USA > New York > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 10
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Dietrich Six, sometimes called Derrick Sixth lived in Bethel town- ship, Berks county, near where Fort Henry was later built and three miles north of the present Millersburg. A watch tower had been erected, there, on a little eminence overlooking the valley to the west, and the neighbors took turns in guarding it. It was attacked November 15th and the massacre is described in a letter of Peter Spycker to Conrad Weiser as follows :15
"John Anspack and Frederick Reed came to me and told me, the miserable circumstances of the people murdered this side of the mountain yesterday. The Indians attacked the watch, killed and scalped him at Der- rick Sixth, and in that neighborhood great many in that night. This morn- ing, our people went to see; came about 10 o'clock in the morning to Thomas Bowers house, finding a man killed with a gun shot. Soon we heard a noise of firing guns ; running to that place and found four Indians sitting on children scalping, 3 of the children are dead and 2 are alive; the scalps taken off ; hereafter we went to the watch house of Derrick Sixth, where the Indians first attacked, finding 6 dead bodies; 4 of them scalpt ; about a mile this side of the watch house, as we went back, the Indians set fire to a stable and barn, where they burnt the corn, cows and other creatures, where we found 7 Indians, 5 in the house eating their dinner and drinking rum, which was in the house, and 2 outside ; we fire to them but in vain ; the Indians have burnt 4 plantations more the above account told me." In closing he added, referring to the Quakers, "The Assembly can see by the work, how good and fine friends the Indians are to us."
Edward Biddle Esq. wrote from Reading, expressing the horror and confusion there, upon receipt of the news, saying: "The people exclaim against the Quakers, and some scarce be restrained from buring the houses of those few who are in this town."16 Conrad Weiser, Emanuel Carpenter and Simon Ruhm sent a protest to the governor, in which this was set forth : "The people are so incensed not only against our cruel enemies the Indians, but also (We beg leave to inform your Honor) against the Gov- ernor and Assembly, that we are afraid they will go in a body to Phila-
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delphia and commit the vilest Outrages. They say, they would rather be hanged than be butchered by the Indians."17
While this bloody mischief was brewing, Teedyuscung, like a wild beast in his lair, plotted deviltry and destruction. A boastful, lying drunk- ard, arrogant and ambitious, he saw, in the misery of the time, a chance to raise himself to power. The dissolute and dissembling Delawares of the west, long agonizing over their reduction to women, and hating the Eng- lish settlers for their intrusions, lent willing ears to the charms of the French and fought against Braddock. The eastern Delawares were a de- jected and dismembered people, with some at Shamokin, some at Nesco- peck, more at Wyoming and a few lingering here and there in their ancient homeland. These Teedyuscung gathered within his fold. Still smarting under Canassatego's castigation, old Nutimus, in his nest at Nescopeck, plotted with him.18
The provincial government was gravely concerned about the Indians at Wyoming and along the Susquehanna; but information was brought, by Charles Brodhead, and Christian Seidel, David Zeisberger, John Shmick and Henry Fry, the Moravians, that they were loyal and apprehensive they would be blamed for the late disturbances. They reported Paxinosa "kept good order among his Indians" and allowed none out hunting with- out his permission.19
None of these messengers divined what was going on among the Delawares ; and at the opportune time, Teedyuscung struck with the venom of a viper ; leading and sending out small bands of savage murderers, who secreting themselves in the dismal swamps of the Pocono plateau, descended, with the stealth of panthers, upon the unsuspecting lowlands. Here and there, by day and night, they pounced upon isolated farmhouses or little settlements, burned the buildings, butchered the occupants and darted back to the fastness of the forest. None were spared, neither old nor young. Many of the victims had been friends and acquaintances of Teedyuscung, for he had lived most of his life, among the settlers in the Pocopoko valley and along the Lehigh. Terror and confusion prevailed and the survivors fled southward to Bethlehem, Nazareth and Easton.
Encompassed by forest clad hills, the old Moravian mission of Gnadenhutten, with its well tilled fields, tidy buildings and barns filled with wheat and corn, nestled in a secluded vale of the Mahoning. On November 24th, the fifteen members, of the mission house, while eating their evening meal, were startled by the fierce barking of dogs and the stealthy approach of footsteps. Martin Nitschman went to see and, as he opened the door, a bullet struck him dead. The Indians fired into the open room and killed John Gattermeyer, Martin Presser and John Lesley. George Partich, as a bullet whistled by his head, jumped through a win- dow and dashed up the hillside, where he met John Sensemann, who had gone, a little time before, to close the church. They fled down the Mahoning and across the Lehigh and alarmed the occupants of New Gnadenhutten, who fled to Bethlehem.
