USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 25
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When the ravages of Indians were made at Tulpehocken, the panic few to Reading, and the people there were disposed to pull down
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tne houses of the Friends. A letter from Judge Moore, in Chester county, stated that 2000 of the inhabitants were preparing to march to Philadelphia, to compel the assembly to defensive laws. A letter from C. Weiser, then made a colonel, stated that many in Berks county were intending the same thing. Kirkbride, Hoge, Dicks and Pennock, in the assembly, resigned their seats, as Friends, at the instance of the ministry at home. It was a time of deep excite- ment indeed !
It will probably be interesting to many to have a right conception of the localities of frontier forts, Indian towns, and Indian paths, as they formerly existed in Pennsylvania, when the Indians were still among us.
A line of posts began above Easton, on the Delaware, and formed a semi-circular cordon of defence from thence across the Susque- hanna at Wilkesbarre and thence by Northumberland, across the Juniata, near Huntingdon, down to Fort Littleton, near Bedford, and thence down to the Potomac.
Beginning with the semi-circle, they stood thus, viz. :
Fort Penn, on Broadhead's creek, falling into the Delaware above Easton.
Fort Augusta, at the forks of the Susquehanna, at the present · Northumberland and Sunbury.
There was also another fort, once used, above it, a short distance westward of the present Wilkesbarre.
There was also a second and interior line of forts to the preceding, situate severally, to wit :
Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, opposite to Mahoning creek ; next,
Fort. Henry, at the head of the main Swatara creek, at the foot of the Blue mountains ; next,
At Fort Halifax, on the Susquehanna, a little above Duncan's island ; and Fort Hunter, a little below that island.
In returning now to the first above named exterior circle, we find next after Fort Augusta,
Fort Shirley, on Aughwick branch-a creek which empties into the Juniata, a little below Huntingdon ; then comes
Fort Littleton and Fort Loudon-the former being a few miles eastward from Bedford, and the latter being a few miles south of Fort Littleton, on the Conocochegue creek, in Franklin county.
The three last named forts ranged in a north and south line, up to Fort Shirley, and from thence there went an Indian path to Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna.
We now come to show another range of forts, going westward from Bedford, say-
Fort Ligonier ; then to Hannah town, and then to Fort Pitt.
Southward from Pittsburg, on the Monongahela, at Redstone creek, stood Fort Burd, near to which there had been two Indian forts. Proceeding due north from Fort Pitt, (Pittsburg,) we find on
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Indians.
the Allegheny, at the mouth of French creek, Fort Venango ; and north-east from thence stood Fort Le Bœuf, at the mouth of Le Bœuf creek ; and onward, a little further north, stood Fort Presque- isle, upon the margin of Lake Erie.
The Indian towns were these, viz. :
The Shawnese town, at the mouth of Fishing creek, on the north branch of the Susquehanna ; next, the Wyoming town, near present Wilkesbarre ; and still higher up that river, the Wyalusing town, at the mouth of the Wyalusing creek.
From these we turn to towns westward, viz. :
Bald-eagles' nest, (at the present Bellefonte,) at the entrance of Spring Creek into Bald Eagle creek, which empties into the west branch of the Susquehanna; thence westward a few miles, was Chingliomalouk, at the mouth of that creek.
Westward of the range of the Allegheny mountains, there were the following, to wit :
Shawnese cabins, a little beyond Bedford.
Conemack old town, at the head of the Kishkemanates river; on the same river, lower down, stood the town of
Blacklegs; and still further down the same, stood the
Kishkemanates town, near to its outlet into the Allegheny river. On the Allegheny, a little below Kishkemanates river, stood Chartiers old town ; a few miles below it stood
Sewickly's town, a little above Pittsburg.
On the Allegheny, a few miles above Kishkemanates river, stood Kittaning town, celebrated for its destruction by Col. Armstrong's expedition.
Further up the Allegheny, a few miles above Fort Venango, stood Kushusduling and Buccaloons towns; and further up the same river, at Bigrock branch, stood Bighole town.
The Indian paths were these, viz. :
Beginning at the north boundary of the state, and with the head waters of the north branch of the Susquehanna, at a few miles west- ward of Wyalusing ; thence southward along the range of mountains westward of Wilkesbarre, down to present Northumberland ; thence to the Juniata, south-westwardly, to near the mouth of Tuscarora branch ; thence up the Juniata to the present Huntingdon ; thence south-westwardly, along Woodcock valley, and keeping between the mountain ranges of the Alleghenies, called "the Great Warrior's mountains," down to the south line of the state, and thence to the Potomac.
