History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 12

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USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 12

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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

George Thomas, a planter from the West Indies, was appointed Governor in 1737, but did not arrive in the colony till the following year. His first care was to settle the disorders in the Cumberland Valley, and it was finally agreed that settlers from either colony should owe allegiance to the Governor of that colony wherever settled, until the division line which had been provided for was surveyed and marked. War was declared on the 23d of October, 1739, between Great Britain and Spain. Seeing that his colony was liable to be encroached upon by the enemies of his government, he endeavored to organ- ize the militia, but the majority of the Assembly was of the peace element, and it could not be induced to vote money. Finally he was ordered by the home government to call for volunteers, and eight companies were quickly formed, and sent down for the coast defense. Many of these proved to be servants for whom pay was demanded and finally obtained. In 1740, the great evangelist, Whitefield, visited the colony, and created a deep religious interest among all denominations. In his first intercourse with the Assembly, Gov. Thomas en. deavored to coerce it to his views. But a more stubborn set of men never met in a deliberative body than were gathered in this Assembly at this time. Finding that he could not compel action to his mind, he yielded and con- sulted their views and decisions. The Assembly, not to be outdone in mag- nanimity, voted him £1,500 arrearages of salary, which had been withheld be- cause he would not approve their legislation, asserting that public acts should take precedence of appropriations for their own pay. In March, 1744, war was declared between Great Britain and France. Volunteers were called for, and 10,000 men were rapidly enlisted and armed at their own expense. Franklin, recognizing the defenseless condition of the colony, issued a pamph- let entitled Plain Truth, in which he cogently urged the necessity of organ- ized preparation for defense. Franklin was elected Colonel of one of the regiments, but resigned in favor of Alderman Lawrence. On the 5th of May, 1747, the Governor communicated intelligence of the death of John Penn, the eldest of the proprietors, to the Assembly, and his own intention to retire from the duties of his office on account of declining health.

Anthony Palmer was President of the Council at the time of the with- drawal of Gordon, and became the Acting Governor. The peace party in the As- sembly held that it was the duty of the crown of England to protect the colony, and that for the colony to call out volunteers and become responsible for their payment was burdening the people with an expense which did not belong to them, and which the crown was willing to assume. The French were now deeply intent on securing firm possession of the Mississippi Valley and the en- tire basin, even to the summits of the Alleghanies in Pennsylvania, and were busy establishing trading posts along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. They employed the most artful means to win the simple natives to their interests, giving showy presents and laboring to convince them of their great value. Pennsylvania had won a reputation among the Indians of making presents of substantial worth. Not knowing the difference between steel and iron, the French distributed immense numbers of worthless iron hatchets, which the natives supposed were tbe equal of the best English steel axes. The Indians, however, soon came to distinguish between the good and the valueless. Un- derstanding the Pennsylvania methods of securing peace and friendship, the the natives became very artful in drawing out " well piled up" presents. The government at this time was alive to the dangers which threatened from the insinuating methods of the French. A trusty messenger, Conrad Weiser, was sent among the Indians in the western part of the province to. observe the plans of the French, ascertain the temper of the natives, and especially to

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

magnify the power of the English, and the disposition of Pennsylvania to give great presents. This latter policy had the desired effect, and worthless and wandering bands, which had no right to speak for the tribe, came teeming in, desirous of scouring the chain of friendship, intimating that the French were making great offers, in order to induce the government to largo liberality, until this " brightening the chain," became an intolerable nuisance. At a sin- gle council held at Albany, in 1747, Pennsylvania distributed goods to the value of £1,000, and of such a character as should be most serviceable to the recipients, not worthless gew-gaws, but such as would contribute to their last- ing comfort and well being, a protection to the person against the bitter frosts of winter, and sustenance that should minister to tho steady wants of the body and alleviation of pain in timo of sickness. The treaty of Aix-la-Cha- pelle, which was concluded on the 1st of October, 1748, secured poace between Great Britain and France, and should have put an end to all hostile enconn- ters between their representatives on the American continent. Palmer re- mained at the head of the government for a little more than two years. He was a retired merchant from the West Indies, a man of wealth, and had come into the colony in 1708. He lived in a style suited to a gentleman, kept a coach and a pleasure barge.

