History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 28

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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1 See Appendix "O."

CHAPTER XXII.

LOWER LIGONIER VALLEY DURING THE REVO- LUTION.

Ligonier Valley a Favorite Ground for the Indians, and the First Stop- ping-Place of the Whites-Privations of the Early Settlers along the Four-Mile Run, Mill Creek, the Old Road, and Indian Creek-Murder of the Campbell Family, and Captivity of Rubert Campbell (with curions anecdotes)-He is sold to a British Officer-He is exchanged -Killing of the Old Man Harman and three of his Neighbors-James Flack taken Prisoner-Escapes from Montreal, and comes through the Wilderness by means of a Compass-Charles Clifford taken by In- dians in Ambush-His Account of the Manners, Habits, and Ways of Living of the Northern Indians-His Master cures him of a Hurt Foot-Peter Maharg taken by the Same Party-Is made to Run the Gauntlet-Clifford taken to Montreal-Is Exchanged after having been with the Indians nearly Three Years-Comes to the Valley, and Dies at Home-James Clifford and his two Dogs, " Whig" and "Tory" -His adventure with the Indian, whom he shoots-Indians lying in wait attack a Party of Five who go to the Fields back of the Fort- They kill Miss Means, Young Means, and Young Reed-Col. Mc- Dowell escapes with Miss Reed on his Horse into the Fort-The Bodies of the Others buried by the People of the Fort.

LIGONIER VALLEY takes its name from the old Fort Ligonier. The valley itself lies between Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge, the two westernmost ranges of the great Appalachian mountain chain. No less from its physical distinction than from its historical association has it always been a prominent portion of the county. In extent it reaches from the dividing ridge between the Conemaugh and Black Lick, in In- diana County, to the Youghiogheny River, in Fayette. It thus passes through the whole breadth of West- moreland; in length about sixty miles, and in width varying from eight to fourteen miles. No other region near it has finer springs of living water or more nu- merous streams, nor has any locality produced such quantities of timber as have been taken from its mountain-sides. When it was first peopled by the whites it was almost totally overgrown with monster trees, the latest remains of that mighty forest which scientific men say once hid the light of day from the western slopes of the Alleghenies.

The site of Fort Ligonier was the first stopping- place of English-born in Westmoreland, and the sol- diers of the garrison and their families and the set- tlers that followed in the train of the army were the first settlers. This primitive colony and the settle- ment succeeding suffered much at all times through privation and from Indian aggression, but they man- fully battled against all adversities with the ancient spirit of Anglo-Saxonism.

" Thy spirit, Independence, did they share, Lord of the Lion heart and Eagle eye; Thy steps they followed with their bosoms bare, Nor feared the storm that scowled along the sky."

The slope of the country along the streams and in the valley admitted of easy access between those who had first squatted at the three forks of the Youghio- gheny and the later ones about the. stockade on the Loyalhanna, which answered to the citadel of the western province. These two incipient settlements

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approached towards each other, and under the beet- ling rocks of the bigh hills and over devious paths coincident with the trails of the old lake warriors the white civilization established a line of com- munication from sympathy and from wanta. For a long time the depot of Ligonier supplied ail artificial needs which it was possible to supply. It was the sta- tion where all commodities were bartered for, a desig- nated point by the military authorities for the dietri- bution of supplies ; to here the settlers came from the Kiskiminetas and from the Monongahela for their seed-corn and powder, and for many years after, when the word had no meaning, to go to Ligonier was to go to the "fort." From the northern or Fairfield side they went up the valley, and from the Donegal side it was down the valley.

This region had been always, so far as our knowl- edge goes, a favorite ground for the Indians, and their trails, and foot-paths marked it in every direc- 'tion. But especially was it convenient for those later outlaws that harassed the whole northwestern border of our State, of which our county was at that time the frontier. The lower or northern part of the val- ley suffered comparatively the most.' The savages on their excursions, after taking a prisoner or a scalp, burning a cabin or stealing off a horse, could evade all pursuit by flying into the unapproachable forests of the north.

