History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men, Part 12

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102

USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 12

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Until recent years there stood on the Preston A. McMillen farm, about a mile northeast of Kistler, in northeast Madison Township, a log building which had been used both as a residence and as a fort. Families by the name of Logan had taken up these lands, which included the farms now owned by Lucian McMillen, Linn J. McMillen, and Preston A. McMillen. On this latter property this building was erected for both a residence and the protection of the surrounding families. Some logs from the build- ing were used for the construction of the McMillen barn and are pointed out to the inquirer. It was on the nature of a blockhouse. The property on which the fort was erected is now in the hands of the fifth generation of McMillens, one of Perry County's sub- stantial families. As fast as possible the Indians replaced their bows and arrows with firearms and the residents of these farms frequently had to seek shelter from the redskins. On one occa- sion a hog had been killed and was being prepared for use in the cellar when an attack was made and a bullet struck above the cellar door, imbedding itself five and one-half inches in a walnut log. Many people yet living saw this log when a part of the old build- ing. The marks of other bullets could be plainly seen. When things got too serious the settlers would flee to the mountains, all wooded, and escape to Carlisle. The logs were hewed on both sides, some of them being almost two feet in width. In an In- dian account of Robert Robinson, elsewhere, he tells of a Captain Dunning seeking Indians and coming to a certain house (Alex-

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ander Logan's) after the fight on Buffalo Creek. This old block- house was Logan's home. A favorite pastime of the McMillens of a century ago was "digging" bullets from these old logs.

Where the Tressler Memorial Lutheran church at Loysville now stands once stood a log cabin equipped like a blockhouse, the rear room being without windows and having portholes. This prop- erty was later owned by John Kistler, father of Rev. Kistler, who was a missionary to India about 1860.

While there is no official record of there having been a fort at New Buffalo during the early settlements, yet, according to old records Henry Meiser, of what is now Snyder County, put his children in chaff bags and escaped to New Buffalo, where there was a temporary fort for refuge. Evidently Fort Halifax-oppo- site New Buffalo-was referred to.

Some of the earlier homes were equipped with portholes, for tise in case of an Indian attack. One of these was the house on the Thomas Adams farm, near New Germantown, in Toboyne Township, now owned by Milo N. Willhide, its location being just south of Sherman's Creek.

That those daring provincials located at these forts were kept busy is attested by their many reports which are a part of the Pennsylvania Archives. A letter from Capt. James Patterson, commandant at Fort Hunter, dated January 10, 1758, and ad- dressed to "the Honorable William Deney, Esq'r, Governour and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania," follows :

"FORT HUNTER, Jan'ry ye 10th, 1758.

"I took with me 19 men & ranged from this Fort as far as Robinson's Fort, where I lodged, keeping a guard of six men & one Corporal on Centry that night. The sixth day I marched towards Hunter's Fort, ranging along the mountain foot very diligently till I came to the Fort that evening, my men being so afflicted with sickness; I could not send out till the eighth day, Lieu't Allen, with 14 men, went to Range for three days. On the 12th day Lieu't Allen, with Eighteen men & one Serjeant ranged along the mountain about 14 miles from this Fort, where he met Cap't Lieu't Weiser with his party & returned back towards this Fort the next day & came to it that night. The fifteenth, Lieu't Allen, with 18 men, kept along the Frontier till the 25th & came to this Fort that night.

"Hearing of Indians harbouring about Juniatta, on the 28th of De- cember, I took 15 men with me up the Creek, and about 14 miles from the mouth of it I found fresh tracks of Indians on both sides of the Creek & followed the tracks about four miles up the said Creek, where I lost the tracks, but I still kept up the Creek 'till I gott up about 25 miles from the mouth of said Creek, where I encamped that night. The In- dians I found were round me all night, for my Dogg made several attacks towards the Woods as if he saw the Enemy and still run back to the Centry. On the 3d of January I returned down the Creek in some Canoes that I found on said Creek, and when I came about nine miles down I espied about 20 Indians on the opposite side of the Creek to where I was. They seemed to gett themselves in order to fire upon the men that were in Canoes. I immediately ordered them all out but two men that

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let the Canoes float close under the shore, and kept the Land in readiness to fire upon the Enemy, as soon as they moved out of the place where they lay in Ambush, but I could see no more of them. On the 5th day of January I came to this Fort."

