USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : containing sketches of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early Scotch-Irish and German settlers. Pt. 1 > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
27
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
Clure. Thomas Dugan, John Johnson, Peter Fleming, Thomas Sturgeon, Matthew Tay- lor, Jeremiah Sturgeon, Thomas King, Rob- ert Smith, Adam Read, John Crawford, Thomas Crawford, Jonathan McClure, Thomas Hume, Thomas Steene, John Hume, John Creige, Thomas McClure, William Mc- Clure, John Rodgers, James Patterson, John Young, Ez. Sankey, John Forster, Mitchel Graham, James Toalen, James Galbraith, James Campbell, Robert Boyd, James Cham-
At this period also we find an extensive correspondence between John Harris, Con- rad Weiser and others and Edward Shippen, complaining of the insecurity of life and property owing to the depredations of the Indians; and their tenor is a continual and just complaint of the ontrages committed by the savages, and urgent requests to the au- thorities for protection and arms, etc.
On the Sth of January, 1756, a council with the Indians was held at the house of John Harris, at Paxtang, composed of Hon. Robert Hunter Morris, governor; James Hamilton and Richard Peters, secretaries ; Joseph Fox, commissioner, and Conrad Weiser, interpreter; two Indians of the Six Nations, called "The Belt of Wampum," a Seneca, and the " Broken Thigh," a Mohawk. The meeting was of an amicable character, and was only the preliminary step to a larger and more important council held the week following at Carlisle. One of the rea- sons for holding the council at the latter place was, "that there was but few con- veniences ' for the proper entertainment' of the Governor and his company at Harris Ferry, and Mr. Weiser gave it as his opinion that it would be better to adjourn to Car- lisle." A second council was held here on the 1st of April, 1757. Present, the Rev. John Elder, Captain Thomas McKee, Messrs. James Armstrong. Hugh Crawford, John Harris, William Pentrup, interpreter, and warriors from the Mohawks, Oneidas, Tus- caroras, Onondagoes, Nanticokes, Cayugas, Delawares, Senecas and Conestogoes, with their women and children. George Croghan, Esq., deputy agent to the Hon. Sir W. John- son, Bart., his majesty's sole agent and superintendent of the Six Nations, etc., was also present. This council was removed to Lancaster, owing to the number of Indians then encamped at Conestoga Manor where the remainder of the business was concluded.
The most interesting event of this period was the extermination of the so-called Cones- toga Indians by the Paxtang Rangers. The situation of the frontiers succeeding the Pontiac war was truly deplorable, principally owing to the supineness of the Provincial authorities, for the Quakers, who controlled the government, were, to use the language of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, " more solicitous for the welfare of the blood-thirsty Indian than for the lives of the frontiersinan." In their
bers, Robert Armstrong, Jno. Campbell, , blind partiality, bigotry and political preju- Huglı:Black, Thomas Black.
dice, they would not readily accede to the demands of those of a different religious faith. Especially was this the case relative to the Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, both of whom were tolerated by mere suffer- ance. To them, therefore, was greatly attri- butable the reign of horror and devastation in the border counties. The goverment was deaf to all entreaties, and Gen. Amherst, commander of the British forces in America, did not hesitate to give his feelings an em- phatic expression-" The conduct of the Penn- sylvania Assembly," he wrote, " is altogether so infatuated and stupidly obstinate, that I want words to express my indignation thereat." Nevertheless, the sturdy Scotch-Irish and Germans of this section rallied for their own defense. The inhabitants of Paxtang and Hanover immediately enrolled themselves into several companies, the Rev. John Elder being their colonel.
Lazarus Stewart, Matthew Smith and Asher Clayton, men of acknowledged military abil- ity and prowess, commanded distinct com - panies of Rangers. These brave men were ever on the alert, watching with eagle eye the Indian marauders who at this period swooped down upon the defenseless frontiers. High mountains, swollen rivers, or great distances never deterred or appalled them. Their courage and fortitude were equal to every undertaking, and woe betide the red men when their blood-stained tracks once met their eyes. The Paxtang Rangers were the terror of the Indians-they were swift on foot, excellent horsemen, good shots, skillful in pursuit or escape, dexterous as scouts and expert in manœuvering.
