Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

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1 Blackman's " Ilistory."

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the order of the day. Nothing worthy of mention happened to the expedition on their way to this place, and here, on a bright summer day in 1779, they landed to pass the night, and to allow some of the dilatory rafts to come up, and here at Great Bend, on the Flats near the 'Three Indian Apple Trees,' General James Clinton's army encamped, and here, for one night at least, brightly burned the camp-fires of sixteen hundred of the soldiers of the Revolu- tion. The officer in his diary says of the three Indian Apple Trees which they found here, that they then bore the marks of great age. There were no Indians seen here by them, although there was every indication of their having only recently left. The next day they went on board of their rafts and proceeded down the river" until they arrived at Tioga Point, where they rested with General Sullivan, and together moved up the river and gave the Indians battle at Newtown, near Elmira, New York. There was not so great loss of life in this battle, the whites losing thirty killed, but the victory over the Six Nations was complete. Their wigwams and teeming fields of corn were laid waste with rigid severity, and their peach orchards were ruthlessly cut down. The fell blow broke the power of the Six Nations for- ever.1 There are remnants of this once power- ful confederacy on reservations in the State of New York. They occasionally visit the valley, over which they once held despotic sway, with curious bead-work which they have for sale. An Indian woman who sells these articles will usually sit apart from the rest and murmur, " Me poor Indian," " Me lone Indian," until some one will come along and half out of pity buy her trinkets. And this is all that remains of the once proud lords of the soil, whose friend- ship was courted by the French and British, the Governors of New York and of Pennsyl- vania, and the United Colonies at the time of the Revolution. The Indians occasionally visited Susquehanna County after the pioneer settlers came liere. David Rittenhouse and Andrew W. Ellicott, on the part of Pennsyl- vania, and James Clinton and Simeon De Witt,

on the part of New York, ran the dividing line between the two States in 1786. During the survey Ellicott wrote to his wife from the " 2 Banks of the Susquehanna," under date of August 6, 1786, that he had "just returned from attending divine service of the Indians in their camp. This will appear no doubt strange to you, but stranger yet when I assure you that I have found more true religion among them than with the white inhabitants on the frontier. They are of the Church of England, and have the service complete in their own language. They sing psalms to admiration. . . . Pray do not fail to inform Dr. West of this circum- stance. The Indian town of 3 Shanang is about twelve miles from our present position. The head sachem, with his family, have been with us many days-he has a daughter by the name of Sally and a niece who lives with us, and share in all our amusements, such as cards and draughts, commonly called checkards. Com - missioner De Witt has taken a picture of the daughter, which I intend to have copied large by. Billy West."

Miss Blackman has recorded some incidents written by J. Du Bois, from which the follow- ing is taken :

"The writer, anxious to learn something about the Indians that once lived in this valley, concluded to question the doctor.+ I again visited the Log Tavern. I found the doctor reclining on the grassy slope of the bank of the Susquehanna, near the Indian Apple Trees. Armed with a pipe and tobacco, I approached him and presented them, retreated to a respectable distance and sat down, and watched him as he drew forth the steel, the flint, and striking fire, proceeded to test the quality of the Indian weed. Boy-like, I at once commenced to question him, and as he re- mained silent, I piled question upon question, without even waiting for an answer, not knowing at that time that an Indian never answered a question immedi- ately, but first smokes, then thinks, and then answers. After almost exhausting my list of inquiries, I re- mained silent. The Indian, after puffing away at the pipe for some time, said, 'Boy want to know much, Indian tell him some. When a boy, I lived here, many Indians lived along this valley of the Susquehanna, we belonged to the Confederate Five Nations, after-

1 These Indians have adopted the ways of civilization and have culti- vated farms.

2 " Boundaries of the State of New York," Vol. I.

3 Binghamton stands where Shanang formerly stood. Colonel Gere thinks that this letter was written from Little Meadows, Susquehanna County.

