History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 43

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 43

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For the reason that, as will be seen, the mission was entirely unsuccessful, let it suffice to state that on the part of Pennsylvania the commissioners pro- posed as a temporary boundary that Mason and Dixon's line be extended to the distance of five de- grees of longitude from the river Delaware, and the courses of that river having been ascertained north from said line, that from the end of the said five de- grees a line or lines drawn to the Ohio, as nearly as may be at the distance of five degrees of longitude in every part from a corresponding part of the Delaware River in the same latitude, this to be taken as the line of temporary jurisdiction until the true western line was established .?

In reply to this suggestion, Lord Dunmore would . not accept a line of jurisdiction "of such an incon- venient and difficult to be ascertained shape," and contended that by a proper construction of William Penn's charter the western boundary was to be a meridian at five degrees of longitude from the Dela- ware run south from the parallel of forty-two degrees latitude, imagining that the course of that river was to the northeast continuously to that parallel, and hence that such a meridian would fall east of Pittsburgh, in which he was much mistaken.

The Pennsylvania commissioners then, rejecting the suggestion of Lord Dunmore, made another proposi-

6 Ibid., 175.

6 Ibid., 182, et seq.

7 Is it not probable that in this first proposition made by the commis- sioners, one at least of whom was an eminent lawyer, all was asked for that was supposed to belong to Pennsylvania ? If so, it would indicate that the proprietaries would have been content with a boundary corre- sponding with the meanderings of the Delaware, which would have left almost all of the present Washington County in the Pan Handle.

1 To avoid a recognition of the authority of the Virginia magistrates at Pittsburgh. The jail to which they were sent was at Staunton.

2 IV. Pa. Archives, 488. See X. Col. Records, 176. On the 25th of April, 1774, the deposition of Ephraim Hunter, deputy sheriff of Westmoreland County, taken before the mayor of Philadelphia, stated that on the 10th of April, on his return from court, he stopped at the house of William Elliot, living about seven miles from Pittsburgh, to refresh himself and horse; that suddenly five or six men appeared, armed with rifles, which they presented and required him to surrender ; that he knew them im- mediately to be a party of militia raised by Dr. Connolly, and refused ; that he ran into the house and there he saw Æneas Mackay, Devereux Smith, and Andrew McFarlane, Esquires, magistrates, etc., in custody of a certain Francis Brown, who calls himself deputy sheriff of Augusta County, in Virginia, and a guard over them; that the next day he saw the magistrates twelve miles from Pittsburg, on their way to Virginia, who wielied to send letters by him, but were not permitted.

8 See letters, IV. Pennsylvania Archives, 494, 511, 615, 516.

4 X. Colonial Records, 170.

176

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

tion in the interest of harmony and peace : "And for that valuable purpose we shall be willing to re- ; cede so far from our Charter Bounds as to make the River Monongahela, from the Line of Dixon and tion, which would at once settle our present Disputes without the great Trouble and Expense of running Lines, or the inconveniences of keeping the jurisdic- tion in suspense. This, We assure your Lordship, is the farthest we can go in Point of Concession, &c."

The sur-rejoinder of Lord Dunmore, determined as he was from the start not to abandon his usurpation, was made an easy matter for him after the communi- cation with the clause last quoted was received. He becomes cross and proceeds : " And what were your proposals to reconcile these difficulties? Why, in your first you propose that every Thing in dispute shall be given to Pennsylvania, and in your second that Virginia shall be content without having any Thing given up to it; at least I conclude from both the Proposals, but that no real intention is meant to avoid the great and reciprocal Inconveniences of a doubtful Boundary, &c. ... and your Resolution with respect to Fort Pitt, (the jurisdiction over which Place I must tell you at all Events, will not be relin- quished by the Government without his Majesty's Order,) puts an entire stop to further Treaty, &c."1

1 Since the foregoing was written, the following proceedings have been found, confirmatory of the suspicion expressed on a previous page, that the Virginia usurpation was not upon the mere motion of Lord Dunmore, but was petitioned for by the inhabitants of the Monongahela valley themselves :

