History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 32

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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But Lochry had made up his mind, and no doubt harassed almost to death, wanted to convince the people that he was not what some said he was. Clark determined to wait no longer on volunteers from here, and taking with him what he had and relying on others from Kentucky, he left Fort Pitt down the river.

The whole force of Lochry rendezvoused July 24, 1781, at Carnahan's block-house, about eleven miles northwest of Hannastown. Among them were Capt. Robert Orr, one of the most steadfast of Lochry'. friends, who at that time was a captain in the militia, and who, although he had no power to order his men out of the county, not only volunteered to be one of the party to accompany Lochry, who was so warmly entreated by Clark to come, but exerted his influence in inducing others to volunteer. Capt. Thomas Stokely, who was Lochry's right-hand man, and Capt. Samuel Shearer each was at the head of a company of rangers, and Capt. Charles Campbell had a company of horse.

On the next day (July 25, 1781), Lochry in com- mand, they set out for Fort Henry, now Wheeling, by way of Pittsburgh. On the 4th of August, Clark was at Wheeling, and at that time Lochry, with Capt. Stokely's company of rangers, thirty-eight men, and about fifty other volunteers, some of them under Capt. Shearer, was at Mericle's (Casper Markle) mill on his way out. In his letter to the president of the Council of this date he says that others who were ex- pected to join bim had been hindered from going. He says he proposed to join Clark at Fort Henry, on the Ohio. This is the last letter of his correspondence.'

1 Supra. See note.

: " The Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania :

"To ull to whom these presents shall come, know, That whereas we have heretofore appointed Archibald Lochry, of the County of West- morelard, Esquire, to be Prothonotary of the said County of Westmore- laud, and commissioned him accordingly ; and, whereas, the said Archi- bald Lochry is said to be deceased or made captive by the Indians, we have therefore thought proper to supersede the said appointment and commission, and do hereby supersede and revoke and make null and void the same, anything in the maid commission contained to the con- trary here or anywhere notwithstanding.

"Given by order of the Council under the hand of his Excellency

The men Lochry took with him were allowed, on all siden, to have been of the very best for Indian fighting. But they were in a deplorable condition to leare home. The company of Capt. Stokely is de- scribed as being literally half-naked. An outfit sum- cient for these was sent after them by the president through Ensign William Cooper, but it is doubtful whether it reached them. The whole number that left with Lochry was one hundred and seven.

The troops sent from Fort Pitt under the direction of the general of the army were under Capt. Isaac Craig, of the artillery. These proceeded to the Falls of the Ohio, whence, from a disappointment arising from the failure of the Kentucky troops to unite with Clark there, they returned home. Clark was not, therefore, able to prosecute his intended plan of operations, as all the forces he could collect amounted to but seven hundred and fifty men. Lochry was to follow Craig down the river. and under instructions from Clark, they together were to proceed to the mouth of the Miami River. Clark changing his plans did not go that way, but left a small party at the place intended for meeting, with instructions for Lochry to follow him.

When Lochry's force arrived at Fort Henry they found that Clark had gone down the river, leaving for them some provisions and a traveling-boat, with direc- tions for them to follow and join his army at a point twelve miles below. They were, however, detained here some ten days in preparing temporary boats for the transportation of their horses and men.

In time, however, they launched their frail boats and passed down the river; but when they arrived at this second designated point they found that Clark had gone down the river but the day before, leaving a few inen with one boat under Maj. Craycroft, but no provisions or ammunition, both of which they were greatly in need of. Clark had promised and left word that at the mouth of the Kanawha be would await their arrival. When they at length came there they found that he, on account of the frequent desertions of his men, in order to prevent more had been obliged to proceed down the river without them. Here they. found affixed to a pole a letter from him which di- rected them to follow.

Their situation now was such as to create alarm. Their provisions and forage were nearly exhausted, there was no source of supply in that country but the military stores of themselves in the care of Clark, the river was low and uncertain, and as they were inex- perienced in piloting and unacquainted with the channels they could not hope to overtake him. Lochry then dispatched Capt. Shannon in a boat

William Moore, Esq., President, and the seal of the State, at Philadel- phia, 22d of December, 1781. " Attest, WWW. MOORE, Prout.

