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 36
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Amid the deserted cabins on the east side, only Shebosh remained a while to watch for any members of the Indian congregation who might yet be hiding near-by and, seeing him there, might venture to approach. On November 27, Anton Schmidt returned from the Mahoning where, with the assistance of some neighbors, he had hastily made a coffin in which he placed the body of Fabricius, with such charred remains of the others as he could collect, and buried it in a corner of the garden, where the little cemetery of the place had been opened.6
6 The foregoing narrative is compiled from a careful collation of all extant original accounts, correcting inaccuracies of some of the many printed accounts, supplying some points lacking in others, and giving all the authentic particulars that would be found by exam- ining all of them. This massacre ended Indian mission work there. The place lay neglected until 1771, when it became the center of a white congregation, composed of members of the two defunct congregations, Allemaengel (note 4) and Sichem, Duchess County, N. Y.,
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The remaining weeks of that year were a period of much anxiety at Bethlehem and those who were at the head of affairs and respon- sible for the policy and measures adopted were under a severe strain. Each succeeding day revealed more clearly the great peril in which the settlement, with the stations on the Nazareth land, stood, especially the most exposed outposts, Friedensthal and the Rose Inn. At these Moravian places the dam would have to be built to hold back the devastating flood, if it was not to rush down unhin- dered over the entire lower country. Between this point and Phila- delphia there was not another place at which a sufficient population could be concentrated, with the same degree of order and self-pos- session, of unity and discipline, to make a stand and present a front against the savage on-rush. Above these places no power or even show of resistance remained. There was no rallying-ground for the people, no spot at which there was even enough of a compact mass of buildings to suggest the centering of any strength. When the reign of terror opened along the Blue Mountains, the people who escaped rushed, utterly demoralized and panic-stricken, down the country, and the Moravian places were the first at which there seemed enough prospect of being able to stand, to make it worth while to stop. Therefore, the extreme importance of baffling the
the region of the original Indian mission which furnished the nucleus of Gnadenhuetten in 1746. In 1783 the first recorded formal attention was paid to the grave of these martyrs, when that white congregation gathered around it to observe the Easter matins. In 1786, the Rev. John Frederick Moehring, minister there, addressed the executive authorites at Bethlehem in reference to placing a memorial stone on the spot -a thing spoken of before. Finally, on December 10, 1788, the slab that yet lies there, with its simple but impressive inscription was placed on the grave. The monument at the head of it was provided through the exertions of descendants of Martin and Susanna Nitschmann, and set in place, August 7, 1848, the centennial anniversary of the first Indian interment at Gnadenhuetten. The credit for again rescuing the sacred spot from oblivion, more than thirty years after the dissolution of the white congregation of Gnadenhuetten, belongs mainly to the late Joseph Leibert, of Bethlehem, whose wife was a grand-daughter of the Nitschmanns.
With brief biographical sketches of those martyrs appended to the Bethlehem diary for November, 1755, is a parentation or elegy in Latin, by Christian Wedsted, the companion of the gifted Fabricius, who went with him to Gnadenhuetten, June 28, 1754, to study Indian languages. The composition is entitled :
In Fratres Sororesque beatae memoriae quos ut sacrificium pro nobis Salvator noster Deusque, T. O. M. Sibi Mahoniae offerri passus est, Die xxiv, Nov. clolocclv.
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savages at these points, which had now become the frontier posts, was realized. At Easton there was less at that time to inspire con- fidence among the panic-stricken refugees from the upper country, or to offer resistance. If the savages broke through the Moravian lines, there seemed to be nothing left, as some expressed it, but to "rush on before them into the sea, for the water was preferable to the tomahawk, the scalping-knife and the torch." And yet there were, at the time of the outbreak, probably not fifty guns among all the Moravians at Bethlehem and Nazareth combined. Some of the Moravian wood-men and farmers went hunting occasionally, not for sport-they had no time for that-but to supplement their provision- store in seasons of scarcity ; and guns were sometimes taken along on journeys through the forest to secure needed food. Beyond this they had no use for fire-arms.
