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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
M. L.
Gc 974.801 W52h 1441180
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02232 0821
OLD W ESTMORELAND:
County, Pa.
A HISTORY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING THE REVOLUTION.
BY EDGAR W. HASSLER
J. R. WELDIN & CO. PITTSBURG
1900
974.8 H
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY EDGAR WAKEFIELD HASSLER.
MURDOCH-KERR PRESS PITTSBURG
1441180
.
PREFACE.
This book represents an effort to tell the revolutionary history of the Western Pennsylvania border; to describe the trials, the sacrifices, the errors and the heroisms of the frontiersmen, in their conflicts with tories, British par- tisans and savages, during the years when Washington and his generals were fighting for independence along the Atlantic seaboard. The American Revolution covered many fields of action, and the operations on each con- tributed to the grand result. The men who defended the western border against the savage tribes were doing their work essential to the cause of freedom as well as the ragged Continentals who faced British and Hessian battalions in New York or New Jersey.
Naturally the operations in the East, where the main conflict raged and the issue was decided, have received the chief attention of historians; but the struggles on the west- ern frontier have been unduly neglected. Some attention has been given to the revolutionary history of the New York and Tennessee frontiers, but no book tells, in con- nected form, of the important operations in that great trans- montane region of which Ft. Pitt was the center, during the years from 1775 to 1783.
Many volumes of border history have been published but none of them has been devoted to this period. Most of them are out of print or beyond the reach of the average reader. Those that have enjoyed the greatest popularity have been collections of frontier adventures, based chiefly on unreliable traditions, marvelous and often absurd, in many cases disproven by contemporary records made pub- lic in recent years.
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PREFACE.
I have tried, by a study of the original records, to find the facts and to set them forth in plain, condensed and im- partial form. The tale is sufficiently interesting and more instructive without the embellishments of fiction.
A prime object of this publication is to stimulate a local interest in pioneer history. It is good for those who par- ticipate in the wondrous industrial development of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio to know how this fertile region was won and held from savagery.
The inhabitants of Pittsburg and its neighborhood who feel an inclination to study the early times, enjoy, at the present day, facilities which were beyond their reach only half a dozen years ago. These facilities have come through the establishment and rapid up-building of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg. Without that institution this work could not have been written in Western Pennsylvania. The library already contains almost every book and pamphlet that has been published, within 130 years, bearing on our pioneer history. Many of these works are extremely rare and valuable, but they are now within the reach of all. The library contains all the authorities quoted in this volume, so that any reader who may desire to investigate for liim- self will find ample opportunity.
EDGAR W. HASSLER.
Pittsburg, Pa., May 1, 1900.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
American Archives, edited by Peter Force, 9v., 1837-53.
Annals of the West, James R. Albach, Pittsburg, 1856.
Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Richmond, 1875.
Chronicles of Border Warfare, A. S. Withers, Cincinnati, 1895.
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, Published by the State, 16v., 1851-3.
Conquering the Wilderness, Frank Triplett, New York, 1883.
Diary of David McClure, New York, 1899.
Fort McIntosh, Its Times and Men, Daniel Agnew, 1893.
Fort Pitt and Letters from the Frontier, edited by Mrs. M. C. O'H. Darlington, Pittsburg, 1892.
Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, Published by the State, 2v., Harrisburg, 1896.
Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky, C. W. Butterfield, Cincinnati, 1873.
Historical Collections of Ohio, Henry Howe, revised edition, Norwalk, O., 1896.
Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania, Sherman Day, Philadelphia, 1843.
Historical Register, Published Monthly in Pittsburg, 1883-4.
History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Natives, etc., John Heckewelder, Philadelphia, 1818.
History of Allegheny County, Published by Warner & Co., Chi- cago, 1890.
History of Huntingdon County, Pa., M. S. Lytle, Lancaster, Pa., 1876.
History of Indiana County, Pa., Caldwell.
History of Ohio, James W. Taylor, Cincinnati, 1854.
History of Pennsylvania, W. H. Egle, Harrisburg, 1876.
History of Pittsburg, N. B. Craig, Pittsburg, 1851.
History of the Juniata Valley, U. J. Jones, Philadelphia, 1856.
