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 29

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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 29
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 29

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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

jurors were one of the first judges of the county, who had recently removed over the mountain to what is now Perry County, and two clergymen who held commissions as missionaries of the 'Venerable Society in England for the Propagation of Religion in Foreign Parts.' "

James Wilson, of Cumberland County, was in December, 1774. appointed one of nine delegates to a second Congress to be held the next year in Phila- delphia, and held the position until 1777. Both he and Robert Magaw were members from this county of the provincial convention which met at Philadelphia January 23, 1775, and continued in session six days, during which time much business of great importance was transacted.

Upon receipt of the news of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775), Congress resolved to raise an army, and the quota of Pennsylvania was figured at 4,300. Word was sent to the committee of Cumberland County, and they proceeded at once to organize companies of "associators," many of which were already formed on the old plan in use since the days of the Indian troubles. A letter from this county dated May 6, 1775, said: "Yesterday the county committee met from nineteen townships, on the short notice they had. About 3,000 men have already associated. The arms returned amount to about 1,500. The committee have voted 500 effective men, besides commissioned officers, to be immediately drafted, taken into pay, armed and disciplined to march on the first emergency; to be paid and supported as long as necessary, by a tax on all estates real and personal in the county; the returns to be taken by the township committees, and the tax laid by the commissioners and the assessors; the pay of the officers and men as in times past. This morning we met again at 8 o'clock; among other subjects of inquiry the mode of drafting or taking into pay, arming and victualing im- mediately the men, and the choice of field and other officers, will among other matters be the subjects of deliberation. The strength or spirit of this county perhaps may appear small if judged by the number of men proposed, but when it is considered that we are ready to raise 1,500 or 2.000, should we have support from the province, and that independently and in uncertain ex- pectation of support we have voluntarily drawn upon this county a debt of about £27,000 per annum, I hope we shall not appear contemptible. We make great improvement in military discipline. It is yet uncertain who may go."

From July 3, 1775, to July 22, 1776, John Montgomery, Esq., of Carlisle, was an active and a promineut member of a committee of safety, consisting of twenty-five men from different parts of the province, sitting permanently at Philadelphia, and having management of the entire military affairs of the province. The first troops sent out from Cumberland County, were under the call of Congress in May, 1775, and were from the association companies, the call by the committee of safety not being made until some months later. To furnish arms and ammunition for the soldiers was the greatest difficulty, es- pecially in Cumberland County. "Each person in the possession of arms was called upon to deliver them up at a fair valuation, if he could not himself en- list with them. Rifles, muskets, and other fire-arms were thus obtained to the amount of several hundred. and an armory was established for the repairing and altering of these, in Carlisle. On hearing that a quantity of arms and accoutrements had been left at the close of the Indian war at the house of Mr. Carson, in Paxtang Township, and had remained there without notice or care, the commissioners of Cumberland County, regarding them as public property, sent for them and found about sixty or seventy muskets or rifles which were capable of being put to use, and these were brought to Carlisle, repaired

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

and distributed. Three hundred pounds were also paid for such arms and equipments as were collected from individuals who could not themselves come forward as soldiers. All persons who were not associated. and yet were of the age and ability for effective service, were to be reported by the assessors to the county commissioners and assessed, in addition to the regular tax, £2 10s. annually, in lieu of the time which others spent in military training. The on- ly persons excepted were ministers of the gospel and servants purchased for a valnable consideration of any kind. It was assumed that those who had con- scientious scruples about personally bearing arms ought not to hesitate to con- tribute a reasonable share of the expense for the protection they received."

