History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 22

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

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der to us, and the Governor's the same. They are true subjects to our King George the Second, of Great Britain ; or are willing to deliver us into the hands of these miserable creatures ..

"I am your friend,

" PETER SPICKER.

"N. B .- The people are fled to us from the hills. Peter Kryger and John Weiser are the last."

REPORT OF CRUELTIES .- On the 24th of November, 1755, Conrad Weiser, Emanuel Carpenter and Adam Simon Ruhm subscribed and addressed a communication to the Gov- ernor, which set forth to him the result of their deliberations npon the " miserable condi- tion of the back inhabitants of these parts," and the means which should be adopted in order "to withstand our cruel Indian enemy."

" First .- Since the last cruel murder committed by the enemy, most of the people of Tulpehocken have left their habitations; those in Heidelberg moved their effects; Bethel township is entirely deserted.

"Second .- There is no order among the people; one cries one thing, and another another thing. They want to force us to make a law, that they should have a reward for every Indian which they kill ; they de- mand such a law of us, with their guns cocked, point- ing it towards us.

"Third .- The people are so incensed, not only against our cruel enemy the Indians, but also (we beg leave to inform your Honor) against the Governor and Assembly, that we are afraid they will go down in a body to Philadelphia and commit the vilest out- rages. They say they will rather be hanged than to be butchered by the Indians, as some of their neighbors have been lately, and the poverty that some are in is very great.

"Fourth .- Yesterday we sent out about seventy men to the mountain to take possession of several houses, and to range the woods along the mountain in Berks County, on the west side of Schuylkill. The same number are sent to the back part of Lancaster County, we promised them two shillings per day, two pounds of bread, two pounds of beef, and a gill of rum a day, and ammunition, and that for forty days, or till we shall receive your Honor's order. We persuade ourselves your Honor will not leave us in the lurch; we must have such a thing done or else leave our habitation, if no worse ; and all this would not do, we and others of the freeholders have been obliged to promise them a reward of four pistoles for every enemy Indian man that they should kill. Many things more we could mention, but we don't care to trouble your Honor any farther."

And Conrad Weiser added the following postscript :

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" I cannot forbear to acquaint your Honor of a cer- tain circumstance of the late unhappy affair : One -- Kobel, with his wife and eight children, the eld- est about fourteen years and the youngest fourteen days, was flying before the enemy, he carrying one, and his wife a boy, another of the children, when they were fired upon by two Indians very nigh, but hit only the man upon the breast, though not danger- ously. They, the Indians, then came with their tomahawks, knocked the woman down, but not dead. They intended to kill the man, but his gun (though out of order, so that he could not fire) kept them off. The woman recovered so far, and seated herself upon a stump, with her babe in her arms, and gave it suck; and the Indians driving the children together, and spoke to them in high Dutch, be still, we won't hurt you. Then they struck a hatchet into the woman's head, and she fell upon her face with her babe under her, and the Indian trod on her neck and tore off the scalp. The children then ran : four of them were scalped, among which was a girl of eleven years of age, who related the whole story; of the scalped, two are alive and like to do well. The rest of the chil- dren ran into the bushes and the Indians after them, but our people coming near to them, halloed and made a noise. The Indians ran and the rest of the children were saved. They ran within a yard by a woman that lay behind an old log, with two children; there were about seven or eight of the enemy."

The onward movement of the Indians and the terrifying reports of their barbarity excited the settlers to such a degree that the sections of the county near by and beyond the Blue Moun- tain became almost entirely deserted. Even the inhabitants of Reading, though they were a considerable body together, manifested much anxiety for their welfare. Conrad Weiser stated in a letter from Reading, dated 13th of December, 1755,-

" The people of this town and county are in very great consternation. Most of this town are but day- laborers, and owing money, are about to leave it, they have nothing at all wherewith to support their fami- lies. All trade is stopped, and they can get no em- ployment, and unless the Government takes about thirty or forty of them into pay to guard this town, they must go off and the rest will think themselves unsafe to stay, and the back inhabitants will have no place of security left for their wives and children, when they are out either against their enemy, or tak- ing care of their plantations and cattle, and when things should come to extremity."

