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 13
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 13
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 13
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 13
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 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
" Mary Lory and James Lory, brother and sister, the first about fourteen, the second about twelve or thirteen years old, captured three years ago at Fort Granville.
"Mary Taylor, an English woman, captured at Fort Granville, together with a girl named Margaret.
" Margaret, the girl captured with the foregoing.
" We became acquainted with many other captives, men, women and children, in various Indian towns, but do not know or cannot remember their names. We are, however, heartily willing to give to all such as have or believe to have connections among the In- dians, any further information which may lie within our power. We intend to go from here to Lancaster, where we may easily be found."
MASSACRES IN 1756 .- The massacre at Penn's Creek, on the 16th of October, 1755, and the subsequent Indian attack on John
! Wife of Jacob Breilinger, whose improvement was on l'enn's Creek, two miles below New Berlin, in Union County.
" Peter Lick, from Penn's Creek, near New Berlin. 'Galbraith.
Harris' armed party, on the west side of the Susquehanna, on the 25th of the same month (as related in the letter printed in this chapter, addressed by him to the Governor), had the ef- feet which he foresaw, viz. : to drive all the settlers from their plantations west of the river, so that none of those whose locations were above Mahantango Creek returned to their improvements until after the conclusion of the " New Purchase" of 1768.
Another result mentioned by Mr. Harris as to be feared, was that the body of (supposed friendly) Indians collected at Shamokin (Sun- bury) would finally side with the French, who were then reported as being in considerable force, on their way down the West Branch ; that he was expecting Mon-a-ca-tootha and Montour at the Ferry (Harrisburg), in a few days, to inform him what decision the Indians had made as to their attitude towards the Eng- lish, whether it was to be war or peace; and on the 31st of October, Andrew Montour, "The Belt" (a friendly chief), two Mohawks and other Indians from Shamokin, arrived at Har- ris' plantation with information that " the whole body of Indians, or the greatest part of them in the French interest, is actually encamped on this (east) side below George Gabriel's, near Susquehanna," and that a French officer was in that region, charged with the duty of immedi- ately commencing the erection of a French fort at Shamokin ; upon which John Harris and others issued a call to all His Majesty's subjects in Pennsylvania to report on the Susquehanna frontier without delay, to resist the advance of the French and hostile savages.
On the 27th of January, 1756, a party of Indians from Shamokin made a foray in the Juniata Valley, first attacking the house of HIngh Mitcheltree,' who was absent at Car- lisle, having left his house in the care of his wife and a young man named Edward Nicholas. Both of these were killed by the Indians, who then went up the river to the house of Edward Nicholas, Sr., whom they killed, as also his wife, and took seven prisoners, namely : Jos-
1 +On the farm now owned by Win. G. Thompson, Dela- ware township, Juniata County.
5
·
ـم
66
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
eph, Thomas and Catharine Nicholas, John Wilcox, and the wife and two children of James Armstrong.
" While they were committing these depredations in what is now Juniata County, an Indian named Cotties wished to be captain of this party, but they did not choose him ; whereupon he and a boy went to Sherman's Creek, and killed William Sheridan and his family, thirteen in number. They then went down the creek to where three old persons lived, two men and a woman, named French, whom they killed. Cotties often boasted afterward that he and the boy took more scalps than all the others of the party.
" The same Cotties in 1757, went to Hunter's Fort and killed a young man named William Martin, whilst he was gathering chestnuts. After the war was over, the same Cotties, being at the same fort, was killed by an Indian of the name of Hambus, who reproached him for the death of young Martin."
The following letters, copied from the original, giving an account of a massacre by Indians, on the river, between Thompsontown and Mexico, are exceedingly interesting, and taken in connec- tion with the other extraets, comprise about all the cotemporary literature on that event and its sequences. This was the largest butchery of whites that ever took place in the east end of Juniata County. The letter of January 28th proves that at that date Captain Patterson was with his company at his fort, which was located " on Juniata," and not on Mahantango. It is a singular fact that even the tradition of these murders is lost in this locality.
Extract from a letter from Carlisle, dated January 29, 1756,-
" This afternoon came to town a man that lived on Juniata, who in his journey this way called at the house where the woolcombers lived, about ten miles from this place, and saw at his door a bed-tiek, and going into the house found a child lying dead and scalped. This alarmed us much, and while we were consulting what to do, we received the enclosed, which puts it past all doubt that the enemy intend to attack either Sherman's Valley or this place. We thought it necessary to acquaint you as soon as possible, not only to hurry you home, but, if thought needful, that the people of York might send over some aid."
