History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 5

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868-
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co.
Number of Pages: 1323

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 5

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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

road leading westward is marked "Road to Pittsburg;" yet Pittsburgh was not laid out until 1760, when the fort was in ruins; still 'Colonel Mercer dates a letter at Pittsburgh in 1759. The smaller stream is called French creek, a name it never bore among the French; but Washington calls it French creek in 1753. The larger stream is called the Ohio; that is evi- dence of its antiquity, as is also the annotation, "Road to Le Bœuf."

That it was not hastily done is evident from the paper. Every small detail is laid down; the bridges across the ravines, the islands in the river, the ridge of hills across the Ohio; and even the two scales, one by which to measure the fort and the other the surrounding country, are drawn to a nicety. All these items not only show the genuineness of the map, but the deliberate character of the work.

The most plausible solution of the mystery is this: It may have been copied from a French map, now lost, by an English officer, translating the French annotations, and marking the road that leads westward as the road to Pittsburgh. And as the actual name of the fort was not generally known to the English it is called on the map " Venango Fort," from the location. Indeed the name as found in the English papers of the time is almost al- ways "The fort at Venango."

Further in regard to the history of the map: It was found among the papers of the Shippen family, brought to western Pennsylvania in 1825. This was an influential family in eastern Pennsylvania at the time of the French difficulties. It is a well known fact that Edward Shippen, grand- father of the judge among whose papers the map was found, was actively engaged in public affairs at the time of the French occupation. It is nat- ural, therefore, to trace the map back to him. At that time he was prothon- otary of Lancaster county and correspondent and confidential agent of James Hamilton, governor of Pennsylvania. He was very closely identified with the French troubles on the Ohio. He had correspondence with John Frazier, the old gunsmith whose house at Venango was occupied by the French officer, Joncaire, when he came to build the fort. No doubt he had Frazier and others picking up information for him that might be of use to the government.

We find him actually in possession of the map of one of the French forts through Mr. Frazier. In a letter to Governor Hamilton under date of Sep- tember 9, 1753, he incloses a letter from Frazier to Mr. Young, of which the following is an extract: "Here is enclosed a draught of the fort the French built a little the other side of Sugar creek, not far from Weningo, where they have eight cannon."

This allusion must be to the plan of Fort Le Bœuf; it corresponds nearly in its armament to the account given by Washington at the time of his visit there, and there was no other work near to Venango; and Fort Machault was not built at that date.

Robert Samberlin

FORT MACHAULT.

Captain Pouchot, chief engineer of the forces in Canada, speaks of Fort Machault rather contemptuously. He says: "At the mouth of River Le Bœuf, called in English Venango, the French have a very poor, mean fort, called Fort Machault, which is also an entrepot for that which is going down to Fort Duquesne."

We have light on the history of the fort in the Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives. It was at first not a strong fortification, but it was sufficient for the purpose, as it was not then in danger of being immediately threatened. The arms of the French were so surprisingly successful in the vicinity of Fort Duquesne as to preclude any demonstrations by the English against Machault. But it was contemplated by the French to strengthen it or to build a stronger fort in view of future operations. According to the statement of one John Adam Long, an escaped prisoner from the French, the garrison at Machault was employed during the winter of 1755 and sum- mer of 1756 in collecting materials and making preparations to build stronger works. Long said he was taken from Fort Duquesne about the last of April, 1756, to Venango, "where resided an officer in a small stock- ade fort with a command of forty men," and that a number of square logs had been "got together at that place sufficient to build a large fort on a pretty, rising ground in the forks of Ohio and French creek."

This was corroborated by William Johnson in November, 1756. He stated that he had within two years been frequently at Venango, "where the French have a small fort made of logs and stockades, mounted with nine cannon of a pretty large bore, and generally garrisoned with a company of sixty soldiers, besides Indians, who to the number of about two hundred are lodged in cabins that have been built for them near the fort." He added further that the garrison had been "for some time employed in col- lecting and preparing materials for building a strong fort there next spring, and being apprehensive, having been informed by two deserters from Sha- mokin, that the Pennsylvanians had come to a resolution to march against them as soon as a body of men could be raised for that purpose."

