USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 7
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Washington drew up his army so that the
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
center, under the command of Greene, and com- prising the brigades of Wayne, Weedon and Muhlenberg, and Maxwell's light infantry, rested on Chadd's ford, where a battery of six guns commanded the crossing, and slight earth- works and a redoubt had been thrown up. His left wing comprised the Pennsylvania militia, under command of General Armstrong, and stretched two miles through " Rocky Field " to Pyle's ford, where Colonel Eyre, with two militia artillery companies, had his cannon planted to command that crossing. The right wing of the army stretched two miles up the Brandywine from Washington's headquarters, and was composed of three divisions of two brigades each, commanded by Sullivan on the right, Stephens in the center, and Stirling on the left.
On the 11th of September, 1777, Howe marched his army in two columns against Washington, Cornwallis commanding one and Knyphausen the other. A heavy fog shut out Howe's movements from the Americans and he daringly dispatched Cornwallis with his left wing up the Brandywine to cross above the forks and turn Washington's right. Col- onel Ross first observed the column of Corn- wallis on its march and sent word of its move- ment through Sullivan to Washington, who instantly determined to cross the Brandywine and shatter or capture Knyphausen's division before Cornwallis could return to its support. Greene had sent his advance guard across the stream and Washington was preparing to cross when Sullivan sent him a note saying that Major Spear had come from above the forks and that Cornwallis was not in that locality. This caused Washington to fear a ruse on the part of Cornwallis, who might then be in sup- porting distance of Knyphausen, and he coun- termanded the order to cross.
About two o'clock Justice Thomas Cheyney arrived at Chadd's ford and reported to Wash- ington that he and Col. John Hannum that morning saw a large British force moving to Jefferies' ford, on the east branch. By this
time came a note from Sullivan stating that the enemy was in the rear of his right. Thus the brave and gallant, but slow and neglectful Sullivan had failed to make a proper recon- noisance and allowed Howe to use again the strategem which had given him victory on Long island.
Washington immediately secured a guide in the person of Joseph Brown, a resident of the community, and started for Sullivan's division by the shortest way.
Howe accompanied Cornwallis, and crossing the East Branch at Jefferies' ford found the American troops hastily forming in a strong positon on a hill above Birmingham meeting house. Sullivan hesitated in his dispositions, Stirling and Stephens moved with prompti- tude, but Debarre made a blunder in getting Sul- livan's division in position, leaving a half-mile gap in the line and the British then turned the unformed right. The left next gave way and the brunt of battle fell on the center, where Sulli- van exhibited great personal courage and re- pelled five separate attacks. Sullivan had his artillery in the center, which was finally compelled to retreat.
When Washington reached the field he ral- lied a number of troops on a height to the north of Dilworthtown, whereLafayette was wounded while rallying a disorganized line.
Washington before starting had ordered Greene to move to Sterling's aid, and one of his brigades-Weedon's-made four miles in forty-five minutes and formed in Sandy Hol- low or Dilworth's Path, a narrow defile flanked on both sides by woods. Here Greene opened his ranks to let Sullivan's artillery and flying troops through and closed again to receive the British, who made charge after charge. Late in the evening Greene fell back in good order toward Chester.
After Washington left Chadd's ford, where General Maxwell's brigade had crossed in the morning and given Knyphausen's advance a warm reception, Wayne easily held his po- sition until near sunset, when Knyphausen
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
forced his way across the stream, and \Vayne, who had not a thousand men that had ever been under fire, was compelled to retreat with the loss of part of his artillery and stores. Arm- strong's militia division fled at the same time toward Chester, where Washington's entire force had retreated.
Washington never made a detailed report of his loss at Brandywine, and Howe's report of the British loss as only 578 killed and wounded, is regarded as not being correct.
On the next day after the battle Washington retreated through Darby to Philadelphia, and three days later left Germantown and marched to Goshen church, where on the 16th Wayne attacked the right of the British army. In a few minutes the battle would have been gen- eral but for the breaking of a heavy rain storm which separated the armies and wet Washing- ton's ammunition to such an extent that he retreated to Yellow Springs and then retired across the Schuylkill.
