History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 16

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 16

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Besides the settlers' forts mentioned as above by Veech, there was one where Perryopolis now stands, built by Gilbert Simpson (as previously noticed in a letter of Valentine Crawford to Washington), also. a strong block-house at Beeson's Mill (now Union- town), and perhaps a few others within the limits of Fayette County.

CHAPTER X.

THE REVOLUTION.

Troops Raised for the Field-Subsequent Disaffection-Lochry's Expe- dition.

WHEN, in the early part of May, 1775, the news of the battle of Lexington sped across the Alleghenies, announcing the opening of the Revolutionary strug- gle, the response which it brought forth from the people west of the mountains was prompt and unmis- takably patriotic. In this region the feud was then at its height between Virginia and Pennsylvania, both claiming and both attempting to exercise jurisdiction over the country between Laurel Hill and the Ohio; but the partisans of both provinces unhesitatingly laid aside their animosities, or held them in abeyance, and both, on the same day, held large and patriotic meetings, pledging themselves to aid to the extent of their ability the cause of the colonies against the en- croachments of Britain. Prominent in the proceedings of both meetings were men from that part of West- moreland County which is now Fayette. The meet- ing called and held under Virginia auspices was reported as follows :

" At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Augusta County that lies on the west side of the Laurel Hill, at Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May, 1775, the following gentlemen were chosen a com- mittee for the said district, viz. : George Croghan, John Campbell, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman, John Canon, John McCullough, William Goe, George Vallandigham, John Gibson, Dorsey Pentecost, Ed-

THE REVOLUTION.

ward Cook, William Crawford, Devereux Smith, John Anderson, David Rodgers, Jacob Van Meter, Henry Enoch, James Ennis, George Wilson, William Vance, David Shepherd, William Elliott, Richmond Willis, Samuel Sample, John Ormsby, Richard Mc- Maher, John Nevill, and John Swearingen."

A standing committee was appointed, to have " full power to meet at such times as they shall judge neces- sary, and in case of any emergency to call the com- mittee of this district together, and shall be vested with the same power and authority as the other standing committee and committees of correspond- ence are in the other counties within this colony."

It was by the meeting " Resolved, unanimously, That this committee have the highest sense of the spirited behavior of their brethren in New England, and do most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme, and that each member of this com- mittee respectively will animate and encourage their neighborhood to follow the brave example. . . .

" Resolved, That the recommendation of the Rich- mond Convention of the 20th of last March, relative to the embodying, arming, and disciplining of the militia, be immediately carried into execution with the greatest diligence in this country by the officers appointed for that end, and that the recommendation of the said convention to the several committees of this colony to collect from their constituents, in such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gunpowder and one pound of lead, flints, and cartridge, paper for every tithable person in their county be likewise carried into execution.

"This committee, therefore, out of the deepest sense of the expediency of this measure, most earn- estly entreat that every member of this committee do collect from each tithable person in their several dis- tricts the sum of two shillings and sixpence, which we deem no more than sufficient for the above pur- pose, and give proper receipts to all such as pay the same into their hands. ... And this committee, as your representatives, and who are most ardently la- boring for your preservation, call on you, our con- stituents, our friends, brethren, and fellow-sufferers, in the name of God, of all you hold sacred or valna- ble, for the sake of your wives, children, and unborn generations, that you will every one of you, in your several stations, to the utmost of your power, assist in levying such sum, by not only paying yourselves, but by assisting those who are not at present in a condition to do so. We heartily lament the case of all such as have not this sum at command in this day of necessity ; to all such we recommend to tender se- curity to such as Providence has enabled to lend them so much ; and this committee do pledge their faith and fortunes to you, their constituents, that we shall, with- out fee or reward, use our best endeavors to procure, with the money so collected, the ammunition our

present exigencies have made so exceedingly neces- sary.

" As this committee has reason to believe there is a quantity of ammunition destined for this place for the purpose of government, and as this country on the west side of Laurel Hill is greatly distressed for want of ammunition, and deprived of the means of procuring it, by reason of its situation, as easy as the lower counties of this colony, they do earnestly re- quest the committees of Frederick, Angusta, and Hampshire that they will not suffer the ammunition to pass through their counties for the purposes of government, but will secure it for the use of this des- titute country, and immediately inform this com- mittee of their having done so. Ordered, that the standing committee be directed to secure such arms and ammunition as are not employed in actual ser- vice or private property, and that they get the same repaired, and deliver them to such captains of inde- pendent companies as may make application for the same, and taking such captains' receipt for the arms so delivered.

" Resolved, That this committee do approve of the resolution of the committee of the other part of this county relative to the cultivating a friendship with the Indians, and if any person shall be so depraved as to take the life of any Indian that may come to us in a friendly manner, we will, as one man, use our utmost endeavors to bring such offenders to condign punishment.

