History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 23

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Gen. Lee, in his "Memoirs of the Revolutionary War in the Southern States," speaks of Col. Richard Butler as "the renowned second and rival of Mor- gan in the Saratoga encounters."

Capt. Van Swearingen, First Lieut. Basil Prather, and Second Lieut. John Hardin, with their com- mands, were also with Morgan, and greatly distin-

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

guished themselves in the series of encounters which resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne. Their com- mands, as we before have said, consisted of picked men out of all the companies of the Eighth Regi- ment.

Van Swearingen, as the editors of the Archives re- mark, was probably the most noted captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania. On the 9th of September (1777) he and a lieutenant and twenty privates were captured in a sudden dash that scattered Morgan's men. He fell into the hands of the Indians who were attached to the British army in this campaign, but was rescued by Gen. Fraser's "batman" (one who takes care of his officer's horse), who took him before the general. The latter interrogated him concerning the number of the American army, but got no answer, except that it was commanded by Gens. Gates and Arnold. He then threatened to hang him. "You may, if you please," said Van Swearingen. Fraser then rode off, leaving him in care of Sergt. Dunbar, who consigned him to Lieut. Auburey, who ordered him to be placed among the other prisoners, with di- rections not to be ill treated. Van Swearingen, after Burgoyne's army removed to Virginia, made especial exertions to have Dunbar and Auburey exchanged.

Immediately, as Gen. Fraser rode on, he was shot by Timothy Murphy, a Pennsylvanian from Northum- berland County, of Capt. Parr's company, by Col. Morgan's express direction. This circumstance in all probability saved Van Swearingen's life.

If we knew all the military career of Van Swear- ingen we should probably say that he was one of the model soldiers of the Continental army. . We know that he was brave, fearless, determined, patriotic, had the gift of continuance ; encouraged by bis voice and means the cause of independence; one who was as much a hero at Valley Forge as at Saratoga. In fixing the date of the death of Maj. Morris, which otherwise was uncertain, we read this :

"It appears from a correspondence in one of the Philadelphia papers of the day, describing a periermance gotten up at Valley Forge by Van Swearingen and Hardin, in which their dead compeers of Stillwater were made actors, that Maj. Morris was killed in sume engagement in the winter of 1777."

Van Swearingen was the first sheriff of Washington County in 1781; he resided in now Fayette County, opposite Greenfield. His daughter became the wife of the celebrated Capt. Samuel Brady, also of the Eighth Pennsylvania, so conspicuous in the annals of Western Pennsylvania.

Shortly after the battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778) s detachment of Morgan's Rifles, commanded by Maj. James Parr, was ordered with the Fourth Pennsylvania to Schoharie, to defend the borders of New York from the Six Nations, where, after making connection with Gen. Clinton, they moved to Tioga, and took part in Sullivan's campaign to avenge the massacre of Wyoming.

There were, without question, Westmorelanders with Morgan in South Carolina, but we cannot desig- Date them.

Lieut. John Hardin, of the Eighth Pennsylvania, from Westmoreland, was afterwards the celebrated Gen. Hardin, of Kentucky, who was trescherously murdered by a party of Indiane near Sandusky, 1791. He took a distinguished part in the Indian border wars of the era of Harmar and St. Clair. When he was s lieutenant of the Eighth, with Morgan, ho shot an Indian courier who had letters from Gen. Burgoyne to Gen. Powell, commanding at Ticon- deroga.

STONY POINT.

It should also be known that certain Westmore- landers acted a very important part in the capture of Stony Point, one of the most brilliant actions of the war.

Stony Point was a high rocky peninsula, fortified, on the Hudson River, opposite another jutting point of land, fortified, called Verplank's Point, which two fortified posts guarded the King's Ferry. That the Hudson River should be held by the British forces, that thus the New England States should be separated from the other States, was the long-cherished and darling idea of the ministry and of its military ad- visers. Although they had been unsuccessful in their occupancy of this line under Burgoyne and Clinton, they again determined, in 1779, to renew their efforts, and if possible to successfully accomplish this end. At the close of May, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton in per- son led an expedition into the Hudson Highlands with this object. With the assistance of large land and river forces he captured these points without serious exertion, for each was garrisoned by only a handful of men. This was a serious disaster to the Americans. The passage at the King's Ferry was closed to ,them, and the passes of the Highlands menaced. Perceiving this, Washington took imme- diate steps for the recovery of the points. His army, which had wintered at Middlebrook, N. J., had early in June moved to "The Cove," a fertile valley far in the rear of Haverstraw, and late in the month he made his headquarters at New Windsor, on the Hudson, a few miles above the Highlands, where he perfected plans for an active campaign against the invaders.

