USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 4
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The most important event during Governor Thomas' term was the open rupture between Great Britain on the one side and France and Spain on the other. For many years the rivalry of these powers for supremacy in America had led to hostilities in their colonies, but before this time Pennsylvania had been practically exempt from their disastrous effects. The declaration of war between England and Spain in 1739 ( France as an ally of Spain was drawn into the contest ) made it neces- sary for Pennsylvania to adopt severe measures for both offensive and defensive operations ; and the governor promptly urged upon the assen- lily the necessity of organizing a force of militia. To this the Quakers. who held the legislative majority, would not consent, pleading in justi- fication of their refusal "their charter and their consciences." In other words, they were "conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms" them- selves, and they would not sanction the prosecution of war measures by voting an appropriation for that purpose to be used by persons other than of their sect. In this obstinate determination the Quakers were supported by certain of the German element, and between them they
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held the power: but it was chiefly the Quakers who persisted in the refusal to support the militia project.
Failing with the assembly. Thomas determined upon personal effort, and by his own exertions in the space of three months he raised the entire quota of four hundred troops for the king's service. Many of the men, however, were bond-servants, but they were strong and able- bodied. "and were willing to exchange their service and freedom dues for nominal liberty and soldier's pay." But the occasion passed without serious warfare in the colonies until five years later. when England and France began their series of wars which ended in the overthrow of the French power in America.
On the present occasion. however. it was not only the aggressions of the French that caused anxiety in the province, but the uneasy atti- tude of the Indians on the western frontier, with others nearer the eastern settled localities. For many years the natives had complained that they were not fairly treated in the purchase of their lands, and on some occasions they assumed a threatening attitude. Evidently. Penn's policy in treating with them was not fully carried out by the agents of his successors in the proprietary. Moreover, many of those who had traded among the Indians had found intoxicating liquors a potent agent in prosecuting their traffic and swaying the savage mind. and they used it all too freely notwithstanding the prohibition put upon the practice. The somewhat famous "Indian Walk" was performed in 1737. and by it the proprietors secured a large and valuable tract of land at a very moderate compensation. The use of rum on this occa- sion was not charged, but the Indians claimed to have been "cheated" in the transaction.
The present writer never has placed a high estimate on the Indian character, and, in whatever age or condition, has regarded the average
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of that race as little less than barbarians. But in justice to the aboriginal occupants of the territory it may be said that. low as the latter may have been in the scale of intelligence and humanity, and wieked as may have been many of their subsequent deeds, it cannot be claimed that their early treatment by the whites on several occasions was calculated to foster in the savage breast any other than feelings of the bitterest hos- tility. Whether much importance should attach to the treaties in which the untutored savages were pitted against the Europeans, of whatever nation, is sometimes questionable : especially when we consider the meth- ods often resorted to to induce the Indians to sign away their domain.
In relation to the "Walking Purchase." which was long delayed, one reliable writer (Shimmell) says: "The Delawares complained that the walk was not fair : that instead of by the compass across the country, it should have been up the Delaware by the nearest path, as was done by William Penn and their fathers when they tramped leisurely together for a day and a half to determine the northern limit of Markham's pur- chase of 1682. The Indians in the party also objected to the pace of the white walkers, frequently calling to the latter to walk, not to run." The walking purchase included nearly all of Northampton county, and a portion of Bucks, Carbon, Monroe, and Pike counties, in all an arca of not less than twelve hundred square miles. It is said that four days were required by the surveyor-general to walk over the same ground that Edward Marshall covered in a day and a half ; and also that Jen- nings and Yeates, who set out on the journey with him, were supposed to have died from the over-exertion of that occasion.
From this time the eastern tribes of the Delawares were restive. and were held in restraint only by the dominating Iroquois spirit of loyalty to the English. At the request of Governor Thomas, in 1742, the Iroquois compelled the Delawares to remove to the Susquehanna
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valley. This proved unfortunate. for in that remote region they were brought more easily under the French persuasions ; and when the English and French wars were begun they allied themselves to the cause of France, and spread desolation and death along the western frontier. In justice, however, to the proprietors of Pennsylvania. it may be stated that there was far less cause for complaint on the part of the Indians in this province than in a majority of the other American colonies. If the agents and commissioners of the proprietors in Pennsylvania were chargeable with fault in dealing with the natives, there was shown by the higher authorities a disposition to right the wrong. As evidence of this spirit of fairness it may be said that when it was known that undue advantage had been taken in the walking purchase and other similar transactions, reparation was made by the proper authorities. At the council at Easton in 1758. a considerable tract of land on the Ohio, Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Juniata rivers, which had been purchased in 1754, was restored to the Indians. This, however, was not done until after the peace of 1756, but had the wrong been righted carlier, "the blood of Braddock's soldiers would not have been added to the price of the land."
