History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 6

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

CHAPTER IX.

PATRIOTIC ACTION IN THE MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS- GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

N 1846 war was declared by this government against Mexico, and by virtue of authority vested in him by Congress, the President called on Pennsylvania for six volunteer regiments of infantry, to hold themselves in readiness for service during one year, or to the end of the war. Such was the alacrity with which the citizens responded to this call, that within thirty days a sufficient number of volunteers had offered their ser- vices to constitute nine full regiments. Of these, be- tween two and three regiments were sent into the country of the enemy, and their conduct at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Chepultepec and the city of Mexico was highly

creditable to themselves as well as to the State which they represented.

The promptitude with which Pennsylvania responded to the call of the federal government in 1812 and 1846 was fully equaled by the readiness with which her citi- zens flew to arms at the breaking out of the great Southern rebellion. In anticipation of that event the citizens of Pittsburg had refused to allow arms to be taken from their arsenal and sent south by traitorous government officials ; and, when the storm of war burst upon the country, the patriotism of the citizens of this State was aroused to such a pitch that, in response to the call for Pennsylvania's quota of the 75,000 first called for, fourteen regiments, enough for twenty-five, offered themselves.

A place of rendezvous, called, in honor of the gover- nor of th State, Camp Curtin, was established at Harris- burg, and on the morning of April 18th, 1861, six days after the attack on Fort Sumter and three days after the proclamation calling for 75,000 men was issued, five companies of volunteers left Harrisburg for Washing- ton. They passed through Baltimore amid the jeers and imprecations of the mob, that followed them and hurled bricks, clubs and other missiles at them as they boarded the cars, and arrived at Washington on the evening of the same day. They were the first troops that reached the national capital, and for this prompt response to the call of their country, and for their coolness and courage in passing through the mob, they were afterward thanked, in a resolution, by the House of Representatives. Within twelve days, or before the first of May, twenty-five reg- iments, amounting to more than twenty thousand men, were sent from this State to the field. The expense of clothing, subsisting, arming, equiping and transporting these troops was sustained by the State.

By the advance of General Lee toward the southern border of the State in September, 1862, an invasion of its territory was evidently threatened, and Governor Curtin, by proclamation, called for fifty thousand men to. meet the emergency. These not only marched to the. border, which they covered, but most of them crossed into the State of Maryland, and by their presence assisted in preventing the advance northward of the rebel army ..

Another emergency arose in June, 1863, to meet which Governor Curtin issued a proclamation . calling out the entire militia of the State. By reason of a lack of con- cert in the action of the State and national authorities, only a portion of this force was brought into service pre -. vious to the battle of Gettysburg. Of that battle the limits of this sketch will not permit a detailed account. It was the result of the second attempt to invade northern territory, and it was a disaster to the rebels from which they never recovered.

The territory of the State was again invaded in July, 1864, and all the available troops in the State were sent forward to repel the invasion. The inhabitants along the southern border were considerably annoyed and injured by this invasion, and the town of Chambersburg was burned. More than two hundred and fifty houses were

WAR OF THE REBELLION-GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

fired by the rebels and the town was entirely destroyed, involving a loss of about $2,000,000. It was an act of wanton vandalism.

Of Camp Curtin, that was established at the commence- ment of the war, it may be said that it was not only a place of rendezvous for soldiers and of deposit for mil- itary stores, but a depot for prisoners and a hospital for the sick and for the wounded after some of the great battles, especially the battles of Gettysburg and Antietam. It was early placed under the control of the federal government, and so continued till the close of the war.

A brief mention should be made of the part which the loyal women of the State bore in this conflict. Not only did they part with their husbands, sons and brothers, who went forth to do battle for their country and the pres- ervations of its institutions, and in many cases to lay down their lives, but they put forth their efforts to pro- vide and send forward to those who languished in distant hospitals those comforts which the government could not furnish; and many a sick or wounded soldier had occa- sion to bless his unknown benefactress for some delicacy or comfort of which he was the recipient.

