History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 67

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790

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that Penn was induced, on his last visit to England, to erect such manors. But the commissioners of property, when applied to for that purpose, de- clined to erect such a manor, because it was repug- nant to the spirit of the provincial laws and the habits and ideas of the people. By his charter, Penn and his heirs became the owners, subject to the Indian titles, of all the land in Pennsylvania, except that in the possession of the Swedes, Dutch and English along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It having become evident, in the course of the first four years of the Revolutionary war, that the independence of the United States would re- sult, it was obvious that the possession and control of so much territory by the Penn family, who adhered to the English side of that contest, were incompatible with the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, the safety and stabil- ity of free institutions, the growth of the common- wealth, and the just and proper distribution of the rights, duties, and burdens of the people. Hence, the act of June 28, 1779, was passed, which provided for the payment to the proprietaries, after the close of the war, of £130,000 for their lands, except their manors, quit-rents and private estates, the last mentioned of which consisted of tracts of land other than the proprietary manors in the interior, eastern and northeastern parts of the state, aggregating nearly 89,000 acres, all of which were reserved to them, that is, all which had been "duly surveyed and returned into the land office," on or before the 4th day of July, 1776. In pursuance of that act, and particularly its 15th section, Joseph Reed, then president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, addressed to Edmund Physic, as Receiver-General under the late proprietaries, a written demand, dated February 19, 1780, for the books, certificates and other documents, instru- ments, records, writings and seals belonging to that office, which must have been complied with, as the £130,000 and interest were paid within eight years after the peace of 1783. In Richard Penn vs. Ann Penn, executrix, and John F. Mifflin, execu- tor of John Penn, deceased, 2 Yeates, 550, Chief- Justice Shippen treated that amount as having been paid to John Penn in his lifetime in money or certificates, and one-third thereof paid over to Richard Penn.

The Kittanning (Appleby) manor having been one of those thus reserved, its title was never vested in the commonwealth, and did not pass from the Penns until they conveyed it to Beates.

John Penn and William Penn, by their deed, dated November 27, 1820, the consideration therein expressed being $1, conveyed to Thomas W. Morris

* That section is in these words and in this orthography: " WEE give and grant license vnto the said William Penn, and his heires, likewise to all and every such person and persons to whom the said William Penn, or his heires, shall at any time hereafter, grant any estate of inheritance as aforesaid, to ereet any parcels of Land within the pvnee aforesaid, into mannors, by and with the licence to be first had and obteyned for that purpose vnder the hand and seal of the said William Penn, or his heires, and in every of the said mannors, to have and hold a Court Baron, with all things whatsoever, which to a Court Baron do belong ; and to have and to hold view of ffrank- pledge, for the conservacon of the peace, and the better government of those parties by themselves or their Stewarts, or by the Lords for the time being, of other mannors to be deputed when they shall he creeted, and in the same to vse all things helonging to view of ffrankpledge," &e.

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all their lands, manors, reserved tracts, tenements, rents and hereditaments in Pennsylvania, by virtue of the act of January 16, 1799, which was passed to facilitate the barring of entails.

Events of historical interest in this township oc- curred chiefly within the limits of this manor. Various aged inhabitants of this township and other parts of this county remember having seen the vestiges of a military fortification, consisting of a fosse, parapet and fort, on the left bank of the Allegheny, between Tuh-mill run and Fort run. Samuel Monroe, now of South Buffalo township, who was born on this manor and resided near those vestiges until he was twenty-four years of age, or from 1809 until 1833, has described them to the writer as they appeared to him in his youth, when, during a period of eighteen years, he saw them very often. 'A trench or fosse extended along the bottom about seventy rods easterly from the river, and thence at an obtuse angle southeasterly, twenty or thirty rods, which, he estimates from the quan- tity of earth thrown up, must have been four or five feet deep, and as many or more wide." The parapet around the fort, which was a considerable distance below the trench, must have been several feet high when it was constructed. Its shape, as he remembers it, was somewhat like, though more circular than a horseshoe, and enclosed about two acres, which is in accordance with the recollec- tion of John Christy, who, in 1833, owned and cleared a part of the land on which it had been constructed. The latter's impression is that a ditch originally four or five feet deep had once extended all around it. Monroe, on the other hand, thinks that ditch-like appearance was caused by excavating the earth used in con- structing the parapet. Robert Thompson, now of Templeton station, who plowed there soon after the land was cleared, and John Patterson, of Manor township, whose remembrance of it extends back to 1834-5, think it was not a regular trench. Ac- cording to the recollection of the latter and John Mechling, the shape of the parapet was nearly semi-circular, or nearly that of a half-moon, the distance between the extremities of its lunes, or the horns of the half-moon, being about fifty rods, along the bank of the river-that would have been the length of the diameter of the entire circle, or rather oblate spheroid, if it had been completed. Many lead bullets were found in the river bank in front of that parapet, which must have been shot from the opposite side of the river. Christy found, within the parapet, vestiges of small build-

