Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 1

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Philadelphia, T.H. Davis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1164


USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50


*- ரசர்மருங்கு ---


"சிசேர்


Gc 974.8 B31m v.1 1657147


M. L.


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


GC


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01177 3022


1


٠١.


-------


MARTIAL


san EEDS


OF


ENNSYLVANIA.


val. 1


6


BY


SAMUEL P. BATES.


-


1


The field of history should not merely be well tilled, but well peopled. None is delightful to me, or interesting, in which I find not as many illustrious names as have a right to enter it. We might as well in a drama place the actors behind the scenes, and listen to the dialogue there, as in a history push valiant men back, and protrude ourselves with husky disputations. Show me rather how great projects were executed, great advantages gained, and great calamities averted. Show me the Generals and the Statesmen who stood for most, that I may tend to them in reverence; tell me their names, that I may repeat them to my children.


LANDOR'S PERICLES AND ASPASIA.


PHILADELPHIA : T. H. DAVIS & CO. 1875.


.


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015


https://archive.org/details/martialdeedsofpe01bate_0


PREFACE.


AVING had unusual facilities, while acting as State Histo- rian, for gaining an intimate acquaintance with the part which Pennsylvania bore in the late National struggle-a war before which every other waged upon this continent is dwarfed, and in the territory over which it spread was never equalled-it has seemed a duty which could not with justice be set aside, to place in an enduring form, while the memory is fresh, and many avenues to information still open, though daily closing, a full and careful chronicle of events. Such a statement is fairly due to the Commonwealth which displayed such vast resources and power, and to the faithful soldier who endured hardship and privation at the call of patriotism or laid down his life a willing sacrifice. The day of anger and resentment, if it ever existed between the combatants, has passed, and the soldier only regards with pride his achievements, and the State with complacency its honorable record.


A brief account of Pennsylvania history from the time of settlement, its physical geography, its material resources, and the origin of its people, seemed a fitting introduction, and the facts in the National history which led to rebellion-stated without partisan feeling and supported by citations from acknowledged authorities-a necessity to the proper understanding of the mighty convulsions which ensued.


The battle of Gettysburg, the most important in many respects of the whole war, having been fought on Pennsylvania soil, and the victory there gained having saved the State from being overrun by a conquering foe, was deemed worthy of generous space and minute description. Having studied the field by frequent visits and under the most favorable auspices, and mastered its various details, it is trusted that the language employed will convey an accurate conception. Of the preliminaries to the battle, and its management on the part of both the contending armies, the descriptions and opinions expressed have been given with sincerity and candor, with no desire to detract from the just fame of any, or to commend beyond due desert.


0.


------


6


PREFACE.


The biographical sketches comprise notices of nearly all the prominent officers who were killed in battle, and with few exceptions the living also. Mention of a very few, for lack of sufficient data, after reasonable efforts made to obtain it, had to be omitted. The number of these, however, is insignificant. There were innumerable privates and officers of lesser grade, many of whom fell honorably in battle, who were equally deserving of men- tion ; but the officers, generally by the voice of the privates, were made to occupy representative positions. An honest effort has been made in this part to do justly by all, though the scantiness of material which had any particular significance prevented, in some cases, making the notices as long as might have been desired.


The third part, which contains a large amount of miscellaneous matter. is quite as important to the illustration of the Martial Deeds of the State, as portraitures from the field. The Governor, who held for six years the executive power, the Secretaries of War who managed complicate and stupendous measures necessary to conquer a peace, and the Great Com- moner, ever in the van and dying at his post, all merit recognition.


Old John Burns, the civilian, who fought at Gettysburg, a type " of the past of the nation;" an agent of the State, one of a class who bore in their persons the thoughtful care of the Commonwealth; repre- sentatives of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions-he who wielded the agencies which brought together the vast resources demanded for their wide-spread operations; the Christian woman at the front bearing tender care and consolation among the sick, the wounded, and the dying ; and the no less devoted and Christian agent at home, wearing out her life in wearisome days and nights of labor, are all types of a service which was as patriotic as that of the soldier who bore the musket.


