USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 23
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The plays were nearly all musical and vocal, and the boys lived and played them in the "pleasures of hope," while usually there sat in the corner of the cabin fireplace a grandad or a grandma smoking a stone or clay pipe, lighted with a live coal from the wood-fire, living and smoking in the " pleasures of memory."
The plays were conducted somewhat in this way :
A popular play was for all the persons present to join hands and form
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a ring, with a dude of that time, in shirt of check and bear-greased hair, in the centre. Then they circled round and round the centre person, singing,-
" King William was King James's son, And of that royal race he sprung ; He wore a star upon his breast, To show that he was royal best. Go choose your east, go choose your west, Go choose the one that you like best ; If he's not here to take your part, Go choose another with all your heart."
The boy in the centre then chose a lady from the circle, and she stepped into the ring with him. Then the circling was resumed, and all sang to the parties inside,-
"Down on this carpet you must kneel, Just as the grass grows in the field ; Salute your bride with kisses sweet, And then rise up upon your feet."
The play went on in this manner until all the girls present were kissed. Another popular play was to form a ring. A young lady would step into the circle, and all parties would join hands and sing,-
"There's a lily in the garden For you, young man ; There's a lily in the garden, Go pluck it if you can," etc.
The lady then selects a boy from the circle, who walks into the ring with her. He then kisses her and she goes out, when the rest all sing,-
" There he stands, that great big booby, Who he is I do not know; Who will take him for his beauty? Let her answer, yes or no."
This play goes on in this way until all the girls have been kissed. Another favorite play was :
"Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows ; None so well as the farmer knows How oats, peas, beans, and barley grows; Thus the farmer sows his seed, Thus he stands to take his ease ; He stamps his foot and claps his hands, And turns around to view his lands," etc.
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Another great favorite was :
"Oh, sister Phobe, how merry were we The night we sat under the juniper-tree, The juniper-tree, I, oh. Take this hat on your head, keep your head warm, And take a sweet kiss, it will do you no harm, But a great deal of good, I know," etc.
Another was :
" If I had as many lives As Solomon had wives, I'd be as old as Adam ; So rise to your feet And kiss the first you meet, Your humble servant, madam."
Another was ;
"It's raining, it's hailing, it's cold, stormy weather ; In comes the farmer drinking of his cider. He's going a-reaping, he wants a binder, I've lost my true love, where shall I find her."
A live play was called "hurly-burly." "Two went round and gave each one, secretly, something to do. The girl was to pull a young man's hair ; another to tweak an ear or nose, or trip some one, etc. When all had been told what to do, the master of ceremonies cried out, 'Hurly-burly.' Every one sprang up and hastened to do as instructed. This created a mixed scene of a ludicrous character, and was most properly named 'hurly-burly.'"
TREES, SNAKES, AND REPTILES
Our forests were originally covered by a heavy growth of timber-trees of various kinds. Pine and hemlock predominated. Chestnut and oak grew in some localities. Birch, sugar-maple, ash, and hickory occupied a wide range. Birch- and cherry-trees were numerous, and linnwood-, cucumber-, and poplar-trees grew on many of the hill-sides, and butternut, sycamore, black ash, and elm on the low grounds.
In all, about one hundred varieties of trees grew here. These forests have become the prey of the woodman's axe. There has been no voice raised effectively to restrain the destruction, wanton as it has been, of the best specimens of the pine which the eye of man ever saw. The growth of hundreds of years felled to the ground, scarified, hauled to the streams, tumbled in, and floated away to the south and east and west for the paltry pittance of ten cents a foot! Oh, that there could have been some power to restrain the grasping, wasteful, avaricious cupidity of man, of some voice of thunder crying, " Woodman, woodman, spare that tree! That old familiar
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forest-tree, whose glory and renown has spread over land and sea, and wouldst thou hack it down?"
But they are gone, all gone from the mountain's brow. The hands, also, that commenced the destruction are now mouldering into dust, thus exem- plifying the law of nature, that growth is rapidly followed by decay, indi- cating a common destiny and bringing a uniform result. And such are we; it is our lot thus to die and be forgotten.
