History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 28

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

strong frame, he sits his borse well and with a dashing air. His nose is prominent, his eye piercing, his complexion ruddy, his whole sp- pesrance that of a man of splendid health and flowing spirits. He is just the fellow to win by his headlong valor the nickname of ' The Mad.' Bat he is more than a mere fighter. Skillful, energetic, fall of resources and presence of mind, quick to comprehend and prompt to act, of sound judgment and extraordinary courage, he has in him the qualities of a great general, as he shall show many a time in his short life of one and fifty years. Pennsylvania, after her quiet fashion, may not make as much of his fame as it deserves, bat impartial his- tory will allow her none the less the honor of having given its most brilliant soldier to the Revolution in her Anthony Wayne.

" And what shall I say of him who hears on his heart the weight of all? Who can messure the anxieties that afflict his mind? Who weigh the burdens that he has to hear? Who but himself can ever know the responsibilities thst rest upon his soul ? Behold him in yonder cottage, his lamp burning steadily through half the winter night, his brain never at rest, his hand always busy, his pen ever at work, now counseling with Greene how to clothe and feed the troops, or with Steuben how to reorganize the service; now writing to Howe about exchanges, or to Livingston about the relief of prisoners, or to Clinton about supplies, or to Congress about enlistments or promo- tions or finances or the French alliance; opposing foolish and rash councils to-day, urging prompt and rigorous policies to-morrow ; now calming the jealousy of Congress, now soothing the wounded pride of ill-used officers; now answering the complaints of the civil authority, and now those of the starving soldiers, whose sufferings he shares, and by his checrfal courage keeping up the hearts of hoth. Modest in the midst of pride, wise in the midst of folly, calm in the midst of passion, cheerful in the midst of gloom, steadfast among the waver- ing, hopeful among the despondent, bold smong the timid, prudent among the rash, generous among the selfish, true among the faithless, greatest among good men and best among the great,-such was George Washington at Valley Forge.

"The people in the vicinity of Valley Forge were by no means all Quakers, and among them were many who had no scruples against fighting, including the Scotch-Irish, who rather preferred it. Wash- ington, indeed, wrote, in his letter to Congress explaining the reasons for the failure of his campaign along the Schuylkill, that the people of that region were to a man disaffected ; but in this instance the general, much as we revere his character and admire his abilities, is no safe guide to the historian. But four or five miles away lived Anthony Wayne, the hest executive officer in the Revolutionary army. Five miles in another direction lay the Trappe, wbence came Gens. Peter Muhlenberg and Francis Swsin. At the Valley Forge was Col. William Dewees, whose property the British destroyed; and on the Schuylkill, a few miles below, lived Col. John Bull, whose house met a similar fate. At neor points in the Chester Valley were Col. Lewis Gronow, Lieut .- Col. Caleb Parry, who was killed at Long Island, Dr. John Davis, surgeoo of the Pennsylvania Musketry Bat- talion, and Dr. Samuel Kennedy, who had charge of the hospital at the Yellow Springs. In Vincent was Col. William Evans, and John Beston, one of the most active men in Pennsylvania in the organiza- tion of troops and other military measures, was born withio sight of Valley Forge. At the time Washington wrote that letter, Capt. Patrick Anderson (whose home, only two miles from the Forge, the British ransacked and devastated) had in his army s company recruited in that neighborhood, and Issac Anderson was with him temporarily with a company of militia. Capt. William Bodley, whose residence was near where the Phoenixville road is, Capt. Alexander McCara- gher, and Capt. John Pugh all had companies in the service some time during the war. Lieats. Hezekiah Davis, Llewellyn Davis, and Ezekiel Howell lived in the adjacent township of Charlestown. In Providence, across the river, were Capts. Henry Pawling and John Edwards and Lieut. Thomas Morgan.

