USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 31
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From the Blairsville Record of July 23, 1829, we copy the following :
"We have delayed the publication of our paper till this morning so that we might announce the arrival of the first packet boats, the Pioneer and the Pennsylvania, at the port of Blairsville. They arrived last evening. They are owned by Mr. David Leech, whose enterprise and perseverance entitle him to much credit. A large party of citizens and strangers met the boats a few miles below this town and were received on board with that politeness and attention for which Mr. Leech is proverbial.
"The Pioneer passed the first lift lock below this place in the short space of three minutes. The boats are handsomely fitted up and well calculated to give comfort to passengers. They were welcomed at our wharves by the presence of many of our citizens of both sexes. They departed at nine o'clock this morning for Pittsburgh."
The reader will understand that these were the first real passenger boats on the canal; freight boats had been in use two years before this.
One of the most interesting descriptions of traveling by canal in western Pennsylvania is given by Charles Dickens in his "American Notes," written during his first visit to America in 1842:
"The canal extends to the foot of the mountain, and there of course it stops, the passengers being conveyed across it by land carriages, and taken on afterwards by another canal boat, the counterpart of the first, which awaits them on the other side. There are two canal lines of passage-boats; one is called the Express, and the other, a cheaper one, the Pioneer. The Pioneer gets first to the mountain, and waits for the Express people to come up, both sets of passengers being conveyed across it at the same time. We were the Express company, but when we had crossed the mountain and had come to the second boat, the proprietors took it in their heads to draft all the Pioneers into it likewise, so that we were five and forty at least, and the accession of passengers was not at all of that kind which improved the prospect of sleeping at night. One of two remarkable circum- stances is indisputably a fact with reference to that class of society who travels in these boats, either they carry their restlessness to such a pitch that they never sleep at all, or they expectorate in dreams, which would be a remarkable mingling of the real and the ideal. All night long and every night on this canal, there was a perfect storm and temp- est of spitting. Between five and six o'clock in the morning we got np, and some of us went on deck to give them an opportunity of taking the shelves down, while others, the morning being very cold, crowded round the rusty stove, cherishing the newly-kindled fire, and filling the grate with these volunteer contributions of which they had been so
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liberal at night. The washing accommodations were primitive. There was a tin ladle- chained to the deck, with which every gentleman who thought it necessary to cleanse himself, many were superior of thir weakness, fished the dirty water out of the canal and. poured it into a tin basin secured in like manner. There was also a jack-towel. Hanging up before a little looking glass in the bar, in the immediate vicinity of the bread and cheese and biscuits, were a public comb and a hair brush. And yet, despite these oddities, and, even they had, for me at least, a humor of their own-there was much in this mode of traveling which I heartily enjoyed at the time, and look back upon it now with great pleasure. Even the running up bare-necked at five o'clock in the morning from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck, scooping up the icy water, plunging one's head into it and drawing. it out all fresh and glowing with the cold, was a good thing. The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health, the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when light comes gleaming off from every thing; the lazy motion of the boat when one lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red, burning spot high up where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of the bright stars, un- disturbed by noise of wheels or steam or any other sound than the rippling of the water as the boat went on, all these were pure delights."
Charles Dickens arrived in Pittsburgh at 9:30 p. m. on March 28, as is an- nounced in the Morning Chronicle of March 29, so this trip was taken on the 28th. He came from Johnstown on David Leech's packet called the "Ex- press." He went from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.
The primitive mode of navigation on the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers was the simple Indian canoe propelled by either one or two oars. The- canoe was constructed by the unskilled hand and was the pride of the un- tutored red man, for upon it he glided up and down our limpid waters. Gen- erally they were made of a solid section of a tree hewn into proper shape by a rude tomahawk. Sometimes the natural bark was nicely ornamented. The- successor to the canoe was the skiff. The original freight crafts were con- structed in the form of rafts of logs, but on the coming of the saw mills, the flat-boat and broad-horn boats took their place, serving well the purpose for which intended. In the early part of the nineteenth century they were super- ceded by the keelboat, and they in time gave way to the steamboat. The first steamboat built in the Monongahela Valley was at West Brownsville, but it is not now known by whom built. Its name was the "Enterprise," and for many years it plied up and down the Monongahela river.
