History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 21

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Arthur St. Clair's first Services in the Revolution-Biographical Sketches of Col. Eneas Mackay-Of Col. Stephen Bayard-Of Lieut .- Col. George Wilson-Of Col. Daniel Brodhead-The Fighting Butlers : Thomas, Sr., Richard, William, Thomas, Jr., Percival-Other Men- bers of the Butler Family-Anecdotes-Col. James Smith-Col. John Gibson.

ON the 12th day of October, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution requesting the Assembly or Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania to raise one battalion for the services of the United Colonies, on the same terms as those which had been ordered to be raised in New Jersey, and to be officered in like manner.

The captains were recommended by the Pennsyl- vania Assembly on the 25th of October, and com- missioned by Congress on the 27th.

Capt. John Nelson, of Westmoreland County, having in the mean time enlisted a company of inde- pendent riflemen, composed for the most part of Westmorelanders, had offered his services to Congress. Congress thereupon, by a resolution dated Jan. 30, 1776, directs that,-

"Capt. Nelson's company of riffemen, now raised, consisting of one captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, aud seventy privates, be enlisted for the service in Canada, on the same terms as the other troops ordered for that service."

It was ordered to New York, March 13, 1776. It was, by Gen. Arnold's orders, attached to Col. De Haas' battalion in Canada, and after De Haas' bat- talion left Ticonderoga, Nov. 17, 1776, it was attached to the Fourth Battalion, Col. Wayne's, and on the 24th of March, 1777, was attached to Col. Francis Johnston's Fifth Pennsylvania.

For the roll of this company see supplementary notes.1 Their services in Canada will be recalled with that of the other Westmorelanders there under St. Clair. Some of these remained with the Fifth Regiment as it was organized on the Continental es- tablishment, when they fought under the celebrated Richard Butler, then colonel of the regiment, and himself at that time a Westmorelander, but later, on the division of the county, a citizen of Fayette. Col. Butler was in command, under Wayne, in the cam- paign in the South, in the closing days of the war. They were engaged at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony Point, and Yorktown.

SECOND PENNSYLVANIA BATTALION.

The Second Pennsylvania Battalion was raised upon the authority of a resolution of Congress, dated 9th of December, 1775, which resolved "that an order issue for raising four battalions more in the colony of Penn- sylvania, on the same terms as the one already raised." This was speedily done, and the men were enlisted for one year.

As this battalion was associated with the Fourth Battalion, Col. Wayne, and the Sixth, Col. William Irvine, while in active service, its history mingles with that of theirs.

1 See Appendix " E."

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

On the 2d of January, 1776, the Council of Safety, which had been requested by Congress to do so, recommended Cols. St. Clair and Wayne as field-of- cers, and on the next day they were elected and com- missioned by Congress. The lieutenant-colonels and the majors were chosen on the 4th, and a resolution passed that one company of each battalion consist of expert riflemen.

Arthur St. Clair had been busily engaged in organ- izing the raw levies of Pennsylvania prior to this time, and elsewhere we refer to his individual services more at length than here. But upon the organization of this contingent he was ordered to take part in the expedition to Canada, upon the results of which so much was expected and eloquently predicted.

Two companies from Westmoreland, composed of his friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and compatriots, accompanied him. One of these was under William Butler, his warm bosom friend, who shared with him the toils of the Revolutionary campaign, and who died second in command on the disastrous field on the 4th of November, 1791. The other company was commanded by Stephen Bayard, afterwards lieuten- ant-colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment in the line, the regiment which was distinctively the Westmoreland regiment.'

Of the men themselves we shall have occasion to say more hereafter. At present we shall touch on the services of the battalion, and of the subsequent organ- izations into which the battalion was merged.

On the 16th of February, 1776, the Secret Com- mittee of Congress was directed to furnish Col. St. Clair's battalion with arms, and to write to him to use the utmost diligence in getting his battalion ready, and to march the companies as fast as they were ready, one at a time, to Canada.

On the 13th of March, Lieut .- Col. Allen of the battalion had arrived in New York, and embarked some of the companies for Albany. He here received an order from Gen. Stirling to direct the rest of the companies to proceed to New York, where quarters would be found for them.

On the 6th of May, Lieut .- Col. Allen, with the Second, had passed Deschambault, in Canada, and was within three miles of Quebec, where he met Gen. Thomas with the army retreating from Quebec.

