History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 46

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 46

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$ For the interest attached to this council the letter and proceedings

Petition for a New State .- The reader has now seen the establishment over the territory west of the Alleghanies of both the civil and military power of Virginia, and it must be apparent that by the winter

are here printed from the originals, presented by D. T. Morgan, Fry , from the papers of his grandfather, Col. George Morgan :

" WILLIAMSBURGE, December 13th, 1776. "SIR,-The more I consider of the state of things in your quarter, the more I am convinced of the Necessity there is to prepare for hos- tilities in the Spring ; and although Continental Troops will be stationed on the Ohio, yet the Militia must be the last great Resource from which your safety is derived. In order to form something resembling Maga- zines, for the Present I have ordered about six Tuns of Lead for West Augusta ; and that this article may be deposited in the Proper places, I wish you to summon a Council of Field Officers and Captains, and Take their Opinions which places are the fittest places for Magazines in the three countys of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio, and Transmit the result to me. I wish you would please to find out where Capt. Gibson's Cargo of Powder is, and let me know. In the Council of Officers I would desire it should be Considered whether the Militia with you want any articles Government can furnish and what it is, for be assured it will give me great pleasure to Contribute to your safety. I am of the opinion that unless your People wisely Improve this winter you may probably be destroyed. Prepare then, to make resistance while you have Time. I hope by your Vigorous Exertions your frontier may be defended, and if necessity shall require some assistance be afforded to Combat our Eu- ropean Enemies, I have great Expectations from the number and known Courage of your Militia, and if you are not wanting in foresight and preparation they will do great things. Let a plan of Defence be fixed and settled beforehand; I mean principally the places of Rendezvous and the Officers who are to act, as well as to Provide Speedy and cer- tain Intelligence. Let the Arms be kept in constant repair and readi- ness, and the Accoutrements properly fixed. It will be proper to send out Scouts and Trusty Spies Toward the Enemies Country to bring you accounts of their movements. I wish great care may be used in the Nomination of Military Officers with you, as so much depends on a proper appointment. You will please to give Strict attention to the great Objects here recommended to you, and I shall be Happy to hear of the safety of your people, whose Protection Government will omit Nothing to accomplish.

" I am, Sir, " Your most obedient servant,

"P. HENRY, JUN.

"COL. DORSEY PENTECOST."

"At a Council of War held at Catfish Camp in the District of West Augusta the 28th day of January, Anno Domini 1777.

"Present, Dorsey Pentecost, Co'y Lieut. John Cannon, Colo.

Isaac Cox, Lieut .- Colo.

Henry Taylor, Major.

David Sheperd, Co'y Lieut.

Silas Hedge, Colo.

David McClure, Lieut .- Colo.

Samuel Mccullough, Major. Zacheriah Morgan, Co'y Lieut. John Evins, Major.

Captains: John Munn. Captains: David Owings. Henry Hogland.

David Andrew.

John Wall. John Pearce Duvall.

Cornelius Thompson. James Brinton.

Gabriel Cox. Vinson Colvin.

Michael Rawlings.

James Buckhannon.

William Scott.

Abner Howell.

Joseph Ogle.

Charles Crecraft.

Willianı Price.

John Mitchell.

Joseph Tumbleson. John Hogland. Reason Virgin.

Benjamin Fry. Matthew Richey.

William Harrod.

Samuel Meason.

David Williamson.

Jacob Lister.

Joseph Cisnesy.

Peter Reasoner.

Charles Martiu.

James Rogers.

Owin Daviss.

186

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of 1776-77, at which time the Revolution had fairly begun, and the settlers were in terror and distress from anticipated Indian barbarities, already too well known to them in all their horrors,-that by this pe-

"Colonel Dorsey Penticost was unanimously chosen President of this Council, whereupon Col. Morgan and Col. Shepherd Conducted him to his seat.

"Col. David McClure was unanimously chosen Clark.

" The President Informed the Council of the Importance of the busi- ness for which he had convened them and Concluded with Recommend- ing Deliberation in their Councils, Decency and decorum in their De- bates, and then Produced Letters from his Excellency the Governor, dated the 9th and 13th of December last, Signifying the Necessity of Spedy and Vigorous Exertion of the Militia, and putting them in a „proper State of Defence &c. &c.

" Upon Motion made Resolved, That Col. Dorsey Pentecost, Col. Shep- herd, Col. Morgan, Col. Cannon, Cap. Richey, Col. McClure, Maj. Evins, Cap. Mitchel & Cap. Martin be appointed a select Council to Consider of the before Mentioned Letters and make their Report to this Council, to be then Reconsidered, and the Council adjourned until Tomorrow at 10 O'Clock.