During the continuance of this war the State of Penn- sylvania furnished for the army two hundred and seventy regiments and many detached companies, amounting in all to 387,284 men. The following quotation from a special message of Governor Curtin, at the close of the war, is a well deserved tribute to the self-sacrificing pa- triotism of the people of this State:

" Proceeding in the strict line of duty, the resources of Pennsylvania, whether in men or money, have neither been withheld or squandered. The history of the con- duct of our people in the field is illuminated with inci- dents of heroism worthy of conspicuous notice; but it would be impossible to mention them in the proper limits of this message, without doing injustice or perhaps mak - ing invidious distinctions. It would be alike impossible to furnish a history of the associated benevolence, and of the large individual contributions to the comfort of our people in the field and hospital; or of the names and ser- vices at all times of our volunteer surgeons, when called to assist in the hospital or on the battle field. Nor is it possible to do justice to the many patriotic and Christian men who were always ready when summoned to the exercise of acts of humanity and benevolence. Our armies were sustained and strengthened in the field by the patriotic devotion of their friends at home; and we can never render full justice to the heaven-directed, pa-

triotic, Christian benevolence of the women of the State."

The following is a list of the governors of the colony, province and State of Pennsylvania, with the year of the appointment or election of each:

Under the Swedes: 1638, Peter Minuit; 1641, Peter Hollandare; 1643, John Printz; 1653, John Pappegoya; 1654, Johan Claudius Rysingh.

Under the Dutch: 1655, Peter Stuyvesant (Deryck Schmidt pro tem.); 1655, John Paul Jaquet; 1657, Jacob Alrichs; 1659, Alexander D. Hinyossa; 1652, William Beekman; 1663, Alexander D. Hinyossa; 1673, Anthony Colve (Peter Alrich's deputy).

Under the Duke of York: 1664, Colonel Richard Nichols (Robert Carr, deputy); 1667, Colonel Francis Lovelace.

Under the English: 1674, Sir Edmund Andross:

Under the proprietary government: 1681, William Markham, deputy; 1682, William Penn; 1684, Thomas Lloyd, president of the council; 1688, five commissioners appointed by the proprietor -- Thomas Lloyd, Robert Tur- ner, Arthur Cook, John Symcock, John Eckley; 1688, John Blackwell, deputy; 1690, Thomas Lloyd, president of council; 1691, Thomas Lloyd, deputy governor; 1693. Benjamin Fletcher, William Markham lieutenant gov- ernor; 1695, William Markham, deputy; 1699, William Penn; 1701, Andrew Hamilton, deputy; 1703, Edward Shippen, president of the council; 1704, John Evans, deputy; 1709, Charles Gookin, deputy; 1717, Sir William Keith, deputy; 1726, Patrick Gordon, deputy; 1736, James Logan, president of the council; 1738, George Thomas, deputy; 1747, Anthony Palmer, president of the council; 1748, James Hamilton, lieutenant governor; 1754, Robert H. Morris, deputy; 1756, William Denny, deputy: 1759, James Hamilton, deputy; 1763, John Penn; 1771, James Hamilton, president of the council; 1771, Richard Penn; 1773, John Penn.

Under the constitution of 1776 (presidents of the supreme council): 1777, Thomas Wharton; 1778, Joseph Reed; 1781, William Moore; 1782, John Dickinson; 1785, Benjamin Franklin; 1788, Thomas Mifflin.

Under subsequent constitutions: 1790, Thomas Mif- flin; 1799, Thomas McKean; 1808, Simon Snyder; 1817; William Findlay; 1820, Joseph Heister; 1823, John An- drew Schultze; 1829, George Wolf; 1835, Joseph Ritner; 1839, David R. Porter; 1845, Francis R. Shunk; 1848, William F. Johnston; 1852, William Bigler; 1855, James Pollock; 1858, William F. Packer; 1861, Andrew G. Cur- tin; 1867, John W. Geary; 1873, John F. Hartranft; 1878, Henry M. Hoyt.

LUZERNE COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

RELICS AND THEORIES OF THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

HE historian of the former inhabitants of any . country or region is confronted at the out- set by various difficulties. The question arises, Who and what were the progenitors of these inhabitants? and who were their ances- tors? and so on.

