History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 12

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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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

he would be able at the next court to attend, "from the situation of his wound and state of his health.".

We have no means of knowing the facts of this tragedy nor the results of this murder case. These were times when lives were of less value than scalps and perhaps Esq. Smith was released without trial, as the shadows of impending war with Great Britain caused the provincials and colonials to draw closer together for sympathy and protection.

In the interest of peace between the province and the colony, temporary peace, at least, being much desired during "the defence of the liberties of America" in the revolutionary struggle, a short address was signed by the delegate from Pennsylvania and Virginia in the newly formed Continental Congress, and sent out in July, 1775, to their constituents, their "Friends and Fellow Countrymen," "the inhabitants in Pennsylvania and Virginia on the west side of Laurel Hill."

It recommended that all bodies of armed men kept up under either province be dismissed, those on either side who were in confinement or under bail for taking part in the contest be discharged, and that until the dispute be decided every person be permitted to retain his land possession unmolested.

It expressed the hope that the time would soon arrive "when this unfortunate dispute, which has produced much mischief and, as far as we can learn, no good, will be peaceably and constitutionally determined."

Of the nine names to this address all signed by using their first names with the exception of two, and these, one from each State, were the most illustrious or became the most illustrious on the roll. Each became a house- hold name throughout America, but it looks strange to see their brief signatures, "P. Henry," "B. Franklin."

The people are still guessing in their discussions about the western boundary line. Many persons were ready to give their opinions without charge. St. Clair received a letter from Bedford, stating that the parallel line 5 de- grees from the Delaware River crossed the Ohio near the mouth of the Chartier's Creek and included Fort Pitt near six miles. He received another letter, saying, "by Harper's map Fort Pitt is at least three or four and at most six miles within this province (Pennsyl- vania)."

The ever aggressive Virginians, however, always real- ized that possession was one of the strongest points in law, so Capt. John Neville, a militia officer and one of the committee of safety at Pittsburg, was placed in charge of Fort Pitt September 11, 1775, with about 100 men he marched over from Winchester "to cover and protect the border." This fort remained in his posses- sion at the expense of Virginia until the Declaration of Independence had been signed and the United States of America took control June 1, 1777, by placing Gen.

Edward Hand in command.

The two committees of safety heretofore mentioned, one at Hannastown and one at Pittsburg, governed this region as best they could, with the assistance of such patriotic citizens as were willing to accept office, a risk much more serious than we of this peaceful period can now realize. Great courage was needed to face the future, not knowing whether we were to "sink or swim, to live or die, to survive or perish." This loose form of governmental control continued until the Declaration of Independence had been signed and both Pennsylvania and Virginia had thrown off their colonial signs of dependence and adopted state constitutions late in the summer of 1776.

Even the warm adherents of the late governor drop his name and also drop away from old Augusta County, as is shown in their entry August 20, 1776, "A court held at Pittsburg, for the District of West Augusta. This was the last court held at Pittsburg, for on that day the court appointed David Shepherd and John Canon, Gent, to have a house built to be used as a jail at Augusta Town, a place before unheard of.

When Col. Neville moved into Fort Pitt with his com- mand, the Augusta County Court was obliged to leave the Fort and "to provide a House at the Public Expense for the use of Holding the Court," and the sheriff, "to contract for a house for safekeeping of his prisoners, " as is shown by the court records for Sep- tember 19 and 23, 1775. It took a year to decide upon a permanent location, but at the first term held after the Declaration of Independence had been signed and the old Liberty Bell rung, this Virginia court receded from Pittsburg by appointing two of their number, David Shepherd and John Canon to have a house built 24 by 14 feet at Augusta Town. This extinct town, if there ever was such a town, and the location of the court house is indicated by the market above referred to, with the inscription: "On this spot was held in 1776 the county court for the district of West Augusta, Virginia, the first court held by any English-speaking people west of the Monogahela River. Erected by the Washington County Historical Society in 1905." The site is about a mile west of our new million dollar court house at Washington, near the public road, on land fronting and overlooking the lower dam of the Citizens' Water Com- pany in North Franklin Township. It was near the Grave Creek Road and the Mingo Trail, which the Indians used from Redstone to Mingo, below Steuben- ville.

