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 26

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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 26
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 26

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April 2. 1756, a body of Indians attacked and burned McCord's fort, on the Conococheague, in what is now Franklin County, killing and capturing a total of twenty-seven persons. The alarm extended to Shippensburg. and three companies were raised in various parts of the valley, for the pursuit and pun- ishment of the marauders, commanded respectively by Capts. Culbertson. Chambers and Hamilton. . Capt. Alex Culbertson's company with nineteen men from the other two, overtook the Indians west of Sideling Hill and a fight ensned which lasted two hours. The Indians, from the report made by one of their unmber who was captured. lost seventeen killed and twenty-one wounded. The whites suffered severely. Among those killed were Capt. Culbertson, John Reynolds (ensign of Capt. ('bambers' company), William Kerr, James Blair. John Leason, William Denny. Francis Scott, William Boyd, Jacob Paynter. Jacob Jones. Robert Kerr and William Chambers; wounded. Francis Campbell. Abraham Jones, William Reynolds, John Barnet, Benjamin Blyth, John McDonald and Isaac Miller.

Another party. commanded by Ensign Jamison, from Fort Granville. under Capt. Hamilton. in pursuit of the same Indians, had about the same experience, losing Daniel McCoy. James Robinson. James Peace, John Blair. Henry Jones, John McCarty and John Kelly, killed; and Ensign Jamison, James Robinson, William Hunter. Matthias Ganshorn, William Swails and James Louder, wounded-the latter afterward died of his wounds. Most of these men were from the oldest and most respectable families in Cumberland County.

All around the settlements in this county outrages were frequent and the number of lives taken was appalling. considering the sparsely settled condition of the country Bands of Indians even ventured within a few miles of Car- lisle. The military were employed in protecting men harvesting their crops in 1756, and it was necessary for all persons to be ever on the alert to guard against surprise and attack. In June, 1756. a Mr. Dean. living about a mile east of Shippensburg, was found murdered in his cabin, his skull cleft with a tomahawk. It was supposed a couple of Indians seen in the neighborhood the day before had committed the deed. On the 6th of the same month, a short distance east of where Burd's Run crosses the road leading from Shippensburg to the Middlespring church, a party of Indians killed John McKean and John Agnew and captured Hugh Black. William Carson. Andrew Brown, James Ellis and Alex McBride. A party of citizens from Shippensburg pursued the Indians through McAllister's Gap into Path Valley, and on the morning of the third day out met all the prisoners except James Ellis, and on their return home. they having escaped. Ellis was never afterward heard from. The pursners returned with the men who had escaped, further pursuit being useless.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Many other instances of murders and kindred outrages by the Indians might be mentioned, for the history of that dread time teems with them, but it is not necessary to recount them. Enough has been said to show the terri- ble state the region was in, and the horrid tales are dropped to tell of an expe- dition in which the whites took the initiative. *

Gov. Morris was superseded on the 20th of August, 1756, by Gov. William Denny, but before the latter's arrival he (Morris), in view of the constant cries for help from the frontier, and especially from East Pennsborough Township, Cumberland County, and the upper portion of the county, whose inhabitants sent in urgent petitions for aid, had arranged with Col. Armstrong for a move- ment against the Indian town of Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, about twenty miles above Fort DuQuesne, in what is now Armstrong County. The place was the chief stronghold of the red men, was the base of their operations eastward and toward the Ohio, and was the home of both Shingas and Capt. Jacobs.f There were also held a considerable number of white prisoners. A small army was organized under the command of Lieut. - Col. John Armstrong, consisting of seven companies, į whose captains were John Armstrong, Hans Hamilton, Dr. Hugh Mercer, Edward Ward, Joseph Armstrong, John Potter, and Rev. John Steel. The command set out in August, 1756, and at the dawn of the 7th (8th?) of September made the attack on the Indian town, which was totally destroyed, together with large quantities of ammuni- tion. Capt. Jacobs and his nephew were killed, and few, if any, escaped the avenging hand of the officer, whose rapid march and well executed plans won for him the approval of his people. The corporation of Philadelphia voted him a medal for his exploit. § This disaster to the Indians led them to remove to the Muskingum, in Ohio, but served only for a short time to check their operations in Pennsylvania. The year 1757 was fraught with unabated hor. rors. Cumberland County, with others, was kept in a state of continual alarm, although in May of that year another conference was held with the Indians at Lancaster to try and bring about peace. The western Indians,

