History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 23

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 23

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ures I had the honor to recommend to you are not immediately put into execution, I foresee the ruin of the province on this side of the Susquehanna, and as York County would be covered by Cumberland, I think they ought to join in assisting to build some posts, and saving the harvest. It would not be less necessary to send immediately arms and ammunition to be distributed to the in- habitants to defend their reapers."* Col. Bouquet, with about five hundred men, mostly Highlanders, marched to the relief of Fort Pitt and Detroit. On the 5th and 6th of August, 1763, he was nearly overwhelmed by the savages at Bushy Run, who were re- pelled by the bayonet charges of the High land - ers, but the numbers of the enemy were so great that they would have been routed, but for the stratagem of the commander of the British, who feigned retreat.t This victory led to peace, and the Indian ravages ceased.

THE CONESTOGOE MASSACRE.

On the 19th of December, 1763, the Gov- ernor, John Penn, agreeably to the advice of the Council, wrote the following letter to the Magistrates of York, Lancaster and Cumber- land Counties. "Having received information that on Wednesday, the 14th inst., a party of men, armed and mounted, did, without cause or provocation, in defiance of all authority, proceed to the Conestogo Indian Town, in Lancaster County, and murder six of our friendly Indians, settled there under the protection of this Government, and its laws. I do hereby direct and require you immediately to exert yourselves on this occasion, and to issue warrants and take all other measures in your power for the apprehending of all the principals concerned in the murder of the said Indians and their accomplices, and se- curing them in some of the gaols of this Province, that they may be brought to justice and receive a legal tryal for the crimes they have committed."}

The Indian hostilities of 1763 were marked by great cruelty, and suspicion and hatred followed even the neutral Indians. The repeated murders perpetrated by the Indians roused the men of the Paxton settlement to revenge. In Lancaster Connty still dwelt a large body of Indians, known to us already as the Conestogoes. On Wednesday, the 14th of December, 1763, a body of men entered the town of Conestogo, and massacred all the Indians they could find there. The major- ity were absent. Those on their return were

*VIII Col. Rec., 628.

+Loudon's Narrative, Vol. XI., pp. 57, 65.

#Rupp's Hist. of York County, p. 590.

#IX Col. Rec., 35.

+Bancroft's Hist. U. S.

#1X Col. Rec., 92.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

taken in charge by the Magistrates of Lancas- ter County, and were placed for safety in the workhouse at . Lancaster. The Paxtan men with a larger force, from 50 to 100 men, on the evening of the 26th of December, galloped into the town, "seized the keeper of the workhouse, overpowered him, rushed into the prison, and speedily accomplished the work of death. The poor Indians, to the number of fourteen, were butchered in cold blood, and the Paxtan men elated by their success, left the town in the same haste with which they had entered it." A number of Indians on the frontier had, at their own request, been removed from their habitations and taken to Philadelphia, and were seated for a better security on Province Island and in other places in the neighborhood of the city. Threats were made by the insurgents to march down and destroy them. The Assembly took measures to resist them. The

Indians petitioned to be sent to England. Gov. Penn ordered them to be taken to New York. The people of New York became offended at this. Gen. Gage directed two companies of the royal Americans to re-escort them to Philadelphia, where they were secured in the barracks. The barracks were fortified, and regular troops protected them. The insurgents went to Germantown, and learning of the large force opposed to them, after listening to remonstrances, promised to return home, and left two men, Matthew Smith and James Gibson, to lay their griev- ances before the government, which they did, in the name of the inhabitants of York, Lan- caster and Cumberland Counties. The two representatives, in behalf of themselves and his Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, the inhabitants of the frontier counties of Lan- caster, York, Cumberland, Berks and North- ampton, presented their remonstrances and

grievances before the Governor and Assem-

bly, on the 13th of February, 1764 :* That they were attacked and ravaged by skulking parties of Indians ; that the Indians were taken under the protection of the govern- ment ; that the trial was to be removed from Lancaster County. They protested against Indians living within the inhabited parts of the province ; that no provision was made for the care and cure for wounded men ; that there was in this war no reward for Indian scalps ; that John Penn abetted the Indians, and made unauthorized treaties with them ; that Fort Augusta had furnished little assis- tance, with no reflection against the com- manding officer, who was directed by those from whom he received orders. There was

