USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania : comprising a historical sketch of the county, by Samuel T. Wiley, together with more than five hundred biographical sketches of the prominent men and leading citizens of the county > Part 5
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The half century from 1682 to 1732 was distinguished by a continuous struggle to establish the boundary line between Penn- sylvania and Maryland. On May 10th of
the last named year, the sons of William Penn and the great-grandson of the origin- al patentee of Maryland came to an agree- ment that the peninsula line should be run northward so as to form a tangent with the periphery of the semi-circle around New Castle, and then run further northward until it reached the latitude of a line due westward from a point fifteen miles due south from the then most southern part of Philadelphia ; and from the point where the north met the west line, the great "due west line" between the provinces was to commence. The peculiar north line ac- counts for the narrow wedge-shaped strip of Chester county lying between Maryland and Delaware. The west line became pro- longed afterward as the south boundary of Pennsylvania against Virginia.
Although this boundary was agreed upon yet the survey was a subject of dispute until July 4, 1760, when it was finally set- tled, and the line was ordered to be run as directed in 1732. The progress of the sur- veyors was slow, and the proprietors be- coming impatient, in 1763 employed Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, as be- fore stated, to complete the work. They landed in Philadelphia in 1763, and in 1767 completed the line which bears their names and is so famous in the political history of this country.
Revolutionary War .- In 1774, when the port of Boston was closed, the citizens of Chester county contributed largely for the relief of the suffering people of that city, and the Friends were prominent in the movement, Chester monthly meeting alone contributing seventy pounds. The county sent ten delegates to the Provincial con- vention of 1775. A powder mill was erected in 1776 by Cowperthwaite & Biddle.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
The "Associators" of the county were fully organized, but we can obtain no reliable lists of the men connected with those organizations. In 1776 Anthony Wayne was commissioned as colonel and Francis Johnson as lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania battalion, many of whose men were raised in the county. Col. Samuel Atlee's Musket battalion of four hundred and forty-four men was largely re- eruited in Chester county, and suffered great loss in the battle of Long Island. The militia of the county, in 1776, was di- vided into four battalions, and the next year the number of men returned as capa- ble of bearing arms was five thousand, of whom several hundred were loyalists, and Friends who were opposed to all wars.
On July 1, 1776, the Chester county Fly- ing Camp battalion was organized, with the following officers: Colonel - William Montgomery ; lieutenant-colonel -Thomas Bull; major-Jolin Bartholomew; cap- tains-Joseph Gardner, Samuel Wallace, Samuel Culbinson, James Boyline, John MeDowell, John Shaw, Matthew Boyd and John Beaton; first lieutenants - William Henry, Andrew Dunwoody, Thomas Henry, Benjamin Culbinson, Samuel Lindsay, Allen Cunningham, Joseph Strawbridge and Joseph Bartholomew ; second lieutenants- Robert Filson, William Lockard, Thomas Davis, Samuel Hamill, Jere. Cloud, Joseph Wherry, David Curry and Alexander Mc- Carragher; ensigns- William Cunning- ham, John Grardtreneher, John Filling, Andrew Curry, Thomas James, Lazarus Finney, Archibald Desart and John Llew- ellyn.
In addition to the above organization, the militia of the connty was organized into eight battalions. The officers and number
of men enrolled in these battalions were as follows :
First battalion : Lieutenant-colonel - Thomas Bull ; major-Peter Hartman ; num- ber of men, six hundred and seventy-two. Second battalion : Lieutenant-colonel - John Bartholomew; major-Cromwell Pearce; number of men, eight hundred and seventy-three. Third battalion: Lieuten- ant-colonel -George Pearce; major- Ed- ward Vernon; number of men, five hun- dred and ten. Fourth battalion : Lieuten- ant-colonel -Richard Willing; major- William Brooke; number of men, six hun- dred and seventy. Fifth battalion : Lieuten- ant-colonel-John Gardner; major-John Culbertson; number of men, six hundred and twenty-three. Sixth battalion : Lieu- tenant-colonel -David MeKey; major- Samuel Evans ; number of men, four hundred and eighty-four. Seventh battalion : Lieu- tenant-colonel -Isaac Taylor; major- John Craig. Eighth battalion : Lientenant- colonel -Joseph Speer; major-John Boyd; number of men, five hundred and seventy.