The following is the " enclosed " referred to :
" Extract of a Letter from Patterson's Fort, on Juniata, January 28, 1756.
" This serves to inform you that yesterday, some
time in the afternoon, one Adam Nicholson and his wife were killed and sealped and his daughter and two sons made prisoners; that the wife and two children of James Armstrong were also made pris- oners; and William Willock and wife killed and scalped and five children carried off by the Indians- in all fifteen people killed and taken. I was this day with our Captain at the places of the above-mentioned, where we saw three of the dead people and the houses burnt to ashes. I desire you would tell Ben Killgore and his brother to hurry over and all the boys be- longing to our Company to come in a body, and that you may be upon your guard, for all the Indians, except two that went with the prisoners, crossed over Juniata towards your settlement. There is a large body of them, as we suppose from their tracks.
" N. B .- The above mischief was done within three short miles of the Fort, down the creek (river). Just now a man came to the fort and informed us that Hugh Mitcheltree's wife and another son of Nicholson's were also murdered. There are no more missing in this neighborhood at present." 1
" We have advice from Carlisle that, besides the mischief mentioned in our last to be done by the Indians near Patterson's Fort on the Juniata, the party that went to bury the dead found one Sheridan and his wife, three children and a man-servant, all murdered; also two others in another house ; these within ten miles of Carlisle." 2
" I am heartily sorry that I must grieve you with an account of a most inhuman murder, committed by the Indians at Juniata and Sherman's Creek on the 27th of last month. Within three miles of Patter- son's Fort was found Adam Nicholson and his wife dead and scalped, and his two sons and a daughter were carried off; William Wilcock and his wife dead and scalped ; [Mrs. ] Hugh Mitcheltree and a son of said Nicholson dead and sealped, with many children, in all about seventeen. The same day one Sheridan, a Quaker, his wife and three children and a servant were killed and scalped, together with one William Hamilton and his wife and daughter, and one French, within ten miles of Carlisle, a little beyond Stephens' Gap." 3
The same events are thus related in Gordon's " History of Pennsylvania," --
"In February, 1756, a party of Indians from Shamokin came to Juniata. They first came to Hugh Mitcheltree's, being on the river, who had gone to Carlisle, and had got a young man named Edward Nicholas to stay with his wife until he would return ; the Indians killed them both. The same party of Indians went up the river where the Lukens' now live; William Wilcox lived on the opposite side
Penna. Gazette, February 5, 1766.
2 Penna. Gazette, February 12, 1756.
"Rev. Thos. Barton at Reading, February 6, 1756.
67
INDIAN MASSACRES.
of the river, whose wife and eldest son had come over the river on some business; the Indians came while they were there and killed old Edward Nicholas and his wife, and took Joseph, Thomas and Catherine Nicholas, John Wilcox, James Armstrong's wife and two children prisoners."
On the 2-4th of March, 1756, Captain James Patterson (whose plantation was on the Juniata, where the town of Mexico now is), being out in command of a scouting-party of borderers, fell in with a party of Indians on Middle Creek, Cumberland County (now Snyder), at- tacked them, killed and scalped one, and put the rest to flight On their return, Patterson and his party reported that from Shamokin to the Juniata the country was swarming with Indians, looking for scalps and plunder, and burning all the houses, and destroying all the grain which the fugitive settlers had left in that region.
The following extracts from the Pennsylva- nia Gazette give cotemporary accounts of this occurrence :
"In a letter from Juniata, in Cumberland County, dated the 24th of last month, there is advice that Captain Patterson, being out with a scouting-party in order to seour the woods as far as Shamokin, on the 20th of that month fell in with some Indians at Middle Creek, one of which they killed and scalped, put the rest to flight and took off their horses; that one of Captain Patterson's men was wounded; that the woods, from Juniata to Shamokin, are full of Indians seeking for plunder and scalps; that they found many houses burnt and some burning, and that it was feared but few, in a short time, would be left standing, and that all the grain would be de- atroyed." 1
"We also hear from the same place (Carlisle) that some Indians have been seen very lately within seven or eight miles of that town; that Patterson's fort on Juniata was fired on several times by them a few days ago, and one Mitcheltree carried off from it; that a few of them have been seen about Granville and Juniata, and that the inhabitants of Cumberland County, in general, are in the greatest distress and confusion imaginable, many of them leaving their habitations, and not knowing where to go or what to do."?
