USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 4
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" The next morning we were taken about two miles farther into the forest, while the most of the Indians again went out to kill and plunder. Toward evening they returned with nine scalps and five prisoners.
" On the third day the whole band came together and divided the spoils. In addition to large quantities of provisions, they had taken four- teen horses and ten prisoners,-namely, one man, one woman, five girls, and three boys. We two girls, as also two of the horses, fell to the share of an Indian named Galasko.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" We travelled with our new master for two days. He was tolerably kind, and allowed us to ride all the way, while he and the rest of the In- dians walked. Of this circumstance Barbara Leininger took advantage, and tried to escape. But she was almost immediately recaptured, and condemned to be burned alive. The savages gave her a French Bible, which they had taken from Le Roy's house, in order that she might pre- pare for death ; and when she told them that she could not understand it, they gave her a German Bible. Thereupon they made a large pile of wood and set it on fire, intending to put her into the midst of it. But a young Indian begged so earnestly for her life that she was pardoned, after having promised not to attempt to escape again, and to stop her crying.
" The next day the whole troop was divided into two bands, the one marching in the direction of the Ohio, the other, in which we were with Galasko, to Jenkiklamuhs,* a Delaware town on the west branch of the Susquehanna. There we stayed ten days, and then proceeded to Punck- sotonay, for Eschentown. Marie Le Roy's brother was forced to remain at Jenkiklamuhs.
" After having rested for five days at Puncksotonay, we took our way to Kittanny. As this was to be the place of our permanent abode, we here received our welcome, according to Indian custom. It consisted of three blows each, on the back. They were, however, administered with great mercy. Indeed, we concluded that we were beaten merely in order to keep up an ancient usage and not with the intention of injuring us. The month of December was the time of our arrival, and we remained at Kittanny until the month of September, 1756.
" The Indians gave us enough to do. We had to tan leather, to make shoes (moccasins), to clear land, to plant corn, to cut down trees and build huts, to wash and cook. The want of provisions, however, caused us the greatest suffering. During all the time that we were at Kittanny we had neither lard nor salt, and sometimes we were forced to live on acorns, roots, grass, and bark. There was nothing in the world to make this new sort of food palatable, excepting hunger itself.
" In the month of September Colonel Armstrong arrived with his men, and attacked Kittanny Town. Both of us happened to be in that part of it which lies on the other (right) side of the river (Allegheny). We were immediately conveyed ten miles farther into the interior, in order that we might have no chance of trying, on this occasion, to escape. The savages threated to kill us. If the English had advanced, this might have happened, for at that time the Indians were greatly in dread of Colonel Armstrong's corps. After the English had withdrawn, we were
* Chinklacamoose, on the site of the present town of Clearfield.
+ Punxsutawney, in Jefferson County.
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again brought back to Kittanny, which town had been burned to the ground.
" There we had the mournful opportunity of witnessing the cruel end of an English woman, who had attempted to flee out of her captivity and to return to the settlements with Colonel Armstrong. Having been recap- tured by the savages and brought back to Kittanny, she was put to death in an unheard-of way. First they scalped her, next they laid burning splinters of wood here and there upon her body, and then they cut off her ears and fingers, forcing them into her mouth, so that she had to swallow them. Amidst such torments this woman lived from nine o'clock in the morning until toward sunset, when a French officer took compas- sion on her and put her out of her misery. An English soldier, on the contrary, named John -, who escaped from prison at Lancaster and joined the French, had a piece of flesh cut from her body and ate it. When she was dead, the Indians chopped her in two, through the middle, and let her lie until the dogs came and devoured her.
" Three days later an Englishman was brought in, who had likewise attempted to escape with Colonel Armstrong, and burned alive in the same village. His torments, however, continued only about three hours ; but his screams were frightful to listen to. It rained that day very hard, so that the Indians could not keep up the fire : hence they began to dis- charge gunpowder at his body. At last, amidst his worst pains, when the poor man called for a drink of water, they brought him melted lead and poured it down his throat. This draught at once helped him out of the hands of the barbarians, for he died on the instant.