It will be noted that Captain Patterson terms the Juniata, "the Creek." Fourteen miles from the mouth of it, where he found the Indian tracks, would have been at the vicinity where Buffalo Creek empties into the Juniata, above Newport. Having gone up twenty-five miles from its mouth and returned nine he saw twenty Indians. That point was probably in the vicinity of Old Ferry, midway between Newport and Millerstown, but of course there is no way of telling the exact locations, they probably varying a mile or two either way.

These provincials were kept very busy by the duties of their position ; but, with the success of the British arms, the scene of action shifted, during 1758, and until Pontiac's war in 1763, this pioneer garrison had little to do.

CHAPTER V.

SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE.

I N that section of Perry County lying between the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers and along the banks of the latter there is a mountain promontory below Montgomery's Ferry, almost jutting to the river's edge, which bears to this day the name of "Girty's Notch," said to have been named after Simon Girty, the renegade, who betrayed his own race to join the redskins and later the British. It is in Watts Township, almost on the Buffalo Township line and along the Susquehanna Trail-the state high- way to the north. On approaching this promontory from the northeast there can be seen, half-way up the craggy rocks, the face of a man-albeit an Indian-the outline of which no sculptor could improve, put there by the Great Creator of the universe and which tradition would have us believe is the counterpart of the Girty profile.

There is record of the elder Simon Girty's once being a prop- erty owner, but not here. In 1743 he cleared a tract of thirty acres in Dauphin County, near the Susquehanna River, and made some improvements. He resided on this place several years. Be- coming indebted to Thomas McKee, the storekeeper, in a sum upwards of £300 the land subsequently came into the possession of McKee.

'T'he Alexander McKee, referred to in connection with Girty, the renegade, in the following pages, was a son of this Thomas McKee, the trader, who kept a store immediately below Peters' Mountain, in Dauphin County, opposite Allen's Cove. He was an Indian agent for the British government and became a pro- nounced tory.

The activities of Simon Girty, the renegade, in the provincial affairs were of such magnitude that a brief account is not out of place here, especially as his father-also named Simon Girty-was one of the men ejected from Perry County soil prior to the lands being opened for settlement, mentioned at several places in this book.

Almost opposite Marysville, Perry County, there empties into the Susquehanna River a small stream known as Fishing Creek. A few hundred yards from its mouth, prior to 1730, several broth- ers by the name of Chambers erected a grist mill and the place came to be known as Chambers' Mill. It was the same family of Chambers which settled at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1736,

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105

and gave their name to that town. During the French and Indian War a frontier fort was built at Chambers' Mill and was named Fort Hunter, a near-by village still bearing that name. It was also subsequently called McAllister's. Chambers' Mill was a set-

GIRTYS NOTCH

MORROW PHOTO -

THE INDIAN PROFILE AT GIRTY'S NOTCH.

During the Pioneer Period the name of Simon Girty, the Renegade, be- came attached to this cliff, although nothing in Provincial Annals bears it out. Facing south on the Susquehanna Trail the face can be plainly seen upon the rocks, not far below Montgomery's Ferry.

tlement of unsavory reputation and is spoken of as having had few, if any, rivals for wickedness in the province. Here Simon . Girty, the elder, who was a middle aged man, had emigrated from the Emerald Isle, located and assumed the duties of a pack horse driver. After saving of his earnings to go into business on a small

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scale as a trader with the Indians, he married Mary Newton, an English girl. They became the parents of four boys, Thomas, born in 1739; Simon, with whom this story deals, born in 1741 ; James, born in 1743, and George, born in 1745. The name is vari- ously spelled, "Girty," "Girte," "Gerty," and sometimes "Girtee." In a list of traders licensed in 1747 Simon Girty, the elder, does not appear; in a list of traders unlicensed of the same date, it does appear. However, the list of 1748 contains his name among those licensed.