In the deposition of Michael La Chauvignerie, a French prisoner, made October 26, 1757, we find the following corroborative information: "Fort Machault is a fort of wood, filled up with earth. It has bastions, and six wall pieces or swivel guns, and the whole works take up about two acres of ground." He also said his father was "a lieutenant of marines and com- mandant at Fort Machault, built lately at Venango and now finishing," and that there were "about fifty regulars and forty laborers at said fort."

Frederic Post, in 1758, related that an Indian told him that the fort had but "one officer and twenty-five men, and is much distressed for pro- visions, as are the two upper forts. An Indian spy found at Machault, in 1758, two officers and forty men, with De Lignerie in command. The fol- lowing May, Colonel Hugh Mercer writes of further intelligence through a 3

HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

spy : "There are about one hundred soldiers at Venango, and several offi- cers, besides what are gone upon party with Indians. They are fitting up * platforms and lining their stockade. * * They expect we will pro- ceed up the river, and De Lignerie is determined, as he says, to fight us in the woods. They have eleven bateaux at Venango, and one great gun of the size of a quart pot, which they fire off by a train of powder."

We hear from the fort again on the 17th of July, 1759, in a letter from Colonel Mercer, dated at Pittsburgh. The report is from two Indians who had been sent up the river as spies. He says: "They found at Venango seven hundred French and four hundred Indians; the commanding officer told them he expected six hundred more Indians; that as soon as they arrived, he would come down and drive us from this place." Further they learned that in the following three days six hundred more Indians had arrived. They were fitting out for the expedition to set out in the night, having three pieces of cannon brought from Le Boeuf and others expected every hour, with a great many bateaux loaded with provisions.

Fort Machault now began to assume an importance it had not before possessed. It was to be the point at which men and materials of war should be gathered to make a desperate attempt to retake Fort Duquesne, that had fallen into the hands of the English. Canoes and pirogues were sent down French creek to assist in the attack; men were called from the upper forts as they could be spared. A draft was even made for men and pro- visions from Kaskaskia and the Mississippi. This was a wonderfully bold and laborious enterprise. We find it thus described in the Western Annals:

And to that all the French in the valley had contributed. M. de Aubry, command- ant at the Illinois, brought to join the enterprise four hundred men and two hundred thousand pounds of flour, from Kaskaskia to Venango. Cut off by the abandonment of Fort Duquesne, from the route of the Ohio, he proceeded with his force down the Mississippi, and up the Ohio to the Wabash, thence up that river to the portage at Fort Miami, or Fort Wayne, and carried his stores over to the Maumee, passed down that river, and along the shore of Lake Erie to Presque Isle, and carried again his stores over the portage, to Le Bœuf; thence descended French creek to Venango .*

At this time there were assembled at Venango nearly one thousand Frenchmen and the same number of Indians, with a sufficient force of boats to convey the whole expedition down the river. We form some opinion of the number of boats from the statement that at Fort Le Bœuf (Waterford) all the trees of sufficient size to make boats had been cut down, and the project advanced of making pirogues of sawn timber, such as they had seen the English use. These boats were probably "dug-outs," run either singly or bound together after the style of the catamaran.

But the end was drawing near; while all were full of hope and just ready to embark on the downward trip to Fort Pitt, the shock came. A messenger arrived from Niagara with orders to abandon the Fort Pitt expe-

*Western Annals p. 157.

FORT MACHAULT.

dition and bring all their forces at once to the rescue of Fort Niagara, whose safety was very seriously imperiled. This order applied to all the forts in western Pennsylvania.

