History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 13

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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" BENJAMIN BAANNAN, " WALTER FINNEV.

" N.B .- The times and places in the North West district are not yet appointed."

The Council next turned its attention to the erec- tion and operation of powder-mills. On Feb. 3, 1776, Dr. Robert Harris proposed to the committee to build a mill on the Valley Stream, about twenty-five miles from the city, and stated that he would engage to be ready by the 1st of March to make one ton per week, on the same terms as the Committee of Safety would make with other parties.3 Dr. Harris and the com- mittee entered into the agreement, but he did not locate his powder-mill at the place where he first in- tended to have built it, for in John Ladd Howell's report to Owen Biddle, dated June 3, 1776,4 he de- scribes his works thus :

" Doctr. Robert Harris'e, on Crum Creek, about three miles from Ches- ter, begun to Work about the 23d ult. The dimensions of the Mill House 30 ft. by 20 ft., Head of Water about 212 feet fall, about 6 ft. Water Wheel 12 ft.

" The Shafts that Worke (Eighty Stampers of 234 hy 334 Inche &

1 Colonial Recorde, vol. x. p. 783.

2 Dr. Smith states (Hiet. of Delaware County, p. 288) that at that time Branoan lived lo Upper Darby.

a Peuna. Archives, lat sories, vol. iv. p. 709.

4 Ih., p. 765.

eleven ft. Length) is thirty-two ft. Long, five Mortars made of Two Ioch Plauk, about five foot each, one Stamper & Mortar for preparing Sulphur.

"Drying House, 20 ft. by 15 ft., neither floor'd nor plastered. He has received one Ton of Salt Petre and five Hundred wht of Sulphur, or theresbonte, expected to deliver one Tou of Powder on the first Inst. & the same Quantity Weekly.

"The sides of the Mill House & Gable Ende of thet & the Drying House being enclosed by Boarde not sufficiently seasoned, are very open & must have a bad effect on the Powder, yet the Doctr ie of a Different Opinion."

This mill was located in Springfield township at Strath-haven, on Crum Creek.

In the same month, June, 1776, as the enlisted troops would be in all probability ordered away from Chester County, it was necessary to put the militia in such a condition that they could be called on in an emergency. Hence we find that on June 1st Col. Wil- liam Montgomery was ordered to purchase a quantity of lead for the use of the Associators of Chester County,5 and shortly after an estimate was made of the number of firearms in the county, and the follow- ing return was made : 6

1st Battalion, Col. James Moore. 380 2nd Battalion, Col. Thomas Hockley 400 3d Battalion, Col. Hugh Lloyd .. 300

4th Battalion, Col. William Montgomery 450

5th Battalion, Col. Richard Thomas .. 300

1830

The dread that the enemy-whom it was known was preparing an expedition at Halifax-intended to make an attack on Philadelphia was so general that every means in the reach of the colony was employed to defend the city from the threatened assault. To that end, on June 19, 1776, Abraham Kinsey, the tenant of Samuel Galliway's estate on Hog Island, was notified that it might be necessary to " lay that island under Water on the near approach of the Enemy," but whatever injury he should sustain would be made good to him by the public. On June 20, 1776, George Bryan, the naval officer, was also in- structed that no application for a cheveaux-de-frise pilot should be allowed unless the captain on oath declared that he would not take the pilot farther down the river than Chester, except in cases where the vessels should go down the bay under convoy of Continental sloops-of-war.

On June 22d the committee ordered Robert Towers, commissary, to deliver to the colonels of the Battalions of Associators in Chester County the following quan- tities of ammunition :

" To Colo. James Muore:

2300 Cartridges for Provincial Muskete. 2070 do., sorted, for the other differeot Bores of Firelocke. 1500 flinte.

To Cola. Thom's Hockly :

2300 Cartridges for Provincial Mnekets. 2300 do., sorted, for the other different Boree of Firelocke. 1600 flints.

To Colo. Hugh Lloyd:

1840 do. for Provincial Muskets. 1610 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocke. 1200 flints.

5 Colonial Recorde, vol. x. p. 592.

0 Penus. Archives, let series, vol. iv. p. 776.

THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE TO THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.

To Colo. Wm Montgomery :

2760 Cartridges for Provincial Muskete.

2415 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocke. 1800 fliats.