* At one period (1750-55) there was a noted person in the valley who figured conspicuously in movements against the Indians. He was knowu as "Captain Jack," "the black hunter," "the black rifle," "the wild hun- ter of the Juniata," "the black hunter of the forest," etc, He was a white man, an early comer to the region, and happy and contented in his occupations of fishing and hunting, until the Indians, one day when he was ahsent, burned his cabin and murdered his wife and children. Then he became imbued with a spirit of revenge, and his exploits rendered him famous. He was a dead shot with the riffe, a terror to the Indians, and greatly respected and appreciated by the scattered settlers, whose lives and property he was more than once the means of saving. It is said of him that "he never shot without good cause. His look was as unerring as his aim He formed an association to defend the settlers against savage aggressions. Ou a given signal they would unite. Their exploits were heard of in 1756 on the C'onococheague and Juniata."-[Egle's Hist. of Pa., p. 616.] He was also sometimes called the "Half Indian." Through Col. Croghan he proffered his aid to Gen. Braddock, in the latter's disastrous campaign, and Croghan, in recommending him to the General, said; "He will march with his hunters; they are dressed in hunting shirts, moccasins, etc,, are well armed, and are equally regardless of heat or cold. They require no shelter for the night, they ask no pay." This character, it appears, in a letter written from Carlisle in 1754, as well as one the previous year by John O'Neal to Gov. Hamilton, was also known as "Captain Joel." He was given a captain's commission in 1753. The movements of himself and his band of raugers were very rapid, and the mention of his name, like those of Brady, Boone, Logston, Kenton and others, struck terror to the hearts of his painted foemen.

+Capt. Jacobs was a large man, very powerful and exceedingly cruel. Shingas was not as large, hut made up for his stature in ferocity. Capt. Jacob,' nephew, who with him was killed in Armstrong's attack upon Kittauning. was said to be seven feet tall.

[Most authorities place the total number of men at 300; some give it 280.

From Col. Armstrong's report of the affair to Giov. Denny it is learned that the casualties among the volunteers were as follows: From his own company-Killed, Thos. Power, John McCormick; wounded, Lieut .- Col. Armstrong (in the shoulder by a musket ball), James Carothers, James Strickland, Thomas Foster. Capt. Hamil- ton's company-Killed, John Kelly. Capt. Mercer's company-Killed, John Baker, John McCartney, Patrick Muller, Cornelius McGinnis, Theophilus Thompson, Deunis Kilpatrick, Bryan Croghan; wounded, Richard Fitzgibbons; missing, Capt. Hugh Mercer (wounded, but found to have been carried away safely by his men), Ensign John Scott, Emanuel Menisky, John Taylor, Johu

-- , Francis Philips, Robert Morrow, Thomas Burke, Philip Pendergrass. Capt. Armstrong's company-Killed, Lieut James Hogg, James Anderson, Holdcraft Stringer, Edward O'Brian, James Higgins, John Leeson; wounded, William Fridley, Robert Robinson, John Ferrol, Thomas Camplin, Charles \'Neill; missing, John Lewis, William Hunter, William Baker, George Appleby, Anthony Grissy, Thomas Swan. Capt. Ward's company-Killed, William Welsh; wounded, Ephraim Bratton; missing, Patrick Myers, Laurence Donnahan, Samuel Chambers. Capt. Potter's company-Wounded, Ensign James Potter, Andrew Douglass. Capt. Steel's company-Missing, Terrence Cannabery. Total-killed 17; wounded 13; missing 19-49 in all. Seven captives were recovered and a number of Indians taken prisoners. Thirty or forty warriors were slain.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

