History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 48

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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"So I have still to Keep out some men to Guard, Whitch is Very Dis- tressing to Our County to Guard It self and Stand As a Barrier for the Interior Parts of the State when we Were Always Willing to give Our Assistance when required In the time of the Late War With England our Militia Marched the State of the Jersey to Assist Our fellow

1 Pa. Arch., Second Series, iv. 672 ..

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Citiseas when In distress, And I would be Of the Opinion We have the Same Undoubted Right from these of Our Own State At least."1

Under the act to provide for the immediate defense of the frontier, the general militia law in some re- spects was suspended, and instead of drafting in classes from the militia, experienced and active rifle- men, wherever they could be obtained, were enlisted, and the officers to command them were appointed immediately by the Governor. They were enlisted for six months instead of two, and the pay was liber- ally estimated by the price of labor, and not by the military allowance established for the troops of the Federal government as theretofore.

The time of this service began on the 1st of March, 1772. Three companies of these ranging riflemen were engaged, each company consisting of seventy- six men. Of these the third company was stationed at Kittanning, and was under the inspection and man- agement of Col. Clement Biddle. John Guthrie was captain, William Cooper, lieutenant, Samuel Murphy, ensign, all of Westmoreland.

Maj. George mcCully, in a letter to Col. Biddle, dated at Greensburg, 81st of March, 1792, says,-

"Capt. Paul, with a beautiful company, marched from Pittsburgh ce Wednesday, the 28th, to cover the southwest frontier of Washington County.

"Capt. Smith with his company (wanting dix privates) are over the Alleganey, scouting with so many as are armed. I cannot send them to their stations until the camp equipage arrives. Enciga Murphy marched on Thursday, 29th, with twenty-eight men of Capt. Guthrie's company, completely armed, to join some who had been sent out before to cover the frontiers of Westmoreland County.

" I am now at Greensburg, on my way to the frontiers of Westmore- land, and shall hurry Capt. Guthrie out with the remainder of his com- pany, with all possible haste."

In the summer of 1792 these troops, regularly offi- cered and under the appointment of the State, were divided into eight parties or stations, and placed at proper distances on the frontier. A garrison was kept up at Fort Crawford, at the mouth of Puckety Creek, and part of Capt. Guthrie's men were there.

In May a party of Indians, about forty in number, attacked Reed's Station, on the Allegheny River; about four miles below the Kiskiminetas. They killed one man and a child, wounded a soldier of McCully's corps, and took a woman and some chil- dren prisoners. Ensign Murphy was stationed near that spot.'

On the 22d of May a party came upon William Cooper's station, near the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and attacked it. They killed one man and wounded one. They did not stay any longer than to take or murder a family within about three hundred yards of the block-house. They then penetrated into the set- tlement about fifteen miles and killed, wounded, and took prisoners about eleven persons, took about thirty horses, and. burned a number of houses. They stayed in the settlement five or six days.'

1 Penn. Arch., Second Series, iv. 689.

" Presley Neville to Governor Mifflin .- Archives, iv. 720.

" Col. Campbell to Governor Mimin.

It was in this raid that the Harbison family were taken. These Indians kept the course of the Kis- kiminetas, separating into small squads of five and seven. Many narrow escapes were made from them. At one plantation as far up as above the mouth of the Loyalhanna, they went boldly to the stable and fields and took out horses, killing one which proved unruly, and took off the rest without disturbing the family, who were trembling within."

William Findley, in a letter to Secretary Dallas at that time, says,-

"Hassestowa is now the freatier, and they have erected bock-houses at Gresasburg. Denison's (Now Alexandria) is the frontier. You will perceive by the map that Westmoreland is now desolate to near the centre, and the rest mech dietarted."

In a letter of a few days later date, he says that

"Cel. Pomeroy, one of the best and trustiest odloers on this side of the monatein, is now out with siz companies of militia. The Indians have improved in the art of cluding parsuit; they always coperate after doing misohier, and go two-and-two in every direction, keeping feeer- ally to the dry ridges, and at this cesson the woods are very close, and the country is very broken. A few mornings since the beds of two were found in a meadow neer Loyalhsane, the dow not being off; they were trailed to a dry ridge. I am just now informed that a child is found coniped and a number of horses missing aiz or eight miles within the settlement, north of Conemangh."

