the Beaver and Ohio. King Beaver and other chiefs of the Western Delawares had already returned seventy- four captives to Fort Pitt. Post immediately went to the villages of Shingas and King Beaver on the Tuscarawas, and began prep- arations for the return of the remaining captives. Among them

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were : Philip Studebaker, captured in the Conococheague settle- ment, Mary Stroudman, captured in the same settlement; Eliza- beth McAdam, John Lloyd and Eleanor Lancestoctes, captured in the Little Cove; and Dorothy Shobrian, captured in the Big Cove. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 728.) Post was beset with many troubles. He had difficulty in getting Shingas and Beaver to return with him and also in keeping the captives from running away and returning to the Indian villages. He arrived at Lan- caster on August 8th, with Shingas, King Beaver and the captives. Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his "Pennsylvania — A History" thus comments upon the reluctance of the white captives to return to the settlements:

"One of the most remarkable facts in the relation of the Eng- lish with the Indians during this entire period is that these cap- tives, whose parents or husbands or wives had been most cruelly killed and scalped by Indians, had to be guarded and oftentimes fettered in order to keep them from running back to the captivity from which they had been released. One explanation of this most peculiar condition has been attempted by some writers, who have dealt with the topic, saying that the captives were men and women of the lower sort, and had not been accustomed to any- thing different from that which had been their condition in the villages of their Indian masters. But this is an absolutely false statement. Some of them had been taken from the best class of frontier families. The great majority of them, as shown by their names, belonged to the hardy, religious Scotch-Irish families along the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, which furnished the leading men and women of the Colonial period. The only explanation is to be found in the statements made by the captives and by the Indians, that these adopted relations were treated with the utmost kindness and respect by their captors."

However, many captives, taken during the French and Indian War, were not released until Colonel Henry Bouquet made his expedition to the Muskingum and Tuscarawas in the late autumn of 1764. Others, those held by the Shawnees, were not delivered until the spring of 1765. These matters will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. However, at this point, we call attention to the fact that many prisoners never returned to the settlements, preferring to spend the remainder of their lives with the Indians.

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Conclusion

General Forbes' victorious expedition closed the French and Indian War, in Pennsylvania. But the irresistible pressure on the lands the Delawares and Shawnees were occupying west of the Allegheny Mountains went on, notwithstanding the deeding back of these lands to the Indians at the Grand Council at Easton, in October, 1758. Numerous treaties and councils were held with the Delawares and Shawnees, at Fort Pitt, Philadelphia, and Lancaster during several years following the capture of Fort Duquesne — treaties in which the English promised these tribes that they would withdraw east of the Allegheny Mountains, and not invade the hunting grounds and homes of the Indians — promises which the English had no intention of keeping. The awful consequences that followed the breaking of these promises will be seen in our next chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII

Pontiac's War

IT is the spring of 1763. The reign of peace between Pennsyl- vania and the Indians, which began with the capture of Fort Duquesne and was temporarily threatened by the murder of the friendly Delaware, Doctor John, his wife and two children, near Carlisle, in February, 1760, is about to be broken. The Delawares, the Shawnees, the Senecas, the Mingoes, the Mohi- cans, the Miamis, the Ottawas and the Wyandots are about to crimson the soil of Pennsylvania with the blood of the settlers in the Indian uprising known as Pontiac's War or the Pontiac and Guyasuta War, often mis-called "Pontiac's Conspiracy."

Broken Treaties

The causes of Pontiac's War, as set forth in all histories, dealing with the subject, so far as the author has been able to find, except Dr. George P. Donehoo's "Pennsylvania — A History," are about as follows: That, when the English entered the region between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, upon the ex- pulsion of the French therefrom, the Indians of this region soon found that their new masters had a very different attitude towards them than had the French; that the English were less sociable and did less fraternizing with the Indians than did the French; that the English wanted to make settlements, whereas the French were content with trading; that the English were less lavish in presents than were the French, and gave the Indians less for their skins and furs than did the French; and that the English let them have guns, ammunition and blankets with such a sparing hand that the Indians suffered greatly from the parsi- mony of the English. For these reasons, say these histories, the proud-spirited western tribes, exasperated at the patronizing air of the English, and with their indignation encouraged by the few Frenchmen still among them, rose in savage wrath, under the leadership of Pontiac, in an effort to drive the hated English into

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the sea. Truly, these are causes of Pontiac's War; but the principal cause is not found among them.

The purpose of this history being to tell the truth, whether it hurts or not, let us now consider the principal cause of Pontiac's War:

1. When the French invaded the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, in 1753, Tanacharison, the deputy of the Six Nations, ordered them to depart from these lands as the territory of the Six Nations. This warning, which was given three times, as was the custom of the Iroquois before declaring war, was pointed out in Chapter IV.

2. The Six Nations then made an alliance with the English to assist in driving the French from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, with the understanding that, upon the expulsion of the French, the English would withdraw from this region; and Tanacharison, Scarouady, Canachquasy, Seneca George, The Belt of Wampum, and other chiefs of the Six Nations, relying on the promises and agreements of the English, faithfully served the English interest, as has been seen in former chapters.

3. From the beginning of the French invasion, in 1753, to the treaty of peace between England and France, in February, 1763, the Six Nations and their tenants in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, the Delawares and Shawnees, never for an instant wavered in their demand that both the English and the French remain east of the Allegheny Mountains.

4. The title of the Six Nations to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny was clearly acknowledged by the terms of many treaties, especially that of Albany, in July 1754, as stated by Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania to the Colonial Assembly, on August 7th, 1754, as follows:

"You will clearly perceive that the Lands on the River Ohio do yet belong to the Indians of the Six Nations." (Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 135.)

5. Nor in any treaty after the Albany treaty of July, 1754, did the English Crown and the English Colonies in America deny that the Six Nations were the owners of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny and the Shawnees and Delawares tenants thereof by permission of the Six Nations. On the contrary, these facts were acknowledged.

6. On November 27th, 1758, when Christian Frederick Post, after peace had been made with the Delawares and Shawnees at the council at Easton in October of that year, and just a few days

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after the fall of Fort Duquesne, was conferring with King Beaver and other chiefs at Kuskuskies, the matter of the occupation of the Ohio came up, and King Beaver, in no uncertain terms, let Post know that the Delawares and other tribes of the western region expected the English to keep their word and withdraw their military forces from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny after the expulsion of the French from the region west of the Allegheny Mountains. The promise of the English to withdraw east of the Alleghenies was the condition upon which the peace message of Post was accepted. This was set forth in Chapter XVI.

7. When Post, a few days later, reported to Colonel Henry Bouquet, at the ruins of Fort Duquesne, these statements of King Beaver, Bouquet was much displeased, and insisted that Post endeavor to get King Beaver and his associate chiefs to change their minds about the withdrawal of the English forces. Post then asked King Beaver, Shingas and Ketiuskund whether they had any alteration to make in their statement. These three chiefs, representing the Delawares and Six Nations in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, replied that they "would alter nothing." Said they:

"We have told them three times to leave the place; but they insist upon remaining here; if, therefore, they will be destroyed by the French and the Indians, we cannot help them." (See Post's journal of his second journey to the Ohio, under dates of Decem- ber 3d, to 7th, 1758.) This was also set forth in Chapter XVI.

Also, on December 4th and 5th, 1758, Colonel Henry Bouquet, in a council held at this place with the chiefs of the Delawares, told King Beaver and his associates that the British did "not come to take possession of your hunting Country in a hostile manner." (See Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 572.)

8. On January 3d, 1759, Colonel Hugh Mercer, commandant at Fort Pitt, held a council at that place with nine chiefs of the Six Nations, Shawnees and Delawares, in which the chiefs asked whether the English proposed to keep their promise and with- draw from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny after the ex- pulsion of the French, to which Colonel Mercer replied:

"Our great Man's words are true; as soon as the French are gone, he will make a Treaty with all the Indians and then go home, but the French are still here." (Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 296.)

9. On February 9, 1759, a council was held at Philadelphia

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between General Forbes and some Indian chiefs who had come from the Indian town of Buccaloons, on the Allegheny at the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek, in Warren County. These chiefs had first come to Pittsburgh to see the General, but finding that he had gone to Philadelphia, came to the latter place to see him. These Indians were very anxious to learn whether the English intended to keep their word and withdraw from the Ohio and Allegheny. General Forbes, too ill to speak with them personally, sent them his reply by Lieutenant James Grant, as follows:

"The General [Forbes] knows that the French have told the Indians that the English intend to cheat them out of their lands on the Ohio, but this, he assures you, is false. The English have no intention to make settlements in your Hunting Country be- yond the Allegheny Hills, unless they shall be desired for your conveniency to erect some store houses in order to establish and carry on a trade, which they are ready to do on fair and just terms." (Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 269.)

10. On July 5th to 9th, 1759, at the great council at Fort Pitt between Captain William Trent, Captain Thomas McKee and George Croghan, then Deputy Indian Agent, representing the English, and Guyasuta, King Beaver, Shingas, Captain Pipe, Delaware George, Killbuck and other chiefs of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnees and Wyandots, Croghan solemnly promised the chiefs as follows:

"And I assure you, as soon as the Enemy is drove out of your Country, which I expect you will be assisting in, that the General will depart your Country after securing our trade with you and our Brethren to the Westward. In confirmation of what I have said I give you this Belt." (Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 389.)

11. On August 12th, 1760, General Monckton held a council at Fort Pitt with King Beaver, Delaware George, Teedyuscung and many other chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees, Six Nations, Ottawas, Wyandots and other tribes of the region between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, in which he solemnly assured the assembled chiefs as follows:

"I do assure all the Indian Nations that his Majesty has not sent me to deprive any of you of your lands and property." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 745.)

12. In August, 1762, a treaty was held at Lancaster, in which Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, paid Teedyuscung two hundred Spanish dollars and goods of the value of two hundred pounds to withdraw his charge of fraud with reference to the

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Walking Purchase of 1737. This very important treaty was attended by five hundred and fifty-seven Indians from nearly all the tribes associated with the English. During the session of August 27th, Kinderuntie, the war chief of the Senecas, denied the request of Governor Hamilton to erect storehouses on the West Branch of the Susquehanna by reminding him, much to the Governor's embarrassment, as follows:

"You may remember you told me, when you was going to Pittsburgh, you would build a fort against the French, and you told me you wanted none of our Lands; our Cousins [the Dela- wares] know this, and that you promised to go away as soon as you drove the French away, and yet you stay there, and build Houses, and make it stronger and stronger every day; for this reason we entirely deny your request." (Col. Rec, Vol. 8, pages 766, 767.)

13. Preliminaries of peace between England and France were signed, November 3d, 1762. Then at the Treaty of Paris, Feb- ruary 10, 1763, the French surrendered to the English all posses- sions to which they laid claim, in North America, except the territory around New Orleans. For several years prior to the signing of this treaty, the English had been marching into the lands on the Ohio, at Niagara, at Detroit and at other places, taking formal possession without purchase from the Indian occupants of the region and without their consent, and erecting stronger forts than the French had surrendered. English settlers pushed over the Allegheny Mountains from Eastern Pennsylvania and from Virginia, and laid out for themselves plantations in the valley of the Ohio, some of them even with permission from the military authorities, though the lands were not open to lawful settlement. All these things the English did, in violation of their ten years of promising to the contrary and against the Indians' most solemn protestations.

But the Indians lived up to their agreements. Hear George Croghan, a thoroughly qualified and competent witness, testify- ing against his own interest and therefore much more entitled to be believed than if he were testifying for his own interest:

"It may be thought and said by some that the Indians are a faithless and ungrateful set of Barbarians, and will not stand by any agreements they make with us; but it is well known that they never claimed any right to a Tract of Country, after they had sold it with the consent of their Council, and received any considera-

412 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

tion, tho' never so trifling." (Pa. Archives, Second Series, Vol. 6, page 620.)

Such is the story of British perfidy and dishonor. The British forgot their promises and treaties as soon as they made them. But the Indian never forgot a promise, a treaty, a kindness or, an injury. The strongest love of his heart was the love for the lands he considered his own, as the gift of the Great Spirit; and the fiercest passion of his heart was love of revenge. Now that the Indians' loved home and hunting grounds were invaded in violation of solemn promises and formal treaties, it is no wonder that the storm which had been brewing for ten years, broke with fury in the summer of 1763 — it is no wonder that the warriors of Pontiac, Guyasuta and Custaloga rose in savage wrath in an effort to drive the English into the sea, and that the Pennsylvania valleys ran red with the blood of the pioneers. Pontiac's uprising was, therefore, not a "conspiracy," but a war brought about by the English breaking their promises and treaties with the Indians — a war in which the Indians attempted to drive out and destroy the perfidious invader of their homes and hunting grounds. (See Dr. George P. Donehoo's "Pennsylvania — A History," Vol. 2, pages 864 to 870 and 882.)

Pontiac, Guyasuta and Custaloga

At this point it will be well to record a few facts about Pontiac and two of his assistants, in Pennsylvania — Guyasuta and Custa- loga. Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas, was born on the Maumee River, in Ohio, about 1720. It seems that his father was an Ottawa chief and his mother a member of the Chippewa tribe. He is said, by some authorities, to have led the Ottawas at Braddock's defeat; but this may well be doubted. (Louder- milk's "History of Cumberland," page 177.) His first prominent appearance in recorded history was his meeting with Major Robert Rogers, in 1760, where Cleveland, Ohio now stands, as the latter was on his way to take possession of Detroit on behalf of the British. Pontiac objected to Major Rogers against further invasion of the territory ; but when he learned that the French had been defeated in Canada, he reluctantly consented to the occupa- tion of Detroit by the British.

In forming the great confederation of the Delawares, Shawnees and all the important members of the Algonquian tribes and one tribe of the Six Nations — the Senecas — in an effort to drive the

PONTIAC'S WAR 413

English Into the sea, Pontiac passed from tribe to tribe, winning them by his magnetic eloquence. To others he sent messengers, late in 1762 and early in 1763, bearing a red-stained tomahawk and a wampum belt. At a grand council which he attended, near Detroit, on April 27th, 1763, his plans took definite form. In arranging the time of the attack which was to be made on all the English forts in the latter part of May, 1763, a bundle of sticks was given each tribe at the grand council, each bundle containing as many rods as there were days until the general attack should be made. One rod was to be withdrawn every morning, and when a single one remained, the outbreak was to begin. Some author- ities say that a Delaware squaw, prompted by her love for the whites and hoping to disarrange the whole plan, extracted several rods from the bundle given her tribe.

The Senecas, as stated above, were the only tribe of the Six Nations that joined in Pontiac's uprising. However, so great was the indignation of the other members of the great Iroquois Confederation against the English for the breaking of solemn promises and formal treaties that it required the utmost exertions of Sir William Johnson to keep them, too, from taking up arms against the English. The Senecas were more directly affected by the action of the English than were the other Iroquois tribes, as a large part of the Seneca habitat was, at that time, in the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio. (Parkman, Chapter 7.)

So effective was the carrying out of Pontiac's plans — plans that were bold in their conception and masterful in their execu- tion— that every English post of importance fell into the hands of his allied forces, except Detroit, Fort Pitt and Niagara, the last being but feebly attacked. Being unsuccessful in his first attempt to drive the English into the sea, he made an attempt to incite the tribes along the Mississippi to join in another effort. Not succeeding in this attempt, he made peace, at Detroit, August 17th, 1765. In 1769, this Napoleon of the wilderness attended a carousal at Cahokia, Illinois, just across the Mississippi from St. Louis, at which he was killed by one of his own race. Says Parkman: "Thus basely perished the champion of a ruined race. The murdered chief lay on the spot where he had fallen, until St. Ange, mindful of former friendship, sent to claim the body, and buried it with warlike honors, near his fort of St. Louis. Neither mound nor tablet marked the burial place of Pontiac. For a mausoleum, a city has risen above the forest hero ; and the

414 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

race whom he hated with such burning rancor, trample with un- ceasing footsteps over his forgotten grave."

Guyasuta (Kiasutha) has generally been called a Seneca chief; but he was probably of the mongrel Iroquois known as the Mingoes, who inhabited the Allegheny Valley and the region to the westward. We have already met him, in this history, as one of the chiefs who accompanied George Washington from Logs- town to Fort Le Boeuf, in November, 1753; also, at Grant's defeat, on September 14th, 1758. We shall meet him many more times in this history. He died in the closing years of the eight- eenth century, on the estate of General James O'Hara, near Sharpsburg, on the banks of his long-loved Allegheny. General O'Hara buried the old chieftain's body in the Indian mound on the estate. Guyasuta Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, near Sharpsburg, bears his name. (See the author's "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania," page 408.)

Custaloga (Kustaloga) was a chief of the Munsee or Wolf Clan of Delawares. He was living at Venango when John Frazer, the English trader, was driven from that place by the French, in the summer of 1753. His principal seat was Custaloga's Town, located about twelve miles above the mouth of French Creek and near the mouth of Deer Creek, in French Creek Township, Mercer County. He also ruled over the Delawares at Cussewago, or Cassewago, on the site of the present town of Meadville, the county seat of Crawford County. His successor was Captain Pipe, or Hopocan, of the Wolf Clan.

Shingas and King Beaver also assisted Pontiac in the great uprising, although, at its beginning, they were not in full sym- pathy with the great Ottawa's plans. As has already been seen in this chapter, they warned the English that war would result if the latter would not withdraw from the Ohio and Allegheny valleys.

Capture of Fort Presqu' Isle (Erie)

After the French were driven from the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, the English not only strengthened Forts Bedford and Ligonier, erected Fort Pitt and posts at Stony Creek and Bushy Run, but also erected forts on or near the sites of Forts Presqu' Isle, LeBoeuf and Machault, the last of which they called Fort Venango. Colonel Bouquet, in the summer of 1760, with four hundred Royal Americans and one hundred Virginians, rebuilt Forts Presqu' Isle and LeBoeuf, and sent Colonel Stewart to build

PONTIAC'S WAR 41S

Fort Venango. Garrisons were kept at all these forts and posts from the time of their erection, it being Colonel Bouquet's work to attend to their defense, to keep the line of communication open to Carlisle, to complete opening the road from Ligonier to Fort Pitt and to reopen and repair the Braddock road.

Pontiac's War breaking out, Fort Presqu' Isle was one of the Pennsylvania posts captured by the Indians, the date being June 22nd, 1763. Ensign John Christie was in command with a garrison of twenty-seven soldiers of the Royal Americans, and the attacking force consisted of about two hundred Indians. After defending the place for two days. Ensign Christie surrendered, and all of the garrison not killed were taken to Detroit, except Benja- min Gray, a soldier who, upon hearing the piercing screams of a Sergeant's wife, the only woman in the garrison, as the Indians began their work of plunder, escaped and arrived at Fort Pitt on June 26th with the erroneous report that the entire garrison had been massacred. We shall let Ensign Christie tell, in his own words, the details of the capture of Fort Presqu' Isle, in a letter written from Detroit, on July 10th, now among the Bouquet papers in the British Museum, in which letter, it will be noted, he gives the date of the attack as June 20th:

"On the 20th June at day break I was surrounded at my Post at Presqu' Isle by about two hundred Indians; a quarter of an hour after, they began to Fire on the Block House and continued all that day very smartly. Likewise Fire arrows were thrown into the Roof of the Block House and Bastians. I received my greatest hurt from the Two Hills, the one ascending from the Lake, the other from the bottom, they having made holes in the night to secure themselves. Notwithstanding two or three did their en- deavor to get in, the French were killed, which made them cease firing for some hours, at which time they was employed in digging passes through the earth in order to get at the bottom of the house.

"21st. They commenced fireing as hot as ever and also with Fire Arrows which set the house a second time on fire, the same day the barrells of water I had provided was spent in extinguish- ing said Fires and found it impossible to get at a well which was sunk on the Parade, therefore was obliged to sink one in the house by hard labour. Whilst we were digging to get at the well, we were again set on fire, but got it extinguished by throwing some shingles from the roof. At the same time they had approached as far as the Commanding Officers room on the parade, they set

416 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

it on fire and communicated it to the rushes round the Fort. We continued our fireing till midnight when one of them who spoke French informed me it was in vain to pretend to hold out, for they could now set fire to the house when they pleased if I would not surrender; we may expect no quarters, finding they had made their approaches aforesaid. That they could set me on fire above and below. My men being fatigued to the greatest extremity and not being able to extinguish such fireing and resist their numbers, I asked them in English if there was amongst them which under- stood that language. An Englishman then called up to me that if I ceased my fireing, he would speak with me; he told me they were of the Urin Nation that had been compelled to take up arms by the Ottawas against Detroit, that there was part of other Nations with him, that they only wanted the house and that they would have now soon, that I might have liberty to go with my Garrison where I pleased. I desired them to leave off their fireing and I would give them an answer in the morning early. After considering my situation and of the impossibility of holding out any longer, I sent out two soldiers as if to treat with them that they may find out their disposition and how they had made their approaches, and to give me a signal if they found what I imagined to be true, finding that if it be so and the vessel Hovering Between the points all the while I was engaged could give me no assistance. I came out with my people. They then took us prisoners; myself and four soldiers and a woman was brought to the Wiandotte Town; the rest of my garrison was taken by the other Nations. I was delivered up to Detroit with one soldier and a woman, the other two they killed at their town; the night I arrived there I was delivered up to Fort Detroit the 9th instant." (See Mary C. Darlington's "History of Colonel Henry Bouquet," pages 176 to 178; also. Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 547 to 551.)

Destruction of Forts LeBoeuf and Venango

On June 18th, Fort LeBoeuf (Waterford, Erie County), com- manded by Ensign Price, with a garrison of Royal Americans, Pennsylvania-Germans, as their names indicate, was destroyed by a large body of Indians. Parkman thus describes this event:

"The panic-stricken soldier [Gray, who had escaped from Presqu' Isle, and then made his way to Fort Pitt] in his flight from Presqu' Isle, had passed the spots where lately had stood the little Forts of LeBoeuf and Venango. Both were burnt level with

PONTIAC'S WAR 417

the ground, and he surmised that the whole of their wretched garrisons had fallen victims. The disaster had proven less fatal than his fears led him to suspect; for, on the same day on which he arrived, Ensign Price, the officer commanding at Le Boeuf, was seen approaching along the banks of the Allegheny, followed by seven haggard and half-famished soldiers. On the evening of the eighteenth, a great multitude of Indians had surrounded his post, the available defences of which, at that time, consisted of only one blockhouse. Showering bullets and fire-arrows against it, they soon set it in flames, and at midnight, in spite of every effort, the whole upper part of the building was in a light blaze. The assailants now gathered in a half circle before the entrance, eagerly expecting the moment when the inmates, stifled amid flame and smoke, should rush out upon certain death. But Price and his followers, with the energy of desperation, hewed an open- ing through the massive timbers which formed the back wall of the blockhouse, and escaped unperceived into the dark woods behind. For some time, they continued to hear the reports of the Indian guns, as these painted demons were still leaping and yelling in front of the blazing building, firing into the loopholes, and exulting in the thought that their enemies were suffering the agonies of death within. The fugitives pressed on through the whole of the next day, until, at one o'clock, [at night] they came to the spot where Fort Venango had stood. Nothing remained of it but piles of glowing embers, among which lay the half-con- sumed bodies of the hapless garrison. They continued their journey; but six of the party soon gave out, and were left behind in the woods, while the remainder [Ensign Price and seven soldiers] were half dead with fear, hunger and exhaustion, before their eyes were gladdened by the friendly walls of Fort Pitt."

To Parkman's account we add that, after Ensign Price and his garrison made their escape from Fort LeBoeuf and were on their way through the forest to Venango, under the direction of a soldier, named John Dortinger, who thought he knew the way, they became bewildered in the night-wrapped wilderness, and, after wandering until morning, found themselves back within two miles of the place from which they had started; also, that the party became separated before they reached Venango, and that of those left behind, all but two eventually made their appearance. (Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 576 and 577.)

At about the same time as the destruction of Fort LeBoeuf, a

418 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

band of Indians burned Fort Venango (Franklin), garrisoned by a small force under Lieutenant Gordon. Says Parkman:

"Not a man remained alive to tell the fate of Venango; and it was not until some time after that an Indian, who was present at its destruction, described the scene to Sir William Johnson. A large body of Senecas gained entrance under the pretence of friendship, then closed the gates, fell upon the garrison, and butchered them all except the commanding officer, Leiutenant Gordon, whom they tortured over a slow fire for several successive nights, till he expired. This done, they burnt the place to the ground, and departed."

Lieutenant Gordon had been compelled to write a statement of the many grievances of the Indians.

Attack on Fort Pitt

The destruction of forts Presqu' Isle, LeBoeuf and Venango cut off all communication northward from Fort Pitt and the Ohio. Around the fort clustered, at the time of which we are writing, the village of Pittsburgh, remote in the western wilderness, com- posed mostly of traders and their families. The first information as to the size of the town is the census of the same, made by Colonel James Burd, on June 21st, 1760:

Number of houses 146

Number of Unfinished houses 19

Number of Hutts 36

201

Number of Men 88

Number of Women 29

Number of Male Children 14

Number of Female Children 18

149

N. B. — The above houses Exclusive of those in the Fort; in the Fort five long barracks and a long casimitt." (Pa. Archives, Second Series, Vol. 7, page 422.)

In the spring of 1763, Fort Pitt was garrisoned by a force of three hundred and thirty soldiers, traders and backwoodsmen, commanded by Captain Simeon Ecuyer, of the Royal Americans, a brave and energetic officer of the same nationality and blood

PONTIAC'S WAR 419

as Colonel Bouquet. He had received warnings of danger early in May, writing to Colonel Bouquet, then at Philadelphia, on the 4th of that month: "Major Gladwin writes me that I am sur- rounded by rascals. He complains a great deal of the Delawares andShawnees."

Later, on the evening of May 27th, a party of Indians camped on the shore of the Allegheny opposite the fort. In the morning they came to the fort with a great quantity of furs, which they sold to the traders, demanding, in exchange, bullets, hatchets and gunpowder. Their conduct excited suspicion. On the same day (May 28th) Colonel William Clapham, his wife, his three children and another woman were killed at their home on George Cro- ghan's tract near West Newton by The Wolf, Kekuscung and three other Indians, one of whom was named Butler. The women were treated with shocking indecency. Three men who were working near the Clapham home escaped, and brought the news to Captain Ecuyer. It would seem that others were killed in this same raid, as Colonel James Burd entered in his journal, on June 5th, that, "John Harris gave me an account of Colonel Clapham and twelve men being killed near Pittsburgh and two Royal Americans at the saw-mill." These soldiers, killed near the saw- mill, were shot down within a mile of Fort Pitt. Captain Ecuyer at once sent an express to Venango to warn the little garrison there, but the messenger returned in a short time, having been shot at twice and severely wounded. At the same time, Ecuyer sent the three men who informed him of the Clapham murder to the assistance of Andrew Byerly at his plantation at Bushy Run, having been advised that the Indians had "told Byerly to leave his place in four days, or he and his family would be murdered."* These murders gave Captain Ecuyer great concern. He wrote to Colonel Bouquet: "I am Uneasy for the little Posts — as for this, I will answer for it."

On May 30th, Captain Ecuyer moved the inhabitants of the town into the fort, and leveled the cabins and houses outside the rampart to the ground. There were one hundred women and more than that many children. A little later Captain Ecuyer wrote Colonel Bouquet: "We are so crowded in the fort that I fear disease; for, in spite of every care, I cannot keep the place as clean as I should like. Besides, the smallpox is among us; and I have therefore caused a hospital to be built under the draw-

♦Andrew Byerly was a German who settled in the valley of Brush Creek, in the western part of Westmoreland County, in 1759,

420 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

bridge, out of range of musket shot." Such was the terrible situa- tion at Fort Pitt in the opening days of the Pontiac and Guyasuta War — a situation soon to become worse.

On June 1st, the trader, Thomas Calhoun, arrived at Fort Pitt from the Tuscarawas with the information that King Beaver, Shingas, Wingenund and several other Delaware chiefs had come to his trading house on the Tuscarawas at 11 o'clock on the night of May 27th, told him of the murder of a number of English traders, and warned him to leave at once. Said these Delaware chiefs to Calhoun : "Out of regard to you, and the friendship that formerly subsisted between our grandfathers and the English, we request you may think of nothing you have here, but make the best of your way to some place of safety, as we would not desire to see you killed in our Town. Be careful to avoid the road and every place where Indians resort." These chiefs then sent three Indians to conduct Calhoun and his men to Fort Pitt. On May 29th, as they were crossing Beaver Creek, Calhoun's party was fired upon by hostile Indians, killing all except Calhoun and two others. He reported to Captain Ecuyer that, when the firing began, the Indian guides immediately disappeared, leading him to believe that they had purposely led him into an ambush. There were fourteen men in Calhoun's party. Upon their leaving Tuscarawas, or King Beaver's Town, they were not permitted to take their arms with them, Shingas and King Beaver telling them that the three Indian guides would conduct them safely.

The desultory outrages, with which the war began, in the vicinity of Fort Pitt, kept the garrison in a state of restless alarm. Indians fired at the sentinels both by day and by night. Of eight messengers, sent from the fort in an effort to warn Fort Venango, four were killed, two were wounded, and two returned unhurt. At length, on the afternoon of June 22nd, a party of Delawares drove off the horses and cattle which were grazing in the cleared field near the fort, and then opened a general fire on the garrison, killing two men. The garrison replied with a discharge of howit- zers, the bursting of whose shells disconcerted the Indians for a time. Throughout the night they fired at the fort at intervals. At nine o'clock the following morning, several of the chiefs, ap- proached the fort for a parley. Turtle Heart, and, possibly, Shingas being among them. Turtle Heart was the speaker, and, addressing the garrison, told them that six nations of Indians were on their way to destroy Fort Pitt, after having already destroyed all other English posts, and that, if the garrison, women

PONTIAC'S WAR 421

and children would withdraw and go to the English settlements, they should be spared. Captain Ecuyer was equal to the occasion replying that an army of six thousand soldiers was on the march to Fort Pitt and another of three thousand on the march against the Ottawas and Ojibways of the Great Lakes. This politic invention had an excellent effect upon the Indians, and the next day most of them withdrew.

Several weeks elapsed without a determined attack. Then, on July 26th, Shingas, Turtle Heart and a few others approached, one of them displaying a flag which, some months before, he had received as a present from Captain Ecuyer. On the strength of this token they were admitted to the fort. Shingas was the speaker, addressing Captain Ecuyer thus:

"We wish to hold fast the chain of friendship — that ancient chain which our forefathers held with their brethren, the English. You have let your end of the chain fall to the ground, but ours is still fast within our hands. Why do you complain that our young men have fired at your soldiers, and killed your cattle and horses? You yourselves are the cause of this. You marched your armies into our country, and built forts here, though we told you, again again, that we wished you to remove. My brothers, this land is ours, and not yours."

Captain Ecuyer, in his reply, urged the very shallow pretense that the English had erected the forts west of the Alleghenies for the purpose of supplying the Indians with clothes and ammuni- tion! He absolutely refused to leave the place. He said to Shingas:

"I have warriors, provisions and ammunition to defend it [Fort Pitt] three years against all the Indians in the woods; and we shall never abandon it as long as a white man lives in America . . . This is our home ... I tell you that, if any of you appear again about this fort, I will throw bombshells, which will burst and blow you to atoms, and fire cannon among you, loaded with a whole bag full of bullets."

Thus ended the conference between Shingas and Captain Ecuyer, and the chiefs departed with much displeasure. Shingas had repeated the position and point of view of the Delawares and Shawnees; and Captain Ecuyer's reply had at least the virtue of some frankness. The English never intended to keep the promises they had formally and solemnly made to Shingas, King Beaver and other great chiefs of the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, to with- draw east of the Allegheny Mountains upon the expulsion of the

422 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

French from these valleys. Shingas, King Beaver, Turtle Heart and other leaders of the Delawares, Shawnees and other tribes of the Ohio Valley demanded that the English live up to their promises — promises which were the conditions upon which these Indians agreed to withdraw from the French in the latter days of the French and Indian War. In the words of King Solomon, "let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:" — in Pontiac's uprising, the Delawares and Shawnees took up arms against the English to enforce the treaty of peace to which these Indians had agreed and which the English had broken.

Thus far this sketch of the happenings at Fort Pitt, during the early days of the Pontiac and Guyasuta War, has been based almost entirely on the journal of Captain Ecuyer. We shall now let Parkman tell what happened after Shingas, Turtle Heart and their associate chiefs withdrew from their conference with Cap- tain Ecuyer:

"Disappointed of gaining a bloodless possession of the fort, the Indians now, for the first time, began a general attack. On the night succeeding the conference, they approached in great multi- tudes, under cover of the darkness and completely surrounded it; many of them crawling beneath the banks of the two rivers, which ran close to the rampart, and, with incredible perseverance, dig- ging, with their knives, holes in which they were completely sheltered from the fire of the fort. On one side, the whole bank was lined with these burrows, from each of which a bullet or an arrow was shot out whenever a soldier chanced to expose his head. At daybreak, a general fire was opened from every side, and continued without intermission until night, and through several succeeding days. Meanwhile, the women and children were pent up in the crowded barracks, terror-stricken at the horrible din of the assailants, and watching the fire-arrows as they came sailing over the parapet, and lodging against the roofs and sides of the buildings. In every instance, the fire they kindled was ex- tinguished. One of the garrison was killed, and seven wounded. Among the latter was Captain Ecuyer, who, freely exposing him- self, received an arrow in the leg. At length, an event hereafter to be described put an end to the attack, and drew off the as- sailants from the neighborhood of the fort, to the unspeakable relief of the harassed soldiers, exhausted as they were by several days of unintermitted vigilance."

The event, mentioned by Parkman, as "hereafter to be de- scribed "was the battle of Bushy Run, August 5th and 6th, 1763.

PONTIAC'S WAR 423

On August 1st, the Indians gave up the siege of Fort Pitt, and then marched, most likely under the leadership of Guyasuta, to attack Colonel Bouquet, who was then advancing to the relief of Fort Pitt, and to meet his little army in the bloody and historic battle of Bushy Run. On August 2nd, Captain Ecuyer wrote Colonel Bouquet, describing the siege of Fort Pitt. Among other things, he said in this letter:

"They were well under cover, and so were we. They did us no harm; nobody killed, seven wounded, and I myself slightly. Their attack lasted five days and five nights. We are certain of having killed and wounded twenty of them, without reckoning those we could not see. I left nobody fire until he had marked his man; and not an Indian could show his nose without being pricked with a bullet, for we have some good marksmen here . . . Our men are doing admirably, regulars and the rest. All they ask is to go out and fight. I am fortunate to have the honor of commanding such brave men. I only wish the Indians had ventured an assault. They would have remembered it to the thousandth generation! . . . They threw fire arrows to burn our works, but they could not reach the buildings, nor even the ramparts. Only two arrows came into the fort, one of which had the insolence to make free with my left leg." (See account of siege of Fort Pitt, in Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 113 to 120.)

Attempt to Inoculate Indians with Smallpox

With the first news of hostilities against Fort Pitt and the other posts west of the Allegheny Mountains, Colonel Bouquet, then at Philadelphia, was ordered to assemble as large an army as possible and cross the Alleghenies with a convoy of provisions and ammunition for the western forts. He reached Carlisle, about July 1st. We shall describe his march over the mountains in Chapter XIX, as before stated. At this point, however, we call attention to a suggestion made to him while he was assemb- ling his army — a suggestion made by General Sir Jefi"rey Amherst, then commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, having been appointed to succeed General Abercrombie, in the autumn of 1758. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 518; Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 236.)

Evidently learning that smallpox had broken out at Fort Pitt, Amherst wrote Colonel Bouquet :

"I wish to hear of no prisoners, should any of the villians be

424 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

met with in arms . . . Could it not be contrived to send the small- pox among those disaffected tribes of Indians?" To this Bouquet replied: "I will try to inoculate them with some blankets, and take care not to get the disease myself. As it is a pity to expose good men against them, I wish we could use the Spanish method, to hunt them with English dogs who would, I think, effectually extirpate or remove that vermin." Then Amherst replied : "You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this exorable race."

Parkman calls attention to the fact that, while there is no direct evidence that Bouquet carried into effect the shameful plan of infecting the Indians with small-pox, yet a few months after Amhert's suggestion, this disease made havoc among the tribes of the Ohio. But, on June 24th, Captain Ecuyer, the commandant at Fort Pitt, after narrating the fact that he and Alexander McKee held the parley mentioned earlier in this chapter, with Turtle Heart and another Delaware chief who had come to the fort for the purpose of terrifying the garrison by reports of great numbers of Indians marching against the place, noted the following in his journal: "Out of our regard to them [Turtle Heart and his companion], we gave them two blankets and a handkerchief out of the Small-pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect." (Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 275 and 276; also Journal of Captain Simeon Ecuyer.)

Attack on Fort Ligonier

Pontiac and Guyasuta's warriors well knew the destruction of Fort Pitt would not crown their efforts with success unless Fort Ligonier, also were destroyed. This post, commanded by Lieutenant Archibald Blane (Blain), of the Royal Americans, with a small garrison, contained some stores and munitions which would be of much use to the Indians. Could they succeed in capturing both Fort Pitt and Ligonier, their march into the settlements east of the Allegheny Mountains would be compara- tively easy. Therefore, early in June, they appeared at Fort Ligonier. In the meantime, the posts at Redstone and Bushy Run were abandoned for lack of soldiers to defend them. The few settlers in the vicinity of Fort Ligonier hastened to that place, abandoning their plantations. Among them, was the family of Andrew Byerly, who lived near Bushy Run and Brush Creek,

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also not far from Harrison City, Westmoreland County, whose flight to Fort Ligonier is thus described in Cort's "Henry Bou- quet:"

"As Ecuyer states, Byerly had received warning; but his family was in no condition to be moved. Mrs. Byerly had just been confined and the departure was delayed as long as possible, indeed until certain death was imminent, if the flight should be any longer postponed. Byerly had gone with a small party [per- haps Clapham's men refered to above] to bury some persons who had been killed at some distance from his station. A friendly Indian who had often received a bowl of milk and bread from Mrs. Byerly came to the house after dark, and informed the family that they would all be killed, if they did not make their escape before daylight. Mrs. Byerly got up from her sick couch and wrote the tidings on the door of the house for the information of her husband when he should return. A horse was saddled on which the mother with her tender babe three days old in her arms, was placed, and a child not two years old was fastened behind her.

"Michael Byerly was a good sized lad, but Jacob was only three years old and had a painful stone bruise on one of his feet. With the aid of his older brother who held him by the hand and sometimes carried him on his back, the little fellow, however, managed to make good time through the wilderness to Fort Ligonier, about thirty miles distant. But although he reached his ninety-ninth year, he never forgot that race for life in his child- hood, nor did he feel like giving quarter to hostile Indians, one of whom he killed on an island in the Allegheny in a fight under Lieutenant Hardin in 1779, although the savage begged for quarter.

"Milk cows were highly prized by frontier families in those days, and the Byerly family made a desperate effort to coax and drive their small herd along to Fort Ligonier. But the howling savages got so close that they were obliged to leave the cattle in the woods to be destroyed by the Indians. Byerly in some way eluded the Indians and joined his family in the retreat. They barely escaped with their lives. The first night they spent in the stockade, and in the morning the bullets of the pursurers struck the gates as the family pressed into the fort."

The following extracts of letters written from Fort Ligonier by Lieutenant Blane to Colonel Bouquet describe the attacks on this fort. On June 4th, he wrote; .

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"Thursday last my garrison was attacked by a body of Indians about five in the morning; but as they only fired upon us from the skirts of the woods, I contented myself with giving them three cheers, without spending a single shot upon them. But as they still continued their popping upon the side next the town, I sent the sergeant of the Royal Americans, with a proper detachment, to fire the houses, which effectually disappointed them in their plans." On the 17th, he wrote: "I hope soon to see yourself, and live in daily hopes of a reinforcement . . . Sunday last, a man straggling out was killed by the Indians, and Monday night three of them got under an out-house, but were discovered. The darkness secured them in their retreat ... I believe the com- munication between Fort Pitt and this is entirely cut off, having heard nothing from them since the thirtieth of May, though two expresses have gone from Bedford by this post." Also, on the 28th, he wrote: "On the twenty-first, the Indians made a second attempt in a very serious manner, for near two hours, but with like success as the first. They began with attempting to cut off the retreat of a small party of fifteen men, who, from their im- patience to come at four Indians who showed themselves, in a great measure forced me to let them out. In the evening, I think above a hundred lay in ambush by the side of the creek, about four hundred yards from the fort; and just as the party were returning pretty near where they lay, rushed out, when they undoubtedly would have succeeded, had it not been for a deep morass which intervened. Immediately after, they began their attack; and I dare say they fired upwards of one thousand shot. Nobody received any damage. So far, my good fortune in dangers still attends me."

This fort in the wilderness of Westmoreland County suc- ceeded in holding out until Colonel Henry Bouquet came with his little army of relief, on August 2nd. By some means, Lieu- tenant Blane had gotten word through to Captain Wendell Ourry (Uhrig), commander of Fort Bedford, of the destruction of Forts Presqu' Isle, LeBoeuf and Venango. This must have been about the latter part of June, as Colonel Bouquet, on July 3d, wrote the news to General Amherst. Bouquet had received the news of the fall of these three forts from Captain Ourry, who had received it from Lieutenant Blane. Knowing the straits in which Lieutenant Blane and his garrison were, and fearing that they would not be able to resist the attacks of the Indians, Captain Ourry sent a relief party from Fort Bedford, consisting

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of twenty woodsmen, all fine marksmen, who arrived at Fort Ligonier in safety, about July 1st. About the same time. Colonel Bouquet sent a relief party from Carlisle to this fort, consisting of thirty Highlanders, with keen-eyed backwoodsmen to lead them over the mountain trails instead of the Forbes Road. They made their way through the Indian-infested wilderness, using every precaution, traveling mostly by night, and came in sight of the fort without being discovered. The fort was beset by In- dians at the time of the arrival of the Highlanders and their guides. The relief party was fired upon, but succeeded in entering the fort without the loss of a man.

For account of the attacks on Fort Ligonier, see "Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 2, pages 216 to 218.

During the spring of 1763, before hostilities broke out. Lieu- tenant Blane was visited, at Fort Ligonier, by several parties of friendly Delawares, among whom was a young brave, named Maiden Foot. When Maiden Foot was at the fort on one of these occasions, a settler named Means, with his wife and little daughter, Mary, aged eleven years, was there also. The Means home was about a mile south of the fort. Maiden Foot seemed much pleased with little Mary. On leaving the fort, he gave the little girl a string of beads. He seemed sad and thoughtful at the time.

In the latter part of May or early in June, after the Pontiac and Guyasuta War had started, Mrs. Means and Mary started for the fort on hearing a rumor that the Indians had become hostile. On their way to the fort, they were captured by two Indians, who took them into the woods and tied them to saplings. Soon they heard the report of rifles, which was the first Indian assault on the fort. Later in the afternoon. Maiden Foot ap- peared before Mrs. Means and her daughter, no doubt being the Indian selected to scalp them. He recognized them, cut the bands which bound them to the tree, and conducted them by a roundabout way to their home, where Mr. Means met them. Maiden Foot then told the family to flee to the mountains, and pointed to a ravine in which they could hide until after the Indian band left the neighborhood. On leaving them Maiden Foot took the little girl's handkerchief, on which was worked in black silken thread her name "Mary Means."

Some years afterwards the Means family moved to a point near Cincinnati, Ohio, where the parents died ; and the girl having grown to womanhood, married an officer named Kearney, who

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commanded a company under Wayne at the battle of the Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794. After this battle, Kearney and some companions found an elderly Indian sitting on a log on the battle- field and waving a white handkerchief. On their approaching him, the Indian said that he had been a warrior all his life; that he had fought at Ligonier, at Bushy Run, the Wabash against St. Clair, and at the recent battle against Wayne. He then explained that he had enough of war, and desired henceforth to live in peace with all mankind. Searching in his pouch he brought forth the handkerchief of Mary Means. Officer Kearney had often heard his wife tell the story of Maiden Foot. He took the old Indian home with him. Mrs. Kearney and the Indian immediately recognized each other, although thirty-one years had elapsed since they parted near Fort Ligonier. Maiden Foot now ex- plained that shortly before he met Mary Means, he had lost a sister about her age and size, and that the giving of the string of beads to her was in effect the adopting of her as his sister. He was taken into the Kearney family, according to Boucher's "History of Westmoreland County," and upon his death four years later, was buried in a graveyard at Cincinnati, where a tablet was erected at his grave bearing the following inscription : "In memory of Maiden Foot, an Indian Chief of the Eighteenth Century, who died a Civilian and a Christian."

Fort Bedford Besieged

The warriors of Pontiac and Guyasuta began a siege of Fort Bedford at about the same time as the attack on Fort Ligonier. Hearing of the approach of the Indian hordes, the small posts at Stony Creek and Juniata Crossing were abandoned and their defenders were sent to strengthen the small garrison of Fort Bedford, commanded, as we have already seen, by Captain Wendell Ourry (Uhrig) of the Royal Americans. At this time Fort Bedford was the principal depot for military supplies be- between Carlisle and Fort Pitt. We have already seen how Captain Ourry sent twenty men from his fort to the assistance of Lieutenant Blane at Fort Ligonier, some time in June. Many families lived in the mountain valleys in the vicinity of Fort Bedford. They fled in terror to the fort, many, however, being overtaken and killed by the merciless Indians, It is said in "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" that forty of these families were

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murdered or carried Into captivity during the terrible time of which we are writing.

The following extracts from letters written at Fort Bedford show the alarming condition of that post at the time when Colonel Bouquet was preparing to advance over the mountains:

On June 3d, Captain Ourry wrote to Colonel Bouquet: "No less than ninety-three families are now here for refuge, and more hourly are arriving. I expect ten more before night." On June 7th, he wrote Colonel Bouquet: "My greatest difficulty is to keep my militia from straggling by twos and threes to their dear plantations, thereby exposing themselves to be scalped, and weakening my garrison by such numbers absenting themselves ... I long to see my Indian scouts come in with intelligence; but I long more to hear the Grenadier's March, and see some more red coats." Ten days later Captain Ourry wrote Bouquet that, no attack having been made, the fugitives had gradually returned to their plantations, reducing his whole force to "twelve Royal Americans to guard the fort and seven Indian prisoners." Then the very next day he wrote: "This moment I return from the parade. Some scalps taken up Dunning's Creek yesterday, and today some families murdered and houses burnt, have destroyed me of my militia . . . Two or three other families are missing, and the houses are seen in flames. The people are all flocking in again." Two days later he wrote Bouquet that, while the countrymen were at drill on the parade, Indians attempted to seize two little girls close to the fort, but were driven off by a volley from the garrison. He adds that this greatly increased the panic of the fugitives and that it was with difficulty that he could restrain them from murdering the Indian prisoners.

The following letter was written at Fort Bedford on June 30th:

"This morning a party of the enemy attacked fifteen persons who were mowing in Mr. Croghan's field, within a mile of the garrison; and news is brought in of two men being killed. — Eight o'clock. Two men are brought in, alive, tomahawked and scalped more than half the head over — Our parade just now presents a scene of blood and savage cruelty; three men, two of which are in the bloom of life, the other an old man, lying scalped (two of them still alive) lying thereon; Anything feigned in the most fabulous Romance, cannot parallel the horrid Sight now before me; the Gashes the poor People bear are most terrifying. — Ten o'clock. They are just expired — One of them, after being toma- hawked and scalped, ran a little way, and got on a Loft in Mr.

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Croghan's House, where he lay until found by a party of the Garrison." (Pennsylvania Gazette No. 1802.)

Such was the dreadful situation at Fort Bedford, when, on July 3d, Captain Ourry sent a messenger to Colonel Bouquet at Carlisle, with the news of the fall of Forts Presqu' Isle, Le- Bouef and Venango. This mounted messenger reached Carlisle the same day, as will presently appear. Happily the fort held out until the arrival of Colonel Bouquet.

Invasion of Juniata, Tuscarora, Sherman and Cumberland Valleys

The storm which broke in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny and the region to the westward, swept over the Allegheny Moun- tains eastward past Fort Ligonier and Fort Bedford into the valleys beyond. No tongue can tell, no pen can describe its horrors. From the beautiful and fertile valleys, rose the smoke of burning settlements. Many mutilated bodies of slain settlers were torn and devoured by hogs and wild beasts. Hundreds of families fled in terror to Shippensburg, Carlisle, the extreme eastern settlements and to Philadelphia. The following quota- tions from standard authorities give but an incomplete picture of this reign of terror, desolation and death :

Says Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," in the chapter on Juniata County:

"On Sunday Morning, July 10, 1763, 'Shamokin Daniel, with eighteen Indians, having come to view the roads and see what troops were marching up, and finding none, proceeded to Juniata to kill and scalp. At the house of William White, adjoining Patterson's at Mexico, up the river, there were four men and a boy. White, on going to the door to see what the noise meant, was shot dead. Seeing the Indians trying to set fire to the house, the rest tried to get out at the door, but the first one that stepped out was shot down. After which, attempting to escape by a window, another was shot through the head and the lad, John Riddle, wounded in the arm. The remaining man, William Riddle, broke through the roof, frightened the Indian guard, and escaped. The house, with the dead bodies, was burned. The lad, who had escaped by the window and hid in a rye-field, was dis- covered and captured. A man named McMahen, unsuspectingly coming there, was shot in the shoulder, but escaped. The lad, John Riddle, was recovered some years after near Lake Erie,

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having become so infatuated with Indian Hfe that his father had great difficulty in getting him home.

"The same party of Indians passed from White's, a mile and a half across the river, to the house of Robert Campbell at the mouth of Licking Creek. Six men were in the house, and they were at dinner. The Indians rushed in at the door, and fired on them, wounding some, and tomahawking one of the men. George Dodds sprang into the back room, took down a rifle and shot an Indian through the body just as he was in the act of presenting his piece at Dodds. The Indian let his gun drop and staggered out, and was carried off by three others. There being an opening in the loft, Dodds and two others sprang up there and broke through the roof by the chimney. They saw Stephen Jeffries running slowly, being wounded in the breast, and followed by an Indian, by whom he was killed. The first one that emerged from the loft was fired at and drew back; the second was shot dead ; and of the six, Dodds only escaped, and carried the news to Sherman's Valley.

"The Indians then passed up the valley to now Nourse's farm, near Spruce Hill, where they killed William Anderson in the dusk of the evening. The old man was seated at the table with the open Bible in his hand, supposed to be about to worship, when he was shot. His son and an adopted daughter were tomahawked and scalped. His daughter, Mary, was the mother of William Patton, a Revolutionary soldier. William and James Christy and William Graham, living above Anderson's, hearing the firing of guns, were alarmed and fled, reaching Sherman's Valley at mid- night. The reports spread terror among the settlers. In order to save John Collins' and James Scott's families, who lived farther up the valley, twelve men went over on Monday morning at Bingham's Path. When they came to Collins', they found the Indians had been there, broken a wheel, emptied a bed, taken flour and made water-gruel. Thirteen bark spoons were counted. They tracked them down to Scott's, where they had killed some fowls. Passing down to Graham's, they found the house burned down to the joists. Here they seemed to have been joined by another band, making now about twenty-five. They had killed four hogs, and had eaten at leisure, fearing no molestation. The Indians having crossed the mountain, the white men, also, went over by the Run Gap; both paths met at Nicholson's, where the Indians lay in wait and killed five and wounded one of the party of twelve. About half of these men were settlers on the Juniata.

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Their leader, Robert Robinson, wrote a brief narrative of these events."

In Chapter XII, the destruction of Bingham's Fort, in Tus- carora Township, Juniata County, was described. Ralph Sterrett an Indian trader, rebuilt the small fort, about 1760. "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" relates the following experiences of Sterrett and the settlers in the neighborhood of this fort, at the time of which we are writing :

"It is related of Ralph Sterrett, while sitting outside of the second fort [the re-built Fort Bingham], a wayworn Indian came along who was hungry, thirsty and fatigued. Sterrett called the savage in, gave him bread, meat, rum and tobacco. This cir- cumstance had passed out of Sterrett's mind until one night, in the spring of 1763, when the Indians were again becoming hostile. The inmates of Fort Bingham became alarmed by some noise at the gate. It being moonlight, Sterrett looked out and saw it was an Indian. This created alarm and some of the impetuous ones were for shooting him down as a spy. Sterrett cooly demanded of the Indian his business. The Indian, in a few words, stated the hospitality extended to him at some time previous, and that he came to warn them of impending danger. He stated that the Indians were as plenty as pigeons in the woods and that even then they had entered the valley, and before another moon, would be at Fort Bingham with a determination to burn and scalp all the whites within their reach. The alarm was suddenly given, and in consequence of the weakness of the fort, they determined to abandon it. Nearly all the settlers in the valley were in it; but the statement of the Indian as to their number completely overawed them, so that they set to work to pack their horses with their most valuable effects, and long before day, they were on their way to Cumberland County. The Indians, how- ever, came the next night, and after reconnoitering for a time, approached the fort and found to their astonishment that it had been vacated; but to show the settlers that they had been there, they burnt it down, and on a cleared piece of ground in front of the fort, they laid across the path a war club painted red, the infallible symbol of revenge and pillage, which means to the savage the destruction of life and property when on the war path. "We thus see that the pioneer, Sterrett, in his innocent act of generosity to the lone Indian, when he furnished him with the commonplace hospitalities of the rude border life,- subsequently

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resolved itself into the most powerful means of saving the lives of over eighty persons."

"Egle's History of Pennsylvania," in the chapter on Perry County, describes further the suffering of the settlers in the Juniata Valley in the terrible incursion of July, 1763, as follows:

"From 1761 to 1763 there was comparative quiet and security from the incursions of the Indians. In the latter year, how- ever, the country was over run by the savages. From Robert Robinson's narrative, we glean the particulars of an engage- ment between twelve settlers and twenty-five Indians in the harvest time of that year. William Robinson was shot in the abdomen with buckshot. John Elliott, a boy of seventeen, [Parkman calls him Charles Eliot] fired his gun and then ran, loading his gun as best he could by pouring powder into it at random and then pushing in a ball with his finger, while he was pursued by an Indian with uplifted tomahawk; and when he was within a short distance of him, Elliott suddenly turned round and shot the Indian in the breast, who gave a cry of pain, and turning, fled. Elliott had gone but a short distance, when he came to William Robinson, who was weltering in his own blood upon the ground, and evidently in the agonies of death. He begged Elliott to carry him off, so that the Indians would not find and scalp him; but Elliott, being a mere boy, found it utterly impossible to do so, much less lift him from the ground. Finding the willing efforts of his young friend fruitless to save him from the savages, Robinson said: 'Take my gun, and if ever in war or peace, you have an opportunity to shoot an Indian with it, do so for my sake.' Thomas Robinson stood behind a tree, firing and loading as rapidly as possible, until the last white man had fled; he had just fired his third shot when his position was revealed to the Indians. In his hurried attempt to load again, he exposed his right arm, which received the balls from the guns of three Indians who had fired at the same time. He then fled up a hill with his gun grasped in his left hand, until he came to a large log, which he attempted to leap over by placing his left hand on it; but just as he was stooping to make the leap, a bullet passed through his side. He fell across the log. The Indians coming up, beat him on the head with the butts of their guns until he was mutilated in the most horrible manner possible. John Graham and David Miller were found dead near each other, not far from the place of attack. Graham's head was resting upon his hands, while the blood streamed through his fingers. Charles

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Elliott and Edward McConnell succeeded in escaping from the Indians and reached Buffalo Creek; but they were so closely pursued that, when they had crossed the creek and were scram- bling up the bank, they were shot and fell back into the water, where their dead bodies were found. This little band of twelve consisted of three brothers Robinson, — William, Robert and Thomas; two brothers Elliott, — John and Charles; two brothers Christy, — William and James; John Graham, David Miller, Edward McConnell, William McAllister and John Nicholson.

"After this engagement the Indians proceeded very leisurely to Alexander Logan's, feeling their security, no doubt, on account of the inhabitants having fled to the lower part of Sherman's Valley. A party of forty men, well armed and disciplined, started for Tuscarora Valley to bury the dead; but when they came to Buffalo Creek and saw them, having previously heard the reports of the settlers, which doubtless increased the number of the Indians, the captain thought it prudent to return. In the meantime, the six men who escaped in the engagement at Nicholson's [the engagement related in the preceding paragraph], went to Carlisle and reported what they saw and experienced, whereupon a party of fifty volunteered to go in quest of the savages. They were commanded by High Sheriff Dunning and William Lyon. From the best information that could be had of the Indians, it was judged that they would visit Logan's to plunder and kill the cattle. The men were ambushed and in readiness when the Indians appeared, but owing to the eagerness in commencing the attack by some of the party, but four or five Indians were either killed or mortally wounded, until they made their escape into the thick woods, whither pursuit was deemed too perilous. Previous to this engagement, Alexander Logan and his son John, Charles Coyle, William Hamilton and Bartholomew Davis, hearing of the advance of Sheriff Dunning's party, followed the Indians to George McCord's where they found and attacked them in the barn; but the attack was such a precipitate affair that none of the savages were killed or wounded, while the entire attacking party, excepting Bartholomew Davis, paid the penalty with their lives. Davis escaped and joined Sheriff Dunning's party, and was engaged with them at Logan's.

[William Hamilton was not killed outright in this engagement. He was shot through the body, but succeeded in getting over a fence and concealing himself in the brush. Indians followed his trail of blood until a few yards of where he lay with his dog by

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his side. The dog seemed to understand the situation, lying perfectly still and making not the slightest noise. After the Indians left, Hamilton made his way slowly to his house, about a mile distant, where his wound was dressed and he was given some liquor. He was then taken to Carlisle, where he died a few days later.]

"In the engagement at Logan's, there was but one white man wounded. The soldiers brought with them what cattle they could collect, but great numbers were killed, and many of the horses were taken away by the Indians. The Indians set fire to the houses and barns, destroyed the growing corn and burnt the grain in the stacks, so that the whole valley seemed to be one general blaze of conflagration as far as they went, Carlisle was the only barrier between the frontier settlements and the merci- less savages, and it was so crowded that every stable and shelter in the town was filled to its utmost capacity, and on either side of the Susquehanna, the woods were the only shelter of many other refugee families, who had fled thither with their cattle and whatever of their effects could be hastily collected and carried with them. To relieve these sufferers, the Episcopal [Christ's and St. Peter's] churches of Philadelphia collected an amount of money equal to $2,942.89 in the currency of the present time, which was expended in supplying flour, rice and medicine for the immediate relief of the sufferers. To enable those who chose to return to their homes, two chests of arms, half a barrel of powder, four hundred pounds of swan shot, and one thousand flints were purchased. These were to be sold at greatly reduced prices to such persons as would use them for their own defense. Induced by an offer which placed protection in their own hands, the settlers returned to their former homes."

A few weeks before the beginning of these outrages, George Croghan arrived at Carlisle from Fort Pitt. He did much to instill courage into the hearts of the fleeing settlers. Also, without authorization, and at his own expense, he raised a garrison of twenty-five men for Fort Littleton. For this he was later reim- bursed by Pennsylvania. He also took charge of and led a convoy which supplied Fort Bedford with powder and lead.

The following extracts from letters, written from Carlisle, in July, 1763, and published in the Pennsylvania GazeWe, shed addi- tional light on the bloody incursion, just described:

"Carlisle, July 13th, 1763. Last night Colonel Armstrong re- turned. He left the party who pursued further, and found several

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dead, whom they buried in the best manner they could, and are now all returned in. From what appears, the Indians are traveling from one place to another along the valley, burning the farms and destroying all the people they meet with. This day gives an account of six more being killed in the valley, so that since last Sunday morning to this day, twelve o'clock, we have a pretty authentic account of the number of slain being twenty-five, and four or five wounded. The Colonel [John Armstrong], Mr. Wilson and Mr. Aldricks are now on the parade endeavoring to raise another party to go out and succor the sheriff [Dunning] and his party, consisting of fifty men, which marched yesterday, and I hope they will be able to send off im- mediately twenty good men."

The editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette published the following, on July 28th, 1763:

"Our advices from Carlisle are as follows, viz. That the party under the sheriff, Mr. Dunning, mentioned in our last, fell in with the enemy at the house of one, Alexander Logan, in Shearman's Valley, supposed to be about fifteen or upward, who had murdered the said Logan, his son and another man, about two miles from said house, and mortally wounded a fourth, who is since dead; and that, at the time of their being discovered, they were rifling the house and shooting down the cattle, and, it is thought, about to return home with the spoil they got. That our men, on seeing them, immediately spread themselves from right to left with a design to surround them, and engaged the savages with great courage, but from their eagerness rather too soon, as some of the party had not got up when the skirmish began ; that the enemy returned our first fire very briskly, but our people, regardless of that, rushed upon them, when they fled and were pursued a con- siderable way till thickets secured their escape, four or five of them, it was thought, being mortally wounded; that our parties had brought in with them what cattle they could collect, but that great numbers were killed by the Indians, and many of the horses that were in the valleys carried off; that, on the 21st, in the morn- ing, news was brought of three Indians being seen about 10 o'clock in morning; one, Pummeroy, and his wife, and the wife of one, Johnson, were surprised in a house between Shippensburg and the North Mountain, and left there for dead; but that one of the women, when found, showing some signs of life, was brought to Shippensburg, where she lived some hours in a most miserable condition, being scalped, one of her arms broken and her skull

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fractured with the stroke of a tomahawk; and that since the 10th inst., there was an account of fifty-four persons being killed by the enemy.

"That the Indians had set fire to houses, barns, corn, wheat, rye and hay — in short to everything combustible — so that the whole country seemed to be in one general blaze ; that the miseries and distress of the poor people were really shocking to humanity, and beyond the power of language to describe; that Carlisle was becoming the barrier, not a single inhabitant being beyond it; that every stable and hovel in the town was crowded with miser- able refugees, who were reduced to a state of beggary and despair, their harvests, cattle and houses destroyed, and from a plentiful, independent people, they were become real objects of charity and commiseration; that it was most dismal to see the streets filled with people in whose countenances might be discovered a mixture of grief, madness and despair; and to hear now and then the sighs and groans of men, the disconsolate lamentations of women, and the screams of children, who had lost their nearest and dearest relations; that on both sides of the Susquehanna, for some miles, the woods were filled with poor families and their cattle, who made fires and lived like savages, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather."

A letter, dated at Carlisle, July 30th, 1763, was also printed in the Pennsylvania GazeZ/g, as follows: "On the 25th, a considerable number of the inhabitants of Shearman's Valley went over, with a party of soldiers to guard them, to attempt saving as much of their grain as might be standing, and it is hoped a considerable quantity will yet be preserved. A party of volunteers, between twenty-five and thirty, went to the farther side of the valley, next to the Tuscarora Mountain, to see what appearance there might be of the Indians, as it was thought they would most probably be there, if anywhere in the settlement — to search for and bury the dead at Buffalo Creek, and to assist the inhabitants that lived along or near the foot of the mountain in bringing oiT what they could, which services they accordingly performed, burying the remains of three persons, but saw no marks of Indians having lately been there, excepting one track, supposed to be about two or three days old, near the narrows of Buffalo Creek Hill, and heard some hallooing and firing of a gun at another place. A number of the inhabitants of Tuscarora Valley go over the mountain tomorrow, with a party of soldiers, to endeavor to save part of the crops. Five Indians were seen last Sunday, about

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sixteen or seventeen miles from Carlisle, up the valley toward the North Mountain, and two the day before yesterday, about five or six miles from Shippensburg, who fired at a young man, but missed him."

Carlisle and Shippensburg were filled with men, women and children who had fled from their homes to escape the tomahawk, rifle and scalping knife of the Indian invaders. At Shippensburg, on July 25th, there were 1,384 refugees, of whom 301 were men, 345 were women and 738 were children — husbands bewailing their murdered wives, wives bewailing their murdered husbands, parents bewailing their murdered children, children bewailing their murdered parents. Parkman, in picturing with a master hand the scenes at Carlisle at this time, says the following:

"In wretched encampments were men, women and children, bereft at one stroke of friends, of home, and the means of sup- porting life. Some stood aghast and bewildered at the sudden and fatal blow; others were sunk in the apathy of despair; others were weeping and moaning with irrepressible anguish. With not a few, the craven passion of fear drowned all other emotion, and day and night they were haunted with visions of the bloody knife and the reeking scalp; while in others, every faculty was ab- sorbed by the burning thirst for vengeance, and mortal hatred against the whole Indian race."

Parkman could truthfully have added that the awful conditions which he has described as no one else has succeeded in describing them, were the bitter fruits of broken promises and broken treaties.

CHAPTER XIX

Pontiac's War

(Continued)

Battle of Bushy Run

FROM early in 1760 until about December 1st, 1762, Colonel Henry Bouquet's headquarters were at Fort Pitt. Early in December he arrived at Philadelphia, leaving Captain Ecuyer in command at Fort Pitt. Bouquet was still in Philadelphia, with a remnant of his Royal Americans when Pontiac's forces entered the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio in the spring of 1763. Receiving alarming reports from Captain Ecuyer, Bouquet im- mediately sent them to the commander-in-chief. General Jeffrey Amherst, then at New York, and asked for reinforcements. Amherst then sent him two companies of the Forty-second ("Black Watch" Highlanders) and Seventy-seventh (Mont- gomery's Highlanders) Regiments, consisting of two hundred and fourteen officers and men, and directed him, if he thought it necessary, to proceed to Fort Pitt. The incompetent commander- in-chief, who suggested to Bouquet the enlisting of small-pox under the banner of England, did not realize the seriousness of the situation. Like General Braddock, he underestimated the Indian as a warrior. He wrote Bouquet: "The post of Fort Pitt, or any of the others commanded by officers can certainly never be in danger from such a wretched enemy."

But Colonel Bouquet, with superior discernment, realized the seriousness of the situation. It was fortunate for the British colonies in America that, in Colonel Bouquet, there was a com- mander who made up for the deficiencies of the commander-in- chief. Bouquet wished to abandon small posts like Fort Venango and Fort LeBoeuf, and then concentrate at Fort Presqu' Isle and Fort Pitt; but Amherst would not give his consent to this plan, which, if it had been carried out promptly, would no doubt have saved many lives. The Colonel had only a remnant of his Royal Americans at this time, the rest being engaged in garrison-

440 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

ing the frontier posts. Upon more alarming reports from Colonel Bouquet, General Amherst ordered the two remaining companies of the Forty-second and Seventy-seventh Regiments, consisting of one hundred and thirty-three officers and men, to join him, the march to begin June 23d, under Major Campbell of the Forty- second Regiment. Two days later Amherst wrote Bouquet: "All the troops from hence that could be collected are sent you; so that should the whole race of Indians take up arms against us, I can do no more."

Colonel Bouquet hastened to Carlisle, arriving there, as stated in Chapter XVIII, about the 1st of July. His little army con- sisted of the Highlanders, above named, several companies of his Royal Americans, a detachment of Rangers from Lancaster and Cumberland Counties and about thirty experienced woodsmen. The woodsmen did not join him, however, until he arrived at Bedford. In all, his force was only about five hundred men. The Highlanders of the Seventy-seventh Regiment had just returned from the West Indies, where they had suffered greatly on account of the unhealthful climate, and were fit only for garrison duty. Bouquet's most effective troops were the handful of Royal Americans and the Highlanders of the Forty-second Regiment.

When he arrived at Carlisle, Colonel Bouquet found that nothing had been done to carry out the orders to prepare a con- voy of flour and other provisions for the western forts. Terror and consternation reigned supreme. Fort Lowther and every house, barn and hovel in the town were crowded with refugees. Settlers from the mountain valleys were streaming into the town with hearts full of anguish. The excitement and terror were in- creased on July 3d, when Captain Ourry's messenger arrived at Bouquet's camp with the news, "Presqu' Isle, LeBoeuf and Venango are taken, and the Indians will be here soon." Bouquet was anxious to get away. Not an hour was to be lost. Yet he was delayed for eighteen days for want of wagons and other supplies, "which the very people who were in terror of the In- dians, refused to furnish him." The starving refugees, gathering around the tents of the humane commander, solicited relief, and were fed by him. Thus, instead of getting help at Carlisle, Bouquet had to give help. In the meantime, anxious for the safety of Fort Ligonier, Bouquet sent to its relief the thirty Highlanders mentioned in Chapter XVIII. In the meantime, also, recourse was had to settlements, farther to the eastward for

UPPER — View ot the ravine through which Colonel Bouquet made the successful swinging movement of his troops at the battle of Bushy Run. At the head of the ravine was the spring from which Andrew Byerly (Bauerle) carried water for Bouquet's wounded and dying. (Pages 443 and 446.)

LOWER — -View of the Brush Creek Lutheran and Reformed Church, a few miles from the battle field of Bushy Run, erected 1816 to 1820 and standing in the heart of the Brush Creek settlement founded by Andrew Byerly (Bauerle) in 1759. .Among the frontier tragedies taking place in this German settlement were: The massacre of Feb. 26, 1769, (Page 486); the Henry (Heinrich) atrocity of June, 1779, (Pages 574, 575); the massacre at Philip Klingensmith's (Klingenschmidl's). July 2, 1781, (Page 634); and the attack on Walthour's Blockhouse, .\pril, 1782, (Page 657) In 1781 or 1782 the Indians burned the log school house of the Brush Creek congregation, wliich stood in the old cemetery a short distance from the present church. In the spring of 1774, the Brush Creek and Herold's (Harrold's) settlers erected Fort .-Mien about three miles west of Greensburg.

PONTIAC'S WAR 441

wagons, pack horses and other supplies. Then Bouquet was ready to start with his Httle army on the march of two hundred miles over the mountains and through the forests. As his force moved out of Carlisle, sixty of the Highlanders were so weak and sick from West Indian exposure that they were unable to walk and had to be carried in wagons. As the inhabitants looked upon these sick and emaciated veterans, their hearts were filled with the gloomiest forebodings. "In truth," says Parkman, "the ad- venture would have seemed desperate to any but the manliest heart. In front lay a vast wilderness, terrible alike from its own stern features and the ferocious enemy who haunted its recesses. Among these forests lay the bones of Braddock and the hundreds who fell with him. The number of slain on that bloody day ex- ceeded the whole force of Bouquet, while the strength of the assailants was far inferior to that of the swarms who now infested these woods."

Passing many scattered cabins in the Cumberland Valley, deserted by their owners or burned by the Indians, the heroic little army came to Shippensburg, crowded with almost fourteen hundred terrified and starving refugees. Thence passing Fort Loudon on the declivities of Cove Mountain, the army came to Fort Littleton and the post at Juniata Crossing, the latter two abandoned by their garrisons. From Juniata Crossing, the army marched to Fort Bedford, arriving at this place on July 25th, to the infinite relief of Captain Ourry, the garrison and the settlers who had fled from their mountain homes to this fort for refuge. Here Bouquet remained for three days in order to rest the men and horses. Here, also, the thirty woodsmen joined his forces. While at this fort, Bouquet heard the detailed account of the scourge of blood and fire and death which swept through the mountain valleys in its vicinity. Captain Ourry told him that no news had reached him from the forts to the westward for several weeks. Every messenger had been killed. All com- munication was cut off. The last news from Fort Pitt was that the place was surrounded by the enemy.

On July 28th, Bouquet's force left Fort Bedford, following the Forbes Road, and started through the mountain wilderness towards Fort Ligonier, fifty miles away. Scouts and rangers were sent far ahead and far on the flanks; woodsmen led the advance, and protected the rear; the wagons and the drove of cattle were in the center of the column, many of the wagons carrying Highlanders too sick to walk. Through the summer

442 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

heat, the tired army toiled on over the Allegheny Mountain, then over the Laurel Hill Mountain into the Ligonier Valley, arriving at Fort Ligonier on August 2nd. The Indians fled from the fort upon the approach of the army. Lieutenant Blane, the commander of the post, could give Colonel Bouquet no informa- tion whatever as to the situation at Fort Pitt, fifty miles to the westward, as he had been besieged for weeks, and the messengers sent from Captain Ecuyer had not been able to get through.

Bouquet decided to leave all his wagons, which were the heaviest part of his convoy, and nearly all the cattle at Fort Ligonier, press forward rapidly, taking with him three hundred and fifty pack horses and a few cattle, the pack horses carrying the flour. The march was resumed on August 4th, and that night the army encamped a few miles west of Fort Ligonier, expecting to march rapidly the next day as far as the deserted block house of Andrew Byerly, called Byerly's Station, at Bushy Run, a short distance from the present Harrison City, Westmoreland County. Byerly, it will be remembered, had fled with his family to Fort Ligonier, about June 1st. He joined Bouquet's forces at Fort Ligonier, and now, at the head of eighteen Royal Americans, led the advance. Byerly's Station was not on the Forbes Road, but on the Indian Trail, which led through the narrows of Turtle Creek to Fort Pitt. As stated in Chapter XVII, the Forbes Road cut off to the northwest a few miles east of Bushy Run, near the present Detar's School House, and, therefore, the battle about to be described did not take place on the Forbes Road. It was Colonel Bouquet's intention to reach Bushy Run on the afternoon of August 5th, rest there until nightfall, and then pass through the narrows of Turtle Creek in the darkness, when, he hoped, the dangerous defiles would not be guarded by the Indians.

At an early hour on the morning of August 5th, the march was resumed over the hills and through the dense forests in the heat of midsummer. At a little after twelve o'clock, the army had marched seventeen miles, and Bouquet's guides assured him the proposed camping place at Bushy Run was only about half a mile away. The tired soldiers now quickened their pace in anticipation of an afternoon's rest before entering the dangerous defiles of Turtle Creek. Suddenly the sharp report of rifles was heard in the front, sending a thrill along the entire ranks. The fire quickened, and blood-curdling war whoops of hundreds of Indians rang through the forest shades. The terrible battle of Bushy Run now was on — the most bitterly contested battle

PONTIAC'S WAR 443

between the Indian and the white man on the American Conti- nent. The two foremost companies were sent forward to support the advance. The fire grew more rapid and furious, plainly in- dicating the presence of a large body of Indians. The convoy was halted, and a general charge made with fixed bayonets. The assailants were driven from the heights in front. Soon, however, they attacked Bouquet's flanks and rear, and it was instantly necessary to fall back to protect the rear and convoy.

Finally Colonel Bouquet was forced to take position on a hill to the right of the road. Here the troops formed a circle around the terrified horses, and formed a barricade of flour sacks to pro- tect the wounded and the convoy. Time after time, the assail- ants rushed up with frightful yells, and endeavored to break through the barricade. They were repulsed each time by the troops expanding the circle and charging into the forest. No sooner were the Indians driven from one point, however, until they appeared at another with their fury unabated. Protected by the trees and brush of the forest which fringed the hilltop, they suffered little; but Bouquet's gallant troops suffered severely. Thus the battle went on during the remainder of the day until night settled down over the forest. The little army had by this time lost sixty in killed and wounded. It was impossible for Colonel Bouquet to change his ground in the presence of so power- ful an enemy. Fearing a night attack, he posted his sentinels, and the men lay down on their arms, but not to sleep. The summer night was oppressively warm, and Bouquet's soldiers, especially the wounded, suffered great agonies of thirst. Andrew Byerly, at imminent risk of his life, stole silently through the lines to a spring on the hillside, and carried water in his hat for the wounded and dying. No pen can describe the anguish of Bouquet's soldiers during that terrible night, surrounded in the wilderness by a powerful and blood-thirsty enemy waiting for the dawn, and with visions of the horrors of Braddock's defeat ever present in their minds. The camp was in darkness, and throughout the night an occasional wild whoop from the gloom of the forest told with what eagerness the assailants waited for the vengeance of the coming day. The mind of the heroic Colonel Bouquet was filled with gloomy forebodings, as the following letter which he wrote to General Amherst that night, describing the events of the day, plainly indicates:

444 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

"Camp at Edge Hill, 26 Miles From Fort Pitt, 5th Aug., 1763. "I intended to have halted to-day at Bushy run, (a mile beyond this camp), and after having refreshed the men and horses, to have marched in the night over Turtle Creek, a very dangerous defile of several miles, commanded by high and rugged hills; but at one o'clock this afternoon, after a march of seventeen miles, the savages suddenly attacked our advance guard, which was immediately supported by the two Light Infantry companies of the 42d regiment, who drove the enemy from their ambuscade and pursued them a good way. The savages returned to the attack, and the fire being obstinate on our front and extending along our flanks, we made a general charge, with the whole line to dislodge the savages from the heighths, in which attempt we suc- ceeded, without by it obtaining any decisive advantage, for as soon as they were driven from one post, they appeared on another, till, by continued reinforcements, they were at last able to sur- round us and attacked the convoy left in our rear; this obliged us to march back to protect it. The action then became general, and though we were attacked on every side, and the savages exerted themselves with uncommon resolution, they were con- stantly repulsed with loss; we also suffered considerably. Capt. Lieut. Graham and Lieut. James Mcintosh of the 42d, are killed, and Capt. Graham wounded. Of the Royal American Regt., Lieut. Dow, who acted as A. D. Q. M. G., is shot through the body. Of the 77th, Lieut. Donald Campbell and Mr. Peebles, a volunteer, are wounded. Our loss in men, including rangers and drivers, exceeds sixty killed and wounded.

"The action has lasted from one o'clock till night, and we expect to begin at daybreak.

"Whatever our fate may be, I thought it necessary to give your Excellency this early information, that you may at all events take such measures as you think proper with the Provinces, for their own safety, and the effectual relief of Fort Pitt, as in case of another engagement, I fear insurmountable difficulties in pro- tecting and transporting our provisions, being already so much weakened by the losses of this day in men and horses, besides the additional necessity of carrying the wounded, whose situation is truly deplorable.

"I cannot sufficiently acknowledge the assistance I have received from Major Campbell during this long action, nor ex- press my admiration of the cool and steady behavior of the

PONTIAC'S WAR 445

troops, who did not fire a shot without orders, and drove the enemy from their posts with fixed bayonets. The conduct of the officers is much above my praises."

When the first streaks of dawn floated over the verdant, forest-covered hills of Westmoreland, the terrible yells of the Indians once more resounded through the forest around Bouquet's camp. Presently the assailants opened a fire on Bouquet's men from every side, leveling their rifles with deadly aim under cover of the trees and bushes. As on the previous day, they tried to break through the barricade around the troops and convoy. Again and again they were driven back by the troops expanding the circle and pursuing them, with fixed bayonets, into the forest. Many of the horses, maddened by the terrible din, broke away and dashed into the forest. The Indians were becoming more and more confident of victory; while Bouquet's troops, wearied by the march and battle of the preceding day and their sleepless night, and almost maddened by thirst, were weakening under the terrible strain, but still maintained an unbroken ring around the wounded and the convoy. It was now about ten o'clock. Many of Bouquet's best m«>n had fallen since the renewal of the battle at dawn, without his having been able to inflict any telling injury on the enemy. Happily, the alert mind of the commander then conceived a plan to bring a large part of the assailants together and deliver them a telling blow. This masterly stratagem and its effect are clearly described in the following letter which the Colonel wrote General Amherst that same day, after the Indians had been defeated and his forces had encamped at Bushy Run :

"Camp at Bushy Run, 6th Aug., 1763

"Sir: I had the honor to inform your Excellency in my letter of yesterday of our first engagement with the savages.

"We took the post last night on the hill where our convoy halted, where the front was attacked, (a commodious piece of ground and just spacious enough for our purpose). There we en- circled the whole and covered our wounded with flour bags.

"In the morning the savages surrounded our camp, at the dis- tance of 500 yards, and by shouting and yelping, quite round that extensive circumference, thought to have terrified us with their numbers. They attacked us early, and under favor of incessant fire, made several bold efforts to penetrate our camp, and though they failed in the attempt, our situation was not the less per- plexing, having experienced that brisk attacks had little effect upon an enemy, who always gave way when pressed, and appeared

446 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

again immediately. Our troops were, besides, extremely fatigued with the long march and as long action of the preceding day, and distressed to the last degree, by a total want of water, much more intolerable than the enemy's fire.

"Tied to our convoy, we could not lose sight of it without ex- posing it and our wounded to fall a prey to the savages, who pressed upon us, on every side, and to move it was impracticable, having lost many horses, and most of the drivers, stupefied by fear, hid themselves in the bushes, or were incapable of hearing or obeying orders. The savages growing every moment more audacious, it was thought proper still to increase their confidence by that means, if possible, to entice them to come close upon us, or to stand their ground when attacked. With this view, two companies of Light Infantry were ordered within the circle, and the troops on their right and left opened their files and filled up the space, that it might seem they were intended to cover the retreat. The Third Light Infantry company and the Grenadiers of the 42d, were ordered to support the two first companies. This manoeuvre succeeded to our wish, for the few troops who took possession of the ground lately occupied by the two Light Infantry companies being brought in nearer to the centre of the circle, the barbarians mistaking these motions for a retreat, hurried headlong on, and advancing upon us, with the most daring intrepidity, galled us excessively with their heavy fire; but at the very moment that they felt certain of success, and thought themselves masters of the camp, Major Campbell, at the head of the first companies, sallied out from a part of the hill they could not observe, and fell upon their right flank. They resolutely returned the fire, but could not stand the irresistable shock of our men, who, rushing in among them, killed many of them and put the rest to flight. The orders sent to the other two companies were delivered so timely by Captain Bassett, and exe- cuted with such celerity and spirit, that the routed savages who happened that moment to run before their front, received the full fire when uncovered by the trees. The four companies did not give them time to load a second time, or even to look behind, but pursued them until they totally dispersed. The left of the savages, which had not been attacked, were kept in awe by the remains of our troops, posted on the brow of the hill for that purpose; nor durst they attempt to support or assist their right, but being witness to their defeat, followed their example and fled. Our brave men distained so much as to touch the dead body of a

PONTIAC'S WAR 447

vanquished enemy that scarce a scalp was taken except by the rangers and pack-horse drivers.

"The woods being now cleared and the pursuit over, the four companies took possession of a hill in our front, and as soon as litters could be made for the wounded, and the flour and every- thing destroyed, which, for want of horses, could not be carried, we marched without molestation to this camp. After the severe correction we had given the savages a few hours before, it was natural to suppose we should enjoy some rest, but we had hardly fixed our camp, when they fired upon us again. This was very provoking; however, the Light Infantry dispersed them before they could receive orders for that purpose. I hope we shall be no more disturbed, for, if we have another action, we shall hardly be able to carry our wounded.

"The behavior of the troops on this occasion speaks for itself so strongly, that for me to attempt their eulogium would but detract from their merit."

Colonel Bouquet made the following report of the killed, wounded and missing in the battle:

"Forty-second, or Royal Highlanders — One Captain, one lieutenant, one sergeant, one corporal, twenty-five privates, killed; one captain, one lieutenant, two sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, twenty-seven privates, wounded.

Sixtieth, or Royal Americans — One corporal, six privates, killed; one lieutenant, four privates, wounded.

Seventy-seventh, or Montgomery's Highlanders — One drum- mer, five privates, killed; one lieutenant, one volunteer, three sergeants, seven privates, wounded.

Volunteers, rangers and pack-horse men — One lieutenant, seven privates, killed; eight privates, wounded; five privates, missing.

Names of Officers

Forty-second regiment — Captain-lieutenant John Graham, Lieutenant Mcintosh and Lieutenant Joseph Randal, of the rangers, killed.

Forty-second regiment — Captain John Graham and Lieu- tenant Duncan Campbell, wounded.

Sixtieth regiment — Lieutenant James Dow, wounded.

Seventy-seventh regiment — Lieutenant Donald Campbell and Volunteer Mr. Peebles, wounded.

Total — fifty killed, sixty wounded, five missing."

448 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

See "Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 2 pages 530 to 534, for Colonel Bouquet's letters and list of the killed, wounded and missing.

After burying the dead on the hilltop near which the advance guard was first attacked and after making litters for the wounded, the army moved, late in the afternoon, less than a mile, to Bushy Run. Much of the flour and other supplies had to be destroyed, as the killing of many horses and the flight of others made it im- possible to carry these supplies further. After resting at the camp at Bushy Run during the night of August 6th, the army pro- ceeded slowly to Fort Pitt, reaching that place on August 10th, to the great joy of the garrison and the people who had fled to the fort for refuge. As stated in Chapter XVIII, Fort Pitt had been surrounded by the Indians for two months, until they left on August 1st to attack the troops of Colonel Bouquet.

On August 5th, according to the journal of one of the soldiers at Fort Pitt, "three expresses came in from Colonel Bouquet whom they left with the troops at Ligonier. These expresses report that they heard at Small's plantation at Turtle Creek, about 18 miles from here, a great deal of cheering, shooting, bells and some Indians. We imagine they are gathering to attack the Colonel, and at nine o'clock two expresses were despatched to meet the Colonel." On August 6th and 7th, the same journal contains the entry: "Nothing extraordinary, but the troops are not arriving according to expectation, which makes fear that they have been attacked on the march." There is no entry in this journal for August 8th, but the following for August 9th : "Every- thing quiet, no word of the troops." These entries give one a conception of the anxiety at Fort Pitt due to lack of information as to the situation of Bouquet's troops. Then, on August 10th, there is this entry: "At break of day, in the morning. Miller who was sent by express the 5th with two others came in from Colonel Bouquet, whom he left at Nine Mile Run. He brings an account that the Indians engaged our troops for two days; that our people beat them off. About ten o'clock a detachment under the com- mand of Captain Phillips was marched to meet the troops and returned about two o'clock, having joined the Colonel at Bullets Hill."

Colonel Bouquet received the congratulation of the whole country and a formal letter of thanks from the King of England for the brilliant success of his campaign and the saving of Fort Pitt. The defeat he administered to the Indians at the battle of

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Plan of the Battle of Bushy Run, near Harrison City, Westmore- moreland County, Pa., where Colonel Henry Bouquet, on August 5th and 6th, 1763, defeated the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, Mohicans, Mingoes and Ottawas in the most bitterly contested battle between the Indians and the white men on the American Continent.

PONTIAC'S WAR 449

Bushy Run was the first victory over the warriors of Pontiac and Guyasuta that the British arms had won in the southern district, composed of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas.

The site of the battle of Bushy Run is less than a mile east of Harrison City, in the western part of Westmoreland County. The site has been purchased by the Bouquet Memorial Association, as a memorial park.

The leader of the Indians at the battle of Bushy Run — a force at least equal to that of Bouquet — was likely Guyasuta. If he was not their leader, it is possible that Shingas or Custaloga was. They were composed of Delawares, Shawnees, Mingoes, Mohicans Wyandots, Miamis or Twightwees, and Ottawas. They left fifty of their number dead in the forest, among whom were many prominent chiefs, some of whom had derisively taunted Bouquet's troops in broken English during the battle.* At least sixty of the Indians were wounded, many of them mortally.

The Delawares and Shawnees, after this battle, smarting under their first real defeat, left their villages on the Allegheny, the Ohio and the Beaver, and retreated to the Muskingum and Tuscarawas. From these western villages, they continued to make raids into the Pennsylvania settlements, from time to time, until Colonel Bouquet led his expedition into their western stronghold in the autumn of 1764, described in Chapter XXI. Says Parkman, commenting on the effects of the battle of Bushy Run.

"In many an Indian village, the women cut away their hair, gashed their limbs with knives, and uttered their dismal howlings of lamentation for the fallen. Yet though surprised and dis- pirited, the rage of the Indians was too deep to be quenched, even by so signal a reverse, and their outrages upon the frontier were resumed with unabated ferocity. Fort Pitt, however, was effectually relieved, while the moral effect of the victory enabled the frontier settlers to encounter the enemy with a spirit which would have been wanting, had Bouquet sustained a defeat."

♦According to Rev. Cyrus Cort's "Henry Bouquet," among the slain chiefs was the Dela- ware Kekuscung, or Keekyuscung, who, it will be recalled, was one of the Indians who ac- companied Christian Frederic Post on his first mission to the Ohio and was also one of the band that murdered Colonel William Clapham. Standing behind a large tree, on the terrible night of August 5th and 6th, he bellowed vulgar threats against Bouquet's troops in broken English.

CHAPTER XX

Pontiac's War

(Continued)

Expeditions up the West Branch

IN the latter part of August, 1763, a party of one hundred and ten volunteers, mostly from Lancaster County, proceeded up the West Branch of the Susquehanna to attack the Delaware towns. Colonel John Armstrong, writing from Carlisle to Colonel Bouquet, on August 26th, advising him of this ex- pedition, gave the additional information that "the number of inhabitants killed within this country eastward of the Allegheny hills were Forty-eight or forty-nine, as far as I have been able to learn." On the same day on which this letter was written, the volunteers encountered a force of Indians at Muncy Creek Hill, Lycoming County. A hot skirmish followed in which several of the volunteers were killed and four wounded; while the Indians suffered as severely, and carried away their wounded.

Captains Patterson, Sharp, Bedford, Laughlin, and Crawford, with seventy-six of their comrades arrived at Fort Augusta the next day, and other stragglers came in that night and the follow- ing day. These soldiers reported the details of the battle at Muncy Creek Hill and also that, after the battle, a party of twelve Indians returning to Great Island from a mission to Bethlehem, were attacked by them on a hill north of the present town of Northumberland, and, they believed, all were killed.

Prior to this expedition, Andrew Montour had been sent from Fort Augusta to ascertain the number of Indians at the various towns on the West Branch, especially at the Great Island, re- turning on August 7th, bringing news to Colonel Burd of the attacks on Fort Pitt and Fort Ligonier. When the band of volunteers, above mentioned, arrived at Fort Augusta on their way up the West Branch, they were apprehensive that Andrew Montour had gone to the Great Island to inform the Indians there of their coming. However, just after the expedition crossed the

PONTIAC'S WAR 451

North Branch and had started up the West Branch, they saw Montour coming down the latter stream in a canoe, with a hog and some corn, which he had brought from his plantation, near the mouth of Chillisquaque Creek. The volunteers then asked him his advice whether they should proceed to the Great Island or not. He replied that the Indians there were bad, and that the white people could use them as they pleased. The volunteers then went to Montour's plantation, and the next morning crossed to Muncy Creek Hill, where the battle, above mentioned, took place that day.

Loudon, in his "Indian Narratives," thus describes the event of August 27th — the killing of the Indians near Northumberland, who were returning from the Moravian town of Bethlehem:

"They [the volunteers] travelled this path [the path leading from the Great Island to the North Branch] till daylight, when they saw smoke, and went about ten or twelve rods more and saw some Indians sitting around a fire. The Indians saw them and raised their guns. The white men raised their guns also, but the Indians cried and shouted, 'Don't shoot, brothers, don't shoot.' The white men then went up to them and asked where they had been. They said they had been at the Moravian town buying goods. The white men told them they had had a battle in the evening before with some of their people. They said it was im- possible as there were no Indians at the Great Island but a few old men and boys. The white men told them that they knew better and that some of the Great Island Indians had gone to Tuscarora and Shearman's Valley to kill the white people and that the whites had been waylaid at Buffalo Creek by them and had five killed and one wounded; that James Patterson's shot pouch and powder horn had been found near the place, and he was a Great Island Indian. The Indians began to tremble and leaving the meal they were preparing went with the white men. After they had travelled a short distance, the white men asked George Allen what they should do with the Indian prisoners, and he replied that they should take them to the fort and deliver them to the commander. Some of the whites were not in favor of this, for they feared that the officers at the fort would let the Indians go or send them to Philadelphia, where they would be well used by the Quakers. When they came to the top of a hill, the Indians wanted to eat some food, and told the white men where they could find it among their baggage. The whites found it and gave it to them, As soon as the Indians had eaten their meal, there

452 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

were six of the white men who were willing to shoot them, and as the Indians were walking on ahead, the six whites fired at them and the three fell. But one of them, named George Allen after the same George Allen who was commander of the white force, was shot only in the arm. He fell with the wounded arm held above his body and the blood covered his body. He was scalped, but after he was scalped, jumped up and ran off and made his escape. He afterwards said that, when running down the hill, he fell asleep, then got up and tried to run again, but the loose skin on his forehead hung down over his eyes so he could not see. He then took his leggings off and bound up his head, and when he came to a spring, he took cold moss and laid it on the top of his head to protect the wound, and then went to the Great Island, where he recovered. He threatened to take revenge on George Allen and also James Gallagher but never did."

At the time of Colonel Bouquet's expedition for the relief of Fort Pitt, the Delawares, Shawnees, and other tribes composing Pontiac and Guyasuta's confederation, planned to attack the interior settlements of Pennsylvania as far as Tulpehocken, their main object being to capture Fort Augusta, at Sunbury. Reports reaching Carlisle, Paxtang, and other places that Fort Augusta would be attacked by a great force of Indians, Colonel John Arm- strong, with about three hundred volunteers mostly from Cumber- land and Bedford Counties marched from Fort Shirley, on September 30th, 1763, to destroy the Indian town at Great Island, [Lock Haven.]

Arriving at the Great Island, Armstrong found that the Indian settlement there had been abandoned a few days before. He then pressed on to the Delaware village called Myonaghquia, located where the town of Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, now stands. His troops advanced so suddenly upon this Indian village that the Indians were scarcely able to escape, leaving their food, hot upon their bark tables, which was prepared for dinner. Armstrong's men destroyed a great quantity of grain and other provisions at the Great Island and Jersey Shore; but the details of his expedition are lacking. Among his officers were Captains Hamilton, Patterson, Laughlin, Sharp, Smith and Crawford. (See Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," page 102.)

James (Colonel) Smith, whose captivity among the Indians has been mentioned earlier in this history, raised a small body of riflemen, in the vicinity of Shippensburg and in the valleys to

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the westward, in the summer of 1763. They assumed the dress of Indian warriors, scoured the woods in front of the settlements, and fought several skirmishes with the invading Delawares and Shawnees.

Massacres in Berks County

In September, 1763, murders were committed by the Dela- wares, in Berks County, thus described in the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania":

"During the same month [September 8th, 1763], eight well armed Indians came to the house of John Fincher, a Quaker, residing north of the Blue Mountains, in Berks County, about twenty-four miles from Reading, and within three quarters of a mile of a party of six men of Captain Kern's company of rangers, commanded by Ensign Scheffer. At the approach of the Indians, John Fincher, his wife, two sons and daughter immediately went to the door and asked them to enter in and eat, expressing the hope that they came as friends, and entreated them to spare their lives. To this entreaty the Indians turned a deaf ear. Both parents and two sons were deliberately murdered, their bodies being found on the spot. The daughter was missing after the departure of the Indians, and it was supposed from the cries heard by the neighbors that she also was slain.

"A young lad who lived with Fincher, made his escape, and notified Ensign Scheffer, who instantly went in pursuit of these cold-blooded assassins. He pursued them to the house of one. Miller, where he found four children murdered, the Indians having carried two others with them. Miller and his wife, being at work in the field, saved their lives by flight. Mr. Miller himself was pursued near one mile by an Indian who fired at him twice in hot pursuit. Ensign Scheffer and his squad continued after the savages, overtook them, and fired upon them. The Indians re- turned the fire, and a sharp but short conflict ensued, when the enemy fled, leaving behind them Miller's two children and part of the plunder they had taken.

"These barbarous Indians had scalped all the persons they had murdered, except an infant, about two weeks old, whose head they had dashed against the wall, to which the brains and clotted blood adhered as a silent witness of their cruelty.

"The consequence of this massacre was the desertion of all the settlements beyond the Blue Mountains. (See also Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 43 and 44.)

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"A few days after these atrocious murders, the house of Frantz Hubler, in Berne Township, eighteen miles from Reading, was attacked by surprise. Hubler was wounded, his wife and three of his children were carried off, and three other of his children scalped alive. Two of whom died shortly afterwards.

"On September 10th, 1763, five Indians entered the house of Philip Martloff, in Berks County, at the base of the Blue Moun- tains, murdered and scalped his wife, two sons and two daughters, burnt the house and barn, the stacks of hay and grain, and destroyed everything of any value. Martloff was absent from home, and one daughter escaped at the time of the murder by running and secreting herself in a thicket. The father and daughter were left in abject misery."

On September 9th, however, a few rangers who had encamped in the northern part of Berks County were apprised of the ap- proach of hostile Delawares by their scouts. The Indians, think- ing to take the rangers by surprise, rushed forward with savage yells; but the rangers, springing to their feet, shot three of them, and the rest made their escape into the woods. (Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," page 109.)

Attacks on Friendly Indians

Atrocities, committed by the Delawares in the summer of 1763 as far into the settled parts of the Province as the neighborhood of Reading and Bethlehem, caused many of the settlers and Provincial troops to believe that the Moravian Delawares were secretly giving assistance to the members of this tribe at war against the whites. This belief led to many wrongs committed against the Moravian Indians by the settlers and troops, who robbed them, and, in some instances killed them. Loskiel, in his "History of the Missions of the Indians in America," relates the following:

"In August, 1763, Zachary and his wife [Moravian Delawares], who had left the congregation in Wechquetank — on Poca-poca [Head's] Creek, north of the Blue Mountain, settled by the Moravian Indians — (where they had belonged, but left some time previous), came on a visit [to Bethlehem], and did all in their power to disquiet the minds of the brethren respecting the in- tentions of the white people. A woman, called Zippora, was persuaded to follow them. On their return, they stayed at the Buchkabuchka (this is the name the Munseys have for the

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Lehigh Water Gap — it means 'Mountains butting opposite each other') over night, where Captain Wetterhold [Nicholas] lay with a company of soldiers, and went unconcerned to sleep in a hay- loft. But in the night they were surprised by the soldiers. Zippora was thrown upon the threshing floor and killed ; Zachary escaped out of the house, but was pursued, and with his wife and little child, put to the sword, although the mother begged for their lives upon her knees."

After the murder of Zachary, his wife and child, and Zippora, Captain Wetterhold's soldiers, believing that four of Zachary's brothers, living at the Moravian mission at Wechquetank, in what is now Polk Township, Monroe County, would endeavor to avenge his death, prohibited the Moravian Indians to hunt, and threatened to kill the first they should meet in the forest. Then, about October 12th, a party of rangers marched against the Moravian Indians at Wechquetank, intending to surprise them by night; but their plans were frustrated by a violent rain storm in the evening, which wet their powder. The Moravian mission- ary, Bernard Adam Grube, then led these Christianized Dela- wares to the Moravian mission at Nazareth. Just before they started, ten musket shots were heard near the settlement, which alarmed the Indians. Missionary Grube then exhorted the Indians to have faith in God for a safe deliverance. "Very true," said Peter, a Moravian Delaware; "only don't you stand before me, but go behind; for I will be shot first."

Murders, about to be described, were presently committed in the vicinity of the Moravian missions by the hostile Delawares and Shawnees of the upper Susquehanna, causing the settlers to have increased hatred for all Indians, friendly or unfriendly. Then in November, Governor John Penn, who in that month succeeded Governor Hamilton, caused the Moravian Delawares from Wechquetank and Nain to be taken to Philadelphia for protection. The aged, the sick and the children were carried in wagons, while the others walked. Curses were hurled at them by settlers on the way. They were accompanied by the missionaries Grube, Schmick, Zeisberger, and Rothe. When they arrived at German town, the darkness and a rain storm prevented the in- habitants from making a contemplated attack on them. They arrived at the barracks in Philadelphia, on November 11th, in which, by order of the Government, they were to be lodged; but the soldiers refused them admittance, and they were compelled to stand in the street for five hours, receiving silently the hoarse

456 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

curses of a violent mob, which threatened to kill them on the spot. These Indian refugees were then conducted, principally by some Quakers, to Province Island. They remained at Philadel- phia until the end of the war. Fifty-six of them, however, died of fevers and small-pox in their place of refuge. (See Loskiel's work, above quoted, pages 150 to 162.)

Among the troops under the command of Captain Jacob Wetterhold, stationed at Fort Allen during the summer and autumn of 1763, was Lieutenant Jonathan Dodge, "a most precious scoundrel," who committed many atrocious acts against his fellow soldiers, and particularly against friendly Indians. One of the wrongs he committed against the Indians, is thus described in a letter which he wrote to Timothy Horsfield, on August 4th, 1763: "Yesterday there were four Indians came to Ensign Kern's ... I took four rifles and fourteen deer skins from them, weighed them, and there were thirty-one pounds." After these Indians had left. Dodge continues: "I took twenty men and pursued them; then I ordered my men to fire, upon which I fired a volley on them; could find none dead or alive." These were friendly Indians, who were on their way from Shamokin (Sunbury) to the Moravian mission at Bethlehem.

In the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," we read of another attack made by Dodge upon friendly Indians:

"Jacob Warner, a soldier in Nicholas Wetterholt's company made the following statement September 9th: 'That he and Dodge were searching for a lost gun, when, about two miles above Fort Allen, they saw three Indians painted black. Dodge fired upon them and killed one; Warner also fired upon them, and thinks he wounded another; but two escaped; the Indians had not fired at them. The Indian was scalped, and, on the 24th, Dodge sent Warner with the scalp to a person in Philadelphia, who gave him eight dollars for it. These were also friendly Indians."

Atrocities in Northampton and Lehigh Counties

Determined to avenge themselves on account of the atrocious acts of Dodge, a band of Delawares, led by Captain Bull, a son of Teedyuscung attacked Captain Jacob Wetterhold on October 8th, as thus described in Egle's "History of Pennsylvania":

"Before daybreak in the morning of the 8th of October, some Delawares attacked the house of John Stenton, in Allen Township [Northampton County], on the main road from Bethlehem to

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Fort Allen, eight miles northwest from the former place, where Captain Jacob Wetterhold, of the Province service, with a squad of men, was lodging for the night. Meeting with Jane, the wife of James Horner, who was on her way to a neighbors for coals to light her morning fire, the Indians, fearing lest she should betray them or raise an alarm, dispatched her with their tomahawks. [The dust of Mrs. Horner reposes in the graveyard of the Allen Township Presbyterian Church.] Thereupon they surrounded Stenton's house. No sooner had Captain Wetterhold's servant stepped out of the house (he had been sent to saddle the captain's horse) than he was shot down. The report of the Indian's piece brought his master to the door, who, on opening it, received a mortal wound. Sergeant Lawrence McGuire, in his attempt to draw him in, was also dangerously wounded and fell, whereupon the lieutenant advanced. He was confronted by an Indian, who, leaping upon the bodies of the fallen men, presented a pistol, which the lieutenant thrust aside as it was being discharged, thus escaping with his life, and succeeding also in repelling the savage. The Indians now took a position at a window, and there shot Stenton as he was in the act of rising from bed. Rushing from the house, the wounded man ran for a mile, and dropped down a corpse. His wife and two children had meanwhile secreted them- selves in the cellar, where they were fired upon three times, but without being struck. Captain Wetterhold, despite his sufferings, dragged himself to a window, through which he shot one of the savages while in the act of applying a torch to the house. Here- upon, taking up the dead body of their comrade, the besiegers withdrew. Having on their retreat plundered the house of James Allen, they attacked Andrew Hazlitt's, where they shot and scalped a man, shot Hazlitt after a brave defence, and then toma- hawked his fugitive wife and two children in a barbarous manner. Finally they set fire to his house, and then to that of Philip Kratzer, and crossing the Lehigh above Siegfried's bridge, passed into Whitehall Township.

"In this maraud twenty-three persons were killed, and many dangerously wounded. The settlers were thrown into the utmost distress, fleeing from their plantations with hardly a sufficiency of clothes to cover themselves, and coming into the town of North- ampton (now AUentown), where, we read, there were but four guns at the time, 'and three of them unfit for use, with the enemy four miles from the place.' At the same time, Yost's mill, about

458 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

eleven miles from Bethlehem, was destroyed, and all the people at the place, excepting a young man, cut off.

"This was the last invasion of the present Northampton County by a savage foe. Old Northampton, and especially that part of it which was erected into Monroe, by act of Legislature, in April, 1836, suffered subsequently, at intervals, from the Indians as late as 1765."

The Pennsylvania Gazette contained the following letter, giving an account of other outrages committed by the Indians, in the same incursion in which they killed Captain Wetterhold, written from Bethlehem on October 9th, 1763:

"Early this morning came Nicholas Marks, of Whitehall Township, [Lehigh County] and brought the following account: That yesterday, as he opened his door, he saw an Indian standing about two poles from the house, who endeavored to shoot at him; but Marks, shutting the door immediately, the fellow slipped into a cellar, close to the house. After this said Marks went out of the house, with his wife and an apprentice boy, in order to make their escape, and saw another Indian standing behind a tree, who tried also to shoot at them, but his gun missed fire. They then saw the third Indian running through the orchard, upon which they made the best of their way, about two miles off, to Adam Deshler's place, where twenty men in arms were assembled, who went first to the house of John Jacob Mickley, where they found a boy and girl lying dead and the girl scalped. From there they went to Hans Schneider's and said Marks' plantations, and found both houses on fire and a horse tied to the bushes. They also found said Schneider, his wife and three children dead in the field, the man and woman scalped; and, on going farther, they found two others wounded, one of whom was scalped. After this, they re- turned with the two wounded girls to Adam Deshler's, and saw a woman, Jacob Alleman's wife, lying dead in the road and scalped. The number of Indians, they think, was about fifteen or twenty." On pages 173 and 174 of Vol. 1, of the "Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania," are the following additional details of the murder of John Jacob Mickley's children:

"They, [the Indians] reached the farm of John Jacob Mickley, where they encountered three of his children, two boys and a girl, in a field, under a chestnut tree, gathering chestnuts. The children's ages were: Peter, eleven; Henry, nine; and Barbara, seven; who, on seeing the Indians, began to run away. The little girl was overtaken not far from the tree by an Indian, who

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knocked her down with a tomahawk. Henry had reached the fence, and while in the act of cHmbing it, an Indian threw a tomahawk at his back, which, it is supposed, instantly killed him. Both of these children were scalped. The little girl, in an in- sensible state, lived until the following morning. Peter, having reached the woods, hid himself between two large trees which were standing near together, and, surrounded by brushwood, he remained quietly concealed there, not daring to move for fear of being discovered, until he was sure that the Indians had left. He was, however, not long confined there; for, when he heard the screams of the Schneider family, he knew that the Indians were at that place, and that the way was clear. He escaped unhurt, and ran with all his might by way of Adam Deshler's to his brother John Mickley, to whom he communicated the melan- choly intelligence."

Captain Bull, a son of Teedyuscung, was the leader of the Indians in the incursions just described. Altogether the Indian band consisted of one hundred and thirty-five Delawares from the Ohio Valley. Captain Bull had lived with the Delawares of the Ohio Valley for ten years. As will presently be narrated, Teedyuscung was murdered on April 16th, 1763. Some author- ities say that the Senecas and Mohawks told Captain Bull that the white people murdered his father, thus causing his son to take up arms against the Province. However, Captain Bull had other reasons, also, as will presently appear.

