History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 33

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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Estate Real and Personal chali be equally Divided between my well be- luved wife and my only Daughter El. My Land Joining Col. John Proo- tor to be rented antill my said Daughter arrive to the age of twenty-one years, sud the half the rents thereof applied for her Buarding and School- ing, the other half for the use of my Wife, and in case any or either' of them should Die before my Daughter cumes to age or is married the whole estate is to devolve to the survivor, and all my chuime or rights to suy Lande only the Laude above mentioned I desire may be sold. And 1 do hereby constitute and appoint Jobn Proctor whole and sole Ezece- tor of this my last will and testament to see it duly executed according to my true intent and meaning, revoking and dieanuling all formser Wille Ratifyiug and confirming this and no other to be my last will and tes- tament. Witness my hand and seal the 26th Novr. 1778.

" A. LocHay,

" Signed sealed Pronounced Declared and Confirmed In the Presence of Jeremiah Lochry, David Philson, James Kinkaid.

"Thanks to God I am now in my Proper cences and Do allow this to be my last will and testament except that my Daughter Betsey to receive her cqueal lots of my estate.

" A. LOCHRY.

"Attest, JEREMIAH LOCHRY, GEORGE HENRY."

" 1 Jobu Proctor the Executor within named Do by these Presence absolutely freely and voluntarily resign my right of executorship to the within Will. But will for the sake of the Deceased and his relick Join in Adinfuistratiou with the Widow. Witness my hand the Eleventh day of July, 1782.

" JOHN PROCTOR.

" Witness present

" WM. JACK,

" JOHN PUMBOY."

" Proven by Jeremiah Lochry and George Henry the 11th, July 1783 before Jas. Kinkaid."

His daughter Jame was born after this will was written.

Upon the muine page of .Je record is the will of Theodorus Browers, fuuuder of St. Vincent's, and out of which arose the litigation bereafter noted.

Capt. Jeremiah Lochry, brother of Archibald, died on the 21st of Jannary, 1824, at the house of Samuel Moorhead, in Salem township, in the ufuety-third year of his ago.

Having settled in this country at a very early period, ho shared largely in the tolls and hardships and perils to which the ploneers of civilization in the Western country were subjected. He was one of the few who escaped the disastrous scenes of Braddock's defeat. In the year 1777 he acted as adjutant to a detachment of militia who were or- dered to New Jersey from this county, under the command of Col. Lochry, his brother. In this situation his merit as an officer soon at- tracted the attention of his superiors, and in the fall of the same year he was presented with a captain's commission in the regular service. In this capacity he acted during the whole Revolutionary war, being fre- quently engaged with the enemy, and always acquitting himself with honor and advantage to the cause of his country. Shortly after the close of the war, while engaged with a scouting party on the Allegheny River, a ball was fired at him by an Indian, which glanced from the barrel of bis gun and lodged in his neck, and was the cause of an enor- muus tumor that afterwards grew from the wound .*

thirteen miles apart, the other was midway be- tween, and all three within the present limits of Tuscarawas County, Ohio. But unfortunately their situation for friendly tribes was most unfavorable, for they were just about half-way between the border settlements of Pennsylvania on the cast and tribes of ever-warring Delawares and Wyandots of the San- dusky Plains to the west. The whites and Indiane at war with each other not infrequently took the route by the mission stations of the friendly Indiana, and made this place a half-way stopping-house. The enforced hospitality of these Indians, who wanted to be at peace with all, brought upon them the suspic- ions of both the warring whites and warring Indians, and in vain were their kindness and hospitality be- stowed upon all alike. The Indians of the Sandusky in their incursions against the whites charged them with sympathy when they failed to assist them, and the frontier people knowing of the acts of hospitality extended to their deadly enemies by the Moravian Indians, their dishonorable passions were aroused, and they were urged to an ill-timed and unhonorable revenge.

In the year previous, that is to say in the summer of 1780, Col. Brodhead had made a campaign from Wheeling to Coshocton. At that time he marched to the Muskingum a little below Salem, the Moravian town. On coming there, Brodhead sent a messenger to Rev. Heckewelder, informing him of his arrival. The Indians sent the men provisions of their own: free will, and their pastor, Heckewelder, visited the colonel in his camp. At that time an attempt was made by some unprincipled men with the army to fall upon the other towns, but the knowledge of this reaching the colonel he took measures to prevent it, and told the pastor that nothing would give him' greater pain than to hear that any of the Moravians had been molested by his troops.