Enough has been produced from the records and from responsible individuals to make a presentation of the times to the reader. These things occurred be- tween the time of St. Clair's defeat and the successful expedition of Gen. Wayne. The government of the United States, with the co-operation and assistance of the militia forces of Kentucky and the Northwest- ern Territory, were busily arranging for this campaign, and when Wayne began his operations the Indians,

partly through necessity and partly by the concen- trated and well-organized force which danger had succeeded in establishing and made effectual, were compelled to desert the borders of Pennsylvania, and gather to the villages of the confederate tribes in Northern Ohio. After Wayne's victory they were heard of no more in Westmoreland.

Here belongs a few narratives, the last of the "ad- venturous age" of American history, with which we close the individual incidents of Indian warfare with our settlers of Westmoreland.

About the year 1792 a party of Cornplanters which had penetrated into the settlement past the outposts while most of the frontiersmen were out and had left their homes unguarded, came down as far as the lower part of Derry township next to the Loyalhanna. It was long currently reported in that neighborhood among the descendants of the old settlers that this party first came to a man by the name of Cleckhorn ; that Cleckhorn, in order to save his own life, told them of the defenseless family of Mitchell; that he saved his life by so doing ; and that afterwards, when this thing came to be known to the others, he lived a miserable life amongst them, and finally was com-

4 William Findley to Secretary Dallas, June 1, 1792.

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pelled to sell his place and remove from there to the West, where he died. We pass over this charge and will relate what is known as a matter of fact concern- ing the escape of Susan Mitchell, the captivity of Charles, and the death of their mother.

The Mitchell family lived on the bank of the Loy- alhanna, neighbors to Capt. John Sloan and the Al- lisons. Their clearing was about two miles east of now Latrobe, and on the Ligonier Valley Railroad. The family were among the first settlers, having taken up their land before 1773. The father of the house was dead, and the mother with her two children still .lived on the farm. On the morning the party of In- dians came in the boy and girl were in the stable- loft together. The Indians were attracted to them, but the young ones somehow had knowledge of their coming soon, after they were in sight, for the boy at- tempted to escape. He ran from the stable towards the creek in order to'cross it. The lad was about sev- enteen years of age. The Indians, of whom there were possibly three or four, all ran after him and caught him. While they were in pursuit of him Susan, the sister, who remained in the stable, came down out of the loft, got into the horse-stall, and hid herself by crawling under a large trough used for feeding the horses in. She lay very still, and although the Indians searched for her they did not find her. They went to the house where Mrs. Mitchell was and took her along. .

They began their journey back, such being their way when a party like this one had secured a couple of prisoners or scalps at a dash. They had not trav- eled any great distance and before night set in until they found that Mrs. Mitchell was unable to keep up with them, and scarcely fit to travel in their way at all over the rough ground. They could not leave her alive, that was plain ; so a couple of them fell back with her, and the rest went on with Charles. The party ahead soon after this stopped for the evening and kindled a fire. While they were here the others who had loitered behind came up, and one of them had with him the scalp of the murdered woman. He proceeded to stretch it out on a bow made for the pur- pose, and to dry it over the fire in the presence of the boy, but without discovering any sign of concern. The party together proceeded northward, and nothing worthy of notice occurred till they came to the Ma- honing Creek in Armstrong County, where they struck the tracks of two white men at where their course led across a low, wet swampy piece of ground. The tracks of the men before them led off to one side on a ridge. Charles Mitchell and the Indian who was with him saw the two men at a distance, and the boy recognized them. The one was Capt. John Sloan, and the other was Harry Hill, both of them from the same neigh- borhood he was from. There was at the time light, sticky snow on the ground, and Capt. Sloan, who was a large man, left a big track with his moccasins. It was, indeed, so big that it was a matter of astonish-

ment for the natives. One of them pulled out his ramrod and measured it in length and in width, and when he had done so he exclaimed, with a broad grin on his heroic countenance, "Great sawarick ! great sa- warick !" by which we suppose he meant something like " great warrior." "Yes," said Mitchell, " that is the big Capt. Sloan, the great Indian-fighter." The crafty and cowardly wretches were by this prevented from making an attempt to capture these or to fight with them, for they avoided the tracks and did not follow them along the hillside. When Sloan and Hill themselves came down off the ridge to the river, they in their turn came upon the tracks of the party which preceded them, and saw among them the tracks of the white boy, their prisoner. They talked over the prospect of success if they should get to the front of the gang and waylay them, as they were unsus- pected. They would have attempted this had it been only a matter of safety to themselves, but they were apprehensive of the fate of the captive should their . attack be unsuccessful.

