USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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treating Confederates began to arrive. In Hagerstown there was much disturbance and several citizens were killed. On July 6, a party of Confederates retreating from Gettysburg encountered some Federal troops in North Potomac street and a skirmish took place. John F. Stemple was killed by a stray bullet. On Monday July 13, a fight took place in the streets between Gen. Fitzpatrick's cavalry and a party of Confederates. Andrew Hegeman, a citizen joined in the fight and was killed. After the Confederate army crossed the Potomac a great number of Pennsylvania Militia encamped near the town. The Washington House and Lyceum Hall were both used as hospitals.
At the college of St. James there was a skirmish on July 7th, be- tween the 9th New York Cavalry and a party of Confederates who advanced from Williamsport. The next day the college was over- run by Confederates and all the supplies taken. The men were nearly famished and were importunate for food. Confederate bat- teries were placed in the college grounds. At noon on July 11 Lieut. Gen. A. P. Hill and Brigadier General Wilcox went to the college to warn Mrs. Porter, the mother of Fitz John Porter, who was matron of the college, to leave at once and urged Dr. Kerfoot to take every woman and child away. They had no doubt a battle would take place. Acting upon this advice, Dr. Kerfoot took his family to Hag- erstown. He was compelled to go by a circuitous route, for two miles of the way was along a line of Confederate sharp shooters. At night the course of the bursting shells could be traced through the air and it was a time of general anxiety. On July 12, Sunday, none of the Hagerstown churches were open and the day was one of fev- erish excitement.
The U. S. Cavalry advanced and drove the Confederates out of Hagerstown and around the town all day there was skirmishing. On July 14, when the people arose early in the morning they found the Confederates had crossed the river and that the Union army was in undisputed possession of Washington County. The second corps of the army of Northern Virginia had forded the Potomac at Williamsport and the First and Third Corps crossed by pontoons at Falling Waters, a few miles lower down. The rain was falling in torrents as they crossed. For hours Gen. Lee sat upon his horse on the river bank watching his army cross. It was 1 P. M. on the 14th, before the last were over and in a rear guard skirmish General Pettigrew, who had supported Pickett at Gettysburg, was killed. And so the Southern army got back upon their own soil, but it left 20,000 men, killed and wounded, behind.
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CHAPTER IX. NOTED BIOGRAPHIES
PATRICK JACK
P ATRICK JACK, better known as Captain Jack, was born in 1730 in Chester County, Penna. His father James Jack, lived first in Scotland but later went to Ireland to escape religious persecution. On leaving Scotland he said his property for a few pounds to an Irish servant by the name of Pat- rick O'Riley with the understanding that when the persecutions of the Protestants should cease the property should be returned. After the persecutions had ended the Jacks returned to Scotland and asked the servant under what conditions he would return the property. His reply was, "If you ever have a son his name must be Patrick Jack." It was hard for them to consent to this because the Scotch people never named anyone Patrick. Finally, however, they agreed and the name has been handed down to the present generation, that is how it was that Captain Jack received his name.
About the year 1730 James Jack and family emigrated to Penn- sylvania. They first settled in Chester County, where Patrick Jack was born, and in 1734 they moved to Cumberland County and settled near Green Spring along the Conodoguinet Creek. Patrick Jack had a dark complexion, so dark that some people mistook him for an Indian. He was six feet in height, and was stern and relentless to his foes.
In 1775 he was the head of a company of hunter rangers. Ex- pert in Indian warfare and clad like their leader in Indian attire, they were therefore proposed to General Braddock by General Armstrong as proper persons to act as scouts, provided they were allowed to dress, march and fight as they pleased. When Gen. Armstrong visit- ed the army one of the first questions he asked General Braddock was, "Have you secured the service of Captain Jack?" General
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Braddock replied, "I have not, he looks too much like an Indian." But after considering the matter he secured the service of Patrick Jack.
The scouts were well armed, and they were equally regardless of heat and cold; they required no pay, no shelter for the night.
Captain Jack became a bitter enemy of the Indians because, on his return from hunting one evening, he found that the Indians had completely destroyed his cabin by fire. From that time he became an Indian hunter and slayer.