" It is easy to imagine what an impression such fearful instances of cruelty make upon the mind of a poor captive. Does he attempt to escape from the savages, he knows in advance that if retaken he will be roasted alive : hence he must compare two evils,-namely, either to remain among them a prisoner forever or to die a cruel death. Is he fully resolved to endure the latter, then he may run away with a brave heart.
" Soon after these occurrences we were brought to Fort Duquesne, where we remained for about two months. We worked for the French, and our Indian master drew our wages. In this place, thank God, we could again eat bread. Half a pound was given us daily. We might have had bacon, too, but we took none of it, for it was not good. In some respects we were better off than in the Indian towns. We could not, however, abide the French. They tried hard to induce us to for- sake the Indians and stay with them, making us various favorable offers. But we believed that it would be better for us to remain among the In- dians, inasmuch as they would be more likely to make peace with the English than the French, and inasmuch as there would be more ways. open for flight in the forest than in a fort. Consequently we declined
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the offers of the French and accompanied our Indian master to Sackum,* where we spent the winter, keeping house for the savages, who were con- tinually on the chase. In the spring we were taken to Kaschkaschkung, i an Indian town on the Beaver Creek. There we again had to clear the plantations of the Indian nobles, after the German fashion, to plant corn, and to do other hard work of every kind. We remained at this place for about a year and a half.
" After having, in the past three years, seen no one of our own flesh and blood, except those unhappy beings who, like ourselves, were bearing the yoke of the heaviest slavery, we had the unexpected pleasure of meet- ing with a German, who was not a captive, but free, and who, as we heard, had been sent into this neighborhood to negotiate a peace between the English and the natives. His name was Frederick Post. We and all the other prisoners heartily wished him success and God's blessing upon his undertaking. We were, however, not allowed to speak with him. The Indians gave us plainly to understand that any attempt to do this would be taken amiss. He himself, by the reserve with which he treated us, let us see that this was not the time to talk over our afflictions. But we were greatly alarmed on his account, for the French told us that if they caught him they would roast him alive for five days, and many Indians declared that it was impossible for him to get safely through, that he was destined for death.
" Last summer the French and Indians were defeated by the English in a battle fought at Loyal-Hannon, or Fort Ligonier. This caused the utmost consternation among the natives. They brought their wives and children from Lockstown,¿ Sackum, Schomingo, Mamalty, Kaschkasch- kung, and other places in that neighborhood, to Moschkingo, about one hundred and fifty miles farther west. Before leaving, however, they de- stroyed their crops and burned everything which they could not carry with them. We had to go along, and stayed at Moschkingog the whole winter.
" In February, Barbara Leininger agreed with an Englishman, named David Breckenreach (Breckenridge), to escape, and gave her comrade, Marie Le Roy, notice of their intentions. On account of the severe season of the year and the long journey which lay before them, Marie strongly advised her to relinquish the project, suggesting that it should
* Sakunk, outlet of the Big Beaver into the Ohio, a point well known to all In- dians; their rendezvous in the French wars, etc. Post, in his Journal, under date of August 20, 1758, records his experience at Sakunk (Reichel). See Post's Journal, Pennsylvania Archives, O. S., vol. iii. p. 527.
+ Kaskaskunk, near the junction of the Shenango and Mahoning, in Lawrence County.
# Loggstown, on the Ohio, eight miles above Beaver. - Weiser's Journal.
% Muskingum.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
be postponed until spring, when the weather would be milder, and promising to accompany her at that time.
" On the last day of February nearly all the Indians left Moschkingo, and proceeded to Pittsburg to sell pelts. Meanwhile, their women travelled ten miles up the country to gather roots, and we accompanied them. Two men went along as a guard. It was our earnest hope that the opportunity for flight, so long desired, had now come. Accordingly, Barbara Leininger pretended to be sick, so that she might be allowed to put up a hut for herself alone. On the 14th of March, Marie Le Roy was sent back to the town, in order to fetch two young dogs which had been left there, and on the same day Barbara Leininger came out of her hut and visited a German woman, ten miles from Moschkingo. This woman's name is Mary-, and she is the wife of a miller from the South Branch .* She had made every preparation to accompany us on our flight ; but Barbara found that she had meanwhile become lame, and could not think of going along. She, however, gave Barbara the pro- visions which she had stored,-namely, two pounds of dried meat, a quart of corn, and four pounds of sugar. Besides, she presented her with pelts for moccasins. Moreover, she advised a young Englishman, Owen Gib- · son, to flee with us two girls.