In the latter part of 1781 the militia of the south- western part of the State, which formerly was, in name, a portion of Westmoreland, but which was now of Washington County, being of the .region about the rivers, where the people had suffered so much, came to the conclusion to break up the Indian Moravian villages. Col. David Williamson was the leader of this party, who, as they asserted, was to induce them to remove, or else to suffer themselves to be brought into Fort Pitt. There were some thus brought safely in, and afterwards sent back to their homes, but most of the people thought at that time the Indians ought to have been killed.

These Indians were, in truth, the most unfortunate of creatures. For they had on many occasions warned the whites by their rumors of projected attacks from hostile Indians to the West. The hostile Indians carrying this to the ears of the British, who under the white renegade Tories had control of them, they had their settlement at Sandusky broken up in the fall of 1781. Their villages were almost totally de-

* From the Gazette, Feb. 6, 1824.

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CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION TO SANDUSKY.

stroyed, and their fields were desolated. Some were sent into the wilderness, some robbed, and some taken prisoners and sent to Detroit. McKee, the British agent, and Girty, it'is said, as all horrible things were charged to them, instigated this as the only way of drawing the Christian Indians into war with the Americans.

But in the early part of the next year .- that is, in February, 1782,-about a hundred and fifty famished and worn-out and heart-sick creatures, longing with the unseen passion for the light, returned from the Sandusky to their homes on the Muskingum.1

During this month some murders had been com- mitted by hostile Indians farther to the south, and the returning of the Moravians was made the pretext for charging them with being the guilty party. Ac- cordingly it'was no trouble to get a crowd to invade their country, and besides it is said that the whites coveted the horses belonging to these men. For this. purpose eighty or ninety men were hastily collected. These were under command of Col. David William- son, of Washington County, and the men were all from that section and from below Pittsburgh. They encamped the first night on the Mingo Bottom, on the west side of the Ohio River, sixty miles below Pittsburgh, and the second night within one mile of the nearest Moravian town.

Then by representing to the Indians, whom they suddenly came upon, that they were their friends and that they had come to take them to the fort from the power of their enemies, and by many other de- ceptive promises and representations, the Christian Indians not doubting them, they got possession of the two towns, and secured the men, women, and children as prisoners. Nor were the suspicions of these aroused until they came upon one who had been mur- dered lying in their way. The captives were con- fined in two houses. As a squad were hunting the fields towards the farthest town a council was held by the chief men. Many proposed their death, but the officers not being willing to take the odium of such an inhuman revenge had the men drawd up in line. The question was put to them "whether to take the prisoners to Pittsburgh or put them to death." All in favor of saving their lives were to stand out in. front of the line. In answer to this question eighteen men came out. The captives were told to prepare for death. Those in the guard-houses on hearing this began singing hymps and praying. To make their offense criminal they were charged with many crimes. They were accused of harboring hostile Indians, and in reply they reminded these of the benefits they had extended to the whites; they were charged with having taken the property of the whites, when they offered to produce everything they had to show that they had taken nothing. They were again told that they had not long to live, when they asked for delay

that they might prepare for death as became men who, in their last moments, talked with their God. This was granted them. The time thus allotted them they spent in prayer and in asking forgiveness of one another, and pardon as became creatures who called on God to pardon them. Kneeling they prayed with each other, and for each other, and kissed in tears their friends, hoping in their simple faith for future peace.

While these were so doing the murderers outside were consulting as to the manner of their death. Some wanted to set fire to the houses, and as they were burning to shoot all who attempted to get away ; others wanted to kill them in such a way as to get their scalps. Those of the whites who were opposed to these things wrung their hands, and called on God to witness that they were guiltless of shedding this innocent blood. Those withdrew to a distance. The others coming up while the Indians were still praying asked them if they were ready.