There was another Indian path, ranging parallel with the preced- ing, some twelve or fifteen miles more westward, beginning from the Bald Eagle and Mushanen creeks, on the west branch of Susque- hanna, and proceeding southwardly along the Allegheny ranges to the present Frankstown, down to Bedford; where it was joined unto the former line of Indian paths, and guiding the traveller down to Potomac, as in the former pathway.
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Indians.
There was still another great Indian pathway, laying north-west- ward and south-eastward, beginning at Bedford, and Fort Littleton nigh by it, and going thence north-westwardly to Kittaning, on the Allegheny ; and another path, still more northern in its direction, proceeded through Frankston, and from thence due north-west to Venango, still higher up the Allegheny than the former.
These several descriptions, we are aware, will be somewhat diffi- cult of apprehension ; but if those who are curious in these matters, will be at the pains to pencil-mark their maps from post to post, as herein set down and directed, they will find themselves sufficiently instructed herein.
It may serve to illustrate the character of some of our American Indians, to say, that Anthony Benezet became acquainted with a portion of them, in the back part of Pennsylvania, who, from their self-conviction of the injustice and irreligion of war, united them- selves into a community, with a resolution to war no more, and asserting as their reason, " that when God made men, he did not intend they should hurt or kill one another."
Such views, entertained by them, were of course very gratifying to Anthony Benezet, and he was therefore at special pains to find out the originating cause of views so accordant with his own principles ; and the facts in the case, preserved in his preface to his " Plain Path to Christian Perfection," having been kindly given to me by Mrs. Benjamin Chew, I here insert them, viz. : One of the tribe, being by a particular providence brought under difficulty and sorrow, was led, from the contemplation of the sufferings and sins around him, to think of a Creator, and to desire a knowledge of him in whom he had his being. This exercise begat in his mind a spirit of prayer. As this operation proceeded he became conscious of a good and evil principle working within him ; he was at last delivered from one, and attained to the other. This man came in time to proselyte others to his own convictions, and to form his own little community averse to the principles of war. "Thus this Indian, (as says A. B.,) un- taught by books and unlearned in what is called divinity, through the inshining of the light of Christ on his understanding, could explain the operation of true religion on the heart." He is supposed to have been the chief of the Delawares, named Nedowaway, who finally settled in Ohio, and who with his people united with the Moravian missionaries. See his picture in this work.
Nedowaway was an Indian chief of the Delawares, of more than common character, who had become a Christian, and died in Ohio in 1776, at ninety years of age. His name appears among the signers of the treaty at Conestoga in 1718; and in his childhood he is said to have seen William Penn on his second visit in 1701-2 As a trusty and discreet chief, he had been entrusted with the pre servation of all the verbal speeches, bead vouchers, and wampum, and with such writings and instruments as had come from William Penn and his early governors, &c.
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He was grieved with the constant encroachments of the white men, westward, on the Indian lands; and early foreseeing that wars must ensue, and that his people must be sufferers, he resolved with his people to get far off in the west. By the advice of the Wyandot chief, he settled on the Cayahage river, where he was visited and seen by Heckewelder in 1772.
See in his picture in this work, how pensive he sits alone, and ponders in the mute eloquence of grief, upon his former well known scenes, along the mountain range traversing the Susquehanna, near Harrisburg. The picture seems to speak his inward emotions and distress at being obliged to leave the regions of his former home.
And he felt the soul sigh, as he look'd o'er the scene, And remembered how once they were lords of that stream.
As a proper conclusion to our Indian notices, it may be well to give a little account of the present disposal of the Indian tribes, as now placed in the far west. They will make a fearful account in numerical force, if made our enemies there, and much it behoves us even now to conciliate and preserve their good will, by acts of sin- cere and generous friendship and support. We have selfishly placed them-many of them against their wills, where they may yet find means to consolidate and combine their strength against us! We must now look to it in time! Their localities and numbers stood thus in 1838, viz. :
The Indians now east of the Mississippi number 49,365, of which the following are under engagements to remove west of the same river, to wit :
The Winnebagoes, 4,500 Ottawas of Ohio, 100
Pottawatamies of Indiana, 2,950
Cherokees, 14,000
Creeks, 1,000
Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatamies,
1,500
Seminoles, 5,000
Chickesaws,
1,000
Ottawas and Chip-
Apalachicolas,
400 pewas in Michigan, 6,500
Making in all 36,950
And those not under treaty stipulations to remove amount to 12,415, to wit :
New York Indians, 4,176
Wyandots,
575
Miamis, 1,100 Menomonies, 4,000
Ottawas and Chippewas of the lakes, 2,564
The Indians who have emigrated from the east to the west of the Mississippi (in 1838) stood thus, viz .:
Chickesaws, 549 Senecas
Quapaws,
476
Chippewas,
and Shaw-
Ottawas,
374
Ottawas and
nese,
211
Pottawatamies
Pottawatamies, 2,191 Choctaws, 15,000 of Indiana, 211
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The Pirates.