The Refreshment Saloons of Philadelphia furnish examples of a charity as broad in their operations as the philanthropic sentiment by which their projectors and supporters were moved. Like charities were established at Pittsburg and Harrisburg, but on a less imposing model. It has been in- possible to treat of all the topics which might with propriety have found a place in this volume ; but it is believed that in the form in which it is now given; it presents a fair image of the Agency of Pennsylvania in the Great Struggle.


S. P. B.


MEADVILLE, April 16, 1875.


-----


CONTENTS.


PART I.


GENERAL HISTORY.


CHAPTER


PAGR


I .- Resume of Pennsylvania History 17


II .- Origin of Rebellion. 44


III .- Outlook at the Opening of the Rebellion. 74


IV .- Attempts at Pacification-The President-elect in Pennsylvania SS


V .- The First Campaign 116


VI .-- The Great Uprising. 141


VII .- Preliminaries to the Battle of Gettysburg under Hooker 158


VIII .- Preliminaries to the Battle of Gettysburg under Meade. 188


IX .- First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg. 207


X .- Marshalling for the Second Day at Gettysburg 238


XI .-- Severe Fighting on the Left at Gettysburg


255


XII .- Fighting on the Right at Gettysburg 282


XIII .- The Final Struggle at Gettysburg 298


XIV .- The Retreat of Lee from Gettysburg. 313


XV .- The Conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg. 325


XVI .- Numbers engaged at Gettysburg 341


XVII .- The Militia-Capture of Morgan-Burning of Chambersburg-Final Triumph -Death of the President. 362


PART II. BIOGRAPHY.


I .- Edward D. Baker-John T. Greble-Seneca G. Simmons-Charles Ellet, Jr .- James Cameron-Amor A. McKnight-Mark Kern-Peter B. Housum- Lansford F. Chapman-John W. MeLane 387


II .- George D. Bayard-Strong Vincent-Charles F. Taylor-J. Richter Jones -- James H. Childs -- Washington Brown-William Bowen-Samuel Croasdale -Henry I. Zinn-Henry W. Carruthers-Richard H. Woolworth-George A. Cobham, Jr .- Richard A. Oakford-Thomas M. Hulings-Edwin A. Glenn -Guy HI. Watkins-W. L. Curry-Edwin Schall-Joseph S. Chandler- Thomas S. Brenholtz



8


CONTENTS.


PAGE


CHAPTER


III .- John F. Reynolds-Henry Bohlen-Hugh W. McNeil-John M. Gries-James Miller-James Crowther-Joseph A. McLean-Frank A. Elliot-William S. Kirkwood-John W. Moore-Gustavus W. Town-Garrett Nowlen-A. H. Snyder-John B. Miles-Harry A. Purviance-Charles I. Maceuen-H. Boyd McKeen-O. H. Rippey-George Dare -- Eli T. Conner-Francis Mahler- Elisha Hall-Edward Carroll-Richard P. Roberts. 467 IV .- Alexander Hays-John B. Kohler-Charles A. Knoderer-Robert B. Hampton- Thomas S. Bell-F. A. Lancaster-Calvin A. Craig-Henry J. Stainrook-Mil- ton Opp-J. W. Crosby -- Hezekiah Easton-Robert P. Cummins-George C. Spear-Henry M. Eddy-C. Faeger Jackson-Samuel W. Black-Theodore Hesser-Richard C. Dale-William G. Murray-John D. Musser-Jolin M. Gosline-Martin Tschudy-Dennis O'Kane-Geo. W. Gowen-Peter Keenan .. 509 V .- David B. Birney-Charles F. Smith-Robert Morris, Jr .- Charles R. Ellet- Henry C. Whelan-Thomas A. Zeigle-Joseph H. Wilson-Thomas Welsh- Joshua B. Howell-John B. Conyngham-David Morris, Jr .- Prosper Dalien. 556 VI .-- Gco. G. Meade-James Q. Anderson-Hugh S. Campbell-Wm. M. Penrose --- Wm. R. Gries-Wm. A. Leech -- Rob't L. Bodine-Elisha B. Harvey-Oliver B. Knowles-Andrew H. Tippin-Alfred B. MeCalmont-George A. McCall .. 590 VII .- John W. Geary-Charles J. Biddle-A. Schemmelfinnig-John Clark-Joseph Roberts-S. A. Meredith-A. S. M. Morgan-Owen Jones-William D. Dixon-John F. Ballier -- James Starr-D. C. McCoy-James A. Beaver- Langhorne Wister. 628


