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 30

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Publisher: W. Taylor
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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 30
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 30

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" When Gen. Howe appeared to be about crossing New Jersey to get pos- session of Philadelphia by land (June 14, 1776), messengers were dispatched to the counties to give orders that the second class of the associated militia should march as speedily as possible to the place to which the first class had been or- dered, and that the third class should be got in readiness to march at a moment's notice. These orders were at once complied with, but before the companies from this county had started, the order was countermanded on account of the return of the British troops to New York. It soon, however, became known that the approach to Philadelphia was to be by transports up Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River, and a requisition was made upon the State for 4,000 mili- tia in addition to those already in the field. One class, therefore, was again ordered from the county. On the 5th of October, 1776, the council of safety resolved to throw into the new continental establishment two of the three Penn- sylvania battalions, before in that service, to serve during the war, and the third was to be retained in the service of the State until the 1st of January, 1778, unless sooner discharged, and to consist of ten companies of 100 men each, in- cluding officers. The privates of the three battalions were to continue in the service of the State, the officers according to seniority to have the choice of entering into either, and the two battalions to be recruited to their full com- plement of men as speedily as possible. By this new arrangement Pennsylva- nia was to keep twelve battalions complete in the Continental service. Of course this broke up all previous organizations, and renders it difficult to trace the course of the old companies. We have seen that on the 16th of August thirteen companies fully officered and equipped had left the county for the seat of war, and six others were preparing to go. The regiments of Cols. Thompson, Irvine and Magaw, we have noticed, and two or three others must have been in existence about this time. One of these was commanded by Col. Frederick Watts and Maj. David Mitchell, and another by John Montgomery, who after the dissolution of the committee of safety, July 22. 1776, appears to have taken charge of a regiment. Both of these regiments were at the taking of Fort Washington and were then captured. One of the volunteer companies under Col. Watts, after the latter had been set at liberty and been put again at the head of a regiment, was commanded by Capt. Jonathan Robinson, of Sherman's Valley, the son of George Robinson, who suffered so much in the

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Indian war, and who now, though above fifty yours of age, had entered the patriot army. This company was in the battle of Princeton, and was for some time stationed at that town to guard against the British and to act as scouts to intercept their foraging parties. Near the close of the year 1776, or the be- ginning of 1777, battalions began to be designated by numbers in their respect . ive counties and are made of the First, Second, Third, etc., of Cumberland County. This was under the new organization of the militia of the State. The first was organized in January, 1777, when . Col. Ephraim Blaine of the First Battalion of Cumberland County militia is directed to hold an election for field officers in the said battalion, if two-thirds of the battalion, now marched and marching to camp, require the same.' Accordingly the Colonel was fur- nished with blank commissions to fill when the officers should be chosen. Capts. Samuel Postlethwaite. Matthias Selers, John Steel, William Chambers and John Boggs are mentioned in the minutes of the council of safety as con- nected with this regiment. Col. Blaine's connection with the regiment must have been brief, for. he was soon transferred to the commissary department, and we find it under the command'of Col. James Dunlap (from near Newburg, and a ruling elder in the congregation of Middle Spring), Lieut .- Col. Robert Culbertson, and connected with three companies from what is now Franklin County, viz. : those of Capts. Noah Abraham of Path Valley, Patrick Jack of Hamilton Township and Charles McClay of Lurgan. The Second Battalion was at first under the command of Col. Jolin Allison, a justice of the peace in Tyrone Township, over the mountains, and a judge of the county, but after his retirement (for he was now past middle life) it was for awhile under the com- mand of Col. James Murray, and still later we find it under John Davis, of Middleton, near the Conodoguinet. Under him were the companies of Capts. William Huston, Charles Leeper (of the Middle Spring congregation), James Crawford, Patrick Jack (sometimes credited to this regiment), Samuel Royal and Lieut. George Wallace. While this regiment was under marching orders for Amboy, near January 1, 1777, they took from such persons as were not associated, in Antrim and Peters Township, whatever arms were found in their possession, to be paid for according to appraisement by the Government. The Fourth Battalion was under Col. Samnel Lyon, and had in it the companies of Capts. John Purdy, of East Pennsborough; James McConnel, of Letterkenny, and, in 1778, of Jonathan Robinson, of Sherman's Valley; Stephen Stevenson, who was at first a lieutenant but afterward became a captain. The Fifth Bat- talion was commanded by Col. Joseph Armstrong, a veteran of the Indian war and of the expedition to Kittanning, and in 1756-57, a member of the Colonial Assembly. Most of this regiment was raised in Hamilton, Letterkenny and Lurgan Townships, and its companies at different times were under Capts. John Andrew, Robert Culbertson (for a time), Samuel Patton, John McCon- nel, Conrad Snider, William Thompson, Charles McClay (at one period), James McKee, James Gibson, John Rea, Jonathan Robinson, George Mat- thews and John Boggs. John Murphy was a lieutenant and John Martin ensign. Capt. McClay's men are said to have been over six feet in height and to have numbered 100. and the whole regiment was remarkable for its vigor and high spirit. It suffered severely at the battle of "Crooked Billet," in Berks County, May 4, 1778, when Gen. Lacy was surprised and many of his men were butchered without mercy. The Sixth Battalion was commanded by Col. Samuel Culbertson, who had been a lieutenant-colonel in the First but was promoted to the command of the Sixth. John Work was the lieutenant- colonel; James McCammont, major; John Wilson, adjutant; Samuel Finley, quartermaster, and Richard Brownson, surgeon, and Patrick Jack, Samuel Pat-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

