History of Butler County, Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Brown, Robert C., ed; Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Meagher, John, jt. comp; Meginness, John Franklin, 1827-1899, jt. comp
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1658

USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > History of Butler County, Pennsylvania > Part 3

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In the matter of birds, they are still with us. Only in November, 1881, a golden eagle, measuring seven feet, was captured in Penn township, by Elijah T.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Phillips. The owl, hawk and other predatory birds, including the English sparrow, are too numerous.

Snakes and vipers are no longer terrors here, for a whole lifetime may be passed in this county without seeing or hearing of a rattlesnake or moccasin.

From an archeological point of view, the district is not without interest. On the sites of old Indian towns, along the old trails and even in places where no signs of Indian habitations were found, arrow-heads, skinning chisels and other reminders of the original occupants are occasionally brought to light. In 1>93, a butternut tree and butternuts were found petrified within a rock, in the outcrop south of the Connoquenessing, opposite Butler borough. When that tree was covered with the sand, or when the sand was converted into rock, are secrets of Nature, which invite the scientist to reveal and make them known.

This section of the State has been singularly free from scourges, such as epi- demics, floods and storms. In pioneer days malarial diseases were reported, but few deaths resulted. Later days show disease in one form or another, attacking special localities, the cause being attributed generally to impure water. Iligh waters in the creeks of the county have not been unusual, but the damage was generally confined to bridges and to buildings in the low lands. The flood, which carried away a large portion of Petrolia, was the most disastrous one known within the historic period. The drouths of 1854 and of the summer of 1894 were the most serious in the history of the county, entailing heavy losses upon the farmers, and rendering water exceedingly scarce by the drying up of many of the streams. A long series of beautiful and bountiful seasons followed the drouth of 1854. The tornado which carried away a part of Coaltown, the rainstorm of June 21, 1872, and a storm which damaged a few houses in Butler, are the only disastrous visitations of the elements worthy of mention. In 1832 the locusts ravaged the county and again in 1849 they threatened the crops, but disappeared during the last week in June of that year. With ordinary attention to sanitary rules, there is no reason why man should not attain his highest physical state here. With perfect drainage, pure water, air uncontaminated by smoke, favorable alti- tude and an equable, genial climate, nothing less than excesses or hereditary con- stitutional defects, can rob a man of the long life which the natural conditions of this county insure.

CHAPTER II. ABORIGINES AND EXPLORERS.

INDIAN TOWNS, CAMPS AND TRAILS-RED VISITORS TO THIS LOCALITY AFTER ITS SETTLE- MENT-INDIAN CHIEFS-FRENCH EXPLORERS, AND THEIR OCCUPATION OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA-WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY THROUGH BUTLER COUNTY IN 1753-POST'S VISIT TO THE INDIAN TOWNS OF THIS SECTION- CAPTAIN BRADY'S BATTLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MAHONING-MASSY HARBISON'S STORY-HER CAPTURE AND ESCAPE.

T HE trails and villages of the Indians, within the boundaries of Butler county, may be said to have been the only evidences of Indian occupation found here by the pioneers of 1796. The story of the purchase of the Indian country is told in the next chapter. The Senecas were the occupants of this part of the State so far as history speaks; but, at the time when the tide of immigration halted on the left or east bank of the Allegheny, several tribes claimed the country, such as the remnant of the Delawares, with the Shawanese, Munceys and Senecas. During the Revolution they were allies of the British, and most terrible ones too. Under the leadership of that Tory Scotch-Irishman, Simon Girty, they brought death into many a promising settlement and spread terror throughout all the frontier villages.

The Indian towns of what is now Butler county, as shown on the map of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, published in 1875 by that society, were Cush- cushking, on the the stream now known as Wolf creek, in Slippery Rock town- ship: Kaskaskunk, west of the hamlet of Holyoke in Centre township, on the Franklin township line, and Sakouk or Saconk, on the west line of Alexander's district, where it intersects the Connoquenessing, near Harmony. Another Indian town named Sakonk or Saconk stood near the month of Beaver river ; Logstown was located on the north or east bank of the Ohio, a few miles south- west of the southwest corner of this county ; while Shannopin Town stood across the Allegheny river, opposite the Indian town of Allegheny. On the map named there is no trace of an Indian trail in Butler county made, not even from Cush- cushking to the town where Mercer now stands. or to that where is now New Castle, or to Saconk on the Connoquenessing. Leading east from Kittanning was a trail ; while north, along the river bank to the site of Franklin, and west from Fort Machault, on the site of the present town of Franklin, were well beaten paths. The Kushkushkee, mentioned by Post, is no doubt the Cushcushking of the Historical Society. In 1758 it was divided into four separate towns, and in the four were ninety houses or cabins, 200 braves and a large number of women and children.

