USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 32
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they will not turn out as well as they ought to do. If the enemy continues to advance in one body the matter will become serious, and perhaps require our whole strength to repel them. But if it can possibly be avoided I could wish not to call upon a man that's going upon the expedition against Sandusky. Be- sides, the battalion rendezvous is appointed as soon as the men could possibly be collected. Unless the officers have made their appointments, as you will see by Col. MeCleery's 2 letter they have done in the first battalion, no doubt ammunition will be wanted on this occasion. A small quantity, such as the bearer can carry, will do. Excuse haste.
" From, Sir, your most obt. humble serv't, " JAMES MARSHEL."
The fact that the Indians were advancing eastward from Wheeling was known at Rice's fort about half an hour before the savages made their appearance, the intelligence having been brought by Jacob Miller, who learned the news at the house of Dr. Moore, near Catfish, and rode with all possible speed to notify the people at the threatened point, and to take part in the defense. Some of the men from the fort had gone to Hagerstown for supplies, and only five were left to defend it, viz .: George Lefler, Peter Fullenweider, Daniel Rice, George Felebaum, and Jacob Lefler, Jr. This force was increased to six by the arrival of Mil- ler. The Indians soon made their appearance and surrounded the fort. The six defenders fired, and three savages fell. The Indians returned the fire without effect, but in their second volley they killed George Felebaum, who was standing at a port-hole .. The ball struck him in the forehead, and he expired instantly. The firing was kept up during the day, but without any further casualty to the white men.
Abraham Rice, of the fort, was absent, having set out at once on receipt of the news brought by Miller to go to Lamb's fort, some four miles away, for assist- ance. He had not been gone long when he heard the firing at his own fort, and at once determined to re- turn and assist in the defense; but he failed in his attempt, for he was discovered by the Indians, who fired a great number of shots and wounded him badly, but he made his escape, and was able to reach Lamb's, whence, after his wounds had been dressed, he set out on his return, having with him a party of twelve men. This was late in the evening. On approaching the besieged fort ten of the party became alarmed and retreated, but Rice and the other two went on. They were soon discovered by an Indian, who thereupon gave the usual alarm, which passed around the entire line encircling the fort. The savages supposed that a large party of whites was approaching, and after one more fierce but ineffectual attempt to carry the fort they retreated from the place, having lost four warriors by the rifles of the defenders. On the fol-
1 The two men whom Marshel refers to in this letter, first as " pris- oners" and afterwards as "deserters," were, so says Doddridge, "two white men who had been made prisoners when lads, raised among the Indiana, and taken to war with them. These men deserted from them soon after their council at the close of the siege of Wheeling."
2 Col. William McCleery, sub-lieutenant of Washington County.
136
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
lowing morning a force of about sixty frontiersmen collected and started in pursuit of the Indians, but after proceeding two or three miles it was found that the savages had scattered in small parties, and the pursuit was abandoned. The Indians, however, in their retreat met another party of four white men, two of whom they killed, losing one of their warriors.
The Indian attacks at Wheeling and at Rice's fort (showing that the savages could make incursions in force and almost at will in spite of the vigilance of the "ranging parties" of militia) materially damp- ened the ardor of the people with regard to the new Sandusky campaign, notwithstanding that the gov- ernment had ordered a considerable body of Conti- nental troops to accompany the expedition, in ac- cordance with the wishes of Cols. Marshel and Cook and several of the more prominent among the militia officers of Washington and Westmoreland Counties.
On the 18th of September, two days before the time which had been appointed for the rendezvous at Fort McIntosh,1 Gen. Irvine addressed communica- tions to Col. Marshel and Col. Cook, saying, " I have this moment received dispatches from the Secretary at War informing me that some regular troops are ordered from below to assist us in our intended ex- pedition. I am therefore to beg you will immediately countermand the march of the volunteers and others of your counties until further orders. As soon as I am positively assured of the time the troops will be here I shall give you the earliest notice." The time for the assembling of the volunteers and other forces for the expedition was then postponed to the 6th of October; 2 but before that time Gen. Irvine had re- ceived a letter from the Secretary of War as follows :
"WAR OFFICE, September 27, 1782.
" DEAR SIR,-From late accounts forwarded by his Excellency General Washington, we learn that the Indians are all called in [by the British]. This has induced the resolution to lay aside the expedition I mentioned in my last.
"I am, dear sir, your obt. serv't, "B. LINCOLN."
