USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the region of Pennsylvania north of the Ohio and west of the Allegheny river, of the Indian purchases, and of the running of the southern, northern, and western state boudaries. Also, an account of the division of the territory for public purposes, and of the lands, laws, titles, settlements, controversies, and litigation within this region > Part 12
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I cannot think that ten acre lots on such pitts and hills will profitably meet with purchasers, un- less like a pig in a poke, it be kept out of view. Would it not be more advantageous to the State if the Legislature would alter the law-that a town and a reasonable number of out-lots, for the accommodation of the town be laid out, the remain- der of the lands be laid out, 200 acre lots fronting on the river, where practicable, and extending back so as to include the hilly and uneven ground, which might be of some use to a farm.
I cannot believe but Col. Lowry and Col. Irwin,
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both members of the Assembly, and who knows the land well, will on consideration be of opinion with me, and that small lots on the sides of those hills can never be of use for any purpose, but as above mentioned. Perhaps council may think pro- per to lay the matter before the Legislature. I shall go on to do the business as soon as the weather will admit; and before I shall have pro- ceeded further than may accord with the plan here proposed, I may have the necessary informa- tion wheather to go on as the law now directs or not. I have the honor to be
Your Excellency's and the
Council's most Obt. Servant,
DAVID REDICK. WASHINGTON, 19th February, 1788.
ADDRESS OF CORNPLANTER, OR CAPTAIN ABEAL, BEFORE THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.1
PHILADELPHIA, Friday, October 29, 1790.
His Excellency Thomas Mifflin, Esq., President; Samuel Miles, Zebulon Potts, Richard Willing, James Martin, Amos Gregg, Lord Butler, and Nathaniel Breading, Esqrs., met in council.
1 16 Col. Rec. 501-506.
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The Cornplanter and the five Indians who accompanied him attended, and made to Council the following representation :-
The Fathers of the Quaker State : O'Beale, or Cornplanter, returns thanks to God for the pleasure he has in meeting you this day with six of his people.
Fathers : Six years ago I had the pleasure of making peace with you, and at that time a hole was dug in the earth, and all contentions between my nation and you ceased and were buried there.
At a treaty then held at Fort Stanwix between the Six Nations of Indians and the Thirteen Fires, three friends from the Quaker State came to me, and treated with me for the purchase of a large tract of land upon the northern boundary of Penn- sylvania, extending from Tioga to Lake Erie, for the use of their warriors. I agreed to the sale of the same, and sold it to them for four thousand dollars. I begged of them to take pity on my nation and not to buy it forever. They said they would purchase it for ever, but they would give me further one thousand dollars in goods when the leaves were ready to fall, and when I found that they were determined to have it, I agreed that they should have it. I then requested, as they were determined to have the land, to permit my people to have the game and hunt upon the same,
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which request they complied with, and promised me to have it put upon record, that I and my people should have that privilege.
Fathers : The Six Nations then requested that another talk might be held with the Thirteen Fires, which was agreed to, and a talk was after- wards held between them at Muskingum. Myself, with three of my chiefs, attended punctually, and were much fatigued in endeavoring to procure the attendance of the other nations, but none of them came to the Council Fire except the Delawares and Wyandots.
Fathers : At the same treaty the Thirteen Fires asked me on which side I would die-whether on their side, or on the side of those nations who did not attend. I replied : Listen to me, Fathers of the Thirteen Fires, I hope you will consider how kind your fathers were treated by our fathers, the Six Nations, when they first came into this coun- try, since which time you have become strong, insomuch that I now call you fathers. In former days, when you were young and weak, I called you brothers, now I call you fathers. Fathers, I hope you will take pity on your children, for now I inform you that I'll die on your side. Now, Fathers, I hope you will make my bed strong.