"On the 13th of May, 1774, his Excellency the Governor ordered the following petition, with several Papers relative to the imprisonment of Mr. Jolin Connolly by the officers of Pennsylvania, while he was acting as a Magistrate under the authority of this Government, to be laid before the House of Burgesses :

" To his Excellency John, Earl of Dunmore, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia and Vice Admiral of the same, and the Honorable the Council and House of Bur- gesses :

"' The Petition of the Inhabitants settled on the Waters of the Ohio showeth :

"' That the major part of your petitioners have formerly lived in his Majesty's Colony of Virginia, and preferring the mild, easy, and equit- able Government thereof, to the expensive administration of justice in Pennsylvania, which, being a limited and Proprietary Government, bath extended an unlimited, and (as we think) illegal jurisdiction over his Majesty's subjects, settled many miles west of their bounds, which is op- pressive to the poor and burthensome to all, particularly in trying titles to land, and in recovery of small debts, wherein their officers' fees are Bo disproportioned that they seem rather calculated for enriching individ- uals than the public good ; their practicing attornies being left at liberty to exact such fees as they may choose, in all land trials, and will not plead against their jurisdiction, however far west it may be extended. Officers of Government being generally at the disposal of the Proprie- taries' Governor, who will neither appoint nor continue any but those who adhere strictly to their master's interest, however contrary to the good of the settlers, his Majesty's subjects; add to this, a heavy Provin- cial tax, which they likewise exact, a great part thereof being swallowed up by the officers who lay and collect the same, to the great grievance of the subject.

"'From the aforesaid several grievances, and the farther ill-provided defence of the country in cases of emergency, we humbly conceive our lives and properties in imminent danger, from our contiguity to the faithless and barbarous natives, whose treaties, alliance, and sincerity, are never to be relied on, as well as a hearty conviction that the present Government is usurped.

Nothing remained for the commissioners but to return to Philadelphia.

The Peace Policy Directed .- And so there was Mason downward, the Western Boundary of Jurisdic- . to be no amicable settlement of the boundary contro-

versy. This side the great sea there was no superior power with jurisdiction to determine the dispute upon the application of either party. The adherents to either side, if there were any who were not fond of strife, must have contemplated the prospect of the acquisition of peaceful homes in the new West with a degree of hopelessness. The negotiations termi- nated on the 27th of May, 1774.

On the 22d of April, the next day after the ap- pointment of the commissioners, the failure of whose negotiations has just been narrated, Governor Penn wrote to William Crawford and his associates, justices of Westmoreland County : ª

" GENTLEMEN :

" The present alarming Situation of our Affairs in Westmoreland County, occasioned by the very unaccountable Conduct of the Government of Virginia, requires the utmost Attention of this Government, and there- fore I intend, with all possible Expedition, to send Commissioners to expos- tulate with my Lord Dunmore upon the Behavior of those he has thought proper to invest with such power as hath greatly disturbed the peace of that Country. As the Government of Virginia hath the power of raising militia, and there is not any such in this Province, it will be in vain to contend with them, in the way of Force; the Magistrates, therefore, at the same time that they continue with steadiness to exercise the juris- diction of Pennsylvania with respect to the distributions of Justice and the punishment of Vice, must be cautious of entering into any such con- tests with the Officers of my Lord Dunmore, as may tend to widen the present unhappy Breach ; and therefore, as Things are at present circum- stanced, I would not advise the Magistracy of Westmoreland county to proceed by way of criminal prosecution against them for exercising the Government of Virginia."

This letter of instructions gives the key to the absence of retaliatory measures on the part of the Westmoreland County authorities. The records of the courts of that county show but a single case, and that of a civil action at a later date, wherein any of the Virginia partisans were defendants, while the records of the Virginia courts, soon to be noticed, are full of such cases,-criminal proceedings against offi- cers acting under Pennsylvania authority. These in- structions also account for the long continuance and outrageous character of the Connolly domination. The doctor was suffered to proceed unpunished.

Thus was the power of Lord Dunmore established in the valley of the Monongahela. Fort Pitt was re- baptized by Connolly under the name of Fort Dun- more,3 which, henceforward until the Revolution had well advanced, was its Virginia name. Connolly's en-

" We humbly entreat your Lordship and Council, and the Honorable House of Burgesses, to make such provision for us, in our present dis- tressed situation, as to you shall seem meet; and your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.'

