USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 22
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Having succeeded in setting up their court the new officials be- thought them that they must break up any vestiges of a rival court and accordingly issued warrants for the arrest of Robert Hanna and James Caveat, which were served by the Augusta sheriff, and the two offenders were brought in and incarcerated in the Fort Dunmore jail, where they languished for three months, in vain seeking for re- lease. Finally the sheriff of Westmoreland County, assisted by a strong posse, proceeded to Fort Dunmore and released the prisoners, and arrested John Connolly at the suit of Robert Hanna who claimed damages for unlawful imprisonment. Incensed by this treatment of their leader his adherents from Chartiers came in force and seized three of the party who had been engaged in the arrest of Connolly: George Wilson, Joseph Spear and Devereaux Smith.
It was probably sometime in June or July before Hanna and Caveat were set at liberty, as the records show they were constantly entering complaints of their hardships, and petitioning for relief. In the meantime an event had transpired which overshadowed all the petty strife of contending factions, and united all hearts in a com- mon cause. On the 19th of April, of this year, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought which aroused all hearts with singular unanimity to resistance to the British Crown all over the habitable portion of this broad land, even to the cabins of the frontiersmen, far remote from towns or cities. The news of these bloody frays had no sooner reached Hannastown and Pittsburg than public meetings were held at both those places, at which Virginians and Pennsylvanians united in their approval of resistance and pledg- ing support. These resolves are important and curious, as showing the unanimity with which they, laying aside domestic troubles, united in a common cause. These meetings were held on the same day, the 16th of May, 1775. The resolves of that at Hannastown representing Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, were conceived in these temperate words: "Resolved, unanimously, that the Parlia- ment of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhab- itants of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to enforce those acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before ex- isted in any State or country, not content with violating the consti- tutional and charactered rights of humanity, exposing their lives to
P. M. Grimes
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the licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of substance. Resolved, unanimously, that there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyrrany 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 and 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 of the several townships under the following association which is declared to be the association of Westmoreland County.
At Pittsburg, now called Fort Dumore, not only the adherents of the Virginia, but the men acknowledging no government but that of Pennsylvania, joined in expressing the sentiment of firm resistance. A committee of some thirty members was appointed in which not only the names of Connolly and Vallandingham, but also those of Devereaux Smith and George Wilson appear, and they unanimously declare "that they 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 they proceed to pledge themselves to assist by personal service, to contribute of their means, and use their best endeavors to influence their neighbors to resist this attempt at sub- jugation. As an earnest of their determination they proposed to contribute half a pound of powder and a pound of lead, flints and cartridge paper, which they estimate will cost two shillings and six- pence, and accordingly advise the collection of this amount from each tithable person. It is indeed surprising that a little skirmish, away in a distant part of New England, should arouse a sentiment so strong and unwavering, and prompt them, laying aside colonial quarrels, to unite as one man in aid of the struggle soon to open, even though they had scarcely a cabin to shelter their defenseless heads, and were exposed on this distant frontier to the sudden in- cursions of the savages.
Though at the outset, and under the influence of a sudden impulse of patriotism, the people seemed to unite to oppose a common enemy, yet the civil government must go on, patents for lands must be issued, deeds for transfer of property must be put on record, and all the details of civil government must be performed. Virginia having established a court at Pittsburg, and having discovered that Penn- sylvania would not use force to prevent the exercise of power, con- tinued to authorize the performance of civil functions, and hence- forward, as we shall soon see, monopolized authority west of the
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Laurel Hills, and although the court of Westmoreland County had an existence, little business was transacted.
