William Penn Received Charter for Pennsylvania
from King, March 4, 1681
Admiral Sir William Penn, renowned in English history by his martial valor as an officer of the British Navy, left to his son a claim against the Government for £16,000, consisting to a great extent of money advanced by him in the sea service and of arrearages in his pay.
Sir William Penn was in command of an English warship at the age of twenty-three, when sent to the coast of Ireland to help fight the battle of Parliament against Charles the First.
When the war with the Dutch followed—caused by the seizure of New Netherlands—Admiral Penn commanded the English fleet, under the Duke of York, in a fierce naval engagement off the east coast of England at Lowestoft, in June, 1665. Just before this battle the admiral’s son, William Penn, Jr., was sent to the King with dispatches.
Admiral Penn died in 1670, worn out at forty-nine, and his son succeeded to his estates.
In 1680 William Penn petitioned Charles II to grant him, in lieu of the sum due to his father’s estate, letter-patent, “for a tract of land in America, lying north of Maryland, on the east bounded with the Delaware River, on the west limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable.”
King Charles II was at once willing to grant the petition of William Penn because he could thus pay the debt owed Sir William. Some of his counselors objected, saying, that it would be ridiculous to suppose that the interests of the British nation were to be promoted by sending a colony of people that would not fight, that would have nothing to do with gin and gunpowder in dealing with the Indians. But the young Quaker stood high in the favor of the Duke of York, and of Charles II, and the King gladly consented to this easy mode of discharging the obligation.
The Duke of York desired to retain the three lower counties, or the present State of Delaware, as an appendage to New York, but his objections were finally withdrawn, as were those of Lord Baltimore.
After sundry conferences and discussions concerning the boundary lines and other matters of minor importance, the committee finally sent in a favorable recommendation and presented a draft of charter, constituting William Penn, Esq., absolute Proprietary of a tract of land in America, therein mentioned, to the King for his approbation; and leaving to him also the naming of the Province.
The King affixed his signature on March 4, 1681. The original charter is in the State Library. It is written on three pieces of strong parchment, in old English handwriting, with each line underscored with lines of red ink. The borders are gorgeously decorated with heraldic devices, and the top of the first page exhibits a finely executed likeness of His Majesty, in good preservation.
Penn wished his province to be called New Wales, but the King insisted on Pennsylvania. Penn next proposed Sylvania, on the ground that the prefix “Penn” would appear like a vanity on his part, and not as a mark of respect for his father; but no amendment was accepted.
The extent of the province was three degrees of latitude by five degrees of longitude, the eastern boundary being the Delaware River, the northern boundary “the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south a circle drawn at twelve miles distant from New Castle, northward and westward into the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned.” The three lower counties on the Delaware were not included in the charter.
The charter gave title to more than 45,000 square miles of land, and was among the largest tracts in America ever granted to a single individual. This grant gave Penn no coast line for his colony; so, August 2, 1682, he purchased from the Duke of York the “Three Counties Upon the Delaware,” which now form the State of Delaware. Although these were separated from Pennsylvania in 1702, they remained a part of the domain of the Penn family until the American Revolution.
Three things moved Penn to plant a colony in the New World; first, he would get payment for the amount of £16,000 due his father; secondly, he would find a place for his brethren, the Quakers, or Friends, where they would not be openly insulted in the streets, or dragged from their meeting houses to loathsome jails and robbed of the last bed or cow to pay the fines for not attending the established church; and thirdly, he would satisfy the desire which the glowing accounts of the brethren in the present New Jersey had created in him.
The second of these motives was by far the strongest. Penn himself had been tried for preaching to “an unlawful, seditious and riotous assembly.” Penn and his people enjoyed neither religious nor civil liberty in England.
The charter to Penn sets forth three objects; a desire on the part of Penn to enlarge the English empire; to promote trade; and to bring the savage natives by gentleness and justice to the love of civil society and the Christian religion.
Besides the territory granted, the charter gave Penn the power to make laws, set up courts, to trade, to erect towns, to collect customs duties; to make war, to sell lands and to impose taxes.
Copies of all laws were to be sent to England, and if disapproved within six months they became void. No war was to be made upon any State at peace with England. Any twenty of the people could request the Bishop of London to send them a preacher of the Church of England, who was to reside within the province without being molested.
Penn offered attractive concessions to the settlers. Land was sold to them at the rate of $10 for 100 acres and every purchaser of lands should have a lot in the city, to be laid out along the river. In clearing the ground care was to be taken “to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared.” This was the beginning of forestry in America.
At the time of the charter the present limits of the State were inhabited by the Indians, with some Swedes and Dutch settled along the Delaware.
The first real settlement under the new proprietor was made in 1681, when Penn sent William Markham, his cousin, to take possession of the province. The next year Penn himself arrived, bringing in his ship, the Welcome, a hundred colonists of his own faith, to found Philadelphia, the city of “Brotherly Love.”
Penn bought the land from the Indians, making a treaty of peace with them which remained unbroken for more than fifty years. “We shall never forget the counsel he gave us,” said an Indian chief at Conestoga in 1721.
Colonel Daniel Brodhead Arrives at Fort Pitt
to Fight Indians, March 5, 1779
Colonel Daniel Brodhead was sent to Fort Pitt to relieve General Edward Hand, and he arrived there March 5, 1779. He was a trained soldier and knew how to fight Indians.
General Hand turned over to him seven hundred militiamen. Some of these were stationed at Fort McIntosh, at what is now Beaver, some at Fort Henry, now Wheeling, W. Va., a few at Fort Randolph, now Point Pleasant, details at Fort Hand, near Kiskimimetas, near Apollo, and another guard at Fort Crawford, now Parnassus.
Forts Hand and Crawford were intended to protect the northern border of Westmoreland County from the raids of the Iroquois who lived on the upper waters of the Allegheny River.
With the first mild weather of spring the incursions of the savages began. The Seneca and Munsee descended the Allegheny in canoes and scattered in little bands throughout the country. They burned cabins, killed and scalped men, carried off the women and children and household goods.
Colonel Brodhead put into operation a system of scouting along the border from one fort to another. From his regulars at Fort Pitt, he selected his boldest and most experienced frontiersmen and organized ranging parties and sent them on extended tours through the forests. To the command of these important details he selected three of the bravest woodsmen in the Eighth Pennsylvania, Captain Van Swearingen, Lieutenant Samuel Brady and Lieutenant John Hardin. It was in this service that Brady won his fame as an Indian fighter.
Samuel Brady’s hatred of the savages was personal and he made it his business to kill them. In this he was justified in the cruel death of his brother, James, August 8, 1778, which was followed by the treacherous murder of his father, the celebrated Captain John Brady, April 11, 1779.
Samuel Brady received the news of his father’s death about the time he was chosen by Colonel Brodhead to the command of forest rangers. This increased his hatred of the red men and moved him to execute vengeance.
Brady and his scouts were clad entirely in Indian fashion. In the forest excursions they even painted their bodies and faces and wore feathers in their hair, in imitation of savage warriors.
An attack was made on Ligonier settlement in April. On April 26, one hundred Indians and Tories attacked Fort Hand, in both affairs defenders were killed and many captured, and other places were attacked and habitations burned.
During May, Brodhead kept his scouts out along the upper Allegheny to give warning of the approach of hostile bands.
Brodhead learned, about June 1, that a large band of Seneca and Tories, under Colonel John Butler was preparing to descend the Allegheny, and he dispatched three scouts, in canoes as far as Venango, the present Franklin. The scouts were discovered and pursued, and narrowly escaped capture, but brought the news which confirmed the report received by Brodhead.
The savages penetrated into Westmoreland, where they killed and scalped a solitary soldier, then attacked the little settlement at James Perry’s Mills, on Big Sewickley Creek, killed a woman and four children, and carried off two children, many cattle and much plunder.
Two ranging parties were sent after these marauders. One was marched to the Sewickley settlement and an attempt was made to follow the trail. The other band consisted of twenty men under Brady, which ascended the Allegheny River.
As Brady’s detail advanced one evening along the beach within the mouth of the Big Mahoning where it empties into the Allegheny, they found many Indian canoes drawn up and hidden among the shrubbery. The Indians had gone into camp in the woods, on a little knoll north of the creek, and were preparing the evening meal when discovered by Brady. They had hobbled their horses and turned them out to graze. The stream was very high and the scouts were compelled to ascend it two miles before they could wade across.
