USA > Pennsylvania > Border warfare in Pennsylvania during the revolution > Part 4
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Excepting some correspondence between Virginia and Pennsylvania at the opening of the French and Indian War, their boundary question was no cause of difference until 1774. In that year Dunmore took possession of Fort Pitt, changed the name, and made John Connelly Com- mander of the militia. For calling the militia to meet him early in 1774, Connelly was arrested by St. Clair, magistrate of Westmoreland county. What followed then until " the shot that was heard around the world " was fired at Lexington, can best be told from the circular issued by the delegates of the two Colonies in Congress, 3 urging the people to mutual forbearance :
" We recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men. kept up by either party, be dismissed; and that all those on either side, who are in confinement or.on bail for taking part in the contest, be discharged."
There was no Colony among the thirteen that had so great a diversity of nationality and religion-elements that
1 Journals of Congress, vol. 1, p. 279.
2 Ibid, p. 283.
3 The Olden Time, vol. 1, p. 444.
-
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go far to determine a man's attitude on any question-as Pennsylvania. The population of all the others was quite homogenous, and it was therefore comparatively easy to cement it in favor of any line of action. Not so in Penn- sylvania. There were three political parties more or less defined, in the Province, in 1775 : 1 the friends of the ex- isting Government, composed chiefly of the adherents of the Proprietaries, royalists from conscientious opinion and from religious scruples, and the greater portion of the Society of Friends ; the Revolutionary or active-move- ment party ; and a third class of men, earnestly devoted to the cause of the Colonies, but more or less anxious for reconciliation. The first and third were greatly in the majority. The first comprised the Quakers, who, with the Proprietary party, at that time controlled the Assem- bly. The Germans, from a sense of gratitude to Penn for their homes and liberties, acted with the Quakers. The third party comprised nearly all of those who were recog- nized as the political leaders of the day-Franklin, Dick- inson, Reed, Morris, Mifflin, Mckean, Clymer and others. The second class were the Scotch-Irish, but they were far removed from the seat of the Government, and before the declaration of independence had very little political in- fluence.
The Quakers and the German sects were opposed to war on account of religious scruples. This fact had caused a bitter feeling against them on the part of the Scotch- Irish. The latter had been bred to war before they came to America, and had no patience with non-resistance, but looked upon it as cowardice. Upon coming to Pennsyl- vania, they soon made havoc of the Quaker peace policy. Living on the frontier, they got into endless difficulties
1 Reed's Joseph Reed, vol. 1, p. 151.
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with the Indians, and, when war broke out, they became the special victims of the tomahawk and the scalping- knife. The Quakers sought to make peace through presents, treaties and missionaries. The Scotch-Irish protested against such a weak-kneed policy, and became the enemies of the very people who had suffered them to settle in Pennsylvania. Thus there came about a mutual feeling of hatred and distrust between those who governed and those who needed the support of the Government most. When the Revolutionary movement passed from constitutional opposition against British taxation to actual war, the Quakers and the German non-resistants assumed a neutral and indifferent position, while the frontiersmen were eager for the fray. The very fact that these had not affiliated socially or politically with the ruling classes of Philadelphia, and the counties immediately around the city, left them independent. They were not bound by any personal considerations to act with those who deter- mined the policy of the Province from 1774-1776. Three months before the first Continental Congress met, the Scotch-Irish and German borderers of Hanover, York county, resolved among other things, " that in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by the strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven and our rifles."1 This action on the frontier was in strong contrast with that of the Quakers and German sects, who memorialized the Assembly to be excused from military service on the ground that the charter granted them particular immunity.2 Compare it, too, with that of the Assembly at Philadelphia, whose uncertain course in 1774-1775 3 gave rise to the Provincial Convention of
1 Pennsylvania Associators and Militia, vol. 1. p. 271.
2 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 6, p. 634; also, Ibid, p. 645.
3 Reed's Joseph Reed, vol. 1, p. 162.
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1776, and caused its own death on the 26th of September. When " the House then rose, " the sword was unsheathed ; the Hanoverian resolution was put into effect against the British ; and the Scotch-Irish Indian policy was practiced on the frontier :
" And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them be- fore thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy thein ; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them."-Deuteronomy vii : 2.
