History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 19

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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e have not, at this day, the means of knowing were the leaders of the others in Western Penn- ania, and especially in Westmoreland, in shaping course which the others with so much honor fol- d; but the facts as they are preserved in history our pleasure to rehearse. Of the local move- ts in the early part of 1775 we can give no par- lars in detail; their whisperings were lost in the t storm which suddenly broke over the land. To would be a great satisfaction to know how the

news was carried down the slim cartway of the old Forbes trail; how the rider, forwarded, maybe, by the committee at Philadelphia, dashed up the hill at the stockade at Ligonier, and stopped at the door of Capt. St. Clair to deliver his packet; how the word was received by the settlers at Hanna's; how neigh- bor ran to tell neighbor the greatest news of his life. Of this we know nothing, but we know that so speed- ily flew the news, and so spontaneous was the emo- tions of surprise and of fear which it awoke in the hearts of the Westmorelanders, that on the 16th of May, four weeks after the skirmish at Lexington, a meeting was held at Hannastown, and on the same day one at Pittsburgh, in which our inhabitants par- ticipated. In these they gave expressions to their views, and in many respects the meeting held at Hannastown was the noblest ever, to our time, held in Westmoreland or in the West.

The resolutions adopted at Hannastown on the 16th of May, 1775, are perhaps better displayed, as all superior excellencies are displayed, by compari- son.

The meeting at Pittsburgh may be thus summar- ized. The inhabitants of the western part of Augusta County1 meeting together, chose a committee, which committee met and resolved that seven so chosen, or any four of them, should be a standing committee, vested with all the powers of the corresponding com- mittees which had been appointed in nearly all the counties, and after resolving,-

First, That the thanks of the committee were due to their represen- tatives in the Colonial Council, which sat at Richmond.

Second, That the committee, having a high sense of honor in the be- havior of their brethren of New England,

they therefore cordially approved of their opposing the invaders of American liberty, and urged upon each one to encourage his neighbor to follow their example. And then taking into consideration the dangers which threatened America by the attack on Massachusetts, and the dangers which threatened themselves by the action of the loyalists in stirring up the Indians against them, they resolved,-

Third, That the recommendation of the Richmond Convention rela- tive to embodying the militia be complied with, and that the recom- mendation to raise enough money to purchase ammunition be carried into effect.

Then following in a noble appeal to the inhabit- ants, in the name of God and of everything sacred, to use their utmost to assist in levying the sum, and looking to their personal security, they resolved,-

Fourth, An approval of a resolution of the committee in the other part of the county relative to cultivating friendship with the Indians.

Then it was ordered that the committee secure such arms and ammunition as they could, and deliver them to the militia officers; and resolved,-

Fifth, That a sum definite be raised by subscription for the use of the deputies sent from the colonies to the General Congress.

1 Representing themselves to be within the jurisdiction of Virginia.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The meeting concluded by a report of the select committee, which was embodied in the form of a cir- cular letter to the other delegates in the Colonial Congress, which statement sets forth only local griev- ances and local desires, and by an order to have the proceedings certified and published in the Virginia Gazette.

On the same day, in the shade of the old forest- trees at Hannastown, met the backswoodsmen of Westmoreland. There, without any pretensions, but in modesty and with firmness, they subscribed unani- mously to a series of resolutions, the substance of which had been written in King John's great charter, and which was subsequently embodied in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. The record of this meeting, preserved in the second volume of the fourth series of American Archives, sets forth in substance what follows :