" On the 16th of March, in the evening, Gibson reached Barbara Lei- ninger's hut, and at ten o'clock our whole party, consisting of us two girls, Gibson, and David Breckenreach, left Moschkingo. This town lies on a river, in the country of the Dellamottinoes. We had to pass many huts inhabited by the savages, and knew that there were at least sixteen dogs with them. In the merciful providence of God not a single one of these dogs barked. Their barking would at once have betrayed us and frustrated our design.
" It is hard to describe the anxious fears of a poor woman under such circumstances. The extreme probability that the Indians would pursue and recapture us was as two to one compared with the dim hope that, perhaps, we would get through in safety. But, even if we escaped the Indians, how would we ever succeed in passing through the wilderness, unacquainted with a single path or trail, without a guide, and helpless, half naked, broken down by more than three years of hard slavery, hungry and scarcely any food, the season wet and cold, and many rivers and streams to cross ? Under such circumstances, to depend upon one's own sagacity would be the worst of follies. If one could not believe that there is a God who helps and saves from death, one had better let run- ning away alone.
" We safely reached the river (Muskingum). Here the first thought in all our minds was, Oh, that we were safely across ! And Barbara Lei-
* South Branch of the Potomac.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
ninger, in particular, recalling ejaculatory prayers from an old hymn, which she had learned in her youth, put them together, to suit our present circumstances, something in the following style :
" O bring us safely across this river ! In fear I cry, yea, my soul doth quiver. The worst afflictions are now before me, Where'er I turn nought but death do I see. Alas, what great hardships are yet in store In the wilderness wide, beyond that shore ! It has neither water, nor meat, nor bread, But each new morning something new to dread. Yet little sorrow would hunger me cost If but I could flee from the savage host, Which murders and fights and burns far and wide,
While Satan himself is array'd on its side. Should on ns fall one of its cruel bands, Then help us, Great God, and stretch out Thy hands !
In Thee will we trust, be Thou ever near, Art Thou our Joshua, we need not fear.
" Presently we found a raft, left by the Indians. Thanking God that He had himself prepared a way for us across these first waters, we got on board and pushed off. But we were carried almost a mile down the river before we could reach the other side. There our journey began in good earnest. Full of anxiety and fear, we fairly ran that whole night and all next day, when we lay down to rest without venturing to kindle a fire. Early the next morning Owen Gibson fired at a bear. The animal fell, but when he ran with his tomahawk to kill it, it jumped up and bit him in the feet, leaving three wounds. We all hastened to his assistance. The bear escaped into narrow holes among the rocks, where we could not follow. On the third day, however, Owen Gibson shot a deer. We cut off the hind-quarters and roasted them at night. The next morning he again shot a deer, which furnished us with food for that day. In the evening we got to the Ohio at last, having made a circuit of over one hundred miles in order to reach it.
" About midnight the two Englishmen rose and began to work at a raft, which was finished by morning. We got on board and safely crossed the river. From the signs which the Indians had there put up we saw that we were about one hundred and fifty miles from Fort Duquesne. After a brief consultation we resolved, heedless of path or trail, to travel straight toward the rising of the sun. This we did for seven days. On the seventh we found that we had reached the Little Beaver Creek, and were about fifty miles from Pittsburg.
" And now that we imagined ourselves so near the end of all our troubles and misery, a whole host of mishaps came upon us. Our pro- visions were at an end, Barbara Leininger fell into the water and was
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
nearly drowned, and, worst misfortune of all ! Owen Gibson lost his flint and steel. Hence we had to spend four nights without fire, amidst rain and snow.
" On the last day of March we came to a river, Alloquepy,* about three miles below Pittsburg. Here we made a raft, which, however, proved to be too light to carry us across. It threatened to sink, and Marie le Roy fell off, and narrowly escaped drowning. We had to put back and let one of our men convey one of us across at a time. In this way we reached the Monongahela River, on the other side of Pittsburg, the same evening.