Anticipating an attempt to recapture the forts, Sir Henry Clinton had placed strong garrisons in them, and then retiring with his ships and soldiers to New York, he sent them in marauding expeditions along the New England coasts.

Washington had a corps of light infantry composed of picked men, drafted from the various regiments of the Continental army, and organized at that time into four regiments. These were under the command of Cols. Richard Butler, Meigs, Putnam, and Febiger. In the words of Lossing, the historian,-

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Butler was one of a gallant band of four brothers who fought the d fight of American independence from the beginning to the end. had been Wayne's chief support in his hard conflict on the plain Monmouth a year before. He was only twenty-five years of age, but already distinguished for military genius, coolness, and valor. . .. corps composed of picked men and commanded by these good soldiers re considered the elite of the army, and Washington chose them for design against Stony Point and Verplank's Point. To Anthony yne Washington gave the command of this corps, July 1, 1779."

Wayne on the day after he took command recon- itred the post, accompanied by Col. Butler and aj. Stewart, of the Pennsylvania line, in whose mmand there were, as we have seen, some West- relanders. Stewart was a brother-in-law of Wayne, Irishman by birth, and was considered the hand- mest man in the Continental army. Wayne's dor and confidence were somewhat diminished by observation, and he reported to Washington that e British works on the western side of the Point, ich only they had seen, were too formidable to rm with any hope of success. He suggested that a prise might be effected, and at his solicitation ashington rode down to his camp, and carefully connoitred the works on the 6th of July.

There were many Tories in the neighborhood, and e garrison were on the alert. The works at Stony int embraced a series of redoubts on the summit of e rocky peninsula. A line of felled trees, their tops tward (called in military parlance an abatis), had en laid across the Point from north to south, and is was defended by four companies of regular in- try, one of Loyal Americans, and a detachment of yal Artillery. A second row of abatis was formed ross the peninsula where it slopes towards the cause- y on the western side, and was defended by three re- ubts manned by two companies of infantry and two grenadiers. At five different points pickets were sta- ned, and the batteries commanded every approach. ey might enfilade any advancing column. The ole force was under command of a trusted soldier, eut .- Col. H. Johnston. They were ready for an at- k from the whole Continental army.

After his reconnoissance, Washington prepared to rprise the fort, and from his headquarters sent in- uctions on the 12th of July, which were more in e form of suggestions, but which Wayne entirely rried out. After determining to surprise the garri- a, he moved from his encampment, about fourteen les from the fort, about noon, July 15, 1779. Three the four regiments, those of Butler, Meigs, and biger, were with him, and an additional force of ht infantry and artillerymen to man the guns when ptured. Their route was rugged and in some places most impassable. They passed the south side of the onderberg while a heavy thunder-shower was raging its summit and beyond. They delayed until night- 1 before they came out of the mountain region. very dog found in their way as they approached the er was killed to prevent an alarm. At 8 o'clock the evening the whole party rendezvoused about a

mile and a half below Stony Point. In the gloom Wayne arranged his forces for the attack. They were in two columns. At the head of the right column, and twenty paces from it, 150 men, led by Lieut .- Col. De Fleury, were posted, and just in advance of these were a " forlorn hope" of 20 men to " remove obstruc- tions and secure sentinels," commanded by Lieut. Knox, of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment. At the head of the left, in like manner, was posted an ad- vance-guard of 150 picked men, under Maj. Stewart, and a forlorn hope of 20 men, led by Lieut. Gibbons, of the Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment. Meanwhile Wayne had made a final reconnoissance, retired to a house to get supper, made his will, wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, and intrusted his papers to a mes- senger.

At half-past eleven o'clock the silent march began. The sky was dark with clouds. Wayne was at the head of the right column. A friendly negro, "Pom- pey," guided Knox at the head of the forlorn hope. Two stout men were with the negro. This " Pompey" brought fruit and eatables to the garrison, and they all knew him, and had given him the countersign. He approached the sentinel and gave the counter- sign. While "Pompey" was talking with him his two stout companions sprang from the gloom, seized and gagged the soldier. The sentinel at the causeway was served in the same way.

