History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 78

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 78

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"Capt. Dunlap, of Philadelphia, and his company were sent to Muddy Creek in the upper end of Wash- ington County ; they took Colonel Crawford and son, Mr. Sedgwick, a justice of the peace, Mr. Corbly, a clergyman of the Baptist persuasion, and others. They were taken early in the morning, and had no opportunity of making resistance. Capt. Dunlap and his party, while they behaved with the greatest dexterity in taking the prisoners, treated them with

as much politeness and attention as their situation would admit of, and engaged their gratitude by ac- companying unavoidable severity with humanity.1 Capt. Dunlap had a discrimination made in his or- ders between witnesses and supposed criminals, but treated them all with humanity, and had them com- fortably lodged and provided with victuals and drink previous to his taking refreshments himself. By the orders given to Gen. Irwin [Irvine?] he was obliged to take and treat them all as criminals, but he did not insult any of them himself, nor permit them to be insulted by others in his hearing, and he pro- vided for them as well as the camp would permit, and that being a very uncomfortable situation, he had them removed from it as soon as he could. . . . Gen. White was himself the leading, or perhaps the only man of his corps who insulted the prisoners with the most opprobrious language, and punished them in the most shocking manner, short of inflicting death."

An account of the arrest of one of the elders of the Associate Presbyterian Church in Chartiers township at that time is related by Alexander Murdoch, Esq., of Washington borough, as follows: "In one of the last conversations I had with my mother, who was a daughter of the Rev. Matthew Henderson, of the As- sociate (now United Presbyterian) Congregation of Chartiers, she related the following incident touching the Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania. On a certain Sabbath morning [probably Sunday, Nov. 16, 1794] Mr. Henderson, with my mother (who was then a little girl) riding behind him, on horseback, started for the old church on the hill. When they reached the road leading to Pittsburgh, they saw, in advance of them, a jumper, made of hickory poles, hauled by a horse ; and on this sled was a copper still and the different appliances for the manufacture of whiskey. This was a most unusual sight on a quiet Sabbath morning in that religious and orderly community. But in a moment after they were horrified by seeing a file of United States soldiers, and in their midst, a close prisoner, was one of the elders of Mr. Henderson's congregation, the owner of the confiscated still. When the elder saw his preacher he exclaimed in most piteous tones, 'Ah, Meester Henderson, ain't this terrible?' Mr. Henderson being a law-abiding man proceeded to his church in discharge of his sacred duties, leaving his poor elder to answer the charge of distilling liquors without the payment of a government tax."

1 " These prisoners," says Findley, " assert that they had not the oppor- tunity of signing the terms of the commissioners until the appointed day was past. They were admitted to bail after several months' impris- onment, and though two of those persons were reported to have been a good deal inflammatory, there was no bill found against any of them on their trial. They were not engaged in the outrages against excise officers, or at the rendezvous at Braddock's Field. I cannot find that Sedgwick, the justice of the peace, had done anything to lay a founda- tion even for suspicion. Crawford, the younger, had been one of the armed party who appeared at the Redstone meeting with a design to punish Jackson; but he was dismissed at Pittsburgh."

301

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

Among the prisoners taken (and afterwards marched to Philadelphia) was Capt. Robert Porter, of Wash- ington County. He found that his name was in the list of those who had been denounced as participants in the insurrection, and, without waiting for arrest, he, on the 13th of November, proceeded to the mouth of Mingo Creek, where the Virginia brigade of Gen. Matthews was encamped, and delivered himself up to Col. Campbell, asking for an examination. A man named Pollock appeared and made some charges against him, but as he was intoxicated and could bring no facts to support his accusations, no notice was taken of them, and he was ordered out of the camp as a vag- abond, but Capt. Porter was still held in custody. A narrative of events which followed (gathered from entries in Capt. Porter's journal, written by his own hand) was furnished by his grandson, J. M. Porter, to H. M. Brackenridge, and by him published in his " History of the Western Insurrection," from which the following extracts are taken :