The sufferings and trials of the people of the valley from the time when Isaac Stimble, "an industrious inhabitant of Ligonier," was shot and scalped on the road to Bedford (of which Bouquet, in 1764, com- plains), down to 1792, when Mad Anthony had broken them up at the Maumee, and stopped their depreda- tions forever in these parts,-their sufferings during this period, for reasons very apparent, have not been given to the world. They did not tell their griefs, but knew how noble it was to suffer and grow strong. Their fortunes and misfortunes are now but known through an indistinct jumble of exaggerated and mis- stated local traditions. Out of the crucible of historic truth isolated instances are preserved, and from the public correspondence and the contemporaneous his- tory of adjacent counties we have searched labori- ously and compared facts with the stories of the old people that we may say a word in this behalf. Of the general suffering, the fear, the uncertainty, the toil, the poverty, and the patriotism of these people, along with those, in truth, of the whole county, our splendid collection of printed archives will always bear testi- mony. This, however, is hardly all we want or wish for in a local narrative.

When we pick out a particular time when this gen- eral suffering was at the height, we will conclude that from 1777 to 1781 the people of this region were wor- ried more sorely than at any other; one reason of which was that their means of defense were then at the weakest and worst. During 1778 and 1779 they were constantly compelled to seek the shelter of the

fort or the adjacent block-bouses along either end of the valley. Most of the people anyways pear took up their quarters in temporary cabine near the fort, and remained there all through the winter. In the sum- mer, when they had to go forth, it was only to gather their scanty harveste and again prepare for the winter. At those times for weeks together the men only ven- tured out, carrying their dinner of cold potatoes and bard biscuits with them. In the little meadow patches along the Four-Mile Run and Mill Creek, and in the desdenings on the hills north of the old road, they worked together. At the fort a kind of volunteer military discipline was kept up. The gaps were kept primed, bullets cast picked flints handy, the hinges and bolts of the gate in working order, and the store- house always with some provisions in it however scarce the last crop.

Of the captivity of Robert Campbell we have the account as given by himself; and the fact of its being preserved is no doubt owing to the celebrity of the peculiar and fervent man, who, far and wide, wes known as Elder Robert Campbell, a pious man, and in his day a main prop of the Fairfield Church.

On a day in July, 1776, while the father of this Robert Campbell was from home, a party of Indiane came suddenly on this son and his brother William in the field; and while these were taken some others of the Indians ran to the house. The mother, with an infant in her arms, trying to cecape, received the blow on her head, when she, falling down, killed the babe in her own arms. They were afterward found and buried in one grave. The rest of the children at the house, three girls and 'one boy, were made pris- oners with the two boys taken in the field. The two youngest of the girls were placed upon horses which the Indians had stolen from the farm, each of the girls behind an Indian. The younger of these, unable to steady herself on the horse, was killed and left on the ground about a mile from their home. The In- dians carried them off down out of the valley, cross- ing somewhere below Saltsburg, and passed on to New York State. The children were separated in Canada. Thomas, the youngest brother, was sold to an English officer and sent to England; the two sisters, after pass- ing four years in captivity, were released, and came back to the valley. William also returned about the close of the war. After sustaining . captivity of about six years, Robert, with another prisoner, suc- ceeded in making his escape. He came back again to the old homestead, lived to a good old age on the farm his father had cleared, and where his mother was killed and buried.1

Some time later than this was killed the elder Har- man, an old inhabitant, who had been of a family set- tled on Indian Creek with the Turkey Foot settlers as early as 1759, and who lived not far from now Done- gal. Harman and three of his neighbors had been

1 Further as to Robert Campbell, see township history.

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down the valley at a sale, and when they were re- turning they were all shot and killed, sitting in their saddles, by Indians lying in ambush along the road. After they were scalped they were left dying. Their bodies, found the next day, were decently buried.

Among the prisoners taken from time to time was James Flack, whose daughter was married to John Woodend, Esq. Flack was carrried to Montreal, from whence he made his escape. He found his way through the endless wilderness to the fort by the assistance of a pocket compass which Charles Clif- ford procured for him when they were prisoners to- gether.

