USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 3
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BARBAROUS MURDER AT CARLISLE.
The town of Carlisle, in 1760, says Mr. Day, was made the scene of a barbarous murder. Doctor John, a friendly Indian of the Delaware tribe, was massacred, together with his wife and two children. Capt. Callender, who was one of the inquest, was sent for by the Assembly, and, after interrogating him on the subject, they offered a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of each person concerned in the murder. The excitement occasioned by the assassination of Dr. John's family was immense, for it was feared that the Indians might seek to avenge the murder on the settlers. About noonday, on the 4th of July, 1763, one of a party of horsemen, who were seen rapidly riding through the town, stopped a moment to quench his thirst, and communicated the information that Presqu'isle, Le Beuf, and Venango had been captured by the French and Indians. The greatest alarm spread among the citizens of the town and neigh- boring country. The roads were crowded in a little while with women and children hastening to Lancaster for safety. The pastor of the Episcopal church headed his con- gregation, encouraging them on the way. Some retired to the breastworks. Col. Bouquet, in a letter addressed to the Governor, dated the day previous, at Carlisle, urged the propriety of the people of York assisting in building the posts here, and "sowing the harvest," as their county was protected by Cumberland.
CONDITIONS OF PEACE. .
The terror of the citizens subsided but little, until Col. Bouquet conquered the Indians in the following year, 1764, and compelled them to sue for peace. One of the conditions on which peace was granted was, that the Indians should deliver up all the women and children whom they had taken into captivity. Among them were many who had been seized when very young, and had grown up to womanhood in the wigwam of the savage. They had contracted the wild habits of their captors, learned their lan- guage and forgotten their own, and were bound to them by ties of the strongest affection. Many a mother found a lost chill ; many were unable to designate their children. The separation between the Indians and their prisoners was heart-rending. The hardy son of the forest shed torrents of tears, and every captive left the wigwam with reluctance. Some afterwards made their escape and returned to the Indians. Many had intermarried with the natives, but all were left to freedom of choice, and
t Char., &c., of Carlisle.
* Haz, Reg iv, 390.
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those who remained unmarried had been treated with delicacy. One female, who had been captured at the age of fourteen, had become the wife of an Indian and the mother of several children. When informed that she was about to be delivered to her parents, her grief could not be alleviated. "Can I," said she, "enter my parents' dwelling ? Will they be kind to my children ? Will my old companions associate with the wife of an Indian chief ? And my husband, who has been so kind-I will not desert him !" That night she fled from the camp to her husband and children.
THRILLING INCIDENT.
A great number of the restored prisoners were brought to Carlisle, and Col. Bouquet advertised for those who had lost children to come there and look for them. Among those that came was an old woman, whose child, a little girl, had been taken from her several years before, but she was unable to designate her daughter or converse with the released captives. With breaking heart the old woman lamented to Col. Bouquet her hapless lot, telling him how she used many years ago to sing to her little daughter a hymn of which the child was so fond. She was requested by the Colonel to sing it then, which she did in these words :
'. Alone, yet not alone am 1. Though in this solitude so drea: : I feel my Saviour always nigh, He comes my every hour to cheer,"
and the long-lost daughter rushed into the arms of her moth ".
CARLISLE A RENDEZVOUS.
Quietude being secured to the citizens by the termination of the Indian war, they directed their attention to the improvement of their village and the cultivation of the soil. No important public event disturbed them in their peaceful occupations, until the disputes which preceded the war of the Revolution arose between the colonies and the mother country. During this war Carlisle was made an important place of rendezvous for the American troops, and, in consequence of being located at a distance from the theatre of war, British prisoners were frequently sent thither for secure confinement .* Of these were two officers, Major Andre and Lieutenant Despard, who had been taken by Montgomery near Lake Champlain. While here, in 1776, they occupied the stone house on lot number 161, at the corner of South Hanover street and Locust alley, and were on parole of honour of six miles, but were prohibited going out of the town except in military dress.
AN UNFLINCHING WHIG.