" On the night of the 13th November, 1794, James Stewart, Joseph Chambers, Jacob Forwood, Joel Ferree, George Swasick, Sr., George Swasick, Jr., James Swasick, George Sickman, and James Mc- Bride were brought into camp, handcuffed, and deliv- ered over to the provost-guard. On the 14th, Col. Lane's regiment, with the prisoners, marched down the river to Benjamin Bentley's, the balance of the army, with the baggage, marching by Esquire Bar- clay's, the army constantly swearing and heaping imprecations against the rebels that occasioned their coming so far over hills and mountains without the satisfaction of a man to oppose them or a gun fired upon them. At Bentley's the prisoners were confined in a log cabin overnight without fire, though it was a cold, snowy, stormy night, and neither chunking nor daubing in the cabin. On the 15th they were ordered down to the Governor's [Lee's] body-guard, and by them delivered over to Capt. George Denial, and were marched the same day through the snow- storm toward Pittsburgh, where they arrived on the 16th. On the 17th they were conducted to the gar- rison, and delivered to the care of Col. Butler."

The commander-in-chief, at Uniontown, on the 1st of November, had announced his intention "to hold the army in this country until daily practice shall convince all that the sovereignty of the Constitution and laws is unalterably established." In a few days after his forces marched northward from that place he became so convinced, and at once began to make ar- arrangements for the return of the army. The notifi- cation of the reopening of the inspection offices was made on the 10th,1 and they were accordingly re-

opened ten days later without opposition at the prin- cipal towns of the four counties. The withdrawal of the army was announced, and the order of its return march directed, in orders by Gen. Lee, dated " Head- quarters, Pittsburgh, Nov. 17, 1794," viz. :

"The complete fulfillment of every object dependent on the efforts of the army makes it the duty of the commander-in-chief to take measures for the immediate return of his faithful fellow-soldiers to their respec- tive homes, in execution of which no delay will be permitted but that which results from the consultation of their comfort.

"On Tuesday morning, at the hour of eight, the Pennsylvania Cavalry will be ready to accompany his Excellency Governor Mifflin, whose offi- cial duties renders his presence necessary at the seat of government.

"On the next day the first division of the right column, consisting of the Artillery and Proctor's Brigade, under the orders of Maj .- Gen. Irvine, will commence their march to Bedford, on the route commonly called the Old Pennsylvania road.

" The following day at the same hour the New Jersey Line will move under the command of his Excellency Governor Howell, who will be pleased to pursue from Bedford such routes as he may find convenient.

"On the subsequent day at the same hour the residue of the Pennsyl- vania Line now on this ground will march under the command of Brig .. Gen. Chambers, taking the route heretofore mentioned, and making the same stages as shall have been made by the leading division. Maj .- Gen. Frelinghuysen, with the Elite Corps of the right column, will follow the next day and pursue the same route.

" Brig .- Gen. Smith, with the Maryland Line, will move to Uniontown, agreeably to orders heretofore communicated to him, and from thence to proceed on Braddock's road to Fort Cumberland, where he will adopt the most convenient measures in his power for the return of his troops to their respective counties.

" Brig .- Gen. Matthews will move on Wednesday next to Morgan Town, from thence to Winchester by way of Frankfort. From Winches- ter the troops will be marched to their respective brigades under the commanding officers from each brigade.

" As soon as the public service will permit afterwards, the Elite Corps of the left column, under Gen. Dark, will follow on the route prescribed for Brig. Matthews, and be disbanded as they reach their respective brigades.

". . . The corps destined for the winter defense will move without delay to Bentley's Farm, on the west side of the Monongahela, near Perry's Ferry, where they will receive orders from Maj .- Gen. Morgan.

" The Virginia Cavalry will take the route by Morgan Town, from thence to Winchester by Romney's; the commandant will receive par- ticular instructions as to their time and manner of march.

" The right column will receive their pay (still due) at Bedford, the Maryland Line at Fort Cumberland, and the Virginia Line at Winches- ter. . . . "

The army moved on its return in accordance with these orders. The right column marched from Pitts- burgh, by way of Greensburg, Ligonier, and Stony Creek, to Bedford, and thence by way of Fort Lyt- tleton, Stradsburg, and Shippensburg to Carlisle. The troops of the left column returned by different routes, the Virginians marching up the Monongahela valley

office of the county in which they respectively reside, and to do further what the laws prescribe concerning the same, of which they may receive more particular information from the officer of inspection with whom entry is made.

" JOHN NEVILLE,

" Inspector of the Revenue, District of Pennsylvania, Fourth Survey. " Nov. 10, 1794."