After nightfall Brady and his men hid themselves in the tall grass near the Indian camp. Brady and Chief Nonowland, laying aside their tomahawks, knives, powder horns and bullet pouches, crept to within a few yards of the Indian camp to count the savages and ascertain the position of the captive children.
One of the Indians suddenly cast off his blanket, arose, stepped forth to within six feet of where Brady lay, stood there awhile, stretched himself and then returned to his slumber.
Brady and Nonowland then prepared for an attack at daybreak. The whole party of scouts made their way through the grass and weeds to a position as near the camp as was considered safe, and lay awaiting the dawn.
As daylight appeared an Indian awoke and aroused the others. They stood about the fire laughing and chatting when a deadly volley broke forth from the rifles of the scouts lying in the bushes. The chief and seven Indian warriors fell dead and the others, almost naked, fled into the dense forest, two of them severely wounded. Brady’s own rifle brought down the chief, and with a shout of almost fiendish triumph he sprang forward and scalped him.
The traditions of the Brady family say that the chief was none other than Bald Eagle, who had struck down and scalped Brady’s younger brother, James, ten months before. Brodhead reported to Washington that the chief was “a notorious warrior of the Munsee nation.”
The children captured at Sewickley were recovered unharmed and Brady and his men returned to Fort Pitt with the stolen horses and plunder, the blankets, guns, tomahawks and knives of the savages and many scalps.
Settlers Attack Pack Trains Near Fort
Loudoun, March 6, 1765
The period immediately following Colonel Bouquet’s successful expedition against the Indians at Muskingum October, 1764, was one of comparative peace, but this did not long continue.
A most interesting episode occurred about this time in the Conococheague Valley, from the North to the South Mountain. The people who had been driven off had gradually returned and were now determined to make a better stand against the enemy. They raised a sum of money and recruited a company of riflemen, of which James Smith was elected captain. They dressed in Indian fashion and painted their faces red and black like the Indian warriors.
Two of the officers had long been in Indian captivity, and they drilled their men in Indian discipline, and so expert did this company become that it was recognized by the British Government and Captain Smith received a commission in the regular service under King George III, and the following year was with Bouquet’s expedition against Muskingum.
George Croghan, the deputy agent for Indian affairs, went to Fort Pitt in February, 1765, and brought about the meeting with Sir William Johnson, whereby on May 8, 1765, a definite treaty of peace was made with the Delaware.
When Croghan set out from Philadelphia for Fort Pitt, March 1, 1765, he gave a pass for a large number of wagons belonging to Boynton and Wharton, of Philadelphia, loaded with merchandise, which was intended as presents for the Indians at Fort Pitt.
But the people of Cumberland County took the law into their own hands to prevent warlike stores being supplied to savages recently in arms against them. These goods were hauled to Henry Collins, at Conococheague, and there he contracted to pack them on eighty-one horses, by which they were to be delivered into Fort Pitt.
This large transaction alarmed the country and William Duffield raised and armed about fifty of the trained men of that valley and marched to Fort Loudoun, where Duffield made a request that this consignment of goods be stored up until further orders, but this was refused, and on March 6 the pack train proceeded on its journey.
The same morning a large company started from the house of William Smith, one of the Justices of Cumberland County. They came up with this pack train at Sideling Hill, about seventeen miles beyond Fort Loudoun, when sixty-three of the horse loads were burned or pillaged.
A sergeant and twelve men of the Highlanders sent from the fort, went through the neighborhood, saved the balance of the goods, captured several persons, five rifles and four smooth bore guns.
The traders, after losing their caravan, went back to the fort and complained to the commanding officer. It was then that three hundred riflemen marched to Fort Loudoun and encamped on the hill in sight of the fort.
James Smith, a relative of Justice Smith, and the captain who served with Bouquet, appeared in a few days at the head of a large crowd of his infuriated neighbors, and declared that they would suffer death to the last man, rather than let the prisoners be put to jail at Carlisle.
Two months later another caravan of horses laden with liquors, etc., for the troops at Fort Pitt, under a pass from the commander there, arrived at Fort Loudoun, about May 1, and were relieved of their burden in the fort. The drivers led their horses out to pasture, when about thirty men, with their faces painted black, rushed upon them, flogged the drivers, killed five horses and burned all the saddles. In the battle which ensued one of the attacking party was wounded.
Again Captain James Smith led his neighbors to the fort. He was accompanied by three Justices who demanded right to search the goods in store there, but intended for transportation to Fort Pitt.
Lieutenant Charles Grant, of the Highlanders, commandant of the fort, explained that the general had committed the goods to his care, but had ordered an inventory to be taken before a justice of the peace, but this inventory could not be taken in the presence of a mob.
The vigilance men threw off the restraints of decent appearance by issuing the following:
“Advertisement. These are to give notice to all our Loyal Volunteers to those that has not yet inlisted, you are to come to our Town and come to our Tavern and fill your Belly’s with Liquor and your mouth with swearing, and you will have your pass, but if not, your Back must be whipt and mouth gagged. * * * We will have Grant, the officer of Loudoun, whip’d or hanged. * * * The Governor will pardon our Crimes, and the Clergy will give-us absolution, and the Country will stand by us; so we may do what we please. * * * free toleration for drinking, swearing, sabbath breaking, and any outrage what we have a mind to, to let those Strangers know their place. * * * We call it Hell’s town, in Cumberland County, the 25th May, 1765. Peter’s Township.”
The crowning deed was reserved for May 28. Lieutenant Grant, while riding about a mile from the fort, was fired upon. His horse started suddenly at the crack of the rifle and he was thrown off. Captain James Smith and others seized him, carried him six miles distant and kept him a prisoner all night in the woods. He was there threatened unless he agreed to give up all the arms taken from the rioters.
Governor Penn and General Gage were humiliated by these insults to the King’s uniform and their inability to punish the offenders, but the more serious concern was in the obstruction of the communication for traders with their goods to reach the Illinois country, where the French across the Mississippi, were ready to obtain an influence by commerce.
While allegiance of the Indians was thus jeopardized, white men began to creep over the mountains and encroach upon land not yet sold by the aborigines. Red Stone settlement was thus made, at the risk of another war. Gage sent a detachment of Highlanders to this region to compel all whites west of the Alleghenies to return to their own provinces, but those who left soon went back again with others.
On June 4, 1765, Governor Penn declared trade with the Indians open from June 20 to all inhabitants of the Province who should apply for and obtain his license.
Andrew Lycans Killed in Attack by Indians
in Wiconisco Valley, March 7,1756
The Wiconisco or Lykens Valley includes that section of the “Upper End” of Dauphin County that is watered by the Wiconisco Creek and its branches, save where local names have been given to certain portions, such as Williams Valley, etc.
In 1732 Andrew Lycans settled on the Swartara Creek, where he took up 250 acres of land. In 1740 he removed to the west side of the Susquehanna, where he settled between Sherman’s Creek and the Juniata, in then Cumberland County.
This land had not been included in the last Indian purchase and the Shawnee Indians, who had a few scattered villages on the Juniata, complained of the encroachments of these settlers and demanded their removal. To pacify the Indians the provincial authorities sent, in 1748, the Sheriff of Lancaster County, with three magistrates, accompanied by Conrad Weiser, to warn the people to leave at once, but they remained, determined not to be driven away, at least by threats.
On May 22, 1750, a number of high dignitaries appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, held a conference at the house of George Croghan, in Pennsborough Township, Cumberland County. Subsequently, accompanied by Deputy Sheriff Andrew Work, of that county, they went to the place where Andrew Lycans and his neighbors lived, took them all into custody and burned their cabins.
Sheriff Work presented his account for the “removal of trespassers at Juniata,” in which he asked for ten days’ pay for his “attendance on the Secretary Magistrates of the County of Cumberland, by his Hon’s. the Governor’s command to remove sundry persons settled to the northward of the Kickitania Mountains.” This and the expenses of a messenger sent from Lancaster amounted to three pounds and seven shillings. Then he asked for “the Under-Sheriff’s attendance in taking down Andrew Lycan to prison to Lancaster; other expenses on the journey; two pounds ten shillings.”
