A lively contest was carried on between Pennsylvania and Virginia for control of this region, and the organization of Westmoreland County had signal influence in strengthening the Pennsylvania authority, especially when sixteen magistrates were commissioned to administer justice within its boundaries.
The county seat was established at Robert Hanna’s little settlement on Forbes Road, about thirty-five miles east of Fort Pitt, and here at Hannastown, the first Pennsylvania court, west of the mountains, was held April 13, 1773. It was a Court of Quarter Sessions and William Crawford presided. These proceedings stirred up the Virginia authorities.
The Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, took forcible possession of the disputed territory. He appointed John Connolly, of Pittsburgh, “captain commandant of Pittsburgh and its dependencies.”
Connolly mustered the militia under the Virginia law, seized and garrisoned Fort Pitt, intimidated the Pennsylvania magistrates, marched some of them off to prison, and established the authority of Virginia throughout all the region between the Monongahela and the Ohio. Pennsylvania had no militia law at that time and was powerless to resist the usurpation.
By this action upon the part of Virginia the territory of Westmoreland County, during the period of the Revolution, was limited to about half its actual area. It was not until the summer of 1780 that Virginia finally agreed to accept the results of a joint survey which would extend the southern boundary line of Pennsylvania to a distance of 5 degrees of longitude west of the Delaware River.
Ligonier Valley, which extends along the eastern border of the county, was well settled by 1775, the largest settlement being Ligonier, where the British had built a fort in 1758. The principal citizen here was Captain, afterwards General Arthur St. Clair, a Scotchman who served under Wolfe at Quebec and afterwards became the agent of the Penn family in Western Pennsylvania.
Settlements also became numerous west of Chestnut Ridge, along the Loyalhanna and its tributaries, as far as Hannastown on the Forbes Road. Derry settlement was to the north of the road, between the Loyalhanna and the Conemaugh. Nearly all the settlers were Scots from Ulster, or their immediate descendants, with a sprinkling of Irish of Presbyterian faith. There was another Ulster settlement at the Braddock road crossing of Big Sewickley Creek, while lower down that stream were cabins and blockhouses of German emigrants from the Rhine Palatinate.
The Virginia settlers along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny were a generation or more removed from the old country, but were nearly all of Scotch stock. The richest of these brought their slaves with them from Virginia, who were held in bondage long after the Revolution.
The traders and principal citizens in the vicinity of Fort Pitt were members of the Church of England; it was from among these that the Tory sentiment developed during the Revolution. Old Westmoreland was, however, decidedly a Scotch and Calvinistic[Calvinistic] settlement.
The Scotch pioneers were bold, stout and industrious men, sharp at bargains, fond of religious and political controversy and not strongly attached to government either of the royal or the proprietary brand. In nearly every cabin could be found three principal articles, the Bible, a rifle and a whiskey jug. Their hatred of the treacherous Indian was a strong characteristic.