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 58
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"WHEREAS, The spirit of dissension is abroad in our happy land, having for its object a no less mighty aim than the destruction of our Republican Union, under which we enjoy so many political, civil and religious lib- erties, and
"WHEREAS, The total abolition of slavery among a degraded race of be- ings who are incapable of appreciating or enjoying the blessings of free- dom, is the dangerous watch-ery with which the unsuspecting and unin- formed are incited to participate in this prostration of the Constitution and laws, it becomes the imperative duty of every well wisher to his country, as it is one of his guaranteed rights to express his humble but honest opinions on a subject so momentous in itself, and so ruinous in its consequences. Misguided philanthropy may find some extenuation for calamities inflicted, in the purity of its motives; but in questions so fraught with danger as the present, all should be held criminal who aid in raising a demon of discord, which some kindred spirit of a master mind first invoked in charitable accents, but with fiendish intent. There- fore, be it
"Resolved, That the present exciting question of the Abolition of Slav- ery in the Southern States of this Union, is one raised by a total ignorance of the moral condition of the people for whom they wish to legislate; or by minds darker than the tawny skins of the objects of their pretended commiseration, seeking in scenes of excitement some degree of elevation, which times of peace and contentment could not call forth with honor to themselves or usefulness to their country.
"Resolved, That the question of Slavery is, of these United States, one in all its features purely political, being repugnant to no precept of the Christian religion, or the practice of its apostles; and the advocates of abolition who would proclaim slavery sinful and un-Christian in the midst of their mad zeal, ought to remember that the Founder of Christianity was born among slaves, and disseminated His divine commandments among them; but never by word or deed declared their bondage sinful; nor did he ever meddle with any of the established political institutions of his country.
"Resolved, That we approve of slavery, so far only, as an evil which cannot at once be removed; and that the people among whom it exists, are more capable of determining the time when it should cease, than we, who are happily distant from it. The Southern states are not culpable for its introduction, as it was imposed against their counsel, when colonies, by the mother country.
"Resolved. That slavery is recognized by the Constitution of the United States and Congress has no right to legislate upon the subject; and any attempt to enforce the question of Negro Emancipation upon that body, evinees in the petitioners an equal ignorance of the rights of the States, and the true interests of the slaves.
"Resolved, That inasmuch as the Constitution declares that 'All rights not delegated to the General Government, are reserved to the States, re- speetively,' it is the duty of every friend to its provisions to see that the
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States are protected in the just rights of legislating on subjects exclusively within their province, and that the integrity of the constitutional compact be preserved.
"Resolved, That until some practicable mode can be devised to remove the colored population entirely from the country with the consent of the people of the slave-holding states, their emancipation would be the greatest curse to the non-slave-holding states, as it would bring upon them all the evils of a mixed and a degraded population.
"Resolved, That the people of Pennsylvania have no more right to abol- ish slavery in the South, than those of the South have to establish it within our borders-a thing we would not submit to for one moment.
"Resolved, That we approve of the proposition to hold a state conven- tion of the Friends of the Union, at Harrisburg, on the first Monday of next month, and that this county should send delegates to the said con- vention."
Perry County did send delegates to that convention to the num- ber of eighteen, or at least that number were named, upon motion, to attend it, and among those named the reader may discover the name of an ancestor-a loyal Unionist and abolitionist of a later day. The delegates named were as follows: Dr. Joseph Speck, George S. Hackett, Dr. Joseph Foster, R. R. Guthrie, W. B. Anderson, M. Stambaugh, John McGowan, Dr. J. H. Case, C. Bas- kins, Wm. White, W. Messinger, E. Dromgold, James Loudon, P. Orwan, S. Bower, Joseph Ulsh, Frederick Orwan, and Henry Fetter.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
That "the Underground Railroad" once operated in Perry County may seem incredible to some, yet such is a fact. As far back as 1726 several Quakers had settled along the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, having brought their slaves with them. In a few years their slaves were liberated, and in 1787, when Samuel Wright laid out the town of Columbia, provision was made for the settlement of free colored people in the northern part of the borough. Quakers in Maryland and Virginia freed their slaves and they settled in Columbia. In that way other Southern colored people (slaves) heard of that town and its provision for them, and it became a refuge for runaway slaves. Naturally when slaves had good masters they had no desire for freedom, but those who were owned by men of the type of the novelist's "Simon Legree," took a chance for liberty. In escaping they only dared travel by night, as their detection often meant their return. Some traveled, only guided by the North star, while others followed mountain chain or river. Large numbers entered Pennsylvania via the Sus- quehanna River territory, York, Gettysburg, and Hagerstown. Slave hunters often traced them to these Pennsylvania border towns, where all trace seemed to vanish. Throughout the North kind-hearted families who were opposed to slavery as an institution helped these unfortunates to food and shelter, the homes of some
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
of them coming to be known as "stations" and the system of es- cape, as "the Underground Railway." It had no charter, no offi- cials, no organization, yet was encouraged by public sentiment. Carlisle, but little over a half-dozen miles from the southern Perry County border, was a "station" on the "underground" route, and Landisburg and Ickesburg, two Perry County towns, "stations" of somewhat less import, but nevertheless a part of the system. So secretly was this system operated that even neighbors were not aware that adjoining farms harbored runaway slaves throughout the day, and there are descendants of some of those who helped whose eyes will scan these pages.