Reptiles and snakes were very numerous. The early pioneer had to contend against the non-poisonous and poisonous snakes. The non-poisonous were the spotted adder, blacksnake, the green-, the garter-, the water-, and
Banded rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus)
the house-snake. The blacksnake sometimes attained a length of six and eight feet. But dens of vicious rattlesnakes existed in every locality. In the vicinity of Brookville there was one at Puckerty, several on the north fork, one at Iowa Mills, and legions of rattlers on Mill Creek. The dens had to be visited by bold, hardy men annually every spring to kill and destroy these reptiles as they emerged in the sun from their dens. Hundreds had to be destroyed at each den every spring. This was necessary as a means of safety for both man and beast. Of copperheads, there were but a few dens in Jefferson County, and these in the extreme south and southwest,-viz. : in Perry Township, in Beaver Township, on Beaver Run; and two or three
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dens in Porter Township, on the head-waters of Pine Run,-viz .: Nye's Branch and Lost Hill. Occasionally one was found in Brookville.
The copperhead is hazel-brown on the back and flesh-colored on the belly. On each side there are from fifteen to twenty-six chestnut blotches or bands, that somewhat resemble an inverted Y. His head is brighter and almost copper-colored on top, and everywhere over his back are found very fine dark points. The sides of his head are cream-colored. The dividing line between the flesh of the side and the copper of the top passes through the upper edge of the head, in front of the eye, and involves three-fourths of the orbit. The line is very distinct. He cannot climb, and lives on lizards,
Copperhead ( Ancistrodon Contortrix)
mice, frogs, and small birds, summers mostly on low, moist ground, but winters on ridges.
He is commonly found wherever the rattler is, but he does not live quite so far north in our wilderness. He has a variety of names,-upland moccasin, chunkhead, deaf-adder, and pilot-snake among the rest. It is agreed that he is a much more vicious brute than the rattlesnake. He is more easily irritated and is quicker in his movements. It is said that he will even follow up a victim for a second blow. On the other hand, his bite is very much less dangerous for a variety of reasons. In the first place, he is no more than three feet long, and his fangs are considerably shorter than those of a rattler of the
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same size, while his strength is less, and the blow, therefore, less effective. So he cannot inflict as deep a wound nor inject so much venom. The chances of his getting the venom directly into a large vein are proportionately less.
Rattlesnakes, copperheads, and other large snakes do most of their travelling in the night. " Snakes, it appears, are extremely fastidious, every species being limited to one or two articles of diet, and preferring to starve rather than eat anything else apparently quite as toothsome and suitable. Indi- vidual snakes, too, show strange prejudices in the matter of diet, so that it is necessary in every case to find out what the snake's peculiarities are before feeding him."
Rattlesnakes eat rabbits, birds, mice, rats, etc., and live on barren, rocky, or on huckleberry land. They like to bathe, drink, and live in the sunshine. This, too, makes them avoid ridgy, heavily timbered land. They can live a year without food.
The bigger the reptile, of course, the more poison it has. Further- more, it is to be remembered that of all American serpents the rattlesnake is the most dangerous, the copperhead less so, and the water-moccasin least. It is a fact that the poisonous snakes are proof against their own venom. That this is true has been demonstrated repeatedly by inoculating such serpents with the poisonous secretion from their salivary glands. It is believed that there exists in the blood of the venomous snake some agent similar to the poison itself, and that the presence of this toxic principle is accountable for the immunity exhibited.
One safety from the snakes to the pioneer and his family was the great number of razor-back hogs. These animals were great snake-hunters, being very fond of them.
RATTLESNAKES FIRST KILL THEIR PREY, THEN SWALLOW IT WHOLE
The rattlesnake and copperhead are not found anywhere but in America. The rattler belongs to the viper family. There are twelve species and thirteen varieties. They vary in size and color, one variety being red, white, and green spotted and black. A rattle is formed at each renewal of the skin, and as the skin may be renewed more than once a year, rattles do not indicate the exact age. They live to a ripe old age, and have sometimes as many as thirty rattles. In the natural state the rattler sheds his skin but once a year, but in confinement he can be forced to shed the skin two or three times annually by giving him warm baths and keeping him in a warm place. Rattlers feed two or three times a year, but drink water freely and often, and like a horse. Rattlers are indifferent climbers of trees, are fond of music, and do not chase a retreating animal that has escaped their " strike."
