History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 123

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 123
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 123
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 123

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).

Your humble servant,

BENJAMIN CHAMBERS.

CONOCOCHEAGUE, November 2, 1755.

MR. PETERS :

This comes to bring you the melancholy news of the ruin of the Great Cove, which is reduced to ashes, and numbers of the inhabitants murdered and taken captives. On Saturday last, about three of the clock in the afternoon, I received intelligence in conjunction with Adam Hoops, and sent immediately and ap- pointed our neighbors to meet at McDowell's .* On Sunday morning I was not there six minutes till we observed, about a mile and a half distant, one Matthew Patton's house and barn in flames ; on which we sat off with about forty men, though there were at least a hundred and sixty there. Our old officers hid themselves, for aught I knew, to save their scalps, until afternoon, when danger was over. We went to Patton's with a seeming resolution and courage, but found no Indians there, on which we advanced to a rising ground, where we immediately discovered an- other house and barn on fire, belonging to Mesach James, about one mile up the creek from Thomas Bar's. We set off directly for that place, but they had gone up the creek to another plantation, left by one widow Jordan the day before; but she had un- happily gone back that morning with a young woman, daughter to one William Clark, for some milk for her children, and were both taken prisoners, but neither house nor barn hurt.

*In Franklin county.

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I have heard of no more burnt in that valley, which makes me believe they have gone off for some time, but I much fear they will return before we are prepared for them; for it was three o'clock in the afternoon before a recruit came of about sixty men. Then we held council whether to pursue up the valley all night or return to McDowell's ; the former of which I and Mr. Hoops and some others plead for, but could not obtain it without putting it to vote, which done, we were outvoted by a considerable number ; upon which I and company was left by them (that night I came home), for I will not guard a man that will not fight when called in so imminent a manner ; for there were not six of these men that would consent to go in pursuit of the Indians. I am much afraid that Juniata, Tuscarora and Sheerman's valley hath suf- fered. There are two-thirds of this valley who have already fled, leaving their plantations; and without speedy succor be granted, I am of opinion this county will be laid desolate and be without inhabitants. Last night I had a family of upwards of an hundred women and children, who fled for succor. You can form no just idea of the distress and distracted con- dition of our inhabitants unless you saw and heard their cries. I am of opinion that it is not in the pow- er of our representatives to meet in Assembly at this time. If our Assembly will give us any additional supply of arms and ammunition, the latter of which is most wanted, I would wish it were put into the hands of such persons as would go out upon scouts after the Indians, rather than for the supply of forts. I am, sir, your most obedient, very humble servant,

JOHN POTTER, Sheriff of Cumberland county.

CARLISLE, November 2, 1755.

GOVERNOR MORRIS :

Honored Sir,- At four, this afternoon, by express from Conococheague, we are informed that yesterday about one hundred Indians were seen in the Great Cove, among whom was Shingas, the Delaware king ; that immediately after discovery as many as had notice fled, and looking back upon a high hill, beheld their houses on fire, heard several guns fired, and the last shrieks of their dying neighbors. It is said the enemy divided and one part moved toward the Con- olloways. Mr. Hamilton was here with sixty men from York county when the express came, and is to march early tomorrow to the upper part of the county. We have sent our expresses everywhere and intend to collect the forces of this lower part ; expect- ing the enemy at Sheerman's valley, if not nearer at hand.

I am of the opinion that no other means than a chain of blockhouses* along or near the south side of the Kittating mountain, from Susquehanna to the temporary line, can secure the lives and properties even of the old inhabitants of this county ; the new

settlements being all fled, except those of Sheerman's valley, whom, if God do not preserve, we fear will suffer very soon.

I am your honor's disconsolate humble servant, JOHN ARMSTRONG.

CONOCOCHEAGUE, Nov. 3, 1755.

To the Hon. R. H. Morris, Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania :

Sir :- I am very sorry to trouble you with this melancholy and disagreeable news; for on Saturday an express came from Peters township that the in- habitants of the Great Cove were all murdered or taken captive, and their houses and barns all in flames - some few fled upon notice brought them by a certain Patrick Burns, a captive, who had made his escape that very morning before this sad tragedy was done. Upon information as aforesaid, John Potter and myself sent expresses through our neigh- borhood, which induced many of them to meet with us at John McDowell's mill, where I, with many others, had the unhappy prospect to see the smoke of two houses which had been set on fire by the In- dians, viz: Matthew Patton's and Mesech James' houses, where their cattle were shot down and horses standing bleeding with Indian arrows in them, but the Indians had fled.

