History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 20

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 20
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 20
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 20

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).

On the 25th of July the United States mail, near Greensburg, on the road from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, was stopped by two armed men, who cut open the pouch and abstracted all the letters except those contained in one package. The leaders of the insurgents - notably Col. John Canon, David Bradford and Benjamin Parkison - having thus possessed themselves of "certain secrets," as revealed in the stolen letters, addressed a circular to the militia officers of the western counties, calling upon them to render personal service, "with as many volun- teers as you can raise, to rendezvous at your usual place of meeting on Wednesday next, and thence you will march to the usual place of rendezvous at Braddock's Field on the Monon- gahela, on Friday, the first day of August next, to be there at two o'clock in the afternoon, with arms and accouterments in good order. If any volunteers shall want arms and ammunition, bring them forward, and they shall be supplied as well as possible. Here, sir, is an expedition proposed in which you will have an opportunity of displaying your military talents, and of ren- dering service to your country. Four days' provisions will be wanted ; let the men be thus supplied."

Many of the militia officers obeyed the direc- tions contained in the circular, and marched their men to the appointed rendezvous. With reference to the readiness displayed by officers and soldiers to obey these orders, emanating as they did from no responsible authority, Judge Addison said that in consequence of the danger of Indian incursions having often rendered it necessary in this region to assemble the military force without waiting for orders from the gov- ernment, "it had become habitual with the militia of these counties to assemble at the call of their officers, without inquiring into the au- thority or object of the call." This habit, well known to the contrivers of the rendezvous at Braddock's Field, rendered the execution of their plan an easy matter.

At Braddock's Field, therefore, on the ap- pointed day, there gathered a vast and wildly excited assemblage, of which a large proportion was composed of militiamen and volunteers under arms. Among the great throng of per- sons there assembled, very few were favorable to the government and to the execution of the law. Such as were, however, had come to the rendezvous lest their absence might be made a

* Secretary Hamilton.

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canse for proscription. There were also present some who went there merely as spectators, with- out any strong feeling on either side; but by far the greater portion were in full sympathy with the insurgent cause, though probably few of them had any very definite idea of the object of the meeting other than to denounce excise- officers and the government, and to shout in wild accord huzzahs for " Tom the Tinker."

The place of rendezvous being but a few miles from Pittsburgh, the people of that place were generally alarmed lest those assembled at Brad- dock's Field should, at the instigation of their leaders, march on the town and destroy it, in a spirit of revenge against a number of officers and friends of the government who lived there. To ward off the anticipated danger a meeting of the inhabitants of the town had been held on the evening before the day of the gathering at the rendezvous, at which "a great majority - almost the whole of the inhabitants of the town - assembled." Among the resolutions adopted was one that a committee of twenty-one be ap- pointed to expel and drive out of the town those most objectionable to the insurgents, and it was also resolved, " That the inhabitants of the town shall march out and join the people at Brad- dock's Field, as brethren, to carry into effect with them any measures that may seem advis- able for the common cause."

The committee appointed at this meeting reported to the leaders at Braddock's Field the resolutions which had been adopted, and that in pursuance of those resolutions some of the men most prominent as friends of the govern- ment, viz .: Edward Day, James Brison, Abra- ham Kirkpatrick and Col. Presley Neville, had been driven from the town and had fled down the Ohio. All this had been done in deference to the demands of "Tom the Tinker," and the committee's announcement was made to the assemblage in the hope of dissuading the lead- ers from moving the forces into the town ; but it failed to have the desired effect, though it probably curbed their excesses to a great ex- tent.

It was Col. David Bradford, of Washington county, who, at the meeting at Braddock's Field, proposed that the assembled insurgents should march to Pittsburgh and attack the garrison of United States troops stationed there. But this proposition, though warmly entertained by the most violent, was voted down. Bradford