This was in July, 1759. The order was to evacuate and destroy the fort and all the supplies that they could not carry with them. The creek was low and boating too slow and nothing but personal baggage could be re- moved. All was consternation in the camp. The prize that seemed just within their reach vanished from their dreams. . But the order was impera- tive. Great liberality was shown to the Indians. A mine of wealth was opened to them at once. Dusky warriors were tricked out in laced coats and cocked hats; swarthy maidens were made happy with presents of French calico and red blankets; strings of beads were thrown lavishly around the necks of papooses, all guileless of them before; flour brought by that pain- ful journey from Kaskaskia, borne wearily on men's shoulders over long portages, was distributed in lavish rations, and other stores were passed freely around. The other property was all collected within the fort and the whole set on fire. The barracks, without as well as within, were involved in one common ruin. The boats and bateaux, by which the assault was to have been made on Fort Pitt, were also consigned to the flames without mercy. The swivel guns, or wall pieces as they called them, were first disabled, then buried in the earth, and everything of value removed from sight. This de- struction was in accordance with instructions from the French government. Governor Vaudreuil, of Canada, in anticipation of a dangerous assault from the English forces, had instructed De Lignerie, to "fall back successively upon Forts Le Bœuf and Presque Isle, and so completely destroy the works as to leave nothing behind that would be available to the enemy." The entire party took leave of their Indian allies, telling them that although they found it necessary to leave them now, that they would return in a year and stay with them permanently. Then they took their way up the creek, with feelings less buoyant than when they came to plant themselves upon the soil.

Fort Machault had fallen to rise no more. A great hope had faded as many a brilliant prospect had done before. Empire, dominion, wealth, in- fluence in the great world in gorgeous vision had been before the inspira- tion, but all had vanished forever. The French creek valley was left to silence and to savages.

There is no tangible evidence now remaining of the former existence of the French work. When Franklin was settled there were some little mounds covered with brier bushes that were a visible token of the site, but all have now disappeared and we have but the points of the compass and the peaks of the hills to point out the location. There were found here by the first settlers several grape vines, of varieties not indigenous to this region. There was a black grape, very sweet and of a powerful aroma, that was propa-

HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

gated for many years, also a white variety that was fair to the eye and pleas- ant to the taste and at that time a very desirable grape. But the trans- planting and want of care as well as the crowding in of new varieties of na- tive origin have taken their places and both these species are now extinct. No doubt they were brought here by the French, and originally from France, as they could not be indigenous to Canada.

In regard to the region of the old forts there has been no lack of tra- ditions and dreams in respect to gold buried that awaits only the digging of some fortunate searcher to be gathered up in profusion. It is generally supposed to be French gold, treasure buried by the French when they abandoned the fort. Tradition also records that this gold was thrown into a well and buried, to await removal at some fortunate time, when peace and quiet should come to the country. There was an old story current many years ago, that an old Frenchman had appeared here, who said he had been one of the garrison; that a large amount of gold and many cannon had been thrown into the well in the fort and covered with stones to con- ceal the treasure from the Indians. It was proposed to go the next day and disentomb the money. But fortunately for the tradition, the French- man died that night, and his secret died with him.

The fact is, the idea of finding treasure in the wake of either French or English, in this valley, is "baseless as the fabric of a vision." That they had money is altogether likely. But it is just as unlikely that they had a large amount, much less a sum they could not carry away with them. Besides, there is no evidence that there ever was a well in the French fort. There is no mention of it in the plan we now have, nor was there any men- tion of it in any description extant. There was a well in the English fort, Venango, but there is not the slightest probability that anything was secreted in it, as the fort was taken by assault, following stratagem, and there was neither time nor opportunity to secrete anything. So that all hopes or dreams of finding gold or jewels in this valley may as well be abandoned. An occasional coin may be picked up that was lost by officers

. or men. This is natural enough. An English penny was found in Venan- go, and some coins near Machault, but this does not indicate that there may be a large amount of money yet secured by dreaming and digging.

There were several cannon abandoned by the French when they demol- ished their fort, but they were not thrown in a well. They had the trun- nions knocked off them, were spiked, and then buried. One of these can- non has been found. It was unearthed by the wearing away of the river, and was in the condition described above. This gun was brought into use by removing the rusty spike and shrinking an iron band around it, contain- ing new trunnions. It was mounted on a small carriage and used for patriotic purposes on the Fourth of July, until it was finally blown to pieces by an over charge of powder. Other guns are still buried and may

UNDER ENGLISH RULE.

some day be discovered, but no greater treasure will ever be found on this ground. There were the wall pieces, as the French called them, and a few cannon brought from Le Bœuf, and probably the gun described as very nearly as large as a quart pot, that must be slumbering somewhere in that region, and may yet be brought to light.

