History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 72

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 72

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In a letter written by Col. William Sample,2 who was present with Brackenridge at the Mingo Meeting- house on the 23d of July, he gives an account of some of the occurrences there, as follows :

"SIR,-At your request, I shall give you a short detail of the circumstances leading to, and of the principal traits of your conduct at Mingo Meeting- house. I remember that it was the general opinion of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh, that it would be prudent that a number of persons should be sent from this place to meet those who were collecting from various parts of the country. No instructions, to my knowledge, were given to those who went. But I understood the general purport of our going there, was to hear and report. You asked me if I would make one of the number that would go. I hesitated for some time, and until I asked the opinion of Col. Presley Neville, which was ' I see no harm in

your going there if you choose to venture, and if you do, I will thank you to carry a letter for me to the chairman of the committee, contradicting some false aspersions which have been industriously circulated, respecting the Marshal and myself being released upon our words of honor to hold ourselves as pris- oners on demand, that night my father's house was burned.' I accepted the office, and came back to you, and told you I would go. When we arrived at Jacob Friggley's house, near the meeting-house, in the course of various conversations, a tall man there, with red hair, frequently expressed a warmth of af- fection for Presley Neville; seemingly commiserated his situation, and took some credit to himself in res- cuing him when he was made prisoner, the night aforesaid; but at the same time, was still making some sarcastic observations on his [Col. Neville's] father. I found the temper of the people was wound up to a very high pitch, and I took this favorable op- portunity of delivering Col. Neville's letter to him, after finding his name was Parkinson and that he had considerable influence ; telling him that the Colonel had desired me to deliver this letter to him in case I should find him, and requested he would deliver it to the chairman. He readily took it and it was the first thing brought on the carpet at the meeting. The secretary read the letter, but no observations followed. After some silence, a person stood up and made a mo- tion that the burning of Gen. Neville's house, and those concerned in it, should be justified and sup- ported. I could observe the people of the meeting considerably agitated. Col. Marshal, of Washington, was the first who ventured to oppose this motion, and he appeared to do so both with fear and trembling. After this speech was over, David Bradford arose, and beckoned to Benjamin Parkinson (as Capt. Josiah Tannehill informed, who had mixed with the crowd and happened to sit down on the forms close by him), asked him if the relation Col. Neville had given in the letter was true? To which question Parkinson answered, putting his hand to his breast, it is true. Mr. Bradford then dropping the subject of the letter, began a most violent and inflammatory oration in support of the first motion: "I observed Mr. Bracken- ridge, in the course of this oration, who being seated at the west end of the church, and opposite to the principal part of the Pittsburghers, who had seated themselves at the east corner by themselves, in great agitation, often throwing his head down on his hand, and in the attitude of study. At length, Mr. Brad- ford's speech being ended, Mr. Brackenridge advanced nearly to the middle of the house, and opposite the chairman, and began his speech, slowly and irregu- larly ; for the current of the people's prejudices seemed to be strongly against him. He first opened the reasons why the few persons from Pittsburgh came there; that they were not instructed, nor had they delegated powers to agree, or to disagree, on any proposition that might be made; they came only to

1 Hist. West Insurrection, by H. M. Brackenridge.

2 The letter-dated Pittsburgh, Sept. 20, 1795-was addressed to H. H. Brackenridge; having been procured by him for the purpose of showing by the testimony of one present that his speech upon that occasion proved him to be not in sympathy with, but opposed to, the acts and purposes of the insurgents.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

hear and report. He took various methods of divert- ing the audience from the speech that preceded his. Sometimes he would give a sarcastical stroke at the excise, and the inventors of it, and then tell some droll story thereto relating, in order, as I apprehend, to unbend the audience's mind from the serious tone to which they had been wrought up. He viewed the subject before him in various lights; and then en- tered warmly on his main argument, which was, to dissuade the audience from the first proposition. He told them in direct words that he hoped they would not involve the whole country in a crime which could not be called by a less name than high treason ; that this would certainly bring down the resentment of the general government, and there would be none left to intercede.

