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Gc 974.801 C911s 1386680
M. D
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01126 3404
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofcumberl00stew
SOLDIER'S MONUMENTS AT MIDDLE SPRING, PA.
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND
VALLEY
PENNSYLVANIA
-
BY -
MRS. HARRIET WYLIE STEWART, A.B.
DEDICATED TO MY FATHER, REV. SAMUEL S. WYLIE WHOSE LOVE OF HISTORY HAS BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO ME IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS LITTLE VOLUME.
1386680
CHAPTERS
TOPOGRAPHY AND EARLY SETTLERS
I
INDIAN HISTORY
II
ROADS, TURNPIKES AND FORTS
III
EARLY INDUSTRIES
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
EARLY TOWNS
VI
EARLY SCHOOLS
VII
CIVIL WAR PERIOD
VIII
NOTED BIOGRAPHIES
IX
PROGRESS SINCE CIVIL WAR
X
PREFACE
The author was born in the manse of the Presbyterian church at Middle Spring, Pa., and has been for years head of the Depart- ment of History in the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, Shippensburg, Pa. She is the wife of John K. Stewart, A. M., head of the Department of Latin, in the same institution. From a child she was a lover of history and for more than two years has been collecting the facts and writing the only complete history of the far famed, beautiful and historic valley of the Cumberland, Pa.
There may be, here and there, some slight errors and mistakes in dates, but this is due more to the indifference and want of accur- acy of correspondence than to the carelessness of the author.
It is hoped a generous public will read and find benefit from this history and especially the young people of our schools as it has been compiled to give them a more accurate knowledge of the valley in which they live.
SAMUEL S. WYLIE,
Pastor Emeritus of the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church.
CHAPTER I TOPOGRAPHY AND EARLY SETTLERS
T HE CUMBERLAND VALLEY is a portion of a very ex- tended valley that ranges from Virginia to New York. It lies between the Lebanon Valley on the Northeast and the Shenandoah Valley on the Southwest. In 1750 the name "Cumberland" was given it by the early settlers in honor of a County of England, on the borders of Scotland and after travelling through the Northwest of England, we can easily see the strong similarity between the two sections of country, it having also a town named Carlisle. This valley was originally called the "North Valley" and the "Great Valley" to distinguish it from the "Little Valley," which name was given to that valley which surrounds Chester, and is quite short.
The Cumberland Valley is about seventy-five to eighty miles in length and has an average width of twelve miles. In several places it is sixteen miles wide. The highest point of the valley is called the "Summit" which is seven hundred eighty-three feet above level and is in about the central part of the valley, between Shippensburg and Chambersburg on the Cumberland Valley Railroad. This divide separates the waters flowing into the Potomac from those flowing into the Susquehanna. On the east or south, we have the Blue Range and on the north or west, the hills which are included in the North Mountain, The Kittochtinny Mountains, an Indian name mean- ing "Endless Mountains" extending to the Carolinas and Georgia. The South Mountain, or Blue Range, is very irregular in appearance while the North or Kittochtinny is very regular in contour. Both add great beauty to the valley.
The creeks of importance are four, which cross the valley from North to South and all enter it at about the same elevation of three hundred feet. The present system of drainage was formed after the period of the world's history when the plains covered this State in a flat uninteresting marsh which was upheaved in the violent eruptions following the Carboniferous age, the age in which grew
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HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
the dense green tropical vegetation of gigantic ferns, mosses, palms and fruitless, flowerless trees that have since died, rotted into peat and coal under the cover of the rocks that later covered them. The two main streams that drain the eastern part of the valley are the Conodoguinet and the Yellow Breeches. The Conodoguinet, eighty miles in length, is the Indian name for "a river with great bends" and it in truth has them, sometimes sweeping inland for a distance of nine miles and out again into its course. It rises in Horse Valley, near Jordan's Knob in Franklin county and falls into the Susquehanna at Fairview, about two and one-half miles above Harrisburg There is a little Indian legend connected with the Cono- doguinet that gives the pronunciation of the word. One day a "red- man" was walking along the banks of this stream on one side and a "pale face" on the other side. The Indian shouted to the white man "can-I-go-in-it?" "can-I-go-in-it?" and from that day to this the stream has been called the Conodoguinet. At times it is a swift flowing stream, especially in the spring of the year, but this story no doubt, was made to fit the name. Another legend connect- ed with this stream and rather far fetched is this: "Two Indians had discovered a deer and were running it down, when with a single bound the deer crossed the stream and was away on the other side. The hunters dog was bravely and slowly trying to swim the stream when one of the Indians said to the other, "Can-a-dog- win-it?" There is doubt about this story for the Indians of that day did not hunt with dogs. The Yellow Breeches is the next stream It rises on the north side of the South Mountain. Its course is east- ward, receiving Mountain Creek, Boiling Spring and other smaller tributaries. It forms the southern boundary of Cumberland county for eleven miles and affords water power to some forty flour, grist and saw mills. It falls into the Susquehanna, which is also an In- dian name meaning, "a long crooked river," at New Cumberland, about three miles from Harrisburg. The names of these rivers and mountains are all that we have left of the "poor Indian" except the acounts of his terrible massacres.