The first troops going out from Cumberland made up eight companies of, generally, 100 each, and nearly all from the county. The regiment. which be- came the First Ritle Regiment of Pennsylvania, was formed of men already associated, and therefore the more easily organized for immediate service. It was formed within ten days after the news of the battle of Bunker Hill had been received. The companies rendezvoused at Reading, where the regiment was fully organized by the election of officers as follows: Col. William Thompson, a surveyor who lived near Carlisle and had served with distinction as an officer in the Indian war; Lieut. - Col. Edward Hand, of Lancaster; Maj. Robert Magaw, of Carlisle. The captains of the several companies were James Chambers, of Loudon Forge, near Chambersburg; Robert Cluggage, of Hamilton Township; Michael Doudel, William Hendricks, of East Penns- borough: John Loudon, James Ross, Matthew Smith and George Nagle. Surgeon-Dr. William Magaw, of Mercersburg, a brother to Robert. Chaplain -Rev. Samuel Blair. The regiment marched directly to Boston, reaching camp at Cambridge in the beginning of August, 1775, when it consisted of 3 field officers, 9 Captains, 27 lieutenants, 1 adjutant, 1 quartermaster, 1 sur- goon, I surgeon's mate, 29 sergeants. 13 drummers and 713 privates fit for duty, or 795 men all told. The officers were commissioned to date from June 25, 1775; term of enlistment, one year. This was the first regiment from west of the Hudson to reach the camp, and received particular attention. They were thus described by a contemporary: "They are remarkably stout and vigorous men. many of them exceeding six feet in hight. They are dressed in white frocks or rifle shirts and round hats. They are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim. striking a mark with great certainty at 200 yards distance. At a review a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches in diameter at a distance of 250 yards. They are stationed in our outlines, and their shots have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers who exposed themselves to view even at more than double the distance of a common musket shot." Col. Thompson, with two of his companies under Capts. Smith and Hendricks, went with the expedition to Canada, being pro- bably part of the troops who went on the eastern route with Arnold. Decem- ber 31. 1775. they were in the assault on Quebec, carried the barriers, and for three hours held out against a greatly superior force, being finally compelled to retire. Of the body to which this regiment belonged, Gen. Richard Mont - gomery said: "It is an exceedingly fine corps, inured to fatigue and well ac- customed to common shot, having served at Cambridge. There is a style of discipline amongst them much superior to what I have been accustomed to see in this campaign."

By subsequent promotions Col. Thompson became a brigadier-general; Lient. - Col. Hand succeeded to the command of the regiment; Capt. Chambers became lieutenant-colonel. and James Armstrong Wilson, of Carlisle, major, in place of Robert Magaw. transferred. Part of the regiment was captured at

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Trois Rivieres and taken to New York, while Col. Hand barely escaped with the balance. Gen. Thompson was finally paroled and sent home to his family in 1777, but was not exchanged until October 26, 1780, when he and others were exchanged for Maj. - Gen. De Reidesel, of the Brunswick troops. He died on his farm near Carlisle September 3, 1781, aged forty-five years, and his death was undoubtedly hastened by exposure while in a military prison.

Upon the expiration of the term of enlistment of this regiment, June 30, 1776, most of the officers and men re-enlisted "for three years or during the war," under Col. Hand, and the battalion became the first regiment of the Con- tinental line. The two separated parts of the regiment, one from Cambridge and the other from Canada, were reunited at New York, though some of its officers, like Magaw, were transferred by promotion to other portions of the army. It was at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton under Hand. In April, 1777, Hand was made a brigadier, and James Chambers be- came the colonel. Under him the regiment fought at Brandywine, German- town, Monmouth and in every other battle and skirmish of the main army until he retired from the service, January 1, 1781, and was succeeded by Col. Dan- iel Broadhead May 26, 1781. With him the first regiment left York, Penn., with five others into which the line was consolidated under the command of Gen. Wayne, and joined Lafayette at Raccoon Ford on the Rappahannock June 10; fought at Green Springs on July 6, and opened the second parallel at Yorktown, which Gen. Steuben said he considered the most important part of the siege. After the surrender the regiment went southward with Gen. Wayne, fought the last battle of the war at Sharon, Ga., May 24, 1782, entered Savannah in triumph on the 11th of July, Charleston on the 14th of Decem- ber, 1782; was in camp on James Island, S. C., on the 11th of May, 1783, and only when the news of the cessation of hostilities reached that point was em- barked for Philadelphia. In its services it traversed every one of the original thirteen States of the Union, Capt. Hendricks fell during the campaign in Canada. A few of the original members of the regiment were with it through all the various scenes of the eight years of service. Col. Chambers and Maj. Wilson both retired from the service because of wounds which incapacitated them from dnty. The regiment had a splendid record.

