USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 11
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WHITE INTRUDERS, OR "SQUATTERS."- Down to this time, and for several years after- wards, the Indians remained owners of the terri- tory already referred to, and they continued to look
with distrust and increasing displeasure on the white settlers who continued to enter the hunting- grounds of the Susquehanna and Juniata Val- leys, in spite of Indian warnings and of all the carnest efforts of the proprietary government to restrain them. Yet only on one occasion had the savages proceeded to the extreme of murder within that wilderness region. It was the murder of an Indian trader named John (or Jack) Armstrong, who was killed at, or near, the " Narrows" of the Juniata, in the year 1744, two of his assistants, named James Smith and Woodward Arnold, being killed at the same time.1 The Indian who was principally, or solely, engaged in the bloody deed was a Delaware named Mnsemeelin, who was soon af- terwards detected, arrested and confined in Lancaster jail, from which he was taken for trial to Philadelphia. The bodies of the mur- dered men were found by a party composed of Alexander Armstrong (brother of John, the trader), Thomas McKee, Francis Ellis, John Florster, William Baskins, 2 James Berry, John Watt, James Armstrong and David Denny. Some of these were residents on the east side of the Susquehanna, but most of them were ad- venturers, who, notwithstanding that Frederick Star and the other German settlers had been driven away from their locations on the Juniata, in 1743, had, not long afterwards, settled on the unpurchased lands west of the Susquehanna, in defiance of the warnings of the government
1 The object of this murder, however, does not appear to have been revenge, but plunder of Armstrong's goods. Indian traders, who were in no sense settlers, had been among the savages of this region for many years. As early as 1704, Joseph Jessup, James Le Fort, Peter Bazalion, Martin Chartier, Nicholas Goden (all Frenchmen) were trading with the Indians of the Susquehanna, and thence, by way of the valley of the Juniata, Kittaning Point and the Conemaugh, to the great Indian rendezvous at the head of the Ohio. The murdered Armstrong was one of the later traders, who passed and repassed several times in a year over the Pack-Horse Path, or road that passed through the Juniata " Narrows," forming the best route from Lancaster to Kittaning Point
2 Thomas Mckee, in 1755, warranted a large tract of land at the mouth of Mahantango Creek and Mckee's Half Falls, and died in 1772.
Francis Ellis and William Baskins, in 1762, were living on what is now Duncan's Island.
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and the threats of the savages. Between 1745 and 1748 quite a large number of settlers came in and scattered themselves along the west side of the Susquehanna, as far up as Penn's Creek and many miles up the valley of the Juniata, until, in the latter year, the government, be- coming alarmed at the openly-expressed dissat- isfaction and threats of the Indians at this in- vasion of their rights, " sent the sheriff and three magistrates [of Lancaster County, which then had nominal jurisdiction over the Indian country west of Susquehanna], with Mr. Weiser, into these Places to warn the People ; but they, notwithstanding, continued their settlements in opposition to all this." 1
This attempt and failure of the government to drive the squatters off from the purchased lands of this region had the effect to embolden other settlers, who immediately afterwards (in the fall of 1748 and spring of 1749) came in and located themselves in various places in the territory. On the Juniata, in what is now known as Walker township, Juniata County, settled William White (who, with some of his neighbors, was massacred by Indians in 1756), George and William Galloway, David Huddle- ston, George Cahoon and some others. At .Shearman's Creek was a larger settlement, where were located James and Thomas Parker, James Murray, John Scott, John Cowan, John Kilough, John McClare, Richard Kirkpatrick, Simon Girty (the father of the notorious rene- gade) and a number of others ; and along the west side of the Susquehanna were several small clusters of squatters, extending from the mouth of Juniata to Penn's Creek, at which last- named point several Scotch-Irish pioneers had located themselves. The uneasiness and dis- satisfaction of the Indians, on account of these eneroachments by the whites, is mentioned as follows, in a letter addressed to Secretary Peters, April 22, 1749, by Conrad Weiser, who had then just returned from Shamokin, whither he had been sent with important messages to the Indians, He said, ---
"The Indians are very uneasy about the white
' Extract from Secretary Peters' report to Governor Hamilton, dated July 2, 1750, and before quoted,
people settling beyond the Endless Mountains on Joniady [Juniata], on Sherman's Creek and else- where. They tell me that about thirty families are settled upon the Indian Lands this Spring, and daily more go to settle thereon. Some have settled almost to the Head of the Joniady River, along the Path that leads to the Ohio. .. . They asked very seriously whether their brother Onas had given the People leave to settle there. I informed them of the con- trary, and told them that I believed some of the In- dians from Ohio, that were down last Summer, had given Liberty (with what right I could not tell) to set- tle. I told them of what passed on the Tuscarora Path last Summer, when the Sheriff and three Magistrates were sent to turn off the People there settled; and that I then perceived that the People were favored by some of the Indians above mentioned; by which means the Orders of the Governour came to no effect. So far they were content, and said the thing must be as it is, till the Six Nation Chiefs would be down and converse with the Governour of Pennsyl- vania about the Affair."
