Conrad Weiser, in a letter to a friend, dated Heidelberg, 1746, adverts to an interesting incident which occurred at the conclusion of this interview at Shamokin. He says, "Two years ago I was sent by the governor to Shamokin, on account of the unhappy death of John Armstrong, the Indian trader, (1744.) After I had performed my errand, there was a feast prepared, to which the governor's messengers were invited. There were about one hundred persons present, to whom, after we had in great silence devoured a fat bear, the eldest of the chiefs made a speech, in which he said, that by a great misfortune three of the brethren, the white men, had been killed by an Indian; that, nevertheless, the sun was not set, (meaning there was no war;) it had only been somewhat darkened by a small cloud, which was now done away. He that had done evil was like to be punished, and the land remain in peace; therefore he exhorted his people to thankfulness to God; and thereupon he began to sing with an awful solemnity, but without expressing any words; the others accompanying him with great earnestness of fervor, spoke these words: 'Thanks, thanks be to thee, thou great Lord of the world, in that thou hast again caused the sun to shine, and hast dispersed the dark cloud! The Indians are thine.'"
Among the first settlers in Aughwick Valley was Captain Jack, certainly one of the most noted characters of his day. He flourished about Aughwick between 1750 and 1755, when, with two or three companions, he went to the Juniata and built himself a cabin near a beautiful spring. His sole pursuit, it would appear, was hunting and fishing; by which he procured the means of subsistence for his family. There was a mystery about him which no person ever succeeded in fathoming, and even his companions never learned his history or his real name.
He was a man of almost Herculean proportions, with extremely swarthy complexion. In fact, he was supposed by some to be a half-breed and by others a quadroon. Colonel Armstrong, in a letter to the governor, called him the "Half-Indian." The truth of it, however, is that he was a white man, possessing a more than ordinary share of intelligence for a backwoodsman, but his early history is altogether shrouded in mystery. It appears that in the summer of 1752 Captain Jack and his companions were on a fishing excursion. Returning late in the evening, Jack found his cabin in ruins and his wife and two children murdered. From that moment he became an altered man, quit the haunts of men, and roamed the woods alone, sleeping in caves, hollow logs, or wherever he could find a shelter. The loss of his family, no doubt, crazed him for a time, as he did not appear among the settlers until the fall of 1753. In the interim, however, he was frequently seen, and, we may add, frequently felt, by the savages, but he studiously avoided all intercourse with his fellow-men. If we may judge of his subsequent career, there is every reason to believe that on the discovery of the wrongs done him by the savages he made a vow to devote the balance of his life to slaying Indians. If he did, right faithfully was his vow kept, for his fame spread far and wide among the red-skins, and many a one bit the dust by his trusty rifle and unerring aim. The settlers about Aughwick, as well as those in Path Valley and along the river, frequently found dead savages, some in a state of partial decay, and others with their flesh stripped by the bald-eagles and their bones bleaching in the sun on the spot where Jack's rifle had laid them low.
On one occasion Captain Jack had concealed himself in the woods by the side of the Aughwick Path, where he lay in wait for a stray Indian. Presently a painted warrior, with a red feather waving from his head and his body bedizened with gewgaws recently purchased from a trader, came down the path. A crack from Captain Jack's rifle, and the savage bounded into the air and fell dead without a groan in the path. It appears that three others were in company, but had tarried at a spring, who, on hearing the discharge of the rifle, under the impression that their companion had shot a deer or bear, gave a loud "whoop." Captain Jack immediately loaded, and when the Indians came up to the dead body Jack again shot, and killed a second one. The Indians then rushed into the thicket, and one of them, getting a glimpse of Jack, shot at him, but missed him. The wild hunter, seeing that the chances were desperate, jumped out and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter—the fourth savage being only armed with a tomahawk. He soon despatched the third one by beating his brains out with his rifle; but the fourth one, an athletic fellow, grappled, and a long and bloody fight with knives followed, and only ceased when both were exhausted by the loss of blood. The Indian managed to get away, and left the Black Hunter the victor on the field of battle. Weak and faint as Jack was, he scalped the three savages, fixed their scalps upon bushes overhanging the path, and then, without deigning to touch their gewgaws or their arms, he managed to work his way to the settlement, where his wounds, consisting of eight or ten stabs, were dressed. The settlers, then squatters, cared little about the loss of the Indians, since they deemed it right for Captain Jack to wreak his vengeance on any and every savage whom chance should throw in his way; and so little did they care about the proprietors knowing their whereabouts that no report of the case was ever made to the government of this combat.
It is said that one night the family of an Irishman named Moore, residing in Aughwick, was suddenly awakened by the report of a gun. This unusual circumstance at such a late hour in the night caused them to get up to discover the cause; and on opening the door they found a dead Indian lying upon the very threshold. By the feeble light which shone through the door they discovered the dim outline of the wild hunter, who merely said "I have saved your lives," and then plunged into the dark ravine and disappeared.
