USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 79
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" HEAD QUARTERS, " GALLIOPOLIS Nov'r 10, 1794.
" SIR,-I have the honor to inform your Excellency that on the 30th of October, having understood that David Bradford, of Washington, was going down the river in a small canoe by himself, and had passed oppo- ite to Galliopolis but a little while ago, I thought it was my duty, as being a public officer at this post to give orders to stop him. Conse- quently I sent three of the spies and a subaltern officer, with orders to take him and deliver him to my possession at Galliopolis, where I in- tended to keep him under a strong guard till I had been honored with your orders. My men overtook him on the 31st, about eleven in the morning thirty miles below the Big Scioto ; but unluckily for them, he had two hours before got into a boat of the Contractor's, where they found thirteen men, all ready to protect Bradford, and massacre any who would undertake to take him away. My men after having used their best endeavors, and exerted all measures which prudence and inferiority could suggest in such occurrences, compelled to give up to the majority, and follow the boat as long as possible to try to get a reinforcement from some of the stations on the river; they offered 50 dollars to any mau who would turn out with them to take Bradford; but they found the most part of the people disposed in his favor, and inclined to serve his cause.
" By several reports, I have a right to conjecture that Bradford landed at Limestone [Maysville, Ky.] and was conducted to some part of the country where he could safely preach his doctrines, and spread the flame of a new insurrection. It will be almost impossible to take him alive in country where the majority is in favor, and a matter of great chance
if he can be killed without any fatal consequences. I yesterday saw Capt. Jolly of the mouth of Whelen, who communicated to me the orders issued by your Excellency to take Bradford or to kill him, rather than to suffer him to escape. I gave to Capt. Jolly all the information which I had, and ordered him to proceed to Limestone where he could receive some directions favorable to bis purpose.
" That boat of the Contractors aboard which Bradford was found, was bound to Fort Washington, under the command of a certain Samuel Duncan, and loaded with coal; there were several passengers on board, who by their hostile disposition appeared to be particularly attached to Bradford, All the information you may wish to have on this important subject can be easily obtained at Fort Washington where S. Duncan delivered his boat.
" I am mortified that my undertaking has been unsuccessful, when I would have been happy to have my attachment for this country fully manifested. And if your Excellency thinks that I could be of any ser- vice in this affair, and would honor me with some orders, they should be performed with the greatest vigilance and punctuality.
"I am Your Excellencys " most Humble and obedient Servant " D'HEBECOURT
" Captain Commanding Militia at Galliopolis.
"HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LEE, Commander in Chief
of the Army at Pittsburgh."
" HEAD QUARTERS,
" PITTSBURGH, NOV 22, 1794. " SIR,-I have received your letter of the 10th inst. and maturely considered its contents. I am concerned that the party in pursuit of Mr. Bradford were unsuccessful in efforts to arrest him inasmuch as I fear the late convulsions of this part of the country, may in a great de- gree, be ascribed to his counsels and efforts. I hope, at the same time, that he will yet be delivered into the hands of justice ; that he may ex- piate by his punishment, those offenses which he is supposed to have committed against that country from which he derived his existence and support ; but while I wish that he should be taken, I wish not that he should be destroyed; on the contrary, I should be affected with great concern, should I hear that he had been killed, or even treated with unnecessary severity or cruelty. It is the happiness as it is the pride of America that no person can be deprived of his property or existence but by law. The principles of justice, on which are founded those of the law, pronounce that before he shall be deprived of the latter, he shall be confronted with his accusers, allowed the benefit of exculpatory tes- timony, and permitted to urge whatsoever he may think necessary for his defense. Conformably to this idea, the several offenders who have been seized in this deluded country, have been regularly delivered to the civil power which will deal with them according to their merits.
" Permit me therefore, to assure you, Sir, that the information you have received, that I wished Bradford to be killed rather than suffered to escape, is erroneous, and that I shudder at the idea of hunting to death a fellow being. If by your exertions, he could be sent to this place alive you would confer an obligation on me, and on the United States; at the same time, in that event, I should wish him to be treated with every civility consistent with his safe custody.
"I am &c &c. " HENRY LEE.