The name came about from the fact that when owners or agents from the South followed slaves and suddenly lost all trace of them, they were ironically informed that "there must be an underground railroad somewhere." With the passing of the fugitive slave law in 1850 the hunting of runaway slaves became a regular business. Many of these slaves went to Canada and remained there until freedom became assured. By 1852 "the underground railroad" was in full swing. On at least one occasion a slave was drowned in Perry County in attempting to flee from his master. On July 8, 1841, Coroner David Tressler held an inquest upon the body of a colored man drowned above Newport, in the Juniata. He was one of three negroes who were pursued as runaway slaves, under the technical charge of having robbed their master. They were traveling along the bank between the canal and river, closely pursued by their master, and when they arrived at the Millerstown dam they found that that point of land terminated. Two escaped to North's Island (now the property of A. W. Kough), where they were captured, and the third, as stated, was drowned. The cap- tured two again escaped. The record shows that their master gladly stood the expense of the inquest and burial.
CHAPTER XXXI. PERRY COUNTY IN THE SECTIONAL WAR. (THE CIVIL WAR.)
A LMOST a century had sped after the realization of freedom, before the climax came to the perplexing slavery question, which was the cause of secession, and had there been no secession there would have been no War Between the States. From the very beginning of slavery on our shores it was a thorn in the side of the nation, then only in embryo; for, it was unpopular .from a moral standpoint to many in "the Land of the Free"-a revolting practice which was contrary to the principles on which the government was founded. Outside of that one mooted ques- tion the traditions of the North and the South were of the same proud origin. They were of one blood. They had shown heroism and won distinction on field and forum side by side. It seems strange and almost impossible that they should have misunderstood each other or attributed cowardice to one another.
The Presidential election of 1860, on which much hinged, oc- curred at a momentous period in the history of the nation. The vexed question of the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton Constitution, which was claimed by the Republi- cans as being fraudulently concocted by the pro-slavery party, and which was also opposed by a powerful element in the Democratic party headed by Stephen A. Douglas, was to result in a schism in the latter party, which eventually caused four candidates to be placed in the field. When the votes were counted it was found that the young Republican party had won on a platform opposing slavery, and that Abraham Lincoln, the tall, gaunt, intelligent young giant from the Middle West would be the next President of the United States. Within sixty days after the election the oft threatened secession had become a fact.
A great many Northerners would not have offered their lives to efface slavery, to limit the territory in which slavery was permis- sible, or to meddle with the question in any other way; but with the matter of the withdrawal of any part of the Union they were deeply concerned. Perry Countians, generally, were of that class.
The author is indebted to Rev. H. F. Long, a veteran of the 162d Regi- ment, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and a native Perry Countian, for help in revising this chapter. Rev. Long was twice wounded at Cold Harbor, losing an arm in the battle. He was also an eye witness when Levi R. Long, a brother of Senator Long, of Kansas, lost a leg at Falling WVaters.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Even President Lincoln, while opposed on general principles to slavery, in a letter written as late as August 22, 1862, to Horace Greely, in reply to a public letter addressed to him through the New York Tribune, says, among other things :
"1 would save the Union. I would save it the shorest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I would not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I would not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.
"What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I feel it helps save this Union. I shall do less whenever 1 shall believe what I am' doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe that doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct my errors, when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they appear to be true views."
South Carolina had seceded on December 17, and all America looked forward to what Governor Curtin, the newly elected execu- tive of Pennsylvania, would say in his inaugural address, which came a month later, and which would likely interpret, in words, the feeling of the entire North. Lincoln's inauguration would come about six weeks thereafter, but Curtin would be likely to strike the keynote of Northern thought, Pennsylvania being the keystone for the preservation of the Union as it had been in its formation almost a century previous. Of Governor Curtin's en- tire address everything hinged upon his opinion of secession and. strange as it may seem, that paragraph was written by a native Perry Countian, Colonel A. K. McClure. Governor Curtin had sent business friends and educated and shrewd young men into the South and was in possession of their reports. His only hope was that Pennsylvania, while maintaining thorough loyalty to the Union, would exercise a wholesome influence on the border states of Virginia and Kentucky, and restrain them from joining the Confederate movement.