The captains in the above battalions, serving at different periods, were: Thomas Carpenter, Joseph Mendenhall, William Whiteside, Joseph Luckey, Hugh Reed, John Boyd, John Bryan, David Curry, Robert Corry, Thomas Taylor, Joseph John- ston, Sampson Thomas, Jonathan Rowland, Evan Anderson, William Harris, Isaac Thomas, Alexander Loekart, John Craig, Thomas Levis, John Flower, Jonathan Ver- non, Jolin Lindsey, Edward Vernon, John Pitts, Mordecai Morgan, Joseph Bogg, John Fleming, and captains Cypher, Willson, Hister, Boylan, Morrell, Moore, Smith. Cochran, Henry, Marsh, MeCloskey, Quin. Kirk, Price, Kemp, Pierce, Huston. Dun-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ning, Allen, Graham, Denny, Barker, El- ton, Scott, Beatty, Griffith, Carroll, Holl- man, Brumback, Barber, Snyder, Eyry, Cummings, Jenkins, Kincaid, Corbie, Hays, Williamson, Blackburne, Colby, Ramsay, McKee, Fulton, Evans, Black, Ramage and Strode.
The year 1777, although witnessing the surrender of Burgoyne, was nevertheless the darkest period of the revolutionary struggle, and the fate of the thirteen col- onies trembled in the balance upon the events that occurred in Chester county, from the fateful field of Brandywine, where disaster fell upon the Continental arms, to the winter horrors of Valley Forge, the midnight of the revolution.
General Howe, in September, 1777, took his army around by sea and landed at the head of Chesapeake bay, in order to eap- ture Philadelphia. He purposed marebing through the eastern part of Chester county, on account of its being a rich and populous section, inhabited largely by the Quakers, a peace-loving people, and by tories and luke- warm supporters of the American cause. As the British advanced into Chester, Washington fell baek before then, and on September 8, 1777, Howe sent a column in front of Washington, while his main force halted at Milltown, with the intention of turning Washington's right the next day ; but the American Fabius divined the Brit- ish general's purpose, and by a masterly movement took position on the high grounds above Chad's ford, on the north side of the Brandywine. A battery and a parapet guarded the ford. The American left, under General Wayne, rested on a forest along the Brandywine, whose banks were abrupt and high immediately below Chad's ford. On the right, the river was hidden by woods
and the nnevenness of the country, and Sullivan and his six brigades were stationed in echelons along that part of the river. On September 10th the British divisions of Knyphausen and Cornwallis formed a june- tion at Kennett Square, and at five o'clock the next morning Howe and Cornwallis, with more than half of the British army, marched through a heavy fog up the Great Valley road, to cross the Brandywine at its forks, with the object of turning Washing- ton's right wing and driving it baek upon the Brandywine, thus crushing the Ameri- can army between Cornwallis and Knyp- hausen's divisions. At ten o'clock Knyp- hausen marched to Chad's ford, drove Max- well's corps across the river, and opened with his cannon, but made no effort to cross. Washington received information of Howe's move, and Bancroft says that Washington then prepared to cross and attack Knyp- hausen, and sent Sullivan word to cross at a ford below the forks, and, while inter- cepting Howe's return, at the same time threaten the left flank of Knyphausen. But Sullivan thought the information was wrong, failed to obey orders, and checked Wash- ington's attack until Howe had crossed at the forks and threatened the American right. Ile then made such a bad disposition of his forces that in an hour the British had carried the field, and were only pre- vented from gaining the rear of the Amer- ican army by Washington, who withdrew Greene's division from the left and checked the British advance. From other good authorities we condense the following ac- count of Washington's movements after receiving word of Howe's flank movement : Washington purposed detaching Stirling and Sullivan to watch Cornwallis, and then crossing the Brandywine himself and de-
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
stroying Knyphausen ; but while making his disposition for these movements, received counter intelligence which caused him to hesitate until Howe and Cornwallis had crossed to attack Sullivan. He then changed his dispositions, ordered Sullivan forward up the Brandywine to meet Cornwallis, and made Greene's division a reserve. Sullivan formed his own division above Birmingham meeting house, but had to give way, and the whole right was driven back in con- fusion. Washington theu pushed forward with Greene's division to cheek the British. Colonel Stephens' Virginia troops and Col- onel Stewart's Pennsylvania regiment did good service in checking Cornwallis, while a short distance baek of them General Greene, with Muhlenberg's brigade, held a uarrow defile against the English long enough to permit the escape of the flying right. Knyphausen crossed at Chad's ford during the heat of the engagement and attacked Wayne, who, to save his command, retreated in the direction of the present site of West Chester, where he joined Washington. Washington retreated rapidly to German- town, and after receiving ammunition, re- erossed the Schuylkill and confronted Howe. Both were eager for a battle, which actually commenced near Goshen meeting house, but a heavy rain storm interrupted it, and so drenched the ammunition of the American army that Washington withdrew.