then insisted that the militia and volunteers should be marched to the town, and in this he was seconded by Hon. Hugh H. Brackenridge, who, despairing of success in opposition to the project, conceived the idea of guiding and controlling the lawless movement by apparent acquiescence. "Yes, " said Brackenridge, " by all means let us go, if for no other reason than to give a proof to our opponents that we are capable of maintaining the strictest order, and of refraining from all excesses. Let us march through the town, muster on the banks of the Monongahela, take a little whisky with the people, and then move the troops across the river." This plan was adopted, and under the lead of David Bradford and Edward Cook act- ing as generals, and Col. Gabriel Blakeney as officer of the day, the entire body moved over the Monongahela road to Pittsburgh. On their arrival there, they were received as the guests of the town, or rather as the guests of the prin- cipal citizens, who by a little stratagem, after treating them freely to liquor, succeeded in in- ducing the main body to cross the Monongahela without doing any damage. On reaching the south side of the river, however, they set fire to the buildings of Maj. Kirkpatrick, on the bluff opposite Pittsburgh and succeeded in destroy- ing his barn at that place, though the dwelling was saved. Meanwhile a part of the men not included in the main body which had been en- ticed across the Monongahela had become riotous in Pittsburgh, and set fire to the town residence of Maj. Kirkpatrick. It had been their intention to destroy his house, as well as those of Neville, Gibson and others, but this design was frustrated by the interference of some of their leaders. Had they succeeded in firing the few houses referred to, without doubt the major portion of the town would have been laid in ashes.

To the state and national authorities an ac- count of the turbulent proceedings at Brad- dock's Field and Pittsburgh was forwarded without delay, and on the 7th of August Presi- dent Washington issued a proclamation, recit- ing in its preamble that " combinations to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States, and upon stills, have from the time of the com- mencement of those laws existed in some of the western parts of Pennsylvania, . . that many persons in the said western parts of Penn-

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

sylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States." He then commanded " all persons being insurgents, as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern," to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before the 1st of September following ; also, warning all persons "against aiding, abetting or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts, and requiring all officers and other citizens, according to their respective du- ties and the laws of the land, to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such danger- ous proceedings."

At the same time the president called for troops to be raised and equipped in the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, to be held in readiness to march at shortest notice, for the purpose of suppressing the insurrection and enforcing the law. The quotas required of these states were as follows :

Infantry. Cavalry. Artillery. Total.

Pennsylvania

4,500

500

200

5,200

New Jersey

1,500

500

100

2,100

Maryland

2,000

200

150

2,350

Virginia

3,000

300

3,300

11,000

1,500

450

12,950

On the same day Gov. Mifflin, of Pennsyl- vania, issued his proclamation directing that the state's quota of men be armed and equipped as speedily as possible, "and to be held in readi- ness to march at a moment's warning," and a second proclamation was issued by him, calling together the assembly of the state in special session.

Again directing our attention to the doings of the insurgents, it seems that the events of the first two days of August, 1794, at Braddock's Field and Pittsburgh, and of the two or three succeeding weeks marked the culmination of the popular frenzy on the subject of the excise law, and from July 15 to the latter part of August was the period of the greatest excitement that exhibited itself during the insurrection. During that time great numbers of " liberty-poles " were erected by the active insurgents and those in sympathy with them in many parts of the region west of the Alleghenies, and even east * of that

* We say "even east of that range," an assertion proved true by the records of Bedford county, which show that during the November sessions in 1794, before James Riddle, Esq., president judge, and George Woods and Hugh Barclay, Esqs., his associ- ates, the following named residents of Bedford county were bound in sums varying from £30 to £300 each, to appear at the Bedford county court of general quarter sessions, January term, 1795, " to answer to such bills of Indictments as shall be then and there preferred against them for Riot and other Treasonable pro-

range. Upon these were hoisted flags bearing such inscriptions as " Death to Traitors," "Liberty and No Excise," " Equal Taxation and No Excise," "No Asylum for Traitors and Cowards." But very few persons were found hardy enough to refuse assistance in the erection of these poles, for to do so was to be branded as an enemy to the cause, and a fit subject for the vengeance of "Tom the Tinker." Some of these poles were cut down, immediately after their erection, by brave, determined men, and in one or two instances by women, who defied the insurrectionists, while others stood, bearing their threatening flags and inscriptions, until the tide of insurrection began to turn before the menace of military force, and then those who had raised them were glad enough to see them fall, and to deny, if they could, all agency in their erection.

