USA > New York > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 17
USA > Pennsylvania > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 17
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The hapless victims spent the telling night in supplication and prayer, and singing the beautiful hymns, they knew so well. At daybreak, they consigned their souls to God, bid farewell to their friends, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives and children and resigned themselves to death.
In the early morning of March 8, 1782, they were bound with ropes and led to the places designated for their execution, afterwards gleefully called by the brutal ruffians, the slaughter houses. It is hard to imagine so-called Christian white men so devoid of justice, compassion and mercy, and there is no evidence, they, ever afterwards, regretted their unjusti- fiable and cruel deed, or were condemned and shunned by their Christian neighbors at home. On the other hand they boasted of their act, and some of them were rewarded with public office, attesting the approval of their people at home.
The men were confined in one house and the women and children in another building. Then the carnage began. The miscreants clubbed some of them to death, and with their hatchets hacked the bodies of others to pieces. One devil clubbed fourteen helpless victims to death and then handing his club to a companion declared, "I would gladly kill them all but my arm has given out and now it is your turn." Old women were murdered in the most cruel manner and little children were seized by the legs and their brains beaten out against the logs of the building.
Ninety-six were slain, sixty-two grown men and women and thirty- four children. Only two young men escaped, one of whom disengaged himself from the rope which bound him, slipped through the crowd unob- served, crept through a window into the cellar and spent the agonizing day beneath the charnel floor with blood streaming upon him and smearing and coating his body and clothes. At night he got away and concealed himself in the woods. The other youth, Thomas was clubbed and scalped and left for dead. He recovered his senses and at night he wriggled from among the corpses heaped about him, and coated with blood, crept over the slain out of the house and ran to the woods. In the morning, he joined the other boy, and after watching the murderers feasting in merri- ment over their work and the burning of the corpse laden slaughter houses, they fled to Sandusky with the terrible news.15
NOTES-CHAPTER NINETEEN
1. David Zeisberger was born in Moravia, April 11, 1721, and came to America in August, 1737. He took part in the settlement of Bethlehem in 1741. He was member of a class of young missionary candidates instructed by Prylaeus,
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in the Mohawk language in 1744, and became very proficient in that tongue. With Christian Frederick Post, he went to the Mohawk Valley, to perfect his knowledge of the language, and was imprisoned, by the New York authorities, for several weeks, as a vagrant Moravian preacher. He was ordained in 1749, and during a stay at Onondaga, was adopted, as a member of that nation. He took an active part in the establishment of the Gnadenhuetten mission, and barely escaped the massacre there. While stationed at Shamokin, he began the preparation of an Iroquois dictionary. He was at Herrnhut, in 1750-51, and upon his return spent some time at Onondaga. In 1763, he first visited Wyalusing. He was with the Indians, during their stay in Philadelphia, and march to and from Amboy. He had charge of the establishment of Friedenshuetten, and remained there until September, 1767. He founded the Friedenstadt mission and the missions on the Muskingum, and remained there until their removal by the British. After the Gnadenhuetten massacre on the Muskingum, he led the remnant of the congregation, during all their trials. He died at the Goshen mission in Ohio, November 17, 1808, in the 88th year of his life. Zeisberger is considered the greatest of the Moravian missionaries.
2. John Woolman was born in Northampton, Burlington county, New Jersey, in August, 1720, of Quaker parents, and became a minister of that faith, when he was twenty two years old. He, mainly, supported himself by his trade as a tailor. He travelled and preached throughout the colonies, and wrote against slavery. His only experience, as an Indian missionary, was during his trip to Wyalusing, in 1763 During a visit to England, he died at York, October 7, 1772, and was buried in that city.
3. Life and Travels of John Woolman, 160 to 185.
4. Memorials of Moravian Church, note page 38.
5. Loskiel, History of Moravian Missions, 2, 212.
6. Ibid, 193, 214, 215.
7. Ibid, 183, 187, 193, 214, 215, 217.
8. Ibid, 216 to 234; Col. Recs. 9, 96, 100, 101, 108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 170, 171; Pa. Archs. 4, 138, 157, 158, 160, 161, 167, 168, 170.