The expedition into Canada was a failure. After one of the most daring and energetic marches through the wilderness and into the very heart of the civil- ized portion of that province, and after the capture of their city and citadel, the inhabitants proved recre- ant, failed to rise up, as had been anticipated, and declare their independence of the British crown, and instead of turning upon the British troops they turned upon the Americans, whom they treated as invaders.

Under this state of affairs the Americans could not hold what they had captured. The army of the col-

onien, then in Canada, had begun their retreat towards the River Sorel. On the 15th of May, 1776, Thomas, the commander of the expedition now after the death of the young Montgomery, arrived at Three Rivers ( Trois Rivieres). Here be bad about eight hundred mea. He left the command here to Col. Maxwell, and con- tinued on to the Borel. The River Sorel flows from Lake Champlain, in New York, to the St. Lawrence, in Canada. From his position bere be issued an order to Maxwell to abandon Three Rivers. This Maxwell did, and with the rear of his army reached the line of the Sorel on the 24th of May, 1776.

Col. Thompson and Col. St. Clair crossed over from Chambly to Montreal, and left the latter place for the Sorel on the 16th. On the Hth, Gen. Thompson was in command there.

The British were in pursuit with a largely superior force. On the 2d of June, Gen. Thompson sent Col. St. Clair from Sorel with over six hundred men to attack the camp of Col. McLean, who had advanced as far as Three Rivers with eight hundred British reg- ulara and Canadians. Gen. Sullivan was at Chambly on the 3d (June), and reached Sorel on the 4th. Gen. Thomas, the commander-in-chief, having died on the 2d, Sullivan assumed command on the fourth day after his arrival.

On the 6th, Gen. Sullivan ordered Gen. William Thompson to march, with Col. Irvine's and Col. Wayne's battalions, with the companies of Col. St. Clair's battalion which were then remaining at Sorel, and with them to join St. Clair at Nicolette, where he was to take command of the whole party, and, unless he found the number of the enemy at Three Rivers to be such as would render an attack upon them haz- ardous, he should cross the river at the most conven- ient place he could find and attack them. He ad- vised not to attack if the prospect of success was not much in his favor, as a defeat of his party at the time might prove the total loss of that country.

Something further will be said in another place of the brilliant and entirely successful attack on Three Rivers, in which St. Clair distinguished himself. The imminent danger, the toil, the incessant labor, and the glory of that affair were partaken of and shared by those Westmorelanders who followed St. Clair and Butler ; and this night foray and attack has been regarded and treated by all the historians who have written of the expedition to Canada as one of the most brilliant episodes of it.

The British army, however, were gradually pressing back the invaders. They, with an army much supe- rior in numbers to the Americans, composed of regu- lars, Canadians, and Indians, were under the command of Burgoyne; ours was now under Sullivan.

When the great historical story of the Revolution shall have been written it will be seen that no cam- paign of the Seven Years' war was fuller of glory, of military heroism, of bravery, of instances of fortitude, or of hardships encountered and surpassed, and of

1 See Appendix " F" and "G." .

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WESTMORELAND IN THE REVOLUTION.

tacles overcome, than that expedition which, after ring taken the capital of the British provinces in the th, walked backwards, their faces and their bay- ts towards their enemies, through the winter snows, ough the deep, dark wilderness, and through the rshes of Southern Canada and Northern New rk.

The rear of the army, with baggage and stores, ched St. John's on the 18th of June (1776). They re embarked, and moved up the Sorel the same after- on. The head of Burgoyne's column entered St. ans on the evening of the 18th, and Gen. Philips' vance-guard on the morning of the 19th. On the h, general orders at Isle Aux Noix directed the nmands of De Haas, Wayne, St. Clair, and Irvine encamp on the east side of the island.

isle Aux Noix proved very unhealthy. Many of soldiers while there were down sick, and many d. On'June 13th one woman from each company the Pennsylvania battalions who had been left at conderoga were drafted and immediately sent to general hospital at Fort George to nurse the sick. On the 27th of June, at Isle La Motte, all the army k vessels for Crown Point, which they reached on lat of July (1776). Gen. Horatio Gates arrived re on the evening of the 5th, superseding Gen. llivan in command. On the 7th, at a council of r, it was determined to remove the army to Ticon- roga. The battalions of Cols. De Haas, St. Clair, d Wayne arrived there on the 10th.