VIII .- John F. Hartranft-Richard Coulter-A. Buschbeck-Charles P. Herring- Matthew S. Quay -- Jacob H. Dewces-Everard Bicrer-Robert Thompson -- Joseph H. Horton-Joseph W. Hawley-John H. Cain-H. N. Warren- Samuel B. M. Young-John Markoe-John B. McIntosh. 662


IX .-- Winfield S. Hancock-Thomas J. Jordan-William McCandless-St. Clair A. Mulholland-Samuel M. Jackson-William J. Bolton-John I. Curtin- Joseph P. Brinton -- Vincent M. Wilcox-De Witt C. Strawbridge -- Robert L. Orr-Samuel D. Strawbridge-John M. Mark-Thomas F. B. Tapper- William M. Mintzer-Thomas J. Town-William R. Hartshorne-Norman M. Smith-Horace B. Burnham-Marcus A. Reno-William A. Robinson- John F. Glenn-Charles M. Betts-W. B. Franklin. 693


X .-- Andrew A. Humphreys-George W. Cullum-Alfred Sully-Thomas H. Neill- George Shorkley-Levi Maish -Lemuel Todd-D. Watson Rowe-Hiram L. Brown-John S. McCahnont -- Daniel W. Magraw-E. S. Troxell-John M. Wetheri !!- James F. Ryan-T. F. Lehmann-Hiram C. Allemann-Michael Kerwin-John P. Nicholson -- John W. Phillips-David McM. Gregg ...... 736 XI .- Samuel P. Heintzelman-Isaac J. Wistar-R. B. Ricketts-W. W. H. Davis- Charles M. Prevost-William E. Doster-Gideon Clark-Samuel M. Zulick- Thomas A. Rowley-George W. Gile-David M. Jones-John S. Littell-T. Ellwood Zell-E. Morrison Woodward -R. Butler Price-James L. Selfridge -John Devereux-Joshua T. Owen-William H. Lessig-Edmund L. Dana. 773


------


-- --


.


9


CONTENTS.


PACE


CHAPTER


XII .- Samuel W. Crawford-Charles Albright-Ira Ayer, Jr .- Henry J. Sheafer- James G. Elder-James F. Weaver-Peter H. Allabach-David B. McCreary -- James A. Galligher-Benjamin F. Winger-Richard B. Roberts-Charles H. Buehler-Charles C. Cresson-Henry B. Mckean-David M. Armor- Jacob G. Frick-David Miles-Henry G. Elder-Edward R. Bowen-John E. Parsons-Robert C. Cox-Henry S. Huidekoper-Jacob M. Campbell- Horatio G. Sickel. 810


XIII .- William W. Averell-John I. Gregg-Roy Stone-Hector Tyndale-G. W. Merrick-Thomas E. Rose-James Tearney-Amor W. Wakefield-Dennis Heenan-Edward J. Allen-Henry R. Guss-Joseph S. Hoard-James T. Kirk-Thomas F. McCoy-Edward O'Brien-Carlton B. Curtis-C. A. Lyman-Isaiah Price-J. William Hofmann-Edward Overton, Jr .- William F. Small-James Gwyn-William H. Boyd-F. S. Stumbaugh-O. S. Wood- ward-Robert M. Henderson-Isaac Rogers-Tilghman H. Good-Geo. E. Johnson-J. W. H. Reisinger-A. J. Warner-L. Cantador-John Ely- Edwin E. Zeigler-Asher S. Leidy-Thomas L. Kane 848