According to this suggestion, several chiefs of the Six Nations came from their home in New York to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1750 and held a conference with Secretary Richard Peters and others with reference to the unwarranted occupation of their hunting- grounds by the incoming settlers ; the result of which conference, and the subsequent action of the government officers in consequence of it, is told by Peters in a report made by him to Governor Hamilton, dated July 2d, in the same year. In that report he states that on the 18th of the preceding May, at the plantation of George Croghan, a conference had been held with two sons of the Sachem Shikilemy and three other Indians, representatives of the Six Nations, in presence of James Galbreth and George Croghan, Esquires, justices of the county of Cumberland, at which the Indian speaker expressed the sentiments of his people with regard to the unwarranted settlements of white people on unpurchased lands in the Juni- ata region as follows :
" Brethren-We have thought a great deal of what you imparted to us, that ye were to come to turn the people off who are settled over the Hills; we are pleased to see you on this occasion, and as the Coun- vil of Onondago has this affair exceedingly at heart, and it was particularly recommended to us by the Deputies of the Six Nations when they departed from us last Summer, we desire to accompany you,
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but we are afraid, notwithstanding the care of the Governour, that this may prove like many former attempts; the People will be put off now and next year come again ; and if so, the Six Nations will no longer bear it, but will do themselves justice. To prevent this, therefore, when you shall have turned the People off, we recommend it to the Governour to place two or three faithful Persons over the Moun- tains, who may be agreeable to him and us, with Commissions, empowering them immediately to re- move every one who may presume after this to settle themselves until the Six Nations shall agree to make sale of their Land."
To enforce this, they gave a string of wam- pum and received one in return from the magis- trate, with the strongest assurances that they would do their duty. After the narration of the preceding, Mr. Peters' report continues, and will be found in the account of early settlements in Walker township, Juniata County, where their trespassers located, and from where they were ejected.
This forcible ejectment of the settlers (or, more properly, squatters) from the Juniata Val- ley and region contiguous to it on the south and southwest had, only temporarily, the effect to deter others from entering on the unpurchased lands west of the Susquehanna. Within two years from the time when Secretary Peters, with the under-sheriff and magistrates of Cumber- land County, led their prisoners to the Carlisle jail, after having burned their cabins, the alarm had subsided, and many of those who had been driven away had returned to the forbidden country, together with others who were then making their first visit in search of locations for future homes. As early as 1752 the Kisha- coquillas Valley was entered by white pros- pectors, who afterwards became permanent set- tlers, and located lands on which their descend- ants still live. Among the first white men who entered that valley were William Brown (after- wards one of the most prominent men of that vicinity), James Reed,' Samuel Maclay, and the five brothers, Robert, John, William, Alexan- der and James MeNitt, who were in the valley before the Indian purchase was made, and who were among the earliest to take up lands under
I The wife of James Reed was the first white woman who came to Kishacoquillas Valley.
that purchase, as were also Alexander Cochrane, James Alexander, and others, whose names still remain there. At the mouth of the Juniata was located Mareus Hulings, the families of Francis Ellis, James Baskins and others, and settlements were found at several points along the west side of the Susquehanna, and some distance up Mahantango, Middle and Penn's Creeks, among them being those of George Gabriel,2 Abraham Sourkill, John Zehring, Jacob Le Roy (called Jacob King by his neigh- bors), George Auchmudy, George Schnable, George Aberhart, George Glewell, Edmund Mathews, John McCahon, John Young, Mark Curry, John Simmons, William Doran, Gott- fried Fryer, John Lynn, Daniel Braugh and Dennis Mucklehenny, most of whom were of the fearless Scotch-Irish race, who seldom per- mitted the dangers of the wilderness or of sav- age incursion to frighten them away from fertile lands, clear streams and eligible sites for set- tlement.