After the battle of the Brandywine the main part of the British lay at Dilworthtown for five days. A part of it, under Cornwallis, on the 13th marched past Concord meet- ing liouse and camped at Village Green, while a detachment occupied Chester. On the 15th Cornwallis marched by the way of the present villages of Glen Riddle, Lima and Howellville to Goshen church, where on the 16th he joined Howe who had left Birmingham meeting house and marched by the way of the Turk's Head tavern, now West Chester.
When Howe took Philadelphia on Septem- ber 25th, his fleet had come up the Delaware- as high as Chester, and he then bent his ener- gies to capture the American forts command- ing the river between those two places, as he had to have an open water way to bring sup- plies to his army.
Washington sent General Potter to Chester county with a body of troops to annoy the British and cut off their supplies as brought by land from Chester to Philadelphia.
Howe's first attempts at clearing the river
were unsuccessful. Col. Dunop was defeated at Red Bank, an unsuccessful attack was made on Fort Mifflin, and the frigate Augusta and the sloop of war Merlin were destroyed while en- deavoring to remove obstructions in the Dela- ware. But Cornwallis effected the opening of the river, and with six thousand men, on Novem- ber 20, 1777, took possession of Fort Mercer, that had been evacuated the day before, while eight armed Colonial vessels and two floating batteries were destroyed to prevent them fall- ing into the hands of the British.
BRITISH RAVAGES.
From the 11th to the 16th of September, 1777, the British army took and destroyed one hundred and ten thousand dollars worth of property in Chester county that was re- ported, but the amount is supposed to have been much larger, as the Quakers were the heaviest losers, and generally refused to fur- nish any estimate of their losses. The in- habitants of the county suffered continual loss at the hands of the British during all the time that Howe held Philadelphia.
In the September losses, it is said, were three hundred and eighteen horses, five hun- dred and forty-six cattle, one thousand four hundred and eighty sheep, nine thousand and sixty-two bushels of wheat, and over ten thousand bushels of other grain, besides five hundred and fifty tons of hay.
In the territory of the present county of Delaware the losses were reported as follows:
TOWNSHIP.
Birmingham ( part of ) £5,844
Thornbury ( part of ) 787
Chester 2,742
Chichester 87
Aston
1,245
Concord
961
Marple.
217
Newtown. 86
Ridley
639
Edgmont 504
Haverford.
1,733
Darby 1,475
Radnor
1,499
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
After the British evacuated Philadelphia there was but little of military interest that happened in Chester county, until the close of the Revolutionary war. During that entire struggle there was but little security of prop- erty in the county: The Americans plundered the tories and Quakers, and what they bought from the whigs was paid for chiefly in Conti- nental money that rapidly depreciated in value until it was worth but a few cents on the dol- lar. The British took everything in their way of the whigs and Quakers, and often did not spare the property of the tories. Two or three false alarms were raised of a British fleet being bound for the Delaware river, and the militia was ordered to be in readiness to take the field.
In 1779 Capt. Matthew Lawler raised a crew of over one hundred men at Chester for his privateer brig, the "Holker," which in July, 1780, off the coast of New Jersey, engaged and captured the loyal privateer "Lord Rodney."
On March 30, 1780, Col. Robert Smith was appointed county lieutenant, and Col. Thomas Cheyney, Louis Gronow, Andrew Boyd, Thomas Levis, and Robert Wilson as sub- lieutenants, and during that year requisitions were made by the council on Chester county for flour, forage, wagons and five hundred militia.
In 1782 a wagon train of British goods pass- ing through the county under a protection flag from Washington, for the British prisoners at Lancaster, was seized on some alleged viola- tion of the passport by those in charge of the goods. The matter was brought to the atten- tion of the council and of Congress and the goods were turned over to the secretary of war.
In 1782 occurred the famons battle off the capes between the American vessel Hyder Ali, commanded by Capt. Joshua Barney, and the British ship General Monk, in which the latter was captured and was brought to Chester.
From 1780 to 1786 occurred the contest over removing the county seat from Chester to some more central part of the county.
The militia of Chester during the latter part of the Revolutionary war were divided into eight classes, and when a class was called out those belonging to it who could not go paid a fine, varying from fifteen to fifty pounds for two months' service. The proceeds of these fines were used in employing substitutes, which in some regiments nearly equaled the number of those regularly drafted.
The officers and number of men enrolled in the eight battalions of Chester county were as follows :
Ist .- Lieut. - Col. Thomas Bull, Maj. Peter Hartman ; number of men, 672.