In the immediate neighborhood lived Mrs. Ramsey, an unflinching Whig, who detected two Tories in conversation with these officers, and immediately made known the circumstance to William Brown, Esq., one of the County Committee. The Tories, being pursued, were arrested somewhere between the town and South Mountain, brought back, tried instanter, and imprisoned. Upon their persons were discovered letters written in French, but no one could be found to interpret them, and their contents were never known.
After this occurrence, Andre and Despard were not allowed to leave the town. They had in their possession fowling pieces of superior workmanship, with which they had been in the habit of pursuing game within the limits of their parole, but now, being
# The United States Barracks, located about half a mile from the town, but within the borough limits, were built in 1777. The workmen employed were Hessians captured at Ticuston.
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unable to use them, they broke them to pieces, declaring that "no d-d rebel should ever burn powder in them." During their confinement here, a man by the name of Thompson enlisted a company of militia in what is now Perry county, and marched them to Carlisle. Eager to make a display of his own bravery and that of his recruits, he drew up his soldiers at night in front of the house of Andre and his companion, and swore lustily that he would have their lives, because, as he alleged, the Americans who were prisoners of war in the hands of the British, were dying by starvation. Through the importunity, however, of Mrs. Ramsey, Captain Thompson, who had formerly been an apprentice to her linsband, was made to desist, and, as he countermarched his company, with a menacing nod of the head he bellowed to the objects of his wrath, " You may thank my old mistress for your lives."
BRIBE REFUSED.
On the following morning, Mrs. Ramsey received from the British officers a very polite note, expressing their gratitude to her for saving them from the hacking sword of the redoubtable Captain Thompson. They were afterwards removed to York, and before their departure, sent to Mrs. Ramsey a box of spermaceti candles, with a note requesting her acceptance of the donation, as an acknowledgment of her many acts of kindness. The present was declined, Mrs. Ramsey averring that she was too staunch a Whig to accept a gratuity from a British officer. Despard was executed at London in 1803, for high treason. With the fate of the unfortunate anche every one is familiar.
RELIEF FOR THE DISTRESSED.
In 1763 there were many refugees, from the most western parts of the Province, in Carlisle, diven thither by distress arising from Indian hostilities. The Congregations of Christ's Church, and St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, both Episcopal, raised the sum of f662 for the relief of these frontier inhabitants. The Rev. William Thompson, an itinerant Episcopal minister for the counties of York and Lancaster, in a letter from Carlisle, August 24th, acknowledging this generous act, wrote as follows :
" We find the number of the distressed to be seven hundred and fifty families, who have abandoned their plantations ; many have lost their crops, and some their stock and furniture, and besides these we are informed that about two hundred women and children are coming down from Fort Pit. The unhappy sufferers are dispersed through every part of this county, and many have passed into York. In this town and neighbourhood, there are upwards of two hundred families, and having the affliction of the small-pex and flux to a great degree."
The first tax upon the citizens of Carlisle, of which we have any account, as appears from the charter of the town, was laid in December, 1752, and amounted to [25 9s. 6d.
COL. JOHN ARMSTRONG.
Prominent among the citizens of Carlisle at this time, was Col. John Armstrong. He was of Irish nativity, and a man of intelligence, integrity, and high moral and religious character. He was resolute and brave, and, through living habitually in the fear of the Lord, he feared not the face of man. The corporation of Philadelphia thus testified their esteem for this valiant and brave soldier :
COL. JOHN ARMSTRONG.
Sir :-- The Corporation of the City of Philadelphia greatly approve of your conduct anal public spirit in the late expedition against the town of Kittanning, and are highly pleased with the signal proof of courage and personal bravery given by you, and the officers under your command, in demolishing of that place.
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I am therefore ordered to return you and them the thanks of the Board for the eminent service you have thereby done your country. I am also ordered by the Corporation to present you, out of their small public stock, with a piece of plate and silver medal, and each of your officers with a medal and a small sum of money to be disposed of in the manner most agreeable to them ; which the Board desire you will accept as a testimony of the regard they have for your merit.
Signed by order, ATWOOD SHUTE, Mayor. January 5th, 1757.
Col. Armstrong was, in 1776, appointed by the American Congress, a General of its Revolutionary Army, on the recommendation of Washington, who had served with him in Forbes' Campaign in 1758, and knew his qualifications. He served his country with ability and fidelity in the trying struggle for American Independence.