While the map referred to shows the principal villages of the aborigines in Butler county, it does not give the smaller towns, such as that in Forward town-

ABORIGINES AND EXPLORERS.

ship, near Buhl's mill, the camp on the Simmers farm in Buffalo township, the camp on the Forrester farm in Franklin township, or the Indian village above Martins- burg, which was tenanted by a small band down to 1796, when they left their cornfields and hunting-ground forever. The Indian town which occupied a large area near Mechanicsburg, in Worth township, and the Indian cornfields, which were cultivated on the site of the present town of Harrisville, down to 1796, are not shown on the map, nor is mention of them, or of the trails in Cranberry, Jackson and Buffalo townships, made in the Colonial or State documents. They all existed, however, and, as related, were the property of the Cornplanter tribe and sundry nomads down to the period when the pioneers came to occupy the lands.

In 1796, while John Gibson and William Ferguson were en route to Butler county, they discovered a canoe full of Indians on the river, near Brady's Bend. William Ferguson bore the red-skins little love, for more than one of his relations had been murdered by the savages. Now he had an opportunity presented for revenge, and, availing himself of it, fired on the party. It is said he killed one savage and then fled toward Butler county. The following year John, Alex- ander, James and Hugh Gibson settled permanently on land selected the previous year. Soon after their arrival, as Hugh ( then a boy of fifteen years) was alone, two giant Indians appeared at the cabin. The boy was somewhat scared, but the Indians merely asked for something to eat, and when their hunger was sat- isfied with some cucumbers and cake furnished by young Gibson, one signified his pleasure by smiting his breast and exclaiming : " Ugh ! Indian strong now."

Indeed, it was customary for the Cornplanters to visit Butler on their annual hunt down to ISIS. Here they could always rely upon well-stocked preserves ; for the forest was full of deer, bear and other large game. As the animals would fall, the wild hunters would dress them carefully, and then hang them high up beyond the reach of wolves and in places where the bear would not venture. In later years straggling Indians from the Seneca Reservation visited the county, but from 18 48, when the savage Mohawk, murdered the Wigton family, down to 1893, the rep- resentatives of the aborigines avoided Butler.

In the summer of 1893, six Indians appeared at the farm of J. II. Wigton, in Brady township, and asked permission to search for relics which they claimed had been left there by their ancestors. They were remnants of the Delaware tribe. Their request being granted, they began digging with spade and mattock, work - ing away far into the night, and taking only time to eat and sleep by turns. They were watched, as first, with some curiosity, but as they seemed to find nothing, they were left to themselves. They dug ten large holes about twelve feet deep and the same in diameter. One night about two weeks after they partially filled up several of the holes they had dug, leaving others as they had finished then, and disappeared from the neighborhood. They gave no information to anyone, and left nothing to indicate whether they found what they were after. These exca- vations were made on the same property, and near the spot where Sam Mohawk killed the Wigton family fifty-one years ago.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Indians on the Allegheny river were well

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

known to the French soldiery in 1753-59, the names of but a few have been carried into American history. Custaloga, and Kiashuta or Guyasutha, the Hunter, were the great chiefs here in the middle of the Eighteenth century. In 1753, Washington met the first on French creek, and was accompanied thither by the latter. Both, after proving recreant to the French. became earnest supporters of the British, and during the Revolution led many a bloody foray into the American settlements. At this distance, in time, we may look back, measure their character and sympathize with one of them, who wrote or suggested the following lines :

I will go to my tent and lie down in despair, I will paint me with black and will sever my hair, I will sit on the shore, when the hurricane blows, And reveal to the God of the tempest my woes. I will weep for a season on bitterness fed. For my kindred are gone to the hills of the dead. But they died not of hunger or lingering decay, The hand of the white man hath swept them away.

FRENCH EXPLORERS.

