USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 15
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James Barr was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1749, and came to Westmoreland county, settling in Derry township, which then extended to the far north, about 1770. He very early became a leader in the organization of companies to defend the border settlements against the Indians, and performed similar services in the early days of the Revolution. He was a member of the convention of July 15, 1776, and was also a justice of the peace in our county till 1787. From 1787 till 1789 he was a member of the general assembly, and opposed in every way the calling of a state convention, the object of which was to change the organic law of the state in 1790. Nevertheless the convention was called, and a new constitution, known as the Constitution of 1790, was adopted. Under this constitution he was associate judge of Westmoreland county. When Armstrong county was organized, in 1800, he fell within the limits of the new county. He died May II, 1824.
Edward Cook was born in 1738, of English parents who had settled in the Cumberland Valley. In 1772 he came to Westmoreland and took up lands on the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers. In 1776 he built a stone house, which is still standing. He was a storekeeper, farmer, and dis- tiller, and also owned slaves, which came under the gradual abolition law of 1782. He was a member of the committee of conference which met in
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Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776, and of the convention of July 15, 1776. In 1777 he was appointed by the assembly of Pennsylvania to meet similarly appointed delegates from other states in New Haven, Connecticut, to regulate prices of all commodities produced by the new states. They met November 22, 1777. In 1781 he commanded a battalion for frontier defense, and was county lieutenant from early in 1782 till early in 1783. Later he was a justice for both Westmoreland and Washington counties, and under the new constitution was associate judge of Fayette county. He was largely instrumental in ending the Whisky Insurrection of 1794. He died in 1808, and his wife died in 1837, aged ninety-four, both dying in the stone house in which they had moved when built in 1776.
James Perry lived near the mouth of Turtle Creek. He was a member of the Provincial Convention which met in Carpenter's Hall on June 28, 1776, and of the convention of July 15, 1776, after which he moved to Ken- tucky.
John McClelland was born in 1734, in Lancaster county, and after com- ing to Westmoreland county lived in that part which fell within Fayette county on its organization in 1783. He was a member of the convention of July 15, 1776, and represented Westmoreland in the general assembly in 1778. He was a captain in the First Battalion of Westmoreland Militia at the beginning of the Revolution, and was also prominent in the Whisky Insurrection.
Christopher Lobingier was a son of Christopher Lobingier, of Witten- berg, Germany, and was born in Lancaster (now Dauphin) county, in 1740, shortly after his parents came to America. In 1772 he removed to Mount Pleasant township in Westmoreland county, not far from the pres- ent village of Laurelville. He served on the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence and was a member of the convention of July 15, 1776. He was also a member of the general assembly under the constitution of 1790, in the lower house, 1791 to '93. He died July 4, 1798, leaving a widow whose name had been Elizabeth Mulley, who died in Stoyestown, Pennsyl- vania, September, 15, 1815. His son George was associate judge of West- moreland county and also a member of the assembly.
John Carmichael was a native of Cumberland county, and was born about 1757. Shortly before the Revolution he had settled in Westmoreland county, but in the part which afterwards fell in Fayette county. He lived near Redstone Creek. He owned a mill and a distillery. In addition to be- ing a member of the convention of July 15, 1776, he was a member of the assembly in 1777. He died in 1796.
Brief sketches of John Moore and James Smith will be found in other sections of this work, the former in the chapter treating of the judiciary of Westmoreland, he being one of our early judges, and the latter in that part
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which treats of Westmoreland in the Revolution, he having earned addi- tional laurels later in our later history.
This convention met July 15th, 1776, eleven days after the Continental Congress had declared all the colonies free and independent states. Hitherto the oaths taken by all officers had acknowledged loyalty to the King of Eng- land, but now congress prescribed an oath which pledged allegiance to the new government, and was so sweeping that it cannot but be of interest to the reader. The following is the text in full :
"I do swear (or affirm) that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors, and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a free and independent state, and that I will not at any time do or cause to be done any matter or thing that will be injurious to the freedom and independence thereof as declared by Congress; and also that I will discover and make known to some one justice of the peace of said state all treasons or traitorous conspiracies which I now know or hereafter shall know to be found against this or any of the United States of America."