CHURCHES.
About the year 1736, the Presbyterians erected a log church on the Conodoguinett creek, about two miles north of Carlisle, or West Pennsborough, as it was then called, at a place known ever since as the " Meeting-House Spring." No vestige of this building now remains, nor are there any of the oldest residents of the neighbourhood who are able to give anything like a satisfactory account of it. The first pastor of this Church-the Rev. Samuel Thompson, from Ireland-was ordained and installed November 14th, 1739. It seems probable, however, that for some time previously to Mr. Thompson's settlement, the Rev. Messrs. Craighead and Caven had laboured there in the character of stated supplies.
Shortly after Carlisle was laid out, a Presbyterian congregation was organized in it, and a church was built. In relation to this movement, Col. Armstrong, who was an Elder of the church, wrote to Richard Peters, as follows :---
" CARLISLE, Fune 30th, 1757.
"To-morrow we begin to haul stones for the building of a meeting-house, on the north side of the square ;- there was no other convenient place. I have avoided the place you once pitched for a church. The stones are raised out of Col. Stanwix's entrenchments : we will want help in this political as well as religious work."
About the year 1760, a license was obtained from Governor Hamilton, authorizing the congregation to raise, by lottery, a small sum of money to enable them to build a decent house for the worship of God, and in 1766, the minister and others petitioned the Assembly, for the passage of an Act to compel the "managers to settle," and the "adventurers to pay," " the settlement of the lottery having been for a considerable time deferred," by reason of the "confusion occasioned by the Indian wars." The Act prayed for was passed. The method of raising money by lottery, for church purposes or any other, was not, of course, at that time regarded as it is now.
The Rev. Geo. Duffield, D. D., was installed Pastor of the church in Carlisle, in 1761. A short time afterward, the congregation in the country, then under the care of the Rev. Mr. Steele, constructed a two-story house of worship in town, and, some time before the Revolution, erected the present " First Presbyterian Church," on the northwest corner of the Centre Square,"* which, however, has since been several times
* It should here be stated, that the Presbyterian Church at Silvers' Spring, 'so called from the fact that the land around the stream near which the church edifice stands, was originally owned by Mr. Sivers, one of the first settlers in that region of the county,) had an early existence. The congregation was first known as " the people ever the Susquehanna." Afterwards (1:36) as connected with the congregation at Carlisle, it was known as the " Lower Settlement of Conodoguinnett." Still later we find it designated " Lower Pennsborough." The Gospel was first preached here by Rev. Alexander Craighead, by appoint - ment of Presbytery, in 1734. For several following years the church was supplied occasionally by the Rev. Messrs. Bartram,
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remodeled and repaired. The two congregations differed somewhat in doctrinal views, and were called the " Old Lights," and " New Lights," in virtue of a division which then prevailed throughout the Synod. "The house in which Mr. Duffield's congrega- tion worshipped," says Dr. Wing, " was situated on the east side of Hanover street, nearly opposite the place where the Second Presbyterian Church now stands. Soon after Mr. Duffield's removal to the Third Church of Philadelphia ( 1772, ) this building took fire and was entirely consumed. During the confusion incident to the War of the Ameri- can Revolution, neither congregation appears to have flourished, and soon after the death of Mr. Steele, (August, 1779,) both congregations worshipped alternately in the stone church, which had now been completed by Mr. Duffield's former people finishing off and occupying the gallery." After the removal of Dr. Duffield to Philadelphia, and the death of Mr. Steele, the two congregations united, and called, in 1785, the Rev. Robert Davidson, D. D., who was an eminent scholar and divine. The follow- ing year the congregation, thus united, was incorporated. Dr. Davidson was removed by death, December 13th, 1812. In connection with him, and as his colleague, the Rev. Henry R. Wilson, D. D., preached some time to the congregation, whilst Profes- sor in Dickinson College. In 1816, the Rev. George Duffield, a licentiate of the Pres- bytery of Philadelphia, and grandson of Dr. Duffield above referred to, was called to the pastorate of this church. Dr. Duffield resigned the charge in 1835. The congregation was subsequently served by the Rev. Messis. Granger and Burrowes, as supplies, and the Rev. Messrs. W. T. Sprole and E. J. Newlin as pastors, until the Rev. Dr. Wing assumed the pastorate, which he still continues to fill.