At a general meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland, held at Hannastown on the 16th of May, 1775, for taking Into consideration the very alarming state of the country occasioned by the dispute with Creat Britain, it was unanimously resolved that the Parliament by several arts had declared the inhalditants of Massachusetts to be in rebellion, and by endearoring to enforce those acts the ministry had attempted tu re- duce the lulubitants to a more wretched state of slavery than existed, or had ever existed, in any State or country. That but content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity by exposing their lives to the wauton spurt of a liceutious sukliery, and by depriving them of the very means uf subsistence. That as there was no reneun tu doubt but the ome gye- tem of tyranny and oppression would be extended to all parts of Amer- ica (provided it met with success in Massachusetts), it had therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of any man who had auy public virtue or love for his country, or any compassion for jeterity, to resist aud oppose by every means which God had put in his power the execution of this system ; aud that as for them they would be ready to oppose it with their lives and fortunes. And the better to enable then to accomplish this they agreed to immediately form themselves into a military body, to consist of companies to be made up out of, the neveral townships, under au association declared to be the Association of West- moreland County.

In words so noble was the preamble set forth, and no less happily conceived were the articles of associa- tion.

They asserted that, as dutiful subjects, possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to his kingly Majesty George the Third, whom they ac- knowledged as their lawful and rightful king, and whom they wished to be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British empire, they did not by this association mean to de- viate from that loyalty which it was their duty to observe; but, animated with a love of liberty, it was no less their duty to maintain and defend their just rights, which of late had been violated by the min- istry and Parliament, and to transmit those rights to their posterity. And for this they agreed and asso- ciated to form themselves into a regiment, or regi- ments, and to choose officers to command them; and they promised with alacrity to make themselves mas- ters of the manual exercise, and such evolutions as were necessary to enable them to act in a body with concert; for which end they were to meet at such

times and places as might be appointed by the com- manding officers ; and also agreed that, should the country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the acts of Parliament, that they would cheerfully submit to military discipline, and would, to the utmost of their power, resist and oppose them, and would coincide with any plan which might be formed for the defense of America in general or Pennsylvania in particular. They then declared, by way of extenuation, that they did not desire any innovation, but only wished to see things go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great and America was happy. In proof of which they would willingly sub- mit to the laws of which they had been accustomed to be governed before that period, and even pledged themselves to be ready, in either their associate or several capacity, to assist the civil magistrates to en- force the same. Finally, when the British Parliament would repeal the obnoxious statutes, and would recede from their unjust claim of taxing them and of making laws for them in any instance, or when some general plan of union and reconciliation had been formed and accepted by America, that then their association should be dissolved; but until then it should remain in full force; and to the observance of it they bound themselves by everything dear and sacred among men. For them there was to be no licensed murder, no famine introduced by law.

The meeting ended by the passing of a resolution for the townships to meet on Wednesday, the twenty- fourth instant, to accede to the said association and choose their officers.

The resolutions stand recorded without the names of the signers attached; neither is there any positive knowledge in so many words who drew them up. The signers without question were all Pennsylvanians. As to the authorship, the strongest presumption-a pre- sumption almost capable of proof-is that St. Clair had the lion's share in it. The only contemporaneous documents to this time made public are two letters, both from St. Clair, written within a few days of this meeting. In the first letter, dated Ligonier, May 18, 1775, to Joseph Shippen, Jr., the fact of the meeting is mentioned :

"Yesterday we had a County Meeting, and have come to resolution to arm and discipline, and have formed an Association, which I suppone you will soon see in the papers. God grant an eud muy be speedily put to any necessity for such proceedings. 1 doubt their utility, and am alinost as much afraid of success in this coutest as of being van- quished." 1

In a letter dated at the same place on the 25th of the month, when it was time some explanation should be given, Governor Penn read the following :

"We have nothing but musters and committees all over the country, and everything seems to be running into the greatest confusion. If some conciliating plan is not adopted by the Congress, America has seen

1 The date, or rather the word "yesterday," which is used, was evi- dently a slip of the pen. See the chapter on the life and services of St. Clair, in which further evidence is given on this matter.

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WESTMORELAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775.

