History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 17

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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So far of the troubles of the border in 1773 and 1774. Dunmore early made effort to hold the country round Fort Pitt as part of Virginia. To this end he sent an agent into these parts to proclaim his will. This man was John Connolly, known to the early settlers and to the Indians as Doctor John Connolly.1 He was a relation of the Governor; was a Pennsylvanian by birth; was a notorious Tory, looking for advance- ment commensurate with his energy ; and was a will- ing tool of Dunmore, as Dunmore himself was of the ministry. In January, 1774, Connolly took possession of Pittsburgh by an armed force of militia, gotten from the south of the Youghiogheny and Mononga- hela. He came as the accredited agent of the Gov- ernor to hold this point, and to counteract the author- ity of Penn's magistrates. To the colonists of Penn- sylvania he represented that the militia musters which he was holding were for an advance against the In- dians, then becoming troublesome ; to the Indians he

1 This John Connolly, the Benedict Arnold of Western Pennsylvania, was respectably connected. He was half-brother of Gen. James Ewing, of York County, a distinguished officer in the Revolution; he was a nephew of Col. Crogan, the Indian agent; and his wife was a daughter of Samuel Semple, Washington's host at Pittsburgh in 1770. He enjoyed, before his defection, the utmost confidence of Washington, and of all the foremost men of Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. He had, after his defection, the secrets of Gage, Dunmore, Sir William Johnson, Sir Guy Carleton (later Lord Dorchester). He was on such familiar terms with all those who moved affairs in the West that he undertook to cor- rupt, at the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Col. John Gibson (uncle of Chief Justice Gibson). He had corrupted McKee, Elliott, and Girty.

Of his sagacity, energy, and foresight there is abundance of testimony. He entertained great projects; one of these was to found a colony on the Cumberland River. He, with Col. John Campbell, owned the land upon which the city of Louisville, Ky., is built.

When arrested in Maryland, with two accomplices, he had most of his papers very artfully concealed in the " mailpillion" of his portmantean horse. Enough were found to condemn him, and to reveal his purposes. While he was a prisoner, in 1777, Gen. Ewing became bondsman for his good behavior, and took him to his farm to regain his health; but he soon betrayed this confidence, and was recommitted to prison.

In 1781, after his release from prison, he plotted an attack on Pitts- burgh and other Western posts. He was to operate from Canada with Sir John Johnson. He had a number of blank commissions to fill in for the Tories whom he should gather round him.

He renewed his efforts against Pittsburgh in 1782, and had gone so far as to have his forces collected at Lake Chatanqua, ready for descent, when a spy reported that Gen. Irvine, who then commanded at Pitts- burgh, was ready.

We shall see how some of his forces descended thence, and destroyed Hannastown in July of that year.

His last appearance was in Kentucky, in 1788, in an effort to procure discontented spirits there to join with the Governor of Canada (Lord Dor- chester) in the seizure of New Orleans, and the opening of the Missis- sippi to Western commerce. But he was driven ignominiously away.

At last he forfeited the esteem of all Americans, and his relatives and friends deserted him. But it does not appear that he ever repented of the treason to his native country, but, as has been reported, held Girty in high esteem till he died.

It is probable that not another example like his is to be found in our history, wherein so much that was promising in the career of a man failed of fruition. He had ability, sagacity, influence, opportunity ; he availed himself of neither. He lived after his expatriation, and died, on the bounty of the king. His last days were made miserable by dis- ease and intemperance.

His career may be traced through all the documentary annals of his day. For details, Sparks' " Washington," " Peun. Archives and Colonial Records." For his attempt in the Southwest, Albach's " Western An- nals," 492, et seq.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

represented that it was to hold this part of Virginia against the Pennsylvanians; and to the militia them- selves was held out the idea that they were assembled to hold their property against seizure by this Province. Thus from the first he sowed the seeds of dissension among these people. Taking this point without re- sistance in January, he changed the name to Fort Dunmore, and issuing a proclamation, called the militia of Western Virginia together and asserted the claims of Virginia. At the same time he continued to spread abroad among the people the most unfavor- able reports concerning the pretensions of the legiti- mate Governors and their unwarranted claims. These repeated assertions, put forth in a warlike manner, to- gether with the invasion of the soil of Pennsylvania and the disturbance of the peace, were vigorously op- posed by the magistrates and the body of the people.