Fathers of the Quaker State, I speak but little now, but will speak more when the Thirteen Fires
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meet. I will only inform you further, that when I had finished my talk with the Thirteen Fires, General Gibson, who was sent by the Quaker State, came to the Fire and said that the Quaker State had bought of the Thirteen Fires a tract of land extending from the northern boundary of Pennsylvania at the Conewango River to Buffalo Creek on Lake Erie, and thence along the said lake to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania aforesaid. Hearing this I ran to my father and said to him, father, have you sold this land to the Quaker State? and he said he did not know; it might have been done since he came there. I then disputed with Gibson and Butler, who was with him, about the same, and told them I would be satisfied if the line was run from Conewango River through Chatochque Lake, to Lake Erie, for Gibson and Butler had told me that the Quaker State had purchased the land from the Thirteen Fires, but that notwithstanding the Quaker State had given me one thousand dollars in fine prime goods, which were ready for me and my people at Fort Pitt, we then agreed that the line should be run from Conewango River through Chatochque Lake into Lake Erie, and that one-half of the fish in Chatochque Lake should be mine and one-half theirs. They said, as the Quaker State had pur- chased the whole from the Thirteen Fires, that the
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Thirteen Fires must pay back to the Quaker State the value of the remaining lands. When I heard this my mind was at ease, and I was satisfied. I then proposed to give a half a mile square of land upon the line agreed upon to a Mr. Hartshorn, who was an ensign in General Har- mar's army, and to a Mr. Britt, a cadet, who acted as a clerk upon the occasion, and who I well knew by the name of Halftown, for the purpose of their settling there, to prevent any mischief being com- mitted in future upon my people's lands, and I hoped the Quaker State would, in addition thereto, give them another half a mile square on their side of the line, so agreed upon for the same purpose, expecting thereby that the line so agreed upon would be known with sufficient certainty, and that no disputes would thereafter arise between my people and the Quaker State concerning it. I then went to my Father of the Thirteen Fires and told him I was satisfied, and the coals being covered up, I said to my children, you must take your course right through the woods to Fort Pitt. When I was leaving Muskingum my own son, who remained a little while behind to warm himself at the fire, was robbed of a rifle by one of the white men, who I believe to have been a Yankee. My- self, with Mr. Joseph Nicholson and a Mr. Mor- gan, then travelled three days together through
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the wilderness, but the weather being very severe they were obliged to separate from me, and I sent some of my own people along with Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Morgan to conduct them to Wheelen. After I separated from Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Morgan, I had under my charge one hundred and seventy persons of my own nation, consisting of men, women, and children, to conduct through the wilderness, through heaps of briars, and having lost our way we with great difficulty reached Wheelin. When arrived there, being out of pro- vision, I requested a Mr. Zanes to furnish me and my people with beacon and flour to the amount of seventeen dollars, to be paid for out of the goods belonging to me and my people at Fort Pitt. Having obtained my request I proceeded on my journey for Pittsburgh, and about ten miles from Wheelen my party was fired upon by three white people, and one of my people, in the rear of my party, received two shot through his blanket.
Fathers: It was a constant practice with me throughout the whole journey to take great care of my people, and not to suffer them to commit outrages or drink more than what their necessities required. During the whole of my journey only one accident happened, which was owing to the kindness of the people of the town called Catfish,1
1 Washington.
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in the Quaker State, who, while I was talking with the head men of the town, gave to my people more liquor than was proper, and some of them got drunk, which obliged me to continue there with my people all night; and in the night my people were robbed of three rifles and one shot- gun; and though every endeavor was used by the head men of the town, upon complaint made to them, to discover the perpetrators of the robbery, they could not be found ; and on my people com- plaining to me, I told them it was their own faults by getting drunk.
Fathers : Upon my arrival at Fort Pitt I saw the goods, and one hundred of the blankets were all moth-eaten and good for nothing. I was ad- vised not to take the blankets, but the blankets which I and my people then had being all torn by the briars in our passage through the wilderness, we were under the necessity of taking them to keep ourselves warm; and what most surprised me was, that after I had received the goods they extinguished the fire and swept away the ashes ; and having no interpreter there I could talk with no one on the subject. Feeling myself much hurt upon the occasion, I wrote a letter to you, Fathers of the Quaker State, complaining of the injury, but never received any answer. Having waited a considerable time, and having heard that my letter
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got lost, I wrote a second time to you, Fathers of the Quaker State, and then I received an answer.