"The audience seemed petrified, thunderstruck with such observations, and when he had done not a person seemed desirous of renewing the arguments. Silence ensued for some time, and then the company broke up, and some went to drink at the spring, and others in little knots or clubs were dispersed over the green. Those who came from Pittsburgh, finding that the audience was to be called to the church once more, took this opportunity to make the best of their way to Jacob Friggley's. The company met again, but I know not that they did any business of conse- quence, for Mr. Brackenridge was soon with us, and we took our horses and returned to Pittsburgh."

After the departure of the Pittsburgh delegation the meeting was re-convened, and after the delivery of inflammatory harangues by Bradford, Marshal, and others was dissolved, the last and most important business of the day being the adoption of a resolu- tion or call, which during the succeeding week was published and widely circulated through the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fay- ette, as follows :

" By a respectable number of citizens who met on Wednesday the 23d inst. at the meeting-house on Mingo ,Creek, it is recommended to the township of the four western counties of Pennsylvania, and the neigh- boring counties of Virginia, to meet and choose not more than five, nor less than two representatives, to meet at Parkinson's Ferry on the Mo- nongahela, on Thursday the 14th of August next, to take into consider- ation the condition of the Western Country."

Three days after the meeting at Mingo Creek Church there was committed an act of outlawry as bold and daring as the burning of Gen. Neville's house, and even more momentous in its results. This was the robbery of the United States mail, on its way from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The project origi- nated in Washington County, with David Bradford. His first idea and plan was to capture the eastern mail from Washington, on its way from that town to Pittsburgh, hoping thereby to ascertain from its con- tents the real sentiments of the citizens of Washing- ton concerning the recent outrage at Neville's. This plan he made known to Col. Marshel, David Hamil- ton, and John Baldwin, either at the Mingo meeting or while on their way there, and asked their co-opera-

tion and assistance in carrying it out. It appears that this proposition did not find favor with Hamilton and Baldwin, though for what reason is not apparent, as one of them, at least, took part in the scheme which was afterwards adopted in its stead, which was to seize the .eastward-bound mail from Pittsburgh,1 which was done on the 26th of July, on the post-road between Pittsburgh and Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., at a point about twenty-two miles east of the first-named town, the robbery being done by William Bradford (a cousin of David) and John Mitchell, which last-named person was employed for the pur- pose by David Hamilton. These men, having ob- tained possession of the mail-pouch, took out the Pittsburgh and Washington packages, and returned the pouch, with its other contents, to the carrier. They then rode to the Monongahela, crossed the river at Parkinson's Ferry, and delivered the stolen mail matter to Benjamin Parkinson. He reported with it to Bradford, who then (in company with Park- inson and Col. James Marshel and Alexander Fulton) took it to the " Black Horse Tavern," kept by Henry Westbay, in Canonsburg. There it was taken to a private room, where it was opened and examined by Bradford, in presence of Marshel, Parkinson, Fulton, Col. John Canon,2 and Thomas Speer, of Canons- burg, and two or three others. The mail from Wash-

1 Concerning this mail robbery, Judge Alexander Addison, in a letter to H. H. Brackenridge, dated Jan. 18, 1795, said,-

"I have been pursuing the plan for robbing the mail, and can trace it no higher than Bradford. It was proposed by him to Marshal, on their way to the Mingo Meeting-house, Baldwin and David Hamilton were in company, and it was put on them to execute it. The object to be obtained was to know the opinions of the people on the business car- ried on. The post to be robbed was the post from Washington to Pitts- burgh; and it was only when Baldwin and Hamilton sent word that they could not perform their part, and when it was too late to inter- cept the mail to Pittsburgh, that the plan was changed to what was really executed. Bradford sent his cousin William, and David Hamilton, I believe, sent John Mitchell, who executed the business. My informa- tion is from a good source, and may be depended on."