After several attempts to have the general government permanently im- prove the navigation of the Monongahela river without any practical success. the Monongahela Navigation Company was authorized by an Act of the As- sembly of Pennsylvania, March 31, 1836. The only improved condition of navigation heretofore had been the construction of chutes and wing-walls at the different points. The improvements proposed by this company was a series of locks and dams, and lock Nos. 1 and 2, beginning at Pittsburgh, were built in 1841. Nos. 3 and 4 were completed for use to Brownsville November- 13, 1844. Other locks and dams were completed at various dates, until finally
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the government aided in improving the stream. Below Morgantown, West Virginia, navigation is easy and complete. The slackwater is in perfect work- ing order so that steamboats can run from Pittsburgh to Morgantown all sea- sons of the year except when the river is frozen over. November 8, 1889, the locks and dans were completed to Morgantown, and the steamboat "James G. Blaine" passed up from Pittsburgh to that place, being the first to make the trip.
Prior to the completion of slackwater to Brownsville there were no regular packets on the river. The Liberty, Exchange, Oella, Massachusetts, Export, and that class of boats, did duty as carriers of freight and passengers' when- ever the depth of the water would admit of it, but navigation depended entirely on high water.
The Pittsburgh & Brownsville Packet Company was organized 1844 by Adam Jacobs, G. W. Cass, J. K. Moorehead, J. L. Dawson, I. C. Woodward and others. The Consul was the first boat built for this company. She was commanded by Captain Samuel Clarke. Soon after this the Louis McLane was put on the line under command of Captain Adam Jacobs. In 1851 the Red Stone was placed on the line with I. C. Woodward as commander. After a short service she was sold, and a few months later exploded her boilers near Cincinnati, Ohio, killing the engineer and several others. In 1852 the Jeffer- son and Luzerne were put in service, and in 1856 the Telegraph, Captain I. C. Woodward : 1859, the Gallatin, Captain Clarke ; the Dunbar, Captain Bennett ; 1860, the Franklin, Captain Bennett ; 1864, the Fayette, Captain S. C. Spears ; 1866, the E. Bennett, Captain M. A. Cox in command.
In 1868 the People's Line consolidated with the old line and was known thereafter as the Pittsburgh, Brownsville & Geneva Packet Company. The Geneva was built in 1871 by this company and was in trade fourteen years. The stern-wheel boat John Snowden came to service in 1876, Captain Peter Donaldson in charge, and later was turned into an excursion boat by Captain L. N. Clarke of Pittsburgh. The Bennett and Chieftain were lost in a destruc- tive ice break-up in 1882. The Adam Jacobs made her maiden trip Septem- ber 15, 1885, Captain M. A. Cox in command. This was the first boat to use electric light, which has since been added to nearly all the larger packet boats.
Before the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad to Pittsburgh the Mo- nongahela was on the great route between the west and east. This packet com- pany was a very important link in the route, and the number of passengers and the freight carried by the boats prior to 1852 would astonish the modern en- thusiast. Both freight and passengers came up the Ohio and then up the Monongahela. The turnpike from Robbstown, (now West Newtown), to Mt. Pleasant, Somerset, etc., was built to intercept this river trade. The slack- water navigation of these rivers was therefore an important factor in our early Westmoreland industries, and even yet affords a cheap method of transporta- tion for thousands of tons annually of our southwestern products.
CHAPTER XX
Mexican War.
After over thirty years of peace with other nations, we were again engaged in war, the third in our national history. It is known as the Mexican war. The contention was over the territory north of the Rio Grande river, and resulted in the cession to the United States of that territory and California. The war came late in 1846. There was something glorious, in the opinion of the average American youth, about going to a far-off land to fight an enemy about whom they knew nothing. They knew of the victory of General Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto, in 1836, around which a glamour of romance had been thrown. Mexico was, moreover, old in civilization when we were struggling colonies. Its untold wealth of architecture rivaled that of the city on the Tiber in the days of the Caesars. They were now to see its luxuriant marble baths, its magnificent porticoes, its temples dedicated to the Sun, and the grand palaces and halls of the ancient Montezumas. The magnificent yet decaying splendor of all this was extremely attractive to the youthful Westmorelander whose traveling had been limited in almost every case to his native state. There, too, were the tempting fruits which ripened all the year round under the bright rays of the tropical sun.
