USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 34
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
The great scarcity of food in the Indian country during that try- ing summer reached the degree of positive famine at one time. Under the double constraint put upon them by their lords, the heads of the Six Nations, to the north, and the government of Pennsylvania to the south, the sullen and restive bands in the Wyoming region were kept confined within their boundaries. The utter destitution of the season, which sharpened the other incentives to desperate undertakings, when the ambitious and wily Teedyuscung and his confederates saw their opportunity to lead them on to open violence, was frequently the sole cause of this restless roving up and down the country. Some deserters from the Moravian Indian congrega- tion, who had gone up and joined the camps of the savages, told of the good living at Gnadenhuetten and the abundant food to be had by all visitors at Bethlehem. Many a strolling band, suspected by uneasy people to be carrying secret French messages to and from the Moravians, and even conveying French powder and lead from an imaginary secret magazine at Bethlehem, visited the place for no other purpose than to enjoy a few substantial meals furnished by the people who, in pursuance of their altruistic aims towards the Indians, incurred all inconvenience and took all risks to hold the good will of every class and kind of them. Indeed, since these excursions from the Wyoming Valley could not be prevented, the Brethren dreaded the presence of the strollers less at Bethlehem than at Gnadenhuetten; for it was of extreme importance to keep that little congregation of converts, who were remaining faithful, from being entangled by the subtle arch-schemer Teedyuscung and the renegades whom he employed; coming to them as their brethren and using this advantage in the attempt to draw them into alliance. Besides this, the time came when there was no food to
300
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
spare at Gnadenhuetten. A heavy frost on May 31 had ruined the wheat crop over an extensive area and made the outlook very gloomy. On July I, the "melancholy report" came from there that the provisions, not only of the Indian congregation, but also of the missionary household, would be entirely exhausted in a fortnight, and no prospect of supply from any source was in sight; and then the record states, "behold the same hour we received a letter from Philadelphia telling us that a hundred bushels of corn lay there ready for this purpose, and only needed to be sent for." On July 4, the first wagon-load of this corn arrived for the relief of Gnaden- huetten, and there was joy at the thought that now this new test that had come upon the steadfastness of those Indians was removed.
One of the measures that had been adopted, the preceding April, to prevent dangerous Indians from visiting Gnadenhuetten, was to announce in the Indian country that the blacksmith and gunsmith at that place would not do work for any "strange Indians," but would only serve the residents and such others who were well known and trustworthy. Among those who came to Bethlehem, at various times during the first months of 1755, was the famous Shawanese chief Paxnous (Paxinosa), who so adjusted his attitude and move- ments that the government had abundant proof of his value as an opponent of the dark conspiracies. He remained a consistent friend of the Moravian missionaries and faithful to whatever promises he made them; later interesting himself, even with hazard to his own standing among his warriors, in devising means to rescue certain of them from deadly peril and enable them to escape.
On February 17 of that year, when his wife, with whom he had lived faithfully for thirty-eight years-"a surprising thing," says the record-was baptized at Bethlehem, and the Brethren expressed the hope that he would yet follow her example, "he responded with a hearty Kehelle"-an exclamation of concurrence. On several of his visits he was accompanied by Abraham the Mohican, one of the original converts, a man of standing and influence among the Indians, who, although he had not become alienated from his Chris- tian teachers and friends, had withdrawn from the Indian congre- gation and was living in Wyoming. He was one of those whose equivocal attitude, while they were classed by the people as "Mora- vian Indians," but were outside of Moravian constraint, was so mystifying to many, so troublesome to the Brethren and awakened so much distrust among persons who did not discriminate between
1755-1756. 30I
the converts living at the stations, under the eye of the missionaries, and those who had strayed away and over whose movements no con- trol could be exercised. The Moravians could not be chargeable with any measure of responsibility for what any Indians were or said or did, when trouble came, excepting those living in the Indian con- gregations, or being quartered at Bethlehem, to keep them away from dangerous associations.