9. Many years ago, the writer examined the site of Friedenshuetten, in com- pany with the elderly farmer, who then owned the land and pointed out the situation of the town and the location of the main street and principal buildings. This information, he obtained at the time of the dedication of the monument, by the Moravians, who located the same from the original records at Bethlehem, and excavations which they made on the ground.
10. Loskiel, History of Moravian Missions, 3, 5 to 10.
11. Ibid, Chapters 1, 2, 3; Part 5, Transactions of Moravian Historical Society ; Heckewelder, Indian Nations, 82, 83.
12. Rothe and Ettwein Diaries.
13. Ibid.
14. Loskiel, History Moravian Missions, 3, Chapters, 8, 9, and 10.
15. The account of the massacre is based on the report of David Zeisberger ; Loskiel History of Moravian Missions, 3, Chapter 10; Notes on Settlement and Indian Wars by Joseph Doddridge, Chapter 31 page 188; and David Zeisberger and His Brown Brethren by Rev. William H. Rice one time pastor of the Moravian Church at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio. These are all largely based on the contemporary report of Zeisberger, and the accounts given by the murderers themselves on their return to Pitssburgh. Doddridge obtained his information from some of the band.
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CHAPTER TWENTY
THE FORT STANWIX TREATY
The policy of the British government was the prevention of any intrusion on Indian lands, as announced by the proclamation of 1763, establishing the "King's Line"; but this restraint was obnoxious to the land speculators, who constantly pressed for the fixing of a new and enlarged boundary. Finally, yielding to the incessant pressure, the British ministry, through Lord Shelburne, wrote Sir William Johnson, January 5, 1768: "His Majesty commands that the boundary between the several Provinces be completed without loss of time."1 In pursuance of this com- mand, Johnson summoned the Six Nations and their subject tribes to a conference at Fort Stanwix (now Rome, N. Y.) on September 20, 1768, but it was late in October before the Indians assembled there.
The task, confronting Johnson, was the most difficult, he ever expe- rienced in any of his Indian transactions, but he never displayed his ability, as a negotiator, to so great advantage, as in this, the crowning achievement of his career. He had, not only, to reconcile the differences between the Indians of many tribes ; but, also, to appease the selfish interests of Indian traders, missionaries, and land speculators. The general satis- faction the treaty produced attests his success.
More than twenty-two hundred Indians were gathered at Fort Stan- wix, October 24th, when the conference began under the supervision of Johnson. It was attended by Governor Franklin and Chief Justice Smith of New Jersey, Thomas Walker commissioner of Virginia, Richard Peters and James Tilghman commissioners of Pennsylvania and George Croghan, Daniel Claus and Guy Johnson deputy Indian agents. Guy Johnson was secretary and John Butler, Andrew Montour and Philip Philips were interpreters.
Around the fort, each night, there was a radiant pageant of Indian life. Paint bedaubed warriors, in crimson colored blankets, swaggered about and half clad squaws hovered over the campfires. Hanging from a crude barbecue, a row of fatted oxen slowly roasted over charcoal fires; great copper kettles boiled with potatoes and rice; and the ovens of the fort supplied stacks of freshly baked bread. Each family was allotted huge slices of the roasted beef, a pot of potatoes and rice, a loaf of bread, and to each warrior and his squaw a gill or so of rum. After the evening
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feast and 'till long in the night, men and women huddled about the camp- fires and danced to the sharp clatter of the rattle and drum, loudly chant- ing the wild strains of their native songs.
A tentative line had previously been agreed upon, beginning at the mouth of the Kanawha and ending at Owego, and its readjustment was the great difficulty, the Six Nations insisting it should be extended as far south as the Tennessee river, over which territory, they claimed dominion. They also desired the line should be extended beyond Owego. Although the British ministry inclined to adhere to the original termini, Johnson considered it expedient to yield to the Indians.