4 An Indian Doctor.

INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.

wards called the Six Nations.' He then procecded to state in his own language that this valley was for a long time the frontier of the Confederacy. At that time the Delaware Indians claimed all the lands up to the Susquehanna River, at the same time the Confed- eracy claimed to the Delaware River, and land lying between these two rivers was disputed ground, and many were the conflicts between the hunters on this disputed territory. After a while the Six Nations conquered the Delawares, and extended their authority as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. During the War of the Revolution the Indians quietly withdrew from this valley, and all of them, except the Oneidas, joined the British and were nearly all exterminated in the battles which followed. Before the Revolution the Indians raised great crops of corn along these river flats.

"'All over yonder,' said he, pointing to the hills on the south side of the river, 'elk, elk, deer, too, plenty, very plenty, fish in this river very plenty, Indian lived well.' I asked the doctor where the Indians buried their dead; he pointed toward Dimon's flats, saying, ' there we bury our dead.' I then told the doctor, that when the workmen were excavating the ground for the northern abutmeut of the first Great Bend Bridge, they discovered the skeleton of what they supposed to be a large Indian (as it was found in the sitting posture). I asked him how this Indian came to be buried there. After puffing away at the pipe as if in deep thought, he replied, 'The Delaware Indian, he die in his canoe, we bury him there.' I asked him by what death did he die, but received no answer. Not being willing to give it up so, I told the doctor that this Delaware Indian, as he called him, had a large hole in his skull, to which he replied, ' Delaware bad Indian.' Pursuing my inquiry in another direc- tion, I asked him if a hostile Indian was detected as a spy, if by their laws it was death; he answered yes. And upon inquiring, he said that they never bury those belonging to another tribe with their own dead. He further said that the Three Apple Trees was the rallying point and headquarters for all the Indians in the neighborhood. Here councils were held, marriages celebrated, feasts observed, war-dances performed, and the fate of prisoners decided.

" AN INDIAN CLAIM .- Jouathan Dimon was one of the early white settlers of this valley. He settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Carl. When Jonathan Dimon left the valley of the Hudson River, and removed to this, then called wilderness, West, his son, Charles Dimon, had not completed his education, and did not come on to his father here until some years later. A few days after his arrival his father told him to go upon the flats and plow up an old 'Indian burying-ground.' (This burying- ground was located about the centre of the lately- talked-of fair ground, and proposed race track, and on each side of what now remains of an old hedge.) More than thirty years ago the writer had

this narrative from our late and much - esteemed fellow-townsman, Charles Dimon. He said that he felt many misgivings about thus disturbing the burial- place of the dead, and asked his father what he should do with those curious stones that marked the last resting-place of the Indians. His father told him that when he plowed up near enough to these stones to loosen them, to carefully take them up and pile them up by the fence. He said that with a heavy heart he proceeded to do as his father bade him, but would much rather have plowed elsewhere. After working awhile, his oxen needed rest; at this time he was very near the bank of the river, and was sit- tiug on his plowbeam with his back towards the river. He said that, in spite of himself, his thoughts would run on about the red men who once inhabited this valley. True, his father had told him that no Indians had been here for a long time, they had long since removed to other 'hunting-grounds,' or had fallen in battle before the superior arms of the white man. He thought, and could not help thinking, what would be his fate if the Indians should happen to come along and find him plowing up the graves, and removing the stones that they had set up to mark the last resting-places of their 'fathers?' While these thoughts were troubling him, he heard a low guttural, yet musical sound, or combination of sounds, which came from the river behind him. It was different from anything that he had ever heard. He turned his face toward the river ; a screen of willows partly hid from his view objects on the river nearest to him, and as these strange sounds came nearer, he peered through the bushes and-said he to the writer-'imagine, if you can, my feelings and surprise, when I tell you that I saw close to me a large canoe full of Indians, and this had barely passed the opening before another canoe full of Indians came in sight. I immediately unhitched the oxen and hurried out of that field, and away to the house. Being somewhat excited at what I had seen, I said to father, that I thought it very unsafe to plow in the Indian burying-field while the Indians were about. Father told me to explain ; I did, by telling what I had seen. He told me to go down to the ferry, and see if the Indians lauded. I went to the ferry, which then occupied the present site of the Great Bend Bridge across the Susquehanna River. And there, at the Log Tavern, which then stood on the site of the two-story house opposite to and near the toll-house, I found the Indians, about twenty in num- ber.' A crowd of the curious soon collected, and an ' inquisitive' Yankee soon learned from the Indian interpreter, that they had come to claim all that strip of land lying north of the Susquehanna River, and south of the forty-second parallel of latitude, declar- ing that they had never sold it, and that they wanted to meet the settlers and have a talk. This declaration of the interpreter caused the crowd to disperse in every direction to notify the settlers, and when these messengers told the settlers that a large party of