The murders in and around Paxtang, not- withstanding the vigilance of the Rangers, be- came numerous, and many a family mourned for some of their number shot by the secret foe or carried away captive. The frontiers- men took their rifles with them to the field and to the sanctuary. Their colonel and
28
HISTORICAL REVIEW
pastor placed his trusty piece beside him in the pulpit; and it is authoritatively stated that on one occasion old Derry meeting house was surrounded while he was preach- ing; but their spies having counted the rifles the Indians retired from their ambuscade without making an attack.
Many were the murderous deeds perpe- trated by the savages-but where these came from was a mystery. Indians had been traced by the scouts to the wigwams of the so-called friendly Indians at Conestoga, and to those of the Moravian Indians in Northampton county. Suspicion was awakened, the ques- tions, "are these Christian Indians treacher- ous? are their wigwams the harbors of our deadly foe? do they conceal the nightly prowling assassin of the forest; the villain, who with savage ferocity tore the innocent babe from the bosom of its mother, where it had been quietly reposing, and hurled it in the fire? The mangled bodies of our friends ery aloud for vengeance." Such were the questions, surmises and expressions of the exasperated people on the frontiers, and well warranted, for on one occasion when the As- sembly were deaf to all entreaties and peti- tion, with the hope of arousing their sym- pathy the murdered were taken to Philadel- phia on wagons-when a prominent Quaker, with a sneer, remarked they were "only Irish." This unfeeling expression was re- membered by the Scotch-Irish of the fron- tiers.
The Quakers who controlled the govern- ment, as heretofore remarked, "seemed re- solved," says Parkman, "that they would neither defend the people of the frontier or allow them to defend themselves, vehemently inveighed against all expeditions to cut off the Indian marauders. Their security was owing to their local situation, being confined to the eastern part of the Province." That such was the case, rather than to the kind feelings of the Indian toward them, is shown by the fact that of the very few living in ex- posed positions, several were killed.
The inhabitants declared openly that they no longer confided in the professions of the governor or his advisers in the Assembly. Numbers of volunteers joined the Rangers of Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, York and Cumberland, who were engaged in tracing the midnight assassins. On the Manor, a portion of land surveyed for the Proprieta- ries, situated in Lancaster county, near where the borough of Columbia is now located, was
settled a band of squalid, miserable Indians- the refuse of sundry tribes. Time and again they were suspected of murder and thievery, and their movements at this erisis were closely watched. Strange Indians were constantly coming and going.
Colonel Elder under the date of September 13, 1763, thus wrote to Governor Hamilton, " I suggest to you the propriety of an imme- diate removal of the Indians from Conestoga and placing a garrison in their room. In case this is done, I pledge myself for the future security of the frontiers."
Subsequently, on taking charge of the executive affairs of the Province in October, Governor Jolin Penn replied as follows: " The Indians of Conestoga have been rep- resented as innocent, helpless and depend- ent on this government for support. The faith of this government is pledged for their protection. I eannot remove them without adequate cause. The contraet made with William Penn was a private agreement, afterwards confirmed by several treaties. Care has been taken by the Provincial com- mittee that no Indians but our own visit Conestoga. Whatever can be faithfully exe- cuted under the laws shall be as faithfully performed ;" and yet Governor Penn in writing to Thomas Penn afterwards used this language: "Many of them," referring to the frontier inhabitants, " have had wives and children murdered and scalped, their houses burnt to the ground, their cattle destroyed, and from an easy, plentiful life are now become beggars. In short, not only in this Province, but in the neighboring governments is the spirit of the people in- veterate against the Indians."
John Harris had previously made a simi- lar request : " The Indians here, I hope your honor will be pleased to be removed to some other place, as I don't like their company."
