USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 21
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In the meantime Dr. Connolly had been released from jail on promise of returning in time for his trial. But instead of awaiting the result of the case he proceeded with the organization of the militia and took possession of Fort Pitt. On hearing of this, Sheriff Proctor, with Justices Smith, McFarland and Mackay, proceeded to Fort Pitt, and finding that Connolly still professed the intention of delivering himself up for trial at the appointed time of convening conrt, though he had dispatches from Dnumore approving his con- duet and urging him to go forward in asserting Virginia authority, the Sheriff took no further action in regard to Connolly, but served a writ upon William Christy, one of Connolly's lieutenants. Where- upon Connolly arrested Sheriff Proctor upon a King's warrant, and held him in custody. Seeing the commotion incident to these pro- ceedings, and the militia drilling with arms in their hands, the Indians became very much alarmed.
In his reply to Penn, the Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore freely assumed responsibility for Connolly's acts declaring them per- formed by his authority by the advice of his Majesty's couneil. He also referred to that unfortunate declaration made in the Pennsyl- vania assembly, when a call was made for troops to serve against the French and Indians at Fort Pitt, that Pittsburg was not embraced
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in the limits of Pennsylvania. Penn answered this communication at great length, setting forth all the facts and arguments relied upon by the anthorities of Pennsylvania to hold this territory, and ex- pressing at the outset with considerable warmth his surprise that Dunmore should authorize these high-handed proceedings, while a county government under Pennsylvania anthority had already been established there, and was in full operation, and before the lines be- tween the two colonies had been 'definitely settled by competent authority. Governor Dinwiddie, the predecessor of Dunmore, had informed Penn, " I have for some time wrote home to have the line run," and suggested that if the territory in question actually was a part of Pennsylvania then the quit-rents should be paid to the Pro- prietaries of that province instead of to the King. Penn informed Dunmore that the declaration of the Assembly, to which he refers, was made at a time when no definite limits of the State had been fixed by actual surveys; besides, even if the declaration had been made by the Assembly in the most positive and formal manner it could not affect the validity of the claims of the Proprietaries secured to them by Royal Charter, in which the payment of a stipulated price was acknowledged.
That he might not be chargeable with dereliction of duty in assert- ing his claims, Penn served a formal notice upon Lord Dunmore in these words: "I must take this opportunity of notifying to your Lordship, that the Proprietaries do claim, by their said petition, as part of their province of Pennsylvania all the lands lying west of a south line to be drawn from Dixon's and Mason's line as it is com- monly called at the westermost part of the province of Maryland to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude to the extent of five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware; and I must re- quest your Lordship will neither grant lands nor exercise the govern- ment of Virginia within those limits till his majesties pleasure may be known."
It will be seen by the wording of this proclamation that Penn claimed the full three degrees of latitude granted by his charter, be- ginning at the end of the 39th degree beyond the western boundary of Maryland, not allowing the compromise with that State to effect the line opposite Virginia.
It will be observed that Connolly had given his word that he would return and give himself up for trial at the time of the setting of the court, provided he was allowed his liberty in the meantime. He did return; but with an armed band of militia of some 180 which he had recruited and had under discipline. The court having notice of his coming with a military force deemed it prudent to adjourn, as their business was nearly concluded. On his arrival he took possession of the court room, and stationed his sentinals, and
Shr. Mo, Bradde
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then sent word to the court that he wished to wait on them. They received him in a private room, when he read to them the letter of Lord Dunmore to Penn, in which he assumes responsibility for Con- nolly's action, and the following explanation of his procedures: "I am come here to be the occasion of no disturbances, but to prevent them. As I am countenanced by government, whatever you may say or conceive, some of the justices of this bench are the cause of this appearance and not me. I have done this to prevent myself from being illegally taken to Philadelphia. My orders from the government of Virginia not being explicit; but claiming the country about Pittsburg, I have raised the militia to support the civil authority of that colony vested in me. I have come here to free myself from a promise made to Captain Proctor; but have not con- ceived myself amenable to this court, by any authority of Pennsyl- vania, upon which I cannot apprehend that you have any right to remain here as justices of the peace, constituting a court of that province; but in order to prevent confusion I agree that you may continue to act in that capacity, in all such matters as may be sub- mitted to your determination by the acquiescence of the people, until I may have instructions to the contrary from Virginia, or until his Majesty's pleasure be further known on this subject."
