History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 12

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 12

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On Sunday, the 16th of November, the Indians, hav- ing penetrated Berks County, attacked the settlements only a few miles from the town of Reading, murder- ing and burning as before. A letter dated at Read- ing on that day, written by Edward Biddle to his father in Philadelphia, said, " I am in so much horror and confusion I scarce know what I am writing. The drum is beating to arms, and bells ringing and all the people under arms. Within these two hours we have had different though too uncertain accounts, all cor- roborating each other, and this moment is an express arrived, dispatch from Michael Reis at Tulpehoccon, eighteen miles above this town, who left about thirty of their people engaged with about an equal number of Indians at the said Reis'. This night we expect an attack, and truly alarming is our situation. . . . I have rather lessened than exaggerated our melan- choly account." On the 18th the Governor notified the mayor and corporation of Philadelphia as fol- lows : " I have received intelligence that the Indians have fallen upon the settlements at Tulpehoccon ; that they had slaughtered many of the Inhabitants and laid waste the country, and were moving towards the Town of Reading, which is within Sixty Miles of this city; and though I am in hopes their cruel progress will be stopped long before they can come hither, yet as I can get no certain intelligence of their strength, or of the number of Frenchmen that are among them, I think it my duty to take every cau- tionary measure in my power for the preservation and safety of the people and the province."

Passing on from Berks into Northampton County, the French and Indian force on the 21st of November attacked the Moravian settlement of Gnadenhutten, on the Lehigh. "Six of the Moravians were killed, and their dwelling-houses, meeting-house, and all their outhouses burnt to ashes, with all the Grain, Hay, Horses, and upwards of forty head of fat cattle that were under cover." On the 11th of December the enemy, about two hundred strong, attacked Brod- head's plantation and other settlements in the vicinity of the Delaware Water Gap, killed several families and laid the country waste. On the 29th the secre- tary of the Council presented to that body an account of Indian outrages committed since the first outbreak east of the mountains on the 18th of October. In the closing part of this account he said, " During all this Month [December] the Indians have been burn-

1 Col. Rec., vol. vi. p. 675.

INCURSIONS AND RAVAGES DURING THE FRENCH OCCUPATION.

irg and destroying all before them in the county of Northampton, and have already burned fifty houses here, murdered above one hundred persons, and are still continuing their ravages, murders, and devasta- tions, and have actually overrun and laid waste a great part of that County, even as far as within twenty miles of Easton, its chief town. And a large body of Indians, under French officers, have fixed their headquarters within the borders of that county, for the better security of their prisoners and plunder. . . . All our frontier country, which extends from the River Patowmac to the River Delaware, not less than one hundred and fifty miles in length and between twenty and thirty in breadth, but not fully settled, ments reduced to ashes, the cattle, horses, grain, goods, and effects of the inhabitants either destroyed, burned, or carried off by the Indians.

" All our accounts agree in this, that the French, since the defeat of Gen. Braddock, have gained over to their interest the Delawares, Shawanese, and many other Indian nations formerly in our alliance, and on whom, through fear and their large promises of rewards for scalps, and assurances of reinstating them in the possession of the lands they have sold to the English, they have prevailed to take up arms against us, and to join heartily with them in the execution of the ground they have been long meditating, the pos- session of all the country between the river Ohio and the river Susquehanna, and to secure that possession by building a strong fort at Shamokin, which, by its so advantageous situation at the conflux of the two main branches of Susquehannah (one whereof inter- locks with the waters of the Ohio and the other heads in the centre of the country of the Six Nations) will command, and make the French entire masters of all that extensive, rich, and fertile country, and of all the trade with the Indians, and from whence they can at pleasure enter and annoy our territories, and put an effectual stop to the future extension of our settlement on that quarter, not to mention the many other obvious mischiefs and fatal consequences that must attend their having a fort at Shamokin. Note. - Some Fachines have lately been discovered floating down the river Susquehannah, a little below Shamo- kin, by which, as the Indians were never known to use Fachines, it is conjectured the French have begun, and are actually building a fort at that most important place."