XIV .- Galusha Pennypacker-William J. Palmer-Samuel K. Schwenk-Martin D. Hardin-Henry M. Hoyt-John P. S. Gobin-J. Bowman Sweitzer-Jobn Flynn-Charles HI. T. Collis-James M. Thomson-John H. Taggart-Joseph Jack-Franklin A. Stratton-George S. Gallupe-John A. Danks-Louis Wagner-Thomas J. Ahl-Joseph M. Knap-William C. Talley-James Nagle-M. T. Heintzelman-A. W. Gazzam-R. E. Winslow-J. P. Taylor -- W. M. McClure-William Rickards-William Sirwell-Seneca G. Willauer ---


. A. L. Majilton-C. C. McCormick-Benjamin C. Tilgliman-Peter C. EIl- maker-F. B. Speakman-Loren Burritt-Daniel Leasure-Charles T. Camp- bell-George P. McLean-C. W. Diven-John Harper-Charles Kleekner- Joseplı B. Kiddoo-George F. Smith-David B. Morris-Henry M. Bossert- Edward Campbell-T. Kephart-F. O. Alleman-Daniel Nagle-A. Blakeley- J. W. Fisher-Noah G. Ruhl-James Carle-James S. Negley-James Miller -Thomas F. Gallagher-J. R. Everhart-B. M. Orwig-Robert Patterson .. 896


PART III. CIVIL AND MISCELLANEOUS.


I .- Andrew G. Curtin-Simon Cameron-Edwin M. Stanton-Thaddeus Stevens ... 957 II .- Old John Burns-Francis Jordan-George H. Stuart-Mrs. Jolin Harris- Mrs. Hannah Moore. 988


III .- The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon-The Cooper Shop Volunteer


Refreshment Saloon 1023


IV .- The Fort Pitt Works-The Petersburg Mine-Libby Prison Tunnel. 1041


10


CONTENTS.


PAGE


CHAPTER


V .- The Gettysburg Cabbage-Patch-The Fall of Henry D. Price -- Narrative of Thomas F. Roberts in Rebel Prisons-"Sitting in the same position, the straw hat . on his head, the pipe in his mouth, dead "-Shot on Picket-The Swamp Angel -A Surgeon's Adventure in the Rebel Lines-Daring Escape from Captivity- . The Devoted Wife before Mr. Lincoln-Incidents Related by Dr. Palm-Sallie, the Faithful Brute -- Death of Robert Montgomery -- Rev. Dr. Brown's Account of Chantilly-Captain William Hyndman-Jenny Wade, the Heroine of Gettys- burg .1081


INDEX TO MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.


.


REPULSE OF THE LOUISIANA TIGERS AT GETTYSBURG. ... (Frontispiece, FROM FREDERICKSBURG TO GETTYSBURG. To face page 158


FIELD OF THE FIRST DAY AT GETTYSBURG. 214


FIELD OF THE SECOND DAY AT GETTYSBURG. 248 FIELD OF THE THIRD DAY AT GETTYSBURG 298


HISTORICAL MONUMENT AT GETTYSBURG 354


INDEX TO PORTRAITS.


. ALBRIGHT, CHARLES. . To face page 816


/ ALLEMAN, HIRAM C.


628


ALLEN. EDWARD J. 46S


AVERELL, W. W. 848


BAKER, EDWARD D. 388


BAYARD, GEORGE D 428


1


BEAVER, JAMES A .. 1058


BIRNEY, DAVID B. 256


BURNS, JOIIN L. 988


/ CAMERON, SIMON. 88 CARRUTHERS, H. W


444


- "CLARK, GIDEON.


510


CLARK, JOHN.