Those, in the mission house, ran to an adjoining room and up the
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stairs to the attic, closely pursued by the savages, who fired, wounding Susannah Nitschmann. She fell down the steps into the arms of the Indians, who gagged, bound and removed her from the building. Barri- cading the trap door with furniture and a heavy chest, the beleaguered awaited their doom. Anna Sensemann sat on a bed and moaned, "My Saviour, I thought this would be my end." Johanna Anders, with her infant clasped in her hands, prayed in silence. The fiends fired a volley into the floor, but being unable to dislodge their victims, they applied the torch and soon the building was in flames. Three desperate ones deter- mined to escape. Young Joseph Sturgis leaped from a window, when the warrior guarding it stepped aside, and saved his life. Susan Partich fol- lowed him, ran up the hillside and secreting herself, behind the meeting house, was a sad witness of the savage orgies. George Fabricius, following her, jumped from the window, but, upon rising, was shot dead and scalped The five remaining ones, Anna Sensemann, Gottlieb Anders, Johanna Anders his wife and an infant daughter and George Schweigert were burned to death.
The Indians set fire to the barns, shops, store, bakehouse and church ; and having feasted at the spring house, departed, with their plunder on stolen horses, by the old warrior path to Wyoming. They were said to have been twelve Shawnees, acting in concert with the Delawares; but Joseph Sturgis stated, he believed them to be Delawares.20
In the expansive and fertile valley of the Pocopoko creek, near the present Kresgeville, Frederick Hoeth had settled and erected a substantial log house, mill and barns. Early in the evening of December 10th, while the family was at supper, a band of Delawares surrounded the house and fired through a window, killing Hoeth and wounding a woman. The remaining occupants fled to the other buildings, which the Indians set on fire. Mrs. Hoeth ran through the flames of the burning bake house, and to extinguish the fire in her dress, jumped into the creek and was drowned. The savages disemboweled and horribly mangled her body. A daughter was killed and scalped and three other children were believed to have been burned.
The next day, probably, the same band attacked the house of John McMichael, a few miles farther east, but the neighbors had gathered there and succeeded in beating them off. A larger band, during the fore- noon, surrounded the stockaded house of Daniel Brodhead, located on the site of the present East Stroudsburg, but the place was defended through- out the day and at night the Indians withdrew. The other buildings on the place were burned.21
A wide strip, of territory south of the Kittatinny mountains, in both Northampton and Berks counties, was now deserted by its inhabitants, who threw themselves for support on the generosity of their neighbors to the southward. Even, the residents of Easton and Reading believed them- selves in peril and were in a paralyzed state of consternation and con- fusion.22
The governor uged the assembly to protect the frontier, but it cruelly
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replied, intimating the settlers were unduly alarmed and terrified, suggest- ing the Delawares and Shawnees had land purchase grievances unre- dressed and insinuating the Six Nations had a hand in the depredations. But goaded by the increasing atrocities, the Quaker assembly, as a gesture, sent the governor an act appropriating £60,000 and containing provisions, it knew he had no power to approve. Meanwhile, Andrew Montour, Jegrea, a Mohawk and Scarooyady appeared before the governor, council and assembly ; and the latter addressed them, stating, there were still three hundred loyal Indians on the Susquehanna, but to retain their allegiance, they must be immediately supported. He demanded an explicit answer, whether Pennsylvania would fight or do nothing. The assembly insultingly denied his supplication. Scarooyady was amazed and said he could no longer prevent the defection of the Delawares, but, nevertheless, pledged his personal loyalty. The wise old chief counselled the governor to be calm and still strive for an agreement with the foolish assembly, assuring him he would carry a message to the Indians on the Susquehanna and the Six Nations.
However, the march of events was driving the foolish Quakers into a tight spot. Thomas Penn sent a gift of £5,000 to be added to whatever the assembly appropriated, which was probably in excess of what could be justly realized by taxing his estates. The Indian murders continued. The frontier asserted itself. Fifteen hundred inhabitants, of Berks county, threatened to march to Philadelphia. A large number, of the citizens of Chester county, protested. The mayor of Philadelphia sharply reproached the assembly for its obstinacy. There were rumblings everywhere, Rumors came from the north and west, that the frontiersmen were bound to have protection, if they had to punish the Quakers, and perhaps hang the recalcitrant assembly members. The Quakers had to give way. The fear, of loss of life and property, overcame the fear of God.