Iden days; they may return, but will be preceded by scenes of . "An association is formed in this county for defense of American . I got n clause added it by which they bind themselves to assist 'il magistrate in the execution of the laws they have been accus- to be governed by,."

e idioms of the old English charters; the for- s used by the writers on the constitution and tes of England; the stereotyped expressions h crop out in the declaration itself; the common forms; in short, the strong English in which the utions are written, as well as the fact which he esses to his lord paramount, the Governor himself, the fact of his presence at the meeting, all would cate that St. Clair had the chiefest part in direct- the meeting and presenting the paper. In con- ing St. Clair as an historical character, we are pt to regard him in his military capacity alone, e in truth St. Clair was one of that class of men picuous in the Revolutionary annals, who blended owledge of letters with a desire for martial fame of active military service. Considered in its right e, the vigor of his mind is better displayed in his ical career; for he was a man of fine literary irements and of strong parts, having enjoyed the fits of a collegiate education and moving in good polished society from early life.

le meeting at Hannastown is remarkable for pro- ng, or at least recording, such ideas as are gener- produced only by deliberative assemblies, in which h argument is exhausted, and in which extensive rience and research are brought to bear. The lutions adopted by masses of people collected to er through excitement have, usually, nothing of ility in them. Such meetings have universally held up to ridicule, and utterances, emanating them are seldom taken as the expressions of the le at large. But these resolutions are singular in respect; and the meeting is one of the few re- ed in which cool, deliberate determination and counsel are expressed by a hastily collected 'd, and by men unused to legislative or parlia- tary experience.

he instrument has been called Westmoreland's laration of Independence. But it is not a decla- on in the same sense we are to regard the great er adopted on the 4th of July, 1776. During 1775 tings were held all over the colonies, in Massa- setts and in North and South Carolina. In their ressions of sympathy many of these are identical, they all contain expressions which could only e from a people determined to resist oppression. in few had the idea of resistance and the theory n American Union been so prominent. There sentences in these resolutions and sentences in Declaration which correspond, word for word, so had the resolutions been written and promulgated r the Declaration the world would not have detected sham without critically scrutinizing. But it was arnest a State paper, and it as clearly defined their

causes of complaint and showed the remedy for min- isterial mismanagement as any paper ever penned on either side of the Atlantic. Therefore we may surely say that of all the meetings and of all the expres- sions which were anywhere adopted at them none excelled the meeting at Hannastown, either in a plain statement of grievances, in the assertion of well-de- fined rights, or in intimating a plan by which these difficulties might be adjusted.

The noblest idea, perhaps, in the whole paper is the idea presented in one of the resolves, which we may well believe was heartily as well as unanimously adop- ted, in which the men in their hunting-shirts, standing there together beyond the barrier of the mountains, agreed to meet death for principle. They might be subjugated, the country might be overrun by hireling soldiers, nay, the king of England might hang them, but while to the world they acknowledged his right- ful claim as their sovereign, yet they pledged their lives not to submit to a corrupt ministry or a venal Parliament that passed laws for them which the priv- ileges of the English constitution did not admit of.

In the prompt manner in which the military idea was brought out we see the secret hand of men who regarded the exercise of arms as part of their legiti- mate business. Another fact discernible is the parity and the identity of interests which the colonists had with each other. On this patriotic ground stood the colonists of Pennsylvania and of Virginia. Between St. Clair and Crawford, Smith and Gibson, Proctor and Neville there were on this question no conflicting sentiments.

The curiosity of the reader would be drawn to the association that day effected. The association of Westmoreiand County was but an identical organ- ization which, under different local arrangements, ex- tended all over the provinces, and which was acknowl- edged as a loyal and patriotic representation at the first meeting at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. The regiment organized first in our own county about Hannastown was under command of Col. Proctor, and its standard, unrolled before the Declaration of Independence and before the colonies had a flag, has been preserved, and was, when the descendants of those men celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of that glorious day at Greensburg, again unfurled to their applause. The standard was of crimson silk, and had in its upper left corner the union-jack of Britain, and on its folds the rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, with the legend below, " Don't tread on me." In a half-circle above were the letters " J. P. F. B. W.C. P.," standing for "John Proctor, First Battalion, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania."1 By Col. Proc- tor it was presented to Gen. Craig, and in his family it has been treasured, along with the sword which the general carried through the Revolution, as a sacred heirloom.