644 916


COULTER, RICHARD


590


CRAWFORD, SAMUEL WYLIE


810 74


DANA, EDMUND L.


1058


DAVIS, W. W. H.


590


EVERHART, J. R.


952


FALES, SAMUEL B


1024


GEARY, JOHN W.


282


GREBLE, JOHN T.


402


GUSS, HENRY R .. SGS


HANCOCK, WINFIELD S.


HARTRANET, JOHN F 662


11


COLLIS, CHARLES H. T.


COX, ROBERT C. 698


CURTIN, ANDREW G


OK


12


INDEX TO PORTRAITS.


HEINTZELMAN, SAMUEL P. . To face page 4-4


HUMPHREYS, ANDREW A. 736


HOYT, HENRY M 590


JACKSON, SAMUEL M .. 698


JONES, DAVID M.


628


JONES, OWEN.


698


JORDAN, THOMAS J ..


093


KNODERER, CHARLES A


510


KNOWLES, OLIVER B.


314


LEASURE, DANIEL.


628


LITTELL, JOIN S.


1058


MACEUEN, CHARLES I.


493


McCLAMONT, ALFRED B.


590


McCALMONT, JOHN S.


556


McCOY, D. W. C ..


056


McLANE, JOHN W.


510


MEADE, GEORGE G.


188


MERRICK, GEORGE W


46S


MILES, JOHN B.


468 950


OWEN, JOSHUA T.


468


PATTERSON, ROBERT 116


896


PRICE, ISAIAH. 874


REYNOLDS, JOHN F.


208


RICKETTS, ROBERT B 623


ROBERTS, JOSEPH. 556


ROSE, THOMAS E. 1058


ROWE, D. WATSON.


556


SCHWENK, SAMUEL K


906


/ SELFRIDGE, JAMES L.


802 556


SICKEL, HORATIO G


362


STANTON, EDWIN M.


976


STEVENS, THADDEUS.


982


.... STRAWBRIDGE, D. W. C.


698


/ STRATTON, FRANKLIN A.


510


STUART, GEORGE H.


1004


TOWN, GUSTAVUS W


590


TYNDALE, HECTOR.


860


/ WARNER, ADONIRAM J.


886


WETHERILL, JOHN M.


550


> WILLAUER, SENECA G


510


WISTAR, ISAAC J ... 778


WOODWARD, E. MORRISON 628


YOUNG, SAMUEL B. M. 1058


. ZULICK, SAMUEL M 468


NEGLEY, JAMES S.


PENNYPACKER, GALUSHA


SHORKLEY, GEORGE.


--------


PART I.


GENERAL HISTORY.


CK- 15-16


1


*


.


MARTIAL DEEDS


OF


PENNSYLVANIA.


CHAPTER I.


RÉSUMÉ OF PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY.


HE inhabitants of mountainous regions, it is ob- served, have always manifested an ardent love of liberty, a quick perception of its peril, and nerve to strike in its defence. Beneath the shadows of Israel, along the shores of the Adriatic, amid the rocks of Uri, and under the glaciers of Switzerland that spirit has prevailed. It was exhibited in the late struggle for the Union and universal liberty, by the populations along the Allegheny range, ex- tending through West Virginia, East Tennessee, even far into Georgia, where, amid the storms of a threatened revolution, sweeping and convulsive, an undying love for freedom was preserved, and, while hunted down like wild beasts, and subjected to tortures by their enemies, they maintained a faith unshaken. Betaking themselves to their native fastnesses, the Refugees of this mountain district showed a heroism unsurpassed by the martyrs of old.