The Revd. Mr. Steel, Esq., and several others with us to the number of about one hundred, went in quest of the Indians, with all the expedition imagin- able, but without success. These Indians have like- wise taken two women captives, belonging to said township. I very much fear Path Valley has under- gone the same fate.

George Croghan was at Aughwick, where he had a small fort and about thirty-five men ; but whether he has been molested or not, we cannot as yet say. We, to be sure, are in as bad circumstances as ever any poor Christians were ever in. For the cries of widowers, widows, fatherless and motherless chil- dren, with many others, for their relations, are enough to pierce the hardest of hearts. It is likewise a very sor- rowful spectacle to see those that escaped with their lives, have not a mouthful to eat, or bed to lie on, or clothes to cover their nakedness or keep them warm; but all they had, consumed into ashes. These deplorable circumstances cry aloud for your Honor's most wise consideration, and that your Honor would take cognizance of, and grant what shall seem most meet. How shocking it is for the husband to see the wife of his bosom have her head cut off and the chil- dren's blood drunk like water by these bloody and cruel savages; as we are informed it has been the fate of many !

While writing, I have received intelligence by some that fled from the Cove, that chiefly those in the upper part of it were killed and taken. One Galloway's son escaped after he saw his grandmother shot down and other relations taken prisoners.

From some news I have had, I am apprehensive that George Croghan is in distress; though just now

* It appears that Fort Lyttleton was one of the forts erected in accordance with this suggestion of Col. Armstrong. We find mention of it in April, 1756, when Capt. Hance Hamilton was occupying it temporarily. See infra.

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Mr. Burd, with about forty men, left my house, and we intend to join him tomorrow at Mr. McDowell's mill, with all the force we can raise, in order to see what damages have been done, and for his relief. As we have no magazines at present to supply the guards or scouts, the whole weight of their main- tenance lies chiefly upon a few persons. I pray your Honor to excuse what blunders there are by reason of haste.

I am with due regard, your Honor's most obedient and humble servant,

ADAM HOOPS.

CONOCOCHEAGUE, Nov. 6, 1755.

May it please your Honor:

I have sent enclosed two qualifications, one of which is Patrick Burns', the bearer, and a tomahawk which was found sticking in the breast of one David McClellan.

The people of Path Valley are all gathered in a small fort, and according to the last account, were safe. The Great Cove and Conolloways are all burned to ashes and about fifty persons killed or taken. Numbers of the inhabitants of this county have moved their families, some to York county, and some to Maryland.

Hance Hamilton, Esq., is now at John McDowell's mill, with upwards of two hundred men from York county, and two hundred from this county, in all about four hundred. We are informed by a Delaware Indian who lives amongst us, that on the same day the murder was committed, he saw four hundred Indians in the Cove, and we have some reason to believe they are there yet.

The people of Sheerman's Creek and Juniata have all come away and left their horses, and there are now about thirty miles of this county laid waste; I am afraid there will soon be more.

I am your Honor's most humble servant,

ADAM HOOPS.

P. S. I have just received the account of one George McSwane, who was taken captive about fourteen days ago, and has made his escape, and brought two scalps and a tomahawk with him.

OTHER ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS.

"About the same time " (with the raid in the Big Cove), says Loudon in the second volume of his " Narrative," "there was a party of Chero- kees, seventy in number, who came to the assist- ance of the people of Pennsylvania ; they went in pursuit of a party of Indians as far as the west side of Sideling Hill, when they despaired of coming up with them, and returned. There were some white men along with these Chero- kees, among whom was Hugh McSwine; this party, in their return, fell in with another party of Indians coming into the settlements to mur- der, and a skirmish ensued, but by some means McSwine was parted from his company and

pursued by these Indians ; his gun being loaded, he turned round and shot the one nearest him, and then ran on, and charging again, shot another, upon which the third gave a yell and turned back. The Cherokees after brought in four scalps and two prisoners of the enemy, one of which was a squaw who had been twelve times at war." McSwine's adventure happened as the party were returning to Conococheague, but whether in Fulton county or not there is no means of ascertaining.