The assembly passed a weak militia bill, which exempted the Quakers from service and support of the frontier and contained provisions that rendered the forces raised under it inefficient. It also made an appropria- tion without taxing the Penn estates. The irreconcilable Quakers, led by Israel Pemberton, protested these measures, for the defense of innocent men, women and children from the unspeakable cruelties of fiendish savages, as destructive of their (the Quakers) religious liberties. Such is the fatuity of all extreme religious opinion.23 Franklin to retain his pop- ularity with the Quakers had been their leader in the opposition. His policy was, "Beat the governor, and then beat the enemy." Much as we venerate Benjamin Franklin, his conduct, at this critical time, was that of the politician and unworthy of admiration.
During December 1755, commissioners were appointed to provide for the defense of the frontier and militia companies were raised in the various counties, and their officers commissioned by the governor.
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NOTES-CHAPTER ELEVEN
1. Col. Recs. 6-504, 510, 521, 525, 526, 534, 536, 537, 546, 550, 565, 569, 587, 597, 598.
2. Ibid, 647.
3. Pa. Archs. 3, 633. The captives were: Barbara Leninger, Mary Roy, Rachel Leninger, Marion Wheeler, Hannah wife of Jacob Breylinger and two of their children, Peter Lick and two of his sons, named John and William.
4. Col. Recs. 6, 645.
5. Frontier Forts 1, 627 ; Pa. Archs. 12, 405.
6. Col. Recs. 6, 648, 654, 655.
7. Ibid, 656, 659.
8. Ibid, 660.
9. and 10. Ibid, 669.
11. kupp, History of Berks and Lebanon counties, 318; Frontier Forts 1, 65; C. J. Weiser, Life of Conrad Weiser, 134.
12. Col. Recs. 6, 767.
13. Pa. Archs. 2, 451, 463, 474.
14. Ibid, 474; The Pennsylvania Gazette, under date of November 13th, listed those murdered at the Cove as: Elizabeth Gallway, Henry Gilson, Robert Peer, William Berryhill, David McClelland, a son of William Fleming and one Hicks ; and those missing, John Martin's wife and five children, William Gallway's wife and two children, a young woman, Charles Stewart's wife and two children, David McClelland's wife and two children.
15. Col. Recs. 6, 703.
16. Ibid, 705.
17. Pa. Archs. 2, 511.
18. Col. Recs. 6, 762.
19. Ibid, 751; Pa. Archs. 2, 459; 491.
20. Memorials of Moravian Church 1, 197 to 201; Col. Recs. 6, 736; Pa. Archs. 2, 521.
21. Col. Recs. 6, 755, 756.
22. Ibid, 760, 761, 762, 763.
23. Ibid, 671 to 743; Pa. Archs. 2, 484, 487, 516.
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CHAPTER TWELVE DESTRUCTION OF OSWEGO
During the winter of 1756, Colonel Jonathan Bagley of Massachusetts was in command of Fort William Henry, the construction of which had been commenced at the head of Lake George ;and his force was engaged in strengthening the works, and the building of boats for the proposed Crown Point movement. He quaintly wrote, "Shall leave no stone unturned, every wheel shall go, that rum and human flesh can move." He sent out numerous scouting parties, under the celebrated ranger, Robert Rogers, Israel Putnam and others, whose exciting alventures, while prowling through the woods near Ticonderoga and Crown Point are fascinating stories, which fill a volume.
Shirley had appointed General John Winslow of Massachusetts, com- mander of the proposed movement on Ticonderoga ; and by midsummer, a considerable number of New England regiments were scattered along the Hudson from Stillwater to Fort Edward, but their farthest advance- ment was to Fort William Henry, when winter compelled them to disband.
To guard the road to Oswego, Fort Williams (on the present site of Rome) had been erected at the great carrying place on the Mohawk. Fort Bull had been built on Wood creek at the other end of this portage. The latter was only a stockade without cannon and garrisoned by a lieutenant and thirty or forty men. It contained a considerable quantity of supplies. About 4 o'clock in the morning of March 27, 1756, Lieutenant de Lery, with a French force, of three hundred sixty two men, consisting of Indians, Canadians, and ninety three regulars, appeared before Fort Bull; and having learned, from two prisoners, the state of the fort and that sup- plies were expected, he made his arrangements. The convoy was inter- cepted, ten prisoners were taken and the provisions, a godsend to the famished French, were eaten.