however, would hear to nothing, and it became evident that subduing them by force of arms was the only sure method. Col. Stanwix was ut Carlisle build- ing intrenchments, and Col. Armstrong had two companies, part stationed at Carlisle and part at Shippensburg. These two officers did all in their power to protect the citizens und punish the savages, but they were handicapped in numerous regards. Murders were frequent in the upper part of Cumberland (now Franklin) County, and the lower portion was not without its visitations of bloodshed. May 13. 1757. William Walker and another man were killed near a private fort culled McCormick's, on the Conodogninet, in East Penns- borough: two men were killed and tive taken prisoners near Shippensburg ou the 6th of June: Joseph Mitchell, James Mitchell, William Mitchell, John Fin- lay, Robert Steenson. Andrew Enslow, John Wiley. Allen Henderson, William Gibson and an Indian were killed in a harvest field near Shippensburg, July 19, and Jane MeCommon, Mary Minor. Janet Harper and a son of John Fin- lay were captured or missing at the same time; four men were killed July 11 near Tobias Hendricks', who lived on and had charge of Louther Manor. six miles from the Susquehanna. in East Pennsborough, and two men were killed or carried off near the same place September S, while ont hunting horses. July Is, in a harvest field a mile east of Shippensburg, belonging to John Cesna. Dennis O'Neiden and John Kirkpatrick were killed, and Mr. Cesna. his two grandsons, and a son of Kirkpatrick were made prisoners and carried off. Others working in the field happened to be concealed from the view of the In- dians, and escaped without injury. There was little rest from anxiety until after the expeditions of 1755 and the capture of Fort DuQuesne, with the building upon its ruins of Fort Pitt, which remained under English rule while the mother country had jurisdiction over the American colonies. The troops were mostly disbanded in 1759 by act of Assembly, which body imagined the war was ended. Practically for this region it was so, although the two powers met in conflict afterward on the northern frontier.

The inhabitants enjoyed for a brief period immunity from danger and re- joiced that peace smiled upon the valley. A worthless Delaware Indian called " Doctor John" who had for two years lived in a cabin near the Conodoguinet and not far from Carlisle, was killed in February. 1760, together with his wife and two children, by whites; and though he had talked contemptuously about the soldiers, and boasted of having killed sixty white people with his own arm the event was looked upon as untoward by the inhabitants of the region, who feared the vengeance of the tribe and steps were taken to apprehend and pun- ish the murderers. Several arrests were made, but the more guilty parties fled and were not found. while the others were released as they could scarcely be convicted on hearsay evidence. Very likely the people were glad the Indians were out of the way, for they had no pleasing recollections of their fiendish fellows.

Presently, however, came the dread news that a more desperate war was to he waged under the leadership of the wonderful western chieftain, Pontiac, and close upon the heels of the alarm followed actual invasion of the country bor- dering the valley, with a renewal of the horrid scenes of previous years. July 5, 1763, a gentleman wrote from Carlisle to Secretary Peters as follows: "On the morning of yesterday horsemen were seen rapidly passing through Carlisle. One man rather fatigued, who stopped to get some water, hastily replied to the question, . What news?' 'Bad enough! Presque Isle, Le Benf and Venango have been captured, their garrisons massacred, with the exception of one officer and seven men who fortunately made their escape from Le Benf. Fort Pitt was briskly attacked on the 22d of June, but succeeded in repelling the as-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

sailants.' Thus saying he put spurs to his horse and was soon out of sight. From others I have accounts that the Bedford militia have succeeded in saving Fort Ligonier. Nothing could exceed the terror which prevailed from house to house, from town to town. The road was nearly covered with women and children flying to Lancaster and Philadelphia. Rev. Thomson, pastor of the Episcopal Church, went at the head of his congregation to protect and en- courage them on the way. A few retired to the breastworks for safety. The alarm once given could not be appeased. We have done all that men can do to prevent disorder. All our hopes are turned upon Bouquet."

The following extracts of letters written from Carlisle in July, 1763, and published at the time in the Pennsylvania Gazette at Philadelphia, will also serve to show the condition of affairs then existing in the valley :*

CARLISLE, July 12, 1763.

I embrace this first leisure since yesterday morning to transmit you a brief account of our present state of affairs here, which indeed is very distressing, every day almost affording some fresh object to awaken the compassion, alarm the fears, or kindle into re- sentment and vengeance every sensible breast; while flying families, obliged to abandon house and possession to save their lives by a hasty escape; mourning widows, bewailing their husbands, surprised and massacred by savage rage; tender parents, lamenting the fruit of their own bodies, cropped in the very bloom of life by a barbarous land, with re- lations and acquaintance pouring out sorrow for murdered neighbors and friends, present a varied scene of mingled distress.