The Indians committing these depredations were Delawares ; there were no Shawanese among them. They were incited by the
! Penna. Gazette, March 11, 1756.
3 Penna. Hazche, April 8, 1706.
" craftiness, power and bribery of the French " in Canada, but professed to be largely influ- enced by grievances about the sale of lands.3 They had their headquarters on the North Branch at Nescopeck and points above. Con- rad Weiser had sent James Patterson and Hugh Crawford to Aughwick, in December previous, to get Indians to carry a message from the Governor to those at Nescopeck.4 They were so violent that they threatened to break the heads of any of their own race who advised peace with the English.
FORTS BUILT ON THE FRONTIER .- In the mean time the atrocities which had been com- mitted by the Indians in the fall of the previ- ous year (1755) had fully awakened the provincial authorities to a sense of the insecurity of their frontiers, and to the pressing necessity of immedi- ately adopting means to prevent the savages from extending their depredations over the entire prov- ince. A principal measure to afford some degree of safety for settlers, was the erection of a number of forts to form a continuous line of defense extending entirely across Pennsylvania, from near the Delaware Water Gap to the Maryland line, at Wills' Creek (Cumberland). This defensive line ran through the region of territory to which this history has especial refer- ence ; the most important of the works within the boundaries of this territory being Fort Granville, on the Juniata- a still more im- portant one being Fort Augusta, which, however, was located just outside the territory in question, on the other side of the Susquehanna, at the site of the present town of Sunbury, then the site of the Indian town of Shamokin. The order to George Croghan to select sites and arrange for the erection of Fort Granville, and two other works of the same class, was given by Benjamin Franklin and others, as follows :
"SER :- You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper places for erecting three Stockades, viz .: One back of Patterson's, one upon Kishecoquillas, and one near Sideling Hill; each of them fifty fect square, with a Block House on two of the corners, and a Barracks within, capable of lodging fifty men. You are also desired to agree with some proper Person or Persons to oversee the workmen at
" Col. Rec., vol. vii. 53. 4 Same, vol. vi. 762.
1
-
1
1
68
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
cach Place who shall be allowed such Wages as you shall agree to give, not exceeding one Dollar per day ; and the workmen shall be allowed at the rate of six Dollars per Month and their Provisions, till the work is finished.
"B. FRANKLIN, " JOSEPH FOX, " JOSEPH HUGHS, "EVAN MORGAN.
"To Captain George Crogan, Philadelphia, Dec. 17, 1755."
Instead, however, of erecting " one upon Kish- acoquillas " Creek, according to the instruc- tions, a site was selected for it at a fine spring on the bank of the Juniata River, about one mile above where the borough of Lewistown now stands. The existence of the spring at that place may have been the reason why Crog- han selected that site instead of "one upon Kishacoquillas," as named in his letter of in- structions. A little more than seventy years afterwards that historie spring was destroyed by the canal being constructed directly over it.
Upon the site so selected was built the stock- ade work which received the name of Fort Granville, and was garrisoned by a company of enlisted men, under officers regularly commis- sioned. That the work was commenced very soon after the order was given to Captain Crog- han, and that the fort was completed and gar- risoned during that winter, is shown by a letter written by Elisha Salter, and dated Carlisle, April 4, 1756, in which the writer says : " From Fort Granville, 31st of March, there was a party of Indians, four in number, within one mile of the Fort, which fort is so badly stored with ammunition, not having three rounds per man, they thought it not prudent to venture after them."