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CHAPTER II.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WARS TO THIE REVOLUTION. 1
Previous to the declaration of war between England and France in 1744. there were numerous ruptures of a similar character on their own side of the Atlantic, but no really serious outbreaks in their Ameri- can colonies. In March of the year mentioned, war was formally de- clared, and then was begun the final struggle for supremacy in America of those great European powers. French influence was craftily em- ployed to alienate the various tribes of the Delaware nation of Indians who inhabited the interior regions of Pennsylvania and to a certain extent their efforts met with success. On the other hand, the authorities of Pennsylvania .sought to make and maintain a permanent peace with the Indians, but with only partial success, until the chiefs and sachems of the Six Nations ( the Iroquois) were assembled in a council at Lan- caster on June 22. The conference was continued until July 4, and was attended by Governor Thomas in person, and by commissioners representing Virginia and Maryland. The Delawares. also, were present, but under the restraining power of the Six Nations they were kept silent. Far better would it have been if the government of the province had recognized the Delawares in some manner. and placated them, listened to their recital of grievance, and by some substantial token had given them good assurance of friendship. But it was with the mighty Iroquois confederacy that the white men did treat directly. True. they were the dominant Indian power in America at that time, and held the Delaware Indians in perfect subjection, but in the latter was a hidden
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volcanic force, waiting only an opportunity to break forth and spread desolation all through the frontier settlements.
At the council all matters in dispute between the Iroquois and the provincial officials, growing out of land treaties and other dealings, were satisfactorily settled. and the Indians promised to guard the north- ern frontier and prevent an invasion of Pennsylvania territory by the French and their Indian allies: but the Iroquois did not engage to pre- vent an uprising of the Delawares against the English; they had no suspicion that such action was possible, but almost at that very time emissaries of the French were at work among the Delawares, sowing the seed of dissension, magnifying the wrongs alleged to have been put upon them by the whites, and promising them the most desirable hunt- ing and fishing grounds in all the territory when the dominion of France should be established in America.
For an aggressive campaign against the French stronghokl at Cape Breton, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts attempted to unite the forces of all the colonies, but the assembly of Pennsylvania at first declined to furnish its quota of men, on the alleged ground that it had not been consulted, but in reality because the Quaker majority was opposed to war; but when the plan was approved by the British ministry, directions were sent to the provincial authorities to furnish the necessary men and provisions for the expedition. Then the assembly voted the sum of £4,000 for the purchase of bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat, or other grains. The "other grains" in fact meant grains of gunpowder. The majority in the assembly would not openly consent to the purchase of munitions of war, nor the organization of an armed force. but did evade their scruples by authorizing the purchase of "other grains."
In 1745 an attempt was made to enlist the services of the Iroquois on the side of the English, but without much success, except with the
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Mohawks, who were under the influence of Colonel William Johnson. The Shawnees on the Ohio were allied to the French, and showed open hostility to the English. In 1746 it was determined to attempt the con- quest of Canada, and, at the solicitation of Governor Thomas, the as- sembly voted £5,000, but would furnish no men by direct provision. This was done, however, by the governor, and four companies of one hundred men each were sent at once to Albany. The Canada campaign was abandoned, but the men were held on the frontier nearly eighteen months.
In 17-18 the war was closed by the ineffectual and useless treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. During the eight years of nominal peace that fol- lowed, both the French and the English made every effort to extend their frontier possessions and influence, the former with the greater suc- cess. In addition to their already established forts at Niagara and De- troit, they added Presque Isle ( Erie), Venango, at An Boeuf, at the month of French creek, and finally built Fort Duquesne on the site of Pittsburg, with the evident design to establish a line of fortifications from the lakes to the Ohio, and thence to the Mississippi. Frequent de- tachments of French troops and their Indian allies passed through along this line from Niagara to Presque Isle, and thence to Venango and Duquesne. Dark-gowned Jesuits hastened to and fro, everywhere re- ceiving the respect of the red men, and using all their art to magnify the power of Rome and France.
While these events were taking place, a change had come in the civil affairs of the province. On May 5. 1747. the governor informed the assembly of the death of John Penn, one of the proprietors, and of his own determination to resign his office on account of ill health. The executive duties then devolved upon the council, of which Anthony Palmer was president. until the arrival of James Hamilton (son of
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Andrew Hamilton), whose commission as lieutenant-governor was dated November 23. 1748. Hamilton held office until October. 1754. a period of almost six years, and an era in which peace and plenty pre- vailed on every hand. It was the calm, however, which precedes a storm, and at its end the French and English struggle for the mastery was begun in earnest.