When. for some time after striking at Bedford the Indians appeared quiet, nor strnck any other part of our frontiers, it became the prevailing opinion that our forts and com- munication were so peculiarly the object of their attention; that, till at least after harvest, there was little prospect of danger to our inhabitants over the hills, and to dissent from this generally received sentiment was political heresy, and attributed to timidity rather than judgment, till too early conviction has decided the point in the following manner:

On Sunday morning. the 10th instant, about 9 or 10 o'clock, at the house of one William White, on Juniata, between thirty and forty miles hence, there being in said honse four men and a lad, the Indians came rushing npon and shot White at the door, just stepping out to see what the noise meant. Our people then pulled in White, and shut the door; but observing through a window the Indians setting fire to the house, they attempted to force their way out at the door. But the first that stepped out being shot down. they drew him in and again shut the door, after which one attempting an escape out of a win- dow on the loft was shot through the head, and the lad wounded in the arm. The only one now remaining-William Riddle-broke a hole throngh the roof of the house, and an Indian, who saw him looking out, alleged he was about to fire on him, withdrew, which . afforded Riddle an opportunity to make his escape. The house, with the other four in it, was burned down. as one MeMachen informs, who was coming to it, not suspecting Indians, and was by them fired at and shot through the shoulder. but made his escape.

The same day about dinner time, at about a mile and a half from said White's. at the house of Robert Campbell, six men being in the house, as they were dining three Indians rushed in at the door, and after firing among them and wounding some they tomahawked in an instant one of the men, whereupon one George Dodds, one of the company, sprang back into the room, took down a rifle, shot an Indian through the body who was just pre- senting his piece to shoot him. The Indian being mortally wounded staggered, and letting his gun fall was carried off by three more. Dodds, with one or two more, getting upon the loft, broke the roof in order to escape, and looking out saw one of the company, Stephen Jeffries, running, but very slowly by reason of a wound in the breast, and an Indian pur- suing. and it is thought he could not escape, nor have we heard of him since, so that it is past dispute he also is murdered. The first that attempted getting out of the loft was fired at and drew back. Another attempting was shot dead, and of the six Dodds was the only one who made his escape. The same day abont dusk, about six or seven miles up Tusca- rora and about twenty-eight or thirty miles hence, they murdered one William Anderson, together with a boy and girl, all in one honse. At White's were seen at least five, some say eight or ten Indians, and at Campbell's about the same number. On Monday, the 11th, a party of about twenty-four went over from the upper part of Shearman's Valley to see how matters were. Another party of twelve or thirteen went over from the upper part of said valley, and Col. John Armstrong, with Thomas Wilson, Esq., and a party of between thirty and forty from this town, to reconnoitre and assist in bringing in the dead.

Of the first and third parties we have heard nothing yet, but of the party of twelve six are come in, and inform that they passed through the several places in Tuscarora and saw the houses in flames or burnt entirely down. That the grain that had been reaped the

*See Rupp's History of Cumberland and other Counties, pp. 139-143.

JHISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Indians burnt in shocks, and had set the fences on fire where the grain was unreaped; that the hogy had fallen upon and mangled several of the dead bodies, that the said company of twelve, suspecting danger, durst not stay to bury the dead; that after they had returned over the Tuscarora Mountain, about one or two miles this side of it and about eighteen or twenty from hence (Carlisle, Penn ), they were fired on by a large party of Indians, sup. posed about thirty, and were obliged to fly; that two, viz., William Robinson and John Graham, are certainly killed, and four more are missing, who it is thought have fallen into the hands of the enemy, as they appeared slow in flight, most probably wounded, and the savages pursued with violence. What further mischief has been done we have not heard. but expect every day and hour some more messages of melancholy hews.

In hearing of the above defeat we sent out another party of thirty or upward, com- mandled by our high sheriff, Mr. Dunning, and Mr. William Lyon, to go in quest of the enemy or fall in with and reinforce our other parties. There are also a number gone out from about three miles below this, so that we now have over the hills upward of eighty or ninety volunteers scouring the woods. The inhabitants of Shearman's Valley. Tuscarora. etc., are all come over, and the people of this valley, near the mountain, are beginning to move in, so that in a few days there will be scarcely a house inhabited north of Carlisle. Many of our people are greatly distressed through want of arms and ammunition, and numbers of those beat off their places have hardly money enough to purchase a pound of powder.

Our women and children I suppose must move downward if the enemy proceeds. To- day a British vengeance begins to rise in the breasts of our men. One of them that fell from among the twelve, as he was just expiring, said to one of his fellows: "Here, take my gun and kill the first Indian von sec, and all shall be well."