Prior to this we had had militia companies with their attendant parade or review days, in nearly every section of the county, and these had engendered a martial spirit among our young men which, at all events, has not been sur- passed since that day. In the Greensburg company were attorneys, doctors, preachers, merchants, clerks, mechanics, etc. They responded promptly to the call for troops, and about one hundred young men were sent to Mexico. They were the best educated young men in the county, and in nearly every case came from what might be called our best families. Nearly one-third of all who left, never returned. But few of them fell in battle, and perhaps their greatest mortality was due to diseases incident to the hot climate. Some were laid in the hct sands at Vera Cruz, others were buried in the City of Mexico, and still others, who died on the way home, were committed to the waves of the great Gulf.
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There was but one company in the war from our county, and it was raised in and around Greensburg. The company roll is as follows :
Commissioned Officers :- Captain, Jno. W. Johnson; first lieutenant, James Arm- strong : second lieutenant, Washington Murry; second junior lieutenant, James Coulter.
Non Commissioned Officers :- First sergeant, Henry C. Marchand; second sergeant, Thomas J. Barclay ; third sergeant, H. Byers Kuhns; fourth sergeant, James M. Mc- Laughlin ; first corporal, James M. Carpenter ; second corporal, Andrew Ross; third cor- poral, William Bigelow; fourth corporal, Daniel C. Byerly. Musicians .- drummer, An- drew J. Forney ; fifer, Michael J. Kettering.
Privates :- John Arkins, Andrew Bates, Hugh Y. Brady, George W. Bonnin, William A. Campbell, Humphrey Carson, Richard Coulter, Archibald Dougherty, Henry Fishel, Samuel Gorgas, John R. Grow, Frederick Kaines, James M. Hartford, James Hays, Andrew R. Huston, James Johnston, Jacob Kagarize, John Kerr, Jacob Kuhn, Philip Kuhn, Jacob Linsebigler, - Macready, George May, William H. Melville, Samuel Milner, Samuel C. Moorhead, Peter McCabe, Samuel McClanen, James H. McDermott. Robert McGinley, Amon McLean, William McWilliams, Frederick Rexwood, Joseph Shaw, Thomas Spears, Henry Scickle, Nathaniel Thomas, James Underwood, William R. Vance, Lebbeus Allshouse, McClure Bills, Samuel Byerly, Henry Bloom, Hagen Car- rey, Milton Cloud, George Decker, James L. Elliott, Henry Gresyn, Andrew D. Gor- don, George Haggerty, Edward Hansberry, George W. Hartman, Michael Heasely, Jacob Haffer, Richard H. L. Johnston. William Kelly, Henry Keslar, Daniel D. Kuhns, Edmund B. Landon, Benjamin Martz, Jacob Marrhead, David Mechling, Jacob P. Miller, Samuel H. Montgomery, Lewis Myers, Richard McClelland, John McCollum, Charles McGarvey, William McIntire, James McWilliams, David R. Mccutcheon, James Reager, Chauncey F. Sergeant, William R. Shields, Frederick D. Steck, John Taylor, Israel Uncapher, Samuel Waters.
The troops bound for Mexico from the southern part of Pennsylvania, came west largely on the Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia turnpike, and all along the farmers and others who had sleds, wagons and teams turned out to haul them a few miles, and thus hasten their westward journey. The farmers and others in the western part of Somerset county hauled them over the Laurel Hill, where the Ligonier Valley people took them up and delivered them at Youngstown, and so on.
On December 23, 1846, a public meeting was held in Greensburg to raise a fund to transport our company in the best of style to Pittsburgh. The company was organized late in December, and all its members were entertained during most of the holiday season by the citizens of Greensburg in their private houses. Christmas came on Sunday that year, but the day following the women of Greensburg gave the soldiers a "complimentary supper" in the court house. On Tuesday Rev. Brownson, of the Presbyterian church, presented each mem- ber of the company with a neatly bound Bible. They were received by Mr. Andrew Ross, who was a member of the bar and a member of the company. On Wednesday morning, December 28, they started in wagons, coaches, etc., for Pittsburgh. They started early, so that with their baggage they might reach the city the same day, the accomplishment of which was regarded as quite a success as to its rapidity in the mobilization of armies.