Of the captivity of Charles Clifford we have a con- tinuous account, preserved by his descendants, and which, arranged by them, has been of assistance to the writer. In addition to the narrative to which we have had access, we have secured some illustrations from old manuscript.

Charles Clifford, one of the original stock of the Clif- fords of Ligonier Valley, resided on Mill Creek, about two miles northwest of the fort. During the winter they stayed near the fort, and in the spring and sum- mer he and his men, like the rest, all went to work at the crops. On the 27th of April, 1779, Clifford, with two of his sons, went out to his clearing to prepare for spring work. When they came to the deadening they could not find their horses. The boys were set to work, and the father himself went in search of the lost animals. He passed up to some waste fields, to the place afterward known as McDowell's Mill, where he expected to find them, as he had done before. But not finding them there, he continued his search over the deserted clearings till he came out on the old mil- itary road running between Hannastown and the fort. From here he concluded to return by the road to the fort. After he came on to the road, he had not pro- ceeded far till he was fired upon by five Indians lying behind a log by the side of the road. One ball passed through his coat, another through his hat, and a third struck the rifle on his shoulder. The savages with fierce yells bounding out, seized him before he could offer resistance. They caught him, and wiping away the blood which flowed from his face, caused either by a fragment of gun-stock cutting him, or by a bul- let itself grazing him, were evidently well pleased that he was not injured. One of them, clapping him upon the shoulder, muttered, "You good man; you now go Niagra."

They then stripped him of his hat, coat, vest, and shirt, but left his pants and shoes. One of them, in a ticklish mood, taking his hat and cutting off the rim threw that part away, and put the crown part upon his head. Another tore the skirts from his shirt and put on what remained; a third put on his vest. The coat, however, they gave back to him, and signified that he should put it on. He said that he could not wear the coat next his skin, and wanted his shirt ; but he had to submit, for they shook their heads in an

unfriendly way and told him he must put it on, as they must go.

The Indians appear to have treated Clifford with all the kindness which their nature would allow. They evidently considered him, from the narrow es- cape he had made, as a person specially favored. Such seeming miraculous' escapes as he had just passed through . invariably. moved the superstitious instinct in them. So they did not tie his arms as it was their custom to do with prisoners; but at night when they lay down they stretched a leather belt.across his breast, and an Indian on either side lay upon the end to draw the belt tightly. As soon as they had lain down they were insensible in sleep. When Clif- ford was tired lying he gently drew one end of the strap from under the Indian by his side and sat up. The moon was full. He thought he could easily have made his escape had it not been for the Indian sitting upon the stump on watch. There he sat, silent it is true, and motionless as a statue, but he was wide awake; and there the Indian set all night, not deign- ing to move till once the prisoner should offer to es- cape.

This party of Indians joined the main body near where now is Fairfield. There were about fifty-seven of them in all. The chief, according to Clifford's account, had his head and arms covered with silver trinkets. Here they tore down the fences to cook their meat, it being near the close of the day. After so doing they, under the direction of the chief, marched about a mile into the woods, there halted, ate their meal, and lay down for the night.

When they had first come together, Clifford had a curiosity to see how many prisoners there were, and if his sons were among them. They, however, had only one other white man, Peter Maharg. Maharg was then sitting upon a log much dejected. Clifford went to him and said, "Peter, they've got you here too." Maharg did not reply, did not even raise up his head. He had been taken that morning while he was likewise hunting his horses. He might have made his escape had it not been for a little dog that accom- panied him. He had seen the Indians before they saw him, but his dog running farther ahead was seen by them. The dog ran back to its master, and they following it came upon Maharg before he got away.

The third morning they left the valley for their homes about the head-waters of the Allegheny. In this incursion they had come more than two hundred miles, had spent several weeks in time, and besides killing only one or two persons, had secured but two prisoners. We have the particulars of their home- ward march as preserved by Clifford. They traveled during the day, and camped an hour or two before sunset. All then but eight or ten of them who stayed with the prisoners went hunting. About dusk they brought in their game,-venison, turkeys, birds, or whatever they Could get. After feasting they lay down. This me thod lasted till they had crossed the

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Allegheny River, when it appears that after that they could not get so much as even a squirrel. Thence they began to suffer much from hunger; at one time for three days and three nights they had nothing to eat except the ripd or under bark of the young chest- nut, which they took off the saplings with their toma- hawks, and which they themselves ate of, and of which they offered their prisoners. Clifford said he could not eat it, when the consolatory reply he got was, "Ah, you fool; you die." When they had got to this state they sent two runners ahead of the main body, when, on the third day, they were met by a number of Indians, both men and squaws, who fetched plenty of beans, hominy, and dried venison. They gave the prisoners as much as they themselves took.

