History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 17

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 17

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The dispute and feud between Virginia and Penn- sylvania was then at its height in this region, both States claiming and both attempting to exercise juris- diction over the country between Laurel Hill and the Ohio; but the partisans of both provinces unhesitat- ingly laid aside their animosities, or held them in abeyance, and both, on the same day, held large and patriotic meetings, pledging themselves to aid to the extent of their ability the cause of the colonies against the encroachments of Britain. Prominent in the pro- ceedings of both meetings were men from the section of country which six years later became the county of Washington, then embraced, according to the Vir- ginia claim, in the county of Augusta of that colony, and partly, according to Pennsylvania's claim, in her county of Westmoreland, though there was little at- tempt on the part of the latter at that time to exer- cise jurisdiction west of the Monongahela. The meet- ing called and held under Virginia auspices was reported as follows :

"At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Augusta County that lies on the west side of the Laurel Hill, at Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May, 1775, the following gentlemen were chosen a com- mittee for the said district, viz .: George Croghan, John Campbell, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman, John Canon, John McCullough, William Goe, George Vallandigham, John Gibson, Dorsey Pentecost, Ed- ward Cook, William Crawford, Devereux Smith, John Anderson, David Rogers, Jacob Van Meter, Henry Enoch, James Ennis, George Wilson, William Vance, David Shepherd, William Elliott, Richmond Willis, Samuel Sample, John Ormsby, Richard Mc- Maher, John Nevill, and John Swearingen."

A standing committee was appointed, to have "full power to meet at such times as they shall judge neces- sary, and in case of any emergency to call the com- mittee of this district together, and shall be vested with the same power and authority as the other standing committee and committees of correspond- ence are in the other counties within this colony."

It was by the meeting " Resolved, unanimously, That this committee have the highest sense of the spirited behavior of their brethren in New England,

THE REVOLUTION.

and do most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme, and that each member of this com- mittee respectively will animate and encourage their neighborhood to follow the brave example. . .

" Resolved, That the recommendation of the Rich- mond Convention of the 20th of last March, relative to the embodying, arming, and disciplining of the militia, be immediately carried into execution with the greatest diligence in this country by the officers appointed for that end, and that the recommendation of the said convention to the several committees of this colony to collect from their constituents, in such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gunpowder and one pound of lead, flints, and cartridge paper for every tithable person in their county be likewise carried into execution.

"This committee, therefore, out of the deepest sense of the expediency of this measure, most earn- estly entreat that every member of this committee do collect from each tithable person in their several dis- tricts the sum of two shillings and sixpence, which we deem no more than sufficient for the above pur- pose, and give proper receipts to all such as pay the same into their hands. . .. And this committee, as your representatives, and who are most ardently la- boring for your preservation, call on you, our con- stituents, our friends, brethren, and fellow-sufferers, in the name of God, of all you hold sacred or valu- able, for the sake of your wives, children, and unborn generations, that you will every one of you, in your several stations, to the utmost of your power, assist in levying such sum, by not only paying yourselves, but by assisting those who are not at present in a condition to do so. We heartily lament the case of all such as have not this sum at command in this day of necessity; to all such we recommend to tender se- curity to such as Providence has enabled to lend them so much ; and this committee do pledge their faith and fortunes to you, their constituents, that we shall, with- out fee or reward, use our best endeavors to procure, with the money so collected, the ammunition our present exigencies have made so exceedingly neces- sary.

" As this committee has reason to believe there is a quantity of ammunition destined for this place for the purpose of government, and as this country on the west side of Laurel Hill is greatly distressed for want of ammunition, and deprived of the means of procuring it, by reason of its situation, as easy as the lower counties of this colony, they do earnestly re- quest the committees of Frederick, Augusta, and Hampshire that they will not suffer the ammunition to pass through their counties for the purposes of government, but will secure it for the use of this des- titute country, and immediately inform this com- mittee of their having done so. Ordered, that the standing committee be directed to secure such arms i their fortunes. "And the better to enable us to

and ammunition as are not employed in actual ser- vice or private property, and that they get the same repaired, and deliver them to such captains of inde- pendent companies as may make application for the same, and taking such captains' receipt for the arms so delivered.

