USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 14
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
etc., in certain signs which they learned from their ancestors. In the early years many of them had horseshoes nailed above their doors to keep away the witches. They burnt brimstone in the coop to keep the witches from bewitching the chickens. Many a fond mother taught her children that as long as they wore the breastbone of a chicken tied around their necks with a string, they would not take whooping cough. They made tea from the dried lung of a fox to cure consumption. The rattles 'of a snake killed without biting itself would not only cure headache but would ward off sunstroke as well. So it was that long long years after the last Indian had been driven to the Mississippi valley, they imagined that they heard warwhoops of savages on dismal evenings, and the music of fife and drums, once so com- mon at forts and stockades, often came back to dispel the Indian spirits which nightly hovered around their former hunting grounds. Many be- lieved that children with certain ailments could be cured by putting them three times through a horse collar. So a felon could be cured by a child which in its youth had strangled a groundmole by holding it above its head. This peculiar ability remained with the child even to aged man- hood. Diseases of horses were cured by words and charms, and water was discovered by the twigs of trees held in certain positions. Many believed that immense treasures were buried in the ground. This was generally English gold, and more than one field has been dug over in fruitless searches for the rich mineral.
But it can scarcely be said that they were ignorantly superstitious, or superstitious greatly beyond the age in which they lived It must be re- membered that Blackstone, the greatest of English law commentators, believed in witchcraft, etc. He says, Book 4, Chapt. 4, Sec. 6: "To deny the possibility, nay actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testament ; and the thing itself is a truth to which every nation in the world hath in its turn borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well attested or by prohibitory laws; which at least supposes the possibility of commerce with evil spirits. The civil law punishes with death not only the sorcerers themselves, but also those who consult them imitating in the former the express law of God, 'Thou shalt not suf- fer a witch to live,' and our laws both before and since the Conquest have been equally penal; ranking this crime in the same class with heresy and condemning both to the flames."
There were some old Dutch cures that though seemingly foolish, may have cured the patient. To illustrate; they believed that a horse could be cured of sweeny, which is an atrophy of the muscles, by taking a round stone from the bottom of a creek and rubbing the sweenied parts for fifteen minutes before breakfast. This cure, foolish as it may seem, had in it all
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the essentials of the most modern methods of the massage treatment, and doubtless cured many a suffering horse. So, too, erysipelas, a feverish skin disease with painful swelling, could be cured by taking the blood of a black rooster killed before sun-rise and covering the diseased parts thoroughly with it. Now the blood of the rooster when dried formed a covering which kept the air from it, and doubtless in many instances ef- fected a cure. The skillful modern surgeon would apply collodion, which would effect a cure in the same way.
But very early they established churches and Sunday schools. They had preachers from Germany or men educated in the German language and this is one reason why the Pennsylvania Dutch language has lasted as long as it has. In religion the most intelligent of them were largely Lutherans or German Reformed. There were Mennonites or Mennonists, who were fol- lowers of Simon Menno, born in 1496. There were also many Dunkards and Omish. These three branches were nearly the same in religious be- liefs and they were all extremely superstitious. They rejected infant bap- tism, would not be sworn in court nor perform military duty. They are remembered now mostly from their peculiar dress and from their public feet washing as a religious ceremony. The shrill whistle of the locomotive was the death knell to many of these superstitions. Neither the Dunkards, Mennonites nor the Omish have held their own with the march of educa- tion and improvement. The common school system wherein the text books and teachers were almost exclusively English, has well nigh obliterated the Pennsylvania Dutch language.
Nor must it be supposed that these people, ignorant and superstitious as they were, were inferior in native intellect or morality. For their day. they acquired large estates and lived comfortably. At the time of which we write, they were within the limits of Bedford county, too far from the seat of justice to redress their grievances by going to law. They had therefore an unwritten law among themselves which in effect worked out the spirit of all law as defined by Justinian, the Great Roman law giver, viz .: "To live honestly, hurt nobody, and render to every one his due." One in that community who habitually violated this precept, was very soon ostracised from the society of his neighbors; the ordinary field hand would not work for or associate with him. He was not invited to the barn rais- ing or log rollings so common then in the sparsely settled country, and this unwritten law of social ostracism was carried out so thoroughly against the offending dishonest or unworthy neighbor that families thus ostracised have abhorrently left the fields they had cleared with great labor, never to return to them.