The purchase of 1749 had added a considerable tract to the avail- able lands of the province, yet far beyond its boundaries the frontier settlements were already established. "The progress of white popula- tion." says Gordon. "towards the west continued to alarm and irritate the Indians. The new settlers, impatient of the delays of the land office. or unable or unwilling to pay for their lands, or in search of richer soils. sought homes in districts to which the Indian title had not been extin- guished. Especially was this the case with the Scotch-Irish, who seated themselves on the west of the Susquehanna, on the Juniata and its trib- utaries. in the Tuscarora valley, in the Great and Little coves formed by the Kittatinny and Tuscarora hills, and at the Big and Little Con- nolloways. Some of these settlements were begun before 1740, and in- creased rapidly despite the complaints of the Indians, the laws of the province, or the proclamations of the government." (Egle.)
It was not alone the advance of the Scotch-Irish into territory of the Indians that disturbed the provincial government. About the same time a considerable colony of New Englanders, claiming under the char- ter of Connecticut, were invading the northern borders of Pennsylvania. and came prepared to defend their possessions against the claims of the Penn charter, asserting that the territory of Connecticut extended westward from Narragansett Bay to the Pacific ocean. In 1753 an association, called the Susquehanna Company, was formed for the pur- pose of founding a settlement in the Susquehanna valley above the Blue
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mountains, and at a council with the Six Nations held in Albany, these pretenders purchased a large tract of land from the Indians. But the known hostility of the Shawnees, the unfriendliness of the Delawares and the uncertainty as to the attitude of the Six Nations in the impend- ing war, was sufficient reason for delay in protesting against the action of the Yankee claimants.
In June. 1754. a convention of delegates from all the colonial as- semblies was held at Albany, the principal object of which was to secure a continued alliance with all the Six Nations. Governor Delancey, of New York, presided, and made a speech to the Indians who were present. Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania. was unable to be present, but he commissioned John Penn and Richard Peters, of the council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, of the assembly, to represent that prov- ince at the conference. These commissioners carried with them £500 as a provincial present to the Indians. At the suggestion of Massa- chusetts delegates, a proposition for the union of the colonies was taken into consideration, and a committee of one from each colony was ap- pointed to prepare plans for this purpose, the fertile mind of Benjamin Franklin having already suggested that which was finally adopted. It was the forerunner of our federal constitution; but the assemblies re- jected it on the ground that it encroached on their liberties, while the crown rejected it, claiming that it curtailed the royal prerogative and granted too much power to the people.
A crisis was now at hand. While England and France were nominally at peace, the American frontier was constantly harassed by hordes of Indians let loose by the French, and the colonies continued their appeals to the ministry. While the latter was hesitating. the Duke of Cumberland, early in 1755, sent over General Edward Braddock with a detachment from the army in Ireland. Braddock met the colonial
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governors at Alexandria, and adopted measures for the protection of the colonies. Four expeditions were planned. First, the reduction of Nova Scotia: second, the recovery of the Ohio valley; third, the ex- pulsion of the French from Fort Niagara: and fourth, the capture of Crown Point. The first of these expeditions was entirely successful ; the second, under command of Braddock, himself, was disastrous in the extreme. lle neglected Washington's advice to send out scouts, and when within a few miles of Fort Duquesne his ariny was surprised by the concealed enemy and was only saved from annihilation by Wash- ington, who, upon the fall of Braddock, assumed command and con- ducted the retreat. The expedition against Niagara was also unsuc- cessful, many of Shirley's men leaving him after learning of Braddock's defeat. The army gathered for the attack upon Crown Point was only partially successful. On the whole, the entire campaign of the year was disastrous to the English.
The action of Pennsylvania in the contest thus far progressed was in every way honorable and commendable. The element that chiefly dominated its political course was now beginning to lose something of its influence and strength. New forces and new elements were about to evolve from the masses of provincial population, and the material for leadership and safe control of affairs-civil. political and military- was scattered in abundance throughout the region. The seat of pro- vincial operations was at Philadelphia, then and for many years after- ward the largest and most wealthy municipality in America. When it became known that Pennsylvania was in full sympathy with the cause for which the colonies were contending, and that the influences which dominated its policy were waning, the whole country naturally turned in the direction of the great city for advice and leadership in the struggle
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which ultimately was to result in absolute freedom for America, and the establishment of an independent republic.
