History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 10

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

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The spirit of the Penns and their Councils east of the mountains was urging non-resistance. "Sentiment east of the mountains was not alive to conditions in the west, and the west had largely lost interest in the faraway government in the east. Richard Penn, governor, urged the assembly to garrison Fort Pitt with enough soldiers for protection, but in vain. A quiet Quaker state was an uneasy abiding place for the self-reliant Scotch-Irish and those who had come up from Virginia, many of whom were of that descent. Virginia had made her claims years ago and some of the oldest inhabitants

of Pittsburg are reiterating the statement that this is Virginia soil, while Pennsylvania tacitly admits it and shows her fear by establishing her court out in the country under the trees, instead of boldly coming to Pittsburg, where several of her magistrates reside.

The truth is, the Virginia Colony was bold and vigorous and ready to fight "at the drop of the hat," and Penn's province knew it. It was stated in St. Clair's letters that when the petition was presented "last year" to Bedford Court for an order restraining the sheriff from executing process, etc., west of the mountains, it was done with the expectation that the court might throw into jail the young attorney (grand- son of old Cresapa) and others who were favoring the petition, so as to give the Virginians an excuse for war. Now Connolly's act was tending in another way to give excuse for war between the two colonies, or to force the slow Pennsylvanians to recede from the Monongahela River by conceding a line eastward. The situation of having Pennsylvania claiming Pittsburg and the Monon- gahela Valley and authorizing surveys and settlements thereabouts, in that district which had been secured from the French by Virginia's promptness, was unbearable. The handicap must be removed, a solution of the problem of government must be forced, and Dunmore and Con- nolly were sufficiently aggressive to undertake the dan- gerous job, believing that an armed contest would result only in confining Pennsylvania to the east of the moun- tains and also in giving Virginia all the western fur trade.

As a weak checkmate to Connolly's move, Governor Penn appointed three more justices, on January 11, Alexander Ross, Andrew McFarlane, and Oliver Miller. The first two were traders at Pittsburg, of whom we may here state Ross soon became an English Tory and McFarlane endured three years of Indian captivity. (Old Westmoreland County, Hassler, p. 24.) McFar- lane and Miller afterward resided in Washington County.

Penn's justices were expected to do more than hear cases. They were selected for the purpose of influencing the community and were expected to preserve the peace by hand to hand conflicts, if necessary. Yet letters from the chief authorities of the province warned against armed interference or open and organized opposition to Virginia's oppressions, calling attention to the fact that Virginia had an organized militia, which Pennsylvania lacked.

Connolly had also appointed six or seven magistrates, among whom were Major Smallman, John Campbell, and John Gibson. In the mind of Eneas Mackey, one of Penn's magistrates in Pittsburg, "There is no doubt but all the disaffected and vagabonds that before evaded law and justice with so much art, will now flock in numbers to the Captain's standard, if not prevented in

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

time, the consequences of which we have just cause to dread."

The war of wits is now begun in earnest. Connolly was arrested the day before the one he had set for the backwoodsmen to meet him in the capacity of militia- men, was taken out to Hannastown and locked in the little jail or perhaps incarcerated in Fort Ligonier, upon a warrant issued by Justice St. Clair, also prothonotary, clerk of courts, etc., of Westmoreland County. The bail was fixed purposely so high that he would not get free to attend his called meeting. The imprisonment must have continued at least a week, for St. Clair writes Governor Penn from Ligonier, February 2nd, that "about eighty persons in arms assembled themselves, chiefly from Mr. Croghan's neighborhood, and after parading through the town proceeded to the fort, where a cask of rum was produced and the head knocked out. This was a very effective method of recruiting." The letter does not state why or when Connolly was liberated, but with his blood tingling he reached Virginia as a martyr, from which he soon returned to Pittsburg prepared for heroic measures. He was joined by a party from the "Chartee Settlement,"' now Beck's Mills or Linden, in North Stra- bane Township. As shown by court records, a road had been applied for in Westmoreland County Court the previous October by divers inhabitants of the township of Pitt, to lead "from the southwest side of the Monon- gahela River opposite the town of Pittsburg, by Dr. Edward Hand's land on Chartiers, to the settlement on said creek, supposed to be at or near the western boundary of the Province of Pennsylvania." Over this road these Chartiers settlers must have traveled and crossed the river at Bausman's ferry if it was in opera- tion at that date. Jacob Bausman (great-grandfather of the historian, Joseph H. Bausman) was one of the viewers of this road, and had a ferry opposite the town of Pittsburg prior to 1791.

The Virginia sympathizers up the Monongahela had two or three musters about this time, one at Red Stone Old Fort, one at Paul Froman's, now North Strabane Township, and one at Dorsey Pentecost's, in conse- quence of which Mr. Pentecost wrote to Mr. Swearingen, who resided east of the Monongahela, to act no longer there as a Pennsylvania magistrate, at his peril. Pente- cost had been a magistrate when we were in Bedford County and was one of their county commissioners. No doubt he felt the sting when he was not appointed for Westmoreland and in consequence was thereafter a bitter opponent of Penn's government.

What followed within the next few weeks is given with considerable detail because it occurred in the county of which our land was than a part, and also because it came so near precipitating a bloody war, the results of which would have been to sever this region from Pennsylvania

and to raise complications and bitterness which might have prevented the Revolutionary War.

Connolly had possession of the fort with his body- guard of militia and had parties of armed men patroling the street "to the great alarm of the Indians," and doubtless of some of the whites, because they were in constant pursuit of our deputy sheriffs and constables."

Westmoreland County's sheriff, John Proctor, had arrested a militia lieutenant and had himself been arrested and detained for a time. Arrests and counter arrests and scuffles, with rough usage, followed rapidly, and it was reported that a deputy sheriff from Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia, was here to carry off Sheriff Proctor and Chief Clerk of Courts St. Clair. The letters of St. Clair admit that a part of the time he was in" concealment to avoid difficulties.

The original defendant, Connolly, in company with Mr. Pentecost, appeared in front of the little Hannastown court house in April, armed with letters from Lord Dunmore and attended by a company of militia number- ing about 200, with colors flying and officered by men with their swords drawn. Sentinels were at once placed at the court house door and the defendant walked in to find the place deserted. . The magistrates had thought it prudent upon hearing that the defendant was approach- ing, "to order the sheriff to raise as many men as he could collect. The time was so short that but few were collected on our side and those few were ill armed, so that we found ourselves in a very disagreeable situation when we received information that Connolly was coming down with 200 men." Court adjourned before the usual time and bench and bar must have scurried to cover like partridges. A member of the bench afterward attempted to go into the courtroom, but could not enter until the sentry received permission from the defendant. Connolly sent a message that he would wait on the magistrates and communicate the reasons for his appearance. The following relation of what took place is extracted from a letter to Governor Penn by Thomas Wilson, Esq., the member of the bar who twenty years afterward tried the ejectment suit of George Washington before the Supreme Court in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to drive the Reeds, McBrides, Biggers, et al. from the lands in Mount Pleasant Township.

"The bench and bar were then assembled in Mr. Hanna's house, where we sent him word we would hear him. He and Pentecost soon came down and he read the paper which will be sent down to his Honor the Gov- ernor. The paper stated that 'some of the Justices of this Bench are the cause of this appearance and not me. I have done this to prevent myself being illegally taken to Philadelphia. My orders from the Government of Virginia not being explicit, but claiming the Country around Pittsburg, I have raised the Militia to support the

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

Civil Authority of that Colony vested in me. I have come here to free myself from a promise made to Cap- tain Proctor, but have not conceived myself amenable to this Court by any Authority from Pennsylvania. Upon which account I cannot apprehend that you have any right to remain here as Justices of the Peace, constituting a Court under that Province; but in order to prevent confusion, I agree that you may continue to act in that capacity, in all such matters as may be submitted to your determination by the acquiescence of the people, until I may have instructions to the contrary from Virginia, or until his Majesty's pleasure shall be further known on this subject. ' "'

The court soon returned an answer. It was couched in terms of firmness and moderation, with promises to do all they could to preserve the peace and to take steps to fix a temporary line between the colonies.

On the following day, April 8th, 1774, Capt. William Crawford, president judge, reported the facts by a letter carried by Magistrate George Wilson to Governor Penn at Philadelphia, in which he spoke of the arrest of several persons by Connolly after leaving Hanna's, and said, "In other parts of the country, particularly those adjoining the river Monongahela, the magistrates have been frequently insulted in the most indecent and violent manner, and are apprehensive that unless they are speedily and vigorously supported by the Government, it will become both fruitless and dangerous for them to proceed to the execution of their offices. They presume not to point out the measures proper for settling present disturbances, but beg leave to recommend the fixing of a temporary line with the utmost expedition, as one step that in all probability will contribute very much towards producing that effect."

The troop in overwhelming force came back to Pitts- burg, arresting some persons on the way and in Pittsburg, where three magistrates, Eneas Mackey, Andrew McFar- lane, and Devereaux Smith, were also arrested as soon as they returned from sitting as judges at Hanna's. Before that court had convened and while the militia were gathering, these three, with Sheriff Proctor, had dropped in at the old abandoned Fort Pitt "to dis- cover," as they said, "the Doctor's intentions and if we found them anywise tumultuously disposed, to read the Riot Act." Their arrest was in retaliation for that visit. The offence charged against these three justices, in the King's warrant for their arrest, is not their officious call upon Connolly, but the answer they made to him as judges of Westmoreland County. They were carried off to Staunton, Va., the county seat of Augusta County, 150 miles away, because they would not acknowl- edge the jurisdiction of Virginia by giving bail for their appearance there at the next term of court. Mackey secured a hearing with Governor Dunmore and obtained release for the three. Fate smote the heart of McFarlane during his captivity, and that summer he brought from

Staunton to his log home in Pittsburg, his bride, Miss Margaret Lane Lewis, daughter of William Lewis, one of five brothers famous in Virginia military history. (Old Westmoreland County, Hassler, p. 25.)

Their arrest brought a commission of two men from Pennsylvania to Dunmore, on May 19th, proposing a joint petition to England's king, in order that the line might be established through his direction. Dunmore was willing to join in the petition but unwilling to share the expense of establishing a line for Pennsylvania. The commissioners finally offered to give away all of the present Washington County, making the Monongahela River the state line, but my Lord Dunmore could not give up Pittsburg. Again the negotiations ceased just as former efforts had ended 20 years before.

A piteous appeal had reached Lord Dunmore in the shape of a petition signed by 587 inhabitants settled on the waters of the Ohio, "and had by him been laid before his Colonial Council," a week before he was visited by the commissioners. This petition set forth that the majority of the petitioners formerly lived in Virginia and preferred the mild, easy, and equitable government thereof to the administration of justice in Pennsylvania, oppressive to the poor and expensive to all, particularly in trying titles to land, and in recovery of small debts, wherein the officer's fees are so dispro- portionate that they seem rather calculated for enriching individuals than the public good. It complains of the officers in Pennsylvania, of a heavy provincial tax, a great part thereof being swallowed up by the officers who lay and collect it, and of their "imminent danger from contiguity to the faithless and barbarous natives, whose treaties, alliances, and sincerity are never to be relied upon, as well as a hearty conviction that the present Government is usurped." It prays that such provision be made "for us in our present distressed condition, as to you shall seem meet."

The petition reads like one written by Connolly, assisted by Dorsey Pentecost, when it complains that "the Proprietor's governor will neither appoint nor con- tinue in office any but those who adhere strictly to their master's interests."'

Penn's Government was financially poor, and from fear of the expense, the fear of unfair treatment by his Majesty of England and his appointees, or from the natural sluggishness of Pennsylvania's Council, no peti- tion to his Majesty was prepared, and not even a tempo- rary line was agreed upon.

The need of a division line was not Pennsylvania's only trouble, neither was our Westmoreland County the only one of that name claiming land inside the boundaries of Pennsylvania. The colony of Connecticut, or some of her inhabitants known as the Susquehanna Company, claimed that her territorial rights entitled them to lands

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

along the north branch of the Susquehanna River. This company gave grant rights and formed settlements there, and Connecticut established a county called Westmore- land to control lands entirely inside of Penn's lines. The trouble there continued from 1753 to 1776, during which some of the opposing settlers shed blood in the "Pennan- ite and Yankee War."'

It was an unfavorable time to appeal to his Majesty of England for assistance or redress, because of the agitation then going on in America against the oppressive acts of the British Parliament. In this month of May, on an appeal from Boston, a committee of correspondence was formed in Philadelphia and began circulating letters advising the formation of similar committees in each county. On July 15th, a convention of these committees was held at Philadelphia, attended by Robert Hanna and James Cavet, delegates from our Westmoreland County, selected at a meeting held at Hannastown.

The condition of the public mind at that time is shown by the action of that convention, which was not revolutionary. It especially acknowledged allegiance to King George, but denounced the recent aggressive acts of the British Parliament. It approved a proposal for a colonial congress, and pledged the readiness of the people of Pennsylvania to cease all commercial inter- course with Great Britain, if necessary, to secure the repeal of the obnoxious laws.

Before this Philadelphia meeting, however, a deadly war had broken out and the Indians were travelling the war-paths through our woods between the two big rivers. The uncertainty of jurisdiction and titles in the great "Horseshoe," and the spirit of adventure and greed for land, led many westward to covet what had been left to the Indians after Pennsylvania's purchase in 1768, but which Virginia included in her vast claims and did not propose to buy from the Indians.

The war, familiarly known as Dunmore's War, arose from the murder of several Indians. Although the Indians frequently hunted with the whites and many lived in a friendly manner near the settlers, their lives were never safe. George Rogers Clark, afterward General Clark, met with about 80 or 90 other men at the mouth of the Kanawa River, ostensibly to go down the Ohio and make a settlement in Kentucky. His account of the origin of that war, given years afterward, says :

"Circumstances led us to believe that the Indians were determined on war. The whole party was enrolled and determined to execute their project of forming a settle- ment in Kentucky, as we had every necessary store that could be thought of. An Indian town called the Horse- head Bottom on the Sciota and near its mouth, lay nearly in our way. The determination was to cross the country and surprise it. . . . We knew of Capt. Cresap being on the river about fifteen miles above us. Mes-

sengers were dispatched and in half an hour returned with Cresap. He had heard of our resolution by some of his hunters that had fallen in with ours and had set out to come to us. We thought our army, as we called it, com- plete and the destructions of the Indians sure. A council was called and to our astonishment our intended com- mander-in-chief (Cresap) was the person who dissuaded us from the enterprise. He said that appearances were suspicious but there was no certainty of a war, that if we made the attempt proposed he had no doubt of the suc- cess, but a war would at any rate be the result, and that we should be blamed for it and perhaps justly .. · He was then asked what he would advise. His answer was that we should return to Wheeling as a convenient spot to hear what was going forward; that a few weeks would determine.

"On our arrival at Wheeling (the whole country being pretty well settled thereabout) the whole of the inhabit- ants appeared to be alarmed. They flocked to our camp from every direction. By this time we had got to be a formidable party. All the hunters, men without families, etc., in that quarter had joined our party. Our arrival at Wheeling was soon known at Pittsburgh; Dr. Connolly sent a message addressed to the party, letting us know that a war was to be apprehended, and request- ing that we would keep our position for a few days, as messages had been sent to the Indians, and a few days would determine the doubt. The answer he got was that we had no inclination to quit our quarters for some time, that during our stay we would be careful that the enemy did not harass the neighborhood that we lay in. But before this answer could reach Pittsburgh he sent a sec- ond express addressed to Captain Cresap, as the most influential man among us, informing him that the mes- sengers had returned from the Indians, that war was inevitable and begging him to cover the country with scouts until the inhabitants fortified themselves."

"The reception of this letter was the epoch of open hos- tilities with the Indians. A new post was planted, a coun- cil was called, and the letter read by Cresap, all the Indian traders being summoned on so important an occa- sion. Action was had and war declared in the most solemn manner; and the same evening two scalps were brought into camp.''

The following day some Indians canoeing along the Ohio River were attacked by the whites. The Indians sustained three wounded and were pursued for fifteen miles before abandoning their canoes and property. The following day, April 27th, this company, now blood- thirsty and greedy for spoils, marched five miles up the river to attack the hunting camp of the friendly Logan. He had recently come down from the mouth of Beaver River, where his cabin had been the stopping place and entertainment of the Rev. David McClure and many other travellers. He had camped about five days before at the mouth of Yellow Creek, above Wheeling on the Ohio side, with his men, women, and children and all his household stuff, and some of these belligerents had been in his former camp about four weeks past on their descending the river. Either the killing was detested by the majority or the job was deemed too easy for such a large body, for Clarke says they turned about and came back over the trail through Catfish Camp to Redstone.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

They had thirty horseloads of furs, taken from the red men. Logan's family and relatives were slaughtered so near the time of Clark and Cresap's attempted visit that the name of Michael Cresap was stained with the crime as charged in the celebrated "Speech of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes." It was a part of the annihilat- ing process which these men and their companions started, the effects of which they immediately fled from, leaving the settlers to take care of themselves.

The following report given by B. B. Thatcher, Esq., in "Thatcher's Indian Biography," 1832 (Vol. 2, p. 167), is perfectly consistent with the evidence so fully set forth in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, published by the Jefferson Memorial Association (1903). He says: "A canoe of women and children, with one man only, was seen coming from the opposite shore, unarmed and not at all suspecting an attack from the whites. Cresap and his party concealed themselves on the banks of the river and the moment the canoe reached the shore, singled out their objects, and, at one fire, killed every one in it. This happened to be the family of Logan.

"It was not long after this that another massacre took place, under still more aggravated circumstances, not far from the present site of Wheeling, Va.,-a considerable party of the Indians being decoyed by the whites and all murdered with the exception of a little girl. Among these, too, was a brother of Logan and a sister, and the delicate situation of the latter increased a thousand-fold the barbarity of the crime and the rage of the surviving family."

The messengers and letters sent out by Connolly had the settlers frightened in expectation of some outbreak and within a short time many hundreds had gone east over the mountains. The whole country west of the Monongahela was evacuated and many on the east side of the Monongahela had fled beyond the Alleghenies. More than 1,000 people crossed the Monongahela at three ferries within one mile of each other. These three ferries were probably at Parkinson Ferry (Monongahela) or Redstone Old Fort (Brownsville). The frantic rush stampeded those east of the river, and William Crawford writes to George Washington on June 8th, "If we had not had forts built, there would not have been ten families left this side (west of) the mountains beside what are at Fort Pitt."

These statements might appear exaggerations, but Arthur St. Clair, four days later, wrote Governor Penn in corroboration, saying:

"Nothing can be more surprising than the dread the people are under and it is truly wonderful that so great a body of people should have been driven from their possessions without even the appearance of an enemy, for certain it is as yet no attempt has been made on what is understood to be Pennsylvania. .

. . A fresh report of Indians being seen near Hannastown and an-

other party on Braddock's road, set the people agoing again yesterday . I am certain I did not meet less than 100 families, and I think 2,000 head of cattle, in twenty miles riding" (from Ligonier toward Greens- burg).

The Indians west of the Ohio had some time previous to the massacres near Wheeling thought themselves in- truded upon by the "Long Knives," as they at that time called the Virginians, and they had called a council at which the chief Logan acted a conspicuous part. Their grounds of complaint were admitted, but at the same time they were reminded of some aggressions on their own part, and it was pointed out to them that by a war they would but harass and distress the frontier for a time, that the "Long Knives" (the Virginians) would come like the trees in the woods and that ulti- mately they would be driven from the good lands which they now possessed. They thereupon decided to remain at peace and buried the hatchet, and everything wore a tranquil appearance, when behold, the fugitives arrived with news of the slaughter of 13 or more Indians near Wheeling. The consequence was that this Logan, who a few days before was so pacific, raised the hatchet, declaring that he would not stop until he had killed ten to one, as his patience had been provoked beyond endurance.

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 10

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474