1 This reminds one of the "S. P. Q. R." on the standards of the Præ- torian Guards.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The regiment did not serve in the Continental ar- mies under that organization, but most of those who had been active in forming it served in various en- pacities, and the associators becoming a regular mili- tia organization by act of the General Assembly, many of the officers were retained, and promotion within its ranks was regular. Some of the men, how- ever, enrolled that day lived through that long war to tell their battles o'er again, and some died heroically on the fields, on the retreat through Jersey, at Brandy- wine, and with Greene in the South. As for those men who signed the Great Paper, at the last they were scat- tered all over America. Most of them were free- holders, some were not; but as for all, they had no nationality but the brotherhood of man, no inherit- ance but the love of liberty, and nothing in common but the traditions of freedom. So in death they had no burial-place in common, unless it was the common earth, and on Decoration Day the little children with garlands and miniature flags do not know where they lie in the old graveyards. Their grassy mounds are scattered over the hills and valleys of Westmoreland, along the Ohio and the Delaware.

Some have tried to throw a doubt upon the original- ity of these resolutions, asserting, without proof, they were plagiarized. Could these make out a claim as to the insignificance of the characters who wrote and signed them, such position might be met with the ob- servation of a writer of great authority, and one of the closest observers of the characteristics of men. For the great Plutarch, entering upon the life of Demos- thenes, pays a noble tribute to virtue and to the nat- ural ability of man. He ridicules the notion that only great men have been born and bred in large cities and in famous places, and declares that virtue, like a strong and hardy plant, will take root in any place where it can find an ingenuous nature and a mind that has no aversion to virtue and discipline. Therefore, if our sentiments or conduct fall short of the point they ought to reach, we must not impute it to the ob- scurity of the place where we were born, but to our little selves. Thus common sense, no less than phi- losophy, tells us that the woods of America, as Locke puts it,1 produce men who, in parts and in natural abil- ities, are the equals of men born in the capitals of Europe.2

1 " Essay on the Human Understanding."

" For the text of these resolutions, see Appendix B.

CHAPTER XVII.

CIVIL AFFAIRS IN WESTMORELAND ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION.

Public Affairs-Connolly and Dunmore will Scheming-Connolly tries to carry the Pennsylvania and Virginia Officers for the King-Ilta Plan to effect this, and to hold the West for Dunmore-Freunt Omurs - Imot Harbur chard-Call for a Meeting at the Rate-Homes, July 15, 1774-Hanna and Cavett no Depative-William Thompson on the Committee of Safety-The Soulature - Edward Cook and James Perry Delegates to the Convention of IT76-Special Law allowing West- nordland Electura to rule for Members of the Convention-The County divided Into Two Districts for the Election-One INstrict North and one south of the Youghingheny-Their Election Ofcere - Members returned to the Convention of 1776-All Male Iuhabitants subject to Military Service, and required to take the Oath of Allegi ance-Frame of Government for the State adopted-Julin Proctor elected Bret Councilor-Archibald Lachry, the first County Lieu- tenant, succeeded by Cook and by Col. Campbell-Duties of the County Lieuten int -The West to take care of Itself-British Influence over the Indians-Hatred between the Indians and the Western Virginia Settlers

DURING 1775 events followed each other with rapidity. In June the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, which separated forever the colonies from the government of England. But the loyalists were everywhere and in every manner actively engaged in stirring up dissension amongst the colonists to carry with them the interests of the king.

