USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 4
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The deputy referred to by Penn was his cousin, William Markham, who came over in 1681. On July 15, 1682, he made a treaty with the Indians for lands along the Delaware river. Penn arrived in the province on October 27, 1682, and before the end of that year held the "Great Treaty" at Shakamaxon. That treaty marked the beginning of a course in dealing with the Indians of which Cyrus Thomas, in the Eighteenth Annual Report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, says: "The task of writing up in general terms the policy of Pennsyl- vania during its colonial history is a pleasant one, first, because it seldom varied, so far as it related to its lands, front that consistent with honor and justice ; and, second, because it was so uniform that a comparatively brief statement will suffice to present all that is necessary to be said."
Penn returned to England in 1684, but before his departure he took steps for the purchase of lands on the Susquehanna river from the Five Nations of Indians, who had conquered the native tribes. The Five Nations lived in New York and Penn engaged Thomas Dongan, then governor of that province, to negotiate the purchase of "all that tract of land lying on both sides of the river Susquehanna and the lakes adjacent, in or near the Province of Pennsylvania." Governor Dongan made the purchase and conveyed the lands to Penn on January 13, 1696, for one hundred pounds sterling. Some of the Indians refused to confirm the transaction, and upon Penn's return to the colony he concluded articles of agreement with the Susquehanna and other tribes on April 23, 1701, in which they acknowledged the validity of the Dongan deed. The lands on the west side of the river were still claimed by the Five Nations, however, until 1736. In the summer of that year a great council was held by the tribes in New York and the sachems and head men were authorized to go to Philadelphia and adjust all claims and demands. Accordingly, on October 11, 1736, twenty-three chiefs of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Dela- ware and Shawnee tribes made a deed to John, Thomas and Richard Penn, conveying to them "all the said river Susquehanna with the lands
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lying on both sides thereof, to extend eastward as far as the heads of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna, and all lands lying on the west side of the said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of said river, northward, up the same to the hills or mountains, called in the language of said nations, Tayamentasachta, and by the Delaware Indians the Kekachtannin hills."
Prior to that time a few adventurous characters had penetrated into the region west of the Susquehanna and established trading posts. As early as 1704 James Le Tort, Joseph Jessup, Peter Bazalian, Martin Chartier and Nicholas, all Frenchmen, or in the employ of the French, were trading with the Indians along the Susquehanna and passing via of the Juniata valley and Kittaning Point to the Great Indian rendezvous at the head of the Ohio river. In January, 1705, John Harris received a license from the commissioners of property to "seat himself on the Susquehanna, and to erect such buildings as are necessary for his trade." In 1733 he received a patent for three hundred acres of land where the city of Harrisburg now stands. James Le Tort located at Carlisle in 1720 and traded with the Indians as far west as the Allegheny river. Two years later "William Wilkins was one hundred and fifty miles up the Susquehanna trading for his master, John Cartlidge. Edmund Cartlidge, Henry Baly and Jonah Davenport also traded between the Susquehanna and Allegheny rivers as early as 1727. John Petty and Henry Smith were trading with the Indians in the vicinity of Shamokin in 1728, and probably for some time before that date.
The first historical mention of the Juniata valley is found in the records of a council held in Philadelphia on July 3, 1727, with the chiefs of the Five Nations, who requested "That there may be no settle- ments made up the Sasquehannah higher than Pextan (John Harris' settlement where Harrisburg now is), and that none of the settlers thereabouts be suffered to sell or keep any rum there, for that being the road by which their people go out to war, they are apprehensive of mischief if they meet with liquor in these parts. They desire also, for the same reasons, that none of the traders be allowed to carry any rum into the remoter parts where James Le Tort trades-that is, Allegany on the branch of the Ohio. And this they desire may be taken notice of, as the mind of the chiefs of all the Five Nations, for it is all those nations that now speak by them to all our people."
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To this request, which was rendered in English by Madame Montour as interpreter, Governor Patrick Gordon replied as follows :
"We have not hitherto allowed any settlement to be made above Pextan, but, as the young people grow up, they will spread of course, yet it will not be very speedily. The Governor, however, will give or- ders to them all to be civil to those of the Five Nations as they pass that way, though it would be better if they would pass Sasquehannah above the mountains. And the sale of rum shall be prohibited both there and at Alegany; but the woods are so thick and dark we can not see what is done in them. The Indians may stave any rum they find in the woods, but, as has been said, they must not drink or carry any away."