On the 23d of November, 1748, James Hamilton arrived in the colony from England, bearing tho commission of Liontenant Governor. He was born in America, son of Androw Hamilton, who had for many years boen Speaker of the Assembly. The Indians wost of the Susquehanna had complained that set. tlers had come upon their best lands, and were acquiring titles to them, where- as the proprietors had never purchased these lands of them, and had no claim to them. The first care of Hamilton was to settle these dispntes, and allay the rising excitement of the nativos. Richard Potors, Secretary of the colony, a man of great prudence and ability, was sent in company with the Indian in- terproter, Conrad Weiser, to remove the intruders. It was firmly and fear- lessly done, the settlers giving up their tracts and the cabins which they had built, and accepting lands on the east side of the river. The hardship was in tuany cases great, but when they were in actual need, the Secretary gave money and placed them upon lands of his own, having secured a tract of 2.000,000 of acres.

But these troubles were of small consequence compared with those that were threatening from the West. Though the treaty of Aix was supposed to have settled all difficulties between the two courts, the French were determined to occupy the whole territory drained by the Mississippi, which they claimed by priority of discovery by La Salle. The British Ambassador at Paris entered complaints before the French Court that encroachments were being made by the French upon English soil in America, which were politely heard, and promises made of restraining tho French in Canada from eneroaching upon English territory. Formal orders were sent out from the home government to this effect; but at the same time secret intimations were convoyed to them that their conduct in endeavoring to secure and hold the territory in dispute was not displeasing to the government, and that disobedience of these orders would not incur its displeasure. The French deemed it necessary, in order to ostab- lish a legal claim to the country, to tako formal possession of it. Accordingly, the Marquis do la Galissoniero, who was at this time Governor General of Canada, dispatched Capt. Bienville de Celeron with a party of 215 French and fifty-tive Indians, to publicly proclaim possession, and bury nt prominent points plates of lead bearing inscriptions declaring occupation in the name of the French King. Celeron started on the 15th of June, 1749, from La Chine,

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

following the southern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, until he reached a point opposite Lake Chautauqua, where the boats were drawn up and were taken bodily over the dividing ridge, a distance of ten miles, with all the impedimenta of the expedition, the pioneers havin [ first opened a road. Following on down the lake and the Conewango Creek, they arrived at Warren near the confluence of the creek with the Allegheny River. Here the first plate was buried. These plates were eleven inches long, seven and a half wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The inscription was in French, and in the following terms, as fairly translated into English: "In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis XIV, King of France, We Celeron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissonière, Governor General of New France, to re-establish tranquillity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate of lead at the confluence of the Ohio with the Chautauqua, this 29th day of July, near the River Ohio, otherwise Belle Rivière, as a mon. ument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said river, as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the King of France preceding, and as they have there maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix-la- Chapelle." The burying of this plate was attended with much form and cer- emony. All the men and officers of the expedition were drawn up in battle array, when the Commander, Celeron, proclaimed in a loud voice, "Vive le Roi," and declared that possession of the country was now taken in the name of the King. A plate on which was inscribed the arms of France was affixed to the nearest tree.

The same formality was observed in planting each of the other plates, the second at the rock known as the "Indian God," on which are ancient and un- known inscriptions, a few miles below Franklin, a third at the mouth of Wheeling Creek; a fourth at the mouth of the Muskingum; a fifth at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and the sixth and last at the mouth of the Great Miami. Toilsomely ascending the Miami to its head-waters, the party burned their canoes, and obtained ponies for the march across the portage to the head-waters of the Maumee, down which and by Lakes Erie and Ontario they returned to Fort Frontenac, arriving on the 6th of November. It appears that the In- dians through whose territory they passed viewed this planting of plates with great suspicion. By some means they got possession of one of them, gener- ally supposed to have been stolen from the party at the very commencement of their journey from the mouth of the Chautauqua Creek.

