History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 41

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 41

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CHAPTER XII.

THE CIVIL AND LEGAL HISTORY .- ( Continued.)

IV.

The Boundary Controversy, Continued-Connolly's Assumption of Gov- ernment-Governor Penn and Lord Dunmore-Connolly at Hannas- town-Arrest of Westmoreland County Justices-Commissioners to Lord Dunmore-The Peace Policy Pursued-Counter Proclamations and Subsequent Outrages-The Augusta County Court Opened-The Revolution-Connolly's Power Ended-Address of Delegates in Con- gress.

Connolly's Assumption of Government .- On Jan. 1, 1774, the following advertisement was posted at Pittsburgh and throughout the vicinity :2

" WHEREAS, his Excellency John, the Earl of Dunmore, Governor in chief and Captain General of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same, has been pleased to nominate and 1774. appoint me Captain, Commandant of the Militia of Pittsburgh and its Dependencies, with instructions to assure his Majesty's Subjects settled on the Western Waters, that having the greatest Regard to their Prosperity and Interest, and convinced from their repeated Me- morials of the grievances of which they complain, that he proposes mov- ing to the House of Burgesses the Necessity of erecting a New County, to include Pittsburgh, for the redress of your Complaints, and to take every other Step that may attend to afford you that justice for which you Solicit. In order to facilitate this desirable circumstance, I hereby require and command all persons in the Dependency of Pittsburgh to assemble themselves there as a Militia on the 25th: Instant, at which time I shall communicate other Matters for the promotion of public Utility. Given under my Hand, this lat day of January, 1774.

" JOHN CONNOLLY."

On the 11th of January, Æneas Mackay," one of the justices of Westmoreland County, wrote to Arthur St. Clair : ‘

"DEAR SIR,-Here inclosed you will find a copy of Doctor Connolly's advertisement, put up at different parts of this village, the 6th Instant, several copies of which were dispersed through the country at the same time. This imprudent piece will I am much afraid to the means of creating great confusion and disturbance in this county, unless proper steps will be taken to check it in time.

" The Doctor informs us that Lord Dunmore has made application to General Haldiman for a sergeant and twelve men, to be ment immedi- ately to this place, in order to support his authority.

" The captain has already appointed six or seven magistrates, among whom are Major Smallman, John Campbell, and John Gibson; the rest I have not heard their names yet. There is no doubt but all the dis- affected and vagabonds that before invaded law and justice with so much art, will now flock in numbers to the captain's standard, if not prevented in time, the consequences of which we have just cause to dread. I think your presence is absolutely necessary at this time.

"P.S. . . . Since I wrote the above, Mr. Espy 5 happened in company with the new captain, to whom Espy said he thought the next court for Westmoreland would be held at Pittsburgh ; 6 to which the captain re- plied in a rage, damn him if he would not oppose it; from which and many other circumstances of the like kind, it appears how determined he will be to carry his designs into execution. It's thought here that 'tis all Colonel Croghan's intrigues."

Upon the receipt of this letter, Arthur St. Clair (who was the prothonotary or " chief clerk") on January 12th sent his own clerk to the Provincial Council, with a letter inclosing the high-sounding advertise- ment of Capt. Connolly, and stated that what had occurred to him was that previous to the day ap- pointed for the meeting of the militia, he should de- mand such security of Connolly for his good behavior as he would not be able to procure, and in conse- quence have him committed, and that he had written to Mr. Wilson for his "council on this thought." ? The emergency requiring it, Arthur St. Clair, in his capacity of justice, before Governor Penn's reply to his letter was received, issued a warrant for Dr. Con- nolly's arrest, an account of which, as well as of the oc- currences at Pittsburgh on the day of the militia meet- ing, is contained in his letter to Governor Penn, dated at Ligonier, the place of his residence, on Feb. 2, 1774 :8

" I am honored with your letter of the 20th of January, which reached me the 28th, and am happy to find the method pursued at Pittsburgh on the 25th did not materially differ from that you had been pleased to direct.

3 Afterward the colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment in the Rev- olution, of which regimeut seven companies were from Westmoreland (then including Allegheny, Washington, Fayette, and Greene) and one from Bedford. Col. Mackay died at Quibbletown, N. J., Feb. 17, 1777. For sketch and roster of regiment see X. Pennsylvania Archives, Sec. S., 641.

4 I. St. Clair Papers, 271.

5 A lawyer of Bedford, practicing also at Hannastown. At the second term of the Washington County court, he was admitted there to practice.