The treaty continued until November 5th, when the deed of cession was executed. For the consideration of fourteen hundred sixty pounds, seven shillings and three pence, it conveyed to King George III, the fol- lowing :
"All the tract of land situate in North America, at the Back of the Briitsh Settlements, bounded by a line which we have now agreed upon and do hereby establish as the Boundary between us and the British Colonies in America, beginning at the mouth of the Cherokee or Hogchege River, (Tennessee) where it emptys into the River Ohio and running thence upwards along the South side of said River to Kittanning, which is above Fort Pitt, thence by a direct line to the nearest Fork of the West Branch of Susquehanna, thence through the Alleghany Mountains along the south side of said West Branch until it comes opposite to the mouth of a creek called Tiadaghton, thence across the West Branch and along the south side of that Creek and along the North side of Burnett's Hills to a creek called Awandae (Towanda), thence down the same to the East Branch of Susquehanna and across the same and up the East side of that river to Owegy (Owego) from thence to Delaware River (along about the New York line to a point below the present Hancock N.Y.) and up that river to opposite where Tianaderha (Unadilla River) falls into Susquehanna (near present Deposit N.Y.), thence to Tianaderha and up the West side of its West Branch to the head waters thereof and thence by a direct line to Canada Creek where it empties into Wood Creek at the West side of the Carrying Place beyond Fort Stanwix and extending Eastward from every part of said line as far as the lands formerly pur- chased so as to comprehend the whole of the Lands between the said Line and the purchased lands or settlements, except what is within the Province of Pennsylvania."
This deed contained another exception: "That the lands occupied by the Mohawks around their villagers as well as by any other Nation affected by this our cession may effectually remain to them and their Posterity." It was signed by Tyorhansire for the Mohawks, Canaghquieson for the Oneidas, Sequarusera for the Tuscaroras, Otsinoghiyata for the Onon- dagas, Tegaaia for the Cayugas and Gustrax for the Senecas.2 The same day, the Six Nations conveyed, to Thomas and Richard Penn, for $10,000, all the lands within their Province not previously purchased from the
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Indians and extending to the Fort Stanwix boundary line. It comprised most of the land in the Susquehanna and Delaware Purchases, and it appears was secured with considerable difficulty, as the Indian chiefs were reluctant to sell again what they had already disposed of to the Susquehanna Company, but were persuaded to do so by the assurance of Johnson that the Connecticut Charter was obsolete and the companies had no right to purchase Indian lands in Pennsylvania.3
The Fort Stanwix Treaty was the most important one made with the Indians and opened for settlement the northwestern part of Virginia, what became Tennessee and Kentucky and a large portion of Pennsyl- vania. New York obtained no great accession of territory.
Sir William Johnson, in 1764, built a new home, Johnson Hall, some miles west of his old place, and fostered the growth of the adjacent village of Johnstown, which he planned and planted. As in his life, Johnson was fortunate in the time of his death, as he escaped the perplexities of the Revolution. He would, probably, have espoused the royal side, and thus embittered most of his American associates and marred the successful reputation he enjoyed. His ephemeral baronetcy, in the wilderness, created by good fortune, political adroitness and Indian diplomacy, dissolved like a morning dew in the rising sun of the Revolution. He died July 11, 1774 and was buried in a vault in St. John's Episcopal Church, which he had erected in Johnstown.
In 1772, Albany county was divided and Charlotte and Tryon coun- ties were carved out of it. The former embraced the Lake Champlain region and the courts were held near Fort Edward. Tryon county com- prised that part of the colony west of Schoharie and Schenectady, and Johnstown was made the county seat ; and Johnson and Major Fonda built the stone jail there in 1773, and probably by a similar arrangement erected the small brick court house still in use.
In Pennsylvania, the following counties were created: Northumber- land with Sunbury as the county seat in 1772; Bedford with Fort Bed- ford as the county seat in 1771; and Westmoreland with Hannastown as the county seat in 1773. After the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the south western part of Pennsylvania, being opened for settlement, the population increased quite rapidly. Many came in from Virginia which claimed it; and in the early part of 1774, these Virginians, under the leadership of Dr. John Connolly, forcibly asserted Virginia's claim and took possession of Fort Pitt, changing the name to Fort Dunmore in honor of the governor of Virginia. The arrest of Connolly by Arthur St. Clair, chief magistrate of Westmoreland county and the outbreak of Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, brought the malignants to sense and order. This war which grew out of the murder of Logan's family by Cresap, little affected the Pennsylvania frontier and General Lewis' victory over the Indians at Point Pleasant ended it.
In August, 1779, George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse. commissioners of Pennsylvania, and James Madison and Robert Andrews,
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commissioners of Virginia, concluded an agrement fixing the lines, between Pennsylvania and Virginia, as follows:
"That the line, commonly called Mason and Dixon's line, be extended due west, five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the river Dela- ware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridan, drawn from the western extremity thereof, to the northern limits of the said states, respectively, be the western boundary of Pennsylvania."