When the tide ebbed so as to allow a passage of the causeway the columns divided. Col. Butler's regiment passed the causeway in water two feet deep. So the tide was not yet down, for Wayne's column had to pass through the water of the marsh to get on the beach. It was past midnight. They were dis- covered and fired upon by a picket-guard. The gar- rison flew to arms. The assailing column was now under the walls of the fort. They pressed on in solid order in the face of a tempest from muskets and ar- tillery. Every ledge of rocks above the ascending column was surrounded by British infantry, who poured down an incessant storm of bullets, taunts, and imprecations. But the column under Wayne's directions advanced slowly but surely, step by step. They did not fire a gun. They turned the abatis, pushed on towards the breastworks, cut and tore away the palisades, and cleared the chevaux de frise at the sally-port.

When within the inner abatis the Americans dashed forward with fixed bayonets, the main col- umn following the advance closely. The ramparts were carried. De Fleury, who led the charge, seized the colors of the fort with his own hand, and his assailing column entered the works in triumph, shouting. the significant watchword, the countersign of the night, "The fort's our own !" De Fleury, Lieut. Knox, Sergt. Baker, of the Virginia line (with four wounds), Sergt. Spencer, of the same line (with two wounds), and Sergt. Dunlap, of the Pennsylvania line (also twice wounded), were the first five to enter

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the works and win the reward offered by Wayne, who in his order of battle had engaged to reward the five men who should first enter the works with promotion, honorable mention, and with rewards in money rang- ing from the sum of five hundred dollars to one hundred dollars.

Almost at the same moment when De Fleury en- tered the fort, Lieut. Gibbons with the assailing party of the left, closely followed by Maj. Stewart, burst in on the opposite side. The terrified garrison, perceiv- ing resistance to be useless, surrendered immediately, the men, especially the " Loyal Americans," falling on their knees and crying out piteously for mercy. And to the lasting honor of the conquerors it is asserted that not a man of the garrison was injured after they had ceased to resist and begged for quarter.

Of the substantial fruits of this victory history tella. Of this we mention nothing, but much of the honor and the glory of that great and singular capture we claim belongs to our Westmorelanders.

SKETCHES OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS.

ARTHUR SAINT CLAIR .- Of all the characters which Westmoreland sent to the Continental armies, or gave to the history of the American Union, by far the most prominent is Arthur St. Clair. We do not propose here to enter into a notice of his public ca- reer, as we have reserved this for a separate sketch, and appended it to the narrative. But his services and his life are so intimately connected with the his- tory of the county that they cannot be disunited. The days of his early manhood were passed here; be was interested directly or indirectly in every move- ment of interest calculated to further the protection and happiness of the people ; his last days were passed here, like Lear's,

" A poor old man, as fall of grief ao age,"

and here he was buried, and his bones are with us at this day.

In the early part of the war he was appointed a major, and was employed in organizing and forward- ing the levies to the general armies till he entered into active service himself. His connection with the public affairs of our county closes here. But what a difference in the circumstances of his leaving West- moreland and of his returning! Unfortunately dis- tinguished, his example is necessary to complete all the different shades of character made prominent by the vicissitudes of war. Of the heroes that fell by "swiftly-rolling Simois" at Ilium no two are alike, in person, in character, or in fortune. So the epic of the Revolution would not be finished without the persons of Morris and St. Clair. But this is not the place to review his misfortunes. Now young, tall, erect, of a noble bearing, and full of enthusiasm, con- scious of the deeds of glory of a long line of ennobled ancestry, he offered his sword to the cause of the colo- nies and the liberty of mankind. It has long been

accounted to his bonor and bis military sagacity that he suggested the attack on the British at Princeton which proved so opportunely fortunate. In 1777 be was a major-general, so rapid was bie military ad- vancement. Bat a beginning co full of promise was soon, unhappily, crossed by misfortune.

EXEAS MACKAY .- We know not the date nor the place of birth of Eness Mackay. He first appears in authentic history as a citizen of South Carolina. On the 10th of June, 1754, Capt. Eness Mackay, in command of an independent company of "King's Soldiers," of one hundred men, from South Carolina, joined Washington in the midet of the Great Meadows, where he was constructing Fort Necessity, on his march from Wills Creek to Fort Duquesne. This was a year previous to Braddock's campaign. He being a British officer, and holding s king's commission, could not, in common with his fellow-officers, brook the idea of being the subordinate of a young man like Washing- ton, who only held a commission from a province, and who was regarded by them as a young and inexpe- rienced provincial officer. The question of priority of rank was immediately raised. The di culty was only settled in a way honorable to all, when the small force of British-Americans were attacked by the much superior force of French and Indians, Washington then took command, and conducted the capitulation. He withdrew his force to Wills Creek, and leaving them there in security, be, in company with Mackay, proceeded to Williamsport to make their military re- port to the Governor. Washington rejoined his regi- ment at Alexandria, Va., and Capt. Mackay returned to Wills Creek, and was placed with his company under command of Col. Innes, who was engaged in erecting a fort there, which he called Fort Cumber- land, after the Duke of Cumberland.

