USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Annual of the Bradford County Historical Society, 1906 > Part 2
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Four months afterwards in a letter dated June 21st, 1769, Governor Penn said : " When some of you came to me some months ago, I told you that as you were a peaceable, quiet people and behaved very well, you should not be disturbed in your possession at Wyalusing. This is the word that I then gave and you may depend that I will keep it, and I have accordingly given orders to the surveyors not to survey your lands, nor any lands with-
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Friedenshatten and Wyalusing Indians.
in five miles of your settlement. I will do all in my power to protect and secure you in possession of your lands so long as you behave yourselves well."
It seems almost incredible that a descendant of Wil- liam Penn, within two months after writing this letter, should have signed warrants for surveys within this res- ervation, and in the spring of 1770 warrants were laid surveys made within sight of the town. The Connecticut peoople also had surveyors running lines on both sides of the town.
It now became apparent to the Indians at Wyalusing that they must soon remove voluntarily or be driven from their homes by one or the other of the two parties contending for their lands.
The chiefs of the Delaware Indians, who resided in eastern Ohio and who had become acquainted with their troubles through Zeisberger who was now stationed among them, sent a pressing invitation for them to come and reside with them. After consulting their Moravian brethren at Bethlehem and Zeisberger, their former pastor, they decided to accept the invitation of the Delaware chiefs and remove to Ohio. The Christian Indians at Sheshequin, where the Moravians also had a missionary station, resolved to go with them.
REMOVAL FROM WYALUSING.
On June 11, 1772, after having met in ther chapel for divine worship, they started on their long and wearisome journey in two companies. One hundred and forty went with the missionary Roth and his wife in thirty canoes. They floated down past Wilkes-Barre to Northumberland and from thence pushed up the West Branch. The church bell was taken along in one of the canoes and
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Friedenshutten and Wyalusing Indians.
was rung as they started. Fifty-four went with Etwein, who at their request had been sent from Bethlehem to accompany them across the overland route from Wya- lusing to Muncy through a dense wilderness without roads. In five days they arrived at the mouth of Muncy creek, where they waited five days for the arrival of Roth and his flotilla of canoes. He came on the 20th of June, then all pushed on up the West Branch as far as practi- cable, crossed the Allegheny Mountains and down the Allegany River and finally arrived at their destination in the Tuscaroras Valley, now Tuscaroras County in Eastern Ohio, on the 5th of August, 1772, having been fifty-five days on the route.
The history of the Wyalusing Indians after they set- tled in Ohio is painful to read. Under guidance of Zeis- berger and Heckewelder who remainded with them in their new home, they were peaceable, industrious and for a while prosperous and happy. They raised corn, hay and vegetables and had herds of cattle, horses and hogs.
In 1781, after they had been residents of Ohio for nine years, and the Revolutionary War had been in progress five years, the British commanders by the authority of their government were offering a bounty for American scalps and prisoners delivered in Canada. DePeyster, the British commander at Detroit, by the bestowal of money and goods to the Indians in the West and the promise that they should be protected in the possession of their lands against the encroachment of the American settlers, had gained them all over to the British side ex- cept the Wyalusing Indians now resident in Ohio, who had resolved to remain neutral. The Delawares, among whom they lived and who had given them their lands, were the last tribe to be seduced to the royal cause.
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Friedenshutten and Wyalusing Indians.
In April 1781, Colonel Broadhead the American com- mander at Pittsburg, made a rapid March into the wilds of Ohio and on the Muskengum (now Muskengum county) had an interview with Heckewelder the Moravian Mis- sionary, and it was agreed that the Christian Indians should not be disturbed, but he had hard work to carry out his agreement as the militia in his command hated Indians with such perfect hatred that they were desirous of killing all they could catch. Colonel Broadhead then marched to Coshockton where he attacked a band of hos- tiles and captured about 20 of them, whom were all murdered by the militia before returning to Pittsburg.
In the following September, Colonel Broadhead re- ceived information from Zeisberger that a large body of Wyandots, Delaware, Monseys, and Shawanese, were stealthily approaching the settlements of Western Penn- sylvania. He cautioned Colonel Broadhead not to dis- close the source of his information lest the savages should take revenge on the Wyalusing Indians and their mis- sionaries.