The French were the pioneers of Western Pennsylvania, as they also were of the Mississippi and Ohio valley. In 1749 Governor Gallissionere, of Canada, organized an expedition, which he placed under the command of Captain Pierre Joseph Celoron, Sieur de Blainville, a fearless and energetic officer. It came from Canada via Lakes Erie and Chautauqua, and Conewango creek, to the Allegheny river, thence down that stream to the Ohio. Celoron took formal pos- session of the country in the name of Louis XV., King of France, and buried leaden plates at certain points as evidences of possession, should that fact be disputed. A prominent member of the command was Rev. Joseph Peter de Bonnecamp, a Jesuit mathematician and scientist, who filled the position of chaplain and geographer to the expedition. In passing down the Allegheny the expedition crossed the northeast and southeast corners of what is now Butler county, and, therefore, takes rank as the first Caucasian exploration of this part of the State.

Four years after, in 1753, the French erected Fort Presque Isle, on the site of Erie, and Fort Le Boeuf, on the site of Waterford, both of which they gar- risoned, and also took possession of a deserted trading post near the mouth of French creek, on the site of Franklin, previously occupied by John Frazier, who combined the business of Indian trader with that of general repairer of fire arms for the savages. Upon the crest of this cabin Captain Chabert de Joncaire, a half-breed French officer, placed the flag of France, and here he made his head- quarters until the erection of Fort Machault (called by the English Venango), in the spring of 1751.

These actions aroused the jealousy of the English, and Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, sent George Washington, afterwards immortalized in American history, to learn from the French commandant his intentions, and to protest against the French occupying this valley, to which the English laid claim. Early in 1754 the Governor of Virginia sent a small force to the confluence of the

ABORIGINES AND EXPLORERS.

AAllegheny and Ohio rivers, and commenced the erection of a fort for the purpose of heading off the French; but the latter descended the Allegheny, drove away the English, and completed what they had begun, naming the fort, Duquesne. This was the beginning of the long and bloody contest known as the French and Indian War, which closed in 1759, with the expulsion of the French from Western Pennsylvania.

The country was then nominally occupied by the English until the great Pontiac conspiracy of 1763, which caused widespread havoc and wiped out the three forts north of Fort Pitt. The last mentioned was garrisoned by the English until the Revolution, when the American, became masters of the country and the English flag went down in ignominions defeat.

WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY.

The journey of Washington to the post at Venango, and Fort Le Boeuf, in 1753, was undertaken by order of Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia. At Wills creek he engaged the services of Barney Curran and John McGuire, Indian traders, and of Henry Stewart and William Jenkins, servitors. They, with Jacob Vanbraam, a French interpreter, hired at Fredericksburg, and Christopher Gist, hired at Williamsburg, formed the party on arrival at Logstown. On setting out for Venango, November 30, 1753, John Davidson, an Indian interpreter, the "Half-King" or Tanacharison, Jeskakake, White Thunder and the Hunter were added to the party. On December 4, Washington arrived near the mouth of French creek, after a trip of seventy miles, and was received by Captain Joncaire, a French half-breed, with proverbial French courtesy. To transact business, however, the captain referred him to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf, sixty miles up French creek, and detailed the commissary officer, La Force, and three private soldiers to accompany his party thither. On December 11, the expedition arrived at the upper fort, and, on the 12th, he was introduced to Legardeur de St. Pierre, a Knight of the Order of St. Louis. Later in the day, Captain Reparti, from Fort Presque Isle, arrived, when the commander and Reparti received the message and then retired. Washington made calculations of the size and strength of the fort, its advantages and disadvantages, and his mission being finished on the 14th, he sent his weak horses forward, in care of Curran. to Venango ; but, having to wait for llalf-King and other savages, he did not leave until the 16th, when the party entered canoes en route to Venango, where they arrived December 22. There another difficulty was experienced in getting the Indians away, but he succeeded in moving the expedition. Owing to the feeble condition of the horses, he ordered that the men pack the provisions, and leaving the outfit in charge of Vanbraam, set out with Gist, on December 26th, to make the journey to Logstown through the wilderness. On the 27th the two travelers passed Murdering Town, whence they agreed to proceed through the forest to the Indian town of Shannopin, near the forks of the Ohio. Shortly after they were fired upon by an Indian at point-blank range ; but the shot missed its mark and the Indian was made prisoner. They held him until nine o'clock that night, then released him, and fearing pursuit walked all night withont halting and