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Indians were at the Log Tavern, and claimed their lands, they, too, left their plows and wended their way to the Log Tavern, and as they came together on the way thither, they saluted each other after this manner, 'What now, what next? here we have been trembling about our titles; Pennsylvania claims us, Connecticut claims us, and now, after all, here come the aborigines themselves, to claim our lands, and, if we should refuse, perhaps will take our scalps.'

"By evening a number of settlers had collected, and, as they had no speaker among them, they chose one for the occasion ; he was a kind of backwoods lawyer of those days (his name, as well as many other inter- esting incidents of this meeting, have, I am sorry to say, gone from the memory of the writer). Among those early settlers that were named as having attended this meeting, and were interested therein, I can only remember the following: Captain Ichabod Buck, Captain Jonathan Newman, Jonathan Dimon, Sylva- nus Hatch, Josiah Stewart, David Buck, Noble Trow- bridge and James Newman. After all were seated in the old Log Tavern, the speaker for the settlers arose, and told the Indian interpreter that all were now ready to hear the talk of their chief.

"Many eyes were now turned toward the central figure of a group of noble-looking Indians. But at this time some of the whites present were whispering to each other, and at the same time, wondering why the chief rose not. After a while the interpreter arose, and gave these inattentive whispering whites a just and well-merited rebuke. 'Friends,' said he, 'I perceive that you do not understand the character of the red men, when assembled in council. No Indian will rise to speak until there is perfect silence and attention, and there is nothing he more dislikes than a whispering, inattentive audience.' After this rebuke from the interpreter, silence reigned. The chief, a man of great stature and noble bearing, soon arose, and spoke in the Indian dialect, which was well interpreted, sentence by sentence, in good English, and was, as near as the writer can remember, as follows: 'Friends and brothers, once our fathers had their wigwams on these beautiful banks of the Sus- quehanna; once they chased the elk, the deer, the bear, over the beautiful hills that surround us; once we had full possession of this valley, and no one disputed our right. Moon after moon rolled on, and our fathers left the valley for better hunting-grounds, north and west, but before they left, "good Father Onas" (William Penn ) made a treaty with our fathers, by which they sold him a large piece of land, which is called after William Penn-Pennsylvania-he gave our fathers a copy of the treaty-large paper-which, I am sorry to say, is lost. Now our learned young men tell us, that in this treaty with good father Onas, the northern line of his purchase here was the Sus- quehanna River, and not the forty-second parallel of north latitude, as laid down on the "paper pictures "- maps-of the whites. Now, brothers, we come to

you as the representatives of our nation to claim this land. We believe we have never sold it. We come not to take it from you, but to sell it. Our good father Onas-William Penn-always dealt fair with the red man. We would never claim anything that was wrong of the children or friends of Ouas if we knew it. When famine came upon the early friends of Onas, did not our fathers supply the wants of the starving friends of Onas, by hunting and fishing for them, and when bad hostile Indians troubled them, did not our fathers place the white feather of protec- tion over the doors of their log wigwams. And while we acknowledge that bad Indians, many bad Indians, did take the king's money and fight with the king's men, our brothers will witness, and your history of the war will witness, that the nation, or that part of the nation that we represent-the Oneidas-never raised the war-cry against our brothers. And now, if we have a good right to this land, we have great con- fideuce in our friends, the children of our great and good father, William Penn, that they will do right and just by us. We wait your answer.'