This caused the commandant at Fort Pitt to aban- don all thoughts of the proposed campaign, though he did not immediately notify the county lieutenants to that effect. But on the 18th of October he said,
1 The letter (before quoted) of Col. Marshel to Gen. Irvine, dated Sept. 15, 1782, has the following postscript: "Should you think of joining the Militia, Catfish Camp appears at present to me to be the most suitable place to establish your headquarters, at which place I shall order one Battalion to rendezvous on Tuesday next. I mean those that's going on the Expedition, as Catfish will be in their way to Fort McIntosh."
2 In a letter written by Christopher Hays to President Moore, dated " September yo 20th, 1782, he says, "There is a Campaign Proposed to Go against the Sanduskey Towns, to start by the 6th Day of Next Month, under the Command of General Erwine wherein these Counties Quoted themselves To find all Voluntiers and a Number of Regular Troops in Provision During said Campaign which is Nearly if not alto- gether Ready & Lies Prepared for that Purpose."-Penn. Arch., 1781-83, p. 637.
in a letter to Col. Edward Cook, of Westmoreland, "I received your letter by Sergt. Porter, and one last night from Col. Marshal, which is full of despondency. Indeed, by all accounts I can collect, it would be vain to insist on bringing the few willing people to the general rendezvous, as there is not the most distant prospect that half sufficient would assemble. Under the circumstances I think it will be most advisable to give up the matter at once, and direct the provisions and other articles to be restored to the owners."
About two weeks after Gen. Irvine wrote this letter he received official notification from the Secretary of War (dated October 30th) that the Indian expedition had been abandoned, and thereupon the fact was officially communicated to the lieutenants of West- moreland and Washington Counties. This ended all thoughts of raising a force to invade the Indian country, and it also closed the military history of this section of country for the period of the war, of the Revolution. After the official proclamation of peace, however, and as late as the end of the spring of 1783, Indian depredations were continued to some extent along the Western Pennsylvania and Virginia border, though none of these are found reported as having been committed within the territory which now forms the county of Washington.
Washington Militia in 1784 .- The composition of the Washington County militia immediately after the close of the Revolution is shown in a return made by Col. James Marshel, county lieutenant, dated July 7, 1784,8 as follows :
First Battalion.
Lieutenant-Colonel, David Phillips; Major, Jobn Small.
First Company .- Number of men, 73.
Captain, James Munn.
Lieutenant, Henry Sawings.
Ensign, William Byars.
Second Company .- Number of men, 74. (Nominated.)
Captain, Robert Ritchie.
Lieutenant, Jeremiah Wright.
Ensign, Thomas Sweet.
Third Company .- Number of men, 68. (Nominated.)
Captain, William Conner.
Lieutenant, John Conner.
Ensign, Isaac Williams.
Fourth Company .- Number of men, 82.
Captain, Mabra Evans, Lieutenant, James Wilson. Ensign, William Goban.
Fifth Company .- Number of men, 60. Captain, John Robinson. Lieutenant, Samuel Heth. Ensign, Thomas Gibson.
Sixth Company .- Number of men, 96.
Captain, Samuel Blackmore. Lieutenant, George Welsh. Ensign, Henry Morrison.
Seventh Company .- Number of men, 61.
Captain, William Armstrong. Lieutenant, John Brackenridge. Ensign, John Blackburn.
.
8 Penn. Archives, 1783-86, pp. 287-88.
137
THE REVOLUTION.
Eighth Company .- Number of men, 78. Captain, William Phillips. Lieutenant, John Lamb. Ensign, Archibald Ralston.
Second Battalion.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry Enoch ; Major, James Carmichael. First Company .- Number of men, 74. Captain, John Guthrey. Lieutenant, George Cilsur. Ensign, Matthew Hannon.
Second Company .- Number of men, 64. Captain, Andrew Ferley. Lieutenant, James Blackburn. Ensign, James Metheney.
Third Company .- Number of men, 80. (Nominated.) Captain, Charles Swan. Lieutenant, Azariah Davis. Ensign, William Shepherd.
Fourth Company .- Number of men, 84. Captain, Thomas Extile. Lieutenant, Henry Dickinson. Ensign, John Lindsley.
Fifth Company .- Number of men, 56. Captain, Elijalı Mills. Lieutenant, Jacob Mills. Ensign, Elisha Perkins.
Sixth Company .- Number of men, 75. Captain, James McClelland. Lieutenant, John Hoit. Ensign, Joseph Garret.
Seventh Company .- Number of men, 72. Captain, Robert Sweney. Lieutenant, Everhart Heef. Ensign, Henry Hormil.