Meantime the leaders of the insurgents had determined to hold a mass-meeting at Parki- son's Ferry (now Monongahela City) "to take into consideration the situation of the western country," and from the muster-place at Brad- dock's Field, about August 1st, Col. David Bradford, the insurgent " major-general," issued the following circular :

To the Inhabitants of Monongahela, Virginia.

GENTLEMEN: I presume you have heard of the spirited opposition given to the excise law in this State. Matters have been so brought to pass here that all are under the necessity of bringing their ceedings in assisting and abetting the setting up a seditious Pole in opposition to the Laws of the United States," namely : Simon Kenton, John Mctiaughey, John Linn, George Sill, Baltzer Hess, John Cochran, William Todd, Ludwick Samuels, Thomas Smith, Peter Morgart, William Wilson, of Hopewell; Isaac Bonnett, Martin Fritz, Michael James Doyle, William Wilson, of Bedford ; Joseph Scullknot, Hill Wilson, Nicholas Wilson, Jacob Reichard, Conrad Haverstock, Neal McMullin. Michael Barndollar, Joseph Lilly, Thomas Moore, Barnabas Blue, Henry Reickard, Andrew Sheets, John Paxton, Sr., Adam Ritchey, Joseph Sparks, John Kenton, John Foster, Jacob Chamberlain, John Mackey, Henry Beeckley, George Bastion, Frederick Hill, John Britz, John Uta- ler. Peter Vorces, Jacob Earnest, George Croyle, George Bowser, James Smith, Michael Iron, John McClimans, Jacob Nagle, Robert Moore, David Ford, Simon Ford, William Kagy, Jacob Way, Michael Samuel, John Wisegarver, Jacob Helm, William McCauley, John Sill, George Cardue, Philip Wolfe, John Morti- more, James Mortimore, Jr., Peter Countz, Peter Countz, Jr., Con- rad Hartzel, Daniel McCarty, Samuel Countz, Adam Davebaugh, Jacob Davebaugh, William Nickerson, John Peck, George Wili' iams, Thomas Blair, William Paxton, Martin Utsler, John Hartzel, Adam Bowers, Doct. John Kimmel, George Swarts, Michael Kuntz, Nicholas Cover, Jacob Hell, Daniel Lindle Smith, Jacob Holl, John Miller, Abraham Cable, Jr., Daniel Bowers, Adam Stahl, Jacob Cuffman, Joseph Dugle, James Smith, Peter Bower, George Wymer, Benjamin Brown, Manuel Browler, George Switcher, John Hemminger, George Ankeny, Jacob Cysor, Jacob Huff, John Armstrong, Abraham Miller, George Tedrow, Michael Mourer, John Seel, James Conner, John Killpatrick, Jonathan Woodsides, Daniel McCarty, John Martin, William Pinkerton, John Miller, Jr., Peter Augustine, Henry Everly, Henry Foust, Adam Hoil, Jonathan Pollard, Robert Culbertson, Nathaniel Chaney, Michael Blue, Benjamin Lupton, Francis Reynolds, Samuel Chance and George Bewer.

These men all appeared at the January sessions, 1795, and plead guilty to the charges against them, whereupon they were sentenced to pay fines ranging from five shillings to £15 each. Those paying more largely than the majority were William Wil- son, Simon Kenton, George Sill, Joseph Scullknot, Conrad Haver- stock, Andrew Sheets, John Britz, Jacob Heim and Baltzer Hess.

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minds to a final conclusion. This has been the ques- tion amongst us some days : "Shall we disapprove of he conduct of those engaged against Neville, thet excise-officer, or approve ?" or, in other words, "Shall we suffer them to fall a sacrifice to Federal persecu- tion, or shall we support them ?" On the result of this business we have fully deliberated, and have de- termined, with head, heart, hand and voice, that we will support the opposition to the excise law. The crisis is now come, submission or opposition : we are determined in the opposition. We are determined in future to act agreeably to system ; to form arrange- ments guided by reason, prudence, fortitude and spirited conduct. We have proposed a general meet- ing of the four counties of Pennsylvania, and have invited our brethren in the neighboring counties in Virginia to come forward and join us in council and deliberation in this important crisis, and conclude upon measures interesting to the western counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia. A notification of this kind may be seen in the Pittsburgh paper. Parki- son's Ferry is the place proposed as the most central, and the 14th of August the time. We solicit yon by all the ties that an union of interests can suggest to come forward and join us in our deliberations. The cause is common to us all. We invite you to come, even should you differ with us in opinion. We wish you to hear our reasons influencing our conduct.