From the beginning it was Penn's policy to prevent the white people from encroaching upon the Indian domain. To this end it was ordered on October 14, 1700, "That if any person presumes to buy any land of the natives within the limits of this province and territories without leave from the proprietary thereof every such purchase shall be void and of no effect." Penn's death occurred in England on July 30, 1718, and in time the above order was found to be insufficient to restrain ambitious persons from buying, or attempting to buy, lands from the Indians. Not infrequently they went on the land and took possession without even the formality of a purchase. To stop this practice the assembly, on October 14, 1729, passed an act much more stringent in its provisions. Up to that time the boundaries of the various tracts of land purchased from the natives had not always been clearly set forth, and in the deed of October II, 1736, seven years later, the western boundary was fixed as "the setting of the sun"-a state- ment which probably meant only that the line was undecided and in- definite. In the treaty of August 22, 1749, by which the Indians ceded to the proprietaries of Pennsylvania a large tract lying between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, the boundaries of the purchase were more clearly defined. These facts are mentioned in this connection for the reason that the intruders called "squatters" often set up as a defense the claim that they did not know they were beyond the limits of the lands sold to the provincial authorities.
During the early negotiations for the lands along and west of the Susquehanna there were two Indians whose influence was powerful in
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preserving friendly relations between the white men and the Indian inhabitants. One of these was Shickalamy and the other was Kishacoquillas (both names are spelled in a variety of ways). Shick- alamy has been described as "the viceroy of the Six Nations, maintain- ing a balance of power between the different tribes and between the Indians and whites, acting as agent of the Iroquois confederacy in all affairs of state and war." When the white men first came in contact with him he was living on the west side of the Susquehanna a few miles south of Lewisburg, at a place known for a long time as "Shickalamy's Old Town." Later he removed to Sunbury, where he continued to reside until his death in April, 1749. He never drank enough "fire-water" to become intoxicated-if he drank at all-and was received into the Moravian church. He had his two sons baptized, calling one John Petty, after the trader of that name, and the other James Logan, after the provincial secretary. Shickalamy was a de- scendant of the ancient tribe known as the Minequas, Susquehannocks or Conestogas, but was regarded as a chief of the Oneidas. His son, Logan, was a Cayuga chief, owing to the Indian custom that all positions of rank or power descended through the female line. Logan became renowned in history as "the Mingo chief" and a spring of fine water in Mifflin county still bears his name. Upon the death of Shickalamy he was succeeded by his son, John Taghnaghdoarus, who was one of the signers of the deed of July 6, 1754.
Kishacoquillas was a Shawnee chief and is first mentioned in the fall of 1731 by James Le Tort and Jonah Davenport, in connection with the operations of one Cavalier, an agent of the French, who was operat- ing among the Indians in the Juniata valley. Their report contains the names and brief descriptions of two Indian towns upon the Juniata river, to wit:
"Ohesson upon Choniata, distant from Sasquehanna 60 miles; Shawanese, 20 families, 60 men, chief, Kissikahquelas.
"Assunnepachla upon Choniata, distant about 100 miles by water and 50 by land from Ohesson ; Delawares, 12 families, 36 men."
Those who have investigated the subject most carefully agree that Ohesson was at the mouth of the Kishacoquillas creek on the site now occupied by the borough of Lewistown, and that Assunnepachla was
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where Frankstown, Blair county, is now located. There is no authentic account of any other Indian towns or settlements along the Juniata.
Professor A. L. Guss says of Kishacoquillas : "He appears to have been one of the more decent and peaceable of the turbulent and treacherous Shawnees." He remained loyal to the proprietary govern- ment when most of his own tribe and the Delawares went over to the French in a body and no inducements could cause him to lift the hatchet against the friends or supporters of Father Onas, as the Indians called William Penn. He died in August, 1754, at the Half Falls on the Susquehanna, and the following May Colonel John Armstrong gave the name of Kishacoquillas to the valley in which the old chief lived until a short time before his death.