There exist in this country, and to some extent in northeastern Pennsylvania, evidences of its former oc- cupancy by a people whose customs were, in some re- spects, different from those of the Indians who were found here near the close of the fifteenth century. These evidences consist of the sepulchral and other mounds or tumuli in the west and south, and of the de- fensive works which are found in this region. Of the people who constructed these mounds and forts no tradition was preserved by the pre-Columbian Indians, and in and around them many relics have been found concerning the former use of which even the ingenuity of archaeolo- gists has failed to form a conjecture.

The opinion has been held that these people were not the progenitors of the present race of Indians, but that they were expelled from the country or exterminated by those from whom these Indians descended. The cor- rectness of this opinion is doubted by many modern ethnologists, who insist that gradual changes in the sur- roundings of a people, extending through indefinite periods of time, are sufficient to account for those things which have been regarded as evidences of a distinct race of people. They insist, too, that in the absence of a re- corded history it is not strange that in the lapse of time many of the customs, the significance of the monuments and works, and even the existence of a people should pass into oblivion among their descendants.

It is not necessary, and it would be improper to discuss this question here. These mementos of the long ago exist, and as archæologists become more skilled in search- ing after them more are discovered, notwithstanding the

fact that time, the ax and the plow tend constantly to obliterate the traces of their existence.

In recent times individuals, associations and public in- stitutions have become impressed with the importance of preserving these relics of bygone ages, and with com- mendable zeal they are engaged in collecting them in cabinets and museums, where they may be preserved and studied in future. The national museum at Washington contains many thousands of these relics, and the cabinets of historical societies are constantly being enriched by accessions of them. Steuben Jenkins, Esq., of Wyo- ming, and Dr. H. Hollister, of Providence, have each an extensive cabinet in which may be seen many rare speci- mens of these relics. Their cabinets are filled mostly with specimens that were found in this region.

Want of space forbids even a catalogue of all the works that have been discovered in this and surrounding re- gions, of the origin and builders of which there exists not even a tradition. Probably many others have been leveled by the plough and forgotten, if their character was ever known; and perhaps still others, the relics of periods antecedent to these, have been obliterated by time.

There are regions the peculiar topography of which renders them well adapted to the wants of a people, and which at the same time does much toward shaping and molding the character of that people. Northeastern Pennsylvania appears to have long been the habitat of a wild, independent and warlike race, and the physical fea- tures of the region are adapted to the wants of just such a people as the works and relics found in it indicate, and as were represented by its inhabitants at the time of its settlement by Europeans.

The only record which these ancient people have left is to be found here and there in the remains of the forti- fications or defensive works which they constructed; the village sites or camping places which they occupied, and which the practiced eye of an archaeologist is able still to discern; and the relics which are found of their rude weapons, their ruder implements, and the uncouth orna- ments with which they decorated themselves.

Many of their defensive works were doubtless oblitera- ted by the agricultural operations of early settlers, and

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

thus they have passed into oblivion. Two of these are known to have existed in the Wyoming valley. One was thus described by Chapman in his history of Wyoming:

" In the valley of Wyoming there exist some remains of ancient forti- fications, which appear to have been constructed by a race of people very different in their habits from those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. Most of these ruins have been so much obliterated by the operations of agriculture that their forms cannot now be distinctly ascertained. That which remains the most entire was ex- amined by the writer during the summer of 1817, and its dimensions carefully ascertained, although from frequent plowing its form had become almost destroyed. It is situated in the township of Kingston. upon a level plain on the north side of Toby's creek, about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and about half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna. It is of an oval or elliptical form, having its longest diameter from the northwest to the southeast, at right angles to the creek, three hundred and thirty-seven feet, and its shortest diameter from the northeast to the southwest two hundred and seventy-two feet. On the southwest side appears to have been a gateway about twelve feet wide, opening toward the great eddy of the river into which the ereck falls. From present appearances it consisted probably of only one mound or rampart, which, in height and thickness, appears to have been the same on all sides, and was constructed of earth, the plain on which it stands not abounding in stone. On the outside of the rampart is an entrenchment or diteh, forined probably by removing the earth of which it is composed, and which appears never to have been walled. The creek on which it stands is bounded by a high, steep bank on that side, and at ordinary times is sufficiently deep to admit cauoes to aseend from the river to the fortification. When the first settlers came to Wyoming this plain was covered with its native forest, consisting principally of oak and yellow pine, and the trees which grew on the rampart and in the entrenehment are said to have been as large as those in any other part of the valley. One large oak particularly, npon being ent down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. The Indians had no tradi- tiou concerning these fortifications; neither did they appear to have any knowledge of the purpose for which they were constructed."