According to appointment, the meeting was opened at Parkison's Ferry on the 14th of August. Two hundred and twenty-six delegates were present from townships in Fayette, West- moreland, Allegheny, Washington, and that part of Bedford (now Somerset county) lying west of the Allegheny mountains, with a few from Ohio county, Virginia. The proclamations of the president and of Gov. Mifflin, before alluded to, had not been received, neither had the commissioners* for the state nor those for the United States yet made their appearance, but intelligence came during the progress of the meeting, that the two delegations were on their way from Philadelphia, and that two of the United States commissioners had just arrived at Greensburg.

At Parkison's the first ceremony performed was the erecting of a tall " liberty-pole " on the

hill or bluff in rear of the present Episcopal church, and the hoisting upon it of a flag bear- ing a legend similar in phrase to those already quoted. Soon afterward the meeting was organized by choosing Col. Edward Cook and Hon. Albert Gallatin, respectively, as chairman and secretary. It soon became apparent that a reaction had commenced, and that the tide of opinion had, with a number of the leaders, be- gun to set against the adoption of violent meas- ures. It was claimed for some of those who at this meeting developed a strong opposition to the plans of Bradford and other extremists, that their course was prompted by the same desire which had at first induced them to range them- selves among the disaffected - that of appear- ing to assume leadership for the purpose of restraining the lawless clement and diverting its energies from the track leading to open violence and rebellion. There is but little reason to doubt, however, that their action at this time was in no small degree due to their then recent realization of the fact that the general govern- ment had resolved to put down lawlessness at whatever cost ; that it would exert all its powers, if necessary, to enforce obedience, and that as against that power the cause of the insurrce- tionists was lost, hopeless.

Various extreme resolutions were introduced by Col. James Marshall, and supported by Bradford, the latter delivering a vehement and very intemperate speech, but, being opposed by Gallatin, Brackenridge, Judge Edgar and others, declarations of a conservative order were finally adopted, the closing resolutions stating, " That a committee, to consist of three members from each county, be appointed to meet any commissioners that have been, or may be, appointed by the government, and report the result of this conference to the standing commit- tee." The standing committee (consisting of sixty persons) met, and appointed the committee to meet the commissioners of the United States and of the State of Pennsylvania, as provided by the final resolution. This committee of con- ference was composed of the following persons : Albert Gallatin, Edward Cook and James Lang, for Fayette county ; John Kirkpatrick, George Smith and John Powers, for Westmoreland county ; Ilugh H. Brackenridge, Thomas More- ton and John B. C. Lucas, for Allegheny county; David Bradford, James Marshall and James Edgar, for Washington county ; Harmon Hus-

. On the 6th of August the governor had appointed Chief- Justice Mckean and Gen. William Irvine, to proceed immedi- ately to the disaffected counties, to ascertain the facts in reference to the recent acts of violence and lawless gatherings, and, if possible, to induce the people to submit to the law. And on the day following the issuance of his proclamation the president appointed James Ross, United States senator, Jasper Yeates, associate judge supreme court of Pennsylvania, and William Bradford, attorney-general of the United States, commissioners on the part of the general government, with full instructions and ample powers, to repair to the western counties, for the purpose of conferring, at their discretion, with individuals or bodies of men. "in order to quiet and extinguish the insurrec- tion."

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

band," for Bedford county, and William Suther- land, for Ohio county, Virginia.