This information was of immense value to the settlers. The forts were put in readiness and when the savage hordes arrived in Pennsylvania they found all the people in arms and in the forts, in readiness to receive them. Disappointed in their expectations of surprising the set- tlers and rightly suspecting that Zeisberger had given notice of their approach, they were enraged at the mis- sionaires and their converts, and on their return to Mus- kingum from their unsuccessful expedition, told them they must immediately remove to Sandusky where they would have them under their eyes. They had to obey or be exterminated. Hastily gathering up such articles of food as they could carry they were marched through
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Friedenshutten and Wyalusing Indians.
the wilderness to Sandusky, where the Christian Indians were allowed to remain, but the missionaries, who had been bound like criminals, were taken to Detroit to an- swer to the charge of being the spies of congress. There being no evidence against them they were discharged. Their horses having been stolen while in Detroit, De- Peyster generously furnished them with others to return to Sandusky-an instance of kindness for which he de- serves great credit, and is in striking contrast with the acts of some other British generals during the Revolu- tionary War.
In February, 1782, the missionaries obtained permis- sion from the British authorities at Detroit for the Wya- lusing Indians confined at Sandusky to return to Mus- kingum and get some corn left there for which they were in urgent need. About this time some atrocities were committed in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and it was believed that some hostile Indians were lurking in the abandoned houses at Muskingum. Accordingly Col- onel David Williamson, commanding a batalion of Wash- ington county militia, marched to Muskingum and found about 150 men, women and children, who had come there to get the corn. They did not regard these white people as enemies, they showed no evidence of guilt, they offered no resistance, made no attempt to escape. They admit- ted that ten hostile warriors had come with them from Sandusky and gone on to the white settlements and that four of them had returned and were now in the village. Some articles were found that had been taken from the people in Washington county, which no doubt the four hostiles had brought. With the exception of the inti- macy with the ten hostile warriors who had come with them and whose company and conduct they could not
Friedenshatten and Wyalusing Indians.
prevent, they were no doubt innocent of all crimes against the whites. This intimacy was considered crime enough. Colonel Williamson, to his everlasting disgrace, put it to vote whether they should be spared or whether they should be slain. Exactly how the vote stood is not known but the Indians were all killed except those in another village. The slain numbered over 90, most of them women and children. The manner of killing is not known. One account says they were driven into their church, tied fast and then burned to death with the church. They were probably shot, as that was the the easier and quicker method of committing the whole- sale murder. The white assassins then pillaged the vil- lage and burned every house.
In Bradsby's History of Bradford county there is an error that does injustice to the Moravian Indian converts at Wyalusing. Mr. Bradsby says: " After the defeat of Braddock in 1755 the whole frontier blazed out in war. Some of the noted Indians who had been baptized into the church by the Moravian missionaries apostatized and turned upon the people in implacable hatred. The Bradford county Indians, although some of them it was supposed had become exemplary Christians, especially at Wyalusing, joined in the war upon the whites and forgot all Christian precepts as well as their friendship for the pale faces."
If Mr. Bradsby had read his history over before send- ing it to the printer he would have erased this cruel slander. Where he got his authority nobody knows, but fortunately he contradicts the statement himself. Further on he says : "In May 1760, Christian Frederick Post, a Polish Prussian missionary of the Moravian church, arrived at Papunhank's village (Wyalusing) and preach-
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Friedenshutten and Wyalusing Indians.
ed the next day. This was the first sermon so far as we can know ever preached in the county." In 1755, the date at which he alleged that some of the Moravian con- verts at Wyalusing apostatized and made war upon the whites, there had been (according to his own statement) no gospel preaching in the county and no Indians con- verted to the Christian faith. In fact there were no con- versions of Indians until 1763, eight years after Bradsby says they apostatized, when Papunhank and another convert named Peter were Baptized.
INDIAN PATHS OR TRAILS IN BRADFORD COUNTY.
- PAPER BY CAPT. J. ANDREW WILT.
M EMBERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF BRADFORD COUNTY :- We cannot present to you anything new on so old a subject as Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford county. The subject is too old to be new. Neither can I present to you anything original for the reason that we know of these Indian highways only as we gather the information from those who made a record of them years ago. We can, therefore, present only the facts as found and mentioned by others and try to show their import- ance to the Indian and afterwards to the white man.
These Indian Paths or Trails, however, show to us of this progressive and scientific age some of the traits and
Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford County.
characteristics of the men who inhabited these hills and valleys before the advent of the " pale face." Roads and highways, such as we have, they had not. Before the general use of railroads we had great highways or turn- pikes, leading from one prominent point or center to an- other, and were thus connected or bound together by such highway. So the Indian had highways or paths connecting one prominent point or center with another. Some of these, as with us, were more prominent or more extensively travelled than others. Two of these great highways, called great war paths, traversed the territory embraced within the present limits of Bradford county.
" Diahoga " (Tioga, now Athens), situated at the point where. the Tioga river (Chemung) unites with the Sus- quehanna, was the great gateway or door to the entrance of the Five Indian Nations from the south, and all who entered their territory from that direction were required to have the consent or pass of the chief located at that important entrance. From this point, also, war parties assembled and then travelled over their great highway down the Susquehanna to Wyoming, thence following the important path or highway to Easton, or following the river to the junction of the West Branch of the same river near Fort Augusta. From Fort Augusta (now Sunbury) another path led up the West Branch of the Susquehanna to near the mouth of Lycoming river (creek) near Fort Muncy (now Williamsport), following said creek to its headwaters, near the present village of Grover in Bradford county, thence striking the head- waters of the Towanda creek, following it to its mouth at Towanda, where at one time was located an important Indian village and where it connected with the great path along the river. This path down the Towanda
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Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford County.
creek, however, was not used generally by those who wished to reach " Tioga," so we find that at or near Le- Roy it crossed over the divide between the Towanda and Sugar creeks, thence following the Sugar Creek to its mouth, where was located the Indian village called Os- cului, thence the great path to Tioga. There was another crossing down the Towanda creek, at or near a point now Powell, thence to Sugar Creek at a point commonly known as the " Pail Factory." We find also the Indians evidently found that by passing over a slight elevation they could leave Sugar Creek near the " Pail Factory " and strike the source of Hemlock Run and intersect with the main path at the river. This by some early writers is called "St. Joseph's Path." From the vicinity of Luther's Mills another short-cut path led from the main path down Sugar Creek, over the hill to the Indian vil- lage of Sheshequenock on the west bank of the river (now Ulster).
Conrad Weiser, the first white man who travelled through this county as early as 1737, followed this path up the Lycoming creek, thence down the Towanda, crossing over to Sugar Creek, thence up the Susquehanna to Tioga. This same path or trail was also followed by Colonel Hartley with two hundred soldiers in 1778 when he destroyed Queen Esther's town at or near Milan on the west bank of the river, and returned by the way of the trail along the Susquehanna and by boats, he being overtaken by the Indians, below Wyalusing, where he fought the battle on what is known as " Indian Hill " in Tuscarora township, between Laceyville and Wya- lusing.
Colonel Hartley, with his little army of 200 men, de- monstrated the practicability and feasibility of trans-
Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford County.
porting and marching soldiers over these Indian paths or trails, which led to the General Sullivan expedition into the Indian country in the following year.
To show that the Indians considered the fact of dist- ance, it is only necessary to state that the distance from Sunbury to Tioga Point (Athens) by way of the path along the Lycoming creek, thence over the trail Colonel IIartley had travelled, is nearly 40 miles less than by way of Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) and along the North Branch of the Susquehanna.
When we study the location of these paths of the In- dian, we must bow with respect to his skill as a civil en- gineer in determining elevations, as well as to express our admiration for his knowledge of location and dist- ance. The Indian trail, or path, as a rule, passes along the rivers and streams and over the divides between them at the lowest altitudes and the nearest and most accessible places.
These paths traversing this county, as our roads do now, is proof that the Indian had a thorough knowledge of geography as well as of distance. Having no instru- ments by which to measure distance or direction, we must conclude that such knowledge was obtained by close observation and experience and almost a resulting intuitive knowledge.