This boundary agreement was confirmed, by Pennsylvania, September 23, 1780 and by Virginia with conditions, June 23, 1783. The Pennsylvania legislature, April 1, 1784, passed an act, finally ratifying and confirming the said agrement and containing the following conditions imposed by Virginia :
"That the private property and rights of all persons, acquired under, founded on, or recognized by, the laws of either country previous to the date hereof, be saved and confirmed to them, although they should be found to fall within the other, and that in the decision of disputes thereon, preference shall be given to the elder or prior right, which ever of the said states the same shall have been acquired under, such persons paying, within whose boundary their lands shall be included, the same purchase or consideration money, which would have been due from them to the state, under which they claimed the right; and where any such purchase or con- sideration money hath, since the declaration of American independence, been received by either state for lands, which, according to the before recited agreement shall fall within the territory of the other, the same shall be reciprocally refunded and repaid; and that the inhabitants of the dis- puted territory now ceded to the state of Pennsylvania, shall not before the first day of December, in the present year, be subject to the payment of any tax, nor at any time to the payment of any arrears of taxes or imposi- tions heretofore laid by either state."4
The passage of this act ended all pretensions of Virginia to any part of Pennsylvania.
NOTES-CHAPTER TWENTY
1. N. Y. Col. Docs. 8, 2.
2. Ibid, 111 to 137.
3. Harvey, History of Wilkes-Barre, 1, 451, 452; Johnson Papers 6, 556 contains an incomplete description of the Penn purchase.
4. Smith's Laws 2, page 261.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE FAIR PLAY REPUBLIC
By the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the boundary, of the lands ceded, was fixed as the south side of the West Branch until opposite Tiadaghton creek and thence across the river and along the south side of the creek to Burnett's Hills. There was a difference of opinion, whether the Tiadaghton was Lycoming creek or Pine creek. The proprietaries cautiously *regarded it, as meaning the Lycoming, and permitted no locations and settlements on the north side of the river above it. The distance, along the river between the two creeks, more than fifteen miles, includes some of the best land in the state. After the treaty, locations were made and lawful settlements planted on the south side of the river, as far as the present Lock Haven, and for some distance above it, but the opposite shore was forbidden territory.
Notwithstanding, a sturdy class of Scotch-Irish people, attracted by the fertility of the soil, planted themselves on the northern side of the river, without vestige of title, except what they may have obtained from the few remaining Indians. By 1773, they had become so numerous, that they aroused the government, and by the advice of the council, the gov- ernor, John Penn issued a proclamation, September 20, 1773, forbidding any surveys or settlements upon what was, then, considered unpurchased Indian lands, and threatening the intruders wtih the severe penalties of the law. (Col. Recs. X, 194, 195) Apparently, no one was ever arrested, and the proclamation was probably a gesture, to appease any Indian un- easiness. Thereafter, the government ignored the squatters and exercised no jurisdiction over them.
Left in a civic state of nature, the intruders instituted an equitable and efficient squatter government based on a written compact signed by the members of the community. Unfortunately, the records of their unique organization have been lost, and aside from tradition, the only authentic account of it is in the law reports of Pennsylvania. It appears, their gov- ernment was republican and representative in form and based on demo- cratic authority. It may be termed a republic, because the settlers in a democratic assembly elected three men to whom were delegated the exec- utive and some, if not all, the judicial functions of government. These three executives and judges, called fair play men, were elected annually and,
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evidently, could not succeed themselves. They decided disputes and deter- mined all land controversies. Their decrees were final and conclusive, as there was no appeal. By their compact, it was provided no new settlers could be admitted to their territory, except by approval of the fair play men and by submission to the terms of the compact, which they were required to sign. Upon conviction of violation of this obligation, they were exiled into the province of Pennsylvania. Approved settlers were allotted. by the fair play men, a determined acreage of vacant land.