" D'HEBECOURT."
After his escape from capture by the party sent out by D'Hebecourt for that purpose, Bradford went on the contractors' boat to Fort Washington (Cincinnati), from which place he made his way in safety down the river to Louisiana, which was then under Spanish rule. Obtaining a grant of land from that government, he located on Bayou Sara, where he became a planter and a man of wealth, and where he spent the remain- ing years of his life. In estimating the character and abilities of Bradford, Brackenridge says, "He was a vain, shallow man, with some talent for popular dec- lamation, which in the present state of the public mind might be productive of mischief. Fortunately he had not the capacity to form any deep consistent plan which looked beyond the present moment with a foresight of all consequences. It seemed to be his
1 Pa. Arch., 2d Series, vol. iv. pp. 450, 470-71.
305
THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
passion to ride on the popular wave, elated with popu- lar applause, and at the same time fearful of popular displeasure." This does not appear to be true, as re- garded his capacity for planning. His schemes were deeply laid, and he prosecuted them with a boldness which was not found in the other leaders, and which very naturally made him their chief. If he had been successful they would doubtless have been as eager to share in his success as they showed themselves ready to abuse and defame him after his (and their) failure.
With reference to the cases of those who were made prisoners by the cavalry, as well as of many pro- scribed but not captured, formal investigations were made under the direction of Judge Peters, in the course of which it was made apparent that informa- tion had been made against many who had really been guilty of no offense against the government. Many of those arrested were taken to Pittsburgh. Some were released through the interposition of in- fluential friends, while others less fortunate were sent to Philadelphia, where they were imprisoned for some months.
Of those who were arrested by the army in this region, Findley says that only eighteen were sent to Philadelphia, and none of these were convicted on trial. A list of those who were sent to Philadelphia under military guard, and an account of their long and dreary march from Pittsburgh across the moun- tains to the first-named city, is found in the narrative taken from the journal of Capt. Robert Porter, from which a quotation has already been given, embracing the account of the taking of a number of prisoners (of whom Capt. Porter was one), taken on the 13th of November, and afterwards marched to Pittsburgh, where on the 16th they were delivered in charge of Col. Butler at the fort. From this the narrative pro- ceeds :
" On the 25th the prisoners were called out of the garrison and surrounded by forty of the garrison soldiers, under the command of Ensign McCleary, and paraded before a detachment of Maj. James Dur- ham's troop of calvary, to whose charge they were to be delivered at Greensburg. The following is a list of the prisoners :
" Rev. John Corbly, Washington County.
Col. John Hamilton, .€
Col. William Crawford,
66
John Black, David Bolton,
James Kerr,
Thomas Sedgwick,
John Burnett,
Capt. Robert Porter,
Marmaduke Curtiss, Allegheny County. Joseph Scott,
James Stewart,
Thomas Miller,
Thomas Burney,
66
Isaac Walker, Allegheny County. John Laughery, Ohio Co., Va.
Caleb Mounts, Fayette County.
" On the 25th, about ten o'clock, being formed rank and file, and placed in the centre of the aforesaid forty soldiers, commanded by McCleary, they started for Greensburg, where they arrived on the 27th, and were lodged in jail. There they found Samuel Nye (who had been placed there for some rash expres- sion against the officers and government, made when in a drunken frolic), Philip Wylie, and Joseph Parey, which augmented their number to twenty. On the 29th they were drawn out and paraded in the street, and compelled to stand mid-leg deep in mud and snow, and were formally delivered over to the charge of Maj. Durham. They then proceeded on their weary march to Philadelphia.