When the Revolutionary War began he was among the first to en- list, and afterward enlisted on short terms in various companies.
On the march to Kittanning the scouts of which Jack was leader, were fired upon by the Indians in the mountains at Laurel Hill, but the Indians were soon repulsed by Captain Jack and his men. He then reported to General Braddock that he had driven back the Indians and the way was open for him to advance. The General was not pleased by this and insulted Captain Jack who said to Braddock, "You will be defeated, because you do not know how to fight the Indians." Captain Jack resigned as leader of the scouts and sent his men home, and then he came back to Cumberland County, to his friends and relatives.
In 1760 Captain Jack and his company were at the massacre at Ft. Loudon along the Tennessee river. He was one of the three persons whose lives were spared throngh the kindness of an Indian chief who, when he was asked why he saved the life of Patrick Jack replied, "Because he is a brave man." This Indian chief's name was Little Carpenter. He was half king of the Cherokee nation, "Of over the hills and towns," and he made a grant of land fifteen miles square on the south side of the Tennessee river to Captain Jack.
In the history of Huntington County we frequently find the name of Jack. He and Captain Scroogius were great friends and had many Indian fights in the mountains, one of which is still called Jack's mountain.
Captain Jack accompained Samuel McClay, who surveyed for the Penns the land left them by the Indians. This land then lay in Huntingdon and Mifflin counties but what is now Union county.
The Provincial Congress appointed Captain Jack commander of a regiment in the battle of Brandywine in 1777. If it had not been for him and his regiment, Washington and perhaps his army also might have been captured.
Later General Von Stuben requested Captain Jack to try to pre- vent the advance of the enemy. Captain Jack asked for another regiment and before the battle, made a short address to his men, say-
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ing, "Don't forget the Indian fighting, protect yourselves by trees and make every shot count." Captain Jack not only prevented further advance of the Indians but repulsed them with heavy losses. Gener- al Washington complimented him on the work he had done and urged him to accept a promotion. Captain Jack refused, thinking the serv- ice he had rendered his country was reward enough for him. He spent the remaining days of his life at his home in Cumberland County.
His monument at Chambersburg bears this inscription, " Colonel Patrick Jack, an officer in the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars, died January 25, 1821, age ninety years.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY
In the year 1756 about four miles from Shippensburg, Pa., on the banks of the Conodoguinet in Hopewell township was born Samuel Brady, the hero of western Pennsylvania. When he was young his father removed with his family to the wilds which is now Union County. Here young Brady was trained in all the craft of the back- woodsman. The rifle, the tomahawk and the knife were his constant companions. His life was one of constant adventures; dangers in fields and floods, hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling exploits were af- fairs of almost daily occurrences with him. Magnificant in personal appearance and unfaltering in courage, he had all the virtues of the ideal scout and Indian fighter.
At the outbreak of the Revolution he entered his country's ser- vice. He assisted in driving the British from Boston, and was pres- ent at the battles of Princeton, Paoli and Momouth; where by his coolness and bravery he gained the approbation of his officers.
After the battle of Monmouth where he won the rank of Captain, he was sent to Fort Pitt to check the Indians, whose depredations had excited great alarm. Here was the scene upon which he was to win his chief laurels, and earn a reputation. On his way west he learned of the death of his brother, James, who was murdered by the Indians in 1778. Soon after his arrival at Fort Pitt he learned that his father had fallen at the hands of the Indians. In his grief and rage he swore a solemn oath to avenge these murders and never to be at peace with the Indians of any tribe. To give the history of his adventures would require a volume. On one occassion. while returning to the fort, he left his command to shoot a deer. He had but a single load of ammunition, and that was in his gun. While winding his way through the forest he heard the sounds of horses' hoofs. Concealing himself he waited, and soon saw a tall Indian on horseback, with a white woman and child tied securely behind him. Brady's first im-
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pulse was to fire, but he saw at some distance in the rear a number of other Indians following their chief. He waited until the horse and its riders were directly opposite him. The plumed head of the Indian was hardly ten feet distant, when the triger was pulled and the riders came tumbling from the horse together. As quick as a flash, Brady was beside them. His knife with one stroke severed the cords that bound the captives. Seizing the child, he directed the woman to follow and called to his comrades to come to the rescue, but they had fled. Alone with one charge he made his way to the fort, the Indians being too much taken by surprise to organize a suc- cessful pursuit.