The people from the mountains who fled to the Moravians for refuge did not come supplied with arms and ammunition. They came empty- handed, hungry, many of them half naked-men without coats or hats, women and children who had rushed from their beds at dead of night, many with only the clothing they slept in and blankets or quilts hastily thrown around them, some bare-footed. These people knew, furthermore, that the Moravians were "not fighting people," that they deprecated warfare and would have nothing to do with military drill. It was the talk of the country, and many a jest on the subject, at their expense, had excited merriment around the fires of back- woods cabins, even while the wicked stories about their secreting arms and ammunition for the use of the "French Indians" were discussed, without appreciating the inconsistency of laying these incongruous things to their charge at the same time.
What course should now be pursued by the Moravian leaders in this dire exigency? Here was a body of men trained only to peaceful thoughts and employments ; a large number of defenceless women quartered in several buildings ; a host of helpless, innocent children to be protected; troops of terror-stricken people from the back country rushing in to seek refuge with them; the fate of extensive regions in the lower country turning upon the question whether the fiendish hordes on the war-path could be kept behind Bethlehem and Nazareth or not. Either of two extremes could be taken. One was to abandon the principles they had been cultivating, cast their profession of trust in God to the winds under a severe test, as mere "fair-weather talk," and let the demoralized people about them
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conclude that there was nothing back of it at last, by turning Bethle- hem into a fort and centering the militia here as headquarters, and then perhaps go back to their principles when danger was past. The other extreme was to pursue the course of fatuous fanaticism ; load no guns, adopt no measures of defence, post no guards, and simply say we are the Lord's people and He will protect us. Some expected and urged them to do the first. Others supposed they would do the second, because they regarded them as religious fanatics and could not understand their principles to mean anything else than this. The Moravians were too sincere and consistent to pursue the first course, and had better mettle than to be stampeded into suddenly turning the town into a garrison in the panic. On the other hand, they had too much sense to pursue the other course. They were not fanatics, but intelligent men who could combine religion and com- mon-sense.
We are not "Kriegerisch" (disposed to fight). We are not "Quäker- isch" (of Quaker mind). This in homely, laconic style, expressed their position at that juncture. They would not organize for aggres- sive activity against the savages, but, on the other hand, they would not fail to adopt every measure required to defend the town, and, if it came to the most desperate pass, would, of course, resort to arms to protect those who were dependent upon them. They thought, too, that, as things were, they would do all that could be expected in merely maintaining a defence. They were sufficiently clear and well- balanced in their conception of the relative importance of the several classes of religious scruples, principles and duties, to realize that singling out not taking up arms, as the one supreme standard, to be stubbornly held under all circumstances, could in some emergencies be regarded as not only fanaticism but criminal folly, as much as if a man refused to take active measures against a conflagration, out of religious scruples. They were, moreover, not housed in com- fortable homes, at a safe distance from the imperiled frontiers, as were most of those who in the Assembly were delaying the legislation needed to provide for adequate defences and, with exasperating calmness, saying, "I told you so," when the tales of horror began to come in; or, what was yet more trying to the harassed people on the frontiers, as well as to those in Philadelphia who clamored for harbor defences, were, under the lead of astute politicians, employing dilatory tactics and quibbling about the formalities and technicalities of pro- cedure, in order to press concessions from the Proprietary govern-
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ment under the strain of this extremity, on quite other and more remote questions, while they and the Governor went on wrangling, each trying to make the situation of advantage against the other. The Moravians were facing the storm on the frontier with the men who were besieging the Assembly with demands for defence. They did not share the feeling, but had as much reason to as many who expressed it, that they would like to force the parties in the Assembly who were pursuing this course to move up on the frontier between their homes and the savages.