On the 19th Washington left Chester county aud crossed the Schuylkill at Park- er's ford. He left Wayne with about fifteen hundred troops to unite with General Small- wood, who with a force of Maryland militia was in the rear of the British army, and then cut off the enemy's baggage train, thus delaying him until Washington could pass down the Schulkilll on the east side to cou-
test the passage of the river by Howe. On the 18th Wayne encamped near the site of the present Paoli monument, and on the 19th made his arrangements to attack the British rear on the next morning at 2 o'clock, by which time he expected General Smallwood to join him. Tories in the neighborhood, who knew the precise loca- tion of Wayne's camp, informed Howe of the same; and he sent Gen. Charles Grey with about three thousand men to surprise and destroy Wayne's force. Grey failed in surprising Wayne, but his sudden attack was so successful, on account of the blunders of one of Wayne's colonels, that the American retreat became a rout. The British attack was made with bayonets and light horse- men's swords, and with such ferocity that even the sick and wounded were not spared ; and many Americans were butchered after having thrown down their arms and called for quarters. This cold blooded cruelty of Grey has given the affair the name of the Paoli massacre. Wayne's loss was about one hundred and fifty killed and wounded, while the British only reported a loss of eight killed. A court-martial which Wayne demanded, examined carefully into the charges of negligence brought against that general at Paoli ; and acquitted him as hay- ing done, ou that sad occasion, all that au active, brave and vigilant officer could have done.
After the massacre of Paoli, Howe made a feint of turning Washington's right and seizing the military stores at Reading. This caused Washington to march up the Schuyl- kill to Pottsgrove, and Howe, suddenly wheeling his army, crossed the river at Phoenixville aud Fatland ford, and marched into Philadelphia. Washington followed Howe and made an nusuccessful attack
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
upon him at Germantown, after which he withdrew to Whitemarsh plains.
In December Washington prepared to go into winter quarters, but was troubled to find a suitable place. He was without tents and there was no town near where he could lay so as to confine the British army to Philadelphia. He finally selected Valley Forge. It was only twenty-one miles from Philadelphia, was sheltered by two ridges of hills and well adapted to defense against artillery, while several routes were open from it for retreat. On December 19th, Washington marched his army there and the forest was cut down for timber with which to build cabins for winter quarters. Valley Forge was the midnight of the rev- olution. The story of the unparalleled suf- ferings and the matchless patriotism of that army need not be related here, for the orator, the historian, the poet and the novelist have told it with eloquence and power until it is known at every fireside throughout the American Union.
It is impossible to compile a satisfactory roster of the Chester county soldiers who served in the revolutionary war from the "Archives of the Commonwealth." The following officers and men from the county were wounded, taken prisoner or otherwise disabled: George Wilson, Samuel Leslie, Samuel Smith, James Caruthers, Robert Turk, John Smith, Christian Cowpland, Thomas Swedy, Robert Cherry, Christopher Still, Capt. Jacob Hetherling, David Jaek- son, James Corney, John Miller, Thomas Owen, Serg. Joshua Beeling, Samuel Ewing, Thomas Wallace and Michael Righter.