The body of militis collected at Fort Pitt for the ostensible project of an invasion of the Indian coun- try, but really used by Connolly in enforcing his authority, was, as all militia bodies, a set of Falstaffan ragamuffins, who, in a military capacity, were kept under control by officers, and in a rude military dis- cipline in proportion as their inclinations were grati- fied. By obeying half the time they could command the other half. These rabble soldiery shot down the cattle and hogs of the peaceful inhabitants as they chose; they pressed in the horses, and, in short, took whatever property they pleased.1

For the issuing of his proclamation and the calling of the militia together, St. Clair had Connolly arrested on a warrant, brought before him at Ligonier, and committed to jail at Hannastown. Giving bail to answer for his appearance in court, he was released from custody. On being released he went into Au- gusta' County, Va., where at Staunton, the county- seat, he was created a justice of the peace. It was alleged that Fort Pitt was in that county, in the dis- trict of West Augusta. This was to give a show of legality to his proceedings, and to cover them with the official sanction of the authority for whom he was acting. When he returned in March it was with both civil and military authority, and his acts from thenceforth were of the most tyrannical and abusive kind.

When the court, early in April, assembled at Han- na's, Connolly, with a force of a hundred and fifty men, armed and with colors, appeared before the place. He placed armed men before the door of the court-house, and refused admittance to the provincial magistrates without his consent. Connolly had had a sheriff appointed for this region. In the meeting between himself and the justices he said that in com- ing he had fulfilled his promise to the sheriff, and denied the authority of the court, and that the magis- trates had any authority to hold a court. He agreed so far as to let the officers act as a court in matters

which might be submitted to them by the people, but only till he should receive instructions to the con- trary. He wanted to be, and was, tyrannical, but was fearful of bringing the power of the Province upon himself. The magistrates were outspoken and firm. They averred that their authority rested on the legie- lative authority of Pennsylvania; that it had been regularly exercised ; that they would continue to ex- ercise it, and to do all in their power to preserve public tranquillity. They added the assurance that the Prov- ince would use every exertion to have the boundary line satisfactorily adjusted, and by fixing a temporary boundary would accommodate differences till one should be ascertained.

CHAPTER XIV.

CONNOLLY'S USURPATIONS, INDIAN ALARMS, ETC.

The Pennsylvania Justices further resist Connolly's Usurpation-H. seade Three of them in Trone into Vindale-They are released by Dunmore-Commissioners appointed by the Council to visit the House of Burgesses of Virginie-Evil Summer of 1774-Petitions from Burly Inhabitants of Westmoreland to Guvernor Pean-Meeting bel at Pittsburgh-The Association fret formed-Devereux Smith's Letter to Dr. William Smith-Some acts of Connolly recited-Dummere opens Oflore for the Sale of Land in Pennyivanis Territory-Ho levues a Proclamation to the People-St. Clair superintende the Mili- tary Arrangements-Forte repaired, and list of new ones erected -- Rangers organised and posted at various Points-Alarm of the In- habitante -- Many Settlers cross back over the Maantaine-They are urged to remain by St. Clair and Others-People of Ligonier Valley gather near the Fort in fear of the Indians crossing the Ohio-Num- ber and Lists of the Bigners of the Petitione to Governor Pean- Hempfold Dutch oud Pittsburgh Irish.

AMONG the stanch and firm adherents of Penn about Fort Pitt were Devereux Smith, Alexander Mackay, Eneas Mackay, and Andrew McFarland. These Mackays were early settlers about the fort, and AEneas Mackay was named as county judge among those created at the forming of the county. At the usurpation of Connolly these men specially re- sisted and opposed his assumption, and stood up man- fully, representing in their persons and magisterial capacity the claims of the legitimate Governors. These magistrates kept up a regular correspondence with the Governor and with each other, as indeed did all prominent citizens, and among these in vigilance and in energy none excelled St. Clair. His commu- nications, printed in the archives of the State, are in many instances our chief source of information, and on disputed points these are allowed the preference. This opposition to Connolly was opposed by every reasonable and peaceable manner, and with long suf-' fering. They claimed that it was tyrannical to enforce the authority of Virginia over the territory which they held, and which they had settled under the im- pression that it was within Penn's jurisdiction. These justices attended court at Hanna's in April, 1774. When they returned home they, with the ex-