The old assembly, mostly composed of the Penns, their relations and adherents, objected violently to the supreme authority assumed by this new convention, but, under the Declaration of Independence, with soldiers marching everywhere and liberty bells ringing out the old and in the new, they made but a slight impression. The new convention took supreme authority over the state affairs, approved the Declaration of Independence, appointed new justices who were compelled to take the new oath. They declared us a free state and arranged for a new plan of government, known as the Constitution of 1776, which went into effect September 28. The con- vention paid great attention to the military of our new state. All white citizens over eighteen years of age were to be enrolled for military duty, and to take the oath of allegiance before August Ist. All who refused or neglected to go before the justices and perform this duty were to be regarded as Tories, that is, enemies of the state, and adherents of the King, and were to be subjected to fine and imprisonment.
The military affairs were farther put under the supervision of an officer called a county lieutenant. He had power to order out the militia and send them where he pleased. He distributed arms and clothing, and paid the military the money raised in the county to the supreme executive council. His authority was limited only by the council itself, except of course when the county was under the supervision of a branch of the regular army, in which case he was subject to its commander. Archibald Lochry, one of the many progressive Scotch-Irish who had settled in our county, was the first and, we believe the most efficient county lieutenant of Westmoreland county. He was appointed March 21, 1777. He resided on a large estate in Unity township, near the present town of Latrobe. In 1782 he was suc-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ceeded by Edward Cook, but as he lived in that part of Westmoreland now embraced in Washington county, which was formed in 1781, he was soon succeeded in this county by Colonel Charles Campbell. He was a plain un- polished man, but was a noted Indian fighter, and filled the office well, though his duties were extremely onerous. He was not only expected to furnish Westmoreland's quota of men for the front, but to look after the Western border as will. It is fair to state, however, that on account of the Western border troubles our county was not called on to furnish as many men for the service in the eastern army as its number of inhabitants would warrant. But they were expected to look after themselves, in addition to the troops they sent east. The Indians were more or less allied with the English, and frequently raided the western border. During the Revolution they regarded it to be their just right to exterminate the white population if they could. They were paid for scalps by the English, and were strongly in sympathy with them because of presents, firearms, ammunition and money -all of which were plentiful with the British and extremely scarce with the colonial army. No alliance could be made with the Indians by the col- onists, for a neutral hostility was bred and born in both of them. Their interests were always inimical.
By the constitution adopted the executive power was vested in a Pres- ident and Council. The council was to consist of twelve members from various parts of the state. Westmoreland county was allowed one to be elected by the people, and John Proctor was our first member He was succeeded by Thomas Scott, who filled the office three years, the limit as defined by the constitution. Scott lived in what is now Washington county, was a man of fine ability, and was afterwards elected as the first member of congress from that county.
CHAPTER X
Westmoreland in the Revolution.
Late in 1775 the Continental Congress requested the Assembly of Penn- sylvania to raise one battalion for service in the regular army. About this time John Nelson had raised a company of riflemen, nearly all of whom were Westmorelanders, and had offered them to the Continental Congress. His company was composed of one captain, himself; three lieutenants, four sei- geants, four corporals and seventy privates. As soon as they were received in New York they were sent to Canada by order of General Benedict Arnold. They were at first in Colonel De Hass' battalion, and in November, 1776, they were placed under command of Colonel Anthony Wayne. After March, 1777, they were placed under command of Colonel Francis Johnston, of the Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment. In Canada they served under Colonel St. Clair. Some of them fought under Colonel Richard Butler, a brave young soldier from Westmoreland county, of whom and of whose family we shall write more extensively later on. He was under Wayne with these West- moreland soldiers in the southern campaign when the long continued war was nearing its end. They were also at Germantown, Brandywine, Mon- mouth, Stony Point and Yorktown.