These continued aggressions of the white peo- ple, and their apparent determination to disre- gard the rights of Indians at whatever hazard, greatly incensed the latter, who, at a treaty coun- cil held at Carlisle in 1753, very plainly ex- pressed their views on the subject, entering their vigorous protest against this unjustifiable occu- pation of their hunting-grounds, and notifying the authorities that "they wished the people called back from the Juniata lands until matters were settled between them and the French, lest damage should be done, and then the English would think ill of them."
TREATY OF 1754 .- At this crisis there seemed to be but one way out of the difficulty, which was to pacify the Indians by a fair pur- chase of the lands west of the Susquehanna. Accordingly, on the 6th of July, 1754, a treaty was held and concluded at Albany, N. Y., be- tween the sachems and chief's of the Six Nations and the representatives of the proprietaries, by which, for a consideration of four hundred pounds, lawful money of New York, the Six Nations sold to Thomas and Richard Penn a great ex- tent of country in Pennsylvania, west of the
2 A trader, whose place was where Selin's Grove now is.
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Susquehanna, and adjoining the purchase of 1736 on the north, the following being the de- seription and boundaries as given in the deed of conveyance :
"All the lands lying within the Province of Penn- sylvania, bounded and limited as follows, namely : Beginning at the Kittochtinny, or Blue Hills, on the west branch of the Susquehanna River, and thence by the said River, a mile above the mouth of a certain creek called Kayarondinhagh (Penn's Creek) ; thence northwesterly, west as far as said Province of Penn- sylvania extends, to its western lines or boundaries ; thence along the said western line, to the south line or boundary of said Province; thence by the said south line or boundary to the south side of said Kittochtinny hills; thence by the south side of said hills to the place of beginning."
This purchase included all the territory now included in the counties of Perry, Juniata, Mif- flin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Bedford and Blair ; nearly all of Snyder, half of Centre, and parts of Union, Somerset and Franklin. In fact, the boundary, as mentioned in the original deed, would have included the whole of the western part of the State ; the north line starting from a point one mile above the mouth of Penn's Creek, and running thence north 45° west, crossing the West Branch a little above the mouth of the Sinnemahoning, and striking Lake Erie a few miles north of the city of Erie. After- · wards, at a conference held at Aughwick, in September, 1754, the Indians gave notice that they had not understood the matter of points of compass ; that it had not been their intention to sell the valley of the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, and that they would never agree to the confirmation of that indefinite boundary, stretching northwest to the lake. It was after- wards changed, and the remainder of the pur- chase confirmed by the Indians at the treaty of Easton, Pa,, October 23, 1758. The line, as confirmed at that treaty, was described as,-
"Beginning at the Kittachtinny, or Blue hills, on the west bank of the river Susquehannah, and running thence up the said river, binding therewith, to a mile above the mouth of a creek called Kaarondinhah (or John Penn's creek ) ; thence northwest, and by west to a creek called Buffalo ereck ; thence west to the east side of the Allegheny or Appalachian hills; thence along the east side of the said hills, binding therewith, to the south line or boundary of the said Province; thence by the said south line or boundary to the south
side of the Kittachtinny hills; thence by the south side of the said hills to the place of beginning."