The two main streams flowing into the Potomac on the other side of the divide are the Conococheague and Antietam creeks. The Conococheague has also a little legend connected with its name. A party of Indians after a long journey along this stream, sitting down, tired and disappointed, gave expression to the word "Conoco- cheague" viz : "is indeed a long way." This stream is made up of two branches, the West Branch flowing South of the Tuscarora Mountains and uniting about three miles on this side of the Penn- sylvania and Maryland line, with the East Branch of the Conoco-
THE CONODOGUINET CREEK, ROXBURY GAP.
QUIGLEY'S BRIDGE, NEAR NEWBURG, PA.
7
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
cheague which rises in Adams county, flows through Chambersburg, and in its Southern course receives many tributaries, as the Falling Spring, Brown's Run, the West Branch of the Conococheague and wends its way through Maryland and falls into the Potomac river at Williamsport. This stream affords water power for many mills and factories, as does also the Antietam. The Antietam consists also of two main branches uniting near the Pennsylvania and Mary- land line and flows south to the Potomac. The chief interest of this historic creek is the dreadful battle fought on its banks September 17, 1862, when its water was turned to blood by the falling of the Blues and Grays under Burnsides Bridge.
"And see the streamlets how they run Through woods and meads, in shade and sun. Sometimes swift, sometimes slow, Wave succeeding wave they go A various journey to the deep, Like human life to endless sleep."
Along the North or Kittochtinny Mountains, we have the finest springs, such as Silver Spring, Trindle Spring, Letort Springs, Boil- ing Springs, Rocky Springs, Falling Springs, Middle Springs, Big Springs. Around these gathered the early settlers and the churches were all named after them.
The Cumberland Valley embraces three counties, Cumberland and Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Washington county, Maryland. Cum- berland, named after a county in England, was established in 1750. It was then the sixth county in the State; Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester having been established in 1682, Lancaster 1729, and York in 1749. This county was separated from Lancaster county upon the presentation of a petition to the Assembly by James Silver and William Magaw, on behalf of the in- habitants of North Valley, then so called, representing that the residents of the western part of Lancaster county, west of the Sus- quehanna river, suffered great hardship by being so remote from Lancaster, where the courts were held and the public offices kept; and that it was very difficult for "the sober and quiet part" of the North Valley to secure themselves against thefts and other abuses, frequently committed by idle and dissolute men, who, to escape pun- ishment, resorted to the remote parts of the province, and owing to the great distance from court and prison, frequently escaped. Con- sidering these reasons, it was provided by the Assembly January 27, 1750, to remedy the inconveniences complained of, as set forth in the petition, and a county was established. Another county of
8
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
the Valley is Franklin, formed in 1784 and named in honor of one whose services for his state, at home and abroad, will be remember- ed as long as we have a state of Pennsylvania. The first townships in the North Valley embraced all the territory between the Susque- hanna and Maryland and were called Pennsborough and Hopewell. These were made by the court at Lancaster in 1735. In Cumber- land county the townships bear English names as Hampden, Middle- ton, Middlesex, Southampton, East and West Pennsboro. Franklin county has Scotch-Irish as Antrim, Lurgan, Letterkenny, Fannett. It has also English names as Guilford, Hamilton, Southampton and names of Revolutionary heroes as Washington, Greene and Mont- gomery. The towns and villages of these counties bear names of the founder or promoter. The town of Carlisle named its streets, Hanover, Pitt, Bedford, Louther, after dukes and lords of England. It also has a High street which is of English origin, where the prin- cipal street of a town, especially a market town, is a continuation of a highway, hence, High street. Shippensburg and Chambersburg have each a King and Queen street. The streams are named after some early resident as Herron's Branch, etc.