The reason for removing from Pittsburg and estab- lishing court back in the wilderness is not plain. The Pennsylvania, or Westmoreland County Court, had not done much business since its leading justice, Judge William Crawford, had taken offices under Virginia. It

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

lost its leading spirit when Arthur St. Clair was called to Philadelphia in December, 1775, and commissioned a colonel in the American army under Washington, In fact that court held no sessions whatever for the two years beginning four months before the Virginia court moved out into the heart of the present Washington County. In addition to the new "goal" there was a new "whipping post" and "stocks" provided for pun- ishment, but we have no evidence that the ducking stool which had been erected "at the confluence of the Ohio and the Monongahela" was brought out here to, Char- tier's Creek or that another stool was supplied. Augusta Town was near a creek and better located for operat- ing this last mentioned instrument than was Catfish Camp, the location first adopted by the Viriginia judges, as indicated by their record of August 20, 1776. The stocks and ducking stool may have been used as scare crows, but the whipping post was a painful necessity. The sheriff could not but feel that he had a painful duty to perform when the court sentenced a certain defendant who had deserted from the militia, to receive "500 lashes with a cat-of-nine-tails on his bare back, well laid on, and it is said to the sheriff that execution thereof be done at such time and in such numbers as not to endanger life or member. The office of sheriff was not coveted.

The justices holding the first court session "at Augusta Town for the District of West Augusta,"' upon considering the Ordinances of Convention passed by the Virginia delegates of patriots at Richmond July 17, 1775, were "of the opinion that they are a distinct and separate county and court from that of East Augusta, and they appoint Dorsey Pentecost, Esq., their clerk for this Court." One provision of those ordinances was that "whereas courts in the district of West Augusta have hitherto been held by writs of adjournment, which can not now be obtained, the justices have the authority to hold court within said district at such places as they may appoint." This new court only existed four months when the district of West Augusta was divided into three counties, new commissions were produced for Yoho- gania County and the justices were sworn "the oath prescribed by law"-not the oath to support the King as heretofore required.

Among these commissions was one to Edward Ward as sheriff. His manly refusal to act states, that he can not think of acting as sheriff, or appointing any under sheriffs until the line between the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania are fixed or limited; for on the north- eastern bounds of this County there is still a door open for dispute and contention, which has been heretofore the cause of disturbing the peace of the people settled and claiming alternately the jurisdiction of each govern- ment, and before he can think of acting, or any person

under him, he proposes praying the General Assembly to have a temporary line fixed between them, or the limits of Pennsylvania run or the government of Vir- ginia peremptorily running the same; until which is done he can not think of acting in any State of government to infringe on the reserved rights of his fellow sub- jects; he farther assures that when government has this done, he is ready to act with cheerfulness; and if this can not be done he begs that the court will recom- mend some other gentleman to his Excellency to serve as sheriff-and hopes the court will acquiesce in promoting the having the above grounds ascertained; and further offers to qualify into the Commission of Peace. Sev- eral other prominent gentlemen were tendered the office at the time, but they refused "to act in said office on account of the great difficulty they apprehend will attend the execution of said office until such time as a line is fixed between this commonwealth and the State of Penn- sylvania. Two years later the commission from His Excellency the Governor of Virginia State, appointing Mathew Richie sheriff of this County was read, where- upon the said Mathew Richie informed the court that he had taken every method in his power to procure depu- ties to assist him in the exercise of his office, but from the present state of the fees and the small emoluments accruing to the sheriff of the county, together with the contested boundary, although he has offered the whole to any person who would act as a deputy, he has not been able to secure one, and therefore he refused to act or qualify into his commission. Whereup the governor was requested to appoint George McCormick, Gent., as sheriff, the request being accompanied by an opology for the frequent application the court are under the disagree- able necessity of making for sheriffs commissions."

