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 13

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 13

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).

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

pose of killing all the Indians beyond the Ohio-even the women and children.

The renegades had left Coshocton, but "White Eyes," the Dela- ware chief, sent the following figurative message out to the Shaw- nees and the Mingoes: "Grandchildren, ye Shawnees! Some days ago a flock of birds that came on from the east lit at Goscho- ching (Coshocton) imposing a song of theirs upon us, which song has nigh proved our ruin! Should these birds, which, on leaving us, took their flight toward the Scioto, endeavor to impose a song on you likewise, do not listen to them for they lic."

However, the words of "White Eyes" were of no avail to his grandchildren on the Scioto. The renegades had there met James Girty, who was easily persuaded to join them. The Shawnees were wavering and he was largely responsible for turning then from all thoughts of peace with the United States. It was about the middle of June when the original party (James Girty not be- ing along) reached the open arms of Lieutenant Governor Hamil- ton at Detroit. He immediately appointed Girty as interpreter of the Six Nations, the renegade thus becoming an employee of the British, for his services receiving two dollars per day. McKee was made a captain of the British Indian Department. On June 15, 1778, the Supreme Executive Council issued a proclamation adjudging them traitors. Hamilton sent Simon Girty to the Mingoes and James Girty to the Shawnees, each instructed to give the best possible service both in interpreting and fighting. Until this time neither had the blood of a fellow countryman upon his hands. From now on this can not be said of them. For their future attitude Hamilton was largely responsible.

Upon their reaching the Indian tribes a war party was started for Kentucky, both being along. The party brought back seven scalps, a woman named Mary Kennedy and seven children as prisoners.

Simon Kenton, the seout, had left Boone's station in Kentucky to cross the Ohio, being accompanied by Alexander Montgomery and George Clark. They ran across some horses in the rich prai- ries and by the use of salt and halters succeeded in stampeding seven towards the Ohio. The river being wild the party was de- layed in crossing and were overtaken by the Indians. Clark es- caped, Montgomery was killed and scalped, and Kenton was tied upon the back of one of the wildest horses. After plunging, kick- ing and rearing the animal finally followed the others. At four different villages he was beaten and made to "run the gauntlet," almost losing his life each time. Later, while seated on the floor of the council house with his face blackened, a sure sign of being doomed, in walked Simon Girty, his brother James, John Ward and an Indian with the eight captives spoken of above and the

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seven scalps. Kenton was temporarily removed but was shortly brought back. He recognized the hated traitor. Girty threw down a blanket and with a scowl ordered him upon it. He hesitated and Girty impatiently jerked him upon it. Girty did not recognize him and proceeded to quiz him for information. 'To the inquiry as to where he lived he replied "In Kentucky." To other questions Kenton gave answers which were intended to lead his interrogator astray. Finally he was asked his name and replied, "Simon Butler," the name he was known by along the frontier. Girty embraced him on the spot and told him he was condemned to death, but that he would use every means to save his life. His pleas were ef- fective, as the Indians relented.

A short time afterwards a party of Indians returned from the vicinity of Wheeling defeated by the whites, some having been killed and others wounded. Determined to be avenged they sent to Girty to appear with Kenton, which he did. He again inter- ested himself, but by an overwhelming vote it was decided to burn him at the stake. However at Girty's request he was taken by the Indians to Upper Sandusky to suffer the torture. Through the intercession of a trader there he escaped death, being sent to De- troit. Subsequently he fled and finally arrived safely in Kentucky.

Captain John Clark had commanded a relief party with provi- sions for Colonel Gibson at Fort Laurens, and on his return Girty and seventeen redskins attacked them and killed two, wounding four and taking one prisoner. The remainder, including the cap- tain, fought a defensive fight back to the fort. Lieutenant Gover- nor Hamilton, getting restless, had previously captured Vincennes, and Clarke knew that if he didn't get Hamilton and Vincennes that Hamilton would get him. Accordingly on February 7, with a force of 126 men he started, and on February 25 captured Ham- ilton and the fort. Girty, in attacking Clark, had gained posses- sion of correspondence of Colonel Gibson, which he took to De- troit, but Hamilton had already been captured. In the corre- spondence Gibson revealed the fact that Girty, if captured, could expect little mercy from him. At first this caused a feeling of despondency which developed into resentment and vindictiveness against his countrymen far greater than before.