The Rangers finding appeals to the au- thorities useless, resolved on taking the law into their own hands. Several Indian mur- derers had been traced to Conestoga, and it was determined to take them prisoners. Captain Stewart, whose men ascertained this fact, acquainted his colonel of the object, who seemed rather to encourage his com- mand to make the trial, as an example was necessary to be made for the safety of the frontier inhabitants. The destruction of the Conestogas was not then projected. That was the result of the attempted capture. Parkman and Webster, following Rupp,
29
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
state that Colonel Elder, learning of an in- tent to destroy the entire tribe, as they were about to set off rode after them command- ing them to desist, and that Stewart threat- ened to shoot his horse. Such was not the ease. From a letter dated Paxtang, Decem- ber 16, 1763, written to Governor Penn, he says: "On receiving intelligence the 13th inst., that a number of persons were as- sembled on purpose to go and cut off the Conestoga Indians, in concert with Mr. Fors- ter, the neighboring magistrate, I hurried off an express with written message to that party 'entreating them to desist from such an undertaking, representing to them the unlawfulness and barbarity of such an ac- tion; that it's eruel and unchristian in its nature, and would be fatal in its conse- quenees to themselves and families; that private persons have no right to take the lives of any under the protection of the Leg- islature; that they must, if they proceeded in that affair, lay their accounts to meet with · a severe prosecution, and become liable even to capital punishment ; that they need not expect that the country would endeavor to conceal or sereen them from punishment, but that they would be detected and given up to the resentment of the government.' These things I urged in the warmest terms in order to prevail with them to drop the enterprise, but to no purpose."
Not to be deterred, the Rangers reached the Indian settlement before daylight. The barking of some dogs discovered them and a number of strange Indians rushed from their wigwams, brandishing their toma- hawks. This show of resistance was suffi- eient inducement for the Rangers to make use of their arms. In a few moments every Indian present fell before the unerring fire of the brave frontiersmen. The aet aceom- plished, they mounted their horses and returned severally to their homes. Unfortu- nately a number of the Indians were absent from Conestoga, prowling about the neigh- boring settlements, doubtless on predatory excursions. The destruction at the Manor becoming known, they were placed in the Laneaster work-house for protection. Among these vagabonds were two well known to Parson Elder's seouts.
An express being sent to Philadelphia with the news, great excitement ensued, and Governor Penn issued a proclamation rela- tive thereto. Notwithstanding its fine array of words it fell upon the Province harmless.
Outside of the Quaker settlements everyone heartily approved of the measures taken by the Paxtang Rangers. As the governor him- self wrote to England : "If we had ten thousand of the king's troops I don't believe it would be possible to secure one of these people. Though I took all the pains I could even to get their names, I could not succeed, for indeed no one would make the discovery, though ever so well acquainted with them, and there is not a magistrate in the country would have touched one of them. The people of this town are as inveterate against the Indians as the frontier inhabitants. For it is beyond a doubt that many of the In- dians now in town [referring to the Mora- vians confined in the barracks] have been concerned in committing murders among baek settlers.
The presence of the remaining Indians at Lancaster also became a eause of great un- easiness to the magistrates and people, for as previously remarked, two or three were no- torious scoundrels. It may be here related that several of the strange Indians harbored at Conestoga, who were also absent at the destruction of the village, made their escape and reached Philadelphia, where they joined the Moravian Indians from Nain and Wech- quetank, and there seereted.
The removal of the remaining Indians from Lancaster was requested by the chief magistrate, Edward Shippen. Governor Penn proved very tardy, and we are of the opinion he cared little about them, or he would have acted promptly, as from his own confession he was not ignorant of the exas- peration of the people and the murderous character of the refugees. Day after day passed by, and the excitement throughout the frontiers became greater. The Rangers, who found that their work had been only half done, consulted as to what measure should be further proceeded with. Captain Stewart proposed to capture the principal In- dian outlaw, who was confined in the Lan- caster work-house, and take him to Carlisle jail, where he could be held for trial. This was heartily approved, and accordingly a detachment of the Rangers, variously esti- mated at from twenty to fifty, proceeded to Lancaster on the 27th of December, broke into the work-house, and bnt for the show of resistance would have effeeted their pur- pose. But the younger portion of the Rang- ers, to whom was confided this work, were so enraged at the defiance of the Indians that
30
HISTORICAL REVIEW
.