The "Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle," was organized in the town hall in 1833. Rev. Daniel Mckinley, D. D., was its pastor from 1833 till 1838, the Rev. Alexander T. McGill, D. D., from 1839 till 1841, the Rev. T. V. Moore, D. D., from 1842 till 1845. The succeeding pistors were the Rev. James Lillie, the Rev. Mervine E. Johnson, the Rev. Dr. Eells, and the Rev. John C. Bliss, who yielded the pulpit to the Rev. George Norcross, by whom it is still occupied.
EPISCOPALIANS.
In 1765, the Episcopalians of Carlisle also secured the passage of an Act by the Assembly, authorizing them to raise by lottery a sufficient sum to complete a church " in part erected," but whether they availed themselves of it, does not appear. The edifice then built stood near the same spot-the northeast corner of the public square- on which the present church, St. John's, is located. The itinerant missionary already referred to, in the interest of the Episcopal Church, for the counties of York and Cum- berland, was maintained by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," for several years after these counties were founded. This office was held by him as late as 1776.
GERMAN REFORMED AND LUTHERAN.
The German Reformed and Evangelical Lutheran churches, in Carlisle, both incor- porated in ISHI, were organized about 1765, the latter under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Butler. They worshipped on alternate Sabbaths in the same church, which
Thomas Craighead, Colston, and Thompson, the last of whom became pastor in 1730. Mr. T. resigned on account of " bodily weakness " in 1745, and was succeeded in the pastorate, in the same year, by the Rev. Samuel Caven In apre the Rev. John Steel served the congregation in connection with the church at Carlisle. In 1782 the Rev Samuel Wauch wa. installed over the church. In 188 the Rev. John Hayes became successor of Mr. Watch. The church was subsequently under the pastoral care of Rev. Henry R. Wilson, 1. 1., the Rev. James Williamson, the Rev. George Morne, and others. The present church edifice was erreted in 1783.
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stood on the lot then :ised as the German Reformed burying ground, opposite to Dickin- son College, until 1807, when each congregation erected a house of worship for its own use. This lot having been sold for a Preparatory School for the college, another German Reformed church was built in 1827, at the corner of High and Pitt streets, which was subsequently sold to the Methodists, and then, in 1835, the building was erected in Louther street which is now occupied. The Lutherans also erected a handsome structure.
METHODIST.
Soon after the Revolution Methodist ministers commenced their labours in Carlisle, worshiping first in the market-place, then in the Court House, and subse- quently in a small frame building in Pomfret street, in which last place they formed a class of about twelve members, in 1792 or 1793. Their number, increasing, a few years afterwards they built a small stone house in Pitt street, in which they worshiped a short time, and then erected a brick edifice in Church alley. Having sold this in 1835, they purchased from the German Reformed congregation the stone church on the corner of Pitt and High streets.
ROMAN CATHOLIC.
The Catholic chapel was erected in 1807, and enlarged in 1823. The lot was at an carly day owned by the Jesuits of Conewago, who had upon it a small log church, in which the Catholic congregation worshiped until the present one was built.
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN.
The Associate Presbyterian congregation of Carlisle was organized in 1798. The lot on West street, upon which the church is built, was conveyed, in consideration of 56. by the Messrs. Penn, in 1796, to " Wm. Blait, Wm. Moore, John Smith, and John McCoy, Trustees of the Associate Presbyterian congregation, adhering to the sabor- dination of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, of which the Rev. John Marshall and James Clarkson " were then members. The building was put up in 18o2, and the Rev. Francis Pringle, their first pastor, called the same year.
EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS.