In reference to the same matter, H. M. Brackenridge (son of H. H. Brackenridge) said,-

"On the failure of the first scheme of stopping the mail from Wash- ington, Bradford determined to intercept that from Pittsburgh to Phila- delphia, in order to find out what was written by persons in the former place to those at the head of the government. He sent his cousin, Wil- liam Bradford, while David Hamilton sent an obscure, ignorant man of the name of John Mitchell, who perpetrated the deed. The post was intercepted when about ten miles from Greensburg, on the 26th of July, three days after the Mingo meeting. The packets from Washington and Pittsburgh were taken out. They were carried by Benjamin Park- inson to Washington, and thence accompanied by Bradford and Marshal to Canonsburg, a small village about seven miles distant. On the Wash- ington packet being opened, no letters on the late affairs from any indi- viduals of that place were found, but there were some from individuals of Pittsburgh, and as eavesdroppers seldom hear any good of themselves, these letters contained matters which gave great offence, especially to Bradford."

2 " John Canon and a Mr. Speer, a store-keeper in Canonsburg, were invited to the tavern, and the mail was opened. In the course of con- versation at the tavern it was asked what will be done with those known to be connected in the attack and burning of Neville's house? Bradford replied, 'They will be hung,' and suggested that the only way to protect them was to involve the whole western country in the matter, and that the numbers concerned would prevent extreme measures on the part of the government."-Carnahan.

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THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

ington was found to contain nothing objectionable, The significance of this circular was only partially apparent. It was evidently a call for a general ren- dezvous of the militia at Braddock's Field, but it did not set forth the ulterior object of the leaders, which was (at least with Bradford) to march on the town of but in the Pittsburgh package there were discovered five letters, the contents of which threw Bradford into a rage, and placed the writers under the ban of the insurgent leaders. These letters were from Col. Presley Neville to Gen. Morgan ; Gen. Gibson to Gov- : Pittsburgh, besiege and reduce the fort, seize the ernor Mifflin ; James Bryson to Governor Mifflin ; Edward Day to the Secretary of the Treasury, and from Maj. Thomas Butler (commandant at the fort) to the Secretary at War. These letters were kept by Bradford; the rest of the mail was re-sealed and re- stored to the packages to be returned to the office at Pittsburgh.

The discovery by these letters of the strong senti- ment of opposition that existed among the principal men in Pittsburgh to the lawless acts of the insur- gents gave great alarm to Bradford and others, and he lost no time in taking new measures calculated to fur- ther inflame the minds of the disaffected, and to bring the wavering ones to side with the insurrectionists. Seventeen days must yet elapse before the appointed meeting of delegates at Parkinson's Ferry, and during that time the excitement might to a great extent sub- side, and a reaction set in. Dreading such a result, he, with the others who were gathered at the " Black Horse" in Canonsburg on the day of opening of the Pittsburgh and Washington mail, issued from that place a circular, addressed to the militia officers of the four western counties of Pennsylvania, as follows :

"SIR,-Having had suspicions that the Pittsburgh post would carry with him the sentiments of some of the people in the country respecting our present situ- ation, and the letters by the post being now in our pos- session, by which certain secrets are discovered hostile to our interest, it is therefore now come to that crisis his words, but by his. actions. You are then called upon as a citizen of the western country to render your personal service, with as many volunteers as you can raise, to rendezvous at your usual place of meet- ing on Wednesday next, and thence you will march to the usual place of rendezvous at Braddock's Field,1 on the Monongahela, on Friday, the first day of Au- gust next, to be there at two o'clock in the afternoon, with arms and accoutrements in good order. If any volunteers shall want arms and ammunition, bring them forward, and they shall be supplied as well as possible. Here, sir, is an expedition proposed in which you will have an opportunity of displaying your military talents, and of rendering service to your country. Four days' provisions will be wanted ; let the men be thus supplied.

[Signed] "J. CANON, B. PARKINSON,

D. BRADFORD, A. FULTON,

T. SPEARS [Speer], J. LOCKNY [Lochry], J. MARSHEL.

"July 28, 1794."

I magazines and all the arms, ammunition, and equip- ments to be found in the fort and town ; also to cap- ture the writers of the obnoxious letters, and imprison them in the jail at Washington. This part of the plan, though not declared in the call, became imme- diately and generally known, and it was at once ap- parent that among the people of the county there was a general approval of the project. "When an officer disapproved the circular letter," says Brackenridge, "he did not dare to conceal from his battalion or company that he had received such a notice;2 ånd when communicated, it was the people commanding the officer, and not the officer the people,-'Call us out, or we will take vengeance on you as a traitor to the country.' The whole country was one inflammable mass; it required but the least touch of fire to ignite it. I had seen the spirit which prevailed at the Stamp Act, and at the commencement of the Revolution from the government of Great Britain, but it was by no means so general and so vigorous amongst the com- mon people as the spirit which now existed in the country."