History of the Missions of the United Brethren, George Henry Loskiel, London, 1794.
History of Washington County, Pa., Boyd Crumrine, Philadel- phia, 1882.
History of West ,oreland County, edited by G. Dallas Albert, 1882.
Indian Tribes of the United States, H. R. Schoolcraft, Published by Congress, 1851-5.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
Journal of Two Visits, etc., Rev. David Jones, New York, 1865.
Magazine of American History.
Memoirs of John Bannister Gibson, Thomas P. Roberts, Pitts- burg, 1890.
Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Monongahela of Old, James Veech, Pittsburg, 1852-1892.
Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren, John Hecke- welder, Philadelphia, 1820.
Notes and Queries, W. H. Egle, Harrisburg.
Notes on the Settlements and Indian Wars, etc., Joseph Dod- dridge, revised edition, 1876.
Olden Time, edited by N. B. Craig, Pittsburg, 1846-8.
Old Redstone, Rev. Joseph Smith, Philadelphia, 1854.
Otzinachson, or a History of the West Branch Valley, John F. Meginness, 1857.
Our Western Border, Charles McKnight, Pittsburg, 1875.
Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Published by the State, 12v., 1852-6.
Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Published by the State, 20v., 1875-90.
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.
Pioneer History, Samuel P. Hildreth, Cincinnati, 1848.
Romance of Western History, James Hall, Cincinnati, 1885.
St. Clair Papers, edited by W. H. Smith, Cincinnati, 1882.
The Girtys, C. W. Butterfield, Cincinnati, 1890.
Three Villages (Gnadenhuetten), William Dean Howells, Bos- ton, 1884.
Washington-Crawford Letters, C. W. Butterfield, Cincinnati, 1877.
Washington-Irvine Correspondence, C. W. Butterfield, Madison, Wis., 1882.
Washington's Letters to the American Congress, New York, 1796.
Westward Movement, Justin Winsor, Boston, 1897.
Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt, New York, 1889.
Writings of George Washington, P. L. Ford, New York, 1889.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
OLD WESTMORELAND .- Its Erection as a County .- Boundaries and Area .- Sources of Settlement .- Territorial Conflict with Virginia .- Early Centers of Population .- The Men of Ulster .- Pittsburg .- Leaders Among the Pioneers. .5-10
CHAPTER II.
THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION .- Delegates Sent to the Provin- cial Convention of 1774 .- Sympathy with Boston .- Royalist Efforts of Jolin Connolly .- Patriot Meeting at Pittsburg .- Association of Westmoreland Formed at Hannastown .- Military Organization .- The Rattlesnake Flag .- Ft. Pitt Occupied by Virginia Militia. . II-17
CHAPTER III.
WILLIAM WILSON'S INDIAN TOUR .- The Savage Menace to the Frontier .- Ft. Pitt Treaty in October, 1775 .- Iroquois Hostility .- George Morgan, Indian Agent .- Wilson Sent as a Peace Messenger to the Ohio Tribes .- His Peril at Pluggystown .- Before Governor Hamilton at Detroit .- The Unavailing Treaty at Ft. Pitt, October,
1776. .18-23
CHAPTER IV.
CAPTURE OF ANDREW McFARLANE .- First Indian Depredations .- McFarlane's History .- A Prisoner of the Virginians .- Love Ro- mance and Marriage .- A Trader at Kittanning .- Without Military Protection .- The Tradition of the Lewis Family .- McFarlane Taken Prisoner .- His Captivity and Release. .24-30
CHAPTER. V.
GIBSON'S POWDER EXPLOIT .- Scarcity of Ammunition on the Frontier .- George Gibson and William Linn .- The Lambs .- Journey to New Orleans .- Oliver Pollock .- Gibson in a Spanish Prison .- Return by Sea and River. .31-36
CHAPTER VI.
THE SQUAW CAMPAIGN .- Congress Takes Charge of the Frontier Defense .- Brigadier General Edward Hand Appointed Command- ant at Ft. Pitt .- Indian Raiders from Detroit .- Depredations in Westmoreland .- Expedition Up the Mahoning Valley .- Hand's Dis- appointment and Resignation. .37-43
CHAPTER VII.