By the treaty of 1749 the boundary between the white man's posses- sions and the Indian lands was fixed at the Keckacktany or Blue moun- tains, also called the Endless hills, north and west of which the lands belonged to the Indians. In the spring of that year, some months before the treaty was made, a number of adventurous white men crossed over the Endless hills with the intention of establishing homes upon the Indian hunting grounds. William White, George and William Galloway, David Huddleston, George Cahoon and a few others were located on the Juniata, in what is now Juniata county; Simon Girty (father of the noted renegade), James and Thomas Parker, James Murray, Richard Kirkpatrick, John Cowan and several others settled about the same time on Sherman's creek in Perry county; Robert Hagg, Samuel Bigham, James and John Grey settled in the Tuscarora valley, and along the west side of the Susquehanna between Penn's creek and the mouth of the Juniata there were several small settlements of squatters. A few had found their way to the vicinity of Aughwick, Huntingdon county. Lytle says :
"In the spring of 1749, as early as the month of April, more than thirty families had settled west of the Kittatinny, and more were coming daily, some of them to the head waters of the Juniata, along the path that led to Ohio. In February, 1750, according to the statement of Governor Hamilton, they had reached the foot of the Allegheny moun- tains."
Both the Six Nations and the Delawares protested against this encroachment upon their lands and demanded the expulsion of the
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squatters. They also suggested that a few trustworthy persons be stationed west of the mountains, with authority from the governor to remove any trespasser who might attempt to locate upon the forbidden ground. In order to prevent an open rupture between the Indians and the provincial authorities, the latter deemed it necessary to take some decisive action. A proclamation from the government, carried to the intruders by Conrad Weiser, had been disregarded, and in May, 1750, Richard Peters, the provincial secretary, accompanied by the undersheriff and justices of the newly established county of Cumberland, went to enforce the commands of the proclamation. Along the Juniata, in the Sherman's creek and Tuscarora valleys, at Aughwick and in other places the squatters were driven out and their cabins burned. At Aughwick Peter Falconer, Samuel Perry, John Charleton and Nicholas De Long were placed under bonds to appear at the next county court at Shippensburg and to remove with their families from the Indian domain. Charleton's cabin was burned. Near the line between Hunt- ingdon and Fulton counties the destruction wrought by the expedition was so great that the place still bears the name of "Burnt Cabins." In his report, Peters gives as a reason for the burning of the dwellings that, if they were not destroyed, they would tempt the trespassers to return again, or encourage others to come and occupy them. In his report he also makes mention of Frederick Star and two or three other Germans having been driven from the Juniata in 1743.
In the meantime several traders had been licensed to carry on a traffic with the Indians west of the Endless hills. George Croghan, an Irishman by birth and a conspicuous character on the frontier in early days, was given his trader's license in 1744. Four years later he purchased land and became a resident of Cumberland county. In 1750 he was one of the magistrates of that county and accompanied Secretary Peters in his visits to the squatters. Soon after that he removed to Aughwick (now Shirleysburg), where he continued to reside for several years. He appears to have been always on friendly terms with the Indians, for at a conference held at Carlisle in 1753 the Indians requested that any presents intended for them should be sent to "George Croghan's house at Juniata."
John Hart also received a trader's license in 1744 and established a "feeding and lodging place" where the borough of Alexandria, Hunt-
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ingdon county, is now located. He did not effect a permanent settle- ment, however, but his place gave name to the Hartslog valley. The Indians did not resent the presence of such men as Croghan and Hart, for the traders never cleared off the timber and drove away the game as did the squatters.
Another active trader of this period was John (commonly called Jack) Armstrong. Most of his trade was with the Indians living along the Susquehanna above Peter's mountain, but it appears that he also traded with the Delawares in the Juniata valley. Some time in the year 1744 Armstrong and two of his assistants, James Smith and Woodworth Arnold, were foully murdered at the place known as Jack's narrows, in Huntingdon county. According to the story of the old chief, Shickalamy, the deed was committed by a Delaware Indian named Musemeelin, who owed Armstrong some skins, for which the trader seized a horse and a rifle belonging to Musemeelin to hold as security for the payment of the debt. This so incensed the Indian that, accompanied by two young men under the pretense of going on a bear hunt, he followed Armstrong and his two companions to the narrows, where he killed all three, the two young Indians taking no part in the murder.