1 Derereux Smith's Letter to Dr. William Smith .- Penn. Archices.

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ception of Alexander Mackay, were arrested by Connolly. They refused to give bail, and were sent under guard to Staunton. Mackay got permission to go by way of Williamsburg, the capital of the State, in order to see Dunmore. The upshot of the interview he had was that the justices were allowed to return home. But when the news of their arrest reached the Council it was determined to send two commissioners to the Burgesses of Virginia to repre- sent to them the consequences which might ensue if such proceedings were continued. These two were James Tilghman and Andrew Allen. Their instruc- tions were to request the government to unite with the proprietaries in a petition to the Council of the king, first, to have a definite boundary line run, and second, to use every exertion to have a temporary boundary line drawn. After a good deal of talk the hot-headed viceroy dismissed the commissioners, and the conference ended in nothing; and when its failure was known Connolly's insolence and oppres- sion increased in accelerated proportion.

These things occurring in the early summer of 1774, at the very time when word was circulated that an Indian war was uprising, the inhabitants of our county were in a strait betwixt two troubles. It appeared to them that if they remained, either death from the hands of Indians, soon to be upon them, or their very substance eaten out by a set of mercenary militia was their choice; and, further, and of great moment, the title to most part of their land was now brought into question. On account of these confirmed and apprehended dangers the crops of that year were in many places unsown, and what was grown was not harvested. For many miles from Pittsburgh eastward the fences were demolished, and the domestic cattle slaughtered or running at large were not reclaimed. Many at this juncture left and returned to the East, some hopeful for better times, and some with no in- tention of returning. The officers of the county, and many who were the most interested, used every exer- tion to induce the others to stay. But a panic, con- stantly extending, was around them on all sides. In the latter end of May and in June public meetings were held at various places, and at these meetings resolu- tions were adopted which were intended to show their distressful situation, and in which the Governor was petitioned to give the inhabitants assistance. The petitions presented at this time, on the immediate apprehension of an Indian war, are headed from Hannastown, from Allen's, a block-house on the Crab-Tree down towards the Loyalhanna, from Fort Shippen at Capt. John Proctor's on the Twelve-Mile Run, and from Pittsburgh.

The public meeting which met at Pittsburgh, June 14, 1774, signed a petition which differs not much from the others in the statement of their fears, but rather more plainly and forcibly dwelt upon the in- dignities they had suffered and the privation they were under from Connolly's shameful proceedings.

These, it is true, had suffered more than those in the eastern part. But they said, in effect, that their situ- ation was alarming ; that they were deserted by the far greater number of their neighbors; that they had no place of strength to resort to should war be upon them ; that labor was at a stand; that their growing crops were destroyed by the cattle; that their flocks were dispersed, and that the minds of the people were disturbed with the fear of falling to the mercies of the barbarous savages. Thus, in distress, next to the Almighty, they looked to his Honor for relief.

The magistrates still continued to exercise their functions in opposition to Connolly. He proceeded to extremes theretofore unknown. He, by his militia, broke open the houses of many citizens, a thing tol- erated only under military law. In many instances the inhabitants courageously opposed his rabble. In several instances they were brought face to face, and when defending their houses from illegal visitation and from pillage they showed a bravery which the maudlin crew dared not encounter. An association was even formed for the protection of the people. This association was composed of the most active and influential of the inhabitants, and they proposed to stand together to resist Connolly, and to make prepa- rations for their mutual safety. They called upon the militia, and these, in small forces, were posted at dif- ferent points.

While this, perhaps, is getting tedious, we would say that the aggressions of Connolly were summed up in a masterly manner by Devereux Smith, in the re- marks which he made in a letter to William Smith, in June, 1774. After laying the distress of the inhabi- tants to the tyrannical conduct of this man in the present dread of an Indian war, he claimed that Con- nolly first alarmed the Indians by the action of the militia in firing upon a friendly party in the Janu- ary previous, which party were encamped near Saw- mill Run, on the Ohio, when the 'militia, returning home, some of them under the influence of whiskey, fired upon the party there encamped without provo- cation.