Soon after this adventure Captain Brady was trapping along the Beaver river, near Fort McIntosh (site of the present Borough of Beaver.) He was familiar with this ground and considered himself safe. He was seated on the bank of the stream, when suddenly he was seized about the neck, and his arms were pinioned to his sides. He found himself in the hands of a half dozen bloodthirsty savages, who well knew the character of their capative. To afford other war- riors the opportunity of witnessing the death of their hated foe, they marched him to their village, carefully guarding him. Preparations were made to burn him at the stake. The fire was built, and the captain was surrounded by a crowd of men, women and children, dancing and yelling, and taunting him in every possible way. Never before had he been so completely in the hands of his enemies. But he was all the time watching for an opportunity to escape, and when he saw an old squaw with a pappoose on her back between himself and the fire, he shoved them suddenly into the blaze. While, all sprang to their rescue, Brady knocked over those who stood in his way, and rushed out of the camp. Yell after yell filled the air, and the warriors dashed away in pursuit. The skilled woodsman was too cunning for them, and made his way several days later to the fort, weary and hungry, but unhurt, and ready for another trial of strength or wit with his foes.
Brady's Hill, near Beaver, takes its name from the following ad- venture. Captain Brady had been on a scouting expedition with a small squad of men, to cut off straggling bands of Indians near Ft. McIntosh. For a time everything went well, and the party were con- gratulating themselves upon the accomplishment of the most danger- ous part of their task, when suddenly a band of savages, ambushed by the roadside, poured a deadly volley into their midst, following it up with the tomahawk and knife. Before them every white man fell but one, and that was Capt. Brady. Ever agile and desperate in such encounters, he fought his way through the ranks of the In-
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dians and ran as he never ran before. A hot pursuit was made as his scalp was the most desired of all. Mile after mile the flight was kept up. He was almost exhausted when he reached what is now called Brady's Hill, and came to a large tree overthrown by a storm, with the thick foliage still clinging to its branches. He decided to hide himself in this tree top. To throw the Indians off his track, he ran past the spot for some distance, and then retraced his steps with his back to the tree. He had hardly concealed himself when three Indians came up, puffing and blowing. They were men of great endurance, as was shown by the fact that they alone had not abandoned the race in which the pace was set by the renowned Capt. Brady. They leaped over the trunk of the tree and rushed on, following the trail, but suddenly they stopped. The trail ended. They were ready to believe anything, as Brady had escaped them so often that there existed among them a superstitious belief in his ability to disappear at any time or place. They returned to the fallen tree for council, and seated themselves on the trunk. The three were in line, when from the branches came a flash and a report, and they fell to the ground. Brady with a cry of triumph, sprang from his place of concealment and rushed upon them. One was shot through the heart, the others were only stunned, but before they could recover their wits the Scout's tomahawk completed his victory.
When Gen. Wayne arrived at Pittsburgh in 1792, he gave Captain Brady command of all the scouts then in the employment of the government. The Captain so disposed them that they put a stop to the Indian raids.
He continued in command of these scouts until the time of his death, Christmas day 1795. Never was a man more devoted to his country and very few have given more important services.
MOLLIE OF MONMOUTH
In the old cemetery at Carlisle, Cumberland County, is the grave of Mollie Pitcher, the heroine of the battle of Monmouth. Over the grave citizens of the country have erected a monument in memory of the woman they honored, not only for what she did at Monmouth, but also for her kind heart. Her father, John Ludwig, came from Germany to Lancaster County, where Mollie was born about the middle of the 18th century. Before the beginning of the war with England, Mollie was employed as a servant in the family of William Irvine, of Carlisle, who was most active in the war and rose to the grade of general.