The case of Abraham, and several others like him in Wyo- ining, who were yet friendly towards the Brethren and not entirely renegade, even if they had broken away from the restraints of external discipline in a congregation, made it seem advisable at Bethlehem to have some one take up his abode in that precarious region as a kind of outer guard. The intention was that he should "go after the straying sheep," keep in friendly touch with those who might yet be held in restraint, watch the trend of things in order to send down timely information of important movements that should be known, and, at the same time, maintain a kind of lodge in the wilderness to break the long course of missionary journeys to points farther up. Several missionaries, especially Bernhard Adam Grube, had been visiting them. A request by Abraham, that a missionary again come to see them in Wyoming, offered the opportunity. The most suitable man for this particular undertaking was the intrepid and venturesome Frederick Post, and, the middle of February, he started off to assume that lonely and hazardous position. There he remained during the greater part of the year, until the time came when he had to flee for his life. Even this well-meant move, which placed a Christian missionary, taking his life into his hand, as a sentry beyond the boundaries of their settlements, to endeavor to preserve peace, was construed by suspicious persons between Bethlehem and the mountains, as a new evidence of Moravian complicity in dark intrigues.
In the midst of these things, the authorities at Bethlehem, knowing how important it was that the government should correctly under- stand their position over-against the many Indians who came down to the place, and should have the benefit of whatever information came to them in this way, had made arrangements to promptly forward confidential reports to Philadelphia, by special messenger from Justice Horsfield, whenever there seemed to be occasion for doing so ; and to announce any considerable bands that arrived, their avowed object and all knowledge of affairs in the Indian country thus brought to them that seemed to deserve the attention of the
302
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
Governor. Therefore while persons, in their excitement, were taking stories to the authorities at Philadelphia of the suspicious connection of the Moravians with "strange Indians," the Brethren were at the very time serving the Government, by mutual understanding, as a bureau of information, without the knowledge of such persons and from sources that would never have been open to them. This, in general, was the state of Indian relations at Bethlehem when the startling announcement was brought by Scull on that Saturday morn- ing in July.
The men at the head of affairs at Bethlehem had refrained from informing the inhabitants, to a needless extent, in reference to those critical factors of the situation which would merely occasion excite- ment and alarm without serving any practical purpose. All efforts were made to preserve quiet self-restraint, manly composure and simple trust in Him in whose Name they went and came and labored. When it was deemed necessary, information was given about matters of which all should have knowledge, and be ready to speak intelli- gently and discreetly to people of the neighborhood or visitors with whom they conversed on the conditions of the time. Thus, early in January, the dangerous reports circulated and carried to England that the Germans of Pennsylvania were indifferent to English inter- ests and quite as ready to take the part of France; and the address of the Germans of the Province to the Governor, contradicting this calumny, were discussed at Bethlehem. The question was considered whether the Brethren, as a distinct community, but also, for the most part, Germans, should make a like declaration of loyalty or quietly rest on the credit given them by the Act of Parliament in 1749. They decided upon the latter course. Then special attention was drawn to this subject, in a general meeting, by Bishop Spangen- berg. He deemed it important to make the matter clear. He emphasized the favor received from the British government in that act, and drew attention to the various points of significance in the difference between being under English or French rule. He instructed the less enlightened of the Germans at the place who might perhaps indulge in thoughtless or foolish remarks on the subject, not being Engli. ! men and not understanding the vital issues of the conflict, as to what it all involved for the settlements of the Brethren and for their missionary work, and what the correct attitude of all should be to the question. So likewise, on June 19, when the day of fasting and prayer, in view of the almost calamitous injury to
303
1755-1756.