Creeks,
476
Seminoles,
407
Apalachico
Cherokees,
7,911
Kickapoos,
588
las,
265
Shawnese,
1,272
Peorias and
Delawares,
826
Piankeshaws,
162
Kaskas,
132
Weas,
222
Senecas,
251
Besides the foregoing, we are to consider the force of the Indian tribes, whose former home was in the far west, which comprise an aggregate of 231,806, to wit :
Sioux,
21,600
Iowas,
1,500
Sacs of
Foxes,
1,600
Osages,
5,120
Missouri, 500
Kanzas, 1,606
Omehas,
1,600
Ottoes and
Pawnees,
12,500
Camanches, 19,200
Missourias, 1,000
Mandans,
3,200
Quapaws,
450
Kioways,
1,800
Pagans,
80,000
Assinnaboins, 15,000
Minaterees,
2,000
Crees,
3,000
Arrepahas,
3,000
Appaches, 20,280
Eutaws, 19,200
Crows,
7,200
Gros Ventres,16,800
Poncas,
900
Arickareas,
2,750
Caddoes,
2,000
Blackfeet 30,000
Sacs,
4,800
Cheyennes,
3,200
Thus making a sum total of 332,498, as derived from official re- ports, made up in the year 1838. If such a mass should be set upon us as the instruments of retributive justice, what might not be our penalties !
THE PIRATES.
" A bucaniering race- The dregs and feculence of every land."
THE story of the pirates had been, in early times, one of deep in- terest and stirring wonder to our forefathers; so much so, that the echo of their recitals, far as we have been long since removed from their fears, have not yet ceased to vibrate upon our ears. Who among us of goodly years but has heard something of the names and piracies of Kid and Blackbeard! They have indeed much of the mist of antiquity about them ; for none remember the original tales truly, and all have ceased to read, for none know where to find the book of " the History of the Pirates," as published by William Bradford, in New York, in 1724. That book I have never been able to procure, although I have some conception of it and its terri- fying pictures, as once seen and read by my mother when a child. It had every character of the marvellous surely, when it contained notices of the lives of two female pirates-even of Mary Reed and Anne Bonny ! Dr. Franklin tells us that he made and published a
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The Pirates.
sailors' song on the capture of Blackbeard-done when he was yet a boy. Can any one bring it again to light? Many would like to see it.
Captain Kid.
Captain Kid (Robert) used to be the earliest name of terror along our coast, although I believe he never committed any excesses near our borders, or on our vessels ; but partisans in his name were often named and dreaded. What countryman he was does not appear, but his residence appears to have been in New York before his pira- cies were known, where he had a wife and child. He most proba- bly had been a successful privateersman, possessing then the friend- ship of Governor Fletcher, Mr. Nicolls, and Col. Robert Livingston ; the latter of whom recommended him to the crown "as a bold and honest man to suppress the prevailing piracies in the American seas." It appears on record at New York, as early as March, 1691, that Captain Kid then reclaimed a pressed seaman ; and on the 17th of August, of the same year, he is recorded as bringing in his prize and paying the king his tenth, and the governor his fifteenth, of course showing he was once every way a legalized man among them. His being called " bold," probably arose from numerous acts of success- ful daring, which made his name renowned while on the side of the law, and equally a subject of terror when openly acknowledged a pirate. It appears from a pamphlet of facts in the case, set forth by the friends of the Earl of Bellermont, about the year 1702, that Col. Robert Livingston and Captain Kid being both in London in 1694, the former recommended him to the crown officers, and also became his security, by whom he received command of the Adventure gal- ley, and sailed from Plymouth in February, 1695. He came out direct to New York,* thence went to Madeira, Madagascar, and the Red sea. In the latter he began his piracies, capturing several ves- sels, and finally the Quedah Merchant, of 400 tons; with her he came back to the West Indies, where leaving her in charge of one Bolton, he came in a sloopt to Long Island sound, and made many deposits on shore. While in the sound he sent one Emmet to the Earl of Bellermont, then transferred from the government at New York to that at Boston, to negotiate terms of reconciliation. The Governor assured him of fair treatment, in such terms of equivocacy as ensnared him so far that he landed the first of June, 1699-was then arrested and sent home to England for trial. Finally, he was executed at Execution Dock, the 23d of March, 1701, and so gave rise to the once notable " song of Captain Kid." Col. Livingston
* The Modern Universal History (Edition-1763) says he left off cruising along New York and New England, because of non-success.