They were then led out for execution. One of the murderers took up a mallet, and wondered how that would do the business. He began by hitting one on the head, and continued striking those upon their knees till he had killed fourteen. Then, as his arm was tired, he handed the mallet to another, saying that his arm failed, and told him to go on, for he had done pretty well.'

Of all those who were put in the other house only two escaped. These were boys, one of whom was hid in the cellar, where he saw the blood flow down the walls iu streams. The other had been scalped and

* Smucker, " Military Expeditions to the Northwest," and other an- thorities " tuo numerous to mention."

The county lientenant, John Cannon, was along with the expedition, and tradition asserts with the persuasion of truth that the man who brained fourteen Christiane with a cooper's mallet held at the very mo- ment he was doing so three commissions in Washington County, vis : one as commissioner of Washington County, one se sub-lieutenant of the county, and one as justice of the peace for Strabane township, same county. He had held an important commission from Penne, Ivanta in 1776, and he was after the massacre rewarded as sheriff of the county.

The mapine robbers of the middle ages, dying like cormorants or vul- tures, with the blood of victims dripping out of their gorged cheeks, made their peace with the world and with their conscience by donating a large portion of their robberies to pious uses. It is not remarkable in this view of humanity that so many churches and places of learning should be fonnded with such persons about in great number. Certainly no section and no people had more need of the gospel and of the "bu- manities." Therefore it was in good taste that the academy of Cannone- burg took its name from Col. John Cannon. But if ever the father of his country blushed it was in 1781, when he found to what base uses a name may come at last by the attaching of his name, the first in all time, to that new-formed county. But to their honor and a fairer fame, and to the honor of all Western Pennsylvania, the descendants of these men long ago redeemed and relustered a name once tarnished.

The gang having killed and scalped all within reach, and pinndered a friendly camp of Delaware allies of the United States on their way back, crossed the river to Pittsburgh, where, boasting of their deeds, they sold their ill-gotten plunder at public vendue, and then, before returning home, sent Col. Gibson a message that they would "scalp him." He had Incurred their displeasure by showing some evidence that he was « man.

We have recounted this affair at length, actuated more by a sense of Justice to the savages than of reflection upou those who were the actors therein.

1 The Muskingum and Tuscarawas are called so indiscriminately.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

left for dead among the pile of bodies above, but re- covering he escaped in the night. Both of them lived to be of the witnesses to bear testimony of this un- precedented murder. " By the mouth of two witnesses shall all things be established."

Those in the upper and farther town being apprised of danger made their escape. But the house out of which one lot of the prisoners were taken was filled with the dead bodies of old men, women, and chil- dren and set on fire and burnt. When the party of murderers came back to Pittsburgh, even on their way they fell upon a body of friendly Delawares under protection of the government, who were all killed with the exception of a few who escaped to the woods.

It is said that this man Williamson held an office of profit and trust afterwards in Washington County, but that he died in jail as a debtor without a consoling friend.' It is also noteworthy that the men who com- posed this expedition came from that part of the county whose earliest and latest boast has been of their religious and educational advantages, and the in- tellectual superiority of whose early settlers has been held up at the expense of their neighbors.1

An effort was afterwards made by the authorities to ferret out and bring to punishment the leaders in this massacre. The best citizens of Washington County, as Pentecost and Cannon were called, conferred with Gen. Irvine, who writing to William Moore, chief magistrate of the State, said that it was impossible to get any information as to the ringleaders, as they would neither confess nor tell on each other.

After this expedition had returned another one under Col. Crawford started out. But the termina- tion of this one was different. In May, 1782, four hundred and eighty men, finding their own horses, equipments, and clothing, mustered at the old Mingo town on the west side of the Ohio. All of them were from the immediate neighborhood of the country and from the Ten-Mile Creek in Washington. They were volunteers, and first proceeded to select their own officers. Col. William Crawford was declared the leader of the expedition by a majority of five votes over Williamson, who accompanied the party. They marched along the river, passing the destroyed towns. A few houses and some of the corn were still standing. Two Indians were taken out of camp. This was no surprise to the Indian tribes, for they had spies out who reported from the time the party left the river, and knew their number and destination. On the 6th of June they came to the site of the old Moravian towns on the Upper Sandusky. But the dwellers had been driven to the Scioto. The place presented the appearance of desolation; it was over- grown with weeds, and high grass was all around the deserted huts. They continued their march for the towns of the living Indians. The next morning they