First Massacre of Wyoming

At the Albany Treaty of July, 1754, some Mohawk chiefs very irregularly sold a tract of land in the Wyoming Valley to Lydius, the agent of the Connecticutt Company, without the knowledge and consent of the Great Council of the Six Nations. As stated in Chapter IV, the Iroquois made the solemn and formal promise at the Treaty of 1736 that they would never sell any lands within the limits of William Penn's charter to any person or persons except Penn's heirs. Then, after the council with Teedyuscung at Easton in the summer of 1757, the Penns, mindful of the fact that the Great Council of the Six Nations, at the Albany Treaty of July, 1754, had declared that they would not sell the Wyoming lands to either Pennsylvania or Connecticutt, but would reserve them as a hunting ground and place of abode for the Delawares and such other Indians as would remove from the French, and

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further mindful of the fact that the sale of these lands to the Connecticutt interests by a few Mohawks at a later period during the progress of the said Albany Treaty, was fraudulent, offered to pass a law granting the Wyoming lands to Teedyuscung and his tribe, as their perpetual home. This promise was not carried out, although Teedyuscung made many requests for a permanent grant of these lands, especially at the Grand Council at Easton in the autumn of 1758. The principal reason for not carrying out the promise was that the Great Council of the Iroquois had not yet sold the lands to Pennsylvania. Yet, they were on record as having promised to reserve them for the Delawares, as above stated.

In August, 1762, a band of more than one hundred Connecticutt settlers entered the Wyoming Valley, laying out for themselves plantations at and near Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth, Kingston and Hanover. They planted grain, and then returned to Connecticutt. In May, 1763, they came back to their plantations at Wyoming, intending to remain permanently. This action greatly displeased the Delawares at Wyoming.

On October 15th, 1763, while at work in their fields, a band of one hundred and thirty-five Indians swooped down upon them, killing about twenty of them, and burning many of their houses. The survivors fled to the mountains, and later made their way back to Connecticutt and to Orange County, New York. No pen can describe their sufferings as they traversed the wilderness. (Miner's "History of Wyoming," pages 54 to 58.)

Historians do not agree as to what Indians perpetrated this massacre. Some are of the opinion that it was perpetrated by Senecas and Mohawks, the same hands that had murdered Teedyuscung at Wyoming in April, 1763. Others are of the opinion that it was perpetrated by Captain Bull and his warriors after committing the murders in Northampton and Lehigh Counties, described earlier in this chapter, and after long brooding over the report that the white people had murdered his father, as well as brooding over the fact that the Wyoming lands, prom- ised Teedyuscung and his followers by both the Six Nations and Pennsylvania, were being possessed and settled by the white people. The weight of authority supports this opinion. The charge was even made that Pennsylvania soldiers committed the massacre in order to drive out the Connecticutt people.

Now let us view another scene. Rev. (Colonel) John Elder wrote Governor Hamilton from Paxtang, on September 30th,

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1763, stating that a number of volunteers from that part of the Province who had been in the expedition against the Indians up the West Branch, were returned and designed to "scout a Httle way into the enemy's country." "Our troops," said Rev. Elder, "would gladly join the volunteers, if it's agreeable to your Honour; and as that favour, they imagine, has been granted to the troops on the other side of the Susquehanna, they flatter themselves it will not be refused these two companies. Their principal view is to destroy the immense quantities of corn left by the New England men at Wyoming, which, if not consumed, will be a considerable magazine to the enemy, and enable them, with more ease, to distress the inhabitants."

When Rev. Elder's letter was written and for two weeks after- wards, the Connecticutt settlers were still at Wyoming, un- disturbed by either Indians or white men. Commenting on Rev. Elder's letter. Miner, in his "History of Wyoming," page 55, says:

"How the corn of the New England settlers could be spoken of September '63, as "left," those people being then in undisturbed possession, I cannot conceive, unless it was a delicate mode of covering their purpose, by cutting off their means of subsistence, to expel them."

As early as July 2nd, Governor Hamilton issued orders to James Burd and Alexander McKee to destroy the "buildings and improvements" of these settlers. (Pa. Col, Rec, Vol. 9, page 29.)

Governor Hamilton granted Rev. Elder's request. Two com- panies of Rev. Elder's command left Fort Hunter on October 11th for Wyoming "to intercept the murdering party" that had committed the outrages in Northampton and Lehigh Counties. On October 13th, Major Asher Clayton arrived at Fort Augusta, with eighty soldiers from Lancaster County, on his way to Wy- oming, and was joined here by Lieutenant Samuel Hunter and twenty-four troops. The combined forces, under Major Clayton, left Fort Augusta for Wyoming on October 15th, the very day of the massacre of the Connecticutt settlers. They arrived there a day or two after the massacre. What they saw and did can be seen in the following report of the expedition, written after Clayton returned to Fort Augusta :

"Our party under Major Clayton has returned from Wyoming, where we met with no Indians, but found the New Englanders, who had been killed and scalped a day or two before we got there. We buried the dead — nine men and a woman — who had been

462 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

most cruelly butchered. The woman was roasted, and had two hinges in her hands — supposed to be put in red hot — and several of the men had awls thrust in their eyes, and spears, arrows, pitchforks, etc., sticking in their bodies. They [Clayton's troops] burnt what houses the Indians had left, and destroyed a quantity of Indian corn. The enemy's tracks were up the river toward Wyalusing."

Thus, whatever may have been their purpose in doing so — whether to deprive the hostile Indians of places of shelter and means of sustenance, or to break up the Connecticutt settlement — Major Clayton's troops completed the devastation that the Indians had begun. Ever since the appearance of Connecticutt settlers in the valley of the upper Delaware, (the present Wayne County), in the summer of 1757, Pennsylvania had been pro- testing against the intrusion of these people; and at this very time, October, 1763, was instituting measures to expel the Con- necticutt settlers from the Wyoming Valley. (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 9, pages 59 to 62.) Later actual warfare took place between the Pennsylvania and the Connecticutt interests over the Wyoming lands — the "Pennamite Wars."

Other Murders in November, 1763

In November, 1763, a block-house, near the mouth of Caulkins Creek, in Damascus Township, Wayne County, was attacked by Indians from Wyoming. One man was killed and another wounded before they could reach the block-house. The house was successfully defended by a settler named Witters, assisted by the women and children, the Indians being kept at bay until aid reached them from Minisink.

On November 15th, 1763, three men were murdered by hostile Indians, about twenty-two miles from Reading, on the north side of the Blue Mountains, in the forks of the Schuylkill. They were returning to a plantation, which they had some time before deserted on account of Indian alarms. Captain Kern pursued the murderers for two days, but a heavy snow prevented his over- taking them with his troops. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 141.)

On November 21st, Colonel John Armstrong wrote Governor Penn from Carlisle, informing him that, "on the 1st, Inst., we have had, in a place in this county called the Great Cove, five persons Kill'd and Six missing — whether taken prisoners or Kill'd is not known — two of the dead were soldiers; the enemy was

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followed by a party as far as Sideling Hill, where they had killed a Childe not able to travel, which they had taken from the Cove." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 138.)

Massacre of the Gonestogas

There is no more revolting chapter in the history of Pennsyl- vania than that which narrates the two massacres of the peaceable Conestoga Indians by the Scotch-Irish settlers, called "The Paxton Boys," from the neighborhood of Paxtang Presbyterian Church, near Harrisburg.* Edward Shippen, in a letter to Governor John Penn, dated at Lancaster, on December 14th, 1763, and recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 89, thus de- scribes the first massacre, at Conestoga, the ancient seat of these Indians:

"One, Robert Edgar, a hired man to Captain Thomas McKee, living near the Borough acquainted me today that a Company of People from the Frontier had killed and scalped most of the Indians at the Conestoga Town early this morning; he said he had his information from an Indian boy who made his escape; Mr. Slough has been to the place and held a Coroner's inquest on the corpses, being Six in number; Bill Sawk and some other Indians were gone towards Smith's Iron Works to sell brooms; but where they are now we can't understand; And the Indians, John Smith and Peggy, his Wife, and their child, and Young Joe Hays, were abroad last night too, and lodged at one Peter Swar's, about two miles from hence; These last came here this afternoon, whom we acquainted with what happened to their Friends and Relations, and advised them to put themselves under our pro- tection, which they readily agreed to; And they are now in Our Work House by themselves, where they are well provided with every necessary. Warrants are issued for the apprehending of the Murderers, said to be upwards of fifty men, well armed and mounted."

Matthew Smith was the leader of the "Paxton Boys" in this massacre.

On page 103 of Vol. 9 of the Penna. Colonial Records, is found the following list of the Indians murdered at Conestoga:

"Sheehays; George; Harry; A son of Sheehays; Sally, an Old Woman; A Woman."

Almost fifty well-armed professing Christian soldiers murder-

•The historic Paxtang Presbyterian Church was founded probably as early as 1727. Within the shadow of iU walls reposes the dust of Rev. (Colonel) John Elder and many other noted men of the frontier.

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ing, in cold blood, an old Indian woman, another Indian woman, three old Indian men and a little Indian boy!

Great excitement was caused in Philadelphia by the murder of these six friendly Conestogas. Just a short time before, November 30th, they had sent a letter by Andrew Montour to Governor Penn, reciting the long friendship that existed be- tween them and the Province, congratulating him on his arrival, and asking his favor and protection. The Quakers, especially, were loud in their denunciation of this atrocity, paying little attention to the fact that John Harris and Rev. (Colonel) John Elder, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Paxtang, had fre- quently appealed to the Colonial Authorities to remove the Conestogas to a place of safety, owing to the excitement pre- vailing in the Paxton region on account of the many raids of the hostile Delawares and Shawnees. Many of the "Paxton Boys" had been in the expedition of Major Asher Clayton against Captain Bull's warriors, and, as Rev. Elder wrote on October 25th, had seen "the mangled carcasses of these unhappy people" (the Connecticutt settlers at Wyoming), which "presented to our troops a melancholy scene, which had been enacted not above two days before their arrival." However, the sympathy of the "Paxton Boys" for the Connecticutt settlers cannot be urged very strongly as their motive in murdering the Conestogas, inasmuch as Major Clayton's forces burned the few houses of these settlers that escaped the torch of Captain Bull's warriors. Pennsylvania, at that very time, was instituting measures to expel the Con- necticutt settlers. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 61 and 62.) But it is admitted that the "Paxton Boys" were in a state of excite- ment and rage against all Indians, especially after a few of them claimed to have learned that some of the Indians who had com- mitted outrages along the Susquehanna, had been traced to Conestoga. But the truth of this claim was not proved at the time, and most likely never will be. Even if it had been true, it was surely no justification for killing women and children. Like- wise, it must be said to the credit of Rev. John Elder that, when he learned that a large number of the Paxtang settlers were as- sembling to ride to Conestoga on their mission of murder, he sent a messenger to them, bearing his written message, "entreat- ing them to desist from such an undertaking, representing to them the unlawfulness and barbarity of such an action, that it's cruel and unchristian in its nature, and wou'd be fatal in its consequences to themselves and families." (Rev. Elder's

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letter to Governor John Penn, written at Paxton, on December 16th, 1763, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, pages 148 and 149).

Governor Penn issued a proclamation on December 22nd, calling upon judges, justices, sheriffs and other civil and military officers to make diligent search for the perpetrators of this crime, and to place them in the public jails of the Province. In the meantime, the remaining Conestogas were placed in the Lan- caster workhouse for protection. How the "Paxton Boys" reacted to this proclamation of the Governor is thus set forth in a letter of Edward Shippen to Governor John Penn, written at Lancaster on December 27th:

"I am to acquaint your Honor that between two and three of the clock this afternoon, upwards of a hundred armed men from the westward rode very fast into town, turned their horses into Mr. Slough's (an Inn-keeper)yard, and proceeded with the greatest precipitation to the work house, stove open the door and killed all the Indians, and took to their horses and rode off. All their business was done, and they were returning to their horses before I could get half way down to the work house. The Sheriff and Coroner, however, got down as soon as the Rioters, but could not prevail with them to stop their hands; some people say they heard them declare they would proceed to the Province Island, and destroy the Indians [Moravian Delawares] there." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 100.

Lazarus Stewart led the "Paxton Boys" in the second massacre.

The details of the massacre of these unarmed and defenseless Conestogas are most shocking and revolting. Protesting their innocence and their love for the English, they, according to Benjamin Franklin, prostrated themselves with their children before their infuriated murderers, and pleaded for their lives; while the jailer says that they died with the stoicism of their race. Their appeal was answered by the rifle, hatchet, and scalping knife. Some had their brains blown out, others their legs chopped off, and others their hands cut off. Bill Sawk (Sock) and his wife, Mollie, with their two children, had their heads split open, and were scalped. The mangled bodies of these Indians, who had never been at war with the whites and had always been claimed as friendly Indians, were buried at Lancaster.

Thus perished the last remnant of the once mighty tribe of Susquehannas. The excitement on the frontier at the time, and the laxity on the part of the Colonial Assembly in providing for

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the defense, may, in a measure, explain why the harrassed frontiersmen committed such a horrible act; but the historian searches the records of the time in vain for any justification for this atrocity, which is a black spot on the pages of the history of Pennsylvania.

On pages 103 and 104 of Vol. 9 of the Penna. Colonial Records, is a list of the Conestogas massacred in the Lancaster workhouse, as follows:

"Captain John, Betty, his wife; Bill Sock, MoUie, his wife; John Smith, Peggy, his wife; Little John, Captain John's son; Jacob, a boy; Young Sheehays, a boy; Chrisley, a boy; Little Peter, a boy; MoUie, a little girl; a little Girl; Peggy, a little Girl."

Almost one hundred heavily-armed, professing Christian soldiers butchering, in the most savage and revolting manner, three old, defenseless, unarmed Indian men, three Indian women, five little Indian boys and three little Indian girls!

On the day of the massacre at Lancaster, Rev. John Elder hurriedly wrote Governor Penn:

"The storm, which had been so long gathering, has at length exploded. Had the Government removed the Indians from Con- estoga, as was frequently urged without success, this painful catastrophy might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated to madness. All that I could do was done. I ex- postulated, but life and reason were set at defiance, and yet, the men, in private life, were virtuous and respectable — not cruel, but mild and merciful . . . The time will arrive when each palli- ating circumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered one of those youth- ful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected." (Egle's "History of Penna.," pages 113 and 114.)

Parkman thus describes Rev. Elder's attempt to dissuade the "Paxton Boys" from carrying out their purpose:

"Elder had used all his influence to divert them from their design; and now, seeing them depart, he mounted his horse, over- took them, and addressed them with the most earnest remon- strance. Finding his words unheeded, he drew up his horse across the narrow road in front, and charged them, on his authority as their pastor, to return. Upon this, Matthew Smith rode forward, and, pointing his rifle at the breast of Elder's horse, threatened to fire unless he drew him aside, and gave room to pass. The

PONTIAC'S WAR 467

clergyman was forced to comply, and the party proceeded."

After the lapse of more than one hundred and sixty-five years, and after a thorough and impartial examination of all the letters and documents relating to this crime, the time, predicted by Rev. Elder, has not arrived, when the horrible act of the "Paxton Boys" "shall be considered one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement." The time is still here, when the following letter of Colonel John Armstrong to Governor Penn records the impartial verdict of history:

"I have the pleasure to inform your Honor that not one person of the County of Cumberland, so far as I can learn, has either been consulted or connected in that inhuman and scandalous piece of Butchery — and I should be very sorry that ever the people of this County should attempt avenging their injuries on the heads of a few innofensive, superannuated savages, whom nature had already devoted to the dust." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 152.)

Says Dr. George P. Donehoo, than whom there is no greater authority on Pennsylvania history, in commenting on the murder of the Conestogas:

"The reasons used as an excuse for this blotting out of one of the most historic tribes in America was that the Indians at Conestoga had been giving refuge to the hostile Indians, who had been committing many crimes along the Susquehanna. There is as little evidence for the truth of this statement, as there is for that made as an excuse for the murder of the Delaware at Gnaden- hutten, by the same class of frontiersmen, in 1782. The Scotch- Irish settlers seemed to think that they had a direct commission from God to blot out 'the heathen who inhabited the land.' No historic proof has, however, been found for any such assertion to rest upon. The murder of the Conestoga, no matter how great the provocation may have been, is one of the blackest pages in American history." (Donehoo's "Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania," page 38.

Not content with the butchery of the last remnant of the historic Susquehannas, the "Paxton Boys" threatened to march to Philadelphia and butcher the Moravian Delawares, who, as has been seen earlier in this chapter, were taken there for pro- tection. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 100, 105, 108, 109, 111 and 112; Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 156; Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac," Chapter XXV; Loskiel's "History of the Moravian Missions," Chapter IX.)

468 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Governor Penn, on January 2nd, 1764, issued another procla- mation similar to that of December 22nd, offering a reward of two hundred pounds for the apprehension of "any three of the Ringleaders of the said party." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 107.) The Colonial Authorities, fearing that the Moravian Indians would be murdered by the "Paxton Boys," resolved to send them to the British Army in New York. On January 4th, 1764, they set out at midnight, accompanied by some of the Moravian missionaries, and, in a few days, arrived in safety at Amboy, after suffering much from the winter weather and receiving the curses of the mobs in the towns through which they passed. They were just ready to embark on two sloops for New York, when a mes- senger arrived from the Governor of New York, "with strict orders that not one Indian should set foot in that territory." After lying in the barracks at Amboy for some days, they were brought, under an escort of one hundred and seventy soldiers, back to Philadelphia, and placed in the barracks at that place. The soldiers were kind to them, one exclaiming, "Would to God, all the white people were as good Christians as these Indians!" Then, early in February, when two hundred of the "Paxton Boys" had crossed the Schuylkill and advanced as far as German- town, cannon were planted around the barracks, volunteers were called into service, alarm bells were rung and the cannon were fired. Learning these preparations, they wisely proceeded no further.

While their avowed purpose was to kill the Moravian Indians, it is but fair to add that the main purpose the "Paxton Boys" had in mind in marching to Philadelphia was to demand that the Colonial Assembly give them equal representation with the other counties of the Province, a very just demand. At that time, the five interior counties had but ten representatives in the Assembly, while the three eastern counties, where the Quakers were strong, had twenty-six. Furthermore, it was the Scotch-Irish and other inhabitants of the interior counties, and not the Quakers, who suffered the horrors of Indian invasions, and were the defenders of the Province. The ably written remonstrance which Matthew Smith and James Gibson, on behalf of the counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Berks and Northampton, laid before Gover- nor Penn and the Assembly, in February, 1764, recites the griev- ances of the "Paxton Boys" and other inhabitants of these counties, and is filled with that same spirit which brought forth

PONTIAC'S WAR 469

the Declaration of Independence. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 138 to 142.)

A final word in connection with the crime of the "Paxton Boys." The morning on which the Conestogas were shot, stabbed and hacked to death in their cabins in their ancient and historic town of Conestoga, was cold and murky. Snow lay deep upon the ground, and it was still snowing. Says Parkman: "As they [the "Paxton Boys"] urged their horses through the snow drifts, they were met by one Thomas Wright, who, struck by their appearance, stopped to converse with them. They freely told him what they had done, and, upon his expressing surprise and horror, one of them demanded if he believed in the Bible, and if the Scripture did not command that the heathen should be destroyed."

The author has no prejudice against the "Paxton Boys" or other Scotch-Irish settlers who suffered so terribly at the hands of the hostile Indians while the Quaker Assembly complacently viewed their sufferings. The author's ancestors came to Penn- sylvania as early as 1693, and the blood of the Scotch-Irish as well as the blood of all other races that came in contact with the Pennsylvania Indians, flows in his veins. But the author ex- presses only a historical truth when he says that, while the Quakers were blindly partial to the Indians, the Scotch-Irish went to the other extreme— believing themselves in the same situation as Joshua of old, and viewing the Indians, whom they called "red vipers," as Cananites who must utterly be destroyed before the Promised Land could be possessed.

Death of Teedyuscung

This chapter ends the narration of the terrible events of 1763, one of which was the murder of Teedyuscung. This great leader of the Eastern Delawares, the last of their great chiefs, was burned to death on the night of April 16, 1763, as he lay in a drunken debauch on a couch in his house at Wyoming, which was set on fire by some of his Indian enemies, either Senecas or Mohawks. A monument has been erected to this noted chief, in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, which represents him, bow and spear in hand, a plume of eagle feathers on his brow, as stepping forth on his journey towards the setting sun.

CHAPTER XXI

Pontiac's War

(Continued)

INDIAN raids into the Pennsylvania settlements continued for the greater part of the year 1764, beginning early in the year. On February 10th, a band of fifty Indians attacked the farm of James Russell, near Stroudsburg, Monroe County, burn- ing his barn, killing one of his sons and carrying off another. Then, on February 26th, John Russell, a brother of James, was attacked by three Indians. He took to a tree, and succeeded in driving them off after one bullet passed through his hat, another through the sleeve of his coat, and a third wounded him slightly in the calf of the leg. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, page 300.)

Early in June, Indians entered Franklin County, committing many murders and much devastation. On June 6th, Colonel John Armstrong wrote Governor Penn from Carlisle, as follows:

"I have this moment received a letter from Captain Murray, of the Royal Highlanders, that yesterday Morning thirteen persons were killed and several houses burned to the ground, about four miles south of Fort Loudon. Captain Murray has not mentioned the number of the enemy, nor who the persons are who are killed. He sent out a party who already are returned ; a sufficient number of the inhabitants and Provincials are attempting to make out the tracks of the enemy, and are yet in pursuit; but at this season of the year have but a small chance of success . . . The Indians now appear to bend their force against the Frontier, and by burning the Houses intend to lay as much of the country waste as they can. The summer opens with a dismal aspect to us. I shall be obliged to bring the Troops entirely on this side the Mountains, and for some time give up those Settlements on the other side, as we are not able to cover one half of the people." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, pages 175 and 176.)

PONTIAC'S WAR 471

The Infamous David Owens

While the hostile Delawares and Shawnees were making raids into the Pennsylvania settlements and bringing death and deso- lation to many a frontier cabin, in the spring of 1764, it remained for a white man, David Owens, to be guilty of an act of greater infamy than any murder committed by the most revengeful Indian warrior. Owens, whose father had been a trader among the Delawares and Shawnees, was a corporal in Captain Mc- Clean's company. He deserted, and went to live among the Delawares and Shawnees, with whose language he was quite familiar. He married a young Shawnee woman, by whom he became the father of three children. In the spring of 1764, he ostensibly went on a hunting trip along the Susquehanna, being accompanied by his wife, his children, another Indian woman, an Indian boy, four Shawnee warriors, all relatives of his wife. One night the party encamped on the banks of the Susquehanna, a Provincial soldier also being present. In the middle of the night, Owens arose, and, by the dull light of the camp fire, saw that the others were asleep. Cautiously awakening the soldier, he told him to go a short distance from the camp, and lie quiet until he should call him. The soldier complied. Then Owens cautiously removed the weapons from the sleeping warriors, and concealed them in the woods, at the same time reserving two loaded rifles for himself. Returning to the camp, he cautiously pointed a rifle at the head of each of two sleeping warriors, pulled the trig- gers and shot them dead. The remaining two warriors sprang to their feet, and, believing they were attacked by a large party of whites, bounded oflf into the woods. Owens then seized a hatchet and dashed out the brains of his wife, his children, the Indian boy and the other Indian woman. The fiend then sat among the bloody corpses of his wife, his children and comrades until dawn, unmoved by the enormity of his deed and undaunted by the gloom of the forest.

In the morning he scalped all his victims except the children, and then took up his way to the settlements with the bloody scalps, thinking that he had made an acceptable atonement for his desertion. He brought the scalps to Philadelphia, "for a reward." It does not appear that he received any monetary reward for his monstrous act; but his desertion was pardoned, and he was employed as an interpreter in the expedition of Colonel Bouquet to the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, then being planned.

472 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

On April 26th, 1764, Governor John Penn wrote Colonel Bouquet: "Owens takes five scalps with him, which will tell his own story." On that same day the Governor gave Owens a passport to pro- ceed to Lancaster and Carlisle with the letter to Colonel Bouquet, requiring "all persons within this Province to permit the said Owens to pass unmolested on his way to those places, he behaving as becometh to all his Majesty's Liege Subjects." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 173.) In answer to an inquiry made of Sir William Johnson in regard to Owens' history, the former wrote Governor Penn, on June 18th, that "he . . . killed them rather to make peace with the English than from any dislike either to them or their principles." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 190.) We shall meet this monster again in this chapter. Says Parkman: "His example is one of many in which the worst acts of Indian ferocity have been thrown into shade by the enormities of white bar- barians."

Pennsylvania Offers Bounty for Scalps

In the statement of grievances, which Matthew Smith and James Gibson, on behalf of the inhabitants of the interior counties laid before Governor Penn and the Assembly, in February, 1764, they said:

"Sixthly: In the late Indian War, this Province, with others of His Majesty's Colonies, gave rewards for Indian Scalps, to encourage the seeking them in their own Country, as the most likely means of destroying or reducing them to reason; but no such encouragement has been given in this War, which has dampened the Spirits of many brave Men, who are willing to venture their Lives in parties against the Enemy. We, therefore, pray that public rewards may be proposed for Indian Scalps, which may be adequate to the Dangers attending Enterprizes of this nature." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 141.)

In due time, the "prayer of the petitioners" was granted. Governor Penn, after writing Sir William Johnson for his advice in the matter and after receiving Johnson's reply that, "I cannot but approve your gratifying the desire of the people in your Pro- vince, by a bounty on Scalps, and I heartily wish success to the design," signed the following proclamation, on July 7th, 1764, it having been approved by the Council on July 6th, offering bounties for scalps of Indian enemies, even the scalps of boys and girls down to the age of ten years:

"For every male Indian enemy above ten years old, who shall

PONTIAC'S WAR 473

be taken prisoner and delivered at any forts garrisoned by the troops in the pay of this Province, or at any of the county towns, to the keeper of the common gaols there, the sum of one hundred and fifty Spanish dollars, or pieces of eight; for every female In- dian enemy taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian enemy ten years old, or under, taken prisoner, and delivered as aforesaid, the sum of one hundred and thirty pieces of eight.

"For the scalp of every male Indian enemy above the age of ten years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of one hundred and thirty-four pieces of eight; and for the scalp of every female Indian enemy above the age of ten years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight; and that there shall be paid to every officer, or officers, soldier, or sol- diers, as are or shall be in the pay of this Province, who shall take, bring in, and produce any Indian enemy prisoner, or scalp, as aforesaid, one half of the said several and respective premiums and bounties." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 188 to 192.)

As a result of the scalp bounties, "secret expeditions," say the Pennsylvania Archives, "were set on foot by the inhabitants which were more effectual than any sort of defensive operations."

Murder of Schoolmaster Brown and His Pupils

One of the most terrible atrocities committed within the bounds of Pennsylvania by the Delawares during the Pontiac- Guyasuta War is thus described in "Colonel Henry Bouquet and His Campaigns," by Cort:

"In 1764, July 26, three miles northwest of Greencastle, Franklin County, was perpetrated what Parkman, the great his- torian of Colonial times, pronounces 'an outrage unmatched in fiend-like atrocity through all the annals of the war.' This was the massacre of Enoch Brown, a kindhearted exemplary Christian schoolmaster, and ten scholars, eight boys and two girls. Ruth Hart and Ruth Hale were the names of the girls. Among the boys were Eben Taylor, George Dustan and Archie McCullough. All were knocked down like so many beeves, and scalped by the merciless savages. Mourning and desolation came to many homes in the valley, for each of the slaughtered innocents belonged to a different family. The last named boy, indeed, survived the effects of the scalping knife, but in somewhat demented condition. The teacher offered his life and scalp in a spirit of self-sacrificing devo-

474 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

tion, if the savages would only spare the lives of the little ones under his charge and care. But no! the tender mercies of the heathen are cruel, and so a perfect holocaust was made to the Moloch of war by the relentless fiends in human form ... It is some relief to know that this diabolical deed, whose recital makes us shudder even at this late date, was disapproved by the old warriors, when the marauding party of young Indians came back with their horrid trophies. Neephaughwhese, or Night Walker, an old chief or half-king, denounced them as a pack of cowards for killing and scalping so many children . . . Who can describe the horror of the scene in that lonely log school house, when one of the settlers chanced to look in at the door to ascertain the cause of the unusual quietness. In the center lay the faithful Brown, scalped and lifeless, with a Bible clasped in his hand. Around the room were strewn the dead and mangled bodies of seven boys and two girls, while little Archie, stunned, scalped and bleeding, was creeping around among his dead companions, rub- bing his hands over their faces and trying to gain some token of recognition. A few days later the innocent victims of savage atrocity received a common sepulchre. All were buried in one large rough box at the border of the ravine, a few rods from the school house where they had been so ruthlessly slaughtered. Side by side, with head and feet alternately, the little ones were laid with their master, just as they were clad at the time of the massacre."

John McCuUough, a cousin of Archie, had been captured in the same neighborhood just nine years previously, and was living among the Delawares at Muskingum when the young warriors returned with the scalps of the schoolmaster and his pupils. He was among the prisoners surrendered to Bouquet, and is the authority for the statement concerning the indignation expressed by old Night Walker.

During the same incursion in which Schoolmaster Brown and his pupils were killed, Susan King Cunningham, who lived in the same neighborhood, was brutally murdered while on her way through the woods to call on a neighbor. As she did not return when expected, a search was made, and her body was found near her home. Not content with murdering and scalping the poor woman, the fiends, performed a Caesarian operation, and placed her child on the ground beside her.

Soon after the murder of Mr. Brown and his pupils, a band of Indians chased two men near McDowell's Mill, and murdered a

PONTIAC'S WAR 475

seventeen year-old daughter of James Dysart, about twelve miles above Carlisle. She was going home from church services at Big Spring. The unfortunate girl was scalped and left nude. In the latter part of August, a band of Indians killed, near Bedford, Isaac Stimble, an industrious inhabitant of Ligonier, according to Colonel Bouquet's letter of August 25th.

Isaac Stewart

Loudon gives an account of the capture of Isaac Stewart, which, he says, took place about fifty miles west of Fort Pitt in 1763 or 1764. He was taken to the Wabash with some other white prisoners who were tortured to death at that place. Stewart secured the favor of a squaw who saved him. After several years of captivity, a Spaniard from Mexico redeemed him and another captive, a Welshman, named Davy. They wandered to the far North-west, where they met "white Indians with red hair," whose language, Davy said, much resembled Welsh, so much so that he was able to converse with them. They told him that their ancestors had landed in the eastern part of the country. Davy remained with them, but Stewart and the Spaniard returned to the Spanish fort at the mouth of the Mississippi. Stewart later made his way to Ninety-six, South Carolina.

Bouquet^s Expedition of 1764

In the late autumn of 1763, Sir William Johnson and General Amherst learned that the Indians composing Pontiac's confedera- tion were planning attacks on Detroit, Fort Pitt and Fort Augusta for the early spring of 1764. Two expeditions were then planned for an invasion of the country west of Fort Pitt, one army under Colonel John Bradstreet to assemble at Albany and to proceed along the Lakes as far as Detroit, and another army under Colonel Bouquet to proceed to Fort Pitt, thence to the Delaware and Shawnee strongholds on the Muskingum and Tuscarawas. Following out these plans, General Amherst wrote Governor Hamilton, on November 5th, calling upon Pennsylvania to raise one thousand troops, exclusive of commissioned officers. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 63, 74, 75.) In this same month, Gover- nor John Penn succeeded Governor Hamilton, and General Thomas Gage succeeded General Amherst as commander-in- chief. These changes, however, made no change in the plans. The dissensions in the Pennsylvania government and the un-

476 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

reasonable scruples of the Quakers in the Assembly, prevented the Province from doing anything worth while towards raising and equipping troops until late in the spring of 1764.

After defeating the Indians at the battle of Bushy Run, Colonel Bouquet remained at Fort Pitt until January, 1764, vainly hoping for sufficient forces to follow up the advantages gained and to invade the Indian country to the westward. In the meantime, in order to furnish convoys for provisions and supplies coming over the mountains to Fort Pitt, it was necessary for him to organize a provisional militia company from among the traders and other borderers who had taken refuge at the fort. This company, commanded by Captain Ecuyer, was sent to Fort Bedford. It was a very ill-behaved force, and gave Ecuyer much trouble. Letters from Captain Ecuyer and Captain John Stewart, written from Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier, clearly show this. A letter written by Captain Ecuyer at Fort Bedford, on Novem- ber 13th, 1763, states that Captain Stewart's rear guard had been attacked by Indians, and the whole escort had returned to camp at midnight; that he was obliged to flog two of the militia, one for trying to shoot the sergeant and the other for trying to shoot Ecuyer himself. Ecuyer says that he has been twenty-two years in the service, and has never seen such a troop of thieves and bandits. Then he adds: "Au nom d'Dieu laissez-moi aller planter de choux; c'est dans votre pouvoir, monsieur, et j'en aurai une reconaissance eternelle." (In the name of God let me go home and plant cabbages. It is in your power to let me go, and I will be eternally grateful for it.)

Despairing of being able to accomplish anything with these provisional militia, "scum and mutineers of the first order," and also despairing of aid from the colonies. Colonel Bouquet obtained leave to go east and undertake the work of raising enough troops to invade the region west of Fort Pitt.

In the meantime. Sir William Johnson sent Andrew Montour with a force of nearly two hundred Tuscaroras, Oneidas, and a few rangers, against the Delawares on the upper Susquehanna, to punish them for their hostility against the settlers. On their way to Kanestio, (a Delaware village in Steuben County, New York,) they encountered a force of Delawares going against the English settlements, and captured twenty-nine of them. These prisoners, among whom was Captain Bull, son of the famous Teedyuscung, were sent by way of Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York), to Johnson Hall; and later Captain Bull and thirteen of his associates were

PONTIAC'S WAR 477

sent to New York, and confined in jail. On April 7th, Montour wrote from Tioga concerning the success of his expedition, stating that the Delawares had fled before his arrival at Kanestio, but that, with one hundred and forty warriors, he had destroyed three large Delaware towns, all the outlying villages, and one hundred and thirty scattered Delaware houses, together with horses and cattle. The houses were well built of square logs, with good chimneys, and many had four fire places.

In the meantime, also. Colonel Bouquet was pushing prepara- tions for his campaign with his wonted energy and zeal. Finally, on August 5th, Bouquet's forces — parts of the Forty-second and Sixtieth Regiments and the Pennsylvania troops — assembled at Carlisle, Virginia having pleaded inability to raise the troops required of that colony. On August 10th, the army marched from Carlisle, and arrived at Fort Loudon, on August 13th. Bouquet was detained at Fort Loudon for some time. Here he received a message from Colonel Bradstreet, dated at Presqu' Isle on August 14th, acquainting him with the fact that he (Bradstreet) had con- cluded a peace with the Delawares and Shawnees, whose chiefs and also Guyasuta met him at that place. Bouquet, however, paid no attention to Colonel Bradstreet's unwarranted action, believing the Delawares and Shawnees were not sincere in their intentions, since their raids were continuing. Here, also, he ap- pealed to the Governor of Virginia to raise the quota from that colony, which was later done, and the Virginia troops arrived at Fort Pitt late in September. In spite of the strictest discipline, about two hundred of the Pennsylvania troops deserted by the time the army reached Fort Loudon, leaving only about seven hundred of these forces. Later two soldiers were shot for deser- tion, an example which the commander found absolutely neces- sary. It would seem that some of the Pennsylvania soldiers brought dogs with them "to be employed in discovering and pursuing the savages." At least the Governor and Commissioners "agreed to allow Three Shillings per month to Every Soldier who brings a Strong Dog." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 180.)

Leaving Fort Loudon, the army marched over the mountains to Fort Pitt, following the Forbes Road. Near Bedford, a soldier was captured. Later in the march of the army, a few stragglers were killed by lurking Indians. The army arrived at Fort Pitt on September 17th, and soon thereafter a party of Delaware chiefs appeared on the western bank of the Allegheny, pretending to be deputies sent by their nation to confer with Bouquet. After

478 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

some hesitation, three of them came to the fort, and, after being closely questioned, were unable to give a satisfactory account of their mission. Colonel Bouquet then detained two. Captain Pipe and Captain John, as hostages, and sent the other back to his nation with the message that he proposed to pay no attention to the peace the Delawares and Shawnees had made with Colonel Bradstreet, but would march his army against their towns. He also sent word with this chief that, if two messengers which he proposed to send to Colonel Bradstreet were harmed in either going or coming, he would put Captain Pipe and Captain John to death. The liberated chief faithfully performed his mission. On October 1st, two Six Nation warriors came to Fort Pitt, and en- deavored to persuade the commander not to march into the Indian country, owing to the smallness of his force and the lateness of the season. Believing that these warriors were actuated by a desire simply to retard the expedition. Bouquet sent them to inform the Delawares and Shawnees that he pro- posed to move immediately into their country to chastise them unless they should speedily agree to whatever conditions of peace he should impose upon them.

The Virginia troops having arrived and Bouquet now having an army of about fifteen hundred men, the march was started from Fort Pitt on October 4th, the Virginia troops leading the way. The next day, the army passed through Logstown, which was then deserted. On October 6th, the army crossed the Beaver River, taking the Indian trail which led to the villages on the Tus- carawas, crossing the headwaters of Little Beaver and Yellow creeks. By October 15th, Bouquet had advanced into the very heart of the Indian country, carrying terror to the bloody raiders of the Pennsylvania frontier. While his army was encamped on the Tuscarawas, on October 16th, about midway between King Beaver's Town and Killbuck's Town, in the present Tuscarawas County, Ohio, six Indian chiefs came to Bouquet with the information that all of the chiefs were assembled about eight miles from his camp and both ready and anxious to enter into negotia- tions for peace. He answered that he would meet them the next day in a bower, a short distance from his camp. Accordingly, on the 17th, he marched with nearly all the regular troops, the Virginia volunteers and Light Horse, to the place of council, and stationed the troops in such a manner that they would show them- selves to the best advantage.

Here, on October 17th and 20th, Bouquet held councils with

PONTIAC'S WAR 479

the chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees and Mingoes. He made no attempt to spare their feeUngs, but, on the contrary, boldly and scathingly charged them with cruelty and perfidy. He re- fused to take them by the hand or to address them as "brothers," but addressed them as "chiefs, captains and warriors." A brilliant and forceful orator, he painted their cruelties in darkest colors, telling them that he would destroy their villages if they did not return the captives and make peace according to his terms. He had the air of a conqueror, dictating terms of peace. He had the qualities the chiefs respected in both Indians and white men. They knew that the commander who had defeated them at Bushy Run meant every word he said, and thus they were humbled to the dust. "I have brought with me," he said, "the relations of those people you have massacred or taken prisoners. They are impatient to take revenge of the bloody murderers of their friends, and it is with the greatest difficulty that I can protect you against their just resentment, by assuring them that no peace shall be granted you till you have given us proper satisfaction. We sur- round you on every side. It is consequently in our power to destroy you."

It gives the historian no pleasure to record the fact that the powerful speech of Colonel Bouquet charging the Indians with cruelty and perfidy — one of the bitterest philippics in military annals — was translated to them by the infamous villian, David Owens, who had murdered his Indian wife and Indian children for the purpose of getting into the good graces of the whites. Shortly after the delivery and translation of Bouquet's address, he sent Owens to a Shawnee town some miles from the camp, in order to hasten the delivery of the captives held by this tribe. Loudon relates that, upon Owens' arrival at the Shawnee town, the chiefs and warriors held council as to whether they should put him to death for the murder of his Shawnee wife and children and the relatives of his wife. Two of his wife's brothers were present. The murderer saved his life on this occasion by telling the Shawnees that, if they killed him. Bouquet would kill them. The chiefs present at the councils with Colonel Bouquet were King Beaver of the Turkey Clan of Delawares; Custaloga of the Wolf (Munsee) Clan of Delawares; Turtle Heart, a Delaware; Guyasuta of either the Mingoes or Senecas; Keissanautchtha of the Shawnees, and many others. At this time New Comer, or Nettawatwes, was the head chief or "King" of the Delaware nation, but he refused to attend the councils, on account of which

480 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Bouquet deposed him. However, the Delawares never accepted this action.

At the close of the councils, Bouquet took hostages from the Delawares, Senecas and Shawnees, for the safe delivery of the captives within twelve days at Wakatomica, a short distance below the present town of Coshocton, Ohio. On October 22nd, in order more deeply to impress the Indians, his army took up the march, thirty-two miles deeper into the Indian country, to a point near the forks of the Muskingum. The army arrived at this place on October 25th. It was then decided that the captives should be delivered at this place instead of at Wakatomica, as it was more centrally located.

From October 25th until November 9th, messages were sent to the various villages and captives were brought daily to the camp of Bouquet to the total number of two hundred and six.

These were classed as follows :

Virginians — Males 32

Females and Children 58

Pennsylvanians — Males 49

Females and Children 67

Total 206

On November 9th, Bouquet, for the faithful performance of their promises and for the return of the remaining captives, demanded four hostages from the Delawares in addition to Cap- tain Pipe and Captain John, whom he took at Fort Pitt, and that five deputies be sent to treat with Sir William Johnson. The Delawares agreed to this demand. Then for the first time since he had marched into the heart of their country, Bouquet took the chiefs by the hand, "which occasioned great Joy amongst them." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 226.)

On November 12th and 14th, Bouquet held councils with the chiefs of the Shawnees. The principal chiefs of this tribe present were Keissanautchtha, Keightughque, (or Cornstalk, also called Tamenebuck), Nimwha and Red Hawk. Red Hawk was the speaker on behalf of the Shawnees. At these councils, he showed Bouquet the treaty which William Penn entered into with the Shawnees, on April 23d, 1701, which had been carefully preserved by the Shawnee chiefs throughout the long years and throughout their wanderings from the Susquehanna to the Muskingum and Scioto. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 230.) Bouquet demanded at

PONTIAC'S WAR 481

these councils that the Shawnees deliver six hostages to him to be kept until the remainder of their captives, about one hundred, were delivered, as many of them were in distant towns on the Scioto and could not be brought at this time, owing to the lateness of the season and to the fact that many of their owners were on a long trading journey to the French. The Shawnees willingly delivered the hostages. They faithfully kept their promise. On May 9th, 1765, ten of their chiefs and about fifty of their warriors, delivered to George Croghan, Deputy Indian Agent, at Fort Pitt, the remaining captives, "brightened the chain of friendship, and gave every assurance of their firm intentions to preserve the peace inviolable forever."

We call attention to the fact that one of the greatest difficulties Colonel Bouquet had to deal with was the allaying of the minds of the Shawnees, Fearing that he intended to destroy their tribe, they resolved to kill the captives and then flee beyond the Mississippi. They had already assembled many of the captives for the purpose of killing them, when a messenger arrived from the commander stating that he would give them the same terms of peace as to the Delawares. Thus the wholesale massacre of the captives was prevented. Soon, however, one of Bouquet's soldiers was killed some distance from the camp, whereupon the Shawnees, hearing that they were blamed for this murder, once more assembled the captives to kill them, when a second messen- ger arrived from Bouquet with the word that the Shawnees were not blamed for the murder of the soldier. Thus, again, the lives oi the captives were saved.

No pen can describe the scenes when the captives were brought to Bouquet's camp during those October and November days of 1764. Husbands met their captured wives. Long lost children were restored to their parents. Sisters and brothers met, after long separation, in many cases since the autumn of 1755. Many, captured when children, were now unable to understand a word of their mother tongue. Many had married among the Indians and had Indian children dear to their hearts. Indian fathers and mothers had to part with these children, to their great anguish. Indian mothers filled the solitudes of the forest with their wailings for the children they were giving up forever. Indian fathers shed torrents of tears over the surrender of their children, and pitifully recommended them to the care and protection of the humane commander. Many of the captives had to be bound when delivered to Bouquet, to keep them from returning to their Indian

482 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

relatives and friends. As the army marched back to Fort Pitt, many an Indian wife followed her white husband with weary footsteps, and many an Indian warrior followed his white wife or sweetheart over the mountains to Carlisle or into Virginia at the risk of his life.

The foregoing qualities in the Indians challenge the esteem of just men. Cruel and unmerciful as they were in war, yet when they took captives for the purpose of adopting them, they treated them as their own flesh and blood, instead of enslaving them. Women and children were treated with a kindness and respect often found lacking among the whites. From every inquiry that has ever been made, it appears that no white woman was ever preserved by the Indians for base motives — that no white woman, adopted by the Indians, needed to fear the violation of her honor.

Bouquet's army, with the white captives, took up the march for Fort Pitt on November 18th, and arrived at that place on Novem- ber 28th. On the way, some of the captives escaped and returned to the Indians. John McCullough, who, as has been seen in a former chapter, was a captive among the Delawares from July, 1756, until liberated by Colonel Bouquet, states in his Narrative that two of these captives thus escaping were Rhoda Boyd and Elizabeth Studebaker. Many of the captives were re-united with their relatives at Fort Pitt; others at Carlisle, among whom was "Regina, the German Captive," as stated in Chapter VII; others at Philadelphia.

This account of Colonel Bouquet's expedition to the Tus- carawas and Muskingum has been based almost entirely upon his letters and minutes found in Pa. Colonial Records, Vol. 9, pages 206 to 233.

Governor John Penn issued a proclamation on December 5th, 1764, in which he told of the submission of the Delawares, Shawnees and other western tribes, and declared the war with these Indians at an end. Thus ended the Pontiac and Guyasuta War, mis-called by many "Pontiac's Conspiracy." It was no more a "Conspiracy" than was the Revolutionary War. As pointed out in a former chapter, it was a war between the Indians and the English, brought about by the failure of the English to keep their treaties and promises.

Pressure on the Indians' Lands — Purchase of 1768

While Colonel Bouquet's expedition of 1764 ended the Pontiac and Guyasuta War so far as Pennsylvania was concerned, the

PONTIAC'S WAR 483

pressure on the Indians' land in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny did not end. Settlers, by the hundreds, from Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia came over the mountains and laid out plantations for themselves, especially along the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, against the protests of the Six Nations, who had never parted with their title to these lands, and in violation of the proclamation of the King of England, as follows:

"We do further strictly enjoin and require all persons what- ever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described, or upon any Lands which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol, 9, pages 83 and 84.)

The frontiersmen paid no attention to this proclamation and similar proclamations issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania. They even murdered Indians caught in their settlements. This action on the part of the frontiersmen caused some chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees and Six Nations to tell George Croghan, at a council at Fort Pitt, on May 22nd, 1766, that the English did not appear to be disposed to live in peace with the Indians. Said the chiefs further: "If their Fathers [the English] continue to Murder their people whenever they caught them in their Settle- ments, and break their Engagements to them, they can't be ac- countable for the future conduct of their Warriors, who are governed only by the persuasion of their chiefs." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, page 322.)

Later the Colonial Authorities sent persons to compel the settlers to remove. Most of those who then removed, soon re- turned. Finally a great conference was held at Fort Pitt, April 26th to May 9th, 1768, attended by more than one thousand Indian chiefs and warriors besides women and children, for the purpose of adjusting the difficulties due to the settlements made on the lands of the Indians.

This council was under the direction of George Croghan, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, while Governor Penn appointed John Allen and Joseph Shippen, as commissioners for Pennsylvania. Among the Indian chiefs who attended the council were: Guyasuta of the Senecas; the White Mingo (not the White Mingo murdered by Stump); New Comer, or Nettaw- atwes, King of the Delawares; Custaloga of the Wolf or Munsee

484 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Clan of Delawares; King Beaver of the Turkey Clan of Dela- wares; Wingenund, the Delaware wise man; Captain Pipe of the Wolf Clan of Delawares; White Wolf of the Delawares; White Eyes of the Turkey Clan of Delawares; Captain Jacobs of the Delawares, probably a son of the Captain Jacobs slain at the destruction of Kittanning; Captain John of the Delawares; Nimwha of the Shawnees; and various others of the Delawares, Shawnees, Six Nations, Mohicans, and Wyandots. Said one of the chiefs of the Six Nations, at this council: "It is not without Grief that we see our Country settled upon by you without our Knowledge or Consent ... It will be time enough for you to settle the lands when you have purchased them and the Country becomes yours." (For the minutes of this council, see Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 514 to 543.)

This council at Fort Pitt, led directly to the purchase at Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York), November 5th, 1768, in which the Six Nations conveyed to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania all their land within the boundaries of the Province, extending from the New York line on the Susquehanna River, past Towanda and Tyadaghton (Pine) Creeks, up the West Branch of the Susquehanna, over to Kittanning, thence down the south side of the Allegheny and the Ohio as far as the mouth of the Tennessee River. The Delawares and Shawnees did not agree to this sale by which their hunting grounds on the Ohio were sold.

By this purchase, for a consideration of ten thousand pounds, the Proprietaries acquired the present counties of Green, Wash- ington, Fayette, Somerset, Westmoreland, Cambria, Susque- hanna, Sullivan, and Wyoming, and parts of Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Indiana, Clearfield, Center, Clinton, Lycoming, Brad- ford, Lackawanna, Wayne, Luzerne, Columbia, Montour, North- umberland, Union, Pike and Snyder. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 554 and 555.)

The purchase of 1768 was the last purchase made by the Penns. Settlers now, in increasing numbers, entered the region between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River.

Atrocious Murder of Indians by Frederick Stump

An event that caused great consternation throughout Pennsyl- vania and great fear of an Indian uprising, and that also hastened the purchase at Fort Stanwix, was the following:

On Sunday morning, January 10, 1768, six Indians, namely,

PONTIAC'S WAR 485

White Mingo, Cornelius, John Campbell, Jones, and two squaws, came to Frederick Stump's cabin on Stump's Run, near Middle- burg, Snyder County, in a drunken condition. Stump and his servant, John Ironcutter, after endeavoring without success to persuade them to leave, killed them all, dragging their bodies to the creek, where they cut a hole in the ice, and pushed them into the stream. Then fearing that the news of these murders might be carried to other Indians in the vicinity, Stump went the next day to their cabin fourteen miles up the creek, where he found a squaw, two girls, and a child, killed them all and threw their bodies into the cabin and burned it. One of the bodies which he had pushed through the hole in the ice on the preceding day, floated down Middle Creek to the Susquehanna, and then down this stream, finally lodging against the shore opposite Harrisburg, just below the location of the present bridge on Market Street of that city.

Several Indians who had escaped the murderous wrath of Stump, chased him toward Fort Augusta, at Sunbury. Stump did not enter this fort, but ran to a house occupied by two women, whose protection he implored, alleging that he was pursued by Indians. The women did not believe his story, but he begged very piteously. They then hid him between two beds. His pursuers were only a moment behind him. To their questioning, the wo- men replied that they knew nothing of Stump. Before the In- dians left the house of the two women, they seized a cat, pulled out its hair, and tore it to pieces, thus illustrating what they would have done to Stump, had they found him.

Shortly after the atrocious murder committed by Stump, the Delaware chief, Newahleeka, residing at the Great Island (Lock Haven), sent a message to Governor John Penn, advising that the Delawares and other Indians at the Great Island were much dis- pleased on account of the fact that five white men had lately been seen marking trees and surveying land in that region not yet pur- chased from the Indians. This message was delivered by a Dela- ware named Billy Champion. Governor Penn then took occasion to send a message to Newahleeka, advising him that the Province had offered two hundred pounds as a reward for the capture of Stump. Said Penn: "Brother, I consider this matter in no other light than as the act of a wicked, rash man, and I hope you will also consider it in the same way . . . There are among you and us some wild, rash, hot-headed people who commit actions of this sort." Then Shawnee Ben, a chief of the Shawnees at Great

486 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Island, sent word to Captain William Patterson: "As it was the Evil Spirit who caused Stump to commit this bad action, I blame none of my brothers, the English, but him."

Stump and Ironcutter were apprehended and lodged in jail at Carlisle on Saturday evening, March 23rd. Oh the following Fri- day, a company of settlers from Sherman's Valley, where he had lived, marched to Carlisle, surrounded the jail, entered it with drawn pistols, and released the murderers. After their rescue, they both returned to the neighborhood of their shocking crime, where they found their presence very disagreeable to the inhabi- tants. They then left the neighborhood. They were never again arrested for their crime. Both went to Virginia, where Stump died at an advanced age.

Attack on Brush Creek Settlers

On February 26th, 1769, Indians made an attack on the Ger- man settlers on Brush Creek, in the western part of Westmore- land County.* Eighteen persons were either killed or captured. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 2, page 380.) It is likely that this outrage, whose details are lacking, was committed by Senecas on their way to attack the Catawbas. At least, in the summer of 1769, the Moravian missionaries, Zeisberger and Senseman, came to Fort Pitt from the Moravian mission at Lawunakhannek, near the mouth of Hickory Creek, Forest County, and convinced the officers at the fort that certain mur- ders of settlers east of the Allegheny and Ohio were not committed by the Delawares, but by roving bands of Senecas on their way to attack the Indians of the South. The Senecas were displeased with the fact that settlements were made on the path of their war trail to the South.

Murder of Young Seneca George

An event that gave the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania much concern in the summer of 1769 was the murder of young Seneca George, son of the elder chief of that name. Both father and son had always been firm friends of the English. The murder occurred on the west side of the Susquehanna, a few miles below Middle Creek. Peter Read, a relative of the family of Conrad Weiser, was suspected as the murderer, and was lodged in the Lancaster jail to await trial. In the meantime, the Provincial

♦These Pennsylvania-Germans, after declining to accept Virginia titles to lands west of the Alleghenies (see page 139), took Pennsylvania titles, coming to Westmoreland County in great numbers both before and after the Purchase of 1768, and strongly opposing Virginia's claim to this region. At Herold's (Harrold's,) three miles west of Greensburg, they erected Fort Allen in 1774, commanded by Colonel Christopher Truby.

PONTIAC'S WAR 487

Council sent a substantial present to the father and other relatives of the murdered Indian, with a message of condolence.

On August 22nd, Colonel Francis, Rev. Smith, Charles Stewart and Frederick Weiser, son of Conrad Weiser, held a conference with the aged Seneca George, at Fort Augusta, relative to the murder of the friendly Indian. Frederick Weiser gave the old chief a present and spoke of the long and sincere friendship that existed between his father and the Six Nations. He assured old Seneca George that the Weiser family would do nothing to shield Peter Read. As Weiser 's speech was being delivered, the aged Indian sat with tears coursing down his cheeks. Then he arose and said:

"I am glad to see one of the sons of Conrad Weiser, and hear him mention a little of the old friendship and love that was be- tween us and our brother, his father. Yes, old Conrad Weiser was indeed my brother and friend ... I am very glad the tears have flowed from the eyes of his children, as they have done from mine, on account of this unhappy aff^air, which has certainly been a very great grief to me — for he that was lost was a son that lay near my heart. He was all the child I had. Now I am old. The loss of him hath almost entirely cut away my heart. But I am yet pleased my brother Weiser, the son of my old friend, has taken this method to dry my tears.

Then the aged chief approached Frederick Weiser with a noble air of forgiveness, and, shaking him by the hand, said with a voice full of emotion : "I have no ill will to you, Mr. Weiser." He then did the same with Colonel Francis, Rev. Smith and Charles Stewart.

In the minutes of this conference we read :

"That manly spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation which Seneca George showed on this occasion, by his looks, gesture and whole action, made some of those at the table cry out, as he ran up holding out his hand to them, 'This is Noble,' for here his speech stood in need of no interpretation." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 9, pages 603 and 618 to 620.)

CHAPTER XXII

Lord Dunmore's War

10RD Dunmore's War, which, in the summer of 1774, spread ^ terror, devastation and death throughout the settlements of Southwestern Pennsylvania, had a number causes. The principal causes were: 1. The settling of Virginians upon land claimed by the Indians. 2. The murder of peaceable Indians at the mouth of Captina Creek. 3. The murder of the family of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes,

As was seen in Chapter XXI, the Six Nations, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in November, 1768, sold all the lands "to which the Iroquois had claim" on the south side of the Ohio River as far as the mouth of the Tennessee River. The claim of the Iroquois was based on "the right of conquest." The Cherokees, who rightly contended that the Iroquois never conquered them, claimed the southern part of the lands conveyed by this grant, while the Shawnees and Delawares did not agree to this sale of their hunting grounds on the upper Ohio as well as in Kentucky. At the same time, a tract between the Kanawha and Monongahela was granted to William Trent in trust for the traders who had claims for losses in the Pontiac and Guyasuta War.

Without making any attempt to satisfy the claims of the Shawnees and other tribes who claimed these lands, settlers from Virginia soon began migrating to this region and asserting full ownership. In the summer of 1773, agents of John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, made explorations and surveys along the southern shore of the lower Ohio and on the Kentucky River. It will be recalled, also, that Virginia at that time was still claiming all of the southwestern part of Pennsylvania lying south of the Ohio. Dunmore was anxious to extend the dominion of Virginia even beyond the Ohio and enrich himself, with no thought of purchasing from the Shawnees and Delawares their claim to any part of the lands conveyed by the grants above named. As part of his plans land grabbing, he appointed Dr. John Connolly, a nephew of George Croghan, "Captain Com-

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 489

mandant of the District of West Augusta," of which Pittsburgh was the county seat. Connolly took possession of Fort Pitt, which had been abandoned by the King's order, repaired it, and gave it a new name — "Fort Dunmore." Virginia courts were soon set up in this part of Pennsylvania.

While Virginia settlers were thus pressing into the lands on the Ohio and into the present counties of Greene, Fayette, Washing- ton and Allegheny, a few of them were murdered by the Indians, and they murdered a few Indians. In the spring of 1773, a young man, named Sherrard, was killed and scalped by Indians, near where Florence, Washington County, now stands.* In the same spring, a friendly Delaware of considerable notoriety, named Bald Eagle, (not the Delaware chief of that name killed by Captain Samuel Brady), who had frequently visited the settlements of Virginians on the upper Monongahela and gone on hunting ex- peditions with the white men, was wantonly murdered, near New Geneva, Fayette County. Withers, in his "Chronicles of Border Warfare," thus describes the murder of this friendly Indian:

"In one of his visits among them he was discovered alone by Jacob Scott, William Hacker and Eliza Runner who, reckless of the consequences, murdered him solely to gratify a most wanton thirst for Indian blood. After the commission of this most out- rageous enormity, they seated him in the stern of a canoe and with a piece of journey-cake thrust into his mouth, set him afloat on the Monongahela. In this situation he was seen descending the river by several who supposed him to be, as usual, returning from a friendly hunt with the whites in the friendly settlements, and who expressed some astonishment that he did not stop to see them. The canoe floated near to the shore below the mouth of George's Creek [in southwestern Fayette County, Pennsylvania], and was observed by Mrs. Province, who had it brought to the bank, and the friendly but unfortunate old Indian decently buried."

In the spring of 1774, George Rogers Clark, at the head of about ninety Virginians, was at the mouth of the little Kanawha, in- tending to go on down the Ohio to survey lands for settlement, when his party was fired upon by some Shawnees who resented this intrusion upon lands claimed by them. Several surveyors were captured, and several of the Shawnees were killed. Clark's men looked upon this act of the Shawnees as an act of war, and then decided to attack the Shawnee town on the north side of the Ohio, near the mouth of the Scioto, destroy its inhabitants, and push on and make a settlement. With this in view, they sent

♦According to Forrest's "History of Washington County."

490 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

word to Captain Michael Cresap, who was making a settlement some miles farther up the Ohio, and asked him to be their leader. Cresap at once came to Clark's party, and persuaded them to give up the contemplated attack upon the Shawnees. He argued that there was no certainty of war, as things stood, but that there most assuredly would be war if they made the contemplated attack. Under his advice the whole party came to Wheeling, West Virginia to wait until the matter was settled. From Wheeling they at once sent a messenger to Dr. John Connolly informing him of the situation.

Connolly, without having made any efifort to get in touch with the Shawnee, Delaware and other chiefs on the upper Ohio with a view to adjusting matters peaceably, sent a letter to Cresap, at Wheeling, telling him that war was inevitable and asking him to protect the settlers with scouting parties. On April 26th, upon the receipt of Connolly's letter, Cresap's band of adventurers and "land grabbers," precipitately "declared war" against the Shawnees and other Indians on the Ohio. Says George Rogers Clark, who was present: "Action was had and war declared in the most solemn manner; and that same evening (April 26), two scalps were brought into the camp."

These adventurers, who had thus taken it upon themselves to "declare war," killed, and scalped, on April 27th, two Indians who were descending the Ohio in a canoe, accompanied by some traders. That same evening they attacked a party of peaceable Indians at their camp at the mouth of Captina Creek, and killed a number of them.

Murder of Chief Logan's Family

At this time Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, a Cayuga, born at Auburn, New York, in 1725, was living with his family and relatives at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the west side of the Ohio, about thirty miles above Wheeling. Logan, whose Indian name was Tah-gah-jute, "his eye lashes stick out," was the second son of the great Shikellamy, vice-gerent of the Six Nations, and was given the name "Logan" in honor of James Logan, secretary of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania. Like his famous father, Logan had always been the firm friend of the English. He moved from the Juniata Valley to the mouth of the Beaver, about 1770. Upon coming to the Ohio, the Mingoes of this place chose him as their chief.

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 491

These Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek had no hostile intentions. Women and children were among them. Clark had stopped at their camp only a few weeks before, and knew these facts. Daniel Greathouse, one of Cresap and Clark's band, was determined to kill these Indians. On April 28th, he, Cresap and Clark, with others of the band, started on their way to Yellow Creek. After they had marched five miles, they halted to con- sider the project. Cresap objected to carrying out the plans of murder, and he and Clark then set out on their way to Redstone (Brownsville). Immediately after their departure, Greathouse and a party of twenty armed men marched to Baker's Bottom, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, arriving there on the evening of April 29th.

On the morning of April 30th, Greathouse and several of his men crossed the river to the Indian camp, and invited the Indians to come over to Baker's tavern with them, promising them rum. Logan was away from home at the time, some say on a hunting trip, while others say at Old Chillicothe, on the west bank of the Scioto River. The invitation of Greathouse and his companions was accepted, and the band crossed the river and went to the tavern, leaving their guns in their tents, as it was to be a friendly visit. Upon their arrival, they were treated freely to rum and three of them became greatly intoxicated, the others refusing to drink, as it was a general custom among the Indians for at least one of the party to remain sober in order to take care of their intoxicated companions. The sober Indians, among whom was Logan's brother, John Petty, were challenged to shoot at a mark. The Indians shot first, and as soon as they had emptied their guns, Greathouse's band shot down the three sober Indians in cold blood. One of the party, a sister of Logan, endeavored to escape by flight, but was also shot down. She lived long enough to im- plore the murderers to spare the life of her little babe two months old, explaining to them that it was one of their kin ; and its life was spared on that account. The whites then set upon the drunken Indians with tomahawks and butchered them all. Alto- gether ten Indians were killed by these white fiends, among whom were the mother, sister, and brother of Logan.

There has been lack of agreement among historians as to the exact date of this atrocity, but most authorities say that it was on the 30th of April; and this date must be correct, as on May 3rd, Valentine Crawford, a brother of Colonel William Crawford, in writing from his home on Jacob's Creek, near Connellsville,

492 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

says: "On Saturday last, about twelve o'clock, one Greathouse and about twenty men fell on a party of Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek, and killed ten of them. They brought away one child a prisoner, which is now at my brother, William Craw- ford's." Also Colonel William Crawford, in a letter written to George Washington on May 8th, says: "Daniel Greathouse and some others fell on some Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek and killed and scalped ten, and took one child about two months old, which is at my house. I have taken the child from a woman that it had been given to."

What eventually became of this Indian babe, nephew of Logan, and the grandson of the famous Shikellamy, is not known. Historians agree that it was the son of Colonel John Gibson who, as we shall presently see, translated Logan's great speech. How- ever, John Sappington made an affidavit stating that he knew Gibson well and that "he, Gibson, educated the child and took care of it as if it had been his own." (Butterfield's Washington- Irvine Correspondence, page 344.)

Upon his return to Redstone, George Rogers Clark informed Governor Dunmore of the events that had taken place on the Ohio, and urged him to warn the settlers on the frontiers. While the Governor is assembling his army to march to the Ohio, we shall view some of the results of the murders committed by the Virginians.

Peace Efforts of Cornstalk and White Eyes

At the time of which we are writing, the noble Shawnee chief. Cornstalk, was at the head of the Shawnees living on the Scioto, Fearing that the Virginians would follow up the massacres at the mouth of Captina Creek and at Baker's Bottom with other cold- blooded murders, and thus provoke the Shawnees and Mingoes to the point of taking revenge, Cornstalk, on May 20th, sent a message to Connolly and George Croghan, stating that he and his tribe were sorry for what the white people had done just at a time when the Indians were preparing for their summer hunting, and that there were white traders among the Shawnees whom he was sending back to Fort Pitt under the protection of a party of Shawnees led by his brother. In this letter. Cornstalk implored Connolly "to stop such foolish people from the like doings for the future." He added that he had gone to great trouble to restrain the "foolish people amongst us [the Shawnees] to sit still and do

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 493

no harm . . . and shall continue to do so in the hopes that matters may be settled."

Thus Cornstalk restrained his warriors from taking revenge, and, at the same time, implored Connolly to restrain the Vir- ginians from committing more murders. But Connolly did not want peace. He wanted war. When Cornstalk's brother and his Shawnees arrived at Fort Pitt with the traders under their protection, Connolly ordered out the militia to try to take the escort of Shawnee warriors. His "hellish plot" was discovered, however, and the protecting Shawnees were secretly taken across the river to George Croghan's house, where they were protected by the traders, who out of gratitude gave them a present for conducting them to Fort Pitt at the risk of their lives. De- termined to aggravate the Shawnees and thus bring on a war with them in furthering the plans of his master, Governor Dunmore, to drive the Shawnees from their lands which Dunmore and the rest of the Virginians coveted, Connolly, after the protecting Shawnees had left Croghan's and were on their way home, sent two detachments after them, which met them at the mouth of Beaver Creek and fired upon them, wounding several . . . Arthur St. Clair, afterwards Major General in the American Revolution, wrote Governor Penn saying that if an Indian war should break out, the whites must charge it "entirely to the tyrannical and unprecedented conduct of Doctor John Connolly." Connolly wrote St. Clair: "I shall pursue every measure to offend them" (the Shawnees). (Pa. Arch., Vol. 4, pages 497, 498, 526, 527; St. Clair Papers, 1, page 301.)

Cornstalk, friend of the English and leader of the Shawnees, kept working for peace even up to the eve of the battle of Point Pleasant. He sent a message to Connolly, to the Governor of Pennsylvania and to the Governor of Virginia entreating them to put a stop to hostilities and "they would endeavor to do the same." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, pages 569 and 570.)

General Richard Butler, in his affidavit made before Arthur St. Clair, on August 23d, 1774, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, pages 569 and 570, recites the cold-blooded murder of Chief Logan's family, the murder of the Indians at the mouth of Captina Creek, the "horrid act in violation of the laws of friend- ship" in attacking the Shawnees under Cornstalk's brother, the general base conduct of the unprincipled Connolly, and then adds:

"These facts, I think, was sufficient to bring on a war with a Christian instead of a Savage People, and I do declare it as my opinion that the Shawnees did not intend a war this Season, let

494 THE INDIAiSf WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

their future intentions be what they might; and I do likewise declare that I am afraid, from the proceedings of the Chief of the White People in this part of the Country, that they will bring on a general war, as there is so little pains taken to restrain the common people whose prejudice leads them to greater lengths than ought to be shown by civilized people."

General Butler's opinion is the impartial verdict of history, as any fair-minded student of the causes of Lord Dunmore's War will certainly admit.

The wise and able Delaware chief. White Eyes, earnestly assisted Cornstalk in efforts to prevent an Indian war. He suc- ceeded in restraining nearly all the Delawares from taking up arms against the Virginians in spite of the wanton murders committed by these land-hungry people, and in spite of the taunts and jeers of many of his own people, who accused him of seeking to in- gratiate himself with the murderers and land grabbers. White Eyes fully understood the wrongs that the Virginians had done and were doing to the Shawnees, but his purpose was to save the Shawnees from utter destruction at the hands of the people who coveted their lands.

How the Virginians cooperated with the peace efforts of White Eyes, is seen in the following letter, written by Aeneas Mackey, at Fort Pitt, on July 8th, 1774:

"Captain White Eyes is returned with the strongest assurances of friendship from the Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots and Cherokees, with whom he has been treating on our behalf. Upon his return, he found his house broke open by the Virginians, and about thirty pounds worth of his property taken, which was divided and sold by the robbers at Froman's Fort, on Chartiers Creek." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, page 540.)

Froman's or Foreman's Fort, as will be seen later, stood within the limits of the present town of Canonsburg, Washington County, White Eyes' house was located near the mouth of the Beaver.

The Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania also understood the base motives of the Virginians, and consequently did not take up arms against the Shawnees. Lord Dunmore's War was a war between the Virginians and the Shawnees — an altogether un- justifiable war, whose bitter fruits were gathered for many years, as it had much to do with causing the Shawnees to go over to the British, in the American Revolution, and massacre hundreds of settlers in Southwestern Pennsylvania, in Virginia and in Ken-

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 495

tucky, for the British scalp bounties. It aroused the vindictive spirit of the Shawnees, never broken until General Anthony Wayne defeated them and other western tribes at the battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20th, 1794, and compelled them to give up twenty-five thousand square miles of territory north of the Ohio.*

Those who wish to study the causes and effects of Dunmore's War will find very valuable material in Dr. George P. Donehoo's "Pennsylvania— A History," Vol. 2, pages 938 to 960.

Chief Logan Takes Revenge

When Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, learned of the murder of his family and friends, he determined to take revenge. From the friend of the whites and advocate of peace, he was changed to the terrible foe of the race that was driving the Indian from his home and hunting grounds. He led a band of warriors against the traders at Canoe Bottom, on the Hockhocking River, but the Delaware chief. White Eyes, and the Shawnee chief. Cornstalk, foiled his attempt to injure the traders. On May 19th, he once more set out, with a band of eight chosen warriors, later joined by four more, and went to the neighborhood of Ten Mile and Muddy creeks, in Greene County, where after waiting and watching for some days, he and his band killed William Spicer, his wife and six children, and captured two of the children, William, aged nine, and Betsey, aged eleven. Betsey was afterwards released, but William grew to manhood among the Indians. Two days later, Logan's band killed two men on Dunkard Creek, Greene County. On June 6th, they killed a man in sight of Fort Redstone. On June 11th, a company of rangers, led by Captain Francis McClure and Lieutenant Samuel Kinkade, pursued Logan on Ten Mile Creek. The two officers, being some distance in advance of the rest of the band, were ambushed. McClure was killed and Kinkade badly wounded. A few days later, Logan's band killed Matthew Gray, near where the town of Waynesburg, now stands. On June 22nd, he and his band returned to the Indian town of Wakatomica, on the Muskingum, with many scalps and two prisoners.

In a few days, Logan started on the war path once more, leading a party of Mingoes and Shawnees to the Monongahela region, where he thought the murderers of his family lurked. Nine men were attacked while working in a cornfield on Dunkard Creek,

•Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," fails to grasp the effects of Lord Duamore's War.

496 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

and six of them were killed. In this raid, on July 12th, his band came upon William Robinson, Thomas Hellen, and Colman Brown, pulling flax in the field opposite to Simpson Creek. Brown was killed on the spot and Robinson and Hellen started to run, but Logan succeeded in capturing both. Logan made himself known to Robinson, and told him that he would have to run the gauntlet, but gave him "such complete instruction and directions as they traveled together that Robinson ran the gauntlet safely and reached the stake without harm." The warriors then de- termined to burn Robinson at the stake; but Logan made three attempts, the last one successful, to prevent this atrocity. He loosed the cords which bound the unfortunate man, placed a belt of wampum around his neck as a mark of adoption, introduced him to a young warrior, and said: "This is your cousin; you are to go home with him and he will take care of you." Robinson afterwards said that so fervent was Logan's impassioned elo- quence on his behalf, that the saliva foamed at his mouth when he addressed the assembled warriors. Hellen, after being un- mercifully beaten while running the gauntlet, was adopted into an Indian family.

Logan believed that Captain Michael Cresap was the leader of the outlaws who murdered his family; and three days after Robinson had been adopted, he dictated to him (Robinson) the following note to Cresap, dated July 21, 1774, which was written with suggestive ink made of gun-powder mixed with water: "To Captain Cresap:

What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The White People killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago and I thought nothing of that; but you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too; and I have been three times to war since; but the Indians are not angry, only myself." The "cousin" that Logan refers to in the above note was the child of his sister. It is usual for the Indians to refer to relatives generally as cousins.

Once more Logan went on the war-path, this time setting out with a few chosen braves to the Holston and Clinch Rivers in Southwestern Virginia, where he had been informed Captain Cresap made his home. He and his warriors reached the neigh- borhood in the middle of September, where on Reedy Creek, a branch of the Holston, they killed the whole family of John Robertson except one young boy, whom they carried off captive.

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 49V

At least all the circumstances point to this murder as having been committed by Logan, inasmuch as the note which Logan ad- dressed to Captain Cresap was found tied to a club in the house of the unfortunate settler, where, on the floor, were found the dead bodies of the family.

About the middle of October, Logan's party came to Old Chillicothe, Ohio, where a number of Delawares, who had taken part in Lord Dunmore's War, were now located among the Shaw- nees, after having been driven from the Muskingum by the Vir- ginia troops. The party brought with them five scalps and Robertson's little boy, as well as two other prisoners.

It is said that Logan's band took thirty scalps and prisoners in these raids and that he alone took thirteen scalps. His thirst for revenge was now satisfied. He "sat still," and refused to lead or accompany any more war parties.

Following the news that Logan had gone on the war-path, most of the settlers of Greene and Washington Counties fled over the mountains, abandoning their homes. It is recorded that, on one day, more than one thousand of the fugitives crossed the Monon- gahela at three ferries not a mile apart. Practically all the settlers on Raccoon and Chartiers Creeks joined in the flight. Few of those that remained would have survived the war if nu- merous block houses and forts had not been hastily erected in these counties.

In Greene County, the following places of refuge were erected : Garard's Fort, about seven miles west of Greensboro; Jackson's Fort, near Waynesburg; Fort Swan and VanMeter, near Carmi- chaels; Ryerson's Fort, near the present Ryerson Station.

In Washington County, the following places of refuge were erected: Allen's Fort, near the line between Smith and Robinson Townships; Beelor's Fort, at Candor, Robinson Township; Beeman's Blockhouse (probably erected in 1774), in West Finley Township; Cherry's Fort, in Mount Pleasant Township; Coxe's Fort, in Peters Township; Doddridge's Fort (erected in 1773), three miles west of West Middleton (built by John Doddridge, father of Rev. (Dr.) Doddridge, author of "Doddridge's Notes"); Frohman's or Foreman's Fort, at Canonsburg; Lindley's Fort (erected in 1773), the strongest fort in Washington and Greene Counties, near Prosperity; McFarland's Fort (erected likely as early as 1772), in Amwell Township; Milliken's Fort (built probably as early as 1772), in Amwell Township; Norris' Block- house, in Chartiers Township ;. Reynolds' Blockhouse (probably

498 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

as early as 1774), in Cross Creek Township; Teeter's Fort (prob- ably as early as 1773), in Independence Township; Vance's Fort, in Smith Township,*

Battle of Point Pleasant

Governor Dunmore raised an army of about three thousand troops to check the Indian uprising. General Andrew Lewis commanded one division and Dunmore the other. Lewis' divi- sion of eleven hundred troops marched down the Kanawha River to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where they were attacked on the morning of October 10th, 1774, by one thousand Shawnees under the command of Cornstalk. Cornstalk as has been seen had opposed the entrance of his tribe into war with Virginia, but the rest of the chiefs overruled him. It is claimed that on the evening before the battle he made another attempt to bring about peace, and was again overruled.

The battle raged throughout the entire day, and above its din could be heard the voice of Cornstalk as he encouraged his warriors, and shouted, "Be Strong! Be Strong!" He displayed masterly generalship, so maneuvering the Indians that the Vir- ginians were forced into a triangle whose sides were the Ohio and Great Kanawha Rivers, and whose base was the Indian forces. His tactics won the admiration of General Lewis and his officers.

The original plan of the campaign was that the forces of both Lord Dunmore and General Lewis should meet at Point Pleasant. Dunmore had marched over the Braddock Road to Fort Pitt, then called "Fort Dunmore" by him and other Virginians, with a force of twelve hundred troops, reaching that place in the latter part of August. Here his force was divided, seven hundred, under Dunmore going down the Ohio by boats, and five hundred, under Major William Crawford, going by land with the cattle. Both divisions reached Wheeling about September 30th, and then went to the mouth of the Hockhocking, from which place Dunmore sent messengers to General Lewis, among whom was Simon Girty, ordering him to cross the Ohio, proceed towards the Shawnee towns, and join Dunmore's forces near Chillicothe, in- stead of Point Pleasant, as originally planned. Before Lewis could carry out these new orders, he was attacked at Point Pleasant by Cornstalk and his warriors. In the meantime, in July, Major Angus McDonald, with a force of four hundred Virginia troops, marched over the Braddock road to Laurel Hill,

♦In Westmoreland County, Fort Allen was erected near Zion Lutheran Church, about three miles west of Greensburg; Shields' Fort, near New Alexandria; and Fort Shippen, at Colonel John Proctor's, in U nity Township.

Lord dunmore's war 499

thence to Redstone, thence to Cat Fish Camp (now Washington , Pa., the "camp" being named for the Delaware chief. Cat Fish), thence to Wheeling, West Virginia, where his force was increased to seven hundred and where he, with the assistance of Captain William Crawford, erected Fort Fincastle, later named Fort Henry in honor of Patrick Henry. Leaving Captain Crawford in command of Fort Fincastle, McDonald, in the latter part of July, marched against the Indian town of Wakatomica, near Dresden, Ohio, with four hundred troops. He destroyed this town and fought another battle in its vicinity, considerably weakening the Shawnees,

At nightfall Cornstalk's forces withdrew, crossed the Ohio, and headed for the Shawnee villages. What his losses were was never ascertained, but during the battle, the Shawnees were observed to throw many of their slain into the Ohio. As for the Virginians, seventy-five of their force lay dead on the field, and one hundred and forty were wounded. A council of the chiefs was held, and although Cornstalk was bitterly opposed by many of the chiefs, he was able to persuade them to seek a peace with the Virginians.

Accordingly, in November, Cornstalk entered into a treaty of peace with Lord Dunmore, at Chillicothe, Ohio. On this occa- sion, he made a very impressive speech, boldly charging the whites as being the cause of the war, and dwelling at length upon the atrocious murder of the family of Logan, chief of the Mingoes. It is said that his powerful, clarion voice could be heard distinctly over the whole camp of twelve acres. Among those present was Colonel Benjamin Wilson, who speaks thus of Cornstalk's address :

"When he arose he was in nowise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice without stammering or repetition and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while addressing Dunmore were truly grand and majestic; yet graceful and attrac- tive. I have heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, but never have I heard one whose powers of delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk on that occasion."

By the terms of the treaty of peace, the Shawnees were com- pelled to recognize the Ohio River as the eastern boundary of the Indian lands.

Logan's Famous Speech

Logan returned from the Holston raid at the time when Corn stalk's defeated warriors returned from the terrible battle of

500 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Point Pleasant. The chiefs assembled in council. Both Logan and Cornstalk argued for peace, and the council decided not to continue the war. A deputation of chiefs was then sent to Lord Dunmore to sue for peace. Dunmore agreed to a conference, whereupon runners were sent to invite all the chiefs to assemble at Camp Charlotte, the place of the conference.

Logan refused to attend the conference. Then Lord Dun- more sent Colonel John Gibson, the alleged father of the infant of Logan's sister, whose life was spared when the rest of Logan's family was murdered, as a special messenger to invite and bring the great chieftain to the conference. Logan refused again to attend the conference, and proposed that he and Colonel Gibson take a walk into the woods to talk matters over. At length they sat down on a log under a large elm, still standing on the Pick- away plains, about six miles south of Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, and known to this day as "Logan's Elm."

Here, with Colonel Gibson as his only auditor, and with tears rolling down his face, Logan delivered his famous speech, one of the finest specimens of eloquence in the English language, as fol- lows:

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and I gave him not meat; if ever he came cold or naked, and I gave him not clothing.

"During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained in his tent, an advocate for peace. Nay, such was my love for the whites, that those of my own country pointed at me as they passed, and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to live with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, cut off all the relatives of Logan ; not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. Yet, do not har- bor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan . Not one."

Gibson wrote down the speech, and read it the next day at the conference at Camp Charlotte. Thomas Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," published in 1781 and 1782, gave "Logan's La- ment," as he called it, world-wide publicity. Colonel John Gib- son, on April 4, 1800, made an affidavit before J. Barker, of Pitts-

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 501

burgh, as to the authorship of the great speech, and the accuracy of his translation of the same. Logan spoke in Delaware. Says Heckewelder, "For my part I am convinced that it was delivered precisely as it was related to us, with only this difference, that it possessed a force and expression in the Indian language which it is impossible to transmit to our own."

Thomas Jefferson challenges Cicero, Demosthenes, and both European and American statesmen to surpass this speech — the cry of the wrongs of the Indian race that came up from the break- ing heart of Logan, and made his name immortal. It is at once bold, lofty, and sublime; and yet it is permeated with a note of sadness. It has been recited in the schools throughout the United States for more than a hundred years. It was copied in England, and has been translated into French, German, and other modern languages as a specimen of classic oratory. The Ohio Archaelogical and Historical Society has erected a monument near "Logan's Elm" bearing the following inscription:

"Under the spreading branches of a magnificent elm tree nearby is where Logan, a Mingo chief, made his celebrated speech."

During the last few years of his life, Logan wandered from tribe to tribe, a broken man, drowning his sorrow in whiskey and rum. He was killed in a quarrel by his nephew, Tod-kah-dohs, near Detroit, in 1780. His wife was a Shawnee. He had no children. Heckewelder states that, in 1779, Logan adopted a white woman as his sister to take the place of the sister killed by Greathouse and his band. Standing more than six feet in height, with noble features, and with the Indian gift of oratory, Logan was a fine specimen of the American Indian before ruined by the white man's whiskey.

The following lines were composed for occasion of the dedica- tion of monument near "Logan's Elm."

"Logan, to thy memory here White men do this tablet rear; On its front we grave thy name, In our hearts shall live thy fame. While Niagara's thunders roar, Or Erie's surges lash the shore; While onward broad Ohio glides And seaward roll her Indian tides. So long their memory, who did give These floods their sounding names shall live. While time in kindness buries The gory axe and warrior's bow. 0 justice, faithful to thy trust. Record the virtues of the just."

502 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Colonel John Gibson

Colonel John Gibson, the alleged father of the child of Logan's sister, was born at Lancaster, Pa., May 22nd, 1740. He was a man of classical education. He served under General Forbes, and after the French and Indian War, became a trader at Fort Pitt, In 1763, soon after Pontiac's War broke out, he was taken prisoner by the Indians near the mouth of the Beaver, along with two companions. One of these companions was soon tortured to death, and the other met the same fate when the party reached the Kanawha. Gibson was saved by an aged squaw, who adopted him in the place of a son who had been killed in battle. Gibson was among the prisoners surrendered to Colonel Henry Bouquet in 1764, when he again settled at Pittsburgh and resumed trading with the Indians. He also served in Lord Dunmore's War, as has been seen in this chapter. He served throughout the Revolu- tion, and was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania, in 1790. Subsequently he became a judge of Allegheny County and a Major-General of militia. He was secretary of the territory of Indiana until it became a state, and, at one time, was its acting governor. He died at Braddock's Field, now Braddock, Pennsylvania, April 10th, 1822,

The "Long Knives"

At the time of which we are writing, and for many years prior thereto, the Virginians were called the "Long Knives" by the Shawnees, Delawares and other tribes. Withers, in his "Chron- icles of Border Warfare," says that the application of this term came about as follows: That, in the fall of 1758, Thomas Decker and some others established a settlement on the Monongahela at the mouth of what is now Decker's Creek; that the following spring the settlement was broken up by a party of Delawares and Mingoes, and most of its inhabitants were murdered; that one of the settlers escaped to Fort Redstone, where Brownsville, Fayette County, now stands, and gave the melancholy intelligence to the commander. Captain Audley Paul, who sent a runner with the information to Captain John Gibson at Fort Pitt; that Captain Gibson then set out with a party of thirty to intercept and punish the Indians, and came upon six or seven Mingoes near Steuben- ville, Ohio, who had been prowling about the river some distance below Fort Pitt in an effort to commit depredations; that Kis-

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR 503

kepila or Little Eagle, the leader of this band, fired at Captain Gibson, the ball passing through the latter's hunting shirt and wounding a soldier just behind him; that Captain Gibson then sprang forward, and swinging his sword with great force, severed Little Eagle's head from his body; and that several of Little Eagle's party, on their return to the Muskingum, told the In- dians there that Captain Gibson had cut off Little Eagle's head "with a long knife," in consequence of which the term "Long Knives" soon became applied to the Virginia militia generally.

However, R. G. Thwaites, in his notes on Withers' "Chronicles of Border Warfare" (See page 79 of said work), doubts the above statements, both as to the existence of Little Eagle and as to his or any other Indian's having been decapitated by Captain Gib- son, and calls attention to the fact that Colonel James Smith, then a prisoner among the Indians, says that they assigned as a reason why they did not oppose the advance of General Forbes against Fort Duquesne in the autumn of 1758, the fact that "they could not withstand Ash-a-le-co-a, or the Great Knife, which was the name they gave the Virginians." Furthermore there was no Fort Redstone in existence as early as the spring of 1759. As was seen in a former chapter. Captain Trent erected a stockade at this place when on his way to the Ohio, early in 1754, but this was destroyed by the French. Very probably the term "Long Knives" or "Big Knives" had reference to the long knives carried by early white hunters or the swords carried by militia officers.

Death of Cornstalk

After making the treaty of peace with Lord Dunmore, Corn- stalk remained at peace with the whites. During the spring of 1777, when most of the Ohio tribes were going over to the English, the old chief came to the Moravian missionaries in Ohio, and warned them that the Shawnees, except those in his own tribe, were going over to the British ; that he was powerless to prevent them, and that ammunition was being sent them from Detroit, to be used against the Americans. On a previous visit to the Mora- vians with more than one hundred of his warriors, he adopted missionary Schmick and his wife, making Schmick his brother and Mrs. Schmick his sister.

Seeing that there was danger of a general Indian uprising, Cornstalk late in the summer of 1777, taking with him a young chief named Red Hawk, went to Point Pleasant to warn Captain

504 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Matthew Arbuckle of the threatened uprising. He and Red Hawk were then arrested and detained as hostages. While thus held, one afternoon his son, Ellinipisco, came to visit his father. Unhappily, on that same day two soldiers who were out hunting on the opposite side of the river, were attacked by two Indians, who killed and scalped one of them. A company of men brought the body of the dead soldier to the fort, and then the cry went up : "Let us go and kill the Indians." The company, under the com- mand of Captain Hall, went to the house where Cornstalk was detained. Captain Arbuckle endeavored to restrain them, but was threatened with death, if he interfered. Cornstalk's son was blamed with having brought the hostile Indians with him, but this he strenuously denied. Turning to his son, Cornstalk said : "My son, the Great Spirit has seen fit that we should die together, and has sent you here to that end. It is His will and let us submit; it is all for the best." The old chief then arose and with great dignity advanced to meet the soldiers, receiving seven bullets in his body, and sinking in death without a groan. Ellinipisco was then instantly killed, and Red Hawk, who had hidden himself in the chimney, was dragged out and hacked to pieces.

Thus, one of the bravest and noblest of the Indian race, while a hostage and on a mission of mercy, was barbarously murdered by those whom he sought to befriend. His exalted virtues and his most unhappy fate "plead like angels, trumpet- tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking of."

It seems that Cornstalk had a presentiment of approaching death. On the day before he was murdered, he was admitted to a council held at the fort, where he said : "When I was young and went to war, I often thought each might be my last adventure, and I should return no more. I still live. Now I am in the midst of you, and if you choose, may kill me. I can die but once. It is alike to me whether now or hereafter."

In 1896, a monument was erected in the Court House yard at Point Pleasant to the memory of this brave and energetic warrior, skillful general, and able orator. Here he fought courageously. Here he died heroically. May his well deserved fame be as en- during as the granite of his monument — as enduring as the hills and mountains of the land he loved.

Murder of Joseph Wipey

As we have seen, it was in the spring of 1774 that the family of Logan was killed. During this same spring, occurred the mur-

Lord dunmore's war 5os

der of another friendly Indian, Joseph Wipey. The exact location of the murder is hard to determine ; but it seems to have been near the mouth of Hinckston's Run, which flows southward through Cambria County, and empties into the Conemaugh at Johns- town, although some authorities say that the murder occurred in the southeastern part of Indiana County.

When, after the purchase at Fort Stanwix, in October, 1768, the Delawares left their towns on the Kittanning Trail, and the region of the purchase began to be rapidly settled by the white people, this elderly Delaware remained on the hunting grounds of his forefathers, and built his cabin by a stream north of the Cone- maugh. He was an inoffensive, harmless old hunter and fisher, and had given many evidences of his friendship for the whites. At peace with all mankind, he was gently gliding down the stream of life, awaiting his summons to the Happy Hunting Grounds. John Hinckston and James Cooper wantonly murdered him some time in May of 1774, while he was fishing from his canoe, Arthur St. Clair, writing from Ligonier to Governor John Penn, on May 29th, concerning this murder, says: "It is the most astonishing thing in the world — the disposition of the common people of this country. Actuated by the most savage cruelty, they wantonly perpetrate crimes that are a disgrace to humanity, and seem, at the same time, to be under a kind of religious en- thusiasm, whilst they want the daring spirit that usually in- spires."

Wipey's cabin stood in East Wheatfield Township, and near the town of Cramer, in the southeastern part of Indiana County. George Findley, whose apprenticed boy was killed by the Indians in this township, in September, 1777, was a neighbor of the un- fortunate Delaware.

The murder of Logan's family had much to do with bringing on Lord Dunmore's War. And now, St. Clair feared that the wanton murder of Wipey would bring on a Delaware war that would devastate the western settlements. He advised Governor Penn that this atrocity gave him "much trouble and vexation."* Happily, though, the Delawares did not again take up arms against the Province until the latter years of the Revolutionary War.

*0n June 12th, 1774, St. Clair wrote Governor Penn that the part of Westmoreland north of the Forbes Road was abandoned. About this time, Wendel Ourry, Christopher Truby and more than fifty other German settlers sent a petition from Fort Allen (Harrold's) to the Gover- nor asking aid in the threatened Indian uprising. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 4, pages 503 504, 514.)

CHAPTER XXIII

The Revolutionary War

(1775, 1776 and 1777)

EARLY in the Revolutionary War, or, to be specific, in May, 1776, Sir Guy Johnson, Colonel John Butler and other British agents held a great council with the chiefs of the Six Nations, at Fort Niagara, New York, at which the over- whelming majority of the sachems of the Iroquois Confederation voted to accept the war hatchet against the Americans. (Ameri. can Archives, Fourth Series, Vol. 6, page 764; Fifth Series, Vol- 1, page 867.) The League of the Iroquois decided to take no part in the conflict, but to allow each tribe of the Confederation to decide for itself. A large part of the Tuscaroras and nearly all the Oneidas, owing to the influence of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, remained neutral ; but the other tribes of the historic Confedera- tion went over to the British, and spread terror, devastation and death throughout the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania. Likewise, the Shawnees, the Wyandots, a large part of the Delawares, and other western tribes, through the influence of the British at Detroit, took the British side, and raided the frontiers of Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.

The British Scalp Bounties

The British officer, Sir Henry Hamilton, who was in command at Detroit, was directed, on October 6th, 1776, to enlist the Indians in the British service, and have them ready for operations against the western frontier the next spring. Hamilton incited many Indian incursions against the frontier, and gave the Indians rewards for scalps. About June 1st, 1777, he began to enlist and send out war parties against the frontiers of Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. About the end of July of that year, he reported to his superior commander at Quebec, that he had sent out fifteen war parties, consisting of 30 white men and 289 Indians, an average of 21 in each band.* These Indians were

*On September 16th, 1778, Hamilton reported to General Haldimand that, since May, 1778, the Indians under his command captured one hundred and fifteen American prisoners, eighty- one of whom they killed and then delivered their scalps to him. (Quaife's "Capture of Old Vincennes," page 174.)

A war poster, used by the Americans during the Revolutionary War, relating to the bounties which the British paid their Indian allies for American scalps. This was found in 1921, in the attic of the old Langley Building, which occupied the site of the present George Washington Hotel, Washington, Pennsylvania.

Across the top of the poster are the words: "A SCENE OX THE FROXTIER, AS PRACTICED BY THE HUMANE BRITISH AND THEIR WORTHY ALLIES."

The British officer, evidently Colonel Henry Hamilton, "the hair-buyer," is saying to the Indian who is handing him an American scalp: "Bring me the scalp, and the King, our Master, will reward you."

On the Indian's rifle is a placard reading: "Reward for 16 Scalps." Below the picture are the lines:

".Arise, Columbia's sons, and forward press; Your Country's wrongs call loudly for redress; The savage Indian with his scalping knife, Or tomahawk, may seek to take your life. By bravery awed, they'll in a dreadful fright. Shrink backward to the woods in flight; Their British leaders then will quickly shake. And for those wrongs shall restitution make."

—Courtesy of EARhE R. FORREST, author of "A History of Washington County, Pennsylvania."

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1775, 1776, 1777 507

chiefly Wyandots and Miamis, of Northwestern Ohio, and Shawnees of Southern Ohio. The Americans held Hamilton in abhorrence, and nick-named him the "hair-buyer" general. He continued his dreadful work until his capture by Colonel George Rogers Clark, at Vincennes, Indiana, February 25th, 1779, who sent him to Williamsburg, Virginia, as a prisoner where he was confined in irons.

Said the Virginia Council, June 16th, 1779:

"Governor Hamilton ["the hair-buyer general"] gave standing rewards for scalps, but offered none for prisoners, which induced the Indians, after making their captives carry their baggage into the neighborhood of the fort [Fort Detroit], there to put them to death."

Heckewelder says, in his "History of the Indian Nations," that the instructions of Colonel Hamilton and other British officers at Detroit to their Indian allies, were "to kill all the rebels," and that a veteran Wyandot chief, having observed to one of these officers that it was surely not meant that American women and children should be killed for the scalp bounties, received the reply: "Kill all; destroy all; nits breed lice.''

The following extract from Leeth's "Narrative," found on page 7 of Butterfield's "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," pictures one of the scenes at Detroit when Colonel Hamilton was engaged in the work of rewarding the Indians for American scalps :

"When we arrived there on the bank of the Detroit River, we found Governor Hamilton and several other British officers, who were standing and sitting around. Immediately the Indians pro- duced a large quantity of scalps; the cannon fired ; the Indians raised a shout; and the soldiers waved their hats, with huzzas and tremendous shrieks, which lasted some time. This ceremony being ended, the Indians brought forth a parcel of American prisoners, as a trophy of their victories; among whom were eighteen women and children, poor creatures, dreadfully mangled and emaciated, with their clothes tattered and torn to pieces in such a manner as not to hide their nakedness; their legs bare and streaming with blood, the effects of being torn with thorns, briers and brush ... If I had had an opportunity, I should certainly have killed the Governor, who seemed to take great delight in the ex- hibition."

England adopted the ferocious and horrible policy of sending the Indians against the American frontier, in opposition to the advice of some of her best and ablest statesmen, notably William

508 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Pitt. This great man described this shameful policy as "letting loose the horrible hell-hounds of savage war." (Butterfield's Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pages 6 and 7.) . The British agents in New York were no better than Hamilton. They sent the Senecas and various other tribes of the Six Nations in alliance with them, against the frontiers of New York and both Eastern and Western Pennsylvania. As will be seen in a subse- quent chapter, they gave their Indian allies ten dollars each for the two hundred and twenty-seven scalps of principally old men, women and children, killed at the Wyoming massacre of July 3rd, 1778.

Franklin, in his list of twenty-six British atrocities, gives the 10th and 14th as follows:

"10th. The King of England, giving audience to his Secre- tary of War, who presents him a schedule entitled 'Account of Scalps' ; which he receives very graciously.

"14th. The commanding officer at Niagara, sitting in state, a table before him, his soldiers and savages bring him scalps of the Wyoming families and presenting them. Money on the table with which he pays for them."

There is not a darker chapter in the history of modern times — there is not a darker chapter in the history of the world since men began to record events, than the account of the butchery of old men and defenseless women and children, during the Revolu- tionary War, by Indians instigated by the British and in the British pay. Children were slaughtered before the eyes of their agonized parents; wives were slaughtered in the presence of their husbands; children were compelled to gaze upon the bloody and mutilated corpses of their parents; the smoke of burning settle- ments darkened the heavens, and hung as clouds of gloom over many beautiful valleys; in the cabin homes of the pioneers was heard the cry of deepest lamentation — an agonizing cry that went up to God, as the Indian allies of the British carried away the bloody scalps of loving parents and tender babes, to receive the British scalp bounty for their ghastly service in the British cause. The aged father, whose form was bent by a life of toil and hard- ship on the frontier; the aged mother, whose hair was silvered by child-birth pain and a life full of care and rich in service; the widow, lingering by the grave of her buried love; the matron, devoted and ministering to her children; the young man of talent, promise, and joyous parental hope; the boy just opening into adolescence; the maiden in the loveliness of grace, beauty, and

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1775, 1776, 1777. 509

virtue; the child, angel-eyed and silken haired, prattling at its parent's knee; the tender and helpless babe on its mother's breast — the merciless Indian dashed out the brains of all these, tore off their reeking scalps, carried them to British agents, and received the British scalp bounty for their dreadful work.

In weighing the conduct of an individual, of a group of in- dividuals, or of a nation, we should take into consideration their mental endowment, moral standard, social aptitude and the kind of temptations they meet or that may have been thrust upon them. And so, in reading the accounts of the Indian atrocities during the Revolutionary War, we should not lose sight of the fact that the British gave their Indian allies these scalp bounties as an inducement, well knowing that Indian warfare meant suf- fering and death to the innocent and the helpless. The Indian had no back-ground of centuries of Christian civilization — no knowledge of the God of Revelation. Who, then, stands with the greater condemnation before the Judgement Seat of Almighty God? Is it the untutored Red Man, with passions wild as the storms of his native mountains? Or, is it the anointed children of civilization, education and Christianity, who were the in- stigators of his deeds of blood and death?

Efforts to Secure Friendship of the Indians

In July, 1775, the Second Continental Congress initiated measures to secure the friendship of the Indians in the conflict with Great Britain. The frontier was divided into three Indian departments. The middle department included the tribes west of Pennsylvania and Virginia; and three members of Congress, Patrick Henry of Virginia and Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson of Pennsylvania, were appointed to hold a treaty with the Indians at Fort Pitt. This treaty was held in the latter part of October of that year, and was attended by a few of the chiefs of the Senecas, Delawares, Shawnees and Wyandots. The principal Indian speakers at the treaty Guyasuta of the Senecas and Mingoes, and White Eyes of the Delawares. Guyasuta repre- sented the Mingoes of the Ohio Valley, and, as an Iroquois, assumed to speak for all the western tribes, thereby arousing the anger of White Eyes, who thereupon declared the absolute in- dependence of the Delawares. The council was far from being harmonious. However, the chiefs declared their intention to remain neutral; and Guyasuta promised to use his influence at

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the Great Council of the Iroquois in New York, to obtain a deci- sion in favor of peace.

The commissioners at this treaty selected John Gibson as Indian agent for the Ohio tribes. A little later Gibson was suc- ceeded by Richard Butler. Then, in the spring of 1776, the Continental Congress took direct charge of Indian affairs, and chose George Morgan as Indian agent at Fort Pitt. Morgan arrived at Fort Pitt early in May, and at once began to arrange for a more satisfactory treaty with the western tribes than the treaty of October, 1775. He sent agents to the various western tribes, employing in this service William Wilson, Peter Long, Simon Girty and Joseph Nicholson.

The mission of William Wilson was the most important. He proceeded to the tribes in Ohio. Arriving at the Delaware capital of Coshocton, he was befriended by the Delaware chief. New Comer. On this occasion. New Comer, believing it unsafe for Wilson to proceed to the Wyandots at Sandusky, sent Kill- buck to carry his message to them. Killbuck returned in eleven days with word from the Wyandot chiefs that they wanted to see Wilson and hear his message from his own mouth. Wilson then decided to go to see them, and New Comer directed Killbuck to accompany him. Scarcely had the journey begun when Kill- buck became ill, and his place was taken by White Eyes. Pro- ceeding, Wilson and White Eyes learned that the Wyandot chiefs had gone to Detroit. Wilson then boldly pressed on to the neighborhood of the British post, where he and White Eyes met the Wyandots, Both he and White Eyes addressed them urging them to attend the treaty. The Wyandot chiefs betrayed Wilson's presence to the British commander, Henry Hamilton, to whom Wilson frankly told the object of his mission. Though greatly angered, Hamilton respected Wilson's character as an ambassa- dor, and gave him a safe conduct through the Indian country to Fort Pitt; but scathingly denounced White Eyes, and ordered him to leave Detroit within twenty-four hours, if he valued his life.

The Continental Congress, early in January, 1777, received in- formation, "that certain tribes of Indians living in the back parts of the country near the waters of the Susquehanna within the Confederacy and under the protection of the Six Nations, the friends and allies of the United States," intended coming to Easton to hold a conference with the Continental and Colonial Authorities. Thereupon, the Continental Congress appointed a

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commission, consisting of George Taylor, George Walton, and others, to purchase suitable presents and to conduct a treaty with these Indians; while the Assembly of Pennsylvania named Colonels Lowry and Cunningham as their commissioners, and the Council of Safety sent Colonels Dean and Bull. Thomas Paine was appointed to act as secretary of the commission.

Some of the Indians reached Wilkes-Barre on January 7th, and announced the coming of the larger delegation, which reached the same place on January 15th. They then proceeded to Easton, where the conference was opened on January 27th, in the German Reformed Church. It is claimed that, before proceeding to busi- ness, the members of the commission and the Indians shook hands with one another, and drank to the health of the Continental Congress and the Six Nations, as the notes of the organ filled the auditorium. There were seventy men and one hundred women and children in the Indian delegation; and among the chiefs were the following: Taasquah, or "King Charles," of the Cayuga; Tawanah, or "The Big Tree," of the Seneca; Mytakawha, or "Walking on Foot," and Kaknah, or "Standing by a Tree," of the Munsee; Amatincka, or "Raising Anything Up" of the Nanti- coke; Wilakinko, or "King Last Night" of the Conoy, and Thomas Green, whose wife was a Mohawk, as interpreter.

The conference did not proceed far until it became evident that the British, through the influence of Colonel John Butler, then at Niagara, were having great success in turning the Six Nations against the Americans. The results of this conference are thus set forth in the report of the treaty, made to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania: "The Indians seem to be inclined to act the wise part with respect to the present dispute. If they are to be relied upon, they mean to be neuter. We have already learned their good intentions." But, as has been seen, the overwhelming majority of the warriors of the Six Nations took the British side in the Revolutionary War. As has also been seen, Colonel Henry Hamilton, "the hair-buyer," succeeded in securing the western tribes in the British interest.

In the meantime, as has been seen, George Croghan, on account of being suspected of British sympathy, lost his office as Indian agent, and George Morgan was appointed to this important office. In the meantime, also. Dr. John Connolly, at Fort Pitt, became so obnoxious in the British interest that he was seized by twenty men, in June 1775, under orders of Captain St. Clair, and carried to Ligonier with the intention of delivering him to

S12 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the Continental Government at Philadelphia, The Virginia settlers in Southwestern Pennsylvania, however, made such a violent demonstration that St. Clair released Connolly. They believed that his arrest was a blow at Virginia's territorial claims. Soon after his release, Connolly fled from Pittsburgh at night, and made his way to Virginia, where he joined Lord Dunmore on a man-of-war at Portsmouth. From this refuge he carried on a correspondence to influence border leaders against the Americans and to stir up the Ohio tribes against the colonies. *

Capture of Andrew McFarlane

In July, 1776, when it became certain that the Iroquois were going over to the British, General Washington urged the raising of regiments on the frontiers. The Continental Congress then ordered the raising of a regiment of seven companies from West- moreland and one from Bedford, to erect and garrison forts at Kittanning, Le Boeuf and Erie, and to protect the Allegheny Valley from incursions of Tories and Iroquois. This regiment, under command of Colonel Aenas Mackay, with George Wilson as Lieutenant-Colonel and Richard Butler as Major, rendez- voused at Kittanning late in the autumn, built a stockade just below the present town of that name, and prepared to advance up the Allegheny to erect the other forts, when a call was received for the regiment to march across the state and join the army of General Washington near the Delaware. In spite of a storm of protest on the western frontier, this regiment, afterwards known as the Eighth Pennsylvania, began its long and terrible march in January, 1777, to join Washington's army.

At this time, Andrew McFarlane conducted a trading post a short distance below the present town of Kittanning. After the regiment left this place, Captain Samuel Moorehead, of Black Lick Creek, Indiana County, organized a company of rangers with Andrew McFarlane as Lieutenant to protect the supplies which the regiment had left at Kittanning. It seems, however, that very few of these rangers took post at Kittanning, and that, at the time of McFarlane's capture, there were only two men with him at his trading post.

On February 14th, two British subalterns, two Chippewas, and two Iroquois Indians, sent by the British commandant at Fort Niagara to descend the Allegheny, arrived on the west side of the Allegheny opposite McFarlane's trading post at Kittanning, and

♦In April, 1774, Connolly, with a force of about one hundred and eighty armed men, dis- turbed the meeting of the Pennsylvania Court at Hannastown, arrested the Pennsylvania judges, Devereux Smith, Andrew McFarlane and Aeneas Mackey, and sent them to Staunton, Virginia.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1775, 1776, 1777 5l3

shouted toward the other shore, calling for a canoe. McFarlane, thinking that the Indians had come to trade or possibly to bring some important news, crossed in a boat to the western shore. Upon stepping from his boat, he was seized by the Indians and told that he was a prisoner, his capture being witnessed by his wife "and some men at the settlement." His captors carried him to Quebec where, through the efforts of his brother, James, then a lieutenant in the First Pennsylvania Regiment, he was ex- changed, in the autumn of 1780, and rejoined his wife, Margaret Lynn Lewis, a sister of General Andrew Lewis, at Staunton, Virginia. Soon thereafter he opened another trading house on Chartier's Creek, Allegheny County, where he lived for many years.

Upon the capture of her husband, Mrs. McFarlane with her infant in her arms fled through the wilderness to Carnahan's block house, more than twenty miles distant, and located in Bell Township, Westmoreland County, about two miles from the Kiskiminetas River.

Murder of Simpson and Capture of Fergus Moorehead

In March, 1777, Fergus Moorehead, of Indiana County, visited his brother, Captain Samuel Moorehead, whose rangers were then located at Kittanning. On March 16th, as he and a soldier, named Simpson, were on their way back to Indiana County, following the Kittanning Indian Trail, they were attacked by a band of Indians, near Blanket Hill, Armstrong County. Simpson was killed and scalped, and Moorehead was taken prisoner. He was compelled to run the gauntlet, and was then taken to Quebec, where he was turned over to the British, who treated him much worse than did the Indians. After eleven months, he was ex- changed. On March 18th, Captain Samuel Moorehead found the dead body of Simpson.