Most of the Indians refused to participate in the attack on the fort, but agreed to guard the prisoners and watch the road. Anticipating, a sortie from Fort Williams, de Lery made an immediate attack on Fort Bull. About twenty Indians accompanied him and, when within a short distance of the fort, gave the warwhoop, which alarmed the garrison and gave time to close the gates. Baffled in his surprise attack, by this ill- timed outcry, de Lery summoned the surrender of the place, but the answer was a sharp fire from the fort. After, an hour's onslaught, the gates
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were battered down and the French poured within, and killed all the defenders. The stock of powder was dumped in the creek, but some of it exploded, wounding two of the French. As anticipated, a relief force was sent from Fort Williams, but the Indians, lying along the road, attacked it, and seventeen of the English were killed. Fearing pursuit, de Lery collected his men and, with the plunder they could carry, left for Canada.1
Shirley's cherished dream was the capture of Fort Niagara, but he, never, got farther, than a little boy on a hobby horse. He sent recruits to Oswego, and, to forward supplies, he employed two thousand boatmen, under the command of Colonel John Bradstreet. Coulon de Villiers had been sent, with more than a thousand Canadians and Indians, to interrupt the communications between Albany and Oswego. Nevertheless, Brad- street succeeded in landing supplies; but on July 3rd, while returning with some three hundred boatmen, at a point on the north side of the river about a mile above Oswego, he was attacked by the French. In order to prevent the enemy from crossing and give the boatmen time to land on the south side, Bradstreet, with six men, went to an island, where he was attacked by a force of about twenty, whom they succeeded in beating off. Six more joined Bradstreet and they were again assaulted by an increased French force and, although eight of the twelve were wounded, they held their assailants until reinforced. Perceiving they were about to be sur- rounded, they left the island. The English, by a feigned retreat, decoyed a large number of the French to cross to the south side of the river, and then turned upon them, driving the French into the river with consider- able losses.
Meanwhile, an enemy force, of about four hundred, had crossed at a ford, above and taken position in a swamp. With two hundred men, Brad- street assailed them, but being unable to make any progress by tree cov- ered firing, he ordered his men to charge. The foe broke and fled, many of them being killed or wounded. Having been reinforced by one hundred grenadiers on their way from Onondaga and two hundred men sent by Colonel Mercer from Oswego, it was intended to pursue the French, the following morning, but the day being rainy, it was given up. The English losses were twenty killed and twenty four wounded. The French were believed to have had more than one hundred killed. This was the only English success on the northern frontier, during the summer of 1756 and Colonel Bradstreet received much praise.2
Shirley, still making plans, had been displaced and Lord Loudon appointed in his place, with General Abercrombie to command the armies. The English efforts in 1755 had been futile. Poor Shirley had lost every- thing, two sons, William who was killed at Braddock's defeat and John who died of disease contracted at Oswego. He returned to England, if not disgraced, at least, humiliated by the failure of great expectations.
Oswego was a continued menace to the long line of French communi- cations and the most hated English outpost. Vaudreuil, governor general of Canada had long designed its capture and early in the summer sent his
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brother, Rigaud to supersede de Villiers in command of the French forces encamped at Niaoure Bay, now Sackett's Harbor. Montcalm, the newly arrived French general, early in July, went to Ticonderoga with reinforce- ments, but this was a mere diversion and not a threat against Fort William Henry. Having thrown the English off the scent and leaving Levis in command of about three thousand men on Lake Champlain, Montcalm, by a speedy journey, arrived at Frontenac about the first of August.
Bourlamaque, commander there had made extensive preparations for the attack on Oswego. Bearn's battalion had been ordered from Niagara ; and on August 7th, Montcalm made his rendezvous at Niaoure Bay. He had about three thousand men, consisting of thirteen hundred regulars and the remainder were Canadians and Indians. They were well equipped with heavy cannon for a siege.
There were three fortifications at Oswego. Fort Ontario on the east side of the river was a square of about one hundred and eighty feet. The faces broken in the center were flanked by redans placed at the point of break. It was constructed of picketts, eighteen inches in diameter and ris- ing nine feet from the ground. A ditch eighteen feet wide and eight feet deep surrounded the fort. It had eight guns and four mortars with double grenades. It was a safe place to hide from the Indians, but as useless as a baby's crib to withstand a heavy cannonade. The old fort, Chouagen, as the French called it, situated on the west side of the river, consisted of the old stone trading house with loopholed walls three feet thick, and was surrounded at a distance of eighteen feet by another wall. There was a ditch on the land side and it was defended by eighteen cannon and fifteen mortars and howitzers. Fort George was a stockade about eighteen hun- dred feet from the old fort and badly constructed.