entered the Sandusky Plaine. In the afternoon they were attacked by Indians and driven together. The Indians gained possession of small clusters of woods, and the fighting continued till night. Both parties kindled large fires, and retired back of these. The Indians were seen all around them on the Plains the next day, and their numbers seemed to increase. A council was held and the men ordered to return. All the rest of the day preparations were made for a re- treat, and the dried grass was burnt over the slight graves of the buried dead. The retreat was to begin at nightfall, but the Indians becoming apprised of the design, they made an attack about sundown, and directed their attacks from all sides, excepting the side next to Sandusky. When the retreat commenced the guides were therefore compelled to take that direction to get out of the Plains. They passed through an opening in the Indians' line, and circling about gained the trail upon which they had come. The main body, consisting of about three hundred, was not molested in their retreat during the day. They encamped at night in safety, and successfully. accomplished their march back.

But when the retreat had at first been decided upon there was a difference of opinion as to the method of conducting it, some thinking it better to go in a body, others thinking it better to go in de- tached parties. The latter opinion prevailed. In this they were in mistake, for the Indians finding this out, instead of pursuing the stronger body, scattered out over the country to intercept the small parties and cut off the straggled and lost. In this they were suc- cessful, for the only one of these detached bodies that came safely out was one under Col. Williamson, who late in the night after the battle broke through the Indians' line, and with about forty men joined the main body. Col. Crawford remained at the head of this larger party, which was merely what was left of the army itself. After they had gone some distance, he, missing his son, his son-in-law, and his two nephews, imprudently halted till the line had passed, and still not seeing them, called for them without finding them. When the army had gone by, he was unable to overtake it on account of the weariness of his horse. Falling in with Dr. Knight, a surgeon at- tached to the command, and two others, they traveled together all night, first towards the north and then towards the east, directing their courses by the stars. The next day they fell in with two other officers. The following night they encamped, and about noon the next day they struck the trail by which the army had advanced. At this they differed in opinion as to the best course, some of the party thinking it better to go through the woods by unfrequented paths, and Craw- ford and a few others (for the party was six or seven), conjecturing that the pursuit of the main body had been discontinued, were following in the track of the army.

They agreed to do this, but had not proceeded

1 Our account of the Moravian massacre has been collected from many, but in the narrative we have closely followed Duddridge, who himself followed Heckewelder.

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CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE IN 1780-81.

above a mile when several Indians sprang out of the bushes, and presenting their guns at Col. Crawford and Knight, who were in front, ordered them in Eng- lish to stop. These could do nothing but surrender. Capt. Biggs and Lieut. Ashley, and a wounded man on horseback, by this time coming up were also called on, but Biggs fired, and he and his comrades struck for the woods. They were killed the next day, and the only ones of the party who escaped at this time were those in the rear who fled on the first alarm.

Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight, with nine other prisoners, were, on the morning of the 10th of June, conducted by seventeen Indians to the old Sandusky town, about thirty-three miles from where they had first collected. All the prisoners with the exception of the two had been painted black to indicate their doom. Four of these nine were tomahawked and scalped on the way, and the other five, when they ar- rived at the town, were fell upon by boys and squaws who tomahawked them, foregoing the pleasure of their holiday. For the torture these two, however, were reserved.

We shall not narrate the scene of Crawford roasting alive at the stake. You will see it in all the books. Those who have occasion to know by report of the humanity, the tender nature, and the open hospitality of our first presiding justice must ever be moved by pity at his death. For three hours he endured the most excruciating agonies with the utmost fortitude ; then, becoming faint and being almost exhausted, he com- mended his soul to God, and lay down on his face. He was then scalped, and burning coals being laid on his head and back by one of the squaws, he again rose and attempted to walk, but strength failed him, and he sank into the welcome arms of death. His body was then thrown into the fire and consumed to ashes.1

1 In the midst of these sufferings he begged of the infamous Girty to shoot him. Girty replied, " How can I? You see I have no gun," and laughed heartily. During must of the time Girty wat ou a log smoking a pipe.