An account of the capture of Fergus Moorehead is given on both pages 445 and 464 of Vol. 2 of the "Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania." That on page 445 is wrong as to the year of the event. That on page 464 is correct, quoting the letter of Devereux Smith, written at Hannastown, Westmoreland County, on March 24th, 1777.

Following the capture of Andrew McFarlane and Fergus Moorehead and the murder of Simpson, the frontier of Western Pennsylvania suffered terribly from Indian raids.* Besides, the

♦About this time, according to old deeds of record in Allegheny County, Mrs. Peter Keyser (Kiser), her two small children and one grown son were killed by Indians, on the Monongahela, a few miles below McKeesport.

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frontiersmen lacked a sufficient supply of powder since early in 1776. The Revolutionary War caused a demand for more powder than the factories could supply. In order to relieve the desperate situation in which the western frontiersmen found themselves, George Gibson and William Linn, with fifteen of the bravest of "Gibson's Lambs," as Gibson's rangers were called, went from Fort Pitt to New Orleans, in the summer of 1776, to procure a supply of powder from the Spaniards; but it did not arrive until the summer of 1777. A full account of this brave exploit and valuable service to the American cause is found in Chapter 5 of Hassler's "Old Westmoreland." George Gibson who was a son of a Lancaster tavern keeper and had been engaged in the fur trade with his brother, John Gibson, at Pittsburgh, was the father of John Bannister Gibson, a famous Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. William Linn was a Marylander, the grandfather of William Linn, at one time United States Senator from Missouri. Both George Gibson and William Linn died at the hands of the Indians, Gibson being killed at St. Clair's defeat, November 4th, 1791, and Linn being murdered by Indians, on March 5, 1781, near his settlement, about ten miles from Louis- ville, Kentucky.

Indian Massacre Near Standing Stone

On June 19th, 1777, occurred the massacre at what was known as the Big Spring several miles west of the fort at Standing Stone, now Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The Indians destroyed the plantations in the neighborhood, and the inhabitants fled to the fort. Felix Donnelly, his son, Francis, Bartholomew Maguire, and his daughter, Jane, residing near the mouth of Shaver's Creek, placed their effects upon horses, and with a cow started for the fort, when the Indians entered the neighborhood. Jane Maguire proceeded on ahead driving the cow, while her father and the Donnellys followed in the rear on horseback. When they had reached a point about opposite the Big Spring, an Indian fired from ambush and killed the younger Donnelly. His father who was close beside him, caught him as he was falling from his horse; whereupon, Maguire rode to his side, and the two held the dead body of the boy upon the horse. The Indians then rushed from their hiding places and fired upon the party, one bullet striking the elder Donnelly and another grazing Maguire's ear. Donnelly fell to the ground as did the body of his dead son. The

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Indians scalped the boy and pursued Jane Maguire, who suc- ceeded in escaping after she had lost her dress in freeing herself from an Indian who attempted to capture her. Some men on the opposite side of Shaver's Creek hearing the firing, rushed to the scene, and the Indians then retreated into the woods, not knowing the strength of the party. Maguire and his daughter reached the fort and alarmed the garrison, which started in pursuit of the Indians, but failed to overtake them. The dead body of young Francis Donnelly was then buried at a spot now within the limits of the town of Huntingdon.

Murders in Westmoreland and Indiana Counties in 1777

Some time in August, 1777, six or seven men were reaping oats in a field about six miles from Carnahan's Blockhouse, a place of defense in Bell Township, Westmoreland County. One of the reapers wounded a deer, and while searching for it in the woods, discovered an Indian and signs of others. The reapers then hastily went to John McKibben's house, where several families had gathered for safety, and where Fort Hand was erected the following winter. From this place, word was sent to Carnahan's Blockhouse, advising the occupants to be on the lookout for Indians. The next day a party went out from McKibben's to scout, and near the oat field, found the spot where the Indians had secreted themselves the day before. That same day, the Indians plundered the houses of James Chambers and several other settlers in the neighborhood, which had been deserted when their occupants fled to McKibben's and Carnahan's. Also on the afternoon of this day, Robert Taylor and David Carnahan went from Carnahan's to McKibben's to learn what intelligence they could of Indians being in the neighborhood. They had almost reached Carnahan's Blockhouse on their return, when they saw several Indians rushing toward the house. Taylor and Carnahan exerting all their powers, succeeded in reaching the blockhouse before the Indians, and then made the door fast. The Indians proved to be fourteen in number, and there were few men in the blockhouse, some of its defenders being absent. Darkness was now settling down over the hills of the harried county of Westmoreland. John Carnahan, one of the occupants of the blockhouse, having opened the door and stepped out to get a shot at one of the Indians, was himself shot and instantly killed. Having fallen near the door, his body was dragged in,

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and the door was again fastened. Firing on both sides was continued for some time, and then the Indians departed, taking with them several horses, probably to carry off their wounded. John Carnahan was buried near the blockhouse. (Frontier Forts of Pa., Vol. 2, pages 333-335.)

During the harvest time of 1777, the Senecas raided the settle- ments north of the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh, in what is now the southern part of Indiana County, extending their depreda- tions across these streams into what is now Westmoreland County. Several persons were killed in the valley of Black Lick Creek, Indiana County, and others captured. The other Black Lick Creek settlers fled across the Conemaugh to Fort Wallace, near Blairsville. Among them was Randall Laughlin. Some of his horses having escaped from the pasture near Fort Wallace and returned to his Black Lick farm, he determined to venture back to his farm for them. Four of his neighbors accompanied him, Charles Campbell, a major of the militia, John Gibson and his brother, and a settler named Dixon. They reached Laughlin's cabin, on September 25th, and while preparing themselves a meal, were surprised by a band of Indians, probably Wyandots, led by a Frenchman. Being given the promise that their lives would be spared, the white men surrendered. They were also premitted to write a note, telling of their capture, and to tack it on the door of the cabin. They were then taken through the wilderness to Detroit, thence to Montreal, thence to Quebec. Rangers who went in search of the missing men, found the note, and within the cabin, printed proclamations, from Henry Hamil- ton, the "hair-buyer" British Colonel, of Detroit, offering re- wards to all who would desert the American cause. The rangers also found the scalped bodies of four settlers in the valley of Black Lick Creek. Colonel Archibald Lochry, in a letter written to President Thomas Wharton, of the Supreme Executive Coun- cil, on November 4th, describing this event, adds:

"The Distressed situation of our Countery is such that we have no Prospect But Desolation and Destruction; the whole country On the North side of the Rode [the Forbes Road] from the Ale- gany Mountains to the River [Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh] is all Keept Close in forts, and can get no subsistance from their Plantations." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 5, page 74L)

Colonel Lochry, in his letter, just referred to and quoted in part, says that the place where Campbell, Laughlin and their companions were captured, was "on the waters of Blackleigs

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1775, 1776, 1777 517

Creek," and that the place where the rangers found the mutilated bodies of the four settlers was near thereto. However, Hassler, in his "Old Westmoreland," says the scene of both events was in the valley of Black Lick Creek. Both these creeks are in Indiana County. Black Lick Creek flows into the Conemaugh a few miles below Blairsville, and Blacklegs Creek flows into the Kiskimi- netas, a continuation of the same stream, a few miles below Saltsburg. The creeks are ten miles or more apart. In a sketch of Randall Laughlin's life, it is related that the plantation on which his cabin stood was partly in Black Lick and partly in Center Townships, Indiana County. The evidence is in favor of the Black Lick location, and probably the word "Blackleigs" in Colonel Lochry's letter in the Pennsylvania Archives is a typo- graphical error. (See "Frontier Forts," Vol. 2, page 349.)

Campbell, Laughlin, the Gibsons and Dixon were exchanged in the autumn of 1788. Dixon and one of the Gibsons died on ship- board while on the voyage to Boston, but the others returned to the Westmoreland frontier. Campbell became a man of great prominence in this county.

During the incursions into the southern part of what is now Indiana County, in the summer and autumn of 1777, many of the settlers of the southeastern part of this county fled across the Conemaugh to Palmer's Fort in Fairfield Township, Westmore- land County. Among these was George Findley, whose cabin stood near the town of Cramer, in East Wheatfield Township, Indiana County. Accompanied by an apprenticed boy, Mr. Findley returned to his plantation in September to care for some live stock. He and the boy were attacked by Indians. The boy was captured and killed, but Findley, though wounded, made his escape. As he ran, he looked back and saw the Indians scalping the boy. Findley returned to Palmer's Fort, and related his terrible experience. In a few days a band of settlers proceeded to the scene of the attack. They found the body of the boy, and buried near the town of Cramer. Findley's plantation was near the cabin of the Friendly Delaware, Joseph Wipey, who was killed in the spring of 1774.

Robert Campbell lived with his parents near Pleasant Grove Church in Cook Township, Westmoreland County. In July, 1777, he and his brothers, William and Thomas, were working in the harvest field when they were captured by a band of Senecas. After capturing the boys, the Indians went to the Campbell home, where they killed and scalped the mother and her infant. Their

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bodies were found the next day. They also captured the girls, Polly, Isabella, and Sarah. The youngest girl, who had difficulty in riding a horse upon which the Indians placed her, was killed about a mile from the home, and her body was found a few days later. The three boys and two girls were then taken across the Kiskiminetas below the mouth of the Loyalhanna, and carried to New York. After four years, the two girls were released, and re- turned to their father. Robert escaped in 1782, and succeeded in returning to his home. At the close of the Revolutionary War, William was exchanged, and also returned home. Thomas never returned. What became of him is unknown.

During October and November, 1777, when General Edward Hand, who was then in command of Fort Pitt, was endeavoring to recruit his army for an invasion of the Indian country, many raids were made into Westmoreland County, principally by the Senecas. These raids were no doubt instigated by Guyasuta, and possibly some of them were led by him. An incursion was made into the Ligonier Valley about the middle of October, and eleven men, among whom was Ensign Woods, were killed and scalped near Palmer's Fort, located in Fairfield Township, midway be- tween the Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill Mountain. A few days later two children were killed and two scalped within site of this fort; and three men were killed and a number captured within a few miles of Ligonier.

On November 1st, Lieutenant Samuel Craig, who lived near Shield's Fort, located near the town of New Alexandria, West- moreland County, was riding toward Ligonier for salt, when he was waylaid and either killed or captured at the western base of Chestnut Ridge. Rangers found his mare lying dead near the trail with eight bullets in her body, but no trace of Craig was ever discovered.

At about the same time a band of Senecas led by a Canadian, attacked Fort Wallace, about a mile south of Blairsville, but their leader was killed and they were repulsed. At about the same time, also. Major James Wilson, hearing the firing of guns at the cabin of his neighbor, while at work on his farm, got his rifle and went to investigate. He found the neighbor killed, the head being severed from his body. Wilson then hurriedly took his wife and children to Fort Barr, located on a tributary of the Loyalhanna, about five and one-half miles southeast of Fort Wallace.

On November 2nd, 1777, William Richardson was killed and scalped about three miles from Fort Ligonier. At the same time,

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two men were killed and a woman captured not far from the place where Richardson met his death.

The band of Indians perpetrating these outrages, was pursued by a party of rangers led by the celebrated Colonel James Smith, Captain John Hinkston, and Robert Barr. Smith and his rangers overtook the Indians on the east bank of the Allegheny River, near Kittanning, killed five of them, and returned in triumph to the settlements with the scalps of these Indians and with the horses which they had stolen.

Engagement in Blair County

Jones, in his "Juniata Valley," relates that, in the autumn of 1777, Thomas and Michael Coleman and Michael Wallack left Fetter's Fort, where Duncansville, Blair County, now stands, in the morning for the purpose of hunting deer. Snow fell during the day, and while returning in the evening, the three frontiers- men, came upon Indian tracks in the snow, a mile or two east of Kittanning Point. They followed the tracks about half a mile, when they saw, in the blaze of the fire, the dusky forms of In- dians seated around it. They conjectured that there were about thirty Indians in the camp. Returning to the fort, they told the garrison that they had discovered Indians in a camp, but did not disclose the number of the Indians, fearing that the garrison would think that the enemy were too numerous to be attacked by the fort's available force of sixteen men. The sixteen men then loaded their rifles, and started for the Indians' camp. When they reached the encampment late at night, they found some ten or twelve Indians seated around the fire, the night being quite cold. The rifles of the Indians were leaning against a tree, and Thomas Coleman conceived the design of approaching the tree and secur- ing the rifles, but none of his companions would join him in so dangerous an undertaking. It was then agreed that each white man should single out an Indian, and all fire at once. Aim was taken, and at the word given, the frontiersmen fired, and three or four of the Indians fell. The rest of the Indians sprang up and seized their rifles. The frontiersmen, not having time to reload their rifles, ran back to the fort. This encounter created much alarm, and the people of the neighborhood gathered their families into the fort. One, or possibly two, of the Hollidays took part in this night attack upon the Indians.

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Outrages on the West Branch of the Susquehanna in 1777

On a Sunday morning, in June 1777, Zephaniah Miller, Abel Cady, James Armstrong, Isaac Bouser and two women left Antes Fort, located on the West Branch of the Susquehanna near the mouth of Antes Creek, Lycoming County, and crossed the river for the purpose of milking the cows that remained on the opposite side, their owners having fled to the fort for safety. They found all the cows except the one with the bell. It did not occur to them that Indians were about and had purposely kept the bell cow back some distance from the river, so that Miller and his com- panions would be obliged to come some distance from the river for her. Cady, Armstrong and Miller started after this cow, and were fired upon and wounded. Miller was scalped immediately; Cady was also scalped and left weltering in his blood, and Arm- strong, who was shot in the head, ran a short distance, when he fell.

When the Indians fired on Cady, Armstrong and Miller, Bouser and the two women ran and secreted themselves in a rye field near by. The garrison at Fort Antes, hearing the firing, rushed forth immediately, disregarding the orders of its commander, Colonel John Henry Antes, who feared the firing might be a decoy to draw the garrison away from the fort, while the Indians would assail it from the other side. Crossing the river in canoes, the garrison found Miller and Cady where they fell. Miller was dead, but Cady was still alive. He was carried to the river bank, where he was met by his wife, who was one of the milking party. On seeing her, he stretched out his hand in recognition, and im- mediately breathed his last. Armstrong was carried over to the fort, where he died on Monday night, in great agony. The In- dians were pursued by the garrison through the limits of the present town of Jersey Shore, and escaped into the swamp be- yond. At one point they fired upon their pursuers, and the whites fired upon them several times, probably doing some execution, as blood stains were afterwards found where they had apparently dragged away the killed and wounded of their band.

In the autumn of 1777, occurred the attack on the Benjamin and Brown families on Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming County. The Benjamin family lived back of what is now Williamsport, and two brothers of this family were married to two daughters of Adam Brown. Hearing that hostile Indians were approaching, the Benjamin brothers, with their wives and children, took refuge

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at Adam Brown's house, which was soon attacked. During the attack, one of the Indians was killed by a shot from the rifle of one of the Benjamin brothers. Unable to dislodge the occupants of the house, the Indians set fire to the building. The Benjamins then determined to come forth and trust themselves to the mercies of the besiegers. The Indians received them at the door, toma- hawked one of the Benjamin men, scalped him, and shook his bloody scalp in the face of his terrified wife, who had caught her child from her husband's arms as he sank in death. William, Nathan and Ezekiel Benjamin and their little sister were carried into captivity. The boys returned after the Revolutionary War, but the sister remained, grew up among the Indians, and married a chief to whom she had several children. Later William went to where she was living among her captors, and brought her to Williamsport, where she remained for a time; but being unhappy and longing for her Indian companions, William permitted her to return to her forest home. But to return to Adam Brown. He refused to leave his burning house, and, with his wife and daughter was consumed by the flames. They preferred to meet death in this way, rather than to fall into the hands of the Indians. A man named Cook and his wife were captured by this same band, and carried into captivity.

In the winter of 1777, three men left Horn's Fort, in the Eastern part of Clinton County, and proceeded across the West Branch of the Susquehanna, when they were fired upon by a party of Indians near Sugar Run, and one of their number was killed. The other two then fled, and were pursued across the river on the ice. One of them named DeWitt fell into an air hole, but caught hold of the edge of the ice, and in this manner managed to keep his head above water. The Indians commenced firing at his head, but by watching the flash of their rifles, he dodged under the water like a duck and thus escaped being hit. After several shots were fired the Indians left, thinking him dead. Presently he crawled from the water on the ice and escaped safely to the fort.

The other man was pursued by an Indian, who gained on him very rapidly. He had a rifle which he supposed was worthless, and as the Indian came near to him, he turned and pointed it at him, thinking to frighten him, but did not pull the trigger. He repeated this action several times, but at last, when the Indian was very close, instinctively raised his rifle, pulled the trigger, and to his astonishment, the gun went off and shot the Indian dead. He also escaped safely to the fort, whereupon a party

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turned out and pursued the Indians as far as Youngwoman's Creek. From the marks on the snow, the white men noticed that the Indians had carried and dragged the body of their dead companion.

Near the close of 1777, a settler named Saltzman was killed by the Indians on Sinnemahoning Creek, Cameron County. At about the same time another settler named Daniel Jones was killed, possibly by the same band, on a stream near Farrandsville, Clinton County, his wife making her escape. Another settler in the neighborhood was killed at the same time.

In December, 1777, hostile Indians appeared on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, whereupon Colonel Samuel Hunter, commandant at Fort Augusta, ordered out Colonel Cookson Long's battalion, all good woodsmen; but, in spite of their vigi- lance, one of the inhabitants was killed and scalped, on January 1st, about two miles above the Great Island. Eleven Indians were seen, who were pursued, and two of their number were killed.

Massacres in Bedford County in 1777

Day's "Historical Collections" contains the following account of Indian outrages, in the chapter on Bedford County:

"In the year 1777, a family named Tull resided about six miles west of Bedford, on a hill to which the name of the family was given. There were ten children, nine daughters and a son; but at the time referred to, the son was absent, leaving at home his aged parents and nine sisters. At that time, the Indians were particu- larly troublesome, and the inhabitants had to abandon their improvements and take refuge at the fort [Fort Bedford]; but Tull's family disregarded the danger and remained on their im- provement. One Williams, who had made a settlement about three miles west of Tull's, and near where the town of Schellsburg now stands, had returned to his farm to sow some flax. He had a son with him, and remained out about a week. The road to his improvement passed Tull's house. On their return, as they ap- proached Tull's, they saw a smoke, and coming nearer, discovered that it arose from the burning ruins of Tull's house. Upon a nearer approach, the son saw an object in the garden, which by a slight movement, had attracted his attention, and looking more closely, they found it was the old man just expiring. At the same moment, the son discovered on the ground near him an Indian paint bag. They at once understood the whole matter, and

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knowing that the Indians were still near, fled to the fort. Next day a force went out from the fort to examine, and after some search, found the mother with an infant in her arms, both scalped. A short distance further, in the same direction, they found the eldest daughter, also scalped. A short distance from her, they found the next daughter in the same situation, and scattered about at intervals, the rest of the children but one, who, from some circumstances, they supposed had been burned. They all appeared to have been overtaken in flight, and murdered and scalped where they were found. It seems the family were sur- prised early in the morning, when all were in the house, and thus became an easy prey to the savages.

"About December of the same year, a number of families came into the fort from the neighborhood of Johnstown. Amongst them, were Samuel Adams, a man named Thornton, and one, Bridges. After their alarm had somewhat subsided, they agreed to return for their property. A party started with pack-horses, reached the place, and not seeing any Indians, collected their property, and commenced their return. After proceeding some distance, a dog belonging to one of the party showed signs of uneasiness, and ran back. Bridges and Thornton desired the others to wait whilst they would go back for him. They went back, and had proceeded but 200 or 300 yards, when a body of Indians, who had been lying in wait on each side of the way, but who had been afraid to fire on account of the numbers of the whites, suddenly rose up and surrounded them and took them prisoners. The others, not knowing what had detained their companions, went back after them; when they arrived near the spot, the Indians fired on them, but without doing any injury. The whites instantly turned and fled, except Samuel Adams, who took to a tree and began to fight in the Indian style. In a few minutes, however, he was killed, but not without doing the same fearful service for his adversary. When the news reached the fort, a party volunteered to visit the ground. When they reached it, although the snow had fallen ankle deep, they readily found the bodies of Adams and the Indian; the face of the latter having been covered by his companions with Adams' hunting shirt.

"A singular circumstance also occurred about that time in the neighborhood of the Allegheny Mountain, A man named Wells had made a very considerable improvement, and was esteemed rather wealthy for that region. He, like others, had been forced with his family from his home, and had gone for protection to

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the fort. In the fall of the year, he concluded to return to his place and dig his crop of potatoes. For that purpose, he took with him six or seven men, an Irish servant girl to cook, and an old plough-horse. After they had finished their job, they made preparations to return to the fort next day. During the night Wells dreamed that on his way to his family, he had been attacked and gored by a bull ; and so strong an impression did this dream make, that he mentioned it to his companions, and told them that he was sure some danger awaited them. He slept again, and dreamed that he was about to shoot a deer, and when cocking his gun, the main-spring broke. In his dream he thought he heard distinctly the crack of the spring when it broke. He again awoke, and his fears were confirmed; and he immediately urged his friends to rise and get ready to start. Directly after he arose, he went to his gun to examine if it was all right, and in cocking it, the main-spring snapped off. This circumstance alarmed them, and they soon had breakfast, and were ready to leave. To prevent delay, the girl was put on the horse and started off, and as soon as it was light enough, the rest followed. Before they had gone far, a young dog belonging to Wells, manifested much alarm, and ran back to the house. Wells called him; but after coming a short distance, he invariably ran back. Not wishing to leave him, as he was valuable, he went after him, but had gone but a short distance towards the house, when five Indians rose from behind a large tree that had fallen, and approached him with extended hands. The men who were with him fled instantly, and he would have followed; but the Indians were so close he thought it useless. As they approached him, however, he fancied the looks of a very powerful Indian who was nearest him boded no good; and being a very swift runner, and thinking it neck or nothing at any rate, determined to attempt an escape. As the Indian approached, he threw at him his useless rifle, and dashed ofif towards the woods in the direction his companions had gone. Instead of firing, the Indians commenced a pursuit for the pur- pose of making him a prisoner, but he out ran them. After run- ning some distance, and when they thought he would escape, they all stopped and fired at once, and every bullet struck him, but without doing him much injury or retarding his flight. Soon after this he saw where his companions had^ concealed them- selves; and as he passed, begged them to fire on the Indians and save him; but they were afraid and kept quiet. ■ He continued his flight, and after a short time, overtook the girl with the horse.

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She quickly understood his danger, and dismounting instantly, urged him to take her place, while she would save herself by con- cealment. He mounted, but without a whip, and for want of one could not get the old horse out of a trot. This delay brought the Indians upon him again directly, and as soon as they were near enough, they fired; and this time with more effect, as one of the balls struck him in the hip and lodged in his groin. But this saved his life — it frightened the horse into a gallop, and he escaped, although he suffered severely for several months after- wards.

"The Indians were afterwards pursued and surprised at their morning meal; and when fired on, four of them were killed, but the other, though wounded, made his escape. Bridges, who was taken prisoner near Johnstown when Adams was murdered, saw him come in to his people, and describes him as having been shot through the chest, with leaves stuffed in the bullet holes to stop the bleeding.

"The Indians were most troublesome during the predatory in- cursions, which were frequent after the commencement of the Revolution. They cut off a party of whites under command of Captain Dorsey, at the Harbor, a deep cove formed by Ray's Hill and a spur from it.

"John Lane, to whom I have before referred, was out at one time as a spy, under the command of Captain Philips. He left the scout once for two days, on a visit home, and when he re- turned to the fort, the scout had been out some time. Fears were entertained for their safety. A party went in search ; and within a mile or two of the fort, found Captain Philips and the whole of his men, 15 in number, killed and scalped. When found, they were all tied to saplings; and, to use the language of the narrator, who was an eye-witness, 'their bodies were completely riddled with arrows."

The murder of Captain Philips and his rangers, above referred to, happened in 1780, and will be described in a later chapter.

On November 8th, 1777, a man was killed by Indians, on the mountain near Bedford. Less than a month before this murder, or on October 12th, another settler was killed and scalped near Stony Creek, in the adjoining county of Somerset.

Thomas Smith and George Woods, in a letter written from Bedford to President Wharton, on November 27th, 1777, describe the terrible sufferings of the settlers in what is now Bedford and Blair Counties, as follows:

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"The present situation of this County is so truly deplorable that we should be inexcusable if we delayed a moment in ac- quainting you with it; an Indian war is now raging around us in its utmost fury. Before you went down, they had killed one man at Stony Creek; since that time they have killed five on the mountain, over against the heads of Dunning's Creek, killed or taken three at the three springs, wounded one and killed some children by Frankstown, and had they not been providentially discovered in the Night, and a party went out and fired on them, they would, in all probability, have destroyed a great part of that settlement in a few hours. A small party went out into Morrison's Cove scouting, and unfortunately divided; the Indians dis- covered one division, and out of eight, killed seven and wounded the other. In short, a day hardly passes without our hearing of some new murder, and if the People continue only a week longer to fly as they have done for a week Past, Cumberland County will be a frontier. From Morrison's, Croyl's and Friend's Coves, Dunning's Creek and one half of the Glades they are fled or forted, and for all the defence that can be made here, the Indians may do almost what they please." (Penna. Archives, Vol. 6, page. 39.)

In our next chapter, we shall describe the terrible events of the year, 1778.

CHAPTER XXIV

The Revolutionary War

1778 The Squaw Campaign

FOLLOWING the flight of Dr. John Connolly from Fort Pitt, in the summer of 1775, the Virginia convention, in August of that year, directed Captain John Neville to occupy this fort with his company of about one hundred troops from the Shenandoah Valley. Captain Neville accordingly took possession of the fort on September 11th. He continued to command this post until June 1st, 1777, on which date he was succeeded by Brigadier-General Edward Hand, by orders of General Washing- ton.

Soon after General Hand took charge of the important post of Fort Pitt, the terrible raids of Shawnees, Wyandots, Delawares of the Munsee Clan and Senecas into the region east of Fort Pitt, described in Chapter XXHI, took place, although, as was seen in the same chapter, many murders had been committed by the Indians in this region before the arrival of General Hand. Soon after arriving at Fort Pitt, General Hand decided to carry the war into the Indian country west of the Ohio and Allegheny, his plan being to descend the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kan- awha, and march from this place against the Shawnee towns on the Scioto. He sent letters to the militia commanders in Bedford and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, and the frontier counties of Virginia, asking for troops; and his project was ap- proved by the Continental Congress. He expected five hundred men from Westmoreland and Bedford Counties and fifteen hundred from Virginia. The latter were to assemble at Fort Henry (Wheeling, West Virginia) and Fort Randolph (at the mouth of the Great Kanawha). Owing to the distressed condi- tion of the western frontier and owing to the fact that most of the able-bodied men of this region were in the Continental Army

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in the East, Bedford County raised no troops for this expedition, Westmoreland raised only about one hundred under Colonel Archibald Lochry, and Virginia raised only a few squads. On October 19th, 1777, General Hand left Fort Pitt, and went to Fort Henry, where he waited about a week for the assembling of the Virginians. Only a few appeared. General Hand then returned in disgust to Fort Pitt. In the meantime, a few Vir- ginians assembled at Fort Randolph, and, hearing no word from General Hand, dispersed. Thus this expedition ended in failure. Throughout the autumn the raids into the region east of Fort Pitt continued.

About Christmas, General Hand learned that the British had built a magazine where Cleveland, Ohio, now stands, and had stored it with arms, ammunition and clothing for the use of the Indian incursions, instigated by Colonel Henry Hamilton and proposed to be made against the western frontier in the spring of 1778. Hand then determined to lead an expedition to destroy these supplies. By February 15th, 1778, he had raised, by great exertions, five hundred horsemen for this proposed expedition.

On this date (Feb. 15th, 1778), his expedition left Fort Pitt, descending the Ohio to the mouth of the Beaver and then ascend- ing the Beaver to the mouth of the Mahoning. By the time the Mahoning was reached that stream was almost impassable, and Hand was so disheartened that he was about to give up the ex- pedition and return, when the footprints of some Indians were discovered on the high ground. These tracks led to a small Indian village, where Edinburg, Lawrence County, now stands. Hand's forces attacked the village, but found that it contained only one old man, and some squaws and children, the warriors being away on a hunt. The Indians escaped except the old man and one squaw, who were both shot, and another squaw, who was taken prisoner. This woman captive informed Hand that ten Delawares of the Wolf Clan were making salt ten miles farther up the Mahoning. Hand then dispatched a detachment after these Indians, who proved to be four squaws and a boy. The soldiers killed three of the squaws and the boy, and captured the other squaw.

The condition of the weather making further progress im- possible, General Hand led his army back to Fort Pitt with the two squaw captives. His formidable force of five hundred horse- men had slain one old man, four women, one boy, and captured two women. On Hand's arrival at Fort Pitt, the frontiersmen

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derided his recent exploits and dubbed the expedition the "Squaw Campaign." Discouraged and humiliated, he asked General Washington to relieve him, and on May 2nd, Congress voted his recall, and commissioned General Lachlan Mcintosh to succeed him.

Flight of the Pittsburgh Tories

Captain Alexander McKee, who had been Deputy Indian Agent under George Croghan, was the leader of the Tory move- ment in Western Pennsylvania, having been discovered in cor- respondence with the British as early as 1776. Finally General Hand ordered him to report to the Continental Congress. McKee then decided to escape. Hand, hearing of his plans, sent a detach- ment of soldiers to McKee's house on his plantation at McKee's Rocks to arrest him and bring him to Fort Pitt. The detachment arrived too late. McKee, Robert Surphit, Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott, a man named Higgins, and two negro slaves belonging to McKee had escaped during the night of March 28th, 1778. They fled to the Delaware capital of Conshocton, where they made an attempt to turn the peaceable Delawares against the Americans. Their attempt, however, was thwarted by the Delaware chief, White Eyes, though Captain Pipe argued strongly for war. They then went to the Shawnee villages on the Scioto, where they were heartily welcomed, as many of the Shawnees had already taken up arms against the Americans. At Colonel Henry Hamilton's request, they went from the Shawnee villages to Detroit, where they were given commissions in the British service. They then became merciless raiders of the frontiers, as underlings of the "hair-buyer British general." They left behind them at Fort Pitt a number of sympathizers in the Thirteenth Virginia Regi- ment, of which Colonel William Crawford was in command. Crawford, personal friend of George Washington and thoroughly loyal to the American cause, discovered a plot which had been planned by some members of this regiment, to blow up the fort. He had several of these plotters executed.

The Tories of Sinking Spring Valley

While the Tory plotting leading to the flight of the Tories, Captain Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott, Robert Surphlit, and Simon Girty from Fort Pitt, was going on, British agents from Niagara and Detroit visited several isolated settlements in

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the mountains of Pennsylvania, in an effort to persuade the moun- taineers to espouse the British cause. One of these agents suc- ceeded in deluding a number of frontiersmen in what is now Blair County, promising that any man who deserted the American cause should have two hundred acres of land on the conclusion of peace. He told these settlers that, if they would join a force of British and Indians coming down the Allegheny in the spring of 1778, they would be permitted to join in a general incursion against the frontier settlements, and receive their share of the pillage.

The frontiersmen who yielded to the persuasions of the British agent, held meetings in the isolated Sinking Spring Valley, in Blair County, in February and March, 1778, their leader being John Weston. In the meantime, after fully enlisting Weston, the British agent returned up the Allegheny, promising to come to Kittanning about the middle of April with a force of three hun- dred Indians and Tories to meet Weston's followers, and then attack Fort Pitt and the frontier settlements. By about the first of April, Weston had increased his band to thirty, and was joined about that time by a man named McKee, who came from Carlisle. At Carlisle, McKee had been in communication with a British officer who had been held at that place as a prisoner of war, who gave McKee a letter addressed to all British officers, vouching for the loyalty of McKee and his associates. This letter was to be used in securing the protection of the plotters of the Sinking Spring Valley, when they would meet the force of British and Indians at Kittanning.

Presently word reached the plotters that a force of Indians had gathered at Kittanning, and occupied the fort at that place, which had been deserted by the Americans the year before. Then Weston and his associates set out in their march over the moun- tains to Kittanning, crossing the main range of the Alleghenies at Kittanning Point, and following the Kittanning Indian Trail. On the afternoon of the second day, they encountered a band of one hundred Iroquois who were on a plundering raid of their own, and believed Weston and his men to be enemies. Weston ran forward waving his hand and shouting: "Friends! Friends!" The Iro- quois being ignorant of the conspiracy, killed and scalped Weston, and then darted into the thickets. McKee waving in one hand the letter he had received from the British prisoner at Carlisle and in the other a white handkerchief, called out to the Indians: "Broth-

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ers! Brothers!" The Indians did not respond, but vanished into the forest.

Weston was buried where he fell, and his companions decided to proceed no further. Many perished from hunger in the wilder- ness. Some, after great suffering, reached British posts in the southern colonies. Five returned to their homes, and were later lodged in jail at Bedford. The leader of these, Richard Weston, brother of the dead plotter, was caught in the Sinking Spring Valley by a party of Americans, and lodged in jail at Carlisle to await trial, but later made his escape. Those who had fled were charged with treason, and their estates were forfeited. After the Revolutionary War was over, a few returned to Pennsylvania, succeeded in procuring the removal of the attainder, and got back their land. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, pages 469, 542, 543; Hassler's "Old Westmoreland," pages 49 to 53.)

It is said that the friendly Delaware, Captain Logan, for whom Logan's Valley in Blair County is named, gave the loyal settlers information as to the plotting of the Tories of the Sinking Spring Valley. This Indian lived for many years where Tyrone now stands. A band of rangers, upon learning of the march of the Tories, scoured the woods almost as far as Kittanning, five of their number being killed by lurking Indians. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 559.) Colonel Arthur Buchanan sent this force. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 485.)

Outrages in Westmoreland County in 1778

In April, 1778, the Senecas crossed the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh, and once more entered Westmoreland County. On the 28th of that month about twenty rangers, commanded by Captain Hopkins who had gone out from Fort Wallace, were sur- prised by a larger force of Indians, and defeated. Nine of the rangers lay dead in the forest and their bodies were left behind, while Captain Hopkins was slightly wounded. Four of the Indians were killed in this engagement. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 470; also page 495.)

Hassler, in his "Old Westmoreland" suggests that this was probably the combat referred to by Dr. Joseph Smith in his "Old Redstone," in which Ebenezer Finley, son of the pioneer preacher, James Finley, took part. According to Smith, a horseman dashed into the fort with the word that he had seen two men and a woman fleeing through the woods from Indians. About twenty

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of the militia at Fort Wallace then sallied forth, and at about a mile and a half from the fort were ambushed. Presently, the militia retreated toward the fort, in the meantime many being shot down or tomahawked. Ebenezer Finley having fallen be- hind his companions while trying to prime his gun, exerted him- self tremendously to prevent his being overtaken. In this effort he succeeded in passing a comrade by striking him on the shoulder with his elbow. At almost the same instant his comrade was brained with a tomahawk. Says Hassler: "Thus young Finley saved himself by sacrificing the life of another, and the pious author [Dr. Joseph Smith] would have it that Finley escaped by the interposition of Providence."

Hassler, in his "Old Westmoreland" describes another event which tradition says took place near Fort Wallace possibly in the summer of 1778, as follows:

"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 as Wilson's company appeared, the savages turned upon it and assailed it in overwhelming 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."

In 1778, a settler named Reed lived not far from Fort Ligonier. When Indian troubles threatened the settlement. Reed and his family moved to the fort, where his oldest daughter, Rebecca, distinguished herself in running foot races with various athletes of the garrison. Some time during the summer, Rebecca and her brother, George, a young man named Means, and his sister Sarah, left the fort to gather berries in a clearing about two miles away. On their way, the young men, who were walking ahead, met Major McDowell coming toward the fort. At that instant the party were fired upon by Indians. McDowell's rifle was

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splintered by a bullet, and young Reed was mortally wounded. Young Means ran back to protect the girls, and was captured. The girls started to run toward the fort, but the Indians soon caught Miss Means. Miss Reed, however, outdistanced her pur- suers as she fled toward the fort.

The garrison hearing the firing, a relief party headed by a young man named Shannon, proceeded in the direction of the firing. These met Miss Reed a short distance from the fort, and Shannon conducted her to safety, while the others proceeded to the scene of the firing, where they found the lifeless bodies of young Reed and Miss Means. Three years later young Means returned from his captivity and reported that the warrior who had chased Miss Reed was renowned as an athlete among the Indians, but had lost his prestige on account of his failure to catch the "white squaw." Later young Shannon married Re- becca Reed, and they spent a long and happy life in the Ligonier Valley.

The Ulery family lived about two miles south of Ligonier. In the month of July, most likely in the year 1778, the three girls, Julian, aged twenty, Elizabeth, aged eighteen, and Abigail, aged sixteen, were raking hay a short distance from their home, when they were attacked by Indians. The girls ran toward the house with their pursuers close on their heels. Abigail was unable to keep up with her sisters, and when the latter got into the house, they immediately closed and barred the door, thinking that Abigail had been captured. The father then shot through the door, wounding one of the Indians. In the meantime, Abigail ran into the woods above the house, and hid herself among leaves and weeds in a depression made by the uprooting of a tree. The In- dians came near where she lay concealed ; but the wounded mem- ber of the band was moaning so piteously that his companions, without making further search for Abigail, carried him away, and soon disappeared over the brow of the hill above the Ulery home. No doubt this Indian died, for shortly afterwards a newly made grave was found at that place, and many years later the grave was opened and human bones exhumed by Isaac Slater.

The following day, Julian and Elizabeth went to work in the same field, when Indians, evidently the same band that made the attack the day before, got between the girls and the house, and succeeded in capturing them. Julian and Elizabeth struggled desperately with their captors. Then, in the hope of making the girls reconciled to going along with them, the Indians gave them

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new moccasins. The captives still struggled, and were dragged along to the rivulet near Brant's school house, when the Indians became desperate and told them to make a choice between cap- tivity and death. The girls struggled all the harder, and were then tomahawked and scalped on the spot. The Indians then hurried on, but presently returned to remove the moccasins from the girls, when they found Elizabeth partly recovered, and sitting up against a tree. An Indian then sunk his tomahawk into her brain. Julian was conscious but lay still, and the Indians thought her dead. She recovered but was never strong, and her scalp never healed. She spent her days on the homestead with her sister Abigail.

The Harman family lived in 1777 near Williams' block house about midway between Stahlstown and Donegal, Westmoreland County. Some time during the summer of this year, Mr. Harman and three of his neighbors were returning from some gathering in the neighborhood, when they were fired upon by Indians from ambush, and all killed except one, who throwing his arms about his horse's neck, rode beyond the reach of the Indians. His body was found the next day with his horse standing by its side.

Mrs. Harman and her sons, Andrew, John, and Philip, spent the next winter at the block house, and then returned to the farm on Four Mile Run. One morning in the spring of 1778, Mrs. Harman sent John and Andrew to chase some horses of a neighbor out of a field of growing grain. A band of Senecas who were watching, captured the boys, and carried them to the headwaters of the Allegheny. A member of this Indian band had the tobacco pouch of Mr. Harman, which the boys recognized, and he was no doubt a member of the band who killed the father during the pre- ceding summer. Both John and Andrew were adopted by the Senecas. John died among them about a year after his capture, but Andrew after two years was sold to a British officer for a bottle of rum, who took him to London where he was kept for another two years as a servant. At the end of the Revolutionary War, he was exchanged and sent to New York, from which place he im- mediately went to his old home in the Ligonier Valley, where he found his mother overjoyed to meet him. Andrew had many thrilling experiences during his captivity. He was among the Senecas when Colonel Brodhead marched against them in the summer of 1779.

As will be seen later in this chapter, the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, under Colonel Daniel Brodhead, was sent back over

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the mountains to Fort Pitt in the summer of 1778 to protect the harried western frontier. Captain Samuel Miller was sent in the advance to raise recruits in Westmoreland County and to procure supplies for the forts and stockades. On July 7th, he and nine other men, most of whom were Continental soldiers, were bringing grain to Hannastown from the neighborhood of Fort Hand, located in the northern part of Westmoreland County. A party of Indians, likely Senecas, ambushed Captain Miller's party, killing him and seven others. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 673.)

Clark's Expedition — Fatal Voyage of David Rodgers

In January, 1778, Colonel George Rogers Clark raised a force of one hundred and fifty Virginians principally in the upper Monongahela Valley, and then marched to Fort Redstone, went into camp where West Brownsville, Washington County, now stands, and there constructed boats for his expedition to the Northwest. Having constructed the boats and gotten a supply of powder from the stores which George Gibson and William Linn secured from the Spaniards in New Orleans, as related in Chapter XXIII, Clark's forces left the camp at West Brownsville, on May 17th, and then proceeded down the Monongahela and Ohio. The achievements of this heroic band are among the most brilliant in the pages of military history. In February, 1779, for a week, they marched through ice-cold water up to their breasts, pressing on with a dauntlessness and valor never surpassed. The British posts at Vincennes, Kaskaskia and Cahokia fell into their hands, adding Indiana and Illinois to the Continental domain. It was at Vincennes, on February 25th, that Colonel Henry Hamilton, the "hairbuyer" surrendered to the great Virginian.

In the spring of 1778, Governor Henry of Virginia, directed Captain David Rodgers, also a Virginian, then living at Redstone (Brownsville, Fayette County), to organize an expedition to bring powder from New Orleans by way of the Ohio River. Rodgers at once gathered up a force of forty settlers in the vicinity of Red- stone, proceeded to Fort Pitt, and constructed two large flat boats. Among his force, was Basil Brown, one of the founders of Brownsville. Leaving Fort Pitt in June, Rodgers' force floated down to the mouth of the Arkansas River, At a Spanish fort near this place, he learned that the powder had been sent up the Mississippi to St. Louis. Leaving his boats and most of his men at the post, he, with six companions, floated in a canoe down to

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the Spanish capital of Louisiana, obtained there the proper papers and then returned to St. Louis and secured the powder.

The voyage up the Ohio was uneventful until the mouth of the Licking was reached. Here, on an October afternoon, several Indians were seen crossing the Ohio to the Kentucky shore, about a mile up stream. Rodgers believed that the Indians did not see his boats, and decided to halt and attack them. Pulling his boats on the beach in the mouth of the Licking, he penetrated the forest, where a strong force of Indians, led by Simon Girty and Matthew Elliott, outnumbering Rodgers' party two to one, sur- rounded the voyagers and killed the entire party except thirteen. The Indians who had been seen crossing the Ohio were only decoys. Captain Rodgers was fatally wounded but, by the help of John Knotts, was able to hide in a dark ravine, where Knotts left the dying man in the morning, and returned through the wilderness to Redstone. Afterwards an unsuccessful search was made for the body of Rodgers, which had probably been devoured by wolves.

Robert Benham, commissary of the expedition, was wounded in both legs, but crawled into a tree-top. Here, on the afternoon of the second day, suffering greatly from hunger, he shot a rac- coon which came within range of his rifle. At the sound of his gun, he heard a voice which he believed to be the shout of an In- dian, and at once reloaded his rifle. Footsteps were heard ap- proaching, and a white man covered with blood came out of the thicket. This was Basil Brown. He was wounded in the right arm and left shoulder, both arms being helpless. Benham pointed out the dead raccoon, and Brown kicked it to where Benham reclined, who built a fire, dressed and cooked the animal, and fed both Brown and himself. Benham then placed his folded hat between Brown's teeth, and the latter, wading into the Licking, dipped the hat into the water, and carried it full to his thirsty companion. During the days which followed. Brown would drive rabbits, wild turkey, and other game, within the range of Ben- ham's rifle, and when the latter had shot them. Brown kicked them to the fire, and Benham dressed and cooked the game. Thus, these two men lived in the wilderness for nineteen days, when a flat boat descending the Ohio, rescued them, and took them to what is now Louisville, Kentucky. Brown returned to the Redstone settlement; but Benham, when the war was over, settled at the place which was the scene of Rodgers' disaster, the site of Newport, Kentucky.

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Massacres in Blair County

About 1768, Adam and William Holliday settled near where the town of Hollidaysburg, Blair County, now stands, and about 1777, Fort Holliday was erected in this neighborhood. On one occasion, most likely in 1778 or 1779, Adam Holliday was en- gaged in labor on his farm, when Indians appeared suddenly. The family took to flight, Mr. Holliday jumping on his horse with his two young children, John and James. His elder son Pat and his daughter Jeanette were killed while attempting to flee.

In 1778, a party of Indians came to the home of Matthew Dean, in Canoe Valley, Catherine Township, Blair County, while he and his older children were working in a field, and murdered his wife and three small children. A young man named Simonton was at the Dean home at the time. He was taken prisoner and never heard of again. In September, 1909, a monument was erected at Keller Church Cemetery memorializing this tragedy of the frontier.

Among the early settlers of Blair County were Samuel Moore and his seven sons and two daughters, who came to Scotch Valley, this county, from the Kishacoquillas or Big Valley, in 1768. They were driven from Scotch Valley by the Indians some time in 1778, and Moore's second son, James, was killed in the retreat. It appears that some of Moore's horses had strayed, whereupon James Moore and a boy named George McCartney, aged fourteen years, started in pursuit. They searched as far as Fetter's Fort, where Duncansville now stands, and while returning by a path north of where Hollidaysburg now stands, and about to cross Beaver Dam Creek on some driftwood, James Moore was shot by an Indian in ambush. Young McCartney was pursued, but turned suddenly and shot an Indian just as the savage was stepping behind a tree to reload. The Indian fled, leaving a trail of blood, but was afterward found dead some distance up the stream. McCartney returned to Fetter's Fort, and reported, when the garrison went out and found evidence of a large Indian encampment near Canan's Station. The dead Indian's gun bore the British coat of arms.

In 1778 or 1779, John Guilford fled from his home a short distance east of Altoona to Fetter's Fort at Duncansville, in order to escape from Indians who were seeking the scalps of the settlers. Shortly thereafter, thinking the danger past, he re- turned home, and was shot by an Indian just as he was entering

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his cabin door. Soon after this atrocity, Thomas Coleman, near the same place, met two Indians carrying away several children of the settlers. Raising his rifle, he ordered the Indians to sur- render, whereupon they dropped the children and fled into the forest. Coleman was a noted Indian fighter, and it is said that some years before this time, the Indians had killed his brother on the Susquehanna.

Day's "Historical Collections" contains the following account of an attack on Jacob Nave, some time during the Revolutionary War, possibly in 1778, at his mill in Blair County:

"While all were gone to the fort [Fort Holliday], but himself [Nave], he had been delayed for some cause about his mill, and on leaving it, he espied a large Indian and a small one just emerging from the bushes, each with a rifle; they pointed their rifles at him several times, and he at them; but neither fired. At length he shot the big Indian through the heart, and ran. The young In- dian gave chase, but Nave found time to load, and fired at him; but the fellow fell to the ground, and missed the ball. This farce was repeated several times, when Nave waited until he had fallen before he fired, and then killed him. He threw their bodies into the creek, and escaped to the fort. The next day the Indians burned his mill and dwelling."

On May 19th, 1778, the Pennsylvania Assembly informed the Continental Congress that upwards of thirty people had recently been killed by Indians in the present Counties of Bedford, Blair and Huntingdon. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 524.)

Massacre on Lycoming Creek

On June 10th, 1778, occurred the terrible massacre at Lycoming Creek, within the limits of the present town of Williamsport, Lycoming County. On this day, Peter Smith, his wife and six children, William King's wife and his two daughters, Ruth and Sarah, Michael Smith, Michael Campbell, and David Chambers, and two men named Snodgrass and Hammond, were going to Lycoming in wagons; and when they arrived at Loyalsock Creek, John Harris met them, told them that he heard firing up the creek, and advised them to return to Fort Muncy, located about four miles from the town of Muncy, Lycoming County, and erected in the spring of 1778 by Colonel Thomas Hartley. Smith said that the firing would not stop him; and he and his party con- tinued up the West Branch of the Susquehanna, while Harris

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proceeded to Fort Muncy and told the garrison of the firing which he had heard. A detail of fifteen soldiers then started from the fort in the direction of the firing.

When Smith and his party were within half a mile of Lycoming Creek, they were ambushed by Indians, and Snodgrass fell dead with a bullet through his forehead at the first fire. The Indians then rushed toward the wagons, and the white men hurried toward the shelter of some trees, while two of the children, a boy and girl, escaped to the woods. The Indians then endeavored to surround the party, and their movements being discovered, the other men fled leaving Campbell, who was fighting at too close quarters to join in the flight. Campbell was killed and scalped on the spot. Before the men were out of sight of the wagons, they saw the Indians attacking the women and children with their tomahawks. This attack occurred just before sundown. The boy who had escaped, fled to the stockade on Lycoming Creek, and informed the garrison what had happened. In the meantime the detail of fifteen soldiers from Fort Muncy, under Captain William Hep- burn, arrived at the scene of this massacre and found the bodies of Snodgrass and Campbell. It was then too dark to pursue the Indians, but they pressed on toward Lycoming and met the party going out from that place.

On the following morning they returned to the scene of the massacre, and found the body of Peter Smith's wife. She had been shot, stabbed, and scalped. A little girl and a boy had also been killed and scalped. The body of Snodgrass was also found, shot through the head and scalped. The boy who had made his escape insisted that Mrs. King must be somewhere in the thicket, as he heard her scream and say that she would not go along with the Indians when they were dragging her away. The party then made another search and found the body of Mrs. King near the stream, to which she had dragged herself. She had been toma- hawked and scalped, but was not dead. When her husband approached her she arose to a sitting position, greeted him, and then expired, not living long enough to relate the details of the massacre.

Broken-hearted, William King returned to Northumberland, and many years later, learning that his daughters were still alive, he started on foot for Niagara, accompanied by a faithful old Indian. He soon found his daughter Sarah and later, after much suffering and hardship, succeeded in finding the other daughter,

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Ruth. The three then returned to their home near Milton, North- umberland County.

On the same day, a number of horses having strayed from the neighborhood of Fort Muncy, supposedly up Loyalsock Creek, Captain Berry, with a company of twelve, started out to search for them. Robert Covenhoven, his two brothers, James and Thomas, and William Wyckoflf were in the company. At the mouth of Loyalsock Creek, the party separated, Wyckoff, Peter Shoefelt and a man named Thompson going up the West Branch of the Susquehanna towards Williamsport to Thompson's house to save some of his property, and the remaining members of the company going up the Loyalsock. When Wyckofif, Thompson and Shoefelt came to Thompson's house, they went in and com- menced to cook dinner, when they were attacked by part of the same band that, later in the day, committed the massacre at the mouth of Lycoming Creek. Thompson and Shoefelt were killed. Wyckoff was wounded and captured. He was liberated after a captivity of two years. The men who had gone up Loyalsock Creek, proceeded for some distance, and not finding the horses, decided to return. Captain Berry, who was among these, was advised by Robert Covenhoven not to return by the path by which they had come. The Captain paid no attention to the noted scout's advice. The men had not gone far, on their re- turn, when they were fired upon by Indians, and most of them, including Captain Berry, were killed. James Covenhoven was shot through the shoulder and disabled. He cried to his brother, Robert, that he was wounded and could do nothing, whereupon Robert told him to run across the creek, and he would cover his retreat. James reached the opposite side of the creek, when a bullet struck him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Robert then ran for his life, and escaped by hiding in a tree top. His brother, Thomas, was captured, as were Wyckoff, his son, Cornelius, and a negro. The negro was burned at the stake in the presence of the other prisoners. Wyckoff and his son re- mained among the Indians for two years, when they were given their freedom.

Thus ended this terrible day on the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, as the Indian allies of the British, laden with the bloody scalps of men, women and children, set out through the forests to present their instigators with the ghastly evidence of their awful work and to receive the British scalp bounty. (Pa.

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Archives, Vol. 6, pages 589-591, 599; Meginnes' "History of the West Branch," pages 209-215.)

Other Atrocities on the West Branch in 1778 — Murder of James Brady

In the summer of 1778 a band of Indians attacked William Winters and a number of other white men a short distance above where Williamsport now stands. There were ten or eleven men in William's company. Six of them were in a field near the river mowing hay, while the others were in a cabin nearby. The men in the field were shot and scalped in a few moments. Winters was preparing dinner in the cabin when he heard the reports of the Indians' rifles and their exultant shouts. Being satisfied that their companions were killed. Winters and the others with him in the cabin fled, and secreted themselves in the woods until night. In the meantime, the Indians not suspecting that other white men were near, left the neighborhood. During the night Winters and his companions went to the meadow, collected the bodies of the murdered men, and carefully covered them with a large quantity of new-mown hay.

On May 8th, Simon Vaugh was killed by Indians, at the house of Jones Davis on Bald Eagle Creek. On the same day, Jacob Stanford, his wife and daughter, were killed and scalped in Penn's Valley. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, pages 485 and 487.) John Caro- thers, writing President Wharton from Carlisle, on May 12th, says that other families met the same fate as that of the Stanford family. At this time. Colonel Arthur Buchanan was busy pro- tecting the refugees who came streaming into his settlement on the Juniata. The settlers of this valley, also, suffered terribly at the hands of the Indians, in 1778. In June, the upper end of the Kishacoquillas Valley was raided, and several women and children were carried into captivity.

On May 16th, 1778, three men, who were at work planting a field of corn near the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek, were attacked by a large body of Indians, and all killed and scalped. Two days later a man, woman and child were taken prisoners near Pine Creek by the same Indian band, and carried into captivity. On May 20th, two men and seven women and children were captured near Lycoming Creek and carried into captivity. At about the same time, three families, sixteen persons in all, were killed and carried away from Loyalsock. A party then went up from

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Wallis* Fort, and found two dead bodies and the houses of the settlers burned to ashes. (Pa, Archives, Vol. 6, page 552.)

On May 17th, 1778, General James Potter whose family suf- fered at the hands of the Indians during the Revolutionary War, wrote from Upper Fort, Penn's Valley, that he was informed by Colonel Long that, on May 11th, several families, coming to Lycoming and escorted by a party under Colonel Hosterman, were attacked by twelve Indians, who killed six of them, and six were missing. At the same time three men were killed on Loyal- sock Creek, and twenty persons were killed on the North Branch. One, who was taken prisoner, but made his escape, said that the Indians were determined to clear the two branches of the Sus- quehanna of settlers that month. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 516.) On July25th, General Potter again wrote from Penn's Valley:

"Yesterday two men of Captain Finley's company of Colonel Brodhead's regiment, went from this place on the plains a little below my fields, and met a party of Indians, five in number, whom they engaged. One of the soldiers, Thomas Van Doran, was shot dead; the other, Jacob Shedacre, ran about four hundred yards, and was pursued by one of the Indians. They attacked each other with their knives, and our gallant soldier killed his antagonist. His fate was hard, for another Indian came up and shot him. He and the Indian lay within a perch of each other." Years after- ward, James Alexander, who lived on the Old Fort farms, near Centre Hall, Centre County, in Penn's Valley, picked up a hunting knife, so rusted as to indicate that it might have be- longed to Jacob Shedacre or his Indian antagonist. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 666.)

During the summer of 1778, just before the "Great Runaway," described later in this chapter, four men named Robert Fleming, Robert Donaldson, James McMichael and John Hamilton started from Fort Antes, located opposite the town of Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, to Fort Horn in a canoe. When they came opposite the mouth of Pine Creek, they were fired upon by a party of Indians lying in ambush on the south side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and all were killed but Hamilton. Hamilton, springing out of the canoe into the water and holding on with one hand, managed with the other to work his way across the river, keeping the canoe between his head and the rifles of the Indians. Reaching the shore, he fled through the forest to a

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 543

point opposite Fort Antes, where he cried for assistance, and was speedily taken over to the fort.

On the same day a party of men driving some cattle from above the Great Island (Lock-Haven) were fired upon by a party of Indians. They returned the fire and one of the Indian band fell and was carried off by his companions. A man named Samuel Fleming was shot through the shoulder in this encounter.

About the time of the Great Runaway, occurred the murder of John Michael Bashore, most likely during the first week of July, 1778. Michael Weyland and another man pushed a boat over the river from the east side, and took Bashore's goods. Bashore then went to his stable, got his horse, and attempted to drive some cattle down along the shore. After proceeding some dis- tance, he was fired upon by Indians in ambush and killed. Weyland and his companion, who were lying down in the bottom of the boat, rose to fire upon the Indians, and the former was struck on the lip by a spent ball from one of the Indians' rifles, receiving a scar which he carried to the grave.

John Blair Linn, in his "Annals of Buffalo Valley" relates the following sad incident of one of the Indian raids of 1778:

"Philip Seebold told me he often heard old Mrs. Fought tell of this raid. She said they were threshing grain on their place, where the road through Chappel's Hollow comes out into Dry Valley, when the Indians came upon them suddenly. Her baby was near her, and she picked it up, and ran. Another child, that could just run about, was back of their little barn. She heard it call, 'O, mother, take me along, too.' She looked around, and the Indians were close upon her. She ran the whole way, two miles, to Penn's Creek, to a house where the neighbors had gathered. She never heard of her child again ; but as there was no indication that it was killed, she hoped for its return some day. At night and in the quiet hours of the day, the last words of her child, 'O, mother, take me along, too,' rang in her ears long years after.

"She said the house they took refuge in, was surrounded by the Indians. They suffered from thirst, and a man named Peter — said he would have water, if he died for it. They allowed him to go out, and as he turned the corner of the house, a rifle cracked, and he fell dead. The next day the Indians withdrew, and they embarked in canoes, and went down Penn's Creek. On the Isle of Que [near Selinsgrove, Snyder County], she said, she went into a house, and found no one about. A baby sat propped up in a

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cradle. On close inspection, she found it was dead, and the marks of the tomahawk."

One of the bloody deeds of the Delaware chief, Bald Eagle, of the Wolf Clan, for whom Bald Eagle Mountain and Bald Eagle Valley in Clinton County, are named, was the fatal wounding of James Brady, son of Captain John Brady and brother of the famous Captain Samuel Brady, near Williamsport, on August 8th, 1778, thus described in Meginness' "History of the West Branch Valley," the description being based upon the account of this event, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, pages 688 and 689:

"A Corporal and four men, belonging to Colonel Hartley's regiment, and three militiamen, were ordered about two miles above Loyalsock, on the 8th of August, 1778, to protect fourteen reapers and cradlers, who went to assist Peter Smith, the unfortu- nate man that had his wife and four children murdered about a month previous, to cut his crop. Smith's farm was on Turkey Run, not far from Williamsport, on the opposite side of the river.

"James Brady, son of Captain John, the younger brother of Captain Sam Brady of the Rangers, was with the party. Accord- ing to custom in those days, when no commissioned officer was present, the company generally selected a leader, whom they styled 'Captain,' and obeyed him as such. Young James Brady was selected Captain of this little band of about twenty men.

"On arriving at the field, they placed two sentinels at the opposite ends, the sides having clear land around. The day being Friday, they cut the greater part of the grain, and intended to complete it the next morning. Four of the reapers improperly left that night, and returned to the fort. A strict watch was kept all night, but nothing unusual occurred. In the morning they all went to work; the cradlers, four in number, by themselves, near the house; the reapers in another part of the field. The reapers, except young Brady, placed their guns round a tree. He thought this was wrong, and placed his some distance from the rest. The morning proved to be very foggy, and about an hour after sun- rise, the sentinels and reapers were surprised by a number of Indians, under cover of the fog, quietly approaching them. The sentinels fired and ran towards the reapers, when they all ran, with the exception of young Brady. He made towards his rifle, pursued by three Indians, and when within a few yards of it, was fired upon by a white man with a pistol, probably a tory, but falling over a sheaf of grain, the shot missed him. He rose again, and when almost within reach of the rifle, was wounded by a shot

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from an Indian. Here another sentinel fired his gun, but was immediately, with a militiaman, shot down, Brady succeeded in getting his rifle, however, and shot the first Indian dead. He caught up another gun, and brought down a second savage, when they closed around him in numbers, but being a stout active man, he struggled with them for some time. At length one of them struck a tomahawk into his head, when he fell, and was wounded with a spear in the hands of another. He was so stunned with the blow of the tomahawk, that he remained powerless, but strange as it may seem, retained his senses. They ruthlessly tore the scalp from his head as he lay in apparent death ; and it was a glorious trophy for them, for he had long and remarkably red hair.

"The cradlers, who it appears were in a low spot, in a distant part of the field, on hearing the alarm, ascended an eminence and partly beheld this unhappy affair. The Indians, as soon as they accomplished their bloody work, left instantly, probably fearing an attack from the whites.

"The Corporal and three men, with the cradlers, proposed to make a stand; but the others thought it imprudent, and they all immediately left. The cradlers being acquainted with the country, took the nearest way to Wallis' ; the Corporal and his three men pushed right down the road. At Loyalsock they were fired upon by a party of Indians, probably the same that killed Brady. They returned the fire, when the Indians fled; and they retook three horses from them, and brought them to the fort in safety.

"After Brady was scalped, he related that a little Indian was called and made to strike the tomahawk into his head, in four separate places. He was probably taking lessons in the art of butchery.

"After coming to himself, he attempted, between walking and creeping, to reach the cabin, where an old man named Jerome Vaness, had been employed to cook for them. On hearing the report of the guns, he had hid himself; but when he saw Brady return, he came to him. James begged the old man to fly to the fort, saying, 'The Indians will soon be back and will kill you.' The worthy man positively refused to leave him alone, but stayed and endeavored to dress his frightful wounds. Brady requested to be assisted down the river, where he drank large quantities of water, when he still insisted on the old man leaving him and try- ing to save himself; but he would not do it. He then directed his faithful old friend to load the gun that was in the cabin, which

546 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

was done, and put into his hands, when he lay down and appeared to sleep.

"As soon as the sad intelligence reached the fort, [Fort Muncy], Captain Walker mustered a party of men and proceeded to the spot. When they came to the river bank, Brady heard the noise, and supposing it was Indians, jumped to his feet and cocked his gun. But it was friends. They made a bier and placed him on it, and brought him away. He requested to be taken to Sunbury to his mother. His request was granted, and a party started with him, amongst whom was Robert Covenhoven. He became very feverish by the way, and drank large quantities of water, and became partly delirious. It was late at night when they arrived at Sunbury, and did not intend to arouse his mother; but it seemed she had a presentiment of something that was to happen, and being awake to alarms, met them at the river and assisted to convey her wounded son to the house. He presented a frightful spectacle, and the meeting of mother and son is described to have been heart-rending. Her heart was wrung with the keenest anguish, and her lamentations were terrible to be heard.

"The young Captain lived five days. The first four he was delirious, on the fifth his reason returned, and he described the whole scene he had passed through very vividly, and with great minuteness. He said the Indians were of the Seneca tribe, and amongst them were two chiefs; one of whom was a very large man, and from the description was supposed to be Cornplanter; the other he personally knew to be the celebrated chief Bald Eagle, who had his nest near where Milesburg, Centre County, now stands.

"On the evening of the fifth day, the young Captain died, deeply regretted by all who knew him; for he was a noble and promising young man. Vengenance, 'not loud, but deep,' was breathed against the Bald Eagle, but he laughed it to scorn, till the fatal day at Brady's Bend on the Allegheny."

Lieutenant (later Captain) Samuel Brady, was at Carlisle accompanying his regiment, the Eighth Pennsylvania, to Fort Pitt, when he received word of the scalping of his brother. He had parted from him about a week before. Samuel now hastened to Sunbury, but arrived too late to find James alive.

Samuel Brady's rage over the murder of his beloved brother stirred the depths of his soul. He made a solemn vow that he would never make peace with the Indians of any tribe. (See also Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 691.)

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On Christmas Day, 1778, Andrew Fleming left his home on Pine Creek to go deer hunting. He had not been gone long until his wife heard the report of a gun, and thought that he had fired at a deer. The day having worn away without his having re- turned, she became alarmed and started to search for him. Pro- ceeding up a ravine some distance from the house, she saw three Indians lurking in the bushes, and at once her worst suspicions were aroused. She returned hastily, and gave the alarm. Then a number of neighbors collected, and proceeded to search for her husband. Presently they came upon his dead body. Three bullets, apparently fired simultaneously, as the wife heard but one report, passed through his body, and his scalp was removed.

A Friendly Indian Murdered

The foregoing are some of the outrages on the West Branch of the Susquehanna during the terrible year of 1778. It is but fair to call attention to the fact, however, that during this same year a friendly Indian was infamously murdered at Reed's Fort, where Lock Haven now stands. This Indian, having appeared on the river bank, made signs to the garrison at Reed's Fort to come with a canoe and take him over. The garrison, fearing that he might be a decoy, refused to comply with his request. He in- sisted, however, and in order to show his good intentions waded far into the river, whereupon one of the women of the fort, sup- posed to be Mrs. Reed, the wife of the commandant, took a canoe, crossed over alone, and brought him to the fort. The Indian then advised the garrison that a powerful band of Indians was preparing to make a descent upon the settlements for the purpose of wiping them off the face of the earth. He said that he had traveled a great distance to give this warning. Having delivered his message and feeling perfectly safe, he lay down to seek repose, as he was much exhausted, and was soon asleep. Some of the garrison commenced shooting at a mark, among whom was a man named Dewitt, who was slightly under the influence of liquor. Loading his rifle, he told his companions that he would make the bullet he was putting in kill an Indian, and instead of shooting at the mark, he sent the bullet crashing through the brain of the sleeping Indian. The men of the garrison were so enraged at this fiendish act that they threatened to lynch him, whereupon he fled and was never heard of again.

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Job Chilloway and Shawnee John

Two friendly Indians, who often warned the garrisons of the forts on the West Branch of the Susquehanna of the approach of hostile Indians, during the terrible times we have just been describing, were Job Chilloway and Shawnee John. Chilloway remained most of the time near Fort Antes, being compelled to leave his hunting cabins in Nippenose and Sugar valleys through fear that the hostile Indians would murder him for being "a friend to the settlers." Colonel Antes relates that, on one occasion, Chilloway found one of the sentinels at Fort Antes leaning up against a tree asleep, whereupon he "grappled him like a bear." The sentinel was terribly frightened, and Chilloway censured him for being so careless. Said he: "It was an Indian that caught you, but you may thank God he was your friend." This Indian is described as "a tall, muscular man, with his ears cut so as to hang pendant, like a pair of ear-rings." He also served in Colonel Potter's regiment in the Revolutionary War. He lived much in the Juniata Valley. In his old age, he yielded to the temptation of strong drink, and is said to have been found dead in his cabin about the close of the eighteenth century. Shawnee John also served in the Patriot army in the Revolutionary War, being a member of Captain Lowdon's company. He died many years after the Revolution at the "Nest" of Chief Bald Eagle, near Milesburg, Centre County.

Outrages on the North Branch of the Susquehanna in 1778

We have just seen how outrages were committed on the West Branch of the Susquehanna during the month of June. During this same month the North Branch of the Susquehanna was also devastated. On the 12th of the month, William Crooks and Asa Budd went up the river to a point several miles above Tunk- hannock, and took possession of the abandoned house of John Secord, who had turned Tory. Crooks was fired upon by some hostile Indians and killed. On the 17th, a party of six went up the river in canoes to observe the movements of the Indians. About six miles below Tunkhannock, those in the forward canoe landed and ascended the bank, when they saw an armed force of Indians and Tories advancing against them. Giving the alarm, they returned to their boats, and endeavored to get behind an island to escape the fire of the Indians. In this canoe were Mina

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 549

Robbins, Joel Phelps, and Stephen Jenkins. Robbins was killed and Phelps wounded, while Jenkins escaped unharmed. Captain Jewett went up the river with a scouting party on the 26th, re- turning on the 30th with the news that the Indians and Tories were assembling in great force up the river.

Also, on June 30th, Benjamin Harding, Stuckley Harding, young John Harding, James Hadsell and his sons James and John, Daniel Weller, John Gardner and Daniel Carr went up the river from Wyoming into Exter to labor in their fields. Late in the afternoon, they were attacked by Indians. Weller, Gardner and Carr were taken prisoners. Benjamin Harding, Stuckley Harding, James Hadsall and his son, James, were killed. Young John Harding escaped by throwing himself into the Susquehanna and lying under the willows with his mouth just above the surface of the water. He heard with anguish the death moans of his relatives and friends. The Indians searched carefully for him, and, at one time, were so close that they could have touched him.

On July 1st, Colonel Nathan Denison and Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance, with a small force, marched from Forty Fort, located within the limits of the town of the same name in Luzerne County, to Exter, eleven miles distant, where the murders of June 30th were committed, and buried the dead near Fort Jenkins, located where the town of West Pittston, Luzerne County, now stands. The appearance of the dead bodies in- dicated that the victims had fought to the last. All were scalped and much mutilated. The arms and faces of the two Hardings were frightfully cut, and there were several spear holes through their bodies. Two Indians, who were watching the dead, ex- pecting to kill any white men who might come to take away the bodies, were themselves surprised and slain by the burial party. One was shot where he sat, and the other in the river, to which he had fled. It is supposed that Zebulon Marcy shot one of these as he was hunted for several years by a brother of one of the slain Indians, who swore that he would have revenge. Many years afterwards, Elisha Harding, Esq. erected a stone to the memory of the murdered frontiersmen, with the inscription:

"Sweet be the Sleep of Those Who Prefer Death to Slavery." (Miner's "History of Wyoming," pages 217-218.)

The Wyoming Massacre

On July 3rd, 1778, occurred the terrible massacre of Wyoming. Late in June, Colonel John Butler with his Tory rangers, a detach-

550 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

ment of Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens, and a large body of Indians, chiefly Senecas, altogether a force numbering about four hundred British and Tories and seven hundred Indians, descended the North Branch of the Susquehanna, committed the murders above described, and entered the charming valley of the Wyoming in Luzerne County. On July 2nd, Fort Jenkins, located within the present limits of the town of West Pittston, was attacked by these invaders, and capitulated after four of its defenders were killed and three taken prisoners. On the same day Wintermoot's fort, about a mile below Fort Jenkins, threw open its gates and here the British and Tories assembled.

There were several small stockades at Wyoming within the limits of the present city of Wilkes-Barre, but no cannon; and none of the forts was able to hold out against such a large force. Moreover most of the able-bodied men of Wyoming were in the American army. Colonel Zebulon Butler of the Continental army, happened to be at home at Wyoming at the time, and assumed command of the settlers, most of them being old men and boys who organized and formed themselves into companies to garrison the forts.

On July 3rd, Colonel Zebulon Butler's forces marched out to meet the invaders, Butler assisted by Major Garret, commanding the right wing, and Colonel Denison assisted by Lieutenant- Colonel George Dorrance, commanding the left. Colonel Zebulon Butler made an address to his forces just before he ordered the column to display, as follows: "Men, yonder is the enemy. The fate of the Hardings tells us what we have to expect if defeated."

The engagement began between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. The enemy, outnumbering the gallant defenders nearly three to one, was able to outflank them, especially on the left, where a swamp well suited Indian warfare. The men of Wyoming fell in great numbers, and it soon becoming impossible to maintain their position. Colonel Dorrance gave an order to fall back, so as to present a better front to the enemy. His com- mand, however, was mistaken as a signal for retreat. The defenders becoming demoralized, were slaughtered without mercy. Even those who surrendered as prisoners of war, were subjected to the most cruel torture. Sixteen Americans were arranged around a large stone, since known as the Bloody Rock, or Queen Esther's Rock, where Queen Esther Montour, a granddaughter of Madam Montour, dashed out their brains with a tomahawk as

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 SSI

she passed around the circle. By a desperate effort three men, named Hammond, Evans, and Joseph ElHott, escaped her fury. In another similar ring nine persons were butchered in the same manner. Many were shot swimming the Susquehanna, and others were hunted out and killed in their hiding places. Only sixty of those who had marched out to give battle survived. The stock- ades vv^ere filled with widows and orphans. It has been said that one hundred and fifty widows and six orphans were the result of this battle, and that about two-thirds of the defenders were slaughtered. The Indians secured 227 scalps, for which the British afterwards paid ten dollars each. A monument has been erected marking the site of this, the most dreadful massacre in the annals of Pennsylvania.

At Forty Fort, located within the limits of the town of that name, the firing at Wyoming was distinctly heard, and the spirits of the defenders of that place were high until they learned the dreadful news of Wyoming, when the first fugitives reached there in the evening. Many other fugitives came to Forty Fort during the night, among them being Colonel Dennison, who rallied the little band for defense, and succeeded the next day in entering into terms of capitulation with the Tory leader. Colonel John Butler. The enemy marched into Forty Fort six abreast, the British and Tories at the northern gate, and the Indians at the southern. In violation of the terms of capitulation the Indians began immedi- ately to rob, plunder, and destroy. Tory Butler did nothing to stop it. When night came on the blaze of burning dwellings lighted up the valley, and the terrified survivors of the massacre fled to the Pocono Mountains beyond Stroudsburg. Many of them however, perished in the dreadful wilderness on the way, and these places are still called "Shades of Death," In a few days Colonel John Butler led the first part of his force away, but the Indians continued their work of burning and plundering until almost every building in the beautiful valley was consumed.

The scenes that were enacted at Forty Fort were repeated at Pittston Fort, located at the town of Pittston, on the east side of the river, almost opposite the battle field. All the families living in the neighborhood of this fort had been collected here, and the fort was garrisoned by a force of about forty men under Captain Jeremiah Blanchard. From their station in the fort, the people could see the progress of the battle, the flight from the field, as well as the torture of the prisoners the night following.

At Wilkes-Barre Fort, located on the site now occupied in part

S52 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

by the court house at Wilkes-Barre, many men, women and children had gathered on the eve of the battle. A few of the survivors of the battle made their way to this fort, bringing word of the battle. During that terrible night, plans were made for flight, and on the morning of the 4th, many of the occupants of the fort set out on their terrible journey through the wilderness. On the same day, the Indians took possession of the fort and burned it to ashes. Fugitives from Shawnee Fort, located south of the present town of Plymouth, also from Rosencrans' Block- house, in Plains Township, Luzerne County, and from Stewart's Blockhouse, in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, joined the other survivors in their flight from the Valley.

It will be remembered that John Gardner was captured when the Hardings were killed, a few days before the massacre. On the morning of the 4th, his wife and children were permitted to see and take leave of him. Elisha Harding, Esq., then a boy, was present at the leave taking, and has recorded that it was extremely affecting. When the last words of farewell were said, the Indians placed a heavy burden on his shoulders, put a halter around his neck, and led him away. Later he was tortured to death by the squaws with fire. Daniel Carr, a fellow prisoner, saw the charred remains of the unfortunate husband and father.

From the farm of an aged man, named Weeks, who lived where Wilkes-Barre now stands, his sons, Philip, Jonathan and Barthol- omew, and Silas Benedict, Jabez Beers, Josiah Carman and Robert Bates, relatives, had gone out to battle. At night, the whole seven lay dead on the field of the slain. The family of Obadiah Gore also suffered terribly. Three sons and two sons- in-law were slain. Five of the Inman family were in the battle. Two fell, and another died of the fatigue and suffering of the terrible day. Another was killed by the Indians before the end of the year.

The day after the massacre, news came down from the Lacka- wana that a Mr. Hickman, his wife and child were murdered at Capouse, and that two men, named Leach and St. John, who were removing with their families, were shot six miles up the Lackawanna. One of them had a child in his arms, which an Indian took up and handed to its mother, covered with its father's blood. Leaving the women unharmed, the Indians departed with the scalps of their husbands.

Miner's "History of Wyoming" says the following in regard

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 553

to the horrible tortures of the prisoners captured by the British, Tories and Indians at Wyoming:

"On the river bank, on the Pittston side, Capt. Blanchard, Esq., Whitaker and Ishmael Bennet, attracted by fires among the trees, on the opposite shore, took their station and witnessed the process of torture. Several naked men, in the midst of flames, were driven around a stake; their groans and screams were most piteous, while the shouts and yells of the savages, who danced around, urging the victims on with their spears, were too horrible to be endured. They were powerless to help or avenge, and withdrew, heartsick from the view of their horrid orgies, glad that they did not know who were the sufferers."

Miner's "History of Wyoming" gives the following incidents of the flight of the survivors:

"The only hope of safety seemed to be in flight. The several passages through the swamp were thronged. Few having been thoughtful enough to take provisions, the greater part were destitute. On the old warrior's path, there were in one company, about one hundred women and children, with but a single man, Jonathan Fitch, Esq., Sheriff of the county, to advise or aid them. The way tow^ards the Wind Gap and Stroudsburg, was equally crowded. Sufferings from fatigue and hunger soon became ex- treme. The brave George Cooper, who would "have one shot more," with his companions, Westover and Stark, and their families, had made an effort to obtain provisions, but the Indians being discovered watching their dwellings, they were compelled to fly with scarce a morsel, though exhausted by the battle.

"Of the little they had, neither of the men would partake, so that the children need not perish. Tears gushed from the eyes of the aged widow of Cooper, when she related that her husband had lain on his face to lap up a little meal which a companion, in their flight, had spilt on the earth. Children were born, and several perished in the "Dismal Swamp" or "Shades of Death," as it is called to this day. Mrs. Truesdale was taken in labour; daring to delay but a few minutes, she was soon seen with her infant, moving onward, a sheet having been fixed on a horse, so as to carry them. Jabez Fish, who was in the battle, escaped; but not being able to join his family, was supposed to have fallen; and Mrs. Fish hastened with her children through the wilderness. Overcome with fatigue and want, her infant died. Sitting down a moment on a stone, to see it draw its last breath, she gazed in its face with unutterable anguish. There was no way to dig a

554 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

grave — and to leave it to be devoured by wolves, seemed worse than death. So she took the dead babe in her arms, and carried it twenty miles, when she came to a German settlement. Though poor, they gave her food, made a box for the child, attended her to the graveyard, and decently buried it, kindly bidding her welcome till she should be rested. The uniform hospitality of the Germans is gratefully attested by the Wyoming people.

"The wife of Ebenezer Marcy was taken in labour in the wilder- ness. Having no mode of conveyance, her sufferings were inex- pressibly severe. She was able to drag her fainting steps but about two miles that day. The next, being overtaken by a neighbour with a horse, she rode, and in a week's time, was more than one hundred miles, with her infant, from the place of its birth.

"Mrs. Rogers, from Plymouth, an aged woman flying with her family, overcome by fatigue and sorrow, fainted in the wilderness, twenty miles from human habitation. She could take no nourish- ment, and soon died. They made a grave in the best manner they could, and the next day, nearly exhausted, came to a settlement of Germans, who treated them with exceeding great kindness. Mrs. Courtright relates that she, then a young girl flying with her father's family, saw sitting by the roadside, a widow who had learned the death of her husband. Six children were on the ground near her. The group were the very image of despair, for they were without food. Just at that moment, a man was seen riding rapidly towards them from the settlements. It was Mr. HoUenback. Foreseeing the probable destruction, he had pro- vidently loaded his horse with bread, and was hastening back, like an angel of mercy, to their relief. Cries of gratitude went up to Heaven. He imparted a morsel to each, and hastened on to the relief of others.

"The widow of Anderson Dana, Esq., and her widowed daughter, Mrs. Whiton, did not learn, certainly of the deaths of their husbands until they were at Bullock's, on the mountain ten miles on their way. Many then heard the fate of relations, and a messenger brought to Mr. Bullock word that both his sons were dead on the field. Then there was mourning and lamentation and the wringing of hands."

A few weeks after the massacre, Colonel Zebulon Butler re- turned to the desolate valley, having joined Captain Spalding's company from Stroudsburg. A new stockade was erected at Wilkes-Barre, sustained by some settlers who had returned in the

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 555

hope of saving part of their harvest of wheat. But lurking In- dians were in the vicinity, and many of those settlers who had returned, were slain in their fields. Among these were John Abbot and Isaac Williams. About the same time, Isaac Tripp, the elder, his grandson, Isaac Tripp, and two young men, named Keys and Hocksey, were captured on the Lackawanna. Keys and Hocksey were killed by their captors, while on the journey to the Indian country, but the elder Tripp was released. On August 24th, Luke Sweetland and Joseph Blanchard were captured near Nanticoke, and carried away. On October 2nd, after the return of Colonel Hartley's expedition, described later in this chapter, four of Captain Morrison's men were attacked on the west side of the Susquehanna. Three were killed, and the fourth made his escape. On October 14th, William Jameson, who had been in the battle, was shot, tomahawked and scalped, as he was re- turning home from Wilkes-Barre. In the meantime, the dead of the massacre lay on the field, decomposing beneath the summer sun. Finally, on October 22nd, the corpses were collected, and buried in a large hole. Before the autumn frosts had come, it was impossible to perform the work of sepulture.

Fifteen years after the massacre, a number of Indians, among whom were several noted chiefs, passed through Wyoming on their way to Philadelphia. Approaching Wilkes-Barre, they sent word to the town, as they apprehended danger. An escort of citizens of the place then accompanied them to the town, where a council was held in the court house that evening, at which pacific assurances were given. On their return, the Indians passed on the side of the river opposite the scene of the massacre, some of the older warriors showing much excitement, talking and gesticulating with much emphasis. Miner, in his "History of Wyoming," says that he met the Seneca chief. Red Jacket, in Washington, in 1827 or 1828, and strove to lead him to talk of the terrible event in which he had taken part, on the banks of the Susquehanna, but that, on that subject, he found the old chief's lips hermetically sealed.

No pen is gifted enough and no imagination is vivid enough to describe the Wyoming Massacre. Our flesh creeps and chills run down our pulses, when we contemplate this saga of blood and death, with the Indian allies of the British carrying away the bloody scalps of Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance and the two hundred and twenty-six men, boys, women and children, who perished with him, to receive the infamous British scalp

556 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

bounty. We have said elsewhere in this history that there is not a darker page in the annals of the world, since men began to record events, than the account of the butchery of aged men, women and children by the Indian allies of the British, during the Revolutionary War. If any one should think this statement too sweeping, let him contemplate the unutterable woe and horrors of Wyoming.

Red Jacket, Big Tree and Joseph Brant

Both Red Jacket and Big Tree were in the Wyoming Massacre, and it has been charged that Joseph Brant also took part in this bloody event.

The noted Seneca chieftain and orator, Red Jacket, was born about 1756 at or near Canoga, Seneca County, New York, and died on the former Buffalo Reservation on lands now within the limits of the city of Buffalo, New York, January 20th, 1830. He was faithful to the British during the Revolutionary War, and took part in the major operations of the Six Nations during this struggle. In the spring of 1792, he visited President Washington at Philadelphia. On this occasion, Washington presented the noted Seneca with a silver medal, as a token of friendship and esteem. In 1884, his remains were removed from their forsaken grave on the Buffalo Reservation to Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N. Y., where a monument to Red Jacket was unveiled June 22nd, 1891.

The Seneca chief, Ga-oun-do-wah-nah, or Big Tree, was one of the fiercest warriors in the Wyoming Massacre. He was one of the principal leaders of his tribe, and as an orator, was scarcely inferior to Red Jacket.

Joseph Brant's Indian name was Thayendanegea. He was born on the Ohio, in 1742, when his parents were on a hunting expedition in that region. His father was a Mohawk chief, and his mother was also an Indian or at least a half-blood. Brant was a man of education and ability. He traveled in England, where he was received with distinction. He published the Gospel of St. Mark in Mohawk. It is said that he was a Freemason. His services in the English interest began when, at the age of thirteen years, he joined the Indians under Sir William Johnson at the battle of Lake George. About 1765, he married the daughter of an Oneida chief and settled at Canajoharie, in the Mohawk Valley, New York, where he joined the Episcopal Church. He

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 557

held a colonel's commission in the Revolutionary War, and took part in the massacre at Cherry Valley, New York, and the battle of Oriskany, but it seems true that he was not at the Wyoming Massacre, as has been charged. He stoutly opposed General Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations in the summer of 1779. He was thrice married, his third wife being George Crog- han's Mohawk daughter. Also his sister Molly became, accord- ing to the Indian method, the wife of Sir William Johnson. He died on the Grand River, in Ontario, November 24th, 1807, to which place he had removed with his Mohawk and other Iroquois followers after the Revolutionary War.

Invasion of Pike County

On the night of July 3rd, 1778, the officers in command of the fort in the Wallenpaupack settlement, on the creek of the same name between Pike and Wayne Counties, caused a false alarm of danger to be made in order to try the temper of the troops. The people of the settlement hurried to the fort, carrying their goods with them. Amidst this alarm, a body of sixty Tories and Indians approached to within half a mile of the fort. They told some prisoners, afterwards captured, that their object was to carry off the cattle of the settlement, as they had been given orders by Joseph Brant not to kill the settlers of this place. Seeing the preparations at the fort, they retreated to the Lackawaxen, four or five miles above the mouth of the Wallenpaupack, burning the grist mill of Joseph Washburne, at what is now Wilsonville. The next afternoon, a young man, named Hammond, who had escaped from the Indians at the Wyoming Massacre of the pre- ceding day, brought the news of this tragedy to the settlers of Wallenpaupack. By sunset the settlers were on their way to the Delaware River, a number of the women and children being so sick that they had to be carried in carts. On the evening of July 5th, they arrived at a point three miles above Milford, where they intended to pass the night. Soon after they halted, they heard that they were being pursued by Indians, and at once renewed their flight, not stopping until they reached the other side of the Delaware. When the news of the Wyoming Massacre reached the settlers of this region. Captain Zebulon Parrish, his son, Jasper, and Stephen Kimble went down to the mouth of the Wallenpaupack to warn Benjamin Haynes, David Ford and James Hough of the danger. Near the mouth of the Wallen-

558 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

paupack, they were called to by a body of Tories and Indians who told them that the Susquehanna Indians had attacked the settlement, and invited them to cross the creek and surrender themselves, threatening to fire upon them if they refused, and promising kind treatment if they would surrender. The three men crossed the creek, and surrendered themselves. One of their horses escaped, and was recovered by the settlers on their flight to the Delaware, just described. The men were retained as prisoners until the close of the Revolutionary War.

After their retreat from the Wallenpaupack, most of the settlers went to Orange County, New York, where they remained until the close of the Revolutionary War, while some went back to Conneticutt whence they had come. However, in August, 1778, John Pellet, Jr., Walter Kimble, Charles Forsythe and Uriah Chapman, Jr., all settlers of Wallenpaupack, returned to the settlement for the purpose of cutting hay. Commencing work at the upper end of the settlement, they had finished cutting all the hay except that on the farm of Uriah Chapman in the lower end of the settlement, when, in the afternoon, Indians fired upon and wounded Chapman who had left his work and gone to a spring for water. Springing towards a sled on which the men had deposited their guns, he attempted to raise a rifle and first discovered that he was wounded, the weapon dropping from his hands. Weak from the loss of blood, he ran for the fort, but did not reach it until night. In the meantime, his companions, hear- ing the report of the Indian's rifle, also ran to the fort, which they reached in safety. The Indians picked up the rifles from the sled, and prowled around the fort that night, but did not attack it. The next day, the four young men made their escape. The bullet from the Indian's rifle passed through Chapman's right arm into his shoulder, and at the time of his death, fifty-one years later, was found lodged against his back bone. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 721.)

The Great Runaway

The Wyoming Massacre was followed by the "Great Runaway" of the settlers on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, when they learned the fate of the settlers at Wyoming. Within two days following the massacre, the news had penetrated the entire North Branch Valley and as far up the West Branch as Fort Antes, located where the town of Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, now stands.

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JOSEPH BRANT

Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), who acted so conspicuous a part on the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania, as an ally of the British during the Revohitionary War, was descended from a Sachem of the Mohawks, and, on account of his natural gifts and the advantages which he enjoyed for their cultivation, as brother-in-law, after the Indian manner, of Sir William Johnson, attained the high honor of being recognized as the war chief of the Iroquois Confedera- tion— the highest honor to which an Iroquois could aspire. The story of the pillage, burnings, outrages, murders and massacres, commited by this ally of the British and by Iroquois under his direction, would fill a large volume. See also pages 556 and 557.

THE REVOLUTIOARY WAR— 1778 559

Colonel Hunter, then commandant at Fort Augusta (Sunbury), sent word to Colonel Hepburn, commandant at Fort Muncy, located about four miles from the town of Muncy, Lycoming County, that the inhabitants of that part of the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna lying beyond the Muncy Hills, should abandon their homes and rendezvous at Fort Augusta, if they valued their lives. Colonel Hepburn had some difficulty in getting a messenger to carry the word to Colonel Antes, com- mandant at Fort Antes. Finally Robert Covenhoven, the daring scout, and a young man employed at Culbertson's mill, agreed to undertake the dangerous journey. It seems, however, that Covenhoven went alone. On his way, he spent the night at the home of Andrew Armstrong, near the present village of Linden, Lycoming County, about sixteen miles west of Fort Muncy. He warned Armstrong of the impending danger, and advised him to leave. Armstrong refused to do so, and a few days later a band of Indians attacked his home, and carried him and his little son into captivity. He was never heard of again. A woman named Nancy Bunday, who was at the Armstrong home at the time, was also carried away; but Mrs. Armstrong hid under a bed and was not found by the Indians. Years afterwards an aged Indian, leading a young man who appeared to have white blood in his veins, knocked at the door of Widow Armstrong's home, and told her his young companion was her son. The young man remained in the neighborhood for some time, but Mrs. Armstrong could not bring herself to the point of accepting him as her son, where- upon he returned to his Indian companions.

But to return to Robert Covenhoven. Leaving Armstrong's house, he crossed the river, ascended Bald Eagle Mountain, and took his way along the level plateau on its summit until he came to the gap opposite Fort Antes. It was evening when he arrived near this fort. A girl had just gone outside to milk a cow, when she was fired upon by an Indian in ambush. The bullet passed through the folds of her dress, but she was unharmed. Coven- hoven, startled by the report of the Indian's rifle, at first believed himself discovered and being fired upon, but, finding himself un- harmed, dashed into the fort and delivered the message to evac- uate the place within a week. He then returned to Fort Muncy, while a messenger was sent from Fort Antes to Fort Horn, located farther up the West Branch in what is now the eastern part of Clinton County, bearing the order to evacuate. Then

560 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

began the historic flight of the settlers of the West Branch to Sunbury and other places of safety.

On July 12th, Colonel Matthew Smith wrote from Paxtang that he had just arrived at Harris' Ferry and beheld the greatest scenes of distress that he had ever seen, the place being crowded with settlers who had come down the river, leaving everything. Also William McClay, later the first United States senator from Pennsylvania, wrote from Paxtang on the same day as follows: "I left Sunbury and almost my whole property on Wednesday last. I will not trouble you with a recital of the inconveniences I suffered while I brought my family by water to this place. I never in my life saw such scenes of distress. The river and roads leading down it were covered with men, women and children, flying for their lives. In short, Northumberland County is broken up." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 634.) At the same time, Robert Covenhoven wrote concerning the flight of the settlers: "I took my own family safely to Sunbury and came back in the keel boat to secure my furniture. Just as I rounded a point above Derrstown [now Lewisburg, Union County], I met the whole convoy from all the forts above. Such a sight I never saw in all my life. Boats, canoes, hog-troughs, rafts, hastily made of dry sticks, every sort of floating article had been put into requisition and was crowded with women, children, and plunder. When- ever an obstruction occurred at any shoal or ripple, the women would leap out into the water and put their shoulders to the boat or raft and launch it again into deep water. The men of the settlement came down in single file on each side of the river to guard the women and children. The whole convoy arrived safely at Sunbury, leaving the entire range of farms along the West Branch to the ravages of the Indians." Also, on July 12th, Peter DeHaven wrote from Hummelstown to Colonel Timothy Matlack, concerning the flight of the inhabitants, as follows:

"This day there was twenty or thirty families passed through this town, some from Buffalo Valley and from Sunbury, and some families from this side of Peters mountain. Yomin [Wyoming] is taken. Most of our people have left Sunbury, and are coming down. Those people inform us that there is 200 wagons on the road coming down in a day or two." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 633.)

It is a remarkable fact that but few persons were killed by the Indians during this precipitate flight of the settlers.

After Covenhoven had placed his furniture into his boat arid

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 561

was proceeding down the river, just below Fort Menninger, located on the west bank of the West Branch at the mouth of White Deer Creek, Union County, he saw Mrs. Margaret Wilson Durham on the shore, fleeing from an Indian. She and the wife of Assemblyman James McKnight, each with an infant in her arms, started on horseback from Fort Freeland, located on the north side of Warrior Run, about two miles above McEwansville, Northumberland County, to go to Northumberland, when, near the mouth of Warrior Run, about two miles from the fort, they were fired upon by a band of Indians and ambushed. Mrs. Durham's child was killed in her arms, and an Indian rushed out of the bushes and scalped her. Alexander GufTy, Peter Williams, and Ellis Williams hastened to the scene of the shooting, and were greatly surprised to find Mrs. Durham alive and piteously calling for water. These men bound up her head as best they could and conveyed her in a canoe down the river to Sunbury, where Colonel William Plunkett, who was also a physician, dressed her wounded head. She recovered and lived to the mature age of seventy-four years, dying in 1829.

Mrs. McKnight was not injured. Her horse became frightened at the shooting, and ran back to the fort. As the horse wheeled, Mrs. McKnight's child fell from her arms; but she caught it by the foot, and thus held it until the fort was reached. Two of Mrs. McKnight's sons, who were accompanying her and Mrs. Durham on foot, were captured, as was Mr. Durham. The father and the two boys were taken to Canada, and returned home after the close of the Revolutionary War.

In answer to Colonel Hunter's appeal. Colonel Daniel Broad- head with the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, then on its march to Fort Pitt, was ordered to the West Branch, arriving at Fort Muncy on July 24th. Also Colonel Thomas Hartley with a small regiment arrived at Fort Augusta on August 1st and marched to the relief of Colonel Broadhead at Fort Muncy. After Colonel Hartley's expedition, which we shall now describe, some of the more venturesome settlers returned to their habita- tions.

Colonel Hartley's Expedition

Reference has already been made to Colonel Thomas Hartley's expedition in the autumn of 1778. Leaving Samuel Wallis' at Muncy on September 21, he led a force of two hundred men through swamps, over mountains, twenty times crossing the

562 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Lycoming River; and on the 26th, his advance party of nineteen fired upon an equal number of Indians, killed their leader, and put the rest to flight. This engagement caused the alarm to be given to the main body of the Indians against whom his expedi- tion was aimed ; and a few miles further he found where seventy warriors had slept the preceding night, from which place they had turned back. Furthermore, one of his men who had deserted him, had warned the Indians, as was learned when the expedition reached Sheshecununk, Bradford County, where fifteen Indians were taken prisoner.

From Sheshecununk, Hartley advanced to Tioga, destroyed the town, and captured a prisoner. Butler, the Tory leader, had been there with a force of three hundred Tories and Indians only a few hours before Hartley reached that place. Ascertaining at Tioga that a force of five hundred was fortifying itself at Chemung only twelve miles distant, Hartley retreated to Sheshecununk, at which place he crossed the North Branch of the Susquehanna, and proceeded to the Indian town of Wyalusing, Bradford County. There with the supply of provisions exhausted, his force spent the night of September 28th, and devoted the next morning to killing and cooking beef. Seventy of his force left for home in canoes, and the remainder were attacked three times below Wyalusing, with the loss of four killed and wounded. At Wyoming three men going out looking for potatoes, were scalped, and Hartley left half of his detachment as a garrison at that place. He then returned to Sunbury and, the term of his militiamen having expired, he appealed to Congress and the Provincial Council for more troops. His expedition had marched three hundred miles in two weeks, devastating the country of Queen Esther, and destroying her town, as well as Tioga, Sheshecununk, and Wayalusing. In the forests and groves he found where the Indians had dressed and dried the scalps of the frontier victims. (See Colonel Hartley's report to Congress of his expedition, recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, pages 5 to 9.)

About the 1st of November, the Indians came down the North Branch of the Susquehanna, destroying the settlements as far as the mouth of the Nescopeck, and investing Wyoming. Colonel Hartley then advanced from Fort Jenkins, (which was situated on the north shore of the North Branch of the Susquehanna about midway between Berwick and Bloomsburg, in Columbia County), with its garrison to the relief of Wyoming, clearing the country of the enemy.

THt: REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 56.^

Among the atrocities, committed in the Wyoming Valley at this time, were the following :

On November 7th, John Perkins was killed at Plymouth. About the same time, William Jackson and a Mr. Lester were captured at a mill at Nanticoke, marched three miles up into Hanover, and then shot down. This band of Indians also cap- tured a certain "old Mr. Hageman," who escaped with six wounds in his body, and survived, although he had received such a deep spear thrust that the food oozed from the wound in his side. On November 9th, Captain Carr and Philip Goss, while attempting to make their escape in a canoe, were shot below Wapwallopen, the former killed outright and the latter left dying on the shore. About the same time, Robert Alexander and Amos Parker were found murdered in the lower part of the Valley. Late in the autumn, Isaac Inman was murdered in Hanover. He was lured into the forest by what he thought was the sound of wild-turkeys. Presently the report of a gun was heard, but he did not return. That night a heavy snow fell, which lay until spring, when his mutilated body was found. On November 19th, the Utley family was murdered near Nescopeck. John, Elisha, and Diah Utley were the first attacked. John and Elisha were killed, and Diah, the youngest, fled to the river, and swam to the west shore; but an Indian who had crossed before in a canoe, killed him with a tomahawk when he emerged from the river. After killing John and Elisha, the Indians entered the house, killed and scalped the aged mother, placed her in a chair, and so left her. We shall now describe the attack on the Slocum family,

Frances Slocum, the Lost Sister of Wyoming

On November 2nd, 1778, Jonathan Slocum and his sons, William and Benjamin, were at work harvesting their corn near Wyoming. At the Slocum home were the other members of the family and a Mrs. Nathan Kingsley and her two sons. About noon, the Kingsley boys, who were sharpening a knife on the grindstone in the front yard, were attacked by Indians. Mrs. Slocum hastened to the door and was horrified to see the lifeless body of the elder Kingsley boy lying on the ground, and the In- dian who had killed him, preparing to scalp him with the knife that the boys were sharpening. Snatching her infant from the cradle and calling to the others to run for their lives, she fled out of the rear door of the house over a log fence into a swamp be-

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yond, where she hid herself and her baby. In the meantime, the younger Kingsley boy and Frances Slocum, a girl five and a half years old, hid themselves under a staircase, and Judith Slocum with her three year old brother, Isaac, also fled toward the swamp, while little Mary Slocum, a girl nine years of age, started to flee in the direction of the fort at Wyoming, carrying her baby brother one and one-half years old, in her arms. Ebenezer Slocum, a boy thirteen years old, was a cripple, and was unable to flee.

While the Slocums were fleeing from their home, the Indians made their way into the house, dragging forth young Kingsley, Frances Slocum, and Ebenezer Slocum. Mrs. Slocum then, leaving her baby behind, rushed among the Indians and implored them to release the child. She pointed to the crippled feet of Ebenezer, and exclaimed: "The child is lame, he can do thee no good." The Indians then released Ebenezer, but in spite of the piteous pleadings of the mother, they refused to release little Frances. The leader of the Indians, throwing Frances athwart his shoulder, and another of the band doing likewise with young Kingsley, they dashed into the woods. Little Frances looked toward her mother and stretched out her little arms in a pitiful appeal. This was the last sight that the mother ever had of her little daughter, — a picture that was in her memory every waking moment until death.

Long years afterwards it was learned from Frances Slocum that she and the Kingsley boy were carried to a cave, where the Indians kept them that night. Setting out at sunrise the next morning, they traveled for many days before arriving at the In- dian village to which the captors belonged. When they arrived at this village, the Kingsley boy was taken away, which was the last she ever saw or heard of him.

The chief who took Frances gave her to an aged Delaware couple, who adopted her, giving her the name of Weletawash, which was the name of the couple's youngest child, who had lately died. This Indian couple was living in Ontario, Canada, when the Revolution ended. They then moved to the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Frances grew to womanhood, and in 1790 married the Delaware, Little Turtle. In 1794 her husband deserted her and went west. Later she married a chief of the Miamis called Shepoconnah, and in 1801 they, with their two sons and daughter removed to the Osage village about one mile from the confluence of the Mississineva and Wabash Rivers in the state of Indiana. Here Shepoconnah

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 565

was made a war chief of the Miamis and Frances was admitted into the Miami tribe, and given the name of Maconaquah, signifying "A Young Bear." Shepoconnah died in 1832.

After the capture of Frances, her father was killed. Many efforts were made to obtain clues as to her whereabouts, but to no avail. Also, after peace was declared ending the Revolutionary War, her brothers made a journey to Fort Niagara, where they offered one hundred guineas for her recovery. The brothers never gave up the search for their sister. They visited many Indian villages and traveled thousands of miles, even enlisting the United States Government in the search. They also attended every gathering of Indians where white children captives were given up.

Finally, in 1835, Colonel George W. Ewing, an Indian trader, was quartered in the home of Maconoquah, as Frances Slocum was now called, where she related the story of her life to him. Marveling at its mystery. Colonel Ewing wrote the postmaster at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a letter containing the narrative of Maconoquah. No one however, was interested; but two years later John W. Forney, publisher of the Lancaster Intelligencer, ran across this letter and published it in July, 1837. Immediately the narrative was read by those who knew the story of the lost sister of Wyoming. A short time afterward Joseph Slocum jour- neyed to the home of Maconoquah, where he positively identified her as his long lost sister. She acknowledged him as her brother, but declined to leave her wigwam to enjoy the comforts of her brother's home in Wilkes-Barre. Said she: "No, I cannot. I have always lived with the Indians; they have always used me kindly; I am used to them. The Great Spirit has always allowed me to live with them, and I wish to live and die with them." The brother then returned to his home, and correspondence was kept up between the lost sister of Wyoming and her relatives until her death, which occurred March 9, 1847.

But, to return to Jonathan Slocum, the father of Frances. On December 16th, 1778, about a month and a half after the capture of his daughter, he, his father-in-law, Isaac Tripp, Esq., and William Slocum were feeding their cows from a stack in the meadow, in sight of the fort at Wyoming, when they were fired upon by Indians. Mr. Slocum was shot dead; Mr. Tripp was speared and tomahawked ; and William Slocum was wounded in the heel by a spent ball, but made his escape, and gave the alarm. "Thus," says Miner in his "History of Wyoming," "in a little

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more than a month, Mrs. Slocum had lost a beloved child, carried into captivity; the doorway had been drenched in blood by the murder of an inmate of the family; two others of the household had been taken away prisoners; and now her husband and her father were both stricken down to the grave, murdered and mangled by merciless Indians. Verily, the annals of Indian atrocities, written in blood, record few instances of desolation and woe equal to this."

Coshishton Massacre

The Indians, Tories and British, after the massacre at Wyo- ming, spread terror throughout the settlements on the Delaware. Colonel Jacob Stroud in a few days advised that they were dis- covered at the mouth of Lackawaxen Creek, in Pike County. Soon they continued their ravages and advance towards the Minisinks, where the people were poorly prepared for defense. In a letter written by Colonel Stroud from Fort Penn, where Stroudsburg, Monroe County, now stands, to Colonel John Weitzel, on July 17th, 1778, he said:

"I just now, by express, received a letter from Judge Symens, informing me that Coshishton was entirely cut off yesterday morning by a parcel of Tories and Indians, massacreing all men, women and children; even those that have been captivated [captured] by them before and dismissed by them with certain badges of distinction and their reputed friends; they threatened to cut off and destroy Peanpeek this morning, which we expect, if they should incline to come on to Minisinks and this place; we shall be unable to prevent it, as we are but about 60 men strong now assembled." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 6, page 651.)

Westward March of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment

As stated in the first part of this chapter. General Hand was relieved of command of the western department on May 2nd, 1778, and General Lachlan Mcintosh was commissioned to suc- ceed him. At the same time, the Eighth Pennsylvania and Thirteenth Virginia Regiments were detached from Washington's army at Valley Forge, and ordered to Fort Pitt. Colonel Daniel Brodhead commanded the former, and Colonel William Craw- ford, the latter. Ephriam Blaine, commissary of the Eighth Pennsylvania, was the grandfather of James G. Blaine. Other notable Pennsylvanians in this regiment were Major (later

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 567

General) Richard Butler, Lieutenant-Colonel George Wilson, and Adjutant Michael Huffnagle.

General Mcintosh, with the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, left Valley Forge in May, and marched to Lancaster, where the Continental Congress was in session. The Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment left Valley Forge about the middle of June, and pro- ceeded by way of Lancaster to Carlisle, at which place it arrived early on the 8th of July. In the meantime, the Thirteenth Vir- ginia had reached Carlisle and pushed on over the mountains toward the Ohio, and General Mcintosh waited at Carlisle until the arrival of the Eighth Pennsylvania. In the meantime, also, while waiting at Carlisle, General Mcintosh learned of the terrible Indian raids on the West Branch and North Branch of the Sus- quehanna, described earlier in this chapter. Upon the arrival of the Eighth Pennsylvania, he ordered Colonel Daniel Brodhead to march up the Susquehanna, drive out the Indians, and en- courage the settlers to return to their deserted plantations.

On July 12th, Colonel Brodhead left Carlisle for the Susque- hanna, with about three hundred and forty troops, marching in light order and leaving the pack horses and baggage at Carlisle. As stated earlier in this chapter, several detachments, among whom was Captain Samuel Miller, had already been sent on the road to Fort Pitt, to secure recruits and to prepare supplies for the regiment. Colonel Brodhead, upon arriving at Fort Augusta, held by one hundred men, sent details up both branches of the Susquehanna. Major Richard Butler was sent up the North Branch to Nescopeck, with two companies; Captain John Finley was sent with one company into Penn's Valley, west of the Sus- quehanna; while Colonel Brodhead, with the rest of the command, advanced up the West Branch to Muncy. He wrote from Muncy, on July 24th: "Great numbers of the inhabitants returned upon my approach, and are now collected in large bodies, reaping their harvests." (Pa. archives, Vol. 6, page 660.) Major Butler's and Colonel Brodhead 's detachments had no opportunity for battle with the Indians; but Captain Finley 's company had the engagement on July 24th near General James Potter's plantation in Penn's Valley, mentioned in his letter of July 25th, quoted earlier in this chapter.

Captain John Brady of the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment, father of the famous Captain Samuel Brady, had erected a stockade at Muncy; and here Samuel, who was then a lieutenant in the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, visited him and other

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members of the family while Brodhead's troops were in this region. At the end of July, the Eighth Pennsylvania was re- lieved by the Eleventh Pennsylvania, whereupon Colonel Brod- head's troops, Samuel Brady being with them, proceeded to Carlisle, at which place they arrived on August 6th. (Pa. Archives Vol. 6, page 680.) The regiment rested at Carlisle one week be- fore taking up the march over the mountains to Fort Pitt. Just before it left, Lieutenant Samuel Brady received the sad news of the fatal wounding of his brother James, as stated earlier in this chapter. On account of his brother's death, he was excused from accompanying his regiment to Fort Pitt, and spent the month of September in securing recruits in Cumberland County. Later he joined the regiment at Fort Pitt, and entered upon his brilliant career as a scout.