Rigaud de Vaudreuil commanded the vanguard and, by a road, through the woods, built at night, the French advanced and on the 11th invested Fort Ontario. At midnight, they began to open their trenches and completed them at 5 o'clock in the morning. There was a brisk fire from the fort, until 11 o'clock, when the English evacuated it. During the night, the trenches were continued to the river and twenty pieces of cannon placed. Vaudreuil forded the river at daybreak and interrupted the com- munications between the old fort and Fort George. The cannonading began at 6 o'clock and was replied to by a heavy fire from the old fort until 8 o'clock, when Colonel Mercer, the English commander and soul of the defense, was killed by a cannon shot. His death and the shrieks of the large number of women in the fort dispirited the defenders and, at 11 o'clock, Lieutenant Colonel Littlehales, who succeeded Mercer, raised the white flag. The French losses were thirty men killed or wounded; and the English lost about fifty men killed and wounded and nearly seven- teen hundred prisoners, over one hundred cannon, one thousand muskets, thousands of pounds of powder and bullets, a large amount of provisions, £18,000 of silver in the military chest, five armed ships and two hundred barges and bateaux. The French carried off all the munitions and sup- plies they could transport and blew up and burned all the fortifications.
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Nothing remained of the great trading post of Oswego but a scene of desertion and desolation. The French had now complete control of the Great Lakes, the Ohio and the Mississippi; and the triumphant flag of France waved over a long line of unthreatened fortifications from Montreal to New Orleans.3
NOTES-CHAPTER TWELVE
1. Doc. History of N. Y. 1, 509 to 514.
2. Ibid, 482 to 488.
3. Ibid, 487 to 498, 591.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE FRONTIER FORTS
After the destruction of Gnadenhutten, Captain Hayes' company of militia was stationed at New Gnadenhutten to protect the abandoned build- ings. On New Years day, 1756, some of these soldiers, while skating on the Lehigh, were decoyed by several Indians, whom they pursued into an ambush, and they were killed. Their terrified comrades fled and the Indians burned the mills and other buildings of the mission.1
With the beginning of January, the work of defending the back settle- ments began. A detachment of ninety-five regulars came from New York and were divided between Easton and Reading. The loyal Indians fled from Pennsylvania and placed themselves under the protection of the Six Nations. Silver Heels a loyal Indian reported to a council, the governor held at Carlisle, January 14th, that there were no Indians left at Shamokin, but at Nescopeck, he found a hundred forty hostile warriors dancing the war dance and preparing for an expedition eastward.2 The Conestoga Indians placed themselves under the protection of the province. Andrew Montour and Scarooyady, who had gone on a peace mission among the Susquehanna Indians, sent a letter, written by Rev. Gideon Hawley from Oquaga, warning the governor to guard the frontier and keep scouts out continually.3
Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton, two of the provincial com- missioners, were selected to arrange the defenses in Northampton county. Franklin proceeded to Bethlehem, where he raised troops, issued com- missions to officers, made arrangements for the transportation of supplies and organized his forces with great promptness and efficiency.4 At New Gnadenhutten, he erected Fort Allen, named after Chief Justice William Allen. It was a stockaded structure one hundred twenty-five feet long and fifty feet wide and defended by two swivel guns. It was located in the present Weissport, Carbon county, on the southeast corner of Bridge and Franklin streets.5
During the winter and spring, Pennsylvania erected a line of forts across the frontier from the Delaware river to the Maryland line. They were all stockades, similar in construction and built at strategic places. Running from the Delaware westward to the Susquehanna, these forti- fications and locations, with reference to present places, were : Fort Hynd-
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shaw near the mouth of Bushkill creek ;6 Depue house at Shawnee ;7 Fort Hamilton, fronting Main Street, Stoudsburg;8 Fort Norris on Pocopoko creek, near Kresgeville ;9 Fort Allen at Weissport; Fort Franklin, near West Penn station, Schuylkill county ;10 Fort Lebanon, near Auburn, Schuylkill county ;11 Fort Northkill, near Strausstown, Berks county ;12 Fort Henry at Deitrich Sixth's;13 Fort Swatara near Inwood station ; ; 14 Ma- nada Fort, south of Manada Gap ;15 Fort Hunter at place of same name on the Susquehanna.
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