SIMON GIRTT .- This wretch was so notorious in his day, and did so much harm to this portion, that his "life and services" demaud further notice. Girty-

" The outlawed white man by Ohio's flood, Whose vengeance shamed the Indian's thirst for blood, Whose hellish art surpassed the red man's far,

Whose hate enkindled many a bloody war,

Of which each aged grandame bath a tale

At which man's bosom burns, and childhood's cheeks grow pale-"

was a native of one of the middle counties of Pennsylvania. He was an Iudian trader in 1744, and was first brought into prominence in Dun- more's war as a spy and hunter. Prior to that time he had been druw- ing pay as an Indian agent. From his connection and residence for so long a time among the Indians he got familiar with then, delighted to harangue them, and took peculiar pleasure in their scenes of bloodshed, as it is related. He is said to have embraced the cause of the Revolution on the part of the colonists, but he was soon brought over by Dunmore and Connolly. He went in 1778 boidly and bodily over to the Indians, and was adopted by the Wyandots. His Indian name was Ka-te-pa-ko- men (Bouquet's Journal, 1764, mentions this as Girty's adopted name then). He soon attained great influence over them, and at one time saved Kenton, and at another burnt Crawford. To the frontier whites and the British he went by the assumed name of Simon Butler. He talked the Indian dialect with fluency. He attended the great council held by most of the tribes of the Northwest at Old Chillicothe, celebrated

It is not likely that the description will ever pass away, but for years to come will bear rehearsal to show the customs and barbaric rites of that savage race in the treatment of their enemies taken in war. Crawford's son and son-in-law were also murdered at the towns. It was no wonder that the widow and mother sat for years lonely in the woods by the bank of the Youg- hiogheny in speechless sorrow, for his melancholy sufferings and death spread a gloom over the counte- nances of all who knew him.

Dr. Knight was doomed to the same torture for the pleasure of those at the Shawnee town, which lay many miles distant from Sandusky. He was com- mitted to the care of only a single Indian. In the morning of the first night they were out, the gnats being troublesome, Knight asked the Indian to untie his hands that he might help make a fire to keep the. insects off. The Indian did so and got down on his hands and knees, and was blowing the fire, when Knight struck him on the back of the head with a short half-burnt stick. The Indian rolled over, but springing to his feet, ran off roaring into the woods. Knight snatched the Indian's rifle to shoot at him, but pulling the hammer back too violently he broke the mainspring of the lock. Knight reached Fort McIntosh (Beaver), on the twenty-second day, in the mean time living on berries, roots, and young birds.

Such are instances of the wanton murders, the suf- ferings, and the barbarity on both sides during this inhuman war. The murder of Cornstalk at Point Pleasant was paralleled by the torture of Crawford, and we have of necessity recounted the story of the Mora- vian massacre and the destruction of Gnadenhütten, that we may comprehend its parallel in the death of Peggy Shaw and Brownlee and the burning of Han- nastown.

CHAPTER XXVII. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE IN 1780-81.

Westmoreland County in the Latter Part of the Revolution-Evidences froin the Court Records and from Acts of Assembly-The Militia shifted from Place to Place in expectation of Indian Attacke-The Outposts west of Fort. Pitt abandoned-Extracts from the Correspond- ence of Brodhead, Irvine, and Others bearing on the Affairs of the County.

THE condition of affairs within the county during the latter part of the Revolution and immediately

and often mentioned in the annals of the West. He here in a speech eloquently set forth the advantages of the campaign against the whites, which was soon set on foot against the western frontiers. He headed a portion of the Indian forces that proceeded against Kentucky. His next open battle was at the Pequa towns, where at the head of three hundred warriors he held Clark in check for a time. He led or sent many savage parties against the frontiers of Pennsylvania about this time. His name became dreaded, and at one time horror followed the mention of it. We shall see elsewhere that he had something to do with the destruction of Hannastown. He was with the victors at St. Clair's field, 1791, and at the battle of the Fallen Timbers, 1794. After Wayne's treaty he went to Canada, where he became a trader, and towards the close of his life he gave himself up to intoxicating drinks, and by excesses brought on diseases by which he suffered much before he died.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 33

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

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