These principles of right living were brought with them and thoroughly implanted in the new country, for most of them had been brought up under
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the English law and knew thoroughly their inherent rights as citizens of a community. The very absence of courts or covenient tribunals before which to redress their grievances, helped them in a great measure, to give a high moral tone to their rural communities in their personal relations with each other.
CHAPTER IX
The Beginning of the Revolution .- Early Movements Towards Freedom .- Westmoreland Patriots' Resolution .- The Rattlesnake Flag.
The people of Westmoreland may well feel proud of their record in the Revolutionary war. Though the county had been open to settlement but six years, and erected but three years prior to the great contest ; though we were almost entirely a community of farmers, and struggling pioneers, with but two small towns, neither of which had a population of five hundred ; yet we have the proud distinction, as the records show, of having furnished more men for the various branches of the Revolutionary army than the city and county of Philadelphia furnished. True, they were not all under the direct command of Washington, but they were an integral part of the forces which brought about the glorious victory at Yorktown. That Philadelphia had many Quakers who would not fight, and many Tories, who were against us, must not lessen the glory which attaches to our Revolutionary record.
The battle of Lexington, on April 19, 1775, brought on a rapid crystali- zation of the general spirit of freedom and independence which pervaded all of the colonies in America. Whatever may have been the ill feeling between Pennsylvania and Virginia, before this, they were as one colony or one province when united in the cause of freedom, or as against England whose oppressive policy they thought they could no longer endure. This was true of all of the colonies. But we believe there was a special reason why the people of Westmoreland county were more hostile and bitter against the mother country than the inhabitants of any other section of the Province. Dunmore, as we have said, was an English Earl, and had been appointed by George II as they thought, for the purpose of punish- ing the Virginia colony for resisting the Stamp Act of 1765. But his pun- ishment fell as we have seen, most heavily on Westmoreland county. Our people associated him directly with King George, and traced their mis- fortunes under Dunmore directly to the English government.
The news of the battle of Lexington doubtless flew across the colonies very rapidly for that day, though it did not reach the western section of the
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province till about the first of May. Four weeks after the battle, on May 16, 1775, a largely attended meeting was held at Hannastown. The call must have been general in this county, for a similar meeting was held on. the same day in Pittsburg.
In many respects the meeting at Hannastown was the most glorious. one ever held in the county, even up to our present day of great events. True, they met in a log cabin-met as pioneers, and many of them were doubtless clothed in homespun garments, or hunting suits of buckskin ; met in the shade of the "forest primeval", on the border of civilization. But nevertheless, let the reader suggest a meeting in modern times, and com- pare its proceedings with those of the Hannastown meeting and its patrio- tic resolutions, and they will pale into utter insignificance. There is but one document in American letters which can be compared with the Han- nastown Resolutions, and that is the Declaration of Independence itself, which was not then in existence except in the mind of Thomas Jefferson. It must always be remembered that the Hannastown Convention met and adopted its resolutions more than a year before the Declaration of Inde- pendence was signed. The Hannastown Resolutions embrace the sub- stance of the Magna Charta as wrested from King John at Runnymede in' 1215, and nearly every principle enunciated in them was repeated in the Great Declaration of July 4, 1776. Take the two together, and we find sentences in either which may be substituted in the other, and read with- out detection, except upon the closest scrutiny. Nay, more. Had the prin- cipal clauses of the Hannastown Resolution been adopted in Philadelphia as part of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, the statesmen of the day would not have noticed the substitution. It is as positive as any state paper- we have in the English language, not excepting the best writings of Alex- ander Hamilton. It defines as clearly the causes of complaint, and points out the remedy for our evils, with a precision as unerring as any paper ever printed either in Europe or America :
Resolved unanimously. That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion; and the ministry,. by endeavoring to enforce these acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of sustenance.
Resolved unanimously. That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression will, should it meet with success in Massachusetts Bay, be extended to every other part of America: it is, therefore, become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love of his country, or for pos- tcrity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execu- tion of it; that for us, we will be ready to oppose it with our lives, and fortunes, and the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately form ourselves into a military
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body, to consist of companies to be made up out of the several townships under the following association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland county.
We declare to the world, that we do not mean by this Association to deviate from that loyalty which we hold it our bounded duty to observe; but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights, which with sorrow we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked ministry and a corrupted Parliament, and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree and associate together.
. Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful King, and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire : we declare to the world that we do not mean by this association to deviate from that loyalty which we hold it to be our bounden duty to observe; but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which with sorrow, we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree and associate together.