Even in this matter, the Moravian blood that was shed on the Mahoning was a sacrifice for the public good, for it expedited the official action that was so urgently needed. On that very day, November 24, on which the massacre occurred, Governor Morris sent a message to the Assembly announcing a donation of £5000 from the Proprietaries in England for the benefit of Pennsylvania, sent upon the receipt of his communication to them in reference to the probable effects of the disaster to the British forces in July. With this announcement he said to the Assembly: "Upon this occasion, gentlemen, I must again recommend to you to lay aside all disputes and to grant such supplies in addition to what the Proprietaries have given, as his Majesty's service and the present exigencies of the Province require." The same day a remonstrance was addressed by the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of Philadelphia to the Assembly, urging them in the strongest terms to "postpone all disputes to a more seasonable time," and to grant the necessary supplies and "pass a reasonable law in order to collect and regulate the force of the Province for repelling the present cruel invasion." This donation from the Proprietaries did much to further action, for an equivalent in lieu of taxes on the Proprietary estates-the chronic subject of controversy-was now made available in a manner which enabled the, Proprietaries to maintain, for the time being, their contention and constrained the Assembly to waive theirs. Yet the latter pursued a method humiliating to the Governor. They made the disbursement of funds voted by them so specific that the Gover- nor could not, as some professed to think he would, under the general head of the public service, divert any of the sum to salary and other expenses, which the Assembly was withholding in the quarrel. They also put the administration of such funds into the hands of Commis- sioners nominated by them and not into the hands of the Governor. The sensitive pride of the Governor might again have proved an
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obstruction, for he was disposed to withhold his signature from the Assembly's bill, appropriating £60,000 for defences, on account of this affront to him as Proprietary representative. Just at this point, the blood of the martyrs on the Mahoning cried to him to let this pass and to occasion no further delay. Justice Horsfield's letter to Justice Parsons of Easton, Proprietary agent, announcing the massacre, forwarded by Parsons, with a pathetic appeal for help in the great distress, to Secretary Peters, came before the Governor and Council on November 26, at the very session in which they had the Assembly's bill under consideration. The offence taken at the mode of procedure and the form of the bill was noted, but, in consideration of the "distressed state of the Province" and "the imminent danger" it was concluded to suggest to the Governor to sign it without further ado, and through Peters, he signified to the Assembly his readiness to do so. He signed it the next day, and thus the important action, upon which the possibility to do anything for the defence of the frontier depended, was consummated three days after the "French Indians," by murdering those Moravians on the Mahoning, convinced the public that Bethlehem was not a "nest of conspirators" in league with them.
The day on which the bill was signed, November 27, Bishop Spangenberg wrote to William Edmonds, the Moravian Assembly- man who had been elected in the place of James Burnside, deceased, presenting those features of the situation which called for the attention of the Assembly, as they appeared to him. He set forth the futility of the demonstrations being made by the undisciplined and excited rangers who "meant it well," but were accomplishing nothing. He said : "They don't understand Indian war, which is hunting of devils. They come in companies, beating of their drums and making a noise, that the Indians may hear it and so run away. They are, besides, ignorant of the woods, and the Indians, by their subtile arts, can draw them into dangerous places where they will surround them, and standing behind trees, will kill them, every one on the spot." Spangenberg further says in this letter, "We will stay where we are, for if we should give way, the whole county lies open before them, and there is not one place between here and Germantown where they will be stopped. The whole country knows this very well, and there- fore they think it needful by all means to stand in defence of Beth- lehem. The Indians, if they pass Bethlehem and Nazareth, can be followed and overtaken by the Brethren, but if they once have done
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with Bethlehem and Nazareth, they will fall down upon the scattered plantations like a rapid stream. * * I think the best way is to keep guard and proper watches day and night; and besides that to search the woods and take up every fellow that under pretense of hunting, lies skulking and watching the best opportunity of cutting people's throats, or of killing them with flames, guns, knives, hatchets, most barbarously, just as he can." He suggests three general ideas, as a plan of precaution, instead of the desultory roaming of the militia through the woods. One was the erection of a series of small stone forts, bullet-proof, with a garrison of about fifty men to range about each. Another was the concentration of people in the towns and villages, where, with a larger number together, a better system of watch, day and night, could be maintained by having enough men to alternate without exhaustion. The third was to build stockades at such places, within which to gather the women and children. Edmonds was asked to consult with Charles Brockden and others in an effort to get an act through the Assembly "to erect Gnadenhuetten as well as Bethlehem and Nazareth into corpor- ations," in order to make all official regulations about an authorized guard, as recognized by the civil authorities, applicable to the three places.