On the 27th of November the inspector announced that he was " di- rected to notify all persons in the counties of Allegheny, Fayette, and Bedford against whom suits have been commenced in the court of the . United States for neglecting to enter their stills that upon their coming forward immediately to the collectors of each county and paying one year's arrearages upon the capacity of the still and the costs of suit, a bill of which will be furnished, the actions will be discontinued."- Penna. Archives, iv., pp. 449, 481.

1 " The announcement by Inspector Neville was as follows :

" Notice is hereby given that on Thursday, the 20th instant, an office of inspection will be opened at Pittsburgh for the county of Allegheny, at the town of Washington for the county of Washington, at Greensburg for the county of Westmoreland, and at Union Town for the county of Fayette. All distillers are required forthwith to enter their stills at the 20

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

into their own State, and passing on by way of Mor- gantown to Winchester; and the Maryland brigade starting from its camp at Pierce's Ferry, thence mov- ing southeastwardly through Fayette County and its county town to the Great Crossings of the Youghio- gheny, and from there to Fort Cumberland by the same route over which it had advanced.

The corps left under command of Gen. Morgan, to remain in this region through the winter for the pres- ervation of order, and to assist, if necessary, in the execution of the laws, was placed in camp at Bentley's on the southwest side of the Monongahela. This force was composed in part of troops who had come from the East under Gen. Lee, and partly of men enlisted in the western counties, as advised in the proclama- tion of the commander-in-chief of November 8th, and authorized to the number of two thousand five hun- dred men by an act of Assembly of the 29th of the same month. Of those who were thus enlisted, Find- ley says that many of them were reported to have been among the most troublesome of the insurgents ; that the people in the neighborhood complained "that many of them, for some time at first, demanded free quarters and such things as they stood in need of without pay, and that some of the officers committed indictable offenses; but when the persons against whom the offenses were committed commenced pros- ecutions they settled the disputes amicably and be- haved well for the future. And when the people took courage to refuse to submit to impositions, the soldiers ceased to demand free quarters, or to be otherwise troublesome." But the tenor of the orders issued by Gen. Morgan1 to the troops under his com- mand, and the well-known character of that gen- eral in the matter of the enforcement of discipline, render it probable that the above statements of Mr. Findley, like others made by him in disparagement of the army and its officers, ought to be received with some degree of incredulity.

Gen. Morgan's forces continued in their canton-

1 They were as follows :

" General Orders.

"CAMP, BENTLEY'S FARM, NOV. 30, 1794.

" The General anticipates the happiest issue that the army he has the honor to command will afford to the laws and friends of good order and government in the four western counties of Pennsylvania. The will- ingness with which the citizens have enrolled themselves to co-operate with the army in the restoration of obedience to the laws are pleasing evidences that the unhappy delusion which lately pervaded this country, under the auspices of the friends of anarchy, are at an end.

"The General hopes that the army now hutting for winter-quarters will consider themselves as in the bosom of their friends, & that they will vie with each other in promoting the love and esteem of their fel- low-citizens, and pointedly avoid every species of spoilation on the property of the inhabitants.

" The officers commanding fatigue parties are particularly directed not to suffer the sugar or other trees producing fruit or comfort to the farmer to be cut down for building, or any other purpose whatever. The burning of fencing, where there is such an abundance of fuel so easily procured, is strictly forbid, and a violence offered to the person or depredation on the property of any individual by the soldiery will be punished in the most exemplary and summary manner.

" DANIEL MORGAN."

ments at Bentley's Farm (with detachments at Pitts- burgh and Washington) until the following spring, when, order being apparently fully restored and es- tablished, the last of the eastern troops marched homeward across the Alleghenies, and the western counties were left in full possession and exercise of their former rights and powers, though a small force (a part of the twenty-five hundred men enlisted in the West under Gen. Lee's proclamation of November 8th) was left in organization, as a precaution against the possibility of further outbreak, until experiment should have proved the civil power to be unquestion- ably sufficient for all emergencies without military aid. This small force, which was left in command of Col. Gabriel Blakeney, of Washington, was quartered in that town, on the ground which during the pre- vious winter had been occupied by the cantonments of a detachment of Gen. Morgan's command, the lo- cation being on and in the immediate vicinity of the present grounds of the Washington and Jefferson Col- lege.