FLIGHT OF THE PITTSBURG TORIES .- British Agents in Western Pennsylvania .- Captain Alexander McKee .- Matthew Elliott .- Es- cape from Mckees Rocks .- Simon Girty .- Renegades in Coshocton. -Baffled by White Eyes .- Welcomed at Detroit .- Traitors in the Ft. Pitt Garrison .- Their Flight, Recapture and Punishment. .. 44-48
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TORIES OF SINKING VALLEY .- The Spy Among the Moun- taineers .- Conspiracy for Murder and Spoliation .- John Weston .- Panic on the Juniata .- The Flight to Kittanning .- Fate of the Tory Leader .- Dispersal of the Plotters. 49-53
CHAPTER IX.
FATAL VOYAGE OF DAVID RODGERS .- Second Effort to Procure Powder from the Spaniards .- Captain David Rodgers .- His Red- stone Company .- Time Lost on the Mississippi .- The Surprise at the Licking River .- Rodgers Mortally Wounded .- Singular Experience of Robert Benham and Basil Brown . 54-59
CHAPTER X.
THE EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA .- Brigadier General Lachlan Mc- Intosh ordered to Ft. Pitt .- His Two Border Regiments .- Mack- ay's Battalion .- The Winter March Over the Mountains .- Fatalities Among Officers and Privates .- Daniel Brodhead Colonel .- Morgan's Rifle Corps .- Thirteenth Virginia. .60-66
CHAPTER XI.
BACK TO THE HARRIED FRONTIER .- March of the Regulars for Ft. Pitt .- The Big Runaway .- The Massacre of Wyoming .- Eighth Pennsylvania Sent Up the Susquehanna .- Captain John Brady's Fort at Muncy .- The Killing of James Brady .- Samuel Brady, the Rifle- man .- The Eighth at Ft. Pitt. .67-72
CHAPTER XII.
THE ALLIANCE WITH THE DELAWARES .- McIntosh's Design Against Detroit .- Seeking Indian Allies .- The Ft. Pitt Treaty with the Delawares .- White Eyes .- Proposal for an Indian State. .. . 73-79
CHAPTER XIII.
FORT LAURENS .- McIntosh Advances Westward .- Ft. McIntosh. -Death of White Eyes .- Building of Ft. Laurens .- A Winter in the Wilderness .- Colonel Gibson Besieged .- Captain Bird and Simon Girty .- Ft. Laurens Relieved .- Resignation of McIntosh .- Colonel Brodhead in Command .- Ft. Laurens Deserted .. 80-87
CHAPTER XIV.
SAMUEL BRADY'S REVENGE .- Incursions from the North .- Mili- tary Scouts .- Brady Hears of His Father's Death .- Attack on Ft. Hand .- Raid on the Sewickley Settlement .- Brady on the Trail .- Indians Surprised in their Camp .- Death of the Muncy Captain. .88-94
CHAPTER XV.
BRODHEAD'S RAID UP THE ALLEGHENY .-- The Hostile Senecas .- Sullivan's Expedition .- Brodhead's Co-operation .- Difficult March Up the Allegheny .- Fight with the Indians .- Devastation of Seneca Cornfields .- Muncy Village Destroyed .- Return by the Venango Path .- Thanks of Congress. .95-10I
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW .- Influence of Weather on the Frontier .- Severest Winter on Record .- Suffering of Soldiers .- Animals and Birds Killed .- Raids in the Ohio River Settlements by Western Indians .- Rewards for Scalps and Prisoners .- Brady's Daring Journey to the Sandusky .- Rescue of Mrs. Stoops. .. .. 102-108
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUMMER OF THE BIG HARVEST .- Great Crops of Wheat and Corn, but no Water for the Mills .- Cattle Scarce .- Money Deprecia- tion .- Agitation for a New State .- Soldiers Suffer for Food .- On the Verge of Mutiny .- Brady Sent Out to Impress Live Stock .- Fu- tile Efforts to Organize an Expedition Into the Indian Country .- Buffaloes for Food. . 109-115
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DERRY SETTLEMENT .- A Typical Ulster Population and Its Leaders .- The Three Forts .- Major Campbell and Companions Cap- tured on Blacklick .- The Unsolved Fate of Lieutenant Craig .- At- tack on Ft. Wallace .- Retaliation by the Borderers .- Defeat of Cap- tain Hopkins .- Escape of Ebenezer Finley .-- Major Wilson's Combat Near Ft. Wallace .- John Pomeroy's Defense of His Cabin. . 116-122
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DESTRUCTION OF COSHOCTON .- Delawares Join the Hostile League .- Chief Killbuck Ostracized .- Brodhead's Expedition .- Ren- dezvous at Wheeling .- Indian Capital Surprised .- Assault in the Rain .- Warriors Killed .- Coshocton Plundered and Burned .- Kind- ness of the Moravians .- Chief Killbuck's Stroke .- The Misrepresen- tations of Doddridge .- Migration of the Deiawares. 123-130
CHAPTER XX.
