History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 8

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 8

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).

SIR: As it now appears from the Intelligence re- ceived from all Quarters that the Indians seem deter- mined to push their Depredations, owing, I suppose, to some advantages they have gained over Straggling parties of Traders, and false hope of the Detroit and upper posts being cut off, I think it my Indispensible Duty once more to renew my Instances with you, to lose no time in calling your Assembly, and pressing them to enable you to raise with the utmost Dispatch a Body of Men to be employed in the Defense and pro- tection of the Frontiers.

C'apt. Ourry writes me that there are many of the Inhabitants near Bedford, who are ready to enter in the Provincial Service. Should you be enabled to is- sue Commissions, which I hope you will be, no time should be lost in sending proper Orders for recruiting those Men, as well as for forwarding any others that may enlist, as fast as raised, to the communication above.

I find Mr. Croghan has very judiciously engaged twenty-five Men to Garrison Fort Littleton, and I make no doubt but the Province will readily defray the Ex- pence of those Men, so long as it may be judged neces- * * sary to continue them. *

In accordance with Amherst's suggestions, Gov. Hamilton, on the 11th of July, directed Col. John Armstrong to organize a battalion of frontiersmen for immediate service, and con- cluded his communication as follows :

On the recommendation of Capt. Ourry, at Fort Bedford, I have promised Commissions to the follow- ing Gentlemen now doing duty as Volunteers at Bed-

ford, vize; Christopher Lewis," John Procter, capt"; Philip Baltimore, Charles Riger, lieut'; Wm. Yaxley, Robert Swancey, ensigns; which Commissions, with a proportion of the Advance Money, I desire you will either deliver to the said Capt", or forward to them as you shall think best, as soon as may be. I also de- sire you will give a Commission of Capt" to James Piper, at present lieutenant to Col. Work's Company, whose place in that Company I will supply as soon as the Vacancy is made known to me.

Col. Armstrong collected a force of about three hundred volunteers from the vicinity of Bedford, Shippensburg and Carlisle for the pur- pose of attacking the Indian settlements at Mun- cey and the Great Island. This little army left Fort Shirley, on the Aughwick, on the 30th of September, in high hopes of surprising the enemy and inflicting upon them a severe pun- ishment. But on their arrival they discovered that the Indians had left their settlement some days before. Col. Armstrong then pushed on with a party of one hundred and fifty men to the Indian village called Myonaghquia, and traveled with such expedition and secrecy that the enemy, a few only in number, were scarce able to escape, leaving their food hot upon their bark tables, which was prepared for dinner. The army destroyed at this village and at Great Island a large quantity of grain and other pro- visions.

Meanwhile Forts Pitt and Ligonier remained in the most hazardous condition, for though the Indians dared not assault those works openly, they surrounded them, and most effectually cut off all communication even by message. All exertions proving fruitless to raise the requisite number of provincial forces, Gen. Amherst ordered Col. Henry Boquet to move forward to the relief of Fort Pitt. Boquet's force con- sisted of the shattered remnants of the 42d and 72d regiments, scarcely five hundred men in all, and lately returned from the West Indies, and six companies of rangers from Lancaster and Cumberland counties, amounting to two hundred men. Reaching Carlisle, Col. Boquet found that nothing had been done to carry out the orders which had been given to prepare a convoy of provisions on the frontiers. All was terror and consternation; the greater part of Cumberland county through which the army had to pass was deserted ; and the roads were filled with panic-stricken, dis-

*This officer's name has at times been written Limes. He it was who caused to be built, and who owned, the stone structure on I'itt street, now owned and occupied by Adam B. Caru.

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

tressed families flying from their settlements, and destitute of all the necessaries of life. However, in about two weeks after his arrival at Carlisle, the requisite materials were pro- cured and the army marched westward.

Fort Ligonier was at this time surrounded by savages, and fears were entertained of its fall- ing into their hands. It contained a large quan- tity of military stores, and it was a matter of great moment to keep it from being captured by the Indians. Apprehensive of this, Capt. Ourry, in command at Fort Bedford, had already sent twenty volunteers, good marks- men, to its aid. Learning of the perilous situ- ation of Fort Ligonier, soon after his departure westward from Carlisle, and fearing the savages might capture it, and thereby be enabled, from the munitions of war that they would obtain there, to make a more vigorous attack on Fort Pitt, and likely demolish it before he could reach it, Boquet sent forward a party of thirty men, with guides familiar with the region, who, by avoiding Forbes' route, and making skillful and forced marches, succeeded in finding their way through the forests, undiscovered by their wily enemy till they came within sight of the fort, when they were intercepted by the Indians, but by making a determined dash reached the fort, amidst some random shots, unhurt.