" Resolved, That the sum of fifteen pounds, current money, be raised by subscription, and that the same be transmitted to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esq., for the use of the deputies sent from this colony to the General Congress; which sum of money was imme- diately paid by the committee then present." The delegates referred to in this resolution were John Harvie and George Rootes, who were addressed, in instructions from the committee, as " being chosen to represent the people on the west side of the Laurel Hill in the Colonial Congress for the ensuing year," the committee then instructing them to lay certain specified grievances of the people of this section be- fore the Congress at their first meeting, " as we con- ceive it highly necessary they should be redressed to put us on a footing with the rest of our brethren in the colony."

The meeting held at the same time at the county- seat of Westmoreland County, under the call of the Pennsylvanians, was reported as below :

" At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the county of Westmoreland, held at Hanna's Town on the 16th day of May, 1775, for taking into considera- tion the very alarming situation of the country oc- casioned by the dispute with Great Britain,-

" Resolved, unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to en-

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

force those acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and char- tered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and un- punishable sport of a licentious soldiery, and de- priving them of the very means of subsistence.

" Resolved, unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression will (should it meet with success in Massachusetts Bay) be extended to other parts of America ; it is therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives an 1 fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately form ourselves into a military body, to consist of companies, to be made up out of the sev- eral townships, under the following association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland County :

"Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful king, and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire, we declare to the world that we do not mean by this association to deviate from that loy- alty which we hold it our bounden duty to observe ; but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which with sorrow we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked ministry and a corrupted Parliament), and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which we do agree and associate together.

"First. To arm and form ourselves into a regi- ment, or regiments, and choose officers to command ns, in such proportions as shall be thought necessary. "Second. We will with alacrity endeavor to make ourselves masters of the manual, exercise, and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in a body with concert, and to that end we will meet at such times and places as shall be appointed, either . for the companies or the regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen.

"Third. That should our country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary acts of its Par- liament, we will cheerfully submit to military disci- pline, and to the utmost of our power resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any plan that may be formed for the defense of America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular.

" Fourth. That we do not wish or desire any inno- vation, but only that things may be restored to and

go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, wlien Boston grew great and America was happy. As a proof of this disposition, we will quietly submit to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be! governed before that period, and will, in our several -- or associate capacities, be ready, when called on, to assist the civil magistrates in carrying the same into execution.

" Fifth. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late obnoxious statutes, and shall recede from their claim to tax us and make laws for us in every instance, or some general plan of union and reconciliation has been formed and accepted by America, this, our association, shall be dissolved, but till then it shall remain in full force; and to the ob- servation of it we bind ourselves by everything dear and sacred amongst men. No licensed murder ! No famine introduced by law !"

The first men who went forward from this region to service in the Revolutionary army were about twenty frontiersmen, who marched from the Monon- gahela country and crossed the Alleghenies to join the Maryland company commanded by Capt. Michael Cresap, of Redstone Old Fort (afterwards Browns- ville). He had been in Kentucky in the spring of 1775, but being taken ill there had set out by way of the Ohio and across the mountains for his home in Maryland, where he hoped to recover his health. "On his way across the Allegheny Mountains1 he was met by a faithful friend with a message stating that he had been appointed by the Committee of Safety at Frederick a captain to command one of the two riffe companies required from Maryland by a resolution of Congress. Experienced officers and the very best men that could be procured were demanded. ' When I communicated my business,' says the mes- senger in his artless narrative, 'and announced his appointment, instead of becoming elated he became pensive and solemn, as if his spirits were really de- pressed, or as if he had a presentiment that this was his death-warrant. He said he was in bad health, and his affairs in a deranged state, but that neverthe- less, as the committee had selected him, and as he understood from me his father had pledged himself that he should accept of this appointment, he would go, let the consequences be what they might. He then directed me to proceed to the west side of the mountains and publish to his old companions in arms this his intention; this I did, and in a very short time collected and brought to him at his residence in Old Town [ Maryland] about twenty-two as fine fel- lows as ever handled rifle, and most, if not all of them, completely equipped.'"