The natural curiosities of this valley are very few. In Cum- berland county a cave on the banks of the Conodoguinet about one and a half miles north of Carlisle may be classed as a curiosity. The entrance to it is a semi-circular archway, about eight feet high, in a lime stone cliff of about twenty feet perpendicular elevation. From the entrance there is a nearly straight passage of about two hundred seventy feet to a point where it branches into three direc- tions. The passage is high enough to admit the visitor erect. One chamber has been given the name of his satanic majesty, "The Devil's Dining Room." Another gallery has been given the poetical name of "The Seven Springs." These pools are formed by the drippings of the roof, which have been mistaken for springs. A small park surrounds the cave. Carlisle, Sulphur Springs and Boil- ing Springs are places of considerable resort in the summer season. Another natural curiosity in Cumberland county is the source of the Big Spring. This spring rises in what is known as Big Pond, near the South Mountain, and flows under ground for about four miles and issues out of the ground about two and one-half miles from Newville. Many people think it to be the largest fresh water spring in the world. Franklin county, Peters township, also has a cave discovered by Mr. Reese in 1832, who lived at the base of the North Mountain. As a large spring issued out of a rock near his home, he decided to dig for water and strike the stream. He had proceeded but a few feet when he heard water running with great
9
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
rapidity and the fissure in the rock expanded into a large and beau- tiful cavern. In every direction were to be seen beautiful stalactites suspended from the ceiling and a stream of water running the entire distance of this subterraneous passage. In order to explore the cave, one must pass through this stream which at certain seasons of the year is almost dry. The extent of this cavern is unknown but it has many cascades and figures of the spar resemble trees, shrubs, birds, beasts, men, and in one place raised on a pedestal, is a striking resemblance of a half unfurled flag.
The earliest settlers of the Cumberland Valley were the Scotch- Irish, (a pure American word), who came from Scotland, and had gone to Ireland to occupy the lands taken from the Irish people by Queen Elizabeth and James I. In religion they were Presbyterians, and by occupation, farmers. The Irish earls of Tyrone conspired® against James I and his government; they fled from Ireland and were made outlaws, their estates confiscated and about 200,000 acres of land seized by the crown and these estates were given to the Scotch with instructions that they should cross over to Ireland within four years. These estates were divided into small tracts. A second insurrection under Cromwell took place and six counties in the province of Ulster were confiscated. Cromwell's idea was to root out the Irish who were Catholics and were hostile to his gov- ernment, and were plotting against it. Antrim was just twenty miles from Scotland, a good country and the Scotch settled in all ten counties of northern Ireland, Down, Donegal, Antrim, London- derry, etc. The Protestants and the Irish Catholics never got along well. At first, they refused to marry the Irish-Saxon in blood and even after three centuries there is feeling between them. Persecu- tions fell on the Protestants by the Irish from 1664 to 1774 on ac- count of which large numbers emigrated from the North of Ireland. In September 1736 one thousand families sailed from Belfast on account of their inability to renew their leases on satisfactory terms with their landlords and persecuted by their neighbors they were drawn to Pennsylvania by its fame for religious liberty and the fertility of the soil. They began to arrive in 1720 and settled in the lower part of Chester, then Lancaster and made a settlement in Bucks county where was started the famous Log College. An- other body located at the forks of the Delaware, in Northampton county, Donegal in Lancaster county and Paxtang, Derry and Han- over in Dauphin county, were Scotch-Irish localities at one time, but the Cumberland Valley received the greatest number of these people. From 1771 to 1773, 25,000, all Presbyterians, were driven from their homes. The grand and noble part they took in the Revolution
10
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
deserves more than passing notice. A Tory was unheard of among them, they included great military leaders, prominent lawmakers and lawyers, framers of our constitution, presidents and governors as well as state senators, congressmen and judges, known throughout the union as men of sterling characters and who were the very people to face the wilderness and resist the attacks of the wild beasts and savages. In the Cumberland Valley the Scotch-Irish were closely followed by the Germans who were good judges of land, worked hard and practiced economy. Through their industry and economy they have produced a large share of the wealth of the Valley.