Ist. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment or regiments, and choose officers to command 11s.
2nd. We will with alacrity, endeavor to make ourselves masters of the manual exercise, and such evolutions as shall be necessary to enable us to act in a body with concert; and to that end we will meet at such times and places as shall be appointed, cither for the companies or regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen.
3rd. That should our country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary acts of Parliament, we will cheer- fully submit to a military discipline, and to the utmost of our power, resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any plan that may be formed for the de- fense of America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular.
4th. That we do not desire any innovation, but only that things may be restored to, and go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great and America was happy. As a proof of this disposition, we will quietly submit to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be governed before that period, and will, in our several or associate capacities, be ready when called on to assist the civil magi- strates in carrying the same into execution.
5th. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late obnoxious statutes, and shall recede from their claim to tax us, and make laws for us in every in- stance, or when some general plan of union or reconciliation has been formed and ac- cepted by America, this, our association, shall be dissolved; but till then it shall remain in full force: and to the observation of it we bind ourselves by everything dear and sacred amongst men. No licensed murder ; no famine introduced by law.
Resolved, That on Wednesday the 24th instant, the township meet to accede to the said association and choose their officers.
These resolutions, with the proceedings, are found in the American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. 2, page 615. The reader cannot but ask who wrote them. Some eastern writers have claimed that they were not writ- ten and adopted then, but were forged many years afterwards. It was probably hard for them to think that here in the western wilderness were men who were intellectually equal to the task of preparing them thus early in the great struggle against England. Their genuineness is not difficult to
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prove. Arthur St. Clair, in a letter to Governor Penn, writing of the meet- ing, the resolutions, etc., says: "I got a clause added to it by which they bind themselves to assist the civil magistrates in the execution of the laws. they have been accustomed to be governed by." This undoubtedly re- fers to the latter part of the fourth clause of the resolutions: Furthermore, in a letter written to Joseph Shippen from Ligonier the day after the meet- ing, in refering to the arming and disciplining of the citizens of the county, St. Clair says, "I doubt their utility, and am almost as much afraid of suc- cess in this contest as of being vanquished." Both of them agree exactly with the text of the resolutions, and we take it therefore that those who doubted their genuineness were not aware of the existence of this corres- pondence.
On the other hand, it has been claimed that St. Clair was the sole author of the resolutions. This claim is not borne out, indeed, it is almost dis -. proved by his letters as quoted above. Had he been their sole author he- would scarcely have written, "I got a clause added," etc., and in the second letter, if he "doubted their utility," etc., he would not have written that clause. But from their general style, from the strong English, inter- spersed with English law terms, it is known that they were prepared by a thoroughly educated man and one of high literary attainments and likely by some one who had been educated in Great Britain. Such a man in every particular was Arthur St. Clair, and he was present in the convention, also, as is indicated by his letters. He is generally regarded as a soldier purely, but he was in reality one of the best educated men of the Revolution, and a master of English letters. No one can read his writings without ad- mitting this. He had, moreover, the benefit of a college education, was descended from a long line of ancestors, illustrious alike for deeds of noble. daring and for their intellectual and social standing. In America he had associated with our most polished people. To those who will look into his modest life, the fact that he never claimed their authorship is no evidence that he was not the author. It is generally believed that he was, in the main, their author, and that he was one of the leading spirits of the conven- tion. Yet there was one clause in them which he did not endorse, and one which could not have been in the original draft, for St. Clair says he had it added to them.
The regiment, the necessity of which was suggested in the resolutions,. and the utility of which he doubted, was almost at once organized at Han- nastown, and was the first in the county at the breaking out of the Revolu- tion. It was moreover commanded by our first sheriff, John Proctor, of whom we have formerly spoken. It adopted a flag for its own use before the colonies had conceived the idea of a general flag for all of the American troops. The flag has been preserved, and is yet one of the most noted and highly valued mementoes of the past. It is made of crimson silk, and has in its upper left hand corner the coat-of-arms of Great Britain, for it will"
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
be remembered that we had not yet thrown off the yoke of England, but were still professedly loyal subjects to His Majesty, George the Third. On its folds is a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, indicative of the thirteen col- onies in America. Underneath the snake are the words "Don't tread on me." In a half circle are the letters, "J. P. F. B. W. C. P.", which are the initials of the words: John Proctor's First Battalion, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The flag has long years been in the possession of Elizabeth Craig, of New Alexandria, a small station on the New Alexandria branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It came to her by descent from her ances- tor. The flag has not been seen by many because of the inaccessibility of the town in which its owner lives. Many antiquarians and collectors of Rev- .olutionary relics have wisely been refused its possession, though large sums
I. B.W. C.P.C
ME
DONT TREAD
ON
THE RATTLESNAKE FLAG
-of money have been offered for it. It is properly one of Westmoreland's most valuable heritages of the past, and we trust will ever remain with our people, and be preserved for the admiration and patriotic inspiration of generations yet unborn.