We next find him at Fort Ligonier, while the gar- rison was yet commanded by officers of the king. Here he remained for several years, and, according to his family Bible record, here his son Samuel was born on the 20th of July, 1766. In this year he was trans- ferred to Fort Pitt, of which he was afterwards placed in command. While here it is well known he was a leading spirit of the Penns in resisting the claims of Lord Dunmore, of Virginia, and. was made one of Penn's magistrates. He, with Devereux Smith and Andrew McFarlane, was appointed a king's justice for Westmoreland. At the breaking out of the Revo- lution he took sides with the colonies, and received bis commission as colonel of the Eighth Pennsylva- nia Regiment. He died in the first year of the war, from a fever contracted from fatigue and exposure in their march from Fort Pitt to Trenton in mid- winter. His remains were taken to Philadelphia, and interred in the First Presbyterian burying-ground on the 17th of February, 1777.

In a notice of his death in the Pennsylvania Evening Post of Feb. 18, 1777, and which was evidently written by a loving friend, appears the following :

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'On Saturday last Died of a putrid fever at Trenton, New Jersey, in fifty-sixth year of his age, Eneas Mackay, Esqr., Colonel of the ghth Regiment of Pennsylvania Continental forces; & yesterday his nains were interred, with the honors of war, in the first Presbyterian rying-Ground of this city. In him his country has lost a faithful ser- at & good officer, his widow an uncommonly tender & affectionate sband, his children an indulgent father, and the world an honest n. . . . "

Col. Mackay's wife was a lady of New York, after- ards married to George Adams, Esq., of Pittsburgh. is daughter Elizabeth was married to Stephen Bay- d, Esq.

COL. STEPHEN BAYARD, the son of Samuel Bayard d Franscina Malden, his wife, was born Jan. 23, D. 1744, on the Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Md. our necks of land on Bohemia Manor was purchased his great-grandfather, Peter Bayard, in 1684, a rtion of which were in Delaware and a portion in ecil County, Md. Bohemia Manor was patented to ugustus Herman in 1663 by Cæcillius, first absolute rd and proprietor of Maryland, and confirmed by s son, Lord Baltimore, in 1682. It consisted of enty thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine acres, ur thousand of which were in the State of Dela- are.

For a number of years preceding the Revolutionary ar Stephen Bayard was engaged in mercantile busi- ss with his cousin, John Bubenheim Bayard, of hiladelphia, who was a colonel of cavalry during e Revolution, and afterwards, in 1784, Speaker of e House of Assembly of Pennsylvania (the Legis- ture then consisting of a single house), and in 1785 as elected a member of the Continental Congress.

At the breaking out of the war Stephen Bayard ised a company in Philadelphia, and was commis- oned captain Jan. 5, 1776, and was assigned to Col. rthur St. Clair's Pennsylvania battalion.

After serving as major of his regiment, the Third ennsylvania, under Col. Richard Butler, on the th of June, 1779, he received bis commission as utenant-colonel, to take rank as such from the d day of September, 1777. In the year 1779 the hird Pennsylvania Regiment formed a portion of en. Sullivan's force on his expedition against the stile tribes of Indians-the Cayugas, Oneidas, and nondagas-on the Susquehanna River, and at the me time another expedition was fitted out and car- ed forward from Pittsburgh up the Allegheny River ainst the equally hostile Mingoes, Munceys, and necas. This was the Eighth Pennsylvania Regi- ent, of which Daniel Brodhead was the colonel, and ephen Bayard the lieutenant-colonel. This regi- ent advanced two hundred miles up the river, and stroyed the Indian villages, cornfields, etc., on its ad branches (vide Marshall's History). In 1781, ephen Bayard was placed in command of this regi- ent as colonel commanding at Fort Pitt.