"The names of privates, unfortunately, are not so easily ascer- tained, but I am ready to furnish satisfactory evidence that the fol- lowing-named men, living within a circuit of four miles of Valley Forge, served at one time or other in the Revolutionary army : Pat- rick MacFall, of the Bull tavern, Samuel Roberts, Frederick Yost, Issac Richardson, William Schofield, James Schofield, George Scho- field, Frederick Gearheart, John Parry, Jacob Varley, Jacoh Boyer, John Humphrey, Samuel Williams, George Lute, Jacob Hamble, Ja- cob Walters, Benjamin Boyer, Roger Little, Thomas Roberts, Lewis Pearce, James Boyles, Mordecai Williams, Nicholas Pergrin, Frederick

Foose, Peter Rambo, Phiness John, and James Martin, who died in. the service. Now it may be that there were other localities in other provinces which contributed more towards the Revolutionary cause, but I do not know them, and certainly this is enough to show that, though there were cases of individual disaffection, any sweeping charge of disloyalty is mistaken. Gen. Howe says, in his 'Narra- tive,' p. 56, 'Through the whole march of the armny, from the Head of Elk to Philadelphia, the male inhabitants fit to bear arms (& very few excepted) had deserted their dwellings, and I had great reason to believe were in arms against us.'"

June 19, 1879, Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge were dedicated with appropriate and impressive cere- monies, the new corner-stone being laid by the Grand Lodge of Free Masons of Pennsylvania. J. Smith Futhey, the president of the day, then delivered some appropriate remarks, which were followed by an oration by ex-Governor Pollock. Valley Forge he called the " Mecca of America," where civilians would flock to imbibe lessons of patriotism, and soldiers to acquire inspirations of valor. A large as- semblage was present, and seven companies of the Sixth Regiment and the Griffen Battery, of Phoenixville, partic- ipated in the day's exercises.

HOSPITALS IN CHESTER COUNTY FOR WOUND- ED REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS-MONUMENTS ERECTED TO THEIR MEMORY.

After the battle of Brandywine it became necessary to provide hospitals for the sick and wounded. Gen. Lafay- ette was cared for by the Moravians at Bethlehem. The German Seventh-day Baptists, who had a mionastie institu- tion at Ephrata, in Lancaster County, and who were de- cided Whigs in sentiment, although opposed to war, opened their whole establishment, and converted their large build- ing into a hospital.

The barn of Joseph Downing, at Downingtown, was used as a hospital, and also the next summer, and its use in 1778 prevented the storing of hay in it. Forty soldiers were buried on the Downing farm, but no marks now re- main to show the place of interment. In the fall of 1777, Mr. Downing's team was away in the army, when the seed- ing was done with an old mare and oxen, driven by Joseph Downing, Jr., father of Richard I. Downing, who says he cut up the steps the soldiers used in going up and down in the barn.

The Uwchlan Friends' meeting-house, at Lionville, was occupied as a hospital. This stone meeting-house was erected in 1756, is still standing, and used by the society, and traces of blood therein are still visible from the wounds of the Revolutionary soldiers who for months were lodged in it, many being of the wounded at Paoli. The old school-house at the intersection of the Valley and- Brandywine roads, at the Turk's Head tavern (now West Chester), was occupied as a hospital for the accommodation- of the wounded Americans who had suffered in the Bran- dywine battle, a number of whom died and were buried in. the open space left for the use of the school-house, on the north side of the road leading to the Brandywine. The hospitals at Yellow Springs (since called Chester Springs), where Washington had for a time his headquarters, were well arranged and quite commodious, as, owing to the. Springs having been a place of great resort since 1750, great improvements for those days had been made to it by:

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GENERAL HISTORY.

John Bailey, a silversmith of Philadelphia. Washington utilized all these improvements, especially for the sick and wounded of his men.

The wives of Zachariah Rice and Christian Hench died from typhus fever contracted in the hospital at the Yellow Springs while on errands of mercy, carrying food and deli- cacies to the invalid soldiers. The following spring a sur- geon of the army, named Dr. McCuryher, in going from the camp to the Yellow Springs, stopped to water his horse in the creek below the hospital, and the horse becoming frightened, threw his rider, breaking his neck. The doc- tor's effects were administered to by Maj. Christy, who commanded at the hospital, and were sold at public sale. Maj. George Hartman had seen the notice, and attended the sale with a view to purchase his silver watch. He pur- chased it for eight hundred dollars, Continental moncy, being his wages for three campaigns as drummer and driv- ing team for Washington's army while at Valley Forge. This watch he directed should descend to the eldest son in a direct line. During the time the army was encamped at Valley Forge, the hospital at the Yellow Springs was full of soldiers with typhus fever and smallpox, many of whom died. One of George Hartman's brothers-in-law, who was at home during the winter and played the fife, was sent for almost every morning to assist in playing the "Dead March" at the funeral of a soldier who had died during the night, numbers of whom lie buried in the meadow in front of the old hospital at the Yellow Springs. It being a dif- ficult matter to obtain necessary drugs for the use of the army, our surgeons had recourse to many articles of our indigenous flora, American senna and white-walnut bark being substances largely in demand.

On the farm of Herman Prizer, in East Coventry town- ship, formerly stood a barn, torn down many years ago, which was used as a hospital for the American forces dur- ing the Revolutionary war. About one hundred and fifty yards northwest of the barn, in a small copse of woods be- longing to John Ellis, E-q., are the graves of sixteen American soldiers. The mounds over these graves are still visible, being side by side, in a straight line, and about four feet apart. There are no head- or foot-stones. About three hundred yards north of the hospital more soldiers were buried; but a public road was laid out through this section many years ago, and the mounds were leveled down to make a thoroughfare right over the patriots' heads.

Many churches and meeting-houses in Chester County were converted into hospitals, and among them were the German Reformed church in East Vincent township, on the Ridge or Nutt's road, and Zion Lutheran church, on the Schuylkill road, in East Pikeland township, about one mile apart.

Many of the wounded soldiers from the field of Brandy- wine were removed to these churches, and their moans and groans as they passed along the roads gave the inhabitants indications of how near to them the tide of war was rolling. A small detachment of soldiers accompanied them, and were encamped for a time in a buckwheat-field belonging to Peter Miller, near the German Reformed church. The grain was nearly ready for the sickle, and was wholly de- stroycd. After the main army took up their winter quar-

ters, in the month of December, 1777, at Valley Forge, the sick and wounded were provided for in private houses, meeting-houses, and wherever suitable accommodations could be had. The German Reformed and Lutheran churches above alluded to continued to be occupied as hospitals during the entire winter of 1777-78. The German Reformed church on the Ridge road, then a log structure, stood on very high ground, and was visible to the naked eye from the Valley Forge encampment, on the North Valley hill, and with the aid of a glass one could be very plainly seen from the other. Gen. Washington, whose heart was with his men, frequently visited these hospitals, and while at the one on the Ridge road his headquarters were at an old log house on the farm recently owned by George Snyder, about one-fourth mile north of the church, and within sight of it .*

A very malignant fever broke out among those quar- tered in the churches named, and many of them died. Twenty-two were buried on grounds belonging to Henry Hipple, Sr., near the East Vincent church. He always preserved the spot as sacred ground, and protected their graves with a good fence. Two soldiers also died in an old log barn on the farm lately owned by James Hause, about five hundred yards from the church, and were buried on the bank of a small stream on the farm. The place of their burial was marked, and is known. During the same period a number died at Zion church, but there is nothing to mark their resting-place, and their exact number is not known. In the ycar 1831 steps were taken by the military volunteer organizations of Chester County to inclose the remains of the twenty-two soldiers who were buried near the church on the Ridge road, and to erect a monument to their memory. The monument is at the foot of the hill, and is a marble pyramid about eight feet high, inclosed by a strong wall. It bears the following inscriptions :

On the southwest side :

" Virtue, Liberty, and Independence."

On the southeast side :

" Within these walls surrounding they Can yet he thought to claim a lear ; Oh, smite thy gentle breast, and say, 'The friends of freedom slumber here.'

" We here their humble graves adorn,- We, too, may fall and ask a tear,- 'Tis not the beauty of the morn Thut proves the evening shall be clear."

On the northwest side :

" Their names, though lost in carth helow, And hence are not recorded here, Are known where lasting pleasures flow, Beyond the reach of death and fear.

* In the winter of 1777-78, it is said, a detachment from the British army, probably piloled by Tories, crossed French Creek at what. is now Snyder's Mills, one mile south of the German Reformed- church on the Ridge road, for the purpose of endeavoring to capture Gen. Washington while he was on a visit to the hospital, but they failed in their purpose. There wasa village of soure seventeen houses near where they crossed the creck, and in their rage they burnod these houses, and killed some of the occupants before they could make their escape. This is the tradition of that neighborhood.

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"Their feet have trod misfortune's sands, Their lives by hardships worn down; They're gone, we trust, to better lands, To brighter sunshine of their own."

On the northeast side :

"Sacred to the memory of Twenty-two Revolutionary Soldiers, who in the fall of 1777, when the American Army had encamped at the Valley Forge, were lodged in the German Reformed Church, (in sight) then occupied as an hospital; who there, distant from their homes, uncomforted by friends and kind relations, deceased in the spring of 1778, of a fever then prevailing in the camp; who were interred in this ground and where they slumbered in their peaceful but neglected tomb [except that Mr. Henry Hipple, Sr., preserved the ground,] until the Union Battalion of Volunteers of Chester County, aided by the generous and patriotic people of this vicinity, resolved to have them enclosed and a mounment placed over them; the founda- tion of which accordingly was laid on the 19th of November, 1831, upon which occasion regular military ceremonies were observed, and a funeral oration delivered, to perpetuate the profound regard due the individuals who paid the forfeit of their precious lives for our sacred rights, and for privileges which they were never permitted to enjoy, and to contribute to generations unborn, the memory of the precious price of the Liberty & Independence of our happy Unioo. They have raised this Monument on the 25th of October 1833, and which they also dedicate to the memory of a number of other Revolutionary Sol- diers who, the same time and same manner, deccased in the Lutheran Church (then used as ao hospital and are buried near it and in other places of this vicinity)."

In the lapse of years the wall began to crumble and be- come dilapidated ; a committee was appointed about the year 1868 to take steps for the necessary repairs. The grounds had been donated by the then owner, Henry Hipple, Sr., but they had not been formally conveyed, and Reuben Beerbower, who had become the holder of the legal title, at the request of the committee, by deed dated Nov. 17, 1868, conveyed to Joseph P. Mitchell, Charles Holman, and Davis Yeager, as trustees, in fee simple, "all that cer- tain Revolutionary soldiers' cemetery aud lot of ground, situated on the Ridge or Nutt's road, in East Vincent town- ship, Chester County," bounded as described in said deed, and containing twelve and thirty-seven-hundredths square perches. This deed, which was prepared by Davis Hause, Esq., contains a clear and succinct account of the hospital, and of the erection of the monument. It is recorded in the recorder's office, in Deed-Book W. 7, page 297. After the conveyance funds were collected, and a substan- tial wall re-erected on three sides of the lot, and an iron fence in front. These repairs and improvements were com- pleted about the year 1870.

GEN. WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY FROM CHESTER SPRINGS TO READING.

When Washington was about leaving Chester Springs he made inquiries for a trusty guide to pilot him to Read- ing. Capt. John Ralston was recommended to him to be such an one. The general wrote a few lines, and sent one of his officers to order Capt. Ralston to appear before him. The latter was making some excuses, but the request was pressing. He went with the bearer of the order, though in great alarm, not knowing for what purpose he was wanted. But his good conscience cheered him, as he had done no harm to his country, and had acted the part of a good pa- triot. With this feeling he recovered his composure, and when he arrived at Washington's headquarters he was in-

troduced to the general by his guide saying, " Here is Capt. Ralston." Washington made inquiries how far he lived from the Springs, and how far his father lived from them; how they all were, and where he had been. When the captain had answered all these questions, the next was, " Are you acquainted with all the roads in these parts ?" When Washington put this last question he stood di. rectly before the captain, who had been requested to take a seat.

Then, the captain used to say, his heart beat faster than ever before as he looked at this monstrous big man. The captain replied " Yea ;" and then he was asked if he knew such and such a road that the general mentioned. The captain saying he knew of none by that name, the general quickly clapped his hand in his pocket aod drew out a book of maps (all which time the captain knew nothing of the gen- eral's design), and looking for the road he intended to in- quire about, he said : "The Ridge road, leading by Brum- back's church." Whereupon the captain answered " Yes ; he was well acquainted with it." "Then," said Wash- ington, laying his hand on the captain's shoulder, "you must be my pilot to Reading," and not until then did the captain's heart cease its violent beating. He was ordered to be ready at such an hour on the morrow at his head- quarters. The captain did as ordered, and the line of march was commenced from the Springs to Kimberton (now) ; then continued down Branson's road to where the General Pike tavern is, where this and the Schuylkill road forks to get across French Creek bridge, as there was no stone bridge known in those times. Then they went up the Ridge road, which went in front of the German Re- formed church on the hill (then full of sick soldiers), and thence up the road to where tents had been struck for the first night's quarters. The general occupied the house yet standing, and lately the residence of the family of Widow Francis, which quarters the captain had gone ahead and prepared for Washington. Next day the line of march was up the Ridge road to where the Ridge and Branson's road mects,-the place lately John Young's,-and here was Washington's second night's lodging. (For this house,; when erected, Col. Bull did the masonry work.) The next day the captain was discharged, as the perilous part. of the journey was over, and the roads were from this on better known .*

IMPORTANT EVENTS RELATIVE TO CHESTER COUNTY, 1777 TO 1784-DOINGS OF THE COUN- CIL OF SAFETY, ETC.

Sept. 17, 1777, Council of Safety urged the fifth class of Chester County militia into the field with all possible. dispatch. Chester County believed to be well furnished,. and that two thousand blankets might be had there.

Council of Safety to Col. Smith, Lieutenant of Chester. County :

" LANCASTER, 14 Novr. 1777. "SIR,-Information, from persons of character, has come to the Conn- cil that Mr. John James, of the city of Philadelphia, a person whose uniform conversation and conduct has heretofore fixed on him the charge of enmity to the cause of liberty, hud lately been clandestinely.

* This anecdote of Capt. Ralston was written by Frederick Shruder, his intimate friend, in 1846.

REST OF FRANCIS GOOD, WEST GROVE, CHESTER Co. PA.

RES. OF A. D. HARLAN COATESVILLE , CHESTER Co. PA.

HOME RES. OF MOSES ROSS, PARKESBURG CHESTER CO.PA.

حتاجين

FARM RES. OF MOSES ROSS, WEST DERRY.

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GENERAL HISTORY.

sent out by General Howe, to promote the views of our Invaders. Such miscreants ought to be hanted down, and laid hold off, by every good man, but Council are particularly bound to secure these danger- ous emissaries, in order to their condign punishment. I therefore apply to you, in order to get the person above named, and any others acting in like manner, certainly and speedily arrested. For this pur- pose it will be proper to watch the meetings of the Quakers. At these assemblies, agents of this nature will without doubt, be busy and mischievous. Prudence direets that secrecy be used; and there- fore the design of laying hold of them abould be imparted with cau- tion, and not without necessity. John James is about 35 years of age, five feet & ten inches high; slenderly made, his eyes dark, he stoops in walking, his shoulders fall. greatly ; and be leans sideways ; his hair, for he wears no wig, is of a dark hue, and his hat very plain. He generally uses elothes of a light drab color, made in the 'strictest Quaker fashion,' being lengthy in the skirts and without pockets. But as he is a native of Chester County, he will probably be knowa among you, and better ascertained by your neighbors than by any description. For this man you have under cover of this letter, a warrant, tho it is expected that all ogents of the enemy will be in- dustriously sought after and apprehended by you and many other friends of their country, without such formality."

January 13th. Jacob Dingee and Richard Strode delivered the body of Charles Dingee, late of the county of Chester, to the order of the Council of Safety, agreeably to the condition of a bond by them given, with Thomas Meteer, to His Excellency the President, taken by Elias Boudinot, etc.

"Order by Council, that the said Charles Dingee be committed to the goal of this (Lancaster) County, there to remain until be shall take the oath or affirmation of allegiance and give security," etc.

March 11, 1778, the Council write to Col. Andrew Boyd, of Chester County, as follows :

"SIR,-Council are informed that there is a quantity of Paper at the paper-mill belonging to Mr. Wilcocks in your county. This is an article so essentially necessary at this time of distress and difficulty, when our ports are shut up, that it is the opinion of Council it should be immediately secured and taken to some place of safety. Council therefore request you to underlake the business ; and as it is probable that the enemy will counteract the design unless you conduct yourself with great secrecy aad dispatch, as I am informed that Mr. Wilcocks is in the city of Philadelphia, I think it necessary to caution you on this head. You are hereby authorized to call ao the wagon master of your County for wagons as you may have occasion, and if you find a Guard of Militia to be necessary, which I think it absolutely ao, the powers with which you are invested, they may easily be procured, but none of them should be intrusted with the secret unless it be the officer commanding the party- Aa it is intended that the owner shall be paid a reasonable price for the paper, you will please to leave a cer- tificate with some of the family, for the quantity you may take. It is the request of Council that you make particular inquiry respecting the conduct of the people that are carrying on the business at the Paper-Mill, and what stock of raw material is on hand, as it is hinted to. Council that they are unfriendly to the American cause.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 28

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162