The rattlesnake of Northwestern Pennsylvania is the Crotalus horridus, or North American species, and is black and yellow spotted, called banded or timber. They have no feet or legs, but have double reproductive organs, both
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the male and female. Their scent is very acute, and by scent they find food and their mates. Our snake attains the length of five feet, but usually only four and one-half feet, and they inhabit the barren, rocky portions of the northwest, formerly in immense numbers, but of late years they are not so plentiful.
Dr. Ferd. Hoffman, of our town, celebrated as a snake-charmer, brought a rattlesnake into our store one day, in a little box covered with wire screen. The snake was small, being only thirty inches long and having seven rattles. Desiring to see the reptile eat, and knowing that they will not eat anything but what they kill themselves, we conceived the idea of furnishing his king-
Rattlesnake Pete catching banded rattlers in Venango County
ship a repast. Mr. Robert Scofield went out and captured a large field-mouse (not mole) and brought it in, and, in the presence of myself, Scofield, Albert Gooder, 'Squire Mclaughlin and brother, and Frank Arthurs, dropped it into the box under the screen. The box was fourteen inches long and seven inches wide. The snake, being lively, immediately struck the mouse back of the head. The mouse gave a little squeak of terror and ran fourteen inches, then staggered fourteen inches, the length of the box, then was apparently seized with spinal paralysis, for it had to draw its hind limbs with its front feet to a corner of the box. It then raised up and fell dead on its back. After
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striking the mouse, the snake paid no attention to anything until the mouse dropped over dead, then his snakeship wakened up and apparently smelled (examined) the mouse all over. Satisfied it was healthy and good food, the snake caught the mouse by the nose and pulled it out of the corner. After
Dr. Ferd. Hoffman, of Brookville
this was done, the snake commenced the process of swallowing in this manner, -viz .: He opened his jaws and took the head of the mouse in one swallow, pulling alternately by the hooks in the upper and lower jaw, thus forcing the mouse downward, taking an occasional rest, swallowing and resting six times in the process. He rattled vigorously three times during this procedure. It is said they rattle only when in fear or in danger. This rattling of his must
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have been a notice to us that he was dining, and to stand back. The rattler is the most intelligent of all snake kind.
I am informed by my friend Dr. Hoffman, of Brookville, Pennsylvania, that the rattlesnake is possessed of both intelligence and a memory; that he can be domesticated, and in that state become quite affectionate and fond of his master, and that snakes thus domesticated will vie and dispute with each other in manifestations of affection to and for their master. They have their dislikes also. He also informs me that rattlesnakes are unlike in disposition,- some are cross and ugly, while others are docile and pleasant.
He also informs me that the rattlesnake can be trained to perform tricks, as he has thus trained them himself and made them proficient in numerous acrobatic tricks, such as suspending a number by the head of one on his thumb, the forming of a suspension chain or bridge, and many other tricks too numerous to relate.
To my personal knowledge, he has educated or trained the rattlers in numbers to perform in the manner indicated here, and without removing, in a single instance, any poisonous tooth or sac. These trained rattlers will fight any stranger the moment he presents himself; but if the master or their acquaintance presents himself, the rattlers will at once recognize him, and to him be kind, docile, and affectionate. A rattler matures at the age of two years, and at three is full grown.
"All the different species of rattlesnakes are provided with two small sacs, each of which contains a minute quantity of poison, and communicates, by means of a short excretory duct, with the canal in the fang on each side of the upper jaw. It is enclosed by a bony framework, situated external to the proper jaw, and is under the control of appropriate muscles, the action of which aids materially in expelling its contents. The fangs, situated just at the verge of the mouth, are very long, sharp, and crooked, like the claws of a cat, and are naturally retracted and concealed in a fold of integument ; but, when the animal is irritated, are capable of being instantly raised, and darted forward with great force into the skin, followed by an emission of poison. The snake, then, does not bite, but strikes, making a punctured wound.
" The poison of the rattlesnake is a thin, semi-transparent, albuminous fluid, of a yellowish color, with, occasionally, a tinge of green, and is deadly. When a bite is not fatal it is because of no poison in sack, broken teeth, or failure to puncture the skin or clothing. It is fatal in from ten minutes to two hours.