I am very thankful to have received this answer, and as the answer entreated me to come and speak for myself, I thank God that I have this oppor- tunity. I therefore speak to you as follows: I hope that you, Fathers of the Quaker State, will fix some person at Fort Pitt to take care of me and my people. I wish, and it is the wish of my people, if agreeable to you, that my present inter- preter, Joseph Nicholson, may be the person, as I and my people have a confidence in him, and are satisfied that he will always exert himself to pre- serve peace and harmony between you and us. My reasons for asking an interpreter to be placed there are, that oftentimes when my hunters and people come there, their canoes and other things are stolen, and they can obtain no redress, not having any person there on whom they can rely to interpret for them, and see justice done to them. [Some minor matters follow.]
Fathers : I have now had the pleasure to meet you with six of my people. We have come a great way, by your desire, to talk with you and show to you the many injuries my nation has sustained. It now remains with you to do with me and my people what you please, on account of the present trouble which I and my people have taken for
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your satisfaction, and in compliance with your request.1
ACCOUNT OF FT. MCINTOSH AND OF THE FRENCH FORTS AT PRESQUE ISLE, LE BŒUF, MACHAULT OR VENANGO, AND DU QUESNE.
FORT McINTOSH.
Fort McIntosh being the first advanced post in the Indian territory, the scene of the Indian treaty of 1785, and mentioned in the State reser- vation in the Act of 12th March, 1783, and now the site of Beaver, a town laid out by the State on this reservation, a short account of it will be interesting.
General Lachlan McIntosh, a Georgian, an officer of distinction, and reputed to be well ac- quainted with Indian warfare, was appointed to command, to take the place of General Hand in the west.
On the 29th of May, 1778, he reached Lancaster with the 13th Virginia Regiment. The Sth Penn- sylvania had marched previously. His intention was to march into the Indian country and attack the Indians at home. His first destination was to the towns on the Sandusky.
* The remainder of the speech is omitted.
1
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Writing from Fort Pitt on the 29th of Decem- ber, 1778, he informed Vice-President Bryan of the Supreme Executive Council, that he had erected a good strong fort upon the Indian side of the Ohio, just below Beaver Creek, for the recep- tion and security of prisoners, with barracks for a regiment. It was built late in the autumn of 1778.
In pursuance of his plan he marched to the Tuscarawas, and builded Fort Laurens, below and not far from the present town of Bolivar. By this time it was too late in the season to prosecute his plans, and he returned to Fort Pitt. In the spring of 1779 finding his health broken, and dis- couraged by the difficulties to be overcome, he resigned and returned to Philadelphia in April.
According to General Daniel Broadhead, who succeeded him in command in 1779, General . McIntosh's design (ridiculed by Broadhead) was to March against Detroit.
We have no minute description of Fort McIn- tosh. It was visited in December, 1784, by Arthur Lee, one of the United States Commissioners to treat with the Indians, who says in his journal : "It is built of well-hewed logs, with four bastions. Its figure is an irregular square, the face to the river being longer than the side to the land. It is
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about equal to a square of fifty yards. It is well built and strong against musketry."
From others it is learned the fort was a regular stockade work, defended by six pieces of cannon. Tradition says it had a covered way down the face of the hill in front to a well for water. This is probable, as no living water is found near to it except the river at the base of the hill, which here is about one hundred and thirty feet high from low-water mark.
In 1829, when the writer first saw the site of the fort, the only remains visible were the mounds, indicating where the corner bastions stood, near the top of the hill, overlooking the Ohio, and a swell and a depression running between these mounds, parallel with the river, indicating the front intrenchments. There was also a cobble-stone · pavement, probably fifteen or twenty feet square, in the rear of this intrenchment about one hun- dred and ten or twenty feet. The lower, or south- western, bastion stood near the mouth of the present Market Street. Immediately opposite the fort, on the other side of the Ohio, a long gully cuts the face of the high hill. Down this gully came a well-made military road, laid out from Fort Pitt to Fort McIntosh, by General Broadhead, probably in 1779. At the termination of this road was the ferry, in use when the writer first knew
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this place. This road, still known as the Broad- head Road, yet exists in many parts of its first location.
General Broadhead seems, from his letters, to have had a poor opinion of the fort, as well as of the plans of General McIntosh. In his letter to Major-General Armstrong, of April 16, 1779, after writing of General McIntosh's ambition, and that he swore nothing less than Detroit was his object, he says : " And it was owing to the General's determination to take Detroit that the romantic building called Fort McIntosh was built by hands of hundreds who would rather have fought than wrought."
