The situation made retreat necessary; therefore, in 1746, the Shekomeko and Connecticut settlements were broken up, and the Christian Indians with their missionaries moved in detachments to Pennsylvania, where, after kindly entertainment at Bethlehem, a town called Gnadenhütten (huts of Grace), was built for them, at Weisport, Carbon County. It was during their stay at Bethlehem that Rachel, Post’s Indian wife, died (1747), and there two years later he married a Delaware convert, Agnes, who lived only until 1751.
Meanwhile, Post was employed as missionary assistant, going to Shamokin in 1747 to aid the missionary blacksmith established there, to clear and plant more ground. Again in 1749, he revisited the scene of his early labors, and helped David Bruce to re-establish a mission among the remnant left at Pachgatgoch. Two years later he was summoned to a more distant field on the dismal shores of Labrador, where a company of four Moravian brethren were sent to begin a mission to the Eskimos. An untoward accident rendered this project futile; the major part of the crew of the vessel which had transported them having been lost, the captain impressed the missionaries to carry his ship back to England.
Thereupon Post again sought his home in Pennsylvania, dwelling principally at Bethlehem, until called upon by the Pennsylvania authorities to assist in public affairs. There is no certain information of his introduction to the managers of Indian matters in Pennsylvania; but several Christian Indians from his flock had been utilized as interpreters, and the Friendly Association of Quakers, which was assuming so large a rôle in treating with the natives, was well-inclined toward the Moravian brothers.
The first mention of Post in the public records is in connection with a message which he was employed to carry (June, 1758) in conjunction with Charles Thomson to Teedyuscung at Wyoming.[1] On his return to the settlements, he was immediately commissioned to go back to Wyoming with a message from the Cherokee auxiliaries, who had come to join the army of Forbes, and whose presence caused consternation among Pennsylvania’s savage allies. With but five days’ respite, Post again started on a journey beset with perils on every side, through the wilderness of Northern Pennsylvania.[2] At Teedyuscung’s cabin he met two Indians from the Ohio, who declared that their tribes were sorry they had gone to war against the English; they had often wished that messengers from the government would come to them, for then they should long before have abandoned war.
On the receipt of this important information, the council at Philadelphia debated to what use it might be put in furthering the plans for Forbes’s advance. “Post was desired to accompany the Indians, and he readily consented to go.”[3]
Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of the man, and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing into the heart of a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and treacherous foe. But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an ambassador requested by the Western tribes, his mission would be a source of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Duquesne, he trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.
The results of this embassy were most gratifying. The report of his mission coming during the important negotiations at Easton, aided in securing the Indian neutrality which made the advance of Forbes so much less hazardous than that of Braddock.
But the work was only begun; and to complete it Post’s renewed co-operation was necessary. This time he was not to venture alone. Two militia officers, Captain John Bull and Lieutenant William Hays, volunteered for the service,[4] and having joined Post at Reading, all proceeded with Indian companions in their van, to overtake the army and reach the Ohio in advance of the column.
Their mission was not in time to save the Indian ferocity at Grant’s defeat; but it contributed to assure the French that aid from the neighboring Indians was dubious, and that in retreat lay their only safety. Through the simple narrative of Indian speeches and replies, one feels the intensity of the strain: the French captain “looked as pale as death;” “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.” Then the news came “which gave us the pleasure to hear, that the English had the field, and that the French had demolished and burnt the place entirely and went off.”
Of Post’s later life and its vicissitudes, we get but scattered glimpses. For the two years succeeding these adventurous journeys, he served the Pennsylvania authorities as messenger and interpreter, at the same time begging to be allowed to go and preach to the newly-appeased Indians on the Ohio. The last official act of Governor Denny was the affixing of his signature to a passport for Post, of whose loyalty, integrity and prudence he testifies to have had good experience.[5]