another memorial with 1,500 signatures. The county of Berks, by its Grand Jury, pro- tested against it. The Assembly considered the remonstrance and protest, but nothing was done to bring the parties concerned to punishment .* In the letter of Gov. Penn, January 5, 1764, he says : Our back inhabi- tants, who have indeed suffered a great deal by the Indian war, have got it into their heads that one Indian should not be suffered to live amongst us, and have carried their resentment so far as to go and kill some Indians who lived under the faith and pro- tection of this government for sixty years, in an Indian town near Lancaster. At request of Indians, they were sent to the protection of Sir William Johnson. It was necessary, in the opinion of the Governor, to extend the English riot act to the province, to apprehend the murderers and to quell the like insurrections in the future .; Such an act was accordingly passed by the Assembly.

THE REVOLUTION.

Y ORK, as one of the frontier counties, had participated with great spirit in the military measures to resist the inroads of the savages and the encroachments of the French. Though the means of inter-commu- nication between the colonies were very lim- ited, according to the present views of expe- dition, intercourse was : constant and cor- respondence continuous, as it was between this frontier region and Philadelphia. News arrived slowly, but it impressed deeply the minds of the leading citizens, and that news cemented more and more firmly the bonds of union. After the close of the French and Indian war it was not long before the parliament of Great Britain commenced those measures that so com- pletely estranged the colonies from the moth- er country. The strife with the Proprieta- ries and Lords of Trade began in Pennsyl- vania in 1760 .* The great Franklin had appeared before his Majesty's Council for Plantation Affairs to defend the liberties of our people. But the restrictions on trade from time to time and the arbitrary means used to enforce them by writs of assistance, caused American resistance. The notorious stamp act had been passed in 1765, and on

*Gordon's History of Pennsylvania. +IX Col. Rec., 112.

#VIII Col. Rec., 554.

*IX Col. Rec., 138.

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THE REVOLUTION.

the 22d of March in that year, the King being then insane, it had received the royal assent by commission .* The military power in the colonies had been placed above the civil. The claims of American representation had been scoffed at by the ministry, as was also the assent of the American Assemblies to any manifest internal regulation. There had been proposed in Massachusetts, a Con- gress of committees from each of the colo- nies, and the plan had prevailed. The Penn- sylvania Assembly accepted it, and declared it an inherent right not to be taxed without consent. This was in the month of Septem- ber, 1765 .; The Congress had met in New York, in October, 1765, by which the stamp act was annulled. In attempts to enforce the act the officers had been severely handled by the people. The first cargo of stamped pa- pers had arrived under protection of a man of war, in this province, on the 5th of Octo- ber, 1765. Mr. John . Hughes had been ap- pointed to distribute them, and so unpopular did he become that his house was surrounded by a mob and he was burnt in effigy. When the ship arrived, the vessels in the harbor put their flags at half mast, and the bells of the city of Philadelphia were tolled. An immense meeting assembled at the State House, and John Hughes was requested to resign. He denied having any commission, and as there was no place of security on shore, the Governor ordered the stamps to be taken on board one of the ships of war. Mer- chants of the city agreed not to import goods till the act was repealed. § After fluctuations in the minds of the official powers in En- gland, the act had been repealed in the month of March, 1766, and the repeal cele- brated by bonfires and the ringing of bells. There had been public satisfaction and gen- eral rejoicing in England, as well as in Amer- ica, yet to maintain the principle that there existed the power to bind the colonies, in July, 1767, among other things, the fatal tax of three pence a pound on tea had been adopted, and a board of customs established in Boston. The people of that city had as- sembled and voted to forbear importation, and the Assembly of Massachusets Bay had addressed a circular letter to the several As- semblies in America, which was dated the 11th of February, 1768. This circular, con- taining an early declaration of the principles of the American Revolution, will be found