" Resolved, That this committee do approve of the resolution of the committee of the other part of this county relative to the cultivating a friendship with the Indians, and if any person shall be so depraved as to take the life of any Indian that may come to us in a friendly manner, we will, as one man, use our utmost endeavors to bring such offenders to condign punishment.

" Resolved, That the sum of fifteen pounds, current money, be raised by subscription, and that the same be transmitted to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esq., for the use of the deputies sent from this colony to the General Congress ; which sum of money was imme- diately paid by the committee then present." The delegates referred to in this resolution were John Harvie and George Rootes, who were addressed, in instructions from the committee, as " being chosen to represent the people on the west side of the Laurel Hill in the Colonial Congress for the ensuing year," the committee then instructing them to lay certain specified grievances of the people of this section be- fore the Congress at their first meeting, " as we con- ceive it highly necessary they should be redressed to put us on a footing with the rest of our brethren in the colony."

The meeting held on the same day at the county- seat of Westmoreland was not so numerously attended by people from west of the Monongahela, the greater part of the prominent men of this section considering themselves as belonging to Virginia and attending the Augusta County meeting at Pittsburgh. The Westmoreland meeting declared themselves to be

" Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful king, and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire ;" but

" Resolved, unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to en- force those acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and char- tered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and un- punishable sport of a licentious soldiery, and de- priving them of the very means of subsistence." They also resolved that they would oppose the oppressions of the ministry with their lives and

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

accomplish it we will immediately form ourselves into a military body, to consist of companies, to be made up out of the several townships, under the fol- lowing association, which is declared to be the Asso- ciation of Westmoreland County." The objects of which Association were declared to be :

" First. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment, or regiments, and choose officers to command us, in such proportions as shall be thought necessary.

"Second. We will with alacrity endeavor to make ourselves masters of the manual, exercise, and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in a body with concert, and to that end we will meet at such times and places as shall be appointed, either for the companies or the regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen.

" Third. That should our country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary acts of its Par- liament, we will cheerfully submit to military dis- cipline, and to the utmost of our power resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any plan that may be formed for the defense of America in general or Pennsylvania in particular." And the meeting further resolved that when the Par- liament should show a willingness to do justice to the colonies, then, and not till then, should the Associa- tion of Westmoreland County be dissolved.

About a month after the events above narrated, a small body of men who had volunteered from the frontier settlements crossed the Monongahela River and marched eastward over the mountains to join a Maryland company which was being formed under Capt. Michael Cresap for service in the provincial army. The nominal home of Capt. Cresap was at Old Town, Md., but his base of operations at that time, and for a few previous years, was at Redstone Old Fort, now Brownsville, on the Monongahela, op- posite the eastern border of Washington County.[ Here he had a good house1 and a store, from which he traded at points below on the river. He had been engaged, and somewhat prominent, in the Indian fighting of 1774, known as Dunmore's war, being the same Capt. Cresap to whom was (wrongfully, it now seems almost certain) charged the crime of killing the family of the Indian chief Logan. The men who now marched to join his company in Maryland are mentioned as " his old companions in arms," and al- 1 though none of their names have been preserved, there is little doubt that most, if not all of them, were from the settlements on the Monongahela, and between that river and the Ohio.