At the time of writing, he yet hoped to preserve the Indian mission houses of new Gnadenhuetten on the east side of the river from destruction, and, if a proper garrison, for which he had asked, were at once sent there, to be able to transfer the Indian congregation, now at Bethlehem, back to their village.
In a letter written the next day to Charles Brockden of Phila- delphia, to the same general purport he says, "I can't but expect that you will do your utmost and use all your influence which you have in the world to assist us in a time so very critical. There is not one day nor night without most imminent danger, and the only thing we can do is to keep close to our Saviour." Of Timothy Horsfield he gives this testimony: "Br. Horsfield, who from morning till night is crowded with people-for all come to him, and I dare say that more than a thousand men have passed and repassed Bethlehem this week-acts like a man full of prudence and heartiness. I don't know what would become of the people (i. e., from the country) if they had not somebody to speak manlike to them. For they are not only almost frightened out of their wits, but are also without such commanders as the present circumstances seem to require."
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The following day, November 30, an address to Governor Morris, drawn up for the Gnadenhuetten Indians who had fled to Bethlehem, rendered to them in their own several dialects-there were Dela- wares, Mohicans, Monseys and Wampanoags among them-adopted by them and attested with the tribal marks of thirteen of their principal men affixed to their respective written names, was sent by express to the Justices of Northampton County for approval, to be then forwarded to Philadelphia. In concluding the address, they declare : "None of us have any hand in the abominable murders lately committed by the Indians, but we abhor and detest them. It is our desire, seeing that we are persuaded that our lives will be principally sought after, to put ourselves as children under the pro- tection of this Government. We cannot say otherwise but that we are entirely devoted to the English Government and wish success and prosperity to their arms against their and our enemies. We hope that our Honorable Governor will give us a gracious answer to this our humble petition, and provide for our future welfare and security."
In his reply of December 4, the Governor promised them protection and a fort at Gnadenhuetten-according to Spangenberg's sug- gestion-assured them that he did not suspect them of any part "in the late mischief," commiserated their losses and intimated that they were entitled to relief, stated his intention to have a conference with the friendly Indians, and desired them to remain where they were-to all of which he stood pledged under "the Lesser Seal of the Province." With this address of the Indians, Spangenberg had written a letter to the Justices, drawing their attention to the importance of holding these Indians together and protecting them, as men who at that time "could do the government the greatest service." He adds the following: "I cannot help letting you know that Gnadenhuetten is of as great importance to our government as Shamokin; for if that place be not secured, not only all the settlers who live beyond the Blue Mountains must be going from their houses and farms, but the Indians can run down with freshes in a few hours into any part of the Forks; yea, quite down to Philadelphia. If the Government should think well to build a fort there, we will give of the land we have there, ten acres, for that purpose, in a place which can command the Lehigh and a great way on all sides. If they choose our offer, they must needs keep a guard there, before the houses (on the east side) and mill are burned down; which can be of great service to
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them at first while they are building a fort." He then refers to the corn of the Gnadenhuetten Indians yet stored there, the undesir- ability of leaving it to the enemy and states that "twelve wagons, may be, would fetch it." This letter was forwarded to Philadelphia with an endorsement, urging the importance of the matters set forth, dated November 30, and signed by the Justices Parsons, Horsfield, Craig and Wilson.