It will be perceived that Connolly only reflects the sentiments of Dunmore, who was at the root of all the trouble. The Westmoreland court made a very temperate answer to Connolly. "The jurisdiction of the court and officers of the county of Westmoreland rests on the legislative authority of the province of Pennsylvania, confirmed by his Majesty in council. That jurisdiction has been regularly exer- cised, and the court and officers will continue to exercise it in the same regular manner. It is far from their intention to occasion or foment disturbances, and they apprehend that no such intention can with propriety be inferred from any part of their conduct; on the contrary they wish and will do all they can to preserve the public tranquility. In order to contribute to this salutary purpose they give information that every step will be taken on the part of the province of Pennsylvania to accommodate any differences that may have arisen between it, and the colony of Virginia, by fixing a tem- porary line between them."
Connolly now marched away with his militia, having given him- self not as he had agreed to do, for trial, but in defiance of the court, at the head of a military band. It was, therefore, as clearly a break- ing of his word as though he had not come near the court. Having completed their business the court adjourned, and three of the justices, Mackay, Smith and McFarlane, departed for their homes at Pittsburg. Scarcely were they returned, when these three were served with King's warrants issued by Connolly, for the crime of making the 12
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answer they did quoted above, and upon their refusal to give bail for their appearance at the Staunton court to answer to the charge, they were sent in custody to the Staunton jail. On the way they were denied the privilege of writing to the authorities at Phila- delphia, by the hand of a person just then going there; but before reaching Staunton, Mackay was allowed to go to Williamsburg to lay their case before the Governor. This functionary listened patient- ly, but made answer that their arrest was only a dose of their own, administered in the arrest of Connolly. Nevertheless he consented to release them, and allow them to return home. In a dispatch to Governor Penn, after describing the interview with Dunmore, Mackay says, " We are to set off from this place immediately; but how to act after our return, is a matter we are at this time unable to determine." In a further dispatch of the 14th of June, 1774, he says, " The deplorable state of affairs in this part of your government at this time is truly distressing; we are robbed, insulted and dra- gooned by Connolly and his militia in this place and in its environs, all ranks share of his oppression and tyranny, but the weight of his resentment falls heaviest on me, because he imagines I oppose his unwarrantable measures most. On the 27th of last May he ordered a party of his militia to put down and destroy a sheep-house and a stable of mine, in a violent and outrageous manner, and told me at the time he would take the house I lived in if he wanted it, and countenanced a perjured villain, a constable of ours that deserted to him before he was three months sworn in, to shake a stick at iny nose before his face without reproof."
From this extract some conception can be formed of the state of this portion of the colony under the divided authority. Upon receiving intelligence of the forcible seizure of his commissioned magistrates, Governor Penn lost no time in sending commissioners to Dunmore to secure some temporary settlement, until the bound- aries could be fixed by Royal authority. James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, members of the Council, were selected to conduct this embassage. They were cordially received by Lord Dunmore, who agreed to nnite in a petition to the King for the appointment of a commission to establish the boundaries, but would not agree that Virginia should bear half of the expense. The commissioners then proposed that a temporary line be fixed at five degrees of longitude from the Delaware, and that the western line of Pennsylvania should follow the meanderings of that stream. Dunmore would not agree to this, but contended that the charter of Penn anthorized five degrees to be computed from a point on the 42° parallel where the Delaware ents it, he believing that the Delaware run from northeast to south- ' west which would, as he believed, carry the western boundary as far east as the Alleghany Mountains. The commissioners promptly
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rejected this interpretion; but in the interest of peace they would be willing to allow a temporary boundary to follow the Monongahela River from Mason and Dixon's line down to its mouth. This would have left all west of that stream to Virginia. Dunmore now became arbitrary in his manner, charging the commissioners with being unwilling to make any concessions, and ended by declaring his un- alterable purpose to hold jurisdiction over Pittsburg and surrounding territory until his Majesty should otherwise order.
