History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 19

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 19
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 19
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 19

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the purpose, though it made meat and vegeta- bles more savory and palatable than they would be without its application.

Concerning this matter of the scarcity of salt, there has been preserved an old letter of Colonel Stroud's, which shows how difficult it was to procure it and also how scarce were some other commodities, ---

"LOWER SMITHFIELD, October the 16th, 1779. " COL. MATLACK :

"I must Beg of you if it is in your power to assist me in geting again 27 and ¿ bushels of salt that I had engaged and paid for last April to Abbe James, but being alarmed with the Indeons so that I could not Send for it, and looking on it safer than it would be at home, as I did not know but every day wee should be drove off, I had ingaged all the salt to my nabours that allways this several years have had their supplyes from me. If anything should be wanting to Inform any Gentleman, Mr. Abbe James will be able to give a full information. I spoke to His Ex- cellency the President and he told me I should have Some if not all, I now have sent my Team for the Salt and as the President has so much business on hand to take his attention, I must Beg of you to Take the Troble to forrowd the matter. The salt was taken by the Committee, and what Line that now Lies in now is unknowing to me, as I live so far off, and as we Live so far of we Dont stand any Chance of getting Salt to what others Doe that Lives near Town, and as for Sending flouer down, we cant do it now as the army has been abought hear, and has Taken all our grane,2 &c., that unless it is a few that have a little yet. Any Troble you are at I shall be Ready and willing to pay you for and be very much obliged to you, besides I dont know of any other man at this time I can apply to but you. I am Sir

"Your very umble Servant " JACOB STROUD."

During 1781-82 two companies of soldiers -- Captain Philip Shrawder's rangers and Captain Johannes Van Etten's veterans, who had been in the field in 1777 and fought at the Brandy wine-were kept on duty in the region north of the mountains, and, in conjunction with Colonel Stroud's men at Fort Penn and small informally banded bodics, kept the Lower Mini- sink free from depredations.

Farther up the valley, however, the depreda- tions of the Indians were still continued in 1782, and the Pennsylvania side was almost deserted,

1 Penn. Archives, Vol. VIII. p. 176.

? This allusion is evidently to Sullivan's army.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

as the following petition from some of the inhabitants in New Jersey shows :

" MINISINK, 10 December, 1782.

" His excellency Governor Livingston and the Hon- orable Legislative Council and General Assembly of New Jersey.

"Gentlemen we the inhabitants of the frontier of the county of Sussex beg leave to present our petition to the Honorable Legislature of the state. The In- habitants who formerly lived on the Pennsylvania Side of the river opposite to us have Principally left their farms and moved into Jersey and other places to escape savage cruelty. These Inhabitants was formerly a considerable guard to us, but now there is nothing to stop the Enemy but the river which is Fordible in a grate Number of places a considerable part of the year Particularly in Harvest and other times when the Enemy can do us the Greatest Damage. The Situation of this country and the man- ner in which the Savages Carry on the War like a Thief in the Night renders it impracticable to de- pend on the Malitia for Security, for before they can be collected the mischief is done and the Enemy secure in the Wilderness. Numbers of us have friends and near relatives who have been torn from their familys and connections and are groaning under cruel Savage Captivity. These labour under the sad remembrance of having experienced the Truly Shocking Spectacle of Seeing there Dearest Connec- tions Murdered and Scalped before there Eyes and we have grate reason to fear we shall share the same fate unless some move be adopted for our security We therefore most earnestly pray that a law may be passed by the Honourable Legislature before they adjourn for raising a company of about Eighty men Properly officered and to be Stationed here for our Protection the Ensuing Campaign."

The signatures to this petition have not been preserved, but it was forwarded the day of its date to the Governor of New Jersey. The petition is valuable chiefly as showing the deplorable condition of the Pennsylvanians along the Delaware River from the mouth of the Lackawaxen to Fort Hyndshaw. The Delaware had been the frontier line, and the Pennsylvanians, being on the west side of the river, were to New York and New Jersey what a picket line is to an army. This sturdy band of Pennsylvania pioneers maintained the unequal contest during all those dark and bloody years when Brandt and his Indian and Tory followers were ravaging the country. After the disastrous defeat at the battle of Lackawaxen or Minisink and the murder of

Jeremiah Van Auken, the school-teacher at Carpenter's Point, together with the destruction of everything in that vicinity by fire, followed by the defeat at the Raymondskill, with the constant incursions, murders and annoyances from skulking Indians, it was no wonder that the picket line of Pennsylvanians had with- drawn.