The lands lying west of the Susquehanna River and north of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, which includes the present county of Perry, had not been opened to settlement yet, but nevertheless, by the spring of 1749 there were more than thirty families already located there. The sheriff of Lancaster County having authority over all the lands west of the Susquehanna except York County, three magistrates and a provincial agent were sent to what is now Perry County soil to warn the people to leave immediately. Little heed was given to their words and others also went in and located. Among these was Simon Girty, in 1749, with his wife and little brood, settling on Sherman's Creek, but their career there was suddenly terminated, as eight provincials appointed by the consti- tuted authorities, accompanied by a deputy sheriff of the new county of Cumberland, proceeded to carry out by force the desires of the Indians and the commands of the authorities. After burn- ing five cabins of settlers near the Juniata they proceeded to Sher- man's Creek, where Girty and nine other trespassers were found. Each had settled on a separate tract and had erected a cabin. These were also burned and the owners bound over to appear at Shippensburg, then the seat of justice of the new county, in the sum of one hundred pounds each. In view of the others having remained when notified to leave during the previous year this oc- currence can hardly be viewed with great discredit to Girty. From here he went back to Chambers' Mill.

Girty, the elder, was a drinking man of the "spree" type, and met his death at Chambers' Mill on one of these occasions. One story tells of a neighbor knocking him in the head and bearing off Mrs. Girty as a trophy of his prowess ; another tells of a neighbor- hood difficulty in which Girty was the challenger to a duel and in which his antagonist put the sword through him, but both are only traditionary tales. Even Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," erroneously has him "tortured at the stake, toma- hawked finally by a papoose held up by its father for that pur- pose," doubtless confounding that circumstance with the one hap- pening at the death of Turner, the man who married Girty's widow and who was tortured at the stake at Kittanning, as de- scribed further on in this chapter.

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The facts, according to the Magazine of American History, are these: He was killed in a drunken revelry by an Indian known as "the fish," at his home in the latter part of 1751. His death must needs be avenged and the avenger in this case was John Turner, who made his home with Girty, who killed "the fish" and thereby fulfilled the theory of "an eye for an eye," etc. Turner's reward came later, when, early in 1753, at Paxtang he was united in mar- riage to Mrs. Girty, described as a woman of unblemished char- acter.

In 1756, Turner, his wife and the four Girty boys, for their better protection, were in the fort known as Fort Granville, lo- cated near the present town of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where Turner was a second lieutenant. On July 22 a band of over a hundred Indians and twenty-three Frenchmen from Fort Duquesne arrived at the fort and challenged its occupants to combat, which was declined by the commander, Captain Edward Ward. All of Ward's men were provincials in the pay of Pennsylvania. Not far away Sherman's Valley, comprising practically all of western Perry County, was depopulated by reason of the Indian massacres and expeditions, yet much grain had been sown and was now ripe with no reapers to venture forth without protection. Captain Ward determined to guard the harvesters and took all his men save twenty-three to Sherman's Valley, thinking the French and the Indians had gone.

In this he was mistaken, as they were only abiding their time. On the very day in which he marched, they began a furious at- tack and by a feint, entrance was gained through a ravine to within thirty or forty feet of the fort. The lieutenant in charge, Edward Armstrong, and a private were killed, three wounded and the fort set on fire. The enemy then offered quarter if they would surrender and Turner, then in charge, opened the gates. The fort was consumed in the flames and all were taken prisoners, including Turner, his wife and the four Girty boys. Simon Girty was then fifteen years old. The fort was sacked before its fall and the prisoners were compelled to lug the loot to the limit of their en- durance. Tradition says Turner's share was a hundred pounds of salt. The trip was over the Allegheny Mountains to Kittanning, where there was an Indian village from which this band of In- dians were largely recruited.

Turner, tradition says,-and it is only tradition,-was recog- nized as the man who had slain "the fish" ( who was the murderer of the elder Girty) at Chambers' Mill and his doom was sealed. Be that as it may, the evidence and records of his execution are more than tradition. "They tied him to a black post, danced around him, made a great fire and, having heated them red-hot, ran gun barrels through his body. Having tormented him for

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

three hours, they scalped him alive, and at last held up a boy with a hatchet in his hand to give the finishing stroke," says Gordon in liis History of Pennsylvania. His wife sat on a log near by with their young son and with the four Girty boys, compulsory be- holders of the horrible affair.

The family was shortly broken up, never to be reunited. Simon was turned over to the Senecas, one of the Six Nations, and speedily learned their language. James was given to the Shawnees and George to the Delawares, all being adopted. The other brother, Thomas, had been recaptured by the whites in an attack upon Kittanning, within forty days of his first captivity. The Dalawares and the Shawnees, notwithstanding the fact that the Indians had made a treaty of peace with the English at Easton in 1757, remained hostile along the Ohio. During the autumn of 1858, however, they sent their representatives to Easton, Penn- sylvania, and too formed a treaty of peace. As a result all white prisoners were delivered up at Pittsburgh, and among them were the three Girty boys, their mother ( Mrs. Turner) and her young son, John Turner.