ings, and, at the depth of four feet, arrow-heads and pieces of pottery.

A red-oak, says Monroe, which had grown up on the southern or lower lune of that parapet, indi- cated 105 annual growths when it was cut down in 1823-4, so that it must have germinated there prior to 1718-19. How much longer before then had that parapet been constructed? Mechling remembers having seen, in 1836-7, a black-oak on the upper or northern lune fully two feet, more likely two and a half feet, in diameter, which must have germinated there more than two cen- turies since. How long before then had that para- pet been constructed? And Christy remembers that there was a tree in what he thinks was the trench, that was between four and five feet in diameter.

These works evinced a higher degree of skill, intelligence and civilization than the Indians possessed. Their construction required a different kind of labor from that performed by them. There are vestiges of similar works in other parts of the Allegheny valley, on the southern shore of Lake Erie in this state, in the Ohio and Mississippi val- leys, and in Western New York. In the trench and on the parapet of those near Lake Erie are trees three feet in diameter, indicating that they were constructed two or more centuries before either the French or the English began to erect military fortifications in that region. The parapets in Western New York were earthen, from three to eight feet high, with trenches on their exterior sides. On some of the parapets, many years ago, were oak-trees whose concentric circles indicated that they were 150, 260 and 300 years old, and there were evident indications that they had sprung up since the erection of those works. Some of the trenches were deep and wide, and others shallow and narrow .*

Patterson plowed up in the vicinity of those works various relics-a hundred or more white beads, and some colored ones, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and from half an inch to two inches in length; a silver band, probably like that found by Joel Monroe, an inch wide and ten inches long, with one edge scalloped and the other straight, a hole near each end, and letters and some other inscriptions on the surface-he does not remember what they were-which his brother James traded to Samuel Quest, then a jeweler in Kittanning, for a gold finger-ring; knife blades of rather large size, the sharp edge of which was straight from heel to point, and the back was straight from the heel to within an inch of the point, where it was

* It is possible that that trench may have been dug for the pur- pose of draining the marsh near the hill, either when that fort and parapet were constructed, or at a later period.

* Gov. Clinton's address.

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arched, making that part of the blade somewhat wider than the rest, and its shape somewhat like that of a lancet. Other and longer blades with hilts and arched backs were also found. Another relic, found in that vicinity, appears to have been made from a dark-red soft stone or hard clay, whose present surface color is dark brown-below the surface, deep red. Its shape is ovate. The length of its axis is one ineh and three-eighths, and that of its transverse is two inches. A groove one-quarter of an inch wide and one-eighth of an inch deep extends lengthwise, or in the direction of its transverse axis, entirely around it. Its surface, as well as that of the groove, must have been very smooth when it received the finishing touch. The whole evinces much expertness.

Now, the question arises, when were that ancient fortification and its outworks built ? The answer cannot be found in the records of history. If they had been constructed by either the French or the English, before or during the period when this valley was disputed territory, there would probably have been some mention of them in the records of the one or the other, or of both claimants. Are they a part of the pre-historic works of the mound- builders ? Rev. Ds. Eaton, of Franklin, Pennsyl- vania, who has devoted much time and attention to these ancient people and their wonderful works, is inclined to think the Allegheny and Ohio valleys were among the prominent places in their settle- ments.