The Second Pennsylvania Battalion was raised by an order of Congress dated December 9, 1775, calling for four more battalions, and the enlistment of these was for one year. This was also connected with Wayne's Fourth Battalion, and with the Sixth as well, which was under the command of Colonel, afterwards General, William Irvine. In January, 1776, Congress promoted both St. Clair and Wayne, and they will hereafter be known as Generals. St. Clair had up to this time been engaged in drilling troops as they came as new recruits from the country, and organizing them into com- panies. This was done near Philadelphia, and as rapidly as they were ready they were disposed of and became the effective force of the regular army. But now he was ordered to Canada. With him went two new companies from Westmoreland county, most of whom he knew intimately. One of these Westmoreland companies was in command of William Butler, a brother of Richard, and a lifelong friend of St. Clair's. These two men not only went
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
through the Revolutionary war together for the most part, but were together in the unfortunate Ohio expedition against the Indians in 1791, when Butler, as second in command, bravely laid down his life. The other company from Westmoreland county was under command of Stephen Bayard, who was afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, which was composed very largely of Westmoreland soldiers.
General St. Clair, according to the order of the war committee of Con- gress, prepared his battalion as rapidly as possible for the Canadian com- mission. Though they were very poorly equipped, their equipment was the best the colonial exchequer could afford. As rapidly as possible they passed up the Hudson and thence into Canada. It was a desperate march, for it was through an almost unbroken forest, and then into the heart of the Eng- lish colony, and that the strongest in America. Without great difficulty he took Quebec. Much had been hoped for from this expedition. It was sup- posed that Canada would be as anxious to cut itself loose from England as our colonies were, and that all that was necessary was to afford them an opportunity, when they would unite with us and enlarge and strengthen our colonies. The advantage of this addition to our territory, thus leaving England no foothold whatever in America, can easily be seen, and accounts for the brilliant prospects of the Canadian expedition. But the contrary was found by St. Clair and his army. After taking their capital they refused to assist him or to declare themselves free from England. They did not want to be "liberated," and, instead of allying themselves with the American troops, they decidedly leaned towards the British. They even took up arms against the Colonial army, whom they treated on every hand as invaders. Of course, under this state of affairs the Colonial troops could not hold what they had so boldly marched for and captured. St. Clair could do notli- ing but retreat toward the Sorrel river, which is the outlet of Lake Cham- plain and flows into the St. Lawrence. The British, reinforced, now pursued his retreating army. They finally came together at Three Rivers, and St. Clair gave battle in a manner which has been the admiration of military writers ever since, and which has been considered by them as one of the best contested fields, from a scientific military standpoint, among all the battles of the Revolution. In fact, no campaign in all the war showed more military genius nor more personal heroism on the part of its soldiers than this one. Hardships seemingly almost insurmountable were bravely endured and conquered. After one of the most difficult marches in our history, they practically conquered the British army on their own ground. The English army was now reinforced by Canadians and Indians, and was under the command of General Burgoyne. St. Clair's army could do nothing but re- treat gradually before the English bayonets into a cold and snowy wilder- ness to their own country. In all this the Westmoreland soldiers bore their part, and in every instance, so far as the records show, acquitted themselves as became brave men of the new nation.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
The Third Pennsylvania Regiment was formed from part of St. Clair s Second Battalion, in which were the companies commanded by Captains Butler and Bayard. It was enlarged by recruits in the latter part of 1776 and early in 1777. There is very little information in the army reports con- cerning this regiment, but it was taken into the Continental service in Marclı, 1777. Colonel Joseph Wood was its commander, but he had been wounded in Canada, and, his wounds growing more serious, he resigned and was suc- ceeded by Thomas Craig, who was kept in command till the close of the Rev- olution. Captain Butler was made lieutenant-colonel of Daniel Morgan's rifle regiment, and was succeeded as captain by James Christie. From time to time several of the companies were transferred to other regiments, and some of its officers were promoted or given other commands. The men of Captain Butler's company mostly re-enlisted when their time of service had expired, and remained in the regiment under Captain Christie. They were never, while they remained in the army, more than half clothed, and generally were poorly fed, but this was the general condition of the Colonial army, and makes still greater the honor of the victory they eventually won at York- town. At one time, it is reported that the regiment had but one blanket on an average to six men, and none of them had whole tents. The officers were as poorly clad as the soldiers, none of them having uniforms, and they par- took of the same scanty food. They spent an ever memorable winter at Valley Forge, and from there recruiting officers were sent out. The recruit- ing stations for Westmoreland county were established at the houses of Lieu- tenant Francis Moore, James Carnahan and Lieutenant Joseph Brownlee. Twenty dollars bounty was offered by Congress, and the state offered one hundred dollars, but these bounties were paid by the county to Congress and the state, so that in reality one hundred and twenty dollars was paid by the county for each recruit. Small as it may seem to us, it was a great tax on the early inhabitants of the county. Nevertheless there were many of our Westmoreland soldiers who enlisted early and without bounty, and remained in the army till after the battle of Yorktown. In some cases they came home only to enlist in defense of the border settlements against the Indians. This service was largely performed by militia in short-term enlistments, and by independent companies called "rangers."