The tories or loyalists were most numer- ons in the eastern and southern part of the county, and many of them suffered consider- able perseention at the hands of the whigs;
while the Quakers, on account of their prin- ciples of non-resistance and opposition to war in every form, also suffered at the hands of their whig neighbors and the sol- diers of both armies. The Quakers before the revolutionary war were prominent in public affairs, and advocated the American side of all questions between the colonies and the crown. During the revolutionary war they maintained a position of passive neutrality, and none of them would accept any public office until peace was declared. One of their number, John Roberts, was executed, Judge Futhey says, upon un- founded charges, and seven others were banished to Virginia. The Society of Friends promptly disowned all of their members who enlisted in either the Con- tinental or the British army. They were plundered alike by both sides, and lost most heavily in property, clothing and pro- visions during the march of Howe's army
through the county, in September, 1777. From the 11th to the 16th of September the British army took and destroyed one hundred and ten thousand dollar's worth of property that was reported, but the amount is supposed to have been much larger, as the Quakers were the heaviest losers and generally refused to furnish any estimate of their losses.
County Seat Removal .- For nearly a cent- ury the citizens of the western part of the county made no serious objection to the county seat being situated on the eastern edge of the county. But on January 28, 1766, a petition was presented to the as- sembly asking for the removal of the seat of justice to, and the erection of a court house at, some point near the center of the county. Petitions and counter petitions were presented upon the subject, but no
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
action was taken; and British invasions during the revolutionary war caused the matter to rest until 1780, when the assein- bly, 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 convenient place in the county and erect a new court house and prison. They purchased a lot of land in East Caln township from Rosanna Sheward, but never proceeded to erect build- ings. On March 22, 1784, a supplement to the original act was passed, substituting John HIannum, Isaac Taylor, and John Jacobs in place of the first named commissioners ; and it contained a clause restricting them from erecting the court house and prison " at a greater distance than one mile and a half from the Turk's Head tavern, 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 Schuylkill, to the village of Strasburg." On May 1, 1784, Benjamin Trego, of Goshen, made a deed to the commissioners for a lot to erect county buildings on, for the sum of tive shillings. Work was immediately com- menced, 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 resume work on the new court house. This course of action angered the people of Chester to such an extent that they organized an ex- pedition 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 court house, which was garrisoned by a considerable body of armed men under command of John Hannum; but a truce was ealled, and Major Harper's force was allowed to enter and inspect the buikling, after which it retired peacefully, as tradition says, upon the promise by Colonel Hannum that work should cease-a promise kept only until the anti-removalists were out of sight. The suspending act was repealed March 18, 1786, and on September 25th au aet was passed directing the sheriff to re- move the prisoners from the old to the new jail. The new county buildings were eom- pleted by fall, and the first court was held on November 28, 1786, when West Chester began her existence as the county seat. As Chester county is indebted to Pearson for its name, so is West Chester to Colonel Hannum for its existence, and for being the county seat. A description of the different county buildings will be found in the history of West Chester, and it only remains to say here that in 1788 the Sheward site for the county capital was sold, and that as a result of the trouble over the removal, the non- removalist secured the erection of the east- ern part of the county into Delaware county, with Chester for its capital.
Whisky Insurrection .- In 1794 President Washington called upon Pennsylvania for five thousand two hundred men to aid in putting down the " whisky insurrection," which was then at its height in southwestern Pennsylvania, where the insurgents had been in armed opposition for nearly three years to a law of Congress laying an excise upon all distilled spirits. Of Pennsylvania's quota, three hundred and twenty infantry and fifty-eight cavalry were to be drawn from Chester county, and form a part of the first brigade of General Irvine's
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
division. The troops never saw any fight- ing, as the insurgents dispersed before the army arrived in the disaffected district. The most of the Chester county companies seem to have never got farther westward than Carlisle and Shippensburg, where they were in camp for some time.
Turnpikes. - The first roads in the county were the old Indian trails, and succeeding highways were laid out from time to time by the county court, being the only internal improvements attempted until the revolu- tion. After the treaty of peace in 1783, the subject of roads received considerable attention in the county, and on April 9, 1792, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turn- pike Company was chartered. It completed the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike in 1794, at a cost of $7,516 per mile. This famous old road, the first turnpike ever built in America, was opened to public travel in 1795. It soon became a leading thoroughfare, and enjoyed a wonderful career of prosperity until the Pennsylvania railroad took its travel and transportation of merchandise. There were three other early turnpikes built in the county: the Downingtown, Ephrata and Harrisburg turnpike, commenced in 1803; the Gap and Newport, in 1807; and the Little Conesto- ga, in 1809.