Eighth Company .- Number of men, 62. Captain, James Archer. Lieutenant, John Fee. Ensign, David White.
Third Battalion.
John Marshal, lieutenant-colonel; Peter Kidd, major. First Company .- Number of men, 70. Captain, Henry Renkon. Lieutenant, Alexander Kidd. Ensign, Josiah Scott.
Second Company .- No return.
Third Company .- Number of men, 55. Captain, Thomas Wells. Lieutenant, Samuel Leiper. Ensign, John Wells.
Fourth Company .- Number of men, 77. Captain, Samuel Smith. Lieutenant, Thomas Marquis. Ensign, William Wallace.
Fifth Company .- Number of men, 62. Captain, James Stevenson. Lieutenant, Arthur Scott. Ensign, Jesse Renkon.
Sixth Company .- Number of men, 66. Captain, Thomas Renkon [Rankin ?]. Lieutenant, Charles Campbell. Ensign, William Hays.
Seventh Company .- Number of men, 80. Captain, John Reed. Lieutenant, William Herron. Ensign, James Howld.
Eighth Company .- No return.
Fourth Battalion.
Lieutenant-Colonel, David Williamson ; Major, Daniel Leet. First Company .- Number of men, 60. Captain, Charles Bonner. Lieutenant, Robert Walker. Ensign, Philip Briscoe.
Second Company .- No return.
Third Company .- Number of men, 67. Captain, Thomas Hambleton. Lieutenant, James Brown. Ensign, Samuel White.
Fourth Company .- Number of men, 74. Captain, William Leet. Lieutenant, Brice Virgin. Ensign, Obadiah Holmes.
Fifth Company .- Number of men, 60. Captain, James Morrison,
Lieutenant, -
Ensign, -
Sixth Company .- Number of men, 65.
Captain, Eleazer Williamson. Lieutenant, John McWilliams. Ensign, Jacob Miller.
Seventh Company .- Number of men, 71. Captain, John Cotton. Lieutenant, Samuel Reddle.
Ensign, James Huston.
Eighth Company .- Number of men, 81. Captain, Timothy Downing. Lieutenant, - Andersou.
Ensign, John Williams.
Fifth Battalion.
Lieutenant-Colonel, John Guthredge; Major, James Craven. First Company .- Number of men, 80. Captain, Eleazer Jenkins. Lieutenant, Thomas Richeson.
Ensign, Kinsey Davis.
Second Company .- Number of men, 76.
Captain, William Jackman. Lieutenant, Henry Gregg. Ensign, James Thomas.
Third Company .- Number of men, 55.
Captain, David Ruble. Lieutenant, Darby Strahan. Ensign, Valentine Kindor.
Fourth Company .- Number of men, 56.
Captain, Isaac Ross. Lieutenant, Frederick Ault. Ensign, John Huffman.
Fifth Company .- Number of men, 55. 1
1
Captain, Edward Seaburn. Lieutenant, Richard Hogeland. Ensign, Jeremiah Craven.
Sixth Company .- Number of men, 60.
Captain, George Myers. Lieutenant, Luther Kerrey. Ensign, Henry Conrod.
Seventh Company .- Number of men, 73. (Nominated.) Captain, John Worth. Lieutenant, Thomas Ritchie. Ensign, Nicholas Johnson, Jr.
Eighth Company .- Number of men, 68. (Nominated.) Captain, Robert Jackman. Lieutenant, Joseph Brenton. Ensign, Nathan Powell. July 7, 1784.
138
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER IX. THE CIVIL AND LEGAL HISTORY.
BY BOYD CRUMRINE.
I.
The Wilderness-The First Settlements-Attempted Removal of Settlers -Council at Fort Pitt, April, 1768-The Treaty of Fort Stanwix- Settlers West of the Monongahela-Bedford County erected.
To write the civil and legal history of Washington County is first, in a general way, to discuss the origin and progress of the settlements within her borders, then the establishment of municipal government and the organization of courts of justice for the due and orderly administration of the law.