Fort Bedford, also, at this time, was in a ruin- ous condition and feebly garrisoned, although its force had been strengthened by those who had held the small intermediate posts named Loudon, Littleton and Juniata, which had been abandoned for that purpose. The families for twenty and thirty miles around had collected here for safety as soon as the alarm had reached them, but many, indeed, had not reached the fort when they found themselves pursued by the merciless enemy, with whose hands some forty persons were killed and scalped, besides numbers car- ried off into hopeless captivity. Apparently satisfied with this slaughter, the savages made no attack on Fort Bedford, happily for those within it, for the attempt might have proved success- ful, there being but few men to defend it, until it was reached by two small companies of rifle- men detached from the approaching army.

Boquet, with the major portion of his forces, reached Fort Bedford on July 25, and pro- ceeded thence over the mountains to Fort Ligonier. Everything was yet in uncertainty respecting affairs at Fort Pitt, and the troops

again continued their route. Before them lay the Turtle Creek hills, a deep and dangerous defile. Familiar with the topography of the country ahead of him, Col. Boquet concluded to pass these during the night by a forced march, as an advantageous position there might be chosen by the savages to waylay his com- mand. Approaching these hills on August 5, after a march of seventeen miles, and it being yet early in the afternoon, it was determined to halt at Bushy Run (or, as it is sometimes termed, Brush Creek, which is found in the western part of the present county of West- moreland), a short distance ahead, and there rest the troops till toward evening, and pass the Turtle Creek defile during the ensuing night ; but when within about a half-mile of the creek, the advance-guard was attacked by a large body of Indians lying in ambush. The battle thus com- menced continued during the remainder of the afternoon and through the greater portion of the following day. The Indians fought with their wonted ferocity and cunning, but were finally defeated with great loss, and fled preci- pitately beyond the Ohio. These were the savages who, instigated by Pontiac, had be- sieged Fort Pitt for a period of more than three months. In the engagement Boquet lost about fifty men killed and sixty wounded.

During the summer of 1764 another expedi- tionary force was organized in the settlements west of the Susquehanna, which, under the com- mand of Gen. Boquet, marched via Forts Bed- ford, Ligonier and Pitt to the "Muskingham Country." He defeated the savages in several encounters, and caused them to sue for peace. Of those who accompanied him on this expe- dition as company commanders were Capts. James Piper, William Piper and William Proc- tor, gentlemen who were afterward very premi- nent as citizens of the county of Bedford. In June, 1765, however, peace between the Indians and the English was effected by "Sir William Johnson, baronet, his Majesty's sole agent and superintendent of Indian affairs in the north- ern department of North America, etc., etc., etc." As a result, the first real settlement of the territory beyond musket range of Forts Bed- ford and Juniata, and within the present bound- aries of Bedford county, took place immediately thereafter.

Gen. Henry Boquet was born in Rolle, can- ton of Berne, Switzerland. In 1765 he was

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THE BLACK BOYS-MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

assigned to the command of the southern department, where he contracted a fever, and died at Pensacola in the autumn of that year.

CHAPTER VII.

THE BLACK BOYS - MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

Reasons for organizing the Pennsylvania Regulators, termed " Black Boys"-James Smith, their Chief Leader - His Ex- perience as an Indian Captive - A large Pack-Horse Train Destroyed near Sideling Hill - Smith's Version of the Affair - Official Side of the Story, Including Letters from Gen. Gage, Gov. John Penn, Col. Reid, and Curious Literary Productions of the Black Boys -Smith Tells how he Captured Fort Bed ford - His Subsequent Arrest and Acquittal - His Career Subsequently - Mason and Dixon's Line - Conflicting Land Grants - Their Boundaries - An Early Geographer - Long-Continued Disputes-Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon finally Establish the Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

THE BLACK BOYS.