In 1769 she married John Hays who enlisted at the outbreak of
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hostilities in Captain Francis Proctor's Independent Artillery Com- pany. Mollie went to war with her husband, and when his enlistment in the artillery expired , in December 1776, she had something to do with having him enlisted in the seventh Pennsylvania Regiment of the line, commanded by her former master, William Irvine. This enlist- ment dates from January, 1777, so that the confederates lost no time in looking about for something to do for the patriot cause.
Mollie was with her husband not only to work about the camp, cooking and mending, but she went with him to the field of battle to carry water to the soldiers and to care for the wounded. Thus she knew the duties of a soldier, and had the ability, and courage to do what she did at Monmouth. The day of the battle, June 28, 1778, was very hot, and many of the soldiers died from the heat. Mollie de- voted herself to carrying water to her husband and other soldiers. Her husband belonged to the infantry, but an artillery man was needed, and he took the place because of his experience with Proctor's Artillery in 1776.
So it happened that the soldiers with whom they served did not know the names of their comrades, but as Mollie made her trips back and forth to bring water from the spring, they heard her hus- band call Mollie and they called her Mollie with the pitcher and soon this became Mollie Pitcher, the name she has taken in history. While returning from one of her trips to the spring she saw her husband fall wounded, and heard the officer in charge of the battery direct the cannon be taken back out of the way. All the soldier in her flashed in her eyes as she called to the officer not to send the gun away but to let her serve it. She scarcely waited to hear the answer, but sprang to the cannon and with much skill, began to load and fire it. After the battle the commander in chief, General Washington, complemented her personally upon her conduct and had her placed on half pay for life as a sergeant. Her husband, John Hays, died soon after the close of the war, and Mollie married George McCauley. It was under this name she received an annuity from her native State dating from Feb. 21, 1822, for her services during the Revolu- tionary War. Mollie died at Carlisle in 1832, the date upon her monument, 1833, not being correct as is shown by the files of the Carlisle Herald and American Volunteer for Jan. 1832, which gave an account of her death and the incident at Monmouth which made her famous.
In person she was large and robust; she had a vast fund of good nature in early life but when she grow old she became very cross and all parents had to say to their children when they would play in the streets too long in the evening was : "Be in before dark
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or Mollie will catch you." Some accounts of the battle of Monmouth, say that Mollie's husband was killed there, but this is not correct, and probably comes from confusing the history of Mollie Pitcher with that of Margaret Corbin, who served a cannon at Ft. Wash- ington, as Mollie did at Monmouth. In the minutes of the supreme executive Council, June 29, 1779, it is recorded "that the case of Margaret Corbin, who was wounded and utterly disabled at Ft .. Washington, where she heroically filled the post of her husband, who was killed by her side, serving a piece of artillery, be recommended to a further consideration of the Board of War, this council being of the opinion that not withstanding the compensation allowed her, she is not provided for as her helpless situation really requires." A few days later in July of the same year, we have the first acknowl- edgement of her services by congress, which unanimously granted her one-half the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in the services of these states.
The name of Margaret Corbin is found on the rolls of a Regiment of Pennsylvania, commanded by Col. Lewis Nicola when he was discharged in 1783. She as well as Mollie Pitcher, was a Pennsylvanian. She was born in Franklin County, where she lived after the war until the time of her death, about the year 1800.
COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET
In the year of 1765 Colonel Henry Bouquet was given a tract of land, 4163 acres, by Lord Baltimore which he named "Long Mea- dows Enlarged." This he intended for his future home but death came before his plans were carried out. The owner of this great tract was a remarkable character. He was born in 1719 at Rolle, a small town on the northern bank of lake Geneva in Switzerland. In 1736 he entered the military service of the Dutch Republic, shortly afterwards he served as a petty officer in the army of the King of Salerno, (Italy), and distinguished himself in the war with France. In 1756, the year after Braddock's defeat, Henry Bouquet sailed for America, and obtained a commission as Colonel in the Royal ser- vice. His command was composed of Swiss settlers of Hagerstown and Cumberland Valley, most of whom could not understand the English language. He was conspicuous in the campaigns around Fort Duquesne and he opened the road and, established the route through Western Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh. In his expidition against the Indians in 1764 Colonel Bouquet had in his command two companies of Maryland troops mostly volunteers from Washington County. After peace was established Bouquet determined to settle
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down in the colonies and at that time he was naturalized in Penn- sylvania, two years before, having received his grant of "Long Meadows Enlarged," from Lord Baltimore. This great tract had now a saw mill, a tan yard and a number of houses. But the same year he received from the King a commission as Brigadier General and was ordered to Pensacola, when immediately upon his arrival he was smitten with yellow fever and died. His fine tract of land was sold.