With an eye like the eagle, an aim that was unerring, daring intrepidity, and a constitution that could brave the heat of summer as well as the frosts of winter, he roamed the valley like an uncaged tiger, the most formidable foe that ever crossed the red man's path. Various were the plans and stratagems resorted to by the Indians to capture him, but they all proved unavailing. He fought them upon their own ground, with their own weapons, and against them adopted their own merciless and savage mode of warfare. In stratagem he was an adept, and in the skilful use of the rifle his superior probably did not exist in his day and generation.
These qualifications not only made him a terror to the Indians, but made him famous among the settlers, who for their own protection formed a scout, or company of rangers, and tendered to Captain Jack the command, which he accepted. This company was uniformed like Indians, with hunting-shirts, leather leggings, and moccasins, and, as they were not acting under sanction of government, styled themselves "Captain Jack's Hunters." All the hunting done, however, after securing game to supply their wants, was probably confined to hunting for scalps of Indians; and, as it was a penal offence then to occupy the hunting-grounds of the Juniata Valley, much more so to shed the blood of any of the savages, it is not likely that the hunters ever furnished the Quaker proprietors with an official list of the "killed and wounded." These exploits gave Captain Jack a number of names or sobriquets in the absence of his real name; he was known as the "Black Rifle," "Black Hunter," "Wild Hunter of the Juniata," &c. On one occasion, with his band, he followed a party of marauding Indians to the Conococheague, and put them to rout. This act reached the authorities in Philadelphia, and Governor Hamilton granted him a sort of irregular roving commission to hold in check the unfriendly Indians of the frontier. With this authority he routed the savages from the Cove and several other places, and the general fear he inspired among them no doubt prevented a deal of mischief in the Juniata Valley.
Early in June, Captain Jack offered the services of himself and his band of hunters to government to accompany Braddock on his expedition against Fort Duquesne. His merits were explained to Braddock by George Crogan, who said, "They are well armed, and are equally regardless of heat or cold. They require no shelter for the night, and ask no pay." This generous offer on the part of Captain Jack was not accepted by Braddock, because, as he alleged, "the proffered services were coupled with certain stipulations to which he could not consent." What these stipulations were was not mentioned. It is presumed, however, that Captain Jack wished his company to go as a volunteer force, free from the restraints of a camp life which a rigid disciplinarian like Braddock would be likely to adopt. Braddock had already accepted the services of a company of Indians under George Crogan, and, as he wished to gain laurels for himself and his troops by achieving a victory over the French and Indians by open European fighting, his own selfishness probably prompted him to refuse the assistance of any more who adopted the skulking Indian mode of warfare. He did not live, however, to discover his error. Hazzard, in his Pennsylvania Register, in speaking of the non-acceptance of Captain Jack's offer, says, "It was a great misfortune for Braddock that he neglected to secure the services of such an auxiliary." Very true; for such men as Jack's Hunters would never have suffered themselves to be fired upon by an ambuscaded enemy or an enemy hid away in a ravine. They would not have marched over the hill with drums beating and colors flying, in pride and pomp, as if enjoying a victory not yet won; but they would have had their scouts out, the enemy and his position known, and the battle fought without any advantages on either side; and in such an event it is more than probable that victory would have crowned the expedition.
Of the final end of Captain Jack we have nothing definite. One account says he went to the West; another that he died an old man in 1772, having lived the life of a hermit after the end of the war of 1763. It is said that his bones rest near the spring, at the base of the mountain bearing his name; and this we are inclined to believe. The early settlers of the neighborhood believed that Captain Jack came down from the mountain every night at twelve o'clock to slake his thirst at his favorite spring; and half a century ago we might readily have produced the affidavits of twenty respectable men who had seen the Black Hunter in the spirit roaming over the land that was his in the flesh. The present generation, however, knows little about the wild hunter. Still, though he sleeps the sleep that knows no waking, and no human being who ever saw him is above the sod now, the towering mountain, a hundred miles in length, bearing his name, will stand as an indestructible monument to his memory until time shall be no more.
George Crogan figured extensively about Aughwick for many years, both before and after Fort Shirley was built. He was an Irishman by birth, and came to the colony probably as early as 1742, and soon after took up the business of an Indian trader. At first he located at Harris's trading-house, on the Susquehanna, and from thence moved over the river into Cumberland county, some eight miles from his first place of abode. From there he made excursions to Path Valley and Aughwick, and finally to the Ohio River by way of the old Bedford trail. His long residence among the Indians not only enabled him to study Indian character thoroughly, but he acquired the language of both the Delaware and Shawnee tribes, and was of great use to the proprietary government; but we incline to the opinion that his services were illy requited.