In another letter he speaks of one thousand men being kept idle while building this fort. Of the fort he said-in a letter of June 5, 1779, in reply to General Washington's order to make it the rendezvous for his troops-" there is neither mea- dow, pasture, or spring-water convenient to this post."
As early as 1783 it seems that the fort had been disused for military purposes. On September 23, 1783, General William Irvine, commandant at Fort Pitt, pursuant to orders from the Council, issued instructions to William Lee and John McClure to take immediate charge of the fort to protect it from depredation.
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In the autumn of 1784 the fort had gone out of repair so much it became necessary to repair it thoroughly for the purpose of treating with the Indians. The treaty was concluded there on the 21st of January, 1785.
Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Harmar, being or- dered from Fort McIntosh to the Muskingum, on the 8th of February, 1785, wrote to President Dickinson : "I beg leave to observe to your Ex- cellency and the Honorable Council, that unless some person is directed to remain here, immediately upon my marching hence, it will be demolished by the emigrants to Kentucky. Previous to my arrival they had destroyed the gates, drawn all the nails from the roofs, taken off all the boards, and plundered it of every article."
April 27, 1785, an order of Council was made for this purpose.
The following officers were at the fort in 1784-5: Josiah Harmar, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding; Walter Finney, David Zeigler, William McCurdy, Captains of Infantry ; Stewart Herbert,' Ercurius Beatty, Thomas Doyle, Lieutenants; John Arm- strong, Andrew Henderson, Ebenezer Denny, En- signs; John McDowell, Surgeon; Richard Allison, Surgeon's Mate; Captain Thomas Douglas and Lieutenant Joseph Ashton, of Artillery.
On the 29th August, 1785, the fort was visited
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by Andrew Ellicott and Andrew Porter, the Pennsylvania Commissioners locating the western boundary of the State. They were in return visited by officers Harmar, Finney, Doughty, and Dr. McDowell.
An old French town stood, about 1750, lower down the plain, on the hill above the Ohio, and on property now of the late David Minis.
French Forts by which the Region West of the Allegheny River was held. PRESQUE ISLE.1
In 1756 it is described as a French fort, situated on Lake Erie, about thirty miles above Buffalo Fort, built of squared logs, filled in with earth, the barracks within the fort, and garrisoned with about 150 men, supported chiefly by a French settlement begun near it, consisting of about 450 families. Indian families about it pretty numerous. They have a priest and schoolmaster, some grist-mills and stores in the settlement.
In 1759 it is described as a square with four bastions, square log work, no platforms raised so that they can be used, only a small platform in each bastion for a sentinel ; no guns on the walls, but four four-pounders in one of the bastions, not
1 12 Pa. Arch. 443.
15
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mounted on carriages; the wall single logs, no bank within or ditch without; two gates of equal size about ten feet wide, one fronting on the lake, and about 300 yards distant, the other to the road to Le Bœuf. The magazine is a stone house covered with shingles, and not sunk in the ground, standing on the right bastion next the lake going to Presque Isle from Le Bœuf; the other houses square logs; 500 French expected from a fort on the north side of the lake. There were four batteaux at Presque Isle.
This fort was abandoned by the French in 1759 and burnt.
The town of Erie now occupies the site of the fort.
FORT LE BŒUF.1
This fort was situated at the head of navigation on French Creek, about fifty or sixty miles above the mouth. The creek was called by the French Bœuf, or Beef Creek. Waterford now occupies the site.
The fort is that described by General Washing- ton in the journal of his visit in 1753.
It is situated on the south or west fork of French Creek, near the water, and is almost sur-
1 12 Pa. Archiv. 387-8.
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rounded by the creek and a small branch of it, which forms a kind of island. Four houses com- pose the sides. The bastions are made of poles driven into the ground, standing more than twelve feet above it, and sharp at top, with port- holes cut for cannon and loop-holes for small arms to fire through. There are eight six-pound pieces mounted in each bastion, and one piece of four pounds before the gate. In the bastions are a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging, and the commander's private store, round which are laid platforms for the cannon and men to stand on. There are several barracks without the fort for the soldiers' dwelling, covered, some with bark and some with boards made chiefly of logs. There are also several other houses, such as stores, smiths' shops, etc. Number of men supposed 200, exclusive of officers, of which there are many.