The convention of the colonies at Albany in the summer of 1754 was an auspicious occasion in the history of Pennsylvania. Mutual pledges of support were given, and the delegates from other colonies were assured beyond question that this province could be depended upon in the emergency of war. John Penn and Richard Peters could speak for the executive, while Franklin and Norris were the representatives of the legislative branch of the provincial government. At this time. however. Quaker influence was still the dominating power in the legis- lature, and to an extent swayed the action of the executive; but now an emergency was at hand. It was not a question whether the Quakers should retain control of the government, but whether Pennsylvania ter- ritory should be overrun by a horde of murderous Indians and French soldiery. The proprietary itself. notwithstanding Quaker leanings. favored aggressive and defensive warfare. The great masses of the inhabitants were anxious for an opportunity to take up arms. The 111- prejudiced men of wealth, the business men, and those engaged in com- mercial pursuits, were willing to contribute time and means for the prose- cution of the war; but the dominant influence in the assembly was stub- bornly inclined to shieldl itself behind its "conscientious scruples" and turn away from the demands of the people and the best interests of the province. This spirit was persisted in until the Penns required that the Quakers yield the legislative majority into other hands.
Hamilton retained the lieutenant-governorship until October, 1754. when he resigned. He had been an efficient officer in times of peace. and when the war came he joined with the element that favored vigorous measures for the support of the colonies; but advise as he would, he could neither control the assembly nor influence its action. When in
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this year a body of Virginia troops had been driven from Pennsylvania territory and their place occupied by the French, Hamilton strongly urged the assembly to organize a militia in aid of Governor Dinwiddie in the expulsion of the enemy from the region, but the assembly ques- tioned the invasion, evaded the governor's requests, and adjourned its sitting rather than take the necessary action.
Virginia then undertook the work alone. and sent Colonel Fry and Lieutenant-Colonel Washington with a force of three hundred men to dislodge the French. They met a strong detachment of the enemy. who had been sent out to intercept their advance, near the Great Mead- ows, and defeated them, but the victory was won at the cost of Fry's life. Washington then took command, built Fort Necessity, and with his force, now strengthened by two companies of regulars, marched forward to attack the French in Fort Duquesne, which had recently been built. Washington himself, opposed with a stronger force than his own. consequently fell back to Fort Necessity and proceedled to strengthen it. Before this was done, however, he was attacked by the French and after a short, hard battle was compelled to surrender. When the news of the defeat reached Hamilton, he convened the assembly in special session on August 6, and again asked for the establishment of an armed force for the protection of the province, but the assembly again declined to act.
In October. Hamilton was succeeded by Robert Hunter Morris, eldest son of Lewis Morris, chief justice of New York and New Jersey. Morris, on assuming the duties of his office, met a new assembly, to which he communicated the crown's order that that body act in con- cert with the other colonies in repelling the advancing columns of the French. Acting on the royal suggestion, the assembly did prepare a bill for the issue of £40,000 currency, one-half of which was for "the
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king's use," but no provision was made for the organization of a militia force. The bill, however, was so unsatisfactory in some of its provi- sions that the governor could not sanction it unless modified, but his propositions were rejected and nothing was gained.
About this time the British government determined to take an active part in the operations against the French in America, and give the colonies more earnest support. To this end two regiments of troops from the army in Ireland were sent over and all the colonies were called upon to raise men and means for vigorous operations. Pennsylvania was required to collect three thousand men for enlistment "to be placed at the disposal of a commander-in-chief of rank and capacity"; "to sup- ply the Irish troops with provisions, and to furnish all the necessaries for the soldiers landed or raised within the province; to provide the officers with the means of traveling, for impressing carriages, and quar- tering troops. And as there were 'local matters, arising entirely within her government, his majesty expected the charges thereof to be borne by his subjects within the province, whilst articles of more general con- cern would he charged upon a common fund to be raised from all the colonies of North America.' "
This expression of his majesty was a direct intimation that the expenses of the French and English war were ultimately to be charged upon the American colonies, but little attention was given the matter at that time. The requirement for the occasion was sufficient to aronse a bitter feeling between the lieutenant-governor and the assembly, and in this case the refusal of the executive to lay before that body the royal instructions placed the fault at his door, rather than with the legis- lature. There was an evident lack of faith between the assembly and the executive, and the breach was widened by the refusal of the latter to comply with a just demand upon him. The assembly purported to.
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and in fact did, represent the people and interests of the province, while the lieutenant-governor was merely an instrument in the hands of the proprietors to carry out their own desires and the wishes of the crown.
Having been refused the privilege to examine the crown's direc- tions to the governor, the assembly asked for proprietary instructions, but Morris denied the right to do this, and gave that body no satisfac- tion whatever. Still, as evidence that the assembly was disposed to obey the royal orders "in all things not forbidden by their consciences." that body resolved to borrow, on the credit of the house, the sum of £5,000 to be used in the purchase of provisions for the king's troops on their arrival; but no provision was made for the organization of a militia force. The assembly was still "conscientiously scrupulous" on that point, and adhered to the principle with remarkable if not com- mendable persistence. These were some of the conditions which pre- vailed in Pennsylvania at the outbreak of the war, and they account in a measure for the seeming neglect on the part of the province to furnish men and means and give proper defense to its territory during the early years of the struggle.
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