" The order of marching was, each prisoner march- ing on foot between two of the troop or guard, who were on horseback, and who were ordered by Black- beard (Gen. Anthony M. White) to keep their swords always drawn, and that if any attempt should be made to rescue, that the heads of the prisoners should be cut off and brought to Philadelphia. At night they were placed in cellars, barns, and such other places as suited the disposition or fancy of our guard. Such was the order of their weary and dismal march to Philadelphia, for thirty days, through snow and mud, in the most inclement time of the year. On the 25th December, paraded at half-past eleven before the Black Horse tavern [in Philadelphia]. The prisoners, drawn up rank and file, were presented with slips of white paper by the major as cockades, to be put in their hats to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd they were to march through, or as trophies of victory. This was done by the express command of Gen. White, alias Blackbeard; though the major re- monstrated with White, but to no purpose." The prisoners, after having been marched through the streets, in view of a great concourse of spectators, were lodged in the new jail. The Rev. John Corbly was admitted to bail on the 4th of March. The trial of Capt. Porter took place on the 18th day of May, 1795, when, no evidence having been brought against him, the case was, without argument, given to the jury, who in two minutes returned a verdict of ac- quittal, and he was liberated after having been a prisoner for more than six months. None of these prisoners were convicted. The case of John Mitchell, who gave himself up to Gen. Morgan, and who on his own confession was convicted of robbing the mail on the 26th of July, and sentenced to death, but after- wards pardoned by President Washington, has already been noticed. One other person was convicted ; the crime being setting fire to the house of Benjamin Wells, in Fayette County.
In reference to the case of Col. John Hamilton, who was one of the party of prisoners marched to Phila- delphia, and who was also sheriff of Washington
306
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
County, and commandant of the "bloody battalion" of Mingo Creek, Findley says that "though a number of this regiment were known to have had an active hand in the attack on the inspector's house, and were in fact considered as the greatest promoters of the insurrection, yet he [Hamilton ] not only kept himself free from those outrages, but endeavored, as soon as he heard of the design, to prevent the rendezvous at Braddock's Field. It was he who informed Bradford that the arms and ammunition in the garrison at Pittsburgh were designed for Gen. Scott's expedition against the Indians, and with the assistance of some others persuaded him to countermand the orders, and procured his promise to prevent the march. When he could not prevent the march to Braddock's Field, he put himself at the head of his regiment, and was very instrumental in preventing further outrages from being committed. At the court that was held for the county of Washington, a short time after the commis- sioners left the country, he proposed to take any twenty of the leading insurgents and lodge them in the county jail, if writs were issued for that purpose. . . . The sheriff, to give testimony that he could have accomplished what he proposed, executed every writ of capias that he had in his hands without difficulty. He attended all the meetings for restoring order, with a view to prevent outrages. His being a friend to order, and living where he did [among the Mingo Creek insurrectionists], merited higher approbation than if he had resided where the citizens generally were less disposed to riot."
Information of the intention to arrest him was communicated by a friend to Col. Hamilton in time to enable him to make his escape, if he had been so disposed; "but, conscious of his innocence, he pre- ferred traveling above thirty miles to where the judiciary then was, and presenting himself to Judge Peters, informed him that he had heard there was a charge against him, and requested to have it exam- ined. The judge said he was then too much engaged, but would call on him presently ; that day, however, passed till evening, when Maj. Lenox, the marshal, in the most delicate manner he could, told him he must put him under guard."
Two days afterwards he was marched, under escort of a party of cavalry, to the town of Washington, to which place Judge Peters had removed. Here he again applied to the judge to have his case examined, but he was put off on some pretext from time to time, and "on the ninth day after he first applied to the judge he was sent close prisoner to Philadelphia, paraded through the streets with an ignominious badge on his hat, and thrown into the cells without his case having ever been examined. After an im- prisonment of near two months and a half he had his case brought before the Supreme Court on a writ of habeas corpus, and on examination, nothing being found against him, he was [on the 20th of January, 1795] admitted to bail. At the Circuit Court held in
Philadelphia in June following a bill for misprision of treason was sent to the Grand Jury against him, but every witness that was sworn testified in his favor. There was not even a suspicious circumstance found against him."
General pardons to those who had been implicated in the insurrection, and who had not subsequently been indicted or convicted of crimes committed in it, were proclaimed by President Washington and Gov- ernor Mifflin in August, 1795, in pursuance of the agreement made in the previous year at Pittsburgh by the United States and Pennsylvania commission- ers. A large number of other persons also received special pardons.