The commandant at the time of Washington's visit was Legardeur St. Pierre.
In 1758, when visited by Frederick Post, the fort had gone down very much, and had only 30 men and one officer.
In March, 1759, it was described by an Indian named Thos. Bull. In August, 1759, it was abandoned and burnt by the French.
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FORT MACHAULT OR VENANGO.1
This fort was built at the mouth of French Creek, just below it. It was known to be there in 1754, and probably had been for some time. A prisoner in 1756 speaks of it as Venango at the mouth of the creek, with a captain's command of about fifty men; of stockades, and weak, and scarce of provisions, a few Indian families about the place; a new fort intended, but not then built.
In October, 1757, Mons. La Chavignirie said his father, a lieutenant of marines, was commandant of Fort Machault, built lately at Venango, and now finishing. That there are about fifty regulars and forty laborers there, and a considerable reinforce- ment expected from Montreal. It was about fifty-five miles by land from Fort Le Bœuf.
In 1758 an Indian informed Frederick Post that Venango was a small fort, with but one officer and twenty-five men, and much distressed for provisions.
In 1759 the fort was abandoned and burned by the French. Franklin now occupies the site of Fort Machault, or Venango.
1 12 Penna. Arch. 463 ; 8 Col. Rec. 380, 396.
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FORT DU QUESNE.
This fort was built by Mons. Contrecoeur, the French Commandant, in 1754. He landed on the 17th April, 1754, with 300 canoes, 1000 French and Indians, and 18 pieces of cannon. He had descended the Ohio (Allegheny) from fort Ven- ango; he drove off Ensign Ward, engaged in building a redoubt, and commenced the building of Fort Du Quesne, which he named after the Marquis Du Quesne, Governor-General of Canada, or New France.
The fort is thus described in 1756 by John McKinney, an escaped prisoner :-
Fort Du Quesne is situated on the right side of the Monongahela, in the fork between that and Ohio [Allegheny]. It is four square, had bas- tions at each corner; it is about 50 yards long and about 40 yards wide; has a well in the middle of the fort, but the water bad; about half the fort is made of square logs, and the other half, next the water, of stockades. There are intrenchments cast up all around the fort seven feet high, which consists of stockades driven into the ground near to each other, and wattled with poles like basket- work, against which the earth is thrown up in gradual ascent. The steep part is next the fort, and has three steps all along the intrenchment
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for the men to go up and down to fire at the enemy. The intrenchments are about four rods from the fort, and go all around, as well on the side next the water as the land. The outside of the intrenchment next the water joins to the water. The fort has two gates, one of which opens on the land side, and the other on the water side, where the magazine is built. That to the land side is in fact a draw-bridge, which in daytime serves as a bridge for the people, and in the night is drawn up by iron chains and levers.
Under the draw-bridge is a pit or well the width of the gate, dug down deep to water; the pit is about eight or ten feet broad; the gate is made of square logs; the back gate is made of logs also, and goes upon hinges, and has a wicket in it for the people to pass through in common. There is no ditch or pit at this gate. It is through this gate they go to the magazine and bake-house, which are built a little below the gate within the intrenchments. The magazine is made . almost underground, and of long logs, and covered four feet thick with clay over it. It is about ten feet wide and about thirty feet long.
The stockades are round logs, better than a foot over, and about eleven or twelve feet high; the joints are secured by split logs. In the stockades are loop-holes, made so as to fire slanting towards
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the ground. The bastions are filled with earth solid, about eight feet high. Each bastion has four carriage guns, about four pound ; no swivels nor any mortars that he knows of. They have no cannon but at the bastions. The back of the bar- racks and buildings in the front are of logs, placed about three feet distant from the logs of the fort. Between the building and the logs of the fort it is filled with earth above eight feet high, and the logs of the fort extend about four feet higher, so that the whole height of the fort is about twelve feet. There are no pickets or palisadoes on the top of the logs or wall of the fort. The houses are all covered with boards, as well the roof as the sides that look inside the fort, which they sawed by hand. There are no bogs nor morasses near the fort, but good dry ground, which is cleared for some distance from the fort, and the stumps cut close to the ground. A little within musket-shot of the fork is a thick wood of some bigness, full of large timber.
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