"J. MATLACK, Bec."

This revocation of the commission of Lochry is of record in the re- corder's office, Greensburg.

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LOCHRY'S EXPEDITION.

with four men, with the hope of overtaking Clark and securing the much-needed supplies. Before they had proceeded very far they were taken prisoners by the Indians. Shannon had been intrusted with a let- ter from Lochry to Clark, in which was detailed the situation of Lochry's men. About this time, it is also narrated, Lochry waylaid a party of nineteen de- Berters from Clark's command, and these on being re- leased by him joined with the Indians, probably in order to avail themselves of an opportunity to escape home. Capt. Shearer's company was left in command of Lieut. Isaac Anderson.

The Indians had had knowledge of the expedition, but had been in the belief that the forces of Clark and of Lochry were acting together. Being under this impression they were afraid to attack the main force, as Clark had a piece of field artillery with him. But now being apprised of the actual state of affairs by the capture of Shannon, and learning from the report of the deserters the weakness of Lochry's party, they speedily sent their runners out in all directions, and. collected in great numbers at a point designated some' distance below the mouth of the Miami River where it empties into the Ohio, and there awaited for the arrival of the whites to destroy them.

They thereupon placed the prisoners whom they had taken in a position on the north side of the river, near the upper end of an island, which at this day is called " Lochry's Island,"1 where they could be readily observed by those coming down the river. They prom- ised to spare the lives of these prisoners upon the con- dition that they should hail their companions as they passed and induce them to come to their succor. They were to stand like Demas ("gentleman-like"). at the Hill Lucre, beckoning the pilgrims.

Lochry's men, however, wearied with their slow progress, in evil heart at their disappointments and continuous misfortunes, and in despair of reaching Clark's army, landed on the shore of the Ohio at a point about three miles on this side of the island where their companions were placed as a decoy. The spot appears to have attracted them by its inviting beauty. It was at the inlet of a creek, which since that day has been called Lochry's Creek, where it empties into the Ohio, between nine and ten miles below the mouth of the Miami.

They drew their boats to the shallow shore, and at about ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 24th of August, 1781, here landed. After landing they removed their horses ashore, and turned them loose to graze that they might obtain sufficient to keep them alive until they should reach the falls of the river (now Louisville), one hundred and twenty miles distant. Before long one of he men had killed a buffalo, and all the party, except few who were keeping watch over the horses, were engaged about the fires which they had kindled pre- aring a meal ..

The Indians, however, during that time had their runners out all along the river-banks, so that it was highly dangerous for a landing to be made at any place, for parties could be collected at any point at the shortest warning. So Lochry's men were scarcely well landed on shore when they were attacked. Quick, sharp, effective, as was the wont of the savages in their attacks,-lightning and thunder together,-into the midst of the men from an overhanging bluff came a volley of rifle-balls. On this bluff, above the party of whites, were large trees. On these trees and be- hind them, having the whites down below them and at their mercy, like bats and vampires clung the savages.

The men seized their arms and defended themselves as long as their ammunition lasted, and as they did 80 attempted to escape to their boats. But the boats were unwieldy, the water was low and shoaly, and their force much weakened and too unavailable. The Indians, seeing their opportunity, closed in from their side upon the whole party, who being no longer able or in a condition to resist were compelled to be taken prisoners, some of them, with a hope of mercy, sur- rendering.

The few words with which this disastrous expedition in all general histories of the border is dismissed agree in this, that the lesser number of the whole party escaped death or captivity. All the best au- thorities say that none at all escaped except those that escaped after they had been taken. Lochry him- self was among the first who were killed, falling in defending his countrymen, as he was sworn to, even in the wilderness of a strange and foreign territory.

Orr relates that Lochry, with some other of the prisoners, immediately after being taken was killed. It is probable that an indiscriminate slaughter would have taken place had not the chief who commanded them, or whom they at least obeyed, came up in time. This chief said to the whites that these murders were committed by them in retaliation for those Indians who were killed after they had been taken, as they alleged, by Brodhead on the Muskingum some time before.