Nor did this change of policy in reference to the enemy on the front and the enemy on the rear come any too soon. The doctrine of non-resistance had prevented the estab- lishment of an efficient system of defense in Pennsylvania. Howe and the Indians both threatened invasion in the summer of 1776 ; yet there was no force to oppose either, except the old voluntary militia established through the efforts of Franklin back in 1744. The war between France and England, begun in that year, threatened to affect the Western frontier. The Delawares had just been peremp- torily ordered from the Forks of the Delaware, and the wrongs of the walking purchase rankled deep in their breasts. Franklin then came forward with the famous pamphlet, "Plain Truth." 1 It was a strong plea for military defenses based on the homely saying, that " when the steed is stolen, you shut the stable door."
The first effort to enroll the Quakers in a militia had been made by Governor Evans, 2 but he was too impru- dent to succeed. Then William Penn, Jr., in his instruc- tions to Governor Keith, 3 suggested a militia on condi- tion of exempting the Quakers. Owing to the Governor's popularity with the Assembly, he received permission to
1 Franklin's Works, vol. 3, p. 4.
2 Pennsylvania Colony and Commonwealth, p. 43.
3 Colonial Records, vol. 3, p. 64.
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establish one. In Governor Thomas' administration, when the Spanish war was on, the question again came up. The Assembly now said : "The Quakers do not (as the world is circumstanced) condemn the use of arms in others, yet are principled against it themselves." 1 They gave him permission, in the name of the Proprietary, who was by Penn's charter2 captain-general, to organize a vol- untary militia, without the aid of any laws, and without consulting the Assembly. He recruited 700 men under this arrangement, but so many indentured servants en- listed that the Assembly refused to vote supplies until these should be returned. This offer he rejected, and raised funds on the credit of the British Government. When, five years later, 1744, Franklin's " Plain Truth " created a strong sentiment in favor of locking the stable in due time, Governor Thomas proceeded to enlist men from the combatant portion of the people, and asked for no assistance from the Assembly. Franklin assisted him, and in a few days they had enrolled 10,000 volunteers. They were called Associators, from the fact that they as- sociated for defense at public meetings ; and the name, was retained by the militia of Pennsylvania down through the Revolution. After the defeat of Braddock, Franklin succeeded, November 25th, 1755, in getting the Assembly to pass an act forming and disciplining a voluntary militia. 3 It was passed without much difficulty, because care had been taken to leave the Quakers and others con- scientiously opposed to war at liberty. The Associators were paid out of the Provincial treasury, and were sub- ject to the orders of the Governor. There was another class of soldiery in different parts of the Province, who,
1 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 3, p. 362.
2 Section 16.
3 Franklin's Works, vol. 3, p. 78.
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"without call or authority from the Government, and without due order and direction among themselves, " as- sembled " on any occasional alarm, whether true or false," for the defense of their homes and families against the savages.1 They were the Rangers, and were usually mounted. They were paid, if at all, from local funds or by appropriations made after their service had been ren- dered. Their original duty was to range the woods for stray horses.2 Such in general was the nature of the or- ganization of the militia, not as existing in 1775, but as known in the history of the Province.
Active service among the Associators was revived by the following brief resolution of the Committee of Cor- respondence, passed in Philadelphia April 25th, the day following the arrival of the news from Lexington, 3 namely, to " associate together, to defend with arms their property, liberty and lives against all attempts to deprive them of it." This committee, through its branches in the various counties, had already, in 1774, passed resolutions all over the Province, pledging the inhabitants to support the acts of the Continental Congress for a redress of American grievances.4 When peaceful measures were no longer possible, as evidenced April 19th, the tone of the resolu- tions changed. 5 They " recommended to the inhabit- ants," of Lancaster county, for instance, "immediately to associate and provide themselves with arms and am- munition, and learn the art of military discipline to de- fend their just rights and privileges. 6
On May 26th, Congress resolved that the Colonies be
1 Preamble Militia Act of 1755.
2 Votes of the Assembly, May 9th, 1724.
3 Westcott's Philadelphia, vol. 1, p. 295.
4 Pennsylvania Associators and Militia, 1775-1783.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid, vol. 1, p. 292.