The District of West Augusta was divided into Yoho- ghania, Ohio and Monongahela Counties, Hannastown, Pittsburg, Catfish Camp and Augusta Town all fell within Yohogania limits. Henceforth the interest of the present Washington County inhabitant will be with Yoho- gania County, for Catfish Camp and Augusta Town lay just inside its borders and scarcely a mile northeast of the corner point of the three counties. That portion of our present Washington County lying west of Augusta Town and south of Cross Creek, fell into Ohio County, while the portion south of Gallows Hill or southeast of Augusta Town, and south of a line near the National Pike, fell into Monongahela County. Yohogania was properly named because nearly all the Youghiogheny River west of Laurel Hill or Laurel Ridge Mountains- the great body of the river with its side tributaries- lay in that county. Its court claimed jurisdiction of all lands east and south of the Ohio River and south of the Allegheny as far as Kittanning and thence southward to the Laurel Ridge. Nearly all the vigorous people of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

whom we have been reading were located within its bor- ders.

We miss from the records of this new county the famil- iar name of George Croghan, who came west as an Indian trader, was an Indian agent at Pittsburg, was the first judge of the West Augusta Court at Pittsburg and attended nearly all its sessions, had his plantation four miles above Fort Pitt and claimed 200,000 acres of land in old Washington County, north of a line run- ning between Robinson U. P. Church and its parsonage in Robinson Township, extending from Robinson Creek to the Monongahela River. He was a sensible man and very discreet throughout all the whilrwinds of trials which passed over this region. There is no memorial of his death spread upon the court records, for those men and times were stern and lacking in sentimentality; but his death is indicated on the records a year or so later, when William Christy, garnishee, "being sworn saith that he hath two pairs of geers, one old ox, one old spade, one pitch fork, one small box of iron and an old lanthorn, and no more, of the estate of said George in his hands."

At the first meeting of the justices for Yohogania County, it was "ordered that the clerk forward a letter to his excellency (Governor of Virginia) and Council notifying the general dissatisfaction of the people of this county against the late election being held on the Sabbath day, the short notices of the said election," etc. That election, called for December 8, 1776, was to choose the most convenient place for holding courts in this county. Strange that the Sabbath was by the laws of Virginia designated for such an election -- the first in the Yohogania County-and that the Sabbath (July 15, 1781) was also designated by the Assembly of Pennsyl- vania for the election of justices of the peace-the first election in Washington County. In addition to asking each of the judges in turn to act as sheriff, the court was busy recommending officers for the militia, appoint- ing constables, fining men for swearing "profane oaths" and "profane curses," authorizing registration of ear marks, erection of mill dams and like miscellaneous business. This period is noted for the many oaths that were administered to magistrates and constables, all of whom were required to take new obligations.

Great changes were being made most rapidly. On the same day as the capture of Ticonderoga, heretofore referred to, the Continental Congress convened at Phila- delphia and George Washington was appointed com- mander-in-chief of the army. His conduct as a com- mander when 21 years of age led to this selection 21 years later. He was to have been supplied with 20,000 men, but was furnished about 14,500 undisciplined and insubordinate troops, and many of them without desire to be controlled. Supplies of ammunition and provi-

sions were often unobtainable in the long warfare he was to conduct.

In Virginia, Lord Dunmore, after being driven from office proclaimed freedom to the slaves, and raised a force of loyalists and inaugurated civil war, but was defeated by patriots near Norfolk. By the autumn of 1775 the royal officers were expelled and popular gov- ernment on the republican plan instituted in every one of the thirteen colonies. There were but few loyalists or tories west of the Monongahela. Some volunteers from about Redstone and perhaps from Ten Mile Creek hurried east to join Capt. Michael Cresap's Maryland Company. Capt. William Crawford recruited a regiment from the inhabitants along the Youghiogheny and along both sides of the Monongahela River, which was called the Seventh Virginia.

The Eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania was raised almost entirely from the Pittsburg region within a few weeks after the Declaration of Independence was signed, and Eneas Mackey and George Wilson were appointed by the Continental Congress as its colonels. Alas, these two valient Pennsylvanians saw no battle. Although the regiment was raised for the defence of the western frontier, they were obliged to leave their families and property in a defenceless condition, as they were ordered to join Gen. Washington in New Jersey or wherever they could find him. In the dead of winter this regiment of over 600 men, illy prepared and poorly fed, struggled over the mountains to aid their commander-in-chief, who was being driven by the British, to the great danger of Philadelphia, the Continental Capitol. They had neither doctor nor chaplain in the regiment and after traveling hundreds of miles over bad roads, with little to eat but bread and cakes, never entering a house, but building fires and encamping in the snow, they were found quar- tered in cold shattered houses near Philadelphia, by a physician for whom they had sent. One third of the men were ill, and almost 10 per cent of those enlisted died from the exposure scarcely six months after their enlistment. Among these were Cols. Mackey and George Wilson, the last named having been one of the most vigorous and hopeful letter writers of that period.