PERRY COUNTIAN WRITES SECESSION EDICT.
Governor Curtin was entirely satisfied with every part of his inauguration address save that of the relation of the state to the nation. There was no precedent in the civilized world covering just such a situation-the secesssion of part of a republic. Mr. Curtin himself was the one to criticise his own paragraph. He finally suggested that his five friends, then in consultation with him, the hour being three o'clock in the morning, go to their rooms and each write the paragraph for the inaugural as he thought it
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should be written, all to meet again at ten in the morning. At that hour each man had his paragraph ready for submission. Morton McMichael being the senior of the party, his paper was read first, and without comment. Colonel William B. Mann, next in seniority, followed. Curtin then called for Col. A. K. McClure's paper and McClure read it. McMichael requested its rereading, after which he requested the withdrawal of his own and the adop- tion of the McClure paragraph, in which Colonel Mann joined. Secretary Slifer and Attorney General Purviance joined in the de- mand and did not present their papers. Curtin cordially accepted the paragraph and seemed greatly relieved that all had finally agreed upon the declaration which Pennsylvania should make. The inau- gural address was well received and was heralded throughout the North as the general attitude to be pursued by the entire section. Those words will ever stand as a legacy to the entire nation, but more particularly so to the fellow natives of Perry who lived to see their boyhood friend McClure help write in the annals of the ages the fact that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" shall not perish from the earth. Here follows the clear ringing statement :
"Ours is a National Government, and has within the sphere of its actions all the attributes of sovereignty, and among these are the right and duty of self-preservation. It is based upon a compact to which all the people of the United States are parties. It is the result of mutual concessions which were made for the purpose of securing reciprocal benefits. It acts directly on the people and they owe it a personal allegiance. No part of the people, no state, nor combination of states can voluntarily secede from the Union, nor absolve themselves from their obligations to it. To permit a state to withdraw at pleasure from the Union without the consent of the rest is to confess that our government is a failure. Pennsylvania can never acquiesce in such a conspiracy, nor assent to a doc- trine which involves the destruction of the government. If the government is to exist, all the requirements of the Consti- tution must be obeyed, and it must have power adequate to the enforcement of the supreme law of the land in every state. It is the first duty of the national authorities to stay the prog- ress of anarchy and enforce the laws, and Pennsylvania, with a united people, will give them an honest, faithful and active support. The people mean to preserve the integrity of the National Union at every hazard."
When secession was sweeping the South from its moorings, every state which went out gave added strength to the Confederacy and weakened the Union just that much. As one of the border states Kentucky refused to join the movement and thus helped sus- tain the government, and it must be remembered that that action was largely through the stand of the governor, and that there then sat in the governor's chair James Fisher Robinson, the son of Perry
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Countians, Jonathan and Jane ( Black) Robinson, who had mi- grated from Sherman's Valley to Kentucky.
It is not within the province of this book to go into the history of the war, save as it affected Perry County or Perry Countians, as in the cases just quoted.
The inauguration of Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin occurred January 15th, but even before that, scenting the trend of events, an offer of volunteers, in fact of an entire company, was made by John A. Wilson, captain of the Washington Artillery, of Blain, Perry County, who dispatched the following letter to James Buchanan, President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army, but in whose hands the nation was as a drift- ing derelict upon the great high seas:
HON. JAMES BUCHANAN :
BLAIN, PA., Jan. 12, 1861.
Dear Sir: Not knowing how soon your honor will have need of the services of the uniformed volunteers to suppress the Southern fire-eating disunionists, we hereby tender the services of our company, subject to your orders. The following are the names. We number about seventy-five members.
Very respectfully,
JOHN A. WILSON, Captain Washington Artillery.
Nowhere else, from coast to coast or from the lakes to the gulf, did patriotism ring more true than in the little mountain-bound county of Perry, which was at the forefront in every war, whether for freedom or the preservation of the Union. The attack on Fort Sumter was all that was needed to unite opposing partisans and send men to the front in large numbers.
Just as in the recent World War, the Sectional War was a young men's war, largely, as over a million Union soldiers entered the service when they were twenty-one, and over 600,000 before they reached that age. This was also true of the Perry County con- tingent, many of whom were men of the early twenties and younger.
The growing sectional feeling which precipitated the war found those of one section either visiting the other or there on buisness bent, and it was with difficulty that the homeward trip was made, as no sooner had Lincoln's call for men gone forth than a band of steel spanned the country. David Mitchell, a Perry Countian, and General MeCausland had a contract to build a railroad in Virginia at the time, and Mr. Mitchell, being a Northerner, had to make a hasty exit.