In January, 1795, the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of Pennsylvania declared the elections held in the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmore- land, and Fayette, on the second Tuesday of the pre- ceding October, to be unconstitutional and void, for the reason that a majority of the inhabitants of those counties were then in a state of insurrection and op- position to the laws of the commonwealth. By this action fifteen persons then elected, viz., eleven mem- bers of the House of Representatives and four senators, were excluded from seats in the Assembly. A special election to fill these vacancies was held in the four counties in February, 1795, when the same persons were again elected, and duly took their seats, except one (Mr. Moore, a senator), who declined the new election.
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR OF 1812-15-TEXAN AND MEXICAN WARS.
IN the war of 1812-15 between the United States and Great Britain, soldiers from Washington County took an active and honorable part, and all classes of the people of the county gave unmistakable evidences of patriotism from the commencement to the end of the struggle. War was formally declared by the United States on the 18th of June, 1812, but the raising of troops had commenced in Washington County prior to that time, in anticipation of the con- flict which was known to be inevitable. On the 22d of May the brigade inspector issued the following order and call for volunteers :
" BRIGADE ORDERS.
" Orders having been received from the Adjutant-General of this State, requiring me to furnish my quota of men (three hundred) from the First Brigade 14th Division P. M., to be furnished by Volunteers, if not drafted Militia .- Notice is hereby given to the Regiments to parade in the fol- lowing order, to wit:
" The Twenty-third Regiment, commanded by Lieut .- Col. John Vance, will meet in Burgettstown ou Monday the Ist of June.
"The Eighty-second Regiment, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Joshua Dickerson, will meet on Tuesday, the 2d day of June, at the house of R. Graham.
"The Twenty-second Regiment, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Samuel Scott, will meet on Wednesday the 3d of June in the borough of Wash- ington.
307
WAR OF 1812-15-TEXAN AND MEXICAN WARS.
"The Fifty-third Regiment, commanded by Lient .- Col. Joseph Barr, will meet on the Thursday following at the house of John Love, where officers and soldiers are ordered to be on the ground at 10 o'clock A. M. " The quotas of the different regiments are as follows :
" The Twenty-second Regiment shall furnish ninety men.
The Twenty-third Regiment = eighty "
The Eighty-second Regiment 16 seventy "
The Fifty-third Regiment 66 sixty =
With these orders there was issued the following call for volunteers :
" VOLUNTEERS OF 1807 AND 1809.1-You are about to be called into the field for the purpose expressed in the above orders. The cause lead- ing to this must be familiar to every soldier in the brigade. The tyrants of the belligerents have since the first and second tender of your service perpetually plundered our ships at sea and impressed our sailors, and by their bribes induced the Indians to commence murder aud rapine on our frontiers. Our government failing in all her efforts to establish a peace honorable to all, have found it absolutely necessary to have a solemn appeal to physical force for the support of our independence from fur- ther insult and disgrace. And hence I call upon you as freemen once more to tender your services.
" Now, my fellow-soldiers, here offers an opportunity of displaying your love of liberty, your determination to be free. Let it not be said that a draft must be the resort. I judge from former examples that the patriots of this brigade will not shrink from the real test, and the con- test alone in the case will be who shall be foremost in stepping out as a volunteer. As this brigade bears the palm for its attachment to the State and general government, it would be degrading to the members composing it not to give a voluntary tender when called upon as a tes- timouial of its co-operation in these acts.
" I request your attention to the glorious example set by our infant Bister State, Ohio, in her late tender of volunteers, and the ever-memor- able conduct of the volunteers of the State of Kentucky and the Terri- tories on the morning of the 7th Nov. last at the battle of Tippecanoe on the Wabash. To your arms, brother soldiers, and convince tyrants and the blind, deluded savages that you will by a voluntary act support the liberty achieved by the wisdom of the immortal Washington and the strong arm of union with the hope of success in a virtuous cause.
"Confidence in you as citizen-soldiers prompts a belief that I shall have the pleasure of meeting you on parade on the different days ap- pointed, then ready and willing to fulfill my fond expectations, and most sanguine hopes.
" JAMES DUNLAP, " Brigade Inspector, 1st B., 14 D., W. G. P. M.
" WASHINGTON, May 22, 1812."