Girty met an American named Richard Conner at Coshocton and told him to "tell the Americans that I desire to be shown no favor, neither will I show any." George Girty, who had been a second lieutenant of the Colonial troops, also deserted and on Au- gust 8. 1779, arrived at Detroit, the third of the family to become a renegade. He was made an interpreter and assigned to the Shawnees. Deer skins (known as "bucks" and "does") were worth about a dollar each and were in some cases used as cur- rency. Hence, a charge to George Girty reads: "To salt at

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Shawnees towns, 4 bucks; to 116 pounds flour, 14 bucks; to bag flour, 2 bucks; to tobacco, 3 bucks."

A' party of "Virginians" from near where Brownsville, Penn- sylvania, now stands, went to New Orleans for supplies. They had returned to about three miles below where the little Miami joins the Ohio when Simon and George Girty, Matthew Elliott and a hundred Indians attacked them, killing David Rogers, the captain, and forty-one others of the party and taking five pris- oners. The Indians lost but two, with three more slightly wounded. They captured a quantity of rum, forty bales of dry goods, and a "chest of hard specie."

On one occasion Simon Girty saved the life of an eighteen- year-old boy. Henry Baker, who had been captured by a small war party near Wheeling. He was taken to Upper Sandusky, where he was placed with nine other prisoners, captured Ken- tuckians. All were compelled to "run the gauntlet." The boy, being fleet of foot, easily ran it, which so enraged a young Indian that he knocked him down with a club after reaching the council house. The nine Kentuckians were burned at the stake, one a day until all had perished. Baker was compelled to witness all this. Then it was his turn. An old chief ordered him taken out and tied to a stake. Seeing a white man approaching on horse- back, he resisted somewhat and then ran up and implored the rider to save him. It was Simon Girty, who at once interceded in his behalf. The savages relented and let him go, sending him to De- troit as a prisoner. He escaped and reached his home in safety.

On one occasion ( 1781) Simon Girty had a narrow escape from death. Captain Brant, while drinking intoxicants, boasted of his prowess and told how he single-handed had captured a number of the enemy. Girty's envy was awakened and he promptly told Brant that he lied. The latter immediately struck him in the head with his sword, making an ugly scar which he carried to his death and which he later boasted of as "having received it in battle." It was many weeks before he could even sit up.

Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, in 1782, saw Simon Girty frequently, he being at that time the constant companion of Dunquat, the half-king of the Wyandottes. He had then become more inhuman and savage than ever. The winter was cold, food was scarce, the cattle were dying for want of food, there was little wood to burn and the tents were small, many were living on the carcasses of the starved cattle; yet when the missionary's wife had prepared for themselves a little food, from their scanty lot, in walked Simon Girty and a Wyandotte Indian and helped them- selves. The half-king had lost two sons in battle the previous fall and was very resentful against the whites. Girty now called

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himself "Captain Girty" and would instigate among the Wyan- (lottes all the trouble possible for the Moravians.

On one occasion Christian Fast, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and of the part which later became Fayette County, a boy of seventeen was captured. He was wounded before being made prisoner but his life was spared. He was adopted by a Delaware family which had lost a son in a skirmish. Naturally young Fast became melancholy at times. Thoughts of home would steal upon him, and on one of these occasions he had proceeded into the woods and was sitting on a log musing. He was suddenly accosted by a white stranger and asked what he was thinking about. He replied that he had no company and felt lonesome. "That is not it," said the stranger. "You are thinking of home ; be a good boy and you shall see your home again." The speaker was Simon Girty, who had taken a liking to the boy, who later did escape and reached his own home in safety.

While three of the Girty boys were renegades, the fourth, Thomas Girty, lived in Pittsburgh, rather a respected citizen.