A' FTER a period of more than ten years of relentless savage warfare, the conclusion of peace, in 1765, with the various tribes of the Northwest, found many of the inhabitants occupying the border settlements of Pennsyl- vania still embittered and mistrustful of their late enemies. They placed no confidence in Indian promises, and were also well aware of the fact that the Indians were destitute of the munitions of war. Hence, when, with the first opportunity, the detested traders, well supplied with Indian goods, including spirits in cask, bright tomahawks, rifles, powder, flint and ball, began moving toward the frontiers for the pur- pose of trading with customers who, though destitute of supplies dear to them, were yet well stocked with furs and peltries, the men on the border, ever watchful, at once became alarmed. Their alertness resulted in the organization of a determined body of men termed the "Black Boys." Their homes were in the vicinity of Forts Loudon and Littleton, a region then in- cluded in Cumberland county, and their "singu- lar and summary administration of justice bore a marked affinity to the codes sometimes adopted by that worthy disseminator of criminal juris- prudence in the West, Judge Lynch."

The principal leader of the " Black Boys" was James Smith. It. appears that in May, 1755, while engaged with others in opening a road from Fort Loudon toward Raystown, he was captured by the Indians, taken to Fort Du Quesne, and was there when the victorious

French and Indians returned after defeating Braddock. After undergoing many severe trials, such as running the gantlet, etc., he was taken to Ohio and adopted into the Conowaga tribe. No other alternative being left him, as a measure of self-defense he conformed to the manners and customs of the tribe, and wandered over the West with them until an opportunity offered to escape, which did not occur until he reached Montreal in 1760, when he obtained his freedom in an exchange of prisoners which there took place. Subsequently, as a lieutenant and captain, he had served with the Cumber- land county provincials, under Armstrong and Boquet, until the savages were whipped into submission.

Early in March, 1765, a trader named Whar- ton, of Philadelphia, sent forth a packhorse train loaded with goods of the value of £3,000. He intended to be the first in the market at Fort Pitt, and well aware that his enterprise would be viewed with suspicion by the " back inhabitants," he denied being the owner of the goods, declaring they were consigned;to George Croghan - deputy Indian agent under Sir Will- iam Johnson - then at Fort Pitt ; but the "Black Boys" did not believe the tale told by Wharton's employes, and discovering that a large quantity of warlike stores were included in the invoice, all were destroyed on the route near Sideling Hill. Of this exploit Smith speaks as follows :

Shortly after this (1764) the Indians stole horses and killed some people on the frontiers. The king's proclamation was then circulating, and set up in various public places, prohibiting any person from trading with the Indians until further orders.

Notwithstanding all this, about March 1, 1765, a number of wagons loaded with Indian goods and war- like stores were sent from Philadelphia to Henry Pollens, Conococheague; and from thence seventy packhorses were loaded with these goods, in order to carry them to Fort Pitt. This alarmed the country, and Mr. William Duffield raised about fifty armed men, and met the packhorses at the place where Mercersburg now stands. Mr. Duffield desired the employers to store up their goods and not proceed until further orders. They made light of this, and went over the North Mountain, where they lodged in a small valley called the Great Cove. Mr. Duffield and his party followed after and came to their lodg- ing, and again urged them to store up their goods. He reasoned with them on the impropriety of their proceedings and the great danger the frontier inhabi- tants would be exposed to if the Indians should now get a supply. He said as it was well known that they

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

had scarcely any ammunition, and were almost naked, to supply them now would be a kind of mur- der, and would be illegally trading at the expense of the blood and treasure of the frontiers. Notwith- standing his powerful reasoning, these traders made game of what he said, and would only answer him by ludicrous burlesque.

When I beheld this, and found that Mr. Duffield could not compel them to store up their goods, I col- lected ten of my old warriors that I had formerly disciplined in the Indian way, went off privately after night, and encamped in the woods. The next day, ax usual, we blacked and painted, and waylaid them near Sideling Hill .* I scattered my men about forty rods along the side of the road, and ordered every two to take a tree, and about eight or ten rods be- tween each couple, with orders to keep a reserved fire-one not to fire until his comrade had loaded his gun. By this means we kept a constant slow fire upon them, from front to rear. We then heard noth- ing of these traders' merriment or burlesque. When they saw their packhorses falling close by them, they called out, "Pray, gentlemen, what would you have us to do ?" The reply was, "Collect all your loads to the front and unload them in one place; take your private property and immediately retire." When they were gone we burnt what they left, which con- sisted of blankets, shirts, vermilion, lead, beads, wampum, tomahawks, scalping-knives, etc.