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT .- Design Against Detroit .- Buying Pro- visions .- George Rogers Clark in Western Pennsylvania .- Raising Volunteers .- Factions Among the Settlers .- Official Approval .- Help from the Westmoreland Militia .- Erection of Washington County .- Efforts to Enforce the Draft .- Pillage and Personal Violence .- Small Force Assembled .- Clark Discouraged but Persistent .- Failure of His Expedition. 131-138
CHAPTER XXI.
LOCHRY'S DISASTER .- Westmoreland Detachment to Aid Clark .- Rendezvous at Carnaghan's .- March to Wheeling .- Left Behind by the Main Body .- Slow Journey Down the Ohio .- Loss of Captain Shannon .- Ambush at Lochry's Run .- Joseph Brant and His Mo- hawks .- Killing of Lochry .- Entire Party Slain or Taken. . . . 139-145
CHAPTER XXII.
MORAVIANS AND WYANDOTS .- Lochry Succeeded as County Lieu- tenant by Edward Cook .- Charges Against Brodhead .- Ordered by Washington to Resign .- His Successor Brigadier General William Irvine .- Moravian Missions on the Tuscarawas Broken Up by British and Indians .- Privations of the Red Converts .- Sons of the Half- King Raid Washington County .- Adventure of the Poe Brothers . 146-152
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE SLAUGHTER AT GNADENHUETTEN .- Williamson's First Visit to the Tuscarawas .- Indian Towns Deserted .- Washington County Raided .- Mrs. Wallace and Her Children Captured .- The Escape and Revelations of John Carpenter .- Williamson's Second Campaign to the Tuscarawas .- Mutilated Corpses Beside the Trail .- Rage of the Frontiersmen .- Moravian's Surprised Gathering Corn .- Telltale Trophies .- The Vote for Life or Death .- Condemnation .- Massacre of the Guilty and the Innocent .- Indian Villages Burned .- The Raid on Smoky Island .- Investigation Thwarted. . 153-16I
CHAPTER XXIV.
CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION AND DEATH .- Plans for the Destruction of Wyandot Towns on the Sandusky .- Aid from General Irvine .- Muster at Mingo .- Crawford Chosen to Command .- His Staff and Captains .- March Into the Wilderness .- Enemy Forewarned .- Bat- tle on Sandusky Plain .- Night Retreat and Panic .- Crawford's Cap- ture .- Williamson's Retreat .- Crawford and Others Burned at the Stake. .162-169
CHAPTER XXV.
THE WOUNDED INDIAN .- Attack on Walthour's Station .- Killing of Willard and Daughter .- The Lame Delaware at Pittsburg .- His Confession .- Clamor of the Settlers for His Death .- Davy Delivered Up .- His Escape from the Blockhouse .- The Gray Mare .- Never Reached Home. 170-175
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE DESTRUCTION OF HANNASTOWN .- Savage Inroad from the Seneca Land .- Guyasuta .- Escape of the Harvesters .- Refuge in the Stockade .- Assault Repelled .- Death of Margaret Shaw .- Burning of the Town .- Raid on Miller's Station .- Killing of Lieutenant Brown- lee and Others .- The End of Hannastown. 176-181
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ABANDONED EXPEDITION .- Planning Another Campaign Against Sandusky .- General Irvine to Command .- Approved by Government .- Attack on Wheeling .- Gallant Defense of Rice's Blockhouse .- Savages Called Off by General Carleton .- Expedition Countermanded by General Washington .- Clark's Raid on the Shaw- nee Towns .- General Thanksgiving Day. .182-188
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE PEACE JOURNEY OF EPHRAIM DOUGLASS .- Isolated Depreda- tions in Washington County .- Appeal to Congress .- Douglass Com- missioned .- His Journey to Sandusky .- Before DePeyster at Detroit. -Douglass Sent to Niagara .- Talk with Joseph Brant .- End of the Border War 189-194
OLD WESTMORELAND.
