USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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The active service of this regiment is thus summarized in the Pennsylvania Archives :-
The greater portion of the regiment was recruited upon the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, and on the 18th of December it left Sunbury in hoats for the battle fields of New Jersey. Being composed of good riflemen and scouts, it was detailed on picket and skirmish duty. It (with the Third, Ninth, and Sixth Pennsylvania) was in Brigadier General Thomas Conway's brigade. Its headquarters were at the five cross- roads at Metuchen, between Quibbletown and Amhoy. Its companies were engaged in the various skirmishes in that neighborhood: at Bound Brook, April 12, 1777; Pis- cataway, May 10th, where Joseph Lorentz and twenty-one others were made prisoners by the British, Wendell Lorentz making his escape by running in among a flock of sheep; at Short Hills, June 26th, and Bonamtown. In June Colonel Daniel Morgan's rifle command was formed, and a detachment from the Twelfth Pennsylvania, un- der the command of Captain Hawkins Boone, was placed in it ..... In the battle of Brandywine the Twelfth was engaged under Sullivan at Birmingham church, losing heavily. Major Crawford, Captain Brady, and other officers were wounded, Lieuten- ant William Boyd, of Brady's company, killed. At Germantown Conway's brigade led the attack on the left wing of the British, being in front of the troops that composed the right wing of the American army, and the Twelfth was in the hottest of the fight, losing heavily in men, Second Lieutenant John Carothers of the officers, killed. The Twelfth wintered with the rest of the army at Valley Forge, and at Monmouth the remnant of it was nearly destroyed, as testified to in many of the statements made by the privates, on file in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile,
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
April 2, 1778, the General Assembly had appointed a committee to confer upon the best means of reducing three of the regiments, and it was ordered that the Twelfth be in- corporated with the Third, which arrangement went into effect on the 1st of July, and Captains John Brady and Boone, Lieutenants Dougherty and Robert King were ordered home by General Washington to assist Colonel Hartley in protecting the West Branch valley.
Among those who were taken prisoners at Piscataway was Joseph Mc- Harg, of Chambers's company; how he was treated is shown by the following entry in the minutes of the court of Northumberland county, March 25, 1779 :-
Came into court Joseph McHarg, who, being duly sworn upon the Holy Evangel- ists, deposeth and sayeth: that on the 10th day of May, A. D. 1777, he, with others be- louging to the Twelfth regiment of Pennsylvania troops, was taken prisoner in a skir- mish at Piscataway and carried to New York, where, through the excessive rigor with which he was treated during his confinement, and the decay of his health, he was in- duced to take an oath of allegiance to the king of Great Britain and also an oath that he (the deponent) would not bear arms against the said king during the present con- test, in consequence of which oath deponent got liberty to work for a subsistence and was sent as a hand on board a vessel that carried General Howe's baggage to Philadel- phia, from whence, by the assistance of a friend, he made his escape in disguise. It also appears to this court that deponent, by the failure of his sight and bodily infirmi- ties, is rendered incapable of serving his country as a soldier.
Among the officers in this regiment from Northumberland county were Colonel William Cooke, subsequently associate judge; Major James Craw- ford, who resigned, October 12, 1777, and died in 1817, having been justice of the peace in Wayne township, Clinton county, many years; Captain Nicholas Miller, who became supernumerary, July 1, 1778, and died in North- hampton county; Captain Hawkins Boone, who fell near Fort Freeland, July 29, 1779; Captain John Brady, who was wounded at Brandywine, Septem- ber 11, 1777, and killed at Muncy, April 11, 1779; Captain John Harris; Captain Stephen Chambers, one of the first resident attorneys of the county; Lieutenant Christopher Gettig, subsequently a justice at Sunbury; Lieuten- ant Thomas Brandon; Lieutenant John Boyd, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, rose to the rank of captain, retired from the regiment, January 1, 1781, and was for many years justice of the peace at Northumber- land; Lieutenant William Boyd, who was killed at the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777; Lieutenant John Carothers, who was killed at the bat- tle of Germantown, October 4, 1777; Lieutenant Robert King, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, was with Colonel Hartley on the frontier in 1778, and resided in Lycoming county in 1840; Quartermasters Wilton Atkinson and George Vaughan; Dr. Francis Allison, surgeon, who was trans- ferred to the general hospital, of which he was senior surgeon in 1781; Ser- geant Joseph Lorentz, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, and died in Northumberland county, January 30, 1824; Sergeant Andrew Lorentz, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, discharged at Smith's Cove, New Jersey, and kept hotel at Sunbury in 1813; Sergeant Robert
Recber Jaguly
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THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
Lyon, who was transferred to the Sixth Pennsylvania, rose to the rank of second lieutenant, and died in Northumberland county, August 19, 1823, aged seventy-seven, and Corporal Wendell Lorentz, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, discharged, January 17, 1781, and died at Milton in 1821.