Additional regiments from Pennsylvania were called for by Congress in the latter part of 1775, and the Second, Third and Fourth Battalions were raised and placed under the command of Cols. Arthur St. Clair, John Shea and An- thony Wayne. The Fifth Battalion was commanded by Robert Magaw, who had been major in the First, and was composed of companies principally from Cumberland County. It was recruited in December, 1775, and January, 1776, and in February, 1776, some of its companies were in Philadelphia, though the main body of the regiment left Cumberland County in March. It departed from Carlisle March 17, 1776, on which occasion Rev. William Linn, who had been licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Carlisle, and had been ap- pointed Chaplain of the Fifth and Sixth Battalions of Pennsylvania militia, de- livered a stirring patriotic sermon, which has been preserved in print to the present day. The command proceeded to Long Island, assisted in the con- struction of defenses, and upon the retreat assisted other Pennsylvania regi- ments in covering the same. They were afterward placed in Fort Washington at the head of Manhattan Island, with other Pennsylvania troops, commanded by such officers as Cols. Cadwallader, Atlee, Swope, Frederick Watts (of Car- liste) and John Montgomery, the whole commanded by Col. Robert Magaw. Gen. Howe demanded the surrender of the fort, threatening dire consequences if it had to be carried by assault. Col. Magaw replied that "he doubted

Male, M, L,

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

whether a threat so unworthy of the General and of the British nation would be executed." " But." said he, "give me leave to assure your excellency that, actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever fought in, I am deter. mined to defend this post to the very last extremity." And that he did, Washington witnessing part of the operations from the opposite side of the Hudson. Finally, however, November 19, 1776, the gallant Colonel was com- pelled to capitulate, and the strong position, with 2,818 men, fell into the hands of the British. Col. Magaw remained a prisoner on parole until Octo- ber 25, 1750, when, with Gens. Thompson and Laurens he was exchanged for the British major-general, De Reidesel. Many of Magaw's men suffered greatly in the British prisons, but they refused all temptations held out to in- duce them to desert und enlist in the royal service. A few were exchanged in 1777, but most remained prisoners until nearly the close of the war.

The committee of correspondence for Cumberland County wrote to Congress about the middle of August, 1775: " The twelfth company of our militia has marched to-day, which companies contain in the whole. 833 privates; with officers, nearly 900 men. Six companies more are collecting arms, and are preparing to march." This committee of correspondence included, among others, John Armstrong. John Byers. Robert Miller, John Agnew and James Pollock: all but Byers residents of Carlisle. (Mr. Miller, in 1768 until 1782, and later, ac- cording to the records, owned a tan- yard, and he also is said to have been a mer- chant. He was an elder in the church and held numerous offices. His danghter, Margaret, married Maj. James Armstrong Wilson. ) The committee reported in December, to the committee of safety, that they expected to be able to raise an entire battalion in the county, and hoped they might be allowed to do so, in order to do away with the discords generally prevalent among bodies of men promiscuously recruited. They recommended as officers for such a regiment, colonel. William Irvine; lieutenant-colonel, Ephraim Blaine; major, James Dunlap: captains, James Byers, S. Hay, W. Alexander, J. Talbott, J. Wilson, J. Armstrong. A. Galbreath and R. Adams; lieutenants, A. Parker, W. Brat- ton. G. Alexander. P. Jack. S. MeClay, S. McKenney, R. White and J. Mc- Donald. The Sixth Regiment was accordingly organized. and William Irvine received his commission as colonel. January 9, 1776. Changes were made in the other officers, and they were as follows: lieutenant-colonel, Thomas Hart- ley, of York; major, James Dunlap, who lived near Newburg: adjutant, John Brooks; captains. Samuel Hay, Robert Adams, Abraham Smith (of Lurgan), William Rippey (resided near Shippensburg). James A. Wilson, David Grier, Moses McLean and Jeremiah Talbott (of Chambersburg). The regiment marched in three months after Col. Irvine was commissioned, and joined the army before Quebec, in Canada. It was brigaded with the First, Second and Fourth Regiments; the brigade being commanded first by Gen. Thomas, and after his death, by Gen. Sullivan. The latter sent Col. Irvine and Gen. Thompson on the disastrous Trois Rivieres campaign, when, June 8, 1776. 80 many of the men were captured, together with the commanders. The portion of the regiment that escaped capture fell back to Lake Champlain and wintered under command of Lieut. . Col. Hartley. Most of the men re-enlisted after their original term of service had expired (January 1. 1777), and the broken Sixth and Seventh Regiments were consolidated into a new one under the command of Col. David Greer. Col. Irvine, like the others on parol, was exchanged May 6, 1777, and appointed colonel of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment. May 12, 1779. he was made a brigadier-general, and served one or two years under Gen. Wayne. In HS1 he was stationed at Fort Pitt. Ho died at Phil- adelphia July 29, 1504. Capt. Rippey, who was captured at Trois Rivieres,