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put in a state of defense.1 A more compact and energetic body was now required in Pennsylvania, and one that had more authority than the Committee of Correspond- ence. Accordingly, the Assembly, on June 30th, created the Council of Safety, which was delegated with power to call into actual service " any number of the officers and private men of the association within this Colony." On the 3rd of August it appointed a committee to prepare rules and regulations in conformity to those adopted by Congress July 18th.2 All able-bodied men between 16 and 50 were to form themselves into regular companies of militia, 83 rank and file. The companies were to be formed into regiments or battalions, and all officers above the rank of captain were to be appointed by the Assem- blies, or their authorized committees. People with reli- gious scruples were "to contribute liberally in this time of unusual calamity, to the relief of their distressed breth- ren." One-fourth of the militia of each Colony were to serve as minute men, always ready for special call to ser- vice. Rules and regulations were published and sent to the county committees for the signatures of the Associa- tors. But many of them refused to sign because Congress had excused persons with scruples against war.3 After some hesitancy and delay, the Assembly, November 7th, 4 resolved that "all male white persons between the age of 16 and 50, capable of bearing arms, who do not associate for the defense of the Province, ought to pay an equiva- lent for the time spent by the Associators in acquiring discipline; ministers of the Gospel of all denominations and servants purchased bona fide for valuableconsideration
1 Journal of Congress, vol. 1, p. 99.
2 Journal of Congress, vol. 1.
3 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 349.
4 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 6, p. 646.
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only excepted." The county commissioners were em- powered to fine the non-Associators two pounds and ten shillings annually, in addition to the ordinary tax. This provision gave infinite trouble. The fines were not paid without force in many instances. 1 The arms of non-As- sociators were to be surrendered for the use of the Asso- ciators, and this, too, resulted in serious conditions. 2
The military association of 1775-1776 having been hastily formed, and not enacted into law, but merely called into existence by the Committee of Correspondence, and afterwards approved by resolves of the Assembly, a move- ment was made after the State had been formed to pass a militia law. Accordingly, on March 17, 1777, the As- sembly, realizing that "the Freedom handed down by our virtuous Ancestors may be in danger of being wrested from us unless the strongest and most immediate Efforts aremade for its support," passed an act to regulate the militia. 3 It provided for a Lieutenant of the militia and a number of Sub-Lieutenants not exceeding five for each county, to be appointed by the President or Vice-Presi- dent of the Executive Council. They were to order the constables within their counties to make a return of every male white person between the age of 18 and 53, and ca- pable of bearing arms, excepting "delegates in Congress, members of the Executive Council, judges of the Supreme , Court, masters and faculty of colleges, ministers of the Gospel and servants purchased bona fide and for a valua- ble consideration." Later, members of the Assembly were excepted, too.4 They were then to divide each county into districts, each to contain not less than 440 nor
1 Pennsylvania Associators, vol. 1, p. 546.
2 Ibid, vol. 2, p. 601.
3 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 97.
4 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 164.
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more than 680 privates (1,000 in 1780), 1 and to sub-di- vide the districts into eight parts, as nearly equal as pos- sible. This division being made, the men enrolled for militia duty in each district were to be called together by the Lieutenants to elect by ballot three field or battalion officers-Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major. These were to be freeholders, but in June following 2 an act was passed by which they were to be selected "on the Scale of their Merits rather than of their Estates." The in- habitants of the sub-districts were likewise to meet and elect by ballot company officers-one captain, two lieu- tenants, one ensign and two courtmartial men. All these were to be commissioned by the Executive Council of the State. The Lieutenants were required to cause the sev- eral companies of militia in their respective precincts to be divided by lot into eight parts, to be called classes, as nearly equal as possible, and numbered from one to eight. The whole militia was subject to be exercised in compa- nies ten times in a year ; and in battalions, twice a year. In case of absence from drill, except on account of sick- ness or other accident, fines were collected after the man- ner of any other debt.
