USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855 > Part 15
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" It became necessary to go up the river some distance to procure supplies for the fort, and Captain John Brady, taking with him a wagon team and guard, went himself, and procured what could be had. On his return in the afternoon, riding a fine mare, and within a short distance of the fort, where the road forked, and being some distance behind the team and guard, and in conversation with a man named Peter Smith, he recommended Smith not to take the road the wagon had, but the other, as it was shorter. They traveled on to- gether, until they came near a run where the same road joined. Brady observed, ' This would be a good place for Indians to secrete themselves.' Smith said, 'Yes.' That instant three rifles cracked, and Brady fell. The mare ran past Smith, who threw himself on her, and was carried in a few seconds to the fort. The people in the fort heard the rifles, and, seeing Smith on the mare, coming at full speed, all ran to ask for Captain Brady, his wife along, or rather before the rest. Smith replied, ' In heaven or hell, or on his way
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to Tioga ;' meaning he was either dead or a prisoner to the Indians. Those in the fort ran to the spot. They found the Captain lying in the road, his scalp taken off, his rifle gone, but the Indians were in such haste that they had not taken either his watch or his shot pouch."
Jasper E. Brady, Esquire, told me, in 1870, that some thirty years before, when General Hugh Brady visited him at Chambersburg, some old citizen, in conversation with him, asked him whether he ever knew John Montour. He became very much excited, and said, " Yes, he is the damned scoundrel that killed my father." I am unable to reconcile this with the fact that General Brady, in his account of his father's death, (postea, 1783,) says nothing about it. Besides, Heckewelder's letter, the proper date of which is April 28, (see Pennsylvania Archives, Appendix, 1790, page III,) from Con- shocking, which was in the lower part of Ohio, says that John Mon- tour had come there from the Wyandotte town, (now Sandusky, Ohio,) and from a council near Detroit, where the English commander had ordered his arrest as a spy, and the men had followed him nine days. The whole letter shows that he must have been about Detroit, four hundred miles, as the crow flies, from where Captain Brady was killed, on the 1 1th of April. Further, on the first of July, as appears by Colonel Brodhead's letter, ibid., page 134, Captain Samuel Brady and John Montour had left Fort Pitt with a party to capture Simon Girty and seven Mingoes, who were on a raid. He would hardly have consorted with the murderer of his father. Heckewelder, in a letter of 30th of June, to Colonel Brodhead, says, " John Montour is to be looked upon as without deceit." Captain Brady's death is not mentioned in any contemporary written record that I have been able to find. It is possible it was the result of revenge, but most likely it was an attack by one of the marauding parties that preceded McDonald and his rangers.
Mishael Lincoln (grandfather of R. V. B. Lincoln, Esquire) said he was in the fort when Captain Brady was killed, and assisted in carrying in his body. Captain Brady made surveys in Buffalo and White Deer valleys. I have, perhaps, the only autograph of him in existence, attached to an old survey of date 1770.
The accounts of John Montour are conflicting. Meginness says he was wounded at Fort Freeland, 29th July, and died and was buried at Painted Post a few days after. Nevertheless, he was alive
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on the 12th of December, 1779. See Colonel Brodhead's letter, ibid., 197.
Colonel Kelly used to relate that one of the Montours released two American prisoners and conducted them safely to within a few miles of Northumberland, and the ungrateful scoundrels killed him there ; and he pointed out where he was buried, near a clump of trees that stood to the left of the road, a short distance below what is now known as " Molly Bullion's spring."
26th April, Michael Lepley, of Penn's township, aged 41, killed at Fort Freeland. Jacob Speese, in a certificate dated the 26th of June, 1786, states that he was stationed there with a party of militia. He was a lieutenant in command, and on the request of Mr. Mc- Knight, he sent a guard of six men to go with him to his plantation, a short distance from the fort.