Another letter dated at Carlisle July 13, has the following: "Last night Col. Armstrong returned. He left the party who pursued further, and found several dead, whom they buried in the best manner they could, and are now all returned in. From what appears the Indians are traveling from one place to another along the valley, burning the farms and destroying all the people they meet with. This day gives an account of six more being killed in the valley, so that since last Sunday morning to this day. twelve o'clock. we have a pretty authentic account of the number slain being twenty five, and four or five wounded. The Colonel, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Alricks are now on the parade endeavoring to raise another party to go out and suecor the sheriff and his party, consisting of fifty men, which marched yesterday. and I hope they will be able to send off immediately twenty good men. The people here, I assure you. want nothing but a good leader and a little encouragement to make a very good defense.

July 25, 1763. the editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette printed the following: "Our advices from Carlisle are as follows, viz. That the party under the sheriff. Mr. Dunning. mentioned in our last. fell in with the enemy at the house of one Alexander Logan. in Shearman's Valley, supposed to be about fifteen or upward. who had murdered the said Logan, his son and another man, about two miles from said house, and mortally wounded a fourth who is since dead: and that at the time of their being discovered they were rifling the house and shooting down the cattle, and it is thought about to return home with the spoil they had got. That our men. on seeing them. immediately spread them- selves from right to left with a design to surround them, and engaged the sav- ages with great courage, but from their eagerness rather too soon, as some of the party had not got up when the skirmish began; that the enemy returned our first fire very briskly, but our people, regardless of that. rushed upon them. when they fled and were pursued a considerable way till thickets secured their escape, four or five of them, it was thought. being mortally wounded; that our parties had brought in with them what cattle they could collect, but that great numbers were killed by the Indians, and many of the horses that were in the valleys carried off; that on the 21st. the morning, news was brought of three Indians being seen about 10 o'clock in the morning; one Pummeroy and his wife, and the wife of one Johnson, were surprised in a house between Ship-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

pensburg and the North Mountain and left there for dead; but that one of the women, when found, showing some signs of life, was brought to Shippensburg, where she lived some hours in a most miserable condition, being scalped, one of her arms broken, and her skull fractured with the stroke of a tomahawk; and that since the 10th inst., there was an account of fifty-four persons being killed by the enemy!

"That the Indians had set fire to houses, barns, corn, wheat, rye, and hay -in short, to everything combustible-so that the whole country seemed to be in one general blaze; that the miseries and distress of the poor people were really shocking to humanity, and beyond the power of language to describe; that Carlisle was becoming the barrier, not a single inhabitant being beyond it; that every stable and hovel in the town was crowded with miserable refugees, who were reduced to a state of beggary and despair, their houses, cattle and harvest destroyed, and from a plentiful, independent people they were become real objects of charity and commiseration; that it was most dismal to see the streets filled with people in whose countenances might be discovered a mixture of grief, madness and despair; and to hear now and then the sighs and groans of men, the disconsolate lamentations of women, and the screams of children, who had lost their nearest and dearest relations; and that on both sides of the Susquehanna, for some miles, the woods were filled with poor families and their cattle, who made fires and lived like savages, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather."

Letter dated at Carlisle July 30, 1763: "On the 25th a considerable num- ber of the inhabitants of Shearman's Valley went over, with a party of soldiers to guard them, to attempt saving as much of their grain as might be standing, and it is hoped a considerable quantity will yet be preserved. A party of vol- unteers, between twenty and thirty, went to the farther side of the valley, next to the Tuscarora Mountain, to see what appearance there might be of the In- dians, as it was thought they would most probably be there if anywhere in the settlement-to search for and bury the dead at Buffalo Creek, and to assist the inhabitants that lived along or near the foot of the mountain in bringing off what they could, which services they accordingly performed, burying the remains of three persons, but saw no marks of Indians having lately been there, excepting one track, supposed to be about two or three days old, near the narrows of Buffalo Creek Hill, and heard some hallooing and firing of a gun at another place. A number of the inhabitants of Tuscarora Valley go over the mountain to-morrow, with a party of soldiers, to endeavor to save part of the crops. Five Indians were seen last Sunday, about sixteen or seventeen miles from Carlisle, up the valley toward the North Mountain, and two the day be- fore yesterday, about five or six miles from Shippensburg, who fired at a young man but missed him.

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

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