The causes which operate to produce this inspiring influence have been traced by modern science to the rural occupations which such regions prescribe, to the grandeur of the scenery per- petually spread out to view, to the limpid waters of the streams, and more than all, to the purity and invigorating airs distilled upon the mountain tops. This influence is strikingly figured by


2


17


18


MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.


a writer in Harper's Magazine, just returned from a mountain tour : "There is no delight in travel so electrical as that of the Swiss mornings. Their breath cleanses life. They touch mind and heart with vigor. They renew the loftiest faith. They quicken the best hope. Despondency and gloom roll away like the dark clouds which the Finster-Aarhorn and the Jungfrau spurn from their summits. Nowhere else is life such a con- scious delight. No elixir is so pure, no cordial so stimulating, as that Alpine air. . . . The Alpine purity and silence seem to penetrate the little commonwealth. It is such a state as poets describe in Utopia, and Atlantis, and Oceana. The traveller in Switzerland sees a country in which the citizen is plainly careful of the public welfare; and he is glad to believe that this spirit springs from freedom, and that freedom is born of the lofty inspi- ration of the mountain air, which dilates his lungs with health, and fills his soul with delight. Indeed the hardy and simple vir- tues are a mountain crop."


In Pennsylvania, the Allegheny range spreads out to its grandest proportions, and towers to its loftiest heights ; and it is a notice- able circumstance, that the troops gathered from its rugged moun- tain regions, and by the flashing streams of its forests, were among the most resolute and daring of any that served in the late war. It may seem fanciful that the geographical features of a country, its soil, and climate should affect the character of its inhabitants ; but if a population is allowed to remain long enough in a locality for these to have their legitimate influence, their impress will be found in the prevailing characteristics.


Who are the people of Pennsylvania ? What the situation, extent, and physical features of the region they inhabit ? What the peculiarities of its soil in its varied parts, and its equally varied climate and productions ? What the treasures hidden be- neath its surface, about which they dream, for which they delve, and which they transmute to cunning workmanship ? From what families and nations of men have they sprung ? How has been the growth of education, religion, civil polity? What their attitude in the troublous times of other days ? And finally, what were their numbers, and the spirit which actuated them at the moment of entering the great civil strife ?


-----------


19


RÉSUMÉ OF PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY.


Pennsylvania is situated between latitude 39° 43' and 42º north, and between longitude 2° 17' east and 3° 31' west from Washing- ton, giving it a mean length of 280.39, and a breadth of 158.05 miles. Its form is that of a parallelogram, its sides being right lines, with the exception of its eastern boundary, which follows the course of the Delaware river, nearly the form of an elongated W, its top pointing westward, with a slight curtailment at the boundary of Delaware, and an enlargement in its northwestern corner where it meets the lake. The Appalachian system of mountains, generally known as the Alleghenies, comprising several parallel ranges, trending from northeast to southwest, hold in their folds more than half the territory of the State. The southeastern corner, known as the Atlantic coast plain, 125 miles wide in its greatest stretch, is gently rolling, has a mild climate, a fertile soil, impregnated with lime, kindly to grains and the vine, is kept under a high state of cultivation, and is filled with a dense popu- lation. The valleys of the mountain region in the south are like- wise fertile, and in characteristics and productions are similar to the coast plain; but to the north, where they were originally covered with forests of pine and hemlock, as they are cleared and brought under the hand of cultivation, are better adapted to grazing than to grain, where, the year through, copious streams are fed by fountains of living waters, and the population, more sparse, given to felling the forests and subduing a ruggeder clime, is itself more resolute and hardy. The rolling table-lands of the northwest are not unlike the latter in soil, in climate, in produc- tions, and in men. Farther south, bordering upon West Virginia, the warm season is longer and more genial, the surface is rolling, flocks are upon the hills, and everywhere are orchards and green meadows. No region is more picturesque than this; not the vine-covered hills of the Rhine or the Anio.


The coast and mountain regions of the east and south are drained by two great river courses-the Delaware, whose principal tributaries are the Schuylkill and the Lehigh, and which finds its way to the ocean through Delaware bay, and the Susquehanna, fed by the East and West Branch, which unite at Northumberland, whose chief tributary is the Juniata, pouring into it a few miles above Harrisburg, and linked to the sea by the waters of the


20


MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.