Cresap had been in Kentucky in the spring of 1775, but being taken ill there had set out by way of the Ohio and across the mountains for his home in Mary- land, where he hoped to recover his health. "On

his way across the Allegheny Mountains2 he was met by a faithful friend with a message stating that he had been appointed by the Committee of Safety at Frederick a captain to command one of the two rifle companies required from Maryland by a resolu- tion of Congress. Experienced officers and the very best men that could be procured were demanded. 'When I communicated my business,' says the mes- senger in his artless narrative, 'and announced his appointment, instead of becoming elated he became pensive and solemn, as if his spirits were really de- pressed, or as if he had a presentiment that this was his death-warrant. He said he was in bad health, and his affairs in a deranged state, but that neverthe- less, as the committee had selected him, and as he understood from me his father had pledged himself that he should accept of this appointment, he would go, let the consequences be what they might. He then directed me to proceed to the west side of the mountains and publish to his old companions in arms this his intention; this I did, and in a very short time collected and brought to him at his residence in Old Town [Maryland] about twenty-two as fine fel- lows as ever handled rifle, and most, if not all of them, completely equipped.'"

It was in June that these men were raised and moved across the mountains to Frederick, Md., to join Cresap's company. A letter written from that place on the 1st of the following August to a gentle- man in Philadelphia said, "Notwithstanding the urgency of my business, I have been detained three days in this place by an occurrence truly agreeable. I have had the happiness of seeing Capt. Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable com- pany of upwards of one hundred and thirty men from the mountains and backwoods, painted like In- dians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in hunting-shirts and moccasins, and though some of them had traveled near eight hundred [?] miles from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit than on the first hour of their march." . .. They marched in August, and joined Washington's army near Boston, where and in later campaigns they did good service. Their captain's health growing worse he resigned and started for Maryland, but died on his way in New York in the following October. The names of the men who were recruited west of the mountains for Cresap's company cannot be given, but there can be little doubt that most of them were his old comrades of the Dunmore war, and from the settlements between the Monon- gahela and Ohio Rivers.

In the fall of 1775 the Seventh Virginia Regiment was recruited and organized by Col. William Craw- ford. This was the first considerable body of men raised in the Monongahela country for the Revolu- tionary service. Col. Crawford's home was on the

1 The first house having "a shingle roof nailed on" that was ever built west of the mountains.

2 Extract from "Logan and Cresap," by Col. Brantz Mayer.

THE REVOLUTION.

Youghiogheny at Stewart's Crossings (now the bor- ough of New Haven, Fayette Co.), but being an ac- tive Virginia partisan, and very popular among the Virginians west of the Monongahela,1 many of his men were recruited in what afterwards became Wash- ington County, the remainder being largely obtained in that part of Westmoreland County which became Fayette. Crawford did not at once receive the colon- elcy of the Seventh, but became its commanding officer in 1776. It was afterwards commanded by Col. John Gibson. The regiment entered the service with the Continental army in the East, and remained there for some time, but during the later years of the war served in the Western Department, with headquarters at Fort Pitt.

The Thirteenth Virginia (known as the "West Augusta Regiment") was afterwards raised, chiefly by Crawford's efforts, in the same region of country in which the Seventh had been recruited. The Thir- teenth (of which Crawford was made colonel) per- formed its service in the West, being stationed in detachments at Fort Pitt and other points on the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. An extract from a let- ter written by Crawford to Gen. Washington,2 dated "Fredericktown, Md., February 12, 1777," is given below because of its reference to the two regiments raised in the Monongahela country, viz. :

" Many reasons have we to expect a war [with the Indians] this spring. The chief of the lower settle- ments upon the Ohio has moved off; and should both the regiments be moved away, it will greatly distress the people, as the last raised by myself [the West Augusta Regiment] was expected to be a guard for them if there was an Indian war. By the Governor of Virginia I was appointed to command that regi- ment at the request of the people. The conditions were that the soldiers were enlisted during the war, and if an Indian war should come on this spring they were to be continued there, as their interest was on the spot ; but if there should be no Indian war in that quarter, then they were to go wherever called. On these conditions many cheerfully enlisted. The regi- ment, I believe, by this time is nearly made up, as five hundred and odd were made up before I came away, and the officers were recruiting very fast; but should they be ordered away before they get blankets and other necessaries, I do not see how they are to be moved; besides, the inhabitants will be in great fear under the present circumstances. Many men have already been taken from that region, so that if that regiment should march away, it will leave few or none to defend the country. There are no arms, as the chief part of the first men were armed there, which has left the place very bare ; but let me be ordered anywhere, and I will go if possible. . .