There is a somewhat fanciful story of an eccentric character called Captain Jack, who, about the time of Armstrong's murder, or shortly afterward, took up his residence in the Aughwick valley. He has been described as "a man of almost herculean proportions, with extremely swarthy complexion." By some he was supposed to be a half-breed Indian and by others a quadroon. Upon returning home from one of his hunting excursions he found his wife and two children murdered and his cabin reduced to ashes. From that time he avoided the habita- tions of civilized man, lived in caves or hollow logs, and devoted his life to avenging his wrongs by killing every Indian he could find. His peculiar mode of living and his daring deeds inspired the savages with terror and gained for him such names as the "Black Hunter," "Black Rifle," "Wild Hunter of the Juniata," etc. Not only did he become a terror to the Indians, but he also won the confidence of the settlers, who offered him the command of a company organized for their mutual protection. He accepted the command, but as the company was organized without the sanction of the provincial government, it took
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the name of "Captain Jack's Hunters." Skilled marksmen, used to the frontier, clad in rough but serviceable hunting shirts, leathern leggings and moccasins, they scoured the hills and vales, and no doubt sent many an Indian to his "happy hunting grounds." What became of Captain Jack is uncertain. Says Lytle: "His exploits, if they could be correctly described, would perhaps be a proper subject for history, but so much has been written concerning them that is purely fictitious that it is impossible to separate the false from the true."
Many persons believe that Jack's mountain and Jack's narrows derive their names from this peculiar individual, but John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, who was contemporary with Captain Jack, speaks of the narrows as "Jack Armstrong's narrows, so called from his being there murdered."
The driving out of the squatters and the burning of their cabins in the spring of 1750 was, in the main, ineffectual, either in checking the immigration to the Indian lands or in bringing satisfaction and contentment to the savages. In fact, some of the first settlers had not been molested by Secretary Peters and his party, and this encouraged others to cross the mountains and establish themselves in the Indian country. James Patterson settled near the present town of Mexico, Juniata county, in 1751, only a year after the trespassers had been driven out, and cleared land on both sides of the river. Egle says: "Patterson held his lands in defiance of the provincial government and the cowardly redskins until 1755, when the Indians ceased to visit his settlement to barter furs and venison for rum and tobacco, and instead began to prowl around painted for war, and armed with rifles, tomahawks and knives."
It is related of Patterson that he adopted a novel method of inspiring the Indians with fear. In front of his house he kept a target leaning against a tree. Whenever he saw a party of Indians approaching he would step to the door and fire a few shots at the target, the center of which was fairly riddled with bullets. The Indians would examine the target and estimate the distance-probably 150 yards-then shrug their shoulders with an "Ugh!" which indicated their intention to keep beyond the range of his deadly rifle. Patterson's marksmanship obtained for him among the Delawares the name of "Big Shot."
In a few instances persons were allowed to settle upon the forbidden
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lands with the consent, if not with the actual connivance, of the provincial authorities. One case of this nature was that of Andrew Montour, a half-breed and brother of Catharine Montour, the well known Indian interpreter. After repeated applications for permission to live somewhere beyond the Blue hills, Montour received from Governor Hamilton a commission, dated April 18, 1752, authorizing him to "settle and reside upon the Indians' land, in any place he should consider most convenient and central, and to prevent the lands from being settled upon by others, and to warn off all who presume to locate there; also to report to the government the names of such as did locate, that they might be prosecuted."
Montour located in what is now Perry county, on a tract of land between Landisburg and Loysville, and near the little stream that still bears the name of Montour's run. In the same year that he received his commission several white men came into the Kishacoquillas valley, in what is now Mifflin county, looking for locations, and most of them became permanent settlers. Among them were the five McNitt brothers, William Brown, Samuel Maclay and James Reed, whose wife was the first white woman in that locality.