The other was described by Miner in his history of Wyoming as follows:

" Another fortification existed on Jacob's Plains, or the upper flats, in Wilkes-Barre. Its situation is the highest part of the low grounds, so that only in extraordinary floods is the spot covered with water. Look- ing over the flats in ordinarily high freshets the site of the fort presents to the eye an island in the vast sea of waters. The eastern extremity is near the line dividing the farms of Mr. Jolin Searle and Mr. James Han- eoek, where, from its safety from inundation, a fence has long since been placed ; and to this cireuinstance is to be attributed the preserva- tion of the embankment and ditch. In the open field so entirely is the work leveled that the eye cannot trace it. But the extent west is known, for ' it reached through the meadow lot of Captain Gore' (said Cornelius Courtright, Esq., to me when visiting the ground several years ago), 'and came on to my lot one or two rods.' The lot of Captain Gore was seventeen perches in width. Taking then these two hundred and eighty feet, add the distanceit extended eastwardly on the Searle lot, and the extension westerly on the lot of Esquire Courtright, we have the length of that measured by Mr. Chapman so very nearly as to render the inference almost certain that both were of the same size and dimensions.

"Huge trees were growing out of the enbankment when the white people began to clear the flats for cultivation. This, too, in Wilkes- Barre, is oval, as is still manifest from the segment exhibited on the upper part, formed by the remaining rampartand fosse, the chord of the are being the division fenee. A circle is casily made, the elliptical forin much more difficult for an untutored mind to trace Trifling as these eireumstanees may appear, the exact coincidence in size and shape, and that shape difficult to form, they appeared to me worthy of a dis- tinet notice. The Wilkes-Barre fortification is about eighty rods from the river, toward which a gate opened, and the ancient people coneur in stating that a well existed in the interior, near the southern line.

"On the bank of the river there is an Indian burying place; not a bar- row or hill, such as is described by Mr. Jefferson, but where graves have been dug and the deceased laid, horizontally, in regular rows. In ex- cavating the canal, cutting through the bank that borders the flats, perhaps thirty rods south from the fort, was another burying place disclosed, evidently more ancient ; for the bones almost immediately crumbled to dust on exposure to the. air, and the deposits were far more numerous than in that near the river. By the representation of James Stark, Esq., the skeletons were countless, and the deceased liad been buried in a sitting posture. In a considerable portion of the bank, thongh scarcely a bone remained of sufficient firmness to be lifted up, the closeucss and position of the buried were apparent from the dis- coloration of the earth. In this place of deposit no beads were found, while they were common in that near the river.

"In 1814 I visited this fortification in company with the present Chief

Justice Gibson and Jacob Cist, Esqs. The whole line, although it had been plowed for more than thirty years, was then distinctly traccable by the eye. Fortune was unexpectedly propitious to our search, for we found a medal, bearing on one side the impress of King George the First, dated 1714 (the year he commenced his reign), and on the other an Indian chieť."