The Indians then divided into two parties, and Clifford was taken to one town and Maharg to an- other. Those who took Maharg treated him with the greatest 'cruelty, but this cruelty was no doubt the expression of their disgust or contempt for one who grieved at his captivity, on the same principle that white men are always more unkind to the unfortu- nate. They made him run the gauntlet, when they all but killed him after he had fallen before reaching the end of the line. He was so badly beaten that he never perfectly recovered from the effects of their treatment, and bore their marks on his body when he was laid in the grave.

Clifford fared better. He had been from the first under the guardianship of a particular Indian, who was called his master. After he had traveled a few days without a shirt, his master, opening his heart and his sack, gave Clifford a shirt and an old bat. The shirt was covered with blood and had two bullet- holes in it. The master also showed him a marked kindness; for Clifford, before he was taken, had been clearing among the bushes and had scratched his in- step, and the wound with his traveling had swollen and was much inflamed. One evening after camping he showed the foot to his master and explained how he got it. The Indian listening looked attentively at it, and without saying anything took his tomahawk, and going to a wild cherry-tree took off some bark, which he put into a kettle and of which he made a syrup. With the liquid he bathed the foot, and after laying the boiled bark upon the wound bound it up. It speedily allayed the swelling, and relieved him of the pain.

The Indians kept Clifford about six weeks, when they delivered him to the British at Montreal. During the time he was with them he had an opportunity of seeing how they lived, and of observing closely their curious manners ; and being happily gifted with the faculty of telling understandingly of what he had perceived, his narrative was of some information. One of the most striking sights he witnessed among them was that of three or four prisoners running the gauntlet, one of whom was killed. At another time, when a horse which had kicked a lad was shot by

the father of the boy, each of the bystanders took a piece of the raw meat, which, eating, they called very good. Wben at length Clifford was taken to Montreal be shared better than most of the prisoners by getting in favor with an officer of the garrison. While he was there he met Flack, whom, as related, bo fur- nished with the pocket compass, by which he traced bis way back bome.

Clifford remained at Montreal till he wes ex- changed, about two years and a half after he wes taken there, the whole time of his captivity being very near three years. After he was exchanged be returned to his farm in the valley, where he resided until his death. He lived to a good old age, and died respected by all who knew him. He is buried in the Fairfield or Old White Church graveyard, one among the oldest burying-grounds in the valley.

The next incident preserved from the mass of fab- ulous and exaggerated stories which we credit com- ciently to insert as authentic and verified is that of James Clifford shooting the Indian.

James Clifford, a son of Charles Clifford, one morn- ing, most likely in 1778, went out from the fort, as was his custom, to shoot game. The young man had trained up two young dogs, one of whom be called Whig, the other Tory. Whig proved good for no- thing, but Tory developed wonderful sagacity. It is said he had Tory so well trained that he would follow at his heels for a whole day and not go off till bidden, On this morning Clifford was walking along on a cow- path, when his dog Tory, contrary to habit, ran in front of his master and began to snarl and whine. Clifford knew that something was wrong, but he con- tinued to advance in as cool a manner as possible, but sharply on the lookout. . In front of him in his way was a large tree with thick bushes about its stem, be- hind which he espied an Indian, who, crouching down, was waiting for him to come nearer. He instinctively knew that if he ran back he would be shot at. So be went forward in an unconcerned kind of way, and as he was doing so fetched his rifle down by bis side, cocking it. When he had got the first glimpse of the Indian's body he quickly fired. Then he turned and ran, escaping into the fort, while his father and Capt. Shannon were talking about the noise of the gun. The captain lost no time in starting out with a party of fifteen or twenty men to get the body of the Indian if he was killed, or to follow his tracks if he had made off. They did not find him, but they tracked the course he had taken by the blood dropping on the ground, and found on the path corks of twisted leaves, which had been forced into the wound to stop the flow of blood. It was supposed he died within a short time, and that his body was carried off by others who were with him and not far distant at the time. This would be confirmed by a reputed conversation some time after between some renegade white man' who