The massacres by the Indians continuing month after month, the Governor visited Read- ing in the latter part of December, for the pur-

pose of acquainting himself with the situation of the people, and, after an examination, he found that the policy of defense was not satis- factory, and that new measures had to be taken to subdue the Indians. Whilst at Reading he also consulted with the Executive Council and the commissioners in respect to a proper dis- tribution of the regular troops which had ar- rived at Carlisle from New York. The Gren- adiers were ordered to be quartered at Reading. Their rations were three pounds of pork, three pounds of beef, one pound of fish, ten and one- half pounds of bread or meal for a week, aud one gill of rum per day.

PREMIUM FOR SCALPS .- Iu pursuance of this spirit of carrying on active measures against the Indians, the board of commissioners de- cided on the 9th of April, 1756, to recommend to the Governor that bounties, or premiums, be paid for prisoners and scalps,-

For every male Indian prisoner above ten years old, that shall be delivered at any of the gov- ernment forts or towns. $150

For every female Indian prisoner or male pri- soner, of ten years old and under, delivered as above. 130

For the scalp of every male Indian above ten years old. 130

For the scalp of every Indian woman. 50

PROBST LETTER .- By the foregoing letters and others, it would seem that the Indians con- fined their invasions into the county beyond the Blue Mountain before 1756, to the west of the Schuylkill. But in the beginning of 1756 they reached the district along the mountain to the east of the river, and committed similar ontrages upon the unprotected settlers. Valen- tine Probst, a resident of Albany township, ad- dressed the following letter to Jacob Levan, (one of the justices of the county, who resided in Maxatawny township,) on the 15th of Feb- ruary, 1756, in which he mentions the horrible murders committed upon the Reichelderfer and Gerhard families:

" MR. LEVAN -- I cannot omit writing about the dreadful circumstances in our township, Albany. The Indians came yesterday morning about eight o'clock, to Frederick Reichelderfer's house, as he was feeding his horses, and two of the Indians ran upon him, and followed him into a field ten or twelve perches off;

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but he escaped and ran towards Jacob Gerhard's house, with a design to fetch some arms. When he came near Gerhard's he heard a lamentable cry, 'Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus !' which made him run back towards his own house; but before he got quite home, he saw his house and stable in flames, and heard the cattle bellowing, and thereupon ran away again.

"Two of his children were shot; one of them was found dead in his field, the other was found alive and brought to Hakenbrook's house, but died three hours after. All his grain and cattle are burned up. At Jacob Gerhart's they have killed one man, two women and six children. Two children slipped under the bed; one of which was burned; the other escaped, and ran a mile to get to the people. We desire help, or we must leave our homes."

MUHLENBERG LETTER .- The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg described this shocking affair as follows :

"In New Hanover (Mont. Co.) I had confirmed two grown daughters of Frederick Reichelsdorfer. This man subsequently bought a tract of forest land near the Blue Mountains, which he cultivated suc- cessfully, with much toil and great sacrifice, to enable him to support his family. But fearing the Indians, who scouted the region, sacking, burning and mur- dering, he removed his family back to New Hanover, whilst he journeyed to and fro to attend to his place. In the month of March, after he and his daughters had threshed out his wheat, on a Friday morning, they suddenly felt an uncomfortable presentiment of fear. Entering upon their evening devotions, they joined in singing the old hymn, 'Wer weiz wie nahe mir mein Ende.' Committing themselves to God, they retired. On the following Saturday morning, as the father had gone upon the open field to bring in his horses, and on the eve of starting for home, he was surrounded by Indians. From sudden fright, in view of his great peril, he could neither utter a cry, nor move a limb. As the savages were within twenty paces, he turned his thoughts to God, and was enabled to cry : 'Jesus ! I live by Thee ! Jesus ! I die in Thee !' In the moment of this exclamation, he felt himself at once endowed with superhuman energy, in virtue of which he turned, became swift-footed as a deer, and winged, like the ostrich. He escaped from their sight and reached his home ; but, alas ! his hut lay in ashes ; the cattle were bellowing in a sheet of flame, his eld- est daughter lay a crisp, and the younger, partly alive, scalped and horribly mutilated, had barely strength to relate the harrowing circumstances, and to impress a dying kiss upon the distracted brow of her father, bending over her."