What was thought to be a well was doubtless a "cache," or place of concealment or storage for corn or other stores. From the description given of these works it is evident they were similar in character to other ancient defensive works that have been found east from Ohio. Where such works are sufficiently well preserved to be studied they are found to consist in each case of mural embankment, or in very rare cases of two such, enclosing areas varying in size, but usually of about two acres. They are usually surrounded by ditches, which evidently served the double purpose of furnishing the material for the walls and rendering the defensive character of the works more formidable. In some of these works the em- bankments give evidence of having been surmounted with palisades, and it is probable that but for the ravages of time such evidences might be found in all of them. The continuity of the walls is usually interrupted by two sally ports, or passage ways, at nearly opposite points, and one of these is almost always on the side of the work which is least accessible from without and nearest to the water supply. When excavations are made in the enclosed areas indubitable evidences are found of their former occupancy, not only as places of safety in times of peril, but as encampments, or rather as village sites or resi- dences during very long periods. In nearly all these works are found collections of rough angular stones of sizes convenient for hurling at assaulting foes. Weapons and implements or utensils of stone, bone and terra cotta are also found; but rarely is a trace to be seen of metallic weapons or tools, and when such are found they are usu- ally near the surface, while the others are at depths varying from six to eighteen inches.

All these circumstances are indications of the great an- tiquity of these works. They show not only that the works were occupied at a period anterior to the discovery of the use of metals by. their occupants, but that since their abandonment sufficient time has elapsed for six inches of mould to accumulate by the slow process of growth and decay of vegetable matter in dry situations. The statement may therefore be credited that trees hav- ing seven hundred years of age were found growing on these works, and these perhaps had been preceded there by others.

In the vicinity of these works burial places are almost always found. These are of two kinds. In one the graves are isolated; and with the skeletons which they contain are found the remains of such treasures as the Indians of later times were in the habit of burying with their dead. The other kind of cemeteries are sometimes termed "bone pits " and in these immense quantities of human ossements are found, which appear to have been deposited without regard to order, and among which implements, weapons or trinkets are very rarely found. By some these are supposed to be the remains of those who have fallen in battle, and to indicate that a sanguin -:

RELICS OF PREHISTORIC INHABITANTS.

ary conflict took place near the locality where they are found. A perusal of Parkman's account of the "feast of the dead," as witnessed and described by the earliest Jesuit missionaries among the American Indians, will place the origin of these collections of human remains beyond a question, and fully explain the peculiar appear- ances which they present.

About a mile above Scranton, near Providence, was found a mound which was probably an ancient place of sepulture. It was the only burial mound found in this region; and it is a matter of interest because it shows that this is not the eastern limit of the region where sepul- chral mounds are found. This mound was simple in its construction, and excavations made in it nearly a century since brought to light a quantity of game arrow points, stone implements and ornaments of very great variety, a "copper kettle and many broken specimens of the fictile art. Two phalanges of a finger found at this mound twenty years since by Dr. Hollister, in whose possession they still are, and the copper kettle found there before, indicate that this was used as a burial place at a period subsequent to the occupancy of the fortifications in Wyoming valley.

In the vicinity of these ancient works are usually found evidences of many camping places, or village sites ; as though the fortifications were used as places of refuge in times of danger by those who at different times occupied those sites. The relics found where these villages or camps were are of a character identical with those within the fortifications; but among them, though generally nearer the surface, are found those of a later period.

The Indians who inhabited the country at the time of its discovery by the whites had no knowledge of the uses of these works, and no traditions concerning those who constructed them ; hence some have inferred that the forefathers of these Indians succeeded, or, perhaps, drove away or exterminated these people. When we consider the facility with which the knowledge of historic events dies out among savages who have no written language, it will not be a matter of wonder that all knowledge of these works should pass into oblivion, even among the descendants of those who constructed them.

Time has effaced the history of the people who erected some of the most stupendous monuments of antiquity- cities are in ruins, or are buried in the earth and no record remains of the people who built or inhabited them; arts are lost to the descendants of those among whom they flourished, and the interpretation of the records which remain in the written language of ancient people is now hypothetical. If those who reared monuments, built cities, cultivated arts and had written languages, have become the prey of oblivion, how much more readily will the people be forgotten who, like the Indians of this country, have no written language, and no ambition to perpetuate their memory, and who leave only the rude arrow on the hillside, the emblem of their pursuits, and the ruder pipe, vessel or trinket, buried with their bones -the record at once of their existence and their supersti- tion.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900