Captain Crawford, who was a fellow officer with Girty in the Virginia militia of a period before, was captured and was burned at the stake, and among the witnesses of the spectacle was the renegade. Crawford was undressed, and tied to a stake about fifteen feet high by a rope which was attached to the ligaments of his wrists. The rope was of a length to permit his walking around the post two or three times, returning the same way. The fires were six or seven yards from the post. About seventy loads of powder were shot into his body and then his ears were cut off. On every side were tormentors with burning faggots and if he turned about to escape torture he again met with it. In the midst of these tortures Crawford called to Girty and begged to be shot. In derision Girty replied that he had no gun, and laughed heartily, all his gestures showing that he was delighted with the spectacle. After almost two hours of torture Crawford fell upon his stom- ach and was then scalped. Hot coals were applied to him, but he again raised himself to his feet and walked around the stake, seeming more insensible to pain than before. Dr. Knight, who was also captured at the same time, was a witness up until this point when he was led away.

Girty then told Knight to prepare for death but not there, as he was to be burned in one of the Shawnee towns. With fear- ful oaths he told him that he need not expect to escape death, but should suffer it in all its agonies. Colonel John Gibson had threat- ened to trepan him, if captured, and he told Knight that some prisoners had informed him that if the Americans got him they would torture him, but that he didn't believe it. He asked Knight's opinion, but he, having just witnessed the awful proceedings with

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Crawford, was so unnerved that he could not reply. Knight was sent to the Shawnee town under the guard of a single Indian, whom he killed and then escaped, finally arriving at Pittsburgh half starved.

George Girty was about as blood-thirsty as his brother Simon. John Stover had been of the same war party as Crawford and Knight, and was later condemned to the stake. He was tied to the stake and George Girty cursed him and told him he was about to get what he deserved, but suddenly a storm broke and the Indians sought cover, Stover in the meantime breaking his bonds and escaping.

The news of peace between the United States and Great Britain did not reach Fort Pitt until May, 1783. and incursions into the settlements by small war parties of savages were still carried on. Simon Girty led one to Nine Mile Run, within five miles of Pitts- burgh, and took a few scalps. This was the renegade's last trip into the state of his birth. In July, 1783, after five years of almost constant life among the red men he returned to Detroit, where he made his home for a short time. In 1784 he journeyed to the Indian country for Catharine Malott, who, as a girl in her teens, was taken prisoner on the Ohio River in 1780. She was now grown to womanhood and wanted to escape savage life, which was, no doubt, her only reason for marrying the renegade, which she did late that year, settling on the Canadian side. He was still a British government agent and was often on the American side urging the Indians to harass the new government.

It appears nowhere that Girty possessed courage, yet his cow- ardice is attested by hundreds of acts of a disreputable nature. About 1798 he and his wife separated, as she could not stand his cruel treatment. Later they lived together again. When the Americans came to take possession of Detroit he got so frightened that he hurriedly swam the river on horseback. He was almost six feet tall, with black hair, a full face, a massive head, and black eyes. He was bronzed by exposure, and dressed in Indian fashion, being adorned with paint and feathers, and he looked every inch an Indian.

He died on his farm, in Canada, granted him by the British government for his perfidy, in 1818, although many historians, in- cluding Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," mistakenly have him killed in battle at Proctor's defeat on the Thames. Of the four brothers, Thomas alone led a civilized life.

Girty became an Indian of his own free will, acquired their habits, participated in their councils, inflamed their passions, and goaded them on to the most cruel tortures of captives; and he deserves to go down in history as one of the most desperate and degenerate characters in its annals. There ever rankled in his

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bosom a dreadful hatred against his country, and while he had all the vices of both civilized and uncivilized peoples, he had the vir- tues of neither.

Tradition would have Simon Girty, the renegade, use the cave or "notch" near the top of Half Falls Mountain, known as Girty's Notch, as a hiding place and observatory during the Indian trou- bles from 1754 to 1764, but there are official records, as stated, during these years, which connect him indisputably with the terri- tory lying west of Pittsburgh. It is no pleasure to the writer, whose birthplace was within a half dozen miles of the location and whose childhood was enlivened by tales of Girty's prowess and deviltry, to mar this tradition, but history not only fails to bear it out, but furnishes evidence of his activities having been in an entirely different region.