To Colo. Rich'd Thomas:

1840 Cartridges for Provincial Muskete. 1610 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks. 1200 flints.

" And to each of the said Colonele, the same proportion of loose pow- der aud Lead, equal to the Quantity of Cartridges."1

By this time almost unconsciously the public mind in the colonies had been rapidly educated to an ac- ceptance of the idea of absolute independence from the kingdom of Great Britain. The stirring sentences of Paine's "Common Sense" had rung through the provinces like the blare of a trumpet, giving direction to the thoughts and ideas of the struggle, and "crys- tallized into fixed purpose the wishes and hopes for independence," until those persons who, as members of the committee of Chester County, had only a few months before declared "their abhorrence even of an idea so pernicious" now gave support freely to the movement for the establishment of a new nationality on the earth.

Congress, on May 15, 1776, recommended "the re- spective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exi- gencies of their affairs has been hereunto 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 particu- lar, and America in general." In Pennsylvania, where the legislative power had (by popular consent or obedience) been transferred to the Committee of Safety, the people were unwilling to submit the matter to an Assembly which had become simply the empty form of authority. Thereupon the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia communicated with all the county committees, appointing June 18th as a day for the meeting of a provincial confer- ence to be held in Philadelphia. On that day the body thus summoned assembled in Carpenters' Hall, and elected Col. Thomas Mckean president; Col. Joseph Hart, vice-president ; and Jonathan B. Smith and Samuel C. Morris, secretaries. The county of Chester, in that body, was represented by Col. Richard Thomas, Maj. William Evans, Col. Thomas Hockley, Maj. Caleb Davis, Elisha Price, Samuel Fairlamb, Capt. Thomas Levis, Col. William Montgomery, Col. Hugh Lloyd, Richard Riley, Col. Evan Evans, Col. Lewis Gronow, and Maj. Sketchley Morton. The conference unanimously resolved that the then form of provincial government was "not competent to the exigencies of our affairs," and that it was necessary that a convention should be called for the purpose of forming "a new government in this Province on the authority of the people alone." Thereupon the confer- ence made provision for representation of every county in the province, and for an election of members to

the proposed Constitutional Convention. On the 24th of June, 1776, the meeting adjourned, after each deputy had signed a declaration which stated their "willingness to concur in a vote of the Congress declaring the United Colonies free and independent States."

The momentous event which made the year 1776 one of the most noticeable in the history of the world was at hand. For some time the fact that a separa- tion was inevitable between the United Colonies and the mother-country was apparent, and the declaration of the deputies to the conference at Philadelphia, just mentioned, exhibits how popular the movement I had already become. Hence, when the committee of Congress appointed to draft a formal Declaration of Independence reported to that body on the 28th of June, it needed no prophet to foretell the fate of the measure when the question as to its adoption should be submitted to the members, and it occasioned no surprise when, after some alterations had been made in the document, on July 4, 1776, it was sanc- tioned by the vote of every colony. Of the eight members from Pennsylvania on the day of its adop- tion, Robert Morris, John Dickinson, and Andrew Allen were absent ; Benjamin Franklin, John Martin, and James Wilson voted in the affirmative, while Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys recorded their voices against the Declaration. Of these men deemed worthy to represent the then wealthiest prov- ince in the colonies in a Congress of the leading minds of the continent, it is a highly honorable record that there were two who were natives of the territory now Delaware County,-John Morton, of Ridley township, who voted in the affirmative, and Charles Humphreys, of Haverford township, who voted in the negative on the final question of the adoption of the Declaration.

The convention which had been called to prepare a constitutional form of government for the republic of Pennsylvania met in Philadelphia July 15, 1776. Dr. Benjamin Franklin presided over the assemblage. The representatives from Chester County were Ben- jamin Bartholomew, John Jacobs, Thomas Straw- bridge, Robert Smith, Samuel Cunningham, John Hart, John Mackey, aud John Fleming. This con- vention absolutely assumed the chief legislative and executive power in the province, appointed a Council · of Safety, ratified the Declaration of Independence, and filled all the offices under the new order of things. The body continued in session until Sept. 28, 1776, when it adopted the constitution it had made, which went into effect immediately without being submitted to a vote of the people. By its pro- visions the legislative power was reposed in a Gen- eral Assembly acting as one House, the executive authority was vested in a president, who was to be chosen annually by the Assembly and Council in joint ballot, the Council consisting of twelve persons who were elected in classes for a term of three years.