" Upon our calling for help, Colonel Mercer immediately sent out a boat to bring us to the fort. At first, however, the crew created many diffi- culties about taking us on board. They thought we were Indians, and wanted us to spend the night where we were, saying they would fetch us in the morning. When we had succeeded in convincing them that we were English prisoners, who had escaped from the Indians, and that we were wet and cold and hungry, they brought us over. There was an Indian with the soldiers in the boat. He asked us whether we could speak good Indian. Marie Le Roy said she could speak it. Thereupon he inquired why she had run away. She replied that her Indian mother had been so cross and had scolded her so constantly, that she could not stay with her any longer. This answer did not please him ; nevertheless, doing as courtiers do, he said he was very glad we had safely reached the fort.
" It was in the night from the last of March to the first of April that we came to Pittsburg. Most heartily did we thank God in heaven for all the mercy which he showed us, for His gracious support in our weary captivity, for the courage which He gave us to undertake our flight and to surmount all the many hardships it brought us, for letting us find the road which we did not know, and of which He alone could know that on it we would meet neither danger nor enemy, and for finally bringing us to Pittsburg to our countrymen in safety.
" Colonel Mercer helped and aided us in every way which lay in his power. Whatever was on hand and calculated to refresh us was offered in the most friendly manner. The colonel ordered for each of us a new chemise, a petticoat, a pair of stockings, garters, and a knife. After having spent a day at Pittsburg, we went, with a detachment under com- mand of Lieutenant Mile,; to Fort Ligonier. There the lieutenant presented each of us with a blanket. On the 15th we left Fort Ligonier, under protection of Captain Weiser and Lieutenant Atly,¿ for Fort Bed- ford, where we arrived in the evening of the 16th, and remained a week. Thence, provided with passports by Lieutenant Geiger, we
* Chartiers Creek.
¿ Lieutenant Samuel J. Atlee.
¡ Lieutenant Samuel Miles.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
travelled in wagons to Harris' Ferry, and from there, afoot, by way of Lancaster, to Philadelphia. Owen Gibson remained at Fort Bedford and David Breckenreach at Lancaster. We two girls arrived in Phila- delphia on Sunday, the 6th of May."
In 1762 the great Moravian missionary, Rev. John Heckewelder, may have, and probably did, spend a day or two in Punxsutawney. In or about the year 1765 a Moravian missionary-viz., Rev. David Zeisber- ger-established a mission near the present town of Wyalusing, Brad- ford County, Pennsylvania. He erected forty frame buildings, with shingle roofs and chimneys, in connection with other improvements, and Christianized a large number of the savages. The Muncy Indians were then living in what is now called Forest County, on the Allegheny River. This brave, pious missionary determined to reach these savages also, and, with two Christian Indian guides, he traversed the solitude of the forests and reached his destination on the 16th of October, 1767. He remained with these savages but seven days ; they were good listeners to his sermons, but every day he was in danger of being murdered. Of these Indians he wrote,-
" I have never found such heathenism in any other parts of the Indian country. Here Satan has his stronghold. Here he sits on his throne. Here he is worshipped by true savages, and carries on his work in the hearts of the children of darkness." These, readers, were the Indians that roamed over our hills, then either Lancaster or Berks County. In 1768 this brave minister returned and put up a log cabin, twenty-six by sixteen feet, and in 1769 was driven back to what is now called Wya- lusing by repeated attempts on his life. He says in his journal, " For ten months I have lived between these two towns of godless and malicious savages, and my preservation is wonderful."