Further, that Cressap had, in vindication of his conduct in helping to murder the friendly Indians, and in beating up the whites of Virginia to arm, al- leged the instigation of Connolly in a circular letter to the people on the Ohio ; that he brutally assaulted and abused, after breaking open the doors by force, the persons of Mackay, Smith, and Spear; that with an armed force he surrounded the court-house (Han- na's) at Hannastown ; that he transported Æneas Mackay, Smith, and MacFarland, magistrates, in irons, to Staunton jail in Virginia; that he proceeded to shoot down and impress the domestic animals without compensating the sufferers; that with an armed force he attempted to plunder the house of Devereux Smith, but was prevented by a Mr. Butler at the risk of his life; that when a man had died in the fort, and his corpse was robbed by some of his

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

own men, he sent an armed force into the town with a general search-warrant to search every house with- out exception, and that in the course of the search the militia broke open and took out private property of a citizen, at the same time insulting bim; that he sent a party that waylaid a horse laden with gun- powder sent out by William Spear for the use of the inhabitants of the county ; and these he declares to be but a few of the many distresses under which they labored, and without speedy protection and redress they could not long support themselves under such tyranny.

. It would appear then, when all the testimony is summed together, that this statement, although drawn up by one smarting under the abuse of Connolly, was pot an exaggerated statement. Connolly himself although of untiring energy and some ability, was a drunken, blasphemous wretch, who worked for hire, and the men under him were too apt to follow his leadership. These he supplied with as much whiskey as they wanted, and the only exertion to which they were put was to procure provision and forage, which they tried to get with as little trouble as possible. Dunmore now had opened several offices for the sale of lands in what is now the region embraced in Fay- ette, Washington, Greene, and Southern Allegheny. The warrants were granted on the payment of two shillings sixpence. The purchase-money was only ten shillings per hundred acres. This was an induce- ment for settlers to occupy here in preference to going to the Pennsylvania office. He also established, in the latter part of the year, three county courts in this region. Two of these were south of the Mononga- hela, and one north of this, at old Fort Redstone, the name of which was changed to Fort Burd. 'And still persisting in his pretensions, Dunmore, when he was at Fort Pitt in September, where he had stopped on his way to reinforce Col. Lewis, issued a proclamation, in which he demanded the unqualified submission of all settlers to his county governments west of Laurel Hill.

During this critical time the agents of the Penns, the magistrates, and the foremost of the people were tireless in their efforts to induce the inhabitants to remain at the homes they were just clearing out of the wilderness, and they used every exertion to infuse confidence into the public mind. The association everywhere urged upon the people to have their arms ready, and at the first call of danger to fly to each other's assistance. St. Clair was recognized as the controlling spirit in the military arrangements. He was in constant communication with the Governor, and the Governor having great confidence in his judgment, left the direction of these executive affairs in great part to him. St. Clair gave his advice and his personal supervision. Stockades and block- houses were erected at every available point where the number of people would justify, and at where it was feared the savages might enter. The stockade at

Ligonier was put in repair, and one which had been begun at Hannastown was now burried up. Kittan- ning was made a special point, and here it was in- tended that a large depot of arms and munitions, under the care of a garrison, should be kept up. For St. Clair's ides was to have a road opened from near Ligonier to that point in case the southern portion of country should be overrun, and also be maintained that it was, in a military point of view, a desirable place at which to mars a body of troops for active ser- vice on the frontier. By this time quite a number of settlements had been made along the river in what is now the southern part of Armstrong County. It is to this date we trace the erection of the many block- houses which afterwards offered shelter during the Indian depredations through the Revolution, and which were long the landmarks of their respective localities. This season was built Fort Shippen, at John Proctor's; Fort Allen, in Hempfield township between Wendell Ourry's and Christopher Trubee's (who owned the land upon which Greensburg was Imid out) ; one at John Shields' on the Loyalhanna about stx miles from Hanna's. Several were built also in the outskirts of the settlements from Ligonier by way of the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas, and a long line in the southern part of the county, faced by the river-courses which trend towards the Mononga- bela and the Ohio.

We have seen how the troubles were realized about Pittsburgh. No less was the eastern portion of the county distressed. Under St. Clair . ranging-party of sixty men had been organized at Ligonier; but on every idle report the people sought the shelter of some little fort, and many hundreds, on the testimony of St. Clair, fled out of the county. St. Clair called in the rangers, who had been scattered about, and arranged them to some advantage. Twenty were posted at Turtle Creek, twenty at the Bullock Pens seven miles east of Pittsburgh, thirty at Hannastown, twenty at Proctor's, twenty at Ligonier. These were on the direct frontier towards the Allegheny, all the country between the Forbes road and the river being alinost entirely abandoned. A few remained shut up in a block-house on the Conemaugh. To St. Clair it was surprising, and, as he says, shameful, that so great a body of the people should be driven from their pos- sessions without even the appearance of an enemy, for no attempt had been made by the Indians on what was understood to be Pennsylvania. On the 11th of June a report was started that a party of Indians had been seen near Hannastown, and another party on the Braddock road. This set the people agoing again. St. Clair took horse and rode up to inquire into the facts. He found the reports improbable, but it was impossible to persuade the people so. He states that he is certain he met no fewer than two hundred families and two thousand cattle in twenty miles' riding.