2d .- Lieut .- Col. John Bartholomew, Maj. Cromwell Pearce ; number of men, 873.
3d. - Lieut .- Col. George Pierce, Maj. Ed- ward Vernon ; number of men, 510.
4th .- Lieut. - Col. Richard Willing, Maj.
William Brooke; number of men, 670.
5th. - Lieut. - Col. John Gardner, Maj. John Culbertson : number of men, 623.
6th. - Lieut. - Col. David McKey, Maj. Sam- uel Evans ; number of men, 484.
7th .- Lieut. - Col. Isaac Taylor, Maj. John Craig.
8th .- Lient. - Col. Joseph Speer, Maj. John Boyd ; number of men, 570.
The captains in the above battalions, serv- ing at different periods, were : Thomas Car- penter, Joseph Mendenhall, William White- side, Joseph Luckey, Hugh Reed, John Boyd, John Bryan, David Curry, Robert Corry, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Johnston, Sampson Thomas, Jonathan Rowland, Evan Anderson, William Harris, Isaac Thomas, Alexander Lockart, John Craig, Thomas Levis, John Flower, Jonathan Vernon, John Lindsey, Ed- ward Vernon, John Pitts, Mordecai Morgan, Joseph Bogg, John Fleming, and Captains Cypher, Wilson, Hister, Boylan, Morrell, Moore, Smith, Cochran, Henry, Marsh, Mc- Closkey, Quin, Kirk, Price, Kemp, Pierce, Huston, Dunning, Allen, Graham, Denny, Barker, Elton, Scott, Beatty, Griffith, Carroll, Hollman, Brumback, Barber, Snyder, Eyry,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Cummings, Jenkins, Kincaid, Corbie, Hays, Williamson, Blackburne, Colby, Ramsay, Mc- Kee, Fulton, Evans, Black, Ramage, and Strode.
COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL TO WEST CHESTER.
For nearly a century the citizens of the wes- tern part of the county made no serious objec- tion to the connty seat being situated on the eas- tern edge of the county. But on January 28, 1766, a petition was presented to the assembly asking for the removal of the seat of justice to, and the erection of, a conrt house at some point near the center of the county. Petitions and counter-petitions were presented upon the sub- ject, but no action was taken ; and the Revo- lutionary war caused the matter to rest until 1780, when the assembly, on the 20th of March, passed an act empowering William Clingan, Thomas Bull, John Kinkead, Roger Kirk, John Sellers, John Wilson and Joseph Davis, or any four of them, to buy land at some conven- ient place in the county and erect a new court house and prison, and then to sell the old court house and prison in the borough of Ches- ter. They purchased a lot of land in east Caln township from Rosanna Sheward, but never pro- ceeded to erect buildings, as it is said that a majority of them were opposed to the removal. On March 22, 1784, a supplement to the orig- inal act was passed, substituting John Han- num, Isaac Taylor and John Jacobs, who were active removalists, in place of the first named commissioners ; and it contained a clause re- stricting them from erecting the court house and prison "at a greater distance than one mile and a half from the Turk's Head tav- ern, in the township of Goshen, and to the west or southwest of said Turk's Head tavern, and on or near the straight line from the ferry called the 'Corporation ferry,' on the Schuyl- kill, to the village of Strasburg." On May 1, 1784, Benjamin Trego, of Goshen township, made a deed to the commissioners for a lot to erect county buildings on, for the sum of five shillings. Work was immediately commenced,
and by winter the walls of the court house were nearly completed. The anti-removalists procured a suspension act, to be passed on March 30, 1785, which the removalists so far disregarded as to continue work on the new court house. This course of action an- gered the people of Chester to such an extent that they organized an expedition to go and tear down the new court house. Major John Harper led this force, which was equipped with a field piece, a barrel of whisky and plenty of small arms. He halted his force and planted his cannon near the courthouse, which was garrisoned by a considerable body of armed men, under command of John Hannum ; but a truce was called, and Major Harper's force was allowed to enter and inspect the building, after which it retired peacefully, as tradition says, upon the promise by Colonel Hannum that work should cease until the legislature should take action npon the subject-a prom- ise kept only until the anti-removalists were out of sight. The suspending act was repealed March 18, 1786, and on September 25th an act was passed directing William Gibbons, the sheriff, to remove the prisoners from the old to the new jail. The new county buildings were completed by fall, and the first court was held on November 28, 1786, when West Ches- ter (The "Turk's Head ") began her existence as the county seat of Chester county.