among the published Archives of this com- monwealth .*

During the colonial difficulties, John Penn, son of Richard Penn, one of the pro- prietaries, and who had been born in Philadelphia, and was known as the Amer - ican Penn, was Lieutenant-Governor of the province, having been appointed in 1763, and he held the office to the end of the proprietary government. He was in- tensely loyal, so much so that during the Revolution he suffered imprisonment and re- moval from the State rather than sign a pa- role.t There was great jealousy entertained at Court of popular representation in any way. Hillsborough, Colonial Secretary of State, rebuked the Governor in the name of the King, for communicating to his Council and Assembly the letters received from the Secretaries of State, and also for the sending of addresses and petitions to his Majesty, otherwise than through the channel of the proprietary or his deputy. The Assembly of Pennsylvania had sent a petition to his Maj- esty, on the subject of the acts of parlia- ment, which had been delivered by Dr. Franklin. This was declared by the cabinet as tending to deny and draw in question the supreme authority of parliament to bind the colonies by laws in all cases whatever, and "when applied to taxation was the less to be expected from the province of Pennsylvania, as there was a clause in their charter saying to the crown such impositions and customs as by act of parliament are and shall be ap- pointed."¿ A copy of the circular from the colony of Massachusetts Bay to the other col- onies was transmitted by Hillsborough to Gov. Penn, stating that his Majesty; consid- ered "this measure to be of a most danger- ous and factious tendency, calculated to in- flame the minds of his good subjects in the colonies, to promote an unwarrantable combi- nation, and to excite and encourage an open opposition to, and denial of the authority of Parliament, and to subvert the true princi - ples of the constitution. And that it was his Majesty's pleasure, that the Governor should prevail upon the Assembly to take no notice of it. That the Pennsylvania Assembly had given repeated proofs of their reverence and respect for the laws, but if there should ap- pear a disposition to receive or give any countenance to the seditious paper, it would be his duty to prevent any proceeding upon it by an immediate prorogation or dissolu- tion. This letter was dated April 21. 1768.§

*Bancroft.

+IX Col. Rec., 300.

įIbid.

¿IV Archives, 242; IX Col. Rec., 298 ; Egle's Hist. Penna., 1027.

*1V Archives, 286. +XI Col. Rec., 264.

tlV Archives, 311.

IX Col. Rec., 546.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

In September, 1768, the Assembly declared by resolution that the Governor of the province had no constitutional authority to dissolve | the Assembly :*

The British cabinet finding that the duties on their own manufactures of glass, paper, and painters' colors were con- trary to the true principles of commerce, agreed that they should be repealed. But there still remained the duty on tea. Al- though intensely interesting, we need not fol- low the course of the ministry in their per- sistent determination to enforce this tax. A large number of the best of English states- men warmly espoused the cause of America; Chatham, Camden, Conway, Burke and Barre. But the Lord Chancellor, Thurlow, called it rebellion, and that had to be quelled by the military power. Troops had been seut to Boston, and by their insolent bearing, pro- voked hostilities. On the 5th of March, 1770, had occurred an event that sent a thrill through the colonies-the first fearful news of the shedding of blood, in the Boston Mas- sacre. This seems to have awed them over the water for a time, and there was apparent conciliation, so much so, that it was supposed that the spirit of liberty was dead on the re- sumption of commercial intercourse. But the ministry were blinded by a false assump- tion of submission, while the fires were only slumbering. The crisis was brought about by the tax on tea. The non-importation on the part of the colonies had caused a great accumulation of that article in the stores of the East India Company, and it was author- ized to export tea to America, with a draw- back of the duty-payable in England-but three pence per pound was payable in the colonies. Consignments were made .to Charleston, Philadelphia, New York and Bos- ton. In Philadelphia the people met in the State House, and condemned the duty, and declared every one who should countenance its imposition, an enemy to his country, and the agents of the company were compelled to resign.t On the 16th of December, 1773, had taken place in Boston Harbor that ever memorable event, known in history as the Boston Tea Party. Three tea ships were taken possession of and 340 chests, the whole quantity imported was emptied into the har- bor. The tea ships were driven by a storm off the coast from New York, and in South Carolina, the tea perished in the cellars in which it was stored. On the 25th of Decem- ber, 1773, the ships destined for Philadel- phia approached that city. The pilots were

warned not to conduct them into the harbor. A town meeting of 5,000 people was held, and the ships, with their cargoes of tea, were compelled to sail back to England .*