Thre must have been, among them, men of unusual intelligence, inas- much as they avoided the pitfalls of the ancient republics, by electing three executives instead of two, thus avoiding any stalemate of govern- ment ; and also by selecting new members, thereby preventing the admission of undesirable people, which so plagued the ancient Roman republic. In the Fair Play Republic, there were no taxes, no lawyers and politicians and none of the other encumbrances, which afflict more highly organized governments. There is evidence based on quite certain tradition, that in some criminal cases, the democratic assembly may have determined the guilt of the accused and the degree and mode of punishment. Corporal punishment was inflicted, but as there were no serious crimes committed, it was not of a capital nature.
By a strange coincidence, on July 4th, 1776, there was a great and enthusiasitc meeting of the settlers, in an open field, perhaps near Chatham Run, which it is said was the usual meeting place of the democratic asembly. They were all ardent Whigs, and they then and there dissolved their allegiance to Great Britain, in what is called the "Pine Creek Declaration of Independence."
At a treaty held at Fort Stanwix, in 1783, the Indians explained and declared, the Tiadaghton, mentioned in the Fort Stanwix line, was Pine creek and not the Lycoming. Consequently, the Fair Play people were never trespassers, insofar as the Indians were concerned.
In "Smith's Laws," published by authority of the Pennsylvania legis- lature, volume two, there is a history of the land office and a quotation of the acts relating to the sale of lands in the province and state, and all the decisions of the courts pertinent thereto. At page 195 in the laws of 1784, this statement is made :
"There existed a great number of locations of the third of April, 1769, for the choicest lands on the West Branch of Susquehanna, between the mouths of Lycoming and Pine creeks; but the proprietaries, from extreme caution, the result of that experience, which had also produced the very penal laws of 1768 and 1769, and the proclamation already stated, had prohibited any surveys being made beyond the Lycoming. In the meantime, in violation of all laws, a set of hardy adventurers, had from time to time, seated themeslves on this doubtful territory. They made improvements, and formed a very considerable population. It is true, so far as regarded the rights to real property, they were not under the pro- tection of the laws of the country; and were we to adopt the visionary
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theories of some philosophers, who have drawn their arguments from a supposed state of nature, we might be led to believe that the state of these people would have been a state of continual warfare; and that in contests for property the weakest must give way to the strongest. To prevent the consequences, real or supposed, of this state of things, they formed a mutual compact among themselves. They annually elected a tribunal, in rotation, of three of their settlers, whom they called fair play men, who were to decide, all controversies, and settle disputed boundaries. From their decision there was no appeal. There could be no resistance. The decree was enforced by the whole body, who started up in mass, at the mandate of the court, and execution and eviction were as sudden, and irresistible as the judgment. Every newcomer was obliged to apply to this powerful tribunal, and upon his solemn engagement to submit in all respects, to the law of the land, he was permitted to take possession of some vacant spot. Their decrees were, however, just; and when their settlements were recognized by law, and fair play had ceased, their decisions were received in evidence, and confirmed by judgments of courts."
On December 21, 1784, a land office act was passed, therein recog- nizing the rights of the Fair Play settlers and sustaining their preemptions. It contained this provision :
"That all and every person, or persons, and their legal representatives, who has, or who have heretofore settled, on the north side of the West Branch of Susquehanna, between Lycomick or Lycoming Creek on the east, and Tyagaghton or Pine Creek on the west, as well as other lands within the said residuary purchase from the Indians, of the territory within this state (excepting always the lands herein before excepted), shall be allowed a right of preemption to their respective possessions at the price aforesaid."
Several cases, about Fair Play lands, came before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, after 1784 (cited at pages 196 and 197) ; and in the case of Hughes vs Dougherty, Justice Shippen said : "I will not say the Fair play men could make a law to bind the settlers, but they might, by agreement, bind themselves."
The Fair Play people, evidently, lived in friendly relations with their Indian neighbors, and were as just with them, as with their own members, as the following incident attests. A settler, Francis Clark was found in possession of a dog belonging to an Indian neighbor, who com- plained to the Fair Play Men, that Clark had stolen it. They, immediately, had Clark arrested, charged with the theft. He was tried, at once, con- victed and sentenced to be whipped with a certain number of lashes. Their method, of choosing the executioner, was unique. A number, equal to the number of men present, of yellow grains of corn and one of red, was placed in a bag. Each man was compelled to draw therefrom one grain, the fellow drawing the red grain to be the executioner. It was drawn by Philip Antes, who immediately prepared to begin the flogging. The Indian, who was a just and tender hearted man, rather than see Clark
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