The Boston Port Bill was to go into effect on June 1, 1774. In brief it ·closed the port to commerce ; forbade town meetings except at the pleasure .of the governor ; placed the appointment of the governor, council and sher- iffs in the crown; and gave to the appointed sheriffs the power of electing juries. On May 13, the Boston authorities by resolution called on other
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colonies to unite with them to stop all importation from Great Britain and the West Indies. In Pennsylvania a meeting of representatives from all of the counties was called for July 15, at Philadelphia. A Westmoreland county meeting was held at Hannastown to elect delegates to the Phila- delphia convention. It resulted in the selection of Robert Hanna and James Cavett to represent our county and they attended. Both of them were men of little education or culture, and were probably but illy fitted to associate with men like Thomas Mifflin, Joseph Reed, and the learned and polished John Dickinson. Hanna had recently been a tavernkeeper, and was a jus- tice, while Cavett was a county commissioner. They were perhaps called upon to pass on questions of government and royal prerogatives which more learned men would have handled with better grace. But they were strong in common sense, a very useful quality in popular assemblies, while there were plenty of abler men to supply the necessary dignity and learning. The Continental Congress acted on the recommendations of this and other assemblies, and resolved to raise an army, of which George Washington was chosen commander-in-chief. The Province of Pennsylvania was to furnish 4300 troops for this army. The Philadelphia assembly suggested that all counties secure arms and provide minute-men who should be able to march to the seat of war on the shortest notice. In our county a com- mittee of safety was appointed, and William Thompson, our first assembly- man, elected in 1773, was alone constituted the committee.
The militia men associated themselves together to resist foreign in- vasion, and were accordingly called "Associators" all over the Province. The assessors were asked to furnish the names of all who were physically able to bear arms. On all who were not Associators a tax of two one-half pounds in addition to the regular tax was levied. The assembly provided that if any of the Associators was called to war and should thus leave his family without the proper means of support, in his absence, the justices of the peace and the overseers of the poor should look after them and see that they were supported at public expense. Late in 1775 four battalions were called for from Pennsylvania, and one of them was put under the com- mand of Arthur St. Clair, who was made its colonel.
A long struggle ensued between the Penns, the Proprietaries of the Province and their adherents, and their opponents, who were called Whigs. At length the Whigs called a convention, the ultimate object of which was to devise means by which a new government of the state could be formed. Westmoreland sent Edward Cook and James Perry. This convention met in May, and among other things decided that a new form of govern- ment was necessary, and recommended a convention of representatives from the different counties of the Province, who should be elected with the understanding that they were to form a new constitution. A committee of this convention was also appointed to decide the number of delegates
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each county should be entitled to, and to determine the method by which the delegates should be elected, etc. There were two members from each county in the Province except from Westmoreland, which was represented by but one, and Edward Cook was our representative. In providing for the election of these delegates it was decided that only those who had paid a Provincial tax for three years should be entitled to vote. Our county and Bedford being new counties, had been relieved from the payment of Prov- incial tax, and consequently under that ruling could not have been represent- ed at all, so an exception was made for these two counties. Otherwise it was supposed that a man who had not paid tax for three years should not have much to say in the overthrow of the Provincial government. For the purpose of electing these delegates, our county was divided into two dis- tricts. All south of the Youghiogheny River were to vote at Spark's Fort, on the river, and all north of the river, which embraced nearly all of our present county, were to vote at Hannastown. Each county in the Province was to elect eight men who should, if they thought fit, reorganize the state government. Those elected from Westmoreland county were James Barr, Edward Cook, James Smith, John Moore, John Carmichael, James Perry, James McClelland and Christopher Lobingier. Since these men were elected to perform the most important duty which had yet devolved upon any of the county's representatives, it may be well to look briefly into their lives. All were, moreover, prominent men who made their share of the early history of our county and Province.
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