Of the one hundred and six or seven of Lochry's party at the time of the surrender forty-two were killed and sixty-four were taken prisoners. The attacking party of Indians was much the larger. These were a mixture of various tribes, and among these various tribes were the prisoners and booty divided in proportion to the number of warriors en- gaged.

The next day the Indians with their prisoners set out for the Delaware towns. Before they separated they were met by a party of British and Indians under a Maj. Caldwell, with (as is reported) the Girtys and Alexander McKee in their train, they pro- fessing to be on their way to the falls to attack Clark. With these the greater number of the Indians who had helped to capture Lochry's men returned to the

1 Written "Laughrey's Creek," and "Laughrey's Island."

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Ohio. A few only remained with the prisoners and spoils, and these when they separated were taken to the various towns to which they had been assigned. The prisoners were held,.in captivity until the next year, which brought the Revolutionary war to a close. After the preliminary articles of peace were signed, late in the fall of 1782, these prisoners were ransomed by the British officers in command of the northern posts, to be by them exchanged for British prisoners in the hands of the Americans. These were sent to the St. Lawrence. A few of them taken had pre- viously effected their escape, a few deserted from Montreal, and the rest of those who were left sailed in the spring of 1783 from Quebec to New York, and returned home to Westmoreland by way of Phila- delphia, these having been absent twenty-two months. But more than one-half of those who left Pennsyl- vania with Col. Lochry never returned.

After the men left Pittsburgh they were not heard of for many weeks. When Capt. Craig returned he could not be persuaded but that Lochry himself, with his men, had returned home. But the people of Westmoreland waited till at last all hope died. We see from some of the correspondence how the word was at length received, and how hope almost changed into despair. Brigadier William Irvine had been ordered to the command of Fort Pitt on the 24th of September, 1781, and in a letter from him of Decem- ber 3d to President Moore the result is announced in the following words :

" I am sorry to inform your Excellency that this country has got a severe stroke by the death of Colonel Lochry and ahont one hundred- it is said-of the best men of Westmoreland, including Captain Stokely and his Rangers. Many accounts agree that they were all killed or takeu at the mouth of the Miami River,-I believe chiefly killed. This misfortnue, added to the failure of General Clark's expedition, has filled the people with great dismay. Many talk of returning to the enst side of the mountain in the spring. Indeed there is great reason to apprehend that the savages, and perhaps the British from Detroit, will push us hard in the spring, and I believe there never were punts of a country in a worse state of defence." 1

In reply to this letter, President Moore said that the loss of Col. Lochry, with his men, and the dis- tressed state of the post and the country round it gave them great pain.

Of those who were carried to Canada were Isaac Anderson, of Capt. Shearer's company, and Richard Wallace, the quartermaster to Lochry's command. In a memorial to the president of the Council they represented that they were inhabitants of Westmore- land County, who had had the misfortune to be made prisoners by the Indians on the 24th of August, the day on which Lochry was surrounded and defeated ; that they had been carried to Montreal, and kept in close confinement there till the 22d of May, 1782; and that after a long and fatiguing march they had got into the city on the day before' at three o'clock. As they were destitute of money and clothes, and could not get home without them, they prayed the

president and Council to take their case into consid- eration, and allow them pay from the time they had been taken. They said they were under Lochry when they were taken, and that they had a list of all, officers and privates, of the party who were then pris- oners, which information they were ready to give the Council. If the list or any other information was furnished, we do not know where it can be found. It bas certainly never been in print.

The particulars of this campaign were subsequently put in print as the narration of Capt. Orr (before re- ferred to), who accompanied Lochry. From the manner it corroborates oficial documents, it must be allowed a special degree of credence. It is also cor -. roborated by a manuscript account by Ensign Hun- ter, which Mr. Albach, in his " Annals of the West," refers to, and who has therein published Orr's ac- count.ª

Capt. Orr was wounded by having his arm broken in the engagement. He was carried prisoner to San- dusky, where he remained several months. The Indians finding that bis wound wan stubborn, and that they could not cure it, at length carried him to the military hospital at Detroit. From here in the winter he was transferred to Montreal, and at the end of the war exchanged with other prisoners."

