History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Davis, A. J. (Aaron J.), b. 1847
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 862

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

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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.

The French laid out a line of military posts on nearly the same line as that pursued by the Celeron expedition. A fort was established at Presque Isle (now Erie), another at Le Bœuf (now Waterford), a third at Venango (Frank- lin), and a fourth at Pittsburgh, which was called Fort Du Quesne, and so on down the Ohio.

To counteract this activity of the French, the Ohio Company was chartered, and a half million acres was granted by the crown, to be selected mainly on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongalia and Kanawha Rivers. The company consisted of a number of Virginia and Maryland gentlemen, of whom Lawrence Washington was one. Securing the right of occupancy from the Indians, Captain Gist led twelve families and settled on the Monongalia and subsequently began the erection of a fort where the French afterward con- structed Fort Du Quesne.

These proceedings hastened the erection of the forts by the French at Ve- nango and Le Bœuf. Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, determined to send an official communication -protesting against the encroachments of the French- to the commandant of the French at Fort Le Bœuf. George Washington, then a youth twenty-one years of age, accepted the appointment to bear the mes- sage. He set out on the last day of November, 1753, and pushed on through the forests to the settlements on the Monongalia, where he was joined by Cap- tain Gist, and followed up the Allegheny to Fort Venango, thence up French Creek to Fort Le Bœuf, where he held a formal conference with the French commandant, St. Pierre. On his return Washington was twice fired at by hos- tile Indians, and came near losing his life by being thrown into the freezing waters of the Allegheny. His report of the embassage had the effect to excite the English to action, and Colonel Fry was sent with a body of 150 men to the support of the settlers. The French, having the Allegheny River on which to move, dropped down that river with 1,000 men supplied with artillery, and easily seized the fort then being constructed by the Ohio Company, greatly strengthened it, and called it Fort Du Quesne. The small band of Virginians pushed on and encountered a body of the French under Jumonville, routed them, killing ten men including the commander, and capturing twenty-one

prisoners. Only one of the French party escaped. Colonel Fry, the com- mander of the Americans, having died at Will's Creek, the command devolved on Washington. A company of 100 men from South Carolina came to the support of Washington. Knowing that he was confronted by a vastly superior force, well supplied with artillery, he threw up works at a point called Great Meadows, and named the hastily built post Fort Necessity.

The French soon invested the place. The action opened July 3, 1754, and lasted till late at night. The artillery of the French commanded a part of the fort and Washington was forced to capitulate. On the 4th of July he marched out with honors of war and fell back to Fort Cumberland. The Pennsylvania

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Assembly was slow to vote money for even defensive warfare, while large amounts were voted to buy peace from the Indians.

The English government recommended a congress of all the colonies, to- gether with the Six Nations, for the purpose of concerting plans for defense. This congress met at Albany on the 19th of June, 1754, the first ever con- vened in America. Franklin, who was a representative from Pennsylvania, offered a scheme for union among the colonies, which was adopted substan- tially as it came from his hands. The plan was rejected, however, by both the king and the colonies when it was referred to them for ratification.

Governor Hamilton resigned, and was succeeded in 1754 by Robert H. Morris. The British government called for 3,000 volunteers from Pennsyl- vania, with subsistence, camp equipage, and transportation, and sent two regi- ments of the line under General Braddock, who landed at Alexandria, Va., and marched to Frederick, Md., where, finding no supplies, he halted. Frank- lin, by strenuous exertion, secured the necessary wagons and beasts of burden.

Braddock had little conception of making war in the wilderness against wily savages. His progress through the forests as he moved toward Fort Du Quesne was so slow that the French were kept advised of every movement. Washington, who had accepted a position offered him by Braddock as aide-de- camp, advised rapid movement to forestall preparation, but the advice was not heeded. On the morning of the 9th of July the army of Braddock marched across the Monongahela, and, having gone only a short distance, fell into an ambuscade skillfully laid by the French and Indians. The advance was checked and thrown into confusion. Every tree on the front and flanks of the line con- cealed a murderous foe who, with unerring aim, picked off the officers. Brad- dock fell mortally wounded. All the mounted officers having fallen, the com- mand devolved on Washington, who, though sick, was in the midst of the hot- test fighting. Of 1,460 in Braddock's army, 456 were killed and 421 wound- ed. Panic seized the survivors, which carried them back upon the reserve, commanded by General Dunbar, and the flight was continued until Fort Cum- berland was reached.

This defeat left the frontier exposed to the merciless savage from the Hud- son to the Potomac. The unprotected settler in his wilderness home was the easy prey of the torch and scalping-knife, the burning cabin lit up the somber forests by their continuous blaze, and the shrieks of women and childen re- sounded along the entire frontier. Franklin accepted the command upon the Pennsylvania frontier, and by his exertions stayed the hand of the treacherous savage.

Governor Morris was superseded by William Denny, who assumed author- ity in August, 1756. Twenty-five companies of militia were recruited, and Colonel Armstrong was dispatched with a force of three hundred men, in Au- gust of the same year, to disperse the Indians at Kittanning, on the Allegheny

HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.

River, where Chief Jacobs had one of the largest towns in the State. At dawn on the morning of the 7th of September Colonel Armstrong surprised the Indians, killed Jacobs and most of his followers, and captured arms, pow- der, and valuable goods which had been distributed to them only the day before by the French.

The campaign of 1757 was disastrous to the English, but in 1758 General Abercrombie was given chief command. Wolf and Amherst were directed to operate against Louisburg and the posts on the lakes, and General Forbes was sent against Fort Du Quesne. With a detachment of royal troops and militia from Pennsylvania and Virginia, under command of Colonels Bouquet and Washington, he set out in July, 1758. Arriving in front of the fort a sharp battle was fought, in which the French were routed and the fort was surren- dered to the victors. All the expeditions against the French being successful this year, the war was brought to a close, and the French possessions in Amer- ica were ceded to Great Britain by the peace declared in 1762.

In October, 1759, James Hamilton was again appointed governor. George II died the same month of the following year, and was succeeded by his grand- son, George III.

Pontiac's War occurred in 1763, when the Indians of the West entered into a secret league, and in the month of May fell upon the forts held by the colo- nists. Nine posts, including Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, and Venango, fell into their hands, and their garrisons put to the slaughter. Only three, Fort Pitt (Du Quesne), Niagara, and Detroit, were able to hold out. The last named post was besieged by Pontiac in person from May until October. The Pennsylvania settlers were driven back to the line of the Susquehanna. Colonel Armstrong led a force into the Indian country to punish them, and relieved Fort Pitt, routing the Indians with slaughter.

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CHAPTER II.

FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Mason and Dixon - Indian Troubles - Stamp Act-Connecticut and Virginia Claims - First Continental Congress -- Second Continental Congress - Declaration of Independence -New Constitution for Pennsylvania - Retirement of Governor Penn and the Proprietary Assembly - Evacuation of Boston - Attack on Charleston - British take New York - Battle of Trenton - Princeton - Assembly of the New Legislature -- Brandywine - The British Occupy Philadelphia -Attack on Fort Mercer - Battle of Germantown - Valley Forge-Aid from France - Evacuation of Philadelphia - Battle of Monmouth -- Abolition of Slavery in Penn- sylvania- Wyoming Massacre -Overtures of Peace-Mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line - Disaster of Colonel Crawford -Peace -- Revolt of Pennsylvania Troops- Treaty of Fort Stanwix - Constitution of United States Framed and Adopted - New Constitution for State - Whisky Insurrection - War of 1812 - Coal - Public Schools - Revision of Constitution - Buckshot War - Mexican War - Sale of Public Works- Petroleum and Gas - Secession - Invasion of Pennsylvania- Battle of Gettysburg - Burning of Chambersburg - Soldiers Orphan Schools - Revision of the Constitution - Centennial Exposition - Riots of 1877 - Extra Session of the Legislature.

T HE boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland had been a source of vexation between the two proprietaries for many years. Charles Ma- son and Jeremiah Dixon, two able mathematicians and surveyors, were ap- pointed by the proprietors to survey the line. They arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1763, carrying with them the most perfect instruments then known to science, and at once entered upon their work. After about three years' la- bor they had reached a point 244 miles from the Delaware, and within thirty- six miles of the western limit of the State, when the Six Nations gave notice that the survey should proceed no farther. So the party returned to Philadel- phia. The remainder of the line was finished in 1782-84 by other surveyors. From the fact that this was subsequently the mark of division between the free and slave States, Mason and Dixon's line became familiar in American politics.

John Penn, grandson of the founder, had come to the colony in 1753, and, having acted as president of the Council, was in 1763 commissioned governor in place of Hamilton.

Indian barbarities still continuing along the frontier, Governor Penn sent Colonel Bouquet against them. Bouquet marched his Pennsylvanians as far as the Muskingum and compelled the Indians to sue for peace and to give up all the English captives who had been carried away during the years of trouble.

The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1765. This was. an act to lay a uniform tax on stamped paper in all the colonies, to realize funds for the common defense. Prior to this Parliament had adopted a tax on imports, to be paid in coin. These acts excited bitter opposition. A congress. of delegates assembled in New York in October, 1765. Messrs. Fox, Morton,

HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.

Bryan, and Dickinson were the delegates from Pennsylvania. A petition was sent to the king, and a memorial to Parliament. So strong was the opposition of the colonists to the measures of Parliament, that the Stamp Act was re- pealed the following year. A duty on tea, paper, etc., was the next step taken by the British government to raise revenue off the colonies. This measure was opposed as strenuously by the people and their assemblies as the former acts had been, and in 1770 this tax was abolished, except three pence a pound on tea. The effect on the people, however, was the same, as it was the principle of " taxation without representation " that they objected to.

On the death of his father, Richard (1771), Governor John Penn returned to England, and his younger brother, Richard, was appointed governor. He won the esteem of the people during the two years of his service, when he was superseded in 1773 by his brother John.

Maryland was not the only claimant of the territory embraced in Penn's province. Connecticut claimed and actually colonized a large part of the northern section of Pennsylvania, including the Wyoming valley, and Virginia claimed the section in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Connecticut claim was not finally adjusted until 1802, when Congress decided in favor of Penn- sylvania.

Trouble with the mother country now became imminent. The principle of taxation was maintained by the government and as stoutly resisted by the col- onies. On the 4th of September, 1774, the first Continental Congress assem- bled in Philadelphia. It was resolved that no more goods be imported from England, and that, unless a pacification was effected previously, no more col- onial produce of the soil be exported thither after September 10, 1775. A declaration of rights was adopted and addresses to the king, the people of Great Britain, and of British America were adopted.

The government of Great Britain determined with a strong hand to compel obedience to its behests. The battle of Lexington was fought on the 19th of April, 1775. The colonies were aroused by the blow. A public meeting was held in Philadelphia and it was resolved to organize military companies in all the counties. The second Continental Congress met in May, and provided for organizing an army, fixing the quota for Pennsylvania at 4,300 men. The capture of Ticonderoga on May 10, and the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, followed. Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental army. Congress recommended action by the several colonies, which meant the deposition of the royal governors. A new constitution was resolved upon by the delegates at a colonial meeting in Philadelphia.

A resolution was introduced in Congress June 7, 1776, declaring that "the United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States." A committee (consisting of Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Livingston, and Sherman) was appointed to draft a declaration. It was reported June 28, and adopted

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July 4. An engrossed copy of the declaration was made, which was signed on the 2d of August following. The convention for framing a new constitu- tion for Pennsylvania met on the 15th of July, elected Franklin president, framed a new organic law, and made all necessary provisions for putting it in operation. The old proprietary Assembly adjourned on the 28th of September never to meet again, and with it ended the power of Governor Penn. He remained in this country, living at his country seat in Buck's county, until his death, which occurred in 1795. In 1779 the Legislature passed an act vest- ing the estates of the proprietors in the commonwealth, but paying them a gratuity of 130,000 pounds, " in remembrance of the enterprising spirit of the Founder." This act did not touch the private estates of the proprietors. England still pays the heirs of Penn an annuity of 4,000 pounds.

The British government raised an army of 72,000 men, 17,000 of whom were hired Hessians. Congress issued bills of credit amounting to $6,000,000. Washington compelled Howe to evacuate Boston in March, 1776. The follow- ing June Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker made a combined land and naval attack on the defenses of Charleston harbor, and were repulsed by the Carolina militia under General William Moultrie.

The British forces withdrew to New York, where they were met by rein- forcements under Lord Howe, and compelled Washington to withdraw from the city. The patriot army retreated across New Jersey and took position on the right bank of the Delaware, on Pennsylvania soil. Cornwallis followed with a heavy detachment. On the night of the 25th of December Washington recrossed the Delaware with a picked body of men, surprised the Hessians posted at Trenton, killed some fifty, and took over a thousand prisoners with their stores, arms, and ammunition. This success inspired the little army with new courage and saved Philadelphia from falling into the hands of the enemy. A second action, at Princeton, N. J., gave Washington a partial success ; but being outnumbered he withdrew and went into winter quarters at Morristown.

On the 4th of March, 1777, the two houses of the Legislature, elected under the new constitution, assembled, and in joint convention chose Thomas Whar- ton, jr., president, under the high-sounding title of " His Excellency, Thomas Wharton, Junior, Esquire, President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, Captain General, and Commander-in-chief in and over the same."

Early in the spring indications pointed to Philadelphia as the point of attack by the British army. Enlistments were urged, and General Benedict Arnold was put in command of a camp opened in Pennsylvania for drilling recruits. In midsummer Lord Howe embarked a force of 19,500 men on a fleet of 300 transports, and sailed southward from New York to Chesapeake Bay and up the bay to within fifty-four miles of Philadelphia, where he debarked. Wash- ington had meanwhile crossed the Delaware from New Jersey, passed through 3

HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.

Philadelphia, and confronted Howe near the Brandywine. After a brisk skir- mish Washington withdrew across the Brandywine, taking position at Chad's Ford, where, on the 11th of September, a pitched battle ensued. A detach- ment of the British moved up the river beyond the right flank of the Americans, where they crossed, and returning took the army under Washington by sur- prise. Overborne by numbers, the Americans were compelled to retire. La- fayette was wounded in this battle.

The British still advanced toward Philadelphia, and on the 16th Washington made another stand some twenty miles west of Philadelphia; but a rain storm wet the powder of the patriot soldiers, which prevented a general engagement. On the 20th General Wayne, who had a small detachment scouting in the rear of the enemy, was surprised by the British, who gave no quarter, putting all to the sword but a few whom chance favored to escape. This slaughter is known as the Paoli massacre. On the 18th of September Congress adjourned from Philadelphia to meet at Lancaster, and on the 30th removed across the Susquehanna to York, where it remained in session till the following summer. The Council adjourned to Lancaster. On the 26th the British army entered Philadelphia.

The defenses on the Delaware were still in possession of the Americans. Accordingly, on the 21st of October Count Donop, with a force of 2,500 men, made an attack on Fort Mercer, at Red Bank ; but the resolute defenders compelled the British to retreat, with a loss of over 400 men, and their leader mortally wounded. The British next bombarded the fort for six days, and, not succeeding in its reduction, they at last brought their large vessels close under the walls of the fort and manned the yard-arms with sharpshooters, who drove the gunners from their posts, and the fort fell into the hands of the enemy, leav- ing the navigation of the Delaware open to the British.

On the 3d of October Washington's army attacked the British at German- town. At first the promise of victory was fair ; but the enemy proved too strong in numbers and position, and Washington retired to his camp at White Marsh, nearly sixteen miles away.

Here Howe endeavored to surprise him on the 4th of December, but Lydia Darrah, a Philadelphia lady, brought the intelligence to Washington in time to prepare to receive the British. Howe returned to the city without accomplish- ing anything. Washington now crossed the Schuylkill and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. The patriot army, half clad and poorly fed, suf- fered severely, the prints of their naked feet in snow and on frozen ground being often tinted with blood. Sir Henry Clinton was appointed by the ministry of Great Britain to succeed Lord Howe.

A treaty with France secured that government as an ally of the Americans against the English. A fleet of four frigates and twelve ships was dispatched under command of Count D'Estaing to shut up the British fleet in the Dela-

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ware. Intelligence of the sailing of the French fleet reached the English cabi- net, and the evacuation of the Delaware was immediately ordered. The fleet withdrew to New York, and Clinton evacuated Philadelphia, moving across New Jersey toward New York. Washington followed and came up with the enemy at Monmouth, on the 28th of June, where a battle was fought, result- ing in a victory for the American troops. Congress returned to Philadelphia from York, as did also the Colonial Legislature from Lancaster. General Arnold, who was wounded at Saratoga, was given command in Philadelphia, and occupied the city with a regiment the day following the evacuation.

The death of President Wharton made Vice-President George Bryan acting president. Bryan perfected a bill for the extinguishment of claims to slaves, which was passed by the Assembly March 1, 1780. It provided that no child of slave parents, born after that date, should be a slave, but a servant till the- age of twenty-eight years, when all claim for service should end. In this man -. ner was slavery forever rooted out of Pennsylvania.

During the summer of 1778, twelve hundred Tories and Indians made a: descent from the north into the Wyoming Valley. Most of the able-bodiedi men were in the patriot army. The old men and boys, numbering about four hundred, resolutely met the invaders, but were overborne by numbers and put to the sword. A few escaped to Forty Fort. Humane terms of surrender were agreed upon, and the families returned to their homes; but the savages treacherously fell upon them, and the night of the 5th of July was given to in- discriminate slaughter. This bloody incident is known as the "Wyoming Mas- sacre."

Early in this year the British government made overtures of peace, after Parliament had abolished the taxes which were so offensive to the colonies. Promises were extended to forgive all past offenses, but Congress refused to listen to any proposals so long as the English armies remained on American soil. One of the committee sent by the British government, named Johnstone, proposed to General Reed that if he would lend his aid to bring about terms of pacification, ten thousand guineas and the best office in the country should be his. The answer of the patriot general was, "My influence is but small, but were it as great as Governor Johnstone would insinuate, the king of Great Brit- ain has nothing in his gift that would tempt me."

Joseph Reed was elected president of the Pennsylvania Legislature and in- augurated on the Ist of December, 1778. At the request of Washington, Pres- ident Reed was invested with extraordinary powers in 1780, which he used with prudence and good effect. During the winter of this year some of the soldiers of the Pennsylvania line mutinied and marched on Philadelphia with arms. They had enlisted for "three years or the war," meaning three years unless the war closed sooner. The authorities had interpreted it to mean three years, or as much longer as the war should last. President Reed met the mu-

HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.

tineers, heard their cause, and pledged himself to have all discharged who had honorably served the full term of three years if they would return to camp. The soldiers agreed to this proposition. Before the arrival of President Reed, two emissaries from the enemy came into camp, offering inducements for the soldiers to continue the revolt. The mutineers spurned the offer, and delivered them over to the officers, by whom they were tried and executed as spies. A reward was offered the soldiers for this manifestation of patriotism, but they re- fused it, saying that what they had done was for love of their country, and they would accept no reward.

William Moore was elected president to serve from November 14, 1781. A body of four hundred volunteers, from Washington and Westmoreland coun- ties, was called out, under command of Colonel William Crawford, to chastise the hostile Ohio Indians. The expedition was unfortunate, being defeated, dispersed, and their leader captured and burned at the stake. Crawford county was soon after named in honor of this unfortunate soldier.

In 1782 John Dickinson was chosen president of Pennsylvania. The fol- lowing year the independence of the colonies was acknowledged, and the joy at the return of peace was unspeakable. The soldiers of Burgoyne, who had been confined in the prison camp at Lancaster, were sent to New York. In June another revolt occurred among the Pennsylvania troops, because of the delay in their payment and discharge. Congress demanded that the State militia should be called out to quell the insurgents. The Council refused to resort to this extreme measure, and Congress left Philadelphia in pique, estab- lishing itself at Princeton, N. J., and afterward at Annapolis, Md.

In October, 1784, the last treaty was concluded with the Indians at Fort Stanwix. All the land north of the Ohio River and the line of Pine Creek was purchased from the natives. This purchase completed the entire limits of the State, with the exception of the " Erie Triangle," which was acquired from the United States in 1792.

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History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Davis, A. J. (Aaron J.), b. 1847 Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 862

Author: Davis, A. J. (Aaron J.), b. 1847
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 862