6 For some time there was a controversy whether the county-seat of Westmoreland should continue at Hannas Town or be fixed at Pitts- burgh. Col. George Wilson was in favor of the latter place; Robert Hanna and Josephı Irwin, the other trustees, outvoted him. See his letter, IV. Pennsylvania Archives, 466; and the letter of Arthur St. Clair, Ibid., 471.

7 I. St. Clair Papers, 273.

8 IV. Penna. Archives, 476; see the same letter with valuable notes in I. St. Clair Papers, 279.

1 See note with John Ormsby's statement in a subsequent page.

2 X. Col. Records, 141.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"Dr. Connolly was arrested previous to the meeting, by my orders, on his avowing himself the author of the advertisement requiring the people to meet as a militia, and committed on refusing to find sureties for his good behavior till next court.

"I was in hopes the sending him out of the way [i.e., to jail] would have put an end to it altogether ; I was mistaken. About eighty persons in arms assembled themselves, chiefly from Mr. Croghan's neighborhood, and, after parading through the town and making a kind of feu de joie, proceeded to the Fort, where a cask of rum was produced on the parade and the head knocked out. This was a very effectual way of recruiting. .As a scene of drunkenness and confusion was likely to ensue, I got the magistrates (who attended in consequence of the letter I had sent them) together, and read the inclosed papers,1 which we had concocted that morning, and at the conclusion, when they were required to disperse, they replied they had been invited there but came with peaceable inten- tions, and would go home again without molesting any one; on which we left them. However, towards night their peaceable disposition for- sook them, and I should probably have felt their resentment, had I not got intimation of their design. I thought it most prudent to keep out of their way. . . .

" Mr. Connolly has most certainly a commission from Lord Dunmore expressly for Pittsburgh and its dependencies; and his subalterns are John Stephenson, & brother of Mr. Crawford,2 our senior magistrate, William Harrison, a son-in-law of his, and Dorsey Pentecost,8 who was lately in the commission of the peace here. Mr. Pentecost has, I hear, been down to Mr. Connolly's since his confinement, and taken the nec. essary oaths to qualify him for his military office, and is to assemble the people at Redstone, and take possession of Fort Burd.4 I have written to the justices 5 in that part of the country to watch his motions. Mr. McKee is said to be appointed a justice by Lord Dunmore, but I would fain hope without his consent; at any rate he behaved very well on the late occasion, and, as he was doubted, I made a point of having him there under pretense of his being an Indian Agent, but in fact, if he was a friend or abettor of Connolly's measures. . . . "6

1 This paper, printed in IV. Penn. Archives, 478; I. St. Clair Papers, 280; I. Olden Time, 473, is too long to be copied. It was a temperate but dignified and forcible presentation of the propriety of a peaceable obedience to the laws of Pennsylvania. One paragraph, however, was: " The Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania has been regularly extended to Pitts- burgh, and exercised there for a number of years, as the records of Cum- berland, Bedford, and Westmoreland Counties testify ; and you yourselves have acknowledged it, by applying for your lands in that Province. Whether that extension has been legally made or not, can be determined by the Crown alone; but must be submitted to till it is determined. And it must be evident to you that Lord Dunmore, as Governor of Vir- ginia, can have no more right to determine this matter, than one of us, for this plain reason ; the charters of Pennsylvania and Virginia, both flowed originally from the Crown; on that footing they are perfectly independent of each other; but they are both parties in this dispute, and consequently neither can be judge."

2 That is, Wm. Crawford, the presiding justice of the courts; he had one brother, Valentine Crawford, and five half-brothers, one of whom was John Stephenson.

3 Dorsey Pentecost was then living in the present Rostraver township, Westmoreland County ; he did not remove to the East Branch of Char- tiers until a later date. His deed to Samuel and Robert Purviance for his mansion tract, "Green Way," on the Youghiogheny, is dated May 16, 1777, but the sale and his removal might have been earlier. The letter in the text, however, clearly indicates that his removal had not yet taken place.

Pentecost was a Virginia adherent from the start ; though he had been an official of Bedford County, he was omitted in all the appointments for Westmoreland County.

4 "Redstone," of course, was the present Brownsville, Fayette Co. In 1759, Col. James Burd had erected there a fort of some strength, called Fort Burd. There were there then the distinct and well-preserved traces of works made by the Mound-Builders, supposed to have been an old Indian fort, but the Indians here when the settlers came never built such fortifications. This old fort, so called, gave the name "Redstone Old Fort," used almost entirely by the early people.