" January 29, 1777.

" The Council met according to adjournment, and Col. Isaac Cox was unanimously Chosen Vice President. Col. Pentecost from the Select Council delivered the following Resolutions which he read in his place and then sent to the Clark's Table where they were read a Second Time, and

" Resolved, that it is the opinion of your Committee, That the follow- ing is proper Places for Magazines in the District of West Augusta (viz) the House of Gabriel Cox in the County of Yohoganin, the House of John Swearingen in the County of Monongalia & the House of David Shep- herd in the County of Ohio; and that the Six Tunns of Led to be sent to this district mentioned in his Excellency's letter of the 13th of De- cember last, addressed to Col. Pentecost, be divided in the following manner and deposited at the before mentioned places, (viz) for Yohoga- nia County 212 Tunns, for the Monongalia County 214 Tunns & for the Ohio County 114 Tuuns, being (as this Committee Conceives) as equal a Division of the said Led and other Ammunition that may be sent to this District, according to the number of People in each County as may be.

" Resolved, That his Excellency, the Governor, be requested to send with all Convenient Expedition, Powder Equivalent to the before Men- tioned Led, which agreeable to the Rifle use is one pound of Powder to two pounds of Led, with Ten Thousand flints.

" Resolved, That in Consequence of his Excellency's Requisition that it is highly Necessary and it is accordingly Strongly recommended to Col. Pentecost to send a Capt. and 50 Men down the Ohio to find out if Possible where Capt. Gibson's Cargo of Powder is, & Conduct it up to the Settlements and that it is the Opinion of this Council that the Offi- cers and Men to be employed in the Business Deserves double Wages.

"Resolved, As the Opinion of your Committee, That upon the best In- formation they can at this Time Collect, that one-third of the Militia of this District is without Guns, Occasioned by so many of the Regular Troops being furnished with Guns out of the Militia of this District, and that one-half of the remaining Part wants repairs.

" Resolved, Therefore, that Government be requested to send up to this district one Thousand Guns, these Rifles, if Possible to be had, as Mus- kets will by no means be of same Service to defend us against an Indian Enemy.

" Resolved, For the Purpose of Repairing Guns, Making Tommehocks, Sculping knives, &c., that proper Persons ought to be Employed in each County at the Public Expense, and that Thomas and William Parkeson be appointed in the County of Yohogania, and that they Immediately Open Shop at their House on the Monongahela River for the above pur- pose, and that they make with all possible Expedition all the Rifle Guns they can, and a Sufficient number of Tommehocks, Sculping knives, &c., and that the County Lieut. Reseve them, or Direct the Distribution thereof.

" Resolved, That Robert Curry be Employed for the above Purpose in the Monongahela County, and that he Open Shop at his own Dwelling- House in the forks of Cheet.

" Resolved, That Thomas Jones (or some other proper person to be ap- pointed by the County Lieut.) be appointed for the above purpose in the Ohio County, to Open Shop at the House of Col. Shepherd.

"Your Committee having Maturely & Deliberately Considered the .

riod many of the inhabitants had become weary of the contest, apparently without an end to it, and had begun to feel the want of a State government with its power nearer to them than that either of Penn- sylvania or Virginia. To illustrate that feeling a paper is now given which has never appeared

in print,1 and which cannot fail to interest by 1776. its peculiar style, as well as by the vigorous setting forth of the evils under which our early set- tlers lived :

Truly Critical and Distressed Situation of this Country, and with the deep- est Anxiety have viewed the very recent Cruel Depredations Committed on our people by our relentless Neighbor, the Indians, and with the ut- most regard have Considered his Excellency's Recommendation to pre- pair for Hostilities in the Spring, and to prepair to make Defense while we have time, and to form a plan of Defense for this Country, are of opinion that if no field Officer appear to take the Command of Troops, now raised and raising in this District at the next meeting of the differ- ent Committees, that the said Commanders forthwith order the sd Troops to such places on the Frontiers as they shall think proper, for the Present Protection of the Inhabitants, and at least one hundred of sd Troops be ordered to Grave Creek Fort,-and in case the said Troops are not stationed as aforesaid, then the County Lieut, of Yohogania County is requested to order a Lieut. and 25 men to Baker's Fort, and a Lieut and 25 men to Isaac Cox's on the Ohio, and that the County Lieut. of Ohio County order a Lieut. and 25 men to Beech Bottom, and a Lieut. and 25 men to the Grave Creek Fort, and that the County Lieut. of Monongalia County order a Capt. and 50 men to be stationed at the House of Capt. Owen Davis's, the head of Dunkard Creek, and a Lieut. and 25 men to Grave Creek to augment that Garrison to 50 men, those men to be ordered at such time as the County Lieut. shall think Proper and the Exergency of the times Require; and that Militia be Drafted, officered, and theld in Constant Rediness) to Rendezvous at the following places and in the following Manner-(Here is mentioned the active officers, the places of Rendezvous in each County, which are the places of the Magazines, the drafts and who heads them from each company, which is 15 Privates, one Sarjt. and a Commissioned officer, making in the whole about 1100 men.)