Miller's, Boone's, Brady's, and Harris's companies were from Northumber- land county. No rosters have been preserved, and that of the regiment contains the names of but a small number of its members. "The hundreds who fell in all the battles of the Revolution .... the wounded, who dragged their torn limbs home to die in their native valleys, are not here. The heaths of New Jersey, from Paramus to Freehold, by a line encircling Morristown and Bound Brook, were, in the summer of 1777, dotted with the graves of the Eighth and Twelfth Pennsylvania." Among the privates who returned to Northumberland county were Samuel Auchmuty, of Captain Chambers's com- pany, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, discharged, January 25, 1781, and resided in Lower Augusta township in 1835 at the age of eighty-two; John Campbell, who was wounded at Piscataway, discharged, and settled in Shamokin township; James English, of Captain Brady's company, who was transferred to the Third and then to the First Pennsylvania, dis- charged, August 13, 1783, and resided in Lycoming county in 1835 at the age of ninety-nine; Henry Lebo, subsequently hotel keeper at Sunbury and sheriff of Northumberland county; Hugh Gowen, who was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania and resided in Northumberland county in 1820 at the age of sixty-six; Matthew Little, who was transferred to the Third Penn- sylvania and resided in Shamokin township in 1813; Henry Lushbaugh, of Harris's company, who resided in Lycoming county in 1835, aged eighty-four; Joseph McHarg, previously mentioned; Samuel McClughan, who was drafted into Morgan's rifles, wounded at Saratoga, and resided in Buffalo valley in 1786; George Martin, who was drafted into Morgan's rifles, wounded at Saratoga, resided in Buffalo valley in 1786, and died, March 10, 1816; James Newberry, who died in Northumberland county, February 1, 1830, aged eighty-four, and Nicholas Rheam, who was transferred to the Third Penn- sylvania, discharged in 1781, and died in Union county in 1829.
While the county thus contributed an ample quota to the regular army at the outbreak of the Revolution, a local Committee of Safety* attended to the administration of internal affairs and the organization of the militia. The minutes of this Committee begin as follows :---
February 8, 1776.
The following gentlemen, being previously nominated by the respective townships to serve in this Committee for the county of Northumberland for the space of six months, met at the house of Richard Malone, viz .:-
*The muster rolls and papers relating to the associators and militia of the county of Northum- berland, including the minutes of the Committee of Safety, are published in the Pennsylvania Archives (Second Series), Vol. XIV. pp. 313-367.
7
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Augusta Township .- John Weitzel, Alexander Hunter, Thomond Ball.
Turbut Township .- Captain John Hambright, William McKnight, William Shaw.
Bald Eagle Township .- William Dunn, Thomas Hewes, Alexander Hamilton.
Wyoming Township .- James McClure, Thomas Clayton, Peter Melick.
Mahanoy Township .- No return.
Mahoning Township .- William Cooke, Benjamin Allison, Thomas Hewitt.
Muncy Township .- Robert Robb, William Watson, John Buckalew.
Buffalo Township .- Walter Clark (removed to White Deer), William Irwin, Joseph Green.
Penn's Township .- No return.
Potter's Township .- John Livingston, Maurice Davis, John Hall.
White Deer Township .- Walter Clark, Matthew Brown, Marcus Hulings.
The Committee proceeded to elect a chairman and clerk, when Captain John Hambright was unanimously appointed chairman during the continuance of this Com- mittee and Thomond Ball, clerk.
A return of field officers elected at Northumberland on the 7th instant by the battalion for the lower division of the county was presented, and the officers were forthwith recommended for commissions. Action was also taken for the organization of the battalion for the upper division of the county. Messrs. Weitzel, Hunter, and Ball were appointed to prepare a memorial to the Assembly regarding the murder of two of the sheriff's posse at Wyoming. The Committee then adjourned to meet at Laughlin McCartney's in North- umberland on Monday, the 26th instant.
