USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 17
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The reader will remember that at this time the Delawares were professedly on friendly terms with the Americans, and yet Brickell goes on to say:
Next day about ten Indians started back to Pittsburgh. Girty told me they went to pass themselves for friendly Indians, and to trade. Among these was the Indian who took me. In about two weeks they returned, well loaded with store goods, whisky, &c. After my return from captivity, I was informed that a company of Indians had been there trading, professing to be friendly Indians; and that being suspected, were about to be roughly handled, but some person in Pittsburgh informed them of their danger, and they put off with their goods in some haste.
Brickell was adopted into an Indian family, and when lib- erated, after Wayne's treaty in 1795, he parted from his Indian father, Whingwy Pooshies, with great reluctance, both being in tears.
It was the opinion of the majority of the frontiersmen that
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the party of Indians who, on the 9th of March, 1791, were at- tacked by Captain Sam Brady and his men at the blockhouse on the Big Beaver, where they were trading with William Wilson, were miscreants of this sort, and they approved the deed of Brady's party.I This incident, to which we have elsewhere referred, did much to add to the terror of the borderers.2 They reasonably expected that, whether the Indians were guilty or innocent, their relatives would revenge their death, and the re- sult speedily justified their expectations. Many of the best citizens, however, deprecated the conduct of Brady, and the excitement created by it was so great that much correspondence concerning it passed between the various officers of government, State and National. The conflicting views regarding the matter will appear from the following extracts from this and other cor- respondence. On March 25, 1791, Gen. Presley Neville wrote from Woodville, Allegheny County, to Governor Mifflin, as follows:
SIR: In the absence of the County Lieut. it devolves on me to inform your Excellency of our situation with Respect to the Indians, whose Intentions, generally, I fear, are inimical.
The frequent Murders they had committed during the latter part of the Winter, having greatly exasperated the People on the Frontiers A Party about the 9th Inst., (I believe Virginians,) fell on a Party of Indians near the Mouth of Beaver Creek and killed five of them; that those Indians were not hostile, appears from their having with them articles of Trade and their Squaws, but that they either had been so, or were con- nected with unfriendly Indians, appears from their having with them several articles well known to be the property of a Family who sometime before was murdered at the Mingoe Bottom.
On the 18th Inst. one man was kill'd and three Prisoners taken from about four Miles above Pittsburgh, on the Alleghany Shore, and on the 23d Inst. Thirteen Men, Women & Children (mostly the latter) were kill'd about fifteen Miles above Pittsb'gh, on the same River, (I believe
1 Major Isaac Craig to the Secretary of War: "FORT PITT, 16th March, 1791.
" SIR :- The people on the frontier are exceedingly alarmed; parties of Volunteer militia have been sent from several parts of this county and Washington, as patroles, one of which fell in with a party of friendly Indians at the block house on Beaver creek (where they had been at a store) killed three men and one woman, notwithstanding the Indians called to them in English; two of them being Moravian Indians and known to several of the patrole. "Although this action appears very much like deliberate murder, yet it is approved of, I believe, by a majority of the people on the Ohio."-(Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 546.)
* A letter from James Morrison to General Richard Butler, dated Pittsburg, March 17th, referring to this affair, says:
" This ill-timed stroke (to say no worse) has greatly alarmed the settlements opposite Beaver. . They have left their houses along the river for some distance and collected in small bodies some miles back. Should the Indians revenge this injury done them on our frontier, (which it is more than probable they will,) that thriving settlement on Racoon will break up and fly a considerable distance into the interior part of the country."-(Id., p. 546.)
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at the Mouth of Bull Creek,) which has so alarmed the Frontiers, that I fear they will break up.
The settlement on the depreciation Tract, amounting to about Forty or Fifty Families, has fled to a Man, and many on the Ohio have moved to more interior Situations. The Militia are in great want of Arms. I do not believe that more than one-sixth are provided for. Five or Six years of continued Peace had destroy'd all thoughts of Defence; and the game becoming scarce, the Arms have slipt off to Kentucky and other later Settlements, where there appeared to be more use for them.