Leaving Carlisle on August 13th, the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment marched by way of Bedford, Ligonier and Hannas- town to Fort Pitt, where it arrived on September 10th, having been almost three months on the road from Valley Forge. Says Hassler, in his "Old Westmoreland":

"After it [the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment] reached Bedford, it was in its own country. From that place to Pittsburgh, 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 wayside 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."

Alliance with the Delawares

The Delawares of the Turkey and Turtle Clans on the Tus- carawas and Muskingum, owing principally to the influence of White Eyes, having maintained neutrality between the Americans and the British, during the early years of the Revolutionary War, and this remarkable chieftain having shown an intelligent sym- pathy with the American cause and expressed the hope that the Delaware Nation might form the fourteenth state in the American union. Congress, in June, 1778, ordered a treaty to be held at Fort Pitt, on July 23rd, for the purpose of forming an alliance with these Indians, and requested Virginia to choose two com-

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 569

missioners and Pennsylvania, one, for this purpose. Pennsylvania neglected to choose a commissioner; but Virginia appointed General Andrew Lewis, the conqueror of Cornstalk, at Point Pleasant, and his brother, Thomas Lewis, a civilian. The time of the treaty was postponed to September, owing to the inability of the American troops to reach Fort Pitt in July.

Messengers were sent to the Shawnees, inviting them to come to the treaty with the Delawares; but they declined, except a small band under Nimwha, who lived with the Delawares at Coshocton. One of the messengers sent to the Shawnees was James Girty, brother of the notorious Simon Girty. James did not return from his mission, but deserted the Americans.

The main purpose the Americans had in mind in making an alliance with the Delawares was that the American troops might not be opposed by this powerful Indian tribe in a contemplated march against Detroit through the three hundred miles of wilder- ness west of Fort Pitt.

When Colonel Brodhead and his troops reached Fort Pitt, on September 10th, they found the wigwams of the Delawares pitched near the shore of the Allegheny a short distance above the fort. The conference began on September 12th, and the treaty was signed on the 17th. Besides White Eyes, the Dela- wares were represented by Killbuck, successor to New Comer of the Turtle Clan, Captain Pipe, successor to Custaloga, of the Wolf Clan, and Wingenund, the Delaware "wise man." These three chiefs appeared at the councils, in all their gaudy attire, painted, feathered, and beaded; while General Mcintosh and his staff officers attended in new uniforms. The interpreter was Job Chilloway, a Delaware from the Susquehanna, who had learned the English language from having lived for a number of years among the white people.

General Lewis advised the Delaware chiefs of his intention to send an army against the British at Detroit, and asked the per- mission of the Delawares for the army to pass through the terri- tory over which they claimed control, bounded on the east by the Ohio and Allegheny, and on the west by the Hocking and San- dusky.

By the terms of the treaty as finally concluded, all offenses were mutually forgiven ; a perpetual friendship was pledged ; each party agreed to assist the other in any just war; the Delawares gave permission for an American army to pass through their territory, and agreed to furnish meat, corn, warriors and guides

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for the army. The United States agreed to erect and garrison a fort, within the Delaware country, for the protection of the old men, women, and children; and each party agreed to punish offenses committed by citizens of the other, according to a system to be arranged later. The United States promised the establish- ment of fair and honest trade relations; and lastly, the United States guaranteed the integrity of the Delaware nation, and promised to admit it as a state of the American Union, "provided nothing contained in this article be considered as conclusive until it meets the approbation of congress." With reference to the promise to admit the Delaware nation as a state of the Union, the commissioners must have known that this was an impossi- bility.

But the guileless White Eyes never suspected that he and his people were being imposed upon. Said he: "Brothers, we are become one people. We [the Delawares], are at a loss to express our thoughts, but we hope soon to convince you by our actions of the sincerity of our hearts. We now inform you that as many of our warriors as can possibly be spared will join you and go with you."

This treaty, was signed by the Delaware chiefs. White Eyes, Captain Pipe and John Killbuck. On the part of the United States, it was signed by General Andrew Lewis and his brother Thomas Lewis. It was witnessed by General Lachlan Mcintosh, Colonel Daniel Brodhead, Colonel William Crawford, Colonel John Gibson, Major Arthur Graham, Captain Joseph L. Finley, Captain John Finley, John Campbell, John Stephenson and Benjamin Mills. Its proceedings are found in the manuscript letter book of Colonel George Morgan, then Indian Agent at Fort Pitt.

The great courage of White Eyes in forming this alliance with the Americans is seen when it is recalled that all the other western tribes were on the side of the British, and, for some time had been endeavoring, by solicitation and threats, to draw all the Delawares into a British alliance. Colonel Hamilton, the "hair- buyer" was still at the height of his career in sending war parties against the frontier settlements.

General Mcintosh Marches to the Tuscarawas

The plan of General Mcintosh for the protection of the western frontier was to capture Detroit. Immediately after the treaty

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1778 571

with the Delawares, he began preparations for an expedition against this place. About October 1st, 1778, his army of thirteen hundred troops, five hundred of whom were regulars of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment and the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, went from Fort Pitt down the Ohio to the mouth of the Beaver, where four weeks were spent in erecting Fort Mc- intosh, located on the high bluff overlooking the Ohio, at the site of the present town of Beaver. On November 5th, his army took up the march through the wilderness to the Tuscarawas, reaching this stream, on November 19th, at the place where the town of Bolivar, Ohio, now stands. Here the expedition against Detroit was abandoned on account of the lateness of the season, and a fort was erected, called Fort Laurens in honor of Henry Laurens, the president of the Continental Congress.

General Mcintosh returned to Fort Pitt, leaving one hundred and fifty troops of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment under Colonel John Gibson at Fort Laurens; while Colonel Daniel Brodhead was left in command of Fort Mcintosh with a detach- ment of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment. The garrison at Fort Laurens spent a terrible winter, being short of supplies, and it being impossible for the soldiers to hunt game on account of the hostile Wyandots, Miamis and Shawnees. Early in January, 1779, Captain John Clark was sent with a detachment carrying supplies. Although attacked by Indians led by Simon Girty, he reached Fort Laurens in safety. Captain Clark then attempted to return to Fort Pitt, but was again attacked and driven back to Fort Laurens. A few days later, he made a third attempt, this one successful. Soon a large force of Indians, under Simon Girty and Captain Henry Bird, surrounded Fort Laurens, and began a siege of the place. Almost starving, they told Colonel Gibson that they would withdraw if he would give them a barrel of meat and a barrel of flour. This Gibson did, telling them he had a large supply of both. The Indians then withdrew to their villages. On March 23rd, General Mcintosh reached the fort with a force of five hundred men carrying supplies. Gibson's soldiers were so overjoyed that they fired a volley, as they had been living on soup made of raw hides and roots. The firing of the volley frightened Mcintosh's pack horses, and they dashed off through the woods, scattering the provisions, only about half of which the troops were able to gather up. Colonel Gibson and his detach- ment returned with General Mcintosh, leaving Major Vernon

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and a garrison of one hundred men of the Eighth Pennsylvania in charge of the fort.

Before making this last journey to Fort Laurens, General Mc- intosh had asked General Washington to relieve him of his com- mand. Upon his return to Fort Pitt, he was notified that Colonel Daniel Brodhead had been appointed to take his place as com- mander of the western department.

Death of White Eyes

On General Mcintosh's march from Fort Mcintosh to the Tuscarawas, White Eyes, according to Hassler's "Old Westmore- land" and other authorities, was treacherously put to death, it is believed, by a Virginia militiaman. However, Hecke welder and De Schweinitz say he died of small-pox at the camp on the Tus- carawas on November 10th, 1778. Both the "Handbook of American Indians" and Loskiel's "History of the Moravian Missions" say the cause of the great chief's death was small-pox, and both erroneously give the place of his death as Pittsburgh.

Says DeSchweinitz : "Where his [White Eyes'] remains are resting, no man knows; the plowshare has often furrowed his grave. But his name lives; and the Christian may hope that in the resurrection of the just, he, too will be found among the great multitude redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

CHAPTER XXV

The Revolutionary War

1779

WHEN Colonel Daniel Brodhead took command of Fort Pitt, in April, 1779, General Mcintosh transferred to him not only the garrison of this post but the small garrisons at Fort Henry (Wheeling, West Virginia), Fort Randolph (Point Pleasant West Virginia), and Fort Hand, in the northern part of West- moreland County, Brodhead then sent a force under Lieutenant Lawrence Harrison, of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, to oc- cupy Fort Crawford, located on the east bank of the Allegheny, where the town of Parnassus, Westmoreland County, now stands, which fort had been erected during the summer of 1778 by Colonel William Crawford. He also withdrew most of the garrison from Fort Laurens to Fort Mcintosh, and later dismantled the former. Colonel Brodhead, soon after taking command of the western department, put into operation a system of scouting from one fort to another in the western region. The scouts were selected from the boldest and most experienced frontiersmen under his command. Their captains were Van Swearingen, John Hardin and Samuel Brady.

Captain Samuel Brady's Revenge

Soon after Samuel Brady was appointed one of the leaders of Brodhead 's scouts, he received another crushing blow. On April 11th, 1779, his father. Captain John Brady, was conveying sup- plies from Fort Wallis to Fort Muncy, when three Iroquois Indians, secreted in a thicket, shot him dead from his horse.

The body of Captain John Brady was buried in an old grave- yard near Halls, Lycoming County, where a heavy granite marker was erected at his grave, bearing the following inscription : Captain John Brady Fell in Defense of Our Forefathers At Wolf Run, April 11, 1779, Aged Forty-six Years

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One hundred years after his death, funds were raised for the erection of a large monument to his memory in the cemetery at Muncy, the shaft being unveiled on October 15, 1879.

When Captain Samuel Brady received the news of the murder of his father, it is said that, in a frenzy of grief, he renewed the vow taken after the murder of his brother, raising his hand on high, and saying:

"Aided by Him Who formed yonder sun and heavens, I will avenge the murder of my father ; nor while I live, will I ever be at peace with the Indians of any tribe."

Samuel Brady did not have long to wait for an opportunity to avenge the death of his brother. In June, 1779, a band of the Wolf Clan of Delawares and probably some Senecas, came down the Allegheny River and made a raid into Westmoreland County, killing a soldier between Fort Hand (near Apollo) and Fort Craw- ford (Parnassus), attacking the settlement at James Perry's Mill on Big Sewickley Creek, killing a woman and four children and carrying off two children, the latter no doubt being the children of Frederick Heinrich (Henry), near Greensburg.

At least General Hugh Brady, a brother of Samuel Brady, in his account of the Brady family, says these were the children of Mr. Henry, as does C. W. Butterfield in his "Washington-Irvine Correspondence." (See also Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 505.)

The attack on the home of Frederick Henry is thus described in Rev. W. A. Zundel's "History of Old Zion Lutheran Church":

"Frederick Henry (Heinrich), of Northampton, Burlington County, New Jersey, settled, shortly after 1770, in the Herold settlement [in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County]. In time, the new settlers cleared some land and erected a house and stables. Four children cheered this lonely settlement. During the spring of 1779, when the husband, Frederick Henry, was com- pelled to leave home to take some grist to a distant mill, a band of Indians, perhaps Senecas, descended upon the helpless home.

"As was their custom, the Indians sneaked up to the house to ascertain if the men were home and on guard. Now, the Henrys had a large cock that frequently came to the door of the home to be fed. Mrs. Henry, seeing some feathers moving near the door, sent one of the children to shoo away the big rooster; whereupon the Indians, decked out in the feathers of their war headgear, burst in upon the helpless family. Mrs. Henry bravely attempted to defend her little ones; whereupon she was tomahawked and scalped in the presence of her small children.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 SIS

"One child, seeing the Indians coming at the door, fled into the corn field and hid among the corn, and thus escaped, the Indians being in a hurry, fearing the wrath of the settlers. The Indians now took the three children captive, and after firing the buildings, started on their journey toward the Indian country. It soon developed that the youngest child, a mere infant, would be too much bother to the Indians, so when it began to cry, a big Indian took it by its feet, and dashed its brains out against a maple tree on the Solomon Bender farm, now owned by William Henry. This tree was held sacred by the pioneers and it stood until recent times (about 1900). The other children were carried away.

"Immediately upon the return of Henry, a posse of settlers started out in pursuit of the Indians. One account relates that the Indians were in their camp above Pittsburgh on the Alle- gheny, and after a lively skirmish, the children were recaptured, and the murderer of the wife and child identified, tied to a tree, and dispatched by the daughter, Anna Margaret, then about nine years old. Another account agrees with the report of Colonel Brodhead, that Captain Brady, with twenty white men and a Delaware chief, effected the capture."*

The news of this raid reaching Fort Pitt, two parties were sent out against these Indians, one marching into the Sewickley settlement and attempting to follow the Indian trail, and the other consisting of twenty men under Captain Samuel Brady, ascending the Allegheny River.

Brady's forces were painted and dressed like Indians. He had with him his "pet Indian," the unfortunate Nanowland, who was killed at Killbuck Island, near Fort Pitt, in the spring of 1782, by the Scotch-Irish settlers living on Chartier's Creek. Brady's reason for going up the Allegheny was that he was satisfied that the Indians came from the north and would return that direction to get possession of their canoes, which they had no doubt hidden along the river bank when they had left the stream. Brady came upon the canoes of these Indians drawn up within the mouth of one of the creeks entering the Allegheny from the east. There is lack of agreement among historians as to the identity of this creek. Some say that it was the Big Mahoning; but Colonel Brodhead, in his report to General Washington, written on June 24th, says that the scene was "about fifteen miles above Kittanning," which agrees with the location of Red Bank Creek; not far from the beautiful bend on the Allegheny, which

*In this same raid, two children of a settler named Haines were killed near the site of the Henry atrocity.

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bears the name of Brady. General Hugh Brady also locates this incident being near the mouth of Red Bank Creek. (Linn's "Annals of the Buffalo Valley," page 227.) Colonel Brodhead, in his letter of June 24th, above quoted in part, further says:

"About a fortnight ago, three men which I had sent to recon- noitre the Seneca Country, returned from Venango, being chased by a number of warriors who were coming down the river in canoes ; they continued their pursuit until they came to this side of the Kittanning, and the white men narrowly escaped." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 505.)

The Indians were in camp in the woods north of Red Bank Creek, and were preparing supper when Brady discovered them. They had hobbled the horses which they had stolen, and turned them loose to graze on the meadow near the creek. On account of the swollen condition of the creek, Brady's men were compelled to ascend it two miles before they were able to cross. Waiting until after nightfall, Brady and his men descended the northern side of the creek to a point near the camp, and then lay in the tall grass.

Laying aside their arms, Brady and Nanowland crept on their stomachs to within a few yards of the Indian camp, in order to count the number of the Indians and learn the position of the captives taken. As Brady and his faithful Delaware were lying in the grass, one of the warriors arose from his position near the fire, stepped forth to a few feet from where Brady lay, stood there for a while and then returned to his companions, and lay down to sleep. Then Brady and Nanowland crept back to their com- panions and prepared to attack the Indians at daybreak. As the first streaks of dawn floated over the verdant hills of the Alle- gheny, one of the Indians awoke and aroused his companions. The whole band then stood about the fire, when suddenly a sheet of flame blazed from the rifles of Brady and his men, and the chief of the seven Indians fell dead, while the others fled into the sur- rounding forest, two of them severely wounded. It was Brady's own rifle that brought down the chief, who was none other than Bald Eagle. With a shout of triumph, Brady leaped upon the fallen chieftain and scalped him. Thus, on the banks of the Allegheny, far from the harvest field near the banks of the Sus- quehanna, where Bald Eagle killed young James Brady, during the preceding summer. Captain Samuel Brady avenged the death of his younger and favorite brother.

The children captured by Bald Eagle's band were recovered

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unharmed and returned to Fort Pitt. The death of Bald Eagle had a good effect in that the Indians made no more raids into Westmoreland during that summer. Three weeks later, Captain Brady returned to the neighborhood of the attack on Bald Eagle's band. Observing a flock of crows hovering above the thicket, he made a search and found the partially devoured body of one of the Indians that died of his wounds.

Other Exploits of Captain Samuel Brady

On one occasion Samuel Brady started from Pittsburgh with a few picked men on a scout toward the Sandusky villages. While they were on their return trip they were pursued by Indians and all killed except Brady, who succeeded in getting as far towards Fort Pitt as the hill named for him near Beaver. He was not wounded, but almost dead from fatigue. He well realized that he was being tracked by the Indians, and that if he did not resort to some trick to elude them, he would be lost. Having selected a large tree, lately been blown down having a leafy top, he walked back carefully in his tracks a few hundred yards, and then turned about and walked in his old steps as far as the tree. This was done in the hope and belief that the Indians would be sure to follow him thither. He then walked along the trunk of the tree, and hid himself in its leafy top. He believed that the Indians would track him to the tree, and finding no further trace of him, would sit on the trunk or log of the same for consultation. He had not long to wait. Presently three Indians with their eyes bent to the earth followed his tracks, came to the tree, which they closely examined for the trail beyond, but not finding any, sat down on the trunk to consult together just as Brady had antici- pated. Quickly and silently Brady raised his rifle and shot the foremost Indian dead. The bullet passed through his body and wounded the other two. Springing upon these with clubbed rifle, Brady soon dispatched them both.

On another occasion, as this noted scout was returning to Fort Pitt, he realized that he was being tracked by an Indian with a dog. Occasionally he had seen the Indian in the distance passing from tree to tree and advancing on his trail. For his ambush he selected a large chestnut tree which had been blown out of root. He walked from the top of the tree along its trunk, and sat down in the hole made by the uprooting of the tree. In a short time he saw a small dog mount the log at the other end and with nose to

578 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the trunk approach him, closely followed by a plumed warrior. Brady had to make a choice between the dog and the Indian. He preferred shooting the former, which he did. As the dog rolled off the log dead, the Indian with a loud whoop ran into the forest and disappeared.

Charles McKnight, in "Our Western Border," relates an in- cident in Brady's life that happened about the close of the Revolu- tionary War. Brady, with two companions, Thomas Bevington and Benjamin Biggs, were coming from Fort Mcintosh (Beaver, Pa.) to Fort Pitt, and when they arrived at the site of the present town of Sewickley, Allegheny County, they suddenly came upon "Indian signs." At that time there was but a solitary cabin at this place, that of a hunter named Albert Gray. Brady, bidding his men crouch down, approached the cabin to reconnoitre, and presently saw Gray approaching on horseback with a deer laid across the horse's back behind him. Brady, being dressed as an Indian, sprang forth and jerked Gray from his horse. Gray, thinking him an Indian, offered fierce resistance; but the hunter's fears were allayed by the Captain's whispering to him: "Don't strike; I am Captain Brady. For God's sake keep quiet." The two then approached nearer the cabin, and found it a heap of smoking ruins. The Indians had burned it after carrying off Gray's wife and two children. Brady and Gray then joined the other white men, and the four hurried to the ford on the Beaver River, near its mouth, to intercept the Indian band at that place. The white men crossed the Beaver about dusk, and cautiously entering a ravine, discovered the Indians eating their evening meal near a spring, with Gray's wife and two children with them. As there were about a dozen in the band, Brady decided to wait until the Indians were asleep before attacking them. Cautiously crawling near the sleeping Indians in the darkness, Brady and his companions attacked them with rifle, tomahawk and knife, and soon every one was dispatched. Gray's wife and children at first fled, but finding deliverance at hand, soon returned. The spring near which the Indians were slain was called the "Bloody Spring."

McKnight also says, in "Our Western Border," that, on one of his hunting trips, Brady was captured by a band of Indians near Beaver, and taken to their town on the west bank of the Beaver River, about a mile and a half above its mouth. Says McKnight:

"After the usual exultations and rejoicings at the capture of a noted enemy, and causing him to run the gauntlet, a fire was

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 579

prepared, near which Brady was placed after being stripped, and

with his arms unbound. Previous to tying him to the stake, a

large circle was formed around of Indian men, women and

children, dancing and yelling, and uttering all manner of threats

and abuses that their small knowledge of the English language

could afford. The prisoner looked on these preparations for

death and on his savage foe with a firm countenance and a steady

eye, meeting all their threats with Indian fortitude. In the midst

of their dancing and rejoicing, a squaw of one of their chiefs

came near him, with a child in her arms. Quick as thought, and

with intuitive prescience, he snatched it from her, and threw it

toward the fire. Horror stricken at the sudden outrage, the

Indians simultaneously rushed to rescue the infant from the

flames. In the midst of this confusion, Brady darted from the

circle, overturning all that came in his way, and rushed into the

adjacent thicket, with the Indians yelling at his heels. He

ascended the steep side of a hill amidst a shower of bullets, and

darting down the opposite declivity, secreted himself in the deep

ravines and laurel thickets that abounded for several miles to

the west. His knowledge of the country, and wonderful activity,

enabled him to elude his enemies. Another version of this event,

furnished us, makes it the squaw herself that the Captain pushed

on the fire."

One of the well known stories of Samuel Brady is that of his famous leap, which took place during the summer of 1780. In this summer a band of Indians murdered several families in Washington County, and started for the Indian country, in Ohio, with the scalps of the victims. Brady was visiting at the home of Captain Van Swearingen in Washington County at the time of this raid. With a company of rangers, among whom were John Dillow and a man named Stoup, Brady started in pursuit of the murderers. Near a lake in Portage County, Ohio, since known as Brady's Lake, the noted scout and his men overtook the Indians. In the battle which followed, most of Brady's men were killed, and he was captured. The Indians decided to burn him at the stake. They stripped him, and bound him to a post. Then the fire was lighted. Brady was a man of great physical strength, ■ and consequently succeeded in working his bonds loose. Then waiting a favorable opportunity, he leaped through the flames, knocking a squaw into the fire, and dashing into the forest. Scores of Indians took up the pursuit. Reaching the high bank of the Cuyahoga River at a point within the limits of the present

580 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

town of Kent, Ohio, summoning all his powers, Brady leaped across the stream, though the distance was more than twenty-five feet. His Indian pursuers then crossed the river at the ford at some distance from the point where Brady leaped across, and were soon in hot pursuit. Running to the lake, Brady concealed himself among the rushes, some accounts saying that he sub- merged himself in the water and breathed through a reed. Dur- ing the night he came from his place of concealment, and then made his way through the wilderness to Fort Mcintosh.

In May, 1780, Colonel Brodhead, then in command at Fort Pitt, received a report that an army of British and Indians was assembling on the Sandusky River in Ohio, intending to attack Fort Pitt. Accordingly, he directed Samuel Brady to go to the Indian settlement on the Sandusky with a few scouts, in order to learn the plans of the proposed expedition against Fort Pitt. Late in May, Brady set out for Sandusky with five white com- panions and two Delawares, the whole company being dressed and painted like Indians. When Brady's company approached the Wyandot country, they traveled only by night, hiding in the forests by day. One of the Delawares became faint-hearted and returned to Fort Pitt.

When Brady and his remaining companions drew near the Wyandot capital near Upper Sandusky, he and one Delaware companion waded to a wooded island opposite the Indian town, where they lay all the next day watching the Indians enjoy a horse race near the bank of the river. They found the town full of warriors. The indications were that the savages were preparing for the warpath. During the night Brady and his companion re- joined the others, and started toward Fort Pitt. When they had reached a point about two miles from Sandusky, they captured two Indian maidens at a camp, and took them along, believing that they might divulge valuable information. At the end of six days, one of these squaws escaped. The food supply of Brady and his men was now exhausted, and for an entire week they had nothing to eat but berries. Brady succeeded in shooting an otter; but even these hungry frontiersmen could not eat the rank flesh.

When Brady and his companions reached a point near the old Indian town of Kuskuskies, at the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango Rivers, in Lawrence County, Brady saw a deer and attempted to shoot it; but his gun flashed in the pan. He was preparing again to fire, when he heard the voices of Indians. Con-

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 581

cealing himself, he saw an Indian captain riding a grey horse followed by six warriors on foot, coming along the Indian trail. On the same horse with the Indian captain, were a captive white woman and her child, the woman riding behind the Indian, who held her child in his arms. Brady at once recognized the woman as Mrs. Jennie Stoops, who had been captured some time before on Chartier's Creek, at a point near the present town of Crafton, Allegheny County. Taking careful aim Brady shot the Indian captain through the head. The savage fell from his horse, drag- ging the woman and child with him. Brady then dashed for- ward shouting for his men to come on. The hostile Indians being surprised at the sudden death of their leader, fired a few shots, and then fled. Being dressed like an Indian, Mrs. Stoops did not recognize Lieutenant Brady, but thought him an Indian. "Why did you shoot your brother?" she asked. Brady took the child in his arms, saying, "Jennie Stoops, I am Captain Brady, follow me, and I will secure you and your child." Taking Mrs. Stoops by the hand and the child in his arms, Brady hastened into the thicket, where he found his companions cowering in fear, who had let the other Indian squaw escape.

After going a few miles further along the trail toward Fort Mcintosh (now Beaver), Brady and his scouts met a band of settlers from the Chartier's Valley, pursuing the captors of Mrs. Stoops and her child. Mrs. Stoops and her infant were then restored unharmed to the husband and father; and Brady re- turned to the scene of the adventure, where he found and scalped the Wyandot captain. Colonel Brodhead, in a letter to President Reed, written at Fort Pitt, on June 30th, 1780, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, pages 378 and 379, mentioned the exploit just related, and recommended Brady's promotion to the rank of Captain.

Brady's scouting covered a vast extent of territory, to the headwaters of the Allegheny, to Sandusky on the west, and to the West Branch of the Susquehanna, on the east. In "Meginness' History of the West Branch Valley," is an account of an "Indian hunt" which Brady and Peter Grove made, most likely in 1780, through the counties of Huntingdon, Clearfield, Centre, Lycom- ing, Clinton, and Union. They would creep up on Indian camps, fire into the same, each killing an Indian, and then bound off through the woods like antelopes. They were matchless sprinters, and the Indians were never able to overtake them. In this "hunt," they killed many Indians, among them being Blacksnake,

582 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the Panther, the Greatshot, and Wamp. It is a terrible story of butchery. Grove says that his heart was wrung to tears by the cries of Wamp's squaw. Some time after they had shot the Panther and the Blacksnake, they returned to the camp where the massacre occured. Says Grove: "We found the Panther dead, but the Blacksnake was yet alive, and vomiting blood. We made all dead shots that day."

After the Revolutionary War, Brady left Fort Pitt and the Chartiers settlement near-by, and went with his father-in-law, Captain Van Swearingen, to West Liberty, Ohio County, West Virginia. When General Anthony Wayne arrived in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1792 to assemble and train an army to march against the Western Indians, he sent for Captain Brady, and gave him command of spies in the employ of the Government. In May, 1793, Brady was tried in Pittsburgh for the killing of some Indians, in the spring of 1791, where the present town of Fallston, Beaver County, now stands. These Indians, who were Dela- wares, had murdered Paul Riley, Mrs. Vanbuskirke and several of the Boggs family in Ohio County, West Virginia. Brady and twenty other men pursued them, overtaking what they believed to be the same band at Fallston and killing several, two of whom were women. Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, offered a reward of $500.00 for Brady's person; but the noted frontiersman surrendered himself for trial. He was defended by James Ross, Esq., and was acquitted. The old Indian chief, Guyasuta, was a witness for Brady, and his testimony was so strong in favor of the defendant that even Mr. Ross was abashed. At the close of the trial, Mr. Ross spoke to Guyasuta, expressing his surprise at the decided tone of his testimony. The aged chief then clapped his hand on his breast, and said: "Am I not the friend of Brady?"

Samuel Brady was born at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. About 1786, he married Drusella Swearingen, a daughter of Captain Van Swearingen, "Indian Van," as he was called, of Washington County. He died at West Liberty, West Virginia, on January 1st, 1796, aged thirty-seven years. The inscription on his tomb- stone gives the date of his death and his age, although some historians have stated that he died on Christmas day, 1795, in his thirty-ninth year.

Outrages in Westmoreland County in 1779

Early in the spring of 1779, the inhabitants of Westmoreland County suffered terribly[from Indian raids. In the latter part of

THEfREVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 583

April, a band of Senecas entered the Ligonier Valley, killed one man, and carried two families into captivity. On April 26th, Fort Hand, garrisoned by seventeen men under Captain Samuel Moorhead and Lieutenant William Jack, was attacked, possibly by the same band, estimated to be one hundred strong. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the Indians fired upon two ploughmen, who escaped to the fort. Then the fort was attacked, several women within making bullets while the riflemen fired at the In- dians. The firing was kept up until nightfall. In the meantime, three of the garrison were wounded, one of them fatally. This was Sergeant Philip McGraw, who occupied a sentry box. He died in a few days. After McGraw had been shot and removed, a man named McCauley, who took his place, was also wounded.

During the night, the Indians shot at the fort, and mimicked the sentinel's cry, "All's well." At midnight, they set fire tojohn McKibbon's barn near the fort, and the Tories among them cried : "Is all well now?" During the night, a messenger was sent to Fort Pitt for aid. The Indians gave up the siege the next fore- noon, and forty soldiers who were hurried from Fort Pitt, arrived too late to intercept them. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, pages 362 and 363.)

Colonel George Reading, writing President Reed from Fort Ligonier, April 26, 1779, says that on that day the Indians "made a breach upon us, killed one man, took another prisoner, another man is missing;" that two families living some distance from the fort were evidently captured or killed, (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 345.)

The dreadful situation of the Westmoreland settlers during that spring is seen in the following statement in a letter sent to President Reed by Archibald Lochry, from Hannastown, on May 1st: "The savages are continually making depredations among us. Not less than forty people have been killed, wounded, or captured this spring, and the enemy have killed our creatures within three hundred yards of this town." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 362.)

Charles Clifford lived on Mill Creek, about two and one-half miles northward from Ligonier. On April 22nd, 1779, he and his two sons went to work in the field. Leaving his sons to continue the work, he went in search of his horses. After searching for some time without success, he reached the Forbes Road leading to the stockade near Laughlintown, when five Indians who lay concealed behind a log, shot at him. One bullet splintered his gun and cut

584 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

his face, which bled freely, but otherwise he was unharmed. The Indians believed that Clifford was protected by the Great Spirit. They approached him, wiped the blood from his face, and told him that they were glad that they had not killed him. They then took him along with them, and when they had reached a point near Fairfield, Westmoreland County, they met fifty- two others proceeding northward, having with them a prisoner named Peter Maharg. The chief of this band wore many silver trinkets on his head and arms. After a while the two bands separated, Clifford going with one, and Maharg with the other. Clifford was carried to the Seneca region on the headwaters of the Allegheny, and after six weeks, was delivered to the British at Montreal. He was well liked by the British officers, and from one he secured a compass, which he gave to James Flock, who with it made his way back to his home in Westmoreland, where he had been captured sometime before. After two and one-half years, Clifford was exchanged and returned to his home in the Ligonier Valley. This was not the only experience that the Clifford family had with the Indians. On the 18th of October, 1777, Clifford's son, (some say his brother) James, shot an Indian while hunting with a dog near Bunger's spring about a quarter of a mile from the fort at Ligonier. The Indian was not killed outright, and a party of militia immediately turned out from the fort to search for him. They traced him by blood on the path for about forty rods, at which point the Indian seems to have stopped the wound with leaves. They were unable to find him.

Colonel Brodhead's Expedition Against the Senecas and Delawares

In order to put a stop to the raids of the Delawares of the Munsee Clan and of the Senecas under Guyasuta into Westmore- land County, Colonel Brodhead, in the summer of 1779, begged General Washington for permission to lead an expedition into the Seneca Country. Early in the same summer, Washington directed General John Sullivan to invade the territory of the Iroquois from the East; and, about the middle of July, Brodhead received permission from Washington to undertake a cooperating movement up the Allegheny. With sixty boats, two hundred pack horses and six hundred and five soldiers, he left Fort Pitt on August 11th. Small garrisons were placed at Fort Mcintosh (Beaver), Fort Crawford (Parnassus) and Fort Armstrong, a

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 585

stockade which Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Bayard had erected just below the present town of Kittanning in June, 1779, naming it in honor of General John Armstrong. A band of friendly Dela- wares, under Captain Samuel Brady and Lieutenant John Hardin, accompanied the expedition as scouts. Brodhead's small army ascended the beautiful Allegheny, whose banks were now clothed in the verdure of midsummer.

Majestic stood the river hills,

Clothed in living green,

While Allegheny gently rolled

Its winding way between. Reaching the mouth of the Mahoning, Brodhead left the river and followed the Indian trail running almost due north through the wilderness of what is now Clarion County, and reached the Allegheny near the mouth of Tionesta Creek, Forest County. A few miles below the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek, Warren County, Brodhead's force encountered a party of thirty Seneca's, under Guyasuta, descending the Allegheny on their way to raid the frontier settlements. Both sides discovered each other at about the same time, took position behind trees and rocks, and a sharp fight commenced, which lasted but a few minutes, when a party of Brodhead's scouts, moving over the river hill, attacked the Senecas on the flank. The Indians then took to flight, leaving five of their number dead on the field. It has been said that Cornplanter was the commander of the In- dians at this engagement, but it is clear that he was at this time in the Genesee country endeavoring to oppose the advance of Sullivan's army. Brodhead then marched up the river, destroyed the Seneca towns, and burned one hundred thirty of their houses, some of them large enough for three or four families. This was where the Seneca or Cornplanter Reservation in Warren County, is now located. They also destroyed five hundred acres of corn, of which Brodhead said: "I never saw finer corn, although it was planted much thicker than is common with our farmers."

Brodhead's forces then returned to the deserted Indian town of Buccaloons, located at the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek. From here the troops marched across the country to French Creek, crossing Oil Creek on the way, where they rubbed them- selves with the oil which they found floating on the top of the water and received much relief from rheumatic pains. At the junction of Conneaut Creek and French Creek, the troops burned

586 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the deserted Munsee Delaware town of Maghingquechahocking, consisting of thirty-five large houses. The army then descended French Creek to its mouth, and returned to Fort Pitt over the Venango Indian Trail, which ran almost north and south through the heart of Butler County, dividing near Murdering Town, one branch leading to Logstown (Ambridge) and the other down Pine Creek to the Allegheny.

Slippery Rock Creek is said, by some authorities, to have gotten its name from an incident which happened while Brod- head's troops were crossing this stream in the northern part of Butler County. The horse of one of the soldiers, John Ward, slipped on one of the large, smooth stones in the bottom of the creek and severely injured the rider, whereupon the soldiers named the stream "Slippery Rock." However, Hecke welder says that the Delawares called this stream Weschachachapochka, meaning "slippery rock."

Colonel Brodhead's troops arrived at Fort Pitt on September 14th, without the loss of a man or a horse. Congress gave him a vote of thanks for the success of his expedition, and Washington warmly congratulated him.

Some historians have erroneously located the battle Brodhead fought in this expedition as being near East Brady, Clarion County, confusing it with the encounter that Captain Samuel Brady had with the Indians near the mouth of Red Bank Creek in June, 1779, in which the Delaware chief. Bald Eagle, was killed. For Brodhead's account of the expedition and battle, see his report to General Washington, in Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, pages 155 to 158.*

The Prowess of Mrs. Experience Bozarth

About the middle of March, 1779, several families who were afraid to stay at home, gathered at the house of Mrs. Experience Bozarth on Dunkard Creek, Greene County. About April 1st, a band of Indians, likely Shawnees or Wyandots, made an attack upon the house, when all the men except two were absent. Some of the children, who were playing near the house, came running in great haste, saying that "there were ugly red men." One of the men in the house stepped to the door, receiving a bullet in his side, causing him to fall back into the house. The Indian who shot him came in over his prostrate body, and engaged the other man in the house. This man tossed the Indian on a bed, and

♦The battle was on August 15. Brodhead probably crossed the New York State line. He and General Sullivan sent messengers to each other, but it seems none got through in time to be of service.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 587

called for a knife to kill him. Mrs. Bozarth not finding a knife, took up an axe that lay nearby, and with it knocked out the brains of this Indian. At the same instant, a second Indian entered the door, and shot the man dead who was struggling with the Indian on the bed. Mrs. Bozart immediately attacked this second Indian with her axe, giving him several large gashes which let his en- trails appear. He bawled with pain. Then one of several other Indians who had been engaged in killing the children out of doors, rushed to the relief of the wounded Indian, and Mrs. Bozarth split his head open with her axe as he came through the door. Another Indian dragged the wounded and bellowing savage out of doors; whereupon Mrs. Bozarth with the assistance of the man who had been shot, but by this time was a little recovered, shut the door and fastened it. The inmates of the house kept garrison for several days until a relief party arrived. In the meantime, the dead white man and the dead Indian were both in the house with them.

Atrocities in Washington County in 1779

In the summer of 1779, hostile Indians invaded the valley of Cross Creek, in Washington County, capturing the wife of William Reynolds and her baby at the blockhouse which Mr. Reynolds had erected in 1775, in what is now Cross Creek Town- ship. Mr. Reynolds was absent at the time of the capture of his family. He soon returned, and, accompanied by Robert Mc- Cready, Rev. Thomas Marquis and John Marquis, pursued the Indians, who, discovering that they were being pursued, killed Mrs. Reynolds and her baby, and made their escape through the forest.

In July, 1779, William Anderson was shot from ambush while working in the field near his home on Raccoon Creek, Washington County. He was able to make his way to the cabin of Thomas Armor, who carried him to Fort Dillow, in what is now Hanover Township, the nearest place of refuge. The records of the time do not show whether Mr. Anderson lived or died. Colonel Brodhead, in his letter written from Fort Pitt on August 4th, to General Washington, says that Anderson was wounded, and that, on August 3rd, a soldier was killed at Fort Mcintosh and a sergeant badly wounded. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 148; see also same volume, page 142.) When Mrs. Anderson heard the shot that wounded her husband, she took her infant son in her

588 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

arms and fled to the forest, where she concealed herself and baby in the top of a fallen tree. The Indians then went to the Ander- son home, and captured two boys, step-brothers, aged four and seven years. In carrying off the boys, the Indians passed within a few feet of where Mrs. Anderson and her baby were concealed. The boys were taken to the Indian towns in Ohio. The elder, Logan, returned to Fort Mcintosh after the close of the Revolu- tionary War. The younger boy ended his days among the Indians.

Wyoming Valley Again Invaded

In March, 1779, Indian allies of the British once more invaded the Wyoming Valley. On the 21st of this month, Josiah Rogers and Captain James Bidlack were attacked on the flats near Ply- mouth. The Indians attempted to seize the bridles of the white men's horses, and a race for life ensued. The girth of Captain Bidlack's saddle broke, and he was thrown and captured. Several bullets passed through the clothes of Rogers, but he escaped. On the same day many Indians were seen advancing over the Kingston flats towards a block-house erected on that side of the Susquehanna, and in full view from the fort at Wilkes-Barre. Colonel Zebulon Butler then detached twenty-five men to aid those in the blockhouse. A charge was made on the Indians, causing them to retreat, and the soldiers followed them to the edge of the woods, Arhen more Indians were discovered; where- upon the enemy advanced, a skirmish ensued, and several of the soldiers were wounded, but none mortally. The Indians suc- ceeded in taking away sixty cattle and twenty horses of the settlers.

On March 23rd, three hundred Indians and Tories, formed in a semi-circle, approached the fort at Wilkes-Barre. A brisk fire was opened upon them from the fort, and the chief who led them was killed by a ball from a four pound cannon. They were re- pulsed, but succeeded in securing fifty-one cattle and ten horses, and in burning two houses and two well-filled barns. The house of Thaddeus Williams, within eighty rods of the fort, was at- tacked, but Mr. Williams' son. Sergeant Thomas Williams, using two rifles, succeeded in killing one of the Indians and wounding their leader. The Indians then withdrew, and Sergeant Williams' aged parents were saved from death.

In a few days, a band of twenty Indians returned, and on the Kingston side of the river, in sight of the fort at Wilkes-Barre,

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 589

killed Elihu Williams, Lieutenant Buck and Stephen Pettebone, and wounded Frederick Follet, who fell pierced by seven spear wounds, and was scalped with the others, and left for dead. At once, a detachment was sent across the river from the fort, but the Indians had fled. Follet, covered with blood, showed signs of life, and was taken to the fort. Dr. William Hooker Smith pronounced his condition hopeless, as one spear thrust had penetrated his stomach, causing its contents to come out at his side; but he recovered, and lived for many years.

Having been reinforced by a German regiment of three hundred men, Colonel Zebulon Butler was able to clear the open portions of the valley of hostile Indians, but they still continued to lie in ambush in the passes of the mountains. Major Powell, com- manding two hundred men who had fought valiantly at Ger- man town, was ordered to Wyoming, and on the night of April 19th, arrived at Bear Creek, about ten miles from the fort. Taking up their march the following day, with the regimental band playing livelv music, deer were reported to have been seen by the van guard, whereupon Captain Davis and Lieutenant Jones, armed with rifles, hastened forward with a small party hoping to secure venison. Near Laurel Run and near the summit of the second mountain, about four miles from the fort, fire was opened upon them by Indians in ambush, and Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones, Corporal Butler, and three other men fell. Major Powell then hastened forward, arriving at a moment when one of the Indians had seized the wife of one of the soldiers who had fallen, and was dragging her off into the thicket. The woman escaped, but Major Powell's men were thrown into con- fusion, and retreated in disorder, though the Major succeeded in sending a messenger to the fort. The Wyoming soldiers marched to the mountain, and escorted Major Powell and his men into the valley. Both the German regiment and Major Powell's battalion had been ordered to Wyoming to await and join General Sullivan's army in its march against the Six Nations described later in this chapter.*

Attack on Killatns and Kimbles

In the spring of 1779, Ephraim Killam, Jeptha Killam, Silas Killam, Ephraim Kimble and Walter Kimble went back to the Wallenpaupack settlement on the creek of the same name between Pike and Wayne Counties, to make maple sugar. The fort in the

♦Major Daniel Burchardt commanded the German regiment. It was recruited in Pennsyl- vania and Maryland.

590 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

settlement having been destroyed, the men took up their tempo- rary residence in a log house about seven miles from Wilsonville and about half a mile southwest from the site of the fort. One evening Silas Killam and Walter Kimble were out of the house, the former collecting sap and the latter shooting ducks, when a band of Indians attacked them. Silas Killam, who was nearest the house, succeeded in reaching it, the door being opened for him by his brother Ephraim, As he entered the house, he was wounded in the arm. Walter Kimble, finding his retreat to the house intercepted, ran to the hills, and fled all night through the snow, arriving the next morning at the house of his brother Abel, about a mile above Milford, Pike County. After the Indians surprised the two men, they built a fire on the side of the stable opposite the house, with the intention of besieging the occupants of the house. As they were in the act of building the fire, Ephraim Kimble mortally wounded one of the Indians. During the evening, the men in the house built a large fire on the hearth, and silently made their escape through a rear window, unobserved by the Indians. They ran to the Delaware, which they crossed about seven miles above Milford.

Capture of Assemblyman Jamies McKnight

On April 26th, 1779, James McKnight was captured by the Indians at Fort Freeland, located about four miles east of Watson- town, Northumberland County. He was a member of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, having been elected to that office in

1778. The following letter written by Colonel Samuel Hunter from Fort Augusta (Sunbury) to President Reed on April 27th,

1779, gives an account of this event and other outrages on the Susquehanna frontier:

"I am really sorry to inform you of our present disturbances; not a day, but there is some of the enemy makes their appearances on our frontiers. On Sunday last, there was a party of savages attacked the inhabitants that lived near Fort Jenkins, and had taken two or three familys prisoners, but the garrison being appris'd of it, about thirty men turned out of the fort and rescued the prisoners; the Indians collecting themselves in a body drove our men under cover of the fort, with the loss of three men kill'd and four badly wounded ; they burned several houses near the fort, kill'd cattle, and drove off a number of horses.

"Yesterday there was another party of Indians, about thirty

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 591

or forty, kill'd and took seven of our militia, that was stationed at a little Fort near Muncy Hill, call'd Fort Freeland; there was two or three of the inhabitants taken prisoners; among the latter is James McKnight, Esqr., one of our Assemblymen; the same day a party of thirteen of the inhabitants that went to hunt their horses, about four or five miles from Fort Muncy was fired upon by a large party of Indians, and all taken or kill'd except one man. Captain Walker, of the Continental Troops, who commands at that post, turned out with thirty-four men to the place he heard the firing, and found four men kill'd and scalped and supposes they captured ye remaind'r.

"This is the way our frontiers is harrassed by a cruel savage enemy, so that they cannot get any spring crops in to induce them to stay in the county. I am afraid in a very short time we shall have no inhabitants above this place unless when General Hand arrives here, he may order some of the troops at Wyoming down on our frontiers; all Col. Hartley's Regiment, our two months' men, and what militia we can turn out, is very inadequate to guard our country.

"I am certain everything is doing for our relief, but afraid it will be too late for this county, as it's impossible to prevail on the inhabitants to make a stand, upon account of their women and childer.

"Our case is really deplorable and alarming, and our county on ye eve of breaking up, as I am informed at the time I am writ- ing this by two or three expresses that there is nothing to be seen but desolation, fire and smoke; as the inhabitants is collected at particular places, the enemy burns all their houses that they have evacuated." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, pages 346 and 347.)

According to Linn's "Annals of Buffalo Valley," a family named McKnight lived near Fort Freeland in 1779. The family secured a guard from the fort, for the purpose of milking their cows. In this guard, consisting of fourteen militia, were Jacob Gift, Michael Lepley and a man named Herrold. The cows were driven into a pen, and while they were being milked, a party of thirty Indians attacked the guard and family, killing many, among whom were Lepley and old Mr. McKnight. Herrold fled towards the fort, and as he neared it, the garrison heard the report of a rifle, and saw him fall and an Indian scalped him. Gift also tried to make his escape, but was overtaken, tomahawked and scalped. When the soldiers from the fort came up, they found that Gift had fought desperately for his life. The ground was

592 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

covered with blood, and Gift's rifle was broken into pieces. Mc- Knight's son was the only one that finally escaped. He was closely pursued. A tomahawk struck the top rail of a fence just after he had cleared it, and he also leaped across Warrior Run in his flight.

Atrocities in Union County in 1779

After the Great Runaway of July, 1778, a few of the most venturesome of the inhabitants returned to the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna. The following year, in May, the Indians entered Union County, and killed John Sample and his wife on White Deer Creek. There were about twenty Indians in this band. Christian VanGundy and Henry Vandyke, with a small force of settlers, had hastened to the Sample home to bring away the aged couple. While quartered in the Sample home, Indians made an attack during the night, endeavoring to break down the door with a log, and setting fire to the roof. Those in- side fired upon them wounding two, whom the other Indians carried off'. VanGundy was wounded in the leg while extinguish- ing the fire, and one of his companions was shot in the face. At daybreak, they decided to leave the house and seek safety in flight. On opening the door, they found the leader of the Indian band lying dead in front of it. VanGundy took his rifle and Van- dyke his powder horn. The other Indians then came from am- bush. VanGundy, with his two rifles, hastened to a ravine, and endeavored to get the old folks to follow him. They refused to follow, and then the Indians killed and scalped them. Colonel John Kelly led a party which came upon five of these Indians sitting upon a log. Four were killed at one volley, and the fifth escaped. For an interesting account of the murder of the Samples and the pursuit of the Indians by Colonel John Kelly, the reader is referred to Linn's "Annals of Buff^alo Valley," pages 171 to 173. On July 8th, Indians again entered this neighborhood, destroying the mill of the widow of Peter Smith, near the mouth of White Deer Creek, and killing one man in the attack. This was a famous grist, saw and boring mill. Here many gun barrels were bored for the Continental army.

Colonel John Kelly was an active defender of this part of the Pennsylvania frontier during the Revolution. At one time he was awakened by the growls of his dog at his cabin on Spruce Run. Cautiously peering into the darkness, he saw the head of an Indian protruding above a log near his cabin. Taking aim

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 593

through a hole in the cabin door, he shot the Indian dead, and, the next morning, buried him near his cabin. He kept this event a secret until a few years prior to his death in 1832. Perhaps Colonel Kelly feared that, if the killing of this Indian became known to the relatives and friends of the slain, they would never be satisfied until they had killed him. He probably knew of the killing of an Indian in his neighborhood, which was avenged many years later, after the white man had established a home in Ken- tucky. The Indian who murdered him was apprehended, and confessed that he had often sought an opportunity to kill the white man in Pennsylvania, and then followed him to Kentucky.

Other Outrages on the North and West Branches in 1779

On May 17th, 1779, a band of Indians killed and scalped a family of four persons on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, opposite Fort Jenkins, located about midway between the present towns of Berwick and Bloomsburg, Columbia County. The parents had sent two of their children, a boy and a girl, to the neighborhood of Catawissa for some supplies. Taking a path on the hill back of the house and running parallel with the river, after proceeding some distance the children came to the remains of a recent fire where muscles had been roasted. They became alarmed and turned back toward home. On arriving at the hill overlooking the home, they saw it in flames and Indians disap- pearing into the woods. On approaching the house they found the rest of the family killed and scalped.

In May, also, a band of thirty-five Indians made an attack on a number of families that lived about a mile from Fort Jenkins, and took three families prisoners, twenty-two in number. En- sign Thornberry was sent with twenty soldiers and three settlers in pursuit of the Indians. Overtaking the Indians, a sharp en- gagement ensued which lasted thirty minutes, during which four of the pursuers were killed and five wounded. The survivors were compelled to retreat leaving their dead on the ground. How- ever, during the engagement the prisoners escaped.

All the available troops at the forts along the West Branch of the Susquehanna having been withdrawn in the summer of 1779 to join the army of General Sullivan on its march to the territory of the Six Nations in New York, left this part of the Pennsylvania frontier practically unprotected. On the 3rd of July, the Indians

594 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

killed three men and took three prisoners at Lycoming Creek, and, as seen elsewhere in this chapter, on the 8th of this month, burned the mill of widow Smith, in Union County. On the 17th of this month they burned Sterett's Mill and nearly all of the houses in Muncy Township, Lycoming County. On this day, also, two men were killed and three captured at Fort Brady, located adjoining the town of Muncy, Lycoming County. Many families were carried into captivity, among them being the family of Joseph Webster. Webster's eldest son was killed and a son and two daughters were carried into captivity. Pushing on, the same Indian band appeared near Fort Freeland on July 20th, and surprised several men at work in a cornfield. They killed Isaac Vincent, Elias Freeland, Jacob Freeland, Jr., and James Miles, and captured Michael Freeland and Benjamin Vincent, a lad of eleven years. Young Vincent remained in captivity for five years, when he returned. Daniel Vincent was chased by the Indians but outran them and escaped by leaping over a high log fence. The boy, Benjamin Vincent, hid in a furrow in the field and later thought he would be more secure by climbing a tree in the woods nearby. This he did, but the Indians saw him and then captured him. He was ignorant of the fate of the others until that afternoon, when an Indian thrust a bloody scalp into his face, which he recognized as that of his brother, Isaac. It is said that young Freeland, upon the alarm being given that the Indians were approaching, ran towards a stone quarry, but was pursued and wounded in the thigh with a spear. He fell near the stone quarry, and an Indian pounced upon him. Suddenly rising, however, with the Indian on his shoulders, he pitched his an- tagonist over the precipice, and would have escaped, but another Indian ran up and killed him.

Colonel Samuel Hunter's letter to Colonel Matthew Smith, written at Fort Augusta on July 23rd, 1779, mentions the atrocities of July 3rd, 8th, 17th and 20th, and describes the terrible situation on the North Branch after the evacuation of Fort Muncy some time before. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 574.)

In the autumn of 1779, Henry McHenry, at the head of a party of ten men from Fort Montgomery, also called Fort Rice, then being erected by Colonel Weltner's German Regiment in Lewis Township, Northumberland County, came to Loyal Sock to thresh some grain. Sentinels were posted to guard those en- gaged in the work of threshing. McHenry, who was one of the sentinels, took up his position in a clump of bushes, and soon

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 595

observed an Indian creeping along on his hands and feet to get a shot at the threshers in the barn. McHenry shot the Indian through the small of the back. The Indian then ran a short distance and fell, but his comrades carried him off and did not return.

Capture of Fort Freeland

As related presently, General John Sullivan was sent by Gen- eral Washington, in the summer of 1779, with an army to invade the territory of the Six Nations, in New York. No sooner had General Sullivan started on his march from Easton than the In- dians learned of his plan and, assisted by the Tories, took meas- ures to defeat the expedition. Captain John MacDonald, a Tory in command of a force of British and three hundred Senecas, marched from the vicinity of Wyalusing, Bradford County, and attacked the garrison at Fort Freeland on July 28th, where many settlers had gathered for protection.

About daylight, an aged man named James Watt left Fort Freeland to look for his sheep. He had gone but a short distance in the direction of the creek, when an Indian, John Montour, sprang upon him from ambush, and attempted to drag him off. Watt cried loudly for assistance, and Montour then felled him with his tomahawk and attempted to scalp him, but was wounded in the back by a bullet fired from the fort, which compelled him to flee. The Indian, John Montour, is said to have died several days afterwards from the effects of his wound. A post was erected at his grave, painted red, and the place is known as "Painted Post."

These statements concerning John Montour are based on the account of the attack on Fort Freeland contained in Meginnes' "History of the West Branch." This John Montour, whoever he was, was not the John Montour who was the son of the noted Andrew Montour. The latter John Montour survived the Rev- olutionary War. He rendered important service to the Ameri- cans in this struggle. He accompanied William Wilson and White Eyes to Detroit in the summer of 1776. He was also with Colonel Brodhead in the attack on Coshocton in the spring of 1781.

Two young men, who were on the outside of the fort when the Indians and British appeared, immediately ran in. One was wounded in the forehead when he stopped at the gate to look back, but his companion pulled him in, and closed the gate. At

596 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

that instant Jacob Freeland, Sr., was shot and fell inside the gate. Then the attack began in earnest. Mary Kirk and Phoebe Vincent commenced immediately to melt all their spoons and plates into bullets for use of the defenders.

The firing on Fort Freeland could be distinctly heard at Fort Boone, located about a mile above the town of Milton, Northum- berland County; whereupon, Captain Hawkins Boone, a cousin of the famous Daniel Boone, hastened from the fort with a detail of thirty-two soldiers to the relief of the defenders at Fort Free- land. However, in a few hours Fort Freeland was a mass of ruins, and its gallant defenders were either tomahawked or taken prisoners. It is said that the resistance was so stubborn that the articles of capitulation were not accepted until Captain MacDonald had made the third proposal, and not even then, until all the ammunition in the fort was exhausted, the women even melting the pewter into bullets while the men fired them at the British and Indians.

Upon the surrender of the fort, the British and Indians gathered together the provisions and proceeded to the creek, where they made preparations for a feast. While they were feasting Captain Boone's party arrived on the opposite bank of the creek and fired a volley into the midst of the revelers, killing about thirty of them. However, the British and Indians soon rallied and surrounded Boone's forces, killing thirteen of them, among whom was Captain Boone himself. As a result of the capture of Fort Freeland, one hundred and eight settlers were killed or taken prisoner. The enemy then ravaged the country in the vicinity, advancing as far as Milton, and burning everything before them.

Fifty- two women and children, and four old men were per- mitted by the British commander to go to Fort Augusta. The captives were taken to Niagara. The few who survived the hard- ships of the terrible march through the wilderness and the suffer- ings of long imprisonment, returned to the surviving members of their families after the close of the RevolHtionar>'^ War.

Samuel Brady, brother of Captain John Brady and uncle of the famous Captain Samuel Brady, was at Fort Freeland at the time of its capture. Having determined not to be taken prisoner and watching a favorable opportunity to escape, he dashed into the bushes, and ran for his life. After running for some distance, he looked back and found that he was pursued by two Indians, one a large and vicious looking man, and the other a small one. Presently his foot slipped into a hole and he fell, but was able to

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1770 S97

turn suddenly and shoot the larger Indian, whereupon the smaller one fled. The following day Henry Gilpin, while milking a cow, probably near Fort Muncy, was tomahawked by some Indians. The killed of the garrison and of Boone's party amounted to about twenty men. Among the slain was Captain Samuel Daugherty.

Under the terms of capitulation Cornelius Vincent and his sons, Daniel and Bethuel, with some of their neighbors, were taken prisoners. They were carried to Tioga, thence to the Genesee country in New York, thence to Niagara and lower Canada. Daniel Vincent had been recently married, and, after his capture, his wife with a heavy heart returned to her father's home in New Jersey. Three years rolled away with no tidings from her husband, and she despaired of ever seeing him again. However, one winter evening her husband returned, and with a cry of joy she sprang into his arms. About the same time, also, Cornelius and Bethuel Vincent returned from captivity. Cornelius had been heavily ironed for a period of eighteen months, and bore the marks of the British fetters on his ankles until his death.

The capture of Fort Freeland and the ravaging of the country in the vicinity was not strictly an Indian incursion. The Senecas under Hickatoo, the husband of Mary Jemison, White Woman of Genesee, were simply allies of the British detachment com- manded by Captain John MacDonald.

As stated earlier in this chapter, the withdrawal of troops from the garrisons on the Susquehanna for the expedition of Major- General John Sullivan in the summer of 1779, left this part of the Pennsylvania frontier without adequate protection. After the capture of Fort Freeland, General Sullivan, then at Wyoming, was appealed to for the sending of troops to the West Branch and lower part of the North Branch. On July 30th, he wrote Colonel Samuel Hunter at Fort Augusta that it would be unwise for him to turn the course of his army. "Nothing can so ef- fectually draw the Indians out of your country," wrote he, "as carrying the war into theirs. Tomorrow morning I shall march with the whole army for Tioga, and must leave you to call upon the Council of your State for such assistance as may serve to relieve you from your present perilous situation. As Pennsyl- vania has neglected to furnish me with the troops promised for this expedition, she certainly will be enabled to defend her frontiers without much inconvenience."* (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 594. For various letters of Colonel Samuel Hunter, William

♦Sullivan, on July 21st, complained that not a man of the 720 rangers promised by Penn- sylvania had joined his army. Large wages paid for boatmen by Sullivan's Quartermaster was given as an excuse for failure to persuade men into the military service.

598 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Maclay, Colonel Matthew Smith, Francis Allison, Jr., and General Sullivan, relative to the dreadful situation culminating in the capture of Fort Freeland, see Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, pages 586 to 597, also page 610.)

The Battle of Minisink

One of the most hotly contested battles of the Revolutionary War was the battle of Minisink, which was fought on July 22nd, 1779, as General Sullivan's expedition was about ready to ad- vance from Wyoming. The place of the battle was what is now Port Jervis, New York, just across the Delaware River from the town of Lackawaxon, Pike County, Pennsylvania. Early in July the Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, with four hundred of his warriors, left the Susquehanna and approached the settlements on the Delaware. On the 19th of July the Tories who were with Brant's forces, disguised as Indians, came to the village of Mini- sink, now Port Jervis, and set fire to the town. The fort, the mill, and twelve houses and barns were burned, and several persons were killed. Most of the inhabitants fled to the moun- tains for safety. The Tories then took their prisoners and booty to Grassy Brook, where Brant had left the main body of his Indians.

In the meantime, a force of one hundred and fifty volunteers had assembled to pursue the invaders. Colonel Tuesten, fearing the craftiness and treachery of Brant, opposed pursuit, but was overruled. Then Major Meeker mounted his horse and shouted : "Let the brave follow me; cowards may stay behind."

On July 22nd, the pursuers came upon the Indian encamp- ment of the previous night at Halfway Brook. The smouldering fires gave plain evidence that the savages were in great force, and the two colonels very prudently advised against further pursuit, but were overruled. A captain was then sent forward with a scouting party, but being discovered, was slain. The volunteers eagerly pressed forward, and at nine o'clock, saw the enemy marching in the direction of the fording place on the Delaware. In the meantime. Brant had deposited much of his plunder in Pike County. The commander of the volunteer troops then decided to intercept Brant's forces at the fording place, but the wily chieftain, comprehending the designs of the Americans, wheeled his columns and, by skillful movement, brought his whole force in the rear of the volunteers. Indeed, he had formed an ambus-

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 599

cade and deliberately selected a battle ground suitable for his purpose.

The Americans, surprised and disappointed at not finding Brant's forces where they expected them, were marching back, when they encountered the Indians. Brant's forces greatly out- numbered the Americans and, to make matters worse, the ammu- nition of the latter was limited, making it necessary for them to fire, not at random, but to make every shot count. The engage- ment began at eleven o'clock, and when night fell it was still un- decided. By that time, the ammunition of the Americans was almost expended, and their line was broken. The Americans then began a retreat. Dr. Tuesten, who was dressing the wounds of seventeen who were injured, was fallen upon, and he and the entire seventeen were killed. Many were shot while swimming the river. Some escaped under the cover of darkness. A few succeeded in reaching the wilds of Pike County. Only thirty of the force of one hundred and fifty that went out to battle, re- turned to tell the story of the engagement. "The massacre of the wounded Americans," says Frederick A. Godcharles, "is one of the darkest stains upon the memory of Brant, whose honor and humanity were often more conspicuous than that of his Tory allies."

General Sullivan's Expedition Against the Six Nations

General Washington, exasperated at the continued outrages of the Six Nations, determined that the power of that great Con- federacy should be broken. Accordingly, in the summer of 1779, he sent General John Sullivan into the Iroquois country in North- eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New York with an army of five thousand men. Sullivan rendezvoused at Easton May 26th. His line of march passed through Wyoming,* Tunkhannock, Wyalusing, Sheshecununk, Tioga, and Chemung. At Newtown near Elmira, New York, the Indians, fifteen hundred strong, under Joseph Brant and Captain John MacDonald, and the British and Tories, under Colonel John Butler and Walter Butler, made a determined stand, on August 29th, but were overwhelmingly defeated.! Sullivan then marched through the heart of the territory of the Six Nations, burning their houses, destroying their corn, killing their cattle, and felling their orchards which had been growing for generations. Terrible was the re-

*At Wyoming (Wilkes- Barre), Sullivan's army encamped from June 23d to July 3l8t, as military stores were collected, then proceeded up the Susquehanna.

tThe earlier report of the battle was that Sir John Johnson and Guy Johnson were also in the engagement.

600 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

tribution which he visited upon them for siding with the British and devastating the American frontier.

We quote the following account of Sullivan's Expedition from Headley's "Washington and His Generals:"

"Our Revolution called forth every variety of talent, and tried it in every mode of warfare. Perhaps there never was a war into which such various elements entered. We had not only to organ- ize a government and army, with which to meet a powerful antagonist, and also quench the flames of civil war in our own land, but were compelled to meet a cloud of savages on their own field of battle — the impenetrable forest — and in their own way. The English enlisted them against us by promises of plunder, and appealing to their revenge ; while their own bitter hatred prompted them to take advantage of the defenseless state of our frontiers, to fall on our settlements and massacre our people.

"The tragedies which were enacted at Cherry Valley and Wyoming, with all the heart-sickening details and bloody pas- sages, finally aroused our government to a vigorous effort. Wash- ington, being directed to adopt measures to punish these atrocities and secure our frontiers, ordered Sullivan to take an army and invade the Indian territories. The Six Nations, lying along the Susquehanna and around our inland lakes, extending to the Genesee flats, were to be the objects of this attack. His orders were to burn their villages, destroy their grain, and lay waste their land.

"A partisan warfare had been long carried on between the border inhabitants and the Indians, in which there had been an exhibition of bravery, hardihood, and spirit of adventure never surpassed. The pages of romance furnish no such thrilling narra- tive, examples of female heroism, and patient suffering, and such touching incidents as the history of our border war. For personal prowess, manly courage, and adventure, nothing can exceed it. Yet it had hitherto been a sort of hand-to-hand fighting, a meas- uring of the Indian's agility and cunning against the white man's strength and boldness; but now a large army, with a skillful com- mander at its head, was to sweep down everything in its passage.

"The plan adopted was for the main army to rendezvous at Wyoming, and from thence ascend into the enemy's country, while General James Clinton, advancing with one brigade along the Mohawk west, was to form a junction with it, wherever Sullivan should direct. The first of May, 1779, the troops com- menced their march, but did not arrive at Wyoming till the middle

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 601

of June. It was a slow and toilsome business for an army to cut roads, bridge marshes, and transport artillery and baggage through the wide expanse of forest between the Delaware and Susquehanna. At length, however, the whole force assembled at Wyoming; and on the thirty-first of July took their final departure.

"So imposing a spectacle those solitudes never before witnessed. An army of three thousand men slowly wound along the pic- turesque banks of the Susquehanna — now their variegated uni- forms sprinkling the open fields with gay colors, and anon their glittering bayonets fringing the dark forest with light; while by their side floated a hundred and fifty boats, laden with cannon and stores — slowly stemming the sluggish stream. Ofiicers dash- ing along in their uniforms, and small bodies of horse between the columns, completed the scene — while exciting strains of martial music rose and fell in prolonged cadences on the summer air, and swept, dying away, into the deep solitudes. The gay song of the oarsman, as he bent to his toil, mingled in the hoarse words of command ; and like some wizard creation of the American wilder- ness, the mighty pageant passed slowly along. The hawk flew screaming from his eyrie at the sight; and the Indian gazed with wonder and afi^right, as he watched it from the mountain-top, winding miles and miles through the sweet valley, or caught from afar the deafening roll of the drums and shrill blast of the bugle. At night the boats were moored to the shore, and the army en- camped beside them — the innumerable watchfires stretching for miles along the river. As the morning sun rose over the green forest, the drums beat the reveille throughout the camp, and again the pageant of the day before commenced. Everything was in the freshness of summer vegetation, and the great forest rolled its sea of foliage over their heads, aff"ording a welcome shelter from the heat of an August sun.

"Thus, day after day, this host toiled forward, and on the twelfth from the date of their march, reached Tioga. Here they entered on the Indian settlements and the work of devastation commenced. Here also Clinton, coming down the Susquehanna, joined them with his brigade — and when the head of his column came in sight of the main army, and the boats floated into view, there went up such a shout as never before shook that wilderness.

"Sullivan, in the meantime, had destroyed the village of Chemung; and Clinton, on his passage, had laid waste the settle- ment of the Onondagas.* The whole army, now amounting to

♦Chemung was destroyed by Sullivan's army on August 13. The historic settlement of the Onondagas consisting of about forty houses, was destroyed on April 21, 1779, by the troops of Col. Van Schaick. See Appendix B.

602 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

nearly five thousand men, marched on the 26th of August up the Tioga River, destroying as it went. At Newtown the Indians made a stand. From the river to a ridge of hills, they had thrown up a breastwork a mile in extent, and thus defended, boldly with- stood for two hours a heavy fire of artillery; but being at length attacked in flank by General Poor, they broke and fled. The village was immediately set on fire, and the rich fields of corn cut down and trodden under foot.

[The battle of Newtown took place near Elmira, New York, on August 29th, 1779. The Indians numbered 1,500, and were com- manded by Tha-yen-dan-e-gea, the noted Mohawk chief, other- wise known as Joseph Brant. Colonel John Butler, his son, Captain Walter Butler and Captain John MacDonald commanded the British and Tories, consisting of four or five hundred men. General Sullivan's forces were composed of: General James Clinton's army, which had wintered on the Mohawk, thence had advanced to Lake Otsego, dammed up its outlet, and floated down the Susquehanna in two hundred boats on the "artificial fresh," joining Sullivan's advance on August 22nd; General Edward Hand's brigade, consisting of the German regiment, that commanded by Colonel Adam Hubley and the In- dependent regiments of Colonels Shott and Spalding; General Maxwell's brigade, consisting of four regiments under Colonels Dayton, Sh reeve, Ogden and Spencer; General Poor's brigade, consisting of four regiments under Colonels Cilly, Reed, Scammel and Courland; Colonel Thomas Proctor's artillery ; and the second line, or reserves, under Colonels Livingston, Dubois, Gainsworth and Olden. — Author]

"On the first of September the army left the river, and struck across the wilderness, to Catherine's Town. Night overtook them in the middle of a swamp, nine miles wide; and the rear guard, without packs or baggage, were compelled to pass the whole night on the marshy ground. This town also was burned, and the fields ravaged. Having reached Seneca Lake, they followed its shores northward, to Kendaia, a beautiful Indian village, with painted houses, and monuments for the dead, and richly cultivated fields. It smiled like an oasis there in the wilderness; but the smoke of the conflagration soon wrapped it, and when the sun again shone upon it, a smoldering heap alone remained — the waving corn had disappeared with the dwellings, and the cattle lay slaughtered around.

"Our troops moved like an awful, resistless scourge through

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1779 603

this rich country — open and fruitful fields and smiling villages were before them — behind them a ruinous waste. Now and then, detachments sent off from the main body were attacked, and on one occasion seven slain ; and once or twice the Indians threatened to make a stand for their homes, but soon fled in despair, and the army had it all their own way. The capital of the Senecas, a town consisting of sixty houses, surrounded with beautiful cornfields and orchards, was burned to the ground, and the harvest de- stroyed. Canandaigua fell next, and then the army stretched away for the Genesee flats. The fourth day it reached this beautiful region, then almost wholly unknown to the white man. The valley, twenty miles long and four broad, had scarce a forest tree in it, and presented one of the most beautiful contrasts to the surrounding wilderness that could well be conceived.

"As the weary columns slowly emerged from the dark forest, and filed off into this open space, their admiration and astonish- ment knew no bounds. They seemed suddenly to have been transported into an Eden. The tall, ripe grass bent before the wind — cornfield on cornfield, as far as the eye could reach, waved in the sunlight — orchards that had been growing for generations, were weighed down under the profusion of fruit — cattle grazed on the banks of the river, and all was luxuriance and beauty. In the midst of this garden of nature, where the gifts of Heaven had been lavished with such prodigality, were scattered a hundred and twenty-eight houses — not miserable huts, huddled together, but large, airy buildings, situated in the most pleasant spots, sur- rounded with fruit trees, and exhibiting a civilization on the part of the Indians never before witnessed.

"Into this scene of surpassing loveliness the sword of war had now entered, and the approach of Sullivan's vast army, accom- panied with the loud beat of the drum and shrill fife, sent con- sternation through the hearts of the inhabitants. At first they seemed resolved to defend their homes; but soon, as all the rest had done, turned and fled in affright. Not a soul remained be- hind; and Sullivan marched into a deserted, silent village. His heart relented at the sight of so much beauty; but his commands were peremptory. The soldiers thought, too, of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the thousand massacres that had made our borders flow in blood, and their hearts were steeled against pity. An enemy who felt no obligations, and kept no faith, must be placed beyond the reach of inflicting injury.

"At evening, that army of five thousand men encamped in the

604 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

village; and just as the sun went down behind the limitless forest, a group of officers might be seen, flooded by its farewell beams, gazing on the scene. While they thus stood conversing, suddenly there rolled by a dull and heavy sound, which startled them into an attitude of the deepest attention. There was no mistaking that report — it was the thunder of cannon — and for a moment they looked on each other with anxious countenances. That solitary roar, slowly traversing the mighty solitudes that hemmed them in, might well awaken the deepest solicitude. But it was not repeated; and night fell on the valley of Genesee, and the tired army slept. The next morning, as the sun rose over the wilderness that heavy echo again shook the ground. It was then discovered to be the morning and evening gun of the British at Niagara; and its lonely thunder there made the solitude more fearful.

"Soon after sunrise, immense columns of smoke began to rise the length and breadth of the valley, and in a short time the whole settlement was wrapt in flame from limit to limit; and before night those hundred and twenty-eight houses were a heap of ashes. The grain had been gathered into them, and thus both were destroyed together. The orchards were cut down, the corn- fields uprooted, and the cattle butchered and left to rot on the plain. A scene of desolation took the place of that scene of beauty and the army encamped at night in a desert. [The corn destroyed by General Sullivan's army has been estimated at one hundred and sixty thousand bushels. — Author]

"The next day, having accomplished the object of his mission, Sullivan commenced his homeward march. Ah! who can tell the famine, and disease, and suffering of those homeless Indians dur- ing the next winter? A few built huts amid the ashes of their former dwellings, but the greater part passed the winter around Fort Niagara.

"On the fifteenth of October, after having been absent since the first of May, or five months and a half, the army again reached Easton. Two hundred and eighty miles had been traversed over mountains, through forests, across swamps and rivers, and amid hostile Indians. The thanks of Congress were presented to Sulli- van and his army for the manner they had fulfilled their arduous task."

The object of the expedition having been accomplished. General Sullivan returned to Easton, Pennsylvania. Only forty soldiers were lost by sickness and the enemy.

During General Sullivan's march through the territory of the

UPPER LEP'T. — Major-General John Sullivan, commander of the Expedition against the Six Nations in the summer and autumn of 1779. For biographical sketch, see Appendix B.

UPPER RIGHT. — Brigadier-General Edward Hand, second in importance of position to General Sullivan in the Expedition against the Six Nations. Born in Ireland, December 31, 1744. Fought in the battles of Long Island and Trenton. Commander of Fort Pitt from June 1,1777 to May 2, 1778. Became Adjutant-General of the Continental Army in 1780. Made Major-General September 30, 1783. Died in Lancaster County, Pa., September 4, 1802.

LOWER. — View of the Genesee River, whose fertile and charming valley was devastated by General Sullivan's army with fire and sword, in September, 1779. At the Seneca town, called Gathtsegwarohare, located on the east side of Canaseraga Creek, about two miles from its confluence with the Genesee River, in Livingston County, New York, were vast fields of corn, which it took two thousand troops six hours to destroy, on September 14th. At the Seneca town, called Genesee Castle, the western door of the "Long House" of the Iroquois, located on the west side of the Genesee, near the present Leicester, Livingston County, were vast orchards and vast fields of corn, some of the ears being twenty-two inches long. The army destroyed these, September 15th. See Gathtsegwarohare and Genesee Castle, in Appendix B.

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Six Nations, occurred the murder of Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, one of the most horrible atrocities in the annals of frontier history. Boyd was a resident of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, a brother of the illustrious Captain John Boyd and Lieutenant William Boyd, the latter of whom laid down his life at the battle of Brandy wine. Miner, in his "History of Wyoming," thus describes this atrocity:

"On the 13th of September, Lieutenant Boyd of the rifle corps, was directed to take five or six men, with a friendly Indian Chief [Hanjost] as guide, and advance toward the Genessee to recon- noiter. Numbers volunteering, he marched out at the head of twenty-four men — too few, if battle was intended; too many, if secrecy and celerity were prime requisites of the enterprise. Striking Little Castle, on the Genessee River, he surprised, killed and scalped two Indians. On his return, Boyd was surrounded by a strong detachment of the enemy, who killed fourteen of his men, and took him and a soldier prisoners, eight men only escaping. The next day the army accelerated their march, with the hope of releasing Lieutenant Boyd. On arriving at the Genessee Castle, his remains and those of the other prisoner were found, sur- rounded by all the horrid evidences of savage barbarity. The tor- ture fires were yet burning. Flaming pine knots had been thrust into their flesh, their finger nails pulled out, their tongues cut ofl', and their heads severed from their bodies. It was said that Boyd was brought before Colonel Butler, who examined him, Boyd being on one knee, a warrior on each side firmly grasping his arms, a third at his back with a tomahawk raised. What a scene for a limner! 'How many men has Sullivan?' 'I cannot tell you, sir.' 'How is the army divided and disposed?' 'I cannot give you any information, sir.' 'Boyd, life is sweet, you had better answer me.' 'Duty forbids, and I would not if life depended on the word — but Colonel Butler, I know the issue, my doom is fixed.' Another version of the affair omits the interview, and relates that Boyd was stabbed in the abdomen, an intestine drawn out and tied to a tree, around which the sufferer was driven. Both may be true. That a prisoner should be taken before Butler for examination, is quite probable."

The force of British, Tories and Indians that lay in ambush and attacked Lieutenant Boyd's party consisted of four or five hun- dred men, led by Colonel John Butler and Joseph Brant. Boyd and his men posted themselves in a small grove, with consider- able open space around it. Hopelessly and gallantly, they fought

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against overwhelming odds. Some of the enemy were so near that the powder from their rifles burned the clothing of the Americans.

Sergeant Michael Parker was the rifleman who was murdered with Lieutenant Boyd. Timothy Murphy, of Northumberland, a personal friend of the Boyd brothers, was one of Boyd's men to escape. He reported that Boyd and Chief Hanjost were captured, and told of the brave resistance they made. Colonel Adam Hub- ley wrote of Murphy that he killed thirty-three Indian allies of the British during the Revolutionary War.

Colonel Hubley, who kept a journal of Sullivan's expedition, wrote as follows, when the army arrived at the Genessee Castle, the central seat of the Senecas, in what is now Livingston County, New York.

"At this place we found the body of the brave but unfortunate Lieutenant Boyd and one rifleman, massacred in the most cruel and barbarous manner that the human mind can possibly con- ceive, the savages having put them to the most excruciating tor- ments possible by first plucking their nails from hand and feet, then spearing, cutting and whipping them and mangling their bodies, then cutting off the flesh from their shoulders, tomahawk- ing and severing their heads from their bodies and leaving them a prey to their dogs.

"This evening the remains of Lieutenant Boyd and the rifle- man were interred with military honors. Mr. Boyd's former good character as a brave soldier and an honest man, and his behaviour in the skirmish of yesterday (several of the Indians being found dead and some seen carried off) must endear him to all friends of mankind. May his fate await those who have been the cause of his. O, Britain — Behold — and blush!"

The great Confederacy of the Six Nations never recovered from the terrible blow dealt them by General Sullivan. The following winter is known as "the winter of the deep snow," and was perhaps the severest winter in the history of the United States. In January, New York harbor was frozen over so solidly that the British drove laden wagons on the ice from the city to Staten Island. One heavy snowstorm followed another, and by February first, the snow lay four feet deep in the woods and mountains of Pennsylvania and New York. Their food supplies destroyed by Sullivan's army, great numbers of the Iroquois starved and froze to death during this terrible winter.*

♦For additional details as to Sullivan's expedition, see APPENDIX B.

CHAPTER XXVI

The Revolutionary War

1780

Indian Events in Western Pennsylvania in 1780

THE winter of 1779-80 was perhaps the severest in the history of the United States. By February the snow lay four feet deep in the woods and on the mountains of Pennsyl- vania, preventing the bringing of supplies for the garrison at Fort Pitt. The severe weather also prevented Indian raids — a fortunate thing for Western Pennsylvania, as Colonel Brodhead, commander of the western department, and Colonel Archibald Lochry, county-lieutenant of Westmoreland, both claimed authority over the two companies of rangers raised in Westmore- land County, and spent much time in a controversy that did not contribute to military efficiency.

Before the Senecas recovered from the blows given them by General Sullivan and Colonel Brodhead and from the effects of the terrible winter following, the Shawnees, Wyandots and Munsee Clan of Delawares came from their strongholds in Ohio and raided the Western Pennsylvania frontier. On Sunday morning, March 12th, 1780, a party of Wyandots fell upon five men and six children at a sugar camp at the mouth of Reardon Run on Raccoon Creek near the line between Beaver and Wash- ington Counties. The white persons were members of the Tucker and Turner families of Noblestown, Allegheny County, and the Foulkes family of the northern part of Washington County. The white men were killed and scalped, and the chil- dren, three boys and three girls, were captured. Among the children were George Foulkes, aged eleven, Elizabeth Foulkes, aged nine, and Samuel Whittaker, aged eleven. The captive children remained among the Indians for many years. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, page 140.)

Near the end of March, a band of the Muncy Clan of Dela- wares, led by Washnash, captured a flatboat, about twenty-five

66^ THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

miles below Wheeling, West Virginia, going down the Ohio River to Kentucky, killing three and making prisoners of twenty- one men, women and children. Among the prisoners was Catherine Malott, a girl aged about eighteen years, who subse- quently became the wife of the notorious renegade, Simon Girty. (Butterfield's "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," page 74; Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, page 159; Pa. Archives, Vol. 12, page 218.)

Indian raids continued into Southwestern Pennsylvania throughout the month of April. On April 27th, 1780, Colonel Brodhead wrote President Reed of the Supreme Executive coun- cil, as follows:

"Between 40 and 50 men, women and children have been killed or taken from what are now called the counties of Yohogania [Washington], Monongalia and Ohio, but no damage is done yet in Westmoreland." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, page 210.)

But Westmoreland was soon to be invaded by the Senecas, who had somewhat recovered from the blows of Brodhead and Sullivan. In May, 1780, they came down the Allegheny, entered Westmoreland County, and killed and captured five persons near Ligonier, burned Laughlin's Mill, killed two men on Bushy Run and two on Braddock's Road, near Turtle Creek. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, pages 246 and 280.)

In this same month (May) Colonel Brodhead endeavored to make peace with the hostile tribes in Ohio — the Shawnees, Wyan- dots and Delawares of the Munsee Clan. He sent Godfrey Lanctot, a Frenchman who spoke several Indian languages, to visit these western tribes in the American interest; but Lanctot's efforts were fruitless, as the hostile Indians would not listen to him. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, pages 301 and 551.) About this time the garrisons which had been withdrawn from Fort Arm- strong and Fort Crawford in the autumn of 1779, were once more placed in these places of defense. However, by the middle of August, these forts had to be evacuated on account of lack of food for the garrisons.

In June Colonel Brodhead, hearing that the British and Indians were assembling on the Sandusky River, sent Captain Samuel Brady on the scouting expedition into Ohio, mentioned in the sketch of this noted scout in Chapter XXV, in returning from which he rescued Jennie Stoops and her child, who had been captured in the Chartiers Valley in the early part of this month.

On July 21st, 1780, Col. Brodhead wrote Timothy Pickering, giving an account of a battle between the militia and a body of

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1780 609

Indians who had crossed the Ohio River near the present town of Industry, Beaver County, as follows:

"A few days ago, I received intelligence of a party of thirty odd Wyandot Indians having crossed the Ohio five miles below Fort Mcintosh [Beaver], and that they had hid their canoes upon the shore. I immediately ordered out two parties of the nearest militia to go in search of them, and cover the harvesters. At the same time, Capt. Mclntyre was detailed with a party to form an ambuscade opposite the enemies' craft. Five men who were reaping in a field discovered the Indians, and presuming their number was small, went out to attack them; but four of them were immediately killed, and the other taken prisoner, before the militia were collected. But they were attacked by Capt. Mclntyre's party on the river, and many of them were killed and wounded, two canoes were sunk, and the prisoner retaken; but the water was so deep our men could not find the bodies of the savages, and therefore the number killed cannot be ascer- tained. The Indians left in their craft two guns, six blankets, eleven paint-bags, eight earwheels, a large brass kettle and many other articles. The Indians informed the prisoner that fifteen Wyandots were detached at Hannastown; upon receiving this information, another party was immediately detached up the Allegheny River with two Delaware Indians to take the tracks and make pursuit, but as the party has not yet returned, I cannot inform you of its success."

On September 4th, two settlers were killed and scalped near Robinson's Run in what is now Allegheny County. Then, about the middle of this month, a band of Wyandots ravaged the valley of Ten Mile Creek, Washington County, killing and capturing seven persons.* (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, page 559.) Other outrages in Washington County during this suinmer were the capture of Alexander Burns in West Finley Township and the murder of the two little sons of James Beham in the same Town- ship. At the time of the murder of the Beham boys, the Bennett family, who lived near, fled to escape the tomahawk of the hostile Indians, leaving one of their number, an old lady, to her fate. Upon their return, they found her dead, but the scant records of the time do not definitely say whether or not she was killed by the Indians.

Still other outrages in Washington County in the summer of 1780, were the murder of Robert Shearer, his brother, Hugh,

♦Among the captured, were Michael and Andrew, the sons of John Adam Simon. Both later escaped. Andrew was disfigured by being scalped.

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and the two sons of William McCandless, near Beelor's Fort, Robinson Township.*

Throughout this terrible summer, provisions were so low at Fort Pitt that Colonel Brodhead could not adequately defend the harried western frontier. Besides, Southwestern Pennsylvania was then in a state of chaos on account of the conflicting claims of Pennsylvania and Virginia. In order to furnish food for the suffering garrison at Fort Pitt, Colonel Brodhead sent Captain Samuel Brady into the settlements on Chartiers Creek and the western side of the Monongahela and Lieutenant Uriah Springer into the settlements on the east side of the Monongahela, in an effort to purchase cattle and sheep from the farmers. These efforts to supply the garrison with food were failures. The farm- ers had lost many of their sheep and cattle in the Indian raids, and then drove the rest into recesses of the forest. Efforts to raise volunteers for an expedition against the Wyandots and other Indians of Ohio were also failures.

Due to the alliance between the Delawares and the United States, Colonel Brodhead, in the autumn of 1780, received the aid of more than forty friendly Delawares of the Turtle and Turkey Clans, who had come to assist him in his contemplated operations against the Wyandots. The chagrin of the loyal Dela- wares was great when Brodhead told them that the expedition would have to be abandoned on account of lack of food. To make matters worse, a band of militia from Westmoreland County marched to attack these friendly Delawares, their wives and children. In a letter to President Reed, dated November 2nd, 1780, Brodhead says: "I believe I could have called out near an hundred. But as upwards of forty men from the neighborhood of Hannastown have attempted to destroy them whilst they con- sider themselves under our protection, it may not be an easy matter to call them out again, notwithstanding they [the Hannas- town settlers] were prevented from executing their unmanly intention, by a guard of regular soldiers posted for the Indians' protection. I was not a little surprised to find that the late Cap- tains Irwin and Jack, Lieutenant Brownlee, and Ensign Guthrie concerned in this base attempt. I suppose the women and children were to suffer an equal carnage with the men." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, page 596.)

It was very fortunate for Colonel Brodhead that he was able to save the lives of these friendly Delawares. Provisions at Fort Pitt became still scarcer. Then Colonel Brodhead sent many of

♦According to Myrtle W. Richey, of Washington, Pa., a descendant of the Shearers, Hugh Shearer, Sr., was captured about this time and later escaped.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1780 611

the friendly Delawares, whose lives he had saved, to the Great Kanawha to spend the winter there hunting buffaloes, and to bring the meat to Fort Pitt. During the winter of 1780-81, the garrison consisted of about three hundred troops.

Outrages in the Wyoming Valley in 1780

Terrible as was the retribution which General Sullivan visited upon the Six Nations in the summer of 1779, it did not prevent their entering the Wyoming Valley the next spring, and bringing terrible suffering to the settlers of Luzerne County. This incur- sion is thus described in Miner's "History of Wyoming":

"In the latter part of March an alai-m was given that Indians were in the valley. On the 27th, Thomas Bennett and his son, a lad, in a field not far from their house, in Kingston, were seized and made prisoners by six Indians. Lebbeus Hammond, who had been captured a few hours before, they found tied as they entered a gorge of the mountain. Hammond had been in the battle, [the Wyoming Massacre of July 3rd, 1778] and was then taken pris- oner, but had escaped from the fatal ring at bloody rock, where Queen Esther was pursuing her murderous rounds as previously related. He was a prize of more than ordinary value. No doubt could exist but that he was destined a victim to the crudest bar- barity. The night of the 27th they took up their quarters about twelve miles north from the valley. The next day, having crossed the river near the three islands, they pushed on toward Meshop- pen with all the speed in their power. While on their march they met two parties of Indians and Tories, descending for murder and pillage upon the settlement. A man by the name of Moses Mount whom they knew, was particular in his inquiries Into the state of the garrison and the situation of the inhabitants. On the evening of the 28th they built a fire, with the aid of Mr. Bennett, who being an old man, was least feared, and permitted to go unbound. To a request from Mr. Bennett, of the Chief, to lend him an awl to put on a button, the savage, with a significant look replied, 'No want button for one night,' and refused his request. The purpose of the Indians could not be mistaken. Whispering to Hammond, while the Indians went to a spring near by, to drink, it was resolved to make an effort to escape. To stay was certain death; they could but die. Tired with their heavy march, after a supper of venison, the Indians lay around the fire, Hammond and the boy tied between them, except an old Indian who was set

612 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

to keep the first watch. His spear lay by his side, while he picked the meat from the head of a deer, as half sleeping and nodding, he sat over the fire. Bennett was allowed to sit near him, and seemingly in a careless manner, took the spear, and rolled it playfully on his thigh. Watching his opportunity when least on his guard, he thrust the spear through the Indian's side, who fell with a startling groan upon the burning logs. There was not a moment to be lost. Age forgot its decrepitude. In an instant Hammond and young Bennett were cut loose, the arms seized, three of the remaining savages tomahawked, and slain as they slept, and another wounded. One only escaped unhurt. On the evening of the 30th the captive victors came in with five rifles, a silver mounted hanger, and several spears and blankets, as trophies of their brilliant exploit.

"Another band of ten Indians, on the same day that Bennett and Hammond were taken, shot Asa Upson in Hanover, (near where the bridge crosses the canal below Carey-Town). On the 28th, two men were making sugar about eight miles below Wilkes- Barre, one was killed, the other taken prisoner. On the 29th, Jonah Rogers, a lad of fourteen or fifteen, was taken prisoner from the lower part of the valley. The Indians then pushed down the river to Fishing Creek, where, on the 30th they surprised the family of the Van Campens. Moses Van Campen was taken prisoner after they had murdered and scalped his father, his brother, and his uncle, and captured a boy named Pence. Direct- ing their course northeast, the savages passed through Hunting- ton, where they were met by a scout of four men under the orders of Capt. Franklin, Shots were exchanged, and two of his men wounded. Too few to cope with the Indian party, Capt. Franklin took up a position in an old log house; but the enemy preferred to pursue their course, and the same evening came to a camp where Abraham Pike, with his wife, were making sugar. Pike, who was a British deserter, was a most desirable acquisition. The wife and her child they painted, and sent into the settlements. The party now bent their way to the lake country, crossed the Susquehanna at the little Tunkhannock, and pursued their course up the east branch of the river.

"Lieut. Van Campen, a man of true courage, brave and enter- prising, formed a plan, with Pike, Rogers, and Pence, to rise on the ten Indians, and effect their liberation, or die in the attempt. It was a bold and hazardous enterprise. The party had ascended to within fifteen miles of Tioga Point, where they encamped on the

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1780 613

night of the 3rd of April. The Indians, beyond the probability of pursuit, all lay down to sleep, five on each side of the prisoners, who were carefully bound. Van Cam pen had observed that a knife, used by one of the Indians, fell near him, and placing his foot on it, secured the inestimable prize. About midnight, finding the enemy buried in profound sleep. Van Campen cut himself loose, and with noiseless celerity liberated the hands of his com- panions. Springing to their feet, placing the guns in a secure place, tomahawks were used with the utmost vigour. The Indians made a desperate, but unavailing elTort for the mastery, but were overpowered, and several of the ten killed, two others wounded, and two or three escaped unhurt.* After scalping the dead, recov- ering the scalps of those of our people whom the Indians had slain, making a hasty raft, the party, taking the guns, tomahawks, spears, and blankets of the foe, descended the Susquehanna, and on the evening of the 5th of April arrived with their spoils in triumph at Wyoming.

"No nobler deed was performed during the Revolutionary War. In a narrative of his life and services, written in 1837, and presented as a memorial to Congress, asking for a pension, Lieut. Van Campen represents his companions in this affair, except Pence, as terrified and inactive, thus impairing his own credit, and marring the beauty of a most chivalrous achievement. There was honour enough for all; there could be no motive but excessive self-glorification, for representing Pike and Rogers as cowards. But when that narrative was written Van Campen was an old man. Pike and Rogers were both dead, and he may have supposed no one remained to rescue their names from the odium. The writer of this knew Abraham Pike and Jonah Rogers well. Mr. Rogers was a highly respectable citizen, and was well understood, though quite a youth, to have performed his duty like a man. That he was collected and cool is evident from his observing that Pike struck his first blow with the head of his axe, then turned it and gave the edge. The former he has often heard recount the daring exploit, and until this recent statement of Van Campen, never heard a doubt of Pike's courage expressed. Familiarly he was called 'Serjeant Pike, the Indian killer,' and as such was every where welcome. An Irishman! A regulariy disciplined soldier! The presumption would be strong against the charge of cowardice. But death was certain if taken to Niagara; even cowardice itself would have stimulated a man, so situated, to fight. That Van Campen's memory had become impaired, is

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apparent from the fact that he claimed to have killed nine of the ten Indians. Col. Jenkins, in a memorandum made at the time says: 'Pike and two men from Fishing Creek, and two boys that were taken by the Indians, made their escape by rising on the guard, killed three, and the rest took to the woods, and left the prisoners with twelve guns,' &c. No! without detracting from the bravery and good conduct of Van Campen, we cannot but conclude, that he had told the story of his own prowess, height- ening the colouring in his own favour, as he found it gave him consideration with his wondering listeners, until, perhaps, he believed himself the sole hero of the victory.

"On the 30th of March, three persons, named Avery, Lyons, and Jones, were taken prisoners by the Indians, from Capouse.

"The unfortunate, or fortunate Hammond, who, twice in such fearful jeopardy, had twice escaped, had now the pleasure of appearing at Head-Quarters, having been sent on the 3rd of April, by Col. Butler, express, with despatches for his Excellency.

"In the course of these predatory excursions, the savages set fire to the simple log buildings which the settlers had erected for their temporary residence."

On March 31st, seven or eight persons were captured by In- dians about two miles above Fort Jenkins, in Columbia County.

In September, 1780, a large band of Indians, descending the Susquehanna and passing through Wyoming without giving any alarm, crossed the river near the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, and advanced into what is now Sugar Loaf Township, Luzerne Coun ty where they found a party of thirty-one Americans, commanded by Lieutenant Myers, and fiercely attacked them. The Ameri- cans were not suspecting that an enemy was near, were thrown into confusion, and badly defeated. In vain. Lieutenant Myers endeavored to rally his forces, vowing that he would die before he would retreat. The gallant lieutenant was captured, but made his escape on the second night of his captivity, and came to the fort at Wyoming with the melancholy tidings that thirteen of his men hadbeen scalped and most of the others taken prisoner. The Indians hastened to their strongholds in New York after burning the Shickshinny mills and all the grain stacks in the neighborhood.

On December 6th, 1780, a party of nineteen British, Tories and five Indians, under command of Lieutenant Turney of Colonel John Butler's Rangers, entered the Wyoming Valley, and near Plymouth, captured Benjamin Harvey, Elisha Harvey, Nathan Bullock, James Frisbee, Jonathan Frisbee, Manassah

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1780 615

Cady and Samuel Palmer (later Colonel) Ransom. Lieutenant Rosewell Franklin, with twenty-six men, pursued the invaders, but they made their escape. The prisoners were taken to Niagara, suffering greatly from cold and hunger on the way. The next summer all were released except the younger Harvey, Frisbee and Ransom. These were taken to Montreal during the summer, and in the autumn, were removed to Prisoner's Island in the St. Lawrence, where there were 167 American captives at that time. Here Ransom made his escape on June 9th, 1782. He arrived at Wyoming on July 27th of that year, just the day following the murder of a man, woman and two children, by Indians, near Catawissa, Columbia County, thirty miles below Wyoming.

Moses Van Campen*s Other Experiences

Moses Van Campen had other experiences with the Indians in addition to the terrible one just related. In the spring of 1778, he, with a small force of men, built Fort Wheeler, on the banks of Fishing Creek, about three miles from Bloomsburg, Columbia County. Before the fort was completed, it was attacked by a large body of Indians. Fortunately the inhabitants of the settle- ment were in the fort, and from its elevated position could see their dwellings entered, their feather beds and blankets carried out and scattered around, and later the whole settlement re- duced to ashes. On the day of the attack, Van Campen sur- rounded the fort at a distance of four rods with a barricade of brush and stakes. Seeing this obstruction, the Indians fired at the fort from the distance, hiding behind trees and bushes. When darkness descended, the supply of ammunition at the fort being low. Van Campen sent two of his men to Fort Jenkins, about eight miles away, for more, and they returned before dawn the next morning with a plentiful supply of powder and lead. From their return until dawn, the garrison spent the time in making bullets and getting ready for the encounter which they expected in the morning. However, the enemy disappeared during the night, leaving blood stains on the ground, but nothing else to indicate their loss.

In the month of June, some settlers' houses near this fort were attacked when the women and girls were milking the cows in the evening. Van Campen, with ten sharpshooters, succeeded in getting between the milkers and the Indians, and shot the leader of the Indian band, whereupon the rest fled. "The honest dairy

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women," says Van Campen in his Narrative, "were more terribly frightened than the Indians. They started upon their feet, screamed aloud and ran with all their might, fearful lest the enemy should be upon them. In the meantime, the milk pails flew in every direction, and the milk was scattered to the winds."*

Also in the spring of 1781, Van Campen erected Fort McClure, which stood within the limits of Bloomsburg. During that sum- mer, a man who had been captured by the Indians in the Buffalo Valley and had made his escape, came to this fort and reported that there was a band of three hundred Indians on Sinnema- honing Creek, in what is now Cameron and Potter Counties, most likely getting ready to descend upon the settlements. Colonel Hunter then sent a party, called the "Grove Party," to recon- noitre, composed of Moses Van Campen, Captain Campbell, Peter and Michael Grove and Lieutenant Cramer. Carrying a three weeks' supply of provisions, this party proceeded up the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and thence so far up the Sinnemahoning that, finding no Indian signs, they concluded the report was false. As they were returning, at a point some dis- tance below the mouth of the Sinnemahoning, they discovered smoke ahead of them in the evening, and concluded it was made by a party of Indians. Creeping cautiously towards the smoke, Van Campen 's men discovered a band of twenty-five or thirty Indians lying around the fire. Waiting until they were asleep. Van Campen and his companions dashed among them and killed several with rifle and tomahawk. The rest fled precipitately through the forest. Van Campen says that this Indian band had been as far into the interior as Penn's Creek, and had killed and scalped two or three families. His men found several scalps and a great quantity of cloth, which the Indians had with them. The cloth was taken to Northumberland and distributed among the distressed settlers. (See Moses Van Campen 's Narrative.)

In the spring of 1782, Van Campen was engaged, with a small force, in rebuilding Fort Muncy, located four or five miles from the town of Muncy, Lycoming County, which had been destroyed by the Indians in 1779. About April 10th, Captain Robinson, Esquire Culbertson, James Daugherty, William McGrady and a Mr. Barkley came to the unfinished fort, and Esquire Culbertson advised that his brother had been killed by the Indians near the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek. He said that he had been informed that his brother and some of his brother's companions had been buried without having been mutilated by their murderers. He

*Van Campen served in Sullivan's expedition, in 1779.

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was anxious to make a search to ascertain the truth of this report. Captain Robinson then sent Van Campen with twenty men, as a guard for Esquire Culbertson, up the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna to Big Island (Lock Haven), thence up Bald Eagle Creek to the place where Culbertson's brother had been buried. They reached the place on the night of April 15th. On the morn- ing of the succeeding day, Van Campen's party was attacked by a force of eighty-five Indians. Esquire Culbertson and two others escaped, nine of the white men were killed, and the rest, among whom was Van Campen, were taken prisoners.

Van Campen was carried to the Seneca village of Caneadea, on the Genessee, where he successfully ran the gauntlet. Some of his companions were adopted by the Senecas to make up the loss of those killed in the encounter. After running the gauntlet, Van Campen was taken to Fort Niagara and given to the British. Presently the Indians learned that he had been captured before and had killed his captors. They then demanded that the British give him back to them for torture. The British commander sent an officer to examine him, and to this officer Van Campen frankly stated the facts as to his escape from his Indian captors in the spring of 1780. The officer then told the brave frontiersman that his case was desperate, whereupon Van Campen replied that he considered himself a prisoner of war of the British, and that he hoped the British would have more honor than to deliver him to the Indians to be tortured to death at the stake. He pointed out that, in case the British did deliver him for torture, they could depend upon it that the Americans would make retaliation by taking the life of some British officer captured by the patriot forces. The officer soon returned and advised him that the only way his life could be spared was for him to espouse the British cause, offering him the inducement that he should hold the same rank in the British service as he then possessed. "No, sir, no," said Van Campen, "my life belongs to my country. Give me the stake, the tomahawk, or the scalping knife, before I will dis- honor the character of an American officer." The British then took him to Montreal, thence to New York, where he was ex- changed in March, 1783. Some time prior to 1800, he removed to the state of New York, where he died in 1849, at the great age of ninety-two years. The dust of this noted man of the Penn- sylvania frontier reposes at Angelica, Allegany County, New York, about ten miles from Caneadea, where he ran the gauntlet.

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Atrocities in Union County in 1780

On April 8th, 1780, a band of Indians killed David Couples, who lived on Redbank Run. They scalped him and two of his children, and took his wife prisoner. Encamping for the night on the hill above White Deer Mills, the frontier wife and mother made her escape, although one of the Indians had lain upon part of her dress, so that her moving might waken him.

On May 16th, a patrol of Continental soldiers was attacked by a body of Indians at French Jacob's Mill, (Jacob Groshong's Mill) near the end of Brush Valley, Union County. Four of the soldiers, John Foster Jr., James Chambers, George Etzweiler and Samuel McLaughlin, were killed. The soldiers had just re- turned from patroling the neighborhood, and were outside the mill, washing themselves when the Indians swooped down upon them. Christian Shively heard the firing as he was threshing grain in his field. Shively concealed his wife and two small children near the creek, while he rolled some logs into the stream and made a raft. He then put his wife and children on the raft, and they floated down the stream to safety. Henry Pontius, another neighbor, also heard the firing, secured his rifle, mounted his horse, made a circuit of the woods, and arrived at the mill just in time to see the Indians leaving with their plunder.

The following day, messengers started for Philadelphia with an appeal for assistance. A detail started for New Berlin, carry- ing the bodies of the slain soldiers. When John Clark's farm was reached, the party divided. Those carrying the bodies of Foster and Chambers were compelled, on account of the warm weather, to make burial in the Lewis graveyard. The other party, bearing the body of Etzweiler, buried it on the farm of John Brook, where his grave was marked ; and the body of McLaughlin was carried to New Berlin, and buried in Dry Run Cemetery

On July 14th, 1780, Indians attacked a family of Aliens living at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, at or near where Lewisburg now stands. The husband and three children were killed, but the mother succeeded in making her escape across the creek. Looking back, she saw the Indians dash out the brains of her smallest child against a tree.

The same day Baltzer Klinesmith was killed and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine, were captured, near Dreis- bach Church, Union County. The Indians took the girls to a spring north of New Berlin, where they left them in charge of an

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old Indian while the rest of the band went down Dry Valley. Soon it began to rain, and the old Indian made his prisoners gather brush to cover a bag of flour which the band had stolen. As the girls were gathering the brush, the Indian lay down under a tree with his tomahawk under his head. In a short time he was asleep and the girls, passing with the brush, gradually worked the tomahawk from under his head as he slept. Elizabeth then secured the tomahawk, and motioning to Catherine to run, sank it into the Indian's skull. Just then the rest of the Indian band returned, and pursued the fleeing girls. As they neared their home, a rifle ball passed through Catherine's shoulder, maiming her for life, but both girls escaped. A party of neighbors gave chase to the Indians. Also, in July 1780, Patrick Watson and his mother were killed at their cabin near White Springs, Union County.

Attack on Fort Rice

Early in September, 1780, Fort Rice, also known as Fort Montgomery, in Lewis Township, Northumberland County was attacked by 250 or 300 Tories and Indians. On failure to capture the fort, the Tories and their Indian allies broke into small parties and devastated the surrounding country with tomahawk and fire, One large party of Indians moved eastward to Fort Jenkins, which they found abandoned, and then set fire to the buildings in the neighborhood, on the 9th of September. Hearing of the approach of Captain Klader with a company of Northampton County militia, they suddenly decamped, crossed the North Branch of the Susquehanna near Berwick, and went on to Sugar Loaf, in Luzerne County, as seen earlier in this chapter, where they ambuscaded the militia, killing or capturing the greater number of them, and relieving their Tory friends from fear of capture.

Capture of the Gilbert Family

On April 25th, 1780, occurred the capture of the family of Benjamin Gilbert, in what is now Carbon County. The following account of this event is quoted from Egle's, "History of Pennsyl- vania":

"As late as 1780 the Gilbert family, living on Mahoning Creek, five or six miles from Fort Allen, were carried into a bitterly painful captivity by a party of Indians, who took them to Canada, and there separated them. At the time of its occurrence, this

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event caused intense excitement throughout the State, and from an interesting narrative pubUshed shortly after their release from captivity, we append the following synopsis :

"Benjamin Gilbert, a Quaker from Byberry, near Philadel- phia, in 1775, removed with his family to a farm on Mahoning creek, five or six miles from Fort Allen. His second wife was a widow Peart. They were comfortably situated, with a good log dwelling-house, barn, and saw and grist mill. For five years this peaceable family went on industriously and prosperously ; but on the 25th of April, 1780, the very year after Sullivan's expedition, they were surprised about sunrise by a party of eleven Indians, who took them all prisoners. At the Gilbert farm they made captives of Benjamin Gilbert, Sr., aged 69 years; Elizabeth, his wife, 55; Joseph Gilbert, his son, 41; Jesse Gilbert; another son, 19; Sarah Gilbert, wife to Jesse, 19; Rebecca Gilbert, a daughter 16; Abner Gilbert, a son, 14; Elizabeth Gilbert, a daughter, 12; Thomas Peart, son to Benjamin Gilbert's wife, 23; Benjamin Gilbert, a son of John Gilbert of Philadelphia, 11 ; Andrew Harri- gar, of German descent, 26; a hireling of Benjamin Gilbert's; and Abigail Dodson, 14, a daughter of Samuel Dodson, who lived on a farm about one mile from Gilbert's mill. The whole number taken at Gilbert's was twelve. The Indians then proceeded about half a mile to Benjamin Peart's dwelling, and there captured himself, aged 27; Elizabeth, his wife, 20, and their child, nine months old.

"The last look the poor captives had of their once comfortable home was to see the flames and falling in of the roofs, from Summer Hill. The Indians led their captives on a toilsome road over Mauch Chunk and Broad Mountains into the Nescopec path, and then across Quakake Creek and the Moravian pine swamp to Mahoning Mountain where they lodged the first night. On their way they had prepared moccasins for some of the children. In- dians generally secure their prisoners by cutting down a sapling as large as a man's thigh, and therein cut notches in which they fix their legs, and over this they place a pole, crossing it with stakes drove in the ground, and on the crotches of the stakes they place other poles or riders, effectually confining the prisoners on their backs; and besides all this they put a strap round their necks, which they fasten to a tree. In this manner the night passed with the Gilbert family. Their beds were hemlock branches strewed on the ground, and blankets for a covering.

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Andrew Montour was the leader of the Indian party. [Not the son of Madam Montour].

"The forlorn band were dragged on over the wild and rugged region between the Lehigh and the Chemung branch of the Sus- quehanna. They were often ready to faint by the way, but the cruel threat of immediate death urged them again to the march. The old man, Benjamin Gilbert, indeed, had begun to fail, and had been painted black — a fatal omen among the Indians; but when his cruel captors had put a rope around his neck, and ap- peared about to kill him, the intercessions of his wife softened their hearts, and he was saved. Subsequently, in Canada, the old man, conversing with the chief, observed that he might say what none of the other Indians could, 'that he had brought in the oldest man and the youngest child.' The chief's reply was im- pressive: 'It was not I, but the great God, who brought you through; for we were determined to kill you, but were prevented.'