The Wilderness .- The cabins of white men were first built within the- original limits of Washington County possibly in 1766, certainly in 1767. In the latter year, if not in the former, the Monongahela had been crossed and settlers had stopped on Dunk- ard Creek, in what is now Greene County, at the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek, and upon Raccoon Creek. It is thought that, prior to 1750, the hills and 1750. valleys of this State west of the Alleghanies
were untrodden by the feet of white men, ex- cept of adventurous traders among the Indians, such as Peter Chartiers and others. Nor were our lands at this date occupied by the homes of the Indians. These prior possessors of the soil resided and had their homes or towns chiefly along and south of the great lakes, though smaller villages, temporary abid- ing-places, and hunting-camps were here and there along the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela. There may have been many localities which were unknown to the Indians at the coming of the English. Within the lands lying between the Monongahela and the Ohio, as originally erected into Washington County, the red men had no permanent dwelling-places, al- though Catfish, a warrior, and Shingis, a king, of the Delawares, had hunting-lodges, the former where Washington now stands,1 the latter at the mouth of Chartiers Creek.
Thomas Hutchins, the engineer of Bouquet's expe- dition against the Western Indians in 1764, in his to- pographical description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc., wrote of the country of which our county forms a part nearly a century ago :
" The whole country abounds in Bears, Elks, Buffaloe, Deer, Turkies, &c.,-an unquestionable proof of the extraordinary goodness of its soil. " In the year 1760, a small town, called Pittsburgh, was built near Fort Pitt, and about 200 families resided in it; but upon the breaking out of the Indian war (in the month of May 1763) they abandoned their houses and retired into the fort.
"In the year 1765, the present town of Pittsburgh was laid out. It is built on the eastern bank of the River Monongahela, about 200 yards from Fort Pitt. . . .
" The country on both sides of the Ohio, extending South-Easterly and South-Westerly from Fort Pitt to the Mississippi, and watered by the Ohio River and its branches, contains at least a million square miles, and it may, with truth, be affirmed, that no part of the globe is blessed with a more healthful air or climate ;- watered with more navigable rivers and branches communicating with the Atlantic Ocean, by the Rivers Potowmac, James, Rappahannock, Mississippi and St. Lawrence, or capable of producing with less labor or expense Wheat, Indian Corn, Buckwheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Flax, Hemp, Tobacco, Rice, Silk, Potash, &c., than the country under consideration. And although there are also considerable quantities of high lands for about 250 miles, (on both sides of the River Ohio,) Southwardly from Fort Pitt, yet even the sum- mits of most of the hills are covered with a deep rich soil, fit for the culture of Flax and Hemp, and it may be also added, that no soil can possibly yield larger crops of Red and White clover, and other useful grasses, than this does."
In a foot-note Hutchins quotes from Gordon, a still earlier traveler :
"This country may, from a proper knowledge, be affirmed to be the most healthy, the most pleasant, the most commodious, and the most fertile spot of earth known to European people."
Francis Parkman, writing of the country west of the Alleghanies in 1760, during the time of the French and Indian war,2 says,-
"One vast and continuous forest shadowed the fertile soil, covering the lands as the grass covers a garden lawn, sweeping over hill and hol- low in endless undulation, burying mountains iu verdure, and mantling brooks and rivers from the light of day. Green intervals dotted with browsing deer, and broad plains alive with buffalo, broke the same- ness of the woodland scenery. Unnumbered rivers seamed the forest with their devious windings. Vast lakes washed its boundaries, where the Indian Voyager, in his birch canoe, could descry no lands beyond the world of waters. Yet this prolific wilderness, teeming with waste fertility, was but a hunting ground and a battle-field to a few fierce hordes of savages. Here and there in some rich meadow opened to the sun, the Indian squaws turned the black mould with their rude imple- ments of bone and iron, and Bowed their scanty stores of maize and beans. Human labor drew no other tribute from that exhaustless soil."
Fort Pitt was built by Gen. Stanwix in the year 1759, near the ruins of Fort Du Quesne, destroyed by Gen. Forbes the preceding year. The same writer just quoted says,3-
"Fort Pitt stood far aloof in the forest, and one might journey east- ward full two hundred miles before the English settlements began to thicken. Behind it lay a broken and woody tract; then succeeded the great barrier of the Alleghanies, traversing the country in successive ridges, and beyond these lay vast woods extending to the Susquehanna. . . . Two roads led from Fort Pitt to the settlements, one of which was cut by General Braddock in his disastrous march across the mountains from Cumberland in the year 1755. The other, which was more fre- quented, passed by Carlisle and Bedford, and was made by General Forbes in 1758. Leaving the fort by this latter route, the traveler would find himself, after a journey of fifty-six miles, at the little post of Ligo- nier, about a hundred miles from Fort Pitt. It was nestled among the mountains, and surrounded by clearings and log cabins. Passing several small posts and settlements he would arrive at Carlisle, nearly a hun- dred miles farther east, a place resembling Bedford in its general aspect, although of greater extent. After leaving Fort Bedford numerous houses of settlers were scattered here and there among the valleys, on each side of the road from Fort Pitt, so that the number of families be- yond the Susquehanna amounted to several hundreds, thinly distributed over a great space."