" The quantity of venom contained in the poison-bag does not generally exceed a teaspoonful; but it accumulates when the animal is inactive, and Dr. Mitchell had a snake which, on one occasion, ejected fifteen drops, its fang not having been used for several weeks. It is peculiarly acrid and deadly in hot weather and during the procreating season. In winter and early spring
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the reptile is in a torpid condition, and the poison is then diminished in quan- tity, and unusually thick, although not less virulent."
Nearly every variety of the snake family is oviparous. The eggs are oblong. The blacksnake lays a large number of eggs, about the size of your thumb, in July or August. During this breeding season blacksnakes are bold, and will attack persons with great courage if their nests are approached. The attack is with activity and by direct assault. Their bite is harmless, and the blacksnake is a great tree-climber. The rattlesnake is viviparous, and
Peter Gruber, now of Rochester, New York, late of Oil City, Pennsylvania, taking the poison from a diamond- back rattler for the author
has from five to twenty young in July or August, each eight to fourteen inches long and as thick as a lead-pencil. They are ready to fight, and eat a mouse or young squirrel every fifth day. The male is the slimmest. The blacksnake and rattlesnake are mortal enemies. They always fight when they meet, the blacksnake usually kills the other, his activity enabling him to tear the rattler to pieces. He coils himself around the head and tail of the rattler, and then pulls him in two. Snakes have what phrenologists call love of home. A
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rattler will travel forty miles to winter in his ancestral den. Snakes have ears, but no apparent external opening, the orifice being covered with a scale. They usually travel in mated pairs ; if you kill one there is another near by. Usually when one snake rattles in a den they all commence. The sickening odor of the den is due to urination when excited. Rattlesnake oil is in great repute as a medicine for external application.
The copperheads have their young alive, and never more than seven at a birth. The young are ready to fight from birth.
" Rattlesnake Pete," * of Rochester, New York, has been bitten by rattlers over eighteen times, and, as a result, has passed a good deal of his time in hospitals, swathed in bandages, and enduring the most agonizing pains.
Blacksnake
" Whenever I am bitten now," he remarked to me, " I never suck the wound. If there were any slight superficial wound in the mouth, such as a scratch, the venom would thus get into the system and would perhaps prove fatal. Directly I have been bitten I cut the flesh around the puncture and make another wound between the injured spot and the heart with a sharp knife, which I always carry with me in case of such an emergency. Into these two self-inflicted wounds I then inject permanganate of potash, which has the effect of nullifying the serpent's venom."
The snapping-turtle, the mud-turtle, and the diamond-back terrapin ex- isted in countless numbers in the swamps and around the streams, and formed a part of the Indian's food. The tree-toad, the common toad, common frog,
* Peter Gruber, who was born and raised near Oil City, Pennsylvania.
16
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lizard, and water-lizard lived here before the pioneers took possession of the land.
The tools of the pioneer were the axe, six-inch auger, the drawing-knife, the shaving-knife, a broadaxe, and a cross-cut saw. These were " all used in the erecting of his shelters." The dexterity of the pioneer in the " sleight" and use of the axe was remarkable, indeed marvellous. He used it in clear- ing land, making fences, chopping firewood, cutting paths and roads, building cabins, bridges, and corduroy. In fact, in all work and hunting, in travelling by land, in canoeing and rafting on the water, the axe was ever the friend and companion of the pioneer.
The civilized man in his first undertakings was farmer, carpenter, mason, merchant, and manufacturer-complete, though primitive, in the individual. But he was a farmer first and foremost, and used the other avocations merely as incidentals to the first and chief employment. Less than half a century has elapsed since the spinning-wheel and the loom were common and neces- sary in the home.
SOLDIERS OF 1812 WHO PASSED THROUGH THIS WILDERNESS TO FIGHT GREAT BRITAIN-AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA WHICH MARCHED OVER THE OLD STATE ROAD THROUGH BROOKVILLE AND WITHIN TWO MILES OF WHERE REYNOLDSVILLE NOW STANDS, NEAR WHERE CLARION BOROUGH NOW IS, WHILE ON ITS WAY TO ERIE
George Washington never passed through any portion of Jefferson County with soldiers; neither did Colonel Bird, who was stationed at Fort Augusta in 1756; neither was there a "road brushed out for the purpose of transferring troops to Erie." In 1814, early in the spring, a detachment of soldiers, under command of Major William McClelland, travelled through our county, over the old State Road ( Bald Eagle's Nest and Le Bœuf Road) to Erie. They encamped at Soldiers' Run, in what is now Winslow Town- ship, rested at Port Barnett for four days, and encamped over night at the " four-mile" spring, on what is now the Afton farm. Elijah M. Graham was impressed with his two " pack-horses" into their service, and was taken as far as French Creek, now in Venango County.