Mitchell was taken to the town of the Cornplanters, and was adopted among them by a squaw, who took him in place of her son lost in the war. This woman he called mother, and following their customs from necessity, he obeyed her. He remained with them and subject to her order for some three years. He helped the squaws to do their work, which specially was to hoe the corn and gather it in. He afterwards com- plained that they sometimes worked too late, fre- quently after nightfall ; and although they all did so, his adopted mother always made him hoe one more row before he quit. At the end of his three years' ap- prenticeship he was either exchanged or liberated, when he returned to his home, settled on the old farm, married, and raised a respectable family. Although he endured great hardships and saw many horrid things among them, and especially the dreadful death of his mother, which never possibly could have passed from his mind, yet he, like Harman, could never be pre- vailed upon to speak ill-favoredly of them, nor could he tolerate any one else in so doing.1

The captivity and the incidental sufferings of Massy Harbison, who was taken prisoner after St. Clair's defeat, and who resided at that time within the county, was so popular with those who danced our infancy upon their knees that almost every one versed in the Indian lore of the West recollects some- thing of it. Some information regarding the condi- tion of the outer settlers, the location and the instincts of the Indians who infested our northern woods at that time, may be gotten from her account, which we have elsewhere given.

1 Mitchell used to relate, among other things, of the novel manner the Indians had of crossing the Susquehanna when they came to it and found it uncomfortably or dangerously high. They got a long pole or sapling, and this they reated upon their shoulders and held to it with their bands. Two of their trongest, and presumably their surest-footed. were at the two ends ; d it is readily seen that the common misty would thus be reasonably ssured.

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To this time, too, are referable some instances of murders and captivities in Ligonier Valley, and in the region of the Black Lick, in Indians County, pro- served among their lares and penates.

As applicable at this place we may bring in the adventures of some Westmorelanders in the far West. Both instances show of what mettle the men were of, and both instances are as fully authentic as the best attested ones of their class.

In the fall of 1795, Capt. John Sloan, his nephew, John Wallace, and two others, named Hunt and Knott, all hardy young men and fond of adventure, formed themselves into a company to explore part of the western country, and to make a tour of observa- tion. They were neighbors, as it went then, and lived near the Loyalhanna, in Derry township. They set out after some preparation, taking with them two horses and some provisions; and when their store of provisions became lighter, they walked and rode time about. They had a strong desire to see the Miami country, of whi-" there was so much talk, and want direct for Fort Washington, the site of Cincinnati. That region from this point was a journey of some days farther to the northwest. They proceeded, however, and encamped at night on the banks of the Big Mau- mee. The next morning they continued on. As they took their turn at riding, it was now Knott and Sloan's time to ride. These were upon the horses when they were fired upon by a large party of Indians who were hid in the path. Knott fell from his horse dead. Sloan was shot through the left side, a ball also going through his shot-pouch. Hunt and Wallace ran for their lives, but Hunt was taken by them without get- ting off. Wallace was pursued by the pack, but he kept ahead of them till, running at full speed, he tripped on a root and fell headlong, when his gun slipped from his grasp. Sloan had secured the horse from which Knott fell, and notwithstanding his severe wound, still kept upon his own. When Wal- lace regained his feet he called to his uncle not to leave him. Sloan waited on him. When he came up he tried to get up on the horse's back, but was so exhausted that he fell back. His uncle, Sloan, then took his gun, and holding it and the horse's head, waited till Wallace climbed up. By this the Indians were close upon them. The horses under the excitement galloped off on the trail, and soon left the Indians behind. Then, after they were on their way, Sloan, "like another Lancelot," noticed the blood trickling from his wound down his horse's side. They headed for Fort Washington, which they wished by all means to reach, but they knew of Fort Hamil- ton, which was somewhat off their way, but between them and the former. Besides this, Sloan said they felt in duty bound to stop there and warn the garri- son. They directed their way thither, and in no long time entered this fort. There they stayed that night and related their adventure.