INDIAN HOSTHATY AROUSED-THE PENN'S CREEK MASSACRE. -- The Western Delawares were exceedingly angry because of the sale of the Susquehanna and Juniata lands to the whites, declaring that those fine hunting-grounds had been given to them (the Delawares) by the Six Nations, and that therefore the latter had no right to sell them. The Six Nations ad- mitted that they had given the region to their cousins, the Delawares, as a hunting-ground, yet they did not hesitate to make the sale to the English, in 1754, and to confirm it in 1758, as mentioned above. In the mean time the Delawares, whose lands had been taken from them, while they had received. none of the con- sideration of four hundred pounds which had been paid to the Six Nations, sought an oppor- tunity and pretext for that revenge against the English which they dared not show towards their ancient conquerors, the Six Nations. Such an opportunity was presented by General Brad- dock's disaster on the Monongahela, July 9, 1755, immediately after which they, with the Shawanese, became the active and bloody-handed allies of the French who occupied the forts on the Allegheny River. Within three months from the time of Braddock's defeat their war- parties had crossed the Alleghenies eastward,' and committed atrocities at Conococheague, and other frontier settlements along the southern border of the province, and on the 16th of Oe- tober, in that year, they appeared in some force on Penn's Creek, in the present county of Snyder, where they burned the houses, massa- ered the people and broke up the settlements. An account of the inroad and massacre is found in the following petition addressed, at that time, to Robert Hunter Morris, Governor of Penn- sylvania:
" We, the subscribers, living near the mouth of Penn's creek, on the west side of the Susquehanna, humbly
"In fact, they had shown hostile intentions even before the defeat. As early as May 26, 1765, Colonel John Armstrong, of Cumberland County, wrote Governor Morris, notifying him that three painted savages had been seen in Kishncoquillas Valley, and that they had robbed and driven away several settlers from that vicinity.
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show that, on or about the 16th October the enemy came down upon said creek, killed, scalped, and car- ried away all the men, women, and children, amount- ing to twenty-five in number, and wounded one man, who, fortunately, made his escape, and brought us the news. Whereupon the subscribers went out and buried the dead. We found thirteen, who were men and elderly women, and one child, two weeks old ; the rest, being young women and children, we suppose to be carried away. The house (where we suppose they finished their murder) we found burned up, the man of it, named Jacob King, a Swisser, lying just by it. Ile lay on his back, barbarously burned, and two tomahawks sticking in his forehead, one of them newly marked W. D. We have sent them to your Honor. The terror of which has drove away all the inhabitants except us. We are willing to stay, and defend the land, but need arms, ammunition, and as- Asstance. Without them, we must flee, and leave the country to the mercy of the enemy.
"George Glidwell. Jacob Simmons. George Auchmudy. Conrad Craymer.
John McCahan. George Fry.
Abraham Sowerkill.
George Schnable.
Edmund Matthews.
George Aberhart.
Mark Curry. William Doran.
Daniel Braugh.
George Linn.
Dennis Mucklehenny. John Young.
Godfrey Fryer."
The following letter from John Harris (founder of Harrisburg) to the Governor re- lates further particulars of the Penn's Creek massacre, viz. :
"PAXTON, October 20, 1755. " May it please your Honour :
"I was informed, last night, by a person that came down our River, that there was a Dutch woman who made her escape to George Gabriel's, and informs us that last Friday evening, on her way home from this settlement, on Mahahony or Penn's Creek, where her family lived, she called at a neighbour's house and waw two persons lying by the Door of said house, murdered and scalped, and there were some Dutch families that lived near their places immediately left, not thinking it safe to stay any longer. It is the Opinion of the people up the River, that the families un Penn's Creek being scattered, that but few in number are killed or carried off, except the above s.id woman, the certainty of which will soon be : known, as there are some men gone out to bury the dead.
" By report this evening, I was likewise informed by the Belt of Wampum' and these Indians here, there were seen, near Shamokin, about six days ago, two French Indians of the Canawago tribe. I a little
doubted the truth of the report at first, but the In- dians have seemed so afraid, that they dispatched Messengers immediately, to the Mountains above my house, to bring in some of their women that were gathering chestnuts, for fear of their being killed. By a person just arrived down our River brought Infor- mation of two men being murdered within five miles of George Gabriel's, four women carried off, and there is one man wounded in three places, who escaped to Gabriel's and it is imagined that all the inhabitants on Penn's Creek and Little Mahahony are killed or carried off, as most of them live much higher up, where the first murder was discovered. The Indian war- riours here send you these two strings of white Wam- pum, and the Women hold the black one, both re- questing that you would lay by all your council pipes immediately and open all your eyes and ears, and view your slain People in this land, and put a stop to it immediately, and come to this place to our assist- ance without any delay, and the Belt of Wampum particularly mentions that the Proprietors and your Honour would immediately act in defense of their Country, as the old chain of Friendship now is broken by several Nations of Indians, and it seems to be such as they never expected to see or hear of. Any delay on our acting vigorously now at this time, would be the loss of all Indian interest, and perhaps our Ruin in these parts.