The old court-house and other county build- ings in Chester were sold to William Ker- lin, on March 18, 1788, for four hundred and fifteen pounds.
CHAPTER VII.
ERECTION OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Immediately after the removal of the county- seat to West Chester, the anti-removalist party took steps toward securing the erection of a new county with Chester for its capital, out of the southeastern part of Chester county and
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
59
their efforts met with success that in three years, on September 26, 1789, they secured the ap- proval of an act authorizing a division of the county of Chester and the erection of the south- eastern part thereof into a new county by the name of DELAWARE COUNTY.
A portion of this act reads as follows :
"WHEREAS, the inhabitants of the borough of Chester, and the southeastern part of the county of Chester, having by their petitions set forth to the General Assembly of the State, that they labor under many and great inconveni- ences from the seat of justice being removed to a great distance from them, and have prayed that they may be relieved from the said incon- veniences by erecting the said borough and southeastern parts of the said county into a separate county ; and as it appears but just and reasonable that they should be relieved in the premises.
"2. Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of Chester county lying within the bonnds and limits hereinafter described the same shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a separate county ; that is to say, Beginning in the middle of Brandywine river, where the same crosses the circular line of New Castle county; thence up the middle of said river to the line dividing the lands of Elizabeth Chads and Caleb Brin- ton, at or near the ford commonly known or called Chad's ford; from thence on a line, as nearly straight as may be, so as not to split or divide plantations, to the great road leading from Goshen to Chester, where the Westtown line intersects or crosses the said road ; and from thence along the line of Edgmont, New- town, and Radnor, so as to include those townships, to the line of Montgomery county, and along the same to Philadelphia county line, and along the same to the river Delaware, and down the same to the circular line afore- said, and along the same to the place of be- ginning, to be henceforth known and called by the name of 'Delaware county.'"
Birmingham and Thornbury townships were divided by this act, which, however, made pro-
visions, that the parts falling in each county should each constitute an independent town- ship and retain the name of the original town- ship from which it was taken.
" By the provisions of the act John Sellers, Thomas Tucker and Charles Dilworth were appointed to 'run and mark the line dividing the counties of Chester and Delaware,' and they scrupulously performed their duty."
The running of this line severed a fraction of territory from the rest of the county of Chester, being the land in a northward half mile sweep of the Delaware between Smith's bridge and the circular line of New Castle county, Delaware. In order " not to split or divide plantations " a more crooked line could hardly have been run than the line that divides Delaware from Chester county.
On November 30, 1789, the inhabitants of Thornbury township petitioned the legislature to be reannexed to Chester county, but the petition was ordered to lie on the table.
In the meantime (on November 3d) the old court-house and jail were bought by Delaware county from William Kerlin for £693 3s. 8d.
The first election in the new county was at Chester in October, and the first court was held on February 9, 1790, and the new county was then fairly launched upon its career amid the counties of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, whose creation but ante-dated its birth by a few years.
CHAPTER VIII.
WHISKY INSURRECTION - SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND-COTTON AND WOOLEN MANUFACTURES.
WHISKY INSURRECTION.
Some two or three events succeeding the formation of the county need notice before tak- ing up the history of the whisky insurrection. The citizens of the newly formed connty of
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Delaware soon found that the cost of separate government was far higher than what they had expected, but they paid their taxes, although grumbling at unnecessary county expenses. The maintenance of the great highway, from the State of Delaware, through Chester, to Darby, was a heavy burden on the taxpayers. The county was unable to keep this road in any kind of condition in the winter season, and the legislature finally, in 1799, on account of the road being principally used by outsiders, al- lowed the county commissioners to erect toll- gates on the same for the term of five years, the toll being from two cents for a man and horse, up to twenty-five cents for a coach, car- riage or wagon with four horses.
On April 9, 1792, the Philadelphia & Lan- caster Turnpike Company was incorporated. The making of their road, the first turnpike road in America, was immediately commenced, but was not finished until 1794. Four miles of this road is in Delaware county, and the av- erage cost of the road was $7,516 per mile.
