The Indian School, one mile northeast from Center, was formerly a military post, buildings were destroyed by Fitz Hugh Lee in 1863, excepting the old guard house, built by the Hessian prisoners during the Revolution, in 1777; this was the original “West Point” for the training of officers and artisans, and for the manufacture of arms and munitions. In 1776, and throughout the War, anthracite coal was taken down the Susquehanna River from the Wyoming mines to the armory at Carlisle, said to have been the first shipment of anthracite coal in this country; there are now about twenty-five or thirty buildings, brick, of varied architecture, on twenty-five acres of ground; gateway, Georgian, M. I. Kast, architect, built, 1910; native Indian art is on exhibition in the Leupp studio. George Washington joined the army of 15,000 men, as Commander in Chief, at Carlisle, for suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794; he was the guest of Ephraim Blaine; the army was located on the opposite side of the town from the military post.
The Civic Club of Carlisle is placing classic art prints in the public-school buildings. Interesting colonial houses: residence of Ephraim Blaine, built, 1795, now law office and dwelling of Edward Stiles, built, 1815; of Stephen Duncan, built, 1815, used by the Fraternity of Owls; and that of Isaac B. Parker, built, 1820, the home of the Elks.
In 1762, Richard Peters of Philadelphia obtained a patent for 388 acres of land at Boiling Springs, and executed a deed to John S. Rigby & Co., for twenty-nine acres on which they had already commenced the erection of a blast furnace, they bought two ore banks at the foot of South Mountain, and soon after added 1614 acres of land, and called the property “Carlisle Iron Works”; it passed through several ownerships, until, in 1792, Michael Ege became sole owner; the furnace produced twelve to fifteen tons of metal a week, mostly pig iron, but they also cast stoves, fire backs, and hollow ware. William Denning, in 1776, made two wrought iron cannon in Mount Holly Gap, about six miles south of Carlisle, the first ever made; one in use at the Battle of Brandywine was captured by the British and deposited finally in the Tower of London; the British Government offered a large sum of money and an annuity to William Denning, to instruct them how to make wrought iron cannon, but he refused; he died in 1830, age ninety-three, at his home near Newville, his monument there, given by the state, shows a square marble base surmounted by a cannon. Pine Grove Furnace was built on Mountain Creek, halfway between Carlisle and Gettysburg, the recorded ownership dates from a proprietary grant in 1762 for 450 acres on Mountain Creek to Thomas Pope; it is now part of the State Forestry reservation.
VII
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
FORMED March 11, 1752; named by Thomas Penn; prior to the Revolution comprised all the northeast section of Pennsylvania; chief industries, Bethlehem Iron and Steel Works, where 15,000 men are employed day and night; silk mills, graphite works, and other manufactories. Here were Washington’s storehouses along the Delaware River, with supplies for all branches of the army; a point of attack by the British battling between West Point and Trenton, buildings are still in evidence. The famous backwoods rifles used by two thousand Pennsylvanians against the British at Boston were made here.
County seat, Easton, founded by Thomas Penn, 1751; at “The Forks of the Delaware, where the water is deep and smooth,” population 33,813. In center of the public square is the monument to soldiers of this county in the Civil War, on site of the old Northampton court house that stood for a hundred years; on its threshold was promulgated the Declaration of Independence, the same day as in Philadelphia; the old court house bell, that rang out then, is still doing public service. The first flag, combining stars and stripes, as an emblem of a new nation, was made here, showing thirteen eight pointed stars and thirteen stripes in the field, this flag is said to be the one now in the Easton Public Library, deposited in 1821, after being used in the War of 1812; in a special room of the
Northampton County
library is the private collection of Samuel Sitgreaves, with rare volumes of American history. Next to Sitgreaves’ office was the home and shop of Henry Derringer, a gunmaker of the Revolution, whose son invented the Derringer pistol. On the public square, Light Horse Harry Lee, from Virginia, recruited his troop of Pennsylvania Germans, and horses. Valuable papers and moneys belonging to the state and national government were placed in the custody of Robert Levers, during British occupancy of Philadelphia.