In 1753 William Patterson, John and Joseph Scott, James Kennedy, Alexander Roddy, Thomas Wilson and a few others were located in the Sherman valley, not far from Montour's place, but there is no evidence to show that Montour performed the duties required by his commission, either by warning these men that they were trespassers or lodging information with the government that would insure their prosecution On the other hand, he brought his brother-in-law, William Dason, into the valley and gave him a farm, as shown by an affidavit of William Patterson some years later.
Peter Shaver (or Cheaver) had been engaged in trade with the Indians for some years and settled near the mouth of Shaver's creek, in Huntingdon county, at a date not definitely known, but supposed to have been in the spring of 1754. Some years later his headless body was found near his residence, but the cause of his death has always remained a mystery. Other settlers came upon the Indian lands in the early part of 1754, regardless of the rights of the Indians or the attitude of the provincial government. Most of them were of that sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which is noted for determination. Unafraid of the
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dangers of the wilderness or the hostility of the savage natives, but attracted by the fertile valleys along the Juniata, they resolved to found homes there at all hazards. Professor Guss says :
"These continued aggressions of the white people, and their ap- parent determination to disregard the rights of the Indians at what- ever hazard, greatly incensed the latter, who, at a treaty council, held at Carlisle in 1753, very plainly expressed their views on the subject, entering their vigorous protest against this unjustifiable occupation of their hunting grounds, and notifying the authorities that they wished the people called back from the Juniata lands until matters were settled between them and the French, lest damage should be done, and then the English would think ill of them.'"
The latter part of the above quotation refers to the machinations of the French agents among the Delawares, Shawnees and other tribes that claimed the Juniata valley as a hunting ground. For years these Indians had been in friendly intercourse with the French along the Ohio river, and were gradually yielding to their overtures of an alliance. They accepted the presents from the English, given to them for the purpose of drawing them away from the French, but finally went over to the latter in a body. Five years after the cabins of the squatters had been burned at the solicitation of these "children of the forest," they went over the same ground with torch, scalping-knife and toma- hawk, mingling the blood of their victims with the ashes of the frontier dwellings, and all this notwithstanding they had relinquished their title to the lands. It was simply another case of the untutored native being swayed by the stronger will of designing white men. In the struggles between the nations of Europe the Indian was frequently made the cat's-paw to draw the chestnuts of a rich trade in furs or the possession of valuable territory from the fire for the benefit of ungrateful masters. Had the Indians of the Juniata valley been left to themselves, it is quite probable that some understanding could have been reached by which amicable relations could have been continued, but under the influence of the French a crisis was reached in 1754 that made it advisable on the part of the English to purchase the lands lying west of the Endless hills.
Accordingly, a council assembled at Albany, New York, early in
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July, 1754, and on the 6th of that month a treaty was concluded by the execution of the following deed :
"Henry Peters, Abraham Peters, Blandt, Johannes Satfyhowano, Johannes Kanadakayon, Abraham Sastagrhedolly, sachems or chiefs of the Mohawk nation; Aneeghnaxqua, Taraghorus, Tohaghdaghquyserry, alias Kachneghdackon, sachems or chiefs of the Oneydo nation; Otsin- ughyada, alias Blunt, in behalf of himself and all the sachems and chiefs of the Onondago nation; Scanuraty, Tannaghdorus, Tokaaiyon, Kaghradodon, sachems or chiefs of the Cayuga nation; Kahichdonon, alias Groote Younge, Takeghsata, Tiyonenkokaraw, sachems or chiefs of the Seneca nation; Suntrughwackon, Sagochsidodagon, Tohashut- wangarus Orontakayon, alias John Nixon, Tistoaghton, sachems or chiefs of the Tuscarora nation, in consideration of four hundred pounds (£400) lawful money of New York, grant and convey to Thomas and Richard Penn all the lands lying within the province of Pennsylvania, bounded and limited as follows, namely : Beginning at the Kittochtinny or Blue Hills, on the west branch of the Susquehanna river, and thence by the said river a mile above the mouth of a certain creek called Kayarondinhagh; thence northwest and by west as far as the province of Pennsylvania extends to its western lines or boundaries; thence along the said western line to the south line or boundary of said province ; thence along the said south line or boundary to the south side of the Kittochtinny hills, thence by the south side of said hills to the place of beginning."
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