The Indian, living in his crude way, was largely a " child of nature," and consequently observed closely all the marks and signs of nature and judged correctly of distance, direction, altitudes and the changes of the seasons.
When the poet wrote that celebrated poem in which the Indian is made to say, "O why does the white man follow my path ?" (which of course had no reference to
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Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford County.
the subject under discussion), we can truthfully say in answer, because his path led the white man in the most direct route at the lowest altitude from one place to another.
The Great Paths of the American Indian, which was used by him when this continent first became known to the white man, whether North or South, East or West, are to-day the routes for the railroads which connect all parts of the United States and Canada. The main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad follows the path projected and used by the Indians from the Susquehanna across the Allegheny mountains to the junction of the two rivers which form the Ohio. The Northern Central from Sunbury follows the West Branch of the Susque- hanna northerly to the mouth of Lycoming creek, thence up said creek to its headwaters at Grover, where it crosses the divide between the waters of the West Branch and North Branch of the Susquehanna. At or near Canton the railroad leaves the main Indian trail and follows a lesser one, which crossed to Troy and thence extended to Elmira (Newtown), N. Y. So with the Lehigh Valley Railroad ; it follows the great war path of the Indians from the great and lesser lakes in New York State to the junction of the Tioga (Chemung) with the Susquehanna at " Diahoga," Tioga Point, now Athens and Sayre, Bradford county, thence down the river to Wilkes-Barre (Wyoming).
Besides using the rivers and creeks for transportation, by means of canoes and rafts, the Indian had well located beaten and marked paths or trails which were used by him in times of peace on fishing and hunting expedi- tions and communicating with different tribes, or with villages of the same tribe. Evidence of lesser paths or
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Indian Paths or Trails in Bradford County.
trails exist, showing that one from the Susquehanna river, leading from the vicinity of Nichols in New York, led up the Wappasenning creek to near its source, thence to the headwaters of the Wysauking creek to its junction with the Great Path, leading down the river to Wyom- ing (Wilkes-Barre).
From Wyalusing (Moravian, Friedenshutten) a path led up the creek (Wyalusing creek) and another across the river, and from Sugar Run led up the Sugar Run creek and thence over the divide to the headwaters of the Little Loyal Sock to Dushore, Sullivan county, thence down said creek and the Big Loyalsock to its mouth at Montoursville on the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna.
There is also evidence of a trail or path, leading from Diahoga, now Athens, across the hills in an easterly direction, to the river Delaware and thence to the Hud- son, called the " Minisink " path.
Thus was this territory, now called Bradford County, covered by these Indian highways, which for aught we know were travelled by these aboriginees for thousands of years before the coming of the European.
SUGGESTION : The Historical Society of Bradford County should take steps to definitely locate, on the ground as near as possible, the location of these Indian highways now within the limits of Bradford county.
PIKE IN EARLY TIMES.
PAPER BY COL. JOHN A. CODDING.
PIKE derives its name from Gen. Zebulon Pike, who was killed in our war with Great Britain, 1812-15. It is located on the extreme East line of Bradford county, adjoining Susquehanna. It is about ten miles long from north to south and five miles wide from east to west, containing 43 square miles.
Prior to its organization as a township the same terri- tory was a part of Orwell and Rush. Soon after the or- ganization of the county of Bradford the Court appointed a commission, to wit : Jonathan Stevens, Lemuel Streator and Reuben Hale, to lay out four townships from the north-east corner of the new county. The commission- ers laid out the towns of Pike, Orwell, Warren and Wind- ham. Their report was confirmed by the court in Au- gust 1813. The first assessment was made for Pike in 1814. The very first permanent settlers of the town date back twenty years earlier in the 1790's.
It may be interesting to notice the central location of Pike township in the great curvature of the Susquehanna river on its way from Otsego Lake to Chesapeake Bay. From the Borough of Susquehanna past Great Bend, Binghamton, Owego, Sayre, Athens, Towanda, Wyalus- ing, Laceyville, Meshoppen and Tunkhannock, over 140 miles, Pike is so central that we go twenty miles north to the river at Owego, twenty miles west to the river at Towanda, and about twenty mile south to the same
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Pike in Early Times.
river. The town has no large streams or navigable wa-
ters. It is certainly an inland town.