Gen. Lee remained in the West for a considerable time after the departure of the main body of the army, and on the 29th of November, in pursuance of au- thority delegated to him by the President, he issued a " proclamation of pardon" as follows :

" By HENRY LEE, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Major- General therein, and Commander-in-chief of the Militia Army in the Service of the United States.

"A PROCLAMATION.

" By virtue of the powers and authority in me vested by the President of the United States, and in obedience to his benign intentions, there- with communicated, I do by this, my proclamation, declare and make known to all concerned that a full, free, and entire pardon (excepting and providing as hereinafter mentioned) is hereby granted to all persons residing within the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette, in the State of Pennsylvania, and in the county of Ohio, in the State of Virginia, guilty of treason or misprision of treason against the United States, or otherwise directly or indirectly engaged in the wicked and unhappy tumults and disturbances lately existing in those counties, excepting nevertheless from the benefit and effect of this par- don all persons charged with the commission of offenses against the United States, and now actually in custody or held by recognizance to appear and answer for all such offenses at any judicial court or courts, excepting also all persons avoiding fair trial by abandonment of their homes, and excepting, moreover, the following persons, the atrocity of whose conduct renders it proper to mark them by name, for the purpose of subjecting them with all possible certainty to the regular course of judicial proceedings, and whom all officers, civil and military, are re- quired to endeavor to apprehend and bring to justice, to wit: [Here fol- lows the list of the excepted persons, given below.]

" Provided,-That no person who shall hereafter wilfully obstruct the execution of any of the laws of the United States, or be in anywise aid- ing or abetting therein, shall be entitled to any benefit or advantage of the pardon hereinbefore granted; and provided, also, that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the remission or miti- gation of any forfeiture of any penalty incurred by reason of infractions of, or obstructions to, the laws of the United States for collecting a reve- nue upon distilled spirits and stills.

"Given under my hand, at Head Quarters in Elizabeth Town, this twenty-ninth day of November, 1794.

"By order of the commander-in-chief.

" HENRY LEE. "G. K. Taylor, Aide-de-Camp."

The names of the persons excepted by the terms of this proclamation were

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THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

Benjamin Parkinson,

George Parker,

Arthur Gardner,

William Hanna,

John Holcroft,

Edward Wagner, Jr.,

Daniel Hamilton,

Thomas Hughes,

Thomas Lapsley,

David Lock,

William Miller,

Ebenezer Gallagher,

Edward Cook,

Peter Lyle,

Edward Wright,

John Shields,

Richard Holcroft,

William Hay,

David Bradford,

William McIlhenny,

John Mitchell,

Thomas Patton,

Alexander Fulton,

Stephenson Jack,

Thomas Spiers,

Patrick Jack, and

William Bradford, Andrew Highlands,

of the State of Pennsylvania.

William Sutherland,

John Moore, and

Robert Stephenson,

John McCormick,

William McKinley,

of Ohio County, Va.

The charges against these excepted persons are nearly all mentioned and explained in the following letter from District Attorney Rawle to Judge Alex- ander Addison,1 viz. :

" PHILADELPHIA, December 24, 1794.

"DEAR SIR,-I have just now the pleasure of re- ceiving yours of the 5th inst. Agreeably to your re- quest, I proceed to make as full a statement of the reasons for excepting the persons specified in the proclamation as the present opportunity will admit.

"The offences of B. Parkinson,* John Holcroft,* Daniel Hamilton,* and David Bradford are too gen- erally known to require a particular enumeration. Arthur Gardner,* one of those who, on the 4th of July, at the meeting of Col. Hamilton's battalion agreed to oppose excise law by arms, etc .; met at Couch's ; united in the attack on Gen. Neville's ; issued orders for the meeting at Braddock's Field; of assisting at Catfish the 14th of August in raising a liberty-pole. " Thomas Lapsley, action at Neville's.

" William Miller, action at Neville's, and opposed to signing the papers; very contemptuous of the law and processes of the United States.

"Edward Wright, at Neville's ; at Braddock's Field; opposed to signing submission.

"John Mitchell,* at Neville's, and robbed the mails.2

" Alexander Fulton, at Neville's ; privy to robbing the mail ; signed circular letter to convene the meet- ing at Braddock's Field.

"Thomas Spiers, same as Fulton, except being at Neville's.

"William Bradford, robbing the mail.

" George Parker,* at Couch's Fort, Neville's, Brad- dock's, and militia meeting, July 4th, at Col. John Hamilton's.