"Signed by 587 Inhabitants."

-See II. Amer. Archives, 4th Ser., 275.

2 X. Col. Records, 171.

3 St. Clair to Penn, June 16, 1774; I. St. Clair Papers, 308 ; IV. Penn. Arch., 519.

177

CIVIL AND LEGAL-COUNTER PROCLAMATIONS.

ergies had full play. His conduct was, if possible, of a more outrageous character than it had been.

On June 25, 1774, the adherents of Pennsylvania residing at Pittsburgh addressed a long memorial to Governor Penn, in which additional ill treatment on the part of Dr. Connolly was set forth, and, after sev- eral specific acts of a violent character, it was stated,-

" That your Memorialists are of the opinion that Mr. Connolly has taken all the pains in his power to foment the disturbance between us and the Indians, for several reasons; particularly when a number of the Traders arrived here lately from the Shawanese Towns, escorted by three Shawanese Chiefs, who were sent to the care of Col. Croghan, 'till a handsome present was made for them by the Traders for their fidelity, Dr. Connolly ordered out forty-one of his militia to take them at all events, and to send them to his Guard-House; which hellish plot being discovered, Mr. Butler and some other Friends conveyed the In- dians and their presents over the River just as the Guard surrounded Mr. Croghan's House, for which Mr. Butler has been severely threat- ened."1

Accompanying the memorial from which this ex- tract is made is a document of "Remarks on Dr. Connolly's proceedings," closing a long schedule of his misdeeds with the sentence: "These are but a few of the many Distresses we labor under, and with- out Protection and Speedy Redress, we cannot long support ourselves under such Grievous Persecution & Tyranny."

Dunmore's War .- To intensify the troubles of the pioneers of this time, hostilities broke out on the part of the Indians, as intimated in the memorial cited. Early in the spring occurred the massacre of Logan's party at Baker's, opposite the mouth of Yel- low Creek, and the attack on others at Grave Creek, in which Cresap's men were engaged.2 Then Logan broke loose with his party of revenge, ravaged the Upper Monongahela, and sent his war parties into the Ten-Mile region. A panic followed, which drove the settlers living west of the Monongahela across into the neighboring and more densely populated regions, some of them not stopping this side of the mountains. The Yellow Creek massacre occurred on Saturday, April 30, 1774; on May 7th, Valentine Crawford, brother of William, residing in what is now Fayette County, wrote to George Washington :3 "This alarm has caused the people to move from over the Monon- gahela, off Chartiers and Raccoon, as fast as ever you saw them in the year 1756 or 1757 down in Frederick County, Va. There were more than one thousand people crossed the Monongahela in one day at three ferries that are not one mile apart." Arthur St. Clair writes Governor Penn, June 12th,4 "A fresh report of Indians being seen near Hanna's Town, and another party on Braddock's Road, set the people a going again yesterday. I immediately took horse and rode up to inquire, and found it, if not totally groundless,

1 IV. Penn. Archives, 526.

" Cresap's party on the way home stopped at William Huston's at Cat- fish Camp, with one of them wounded.

3 Washington-Crawford Letters, 87.

4 IV. Penn. Archives, 514 ; I. St. Clair Papers, 307.

at least very improbable; but it was impossible to persuade the people so, and I am certain I did not meet less than one hundred families, and I think two thousand head of cattle, in twenty miles' riding."

The war, of the terrors of which these scenes formed a part, and which was called Dunmore's war, was not ended until the treaty at Camp Charlotte, in now Pick- away County, Ohio, in October. Dunmore himself was with that part of the army which came across the mountains and descended the river by way of Pitts- burgh,5 and himself arranged the terms of the treaty under circumstances which hitherto have been unac- countable except upon the supposition that for reasons known to him he designed to preserve the Indians in the interest of the British government. The war had been entirely with the Virginians, or " Long Knives," as the Indians called them. No incursions had been made upon soil admittedly of Pennsylvania. And to show a well-settled belief always entertained that Dunmore's war and Dunmore's usurpation of jurisdic- tion in the West were each parts of one plan by which to set two American governments by the ears, a quo- tation i's made from Jacobs' "Life of Michael Cresap," p. 63:6