With reference to the readiness displayed by offi- cers and soldiers to obey these orders, emanating as they did from no responsible authority, Judge Addi- son said that in consequence of the danger of Indian incursions having often rendered it necessary in this region to assemble the military force without waiting for orders from the government, "it had become that every citizen must express his sentiments, not by : habitual with the militia of these counties to assem- ble at the call of their officers, without inquiring into the authority or object of the call. This habit, well known to the contrivers of the rendezvous at Brad- dock's Field, rendered the execution of their plan an easy matter. They issued their orders to the officers of the militia, who assembled their men, accustomed to obey orders of this kind given on the sudden and without authority. The militia came together with- out knowing from whom the orders originated, or for what purpose they met. And when met it was easy to communicate from breast to breast more or less of the popular frenzy, till all felt it or found it prudent to dissemble and feign that they felt it."

But many among the more influential and conser- vative people disapproved of, and were alarmed at, the intended demonstration. Several of these remon- strated with Bradford and Marshel, protesting against

1 Braddock's Field was the place where the annual brigade musters were held.

2 " Great exertions, however, were made in communicating the circu- lar letters, and though many who probably wished to suppress them durst not, there were some who did keep their secret, and some clergy- men and others, in the south of Washington County, were active and successful with their neighbors in dissuading them from going."-Find- ley, p. 97.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the carrying out of their dangerous plan, and insisting on the issuance of another circular countermanding the march of the troops to the rendezvous.1 Finally Bradford appeared to yield, and sent out circulars, one of which was as follows :

"DEAR SIR,-Upon receiving some late intelligence from our runners, we have been informed that the ammunition we were about to seize, was destined for Gen. Scott, who is just going out against the Indians. We therefore have concluded not to touch it. I give you this early notice, that your brave men of war need not turn out till further notice.

" Yours &c., "DAVID BRADFORD.

"COL. DAVID WILLIAMSON "

These circulars, however, were issued only two or three days before the time appointed for the rendez- vous, and this, together with the absurd character of the notice, prevented their having any effect except in a few instances. In general the men were deter- mined to march, and did march to the field.

"No sooner was the news of this frivolous counter order rumored through the town of Washington- which being in the midst of a farming population and entertaining feelings more in common with them than those of the town of Pittsburgh, where there was more trade and more government influence-than the peo- ple of Washington broke out into a furious rage, called a meeting at the court-house, and those of the coun- try hearing of it, came rushing in under still greater excitement. James Ross, United States senator, who then resided there, in a speech of great earnestness of two hours endeavored to dissuade the populace. Thomas Scott, of the House of Representatives, Thomas Stokely, of the State Senate, David Redick, prothonotary, Henry Purviance, and others of the bar exerted themselves to effect the same object. James Marshel was in earnest to retract, and spoke publicly. Bradford, seeing the violence of the mul- titude, by which he was always swayed, was more inflammatory than he had ever been ; denied that he had given his consent to the countermand, and asked with confidence who was the scoundrel who would say he had consented. There happened to be no one present who could contradict him or was willing to do so. It was now carried by a vote that the march to Braddock's Field should proceed. To show their displeasure with Marshel, the door of his house was tarred and feathered that night; threats of personal injury were thrown out, and he was compelled to de- clare his readiness to go." 2

The reported intention of the insurgent leaders to march from the appointed rendezvous on the 1st of August to attack the fort and despoil the town of Pittsburgh was generally known by the inhabitants of that place, and they were in consequence in a state of great anxiety, which was intensified to the wildest consternation by the arrival there in the afternoon of the day preceding that fixed for the mustering at Braddock's Field of a committee from Washington, bringing, as it was understood, from the leaders of the insurrection a message and demand of such im- portance that its immediate consideration and accep- tance was necessary if the town was to be saved from destruction. In this alarming situation of affairs notices were at once sent out to the inhabitants of the place to attend a meeting to be held at the court- house in the evening of that day (July 31st), for the purpose of adopting measures to insure the public safety.