ROBERT HUNTER
Among the famous schools of this section was the old log school at Middle Spring, whose famous teacher was Robert Hunter. He was very popular in his community and church. I have heard often that he would preach for Dr. Cooper and Mr. Blair and was con- sidered by many people superior to these good men in pulpit oratory.
Mr. Hunter came to this country from Donegal Ireland, was brought up and educated in Glasgow and Edinburgh and was really educated for the ministry but was never regulary ordained because he was given over to intemperance at times, nevertheless he was a splendid scholar and teacher. His school stood near the stream of water running through Middle Spring and on the play ground just below Mr. Asper's home.
Here the McClay and Pomeroy boys and many others began their education. Mr. Hunter came in the year 1782 and after him came his brother William Hunter who was a carpenter and chair maker. £ He lived in Lurgan township, near Mowersville. While Robert Hunter taught in the winter he boarded among his patrons, but while not engaged in school work he helped his brother make chairs. Robert Hunter was a bachelor and did not get along very well with some of the maids. There was one in particular that was antagonistic to him and many a fight was theirs, but providence decreed, that in death they were not to be divided, for to the amuse- ment of many of their friends they lie side by side in the grave yard behind the church at old Middle Spring since 1827,
JAMES WILSON
James Wilson was a Scotchman, educated at Glasgow, St. An- drew's and Edinburgh Universities. He emigrated to America, and after practicing law at Reading, appeared in public life as a dele- gate from Cumberland county to the convention that met in Phila -. delphia to concert measures preparatory to the First Continental Congress. He retained his residence in Carlisle till 1777, when he
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removed to Annapolis, Maryland, and the next year finally settled in Philadelphia. He was prominent in the discussions preceding the Revolution, was several times a delegate in Congress, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence who also sat in the Constitutional Convention in 1787. In 1789 he was appointed one of the first associate justices of the Supreme Court, and was at the same time a law professor in the University of Pennsylvania. Wil- son's fame rests chiefly in the fact that of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, he was the best prepared, by his knowledge of history and the science of government, for the work that was to be done. None spoke more to the point and none, ex- cepting Gouverneur Morris and Madison, was so often on his feet. He died in North Carolina while on his judicial circuit, and was buried there.
THE JEFFRIES FAMILY
In the Lutheran graveyard at St. Thomas we have a stone erect- ed to the memory of the Jefferies who took a very active part in the wars of this country, especially the Revolutionary War, at Brandy- wine and Germantown. Colonel Dixon of the Civil War, a descen- dant of the family, now lives in St. Thomas.
CAPTAIN COOK
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1859, Cook was arrested near Quincy, in Franklin County, Penna., by Daniel Logan and Clagett Fitzhugh, former citizens of Washington County, Maryland. Cook with three others of Brown's gang had been left to guard the Kennedy house and its contents while Brown was away at Harpers Ferry.
Leaving his charge, he also went to Harpers Ferry and there found Brown besieged in the engine house. He then returned to the Maryland side, and after firing a few shots across the river took to the mountains following them until he came to the Mt. Alto Iron Works. He had traveled by night and remained in hiding all day, suffering greatly from exposure and want of food. When he arrived in the vicinity of Mt. Alto he had been fasting for 61 hours. He went to the furnace for something to eat. There he met Mr. Fitzhugh and asked him to sell him some bacon for himself and some companions who were camping in the mountains. A reward of fifteen hundred dollars had been offered for the capture of Cook. He was accurately described, and Fitzhugh at once suspected that the fugaitive was in his presence. He thereupon told him bacon could be had at Mr. Logan's house, and they all went there together. Fitzhugh whisp- ered his suspecion to Logan who was a powerful man, and the latter
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