1 This man was said to be Girty. If the man really told Knox he was Girty, he iu ull probability was some one who feigned that distinguished

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come to the valley and Robert Knox, Sr., in ch the stranger asked who it was that killed the ian, when Knox said it was one of the neighbor 8.

he following also is of reliable authenticity :

n a spring morning in May or June, 1778 or 1779, arty of five left the fort for the hill across the alhanna. The glorious weather and the time of made the confinement of the fort and the neigh+ ing cabins tiresome, and they forgot their danger che eagerness with which they climbed the hill ch rises up from the stream, and which was then ered with fields of growing flax. The party were other and sister Means, a brother and sister Reed, Col. William McDowell. The colonel was on seback, and all the men had their rifles with them y were all going together, and had ascended the , when they were fired upon by some Indians g behind a log. Young Means fell dead, Reed shot, but ran say twenty rods, and then fell dead. Dowell and Miss Reed made for the fort with the ians following them. The colonel slackened his se for the girl, who as she ran along by the side of horse reached up her hand, which he took, and he d her up behind him. The Indians overtook Miss ans, who was stricken with terror, and her they ahawked and scalped. A rifle-bullet struck the k of McDowell's gun, and from the glancing ball carried a hand-wound all his life. Miss Reed he escaped unhurt. When the whites went from fort to get the bodies they found those who were ed lying not far apart, the brother and sister ans near together, both of them scalped, but, nge to say, Reed was not scalped.

hese instances will, we think, answer our purpose. re are innumerable other captivities and murders, account of which, as happening round the fort, e been preserved by common report, but we have sidered them to be of such a character as would he repetition be neither interesting nor illustra- . The general situation about these times we e alluded to before, and will have occasion to al- to again. Around the old fort and all through valley instances like these were common till the of the Revolution, and in the northern part the ple were visited by warlike bands even after the at of Harmar and of St. Clair.

nage. After that war Simon set too high a value on his head to t among the people of Ligonier Valley or of any other part of West- land.

CHAPTER XXIII.

UPPER LIGONIER VALLEY DURING THE REVOLU- TION.

The Upper Part of Ligonier Valley-Remains of the Old Indian Fort- The Early Settlers here : the Harmans, Gays, and others-Williams' Block-House the Place of Refuge for these Early Settlers-Different Murders and Captures in this Region-Indians capture Andrew and John Harman along the Four-Mile Run-They kill one of a Neigli- bor's Horses and take Another-They watch the Cabinand hear the Mother calling the Boys-Carry the Boys towards the North-Jolin Dies-After 'trying to freeze Andy to Death, and Failing in other ways to kill Him, he at last is trained up with a Chief's Son-lle is wulopted by that Tribe, the Senecas-Lives with them some Years -Is parted with for a Bottle of Rum to an English Officer-Taken to London as a Servant-After the Peace in 17-3 comes Home, after they had long thought him Dend-His Account of their Ways of Farming, of Hnuting, and of Fighting, with several Anecdotes of his relating -Capture of Jacob Nicely by the Cornplanters-He is raised and adopted by them-Marries a Squaw and Dies among them-His Father visita him before his Death.

IN the upper part of the valley the inhabitants, from along Indian Creek, about where now is Done- gal, and from down the Four- Mile Run, had erected, as we have observed, a block-house on the place of a man named Williams, which they called Fort Wil- liams. This was along the bottom of the Four-Mile, and the place is nearly midway between Stahlstown and Donegal. During the Revolution this block- house was a point to which the settlers gathered, and when there appeared to be no more danger they went forth again, took down the bars from the low-swung doors, gathered their strayed cattle, and furrowed out a little patch for corn or potatoes.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 28

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

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