But finally the dawn began to break, the long war drew to a close. Upon the 19th of October, 1781, Cornwallis' forces-seven thou- sand two hundred and forty-seven British and Hessian soldiers-surrendered at Yorktown, and by a swift courier the news was borne to Congress at Philadelphia, the messenger arriv- ing there on the evening of the 23d; and the sentinels, when they called the hour of the night-" ten o' the clock and all is well"- added, " and Cornwallis is taken." This news, which spread rapidly througlı Pennsylvania and the other colonies, brought the long-suffer- ing inhabitants to a realization that they were at last, even ifan impoverished, an independent people. Though the armies remained for some time in the field, the war had really ended. Preliminary articles of peace were agreed to between Great Britain and the Confederation of Colonies November 30, 1782, and the definitive treaty was concluded at Paris upon the 3d of September, 1783.

Thus closed the Revolution, but upon the frontier its animosities and asperities died sul- lenly and slowly away, like the last, lingering reverberations of thunder in the passing of a mighty storm. Peace came at last-like the warm sunshine after long and dreary winter- and with it began a new life throughout the land.

CHAPTER VII.

End of the Pennamite War-Northampton County at the Close of . the Century-Land System-First Effort for Erection of a New County.

THE Revolution being at an end, and the danger of Indian invasion over, the settlers be- gan to return to Wyoming and the lesser col- onies of Wallenpaupack and Cushutunk, still

END OF THE PENNAMITE WAR.

claiming their lands under Connectieut title. Pennsylvania, as ever before, viewed with great displeasure the growth of a colony within her limits which refused to recognize her authority, and applied to the Continental Congress, re- questing the appointment of a tribunal to de- termine the matter in dispute.

Congress accordingly appointed a board of commissioners to adjudicate the question, and provided that it should mect at Trenton, where the parties were notified to attend. The State of Connecticut appointed as its representatives Messrs. Dyer, Johnston and Root, and on the part of Pennsylvania there appeared Messrs. Bradford, Reed, Wilson and Sergeant. After a deliberation of five weeks the board, on the 30th of December, 1782, pronounced the opinion that the State of Connecticut had no right to the lands in controversy, and that all of the lands lying within the charter bounds of Pennsylva- nia, "now claimed by Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Pennsylvania." This was what was known as the " Trenton deeree."

The people of Wyoming, says Chapman, 1 considered the question before the board merely one of jurisdiction, and that it did not affeet in any degree the right of soil. They acqui- esced in the verdict, therefore, and regarded themselves as holding title under Connecticut, but as amenable to the laws of Pennsylvania. " We care not," they said, "under what State we live, if we live protected and happy."

It was now recommended by the General Assembly that commissioners should be ap- pointed to go to 'Wyoming, examine into the state of the country, aet as magistrates and recommend what measures the government should adopt in regard to the settlers, and such commissioners were duly appointed and directed to attend there on April 15, 1783. The guard of Continental troops having been withdrawn, it was ordered, on March 4th, that Captain Philip Shrawder's company, of Northampton County, and Captain Thomas Robinson's be ordered there to " take proper measures for sustaining the post and proteeting the settle- ment." Shrawder arrived first, on March 21st,

took possession of the fort and renamed it " Fort Dickinson," in honor of the president of the Supreme Executive Council.

The inhabitants now discovered, by the con- duct of the troops and the report of the com- missioners, that the government of Pennsylva- nia regarded the Trenton decree as having de- cided not only the question of jurisdiction, but the right of private property also, and they dis- covered that the troops were present, not simply for the purpose of guarding against the common enemy, but also to protect the Pennsylvania claimants in possession of their lands.

What has been called the " Third Pennamite War " now commenced. It was in reality the beginning of the end of the general conflict be- tween the Pennsylvanians and the Connecticut people. There was constant contention, but no violence or overt acts were committed until May, 1784, when the troops were ordered to disarm the Connecticut settlers who had resisted the mandates of the alleged " moek tribunals" of the Pennsylvania magistrates. Under this pretense one hundred and fifty families were turned out of their dwellings (many of which were burned), and, reduced to destitution, they were compelled to leave the valley.

Thus came about another hasty evacuation of Wyoming. The people thus driven from their homes proceeded on foot through the wilder- ness, by way of the Lackawaxen, to the Dela- ware, a distance of about cighty miles. “ Dur- ing this journey," say Chapman and Miner, "the unhappy fugitives suffered all of the mis- eries which human nature seems capable of en- during."