Lycans and his neighbors were subsequently released by order of Governor Hamilton. Andrew Lycans removed with his family to the east side of the Susquehanna, beyond the Kittochtinny Mountains, and by permission of the authorities “settled on a tract of about 200 acres situated on the northerly side of Whiconesong Creek.” Here he made extensive improvements.
Until the spring of 1756 these pioneers were not disturbed, but following the defeat of General Braddock, everywhere along the frontier the savages began their work of devastation and death.
On March 7, 1756, Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt went out early to feed their cattle, when they were suddenly startled by the report of two rifles. Neither of them being harmed, they were able to reach the house, where they prepared themselves for defense in case of an attack.
The Indians concealed themselves behind a hog-house not far from the dwelling. John Lycans, a son of Andrew; John Rewalt and Ludwig Shutt, a neighbor, crept out of the house in an effort to discover the whereabouts of the savages and get a shot at them, but they were fired upon by five Indians and each one wounded, Shutt receiving a dangerous wound in the abdomen.
At this moment Andrew Lycans discovered one of the Indians named Joshua James near the hog-house and also two white men running away from their hiding place. Lycans fired and killed James.
Lycans and his party in the house believed this a favorable opportunity for escape and started from the dwelling, but they were observed and closely pursued by a score of the enemy.
John Lycans and John Rewalt were too badly wounded to put up much resistance, but with the aid of a Negro servant they escaped, leaving Andrew Lycans, Ludwig Shutt and a boy to engage the Indians.
The savages rushed in upon them, and one Indian in the act of striking the boy with his tomahawk was shot dead by Shutt, while Lycans killed another and wounded a third Indian.
The Indian killed by Shutt was named Bill Davis. Two others recognized by Lycans were Tom Hickman and Tom Hayes, all of the Delaware tribe, and well known in that neighborhood.
This upset in the plan of attack caused the Indians to momentarily cease their pursuit and Lycans, Shutt and the lad, being exhausted from loss of blood, sat down on a log to rest themselves, believing they were no longer in danger. The Indians stood some distance off to keep them in view, but in spite of this caution, Lycans managed to lead his little party to a place of safe concealment and later over the mountain into Hanover Township, where neighbors gave them assistance; but Andrew Lycans died from his injuries and exposure.
This pioneer martyr left a wife, one son and five daughters. These returned to their home soon as the danger was over, and on more than one subsequent occasion were compelled to flee before the marauding savages. The one attack in which Andrew Lycans was killed is the only occasion where a life was lost by the Indian incursions in the Wiconisco Valley.
John Lycans, son of Andrew, became an officer in the provincial service, commissioned July 12, 1762. In June, 1764, he was stationed at Manada Gap. His mother, Jane Lycans, in February, 1765, had a patent issued to her for the land on which her husband had located.
The original Lycans cabin stood until about fifty years ago. It was situated near the present site of Oakdale, a few yards north of the bridge that crosses the Wiconisco. It was built of hewn logs with windows about nine inches square, which were also used as port holes.
Andrew Lycans has given his name to the beautiful valley of the Wiconisco, owing possibly to his fatal encounter with the Indians, March 7, 1756.
Ludwig Shutt recovered from his serious wounds and lived until 1790, and left a large family, some of his descendants being present residents of Lykens Valley. John Rewalt subsequently removed to another part of the province as did John Lycans, following his tour of duty as an officer in the provincial service.
Frightful Slaughter of Indians at Gnadenhuetten,
March 8, 1782
In the fall of 1781, Pennsylvania frontiersmen decided that their safety would no longer permit the residence of the Moravian Indians on the Muskingum, which was about seventy miles from Fort McIntosh, in the present State of Ohio. Fort McIntosh was on the right bank of the Ohio River at the mouth of Beaver River, now Beaver, Pennsylvania.
Colonel David Williamson, one of the battalion commanders of Washington County, gathered a company of 100 men and on November 5 started for the Tuscarawa Indians to compel the Moravians either to migrate into the hostile country or to move in a body to Fort Pitt. They found the village deserted save by a few Indian men and women. Colonel Williamson conducted these Indians safely to Fort Pitt.
A small settlement of Delaware had already been established near Fort Pitt. After Colonel Daniel Brodhead destroyed Coshocton, in the spring of 1781, Killbuck, the chief sachem of the Delaware, with his immediate kindred and the families of Big Cat, Nonowland and other chiefs, who remained friends to the American cause took possession of a small island at the mouth of the Allegheny River, opposite Fort Pitt, where they built bark wigwams, planted corn and vegetables and otherwise supported themselves by hunting and the sale of furs. This place became known as Killbuck Island, afterwards Smoky Island.
Many of this settlement accompanied military scouting parties, and were of much service in the defense of the Western frontier. Chief Killbuck, also known as Gelemend, meaning “leader,” became a soldier and officer in the United States Army. He died in 1811.
In the spring of 1782, which was unusually early, came the marauding Indians. The first blow fell February 8, when John Fink was killed near Buchanan’s Fort, on the upper Monongahela. On Sunday, February 10, a large body of Indians visited the dwelling of Robert Wallace, on Raccoon Creek, Beaver County. The head of the family being absent at the time, the savages killed all his cattle and hogs, plundered the house of its contents and carried away Mrs. Wallace and her three children.
About February 15, six Indians captured John Carpenter and two of his horses on the Dutch Fork, of Buffalo Creek. They crossed the Ohio at Mingo Bottom and made off toward the Tuscarawa villages. Four of these Indians were Wyandot. Two spoke Dutch, and told Carpenter they were Moravians. On the morning of the second day, Carpenter was sent to the woods to get the horses. Finding them some distance from the camp fire, he mounted one of the horses and dashed for Fort Pitt, where he told his story to Colonel Gibson.
Gibson mustered 160 young men of Washington County, and placed Colonel Williamson in command of the expedition, which moved immediately. The Ohio was at flood height and they effected a crossing Monday, March 4, and hastened along the beaten trail toward Gnadenhuetten on the Muskingum. As may well be imagined Robert Wallace was an eager volunteer in this expedition.
They had not proceeded far until they found the torn corpse of Mrs. Wallace, impaled on the trunk of a sapling, just off the path. The mutilated body of her infant lay nearby. The infuriated frontiersmen remounted their horses, reached the environs of Gnadenhuetten in the evening of March 6, when their scouts brought back word that the village was now full of Indians.
Colonel Williamson divided his force into three parties, sending one command to strike the river below the town, a second to cross the stream above and cut off retreat in that direction, the third forming the center to advance upon the place directly.
The attack was begun on the morning of March 7, and not a shot was fired by the center or left. The presence of women and children warned the frontiersmen that it was not occupied simply by a war party, and Colonel Williamson quickly learned the Indians were Moravians. No resistance was made and soon the frontiersmen were conversing with the Indians who could speak English. In a council the colonel told them they must go to Fort Pitt, which the Indians appeared willing to do. The Indians sent messengers down the river to Salem to tell their people to come to Gnadenhuetten.
The right wing had a more thrilling experience when they found the Tuscarawas was in flood and too swift for their horses to swim. A young man named Sloughter swam across to get a canoe, which proved to be a maple sugar trough, but he paddled it across the swollen stream. The others stripped, placed their clothing and rifles in the trough, swam across, pushing the trough before them.
Advancing down the western shore, a solitary Indian was shot and wounded in the arm. This act was witnessed by another Indian named Jacob, who sought escape in a canoe, but was killed.
The company advancing upon the Indians working in the corn field, found them to be Moravians and led them to the village. Soon the Indians from Salem arrived to the number of 96, all of whom were confined in a log church, after being disarmed.
An Indian woman was found to be wearing the dress of Mrs. Wallace. The garment was identified by the bereaved husband. A search of the cabins was then made which resulted in finding stolen household effects.
The volunteers could hardly be restrained longer. Colonel Williamson consulted with his captains, some of whom favored the execution of the whole band. But during this council many Indians were brought before it, one at a time, and examined. Not one acknowledged his own guilt, but some confessed that others had been on the war path. Some were even then in their war paint. These revelations produced such an effect upon the borderers that the Colonel could no longer resist their outcry for vengeance. He put the question to a vote and only eighteen of the entire body of volunteers voted for mercy.
Friday morning, March 8th, the decree of condemnation was executed. The Indian men were led, two by two, to the cooper shop and there beaten to death with mallets and hatchets. Two broke away and ran for the river, but were shot dead. The women were led to another building and slain like the men.