Having lived the wild life of the red men for some time the boys were rough and crude and now almost grown into young manhood. Their location at Pittsburgh placed them among a rough and unconth element, as it was a mere trading post and frontier fort with the attending influences. The principal business was trading with the Indians and the linguistic ability of these boys, Simon being but eighteen and his brothers younger, made their services invaluable, for collectively they could speak the lan- guages of three different Indian nations. Simon, who had been with the Senecas, now became popular with the Delawares, took up their language, and in a short time could speak it fluently. One of the principal Delaware warriors-Katepakomen-liked him so well that he assumed his name. The capture of this Indian pre- tender, "Simon Girty," by Colonel Henry Bouquet in 1764, when he marched with his men west of the Ohio, is responsible for con- flieting historical accounts, many of which assume that it was the real Simon Girty.

Simon, and perchance his brothers also, became popular among a certain class of the white population surrounding the post and an incident of historical preservation is that he voted at the first election (1771) when Bedford was made a county, including practically all the territory of western Pennsylvania. Two years later (1773) Westmoreland County was created, with the capital at Hannastown, about thirty-five miles east of Pittsburgh, and it then comprised all of these western Pennsylvania lands. The stu- dent of history will recollect how Pennsylvania and Virginia clashed for that territory, Pennsylvania contending that much of

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the land even along the Ohio belonged to the province, while Vir- ginia's contention was that that state owned even the location where Pittsburgh now stands and where the post was then located. In the same year Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, visited the section and took measures for its being made a part of his state. Simon Girty took sides with Virginia. At the October ses- sions of court of that year a warrant was issued for his arrest for a misdemeanor, the grand jury having found a true bill, but he escaped. Dr. John Conolly, of Pittsburgh, was the leader of the Virginians, who, with an armed force, assailed the court at Han- nastown and sent three of the justices to jail in Virginia. Penn- sylvania's champion was Arthur St. Clair, also of Pittsburgh, who caused Conolly's arrest and had him imprisoned at Hannastown.

Not only the boundary troubles, but others threatened the new country. As the tide of emigration broke through the Alleghenies and rolled westward in a continuous stream towards the Ohio Valley the continuous conflict of the red and white races was again uppermost. Southwest of Pittsburgh the Shawnees and the Min- goes were on one side and the Virginians on the other. In this war Simon Girty was an active participant. Taking sides with Virginia in the boundary dispute when his own state was con- cerned, naturally he could easily do so then. When Lord Dun- more reached Pittsburgh with the northern branch of the Vir- ginia army Girty became his interpreter as well as a scout. Dun- more had also with him several scouts whose frontier deeds made them famous, but of a type the opposite of Girty. The criticism of Roosevelt covering this phase in his "Winning of the West" is "At the moment he was serving Lord Dunmore and the whites ; but he was by taste, habits and education a red man, who felt ill at ease among those of his own color."

Lord Dunmore's war did not lessen the severity of the boundary dispute around Pittsburgh and Girty was made a second lieutenant on his return from the expeditions against the Indians. The im- mediate effect of this was to give Virginia immunity from Indian troubles at the west and to give Pennsylvania resumption of its trade with the Indians. But the Revolutionary War was at hand and after the battle of Lexington patriotism west of the moun- tains put all else to rout and at conventions held at Pittsburgh and Hannastown practically everybody gave expressions to their senti- ments, among them being the supporters of Lord Dunmore, who rallied to the Whigs, with a single exception or two, which did not include Girty.