What is known as the French and Indian war, the history of which will appear in another part of this work, terminated with the definitive treaty of peace signed between England and France on Feb. 10,
1 Judging from the point marked " Catfish's Camp" upon the original plot of the town, as laid out on Oct. 13, 1781, it must have been within the present Trinity Hall grounds. A later but a still ancient draft places the old warrior's camp in the same locality.
2 I. Conspiracy of Pontiac, 147.
8 II. Conspiracy of Pontiac, 3.
MAP
SHOWING FRENCH OCCUPATION OF THE OHIO VALLEY : TAKEN FROM M.ROBERT'S ATLAS UNIVERSEL, PARIS 1755. BASED ON CHRISTOPHER GIST'S SURVEYS MADE 1751. DRAWN EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK BY
JOHN G.RUPLE C.E
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139
CIVIL AND LEGAL-THE WILDERNESS.
1763. Then passed from France all her possessions east of the Mississippi, including Canada. Up to this time, says Bancroft, " not a fountain bubbled on the west of the Alleghanies but was claimed as being within the French empire. Louisiana stretched to the head springs of the Allegheny and the Monon- gahela, of the Kanawha and the Tennessee."
It is thus seen that the lands on which we live, until the period referred to, were claimed to be under the jurisdiction of France, and though when that jurisdiction was removed the territories now of Wash- ington County were as yet unsettled by the white race, still a brief reference to that jurisdiction may be made the starting-point of these chapters.
In the library of Washington and Jefferson Col- lege is a very rare and valuable atlas, with the title page, " Atlas Universel, par M. Robert de Vaugondy, Geographe Ordinaire du Roy et par M. Robert de Vaugondy, son fils, Geographe ord. du Roy, et de S. M. Polonoise Duc de Loraine et de Bar, et Associé de L'Academie Royale des Sciences et belle Lettres de Nancy. Avec Privilége du Roy, 1757." The ninety-eighth map of the series is entitled "Partie de L'Amerique Sepentrionale, qui comprend Le Cours de L'Ohio, La Nlle Angleterre, La Nlle York, Le New Jersey, La Pennsylvania, Le Maryland, La Virginie, La Caroline. . .. Avec Privilége 1755." Upon this map, which, as will be observed, is from the French stand-point altogether, the boundary line be- tween Pennsylvania and Louisiana is the western base of the Alleghany Mountains.
On the same map, as is seen from a portion copied to illustrate this chapter, is the Monongahela, " ou Mohongalo," receiving on its west bank three un- named streams, and on its east one, before it has the waters of Pierre-Rouge (Redstone) on its east bank. Then one more unnamed stream enters it on the west before it receives the " Yauyaugany" from the east ; then flowing on it unites with the " Ohio ou Alle- gany," coming from the northeast, and with the latter forms the " Ohio ou Splawacipiki." Below the union the Chartiers Creek, running from the south, enters the Ohio; then, farther down, " Bever" Creek from the north. No settlements or villages, either of white men or of the Indians, are indicated upon any of the territory between the Monongahela and the Ohio.1
France claimed all the lands west of the Alle- ghanies by right of prior discovery, and the estab- lishment of her power upon the coasts of North America was coeval with the first colonies from England.2 Samuel Champlain became the father of New France, upon the waters of the St. Lawrence, in 1603. In 1616, Le Caron, Champlain's companion,
-
" had passed into the hunting-grounds of the Wyan- dots, and, bound by his vows to the life of a beggar, had, on foot or paddling a bark canoe, gone onward and still onward, taking alms of the savages, till he reached the rivers of Lake Huron." 3 Marquette and Joliette, in 1673, with five Frenchmen and two Al- gonquins, passed up the Fox River, across the portage and into the waters of the "Oujsconsin," thence to the Mississippi, down beyond the mouth of the Ohio as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, whence they re- turned.4 In 1682, the same year in which Wm. Penn first came to his new colony on the Delaware, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, having passed with his expe- dition from the lakes into the Mississippi, in April of that year proceeded to the mouths of that river, and in the name of Louis XIV. took possession of all the lands watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries and named it Louisiana.5 We have already seen how that Louisiana, upon the French map before referred to, extended to the base of the Alleghany Mountains.
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