In the spring of 1756 the enemy continued their depredations. McCord's block-house, on Conoco- cheague, was attacked and burned by savages, and twenty-seven persons killed or captured. The ma- rauding party was pursued and a part of it overtaken at Sideling Hill, where a fight ensued and the whites were repulsed with severe loss. About the 1st of April a party of French and Indians, discovered in the vicinity of Fort Cumberland, were attacked by a party from the fort, and the French commander was

killed and scalped. In his pocket were found the fol- lowing instructions from Monsieur Dumas, who had recently superseded Contrecœur as commandant at Fort Du Quesne :

" Four DI QUEANE, 230 March, 1756.

" The Sieur Donville, at the head of a detachment of fifty Indiane, in ordered to go and observe the motionw of the enemy in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland. He will endeavor to harass their conroya and burn their magazines at Gonokocheagua (Conocorbengue should this ho practicalde. He must use every effort to take prisoners, who may confirm what wealready know of the enemy's designs. The Sjour Don- ville will employ all his talents and all his credit to prevent the savages from committing crueltics open those who may fall into their hands. Honor and humanity ought in this respect to serve as our guple.

" DUMAS."

has been entirely deserted, the houses and improve- | the French and Indians into the country east of

In view of the numerous and bloody forays of the Alleghenies, and in deference to the demands of the people of that region, the Governor of Penn- sylvania, with the advice and consent of the Council, issued on the 14th of April a proclamation, declar- ing war against the Delaware nation1 and offering re- wards for scalps and prisoners, as follows : " For every male Indian enemy over twelve years of age as prisoner, one hundred and fifty Spanish dollars or Pieces of Eight ; for the Scalp of any such, one hundred and thirty Spanish dollars or Pieces of Eight; for every female Indian prisoner, and for every male Indian prisoner under twelve years, one hundred and thirty Pieces of Eight ; for the scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of being killed, fifty Pieces of Eight; and for every English subject that has been taken and carried from this Province into captivity, and recovered and brought to Philadelphia to the Governor, one hundred and fifty Pieces of Eight, but nothing for their scalps ;" these rewards to be paid out of the appropriation of ! sixty thousand pounds then recently granted by the Assembly for the use of His Majesty, and which was placed at the Governor's disposal for that and other purposes of defense.

Soon after the declaration of war against the Dela- wares, Governor Morris received a letter from Sir William Johnson, deprecating the action that had been taken, because of the bad effect it might pro- duce among the Indians of the Six Nations, and on that account asking a postponement of hostilities under the declaration. /To this communication the Governor made reply by letter dated April 24, 1756,2 in which he said,-

" You cannot conceive what Havock has been made by the Enemy in this defenceless Province, nor what Numbers of Murders they have com- mitted, what a vast Tract of Territory they have laid waste, and what a Multitude of Inhabitants, of all ages and both sexes, they have carried into Captivity ; by Information of several of the Prisoners who made their Escape from them, I can assure you that there are not less than three hundred of our People in Servitude to them and the French on

1 The Delawares had long been friends of the English, and continued to be so regarded up to the commencement of the murderous outrages committed by them under lead of their king, Shingiss. The Shawanese were regarded as enemies without any formal declaration to that effect. & Colonial Records, vii. 97-98.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the Ohio [meaning, however, more particularly the Allegheny, which was then called Ohio to its headwaters], the most of them at Shingas' Town, called Kittaning, abont thirty Miles above Fort Duquesne; and Scarryoddy and Montour must have acquainted yon that they saw more or less English Prisoners in almost every one of the Delaware towns on the Sasquehannah as high up as Dialoga.

"At first the enemy appeared in small Parties and committed their Outrages where they could do it with most Safety to themselves, but of late they have penetrated to the inhabited Part of the Country in larger Bodies, and have defeated several Detachments of our armed Forces, burned and laid waste whole Countries, and spread a general Terror amongst us, so that I have been constrained to yield to the importunate Demands of the enraged People (not being able otherwise to afford them a sufficient Protection for want of Arms, Ammunition, and an equal and compulsory Militia Law) to delare the Delaware Nation Enemies and Rebels to his Majesty, and to offer large Rewards for Prisoners and Scalps, hoping that this would engage such of our Inhabitants as had any Cour- age left, as well as all others in the neighboring Provinces, to hunt, pur- Bue, and attack them in their own country, and by these means keep them at home for the Defense of their own Towns, and prevent the total Desertion of the Back Counties, which there is good Reason to be appre- hensive of. . . . You may be assured, Sir, that a Peace on honourable Terms will be extremely acceptable, as we form this charitable Opinion of the Delawares, that they were hurried into this Measure by the Arti- fices and Intimidations of the French, and did always believe when they came to open their eyes they would relent and cease injuring their inno- cent Brethren and allies, who have never hurt them either in Thought or Action. It was this opinion of that good Disposition towards us that influenced us to suffer so long their hostilities without declaring them Enemies, until the Blood streamed in such Quantities down our Moun- tains and filled the Vallies to such a Degree that we could no longer delay the Publication of their horrid Cruelties.