The valley of the Allegheny was, says Hecke- welder, according to the tradition cherished by the Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, inhabited by the Alli- gewi, who are represented to have been tall, athletic and superior in other respects to the other aborigi- nal nations. It is also a part of the traditional history of various Indian nations, that the Alli- gewi, as stated in Cummings' sketches, had made considerable progress in the arts, and that the re- mains of some of the fortifications which they constructed still exist. Were the fosse, parapet and fort in question a part of them ? and was it around them that one of the long and bloody battles was waged between the Alligewi, the primitive occupants of this valley, and the united forces of the Lenni-Lenape, and the Five Nations, as the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Sen- ecas were subsequently called ? Was it here that the Alligewi, centuries since, were defeated and exterminated by the superior numbers of their allied foes, as the latter swept along in their triumphant advance from beyond the Mississippi to the Dela- ware and the Hudson? According to the accounts, once common among the Lenni-Lenape, they and

their allies found the Alligewi their most valiant and powerful opponents, who bravely, and for awhile successfully, defended themselves, their homes and their native soil from the attacks of their invaders.

In a field above those fortifications, as Samuel Monroe further related, which appeared to him to have been cleared many years, various relics of an ancient battle-field were found, namely, 300 pounds of lead bullets, each weighing several ounces, some of which were wrought into a lead cannon; twenty or more open dirk-knives, with narrow blades six or seven inches long, having sharp points, whose stamps had been effaced by rust, and nothing but the back springs of their handles left ; gun-locks ; unrifled gun-barrels ; pistol barrels and butts, about the size of those of old holster horse-pistols; pecks of flint arrow-heads; numerous remnants of horse- shoes, the size of which was between that of the horse and the mule ; many pieces of brass about the shape and size of an old American cent, on both sides of which letters had been impressed, but had become illegible- on one side of each piece was the representation of a buck running at full speed, with his head up, his fore-feet thrown forward, and his hind-feet backward, and on the edge of each was something like the eye of a brass button; three brass kettles, set in one another, the largest hold- ing three or four gallons, the next, a size less, and so on ; three pieces of silver coin, each of the value of 25 cents; a silver band, found by Joel Monroe, which the latter sold or traded in Pittsburgh for a set of silver tablespoons and a set of silver tea- spoons.

The remnant of what appears to have been either a medal, or a trinket which traders, per- haps, sold to the Indians, was plowed up by A. B. Starr, in the spring of 1878, on the same tract. It may be an alloy of brass and some other metal. Its shape is circular. Its diameter is one inch and its original thickness was one-sixteenth of an inch. On its upper edge is the half part of an eye which was one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. On the obverse side is a king's bust, with this in- scription along the border : "GEORGIVS, II. D. GRATIA. R." If there were any other letters, they have been effaced by corrosion. On the reverse side is a queen's bust, with this inscription along the border : " CAROLINA-REGINA." The date, if there was one, is invisible. It must have been struck during the reign of George II, who was king of England from 1727 until 1760.

The writer has another relic, plowed up by William Hileman, on the Murphy and Craig farm, on that part of the hill portion of the Manor tract,

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between Fort Run and Tub-mill run, about 280 rods east of the Allegheny river, and about 175 rods south of the former run. It is a pipe differing in shape from that of Indian pipes. The diameter of the bowl is nearly three-fourths of an inch at its top ; the length one inch and five-eighths ; the circum- ference of the bulge on its outer surface, four and one-eighth inches ; the circumference of the neck, three inches ; the portion below the neck is cuneal, in the upper part of which is an aperture for the stem, nearly three-eighths of an inch in diameter ; the length of the pipe from the top of the bowl to the lower end; i. e., the sharp end of the wedge part, is two inches and seven-eighths; and the material appears to be a fine soft stone, or hard clay, containing considerable aluminous matter.

There were indications that there had been a burying ground on the second bench or bottom above or northerly from the trench, in which a large number of persons had been interred. Such of the bones as were exhumed were sound. Samuel Monroe found a skull in which there was a hole about the size of a bullet, just above the ear, but none in any other part.

Matthias Bowser has related to the writer that, while he was plowing on the same tract, in 1836, then owned by John Mechling, he struck the bones of a human skeleton and part of a moccasin about sixty-two rods east of the Allegheny river, and 300 rods north of Tub-mill run, or about thirty feet a little west of north from the house now occupied by A. B. Starr. About two rods southeast from that grave he opened another, sixteen feet square and two feet deep, in which was a large number of of human bones, so arranged as if the bodies had been piled one upon anotlier, when they were buried.