ton, James Patterson, Joseph Culbertson, William Huston, Robert McCoy and John McConnel were at some periods captains.

" As the period for which the enlistments about this time, when the inva- sion of Pennsylvania was imminent, was usually limited to six months and sometimes even to three and two months, we need not be surprised to find that at different times the same men and officers served in two or three different regiments. As an instance J. Robinson says that he entered the service a number of times on short enlistments of two or three months, and was placed in different regiments and brigades. The Seventh Battalion is believed to have consisted of remnants of the old Fifth and Sixth Continental Regiments, and was commanded by Col. William Irvine. These soldiers re-entered the service as the Seventh Battalion in March, 1777, and were under the command of its major, David Grier, until the release of Irvine from his parole as a prisoner of war (May 6, 1777). In 1779 Col. Irvine was commissioned a brigadier, and served under Gen. Wayne, but before this (July 5, 1777) Abraham Smith, of Lurgan Township, was elected colonel. Among the captains were William Rippey; Samuel Montgomery, who became captain of Smith's company when the latter was promoted; John Alexander, before a lieutenant in Smith's com- pany; Alexander Parker; Jeremiah Talbott, who in the latter part of the year 1777 was promoted a major in the Sixth, and served in that position until the close of the war. He was the first sheriff of Franklin County (October, 1784) and was twice re-elected. The Eighth Battalion was commanded by Abraham Smith, who was chosen July 6. 1777, probably from Lurgan, and a member of the congregation of Middle Spring. Its officers were largely taken from a single remarkable family in Antrim Township. The head of this family had settled very early, about 1735, two and a half miles east of where Greencastle now is, and had died near 1755, leaving a large property and four sons. Each of these sons entered the army. The eldest, James, was a lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Battalion, but afterward was the colonel of a battalion during a campaign in New Jersey. John, the youngest, was the major, and Thomas, the second son, was adjutant, and was present at the slaughter at Paoli, Sep- tember 20, 1777, but survived to be promoted to a colonelcy and lived till about 1819. Dr. Robert, the other brother, was a surgeon in Col. Irvine's regiment, was in the South during the latter years of the war, was at the sur- render of Yorktown, in October, 1781, and in 1790 was an excise collector for Franklin County. Terrence Campbell was the quartermaster. The captains were Samuel Roger, John Jack, James Poe and John Rea, who afterward be- came a brigadier-general.

