History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 7

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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This ended the second great remonstrance and demon- stration by the Indians, who had been taught little else besides war by their white associates, but who were now forced into a sullen peace which lasted about ten years.

The Delawares and Shawanese had been assigned to this region west of the Allegheny Mountains by the Iroquois, it to be reserved for them as a hunting ground according to the statement made by some Iroquois chiefs. (Old Records, Vol. 4, p. 580.) There had been much friction among these subordinate nations because of several treaties or sales of land in Pennsylvania made by the Iroquois to the agents of William Penn and of Pennsylvania Colony. The effect of such treaties was to force these unconsulted, subordinate tribes grad- ually back from the Delaware River to the wilderness of Ohio. Nearly all early titles in any land lack certainty in description. The early deeds above indicated were peculiarly indefinite and had such expressions as the following: (See Creigh's History, p. 29.) "Lands between two creeks" and "back as far as a man can go in two days;" "backward from the Delaware (River) as far as a man could ride in two days with a horse;" "as far back as a horse can travel in two summer days."

A deed in 1737 known as the walking purchase, "as far as a man can go in a day and a half from the westerly branch of Neshaming up the Delaware" was complained of by the Delawares, and this caused a coun- cil meeting in 1742 to which they were invited and at which a great chief of the Iroquois clutched a Delaware chief by the hair, pushed him out of the door with violent, threatening words, saying: "We conquered you and made women of you, and you can no more sell lands than women. We charge you to remove instantly ; we do not give you liberty to think about it. Don't deliberate but remove away." (Bausman's History of Beaver County, p. 20.)

This with other disturbances ended the possession of that nation near their namesake river-the Delaware- and led up to their location west of the Alleghenies, from which they were again driven off, as has been stated.

This last removal was necessary in spite of the fact that Pennsylvania had not yet purchased any Indian titles west of the Allegheny Mountains. His Majesty, the King of England, had by royal proclamation on

* Does it not strike the reader with surprise that no ac- counts are given of deliveries of prisoners by the pale face to the red man? This suggests the old saying : the only good Indian is a dead Indian.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

October 7, 1763, forbidden any settlements west of the Alleghenies. On October 24, 1765, he again instructed John Penn, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in the following terms :

"It hath been represented unto us that several persons from Pennsylvania and the back settlements of Vir- ginia have immigrated to the westward of the Alle- gheny Mountains, and there have seated themselves on lands contiguous to the river Ohio, in express disobedi- ence to our royal proclamation of October 7, 1763. It is therefore our will and pleasure and you are enjoined and required to put a stop to all these and all other like encroachments for the future by causing all persons who have irregularly seated themselves westward of the Alle- gheny Mountains immediately to evacuate these prem- ises. ''

On May 24, 1766, the Six Nations (or Iroquois) at a council at Fort Pitt complained of the white people settling at Redstone Creek and upon the Monongahela immediately after the peace of 1765, and contrary to the treaties. The English Gen. Gage complained to Penn in July, offered to send English troops from Fort Pitt to drive off the settlers near Brownsville, and Francis Farquier, lieutenant governor of Virginia, also wrote to Penn on this subject in December. The Gen- eral Assembly of Pennsylvania passed resolutions and the governors of both the colonies issued proclamations, (Virginia issuing as many as three) calling upon all settlers to remove; threatening them with what the Indians might do to them, and also with military execu- tions.

All these admitted that the land westward of the mountains was the property of the Indian and showed much fear, evidently of the Iroquois.

The Assembly passed a warning-off law on the sub- ject and Penn issued a proclamation and appointed Rev. John Steele (the Presbyterian minister at Carlisle) and three others of Cumberland County-this western county still extending to the western line of Pennsylvania, wherever that might be-a commission to visit the Monongahela River region, to read the proclamation and induce settlers to remove. This proclamation speaks of these as "unpurchased lands," declares that all settlers who do not remove within thirty days with their families shall suffer death without the benefit of clergy, except those who are settled on the main roads through the Province of Fort Pitt under permission of the com- mander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces, or of the chief officer commanding in the western district to the Ohio, for the convenient accommodation of soldiers and others, and persons settled in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt under permission, or those on a settlement made by George Crogan, deputy of Indian affairs on the Ohio River above said fort. (For the full text of proclama- tion see Creigh's History, Appendix, p. 7-8.) Under no