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In Greensburg they were called the "Westmoreland Guards," but in the service they were designated as Company E, Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and were in General Pillow's brigade, General Patterson's di- vision, and of course, under General Winfield Scott. Ninety-four were mus- tered into service at Pittsburgh, on January 1, 1847. They left Pittsburgh on January 8, and passed down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, and thence to Vera Cruz, which they reached on March 9th. They were engaged in many battles. Only forty-four of them were mustered out on July 14, 1848. Their first colonel was William B. Roberts, but, on his being taken sick, John W. Geary, who afterwards became Governor of Pennsylvania, suc- ceeded him.
General Stephen W. Kearney commanded the "Army of the West ;" Gen- eral Zachary Taylor commanded the "Army of Occupation," and General Scott commanded the "Army." On March 22d, our armies demanded a surrender of Vera Cruz. This being refused, the batteries and the fleet which lay near by in a bay of the Gulf, opened fire on the city. San Juan was the name of the gate to the city, and it offered a stubborn resistance until our soldiers had deter- mined to carry the works by an assault. The Mexican commander then of- fered to surrender, the terms were agreed upon, and our troops took possession of Vera Cruz.
On April 14 our army again confronted the Mexican army at Cerro Gordo. To cut off the retreat, General Scott cut a road to the left of Cerro Gordo and around the base of the mountain, and came in at the rear of the Mexican forts. This took several days. A part of our army charged the enemy with such impetuosity that they drove them back like sheep. Our batteries now occu- pied the heights in front of Cerro Gordo. General Harney stormed the heights, while General Shields guarded the left to prevent the escape of the enemy. The city was taken and the enemy completely cut to pieces. Our army took three thousand prisoners and killed and wounded one thousand two hundred.
Then the hot weather began to tell on the army, and there were only about five thousand out of fourteen thousand troops who were able to march against the City of Mexico. For this reason further movements were delayed till August, at which time the effective army was increased to eleven thousand troops. With these General Scott marched from Pueblo on May 5. This was a long march for northern soldiers in that hot climate, and, when they were about worn out, they passed over the crest of the mountains and suddenly came in full view of the valley of Mexico with the famous capital in the dis- tance. There, glittering in the sunlight, were the lofty domes and castles of the Montezumas, and beyond were the snow-capped mountains and volcanoes. But the road to the city was the most strongly fortified in Mexico, and to reach it by that route which lay before them seemed out of the question. They there- fore decided to cut a road around Lake Chalo, though the Mexicans thought that was impossible. On the 18th the army was on the Acapulco road, near San Augustine, and within nine miles of the city. But between them and the 18
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city still lay the pass of San Antonio. It was a narrow gorge between two mountains that were strongly fortified. General Scott concluded not to at- tempt the pass until he would first take Contreras, a fortification which guarded the pass. On August 19 four brigades of our soldiers fought the enemy around Contreras all day. The Mexicans were superior in numbers and in fortifications, and held their own very well all day. To the west was Santa Anna with about ten thousand troops. Finally our infantry was moved to the rear of the enemy, and the fight began from that section about an hour before daybreak. At sunrise the other divisions of the army began the attack, each from its position, bringing to bear against the enemy all the force it could command. Though General Smith was not the senior officer, he had command of and outlined the place of the battle. After the battle properly began from all sides, at break of day, it only took them a few minutes more than a quarter of an hour to thoroughly defeat the enemy. Among other events of the battle was the capture of two guns which had been taken by the Mexicans at Buena Vista. They were recaptured by Simon H. Drum, of the well known Drum family of Greensburg.