"On the fifty-fourth day of their captivity, the Gilbert family had to encounter the fearful ordeal of the gauntlet. 'The prison- ers,' says the author of the narrative, 'were released from the heavy loads they had heretofore been compelled to carry, and were it not for the treatment they expected on their approaching the Indian towns, and the hardship of separation, their situation would have been tolerable ; but the horror of their minds, arising from the dreadful yells of the Indians as they approached the hamlets, is easier conceived than described — for they were no strangers to the customary cruelty exercised upon the captives on entering their towns. The Indians — men, women, and children — collected together, bringing clubs and stones in order to beat them, which they usually do with great severity, by way of revenge for their relations who have been slain. This is per- formed immediately upon their entering the village where the warriors reside, and cannot be avoided; the blows, however cruel, must be borne without complaint. The prisoners are sorely beaten until their enemies are weary with the cruel sport. Their sufferings were in this case very great; they received several wounds, and two of the women who were on horseback were much bruised by falling from their horses, which were frightened by the Indians. Elizabeth, the mother, took shelter by the side of one of them (a warrior), but upon his observing that she met with some favor upon his account, he sent her away; she then received several violent blows, so that she was almost disabled. The blood trickled from their heads in a stream, their hair being cropped

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close and the clothes they had on in rags, made their situation truly piteous. Whilst the Indians were inflicting this revenge upon the captives, the chief came and put a stop to any further cruelty by telling them 'it was sufficient,' which they immediately attended to.

"Soon after this a severer trial awaited them. They were separated from each other. Some were given over to Indians to be adopted, others were hired out by their Indian owners to ser- vice in white families, and others were sent down the lake to Montreal. Among the latter was the old patriarch, Benjamin Gilbert. But the old man, accustomed to the comforts of civilized life, broken in body and mind from such unexpected calamities, sank under the complication of woe and hardship. His remains were interred at the foot of an oak near the old fort of Coeur du Lac, on the St. Lawrence, below Ogdensburg. Some of the family met with kind treatment from the hands of British officers at Montreal, who were interested in their story, and exerted them- selves to release them from captivity.

"Sarah Gilbert, the wife of Jesse, becoming a mother, Elizabeth left the service she was engaged in — Jesse having taken a house — that she might give her daughter every necessary attendance. In order to make their situation as comfortable as possible, they took a child to nurse, which added a little to their income. After this, Elizabeth Gilbert hired herself to iron a day for Adam Scott. While she was at her work, a little girl belonging to the house acquainted her that there were some who wanted to see her, and upon entering the room, she found six of her children. The joy and surprise she felt on this occasion were beyond what we shall attempt to describe. A messenger was sent to inform Jesse and his wife that Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Peart, Elizabeth his wife, and their young child, and Abner and Elizabeth Gilbert the younger, were with their mother.

"Among the customs, or indeed common laws, of the Indian tribes, one of the most remarkable and interesting was adoption of prisoners. This right belonged more particularly to the females than to the warriors, and well was it for the prisoners that the election depended rather upon the voice of the mother than on that of the father, as innumerable lives were thus spared whom the warriors would have immolated. When once adopted, if the captives assume a cheerful aspect, entered into their modes of life, learned their language, and, in brief, acted as if they actually felt themselves adopted, all hardship was removed not incident to

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Indian modes of life. But, if this change of relation operated as ameHoration of condition in the life of the prisoner, it rendered ransom extremely difficult in all cases, and in some instances pre- cluded it altogether. These difficulties were exemplified in a strik- ing manner in the person of Elizabeth Gilbert the younger. This girl, only twelve years of age when captured, was adopted by an Indian family, but afterwards permitted to reside in a white family of the name of Secord, by whom she was treated as a child indeed, and to whom she became so much attached as to call Mrs. Secord by the endearing title of mamma. Her residence, how- ever, in a white family, was a favor granted to the Secords by the Indian parents of Elizabeth, who regarded and claimed her as their child. Mr. Secord having business at Niagara, took Betsy, as she was called, with him; and there after long separation, she had the happiness to meet with six of her relations, most of whom had been already released and were preparing to set out for Montreal, lingering and yearning for those they seemed destined to leave behind, perhaps for ever. The sight of their beloved little sister roused every energy to effect her release, which desire was generously seconded by John Secord and Colonel Butler, who, soon after her visit to Niagara, sent for the Indian who claimed Elizabeth, and made overtures for her ransom. At first he declared that he 'would not sell his own flesh and blood;' but, attacked through his interest, or in other words, his necessities, the negotiations succeeded, and, as we have already seen, her youngest child was among the treasures first restored to the mother at Montreal.

Eventually they were all redeemed and collected at Montreal on the 22nd of August, 1782, when they took leave of their kind friends there, and returned to Byberry, after a captivity of two years and five months."

Mountain Valleys Invaded — Rangers Massacred

The settlers of the mountain valleys of counties of Huntingdon, Blair and Bedford suffered terribly at the hands of the Indian allies of the British during the Revolutionary War. The follow- ing letters, recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol.-iO; tell part of the story of the sufferings of these settlers in the summer of 1780:

Major Robert Cluggage, in a letter written from Huntingdon to Colonel John Piper, on May 30th, and recorded on page 278 of above mentioned volume, says:

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"I make free to write you concerning the difficulty of the times in those parts at present, which ought to be the concern of every good man. A party of men from Cumberland and from those parts was marched out to way-lay the gaps of the Allegheny Mountains, before we arrived from your house. When they went to the new gap above Frankstown, they found that a small party of the enemy had returned that route some days before they got there, and had taken with them a number of horses; yet we sup- posed a part of the enemy to be left behind, which we found to be true bv the discovery of William Phelaps [Phillips]. Last Friday, where he had a noble chance of two Indians, near the three springs at Aughwick, had it not been for one of his children that was with him which he was doubtful would have fallen into their hands if he had fired on them. He immediately alarmed the neighbors. They raised a party and pursued them for some miles, came to their fire where they had roasted a turkey, and were just gone. The Indians seemed to be headed towards Pregmor's mill, when the party lost their tracks. A discovery has been made lately at Captain Simon ton's. From thoses dis- coveries we may draw this conclusion that those are spies making a proper discovery of the country, and when reinforced, I am doubtful [fearful] will make a heavy stroke."

Colonel John Piper, in a letter written from Bedford to Presi- dent Joseph Reed of the Supreme Executive Council, on June 3rd, and recorded on page 297 of above mentioned volume, says:

"I mentioned in my last by General St. Clair that the Indians had made an incursion into this county, which, to our misfor- tune, is more general than I at that time supposed, there being upwards of twenty people killed and taken. The consequence is that the settlements adjacent to where the murders were done are abandoned. The militia turned out, but for want of pro- visions could not follow the enemy far . . . Spies, or at least those who are suspected to be spies, have been discovered in different parts; and we have every reason to dread the full of the next moon will be fatal to use."

Then, on August 6th, Colonel Piper again wrote President Reed, from Bedford, the letter being recorded on page 488 of above mentioned volume:

"Your favor of the 3rd of June, with the blank commissions, has been duly received. Since which we have been anxiously employed in raising our quota of Pennsylvania volunteers, and, at the same time, defending our frontiers; but, in our present

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1780 625

shattered situation, a full company cannot be expected from this county, when a number of our militia companies are entirely broken up, and the townships laid waste. So that the communi- cation betwixt our upper and lower districts is entirely broken, and our apprehensions of immediate danger are not lessened, but greatly aggravated, by a most alarming stroke. Captain Phillips, an experienced, good woodsman, had engaged a company of rangers for the space of two months for the defense of our fron- tiers, was surprised at his post on Sunday, the 16th of July, when the Captain with eleven of his company were all taken and killed. When I received the intelligence, which was the day following, I marched with only ten men directly to the place, where we found the house burnt to ashes, with sundry Indian tomahawks that had been lost in the action, but found no person killed at that place. But, upon taking the Indian tracks, within about one half mile we found ten of Captain Phillips' company with their hands tied and murdered in the most cruel manner. This bold enterprise so alarmed the inhabitants that our whole frontiers were on the point of giving way, but upon application to the Lieutenant of Cumberland County, he hath sent to our assistance one company of the Pennsylvania volunteers, which, with the volunteers raised in our own county, hath so encouraged the inhabitants that they seem determined to stand it a little longer."

Pennsylvania Offers Bounties for Scalps

In former chapters, we saw that Pennsylvania offered rewards for the scalps of Indians, during the French and Indian War and the Pontiac and Guyasuta War. As early as April, 1779, William Maclay, later United States Senator, recommended to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania the hunting of hostile Indians with horses and dogs. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, page 357.) In the spring of 1780, when the Indians in alliance with the British, urged on by the substantial bounties which the British and Tory commanders at Detroit and in New York were giving for American scalps, even the scalps of babes, were making the soil of the land of Penn red with the blood of its inhabitants, combatants and non-combatants alike, and were torturing many of them to death in the Indian villages, Pennsylvania again offered bounties for Indian scalps. Colonel Samuel Hunter and Colonel Jacob Stroud were authorized to offer these rewards.

On April 7th, 1780, President Reed wrote Colonel Samuel

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Hunter as follows: "The council would and do for this purpose authorize you to offer the following premiums for every male prisoner whether white or Indian, if the former is acting with the latter, Fifteen Hundred Dollars, and One Thousand Dollars for every Indian scalp." And on April 11, 1780, he wrote to Colonel Jacob Stroud, "We have therefore authorized Lieutenant of the county (Northampton) to offer Fifteen Hundred Dollars for every Indian or Tory prisoner taken in arms against us, and One Thousand Dollars for every Indian scalp." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, pages 167, 176, 283, 369 and 393.)

On June 27th, 1780, Colonel Hunter wrote to President Reed from Sunbury, stating that several small parties have "made attempts to get scalps or prisoners agreeable to the proclamation, but have returned without success in that way." President Reed then replied with a letter of "condolence," in which he said: "We are sorry to hear the attempts which have been made to get scalps and prisoners have been so unsuccessful and hope perseverance will in time produce better effects." "Better effects" were presently "produced." Many scalping parties were organized, which were quite successful. On one occasion thirteen scalps were sent to Fort Pitt in one package. Moreover, the scalp bounty law was brought into disrepute by the killing of friendly Indians to sell their scalps.

Captain Samuel Brady was a recipient of scalp bounties. In the minutes of a meeting of the Provincial Council on February 19th, 1781, we find an order to Colonel Lochry, Lieutenant of Westmoreland County, "for the sum of twelve pounds, ten shillings, state money, to be paid to Captain Samuel Brady as a reward for an Indian's scalp, agreeable to a late proclamation of this board." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 12, page 632.)

Finally, when General Sir Guy Carleton, in the autumn of 1782, shocked by the cruel burning of Colonel William Crawford and other American prisoners, put an end to the British alliance with the Indians, Pennsylvania no longer gave money for the scalps of the Indians.

CHAPTER XXVII

The Revolutionary War

1781

Colonel Brodhead Destroys Coshocton

ON the death of the friendly Delaware Chief, White Eyes, Captain Pipe continued as head of the war faction among the Delawares; and so great was his influence that he succeeded in persuading the majority of the tribe, in violation of the alliance which they had made with the Americans, to go over to the British. The Delaware Council at Coshocton took this action in February, 1781, during the absence of Killbuck at Fort Pitt. From the Moravian mission at Salem, on the Tuscarawas River, about fourteen miles below New Philadelphia, Killbuck wrote a long letter to Colonel Brodhead at Fort Pitt by the hand of Rev. John Heckewelder, informing the Colonel of the action of the Delaware Council. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 8, pages 769 to 771.) Colonel Brodhead then determined to attack the Delaware town of Coshocton, and punish the Delawares for their perfidy. He proceeded to Wheeling, from which place he took up the march toward the Delaware capital, on April 10th, having about three hundred troops, after having received, by the help of Colonel David Shepherd, of Wheeling, four companies totaling one hun- dred and thirty-four officers and men, under Captains John Ogle, Benjamin Royle, Jacob Lefier and William Crawford. On April 20th, Brodhead's advance having come upon three Delawares about a mile from Coshocton, captured one, but the other two escaped and gave the alarm. Brodhead's forces, among whom were John Montour, Nanowland, and several other friendly Delawares, then dashed into the Delaware capital, where they found but fifteen warriors, every one of whom was put to death in the resistless rush of the American troops; but no harm was done to the old men, women and children. Brodhead's troops then set fire to the town after having "taken great quantities of peltry and other stores," and destroyed about forty head of

628 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

cattle. The reason that Brodhead found so few warriors in Coshocton was that a band of forty who had just returned from a raid on the settlements, laden with scalps and prisoners, had crossed to the farther side of the river, a few miles above the town, to enjoy a drunken revel. On account of the swollen con- dition of the stream and the fact that the war parties had taken their canoes with them, the troops were unable to cross to the farther side. Brodhead wished to send a detail to the Moravian towns farther up the river, for the purpose of procuring boats; but the volunteer soldiers protested, saying that they had done enough, suffered severely from the weather, had almost worn out their horses, and proposed to return to Fort Pitt. The Colonel, finding that he could not help himself, inasmuch as the troops were not subject to strict military discipline, consented to their proposal. However, Killbuck and a number of his friendly Dela- wares later struck the hostile Delawares on the farther side of the river. While Brodhead's forces were resting at New Comer's Town, a few days later, on their way back to Fort Pitt, Killbuck appeared in camp and threw at Brodhead's feet the fresh scalp of "one of the greatest villians" among the hostile Delawares.

On the return march, Brodhead followed the Tuscarawas to New Comer's Town, at which place he found about thirty friend- ly Delawares who had withdrawn from Coshocton when the Dela- ware council voted to espouse the British cause. "The troops," said Brodhead in his report of the expedition, "experienced great kindness from the Moravian Indians and those at New Comer's Town, and obtained a sufficient supply of meat and corn to subsist the men and horses to the Ohio River."

The expedition returned to Wheeling about May 1st. Here the captured skins and furs were sold at auction for the enormous Slim of eighty thousand pounds.

As a result of the destruction of Coshocton, the hostile Dela- wares went to the headwaters of the Sandusky River and other places nearer the British at Detroit, while Killbuck and his friend- ly Delawares took up their residence on Smoky Island, near Fort Pitt, among them being Captain Samuel Brady's friend, Nanow- land, and Chief Big Cat. Killbuck, who, in baptism, was given the name William Henry in honor of Judge Henry of Lancaster, and who held a commission from the United States Congress, proudly called himself "Colonel Henry."

Colonel Brodhead's report of this expedition is found in Pa.

Colonel Daniel Brodhead, commander of Fort Pitt and the Western Department from April, 1779 until about November 1, 1781. Born about 1725, probably at Albany, N. Y., he migrated with his father to Pennsylvania, in 1738, settling near Stroudsburg, Monroe County. Having served throughout the Revolutionary War, he was mustered out as Brevet Brigadier General. Died at Milford, Pike County, Pa., November 15, 1809.

— Courtesy Hon. Daniel Brodhead Heiner, Kittanning, Pa., a descendant of General Brodhead.

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Archives, Vol. 9, page 161. It is unfortunate that so many his- torians, in describing the Coshocton campaign, have copied the errors of Dr. Doddridge's "Notes" instead of following Brodhead's own report. Hassler, in his "Old Westmoreland", after calling attention to the fact that Doddridge made an error of almost a year in the time of the expedition and also made the terrible ac- cusation that Colonel Brodhead, honorable soldier that he was, did not kill the fifteen Delaware warriors in the battle as he enter- ed the Delaware capital, but took them captive, then bound them, led them some distance from the town, and tomahawked, speared and scalped them, makes the following comment:

"Doddridge's book has still thousands of readers. Doubtless, it well describes the conditions of pioneer life in Western Penn- sylvania, but as to historical events it is totally unreliable. At the time Brodhead destroyed Coshocton, Joseph Doddridge was about twelve years old, and he did not write his 'Notes' until forty years afterward. His only sources of information [the Pa. Archives and Pa. Col. Records not yet having been printed] were the exaggerated yarns told by ignorant frontiersmen, beside the log cabin fires, into the ears of the wondering boy. Long years afterward, he endeavored to recall and set down these stories heard in childhood, and many persons have considered the result history." ("Old Westmoreland", pages 128 and 129.)

Among the histories which copy t he lamentable error contained in Doddridge's "Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of Virginia and Pennsylvania", are Craig's "History of Pittsburg" and Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio." Even the revised edition (1890) of the latter work copies Doddridge's error. (See Vol. 1, page 480.) While it is true that Colonel Brodhead's silence is no proof that the disgraceful affair, mentioned by Doddridge, did not occur, the testimony of the enemy, even that of the notorious renegade, Simon Girty, who hated Brodhead, disproves Doddridge's story. Girty wrote that Colonel Brod- head released the prisoners, among who were four warriors who had satisfied him that they had not taken part in raids against the frontier, and that he (Brodhead) expressed regret to these prisoners that members of their tribe had been killed during the attack on Coshocton. (Butterfield's "The Girtys", page 128; Winsor's "Westward Movement", page 192.)

In this connection we state that, when the Delaware Council at Coshocton voted to take up arms against the United States, the Moravian converts renounced all fellowship with the hostile

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members of the Delaware tribe. Then, the British at Detroit, believing that the Moravian Delawares were being instigated by the Moravian Missionaries to take an active part on the American side, set on foot measures to punish them, and finally an expedition of Wyandots, Mingoes, Shawnees and Delawares of the Munsee Clan was sent to break up the settlements of the Moravian converts on the Tuscarawas. The result of the expedition was that the Moravian missions were broken up, and the Christian Delawares taken to the north bank of the Sandusky in Wyandot County, Ohio, while the missionaries were taken to Detroit for trial on the charge that they had rendered assistance to the Americans. The exodus from the missions began in Sep- tember, 1781 ; and the trial took place in November, before Major De Pyster, who had succeeded to the command of Detroit after the capture of Hamilton, the "hair-buyer," by George Rogers Clark, in February, 1779. De Pyster opened the council by re- hearsing the charges against the missionaries, and then addressing Captain Pipe, asked him whether the accusations were correct and founded in fact, and especially whether the missionaries had corresponded with the Americans.

"There may be some truth in the accusations, " said Captain Pipe. "I am not prepared to say that all that you have heard is false. But now nothing more of that sort will occur. The teach- ers are here." De Pyster replied: "I infer, therefore, that these men have corresponded with the rebels, and sent letters to Fort Pitt. From your answer this seems to be evident. Tell me, is it so?"

Captain Pipe then sprang to his feet and exclaimed: "Father, I have said that there may be some truth in the reports that have reached you; but now I will tell you exactly what has occurred. These teachers are innocent. On their own account they never wrote letters; they had to do it. I (striking upon his breast) and the chiefs at Goshachgunk are responsible. We induced these teachers to write letters to Pittsburgh, even at such times when they at first declined. But this will no more occur, as I have said, because they are now here."

Major De Peyster then acquitted the missionaries, explaining that he was not opposed to the preaching of the Gospel among the Indians and cautioned the missionaries not to meddle with the war. He gave them permission to return to their converts as soon as they pleased.

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Andrew Poe's Fight with Big Foot

"A striking incident in the history of Washington County was connected with the removal of the Moravians [to Sandusky, just related]. 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 Phillip Jackson, on Harman's Creek, and captured Jackson in his flax field. The prisoner was a carpenter, about 60 years old, and his trade made him valuable 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 baflfle pursuit. The taking of the carpenter was seen by his son who ran nine miles to Ft. Cherry, on Little Racoon 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 borderers 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, William Castelman, William Rankin, and James Whitacre, and they rode on a gallop directly for the mouth of Tomlinson's Run.

"Jack's surmise was a shrewed one, based on a thorough knowl- edge 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, preparing to shove off their raft. John Cherry fired the first shot, killed an Indian, and was himself killed by the return fire. Four of the five Indians were slain, Phillip 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 bluff, 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, throwing them to the ground. A fierce wrestling contest took place. Andrew Poe was six feet tall, of unusual

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strength, and almost a match for the two brothers. One of them wounded him in the wrist with a tomahawk, but he got possession of the only rifle that was in working order and loaded, and fatally shot the one who had cut him. Poe and the other savage [his English name was Big Foot. He was a large and powerful Indian] contested for the mastery, awhile on the shore, and then in the water, where Andrew attempted to drown his antagonist. The Indian escaped, reached land and began to load his gun, when Andrew struck out for the opposite shore, shouting for his brother Adam. At the opportune moment, Adam appeared and shot the Indian through 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 saddened 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, succeeded in swimming the Ohio and hid over night in the woods. In the morn- ing he made a small raft, recrossed the stream, recovered the body of his brother 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 Sandusky, with a sad message for his father and the tribe." — (Hassler's "Old Westmoreland").

Some authorities say the time of Andrew Poe's encounter with Big Foot was June, 1781. There is also a tradition that, some time after the Revolutionary War, a noted warrior of the Wy- andots, named Rohnyenness, was sent to Andrew Poe's cabin in Washington County, to avenge the killing of Big Foot. Poe in- vited the Indian to remain over night. After Poe was asleep, the Indian arose, knife in hand, to kill him, but, thinking of the trust the white man had placed in him, his heart failed him, and he then went to sleep also. In the morning he left and went back home. Afterward he was converted to Christianity, and such is the story he told to Rev. Finley, a Methodist missionary among the Wy- andots. About 1800, Andrew Poe left Washington County, and took up his residence in Beaver County, where he died, July 15th, 1823, aged eighty-one years. His dust reposes in the cemetery of Mill Creek Presbyterian Church at Hookstown, Beaver County.

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Other Events in Washington County in 1781

One morning in September, 1781, Frank Hupp, Jacob Fisher and Captain John Jacob Miller left the latter's blockhouse in Donegal Township, Washington County, to search for some horses which had strayed and to scout for Indians. At nightfall they arrived at the cabin of Jonathan Link, on the right bank of the Middle Fork of Wheeling Creek, about three miles south of West Alexander and very near the West Virginia line. Mr. Link invited them to spend the night with him. They complied, and during the night all the occupants of the cabin were awakened by the furious barking of Link's dog, which continued almost until morning. Unknown to the white men, a band of Shawnee Indians had surrounded the cabin in the night time, waiting for their appearance at dawn. At daylight. Hupp and Fisher step- ped out of the cabin to wash at a spring a few feet away, leaving Mr. Link and Captain Miller in bed in the loft of the cabin. Hupp and Fisher had scarcely gotten outside the cabin when the Indians fired upon them, mortally wounding the former and killing the latter. Frank Hupp was able to reach the loft to warn Captain Miller and Jonathan Link, and then sank down dead. The Indians entered the cabin before Miller and Link could make defense, captured them, and dragged Hupp's body out and removed the scalp.

The captives. Miller and Link, were left in charge of a guard near West Alexander, while other Indians of the band went to the cabin of Presley Peake, a short distance away, on Buffalo Creek, where they captured Mr. Peake, and a man named Bur- nett, and William Hawkins. The band then separated into two parties, one going to the cabin of Edward Gaither and the other to the cabin of William Hawkins. However, the occupants of the Gaither cabin, hearing the shots fired when the Indians were at Peake's cabin, made their escape to Miller's blockhouse, and thus escaped death or capture. At the Hawkins cabin, the In- dians found only one occupant. Miss Elizabeth Hawkins, the rest of the family having fied to the woods when they heard the shots at Peake's cabin. The girl was too ill to flee, and was cap- tured. Mrs. Hawkins narrowly escaped capture. She was hiding with her infant, William Hawkins, Jr., in the woods, when the Indians, after capturing Elizabeth, passed within a few feet of where she lay. In order to keep her child from crying, she gagged the babe with her apron. The infant grew to manhood, and

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was county surveyor of Washington County in 1820, according to Earle R. Forrest's "History of Washington County."

Taking Elizabeth Hawkins, her father, WilHam Hawkins, Pres- ley Peake and Mr, Burnett, the Indians returned to the place where they had left the guard with Captain Miller and Jonathan Link, and then set out with all the prisoners for the Shawnee vil- lages in Ohio. After proceeding for some distance, the Indians killed William Hawkins, Presley Peake and Mr. Burnett. At nightfall, the Indians and their remaining prisoners reached the banks of Big Wheeling Creek, where they encamped for the night, the prisoners being securely bound. During the night, Captain Miller succeeded in severing his cords with his teeth, and cauti- ously made his escape, reaching his blockhouse at daylight and leading a party to Link's cabin to bury Frank Hupp and Jacob Fisher. Jonathan Link and Elizabeth Hawkins were carried to the Shawnee towns in Ohio. No word was ever heard from Link, as far as can be ascertained, except that tradition says he was brought back near his cabin and there shot to death. Elizabeth Hawkins spent the remainder of her life among the Shawnees. She became the wife of a Shawnee chieftain. After the permanent peace following the Treaty of Greenville, in August, 1795, she re- turned for a short time to her relatives and the familiar scenes of her childhood, then went back to her Indian wigwam, never to be heard from or seen again by relatives and friends among the whites.

Massacres in Westmoreland County in 1781*

The soil of the historic county of Westmoreland was crimsoned with the blood of the settlers in the terrible year of 1781. Colonel Archibald Lochry, writing from his home in Unity Township to President Reed, on April 17th, describes the bloody incursions of the Indians, as follows:

"The savages have begun their hostilities. Since I came from Phila., they have struck us in four different places, have taken and killed thirteen persons with a number of horses and other effects of the inhabitants. Two of the unhappy people were killed one mile from Hannastown. Our country is worse depopulated than ever it has been." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 79.)

Also, Colonel James Perry, writing from Big Sewickley Creek to President Reed, on July 2nd, tells of the massacre at Phillip Klingensmith's blockhouse, as follows:

"This morning a small garrison at Philip Clingensmiths

♦See also "Pomroy's Fort" in Appendix E.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1781 635

[Klingensmith's], about eight miles from this, and four or five miles from Hannastown, consisting of between twenty and thirty men, women and children was destroyed; only three made their escape. The particulars I cannot well inform you, as the party that was sent to bury the dead are not yet returned, and I wait every moment to hear of or perhaps see them strike at some other place. The party was supposed to be about seventeen, and I am apt to think there are still more of them in the settlements." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 240.)

Philip Klingensmith's house was in the Brush Creek settlement, likely where Jeanette now stands. About this time, raiding Indians burned the log school house of the Brush Creek Lutheran Church, and captured Colonel Christopher Truby's daughter. She was recovered in what is now Clarion County.

In his letter, above quoted, Colonel Perry tells of other tra- gedies of the Westmoreland frontier, as follows:

"About three weeks ago, one, James Chambers, was taken prisoner about two miles from my house; last Friday two young women were killed in the Ligonier Valley."

As these terrible things were happening on the western frontier, Captain Samuel Brady was vigilantly scouting for Colonel Brodhead in the vicinity of Fort Pitt. On one occasion, in the summer of either 1780 or 1781, he and a man, named Phouts, got Brodhead's permission to ascend the Allegheny on a scout. They crept up on an Indian camp near the Kiskiminetas, and captured the only Indian there, an old warrior. On their way back to Fort Pitt, they encamped at the mouth of a run, where they had hidden some venison while on their way up the river. Here the Indian was left in charge of Phouts, while Brady searched for the venison. Presently the Indian complained that the cords which bound his arms caused him considerable pain. Phouts then released the cords, and, while busy at something else for a moment, the Indian seized a gun and fired at Phouts. Phouts at once tomahawked and scalped the aged warrior, and he and Brady took his scalp to Fort Pitt.

General Clark's Draft — Colonel Lochry's Disaster

General George Rogers Clark, early in 1781, was authorized by Virginia to lead an army to capture Detroit, one hundred and forty Virginia troops were placed under his command, and he was

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authorized to raise and equip volunteers in south western Penn- sylvania, descend the Ohio to the Wabash, thence ascend this stream and march overland to Detroit. Arriving in Pennsylvania about March 1st, he made his headquarters at the home of Colo- nel William Crawford, where Connellsville now stands, and also spent some time at the home of Colonel Dorsey Pentecost on Chartier's Creek, Washington County. By persuasion and by draft, he attempted to raise two thousand troops. Many Penn- sylvanians, resenting his oppressive measures, opposed his efforts, among them being James Marshel, county lieutenant of Wash- ington County and Captain John Hardin; while such men as Colonel Pentecost, Gabriel Cox and Daniel Leet, all of Washing- ton County, worked strenuously in an effort to assist the great Vir- ginian who had conquered the Illinois country and captured Colo- nel Hamilton, the "hair-buyer." Colonel Brodhead opposed Clark's draft, but was ordered by General Washington to give General Clark the assistance of Captain Isaac Craig's field artil- lery and some infantry. Also the militia officers of Westmoreland County, at a meeting held at the home of Captain John Mc- Clelland on Big Sewickley Creek, on June 18th, decided, against the opposition of Colonel Christopher Hays, the Westmoreland member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, to give Clark the aid of three hundred militia from Westmoreland County, to be raised "by volunteers or draft," and to be com- manded by Colonel Archibald Lochry.

The contention between the adherents to Pennsylvania and the adherents to Virginia in the unhappy territorial dispute between these states, was responsible for Clark's being able to raise only four hundred troops, including Captain Craig's battery of field pieces. With these he left the mouth of Chartier's Creek and marched to Wheeling, where his boats were built, and where he waited in vain for several weeks for other additions to his band. The dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as the harried condition of the Westmoreland frontier, made it impos- sible for Colonel Lochry to raise the number of troops required of him.

Lochry's forces began to assemble at Carnahan's blockhouse, about eleven miles northwest of Hannastown, on August 1st, where the muster was held the following day. On August 3d, his little band of eighty-three militiamen began its march to join General Clark at Wheeling, its first camp being at Gaspard

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1781 637

Markle's mill and blockhouse, two miles east of West Newton. Crossing the Youghiogheny at West Newton and the Mononga- hela at Monongahela City, Lochry's force went overland by the settlements on the headwaters of Chartiers and Raccoon Creeks, Washington County, and reached the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia, on August 8th, just a few hours after General Clark's forces had left that place. Lochry was detained at Wheel- ing for four days, while seven boats were built.

On August 13th, the boats were ready, and most of the soldiers embarked in them, while the horses were conducted along the southern shore. Thus the expedition proceeded until August 15th, when Lochry overtook a large horse boat, which General Clark had left in charge of seven men for the use of Lochry's horses. The horses were put into the boat, and the expedition moved with increased speed. On the following day, Lochry sent Captain Samuel Shannon and seven men in a small boat, to endeaver to overtake General Clark and ask him to leave some provisions for the Westmoreland flotilla. On August 17th, two men who were sent out to hunt did not return. It is likely that they were killed by Indians. On August 20th, two of Captain Shannon's men were picked up from the southern shore. They informed Colonel Lochry that Shannon's men had been attacked by Indians on the Kentucky side of the river below the mouth of the Scioto. These two half-starved soldiers were the only survivors, a third soldier having been fatally wounded by stepping on his hunting knife while fleeing through the brush. Unhappily Captain Shannon was carrying a letter to General Clark, revealing the weakness and distressed condition of Lochry's men. This fell into the hands of the enemy. Keen-eyed Indians had been watching Lochry's flotilla ever since it left Wheeling.

On the forenoon of August 24th, the boats approached a level spot at the mouth of the creek since known as Lochry's Run, the same being the dividing line between Ohio and Dearborn Counties, Indiana. It being absolutely necessary to land somewhere to feed the horses and hunt game for the half-famished soldiers, Colonel Lochry at once ordered a landing. The boats were there- fore beached, and the men and horses were soon on the northern shore.

No sooner had they landed than half a hundred rifles blazed from the woods that flanked the level ground near the shore. Manv of Lochry's men were killed and others wounded. Others

638 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

hastened to the boats and pushed for the Kentucky shore. Says Hassler in his "Old Westmoreland": "Painted savages then ap- peared, shrieking and firing, and a fleet of canoes filled with other savages shot out from the Kentucky shore, completely cutting off the escape of Lochry's men. The volunteers returned the fire for a few moments, but were entrapped, and Colonel Lochry offered to surrender. The fight ceased, the boats poled back to shore and the force landed the second time. Human blood was now mingled with that of the buffalo in the languidly flowing river. [The troops had shot a buffalo at the water's edge just before the attack]. .... 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 controlled and began at once to kill their share of the prisoners. While Lochry sat on a log, a Shawnee warrior stepped behind him and sunk a tomahawk into the Colonel'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."

In this ill-fated expedition, forty of Lochry's force were slain, most of them after the surrender. The prisoners who were not butchered by the savages, were taken to Detroit and from there to Montreal, at which place a few escaped, and the remainder were released after the treaty of peace ending the Revolutionary War. Among the few who returned to Westmoreland County, were Richard Wallace, the quarter-master. Captain Thomas Stokely, Lieutenant Richard Fleming, John Guthrie, John Crawford, Lieutenant Isaac Anderson, Ensign James Hunter, Manasseh Coyle, Captain Robert Orr, and Lieutenant Samuel Craig, Jr., whose father, as was seen in Chapter XXIII, was either killed or captured at the base of the Chestnut Ridge, on November 1st, 1777.

Thus Colonel Lochry's expedition ended in disaster. General Clark's expedition was a failure. By the time he had arrived at Fort Nelson, opposite Louisville, Kentucky, so many of his force had deserted that he could not make the march into the Indian country. (For details of Lochry's expedition, see Lieutenant Isaac Anderson's Journal, in Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 14. See, also, Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 333, 369, 458, 574, 733; Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 13, pages, 325, 473.)

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Expedition Against Moravian Delawares

The Western Pennsylvania frontiersmen, in the autumn of 1781, decided that the Moravian Delawares should no longer be permitted to reside in the villages of Schoenbrun (Beautiful Spring) Gnadenhuetten (Tents of Grace), and Salem, all on the Tuscarawas River in Ohio. These villages were between the habitat of the hostile Indians and the Pennsylvania settlements. Even if it were not true that some of the Moravian Delawares sometimes joined the war parties of the hostile Indians, yet it was thought that they gave the war parties food and shelter. They were possibly compelled to do this by the hostile Indians. Colonel David Williamson, one of the battalion commanders of Washington County, raised a force of about a hundred men, and went to the Tuscarawas in November, with the intention of compelling the Moravians either to migrate into the country of the hostile Indians or to move to Fort Pitt. When Williamson and his troops arrived at the Tuscarawas, they found that the vil- lages had already been broken up, as was related earlier in this chapter. Only a few men and women were in the villages. These had come from the Sandusky to gather their corn. Colonel Williamson compelled them to accompany him to Fort Pitt, and placed them under the care of General William Irvine, who had succeeded Colonel Brodhead as commander of the Western De- partment about November 1st, having been appointed by Congress on September 24th. General Irvine soon permitted these Christian Delawares to return to their brethren on the Sandusky River. In our next chapter we shall describe the fate of the Moravian Delawares at the hands of this same Colonel William- son and his Scotch-Irish militia from Washington County.

Colonel Brodhead Given Indian Name

In taking leave of Colonel (later General) Daniel Brodhead, as commander of Fort Pitt, we call attention to the fact that he was held in high esteem by those members of the Delaware tribe who were friendly to the United States. On April 9th, 1779, soon after Colonel Brodhead took command at Fort Pitt, a number of friendly Delaware chiefs, in council at that place, conferred on him the Delaware name of "Maghingua Keeshuck," meaning "The Great Moon." Among these chiefs were Captain Johnny, or Straight Arm, of the Turkey Clan, and Killbuck, or Gelelemend, also known as Captain Henry, of the Turtle Clan.

640 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Killbuck was a grandson of the great New Comer. In conse- quence of his friendship for Colonel Brodhead and the United States, he incurred the hatred of the war faction among the Delawares, which continued even after the general peace con- cluded between the Delawares and the United States by the Treaty of Greenville, August 3d, 1795. Killbuck died at Goshen, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in the early winter of 1811.

Attack on Stock Family

One of the principal Indian outrages of the Revolutionary War was the attack on the Stock, or Stuck, family near Selinsgrove, Snyder County, in 1781. Three of the sons of Mr. Stock were at work in a field when a band of thirty Indians appeared. The Indians did not attack these three, but found another son plough- ing in the field, whom they killed. They then entered the Stock home, occupied at the time by Mrs. Stock and her daughter-in- law. Mrs, Stock defended herself with a canoe pole, in the mean- time retreating toward the field where Mr. Stock was working. The Indians overtook her, however, and sank a tomahawk into her brain. Then after plundering the house, they carried the daughter-in-law into the woods, and killed and scalped her.

When Mr. Stock returned and found the mutilated bodies of his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, he gave the alarm. Then Michael Grove, John Stroh, and Peter Pence pursued the enemy, coming upon them encamped on the North Branch of the Susque- hanna on the side of the hill covered with fern. Grove crept close enough to the Indian band to discover that their rifles were stacked around a tree, and that all but three of the Indians were asleep. One was telling his companions in great glee how poor Mrs. Stock defended herself with a canoe pole. Lying quiet until all the Indians were asleep, Grove then returned to Stroh and Pence. The three frontiersmen then decided to attack, and creeping close to the camp, they dashed among the sleeping Indians, Grove ap- plying his deadly tomahawk, while Stroh and Pence seized the rifles and fired among the sleeping warriors. After several Indians were killed the others, believing that they were attacked by a large force, fled into the forest. A captive white boy was liberated on this occasion, and the frontiersmen returned with the scalps of the slain Indians and their best rifles.

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Outrages in Northumberland and Union Counties in 1781

On April 6th, 1781, a band of Indians entered the Chilisqua- que or Buffalo Valley and attacked an old man, his son and daughter, killing and scalping the boy and capturing the girl. The old gentleman defended himself so energetically with a stout stick against one of the Indians who had a tomahawk that he made him drop his weapon. Colonel John Kelly and some of his neighbors who were at a house some distance from the place of the attack, hearing the alarm, came to the assistance of the old man and obliged the Indians to flee so suddenly that they left the girl and the aged man. On Sunday, the 8th day of the same month, Indians attacked the house of a certain Mr. Darmes about five miles from Sunbury. Mr. Darmes was killed and the house plundered of everthing of value, but four women and a number of children, strangely, who were there, were not harmed.

Captain Joseph Solomon, who lived about five miles from Northumberland on the main road leading to Danville, was sur- prised by this same band of Indians on the day Mr. Darmes was killed. Captain Solomon was captured, but his wife escaped to the woods, where that night she gave birth to her first bom. A hired girl escaped by running upstairs, and closing a trap-door. After traveling with Solomon for five days, this Indian band was met by another, led by the chief, Shenap, to whom Solomon was turned over. This latter band soon met another band of Indians, having a prisoner named Williamson. Solomon and Williamson were ordered to run the gauntlet. Williamson refused, and was beaten to death. Solomon very successfully ran the gauntlet, and was congratulated by Shenap. Later he was exchanged, and reached his home in safety. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 70 and Meginnes' "History of the West Branch of the Susque- hanna, pages 260 and 261.)

In March 1781, Captain James Thompson and Margaret Young were captured by Indians, on adjoining farms near Spruce Run, White Deer Township, Union County, there being five in the Indian band. Thompson was a very active young man, and determined to rescue Miss Young. On the second night of their captivity, while the Indians were asleep, Thompson found a stone weighing about two pounds, and kneeling beside the nearest Indian, felt for his temple, intending to kill him with the stone and dispatch the others with the Indian's tomahawk as they arose. However, the blow he gave the Indian with the stone, only wounded him, and he arose with a fierce yell, which awoke

642 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the others. He sprang at Thompson and would have killed him if the others had not in terf erred. Thompson had thrown the stojie far from the spot, and the other Indians, thinking that the wounded Indian was making so much noise over so trifling a matter as being struck with a white man's fist, were very much amused, and prevented injury to Thompson. The Indians took their prisoners up the Susquehanna, crossed the river in a canoe, and proceeded up Loyalsock Creek. For five nights, Thompson was laid on his back with his arms extended and tied to stakes. On the seventh night, near the mouth of Towanda Creek, the Indians directed Thompson and Miss Young to build a fire for themselves while they built another. While engaged in this work, Thompson quietly told the girl that he proposed to rescue both her and himself that evening. She advised him to save himself, if he could, but not to risk his life in an attempt to rescue her also. Accordingly, Thompson made wider and wider circles while gathering sticks for the fire, and at last bounded off through the forest. The Indians pursued, but were unable to shoot or re- capture him. Some days later, almost starved, he arrived at a point a short distance above where the town of Milton, North- umberland County, now stands. He had descended the Susque- hanna in the same canoe in which the Indians had conveyed Miss Young and him across this stream, and was so weak, when discovered by the people on the shore, that he was unable to rise from the canoe.

Miss Young, in the meantime, was carried by her captors to the neighborhood of Montreal, Canada,where she was given to an old squaw, who later sent her to Montreal and sold her to a man also named Young, who proved to be a cousin of the girl. Yoang gave her a home in his father's family, and after the close of the Revolutionary War, she visited her Pennsylvania home, where she soon sickened and died.

At about the same time as the capture of Captain James Thomp- son and Margaret Young, John Shively was captured near the same place, and was never heard of again. In the same incur- sion, George Rote and his sister Rody, aged about twelve and fourteen years respectively, were captured near Mifflinburg, Union County. When peace was declared, they met near where Clarion now stands, and returned home together.

In April, 1781, David Emrick was killed by Indians near Chappell Hollow, Union County, and his entire family captured. One of his daughters died of excessive bleeding from the nose

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1781 643

during the terrible journey through the wilderness. The wife and other daughters were taken to Niagara, and subsequently mar- ried Indians. Many years afterward, Mrs. Emrick and her Indian husband came to Henry Myer's, near Harrisburg, to get some money due her from her grandfather's estate, according to Linn's "Annals of Buffalo Valley."

Henry Bickel was killed near the scene of the Emrick tragedy about the same time. In October, 1781, Christian Hetrick, a private in Captain Samuel McGrady's company of rangers, was killed by Indians, in Union County.

Atrocities At Northumberland, Wyoming, Etc.

Meginnes, in his "History of the West Branch Valley," de- scribes the attack on John Tate and Catherine Storm as follows :

"A few miles above Northumberland, on what was known as Judge McPherson's farm, resided a man, named John Tate; probably in 1780 or 1781. A large field of flax grew near the house. It was harvest time, and a number of men were engaged in the field, some distance from the house. The path ran by this field of flax, where a party of Indians came out and laid to watch for the men returning from dinner. Owing to some cause or other, they went to the field another way, and missed their vic- tims. Waiting for some time, they at length rose and went to the house, where they found a young woman named Catharine Storm, and another, engaged in spinning flax. Miss Storm was knocked over, with a tomahawk, and scalped; the other girl secreted herself behind a door and escaped. They then went to the field, and killed Tate.

"Catherine Storm was not killed by the blow of the tomahawk, only stunned. She finally recovered, and lived for many years. No hair grew on her head where the scalp was removed."

Linn in his "Annals of Buffalo Valley," says that David Storm, the father of these girls, was in the field when the Indians came ; that he fled to the house, and was there killed by the Indians. Linn says that the Storm murder took place in 1781.*

On Sunday, June 9th, 1781, twelve Indians attacked a block- house in the Hanover settlement, about three miles below the fort at Wilkes-Barre. The men and women of the blockhouse gallantly defended. On receiving the alarm, a party from the

♦Philip Tome, in his "Pioneer Life," says that the Seneca chief, Cornplanter, told him in 1817 that he and his half-brother helped to attack a blockhouse at "Munsee Hill," on the West Branch of the Susquehanna some time during the Revolutionary War. In this attack the half- brother was killed. Cornplanter also told Tome that he was at Braddock's defeat, and that the British were to blame for the Indian atrocities during the Revolutionary War, as they supplied the Indians with amunition and paid them for scalps. ("Pioneer Life," page 37. Reprint of edition of 1854, by The Aurand Press, Harrisburg, Pa., 1928.)

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fort hastened to the blockhouse, and found pools of blood, where Lieutenant Roswell Franklin had probably fatally wounded one of the Indians. On June 14th, Lieutenant Grain wounded an Indian within six hundred yards of the fort at Wilkes-Barre. On Friday, September 7th, Indians again entered the Hanover set- tlement, and captured Arnold Franklin and Rosewell Franklin, Jr., sons of Lieutenant Rosewell Franklin, who had shot an Indian on June 9th, Captain Michael, with a party ,went in pursuit of these Indians, but they eluded the white men. We shall record more about Lieutenant Rosewell Franklin when we set forth the Indian events of 1782.

On June 17th, 1781, a party of Indians killed an old man and took three prisoners, near Shohola, on the Delaware, in Pike County. A band of Americans pursued the Indians, and liber- ated the prisoners after wounding an Indian mortally, who, in dying said that this was the same band that had attacked the blockhouse about three miles below the fort at Wilkes-Barre, on June 9th.

Miner, in his "History of Wyoming," records the Larned tra- gedy of July 3d, 1781, as follows:

"On the 3d of July 1781, a bloody and most melancholy tra- gedy was enacted on the road leading from Wyoming to the Delaware, at Stroudsburg. Mr. Larned, an aged, man and his son George, were shot and scalped near their house. Another son, John, shot an Indian, who was left dead on the spot where he fell. The savages carried off George Larned 's wife and an infant four months old, but not choosing to be encumbered with the child, they dashed out its brains. Being pursued, they aband- oned the horses and the plunder taken, and left the old man's scalp behind them."

Some time during the year, 1781, John Hamilton was shot while working in his field, near the present town of Northumber- land.

In the autumn of 1781, Jacob Roller was hunting in the east- ern part of Blair County, possibly Tyrone Township. He was shot and scalped by Indians, and a man, named Rebault, living near, was also killed. Both Roller and his father, Jacob Roller, Sr., were valiant defenders of the frontier during the Revolution- ary War.

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Capture of Captain John Boyd

In June, 1781, Captain John Boyd, of Northumberland County, eldest brother of Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, whose tragic death during Sullivan's expedition was described in Chap- ter XXV, led a company of about forty rangers from the Susque- hanna for the defense of the sorely distressed western frontier.

While marching across the Allegheny Mountains, he and his men were ambushed by Indians near the headwaters of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, in Bedford County. Several rangers were killed, and others were captured. Among the latter were Captain Boyd himself and Lieutenant John Cook. Boyd was wounded in the skirmish. After his capture, he made a desperate effort to escape in spite of his wounds; but he was pursued, and received three terrible gashes in his head with a tomahawk when he was recaptured.

Among those captured with Captain John Boyd, was Captain Horatio Jones, who was retained as a captive among the Senecas until after the Fort Stanwix treaty of 1784, when he was ap- pointed by General Washington interpreter of the Six Nations, an ofhce whose duties he continued to perform until within a few years of his death, at Geneseo, New York, August 18th, 1836.

The Indians then set out with their prisoners through the wilderness, reaching the West Branch of the Susquehanna near the mouth of Sinnemahoning Creek in Cameron County. Here a prisoner, named Ross, who was so badly wounded that he could travel no further, was tortured to death, while Captain Boyd, weak from the loss of blood and tied to a small oak tree, was compelled to witness the tragic scence, realizing that the Indians contemplated torturing him also. With thoughts of his heroic brother in his mind, he resigned himself to his fate. As the In- dians began preparations for his torture, he sang a plaintive Masonic song, which attracted the attention of his captors and to which they listened closely to its end. Then an Oneida squaw came up to him and claimed him as her son. She carefully dressed his wounds. The other Indians made no interference. The wounded Captain was taken to Quebec, the old squaw carefully guarding him all the way through the wilderness. In the spring of 1782, Boyd, Lieutenant John Cook and others of the captives were released, and returned to Philadelphia. In after years, Captain Boyd often sent his Indian benefactress presents, and,

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at one time, visited her in her forest home and personally thanked her for saving his life.

We close this chapter with a short account of the prowess of a certain Mrs. Porter, who, according to Loudon's "Indian Narratives", lived in either in Huntingdon or Blair County. It is quite probable that the event took place some time during the Revolutionary War, though it may have been during Pon- tiac's War. At any rate, one day Mr. Porter, who was a militia officer, went to the mill, leaving Mrs. Porter alone. After Mr. Porter left, Mrs. Porter saw an Indian approaching the house. Taking Mr. Porter's sword, the pioneer woman left the door unlocked, stood behind it, and waited for the Indian to enter. When he came in, she split his head open with the sword. Another came in, and met the same fate. A third Indian, seeing what had happened to his companions, did not attempt to enter at that time. Mrs. Porter then went up stairs, taking a rifle with her, hoping that she would get an opportunity to fire through a port hole at the third Indian. However, this Indian now came into the house, and followed Mrs. Porter up stairs, where she shot him dead. The heroic woman came down, and started to give the alarm throughout the neighborhood, but met her hus- band on the way, and together they rode to a place of safety. The next morning some men came to the place and found that other Indians had burned Mr. Porter's house and barn. This event is but one of many showing the heroism of the women of the Pennsylvania frontier.

CHAPTER XXVIII

The Revolutionary War

(1782—1783)

Moravian Delawares Massacred

THE spring of 1782 opened early, mild weather beginning about February 1st. This caused the Wyandots, Shawnees, Delawares and other hostile tribes in Ohio to begin their raids in Southwestern Pennsylvania as early as February 8th, on which date Indians murdered John Fink, near Buchanan's Fort on the upper Monongahela.

This murder was followed by the attack on the home of Robert Wallace, in what is now Hanover Township, Washington County, on February 10th (some say February 17th), most likely by a band of Shawnees. Mr. Wallace was absent at the time. The Indians carried off his wife, Mary, and their three children, a boy aged ten years, another, Robert, aged three years, and an infant daughter. When Mr. Wallace returned that evening and found that his family had been captured, he spread the alarm; and the next morning a band of his neighbors started in pursuit of the Indians but were unable to follow the trail on account of the fall- ing snow. The Indians fled to Ohio by way of the Indian trail lead- ing through Beaver County. On their way they killed and scalped Mrs. Wallace and her baby, and hid the bodies in the underbrush, where their bones were found the next year by hunters. Mr. Wal- lace was able to identify his wife's skeleton by the shape of the teeth. The eldest boy died soon after his capture, and the other, Robert, was sold by his captors to the Wyandots. His father recovered him three years later. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 511 ; Butterfield's "Washington Irvine Correspondence," page 101.)

About the middle of February, a band of Indians captured John Carpenter on the Dutch Fork of Buffalo Creek, Washington County. He was carried towards the villages on the Tuscarawas, Four of his captors were Wyandots; but two others, who spoke German, told Carpenter they were Moravian Indians. On the

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morning of the second day after crossing the Ohio, Carpenter was sent into the woods after the horses. Finding them, he mounted one and made his escape. He arrived at the Ohio near Fort Mcintosh [Beaver], thence went up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, and told his story to Colonel Gibson, then returned to his home on Buffalo Creek.

The settlers in Washington County were greatly alarmed by these Indian incursions, coming so early in the year. The party that captured the Wallace family, from all indications, must have consisted of at least thirty warriors. It was believed that the hostile Indians could not have come from a point farther away than the Moravian villages on the Tuscarawas. After learning from John Carpenter that there were Moravian Indians among the raiders of the frontier, the Washington County frontiersmen determined to destroy the villages on the Tuscarawas as harbor- ing places for the hostile Indians. Their plans were formed at Vance's Fort, located about one mile north of the present village of Cross Creek.

Accordingly, the settlers of Washington County turned out to the number of one hundred sixty, under the command of Colonel David Williamson, and crossing the Ohio at Mingo Bottom, a few miles below Steubenville, marched against the Moravian villages. On the evening of March 6th, they were within striking distance of the Moravian town of Gnadenhuetten, on the eastern bank of the Tuscarawas, about nine miles below New Philadelphia, when their scouts brought the intelligence to the camp at night that the town was full of Indians. Williamson and his force believed that the occupants of the town were the savages who had been making the raids, but as a matter of fact they were Moravian converts who, after being compelled to go to Sandusky in the preceding autumn, had come back to their old homes to gather corn.

Some of these Moravian Delawares had come to Gnaden- huetten from Sandusky as early as the middle of January for the purpose of gathering the corn. Others had followed in small parties until, according to Butterfield's "The Girtys," there were one hundred and fifty men, women and children in the Tuscarawas Valley by the first of March. According to a letter written by Dorsey Pentecost, of Washington County, to President Moore, on May 8th, 1782, and recorded in Penna. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 540 and 541, at least ten Wyandot warriors accompanied the Moravian Delawares to Gnadenhuetten, halted there for a

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 649

time, and then went to raid the Washington County settlements. According to Pentecost, four of these Wyandots had returned to the Tuscarawas and were in the Moravian towns when Williamson's forces arrived. Furthermore, it is quite likely, as charged at the time, that some Moravian Delawares, either through coercion or of their own free will, accompanied the Wyandot warriors in their raiding. There were, of course, Moravian Delawares whose savage instincts were not entirely destroyed by the teachings of the pious Moravian missionaries.

Williamson attacked the town the next morning. The pres- ence of women and children was plain notice to the frontiersmen that the town was not occupied by a war party. Furthermore, no resistance was made and there was no show of hostile action.* Holding a council with a few of the converts who could speak English, Williamson advised them that they must go to Fort Pitt instead of returning to Sandusky. To this they agreed, and at his suggestion, sent messengers down the river to Salem to tell the converts of that place to come to Gnadenheutten. While the Indians were being assembled and conducted to the church at Gnadenhuetten, an Indian woman was found to be wearing the dress of the wife of Robert Wallace, who, as we have seen, had been captured on February 10th on Raccoon Creek, Washington County, and later killed, by some hostile Indians. The Indian men were then examined, one at a time, but none of them ac- knowledged guilt. This dress had been sold to the Moravian woman by the hostile Wyandots; but Williamson's men did not pause to reason matters out.

The frontiersmen then began to clamor for the execution of the whole band. Williamson put the question to vote whether they should be taken to Fort Pitt or put to death on the spot. All but eighteen voted to slay all the Indians in the morning.

Bishop Loskiel, in his "History of the Missions of the United Brethren," says that the converts were informed that evening of the fate which awaited them, and that they spent the night in praying, singing hymns, and exhorting one another to die with the fortitude of Christians. Rev. Edward Christy, who accom- panied the expedition, looked in at the windows of the cooper shop and church on that night of anguish. Men were shaking one another by the hand and kissing one another. Tears were stream- ing down some faces, while others were full of lines of agony.

♦About a mile from Gnadenhuetten, Williamson's men met a Moravian Delaware, named Shebosh, and fired upon him, wounding him in the arm. He begged for his life, saying that he was a friend, the son of a white Christian man. Paying no attention to his entreaties, the frontiersmen tomahawked and scalped him. — Loskiel.

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Agonized mothers, with tears streaming down their swarthy faces, held their children in close embrace.

Accordingly, on the morning of Friday, March 8th, 1782, the terrible decree was carried into execution. The Indian men were led two by two to the cooper shop, where they were beaten to death with mallets and hatchets. The women and children were led into the church and there slaughtered. Many of them died with prayers on their lips, while others met their death chanting songs. Altogether forty men, twenty women, and thirty-four children were inhumanly butchered. Many of the children were brained in their wretched mothers' arms. One of the murderers after having broken the skulls of fourteen of the Christian Dela- wares, with a cooper's mallet, handed the blood-stained weapon to a companion with the remark: "My arm fails me, go on with the work. I think I have done pretty well." Only two Indians es- caped. One was a boy who hid himself in the cellar under the house in which the women and children were butchered, and crept forth during the night. The other was a boy who was scalped among the men, but later revived and crawled into the woods in the night time. Among the victims was the Delaware chief, Glikkikan.

For the names of the Washington County men who took part in the slaughter of the Moravian Delawares at Gnadenhuetten, see Penna. Archives, Second Series, Vol. 14, page 753; also Earle R. Forrest's "History of Washington County, Pennsyl- vania," Vol. 1, pages 139 to 142. From this latter work, we quote the following, which appears on page 138 of the first volume :

"The story is told that the eighteen men who voted for mercy retired under the river bank during the massacre. The survivor of the eighteen died in 1839, aged ninety-six years, and he re- lated many of the details of the massacre in after life. He told how Robert Wallace [whose family, it will be recalled, was captured in Washington County, on February 10th, 1782) went to them after the massacre, his clothing covered with blood, and, with tears streaming down his face, said: 'You know I couldn't help it.'"

Before Williamson's troops left for home, they burned every building at Gnadhuetten, "including the two slaughter houses with their heaped-up corpses." The neighboring Moravian vil- lages of Schoenbrun and Salem were also reduced to ashes. Arriving at Mingo Bottom with the goods of the victims loaded

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 651

upon eighty horses, the raiders divided the spoils, and scattered to their Washington County homes to spread the news of their exploit. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 523 to 525; Butterfield's "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," pages 99 to 102.)

The wholesale slaughter of these Moravian Delawares, many of whom had been with the Moravian missionaries from the early days of their missionary activities in Eastern Pennsylvania, had endured the buffets and received the curses of the Pennsylvania settlers during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War and had followed their Christian teachers from the Susquehanna to the Beaver and thence to the Tuscarawas, is one of the darkest spots on the pages of American history. The terrible Indian raids against the Scotch-Irish settlers of Washington County largely explain why the minds of Williamson's men were inflamed; but these outrages, committed by Shawnees and Wyandots principally, cannot be taken as justification for the slaughter of the women and children of the peaceable Moravian Delawares. Such is the impartial verdict of history.

In April, 1781, eleven months before the massacre, the Delaware chief, Pachgantschihilas, or Buckongahelas, later one of the signers of the treaty of Greenville, came to the Moravian Indians at Gnadenhuetten, and sought to persuade them to remove from their exposed position to a place of safety among the Wyandots on the Maumee. He reviewed the whole history of the relations between the whites and the Delawares, concluding, as reported by Rev. John Heckewelder, who was present, with the following remarks, part of which were prophetic words:

"I admit that there are good white men, but they bear no proportion to the bad; the bad must be the strongest, for they rule. They do what they please. They enslave those who are not of their colour, although created by the same Great Spirit who created us. They would make slaves of us if they could, but as they cannot do it, they kill us. There is no faith to be placed in their words. They are not like the Indians, who are only enemies while at war, and are friends in peace. They will say to an Indian: 'My friend, my brother.' They will take him by the hand, and at the same moment destroy him. And so you (addressing himself to the Christian Indians) will also be treated by them before long. Remember that this day I have warned you to beware of such friends as these. I know the long knives; they are not to be trusted."

The bones of the victims at Gnadenhuetten were buried fifteen

652 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

years later when the Moravians and their Delaware converts again attempted to build a mission house in the vicinity. The site of the town was then covered with bushes and infested with rattlesnakes, and the bones had been dragged about by wild beasts. The Delaware chief, Killbuck, assisted in gathering up the bones. Later, in October 1799, Rev. John Heckewelder rein- terred the bones in a cellar of one of the houses of the old town. A monument now marks the site in Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

Colonel Williamson was not punished for the massacre of the Moravian Delawares. Indeed few of the Scotch-Irish settlers of Western Pennsylvania were outspoken in disapproving this atrocious deed. A good example to the contrary was Colonel Edward Cook, of Westmoreland County, who, on September 2nd, 1782, wrote the Governor of Pennsylvania as follows:

"The perpetrators of that wicked deed ought to be brought to condign punishment; that, without something is done in the matter, it will disgrace the annals of the United States, and be an everlasting plea and cover for British cruelty." (Butterfield's "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," page 345.)

Colonel Edward Cook, who thus dared the wrath of his Scotch- Irish neighbors in condemning the Gnadenhuetten slaughter, was one of the most notable men of the western frontier. His stone mansion, erected in 1772 in what is now Washington Township, Fayette County, is still standing. He was a delegate to the con- vention of 1776 which formed the first constitution of Pennsyl- vania, and for more than four years was a sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland County under Archibald Lochry.

Williamson's men had been at home about two weeks, when the Scotch-Irish settlers on Chartiers Creek marched to attack the friendly Delawares on Smoky Island under the guns of Fort Pitt. The attack upon these friendly Indians was made on Sunday morning, March 24th. A small guard of regular soldiers from the fort was surprised and made prisoners. Then several of the In- dians were killed, among them being Nanowland, the friend of Captain Samuel Brady, and another who held a Captain's com- mission in the American army. Chief Killbuck and a few of his warriors escaped to Fort Pitt. In his flight, Killbuck is said to have lost the wampum containing the treaty which Tamanend and his associate chiefs entered into with William Penn, one hundred years before. Two warriors fled to the woods on the northern side of the Allegheny, and made their way to Sandusky. One of these was the friendly Delaware chief. Big Cat, who, on

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 653

account of this treacherous attack, became the bitter foe of the Americans. Before the Scotch-Irish settlers left for home, they sent word to Colonel John Gibson, then in temporary command of Fort Pitt, during the absence of General Irvine at Carlisle, that they would kill and scalp him at the first opportunity, for no other reason than that he had been the protector of the friend- ly Delawares. (Butterfield's "Washington- Irvine Correspond- ence,"pages 100 to 103 and 108.)

General Irvine returned to Fort Pitt on the day following the attack on the friendly Delawares on Smoky Island. Several weeks later he received an order from the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to investigate and report on the massacre at Gnadenhuetten. He was unable to uncover the details or fix the responsibility, although he interrogated Colonel Williamson and many of his captains. He found the sentiment on the west- em frontier overwhelmingly commending the horrible deed of Williamson's men, and reported that it would be well to let the matter rest. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 525, 540, 541, 552, Butterfield's "Washington- Irvine Correspondence," pages 236 to 242, 245 and 246).

Glikkikan

We have said that among the Christian Delawares murdered at Gnadenhuetten, was the Delaware chief, Glikkikan. He had formerly lived in the Kuskuskies region in what is now Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and was then the principal counsellor of the Delaware chief, Packanke, whose capital was New Kas- kunk, which some authorities say stood on or near the site of New Castle, and others on or near the site of Edinburg, Lawrence County. In the summer of 1769, Glikkikan made a journey to the Moravian mission at Lawunakhannek, located on the Allegheny, a few miles above Tionesta, Forest County, for the purpose of refuting the doctrines of Christianity. Before this he is said to have held a successful disputation with the French Jesuits at Venango (Franklin), and was therefore confident that he could put the Moravian missionaries to confusion. Rev. David Zeisberger, head of the Moravian mission at Lawunak- hannek, was absent when Glikkikan arrived; but Anthony, a native convert and assistant, made such an impressive speech to him, setting forth the doctrines of Christianity, as to astonish the chieftain. Zeisberger arrived soon after, and confirmed Anthony's speech, with the result that Glikkikan, instead of

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delivering the elaborate speech which he had prepared against Christianity, replied: "I have nothing to say. I believe your word." When he returned to his home, instead of boasting of a victory over the Moravians, he advised his associate warriors to go and hear the Gospel preached by the Moravians.

Soon afterwards he made another visit to the Moravian mission, informed the missionaries that he desired to embrace Christianity, and invited them in the name of his chief, Packanke, to come and settle on a tract of land on the Beaver, where the town of Moravia, Lawrence County, now stands. Packanke offered this land for the use of the mission. The Moravians accepted this invitation, and removed the mission from Lawunak- hannek to what is now Moravia in April, 1770. From Moravia the mission was removed to the Tuscarawas in the spring of 1773.

Glikkikan remained a devout Christian the rest of his life. Before his conversion to Christianity, he had killed a child during one of the raids of the Delawares against the Pennsylvania settle- ments in the French and Indian War. This was the babe of Rachel Abbott, of Franklin County, whom Glikkikan captured in this raid. Some Frenchmen, with the Indians on the raid, persuaded Glikkikan to kill the child in order to put an end to its incessant crying. After his conversion, he suffered deep remorse for this terrible deed. The mother of the child, according to Heckewelder, forgave him, and told him that God would forgive him, since he was truly penitent. Yet, the tears of Glikkikan continued to flow. Dare we not hope that Glikkikan made peace with his God?

Attack on Miller's Blockhouse

While preparations were being made for Colonel William Craw- ford's expedition against Sandusky, described later in this chapter, Indians from Ohio made bloody incursions into Western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Thomas Edgerton, or Edgington, was captured on Harmon's Creek and John Stev- enson near West Liberty. Five soldiers were ambushed near Fort Mcintosh, two being killed and the others taken to Lower San- dusky, where they ran the gauntlet. (Butterfield's "Washington- Irvine Correspondence", page 345.)

During the night of Saturday, March 30th, 1782, a band of about seventy Shawnee warriors surrounded Millers' blockhouse on the Dutch Fork of Buffalo Creek, in Donegal Township, Washington County, and lay concealed. Early the next morning

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 655

(Easter Morning), most of the men left the blockhouse, on a scouting expedition, some of them going to Rices Fort, two miles farther down the Dutch Fork. The only persons left at Miller's were John Hupp, Sr,, and his wife, Ann, their four children, Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth and John; Jacob Miller, Sr., and sev- eral members of his family; the family of Edward Gaither, and an old man, named Mathias Ault.

A colt belonging to Jacob Miller, Sr., had strayed, and shortly after the scouts left, Mr. Miller and John Hupp, Sr., started out to search for it. Shortly after they entered the woods, the Indians fired upon them from ambush. Both were killed and scalped. The Shawnees then closed in on the blockhouse. Ann Hupp, upon hearing the shots that killed her husband and Jacob Miller, Sr., took charge of the defense of the blockhouse. She at once sent Fredrick Miller, a boy aged eleven years, a son of Jacob Miller, Sr., to Rice's Fort for help. The Indians saw the boy, and fired upon him, wounding him in the arm. He was compelled to flee back to the blockhouse. Ann Hupp, inspiring the other women and old Mr. Ault with her sublime courage, ran from one port hole to another, pointing her rifle at the Indians, which gave them the impression that the place was defended by a large number of persons. Occasionally a shot was fired at the Indians as they showed themselves from behind the trees. Presently three men were seen coming from the direction of Rice's Fort. These were Captain Jacob Miller, Jr., Philip Hupp and Jacob Rowe, aged sixteen, the last a brother of Ann Hupp. Ann Hupp shouted directions to them as to the safest way to approach the blockhouse. Making a dash, they entered the place unharmed. The occupants of the house now fired upon the Indians with spirit whenever one exposed himself to view. Towards evening, the Indians withdrew. The next day the bodies of Jacob Miller, Sr., and John Hupp, Sr., were buried near the blockhouse. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 541.)

The family of Ann Hupp had another terrible experience with the Indians. In the autumn of 1776, her father, Adam Rowe, set out from Washington County for Kentucky with his wife and four children. Arriving at the flats of Grave Creek, West Vir- ginia, they were attacked by Indians, and Mrs. Rowe and the eldest son were killed, while Daniel, aged seven, the youngest of the family, was captured. Young Jacob Rowe concealed himself in the willows, and thus made his escape as a warrior with little Daniel on his back, pursued him. This was the last seen or heard

656 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

of little Daniel. Young Jacob made his way alone through the forest back to Buffalo Creek, and told his harrowing story in the arms of his sister Ann Hupp. Adam Rowe and his son, Adam also escaped from the Indians and made their way back to Washington County.

About the same time as the attack on Miller's blockhouse, William Parks was killed and scalped within sight of Vance's Fort, and Samuel Robinson met a similar fate on his farm in Jefferson Township, both in Washington County.

The Corbly Atrocity

Rev. John Corbly was pastor of Goshen Baptist Church, near Garard's Fort, in the southeastern part of Greene County. The following letter, written by him to Rev. William Rogers, of Phila- delphia, gives an account of the tragedy which befell his family:

"On the second Sabbath in May [May 12th] , in the year 1782, being my appointment at one of my meeting-houses, about a mile from my dwelling-house, I set out with my dear wife and five children for public worship. Not suspecting any danger, I walked behind 200 yards, with my Bible in my hands, meditating, as I was thus employed, all of a sudden I was greatly alarmed with the frightful shrieks of my dear family before me. I immediately ran, with all the speed I could, vainly hunting a club as I ran, till I got within forty yards of them ; my poor wife on seeing me, cried to me to make my escape; an Indian ran up to shoot me; I then fled, and by so doing, outran him. My wife had a sucking child in her arms; this little infant they killed and scalped. They then struck my wife several times, but not getting her down, the Indian who aimed to shoot me, ran to her, shot her through the body, and scalped her; my little boy, an only son, about six years old, they sunk the hatchet into his brain, and thus dispatched him. A daughter, besides the infant, they also killed and scalped. My eldest daughter, who is yet alive, was hid in a tree, about 200 yards away from the place where the rest were killed, and saw the whole proceedings. She, seeing the Indians all go off, as she thought, got up, and deliberately crept from the hollow trunk; but one of them espying her, ran hastily up, and scalped her; also her only surviving sister, one on whose head they did not leave more than an inch round, either of flesh or skin, besides taking a piece of her skull. She and the before mentioned one are still miraculously preserved, though, as you may think, I have had and still have a great deal of trouble and expense with them,

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besides anxiety about them, insomucli that I am, as to worldly circumstances almost ruined. I am yet in hopes of seeing them cured; they still, blessed be God, retain their senses, notwith- standing the painful operations they have already, and must yet pass through.

Muddy Creek, Washington [now Greene] County, July 8, 1785."

Attack on Walthour's Stockade — The Lame Indian

Some time in April, 1782, the Indians invaded the Brush Creek settlement and attacked the stockade of Christopher Walthour, about a mile and a half east of Irwin, Westmoreland County. On this occasion six men were working in a field near the stockade, among them being Walthour's son-in-law, named Willard. The Indians killed Willard, and captured his daughter, aged sixteen, who was carrying water for the men at work. An Indian rushed forward to scalp Willard; but just as he was in the act, a bullet fired from the stockade wounded him in the leg. Uttering a howl of pain, he ran away into the thicket, leaving his gun behind him.

As soon as possible, a body of frontiersmen started in pursuit of the Indians. They followed their trail to the Allegheny River, but were unable to pursue them further. About two months after- wards, some hunters found the body of Willard's daughter not far from Negley's Run. She had been tomahawked and scalped.

About six weeks after the attack on Walthour's blockhouse, a lame Indian appeared in Pittsburgh, almost starved. A wound in his leg occasioning suspicion, he was taken to Fort Pitt and questioned. He confessed to the officers at the fort that he was the Indian who killed Willard, and was recognized by them as being Davy, a sub-chief of the Delawares. The news of his being confined at Fort Pitt spread to the Brush Creek settlement, whereupon Mrs. Mary Willard, the wife of the man whom Davy had killed, came to the fort, and requested General Irvine to give Davy up to the Brush Creek settlers for trial. General Irvine persuaded her to permit the Indian to remain at the fort in the hope that he might be exchanged for her daughter who was then believed to be among the Indians. Soon after Mrs. Willard's visit, the dead body of her daughter was found. Then a com- mittee of the Brush Creek settlers called on General Irvine, and requested that he surrender Davy to them for trial before two justices of the peace and other reputable citizens. Enjoining

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them to give the Indian such a trial, General Irvine delivered Davy to them on July 21st. The Brush Creek settlers decided to bum Davy at the stake. However, he made his escape from them the night before he was to be burned, owing to the drowsi- ness of his guard, and, mounting a horse which he found in the woods, rode at frightful speed through the forest towards the Alle- gheny. Pursuing settlers found the horse th« next day, near the junction of the Kiskiminetas and Allegheny, covered with foam, but no trace of Davy was ever found. Probably he drowned while swimming the Allegheny or perished in the woods, as the bone in his leg had been broken by the bullet fired at him when he killed Mr. Willard, and had never healed.

The harried condition of the western frontier at the time of which we are writing is seen in the following letter of Dorsey Pentecost, of Washington County, written to President Moore, on May 8th, 1782, and recorded in Penna. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 540 and 541:

"The Indians are murdering frequently. Last Friday night two men were killed on the frontiers of this county, and about a week before I got home fourteen people were killed and captured in different parts, and last week some mischief was done near Hannastown, but I have not learned the particulars."

Attack on the Lyon Family*

Charles McKnight, in "Our Western Border," gives an ac- count of an outrage which occurred in the spring of 1783 somewhere on the banks of Turtle Creek, which flows into the Monongahela River near the town of Braddock, Allegheny County, basing the account on the narrative of James Lyon, of Beaver, Pennsylvania, as told by him to Dr. Denny, of Pitts- burgh. The Lyon family, consisting of the father, his daughter, Mary, and the two small sons, James and Eli, lived on this creek. One day James and Eli were fishing in the creek with pin hooks, made for them by their sister, Mary, when a band of Indians appeared, and captured the boys. One of the Indians was wear- ing Mr. Lyon's bloody shirt and hunting frock, the band having murdered the father before coming upon the boys. The boys were carried to the Indian towns of central Ohio. At one of these towns, a white man, who they were told was Simon Girty, treated little James very kindly, taking him on his knee and caressing him. At White Woman's Creek, James was adopted by an Indian family. At the close of the Revolutionary War,

•This was the family of Thomas Lyon. Date was April 4, 1783. Raybum's blockhouse was mentioned in above account, on the site of present town of Turtle Creek. See page 680.

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James was delivered to the Americans at Fort Mcintosh. His narrative is silent as to what became of Eli, but it is presumed that he, too, was delivered at the same time and place. But to return to their sister, Mary. She was not killed as the brothers supposed, but ran to Raybum's blockhouse, and gave the alarm. After James returned from captivity, she told him of the agony she endured when she missed her little brothers and saw the prints of the Indians' moccasins in the mud on the shore of the creek.

Colonel Crawford's Expedition

Soon after the massacre of the Moravian Delawares at Gnad- enhuetten, there was a general desire, throughout Washington County especially, for a campaign against Sandusky — the Wyandot town and settlement on the Sandusky River, in Wy- andot County, Ohio, the rendezvous for the Indian allies of the British. Near Sandusky were Mingoes, Shawnees, Ottawas and Delawares mostly of the Munsee or Wolf Clan. A general call then went out for volunteers to strike this stronghold of the Indians. The general muster was fixed for Monday, May 20th, 1782, at Mingo Bottom, opposite Steubenville; and a few days later, four hundred and eighty horsemen assembled at that place, and elected Colonel William Crawford as the leader of the ex- pedition, he, through the influence of General Irvine, then in command at Fort Pitt, receiving five votes over Colonel David Williamson. General Irvine had been requested to lead the ex- pedition, but declined. When he was pressed to give the expedi- tion assistance, he agreed to furnish some gun flints and powder, on condition that the expedition would conform to military laws and regulations. He also detailed Surgeon John Knight and Lieutenant Rose to serve in the expedition.

Crawford's guides were John Slover, Jonathan Zane and Thomas Nicholson. The stafif officers were Colonel David Wil- liamson, and Majors Thomas Gaddis, John McClelland, John Brinton and Daniel Leet. The Captains were Joseph Bane, John Beeson, John Biggs, Charles Bilderback, William Bruce, Timothy Downing, William Fife, John Hardin, John Hoagland, Andrew Hood, William Leet, Duncan McGeehan, John Miller, James Munn, Thomas Rankin, David Reed, Craig Ritchie and Ezekile Ross.

On May 25th, the expedition left Mingo Bottom, and marched towards Sandusky. On the 28th, the troops turned aside to visit

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the ruins of the Moravian town at Schoenbrun, where they fed their horses on the standing corn. On the evening of June 3d, the troops reached the upper Indian town on the Sandusky finding the place deserted, the Indians having had warning of Colonel Crawford's approach. Crawford then advised a retirement, but was overruled in council. The next morning the command began the march toward the principal Wyandot town, proceeding through the beautiful plain on the west side of the Sandusky River.

In the afternoon, as the troops neared a large grove, they were fired upon by British and Indians in the grove. The Americans, however, charged, and driving out the enemy, occupied the grove themselves. Dismounting and forming a line along the northern side of the grove, they for several hours exchanged a brisk rifle fire with the British and Indians lying in the bushes. In this com- bat, five of Crawford's men were killed and nineteen wounded, while the enemy lost six killed and eleven wounded, among the wounded being the British commander. Captain Caldwell.

During the night, Crawford's men were unable to get much rest owing to the hideous yells of the savages, and when the day dawned, the battle was resumed in long-range fighting. In the afternoon, a band of one hundred and forty Shawnees joined the other Indians. The Americans observed their arrival, and believ- ing that they were greatly outnumbered by the savages, held a council of war in which it was decided to retreat during the night. As a matter of fact, however, the Indian forces, even when aug- mented by the arrival of the Shawnees, did not exceed the number of Crawford's forces.

No sooner had Crawford's men begun to retreat during the night, than a strange panic seized them. Many fired their guns into the darkness, and others leaving the ranks fled like maniacs across the prairie. Meanwhile, the savages were slaying and scalping the straggling fugitives. A few of the troops, exhausted by the long fighting, had fallen asleep in the grove and awoke to find themselves deserted. These were almost all overt ken and scalped.

In the expedition were Crawford's only son, John, his nephew, William Crawford, and his son-in-law, William Harrison. In the wild retreat, the Colonel was unable to find them. Standing by the trail as the fugitives rushed by, he called for his son, and receiving no answer, fell to the rear and became lost. He then met with Dr. Knight, the surgeon, and nine other men; and to-

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 661

gether they wandered about for two days, when they were cap- tured by a band of Delawares. Captain Pipe ordered them to be burned at the stake. Colonel Williamson and Lieutenant Rose kept the main body together on the retreat. In the southern part of what is now Crawford County, Ohio, the Shawnees and Delawares vigorously attacked the rear guard, but were repulsed. Colonel Williamson made good his escape, and with 300 soldiers, arrived at Mingo Bottom, on June 12th.

In the hope of escaping such a dreadful fate as death at the stake. Colonel Crawford asked that his old friend, the Delaware chief, Wingenund, might be sent for. Wingenund appeared before the Colonel, who entreated him to save his life, calling his atten- tion to the fact that they had always been friends. Wingenund reluctantly advised the Colonel that it was beyond his power to save him. He told him that the Delawares and other tribes mak- ing up the Indian forces, were determined to avenge Colonel Williamson's butchery of the helpless women and children at Gnadenhuetten during the preceding March. He told Crawford that if Colonel Williamson had not been with Crawford's forces, it might be possible to save Crawford's life; that the Indians had their spies watching Crawford's march from the very beginning; and that these spies saw him turn aside from the line of march and visit the ruins at Schoenbrun, These things, said Wingenund, convinced the Indians that Crawford's expedition was simply seeking an opportunity to commit an outrage similar to the atrocity committed by Williamson's troops, especially since Wil- liamson hastened the retreat. Failing to capture the hated Williamson, they determined that Crawford must pay the penalty. Then Wingenund burst into tears, and turned aside that he might not witness the torture of his friend.

The date of Colonel Crawford's torture was June 11th, 1782, and the place was in the valley of Tymoochee Creek, about five miles west of the present town of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He was tied by a long rope to a pole; his body was shot full of gun powder; his ears were cut off; burning fagots were pressed against his skin, and he was horribly gashed with knives. The unfortunate man endured this terrible agony for four hours in the presence of Dr. Knight and the renegades, Simon Girty and Matthew Elliott. He appealed to Girty to shoot him and end his misery, but in vain. Falling unconscious, his scalp was torn off, and burning embers were poured upon his bleeding head. The excruciating pain revived him ; he rose to his feet and started

662 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

once more to walk around the pole, then groaned and fell dead. The Indians then burned his body to ashes.

Thus perished this prominent man of the Western Pennsyl- vania frontier, the friend and land agent of George Washington. His residence was, for some years prior to his tragic death, at ConnellsviUe, Fayette County. Crawford County bears his name. The other prisoners were divided among the Indian towns, and, so far as is known, all were tortured to death except Dr. Knight, the surgeon, and John Slover, one of the guides. Craw- ford's son John succeeded in making his way home.

Dr. Knight, after the torture of Colonel Crawford, spent the night at Captain Pipe's house, and early the next morning, started for the Shawnee towns, forty miles distant, in charge of an Indian on horseback, who, after once more painting him black, drove the unfortunate surgeon before him. The Indian was a large rough-looking man, but very sociable, and Dr. Knight soon began to ingratiate himself. That night the Doctor tried many times to untie himself, but the wary Indian always detected his efforts. However, at daybreak, the Indian untied him, and arose to rekindle the fire. The wood-gnats being very annoying Dr. Knight asked the Indian if he would make a big smoke, so as to drive the gnats away. The Indian said "yes", whereupon, Knight began to gather sticks for the fire, and finding a short dog- wood fork, slipped up behind the Indian, and smote him on the head with it with all his strength. The Indian fell headlong into the fire, but soon recovered himself, sprang up, and ran off, howling with pain. Dr. Knight then took the Indian's gun, and started through the wilderness for home. On the evening of the twentieth day of his journey, he reached Fort Mcintosh, and the next day, reached Fort Pitt, almost crazed by the hardships through which he had gone, and to the great delight of General Irvine. H. H. Brackenridge, who saw Knight upon the latter 's arrival at Fort Pitt, said that the Doctor was so weak that he could hardly articulate, and that it was three weeks before he could give a continued account of his sufferings. (See McKnight's "Western Border," pages 468 and 469; also Butterfield's Wash- ington-Irvine Correspondence," page 126).

John Slover was captured by the Shawnees, and carried to one of the Shawnee towns, where he saw the burned and mutilated bodies of William Harrison (Crawford's son-in-law), William Crawford (Crawford's nephew) and Major John McClelland, who had been fourth of^cer in command. The next day the heads

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 663

and limbs of the bodies were cut ofif and stuck on poles, and the other parts of the corpses given to the dogs. The Indians care- fully interrogated Slover as to the progress of the war and the movements of the Americans, and he had the satisfaction of telling them of Comwallis' surrender. In a few days, Dr. John Knight's guard arrived with a wound four inches long on his head, and told a marvelous story of a desperate struggle he had had with the surgeon, whom he described as a large and powerful man, whose fingers he claimed he had cut off and to whom he had given two deep knife thrusts, which he was sure would prove fatal. Slover then told the Indians that Dr. Knight was a small weak man. This information, in view of the guard's wonderful story, greatly amused the Indians. Later, George Girty bound Slover, painted him black, and dragged him off to Mack-a-chack, where he was bound to a stake, wood was piled around him and fired, and the horrible tortures were about to commence, when a sudden rain storm drowned out the fire. He was then untied and seated on the ground. The Indians decided to postpone his torture until the following day, and carefully bound him for the night. During the night, his three guards fell asleep, and he succeeded in loosing his bonds and making his escape unnoticed. After great suffering he reached Fort Henry, where Wheeling, West Virginia, now stands. He reached Fort Pitt on July 10th.

General Irvine wrote from Fort Pitt to General Washington, on July 11th, 1782, that both Dr. Knight and John Slover told him "they were assured by sundry Indians they formerly knew, that not a single soul should, in the future, escape torture; and gave, as a reason for this conduct, the Moravian affair."

Also, General Washington, writing General Irvine on August 6th, 1782, thus refers to Colonel Crawford's expedition and the Colonel's unhappy fate: "I lament the failure of the former ex- pedition, and am particularly affected with the disasterous fate of Colonel Crawford. No other than the extremest tortures that could be inflicted by savages, I think, could have been expected by those who were unhappy enough to fall into their hands; especially under the present exasperation of their minds for the treatment given their Moravian friends." Thus the slaughter of the Moravian Delawares at Gnadenhuetten by Colonel Wil- liamson's Scotch-Irish troops was in the mind of Washington as he penned this letter to General Irvine. (See Butterfield's 'Washington- Irvine Correspondence," pages 126 to 132).

664 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

For the best account of Colonel Crawford's expedition, the reader is referred to C. W. Butterfield's "Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky"; also the narratives of Dr. Knight and John Slover, Pa. Archives, Sec, Series, Vol. 14, pages 690 to 727.

Westmoreland Settlers Petition General Irvine

When the news of the fate of Colonel Crawford reached the German settlers on Brush Creek, Westmoreland County, they, on June 22nd, 1782, sent a petition to General Irvine at Fort Pitt, reciting their terrible sufferings at the hands of the Indians since the beginning of the war, and asking that Continental troops might be sent to guard the parties who must soon go out to reap the harvest. Said these settlers: "From our fortitude and perserverance in supporting the line of the frontier and there- by resisting the incessant depredations of the enemy, our bravest and most active men have been cut off from time to time, by which our effective force is so greatly reduced that the idea of further resistance is now totally vanished. . . .We are greatly alarmed at the misfortune attending the late excursion into the enemy's country [Crawford's expedition], as we have every reason to believe that their triumphs on that occasion will be attended with fresh and still more vigorous exertions against us." The fears of the German settlers were soon realized in the raid in which Hannastown was burned, which will presently be described.

Many of these Germans had settled in the valley of Brush Creek and the region between this valley and Greensburg soon after General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne, among them being Andrew Byerly, who came to this region in 1759. After the Purchase of 1768, called the "New Purchase," many other Germans joined their brethren in the western wilderness. About 1765, perhaps a year or two earlier, they founded Zion Lutheran church, at Herold's (Harrold's), a few miles west of Greensburg — probably the oldest congregation of any denomination in that part of Pennsylvania lying west of the Allegheny Mountains, except the Roman Catholic military chapel in connection with Fort Duquesne. In the spring and summer of 1774, these settlers erected Fort Allen, probably named in honor of Andrew Allen, of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. This fort, which stood near Zion Lutheran church, above named, and was commanded by Colonel Cristopher Truby, had much to do

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 665

with the foiUng of the plans of Dr. John Connolly to set up the authority of Virginia in Western Pennsylvania, in 1774, and was also a place of refuge for the harrassed settlers during the Revolu- tionary War. A tablet, erected by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, now marks the site of Fort Allen.

Guyasuta Burns Hannastown

The hardest blow dealt by the Indians during the Revolution- ary War, within the limits of Western Pennsylvania, was the burning of Hannastown, the county seat of Westmoreland, by Guyasuta, on Saturday, July 13th, 1782. This historic frontier village was located about three miles north of Greensburg. The town grew up around the tavern of Robert Hanna, on the old Forbes Road, before the Revolutionary War.

At the time of its destruction, Hannastown contained thirty log houses, and, at the northern end, was a stockade fort of logs set upright, and erected in 1773. In the center was a spring whose waters still gush forth to quench the thirst of the lover of Pennsylvania history, who makes a pilgrimage to the spot where the frontier village stood.

Guyasuta, with a band of one hundred Seneca warriors and sixty Canadian rangers, left Lake Chautauqua, New York, descended the Allegheny River to a point a short distance above Kittanning, and leaving the canoes on the bank of the river, marched overland into the settlements of Westmoreland. While the expedition was making its visitation of death and destruction, many of these canoes broke loose from their moorings, and floated down the river to Fort Pitt, where some of them were picked up by the garrison. This was a detachment of a larger force that intended to attack Fort Pitt, but gave up the undertaking upon learning that the fort had been strengthened by General Irvine.

On this midsummer day when Guyasuta's warriors destroyed the historic town, one of the harvesters, who were cutting wheat on the farm of Michael Huffnagle, the county clerk, about a mile north of the village, discovered a band of Indians, in war paint, creeping through the woods. He informed his companions, and all fled unseen to the stockade. The alarm was spread throughout the Hannastown settlement by Sheriff Matthew Jack. About sixty persons were in the village, and they took refuge within the fort. Huffnagle carried most of the county records safely into the fort at Hannastown, sometimes called Fort Reed.

666 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Four young men were sent out to scout. Coming upon the Indians creeping through the thick woods in the valley of Crab- tree Creek, they narrowly escaped death, and fled back to the fort, followed closely by the Indians. It seems that Guyasuta intended to take the fort by storm; for his warriors did not shoot or yell until they rushed into the village. One man was wounded before he reached the fort.

The Indians then drove into the woods all the horses found in the pasture lots and stables, killed one hundred cattle, and plundered the deserted houses. From the shelter of the houses, they opened a hot rifle fire upon the stockade, defended by twenty men with seventeen rifles, only nine of which were fit for use. With these, the frontiersmen took turns at the loopholes, and succeeded in preventing the Indians from assaulting and battering down the gates. At least two of the savages were killed, and others wounded; while only one person inside the stockade was wounded, a maiden of sixteen summers named Margaret Shaw, who received a bullet in her breast while exposed before a hole in one of the gates, as she was rescuing a child, who had toddled into danger. The young lady died from the effects of her wound about two weeks later. Her dust reposes in the soil of "Old Westmoreland," a short distance north of Mt. Pleasant.

The attack on the fort continued until night, when the Indians set fire to the village, and danced in the glare of the flames. The county jail and all the other buildings, except the courthouse and one dwelling, were reduced to ashes. These two had been set on fire, but the fire went out; and, as they stood near the fort, the unerring rifles of the frontiersmen frustrated an attempt to set fire to them again. Happily, the wind blew strongly from the north, carrying the flames and burning embers away from the fort. After the buildings were burned, the Indians and their white allies retired to the valley of Crabtree Creek, and reveled and feasted until late at night.

The attack was not renewed in the morning, and Guyasuta and his forces made good their escape. It was not until Monday morning that a force of sixty frontiersmen took up the pursuit, following them to the crossing of the Kiskiminetas.

Other places in the neighborhood of Hannastown were also attacked with deadly effect. Among these were Miller's station, the homestead of Captain Samuel Miller, who was killed by Indians near Fort Hand, on July 7th, 1778. Andrew Cruikshank, who married Captain Miller's widow, resided at the station at

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782— 1783 667

the time of the Hannastown raid. A wedding had taken place at the Cruikshank home on July 12th; and, on July 13th, many friends were assembled at the home for the wedding party, when Guyasuta's warriors fell upon them, killing several and making prisoners of fifteen. Among the prisoners were Lieutenant Joseph Brownlee, his wife and several children, Mrs. Robert Hanna and her daughter, Jennie, and a Mrs. White and her two children. As these prisoners were being taken through the woods, Mrs. Hanna addressed Lieutenant Brownlee as "Captain"; whereupon the Indians killed him, his little son, whom he was carrying, and nine other captives. The others were taken to Canada, and were released at the close of the Revolutionary War. However, it seems that Jennie Hanna married a British officer in Canada, according to the statements in the pension petition of Mrs. Elizabeth Guthrie, formerly Mrs. Brownlee.

Also, on Sunday morning, some of Guyasuta's force attacked the Freeman settlement on Loyalhanna Creek, a few miles north- east of Hannastown, killing one of Freeman's sons and capturing two of his daughters. On the same day, an attack was made on the Brush Creek settlement west of Hannastown, where many farm animals were killed, and several farm buildings were burned. This attack was promptly reported to General William Irvine, then the commander of Fort Pitt, by Michael Huffnagle, the defender of the Hannastown fort.

A small force of militia, under Colonel Edward Cook, County Lieutenant of Westmoreland County, was stationed at Hannas- town soon after the destruction of the town, and the settlers were advised to rebuild their homes. But Hannastown never arose from its ashes. Court was held there for a few sessions after the burning of the village. Then a new road was laid out from Bed- ford to Pittsburgh, following the course of the present Lincoln Highway; and, in January, 1787, the Westmoreland Court began its sessions in the town of Greensburg, on the new road, the present county seat of the historic county of Westmoreland.

It appears that there was a previous attack on Hannastown. Boucher, in his "History of Westmoreland County, "refers to this former attack, as follows:

"Eve Oury was granted a special pension of forty dollars per year by Act of April 1, 1846. The act itself recites that it was granted for heroic bravery and risking her life in defense of the garrison of Hannastown Fort in 1778, when it was attacked by a large number of Indians, and that by her fortitude, she performed

668 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

efficient service in driving away the Indians, and thus saved the inmates from a horrid butchery by the merciless and savage foe."

Eve Oury (Uhrig) was the daughter of Francis Oury. She died at Shieldsburg, Westmoreland County, in 1848, and is buried at Congruity, in the same county.

There were British with Guyasuta's warriors. The testimony of the defenders of the Hannastown Fort proves this, as does the fact that, after the enemy left, many jackets were found having on them the buttons of the King's Eighth regiment.

Some other incidents connected with the destruction of Hannastown are the following :

Captain Matthew Jack, while riding his fleet-footed horse through the settlement to warn the people of the comming of Guyasuta's warriors, came upon the Indians and Canadians near Huffnagle's farm. Reigning his horse just in time, he started towards Miller's station, and on the way, met two of the scouts, James Brison and David Shaw, and told them to flee to the fort. This they did, followed by the enemy. Shaw when arriving at the village, stopped at his father's house for an instant. By this time the Indians were emerging from the forest skirting the village. Shaw raised his rifle and shot one of the foremost, and then sprang through the gate into the stockade. In the mean- time, Matthew Jack arrived at the home of a settler named Love. Taking Mrs. Love and her babe behind him on the horse, he rode to Miller's station, where he found the Indians firing upon some men who were mowing in the meadow. He was detected ; the bullets of the enemy whistled about his head, and cut the bridle of his horse.

Some of the settlers at Miller's escaped to Rugh's blockhouse, the large two-story log house of Michael Rugh, about two miles south of Greensburg.* Among those who fled from Miller's, were Mrs. Andrew Cruikshank, her young daughter and her brother. They were closely pursued by an Indian. Turning suddenly, the brother shot at the Indian just as the latter was springing be- hind a tree, and at the same time dropped the child. Not waiting to see whether the Indian was killed or wounded, Mrs. Cruik- shank and her brother continued their flight to a blockhouse, probably Rugh's. During the night they were joined there by her son, the only surviving son of her former husband. Captain Samuel Miller. The next day, the child was found unharmed in

*In 1778, Michael Rugh and his family were captured by Indians, and carried to Canada, returning home three years later. About the same time, Robert Hayes and his son were cap- tured.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 669

the only cabin left at Miller's station, to which it had made its way through the forest at night. This child grew to womanhood. A girl escaped death or capture at Miller's station by hiding among some blackberry bushes in the woods.

Michael Kepple, a brother-in-law of Michael Rugh, was work- ing in his field near his blockhouse, about a mile and a half north of Greensburg on the afternoon of the attack on Hannastown. He became aware of the presence of Indians in the woods near his field by the strange actions of his dog. Unhitching his horses, he hastened to his blockhouse, where his family and a number of other families took refuge.

At the blockhouse of a settler named George, near Miller's station, a band of forty horsemen assembled during the night, and then proceeded to the Hannastown stockade. When they arrived, they found that the Indians had retired to the valley of Crabtree Creek, and were engaged in feasting and reveling. The horsemen entered the stockade, unnoticed by the enemy. Then they rode their horses back and forth across the bridge over the little stream below the stockade in order that the enemy might believe from the sound of the horses' hoofs that reinforce- ments had arrived from Fort Ligonier. At the same time, two old drums which had been found in the fort were beaten vigor- ously. These actions on the part of the occupants of the stockade had the effect of causing the Indians and Canadians to leave the neighborhood.

At the Unity Presbyterian Church near the present town of Latrobe, preparatory services were being held, on the afternoon of the attack on Hannastown, for the communion services to be held the next day. Word reached the assembled congregation that Indians were in the settlement, whereupon Rev. Power dismissed the worshippers, and hastened to his home near Mount Pleasant. He was pastor of the Middle Presbyterian Church, about two miles northeast of Mount Pleasant, in whose cemetery Margaret Shaw was buried.

At Fort Allen, about three miles west of Greensburg, many families took refuge during this incursion. Many of the settlers, however, were unable to reach the blockhouses in the Westmore- land settlements, and hid in the grain fields and forests.

On the day of the destruction of Hannastown, John Guthrie, who had been ill, did not go to the harvest field with other members of his family, but remained at home with his youngest son to watch the bread baking in the oven. The little boy soon

670 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

strayed into the woods to play. Then came the alarm. The father from the house and the other members of the family from the field hastened to the Hannastown Fort, none noticing that the little boy was missing. He was never seen again.

At the time of the Hannastown raid, a sixteen -year-old boy in the neighborhood, named Isaac Steel, escaped his Indian pursuers by leaping over a rail fence and hiding in the thick brush of the woods. He was probably a relative of the John Steel, mentioned by Loudon, who was attacked by Indians while alone in his house and escaped by jumping out of a window.

Tradition says that, about the time of the Hannastown raid, a young lady, named Rea, who lived seemingly not far from Murraysville, was attacked by an Indian when alone in the house, her brothers being at work in the fields at the time. While attempting to climb in at the window, the Indian placed his hands over the sill. The girl then seized an ax, struck the hand and severed it at the wrist, and the Indian departed, howling with pain.

Some time before the Hannastown raid, John Hill, an inhabi- tant of Westmoreland County, was returning to his home with some young fruit trees which he intended to plant on his farm. While lying down at a spring drinking, he was attacked and overpowered by some Indians, likely Senecas, who took him to the upper Allegheny. The only report ever heard from him was given by a Mrs. McVey, or McVeigh, who was captured in the same incursion, and later returned to her home. Both were taken to the Hickory Flats and were required to run the gauntlet. Hill accomplished this feat in safety, but Mrs. McVey was beaten down. Then Hill dashed among the Indians and carried her to safety. The last sight she had of John Hill he was bound to a tree.

The Frantz family lived on the farm which is now the home of the Greensburg Country Club. Some time before the attack on Hannastown, a band of Indians attacked the family, capturing Mr. and Mrs. Frantz and their little daughter, Emma, aged seven years, after killing several other members of the family. The father and mother, after being taken a short distance, were killed. Some accounts say that several of the sons were also captured. Emma escaped from the Indians several years later through the efforts of a trader, and returned to Westmoreland County, where she married and left descendants in Hemfield

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Township, according to Boucher's "History of Westmoreland County."

(For account of the Destruction of Hannastown, see Penna. Archives, Vol. 9, pages 596, 606; Butterfield's "Washington- Irvine Correspondence," pages 176, 251, 381 and 383; Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 2, pages 299 to 321, also 324.)

Scotch-Irish and Germans, going out from "Old Westmore- land" in after years to seek new homes in the rapidly developing country, took with them the thrilling story of the Hannastown raid even to the far West. Along with it, they took the story of the "Hannastown Resolutions" of May 17th, 1775 — a virtual Declaration of Independence; also the story of the "Rattlesnake Flag" of Colonel John Proctor's First Battalion of Westmoreland County. In a word, they took with them the story of the long years of suffering and heroic action which have caused the mighty memories of the Revolution to cling, like gathering mists, around the hills of "Old Westmoreland."*

The Walker Tragedy — Attack on Ewing's Blockhouse

In September, 1782, about twenty-five Indians approached the cabin of Gabriel Walker near Robinson's Run, in the southern part of Allegheny County, not far from the present town of Carnegie, and concealed themselves with the intention of sur- prising the family while at dinner. Fortunately some travelers, with guns, came to the Walker home just at this time, causing the Indians to delay their attack. When the travelers had taken their departure, and while the younger members of the family

*The Hanging of Mamachtaga

An incident connected with the history of the Westmoreland County Court, before its removal to Greensburg, was the hanging at Hannastown, in the summer of 1 785, of the Delaware Indian, Mamachtaga (Trees-blown-across) for the murder of John Smith, on Smoky or Kill- buck's Island, on May 11th of that year. The Indian was defended by H. H. Brackenridge, Esq., later the leader of the Western Pennsylvania Bar. The only defense offered, which was promptly over-ruled by Judges McKean and Bryan, was that the Indian was intoxicated when he killed Smith. In broken English, he said he did not know why he killed Smith, but "supposed he would know when he was under the ground." When some one asked him whether he knew who the scarlet-robed judges were, he replied that one was God and the other the Savior. Thus there was in his untutored mind the faint glimmerings of the teaching of the Morav an mis- sionaries among the Delawares.

While Mamachtaga was confined in the Hannastown jail, awaiting executio:^, the jailer's little girl became ill. Learning of her illness, the Indian told the jailer that, if permitted to go into the woods for a few hours, he would get certain roots from which to make a medicine that would cure the child, promising on his word as an Indian not to try to escape. The jailer took him at his word. The Indian went to the woods, got the roots, and made the medicine. The child soon got well. The day of execution having arrived, the Indian again asked permission to go to the woods, this time to get earth and herbs from which to make the "death paint." This second request was granted, and he soon returned with his face painted a bright red. After being taken to the top of the gallows, made of two logs with' a cross-piece binding them together at the top, he was pushed off into space. His fall broke the rope, and, though stunned, he arose with a grim smile and again ascended the gallows. The broken rope was mended, and it and another were placed about his neck. He was then pushed off a second time. There was no breaking of the rope this time. He was strangled to deatb. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 10, page 464.)

672 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

and an apprenticed boy, named William Harkins, were working in a field some distance from the house, the Indians, coming from their place of concealment, captured five of the Walker children, and pursued William Harkins, who made his escape to the fort or blockhouse of James Ewing, two miles away, and gave the alarm. Mrs. Walker, seeing the Indians approach, made her escape with her infant and another small child to the high weeds back of the house, and then fled to Ewing's fort. Mr. Walker also made his escape to this place of refuge. In the meantime, William Harkins, while running to the fort, passed the cabin of Isaac Walker, gave him the alarm, and thus enabled him and his family also to escape to the fort. After burning the home of Gabriel Walker, the Indians assembled for an attack on Ewing's fort or blockhouse. Just then several men from Miller's Run, among whom was Captain Joseph Casnet, arrived at Ewing's. After a consultation, the Indians murdered two of the captive children of Gabriel Walker in sight of the blockhouse, boys aged eight and twelve, respectively, and left their bleeding bodies on I the ground. '• ' . '

The Indians then departed in a northwesterly direction, taking with them Gabriel Walker's two daughters and a son. The news of the murders and capture soon spread through the neighbor- hood, and a band of about fifty settlers, among whom were James Ewing, John Henry, Peter Hickman and John Conner, pursued the Indians, and fired upon them as they were crossing the Ohio at Logstown, killing one and wounding another. The three Walker children returned to their parents after the Revolu- tionary War, according to the "Narrative of the Walker Family," written by Isaac Walker, III, now in the possession of Charles M. Ewing, of Washington, Pa., a descendant of James Ewing.

H. H. Brackenridge, in a letter recorded in the first volume of Loudon's "Indian Narratives," mentions the murder of the Walker children, and says that, at about the same time, other atrocities were committed in what is now Allegheny County, among them being the murder of two boys, named Chambers, in a corn field within three miles of Fort Pitt and on the south side of the Ohio. He seems to indicate that the Walker tragedy took place in 1781, instead of 1782 as set forth in Isaac Walker's "Narrative."

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Other Atrocities — Attack on Rice's Fort

In October 1782, a Miss McCormick and Catherine Ewing were captured by Indians, near McCormick's Fort, not far from NefT's Mills, Huntingdon County. Miss Ewing was carried to Montreal, where an exchange of prisoners took place, and she was sent to Philadelphia, from which place she made her way home. During the winter of 1782, Miss McCormick's father learned of the fate of his daughter. He immediately started after her on horseback, traveling seven days through sleet rain, and snow, until he arrived at the place where the Indians had her, and where he secured her by paying a heavy ransom. He found her in an Indian family, who treated her kindly. She had been given to an old Indian woman, who took a fancy to her, and with whom she wandered from place to place until found by her father.

Some time during the Revolutionary War, probably in 1782, Indians attacked the home of Priscilla Peak or Peck, located not far from Wolf's Fort, a place of refuge located about five miles west of Washington and in the present township of Buffalo, Washington County. She was confined to her bed with fever when the Indians came. Some member of the family or other occupant of the home, threw a quilt around her, and told her to flee. In her weakened condition she had only strength enough to reach a pig-pen, where she stopped for breath. Here an Indian discovered her and scalped her, but was so closely pursued by the whites that he did not tomahawk her. Later she crawled to Wolf's Fort on her hands and knees. She recovered, and her head healed, but she always wore a black cap to conceal her mutilation.

During the Revolutionary War, also, a Miss Clemmens and Lydia Boggs were chased by Indians to this fort, being able to outrun their pursuers. Miss Boggs was later captured and taken across the Ohio River. She made her escape, however, swimming her horse across the Ohio.

In the summer of 1782, Matthew (Michael) Dillow and his son John, were at work in a clearing near Dillow's Fort, in what is now Hanover Township, Washington County, when Indians attacked them, killing the father and capturing the son. The son saw them secrete the body of his father near a large log before starting on their march. After being in captivity several years, the son returned to the neighborhood, and was questioned

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as to what became of his father's body. He told the incidents of his capture, whereupon several settlers, after a search, found the skeleton of the murdered frontiersman, and buried it near the fort.

On September 13th, 1782, a band of about seventy Indians attacked the blockhouse of Abraham Rice, on Buffalo Creek, in what is now Donegal Township, Washington County. The attack continued from two o'clock in the afternoon until two o'clock the following morning. Although the little fort was defended by only six men, yet the Indians were not able to capture it. One of the defenders, George Felebaum, was shot through the brain while peering through a loop-hole, and four of the Indians were killed. As the Indian band was returning to the Ohio River, they met two settlers who were on their way to the relief of Rice's stockade, and killed them. The attack on Rice's Fort was the last invasion of Western Pennsylvania by a large body of Indians.

The Indians that attacked Rice's Fort were part of a larger force which had unsuccessfully attacked Fort Henry, at Wheel- ing, West Virginia, on September 11th and 12th. This was the second seige of that place during the Revolutionary War. Con- nected with its history are the thrilling deeds and adventures of the Zanes, McCollochs, and Wetzels, accounts of which are given in many books on border warfare, especially McKnight's "Western Border," Doddridge's "Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania", Whither's "Chronicals of Border Warfare" and Cecil B. Hartley's "Life of Lewis Wetzel." The German, Lewis Wetzel, has been called "the Daniel Boone of West Virginia." He is said to have killed twenty-seven Indians in the region around Wheeling, dur- ing the Revolutionary War and the Indian uprising from 1789 to 1794, as well as many other Indians in Kentucky.

Until late in the autumn of 1782, the Indians — Senecas from the upper Allegheny, and Delawares, Shawnees and Wyandots from Ohio — killed settlers in Western Pennsylvania. General Irvine wrote General Washington from Fort Pitt, on October 29th, that "they, the Indians, have killed so late as the 6th inst. in this neighborhood."

Outrages in Union County in 1782 — The Lee Tragedy

Indian outrages in Union County in 1782 began on May 6th of this year, when two men named Lee and Razoner were killed between Mifflinburg and New Berlin, and Edward Tate was

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 675

badly wounded. They belonged to Captain George Overmeir's Company of Rangers,

On the evening of August 13th, 1782, occurred the attack on the home of Major John Lee, in what is now Winfield, Union County. This was one of the most revolting crimes of the Pennsylvania frontier. The family and some neighbors were seated at supper when between sixty and seventy Indians rushed into the house, tomahawked and scalped Major Lee, an old man named John Walker and Mrs. Claudius Boatman and her daugh- ter. A young woman named Katy Stoner hurried up stairs and hid behind a chimney, where she remained undiscovered, and thus survived to relate the details of the tragedy. Mrs. Lee, her small child and a larger boy named Thomas were led away cap- tives. Lee's son Robert, who was absent when the Indians came, returned just as the Indians were leaving, but was not observed by them. He then fled to Northumberland and gave the alarm.