Ephraim Blaine, grandfather of James G. Blaine, was commissary of this regiment and afterward became com- missary of the Revolutionary army. Van Swearingen, a very large and courageous man, was afterwards one of the captains. He had captained a company of rangers recently on the frontiers. Upon reaching New Jersey the regiment was placed in the brigade commanded by Gen. Anthony Wayne-"Mad Anthony," as he was com- monly called for his dashing bravery. A few months later when the crack shots of the whole army were formed into Col. Morgan's Rifle Corps, more were

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

selected from the Eighth Pennsylvania than from any other regiment-139 men, including Capt. Van Swear- ingen. Think it not strange that amid all the privations and uncertainties of the times 126 men of this regiment were marked as deserters.

Andrew McFarlane, formerly arrested and carried into Virginia by Dr. Connolly's orders for acting as a Penn- sylvania justice, is again carried off : He had come from County Tyrone, Ireland, and with his brother James was a merchant in Pittsburg. To avoid the oppression of Connolly, he had removed with his wife, Margaret Lynn Lewis, to Kittanning. The battalion commanded by Col. Eneas Mackey had intended wintering there, but when hurried off east they left some of their stores behind. Samuel Moorhead, living north of the Kiske- minetas River selected McFarlane as lieutenant of rangers to protect the frontiers and these supplies. But men were very scarce. Appeals to Westmoreland County commissioners did not bring assistance, and a month after the "gallant Eighth Pennsylvania left, McFarlane, almost the only man remaining at Kittanning, was cap- tured by two Chippewa and two Iroquois Indians under command of two Brittish. He was forced to Niagara and from there to Quebec through the dark forest and deep snows of midwinter. His wife, with her young babe, had not the pleasure of visiting him in his cap- tivity, as she did when he was imprisoned at Staunton, for he was kept captive almost four years.

In later years he opened a store on Chartier's Creek and after burying his brother, Maj. James McFarlane, who was killed at the attack on Gen. John Neville's house during the Whiskey Insurrection, was laid away beside his wife on his farm near the present Elrama Station of the P. V. & C. R. R., seven miles below Monongahela City and within the original Washington County. Two headstones still mark their lonely and neglected graves.

Another regiment was raised in the Monongahela Val- ley early in 1777, largely by the efforts of William Craw- ford, now a colonel. It was known as the Thirteenth Virginia, or West Augusta Regiment, and was expected to protect the frontier along the Allegheny and Ohio if there should be an outbreak among the Indians. About 200 of these were immediately ordered to the war in

the east leaving very few men indeed to protect this back country. As the soldiers took their trusty rifles and ammunition they left behind them this wilderness county, destitute, exposed and in great fear. One-third of the pioneers left on these "western waters" who could serve as militia were without guns, "so many of the regular troops being furnished with guns out of the militia of this district. One-half of the remaining guns want repairs." The powder supply was depleted and lead scarce. The Americans had hoped for assistance from the French settlements in Canada, but their forces sent to the northwest had been defeated at Quebec, and Col. Benedict Arnold evacuated Canada in June, 1776. This fixed the destiny of that province. Canada became a base of operations for the British, from which their emissaries stirred up, employed, and led the savage Indians to attack the frontier Americans from the west.

West of the Ohio the Mingoes or Iroquois of Ohio were already hostile. A band of sixty or seventy rene- gades, horse thieves and murderers, calling themselves Mingoes, had a Mowhawk named Pluggy for their chief, with headquarters at Pluggstown (or Pluggystown) on the Scioto River. Between them and the Ohio were the Shawanese and the Delaware tribes. On their west were the Wyandots, covering a region extending as far north as Detroit, where the British lieutenant governor, Henry Hamilton, most cruel and heartless, reigned supreme. It was he who gave large bounty for American scalps and taught the Indians not to bring in prisoners.