" I do not perceive that any of the Delawares living on the Ohio came to the Meeting appointed by the Deputies of the Six Nations, or that they have been spoke to; and they are, as you know, the most numerous of all. Indeed, the main body of the Delawares live at Kittaning and the other Delaware towns on and beyond the Ohio, and have been the most mischievous, and do still, even so late as last Week, continue to murder and destroy our Inhabitants, treating them with the most bar- barous Inhumanity that can be conceived. . . .

"A Party of Delawares lately done some Mischief in Potomac ; they were headed by a French officer, who was killed, and the Party routed ; 1 and in the Officer's Pocket was found a Paper of Instructions from the French Commandant, Monsieur Dumas, at Fort Du Quesne, ordering him to burn and destroy what he could meet with on that River; from the Ohio therefore we must expect the greatest Mischief, and all means possible should be used to separate the Delawares and Shawanese from the French there, and prevail with them not to join in burning, rav- aging, and laying waste our Frontier Counties."

The matter of Sir William Johnson's protest against the declaration of war upon the Delawares was brought to the attention of the Council, whereupon

" It was then Considered, as the Delawares on the Ohio were still in open Warr, and a Grand attack might be expected to be made this Month from that Quarter on the Frontier Inhabitants, whether the Ces- sation should extend to them ; and it was after Long consultation agreed that it should; but an Account coming from the Postmaster at Annap- olis that these Indians had Penetrated and Were Destroying the Inhab- itants of Virginia, twelve miles Within Winchester and Conolloways, and a Great part of Conegocheague, and had very lately Defeated forty Regular Forces of Fort Cumberland, and were Determined to attack that fort, the Matter was reconsidered, and Agreed to advise the Gov- ernor to Confine the Cessation of arms to the Sasquehannah Indians."

Intelligence of the above-mentioned foray into Maryland and Virginia by the French from Fort Du Quesne, with their Delaware and Shawanese allies, was communicated by Governor Dinwiddie, of Vir-

ginia, to the Governor of Pennsylvania in a letter dated Williamsburg, April 30, 1756, as follows :

"SIR,-This is to Inform you of the miserable Situation of our Affairs on our Frontiers ; the French and Indians have cutt off the communication from Fort Cumberland to Winchester, have Committed many Cruel Robberies, murders, and Devastation among the poor back Settlers, and by the last Letters they have invested the Town of Winchester with a great number of their People, and they further report that they have besieged Fort Cumberland with five hundred Men, French and Indians.

" This Disagreeable News obliged me to Give Orders for summonsing the Militia of Eleven Contiguous Counties to Winchester, and I hope, when Collected together, they will amount to four thousand men, who I have ordered to march directly for Winchester, to repel the Fury of the Invaders, and protect our back Settlements, which will answer, I hope, my ex- pectations.

"The Expedition against the Shawanese proved unsuccessful after Six Weeks' march in the Woods. The Rivers they were to Cross were much swelled by the fall of Rain and Snow ; they lost several Canoes with Provisions and Ammunition, on which they were forced to return in a Starving Condition, killing their Horses for food."