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

continued to push forward rapidly, so that they arrived at a point two miles above Shannopin before sundown on the 28th. The river was found to be but partially frozen : so that Washington and his fellow-traveler were compelled to make a raft. Completing a rude craft in a short time, they embarked ; but the ice threatening to crush the rough frame, Washington set the pole so as to swing the raft out of the ice flow, when the current swung the raft, casting the unwary navigator into the cold, deep water. Ile saved himself by grasping the raft and then aided Gist in an effort to make a landing. The feat appeared impossible, so they determined to abandon the idea for the night and seek safety on a small island. There Gist's fingers and a few of his toes were frozen, while Washing- ton himself suffered from his immersion and the extreme cold. The morning brought relief, for the ice-bound river offered the traveler- a road to the Indian town.

In Gist's journal, the circumstances attending the encounter with the Indian are detailed, and the haste exercised, in flying from the scene, are referred to. Gist states that they arrived at the head of Piney creek on the morning of December 25. To-day he would describe the place as Pine creek, Franklin township. Alle- gheny county, while, to the place where the Indian fired on him, he would apply the name-" Evans City,"-and to the Indian village of Sakonk, where the young sav- age probably resided, he would give the name-Eidenau ; for, in pioneer days, a deserted Indian town stood in the valley not far from the mill of the present time. The trail from Logstown to Venango intersected the Shannopin and Venango trail, and, it is reasonably certain, that Washington's party struck the Shannopin- Venango trail at or near Zelienople, and proceeded northeast by the Indian town of Cushcushking, on the creek, near the corner of Butler, Mercer and Lawrence counties.

FREDERICK POST'S VISIT.

The Moravian missionary and political messenger, Frederick Post, sent among the Indians in 1758, to detach them from their friendly relations with the French, commenced his journal July 15, 1758. His topographical references connect him with this county ; but it is evident that he did not always distinguish between the headquarters town of the savage- and their bunting towns of the same name. In the spelling of names, too, he never observed regularity ; so that his intention must be often taken for the deed. The character of his mission may be learned from a minute made at Fort Machault, called by the English Venango, August 8, 1758, which reads as follows :

8th .- This morning I hunted for my horse, round the fort. within ten yards of it. The Lord heard my prayer, and I passed unknown till we had mounted our horses to go off, when two Frenchmen came to take leave of the Indians, and were much surprised at seeing me, but said nothing.

His companion, making the we, was Pesquetum, or Pisquetumen, who was as anxious as Post himself to flee from Venango. They intended to visit Cush- cushking, in the Slippery Rock district; but on August 10, learned from an English trader, whom they met, that they were within twenty miles of Fort Duquesne. On the 12th, they came to the Connoquenessing (written in the journal Conaquanashon), where was an old Indian town, and there heard that

ABORIGINES AND EXPLORERS.

Cushcushking ( written Kosh-Kosh-Kung and Kushkushkee) was fifteen miles distant. In approaching the town, l'ost sent his Indian companion, with four strings of wampum, to announce his arrival and to deliver the following message :

Brother, thy brethren are come a great way, and want to see thee at thy fire, to smoke that good tobacco, which our grandfathers used to smoke. Turn thy eyes once more upon that road, by which I caine. 1 bring the words of great consequence from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania and from the King of England. Now, I desire thee to call all the king's and captains from all the towns, that none may be missing. I do not desire that my words may be hid or spoken under cover. I want to speak loud that all the Indians may hear me. I hope thou will bring me on the road and lead me into the town. I blind the French that they may not see me, and stop their ears that they may not hear the great news I bring.

This strange message from a preacher of the gospel was received by the assembled chiefs. Meantime, Shawanese from the Wyoming valley, came on the scene. They knew Post well, and when messengers from King Beaver came to lead the visitor to the village, the preacher knew that his political mission would prove successful. King Beaver lodged Post and his friends in a large house, and then sixty young savages called on their guests. Beaver arrived immediately, and addressing them. said :

Boys, harken! We sat here without ever expecting again to see our brethren, the English; but now one of them is brought before you, that you may see your brethern, the English, with your own eyes, and I wish you to take it into consideration.

Then addressing Post, he said :

Brother, I am very glad to see you. I never thought we should have the oppor- tunity to see one another more, but now I am very glad, and thank God, who has brought you to us." In response, the crafty white man said: "Brother, I rejoice in my heart. I thank God, who has brought ine to you. I bring you joyful news from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania and from your children, the Friends; and, as I have words of great consequence, I will leave them before you, when all the kings and captains are called together from the other towns. I wish there may not be a man of them missing; but that they may be all here to hear.