But the only account of individual suffering and of the distress attending the participants in this unfor- tunate expedition is the one still retained in the family of the Craigs of Derry township. For of those of our frontier men who were distinguished either for personal bravery or on account of their suffering in some way in the interest of the people, we may here with propriety recall Samuel Craig the younger. Craig was a lieutenant in Capt. Orr's com- pany, and was taken prisoner with many others. After they had taken him, and while they were croce- ing the river with him, or likely taking him to shore froin the stream itself, some of the Indians in the boat threw him out intending to drown him. They kept pushing his head under as it emerged out of the water, and as he grasped the sides of the canoe with the tenacity and despair of a drowning man they beat his hands with their paddles to make him let go. Being an expert swimmer he was hard to drown, and seeing this finally, when he was well-nigh ex- hausted, one of the Indians claimed him for his prisoner and as his property took him into the canoe, and kept him for the time under his own protection.

With these Indians and some few prisoners with them whom they had retained, Craig suffered all the punishment which came in a natural way from hun- ger and cold upon them all alike. So too he suffered from threats and fears of horrible torture. At times they were all nearly starved. Once when they were

" " Annals of the West," by James R. Albach, Pittsburgh, W. 8. Haven, 1856.

" In 1805 he was appointed an amociate judge in Armstrong County, and he held this office until his death in 1833, iu his eighty ninth year.

' Archives, vol. ix. p. 458.

" That was Philadelphia, July 2, 1782.

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CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION TO SANDUSKY.

in a famishing condition they by fortune came across a small patch of potatoes. These they dug up and gathered together for a feast. In the night, when the others had fallen asleep, Craig, who was lying between two Indians, and who not yet had the pangs of hun- ger assuaged, rose up from between them at the risk of his life, and getting at the raw potatoes made what he declared was the greatest feast of his life. He took his place between the Indians without having been detected. At another time they were forced of necessity to make a meal of a wolf's head which was almost carrion when they found it. They boiled it into a soup and ate it with avidity.

This Samuel Craig was possessed of a cheerful nature, and could submit to dangers and hardships with good grace. He was especially fond of music, and was something of a singer. In his captivity he frequently sang his homely songs "to strangers in a strange land." This singing not only pleased the Indians, but actually was the means of sparing his life, for he had not been among them long when all the prisoners were taken out and set upon a log side by side. Their faces were blackened, which was done to indicate the doom of the captives, and the Indians grouped themselves in a circle not far round. At that terrible moment Craig, it is said, retained his self-command; he raised his voice and sang loud and clear the most melodious air perhaps he ever sang. He alone was saved of his companions.

He was sold to the British for the usual consider- ation, a gallon of whiskey. He was then exchanged and returned home. He subsequently married a daughter of John Shields, Esq., by whom he left a family of five sons and two daughters. He was a fuller, and built a fulling-mill on the bank of the Loyalhanna near New Alexandria.1

During the remaining part of the year 1781 the Indians in squads approached from many directions, and the county lieutenants received circular letters to hold the militia in constant readiness. By an act of Assembly calling out some companies for the West- moreland and northern frontiers, those who enlisted were allowed to be exempt from taxes. The country was indeed so impoverished that the troops about Fort Pitt (the name by which the post at Pittsburgh still went) were sent out to shoot game to keep them from hunger. The public good at the same time was sacri- ficed, as we have seen, by the bickerings and jealousies between Brodhead, while he commanded there, and Gibson and his Virginia followers, for the reason of which Gen. Irvine was sent to that point. That fight was the old fight between Virginia and Pennsylvania.'

CHAPTER XXVI.

CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION TO SANDUSKY.

The Moravian Indians-Their Christian Character and their Former History-Their Efforts at Peace-Making between the Whites and War- ring Indians-Description of their Villages-Their Unfavorable Luca- tion-They are binmed with harboring Hostile Indians-The Whites of the Southwestern Part of Pennsylvania are instigated to Disperse them-They raise a Force of Volunteers for that Purpose-Col. David Williamson in command-Their Route of March-They come upon the Indians by surprise-Represent themselves as Friends-Get pos- session of their Villages, and begin the destruction of the Housees, and the murder of the Men, Women, and Children-They are taken out, one after another, and with Clubs, Mallets, and Hatchets mur- dered while they supplicate for mercy-Their Bodies are then burned -Col. Orawford's Expedition later in 1782 to the Sandusky Towns- He is defeated and his Force scattered-He is taken Prisoner and burned at the Stake-Escape of Dr. Kuight.