Captain Hambright presided at all the meetings of this Committee of which the minutes have been preserved. On the 26th of February Messrs. Weitzel, Hunter, and Ball presented the draft of a petition to the Assembly, which was forthwith approved. Six captains in Colonel Hunter's battalion appeared and produced lists of their companies, whereupon a letter was transmitted to the provincial Committee of Safety (to which the county com- mittees were subsidiary), recommending the respective officers for commis- sions; the Committee then adjourned until the 13th proximo, after authorizing the president and four members to receive and transmit any returns that might be received in the interim. The next meeting was held at the house of Frederick Stone in Northumberland, March 13th. Returns were received from seven companies of Colonel Plunket's battalion, the officers of which were recommended for commissions. A letter was transmitted to Colonel Hunter, who represented the county in the provincial Committee at that time, detailing at some length the objectionable proceedings of recruiting officers. At the next meeting, Monday, March 25th, it was resolved that no officer be allowed " to recruit men in this county except the officers who are or may be appointed therein." The grounds upon which this decisive action was based were thus set forth in a letter to the provincial Committee :--
Our zeal for the cause of American liberty has hitherto prevented our taking any steps to hinder the raising of meu for its service; but, finding the evil increasing so fast upon us as almost to threaten the depopulation of the county, we can uot help
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appealing to the wisdom and justice of your Committee to know, whether the quota of men that may be demanded from this county under their own officers is not as much as can reasonably be expected from it; whether, at a time when we are uncertaiu of peace with the Indians, well knowing that our enemies are tampering with them, and a claim is set up to the greatest part of this Province by a neighboring Colony who have their hostile abettors at our very breasts as well as their emissaries among us, is it prudent to drain an infant frontier county of its strength of men? and whether the safety of the interior parts of the Province would uot be better secured by adding strength to the frontiers; whether our Honorable Assembly, by disposing of commissions to gentlemen in different counties to raise companies. . ...... did not intend that the respective captains should raise their companies where they [were] appointed, and not distress our county by taking from it all the men necessary for the business of agriculture as well as the defense of the same.
The minutes of the next meeting, so far as concerns the organization of the Committee, are as follows :-
August 13, 1776.
The following gentlemen, being unanimously chosen by their respective townships to serve in the Committee for the county of Northumberland for the space of six months, met at the school house in the town of Northumberland, viz :-
Augusta Township .- William Maclay, David Mckinney, John Maclay. Turbut Township .- George McCandlish, William Shaw, Paul Geddis. Bald Eagle Township .- Robert Fleming, Thomas Kemplen, John Section. Wyoming Township .- Samuel McClure, Peter Melick, John Clingman. Mahanoy Township .- Sebastian Brosius, George Reitz, Peter Almang. Mahoning Township .- Laughlin McCartney, Thomas Robinson, John Boyd. Muncy Township .- Mordecai Mckinney, James Giles, Andrew Culbertson. Buffalo Township .- Martin Traester, William Speddy, Philip Cole.
Penn's Township .- Simeon Woodrow, Adam B. Mander, Paul Gemberling. Potter's Township .- [No return.]
White Deer Township .- James McClenachan, Robert Fruit, William Gray.
The Committee proceeded to elect a chairman and clerk, when Mr. Robert Fruit was unanimously appointed chairman during the time of six months* and John Boyd, clerk.
At this meeting Andrew Culbertson, Mordecai Mckinney, and James Giles were appointed to request Colonel Plunket to divide the ammunition appor- tioned to the six companies of his battalion that were formed above Muncy. It was stored at the house of Laughlin McCartney; an additional supply had been forwarded to Harris's Ferry, and arrangements were made for its further transportation. The next meeting was held at Northumberland, September 10th: complaint having been made that Aaron Levy and John Bullion had a quantity of salt which they refused to sell, the Committee directed William Sayres to take possession of it and sell it at fifteen shillings per bushel; William Parker and John Chattam were summoned upon a charge of un- friendliness to the cause of liberty, and, having confessed that they were British soldiers who had been taken as prisoners, they were ordered to Lan- caster under escort. At a meeting on the 12th the ammunition in the hands
*Paul Geddis succeeded Robert Fruit as chairman in the following December.