When war became inevitable, Governor Curtin's call for volun- teers brought to the State Capital hundreds of men over every intersecting railway and highway, and it was necessary to have a place of encampment and for the organization of units. The result was that a field north of Harrisburg was leased and was designated
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Camp Curtin. The city has long since spread over the ground and its location at the present time would be designated as lying be- tween the Pennsylvania Railroad and Fifth Street, and extending from Watts' Lane southward to Maclay Street. There, from April, 1861, until the last tent was removed in September. 1865. were equipped the finest contingents of fighting men that ever issued from any home base. It was the military camp that has been located closest to Perry County soil, although Camp Meade, near Middletown, during the Spanish-American War, was but ten miles further. All the fatalities were not of the battlefield. In the rush of troops to the front accidents sometimes occurred, the late Prof. L. E. McGinnes recalling to the writer's memory one such which took place opposite Montgomery's Ferry, which took the lives of four or five young soldiers on their way to the front, which created a deep impression on him as a lad.
The writer has no faith in the "conscientious scruple" plea, save as an excuse for cowardice. Unfortunately there were a few in Perry County who made this plea, the evidence of which is on file in the Bureau of Records at Harrisburg. Persons enjoying all the rights of a free land should also be held responsible for its preservation and maintenance, along with the rest, when its exist- ence is threatened. While the Sectional War has long since passed, it is hardly far enough in the background of history to justify the placing of the four names here ; but all must be glad that the num- ber was but four. The war had not progressed very long before it became necessary to draft men for service, which was the occa- sion for these men thus going on record. John R. Shuler, of Liver- pool, superintended the draft in Perry County.
The Perry County territory, so long upon the very border of Indian warfare, was again destined to be the actual Northern bor- der of the great sectional war. Through it passed scouts and spies, and when General Lee crossed the Potomac and entered the Cun- berland Valley, although the harvest was ripe, almost everybody began retreating over the mountains and across the Susquehanna with their families and stock. Property was hidden and buried, but the various gaps crossing the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain were literally packed with a vast train of men, women and children, horses, cattle, and even other animals. The town of Blain, in Perry County, resembled a huge horse market, according to Rev. J. D. Calhoun, of Washington, Illinois, then a lad of thirteen, re- siding at Blain. In the vicinity of Green Park, according to S. HI. Bernheisel, long a New Bloomfield merchant, the hand boards were torn from their posts to confuse spies, and many refugees ar- rived seeking safety. Rye Township was a haven for many horses and much other livestock. To the Confederate credit it must be said that no destruction of grain crops or buildings was permitted,
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
General Lee's orders against the wanton destruction of property being complied with to the letter. Milroy's command was scattered among the mountains in small squads as far west as Altoona. The last echo of the Southern advance into Pennsylvania came from the immense battle-train-almost twenty miles long-that left Lee at Gettysburg on the 4th and lumbered southward, leading the re- treat. To escape Union cavalry it crossed the South Mountain and turned southward at Greenwood to the Potomac, along an unfrequented road at the mountain base, where it was witnessed only by the two small villages of New Guilford and New Franklin. The wagons were largely filled with wounded, the less seriously wounded traveling on foot. It took thirty-four hours to pass a given point.
When General Ewell, of the Confederate Army, led his raiders far into the Cumberland Valley and took possession of Carlisle, June 27, 1863, many of the supporting cavalry contingent arrived at Carlisle Springs, within a mile of the Perry County line. Fear- ing foraging trips to the county, especially that part known as Sherman's Valley, the home folks, even including the women and the clergy, rushed to Sterrett's Gap and fortified the top of the mountain commanding the approach with a wall of rocks, stones and boulders. No attack was made, neither was an attempt to cross discovered on the part of the Perry Countians, who kept at the work even during the night, but it is supposed that spies for the raiders discovered that the place had been fortified. From that point a dozen well-armed men would have held many men at bay. Evidences of these rude fortifications still remain. Among the younger men who went there armed, some of whom later entered the Union Army, were John Dice, Samuel Hall, Henry Kocher. Jesse Nace, and Frank Raum. This entry into the Cumberland Valley occurred late in June, and the entry into Carlisle, on Satur- day, June 27, 1863. On Sunday, June 28, half of the congregation at the Presbyterian Church was composed of Confederate officers in uniform. On Monday, June 29, they destroyed the railroad bridge at the east end of Carlisle, and on the 30th the town was shelled by General Fitzhugh Lee, when signals from the South Mountains called away the invader, who passed on to Gettysburg, where that world-famous battle opened the next day. As the gray columns passed away Perry Countians and those who had fled to the county for safety breathed a sigh of relief. The reverberation of the cannonry at Gettysburg-forty miles away-could be dis- tinctly heard as it echoed along the mountains. It was at this time that Rev. D. H. Focht, father of Congressman B. K. Focht, went to the mountains with the emergency men, which experience caused his death a little later. When border raids were anticipated or actually occurring many refugees or fugitives from border counties
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