GERHART MURDER .-- The Gerhart murder was committed on a farm in the extreme north- western section of Albany township, owned by

George Bolich. A house was immediately afterward built on the spot where the original house stood. It was torn down by Mr. Bolich, who erected a handsome dwelling in its stead. The traditional account of the murder, one hun- dred and twenty years after it occurred, as given by Mr. Bolich, was as follows :

" While the whole family was in the house, quietly enjoying the comforts of a rural home in the wilder- ness of Albany in the month of February, an unusual noise was heard in the vicinity of the house. Noth- ing was known of the presence of the Indians or of any other person, until they heard a suspicious noise which excited their fears at once that a sad fate was awaiting them. Mr. Gerhart, solicitous about the safety of his beloved family, opened the door and peeped out, but saw no one. He quietly stepped out- side of the door to make a closer inspection of his premises, when a concealed Indian shot him and he fell dead at the door. The women dragged Mr. Ger- hart into the house. The Indians knowing that the head of the family was killed, had less to fear, at - proached the house and set it on fire. The women and children knew that a horrible death was staring them in the face-that they must either be burned alive, or leave the house and submit to a death fully as revolting. They chose the first alternative. A. boy of about twelve years of age, whose hair had already been burned off his head, and had seen suffer- ing among his mother, little brothers and sisters, which no pen or human tongue can portray, jumped out of a window on a side of the hou-e opposite the Indians. He ran to a family over a small hill south of this place to give the alarm, but when assistance came the house was consumed by the flames and the Indians had made their escape." 1

This occurrence naturally alarmed the neigh- borhood and many of the settlers moved away to places where they could feel secure in the enjoyment of life and property. A letter dated 24th of March, 1756, describes the fatal consequences to a party in an attempt at remov- ing :-

"Ten wagons went up to Allemaengel to bring down a family with their effects ; and as they were returning, about three miles below George Ziesloff's, were fired upon by a number of Indians from both sides of the roads, upon which the wagoners left their wagons and ran into the woods, and the horses frightened at the firing and the terrible yelling of the Indians, ran down the hill and broke one of the wagons to pieces. The enemy killed George Ziesloff and his wife, a lad of twenty, a boy of twelve, also a

1 Brunner's "Indians of Berks County," p. 47.

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

girl of fourteen years old, four of whom they scalped. Another girl was shot in the neck and through the mouth and scalped, notwithstanding all this she got off. A boy was stabbed in three places, but the wounds were not thought to be mortal. They killed two of the horses and five are missing, with which it is thought the Indians carried off the most valuable goods that were in the wagons."

In March, 1756, the Indians burned the house and barn of Barnabas Seitel and the mill of Peter Conrad, killed Balser Neytong's wife and took a son eight years of age captive. Captain Morgan sent seven men in pursuit ; but they failed to overtake the Indians.

KLUCK MURDER .- On the 24th of March, the house of Peter Kluck (about fourteen miles from Reading) was set on fire by the savages, and the whole family killed; while the flames were still ascending, the Indians assaulted the house of one Linderman, in which there were two men and a woman, all of whom ran up- stairs, where the woman was shot dead through the roof. The men then ran out of the house to engage the Indians, when Linderman was shot in the neck and the other through the jacket. Upon this, Linderman ran towards the Indians, two of whom only were seen, and shot one of them in the back, when he fled, and he and his companion scalped him and brought away his gun and knife.

The report of the several preceding massacres is not definite with regard to the locality; but it is probable that they occurred within the limits of Albany township.