1 Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 613.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

A council of censors was provided consisting of two persons from each city and county, the first members of which were to be chosen in 1783 and elected every seven years thereafter, whose province was to see that the legislative and executive branches had performed their duties properly, neither failing in nor exceeding their powers. On Nov. 13, 1783, the only council of censors ever chosen in pursuance of this constitution met at the State-House, Philadelphia, and continued its session until Sept. 25, 1784. Chester County was represented in that body by Anthony Wayne and John Evans. The latter dying while a member of the council, James Moore was chosen in his stead, being present Dec. 30, 1783, for the first time.

After the Declaration of Independence, the men who had led the people forward to that step, now that the bonds that held them to the mother-country had been severed, put forth additional energy. It was the days when the bullets used in the chase and in war, at least in America, were cast of lead, and gen- erally by those who used them ; hence the authorities were anxious to gather material which could at once be utilized for that purpose. On July 8, 1776, the Com- mittee of Safety ordered certain gentlemen to collect "all the Leaden Window-weights, clock-weights, and other Lead in Germantowu and its Neighborhood, for which the Liberal price of six Pence per pound will be allowed." I do not find that the county of Ches- ter was distinctly named so far as gathering lead is concerned, but on July 17, 1776, the Committee of Safety made a general demand as follows :

"The Families who have leaden Window- or Clock-Weights are earn- estly requested to give them np immediately to the Persons appointed to Collect them. Such Families may be assured that they will be sup- plied as soon as possible with Weights of Iron, and It is hoped the tri- fling Inconvenience of being for a few days withont them will not be pnt in Competition with the Danger that may Arise to this Country from the want of a sufficient quantity of Lead for our Defence."1

Guard boats were stationed in Darby Creek," for on July 26th, Capt. Charles Lawrence, William Watkin, and Robert Tatnall represented to Council that the inconvenience of going to the fort for provisions was such that they desired Sketchley Morton might be appointed to furnish their supplies, which order was made.3 The uncertainty as to the destination of the English expedition still hung over all the provinces, and extraordinary efforts were made to meet the storm when it should burst. On July 29th, Council ordered that fifty muskets should be delivered to Col. James Moore, of Chester County, for the use of his battalion,4 and on August 1st, Col. Moore made application for "50 Bayonets or Tomhawks, 30 Hatchets, 100 screws, & 100 worms, for the use of his Battalion," and Com-

missary Towers was ordered to deliver these articles to the colonel.5 At this time there must have been an encampment of troops at Chester, for on August 5th, Council ordered £4 68. 3d. to be paid James Pen- nell for wood delivered at that place " for the use of the Pennsylvania Musketry."6 The report that the British fleet had rendezvoused off Sandy Hook on the 28th of June had allayed somewhat the dread of an attack on Philadelphia, but the long delay in disem- barking the troops and the constantly receiving tidings that daily reinforcements were being made by transports and vessels of war to the armada that was to subjugate the colonies kept alive the apprehension that at any moment the fleet might weigh, and almost before the news could he carried to Philadelphia the guns of the hostile vessels would announce their pres- ence in the Delaware. Hence the alarming condition of the time demanded constant vigilance and prepa- ration on the part of those men who, advocating in- dependence, must do everything to resist the capture of the foremost city of the colony. August 6th, one hundred stand of arms was delivered to Col. Richard Thomas, of Chester County, for his battalion, and the following day thirty stand of arms was sent to Col. Moore.

The same day the muster-master, Davis Bevan, of the borough of Chester, was instructed " to Pass Col. R'd Thomas's Battalion of Chester County with the Present number of Officers and Men," and the com- missary was directed to supply the battalion with accoutrements, as also to immediately deliver to Col. Thomas sixty stands of arms." The alarm increasing, as news of unusual activity in the British fleet was received by express, the militia was hastily armed and mustered into the service, hence we find that on Au- gust 8th the muster-master was ordered to pass Capt. Thomas Heslep's company of the First Battalion of Chester County, commanded by Col. Moore, with the number of officers and men then recruited. There was intense anxiety in the county of Chester at that time and unusual activity, as is evidenced from the minutes of the Council of Safety. On August 12th, Col. Richard Thomas received £196 38., the price he had paid for eighty-one firelocks, bought of non-asso- ciators,8 and on the 14th of the same month fourteen pounds was paid for cartridge-boxes and bayonet-belts for Col. Thomas' command, while the same day £75 48. 6d. was paid for like articles for the use of Col. Moore's battalion.9 On the 20th of August the news, borne by express, reached Chester that the British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker, had heen signally re- pulsed at Fort Moultrie, and a few days subsequently that the English army had disembarked on Long Island, and hence the " Flying Camp" was dispatched immediately to New York. On August 23d, the day following that of the landing of Gen. Howe's

1 Colonial Recorde, vol. x. p. 649.

2 In a letter from David Joy to Samnel Howell, Jan. 16, 1776 (Penna. Archives, let series, vol. v. p. 700), the former suggested that a few fire- rafts should "be kept in some creek below the Chevee de Frizes, in order to sett them on the Enemy on the flood. Darby, Chester, or Re- coon creske will do."