"It is probable," says Mincr,? "that the ostensible reason for compelling the exiles to this route (the Lackawaxen), the fear lost their old friends at Stroudsburg should afford them aid, was not without weight." One of the fu- gitives, deseribing the flight, says, "It was a solemn scene; parents, their children crying for hunger, aged men on crutches, all urged forward by an armed force at our heels." The first night they cncamped at Capouse, the second at Cobb's, the third at Little Meadow, the fourth

1 Chapman, p. 134.

2 Miner's Wyoming, p. 345.

100

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

at Lackawack, the fifth at Blooming Grove, the sixth at Shohola, and on the seventhi they arrived at the Delaware, where the people dispersed, some going up and some down the river, some continuing on their way east and some going back to make another effort to secure their homes and lands. They fought again to retain their possessions, and considera- ble bloodshed ensued in July, 1784, in engage- ments between the soldiers and the Pennsylva- nians on one side and the Connecticut people upon the other. As of old in the Pennamite conflicts, victory perched first upon one banner and then upon the other. It is beyond our scope in these pages to follow the varying vicissitudes of this war. One item in it, how- ever, is of local interest.

A considerable force, ordered out to quell the riots at Wyoming, was quartered for a time in that part of Northampton which is now Monroe County.

The Council, in session at Philadelphia, July 29, 1784, resolved, "that the peace and good order of government are interrupted by sudden and dangerous tumults and riots near Wyoming, in the county of Northumberland, for the sup- pression of which the immediate aid of the militia is expedient and necessary." It was also resolved, " That the Lieutenant of the county of Northampton be directed to draw forth a detachment of three hundred Infantry and twelve or fifteen Light Dragoons properly offi- cered and equipped from the militia of said county." A portion of the command was under Colonel Nicholas Kern. The names of the officers of his command were as follows :

Lieutenant-colonel commanding, Nicholas Kern; Majors, Henry Alshouse and John Nelson; Adju- tant, Lawrence Erb; Quartermaster, Peter Overshimer ; Sergeant Major, Jno. Barnet; Quartermaster Sergeant, Henry Spering. Captains of companies, Adam Clen- deneris, John Ritter, Jacob Clader, John Santee, Ja- cob Balliet, Lewis Stacher, John Van Etten, Timothy Jeyne, Christopher Keller and Benjamin Schoon- hoven.

Captain Philip Shrawder,1 in May, 1784, was

1 Captain Shrawder was an exceedingly methodical and painstaking man, and kept a record of his militia company in a huge folio volume (now owned by Luke W. Brodhead),

in command of a company attached to the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, then com- manded by Major James Moore, and the men in his company, there is every reason to be- lieve, were, with perhaps a few exceptions, the same whom he led to Wyoming in August, 1784, under Col. Nicholas Kern. Following is the roster:

Captain, Philip Shrawder; First Lieutenant, John Armstrong ; Second Lieutenant, Andrew Henderson ; First Sergeant, Michael Knight; Second Sergeant, James Melvin ; Third Sergeant, John Kilby ; First Cor- poral, John Griffey ; Second Corporal, Jacob Stoner ; Drummer, John Brown; Fifer, George Burnett.

Privates.

George Alexander. John Lessly.

Wm. Armstrong. Daniel McMullen.

Thomas Brown. Claudius Martin.

John Burrage. Daniel McLoskey.

Christopher Bigner.

David McCartney.

James Butler.

Peter Minnick.

Jonathan Burwell.

Patrick Norton.

John Clark.

Edward Nelson.

Anthony Curshong.

George Rhecroft.

Conrad Dressel.

Christopher Riley.

Patrick Dunlevy.

John Phil. Steel.

Frederick Fisher.

Ezekiel Shelcott.

Thomas Garvin.

Andrew Shafer.

Daniel Gridley.

John Smith.

Henry Harpoole.

Moses Swartwood.

Conrad Hoffner.

William Shewell.

George Heflinger.

John Tom.

John Henry Hesser.

William Thomson.

David Jacobs.

Henry Vogelsong.

Thomas Jennings.

Thomas Williot.

William Kelly.

A considerable portion of Col. Kern's force was provided for at the inn and on the premi- ses of James Logan, in what is now Stroud township. 2

which he evidently procured for that purpose, but which he subsequently made a common-place book, recording many interesting documents, such as early assessment lists, resolutions relating to the Pennamite War, etc. (the more valuable of which are preserved in this work), as well as literary extracts, recipes, etc. He makes a sum- mary of the officers engaged in the Wyoming expedition, but gives noroster of his own men for August, 1784, which would indicate that the list was identical with those given for the months preceding, the latest of which, prior to August, 1784, (May) is here copied.