On May 1, 1776, he was appointed an interpreter by the Co- lonial government to interpret for the Six Nations at Pittsburgh, which practically meant for the Senecas. His wage was to be

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four-eights of a dollar per day. On August I it was found nec- essary to discharge him for ill behavior.

lle then exerted himself in getting recruits for the patriot army for which he expected a captain's commission. In this he failed, but was made a second lieutenant in Captain John Stephanson's company of one-year men. The company was sent to Charleston, but for some reason he was not with them, but on detached duty. Early in August ( 1776) he resigned his commission. He was then already plotting with the Indians. General Hand, on assuming charge of the military affairs at Pittsburgh, discovered that there was doubtful loyalty among some of the inhabitants. Alexander McKee, an influential trader who had come from that part of the province lying east of the mountains, being especially suspicioned. He and Girty were friends. He was paroled to the immediate vicinity. There was a movement on foot to murder all the Whigs and turn the government over to Hamilton, the lieutenant gover- nor, located at Detroit, and Girty was suspected of being in the plot and was arrested and confined in the guardhouse. He soon broke out, just to show that he could, but returned of his own accord and was imprisoned. Later he was examined by a magis- trate and acquitted. Being restored to confidence, during the fall he was sent to meet the Senecas, living on the upper waters of the Allegheny, who were supposed to be hostile to the United States. He would have been held by them as a spy but managed to escape.

Finally from authentic reports it became known to General Hand that Alexander McKee was making preparations to leave Pittsburgh to join the enemy. On December 29, 1777, he was ordered to York, Pennsylvania, there to answer orders of the Con- tinental Board of War, but the tory made excuses and was allowed to remain. On February 7. 1778, he was again officially ordered to York, but feigned illness and was permitted to remain. Mean- while he was secretly preparing to take as much of his property as was portable with him and at the earliest possible moment start for the Indian country on his way to Detroit. He had influenced Girty to join in the flight and on the night of March 28, 1778, McKee and his cousin, Robert Surphlit, together with Matthew Elliott, Simon Girty, a man named Higgins and two negroes be- longing to MeKee departed for the Indian country and Detroit, traitors to the land of their birth.

Many reasons are advanced for Girty's disaffection, but the per- suasion of MeKee and Elliott certainly had much to do with it. Farther than that all must be conjecture. Perchance its inception may have dated back to the burning of that cabin of his father by the provincial authorities along Sherman's Creek-now a part of Perry County-which, as a child he sat by and saw, but of which he did not comprehend the meaning.

III

SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE

However, desertions to the enemy did not stop with the seven. Others were disaffected, including part of the garrison at Fort Pitt. On the night of April 20 a boat was stolen by some, who fled down the Ohio. They were overtaken at the Muskingum River by a party sent in pursuit and the ringleaders killed or cap- tured. Six soldiers and two civilians escaped. Of those taken two were shot, one hanged and two whipped, being given one hundred lashes each. Their leaving caused great consternation among the settlers, some even wanting to desert their claims in fear of the Indians. John Proctor, of Westmoreland County, wrote to Thomas Wharton, president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, on April 26, as follows: "Captain Alex- ander McKee, with seven (six) other villains, is gone to the In- dians; and since then there are a sergeant and twenty-odd men gone from Pittsburgh, of the soldiers. What may be the fate of this country, God only knows, but at present it wears a dismal aspect."

Girty never possessed real estate, as sometimes stated, hence he left nothing behind. He could neither read nor write, so left no paper which could shed any light upon his actions. Up to the time of his desertion he was not quite so black as painted by many historians, as his connections with the provincial government will attest. True, he drank, gambled, associated with questionable people, yet he was not at that time "an inveterate drunkard," "an outlaw," "a redskin of the worst type," etc. Now, however, he became a renegade, a deserter and a traitor to his country-what a threefold record of infamy those words imply !

In all the American settlements west of the Allegheny Moun- tains watered by the Ohio and its tributaries, there were not to be found three other persons so well fitted as were McKee, Elliott and Girty to work upon the superstitions of the western Indians for evil to the patriot cause; and General Hand feared the worst, thinking they had gone over to the Indians. He and Colonel Morgan at once prepared "addresses" and had them sent to the Delawares. Others fearing to carry the messages, John Hecke- welder and Joseph Bull, Moravian missionaries, offered to carry them to Coshocton. They were searching for the whereabouts of missionaries of their church who had gone into the Ohio valleys. They found the Delawares about to take up arms against the Americans. According to Heckewelder, the renegades had stopped at their town and told them that the patriot armies were cut to pieces, that General Washington was killed, that there was no more congress, that the English had hung some of the members and taken the remainder to England to hang them there, and that the few thousand Americans who had escaped the British soldiers were now busying themselves west of the mountains for the pur-

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History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men, Part 12

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company Number of Pages: 1102

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102