Aaron K. Gift, Esquire, of Middleburg, furnished me with the following narrative of this occurrence, as related by his grandfather, Jeremiah Gift, who died at an advanced age, in 1843. The Gift, Herrold, and Lepley families came to Middle Creek valley in the year 1771. John Adam Gift, (great-grandfather of A. K.,) settled on the left bank of Middle creek, three miles west of where Middle- burg now stands ; owned and occupied the farm now owned by John H. Walter. His three sons were Jacob, Anthony, and Jere- miah. The militia were then drawn in classes. Jacob had been drawn, and served a tour in the eastern part of the State. The lot in 1779 fell upon John Adam, the father. Jacob insisted on serving in his stead. Michael Lepley and - - Herrold were drawn at the same time. They were stationed at Fort Freeland, near which lived a family named McKnight, father and son. They secured a guard consisting of fourteen persons, among whom were Jacob Gift, Michael Lepley, and Herrold, to go to milk their cows. The cows were driven into a pen, and while milking, they were surprised by a party of thirty Indians, who fired upon them. They were so completely surprised, they could make very little resistance. Lep- ley, with others, and old Mr. McKnight, were killed. Herrold ran for the fort. As he ran along a field which sloped towards the fort, the soldiers in the fort heard the report of a rifle, and saw him fall, and an Indian scalp him. Jacob Gift also tried to make his escape, but was overtaken. When the pursuing soldiers came up, they
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found evidence of a hard fight ; the ground .was bloody, his rifle broken in pieces, and himself tomahawked and scalped. He had sold his life as dear as possible. Young Mcknight was the only one who escaped. He jumped Warrior run, and a tomahawk struck the top rail of the fence just after he cleared it. He was the only one left to tell the tale. Upon Jacob Gift's father the stroke fell heavy. He said, " It was my lot to go, but my son went and gave his life for mine." Michael Lepley left a widow, Mary A., and some children. She drew a pension for many years afterwards.
In May, John Sample and wife were killed. The inhabitants had mostly left the Valley. The militia were out, under Colonel Kelly .- William Lyon's letter, May 13. This marauding party consisted of from fifteen to seventeen Indians. Christian Van Gundy, senior, was one of a party, with Henry Vandyke, who went up to bring these old people away. (They lived on a farm lately owned by Abram Leib, near Ramsay's school-house, in White Deer, where their graves may still be seen.) Van Gundy was a sergeant, and had six men in his party. Six more were to follow them the next day. After Van Gundy got there, he had slabs put up against the door, and water carried upon the loft. After dark an Indian came around the house, barking like a dog, and rubbing against the door. They paid no attention, but lay down, and slept until about three, A. M., when Van Gundy got up, and lighted a fire. The Indians then surrounded the house, and, mounting a log on their shoulders, tried to beat in the door. Those inside then fired, wounding two, whom they saw carried off. An Indian then came around behind the house, and set it on fire. Van Gundy mounted the loft, knocked off some of the roof, and put out the fire. In this encounter he was struck on the leg by a spent ball, which marked him for some time. Another of the party had his side whiskers shot off. When daylight came they put it to vote, whether they should remain in the house or try to get off. Two voted to stay, four to go. On opening the door they found an Indian chief lying dead in front of it. Van Gundy took the Indian's rifle, Vandyke his powder horn, (which was still in the possession of John Vandyke, in Illinois, some years ago.) The Indians came on suddenly, with loud yells, and the men sepa- rated. Van Gundy, with his two guns, took into a ravine, and tried to get the old people to follow him. They refused, and followed
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the young folks, one of whom, Adam Ranck used to say, was their son. Van Gundy said he soon heard several shots. These killed the old people, who were scalped, and left lie.