In the meantime, in order to quiet any further local contention, in presence of the greater peril that now confronted the United Col- onies, the following named gentlemen, members of the Continental Congress from Pennslyvania and Virginia, viz .: John Dickson, George Ross, B. Franklin, James Wilson, Charles Humphreys, P. Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Jeffer- son, united in the following pacific advice addressed " To the inhabi- tants of Pennsylvania and Virginia on the west side of the Laurel Hill. Friends and Countrymen: It gives ns much concern to find that disturbances have arisen and still continue among you concern- ing the boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now address you, it is unnecessary that we inquire into the origin of these unhappy disputes, and it would be improper for us to express our approbation or censure on either side; but as representatives of two of the Colonies united among many others for the defence of the liberties of America, we think it our duty to remove, as far as lies in our power, every obstacle that may prevent her sons from co-operat- ing as vigorously as they would wish to do towards the attainment of this greatand importantend. Influenced solely by this motive, our joint and earnest request to yon is that all animosities which have hereto- fore subsisted among yon as inhabitants of distinct Colonies may now give place to generous and concurring efforts for the prevention of everything that can make our common country dear to ns. We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see your differ- ences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable use we re- commend it to you, that all bodies of armed men kept up under either province be dismissed, that all those on either side who are in confinement or under bail for taking part in the contests, be discharged, and that until the dispute be decided every person be permitted to retain his possessions unmolested. By observing these directions the public tranquility will be secured without injury to the titles on either side; the period, we flatter ourselves, will soon arrive when this unfortunate dispute, which has produced much mischief, and as far as we can learn, no good, will be peacably and constitutionally determined."
This document has been quoted here in its entirety, not only be- cause of the ability and commanding influence of its anthors-such as Franklin and Dickinson, and Ilenry and Jefferson, the very " master spirits of this age," but on the account of its timely wisdom, and authoritative suggestions. If the title to their lands were to be valid and secure, as here intimated, from whichever colony secured, a great motive for keeping up the controversy would be removed. This assurance, coming from such eminent men, members of the
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Congress that was likely to be supreme over all the colonies, had almost the deciding influence over the minds of the settlers, that a legal enactment would have had and must be regarded as a turning point in this heated controversy that was liable at any moment to have broken ont into aets of sanguinary conflict. It should therefore be considered as a vital morsel in the history of these southwestern counties.
Dunmore had betaken himself on board the British man-of-war, Fowey, lying in Chesapeake Bay, and'had taken with him the powder from the Virginia arsenal. This. Patrick Henry, at the head of the militia, just before setting out to take his seat in Congress, had com- pelled Dunmore to settle for, by the payment of £330 by the hand of Corbin, his Majesty's receiver general.
As the war eloud of the Revolution thickened, and the Virginians had broken with their governor, Connolly, probably listening to the suggestions of Dunmore, fancied he saw an opportunity of entting a larger figure than contending for the right to aet as a justice of the peace where his anthority was in question, and might be successfully controverted. IIe, accordingly, abandoned his throne at Pittsburg. and having received from Dunmore instructions to repair to General Gage, at Boston, commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in America, he was to make application for authority to raise "an army to the westward," in the name of the King, to fight against the colonies. He fancied that he could induce a large force to join him from the neighborhood of Pittsburg, and south ward, to espouse the royal canse, and by making his headquarters at Detroit or Canada, he could raise an army of disaffected whites and Indians with which to make war from the rear upon the Colonies, and " obstruct communication between the Southern and Northern Governments." Could anything evince the character of a black-hearted traitor more conspicuously than this?" He received authority, as desired, and was furnished with blank commissions which he was to execute and bestow at his own discretion. But, on his way to the field of his exploits, when arrived at Hagerstown, Maryland, he was captured, and, skillfully concealed beneath his saddle, a paper was found disclosing all the details of his traitorous scheme. He was held as a prisoner of war until 1780-1 together with his as- sociates, when he was exchanged. In 1782 he was at the head of a force of British and Indians in the neighborhood of Chatauqna Lake on his way to reduce Fort Pitt, and establish himself there. But pro- bably finding his force too feeble for such an enterprise, he abandoned it. To the honor of the friends and relatives of Connolly it should be stated that while he was concerting measures for the destruction of his country, they were equally earnest in patriotic designs.
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CHAPTER XV.