5 Van Swearingen, a justice, then lived across the river, about oppo- Bite Greenfield, Washington Co., and Thomas Scott, also a justice, lived on Dunlap's Creek, near Brownsville. The former became the first sheriff, and the latter the first prothonotary and clerk of Washington County.

6 This manœuvre as to Alexander McKee did not amount to much. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and trader among the Indians. In

Governor Penn and Lord Dunmore .- In the mean time Governor Penn, who had awakened to the necessity of executive action, on Jan. 31, 1774,7 had written to Lord Dunmore stating that he had lately received the advertisement set up by Connolly at Pitts- burgh and vicinity, and expressed his surprise at the step so sudden and unexpected, and so very alarming to the inhabitants of the western part of the province, who had taken up and improved and hitherto peace- ably enjoyed their lands under grants from the pro- prietaries of Pennsylvania. Affecting to disbelieve that Lord Dunmore would countenance measures in- jurious to the rights of the proprietaries, and having a tendency to create disturbances within the province, he proceeded,-

"The western extent of the Province of Pennsylvania, by the Royal Grant, is five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware, which is its eastern boundary. In the year 1768 [in 1767] an east and west line was run from Delaware, at the mouth of Christiana creek, to the crossing of Dunkard creek, a branch of the Monongahela by Messieurs. Dixon and Mason, two surveyors of distinction, who were sent over from England to run the division line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. These artists fixed the latitude and extent of that line with the utmost exact- ness and precision, to the satisfaction of the commissioners on both sides. From the 233d mile-stone on this line a north line hath been since care- 1 fully run and measured to the Ohio, and from thence up to Fort Pitt; the | several courses of the river having been taken with all possible care.8 From the line of Dixon and Mason to a known point in the south line of the City of Philadelphia, the true course and distance hath been discov- ered by actual survey, as also from the point aforesaid to that part of the river Delaware which is in the same latitude as Fort Pitt; and from these several data, the most exact calculations have been made by Dr. Smith, Provost of our College, Mr. Rittenhouse, and our Surveyor General, in order to ascertain the difference of longitude between Delaware and Pittsburgh, who all agree that the latter is near six miles eastward of the western extent of the Province."

Governor Penn inclosed a map made to illustrate the subject. Should his lordship, however, contrary to expectation, still entertain any doubt respecting this matter, it was hoped he would at least think it rea- sonable, for avoiding those mischiefs which must nat-

1772 he became a deputy Indian agent. He soon after this letter began to act openly with the partisans of Lord Dunmore, although he had been a justice of Bedford County and was then a justice for Westmoreland County. He became an official of the Virginia courts when organized in the Monongahela Valley, and in the spring of 1778, with Simon Girty, Matthew Elliot, and other renegades, went over to the Indians, who were theu allied with the British. He had a fine body of lands at the mouth of Chartiers Creek. In the " Record Book of Surveys made in Yoho- gania County, A.D. 1780, by William Crawford, Surveyor," is found an entry that on June 15, 1780, Benjamin Johnston "produced a warrant for 500 acres of land, dated 20th May 1780, No. 4926, which he locates & enters on lands whereon Alexander McKee lived at the mouth of Shirtee or Chartiers creek, the said McKee having left the same & gone to the Common Enemy of America, which was located by Dorsey Pentecost, but no warrant being left in the office, the entry became invalid or void." Virginia had ceased then to be a royal colony.

7 X. Col. Records, 149; I. St. Clair Papers, 277.

8 In running this due north line to the Ohio, and thence up the river to Fort Pitt, St. Clair had taken a prominent part. It was done by him in connection with Moses McLean in 1771 (I. St. Clair Papers, 9), doubt- less to fix some kind of a western boundary to Bedford County. Perhaps the object was merely to find the distance of Fort Pitt due west from the Delaware River, to ascertain if it were within the five degrees of longi- tude. In this view the willingness in 1774 to adopt the meandering line for the western boundary is clearly indicated, in which case almost all of the present Washington County would have been left with the Pan Handle.