Until competent authority should establish the boundaries of the two provinces there was now no hope of temporary agreement, as Lord Dunmore was arbitrary and dictatorial. Governor Penn saw but too clearly that civil strife in the disputed district would unavoidably lead to a trial of force for the mastery. Dunmore was destined in a short time to quarrel with the Legislature of Virginia, and for safety betook himself to a British man-of-war. Desiring to avoid a conflict over a dispute which Charter stipulations would eventually settle, Governor Penn decided to bide his time, and accordingly wrote to William Crawford, the presiding justice of Westmoreland County, as follows: "The present alarming situation of our affairs in West- moreland County, occasioned by the very unaccountable conduct of the Government of Virginia, requires the ntmost attention of this government, and therefore I intend, with all possible expedition, to send commissioners to expostulate with my Lord Dunmore upon the behavior of those he has thought proper to invest with such power as hath greatly disturbed the peace of that County. As the govern- ment of Virginia hath the power of raising militia, and there is not any such in this Province, it will be in vain to contend with them, in the way of force. The magistrates, therefore, at the same time that they continue with steadiness to exercise the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania with respect to the distributions of justice and the punishment of vice, must be cautious of entering into any such con- tests with the officers of my Lord Dunmore as may tend to widen the present unhappy breach; and, therefore, as things are at present circumstaneed, I would not advise the magistracy of Westmoreland County to proceed by way of criminal prosecution against them for exercising the government of Virginia."
Though it was humiliating for the legally and formally consti- tuted authorities of Westmoreland County to have their authority defied by a set of officers who received their orders to act from Vir- ginia, backed by a lawless military force called out by direction of another colony, yet it was for the time being judicious not to pro- voke a contest. As we view it now, with State lines all fixed and all county governments crystalized, it seems strange that any such conflict should have arisen. But it must be remembered that the matter of priority of charter, the impossibility of making the actual
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surveys conform to the language of the royal grants, and the fact that no accurate astronomical observations had been taken, left this whole subject of western boundary at loose ends. Until something definite was settled, it was better, as Penn advised, that force be not resorted to, as the hot-headed Virginia Governor had done. The policy thus recommended, while it left the court at Hanna's Town in operation, practically yielded all this Monongahela country to the authority of the Virginian.
The result of Dunmore's diplomacy was of course communicated to Connolly, and he was strengthened in asserting his authority. He discarded the name " Fort Pitt" and gave the fort the name " Fort Dun- more," in honor of his chief. On the 21st of April, 1774, Connolly wrote to settlers along the Ohio that the Shawnees were not to be trusted, and that the whites ought to be prepared to revenge the wrong done them. This gave authority to the settlers for the taking the right of punishment into their own hands, and lighted anew the fires of Indian warfare. It was known as Dunmore's war. A boat containing goods was attacked while going down the Ohio by a party of Cherokees and one white man was killed. In retalliation two friendly Indians of another tribe, in no way responsible for this crime, were murdered. This was cause enough for the Indians to take up the hatchet, and terrible was the penalty paid. On the evening of the same day Captain Cressap, who had led in the affair, hearing that a party of Indians were encamped at the mouth of Captina Creek, went stealthily and attacked it, killing several of them and having one of his own party wounded. A few days later, Daniel Great- house, with a band of thirty-two followers, attacked the natives at Baker's, and by stratagem, in the most dishonorable manner, killed twelve and wounded others. The murdered Indians were all scalped. Of the number of the slain was the entire family of the noted Indian chief, Logan.