The Third Regiment, by deaths in and out of battles and from various other causes, was so greatly reduced that it had to be reorganized at Easton, Pennsylvania, in January, 1781. Colonel Craig was its commander, and it was attached to the command of General Wayne in his justly celebrated south- ern campaign. The officers were Captain James Christie, Captain Thomas Butler, Lieutenants Daniel St. Clair and Ebenezer Denny, and Colonels Rich- ard Butler and Stephen Bayard.
James Christie was a Scotchman, born in Edinburgh, in 1750. He came to Westmoreland county some time before the Revolution, perhaps when 1
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about twenty years old, and died here in the early part of the eighteenth century. When Benedict Arnold's treacherous plot was discovered to Wash- ington, he appointed Christie to visit all the posts along the Hudson and re- port their general condition to him. When it is remembered that Washing- ton (after Arnold attempted to sell the Colonial armies out for British gold) said he did not know whom to trust, Christie's appointment indicated that the commander-in-chief had great faith in him. He was a brave soldier, and lived a most exemplary life.
Nor was Colonel Thomas Butler less distinguished and trusted by the great chief. At the battle of Brandywine he saw a squad of American troops retreating in disorder. Butler, placing himself at their head, successfully rallied them so that they did good service. For this he received the highest praise from the lips of Washington on the field of battle. He accompanied General St. Clair in the Ohio campaign, when defeated by the Indians in 1791, and was badly wounded in the leg. His brother, Captain Edward Butler, carried him to a place of safety. In 1794 he was made a lieutenant-colonel, and died in Westmoreland county in 1805, aged fifty-one years.
Daniel St. Clair was the eldest son of General Arthur St. Clair, and was born in Boston, in 1762. He was rather meagerly educated, considering the polished education of his father, for he spent his boyhood days on the frontier, where schools were unknown-in Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier. He en- tered the Revolution as an ensign, September 20, 1776, was promoted to first lieutenant April Ist, 1777, and served continuously till 1781. He read law, and was admitted to the bar in Westmoreland county in January, 1789, and practiced in Greensburg. He served a short time in the war of 1812. In 1791, February 3, he was married to Rachel Shannon, of Perkiomen, Penn- sylvania. Later he removed to Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he died, February 18, 1833, and was buried at Evansburg, Pennsylvania.
Two strictly Pennsylvania regiments organized for the protection of the province were the Pennsylvania Regiment of Musketry and the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment. They were authorized by a resolution of the Pennsylvania Assembly, passed March 4, 1776. In the Riffe Regiment was the company of Joseph Erwin, which was raised in Westmoreland county and enlisted for two years. This company was afterwards transferred to the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and thence to the Second Pennsylvania, and was finally discharged at Valley Forge in 1778, their time of enlistment having expired. In 1777 a state regiment of foot was founded, and Captain Erwin's company, under James Carnahan, Erwin having been promoted, was in- cluded in it. They were at Brandywine and Germantown. They had also been in the disastrous battle of Long Island when Generals Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis, with the best equipped army in the world and the largest British army that ever contended against American forces, thought they won a great victory over the ragged and starving American troops under Gen- erals Washington, Putnam, Miles, Sullivan and Stirling.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Captain James Carnahan lived in the northern part of Westmoreland county. At the close of the Revolution he returned to our county, and in the winter of 1786-87 he was drowned in the Allegheny river. He was the father of Dr. James Carnahan, who was president of Princeton College from 1831 to 1853.