In July the Indians in strong force, headed by King Shingiss, appeared at Fort Granville2 (near the present site of Lewistown), stormed it, killed several whites, and took a number of prisoners, whom they carried to Kittaning, an Indian village on the Alle- gheny, at or near the site of the present town of the same name in Armstrong County. This Indian Kit- taning was at that time the residence of King Shin- giss, as also of the redoubtable Delaware chief, Captain Jacob, both of whom had been among the most prominent of the Indian leaders of murdering parties in this and the preceding year. To this place the French sent ammunition and supplies for their savage allies, and it was a principal rendezvous from which Indian war parties made their bloody forays into the settlements. For these reasons it was de- cided to send an expedition against the Delaware stronghold to destroy it if possible; and Lieut .- Col. John Armstrong, who commanded the eight com- panies of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion sta- tioned west of the Susquehanna, was designated as the commander for the campaign.

2 To afford some degree of security against the incursions of the French and Indians, the province of Pennsylvania built, at a total ex- pense of £85,000, a chain of forts and block-houses, extending across the province from the Delaware to the Maryland line, commanding the principal passes of the mountains. On the east side of the Susque- hanna, and extending to the Delaware, were Forts Depui, Lehigh, Allen, Everitt, Williams, Henry, Swatara, Hunter, Halifax, and Augusta. West of the Susquehanna were Fort Louther, at Carlisle ; Forts Morris and Franklin, at Shippensburg; Fort Granville ; Fort Shirley, on a brauch of the Juniata ; Fort Lyttleton ; and Fort Loudoun, on Conoco- cheague Creek. Lieut .- Col. John Armstrong, with eight companies of Pennsylvania troops, was stationed on the west side of the Susquehanna

1 This was the fight at Sideling Hill with the French and Indians un- der the Sieur Donville, who was killed, as before mentioned. The in- structions found on his person have also already been given.

INCURSIONS AND RAVAGES DURING THE FRENCH OCCUPATION.

Col. Armstrong accordingly marched from Fort Shirley (in what is now Huntington County) on the 30th of August with a force of about two hundred men, a body of about one hundred having previously been advanced as scouts.1 On the 3d of September, at the Beaver Dams, they came up with the advance party, who reported fresh Indian tracks found two or three miles from that place, as also the marks of an , Indian camp recently vacated. On the 6th the force of Col. Armstrong was within fifty miles of Kittaning, and scouts were sent ahead to reconnoitre the place. The party consisted of an officer, two rangers, and a guide supposed to be acquainted with the country. It appears that they made quick work, for on the fol- lowing day the advancing column met them return- ing with the report that the path was clear, " and that they had the greatest reason to believe they were not discovered ; but from the rest of the intelligence they gave it appeared they had not been nigh enough the town, either to perceive the true situation of it, the number of the enemy, or what way it might be most advantageously attacked."2 This was on the 7th. After receiving the report of the reconnoitring party the march was continued, and though the route was "rough and incommodious, on account of the stones and fallen timber," a total distance of thirty miles was made on that day, and a " little before the setting of the moon" the front reached the Allegheny about one hundred perches below the main body of the town," where there came to the ears of the wearied troops " the beating of the drum and the whooping of the warriors at their dances."

The attack was made on the following morning, the Indians in the town being apparently wholly unaware of the approach of an enemy. Captain Jacob was present in the town, and at the first alarm of attack gave the war-whoop, and called out in a loud voice that "the white men have come at last, and we will have scalps enough," but at the same time took the precaution to order the squaws and children to take to the woods. The house where this warrior lived was the rallying-point for the Indians, a sort of citadel, from which the fire on the attacking party was constant and severe. Col. Armstrong thereupon caused the neighbor houses to be set on fire, and the flames spread rapidly through the town, finally en- veloping the stronghold of the chief Jacob, who "tumbled himself out of the garret or cock-loft window, at which he was shot," or at least was sup- posed to be, for the white prisoners afterwards lib- erated in the town were willing "to be qualified to the powder-horn and pouch there taken off him, which they say he had lately got from a French officer in exchange for Lieut. Armstrong's boots, which he carried from Fort Granville, where the lieu- tenant was killed," and the same prisoners said they

were " perfectly assured of his scalp, as no other In- dians wore their hair in the same manner. They also said they knew his squaw's scalp by a particular bob, and also knew the scalp of a young Indian called the King's Son."

"During the burning of the houses," said Col. Armstrong, "which were nearly thirty in number, we were agreeably entertained with a quick succession of charged guns gradually firing off as they reached the fire, but more so with the explosion of sundry bags and large kegs of gunpowder, wherewith almost every house abounded, the prisoners afterwards informing that the Indians had frequently said they had a suffi- cient stock of ammunition for ten years to war with the English. . . . There was also a great quantity of goods burnt, which the Indians had received but ten days before from the French."