The savage instinct of revenge was now aroused. Logan had been the firm friend of the white man, and had done him many ser- vices; but, left alone, all his family slain, he thirsted for blood. His vengeance was wreaked upon the inhabitants west of the Mononga- hela, along Ten Mile Creek, and he rested not until he had taken thirteen scalps, the number of his own family who had been slain, when he declared himself satisfied and ready for peace. The tidings of the hostile acts of Cressap and Greathouse, and the stealthy and midnight deeds of savagery by the red men spread terror and con . sternation on all sides, and the inhabitants west of the Monongahela fled, driving before them their flocks and herds, and bearing away their most easily transportable valuables. "There were more than one thousand people, " writes Crawford to Washington, "crossed the Monongahela in one day at three ferries that are not one mile apart."
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"Upon a fresh report of Indians I immediately took horse" writes St. Clair to Governor Penn, " and rode up to inquire, and found it, if not totally groundless, at least very improbable; but it was im- possible to persuade the people so, and I am certain I did not meet less than one hundred families, and I think two thousand head of cattle, in twenty miles riding."
The Virginia authorities immediately called out the militia. A force under Col. McDonald assembled at Wheeling and marched against Wapatomica, on the Muskingum. But the Indians being unprepared for war, feigned submission, and gave five of their chiets as hostages. But the troops destroyed their towns and crops and re- treated. Sir William Johnson counselled the Indians to keep peace. In the meantime Andrew Lewis had organized a force of eleven hun- dred men in the neighborhood of the since famed White Sulphur Springs, and was marching for the mouth of the Great Kanawha. where he was to meet the force gathered in the northern part of the State under Dunmore in person. Before the arrival of the latter the Indians, Delawares, Iroquois, Wyandots, Shawnees, under Corn- stalk, Logan and all their most noted chiefs, gathered in upon Lewis, and attacked him with great fury, the battle raging the entire day, but in the end the Indians were driven across the Ohio, though with a loss of Colonels Lewis (brother of the commandant) and Field killed, Colonel Fleming wounded, and seventy-five men killed and one hundred and forty wounded, a fifth of the entire force. The loss of the Indians could not be ascertained, though thirty-three dead were left behind them. Lewis was determined to follow up his ad- vantage, which had been gained at so grievous a loss; but Dun- more, who was now approaching with his division of the army, har- ing been visited by the chiefs, who offered peace, and himself having little stomach for fighting, accepted their terms, and ordered Lewis to desist in his pursnit. Lewis refused to obey and pushed on deter- mined to avenge the slangliter of his men, and it was not until Dun- more came up with him that he could be prevailed upon to give up an attack which he had planned upon the Indian town of Old Chilli- cothe.
The army now retired, though a detachment of one hundred men was left at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and small detachments at Wheeling and at Pittsburg. Thus ended as causeless a war, known as Dunmore's war, as was ever undertaken, all induced by the med- dling policy of Dunmore in a matter which the Crown alone had the authority at that time to decide, and the over officiousness of Con- nolly, who "dressed in a little brief authority " exercised it in an arbitrary and anger provoking way. It was provoked by the Virgin- ians, and was prosecuted wholly by Virginians, known by the In- dians as " Long-Knives."
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Having thus cut a large figure in a military way, at the expense of Virginia, Dunmore issued his proclamation :
" Whereas, The Province of Pennsylvania have unduly laid claim to a very valuable and extensive quantity of his Majesty's terri- tory, and the executive part of that government in consequence thereof, has most arbitrarily and unwarrantably proceeded to abuse the laudable advancements in this part of his Majesty's dominions by many oppressive and illegal methods in the discharge of this imagin- ary authority; and whereas the ancient claim laid to this country by the colony of Virginia, founded in reason upon preoccupancy and the general acquiessence of all persons, together with the instruc- tions I have lately received from his Majesty's servants, ordering me to take this country under my administration, and as the evident in- justice manifestly offered to his Majesty by the immediate strides taken by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania in prosecution of their wild claim to this country demand an immediate remedy, I do hereby in his Majesty's name require and command all his Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to this my proclama- tion, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the Province of Pennsylvania, at their peril in this coun- try; but, on the contrary, that a due regard and entire obedience to the laws of his Majesty's colony of Virginia under my administration be observed, to the end that regularity may ensne, and a due regard to the interest of his Majesty in this quarter, as well as to the sub- jects in general, may be the consequence."