VIRGINIA MILITIA SENT TO PITTSBURG-WEST AUGUSTA COUNTY- OHIO, YOHOGANIA, MONONGHALIA COUNTIES VIRGINIA SENDS AMMUNITION TO PITTSBURG-TROOPS ORGANIZED-GUNS SENT -GOVERNOR PATRICK HENRY OF VIRGINIA URGES A STOUT DEFENCE OF FORT PITT-MANY NAMES OF EARLY SETTLERS AMONG MILITIA OFFICERS -- DEFEND TO THE LAST EXTREMITY- A NEW STATE TO BE CALLED WESTSYLVANIA PETITIONED FOR TO CONTINENTAL CONGRESS TO BE THE FOURTEENTH-STRONG LAN- GUAGE OF THE PETITION-BOUNDS OF PROPOSED NEW STATE 240 MILES IN LENGTH BY 70 TO 80 IN BREADTH, EQUAL IN EXTENT TO AN EMPIRE " VANDALIA " AND " WALPOLE" PROPOSED -VIR- GINIA OPENS LAND OFFICES, FIXES PRICE OF LAND-TITLES TO THE GREATER PART OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HELD BY PATENTS GRANTED BY VIRGINIA.
W THEN the Virginia convention, on the retirement of Lord Dun- more, took the supreme authority of the colony in its own hands, measures were adopted for retaining the district of Pittsburg beyond the Laurel Hills in its control, as though the matter of juris- diction was already settled in favor of Virginia. Captain John Neville was authorized to raise a company of one hundred men and march to and take possession of Pittsburg. Another com- pany of one hundred and twenty-five men was summoned from the Monongahela country. The colony of Virginia was divided into six- teen districts of which West Augusta was one, comprising all the terri- tory drained by the Monongahela. Yonghiogheny and Kiskiminitas and the streams falling into the Ohio. A proposition was made by certain commissioners sent ont by the Continental Congress, Jasper Yeates and John Montgomery, for Pennsylvania, and Dr. Thomas Walker and John Harvey, for Virginia, to Pittsburg to treat with the Indians, that in order to settle the disputed authority temporarily, county courts should be held under the authority of Pennsylvania north of the Youghiogheny River, and of Virginia south of that stream; but no attention was paid to this advice, probably being equally distasteful to each party.
Understanding by the establishment of West Angusta district that the Virginia colonial convention intended a separate county
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court from that held at Strauton, for Augusta County, the Justices proceeded to organize an independent court and fixed the county seat at Augusta town just over the ridge west from Washington. But this arrangement was of short duration; for at the session of the Vir- ginia assembly held in 1776, Patrick Henry being Governor, an act was passed for ascertaining the limits of West Augusta, and for dividing that district into three counties, Ohio, Yohogania and Mononghalia; Ohio County to embrace all the territory drained by the streams falling into the Ohio River as far north as Cross Creek, embracing the half of the present Greene County; Yohogania, the territory drained by the Youghiogheny and Kiskiminitas Rivers as far east as the Laurel Hills, and as far south as Dunlap's and Cross Creeks; and Mononghalia east and south of the other two and em- bracing all the land drained by the Monongalia River, extending far into West Virginia, and embracing the eastern slope of Greene County. It was provided by the same act which authorized the limitations of these counties, " that after the said 8th day of November, courts shall be constantly held every month by the justices of the respective counties upon the days hereinafter specified for each coun- ty respectively, that is to say for the county of Ohio on the first Monday, for the county of Monongahela on the second Monday, and for the county of Yohogania on the fourth Monday of every month, in such manner as by the laws of this Commonwealth is provided for other counties, and as shall be by their commission directed. It was provided that all cases pending in the whole of West Augusta district before the division into the three counties, should be tried in the court of Yohogania County. The places fixed for holding the courts in the three counties were the plantation of Andrew Heath for Yohogania, the Plantation of Theopholus Phillips, near New Geneva, for Mononghalia, and Black's Cabin, now West Liberty, for Ohio.
The Revolutionary war was now fairly inaugurated. and as the British were using every endeavor to enlist the Indians in their cause against the colonists, issuing commissions freely to diseffected Americans to lead them, and to fit out expeditions from Canada to attack the settlers from the rear, it became evident near the close of 1776, that the Indians were standing in hostile attitude. Accord- ingly Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, wrote, under date of December 13th, to Lientenant Dorsey Pentecost, advising him of the hostile temper of the savages and that he had ordered six tons of lead for the West Augusta district, and counselling that he call a meeting of the militia officers of the district to determine on safe places of deposit. " I am of opinion," he says, "that unless your people wisely improve this winter you may probably be destroyed. Prepare then to make resistance while you have time."