The traders went back to Fort Loudon, and applied to the commanding officer there, and got a party of Highland soldiers, and went with them in quest of the robbers, as they called us; and, without applying to a magistrate or obtaining any civil authority, but purely upon suspicion, they took a number of credit- able persons (who were chiefly not anyway concerned in this action) and confined them in the guard-house in Fort Loudon. I then raised three hundred rifle- men, marched to Fort Loudon, and encamped on a hill in sight of the fort. We were not long there until we had more than double as many of the British troops prisoners in our camp as they had of our peo- ple in the guard-house. Capt.t Grant, a Highland officer who commanded Fort Loudon, then sent a flag of truce to our camp, where we settled a cartel and gave them above two for one, which enabled us to re- deem all our men from the guard-house without further difficulty."

This act of the " Black Boys" created a pro- found sensation throughout the provinces of New York and Pennsylvania. It led to an ani- mated correspondence between Maj .- Gen. Thos. Gage (the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America) and Gov. John Penn, of

*Local writers have erroneously stated that this affair occurred at Bloody Run, now Everett.

+ Smith makes a mistake here when he says that Captain Grant was the commander of Fort Loudon. Lieut. Charles Grant was the commanding officer at Loudon at that time, and so con- tinued until the following November. During the same period C'apt. William Grant was In command at Fort Bedford.

Pennsylvania, the issuance of proclamations by Gov. Penn, and the taking of many depositions. However, by referring to the minutes of the Provincial Council, the other or official side of the story is related as follows :

At a Council held at Philadelphia the 26th June, 1765 :

Present : The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieuten' Governor, &ca., Benjamin Chew, Richard Penn, Lynford Lardner, Esq".

The Governor laid before the Board a Letter he re- ceived from his Excellency Major General Gage, dated the 16, June, 1765, inclosing extracts of 2 Letters, and a Copy of an Advertisement he had received from Lieutenant Colonel Reid complaining of the riotous Conduct of the Inhabitants of Cumberland, their In- sults & Abuses to his Majesty's Troops, &ca, which were severally read, & are as follows, viz' :

A LETTER FROM GENERAL GAGE TO THE GOVERNOR.

NEW YORK, June 16, 1765.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit to you some Extracts of Letters which I have received concerning the Proceedings of the inhabitants of Cumberland County, who appear daily in Arms and seem to be in actual State of Rebellion. It appears, likewise, that the Rebels are supported by some of the Magistrates, particularly one, Smith, a Justice of the Peace, and. headed by his Son. Unless these Insurrections are immediately quelled, and the Authors and Abettors of them brought to punishment, it is impossible to say where they will end. If the King's Troops are fired upon, and his Forts threatened with Assaults by Men in Arms, headed by Magistrates, who refuse the ordi- nary Course of justice demanded of them by the Officers, I can't pretend to answer for the Conse- quences. It belongs to you to point out the Meas- ures proper to be taken in such Circumstances, but it is my duty to represent these matters to you, and to offer you every assistance in my power for the support of Government, and to enforce an Obedience to the Laws, both which seem in danger of entire Subversion.

It is proper to acquaint you that a very large Con- voy of Goods went from New Orleans for the Illinois last February, & that it is probable they are by this time arrived there. This makes it necessary for us to open the Trade at Fort Pitt as soon as it is possible, & that the Officers commanding there should be made acquainted when the Traders may be expected, that he may give notice of it to the Indians of Ohio, and prevent their going to the Illinois for their necessarys. If the Trade is postponed at Fort pitt, the Indians will soon discover where supplies are to be had, & we shall drive them again into the Arms of the French.

I am, with great regard, Sir, Your most Obed' humble Serv'., THO". GAGE.

Honbh Gov' Penn.

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THE BLACK BOYS-MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM COL. REID TO GEN. GAGE. CARLISLE, Ist June, 1765.