CHAPTER I.
OLD WESTMORELAND.
The County of Westmoreland was erected by the As- sembly of the Province of Pennsylvania by an act signed by Lieutenant Governor Richard Penn, on Friday, Feb- ruary 26, 1773. It was the eleventh county of the Com- monwealth and the last erected under the proprietary gov- ernment. Like all the earlier counties of Pennsylvania, ex- cept Philadelphia, it received its name from a county in England. This name, as applied to the most distant terri- tory of the Province, was especially appropriate.
The land comprised in the new county was bought by the Penns from the Six Nations or Iroquois Indians, at a treaty held at Fort Stanwix, N. Y., in November, 1768, and was opened for settlement in the following April. Its northern boundary was a line extending from Canoe Point, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, west by north to the site of the Indian town called Kittanning, on the Allegheny river, thence down along the Allegheny and the Ohio rivers to the western limit of the Province, while its western and southern lines were to be the western and southern boundaries of Pennsylvania, not yet definitely as- certained. In 1771 this wide region was included in the county of Bedford, but settlements grew so rapidly west of
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
the mountains during the year 1772 that a new frontier county was soon demanded. The evacuation of Fort Pitt by the British troops, in the fall of 1772, also led the bor- derers to demand a stronger civil organization.
When Westmoreland was erected it covered all of the Province west of the Laurel Hill, being what is broadly known as Southwestern Pennsylvania. In included the present counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene and Washington, the parts of Allegheny and Beaver counties south of the Ohio river, about two-thirds of the county of Indiana and one-third of the county of Armstrong, the total area being about 4,700 square miles.
While this was the area of Westmoreland in theory, it was restricted in fact by Virginia's seizure and govern- ment of a large portion of the territory. After the capture of Fort Duquesne from the French in 1758 and the con- struction of Fort Pitt in the following year, a few settle- ments were made along the Forbes and Braddock roads, by permission of the Fort Pitt commandant. These per- missions were granted to tavern keepers, that they might give shelter and entertainment to persons traveling on the king's business.1 The general settlement of the country west of the Alleghany Mountains did not begin until the Pennsylvania land office was opened for the granting of warrants, in the spring of 1769.
Population flowed into the new region through two channels. Scots from the Cumberland Valley and other settled parts of the Province made their way westward by the Forbes military road and planted their cabins along its course, from the lovely Ligonier Valley to Fort Pitt. These men were faithful to Pennsylvania, under whose seal they held their lands. From the Valley of Virginia other Scots crossed the mountains by way of the old Braddock road and occupied the rich lands along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and Chartiers creek. These men were Virginians and believed that their settlements
1 Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Richmond, 1875, vol. i., under date of March 10, 1777.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
were still within the territory of the Old Dominion. It had not yet been determined by survey how far Pennsylvania extended westward of the mountains. Virginia claimed all the interior country west of Pennsylvania and asserted that the entire valley of the Monongahela, including Pitts- burg, was within her jurisdiction.