the grain crops of the Province and the dubious issues of the war, was observed, in compliance with the proclamation of Governor Morris, instruction on the position to be taken as Christians and loyal subjects was given in English and German sermons; the first by the Rev. Jacob Rogers, who was an Englishman, and the second by Bishop Matthew Hehl. It was thought that if those Brethren who needed information and guidance were in so far enlightened that there was no danger of any utterance on their part that could be construed to indicate sympathy with French interests, disloyalty to the government, or partisanship in the issues between Pennsylvania factions, this would be sufficient. The further subject of the relation of the Indian tribes to the war which was in progress, and the menace to the settlements that lay in the disaffection of so many of them who were being worked upon by the French, was treated with caution and reserve by the leading men at Bethlehem in speaking to the mass of the people. The reason for this was two-fold. They wished to avoid creating excitement and alarm, and to prevent the spread of that dread of and antipathy towards the Indians which possessed the people of the frontier generally; for this would quench the missionary spirit among the members of the Economy, would make them reluctant to labor for the support of the work and would render it more difficult to maintain the ground that had been gained and to pursue the important policy of friendly treatment towards those Indians who came to Bethlehem. Therefore, during the summer, the farmers and mechanics of Bethlehem and the Nazareth places, with the women and children, calmly followed their daily routine, quietly pursued their several tasks in field and work- shop, in dairy, spinning-room and school, and showed neither alarm nor aversion while band after band of Indians of all dispositions and descriptions came and loitered about and enjoyed their hospitality ; some of them individuals whom there was reason enough to dread.
In the midst of all this, as if it had been a time of the greatest peace and security, many acres of new land were grubbed, fenced and gotten ready for the plow; troops of boys worked happily in the new fields, collecting and burning the stumps and brush; the water works were finished and successfully put into operation, to the delight of the town; the harvest was gathered and the harvest-home feast celebrated as usual; the walls of Nazareth Hall were laid up ; mission- aries and mechanics traveled the accustomed road to Gnadenhuetten and back with that sturdy unconcern which was so hard for their
304
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
neighbors to understand, accompanied frequently by Indians; and the grist-mills of Bethlehem and Friedensthal "ran day and night" in August and September, to accommodate the large number of customers, "some from a distance of thirty miles beyond the Blue Mountains," compelled to come that long way by the drought that dried the lesser streams and left nearer mills idle and useless.
Dismal was the fate that hung over many of the rude backwoods homes to which those men from the mountains returned with their bags of wheat and rye flour and cornmeal for the coming winter. It seemed as if the shadow of the black cloud had fallen upon many of them ahead of its approach, for they came and went with an air of anxious dread. It seemed as if the very autumn winds that blew down from the north and west, brought a scent of the blood-shed that was being plotted in the back regions. Rumors of terror, growing as they traveled, were rife. They were discussed around the mills by the men who waited for their grist, and were repeated to the millers and the workmen of Bethlehem and the Vale of Peace on the Bushkill. Questions were asked about Gnadenhuetten, some in anxiety, as if seeking re-assurance in regard to the trustworthiness of those Indians and their missionaries, others in a suspicious and insinuating tone, as if to ferret dark secrets out of the reticent and cautious Moravians. Thus the feeling of unrest and dread began to communicate itself to some of the more excitable and timorous at Bethlehem.
The disturbing reports that had previously been coming to the Board at Bethlehem had not, as already stated, been circulated much outside of official circles. Even before the news of the British defeat at Fort Duquesne had been received, rumors of such a disquieting nature had come from Wyoming that the board sent a message to Post, intimating that he had better abandon his efforts and leave the neighborhood. Shebosh had gone up, the last week in May, to look after his welfare, and at the beginning of June, Dr. Otto went to treat an injury he had received. At the middle of June, David Zeisberger, who a few days before had returned to Bethlehem with Carl Friederich from Onondago, where he had been sojourning nearly a year studying the language of the people, with a view to founding the mission long planned-he was prevented from returning by the outbreak of hostilities and that mission was never com- menced-went to Wyoming with Christian Seidel to see how Post fared. They found him keeping his lonely watch in the midst of
1755-1756. 305
great peril, sharing the dire need, next to starvation, that prevailed there, trying to maintain sympathetic relations with the Indians who had been enticed away from Gnadenhuetten, and to hold them from lapsing to the hostiles who were pledged to the French and who fiercely resented his presence and influence there; for, in accordance with the scheme of Teedyuscung, they hoped, by capturing this band, to make a further break, through them, in the congregation at Gnadenhuetten.