" Resolved, unanimously, That upon the first hostilities being Committed on our Settlements, that the County Lieutenant in whose County the same may Happen, Immediately call a Council of the three Countys as Proper measures may be pursued for the Chastisements of the Cruel Perpetra- tors."

[The foregoing is from a certified copy over the signature of David McClure, clerk.]

" WILLIAMSBURGH, Feb. 28, 1777.

"SIR,-You are forthwith to send one hundred men properly Officered in order to escort safely to Pittsburgh the powder purchased by Capt. Gibson. I suppose it is at Fort Louis, on the Mississippi, under the pro- tection of the Spanish Government.

" The Canoes necessary for the voyage, the provisions, and every other matter must be provided, and the officers' orders must be to lose not & moment in getting the powder to Fort Pitt. If the present Garrison leave that Fortress, you are to order two hundred militia to guard it till further orders; let necessary repairs be forthwith done that it may be put in good posture of defense. I've ordered four 4-pound Cannon to be cast for strengthening it, as I believe an attack will be made there ere long. Let the. Ammunition (Lead included) be stored there, & let it be defended to the last extremity ; give it not up but with the lives of your- self and people. Let the provisions be stored there and consider it as the Bulwark of your Country. No Militia shall be paid but those on actual duty, & I wonder any one should think otherwise. Let me know the quantity of Ammunition and stores at Pittsburgh; upon any alarm of dangerous Invasion, take care to defend Pittsburgh. Capt. Linn has a good Boat capable of bringing the Powder.

" I am, Sir, " Your humble servant,

"P. HENRY, JUN. " COUNTY LIEUTENANT OF MONONGAHELA."

1 For his copy the writer is indebted to Hon. G. L. Cranmer, of Wheel- ing. It is the same petition, doubtless, referred to in Jacobs' " Life of Michael Cresap," who says, p. 60,-

187

CIVIL AND LEGAL-PETITION FOR A NEW STATE.

" MEMORIAL FOR THE ERECTION OF A NEW STATE.

" To the Honourable the President & Delegates of the thirteen united American Colonies in General Congress assembled :

" The Memorial of the Inhabitants of the Country West of the Alle- gheny Mountains Represente :

" That whereas the province of Pennsylvania and Virginia have set up Claims to this large & extensive Country which for a considerable time past have been productive & attended with the usual Concomitants & pernicious and destructive effects of discordant and contending jurisdic- tions, innumerable Frauds, Impositions, Violences, Depredations, Feuds, Animosities, Divisions, Litigations, Disorders, & even with the Effusion of human Blood to the utter Subversion of all Laws, human & divine, of Justice, Order, Regularity & in a great Measure even of Liberty itself & must unless a timely and Speedy Stop be put to them in all Probability terminate in a Civil War, which how far it may effect the Union of the Colonies & the General Cause of America we leave to your wise, pru- dent, impartial, & Serious Consideration :- And whereas (exclusive of & as an Addition and further aggravation to the many accumulated Griev- ances & Oppressions we already labor under in consequence of the afore- said Claims & the Controversies &c thereby occasioned, the Fallacies, Violences & fraudulent Impositions of Land Jobbers, Pretended Officers & Partisans of both Land Offices & others under the Sanction of the jurisdiction of their respective Provinces, the Earl of Dunmore's War- rante, Officers & Soldiers Rights & an Infinity of other Pretexte in which they have of late proceeded so far as in Express Contradiction to the Declaration of the Continental Commissioners made on the ninth day of October 1775 at a Treaty at Fort Pitt to make encroachments on the In- dian Territorial Rights by improving, laying Warrants & Officers Claims on & Surveying some of the Islands in the Ohio and Tomahawking (or as they term it) improving in a variety of places on the Western side of said River, to the great imminent & manifest danger of involving the Country in a Bloody, ruinous, and destructive War with the Indians, a People extremely watchful, tenacious, & jealous of their Rights, Privi- leges and Liberties, and already it is to be doubted, too much inclined to a Rupture and Commencement of Hostilities from the Persuasions and Influence of British Emmissaries, Agents & Officers & the little attention unfortunately hitherto paid to them by the American Confederacy in Conciliating their affections, Confidence and Friendship;) there are a number of private or other claims to Lands within the limits of this Country equally embarrassing & perplexing; George Croghan Esquire in various Tracts, Claims Land by Purchase from the Six Nations in 1748 and confirmed to him at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 to the amount by Computation of 200,000 Acres on which are Settled already 1500 or 2000 Families; Major William Trent on Behalf of himself and the Traders, who suffered by the Indian Depredations in 1763, another large Tract Containing at least 4,000,000 of Acres by Donation & Cession of the Six Nations aforesanid at the aforesaid Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, on which 1500 or 2000 Families are already settled; and there was on the 4th day of January 1770 a certain Contract & Purchase made by the Honourable Thomas Walpole and associates (including the Ohio Com- pany & the Officers & Soldiers in the Service of the Colony in the year 1754) under the name of the Grand Ohio or Vandalia Company, with and of the Lords, Commissioners of the Treasury on Behalf of Crown for an Extensive Tract of Country within the Purchase & Cession from the aforesaid Six Nations and their Confederates at the said Treaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid made and by his Majesty's Special Command & Direc-