In case of rebellion or invasion in the State, or in case Congress required assistance in the State or outside, the Executive Council could call into actual service such part , of the militia as seemed necessary. The first draft was to be composed of the class number one of each com- pany ; and if that number was not sufficient, class num- ber two was to be drawn ; and so on by classes from time to time as occasion might require. Each class was liable to serve two months at a time, then to be relieved by the
1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 375.
2 Ibid, p. 133.
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class next in numerical order, the relief to arrive two days before the expiration of the two months. In case of grave necessity, the Executive Council could call out one-half of any battalion or one-half of any company without respect to the rule, unless an Indian invasion in any county made their presence at home a necessity. 1 In 1779, the Executive Council was empowered to call out any part of the militia without regard to rotation or location.2 The pay and rations for actual service was the same as that of the Continental troops, to be rated at twenty miles a day until the return home. In case a man could not serve or get a substitute, he was to pay a fine -- equal to the average cost of substitutes, as determined after their return. This was modified 3 so as to require the payment of a definite amount at once-forty pounds -unless a substitute was produced of and belonging to the family of the man who would or could not march. Serving as a substitute did not excuse the substitute from serving in his own turn. Almoners-one in each sub- district-were appointed to look after and provide for the needs of poor families while the fathers were on their own turn of service.4 Subjoined to the act of organization were twenty-eight wholesome rules and regulations, by which the militia were to be governed.
On the 20th of December of the same year,3 1779, after the first serious inroads of the savages on the Western frontier, an act was passed to empower certain commis- sioners, appointed by Congress, to take vigorous measures for the defense of the terror-stricken inhabitants in that quarter. The Lieutenants and the sub-Lieutenants of
1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 163.
2 Ibid, p. 280.
3 Ibid, p. 163.
4 Ibid, p. 134.
5 Ibid, p. 149.
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Bedford and Westmoreland counties were empowered and enjoined, if applied to by the commissioners, "to take the most speedy and effectual measures for raising and embodying, whether of classes or otherwise, such parts of the militia of their counties as shall from time to time be deemed necessary." They were to serve for two months or longer, and not again do duty for two succeed- ing tours, or the space of time required for any expedition upon which they might go.
In March, 1780, the Lieutenants of the several coun- ties were authorized to raise a corps of light-horse, six privates for each battalion of infantry.1 On the 26th of May following, still another class of military was organ- ized, the Pennsylvania Volunteers.2 Frequent calls of the militia had proved very inconvenient, especially in seed time and harvest. As a remedy, each and every company of militia in the State was to provide or hire two able-bodied men, not less than 18 or more than 45, to be formed into a company for the defense of the State. It was organized in June, and was to serve till January 15th, 1781, the season of the year when Indian incursions were most frequent.
As the first movement for "obstructing a communi- cation between the Southern and Northern Goverments " contemplated the raising of Tories and Indians, the de- molishing of Fort Pitt and an attack of the frontier set- tlements in Western Pennsylvania, 3 so the first alarm of an Indian war came from that quarter.4 It was sounded at Pittsburg May 16th, 1775, at a meeting of the inhab- itants on the frontier held to approve of New England's
1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 376.
2 Ibid, p. 390.
3 Connelly to Gage, American Archives, 4th series, vol. 3, p. 1661.
4 Augusta County (Virginia) Committee Minutes, The Olden Time, vol. 1, p. 273.
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opposition to the "invaders of American rights and privi- leges." Dunmore and Connelly could not conceal their plot from those vigilant patriots, who realized even then that border warfare was to be inaugurated to engage their attention, and divert it from that interesting object of liberty and freedom. They accordingly resolved to cul- tivate friendship with the Indians, threatened condign punishment in case any person should take the life of a friendly Indian, and sent a petition to Congress intimat- ing " fears of a rupture with the Indians on account of Lord Dunmore's conduct." 1 At the same time they or- ganized independent companies, gathered up such arts and ammunition as were not employed in actual service. and wrote to the Council of Safety for powder and lead. The frontiersmen assembled at Fort Pitt in 1775, also saw through the deep designs of the Quebec act, passed by the British Parliament the year before. This act extended the boundaries of Canada southward to the Ohio river, in defiance of the territorial claims of Massachusetts, Con- necticut, New York and Virginia. The territory was to be governed by a vice-roy with despotic powers ; and such people as should come to live there were to have neither popular meetings, nor habeas corpus, nor freedom of the press.3 "This," said Lord Thurlow, "is the only sort of constitution fit for a colony." To be exposed to such a country was fraught with great danger to Western Penn- sylvania. The frontiersmen realized this, and asked for support to stand "against the inroads of the savages and the militia " from the adjoining " Indian country and the Province of Quebec."