In spite of the wide-spread terror caused by the massacre in the Great Cove on the 1st of November, 1755, it appears that some of the inhabitants had the hardihood to return to the settlements whence they had been driven, though the Indians were still rigorously pursuing their warfare. On January 28, 1756, more murders were committed on the Conolloways. Accord- ing to the Pennsylvania .Gazette of February 12, 1756, "they killed and scalped James Lea- ton. Catharine Stillwell and one of her chil- dren were killed and scalped, and two others carried off; one about eight, the other three years old. Her husband was at a neigh- bor's house when his wife was attacked, and from thence got into Coom's fort." Elias Still- well had seven horses and a mare carried off, one cow killed and one burnt. John Mc- Kenny's house was burnt, with all his house- hold goods and clothing, and what remained of three beeves and seven fat hogs ; he had likewise three cows killed, and three calves burnt in Samuel Eaton's barn. Samuel Hicks had eleven cattle and a valuable mare killed. Richard Malone's house and barn were burnt and two of his cattle killed, and a house was burnt that belonged to one Hicks, who had been murdered some time ago. The tracks of seven Indians and of a child, supposed to be Mr. Still- well's, with those of the horses they carried off, were seen in a cornfield, and they seemed to be going towards Aughwick."

In April, 1756, McCord's fort in the Conoco- cheague settlement was burned by the Indians, who then killed and captured twenty-seven per- sons. The inhabitants of the vicinity formed into three parties and went in pursuit of the savages. The latter escaped two of the scout- ing parties, but were overtaken by the third at Sideling hill. A sharp battle ensued and lasted

* Probably a blockhouse in the neighborhood; there was no fort on the Conolloways.

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for two hours. The whites fired twenty-four rounds, but were finally overpowered, the In- dians having been reinforced by a number of warriors under Shingas. About twenty were killed and as many wounded. The loss of the Indians was abcut the same number. ' The whites were led by Capt. Alexander Culbertson, who was killed in the engagement,* and the Indians by Capt. Jacobs.

Under the date, April 4, 1756, Capt. Hance Hamilton, leading one of the three scouting parties above mentioned, writes from Fort Lyt- tleton to Capt. Potter, asking him to send an express to Carlisle immediately to procure the services of a physician for those wounded in the Sideling Hill engagement. At that time it was erroneously supposed that Capt. Jacobs, the Delaware chieftain, was among the savages killed ; he, however, fell a few months later at the destruction of Kittanning.

In a letter from Col. John Armstrong to Col. Stanwix, dated Fort Morris, June 10, 1757, he says : " At one o'clock this morning I received an express from Fort Loudon, with intelligence of Lieut. Holliday's having set out with seventy- five men to reconnoiter the woods ; and at the deserted house of one Mcclellan, in a place called the Great cove, part of the men with the lieutenant went into the said house, while the residue were at some distance drinking water from the spring, and were unhappily surprised and surrounded by a party of Indians, said to be one hundred in number. Ten of our party got into Loudon before the express set out; their account is so imperfect that little depend- ence can be laid on it. They saw one of the soldiers fall and another was taken captive."

June 24, 1757, John Kennedy was badly wounded, and a daughter of Garret Pender- grasst killed, by the Indians at Fort Lyttleton. " In the spring of 1757, as we learn from a certificate of Gov. Denny, the savage Indians came and attacked the house of William Linn, residing on the Conolloway creek ; killed and scalped his eldest son, a man of twenty-three years of age, took another son away with them, seventeen years of age, and broke the

skull of a third son and scalped him and left him for dead, of which he afterward recovered. * * * That the enemy, Indians, repeating their attacks, the inhabitants living in those parts were obliged to desert their plantations, and leave their effects behind .* "