Consul Willshire Butterfield, in his History of the Girtys, se- verely criticizes the accounts of Simon Girty as contained in *Wright's History of Perry County, which was published many years ago and which were probably taken from newspaper articles of the period, as the facilities for research at that time were lim- ited. Many of the errors in reference to Girty are caused by con- fusing father and son, both being named Simon.

In the vicinity of Landisburg there is a tradition that Girty's perfidy was the result of his not having been given the command of the whites during a skirmish at Wagner's woods, near that town. Like the other tales which connect the renegade with Perry County territory, there is nothing to it, as he never was in the territory save as a boy of eight years, when his father was a squatter, and later in crossing the territory when twelve to fifteen years of age, with his stepfather and family on their way to Fort Granville, near Lewistown. As stated, their capture at that place was in 1756 and Girty's perfidy dates from 1776 to 1778, and its actual occurrence was at Pittsburgh.

That the renegade was a thorough Indian at heart is proven by the fact that in 1792, when a Great Council of all the north- western tribes was convened on the Maumee, he was the only white man admitted, among the others being forty chiefs of the Six Nations, who counseled peace.

*In an article in the Newport (Pa.) Ledger in later years Mr. Wright wrote: "From reliable information in the writer's possession the renegade never visited these places (Girty's Notch) and could not have given them his name."

CHAPTER VI.

DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS.

I N announcing the intention to publish this book the statement was made that the history of Duncan's and Haldeman's Is- lands, while located in Dauphin County, would be included for the reason that the business and social activities of every nature -- except legal-are with the Perry County side of the river, and for the additional reason that the history of one merges into the other. The only reason why these two islands are not a part of Perry County is that in the old Indian grant to Penn the line was made the western bank of the river. Logically they should be a part of Perry County, and in 1819 a strong effort was made to have them attached to Cumberland County (of which Perry was then a part ). but it was defeated. Then, a year later, when Perry County was formed, they probably could have been attached to Perry, but no effort was made. As this chapter contains much of Indian life it is inserted here, rather than later.

Originally the Juniata's waters joined with those of the Sus- quehanna at two points, one being a channel at the north end of Duncan's Island, thus forming between the rivers an island, orig- inally known as Juniata Island to the natives. This channel was known to early rivermen as "the gut." Marcus Hulings connected it with the mainland by a causeway, so that pack horses could pass over. Although it retains the name "island," it is in reality no longer an island, as the channel at the upper end has long since been filled in, the same having been done when the Pennsylvania canal was building. During the great floods of 1846 and 1889 the embankment was swept away and each time was rebuilt at great expense, the first time by the state, then in possession of the canals, and the last time by the Pennsylvania Railroad, at an ex- pense of $60,000. Across it passed that great artery of traffic, the Pennsylvania canal, and over it now passes the William Penn highway and the Susquehanna Trail. Much of this fill-in was dug out when the highway was put through recently, and whether this was discreet only another great flood will tell, but rivermen con- tend that it will again break through.

Duncan's Island is almost two miles long, and almost all of it is now the property of William 11. Richter. It contains approxi- mately 300 acres of land. During the first decade of the Nine- teenth Century a village sprang up at its southern point and was named Benvenue. It still exists, but is now largely summer cot-

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tages. Here once stood the Indian village of "Choniata" or "Juneauta," of which there is record as early as 1654 and as late as 1745. From this lower point of the island a long, covered wooden bridge spans the Susquehanna to Clark's Ferry, a station on the Northern Central Railway, and an iron bridge spans the Juniata to a point near Juniata Bridge, a station on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

When the Pennsylvania canal was in operation the mule teams which drew the boats crossed the Susquehanna bridge on a tow- path built on the outside, towing the canal boats across the river at this point, through Green's dam-now commonly referred to as the Clark's Ferry dam. The original ferry over the Juniata was conducted by the Baskins family, some of whose descendants to this day live near by.

