He also appealed to the governments of both States and they directed their officers to respond to the calls. The project was even indorsed by Congress; yet in spite of all these efforts the expedition was a failure.
General Hand expected 500 men from the two Pennsylvania counties and 1500 men from Virginia. His expectations were unreasonable in that he did not take into consideration the drained and distressed condition of the border. Already the hardiest and most useful men had gone to fight the British. Most of those who remained on the plantations believed they were needed at home to protect their families from the raids of the savages.
No men responded from Bedford County and only 100 from Westmoreland, under command of Colonel Lochry, reached Fort Pitt.
On October 19, 1777, General Hand left Fort Pitt and went down the river to Wheeling, where he expected to meet the recruits from Virginia. After a week of waiting only a few poorly equipped squads reported to him. Hand gave up in disgust and returned to Fort Pitt.
The following spring he requested to be recalled from the frontier service, and General Washington called him to his army May 26, 1778.
Great Meeting in the Interest of Inland
Waterways Held at Harrisburg,
October 20, 1789
During the latter part of the year 1789, the President and members of the Supreme Executive Council appointed a commission to view the Delaware, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers, in pursuance of an act of Assembly passed September 28, 1789, with the object of ascertaining data whether or not these waters could be rendered navigable.
This commission, composed of Timothy Matlack, Reading Howell, William Dean, John Adlum and Benjamin Rittenhouse, attended to the important duty assigned them and in their report strongly recommended that a commission of experienced surveyors be named for “the purpose of ascertaining the most convenient and practicable place for connecting the waters of the three rivers, with those of the Allegheny, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. And in cases where portage by land will be necessary, to examine the face of the country and report the most suitable places for landings and roads.”