The Corn Planter and his Party (about forty-five in number) are now ascending the Alleghany River to their Country; they left Pittsburgh four days ago. The first Murder on the Alleghany was committed in one Mile of his Camp, and he was not very distant from the other. Notwith- standing his Professions, some of his Party are greatly suspected, at least of being confederate in this Business, and Parties have been forming to pursue & cut them off. However, I hope it may not be carried into effect, it would add the Senecas to our Enemies, already too numerous for our defenceless Frontiers, & the Settlement on the French C'k would be an immediate Sacrafice.
With the Sentiments of the highest Exteem & Respect,
I' ve the honor to be, Your Excellency's Ob't humb'e Serv't PRESLEY NEVILLE.I
The threat against Cornplanter herein referred to was put into execution, so far at least that a party of militia from West- moreland County stopped a boat belonging to a contractor who was carrying provisions to Fort Franklin, and which some of Cornplanter's party were assisting to navigate, and took from the Indians the presents which they had received from Congress and the State of Pennsylvania, and exposed them to public sale.
Before he had left Pittsburg, Cornplanter, with other Seneca Indians, had written to President Washington in complaint of the murders at the Beaver blockhouse, his language being in part as follows:
FATHER: Your promise to me was, that you would keep all your peo- ple quiet, but since I came here, I find that some of my people have been killed, the good honest people who were here trading.
Father: We hope you will not suffer all the good people to be killed, but your people are killing them as fast as they can. Three men and one woman have been killed at Big Beaver creek, and they were good people, and some of the white men will testify the truth of this. When I heard the news, I found one boy had made his escape and got to the trader's house who saved his life; I now wait to see him.
I Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 548.
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Father: We have been informed that twenty-seven men came from another State and murdered these men in the Quaker State and took away nine horses and all the goods they had purchased from the trader. Our father and ruler over all mankind, now speak and tell me, did you order these men to be killed?
Father: Our words are pledged to you that we would endeavor to make peace with all warrior nations. If we cannot do it, do not blame us; you struck the innocent men first. We hope you will not blame us, as your people has first broke good rules, but as for our people, they are as friendly and as firm as ever.
Father: We must now acquaint you with the men's names who did this murder at Beaver creek. Samuel Brady, formerly a captain in your army and under your command, also Balden were the persons concerned in this murder.I
This letter was dated March 17th. On the 28th following, the Secretary of War, General Knox, wrote to Governor Mifflin, as follows:
SIR :- I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency, a representa- tion made to the President of the United States by the Cornplanter, a Seneka Chief, upon the subject of the murder of some friendly Indians on the 9th instant, who had been trading at the Block house, on Big Beaver Creek within this State. It would appear both from the representation of the Cornplanter, and the information of persons of respectable charac- ters at Pittsburgh, and its neighborhood, herein enclosed, whose names it might not be proper to make public, that the act of killing the Indians aforesaid is considered by the good Citizens of the frontiers, as an atro- cious murder and deserving of the severest punishment.
If such crimes as the murder of friendly Indians should be suffered to pass off with impunity, the endeavors of the United States to establish peace on terms of justice and humanity will be in vain; a general Indian war will be excited, in which the opinion of the enlightened and impartial part of mankind will be opposed to us; and the blood and treasures of the nation will be dissipated in the accomplishment of measures degrading to its characters. 2
This letter goes on to say that Major-General St. Clair will be instructed to inquire into the facts of the case, and if he should find them to be as represented, to call the relations of the de- ceased Indians together, and disavow and disapprove of the murder in the strongest terms, to promise them justice, and to compensate them for the loss of the horses and property of the murdered Indians, and urges the Governor to take promptly the necessary steps to bring the accused parties to trial.
1 Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 546.