In the early part of this century those old forti- fications and vicinity were frequented by various persons now living, to gather plums. James E. Brown remembers of that fort being then called " the old French fort." In 1835 James W. Camp- bell, now of North Buffalo township, and his brother were returning from the mill at Nichol- son's falls, and stopped near these old works over night. George Cook, an old resident in the manor, accompanied them to the remains of the parapet, and showed them how the women and children of the surrounding country were protected there one night during the Indian troubles, 1790-5, when forced to flee thither from their homes. After the women and children had entered, the men guarded the entrance to the interior of the parapet. He said that James Claypole, John Guld and others with their families, used to flee thither in those

times for refuge. At least some of the bullets used on such occasions were made by the women while in the blockhouse, who melted their pewter plates and other dishes for that purpose.

Such being the vestiges and surroundings of and the facts connected with that ancient fosse, parapet and fort, and history being otherwise silent in relation to them, it can of course only be con- jectured when and by whom they were originally constructed, and on this question there is ground for an honest difference of opinion among anti- quaries. It is a question well calculated to stimulate research, and one, too, that affords ample scope for profitable and interesting discussion by historical and debating societies.

It is stated in Albach's Western Annals, page 716, that " a fort was built on the site of the old village of Kittanning, known also by the name of Appleby's fort, by the government, in 1776." His authority for that statement is not given. The writer has not been able to ascertain that there was ever a vestige of a fort on the site of that village. The manor does not appear to have been called Appleby until between 1805 and 1807. It seems clear, then, that Mr. Albach must have been mis- informed respecting both the name and location of that fort. It is a well-established fact, however, that troops were stationed that year at Kittanning, most likely in the vicinity of the present site of that borough, and within the limits of the manor.

A memorial was presented June 5, 1776, to the assembly of Pennsylvania from the inhabitants of Westmoreland county, setting forth that they feared an attack from Detroit and the Indian country, and that Vaun Swerengen, Esq., had raised a company of effective men at a consider- able expense, which the memorialists had contin- ned and stationed at the Kittanning, and which they prayed might be continued. Congress re- solved, July 15, that the battalion which was to garrison the posts of Presque Isle, LeBœuf and Kittanning be raised in the counties of West- moreland and Bedford, in the proportion of seven in the former to one in the latter. July 18, John Hancock, then president of congress, informed the president of the Pennsylvania convention that congress had resolved to raise a battalion in these two counties for the defense of the western part of Pennsylvania, and requested the convention to name proper persons for field officers, which was accordingly done July 20. Sometime afterward, the battalion, commanded by Col. Eneas Mackey, was stationed at the Kittanning, where it remained until about December 15, when he collected his scattered force at a suitable place of general ren-

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

dezvous, preparatory to a compliance with the direction of congress of November 23, to the board of war of Pennsylvania, to order his and Col. Cook's battalions to march with all possible expe- dition to Brunswick* (now New Brunswick), New Jersey, where, at Amboy, Elizabethtown and Fort Lee, Washington, being perplexed by Howe's movements, distributed troops, about the middle of November, "so as to be ready at those various points to check any incursions into the Jerseys." t

Philip Mechling remembers of his father, Michael Mechling, relating that when young, before his marriage, he and others hauled provisions from about Hannastown and Greenburgh to the soldiers then stationed in the manor, but whether to those under Col. Mackey's command or to others sta- tioned here afterward, he cannot state.

During 1777-8 the chief military protection to the inhabitants of Westmoreland county was afforded by the ranging companies acting under the authority of and paid by the state. Col. Lochry wrote to Thomas Wharton, then president of the supreme executive conncil, December 6, 1777 : "Not a man on our frontier, from Ligonier to the Allegheny river, except a few at Fort Hand, ou continental pay." In the same letter he mentioned that he had sent five Indian scalps, taken by one of the scouting parties which he had sent out, commanded by Col. Barr, Col. Perry, Col. Smith and Capt. Kingston, who were volunteers in the action which occurred near Kittanning. They re- captured six horses which the savages had taken from the suffering frontiersmen.