After much effort a council of 644 principal chiefs and warriors assembled in Pittsburg in October and gave assurance of remaining neutral. This was considered only a temporary truce, for the great Iroquois or Six Nations lying along the north of Pennsylvania had received presents and promises from the British and had taken up the hatchet against the Americans at a great council held at Fort Niagara in May and already depre- dations were being committed along the Ohio.

The year 1776 ended with deep forebodings and a dread of an organized attack by the savages upon the helpless families throughout all of West Augusta dis- trict, extending from Kittanning and the Laurel Ridge Mountains back to the Ohio River boundary.

CHAPTER VIII

EVENTS OF 1776-1780.

Condition of the District of West Augusta in 1777-Gibson and Linn Expedition for Powder-Lead for the District Councils of War at Catfish Camp-Council of War in Virginia-Col. George Morgan's Stand for Peace- Politics among the Indians-Chief White Eyes' Stand for Peace-Administration on his Estate Granted by Yohogania Court-Petition for New State-Land Grabbing-Oath of Fidelity-British Intrigues and Indian Aggressions-George Rogers Clark's Campaign-David Rogers' Expedition-Attacked by Indians and Girty-General Hand's Squaw Campaign-Desertions, Suspicions and Arrests-Supplies Short- Enforcing Contributions-Virginia Land Laws-Penn Titles-Courts Cease-Beginning of a Religious Dawn.

The Declaration of Independence did not make a noticeable change in the government of affairs in our region. Pennsylvania claimed control of her unknown western line through the justices of the peace of West- moreland County, but these were inactive or gone to war. Any militia system she had was not effective west of the Monongahela River. Virginia claimed all the land from the Allegheny Mountains far into the vast west. Her District of West Augusta embraced everything as far as the Ohio River, but the district had just been divided into three counties with magistrates constituting a court in each. She had courts, a good military system cov- ering this district, and had Fort Pitt garrisoned by Capt. John Neville and his Virginia company brought up from the Shenandoah Valley.

The Continental Congress had in May, 1776, placed John Morgan, formerly of New Jersey and later known as Gen. John Morgan of Morganza, in control of Indian affairs, middle division, with headquarters at Pittsburg. Morgan and Neville were the men of authority at Pitts- burg and both strongly favored peace with the Indians. Their efforts were aided by Congress, and the conclusions of peace councils in 1776 were apparently satisfactory- at least to Gen. Morgan, as reported by him on November 8. With this peace sentiment the Virginia adherents in this community had no patience, as they had a deadly hatred of the Indian and no faith in his promises.

The year 1777 found the District of West Augusta without men, money, ammunition, or guns for protection. The men who had gone to war had taken nearly all the best guns. Powder could not be had. A band of less than twenty young men which had been selected from the residents along the Monongahela Valley by George

Gibson and William Linn, was sent by Virginia down to New Orleans for powder. Their river trip was made under the guise of settlers bound for Kentucky. After a perilous journey past friends, tories and savages, they procured 20,000 pounds of powder at 15 cents a pound from the Spanish at New Orleans, and found their work and peril greatly increased thereby. Capt. Gibson smug- gled his one-fourth of the purchase by sailing vessel around the coast to Virginia, but Lieut. Linn started with his load in sixty-pound casks up the river. It was a desperate, death-daring venture, carried out during the winter storms and river ice.

Their flat boats left Pittsburg on the downward trip about two weeks after the Declaration of Independence was signed, and from that time until the following spring had opened up, those who knew of their expedition were in anxious suspense. Patrick Henry, governor of Vir- ginia, wrote to Dorsey Pentecost from Williamsburg, Vir- ginia, December 13, 1776, saying: "I wish you would find out where Capt. Gibson's cargo of powder is and let me know." He called attention to the dangerous condi- tion of these, our settlements, in West Augusta, and stated that he had sent six tons of lead to be deposited in magazines or proper places in the three counties of Yohogania, Monongalia and Ohio. He expressed great expectations from the number and known courage of the militia in this quarter and advised a council of field officers and captains to prepare for the defence against the Indians.

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 12

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