11
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
CHAPTER II INDIAN HISTORY
T HE SIX NATIONS, or as they called themselves, "The United People," had not as yet sold the land, within the bounds of the Cumberland Valley, to the proprie- taries, when the Scotch-Irish first began settling in the North Valley or the Cumberland Valley. The Indians were still numerous ; the Shawanese, called "brothers " by the Iroquois or Six Nations, were at one time quite a conspicuous people inhabiting the woods of the West Branch of the Susque- hanna and parts of the Cumberland Valley. The Delawares, called "women" by the Iroquois and the Susquehannas who were depend- ent upon the Six Nations, were also in this Valley. When the whites began settling, which was about the year 1730 or 1731, in the Cum- berland Valley, though the land had not yet been purchased, the set- tlement was nevertheless by permission of the Indians. The In- dians had towns or villages in various parts of the Valley. There were several of these in the lower part of the county, on the banks of the Susquehanna, Yellow Breeches, Conodoguinet, and other places in the Valley which was then without timber.
The Indians had a path, crossing the Conodoguinet, running toward the Yellow Breeches. The Shawanese and Delawares also owned a large manor embracing all land between the Conodoguinet and Yellow Breeches creeks, extending as far west as the Stone Church, immediately below Shiremanstown. There were also several other manors embracing many acres. These manors were divided into lots or parcels, each containing from one hundred fifty to five hundred acres.
Shortly after General Braddock's defeat, July 9, 1755, the French and their Indian allies, encouraged by their success, incited the Shawanese and Delawares against the English who, they said, were taking their lands and not paying for them and these, headed by Shingas and Captain Jacobs, both Delawares, dug up the hatchet
12
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
against the English and for ten years the counties of Cumberland, Lancaster, York and others were scenes of murder, burning of houses and horrid massacres. The apprehensions of those who feared the direful consequences of Braddock's defeat were sadly realized. The inhabitants, as they had done before, again renewed their petitions to the government, and united, to resist the French and their savage allies.
In the year 1763 the inhabitants of Donegal and Paxton town- ships reflected thus, "Have not the bloody barbarians exercised on our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives and children, in- offensive as they were, the most unnatural and leisurely tortures, butchered some in their beds, in the dead hour of night, at their meals, or in some unguarded hour?" Recalling to their minds sights of horror, scenes of slaughter, seeing scalps clotted with gore, mangled limbs, men, women and children ripped up, the hearts and bowels still palpitating with life and smoking on the ground, seeing savages swill their blood, and imbibing a more courageous fury with the human draught, they reasoned thus, "These are not human be- ings, they are not beasts of prey, they are something worse; they must be infernal furies in human shape. Are we, asked they, tamely to look on, and suffer these demons to exercise such bar- barities upon our wives and children, our brothers and fellow inhab- itants? Shall they escape? The law-the hatchet-the rifle, fire and fagot, all must bear on them." These were some of the feel- ings that incited the Paxton Boys to acts of cruelty. That the Pax- tonians had reason to believe some of the professed friendly In- dians to be guilty of treachery, even among those of the manor of Conestoga, would seem evident from a number of authentic state- ments and evidences from credible sources. So bent upon destroy- ing the Indians at Conestoga were the Paxtonians, that all expostu- lations on the part of their respected pastor, Rev. Elder, were in vain. On hearing that a number of persons were assembling for the purpose of proceeding to cut off the Indians, he did all in his power to dissuade them from so rash an act. He sent a special messenger telling them of the consequences and that they would be liable to capital punishment. Devoted as their endeared pastor was to their welfare, the Paxtonians were, as they believed, so cruelly treated by the Indians; and having asked the government to remove them, and it not being done, they lent a deaf ear to all that the pastor said.