In May, 1774, Gen. Gage entered the har- bor of Boston with vice-regal powers; he and his army and the civil officers no longer amenable to the American courts of justice. The port was closed on the Ist of June, which was made a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer. Again an appeal came from Massa- chusetts to her sister colonies, and a close correspondence was maintained by them with her. The Bostonians called upon the other colonies to unite with them to stop all impor. tations from Great Britain until the port act should be repealed, and if they should do so it would prove the salvation of North Amer- ica and her liberties. These troubles trans- pired during the Tory administration of the Duke of Grafton and Lord North. The Whigs supported the cause of the colonies.t The name of Whig became incorporated into American politics. That party had its origin nearly a century before, and one tra- dition attributes the name to the initials of the motto, " We hope in God," at one time borne upon its banners. It was the liberal party, the party of reform and progress, and the Tory party adhered to the establishments in Church and State. Hence, those who maintained our cause were called Whigs, and those who adhered to the crown and op- posed separation were styled Tories. There were Tories here as well as elsewhere, many good and wealthy citizens; but what was called loyalty in England became treason on this continent ; and when independence was declared, the estates of such were confiscated. The archives of the State contain accounts of their names and properties. But for us here let them rather rest in oblivion.

A class of men appeared here who played their parts nobly in the history of the great struggle for liberty, who taught the people, or rather guided them, for they already held a power not to be relinquished. Among these was a man who had come to reside here, whose biography is intimately connected with her history-James Smith, for some time the only practicing Attorney in York.# We

*IV Archives, 334.

+1V Bancroft, 269.

*IV Bancroft, 281. +Campbell's Lord Chancellors, vol. 7, p. 37.

¿Graydon, in his " Memoirs," tells us, that beiog a student at law, to enable him to pursue his studies without interrup- tion, his uncle advised his spending the approaching summer in Yorktown. Mr. Samuel Johnstou, the prothonotary, was a particular friend, who had been in the practice of the law and had a very good library ; and tendered his books and services, and complimented him with a dinner. "It was in the spring of 1773 that I was transferred to this pleasant and flourishing

village." . . " There were several young meu in the town, whose company served to relieve the dreariness of my solitude; for such it was compared with the scene from which I had re-

115

THE REVOLUTION.

can imagine how the beauty of the situ- ation of Yorktown brought families to it, and young men of intelligence and enter- prise seeking new places for the exercise of their talents. Among such was Thomas Hartley, who came to York from Reading at the age of eighteen years, commenced the study of the law under Samuel Johnston, and and was admitted to the bar in 1769. For some time he and Smith were the only prac- ticing lawyers in the county, Mr. Johnston being then, and for some years after, pro- thonotary. In this last mentioned year, Henry Miller moved to York from Reading, and was also student at law under Mr. John- ston ; and soon after came auother law student of his from Lancaster, John Clark.

COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE.

In all history it appears that popular pro- gress has been achieved by the spontaneous action of the citizens of a country outside of the constituted forms of law and government. The vox populi must be heard, because no government has that within it that can pro- vide for all emergencies. The public meeting has always controlled, sooner or later, legis- lative action. We have already seen that on this continent and in this province whatever was accomplished in support of freedom, was done by the assembled inhabitants through their committees appointed to do the work. It is a peculiar feature in American history that united action was maintained in the earlier contests with the British Government, with a spontaneity and enthusiasm that no organized system could have secured. The factors were committees of correspondence. The intercourse between the colonies and the different parts of a colony was thus conduct- ed, and there was a sympathetic response to the appeal of Boston. The committee of

moved. These" (no doubt Hartley and Clark and Miller), "for the most part (1811), are yet living, generally known and respected. There was also in the place an oddity, who, though not to he classed with its youug men, I sometimes fell in with. This was Mr. James Smith, the lawyer, then in considerable prac- tice. He was probably between forty and fifty years of age, fond of his bottle and young company, and possessed of an original species of drollery."

He then describes with some minuteness some of the pecul- iarities of Mr. Smith in the way of jokes. One in particular, practiced upon Judge Steadman, of Philadelphia, a man of read- ing and erudition, who in a full display of his historical knowl- edge was set raving by a monstrous anachronism. "Don't you remember, Mr. Steadman, that terrible hloody hattle which Alexander the Great fought with the Russians at the Straits of Babelmandel ?" " What, sir!" said Steadman, repeating with the most ineffable contempt, "which Alexander the Great fought with the Russians!"Where, mon, did you get your chronology ?" " I think you will find it recorded, Mr. Stead- man, in Thucydides or Herodotus." On another occasion, being asked for his authority for an enormous assertion, in which both space and time were fairly annihilated, with unshaken gravity he replied, "I am pretty sure I have seeu an account of it, Mr. Steadman, in a High Dutch almanse printed at Aleppo, his drawling way of pronouncing Aleppo." Every one laughed, says Graydon ; but the Judge, who resided in Philadelphia, and was ignorant of Smith's character in this particular, thought him tho object of the laughter, so all parties were pleased.

correspondence for the city of Philadelphia, addressed the following circular to the sev- eral counties: "The Governor declining to call the Assembly, renders it necessary to take the sentiments of the inhabitants; and for that purpose it is agreed to call a meeting of the inhabitants of this city and county at the State House, on Wednesday, the 15th inst .* And we would wish to have the sen- timents and concurrence of our brethren in the several counties, who are equally inter- ested with us in the General Cause, we earn- estly desire you to call together the princi- pal inhabitants of your county, and to take their sentiments. We shall forward to you, by every occasion, any matters of conse- quence that come to our knowledge, and we should be glad you would choose and appoint a committee to correspond with us. Signed by order of the Committee of Correspon- dence for the city of Philadelphia.

CHAS. THOMPSON, Clerk. The call was very promptly responded to by the citizens of York, and of the county. f YORKTOWN, June 24, 1774.

In consequence of a letter from the com- mittee of Philadelphia, the inhabitants of this town met on Monday, the 21st ult .; Michael Swope, Esq., was appointed chair- man, who explained the design and cause of the meeting; the distressed state of the in- habitants of Boston, and the nature and the tendency of the Acts of Parliament lately passed. After dne deliberation, the follow- ing resolves were come into, nem. con. 1. That we will concur with our brethren of Philadelphia and sister colonies in any con- stitutional measure, in order to obtain re- dress. 2. That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the inhabitants of Boston are now suffering in the common cause of liberty. 3. It is directed, that to obtain the sense of our fellow inhabitants of York County npon the present important and alarming occasion, notice shall be given to the inhabitants of this county, that they, or such as shall be delegated by the several townships in the county, do meet in the Court house in York- town, on Monday, the 4th of July next, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, to enter into such resolves as may be for the public good, and tend to restore the liberties of British Amer- ica.1

A committee of thirteen persons was then appointed for this town, to remain till altered by any other general meeting which they were authorized and directed to call. The

*Inne, 1774.

+Mumbert's Hist. of Lane. Co., 199.

#Rupp's Hist. York County, 662.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

committee of correspondecne again, on the 28th of June, enclosed to the different coun- ties the resolves passed at a meeting held in State House Square, on the 18th of June, by which it was left to the committee "to deter- mine on the most proper mode of collecting the sense of this province, in the present critical situation of affairs, and appointing deputies to attend the proposed Congress"- and submitted two propositions: 1. That the Speaker of the honorable House of Rep- resentatives be desired to write to the several members of the Assembly in the province, requesting them to meet in this city as soon as possible, but not later than the 1st of August next, to take into their consideration our very alarming situation. 2. That letters be written to proper persons in each county, recommending it to them to get com- mittees appointed for their respective coun- ties, and that the said committees, or such number of them as may be thought proper, may meet in Philadelphia at the time the Representatives are convened, in order to consult and advise on the most expedient mode of appointing deputies for the General Congress, and to give their weight to such as may be appointed. That the Speaker of the Assembly in a very ready and obliging man- ner had agreed to comply with the request in the former of these propositions, that on ac- count of the Indian disturbances, the Gov- ernor had found it necessary to call the As- sembly to meet in their legislative capacity on Monday, July 18, being about the same time the Speaker would probably have invited them to a conference or convention in their private capacity. That they requested that if the mode expressed in the second propo- sition was approved, the whole or part of the committee appointed will meet the com- mittees from the other counties at Philadel- phia, on Friday, the 15th of July, in order to assist in framing instructions, and prepar- ing such matters as may be proper to recom- mend to our Representatives at their meeting the Monday following. They further wrote: "It is with pleasure we can assure you, that all the colonies from North Carolina to New Hampshire seem animated with one spirit in the common cause, and consider this as the proper crisis for having our differences with the Mother Country brought to some cer- tain issue, and our liberties fixed upon a per- manent foundation."* To this provincial meeting, which convened on the 15th of July, 1774, James Smith, James Donaldson, and Thomas Hartley, were sent as deputies from this county. Mr. Smith was made one of

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 23

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104