But they were especially anxious to get to Fort

Washington, where medical assistance could be ob- tained for Sloan. The next morning they were to start, but on opening the gates they saw that the fort was surrounded by Indians. There were said to be many hundreds of them there. At that time there was but a very small and inefficient garrison at this post, there being in all only twenty men, women, and children, while their commandant was a young and inexperienced oficer. The Indians, knowing the feeble state of the garrison, and presuming that no defense could be successfully made, demanded their surrender. The officer in command maid to Sloan that he could not hold the fort, and told Sloan that if he thought he could make a defense to take command and do what he thought best.

Sloan then, having thus been empowered to talk on the subject, went up to the top of the fort and engaged in a conversation with their leader. He talked by the medium of an interpreter. Close beside the interpre- ter stood Hunt, the companion of Sloan, who had been taken the day before, and he, too, pleaded with Sloan to give up the fort, for the reason understood that if the Indians did not accomplish their object their prisoner would be tortured. But Sloan told them a nice story of how they had plenty of provisions and ammunition, and how they would soon have a rein- forcement to join them, assuring them at the end that they did not propose to surrender at all, but to fight. Then he stepped down.

The next moment they all fired, and the Indians set up their war-whoop, a sign of no quarter. The firing continued all day, but without any effect, for the Indians kept at a good distance, and the whites were well protected. At night an attempt was made to fire the fort, but it was not successful. There was a stable at some distance, where the horses were kept and near which the cattle were fed. During the siege an Indian took Sloan's horse from here, and putting on his head the cocked hat which Sloan had lost the day before he mode in a circle around the fort far enough away to be out of danger, and when the Indians went off they took all the horses with them, and what cattle they had not killed and eaten they shot and left lying.

During the fight an Indian got pretty close to the fort by keeping under the shelter of a corn-crib, where, remaining under cover, he kept up a vigorous fire when- ever he saw anything to shoot at. Sloan watched this one attentively. He himself had taken a posi- tion near a port-hole, and as his side was troublesome he had a man to load the gun and pass it to him as he needed it. It was at length apparent that the In- dian wanted to retire. To accomplish this he pushed betimes the muzzle of his gun beyond the covering, that some one expecting him to show himself would fire at him. Sloan fired ; the Indian, as it was ex- pected he would, jumped out, but by this time Sloan had his other gun ready which he also fired, when the Indian fell over dead. This one was too close to the fort to be taken away by the rest, and he was left

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lying there. All the hostiles finally withdrew, either fearful of reinforcements coming up from the other posts or led away with some other object in view. When they had gone Capt. Sloan went to the Indian whom he had shot, and finding in his belt a scalping- knife he lifted the Indian's scalp. His hair was strung full of beads. Hunt, their companion, was never heard of. Sloan and Wallace, after remaining at Fort Washington, whither they went, for a time, returned home.1

PRESQUE ISLE.

On the 28th of February, 1794, the Legislature passed an act for raising soldiers for the defense of the river Delaware and of the western frontiers. At the same time efforts were made towards the laying out of a town at Presque Isle, in order to facilitate and promote the settlement with the commonwealth, and to afford additional security to the frontiers.

Prior to this Governor Mifflin had sent to Capt. Ebenezer Denny a commission, giving him the com- mand of the Allegheny company ordered to protect William Irvine, Andrew Ellicott, and Albert Galla- tin, who had been appointed commissioners to lay out the town ; for the same object a post had been es- tablished at Le Bœuf. But the English were fixed in their opposition to the opening of the road to Presque Isle, and instigated the Indians to resist the attempt.

On the 24th of May, Governor Mifflin applied to the President to order out one thousand militia from the western brigades, raised for the frontier defense, to support the commissioners who were authorized to lay out the towns. The brigade inspectors of West- moreland, Washington, Allegheny, and. Fayette ac- cordingly made a draft for that number to co-operate with Capt. Denny's detachment under command of Gen. Wilkins.