" As this petition recites the treaty of Pittsburgh, in October, 1775, it is probabile we may fix its date (for it has uone) to the latter part of 1776 or 1777. I rather think the latter, not only from my own recollection of the circumstances of that period, but especially from the request in the petition to be erected into a new State, which certainly would not be thought of before the Declaration of Independence." But it is now possible to fix the date of this remarkable petition with more certainty by other papers, for which the writer is indebted to Mr. Cranmer, to wit, a letter from Jasper Yeates to James Wilson, Esq., dated Pittsburgh, July 30, 1776, with a P.S. of date Aug. 1, 1776, in which latter the petition is mentioned as then being circulated and intended for Congress and its contents described, and another paper, being "The Address and Memo- rial of the Committee of West Augusta County" to the Speaker of the Lower House of the Virginia Assembly, praying that the " Hon'ble House will take such steps in the premises & make such necessary Regulations to ensure Union to the Inhabitants in these times of public Calamity, etc., in which also the petition is mentioned, and the bounds of the 14th state described, " Beginning on the Eastern Bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Scioto, etc."

tions notified to the Indians of the Western Triben at the aforeand ton- federacy on the 3rd day of April 1773 by Alexander SU Kee, L. p. Deputy Agent of the Western Department for Ind.an Allurs on the Plains of Scioto, who by their Answer of the 6th of the same Month, expremed their approbation thereof and Satisfaction & Acquiescence therelo, at the same Time justly observing that it was as necessary for prudent People to govern the white settlers, as for the Indians to take Care of their foolish young men.