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
of the Committee was examined; half a pound of powder and one pound of lead were apportioned to each associator, with an additional quantity for the battalions on the frontiers. William Maclay and Mordecai Mckinney were appointed to go to Philadelphia for the salt allotted to the county; it appears, however, that Robert Fruit performed this service, as he wrote from Phila- delphia on the 23d of November that he had received seventy-seven bushels from the Council of Safety and delivered it to Marcus Hulings for transpor- tation. On the 12th of September the Committee addressed a memorial to the State Convention, expressing deep solicitude at the probability of Indian hostilities (the prospect of which had been learned from intercepted letters), and deploring their inability "to keep the single and disengaged men in the county" as they chose "rather, under pay, to have to do with a humane enemy, than, at their own expense, to encounter merciless savages." The Convention was asked to authorize the enlistment of men for the protection of the frontier or the expenditure of money in the erection of forts in which the inhabitants might take refuge.
On the 14th of December the Committee met "by express from Captain John Brady upon sundry charges produced by said Brady against a certain Robert Robb." It was alleged that he had advised the acceptance of the terms of peace offered by Lord Howe, spoken disparagingly of the Conti- nental Congress and the State Convention, dissuaded others from entering the militia, etc. Numerous depositions were taken, and on the 17th of December the Committee decided "That said Robert Robb shall either take his gun and march immediately with the militia of this county into actual service for the defense of the United States in order to wipe off the present evil suspicions" or else be committed to the care of Colonel James Murray to be sent to some proper place of confinement. From this decision he ap- pealed to the Council of Safety, but was continued in the custody of Colonel Murray, who, "out of lenity to said Robb's family, saw fit to appoint the mansion house of the said Robb as a prison for him on a promise of his good behavior for the future." Three days later (December 20th) he "abused the lenity shown him ..... by barbarously beating and much abusing a certain Peter Smith," and further contemned the constituted authorities by asserting that "he never thought to be tried by such men as some of the Committee; some of them had been tried for murder and some for horse-stealing," which was submitted in evidence at a meeting at the house of George McCandlish, January 14, 1777. On the following day Captain William Murray was desired to bring the offender before the Committee, which he positively declined to do, although notified three times, and finally surrendered his commission; Simon Hemrod and Buchanan Smith were then appointed to conduct Robb to the Council of Safety .*
*Robert Robb was subsequently indicted by the grand jury of Northumberland county for mis- prision of treason, tried at November sessions, 1780, acquitted, and discharged upon payment of fees.
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THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
The last Committee of which the proceedings are extant organized on the 13th of February, 1777, as shown by the following transcript from the min- utes :-
Northumberland, February 13, 1777.
The following gentlemen, being unanimously chosen by their respective townships to serve in the Committee of this county for the ensuing six months, met at the house of Laughlin McCartney in Northumberland and gave in the following returns of their election, viz .:-
Augusta Township .- No return.
Potter's Township .- John Livingston, John McMillan.
Turbut Township .- Thomas Jordan, Johu Nelson, Josiah Espy.
Buffalo Township .- John Overhand, Thomas Sutherland, George Overmeier. Bald Eagle Township .- John Fleming, James Hughes, John Walker.
Mahanoy Township .- George Yeakle, Henry Zartman, Henry Krebs. Penn's Township .- Andrew Moore, David Miller, Jacob Hosterman. White Deer Township .- William Blyth, James McCormick, William Reed. Muncy Township .- John Coats, James Hampton, William Hammond. Mahoning Township .- No return.
Wyoming Township .- James McClure, Peter Melick, John Clingman.
The Committee, according to order, proceeded to elect their chairman and clerk, when Thomas Jordan was unanimously chosen chairman and John Coats, clerk.
The second regular meeting of this Committee was held on the 11th of March at the house of George McCandlish. Allis Read, of Wyoming town- ship entered complaint that a horse, strayed or stolen from him and replev- ined from John Drake, had been taken from his stable by Drake's widow; the case was referred to the local Committee for adjudication. The appeal of Jacob Links from the Committee of Buffalo township was then considered, and reserved for a future meeting. Captain Benjamin Weiser having com- plained of desertions from his company, it was ordered that a day of muster be assigned for the deserters to return, in default of which they should be placed under arrest. The Committee of Bald Eagle was authorized to pre- vent the purchase of grain by distillers and to compel its sale at the market price; report having been made "of a certain Henry Sterratt profaning the Sabbath in an unchristian and scandalous manner, causing his servants to maul rails, etc. on that day," the Bald Eagle Committee was " recommended to suppress such like practices to the utmost of their power."