During those two years detachments of West- moreland county rangers were occasionally bere. Early in the spring of 1779, Gen. Washington con- templated the establishment of a military post at this point. In his letter to Col. Daniel Brodhead, commandant at Fort Pitt, dated at his headquarters, Middlebrook,; New Jersey, March 22, he wrote : "I have directed Col. Rawlings with his corps, consisting of three companies, to march from Fort Frederick in Maryland, where he is guarding the British prisoners, to Fort Pitt, as soon as be is relieved by a guard of militia. Upon his arrival you are to detach him with his own corps and as many as will make up 100, should bis companies be short of that number, to tuke post at Kittanning, and immediately throw up a stockude fort for the security of convoys. When this is accomplished u small garrison is to be left there, and the remain-

der are to proceed to Venango (now Franklin) and establish another post of the same kind for the same purpose. The party is to go provided with proper tools from Fort Pitt, and Col. Rawlings is to be directed to make choice of good pieces of ground, and by all means to use every precaution against a surprise at either post.

" Col. Gibson is to be ordered to hold himself ready to join you with his force when matters are ripe for execution. But he is to keep his intended removal from Tuscarora a profound secret ; and when he receives his orders to march let it be as sudden as possible. Hasten the water-craft by all means, that you may not have to wait for them when other matters are ready. Neither the In- dians nor any other persons are to know your destination until your movements point out the probable quarter. Engage at a proper season as many warriors as you can to accompany you, and at all events procure good guides, who know the way from the head of the navigation of the Allegany to the nearest Indian towns and to Niagara. After you have moved let it remain a secret, as long as possible, to which place you are going. Yon are to inform me with precision, and by a careful express, when you will be ready to begin your movement from Fort Pitt, when you can be ut Kit- tunning, when at Venango, when at the head of navigation, how far it is from thence to the nearest Indian towns, and when you can reach them. In making your estimate of the times, you are to cal- culate upon moving as light as possible, and with only a few pieces of the lightest artillery. These things it is necessary for me to know with as much accuracy as possible, that the plan of co-operation, upon which much depends, may be perfectly formed.

"I wish you to pacify and cultivate the friend- ship of the western Indians, by all the means in your power. When you are ready to move, and your probable destination can be no longer concealed, contrive ways and means to inform them that you are going to meet a large force* to fall upon and destroy the whole country of the Six Nations, and that if they do in the meantime give the least dis- turbance to the frontiers, the whole force will be turned against them ; and that we will never rest till we have cut them off from the face of the earth."

The commander-in-chief's views respecting that project underwent a change during the next month, for on April 21, 1779, he wrote again from Middlebrook to Col. Brodhead : "Since my last letter and upon further consideration of the sub-

# That under Gen. Sullivan's command.

% Col. Maekey's letter in the general sketch of this county.

+ Irving's Life of Washington.

# Now Bound Brook, on the Raritan river, in Somerset county, seven miles northwest of New Brunswick. The upper part of the village is called Middlebrook.

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MANOR TOWNSHIP.

ject I have relinquished the idea of attempting a co-operation between the troops at Fort Pitt and the bodies moving from other quarters against the Six Nations. The difficulty of providing supplies in time, a want of satisfactory information of the route and of the nature of the country up the Allegany river and between that and the Indian settlements " on the Upper Allegheny, " and conse- quently the uncertainty of being able to co-operate to advantage, and the hazard which the smaller party might run, are principal motives for declin- ing it. The danger to which the frontier would be exposed by drawing off the troops from their present position, and the incursions of the more western tribes, are additional, though less power- ful, reasons." On the 3d of May then next he again wrote to Col. Brodhead. The latter replied on the 22d : "I am honored by yours of the 3d instant and the inclosure. The strictest attention shall ever be paid to all the instructions your excellency may from time to time be pleased to give me, and I am very happy in having permis- sion to establish the posts at Kittanning and Ve- nango, and am convinced they will answer the grand purposes mentioned in your letter. The greatest difficulty will be to procure salt provisions to subsist the garrison at the different advanced posts, but I have taken every promising step to obtain them. * * I have about twenty canoes ready made of poplar, and more are mak- ing ; some will carry two tons. I have not heard a word from Col. Rawlins nor any of his officers, and fear they are not yet relieved by the militia."

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 67

Author: Smith, Robert Walter Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins Number of Pages: 790

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790