The army was brigaded by Gen. Gates on the 20th, d the four Pennsylvania battalions were made the arth Brigade, Col. Arthur St. Clair commanding. On August 24th, St. Clair's battalion numbered 429 ak and file, 161 sick, total officers and men 485.

On the 6th of September (1776), Lieut .- Col. Hart- , who was in command at Crown Point, desired n. Gates to send him either Gen. Wayne's battalion the Second- St. Clair's-and he would defend it th them against any attack whatever from the emy. But Gates gave him positive orders to re- at if the British reached that point.

But the season was too far advanced for the British make any further progress. After threatening Ti- nderoga they retired into winter-quarters.

On the 18th of November, Gen. Gates, putting n. Wayne in command of Ticonderoga, proceeded th the larger part of his army to join Washington. e three Pennsylvania battalions whose time would pire on the 5th day of January, 1777, agreed to main until they were relieved by other troops. On e 29th of November the Second, commanded now Col. Wood, numbered four hundred and twenty- officers and men.

On the 4th of December, Col. Wayne writes to the mmittee of Safety :

The wretched condition the battalions are now in for want of almost ry necessary, except flour and bad beef, is shocking to humanity, and gars all description. We have neither beds of loving for our sick

to lay on or under other than their own clothing, no medicine or regi- men suitable for them; the dead and dying lying mingled together in our hospital, or rather house of carnage, is no uncommon sight. They are olijects truly worthy of your notice, as well as of your most obedient, humble servant, Ant'y Wayne."

On the 24th of January, 1777, the Second Bat- talion left Ticonderoga, with Gen. Wayne, for their homes.

Many of the privates of the Second re enlisted in the Third Pennsylvania Regiment.

While these companies were at Ticonderoga, the Declaration of Independence, which had been passed on the Fourth of July, was read to the men drawn up in line on the morning of the 17th. By them it was received with loud cheers. Lieut .- Col. Allen, of the Second Battalion, left the service on account of the Declaration. He, however, afterwards again en- tered it.

THIRD PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT.

The Third Pennsylvania Regiment in the Conti- nental line was formed on the basis of Col. St. Clair's Second Battalion, in which were the two original companies of Capt. Butler and Capt. Bayard.

It was recruited in December, 1776, and January and February, 1777, and arranged in the Continental service March 12, 1777. The compilers of the New Series of Pennsylvania Archives state that no returns of this regiment have been found, and, with the ex- ception of a few letters that incidentally relate to the regiment, nothing exists upon which to base an ac- count at length.

The health of Col. Joseph Wood, who was in com- mand of the battalion, was impaired by wounds re- ceived in the Canada campaign, and this induced his resignation.

After Capt. Butler accepted the position of lieuten- ant-colonel in Morgan's rifle regiment, the command of his company devolved on Capt. James Chrystie, who succeeded him.

Col. Thomas Craig succeeded to the command of the regiment, retiring only in January, 1783.

By the various arrangements in the Continental establishment, the different companies were from time to time transferred to other regiments, and the officers were given different commands.

Most of Capt. Butler's men re-enlisted under Capt. James Christie into the Third Pennsylvania. We gather these facts from a "Memorial of the Third and Ninth Pennsylvania Regiments,"1 dated Lan- caster, Cd February, 1778, and addressed to the presi- dent and members of the Executive Council, and their services may be traced up in the context. The paper set forth that they, the captains in their re- spective regiments, reported agreeably to instructions, and that they laid before that body the distressed situation of their corps for want of every article of clothing ; the men were barefooted, naked, and mis- erable beyond expression, several brave soldiers

1 In Pennsylvania Archives Second Series, vol. Iii. p. 169.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

having nothing else than a piece of old tent to shield them from the inclemency of the season, and not more than one blanket to six or perhaps eight men. Very few, indeed, were in anywise fit for duty, the clothing of both officers and men having been lost in the course of the campaign, particularly twice, in consequence of general orders for storing them at Concord and at Wilmington, and their blankets lost in the several actions they had had with the enemy. These regiments, with the Sixth and Twelfth Peon- sylvania Regiments, were attached to a division com- posed chiefly of Jersey troops, under the command of general officers not belonging to the State, and these general officers were allowed to have a prefer- ence to soldiers from their own State.