Zeisberger and Seidel pushed on, far up the Susquehanna, to procure some food for this famishing little flock of "straying sheep" and the faithful shepherd who was watching them at the hourly risk of his life. They made this effort not only as an act of humanity, but to impress the Indians with the conviction that their needs would be cared for if they remained together with Post and listened to his counsel. In reply to the message from Bethlehem, suggesting that he had better abandon his effort on account of the great peril, Post wrote, the middle of July, that "he did not propose to yield to the powers of darkness and the evil spirits to whom he was a hindrance, unless they expelled him by force."
Having brought their few bags of corn safely to Post and the little band he was yet holding, Zeisberger and his companion continued their tour among the Indians at various places, in spite of the dis- turbed condition of things. While on this tour they heard of the first savage outbreak, October 16, on Penn's Creek, near Shamokin, where more than twenty persons were killed or captured. They turned their faces homeward the latter part of October, warned by Paxnous, who informed them of that first blow struck by the sav- ages. From Gnadenhuetten, where they found everything quiet and peaceful, they proceeded to the Delaware Gap, having intended to traverse the region beyond, to the north and east, more extensively. There they encountered a large company of militia-men who were much agitated by the reports they had heard, and plied the missionaries with questions. They and people in the vicinity had also heard of the alleged letter from a French officer-a rascally forgery-published in the newspapers, setting forth that the Mora- vians and their Indians were allies of the French, aiding their move- ments. This wicked trick, producing impressions that could not be followed up wherever the report spread with disproof or even authori- tative denial, had borne its fruit among the people up the Delaware ; and the impression of these calumnies was in the minds of some men:
21
306
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
who came to the Bethlehem mill from that neighborhood in the course of the autumn.
Zeisberger and Seidel reached Bethlehem in the night of Novem- ber 2. They at once reported to Justice Horsfield all that they had learned about the beginning of hostilities by the savages, and their statements were immediately forwarded by special messenger to the Governor and the Assembly; also the statements of George Bieb- inghausen, who, the previous day, arrived from Allemaengel, not very far from Gnadenhuetten-a Moravian station in the present Lynn Township of Lehigh County-that the people there were panic-stricken by rumors of an Indian raid, and that thirty persons had fled from their homes and taken refuge together in the Mora- vian school and meeting-house. On November 4, Henry Frey and Anton Schmidt set out from Bethlehem for Shamokin to rescue the missionary and master-smith, Marcus Kiefer, who had not, like his two companions, the missionary Godfrey Roessler and the black- smith Peter Wesa, made good his escape. These rescuers turned back at Tulpehocken, where all was in a state of terror, for they were assured that they would not be able to proceed. The panic at Allemaengel had not been without reason. Following upon a second raid made by the savages at the beginning of November, at the great cove in the present Franklin County, the Tulpehocken neighborhood was visited by skulking forerunners at this time, and, on November 16, the first outbreak east of the Susquehanna occurred, when mur- derous gangs swooped down upon the farmers on the Swatara and Tulpehocken Creeks, killing thirteen persons and destroying much property. Thus the reign of terror opened in the region in which the savage raids were to be generaled by Teedyuscung. He had risen to the honor-suspected by many to have been quite unauthor- ized-of having himself called "King of the Delawares." The out- rages west of the Susquehanna were under the direction of Shingas "the terrible," a brother of Tamaqua.