For very natural reasons, the settlements at Wyoming
1 Journal of Congress, vol. 1, p. 105.
2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 647.
3 Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. 17, p. 1361.
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were also harrassed with fears of Indian outbreaks in 1775. The quarrels between the Yankees and the Penna- mites made the frontier on the Susquehanna a vulnerable point. On the Western frontier we found the inhabitants of Westmoreland county arrayed against those of the dis- trict of West Augusta, and the Indians ready to pounce down upon them both. On the Northern frontier, the savages were ready to take advantage of the quarrels be- tween the counties of Northampton and Northumberland and the township of Westmoreland. The New Englanders were situated on the very borders of the Indian towns, which spotted the upper branches of the Susquehanna, several of them being within the town of Westmoreland. The conduct of the Indians gave strong indications of hostility at the time of Colonel Plunkett's expedition. 1 The Connecticut men blamed the Pennsylvanians for in- tercepting Indian supplies transported up the Susque- hanna, and thereby inviting an attack upon the settle- ment. Furthermore, Wyoming was an outpost whose isolation was complete. The distance to the nearest set- tlement on the Delaware or the Susquehanna was seventy miles. When, therefore, Connecticut prohibited any further emigration to Wyoming without special license from the General Assembly, 2 it proved to be a great hard- ship; for it meant that those already there would alone have to carry out the patriotic resolves of August 8th, 1775,3 and meet the attacks of the savages in the course of the war.
The year 1775 had brought nothing more serious to the frontier than rumors and suspicions of Indian attacks. The plans of Dunmore and Connelly had come to grief,
1 American Archives, Series 4, vol. 3, p. 1964.
2 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 177.
3 Ibid, p. 165.
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and the Colonies still presented an unbroken front to the British, from Georgia to New Hampshire. In 1776, the plan of the English armies was to conquer the Hudson river, and thus cut the Colonies in two. General Howe was to capture the city of New York, while General Carleton was to descend from Canada, recapture Ticon- deroga, and take possession of the upper Hudson and the Mohawk. To aid in this campaign, the Indians were employed as regular troops in the British army. Guy Johnson and Brandt both had been in England in the win- ter of 1775-1776, and made the final arrangements for their employment. Though the Americans had succeeded, in 1775, in getting promises of neutrality, all hopes of con- tinuing it were now dispelled ; for most of the Indians that had not gone with Guy Johnson and Brandt to Canada to join the British army, gave numerous evidences of hos- tility to the frontier settlements.
The minutes of the Council of Safety show that as early as January 8th, 1776,1 Colonel St. Clairand Richard Butler petitioned for the public powder then in West- moreland county to remain there as the property of the Province, but not to be used except in the defense of the county. It is evident that the plottings of Dr. Connelly, which had just fully come to light, gave great uneasiness to the Western frontier. Of all the men in Western Penn- sylvania at that time, St. Clair and Butler were best in- formed as to the state of that country. Arthur St. Clair came to America from Scotland in 1758, as an ensign in the British army. He served under Wolfe at Quebec. He married in Boston, and after resigning the lieuten- ancy, to which he had been promoted, came to Western Pennsylvania to take up some land granted to him by
1 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 449.
:
. ...
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General Gage. 1 Here he became a trusted military officer under the British, and a civil magistrate under the Penns. In the latter capacity he had entire control of local affairs in Westmoreland county, and through his zeal for Penn- sylvania in the dispute with Virginia, incurred the ill-will of Lord Dunmore and Dr. Connelly. When the Revolu- tion commenced, he sided at once with the Colonies. He was the leader of the patriots at home, and kept those in Philadelphia informed of the state of the frontier about Fort Pitt. Soon after the writing of the petition just al- luded to, he was commissioned colonel in the Continental service. He rose rapidly, and became a major general.
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