The Paxton boys then resolved to take the law into their own hands contrary to the wishes of Rev. Elder. They went to the set- tlement at night, but their approach was announced by the barking
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HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
of the dogs. The Indians rushed out of their wigwams, swinging their tomahawks; the revengers leveled their rifles and quickly killed the Indians. Not all the Indians were at home, and when those absent learned of the fate of their brethren, they hastened to Lancaster and sought safety in jail. A few made their way to Philadelphia. The rangers resolved to complete their work. They went to Lancaster, broke into the jail and shot the fugutive Cones- togas as they rushed out. After this, the settlers south of the Blue Mountains had little annoyance from the Indians.
The assembly and governor condemned the action of the Pax- ton Boys so severely, that the frontiersmen sent a delegation to explain their grievance. The authorities in Philadelphia put the Indian refugees under guard in the garrison and sent an armed force to Germantown to meet the delegation. The Paxton Boys stated their case and were then conducted to Philadelphia, where they were put on trial for the killing of the Conestoga Indians, but were not found guilty.
The case next to be noticed is the murder committed by Fred- erick Stump, known as the "Indian Killer" of several Indian families in Penn township, Cumberland county. In January 1768 several Indians known as White Mingo, Cornelius, Jonas and Cammell, with their families consisting of three Indian women, two girls and a small child, having removed from the Big Island, on the West branch of the Susquehanna in the spring of 1767 came to the Middle Creek where they built their cabins, lived and hunted in friendly terms with their white neighbors; these, while traveling, came to the house of William Blythe who lived at the mouth of the creek, and were kindly treated by him. From his home they went up the creek to the cabin of Frederick Stump where it is supposed some difficulties occurred. Here four of the Indians were murdered; their bodies cast into Middle Creek, through a hole in the ice. Stump with his servant "Ironcutter" (Eisenhausen) then proceeded to a cabin about four miles from his house, where he found two Indian girls an I one child, whom he also murdered, and setting fire to the cabin. en- deavored thereby to consume the remains. The body of one of those thrown into Middle Creek was afterwards found in the Susquehanna, some distance below Harrisburg bridge and interred in Allen town- ship.
The murder of these Indians caused great excitement and Penn issued a proclamation, offering a reward for the apprehension of. Stump and Ironcutter, promising to punish them with death; and this declaration, with two strings of wampum, were sent to the In- dians living on the Susquehanna, requesting them not to break the
14
HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
peace in consequence of the murder. As in the case of the Paxton Boys, Stump and Ironcutter were not punished. Tradition tells us that they were confined in Carlisle but through the efforts of the sheriff and jailor, they were allowed to escape.
The first murder by the whites, of a friendly Indian, is the case of Doctor John, a Delaware Indian, who came with his family, con- sisting of a woman and two children, to Cumberland county in the winter of 1760, and lived in a cabin on the banks of the Conodo- guinet creek, not far from Carlisle. He and family were murdered in the early part of February. The news of this barbarous deed was immediately sent to Governor Hamilton. The Governor left zothing undone to bring to punishment those who had perpetrated this inhuman act but nothing could be learned concerning the iden- tity of the murders. The reason for these deeds was attributed to so many cruelties having been practiced upon the whites. The terror of the people subsided but little until Colonel Bouquet con- quered the Indians in the year 1764 and compelled them to sue for peace. One of the conditions upon which peace was granted, was that the Indians should deliver up all the women and children whom they had taken into captivity. Among them were many who had been seized when very young and had grown up to womanhood in the wigwam of the savage. They had the wild habits of their captors, learning their language and having forgotten their own, were bound to them by ties of strong affection. Many a mother found her lost child, yet many were unable to designate their children. The separa- tion between the Indians and their prisoners was heart rending, many shed tears as they reluctantly left the wigwam, some afterward escaped and returned to the Indians. One female, who had been captured at the age of fourteen, had become the wife of an Indian and the mother of several children, being informed that she was about to be delivered to her parents, her grief could not be alleviat- ed. "Can I," said she, "enter my parents dwelling? Will they be kind to my children? Will my old companions associate with the wife of an Indian chief? And my husband, who has been so kind, I cannot desert him." That night she fled from the camp to her husband and children.
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