The Indians fled along the Great Path, leading up that side of the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, over White Deer Mountains, and then crossed to the east side of the river below Muncy. Colonel Samuel Hunter with a band of twenty volunteers hastened in pursuit from Fort Augusta, where Sunbury now stands. Arriving at the Lee home, Colonel Hunter's men found some of the victims of savage cruelty yet alive and writhing in the agony of their wounds. Both Major Lee and Mrs. Boat- man's daughter were alive, and were carried back to Fort Augusta on litters, where the Major died in great agony soon after his arrival, while Miss Boatman was nursed back to health. Colonel Hunter and his party, without waiting to bury the dead, hastened after the Indians as rapidly as possible, and came in sight of them above Lycoming Creek.

Mrs. Lee was accidentally bitten on the ankle by a rattlesnake while crossing White Deer Mountains, causing her leg to become terribly swollen and to pain her so severely that she traveled with great difficulty. The Indians, realizing they were being pursued, urged her along as rapidly as her strength would permit, but she became weaker and weaker, and when about four miles below where Jersey Shore now stands, her strength entirely failed her, and she seated herself upon the ground. By this time. Colonel Hunter's party were close upon the Indians, and in order that the poor woman might not be recoveredfby the whites, a warrior stealthily slipped up behind her, placed the muzzle of

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his rifle close to her head and pulled the trigger, blowing off the whole top of her head. Another Indian then snatched up her young child, and holding it aloft by the feet, dashed it against a tree. The whole Indian band then fled with renewed speed, crossing the river at Smith's fording, at Level Corner, and hurrying up through Nippenose Valley.

When Colonel Hunter's men came to the spot where Mrs. Lee was murdered, they found her body still warm. Happily her child was not dangerously injured, but was moaning piteously. The pursuit was now pressing with so much vigor that near Antes' Gap, the Indians hurriedly separated and ran up both sides of the mountains. Colonel Hunter then concluded that, inasmuch as the band had separated, further pursuit was not prudent. His men then buried the body of Mrs. Lee, and returned, bringing back the child. At the Lee home, they halted and buried the dead there.

Young Thomas Lee, who was taken prisoner, was not recovered until 1788. His brother, Robert, made arrangements with the Indians to bring Thomas to Tioga Point, where he was delivered to his relatives and friends. During his long stay with the Indians, he had become so attached to them and Indian life, that he was very reluctant to return to civilization, and his friends were obliged to bind him and place him in a canoe. When the canoe arrived at Wilkes-Barre, he was untied, but the canoe had no sooner touched the shore than he darted away like a deer, and it was several hours before he was retaken. On reaching Northum- berland, he became sullen and morose, longing to be with his forest friends and companions. By degrees he became accus- tomed to civilized life. He eventually became a useful citizen.

The massacre at the Lee home resulted in the death of seven persons and the capture of six. Of the latter only four were recovered by their relatives and friends. Among these were Rebecca Lee, who was restored to her brother, Robert, at North- umberland, in 1785, and another sister, who was recovered at Albany in 1786.

About the time of the massacre at the Lee home, a boy was shot by Indians while on his way to a mill near Lewisburg.

(Linn's "Annals of Buffalo Valley," pages 210 to 213).

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 677

Outrages in Luzerne and Northumberland Counties in 1782

When recording the Indian events of the Wyoming Valley of the year, 1781, we set forth some of the experiences of Lieu- tenant Rosewell Franklin. We now record a more distressing tragedy in the life of this noted character, quoting from Miner's "History of Wyoming" :

"In April following, Sunday the 7th, 1782, the Indians, still burning with rage and intent on vengeance, rushed into Lieutenant Franklin's house (in the Hanover settlement, a few miles below Wilkes-Barre and took off his wife and their four remaining children (two of Franklin's sons, it will be remembered, were captured by the Indians on September 7th, 1781), one an infant and set fire to the building, which, with the furniture not plun- dered, was consumed to ashes. Parties went immediately in pursuit. Sergeant Thomas Baldwin (Joseph Elliot second in command) led seven determined men, with great celerity, taking an unfrequented course, to head the savages. Arrived at Wyalusing, near sixty miles, they were satisfied by examining the fording place that the Indians had not crossed the stream. Pushing on till they came to the mountain, nearly opposite Asylum, a slight breast-work was thrown up, and arrangements made to receive the enemy. Every precaution had been taken to conceal the defence by setting up bushes in front; but the wary chief, on approaching, discovered the snare, changed the route of his party, leaving the path, and attempted to ascend the hill, and pass our men fifty or sixty rods more easterly. The attack was instantly commenced, a mutual fire was opened, and continued for some time with spirit and yet with caution; the Indians being desirous to get off with their prisoners and plunder ; the pursuing party being afraid of hurting Mrs. Franklin and the children. In the midst of the firing, the two little girls and the boy sprung from their captors, and found refuge with their friends. Instantly the savages shot Mrs. Franklin and retreated; the chief, either to preserve the infant prisoner, as a trophy, or to save himself from being a mark for the American rifles, raised the babe on his shoulder, and thus bearing her aloft, fled. Having recovered three of the children, and seeing the bleeding remains of the mother, the Yankees suspended pursuit. Mrs. Franklin was buried as decently as circumstances permitted, and the children brought safely to Wyoming, where they arrived on

678 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

the 16th. Two of the men, Sergeant Baldwin and Oliver Bennet, were wounded, the former severely, by the enemy's fire." The Indian band numbered thirteen, six of whom were killed.

A boy was murdered by Indians near Bunkers, in the Wyom- ing Valley, on June 1st, 1782. On the 8th of July of that year, John Jameson, his young brother and Asa Chapman were riding from their residence near Nanticoke on their way to Wilkes- Barre. Coming opposite the Hanover meeting house, Jameson exclaimed: "There are Indians." Almost at the same instant, three rifle balls pierced his body, and he fell from his horse dead. Chapman was wounded, but his horse carried him beyond reach of the Indians. Young Jameson, being in the rear, escaped with- out injury. Chapman arrived at the fort at Wilkes-Barre, where Lieutenant Rosewell Franklin cut out the bullet, but the unfor- tunate man, after taking an affectionate leave of his wife, breathed his last a few hours after he received the fatal shot. A few days later, Daniel McDowal was captured near Plymouth, and carried to Niagara.

Colonel Samuel Hunter, in a letter written from Sunbury to James Potter, vice-president of the Supreme Executive Council, on October 26th, 1782, tells of the following:

"I am sorry to inform you that the savages still continue their cruel ht)stilities against the inhabitants of this county. The 8th inst., the enemy wounded one man at Wyoming, and took another prisoner. The 14th, they killed and scalped an old couple on Chillisquaque (Creek), the name of Martin, about one mile and a half from Col. James Murray's, and took three young women prisoners, being all the family that was in the house. This old couple, being man and wife, I saw lying killed and scalped, and was one that helped to bury them. The 24th inst., they killed and scalped Serj. Edward Lee of Captain Robison's Company, and took one, Robt. Caruthers, prisoner, about two miles from Fort Rice."

Some time during the latter years of the Revolutionary War, probably in 1782, Robert Lyon was sent from Fort Augusta with a canoe full of supplies, which he was to take to Wyoming. On the afternoon of the first day, he landed at the mouth of Fishing Creek, and went to call on the family of a Mr. Cooper near that place. He had scarcely arrived at the Cooper home when a band of Indians, led by Shenap, surrounded the house and captured him. He was taken to Niagara, where he was compelled to run the gauntlet. Later he was surprised to find his brother as one

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 679

of the British officers at that place. He returned to his home after the Revolutionary War.

The Abandoned Expeditions— Frontiersmen Celebrate Thanksgiving

In the summer of 1782, General Washington decided that three expeditions should be sent against the Indian allies of the British. One was to be sent by the state of New York against the eastern Iroquois in the neighborhood of Oswege; one, under Major- General James Potter, was to advance from Fort Augusta (Sun- bury, Pa.) against the Seneca strongholds in the valley of the Genesee; and the third, to be commanded by General William Irvine, was to advance from Fort Pitt against the Wyandots, Delawares and other tribes on the Sandusky River in Ohio. General Irvine began assembling his forces — regulars, volunteers, rangers, and Pennsylvania and Virginia militia — but was com- pelled to postpone the contemplated date of departure until October 20th. While he was thus making ready to advance against the Wyandots and Delawares, General George Rogers Clark was busy preparing a similar expedition in Kentucky against Shawnee towns on the Scioto. A correspondence passed between General Irvine and General Clark for the purpose of securing simultaneous action. Then a change of policy came about on the British side, which we will now relate.

General Sir Guy Carleton, a humane man who had never approved the infamous alliance of the British with the Indians, which for six years had spread terror, desolation and death throughout the frontier, was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, shortly before the burning of Colonel William Crawford at the stake on June 11th, 1782. Soon after his appointment, shocked by the terrible fate of Colonel Crawford and other American prisoners at Sandusky, he sent orders to all British officers on the frontier to exert their efforts to prevent further atrocities by their Indian allies. Soon these orders were followed by other orders sent by him to the command- ants at Detroit and Niagara to cease entirely the sending out of Indian bands against the American frontiers and to act only on the defensive. These latter orders reached DePeyster, the commandant at Detroit, late in August and too late to prevent the expedition which attacked Fort Henry at Wheeling on Sept- ember 11th and 12th and Rice's Fort in Washington County on September 13th. General Washington, at Newburg-on-the-

680 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Hudson, learned of General Carleton's action, on September 23d, and at once wrote the authorities at Philadelphia to stop the expeditions preparing to set out from Sunbury and Fort Pitt (See Butterfield's "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," page 135; Pa. Archives, Vol.9, page 641.) However, Washington's countermand did not reach General Clark in time to prevent his expedition against the Shawnees. He moved on and destroyed the Shawnee towns of Upper and Lower Piqua in what is now Miami County, Ohio.

On the last Thursday of November, 1782, the harried fron- tiersmen, believing that the Indian incursions were at an end, participated with earnestness and great joy in the observance of the first general Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

Atrocities in Western Pennsylvania

In the Spring of 1783, a band of twenty-five Shawnees, prob- ably in revenge of the destruction of their towns by General Clark in the autumn of 1782, entered Washington County and committed murders. On March 27th, a certain Mrs. Walker was captured on Buffalo Creek, this county, but succeeded in making her escape. On April 1st, a family, named Boice, consisting of eight persons, was captured not far from Washington, and carried to the Indian villages in Ohio. On April 2nd, a man, whose name has not been preserved, was killed within the limits of the present town of Washington. At about the same time as the capture of Mrs. Walker, persons were killed and captured near Walthour's Fort in the Brush Creek settlement in Westmoreland County. The following letters describe these atrocities in Washington and Westmoreland Counties:

Colonel Stephen Bayard wrote from Fort Pitt to General Irvine, on April 5th, 1783, stating that, about ten days prior to the time of writing this letter, Indians killed James Davis and his son and took two prisoners, near Fort Walthour, Westmore- land County. Colonel Bayard adds: "An express came to me last night from Col. Shepard, giving an account of six persons being killed, six wounded and five made prisoners within seven miles of Catfish (now Washington, the county seat of Washington County). This moment I am infoiTned by a man from the Widow Myres' (Myres' Blockhouse, Allegheny County) that one Thomas Lyon who lived four miles from her house, was yesterday killed and scalped."* On the same day (April 5th), William

Myres' or Myers' blockhouse was near the mouth of Turtle Creek. The two sons of Thomas Lyon were captured on the same day the father was killed. See "Attack on the Lyon Family," page 658.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 681

Parker and James Allison, sub-lieutenants of Washington County, wrote the president of Pennsylvania as follows: "They (the Indians) took one Mrs, Walker prisoner on the 27th ult., on Buffalo Creek, but she happily made her escape. This woman says that two parties of Indians are gone against the inhabitants. Two days after, there were two men taken prisoners at Wheeling; the day following a man was wounded on Short Creek. The 1st of April, they took the Wison Boice and family consisting of eight persons, and a man was killed the day following, near Washington county court house." (Washington-Irvine Correspondence, "408 to 410; Pa. Archives, Vol. 10, page 167).

John Cummins, Lieutenant of the Westmoreland Rangers, writing President Dickinson from Hannastown, on March 29th, 1783, referring to the murder of James Davis and his son, near Fort Walthour, says: "Last week they killed two and took two prisoners about ten miles from this place, near Brushy Run Brush Creek. I could not learn what number there was of the enemy. I only hear of four that were discovered. They were so bold as to endeaver to break open the house, but were bravely repulsed by one man and one woman who were within, but with- out any arms or weapons of defense. One of the Indians at- tempted to push his gun in at the door, which those on the in- side of the room seized and broke, upon which the Indians left them. The inhabitants of the frontiers seem more discouraged this spring than they have been, having flattered themselves with the most sanguine hopes of peace, which hopes they now think are frustrated." (Penna. Archives, Vol. 10, page 22.)

Peace Mission of Major Ephraim Douglass

Some of the frontiersmen believed that the atrocities just de- scribed were committed by Indians who had been out hunting all winter and had not heard of the peace made between Great Britain and the United States, or of the orders issued by General Carleton. There was great fear, among the frontiersmen, that the Indians might continue their raids without British support; and hence appeals were sent to Congress for definite treaties of peace with the tribes. The Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania asked Congress, on April 4th, to take some action to pacify the Indians; and repeated this request, on April 29th, with the state- ment that forty persons had been killed and captured on the Pennsylvania frontier, since the opening of the spring of 1783.

682 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Two days later, Congress voted to send a messenger to inform the tribes that Great Britain had been compelled to make peace with the Americans, and had agreed to evacuate the forts at Detroit and Niagara. Major Ephraim Douglass, of Pittsburgh, was the person chosen by Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary of War, for this dangerous mission.

Douglass, accompanied by a guide and Captain George Mc- Cully, left Fort Pitt on June 7th, well mounted and carrying a white flag. Arriving at the Sandusky River, on June 16th, they went to the principal town of the Delawares, where they met the noted Delaware chief, Captain Pipe, who received them very cordially. Captain Pipe declared himself greatly in favor of peace, but declined to enter into peace negotiations until after Douglass had treated with the Wyandots and the Shawnees, his reason being that the Wyandots and Shawnees had first taken up the hatchet against the Americans, and had forced the Del- awares into the war. Douglass and his companions remained at Captain Pipe's town two weeks. The chief of the Wyandots residing in that neighborhood (on the Sandusky River) was the Half King, Dunquat. Douglass learned that Dunquat was at that time at Detroit, but his wife thought he would soon come home, and persuaded the peace messengers to wait for him. Captain Pipe sent a runner to the Shawnee towns on the Miami, asking their chiefs to come to Sandusky to meet Major Douglass, but the runner returned in five days with the news that the Shawnees had just been called to Detroit to attend a council with the British commander at that place.

Captain Pipe then advised Major Douglass to go to Detroit, and treat with all the Indian chiefs in the presence of the British commander. Dunquat did not return at the time his wife ex- pected him, and Captain Pipe said that he (Dunquat) could not make peace with the Americans without the authority of the Wyandot council, which had its seat in Canada, not far from Detroit. For these reasons Major Douglass decided to take Captain Pipe's advice, and go to Detroit, at which place, ac- companied by Captain Pipe, he arrived on July 4th, and was kindly received by the commander. Colonel DePeyster, who, however, would not permit him to hold a council with the Indian chiefs. DePeyster objected to some of the language in Douglass' letter of instructions, and was afraid that if the Indians were told that Great Britain had been compelled to make peace with the America'ns, it might cause the tribes to have contempt for

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR— 1782-1783 683

the power of the British. Nor was he willing that the Indians be told that the British had agreed to evacuate Detroit, explaining that he had no knowledge of such agreement. He finally ad- vised Major Douglass to go to Niagara and state the terms of his mission to Brigadier-General Allan Maclean, who had superior authority in such affairs.

However, DePeyster gave much assistance to the object of Douglass' mission, by holding a council, at Detroit, on July 6th, with the chiefs of eleven tribes, representing nearly all the Indians from the Scioto River to Lake Superior. They were the chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees, Chippewas, Kickapoos, Weas, Miamis, Pottawattamies, Wyandots, Ottawas, Piankeshaws and part of the Senecas. He made the chiefs a long speech in which he told them the essential part of Douglass' message; that Great Britain and the United States had made peace; that the British could, therefore, no longer give the Indians assistance in their raids against the Americans; that the Americans desired peace with the Indians, also, and had sent Major Douglass to invite them to a treaty; and he closed by advising the Indians to cease their warfare against the Americans.

DePeyster's speech had a good effect on the assembled chiefs, and although they could hold no council with Douglass, they sur- rounded his lodging, and saluted him with many and earnest expressions of friendship. On July 7th, the peace envoys left Detroit, and traveled through Ontario towards Niagara, which place they reached in four days, and were civilly received by the commander. General Allan Maclean, who made the same ob- jections as those raised by Colonel DePeyster.

However, General Maclean, while not permitting Major Doug- lass to speak directly to the Iroquois chiefs at Niagara, informed them through Colonel Butler, of the desire of the United States for peace with all the Indian tribes. While at Niagara, Douglass had a long interview with the celebrated Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, in which he did all in his power to persuade this chieftain of the kindly intentions of the United States towards the Indians,

General Maclean advised Major Douglass to go to Quebec and confer with the Governor-General of Canada, but Douglass, feeling that he had sufficiently carried out the mission on which he was sent, decided to return home. General Maclean sent him by boat to Oswego, from which place he went by way of Albany, to Princeton, New Jersey, where he made his report to General Benjamin Lincoln. His mission effected peace on the long-

684 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

harried frontiers. The Indian allies of the British no longer spread terror, devastation and death in the settlements of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, The Angel of Peace then descended on the war-scarred, desolated country to plume her ruffled pinions and to bring the blessings of Heaven in her train. (See Major Douglass' report, dated August 18th, 1783, and recorded in Penna. Archives, Vol. 10, pages 83-90.)

During the reign of peace following Major Ephraim Douglass' historic mission, Pennsylvania extinguished the Indian title to the western part of her domain by two purchases which will be described at the beginning of the next chapter.

Like in the prior Indian wars, many persons captured by the Indians during the Revolutionary War never returned to their relatives and friends. Many, like Duke Swearingen, who was captured while bringing in the cows, near Swearingen's Fort in Springhill Township, Fayette County, were never heard of again. Many were tortured to death. Many were adopted into Indian families, and preferred life among the Indians to life among the whites. Many married Indians, with the result that today there courses in the veins of Delawares and Shawnees on the plains of Oklahoma and of Iroquois in New York and Canada, the blood of the best pioneer families of Pennsylvania.

— Photograph by Frank C. Sherman, Rochester, N. Y.

REV. KIRKLAND MONUMENT

Monument at the grave of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, in the burial ground of Hamilton College, near Clinton, N. Y. Born in Norwich, Conn., December 1, 1741, he early resolved to devote his life to preaching the Gospel to the Red Man. He became a missionary among the Oneidas. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he was employed by the Continental Congress to secure the friendship of the Six Nations. Owing to his influence, nearly all the Oneidas remained neutral and refused to yield to the temptation of the British scalp bounties, while the overwhelming majority of the Iroquois Confederations went over to the British. He accompanied Sullivan's Expedition against the Six Nations as chaplain and Indian inter- preter. After the Revolution, by a treaty with the Oneidas, he was granted a tract of land two miles square near Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y. In 1793, he made valuable donations of land to Hamilton-Oneida Academy, at Clinton, N. Y., which institution is now Hamilton College. He died February 28, 1808. See page 506.

CHAPTER XXIX

The Post-Revolutionary Uprising

Purchases at Forts Stanwix and Mcintosh

At the treaty at Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York), in October, _£\ 1784, the Six Nations ceded to Pennsylvania that part of the state northwest of the boundary of the purchase of 1768. The Seneca chief, Cornplanter, who was the bitter enemy of the United States during the Revolutionary War, but became the firm friend of the young Republic upon the conclusion of peace, took a prominent part in the treaty of Fort Stanwix, using all the energies of his brilliant intellect in favor of peace. The follow- ing is the description in the deed of the Six Nations, dated October 23d, 1784:

"Beginning on the south side of the river Ohio, where the western boundary of the state of Pennsylvania crosses the said river, near Shingo's old town, at the mouth of Beaver Creek, and thence by a due north line to the end of the forty-second and the beginning of the forty-third degrees of north latitude; thence by a due east line separating the forty-second and the forty-third de- gree of north latitude, to the east side of the east branch of the Susquehanna River; thence by the bounds of the late purchase made at Fort Stanwix, the fifth day of November, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, as follows: Down the said east branch of Susquehanna, on the east side thereof, till it comes opposite to the mouth of a creek called by the Indians Awandac, and across the river, and up the said creek on the south side thereof, all along the range of hills called Burnet's Hills by

the English, and by the Indians ,on the north side of

them, to the head of a creek which runs into the west branch of Susquehanna, which creek is by the Indians called Tyadaghton, but by the Pennsylvanians, Pine Creek, and down the said creek on the south side thereof to the said west branch of Susquehanna ; thence crossing the said river, and running up the south side there- of, the several courses thereof to the forks of the same river.

686 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

which lies nearest to a place on the river Ohio called Kittanning, and from a fork by a straight line to Kittanning aforesaid; and thence down the said river Ohio by the several courses thereof to where said State of Pennsylvania crosses the same river, at the place of beginning."

It will be noticed in the above deed of the purchase of 1784, that the line was to run along the south bank of the West Branch of the Susquehanna; thence "crossing the said river, and running up the south side thereof, the several courses and distances thereof to the forks of the same river, which lies nearest to a place on the river Ohio called Kittanning, and from the fork by a straight line to Kittanning aforesaid." The name "Canoe Place" is given in the old maps of the state to designate the point on the West Branch of the Susquehanna from which the purchase line ran to Kittanning. The point also designated the head of navigation on the West Branch. A survey of that line was made by Robert Galbraith, in 1786, and a cherry tree, standing on the west branch of the river was marked by him as the beginning of his survey. The same cherry tree was also marked by William P. Brady as the southeast corner of a tract surveyed by him "at Canoe Place", in 1794, on a grant in the name of John Nicholson, Esq. The town of Cherry Tree, Indiana County, now covers a part of this ground. The historic cherry tree disappeared many years ago. The Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1893, granted an appropria- tion of fifteen hundred dollars for marking the historic site, and a substantial granite monument now stands where the tree stood. From the Fort Stanwix purchase of November 5th, 1768, described in Chapter XX, to the Fort Stanwix purchase of Oc- tober 23d, 1784, the northwestern boundary of Indian purchases in Pennsylvania ran from the North Branch of the Susquehanna, on the New York line, to Towanda Creek, thence to the head of Pine Creek, thence to the mouth of Pine Creek, and up the West Branch of the Susquehanna to its source; thence over to Kit- tanning; and thence down the Allegheny and Ohio to the west line of the state. Now one of the important features of the Fort Stanwix purchase and treaty of October 23d, 1784, was the settlement of the difificulty that, ever since the Fort Stanwix treaty and purchase of November 4th, 1768, had existed among various Pennsylvania settlers in relation to that part of the boundary of the former purchase marked by the creek called Tyadaghton by the Indians. Some settlers claimed that this was the Indian name for Lycoming Creek, while others claimed

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 687

it was the Indian name for Pine Creek. Therefore, at the purchase and treaty of October, 1784, the Pennsylvania com- missioners, in compliance with their instructions inquired specifically of the Six Nations which stream was really the Tyadaghton, and also the Indian name of Burnet's Hills, left blank in the deed of November, 1768. The Indians then informed the commissioners that Tyadaghton was what the white people called Pine Creek, which flows into the West Branch of the Susque- hanna in the western part of Lycoming County, instead of Ly- coming Creek, which also flows into the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna in Lycoming County, but some fifteen or more miles farther to the east. As to Burnet's Hills, the Indians said they knew them as the "Long Mountains" and by no other name.

The deed given at Fort Stanwix extinguished the Iroquois title to this region, but it became necessary to appease the Wyandots, Delawares and other western tribes, who likewise claimed title to the same lands. Therefore, the same commis- sioners who were at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, were sent to Fort Mcintosh, the site of the present town of Beaver, Beaver County, where, on January 21, 1785, Pennsylvania received a deed from these Indians for the same land. The Fort Stanwix deed and the Fort Mcintosh deed are identical as to boundaries, but the con- sideration in the former was five thousand dollars, and in the latter two thousand dollars. "Thus," says Meginness, "in a period of about one hundred and two years was the whole right of the In- dians to the soil of Pennsylvania extinguished."

These deeds included all of the counties of Lawrence, Mercer, Crawford, Butler, Venango, Forest, Warren, Clarion, Jeff'erson, Elk, Kane, Cameron, Potter, and a part of Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Erie, Indiana, Clearfield, Clinton, Tioga, and Brad- ford. That part of Erie County called "the triangle," was ceded to Pennsylvania by the United States, in 1792.

The great Frenchman, General Lafayette, attended the Fort Mcintosh purchase, and addressed the assembled Indian chiefs. The Pennsylvania commissioners, Samuel J. Atlee, William Maclay and Francis Johnston, say in a letter written to President John Dickinson of the Supreme Executive Council, recorded in Penna. Archives, Vol. 10, page 346:

"The Marquis addressed them, praised those who had adhered to us in the late war — blamed those who had been our enemies, with freedom. Their answer was pertinent, and breathed the spirit of peace. The Mohawks, in particular, declared their re-

688 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

pentance for the errors which they had committed. We were Hkewise introduced to them by the Continental Commissioners." One of the "Continental" or United States commissioners at the Fort Mcintosh treaty was General Richard Butler, for whom Butler County is named.

British Agents Cause Indian Uprising —

Atrocities in Washington. Greene and Allegheny

Counties

Upon the close of the Revolutionary War, enterprising men turned their attention to the settlement of the vast and fertile region west of the Alleghenies; and Congress, in 1787, formed the Northwest Territory out of which the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been formed. General Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor of the Northwest Territory, and, in January 1789, held a treaty at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum River, with representatives of the Six Nations, Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas and other Western Indians, by the terms of which they ceded large tracts of land to the United States. However, the great majority of these Indians refused to acknowledge the validity of the treaty, and shortly thereafter, instigated by British traders, went on the war-path, sending many of their war parties into the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny.

As C. W. Butterfield points out, in his "Washington-Irvine Correspondence" (page 194), Great Britain, during all the time from the close of the Revolutionary War until the Treaty of Greenville, Ohio, in August, 1795, was covertly hostile to the United States, aiding and abetting the Western Indians in various ways. Therefore, as early as May 12th, 1784, an incursion was made into Washington County by Indians from Ohio in which two men were killed at or near Cross Creek. Also, in the harvest time of 1785, Indians from Ohio again entered this county, mort- ally wounding Josiah Scott, Jr., and capturing William Bailey, near Candor. About November 1st, 1787, according to James Marshel's letter of November 6th, 1787, recorded in Penna. Ar- chives, Vol. 11, page 209, a band of Indians from Ohio entered Washington County, attacking two families of seven persons each, and killing all except two, whom they carried off.

The atrocities mentioned in the above volume of the Pennsyl- vania Archives were probably the murder of the Davis and Crowe families, though some authorities place the date of the murder

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 689

of these families as late as 1792. All authorities agree that these two families were murdered on the same day, and since they do not agree as to the date, we are inclined to believe that the account given in the above mentioned volume of the Pennsylvania Ar- chives refers to these families. We shall now describe these atrocities.

The family of James Davis lived in what was then Washington County, but is now Richill Township, Greene County. The fam- ily was at the breakfast table on a Sunday morning, when the Indians came to the cabin. Among the Indians was a renegade, named Spicer, probably the WiUiam Spicer who, as a boy, was captured in Greene County in the spring of 1774 by Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, and spent his life among his captors. The father and his two sons sprang for their rifles, but were shot dead on the spot. After killing several of the children, according to some accounts, and scalping the victims, eating the food, and plunder- ing the cabin, the Indians captured the mother and only daughter, and started away. One of the Indians was riding one of the Davis horses, with the daughter before him and the mother behind. Presently, John Henderson, who lay concealed in a thicket, shot the Indian rider, causing him to fall from the horse, badly wound- ed. Some time later, settlers found the decaying body of the daughter, but no trace of the mother was ever discovered. The mutilated bodies of the father, two sons and daughter were buried near the cabin. At a later date, a skeleton of an Indian was found near the scene of this atrocity, supposed to have been that of the warrior shot by Henderson. A son of Davis managed to elude the Indians. It appears that he had been sent to the pasture field for the horses, while the other members of the family were at breakfast. ("Frontier Forts," Vol. 2, page 442).

The Crowe family also lived in what is now Richill Township, Greene County. One of the daughters worked for the family of James Davis, whose murder we have just related, and came home every Saturday evening to spend Sunday with her parents. On the afternoon of the day of the murder of the Davis family, this girl, accompanied by her four sisters, started for the Davis home. They sat down under a tree, not far from the mouth of Wharton Run, to crack nuts, when their brother, Michael, who had been searching for a strayed colt and found it, passed them and told them not to delay as it was getting late. Two of the girls then started up Wheeling Creek and the other three started down the stream. Presently two rifle shots broke the stillness of the autumn

690 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

afternoon, and two of the girls fell mortally wounded, while the other three fled with the Indians in pursuit. One of the girls, named Taner, was knocked down with a tomahawk, and the In- dians, thinking she was dead, pressed on after the others, one of whom was captured. The youngest girl, Mary, outran her pur- suers, and was taken up behind her brother, Michael, on the horse. She and Michael rode swiftly home, and told their agonized par- ents what had happened. The parents and the surviving children, except Taner and Michael, fled to Ryerson's Fort, near the pres- ent Ryerson's Station. Michael was too young to run that dis- tance and too large to be carried. His father concealed him under the floor of the cabin and told him to remain there until help arrived. In a short time, the Indians pillaged the cabin, but did not find the boy. He remained hidden for three days without food or water, before he was rescued. Taner Crowe, after being knocked down, crawled into the brush and concealed herself be- yond discovery. She recovered from her wound, and lived to raise a large family.

It was during the year 1787, that Levi Morgan was attacked by three Indians, on Buffalo Creek, Washington County, and, in a running fight killed one of them. The story is told in Mc- Knight's "Western Border."

On March 27th, 1789, Indians from Ohio made an incursion into Washington County, capturing a Mrs. Glass, her little son, and her female slave and two children. One of the Negro children was killed after the Indians had proceeded a short distance with their captives. Mr. Glass, discovering that his wife and son had been captured, fled to Well's Fort, in Cross Creek Township, and there organized a party of ten settlers who pursued the Indians, and recovered the captives on the other side of the Ohio River. Mr. Glass died a few years later, and his widow married John Brown, and became the mother of Jane Brown, who, on March 12th, 1811, became the wife of Rev. Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Campbellite or Christian Church.

One of the most horrible atrocities committed in Washington County in the pioneer days was the murder of the Mcintosh family, in what is now West Finley Township, in August, 1789. The members of the family were in the harvest field, stacking hay or grain, when a band of Indians fired on them, killing the father, who was on the stack. The mother and six children then fled toward the house, but were overtaken, tomahawked and scalped. Thus perished the entire family, except a daughter who

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 691

had been sent to a pasture field with a horse, and hearing the firing, fled to Roney's Blockhouse, and gave the alarm. Hercules Roney, at the head of a band of settlers, started for the scene of the tragedy. They found the eight mutilated bodies of the victims, and buried them.

About the time of the murder of the Mcintosh family, John McCleery was murdered by hostile Indians, near the present Hookstown, Beaver County. During this same summer, Indians from Ohio committed atrocities within two miles of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Gazette of July 2nd, 1789, contained the following:

"Yesterday were brought to this place and buried, the bodies of two young men, named Arthur Graham and Alexander Camp- bell, who had gone out the evening before to fish. They were killed by the savages about two miles from this place."

General Harmar's Defeat

Realizing that the only way to put a stop to the Indian raids from Ohio into Western Pennsylvania, was to carry the war into their country, the Federal Government sent troops down the Ohio in the summer and autumn of 1789, and erected Fort Washington, where Cincinnatti, now stands. General Josiah Harmar arrived at that place on December 29th, with three hundred regular troops, and took command. Leaving Fort Washington with one hundred regulars, he joined General Scott with two hundred and thirty Kentucky volunteers, and marched into the Scioto country, but was unable to engage the Indians in battle, as they abandoned their villages and fled. The troops then returned to Fort Wash- ington, having accomplished nothing definite.

The Indians continued their raids into Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia during the summer of 1790. Then President Washington called upon Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky to raise militia to invade the Ohio country. On September 30th, General Harmar left Fort Washington, and joined Colonel John Hardin at Turkey Creek, on October 3d. Harmar's forces num- bered between fourteen and fifteen hundred men. On October 4th, the army took up the march towards the Indian towns on the Maumee and its tributaries, the St. Joseph and the St. Mary. The principal town Harmar intended to attack was the Miami town, called Kekionga, or Omee, located where the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, now stands. Having camped on the St. Mary River on the night of October 13th, General Harmar, on the

692 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

following day, sent Major James Paul, who commanded a bat- talion from Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, with six hundred volunteers to attack Omee. This force arrived at Omee on Oct- ober 16th, but found that the Indians had fled after having burned the town. General Harmar arrived with the main column the next day. The troops then destroyed 20,000 bushels of corn in the vicinity.

On October 19th, Colonel Hardin, with one hundred and eighty Pennsylvania and Kentucky militia and thirty regulars, started in pursuit of some Indians who had stolen some horses the night before. After a march of six miles, the troops were ambushed by the Indians and badly defeated. Concluding that a general engagement with the Indians was impossible, General Harmar decided to return to Fort Washington. On October 20th, he marched back eight miles, and then decided to bring on a partial engagement. Late that night Harmar sent Colonel Hardin and Major Wyllys, with three hundred Pennsylvania and Kentucky militia and sixty regulars, with orders to find the enemy and engage them. Hardin and Wyllys marched their forces to the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary Rivers, and then separated into three columns, moving up the east bank of the St. Joseph at some distance apart. This separating of the forces was the opportunity the Miami chief. Little Turtle, and the Shawnee chief, Blue Jacket, had been waiting for. Soon after the troops sepa- rated, the Indians attacked the two columns of militia, and then retreated, luring them away from the regulars. They then fell upon the regulars, overwhelming them with terrible slaughter. More than fifty regulars were slain. Among the slain was Major Wyllys. In the meantime the militia lost one hundred and eighty officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing. It was estimated that the Indians lost only about one hundred. The American survivors joined the main column under General Harmar, on October 23d, and the army then took up the march back to Fort Washington, at which place it arrived on November 3d. In this campaign. General Harmar lost over two hundred men and one half of his horses. The campaign was a failure, and the battle, fought near Fort Wayne, Indiana, has gone down in history as "Harmar's Defeat."

Conciliation of the Senecas

On June 27th, 1790, two friendly Senecas were murdered by Benjamin Walker, Henry Walker, Joseph Walker and Samuel

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 693

Doyle, on Pine Creek, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The Walkers were sons of John Walker who was killed by Indians in the attack on the home of Major John Lee, in Union County, on August 13th, 1782. At the time of the murder of the friendly Senecas, the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and other western tribes were at war with the United States, and were doing all in their power to draw the Senecas into the conflict. Hence it was feared that the murder of the friendly Senecas would have the effect of causing their tribe to join the hostile Indians. In order to avert the threatened danger, President Washington, on Sept- ember 4th, commissioned Colonel Timothy Pickering, then at Wyoming, to meet the chiefs of the Senecas and offer to make reparations for the injury done their tribe. Colonel Pickering and Colonel Simon Spalding met Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother Fish Carrier, Big Tree, Aupaumont and other chiefs of the Senecas, at Tioga, on November 14th to 23d, gave them presents and secured their friendship. The work of conciliation was con- cluded at a treaty held at Elmira, New York the following year.

On October 29th, 1790, the Seneca chief, Cornplanter, accom- panied by his half-brother. Half Town, appeared before the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and laid before that body a number of wrongs committed against the Senecas. He had intended to go to Philadelphia at an earlier date, but was detained by the excitement among the Senecas on account of the murder of their two chiefs on Pine Creek. He told the Council of the robbing of some of his company at Cat Fish (Washington, Pa.,) as they were returning from the treaty at Fort Harmar, early in 1 789 ; and of the murder of a young Seneca, the husband of the sister of Complanter's wife, by a white man, about four miles above Pittsburgh, in 1786, and of the murder of his (Complant- er's) nephew, about fifteen miles below Pittsburgh, during the preceding winter. Said he, on this occasion: "Fathers, consider me and my people, and the many injuries we have sustained by the repeated robberies and in the murders and depredations com- mitted by the whites among us." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 16, pages 501 to 506.)

Cornplanter and Half Town remained in Philadelphia until the meeting of Congress. On December 1st, he met President Wash- ington, and laid before him the complaints of the Senecas and their request that lands be allotted to them. Washington gave the noted chief a sum of money, and bespoke his aid in pacifying the Miamis, In the meantime Governor Mifflin sent

694 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

a message to the Senecas with some of Complanter's companions, deploring the murder of the two chiefs on Pine Creek.

It was a dark hour for the young RepubHc when Complanter was holding his councils with Governor Mifflin and President Washington at Philadelphia. The army of General Harmar had gone down to inglorious defeat before the might of the western tribes, and the British at Niagara were using their utmost in- fluence to array the powerful Senecas against the United States.

Murders in Armstrong, Westmoreland, Indiana and Crawford Counties

Following the defeat of General Harmar, many bloody incur- sions were made upon the Western Pennsylvania frontier. One of these was the attack on the fortified home of James Kirkpatrick, in South Bend Township, Armstrong County, on April 28th, 1791. Mr. Kirkpatrick's family had just completed morning worship, when George Miller, who was at the home at that time, went to the door and found three savages with their rifles cocked and toma- hawks ready for attack. They rushed forward to enter the house, but Miller succeeded in closing it before them. The Indians then fired through the door and wounded Mr. Miller in the wrist, and killed Kirkpatrick's child lying in its cradle. Mr. Kirkpatrick then went to the loft, made an incision in the wall, and began to fire on the Indians, killing one of them on the spot. In the mean- time, Mrs. Kirkpatrick remained below busily employed in making bullets, while her husband and his companion were defending the house.

The above is the account given by most historians; but atten- tion is called to the fact that, on Page 555 of volume four of the Second Series of the Pennsylvania Archives, William Findley, in a letter written to A. Dallas, Secretary of the Commonwealth, on April 29th, 1791, states that there were six militia in Kirkpatrick's house at the time of the attack. Also Andrew Gregg, in a letter written to Colonel Samuel Bryson, and recorded in the same volume of the Pennsylvania Archives, Page 559, states that two men were killed in this attack and one wounded, in addition to the killing of the babe.

There is a tradition among Mr. Kirkpatrick's descendants that, after the attack on his home he decapitated the dead Indian and placed his head upon a pole as a warning to other Indians that might chance to come into the neighborhood ; also that he skinned

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 695

the Indian, tanned the skin and made it into razor straps. Robert Mclntyre, of Butler, Pa., one of Kirkpatrick's descendants, has one of the razor straps.

Two children, John Sloan and his sister, Nancy, a few weeks after the attack on the home of James Kirkpatrick, were captured near the Lutheran and Reformed Church, in South Bend Town- ship, Armstrong County. They were working in the corn field at the time. After being with the Indians for several years, they were delivered at Fort Washington, and returned to their parents. After returning, they said that, as they were being carried away, their captors contemplated attacking the cabin of a settler named Lowry, who lived in the same neighborhood, but seeing a hand spike leaning against the cabin door, and mistaking it for a rifle, decided not to make the attack.

The Mitchell family lived in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, on the Loyalhanna, about two miles east of Latrobe. In 1791 the family consisted of the mother and two children. Charles, aged seventeen, and Susan, aged fifteen, the father having died a few years before. During this year, four Indians ap- proached the home while Charles and Susan were in the stable attending to the work of feeding the stock. Charles tried to escape by running towards the Loyalhanna, but was captured. Susan hid under a trough for feeding horses, and the Indians were unable to discover her. They then captured the mother, and started north with her and Charles. They soon found that Mrs. Mitchell was too old to travel. Then two Indians pushed on ahead with Charles, while the other two loitered behind with Mrs. Mitchell. After a while those conducting Charles stopped to build a fire, when the two who had charge of Mrs. Mitchell joined them with her bleeding scalp. They stretched and dried it in the presence of her son. The band then crossed the Kiskiminetas into Arm- strong County where they came upon the tracks of two white men, which Charles recognized as those of Captain John Sloan and Harry Hill. There was snow on the ground, and Captain Sloan's exceedingly large feet made such large marks as to astonish the Indians. One of them took the ramrod of his rifle and measured Sloan's tracks. Charles told him that Sloan was a well-known Indian fighter; whereupon the Indians decided not to follow Sloan and Hill, and immediately pushed on northward, taking Charles to the Senecas on the headwaters of the Allegheny River. Here he escaped three years later, and returned to the Ligonier Valley.

One of the outrages committed about this time was the capture

696 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

of little Jacob Nicely, aged five years, the son of Adam Nicely, who lived on Four Mile Run, in Westmoreland County, about two miles from its junction with the Loyalhanna. Authorities differ as to the time of the capture, some stating that it was during the summer of 1790, and others during the summer of 1791.

Little Jacob and his brothers and sisters were picking black- berries. Jacob returned to the house where his mother, who was baking, gave him a cake and told him to rejoin his brothers and sisters. He then started to return to the other children, when a band of Indians, concealed in the woods, captured him. The father with some companions followed the captors as far as the Kiskiminetas, where their trail was lost in the forest.

Years came and went, and no trace of the captured child was found. Finally, in 1828, a man from Westmoreland County, who was trading among the Senecas in Warren County, recognized Jacob, and brought back this information to the mother, who was then an old lady past seventy years of age. In the meantime the father had died. A brother then traveled on horseback to the Seneca reservation, and found the long-lost Jacob. The brothers recognized each other. Jacob had been adopted by the Indians, had a family, and considerable possessions. A tradition in the Nicely family says that some time prior to 1828, Jacob had made a journey to Westmoreland County, in an effort to locate his rela- tives, but being unable to speak English and mispronouncing the family name, had returned to his Indian family without finding his mother, brothers, and sisters.

Jacob accompanied his brother part way on the latter's return to Westmoreland County, and presented him with a rifle and other implements. He promised to return the following summer to visit the aged mother. However, he did not return as he had promised, perhaps having died. It is said that the father was unable to converse on the subject of the capture of "Jakey" without shed- ding tears. The aged mother went to her grave with the vivid re- collection of her child captured so many years before.

Some time in 1791, David Peelor was killed by Indians while working on his farm, a short distance from his blockhouse in Armstrong Township, in the western part of Indiana County.

On April 1st, 1791, the settlers in "Mead's Settlement," where Meadville, Crawford County, now stands, were warned by the Seneca chief. Flying Cloud, of threatened danger from the hostle Indians in Ohio. On the same day, eleven hostile Indians were seen a short distance north of the settlement. Then, the

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 697

Seneca chief, Half Town, who was encamped in the neighborhood with twenty-seven of his warriors, joined the settlers in a fruitless search for the hostile Indians. On May 3d, Cornelius Van Horn was captured in this settlement by a band of Indians. They carried him to Conneaut Lake, where he made his escape and returned to the settlement. At the time of the capture of Van Horn, William Gregg was killed, and Thomas Ray was captured. He was taken to Detroit, where Captain White, his former school- mate in Scotland, purchased him from the Indians for two gallons of whiskey, and sent him to Buffalo, from which place he was conducted to Franklin, Pa., by the friendly Mohawk, Stripe Neck. Also in the summer of 1791, Darius Mead was captured near Franklin. His body was afterwards found side by side with that of one of his captors. Captain Bull, a Delaware. They had fought a duel to the death. Their bodies were buried side by side where found, near the Shenango, in Mercer County.

John Brickell's Captivity

Some time in 1791, John Brickell, a lad of ten years, was captured by some Delawares, very likely near Union town, Fayette County. He was taken to the Delaware towns in Ohio, at one of which he was compelled to run the gauntlet. However, a chief, whom he believed to be Captain Pipe, saved him from most of the tortures of this ordeal. Later, he was adopted by the Delaware Chief, Big Cat, who treated him very kindly. During his captivity of four and one half years, he met some of his neighbors, who had also been captured, among these being Jane Dick.

Young Brickell was delivered up at Fort Defiance, following General Wayne's victory over the western tribes at the battle of the Fallen Timbers. In his "Narrative," he thus describes this occasion :

"Big Cat told me I must go over to the fort. The children hung around me crying, and asked me if I was going to leave them. I told them I did not know. When we got over and were seated with the officers, Big Cat told me to stand up, which I did. He then arose, and addressed me in about these words: 'My son, there are men the same color as yourself. There may be some of your kin there, or your kin may be a great way of¥ from you. You have lived a long time with us. I call on you to say if I have not been a father to you.' I said: 'You have used

Correction:— John Brickell was captured on the Allegheny instead of near Uniontown. He was born near the latter place.

698 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

me as well as a father could a son.' He said: 'I am glad you say so. You have lived with me; you have hunted with me. But our treaty says you must be free. If you choose to go with the people of your own color, I have no right to say a word; but if you choose to stay with me, your people have no right to speak. Now reflect on it and take your choice, and tell us as soon as you make up your mind.'

"I was silent a few minutes, in which time it seemed as if I thought of almost everything. I thought of the children I had just left crying; I thought of the Indians I was attached to, and I thought of my own people, and this latter thought predom- inated, and I said: 'I will go with my kin.' The old man then said: 'I have raised you; I have taught you to hunt; you are a good hunter; you have been better to me than my own sons. I am now getting old, and cannot hunt. I thought you would be a support to my age. I leaned on you as a staff; now it is broken. You are going to leave me, and I have no right to say a word; but I am ruined.' He then sank back, in tears, to his seat. I heartily joined him in his tears; parted with him, and have never seen or heard of him since."

General St. Clair's Defeat

President Washington determined to send another army against the Western Indians, and chose for its leader General Arthur St. Clair, of Westmoreland County, Governor of the Northwest Territory. Twenty-three hundred regulars and militia from Western Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky assembled at Fort Washington. "Beware of a surprise," said Washington to St. Clair, as the latter left Philadelphia to take charge of the army, many of whose soldiers were recruits from the large towns, ener- vated by idleness and debauchery, and unfit for the rigors of warfare against the Indians.

On September 17th, 1791, the army left Ludlow Station, six miles from Fort Washington (Cincinnati), and proceeded slowly to the Great Miami, where an advance detachment had erected Fort Hamilton named in honor of Alexander Hamilton. On October 12th, the army started the erection of Fort Jefferson, forty-four miles north of Fort Hamilton and six miles south of the present Greenville, Darke County, Ohio. Here General St. Clair was taken ill, and was not able to proceed further until October 24th, on which day an advance of six miles was made, the General

Monument at the grave of General Arthur St. Clair, in the old Presbyterian Cemetery, Greensburg, Pa. General St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, in 1734; came to America during the French and Indian War. Settled in the Ligonier \'a!ley, Westmoreland County, in 1764. He was agent for the Penns. Served in the American forces during the Revolutionary War. Was a delegate to the Continental Congress from November 2, 1785 to November 28, 1787, and its president in 1787. Was Governor of the Northwest Territory from 1789 to 1802. Was defeated by the western tribes, November 4, 1791. Died August 31. 1818.

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 699

being so ill that he could hardly sit on his horse. The march was resumed again.on October 30th, and on the same day sixty of the militia deserted. On the night of November 3d, the army, weak- ened by desertions and the garrisons left at Fort Hamilton and Fort Jefferson, encamped on the eastern fork of the Wabash River, upon a slight timbered elevation. St. Clair's forces num- bered scarcely fourteen hundred at this time.

The militia encamped, on this night, on the other side of the stream, about a quarter of a mile from the regulars. About half an hour after sunrise on the morning of November 4th, the militia were attacked by a large force of Indians, who charged like trained soldiers. Some of the regulars rushed to their support, but the onrush of the Indians was found irresistible, and both the militia and the supporting regulars were driven back to the main camp of the army. The Indians then surrounded the army, and continued the work of slaughter. Little Turtle led the Miamis, Blue Jacket, the Shawnees, Buckengahelas, the Dela- wares, and Black Eagle, the Wyandots. Tecumseh, then a young warrior, was among the Shawnee forces. The Indian chiefs were assisted by the renegades, Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott. It has also been claimed that Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, was present, but this has been doubted. According to Simon Girty, the enemy consisted of about twelve hundred Indians besides some Canadians and half-breeds, al- though some authorities place the number of Indians at more than two thousand.

The battle raged for three hours. St. Clair's cannon failed to terrify the Indians. Under the cover of its smoke, they crept up on the front line and with the sickening thuds of their tomahawks, broke the skulls of the soldiers. Their sharpshooters picked off the artillerymen until only one officer was left Captain Ford — and he was desperately wounded. Two of General St. Clair's horses were shot before he could mount. He was so weak from illness that he had to be lifted on a third horse, and, during the battle, three horses were shot under him, and eight bullets pierced his clothing and one cut off a lock of his grey hair. General Richard Butler, second in command, was among the slain. Thirty-seven officers and five hundred and ninety-three privates were killed. Thirty-three officers and two hundred and fifty privates were wounded. About two hundred and fifty women — wives of some of the officers and men, cooks and camp followers — were with the doomed army. Of these, fifty-six were killed. Many

700 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

soldiers and women were captured, and tortured to death. Sup- plies to the value of thirty-three thousand dollars fell into the hands of the Indians. The losses of this battle were greater than those incurred by Washington in any battle of the Revolution.

At last, Colonel Darke, with some of the bravest troops, cut a way through the ring of Indians, and opened an avenue for the escape of the survivors. The Indians then fell on the rear guard, and pursued the army for four miles in its disorderly retreat to Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles away. Then they returned to the scene of horror, to kill the wounded and to plunder the dead. In his official report, General St. Clair said that the way to Fort Jefferson was strewn with guns, cartridge-boxes and accoutre- ments of all kinds. On November 8th, the survivors arrived at Fort Washington.

In January, 1792, a detachment, sent by Colonel James Wil- kinson, arrived at the scene of slaughter. The weather was bit- terly cold, and the frozen bodies of the slain lay in great heaps, scalped, stripped, and so blackened that but few of the bodies could be identified. Some — those of both soldiers and women — had stakes driven through them. Many bodies, covered with the deep snow, could not be found. Colonel Wilkinson's men buried all that could be found. On December 25th, 1793, a detachment, sent by General Wayne, arrived on the battle-field. Some ac- counts say that, before the men could lie down that night, they had to clear the ground of bones. The next day all the bones that could be found were buried. Among these were six hundred skulls.

Colonel Wilkinson's detachment then erected Fort Recovery, on the site of the battle. The town of Fort Recovery, in Mercer County, Ohio, now occupies the site where St. Clair's army went down to overwhelming and inglorious defeat.

This was one of the most crushing and disastrous defeats in the Indian annals of America. The country was shocked, humili- ated, and disheartened; and the Indians were much emboldened. Washington was extremely agitated on hearing of St. Clair's mis- fortune, and gave way to passionate invective, but recovering himself said : "General St. Clair shall have justice. I will receive him without displeasure; I will hear him without prejudice; he shall have full justice." His investigation into St. Clair's conduct resulted in the General's honorable acquittal.

A final word as to General Richard Butler. As related in Chapter XIII, Simon Girty, the "White Savage," as Heckewelder

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fittingly called him, saw and recognized General Butler as the noted soldier was writhing in the agony of his wounds. Girty told an Indian warrior that Butler was a high officer, whereupon the Indian sank his tomahawk in the skull of the brave General, scalped him, cut out his heart, and divided it into as many pieces as there were tribes in the battle.

St. Clair had fought courageously against the Indian hordes led by Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Simon Girty, the renegade; but he never rose again in public estimation. Upon his removal as Governor of the Northwest Territory, in 1802, he retired to his mansion, which in the days of his affluence, he had built about two miles northwest of Ligonier, in the Ligonier Valley. Financial reverses soon came upon him, and his beautiful home and all his other property were sold. He then removed to a log house on the summit of Chestnut Ridge, where his son had purchased a small farm for him. Here the old soldier spent the remainder of his days in poverty, eking out a miserable existence by keeping tavern and selling supplies to teamsters. He made frequent appeals to the Legislature of Pennsylvania and to Congress for aid in his declining years. His claim against the Government was based upon the fact that he personally stood good for the supply- ing of much provisions and equipment for the army which he led against the Ohio Indians, on the promise of the Secretary of the Treasury to reimburse him. In 1813 Pennsylvania gave him an annuity of four hundred dollars; and shortly before his death, Congress voted him the sum of two thousand dollars in settlement of his claims against the Government, and a pension of sixty dollars per month, dated back one year. Not a dollar of the settle- ment gave any relief to the aged man, as it was all seized by his creditors.

On August 30th, 1818, while driving down the Chestnut Ridge with a pony hitched to an old wagon, he fell from the jolting vehicle upon the rough road, where Susan Stienbarger found him lying unconscious as she was going out to gather berries. The pony was standing nearby. The General was then taken to his humble home, but never regained consciousness, dying the next day at the great age of eighty-four years. He is buried in the old Presbyterian cemetery at Greensburg, where the Masons have erected a monument at his grave having the statement that it is "erected to supply the place of a nobler one due from his country." His warfare over and his troubles ended, the old soldier sleeps serenely in the arms of everlasting peace.

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Capture of Massa Harbison

Massa Harbison, whose terrible sufferings at the hands of the Indians have been given wide publicity in Western Pennsylvania, was born in Amwell Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, March 18th, 1770, the daughter of Edward White, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. As a child she witnessed the battles of Long Island, Trenton, and Monmouth. In 1773 her father settled in Brownsville, Fayette County, where she married John Harbison, in 1787.

Her husband was a soldier in St. Clair's army. Being wounded at the defeat of St. Clair, he was given lighter duty as a scout, serving along the Allegheny frontier. On March 18th, 1792, Indians attacked the home of Thomas Dick below the mouth of Deer Creek, Allegheny County, and captured the entire family. On the 22nd of March of the same year, seven Indians attacked the house of Abraham Roose, about two miles above the mouth of Bull Creek in the same county, and massacred his entire family. The news of these massacres alarmed Mrs. Harbison, and with a small child in her arms and another tied on the horse behind her, she traveled seven miles from her home to James Paul's at Pine Run, at which place about seventy women and children were col- lected and from there taken to a place on the east side of the Alle- gheny River called Reed's blockhouse, or Reed's station, about two miles below the mouth of the Kiskiminetas.

Here Mrs. Harbison was captured within gunshot of the block- house on May 22nd, 1792, by a band of Munsees and other Indians, during the absence of her husband, who was on duty as a scout at the time of his wife's capture.

Two spies, Davis and Sutton, having spent the night at the Harbison home, left the next morning, Sunday May 22nd, when the horn at the blockhouse was blown, leaving the door open. Several Indians soon afterward entered, and dragged Mrs. Harbi- son and her two eldest children by their feet from their beds, the third and youngest child, about a year old, being in bed with her. While the Indians were plundering the home, Mrs. Harbison ran outside and shouted to the men in the blockhouse. Then an Indian ran up and stopped her mouth, and another rushed at her with upraised tomahawk, which a third seized, calling her his squaw and claiming her as his own. Fifteen Indians then ad- vanced and fired upon the blockhouse, killing one man and wound- ing another, named Wolf, who was returning from the spring.

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 703

When Mrs. Harbison told her captors that there were forty men at the blockhouse, each having two guns, those who were firing were called back, and the band then started off with their captives. Because one of the little boys, three years old, was crying and unwilling to leave, one of the Indians seized him, dashed out his brains on the threshold of the house, stabbed and scalped him.

The unfortunate woman and her two surviving children were then taken to the top of the river hill, east of Freeport, where the band stopped to tie up the plunder, and Mrs. Harbison counted them, their number being thirty-two, among whom were two white men, painted as Indians. Several could speak English. Mrs. Harbison knew some of them well. Two were Senecas and two were Delawares of the Munsee Clan, whose guns her husband had repaired almost two years before. Two Indians were detailed to guard her, and the rest then went off towards Puckety Creek. Her guards then caught two of her uncle, John Currie's horses, and placing her and her youngest child on one and a guard and the other child on the other, proceeded towards the Kiski- minetas River to a point opposite the upper end of Todd's Island in the Allegheny, where, in descending the steep river hill, the Indian's horse fell and rolled over, throwing the boy from his back. On reaching the Allegheny, the horses could not be made to swim. Then the Indians took their captives over to the island in canoes.

After landing on Todd's Island, the little boy who had been injured in falling from the horse, was tomahawked and scalped. The Indians then crossed with their captives to the west side of the Allegheny, where Freeport now stands, and proceeded to the forks of Buffalo Creek, thence to the Indian camp near Keams' Crossing, on the Connoquenessing, about two miles north of Butler. Here the unhappy mother and her child spent two nights in captivity. Here, also, she succeeded in escaping with her child on the morning of May 25th, when one of her guards was absent and the other had fallen asleep. For two days, she fled through the wilderness towards the Allegheny, earring her child, her legs and body being torn with briers and thorns and her feet pierced by thorns. The Indians followed her trail, and, at one time, were so near her as she lay concealed in a tree top, that she could hear the wiping stick of one of the guns of the Indians, as it struck against the weapon. For two hours she lay there, the child's mouth full of cloth to keep it from crying, in a stillness so profound that she could distinctly hear the beating of her heart.

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On May 27th, she arrived at the Allegheny, opposite Six-Mile Island. Seeing three men on the east side of the river, she called to them, telling them who she was and of her terrible experience. They requested her to walk up the bank of the river for some distance, that they might see whether the Indians were using her for a decoy. James Crozier then came over in a canoe, while the other men stood with cocked rifles, ready to fire if she proved to be a decoy. She was taken to the house of Mr. Carter, where Sarah Carter and Mary Ann Crozier extracted one hundred and fifty thorns from her feet and legs, by actual count of Felix Negley, who watched the operation. On May 28th, she was taken in a canoe to Pittsburgh, where, before John Wilkins, justice of the peace, she made an affidavit setting forth her terrible experiences. Her husband met her at Mr. Wilkin's ofifice that evening, and the next day she was taken to Coe's station, on the west bank of the Allegheny, at a point about a mile below the present town of Parnassus. From this place a scout went the following morning to Todd's Island, and buried the body of her five-year-old -son.

Six-Mile Island, where Mrs. Harbison was taken across the river to safety, lies in the Allegheny just above Sharpsburg and opposte Highland Park, Pittsburgh.

She resided during several subsequent years at Salt Lick, a mile and a half north of Butler, on the Connoquenessing, at or near the site of the Indian camp mentioned in her affidavit and narrative. The last years of her life were passed in a cabin on the lot on the northeastern corner of Fourth Street and Mulberry Alley, Freeport, opposite the Methodist Episcopal Church, where she died on Saturday, December 9th, 1837.

Concerning her husband, John Harbison, Smith's "History of Armstrong County" relates the following incident:

"On a certain occasion Craig (Captain John Craig, commander of the blockhouse at Freeport), ordered a scouting party to make a tour of observation as far up the country as the mouth of Red Bank. They went, and on their return reported that they had not discovered any Indians. One of them, however, while on his death-bed, many years afterward, sent for Craig and confessed to him that, while on that tour, he and his comrades had captured an Indian, and after obtaining all the information possible from him, and not wishing to have the trouble of taking him as a prisoner to the blockhouse, they concluded to keep his capture a secret, and to dispatch him by tying him to a tree and each one shooting him, so that, all being equally guilty, there would be no danger of any-

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 705

one disclosing their dread secret. Others of that scouting party, having been questioned about that affair, acknowledged to finding the Indian, but averred that John Harbison, who had just cause for a deadly hate toward all Indians, tomahawked him while he was conversing with another one of the party who understood the Indian language, and that they all agreed to keep that deed secret on Harbison's account."

Massa, however, in her narrative says that the killing of this Indian occurred on Puckety Creek, Westmoreland County.

The capture of Massa Harbison was the most memorable of any on the Allegheny frontier; yet no tablet has been erected on the site of the home from which she and her children were dragged by the ruthless savages, and on whose threshold her little son was killed. Her dust with that of many others of the pioneers, was removed to the new cemetery at Freeport some years ago, where a marble monument has been erected at her grave, bearing the following inscription :

Massa, Wife of John Harbison,

1770—1837

Captured By Indians May 22,

and Escaped May 27, 1792.

Murder on Fort Run Near Kittanning

In 1791 or 1792, an outrage occurred on Fort Run, near Kit- tanning, thus described in Smith's "History of Armstrong County":

"George Cook, who was born about 1764, was a soldier, a scout, and resided in the Manor (Manor Township) from either his boyhood or his early manhood until he was nearly four score, used to narrate to his neighbors, among whom was William McKellog, of 'Glentworth Park,' from whom the writer obtained a statement of these tragical facts : While Cook was a member of a scouting party who occupied a fort or blockhouse near Fort Run, so called from Fort Armstrong, some Indians made a small cord from the inner bark of a linden tree, with which they anchored a duck in a hole or pool in that run, formed by the action of the water about the roots of a sugar maple tree on its brink. Three of the scouting party, while out on a tour of duty, noticed the duck which must have appeared to them to be floating on the water. They set their guns up against a buttonwood tree, which with the sugar maple tree, was cut down after that land came into the possession of

706 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Richard Bailey. While they were stooping to catch the duck, as it was presumed they did, they were shot by Indians, probably three, because three reports of guns were heard. They fell dead into the run, whose waters was colored with their blood. Hence that stream also bears the name of Bloody Run. The bodies of those three men were buried on a knoll opposite where they were shot, eight or ten rods higher up the river. The Indians were probably con- cealed among the weeds, which were then quite rank and abund- ant."

"Several of the men who were in the fort or blockhouse, on hearing the gun shots, came out, saw what had occurred, and dis- covered the Indians'trail, which, on that or the next day, they followed to the mouth of Pine Creek, and were about to give up the pursuit, when, looking up the hill, they saw smoke on its face. After dark, they crossed the mouth of the creek, and ascertained the exact position in which the Indians were. The next morning they crawled as carefully and quickly as possible through the weeds and willows, until they thought they were within sure gun- shot of the murderers of their comrades. They saw one of them mending his moccasin. The other two were, they thought, cook- ing meat for breakfast. They shot and killed two of the Indians, and captured the other. Having brought him past the mouth of that creek, on their return, and having reached 'an open grove,' they told him that they would give him a start of some distance ahead of them, and if he would beat them in running a race, he should be released. He accepted the offer, started, but was over- taken, fatally shot, and his body was left where he fell."

Some time during the summer of 1792, an aged lady, named Nancy Ross, was killed and scalped when hunting for her cows, near the site of the present town of West Alexander, Washington County.

The Attack on the Party of Captain Sharp

In May, 1794, the Indians again made their appearance on the Allegheny and attacked a canoe going up the river to Franklin, killing John Carter and wounding William Cousins and Peter Kinner. They were unable to get any scalps on this occasion, as the other occupants paddled it out of their reach.

Major Denny mentions the above attack in his journal under June 1, 1794, stating that this band of Indians then "crossed to the Kiskiminetas and unfortunately fell in with a Kentucky boat full of women and children, with but four men, lying to, feeding

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their cattle." This was the attack on Captain Sharp, which is thus described in Smith's "History of Armstrong County":

" Among the pioneers in the Plum Creek region was Captain Andrew Sharp, who had been an officer in the Revolutionary ser- vice, under Washington. He, with his wife and infant child, emi- grated to this region in 1784, and purchased, settled upon, and improved the tract of land, consisting of several hundred acres, on which are Shelocta and the United Presbyterian Church, near the county line.

"Captain Sharp, after residing about ten years on his farm, revisited his kindred in Cumberland County, procured a supply of school books and Bibles for his children, and returned to his home in the wilderness. Determined that his children should have facilities for education which did not exist there, he traded his farm there for one in Kentucky. In the spring of 1 794, he removed with his family to Black Lick Creek, where he either built or purchased a flatboat, in which he, his wife and six children, a Mr. Connor, wife and five children, a Mr. Taylor, wife and one child, and Messrs. McCoy and Connor, single men, twenty in all, with their baggage and household effects, embarked on the proposed passage down the Kiskiminetas and Allegheny Rivers to Pittsburgh, and thence on to Kentucky. Low water in the Black Lick rendered their descent down it difficult. They glided down the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas to a point two miles below the falls of the latter, at the mouth of Two Mile Run, below the present site of Apollo. Capt. Sharp tied the boat there, and went back for the canoe which had been detached while crossing the falls. When he re- turned the children were gathering berries and playing on the bank; the women were preparing supper, and the men who led the horses had arrived. It was about an hour and a half before sunset. A man then came along and reported that the Indians were near. The women and children were called into the boat, and the men having charge of the horses tied them on shore.

"It was then thought best that the party should go to the hom.e of David Hall, who was the father of David Hall, of North Buffalo Township, this county, and the grandfather of Rev. David Hall, D. D., the present (1883) pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Indiana, Pennsylvania, to spend the night. While the men were tying the horses, seven Indians concealed behind a large fallen tree, on the other side of which the children had been play- ing half-an-hour before, fired on the party in the boat. Capt. Sharp's right eyebrow was shot ofT by the first firing. Taylor is

708 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

said to have mounted one of his horses and fled to the woods, leaving his wife and child to the care and protection of others. While Capt. Sharp was cutting one end of the boat loose, he re- ceived a bullet wound in his left side, and, while cutting the other end loose, he received another wound in his right side. Neverthe- less, he succeeded in removing the boat from its fastenings before the Indians could enter it, and, discovering an Indian in the woods, and calling for his gun, which his wife handed to him, shot and killed the Indian. While the boat was in the whirlpool, it whirled around for two and a half hours. When the open side of the boat, that is, the side on which the baggage was not piled up for a breast- work, was toward the land, the Indians fired into it. They fol- lowed it twelve miles down the river, and bade those in it to dis- embark, else they would fire into them again. Mrs. Connor and her eldest son — a young man — wished to land. The latter re- quested the Indians to come to the boat, informing them that all the men had been shot. Capt. Sharp ordered him to desist, say- ing that he would shoot him, if he did not. Just then young Connor was shot by one of the Indians, and fell dead across Mrs. Sharp's feet. McCoy was killed. All the women and children escaped injury. Mr. Connor was severely wounded. After the Indians ceased following, Capt. Sharp became so much exhausted by his exertions and loss of blood, that his wife was obliged to manage the boat all night. At daylight the next morning they were within nine miles of Pittsburgh. Some men on shore, hav- ing been signaled, came to their assistance. One of them pre- ceded the party in a canoe, so that when they reached Pitts- burgh, a physician was ready to attend upon them. Other prep- arations had been made for their comfort and hospitable recep- tion, by the good people of that place.

"Capt. Sharp, having sufifered severely from his wounds, died July 8, 1794, forty days after he was wounded, with the roar of cannon, so to speak, reverberating in his ears, which he had heard celebrating the eighteenth anniversary of our national independ- ence, which he, under Washington, had helped to achieve. Two of his daughters were the only members of his family that could follow his remains to the grave. He was buried with the honors of war, in the presence of a large concourse of people. His youngest child was then only eleven days old. As soon as his widow had sufficiently recovered, she was conducted by her eldest daughter, Hannah, to his grave.

"Col. Charles Campbell, in his letter to Gov. Mifflin, June

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5th, 1794, respecting the stopping of the draft of the support of the Presque Isle station, stated: 'The Indians, on the evening of May 30th, fired on a boat that left my place to go to Kentucky, about two miles below the falls of the Kiskiminetas, killed three persons and wounded one, who were all the men in the boat, which drifted down to about twelve miles above Pittsburgh, whence they were aided by some persons on their way to Pittsburgh."

"Mrs. Sharp — her maiden name was Ann Wood — and her children were removed to their kindred in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Having remained there three years, they returned to the farm near Crooked Creek, of which they had been repos- sessed, where the family remained together for a long time,

"Mrs. Sharp's death occurred fifteen years after her husband's. Their daughter Agnes is said to have been the first white child bom this side, or west, of Crooked Creek, in this section of Penn- sylvania. She was born on that farm February 21, 1785 ; married to David Ralston in 1803, and, after his death, to James Mitchell in 1810, and died August 2, 1862, and was buried in the Crooked Creek Cemetery."

Some time in the spring of 1794, Andrew Allison, his wife and child, and a neighbor named, Gawin Adams, fled to Moorhead's blockhouse, located about three miles west of the town of Indiana, Indiana County, to escape from Indians who were prowling around the neighborhood. When Mr. Allison returned, he found that his cabin had been burned by these Indians.

Last Indian Outrage in Pennsylvania

In the spring of 1795, the same year in which General Wayne compelled the western tribes to sign the Treaty of Greenville, two Indian events happened in western Pennsylvania, causing considerable alarm in that region. The first was an attack, made on May 7th by a party of ten white men on a family of friendly Indians, on the Allegheny, near Franklin, Venango County, as these Indians were returning from their winter hunt. Two of the Indians were badly wounded, but all escaped with the loss of their goods. The officer at Fort Franklin furnished clothing to the Indian family for immediate relief. (Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, page 822).

The second event was an act of retaliation. On May 22nd, Ralph Rutledge (some accounts say his brother, also), one of a party of four men on their way from Le Boeuf (Waterford)

710 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

to Presqu' Isle (Erie), was killed and scalped by Indians at a point now within the limits of the city of Erie, but then two miles from the fort at that place. (Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, page 823; also "Frontier Forts of Penna.," Vol. 2, page 559).

The murder of Rutledge was the last Indian atrocity in Penn- sylvania during the period of Indian occupation. Later, on June 30th, 1843, the wife and five children of James Wigton were murdered at their home, about a mile from the "Old Stone House," in Slippery Rock Township, Butler County, by an Indian, named Samuel Mohawk, who had assisted in floating a raft of lumber down the Allegheny to Pittsburgh, and was on his way back to his home on the upper Allegheny, with his mind crazed and his moral sense subverted by the white man's whiskey, which he purchased at taverns along the road. Upon coming to his sober senses, Mohawk sought God's forgiveness. He was visited a number of times in the Butler County jail by Rev. Gottlieb Bassler, pastor of the First English Lutheran Church of Butler, who, after a course of religious instruction, baptized him into the Christian Faith. He was hanged at Butler on March 22nd, 1844. Though he made profession of religion and implored God's mercy, his body was denied burial in any of the cemeteries of Butler, and was buried in the woods. The dust of his victims reposes in the cemetery of the Muddy Creek Presby- terian Church, along the Butler and Slippery Rock pike, about nine miles north of Butler. (See the Author's "History of Butler County, Pennsylvania," Vol. 1, pages 450 to 454).

Wayne's Victory and Final Peace

The uprising of the Western Indians and the raids upon the Western Pennsylvania frontier continuing, as we have seen, the country, burning under the disgrace of Harmar's and St. Clair's defeats, called loudly for a third expedition. Then President Washington chose General Wayne, "Mad Anthony," the hero of Stony Point, to lead the expedition. When informed by Wash- ington of his selection, Wayne is said to have replied : "I am the very man you want." He was a strict disciplinarian, and deter- mined to avoid the faults which brought overwhelming and in- glorious defeat upon his predecessors. He arrived in Pittsburgh in June, 1792, having been furnished with instructions from Wash- ington in which it was stated "that another defeat would be ir- redeemably ruinous to the reputation of the Government." His

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force was to consist of five thousand men, carefully drilled, and to be called "The Legion of the United States." At Pittsburgh, he erected Fort Fayette, where the Western National Bank now stands.

In December, 1792, his legion was taken to the beautiful plain overlooking the Ohio, about twenty miles below Pittsburgh, where sham battles were fought and daily drills held. The place of this winter camp is known as Legionville to this day. While here, he was visited by the old Indian chiefs, Guyasuta and Cornplanter, then friends of the United States.

Breaking camp late in April, 1793, Wayne led his forces to Fort Washington (Cincinnati), where they were reinforced by regulars and mounted militia from Kentucky. It was so late in the season before all his forces were collected and supplies pro- cured, that the offensive movement was delayed until the next spring. Late in the year, he moved to a new camp. Fort Green- ville, in Darke County, Ohio, six miles north of Fort Jefferson. During the winter, Wayne remained at Fort Greenville, swept the country between this place and the Miami villages, and took possession of the ground upon which St. Clair was defeated, erect- ing a fort there which he called Fort Recovery. Another detach- ment later marched to the scene of General Harmar's defeat, and erected Fort Wayne, named in honor of the commander of the Legion, His force now consisted of thirty-six hundred troops.

In the meantime, in the spring of 1793, commissioners repre- senting the United States met the western tribes in council, and proposed that, in consideration of the lands ceded by the treaty at Fort Harmar, the United States should pay the Indians "a large sum of money, or goods, besides a full yearly supply of such articles as they needed." The chiefs replied that money was of no value to them. Said they: "You talk to us about conces- sions. It appears strange that you should expect any from us, who have only been defending our just rights against your in- vasions. We want peace. Restore to us our country, and we shall be enemies no longer."

During the summer of 1794, Fort Recovery was garrisoned by a small detachment under Captain Gibson. On June 29th, Major William McMahon arrived at Fort Recovery with ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons. The next morning the fort was assailed by a large force of Indians and British and Detroit militia. They were repulsed with great slaughter. They renewed the attack the following morning, and were again repulsed. Then they re-

712 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

treated from the same field where St. Clair's army had gone down to crushing defeat. The exact number of the Indian and British losses was never learned; but when the enemy returned to the British post, Fort Miami, they said that no man ever fought better than they did at Fort Recovery, and that they lost twice as many as at St. Clair's defeat. One hundred and forty-two Americans were killed in the two attacks on Fort Recovery. However, the repulse of the Indian and British forces of more than fifteen hundred, showed the mettle of the Legion of the United States.

On July 26th, 1794, Wayne was joined at Fort Greenville by General Charles Scott, with sixteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky. He then moved forward, skirmishing with bands of lurking Indians as he advanced. He marched with open files, to insure rapidity in forming a line or in extending the flanks, and drilled his men to load while marching. He always halted in the middle of the afternoon, encamping in a hollow square and sur- rounding his camp with a rampart of logs. Arriving at the site of the present village of Defiance, Ohio, the confluence of the Anglaize and Maumee Rivers, Wayne erected Fort Defiance, and made proposals of peace to the Indians. These were rejected contrary to the advice of Little Turtle, and in accordance with the advice of Blue Jacket. Said Little Turtle: "We have beaten the enemy twice under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night and day are alike to him, and during all the time that he has been marching upon our villages, notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him." Indeed, so stealthy had been Wayne's advance that the Indians nicknamed him "the Blacksnake."

On August 18th, Wayne continued his march and, on the morn- ing of August 20th had proceeded about five miles, to a point several miles south of the present town of Maumee, in Lucas County, Ohio, when his advance guard was fired upon heavily by Indians in concealment, and fell back. He then formed his men in two lines where a tornado had blown down a number of trees in the woods — a circumstance which gave the engagement the name of the "Battle of the Fallen Timbers." The fallen trees made cavalry operations difficult, and afforded a shelter for the two thousand Indians and Canadians who were posted among them in two lines. Wayne's militia charged impetuously

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with the bayonet, leaping over the logs and delivering a well- directed fire, while General Scott with his mounted volun- teers, turned the right flank of the enemy by a circuitous move- ment, and Colonel Campbell, with his legionary cavalry, turned the enemy's left flank. The Indians were driven at the point of the bayonet for more than two miles through the forest, and de- cisively beaten.* Nine Wyandot chiefs lay dead on the field. Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, Buckongahelas, Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott led the Indian forces in this battle. Wayne, in his official report, says that the woods were strewn with the bodies of the Indians and their white allies, and that the latter were armed with British muskets. The Americans lost thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded.

The Indians were driven under the guns of the British fort (Fort Miami) in the neighborhood, and so strong was the resent- ment of Wayne's men against the English, that it was with difficulty that they could be restrained from storming the fort. Indeed, many of the Kentucky troops advanced within gunshot of the fort and hurled a volley of curses against the gar- rison. However, the gates of the fort were closed against the Indians. Captain Campbell, the British commandant, sent a message to Wayne, complaining of this insult and demanding by what authority Wayne's troops trespassed upon the precincts of the British garrison. Mad Anthony replied in terms little less polite than those of the Kentucky troops, informing Captain Campbell that his only chance of safety was silence and civility. The day after the battle General Wayne rode up to the British Fort Miami and cooly inspected the works while the British held matches ready at their cannon. Then Wayne's troops destroyed the Indian cornfields, orchards, trading-houses, and stores. Soon after their crushing defeat, the various western tribes sent dele- gations to General Wayne asking for peace. These were the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the Delawares, the Miamis, the Ojib- was, the Ottawas, the Potawatomies, the Weas, the Kickapoos, the Piankeshaws and the Kaskaskias. In addition to breaking forever the power of the western tribes, one of the results of the battle of the Fallen Timbers was the surrender to the United States of Niagara, Detroit, Mackinac, Miami, and other posts hitherto held by the British, from which bases they had assisted and encouraged the Indians in their hostility against the Americans.

Finally, on August 3d, 1795, the conquered tribes signed the

*So rspidly did tbe ladiaos flee that Wayse's secopd line was oot engaged.

714 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Treaty at Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, by the terms of which they ceded to the United States 25,000 square miles of territory north of the Ohio River, about two-thirds of the present state of Ohio. The treaty provided that the western tribes be given twenty thousand dollars in goods and an annual allowance of nine thousand five hundred dollars. That part of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny River and hitherto known as "the Indian country," henceforth was free from Indian raids. Settlers rapidly took up their abode in the fertile region, felling the forest, culti- vating the virgin soil, and laying the foundation of the material prosperity which there abounds today. Meanwhile the Indian continued his march toward the untrodden West before the great tide of white immigration that was pressing him away from the lands he and his forefathers considered their own, as the gift of the Great Spirit, who had stocked the forests with game and the streams with fish for His Red Children.

One of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville, the Shawnee chief, Mio-qua-coo-na-caw, or Red Pole, is buried in the grave- yard of Trinity Episcopal Church, in Pittsburgh. In the latter part of 1796, this chief and Blue Jacket, another Shawnee chief who signed the Treaty of Greenville, went from the Scioto to Philadelphia to interview the authorities of the United States Government. They returned to Pittsburgh on Christmas day. Here Red Pole was taken sick, and died on January 28th, 1797. On his tombstone, in addition to his name, position among his people and date of death, are the words: "Lamented by the United States."

In this connection, we call attention to the fact that General Wayne did not long survive his victorious campaign. In the autumn of 1796, he left Detroit, intending to return to his home in Chester County, Pennsylvania, as soon as possible. During his passage down Lake Erie, he became seriously ill, and arriving at Presqu' Isle (Erie), was unable to proceed further. No remedies were available either on the ship or at Fort Presqu' Isle, and he became rapidly worse. Dr. J. C. Wallace, who had served with him as surgeon in the campaign against the Western Indians, was summoned, being then at Fort Fayette (Pitts- burgh). Dr. Wallace set out for Erie at once, but when he ar- rived at Franklin, he learned that the General was no more, having died on December 15th, 1796, at Fort Presqu' Isle.

Two days after his death, his body was buried at the foot of the flag-staff of the fort. Here it rested until the spihig of 1809,

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 715

when his son, Colonel Isaac Wayne, came to Erie on horseback to have the remains taken home and re-buried in the family lot at Radnor, Chester County. On opening the grave, the body of "Mad Anthony" was found in a most remarkable state of preser- vation, but too bulky for the means of transportation available. The flesh was boiled from the bones by placing the body in a large lye kettle, and then re-interred in the original grave. Colonel Wayne carried the bones back over the mountains to the church-yard at Radnor. Colonel Wayne afterwards said: "I have always regretted it. Had I known the state the remains were in before separated, I think I should certainly have them again deposited there and let them rest and had a monument erected to his memory."

Blue Jacket, Little Turtle and Buckongahelas

Blue Jacket was a very influential Shawnee chief, born about the middle of the 18th century. He was the principal leader of the Indians in the battle of the Fallen Timbers, and, in General Harmar's defeat, was associated with Little Turtle. He was one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville as well as the Treaty of Ft. Industry, Ohio, July 4th, 1805, soon after which he dis- appears from history.

Little Turtle was a Miami chief, born at Little Turtle's Village, on Eel River, Indiana, about twenty miles northwest of the city of Fort Wayne, in 1752. His mother was a Mohican. He was the principal leader of the Indians at General Harmar's defeat and one of their prominent leaders in General St. Clair's defeat and the battle of the Fallen Timbers. He was one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville, remarking as he signed it, "I am the last to sign it, and I will be the last to break it." This promise he faith- fully kept until death. Even Tecumseh was not able to win him away from peaceful relations with the Americans. Early in 1797, he visited President Washington at Philadelphia, where he met Count Volney and General Kosciusko, the latter of whom pre- sented the famous chieftain with his own pair of elegantly mount- ed pistols. Little Turtle died at Fort Wayne, July 14th, 1812.

Buckongahelas, leader of the Delawares in their last war against the United States, also fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War, as an ally of the British. All accounts agree that he was a noble warrior, "who took no delight in shed- ding blood." He attended the treaty at Fort Mcintosh in

716 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

January, 1785. He also was one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville, August 3d, 1795, as well as the Treaty of Fort Wayne, June 7th, 1803, and the Treaty of Vincennes, Indiana, August 18th, 1804. He died soon after the treaty of Vincennes. The conduct of the English in closing the gates of Fort Miami against the Indians fleeing from General Wayne's soldiers after they (the English) had instigated and assisted the western tribes in their warfare against the United States, so disgusted Buckon- gahelas that thereafter he was a friend of the young Republic.

Gornplanter*

It was owing largely to the influence of the great Seneca chief, Cornplanter, that the Senecas did not join the Miamis and other Western Indians as Wayne's army marched against them. In fact, the Senecas flanked Wayne's advance. Had they thrown their great weight against Wayne, it is very doubtful whether he could have succeeded when he did. The writers of that day say that Cornplanter's success in keeping the Senecas from joining the Western tribes, is the greatest service he ever rendered the Americans. Had Wayne's army met the fate of its predecessors in that great Indian uprising, it is doubtful whether the Jay Treaty with England would have been made, and that the British would have evacuated the Western posts held by them.

On June 26th, 1794, a council was held at Le Boeuf (Waterford, Pa.), by Captain Ebenezer Denny and Andrew Ellicott with representatives of the Six Nations, among whom was Cornplanter. The Six Nations demanded that settlers be removed from the Lake region and objected to the settlement of Presque Isle, claiming that the sale of these lands at the Treaty of Fort Harmar, in January 1789, was not valid. It was feared by many at the time that Cornplanter would turn against the United States. However, the noted chieftain preferred to adjust the differences between his tribe and the Americans without resort to bloodshed. During the council, Cornplanter and his associate chiefs were fed and supported by the authorities of Pennsylvania and the United States Government.

Cornplanter (Garganwahgah) was born at Ganawagus, on the Genesee, some time between 1732 and 1740. His father was a white man, named John O'Bail, and his mother was a full- blood Seneca. Cornplanter became a friend of the United States upon the close of the Revolu- tionary War.

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 717

This great leader of the Senecas died at Cornplanter Town, Warren County, on the banks of his long-loved Allegheny, on February 18th, 1836, — the passing of the last great Indian chief of Pennsylvania. "Whether at the time of his death he expected to go to the fair Hunting Grounds of his own people or to the Heaven of the Christians, is not known." It was his wish that his grave should remain unmarked. However, the State of Pennsylvania erected a monument at his grave, in 1866 — the first monument erected by any state of the Union to an Indian chief — bearing the following inscription :

"Gy-ant-wa-chia, The Cornplanter, JOHN O'BAIL, ALIAS CORNPLANTER,

DIED

At Cornplanter Town, Feb. 18, A.D. 1836,

Aged About 100 Years.

"Chief of the Seneca tribe, and a principal chief of the Six Nations from the period of the Revolutionary War to the time of his death. Distinguished for talent, courage, eloquence, sobriety, and love for tribe and race, to whose welfare he devoted his time, his energy, and his means during a long and eventful life."

Three of Complanter's children were present at the dedication of his monument, the last of whom died in 1874, aged about one hundred years. Other descendants still reside on the Cornplanter Reservation, in Warren County, cherishing the memory of "one of the bravest, noblest and truest specimens of the aboriginal race."

Cornplanter often had hunting and fishing camps at Conneaut Lake, Crawford, County. According to Heckewelder, "Conneaut" is a corruption of "Gunniati," meaning, "It is a long time since they are gone." Though "it is a long time since they are gone," the memory of the Indian lingers by the shore of this beautiful lake which Cornplanter loved so well.

718 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA

By Conneaut's waters a spirit doth dwell, That casts o'er the region its mystical spell.

It basks 'mid the rushes and lilies that grow, Beside the bright waters that sparkle below.

It floats on the zephyrs in radiance drest,

And loves the bright water and sleeps on its breast.

It's a spirit of old, a spirit of yore,

That lingers so fondly by Conneaut's shore.

It's dwelt by the lake since the old long ago, When the Red Man owned the bright waters below.

Then the Indian's Manitou called to his son. And he left the lake for a more lovely home .

But his spirit remains and sighs o'er his grave. And guards his long slumber by Conneaut's wave.

Conclusion

Now that the Pennsylvania Indians have yielded their pleasant land to the stronger hand of the white man and live only in the songs and chronicles of the race that pressed them away from their loved hunting grounds, may these chronicles be faithful to their rude virtues as men and not pass in silence the great wrongs and horrible atrocities which the anointed children of civilization and education — children of the God of Revelation — committed upon the untutored children of the forest. These wrongs and atrocities — the fraudulent "Walking Purchase," the Albany Purchase of 1754, the settling of squatters upon lands not purchased from the Indians, the degredation wrought by the whiskey and vices of the white traders, the massacre of the unarmed and defenseless Conestogas, the butchery of the Morav- ian Delawares at Gnadenhuetten, the offering of rewards for the scalps of Indian boys and girls — should be set over against the wrongs and atrocities committed by the race that was fighting and dying for the beautiful region of which it was the first owner.

Nor should we lose sight of the fact that hundreds of atrocities perpetrated on the settlers of Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia

THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY UPRISING 719

and Kentucky by the Indians, during the Revolutionary War, were committed at the instigation of the British and British agents, who supplied the Indians with guns and amunition and paid them substantial rewards for American scalps, even the scalps of women and children. Let us remember, too, that General Sullivan's Expedition against the Six Nations, which destroyed the houses and food supplies of the Iroquois and subjected them to the horrors of death by freezing and starva- tion, showed the Americans as ruthless as the race they attacked. There were many frontiersmen, who, actuated by an unrelenting hatred for the whole Indian race, made no distinction between good Indians and bad Indians, and were simply Indian hunters and killers, at all times, whether in peace or in war, and without regard to age or sex.

Even at this late day, our flesh creeps and chills run down our pulses when we contemplate the horrors of the Indian wars of Pennsylvania. But let us not forget that the Indians, defrauded and cheated, were fighting to the death for their homes and hunt- ing grounds; that they were proud spirits who were born free, and loved freedom more than life itself; and that they had ample reasons for hating, with such burning rancor, the race that drove them from the lands of their fathers — the lands they considered their own, as the gift of the Great Spirit to his Red Children. Also let us hope that, after the bloody warfare that pressed the Penn- sylvania Indians towards the setting sun, the souls of the Indians and the souls of those who coveted their lands, entered into the common enjoyment of a peaceful eternity.

Until time shall be no more, Indian place names will linger on our Pennsylvania mountains and along our Pennsylvania streams like the vibrations of deathless music — a mystic music which, let us hope, will soothe the rancor of those who write the chron- icles of the relations between the Indians and their conquerors, and cause them to pay due tribute to their virtues as men and their unhappy fate as a people.

THE END

APPENDIX A

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

In the following chronological table, reference is made to the pages where the events are treated.

Events Prior to the French and Indian War

Date Events Page

1570 (Approximately.) Iroquois Confederation formed 38

1608 August. Captain John Smith meets Susquehannas 28

1615. Burr explores the Susquehanna Valley 30, 31

1638. March. Swedes arrive on the Delaware, found New Sweden, and

purchase lands from the Indians 60, 61

1643-48. Rev. John Campanius, Swedish Lutheran clergyman, converts Delawares to Christianity, and translates Martin Luther's catechism into Delaware language 62

1654. June 17. Great Council of Indians at Printz Hall, at Tinicum, 63, 64, 65

1655. New Sweden overthrown by the Dutch 61, 65

1656. (Approximately.) Eries conquered by Iroquois 56

1672. (Approximately.) Shawnees conquered by Iroquois 46

1675. Susquehannas conquered by Iroquois 32, 33

1682. (1) June 15. Deputy-Governor Markham purchases lands from

the Delawares for William Penn 69

(2) October 29. William Penn arrives in Pennsylvania 69

1683. (1) June 23. William Penn purchases land from the Delawares. This is likely also the date of the Great Treaty 69, 70

For the Great Treaty, see pages 71 to 73

(2) September 10. William Penn purchases land from the Susquehannas or Conestogas 106

1694. Shawnees come to Pechoquealin 46

1697. Shawnees come to Pequea Creek 46

1698. (1) Conoys, Ganawese or Piscataways enter Pennsylvania 53

(2) Nanticokes enter Pennsylvania 54

1701. (1) April 23. William Penn makes treaty with Shawnees,

Conoys, Susquehannas and Five Nations 78, 79

(2) October 7. Indians bid farewell to William Penn 79, 80

1704. May 16. Conestoga chief, Oretyagh, protests against rum traffic. 24

1706. June 6 and 7. Council at Philadelphia with Shawnees, Conestogas

and Conoys 83, 84

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 721

Date Events Page

1707. June. Governor John Evans makes journey through Conestoga

and Paxtang region 85

1710. June 8. Tuscarora ambassadors seek permission for their tribe to

settle in Pennsylvania 50, 5 1

1712. Tuscaroras begin migrating to the North 52

1717. July. Governor Keith holds councils with Indians at Conestoga, 86, 87, 88

1718. (1) June 30. Death of William Penn 81

(2) September 17. Delaware chief, Sassoonan, gives deed of re- lease for lands between Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers 91

1721. July 5. Governor Keith holds great council with Indians at Conestoga, preventing war between the Iroquois and the Southern Indians, which would have involved the English Colonies 90

1722. (1) Tuscaroras admitted as the sixth member of the Iroquois

Confederation 39, 52

(2) June. Springettsbury Manor surveyed 91

1723. Tutelo enter Pennsylvania 55

1724. (1) Delawares begin westward migration and found Kittanning.42, 43 (2) Shawnees begin westward migration 47

1727. (1) July 3. First reference to the Ohio and Allegheny 131

(2) Shikellamy sent as Iroquois vice-regent to the Forks of the Susquehanna 45

1728. (1) May. Threatened uprising of Shawnees and Delawares .... 92 to 95 (2) June. Sassoonan complains of settlers on Tulpehocken lands. 95

1731. (1) August. Shikellamy delivers ultimatum on rum traffic 24, 97

(2) Manor of Conodoguinet set apart for the Shawnees 98

(3) December 10. Conrad Weiser's first official relations with

the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania 98, 99

1732. (1) August. Great treaty with Iroquois at Philadelphia for the purpose of securing their assistance in effort to have the Shawnees

return to the Susquehanna 97 to 104

(2) September 7. Sassoonan's sale of the Tulpehocken lands. . . .95, 96

1734. Iroquois send mission to the Ohio and Allegheny Shawnees, re- questing them to return to the Susquehanna 103, 104

1736. September 27 to October 25. Great treaty held with Iroquois at Philadelphia, at which Pennsylvania purchases Susquehanna and Delaware land from Iroquois 104 to 110

1737. (1) February, March and April. Conrad Weiser, Stoffel Stump

and Shikellamy make terrible journey to Onondaga 110

(2) September 19. The fraudulent "Walking Purchase" 110 to 181

1738. March. Shawnees on Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and Allegheny

take steps against the rum traffic 24, 25

1739. July 27 to August 1. Treaty with Shawnees at Philadelphia 118

1742. July and August. Treaty with Iroquois at Philadelphia, at which the Iroquois chief, Canassatego, orders Delawares of the Munsee Clan to remove from the bounds of the "Walking Purchase" .'. 119 to 121;-also 113 to 117

722 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Date Events Page

1743. Conrad Weiser and Shikellamy journey to Onondaga to arrange

for a treaty 121, 122

1744. (1) April 9. Jack Armstrong, for whom Jack's Narrows on the

Juniata are named, killed by the Delaware, Musemeelin 125, 126

(2) June and July. Great treaty with Iroquois at Lancaster, at which Maryland and Virginia purchase lands from the Iroquois

and the friendship of the Iroquois Confederation was secured as King George's War was raging 121 to 126

1745. (1) Peter Chartier deserts to the French 127

(2) May and June. Conrad Weiser, Shikellamy, Andrew Mon- tour and Bishop Spangenberg journey to Onondaga 129

(3) October. Albany treaty with Iroquois 129

1747. (1) Tanacharison and Scarouady sent by the Great Council of the Six Nations to the Ohio Valley, taking up their residence at

Logstown 45

(2) Autumn. Great Delaware chief, Sassoonan, or Allumapees,

dies at Shamokin (Sunbury) 97

1748. (1) April. George Croghan's embassy to the western tribes at Logstown 13 1 to 133

(2) September. Conrad Weiser's embassy to the western tribes

at Logstown 131 to 133

(3) December 17. The great vice-regent of the Six Nations, Shikellamy dies at Shamokin (Sunbury) 133 to 135

1749. (1) Summer. Celoron's expedition down the Allegheny and Ohio, during which leaden plates were buried at the mouths of tributary streams proclaiming that the region drained by the "Beautiful River" and its tributaries belonged to France. .137 to 139

(2) August 2. George Croghan purchases from Tanacharison and Scarouady the first lands ever sold by the Indians to a white man

in the valley of the Ohio 139

(3) August 22. Pennsylvania purchases from the Six Nations lands between the Susquehanna and the Delaware, known as the purchase of 1749 135 to 137

1752. (1) June. Virginia holds treaty with Ohio tribes at Logstown,

139 to 141

(2) June 11. Tanacharison, as representative of the Six Nations, appionts Shingas "King" of the Delawares 141

1753. (1) Spring, summer and autumn. French advance into the valley

of the Allegheny 141

(2) Summer. Tanacharison forbids French to advance into the valley of the Allegheny and Ohio as the territory of the Six Nations 141 to 144

(3) September. Indian treaty at Winchester, Virginia 142

(4) October, November and December. George Washington, after Captain William Trent's unsuccessful mission, sent to St. Pierre, commander of the French on the headwaters of the Allegheny, bearing the protest of Governor Dinwiddle of Vir- ginia 144 to 151

(5) December 27. Indian attempts to kill Washington 148, 149

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 723

The French and Indian War Date Event Page

1754. (1) April 16. The French occupy the Forks of the Ohio (Pitts- burgh), and begin erecting Fort Duquesne 152 to 154

(2) May 28. J umonville killed in the first skirmish of the French

and Indian War 157, 158

(2) July 4. Washington surrenders at Fort Necessity 162 to 167

(3) July 6. Albany purchase, which so offended the Shawnees

and Delawares 172 to 176

(4) October 4. Death of Tanacharison 176

1755. (1) July 9. General Braddock's defeat 187 to 191

(2) October 16. Penn's Creek Massacre 204 to 209

(3) October 25th. Attack on John Harris and his companions.209 to 211

(4) October 31 and November 1. Massacres in Great and Little Coves and Conolloways 217 to 223

(5) November 1. Capture of Martin and Knox families 224 to 227

(6) November 14 to 16. Swatara and Tulpehocken massacres, 234 to 237

(7) November 24. Massacre of Moravians 241 to 243

(8) December 10 and 11. Attack on Brodhead and Hoeth families 243, 244

(9) December. Numerous murders committed by Delawares and Shawnees in Eastern Pennsylvania 244 to 246

(10) Autumn. The Kobel atrocity 239, 240

(11) Autumn. Dispute between Governor Morris and the As- sembly 251, 252

(12) Autumn. Pennsylvania decides to erect chain of forts. . . . 252

1756. (1) January 1. Massacre of militia at Gnadenhuetten and atrocities in Monroe County 255 to 259

(2) January 13 to 17. Council at Carlisle with reference to affairs

on the Ohio 276 to 279

(3) January 15. Massacre near Schupp's Mill 263

(4) January 27. Massacre in the Juniata Valley 263 to 265

(5) February 11. Capture of John and Richard Coxe and John Craig 266 to 269

(6) February 14. Murder of Frederick Reichelsdorfer's daughters. 269 to 270

(7) March 7. Attack on Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt 271

(8) March 24. Attack on Zeislof and Gluck families 272

(9) April 1. Shingas burns Fort McCord 273

(10) April 14. Pennsylvania declares war against the Delawares

and Shawnees and offers rewards for Indian scalps 281 to 283

(11) June 11 or 12. King Beaver captures Bingham's Fort .... 286, 287

(12) July 26. Capture of John and James McCullough 287 to 289

(13) July. Atrocities in Perry, Franklin and Cumberland Coun- ties 289 to 291

(14) July 28 to July 31. First council with Teedyuscung at Easton 322, 323

(15) August 1. Captain Jacobs captures Fort Granville 294 to 296

(16) September 8. Colonel John Armstrong destroys Kittanning, 302 to 316

724 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Date Event Page

(17) October 12. Murder of Noah Frederick 297, 298

(18) November. Captain John Hambright's expedition 299, 300

(19) October and November. Murders near Forts Henry, Lebanon, Northkill and Everett 300 to 302

(20) November 8 to 17. Second council with Teedyuscung at Easton 325 to 329

(21) November. Death of Canachquasy 331

1757. (1) April and May. Councils at Harris Ferry and Lancaster. 333 to 337

(2) April 20. Atrocities in Monroe County 343 to 345

(3) May 16. The Spitler tragedy 345, 346

(4) June 19. Massacre on Quitapahilla Creek 346

(5) June 22. Trump tragedy 346, 347

(6) Summer. The Mackey atrocity 349 to 351

(7) July 21 to August 7. Third council with Teedyuscung at Easton 338 to 343

(8) August. The Eckerlin tragedy 353, 354

(9) Other events of 1757 Chapter XV

1758. (1) April 5. Capture of Mary Jemison, later the "White Woman

of Genesse" 378 to 381

(2) April 13. Capture of the family of Richard Bard (Baird) . 381 to 383

(3) Summer and Autumn. Peace missions of the Moravian missionary. Christian Frederick Post 356 to 372

(4) Summer. Death of Scarouady 385, 386

(5) Summer and Autumn. Expedition of General John Forbes against Fort Duquesne Chapter XVII

(6) September 14. Major James Grant's defeat 395 to 397

(7) October 12. Attack on Colonel Bouquet's camp at Loyal- hanna (Ligonier) 397 to 399

(8) October 8 to October 26. "Grand Council" at Easton. . .373 to 377

(9) November 12. Washington's skirmish near Ligonier 399, 400

(10) November 24. French abandon Fort Duquesne 401

(11) General Forbes takes possession of Fort Duquesne 400 to 402

1759. (1) January 3. Council with chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees

and Six Nations at Pittsburgh 409

(2) February 9. General Forbes' council with chiefs of the Alle- gheny region at Philadelphia 409, 410

(3) July 5 to 9. Great council with chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and Six Nations at Fort Pitt 410

(4) Summer. French contemplate re-capturing the Forks of the Ohio 404, 405

(5) Autumn. Fort Redstone, also called Fort Burd, erected. . . . 404

From the French and Indian War to Pontiac's War

1760. (1) Summer and autumn. English take possession of sites of Forts Le Boeuf, Presqu' Isle and Machault, and erect new forts 414, 415

(2) August 12. Great council at Fort Pitt with chiefs of the western tribes 410

1762. (1) August. Treaty at Lancaster 404, 405, 410, 411

(2) November 3. Preliminaries of peace between England and France signed 411

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 725

Pontiac's War

Date Event Page

1763. (1) Spring. Pontiac forms confederation of western tribes. . . .412, 413

(2) April 16. Murder of Teedyuscung 469

(3) May 28. Murder of Colonel William Clapham 419

(4) June 22. Capture of Fort Presqu' Isle 414 to 416

(5) June 18. Capture of Fort Le Boeuf 416 to 418

(6) June 17, approximately. Capture of Fort Venango 417, 418

(7) June 22. First attack on Fort Pitt, also attempt to inoculate Indians with small-pox 420, 423, 424

(8) June and July. Siege of Fort Ligonier 424 to 427

(9) June and July. Siegeof Fort Bedford 428 to 430

(10) July 26 to August 1. Siege of Fort Pitt 421 to 423

See also 418 to 424.

(11) July. Invasion of Juniata, Tuscarora, Sherman's and Cumberland valleys 430 to 438

(12) July and August. Colonel Henry Bouquet's march to relief

of western forts 439 to 449

(13) August 5 and 6. Battle of Bushy Run 442 to 449

(14) August. Murder of friendly Indian woman, Zippora. . . .454, 455

(15) August and September. Expeditions up the West Branch

of the Susquehanna 450 to 453

(16) September 8. Fincher family murdered 453

(17) October 8. Murder of Captain Jacob Wetterhold 456, 457

(18) October. Massacres in Northampton and Lehigh Counties, 456 to 459

(19) October 15. First Massacre of Wyoming 459 to 462

(20) November. Moravian Delawares removed to Philadelphia

for safety 455, 456

(21) December 14. Massacre of Conestogas at Conestoga. . .463, 464

(22) Massacre of Conestogas at Lancaster 465 to 469

1764. (1) January and February. "Paxton Boys" march to Philadel- phia 467, 468

(2) June. Massacres in Franklin County 470

(3) July 7. Pennsylvania offers bounties for Indian scalps. .472 to 475

(4) July 26. Murder of Schoolmaster Brown and his pupils. .473, 474

(5) Autumn. Colonel Henry Bouquet's expedition to the Tuscarawas and Muskingum 475 to 483

(6) December 5. Governor John Penn issues proclamation telling of submission of Delawares and Shawnees and proclaiming

the war with these Indians at an end 482

From Pontiac's War to Lord Dunmore's War

1766. May 22. Council with Indians at Fort Pitt, relative to settle- ments made on lands of the Indians 483

1768. (1) January 10. Murder of Indians by Frederick Stump 484 to 486

(2) May 9. Great Council with western Indians at Fort Pitt, relative to settlements made by the whites on land owned by the Indians 483, 484

(3) November 5. Penns make last purchase of lands from the Indians, the purchase at Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.) 484 to 486

726 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Lord Dunmore's War

Date Event Page

1769. (1) February 26th. Attack on Brush Creek settlers 486

(2) Summer. Murder of young Seneca George 486, 487

1773. Spring. Murder of Bald Eagle (not the Bald Eagle killed by Captain Samuel Brady) 489

1774. (1) April 30. Murder of the family of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes 490 to 492

(2) May. Murder of the friendly Delaware, Joseph Wipey. . .504, 505

(3) Spring and Summer. Peace efforts of Cornstalk and White Eyes 492 to 495

(4) Summer. Raids of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes 495 to 498

(5) October 10. Battle of Point Pleasant 498, 499

(6) November. Famous speech of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes. 499 to 501

The Revolutionary War

1775. (1) July. Continental Congress divides frontier into three

Indian departments 509

(2) October. Council with the Delawares, Senecas, Shawnees

and Wyandots at Fort Pitt 509, 510

1776. (1) May. Grand Council between the British and the Six Nations at Fort Niagara, N. Y., at which the overwhelming majority of chiefs voted to take up arms in the British cause 506

(2) May. George Morgan takes charge as Indian agent at Fort

Pitt under appointment of the Continental Congress 510

(3) Summer. Peace mission of William Wilson 510

(4) October. Colonel Henry Hamilton, "the hair-buyer," di- rected to enlist western tribes in the British service 506

(5) Autumn. Raising of Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment to de- fend western frontier 512

1777. (1) January. Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment marches from Kittanning to join Washington near the Delaware, leaving the western frontier exposed to Indian raids 512

(2) January 27. Council at Easton with Senecas, Munsee Clan of Delawares, Cayugas, Conoys, and Nanticokes 510, 511

(3) February 14. Capture of Andrew McFarlane 512, 513

(4) March 16. Murder of Simpson and capture of Fergus Moore- head 513, 514

(5) June 19. Massacre at Standing Stone 514, 515

(6) Summer. Colonel Henry Hamilton sends Indians against

the western frontier, and gives them bounties for American scalps. 506

(7) Summer. "Gibson's Lambs" go to New Orleans for powder

for the defenders of the western frontier 514

(8) Summer and Autumn. Indian raids into Westmoreland and Indiana Counties 515 to 519

(9) Summer and Autumn. Indian raids on the West Branch of

the Susquehanna 520 to 522

(10) Summer and Autumn. Murders in Bedford County. . . .522 to 525

(11) Autumn. Battle in Blair County 519

(12) October. General Hand's expedition down the Ohio 527, 528

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 727

Date Event Pag«

1778. (1) January. George Rogers Clark raises troops for his expedi- tion to the Northwest ^^^

(2) February. The "Squaw Campaign" 527 to 529

(3) March 28. The Pittsburgh Tories, Captain Alexander Mc- Kee, Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott, Robert Surphit and Higgms escape to the British and Indians 529

(4) April. March of the Tories of Sinking Spring Valley 529 to 531

(5) Spring, summer and autumn. Indian outrages in Westmore- land County 531 to 535

(6) Spring and Summer. Fatal voyage of David Rodgers 535, 536

(7) Summer. Indian outrages in Blair County 537, 538

(8) Spring, Summer and Autumn. Indian outrages on West

Branch of the Susquehanna 541 to 547

(9) June 10. Massacre on Lycoming Creek 538 to 540

(10) June 30. Murder of the Hardings 549

(11) July 3. The Wyoming Massacre 549 to 557

(12) Summer. Invasion of Pike County 557 to 558

(13) July. The Cohishton massacre 566

(14) July. The "Great Runaway" 558 to 561

(15) August 8. Murder of James Brady, brother of Captain Samuel Brady .544 to 546

(16) August and September. The Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment marches to defend the harried western frontier 566 to 568

(17) Colonel Thomas Hartley's expedition .561, 562

(18) September 12 to 17. The United States makes alliance with

the Delawares 568 to 570

(19) October and November. General Lachlan Mcintosh erects Fort Mcintosh, and advances to the Tuscarawas 570 to 572

(20) November. Indian outrages on the North Branch of the Susquehanna 562, 563

(21) November 2. Capture of Frances Slocum, the "Lost Sister

of Wyoming" 563 to 566

(22) November 10. Death of White Eyes 572

1779. (1) March. Prowess of Mrs. Bozart 586

(2) March. Invasion of the Wyoming Valley 588, 589

(3) April 11. Murder of Captain John Brady 573

(4) April 26. Capture of Assemblyman James McKnight 590, 591

(5) April 26. Attack on Fort Hand 582. 583

(6) April. Indian outrages in Westmoreland County 582 to 584

(7) May. Indian outrages in Union County 592, 593

(8) May. The Sample atrocity 592

(9) Summer. Indian outrages on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna 593 to 595

(10) Summer. Indian outrages in Washington County 587, 588

(11) July 22. Battle of Minisink 598, 599

(12) July 28. Capture of Fort Freeland 595 to 598

(13) August and September. Colonel Daniel Brodhead's ex- pedition against the Senecas and Munsee Clan of Delawares. . 584 to 586

(14) July, August and September. General John Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations 599 to 606

728 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Date Event Page

1780. (1) March 12. Massacre on Raccoon Creek 607

(2) March. Invasion of the Wyoming Valley and Capture of Moses Van Campen 61 1 to 614

(3) April. Pennsylvania offers bounty for Indian scalps 625, 626

(4) April 25. Capture of the Gilbert family 619 to 623

(5) May. Atrocities in Washington County 608 to 611

(6) May. Godfrey Lanctot's mission 608

(7) Rescue of Jennie Stoops by Captain Samuel Brady. .580, 581, 608

(8) July. Captain Mclntyre's engagement with Wyandots 609

(9) Summer. Atrocities in Washington County 609, 610

(10) Summer. Atrocities in Blair, Bedford and Huntingdon Counties 623 to 625

(11) Summer. Atrocities in Union County 618, 619

(12) September. Attack on Fort Rice, also known as Fort Montgomery, (Northumberland County) 619

(13) Autumn. Attempt to attack friendly Delawares at Fort

Pitt 610

(14) December. Invasion of Wyoming Valley 614, 615

1781. (1) February. Delaware Council at Coshocton votes to espouse British cause 627

(2) April 20. Colonel Brodhead destroys Coshocton 627

(3) April. Atrocities in Westmoreland County 634, 635

(4) March and April. Atrocities in Northumberland and Union Counties 641 to 643

(5) Spring. Attack on the Stock family 640

(6) Spring and summer. General Clark's draft 635, 636

(7) June. September. Andrew Poe's fight with Big Foot. .. .631, 632

(8) June. Capture of Captain John Boyd 645

(9) July 2. Massacre at Philip Klingensmith's 635

(10) June and July. Outrages in the Wyoming Valley 643, 644

(11) August 24. Colonel Archibald Lochry's defeat 635 to 638

(12) September. Outrages in Washington County 631, 633, 634

(13) Autumn. Moravian missions on Tuscarawas broken up. . 629, 630

(14) November. Expedition against the Moravian Delawares. . 639

1782. (1) February 10. Capture of Robert Wallace's family 647

(2) February. Capture of John Carpenter 647

(3) March 8. Massacre of Moravian Delawares at Gnaden- huetten 647 to 652

(4) March 24. Attack on friendly Delawares on Smoky Island . . . 652

(5) March 30. Attack on Miller's blockhouse 654, 655

(6) April. Soldiers ambushed near Fort Mcintosh and various persons captured in Washington County. 654

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 729

Date Event Page

(7) April. Attack on Walthour's (Waldhauer's) blockhouse in Brush Creek settlement, Westmoreland County 657, 658

(8) May 12. The Corbly tragedy in Greene County 656, 657

(9) April 16. Capture of Moses Van Campen 616, 617

(10) May 6. Raid in Union County 674

(11) Spring and Summer. Outrages in the Wyoming Valley 677

(12) June 5. Defeat of Colonel William Crawford 659 to 663

(13) June 11. Burning of Colonel William Crawford at the stake 661

(14) June 22. Brush Creek settlers petition General Irvine 664

(15) July 13. Guyasuta burns Hannastown and raids other parts of Westmoreland County 665 to 671

(16) August 13. Massacre at the home of Major John Lee. . 674 to 676

(17) September 13. Attack on Rice's Fort (Washington County).