Iron Industries .- The first forge in Penn- sylvania was erected by Thomas Rutter abont 1716, upon Manatawny creek, some three miles north from Pottstown. The second iron enterprise in the State was Coventry forge, which was erected about 1717, on French creek, by Samuel Nutt, an English Quaker. It would seem, from all accounts, that Samuel Nutt built a furnace on French creek, called Reading, about 1720; and in 1736, with William Branson,
erected a second Reading furnace on the same creek. Nutt died in 1737, and in his will made provisions for the erection of Warwick furnace, which was built in 1738 by his widow, Anna Nutt, on the south branch of French creek. In the United States census reports of 1880, William Branson is credited with having built Vin- cent forge, and also having erected, before 1750, on French creek, the first steel works ever built in Pennsylvania. These steel works are the plant probably referred to in 1750 by the sheriff of Chester county as having been built by John Taylor in 1746. In 1751 Mount Joy forge was erected by Daniel Walker, Stephen Evans, and Joseph Williams. It afterwards became Potts, and then the famous Valley forge, which was burned by the British in 1777. In 1786 a forge and slitting mill was built below the old Valley forge, on the Chester county side of the Schuylkill river, by Isaac and David Potts, whose successors operated until about 1816. In 1790 Benjamin Longstroth erected a rolling and slitting mill at Phoenixville, and it was the beginning of the present extensive works of the Phoenix Iron Com- pany.
It was nearly fifty years after the opening of the French creek region before a forge fire was lighted in the Brandywine and Octoraro creek regions. Springton and Mary Ann forges were built on the Brandy- wine, north of Downingtown, respectively in 1766 and 1785. Federal shitting mill, or Rokeby rolling mill, four miles south of Coatesville, was erected in 1795 by Isaac l'ennock; and it is claimed to have been the first rolling mill in America. In 1810 Brandywine rolling mill was erected at Coatesville, and the Brandywine region became recognized as an iron center,
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
The Octoraro creek region was not opened until the beginning of the present century. The Sadsbury forges, near Christiana, were built in 1800 and 1802; Pine Grove forge, sixteen miles south of Penningtonville, abont 1802; and Ringwood forge, near Christiana, in 1810. In the last named year the manufacture of charcoal iron was in successful progress in all of the iron regions of the county.
War of 1812 .- Various offers of military services were made to Governor Snyder during the year 1812, among which was one from Capt. James Rolston's cavalry company of Chester county. The 97th regiment of emergency men were sent, on May 5, 1813, to Elkton, Maryland, where it was discharged on the 21st. The State rolls give no account of this regiment, and in papers in the possession of Hon. Robert E. Monaghan, Judge Futhey found the names of the following Chester county men who served in Capt. Thomas Stewart's company of the 97th : Reazin Terry, Samuel Black, Robert Futhey, Archibald Thomas, George W. Parke, Peter Rambo, John Wallace, James Stewart, Israel Hamill, Levi Me- Cormick, Silas Wilson, James Ramsey, and Enos Hughes.
After the destruction of the capitol at Washington, it was feared that the British would attack Philadelphia, and Governor Snyder, on August 27, 1814, directed the inilitia of Chester and several other counties to be in readiness to march at a moment's notice. On September 13th General Bloom- field ordered the Chester county militia to march to Camp Marcus Hook, where they remained until some time in December. All fear of invasion having then passed away, they broke camp and returned home. The following general officers were from Chester
county : Major-generals-Cromwell Pearce, James Steel ; brigadier-generals-William Harris, John W. Cunningham; brigade in- spectors-James Steel, James Park.
In the State archives the muster rolls of following Chester county companies are given :
SECOND PENNSYLVANIA LIGHT INFANTRY.
This volunteer regiment, under command of Colonel Lonis Bache, served at Camp Marcus Hook from September to December, 1814. Two companies were from Chester county.
CAPT. TAYLOR'S COMPANY (American Greys). Titus Taylor, captain.
W. H. Taylor, sergeant.
Ziba Darlington, sergeant.
John Painter, sergeant.
John Hall, sergeant.
Jolın Logan, corporal.
Russel Vibber, corporal.
Eber Worthington, corporal.
Henry Myers, corporal.
Jacob Burkers, musician.
George Davis (colored), musician.
PRIVATES.
Bailey, Hiram.
Frederick, William.
Brinton, Joseph H.
Gamble, Robert.
Brinton, Ethan.
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