The following extract from a letter written by Thomas S. Craighead, Junior. of White Hill, Cumberland county, and dated December 16th, 1845. will strike every one with interest, who is acquainted with the present prosperous condition of Cumber- land valley, as indicating the vast progress which has marked the last thirty years of its development :
" I saw the first mail stage that passed through Carlisle to Pittsburg. It was a great wonder-the people said the proprietor was a great fool ; I think his name was Slough. I happened a short time ago to visit a friend, Jacob Ritner, son of that great and good man, Ex-Gov. Ritter, who now owns Captain Denny's farm who was killed during the Revolutionary War. The house had been a tavern, and in repairing it Mr. Ritner found some bocks, Ne., which are a curiosity. Charge .-- breakfast, Czo, dinner, horse feed. £30. Some charges still more extravagant, but we know it was paid with Congress money. The poor soldier on his return, had poor money, but the rich boon, liberty, was a price to him far more valuable. S. late as ISOS, I hauled some materials to Oliver I'vans saw mill at Pittsburg. I was astonished to see a mill going without water. Mr. Evans satisfied my curiosity, by showing and explaining everything he could to me. He looked earnestly at me and said, you may live to see your wagons coming out here by steam. The words were so impressed that I have always remembered them. I have lived to see them go through 2
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Cumberland county, and it seems to me, that I may see them go through to Pittsburg, but I have seen Mr. Evans' prophecy fulfilled beyond what I thought possible at the time, but things have progressed at a rate much faster than the most gigantic minds imagined, and we are onward still."
WASHINGTON'S VISIT. -
In 1794, several thousand troops were assembled in Carlisle, on their way to quell the " Whiskey Insurrection." On the first of October, the Governor of the State arrived at Carlisle, and in the evening delivered an animated address in the Presbyterian church. On Saturday, the fourth, George Washington, President of the United States, accompanied by Secretary Hamilton, and his private Secretary, Mr. Dandridge, and a large company of soldiers, besides a great mass of yeomanry and many members of the House of Representatives, arrived. A line was formed, composed of cavalry, with sixteen pieces of cannon, with the infantry from the various parts of Pennsylvania, amounting in the whole to near three thousand men. The Court House was illuminated in the evening, and a transparency exhibited with this inscription in front : "Washing- ton is ever triumphant." on the one side, and on the other side, "The reign of the Laws-Woe to arnarchists.
The following letter was presented by a number of the principal citizens to the Father of his Country :
To GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir :- We, the subscribers, inhabitants of this borough, on behalf of ourselves and fellow citizens, friend, to good order, goverment and the laws, approach you at this time, to express our sincere admiration of those virtues which have been uniformly exerted, with so much success, for the happiness of America; and which, at this critical period of impending foreign and domestic troubles, have been manifested with dis- tingui-hed lustre.
Though we deplose the cause which has collected in this borough all classes of virtuous citizens, yet it affords us the most heartfelt satisfaction to meet the Father of our Country, and brethren in arms, distinguished for their patriotism, their love of order, and attachment to the constitution and laws ; and while on the one hand we regret the occasion which has brought from their homes men of all situations who have made sacrifices, unequaled in any other country, of their private interests to the public good, yet we are consoled by the consideration, that the citizens of the United States have evinced to our enemies abroad and the loss of our happy constitution at home, that they not only have the will, but possess the power, to repel all foreign invaders, and to crush all domestic traitors.
The history of the world affords us too many instances of the destruction of free governments ly factions and unprincipled men. Vet the present insurrection and opposition to government is exceeded by none, either for its causeless origin, or for the extreme malignity and wickedness with which it has been execute 1
The unexampled clemency of our councils in their endeavours to bring to a sense of daty the western insurgents, and the ungrateful returns which have been made by that deluded people, have united all good men in one common effort to restore order and obedience to the laws, and to punish those who have neglected to avail themselves of, and have spurned at, the most tender and humane offers that have ever been made to rebels and traitors.
We have viewed with pain the great industry, art, and misrepresentations which have been practiced to delude our fellow citizens. We trust that the effort of the general government, the combination of the good and virtuous against the vicious and factions, will cover with confusion the malevolent disturbers of the public peace, and afford to the well disposed the certainty of protection to their persons and property.
The sword of justice, in the hands of our beloved President, can only be considered as an object of terror by the wicked, and will be looked up to by the good and virtuous as their safeguard and protection.
We bless that Providence which has preserved a life so valuable through so many important scenes-and we pray that He will continue to direct and prosper the measures adopted by you for the security of our internal peace and stability of our government; and that after a life of continued usefulness and glory, you may be rewarded with eternal felicity.
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