In 1763 the Indians, by a preconcerted move- ment, fell upon many of the frontier settlements in harvest time, and again brought death and devastation upon the suffering country. The inhabitants of the Great cove suffered less than other portions of Cumberland county on account of the magnanimity and forethought of one of its citizens. David Scott,t of the cove, gave his bond to pay and maintain a scouting party of twenty-seven men for three months. During this time the Indians who threatened the valley were repulsed, and the whites were enabled to secure their crops. September 17, 1763, a petition from the inhabitants of the Great cove and Conococheague, in the county of Cumberland, was presented to the assembly setting forth that "the petitioners, by the late depredations and ravages of the Indians committed on their neighbors, being in very imminent danger, were under the necessity of taking into pay a number of men, amounting to thirty, accustomed to hunting, inured to hard- ships, and well acquainted with the country, for the protection of themselves and families. That the said men, being a body of intrepid, resolute fellows, under the command of one who was a captive with the Indians for several years, scouted at a considerable distance, and by dis- patching runners, gave the inhabitants timely notice of any impending danger, by means whereof they have been enabled to continue on their plantations, and stand a barrier to the interior neighboring settlements. That had not this expedient been fallen upon, they must have deserted their habitations and depended upon the charities of others ; and that, although they are very sensible of, and gratefully acknowledge, the care of the legislature in granting a number of men for the protection of the frontiers, yet they find themselves under the necessity of em- ploying this body of men, inasmuch as the

* This incident is given in a compilation entitled "The His- tory and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bed- ford, Adams and Perry counties," by I. Daniel Rupp, published at Chambersburg in 1846. The work contains much valuable history, and from it we have drawn the subject matter of a con- siderable portion of this chapter .- EDITOR.

. t See History of Bedford. Pendergrass, the pioneer settler at Bedford, appears to have fled to Fort Lyttleton for shelter before Fort Bedford was built

*James Pott, in Egle's History of Pennsylvania.

t The oldest title to land in this valley, says James Pott, who has made special investigation of this subject, is believed to be a proprietary warrant granted to David Scott November 6, 1749. The land was not surveyed until 1760, though it was previously occupied. As the land west of the Kittatinny mountains was not purchased from the Indians until 1754, this warrant ante- dates the purchase five years.

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soldiers granted by the department are not ac- quainted with the country or the Indian manner of fighting. That the petitioners are poor and incapable of supporting this body of men, hav- ing already advanced greater sums than they could afford ; and unless they are assisted by the government, shall be obliged to abandon their plantations to the savages, to the ruin of them- selves and the great injury of their neighbors. For which reasons they humbly pray the house would take the premises into consideration and enable them to continue the aforesaid body of men, in such manner, and subject to such direc- tions as they shall judge most proper and ad- vantageous .*

The fortifications of Cumberland county were well filled with people who sought their shelter during the year 1763. Fort Lyttleton received many of the fugitives.

During the revolutionary period, the pio- neers of the present county of Fulton also suffered from the attacks of the murderous savages. Many particulars concerning the in- habitants of the Great cove at that time are given in a preceding chapter.

The following petition, a copy of which has been kindly furnished the writer by Hon. J. Simpson Africa, of Huntingdon, so well portrays the dangers and deprivations of the early set- tlers during the revolutionary period, that we give it entire :

May 19, 1778.

The Inhabitants of Dublin Township, to the Honourable Assembly, the Representatives of the State of Pennsyl- vania :

We, your humble petitioners, deeply impressed with a sense of the danger to which we are exposed by the Indians, beg leave in a suppliant manner to lay our case before you, praying that in your delibera- tions you may endeavor to adopt proper measures for our safety and protection. You are no doubt informed that the Savages have already begun to murder and destroy the property of the inhabitants on the fron- tiers of the State; that those who escaped their bar- barities, fearing lest they may also fall a prey into their hands, are flying to more secure parts of the country. As this is the case, what are we to expect but in a short time to lie open to all the cruelties they are now obliged to suffer ; our lives to be taken away in the most inhuman manner, our property to be wantonly destroyed, and ourselves and our families reduced to the greatest distress. These are the dan- gers to which we look forward with fear and anxiety, and these are the dangers against which we pray that you in your wisdom wª make the speediest and