"And we have seen from the preceding pages how effectually he (Dunmore) played his part among the inhabitants of the western coun- try. I was present myself when a Pennsylvania Magistrate of the name of Scott [Thomas Scott, see post.] was taken into custody and brought before Dunmore at Redstone Old Fort ; he was severely threat- ened and dismissed, perhaps on bail, but I do not recollect now. Another Pennsylvania Magistrate was sent to Staunton Jail. And I have already shown in the preceding pages that there was a sufficient preparation of material for this war in the predisposition and hostile attitude of our affairs with the Indians; that it was consequently no difficult matter with a Virginia Governor to direct this incipient state of things to any point most conducive to the grand end he had in view, namely, weaken- ing our national strength in some of its best and most efficient parts."

It must be remembered in this connection that the ill feeling towards the mother-country had reached that state that conventions of representative men were being held in all the colonies. The meeting of the provincial deputies chosen by the several counties in Pennsylvania began in Philadelphia on July 15, 1774, and the condition of affairs leading to such conven- tions could not have been unknown to Lord Dunmore.

Counter Proclamations .- While at Pittsburgh, on his way down the river with the division of his army under his own command, Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation,7 dated at Fort Dunmore, Sept. 17, 1774:

" A PROCLAMATION.

" Whereas, the rapid settlement made on the west side of the Alle- gheny Mountains by his Majesty's subjects within the course of these few years has become an object of real concern to his Majesty's interest

5 I. St. Clair Papers, 345.

6 John Jeremiah Jacobs was the clerk of Michael Cresap when the lat- ter did business as a trader, with his headquarters at Redstone. Cresap. on the breaking out of the war, marched to Boston with a brave set of fellows intent upon liberty, and soon died a Revolutionary patriot. Ja- cobs, the author and former clerk, married Cresap's widow, and wrote his work to vindicate his old chief's memory against Jefferson's use of the 80-called Logan speech, " Who is there to mourn for Logan ?" etc.

7 I. Oldeu Time, 506.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

in this quarter; And whereas the Province of Pennsylvania have unduly laid claim to a very valuable and extensive quantity of his Majesty's territory, and the executive part of that government, in consequence thereof, has most arbitrarily and unwarrantably proceeded to abuse the laudable advancements in this part of his Majesty's dominious by many oppressive and illegal methode in the discharge of this imaginary au- thority; And whereas the ancient claim laid to this country by the colony of Virginia, founded in reason, upon pre-occupancy and the gen- eral acquiescence of all persons, together with the instructions I have lately received from his Majesty's servants, ordering me to take this country under my administration, and as the evident injustice manifestiy offered to his Majesty by the immediate strides taken by the proprietors of Pennsylvania in prosecution of their wild claim to this country de- mand an immediate remedy, I do hereby in his Majesty's name require and command all his Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to this my proclamation, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania at their peril in this country; but, on the contrary, that a due regard and entire obedience to the laws of his Majesty's colony of Virginia under my administration be observed, to the end that regularity may ensue, and a just regard to the interest of his Majesty in this quarter, as well as to the subjects in general, may be the consequence. Given under my hand and seal at Fort Dunmore, Sept. 17, 1774.

" By his Excellency's command.

" God save the King."

" DUNMORE.

Counter to this Governor Penn issued his proclama- tion on Oct. 12, 1774:1

"A PROCLAMATION.