CHAPTER VI.

UNDER ENGLISH RULE.

ENGLISH OCCUPATION-FORT VENANGO-ITS LOCATION AND APPOINTMENTS- PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY-DESTRUCTION OF FORT VENANGO AND MASSACRE OF THE GARRISON-SACRIFICE OF HIS- TORIC REMAINS TO THE UTILITARIAN SPIRIT DEPRECATED.

F ORT MACHAULT fell in 1759, and the English lost no time in the matter of taking possession. It is not likely they feared the return of the French. Their defeat and banishment was total, but some defense was needed against the Indians who would now be more troublesome than ever. They were more hostile to the English than to the French. Their visions of trading houses to be built by the the latter had vanished, and they had a poorer opinion of the white man than ever.

It was, perhaps, impossible to rebuild the old French fort; a new location was selected and the work arranged with very great care and with immense' toil and sacrifice. It was really a wonderful enterprise for the time and cir- cumstances under which it was built. The country was an unbroken forest; Pittsburgh was not yet laid out; the entire region of French creek was a wil- derness. All the men, stores, implements for work, must have been brought down French creek. Yet a work that to-day, with all our modern appliances of plows, scrapers, teams, etc., would be considered immense, and require a long period of time for its completion, was finished in good and substantial order. It shows a high degree of knowledge in military engineering, and a perseverance under difficulties that is at this day surprising. We have none of the details, but we have the fact before us that the work was really done and would have been permanent, under favorable circumstances.

The new fort was built the year after the abandonment by the French, by what officer or engineer we are not informed. It was a much better and more pretentious work than Machault. It was in the form of a quadrangle,

HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

with bastions on the four sides. It had heavy earth works, with a ditch surrounding it, and a magazine and soldiers' quarters in the interior. It had also a covered way leading down to the stream of water on the southern side. The main work was eighty-eight feet square. Outside of this was a ditch twenty-four feet wide, and outside of this an embankment. The out- look covered the mouth of French creek, as well as the Allegheny river.

ELK

EIGHTH

STREET

Seven

feet

Embankment

Bastion

Inthe Certoloco 24 100 Ewide

88 ft.

Grounds between dites

60 ft.

inside

Bastion.

88 JE.

This Space wasevident.

Zyoccupied with a Buil. ding from 55 to 60 feet

Bastion

Entrance

square with a large Cel Varor Magazine underit.

sand two ft outside

88ft

Picket

Dutch Ffeet deep his feet wide.

Walk.

Bastion

high

Embankment

Seven fest

STREET

FORT VENANGO, 1760-63.

This fort was named Venango and was situated about forty rods above the site of Fort Machault. Elk street runs through the middle of its site, while its northern bastions just touched Eighth street. M. W. Sage's house is in the eastern ditch and B. W. Bredin's is on the opposite side. It was built in 1760, but was short-lived and of little advantage to any one. Being manned by but few men, it easily fell a prey to the Indians. While friendly to the French, the savages were hostile to the English, and neglected no opportunity of annoying and taking vengeance on them.

Embankment 7 feet inside

88 ft

14 ft

W and Building

and & feet outside

UNDER ENGLISH RULE.