Quite ready to join in this War of the Proclamations, and not unprepared to wield the ponderous words of authority, Governor John Penn caught up the cudgel and hurled back his claims in the following brave pronunciamento:
" Whereas, I have received information that his Excellency, the Earl of Dunmore, in and over his Majesty's colony of Virginia hath lately issued a very extraordinary Proclamation setting forth," here is quoted Dunmore's, given above, " And whereas, although the west- ern limits of the Province of Pennsylvania have not been settled by any authority from the Crown, yet it has been sufficiently demon- strated by lines accurately run by the most skillful artists that not only a great tract of country west of the Laurel Hill, but Fort Pitt also are comprehended within the charter bounds of this Province, a great part of which country has been actually settled, and is now held, under grants from the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the jurisdiction of this government has been peaceably exercised in that quarter of the country, till the late strange claim set up by the Earl of Dumore, in behalf of his Majesty's colony of Virginia, founded as his Lordship is above pleased to say, 'in reason, preoc- cupaney, and the general acquiessence of all persons;' which claim
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to lands within the said charter limits must appear still the more ex- traordinary, as his most gracious Majesty, in an act past the very last session of Parliament, . for making more effectual provision for the government of the Province of Quebec,' has been pleased in the fullest manner to recognize the Charter of the Province of Pennsyl- vania by expressly referring to the same, and binding the said Pro- vince of Quebec by the northern and western bonnds thereof: Where- fore there is the greatest reason to conelude, that any instructions the Governor of Virginia may have received. from his Majesty's ser- vants, to take that country under his administration, must be founded on some misrepresentation to them respecting the western extent of this province. In justice therefore to the Proprietaries of the Pro- vince of Pennsylvania, who are only desirous to secure their own undoubted property from the encroachment of others, I have thought fit, with the advice of the Council, to issue this my proclama- tion, hereby requiring all persons west of the Laurel Hill, to retain their settlements as aforesaid made under this province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this government; and all magistrates and other officers who hold commissions or offices under this government to proceed as usual in the administration of justice without paying the least regard to the said recited proclamation. until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known in the premises; at the same time strictly charging and enjoining the said inhabitants and magistrates to use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order."
It will be noticed that in the matter of thundering with his Whereases and Wherefores Penn is quite equal to Dunmore, and in that part where some doubt is thrown upon the statement of the latter that he is acting under instructions of the Crown, Penn has decidedly the advantage. It had been the intention of Dunmore. to open a court at Pittsburg with Virginia magistrates, and by Vir- ginia authority. But the counter proclamation of Penn had some- what cooled his taste for controversy, as he might be compelled to defend his usurpations by force. But when he discovered that the Pennsylvania authorities were disposed to have their differences sub- mitted to peaceful abitrament he concluded that he might venture a little farther on his scheme of holding possession of this fine country. He, accordingly, had the court for Augusta County, which had formerly been held at Staunton, adjourn to open its next term on the 21st of February, at Pittsburg, Augusta County being made to embrace all the western part of Virginia and Pennsylvania. On the day appointed the following named persons appeared, took the oath of office and sat as justices of the Virginia court: George Croghan, Jolin Connolly, Thomas Smallman, John Cambell, Dorsey Pentecost. William Goe, John Gibson and George Vallandingham. There
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were now two organized conrts, assessors, tax gatherers, sheriff's and all the machinery for conducting a county government over the same territory, Virginia calling it Augusta, and Pennsylvania Westmoreland. Of course what is now Greene County was em- braced under this double-headed anthority, and its inhabitants in- volved in the confusion of yielding obedience to two county govern- ments, and paying taxes to two sets of officials for the same purpose.
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