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A council of war was accordingly held at Catfish Camp, now Washington County, at which the following officers were present: " Dorsey Pentecost, company lieutenant: John Cannon, colonel; Isaac Cox, lieutenant-colonel; Henry Taylor, major; David Sheperd, company lieutenant; Silas Hedge, colonel; David McClure, lieuten- ant-colonel; Samuel Mccullough, major; Zacheriah Morgan, com- pany lieutenant; Jolin Evins, major. ,Captains-John Munn, David Andrew, John Wall, Cornelius Thompson, Gabrial Cox, Michael Rawlings, William Scott, Joseph Ogle, William Price, Joseph Tumbleson, Benjamin Fry, Mathew Richey, Samuel Meason, Jacob Lister, Peter Reasoner, James Rogers, David Owings, Henry Hog- land, John Pearce Davall, James Brinton, Vinson Colvin, James Buckhannan, Abner Howell, Charles Crecraft, John Mitchell, John Hogland, Reason Virgin, William Harrod, David Williamson, V Joseph Cisnesy, Charles Martin, Owin Daviss." In glancing over these names it will be noticed that a considerable number are com- mon to Greene County, and represent the families who were its earliest settlers.
According to the request of Governor Henry these officers desig- nated the points suitable for magazines, and called for three tons of gun-powder, ten thousand flints, and one thousand rifles. On the 28th of February,- 1777, Governor Henry again wrote requesting that a detail be made of a hundred men "to escort safely to Pitts- burg, the powder purchased by Captain Gibson. I suppose it is at Fort Louis on the Mississippi, under the protection of the Spanish Government. I have ordered four 4-pound cannons to be cast for strengthening Fort Pitt, as I believe an attack will be made there ere long. Let the ammunition be stored there, and let it be defended to the last extremity; give it not up but with the lives of yourself and people. Let the provisions be stored there, and consider it as the bulwark of your country." It will be observed that all this legislation and military preparation is had under authority of the Assembly and Governor of Virginia, for the government and pro- tection of territory rightfully belonging to Pennsylvania, which was at this time, and until 1780, remained a part of Virginia, which the authorities of Pennsylvania determined not to quarrel about, until such time as its charter limits could be fixed and vindicated by com- petent authority.
We come now to a passage in this early history which shows a phase which might have been realized, that would have changed the whole future not only of Greene County, but of this whole valley,- which is no less than the project for a new State, the capital of which would possibly have been within the limits of Greene County, which was to be designated by the euphonious title of WESTSYLVANIA. A very elaborate petition was drawn which recited the inconveniences
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on account of distance from the seats of government of Virginia and Pennsylvania, of the necessity of having to cross lofty and intermin- able ranges of mountains, of claims and counter-claims to land, and the unsettled boundary between the two States. This petition was presented to the Continental Congress, was received and ordered filed; but was never acted on, probably because a life and death struggle for existence demanded all the attention of that body, and for the reason that the Congress had no jurisdiction as yet over territory beyond the United Colonies. The language of this petition is unique, and in detailing wrongs, cumulative. In reciting the effect of the anthority by the two colonies, it proceeds to point out "the per- nicions and destructive effects of discordant and contending juris- dictions, innumerable frauds, impositions, violences, depredations, fends, animosities, divisions, litigations, disorders, and even with the effusion of human blood to the utter subversion of all laws, human and divine, of justice, order, regularity, and in a great measure even of Liberty itself." It details " the fallacies, violences and frandu- lent impositions of Land Jobbers, pretended officers and partisans of both land offices and others under the sanction of the jurisdiction of their respective provinces, the Earl of Dunmore's warrants, officer's and soldier's rights, and an infinity of other pretexts." It gives the details of claims of private parties and companies to fabulous tracts of land, the titles to which rest on the pretended purchase of the Indians. "This is a country," it proceeds, " of at least 240 miles in length, from the Kittanny to opposite the mouth of the Scioto, 70 or 80 miles in breadth, from the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio, rich, fertile and healthy even beyond a credibility, and peopled by at least 25,000 families since 1768." It concludes by asking that the territory embraced in the limits set below be known as the Province and government of Westsylvania, * * * the inhab- itants be invested with every other power, right, privilege and im- munity vested, or to be vested, in the other American colonies; be considered as a sister colony, and the fourteenth province of the American Confederacy: "Beginning at the eastern bank of the Ohio opposite the mouth of Scioto and running thence to the top of the Alleghany Mountains, thence with the top of the said mountains to the north limits of the purchase made from the Indians in 1768, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid, thence with the said limits to the Allegheny or Ohio River, and thence down the said river as purchased from the said Indians at the aforesaid treaty of Fort Stanwix to the beginning." There were other projects for a new State to be known as " Vandalia," or " Walpole," but none so formal or enforced with such elaborate arguments as in this petition for " Westsylvania."