" Besides these we have notices of several companies, regiments and offi- cers, whose number and position in the service is not given in any account we have seen. Early in the war James Wilson and John Montgomery were ap- pointed colonels, and in the battalion of the former are mentioned the compa- nies of Capts. Thomas Clarke and Thomas Turbitt. Montgomery was in the army at New York in 1776, and was at the surrender of Fort Washington, but both he and Wilson were soon called into the civil department of the service, and do not appear in the army after that year. Besides them were Cols. Robert Callender, of Middlesex, now in advanced life, whose death early in the war deprived his country of his valuable services; James Armstrong, Robert Peoples, James Gregory, Arthur Buchanan, Benjamin Blythe, Abraham Smith, Isaac Miller and William Scott. Among the captains, whom we are unable to locate in any particular regiment, at least for any considerable time, were Jo- seph Brady, Thomas Beale, Matthew Henderson, Samuel MeCune (under Col. William Clarke for awhile, and at Ticonderoga), Isaac Miller, David Mc-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Knight. Alexander Trindle, Robert Quigley, William Strain, Samuel Kearsley, Samuel Blythe. Samuel Walker, William Blaine, Joseph Martin, James Adams, Sumnel Erwin and Peler Withington. One of the companies which were carly mustered into the service was that of Capt. William Peebles. The officers' commissions were anted somewhere between the 9th and the 15th of March, near the time at which Magaw's regiment left the county. The company was in Philadelphia August 17, and was then said to consist of eighty-one riflemen. It was in the battle of Long Island, August 27, when a portion was captured. and the remainder were in the engagements at White Plains, Trenton and Princeton. On his return from the war Capt. Peebles resided on Peebles' Run, a little distance from Newburg, and was for many years an elder in the congregation at Middle Spring. He was promoted to be a colonel September 23, 1776. Matthew Scott was the first-lieutenant, and among the captured at Long Island, but he was exchanged December 8, 1776, and promoted captain April 15, 1777. He married Peggy, the daughter of Samuel Lamb, a stone- mason near Stony Ridge, who long survived him and was living in Mechanics- burg in 1845. The family of Mr. Lamb was distinguished for its ardent pa- triotism. The second lieutenant was Robert Burns, promoted to be a captain in Col. Hazen's regiment December 21. 1776. The third lieutenant was Robert Campble, also promoted to be a captain at the same time in the same regiment, and when wounded was transferred to an invalid regiment under Lewis Nichola. The sergeants were Samuel Kenny, William McCraeken, Patrick Highland (captured), and Joseph Collier. James Carson, drummer, and Edward Lee, fifer, were also captured at Long Island August 27, 1776. The privates were William Adams, Zachariah Archer, William Armstrong, James Atchison (captured), Thomas Beatty, Henry Bourke, William Boyd, Daniel Boyle (enlisted for two years, discharged at Valley Forge July 1, 1778, and in 1524 resided in Armstrong County), James Brattin, John Brown, Robert Campble. John Carrigan, William Carson, William Cavan, Henry Dib- bins, Pat Dixon, Samuel Dixon (captured), Barnabas Dougherty, James Dowds, John Elliott, Charles Fargner, Daniel Finley, Pat Flynn, James Galbreath, Thomas Gilmore. Dagwell Hawn, John Hodge. Charles Holder, Jacob Hove, John Jacobs. John Justice, John Keating. John Lane, Peter Lane, Samuel Logan, Robert Mcclintock, Alexander McCurdy. Hugh McKegney, Andrew Mc Kinsey, Charles MeKowen, Niel MeMullen, Alex. Mitchell, John Mitchell (justice of the peace in Cumberland County in 1821), Laurence Morgan, Samuel Montgomery, William Montgomery, David Moore, James Moore, John Moore, James Mortimer, Robert Mullady, Patrick Murdaugh, John Niel, James Niekleson, Robert Nugent. Richard Orput, John Paxton, Robert Peal- ing. James Pollock, Hans Potts. Patrick Quigley, John Quinn, Andrew Rals- ton, James Reily, Thomas Rogers (captured on Long Island, died in New Jersey, leaving a widow, who resided in Chester County), James Seroggs, Andrew Sharpe, Thomas Sheerer, John Shields, John Skuse, Thomas Town- send. Patten Viney, John Walker, John Wallace, Thomas Wallace, William Weatherspoon (captain), Peter Weaver, Robert Wilson and Hugh Woods. Total of officers ten, and of privates, eighty.

"A company of rangers from the borders of this county, who had been accustomed in the Indian wars to aet under James Smith, also deserves notice. He had now removed to the western part of the State, and was a member of the Assembly from Westmoreland. While attending on that body early in 1777, he saw in the streets of the city some of his former companions in forest ad- venture, from this region, and they immediately formed themselves into a company under him as their commander. Obtaining leave of absence for a short