At the same time' the Indians carried off a young lad, named John Shoep, about nine years old, whom they took by night seven miles be- yond the Blue Mountain ; but where, accord- ing to the lad, the Indians kindled a fire, tied him to a tree, and took off his shoes and put moccasins on his feet; that they prepared them- selves some mush, but gave him none. After supper they marched on further. The same Indians took him and another lad between them, and went beyond the second mountain; having gone six times through streams of water, and always carried him across. The second evening they again struck up fire, took

off his moccasins, and gave him a blanket to cover himself; but at midnight, when all the Indians were fast asleep, he made his escape, and at daybreak had traveled about six miles. He passed on that day, sometimes wading streams neck deep, in the direction of the Blue Mountain ; that night he stayed in the woods. The next day, exhausted and hungry, he ar- rived by noon at Uly Meyer's plantation, where Charles Folk's company lay, who wished him to remain till he had regained strength, and they would conduct him to his father. He was accordingly sent home.

The eastern part of the county was disturbed only once by the Indians during the French and Indian War. They would not, in their invasions, go any distance into a country settled by the white people where it was possible to intercept their retreat. In March, 1756, they ventured as far south as Hereford. On the 22d of that month (March) one John Krausher and his wife, and William Yeth and his boy about twelve years old, went to their place to find their cattle, and on their return were fired upon by five Indians, who had hid themselves about ten perches from the road, when Yeth was mortally wounded in the back; Krausher's wife was found dead and scalped, and had three cuts in her right arm with a tomahawk. Krausher made his escape, and the boy was carried off by the enemy.

INDIAN TREATY .-- During the war, messen- gers were sent by the Governor to the chiefs of the Indians, and the Indians sent representa- tives of their tribes to Philadelphia or some place midway between Philadelphia and the council fires of the Indians. One of the mnost important treaties was held at Easton in the latter part of July, 1756. Teedyuscung, with fourteen other chiefs, was present. He said he was an ambassador appointed by ten nations, and authorized to treat with the Governor of Pennsylvania. In attempting to palliate the breach of former treaties and the numerous massacres of settlers upon lands bought of them, he assured the Governor that the "present clouds " owed their origin to the custom of their ancestors from having a " multitude of kings." He made strong professions of friendship, de-

1 Time of the Ziesloff murder.

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plored the hostile feelings between the white people and the Indians, and said that all the harm inflicted upon the white people was com- mitted by the French Indians who lived on the Ohio. After faring well for a week at the ex- pense of the government, and receiving a large quantity of presents, the chiefs took "some of that good tobacco that the Six Nations put into our pipe," and all parties smoked the pipe in turn; and, according to their custom, a lasting peace and friendship was to be maintained. But the fumes of " that good tobacco " had scarcely disappeared when the Indians again fell upon the settlers of Berks County, burned their buildings and cattle, lurked behind the thickets and shot men at work in their fields, scalped women and children alive and captured others, many of whom were subjected to great hard- ships and cruel sufferings.1

Two WOMEN SCALPED .- Three months afterward, Conrad Weiser addressed the follow- ing letter (dated at Heidelberg, 19th of October, 1756,) to Governor Denny :

"HONORED SIR: Last night about 10 o'clock I received the melancholy news that the enemy Indians had again made an invasion in Berks county, and killed and scalped two married women and a lad of fourteen years of age, and wounded two children of about four years old, and carried off two more; one of the wounded is scalped and like to die, and the other has two cuts on her forehead, given her by an Indian hoy in order to scalp her, but did not; there being eight men of Fort Henry posted in two differ- ent neighbors' houses about one and a half miles off, when they heard the noise of the guns firing they made towards it but came too late.

"The people are moving away, leaving their barns full of grain behind them ; and there is a lamentable cry among them. It is with submission a very hard case that so many men are taken away to protect Sha- mokin (a wilderness) and the inhabited part be with- out it. I have ordered eighteen men out of the town guard of Reading to re-enforce Fort Henry im- mediately, of which I hope your honor will ap- prove. "

CULMORE AND FELL MURDER .- On the 4th of November, 1756, Jacob Morgan, the commander at Fort Lebanon, addressed the fol- lowing letter to the Governor in reference to outrages committed in Albany township:

1 Brunner's "Indians of Berks County," p. 51.

"Yesterday morning at break of day one of the neighbors discovered a fire at a distance from him; be went to the top of another mountain to take a bet- ter observation, and made a full discovery of the fire, and supposed it to be about seven miles off, at the house of John Fincher ; he came and informed me of it; I immediately detached a party of ten men (we being about 22 men in the fort) to the place where they saw the fire, at the said Fincher's house, it being nigh Schuylkill, and the men anxious to see the. enemy, if there, they ran through the water and the bushes to the fire, where to their disappointment they saw none of them, but the house, barn, and other out- houses all in flames, together with a considerable amount of corn ; they saw a great many tracks and followed them, and came back to the house of Philip Culmore, thinking to send from thence to aların the other inhabitants to be on their guard, but instead of that found the said Culmore's wife and daughter and son-in-law all just killed and scalped; there is like- wise missing out of the same house Martin Fell's wife and child about one year old, and another boy about seven years of age, the said Martin Fell was he that was killed, it was just done when the scouts came there, and they seeing the scouts ran off. The scouts divided in two parties, one to some other honses nigh at hand, and the other to the fort (it being within a mile of the fort) to inform me. I immediately went out with the scout again (and left in the fort no more than six men), but could not make any discovery, but brought all the families to the fort, where now I believe there are upward of sixty women and children that are fled here for refuge." 2

TEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN RESCUED .- On the 14th of the same month, Lieuten- ant Samuel Humphreys, who was stationed at the fort above Northkill, wrote to Conrad Weiser as follows:

" May it please the Colonel :- Yesterday we were alarmed by a number of Indians who came and took a child away. Immediately upon hearing the news, I, with nine men, went in pursuit of them, leaving a number of farmers to guard the fort till we should re- turn. But we found nothing till this morning, we went out again ; and, in our return to the fort, we were, apprized of them by the firing of several guns; when. I ordered my men to make what speed they could. We ran till we were almost out of breath, and, upon finding Nicholas Long's house attacked by the In- dians, the farmers who were with us to the number of twenty, deserted and fled, leaving the soldiers to fight. We stood in battle with them for several minutes till there were about sixty guns discharged, and at length we put the Indians to flight.

23 Pa. Arch. 30. Subsequently, in September, 1763, Fincher and his family were murdered by the Indians.

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"We have one man wounded, and my coat was shot through in four places. The number of the Indians was twenty. Our number at first was twenty-four. But they all deserted and fled except seven. Two old men were killed before we came, one of whom was scalped. Ten women and children were in the cellar and the house was on fire; but we extinguished it and brought the women and children to the fort. I desire the Colonel to send me a reinforcement, for the men solemnly say they will not go out with the farmers, as they deserted in the battle and never fired a gun. The Indians cried the halloo during the battle. We have one of their guns and a blanket which had two holes with a bullet in it, and is bloody. The Indians had all red hats and red blankets."

GIRL TAKEN CAPTIVE .- A letter was ad- dressed to the Governor from Bethlehem, on the 30th of November following, stating the com- mission of another murder in Albany township :

"John Holder came here this evening from Alle- mangle and informed me that last Sunday evening, the 28th instant, three Indians came to the house of a certain man named Schlosser and knocked at the door ; the people within called who is there. Answer was made, a good friend; they within not opening the door, they knocked again ; they within asked who is there ; no answer being made from without, then one of the men named Stonebrook looked out of the win- dow, when an Indian discharged a gun and killed him on the spot. They then opened the door, the woman and two children endeavored to escape, and the In- dians pursued and took both the children. One of the men fired at the Indians and saw one of them fall, when one of the girls he had possession of made her escape from him, but the other they took away. The Indian that was fired at fell, cried out very much, but in a short time he got up and made off."

About this time the Indians also appeared in this township and carried off the wife and three children of Adam Burns. The youngest child was only four weeks old.

PETITION FOR FORT .- At a meeting of the Executive Council, held on the 7th of May, 1757, a petition, addressed to the Lieutenant-Governor, was read, setting forth,-

" That your petitioners are informed that Fort Franklin is to be removed to this side of the Blue Mountains, and a considerable way into Albany town- ship.

"That, if in case the said Fort is to be removed, your petitioners will be obliged to desert their plan- tations, for their lives and Estates will then lay at stake, and a great part of this province will lay waste, and your petitioners will become a burden to the other inhabitants.

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 22

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418