2 Id., p. 549.
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The excitement continued, and on the 3Ist Colonel Wilkins wrote from Pittsburg that for an extent of fifty miles the people of the frontier had fled, abandoning their farms, their stock, and their furniture, and he adds that the conjecture of most people with respect to the Indians committing the murders referred to previously was that "they were of the same nation of some who were killed when peaceably trading about thirty miles of this place, by a party of militia from Ohio County, Virginia." I
The murders on the Alleghany, as we see from Presley Neville's letter, were supposed to have been committed by the Senecas, but, according to Major Jonathan Heart, were directly the outcome of the blockhouse affair. Writing to General Knox from Philadelphia, May 10, 1791, he says:
SIR :- With respect to the murders committed by the Indians on the Alleghaney in March last, I can assure you they were not committed by the Munsee & Senecas, as has been publickly reported. Capt. Bullit, who was said to be killed, I have myself seen since that time, he with a number of Munsee had been hunting near the Susquehannah waters during the whole winter and spring. The Seneca, called Snip Nose, who was also said to be of the party, I did not see, but not long before the massacree he was near Fort Franklin, and went to Buffaloe creek where the chiefs say he now is and that he has not been absent. The Indian supposed to be Snip Nose, was a Munsee living on Beaver waters, and known by the name of Capt. Peters, a relation to some of the Indians killed by Capt. Brady. Another of the Indians who committed the murder was known by the name of Flin, had often been with the Senecas, but he lived and hunted on Beaver waters, was also connected with the families who suffered at the Beaver Block house, and there can be no doubt but the murders were committed by the friends and relations of those families who hunted on Beaver waters, and not by the Indians on the Alleghaney, who in every particular manifest the most sincere attach- ment to the United States. 2
In the Winning of the West, Mr. Roosevelt makes a plea in extenuation of the conduct of the frontiersmen in their general treatment of the Indians, and in direct reference to this particular case he says:
The people who were out of reach of the Indian tomahawk, and especially the Federal officers, were often unduly severe in judging the borderers for their deeds of retaliation. Brickell's narrative shows that the parties of seemingly friendly Indians who came in to trade were
1 Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. vi., p. 551.
2 Id., p. 557.
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sometimes-and indeed in this year 1791 it was probable they were generally-composed of Indians who were engaged in active hostilities against the settlers, and who were always watching for a chance to murder and plunder. On March 9th, a month after the Delawares had begun their attacks, the grim backwoods captain Brady, with some of his Virginia rangers, fell on a party of them who had come to a block-house to trade, and killed four. The Indians asserted that they were friendly, and both the Federal Secretary of War and the Governor of Pennsylvania denounced the deed and threatened the offenders, but the frontiersmen stood by them. Soon afterwards a delegation of chiefs from the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois arrived at Fort Pitt, and sent a message to the President, complaining of the murder of these alleged friendly Indians. On the very day these Seneca chiefs started on their journey home another Delaware war party killed nine settlers, men, women and children, within twenty miles of Fort Pitt; which so enraged the people of the neighbor- hood that the lives of the Senecas were jeopardized. The United States authorities were particularly anxious to keep at peace with the Six Nations, and made repeated efforts to treat with them; but the Six Nations stood sullenly aloof, afraid to enter openly into the struggle, and yet reluctant to make a firm peace or cede any of their lands.I
It is true, as the same writer contends, that the task of dis- tinguishing the friendly from the hostile tribes was often a per- plexing one for the Federal officers themselves, still more so for the frontiersmen, so that it is not much to be wondered at, if, agonizing under the fearful strokes of the savages, the bor- derers sometimes "lumped all the Indians, good and bad, to- gether," and "hit out blindly to revenge the blows that fell upon them from unknown hands." But it is also to be remembered that it was not only those "who were out of reach of the Indian tomahawk" who condemned the excesses of lawless whites in seeking revenge against the savages, but, as appears in Knox's letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, many of the best citizens in the disturbed region itself were likewise in- dignant at these excesses, and believed them to be often the cause of the Indian strokes; and, as we have frequently remarked, the settlers were too prone to treat the Indians at all times, in peace or war, as mere vermin, to be crushed at every opportunity ; they believed, with many of the frontiersmen of our own day, that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," and were always ready to effect the " conversion" of a red man in the grim meaning of this creed.