It was in June that these men were raised and moved across the mountains to Frederick, Md., to join Cresap's company. A letter written from that place on the 1st of the following August to a gentle-

1 Extract from: " Logan and Cresap," by Col. Brantz Mayer.

THE REVOLUTION.

man in Philadelphia said, "Notwithstanding the urgency of my business, I have been detained three days in this place by an occurrence truly agreeable. I have had the happiness of seeing Capt. Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable com- pany of upwards of one hundred and thirty men from the mountains and backwoods, painted like In- dians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in hunting-shirts and moccasins, and though some of them had traveled near eight hundred [?] miles from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit than on the first hour of their march." . . . They marched in August, and joined Washington's army near Boston, where and in later campaigns they did good service. Their captain's health growing worse he resigned and started for Maryland, but died on his way in New York in the following October. The names of the men who were recruited west of the mountains for Cresap's company cannot be given, but there can be little doubt that most of them were from the vicinity of the place where their captain had located his fron- tier home,-Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela.

The first considerable body of men recruited in the Monongahela country for the Revolutionary army was a battalion, afterwards designated as the Seventh Virginia. It was raised in the fall of 1775, chiefly through the efforts of William Crawford, whose head- quarters for the recruiting of it were at his home at Stewart's Crossings on the Youghiogheny, then in the county of Westmoreland, or rather, as the Virginia partisans claimed, in the western district of Augusta County, Va. After raising this regiment, Crawford did not immediately secure a colonelcy, but was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Virginia in January, 1776, and in the latter part of the same year became colonel of the Seventh. The regiment which he raised was made up principally of men from the region now embraced in the counties of Westmore- land and Fayette, but no rolls or lists of their names can be given. The regiment took the field early in 1776, fought well in the battle of Long Island, marched with Washington's dispirited army in its retreat through New Jersey in the latter part of the same year, and performed good service at Trenton. and other engagements, but in the latter years of the war served in the Western Department, and for a long time formed part of the garrison of Fort Pitt.

The " West Augusta Regiment"-designated as the Thirteenth Virginia-was afterwards raised, princi- pally by Col. Crawford's efforts, in the same region of country in which his first regiment had been re- cruited. Of this last regiment he was made colonel. An extract from a letter written by him to Gen. Washington,1 dated " Fredericktown, Maryland, Feb- ruary 12, 1777," is given below, because of its reference

to the two Virginia regiments raised in the valleys of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, viz. :

"Many reasons have we to expect a war [with the Indians] this spring. The chief of the lower settle- ments upon the Ohio has moved off; and should both the regiments be moved away, it will greatly distress the people, as the last raised by myself [the West Augusta Regiment] was expected to be a guard for them if there was an Indian war. By the Governor of Virginia I was appointed to command that regi- ment at the request of the people.

" The conditions were that the soldiers were enlisted during the war, and if an Indian war should come on this spring they were to be continued there, as their interest was on the spot; but if there should be no Indian war in that quarter, then they were to go wherever called. On these conditions many cheer- fully enlisted. The regiment, I believe, by this time is nearly made up, as five hundred and odd were made up before I came away, and the officers were recruit- ing very fast ; but should they be ordered away before they get blankets and other necessaries, I do not see how they are to be moved; besides, the inhabitants will be in great fear under the present circumstances. Many men have already been taken from that region, so that if that regiment should march away, it will leave few or none to defend the country. There are no arms, as the chief part of the first men were armed there, which has left the place very bare; but let me be ordered anywhere, and I will go if possible. .. . "

By the above letter is shown the rather remarkable fact that by the early part of 1777 the Youghiogheny and Monongahela region of country had furnished two regiments2 to the quota of Virginia (besides eight full companies to the Pennsylvania Line, as will be noticed below), and that the men of the first regi- ment raised here had been almost completely armed before marching to join the army. Crawford's last regi- ment, the Thirteenth Virginia, performed its service in the West, being stationed in detachments at Fort Pitt, Fort McIntosh, and other points on the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. No list of its officers and men has been found.

Under Pennsylvania authority a company was raised in Westmoreland County in 1776, under com- mand of Capt. Joseph Erwin. It marched to Mar- cus Hook, where it was incorporated with Col. Sam- uel Miles' " Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment." It was subsequently included in the Thirteenth Pennsylva- nia, then in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, and was finally discharged from service at Valley Forge Jan. 1, 1778, by reason of expiration of its term of enlistment. During its period of service the com-

1 Washington-Crawford Letters, p. 62.

2 In February, 1777, Congress appropriated the sum of $20,000, " to be paid to Col. William Crawford for raising and equipping his regiment, which is a part of the Virginia new levies." It is not certain as to which of the regiments raised by Crawford this had reference, but it appears to bave been the last one, the " West Augusta Regiment."

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

pany fought at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Quibbletown (N. J.), Brandywine, and Germantown. Following is a roll of the company :

Captain.

Erwin, Joseph, Westmoreland County, appointed March 9, 1776; commission dated April 6, 1776 ; promoted captain in Ninth Pennsylvania.

First Lieutenant.