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

time from the Assembly, he went with them to the army in New Jersey, attacked about 200 of the British, at Rocky Hill, and, with only thirty-six men, drove them from their position; and on another occasion took twenty-two Hes- sions with their officers' baggage-wagons, and a number of our Continental pris- oners they were guarding. In a few days they took more of the British than there were of their own party. Being taken with the camp fever Smith returned to the city, and the party was commanded by Maj. McCammont, of Strasburg. He then applied to Gen. Washington for permission to raise a battalion of riffemen, all expert marksmen, and accustomed to the Indian method of fighting. The council of safety strongly recommended the project, but the General thought it not best to introduce such an irregular element into the army, and only offered him a major's commission in a regular regiment. Not fancying the officer under whom he was to serve, he declined this, and remained for a time with his companions in the militia. In 1778 he received a colonel's commission, and served with credit till the end of the war, principally on the western frontier. " Another partisan leader was Samuel Brady, originally from near Ship- pensburg, and among those who went first to Boston. Though but sixteen years of age when he enlisted, in 1775, in a company of riflemen, he was one of the boldest and hardiest of that remarkable company. At the battle of Monmouth he was made captain; at Princeton he was near being taken pris- oner, but succeeded in effecting an escape for himself and his colonel, and in many places displayed an astonishing coolness and steadiness of courage. He so often acted on special commissions to obtain intelligence that he became distinguished as the ' captain of the spies.' In 1778 his brother, and in 1779 his father were cruelly killed by the Indians. and from that time it was said of him, 'this made him an Indian killer, and he never changed his business. The red man never had a more implacable foe or a more relentless tracker. Being as well skilled in woodcraft as any Indian of them all, he would trail them to their very lairs with all the fierceness and tenacity of the sleuth hound.' During the whole sanguinary war with the Indians he gave up his whole time to lone vigils, solitary wanderings and terrible revenges. He commenced his scouting service in 1780, when he was but twenty-one years old, and became a terror to the savages and a security to a large body of settlers. He did not marry until about 1786, when he spent some years at West Liberty, in West Virginia, where he probably died about 1800. [See McKnight's "Western Bor- der," pp. 426-442.]

" The Patrick Jack, who is mentioned more than once above as connected at different times with several regiments, was probably the same man who after- ward became famous as the ' Wild Hunter, or Juniata Jack the Indian Killer.' He was from Hamilton Township, and is said by George Croghan in 1755 to have been at the head of a company of hunter rangers, expert in Indian war- fare, and clad, like their leader, in Indian attire. They were therefore pro- posed to Gen. Braddock as proper persons to act as scouts, provided they were allowed to dress, march and fight as they pleased. 'They are well armed,' said Croghan, 'and are equally regardless of heat and cold. They require no shelter for the night and ask no pay.' It is said of him as of Brady that he became a bitter enemy of the Indians by finding his cabin one evening, on his return from hunting, 'a heap of smoldering ruins, and the blackened corpses of his murdered family scattered around.' From that time he became a ran- corous Indian hater and slayer. When the Revolutionary war began he was among the first to enlist, and he afterward enlisted several times on short terms in various companies. He was of large size and stature, dark almost as an Indian, and stern and relentless to his foes. John Armstrong in his ac-

R. Lowry Sibber

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

count of the Kittanning expedition, calls him ' the half Indian,' but he could have had no Indian blood in his veins. His monument may be seen at Cham- bersburg, with this inscription: . Colonel Patrick Jack, an officer of the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars-died January 25, 1821, aged ninety-one years.'

We shall now give a few of the important events of the war as relating to Cumberland County without going further into details. In 1778 George Stevenson, John Boggs, Joseph Brady and Alexander McGehan were appointed a committee to attend to estates forfeited for treason, and the commissioners for the county, James Pollock and Samuel Laird, were required to collect from non-associators the amounts they owed the State as a fair equivalent for military services, also to collect such arms and ammunition as may be found in their possession. In September, 1777, information had been given of plots by "tories " to destroy public stores at York, Lancaster, Carlisle and other points, and several prominent persons in the region were implicated "By a proclamation of the Supreme Executive Council, June 15, 1778, John Wilson, wheel-wright and husbandman, and Andrew Fursner, laborer, both of Allen Township; Lawrence Kelley, cooper; William Curlan, laborer; John M. Cart, distiller and laborer, and Francis Irwin, carter, of East Pennsborough; George Croghan, Alexander McKee, Simon Girty and Matthew Elliott, Indian traders, were said severally to have aided and assisted the onemy by having joined the British Army, and were therefore attainted of high treason and sub- ject to the penalties and forfeitures which were by law attached to their crime. The committee on forfeited estates rendered an account of several hundred pounds which they had handed over to the proper officers to be used in the purchase of arms, provisions, etc., from which it would appear that some per- sons had been found guilty of treason in the county. The names which have come down to us either by tradition or documentary evidence were usually of persons of no prominence, or of such as were then residing beyond the limits of the present county of Cumberland."- [Wing. ]