At the same time Spangenberg wrote to Secretary Peters, setting forth more at length the great importance of fortifying Gnaden- huetten, as follows: "I have considered that if Gnadenhuetten is emptied and left to the enemy, it may prove the ruin not only of all the settlements lying along the Lecha and Delaware, but also of Philadelphia. For troops may be marched from Wyomik to Gnaden- huetten in one day, and if they take possession thereof, they can run down with freshes in six hours to Bethlehem, and from thence to Philadelphia in one night. I have therefore mentioned this matter to the Magistrates of this County, and have represented unto them the great calamity which could be brought upon the whole country by the loss of that part of the Province. The situation of the hill which joins Gnadenhuetten is so extraordinary for a fort, that gentlemen of judgment who have seen it are of the opinion there could be no better. It lies on the road which comes from Wyomik, and commands not only the Lecha a great way, but all sides, up and down, before and behind. If the French once come and build there a fort, it will cost as much, if I am not mistaken, as the taking of Crown Point, to get it out of their hands. For if they put a garrison in the Gaps of the mountain, and make there also a fortification you cannot come at them at all with any great guns. But they can at pleasure come down, both by land and water, and over-run all plan- tations, not only on the other side of the Blue Mountain, but on this side also." Then he repeats the offer of land for such a fort and adds that there were "at least fifteen little habitable block houses," and that it would "be good to send up men before the enemy either burned or took them."
When that letter reached Philadelphia, the first steps towards the defence of the frontiers had at last been taken, and the Commissioners were preparing to begin operations. Benjamin Franklin, the prin- cipal man among them, was satisfied, for the time-being, with the results of the diplomatic sparring with the Governor which he-then already, with far-sightedness planning to anticipate the decadence of
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the Proprietary Government as an obsolete relic of feudalism-had mainly steered, using the anti-war and anti-Proprietor Quaker con- tingent of the Assembly as a constituency. Now he hastened to make good the dissatisfaction and even resentment occasioned by the delay, among the citizens of the frontier neighborhoods, by vigorously pushing the plan of defences. Bishop Spangenberg's strong presentation of the Gnadenhuetten plan bore fruit, for, as the Governor intimated in his reply to the Indians, that point was at once recognized as one of great strategic value, and selected as the site of one of the chain of forts to be constructed "along the Kittatiny Mountains, from the Delaware to the Maryland border."
On December 19, Franklin, commissioned as Lieutenant General, with James Hamilton and Joseph Fox, two other of the Commis- sioners, arrived at Bethlehem, to proceed with this enterprise. They ' took quarters at the Crown Inn. They were followed by others, in the evening, with a large guard, in addition to that of fifty which earlier in the day had escorted the Bethlehem wagon from Phila- delphia, so that "about a hundred and fifty men were gathered at the tavern." It was high time for action. The savages had been growing bolder in their forays. The awful massacres at Hoeth's and the Brodhead settlements, December 10, had left that whole region desolate and almost depopulated. On December 12, Hors- field had sent to the Governor the accounts brought to Nazareth of these new horrors and forwarded from there by Nathanael Seidel and John Michael Graff. Depicting the situation at Bethlehem, Horsfield said: "Although our gracious King and Parliament have been pleased to exempt those amongst us of tender conscience from bearing arms, yet there are many among us who make no scruple of defending themselves against such cruel savages. * * * * * But alas !
what can we do, having very few arms and little or no ammunition, and we are now, as it were, the frontier, and as we are circum- stanced, our family (Economy), being so large, it is impossible for us to retire to any other place of security."
The condition of the refugees pouring into Nazareth and Beth- lehem was most pitiable. At the time when the massacre at Hoeth's and Dansbury took place, three wagons were on the way to the latter place to procure grain for Bethlehem. Three miles from their destination they were met by Ephraim Colver and others with a company of half naked women and children. The men driving these wagons immediately took up the poor fugitives and returned to
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