From Withers' "Chronicles" we have the statement that in July of 1775, Connolly presented himself to Dunmore with proposals of a character to be heartily indorved by the Governor. Dunmore acquiesced in Connolly's plan, and, as it was in his power, offered solid bribes to such officers in the Virginia militia as were loyally inclined, and upon whom he thought he could depend. These were to co-operate with Con- nolly. Connolly's influence further among the Indians was known to be powerful. The agent went to Gen. Gage at Boston, and disclosed to him the plans fixed upon between himself and the Governor. He was then made colonel of a proposed regiment to be raised on the borders of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Those belonging to it were to be mustered in in the interest of the crown. The plan itself was that these were to proceed to Detroit, then held as a British military post, where they would be supplied and equipped. Then with the co-operation of the Indians, all under command of Connolly, they were to rendezvous at Fort Pitt. From Fort Pitt he was to march through Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and form a junc- tion with Dunmore in the April following, 1776.

Such was the scheme, but it was frustrated by the taking of Connolly and by the subsequent withdrawal of Dunmore. Connolly was arrested in the latter part of November, 1775, at Fredericktown, Md. He was kept in confinement, and by an order of Congress sent to Philadelphia for security. When nothing more could be apprehended from his mischievous actions he was released. He retired to Canada, where he lived on the bounty of the English government, and there it is said he died. But it must not be

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CIVIL AFFAIRS IN WESTMORELAND ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION.

ted that towards the end of the Revolution he e another effort to get the Virginia officers in the t to resign from the colonial and Continental ice and raise the standard of a second revolt. ong others, he tried, with many offers, to prevail a Col. John Gibson. A doubt was at one time wn upon the patriotism of Gibson, but this bt has long since been entirely dispelled.

mong those who did remain loyal to the British, became traitors not only to their country but to r race, were Girty, McKee, and Matthew Elliot. se were mixed up in Connolly's plan, and some subsequent to this, being apprehended as ene- , were kept in confinement at Fort Pitt, from ch they made their escape, and ever after re- ned in open hostility against the colonists.

onnolly and Dunmore were carried away in that d which blew over the country in 1775. Glad are o get rid of them with but one more observation. to Connolly-a man in a secondary position to more, as Dunmore was in a secondary position to ministry-to him, it may be said, the people of tmoreland and of the West owe in a great meas- their political independence. He was to the le west of the Alleghenies in general, and to the ple of Westmoreland in particular, what Gage to the people of Boston. There is no question- the influence which he left in these parts derog- y to the interest of his master. For years the es of both were detested. Perhaps had it not for such men as Connolly and Dunmore, West- eland would not have been so patriotic and so poken in her subsequent resolves and measures. While these notices refer to general history, we t not forget that the domestic troubles were not adjusted. The calm and patriotic men who then ed to the head of affairs in Pennsylvania and ginia, and whom to name without eulogy is honor ugh, regarded these frequent collisions as un- thy the citizens of two great commonwealths. noise had reached the Continental Congress, and attracted its notice. On July 25th the delegates, ng whom were Jefferson, Henry, and Franklin, ed in a circular urging the people in this region mutual forbearance. They recommended that armed men kept by either party should be dis- sed, and that all in confinement or on bail should discharged. Although, as Craig says, the only ed force kept up was by the Virginian authori- it was so worded to avoid invidiousness. But on 7th of August, perhaps before the circular had hed the Provincial Convention of Virginia, it sed a resolve which directed Capt. John Neville, his company of one hundred men, to take session of Fort Pitt under pay of the colony. ille did so, and St. Clair, in a letter to John n, expressed his apprehension. With a forbear- under this infraction which is worthy of honor- mention, the Penns acquiesced. Neville occu- 6

pied this post not so much as a Virginian as an American, and under direction of the Congress kept it secure to the interests and the cause of the colonies in general. Neville commanded at Fort Pitt till 1777, and settling there became identified with the future prosperity of the city of Pittsburgh, and with the history of the union by his connection with the Whiskey Insurrection.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 19

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

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