In the evening Beaver called again on the preacher to say that a council ordered the men to be summoned, but that they could not assemble before five days. Later ten chiefs came into the house and sat by Post's fire until midnight. On the 13th, which was Sunday, Post does not appear to have transacted business. On the 14th, however, he resumed his mission, received many savages, witnessed fifteen French mechanics building houses for the very people who were now promising aid to the enemies of their benefactors ; but he never hesitated to push his advantage. Indeed, Delaware George was so interested in the welfare of Post and the people he represented, that the cunning Indian declared he could not sleep o' nights, and Post pretended to believe him. Delaware Daniel prepared a banquet on August 15th for the guest, to which all the chiefs (thirteen in number) were invited. The tenor of the after-dinner speeches was : " We have thought a great deal since you have been here - we have never thought so much before." That night there was a dance before Post's fire, the men dancing first, the women next. The festivities continued until the wee sma' hours, when the dawn of the 16th brought a renewal of their talks.

On the 17th of August, a space intended for holding the council, in the cen-

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

ter of the town, was cleared and preparations were made for the assembling of the braves. About noon two messengers ( Kuckquetackton and Killbuck ) from the Duquesne savages arrived, accompanied by a French captain and fifteen soldiers. The messengers wished Post to go at once to Duquesne, where repre- sentatives of eight nations wished to speak with him. They stated that if the English would quit war, they desired to live on terms of amity ; but until Post would give assurances of this desire, the two Indian chiefs gave him a sample of the contempt with which the Indian nations would treat him. One offered his little finger to Post, while the other refused to shake hands, and the meeting was so formal that King Beaver took the preacher to his own big wigwam. On August 18th, the five days having expired, Beaver spoke to his visitors as follows :

Brother, you have been here now five days by our fire. We have sent to all the kings and captains, desiring them to come to our fire and hear the good news you brought. Yesterday, they sent two captains to acquaint us they were glad to hear our English brother was come among us, and were desirous to hear the good news he brought; and since there are a great many nations that want to see our brother, they have invited us to their fire, that they may hear us all. Now, brother, we have but one great fire: so brother by this string we will take you in our arms and deliver you into the arms of the other kings, and when we have called alt the other nations there, we will hear the good news you have brought.

King Shingas and Delaware George also made speeches and night closed in before the meeting dissolved. Affairs on August 19th took the same form as in the past ; but the demand of the Governor for hostages was combated, the Indians saying they believed he thought they had no brains. On the 20th, Post. accompanied by twenty-five mounted men and fifteen men on foot, set out from Kushkushkee for Sakonk. On their arrival in the afternoon, Post was received with hostile demonstrations, but the Indians coming forward, spoke for him, and the displeasure of the inhabitants subsided. On the evening of the 21st fifteen savages from Kushkushkee arrived at Sakonk, bringing the number of male Indians present up to 120. On the 22nd twenty savages of the Shawanese and Mingo tribes appeared, who informed Post that he was wanted at Duquesne, and to be ready to set out the following day. Next day the preacher offered no objec- tions to their demand. Their travels on the 23rd brought the party to Logstown, whence they proceeded on the 24th to Duquesne. At many of these meetings one or more French officers would be present ; but though suspecting the object of Post's mission, did not once outrage French courtesy by ordering him off. In fact he reposed so much faith in French honor that on the 27th he was back at Sakonk en route to Kushkushkee. King Shingas and nineteen other savages accompanied him, and, through their aid, Post arrived at the Indian town that night. Shortly after arriving, on the night of the 29th, a party of nine Tawa Indians passed through the town en route to the French fort. The 20th and 31st of August were given up to feasting; but on September Ist the savages began to consider the pro- posals for alliance with the English, submitted by Post. When they told him that the English wanted their lands, he called God to witness that such an idea was never entertained by his employers, saying further :

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History of Butler County, Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Brown, Robert C., ed; Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Meagher, John, jt. comp; Meginness, John Franklin, 1827-1899, jt. comp Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1658

Author: Brown, Robert C., ed; Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Meagher, John, jt. comp; Meginness, John Franklin, 1827-1899, jt. comp
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1658