Fort Augusta (located at the Indian town of Shamokin, as before mentioned) was not erected until the following July. It was believed (and no doubt with good cause) that the French were preparing to take possession of that point and build a fort there, and the consent of the friendly Indians was therefore sought and easily obtained by the English to take and fortify the place. The work of erecting Fort Augusta was done by the men of the regiment com- manded by Colonel Clapham. The guides of
the expedition were Joseph Greenwood and George Gabriel-the last-named of whom had his house, store and other buildings (where Se- lin's Grove now stands) burned by the Indians in their second raid of the preceding year. Among the officers of the regiment under Col- onel Clapham was Ensign Samuel Miles, who, twenty years later, was a colonel, commanding a regiment in the Continental army under Gen- eral Washington, and who became the propri- etor of Milesburg, Centre County, Pa. He kept a journal of events connected with the crection of the fort, from which journal the fol- lowing extract is made,1 viz. :
" We marched up the west side of the Susquehan- na, until we came opposite where the town of Sun- bury now stands, where we crossed in batteaux, and I had the honor of being the first man who put his foot on shore at landing. In building the fort, Cap- tain Levi Trump and myself had charge of the work- men ; and after it was finished our battalion remained there in garrison until the year 1758. In the summer of 1757 I was nearly taken prisoner by the Indians. At about one-half mile distance from the fort stood a large tree that bore excellent plums, on an open piece of ground, near what is now called the Bloody spring. Lieutenant Samuel Atlee" and myself one day took a walk to this tree, to gather plums. While we were there a party of Indians lay a short distance from us, concealed in the thicket, and had nearly got between us and the fort, when a soldier, belonging to the bul- lock guard not far from us, came to the spring to drink. The Indians were thereby in danger of being discovered ; and, in consequence, fired at and killed the soldier, by which means we got off, and returned to the fort in much less time than we were in coming out."
"Fort Bigham " was a strong block-house and small stockade located about twelve miles from Mifflintown, in Tuscarora Valley, on the plantation of Samnel Bigham, who, with three other Scotch-Irish settlers,-viz. : John and James Gray and Robert Hoag,-came and lo- cated at that place soon after 1754, and, joining their forces, built a " fort " on Bigham's land as a place of refuge and protection for them- selves and families. It was also used as a shel- ter by the other settlers who came to the vi- cinity during the succeeding seven years, until
Penna. Archives, 2d Series, 745.
2 Lieutenant Atlee also became colonel of a battalion in the Revolutionary army.
•
ا ں
1.
1
1
1
1
69
INDIAN MASSACRES.
June, 1756, when it was attacked, captured and barned by Indians, who killed or took prisoner every person who was in the fort. The Penn- aylrania Gazette of June 17, gave this account of the massacre :
"We have advice from Carlisle that on Friday night last (June 11th), Capt. Bigham's Fort, in Tus- carora Valley, was destroyed by the Indians. There is no particular account come to hand, only in gene- ral it is said that all that were in it are either killed or carried off'; and that a woman, big with child, was found dead and scalped near the fort, mangled in a most shocking manner."
From Pennsylvania Gazette, June 24. "The fol- lowing is a list of the persons killed and missing at Bigham's Fort, viz : George Woods, Nathaniel Big- ham, Robert Taylor, his wife and two children, Fran- cis Innis, his wife and three children, John McDon- nell, Hannah Gray, and one child, missing. Some of these supposed to be burnt in the fort, as a num- ber of bones were found there. Susan Giles was found dead and scalped in the neighborhood of the fort. Robert Cochran and Thomas Mckinney found dead, scalped. Alexander McAllister and his wife, James Adams, Jane Cochran and two children missed. McAllister's house was burned and a number of cattle and horses driven off. The enemy was sup- posed to be numerous, as they did eat and carry off' a great deal of Beef they had killed."
At the time when the savages made their attack on the fort, John Gray, one of the above- named original settlers of the place, was absent at Carlisle, whither he had gone to procure salt. On his return he found the fort destroyed and his family missing,-probably prisoners in the hands of the Indians. In the hope of finding, or hearing from them, he volunteered to go with Colonel Armstrong, in the expedition which went soon afterwards, against the Indian town of Kittaning, on the Allegheny, but he gained no intelligence of those whom he sought, and soon after his return he left the Juniata country, and went back to his old home in Bucks County, where he remained until his death. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter had been taken by their savage captors to Kittaning and thence to Canada, from which latter place Mrs. Gray escaped and returned to Tuscarora Valley in 1757. Afterwards, a young woman claiming to be the daughter made her appear- ance there also, and was said to have been recognized by the mother; a full account of
the case will be found in Milford township, Juniata County.