Mr. O. H. Marshall, in an excellent monograph upon this expedition, made up from the original manuscript journal of Celeron and the diary of Father Bonnecamps, found in the Department de la Marine, in Paris, gives the fol- lowing account of this stolen plate:

" The first of the leaden plates was brought to the attention of the public by Gov. George Clinton to the Lords of Trade in London, dated New York, December 19, 1750, in which he states that be would send to their Lordships in two or three weeks a plate of lead full of writing, which some of the upper nations of Indians stole from Jean Coeur, the French interpreter at Niagara. on his way to the River Ohio, which river, and all the lands thereabouts, the French claim, as will appear by said writing. He further states 'that the lead plate gave the Indians so much uneasiness that they immediately dispatched some of the Cayuga chiefs to him with it, saying that their only reliance was on him, and earnestly begged he would communicate the contents to them which he had done, much to their satisfaction and the interests of the English.'

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

The Governor concludes by saying that 'the contents of the plate may be of great importance in elearing up the encroachments which the French have made on the British Empire in America.' The plato was delivered to Colonel, afterward Sir William Johnson, on the 4th of December, 1750, at his resi- dence on the Mohawk, by a Caynga sachem, who accompanied it by the follow- ing speech:

"" Brother Corlear and War-ragh-i-ya-ghey! I am sent here by the Five Nations with a piece of writing which the Senecas, our brethren, got by some artifice from Jean Coeur, earnestly beseeching you will lot us know what it means, and as we put all our contidence in you, we hope you will explain it ingeniously to us.'

" Col. Johnson replied to the sachem, and through him to the Five Na- tion«, returning a belt of wampum, and explaining the inscription on the plate. He told them that 'it was a matter of the greatest consequence, involv- ing the possession of their lands and hunting grounds, and that Jean Coeur and the French ought immediately to bo expelled from the Ohio and Niagara.' In reply, the sachom said that 'he had heard with great attention and surprise thesubstance of the "devilish writing " he had brought, and that Col. Johnson's remarks were fully approved,' He promised that belts from each of the Five Nations should be sent from the Seneca's castle to the Indians at the Ohio, to warn and strengthen them against the French encroachments in that direc- tion." On the 29th of January, 1751, Clinton sent a copy of this inscription to Gov. Hamilton, of Pennsylvania.

The French followed up this formal act of possession by laying out a line of military posts, on substantially the same line as that pursued by the Cele. ron expedition; but instead of crossing over to Lake Chautauqua, they kept on down to Presque Isle (now Erie), where was a good harbor, where a fort was established, and thence up to Le Boeuf (now Waterford), where another post was placed; thence down the Venango River (French Creek) to its month at Franklin, establishing Fort Venango there; thence by the Allegheny to Pittsburgh, where Fort Du Quesne was seated, and so on down the Ohio.

To counteract this activity of the French, the Ohio Company was char- tered, and a half million of acres was granted by the crown, to be selected mainly on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongalia and Kanawha Rivers, and the condition made that settlements (100 families within seven years), protected by a fort, should he made. The company consisted of a Number of Virginia and Maryland gentlemen, of whom Lawrence Washington was one, and Thomas Hanbury, of London.

In 1752, a treaty was entered into with the Indians, socuring the right of occupancy, and twelve families, headed by Capt. Gist, established themselves upon the Monongalia, and subsequently commenced the erection of a fort, where the city of Pittsburgh now is. Apprised of this intrusion into the very heart of the territory which they were claiming, the French built a fort at Le Boeuf, and strengthened the post at Franklin.

These proceedings having been promptly reported to Lient. Gov. Dinwid- die, of Virginia, where the greater number of the stockholders of the Ohio Company resided, he determined to send an official communication-protosting against the forcible interference with their chartered rights, granted by the crown of Britain, and pointing to the late treaties of peace entered into be- tweon the English and French, whereby it was agreed that each should respect the colonial possessions of the other-to the Commandant of the French, who had his headquarters at Fort Le Boeuf, fifteen miles inland from the present site of the city of Erie.

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

But who should be the messenger to execute this delicate and responsible duty ? It was winter, and the distance to be traversed was some 500 miles, through an unbroken wilderness, cut by rugged mountain chains and deep and rapid streams. It was proposed to several, who declined, and was finally accepted by George Washington, a youth barely twenty-one years old. On the last day of November, 1753, he bade adieu to civilization, and pushing on through the forest to the settlements on the Monongalia, where he was joined by Capt. Gist, followed up the Allegheny to Fort Venango (now Franklin); thence up the Venango to its head-waters at Fort Le Boeuf, where he held formal conference with the French Commandant, St. Pierre. The French officer had been ordered to hold this territory on the score of the dis- covery of the Mississippi by La Salle, and he had no discretion but to execute his orders, and referred Washington to his superior, the Governor General of Canada. Making careful notes of the location and strength of the post and those encountered on the way, the young embassador returned, being twice fired at on his journey by hostile Indians, aud near losing his life by being thrown into the freezing waters of the Allegheny. Upon his arrival, he made a full report of the embassage, which was widely published in this country and in England, and was doubtless the basis upon which action was predicted that eventuated in a long and sanguinary war, which finally resulted in the expulsion of the power of France from this continent.

Satisfied that the French were determined to hold the territory upon the Ohio by force of arms, a body of 150 men, of which Washington was second in command, was sent to the support of the settlers. But the French, having the Allegheny River at flood-tide on which to move, and Washington, without. means of transportation, having a rugged and mountainous country to over- come, the former first reached the point of destination. Contracoeur, the French commander, with 1,000 men and field pieces on a fleet of sixty boats and 300 canoes, dropped down the Allegheny and easily seized the fort then being constructed by the Ohio Company at its mouth, and proceeded to erect there an elaborate work which he called Fort Du Quesne, after the Governor Gen- eral. Informed of this proceeding, Washington pushed forward, and finding that a detachment of the French was in his immediate neighborhood, he made a forced march by night, and coming upon them unawares killed and captured the entire party save one. Ten of the French, including their commander, Jumonville, were killed, and twenty-one made prisoners. Col. Fry, the com- mander of the Americans, died at Will's Creek, where the command devolved on Washington. Though re-enforcements had been dispatched from the sev- eral colonies in response to the urgent appeals of Washington, none reached him but one company of 100 men under Capt. Mackay from South Carolina. Knowing that he was confronting a vastly superior force of the French, well supplied with artillery, he threw up works at a point called the Great Meadows, which he characterizes as a " charming field for an encounter," nam- ing his hastily built fortification Fort Necessity. Stung by the loss of their leader, the French came out in strong force and soon invested the place. Unfor- tunately one part of Washington's position was easily commanded by the artil- lery of the French, which they were not slow in taking advantage of. The ac- tion opened on the 3d of July, and was continued till late at night. A capit- ulation was proposed by the French commander, which Washington reluctantly accepted, seeing all hope of re-enforcements reaching him, cut off, and on the 4th of July marched out with honors of war and fell back to Fort Cumberland.

Gov. Hamilton had strongly recommended, before hostilities opened, that the Assembly should provide for defense and establish a line of block-houses along

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

the frontier. But the Assembly, while willing to vote money for buying peace from the Indians, and contributions to the British crown, from which protec- tion was claimed, was unwilling to contribute directly for even defensive war- fare. In a single year, £8,000 were voted for Indian gratuities. The proprie. tors were appealed to to aid in bearing this burden. But while they were willing to contribute liberally for defense, they would give nothing for Indian gratuities. They sent to the colony cannon to the value of £400.

In February, 1753, John Penn, grandson of the founder, son of Richard, arrived in the colony, and as a mark of respect was immediately chosen n mem- ber of the Council and made its President. In consequence of tho defeat of Washington at Fort Necessity, Gov. Hamilton convened the Assembly in extra session on the 6th of August, at which money was freely voted; but owing to the instructions given by the proprietors to their Deputy Governor not to sign any money bill that did not place the whole of the interest at their disposal, this action of the Assembly was abortive.

The English and French nations made strenuous exertions to strengthen their forces in America for the campaigns sure to be undertaken in 1754. The French, by being under the supreme authority of one governing power, the Governor General of Canada, were able to concentrate and bring all their power of men and resources to bear at the threatened point with more celerity and certainty than the English, who were dependent upon colonies scattered along all the sea board, and upon Legislatures penny-wise in voting money. To remedy these inconveniences, the English Government recommended a con- gress of all the colonies, together with the Six Nations, for the purpose of con- certing plans for efficient defense. This Congress met on the 19th of June,

1754. the first ever convened in America. The Representatives from Pennsyl- vania were John Penn and Riehard Peters for the Council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin for the Assembly. The influence of the powerful mind of Franklin was already beginning to be felt, he having been Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly since 1736, and since 1750 had been a member. Heartily sympathizing with the movers in the purposes of this Congress, he came to Albany with a scheme of union prepared, which, having been pro- sented and debated, was, on the 10th of July, adopted substantially as it came from his hands. It provided for the appointment of a President General by the Crown, and an Assembly of forty-eight members to be chosen by the sev. eral Colonial Assemblies. The plan was rejected by both parties in interest, the King considering the power vested in the representatives of the people too great, and every colony rejecting it because the President General was given "an influence greater than appeared to them proper in a plan of government intended for freemen."

CHAPTER X.

ROBERT HI. MORRIS, 1754-56-WILLIAM DENNY, 1756-59-JAMES HAMILTON, 1759-63.

H MINDING himself in a false position by the repugnant instructions of the proprietors, Gov. Hamilton had given notice in 1753, that, at the end of twelve months from its reception, he would resign. Accordingly in October, 1754, he was succeeded by Robert Hunter Morris, son of Lewis Morris, Chief Justice of New York and New Jersey, and Governor of New Jersey. The son

HSTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

was bred a lawyer, and was for twenty-six years Councilor, and twenty Chief Justice of New Jersey. The Assembly, at its first session, voted a money bill, for £40,000, but not having the proviso required by the proprietors, it was vetoed. Determined to push military operations, the British Government had called early iu the year for 3,000 volunteers from Pennsylvania, with subsis- tance, camp equipage and transportation, and had sent two regiments of the line, under Gen. Braddock, from Cork, Ireland. Landing at Alexandria, Va., he marched to Frederick, Md., where, finding no supplies of transportation, he halted. The Assembly of Pennsylvania had voted to borrow £5,000, on its own account, for the use of the crown in prosecuting the cam- paign, and had sent Franklin, who was then Postmaster General for the colo- nies, to Braddock to aid in prosecuting the expedition. Finding that the army was stopped for lack of transportation, Franklin returned into Pennsylvania, and by his commanding influence soon secured the necessary wagons and beasts of burden.

Braddock had formed extravagant plans for his campaign. He would march forward and reduce Fort Du Quesne, thence proceed against Fort Ni- agara, which having conquered he would close a season of triumphs by the capture of Fort Frontignace. But this is not the first time in warfare that the result of a campaign has failed to realize the promises of the manifesto. The orders bronght by Braddock giving precedence of officers of the line over provincials gave offense, and Washington among others threw up his commis- sion; but enamored of the profession of arms, he accepted a position offered him by Braddock as Aide de camp. Accustomed to the discipline of military establishments in old, long-settled countries, Braddock had little conception of making war in a wilderness with only Indiau trails to move upon, and against wily savages. Washington had advised to push forward with pack horses, and, by rapidity of movement, forestall ample preparation. But Braddock had but one way of soldiering, and where roads did not exist for wagons he stopped to fell the forest and construct bridges over streams. The French, who were kept advised of every movement, made ample preparations to receive him. In the meantime, Washington fell sick; but intent on being up for the battle, he hastened forward as soon as sufficiently recovered, and only joined the army on the day before the fatal engagement. He had never seen much of the pride and circumstance of war, and when, on the morning of the 9th of July, the army of Braddock marched on across the Monongahela, with gay colors flying and martial music awakening the echoes of the forest, he was accustomed in after years to speak of it as the "most magnificent spectacle" that he had ever beheld. But the gay pageant was destined to be of short duration; for the army had only marched a little distance before it fell into an ambuscade skill- fully laid by the French and Indians, and the forest resounded with the un- earthly whoop of the Indians, and the continuous roar of musketry. The advance was checked and thrown into confusion by the French from their well- chosen position, and every tree upon the flanks of the long drawn out line con- cealed a murderous foe, who with unerring aim picked off the officers. A res- olute defense was made, and the battle raged with great fury for three hours; but the fire of the English was ineffectual because directed against an invisi- ble foe. Finally, the mounted officers having all fallen, killed or wounded, except Washington, being left without leaders, panic seized the survivors and "they ran," says Washington, "before the French and English like sheep be- fore dogs." Of 1,460, in Braddock's army, 456 were killed, and 421 wounded, a greater mortality, in proportion to the number engaged, than has ever oc- enrred in the annals of modern warfare. Sir Peter Halkett was killed, and

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280