The meeting, composed of very nearly all the male adults of the town of Pittsburgh, assembled at an early hour in the evening, and an organization was soon effected by the choice of Gen. Gibson as chair- man, and Matthew Ernest secretary. The main business was at once announced,-to hear and act upon a communication brought by the committee from Washington, viz .: Absalom Baird, William Meet- kirk, Henry Purviance, and Gabriel Blakeney. The mail-packets which had been taken from the post- rider on the Philadelphia road near Greensburg, five days before, had been delivered to them by Bradford and Marshel, to be returned to the Pittsburgh post- office, with all their contents except the letters of Neville, Gibson, Bryson, Day, and Butler. But this was not the principal object of their mission. They brought the intelligence that Bradford and his satel- lites had taken great umbrage at the contents of the suppressed letters; that they were determined to take vengeance on the writers, and that the people who were even then on their march to the rendezvous at Braddock's Field were in a state of ungovernable fury, and apparently determined to destroy Pitts- burgh,3-a resolve which would undoubtedly be put

1 " When Col. [John] Hamilton and some others had discovered the design of attacking the garrison [at Pittsburgh], and persuaded Bradford and Marshel to countermand the orders, he told them that the arms were for an expedition against the Indians, under General Scott. Bradford, without even consulting Marshel, or answering a word to Hamilton, wrote the countermand, and handing it to Hamilton, asked him if that would do. He inserted in a postscript what he had been told of Scott's expedition as a reason for the countermand; this first brought the de- sign of the rendezvous to light; but it seems it was now given up; but the rendezvous being carried on, some who attended still believed that to have been the object of it, till they were convinced of its being laid aside by the event."-Findley.

" Brackeuridge's History of the Western Insurrection, pp. 84-85.

8 " The common language of the time in the country was, they were going to take Pittsburgh; some talked of plundering the town. It was an expression used, that as the old Sodom had been burned by fire from heaven, this second Sodom should be burned by fire from earth. The shop-keepers were told at their counters, by persons cheapening their goods, that they would get them at a less price in a few days. The very women coming in from the country would say, ' That fine lady lives in a fine house, but her pride will be humbled by and by.' Persons were coming to the blacksmiths with old guns, that had lain by a long time, to be repaired. Others were buying up flints and powder from the stores; there were many who were supposed to be from distant parts, no one in the town knowing them. Some were supposed to be spies, to see the condition of the garrison or the town; without appearing to have anything to do, they were seen to be lounging about from place to place. . . . It was now understood that preparations were everywhere making throughout the survey, and especially on the south [west] side of the Monongahela and in the neighborhood of that river, for the con- templated rendezvona at Braddock's Field. Maj. Butler had been in- dustrious to improve the defenses of his garrison; Maj. Craig, the

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

in execution on the morrow, unless some effective means were at once taken to prevent it. It was to give this warning to the people of that town, and to assist in devising some means to avert its destruction, that the men of the Washington committee now came; and it was with great difficulty that they had made their way there at all, for they had several times been stopped on the road by people in the interest of the insurgents, who wished to prevent any warning as to the true state of affairs from reaching the people of the doomed town, as they then supposed Pittsburgh to be.

These facts having been communicated to the meet- ing by a committee who had been appointed for con- ference with the Washington delegation, the question at once came up, what should be done to avert the stroke that seemed about to fall. The gentlemen from Washington gave it as their opinion that but two measures were practicable at best, and that either one, or even both of these, if adopted, would be as likely to fail as to succeed. One of these was that the pro- scribed persons be at once banished1 (or, in other words, that they leave the town with the appearance of banishment), and the fact announced without de- lay to the insurgent leaders; and the other, that the citizens of Pittsburgh should march in a body to Braddock's Field, there to appear to fraternize with the insurgents, and convince them that the people of Pittsburgh were not their enemies, but friends.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 72

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