2 See chapter on Stroud township, Monroe County, for an account of James Logan and his tavern, the second one north of the mountains.

101

END OF THE PENNAMITE WAR.

John Van Campen, Esq., was appointed commissary to furnish provisions, which he did at the rate of ten pence half-penny per ration.

Logan rendered an account to John Van Campen, commissary, which has been preserved, and affords interesting reading.1

1 The following account (with the matter above given con- cerning Kern's forces) is contributed by Luke W. Brodhead :

£ 8. d.

"July 28, 1784, To 558 pounds of Bread. 6 19 6

3 0

" 12 gallons Rum delivered at 6 shil., is- sued to the volunteers Yankee Intru- ders (prohably meant to say, to suppress Yankee Intruders). 3

" cash to Jacob Miner to going express .. 0

7 6

" shoeing his Pad for him 0

" 153 meals victuals for the officers and

0 soldiers. 11 9

" 8 gallons Rum delivered to the volun-

8 0

" 2 do Spirits to the officers .. 0 14 0

" 18 Bushels of ground Rye and sent after, to support the volunteers when lying at Locust Hill and on the road to Wyoming. 0 11 9

" 9 Bush. Rye chopped to feed the horses when out on public Business .. 2 14 0

" Pasturing Horses and cut straw. 6

0 0

" Cash paid to Jonas Suterly for going Express to Bullocks. 0 7 6

" Cash paid to Benj. Vandermark for dam- ages when the Horses hroke into his Oats 0 15 0

1 0

" Expenses at Wyoming when out upon purchasing for the Militia 1 17 6 " Expenses going to Wyoming for myself and others 1 2

17,

" Cash paid for Mutton. 0

3 9

" " " to Melchior Bossard. 1

15 0

" Four gallons of Rum for the Wounded .. 1 4 0

Not to forget four head of cattle of Bos- sard.

" " My son going Express to town five times 15

0 0

" My own time and expenses when out upon purchasing Cattle. 12

0 0

" My own team entered into the Service from here to Easton and from there to Wyoming was kept constant a hauling from there till the 24th of this instant, and found my own Feed and driver at une Pound ten Shillings per day, which amounts to .. 32

0 0

" Twoteams sent from here to go to Easton to hring up Flour, and brought it as far as Heller's, and was taken hack to Easton again and hrought up another Load and was gone four Days, and found their own feed at £1. 0. 0. per day ; they brought their Load as far as John Learn's 8

0 0

" My two-horse team going to Brinker's, and from there with loads to John Learn three times, they being gone four days at 15 Shillings per day comes to ... ... 3

" " My son going Express to town five

66 " My own time and horse expenses wlien

0 0 at £3. 0. 0. 15 0 0 purchasing for the Public one Month ... 11 5 0."

The entire force raised by the Supreme Ex- ecutive Council for the suppression of disturb- ances in Wyoming was under command of Col. John Armstrong. An advance guard under Major Moore was assembled at Learner's or Learn's. The Yankees had previously dis- patched Capt. John Swift, with thirty picked men, to meet, dislodge and defeat them before they could reach the valley of Wyoming. An engagement ensued at Locust Ridge 2 on the second day of August, in which Jacob Everett, one of Moore's men, was killed, and several others wounded on each side. In Miner's "History of Wyoming" it is stated " that the Yankeys affirmed that Logan (the tavern- keeper), a mulatto, was under Patterson (Alex- ander) with a company of thirty men raised on the Delaware. A rude old song spoke of Logan :"

" The 20th of September We marched the rebel route ;

From Easton to Wyoming, To drive the Yankeys out. The wary dogs and savage beasts

Would rather steal than show their face.

" We halted all at Romig's, Our forces to review ;

Our chief commander Logan Encouraged thus his crew- 'Brave lads,' he cried, ' who steals the most, He shall obtain the highest post.' "

James Logan had, of course, nothing what-

In the foregoing there is a first and second account ag- gregating £159 8s.

Following this is the wagoner's account, in which Con" rad Grubb, George and Henry Stacker, Christopher Kel- ler, Melchoir Bossard, James Logan and Clarke Winans were employed in hauling flour and provisions to Jacob Brinker's, Nicholas Ernfield's, John Learn's and to Wyoming.