before their resentment could be repressed by Captain Stewart, the unerring rifle was employed, and the last of the so-called Con- estogas had yielded up his life. In a few minutes thereafter, mounting their horses, the daring Rangers were safe from arrest. George Gibson, who, from his acquaintance with the principal frontiersmen of his time, in a letter written some years after, gives the most plausible account of this transaction, which bore such an important part in the early history of the Province. He, says: " No murder has been committed since the removal of the friendly Indians and the de- struction of the Conestogas-a strong proof that the murders were committed under the cloak of the Moravian Indians. A descrip- tion of an Indian who had, with great bar- barity, murdered a family on the Susque- hanna, near Paxtang, was sent to Lazarus Stewart at Lancaster. This Indian had been traced to Conestoga. On the day of its destruction he was on a hunting expedition. When he heard that the Rangers were in pursuit of him he fled to Philadelphia. The three or four who entered the work-house at Lancaster were directed by Stewart to seize on the murderer and give him to his charge. When those outside heard the report of the guns within several of the Rangers alighted, thinking their friends in danger, and has- tened to the door. The more active of the Indians, endeavoring to make their escape, were met by them and shot. No children were killed by the Paxtang boys. No act of savage butchery was committed."
If the excitement throughout the Prov- ince was great after the affair at Conestoga, this transaction set everything in a ferment. " No language," says Rev. Dr. Wallace, " can describe the outcry which arose from the Quakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement which swayed to and fro on the frontiers and in the city. The Quakers blamed the gover- nor, the governor the Assembly, and the latter censured everybody except their own inaction." Two proclamations were issued by the Provincial authorities, offering re- wards for the seizure of those concerned in the destruction of the Indians; but this was impossible, owing to the exasperation of the frontiersmen, who heartily approved of the action of the Rangers.
On the 27th of December the Rev. Mr. Elder hurriedly wrote to Governor Penn: " The storm, which had been so long gather- ing, has at length exploded. Had govern-
ment removed the Indians from Conestoga, as was frequently urged without success, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated to mad- ness? All that I could do was done. I ex- postulated, but life and reason were set at defiance, and yet the men in private life are virtuous and respectable-not cruel, but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when cach palliating circumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement, to which hu- man infirmity is subjected."
To this extenuating and warm-hearted letter came a reply, under date of December 29, 1763, from the governor, requesting the commanders of the troops-Colonels Elder and Seely-to return the Provincial arms, etc., as their services were no longer required. From this letter of Governor John Penn, it is evident that the commissioners, or rather the Provincial Council, intended to punish both Colonel Elder and Esquire Seely, or that with the destruction of the Conestogas, there was little or no danger of Indian atrocities. The latter proved to be the case, but the authorities were cognizant of the fact that the Paxtang boys were correct in their surmisings, and that peace would fol- low the removal of the friendly Indians. It shows, also, that believing thus, the Provin- cial government was culpable to a great de- gree in allowing the Indians to remain on the Manor, despite the representations of Colonel Elder, John Harris and Edward Shippen. The Rev. Mr. Elder quietly laid by his sword, feeling confident that time would vindicate his course, whatever that may have been.
Of the marching of the Paxtang boys to- ward Philadelphia, we shall briefly refer in this connection, and the reason therefor is best given by an extract from a letter of Gov- ernor Penn : "The 14th of this month we suspect a Thousand of the Rioters in Town to insist upon the Assembly granting their request with regard to the increase of Rep- resentatives, to put them upon an equality with the rest of the Counties. They have from time to time presented several petitions for the purpose, which have been always dis- regarded by the House; for which reason they intend to come in Person." Although our Quaker historians have uniformly stated that the object of the Paxtang boys was the
31
. DAUPHIN COUNTY.
massacre of the Moravian Indians in Phila- delphia, yet the foregoing statement of the Executive of the Province proves conclusively that their visit was not one . of slaughter but of petition for redress of grievances. The narrative is one of interest to us in this see- tion and the true history remains to be written.
Pamphlets, says Webster, without number, truth or deeeney, poured like a torrent from the press. The Quakers took the pen to hold up the deed to exeeration ; and many others seized the opportunity to defame the Irish Presbyterians as ignorant bigots and lawless marauders.