It seems remarkable that the sparsely-settled coun- try west of Laurel Hill (and principally the Monon- gahela Valley) should have been able to furnish two full regiments8 (furnishing almost all the arms for one regiment) and put them into the field by the spring of 1777. But there had also been raised under Pennsylvania authority in what was then Westmore- land County (then including the present county of Washington) a company under Capt. Joseph Erwin. It marched to Marcus Hook, where it was incorpor- ated with Col. Samuel Miles' " Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment." It was subsequently included in the Thirteenth Pennsylvania, then in the Second Pennsyl- vania Regiment, and was finally discharged from ser- vice at Valley Forge Jan. 1, 1778, by reason of expi- ration of its term of enlistment. During its period of service the company fought at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Quibbletown (N. J.), Brandywine, and Germantown. On the roll of this company are found the names of Joseph Brownlee, John Brownlee, Andrew Bryson, Robert Heslet, Leech, Orr, and others, who either were then or af- terwards became residents of Washington County.

Under authority of a resolution of Congress dated July 15, 1776,4 was raised the Eighth Regiment of - the Pennsylvania line, for the defense of the western frontier, to garrison the posts of Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, and Kittaning. One company of this regi- ment was raised in Bedford County, and all the re- maining seven companies were recruited in the terri- tory then comprised in Westmoreland County. On the 29th of July, 1776, Congress appointed as field- officers of this regiment Col. Eneas Mckay, Lieut .- Col. George Wilson, and Maj. Richard Butler. Sep- tember 22d, David McClure was elected chaplain, and Ephraim Douglass, quartermaster. Among the names of company commanders are found those of Capt. Van Swearingen and Capt. Samuel Brady, both of Washington County. Among the private soldiers Washington County family names are numerous.

On the 23d of November Congress directed the Board of War to order the regiment to march with all pos- sible expedition by the nearest route "to Brunswick, N. J., or to join Gen. Washington wherever he may be." On the 4th of November the regiment received orders to march to Amboy, N. J., whereupon Lieut .- Col. George Wilson wrote from the regimental ren- dezvous to Col. James Wilson as follows :

" KETANIAN, Dec. 5th, 1776. " D' Colonall : Last Evening We Recd Marching orders, Which I must say is not Disagreeable to me under yee Sircumstances of ye times, for when I entr'd into ye Service I Judged that if a necessity appeared

1 It was the almost universal opinion among the people west of the Monongahela at that time that they were within the jurisdiction of Augusta Co., Va.

2 Washington-Crawford Letters, p. 62.

3 In February, 1777, Congress appropriated the sum of $20,000, " to be paid to Col. William Crawford for raising and equiping his regiment, which is a part of the Virginia new levies." It is not certain as to which of the regiments raised by Crawford this had reference, but it appears to have been the last one, the "West Augusta Regiment."

4 Journal, vol. i. pp. 411-19.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

to call us Below it would be Don, therefore it Dont come on me By Surprise ; But as Both ye Officers and Men understood they Ware Raised for ye Defence of ye Western Frontiers, and their fameleys and sub- stance to be Left in so Defenceless a situation in their abstence, seems to Give Sensable trouble, althº I Hope We Will Get over it, By Leving sum of ower trifeling Officers Behind who Pirtend to Have More Wit then seven men that can Rendar a Reason. We are ill Provided for a March at this season, But there is nothing Hard under sum Sircumstances. We Hope Provision Will be made for us Below, Blankets, Campe Kittles, tents, arms, Regimentals, &c., that we may not Cut a Dispisable Figure, But may be Enabled to answer ye expectation of ower Countre.