"The speaker for the settlers, after a few words in an undertone with them, made a low bow to the chief and to the other members of the delegation who sat on each side of their chief, in the form of a semi- circle, and said : 'Friends and brothers, we are pleased with the words of the noble chief who has so elo- quently spoken. The settlers, who now surround me, have chosen me to answer the chief. They desire me to thank him, and the other braves who sit before us, for the kind and pacific manner in which their great chief has set forth their claim to this part of the land we occupy, and upon which we have built our wigwams. They also desire me to say, that they are not ignorant that those that you represent were always the friends of our good father, William Penn, and have always proved true to his friends, and shall always cherish in remembrance those kind offices of our red brethren in times past. And here, almost under the shade of the three "Old Indian Apple Trees," planted by your fathers, we pledge ourselves anew to our red brothers, that nothing arising out of your present claim shall mar the peace or lessen the friendship that has so long existed between us. We are very sorry, however, to inform you that our "head man," Judge William Thomson, is away on a long journey, and as to your rights to this land, we must confess that we are ignorant. We settled here holding the titles to our lands under the charter of William Penn, never doubting his knowledge as to the extent of his purchase of your fathers. When our "head man" returns, and it should prove that our good father, and your good father, Onas, was mistaken, and that your fathers never parted with this land, we pledge ourselves, as the honest descendants of the good William Penn, to buy of you these lands, on which we have settled and built our wigwams. If our brothers will tarry with us until our "head man"

INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.

returns, which will be in eight or ten days, the hospi- talities of this Log Tavern shall be yours, without cost to you, and in the mean time you can amuse yourselves, perhaps, in hunting the dcer on these beautiful hills, where once your fathers trod. And if our brothers desire it, we will join you in the chase. But if you cannot gratify us in this, but must sooner return to your own people, then we pledge ourselves again, that you shall hear from us when our head man returns.'

"The interpreter of the Indians, after consulting with the delegates, said, that, in behalf of his com- panions, he returned many thanks for the very kind answer, and for their pressing invitation to remain and enjoy the hospitalities of their friends; 'but,' said he, 'we are compelled to deny ourselves this great enjoyment. Business at the Council-House of the Six Nations demands our return, where among our own people they would await a letter from our head man, and there would invoke their Great Spirit -your Great God-to shower blessings upon the head of the friends of William Penn.'

"The next day these Indians left for their homes in Northern New York. When Judge Thomson returned, the settlers soon acquainted him with this new claim to their lands. Judge Thomson sent to the capital of the State for a certified copy of William Penn's1 treaty with the Indians. In due time the Judge received a fac-simile copy of said treaty, and many of our citizens of that day had the pleasure of seeing and examining this copy of Penn's treaty with the Indians, before the Judge forwarded the same to the Council-House of the Six Nations. This copy was described to the writer, as a great curiosity. The names of all the chiefs were plainly written out, and at the termination of each name was the sign manual or mark of the chief; at the end of one name was a bow, another an arrow, another a bow and arrow crossed, another deers' horns, another a deer's head and horns, another the form of a new moon, etc., etc., each name having a different mark representing their implements of war, hunting, game, trophies, etc.

"This treaty plainly fixed the northern boundary of our State on the forty-second parallel of north latitude, thus dissipating the fears of the settlers. This copy of Penn's treaty Judge Thomson forwarded to the address left by the Indians, since which time neither our fathers, nor we of the second or third generation, have heard anything more about the Indians' claim to these lands."

The capture and escape of John Hilborn formed one of the most notable occurrences of the Indian War of the Revolutionary period. Of this we give quite a minute account, partly because Mr. Hilborn afterwards became one of

the pioneers2 of Susquehanna County and partly because of its intrinsic and illustrative interest.

" 3 Mr. Hilborn and his few scattered neighbors had, in their isolated condition, become apprehensive of the danger of a sudden attack by the Indians, and had agreed to keep each other informed on what was taking place, by communicating as frequently as pos- sible. Among these neighbors was John Price, a relative of Hilborn's, who lived seven miles above, on the north branch of the creek.