On the 15th of April, pursuant to adjournment, the Committee met at Mc- Candlish's and issued a special summons for Jacob Driesbach as a witness in the case of Jacob Links, charged with misappropriation of funds intrusted to him for the purchase of salt in Philadelphia; he appeared on the 17th, and his testimony was such as to vindicate the accused. The case of William Read, who had declined to enter the militia, was then considered: he had been implicated in a riot in Ireland, he said, but was acquitted upon taking a solemn obligation never to bear arms against the British government, and based his refusal upon a conscientious regard for that declaration; after tak- ing an oath of allegiance to the United States he was discharged. A letter
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
from Nicholas Pickard, of Wyoming, to John Pickard, of Penn's township, in- forming him of an approaching Indian invasion, next received attention: John Pickard took the oath of allegiance; Nicholas acknowledged himself a British emissary, and was sent to Philadelphia under guard. The Committee then adjourned to meet at Laughlin McCartney's in Northumberland on the 10th of June, but no record of its subsequent proceedings has been preserved.
The local militia was organized in four battalions and officered as fol- lows :-
First Battalion .- Colonel, Samuel Hunter; lieutenant colonel, William Cooke; majors: Casper Weitzel, John Lee.
First Company .- Captain, Nicholas Miller; first lieutenant, Christopher Gettig; second lieutenant, Nehemiah Breese; ensigns: Gustavus Ross, Will- iam Sims.
Second Company .- Captain, Hugh White; first lieutenant, John Forster; second lieutenant, Andrew Gibson; ensign, Samuel Young.
Third Company .- Captain, John McMahan; first lieutenant, John Mur- ray; second lieutenant, William Fisher; ensign, William Bailey.
Fourth Company .- Captain, Charles Gillespie; first lieutenant, Robert King; second lieutenant, Samuel Fulton; ensigns: William Boyd, John Wood- side.
Fifth Company .- Captain, William Scull; first lieutenant, Jonathan Lodge; second lieutenant, George Calhoon; ensigns: William Sawyer, George Grant.
Sixth Company .- Captain, William Clark; first lieutenant, John Teitson; second lieutenant, William McDonald; ensign, John Moll.
Seventh Company .- Captain, John Simpson; first lieutenant, Robert Curry; second lieutenant, John Ewart; ensigns: Thomas Gaskins, David Mead.
Eighth Company .- Captain, Robert Crawford; first lieutenant, James McClure; second lieutenant, George Espy; ensign, Joseph Salmon.
The field officers and all the company officers except those of the Seventh and Eighth were returned on the 8th of February, 1776; the officers of the Seventh company were returned on the 25th of March and those of the Eighth on the 12th of June.
Second Battalion .- Colonel, James Potter; lieutenant colonel, Robert Moodie; majors: John Kelly, John Brady.
First Company .- Captain, Arthur Taggart; first lieutenant, Cornelius Atkinson; second lieutenant, James McClung; ensign, James Wilson.
Second Company .- Captain, William Gray; first lieutenant, William Clark; second lieutenant, James Murdock; ensign, William Thompson.
Third Company .- Transferred to the Third battalion, in which it became the Seventh.
Fourth Company .- Captain, Samuel Dale; first lieutenant, William Bennet; second lieutenant, Hawkins Boone; ensign, Jesse Weeks.
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Fifth Company .- Captain, Cookson Long; first lieutenant, William Mc- Elhatton; second lieutenant, Robert Fleming; ensign, Robert Fleming, Jr.
Sixth Company .- Transferred to the Third battalion, in which it became the Second.
Seventh Company .- Captain, James Murray; first lieutenant, William Murray; second lieutenant, Thomas Plunket; ensign, Andrew Robinson. Probably transferred to the Third battalion.
Eighth Company .- Transferred to the Third battalion, in which it became the First.
Ninth Company .- Captain, John McMillen; first lieutenant, John Mc- Connell; second lieutenant, John McCormick; ensign, Charles Wilson.
Tenth Company .- Captain, David Hays; first lieutenant, Charles Clark; ensign, Thomas Gray.
Eleventh Company .- Captain, Philip Davis; first lieutenant, James Espy; second lieutenant, John Nelson; ensign, Jacob Follmer.
All the officers of this battalion were returned on the 24th of January, 1776.
Third Battalion .- Colonel, William Plunket; lieutenant colonel, James Murray; majors: John Brady, Cookson Long.
First Company .- Captain, Henry Antes; first lieutenant, Thomas Brandon; second lieutenant, Alexander Hamilton; ensigns: John Morrison, James Alexander.
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