Carnaghan, James, from second lieutenant ; missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776; after release he repaired to headquarters, in December, 1776, and served as a volunteer at Trenton and Princeton ; promoted first lieutenant in Eighth Pennsylva- nia on Jan. 15, 1777.

Second Lieutenants.

Carnaghan, James, appointed March 16, 1776; pro- moted first lieutenant Oct. 24, 1776.

Sloan, David, from third lieutenant, Ang. 9, 1776; killed in battle at Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776 ; left a widow Mary and danghter Ann, aged eleven, in 1789 residing in Westmoreland County.

Third Lieutenants.

Sloan, David, appointed March 19, 1776; promoted second lieutenant, to date from Ang. 9, 1776.

Brownlee, Joseph, commission dated April 15, 1776 ;

promoted second lieutenant Oct. 24, 1776; miss- ing since the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776.

Sergeants.

Lindsay, William. Roddy, Samuel.

Dugan, James.

Justice, John.

Drum and Fife.

Howard, George. Gunnon, John.

Geyer, John, drummer-boy (eleven years of age), son of Peter Geyer, below ; wounded in the heel at Germantown; discharged Jan. 1, 1778, at Valley Forge; was a stone-mason, residing in Metal township, Franklin Co., in 1821.

Privates.

Anderson, Martin.

Bentley, James. Brown, Andrew.

Brownfield, Daniel, missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776.

Brownlee, John, April 1, 1776; discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in Donegal township, Washington Co., in 1814.

Bryson, Andrew, April 1, 1776 ; drafted into the artil- Jery at Brandywine; discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in Bedminster township, Bucks Co., in 1816. Carnahan, Joseph. Dunnough, William. Doyle, Sylvester.

Fitzgerald, Henry.

Forsyth, James.

Gunnon, Jeremiah, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Guthry, John, missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776. Guthry, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Geyer, Peter, enlisted at Hannastown ; discharged at Valley Forge Jan. 1, 1778 ; wounded by a bayo- net in the groin and by a ball in the leg at Ger- mantown. His wife, Mary, went with his com- pany as washer-woman, with her son Jolin, above mentioned, and accompanied the regiment in all its marches ; she was eighty-six years of age in 1821, then residing in Cumberland County ; she had three other children,-Jacob, Mary, and Catharine.

Henderson, Edward.

Hennan, David.

Hennan, John. .

Henry, John, missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776. Heslet, Robert.

Holiday, William.

Jolinson, Robert.

Kelly, Philip, missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776. Leech, Archibald, discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in Armstrong County in 1811.

Leech, James.

Leonard, James, discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in

Warren County, Ohio, in 1831, aged eighty-seven. McClelland, David.

MeCollister, James.

McCord, William.

Mckenzie, Andy, "a volunteer," missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Miller, Peter, resided in Bedford County in 1819.

Moor, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Moll, William, missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776.

Nail, James.

Nelson, James, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Nelson, William, wounded in the left knee; missing since the battle, Ang. 27, 1776; resided in West- moreland County in 1789.

Orr, David. Riddle, John. Riddle, Robert.

Roddy, Patrick. Sims, John.

Singlewood, Stephen, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,1776.

Stamper, Charles, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Stone, Allen.

Stoops, John, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776. Twifold, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

THE REVOLUTION.

Waddle, William, April, 1776; discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in Westmoreland County in 1819. Watterson, John.

Wead, Maurice.

Wilkinson, Angus, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.

Three sergeants were also captured, but the roll does not indicate which.

The Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line was raised under authority of a resolution of Con- gress, dated July 15, 1776 (" Journal," vol. i. 411-19), for the defense of the western frontier, to garrison the posts of Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, and Kittanning, to con- sist of seven companies from Westmoreland and one from Bedford County. On the 29th of July, 1776, the Convention of Pennsylvania, then in session, having recommended for field-officers of this regiment Col. Eneas Mackey (written also McCoy), Lieut .- Col. George Wilson (of New Geneva, now Fayette County), and Maj. Richard Butler, they were elected and ap- pointed as such by Congress. A resolution of Con- gress having given to the committees of Westmore- land and Bedford Counties the right of naming the company officers, they were so named (as in the roster hereafter given), and on the 14th of September, 1776, Congress accepted them and ordered commissions. On the 22d of September Congress elected David Mc- Clure chaplain, and Ephraim Douglass quartermaster of the regiment. On the 23d of November Congress directed the Board of War to order the regiment to march with all possible expedition by the nearest route "to Brunswick, N. J., or to join Gen. Washing- ton wherever he may be." On the 4th of November the regiment received orders to march to Amboy, N. J., whereupon Lieut .- Col. George Wilson wrote from the regimental rendezvous to Col. James Wilson as follows :

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 16

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314