The Second Pennsylvania Regiment entered the service in October, 1776, and with various changes remained till the close of the war, returning home late in 1783. In the first years of its services in the war there were few if any Westmoreland soldiers in it, but later on, when its hardships were greater, there were very many from Westmoreland added to it, both by transfer from other regiments and by recruits directly from the pioneer families. The list is very imperfect, but it nevertheless discloses that many Westmoreland sol- diers were killed while serving in it. Many others serving through the war returned and spent their last years here, and their names may yet be read on the mossy headstones of our old cemeteries. That they were under Generals Anthony Wayne and Nathaniel Greene is sufficient evidence that they saw much active service. They doubtless bore their part at Guilford Court House and Ninety-Six, and finally at Yorktown. The only complete lists of this regiment are said to have been destroyed by the British army when they burned the capitol at Washington in 1814.
We have referred several times to the border troubles of Western Penn- sylvania during the Revolution. Although we were far removed from the actual fighting ground of the armies, the Indians were a much greater menace to our people. Several attempts were made by Connolly, then in the British service, to take the western part of our state from the dominion of our Colo- nial army. Pittsburgh was to be-his headquarters, and all that saved us from the additional misfortune was the unbending loyalty of our people. The British, failing in this, allied themselves thoroughly with the Indians, who were readily induced to annoy and harrass our almost defenseless pio- neers. The Indians were by this time pushed west as far as the valley of the Ohio river. Our Congress knew of this impending trouble, and that a daily outbreak by the Indians was looked for. In 1776 Colonel George Morgan was directed to negotiate with the tribes and endeavor to secure them as our allies, or, failing in this, to induce them to remain neutral. A further committee from Congress visited them, but, like Morgan, failed to accomplish anything of permanent good. All this was promptly reported to Congress. They traced their failure mainly to Governor Hamilton, who had been appointed by the British, and had great power with the Shawnees and the Delawares. The result was that all of the militia which our county could spare was moved to Fort Pitt and to other western forts. Some of our forts having been long since abandoned, were repaired and garrisoned. In furtherance of this project the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment was authorized by a resolution of Con- gress, passed July 15, 1776, and was designed for the special purpose of
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
protecting the frontier of Pennsylvania, particularly that part north of Pitts- burgh, for the southern border, notably around Fort Pitt, had been in a meas- ure protected all the time, and the fort itself had never been abandoned. This regiment had been mustered at Pittsburgh, and did duty along the fron- tier during the summer months of 1776. The officers were Colonels Aeneas Mackay and George Wilson, and Major Richard Butler. Rev. David Mc- Clure was appointed chaplain, and Ephraim Douglas quartermaster. Many of the soldiers were from our county, for, to remain near home and protect their own firesides and families, was doubtless more inviting to them than service in the army with Washington. For that reason they enlisted most readily, all of them between August 9 and December 16. But now large additional reinforcements for the British army landed in New York, and this demanded that all troops from every part of the army who could be spared should be added at once to Washington's army. They had, therefore, scarcely become settled in their posts on the frontier until Congress ordered them to New Jersey to reinforce Washington's army, which was indeed sadly in need of them. Orders were issued, and all troops were to assemble at Kittan- ning on December 15, to begin a march of about five hundred miles on foot across the Allegheny mountains, in the dead of winter. They were so poorly clad that Colonel Mackay wrote that he would be obliged to go by the way of Philadelphia in order to secure clothes and other much needed supplies. Colonel George Wilson, writing from Kittanning, December 5, to Colonel James Wilson, among other things makes the following observations: "To march east is disagreeable to me, for both officers and men understood when entering the service that we were to defend the western frontier. Now to leave their families in so defenseless a situation as they will be in their absence seems to give great trouble here. But I hope we will leave some of our trifling officers behind, who pretend to have more wit than seven men. We are ill provided for a march at this season. We need tents, kettles, blankets and clothes, that we may not cut a despicable figure in the east. I have recommended all to lay aside personal resentment and issued orders to have your soldiers meet at Hannastown by December 15."
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