" Whereas, I have received information that his Excellency, the Earl of Dunmore, governor general in and over his Majesty's colony of Vir- ginia, hath lately issued a very extraordinary proclamation, setting forth [here is recited the substance of Governor Dunmore's proclamation of the 17th of September]; And whereas, although the western limits of the province of Pennsylvania have not been settled by any authority from the Crown, yet it has been sufficiently demonstrated by lines accu- rately run by the most skillful artists that not only a great tract of country west of the Laurel Hill, but Fort Pitt also are comprehended within the charter bounds of this province, a great part of which coun- try has been actually settled, and is now held under grants from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the jurisdiction of this government has been peaceably exercised in that quarter of the country till the late strange claim set up by the Earl of Dunmore in behalf of his Majesty's colony of Virginia, founded, as his Lordship is above pleased to say, 'in reason, pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons;' . . . In justice, therefore, to the proprietaries of the province of Pennsyl- vania, who are only desirous to secure their own undoubted property from the encroachment of others, I have thought fit, with the advice of the council, to issue this, my proclamation, hereby requiring all persons west of Laurel Hill to retain their settlements as aforesaid made under this province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this government; and all magistrates and other officers who hold commissions or offices under this government, to proceed as usual in the administration of justice, without paying the least regard to the said recited proclamation, until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known in the premises, at the same time strictly charging and enjoining the said inhabitants and magistrates to use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order. Given under my hand and the great seal of the said province, at Philadelphia, the twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, and so forth. "By his Honor's command.

"JOHN PENN.

"EDWARD SHIPPEN, JR., Secretary.

" God save the King."

Thus the contest had advanced another step, to a war by proclamations.

The Indian war having closed by the treaty in October, Lord Dunmore returned to Virginia, again

stopping, however, at Pittsburgh, when he was once more brought into personal communication with his Virginia adherents. He then proceeded to Redstone (Brownsville), at which place he had Thomas Scott brought before him for the offense of acting as a Pennsylvania magistrate. The scene which occurred is well given in the language of a letter by St. Clair to Governor Penn, dated Dec. 4, 1774 : 2

"SIE,-The war betwixt the Indians and Virginians is at last over. . . . But our troubles here are not yet over. The magistrates appointed by Lord Dunmore in this Country seem determined to enforce the jurisdic- tion of Virginia, and have begun with arresting one of your Honour's Officers.

"The 12th of November Mr. Connolly sent a warrant for Mr. Scott to appear before him, or the next justice, to answer for a number of Of- fences committed by him under a pretended Authority from Pennsylva- nia. The Warrant Mr. Scott did not Chuse to pay any regard to, and the same Evening a number of armed men came to his House to take him by Force to Fort Burd. There he found Lord Dunmore, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Pentecost, ready to sit in judgment upon him. Much passed amongst them, but the event was that he was obliged to enter into Re- cognisance, with two Sureties, to appear at the next Court, to be held at Pittsburgh, for the county of Augusta, on the 20th day of December, if the Court should happen to be held there that Day, or at any further Day when the Court should be held there, to answer for having acted as a Magistrate of Pennsylvania, contrary to Lord Dunmore's Procla- mation, or be committed to Goal. He chose the recognizance, the Cir- cumstances of his Family and Health rendering the other very Incon- venient. . . .

"I account it a fortunate Circumstance that they began with Mr. Scott, who, with a great deal of firmness, possesses a good share of natu- ral Understanding. In the course of an Examination, which continued near two Hours, he told Lord Dunmore that he had only one short an- swer to all his Questions, which might save his Lordships a good deal of Trouble; 'that he acted under Commission from your Honour and in Obedience to your Proclamation.' His Lordship was pleased to reply, that you had no right to give any such Commission or Authority to issue such Proclamation. Mr. Scott told him that was a Matter of which he was not a proper Judge, and would abide by the Consequences. . . . "8

The reader will observe in this letter the first refer- ence to the intended establishment of a court of jus- tice for Augusta County, Virginia, at Pittsburgh, or Fort Dunmore, as the Virginians called it. It seems to have been arranged that the first term should be held at that place on Dec. 20, 1774, for on De- cember 18th, St. Clair writes to Governor Penn : " The Court it is said will certainly be held at Pitts- burgh on the 20th. I am personally threatened, but I promised Mr. Scott to be there at the time to give him some countenance at least, if I cannot give him assistance at his trial."

The Pennsylvania magistrates having been in- structed to maintain the jurisdiction of their province, regardless of Dunmore's proclamation of Sept. 17, 1774, but with information that Pennsylvania was not in condition to contest that fact by military force, the Westmoreland County justices endeavored to ex- ecute the laws as was required of them, but, as has been seen, with trials and tribulation. Their diffi- culties will further appear from the following among other papers laid before the Provincial Council : "

1 IV. Penn. Archives, 580; I. Olden Time, 508.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 43

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