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

succeeded in making his escape. After the war he resided at Shippensburg, where he kept a hotel.

May 15, 1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending "to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government suffi- cient to the exigencies of their affairs has been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general." On the 3d of June, that body also devised measures for raising a new kind of troops, constituting them the "flying camp," inter- mediate between militia and regulars, to consist of 10,000 men from the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. The quota of Pennsylvania was 6,000 men, but as 1,500 had already been sent into the field, the immediate demand was for 4,500, and it was finally settled that the quota of Cumberland County was 334, as so many had already been sent out from said county. Meantime, the Assembly having dissolved, and the committee of safety declining to act, it became necessary for the people to organize some form of government, and on recommendation the several county committees met and sent delegates, for that purpose, to a meeting held at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776. Cumberland County was represented by James McLane, of Antrim Township; John McClay, of Lurgan; William Elliot, Col. William Clark and Dr. John Calhoon, of East Pennsborough; John Creigh and John Harris, of Carlisle; Hugh McCormick and Hugh Alexander, of Middle Spring, This conference continued in session one week, approved the resolutions of Congress, declared the existing government in the province incompetent, and appointed the 15th of July as the date for holding a convention at Philadelphia to frame a new government based upon the authority of the people. Voting places for delegates from Cumberland County, were established at Carlisle, with Robert Miller and James Gregory, of that town, and Benjamin Blyth, of Middle Spring, as judges of election; at Chambersburg, with John Allison and James Maxwell and John Baird as judges; at Robert Campbell's, in Hamilton Town- ship, with William Brown, Alex Morrow and James Taylor as judges. The election was held July 8, and William Harris, then practicing law at Carlisle, William Clark, William Duffield (near London); Hugh Alexander, of Middle Spring; Jonathan Hoge and Robert Whitehill, of East Pennsborough; James Brown, of Carlisle, and James McLane, of Antrim, were chosen delegates. The convention met per appointment, July 15, and adopted a constitution, which in spite of some informalities, was acquiesced in by the people for a number of years. Among other acts of the convention it appointed a council of safety, of which William Lyon was a member from Cumberland County.

George Chambers, in an excellent work upon the "Irish and Scotch and Early Settlers of Pennsylvania," published at Chambersburg in 1856, says of the period at which we have now arrived: "The progress of the war and the op- pressive exactions of the British Government after a few months unsettled public opinion on this question [that of separation from the mother country, Ed. ] and the necessity and policy of independence became a debatable question with the colonists in their social meetings. At this time there were no newspapers published in Pennsylvania, we believe, west of York. The freemen of the County of Cumberland, in this province, were amongst the first to form the opinion that the safety and welfare of the colonies did render separation from the mother country necessary. The first public expression of that sentiment and its embodiment in a memorial emanated from the freemen and inhabitants of that county to the assembly of the province and is among the national arch- ives." Mr. Chambers in further speaking of this memorial says: "The me-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

morial from Cumberland County bears evidence that the inhabitants of that county were in advance of their representatives in the Assembly and in Con- gress, on the subject of independence. The considerations suggested to them had their influence on the Assembly, who adopted the petition of the memorial- ists and withdrew the instructions that had been given to the delegates in Con- gress in opposition to independence. As the Cumberland memorial was pre- sented to the Assembly on the 23d* of May. 1776, it probably had occupied the attention and consideration of the inhabitants of the Cumberland Valley early in that month. As there was no remonstrance from this district by any dissat- istied with the purposes of the memorial we are to suppose that it expressed the public sentiment of that large, respectable and influential district of the prov- ince which had then many officers and men in the ranks of the Continental Army."