The Indians followed them several miles. Van Gundy said he never expected to get out alive, but with his two guns he thought he could kill two at least. He made a circuit of seven miles, and came out at Derr's mill. Colonel Kelly pursued this party; he had a dog that could follow an Indian trail, and, coming pretty close, would immediately drop. On this occurring, Colonel Kelly separated his party, and they made a circuit. As Kelly glided very quietly through the wood, he suddenly stepped into a hole, made by an up-rooted tree. Glancing along it, to his surprise, he saw five Indians sitting like turkeys on the trunk. He made a hole through the root, and leveled his rifle. Simultaneously there was the crack of rifles from the opposite side. Four Indians fell, and, notwithstanding their utmost exertions, the fifth escaped. This dog was of great service to the colonel. During this summer, most of the inhabitants of the Valley, or at least their families, had abandoned it. The men left usually occupied their homes, had signals of alarm, upon which they assembled at some point agreed upon. Colonel Kelly's cabin stood in front of the present building, near the spring, at the present road. He was awakened one night by the growls of this dog. He had a hole cut in the door for observation, and, as it was then getting day- light, he could see something moving among the bushes, at the end of an oak log, that laid across Spruce run. On closer inspection, he discovered an Indian. He took aim at a spot above the log, and, when the Indian raised his head, fired. The ball passed clear through his head, killing him instantly. He buried him himself in the little lot by the spring, marking the grave by a large stone, and kept the secret many years, not telling even his nearest neighbor or friend, knowing that there was no city of refuge to protect him from the ven- geance of the next of kin, an Indian law that proves our common origin. No time or distance overcame it. There occurred one case in the Valley of the killing of an Indian, which was avenged many years after, when the settler had removed to Kentucky. The Indian was apprehended, and confessed that he had often sought the opportu- nity to kill the man here, but was as often foiled, and he followed him to Kentucky, and dogged him many years before it came. Colonel
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Kelly's secret only leaked out a few years before his death, in 1832. The little patch by the spring he preserved undisturbed, but took a notion about this time to have it cleared up. He had a boy, Isaac Bower, living with him at the time, to whom he promised a half dollar to plow it. He superintended it, and when Isaac proposed taking out a large stone with the grub hoe, he told him to let it alone, and plow around it. This aroused Isaac's curiosity, and the next time they had big meeting at Buffalo, and the colonel and all his family were gone, Isaac got to work with a shovel, and had not pro- ceeded far until he reached a huge skeleton. The skull was very large, and had the marks of the bullet in holes on the opposite sides. He carefully covered up the place, and hid the skull under the porch. Some days after old Doctor Vanvalzah came along, and stopped to talk with the colonel on the porch. Something was said about large heads, and Isaac, who became interested, hauled the skull out from under the porch, to show it to them. Doctor Vanvalzah was as- tonished at its size, and Colonel Kelly then asked Isaac where he got it, and when he heard, became very angry, and would have whaled Isaac but for the doctor's presence. He then told the doctor the story as I have related it.
Ist November, 1872, I visited William Allison, of Potter's Mills, Centre county, confined to his house by a paralytic stroke, (he died on rith February, 1877, aged eighty-five,) who told me that his father, Archibald Allison, was one of the party that had gone to bring the Samples off. He related the story substantially as I have given it, as related to me by Captain Jacob Gundy. He added some particulars : that after they got there, they heard the pecu- liar gobble of wild turkeys, and Gundy said he would go out and shoot one. Vandyke said: "You'll catch turkey, if you go out there." (Surmising a common trick of the Indians to imitate turkey calls ; two soldiers at Potter's Fort were enticed out in that way and killed.) That the man wounded through the thumb cried and howled so they had to threaten him to keep him quiet. That they drew the old chief inside the house and scalped him, and divided his accouterments. His father got the string of wampum, which was about the house for a long time. On leaving the house, the two wounded men, with the old people, were placed in the center. They had left the house about sixty rods in the rear, when
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the Indians sallied out from behind the barn, about thirty in num- ber, according to Mr. Allison's account. Gundy and party held a hurried consultation and agreed to separate, Gundy taking the left, with the old people, the rest of the party the right. Allison concealed one of the wounded men under a log, and the Indians crossed it without discovering him. In the race, Allison lost his moccasins, and when he arrived at the fort, (as the rendezvous was called, on John Lesher's place, formerly Billmyer's,) his feet were bleeding so that he could have been tracked by the blood. Archi- bald Allison was then only eighteen years of age. He was at John Lee's shortly after the massacre there, in 1782, and saw the bodies of the murdered, and was one of the party that pursued the Indians. He left the Valley in 1783 or 1784, and pushed on into Penn's valley, where he married a daughter of George McCormick, one of the first settlers near Spring Mills, where he remained, and died in 1844, aged eighty-four years. William Kelly, son of Colonel John, married one of Archibald Allison's daughters.
19th May, General Potter, from Penn's valley, writes that the greater number of the people of Buffalo Valley had left.
26th May, Colonel Hunter writes that he had come poor speed raising the company of rangers, owing to the number of people that had got appointments to recruit for the boat service, (convoying General Sullivan's commissary up the North Branch ;) that he had appointed Thomas Campleton captain ; that the few people remain- ing above were assembled in small bodies at the forts, and very little farming going on ; that on the 25th, twelve large boats, loaded with provisions, left for Wyoming.
June 7, General Sullivan writes from Easton that he has so great desire for the services of General Potter, and so high an opinion of him, that he will give him a command equal to his wishes if he will go along.