Only forty of the volunteers participated in the execution of forty men, twenty women and thirty-four children. It is probable that even the frontiersmen who stood aside and looked on did not consider their deed a crime.
The volunteers then burned the Indian village at Schoenbrun, and before they departed from Gnadenhuetten they set fire to every building. Salem was also destroyed.
Two weeks later, on Sunday, March 24, some militiamen attacked the Indians on Killbuck Island. Several Indians were killed. Killbuck and most of his band escaped in canoes.
General Irvine returned to Fort Pitt from a visit to Philadelphia and Carlisle the day after the attack and immediately put a stop to the raids.
County of Bedford Formed from a Part of
Cumberland, March 9, 1771
The county of Bedford was erected March 9, 1771, by an act of the General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania.
The entire territory for the new county was cut from Cumberland County.
The commissioners appointed to “run, mark out, and distinguish the boundary lines between the said counties of Cumberland and Bedford,” were Robert McCrea, William Miller, and Robert Moore.
The boundaries of the new county embraced the entire southwestern portion of the State, from the Tuscarora Mountains westward to the Ohio and Virginia line.
March 21, 1772, at the time Northumberland County was erected, the limits of Bedford County were more definitely explained. Northumberland County was given a part of the original territory of Bedford.
The limits of Bedford were afterward reduced by the erection of Westmoreland in 1773, Huntingdon in 1787, Somerset in 1795, Cambria in 1804, Blair in 1846, and Fulton in 1850. The territory now wholly or in part of twenty of the present counties of Pennsylvania was in the original Bedford County.
The name was taken from the county town, which was selected when the county was erected. The town was so called from the fort of that name, which had been given to it by Governor John Penn, when, by his order the fort at Raystown was built. This was in honor of one of the dukes of the house of Bedford, in England, during the latter part of the reign of King George II.
The exact date of the building of Fort Bedford is not certain, but there is no doubt that the place of defense was celebrated during the French and Indian Wars. It was one of the earliest settlements west of the Allegheny Mountains. Mr. Jones in his History of the Juniata Valley claims that the earliest settlement on the Raystown Branch of the Juniata was made by a man named Ray in 1751, who built three cabins near where Bedford now stands. He further says: “In 1755 the province agreed to open a wagon road from Fort Loudon, in Cumberland County, to the forks of the Youghiogheny River. For this purpose three hundred men were sent up, but for some cause or other the project was abandoned.”
This road was completed in 1758, when the allied forces of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania marched against Fort Duquesne, under General John Forbes.
A fort was built at this same time at Raystown, and called Fort Bedford.
Mr. Charles N. Hickok, of Bedford, who has written much of the history of that county, claims that Rae, as he spells the name, defended his settlement as early as 1751, almost a decade before the soldiers of Forbes’ exposition arrived there. The settlement was known as “Camp at Raystown” before General Forbes was encamped there, and his first official papers were so dated.
Early in April, 1757, Governor Denny ordered Colonel John Armstrong and his battalion to encamp at Raystown, “a well chosen situation on this side of the Allegheny Hills between two Indian roads.”
In June following Captain Hance Hamilton led a scouting party from the “Fort at Carlisle to Raystown, but encountered no Indians.”
On August 16, 1758, Major Joseph Shippen wrote from the camp at Raystown: “We have a good stockade fort here, with several convenient and large store houses. Our camps are all secured with good breast works and a small ditch on the outside, and everything goes well.”
The “Old Fort House,” which is still standing, was a large and commodious building for the period in which it was erected. It was used as the officers’ quarters, and was designated as the “King’s House.”
Fort Bedford was the center of much activity during the latter part of the French and Indian and the Pontiac Wars. At times more than a thousand troops were quartered there. There are accounts of mutiny among the troops and other exciting incidents.
In 1763, Fort Bedford was the principal depot for military stores between Carlisle and Fort Pitt, and in order to further strengthen it, the small stockades at Juniata Crossing and Stony Creek were abandoned and the force concentrated at Fort Bedford.
Indians never made an attack upon the fort, but killed, scalped, or took prisoner, eighteen persons, in that immediate neighborhood.
The town of Bedford was laid out by Surveyor-General John Lukens, in 1766.
Following the Pontiac War Colonel James Smith, and his celebrated band of “Black Boys,” were conspicuous for several years and kept the Indians in check and administered a lasting rebuke to the Proprietary Government when it attempted to furnish food and clothing to the Indians on the western frontier.
The history of Fort Bedford was celebrated by the visitations of such celebrities as Generals Forbes and Washington, Colonels Armstrong, Bouquet, Burd and others.
The first white child born at Raystown was William Fraser.
The county buildings, court house and prison, were arranged for in the act which erected the county. The first session of court was held April 16, 1771, before “William Proctor, Jr., Robert Cluggage, Robert Hanna, George Wilson, William Lochrey, and William McConnell, Esquires, justices of our Lord the King.” William Proctor was the first sheriff, and Arthur St. Clair was appointed first prothonotary, recorder, and clerk of the court.
The first attorney to be sworn was Robert Magraw.
The names recommended to the Governor for license as tavern-keepers were Margaret Fraser, Jean Woods, Frederic Naugel, George Funk, John Campbell, Joseph Irwin, John Miller, and Samuel Paxton.
Bedford County became an active unit in the State and when the Revolution broke out she sent her best men into the State Conventions and during all that long struggle for independence performed her full duty to Pennsylvania and the colonies.
Bedford County has had some illustrious sons among whom were Hon. Thomas Smith, Hon. Jonathan Walker, Hon. Charles Huston, Hon. John Tod, Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, all members of the Supreme Court, and other high offices; United States Senator Hon. William Wilkins, and Hon. John S. Carlisle, who served as United States Senator from West Virginia, and others
The medicinal springs at Bedford are widely and justly celebrated, and the town is one of the most attractive resorts in all this country.
Organization of Sixty-seven Counties of
Pennsylvania Began with Philadelphia,
March 10, 1682
The three original counties of Pennsylvania were Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks. Some authorities claim Philadelphia was the original county and the others formed soon thereafter. These authorities give the date of the erection of Philadelphia County as March 10, 1682.
Pennsylvania historians generally agree that the three were originally erected at the same time by William Penn. Philadelphia extended toward the northwest, bounded on either side by its neighboring counties, Bucks and Chester.
Bucks was called Buckingham in a letter written by William Penn to the Society of Free Traders in 1683. At that time its northern boundary was the Kittatinny Mountains, or as far as the land might be purchased from the Indians—a very indeterminate line.
Chester County included what is now Delaware County, and all the territory, except a small portion now in Philadelphia County southwest of the Schuykill, to the extreme limits of the Province.
The first county to be formed in addition to the three original counties was Lancaster, which was taken from the territory of Chester County May 10, 1729. Its boundaries then comprised “all the province lying to the northward of the Octararo Creek, and westward of a line of marked trees running from the north branch of the said Octararo Creek northeasterly to the Schuylkill.” This new county was first reduced in size August 19, 1749, when York County was cut from its territory; and secondly on January 27, 1750, when the big county of Cumberland was erected from Lancaster. The limits of Cumberland then included the whole country west to the boundary of the State, or as far as the preceding Indian purchase.
Bucks County was reduced in size when Northampton County was erected from its territory, March 11, 1752, and on the same day the County of Berks was erected from Philadelphia, Bucks and Lancaster. Thus the Province of Pennsylvania continued with the eight counties until March 9, 1771, when Bedford was formed from Cumberland, the first of the many counties taken from her territory.
Northumberland County was erected March 21, 1772, from parts of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northampton. On account of Indian purchases now reaching to the western boundaries of the State, the limits of Northumberland reached to the western and northern boundaries of the State. Her territory was so extensive that she has been known as “The Mother of Counties,” and all or parts of thirty of the present counties of Pennsylvania have been taken from the original territory of “Old Mother Northumberland.”
February 26, 1773, was erected the County of Westmoreland, whose territory was taken from Bedford County. It then included the entire southwestern section of the State. The next county to be erected was Washington, on March 28, 1781, and its territory was taken from Westmoreland, as was the County of Fayette, formed September 26, 1783. Thus, Westmoreland was considerably reduced in size within ten years from its organization.