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CIVIL AND LEGAL-GOVERNOR PENN AND LORD DUNMORE.

urally arise in case of clashing and disputed juris- dictions, to defer the appointment of officers and the exercise of government in that neighborhood, and suffer the people to remain in the quiet and undis- puted possession of the lands they held under Penn- sylvania till some temporary line of jurisdiction could be agreed on by his majesty in Council, before whom a petition from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania for the settlement of their western as well as other boundaries was then pending. On Feb. 23, 1774, Joseph Spear, a trader residing at Pittsburgh, also a Westmoreland justice, wrote to Arthur St. Clair from that place :1

"I am just now informed that the Virginians up the Monongahela have had two or three musters lately ; one at Red Stone Old Fort, and one yesterday at Paul Froman's,2 on the other side of the Monongahela; and am also told they had a meeting at Mr. Pentecost's own house; in consequence of which Mr. Pentecost wrote to Mr. Swearingen to act no longer there as a Pennsylvania magistrate at his peril. I therefore think it would be advisable to endeavor to have a stop put to these pro- ceedings, if possible, as it creates the greatest disturbance, and very much retards the execution of our civil process.

"P.S .- This news has just come to hand; otherwise I would have written you more fully. Dr. Connolly is just now going over the run 8 to Redstone, I know not what for."

How Dr. Connolly, who had lately been committed to jail by St. Clair, came to be at liberty, and what was the purpose of his trip to Redstone, is made ap- parent by the letter of Æneas Mackay to Governor Penn of April 4, 1774, which gives a history of affairs since Connolly's release.4 It is stated that Connolly, having been in confinement for but a few days, prevailed upon the sheriff, John Proctor, to permit him to visit Pittsburgh, pledging his honor to return before the next court in April ; that he stayed a few days at Pittsburgh, and then, instead of return- ing to jail as he had promised, he went up to Redstone settlement, where, with the assistance of his friends in that quarter, he assembled about twenty men, who guarded him "from there to or near the frontier of Virginia;" that he returned from Virginia to Pitts-

1 IV. Pennsylvania Arch., 481; I. St. Clair Papers, 284.

2 This was Paul Froman, who lived on the East Branch of Chartiers Creek, at the present Beck's Mills, or Linden, in North Strabane town- ship.

3 This may have been "river" in the original. In 1769, James Hen- dricks, a deputy surveyor for Cumberland County, wrote to James Tilgh- man, the secretary of the land-office, under date of September 5th: "I received yours of 28th ult., where you desire I would give my opinion how far the Western Boundary of this Province would reach. As I have never been at the line where it crosseth the Monongahela, I can't pretend to judge, only from the opinion of the people living out there, and as most of them are prejudiced, I can't give any weight to what they say. But as I am very particular in taking the Courses of the Monongahela, I shall be able in the fall to give it you with some exactness; in the meantime, I am inclined to believe that Chartiers Creek must be in the Province, as its junction with the Ohio is but (scarce) four miles from Fort Pitt, about North West, and on going to Redstone, you cross it sev- eral times, and I am well assured the mouth of Redstone is several de- grees to the Westward of South from Fort Pitt." This would indicate that travelers from Fort Pitt to Redstone came across the river over upon the Chartiers and up the same probably some distance before turning towards the Redstone.

4 IV. Penn. Archives, 484.

burgh on March 28th, and since then " our village is become the scene of Anarchy and Confusion ;" that :

" On the 30 of March a party from the Chartee settlement joined the Doctor at this place. On hearing of that circumstance, Sheriff Proctor and the justices, Smith, McFarland, and myself, Repaired to the Fort in order to discover the Doctor's intention, and if we found them anywise tumultuously disposed to Read the Riot Act. There we found about twenty odd Men, some with, and some without arms, and the Doctor be- fore them with two letters in his hand, both of which he said he had just received from Lord Dunmore, with orders to make them (the mill- tia) acquainted with the Contents, and this he immediately did, by read- ing these Papers to them. In the first of these letters his Lordship greatly applauded the Doctor's Conduct when Taken by the Sheriff for not giving Bail, and Commanded him to Persevere in the prosecution of the plan be began upon, maintaining the possession of Fort Pitt & its dependencies, and to put the militia & other Virginia Laws in force, con- cluding with a promise of being powerfully supported by his Lordship.

" The other letter the Doctor declared to be a Duplicate of his Lord- ship's answer to Governor Penn's Letter Relating to the militia muster, when first set on foot at this place last January."