June 21, Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hubley, with part of his regi- ment, occupied Fort Muncy, Fort Jenkins, and Sunbury.
26th, Colonel Hunter says Captain Campleton's company is at Bos- ley's mill, Chillisquaque creek, and the country was quite drained of men for the boat service. The few spirited men that remained were guarding the women and children at the different posts they were assembled at, while the army marches from Wyoming. He
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had only thirty men, exclusive of those at Fort Freeland, and with General Potter, whom he would keep at Sunbury until the return of the army to Wyoming. Colonel Hartley's regiment marches imme- diately to join General Sullivan, which leaves Fort Muncy and Fort Jenkins vacant.
June 24, Captain Samuel Brady killed Bald Eagle, a notorious warrior, of the Muncy tribe, near Kittanning. July 4, he, with John Montour, went out with two or three other Indians to capture Simon Girty. 9th, reports Simon at Conshocking. (Colonel Brod- head's letter. )
July 8, Widow Smith's mills burned, and one man killed, in White Deer township.
July 16, General Wayne captures Stony Point.
July 17, Starrett's mill and all the principal houses in Muncy township burned. July 20, three men killed at Fort Freeland. 21, General Sullivan at Wyoming.
The depreciation of continental money was excessive at this time, Vattel's Law of Nations brought $400 ; one volume of Gibbon, $40. 23 March, 1779, a ream of paper, £75. George Read's Life, page, 350.
Capture of Fort Freeland.
July 26, William Maclay writes from Paxton (Harrisburg) that he had just returned from Sunbury. That the whole of the troops had moved from Sunbury, a week before, to join General Sullivan. "Northumberland county is in a deplorable situation, without a single man, except the militia of the county, and Captain Kamplen, with fourteen men. Almost every young man on the frontier engaged in the boat service. Everything above Muncy Hill is abandoned. Forty savages had penetrated as far as Freeland's mills. Freeland and sundry others had fallen victims. The stores at Sunbury are in my dwelling-house, which is large and conveniently situated for defense. The back part of it was stockaded last year, by Colonel Hartley."
28th July, Colonel Hunter writes : "Thisday, about twelve o'clock, an express arrived from Captain Boone's mill, informing us that Freeland's fort was surrounded; and, immediately after, another express came, informing us that it was burned, and all the garrison
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either killed or taken prisoners ; the party that went from Boone's saw a number of Indians and some red-coats walking around the fort, or where it had been. After that, firing was heard off towards Chillisquaque. Parties are going off from this town, and from North . umberland, for the relief of the garrison. General Sullivan would send us no assistance, and our neighboring counties have lost the virtue they were once possessed of, otherwise we should have some relief before this. I write in a confused manner. I am just march- ing off, up the West Branch, with a party I have collected." A few days before the capture Robert Covenhoven went up as far as Rals- ton, (now,) where he discovered Colonel McDonald's party in camp. He returned to Fort Muncy, (Port Penn,) and gave the alarm. The women and children then were put in boats and sent down, under his charge, to Fort Augusta. He took with him the families at Fort Meminger, at the mouth of Warrior run ; but Freeland's fort being four and a half miles distant, they had no time to wait for the fam- ilies there, but sent a messenger to alarm them. Covenhoven (spelled Crownover,) is buried in the Presbyterian grave-yard, in Northum- berland. Born December 7, 1758; died October 29, 1846.
