History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 14

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 14

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

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

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

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

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

The English and French nations made strenuous exertions to strengthen their forces in America for the campaigns sure to be undertaken in 1754. The French, by being under the supreme authority of one governing power, the Governor General of Canada, were able to concentrate and bring all their power of men and resources to bear at the threatened point with more celerity and certainty than the English, who were dependent upon colonies scattered along all the sea board, and upon Legislatures penny-wise in voting money. To remedy these inconveniences, the English Government recommended a con- gress of all the colonies, together with the Six Nations, for the purpose of con- certing plans for efficient defense. This Congress met on the 19th of June, 1754, the first ever convened in America. The Representatives from Pennsyl- vania were John Penn and Richard Peters for the Council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin for the Assembly. The influence of the powerful mind of Franklin was already beginning to be felt, be having been Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly since 1736, and since 1750 had been a member. Heartily sympathizing with the movers in the purposes of this Congress, he came to Albany with a scheme of union prepared, which, having been pre- sented and debated, was, on the 10th of July, adopted substantially as it came from his hands. It provided for the appointment of a President General by the Crown, and an Assembly of forty-eight members to be chosen by the sev- eral Colonial Assemblies. The plan was rejected by both parties in interest, the King considering the power vested in the representatives of the people too great, and every colony rejecting it because the President General was given "an influence greater than appeared to them proper in a plan of government intended for freemen."

CHAPTER X.

ROBERT H. MORRIS, 1754-56-WILLIAM DENNY, 1756-59-JAMES HAMILTON, 1759-63. F INDING himself in a false position by the repugnant instructions of the proprietors, Gov. Hamilton had given notice in 1753, that, at the end of twelve months from its reception, he would resign. Accordingly in October, 1754, he was succeeded by Robert Hunter Morris, son of Lewis Morris, Chief Justice of New York and New Jersey, and Governor of New Jersey. The son

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

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

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Braddock mortally wounded and brought off the field only with the greatest difficulty. When Orme and Morris, the other aids, fell, Washington acted alone with the greatest gallantry. In writing to his brother, he said: "I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me; yet I escaped unhurt, though death was leveling my companions on every side." In after years, when Washington visited the Great Kanawha country, he was approached by an Indian chieftain who said that in this battle he had fired his rifle many times at Washington and had told his young men to do the same; but when he saw that his bullets had no apparent effect, he had bidden them to desist, be- lieving that the Great Spirit was protecting him.

The panic among the survivors of the English carried them back upon the reserve, commanded by Gen. Dunbar, who seems himself to have been seized with it, and without attempting to renew the campaign and return to the en- counter, he joined in the flight which was not stayed until Fort Cumberland was reached. The French were anticipating a renewal of the struggle; but when they found that the English had fled leaving the frontier all unprotected, they left no stone unturned in whetting the minds of the savages for the work of plunder and blood, and in organizing relentless bands to range at will along all the wide frontier. The Indians could not be induced to pursue the retreating English, but fell to plundering the field. Nearly everything was lost, even to the camp chest of Braddock. The wounded General was taken back to the summit of Laurel Hill, where, four days after, he breathed his last. He was buried in the middle of the road, and the army marched over hie grave that it might not be discovered or molested by the natives. The easy victory, won chiefly by the savages, served to encourage them in their fell work, in which, when their passions were aroused, no known people on earth were less touched by pity. The unprotected settler in his wilder- ness home was the easy prey of the torch and the scalping knife, and the burn. ing cabin lit up the somber forests by their continuous blaze, and the shrieks of women and children resounded from the Hudson to the far Potomac Be- fore the defeat of Braddock, there were 3,000 men capable of bearing arms west of the Susquehanna. In six months after, there were scarcely 100.

Gov. Morris made an earnest appeal to the Assembly for money to ward off the impending enemy and protect the settlers, in response to which the As- sembly voted £50,000; but having no exemption of the proprietor's estates, it was rejected by the Governor, in accordance with his original instructions. Expeditions undertaken against Nova Scotia and at Crown Point were more fortu- nate than that before Du Quesne, and the Assembly voted £15,000 in bills of credit to aid in defraying the expense. The proprietors eent £5,000 as a gratuity, not as any part of expense that could of right be claimed of them.

In this hour of extremity, the Indians for the most part showed themselves a treacherous race, ever ready to take up on the stronger side. Even the Shaw- anese and Delawares, who had been loudest in their protestations of friendship for the English and readiness to fight for them, no sooner saw the French vic- torious than they gave ready ear to their advice to strike for the recovery of the lands which they had sold to the English.