"This is a country of at least 240 miles in Length, from the Kittan- ning to opposite the Mouth of Scioto, 70 or 80 in Breadth, from the Alle- gheney Mountains to the Ohio, rich, fertile and healthy even beyond & Credibility & peopled by at least 25,000 Families since the year 1768 (a population we believe scarce to be paralleled iu the Annals of any Coun- try) Miserably distressed & harrassed and rendered a scene of the most consummate Anarchy & Confusion by the Ambition of some, aud avarice of others, and its wretched Inhabitants (who through almost insuper- able Difficulties, Hardships, Fatigues & Dangers at the most imminent Risque of their lives, their little all and everything that was dear and valuable to them, were endeavoring to secure an Asylum & a Safe Retreat from threatening Penury for their tender numerous families with which they had removed from the lower Provinces and settled themselves in different Parts of the aforesaid Lands & Claims agreeable to the usual Mode of Colonization & an Ancient Equitable & long established Custom & Usage of the Coloniex, the Rights of Pre-Emption whenever those Lands could be rightfully & legally conveyed & disposed of:) after surmounting every other Obstacle to the Hopes, their Expectations & wishes, now un- happily find themselves in a worse & more deplorable Situation than whilst living on the poor, barren rented Lands in their various respective Provinces below: through Party Rage, the Multiplicity of Proprietary Claims & Claimants & the Precariousness & Uncertainty of every kind of Property from the forecited Causes, the want of Regular Administra- tion of Justice & of a due and proper Executive and Exertion of a system of Laws & regulations, and Mode of Polity & Government, adapted to their peculiar Necessities, local Circumstances and Situation, and its Inhabitants, who tho' neither Politicians nor Orators, are at least a rational and Social People inured to Hardships & Fatigues, & løy expe- rience taught to despise Dangers & Difficulties, and having immigrated from almost every Province of America, brought up under and Accus- tomed to various different & in many respects discordant & even Contra- dictory Systems of Laws & Government & since their being here from the want of Laws & Order Irritated and exasperated by Ills & urged & Compelled by Oppressions & Suffering and having imbibed the highest and most extensive Ideas of Liberty, as the only pure efficient source of Happiness and Prosperity will with Difficulty Submit to, the being an- nexed to or Subjugated by (Terms Synonymous to them) any one of those provinces much less the being partitioned or parcelled out among them, or be prevailed on to entail a state of Vassalage & Dependence on their Posterity, or Suffer themselves who might be the happiest & perhaps not the least useful Part of the American Confederacy as forming a secure, extensive & Effectual Frontier & Barrier against the Incursions, Rav- ages & Depredations of the Western Savages, to be Enslaved by any set of Proprietary or other Claimants, or arbitrarily deprived & robbed of those Lands & that Country to which by the Laws of Nature & of Nations they are entitled as first Occupants, and for the Possession of which they have resigned their All & exposed themselves aud families to Inconven- iences, Dangers & Difficulties, which Language itself wants Words to express & describe, whilst the Rest of their Countrymen softened by Ease, enervated by Affluence & Luxurious Plenty' & unaccustomed to Fatigues, Hardships, Difficulties or Dangers, are bravely coutending for and exerting themselves on Behalf of a Constitutional, national, rational, & social Liberty.

"We the Subscribers Inhabitants of the Country as aforesaid therefore by Leave by - hereby plenarily, amply & specially delegated, inter- ested, authorized & impowered to act & to do for us on this occasion as our immediate Representatives, Solicitors, Agents, & Attoruies, Humbly to represent to you as the Guardians, Trustees, Curators, Conservators & Defrees of all that is dear or valualde to Americans, that in our Opinion no Country or People can be either rich, flourishing, happy, or free ( the only laudable, rightful, useful, warrantable & rational ends of Government,) or enjoy the sweets of that Liberty, the Love & desire of which is radically impressed on, Self-Existant with & animates & actuates, every brave, generous, humane and honest soul, and for which every American Breast at this time pauts and glows with an unusual Flow of Warmth and Expectation & with redoubled zeal and Ardor : whilst annexed to or dependent on any Province whose seat of Government is those of Penn- sylvania & Virginia four or five hundred miles distant and separated by a Vast, extensive & almost impassable Tract of Mountains, by Nature

188

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

itself formed and pointed out as a Boundary between this Country & those below it, that justice might be both Tedious and Expensive, the Execution of the Laws dilatory & perhaps mercenary, if not arbitrary ; Redress of Grievances precarious and Slow and the Country so situated without participating of any of the Advantages suffer all the Inconven- iences of such a Government & be continually exposed, as we already too well know, by Dear bought and fatal experience to the violence, Frauds, Depredations, Exactions, Oppressions of interested, ambitious, designing, insolent, avaricious, rapacious & mercenary Men & Officers- And pray, that the said Country be constituted, declared & acknowledged a separate, distinct & independent Province & Government by the title & under the Name of 'The Province & Government of Westsylvania,' be empowered & enabled to form such Laws & Regulations & such a System of Polity & Government as is best adapted & most agreeable to the peculiar Necesities, local Circumstances & Situation thereof and its Inhabitants invested with every other Power, Right, Privilege & Immu- nity, vested or to be vested in the other American Colonies; be Consid- ered as a Sister Colony & the fourteenth Province of the American Con- federacy, that its Boundaries be :- Beginning at the eastern Branch [bank] of the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Scioto and running thence to the top of the Allegheny Mountains, thence with the Top of the said Mountain to the Northern Limits of the Purchase made from the Indians in 1768, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid, thence with the said Limits to the Allegheny or Ohio River and thence down the said River as purchased from the said Indians at the aforesaid Treaty of Fort Stau- wix, to the Beginning.

"And that for the more effectual Prevention of all future and further Fraude & Impositions, being practiced upon us, thereby all Proprietary or other Claims or Grants, heretofore by or to whomsoever made of Lands within the aforesaid Limits of the said Province, with & under the approbation & Sanction of the General Congress or Grand Conti- nental Council of State of the United American Colonies:

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 46

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