. Four miles from Contreras was the fortress of Cherubusco. When Contreras was once thoroughly commanded by our army, General Worth's division was sent to attack San Antonio and thus open a shorter route to the city of Mexico. After taking San Antonio they were to move on to join another division which was at that time moving towards Cherubusco. The Mexican troops at San Antonio did not wait to be attacked, but fled before our army reached them. In fleeing, however, they fled to Cherubusco, and added great strength to that fortress, so that our army met with a strong resistance at that place. It was situated on a hill, and our forces crossed ditches, and by sheer force and fear- less charging took one intervening point after another until at length they en- tered the citadel of Cherubusco with drawn swords and drove the Mexicans out, even pursuing them till they reached the gates of Mexico. Our army lost about one thousand men while the Mexican army lost about seven thousand, or nearly one-fourth of all they had engaged. Nearly all this fighting, the reader must understand, was done in one day, August 20, 1847. There were really five battles in two days, but very little fighting was done on the first day. The battles of Contreras, San Antonio, Cherubusco, and that of the one wing of Santa Anna's army, were of such magnitude that a nation might exult in the glory of winning any one of them. Our army then marched towards the City of Mexico. When they came within two and a half miles of the gates the Mexicans sued for peace, and these negotiations lasted over two weeks. In the end the negotiations were of no avail.
General Scott had established his headquarters in a large stone building of thick high walls, and high towers at each end. This building was at the foot of a hill, and about a mile from Chapultepec and was called Molino del Rey. Santa Anna's army, about fourteen thousand strong, lay west of this. On September 8th, Scott attacked their lines in three places. He cut the Mexican
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army in two, but could not support this advanced position, and was driven back by the Mexicans, who reunited their army. On another attack he opened the army again, and this time held his ground. There were now two wings of the Mexican army, and Scott's forces were between them. It was in this second attack that Drum's battery, in which were the Westmoreland sol- diers, did more effectual fighting than in any other part of the entire war. Drum himself was killed, and with him fell the brave young officer, "Dick" Johnston.
While the attack was being made the Mexican army was recruited, and a division of cavalry and one of infantry came suddenly upon the left of our army, but they were met and driven back with considerable loss of life. This battle is known in history as the battle of Molino del Rey, and was the bloodiest battle of the Mexican war, but our troops won a great victory. Our loss was 1787, of whom fifty-eight were officers. The Mexican loss was still greater. Counting killed, wounded and prisoners, their army was reduced not less than three thousand.
Four days after the battle of Molino del Rey, that is, on September 12, our army began firing on Chapultepec. They shelled the fortress all day till night fell, but with little or no effect. It was situated on a steep, rocky hill one hundred and fifty feet above the surrounding grounds, and, like all Mexican fortresses, was additionally strengthened by heavy stone walls. The fort was nearly one thousand feet long. At the foot of the hill was a higli, thick stone wall, and behind it were several companies of Mexican troops. In addition, the ground over which our army must pass to approach the fort was mined and supposedly very dangerous. Beyond this was a strong redoubt, heavily guarded. Farther on was another wall, and outside of each wall was a deep ditch. In these strongholds were the Mexican soldiers whom our army must dislodge, and, in addition to all this, the entire fortifications were pro- tected by eleven heavy guns. In the early forenoon of September 13th the command was given for a general move on the enemy from all sides. By this time the fortress, or the bluff upon which it was located, was almost sur- rounded. They were met by a perfect hail of bullets from the fortress, and by the incessant firing from the eleven guns surmounting all. Our soldiers bridged the ditches with fascines and passed over them quickly. Each com- pany carried scaling ladders, and these were placed against the walls so that they were soon escaladed, and, regardless of a loss of life, hundreds of soldiers rushed into the citadel. The South Carolina and New York volunteers and the Second Pennsylvania, in which it will be remembered were the Westmoreland soldiers, were all in the thickest part of the battle at the final assault. The fierce struggle lasted but a moment, and then victory came to the Union armies. They took all of the artillery of the fort, and a large number of prisoners.
Weakened and discouraged as the Mexican army necessarily was by all
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these defeats, the city of Mexico, which was originally supposed to be the stronghold of the nation, and the place where our armies would be compelled to unite in order to conquer, was comparatively easily taken. It was a walled city, and a few soldiers defended their gates stubbornly. But early on Sep- tember 14, 1847, our army marched into the city with but little resistance. In all these battles from Vera Cruz to Mexico our Westmoreland troops par- ticipated, and in every instance gave splendid account of themselves.
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