Col. Bayard served his country faithfully and hon- ably from the beginning to the close of the war, rticipated in many of its battles, hardships, and

privations, and after its termination, and on the dis- banding of the army, pleased with the Western country, he determined to make it his future home. In company with several Revolutionary officers, he settled in Pittsburgh in 1783, and in the following year formed a partnership with a brother-officer, Maj. Isaac Craig, late of Proctor's artillery regiment, in the mercantile business, with the intention also of dealing in lots and lands. In the year 1784, Craig & Bayard purchased from the Penns the first ground that was sold within the limits of Pittsburgh : three acres upon which old Fort Duquesne stood. They extended their business also by forming a partner- ship with Messrs. William Turnbull, Peter Marmie, and John Holkar, merchants of Philadelphia.

In the year 1787 an act was passed by the Legisla- ture incorporating the Presbyterian congregation of Pittsburgh. In this act eleven trustees were named, six of whom had been officers. in the Revolutionary army, Stephen Bayard being one. He was a devoted member and elder of this branch of the church to the date of his death in 1815. In the spring of 1788 he retired from the mercantile business and settled on his land, of which he had a large tract, on the Monongahela River, fourteen miles above Pittsburgh, and immediately proceeded to lay out a town, which he named Elizabeth, after his wife Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Col. Eneas Mackay, mentioned above, who, in the year 1754, in command of an independent com- pany of king's soldiers from South Carolina, accom- panied Washington on his first expedition against the French and Indians of Fort Duquesne. Col. Bayard desired to make Elizabeth a point for boat and ship-building, and to this end brought out from Philadelphia a company of skilled workmen, who built the first vessel launched on the waters of the Monongahela. Her name was the "Monongahela Farmer." Elizabeth continues to be a point where many of our best boats and steamers are built for the Western rivers.

Shortly after the declaration of war in 1812, Col. Bayard's services were again sought by the govern- ment. President Madison tendered him a major- general's commission, but advanced age and bodily infirmities required that he should decline its accept- ance. A zealous patriot and a fervent Christian, he devoted the best years of his life to the service of his country and his God. He died in Pittsburgh, Dec. 13, 1815, aged seventy-one years, and was buried in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church.

GEORGE WILSON, the lieutenant-colonel, was a native of Augusta County, Virginia. He had been an officer in the French and Indian war of 1755 to 1762. He came to the West about 1768 or 1769, and settled on the land where New Geneva now is, owning the land on the river on both sides of Georges Creek. Being from a locality in Augusta County called Springhill, he gave that name to the township in which he resided. He was a Pennsylvania justice

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of the peace there while it was a part of Bedford County, and his commission was renewed for West- moreland. He was also one of the trustees to locate a place for the county-seat. During the boundary troubles the Province had no more resolute magis- trate than he, allowing himself to be taken in irons to prison rather than abate the pretensions which he thought to be right. He died in the service of his country, as we have seen, at Quibbletown, N. J., in April, 1777.

COL. DANIEL BRODHEAD was born about 1725, his place of birth being probably Albany, N. Y., but as his father made several removals in the early part of his married life, this is uncertain. In 1738 bis father migrated to Pennsylvania, settling in now Monroe County. The younger Daniel grew up among the rude experiences of a frontier settlement, and probably had his first experience of actual war when the Indians, after ravaging all the country between the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers north of the Blue Mountains, attacked the Brodhead house at Danbury, which had been hastily fortified, on the 11th of De- cember, 1755. The attack was a fierce one, but it was totally unsuccessful, and the repulse the Indians met ended for a time the war in that section. In 1771 he removed to Reading, and soon after was appointed deputy surveyor under John Lukens, who was then surveyor-general. In July, 1775, he was appointed a delegate from Berks County to the Provincial Con- vention at Philadelphia. In the beginning of 1776 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the rifle regi- ment, which was raised in six weeks and given its first rendezvous at Marcus Hook. After the capture of Col. Miles at the battle of Long Island, the com- mand of the remainder of the battalion devolved upon Brodhead. He was thus early in the war brought into contact with Westmorelanders, and was more or less in command of a portion of them till the close of the war. After the loss of Miles he was the senior officer of the remaining part of the Pennsyl- vania contingent in the army. Shortly after he went home on sick leave, and when he again joined the army it was as colonel of the Eighth. With it he served from 1778 to 1781 in Western Pennsylvania. He made some important treaties with the Indians, but the honor of pushing west into the Indian country was, greatly to his chagrin, devolved upon Col. Clark, a Virginia officer. On the reorganization of the army in 1781 he was made colonel of the First Regi- ment, his commission dating Sept. 29, 1776, and he seems at a later date to have been appointed a brig- adier. He served afterward in the General Assembly of the State, and in 1789 was appointed surveyor- general. He held this office eleven years, and died at Milford, Pike Co., Nov. 15, 1809.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 23

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

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