_ 673, 674

(18) October. Capture of Miss McCormick and Catherine Ewing 673

(19) October. Outrages in Northumberland County 678

(20) Autumn. The abandoned expeditions, following General Sir Guy Carleton's orders to cease sending bands against the frontier 679, 680

1783. (1) March and April. Outrages in Washington and Westmore- land Counties 680, 681

(2) Summer. Peace mission of Major Ephriam Douglass. .681 to 684

(3) Spring. Capture of James and Eli Lyon 658, 659

The Post-Revolutionary Uprising

1784. (1) May 12. Murders on Cross Creek 688

(2) October 23. Purchase at Fort Stanwix 685

1785. (1) January 21. Purchase at Fort Mcintosh 687

(2) Summer. Raid in Washington County 685

1786. Summer. Murder of Cornplanter's brother-in-law 693

1787. (1) Summer or autumn. Attack on Levi Morgan

(2) November. Massacres in Greene County, probably of the Davis and Crowe families 688 to 690

1789. (1) January. Treaty of Fort Harmar 688

(2) March 27. Capture of Mrs. Glass 690

(3) June 30. Murder of Arthur Graham and Alexander Camp- bell within two miles of Pittsburgh 691

(4) August. Murder of the Mcintosh family 690, 691

1790. (1) June 27. Murder of friendly Senecas 692, 693

(2) October. General Harmar 's expedition and defeat 691, 692

(3) October and November. Conciliation of the Senecas. . . .692 to 694

730 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Date Event Page

1791. (1) Spring. Atrocities in Armstrong, Westmoreland, Indiana and

Crawford Counties 694 to 697

(2) September, October and November. Expedition and defeat

of General Arthur St. Clair 698 to 701

1792. (1) March. Atrocities in Allegheny County 702

(2) May 22. Capture of Massa Harbison 702 to 705

(3) Spring. Murder on Fort Run 705, 706

1794. (1) May. Attack on party of Captain Andrew Sharp 706 to 709

(2) August 20. General Anthony Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers 710 to 715

1795. (1) May 7. Friendly Indians attacked on the Allegheny 709

(2) May 22. Ralph Rutledge killed near Erie 709, 710

(3) August 3. Western tribes sign Treaty of Greenville 713, 714

1843. (1) June 30. Murder of the Wigton family in Butler County. . . 710

APPENDIX B

The Pennsylvania Sesqi-Centennial Celebration of the General Sullivan Expedition Against the Iro- quois or Six Nations — Other Matters Relating to The Expedition

During the summer of 1929, Pennsylvania celebrated the Ses- qui-centennial of Major-General John Sullivan's Expedition against the Iroquois or Six Nations. A very praiseworthy feature of the celebration was the marking of the Pennsylvania camp sites of Sullivan's army, beginning at Easton, thence along the line of the army's march to Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre), thence along its line of march up the North Branch of the Susquehanna to Tioga. The following list of tablets erected is taken from the official program of the celebration, published by The Pennsyl- vania Historical Commission:

At Easton — Sullivan Road over which the army began its advance, June 18, 1779. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission, The Valley Forge Chapter S. A. R. and the City of Easton, 1929.

At Hellerstown — Heller's Tavern, the end of the first day's march, June 18, 1779. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Valley Forge Chapter S. A. R., 1929.

Near Stroudsburg — Brinker's Mill, site of the Sullivan stores, the advance post of the expedition. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission, The George N. Kemp Post American Legion and The Valley Forge Chapter S. A. R., 1929.

Near Tannersville — Learned's Tavern, the last house on the frontier, the end of the second day's march, June 19, 1779 — Distance 16 miles. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Monroe County Historical Society, 1929.

Stroudsburg — Fort Penn, the home of Col. Jacob Stroud, was located here, rendezvous for several companies for the expedition, uniting with main army at Learned's Tavern.

Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission, The Historical Society of Monroe County and The Jacob Stroud Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Crescent Lakes — White Oak Run, site of Chowder Camp, where Sullivan dined on trout chowder, end of the third day's march, June 20, 1779 — Distance 5 miles. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Valley Forge Chapter S. A. R., 1929.

At Barren Hill — Fatigue Camp, the end of the fourth day's march, June 21, 1779, through the great swamp past the "Shades of Death" — Distance 20 miles. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Wyoming Valley Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

732 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Near Laurel Run — Bullock Farm, 3-4 mile west on this road was the end of the fifth day's march, June 22, 1779 — Distance 5 miles. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Wyoming Valley Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Wilkes-Barre — Fort Wyoming, mobilization camp of Sullivan's army, June 23-July 31, 1779. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Wyoming Valley Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Warrior Run — Fort Freeland, mill built, 1773, stockaded, 1778, by Jacob Freeland, attacked, captured and destroyed by British Tories and Seneca Indians, 108 settlers killed or taken prisoners, July 28, 1779. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1929.

At Sunbury — Fort Augusta, first selected as rendezvous for the Sullivan Expedition. Lt. Col. Adam Hubley's command the only regiment quartered there to march against the Six Nations. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission.

At Wyoanna — Quialutimack, seven miles from Lackawanay (Lackawanna), second encampment of Sullivan's Army on the march from Wyoming to Teaoga, August 2, 1779, lay directly across the river. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Dial Rock Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Tunkhannock — Tunkhannock, twelve miles from Quialutimack, on the march from Wyoming to Teaoga (Tioga), August 3, 1779, lay on lowlands between this point and river. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Tunkhannock Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Black Walnut — Vanderlip's farm, fourteen miles from Tunkhannock, fourth encampment of Sullivan's Army on the march from Wyoming to Teaoga, August 4-5, 1779, lay on this lowland known as Black Walnut Flats. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Tunkhannock Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Wyalusing — Wyalusing, ten and one-half miles from Vanderlip's farm, fifth encampment of Sullivan's Army on the march from Wyoming to Teaoga, August 6-7, 1779, was on site just west on this road marked by the Moravian Indian town monument. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Mach-Wi-Hi- Lusing Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Rummerfield — Standing Stone, nine and one-half miles from Wyalusing, sixth encampment of Sullivan's Army on the march from Wyoming to Teaoga, August 8-9, 1779, was on river lowlands opposite the Standing Stone. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Lt. Asa Stevens Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

Above Towanda — Breakneck Hill, narrow pass over which Sullivan's Army marched August 9, 1779, is visible directly across the river. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission.

At Upper Sheshequin — Sheshecunnuck, fifteen miles from Standing Stone, seventh and last encampment of Sullivan's Army on march from Wyoming to Teaoga, August, 10, 1779, lay on these lowlands by the river. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Tioga Point Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 733

At Athens — Teaoga, Indian village three miles distant from Sheshecunnuck, site of Sullivan's Army encampment, August 11-26, 1779, lay one and one-fourth miles south of this point. Marked by The Pennsylvania Historical Commission and The Tioga Point Chapter D. A. R.

At Athens — Bridge Panel — Western end of the Indian Carrying Path from Chemung to Susquehanna Rivers. The eastern was 190 rods southeast. Fort Sullivan was built across this path. Erected by Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Tioga Point Chapter D. A. R., 1929.

At Athens — .Soldiers' Burial — Here within the confines of Fort Sullivan were buried, August 14, 1779, several soldiers killed the day previous in skirmish at Chemung as attested by Solomon Talada, soldier in the ranks who returned to live in Athens all his life. Statement corroborated by finding skeletons previous to 1839. Erected by Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Tioga Point Chapter D. A. R., 1929.*

The Inception of Sullivan's Expedition

In this connection, it is fitting to set forth a few facts as to Sullivan's Expedition, in addition to the facts set forth in the acount given in Chapter XXV. Early in 1776, Sir John Johnson fled to Canada, where he was commissioned a Colonel in the British service and raised two battalions, composed mostly of Scotchmen who had fled with him and of American loyalists. From the color of their uniforms, they were called "Royal Greens." Johnson, as their leader, became the merciless scourge of the frontier. Besides the regularly enlisted companies of "Royal Greens," there were many Tories, who often disguised as Indians, either in company with the "Royal Greens" or in bands by themselves, conducted a predatory and guerilla war- fare on the frontiers that was savage as that of the Indian allies of the British.

Such was the horde of men, white and red, among whom were a few British regular troops — a horde whose battle-cry was "No Quarter" — that ravaged the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania, and, on July 3d, 1778, perpetrated in the valley of Wyoming a massacre as horrible and revolting as any that stains the pages of history, ancient or modern. No pen is gifted enough to discribe this massacre — the merciless slaughter of old men, of women, of children; the glare of burning homes in the valley of death; the horrible butchery at Queen Esther's Rock; the fiend-like torture of the prisoners; the wild flight of the survivors; the agonies in the "Shades of Death."

Out of this travail of blood and death on the banks of the Sus- quehanna and out of similar agonies during the same year —

*In 1929, New York celebrated the Sesqui-Centennial of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, and erected thirty-five markers along the routes of march of the armies.

734 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

at the German Flats, at Cherry Valley and at other places — , there was bom a determination on the part of General Washing- ton and the Continental Congress to send a powerful army into the territory of the Six Nations; to destroy their villages, their orchards and their vast crops of corn and vegetables, useful not only for the support of the Indians but also as supplies for the British — to destroy these crops at a time which would prevent their replanting. The matter was formally brought to the atten- tion of the Continental Congress, and, on February 27th, 1779, that body passed a resolution authorizing General Washington to take the most effectual measures for protecting the Americans on the frontiers.

After the resolution of the Continental Congress, of February 27th, 1779, Washington set about to carry out the same with vigor. He sought the advice of Brigadier-General Edward Hand, Colonel Zebulon Butler, Captain John Franklin, Captain Simon Spalding and Lieutenant (later Colonel) John Jenkins. All of these men had extensive knowledge of the territory of the Six Nations. General Philip Schuyler, from his headquarters on the Hudson, also transmitted important information relative to the intentions and movements of the enemy.

Washington had in mind the appointing of General Philip Schuyler as leader of the proposed expedition, but on account of the latter's uncertainty as to his continuing in the army, refrained from offering him the appointment. On March 6th, he wrote General Horatio Gates, who was next in seniority, offering him the appointment. General Gates declined the appointment on the ground that he did not possess the youth and strength requisite for such an undertaking. However, with his letter to General Gates, Washington sent a letter to General John Sullivan appointing him to the command, with instruction to General Gates to forward this letter to General Sullivan in case he (Gates) should decline the appointment. General Sullivan accepted the command, and at once began preparations for the expedition.

Sketch of General Sullivan

This distinguished Revolutionary General was born at Somers- worth, New Hampshire, February 18th, 1740, of Irish parents who had come to America in 1723, and settled at Berwick, Maine, on the other side of the river from the place of birth of their immortal son. A farmer boy, he acquired a good education under the direction of his father, who was a school teacher. In

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 735

young manhood, he read law with Hon. Isaac Livermore, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was admitted to the Bar, commencing the practice of law at Durham, New Hampshire, which continued to be his residence for the remainder of his life. In 1772, he was Major of the New Hampshire Regiment. In the spring of 1774, he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of New Hampshire, and, in September of that year, he was a delegate to the First Continental Congress. In May, 1775, he was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. In June,

1775, Congress appointed him Brigadier-General, and, in July,

1776, appointed him Major-General. In August, 1776, he was captured by the Hessians under Von Heister, at the battle of Brooklyn Heights, and later in that year was sent by Lord Howe to Philadelphia to make overtures for peace to members of the Continental Congress. Rejoining the Continental army, he fought valiantly at Trenton, Princeton, Brandy wine and German- town. He endured the rigors of the terrible winter at Valley Forge, where he was compelled to draw on his personal fortune for his support. The following summer he led the American troops in the campaign in Rhode Island, retaining his command here until the spring of 1779, when he was called to a new field, where great exertions were demanded — the command of the Expedition against the Six Nations.

General Sullivan enjoyed the confidence of Washington. His conduct in the expedition against the Six Nations in destroying the houses and food supplies of the Iroquois, was criticised by many as vandal and unmilitary. But, in sweeping the territory of the Iroquois as with a besom of destruction, he was only carry- ing out the orders of Washington. Such was his love for the commander-in-chief of the American armies that he bore the criticisms in silence, rather than that Washington should suffer reproach. Owing to exposure in the expedition against the Iroquois and owing to the derangement of his business affairs during his long period of service in the army, he retired in Novem- ber, 1779. He continued to serve New Hampshire and the Nation to the day of his death — as Attorney-General and Governor of New Hampshire, as a member of Congress and as Judge of the United States District Court of New Hampshire. He died at Durham, New Hampshire, January 23d, 1795, and is buried in the soil of his native state.

736 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

General Sullivan's Forces

General Sullivan arrived at Easton on May 7th, 1779, and at once began preparations for the army to move. It was deter- mined that the main division of his army should rendezvous at Fort Wyoming, located where the city of Wilkes-Barre now stands.

Three Brigades were to make up the center or main division of his army. First was the New Jersey Brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General William Maxwell. It was composed of the First Regiment, commanded by Colonel Mathias Ogden; the Second Regiment, commanded by Colonel Israel Shreve; the Third Regiment, commanded by Colonel Elias Dayton; the Independent or Fifth Regiment, commanded by Colonel Oliver Spencer; also Colonel David Forman's Regiment, and Colonel Elisha Sheldon's Connecticut Riflemen, both of which were subsequently merged into Colonel Spencer's Independent or Fifth Regiment.

The second was the New Hampshire Brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Enoch Poor. It was composed of the follow- ing troops from that State : The First Regiment, commanded by Colonel Joseph Cilley; the Second Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel George Reid; and the Third or Scammel's Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dearborn. Also the Second New York Regiment, commanded by Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt, was included in the New Hampshire Brigade.

The third was a Brigade of Light Troops, commanded by Brigadier-General Edward Hand. It was composed of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel Adam Hubley; the residue of the German Regiment, recruited in Pennsylvania and Maryland, commanded by Major Daniel Burchardt; Captain Simon Spalding's Independent Wyoming Company; the Wyoming Militia, commanded by Captain (later Colonel) John Franklin; and John Paul Schott's Rifle Corps, commanded by Captain Anthony Selin.

There were also a section of Colonel Thomas Proctor's Pennsyl- vania Artillery and Armand's Corps of French Volunteers. However, Colonel Armand, on June 30th, was ordered with his troops to join the army of Washington.

Without going into the details of the mobilization, we state that the above is a list of the troops, numbering in excess of

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 737

3,500, that assembled at Fort Wyoming in the spring and summer of 1779, with the exception of the Wyoming Company and two companies of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, all under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who were already at this place.

As was seen in Chapter XXV, the right division, consisting of the New York Brigade, consisting of about 1,500 troops, commanded by Brigadier-General James Clinton, had wintered on the Mohawk, and joined the major part of Sullivan's forces at Tioga, on August 22nd. It was composed of the Third Regi- ment, under Colonel Peter Gansevoort; the Fourth or Living- ston's Regiment, under Colonel Frederick Weissenfels; the Fifth or Independent Regiment, under Colonel Louis Dubois; the Sixth Massachusetts or Alden's Regiment, under Major Whiting; the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel William Butler; and companies of Morgan's famous Riflemen, with Major James Parr as senior officer, as well as a small com- mand under Colonel John Harper.

As was also seen in Chapter XXV, the left division, consisting of 600 troops, commanded by Colonel Daniel Brodhead, left Fort Pitt, on August 11th, and proceeded up the Allegheny against the Senecas and Munsee Clan of Delawares, as a cooperat- ing movement, although Brodhead's forces never became con- nected with Sullivan's army and never received orders from him.

General Sullivan's Difficulties

Great were the difficulties which General Sullivan encountered both before and after he arrived at Fort Wyoming, on June 23d. The New Jersey troops were in a state of discontent, almost mutiny, owing to the fact that the authorities of that State made no provision for the depreciation of the Continental currency and did not pay them for their services, even in the almost worthless Continental paper money. General Sullivan exerted himself to the utmost to quiet their minds, and Washington declared that nothing else had occurred during the war which gave him so much alarm.

There was also the difficulty that many Pennsylvanians op- posed the expedition. The Pennsylvania Quakers, whose prin- ciples were averse to war, really pitied the Six Nations and placed the blame for their atrocities where it rightly belonged — on the British and Tories. Besides, many Pennsylvanians of wealth and influence, resenting the claims of Connecticut to the Wyom-

738 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

ing Valley and the upper Delaware region, seemed perfectly willing that the Iroquois should keep Connecticut settlers out of the disputed territory. Besides, too, Independent companies, promised by Pennsylvania, were not raised. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 7, pages 93 and 94; also pages 568 and 569). General Sullivan wrote General Washington from Wyoming, on June 12th, ex- pressing his disappointment at the attitude of Pennsylvania, to which letter Washington replied, on June 21st, as follows: "I am very sorry that you are like to be disappointed in the independent companies expected from Pennsylvania, and that you have encountered greater difficulties than you looked for. I am satisfied that every exertion in your power will be made." Then, on July 21st, Sullivan wrote from Wyoming to the Presi- dent and Council of Pennsylvania that not a man of the seven hundred and twenty rangers promised by Pennsylvania had joined his forces. However, such Pennsylvanians as William Maclay, Lieutenant of Northumberland, did all in their power to cooperate with General Sullivan. Maclay wrote President Reed of the Pennsylvania Council, on July 22nd: "I wish not to com- plain of any one, nor would be understood so. I, however, know the wretched slothfulness of many who are engaged in the public department." (See various letters of Sullivan, Maclay, Colonel Adam Hubley and others, relative to Pennsylvania's attitude, in Pa. Archives, Vol. 7.) The above are only a few of the diffi- culties which beset General Sullivan. There were some persons who claimed that his demands were exhorbitant and threatened to prefer charges against him before the Continental Congress.

General Sullivan Marches from Fort Wyoming

Surmounting his numerous difficulties and refusing to turn aside from his line of march on account of the battle of Minisink and the capture of Fort Freeland, described in Chapter XXV, General Sullivan remained at Fort Wyoming until July 31st. At 1 o'clock, P. M., on this day, he broke camp. As the shrilling fifes, the rolling drums and the thundering cannon awoke the echoes in the valley of Wyoming, he started on his march up the beautiful and majestic Susquehanna, under the flaunting flags and the glorious summer sky, with the grand, wild music of war, to the success of his expedition and to immortality.

The success of the expedition was hailed with great joy through- out the whole country. As for the Iroquois, the memory of the

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 739

terrible retribution lingered in their cabins for generations. The distinguished Seneca chief, Complanter, more than a decade after the expedition, gave expression to the gloom of the Iroquois in the following speech delivered to President Washington at Philadelphia :

"Father — The voice of the Seneca Nation speaks to you, the great Counselor in whom the wise men of all the thirteen fires have placed their wisdom. It may be very small in your ears, and therefore we entreat you to hearken with attention; for we are about to speak to you of things which to us are very great. When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you the 'Town Destroyer!' and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to their mothers."

Principal Towns Destroyed by General Sullivan's Army

The following is a list of the principal Indian towns in New York, destroyed by General Sullivan's army in the Expedition against the Six Nations:

Adjuta. Also called Kanaghsaws and Yoxsaw. Located about a mile north of Conesus Center, Livingston County. Contained eighteen houses, and between the town and Lake Conesus were large fields of corn. It was from this place that Lieutenant Thomas Boyd was sent on the scouting expedition which resulted in his capture and death. See pages 604 to 606.

Canadasaga, or Senca Castle. A large and important town, the Capital of the Senecas, situated about one and a half miles west of Geneva, Ontario County. It contained sixty houses, with thirty more in the immediate vicinity. It was surrounded by large orchards of apple, peach and mulberry trees. Also large fields of onions, peas, beans, squashes, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, cu- cumbers, water-melons, carrots and parsnips and corn were in the vicinity. At this town Sir William Johnson had erected a stockade, in 1756.

Chemung. There were two towns of this name. Old Chemung was situated about half a mile above the present Chemung, Chemung County.

New Chemung was situated about three miles above the present Chemung. It contained about sixty houses.

Choharo. A Cayuga villag^, situated at the foot of Cayuga Lake.

Conihunto. A village situated on an island in the Susquehanna near the present town of Afton, Chenango County.

Coreorgonel. A village, also called Hehorisskanadia, situated on the west side of Cayuga inlet, about two miles south of the present Ithaca, Tompkins County. It contained twenty-five houses. Here also the remnant of the Tutelo had been placed by the Iroquois after the migration from the South. See page 55.

Ghonodote, or Peach Town. A town at the site of the present Aurora, Cayuga County. It was surrounded by immense peach orchards.

Gayuga Gastle. A village of fifteen houses, situated near the site of the present Union Springs, Cayuga County. In the vicinity were Cayuga Old

740 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Town, a village of thirteen houses, situated in the southeast part of Union Springs, and Upper Cayuga, a village of fourteen houses, situated near the present Ledyard, Cayuga County.

Condawhaw, A village on the east side of Senca Lake, at the site of the present North Hector. Also called Appletown.

French Catherine's Town. This was the town of "Queen Catherine" Montour, a sister of "Queen Esther" Montour of Wyoming Massacre fame. The sisters were granddaughters of the famous Madam Montour, and very likely daughters of French Margaret. French Catherine's town was situated three or four miles south of the end of Seneca Lake, in Schuyler County. "Queen Catherine" was the wife of Telenemut, or Thomas Hudson, a Seneca chief. Sullivan's army spent one day at French Catherine's town destroying corn and fruit trees.

Gathtsegwarohare. A large Seneca town, located on the east side of Canaseraga Creek, about two miles above its confluence with the Genesee River, in Livingston County. In tne vicinity of the town were vast fields of corn, which it took two thousand troops six hours to destroy, September 14th.

Genesee Castle. A large Seneca town, consisting of one hundred and twenty-eight houses, located on the west side of the Genesee River, near the present Leicester, Livingston County. It was the western door of the "Long House" of the Iroquois Confederation. It was surrounded by vast orchards, one of which contained 1600 trees, and by vast fields of corn and vegetables. Some of the ears of corn were twenty-two inches long. The whole army turned out to destroy the orchards, corn and vegetables, on September 15th. The former "Genesee Castle" was located a few miles from this town. It stood on the east side of the Genesee River at the mouth of Canaseraga Creek, and was called Chenussie. About 1770, it was abandoned and the new "Genesee Castle" was founded, the Genesee Castle of Sullivan's expedition. However, when Sullivan arrived in the vicinity of the old town (Chenussie), he was not aware of the fact that the town had been abandoned, nor did he seem to be aware of the existence of the town, called Gathtsegwaroharie, (which see), located two miles farther up Canaseraga Creek. When he arrived at the Seneca town, called Adjuta (which see), thinking he was near the great Genesee Castle of which he had heard so much, he sent Lieutenant Thomas Boyd with a detachment to reconnoitre. Boyd left Adjuta on the evening of September 13th, and, instead of taking the unused path to the abandoned Chenussie, took the traveled path to Gathtsegwarohare, at which place he arrived in the early morning of September 14th. He reconnoitered the town, finding that the enemy had fled therefrom, and then sent back four men to report his discoveries to General Sullivan. In the meantime, he and the rest of his men concealed themselves in the woods near the town (Gathtsegwarohare). Soon four Indians entered the town on horseback, and Boyd sent a party to kill or capture them. A skirmish ensued in which one Indian was killed and another wounded. The wounded Indian and the others escaped. Boyd and his men then set out for Sullivan's camp, and soon fell into the ambush which resulted in his capture and subsequent torture. See pages 605 and 606.

Genesee Castle was also called Little Beard's Town, for the Seneca chief of this name. It was the western point of Sullivan's Expedition. While the army was here, Airs. Lester came to the troops with a child in her arms. Both had been captured near Nanticoke, Pa., on November 7th, 1778, at the time her husband was captured and killed See page 563. On the site of Genesee Castle, the tree is still standing to which Lieutenant Thomas Boyd was tied during his torture, having been identified by Moses Van Campen. The place where Boyd was captured is near the present Groveland, Livingston County.

Honeoye. A village of twenty houses, situated at the foot of Lake Honeoye, about half a mile east of the outlet, in Ontario County.

Kanandaigua. A Seneca town, located near and at the present town of Canadaigua, Ontario County. It contained twenty-three houses and was

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 741

surrounded by vast corn fields and orchards. Some of the houses were log and the others were frame, "large and new, pleasantly situated."

Kanawlohalla. A Seneca town, situated where Elmira, Chemung County, now stands.

Kendaia. A town situated about half a mile from the eastern shore of Seneca Lake, near the present town of Romulus, Seneca County. Pleasantly situated, consisting of more than twenty houses, built of hewn logs and some of the houses well painted. Near the town were large orchards of apples, peaches and other fruits. Wonderful Indian tombs were at this town, con- cerning which nearly all the journals of Sullivan's Expedition speak.

When the army was at this town, on September 5th, Luke Sweetland, who with Joseph Blanchard had been captured near Nanticoke, Pa., on August 24th, 1778, joined the troops, overjoyed to escape from captivity.

Mamacating. Also called Mamacotting, a village at the site of Wurtzboro, Sullivan County.

Shawhiangto. This village, consisting of twelve houses destroyed by General Clinton's brigade, was located where Windsor, Broome County, now stands. It was a Tuscarora village, some members of this tribe having been permitted to settle here in 1712 by the other Iroquois tribes when the Tus- caroras sought an asylumn among the then Five Nations.

Skoiyase. A Cayuga village, located where Waterloo, in the northern part of Seneca County, now stands.

Skannayutenate. A Seneca town, located where the present village of Canoga, Seneca County, now stands. Red Jacket, or Sagoyewatha, the great Seneca orator is said to have been born here.

Swahyawanah. A village northeast of the present town of Romulus, Seneca County.

Altogether, some forty towns of the Iroquois were destroyed by Sullivan's army and detachments of the same. General Clinton's Brigade, in its march from Otsego Lake to join Sullivan's main forces at Tioga, destroyed six Iroquois towns as well as the Scotch Tory settlement, called Albout, located about five miles above Unadilla, Otsego County.

Caneadea, Horatio Jones, Moses Van Campen, Lieut. Thomas Boyd, Mary Jemison

The Seneca town, called Caneadea, or Ga-o-ya-de-o (where the Heavens rest upon the earth), located in the upper Genesee Valley, on the site of the present town of Caneadea, Alleghany County, N. Y., was the only important town of the Iroquois to escape the vengeance of Sullivan's army. Between it and the lower Genesee towns were the almost impenetrable barriers of the canyon and three falls of the Genesee in what is now Letchworth Park, in Livingston and Wyoming Counties. In this town was the ancient Caneadea Council House, now in Letchworth Park.

Of the many captives who ran the gauntlet at Caneadea, no stories have been more widely published than those of Captain Horatio Jones and Moses Van Campen. When Jones was a mere youth, he accompanied the expedition of Captain John Boyd, in 1781, described on page 645, and was captured near Bedford, Pa. On this occasion, as he was running from his Indian pursuers, he stumbled and fell. He expected to be tomahawked at once, but, to his surprise, a warrior gently picked him up, and threw a string of beads around his neck. Carried to Caneadea, he was compelled to run the gauntlet. His captor held him back until the other prisoners had started to run the gauntlet, then pointing to the Council House, the goal of safety, said to him, "Now run like the devil," at the same time giving him a push. He had almost reached

742 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

the Council House, when a captive in front of him was struck down by a blow from a tomahawk. Terrified, the boy sprang through an opening in the lines and fled down a woodland path. As he passed a lodge in which two squaws were sitting, one of them seized him, dragged him into the lodge, and hid him under some garments of skins. His pursuers questioned the squaws as to where the boy had gone, and, misled by their replies, hurried on. When they had gone, the squaws took him from his place of concealment and brought him safely to the Council House, where he learned that one of them would be his adopted mother. She had lost a son in some expedition against the settle- ments, and had commissioned one of the warriors to bring her a son in his stead. It was her string of beads which had been thrown about the neck of Jones when he was captured. By it she recognized him as he fled past her door. Thus he began his life among the Senecas, later to be made their interpreter by Washington, as related on page 645.

As related in Chapter XXVT, Moses Van Campen was captured in 1782 and carried to Caneadea, where he ran the gauntlet. Upon his arrival, prepara- tions for the ordeal were speedily made. At the distance of about forty rods, stood the Council House, and on each side of the running course were lines of men and women, armed with hatchets, knives and clubs. There was but slight chance to escape. When the word to start was given, the captives dashed for- ward, and Van Campen succeeded in avoiding the many blows aimed at him, until he saw directly in the path in front of him two young squaws with up- lifted whips, blocking his way. Leaping into the air, he struck them with his feet, hurling them to the ground. Falling with them, but quick y arising, he succeeded in reaching the Council House unharmed.

Lieutenant Nellis, of the British army, led the band of Senecas that captured Captain John Boyd and Horatio Jones, and also the band of Senecas that captured Moses Van Campen.

Mighty memories cling around the ancient Council House of Caneadae. Upon the inner surface of one of the logs, a cross is deeply carved, possibly the work of one of the intrepid Jesuit fathers. Here many expeditions were planned against the Catawbas and Cherokees of the South during the long wars between the Iroquois and these tribes. Here Cornplanter, Red Jacket, Little Beard, Half Town, Handsome Lake, Tall Chief and many others, great men of the Senecas, no doubt met in council, and with them Joseph Brant of the Mohawks. Here many expeditions against the New York and Pennsyl- vania frontiers were planned, especially after Sullivan's expedition. Here many a captive was cut down while running the gauntlet, failing to reach the refuge of the Council House.

As related in Chapter XXVI, Moses Van Campen, shortly prior to 1800, left Pennsylvania and took up his residence in the Genesee Valley, at what is now Angelica, a few miles from Caneadea, where he ran the gauntlet. At his Angelica home, he was visited by many Senecas whom he had known during his residence on Fishing Creek, Columbia County, Pa., as well as by othres against whom he had fought in the Revolutionary War. Among these were: the Seneca chief, Tom Shenap, who, for a quart of whiskey, had taught Van Campen some things about successful deer hunting; John Mohawk, with whom he had the desperate encounter when escaping from his first captivity (1780); and Shongo, whom he had wounded at the battle of Newtown, in Sullivan's expedition. These Indians were then living at Caneadea.

Caneadea was on the very threshold of the "Long House" of the Iroquois, or, as they callei thamselves, the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that is, "People of the Long House," likening their confederacy to the form of their houses, which were extended enough, in some cases, to shelter ten or more families. By 1651 these "Romans of America" had conquered the Kah-Kaws or Neutral Nation, who occupied the territory between the Genesee and Niagara Rivers, and within five years thereafter had exterminated the Eries, who dwelt still farther to the West and South, except a small portion of this latter tribe, which they seem to have taken to the Seneca village at Squakie Hill, near Mt. Morris, Livingston County, and near the Da-yo-it-ga-o of the Senecas, nean- ing, "Where the river (the Genesee) issues from the hills."

At the time of the extermination of the Eries, the principal palisaded towns

SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 743

of the Senecas were: To-ti-ac-ton, situated on the outlet of Honeoye Lake, near the present Honeoye Falls, Monroe County; Gan-da-chi-o-ra-gou, situated near the present town of Lima, Lvingston County; Gan-da-ga-ro, in the Township of Victor, and Gan-dou-ga-rae, in that of East Bloomfield. These two latter towns were not far from the first two, and in all of them the Jesuit missionaries established their missions as early as 1656. Then, in 1687, all of these ancient Seneca towns were destroyed by the Marquis de Denon- ville, whereupon the Senecas gradually drifted southward and westward, establishing new towns in the valley of the Genesee, which they called Gen- nis-he-o, meaning the "beautiful valley." Probably at an early date in this migration to the valley of the Genesee, Caneadea and its Council House were built. In 1826, the Senecas sold the last of their lands in the Genesee Valley and parted forever with their title to Caneadea.

At this point, a few words concerning Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, whose tragic death has already been told. In the summer of 1778, he was with the American troops in the Schoharie Valley, N. Y., and whil'e there paid court to Cornelia, the beautiful daughter of Bartholomew Becker. Shortly after Boyd's death, she gave birth to a daughter, of whom he was the reputed father. When his regiment was ready to march to join Sullivan's army, the young woman approached Boyd in a state of mind bordering on madness, and begged him to marry her before he left the valley. He endeavored to ease her mind with promises; but doubting the sincerity of his intentions and promises, she told him "if he went off without marrying her, she hoped he would be cut in pieces by the Indians. In the midst of this unpleasant scene. Col. Butler rode up and reprimanded Boyd for his delay, as the troops were ready to march; and the latter, mortified at being seen by his commander thus im- portuned by a girl, drew his sword, and threatened to stab her if she did not instantly leave him." See Doty's "History of Livingston County, New York," pages 198 and 199 (the county in which Boyd was tortured). See also Simms' "History of Schoharie," page 300. Lieutenant Boyd was handsome in face and form, and his manners were most engaging. If the above account of his relations with this daughter of the New York frontier is true (and we have no reason to doubt the veracity of the high authorities we have quoted), it is sad to think that one so brave should wrong a trusting girl — sad to think that there should be this stain on his memory.

A final word as to Mary Jemison, "The White Woman of the Genesee," who spent seventy years of her life among the Senecas of the valley of the Genesee. On her way to her new home in the Genesee Valley, in the autumn of 1762, she rested over night in the Caneadea Council House. After Sullivan's army left the Genesee Valley, she took up her residence on the Gardeau (Gardow) flats, near Mt. Morris, where she made her home until 1831. At the treaty of Big Tree, held at what is now Geneseo, Livingston County, in 1797, her title to 18,000 acres of the Gardeau flats was acknowledged and confirmed. The dam, which will be constructed near Mt. Morris, will submerge these fertile flats; but nothing can submerge or blot out the memories of the mighty and romantic past, which linger in this and other parts of the beautiful and charming valley of the Genesee — memories of the days when the Senecas were the rightful lords of this Eden. Hear the words of "The White Woman of the Genesee," concerning the life and character of the people whom she steadfastly refused to leave:

"No people can live more happy than the Indians did in times of peace, before the introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them. Their lives were a continual round of pleasures. Their wants were few, and easily satis- fied; and their cares were only for today; the bounds of their calculations for future comfort not extending to the incalculable uncertainties of tomorrow. If peace ever dwelt with men, it was in former times, in the recesses from war, amongst what are now termed barbarians. The moral character of the Indians was (if I may be allowed the expression) uncontaminated. Their fidelity was perfect, and became proverbial; they were strictly honest; they despised deception and falsehood; and chastity was held in high veneration, and a violation of it was considered sacrilege. They were temperate in their desires, moderate in their passions, and candid and honorable in the expression of their sentiments on every subject of importance." (See pages 378 to 381.)

744 SULLIVAN SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Fate of the Iroquois

In the Revolutionary War, the Iroquois, induced by the British scalp bounties and thinking they were in duty bound to obey the command of the British Government, contributed to the aid of the British at least 1,600 warriors. They "hung like the scythe of death in the rear of our settlements, and their deeds are in- scribed with the scalping knife and the tomahawk, in characters of blood, on the fields of Wyoming and Cherry Valley and on the banks of the Mohawk," Though Colonel Van Schaick, on April 21st, 1779, surprised the Onondagas, destroyed their Capital, provisions and munitions of war, killed twelve warriors and captured at least thirty more, yet it remained for General Sullivan's Expedition to break forever the power of the Iroquois. After this visitation of death and destruction, the Iroquois were never able to send large bands against the settlements, with the exception of the band that burned Hannastown and over-ran a large part of Westmoreland County, Pa., in July, 1782.

Looking with unutterable despair upon the ashes of their homes and upon their ruined crops of corn, potatoes, squashes, beans and other vegetables, the Iroquois wended their way to Fort Niagara, as Sullivan's army left their country. Near the fort at Niagara, rude huts were built for them. Here, in the terrible winter following, many of them died of starvation, freezing and pestilence. Others, who endeavored to spend the winter in the desolated valley of their former homes, also froze and starved to death.

In the Treaty of Peace with England, at the close of the Revolu- tionary War, no stipulation was made concerning the Iroquois. Consequently they found themselves a conquered people in the lands of their enemies, who hated them with burning rancor. The Legislature of New York evinced a disposition to expel them from the state. But, through the influence of General Washing- ton and General Schuyler, the Iroquois were saved from total ruin. At the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), in October, 1784, reservations were secured to all the Iroquois, except that portion of the Cayugas which, at the beginning of the Revolution, fled to Canada and never returned, and except the Mohawks, who had fled to Canada with Joseph Brant.

APPENDIX C

OFFICERS OF THE COLONIES

OF THE

Delaware before the time of William Penn, and the Governors of the Province and the Commonwealth from 1681 to 1799

List of the Governors of Pennsylvania

GOVERNORS OF NEW NETHERLAND AND OF THE DUTCH ON THE DELAWARE

Cornelius Jacobson May — Director 1624-1625

William Van Hulst— Director 1625-1626

Peter Minuit— Governor 1626-1633

David Pieterzen De Vries — Governor 1632-1633

Wouter Van Twiller — Governor 1633-1638

Sir William Kieft— Governor 1638-1647

Peter Stuyvesant — Governor 1647-1664

GOVERNORS OF THE SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE

Peter Minuit 1634-1641

Peter Hollender 1641-1643

John Printz 1643-16^3

John Pappegoya 1653-1654

John Claude Rysingh 1654-1655

DOMINION OF THE DUTCH

Peter Suyvesant — Governor of New Netherland 1655-1664

Andreas Hudde — Commissary 1655-1657

John Paul Jacquet — Director 1655-1657

(The Colony divided into the Colony of the City and the Colony of the Company, in 1657)

Jacob Alricks — Colony of the City 1657-1659

Alexander D'Hinojossa — Colony of the City 1659-1^3

Georan Van Dyck — Colony of the Company 1657-1658

William Beeckman — Colony of the Company 1658-1663

(The Colony of City and Company United) Alexander D'Hinojossa 1663-1694

AFTER THE CAPTURE BY THE ENGLISH 1664— UNDER THE DUKE

OF YORK

Colonel Richard Nicholls — Governor 1664-1667

Robert Carr — Deputy Governor 1664-1667

Robert Needham — Commander 1664-1668

Colonel Francis Lovelace — Governor 1667-1673

Captain John Carr — Commander on the Delaware 1668-1673

COLONIES CAPTURED BY THE DUTCH IN 1673

Anthony Colve — Governor of the New Netherlands 1673-1674

Peter Alrichs — Governor on the West Side of Delaware 1673-1674

746 OFFICERS OF THE COLONIES

COLONIES RECAPTURED BY THE ENGLISH 1674

Dominion of the English — Sir Edmund Andros 1674-1681

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT, UNDER WILLIAM PENN— 1681-1693

William Markham — Deputy Governor 1681-1682

William Penn — Proprietor and Governor 1682-1684

The Council — Thomas Lloyd, President 1684-1686

Five Commissioners — Thomas Lloyd, President 1686-1688

John Blackwell— Deputy Governor 1688-1690

The Council — Thomas Lloyd, President 1690-1691

Thomas Lloyd — Deputy Governor of Province 1691-1693

William Markham — Deputy Governor of Territories 1691-1693

Under the Crown of England 1693-1694

Benjamin Fletcher — Governor of New York 1693-1695

William Markham — Deputy Governor 1693-1695

William Penn— Proprietor 1695-1718

William Markham — Deputy Governor 1695-1699

William Penn — Proprietor and Governor 1699-1701

Andrew Hamilton — Deputy Governor 1701-1703

The Council — Edward Shippen, President 1703-1704

John Evans — Governor (Lieutenant) 1704-1709

Charles Gookin — Lieutenant Governor 1709-1717

Sir William Keith — Lieutenant Governor 1717-1718

John, Richard and Thomas Penn — Proprietors 1718-1746

Sir William Keith — Lieutenant Governor 1718-1726

Patrick Gordon — Lieutenant Governor 1726-1736

The Council — James Logan, President 1736-1738

George Thomas — Lieutenant Governor 1738-1746

(John Penn died 1746)

George Thomas — Lieutenant Governor 1746-1747

The Council— Anthony Palmer, President 1747-1748

James Hamilton — Lieutenant Governor 1748-1754

Robert Hunter Morris — Lieutenant Governor 1754-1756

William Denny — Lieutenant Governor 1756-1759

James Hamilton — Lieutenant Governor 1759-1763

John Penn (son of Richard) — Lieutenant Governor 1763-1771

The Council — James Hamilton, President 1771-1771

Richard Penn (brother of John Penn) — Lieutenant Governor 1771-1773

John Penn — Lieutenant Governor 1773-1776

DURING THE REVOLUTION

Chairman of the Committee of Safety — Benjamin Franklin 1776-1777

Presidents of the Supreme Executive Council:

Thomas Wharton, Jr 1777-1778

George Bryan, Acting Vice-President -1778

Joseph Reed 1778-1781

William Moore 1781-1782

John Dickinson 1782-1785

Benjamin Franklin 1785-1788

Thomas Mifflin 1788-1790

GOVERNORS OF THE COMMONWEALTH

Under the Constitution of 1790:

Thomas Mifflin 1790-1799

APPENDIX D

PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Arranged for Convenient Reference

Adigo, Atiga, Atigue, Attique, etc. See Kittanning.

Adjouquay. This Indian town was located on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, near the mouth of the Lackawanna, probably near Pittston.

Allaquippa's Town. The principal residence of Queen Allaquippa, a Seneca, located where the town of McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, now stands. There was also an Indian town of this or a similar name located near Bedford, taking its name probably from AUaquipas, tne father of Canachquasy or Captain New Castle.

Assarugheny. This was a Delaware village, located about two miles north of the mouth of the Lackawanna River and near the present town of Ransom, Lackawanna County.

Assunepachla. A Delaware village, afterwards called Frank's Town, located on the Juniata near HoUidaysburg, Blair County.

Assiwikales. See Sewickley.

Aughwick. An Indian village, founded probably by the Tuscaroras and located at the mouth of Aughwick Creek, near the present town of Shirleys- burg, Huntingdon County. Deserted by its Indian inhabitants before George Croghan moved to it in 1753, it became an important place in the Indian affairs of Pennsylvania and remained so until the evacuation of Fort Shirley in 1756.

Big Island. The Island in the West Branch of the Susquehanna where Lock Haven, Clinton County, now stands. It was a favorite meeting place for the Delawares, the Shawnees and the Iroquois, being at the junction of the Indian trails leading to the Seneca habitat and from Wyoming and Shamokin to the Allegheny and Ohio. There were several other islands of this name, one being at the mouth of the Juniata.

Black Legs Town. This Shawnee town was located at the mouth of Blacklegs Creek, probably on both sides of the stream, near the site of the .present town of Saltsburg, Indiana County.

Buckaloons (Buccaloons). A Seneca town at the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek, at the site of the present town of Irvineton, Warren County. Colonel Brodhead's battle of August 15, 1779, was not far below this town, and at this town he constructed a breastwork and left supplies under a guard of forty soldiers while the main body of his troops pressed on to Conewango (which see) and other Seneca towns still farther up the Allegheny.

Captain John's Town. A village of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located near the site of the present town of Nazareth, Northampton County.

Canadohta. This village was located where the town of Lakeville, Craw- ford County, now stands.

Canaserage. A Shawnee village, located where the town of Muncy, Lycom- ing County, now stands.

Candowsa. A village of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located on the east shore of the Susquehanna, above the mouth of the Lackawanna and not far from the line dividing the counties of Lackawanna and Wyoming.

Carantouan. A Susquehanna or Conestoga town, founded prior to 1615 and located at "Spanish Hill," Bradford County, Pa., and not far from the town of Waverly, New York.

748 PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Gatawissa. A village of Delawares and Conoy, located at the mouth of Catawissa Creek, which enters the North Branch of the Susquehanna from the east, in Columbia County. The present town of Catawissa is located on or near the site of the Indian town. Prior to 1756, the Delaware village, called Lapachpeton's Town and named for a famous Delaware chief, was situated near the mouth of Catawissa Creek.

Chenastry or Chenastrys. See Otzinachson and Chillisquaque.

Catfish Camp. The hunting and fishing camp of the Delaware chief, Tangoocqua, or Cat Fish, located where the town of Washington, Washington County, now stands.

Chartier's Town. This Shawnee town, founded by the half-breed, Peter Chartier and the Shawnee chief, Neucheconneh, about 1734, was located near the site of Tarentum, Allegheny County. It was on both sides of the Allegheny. It is sometimes called Chartier's Old Town.

Chillisquaque. A large Shawnee town, established about 1728, and located at the mouth of Chillisquaque Creek, which enters the West Branch of the Susquehanna from the north, in Northumberland County. The names Chen- astry and Otzinachson have been applied to this town.

Chinklacamoose. A village established by the Delawares, likely before 1730, during their westward migration, and located where the town of Clear- field, Clearfield County, now stands. Barbara Leininger and Marie Le Roy were detained here for a time as prisoners, in the autumn of 1755. In 1757, Captain Patterson, scouting at the head of a detachment sent by Colonel Burd, found the town unoccupied. Christian Frederick Post passed through the village in the autumn of 1758.

Chiningue or Chininque. See Logstown.

Chinkanning. See Tunkhannock.

Clistowackin. A Delaware village on Martin's Creek, in Lower Bethel Township, Northampton County.

Conejohela or Conejoholo. A town of Shawnee and Conoy Indians, established prior to 1707 and located on both sides of the Susquehanna. That part of the town on the east side of the Susquehanna occupied the site of the present town of Washington Borough, Lancaster County, and was also called Dekanoaghah. See page 53.

Conoy Town. A town of the Conoy tribe of Indians, located at the mouth of Conoy Creek, Lancaster County.

Gonestoga. The ancient seat of the Conestogas or Susquehannas, located about four miles southwest of Millersville, Lancaster County.

Conemaugh or Conemaugh Old Town. A Shawnee and Delaware town, founded prior to 1731 and located where Johnstown, Cambria County, now stands. The Indian town, called Keckenepaulin's Town, was not located here, but near the mouth of the Loyalhanna. See Keckenepaulin's Town. On October 29, 1731, the trader, Jonah Davenport, made an affidavit before the Provincial Council in which he said: "On Connemach Creek there are three Shawneese towns, forty-five families, two hundred men." In this affivadit he further said that Okawela (Ocowellos) was their chief. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 301 and 302.) The three Shawnee towns over which Ocowellos ruled were Conemaugh and, likely. Black Legs Town and Keckenepaulin's Town (which see).

Cock Eye's Cabin. A camping place on the Indian trail leading from Bedford to Shannopin's Town (Pittsburgh), and located probably near Har- rison City, Westmoreland County.

Coshecton. A Delaware village in Wayne County, near the falls in the Delaware.

PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA 749

Gonewango. A Seneca village, located at the mouth of the creek of this name, where the town of Warren, Warren County, now stands.

Gussewago or Gassewago. A village of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located where the town of Meadville, Crawford County, now stands.

Gustaloga's Town. A town of Munsee Clan of Delawares, located on French Creek at the mouth of Deer Creek, in French Creek Township, Mercer County.

Dekanoagh. See Conejohela.

Deundaga. A Seneca village which stood directly in "the forks of the Ohio," at Pittsburgh, the name meaning "the forks."

Diahoga. See Tioga.

Dunning's Sleeping Place. A camp on the trail leading from Bedford to Pittsburgh, likely at the head of Brush Creek, Westmoreland County.

Friedensthal. See page 130.

Friedenshuetten. See page 130.

Friedensstadt. See page 130.

French Margaret's Town. An Indian town at the mouth of Lycoming Creek, Lycoming County, a few miles west of the Williamsport station, named for Margaret Montour, who was either a daughter or a niece of the famous Madam Montour.

Gnadenhuetten, Pa. See page 130.

Glasswanoge. An Indian village on the west side of Roaring Creek at its mouth in Montour County.

Gahontoto. An ancient town of the Susquehannas, located at the mouth of Wyalusing Creek, Bradford County.

Ganagarahhare. An Indian village that stood at or near the mouth of French Creek, on or near the site of Franklin, Venango County.

Goschgoschunk. A Munsee Delaware village, also called Goshgoshing, which stood at the mouth of Tionesta Creek, near the present town of Tionesta, Forest County. Called Cushcushing by Col. Brodhead.

Hickory Town. A Delaware village of the Munsee Clan, situated at the mouth of Hickory Creek, Forest County.

Ingaren. A Tuscarora village, located at the site of Great Bend, Susque- hanna County.

Jenuchshadega. A Seneca village which was located on the Allegheny opposite Gawango, Warren County.

Keckenepaulin's (Kickenapauling's) Town. A Shawnee village, later, it would seem, occupied by Delawares also, located on the Kiskiminetas, near the mouth of Loyalhanna Creek, in Westmoreland County. Named after the Delaware chief, Kickenepaulin. Many historians have confused the loca- tion of this town with that of Conemaugh (which see). The error arises from the misplacing of Kickenapauling's Cabin, which was on the Quemahoning, near Jennerstown, Somerset County. C. F. Post, on his second journey to the Ohio, left the army of General Forbes at Ligonier, and then came, as he says, "to the old Shawneese town, called Keckkeknepolin." Being on his way to the Ohio, he, after leaving Ligonier, would certainly not travel back to Cone- maugh, now Johnstown, Cambria County. His journal of his second journey to the Ohio definitely shows the course he traveled.

King Beaver's Town. A Delaware 'village, also called Shingas' Town, located at the mouth of the Beaver River, in Beaver County.

750 PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Kiskiminetas or Kiskiminetas Town. A Delaware village, located on the Westmoreland County side of the Kiskimentas River, about seven miles from its junction with the Allegheny, and a few miles below Vandergrift. A monument marks its site.

Kittanning. A large and important town of the Delawares, founded probably as early as 1724 or 1725, located where the town of the same name on the east bank of the Allegheny, in Armstrong County, now stands. A part of the town was on the west side of the river. Destroyed by Colonel John Armstrong and his Scotch- Irish troops from the Cumberland Valley, on September 8th, 1756, but later rebuilt by the Indians. Kittanning was the residence of Captain Jacobs for some years prior to his death at the hands of Colonel Armstrong's troops. Shingas also resided here at times. A chief, named Captain Hill, of the Turtle Clan of Delawares, resided here in 1731.

Kuskuskies or Kuskuski. A group of Delaware towns whose center was at or near the site of the city of New Castle, Lawrence County. However, prior to the coming of the Delawares to this place, the Senecas had a village, called Kuskuski, at the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango Rivers. See pages 372 and 373.

Languntouteneunk. The Moravian Delaware village, also called Fried- ensstadt (city of peace), located on the Beaver River, in Lawrence County, between the mouths of the Shenago River and Slippery Rock Creek.

Lawpawpitton's (Lapachpiton's) Town. See Catawissa.

Lawunakhannek. A Moravian mission among the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located a few miles above Goschgoschunk (which see).

Lequepees, Probably Allaquippa's Town.

Letort's Town. The trading post of James Letort, near Shelocta, Indiana County.

Logan's Town. The village of the celebrated Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, at the mouth of the Beaver River, in Beaver County.

Logstown. An important town of Shawnees and Delawares, later also of mongrel Iroquois or Mingoes, established by the Shawnees probably as early as 1725, and located on the north bank of the Ohio about eighteen miles below Pittsburgh, just below the present town of Ambridge, Beaver County. It was burned by Scarouady during Washington's campaign in the summer of 1754 and later rebuilt by the French for their Delaware and Shawnee allies. Christian Frederick Post, in the journal of his second mission to the Ohio, describes the town so specifically as to leave no doubt of its location. See page 370. Logstown was the residence of the Iroquois vice-gerents, Tanac- harison and Scarouady.

Loyalhanna or Loyalhanning. A Delaware village that stood on the banks of Loyalhanna Creek and where the town of Ligonier, Westmoreland County, now stands. Layalhanning means "the middle stream" in the Dela- ware tongue — "lawel" (middle); "hanna" (a stream); "ing" (locative, at or at the place of). This stream is midway between the waters of the Ohio and the Juniata Rivers.

Maghingquechahocking. A town of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located at the junction of Conneaut Creek and French Creek, in the southern part of Crawford County. See pages 585 and 586.

Meniologameka. A Delaware village, located in Eldred Township, in the southern part of Monroe County.

Murdering Town or Muthering Town. A village on the Connoque- nessing, a few miles from Evans City, Butler County, as nearly as can be

PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA 751

determined. It was near this place that the hostile Indian fired upon Washing- ton as he was returning to Virginia from his mission to the French, December 27th, 1753.

Nescopeck or Niskebeckon. A Shawnee village, located on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, the site of the present town of Nescopeck, Luzerne County.

New Kaskaskunk. A Delaware village in the Kuskuskies region, located at or near where the town of Edinburg, Lawrence County, now stands. Some authorities give its location at or near New Castle in the same county.

Newtychanning. An Iroquois village on the site of North Towanda, Bradford County.

Nittabakonck. One of the Indian villages in the region of Philadelphia.

Nutimus Town. This was a Delaware town, named for the Munsee Delaware chief, Nutimus, and was located a short distance below the mouth of Nescopeck Creek and near the present town of Nescopeck, Luzerne County. After being driven from the bounds of the "Walking Purchase" in 1742, Nutimus and his followers settled here and on the site of the city of Wilkes- Barre.

Ohesson. A Shawnee village which stood at the site of the present town of Lewistown, Mififlin County. "Ohesson upon Choniata" (Juniata) was the residence of the friendly Shawnee chief, Kishacoquillas, from some time prior to 1731 until his death, in the summer of 1754. Ohesson is sometimes called Kishacoquillas' Town.

Opasiskunk. An Indian village located probably on the Susquehanna in the region of Conestoga Creek, Lancaster County.

Oscalui. A Susquehanna or Conestoga village, located at the mouth of Sugar Creek, Bradford County.

Oskohary. An Indian village at the mouth of Catawissa Creek, Columbia County, later called Lawpawpitton's Town. See Lawpawpitton's Town and Catawissa.

Ostonwakin. An Indian village of mixed population, located on both sides of Loyalsock Creek at its mouth, the site of the present town of Mon- toursville, Lycoming County, named for Madam Montour, who was one of the most renowned Indian characters and who lived at this Indian village for many years.

Otzinachson. A name applied to the lower part of the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

Paxtang. A Delaware (and later possibly Shawnee, also) village, located near the mouth of Paxtang Creek, which flows into the Susquehanna at Harris- burg. The great Delaware chief, Sassoonan or Allumapees, lived here from some time prior to 1709 until 1718, when he removed to Shamokin (Sunbury).

Connected with the history of Paxtang is the story of John Harris and the mulberry tree. Coming to the village in 1727, perhaps earlier, at about the time it was abandoned by the Delawares upon their westward migration, he established a trading house. A band of Indians, coming from the South, possibly a band of Iroquois returning from an expedition against the Catawbas, appeared at his trading house and requested rum. Seeing that they were already intoxicated, he refused their request, whereupon they bound him to a mulberry tree, and made preparations to burn him to death. His Negro slave, Hercules, seeing his terrible plight, ran to "a neighboring tribe" for assistance, perhaps to the Shawnees at their village on the western side of the Susque- hanna, at the site of the present town of New Cumberland, Cumberland County» Hercules returned with the friendly Indians, and they released Harris, who, out of gratitude to the slave, gave him his freedom. Harris re-

752 PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

quested that when he died he should be buried under this mulberry tree. His family objected, and desired that he permit them to bury him in the old bury- ing ground at Paxtang, whereupon he declared that, if they buried him there, he would walk back to the mulberry tree. This story was first published in 1828 by Hon. Samuel Breck who had heard it from the lips of Robert Harris, a son of John Harris. However, there is no reference to this thrilling incident in any of the letters of John Harris or in any documents relating to the time of Harris' residence at and near Paxtang. But the lack of documentary evidence should not cause one to conclude that the story is untrue. It is certainly not improbable. A painting of the scene is in the State Library of Pennsylvania. See illustration on the jacket of this book.

Passigachkunk. A Delaware and Seneca town, located on the Cowanes- que River, Tioga County, probably near the present Knoxville and Academy Corners.

Pechoquealin. The name of various settlements of Shawnees in Lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and also of the Shawnee town on the east side of the Delaware. The principal Pechoqealin village on the west side of the Delaware was at the mouth of Shawnee Run on and op- posite Shawnee Island in what is now Lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County.

Pequea. A Shawnee village on the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Pequea Creek, Lancaster County, the site of the present town of Pequea.

Playwickey or Plawiskey. A town of the Turtle Clan of Delawares, the residence of the great Delaware chief, Tamanend, located not far from the present town of Langhorne, Bucks County. The site has been marked by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Colonial Dames.

Pochapuchkug. An Indian town near the Lehigh Water Gap, inhabited by the Munsee Clan of Delawares. Captain Harris, the father of Teedyuscung, lived here at the time of the "Walking Purchase."

Punsxutawney. A Delaware village, located on Mahoning Creek, the site of the present town of Punxsutawney, Jefferson County. Among the captives who passed through the village, were Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger.

Pymatuning. A Delaware village which was located near the mouth of Pymatuning Creek, near Clarksboro, Mercer County.

Queen Esther's Town. An Indian town, located opposite the south- western shore of Tioga Point, Bradford County. Founded about 1772 by Esther Mountour, granddaughter of the famous Madam Montour and wife of the Munsee Delaware chief, Eghohowen. This town was destroyed by by Colonel Hartley in the autumn of 1778. Later Queen Esther settled near the head of Cayuga Lake, where she died. She is remembered principally on account of her beating the prisoners to death at "Queen Esther's Rock" or the "Bloody Rock" at the Wyoming massacre of July 3d, 1778. Her son is said to have been killed at Exter in the Wyoming Valley a short time before,' which no doubt led her to take the terrible revenge she did.

Oueonemysing. A town of the Unami or Turtle Clan of Delawares, located on Brandywine Creek, in the present Birmingham Township, Delaware County, about three miles south of Chadds Ford.

Ouilutamend or Quialutimack. An Indian village about seven miles above the mouth of the Lackawanna River and near the present town of Ran- som, Lackawanna County.

Rique. Possibly the largest town of the Fries, located at or near the site of the present city of Erie. See page 56.

Sauconk. A Shawnee and Delaware town, located on the Ohio about one mile below the mouth of the Beaver, in Beaver County.

PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA 753

Sakhauwotung. A Delaware village on the west bank of the Delaware, near Allen's Ferry, Northampton County.

Seekaughkunt. See Passigachkunt.

Senangelstown. Probably the same as Shannopin's Town (which see).

Sewickley or Sewickley Old Town. A town of the Sewickley Clan of Shawnees, located at the mouth of Big Sewickley Creek, Westmoreland County. This village stood near the present town of West Newton. There was another Shawnee town, called Sewickley, which stood on the north bank of the Allegheny, below Tarentum, Allegheny County. The Sewickley Shawnees are described in an affidavit made by Jonah Davenport on October 29, 1731, as "fifty families lately from South Carolina to Potowmack (Poto- mac), and from thence thither, making 100 men. Aqueloma is their chief." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 301 and 302.)

Shackamaxon. The chief town of the Turtle Clan of Delawares, located on the Delaware River at Kingston within the limits of Pniladelphia.

Shallyschocking. See Chillisquaque.

Shatnokin. The great Indian capital, located on the Susquehanna, just below the mouth of the North Branch, the site of the present town of Sunbury, Northumberland County. Sassoonan or Allumapees, a famous chief of the Delawares, lived here from 1718 until his death in the autumn of 1747. Also, Shikellamy, the great vice-regent of the Six Nations, resided here from the time of his removal from Shikellamy's Town (in 1737 or 1738), located on the West Branch of tne Susquehanna, about half a mile below the present town of Milton, until his death, December 17th, 1748.

Shannopin's Town. This was a Delaware town, named for the Delaware chief, Shannopin, and located on the east bank of the Allegheny about two miles from its mouth and within the limits of the city of Pittsburgh. The town was founded as early as 1730.

Shawnee Cabins. A temporary village of the Shawnees, located about a half mile east of Schellsburg, Bedford County.

Shawnee Flats. A name applied to the broad valley along the Susque- hanna River below the present Wilkes-Barre, being first applied to the flats on the west side of the river, where Plymouth, Luzerne County, now stands.

Skehandowa. See Wyoming.

Shenango. A Delaware town, located on the Shenango River, just below the present town of Sharon, Mercer County.

Sheshequin or Sheshecunnuck. An Indian town, located on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, the site of the present town of Ulster, Bradford County. Queen Esther, the most infamous of the Montours, the wife of Eghohowen, a chief of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, lived here until about 1772, when she removed six miles north and founded Queen Esther's Town.

Shikellamy's Town. The residence of Shikellamy, the vice-regent of the Iroquois from his first coming to the Susquehanna, in 1727, until his removal to Shamokin (Sunbury) in 1737 or 1738. It was located on the east bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, about half a mile below the present town of Milton, Northumberland County.

Shingas' Town. A Delaware village, also called King Beaver's Town, located at the mouth of the Beaver River, in Beaver County.

754 PRINCIPAL INDIAN TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Standing Stone. The name given the site of the present town of Hunting- don, Huntingdon County; also the large rock on the west bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, opposite the present Standing Stone, Bradford County.

Sugar Cabins. The site of the present Fort Lyttleton, Fulton County.

Ten Mile Lick. An important landmark on the trail leading from Franks- town to the "Forks of the Ohio" and vicinity, located near Spring Church, Kiskiminetas Township, Armstrong County.

Tioga. An important Indian town, located at Tioga Point, near Athens, Bradford County, made up of Delawares of the Munsee Clan, Mohicans, Tutelos and Nanticokes.

Tunkhannock. A Delaware and Nanticoke town, located on or near the site of the present town of that name, in Wyoming County. Also called Chinkhanning.

Venango. An Indian village which stood at the mouth of French Creek, the site of the present town of Franklin, Venango County.

Wapwallopen. An Indian town, located above the mouth of Wapwallopen Creek, which enters the North Branch of the Susquenanna from the east, in Luzerne County. It was a Delaware village, also called Wambhallobank and Opolopona.

Warren's Sleeping Place. The site of the present town of Apollo, Arm- strong County.

Wechquetank. A Delaware village and Moravian mission on Head's or Hoeth's Creek, Monroe County.

Wiccaco. The Delaware name for the region south of the old City of Philadelphia, but now within the city limits, north of Hollander Creek and along the Delaware River.

Written Rock. The name applied by Celoron to the Indian village where McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, now stands, which was the residence for a time of Queen Allaquippa.

Wyalusing. A town of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, located on the east side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, about two miles below the present town of Wyalusing, Bradford County.

Wyoming or Wyoming Town. The Shawnee town, located on the "Shawnee Flats," the site of the present town of Plymouth, Luzerne County. The most noted Shawnee chiefs who lived here were Kakowatchky and Paxi- nosa, before their migration to the Ohio. The name "Wyoming," however, is applied to all this part of the valley of the North Branch of the Susquehanna. Here also the great Delaware "King," Teedyuscung, had his residence, and here he was burned to death, April 16th, 1763.

APPENDIX E

List of Blockhouses Not Mentioned in the Text of This History

The following ninety blockhouses are not mentioned in the text of this history, but are set forth at this place in order to add to the value of the volume as a reference work. However, they are referred to in the index under "F," the specific sub-head being: "Forts, Blockhouses and Stations, location of and prin- cipal events connected with the same."

The locations of many of the blockhouses, erected in Pennsyl- vania during the Indian wars, have passed away from the memory of mankind. Even the locations of some of the principal forts were lost for a number of years. This was true of Fort Allen, at Herold's (Harrold's), about three miles west of Greensburg, Westmoreland County, until its location was definitely ascer- tained through the researches of Rev. W. A. Zundel, of Derry, Pa., who was bom and reared in that neighborhood. This fort was erected in the spring of 1774 by the German Lutheran and German Reformed settlers at Herold's and in the historic Brush Creek Valley. These sturdy men erected this fort at a time when most of the settlers of Westmoreland County had fled, owing to the tyranny of Doctor John Connolly, agent of Lord Dunmore, and owing to their fear that a bloody Indian war would devastate the Westmoreland settlements on account of Con- nolly's aggravating the Shawnees and also on account of the murder of the aged friendly Delaware, Joseph Wipey. This fort was the rallying place of not only Colonel Christopher Truby and his faithful neighbors, but also of all others in Westmoreland County who joined with the German settlers in resisting Vir- ginia's claims. It appears that the Pennsylvania court for West- moreland County held sessions at Fort Allen after Connolly broke up its sessions at Hannastown. It appears, too, that the log school house of the historic Old Zion Lutheran Church, erected near Fort Allen in 1772 by the German settlers in that neighborhood and in the Brush Creek Valley, was the first school in Western Pennsylvania.

756 LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES

Many of the author's ancestors, living in the neighborhood of Fort Allen, suffered at the hands of the Indians; and one of them, Anna Silvus, was captured by the Indians and spent most of her youth among them.

The venerable James Truby, of Kittanning, Pa., aged ninety- four years, a great-grandson of Col. Christopher Truby, com- mander of Fort Allen, revels in the lore of this historic fort and the strong men, such as Wendel Ourry, Philip Klingenschmidt^ Peter Altman, Ludwig Otterman, Christopher Herold and George Bender (the last an ancestor of the author), who were its de- fenders. He furnished the author with the account of the capture and rescue of Colonel Truby 's daughter, Mary Ann. She was captured by the Indians in 1779, and rescued shortly afterward near where the town of Clarion, Pa., now stands, by her father and William Jack.

It is gratifying to the author that The Pennsylvania Historical Commission has marked the site of this fort. If the present volume will add to the interest that Pennsylvanians should take in the matter of erecting monuments at important and famous places in Pennsylvania history, the author will feel that the immensity of labor in writing "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" was not in vain.

A

Anderson's Blockhouse — Erected in 7778 near where the town of Peters- burg, Huntingdon County, now stands.

Ashcraft's Blockhouse — Erected in 1774 in what is now Georges Township, Fayette County.

Aughwick Fort — See Croghan's Fort and Fort Shirley.

B Babel, Fort— See Fort Northkill.

Bayon's Blockhouse — Erected probably prior to the Revolutionary War in Cross Creek Township, Washington County.

Beckett's Blockhouse — Erected likely in 1774 somewhere on the Washing- ton County side of the Monongahela River.

Beeson's Blockhouse — Erected probably in 1774 where Uniontown, Fayette County, now stands.

Black Legs Blockhouse — Erected in 1780 at "the forks of Black Legs Creek," Indiana County.

Braybill's Blockhouse — Erected likely during the Post-Revolutionary Indian uprising, about one mile south of Brownsville, Fayette County.

Bosley's Fort or Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War where Washingtonville, Montour County, now stands.

LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES 757

"Fort Brink" — A blockhouse erected probably during the French and Indian War about three miles above Bushkill, Pike County.

Burgett's Blockhouse^Erected about 1780 where Burgettstown, Washing- ton County, now stands.

Bull Creek Blockhouse— Erected in 1783 at the mouth of Bull Creek, now Tarentum, Allegheny County.

Campbell's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1 774 in what is now West Finley Township, Washington County.

Gassell's (Castle's) Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774 just above the mouth of Little Redstone Creek, Fayette County.

Conwell's Blockhouse — Erected in 1774 near the present village of Mer- rittstown, Fayette County.

Craig's Blockhouse — See Shields' Fort.

Crawford's Blockhouse — Erected in May, 1774, by Valentine Crawford, brother of Col. William Crawford, near the present town of Perryopolis, Fayette County.

Graft's Blockhouse — Erected in 1774 about one mile northwest of the present village of Merrittstown, Fayette County. Also sometimes called Patterson's Blockhouse.

Clark's Blockhouse — Erected about 1790 near the mouth of Plum Creek, in the southeastern part of Armstrong County.

Claypoole's Blockhouse — Erected about 1791 on the east bank of the Allegheny just above the present town of Ford City, Armstrong County.

Crum's Blockhouse — Erected about 1779 in Barree Township, Huntingdon County.

D

Decker's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as the French and Indian War, in the southeastern part of Pike County.

Deshler's Blockhouse — The stone residence of Adam Deshler, erected prior to 1760 on the north bank of Coplay Creek, about three miles northwest of Catasauqua, Northampton County, and later fortified.

Dickey's Blockhouse — Erected about 1763, in Cumberland County, about ten miles east of the Susquehanna and on the south side of the Blue Hills.

Dinstnore's Blockhouse — Erected about 1794 in what is now Canton Township, Washington County.

Downey's Blockhouse — Erected probably in 1774 somewhere in Wash- ington County, probably in Cross Creek Township.

Dunn's Blockhouse — Erected probably in 1774, in Donegal Township, Washington County, near the West Virginia line.

Fort Durkee — Erected by Connecticut settlers in what is now the city of Wilkes-Barre, in the spring of 7769.

Enoch's Blockhouse — Erected about 1770 in Amwell Township, Washing- ton County.

758 LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES

Enlow's Blockhouse — Erected in 1775 in East Finley Township, Washing- ton County.

Elder's Blockhouse — Erected in 1886 in what is now Young Township, Indiana County.

Ferguson's Blockhouse — "Supposed to have been erected in 1774 near the present site of Carlisle Springs," Cumberland County. — Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.

Freeport Blockhouse — Erected about 1793 where the town of Freeport Armstrong County, now stands.

Gaddis' Blockhouse — Erected probably in 1774 in what is now Georges Township, Fayette County.

Green's Blockhouse — Erected about 1790 or 1791 where the town of Rosston, Armstrong County, now stands.

H

Fort Hartsog — Erected in 1778 near the site of the present town of Markles- burg, Huntingdon County.

Hendrick's Blockhouse (Perry County) — Erected probably as early as Pontiac's War.

Hendrick's Blockhouse (Snyder County) — Erected probably as early as Pontiac's War, in what is now Middle Creek Township, Snyder County.

Hoagland's Blockhouse — Erected about 1780 in what is now Smith Town- ship, Washington County.

Hupp's Blockhouse — Erected likely as early as 1769 in what is now East Bethlehem Township, Washington County.

Inyard's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War in what is now West Wheatfield Township, Indiana County.

Lamb's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774 somewhere in what is now Hopewell Township, Washington County.

Lead Mine Fort — Erected in 1778 in what is now Tyrone Township, Blair County. Also called Fort Roberdeau.

Lockry's Blockhouse — Erected in April, 1781 by Col. Archibald Lochry,

County Lieutenant of Westmoreland County, in what is now Unity Township, Westmoreland County. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 9, page 79.)

Lowrey's Blockhouse — Erected about 1778, in Canoe Valley, in Catherine Township, Blair County. The murder of Mrs. Matthew Dean and her children, described on page 537, took place not far from this Blockhouse.

Lucas' Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774 in what is now Nicholson Township, in the southwestern part of Fayette County.

Lytle's Blockhouse — Erected very likely during the Revolutionary War, in Porter Township, Huntingdon County.

LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES 759

M

Marshel's (Marshall's) Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War in what is now Cross Creek Township, Washington County, by James Marshel, County Lieutenant of Washington County.

Mason's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774, near Mason- town, Fayette County.

Marchand's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774 in what is now Hempfield and about four miles west of Greensburg, Westmoreland County.

Mead's Blockhouse — Erected in the summer of 1794 where the town of Meadville, Crawford County, now stands. See pages 696, 697. Among the early settlers in the vicinity of Mead's Blockhouse, was Frederick Baum, whose eight-year-old daughter, Barbara, was captured by the Indians in the spring of 1783, near Burnt Cabins, Fulton County, but was released by an aged Indian to whom she had often given bread and other food when he resided near her home.

Minteer's Fort or Blockhouse — Erected in the spring of 1774, near the Youghiogheny River and Jacobs' Creek, Fayette County.

Martin's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War in what is now West Providence Township, Bedford County.

Mill Creek Fort — Erected in 1772 at the mouth of Mill Creek, now within the limits of the city of Wilkes-Barre.

Mc

McDowell's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War in or near what is now the village of Madison, Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County.

McCoy's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774 in South Union Township, Fayette County.

McDonald's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War, at least prior to April, 1782, where the town of McDonald, Washington County, now stands. ("Washington- Irvine Correspondence," pages 298 and 299.)

McCartney's Blockhouse — Erected probably in the latter years of the Revolutionary War, in what is now Buffington Township, Indiana County.

McConaughy's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War, near the junction of Two Lick Creek and Cherry Run, Indiana County. Shortly before the erection of this blockhouse, John White and Andrew Simpson were attacked by Indians near the mouth of Black Lick Creek, Indiana County, while on their way to warn a settlement below of danger. Simpson was killed, but White escaped with a broken arm.

McAlvey's Blockhouse — Erected about 1778, on Standing Stone Creek, in Jackson Township, Huntingdon County.

McCallister's Blockhouse — Erected probably in 1763 or 1764, in the northwestern corner of Cumberland County.

McComb's Blockhouse — Erected probably during Pontiac's War, at or near Doubling Gap, Cumberland County.

O

Ogden's Fort — A fort which was located where Mill Creek Fort (which see) was later built.

760 LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES

Pearse's Blockhouse — Erected probably as early as 1774, in North Union Township, about four miles from Uniontown, Fayette County.

Patterson's Blockhouse — See Craft's Blockhouse.

Piper's Blockhouse — Erected about 1777, in Hopewell Township, Bedford County, about six miles northwest of the present town of Everett.

Potter's Blockhouse — Erected in 1777 by Colonel James Potter, near the present borough of Centre Hall, Centre County. This blockhouse is some- times referred to as the "Old" or "Upper" Fort in Penn's Valley. Captain Finley's engagement, mentioned on page 542, took place not far from this fort.

Pomroy or Pomeroy's Fort or Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolu- tionary War by Colonel James Pomroy, about a mile from Barr's Fort in the Derry settlement and about half a mile from Millwood Station on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Westmoreland County. During the raid in Westmoreland County in the spring of 1781, mentioned on page 634, Colonel Pomroy, on April 1st, was at work in his field with several of his hired men, when they were fired upon by Indians and one of the men was killed. Pomroy then fled to his blockhouse, while two of his men fled to Fort Barr and related what had occurred; whereupon James Barr and James Wilson mounted their horses and left Fort Barr to go to Pomroy's assistance. From a hilltop near Pomroy's house, they saw several Indians skulking about the house. Barr and Wilson left their horses and dashed into the Pomroy house unharmed. They found that Pomroy and his wife, Hannah, had been making a gallant defense of their home for several hours. They had hidden their children under the heavy oak floor, and then went to the loft, where Pomroy, using two rifles, fired at the Indians, while his wife loaded the weapons and handed them to him, meanwhile frequently taking liberal "pinches of snuff." Upon the arrival of Barr and Wilson, the Indians fled. The white persons then went to Fort Barr. On the following day, Colonel Archibald Lochry, with a de- tachment of militia, visited the Pomroy house. He found that the blockhouse had been broken open and its contents carried off. He also found in the field the dead body of Pomroy's hired man. Another hired man, who fled, was never heard of again. (See Col. Archibald Lochry's letter of April 2nd to Col. Brodhead in Penna. Archives, Vol. 9, page 51.)

R Riffle's Blockhouse — Erected about 1779, in Nicholson Township, Fayette County.

Robinson's Blockhouse — Erected about 1781 in what is now Conemaugh Township, Indiana County.

Rook's Blockhouse — See Rugh's Blockhouse.

Roller's Blockhouse — Erected during the Revolutionary War, at the head of Sinking Valley, Blair County. See last paragraph on page 644.

Fort Roberdeau — See Lead Mine Fort.

S Fort Schwartz — Erected during the Revolutionary War, on the east bank of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, about a mile above the present town of Milton, Northumberland County.

Six's Blockhouse — See Dietrick Six's Fort.

Spark's Blockhouse — Erected about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, in Perry Township, Fayette County.

Schuylkill Fort — See Fort Lebanon.

LIST OF BLOCKHOUSES 761

Striker's Blockhouses — Two blockhouses, erected about three hundred yards apart, during the Revolutionary War, in what is now Buffalo Township, Washington County.

Stokely's Blockhouse — Erected probably before the Revolutionary War, on Big Sewickley Creek, about half a mile from Waltz' Mill, Westmoreland County. A man, named Chambers, was captured near this blockhouse during the Revolution, and returned after several years of captivity.

Taylor's Blockhouse — Erected probably during the Revolutionary War, where the village of Taylorstown, Washington County, now stands.

Thompson's Blockhouse — Erected in 1790, in Rayne Township, about six miles northeast of the present town of Indiana, Indiana County.

Turner's Blockhouse — Erected probably during the Revolutionary War, in what is now Robinson Township, Washington County.

W

Walker's Blockhouse — Erected probably during the Revolutionary War, in what is now Donegal Township, Washington County.

Wallower's Blockhouse — Erected probably during the Revolutionary War, in what is now Donegal Township, Washington County.

Williamson's Blockhouse — Erected about 1776 by Col. David Williamson, leader at the Gnadenhuetten (Ohio) Massacre. This blockhouse was located a few miles northwest of the present village of Taylorstown, Washington County.

Wilson's Blockhouse — Erected in the Derry settlement, about a mile northeast of New Derry, Westmoreland County, during the Revolutionary War, by Major James Wilson. See Pomroy's Blockhouse, above, for account of Major Wilson's experiences. There was also a Wilson's Blockhouse, in Washington County, probably in Donegal Township and about twelve miles from the Ohio River, erected likely during the Revolutionary War.

Woodruff's Blockhouse — Erected probably during the Revolutionary War, in the southern part of Amwell Township, Washington County. It was built on an Indian mound, where many bones and relics were found in later years.

Wright's Blockhouse — Erected as early as 1782 somewhere in Washington County, probably in East Finley or West Finley Township. (See Penna. Archives, Sixth Series, Vol. 2, page 257). The records of the Supreme Execu- tive Council show an order drawn on the State Treasurer, on March 21st, 1783, in favor of Matthew Ritchie for twenty-five pounds to be paid by him to Alexander Wright, of Wright's Blockhouse, Washington County, and William Minor, the same being reward for two Indian scalps.

ZoUarsville Fort — This seems to have been an Indian earthwork, erected in the far, dim past in what is now West Bethlehem Township, Washington County. Many bones and Indian relics have been found at this place. Earle R. Forrest, in his "History of Washington County," says that when he visited the place on October 5th, 1924, a section of the earthwork could be traced.

INDEX

Readers who wish to use this history for local reference, will find, under the various counties in the index, the principal local events during the Indian wars and uprisings. Attention is also called to the fact that, under "F" (sub-head, "Forts, Blockhouses and Stations, location of and principal events connected with same"), will be found the locations of about two hundred and seventy-five forts, blockhouses and other places of refuge and defense, in use during the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsylvania.

Abandoned expeditions, the, 679, 680.

Abercrombie, Gen. James, appointed commander-in-chief, 355, 356.

Abbot, John, killed, 555.

Abbot, Rachel, her child killed by Glik- kikan who repents, 654.

Adams County; events in during French and Indian War, 378, 381.

Adario, great Huron chief, quoted, 26, 27.

Adjouquay (see Appendix D).

Adjuta (see Appendix B).

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 177.

Adolphus, Gustavus, king of Sweden, plans Swedish colony on the Delaware, 59.

Akansea, history of, 57.

Allen, Fort (Westmoreland County), 498, 505, 574, 486, 634, 635, 669, 755, 756.

Allen, Fort (Carbon County), 253, 255, 256, 323.

Allen, Fort (Washington County), 497.

Allen family, attack on, 618.

AUaquippa, Queen (see Queen Allaquippa). (See also Allaquippa's Town in Appen- dix D.)

Algonquin family, tribes composing, 34.

Albert, Frantz, killed, 285.

Alexander, Robert, killed, 563.

Allegheny County; events in during Celo- ron's expedition, 138, 139; events in during Washington's mission to the French and his campaign of 1754, 145, 146, 150, 152 to 154; events in during French and Indian War, 186 to 190, 194, 362, 367, 370 to 372, 400 to 402; events in during Pontiac's War, 418 to 424, 448, 478; events in during Lord Dunmore's War, 489, 490, 493; events in during Revolutionary War, 527 to 529, 535, 568 to 571, 575, 578, 581, 584, 608 to 610, 627, 636, 639, 652, 653, 658, 671, 672; events in during Post-Revolutionary Uprising, 691, 693, 710, 711. (See also Bouquet's expedi- tion, Forbes' expedition. Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne, etc.)

Allemangle, murders in, 345.

Allen Township Presbyterian Church, 457.

Allison, James, 681.

Allison, John, 223.

Allumapees (see Sassoonan).

Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, appointed com- mander-in-chief of British forces in America, 423; suggests to Col. Bouquet that Indians be inoculated with small- pox, 423, 424, 439.

Amos, Teedyuscung's son, 258.

Andaggy-Jungquagh, chief of the Cones- togas, 83.

Anderson, William, killed, 431.

Anderson, William, attack on, 587.

Anderson's Blockhouse, location of (see Appendix E.)

Antes, Col. John Henry, 520.

Antes Creek, 520.

Antes, Fort, 520, 558.

Anders family, members of, killed, 241.

Arbuckle, Captain Matthew, 504.

Archer, Elizabeth, killed, 293.

Armstrong, Lieutenant Edward, killed, 295.

Armstrong, Jack, killed, 125; Jack's Narrows named for, 125.

Armstrong, Mrs. James, 264.

Armstrong, Fort, 584, 585.

Armstrong, Colonel John, describes in- vasion of Great and Little Coves and Conolloways, 219; destroys Kittanning, 304 to 314; pursues Indians, 435, 436; his letter concerning the murder of the Conestogas, 467; his expedition against Great Island in Pontiac's War, 452; raises English flag over ruins of Fort Duquesne, 401.

Armstrong County, events in during the French and Indian War, Chapter XIII; events in during the Revolutionary War, 512 to 514, 530, 584; events in during Post-Revolutionary uprising, 694, 695, 702, 703, 705, 706, 707, 708.

Ashcraft's Blockhouse, location of (see Appendix E).

Assarughney (see Appendix D). (Also page 279.)

Assinnissink, 241.

Asswikales Clan of Shawnees, 47.

Assunepachla (see Appendix D).

Adigo, Atiga, Atique, etc. (see Kittanning).

Atkins, Edmund, 329, 390.

INDEX

763

Augsburg Confession, 61.

Atlee, Samuel J., 687.

"Augusta Regiment," 254.

Auburn, 301; Logan, chief of the Mingoes born at, 490.

Aughwick, 173, 179, 204 (see also Appen- dix D).

Augusta, Fort, 253, 254, 294, 461, 487, 522, 559, 597.

Aughwick Fort (see Crogan's Fort and Fort Shirley).

B

Babel, Fort (see Fort Northkill).

Bald Eagle, kills James Brady, 544 to 546; killed by Captain Samuel Brady, 573 to 577.

Bald Eagle (not the chief killed by Samuel Brady), murder of, 289.

Bailey, William, captured, 688.

Baldwin, Sergeant Thomas, 677.

Bane, Captain Joseph in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Barr, Fort, 532, 518.

Barefoot or Hochitqgete, 32.

Bard, Richard, capture of family of, 381 to 383.

Barton, Rev. Thomas, describes massacres, 264.

Bashore, John Michael, killed, 543.

Baskins, Robert, killed, 289.

Baskinsville, 289.

Bassler, Rev. Gottlieb, baptizes Samuel Mohawk, 710

Baum, Barbara, capture and release of (see Mead's Blockhouse in Appendix E).

Bauman, John, killed, 255.

Bayon's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Bayard, Colonel Stephen, erects Fort Armstrong, 584, 585; advises General Irvine of murders, 680.

Beatty, killed, 349.

Beaver County, events in during Celoron's expedition, 138, 139; events in during Washington's mission to the French and his campaign of 1754, 146, 167 ; events in during the French and Indian War, 361, 369; events in during the Revolutionary

War, 571, 577, 584, 609; events in during Post-Revolutionary uprising, 582, 691.

Beaver Dams, 305.

Beeman's Blockhouse, 497.

Beeler, Fort, 497.

Beeson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Bedford County, events in during the French and Indian War, 393; events in during Pontiac's War, 431, 441; events in during the Revolutionary War, 623 to 625, 645, 522 to 526.

Bedford, Fort, 428 to 430.

Beeson, Captain John in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Beckett's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Bell, Samuel, attack on, 248.

Belt of Wampum, 276.

Benham, Robert, 536.

Benjamin and Brown families, attack on, 520, 521.

Bennett, Thomas, 611.

Berks County, events in during the French and Indian War, 234 to 237, 269, 272, 285, 300 to 302, 346, 347, 349, 383; events in during Pontiac's War, 453, 454.

Berry, Captain, killed, 540.

Bethlehem, founded, 129, 130.

Bezallion, Peter, 82.

Bickel, Henry, killed, 643.

Big Cat, 628, 652, 697.

Big Foot, his fight with Andrew Poe, 631, 632.

Big Island, 48 (see also Appendix D).

Big Tree, 693; sketch of, 556.

Biggs, Captain John in Crawford's expedi- tion, 659.

Bilderback, Captain Charles in Crawford's expedition, 659.

Bingham's Fort, 261 ; captured by Indians, 286.

Blacksnake, 581.

Black Eagle, 699.

Black Legs Town (see Appendix D).

Black Legs Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Black Lick Creek, murders on, 516.

Black Minquas, 57.

Black Prince, 129.

Blair, James, killed, 273.

Blair, William, killed, 352.

Blair County, events in during Revolu- tionary War, 519, 526, 529 to 531, 537, 538, 623, 624, 644, 645.

Blane, Lieutenant Archibald, 424.

Blanchard, Captain Jeremiah, 551.

Blanchard, Joseph, captured, 555.

Blanket Hill, 312, 513.

Blockhouses, stations and forts, distinc- tion between 254 (see also Forts and Blockhouses).

Bloody Rock, 550.

Bloody Spring, murder at, 294.

Blue Jacket, leads Shawnees at Harmar's defeat, 692; leads Shawnees at St. Clair's defeat, 699; leads Shawnees at battle of Fallen Timbers, 713; sketch of, 715.

Blue Rock, 31.

Boatman, Mrs. Claudius, killed, 675.

Boemper, Christian, killed, 263.

Boggs, Lydia, captured, 681.

Boice, Wison, family of captured, 681.

Boone, Daniel at Braddock's defeat, 198, 199.

Boone, Fort, 696.

Boone, Captain Hawkins, 596.

Bosley's Fort (see Appendix E).

764

INDEX

Bounties for Indian scalps, Pennsylvania offers during French and Indian War, 281 to 283; Pennsylvania offers during Pontiac's War, 472, 473; Pennsylvania offers during Revolutionary War 625, 626.

Bounties for American scalps, British give their Indian allies during Revolutionary War, 506 to 509.

Boscawen, Admiral, 356

Bouquet, Colonel Henry, sketch of 388; in General Forbes' campaign against Fort Duquesne, Chapter XVII; defeats Indians at Battle of Bushy Run, 439 to 449; expedition of, to the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, 475 to 482.

Bower, Thomas, attack on home of, 235.

Boyd, Captain John, capture and other experiences of, 645.

Boyd, Lieutenant Thomas, cruel death of, 605, 606 (see also Adjuta, Caneadea and Genesee Castle in Appendix B).

Boyd, Rhoda, escapes from Col. Bouquet and returns to Indians, 482.

Boyd, William, killed, 273.

Boyer family, attack on, 293.

Bozarth, Mrs. Experience, prowess of, 586, 587.

Brackenridge, H. H., 662; defends Ma- machtaga, 671; mentions Walker atroc- ity, 672.

Braddock, General Edward, arrives in Virginia, 177; campaign of. Chapter VI; defeated at Battle of the Monongahela, 187 to 191; death of, 193; faults of, 200 to 202; effects of defeat of, 199, 200; his conversation with Franklin, 178; his Indian allies, 179 to 181; grave of, 193.

Bradford County, events in during French and Indian War, 321; events in during Revolutionary War, 562, 599, 612, 613.

Bradstreet, Col. John, expedition of, 475; makes peace with Delawares and Shawnees at Presqu' Isle, 477; Colonel Bouquet disregards action of in making peace with Delawares and Shawnees, 477.

Brady, Fort, 594.

Brady, James, murder of, 544 to 546.

Brady, Captain John, murder of, 573.

Brady, Captain Samuel, appointed leader of scouts, 573; his vow, 546, 574 murder of his brother, James, 544 to 546 murder of his father, Captain John, 573 kills Bald Eagle, 573 to 577; other ex- ploits of, 577 to 582; tried for killing of Indians, 582; receives rewards for Indian scalps, 626; scouting with Phouts, 635; his famous leap, 579, 580; death of, 582.

Brant, Joseph, sketch of, 556, 557; at battle of Minisink, 598, 599; opposes General Sullivan's advance, 602; am-

bushes Col. Lochry, 637, 638; leads Indians at St. Clair's defeat, 699.

Braybill's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Breastwork Hill, 394.

Breitenbach's Blockhouse, 213, 261.

Brickell, John, capture of, 697, 698.

Brink, Fort (see Appendix E).

Brinton, John, in Crawford's expedition, 659.

Brison, James, 668.

British agents, cause Post- Revolutionary uprising of Indians, 688.

British scalp bounties in Revolutionary War, 506 to 509, 643.

Brodhead family, attack on, 244.

Brodhead, Col. (later Gen.) Daniel, takes command of Fort Pitt, succeeding Gen. Mcintosh, 572; leads Eighth Penn. Regt., 566 to 568; at treaty of alliance with Delawares, 568 to 570; his expedi- tion against the Senecas and Munsee Clan of Delawares, 584 to 586; goes to relief of settlers on the West Branch, 561; destroys Coshocton, 627 to 630; did kill prisoners at Coshocton, 629; given Indian name by friendly Dela- wares, 639; opposes and then assists Gen. Clark's draft, 636; succeeded in command of Fort Pitt by Gen. Irvine, 639.

Brosius, Sebastian, killed, 237.

Brown, Basil, 536.

Brown, Coleman, killed, 496.

Brown, Enoch, murder of him and his pupils, 473, 474.

Brown, Jane, 690.

Brown, John, 690.

Brown and Benjamin families, attack on, 520, 521.

Brown's Fort, murders near, 297 (see also 261).

Brownlee, Lieutenant, 610; murder of, 667.

Bruce, Captain William, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Brule, Estienne, 31.

Brush Creek, settlers on murdered, 486; settlers on oppose Virginia's claim, 486; settlers on petition Gen. Irvine, 664; massacre at Philip Klingensmith's in settlement on, 635 ; attack on Walthour's blockhouse in settlement on, 637, 638; settlement on attacked during Hannas- town raid, 667; raid on during 1781, 657, 658 (see also 695).

Buccaloons or Buckaloon, 410 (see also Appendix D).

Buchanan, Arthur, 296.

Buckongahelas, warns Moravian Dela- wares, 651; leads Delawares at St. Clair's defeat, 699; leads Delawares at Battle of Fallen Timbers, 713; sketch of, 715.

INDEX

765

Bull Creek Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Bull, Captain, son ^^f Teedyuscung, in- vades Northampton County, 459; in- vades Wyoming Valley, 459 to 462; captured, 476.

Burd, Fort (Fort Redstone), 404.

Burd Road, 178.

Burd, Col. James, 178, 355, 398, 461.

Burgett's Blockhouse (see Appendix Ej.

Burnett, killed, 633, 634.

Burns, Patrick, 219.

Burman, Nicholas, killed, 257.

Burnt Cabins, 121.

Bushy Run, battle of, 439 to 449.

Busse's Fort, 253.

Butler County , Washington passes through on mission to the French, 146, 148, 149; events in during French and Indian War, 367 ; events in during Revolutionary War 585; events in during Post-Revolution- ary uprising, 703; Wigton family mur- dered in, 710.

Butler, Col. John, leads British and Tories at Wyoming massacre, 546, 550; op- poses General Sullivan, 602; enlists Iroquois in British service, 506.

Butler, General Richard, comments of, on cause of Lord Dunmore's War, 493, 494; at Fort Mcintosh treaty and purchase, 688; killed at St. Clair's defeat, 318, 319, 701.

Butler, Captain Walter, son of Col. John, opposes General Sullivan, 602.

Butler, Col. Zebulon, commands Ameri- cans at Wyoming massacre, 550, 554; again defends Wyoming Valley, 588, 589.

Byerly, Andrew, flees with family to Fort Ligonier, 424, 425; in battle of Bushy Run, 442, 443.

Byerly 's Station, 442.

Cady, Abel, killed, 520.

Calhoun, Thomas, tells of murder of traders at outbreak of Pontiac's War, 420.

Cambria County, events in during Revolu- tionary War, 530, 531.

Cameron County, events in during Revo- lutionary War, 645.

Camerhof, Bishop, 360.

Campanius, Rev. John, translates Martin Luther's Catechism, 62.

Campbell, Alexander, killed, 691.

Campbell, Rev. Alexander, 690.

Campbell, Charles, captured, 516, 517.

Campbell, Mrs., killed, 517.

Campbell, Michael, killed, 539.

Campbell, Robert, house of attacked, 431.

Campbell, Captain, at battle of Bushy Run, 439 to 449.

Campbell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Camp Charlotte, 500. Camp Monacatoocha, 184. Canachquasy (Captain New Castle),

peace efforts of, 321, 322; death of, 331. Canadasaga (see Appendix B). Canassatego, orders Delawares from

bounds of Walking Purchase, 114 to 116. Canaserage (see Appendix D). Candel, Rudolf, killed, 237. Candowsa (see Appendix D). Caneadea (see Appendix B). Canoe Place, 686. Canoe Valley, 537. Captain Bull (see Bull, Captain). Captain Jack, a mythical character, 181,

182. "Captain Jack, the Scout," McKnight's,

referred to, 182. Captain Pipe, succeeds Custaloga, 414;

defends Moravian missionaries, 630;

burns Col. William Crawford at the

stake, 661; meets Major Ephraim

Douglass on latter's peace mission, 682;

town of, 682; at treaty of alliance with

Delawares, 568 to 570. Carantouan, 30. Carbon County, events in during French

and Indian War, 241, 242, 244, 245, 255;

events in during Pontiac's War, 456;

events in during Revolutionary War,

619. Carlisle, 223; refuges at during Pontiac's

War, 430, 438, 440. Carnahan, John, killed, 515. Carnahan's Blockhouse, attack on, 515,

516; Lochry's expedition assembles at,

636. Carter, John, killed, 706. Carter, Sarah, 704. Carleton, Sir Guy, puts end to British

scalp bounties, 679. Carpenter, John, captured, 647. Carr, Captain, killed, 563. Cassell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Cartlidge, Edmund, 25. Casnet, Captain Joseph, 672. Cassewago (see Cussewago). Castleman, William, 631. Catawissa, 47, 52 (see also Appendix D). Catawbas, 82, 86, 87, 88, 110, 150; assist

Pennsylvania, 249; they and Cherokees

attack Delawares and Shawnees, 337. Catawba Indian Trail, 184. Catherine's Town, 602. Catfish (Washington), persons killed by

Indians near, 680. Catfish Camp (Washington) (see Appendix

D). Catfish, a Delaware Chief (see Catfish

Camp in Appendix D). Caulkins Creek, 462.

766

INDEX

Cayuga Castle (see Appendix B).

Cayugas, member of Iroquois Confedera- tion, 38.

Celeron's expedition, 137 to 139.

Centre County, events in during Revolu- tionary War, 542.

Chambers, Fort, 228.

Chambers, Col. Benjamin, describes in- vasion of Coves and Conolloways, 218.

Chambers, James, captured, 635.

Chambers, James, killed, 618.

Chambers, William, killed, 273.

Champlain, 30.

Chapman, Asa, 678.

Character, Indian, 18 to 22, 381, 743.

Chartier, Peter, protects Shawnee mur- derers, 92; deserts to the French, 127; sketch of, 127, 128.

Chartier's Old Town, 127, 367 (see Appen- dix D).

Chartiers Creek, 494.

Chemung, 562 (see Appendix B).

Chenastry or Chenastrys (see Appendix D). (Also page 47.)

Chenussic (see Appendix B).

Cherry, John, 631.

Cherry, Fort, 497, 631.

Cherokees, 86, 88, 110, 150; driven from the Ohio Valley, 45, 331; alliance of secured by Atkins, 329; assist Pennsyl- vania, 249; they and Catawbas attack Delawares and Shawnees, 337 (see also 357,358).

Chillasquaque, 49 (see also Appendix D).

Chilloway, Job, interpreter at alliance with Delawares, 569; sketch of, 569.

Chinkanning (see Tunkhannock). (See also Appendix D).

Chinklacamoose, 206, 299; Captain Pat- terson's expedition against, 355 (see also Appendix D).

Choharo (see Appendix B).

Christina, Queen of Sweden, 59.

Christina, Fort, 60.

Christ Lutheran Church, 237.

Christianity, Swedes convert Delawares to, 62.

Christian's Spring, 261.

Christie, Ensign John, in command of Fort Presqu' Isle, 415.

Christy, Rev. Adward, 649.

Chondote (see Appendix B).

Chugnut, 280.

Civility, Chief, 88, 89.

Clans of Delawares, 36, 37.

Clark, Col. (later Gen.) George Rogers, he and his followers "declare war" on Shawnees, 489, 490; captures Col. Henry Hamilton, the "hair-buyer," 507, 535; first expedition of, 535; draft of for expedition against Detroit, 635, 636; fail- ure of expedition of against Detroit, 638.

Clark, William, 221.

Clarion County, events in during French

and Indian War, 360; events in during

Revolutionary War, 576, 642. Claypoole's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Clayton, Major Asher, invades Wyoming

Valley, 461. Clear Fields, 312. Clearfield County, events in during

French and Indian War, 299, 355. Clemens, Miss, 673. CUnton, DeWitt, quoted, 43, 44. Clinton, Gen. James, 600, 602 (see also

Appendix B). Clinton County, events in during French

and Indian War, 299, 365; events in

during Revolutionary War, 541, 559,

617. Clistowackin (see Appendix D). Cluggage, Major Robert, 623. Cochran, Robert, killed, 286. Cock Eye's Cabin (see Appendix D). Coe's Station, 704. Cola, killed, 237. Colman, Nicholas, killed, 255. Coleman, Michael and Thomas, 519. Columbia County, events in during the

Revolutionary War, 562, 593, 614 to 616. Conciliation of the Senecas in 1790, 692,

693. Condawhaw (see Appendix B). Conejehela or Conejoholo (see Appendix

D). Conemaugh Old Town (see Appendix D). Conestoga, 33 (see also Appendix D). Conestogas, murdered by "Paxtang (or

Paxton) Boys," 33, 463 to 469. Conestogas, history of, 28 to 33; murdered

by settlers from Paxtang, 33, 463 to

469. Confederation of Iroquois formed, 38, 39. Confluence (see Turkey Foot). Congruity, Eve Ourry buried at, 668. Connecticut settlers, massacre of, 459 to

462. Connecticut, claims of to Wyoming Valley,

377. Conner, John, 672.

Conococheague Valley, devastated, 292. Conodoquinet Manor, 98. Connejaghera, 53 (see Conejehela). Conihunto (see Appendix B). Connellsville, 489.

Conolloways, invasion of, 218 to 223. Connolly, Dr. John, takes command of

Fort Pitt, 488, 489; active in bringing

on Lord Dunmore's War, 490, 493;

succeeded by General Edward Hand as

commander of Fort Pitt, 527; flees from

Pittsburgh, 512. Conoy, history of, 53. Conoy Town, 53.

INDEX

767

Contrecoeuer, Captain, takes possession of Forks of the Ohio, 152 to 154; erects Fort Duquesne, 154.

Conwell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Cook, Col. Edward, deplores Gnaden- huetten massacre, 652; assembles militia at Hannastown, 667.

Cook, George, 705.

Cook, Lieut. John captured, 645.

Corbly atrocity, 656, 657.

Corbly, Rev. John, 656, 657.

Coreorgonel (see Appendix B).

Corlear, 101.

Cornplanter, probably not at Braddock's defeat, 191, 643; appears before Penn- sylvania Council and President Wash- ington, 693; his relatives killed, 693; not in battle with Col. Brodhead's troops, 585; quoted as to British scalp bounties, 643; sketch of, 716, 717.

Cornstalk, same as Tamenebuck, 128; asks that Chartier's Shawnees be for- given, 128; peace efforts of in Lord Dunmore's War, 492 to 499; commands Shawnees at battle of Point Pleasant, 498, 499; murder of, 503, 504.

Coshecton (see Appendix D).

Coshiston massacre, 566.

Cousins, William, 706.

Councils (see Treaties and Councils).

Covenhoven, Robert 540, 559, 560, 561.

Cox, Gabriel, 636.

Coxe, John and Richard, capture of, 266 to 269.

Coxe's Fort, 497.

Coycacolenne, 25.

Craft's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Craik, Dr. James, 159, 189.

Craig, Captain Isaac, 636.

Craig, Lieut. Samuel, fate of, 518.

Craig's Blockhouse (see Shields' Fort).

Craig's "History of Pittsburgh," error in regarding Col. Brodhead, 629.

Grain, Lieut., 644.

Cresap, Capt. Michael, 490, 491; blamed for killing Logan's family, 496.

Cramer, 505.

Crawford, Fort, 573.

Crawford, John in Col. Lochry's expedi- tion, 638; in expedition of his father. Col. William Crawford, 660, 662.

Crawford, Colonel William, at treaty of alliance with Delawares, 568 to 570; helps raise troops for Coscocton cam- paign, 627; expedition of against Sandusky, 659 to 664; torture of, 661, 662 (see also page 491).

Crawford County, events in during French and Indian War, 146, 147; events in during Post-Revolutionary Uprising, 696, 697.

Crawford, Valentine, 491.

Crawford's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Croghan, George, suggests present to Indians of Ohio Valley, 131; goes to Logstown with Pennsylvania's present, 132; purchases first lands ever sold a white man by the Indians of the Ohio Valley, 139; in Washington's campaign of 1754; at Virginia treaty at Logstown, 140, 141; placed in charge of Indian affairs in Pennsylvania by Sir William Johnson, 333; at Grand Council at Easton, 373 to 377; loses his office as Indian agent, 510, 511; testimony of, as to faithfulness of Indians to their agree- ments, 411, 412; sketch of, 168 to 170.

Croghan's Fort, 204, 276, 308 (see Fort Shirley).

Cross Creek, 587.

Cross' Fort, 353.

Croushores, John, killed, 348.

Crowe family, murder of, 688, 689.

Crozier, James, 704.

Crozier, Mary Ann, 704.

Cruelty, Indian, no greater than that of the white man, 20, 195, 196, 485, 463 to 469.

Cruikshank, Andrew, 666, 667.

Crum's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Culbertson, Capt. Alexander, killed, 273.

Culbertson, John, killed, 293.

Culmore, Mrs. Philip, killed, 300.

Cumberland County, events in during French and Indian War, 247, 248, 276 to 279, 285, 289 to 292, 351 to 353; events in during Pontiac's War, 430 to 438, 440, 441; events in during Revolu- tionary War, 531, 567, 624.

Cunningham, Susan King, killed, 474.

Cussewago (see Appendix D). (Also pages 147, 414.)

Custaloga, sketch of, 412 to 414; holds councils with Col. Bouquet, 479.

Custaloga's Town, 147, 414 (see Appendix D).

D

Danner, killed, 346.

Darke, Col., at St. Clair's defeat, 700.

Darmes, Mr., killed, 641.