We have also noticed that Capt. Samuel Miller and Adjt. Crawford, from the Eighth Regiment, and Col. Brodhead were' ordered on recruiting service from camp at Valley , Forge, Feb. 10, 1778. The stations for the recruiting-officers in Westmoreland were at Capt. Francis Moor's, Capt. James Carnahan's, and Lieut. Joseph Brownlee's. The recruits were ordered twenty dollars bounty by Congress, and one hundred dollars by the State, and the county furnishing the recruits had to furnish the money to pay them.

The most of these men who went out at the first call and survived either remained in the Continental service till the war was over, or, coming back here after they were discharged from the command of Col. Brodhead, took part in the defense of the frontier. This they did by enlisting in the militia for short campaigns, or by joining independent companies of rangers for the protection of the posta.

On the 17th of January, 1781, the Third was re- organized under Col. Craig, and after recruiting at Easton, accompanied Gen. Wayne upon the Southern campaign.

Of the officers of the regiment whose names we are familiar with as Westmorelanders are Capt. James Chrystie, Capt. Thomas Butler, Lieut. Daniel St. Clair, Capt. Samuel Brady, Lieut. Ebenezer Denny, besides Col. Richard Butler and Lieut .- Col. Stephen Bayard.

Capt. James Chrystie (sometimes the name appears as "Christy") was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1750; came to Pennsylvania in 1755, and settled in Westmoreland before the Revolution, and there he died. On the discovery of Arnold's plot at West Point, he was detailed specially by Gen. Washington to visit all the posts. He served until the end of the war, and was said to be the oldest captain in service except one. He was the father of Lieut .- Col. James Chrystie, of the Fifteenth United States Infantry, who distinguished himself at Queenstown in the war of 1812. They were both dead in 1824.

Capt. Thomas Butler, at the battle of Brandywine, received the thanks of Gen. Washington on the field for rallying a detachment of retreating troops. He was major at St. Clair's defeat, and had his leg

broken by a ball, and it was with difficulty that his surviving brother, Capt. Edward Batler, got him off the field. In 1794 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel commandant to sub-legion, and in 1802, on redaction of the army, he was continued as colonel. He died Sept. 7, 1806, aged fifty-one.

Daniel St. Clair, son of Arthur St. Clair, died in Mifflin County, Feb. 18, 1888. Of those others we shall recall them again.

PENNSYLVANIA RIFLE REGIMENT.

The Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment and the Penn- sylvania Regiment of Musketry were embodied strictly for the defense of the Province of Pennsylvania by the House of Representatives, at the suggestion of the Committee of Safety.

The House acted promptly in considering the matter, and on the 4th of March, 1776, appointed a committee to prepare an estimate of the expense of levying a body of one thousand five hundred mea, victualing and paying them for one year.

On the 5th of March, on the report of the com- mittee, the House resolved to levy and to take into pay fifteen hundred men, officers included, and that the men be enlisted to serve until the first day of January, 1778, subject to be discharged at any time upon the advance of a month's pay to each man.

On the 6th of March they determined that one thousand of the levies should be riflemen, divided into two battalions of five hundred men each, the remainder to be a battalion of musketmen. The two rifle battalions were to have one colonel, each bat- talion to consist of six companies,' to be officered with one lieutenant-colonel, one major, six captains, eigh- teen lieutenants, etc., and the battalion of musket- men to consist of eight companies, officered by a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, eight captain, etc.

Samuel Miles was commissioned colonel of the rifle companies, and Samuel Atlee colonel of the battalion of musketmen. Nearly the whole of the rifle regi- ment was raised in about six weeks, and rendez- voused at Marcus Hook for service under Washing- ton, who then had possession of New York and Long Island.

To this rifle regiment belonged the company of Capt. Joseph Erwin, which was raised in Westmore- land, and contained some of the best fighting blood there. This company joined the regiment at Marcus Hook. They were two years' men. Erwin was ap- pointed captain on the 9th of March, 1776, and Itis commission, as were those of all the other officers, was dated on the 6th of April, 1776.1

The company served in this regiment until it was transferred to the Thirteenth Pennsylvania, from which it was transferred to the Second Pennsylvania, and was finally discharged at Valley Forge, Jan. 1,

1 See Appendix " LI."

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WESTMORELAND IN THE REVOLUTION.

78, by reason of the expiration of its term of en- tment.