Although active preparations were made for carry- ing out the intentions of the Legislature, an act was subsequently passed to suspend the laying out of a town at Presque Isle, and it was not until the 18th of April, 1795, that all difficulties removed, the same body authorized the laying out of the towns at Le Bœuf, at the mouth of the Conewago Creek, at the mouth of the French Creek, and at Presque Isle.

The Indians having taken up the hatchet again, made some dashes upon the exposed settlers along the rivers. We have in the notes attached given sufficient data for this matter, and need not further advert to the subject here.2

1 This is from the account given by Capt. Sloan's son, John Sloan, Jr., to Rev. Sharrad, of Steubenville, Ohio, in 1871. Capt. Sloan did not re- main in the West, but came back, and was subsequently elected sheriff of this county. He suffered from his wound till he died. He produced this sculp on many public occasions, and I have seen persons who saw it on such occasions. (See local history of Derry township.)

2 Charles Campbell to Governor Mifflin.

" GREENSBURG, June 5, 1794.

" SIR,-I Received your Letter of the 24th of May, in Regards of stop- ping of the draught for the Support of Presqu'Isle Station, whitch

These Indian troubles were the last in which the frontier settlers of our county were engaged; and these were borne mostly by those along our northern line, or of that part which is of Armstrong and North- ern Indiana. Along the Ohio below Pittsburgh, and along the Allegheny County line, the people in this

seemeth mutch to alarm the froonteers of our county, as it discovers to the Indians that we are not able to Maintain that Post. The thirtieth of May the Indians fired on A Cannoe in the Allegany River between the Mouth of Kiscumenitus River and the Cattanian : Killed one man and wounded Two. The evening of the same day, they fired on A Boat that Left my Place to go to Keaintuckey, about Two Miles Below the falls of the Kiscumenitus, Killed three Persons and wounded one, whitch was all the men that was in the Bout. The Boat then Drifted Down the River till About Twelve Miles above Pittsburgh with the wounded man and the women and Children, when they were seen By some Persons who went to their assistance, and Took the Boat to Pittsburgh. The froon- teers seemed to be Mutch Allarmed at Sutch unexpected News and the Signs of Indians seen on the froonteers. I Consulted with General Jack, and we Agreed to Order Captain Elliot, of the Rifle Company, on the froonteers, until Sutch Times as I could get An Account from you, to Know if would meet with your aprebation, as it will Be Impossible to keep the froonteers from Breaking unless Being well suported; and if once the one that now makes the Stand Breakes, I Believe it will be Hard to get Any other to stand as well, as it will give so much En- couragement to the enemy, ast it Cannot Be Expected that the friend- ship of the Six Nations will now be Confided in. I Could wish to do Everything in my power for the Benefit of the Publick and the safety of the froonteers. I Remain your Obedient Humble Serv't,

" CHAS. CAMPBELL."

Gen. William Jack to Governor Mifflin.

"GREEN: BURG, June 6, 1794.

"SIR,-I beg leave to lay before you a statement of the information I nave received of the hostile disposition manifested by the Indians on our Frontiers.

"On Friday last, in the morning of the same day, a canoe was fired on above the mouth of Kiskiminetas, in the Allegheny River, by which one man was killed and two wounded. On the same day, in the even- ing, Capt. Sharp's Boat was attacked in the Kiskeminetas River, near to Chamber's Station (having just set off for Kentucky), by a party of Indians, supposed to be twelve in number. There was but three men and one boy with the boat when Attacked, and the savages kept up a constant fire on the boat while she kept drifting down the river. It appears that one man and a boy was killed, one made his escape, and Capt. Sharp supposed to be mortally wounded. The boat, with some women and a number of children, miraculously got to Pittsburgh. By a letter just received from Colonel Charles Campbell, he informs me that the Spies had made a discovery of a large trail of Indians on Pine Creek, above the Kittanning, who appear'd by the track to be making for the settlement. By another discovery of the Spies, it appears that three Canoes, with six or seven Indians in each, has crossed the Allegheny River at the mouth of Puckety, in consequence of which the settlement of Pine Run is broken up, And a very general alarm excited on the frontiers.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 48

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

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