In Watson's Annals the following statement is to be found : "This island was the favorite home of the Indians and there are still many Indian remains. At the angle of the canal, near the great bridge. I saw the mound covered with trees, from which were taken hundreds of cartloads of human bones, and which were used with the intermixed earth as filling materials for one of the shoulders or bastions of the dam. What sacrilege! There were also among them beads, trinkets, etc."

During the latter part of the last century and the beginning of the twentieth the writer was a resident of the near by vicinity and knows of many arrowheads, Indian hatchets, skinning stones, etc .. being found on the islands, and present day residents say they are still being found, especially when turning up the ground. As late as 1916 the Susquehanna Archaeological Expedition, of which Mr. George P. Donehoo, the noted authority upon Indian and Colonial history, was a member, found many evidences of Indian occupa- tion upon Duncan's Island. They gathered many hundred speci- mens of Indian origin, including banner stones, hatchets, arrow points, etc. The upper end of the island is even now covered with cracked stones used at fireplaces. On one of the paths at the lower end of the island. Dr. Moorehead, of the Expedition, found an unsual specimen-a half-finished banner stone. The so-called Indian mound was dug into, but no traces of Indian work found there.

Duncan's Island, even to the eye, but more so to memory, seems a spot of fascination and romance, and its uncounted his- torical data, like its silt levels. is more or less submerged. It was here that tradition would have two powerful tribes, the Delawares and Cayugas, fight for days until the eddying river inlets along shore were crimsoned. To tell the tale we have only vast quantities of broken spearheads and arrows, and they are but mute evidence. but to the winner (the Cayugas, already familiar with firearms)

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the strategic point between the rivers and the oncoming civiliza- tion was probably worth all it cost. Luckily a few records exist which makes it possible to get a glimpse into those carly days.

Marcus Huling, who came from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, is credited by various historians as probably being the first settler of Duncan's Island, but there is no record to bear this out, but there are records relating to Hulings which disprove it. The first settler was William Baskins, referred to farther on. Hulings owned the point between the two rivers, long owned by Dr. Reut- ter's heirs. Rupp, the historian, gives the date as 1735. That he was there in 1744 is practically certain, as he was one of the searching party which hunted for the murdered man Armstrong in that year. (See "Murder of an Early Trader," chapter 2.) The locality is still the home of some of Hulings' descendants.

In a rough draft submitted to the province to protect his own claim Hulings has left to posterity the names of a few of the first settlers of these lands and the vicinity, as the following pages will show, and at no place does he claim either ownership or occu- pancy. The Hulings family was of Swedish descent and on set- tling between the rivers he built the causeway over the strip of water connecting the two rivers and started a ferry over the Juniata. Trade at that time, it will be remembered, was all done with pack horses. Later he owned a toll bridge there, which at his death passed to Rebecca Hulings Duncan.

With Braddock's defeat in 1755 came all the horrors of Indian warfare, and the scattered settlers in and around Perry County were obliged to flee. However, home, then as now, was dear to these pioneers, and some of them lingered long. Being apprised of the near approach of the redskins Marcus Hulings, grasping a few valuables, placed his wife and youngest child upon a large black horse and fled to the point of the island. His other children had previously gone to seek safety. Ilaving forgotten something and thinking the Indians might not have arrived he ventured to return to the house. After carefully reconnoitering he entered and found an Indian upstairs "coolly picking his flint." He par- leyed with the Indian to escape death and got away. The delay caused his wife to believe him murdered and she swam the Sus- quehanna on horseback, although the water was high. When he arrived at the point he crossed in a light canoe and they finally reached Fort Hunter, having been preceded by the Baskins family and other fugitives. Here the inhabitants of Pextang ( Harris- burg) had rallied for defense.

In 1756 Mr. Hulings went to the western part of Pennsylvania and became the owner, whether by purchase or patent we do not know, of the point of land located between the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, where they meet and form the Ohio, and where

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Pittsburgh now stands. Becoming discontented he sold this west- ern property for £200 and returned to the one on the Juniata.

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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 13

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