The attack on "the Kittaning" by Col. Armstrong was evidently either badly planned or badly executed. The town was destroyed by fire it is true, but the greater number of Indians who were in it at the time of the assault escaped, and a considerable body of their warriors attacked Armstrong's forces on their return soon after they left the ruins of the town. The loss of the Indians was unknown. That of the whites was seventeen killed, thirteen wounded,3 and nineteen missing in the assault and subsequent fight. The results of the campaign were the destruction of the Indian rendezvous of Kittaning, with large quan- tities of ammunition and stores, the release of eleven English prisoners who had been captured east of the mountains by Shingiss' and Captain Jacob's bands. Jacob was supposed to be among the killed at the burning of the town, but this was afterwards found to be a mistake. He was alive in 1764, and present at a conference held by the Indians with Col. Bou- quet on the Muskingum in that year. Shingiss was absent at the time of the attack, and, as was said by the prisoners, to have been expected to come down the river that very day with a large party of Dela- wares and French to Kittaning, where they were to be joined by Captain Jacob and his band, and all were to proceed across the Alleghenies, intending to attack Fort Shirley. A considerable party of Indians from Kittaning had already gone forward for the purpose of scouting and reconnoitring that fort, which ac- counts for the comparatively small number of Indians in the town when Armstrong attacked it.

The destruction of Kittaning caused great rejoicing in the settlements,4 and corresponding depression

1 His entire force numbered three hundred and seven men. 2 Col. Armstrong's Report.

3 Among the wounded was Capt. (afterwards general) Hugh Mercer, who was killed Jan. 3, 1777, at the battle of Princeton. Col. Armstrong, the leader of the Kittaning expedition, was also wounded in the assault on the Indian town.

4 The corporation of the city of Philadelphia passed a vote of thanks to Col. Armstrong and the officers engaged with him in the Kittaning expedition " for the courage and conduct shown by them on that occa- sion." The sum of £150 was voted by the corporation, to be applied in part to the purchase of " pieces of plate, swords, or other things suitable for presents to the said officers," and in part to the relief of the widows

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and dismay among the hostile Indians. To them it was a severe blow. They were amazed to find that the white settlers, whom they had supposed to be cowering behind their stockades east of the moun- tains, had suddenly and boldly advanced into the wil- derness and destroyed the Indian stronghold, with all its accumulated supplies and munitions of war.

After the destruction of old Kittaning the French used every means in their power to goad the In- dians to further bloodshed and hostility against the English, to avenge the destruction of their prin- cipal town and the killing of their kindred; but they did not readily respond to these appeals, and for a long time they refused to go out in parties against the Eastern settlements, fearing that another blow might fall on their villages during their absence. "Such of them as belonged to Kittaning and had es- caped the carnage refused to settle again on the east of Fort Du Quesne, and very wisely resolved to place that fortress and the French garrison between them and the English."1 They had also begun to show no little dissatisfaction with the French, on account of the meagre return which they were receiving for their services on the war-path, and symptoms of open dis- affection were becoming apparent. This is shown in a statement made by one John Cox (an escaped pris- oner from Kittaning,) which is found in the minutes of the proceedings of the Council at a meeting of that body on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1756,2 as follows :

"Mr. Joseph Armstrong, Member of Assembly, and Mr. Adam Hoops, Commissary of Provisions for the Supply of the Forces in Cumberland County, Attending with a Young Man who was taken Pris- oner by the Indians and had made his escape; they were examined as to the Truth of the several matters mentioned in the Petitions, and they confirmed the same, saying further that a Year ago there were three thousand Men fit to bear Arms, livers in that County, and now exclusive of the Provincial Forces they were certain they did not amount to an hundred ; that there never was in the memory of Man a more abundant harvest; that after the burning of Fort Granville by the Indians (which was done while the country people, guarded by Detachments of the Forces, were employed in reaping) the Farmers abandoned their Plantations, and left what Corn was not then stacked or carried into Barns to perish on the Ground. . . .

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 12

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216