In 1793 the yellow fever almost depopulated Philadelphia, and the cry of distress from that sorely afflicted city met with a sympathetic response from the heavily taxed citizens of Delaware county, not ten thousand in number, who contributed $1, 291.57 to the relief of the sick and the needy of the "City of Brotherly Love."
The next year, 1794, witnessed the culmina- tion of the whisky insurrection in southwest- ern Pennsylvania, where it had been brewing for three years, and of the five thousand two hundred troops that Pennsylvania was to fur- nish toward its suppression, twenty cavalry- men and sixteen artillerymen were to come from Delaware, which finally sent a troop of horse, which is stated to have numbered ninety- six.
The whisky insurrection was the first rebel- lion against the United States government. It was confined to Fayette, Washington, West- moreland and Allegheny counties, Pennsyl- vania, and Monongalia and Ohio counties, Vir-
ginia (now West Virginia). Its undeveloped elements of strength were such that Alexander Hamilton, in a letter, said that it endangered the very foundations of the newly established republic ; but it died for want of military lead- ers, when the United States army came into its territory. The settlers of the disaffected district were largely Irish and Scotch-lrish, who cherished traditions of oppressive acts by excisemen in the land of their forefathers, and were opposed to all excise taxes. After the Revolutionary war they secured the repeal of the excise act of 1772, and in 1791, when Con- gress imposed a duty of four pence per gallon on distilled liquors, they openly defied the law, and illtreated those who attempted to collect the excise tax. Washington issued a proclam - ation in 1792, warning all to submit to the law, and Congress, in 1794, amended the law, yet the insurgents continued to resist and to de- mand the absolute repeal of the act. This led Washington to issue a second proclamation, commanding all insurgents to disperse, and at the same time calling for an army of nearly thirteen thousand, to be raised in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, to sup- press the insurgents, who were then in arms in the disaffected district. This army, when it reached southwestern Pennsylvania, found that the shrewd and good common sense of the insurgents, when they found themselves without leaders of any military ability or ex- perience, had caused them to disperse. No opposition was encountered, and no further trouble was ever had there in the collection of the duty on distilled liquors.
Capt. William Graham, of Chester, raised a company of cavalry in and around that place, and when he was ready to join the expedition, the ladies of Ridley township presented his company with a beautiful white silk flag.
One well acquainted with the history of the whisky insurrection states that the argument of the insurgents was that grain could not be taken over the mountains or 2,000 miles down the rivers with any profit unless it was con-
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
verted into whisky ; that a tax of four pence a gallon on whisky made in southwestern Penn- sylvania was one-fourth its value, while if made on the banks of the Brandywine it was per- haps less than one-eighth of its value ; and that " the injustice of being obliged to pay as much excise out of two shillings, with difficulty pro- cured, as other citizens better situated have to pay out of perhaps three times that sum, much easier obtained, comes home to the un- derstanding of those who cannot comprehend theories."
The military leader of the insurrection was David Bradford, a native of Maryland and a prominent lawyer in Washington county. He became extensively known, and wielded an im- mense influence. He was admitted.in 1782, and the year after was appointed district at- torney. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution he was a zealous federalist. When the convention of the four western coun- ties met at Pittsburg, September 7, 1791, Bradford was one of the three representa- tives from Washington county. He was one of the committee calling the people to ren- dezvous at Braddock's Field, August 1, 1794. There he was unanimously elected the major- general to command the forces of the insur- rectionists. When the government issued the amnesty proclamation, all the citizens were included except Bradford. He fled to Bayou Sara, in Louisiana territory, then in possession of Spain, and died there about 1809. He was respectably connected, being a brother-in-law of Judge James Allison, the grandfather of John Allison, late register of the treasury of the United States. In Louisiana he became a suc- cessful planter, and won his way to wealth and a fair social position. A granddaughter be- came the wife of Richard Brodhead, United States senator from Pennsylvania, 1851-57,and a son is said to have married a sister of Jeffer- son Davis.
From 1794 up to 1804 there was nothing of unusual interest happening in the county. In the latter named year a farm of one hundred
and thirty-seven acres adjoining the site of Media was purchased for a county home. For the next eight years the county grew slowly in population and wealth, and the farmers sought to increase their crops by the fertilization of their land. Gypsum was first used, but being exhaustive of the soil, lime was substituted in its place with the best of results.
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