Concerning the two Patterson Forts, the two Captains Patterson, James, the father (hereto- fore alluded to) and William, his son, and the much-written of, but mythical "Pomfret Cas- tle," a well-known historical student1 gives much interesting information and clears away the old existing confusion. He says,-
" There were two Captain Pattersons and two Pat- terson's forts, and these have been the means of much confusion. Capt. James, the father, lived at Mexico, and had a house fitted up for defense against Indians, soon after Braddock's defeat; at all events, it had the name of Patterson's fort before the close of 1755. Capt. William Patterson lived opposite Mexico, at Wetzler's place, and had a house fitted up for defense, the logs of which were in position yet within the writer's memory, but this fort was not built until af- ter the French and Indian War, probably in 1763, and hence, is not the one referred to in the Colonial Records and Archives, and on maps.
"The order of the Commissioners, Dec. 17, 1755, for the erection of forts west of Susquehanna, desig- nated one of the three to be located ' back of Patter- son's.' It was to be on the Mahantango (near Rich- field) and was to have been built by Col. Burd and Captain Patterson. Although the Governor wrote to other Governors that these forts were all finished on January, 29, 1756, yet on February 2d he hoped it would be finished in 10 days ; yet it appears from his own letter that this one, which was to be called 'Pomfret Castle,' had nothing done to it yet on Feb- ruary 3rd, and on the 9th he again says it 'is erected ;' but on the 14th of June he orders Capt. George Armstrong ' to build it where it was laid out by Major Burd ;' and it is doubtful whether any work was ever done upon it. Patterson put up or strength- ened his own fort at Mexico, and great confusion has arisen by confounding it with the proposed Pomfret Castle, or rather, it locates them both at Litchfield. The same view was taken by the compiler of the State Archives in the article on forts. The error, per- haps, arose from the directions to paymaster Elisha Salter, who, on leaving Fort Granville, was directed to go in charge of a guard to 'Pomfret Castle, or Patterson's Fort.' This might mean that the latter was only another name for the former. It may, also, and in this case does, mean that he was to go to the one place, or the other, as circumstances on his arrival pointed out. It was certainly known that the soldiers were likely at Patterson's, at Mexico, and the instruc- tion was, that if he learned at Fort Granville that they were still at Patterson's, he was to go there.
1 Prof. A. L. Guss,
1
٠
70
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
" In the text accompanying the Historical Map of Pennsylvania it is stated that Patterson's Fort was built in 1751, and Pomfret Castle built in 1756, both in Snyder county. This is a strange jumble. Patter- | son's fort was not built in Snyder, nor in 1751. No man can prove that this, or any other fort in this region, was built at that date. The map gives an Indian path from Shamokin, by way of Pomfret Castle and Mexico, to Mifflintown. This path came to the Delaware run, where, it seems, Musemcelin lived in 1744 when he followed and killed Jack Arm- strong, and is said to be the same place that the 'Dutch- man' Starr settled. The several relations of the capture of Hugh Mitcheltree, already given, are also relied upon to prove that Patterson's Fort and Pom- fret Castle were the same."
In regard to the name " Pomfret Castle," it may be stated that it was used by Elisha Salter, in reporting the capture of Hugh Mitcheltree ; but there is abundant evidence that he applied the name to Patterson's Fort of Mexico. There is no foundation for the belief that " Pomfret Castle " ever was built.
The same writer from whose pen came the foregoing, contributes the following about Cap- tains James and William Patterson :
"It is related by Jones, on the authority of Andrew Banks, that Capt. James Patterson kept a well-rid- dled target at quite a distance from his house, and whenever he saw Indians coming near he would fire at the target, and then let them examine the spot where the bullet entered, which thus always seemed to be at the center, and that this made them shrug their shoulders and call him 'Big Shot.' The other story about a wooden , cannon, used even sometimes by his wife. to frighten Indians, is too improbable and impossible to need serious contradiction.
" In 'Sherman Day's Collections ' remarkable abil- ities are attributed to Captain William, while no mention is made of Captain James. Samuel Evans, of Columbia, says Captain William was called ' Long Gun' by the Indians, and that he was a brave and dashing officer, and followed the Indians into their fastnesses and struck them deadly blows. The fact is, they were both, doubtless, good marksmen, a qualification not unusual in those days, and beyond controversy they were both prudent in time of peace, as well as excellent Indian fighters when it became necessary. Had their history been freshly written up, it would doubtless compare with those of Smith, Brady and others.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.