1 Part V., p. 144.
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Through the spring of 1791, the Indian depredations along the border continued without abatement. May 12th, Major John Irwin, of the "Allegaheny Militia, Acting for the County Lieut.," wrote from Pittsburg to Clement Biddle, Q. M. Gen'1 Pennsylvania Militia:
We are got perfectly easy on the subject of Tomahawking & Scalping, as it happens every two or three days. It is probable I may not have the pleasure of writing you again, as I believe mine [his scalp] would be very acceptable to our Swarthy Neighbors.I
Major Irwin reported on June 3d that, while the Indians were then quiet, there had been lost from Allegheny County in the three months preceding fourteen persons killed, wounded, and taken.2 During this summer, while preparations were making for the expedition of St. Clair, the defense of the borders was provided for by the militia, from which small bodies of rangers, in addition to the most expert of the woodsmen acting as scouts, were ordered to garrison the various posts, and to patrol along the frontier. On the Ioth of August, Captain Torrence wrote to Governor Mifflin :
Since my last, General Richard Butler call'd the County Lieut's of Ohio, Washington, Allegheni, Westmoreland & Fayette to a consultation for the protection of the frontiers in the absence of the Federal Troops, which was to be drawn Off the 5th Inst. We agreed that 300 Militia Should be kept up-Sixty-five, properly Officer'd, is my Quota, which is marched from the first & Second Batalions, First class. Their Station is One Capt., One Ens'n & 45 rank and file at the block House, near the mouth of bigg Beaver Creek, and One Lieut. and 20 rank and file at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the Ohio. Should it be deemed necessary for them to continue longer for the defence of the Inhabitants, I mean to relieve them Once a month, as the burthen will then fall more equal.3
The measures thus taken seem to have afforded reasonable security, and the country meantime anxiously awaited the ad- vance of St. Clair and news of his success, when late in the fall came the tidings of his disastrous defeat, on the 4th of November, by the Miami warriors, the worst, save Braddock's, ever experi- enced in Indian warfare. The panic-struck inhabitants of Pitts- burg, anticipating immediate inroads of the bloodthirsty enemy, promptly sent to the Governor of the State a representation
1 Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 558. 2 Id., p. 562. 3 Id., p. 565.
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of the defenseless condition of their town, which was then without a garrison, and a memorial was also forwarded from the inhabitants of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, and Alle- gheny counties, requesting that vigorous measures of defense should be devised by the State and also by the Federal Govern- ment. On the 26th of December, Lieutenant Jeffers wrote from Fort Franklin to the commanding officer at Pittsburg that he had that day received from Cornplanter notice warning him "that an attack on this garrison will almost immediately take place, for the Indians from below declare that they are deter- mined to reduce this place, shake the Cornplanter by the head & sweep this river from end to end." I
In addition to the measures already ordered, it was deter- mined by the State and Federal authorities, acting jointly, to adopt an improved plan of defensive operation for the protection of the counties which were exposed to immediate danger. Ac- cording to this plan, which was embodied in an Act of Assembly, the general militia law was, in some respects, suspended to meet the emergency, particularly in the mode of raising the intended force, which was by engaging active and experienced riflemen wherever they could be obtained, instead of drafting in classes from the militia of the respective counties; in the mode of ap- pointing the officers, which was immediately by the Executive, and not upon the election of the people; in the period of service, which was for six months instead of two, and in the rate of pay, which was estimated by the price of labor, and not by the mili- tary allowance established for the troops of the Federal Govern- ment. The men engaged under the authority of this law were still considered, however, and were to act, as a select corps of militia. The force thus provided, consisting of a total of two hundred and twenty-eight men, was divided into three com- panies of seventy-six men each, who were assigned stations as follows:
Ist Company, stationed at the southwest corner of Wash- ington County, between the heads of Wheeling and Dunkard creeks, ranging thence to the Ohio.
2d Company, at the mouth of Big Beaver, ranging thence to Fort Crawford, by the heads of Pine Creek.
1 Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 569.
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3d Company .- The third company was to be stationed at Kittanning, ranging thence up and down the river.I
By reference to the sketch on page 126, drawn by David Redick, which was sent by him to Governor Mifflin to illustrate his letter quoted in a note below,2 it will be seen that this ar- rangement left the major part of what is now Beaver County south of the Ohio unprotected (that territory being then in Allegheny and Washington counties), and, as Redick's letter states, this was the favorite section for attack by the Indians. The sketch shows that, from Yellow Creek up to the mouth of the Big Beaver, a distance of about thirty-one miles, the country was open to its foes. What fruit, if any, was borne by his com- munication, we have no means of knowing.