A lively contest for the control of the region tributary to Pittsburg began between Pennsylvania and Virginia. The organization of Westmoreland county was designed to strengthen the Pennsylvania authority, and sixteen magis- trates were appointed to administer justice within its bound- aries. The county seat was established at Robert Hanna's little settlement on the Forbes road, 35 miles east of Pitts- burg, and at Hannastown the first Pennsylvania court west - of the mountains was held in April, 1773. These pro- ceedings stirred up the Virginia authorities. The Earl of Dunmore, governor of Virginia, took forcible possession of the disputed territory. He appointed John Connolly, of Pittsburg "captain commandant of Pittsburg and its de- pendencies." Connolly mustered the militia under Virginia law, seized and garrisoned Fort Pitt, intimidated the Penn- sylvania magistrates, marched some of them off to prison, and established the authority of Virginia throughout all the region between the Monongahela and the Ohio. Pennsyl- vania, having no militia law, was powerless to resist this usurpation.2
Thus it came about that, during the Revolution, the authority of Westmoreland county was limited to about half of its actual area. It was not until the summer of 1780 that Virginia agreed to accept the results of a joint survey which would extend the southern boundary line of Penn- sylvania (Mason and Dixon's line) to a distance of five degrees of longitude west of the Delaware river. This joint survey was delayed, by official quibbling and the hos- tility of the Virginia settlers, until the fall of 1782. In the the spring of 1781 that part of Westmoreland lying west of
2 See St. Clair Papers, Cincinnati, 1882, vol. I .; and Force's Ameri- can Archives, vol. i., many letters under date of 1774.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
the Monongahela was set off as a new county, named Washington, so that the officers of Westmoreland never had the privilege of exercising their authority over the whole extent of their large territory.
In 1775 the Ligonier Valley, extending along the east- ern border of the county, was well settled. The focus of settlement was the village of Ligonier, where a British fort had been built in 1758, and the principal man was Captain Arthur St. Clair, a Scotchman who had served under Wolf at Quebec and had afterward become the agent of the Penn family in Western Pennsylvania.3 West of the Chestnut Ridge, along Loyalhanna and its little tributaries, settle- ments were rather numerous as far as Hannastown, on the Forbes road. To the north of the road, between the Loyal- hanna and the Conemaugh, was the Derry settlement, so call- ed from the city of Ireland whence most of its people came. Nearly all the pioneers in this eastern part of the county were Scots from Ulster, or their immediate descendants, with a slight sprinkling of Irish of Presbyterian faith. Another center of Ulster settlement was at the Braddock road crossing of Big Sewickley creek, a tributary of the Youghiogheny ; while lower down on that creek and on Turtle and Brush creeks were the cabins and blockhouses of German emigrants from the Rhine Palatinate.
Among the Virginia settlers along the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers and westward to the Ohio there were not many natives of either Scotland or Ireland. The people were two or three generations removed from the old country, but nearly all were of Scotch stock. The larger land owners had brought their slaves with them from Vir- ginia and negroes were held in bondage in Southwestern Pennsylvania until long after the Revolution.
At Pittsburg some of the principal characters, chiefly traders, were members of the Church of England, and it was among these men that the tory sentiment developed, during the Revolution. Old Westmoreland was, however, decidedly a Scotch and Calvinistic settlement. While the
3 St. Clair Papers, vol. 1., p. 7.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
territorial dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia was very bitter, it was doubtless because the opposing forces consisted of men of the same race and creed that no homi- cides were committed during the long period of contention.
The Scotch pioneers of this western region were bold, stout and industrious men, sharp at bargains, fond of re- ligious and political controversy and not strongly attached to government either of the royal or the proprietary kind. In nearly every cabin three articles were to be found : a Bible, a rifle and a whisky jug. A strong characteristic of the settlers was an intense hatred of the Indians, for whose treatment the extermination policy of Joshua toward the heathen beyond Jordan was generally considered to be the proper model.'
At the opening of the Revolution the village of Pitts- burg was the largest center of population west of the moun- tains. When Washington visited the place in the autumn of 1770, he found about twenty log houses ranged along the Monongahela shore, "inhabited," he wrote in his jour- nal, "by Indian traders."" During the succeeding four years emigration to the west was so heavy that by 1775 the town had probably trebled in size and the traders were no longer in the majority, although they formed the influential ele- ment. These traders were nearly all Pennsylvanians, but most of the other inhabitants were Virginians. With its taverns, its hard drinking traders, trappers and mule driv- ers, its fugitives from eastern justice and its frequent Indian visitors, Pittsburg was a rude and boisterous frontier set- tlement. Rev. David Jones, a Baptist missionary who vis- ited the town in June, 1772, described it as "a small town chiefly inhabited by Indian traders and some mechanics. . . Part of the inhabitants are agreeable and worthy of regard, while others are lamentably dissolute in their mor- als.""
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