I received Letters from Lieut. Grant, Commanding at Fort Loudon, complaining much of some Insults re- ceived from the Rioters near that post. He says on the 28 Ultimo, he was taking the air on Horseback, and about half a mile from his post was surrounded by Five of the Rioters, who presented their pieces at him ; the person who commanded ordered them to shoot the Bougar, that one of them fired at him which frightened his horse, who run into the Bushes, and occasioned his being thrown upon the Ground. They then disarmed him, carried him fifteen Miles into the Woods and threatened to tye him to a Tree and leave him to perish if he would not give them up some Arms, which, by his Orders, were taken from the first party of Rioters that appeared at his post. When he saw they were determined to put their threats into Execution, he thought it was best to promise them their Arms, and was made to give Security to deliver them up in five Weeks under a penalty of Forty Pounds which being obtained in that manner, certainly can- not be binding. Mr. Grant has also sent me a Copy of a very singular Advertisement, which was found pasted up by the rioters at some distance from his post, which I have taken the liberty to inclose. The Express who brought the dispatches from Loudon tells me he was stopt by some of the Fellows on the road, who would have taken his Letters from him, but being Armed with a Broad Sword, & his Com- panion having a Pistol, they stood on their defence & wou'd not Submit.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM LIEUT .- COL. REID, COM- MANDING HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE DISTRICT OF FORT PITT, TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEN. GAGE, COM- VANDER-IN-CHIEF, &c., &c., &c.

FORT LOUDON, 4th June, 1765.

The first rendezvous of the Rioters was at Justice Smith's, about 5 Miles from Fort Loudon, the 6 day of March last; From thence they followed the first Con- voy of Goods, consisting of eighty-one horse loads, twelve miles further, and burnt and pillaged Sixty- three loads. Capt". Callender applied to Lieut. Grant for a Sergeant and 12 Men, which he agreed to, who saved the remaining loads, chiefly consisting of Liquor, and made some of the rioters prisoners. who were afterwards released upon Bail, and took eight rifles, in all which Lieut. Grant is justified by Brig". Boquet, in his Letter of the 14th of March, who desires him to keep the rifles in his possession till the Owners' names shall be found out, which he has accordingly done. Lieut. Grant in his Letter to Brigadier Boquet, of the 9th of March, informs him that he was threat- en'd if he did not deliver up his prisoners, that 200 Men in Arms would come and burn the Fort and res- cue them by Force, which obliged Lieut" Grant to keep his Garrison under Arms a whole night, being in expectation of an Assault, and upon their being ad- mitted to Bail, Smith, the ringleader of the Rioters, had the Assurance to come into the Fort, and told

Lieutenant Grant that they were determined to fire upon the Troops, in case they attempted tocarry these Men Prisoners to Carlisle.

Several Horses loaded with Liquors, and Necessaries for the Troops on the Communication, belonging to Joseph Spears, arrived at Fort Loudon, where the Goods were deposited, and the Drivers carried their Horses as usual into the Woods to Feed, where they were attacked by about thirty of the Rioters in disguise, with their faces blacked, who tied them up and flogged them severely, killed five of their horses, wounded two more, and burnt all their Saddles. One of the drivers who made his Escape, returned to the Fort and implored the Protection and assistance of the Commanding Officer, in rescuing his Companions and preventing the Horses from being killed. Lieut'. Grant thought it his duty to send a Sergeant & 12 men for that purpose; the Rioters finding them- selves pursued, fired upon the Party, who returned the Fire, & Slightly wounded one of them in the Thigh.

10th of May. About 150 of the Rioters in Arms, Commanded, as I am informed, by James Smith, and attended by three Justices of the Peace, appeared before the Fort & demanded to Search the Goods, with an intention, it is believed, to plunder and de- stroy them as they had done before. Lieutenant Grant, suspecting their design, told the Justices that the Goods were under his protection by order of the Commander-in-Chief, who had been pleas'd to send him Instructions to have an inventory of the Goods taken by a Justice of the Peace, and that he in- tended to apply to one of their number to have it done, but did not think it safe at that time in pres- ence of such a Mob, whom he had reason to suspect ; to which the Justices made answer that they wou'd not come again, and impertinently said that they were not under the General's Orders, but that it is their Governor's Orders they are to obey. The Justices further told Lieutenant Grant that they would pay no regard to any Military Officer's pass of whatever rank he might be, and that no Goods whatever could be safe in going along the Communication without a pass* from a Justice of the Peace. After this declaration it cannot be doubted that some of these Justices have encouraged the rioters, & even protect them in

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 8

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

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