An act of the Supreme Executive Council passed March 17, 1777, provided for the appointment of one or more lieutenants of militia in each city or county, also of sub-lientenants, with duties which the act prescribed. John Armstrong and Ephraim Blaine were successively appointed lieutenants for Cumberland County, but both declined for sufficient reasons. April 10. 1777, James Galbreath, of East Pennsborough Township, was appointed, and finally accepted the position and performed its duties faithfully. He was succeeded by John Carothers, and he by Col. James Dunlap, in October, 1779. Abra- ham Smith held the office in April, 1750. The sub-lieutenants were Col. James Gregory, of Allen Township; Col. Benjamin Blythe, near Middle Spring; George Sharpe, near Big Spring: Col. Robert McCoy (died in May, 1777); John Harris of Carlisle; George Stewart, James McDowell, of Peters Township (in place of Col. MeCoy), all appointed in 1777. and Col. Frederick Watts. Col. Arthur Buchanan, Thomas Buchanan, John Trindle, Col. Abra- ham Smith and Thomas Turbitt appointed in 1750.

In June, 1777. the Supremo Executive Council appointed an entirely new board of justices for Cumberland County, as some of the old ones had failed to take the oath of allegiance required of them and several of the positions were vacant. Those newly appointed were John Rannels ( Reynolds), James Max- well, James Oliver, John Holmes, John Agnew, John McClay, Samuel Lyon, William Brown, John Harris, Samuel Royer. John Anderson, John Creigh, Hugh Laird, Andrew McBeath, Thomas Kenny, Alexandria Laughlin, Samuel McClure, Patrick Vance, George Matthews, William McClure, Samuel Cul-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

bertson, James Armstrong, John Work, John Trindle, Stephen Duncan, Ephraim Steel, William Brown (Carlisle), Robert Peebles, Henry Taylor, James Taylor, Charles Leeper, John Scouller, Matthew Wilson and David McClure. November 5, 1777, John Agnew, on the nomination of these justices, was appointed a clerk of the peace, and February 20, 1779, a com- missioner for the exchange of money. These justices were required to "ad- minister the oath of allegiance to every person who should vote for officers or enter upon any office either under the State government or under the Conti- nental Congress." From 1777 to 1779 Col. William Clark was paymaster of troops in Cumberland County. In 1777 he reported concerning the destitute condition of the militia, and a committee was appointed consisting of John Boggs, Abraham Smith, John Andrew, William McClure, Samuel Williamson, James Purdy and William Blair "to collect without delay from such as have not taken the oath of allegiance and abjuration, or who have aided or assisted the enemy with arms or accoutrements, blankets, linen and linsey-wolsey cloth, shoes and stockings for the army." Besides this committee, George Stevens, John Boggs and Joseph Brady were appointed commissioners "to seize upon the personal estates of all who have abandoned their families or habitations, joined the army of the enemy, or resorted to any city, town or place within the commonwealth in possession of the enemy, or supplied provisions, intelli- gence or aid for the enemy, or shall hereafter do such things; and they shall as speedily as possible dispose of all the perishable part thereof, and hold pos- session of all the remainder subject to the future disposition of the Legisla- ture."

Large numbers of wagons and teams and teamsters were employed to trans- port the great quantities of stores and supplies from place to place as necessary, and a special department was maintained for the organization and manage- ment of this service. Cumberland County was required to furnish a large pro- portion of supplies, wagons and teams, and sent out at one time 200, at an- other 800, and at various times smaller numbers of wagons. Hugh McCormick was appointed wagon-master in 1777, Matthew Gregg in 1778 and Robert Culbertson in 1780. Dr. Wing states: "In November, 1777, the assessment was upon East Pennsborough, Peters and Antrim Townships, each for twelve wagons and teams; Allen for eleven, Middleton, West Pennsborough, Newton, Hopewell, Lurgan, Letterkenny, Guilford and Hamilton each for ten. Each wagon was to be accompanied by four horses, a good harness and one attendant, and the owner was paid thirty shillings in specie or forty in currency, accord- ing to the exchange agreed upon by Congress."

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

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