Dauphin Countv, events in during French

and Indian War, 271, 297, 298, 333,

349; events in during Revolutionary

War, 560. Davenport, Jonas, 314. Davis' Blockhouse, 261. Davis, James and his son killed near Fort

Walthour, 680. Davis, James, family of murdered in

Greene County, 688, 689. Davy, the lame Indian, 657, 658. Dean, Mr., murder of, 285.

768

INDEX

Dean, Matthew, his wife and children killed, 537.

Decker's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Dehgewanus, Indian name for Mary Jemison, 378.

Dekanoagah, 53 (see Appendix D).

Dekanawida, 39.

Delancy, Governor, 177.

Delawares, clans of, 36, 37; traditional history of; subjugated by Iroquois, 38 to 42; westward migration of, 42, 43; relations of with the Swedes and William Penn, Chapter III; protest rum traffic, 25; defrauded by "Walking Purchase," 110 to 118; go over to the French, 200, 203; first invasion of, Chapter VII; councils and treaties with during French and Indian War, Chapters XIV and XVI; join Pontiac's Uprising, 412, 413; treaty of alliance with during Revolu- tionary War, 568 to 570; Coshocton Council of votes to espouse British cause, 627; power of finally broken by battle of Fallen Timbers, 713; sign treaty of Greenville, 713, 714.

Delaware George, holds councils with Post, 361, 363.

Delaware Jo, sent by Croghan on mission to the Ohio, 276, 277.

Den, Sergeant Leonard, killed, 343.

Denison, Col., at Wyoming Massacre, 550.

Denny, Governor William, supersedes Gov. Morris, 304; issues proclamation suspending hostilites, 333; attends Lan- caster Conference, 334; sends C. F. Post on great peace missions. Chapter XVI; at grand Council at Easton, 373 to 377.

Denny, Major, journal of, 706.

Deshler's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Deundaga (see Appendix D).

De Peyster, Major, succeeds Col. Hamil- ton, the "hair-buyer," 630; acquits Moravian missionaries, 630; assists Major Ephraim Douglass' peace mis- sion, 683.

De Vetri, M., attacks Bouquet's camp on Loyalhanna, 397 to 399.

De Villiers, M., advances against Wash- ington, 161; forces Washington to sur- render at Fort Necessity, 162 to 167.

Dick, Thomas, family of, captured, 702.

Dickey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Dieppel, Lawrence, attack on, 285.

Dietrick Six's plantation, 234.

Dietrick Six's Fort, 261.

Dillow, John, captured, 673.

Dillow, Matthew, killed, 673.

Dillow's Fort, 673.

Dinwiddle, Gov., his opinion of English traders, 23; sends Washington on mis- sion to the French, 144, 145.

Dinsmore's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Dismal Swamp, 553. Diseases, Indian, 22.

Dispute between Gov. Morris and As- sembly, 251, 252. Doddridge's "Notes," error in regarding

Col. Brodhead, 629. Doddridge's Fort, 497. Dodds, Governor, 177. Dodge, Lieut. Jonathan, 456. Doll's Blockhouse, 261. Domain of Iroquois, 43. Donaldson, Robert, killed, 542. Donehoo, Dr. Geo. P., quoted, 81, 117,

167, 467. Donnelly, Francis, killed, 514. Dorrance, Col. George, killed at Wyoming

Massacre, 550. Downey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Douglass, Major Ephraim, peace mission

of, 681 to 684. Downing, Capt. Timothy in Crawford's

expedition, 659. Doyle, Samuel, 692, 693. Dunkard Creek, murders near, 495. Dunbar, Colonel, follows Braddock, 182;

his retreat, 192, 193, 199, 203, 204. Dunbar's Camp, 191. Dunmore, Fort, 489. Dunmore's War, Chapter XXII; causes

of, 488 to 495; effects of, 494, 495, 499;

Roosevelt's "Winning of the West"

fails to grasp effects of, 495. Dunning, Sheriff, pursues Indians, 434. Dunning's Sleeping Place (see Appendix

D). Dunn's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Dunquat, 631. Dupu, Fort, 252. Duquesne, Fort, erected, 154; Braddock's

campaign against. Chapter VI; capture

of by General Forbes, 400 to 402;

French contemplate recapture of, 403. Durham, Mrs. Margaret Wilson, 561. Durkee, Fort (see Appendix E). Dutch Company, 59. Dutch, Indian policy of, 63. Dysart, Mrs., killed, 475.

£

Easton, important councils at, with Teedyscung and other Indians, 322, 323, 325 to 329, 338 to 342, 375 to 378, 511.

Eckerlin tragedy, 353, 354.

Ecuyer, Capt. Simon, in command of Fort Pitt at outbreak of Pontiac's War, 418, 419; attempts to inoculate Indians with small-pox, 424.

Edgerton, Thomas, captured, 654.

Edgington,Thomas(seeEdgerton, Thomas).

Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," quoted, 430, 431, 432, 434, 435, 619.

INDEX

769

Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, assembles at Kittanning, 512; marches to join Washington's army, 512; marches back to Western Pennsylvania, 566 to 568.

"Ein Feste Burg," 237.

Elder, Rev. (Col.) John, pioneer Presby- terian minister, 211, 460, 261, 464, 466.

Elder's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Elliott, Charles, 433.

Elliott, John, 433.

Elliott, Joseph, 676.

Elliott, Matthew, deserts Americans, 529.

Ellinipisco, murdered, 504.

Emrick, David, killed, 642.

Enoch's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Enslow, Andrew, killed, 352.

Enlow's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Erie, 56.

Erie County, events in during French and Indian War, 146, 147; events in during Pontiac's War,- 414, 417, 477; events in during Post-Revolutionary Uprising, 709, 710, 714, 715.

Eries, history of, 56, 57.

Etzweiler, George, killed, 618.

Evans, Governor John, 82 to 85.

Evans City, Washington marker near, 148, 149.

Everett, 393.

Everett, Fort, 261, 300, 302.

Everhart family, murder of, 240.

Ewing, Catherine, captured, 673.

Ewing, Charles M., 672.

Ewing, James, attack on blockhouse of, 671, 672.

Ewing's Blockhouse, 671, 672.

Ewing, Col. Geo. W., 565.

Fabricius, George, killed, 241.

Family life, Indian, 19.

Faithfulness, Indian, 20, 411, 412.

Farmer, Edward, 82.

Fayette County, Washington passes through on mission to French, 145, 150; Washington's campaign of 1754 in, 154 to 167; events in during Braddock's campaign. Chapter VI; events in during French and Indian War, 404; events in during Dunmore's War, 489, 497, 492, 498, 499; events in during Revolutionary War, 535, 636. (As pointed out by Hon. James Veech, in his "Monongahela of Old," Fayette County, after the close of the French and Indian War, was freer from Indian raids than Greene, Washington and Westmoreland Coun- ties.)

Female captives, treatment of by Indians, 20, 381.

Fetter, Fort, 519.

Ferguson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Fife, Capt. William, in Crawford's expedi- tion, 659.

Fin Castle, Fort, location of, 499 (see also Fort Henry (W. Va.)).

Fincher family, murder of, 453.

Fincastle, Fort, 499.

Fink, John, killed, 647.

Finlay, John, killed, 352.

Finley, Ebenezer, 531, 532.

Finley, Rev. James, 531.

Finley, Rev. J. B., Methodist missionary among the Wyandots, 632.

Findley, Hon. William, 193.

Fisher, Jacob, killed, 633.

Fish Carrier, a Seneca chief, 693.

Five Nations (see Iroquois).

Fleming, Andrew, killed, 547.

Fleming, Lieut. Richard, in Lochry's expedition, 638.

Fleming, Robert, killed, 542.

Fleming, William, his son killed, 222.

Flying Cloud, a Seneca chief, 696.

Forbes, General John, his expedition against Fort Duquesne, Chapter XVII; his Indian allies, 390; troops composing his army, 389; the route followed by his army, 390 to 393; succeeded by General John Stanwix, 402.

Forbes Road, its course described, 390 to 393.

Ford, Captain, at St. Clair's defeat, 699.

Foreman's or Froman's Fort, 494.

Forty Fort, 551.

Forest County, events in during Revolu- tionary War, 585.

Forrest's "History of Washington County," quoted, 634, 650.

Forts, Pennsylvania erects chain of, 252, 253 (see also 261, 262).

Forts, Blockhouses, distinction between 252.

Forts, Blockhouses and Stations, Lo- cation of and Principal Events Connected With Same:

Fort Allen (Carbon County), location of, 253; massacre of militia near, 253, 256; other events near, 456, 457, 616.

Fort Allen (Westmoreland County), loca- tion of, 498, 669; massacres near, 574, 634, 635; petition of settlers at, 505 664;' school house at (see first page of Ap- pendix E).

Fort Allen (Washington County), location of, 497.

Fort Allison, location of, 224.

Fort Antes, location of and events at, 520, 558.

Anderson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

770

INDEX

Fort Armstrong, location of and events at,

584, 585. Ashcraft's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Augusta, location of and events at,

253, 299, 461, 487, 522, 559, 561, 590,

594, 597, 294, 679. Bayon's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Beeler, location of, 497. Fort Barr, location and events at, 518, 532. Beelar's Fort, location of, 497. Fort Beeman (Beeman's Blockhouse), lo- cation of, 497. Beckett's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Bedford, location of, 393; siege of,

428, 430; other events at, 441, 522. Beeson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Bingham, location of and capture of,

286; rebuilt, 432. Black Legs Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Boone, location of and events at, 596. Bosley's Fort (see Appendix E). Fort Brady, location of and events at, 594. Braybill's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Breitenbach's Blockhouse, location of, 261. Fort Brink (see Appendix E). Brown's Fort, location of, 261; massacres

near, 297, 298. Bull Creek Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Burgett's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Burd (Fort Redstone), location of,

404. Busse's Fort, location of, 253. Byerly's Station, location of, 442. Campbell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Carnahan's Blockhouse, location of, 513;

attack on, 515; Lochry's expedition

assembles at, 636. Cassell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Chambers, location of, 228. Fort Cherry, location of and events at,

497,631. Fort Christina, location of, 60. Clark's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Conwell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Coe's Station, location of, 704. Claypoole's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Coxe's Fort, location of, 497. Craft's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Craig's Blockhouse (see Shield's Fort). Fort Crawford, location of, 573. Crawford's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Cross' Fort, location of, 353. Crum's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Cumberland, location of and Brad- dock at, 177, 178. Croghan's Fort, location of, 204; events at,

276, 308 (see also Fort Shirley). Davis' Blockhouse, location of, 261. Decker's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Deshler's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Dickey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Dickenson (see Fort Wyoming).

Dietrick Six's Fort, location of, 261;

events at, 234. Dillow's Fort, location of and events at,

673. Dinsmore's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Doddridge's Fort, location of, 497. Doll's Blockhouse, location of, 261. Downey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Dunmore (name given Fort Pitt),

489. Dunn's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Dupui, location of, 252; events near,

343. Fort Durkee (see Appendix E). Fort Duquesne, location of, 154; Brad- dock's campaign against. Chapter VI;

captured by Gen. Forbes, 400 to 402. Enoch's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Elder's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Enlow's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Erie (see Fort Presqu' Isle). Fort Everett, location of, 261; massacres

near, 300, 302. Ewing's Blockhouse, location of and events

at, 671, 672. Fort Fayette, location of, 711. Fort Fetter, location of, 519; events near,

519, 623, 624. Ferguson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Fincastle, location of, 499 (see also

Fort Henry, W. Va.). Foreman's or Froman's Fort, location of,

494; events at, 494. Forty Fort, location of and surrender of,

551. Fort Franklin (Schuylkill County), loca- tion of, 253. Fort Franklin (Venango County), (erected

in spring of 1787 by Capt. Jonathan

Hart with a detachment of U. S.

troops.) (See also page 709.) Freeport Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Freeland, location of, 590; captured,

595 to 598. Garard's Fort, location of, 497. Fort Granville, location of, 253; capture

of 595 to 598. Gaddis' Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Greenville, location of and treaty at,

711, 713, 714. Green's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Gilson (see Fort Barr). Fort Halifax, location of, 253. Fort Hamilton (Pa.), location of, 253;

(Ohio), location of, 698. Hannastown Fort, location of, 665; attack

on, 665 to 671. Fort Hand, location of, 515, 574; attack

on, 583. Fort Hartsog (see Appendix E). Fort Harmar, location of and treaty at,

688 (see also 711).

INDEX

771

Hards' Blockhouse (John), 211, 212. Harper's Blockhouse, location of, 261. Hendrick's Blockhouse (Perry County)

(see Appendix E). Hendrick's Blockhouse (Snyder County)

(see Appendix E). Fort Henry (Pa.), location of, 253; massa- cres near, 300, 302 (W. Va.); location of, 499 (see also Fort Fincastle). Hess' Blockhouse, location of, 261. Hoagland's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Holliday, location and events near,

537, 623, 624. Fort Horn, location of, 521. Hupp's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Hunter, location of, 253. Fort Hyndshaw, location of, 260. Inyard's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Jackson's Fort, location of, 497. Fort Jefferson, location of, 698. Fort Jenkins (Columbia County), location

of and events at, 562, 593. Fort Jenkins (Luzerne County), location

of and capture of, 550. Juniata Crossing, fort at, 428. Kepple's Blockhouse, location of and

events at, 669. Kern's Stockade (see Trucker's Stockade). Klingensmith's Blockhouse, location of

and massacre at, 634, 635. Lamb's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Laurens, location of and events at,

571. Lead Mine Fort (Fort Roberdean) (see

Appendix E). Fort Lebanon, location of, 253; massacres

near, 300, 302. Fort Lehigh, location of, 261; massacre

near, 293. Fort Le Boeuf, location of, 147; capture of,

416, 417. Fort Ligonier, location of, 394; siege of, 424 to 428; other events at, 397, 399, 442, 532, 583. Lindley's Fort, location of, 497. Fort Loudon, location of, 253; starting

point of Forbes' Road, 393. Fort Lyttleton or Littleton, location of,

253; Forbes at 393. Lochry's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Lowther, location of, 253; Col.

Bouquet at, 440. Lowrey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Lucas' Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Lytle's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Machault, location of, 146. Martin's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Manada, location of 253. Marchand's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Markle's Blockhouse, location of, 637. Marshel's (Marshall's) Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Mason's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Mead's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Fort Menninger, location of, 561.

Miller's Blockhouse, location of, 633; attack on, 654.

Miller's Station, location of and events at, 666, 667.

Fort Miami, location of, 713.

Milliken's Fort, location of, 497.

Minteer's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Fort Montgomery (Fort Rice), (North- umberland County), location of, 594; attack on, 619.

Moorehead's Blockhouse, location of, 709.

Fort Morris, location of, 253. (There was also a Fort Morris on Sandy Creek, a few miles from Uniontown, where many refugees gathered during Lord Dun- more's War).

Fort Muncy, location of, 538; destroyed and rebuilt, 616.

Fort McClure, location of, 616.

Fort McCord, location of and capture of, 273, 274.

McCormick's Fort (Huntingdon County), location of and events near, 673.

McCormick's Fort, location of, 351.

Fort McDowell, location of, 253; events near, 267.

McFarland's Fort, location of, 497.

Fort Mcintosh, location of, 571; purchase and treaty at, 687, 688.

McKee's Fort, location of, 261.

Nazareth Stockades, location of, 261.

Fort Necessity, location of and Washing- ton's surrender at, 162 to 167.

Norris' Blockhouse, location of, 497.

Fort Norris, location of, 253.

Fort Northkill, location of, 253; massacres near, 300, 302, 347, 383.

Fort Palmer, location of, 517; massacres near, 263, 264.

Fort Patterson, location of, 253; massacres near, 263, 264 (see also Pomfret Castle, page 266). (There was another Fort Patterson, also called Craft's Fort, erected in 1774, near Merritstown, Fayette County).

Fort Penn, location of, 253.

Peelor's Blockhouse, location of, 696.

Fort Pitt, location and erection of, 403, 404; siege of, 418 to 424; relief of by Col. Bouquet, 448; name changed to Fort Dunmore, 489; commanders of during Revolutionary War, 527, 529, 572, 639; treaties and councils at with the Indians, 409, 410, 483, 509, 510, 568 to 570.

Pomfret Castle, 266.

Pomroy's Fort or Blockhouse (see Appen- dix E).

Fort Preservation (see Fort Ligonier).

772

INDEX

Fort Presqu' Isle, location of, 141; capture of, 414 to 417.

Proctor's Fort, location of, 498.

Ralston's Fort, location of, 261.

Rort Randolph, location of and events at, 527, 573.

Rayburn's Blockhouse, location of and events near, 658.

Read's Blockhouse, location of, 261; massacre near, 383.

Fort Reed (Lock Haven), 547.

Fort Reed (see Hannastown Fort, page 665).

Reed's Station, location of, 702.

Fort Recovery, location of and events at, 700, 711, 712.

Fort Redstone (see Fort Burd).

Reynolds' Blockhouse, location of, 497.

Fort Rice (Fort Montgomery, Northum- berland County), location of, 594; attack on, 619.

Fort Rice (Washington County), location and attack on, 673, 674.

Riffle's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Fort Robeson (see Fort Robinson).

Fort Robinson (Dauphin County), loca- tion of, 261.

Fort Robinson (Perry County), location of, 261; massacres near, 265, 289.

Robinson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Fort Roberdean (see Lead Mine Fort).

Roney's Blockhouse, location of, 691.

Rook's Blockhouse (see Rugh's Block- house).

Roller's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Rosencran's Blockhouse, location of, 552.

Rugh's Blockhouse, location of and events at, 668.

Fort Run (a stream), murders near, 705, 706.

Ryerson's Fort, location of, 497; events near, 689, 690.

Schuylkill Fort (see Fort Lebanon).

Shawnee, Fort, 552.

Shields' Fort, location of, 498; events at, 518.

Fort Schwartz (see Appendix E).

Fort Shirley, location of, 253; threatened, 296 (see Croghan's Fort).

Six's Fort (see Dietrick Six's Fort).

Fort Shippen, location of, 498 (see Proc- tor's Fort).

Fort Smith, location and murders near, 298.

Snyder's Stockade, location of, 261.

Spark's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Spycker's or Spicker's Stockade, location of, 261.

Squaw Fort, 183.

Fort Standing Stone, location of and massacre near, 514, 515.

Steel's Stockade (Rev. John Steel's)

location of, 223. iiB*t»

Fort Stanwix, location of and purchases

and treaties at, 484, 685. Stewart's Blockhouse, location of, 552. Stokely's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Stony Creek, post at, 428. Striker's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Swan, location of, 497. Fort Swatara, location of, 253; massacres

near, 297, 298. Fort Swearingen, location of and events

at, 684. Taylor's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Teeter's Fort, location of, 498. Thompson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Trent, location of, 153. Trucker's Stockade, location of, 261. Turner's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Ulrich's Fort, location of, 261. Fort Van Meter, location of, 497. Fort Vance, location of and Gnaden-

huetten (Ohio) Massacre planned at,

648. Fort Venango, location of, 146; capture of,

416 to 418. Walker's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Wallace, location of, 516; events at,

516, 531, 532. Wallis' Fort, location of, 561. Fort Wallenpaupack, location of and

events near, 557. Wallower's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Fort Washington, location of, 691; Gen.

Harmar at, 691; Gen. St. Clair at, 698;

Gen. Wayne at, 711. Fort Wayne, location of, 711. Wells' Fort, location of, 690. Fort Wheeler, location of and attack on,

615. Wilkes-Barre Fort, location of, 551. Fort William, location of, 253. Williams' Blockhouse, location of, 534. Williamson's Blockhouse (see Appendix

E). Wind Gap, fort at, 262. Wilson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Wintermoot's Fort, location of and sur- render of, 550. Woodruff's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Wolf's Fort, location of, 673. Wright's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Zeller's Blockhouse, location of, 261. Fort Wyoming and other Wyoming forts,

location and events at, 550, 599. ZoUarsville, Indian fort at (see Appendix

E). Foster, John, Jr., killed, 618. Fossit, Thomas, claims to have killed

General Braddock, 194. Franklin, Arnold, captured, 644.

INDEX

773

Franklin, Benjamin, erects forts, 252, 259, 260; makes official report of erect- ing forts, 260; his list of British atroci- ties during the Revolutionary War, 508; furnishes wagons for Braddock, 178; warns Braddock, 178.

Franklin County, events in during French and Indian War, Chapter VIII, 266, 267, 273, 287, 288, 289 to 292, 351, 352, 353, 366, 383; events in during Pontiac's War, 470 to 475.

Franklin, Fort (Schuylkill County), 253.

Franklin, Roswell, Jr., captured, 644.

Franklin, Lieut. Roswell, his family captured, 677.

Frantz family tragedy (about six miles from Fort Henry, Berks County), 383.

Frantz family tragedy (Westmoreland County), 670, 671.

Frazer, John, a Paxtang trader, 141, 146.

Frederick, C. W., 298.

Frederick, Noah, killed and sons cap- tured, 297.

Frederick et al. vs. Gray, 287.

Freeland, Fort, 590, 595 to 598.

Freeland, Elias, killed, 594.

Freeman settlement attacked, 667.

Freeland, Jacob, Jr., killed, 594.

Freeport Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

French, emissaries of, on the Susquehanna as early as 1707, 85, 86; emissaries of, on the Allegheny and Ohio as early as 1727, 97, 98, 131; French on the Alle- gheny and Ohio sympathize with Dela- wares coming to these parts after their expulsion from bounds of the "Walking Purchase" and eventually win them to the French interest, 117; basis of the French claim to the Ohio Valley, 117; Peter Chartier leads Shawnees to the French interest, 127, 128; fear that Muskokee Confederation would join the French, 129; Celoron lays formal claim to the Allegheny and Ohio in behalf of the French, 137 to 139; French advance in force to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, and erect forts, 141, 146, 154; Tanacharison protests, in behalf of the Six Nations, against French advance into the valleys of the Ohio and Alle- gheny, 141 to 144; Captain William Trent's mission to the French, 144; Washington's mission to the French, 144 to 151; French occupy the Forks of the Ohio, 152 to 154; Indian policy of the French, 407; French agents help bring on Pontiac's War, 407; contem- plate recapturing Fort Duquesne, 403. (See also under Fort Duquesne, Brad- dock's campaign, Washington's cam- paign of 1754, Celoron 's expedition.

Forbes' campaign, Tanacharison, Wash- ington, etc.) French Catherine's Town (see Appendix

French Jacob's mill, skirmish at, 618. French, Col. John, 85; holds councils at

Conestoga, 88, 89. French Margaret's Town (see Appendix

D). Friedenshuetten, 130 (see Appendix D). Friedensstadt, 130 (see Appendix D). Friedensthal, 261 (see Appendix D). "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," quoted,

214, 346, 432. Fulton County, events in during French

and Indian War, Chapter VIII.

G

Gaddis' Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Gaddis, Thomas, in Crawford's expedition, 659.

Gage, Gen., 198.

Gahontoto, 31 (see also Appendix D).

Galaway, Joseph, 334.

Galbraith, James, helps to remove squat- ters from lands not purchased from Indians, 121.

Galloway, Elizabeth, killed, 222.

Ganagarahhare (see Appendix D).

Ganawese (see Conoy).

Ganiatario, 39.

Gardeau or Gardow (see Hickatoo).

Gardeau or Gardow Flats (see sketch of Mary Jemison, pages 378 to 381, and Mary Jemison in Appendix B).

Garard's Fort, 497.

Garret, Major, at Wyoming Massacre, 550.

Gates, Gen. (see Appendix B).

Gathsegwarohare (see Appendix B).

Gattermeyer, John, murder of, 241.

Geisinger, Peter, killed, 347.

Gelelemend (see Killbuck).

Gentarenton, 57.

George's Creek, 489.

"German Captive," 214, 215, 216.

German Regiment, defends Wyoming Valley, 589.

German settlers, fair treatment of Indians by, 208, 209; first attack after Brad- dock's defeat made upon, 204 to 209; refuse to settle on Ohio Company's lands, 139; oppose Virginia's claims, 486.

Ghesoant, 90.

Gibson, Captain, garrisons Fort Recovery, 711.

Gibson, George, goes to New Orleans for powder, 514.

Gibson, James, famous remonstrance of, 468.

774

INDEX

Gibson, Col. John, translates Logan's speech, 500; at treaty of alliance with Delawares, 568; protects friendly Dela- wares, 653; sketch of, 502.

Gibson, Chief Justice John Bannister, 514.

Gibson, William, killed, 352.

"Gibson's Lambs," expedition of, to New Orleans for powder, 514.

Gift, Jacob, killed, 591.

Gilbert, Benjamin, capture of family of, 619 to 623.

Giles, Susan, killed, 286.

Gilson, Henry, killed, 222.

Girty, Ann, killed by Kerr, 320.

Girty, George, at Lochry's massacre, 638; sketch of, 317 to 320; an underling of Col. Henry Hamilton, the "hair- buyer," 320.

Girty, James, sketch of, 317 to 320; deserts to Shawnees, 569; an underling of Col. Henry Hamilton, the "hair- buyer," 320.

Girty, Simon, Sr., an Irish trader, father of Geroge, James, Simon and Thomas, 121; sketch of, 317.

Girty, Simon, Jr., deserts the Americans, 529; letter of, concerning Brodhead's destruction of Coshocton, 629; at Col. Crawford's defeat, 318, 661; at St. Clair's defeat, 318, 319; sketch of, 317 to 320; an underling of Col. Henry Hamilton, the "hair-buyer," 320.

Girty, Thomas, sketch of, 317 to 320.

Gist, Christopher, Washington's guide, 144 to 150; in Washington's campaign of 1754, 156; sketch of, 171, 172.

Gist's Plantation, Washington advances to, 160.

Glass, Mrs., captured, 690.

Glasswanoge (see Appendix D).

Glikikan, killed at Gnadenhuetten mass- acre, 650; sketch of, 653, 654.

Gnadenhuetten (Pa.), 130; massacre of militia near, 255 (see also Appendix D).

Gnadenhuetten (Ohio), massacre of Mora- vian Delawares by Col. David William- son's militia, 647 to 652.

Gnadenthal, 261.

Godcharles, Frederic A., quoted, 250, 251, 599.

Gooch, Gov., 110.

Gordon, Gov. Patrick, 92, 93, 94, 96, 98.

Gordon, Lieut., in command of Fort Venango, 417, 418; tortured, 418.

Goshgoshunk (see Appendix D). (See also page 130).

Goss, Philip, killed, 563.

Graham, Arthur, killed, 691.

Graham, John, killed, 433.

Grand Council at Easton, 373 to 377.

Grant's Defeat, 395 to 397.

Granville, Fort, capture of, 294 to 296.

Great Cove, invasion of, 218 to 225.

Great Crossings, location of, 155, 178.

Great Island, 298; Armstrong's expedition against, 452 (see also Big Island, in Appendix D).

Great Meadows, location of, 156; Wash- ington surrenders at, 162 to 167; Washington's love for, 167.

Great Moon, Delaware name for Col. Brodhead, 639.

Great Runaway, 558 to 561.

Great Treaty of Penn with Delawares, 71 to 73; copy of lost, by Chief Killbuck, 73, 652.

Greathouse, Daniel, murders Logan's family, 491.

Green's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Greencastle, massacre of school children near, 473.

Greene County, events in during French and Indian War, 353; events in during Lord Dunmore's War, 495 to 497; events in during Revolutionary War, 656, 657, 586, 587; events in during Post-Revolutionary Uprising, 688, 689, 690.

Greenville, Fort, location of and treaty of, signed, 711, 713, 714.

Gregg, Andrew, 694.

Gregg, William, killed, 697.

Groshong, Peter, skirmish near mill of, 618.

Grove, Peter, 581, 616.

Grove, Michael, 640, 616.

Guilford, John, killed, 537.

Gundryman, Andreas, killed, 343.

Guthrie, Mrs. Elizabeth, 667.

Guthrie, John, 669; in Lochry's expedi- tion, 638.

Guyasuta, at defeat of Major Grant, 395; holds Councils with Col. Bouquet, 479; at Council at Fort Pitt, May 9th 1768; burns Hannastown, 663 to 671; a witness at trial of Capt. Samuel Brady, 582; sketch of 414.

H

Haines children, murder of, 575.

Hale, Ruth, killed, 473.

"Half King" (see Tanacharison).

Half Town, a Seneca chief, accompanies Cornplanter to Philadelphia, 693; pro- tects settlers, 697.

Halifax, Fort, 253.

Halket, Sir Peter, death of, 188; his skele- ton found, 197, 198.

Hall, Rev. David, 707.

Hambright, Capt. John, expedition of, 299, 300.

Hamilton, Fort (Pa.), 253; (Ohio), 698.

INDEX

775

Hamilton, Gov. James, 23, 138, 142; sends Croghan and Montour to Logs- town, 152; acknowledges title to Ohio Valley to be in Iroquois, 408.

Hamilton, Hance, tells of capture of Mc- Cord's Fort, 273.

Hamilton, Sir Henry, the "hair-buyer," gives Indians rewards for American scalps, 506, 507; sends war parties against the American frontier, 506, 507; captured by Col. George Rogers Clark, 507, 535.

Hamilton, John, 644.

Hammond, Lebbeus, 611.

Hanna, Jennie, 667.

Hanna, Mrs. Robert, 667.

Hanna, Robert, 665.

Hanna's "Wilderness Trail," quoted, 182.

Hannastown Fort, 665.

Hannastown Resolutions, 671.

Hannastown, destruction of, 665 to 671.

Hannastown settlers attempt to kill friendly Indians, 610.

Hand, Fort, 583, 515.

Hand, General Edward, succeeds Captain John Neville in command of Fort Pitt, 527; endeavors to recruit army, 518; "squaw campaign" of, 527 to 529; is succeeded by Gen. Mcintosh, 529; in Sullivan's expedition, 602 (see also Appendix B).

Hand Book of American Indians, quoted, 43.

Handschue, Jacob, killed, 285.

Hanover settlement attacked, 643, 677.

Hans Jacob, son of Teedyuscung, 358.

Harbison, John, 702 to 705.

Harbison, Massa, capture and terrible experiences of, 702 to 705.

Hardin, Captain John, 573, 585; in Brod- head's expedition, 585; in Crawford's expedition, 659; opposes Gen. Clark's draft, 636; in Gen. Harmar's expedition, 691.

Harding, Benjamin, killed, 549.

Harding, Stuckley, killed, 549.

Harding family, members of, killed, 549.

Harkins, William, 672.

Harman family, attack on, 534.

Harman, Fort, treaty of, 688, 711.

Harmar, Gen. Josiah, defeat of, 691, 692.

Harper's Blockhouse, 261.

Harris, John, 536; attack on, 209 to 211 (see also Paxtang in Appendix D).

Harris' Ferry, 122; council at, 333.

Harris' Fort or Blockhouse, 211, 212.

Harrison City, battle of Bushy Run near, 449.

Harrison, President William Henry, quoted, 41.

Harrold's (Herold's), German settlers at petition Governor Penn, 505 (see also

664); first school in Western Pennsyl- vania at (see first page of Appendix E). Hart, Ruth, killed, 474. Hartsog, Fort (see Appendix E). Hartley, Colonel Thomas, expedition of,

561 to 563. Hartman, John, 214. Haselet, Capt. John, 366, 367. Hathawekela Clan of Shawnees, 47. Hawkins, Elizabeth, captured, 633, 634. Hawkins, William, captured and killed,

633, 634. Hays, Col. Christopher, opposes Gen.

Clark's draft, 636. Hays, Capt. William, killed, 367, 400. Hebron Church, 345. Heckewelder, Rev. John, quoted, 18 to

23, 38 to 40, 74; writes Brodhead that

Delaware Council espouses British

cause, 627. Hendrick's Blockhouse (Perry County)

(see Appendix E). Hendrick's Blockhouse (Snyder County)

(see Appendix E). Henley, Frederick, killed, 298. Henderson, Allen, killed, 352. Henderson, John, 689. Hendricks, a Mohawk chief, 175. Henry, Fort (Pa.), 253. Henry, Fort (W. Va.), 527. Henry (Heinrich), Frederick, attack on

family of, 574. Henry, John, 672. Hess' Blockhouse, 261. Hess, Hans Adam, killed, 257. Hess, Peter, killed, 257. Hetrick, Christian, killed, 643. Heydrich, Peter, 302. Hiawatha, confused with Manabozho by

Schoolcraft and Longfellow, 39. Hickatoo, a Seneca Chief, husband of Mary

Jemison, 378 to 381; at capture of Fort

Freeland, 597. Hickman, Thomas, a friendly Delaware,

accompanies Post, 365, 366; murdered

by a white man, 365. Hickory Town (see Appendix D). Hicks, killed, 222. Hicks, Barbara, 313. Hill, Harry, 695. Hill, John, capture of, 670. Hoagland, Capt. John, in Crawford's

expedition, 659. Hoagland's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Hochitogete of Barefoot, 32. Hocksey, — , killed, 555. Hoeth family, attack on, 243. Hold, Felty, killed, 263. Hold, Michael, killed, 263. Holliday, Adam, his children killed, 537. HoUiday, Fort, 537. HoUidaysburg, 305. Honeoye (see Appendix B).

776

INDEX

Hood, Capt. Andrew, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659. Hood, Margaret, 313. Hookstown, Andrew Poe buried at, 632. Hoops, Adam, describes invasion of Great

and Little Coves and Conolloways, 219,

220. Hopoca (see Captain Pipe). Horn, Fort, 521. Horner, Jane, killed, 457. Horsefield, Timothy, 301. Howe, Lord, 356. Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio,"

error in regarding Col. Brodhead, 629. Hunter, Fort, 252.

Hubler, Frantz, attack on family of, 454. Huffnagle, Michael, defends Hannastown

fort, 665, to 671. Hulings, Marcus, 94. Hunter, Samuel, killed, 382. Hunter, Col. Samuel, 522, 590, 594, 597,

625, 626, 675. Hunter's Mill, 211. Huntingdon County, events in during

French and Indian War, 223, 265, 305;

events in during Revolutionary War,

514, 515, 623, 624, 625, 645. Hupp, Ann, courage of, 655, 656. Hupp, Daniel, 655, 656. Hupp, Frank, killed, 633. Hupp, John, Sr., killed, 655. Hupp, Philip, 655. Hupp's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Indian character and religion. Chapter I.

Indian family life, 19.

Indian cruelty, no greater than that of the white man, 20, 195, 196, 485, 463 to 469, 647 to 652, 718.

Indian degradation brought about by the white man's rum and vices, 22 to 27.

Indian faithfulness, 20, 411, 412.

Indian God Rock, 137.

Indian Grave Hill, 42.

Indian love for native land, 17.

Indian pride, 21.

Indian policy; of the Swedes, 61 to 65; of William Penn, 69 to 73, 80, 81; of the Puritans, 65 to 68; of the Dutch, 63.

Indian respect for females, 20, 381, 743.

Indian Towns in Pennsylvania (see Appendix D).

Indiana County, events in during French and Indian War, 305; events in during Revolutionary War, 516, 517, 530, 531, 512, 513; events in during Post-Revolu- tionary Uprising, 696, 709.

Ingaren (see Appendix D).

Inman family, members of killed, 552.

Iroquois, history of, 35, 38 to 45; con- federation of, 38, 39, 52; domain of, 43 to 45; their title to lands on the Ohio recognized, 408; angered at British at beginning of Pontiac's War, 413; overwhelming majority of, assist the British in Revolutionary War, 506; land sales of, 106 to 110, 123, 124, 135 to 137, 172 to 175, 484, 685, 686.

Ironcutter, John, 485.

Iwaagenst, Tuscarora ambassador, 51.

Irvine, General William, takes command of Fort Pitt, succeeding Col. Daniel Brodhead, 639; absent at Carlisle when friendly Delawares were attacked, 633; investigates Gnadenhuetten Massacre, 633; turns Davy, a Delaware, over to Brush Creek settlers to be tried, 657, 658; declines to lead expedition against Sandusky, 659; Brush Creek settlers' petition to, 664; strengthens Fort Pitt, 665; chosen to lead expedition, later abandoned, against Wyandots, 679.

Jack, Captain, a mythical character, 181, 182.

Jack, Captain Patrick, distinguished from "the mythical Captain Jack, the Wild Hunter of the Juniata," 182.

Jack, Sheriff Matthew, warns settlers of Hannastown raid, 665, 668.

Jack's Narrows, named for Jack Arm- strong, 125.

Jackson, William, captured, 563.

Jachebus, a Delaware chief, massacres Moravians, 241 to 243.

Jacobs, Captain, a Delaware chief, killed at destruction of Kittanning, 307; sketch of, 296, 297.

Jacobs' Cabin, 184, 297.

Jacobs' Creek, 489.

Jagrea, 276.

Jameson, John, killed, 678.

Jamison, William, killed, 555.

Jeffries, Stephen, killed, 431.

Jefferson County, events in during French and Indian War, 361, 365 (see also Punxsutawney, in Appendix D).

Jemison, Mary, "The White Woman of the Genessee," capture and sketch of, 378 to 381; statement of concerning life and character of the Indians (see Mary Jemison in Appendix B).

Jennings, Solomon, 112.

Jenuchshadega (see Appendix D).

Jesuit Missionaries, 117.

Jesuit Relation, referred to, 56, 57.

John, Captain, a Delaware, 117.

John, Doctor, a friendly Delaware, murder of family of, 407.

INDEX

777

Johnson, Francis, 687.

Johnson Hall, 476.

Johnson, Mrs. 436.

Johnson, Sir Guy, enlists Iroquois in British service, 506.

Johnson, Sir John, flees to Canada and forms Royal Greens (see Inception of Sullivan's Expedition in Appendix B troops of, invade Wyoming, 550).

Johnson, Sir William, 280, 321, 322 displeased with Pennsylvania's declara- tion of war against Delawares, 283 exertions of, to keep entire Iroquois Confederation from joining in Pontiac's War, 413; appoints his distant relative, George Croghan, deputy Indian agent, 170.

Joncaire, Chabert, 138.

Joncaire, Philip, 138.

Johnny, Captain, or Straight Arm, a Delaware chief, 639.

Jumonville, slain, 157 to 159.

Juniata Crossing, post at, 428.

Juniata County, events in during French and Indian War, 253, 263 to 266, 286, 287; events in during Pontiac's War, 430 to 438; events in during Revolu- tionary War, 514, 515.

Juniata Valley, squatters in, 121; inva- sions of, 263 to 266, 430 to 438.

Kakowatcheky, a Shawnee chief, 49, 93,

102. Kanandaigua (see Appendix B). Kanawlohalla (see Appendix B). Kannygoodk, 90. Keckenepaulin, holds councils with Post,

364. Keckenepaulin 's Town, 367 (see Appendix

D). Keith, Governor William, 86, 87. 90, 91. Kekelappan, 106. Kekeuscung (Kittiuskund), holds councils

with Post, 368; helps to kill Col. William

Clapham, 419; killed at battle of Bushy

Run, 449. Kekionga (see Omee). Kelly, Col. John, 592, 593, 641. Kendaia (see Appendix B). Kepple, Michael, 669. Kepple's Blockhouse, 669. Kern's Stockade (see Trucker's Stockade). Kerr, David, kills Ann Girty, 320. Kerr, William, killed, 273. Kerrell, Hugh, killed, 293. Keys, — , killed, 555. Kickenapaulin (see Keckenapaulin). Kickenapaulin's Town (see Keckena-

paulin's Town). Killams, attack on, 589, 590.

Killbuck, holds councils with Post, 364; at treaty of alliance with Delawares, 568 to 570; confers Delaware name on Col. Brodhead, 639; absent when Cos- hocton Delaware Council votes to espouse British cause, 627; lost wampum of Penn's Great Treaty when attacked on Killbuck's or Smoky Island, 73, 652.

Killbuck's or Smoky Island, 73, 652, 370.

Kimbles, attack on, 589, 590.

King Beaver, a brother of Shingas and Pisquetomen, 217; captures Bingham's Fort, 286, 287; holds councils with Post, 363, 368; holds Councils with Col. Bouquet, 479; at various councils at Fort Pitt, 409, 410, 483, 484; returns white prisoners to Lancaster, 404, 405 ; warns traders, 420.

King Beaver's Town (see Appendix D).

King, Mary (see Marie Le Roy).

King, Mrs. William, killed, 539.

King George's War, 126.

Kinner, Peter, 706.

Kirkpatrick, James, attack on home of, 694, 695.

Kirkpatrick, John, killed.

Kishacoquillas, a friendly Shawnee Chief, 296.

Kishacoquillas' Town (see Ohesson, Ap- pendix D).

Kiskiminetas Old Town, 367 (see Appen- dix D).

Kittanning, founded, 42, 43; destroyed by Col. Armstrong, 304 to 314; Eighth Penna. Regiment assembles at, 512; Andrew McFarlane captured at, 512; Barbara Leininger and Marie Le Roy captives at, 313, 314; the Girtys captives at, 317; John Turner tortured at, 317; Col. Smith's battle near, 519; Fort Armstrong erected near, 584, 585; capture of Fergus Moorehead near, 513; Guyasuta's forces pass near, 665; murders near, 513, 705, 706 (see also Appendix D).

Kittanning Point, 519.

Kittanning Indian Trail, 305.

Kittatinny Mountains, 120.

Kittiuskund (see Kekeuscung).

Klader, Captain, 619.

Klein, Christian, killed, 343.

Klinesmith, Baltzer, killed, 618; his daughters captured, 618, 619.

Kling, Mans, 60.

Klingensmith's, Philip, massacre at, 634, 635.

Klingensmith's Blockhouse, 635.

Kluck family, attack on, 272.

Knight, Dr. John, in Crawford's expedi- tion, 659; terrible experiences of, 662.

Knox family, capture of, 224, 227.

Knuckel, Laurence, killed, 263.

778

INDEX

Kobel family, murder of, 239, 240. Kuskuskies, 132; sketch of, 372, 373 (see

also Appendix D). Kurtz, Rev. J. N., a Lutheran clergyman,

212, 237. Kustaloga (see Custaloga). Kustaloga's Town (see Custaloga's Town).

La Belle Riviere, meaning of, 315. Lancaster, Council at, 333 to 337; treaties

at, 121 to 126, 404, 405. Lancaster County, events in during French

and Indian War, 333 to 337; events in

during Pontiac's War, 463 to 469. Lamb's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Lanctot, Godfrey, peace mission of, 618. Land Purchases (see Purchases of Land). Lafayette, at Fort Mcintosh purchase and

treaty, 687. La Force, in campaign against Virginia,

156. Langhorne, 111.

Languntouteneunk (see Appendix D). Lapachpeton's (Langhpaughpitton's)

Town (see Appendix D). Larned tragedy, 644. Laughlin, Randall, captured, 516. Laughlin's Mill, burned and murders

near, 608. Laurens, Fort, 569. Lawrence County, events in during French

and Indian War, 360 to 369; events in

during Revolutionary War, 528, 529,

580. Lawunakhannek, 653, 654 (see Appendix

D). Lead Mine Fort (Fort Roberdean) (see

Appendix E), League of Iroquois, formed, 38, 39, 52;

attitude of, toward Americans in

Revolutionary War, 506 (see Iroquois). Leason, John, killed, 273. Lebanon, Fort, 253. Lebanon County, events in during French

and Indian War, 234 to 237, 300 to 302,

345, 346, 349, 383. Lee, killed, 674. Lee, Major John, massacre at home of,

674 to 676. Lee, Robert, 675, 676. Lee, Thomas, 676. Lefler, Capt. Jacob, 627. Leet, Major Daniel, assists Gen. Clark's

draft, 636; in Crawford's expedition,

659. Leet, Captain William, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659. Lehigh County, events in during French

and Indian War, 261, 302; events in

during Pontiac's War, 458; events in,

during Revolutionary War, 599.

Le Boeuf, Fort, 416.

Lehigh Gap, fort at, 261.

Leinberger, John, killed, 237.

Leininger, Barbara, capture of, 206 to 209, 214, 215, 216, 313, 362 (see German Captive and Regina, the German Cap- tive).

Leininger, Regina, 215, 216 (see German Captive and Regina, the German Captive).

Lenape (see Delawares).

Lenni-Lenape (see Delawares).

Le Roy, Marie, capture of, 206 to 209, 214, 215, 216, 313, 362.

Le Tort, James, 307.

Le Tort's Town (see Appendix D).

Lequepees (see Appendix D).

Lepley, Michael, killed, 591.

Lesly, John Frederick, killed, 241.

Lester, Mr., captured, 563.

Lewis, Major (later Gen.) Andrew, at Grant's defeat, 395; at treaty of al- liance with Delawares, 568 to 570; at battle of Point Pleasant, 498, 499.

Lewistown, 294.

Ligonier, Fort, 394, 366, 397, 399.

Lincoln, Abraham, 94, 95.

Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, 683.

Lincoln, Mordecai, great-great-grand- father of President Lincoln, appointed member of important commission, 94.

Link, Jonathan, captured, 633, 634.

Linn, William, goes to New Orleans for powder.

Little Abraham, 336.

Little Cove, invasion of, 218 to 223.

Little Crossings, 155, 182.

Little Eagle, 503.

Little Meadows, 182.

Little Turtle, leads Miamis in Harmar's defeat, 692; leads Miamis in St. Clair's defeat, 699; advises making peace with Americans, 712; leads Miamis at battle of Fallen Timbers, 713; sketch of, 715.

Littleton or Lyttleton, Fort, 253.

Lockry's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Lochry, Col. Archibald, 634; his unfor- tunate expedition and death, 635 to 638.

Logan, Alexander, killed, 436.

Logan, Captain, a friendly Delaware, 531.

Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, son of Shikellamy, 134; his family murdered, 490 to 492; he takes revenge, 495 to 497; his famous speech, 499 to 501; his death, 501.

Logan, Secretary James, 25, 83, 100; op- poses declaration of war against the Delawares, 283.

Logan's Mill, 353.

Logan's Valley, 531.

INDEX

779

Logstown, location of, 45, 370; Croghan at, 132, 139; Weiser at, 132, 133; Celoron at, 138; Virginia treaty at, 139 to 141; Montour at, 140; Washing- ton at, 146; burned, 167; rebuilt, 167 (see also Appendix D).

Long, John A., capture of, 337.

Longfellow, confuses Hiawatha with Manabozho, 39.

"Long Knives," origin of the term, 502.

Lord Dunmore's War Chapter XXII; causes of, 488 to 495; Roosevelt's "Winning of the West" fails to grasp eflfects of, 495.

Loskiel, Bishop, quoted, 649.

Loudon's "Indian Narratives," quoted, 264.

Loudon, Fort, 253.

Loudon, Lord, recalled as commander-in- chief, 355.

Love, Mrs., 668.

Lower Shawnee Town, 128.

Lowrey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Lowther, Fort, 253.

Loyalhanna (Loyalhanning), 366; attack on Col. Bouquet's camp on, 397 to 399; attack on Washington near, 399 (see also Appendix D).

Loyparcowah, 24, 25.

Loyalsock Creek, massacre near, 540.

Lucas' Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Ludlow Station, 698.

Luther's catechism, translated into Dela- ware by Rev. Capanius, 62.

Lutheran Church of New Sweden, 61, 62.

Lutzen, battle of, 59.

Luzerne County, events in, during French and Indian War, 209, 210, 246; events in, during Pontiac's War, 459 to 462, 469; events in, during Revolutionary War, 549 to 557, 588, 589, 611, 612, 614, 599, 601, 643, 644.

Lycans, Andrew, attack on, 271.

Lycoming County, events in, during Revolutionary War, 548, 561, 520, 573, 594, 616.

Lycoming Creek massacre near, 538 to 540.

Lyon family, attack on, 657, 658, 684.

Lyon, Eli, captured, 657, 658, 680.

Lyon, James, captured, 657, 658, 680.

Lyon, Mary, 656, 657, 658, 680.

Lyon, Robert, captured, 678.

Lyon, Thomas, killed, 657, 658, 680.

Lytle's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

M

Machaloha, 106. Machalut, Fort, erected, 146. Mackey atrocity, 349 to 351. Maclay, William, 560, 597, 598, 687. Maclean, Gen. Allen, 683.

Maghingquechahocking, 586 (see Appen- dix D).

Maghingua Keeshuck, Delaware name for Col. Brodhead, 639.

Mahatango Creek, 266.

Mahoning Creek, 575.

Mahoning River, 528.

Maiden Foot, 427, 428.

Malott, Catherine, becomes wife of Simon Girty, 608.

Mamacating (see Appendix B).

Mamachtaga, hanging of, 671.

Manabozho, Longfellow's error relating to, 39.

Manada, Fort, 253.

Manor of Condoguinet, 98.

Manson, William, killed, 352.

Maquas, 39 (see Iroquois).

Marchand's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Markham, William, 69.

Markle, Gaspard, 637.

Markle's Blockhouse, 637.

Marriages, Indian, 19.

Marshall's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Marshel, James, County Lieutenant of Washington County, 636.

Marshall, Edward, 111, 112.

Martin family, John, capture of, 224 to 227.

Martin, John, 224 to 227.

Martin, Jamet, 224 to 227.

Martin, Mary, 224 to 227.

Martin, James, 224 to 227.

Martin, William, 224 to 227.

Martin, John, killed, 352.

Martin, Joseph, killed, 287.

Martin, Mr. and Mrs., killed, 678.

Martin's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Maryland, purchases land from Iroquois at Lancaster treaty of 1744, 123.

Mason's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Masters, William, killed, 334.

Mather, Cotton, attitude of towards Indians, 66; letter of, concerning William Penn, 68.

Mather, Increase, attitude of, concerning Indians, 66.

Mattahorn, 60, 63.

Mauch Chunk, 112.

Mauer, Philip, killed, 302.

Mayhkeerickkishsho, 110.

Mead's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Mead's settlement, attack on, 696, 697.

Mead, Darius, killed, 697.

Means family, experiences of, with In- dians, 427, 428.

Means, Mary, 427, 428.

Means, Sarah, 532, 533.

Meeker, Major, 598.

Meginnes' "History of the West Branch," quoted, 643.

Menninger, Fort, 561.

780

INDEX

Mengwe, 34, 35 (see Iroquois). Meniologameka (see Appendix D). Mercer, Capt. (later Gen.) Hugh, at

Braddocks defeat, 198; at destruction

of Kittanning, 307, 315, 316; sketch of,

315, 316. Mercersburg, 316. Mercer County, 316, 414 (see Pymatuning

in Appendix D). Mickley, John Jacob, attack on family of,

458, 459. Miami, Fort, location of, 713. Middle Creek, 485. Middle Presbyterian Church, 669. Miess, John George, killed, 285. Mifflin, Governor, conciliates Senecas 693,

694. Mifflin, John, 284. Mifflin County, events in during French

and Indian War, 294, 295. Miles, James, killed, 594. Milesburg, 548. Milford, 590.

Mill Creek Fort (see Appendix E). Mill Creek Presbyterian Church, Andrew

Poe buried at, 632. Miller, Alexander, killed, 352. Miller, David, killed, 433. Miller, Frederick, 655. Miller, George, 694. Miller, Captain John Jacob, captured, 633,

634. Miller, Captain Jacob, Sr., killed, 655. Miller, Captain Jacob, Jr., 655. Miller, Captain John, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659. Miller, Lieutenant, 324. Miller, Zephaniah, killed, 520. Miller's Blockhouse (Washington County),

attack on, 654, 655. Miller's Station (Westmoreland County),

attack on, 666, 667. Milliken's Fort, 497. Mingo, 39.

Mingo Bottom, 648, 659. Mingoes, the exterm defined, 278, 279. Mingoes, Logan, Chief of, 134, 490 to 492,

495 to 497, 499, 501. Minisink, battle of, 598, 599. Minisink Lands, 113. Minquas, 28. Minquas Kill, 59

Minteer's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Minuit, Peter, 59.

Mio-qua-coo-na-caw, 714 (see Red Pole). Miranda, George, 25. Mitchell, Charles, captured, 695. Mitchell, James, 352. Mitchell, Joseph, killed, 352. Mitchell, William, killed, 352. Mitchell, Mrs., killed, 695. Mitchelltree, Hugh, attack on home of, 263.

Mohawk, Samuel, murders Wigton family, 710.

Mohawks, one of the allied Iroquois tribes, 38.

Mohicans or Mahicans, 34, 37, 40.

Monckton, Gen. Robert, succeeds Gen. Stanwix, 403.

Monongahela City, Lochry's expedition crosses Monongahela River at, 637.

Monroe County, events in, during French and Indian War, 244, 245, 255 to 257, 343, 344; events in, during Pontiac's War, 470.

Montgomery, Fort (Fort Rice, Northum- berland County), 594, 619.

Montour, Andrew, 129, 450, 476; sketch of, 168 to 172.

Montour, Catherine (see French Catner- ine's Town, in Appendix B).

Montour, Esther, at Wyoming Massacre, 550, 551 (see "Queen Esther" and Queen Esther's Town).

Montour, John, 595.

Montour, Madam, 170 (see also reference under Queen Esther's Town and French Catherine's Town).

Montour County, events in, during Revolutionary War, 619, 594 (see also under Columbia and Northumberland Counties).

Moore, James, killed, 537.

Moorehead, Fergus, captured, 513, 514.

Moorehead, Hon. Warren K., quoted, 195.

Moorehead's Blockhouse, 709.

Moravians, missions of, among the In- dians, 129, 130, 630, 639, 647 to 654.

Moravian Delawares, removed to Phila- delphia for protection, 455, 456; massa- cred at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, 647 to 654.

Moravian Missionaries, massacred in Carbon County, 241 to 243.

Morgan, Gen. Daniel, 198 (see also Appendix B).

Morgan, Col. George, appointed Indian agent by Continental Congress, 510; at treaty of alliance with Delawares, 568, 570.

Morgan, Col. Jacob, 300.

Morris, Governor, holds councils with Scarouady, 231 to 234; his dispute with the Assembly, 251, 252; visits the frontier, 255; conference of, with Teedyuscung, 322, 323; superseded by Gov. Denny, 304.

Morris, Capt. Roger, 188.

Morris, Fort, 253. (There was also a Fort Morris erected several miles from Union- town on Sandy Creek, in 1774).

Morrison, Captain, attack on, 555.

Morrison, Capt., troops of, attacked, 555.

Mound Builders, 34, 35.

INDEX

781

Mount, Moses, 611.

Mount Braddock, 160, 171, 183.

Mount Pleasant, 184.

Muddy Creek, 495, 657.

Muhlenberg, Rev. H. M., 214, 269.

Muhlenberg, Gen. Peter, 100.

Muncy Creek Hill, battle of, 450.

Muncy, Fort, 538, 616.

Munsee or Wolf Clan of Delawares, 36

(see Delawares, Clans of). Murdering Town, 148 (see also Appendix

D). Murray, Col. James, 678. Musemeelin, kills Jack Armstrong, 125,

126. Muskokee Confederation, 129. Myers' Blockhouse, 680. Myers, Frederick, killed, 347. Myerstown, 213.

Mc

McAlreey's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). McCafferty, Bartholomew, killed, 292. McCallister's Blockhouse (see Appendix

E). McCartney's Blockhouse (see Appendix

McCandless, William, sons of killed, 610.

McCaulay's Mill, 224.

McLaughlin, Samuel, killed, 618.

McClean's Redoubt, 394.

McClellan, David, killed, 222.

McClelland, Capt. John, 636; in Craw- ford's expedition, 659.

McCleery, John, killed, 691.

McCluker's Gap, 291.

McClure, Francis, killed, 495.

McClure, Fort, 616.

McCombs' Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

McConaughy's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

McCoy's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

McCord, Ann, 313.

McCord, John, 313.

McCord, George, 434.

McCord, Fort, capture of, 273, 274.

McCormick, Fort, 351.

McCormick's Fort (Huntingdon County), location of, and events near, 673.

McCormick, Miss, captured, 673.

McCracken, John, killed, 352.

McCuUough, Archie, 473, 474.

McCuUough, John and James, capture of, 287, 288, 474.

McDonald, Major Angus, 498, 499.

McDonald, Capt., at Grant's defeat, 395.

McDonald, William, killed, 292.

McDonald's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

McDowal, Daniel, 678.

McDowel's Mill, massacre near, 292.

McDowell, Fort, 253, 267.

McDowell's Tavern, 383.

McDowell's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

McFarland's Fort, 497.

McFarlane, Andrew, capture of, 512, 513.

McGeehan, Capt. Duncan, in Crawford's expedition, 659.

Mcintosh family, murder of, 690, 691.

Mcintosh, Gen. Lachlan, takes command of Fort Pitt, succeeding Gen. Hand, 529; at treaty of alliance with Dela- wares, 569; erects Fort Mcintosh and advances to the Tuscarawas, 570 to 572; succeeded by Col. Daniel Brod- head, 572.

Mcintosh, Fort, 571; purchase and treaty at, 687, 688.

Mclntyre, his fight with Indians, 609.

McKee Capt. Alexander, deserts Ameri- cans, 529; at St. Clair's defeat, 699.

McKee, Capt. James A., member of com- mittee to erect Washington marker, 149.

McKee, Thomas, 211, 238.

McKee's Fort, 261.

McKees Rocks, 153.

McKeesport, 150, 185.

McKinney, Thomas, killed, 286.

McKnight, Assemblyman James, capture of, 590.

McKnight, Mr., killed, 591.

McKnight, Mrs. James, 561.

McMahon, Major William, defeats Brit- ish, Detroit militia and Indians at Fort Recovery, 711, 712.

McManiny, Daniel, killed, 382.

McMullin, William, killed, 247.

McQuoid, Anthony, killed, 292.

McSwane (McSwine), Hugh, captured, 248.

McVey, Mrs., captured, 670.

N

Nanowland, Delaware friend of Capt.

Samuel Brady, 575; in Coshocton

campaign, 627; murdered by Scotch

Irish militia, 652. Nanticokes, history and villages of, 54, 55. Nave, Jacob, attack on, 538. Nazareth, Munsee Delaware village near,

36; stockades at, 261; refugees at, 244,

261. Necessity, Fort, Washington surrenders

at, 162 to 167. Nemacolin Indian Trail, 155. Nescopeck, 166 (see Appendix D). Nettawatwees (see New Comer). Neville, Capt. John, takes command of

Fort Pitt, 527; succeeded by Gen.

Edward Hand, 527. New Comer, "King of the Delawares,"

defeated by Col. Bouquet, 484; friendly

to Americans in Revolutionary War,

510, 569, 640.

782

INDEX

New Berlin, Penn's Creek Massacre near, 204.

Newtown, battle of in Gen. Sullivan's expedition, 602.

New Kaskunk, 653 (see Appendix D).

New Sweden, history of, 59 to 65; Indian policy of, 61 to 65; influence of, 65, 67.

Newtychanning (see Appendix D).

Ney, Michael, killed, 240.

Nicely, Adam, 696.

Nicely, Jacob, capture of, 695, 696.

Nicholas, Edward, killed, 263.

Nicholson, Adam, killed, 264.

Nicholson tragedy, 290.

Nickas, a Mohawk Chief, 375.

Nicole, early French trader on the Susque- hanna, 85, 86.

Nitschman, Martin, killed, 241.

Nitschman, Susanna, capture and death of, 241, 242.

Nimwha, Shawnee Chief, holds councils with Col. Bouquet, 480; attends treaty of alliance of Delawares with U. S., 569.

Nordman's Kill, 40.

Norris' Blockhouse, 497.

Norris, Fort, 253.

Northern and Southern Indians, troubles between, 86, 129.

Northampton County, events in, during French and Indian War, 244, 256, 261, 263, 322 to 331, 338 to 342, 373 to 377; events in, during Pontiac's War, 454, 456, 457; events in, during Revolu- tionary War, 599, 604 (see also Appendix B).

Northumberland, battle near, 451.

Northumberland County, events in, dur- ing French and Indian War, 211, 212, 294, 299; events in, during Pontiac's War, 450, 451; events in, during Revolu- tionary War, 546, 559, 560, 561, 590 591, 594 to 597, 619, 641 to 645, 678.

Northkill, Fort, 253; massacres near, 300, 302.

Northwest Territority, formed, 688; Gen. Arthur St. Clair Governor of, 688.

Nutimus, Munsee Delaware chief, forced to leave bounds of Walking Purchase, 116.

Nutimus' Town, 116 (see Appendix D).

O

Ogagradarisha, 299.

Ogden's Fort (see Appendix E).

Ogle, Captain John, 627.

Ohesson (see Appendix D).

Ohio, meaning of, 315.

Ohio Company, grant of, 139; endeavors

to persuade Germans to settle on its

lands, 139.

Ohio Valley, Indian tribes in, 58, 132, 133; Croghan's and Weiser's embassy to Indians of, 131, 133; Virginia's claim to, 124, 139 to 141; title to, recognized as being in Iroquois, 408.

Old Britain (La Memoiselle), 138.

Omee, 691.

Onas, Delaware name for William Penn, 97.

Oneidan, Dennis, killed, 351.

Oneidas, one of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederation, 38.

Onondaga Castle, 43.

Onondagas, one of the tribes of the Iro- quois Confederation, 38.

Onontejo, 101.

Opakeita, 49.

Opaketchwa, 49.

Opasiskunk (see Appendix D).

Opessah, 46.

Orchard Camp, place of Gen. Braddock's death, 183.

Oretyagh, complains of rum traffic, 24.

Orme, Capt. Robert, one of Gen. Brad- dock's aides, 188.

Oscalui (see Appendix D).

Osten, Henry, capture of, 367.

Ostonwackin (see Appendix D).

Oskohary (see Appendix D).

Orwigsburg, 215.

Otseningo, 280.

Otto, Dr. John Matthew, 342.

Otzinachson (see Appendix D).

Ourry (Uhrig), Eve, saves Hannastown Fort, 667, 668.

Ourry (Uhrig), Captain Wendell, in com- mand of Fort Bedford at outbreak of Pontiac's War, 426, 428 (see also page 505).

Owegy, 279, 280.

Owens, David, murders his Indian wife and children with hope of scalp boun- ties, 471; is Col. Bouquet's interpreter, 471, 479.

Oxenstierna, Chancellor Axel, 61.

Pachgantschihilas, a Delaware Chief (see

Buckongahelas). Packanke, a Delaware Chief, 654. Painter, Jacob, killed, 273. Palatines, on Tulpehocken lands, 95, 96. Palmer's Fort, 517, 518; murders near,

518, 263, 264. Panther, an Indian chief, killed, 582. Paradisudden, 59. Paris, Captain, brings Cherokees and

Catawbas to assist Pennsylvania, 337. Parker, Amos, killed, 563. Parker, Sergeant Michael, killed, 606. Parker, William, 681.

INDEX

783

Parks, William, killed, 656.

Parsons, Major, 324.

Parsons, William, 212.

Passigachkunk (see Appendix D).

Patterson, Captain James, 266.

Patterson, Captain William, 266.

Patterson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Patterson's Fort, 253; massacres near, 263, 264 (see also Pomfret Castle). (There was another Patterson's Fort, also called Craft's Fort. This latter was erected in the spring of 1774, near Merrittstown, Fayette County).

Paul, James, settlers take refuge at home of, 702.

Pawling, John, 94.

Paxinosa, a friendly Shawnee Chief, 49; rescues Moravian missionaries, 210; at third council with Teedyuscung, 338; goes to the Ohio, 338.

Paxtang, location of, 48 (see also Appen- dix D).

"Paxtang" (Paxton) Boys," massacre Conestogas, 463 to 469; march on to Philadelphia, 467 to 469.

Paxtang Presbyterian Church, 463.

Peake, Pressly, captured and killed, 633, 634.

Peake, Priscilla, escapes to Wolf's Fort after being scalped, 673.

Pearse's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Pechoquealin, location of, 47 (see Appen- dix D).

Peelor, David, killed, 696.

Peelor's Blockhouse, 696.

Peer, David, killed, 222.

Pence, Peter, 640.

Penn, Governor John, welcomed by Conestogas shortly before their murder by Scotch-Irish settlers from Paxtang, 464; succeeds Governor Hamilton, 475; signs proclamation offering reward for Indian scalps, 472.

Penn, Thomas, 103; his connection with the fraudulent "Walking Purchase," 110 to 118.

Penn, William, coming of , 68; Rev. Cotton Mather's letter concerning, 68; Indian policy of , 69 to 81; land purchases of, from the Indians, 69; his "Great Treaty" with Tamanend, 71 to 73; his two so- journs in his Province, 75; his treaty with Shawnees, Conoy, Susquehannas and Iroquois, 76 to 79; Indians bid farewell to, 79; death of, 81; influence of, among the Indians, 80, 81; Indian name of, 75.

Penn, Fort, location of, 253.

Pennsylvania History, glory of early, 67, 68.

Pentecost, Col. Dorsey, assists Gen. Clark's draft, 636; letter of, to President Moore, 648.

Pequea, location of, 46 (see also Appendix D).

Pequots, massacre of, 66.

Perkins, John, killed, 563.

Perry, Col. James, letter of, concerning massacre at Philip Klingensmith's, 634, 635.

Perry, Samuel, killed, 293.

Perry County, events in, during French and Indian War, 263 to 266, 289 to 292; events in, during Pontiac's War, 430 to 438.

Peters, Richard, 340.

Phillips, Captain William, he and his rangers massacred, 623 to 625.

Phouts, scouting of, with Capt. Samuel Brady, 635.

Pickering, Col. Timothy, conciliates Senecas, 693.

Pike, Abraham, 612.

Pike County, events in, during Indian wars, 250, 251, 557, 558, 566, 589, 590, 596, 644.

Pine Creek (Lycoming County), murder of friendly Senecas on, 692, 693; Indian name for, 686, 687 (see Tyadaghton).

Pine Creek (Allegheny County), 141.

"Pioneer Life," referred to, 643.

Piper, Col. John, 623, 624.

Piper's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Piscataway (see Conoy).

Pisquetomen, a Delaware Chief, 639; a companion of Post, 639; on peace mission, 360, 363, 364; a brother of King Beaver and Shingas, 217.

Pitt, Fort, location and erection of, 403, 404; siege of, 418 to 424; relief of, by Col. Bouquet, 448; name changed to Fort Dunmore by Connolly, 489; com- manders of, during Revolutionary War, 527, 529, 572, 639; councils and treaties at, with Indians, 409, 410, 483, 509, 510, 568 to 570.

Pitt, William, becomes Prime Minister, 355; opposes British alliance with Indians and giving Indians rewards for American scalps during Revolutionary War, 507, 508.

Pittsburgh, naming of, 370; size of, at outbreak of Pontiac's War, 418; Indians kill white persons within two miles of, as late as June 30th, 1789, 691; Red Pole, Shawnee Chief, buried at, 714; route of march of General Fobes' army in, 393 (see also Fort Duquesne, Fort Pitt, Col. Henry Bouquet, Col. Daniel Brod- head, etc.. Gen. John Forbes, etc.).

Playwicky or Playwiskey, residence of Tamanend, 111 (see Appendix D).

Plunkett, Col. William, 561.

Plumstead, William, 251.

784

INDEX

Pochapuchkug (see Appendix D).

Poe, Adam, 631.

Foe, Andrew, his fight with Big Foot, 631, 632.

Foint Fleasant, battle of, 498, 499.

Fomfret Castle, 266.

Fomroy's Fort (see Appendix E).

Fomroy, Col. James (see Fomroy's Fort in Appendix E).

Fontiac, probably not at Braddock's defeat, 191; sketch of, 412 to 414.

"Fontiac's Conspiracy," a misnomer, 407, 412.

Fontiac's War, Indian tribes engaged in, 407; causes of, 407 to 413; events in, Chapters XVIII, XIX, XX and XXI.

Forter, Mrs., prowess of, 645, 646.

Fost, Christian Frederick, sketch of, 360, 372; great peace missions of, Chap- ter XVI; death of, 372.

Fost- Revolutionary Indian Uprising, case of, 688.

Potter, Gen. James, 542.

Potter, John, 219, 220, 305.

Potter, Lieut., killed, 381.

Potter's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Power, Rev. James, 669.

Preservation, Fort (see Fort Ligonier).

Fresqui' Isle Fort, 141; captured, 414 to 417.

Presser, Martin, killed, 241.

Price, Ensign, in command of Fort Le Boeuf, 416.

Pride, Indian, 21.

Printz, 61, 62.

Proctor, Fort, 498 (see Fort Shippen).

Proctor, Col. John's First Battalion of Westmoreland County, 671, 498.

Proctor, Col. Thomas, 602.

Protests against rum traffic, Indians', 23 to 26.

Fumpshire, Joseph, 328.

Punxsutawney, 42 (see Appendix D).

Purchases of Land, by the Swedes from the Indians, 60; by William Penn, 69, 70, 106, 107; purchase of Tulpehocken lands from Sassoonan, 91, 95, 96; purchase of Springettsbury Manor, 91, 92; purchase at treaty of 1736, 106 to 110; the fraudulent "Walking Purchase" of 1737, 110 to 118; purchase at the Lancaster treaty of 1744, 123, 124; purchase at the treaty of 1749, 135 to 137; the Albany Purchase of 1754, 172 to 175; Port Stanwix Purchase of November 5th, 1768, or the "New Purchase," 484; the Fort Stanwix Purchase of October 3d, 1784, 685, 686; the Fort Mcintosh Purchase of Janu- ary, 1785, 687, 688; George Croghan's purchase from Tanacharison and Sca- rouady, 139.

Puritan clergymen, attitude of towards

Indians, 66. Puritans, Indian policy of, 50, 65 to 68;

intolerance and bigotry of, 66, 67. Fymatuning, Indian town (see Appendix

D).

Quakers, attitude of, at beginning of French and Indian War, 204, 252, 321; attitude of, in Fontiac's War, 469.

Queen Allaquippa, meets Celoron, 138; meets Washington, 150; with Washing- ton's forces at the Great Meadows, 160; death of, 174.

Queen Canatowa, of the Conestogas, 89.

Queen Esther, 550, 562.

Queen Esther's Town, 562 (see also Appen- dix D).

Queonemysing (see Appendix D).

Quick, Tom, the Indian killer, sketch of, 250, 251.

Quilutamend (see Appendix D).

Quitapahilla Creek, massacre on, 346.

R

Raccoon Creek, 587, massacre on, 607.

Ralston's Fort, 261.

Ramsey, Betty, killed, 291.

Randolph, Fort, 527, 573.

Rankin's Mill, 224.

Rankin, Capt. Thomas, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Rankin, William, 631.

Rattlesnake Flag, 671.

Rayburn's Blockhouse, location of and events at, 659.

Raznor, killed, 674.

Rea, Miss, prowess of, 670.

Read, Adam, 298.

Read's Blockhouse, 261; massacre near, 383.

Reardon Run, massacre on, 607.

Rebault, killed, 644.

Recovery, Fort, 700, 711, 712.

Red Bank Creek, Capt. Samuel Brady's skirmish near, 575 to 577.

Red Hawk, 480.

Red Jacket, at Wyoming Massacre, 556; sketch of, 556; meets Colonels Pickering and Spalding, 693.

Red Pole, a Shawnee Chief, death of , 714.

Redstone, Fort (see Fort Burd).

Reed, Capt. David, in Crawford's expedi- tion, 659.

Reed, Fort (Lock Haven), 547.

Reed, Fort, 665 (see Hannastown Fort).

Reed, George, killed, 532, 533.

Reed, James, 211.

Reed, Rebecca, 532, 533.

Reed's Station, 702.

INDEX

785

Regina, the German Captive, 214 to 216.

Reichelsdorfer, Frederick, murder of daughters of, 269 to 271.

Religion, Indian, 17 to 18.

Rewalt, John, attack on, 271.

Reynolds, John, killed, 273.

Reynolds, William, attack on family of, 587.

Reynolds' Blockhouse, 497.

Rice, Fort (Washington County), attack on, 573.

Rice, Fort (Fort Montgomery, Northum- berland County), 594; attack on, 619.

Richards, Captain H. M. M., quoted as to identity of Regina, the German Captive, 215, 216.

Richardson, William, killed, 516.

Richey, Myrtle W., 610.

Riffle's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Richfield, 266.

Rique, location of, 56 (see Appendix D).

Ritchie, Capt. Craig, in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Ritchie, Manhew (see Wright's Blockhouse in Appendix E).

"River Indians," 30.

Roberdean, Fort (see Lead Mine Fort).

Robeson, Fort (see Robinson, Fort).

Robinson, Rev. John, 66.

Robinson, Fort (Dauphin County), 261; (Perry County), 261; massacres near, 265, 289.

Robinson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Robinson, Mrs., killed, 289.

Robinson, Robert, "Narrative" of, 432, 433.

Robinson's Run, murders near, 609.

Robinson, Samuel, killed, 656.

Robinson, William, fatally wounded, 433.

Robinson, William, captured in Dunmore's War, 496.

Rock Fort Camp, 183.

Rodgers, Capt. David, fatal voyage of, 535, 536.

Rogers, Jonah, 612.

Roller's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Roller, Jacob, killed, 644.

Roney's Blockhouse, 691.

Rook's Blockhouse (see Rugh's Block- house).

Roose, Abraham, massacre of family of, 702.

Roosevelt's "Winning of the West," referred to, 317, 495.

Rose, Polycarpus, 46.

Rosencran's Blockhouse, 552.

Ross, killed, 645.

Ross, Capt. Ezekiel, in Crawford's expe- dition, 659.

Ross, Lieut., in Crawford's expedition, 659.

Ross, Nancy, killed, 706.

Rote, George and Rody, captured, 642.

Rothe (Roth), John, Moravian Mission- ary, accompanies Moravian Delawares to Philadelphia, 455; he and John Etwein lead Moravian Delawares from Wyalusing on the Susquehanna to Friedensstadt on the Beaver, 130.

Rowe, Jacob, 655.

Royal Americans, the term defined, 388; in General Forbes' expedition against Fort Duquesne, 387; Col. Henry Bou- quet most noted officer of, 388; take possession of French Forts, 403; garri- son Forts Presqu' Isle, Le Boeuf, Venango and Pitt, 414 to 419; with Bouquet at battle of Bushy Run, 439. 447.

Royle^ Capt. Benjamin, 627.

Rugh, Michael, 668.

Rugh's Blockhouse, 668.

Rum, effects of, on Indians, 22 to 26; proclamation against, 132.

Rush, Robert, killed, 352.

Russell, James, home of attacked, 470.

Rutledge, Ralph, killed, 709, 710.

Ryerson's Fort or Station, 497; events near, 689, 690.

Saint Tammany, 74.

Sakhauwetung (see Appendix D).

Salem, Moravian mission on the Tus- carawas, 627.

Salt Lick Camp, 184.

Samoset, 65.

Sample, Mr. and Mrs. John, killed, 592.

Sassoonan, his deed of release, 91; sells Tulpehocken lands, 95, 96; kills Shacka- tawlin, 97; death of, 97.

Satagaruyes, 39.

Sauconk, location of, 47 (see also Appen- dix D).

Savage, John, killed, 223.

Sayhoppy, 110.

Scalp Bounties; Pennsylvania offers, dur- ing French and Indian War, 281 to 283; Pennsylvania offers, during Pontiac's War, 472, 473; Pennsylvania oflfers, during Revolutionary War, 625, 626; British give Indians rewards for Amer- ican scalps during Revolutionary War, 506 to 509, 643; Puritan's of New Eng- land give rewards for scalps of Indians, irrespective of age or sex, 66.

Scarouady, appointed vice-gerent over Shawnees of Ohio Valley, 45; protests rum traffic, 26; meets Weiser at Logs- town, 133; sells land to George Crog- han, 139; in Washington's campaign of 1754, 158; protests Albany Purchase of 1754, 175, 176; succeeds Tanacharison

786

INDEX

as "Half King," 133, 180; in Braddock's campaign, 180; his opinion of Braddock, 201; threatens to go to the French, 231 to 233; in danger from settlers on his mission to the Six Nations, 237 to 239; death of, 385.

Schellsburg, 393.

Schoenbrun, 650.

Schoharie Valley, 95.

Schoolcraft, 34.

Schupp's Mill, massacre near, 263.

Schuylkill Fort (see Fort Lebanon).

Schuylkill County, events in, during French and Indian War, 240, 300 to 302.

Schwartz, Fort (see Appendix E).

Schweigert, George, killed, 241.

Scott, John, Jr., 688.

Scotch-Irish, attitude of towards In- dians, 467, 469, 647 to 653.

Seat of Iroquois, location of, 43.

Seekaughkunt (see Appendix D).

Selinsgrove, Penn's Creek Massacre near, 204, 205.

Senangelstown (see Appendix D).

Senecas, one of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederation, 38; join in Pontiac's War, 413.

Seneca George, 276.

Seneca George, Jr., murder of, 486, 487.

Senseman, Anna Catherine, murder of, 241.

Settlements on Indian lands, 95, 96, 119, 120, 121, 228, 229, 481 to 484.

Sevna, 89.

Sewickley Clan of Shawnees, 47.

Sewickley Creek, 300.

Sewickley Town, location of, 47 (see Appendix D).

Shackamaxon, location of, 37; Penn's "Great Treaty" at, 71 to 73 (see Ap- pendix D).

Shackatawlin, murder of, 97.

"Shades of Death," 553.

Shannon, Capt. Samuel, in Lochry's ex- pedition, 637.

Shannopin, a Delaware Chief, 145.

Shannopin's Town, location of, 145 (see Appendix D).

Shaver, Peter, killed, 223.

Shaver's Creek, murders near, 223, 514.

Shaw, David, 668.

Shaw, Margaret, fatally wounded at Hannastown, 666.

Shamokin, great Indian capital, location of, 45, 53 (see also Appendix D).

Shamokin, Daniel, accompanies and plots against Post, 360, 362; invades Juniata Valley during Pontiac's War, 430.

Sharp, Captain Andrew, fatal wounding of and attack on party of, 706 to 709.

Shawnees, history of, 45 to 50; come to Pennsylvania, 46; migrate from Eastern to Western Pennsylvania, 47, 48; re- fuse to return to Eastern Pennsylvania, 97, 98, 103, 104; go over to the French, 200, 203; protest rum traffic, 24, 25.

Shawnee Cabins, 47 (see Appendix D).

Shawnee Flats, 47 (see Appendix D).

Shawnee, Fort, location of, 552.

Shawnee, John, a friendly chief, sketch of, 542.

Shawnee Run, 46.

Shaweygila Clan of Shawnees, 47 (see Sewickley Clan of Shawnees).

Shawhiangto (see Appendix B).

Shearer, Hugh, Sr., captured, 610.

Shearer, Hugh, killed, 609.

Shearer, Robert, killed, 609.

Shebosh, young, a Moravian Delaware killed at Gnadenhuetten (Ohio) mass- acre, 648.

Shenango, location of, 207 (see Appendix

Shenap, an Indian Chief, 641, 678.

Sherman's Valley, invasion of, during Pontiac's War, 430 to 438.

Sheshequin or Sheshecunnunk, 562 (see Appendix D).

Shikellamy, great Iroquois vice-gerent, sent to the Forks of the Susquehanna, 45; sent to Onondaga by Gov. Gordon to arrange for a treaty to bring the Six Nations into closer touch with Pennsylvania, 98; introduces Conrad Weiser to Gov. Gordon and the Pro- vincial Council as "an adopted son of the Mohawk Nation," 98, 99; delivers ultimatum on rum traffic, 24, 97; at treaty of 1732, 100 to 103; at treaty of 1736, 104 to 110; he and Conrad Weiser cause change in Indian policy of Pennsylvania, 109; accompanies Weiser to Onondaga to arrange peace between Iroquois and Catawbas, 110; at treaty of 1742, 119 to 121; accom- panies Weiser to Onondaga to arrange for treaty between Virginia and the Six Nations, resulting in the Lancaster treaty of 1744, 122; at Lancaster treaty of 1744, 121 to 126; accompanies Weiser to Onondaga in an effort to arrange peace between Six Nations and Cataw- bas and other Southern Indians, 129; death of, 133 to 135.

Shields' Fort, location of, and events at, 498, 518.

Shikellamy 's Town (near Milton, Pa.) (see Appendix D).

Shingas' Old Town (see Appendix D).

Shingas, appointed "King of the Dela- wares," 141; burns McCord's Fort, 273, 274; invades the Coves and Conol-

INDEX

787

loways, Chapter VII; raids various settlements, 217, 267, 305; holds coun- cils with Post, 363, 368, 369, 371, 409; holds various councils with Pennsyl- vania authorities at Fort Pitt, 409, 410; holds council with Col. Bouquet at beginning of siege of Fort Pitt, 421; possibly in command of Indians at battle of Bushy Run, 449; sketch of, 217, 218; kind to prisoners, 218; a brother of King Beaver and Pisqueto- men, 217.

Shippen, Fort, 498 (see Proctor's Fort).

Shippensburg, refugees at, during Pon- tiac's War, 430, 438, 441.

Shirleysburg, 173; Croghan's Fort at, 276 (see Croghan's Fort and Fort Shirley).

Shirley, Fort, location of, 253; Col. John Armstrong marches from, against Kit- tanning, 305; threatened, 296.

Sideling Hill, battle at, 273 (see page 291).

Silver Heels, 276.

Simcae, Lake, 30.

Simon, Andrew and Michael, captured, 609.

Simpson, Andrew, killed (see McCon- aughy's Blockhouse in Appendix E).

Sinking Spring Valley, Tories in, 529, 530.

Six's Blockhouse (see Dietrick Six's Fort).

Six Nations (see Iroquois).

Skehandowana, location of, 49 (see Appendix D).

Skoiyase (see Appendix B).

Slavery, Puritans sell Indians into, 66.

Slippery Rock Creek, Delaware name for, 586; Col. Brodhead's troops cross and name, 586.

Sloan, James, captured, 695.

Sloan, Captain John, 695.

Sloan, Nancy, captured, 695.

Slocum, Frances, "Lost Sister of Wyom- ing," 563 to 568.

Slover, John, guide in Crawford's expedi- tion; terrible experiences of, 662, 663.

Small-pox, attempt to inoculate Indians with, 423, 424.

Smith, Captain John, meets the Susque- hannas and holds councils with them, 28, 29.

Smith, Col. James, describes torture of prisoners at Fort after Braddock's defeat, 194,195; activities of in French and Indian War, 452; defends West- moreland frontier in Revolutionary War, 519.

Smith, Col. Matthew, leader of "Paxton Boys" in massacre of Conestogas, 463; famous remonstrance of, 468; describes Great Runaway, 560.

Smith, Mrs. Peter, killed, 539.

Smith, widow, mill of, burned by Indians, 594.

Smith, Fort, location of and murders near, 298.

Smith's "History of Armstrong County," quoted, 707 to 709.

Smoky or Killbuck's Island, location of, 370; friendly Dela wares attacked on, 652, 653.

Snodgrass, killed, 539.

Snyder, Fort, 261.

Snyder County, events in during French and Indian War, 204 to 205; events in, during Pontiac's War, 484 to 486; events in, during Revolutionary War, 543, 640.

Soan, Peter, killed, 343, 344.

Somer field, 155.

Solomon, Capt., captured, 641.

Southern and Northern Indians, troubles between, 86, 129.

Spalding, Col. Simon, conciliates Senecas, 693.

Spangenberg, Moravian Bishop, 129.

Spanish Hill, 30.

Spark's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Spicer, William, family of, killed and captured, 495.

Spicer, the renegade, 689.

Spitler, John, killed, 237.

Spottswood, Governor, 90.

Spring, Casper, killed, 237.

Springer, Lieut. Uriah, 610.

Springettsbury Manor, 91.

Spruce Hill, 431.

Squatters on Indian lands, 95, 96, 119, 120, 121, 228, 229, 481 to 484.

Spycker's or Spicker's Stockade, 261.

Squanto, 65.

Squaw Fort, 183.

St. Clair, Major-General Arthur, com- ments of, concerning Dr. John Conolly's actions being a prime cause of Lord Dunmore's War, 493; letter of, concern- ing the murder of the friendly Dela- ware, Joseph Wipey, 505; appointed Governor of the Northwest and holds treaty with Western Indians at Fort Harmar, 688; leads army against western tribes, 698 to 701; last days and death of, 701.

St. Pierre, commander of French forces, 147.

Stample, Peter, killed, 298.

Standing Stone, massacre near, 514, 515 (see Appendix D).

Standing Stone, Fort, 514, 515.

Stanford, Jacob, family of, killed, 541.

Stanwix, Gen. John, succeeds Gen. John Forbes, 402; succeeded by Gen. Monck- ton, 403.

788

INDEX

Stanwix, Fort, treaty and purchase of, Nov. 5th, 1768, at, called the "New Purchase," 484; treaty and purchase of, October 3d, 1784, at, 685, 686.

Stations, Blockhouses and Forts, dis- tinction between, 254.

Steel, Rev. John, pioneer Presbyterian minister, pursues Indians who invaded Coves and ConoUoways, 219, 220; a captain in Col. Armstrong's expedition against Kittanning, 305; a chaplain in Gen. Forbes' expedition against Fort Duquesne, 389; sketch of, 223, 224.

Steel's Stockade (Rev. John's), location of, 223.

Steel, Isaac, escape of, during Hannastown raid, 670.

Stenton, 105.

Sterrett's Mill, 594.

Sterrett, Ralph, story of, 432.

Stevenson, John, captured, 654.

Stevenson, Robert, killed, 352.

Stewart, Isaac, captured, 475.

Stewart, Lazarus, leads "Paxton Boys" in murder of Conestogas, 465.

Stewart's Crossing, location of, 183.

Stewart's Blockhouse, location of, 552.

Still, Isaac, 373.

Stimble, Isaac, killed, 475.

Stobo, Robert, sketch of, 168.

Stock family, attack on, 640.

Stockertown, 342.

Stockely's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Stokely, Capt. Thomas, in Lochry's expedition, 638.

Stoner, Katy, 675.

Stoops, Jennie, rescued by Capt. Samuel Brady, 581, 608

Stony Creek, post at, 428.

Storm, Catherine, attacked, 643.

Storm, David, killed, 643.

Straight Arm (see Captain Johnny).

Stouchsburg, 212.

Strieker's Blockhouses (see Appendix E).

Stroh, John, 640.

Studebaker, Elizabeth, escapes from Col. Bouquet and returns to Indians, 482.

Stump, Frederick, murders ten Indians, 484 to 486.

Stump's Run, 485.

Sugar Cabins, location of, 253 (see Ap- pendix D).

Sugar Loaf Massacre, 614, 619.

Sullivan, Major-General John, complains of Pennsylvania's failure to furnish number of troops promised, 597; ex- pedition of against the Six Nations 599 to 606 (see Appendix B for additional details of his expedition against the Six Nations and for sketch of his life).

Susquehannas, history of, 28 to 33.

Susquehanna lands, history of, 106, 107.

Susquehannocks (see Susquehannas).

Swahyawanah (see Appendix B).

Swaine, Charles, 204.

Swan, Fort, 497.

Swatara and Tulpehocken Massacres, 234 to 237.

Swatara, Fort, 253; massacres near, 297, 298.

Swearingen, Duke, captured, 684.

Swearingen, Fort, location of, 684.

Swearingen, Van, 573, 579, 582.

Swedes on the Delaware, 30; purchase lands from Susquehannas, 30; purchase lands from Delawares, 60; just Indian policy of, 61 to 65; convert Delawares to Christianity, 62; influence of, 65, 67.

Sweetland, Luke, captured, 555.

Tagashata, a Seneca Chief, 375.

Taghahjute (spe Logan, Chief of the Mingoes).

Talligewi (see AUigewi).

Tamenbuck (see Cornstalk).

Tamanend, sells land to William Penn, 69, 70; holds "Great Treaty" with William Penn, 71 to 73; sketch of, 73 to 75.

Tammany (see Tamanend).

Tanacharison, the "Half-King," appointed vice-regent, 45; sells lartds to George Croghan, 139; accompanies Washington on mission to the French, 146,147; forbids French to advance, 143, 144; meets Weiser at Logstown, 133; sees French occupy the Forks of the Ohio 153; in Washington's campaign of 1754,

156 to 160; at Virginia treaty at Logs- town where he appoints Shingas "King of the Delawares," 141; given English namp, 159, 160; at slaying of Jumonville,

157 to 159; complains of Washington, 174; protests Albany Purchase, 173 to 176; death of, 176; succeeded by Sca- rouady as "Half King," 133, 180.

Tate, Edward, 674.

Tate, John, killed, 643.

Tatemy, Moses Fonda, a Delaware Chief, 117, 118; sketch of, 342.

Tatemy, William, son of Moses, 118; murder of, 342.

Taughhoughsey, 110.

Tawanda (see Appendix D).

Tawandaemenk (see Appendix D).

Tawena, Chief of the Conestogas, 91.

Taylor's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Tecaughretango, 397.

Tecumseth, at St. Clair's defeat, 699.

Teedyuscung, the Delaware "King," sketch of, 262, 263; invades Monroe County, 256; 257, 258; persuaded by Canachquasy to "bury the hatchet,"

INDEX

789

322; first council with, at Easton, 322, 323; second council with, at Easton, 325, 326; charges that Delawares were cheated out of the lands by fraudulent "Walking Purchase," 326; asks that friendly Indians not be compelled to take up arms, 333; message of, to the Lancaster Council of May, 1757, 335; third council with, at Easton, 338; made drunk by Colonial agents in order to prevent his championing the cause of the wronged Delawares, 338; renews charge of fraud concerning "Walking Purchase," 339; requests benefits of civilization, 339, 340; de- mands that murderer of the friendly Delaware, William Tatemy, be pun- ished, 342; suggests peace mission to Western Delawares, later carried out by Post, 356, 357; at Grand Council at Easton, 373 to 378; humiliated by Iro- quois chiefs, 375, 376; death of, 469.

Teeter's Fort, location of, 498.

Ten Mile Creek, Chief Logan kills settlers near, 495; murders on, in Revolutionary War, 609.

Ten Mile Lick (see Appendix D).

Teonnotein, Tuscarora ambassador, 51.

Terrence, Adam, 209.

Terrutawaren, Tuscarora ambassador, 51.

Thanksgiving, First American National, 680.

Thannawage, helps form Iroquois Con- federation, 39.

Thirty Years War, 59.

Thomson, Charles, 357; at third council with Teedyuscung, 341.

Thompson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Thompson, Capt. James, captured, 641.

Thompsontown, massacres near, 263, 264.

Thomas, Governor, at Lancaster treaty, 121 to 126.

Tinicum (see Chapter III and Appendix D).

Tioga, location of, 262 (see Appendix D).

Tionesta, 130.

Toganawita, helps form Iroquois Con- federation, 39.

Togahayon, helps form Iroquois Confed- eration, 39.

Tome, Philip, quoted, 643.

Tongue, William, 85.

Tories; in Sinking Spring Valley, 529, 530; Tories flee from Pittsburgh, 529; Tories at Wyoming Massacre, 549 to 555.

Tortures, Indian; probably learned from Spanish explorers, 195, 196; did not exceed those of white men in days of religious persecutions, 196.

Traders, general character of, 23, 26.

Treaties and Councils; William Penn's "Great Treaty" with Tamanend, 71 to 73; William Penn's treaty with Shaw- nees, Susquehannas, Conoys and Iro- quois, 76 to 79; Great Councils at Conestoga, 83, 86 to 88, 89 to 91; treaty of 1732, 97 to 104; treaty of 1736, 104 to 110; treaty of 1742, 119 to 121; Shawnee treaty of 1739, 118 Lancaster treaty of 1744, 121 to 126 Albany treaty of October, 1745, 129 treaty of 1749, 135 to 137; Virginia treaty at Logstown, 139 to 141; Car- lisle Council of October, 1753, 142 to 144; Winchester treaty of September, 1753, 142; Albany treaty of 1754, 172, 173, 175, 408; Carlisle Council of January, 1756, 276 to 279; first council with Teedyuscung at Easton, 322, 323; second council with Teedyuscung at Easton, 325, 326; council at Harris' Ferry in April, 1757, 333; Lancaster Council of May, 1757, 333 to 337; third council with Teedyuscung at Easton, 338 to 342; Post's councils and treaty with Western Delawares, 359 to 372; Grand Council at Easton, 373 to 377; Col. Bouquet's council with chiefs of the Delawares at Pittsburgh, December 4th and 5th, 1758, 409; Col. Hugh Mercer's council with chiefs of Iro- quois, Shawnees and Delawares at Fort Pitt, January 3d, 1759, 409; General Forbes' council with chiefs from the Allegheny, at Philadelphia, February, 9th, 1759, 409, 410; council with chiefs of Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnees and Wyandots at Fort Pitt, July 5th to 9th,

1759, 410; General Monckton's council with Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas and Wyandots at Fort Pitt, August 12th,

1760, 410; Lancaster treaty of August, 1762, 404, 405, 410, 411; preliminary treaty of peace between England and France, November 3d, 1762, 411; treaty of Paris, February 10th, 1763, 411; treaty or proclamation ending Pontiac's War in Pennsylvania, 482; great council at Fort Pitt, May 9th, 1768, relative to whites settling on lands of the Indians, 483; Fort Stanwix treaty of November, 1768, 484; treaty ending Lord Dun- more's War, 499; council with western Indians at Fort Pitt in October, 1775, 509; British treaty with Iroquois at Fort Niagara in May, 1776, 506; council with Iroquois and others at Easton in January, 1777, 510; treaty of alliance between the Delawares and the United States, 568 to 570; Fort Stanwix treaty of October 3d, 1784, 685, 686; Fort Mcintosh treaty of

790

INDEX

January, 1785, 687, 688; Fort Harmar

treaty of January, 1789, 588; treaty of

Greenville, 713, 714. Trent, Fort, location and capture of, 153,

154. Trent, Capt. William, mission of, to the

French, 144; starts to erect Fort

Trent, 153. Tripp, Isaac, captured, 555. Truby, Col. Christopher, 505, 635, 664

(see Fort Allen, Appendix E). Truby, Mary Ann, daughter of Col.

Christopher Truby, capture and rescue

of (see second page of Appendix E, and

page 635). Truby, James (see second page of Ap- pendix E). Trucker's Stockade, location of, 261. Trump, Adam, killed, 346. Tuesten, Colonel, 592. Tull family, massacre of, 522, 523. Tulpehocken and Swatara massacres, 234

to 237. Tulpehocken Valley, settled by Palatines,

95. Tunkhannock or Chinkannig, 599 (see

Appendix D). Turkey or Unalachtigo Clan of Delawares,

37 (see Delawares, Clans of). Turkey Foot, 156, 392 (see Appendix D). Turkey Hill, 31. Turner, step-father of Simon, James,

George and Thomas Girty, torture of,

295, 317. Turner's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Turtle or Unami Clan of Delawares, 37

(see Delawares, Clans of). Turtle Heart, a Delaware chief; holds

council with Captain Ecuyer, 420, 421; Captain Ecuyer attempts to inoculate him

with small-pox, 424; holds councils with

Col. Bouquet, 479. Tuscarora ambassadors, 51. Tuscaroras, history of, 50 to 53; migrate

from the South and join Iroquois Con- federation, 39, 50 to 53. Tuscarora Valley, invasion of during

Pontiac's War, 430 to 439. Tutelo, history of, 55, 56. Tyadaghton, Indian name for Pine Creek

(Lycoming County), 685, 686, 687.

U

Ulery family, attack on, 533, 534. Ulrich's Fort, location of, 261. Umbelicamence (see Appendix D). Unalachtigo or Turkey Clan of Delawares,

37 (see Delawares, Clans of). Unami or Turtle Clan of Delawares, 37

(see Delawares, Clans of). Unhappy Jake, son of Shikellamy, 134.

Union County, events in during French and Indian War, 204 to 209; events in during Revolutionary War, 543, 560, 592, 618, 641, 642, 674 to 676.

Unity Presbyterian Church, 393, 669.

Upson, Asa, killed, 612.

Ury, Christopher, 235.

Utley family killed, 563.

Van Braam, Major Jacob, accompanies Washington on mission to the French, 144 to 151; in Washington's campaign of 1754, 163, 164, 165; sketch of, 168.

Vanbuskirke, Mrs., killed, 582.

Van Campen, Moses, captured and makes his escape, 612, 613; other exploits of, 615 to 617; again captured and experi- ences of, 617 (see Appendix B).

Vance's Fort, Gnadenhuetten (Ohio) Massacre planned at, 648.

Van Dyke, Henry, 592.

Van Gundy, Christian, 592.

Van Horn, Cornelius, captured, 697.

Vaugh, Simon, killed, 541.

Van Meter, Fort, location of, 497.

Venango, location of, 146 (see Appendix D).

Venango, Fort, 146; captured, 416 to 418.

Venango County, events in, during Wash- ington's mission to the French, 146, 147; events in during French and In- dian War, 360, 403; events in during Pontiac's War, 416, 417; events in during Revolutionary War, 586; events in, during Post- Revolutionary uprising, 709.

Vices brought to Indians, 22.

Vincent family, captured, 597.

Vincent, Isaac, killed, 594.

Virginia, purchases lands from Iroquois at Lancaster treaty of 1744, 124; Virginia's claims to the Ohio Valley, 139, 140; Virginia's treaty at Logstown, 139 to 141; Virginia Council quoted as to Col. Henry Hamilton the "hair- buyer," 507.

W

Wakatomica, location of, 480.

Walhauer (see Walthour).

Walker, Benjamin, 692.

Waller, Gabriel, attack on family of, 671,

672. Walker, Henry, 692. Walker, Isaac, 672. Walker, John, killed, 675. Walker, Joseph, 692. Walker, Mrs., captured, 680. Walker, William, killed, 351.

INDEX

791

Walker's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

"Walking Purchase," history of, 110 to 118; Delawares driven from bounds of, 113 to 118; one of the main causes of the Delawares' taking up arms against Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War, 117; Dr. George P. Done- hoo quoted as to results of, 117.

Wallace, Dr. J. C, 714.

Wallace, Richard, quarter-master in Lochry's expedition, 638.

Wallace, Robert, family captured and wife and baby later killed, 647.

Wallace, Fort, location of, 516; events at, 516,531,532.

Wallenpaupack Creek, valley of, invaded, 557, 558.

Wallenpaupack, Fort, location of and events near, 557.

Wallis' Fort, location of, 561.

Wallower's Blockhouse (see Appendix E).

Walthour, Christopher, 657, 658.

Walthour's Stockade, persons killed and captured near and attack on, 657, 658, 680, 681.

Walum Olum, 34, 35.

Wamp, an Indian, killed by Capt. Samuel Brady, 582.

Wapwallopen (see Appendix D).

Warren County, events in, during Revolu- tionary War, 585.

Warren's Sleeping Place (see Appendix D).

Washington County, events in, during Lord Dunmore's War, 495 to 497; events in, during Revolutionary War, 535, 579, 587, 607 to 610, 631, 632, 633, 634, 636, 637, 639, 647, 648, 654, 655, 656, 673, 674, 680, 681, 659; events in, during Post-Revolutionary uprising, 688, 689, 690, 691.

Washington, George, his mission to the French, 144 to 151; narrowly escapes death at hands of hostile Indian, 148, 149; monument erected on approximate spot where Indian attempted to kill him, 149; his campaign of 1754, 154 to 167; his engagement with Jumonville, 157 to 159; accused of having "assassinated" Jumonville, 163 to 165; erects Fort Necessity, 162; surrenders at Fort Necessity, 162 to 167; Tanacharison complains of, 174; in Braddock's campaign and defeat, Chapter VI, 189, 192; in Forbes' campaign against Fort Pitt, Chapter XVII; opposes Col. Bouquet, 391; his engagement near Ligonier, 399, 400; sends Col. Brod- head against the Senecas and Munsee Clan of Delawares, 584 to 586; sends Gen. Sullivan against the Six Nations, 599 to 606, Appendix B; anger at Gen. St. Clair's defeat, 700; his interview

with Cornplanter, 593; his interview with Red Jacket, 556; his tribute to Conrad Weiser, 100.

Washington, Fort, location of, 691, 698.

Washington, Augustine and Lawrence, leading men in Ohio Company, 133.

Watson, James, killed, 247.

Watson, Patrick, killed, 619.

Watsonville, 590.

Wayne, General Anthony, leads army against Western Indians, 710 to 715; arrives at Pittsburgh, 710, 711; trains army at Legionville, 711; leads army to Fort Washington, 711; defeats Western tribes at battle of Fallen Timbers, 712, 713; compels Western Indians to sign Treaty of Greenville, 713, 714; death of, 714, 715.

Wayne County, events in, during Pontiac's War, 462.

Waynesburg, 495.

Fort Wayne, location of, 711.

Webster, Joseph, family of capture, 594.

Wechquetank (see Appendix D).

Weeks family, killed, 552.

Weiser, Conrad, sketch of, 98 to 100; quoted as to traders and rum traffic, 26; introduced by Shikellamy at Gov. Gordon and Provincial Council as "an adopted son of the Mohawk Na- tion," 98, 99; at treaty of 1732, 97 to 103; at treaty of 1736, 104 to 110; he and Shikellamy cause change in the Indian policy of Pennsylvania, 109; sent to seat of Iroquois Confederation at Onondaga, 110, 122, 129; at treaty of 1742, 119 to 121; at Lancaster treaty of 1744, 121 to 126; at Albany treaty of 1754, 172; plans defense of the Province and is given commission as Colonel, 212, 213; in danger from settlers 237 to 239; Tanacharison complains to, concerning Washington, 174; at Car- lisle conference of October, 1753, 142; in command of First Battalion of Pennsylvania Regiment, 253, 254; re- ports Swatara and Tulpehocken mass- acres, 235, 236, 239; opposes offering bounties for Indian scalps, 283; helps to remove squatters, 121; at first council with Teedyuscung, 322 to 325 ; at second council with Teedyuscung, 325 to 331; at third council with Teedyuscung, 338 to 342; waning influence of, 330, 331; at Grand Council at Easton, 373 to 377; Washington's tribute to, 100.

Weiser, Frederick (son of Conrad), 236, 487.

Weiser, Frederick (not a son of Conrad), killed, 285.

Weiser, Samuel (son of Conrad), 207.

Wells, attack on, 523 to 525.

792

INDEX

Wells' Fort, location of, 690. Weltner, Col., his German Regiment, 594. Wenro, history of, 57. Weschachachapochka, Delaware name for

Slippery Rock Creek, 586. West Branch of Susquehanna, expedition up, in, 1756, 299, 300. (For various events on both West Branch and North Branch, consult index and Chrono- logical table). Westmoreland County; events in during French and Indian War, 184, 185, 366, 367, 397 to 399; events in during Pon- tiac's War, 424 to 428, 439 to 449, 486; events in during Lord Dunmore's War, 493, 498, 505; events in during Revolutionary War, 515 to 519, 531 to 535, 567, 574, 575, 582 to 584, 607, 634, 635, 636, 657, 658, 664 to 671, 680, 681; events in during Post- Revolu- tionary Uprising, 694 to 697, 702. Weston, John, leader of Tories, killed,

529, 530. West Newton, Lochry's expedition crosses

Youghiogheny at, 637. Wetterhold, Captain Jacob, 348, 349;

killed, 456, 457. Wetzel, Louis (Lewis), 674. Wheeler, Fort, location of, and attack in,

615. Whitacre, James, 63 L White, Captain, 697. White Deer Creek, 592. White, Mrs., 667.

White Eyes, Delaware chief, holds coun- cils with Col. Bouquet, 479; at council at Fort Pitt, 484; peace efforts of, in Lord Dunmore's War, 494, 495; makes alliance with Americans in Revolu- tionary War, 568 to 570; death of, 572. White, William, killed, 430. "White Woman of the Genesee" (see

Mary Jemison). Wicaco (see Appendix D). Wiconisco Valley, 271. Wigton, James, murder of family of, 710. Will's Creek, 39.

"Wild Hunter of the Juniata" (Captain

Jack), a mythical character, 181, 182.

"Wild Hunter of the Juniata" ("Captain

Jack"), a mythical character, 181, 182.

Wilderness Club House, redoubt near,

394. Wiley, John, killed, 352. Wilkes-Barre, Fort, location of, 551, 552. Wilkins, John, 704. Willawanna (see Appendix D). Williams, Isaac, killed, 555. Williams' Blockhouse, location of, 534. Williamson, killed, 641. William, Fort, location of. 253.

Williamson, Col. David, leads expedition that massacred Moravian Delawares at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, 647 to 652; in Col. Crawford's expedition, 659 to 663.

Williamson, Peter, captured, 246.

Williamson's Blockhouse (see Appendix

E); Wilkinson, Col. James, sends detachment

to scene of St. Clair's defeat, 700. Williamson tragedy, 290. Williard, Mr., killed, 657; daughter of

captured and later killed, 657, 658;

Mary, wife, of, demands murderer, 657,

658. Wilson, Col. Benjamin, 499. Wilson, William, peace mission of, during

Revolutionary War, 510. Wilson's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Winchester treaty, 142. Wind Gap Fort, 262. Wingenund, a Delaware chief, appealed

to, by Col. Crawford, 661. Winnichack, king of the Conoy, 89. "Winning of the West," Roosevelt's,

referred to, 317, 495. Winters, William, attack on, 541. Winter moot's Fort, location and surrender

of, 550. Wipey, Joseph, aged friendly Delaware,

murder of, 504, 505. Wolf, killed, 237. Wolf or Munsee Clan of Delawares, 36

(see Delawares, Clans of). Wolf's Fort, location of, 673. Wolfsburg, 393. Womelsdorf, Conrad Weiser's home near,

98, 99. Women, Indian treatment of, 20, 381. Woodruff's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Woods, George, captured, 286; surveys

Pittsburgh's streets, 287. Woods, Mr. and Mrs. John, killed, 293. Woocomber, family, murdered, 265. Wopatha (see Opessah). Wright's Blockhouse (see Appendix E). Wright, John, 92. Wright, Thomas, horrified at massacre of

Conestogas, 469. Written Rock (see Appendix D). Wuench, Felix, killed, 285. Wyalusing, location of, 130 (see Appendix

D). Wyllys, Major, killed in Harmar's defeat,

692. Wyoming, Indian town, location of, 49

(see Appendix D). Wyoming, first massacre of (in Pontiac's

War), 459 to 462. Wyoming Massacre of July 3d, 1778, 549 to 557.

INDEX

793

Wyoming Valley, invaded in autumn of 1778, 562, to 568; invaded in spring of 1779, 588, 589; invaded in spring of 1780, 611, 612.

Fort Wyoming and other forts in vicinity, location and events at, 550, 599.

Yager, Martin, killed, 348. Yates, James, 111, 112. Yellow Creek, 490, 492. Yoroonwago (see Appendix D). Young, Margaret, captured, 641.

Z

Zanes, the, 674.

Zane, Jonathan, guide in Crawford's ex- pedition, 659.

Zeisberger, Rev. David, Moravian mission- ary, 31, 241, 242. Zeislof family, attack on, 272. Zellers, Christine, prowess of, 302, 303.

Zinzendorf, Count, Moravian missionary, 134.

Zion Lutheran Church, 574, 664; first school in western Pennsylvania at (see first page of Appendix E).

Zippora, Indian woman, murdered, 454, 455.

Zollarsville Indian Fort (see Appendix E).

Zundel, Rev. W. A., his "History of Old Zion Lutheran Church," quoted, 574.