In the early settlement of this country the movement of settlers was from east to west. Pike was settled by Yankees from New England, so it has often been repeat- ed that in ancient times the " wise men came from the East."
We may be pardoned if we pause here to relate an anec- dote of the late Colonel Pomeroy. He came across the country going west to find a home. He stayed over night at Towanda and went out in the morning to view the country with the object of selecting a home. The morning was bright, the birds were singing, while the Colonel listened, it seemed to him very plain, "Cheat and lie, cheat and lie, cheat and lie." He pursued his journey through the wilderness to Troy, where he stopped and made it his home. One who tells the story asked him if he could understand what the birds said at Troy, "' Oh, yes," said the Colonel, "they said very plain, ' work or die.'"
The early settlers, as a class, were the right sort of men to subdue the forests, to build a home, to raise a family and to add strength to the State and wealth to the gov- ernment. The pioneer and his wife were wedded together firmly not only by love and affection but by the strong law of necessity. If they were to succeed in making a living out of the forest they must "work or die." A valuable lesson might be learned by many of our good young people who marry and start together on the jour- ney of life with (apparently) a large stock of love and affection, but who are deficient in the "work or die" quality. They commence with better furniture and household paraphernalia than their parents ever had,
Pike in Early Times.
and after a few years of unhappiness we see their names in the papers working up a divorce. In this latter class of persons who are seeking happiness in their home if they do not take with them the sterner quality, industry, sobriety, honesty and resolution to " work or die," they will fail to keep up with those who make truth and sin- cerity, industry, integrity, kindness and charity the rule of life as did those old New England Yankees who first settled in the wilderness.
The Yankee has long been known as having his pecu- liar characteristic, his inquisitiveness, especially his ask- ing questions. An old poet says of a Yankee :
" He would kiss the Queen till he raised a blister, With his arm round her neck with his old felt hat on, He would address the King by the title of mister And ask him the price of the throne that he sat on."
The great majority of the first settlers of Pike were direct from New England. They brought with them their manners, customs, language and religion, ministers and teachers. As a historian of these settlers I here as- sert that they were in the very front rank of the very best men and women in the country. They were moral, industrious, sober, honest and intelligent. Even one hundred years ago it was seldom that a man or woman could be found who could not write his name ; none were in jail nor in the penitentiary, and for years a sheriff was not seen in the township. They paid their debts and the constable was compelled to earn his living in some other employment than serving summons and executions in Pike. Here in the early settlement there was a sort of neighborly friendship and helpfulness, un- common in older settled communities. A well authen- ticated case of neighborly kindness occurred in the cen-
Pike in Early Times.
tral part of the town some sixty years ago. A neighbor was butchering three or four hogs and the wife said to her husband, "our next neighbor has got no pork, let us send him one of ours, we have all we want." So it was agreed and they sent a dressed hog to the neighbor. The destitute neighbor a few days later sent a nice hive of bees full of honey. So both parties had pork and honey. Begging nor borrowing did not enter into the transaction. They were neighbors. Both were pioneers of the town- ship, and were personal friends of the writer, and have long since entered into rest.
When the pioneer arrived in the woods with his white top wagon he started a fire and as the blue smoke rose above the trees the news spread that a new settler had arrived, and for several miles around the men came to help roll up a log house for the new comer. The trees were cut down. A man was placed on each corner with a sharp axe, logs were hauled to every side ; several strong men rolled the logs up where the men on the corners fitted and notched the end of each log so they were held together without nail or bolt and were more solid than the finest frame. When they got seven or eight logs high they put on a roof with boards and shingles. The floors were made of rough boards ; a hole was left in the roof for the smoke to escape. The door was of rough or unplaned boards, hung on wooden hinges. Through a gimlet hole in the door passed a string which was attached to the wooden latch on the inside. The lateh was raised and the door opened by pulling the string which hung outside. A long board, laid on pins driven into a log on the side of the room, formed the table on which the family placed their roast- ed potatoes, corn bread (Johnny cake) and mush and
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