The people of Ligonier Valley had, up to this time, made a stand, but on that day they all moved into the

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kade. They all, seized with a strange infatuation, templated leaving the country, and so strong was current that St. Clair says had they left he would e been forced to go with them. Had they gone , with the scanty harvest just ready to cut, they t undoubtedly have perished by famine. As it made evident to the settlers of Westmoreland that projected Indian attack was directed against Vir- a, the only hope of the public peace being restored in the success of the authorities in settling the of jurisdiction yet unsettled.

he petitions sent by the inhabitants to the Gov- or are still extant. The one from John Proctor's bered seventy-eight ; the one from Fort Allen, nty-seven ; one from the country at large, dated Hannastown, one hundred and thirty-four; the from John Shields', fifty ; another from Hannas- n, ninety-one.1

The petition from Fort Shippen, at Col. (then captain) John Proc- ou Twelve-Mile Run," was signed by the following : Lot Darling, ew Woolf, George Hellingbar, Samuel Sloan, William Caldwell, rt Roulston, William Allison, William Cortney, John Patrick, Ben- Cochran, David Maxwill, William Hughs, Elias Pellet, James mel, James Forsyth, Robert Taylor, John Leslie, William Ander- Joseph Campbell, Jolin McKee, George Moore, William Perry, es Mitchell, James Wallace, John Scott, Knight Scott, Robert Ste- son, Andrew Allison, John Cox, William Michel, Joseph Man, ge Henry, James Campbell, Josias Campbell, John Lam, Joseph Su- Isaac Parr, John Moore, Robert Beislein, John Lydick, Philip , William McCall, George Smilie, Ferguson Moorhead, Richard 8, David Kilgour, John Proctor, Samuel Moorhead, William Lochry, 8 Hamilton, Arthur Harvey, Patrick Archbald, William Mount, Davis, John Harry, John Pagan, Robert Marshall, John Campbell, y Zane, Robert Caldwell, George Leasure, James Stevenson, Thomas nson, Robert Cochran, John Taylor, William Sloan, William Mar- Andrew Mitchell, David Sloan, James Fulton, Francis McGinnis, s Carnahan, William Thompson, Allen Sloan, Moses Dickie, Na- el Bryan.

e one from Fort Allen, in Hempfield township, between Wendel 's and Christopher Truby's, was signed by the following:

ndell Ourry, Christopher Trubee, Frantz Raupp, Nicholas Shener, Lafferty, John Bendeary, Conrad Houck, James Waterms, John ck, Adam George, Nicholas Allimang, Adam Uhrig, Stofei Urich, Golden, Peter U ich, Martin Huntz, Michael Konel, Heinrich n, Conrad Hister, Hans Gunckee, Peter Kasner, Peter Uber, John sher, Heinrich Schmit, Jacob Kuemel, John Moffey, Adam Bricken, Nannemacher, Philip Klingelschmit, Peter Klingelschmit, Peter an, Andoni Altman, Joseph Pankkek, Brent Reis, Baltzer Moyer, Hauser, Peter Altman, Christian Baum, George Crier, Peter Joseph Kutz, Adam Meire, Daniel Wiler, Thomas Williams, uel Hatz, George Mendarf, William Hanson, William Altman, Breinig, Johannes Breinig, Samnel Lewisch, Andony Walter, Welcker, George Bender, Nicholas Junt, Michael Hams, David hall, Heinrich Sil, Richard Archbold, Conrad Linck, Freiderick chal, Hannes Breynig, Hasper Mickendorf, Jacob Schraber, Daniel , Heinrich Schram, Peter Schelhammer, Jacob Maylin, Dewalt lin, Hannes Kostwitz, Jacob Shram, Lutwig Alterman, Hans Sill, Stroh, Christopher Herolt, Gerhart Tames.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 17

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: