USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania > Part 2
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On December 31, 1764, a large number of the restored pris- oners were brought to Carlisle and Colonel Bouquet advertised for those who had lost children to come there and look for them. Among those that came was an old woman, Mrs. Hartman, whose child, a girl of tender years, had been taken from her several years before, but she was unable to designate her daughter, or to con- verse with the released captives. With breaking heart, the old wo-
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man lamented to Colonel Bouquet her hopeless lot, telling him how she used to sing to her daughter a hymn of which her daughter was so fond. She was requested to sing it now, by the Colonel, which she did in these words :
"Alone, yet not alone am I, Though in this solitude so drear; I feel my Savior always nigh, He comes my dreary hours to cheer; I am with him, and he with me, Thus cannot solitary be."
Before the stanza was completely sung, the long lost Regina rushed into the arms of her mother.
Between the years of 1752 and 1764 many massacres occurred in the vicinity of Shippensburg, the oldest town in the valley. In the year 1763, the year of the terrible invasion of the valley, when houses, barns, hay, corn in the entire valley was set on fire, many settlers fled to Shippensburg for safety, 1,400 at one time. Thomas Pomeroy, one of the earliest settlers of Lurgan township, settled near Roxbury. His early ancestors came from Paris to Liverpool during the massacre of the Huguenots. From Liverpool he came to Philadelphia and then into the North Valley. In July 1763, Mr. Pomeroy left his home to hunt deer near the base of the North Mountain. He was away for several hours and upon his return he found his wife, two children, and their domestic, Mrs. Johnson, tomahawked. When he examined the bodies he found that Mrs. Johnson still showed signs of life although her scalp had been re- moved. He immediately summoned medical aid from Shippensburg and this woman recovered and lived many years without a scalp.
Many stories have been told of the narrow escape of some of the women living on the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek. There was a large stockade on the old Maclay farm near this creek, which was a refuge to many in these troublous times. At this time when the valley was overrun by Indians, a great grandmother to several families now living in this vicinity, being pursued by Indians when the spring floods were roaring in the creek, jumped on an unbroken colt, with baby in front and a little child behind her, made her way to Shippensburg to safety. Shippensburg had two forts, the history of which will be found in another chapter, but at this time during the years 1763 and 1764 the forts were not very well defended nor were they large enough for the great number of white settlers. On the 19th of March 1764 the Indians carried off five people within nine miles of Shippensburg, and shot one man by the name of John
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Cesna in the old orchard by the road on the farm now owned by Mrs. Alfred Aughinbaugh. After this massacre in the orchard, the Indians, supposed to be eleven in number, were pursued and over- taken by one hundred provincials. The homes of John Stuart, Adam Simms, James McCammon, William Baird, James Kelly, Stephen Calwell and John Boyd, were burned. These people lost all their grain, which they had threshed with the intention to send it for safety further down the valley. During these years many a man saved his life by being fleet of foot. A story is told of a man who ran from Strasburg to Shippensburg, a distance of eight or nine miles, outrunning the Indian and gaining Shippensburg in safety. A little before the French and Indian war a man by the name of Ken- nedy, living near Welsh Run, had a very narrow escape. He went out in search of his two horses that were pasturing near his home. He was run down by an Indian and in order to escape he ran into the water and hid in the branches of a tree that had been caught in an old flood gate. The Indian searched round him several times but did not discover him, the water throwing him off the trail.
Chambersburg was little molested by the Indians, due, perhaps, to its founder and the splendid fort he erected on the banks of the Conococheague guarded by four cannon sent him by the British Government.
The most noted of all the massacres of the valley at this period was the Conococheague massacre. I quote from a carefully written narrative by Professor S. H. Eby, at one time superintendent of the schools of Franklin county :
"At this date (1764) settlements were started at various places in the county, principally adjacent to the Conococheague creek. The first settlers of this county experienced all the priva- tions incident to frontier life. During the French and Indian war they were in constant peril, being exposed to the merciless treat- ment of the Indian war parties, who were almost constantly maraud- ing some portion of the frontier, destroying and desolating all property within their reach, surprising and murdering the inhabit- ants, in a most cruel manner, and at other times abducting and sub- jecting them to the most inhuman treatment.
The following incident is only one of the many atrocious acts committed by these savages upon the early settlers. The region in which it occurred was then in Cumberland county, (now Frank- lin), about three miles north of Greencastle, and ten miles south- west of Chambersburg. This foul murder of a teacher and all his pupils, with one exception, was perpetrated by the Indians on the morning of the 26th of July, A. D., 1764. Enoch Brown was the
ENOCH BROWN MONUMENT.
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school teacher of the settlement. He is said to have been a man of liberal culture, particularly noted and respected for his truthfulness, integrity, and christian character; in short, he was an exemplary. teacher of his day. On the morning above named, as usual, he pro- ceeded to the log school house, which was a structure of the rudest character, opened it, and doubtless performed the various duties at- tendant upon a teacher to put things generally in readiness for the opening of the school. Tradition says that on the above named morning the children were generally loath to go to school, even those that were particularly fond of going at other times disliked very much to start on that day. One boy, determined he would not go, but that he would loiter in the woods until evening, and then re- turn to his home, leaving his parents under the impression that he had been at school. This boy, though detected of his truancy, es- caped the sad fate that befell his schoolmates. One by one the mirthful boys and girls dropped in, with dinner basket in hand, little thinking that this would be their last day at school. When the hour for opening the school had arrived, they were told by the teacher to take their respective places in the room. The roll being called, only ten responded to their names, eight boys and two girls. The school had been much larger in the earlier part of the summer, but hot weather and seasonal duties had very much decreased the number of scholars. I have not been able to ascertain the names of all the scholars, but have learned, from a reliable source, that no two were from the same family, so that there were ten families from the settlement represented in the school. Eben Taylor was the largest boy, a lad of about fifteen years of age. George Dun- ston was somewhat younger than Taylor, and Archie Mccullough, who survived his injuries, was the youngest child in the school. The names of the two girls were Ruth Hart and Ruth Hale. The account given by Archie Mccullough is, that when the master and scholars met at the school, two of the boys informed him that on their way to school they had seen in the bushes what they conceived to be Indians; but, the teacher, being a man of courage, attributed this report to the timidity of the children, as these rumors had frequently on former occasions, been in circulation on the frontier, when really no Indians were near. But shortly after the opening exercises of the school, a slight noise at the door attracted the attention of the teacher, when lo! the grim visage of three Indians met his gaze. Quick as thought did he conceive the idea that these cruel villians were after him and not the children. Knowing, too, that there was no means of escape, and, hoping to spare the lives of the innocent children, he quickly stepped to the door, and, in imploring tones, be-
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sought them to kill him, torture him, or dispose of him as they saw fit, but, for heaven's sake, to spare the poor harmless children; to which, after a short consultation, one of the Indians replied that they did not want the children, but in order to avoid detection, and not to arouse the settlers before they had time to make good their escape, they would be compelled to kill the children also. In an in- stant one of the Indians, armed with a wooden mallet, ran through the door, and attacked the master, who had nothing with which to defend himself but his hands. These were soon disabled and broken, after which a few well directed blows about the head, felled him to the floor in a dying condition. During the time the savage was bru- tally murdering Mr. Brown, the children were almost frantic, running to and fro, crying for help. Possibly some of them would have made their escape into the undergrowth which surrounded the house, but for the two Indians who remained on the outside to guard the door, and to give timely notice to the one within, in case they were discov- ered. One by one the urchins were stricken down by furious blows from the heavy mallet of the Indian, until all, save little Archie, were stretched upon the floor, dead or dying. As no time was to be lost, the savage went hurriedly from one to another, tearing off their scalps. Little Archie who had thus far avoided detection, was con- cealed behind some wilted boughs which had previously been put in the great fire-place, from which place of concealment he could see the horrible slaughter of his schoolmates. The Indians, now suppos- ing their work completed, were about leaving the house, when one of them, looking back, discovered some object in the chimney corner where Archie was secreted. The savage rushed back upon Archie, dealt him a single, but fearful blow, and ruthlessly tearing off his scalp, left him for dead. Some hours after this bloody tragedy had been committed, one of the citizens happened to come in the vicinity of the school house, and, observing the unusual quietness of the place at that hour of the day, his curiosity led him to the door, where the horrible scene was presented to him. Ten lifeless bodies were stretched upon the floor, weltering in their own blood, and little Archie, who was not dead, but blind from the blow he had re- ceived, moaned and crawled about, among his dead companions, smoothed his hands over their faces, and ran his fingers through their hair, as if trying to distinguish one from another by the touch. Poor lad! for many weeks he was lying in a critical con- dition, and at several times his life was almost despaired of; but by securing the best medical skill that then could be obtained, and by careful and attentive nursing, he, after lingering a long time, recovered. He lived to an old age but his mind was never quite
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right again. A few days after this dreadful massacre, the whole neighborhood gathered to participate in the funeral obsequies. The teacher and scholars were all buried in the same grave, being put into a large, rudely constructed box, with their clothing on, as they were found, after being murdered. In connection with the murder of Mr. Brown and his pupils, I shall give a short extract of John Mccullough's narrative, who was captured by the Indians in 1756, and was still a captive at the time the murder was perpetrated :
"Some time in the summer of 1764, a party of Indians, number- ing about three hundred collected, with the intention to go to the Conococheague settlement, and make a general massacre of all the people, without any regard to age or sex. They were out about ten days, when most of them returned. Having held a council, they concluded that it was not policy for them to leave their towns desti- tute of defense. However, several small parties went to different parts of the settlement. It happened that three of them, with whom I was well acquainted, went to the neighborhood from which I had been taken. They went to a school house, where they murdered and scalped the school master and all the scholars. They supposed all were dead when they left the house, but one boy, about ten years old, a full cousin of mine, recovered, after he had been scalped. I saw the Indians when they returned with the scalps. Some of the old Indians were very much displeased with them for killing so many children, especially one chief, or half-king, who attributed their act to cowardice, which was the greatest insult that could be given them.
On the fourth of August, 1843, seventy-nine years after the perpetration of this brutal slaughter, a number of gentlemen from the town of Greencastle, repaired to the place, in Antrim township where, tradition said, the murdered victims had been buried. A. B. Rankin, Esquire, of Greencastle, says :
"A small piece of ground on the south side of a hill, was pointed out as being the place. This spot is in an open field, un- marked by anything, save the grass and briars that distinguish it from the cultivated land with which it is surrounded. Some of the party soon commenced to remove the earth, and, after digging to the depth of four and one-half feet, found some rotten wood and several rusty nails of quite ancient construction. After digging a little deeper, part of a small skeleton was found. The bones were much decayed, and when the skull was handled and exposed to the atmos- phere for a short time it crumbled into dust. Near by the side of this skeleton there was discovered another, which from its size, was evi- dently that of a man full grown. It was in a much better state of preservation than the former, and from the relics found in close
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contact, which were a large metal button, several small ones, part of an iron box, it was evident that this was the skeleton of the teacher. After further search, several other small skeletons were found, lying with head and feet in opposite directions.
The relics above mentioned are still in possession of some of the persons who were present at the time of the exhumination. The lo- cation was truly a solitary one, being against the side of a hill, which was covered with a thick undergrowth of pine, and in front of which there is a deep and dismal ravine, affording every opportunity for the escape of savages after having committed so fiendish an act. I visited the place myself on the 12th day of July, 1877, and found nothing but two locust trees, to render sacred and commemo- rate the spot where lie buried the remains of the innocent victims of Indian ferocity."
Since the foregoing narrative was written, a number of public- spirited citizens of Franklin county formed a committee, and by voluntary contributions raised a fund in the name of the teacher and scholars of all the schools in the county, and purchased from Captain Jacob Deihl, the owner, a suitable amount of land, including the spot where Schoolmaster Brown and his ten pupils were so cruelly dealt with, and erected an appropriate and enduring monu- ment to mark the place where occurred one of the most tragic scenes in the history of Pennsylvania.
Shortly after this massacre had been committed, the Indians were again seen at McDowell's (Franklin county) pursuing two men, and soon afterward, some savages murdered most barbarously, the daughter of James Dysart, twelve or thirteen miles above Carlisle. This young girl was going home on the Sabbath day after the sermon preached at Big Spring.
Gyantwochia, "the corn planter", who gained a reservation in Pennsylvania by Wayne's treaty of 1795 and chose 640 acres on the west branch of the Allegheny, where his descendents live at the present day, the last remnant of the red man in Pennsylvania, was at one time in the Cumberland Valley. He became a great friend of the white settlers after the days of the Revolution and in Franklin county on the west branch of the Conocheague, a short distance from Greencastle, the "corn planter" lived for a time and became well known in that section.
In connection with the Indian history of the Cumberland Valley, mention should be made of Fort Loudon, a large fort at the base of Cove Mountain, Peters township. Captain Thompson, in a letter to Colonel Armstrong, written from Fort Loudon, dated April 7, 1758, mentions the arrival of forty Cherokee Indians at Fort Loudon, and
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that more were daily expected, and desires Governor Denny's imme- diate directions, in what manner the Indians were to be treated and how to be supplied, as they had come without arms and clothes. These Indians had come for the general service of the colonies.
Numerous are the incidents that transpired in and about the vicinity of Fort Loudon, little has been preserved that is authentic or upon which one can safely rely. The fort was on the frontier and a strong guard was always kept for the safety of the fort and trouble often occurred among the settlers, Indians, traders and provincial troops. A story is told of how James Smith, a prominent citizen of Loudon, brought certain Indian traders to his terms who had been supplying the Indians with arms, ammunition, liquor, etc. Smith says, as usual, we blacked and painted and waylaid them near Sidling Hill. I scattered my men about forty rods along the side of the road, and ordered every two to take a tree, for one to keep a reserve fire (not to fire until his comrade had loaded his gun) by this means we kept up a constant slow fire upon them. When they saw their pack horses falling close by them, they called out, "pray gentlemen, what would you have us to do?" The reply was "col- lect all your loads to the front and unload them in one place; take your private property and retire." When they were gone we burned what they left, which consisted of blankets, lead, beads, wampum, tomahawks, scalping knives, guns, ammunition, liquor and so forth. The traders went back to Fort Loudon, applied to the commanding officer, Lieutenant Grant, and secured a squadron of Highland sol- diers, who were quartered there, and went with them in quest of the robbers, as they called us, and without applying to a magistrate, or without obtaining any legal authority but solely on suspicion, they took a number of creditable persons prisoners, who were not in any way concerned in this affair, and confined them in the guard house at Fort Loudon. I then raised three hundred riflemen, marched to Fort Loudon, and encamped on a hill in sight of the fort. We were not long there until we had more than double as many of the British troops prisoners in our camp, as they had of our people in the guard house. Lieutenant Grant, the Highland officer, then sent a flag of truce to our camp, where we settled by giving them two for one, which enabled us to redeem all our men from the guard house with- out further difficulty. After this Lieutenant Grant kept a number of rifles which the Highlanders had taken from the country people and refused to give them up. As he was riding out one day we took him prisoner and detained him until he delivered up the arms; we also destroyed a large quantity of gun powder that the traders had stored, lest it might be conveyed privately to the Indians. The fol-
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lowing letter written by Lieutenant Grant shows the state of affairs and the spirit of the times : "On May 28, 1765, while taking the air on horseback, about one and one-half miles from the post, I was surrounded by five rioters who presented their pieces at me, the person who commanded them, called to them to shoot the scoundrel, one fired, frightened my horse so badly that it ran into the bushes and threw me upon the ground. They disarmed me, carried me fifteen miles into the woods, and threatened to tie me to a tree, and let me perish, if I would not give them some arms, which by my or- ders had been taken from the first party of rioters that had appeared at the post."
Hagerstown was a magnificent hunting ground for the Indians, who seem to have fought for it between themselves, and invaded it from the North and South just as the armies of the North and South did many years later. Of these contests there are only tradi- tions. The Delawares from the North met here the Catawbas from the South and the battles between the two were sanguinary. Some of these battles took place just about the time when the white settlers began to appear upon the scene. The settlers were upon terms of friendship with the Indians, and until a later period were entirely unmolested by them. About the year 1736, a battle took place between these two hostile tribes at the mouth of the Antietam. At this point the Delawares, returning from one of their forays to the country of the Catawbas were overtaken by the latter. In the desperate battle which ensued every Delaware brave, with a single exception, had been killed and scalped and every Catawba warrior save one, had one or more scalps to exhibit after the victory. Like the Spartan brought home the news of Thermopylae, this scalpless brave could not rest under this disgrace, and so he pursued the surviving and fugitive Delaware with the instinct of a blood hound for one hundred miles. The unfortunate fugitive was overtaken, slaughter- ed and scalped on the banks of the Susquehanna; and he could re- turn to his home. There is a story of the early settlers connected with the bloody battle; whether founded on fact, can not be told. The date of the battle given is 1736. At this time, there lived upon "Red Hill", an eminence near the Antietam, about two miles from the scene of the battle, a settler who was called Orlands, with his wife, Lauretta, a French woman, and their children, a boy, Thomas, and a girl, Roseline. Hearing the sound of the battle between the Dela- wares and Catawbas, the family fled to the side of South Mountain and there remained several days and nights, partially protected from a severe storm by an overhanging rock. While in the refuge a neighboring settler brought the news that it would be safe to return
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to their cabin. They did so, and found it undisturbed. It was not long before the boy, Thomas, was taken with the fever which was brought on by the exposure in the mountains and died. The mother who was very delicate soon followed her son to the grave and the health of the daughter was greatly impaired. In her grief and desolation she sought the society of the family of Peter Powls, liv- ing near the Belinda Springs not far distant and in frequently pass- ing drank of the water and her health was restored. This was the first discovery of the medicinal property of that spring, which after- wards became popular. But her restored health was not long en- joyed in peace. A Catawba chief fell in love with her and demanded Roseline for his wife. The proposal was rejected with honor but the savage was not to be defeated in his design. He frequently prowled around the cabin awaiting his opportunity until one night he shot the father through an open window and bore off the unfortunate Roseline to his wigwam. No news of her was ever afterward re- ceived by her friends. On the western side of the mouth of the Conococheague creek, after the settlement of Conococheague had begun, another bloody conflict took place between the Catawbas and the Delawares, and the Delawares were again defeated. The surviving warrior this time took refuge in the house of a friend, who lived near the scene of the battle, and was by him protected from his pursuers. Just on the outskirts of Williamsport there was within the memory of many now living, an Indian graveyard, which probably contained the bones of those who fell in that battle. It was no uncommon thing to see a party of Delawares pass the houses of the early settlers with female Catawba prisoners. Some would have little children in their arms, and many of these would be sacri- ficed when they reached the towns of the Delawares. Many Indian relics and mounds have been found around Hagerstown and vicinity. Some of the mounds have been examined and found to contain bones, pottery and implements.
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CHAPTER III ROADS, TURNPIKES AND FORTS
T HE TURNPIKE ROAD from Harrisburg to Chambersburg, constructed by an incorporated company, was begun in 1816 ; and crosses the country. southwest by way of Hogestown, Carlisle and Shippensburg, the same being much traveled before the completion of the railroad. The Hanover and Carlisle turnpike road, begun in 1812, extends from the borough of Carlisle southeast by way of Petersburg, in Adams county, to Hanover and from thence to Baltimore. The Har- risburg and York turnpike road passes along the west side of the Susquehanna river. One of the early roads marked on the maps of Franklin county, published in 1796, shows a road extending from Chambersburg to "Scarburg", now known as Pleasant Hall, at which point it intersected the "Three Mountain road," which was a high- way that led from Shippensburg through what is now Orrstown, to Bedford and other points to the westward. It is likely this road led from Chambersburg to the Rocky Spring Presbyterian church. A log church had been built there as early as 1740 and a number of farm dwellings had been erected in the immediate vicinity before or during the Revoluntionary war, forming quite a settlement, so that a highway to the county seat was a necessity and was laid out at an early date. From the Rocky Spring the road extended for the greater part of the way through uninclosed woodland. After the land was cleared the road was changed to meet the new conditions. It is said that traces of the road can yet be seen on one of the farms near Rocky Spring and it is, no doubt, the bed of part of the Scar- burg road as at first laid out.
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