ABOUT this time the whites became involved in troubles with the Moravian Indians. Of these we shall give some account, sufficient to bring them within the range of our narrative and to illustrate subsequent details. The Moravian society, which in

contemporaneous papers which so far have been made public and the record of bis official services.

He was of North Irish extraction, but was probably born in the Octo- raro settlement, for in 1763 he was an ensign in the Second Battalion in the provincial service (Arch., N. 8., vol. ii., 614), and he was well know n to the public when he was appointed one of the justices at the organiza- tion of the county, for he had held office along with his brother in Bed, ford. He took up large bodies of land, one particularly of great extent, whereon he located himself with come of his neighbors from Bedford. This tract lies in Unity township, on the south side of the turnpike guing from Greensburg to Ligonier, and near St. Xavier's Convent. The land is now quite valuable, being underlaid with the thick vein of Connelle- ville coal. He dated his official correspondence at the "Twelve-Mile Bun," which was the name of the muall stream which flows into the Fourteen-Mile Run before it empties into the Loyalhanna. This name is known only in old records, and is not known as ench now.

The name is spelled differently in various localities. Theycreek and island along the Ohio River in Indiana are written " Langhrey's" Creek, etc., and some people of the same name so write their name. Neither is there uniformity in the spelling of his name in the public records. We have adopted the spelling used by himself.

The issue of Archibald Lochry were two daughters. The first, Eliza- beth, married to Nathaniel McBryar, who left isane, three sons and one dangliter, to wit: David, Watson, John, and Elizabeth, married to John Duff, Esq., of Washington township. The second daughter, Jane, was married to Samuel Thompson, and left issue, five, sons and siz daughters, to wit : Alexander, William (father of 8. G. Thompson, Eeq., of Greens- burg, Pa.), David, Watson, Samuel, Mary, married to Andrew Gartley ; Elizabeth, married to Joseph MeQuicken, Eaq., of Now Salem ; Jane, married to Thomas Adair; Nancy, Lucy, and Lydia.

Archibald Lochry's brother, William Lochry, was one of the county justices, and he presided at the October session, 1774. He had another brother, Jeremiah.

The following is the will of Archibald Lochry and proceedings thereon, as found in the office of the register of wills at Greensburg (Will-Book, i. p. 31):

" In the name of God, Amen. I Archibald Lochry, of Hannas Town in Westmoreland County, &c. being through the goodness of God in sound judgment and memory, therefore Calling to mind the Mortality of my Body and that it is appointed for all men once to die, Do inake this my last will and testament that is to say Principally and first of all I give & bequeath my soul to God who gave it Beseeching his most Gracious acceptance of it in and through the merits and medintion of my most Compassionate Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and my Body I give to the earth nothing Doubting but I shall receive the same again at the General resurrection, And as touching such worldly estate as I am Blessed with in this world it is my will and order that all my Just Debts be fully Paid, and that my public accompts may be settled with all convenient speed. Also it is my will that all and singular my

1 Now the property of Mrs. Craig, one of his descendants. He died of hemorrhage caused by the extraction of a tooth.

James Kane, Sr., court-crier under Judge Young, and whom the bar yet traditionally remembers as " Jimmy Kane," was one of the prisoners taken to the Puttowattomies, and who came home from a captivity among them. Eo died in Derry township in 1845.

" ARCHIBALD LOCHRY .- Very little information has been obtained re- garding the life of Archibald Lochry, further than is found in the public

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1769 had established missions among the Indians, had not forsaken them, but, under many discourage- ments and through many vicissitudes, had kept them together, and after several removals had at length established them along the Tuscarawas River in Ohio. Here these simple-minded Indians, converted from savages, lived at peace with all men, and by that time had developed-into a thriving and thrifty com- munity. There were three villages of them, Shoen- brun, Gnadenhütten, and Salem. Gnadenhütten was on the east side of the river, the other two were on the west side. Salem and Shoenbrun were about

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 32

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

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