Franklin County was erected September 9, 1784, and its territory taken from Cumberland. The following day, September 10, 1784, Montgomery County was formed from a part of Philadelphia County, the last territory to be taken from the original county.
March 4, 1785, Dauphin was cut off from Lancaster; September 25, 1786, Luzerne was erected from Northumberland, and September 20, 1787, Huntingdon was formed from Bedford.
Allegheny County was formed from Westmoreland and Washington Counties, September 24, 1788. Mifflin was formed from Cumberland and Northumberland Counties September 19, 1789.
Old Chester County lost part of its territory when Delaware County was cut from it September 26, 1789. Thus the county which comprised the most ancient settlements in Pennsylvania was now formed into the new County of Delaware, and the organization of counties in the southeastern part of the State completed.
When the County of Lycoming was cut from Northumberland, April 13, 1795, it was for years the largest county of the State. Four days later the County of Somerset was formed from Bedford. Green County was cut from Washington February 9, 1796, thus completing the formation of counties in the southwest corner of the State.
The next county to be formed was that of Wayne, which was set off from Northampton March 21, 1797, and formed the northeastern corner of the State.
Adams was erected from York January 22, 1800, and February 13 following Center was formed from parts of Northumberland, Lycoming, Mifflin and Huntingdon, and March 12 eight new counties—Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Mercer, Venango and Warren—were formed. Thus, the remaining corner of the State was organized. The counties were taken from Lycoming and Allegheny, Westmoreland furnished a part of Armstrong and Washington yielded up a portion for Beaver, but Allegheny furnished the largest amount of territory for the new counties.
Indiana was cut from Westmoreland and Lycoming, March 30, 1803.
Six new counties were erected on March 26, 1804, when Cambria, Clearfield, Jefferson, McKean, Potter and Tioga were formed. The latter four being taken from Lycoming, while Northumberland helped with Clearfield, but Cambria was cut from parts of Huntingdon, Somerset and Bedford. Bradford and Susquehanna, were formed February 21, 1810, the former from Lycoming and Luzerne and the latter from Luzerne alone.
March 11, 1811, Schuylkill was formed from Berks and Northampton. March 6, 1812, Lehigh was taken from Northampton, and February 16, 1813, Lebanon was erected from Lancaster and Dauphin. Columbia and Union were erected March 22, 1813, both being taken from Northumberland. Pike was cut from Wayne, March 26, 1814, and Perry was taken from Cumberland, March 22, 1820.
The State remained thus until Juniata was formed, March 2, 1831, from Mifflin; Monroe was taken from Northampton and Pike, April 1, 1836; Clarion was taken from Venango and Armstrong, March 11, 1839, and on June 21 following Clinton was formed from Lycoming and Center. Wyoming was erected from Luzerne, April 4, 1842, and Carbon was formed from Northampton and Monroe, March 13, 1843. April 18 following, Elk was cut from Jefferson, Clearfield and McKean.
Blair was formed February 26, 1846 from Huntingdon and Bedford; Sullivan was taken from Lycoming, March 15, 1847; Forest was formed from Jefferson and Venango, April 11, 1848; Lawrence from Beaver and Mercer, March 20, 1849; Fulton was cut from Bedford, April 19, 1850, and little Montour was taken from Columbia, May 3, of the same year.
Snyder was formed from Union March 2, 1855, and March 29, 1860, Cameron was cut from parts of Clinton, Elk, McKean and Potter.
The last of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania is Lackawanna which was cut from Luzerne, August 13, 1878.
Public Education Established by Governor
George Wolf, Who Died March 11, 1840
George Wolf, the seventh Governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Allen Township, Northampton County, August 12, 1777, and died March 11, 1840.
He attended a classical school established in the county by a society formed for the purpose, which was presided over by Robert Andrews, A. M., a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Here he acquired a good knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages and of the sciences usually pursued in a liberal education. Leaving school he took charge of his father’s farm and also acted as principal of the academy in his native township. Before his majority he acted as clerk to the prothonotary, at the same time studying law under the direction of John Ross.
He early espoused the political principles of Thomas Jefferson, and when the latter became President he appointed Mr. Wolf Postmaster at Easton, and shortly after Governor Thomas McKean appointed him Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Northampton County, which office he held until 1809.
In 1814 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and in 1824 he was elected a Representative in Congress, a position he acceptably filled for three terms.
In 1829 he was chosen Governor of Pennsylvania over Joseph Ritner.
Mr. Wolf was not an active aspirant for the office of Governor and received the nomination without knowing that any considerable strength in the convention was in his favor. He accepted the nomination, abandoned his lucrative practice and entered vigorously into the campaign.
At this period there began to be a change in the political horizon of the state. A fearful crusade was made against secret societies, which were denounced as tending to subvert government.
Commencing in the New England States, the reported abduction of a traitor to the Freemasons in Batavia, New York, assisted to spread rapidly the contagion, and party lines were almost equally drawn in the State of Pennsylvania. The Federal party lost its identity, and the Anti-Masons sprang up like mushrooms. Their candidate, Joseph Ritner, was defeated at the first election by seventeen thousand and at the second by only three thousand out of a poll of almost two hundred thousand.
When Governor Wolf came into office the financial affairs of the Commonwealth, owing to the extensive scheme of public improvements, then progressing at a fair rate, were in deplorable condition. There was but one course to pursue which would maintain the credit of the State and that was to push the works to rapid completion. This was done and in a few years he with others had the proud satisfaction of beholding how far these needed improvements went towards developing the great natural resources of Pennsylvania.
But the most substantial and enduring merit of Governor Wolf was evinced in his advocacy of a system of popular education.
James Buchanan, in a speech delivered at West Chester previous to the election of the Governor, had said: “If ever the passion of envy could be excused a man ambitious of true glory, he might almost be justified in envying the fame of the favored individual, whoever he may be, whom Providence intends to make the instrument in establishing Common Schools throughout the Commonwealth. His task will be arduous. He will have many difficulties to encounter and many prejudices to overcome; but his fame will exceed that of the great Clinton, in the same proportion that mind is superior to matter. Whilst, the one has erected a frail memorial, which like everything human must decay and perish, the other will raise a monument which shall flourish in immortal youth, and endure whilst the human soul shall continue to exist. ‘Ages unborn and nations yet behind’ shall bless his memory.”
To Governor George Wolf that honor was accorded.
The Governor, in his annual message, December, 1831 said in reference to this subject: “It is cause for no ordinary measure of gratification that the Legislature, at its last session, considered this subject worthy of its deliberations, and advancing one step toward the intellectual regeneration of the State by laying a foundation for raising a fund to be employed hereafter in the righteous cause of a practical general education. It is no less gratifying to know that public opinion is giving strong indications of having undergone a favorable change in reference to this momentous measure, and by its gradual but powerful workings is fast dispelling the groveling fallacies, but too long prevalent, that gold is preferable to knowledge and that dollars and cents are of a higher estimation than learning. I would suggest for your consideration the propriety of appointing a commission, to consist of three or more talented and intelligent individuals, known friends of a liberal and enlightened system of education, whose duty it should be to collect all the information and possess themselves of all the facts and knowledge that can be obtained from any quarter having a bearing upon or connection with the subject of education, and arrange and embody the same in a report to the Legislature.”
In compliance with this wise recommendation, Senator Samuel Breck, of Philadelphia, was made chairman of the committee, which reported a bill, embodying what were believed to be the best features of those systems which had been most successful in other States, and at the session of 1834 it passed both branches of the Legislature with a unanimity rarely equaled in legislation. The bill was approved by the Governor April 1, 1834.
Although the school bill was adopted with comparative unanimity, it was at once attacked by a storm of opposition in certain sections of the State. The opposition was well crystallized when the Legislature convened in the fall of 1834.
Governor Wolf’s message was firm, but the members had been flooded with petitions for the repeal of the measure.
On April 11, 1835, Thaddeus Stevens, by a memorable speech and a remarkable parliamentary effort, swayed the opposition, and by a vote of 55 to 30 successfully defended the schools when threatened with destruction.
Thus public education in Pennsylvania was saved; but Governor Wolf, who had advocated it so strenuously, was defeated for a third term by Joseph Ritner.
Retiring from the gubernatorial chair, he was appointed by President Jackson in 1836, to the office of First Comptroller of the Treasury. After holding this position for two years he was appointed by President Van Buren to be Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, which he held until his death on March 11, 1840.