most effectual provisions. Besides, should the cruel- ties of the savages extend as far as us, you must know that we are not capable of ourselves to make adequate resistance; we must flie and leave those who are now more remote from danger, exposed to all the inhu- manity which we now dread, before the danger reaches us. We will cheerfully contribute all the assistance in our power to the present sufferers; but shall be ourselves become the sufferers, many circum- stances will concur to hinder us from exerting our- selves effectually for that purpose. Farther, what will be the consequence of the savages ravaging the country and driving the inhabitants before them without any opposition ? We shall shortly be de- prived of the common support of life, nor have we any secure retreat to w'h we may flie for protection. Hence it appears that the sooner we put a stop to their progress, it will in many respects turn out to our greater advantage. We would not pretend to dictate to your wisdom, any particular plan necessary in the present exigency, but only pray in the most suppliant manner that you would seriously [regard] our situation and proceed in the speediest manner against the evils that now threaten us. Neither do we lay these considerations before you to awaken the feelings of humanity. We apprehend you are sensibly affected with the view of our distressed situa- tion, and will at all times act for the good of the people whose sentiments you are supposed to speak. We only mean to shew you that we are a part of the whole, so that the whole must be rendered more weak in proportion to the loss we or any other part may sustain. Your hearkening to the voice of our petition, and endeavouring to give us the speediest succour in your power, will increase our obligations to confess ourselves to be ever bound in duty to pray.

Signed by James Coyle, James Shields, John Shed- agars, William Marks, George Shedagars, David Walker, Thomas Hunter, Robert Ramsey, Campbell Lefever, James Neely, Thomas Burd, James McBride, John Stitt, James Wilson, Hugh Davidson, John Walker, John Ramsey, Robert Nelson, John Brison, Charles McGill, Isaac Lefever, John Moore, John Tice, Andrew Michael, Andrew Hammer, John Galloher, Nicholas Welch, James Morton, James Fleming, Samuel Morton, John Morton, Alexander McCalroy, George Wilson, John Appleby, John Wil- son, John Morrison, Patrick Fitzsimmons, William Carter, Thomas Carter, James McCee, Henry Holtz.

These petitioners resided chiefly within the territory now embraced by Dublin and Taylor townships in Fulton county, and Dublin town- ship in Huntingdon county. Their descendants, many of them, still reside in the same localities.

The great struggle having ended, a rapid in- flux of population began, and not long after the revolution, the territory between the Tuscarora and Ray's Hill mountains was comparatively well peopled by honest and industrious agri-

. Rupp's History.

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culturists. To the Scotch-Irish settlers, Ger- mans were added, and their thrifty habits tended greatly to advance the prosperity of this region. Among the early settlers there were also many immigrants from Maryland, Virginia, New Jer- sey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Nearly all of the present inhabitants of Fulton county are de- scendants of the original settlers.

FORT LYTTLETON.

Fort Lyttleton was one of a chain of forts erected by the provincial authorities, for the pro- tection of the frontiers, between the years 1752 and 1760. Fort Shirley, in Huntingdon county, Fort Lyttleton, in Fulton county, and Fort Loudon, in Franklin county, were on an almost direct line running north and south. There was another range of forts running westward, to which Fort Bedford belonged. Fort Lyttle- ton was an important point during the French and Indian war, and frequent mention is made of it in the preceding chapters.

The letter of Col. Armstrong, advising the erection of a series of fortifications, has already been given. The governor of the province sent out officers to locate and build stockades and blockhouses in December, 1755, and by the following February, several were completed and occupied. Under the date February 9, 1756, Gov. Morris says, in a letter to Gen. Shirley : "For the defense of our western frontiers, I have caused four forts to be built beyond the Kittatinny hills. The one stands on the new road opened by this province toward the Ohio, and about twenty miles from the settlements, and I have called it Fort Lyt- tleton * in honor of my friend, Sir George. This fort will not only protect the inhabitants in that part of the province, but, being upon a road that within a few miles joins Gen. Brad- dock's route, it will prevent the march of any regulars that may enter the province, and at the same time serve as an advanced post or maga- zine in case of an attempt to the westward. About twenty miles northward of Fort Lyttle- ton, at a place called Aughwick, another fort is erected, something larger than Lyttleton, which I have taken the liberty to honor with the name Fort Shirley. This stands near the great path used by the Indians and Indian traders, to and from the Ohio, and consequently the easiest way of access for the Indians into the settlements of this province. At each of these forts I have

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 123

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967