Chesapeake. Contrary to the law which almost universally governs the directions of rivers, these streams, instead of follow- ing the valleys, defy the most formidable barriers, cut through the mountain chains, and run at right angles to their courses. These huge rents or gaps in the rock-ribbed sides of the mighty ridges, as though cleaved by the stroke of a giant, show, in their abut- ments close in upon the streams, their formation, and give an awe- inspiring aspect.


Draining the western slopes are the Monongahela from the south, rising in West Virginia, with the Youghiogheny as a prin- cipal tributary, and the Allegheny from the north, fed by the Venango on its right, and the Clarion and the Conemaugh on its left-which, uniting their floods at Pittsburg, form the Ohio. Still further west is the Shenango, a tributary of the Beaver river, draining one of the most fertile and populous valleys of the State. Upon the summit, along the water-shed between the basin of the great lakes and that of the Mississippi, is a system of minor lakes and marshes, among which are the Conneautee and the Conneaut lakes, the latter the largest in the State, and the Conneaut and Pymatuning swamps, these being but a part of a continuous line stretching through New York, embracing the Chatauqua, the Can- andaigua, the Seneca, the Cayuga, and the Oneida, and westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois ; the Chicago river in the latter State connecting with Lake Michigan, and at the same time with the tributaries of the Gulf.


Such is the configuration of the surface of Pennsylvania; but under that surface were hidden from the eye of the early explorer treasures of which he had little conception. Beneath the hills and rocky ridges of the northeast, the central, and southern central, following the general course of the mountains, were buried, in ages far remote beyond the ken of the scientist, vast lakes of anthracite coal; and in the northern central, extending down far past its southwestern verge, were piled up Titanic masses of bitu- minous coal. The latter, cropping out as it did from every hill- side, easily mined, and burning freely like the resinous woods, was earliest used, both for fuel and in the arts. Until the year 1820 the existence of the former was scarcely known, or if known, passed unregarded. In all that region, where now a busy popula-


21


RÉSUMÉ OF PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY.


tion, deep down in the caverns of the earth, hidden away from the light of the sun, toil industriously in mining, not a chamber had then been opened, and the echo of a pick was scarcely heard. In that year the Lehigh Canal was completed, and 365 tons from the Lehigh mines were transported to market. Ten years later the product was only 100,000 tons. But since that period the means of production and transportation have multiplied, so that in 1870 nearly 16,000,000 tons were produced and found a market, being distributed to the great furnaces, where, night and day, the smothered blast is kept raging, and to the frugal fires of the remotest hamlets.


In close proximity to the coal, throughout nearly all the regions indicated, and spreading out in many parts far beyond, are found inexhaustible deposits of rich iron ore; and, stimulated by the demand for this metal in the multiplied and diversified uses to which it is put in the mechanic arts, and in the construction of railroads, its production has gone on increasing until from its eastern to its remotest western boundaries, along all its valleys and far up on its mountain heights, the fiery tongues of flame from innumerable craters are perpetually leaping.


But what shall be said of that almost miraculous gushing forth of oil from the rock at the smiting of the hand of the explorer ? Years ago, even as early as the occupation of the northwest by the French, it was known that upon a little lake a few miles northwest of Titusville, shut in on all sides by towering hills, shaded by the silent hemlock forest, a mysterious oil, exhibiting in the sunlight the most brilliant and variegated colors, was known to float. Clean wool absorbed the oil and rejected the water, and in this way quantities were gathered upon the lake and the stream which flows therefrom, and being carefully bottled and labelled Seneca or rock oil, it was sold both in this country and in Europe, its remarkable curative properties in many diseases being widely heralded. Cradles were dug along the swamps that border this stream, either by the French or the Indians, for collecting it. Of its origin none knew. The Indians had a superstition that these were the tears of a departed chieftain mourning the loss of a favor- ite squaw who was murdered in the sombre shadows of the forest near the lakelet's margin. In 1859, Mr. E. L. Drake, with a faith




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.