Lands Set Apart for Soldiers of Revolution,
March 12, 1783
The soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line who served in the War of the Revolution were by act of legislation entitled to wild lands of the State and a large area of the northwestern portion of the State north of the depreciation lands and west of the Allegheny River was set apart and surveyed to the officers and soldiers.
As early as March 7, 1780, while the war for the independence of the American colonies was still in active progress, and being vigorously waged by the hostile armies in the field, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, by resolution, made a promise of “certain donations and quantities of land” to the soldiers of the State, known as the “Pennsylvania Line,” then serving in the Continental Army.
This resolution provided that these lands should be “surveyed and divided off” at the end of the war, and allotted to those entitled to receive them according to their several rank. In order to comply with the letter and intention of the resolution, an act was passed by the General Assembly on March 12, 1783, by the provisions of which certain lands were set apart to be sold for the purpose of redeeming the certificates of depreciation given to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line. It also provided that a certain tract of country, beginning at the mouth of Mogulbughtition Creek, now known as Mahoning Creek, in Armstrong County; then up the Allegheny River to the mouth of Cagnawaga Creek, in now Warren County; thence due north to the northern boundary of the State; thence west by the said boundary, to the northwest corner of the State, thence south, by the western boundary of the State, to the northwest corner of lands appropriated by the act for discharging the depreciation certificates; and thence by the same lands east to the place of beginning, “which said tract of country shall be reserved and set apart for the only and sole use of fulfilling and carrying into execution the said resolve.”
The territory thus set apart comprised parts of the present counties of Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, Venango, Forest and Warren, all of the counties of Mercer and Crawford and that portion of Erie County which lies south of the triangle.
This territory was a wild and unbroken wilderness, except at the few places fortified by the French and later occupied by the English and Colonists during the Revolution.
The officers of the First and Second Battalions of the Province of Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War petitioned for and received twenty-four thousand acres of land along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and these officers and their families thus became pioneer settlers in that picturesque valley, and now the veterans of the Revolution were given homes in the northwestern section of the State and there planted the settlements which have grown into the most important industrial centers of the Western Hemisphere.
The act of March 12, 1783, gave a clear title to the land, for under Section 6, all rights, titles, or claims to land within the described bounds, whether obtained from the Indians, the late Proprietaries, or any other person or persons, were declared to be null and void, thus reserving the entire tract from sale or settlement until after the allotments to the soldiers were duly made and their claims fully satisfied.
By the following section of the act the officers and enlisted soldiers were to be allowed two years after the declaration of peace in which to make their applications, and in event of death occurring before any veteran made his application, an additional year was allowed his heirs, executors or administrators to make application. Thereafter the unlocated tracts were to be disposed of upon such terms as the Legislature might direct. This period for making applications was many times extended, so that no veteran was deprived of a fair opportunity to obtain his tract of the donation land.
The authorities of Pennsylvania were even more thoughtful of these Revolutionary veterans, for the General Assembly passed an act which exempted from taxation during lifetime the land which fell to lot of each veteran unless the same was transferred or assigned to another person.
Then followed the great purchase of October 23, 1784, and then the Act of March 24, 1785, which directed the manner in which the allowances of land were to be distributed to the troops, and provided for legal titles, vesting in them the right of ownership.
A section of the act described the persons who should be entitled to land, and Section 5, in order to comply with a previous resolution of the General Assembly, included the names of Baron Steuben, the German patriot drill master of the Continental Army, who was to receive a grant equal to that of a major general of the Pennsylvania Line, and Lieutenant Colonel Tilghman a grant equal to his rank.
Complete lists of all soldiers entitled to land were furnished by the Comptroller General to the Supreme Executive Council, and these claimants were divided into four classes.
Upon application of the officers of the Pennsylvania Line, General William Irvine, the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, was appointed agent to explore the lands, as he was well acquainted with all the land appropriated for donation purposes.
General Irvine entered upon his duties promptly and seemed to have exercised good judgment. An interesting report of his notes and observations was transmitted to President John Dickinson of the Supreme Executive Council in a letter dated at Carlisle, August 17, 1785. The streams, boundaries and other natural terrain were carefully described, and the general gave a most comprehensive narrative of his every act while on this important tour of duty.
Section 8 provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts by lottery.
The drawing of the lottery commenced October 1, 1786, and was to continue one year. The committee of the Supreme Executive Council selected to superintend the drawing consisted of Captain John Boyd, Jonathan Hoge, Stephen Balliet and William Brown, to which was shortly added Peter Muhlenberg and Samuel Dean.
The time of the drawing was subsequently extended until under various laws the last limit of time was fixed as April 1, 1810, and from that day the offices were closed against any further applications for donation lands.
Colonel Matthew Smith, Hero of Early Wars,
Born March 13, 1740
Matthew Smith was the eldest son of Robert Smith, and was born March 13, 1740, in Paxtang, then Lancaster County, but since March 4, 1785, a part of Dauphin County. At the age of fifteen he was a soldier under Colonel Henry Bouquet, serving in the final campaign of the French and Indian War. During the interim between that war and the Revolutionary War he was an active leader among the early settlers in what are now Dauphin, Cumberland and Northumberland Counties, a leader in the struggles against the Indians and a respected and brave frontiersman.
Late in 1763 the Indians, especially the Conestoga, caused much suffering in the lower Susquehanna region and the territory between Harris’ Ferry and the Schuylkill. The terrible incursions perpetrated and the many murders committed by these savages resulted in having the provincial authorities place these Indians under their care in Lancaster, Conestoga and Philadelphia.
This protection so incensed the settlers, who had lost many of their kin through the perfidy of the so-called friendly Indians, that an appeal was made to the authorities against this support and protection, but no attention was given the frontiersmen.
These settlers continued to suffer until their patience was sorely tried. They then took matters in their own hands and banded together as the “Paxtang Boys,” under the leadership of Captains Matthew Smith and Lazarus Stewart, and they made a clean job of their design.
The “Paxtang Boys” marched to Lancaster, December 27, 1763, broke into the workhouse, and before their anger could be suppressed the last of the so-called “Conestogas” had yielded up his life. After this no other murder was committed by the Indians among the settlers in this vicinity.
Captain Matthew Smith, as one of the actual leaders, seems to have borne the lion’s share of the blame for the act.
February 13, 1764, a lengthy declaration was prepared for presentation to the General Assembly, then meeting in Philadelphia, signed by two of the citizens, Matthew Smith and James Gibson. The petition stated, however, that they signed it “on behalf of ourselves and by appointment of a great number of the frontier inhabitants.” This petition was one of the most important ever presented to a Pennsylvania Legislature and caused much heated debate.
A long and exciting siege in the Assembly was enacted by the leaders. On one side were Benjamin Franklin, Israel Pemberton, the Quaker leader, and Joseph Galloway, and on the popular side, or that of the people and the “Paxtang Boys,” were the Rev. John Ewing, the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, Dr. David James Dove and many others.
As a stronger act in supporting their position the “Paxtang Boys” planned a march to Philadelphia and started in a body under Captain Matthew Smith. Great consternation was witnessed in the capital city. The militia was called out and all business was suspended. But the delegation was not warlike and totally unaware of the anxiety felt in Philadelphia or of the military preparations made to receive them. Proudly bearing their declaration, approved by fifteen hundred of the frontier inhabitants, with many letters from prominent personages, they were met by commissioners sent out by the Governor, to whom they made known their intentions. Captain Smith presented their declarations to the Assembly, which was termed in the minutes of that day as “The declaration of the rioters and the petition of the back inhabitants.” During the long debate the main body of the party returned home and thus ended the “Paxtang Boys’ Insurrection.”
At the very outbreak of the Revolution Captain Smith organized a company of riflemen, which was assigned to Colonel Thompson’s battalion. After a tedious march overland from Dauphin County to Boston, the company joined the Continental Army at that place and on September 5, 1775, his company was detached to General Arnold’s command for the expedition to Canada.
He survived the hardships of the march through the Maine woods, the disastrous assault at Quebec December 31, and the brief confinement as a prisoner of war which followed, when he joined his regiment together with the few survivors of his company, but he soon thereafter resigned his commission on December 5, 1776. Captain Smith’s services were, however, much appreciated and he was promoted to full rank of major, September 27, 1777, and assigned to the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment.