In this pressing emergency, while the Governor and Assembly were waging a fruitless war of words over money bills, the pen of Franklin was busy in in- fusing a wholesome sentiment in the minde of the people. In a pamphlet that he issued, which he put in the familiar form of a dialogue, he answered the objections which had been urged to a legalized militia, and willing to show his devotion by deeds as well as words, he accepted the command upon the

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

frontier. By his exertions, a respectable force was raised, and though in the dead of winter, he commenced the erection of a line of forts and block-houses along the whole range of the Kittatinny Hills, from the Delaware to the Po- tomac, and had them completed and garrisoned with a body sufficient to with- stand any force not provided with artillery. In the spring, he turned over the command to Col. Clapham, and returning to Philadelphia took his seat in the Assembly. The Governor now declared war against the Indians, who had es- tablished their headquarters thirty miles above Harris' Ferry, on the Susque- hanna, and were busy in their work of robbery and devastation, having se- cured the greater portion of the crops of the previous season of the settlers whom they had killed or driven out. The peace party strongly objected to the course of the Governor, and voluntarily going among the Indians induced them to bury the hatchet. The Assembly which met in May, 1756, prepared a bill with the old clause for taxing the proprietors, as any other citizens, which the Governor was forbidden to approve by his instructions, "and the two parties were sharpening their wits for another wrangle over it," when Gov. Morris was superseded by William Denny, who arrived in the colony and as- sumed authority on the 20th of August, 1756. He was joyfully and cordially received, escorted through the streets by the regiments of Franklin and Duche, and royally feasted at the State House.

But the promise of efficient legislation was broken by an exhibition of the new Governor's instructions, which provided that every bill for the emission of money must place the proceeds at the joint disposal of the Governor and As- eembly; paper currency could not be issued in excess of £40,000, nor could ex- isting issues be confirmed unless proprietary rents were paid in sterling money ; proprietary lands were permitted to be taxed which had been actually leased, provided that the taxes were paid out of the rents, but the tax could not become a lien upon the land. In the first Assembly, the contention be- came as acrimonious as ever.

Previous to the departure of Gov. Morris, as a retaliatory act he had issued a proclamation against the hostile Indians, providing for the payment of bounties: For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old, who shall be taken prisoner and delivered at any forts, garrisoned by troops in pay of this province, or to any of the county towns to the keepers of the common jails there, the sum of one hundred and fifty Spanish dollars or pieces of eight; for the scalp of every male Indian above the age of twelve years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of one hundred and thirty pieces of eight; for every female Indian taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian under the age of twelve years, taken and brought in, one hundred and thirty pieces of eight; for the scalp of every Indian woman produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight." Liberal bounties were also offered for the delivering up of settlers who had been carried away captive.

But the operation which had the most wholesome and pacifying effect upon the savages, and caused them to stop in their mad career and consider the chances of war and the punishment they were calling down upon their own heads, though executed under the rule of Gov. Denny, was planned and provided for, and was really a part of the aggressive and vigorous policy of Gov. Morris. In response to the act of Assembly, providing for the calling out and organizing the militia, twenty-five companies were recruited, and had been stationed along the line of posts that had been established for the defense of the frontiers. At Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, the Indians had one of the largest of their towne in the State, and was a recruiting station and

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

rallying point for sending out their murderous bands. The plan proposed and adopted by Gov. Morris, and approved and accepted by Gov. Denny, was to send out a strong detachment from the militia for the reduction of this stronghold. Accordingly, in August, 1756, Col. Armstrong, with a force of three hundred men, made a forced march, and, arriving unperceived in the neigh- borhood of the town, sent the main body by a wide detour from above, to come in upon the river a few hundred yards below. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 7th of September, the troops had gained their position undiecovered, and at dawn the attack was made. Shielded from view by the tall corn which cov- ered all the flats, the troops were able to reach in close proximity to the cabins unobserved. Jacobs, the chief, sounded the war-whoop, and made a stout re- sistance, keeping up a rapid fire from the loop holes in his cabin. Not desir- ing to push his advantage to the issue of no quarter, Armstrong called on the savages to surrender; but this they refused to do, declaring that they were. men and would never be prisoners. Finding that they would not yield, and that they were determined to sell their lives at the dearest rate, he gave orders to fire the huts, and the whole town was soon wrapt in flames. As the heat began to reach the warriors, some sung, while wrung with the death agonies; others broke for the river and were shot down as they fled. Jacobs, in attempt- ing to climb through a window, was killed. All calls for surrender were re- ceived with derision, one declaring that he did not care for death, and that he could kill four or five before he died. Gunpowder, small arms and valuable goods which had been distributed to them only the day before by the French, fell into the hands of the victors. The triumph was complete, few if any escaping to tell the sad tale. Col. Armstrong's celerity of movement and well conceived and executed plan of action were publicly acknowledged, and he was voted a medal and plate by the city of Philadelphia.