Mrs. Mary V. Derrickson (born 10th February, 1779,) a daughter of Cornelius Vincent, in a letter, dated Delaware run, December 17, 1855, gives the following account of the early settlers, and of Fort Freeland : In 1772, Jacob Freeland, Samuel Gould, Peter Vincent, and his son Cornelius cut their way through the wilderness and set- tled within two miles of where the fort was afterwards built. In the summer of 1778, the year of the Great Runaway, they had to leave the country. They returned and picketed a large two-story house, which had been built by Jacob Freeland. During the winter all the families lived in the fort. In the spring of 1779 the men planted corn, and were occasionally surprised by the Indians ; but nothing serious occurred until the 2 1st of July, when a party at work in the corn-field were attacked by Indians, about nine A. M. Isaac Vincent, Elias Freeland, and Jacob Freeland, junior, were killed. Benjamin Vincent and Michael Freeland taken prisoners. Daniel Vincent out- ran the Indians, and leaping a high log fence, escaped. Benjamin Vincent, then only ten years old, hid himself in a furrow ; he left it to climb a tree, and was seen and captured. He knew nothing about the fate of the others until in the afternoon, when an Indian thrust
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the bloody scalp of his brother Isaac into his face. At daybreak, on the 28th Jacob Freeland, senior, was shot as he was going out of the gate, and fell inside. The fort was surrounded. There were twenty- one men in it, and very little ammunition. Mary Kirk and Phoebe Vincent commenced immediately and ran all their spoons and plates into bullets. About nine a flag was raised, and John Lytle and John Vincent went out to capitulate, but could not agree, and one half hour was given to consult those within. It was finally agreed that all who could bear arms should go as prisoners, the old men with the women and children to be set free, and the fort given to plunder. The latter left the fort at twelve. Not one eat a bite that day, and not a child was heard to cry or ask for bread. They reached Northumberland, eighteen miles distant, that night. Mrs. Kirk put girl's clothes on her son William, a lad of sixteen, and he escaped with the women. Elizabeth Vincent was a cripple, and could not walk. Her husband, John Vincent, went to Captain Mc- Donald and told him her situation, and asked for the horse the Indians had taken from his son Peter a week before. He carried his wife to the lower end of the meadow, where they lay and saw the fort burned. It rained hard that night, and she lay partly in the water. In the morning the horse came to them. Vincent plaited a halter out of the bark of a hickory tree, set his wife on, and led it to Northumberland, where wagons were pressed to take the people down the country. Colonel Hunter's account says : "That the firing at Freeland's was heard at Boone's mill, about seven miles off. (This mill was on Muddy Run, six hundred yards from its mouth, the site of what is now Kemmerer's Mill, two miles above Milton.) Captains Hawkins Boone, Kemplen, and Daugherty marched with thirty-four men, but were met before they reached the fort. Cap- tain Kemplen, who observed the first Indian, shot him dead. Our men behaved with great bravery, but were overpowered, and fifteen were killed and two wounded. Among the dead, Captain Boone and Captain Samuel Daugherty, two very good men."
This engagement took place at McClung's place, above Milton. William Miles, who was taken prisoner at the fort, and afterwards resided in Erie county, said that, in Canada, Captain McDonald spoke in the highest terms of the desperate bravery of Hawkins
12
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Boone. His scalp, with that of Daugherty, was brought into fort Freeland.
Boone came originally from Exeter, Berks county, and was a cousin of the celebrated Daniel Boone, of Kentucky. His grand- father, George Boone, had a large family of sons : William, Joseph, James, Benjamin, John, Hezekiah, Squire, and Josiah Boone. Hawkins was a son of Squire, who moved to North Carolina in 1752. Hawkins was a surveyor, and lived on the place just above New Columbia now owned by Samuel Gemberling. He owned, also, the Jacob Rees' place, north-west of the latter place, the Earnest Book tract, &c. He was commissioned a captain in the twelfth Pennsylvania regiment, and selected to accompany a detach- ment of riflemen from the regiment, sent under Morgan to Saratoga. In a return of Morgan's command, dated at Lowdon's ferry, on the Mohawk, September 3, 1777, he is marked absent; wounded. In February, 1779, the State Council allowed him clothes out of the State stores, " in consideration of his situation and spirited intre- pidity of his conduct in the campaign under Colonel Hartley, when his situation might have justified him in remaining at home." He left a widow, Jane, and two daughters. Some years after his death, his widow married a Mr. Fortenbaugh, and moved to Halifax, Dau- phin county, where she resided many years.
Of Boone's party, Samuel Brady, (uncle of Captain Samuel, ) James Dougherty, and James Hammond made their escape. Daniel Vin- cent, father of late Mr. Vincent, of McEwensville, had been recently married, and after the capture, his wife returned to New Jersey. For four years she heard nothing of him. One evening, when she was out with a sleighing party, a roughly dressed man stopped at the tavern where they were, and inquired if a Mrs. Vincent lived near there. She was pointed out to him, and he told her he had met her husband in Canada. He rode home in the same sleigh, and was disposed to take her upon his lap. She declined the favor until she discovered the impertinent stranger was her husband .- Day's Col- lections, 1843. [See Meginness' West Branch Valley, page 257, &c., for an interesting notice of the return of the captives.]
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