In the spring of 1778 he was elected by the citizens of the central part of the Province as a member of the Supreme Executive Council. October 11, 1779, he was elected vice president of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but resigned shortly after assuming the responsible duties of his high office.
When the intelligence of the capture and total destruction of Fort Freeland, on Warrior Run, in Northumberland County, reached Paxtang, Matthew Smith marched to Sunbury with a volunteer militia of fifty men raised by his own efforts and made a hurried march to overtake the British commander, Captain McDonald, and the retreating British invaders, including their Indian allies.
This distinguished statesman-soldier-patriot established himself in a fine residence, in what is now the Fourth Ward of Milton and became its most influential and revered citizen.
The following obituary appeared in Kennedy’s Gazette, published at Northumberland, under date July 30, 1794:
“Died, the 22d inst., about sunset at Milton, Colonel Matthew Smith, aged fifty-four years, being one of the first patriots for liberty; went to Canada in the year 1775, and suffered extremities. He was once prothonotary of Northumberland County. Was interred 23d inst., attended by a large number of his friends and acquaintances, together with a volunteer company of light infantry from Milton, conducted by Major Pratt, and commanded by Captain James Boyd, who, marching about six miles to Warrior Run burying ground and shedding a tear over the old patriot’s grave, deposited his remains with three well directed volleys and returned home in good order.”
Linn’s Annals of Buffalo Valley is authority for the statement that these soldiers actually carried the body the entire distance of six miles to the old cemetery, where his bones now repose. The dust of this patriot, soldier and statesman lies within a few rods of the very fort he rushed from Paxtang with his brave militiamen to protect. His grave is unmarked and few have knowledge that he is buried there.
Fries’ Rebellion or Hot-Water War Arouses
Governor, March 14, 1799
In 1798 the Federal Government enacted a direct tax law, which became known as the “house tax,” and was unpopular in many parts of the country, especially in some of the counties of Pennsylvania, and it led to an insurrection known in history as “Fries’ Rebellion.”
The story of this insurrection, as told in “Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal” by Jenkins, is as follows:
“The troubles between the United States and France at this time assumed the form of active hostilities, and James McHenry, Secretary of War, began to organize an army. The President was given authority to borrow $5,000,000, and $2,000,000 more was to be raised by a new and odious tax. This tax was direct, and fell upon houses, lands and slaves.
“For every slave between the ages of twelve and fifty years, fifty cents was to be required of the owner. For every house valued at from $200 to $500, twenty cents per $100 was required, while the tax was thirty cents per 100 on houses valued from $500 to $1000.
“There were but few slaves in Pennsylvania, and as a result the tax fell mainly on houses and lands. The value of the houses was determined by counting the number and measuring the size of the windows. Houses with but few and small windows were rated lower, and in order to save the tax the farmers usually had small windows in their houses. Pennsylvania’s share of the tax was $232,177.72.”
The assessors and collectors of the tax found very little difficulty and opposition until the eastern part of the State was reached. It was in the counties of Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton, almost within sight of the Federal capital, that the opposition became alarming, arising from the fact that the German people did not understand the law. Many a farmer knew nothing of the tax until the assessor came around. The people remembered the old hearth tax of Germany, and they thought this tax was a revival of it.
Women set dogs on the assessors, and poured scalding water on them when they tried to measure windows. This fact has also given the name “Hot Water War” to the affair. In a number of townships, associations of the people were formed in order to prevent the officers from performing their duty.
In many places, violence was actually used and the assessors were taken and imprisoned by armed parties. The insurrection rose to such a height that it became necessary to compel the execution of the laws, and warrants were issued against certain persons and served upon them. Headquarters were appointed for the prisoners at Bethlehem but a number of persons marched there and demanded the release of the prisoners. The operations of the mob were so hostile that the marshals could offer no resistance, so the prisoners were released.
The leading spirit in the opposition to the Government was John Fries, a farmer’s son, born in Hatfield Township, Montgomery County, in 1750. He learned the cooper trade and in 1779 married Mary Brunner, of Whitemarsh Township. In 1775 Fries removed to Lower Milford Township, Bucks County. He saw service in the Revolution. He also helped to put down the Whisky Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania.
After settling in Bucks County, Fries became a traveling auctioneer and journeyed from village to village in this employment. He and his dog, Whiskey, were familiar figures in every country store. He could speak German fluently and in his rounds had excellent opportunities to denounce the tax.
Fries was present at a meeting in February, 1798, at the house of Jacob Kline, near the point of union of the four counties of Montgomery, Bucks, Lehigh and Berks. Fries assisted in drawing up a paper in opposition to the tax, which received fifty-five names. He also pledged himself to raise 700 men to resist the tax. His expressions against the law were very violent, and he threatened to shoot one of the assessors, Mr. Foulke, through the legs if he proceeded to assess the houses. Fries and his partisans followed and persecuted a number of the assessors, chasing them from township to township.
Fries was armed with a large horse pistol, and a man named Kuyder assisted him in command. Learning that the marshal had taken a number of prisoners, the rioters determined to rescue them. Fries drew up a paper at his own house, setting forth their design, and the next morning more than twenty followers appeared in arms. They then set out for Bethlehem to release the prisoners. The marshal was intimidated and the imprisoned rioters were released.
The Government became greatly alarmed at these proceedings. The President issued a proclamation commanding rioters to disperse. He also called upon the Governor and militia of Pennsylvania to assist in maintaining order. Governor Mifflin issued a proclamation March 14, 1799, and on March 20 the cavalry from Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Lancaster Counties was called out and encamped at Springhouse, Montgomery County. Here General MacPherson issued a proclamation to the rioters. Proceeding to Quakertown, the army began to make arrests and to scour the country in search of rioters.
After releasing the prisoners at Bethlehem, Fries returned to his old employment, but was arrested while holding a vendue. At the cry of the soldiers he leaped to the ground and fled to a swamp. He was arrested for treason, and with some thirty others taken to Philadelphia for trial.
The case of Fries was called up in Federal Court at Philadelphia on April 30, 1799. His lawyers were Alexander J. Dallas and Messrs. Ewing and Lewis. Messrs. Rawle and Sitgrave were the counsel for the United States. The verdict was guilty, but as it appeared after the verdict that one of the jury, previous to being empaneled, had expressed the opinion that Fries ought to be hanged, a new trial was granted. The second trial was called April 29, 1800. At the former trial Fries’ lawyers argued at great length that the offense was only riot and not treason. They cited many cases in support of their view. But the Court relied upon the definition of treason in the Constitution.
Fries’ counsel then refused to appear further in the case. He was again declared guilty, the Friday for the hanging was named and the sheriff’s posse was selected.
The cause of Fries was espoused by the old Republican Party and by a number of newspapers throughout the State. The Aurora denounced the action of the officers and charged that the Army lived in free quarters on the inhabitants. The Adler, a German paper published in Reading also condemned the course of the Government and claimed that the troops imposed upon the people as they marched through the country. Discussion on the subject became so bitter that it entered into National and State politics and became an important issue.
In the meantime National political affairs were so developing that President Adams was led to pardon Fries.
Mollie Maguires Murder Wm. H. Littlehales,
March 15, 1869, Which Brings
Detective McParlan to the
Coal Regions
The bloody record of the Mollie Maguires during the decade 1865 to 1875 marks the darkest and most terrible period in the history of the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania.
This was a secret organization, composed of lawless Irishmen, who resorted to murder in its most cowardly form, to attain their ends and satisfy their revengeful feelings toward mine owners, superintendents and bosses, and also justices of the peace and borough officials who had the integrity to administer justice, and not cringe before these criminals, when under arrest.
The members of this organization became unusually active and bloodthirsty in 1865. On August 25 of that year David Muir, a colliery superintendent, was cruelly murdered in Foster Township, Schuylkill County; January 10, 1866, Henry H. Dunne, superintendent of a colliery and one of the leading citizens of Pottsville, was murdered on the public road, near his home.
There were other crimes committed by the members of this organization, but those which most aroused the indignation of the public were where prominent men were killed from ambush for no apparent reason than that they held responsible position in a coal company.
October 17, 1868, Alexander Rea was murdered near Centralia, Columbia County, and this crime was the most heinous up to this time. Arrests were made, and a strong chain of circumstantial evidence made out by the Commonwealth against them. One of the accomplices even gave out the facts which caused the apprehension of the others.