The word sloop often meant a war vessel without reference to the manner of her rigging.
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The Pirates.
again attempted to befriend him after his arrest at Boston, by offering some suggestions for his relief. He was one-fifth owner of his ori- ginal enterprise, in concert with some noblemen in England. The whole was an unofficial adventure of crown officers, possessing, how. ever, the sanction, though not the commission of the king. The ex- pedition itself being thus of an anomalous character, excited con- siderable political inquiry in England, and finally became, after Kid's death, the subject of parliamentary investigation. The particulars more at large have been preserved by me in my MS. book of His- torical Collections, given to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Smith's History of New York has some few facts concerning him- see 4to. edition, p. 91. A writer at Albany, in modern times, says they had the tradition that Kid once visited Coeymans and Albany ; and at a place two miles from the latter, it was said he deposited money and treasure in the earth. Two families, now of wealth and respectability, of New York, have been named to me as original settlers at Oyster Bay on Long Island, who became suddenly rich by their connexion with Kid's piracies. The story was, that they deserted from his sloop above mentioned, in the sound, after seeing the treasure deposited, and when the chief was arrested, and the ex- pedition destroyed, they profited by the exclusive gain.
Many incidental facts of that day show that the pirates often had their friends and accomplices on shore, acting not unlike the armed vessels off our coasts in the time of the French revolution, all of whom seemed to have accurate knowledge of fit prizes to sail, or ex- pected to arrive. The very circumstance of Kid's having a family in New York inferred his family alliances, and perhaps, if we now knew all things, we might see, even now, some of his wealthy de- scendants.
Tradition, about and along Long Island sound, says, that the Sachem's head, and the Thimble islands, were the rendezvous of Capt. Kid-one of these rocky islands in the sound is called " Kid's island." He deposited on Gardiner's island the same treasure which was given up to Gov. Bellermont, and of which there is a schedule in the hands of the Gardiner family at this day. It is said that a pot of $1800 was ploughed up two or three years ago in a corn field, at Martha's Vineyard, which is supposed to have been Kid's money. Kid has been sometimes called William Kid, and has been so named in that schedule. At Kid's island is a cave, where it is said the pirates used to hide and sleep -- inside of it is cut the letters R. K., supposed to stand for Robert Kid-a hole in the rocky floor, chiselled out, is called their punch bowl for carousal. Another little island is called "Money island," and has been much dug for its treasure.
Gov. Fletcher has had the reputation of countenancing the pirates, and Nicholls, one of his council, has been handed down by tradition, as their agent.
An old account, London edition, of the Sea Rovers, from which I
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The Pirates.
have seen some reprint, says of New York, about the year 1695, that " the easy access to the harbour, and the number of hiding places about its waters, together with the laxity of the newly organized go- vernment, made it a great rendezvous for pirates, where they might dispose of their booty and concert new schemes of depredations There they sold at small prices their rich luxuries and spoils of the Spanish provinces. To some at least they were welcome visiters, and for that reason, crews of these freebooters might be seen swag- gering about town in open day. In time it became matter of scan- dal, and a public pest, and the government at home was urgently applied to [of course by the best part of the community] to suppress this evil."
It was of course a matter understood, that to make spoliations on Spanish provinces was so much reprisal for wrongs which Holland- ers had suffered, under the cruel Duke of Alva, in their fatherland.
In 1699, Isaac Norris, Sen., writes, saying, " We have four men in prison, taken up as pirates, supposed to be Kid's men. Shelly, of New York, has brought to these parts some scores of them, and there is a sharp look out to take them. We have various reports of their riches, and money hid between this and the capes. There were landed about twenty men, as we understand, at each cape, and seve- ral are gone to York. A sloop has been seen cruising off the capes for a considerable time, but has not meddled with any vessel as yet, though she has spoken with several."