In 1768 the six Indian nations having by treaty sold the land from "under the feet" of the Wyalusing converts, the Rev. Zeisberger was compelled to take measures for the removal of these Christian Indians, with their horses and cattle, to some other field. After many councils and much consideration, he determined to remove the entire body to a mis- sion he had established on the Big Beaver, now Lawrence County, Penn- sylvania. Accordingly, " on the 11th of June, 1772, everything being in readiness, the congregation assembled for the last time in their church and took up their march toward the setting sun." They were " di- vided into two companies, and each of these were subdivided. One of these companies went overland by the Wyalusing path, up the Sugar Run, and down the Loyal Sock, via Dushore. This company was in charge of Ettwein, who had the care of the horses and cattle. The other company was in charge of Rothe, and went by canoe down the Susquehannah and up the west branch." The place for the divisions to unite was the Great Island, now Lock Haven, and from there, under the
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
lead of Rev. John Ettwein, to proceed up the west branch of the Susque- hanna, and then cross the mountains over the Chinklacamoose path, through what is now Clearfield and Punxsutawney, and from there to proceed, via Kittanning, to the Big Beaver, now in Law- rence County, Pennsylvania. Reader, just think of two hun- dred and fifty people of all ages, with seventy head of oxen and a greater number of horses, trav- ersing these deep forests, over a small path sometimes scarcely dis- cernible, under drenching rains, Rattlesnake. and through dismal swamps, and all this exposure continued for days and weeks, with wild beasts to the right and to the left of them, and the path alive with rattlesnakes in front of them, wading streams and overtaken by sickness, and then, dear reader, you will conclude with me that nothing but " praying all night in the wilderness" ever carried them successfully to their destination. This story of Rev. Ettwein is full of interest. I reprint a paragraph or two that applies to what is now Jefferson County,-viz. :
" 1772, Tuesday, July 14th .- Reached Clearfield Creek, where the Buffaloes formerly cleared large tracts of undergrowth, so as to give them the appearance of cleared fields. Hence the Indians called the creek ' Clearfield.' Here we shot nine deer. On the route we shot one hun- dred and fifty deer and three bears.
" Friday, July 17th .- Advanced only four miles to a creek that comes down from the Northwest." This was and is Anderson Creek, near Cur- wensville, Pennsylvania.
" July 18th .- Moved on . .
" Sunday, July 19th .- As yesterday, but two families kept up with me, because of the rain, we had a quiet Sunday, but enough to do drying our effects. In the evening all joined me, but we could hold no service as the Ponkies were so excessively annoying that the cattle pressed toward and into our camp to escape their persecutors in the smoke of the fire. This vermin is a plague to man and beast by day and night, but in the swamp through which we are now passing, their name is legion. Hence the Indians call it the Ponsetunik, i.e. the town of the Ponkies." This swamp was in what we now call Punxsutawney. These people on their route lived on fish, venison, etc.
4
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PURCHASE OF 1784.
THE following article on the purchase made by the Commonwealth from. the Indian tribes known as the Six Nations in 1784, of all the lands within the charter boundaries of Pennsylvania in which the Indian title had not been extinguished by previous purchases, was written and com- piled by Major R. H. Forster, of the Department of Internal Affairs, for this book :
" At the close of the war of the Revolution, in the year 1783, the ownership of a large area of the territory within the charter boundaries of Pennsylvania was still claimed by the Indians of the several tribes that were commonly known as the Six Nations. The last purchase of lands from the Six Nations by the proprietary government of the province was made at Fort Stanwix in November, 1768, and the limit of this purchase may be described as extending to lines beginning where the northeast branch of the Susquehanna River crosses the northern line of the State, in the present county of Bradford ; thence down the river to the mouth of Towanda Creek, and up the same to its head-waters ; thence by a range of hills to the head-waters of Pine Creek, and down the same to the west branch of the Susquehanna ; thence up the same to Cherry Tree ; thence by a straight line, across the present counties of Indiana and Armstrong, to Kittanning,* on the Allegheny River, and thence down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to the western boundary line of the province. The In- dian claim, therefore, embraced all that part of the State lying to the northwest of the purchase lines of 1768, as they are here described. With the close of the Revolutionary struggle, the authorities of the new Commonwealth, anxiously looking to its future stability and prosperity,
* "Canoe Place," so called in the old maps of the State to designate the head of navigation on the west branch of the Susquehanna River, is the point at which the pur- chase line of 1768 from that river to Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, begins. A survey of that line was made by Robert Galbraith in the year 1786, and a cherry-tree standing on the west bank of the river was marked by him as the beginning of his sur- vey. The same cherry-tree was marked by William P. Brady as the southeast cor- ner of a tract surveyed by him " at Canoe l'lace," in 1794, on warrant No. 3744, in the name of John Nicholson, Esq. The town of Cherry Tree now covers part of this ground. The old tree disappeared years ago. Its site, however, was regarded as of some historic importance, and under an appropriation of $1500, granted by the Legisla- ture in 1893, a substantial granite monument has been erected to mark the spot where it stood.
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