When in Congress the motion for independence was finally acted upon, the vote of Pennsylvania was carried for it by the deciding vote of James Wilson. of Cumberland County, and of him Bancroft says (History of the United States Vol. VIII, pp. 456-459): "He had at an early day foreseen independence as the probable, though not the intended result of the coatest: he had uniformly declared in his place that he never would vote for it contrary to his instructions; nay, that he regarded it as something more than presumption to take a step of snch importance without express instructions and authority. 'For' said he, 4 ought this act to be the act of four or five individuals, or should it be the act of the people of Pennsylvania"' But now that their authority was communi- cated by the conference of committees he stood on very different ground." Mr. Chambers says: " The majority of the Pennsylvania delegates remained inflexible in their unwillingness to vote for the measure, at the head of which opposition was the distinguished patriot. John Dickinson, who opposed the measure not as bad or uncalled for, but as premature. But when on the 4th of July the subject came up for final action, two of the Pennsylvania del- egates, Dickinson and Morris, who voted in the negative, absented themselves, and the vote of Pennsylvania was carried by the votes of Franklin, Wilson and Morton against the votes of Willing and Humphreys. The men who voted in opposition to this measure were esteemed honest and patriotic men but were too timid for the crisis. They faltered and shrank from responsibility and danger when they should have been firm and brave." The Declaration of Independ- ence though adopted on the 4th of July was not signed until August 16 follow- ing. The name of James Wilson was affixed to the document with those of the other delegates, and Cumberland County has the satisfaction of knowing that her citizens and foremost men had an important voice in the formation of the Republic which is now so dear to more than 50,000,000 people.

After this step had been taken by the colonies there was no way of honor- able retreat from the ground they had taken. The struggle was upon them. and many were the dark and trying hours before it elosed in their favor and the nation was firmly established. It was with difficulty the ranks were kept full. Many had enlisted for only one year, and some as emergency soldiers for as short a period as three months. The appeals of the recruiting officers are described as most stirring, and the county of Cumberland, like others, was kept in a constant state of excitement. By streunous efforts the flagging energy of the people was renewed. October 16, 1776. William Lyon, who that day took his seat as member from Cumberland County of the council of safety, proposed to the board of war to continue a larger force in the State, to protect it both against British troops and "the growing party of disaffected persons which unhappily exists at this time." also to carry on the necessary

*Other authority says May 2º.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

works of defense. It was resolved to raise four battalions of 500 men each (for the immediate defense of the State), of militia from the counties of York, Cumberland, Lancaster and Berks-one battalion for each county. The news from Trenton (December 3, 1776) and Princton (January 3, 1777) encouraged the people and recruiting became more lively. July 4, 1776, a military con- vention representing the fifty-three associated battalions of Pennsylvania, met at Lancaster and chose two brigadier-generals to command the battalions and forces of Pensylvania (Daniel Robardeau, of Philadelphia, and James Ewing, of York). Cumberland County was represented at this convention by Col. John Armstrong; Lieut. - Cols. William Blair, William Clark and Frederick Watts, Maj. James McCalmont; Capts. Rev. John Steel, Thomas McClelland, John Da- vis, James McFarlane and George Robinson, and privates David Hoge, Ephraim Steel, Smith, Pauling, Brown, Sterrett, Hamilton, Read, Finley, and Vance. When the "Flying Camp" was formed, two regiments had been organized in Cumberland County under Cols. Frederick Watts and John Montgomery, of Carlisle, and sent to Washington at Long Island; they were captured with others at Fort Washington, but the officers were soon exchanged and later commanded regiments under a new arrangement. We quote at considerable length from Dr. Wing:

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

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