Among the spies out along the border at this time was the indefatigable Captain Brady, and a letter of his to Col. Absalom Baird, of Washington County, is of sufficient interest to warrant its insertion here, as follows:
MOUTH OF YALLOW CREEK, March 20, 1792.
D'R COL .:- I am Glad I have it in my power to Send you a Line, and Likewise happy that I have not, as yet made aney Discovery of Indiens, altho' everey Industery Has bean made by myself and brother Spies; but Every Day Expect to have the pleashure of meeting with Some of them. We have bean about twentey miles out from the river, and in the flat Lands the Snow last thursday was at Least ten Inches deep, which,
1 Penna. Arch .. 2d ser., vol. iv., pp. 581-82.
2 David Redick to Governor Mifflin:
" WASHINGTON, 13th February, 1792.
"SIR :- What appears to me of considerable consequence, induces me to trouble your Excellency at a time when, I presume, you are sufficiently engaged. I have read your letter of information & instruction to the County Lieutenants, on the subject of protection. I find that a considerable gap is left open to the enemy on the Northwesterly part of the County, and that at a place where, in former wars, ye enemy perpetually made their ap- proach on that quarter-the Settlements on Rackoon, especially about Dilloe's fort, con- stantly experienced in former times the repeated attacks of the Savages. Capt. Smith's Company will cover Allegheny County, but will be of little Service to this, unless we con- sider the enemy as coming across the part of Allegheny County which lies on this Side the Ohio River, and that, too, in a direction by which we have seldom known them to come. In order that your Excellency may the better understand me, I have, with my pen, made a sketch of the River & Country on that side of the County. I have extended the river as far beyond the State line as to Yellow Creek, so that you may discover how narrow Ohio County in Virginia is, and how easy it will be for the enemy, by their usual rout, to come upon us-more especially as I learn the Virginian will not guard the river higher up than to Yellow Creek. I persuade myself that the Sketch will be sufficiently accurate for eluci- dation at best. I am told that many of our Riffle men decline entering into the Six month Service on this ground. Say they; 'why will we go into a Service which appears to be calculated for the protection of Allegheny county, whilst our own friends and families will continue exposed ?' I am of opinion that if the State would advance a month's pay it would greatly facilitate the recruiting Service. Money has magic power. I am told that Mr. Dan'l Hambleton declines accepting his Commission as a Lieutenant, and that Mr. Rob't Stevenson will be recommended to your Excellency to fill the vacancy. I have no doubt of his being a proper person.
"I have the honor to be, Sir. "your Excellency's most ob't serv't DAVID REDICK."
-(Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., pp. 588-89.)
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I Expect, is one reason why they have not paid us a Visit before this time.
I Start to-morrow morning, and make no doubt I Shall mak a Dis- covery Before I am maney days on the west Side the ohio. The Inhabi- tants in this Quarter have bean for these Three weeks past, Looking for and Expecting men to fill the Block-house at the mouth of yallow Creek. But this Day, to their Great mortification, they have Heard news Quite the reverce, which is, there are no men from Pennsylvania to Range
TERITORY
BEAVE
WESTERN
BIC
"About 20 Miles
About 23 Miles ...
onyx Rues
MILL CREEK
YELLOW CREEK
somest
OHIO COUNTY
STATE LINE
CHARTIERS
N
ONO
. R
Washington
Lower Down then the mouth of big Beaver. Some families who heard the news before the People at this place heard it, have already Moved of, and the rest are, tho' Contrarey to thier Former Intention, makeing ready; and it is my opinion that if Something is not Done Shortley for thier Safety, there Will be but few people, if aney, Between the mouth of Little beaver and The Cove. I thought it onely my Duty to inform you what I have done, and do declare I much Lement the Sutuation of the Inhabitants in this Quarter.
I am, D'r Sir, with Due Respekt, your H'l Servant,
SAM'L BRADY.
Col. BEARD.I
1 Penna. Arch., 2d ser., vol. iv., p. 596.
CKOON
RIVER
FT. CRAWFORD
ALLEGHENY
GHENY COUNTY
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History of Beaver County
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