During the last half of August and the early part of September, 1794, several meetings took place between the committee of conference, on the part of the insurgents, and the commission- ers for the state and the United States. It soon became manifest that (with the exception of Bradford and a few others of less prominence) the leaders had fully made up their minds to abandon the wreck of the insurrection, but the followers were apparently as violent and deter- mined as ever, and so strong an influence did this exert, even on the leaders, that the latter dared not openly and fully avow their sentiments and thus place themselves on record. The stand- ing " committee of sixty," too, showed a dis- position to temporize. Township and district elections were ordered held in the counties of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, Alle- gheny, and that part of Bedford lying west of the Allegheny mountains, in Pennsylvania, and in Ohio county, Virginia, and the people were required to vote yeu or nay on the question : " Do you now engage to submit to the laws of the United States, and that you will not here- after, directly or indirectly, oppose the execu- tion of the acts for raising the revenue upon distilled spirits and stills ? And do you also undertake to support, as far as the laws require, the civil authority in affording the protection due to all officers and other citizens ?" A major- ity of the legal voters failed to show themselves at the polls, however, and at last, about the middle of September, the United States com- missioners, in reporting to the president the results of their mission, concluded by saying that although they firmly believed that a consid- erable majority of the inhabitants of the dis- affected districts were disposed to submit to the execution of the laws, "at the same time they [the commissioners] conceive it their duty ex- plicitly to declare their opinion that such is the state of things that there is no probability that the act for raising a revenue on distilled spirits and stills can at present be enforced by the

usual course of civil authority, and that some more competent force is necessary to cause the laws to be duly executed, and to insure to the officers and well-disposed citizens that protec- tion which it is the duty of government to afford. The opinion is founded on the facts al- ready stated [the accounts of the unsatisfactory result of the township and district elections], and it is confirmed by that which is entertained by many intelligent and influential persons, offi- cers of justice and others, resident in the west- ern counties, who have lately informed one of the commissioners that whatever assurances might be given it was, in their judgment, abso- lutely necessary that the civil authority should be aided by a military force in order to secure a due execution of the laws."

Upon receiving the commissioners' report President Washington at once decided to use the military power, and to extinguish, in a sum- mary manner, the last vestige of insurrection at whatever cost. In taking this course he had (as he afterward expressed himself to a commit- tee from the districts in rebellion) two great objects in view : first, to show, not only to the inhabitants of the western country, but to the entire Union and to foreign nations, that a re- publican government could and would exert its physical power to enforce the execution of the laws where opposed, and also that American citizens were ready to make every sacrifice and encounter every difficulty and danger for the sake of supporting that fundamental principle of government ; and, second, to effect a full and complete restoration of order and submis- sion to the laws in the insurrectionary district. In pursuance of this determination the presi- dent ordered the military forces (already as- sembled at their respective rendezvous) to march toward Western Pennsylvania without delay, and on the 25th of September he issued a proclamation, which, after a preamble setting forth that the measures taken by government to suppress the lawless combinations in the west- ern counties had failed to have full effect ; that "the moment is now come when the over- tures of forgiveness, with no other condition than a submission to law, have been only par- tially accepted ; when every form of conciliation not inconsistent with the well-being of govern- ment has been adopted without effect," proceeds :

" Now, therefore, I, George Washington, President of the United States, in obedience to

* Harmon Husband was a prominent resident of that part of Bedford county now known as Somerset, and was elected county commissioner of Bedford in October. 1786. When Gen. Lee's army passed westward. Harmon Husband, as well as Robert Phil- son. of Berlin, were arrested and sent under guard to Philadelphia as pronounced and prominent insurrectionists. Husband died as a government prisoner, but I'hilson was ultimately released and became one of the most useful and active citizens of the new county of Somerset. He served one term in congress, and in other capacities. Sec civil lists of Somerset county, in this volume.

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that high and irresistible duty consigned to me by the constitution, 'to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' deploring that the American name should be sullied by the out- rages of citizens on their own government, com- miserating such as remain obstinate from de- lusion, but resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious Providence which so signally displays its goodness toward this country, to reduce the refractory to a due subordination to the law : Do hereby declare and make known that, with a satisfaction that can be equaled only by the merits of the militia summoned into service from the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, I have received intelli- gence of their patriotic alacrity in obeying the call of present, though painful yet commanding, necessity ; that a force which, according to every reasonable expectation, is adequate to the exigency is already in motion to the scene of disaffection ; that those who have confided or shall confide in the protection of government shall meet full succor under the standard and from the arms of the United States ; that those who, having offended against the laws, have since entitled themselves to immunity, will be treated with the most liberal good faith, if they shall not have forfeited their claim by any subsequent conduct, and that instructions are given accord- ingly."

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 20

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

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