This letter, which is too long to quote entire, then proceeds to state that, after reading the papers, Con- nolly called the sheriff and his justices to a " barrack- room," and delivered to them a lecture upon the pro- priety of obedience and acquiescence, and said that "he had not intended to take any step contrary to the Established Rules of law at that place till after the court, which would sit in a few days, when he was determined to deliver himself up, and a Bide by the judg't of the same;" that the next morning Sheriff Proctor served a writ upon William Christy, one of Dr. Connolly's militia lieutenants, on notice of which Connolly caused the sheriff to be arrested upon a king's warrant, and held him in custody for some time, " and ever since that time there are parties of armed men in Constant persute of our Deputy sheriff & Constables, by which means it's impossible for us to do any business. The doctor is now in actual pos- session of the Fort, with a Body Guard of Militia about him, Invested, as we are told, with both Civil and military power, to put the Virginia Law in Force in these parts," etc. The letter is closed with the re- mark, "The Indians are greatly alarmed at seeing parties of armed men patrolling through our streets Daily, not knowing but there is hostility intended against them and their country." It was not long, indeed, until an Indian war followed, owing its origin to Connolly and his superior, Lord Dunmore.

Lord Dunmore's reply to Governor Penn's com- munication, written on January 31st, was delayed until the 3d of March.5 A copy of his reply, as has been seen, was in Connolly's hands on March 30th, almost as soon as it reached Governor Penn. Doubt- less Connolly had been with Dunmore when it was written :

" WILLIAMSBURGH, 3 March, 1774.

" SIR,-I have been favored with your letter of the 31st January, 1774, and duplicate of the same, the occasion of which having been the ap- pointment of certain officers by me in a remote district of the county of Augusta, 6 in this Colony, which includes Pittsburgh, which having been

6 X. Col. Records, 156; I. St. Clair Papers, 285.

6 This is the first mention we have of the country upon the Mononga- hela and the Ohio forming a part of Augusta County, Va. That county

172

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

done, as is always my rule, with the advice of his Majesty's Council [ of Virginia], I could not till I had an opportunity of laying your letter be- fore them return you an answer, and it is not till now that I am en- abled to do so."

The letter then proceeded to suggest that though the calculations relied upon in the plan sent by Gov- ernor Penn might be correct, yet that, Virginia not having been a party to them, she was not bound. The transactions of the French and Indian war were cited with respect to the right of that colony to this country. "And it seems to me that the step which I have taken ought not to have been either unex- pected or surprising, as you are pleased to say it was to you, when it was well known that formal declara- tions were made by the Assembly of Pennsylvania that Pittsburgh was not within the jurisdiction of that government at the time that requisitions were made to them for the defense of that place, the burden of which on that account fell on this government." Dunmore then proceeded to avow authority from him to Dr. Connolly for all the latter had done, and in- sisted upon the most ample reparation for the insult to the authority of his " Majesty's government of Vir- ginia" in his arrest, and "no less can possibly be admitted than the dismission of the clerk (St. Clair) of Westmoreland County, who had the audacity, without any authority, to commit a magistrate in the legal discharge of his trust, unless he (St. Clair) can prevail, by proper submission, on Mr. Connolly to demand his pardon of me."

To this communication Governor Penn replied on March 31, 1774,1 with an evident degree of impatience that his suggestions for delay in establishing the Vir- ginia jurisdiction until the line could be fixed, either by commissioners to be selected or by steps to be taken upon an order of the king in Council, should have been so rudely disregarded. But, after a little, the communication enters upon a discussion of the proceedings of the Provincial Council and the As- sembly in relation to the building of the forts upon the Ohio, beginning with 1752, and extending till 1754, giving an accurate review of all the facts, and

had been erected in 1738. Frederick County was erected at the same time, and these two counties embraced all of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge, the range of mountains nearest the coast. Frederick lay south of the western part of Maryland, while Augusta stretched out as far as the settlements proceeded beyond the Alleghanies. The county-seat of Augusta County was Staunton, in the Shenandoah Valley. That part of Augusta lying, as claimed, west of the Alleghany Mountains was after- wards known as West Augusta, or the District of West Augusta. In the year 1775, by the convention assembled to devise a plan for resisting the oppressions of the mother-country, among other proceedings it was de- termined that "The landholders of the district of West Augusta shall be considered as a distinct county, and have the liberty of sending two delegates to represent them in general convention." Kercheval, in his "History of the Valley of Virginia," 236, says, " This is the first account which the author has been able to find in our ancient statutes in rela- tion to West Augusta as a separate district or county. In fact, it does not appear that we ever had a county legally established by this name. It is presumable that it acquired the name by general usage, from its remote and western locality from the seat of justice." More as to this hereafter.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 41

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