USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 9
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the flames creeping around his quivering flesh, while he himself endured such pain in silence and with a fortitude worthy at least of the proverbial stocism of the Grecian philosopher. The Indian lived with ease some- times, but more often his nomadic life was attended with great hardships and privations. Only when the weather was pleasant, and when wild berries, fruits and nuts were plentiful and when the forest abounded with game, was his life one of comparative ease. They were forced sometimes to live on the roots, bark and buds of trees, and even cannibalism was not by any means unknown among them.
Leading a lonely life in the wilderness the Indian became a close ob- · server of the phenomena of nature. He had studied the heavens for signs of rain and clear weather, and so mastered them that his forecasting was almost unerring. Long before he knew the white man he had discovered that there were four seasons which regularly followed each other each year, and he had discovered further that these four periods were measured by thirteen moons. By moons he accurately counted his own age and the ages of his children, and kept account of the noted events in his monotonous life. All this was kept in his mind purely, for the race had no method of writing or of physically preserving a record of events. Resultant upon this we have no account or history of the Indians as kept by themselves. We can form a fair estimate of the Indian character only by remembering that the heartrending tales of his inhumanities have been written almost solely by his enemies. His lips were sealed as to his side of the difficulties, for he could neither speak nor write his defense in a language which we could understand. Their traditions, customs and laws were preserved in memory and transmitted orally, and they consequently perished almost en- tirely with the illfated race. Stone implements, battle axes, tomahawks, pipes, arrow and spearheads have survived the ravages of time, and are almost the only tangible evidences left by the Indian of his long dominion in Pennsylvania.
The Indians did not recognize any special difference between an animal and a human being, be he red or white. When killing an animal he frequently performed incantations over its body to appease its spirit so that it, or the spirit of surviving animals, would not become hostile to him or his people. He killed animals only for their skin or flesh or in self defense in ridding himself of dangerous beasts. The wanton destruction of wild animals was unknown to the Indian. The average Indian killed a white man as readily as an animal, for the former he regarded as his mortal enemy. Murder among the Indians was very rare, and the crime was seldom punished by public authority. The murderer and his friends were forced to give presents, sometimes of considerable value, to the rep- resentatives of the unfortunate Indian who had been killed. Where pres- ents were refused by the dead man's family the murderer was given over
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
to them as a slave, and he was made to hunt or fish for them and to assist them in their support. The presents given by a murderer consisted of corn or growing corn, skins, guns, bows and arrows, and objects of adorn- ment. From twenty to thirty presents were considered a good recompense for the murder of an Indian man. The murder of woman, because of her helplessness, demanded more presents from the murderer than that of a man. Her life was moreover more necessary for the increase of the Indian race than that of a man, hence a greater number of presents must be given to atone for it. Stealing was more common among them, and was punished by allowing the injured party not only to retake the goods stolen by force, but to take from the robber all the property he possessed. For treason, or betraying his tribe in any way, the offender was put to death, the chief of the tribe usually appointing an Indian to stealthily shoot him.
They had dogs in our section, but no other domestic animals. They did not have horses until they secured them from the pioneers, and very few were used by them here. This was probably because they were inhabiting a mountainous wilderness unsuited by nature for horseback riding. The much vaunted Indian feats of horsemanship were confined almost en- tirely to the boundless prairies of the West. Their long journeys were performed on foot or in canoes. They had trails or paths through the dense forests and over mountain chains on which they journeyed, con- forming in many instances to our modern highways, but which will be treated elsewhere in these pages. The Indians also travelled a great deal on water, particularly in the lake regions. Though they made canoes by hollowing out logs, they were cumbersome at best, and a canoe made of birch bark was perhaps the favorite one in Indian navigation. They had learned to calk the cracks or joints with the exudations of the pine tree and make them perfectly water-proof. They also made canoes from the skins of animals, and even as late as 1832 Washington Irving, in his "Tour of the Prairies," speaks of crossing streams in the west in buffalo skin canoes. In these frail barks they floated up and down our iimpid streams, dreaming not that better methods of navigation near at hand would soon appear to force them from their hunting grounds and, in the end, practically work the extermination of the whole Indian race.
Though the Indians were naturally a strong athletic race, capable of great endurance and inured to all manner of hardships, they did not in- crease rapidly in number. Their poorly constructed habitations, the necessary unsanitary condition of such homes, and their wandering disposi- tion superinduced a great mortality among their children and, perhaps, only the stronger ones survived. This, with their habitual outdoor life, accounted in a great measure for the unusual strength and vitality of the Indian warrior. Living as they did, they were almost necessarily filthy in .
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
their habits, and as a result were greatly subjected to infestious diseases, such as fever and small pox. When these diseases broke out they were ex- tremely destructive to the race, for they had little knowledge of how to treat them successfully. They believed that all sickness was the result of an evil spirit which pervaded the sick man, and the Indian doctors sought by signs, magic, and hideous noises to drive the demon from his patient. The result of such treatment may be readily imagined.
They had crude forms of religion; they believed in "Manitou," a Great Spirit which ruled the heavens and earth, and with whom both good and bad Indians should live and hunt after death, for they were thorough Univer- salists. They believed, however, in a distinction between the final home of a good, brave warrior on the one hand, and that of the cowardly, lazy Indian, on the other; the latter they thought would be compelled to eat serpents and ashes in a gloomy division of the next world. In keeping with their general belief, they thought animals would in the next world be ad- mitted on equal terms with Indians. They believed that the Great Spirit sometimes endowed minor spirits with certain special powers. This belief saved many a white man's life. If they once believed that a prisoner had some special connection with the Great Spirit, his life was safe. Their sys- tem of worship was with song and dance, and every great undertaking, such as going on an extended hunt or on the war path, was begun with some ceremony of this kind. A similar ceremony ended the expedition, the first to please the Great Spirit, to induce him to favor their cause, and the second to in a measure express their gratitude for favors granted. But those who have investigated the subject of religion among the primitive Indians believe that they had no conception of a Supreme Being until they came in contact with civilized white men. The first missionaries among them, who were Jesuit priests, found no word in their language to express our idea of God, and the common opinion is that the idea of the primitive red man worshipping a Great Spirit before he was taught to do so by the advent of Christianity from Europe, originated and had existence only in the brains of sentimental writers and in the idle dreams of poets.
A leading characteristic of the Indian was his inability to forgive or forget an injury done him by the white race, yet, on the other hand he has been credited with being equally mindful of favors shown him. With his understanding of the early settlers' encroachment upon his territory, he was as Ishmael, who thought that every man's hand was against him. The pioneer was slowly but surely working his exclusion, and his vindic- tive wrath was indiscriminately meted out against all pale-faces. Too often it fell with great severity on the innocent and unoffending and on the guilty ·alike.
Morally they did not compare with our race by any means, and should not be expected to do so, for we have had the advantages of centuries of civ-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ilization and education. But if we compare them with our own race, when, as a race, we had reached the stage in which we found the Indian, the only fair comparison, they undoubtedly equal us. If the reader of these pages is astonished at this statement on recalling the cruel manner in which the Indian dealt with his supposed white enemy when in helpless captivity, let him remember that it is but a few generations since the ablest and best of the English speaking people were tortured on the rack, confined in dungeons, mutilated, and burned at the stake, by the decree of the highest tribunal in English civilization, and that even in Massachusetts innocent men and women were burned for witchcraft. And these bar- barities were committed not by unlettered savages, but by a people who were making history, writing poetry, and building cities and palaces which stand to this day and command the admiration of the world.
The Indian had, indeed, many bad traits, but those who labored long among them as missionaries, or who were long held captive by them, generally saw much good in them, and became greatly attached to them. They were not originally the treacherous race they have lately been re- puted to be. Few men of our later history have fought the Indians more valiantly or more successfully than General William Henry Harrison, yet he in after years bore this testimony concerning them: "A long and intimate knowledge of the Delaware tribe, in peace and in war, as enemies and as friends, has left upon my mind the most favorable impressions of their character for bravery, generosity and fidelity to their engagements." In many cases, even in our own county, the Indian divided his scanty food with the early settlers, and in some instances saved them from starvation.
When first known to the whites they knew nothing of intoxicants nor even the simplest form of fermentation or distillation. They smoked tobacco, and taught the habit to Sir Walter Raleigh, who introduced it in England, but this was their nearest approach to a stimulant or a narcotic. Our people soon taught them the use of liquor, and most bitterly did both races suffer from it. They took to rum almost intuitively, and it seemed to arouse only the baser principles of their nature. They would part with their finest furs to secure a taste of rum, and this exhorbitant appetite in the end perhaps did more than anything else to rob them of their vigor and reason, and finally of all lands they possessed.
A strong trait of Indian character was his love of bright colors and ornamentation. He painted his face and body, wore ornaments in his ears and nose, and dressed his hair with bright feathers and his rude deer- hide garments with fringe. It has been supposed that this originated as a means of protection, for, when in a dense wilderness, clothed only by the skins of animals without some bright colors or ornamentation, he might easily have been the victim of an arrow intended for a wild animal. But so long did they thus array themselves that it became a passion with
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
them, from which they have never been able to divest themselves. A youth may be educated away from his people, yet upon his first opportu- nity he most likely again resumes the garb of his tribe, and is generally discontented with any other than the Indian life. The Secretary of the Interior some years ago sent dark clothes to a western tribe, which after the fashion of that day were lined with red and white barred material. Visiting them shortly afterward he noticed that they had uniformly turned their garments wrong side out, so that they might display the bright colored linings. Less than any other members of the human family do they seem able to discard their hereditary customs. As a result, it has been found almost impossible to civilize them or to induce them to engage in the habits and callings of our enlightened age.
The early settlers in America found the Indian in undisputed posses- sion of a land of singular beauty and of great fertility and natural wealth. To dispossess him of his hunting grounds was to incur his undying hatred and wrath. To suffer him to remain precluded the possibility of our pres- ent civilization, for the interests of the two races were directly opposite to each other. The Indian could subsist only in an unbounded wilderness; the white man's sole ambition was to conquer the forest, to tame and im- prove the wild lands, and make them contribute to his welfare. It was the Indian's misfortune that he was contented to lead only an idle and un- civilized life ; that he in his make-up was entirely void of ambition, progress and industry, and that he could not or would not improve the country which he inhabited. The white man, on the other hand, was contented only with improvement, and was most happy when living on the products of his own labor. This same peculiarly unfortunate situation confronted the early settler in our county as well as elsewhere. Had the Indian not been dis- possessed, our county would perhaps to this day have been covered with its primeval forest and inhabited mainly by Indians and wild animals. It was inevitable, therefore, that, for our present civilization, the Indian should be gradually driven back. Before the aggressive white man, filled with industry and ambition, the indolent Indian slowly followed the setting sun until his course has been almost a direct retreat from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. And with this westward march he was gradually blighted until his once powerful race has now almost perished from the earth.
The most humane methods in dealing with the Indians in dispossessing them of their land may not always, indeed, may not generally, have been adopted by our ancestors. Gen. Jeffery Amherst suggested to Col. Bouquet to try to inoculate the Westmoreland Indians with small pox by means of blankets, and the latter, whom every one reveres, replied that he would do so, and that he regretted only that he could not adopt the Spanish method of hunting them with English dogs. In this connection, before we censure them
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
it should be remembered that they were a sturdy, industrious people, not lacking in intellect, nor in the cardinal virtues of charity, affection and honor, and that they were surrounded by obstacles which cannot be appreciated by our present generation. They doubtless dealt with the Indians as they thought the exigencies of the time demanded. On the question as to whose dominion, that of the Indian or the white man, in the Western hemisphere, was fraught with the greatest benefit to the human family, there can certainly be no two opinions.
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CHAPTER VII
Early Indian Troubles .- Places of Refuge .- Forts .- Stockades .- Block Houses .- Cabins. -Indian Stories.
It must always be remembered that the English soldiers and the Indians were not the only enemies the Westmoreland pioneers had to contend against. They were harrassed on all sides by the Indians, who were urged on by the English who formed alliances with them in every section possible. This may have been considered legitimate warfare, on the theory that any- thing which would weaken and sap strength from the enemy was legitimate. It is probable, also, that the English government at home never knew the inhuman results of their alliances with the Indians. The idea that the Crown authorized or knowingly sanctioned the butchery of innocent women and children, in that age of the world, is abhorrent to human reason, and, indeed it is at war with the established reputation of the English people.
In addition to these enemies were a few disreputable white men who allied themselves with the Indians and became leaders more brutal than the most savage of their tribe. These men left civilization, joined various tribes, and adopted their mode of life and warfare. What induced them to do this, can never be definitely known. In some cases it is known that de- serters from the American army who were afraid to return, and being like- wise outcasts from their home communities, went over to the English, or, perhaps, to the Indians. But most likely their actions were mostly due to the alluring rewards offered on the part of British officers for scalps. At all events they were more dangerous to the white settlers than the Indians, because they knew the weak points of the settlement, knew the territory, and knew more about the individual bravery or weakness of the settler, than the Indians did. When, therefore, a band of Indians under the leader- ship of one of these infuriated wretches actuated by their inborn hatred of the American pioneer, came down upon a settlement, it was indeed a most formidable and blood-thirsty onslaught. The white leaders, moreover, had -great power over the Indians, more indeed than Indian leaders generally had themselves. They could, with a word, release a prisoner at the stake, around whose naked limbs the fire was slowly creeping, or could have him
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
stripped, tied to a tree, and slowly tortured to death, as they wished or ordered. The Indians cared little for the gold of the English, but they were willing to commit any outrage for bright beads, blankets and rum, while the renegade whites cared nothing for these, but took the English gold as their share of the booty. A great deal of our trouble in Westmoreland county was traceable to these outlaws. Their names for generations have been held in abhorrence by the pioneers and their descendents.
There were three conspicuous men among these outlaw leaders who surpassed all others. They were Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott, and by far the most inhuman of these was the former. Though one hundred twenty-five eventful years have passed since his evil deeds were perpetrated, yet his name is still a name of infamy. He had adopted the life of the Mingoes, with whom he generally associated, though · he associated with other tribes, and wherever he went he was a leader. He knew the Westmoreland people, its houses, strength, places of refuge, etc., as well as any one in the county, and was therefore not likely to lead the Indians into a stronghold where they might be captured. He had been a trapper, and later a trader among the Indians of the Ohio valley, and mention is made of him in some of the early writings in this capacity as early as 1749. He was a shining light in the bandit gang known as "Dunmore's Army" and at Hannastown was second in command after Connolly. He led the ga.ig to Hannastown when the jail was opened and the prisoners released. He worked all over Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and led more incursions in Westmoreland county than any other. He was utterly without feeling of pity. When Colonel William Crawford, our first judge, was being burned at the stake, the Indians having first cut off his ears and nose, he saw Girty, whom he knew quite well, among his tormenters. In the agony of despair he cried, "shoot me, Simon ; shoot me, to end my sufferings," and Girty tauntingly replied, "I can't, I have no gun," though he held a gun in his hands all the time. McKee operated less here than Girty, and Elliott less than either of them. Neither of them was as brutal as Girty. McKee had formerly acquired land in the region of Pittsburgh, and was then a man of average standing in the com- munity. He had been a justice of the peace and of our early courts when the county was formed, and for some years was a respectable member of the court and of society. He forsook the white race and, like Girty, com- mitted acts of brutality which have forever consigned his name to infancy.
These briefly referred to border troubles made it necessary for our west- ern people to protect themselves by garrisons and militia, and often to call for aid from the Colonial army. They explain why the county, large as it was then, furnished so few troops for the main army, in comparison with the same population in the New England states. When the family of a settler needed his daily protection at home, he could not be expected to
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
leave them and enlist in the general cause against Great Britain. It ex- plains also why it was necessary to build and repair our forts during the Revolution, though the real field of the Revolutionary war was several hun- dred miles from us. These forts and the armed soldiers within were indispensable. When a forray was made by the Indians into any settle- ment, the people ran for their lives to the nearest blockhouse, or fort. Even though they were able when within a blockhouse to defend themselves, starvation would soon have compelled them to surrender. But a swift riding messenger could soon communicate with the nearest garrison, whose soldiers were ready at all times to hasten to their relief. This was done times without number, as the reader will see later on. Without these garrisoned forts to draw upon, our early settlements would have been literally devastated, and our people either murdered or driven east of the Allegheny mountains. And it must also be remembered that these garrisons were weak, and at best but poorly equipped, though they were as strong as the new government, struggling for its first foothold, could afford.
There were four structures built by our pioneer ancestors for defense against the Indians, or any other attacking party. They were called forts, blockhouses, blockhouse cabins, and stockades. When either of the first two had a stockade in addition, it was properly called a stockade fort or stockade blockhouse; blockhouses were often called forts, and perhaps the general resemblance and method of construction warranted this somewhat extravagant designation. A first-class fort was usually surrounded by a stockade; a blockhouse was not very securely guarded. A block- house was generally made of heavy logs, and in construction did not differ materially from the log houses of the last century, which all have secn but which are rapidly passing away. The logs used were very heavy, to give strength to the building, and were generally unhewn. A blockhouse was often large enough to accommodate many families in times of distress. The first story was made from nine to eleven feet high. Then another story was begun on top of the first, but the logs of the second story extended several feet (generally about five) beyond the lower story. By this projecting second story, if Indians were to attack the lower story, they could be shot from above. The upper story was made six or seven feet high, and had in its walls port holes through which to fire at the at- tacking party. This was only a place of refuge in time of Indian incursions and not designed as a place of permanent abode.
Blockhouses were often constructed by the neighbors, who went to- gether, felled the timber, and thus erected a place of public safety. They were not built strong enough to resist an attack made by an enemy with heavy guns. They were easily a splendid barrier against the Indians,. whose implements of warfare were almost exclusively confined to muskets. 6
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
or rifles, bows and arrows, tomahawks and scalping knives. The English government generally built forts, and most of them were stockade forts. They were more substantially built than blockhouses, and were strong enough to resist an attack of the heaviest guns, as heavy guns were then. They would, of course, be mere kindling wood as against the heavy guns of today.
All forts or blockhouses or stockade forts built by the English were constructed under the supervision of their best engineers, according to the methods laid down by the best authorities on military tactics, or the best that were practicable in a new country. Accurate drawings and pictures of these fortresses were made by the engineers and sent to the war depart- ment of England and carefully filed away. The same method was after- ward pursued by the Colonial army, so that we have in the English and American archives accurate drawings of these structures. The stockade of a stockade fort surrounded the fort, or blockhouse proper. All in this section were made of logs.
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