The finances of the colony, on account of the repeated failures of the money bille, were in a deplorable condition. Military operations could not be carried on and vigorous campaigns prosecuted without ready money. Ac- cordingly, in the first meeting of the Assembly after the arrival of the new Governor, a bill was passed levying £100,000 on all property alike, real and personal, private and proprietary. This Gov. Denny vetoed. Seeing that money must be had, the Assembly finally passed a bill exempting the proprie- tary estates, but determined to lay their grievances before the Crown. To this end, two Commissioners were appointed, Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, to proceed to England and beg the interference of the royal Gov- ernment in their behalf. Failing health and business engagemente of Norris prevented his acceptance, and Franklin proceeded alone. He had so often de- fended the Assembly in public and in drawing remonstrances that the whole subject was at his fingers' ends.

Military operations throughout the colonies, during the year 1757, con- ducted under the command of the Earl of Loudoun were sluggish, and resulted only in disaster and disgrace. The Indians were active in Pennsylvania, and kept the settlers throughout nearly all the colonies in a continual ferment, hostile bands stealing in upon the defenseless inhabitante as they went to their plantings and sowings, and greatly interfering with or preventing alto- gether the raising of the ordinary crops. In 1758, Loudoun was recalled, and Gen. Abercrombie was given chief command, with Wolfe, Amherst and Forbes as his subordinates. It was determined to direct operations simul- taneously upon three points-Fort Du Quesne, Louisburg and the forts upon the great lakes. Gen. Forbes commanded the forces sent against Fort Du Quesne. With a detachment of royal troops, and militia from Pennsylvania

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

and Virginia, under command of Cols. Bouquet and Washington, his column moved in July, 1758. The French were well ordered for receiving the attack, and the battle in front of the fort raged with great fury; but they were finally driven, and the fort, with its munitions, fell into the hands of the victors, and was garrisoned by 400 Pennsylvanians. Returning, Forbes placed his remain- ing forces in barracks at Lancaster.

Franklin, upon his arrival in England, presented the grievances before the proprietors, and, that he might get his case before the royal advisers and the British public, wrote frequent articles for the press, and issued a pamphlet entitled " Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsyl- vania." The dispute was adroitly managed by Franklin before the Privy Council, and was finally decided substantially in the interest of the Assem- bly. It was provided that the proprietors' estates should be taxed, but that their located uncultivated lands should be assessed as low as the lowest uncul- tivated lands of the settlers, that bills issued by the Assembly should be re- ceivable in payment of quit rents, and that the Deputy Governor should have a voice in disposing of the revenues. Thus was a vexed question of long standing finally put to rest. So successfully had Franklin managed this con- troversy that the colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland and Georgia appointed him their agent in England.

In October, 1759, James Hamilton was again appointed Governor, in place of Gov. Denny, who had by stress of circumstances transcended his instruc- tions. The British Government, considering that the colonies had borne more than their proportionate expense in carrying on the war against the French and Indians, voted £200,000 for five years, to be divided among the colonies, the share falling to Pennsylvania being £26,000. On the 25th of October, 1760, George II died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. Early in 1762, war was declared between Great Britain and Spain, but was of short continuance, peace having been declared in November following, by which Spain and France relinquished to the English substantially the territory east of the Mississippi. The wise men of the various Indian nations inhabiting this wide territory viewed with concern this sudden expansion of English power, fearing that they would eventually be pushed from their hunting grounds and pleasant haunts by the rapidly multiplying pale faces. The In- dians have ever been noted for proceeding against an enemy secretly and treacherously. Believing that by concerted action the English might be cut off and utterly exterminated, a secret league was entered into by the Shawa- nese and the tribes dwelling along the Ohio River, under the leadership of a. powerful chieftain, Pontiac, by which swift destruction was everywhere to be meted out to the white man upon an hour of an appointed day. The plan was thoroughly understood by the red men, and heartily entered into. The day dawned and the blow fell in May, 1763. The forts at Presque Isle, Le Boeuf. Venango, La Ray, St. Joseph's, Miamis, Onaethtanon, Sandusky and Michili- mackinack, all fell before the unanticipated attacks of the savages who were making protestations of friendship, and the garrisons were put to the slaugh- ter. Fort Pitt (Du Quesne), Niagara and Detroit alone, of all this line of forts, held out. Pontiac in person conducted the siege of Detroit, which he vigorously pushed from May until October, paying his warriors with promises. written on bits of birch bark, which he subsequently religiously redeemed. It is an evidence of his great power that he could unite his people in so gen- eral and secretly kept a compact, and that in this siege of Detroit he was able to hold his warriors up to the work so long and so vigorously even after all hope of success must have reasonably been abandoned. The attack fell with great

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History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 14

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280