Separate trials were granted by the Columbia County Court, and Thomas Donahue was tried first. He was defended by Messrs. Ryon, Freeze, Strouse, Wolverton and Marr. He was acquitted February, 1869. The others, Pat Hester, Peter McHugh, and Pat Tully, were not then placed on trial.
But the next and most important outrage committed by the Mollie Maguires was the murder of William H. Littlehales, superintendent of the Glen Carbon Coal Company, in Cass Township, Schuylkill County.
This crime occurred March 15, 1869, on the main highway leading from his home to the mines. The act was witnessed by several persons, but the assassins escaped.
It was this act which caused Hon. Franklin B. Gowen, President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company, and the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company to send for Mr. Allan Pinkerton, and engage his services in dispersing this murderous crew.
Mr. Pinkerton accepted the employment offered him and assigned to the principal task a young man named James McParlan, a native of Ireland, aged twenty-eight years.
McParlan set out on his mission Monday, October 27, 1873, in the disguise of a vagabond Irishman seeking employment in the mines, and as a criminal who was seeking refuge from crimes committed in the vicinity of Buffalo, N. Y.
He assumed the name of James McKenna, and as such won his way into the confidence of the Mollies, joined their organization and became known as the most desperate Mollie in all the anthracite region.
Many others were murdered after McParlan arrived in the region. He prevented murder when it was possible to do so. He warned those who were to be victims through Mr. Franklin, superintendent of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal Company, with whom he kept in daily contact by clever correspondence.
Up to the hour that James McParlan arrived in Schuylkill County, no information had been obtained concerning the identity of those who murdered Littlehales, nor had it been possible to convict a single Mollie Maguire in any court where they were brought to trial.
Another crime which McParlan was sent to investigate was the murder of Morgan Powell, at Summit Hill, Carbon County, which occurred December 2, 1871. These were enough to occupy the time of a man even as clever as Detective McParlan alias James McKenna.
During the more than two years that McParlan lived among the Mollies he did not learn the murderers of Littlehales but succeeded in bringing to justice many other murderers.
The arrests quickly followed one another when once begun early in 1876. The trials began in Mauch Chunk in March. While McParlan did not testify in the first case he furnished very valuable information, and greatly assisted the prosecution.
Then followed the arrest and trial of others in Pottsville, Mauch Chunk and Bloomsburg with the conviction of many.
McParlan went upon the stand in the trial of James Carrol, Thomas Duffy, James Roarty, Hugh McGehan, and James Boyle, for the murder of B. F. Yost, which occurred at Tamaqua, July 6, 1875. This trial was held at Pottsville, before a full bench of Hon. C. L. Pershing, D. B. Green and T. H. Walker. James Kerrigan, a Mollie, was a witness for the Commonwealth.
The trial of Thomas Munley in June, 1876, in the same court, for the murder of Thomas Sanger and William Uren, brought Mr. F. B. Gowen into the case and the delivery of his wonderful speech, which will ever remain one of the greatest in the history of the criminal courts of our State.
The Mollies were convicted of murder in the first degree and paid the extreme penalty on the gallows.
Many other Mollies were hanged, and on May 21, 1877, Governor J. F. Hartranft issued warrants for the execution of eight of the Mollie Maguires, which brought to an end the bloody record of this nefarious organization.
David Wilmot, Author of Proviso, Died at
Towanda, March 16, 1868
David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, retired from Congress after six years of service, March 4, 1851, with his name more generally involved in the political discussion of the country than that of any other of our statesmen. He was born in Bethany, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1814, and died in Towanda, March 16, 1868.
After acquiring an academic education wholly by his own efforts he was admitted to the bar in Wilkes-Barre in 1834. He at once located at Towanda, the county seat of Bradford, where he commenced his career and to which place he brought great and lasting honor.
He took a leading part in the support of Van Buren for the presidency in 1836, and in 1844 he was elected to Congress from the Twelfth[Twelfth] District, then composed of the Counties of Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga.
At that time there existed much friction with Mexico over the boundary line, also ominous signs of a determined effort to extend slavery beyond its then existing limits, tariff agitation, trouble with Great Britain in the Oregon region, and other grave questions of national import.
The admission of Texas as a State, March 1, 1845, which was favored by Wilmot and his party, was followed by the war with Mexico a year later.
A bill was introduced August 8, 1846, which authorized the placing of $2,000,000 at the disposal of President Polk for the purpose of negotiating peace with Mexico and the crucial hour in our history had arrived. The prospect of the erection of future slave States out of Mexican territory aroused the anti-slavery sentiment of the North, and among the most pronounced of the dozen or more anti-slavery Democrats was David Wilmot.
At a conference of anti-slavery Democrats was presented what became known as the Wilmot proviso, of which the text was a repetition of the Jefferson proviso to the ordinance of 1787, except that it was framed for the present situation. The following is the full text: “Provided, that as an expressed and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of such territory, except for crime whereof the party shall be first duly convicted.”
When offered by Wilmot the proviso produced the utmost consternation in the House, as many members had become alarmed at the anti-slavery sentiment in their districts. The House was in committee of the whole, and to the surprise of both sides the proviso was adopted by a vote of 83 to 64, the Democrats of the North supporting it with but three exceptions.
An effort was made in the Senate to remove the proviso, but the last day of the session the gavel fell while the proviso was being debated, the first instance in which a bill was defeated by speaking against time in the Senate.
Wilmot was vehemently assailed by most of the leaders of his party, but the growing anti-slavery sentiment in the North only served to inspire Wilmot in his great battle, and he developed wonderful power as a public disputant.
Wilmot’s contest for re-election in 1848 attracted the attention of the whole Nation, and his triumph did much to strengthen the anti-slavery movement throughout the North.
Opposition to the Wilmot Proviso was finally forced as a cardinal doctrine of the party. When Wilmot came up for re-election in 1850 he was nominated at the Democratic primaries, but the newspapers opposed him and his defeat was regarded as one of the first duties of those who desired the success of the Democracy against him, and it appeared as if a Whig was sure to be elected.
Conservative Democrats suggested that both the Democratic candidates withdraw and select another upon whom all could unite. Wilmot promptly agreed on condition that the one nominated would sustain his anti-slavery faith and be personally acceptable to himself. He was asked to suggest a man, and he named Galusha A. Grow, then a young member of the bar in Susquehanna County, who had studied law with him.
Grow was found by a committee in his mountain retreat and hurried back to make his battle. He was elected and became the Speaker of Congress in the trying days of the Civil War.
The year Wilmot retired from Congress he succeeded Hon. Horace Willston on the bench of the judicial district then composed of Bradford, Susquehanna and Sullivan Counties, and ably served in that capacity until 1857, when he resigned to become a candidate for the governorship against William F. Packer, by whom he was defeated. After his defeat, Wilmot, by appointment of Governor Pollock, resumed his place on the bench and served until 1861.
When Wilmot cast his lot with the Republican Party he was recognized as a leader in the first national convention in 1856. He was tendered the nomination as Vice President on the ticket with Fremont, which was declined. He was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions and to him belongs the honor of drafting the first platform of the Republican Party.
In the campaign of 1860 Wilmot was a delegate at large and was honored by being selected as the temporary chairman of that historic body that nominated Abraham Lincoln.
Wilmot was a candidate for Senator in 1861, but Simon Cameron held the balance of power in the contest, and gave the victory to Edgar Cowan. Later during the same session when Cameron resigned his seat in the Senate to enter the Cabinet of President Lincoln, as Secretary of War, Wilmot was chosen to succeed[succeed] him.
At the end of his two years’ term the Democrats had carried the Legislature by one majority and made Charles R. Buckalew, of Columbia County, the Senator. Soon thereafter he was appointed by President Lincoln Judge of the Court of Claims, which position he held until death terminated his remarkable career.
His vigor was much impaired during the last few years of his life by steadily failing health, and he was finally able to give but little of his time to his judicial duties, and March 16, 1868, he quietly passed away in his home at Towanda.
In the beautiful suburbs of the town may be seen Riverside Cemetery, and near the public road stands the simple marble headstone of the grave of David Wilmot, with his name and date of birth and death on the inner surface, and on the outer surface, where it can be seen by every passerby, is inscribed the text of the Wilmot Proviso.