In the forage account of the militia, light horse, hay, oats, etc., are supplied to the following-named persons : "To Jacob Heller, Capt. John Brisbin, Capt. Shrawder and company, John Hollenback, hay for 86 nights and 621 qts. oats, John Hollenback for Col. Kern, 2 nights hay and oats, John Hollenback for Robert Levers, Esq., John P. Shott for Col. Wilson, Lawrence Erb to hay & oats fur- nished Colonel Kern, the adjutant & 2 light horse, John Learn for L. Horn hay & oats, John Learn 1} Bush Rye, do. to supper and grog, do supper for 6 men, Jacob Brinker 6 meals &c."

2 Locust Ridge is on the old Sullivan road, near the south bank of the Lehigh, three or four miles east of Stoddartsville.

= " cash paid to Jacob Sharer for Beef. 3

0 teers. 2

Aug. 1,

" 7 Sheep @ 15 shillings. 5

" Six Quires of Paper 1

102

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

ever to do with the expedition, but his presence before or after the engagement, as an excited and perhaps officious follower of the train, gave rise to the above ridiculous doggerel.

On the arrival of Armstrong's force (in- cluding Col. Kern's) at Wyoming hostilities ensued in that much-troubled valley, and they were continued during the year and later.

The years 1785 and 1786 did not exhibit any abatement of the controversy between the rivals. Col. John Franklin became the leading spirit among the Connecticut claimants, and Col. Timothy Pickering appeared as the chief champion of the Pennsylvania cause. A plan was formed for carving a new State from Penn- sylvania, to include the old county of West- moreland and all of the territory claimed by Connecticut, and thus wrest Wyoming from the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. Col. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, appeared upon the scene as one pledged to furnish means and men for the dismemberment of Pennsylvania.

This bold and dangerous scheme was frustrated simply by the erection of Luzerne County on Sept. 25, 1786, thus affording an apportunity for the people to have a direct representation in the Assembly and to state their grievances, and, in a large measure, shape their own affairs. This county included all of the Connecticut set- tlers, except those at Lackawack or Wallen- paupack and the few on the Delaware, princi- pally at Cushutunk.

In March, 1787, the inhabitants proposed a compromise, in effect that if the commonwealth would grant them the seventeen townships which had been laid out, and in which settle- ments had been made prior to the "Trenton decree," they would relinquish their claim to all other lands within the limits of the Susque- hanna purchase ; what were known as the " certified townships" were thus secured to the settlers ; but while most of the inhabitants were within these townships, there were others scattered here and there who had bought rights of the Susquehanna and Delaware Companies and made improvements upon their locations. There were quite a number of this class within the present limits of Wayne and Pike Counties. Another class of people dissatisfied with the

compromise were the Pennsylvanians to whom the State had previously sold a portion of the lands, and who did not wish, very naturally, to be dispossessed of them. Such was the effect of the opposition that the next year the compro- mise act was suspended and afterwards repealed. The conflict was continued.

In 1795 "the Intrusion Law" was passed, warning off all settlers not applying for land under a Pennsylvania title. On April 4, 1799, an act for offering compensation to the Pennsyl- vania claimants of certain lands within the " certified townships" was passed and was known as the compromising law. On February 16, 1801, an act supplementary to the " Intru- sion Law" of 1795 was passed, authorizing the Governor to issue a proclamation, forbidding all future intrusions and requiring all who had intruded to peaceably withdraw.

The State had, in 1799, appointed commis- sioners to adjust the conflicting claims of the Pennamites and " Yankees, " to examine all of the claims, fix the amount each Connecticut settler should justly pay the State to perfect his title, and, on the other hand, the sum that the State should pay to those who were compelled to relinquish the lands they had bought from the State. The commission performed its duties fairly, but many persons were dissatisfied. On April 6, 1802, an act of Assembly provided "that no conveyance of land within the counties of Luzerne, Lycoming and Wayne shall pass any estate, where the title is not derived from this State or the proprietarics, before the 4th of July, 1776." The law was promulgated by procla- mation of the Governor May 1, 1802, and from that time whatever "right" Connecticut claimants may have had, it was the veriest folly to defend it. But many persons still scorned all overtures from the State and firmly believed in the validity of the Connecticut title. They pro- posed to hold their claims in spite of all. Public feeling ran high. The newspaper con- troversy was heated and it seemed as if armed conflict must again occur. In fact, the Gover- nor again contemplated calling out the militia of the State to enforce obedience ; but milder meth- ods finally prevailed, and the long-vexed ques- tion was eventually settled by amicable means.

103

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY AT THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY.

Much of thecredit for the peaceable solution of the problem and the adjustment of differences by bloodless means was due to the Quakers, or Friends, who were among the largest land- owners under the Pennsylvania title in the disputed territory.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 19

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438