The above quoted letter, in the Logan MS. collection, goes to countenance the prevalent idea of hidden money. The time concurs with the period Captain Kid was known to have returned to the West Indies. It may have been the very sloop in which Kid him- self was seeking means of conveying home his treasure, and with which he finally went into Long Island sound to endeavour to make his peace. Four of the men, landed at Lewistown, were apprehended and taken to Philadelphia; I saw the bill of their expense,* but heard no more of them, save that I saw that Colonel Quarry, at Phi- ladelphia, was reproached by William Penn for permitting the bail- ing of the pirates ; some were also bailed at Burlington .- Vide Penn's letter of 1701. One man of Jersey was arrested by James Logan, on his own declaration that he had so hid money on Cape May, but the case was discharged by Logan himself, as something like a hoax. William Clark, the collector of customs "down the Delaware," at Lewistown I presume, had his house robbed by pirates, as he alleged.
A letter from Jonathan Dickinson, then at Port Royal, dated the 5th of 4 mo. 1699, to his wife, then in Philadelphia, says, " Many pirates are and have been upon the coast. About two days since came news of Captain Kid's being upon our coast, being come from
* Wessell Alricks, of Newr county, (New Castle,) was paid £9, for bringing pirates in 1700, to Philadelphia, from the Whore-kills .- Logan MSS.
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The Pirates.
que East Indies with a great booty, but wants provisions. He is in a ship which he took from the natives of those parts, having thirty odd guns, with twenty-five white men and thirty negroes. There is gone hence, two days since, Ephraim Pilkerton, in a sloop well manned, to go and take him." Probably the reason of so few men on board the "Quedah" was, that Kid himself was absent in the sloop before mentioned.
An original letter, which I have seen, from John Askew in Lon . don, dated 22d of 3 mo. 1701, to Jonathan Dickinson, contains a postscriptum intimating the finale of this bold sea rover-saying, " Captain Kid and some other pirates are to execute to-morrow at Execution Dock, in Wapping; Kid, to be gibbetted at Tillberry Fort, Gravesend."
As a sequel to the whole, came out the ballad song of Captain Kid-a great rarity in the present day, although the pensive tones are still known to some, and have been latterly revived in much bad taste among the eccentric camp-meeting hymns-singing, " Farewell, ye blooming youth," &c. For the use of the curious, both the facts and the style of this pirate song are here preserved, from the recollec tions of an ancient person, to wit :
1. My name was Captain Kid, 2 bis.
When I sail'd, when I sail'd, S My name was Captain Kid, And so wickedly I did, God's laws I did forbid
When I sail'd, when I sail'd. bis.
2. My name, &c.
I roam'd from sound to sound, And many a ship I found, And them I sunk or burn'd When I sail'd, when I sail'd.
4
3. My name, &c.
I murder'd William Moore, And laid him in his gore, Not many leagues from shore, When I sail'd, when I sail'd.
4. My name, &c.
Farewell to young and old, All jolly seamen bold ; You're welcome to my gold, For I must die, I must die.
5. My name, &c. Farewell to Lunnon town, The pretty girls all round ; No pardon can be found, And I must die, I must die.
6. My name, &c.
Farewell, for I must die Then to eternity, In hideous misery, I must lie, I must lie.
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The Pirates.
Blackbeard.
It would appear as if none of the pirates so much agitated the minds of our proper ancestors as Blackbeard-his very name raising ideas of something terrific and cruel His proper name was Teach, who acquired the cognomen as possessing in his person an alarming black beard, probably cherished for purposes of effect, to terrify his enemy, and as in full keeping with his black or bloody flag. His depredations in our proper seas were considerably more modern than the piracies of Kid; and after Blackbeard's career was ended in 1718, there were many, as we shall presently show, to succeed him. But we have, however, mention of a pirate, even earlier than Kid's known piracies, even as early as his privateering; for very early in the rise of our infant city, one Brown, of the assembly, a son-in-law too of the deputy governor, Colonel Markham, was refused his seat in the house on his alleged connexion with the pirates .* They doubtless found such a defenceless place a ready market to vend some of their spoil, and the naval regulations could have had little or no means to prevent clandestine commerce. The bay and river doubtless furnished them many a secure place in which they could refit or provide their necessary supplies. Perhaps as jolly sailors, full of money and revelry, they sometimes found places even of welcome, from those who might choose to connive at their real character. We find, as early as 1692, that one Babit and others stole a sloop from Philadelphia for purposes of piracy, and also committed some thefts in the river. It was, however, but a small affair, and yet, small as 1+ was, it much excited the town.
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