" One morning in the early part of June, 1779, an old woman came running down the stream in great distress, saying that her son's family were all killed or taken prisoners by the Indians, herself only escaping. This family resided on the west branch of the creek, though I am unable to give the name.

"Mr. Hilborn set out immediately to give the warning to John Price. On his way, after ascending a bill, he saw the house in flames from which the family had been captured. Proceeding in the direc- tion of Mr. Price's, and when about one mile from the burning dwelling, on ascending another hill, he found himself suddenly surrounded by five Indians, all armed with guns, who demanded his surrender ; seeing no possibility of escape, he felt that he must submit to whatever conditions they might be disposed to exact, and resolved to do it with as good grace as possible. They then informed him (as they all spoke tolerably good English) that if he would give a sol- emn promise not to attempt to escape, they would spare his life; if not, they would kill him on the spot. He made the promise, and, as will appear, kept it faithfully during the entire period of his captivity. They then bound a heavy burthen on his back and ordered him to march. Soon after they passed in sight of John Price's house, where a halt was made. The Indians questioned Hilborn closely as to who lived there, what sort of a man he was, whether he was rich, etc., and also whether he kept a gun. He answered truthfully all their questions; that Price was a peaceable, quiet man, that he was not rich, that he kept a gun, as every one did, to supply himself with game, that he took no part in the war, etc. Af- ter an exciting talk of considerable length they con- cluded to pass by the house of Mr. Price and spare hin for the present, to the great relief of Mr. Hilborn. He discovered that all the family whose house they had burned were in company except one little boy, who, on account of his loud crics-as he some time af- ter learned-was killed at the house. They made rapid marches all the way to the North Branch of thic Susquehanna, crossing many streames of considera- ble depth, which they were obliged to wade, and

2 Sce Harmony township.

3 The sketch is contributed by Luke W. Brodhead, who derived it from Paul S. Preston, who, in turn, had the facts from the journal of his father, Samuel Preston, of Stockport, Wayne County, written in 1787.

1 Trsaty at Fort Stanwix, 1768. Soe Chapter I. 2

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

proved a cause of much suffering to the women and children, who became greatly fatigued and at times nearly exhausted. They crossed the Susquehanna above the mouth of the Tioga, and found the former deep and difficult of passage, so much so that two of the young girls were only saved from drowning by the extraordinary efforts of Mr. Hilborn. He seems to have had great sympathy for this captive family, con- sisting of the mother and four or five children, af- fording them all the relief possible in their tiresome journey, and encouraging thiem, whenever opportu- nity afforded, with comforting words ; and they were greatly endeared to him, confirming our observations of all similar experience in life, that community of suffering makes the sufferers kin. After crossing the Susquehanna the Indians seemed to feel themselves out of danger of pursuit, and their marches were thereafter much easier. A little girl of the captive family became a great favorite with all the Indians, and was treated with much kindness, they doing ev- erything possible for her comfort on the journey, promising her many things on their arrival at their home in Shenango, telling her many times that she should have plenty of milk, etc. But what seemed very remarkable, in view of the care and consideration bestowed on this child, was the fact that they fre- quently showed her the scalp of her little brother, killed at the house, the sight of which caused her to weep bitterly.

" After crossing the river, a few short marches brought them to the place where their canoes were tied up; why they were not left on the opposite side of the river on setting out with their expedition, Mr. Hilborn could not understand. They placed him in one of the canoes with the larger portion of the party, and under guard, ordered him to pole it up the stream, which he did the whole distance to Shenango. They frequently went ashore, and on one occasion the old Delaware Indian, who seemed to act the part of a chief, went out hunting and killed a large buck. On his return he ordered two Indians, young men, with Mr. Hilborn, to go and dress the deer and bring it in. One of these Indians was a Delaware, a large, coarse man, the other a genteel young Mohawk, who had on several occasions before shown kindness to Mr. Hil- born. The Delaware was surly and overbearing and ordered the young Mohawk to dress the deer, which he undertook, but not succeeding very well, they soon engaged in a quarrel in their own language and finally in a desperate fight. The Mohawk, though the younger, was the more active and proved the con- queror, compelling the Delaware to finish dressing the deer.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318