"I Have Warmly Recommended to ye officers to Lay aside all Personall Resentments at this time, for that it Would be construed By ye Worald that they made use of that Sircumstance to Hide themselves under from ye cause of their countrie, and I hope it Will have a Good Efect at this time. We Have ishued ye Neceserey orders, and appointed ye owt Parties to Randevous at Hanows Town, ye 15th instant, and to March Emeditly from there. We have Recomended it to ye Militia to Station One Hundred Men at this post until further orders. I Hope to have ye Pleasure of Seeing you Soon, as we mean to take Philadelphia in ower Rout. In ye mean time, I am, With Esteem, your Harty Wellwisher and Hble St,

"G. WILSON.

" To Col. JAMES WILSON, of the Honorable the Cont. Congress, Phila."

Until the 5th of December, 1776, the regiment was styled in the quartermaster's receipts "the Battalion commanded by Col. Eneas Mackay," but at that date it is first styled "The Eighth Battalion of Penn'a troops in the Continental service," showing that it had then been assigned to duty in the Continental line. The regiment marched from Kittaning on the 6th of January, 1777, and it and the Twelfth Pennsylvania were the first regiments of the line in the field. The next notice of it is found in the " Life of Timothy Pickering" (volume i., page 122), in the following reference to the Eighth Pennsylvania :

" March 1, 1777, Saturday.

"Dr. Putnam brought me a billet, of which the following is a copy :

""' DEAR SIR : Our Battalion is so unfortunate as not to have a Doctor, and, in my opinion, dying for want of medicine. I beg you will come down to-morrow morning and visit the sick of my company. For that favor you shall have sufficient satisfaction from your humble servant,

"' JAMES PIGOTT, "'Capt. of 8 Batt. of Pa.

"' QUIBBLETOWN, Feb. 28, 1777.'

" I desired the Dr. by all means to visit them. They were raised about the Ohio, and had traveled near

five hundred miles, as one of the soldiers who came for the Dr. informed me. For 150 miles over moun- tains, never entering a house, but building fires and encamping in the Snow. Considerable numbers, un- used to such hardships, have since died. The Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel among the dead. The Dr. informed he found them quartered in cold shattered houses."

Cols. Mackay and Wilson having died, Daniel Brodhead became colonel, Richard Butler lieutenant- colonel, and Stephen Bayard major. When Morgan's rifle command was organized, Lieut .- Col. Butler was made lieutenant-colonel of it, and Maj. James Ross, of the First Pennsylvania, became lieutenant-colonel. According to a return signed by the latter, dated " Mount Pleasant, June 9, 1777," the number of men enlisted between the 9th of August and the 16th of December, 1776, was six hundred and thirty ; enlisted since the 16th of December, thirty-four; making a total of six hundred and eighty-four. The strength of the respective companies was :

Ser- geants.

Rank and File.

Capt. David Kilgore's Company

Capt. Samuel Miller's

Capt. Van Swearingen's

Capt. James Pigott's 66

Capt. Wendel Ourry's

Capt. Andrew Mann's

Capt. James Montgomery's Company .

Capt. Michael Huffnagle's

Capt. Lieut. John Finley's

Capt. Lieut. Basil Prather's

From the total thirty-six were deducted as prison- ers of war, fourteen missing, fifty-one dead, fifteen discharged, one hundred and twenty-six deserted. Lieut. Matthew Jack, absent from April 13th, wounded. Ensign Gabriel Peterson, absent from April 17th, wounded. Capt. Moses Carson, deserted April 21st. First Lieut. Richard Carson, deserted. Aquila White, ensign, deserted February 23d. Joseph McDolo, first lieutenant, deserted. Thomas Forthay, ensign, deserted. Alexander Simrall, second lieu- tenant, cashiered. David Mckee, ensign, dismissed the service. Ephraim Douglass, quartermaster, taken by the enemy, March 13th.

Capt. Van Swearingen, First Lieut, Basil Prather, and Second Lieut. John Hardin with their commands were detailed on duty with Col. Morgan, and greatly distinguished themselves in the series of actions that resulted in the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne at Sara- toga. These commands consisted of picked riflemen out of all of the companies of the Eighth Pennsyl- vania.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 17

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