On November 6, Henry Frey started again, accompanied by the missionary John Jacob Schmick, for Wyoming, hoping to reach Sha- mokin by that route and find Kiefer. They returned on the 13th and reported him safe. He had gotten away from Shamokin, and, six miles from there, met two Indians whom Paxnous had dispatched to the place to rescue him. One of them was the son of the old chief and the other was a son of the Mohican Abraham. He had, mean- while, been protected by John Shikellimy or Thachnechtoris, son
307
1755-1756.
of the famous chief, old Shikellimy. He escorted him safely to Gnadenhuetten, from which place they arrived at Bethlehem, November 16. With the arrival of these three men from Shamokin began the flight from various directions and distances to Bethlehem as a city of refuge. At one of the evening services during those weeks, Spangenberg took occasion to admonish two different kinds of people. On the one hand, he urged those who were becoming timid and uneasy to remain calm and clear-headed and to be "strong in the Lord." On the other hand, some who, with perhaps a slight symptom of bravado, were disposed to over-estimate their security and, without realizing the peril that really existed, to make light of the trepidation manifested by people of the neighborhood who came to Bethlehem, were admonished that they should appreciate the cause these scattered settlers had for being alarmed, sympathize with them and try to encourage them.
On November 20, came the first company of frightened people from the Saucon Valley, who had heard reports of the approach of hostile Indians. Some of them were given quarters for the night at the Crown Inn. That night guards were quietly stationed at three approaches to the town, not in fear of a surprise by Indians at this time, but as a precaution against a panic that might be cre- ated in the town by a possible inrush of terror-stricken people, sounding an alarm. The next day a company of persons who had been at Gnadenhuetten returned, bringing a letter from the mis- sionary Martin Mack. He, with Shebosh and the missionaries Grube and Schmick, was stationed with the Indian congregation at its new quarters on the east side of the Lehigh, New Gnadenhuetten, where the more satisfactory tract of land had been purchased for the Indians. As previously stated, the other men and women connected with the industries of that settlement, and engaged in the study of Indian languages, occupied the mission houses of the original village on the west side. In that letter Mack wrote that the entire neigh- borhood was in a state of excitement on account of the "French Indians," that many of the settlers had fled to Allemaengel and that some of those Indians were trying to create a panic and stampede among the Gnadenhuetten Indians, but that the most of the men were off hunting. He quoted in his letter the sayings of several of the sturdiest Christian men among the Indians at Gnadenhuetten, in reference to the critical situation, their expressions of trust in the Saviour, if the worst should come, and their declaration that they
308
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
would cling together and, if so it must be, die together. This letter from Mack was read to the congregation at Bethlehem by Spangen- berg on the evening of that day, November 21, and the next day was communicated to Parsons at Easton by Horsfield, as the first note of danger for the Forks of the Delaware. While this little band of converts were thus giving expression to Christian resigna- tion and considering the likelihood of their being murdered by the "French Indians" when all efforts to draw them away proved fruit- less, the latter were planning to not only do this, but also to wreak vengeance upon their missionaries, to whose influence they ascribed the steadfastness of the Gnadenhuetten Indians in with- standing every attempt to cajole, bribe or bully them into joining the conspiracy. At the same time, men from the Irish Settlement were coming into Bethlehem with reports of how the people feared being suddenly fallen upon by those same inoffensive Indians at the mission; how some were planning to destroy the mission as a measure of self-defense, and how there was talk among some Jer- seymen of even taking revenge by raising troops of rangers to move upon Bethlehem, the supposed harbor of French allies, white and Indian, and storage-place of arms and ammunition for the savages. What human power of word or deed could rectify such an awful complication as this with hundreds of lives jeopardized in its mazes? How was it possible to convince such men in the panic of the time, with this belief about the Moravians firmly fixed in their minds for years, that they were completely and terribly mistaken? What was to save Bethlehem when the storm should break? Earnest, well- disposed men came and asked, why is it that your people rest quietly and do not seem afraid? Tell us, and explain this mystery, if you have not an understanding with the French and with the blood- thirsty hordes in their service. Spangenberg simply answered : "The people are quiet because they set their hope in their God, knowing no refuge under such circumstances but in Him; and as He has counted all the hairs on our heads, not one of them shall be permitted to fall without His will." He felt that a time had come for the Moravians to supremely demonstrate that they believed what they professed and taught and to let God take care of the result. It is recorded how one went away convinced of the truth and begged permission to bring his family to Bethlehem if the time came when they must flee.
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.