At this time the mighty chieftain, Pontiac, was meditating the destruc- tion of all the forts in the country. Strings of wampum had been sent to all the tribes, and the plan laid to make an attack all along the line on the same day. The plan was carried out, but not with the success that had been hoped. The first idea of Pontiac, who was a man of great shrewdness, but ignorant as a child of the great world, was to play the French against the English, and thus create a diversion from the real conquest of the country. He was on the side of the French as being the weaker party. But when the French gave up the conflict and left the country, he felt obliged to be the principal party against the English. And he saw that he could accomplish nothing without exterminating the enemy throughout all his borders. The entire border was to be assaulted on the same day, from Detroit to Niagara and southward to Fort Pitt. The break in this plan is said to be due to the interference of a squaw, who had been intrusted with the plan, but who from some womanly instinct had resolved to frustrate it. And this was the device: Bundles of small sticks had been sent to all the tribes, each contain- ing the same number of sticks, from which one was to be taken on each suc- cessive morning. When the last stick was reached that would designate the day of the assault. But this squaw secretly withdrew a stick or two from some of the bundles and so the simultaneous assault failed. But it was car- ried out in all the line of French creek valley and Presque Isle to the entire destruction of the works.

Fort Venango was garrisoned by a small force under command of Lieut- tenant Gordon. On the same day in 1763 Fort Presque Isle, at Erie, and Le Bœuf, at Waterford, were taken by assault, and Fort Venango by stratagem. The Indians feigned to be at peace and to be thinking only of sport. They commenced a game of ball, and occasionally had knocked the ball inside the inclosure of the fort. Asking permission to go in through the gate after the ball, several of them entered in with concealed weapons and massacred the garrison and tortured Lieutenant Gordon over a slow fire for several days, until he was relieved by death. The fort was then set on fire and all its perishable matter destroyed. It is said that a single prisoner was taken, a woman, who was carried to Buffalo, and afterward related the tragic incidents of the massacre.

One of the sad expressions of life is: "It might have been." It gathers sentiment about it. We apply it in very many senses. But per- haps it always has a tinge of melancholy. There is something of this feel- ing as we speak of the antiquities of the county, and of the utilitarian spirit that was manifested in laying it out originally. These antiquities are a part of our history. They live now only in tradition and story and brief pages of written history. But the old landmarks that would have told to the eye the story of French enterprise and French determination-de- termination foiled and brought to naught-have all passed away. And all

HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

monuments that would have told of English ambition and English care for her colonies have followed in their wake. We have spoken of Fort Machault, the French work, of Fort Venango, the English work of defense. Of the former there is not much that would have been tangible at the present day. Butof Venango there were massive earthworks that would have stood to the end of time, if properly protected. Both these works might have been cared for, if the idea had entered the minds and found a lodgment in the hearts of the state agents, who were sent here to lay out the town. But they were practical men. Perhaps they thought the place would never amount to much, and full of the idea of utility ran their leveling instruments through these precious relics as though they were masses of common earth.

We have seen that Elk street runs directly through both forts, thus con- signing them to destruction. It was not that land was scarce, or that a pressure was on them to utilize every foot of ground to the purposes of the town. A large amount of land was set aside, very wisely, for what are now our public parks. Another portion of ground was set apart for United States purposes, down on the flat, just below Tenth street, where the "Old Garrison" stood. The whole error resulted, possibly, in want of thought and taste. We can now very easily see how these fortifications might have been made places of beauty and pleasure, had they been reserved as public ground by the agents of the state. If each one had had a little square reserved around it, with the street parting and running around it, and the ground kept in order, they would be to-day points of great interest and pleasure. Particularly would this have been the case with Fort Venango. The earthworks were several feet in height, the ditch firm and distinct, and the inclosed space neatly arranged. It might have been fitted up'as a beautiful resort for picnics and other social purposes. In this way it would have perpetuated the memory of an important era in our history and at the same time assisted in beautifying and adorning the town.

In the old day of militia musters, it was the custom to march down there and then march around on top of the earthwork. This earthwork presented a broad esplanade, suitable for the purpose, and was a common resort at such times. But it has all passed away. The northern bastion was carted away to make the approach to the Allegheny bridge, and gradu- ally the other works were removed to fill up the ravines and form a smooth and even course for the street. We can but lament the loss of this old work and regret that there were not more taste and enterprise amongst the early settlers. The remains of the earthworks were visible until within the last twenty years, when the last vestige was swept away. It seems like the work of vandals, but the age in which we live is a utilitarian age, and every- thing must give way to the march of improvement.

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History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 5

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co. Number of Pages: 1323

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868-
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co.
Number of Pages: 1323