The result of the order and call for volunteers ap- pears in a communication published in the Washing- ton Reporter of June 15th, in which it is stated that the number of volunteers "far exceeds the demand of Maj. James Dunlap, the brigade inspector. The detach- ment will consist of five flank companies, among which are the Williamsport Rangers, the second flank company attached to the 53d Regiment. The brigade inspector has in two weeks organized, in- spected, and put in readiness for marching orders his quota of the fourteen thousand required in Penn- sylvania, and made the necessary return to the adju- tant-general."
On Wednesday, June 22d, four days after the formal declaration of war, a spirited public meeting of citizens
of Washington County was held at the court-house for the purpose of expressing the determination of the in- habitants to support the government and send men to the field. Thomas Acheson, Robert Anderson, Alex- ander Murdoch, Parker Campbell, and Thomas H. Baird were appointed a committee to prepare resolu- tions and an address to be presented on the 27th, to which day the meeting was adjourned. At the ad- journed meeting the attendance was very large from all parts of the country, and the enthusiasm ran high, but it does not appear that any actual business was done beyond the delivery of eloquent speeches by Parker Campbell, William Hoge, and others, and the adoption of patriotic resolutions, and an equally pa- triotic address to the people.
On Sunday, July 26th, information was received in Washington of the infamous surrender by Gen. Hull of the post of Detroit and the force under his com- mand, amounting to nearly fifteen hundred men, to an inferior number of British and Indians. On the re- ceipt of this disastrous intelligence a further call was made, and among those who came forward to volun- teer was a full company called the Washington In- fantry, commanded by Capt. William Sample, with James Ruple as lieutenant, and George Taylor ensign; also the " Williamsport Rangers," under Capt. James Warne and Lieut. William Hunter. The Washing- ton County troops, mustered for a six months' term of service, marched for the Canadian frontier under the following
" BRIGADE STANDING ORDERS.
"The following rules and regulations will be strictly observed by the Officers and Soldiers composing the detachments from the 1st Brigade, 14th Division, Pennsylvania Militia, on their march from this place to Head-Quarters:
"1st. Line of march to be as follows, viz .: Capt. William Sample's company, on the right ; Capt. Thomas Miller's, second; Capt. Edmund Thomas', third ; Capt. James Warner's, fourth; and Capt. David Bu- chanan's, on the left.
"2d. The person and property of our fellow-citizens shall remain in- violable, Disobedience of orders, intemperance, profane language must be peremptorily and rigidly punished.
"3d. Morning reports to be made, and by the proper subalterns, cor- rectly, and returned regularly.
" Fellow-Soldiers,-We have here to establish our character in a mili- tary point of view. It has been asserted by the enemies of our system that the militia are inefficient, and that subordination amongst that description of force is impracticable. We now have a fair opportunity of proving the falsity of both these assertions. In our capacity as sol- diers let us refrain from every act which would be considered as dishon- orable in a citizen. The circumstances of our being embodied does not change the rules of honor and decorum. Therefore let all our acts be such as comport with those of the soldier and gentleman. Having the fullest confidence that the above orders will be strictly observed, it only remains for me to add that the most particular attention shall be paid in the providing of every necessary accommodation for the comfort and convenience of the troops on their march to head-quarters.
"JAMES DUNLAP, " Brigade Inspector, 1st B., 14th D., P. JE.
"RENDEZVOUS AT WASHINGTON, PA.,
" September 8th, 1812."
At Meadville, Pa., this battalion of Washington County troops was joined by the Bedford County volunteers under Col. Piper. A consolidation of the forces from the two counties then took place, and of
1 This allusion by the brigade inspector to the " volunteers of 1807 and 1809" has reference to the fact that in August of the former year three hundred and five men of the Washington County militia volun- teered and tendered their services under the call made by President Jefferson for ten thousand men, on account of the outrage committed by the English on the United States frigate "Chesapeake," and also to a similar volunteering and proffer of services which was made by men of Washington County for duty in the field in 1809.
308
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the regimental organization formed, Capt. James Warne, of the "Williamsport Rangers," became the major, and Lieut. William Hunter became captain of the " Rangers." Following is the official roll of that company at the expiration of its service, signed by Capt. Hunter and Lieut .- Col. Jeremiah Snyder, viz .:
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