Joseph B. Graham gave me these facts in regard to McClelland.
These soldiers were Pennsylvania volunteers and drafted men, and were from Franklin County. Major McClelland, with his officers and men, passed through where Brookville now is, over the old Milesburg and Waterford Road. Three detachments of troops left Franklin County during the years 1812-14 at three different times,-one by way of Pittsburg, one by way of Baltimore, and the last one through this wilderness. All of these troops in these three detachments were under the supervision of the brigade inspector, Major McClelland.
I quote from an early history of Franklin County, Pennsylvania :
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"In the early part of the year 1814, the general government having made a call upon the State of Pennsylvania for more troops, Governor Simon Snyder, about the beginning of February of that year, ordered a draft for one thousand men from the counties of York, Adams, Franklin, and Cumberland, Cumber- land County to raise five hundred men and the other counties the balance. The quota of Franklin County was ordered to assemble at Loudon on the Ist of March, 1814. What was its exact number I have not been able to ascertain.
"At that time Captain Samuel Dunn, of Path Valley, had a small volun- teer company under his command, numbering about forty men. These, I am informed, volunteered to go as part of the quota of the county, and were accepted. Drafts were then made to furnish the balance of the quota, and one full company of drafted men, under the command of Captain Samuel Gordon, of Waynesburg, and one partial company, under command of Cap- tain Jacob Stake, of Lurgan Township, were organized, and assembled at Loudon in pursuance of the orders of the governor. There the command of the detachment was assumed by Major William McClelland, brigade inspector of the county, who conducted it to Erie. It moved from Loudon on the 4th of March, and was twenty-eight days in reaching Erie. According to Major McClelland's report on file in the auditor-general's office at Harrisburg, it was composed of one major, three captains, five lieutenants, two ensigns, and two hundred and twenty-one privates.
" Captain Jacob Stake lived along the foot of the mountains, between Roxbury and Strasburg. He went as captain of a company of drafted men as far as Erie, at which place his company was merged into those of Captains Dunn and Gordon, as the commissions of those officers antedated his commis- sion, and there were not men enough in their companies to fill them up to the required complement."
Upon the arrival of these troops at Erie, and after their organization into companies, they were put into the Fifth Regiment of the Pennsylvania troops, commanded by Colonel James Fenton, of that regiment. James Wood, of Greencastle, was major, and Thomas Poe, of Antrim Township, adjutant. the whole army being under the command of Major General Jacob Brown, a gallant soldier.
Adjutant Poe is reputed to have been a gallant officer, one to whom fear was unknown. On one occasion he quelled a mutiny among the men in camp, unaided by any other person. The mutineers afterwards declared that they saw death in his eyes when he gave them the command to " return to quarters." He fell mortally wounded at the battle of Chippewa, July 5, 1814, and died shortly afterwards.
These soldiers did valiant service against the British. They fought in the desperate battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, on July 5 and 25 of the year 1814.
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WARS OF THE UNITED STATES-1775-1865
War of the Revolution .- April 19, 1775, to April II, 1783. Regulars, 130,711 ; militia and volunteers, 164,080; total, 309,781. Number of Ameri- cans killed, wounded, and missing, 12,861. Navy, vessels, 4; Americans killed, 912.
Daniel F. Bakeman, the last survivor of the war of the Revolution, died in Freedom, Cattaraugus County, New York, April 5, 1869, aged one hundred and nine years.
War with France .- July 9, 1798, to September 30, 1800. Entirely naval. Men, 4593. Americans won every battle.
War with Tripoli .- June 10, 1801, to June 4, 1805. Naval. Men, 3330. Americans won every battle.
War of 1812 .- June 18, 1812, to February 17, 1815. Regulars, 85,000; militia and volunteers, 471,622; total, 576,622. Americans killed, wounded, and missing, 5614. American navy had twelve vessels at outbreak of war. England, one thousand. Fifteen battles were fought on the sea. Americans victorious in twelve. Americans killed, 1233.
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