3 Colonial Recorde, vol. x. p. 656.

4 Th., p. 659.

5 Ib., p. 665. € Ib., p. 681.

6 1b., p. 670.

7 Ib., pp. 672-73.

9 Ib., p. 685.

THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE TO THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.

army on Long Island, Maj. Caleb Davis was paid £202 108. for necessaries for the Chester County quota of the Flying Camp, and the same day John Hart was paid £5 148. 3d. mileage for his company of Col. Lloyd's Chester County battalion, and Capt. Pierce of the same organization received £6 8s. 7d. for mile- age. The next day, August 24th, Capt. Andrew Boon of the Second Battalion received £6 28. 6d. to pur- chase drums, fifes, etc., for his company. Many of these men who marched from Chester County with the Flying Camp never returned, but in the early gray light of the morning of the 27th of August, 1776, their ghastly faces stiffened in death, when the first pitched battle of the war was begun by an attack on the Pennsylvania "Flying Camp" on Long Island. How severely the troops from Chester County suffered on that disastrous day can be inferred from the letter of Capt. Patrick Anderson to Benjamin Franklin, dated from West Chester County, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1776,1 and how bravely the women of Chester County acted at that time is shown by the following extract from the New England Courant of Sept. 5, 1776 : 2

" Philadelphia, August 27, 1776 .- THE WOMEN OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNA. Since the departure of The able-bodied men from the forks of the Brandywine, in Chester County, in the service of their country, the patriotic young women, to prevent the evil that would follow the neglect of putting in the fall crop in season, have joined the plunghs, and are preparing the fallowe for eeed; and should their fathers, brothers, and lovers be detained abroad in defense of the liberties of these States, they are determined to put in the crops themselves,-a very laudable example, and highly worthy of imitation."

The Council of Safety, on September 16th, resolved that the members of the Constitutional Convention, then in session, should recommend proper persons in their respective counties, to be appointed by Council, to purchase "blankets, coarse Woolens, Linens, & Stockings for the use of the Troops belonging" to Pennsylvania, and ou the 4th of October, William Evans was desired " to purchase all the Coarse Cloths, Blankets, & Stockings in Chester County for the use of ye State, and draw on the Board for the Cost." 3

The following summons from the Council of Safety to the justices of Chester County4 explains itself so far as known, for there appears no further reference to the matter in the official records of Council :

" IN COUNCIL OF SAFETY, "PHILADELPHIA, Oct'r. 9th, 1776.

" GENTLEMEN :

" You are hereby required to appear before thie Council at Ten o'clock on Saturday morning, then and there to answer for your conduct in holding an Election on Tuesday of the first Instant, at the Borrough of Chester, apparently with a view of supporting the late Government of the King of Great Britain, in direct Violation of the resolves of Con- gress and of the late Convention of thie State.

" By order of the Council.

"THOS. WHARTON, JUN., Pres't."

1 Penna. Archives, lat series, vol. v. p. 26. See, in addition, Col. Atlee's journal, as well as that of Col. Miles, 1 Penna. Archives, 2d eeries, vol. +. pp. 512 to 522.

2 Funthey and Cope's "History of Chester County," p. 66.

3 Colonial Recorde, vol. x. p. 741.

4 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. i. p. 652.