Violent and bitter as were the attacks of the Quaker pamphleteers, Parson Elder was only casually alluded to. With the excep- tion of the following, written to Colonel Burd, he made no attempt to reply to any of these, leaving his eause with God and posterity : " Lazarus Stewart is still threatened by the Philadelphia party ; he and his friends talk of leaving ; if they do, the Province will lose some of its best friends, and that by the faults of others, not their own ; for if any cruelty was practiced on the Indians at Con- estoga or at Laneaster, it was not by his or their hands. There is great reason to be- lieve that mueli injustiec has been done to all concerned. In the contrariness of ac- counts, we inust infer that much rests for support on the imagination or interest of the witnesses. The character of Stewart and his friends was well established. Ruffians, nor brutal, they were not; but humane, liberal and moral, nay, religious. It is evidently not the wish of the party to give Stewart a fair hearing. All he desires is to be put on trial at Lancaster, near the scenes of the hor- rible buteheries committed by the Indians at Tulpchocken, etc., where he can have the testimony of the seouts and rangers, men whose serviees can never be sufficiently re- warded. The pamphlet has been sent by my friends and enemies ; it failed to infliet a wound ; it is at least a garbled statement; it carries with it the seeds of its own dissolution. That the hatehet was used is denied, and is it not reasonable to suppose that men, aecus- tomed to the use of guns, would make use of their favorite weapons ?
"The inference is plain that the bodies of the Indians were thus mangled after death by certain persons to excite a feeling against the Paxtang boys. This faet Stewart says he can and will establish in a fair trial at Lan-
caster, York or Carlisle. At any rate we are all suffering at present by the seeret influence of a faction -- a faetion who have shown their love to the Indians by not exposing them- selves to its influence in the frontier settle- ments."
The " pamphlet " alluded to in the forego- ing was the notorious article written by Ben- jamin Franklin for political effect. He acknowledged, in a letter to Lord Kanes, that his object was a political one. As such, its tissue of falsehoods caused his defeat for member of the Assembly, a position he had held for fourteen years. Fortunately for him, the Revolution brought liim into prominence, and the past was forgotten.
This transaction was subsequently "inves- tigated " by the magistrate at Laneaster, but so condemnatory of the Indians was the evi- dence elieited that it was the Quaker policy to suppress and destroy it. Nevertheless all ef- forts to carry into effect the proclamation of the governor were really suspended, so far as his authority went, in regard to which grave complaints were made by the Assembly, who seemed to bend all their energies to prose- eute the offenders.
The names of many of those brave defend- ers of their homes have been lost to us-but the frequent statement in all our histories that the participants in that transaction came to an untimely end is false. With the ex- eeption of Lazarus Stewart, who fell on that unfortunate day at the massacre of Wyom- ing, these heroes of the frontiers lived to hearty old age, and several reached almost the hundred years of life. Their deeds were those of desperation, it is true, but their acts are to be lionored and their names revered.
The discussions which ensued may truly be said to have sown the seeds of the Revo- lution, and in a letter of Governor John Penn to his brother in England, written at this time, he thus alludes to the inhabitants of Paxtang, "their next move will be so sub- vert the government and establish one of their own."
No wonder then, when the first mutterings of the storm was heard, that the people of this entire seetion were ripe for revolution. The love of liberty was a leading trait of the people who settled in this delightful valley. The tyranny and oppression of Europe drove them to seek an asylum among the primeval forests of America. Persecution for conscience sake compelled alike the Scotcli-Irish and the German of the Palati-
32
HISTORICAL REVIEW .
nate to eome hither and rear their altars dedicated to God and Freedom to man. With them Independence was as much their dream as the realization. Their isolated position-placed on the frontiers-unpro- tected by the Provincial authorities-carly instilled into their minds those incentives to action, that when the opportune moment arrived they were in the van. Two years before the Declaration by Congress, the people had assembled at their respective places of rendezvous, and heralded forth their opinions in plain and unmistakable language, while the citizens of the large towns were fearful and hesitating.
As early as the spring of 1774 meetings were held in the different townships, the re- solves of only two of which are preserved to us. The earliest was that of an assembly of the inhabitants of Hanover, Lancaster county, held. on Saturday, June 4, 1774, Colonel Timothy Green, chairman, "to ex- press their sentiments on the present critical state of affairs." It was then and there " Unanimously resolved :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.