On the 2d of July, 1776, the rifle regiment to which ey belonged was ordered up to Philadelphia, and the 4th one battalion, under Lieut .- Col. Brodhead, dered to Bordentown, N. J., and on the 5th the hole regiment marched for Trenton, and from ence to Amboy, on the eastern shore of Jersey, der orders to join Gen. Mercer. This it accom- ished on the 16th.

Col. Atlee's battalion arrived on the beach at Amboy the 21st. Col. Miles was ordered over to New ork on the 10th of August, and Col. Atlee on the th. On the 12th they were brigaded with Grover's d Smallwood's regiment, under the command of rigadier Lord Stirling.

On the landing of the British army on Long Is- nd, which they did in great force and in brilliant artial array, Col. Miles was ordered with his rifle giment to watch their motions. He took up a sition near the village of Flatbush, where the ighlanders then lay, but these moving away the xt morning after to Lord Howe's camp their place as supplied with the Hessians.

On the 27th of August, 1776, was fought the battle Long Island, so disastrous to the Americans. here Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis, Von Heister, with e most perfectly equipped and appointed army then

the world, the largest British army that ever peared in the field against the Americans, com- sed of regulars, marines, Hessians, and sailors, ten one, sometimes twenty to one, circled round, tacked and drove in the ragged, ill-fed Continentals d militia under Washington, Stirling, Putnam, llivan, and Miles.

At one time in this engagement Col. Miles' two ttalions of riflemen (to which belonged the West- orelanders under Erwin), Col. Willis' Connecticut, d a part of Col. Lutz's battalion of the Pennsyl- nia Flying Camp were opposed to the whole body the British army, it being round them in a con- acting circle, from which they fought their way back th loss but with untarnished glory.1

The bravery of the men under Brodhead is spoken with pride in Col. Miles' report of that engage- ent, and particularly when they succeeded in push- g their way across a mill-dam under a heavy fire, in ich some were shot and others drowned, but which d not deter the rest from rushing on and driving e Hessians before them at the point of the bayonet. That whole battle, as it raged round the Pennsyl- nia militia at that point, is graphically told by Col. iles in his report. He says,-

The main body of the enemy, under the immediate command of . Howe, lay about two miles to my left, and Gen. Grant, with another y of British troops, lay about four miles on my right. There were eral small bodies of Americans dispersed to my right, but not a man

Journal of Cul. Samuel Miles; Penn. Arch., 2d Buries, vol. i. p. 517,

to my left, although the main body of the enemy lay to my left. This was our situation on the 26th of August. About one o'clock at night, Gen. Grant on the right and Gen. Howe on my left began their march, and by daylight Grant had got within a mile of our intrenchments, and Gen. Howe had got into the Jamaica road, about two miles from our lines. The Hessians kept their position until seven in the morning. As soon as they moved the firing began at our redoubt."

He thus closes his report :

"Finding that the enemy had possession of the ground between us and our lines, and that it was impossible to ent our way through as & body, I directed the men to make the best of their way as well as they could ; some few got in safe, but there were 159 taken prisoners. I was myself entirely cut off from our lines, and therefore endeavored to con- ceal myself with a few men who would not leave me. I hoped to remain until night, when I intended to try to get to Hell Gate and cross the Sound; but about 3 o'clock in the afternoon was discovered by a party of Hessians and obliged to surrender. Thus ended the career of that day." 2

In the action of the 27th of August the rifle regi- ment and musketry battalion were so broken up that Gen. Washington ordered the three battalions to be considered as a regiment under the command of Lieut .- Col. Brodhead,-the lieutenant-colonel of the rifles,-until further orders.

On Thursday, September 19th, the three battalions mutinied and appeared on the parade under arms. After this many of them deserted in parties with their arms. "Their complaints were want of pay, want of clothes, the want of blankets, and the not receiving the particular species of rations; . . . a very great cause of desertion was owing to the loss of their field-officers." But of these deserters, many of whom subsequently returned and did good service, few if any were Westmorelanders.3

By a return dated Sept. 27, 1776, the three bat- talions were then in Gen. Mifflin's brigade and sta- tioned at Mount Washington.

On the 5th of October the Council of Safety deter- mined that the three battalions should be arranged as follows : two were to be on the Continental establish- ment, and to serve during the war, the other to be retained in the service of the State until the 1st of January, 1778, unless sooner discharged. This last was to consist of ten companies of one hundred men each, officers included. This they intended ordering home as soon as the condition of the Continental army would admit of it, as they were by arrangement to keep twelve complete battalions in the Continental

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 21

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

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