"I am, Your Honour's " Most Obedient Servant, "JOHN HARRIS."
In a postscript to this letter he informed the Governor that he should endeavor to send a party of his neighbors up the river to learn full particulars of the affair, and also of the feelings and disposition of the Indians then gathered at Shamokin. A party of forty-six from the vicinity of Harris' Ferry accordingly went up, Mr. Harris accompanying them. On their re- turn they were fired on by an ambushed party of Indians, who killed four, while four more were drowned in attempting to cross the river. The rest fled, and the whole line of the river was abandoned from Shamokin to Hunter's Mill. An account of it is given in the follow- ing letter from Mr. Harris to Governor Morris :
"PAXTON, October 28, 1755.
" May it please your Honour :
" This is to acquaint you that on the 24th of October I arrived at Shamokin, in order to protect our Fron- tiers up that way, till they might make their escape from their cruel enemies, and learn the best intelli- genee I could.
I An Indian, so called.
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"The Indians on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna certainly killed our Inhabitants on Penn's Creek ; and there are a hatchet and two English scalps sent by them up the North Branch, to desire them to strike with them if they are men.
" The Indians are all assembling themselves at Shamokin to counsel ; a large Body of them was there four days ago. I cannot learn their Intentions, but seems Andrew Montour and Mona-ca-too-tha are to bring down the News from them. There is not a sufficient number of them to oppose the enemy, and perhaps they will join the enemy against us. There is no dependence on Indians, and we are in imminent danger.
"I got certain Information from Andrew Montour and others, that there is a Body of French with fifteen hundred Indians coming upon us-Picks, Ottaways, Orandox, Delawares, Shawanese, and a number of the Six Nations; and are now not many days march from this Province and Virginia, which are appointed to be attacked ; at the same time some of the Shamokin Indians seem friendly and others appear like enemies.
" Montour knew, many days ago, of the enemy being on their March against us before he informed; for which I said as much to him as I thought prudent, considering the place I was in.
"On the 25th instant, on my Return, with about forty more, we were attacked by about twenty or thirty Indians ;- received their fire, and about fifteen of our men and myself took to the trees, attacked the Vil- lains, killed four of them on the spot, and lost but three more-retreating about half a mile through woods, and crossing the Susquehanna; one of whom was shot off an horse riding behind myself through the River. My horse was wounded, and falling in the River, I was obliged to quit him and swim part of the way. Four or five of our men were Drowned crossing the River. I hope our journey, though with fatigue and loss of substance, and some of our Lives, will be of service to our Country, by discovering our Enemy, who will be our ruin if not timely prevented.
"I just now received Information that there was a French Officer, supposed with a party of Shawanese, Delawares, &c., within six miles of Shamokin ten days ago; and no doubt intends to take possession of it, which will be a dreadful consequence to us if suf- fered. Therefore I thought proper to dispatch this Message to inform your Honour. The Indians here, 1 I hope, your Honour, will be pleased to cause them to remove to some place, as I do not like their com- pany ; and as the men of those here were not against us, yet did them no harm, or else I would have them all cut off. Belt (Indian so-called) promised at Sha- mokin to send out Spies to view the Enemy; and upon hearing of our skirmishes, Old Belt was in a
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I Meaning the supposed friendly Indians who were then gathered in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Harris' Ferry (now Harrisburg ).
Rage,-gathered up thirty Indians immediately, and went in pursuit of the enemy, as I am this Day in- formed.
" I expect Montour and Mona-ca-too-tha down here this week with the Determination of their Shamokin council. The Inhabitants are abandoning their Plantations, and we are in a dreadful Situation.
" JOHN HARRIS,
" P. S. The night ensuing our Attack, the Indians burnt all George Gabriel's houses-danced around them."
In a postscript to his previous letter, Mr. Harris told the Governor that unless vigorous measures of defense were taken, the settlers would abandon the country west of the Susque- hanna, and that there was very grave danger that the Indians, hitherto regarded as friendly, would go over to the French.
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