" William Hanna, atrocious conduct at Neville's house ; shot at Gen. Neville.

" Edward Wagner, at Neville's, and menaces against those who signed the paper.

"Thomas Hughes, one of the men with blackened faces who attacked Faulkner, &c.

" John Shields, a principal in the affair at Neville's.

" William Hay, went to Couch's, and then to Ne- ville's, and menaced one man if he would not go; also at Braddock's.

" William McIlhanny, at Neville's.

" Thomas Dalton* is, I fear, a mistake either of the clerk or the press ; at least I do not at present recollect nor can I lay my hands on the papers relative to such a person.

"Patrick Jack,* S. Jack, and A. Highland, con- cerned in the outrage on Regan, and the destruction of Wells.

"The others are the three fugitives already ex- amined by Judge Peters and ordered for trial, and the Virginians, who will probably be apprehended in the State where they reside.

" The youth of George Parker was not known when his name was inserted. In respect to these submis- sions, it is understood not to avail those who fly from home. It cannot be a bona fide submission in such cases. This also applies to Shields and Lapsley, yet it is open to them all to explain the reasons of their absences ; if proved to be of a justifiable nature, then right to present immunity will be restored. I am, with sincere respect, yours, &c.,

"W. RAWLE."

"To the Hon. A. Addison."

(Those marked with a * delivered themselves to Gen. Morgan, under the direction of Judge Peters.)

David Bradford, whose name appears on the list of persons excepted from the operation of the amnesty, and who was properly regarded as chief among the leaders of the insurrection, fled the country upon the advance of the army. His last act of rebellion and defiance was done at the Brownsville meeting, where, on the 29th of August, he in violent terms advocated war, and the formation of a separate government. Upon the declaration of the vote, which showed the general sentiment to be heavily against his views, he left that meeting in anger, disgust, and despair, real- izing that his power was finally overthrown. Two weeks later (September 13th), at the court-house in Washington, he, with twenty-seven others, signed a declaration "that no opposition shall come from us,

1 Penna. Arch., 2 Ser., vol. iv. pp. 500-2.

2 " A certain John Mitchell, who, with the assistance of another per- son, had robbed the Pittsburgh mail, gave himself up to Gen. Mor- gan after the judiciary had left the country. This man's evident sim- plicity induced the general to wish him to escape, and to discredit bis being the person ; but Mitchell insisting that he was one of the persons who robbed the mail, the general, instead of confining him, gave him a pass to go to Philadelphia, thereby putting it in his power to reflect on the situation and make his escape; but he went to Philadelphia, sur- rendered himself to be committed, and, being found guilty on his trial, he was condemned to be hanged. This result was unavoidable on the fact being established; but the President, in great propriety, first re- prieved for a time, and then pardoned him."-Findley.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the undersigned, to the excise law or to any officer appointed under it."

At the Parkinson's Ferry meeting, on the 2d of Oc- tober, he was present, but crestfallen and subdued. On the 4th of the same month he wrote Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, embodying a long argument in extenuation of his course during the progress of the insurrection, but finding that this did not avail, and that the army was on the march from Carlisle, he left Washington about the 25th of October, and rode to the Ohio River, where it was his intention to em- bark and make his way down that stream and the Mississippi to Louisiana. " A small Kentucky boat had been prepared," says Brackenridge, "which was to have received him at Grave Creek, but being pur- sued by a man from whom he had liberated a negro, under the abolition law of Pennsylvania, he was obliged to leave his horse and take a canoe. De- scending in this and passing Gallipolis, he was pur- sued by a party of five men dispatched from Gal- lipolis by D'Hebecourt, the commandant of the mi- litia at that place. He had lain all night in his canoe at Sandy Creek, and had got into a coal-boat in the service of the contractor, cold and hungry, about two hours before the party in pursuit of him came up. They entered the boat, demanded Bradford, and took hold of his arm to drag him away. He made no re- sistance, but a lad from Washington County seized a rifle and singly defended him, obliging the party to relinquish their design and withdraw. This youth had himself absconded under apprehensions from having painted the device of a liberty-pole. Brad- ford continued his course, pursued by Capt. Jolly as far as Red Bank, which he passed two days before." Capt. D'Hebecourt's report1 of this affair to Gen. Lee, and the general's reply, are given below :

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 78

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