To satisfy the complaints of settlers, the General Assembly of
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Virginia opened land offices, fixed the limits of the districts, and determined the price of land at ten shillings for a hundred acres. Commissioners were to be appointed for hearing and determining disputes and counter-claims, and county surveyors were to be ap- pointed to survey and make formal records of sales. It will thus be perceived that Virginia held formal possession of this whole south- western stretch of Pennsylvania for a period of contention over a dozen or more years; and, as a large proportion of the land in Green County was taken up during these years, it will be seen that the territory was originally held under Virginia patents.
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3.R. Mminn
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CHAPTER XVI.
ATTRACTIONS IN THIS SECTION FOR THE SETTLER -VALIDITY OF THE OHIO AND WALPOLE COMPANY'S TITLES IN DOUBT -- CONTINENTAL CONGRESS-ONE WEAKNESS IN PENNSYLVANIA CHARTER-PENN- SYLVANIA PUBLICATION-PROPOSITIONS FOR SETTLEMENT-COM- MISSIONERS MEET AT BALTIMORE-TO THE 41°-TO THE 40°-To MASON AND DIXON'S LINE-WESTERN BOUNDARY EXTEND WEST- WARD INTO OHIO-TO THE 39º, 30', WITH A WESTERN CORRES- PONDING TO THE MEANDERINGS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER-TO THE 39°, 30', WITH A MERIDIAN LINE FOR THE WESTERN BOUND- ARY-MASON AND DIXON'S LINE WITH A MERIDIAN LINE FOR THE WESTERN BOUNDARY SETTLES THE CONTROVERSY - VIRGINIA SENDS LAND COMMISSIONERS TO REDSTONE AND ISSUES PATENTS FOR VAST TRACTS -- REMONSTRANCE SENT TO CONGRESS-RECOM- MENDATION OF CONGRESS UNHEEDED-JOINT ADDRESS OF COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA-PENNSYLVANIA BECOMES BEL- LIGERENT-PROPOSITION OF VIRGINIA ACCEPTED -- COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO RUN AND MARK THE LINE-JEFFERSON ADVISES A TEMPORARY LINE-SETTLERS RISE UP IN ARMS TO OPPOSE RUN- NING LINE-CRY AGAINST TAXES AND DESIRE FOR A NEW STATE, FINAL REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS MADE-MERIDIAN LINE FOUND BY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS- THE LONG SOUGHT SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE STATE FINALLY FOUND AND MARKED-WESTERN LINE OF PENNSYLVANIA RUN AND MARKED -- THE VEXED QUES- TION OF THE TRUE LIMITS OF THE STATE FINALLY SETTLED.
THE interest which Virginia manifested for this Monongahela and
T Ohio country was first aroused by the reports of the beauty of the scenery, the fertility of the soil, and the salubrity of its climate. The desire to obtain vast tracts of this country led to the formation of the Ohio Company with a grant of a half million acres, which was subsequently swallowed up by Walpole's grant of fabulous extent. To defend these grants against the French, Washington's embassy to Le Boeuf was authorized, and military expeditions of Washington, Braddock, Forbes, Boquet and Stanwix were undertaken. After the French had been finally expelled, Virginia was more eager than be- fore to hold these claims, to justify them, and to establish Virginia civil polity. But the failure of the British government to vindicate 13
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