On the 8th of November, 1776, Council order the sergeant-at-arms "to arrest Richard Swanwick, of Chester County," and bring him before that body, for what offense does not appear;5 and the next day an order was made that Rev. Mr. Rodgers be " paid £70, being part of his wages as Chaplain to late Miles's and Atlee's Battalion." On the 8th, too, we learn that Council gave orders requiring "Provisions to be made at Chester for Troops to Rendevous there." That such an encampment was located at that place at that time is inferentially established by the fact that on November 14th, "Intelligence was rec'd by Express that several hundred Transports had sailed from New York & steered their Cource to the South- ward, & expected to be intended for this City ; where- upon the Council wrote a Circular Letter to the Com- manding Officers of the Battalions of Militia, earnestly requesting them to march their respective Battalions to this city Immediately." 6

The next day Col. Bayard was paid fifty-seven shil- lings for expenses going to Chester with Gen. Arm- strong,7 and on the 21st, George Weiss received £5 for riding express to Chester County to order the militia to be iu readiness to march at short notice.8 On the 23d, Council determined that the salt then in posses- sion should be divided among the committees of the several counties, the proportion allotted to Chester being eighty bushels, which was to be sold to the people at the rate of fifteen shillings per bushel, and in no greater quantity than half a bushel to any one family. The salt was to be distributed equally ac- cording to the necessities of the people, "for which purpose they are to require a declaration of what quantity they are possessed of more than their just proportion of the necessary article at a time of such very great scarcity of it."9 On the 28th, Council de- clared that the salt sent to the various counties, as mentioned, should be sold only to the militiamen who entered the service, or to their families 10 and reiterated the like order on November 30th.

On Nov. 27, 1776, Dr. Thomas Bond wrote from New Brunswick, stating that he had obtained permis- sion to carry the sick American soldiers under his care, and stated that it would be well to consult Gen. Mifflin on the desirability of locating hospitals at Darby, Chester, Marcus Hook, Wilmington, and New Castle. "I think the Water Carriage from Trenton to these Places would save much Carting, & this plan much better than one propos'd, of seuding the Sick to East Town, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Reading, etc." 11

The times were unpropitious for the American col- onists. The battle of Long Island had been fought aud lost, New York had fallen, and Washington, ap- parently driven from post to post, was retreating across New Jersey, followed by the victorious foe. It was to

5 Ib., p. 644.

6 Colonial Records, Vol. xi. p. 3.

: 1b., p. 5. 8 1b., p. 11. Đ Ib., p. 13.

1] Penna. Archives, Ist serie, vol. v. p. 79.

10 Ib., p. 20.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

prepare for the attack which threatened Philadelphia, alike by sea and land, that Council issued the order of Nov. 14, 1776, for all owners of cattle along the Delaware River to make arrangements to remove their stock inland at least five miles, notifying the owners that if they failed to act promptly in carrying out the order when required, the board " may be under the disagreeable necessity of giving the most peremptory order for the removal and to see that the same be punctually and suddenly complied with."1 At the same time the minutes of Council show that the ut- most anxiety prevailed, and the activity displayed in collecting troops, for that time, was proportionally as great as when, ninety odd years later, the Confederate forces, under Lee, invaded Pennsylvania. As Wash- ington drew nearer to Philadelphia, retiring before the exulting enemy, his army dwindled to a mere handful of war-worn, ill-clad, ill-fed, ill-armed troops, fleeing across New Jersey, sorely pursued by Lord Cornwallis' overpowering force of twenty thousand men, the flower of the English soldiery, the na- tion's fate trembled on the verge of ruin. On No- vember 30th, Council resolved "that in the present alarming situation of affairs" no vessel should be per- mitted to leave the port of Philadelphia, and all ship- ping was interdicted passing through the chevaux- de-frise. Money was immediately dispatched to the colonels of the militia organizations in the counties of Chester, Philadelphia, Bucks, Northampton, and the city of Philadelphia to furnish support to "the families of such associators as go into actual service and may stand in need of the same," which money was to be distributed among the families requiring supplies, " from time to time, according to their need, in the most discreet manner."2 On December 1st dispatches were sent by expresses to Chester, Phila- delphia, Bucks, and Northampton Counties to hasten the march of militia to reinforce Gen. Washington in New Jersey. On the 3d, Council desired the members of Assembly from the counties of Philadelphia, Ches- ter, Bucks, and Lancaster to recommend immediately in the respective counties, proper persons to be ap- pointed by the board to hire all the wagons in those counties.3 On the 4th, Dr. Robert Harris was paid fifty-eight pounds for making powder at his mills, at Strath-haven, on Crum Creek, and the same day Mr. Towers was ordered to deliver to Dr. Harris a ton of saltpetre and sulphur, in proportion to make gun- powder." The same day John Morton was paid £3 68. for wharfage of the floating-battery " Arnold," in the preceding March. This, doubtless, must relate to ex- penses incurred while the war-boats and galleys lay in Darby Creek.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 13

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150