pretense was any one to remain after thirty days from May 1. Rev. John Steele preached a sermon on March 27, 1768, to the settlers at Redstone settlement (Browns- ville) after a journey of twenty-one days from Carlisle to the river. A number of Indians, principally from the Mingo villages, were at Indian Peter's just across the Monongahela. They seem not to have been invited to the sermon but were only at the business conference held after the sermon, in which it was agreed between the settlers and these Indians present that the settlers could remain until the conclusion of the treaty between them and George Crogan, deputy superintendent of Indian affairs.

These early settlers were a stubborn, determined people who had come to stay, and were ready to take the risks. Associating with the most friendly of the Indians, they did not fear the distant rulers, whether they were white or red men. These were stern times and it was a stern and nervy people who were seeking, and believed they had found, rich lands for homes. To appreciate them one must read "The Scotch Irish in America, " by John W. Dinsmore. They were the advance guard of civilization, were resolved to maintain the position they had gained for themselves. by their courage and deter- mination. Rev. Steele writes July 11, 1768, that there were about 150 families in the different settlements of Redstone, Youghiogheny and Cheat Rivers, eight or ten of which were in a place called Turkey Foot, and it was the opinion of the visiting commissioners that some would move off in obedience to law, and that the greater part will wait the early expected treaty. He further stated to the governor of Pennsylvania that "the people of Redstone alleged that the removing of them from the unpurchased lands" . . "was a contrivance of the Gentlemen and merchants of Philadelphia, that they might take Rights for their improvements when a Pur- chase was made." No doubt the "contrivance" of hav- ing these settlers removed would have been in accord with the wishes of many eastern Pennsylvanians.

The Indians as well as the officials of Pennsylvania knew the impending treaty would result in purchasing more land from the Iroquois, which purchase would extend at least to the Monongahela River. The Indian knew he must sell out for whatever the white man would give, or war in a deadly, losing contest. The colonial officials knew, after five years' effort, that it was impos- sible to keep the settlers off these goodly lands, and they must either purchase or do battle. Everybody- homesteader and business man-knew there would soon be a rush for land at the land office far off in the eastern part of the State.

The seat of power and courts of justice being all east of the Alleghenies, the eastern people had great advan- tage in knowing when the land office would be thrown

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

open and how to obtain a legal title. The only hope of the westerner was to "squat" to hold down his claim. He was ready to claim by discovery and occu- pancy as indicated in his tomahawk blazing on his corner and line trees, and also to resort again, if need be, to the principle that might makes right.

They did not have long to wait. Deputy George Crogan,* John Allen and Joseph Shippen, Jr., com- missioners representing Pennsylvania, were attended in council at Fort Pitt by 1,103 Indians, not counting many women and children. The council began April 26, and lasted fourteen days. The complaint of murders which the whites had committed were satisfied by presents or payments in nature of damages. This was a frequent method of settlement among the Indian nations them- selves, either a life for a life, or compensation in dam- ages by blankets or other common currency.

The question of trespass was not so easily settled, as the white men were in an apologetic state of mind and a helpless condition. They did some special pleading by setting forth the acts of the few Mingoes at Rev. Steele's conference within the last sixty days which had induced the trespassers to hold their guard; the several proclamations of the colonies and alleged warning-out visits by soldiers under Gen. Page, the authority of His Majesty of England; and that, anyhow, the majority of these trespassers were from Virginia.

During this council the Delawares gave notice again of their title, by their chief, claiming that "The country lying between this River and the Allegheny Mountains has always been our hunting ground, but the White Peo- ple who have scattered themselves over it have, by their hunting, deprived us of the Game, which we look upon ourselves to have the only right to, and we desire you

* An Irishman from Dublin, who had lived on the north side of the Ohio below the Forks in 1748. He and Conrad Weiser, a German by birth, both had much influence with the Indians, and were frequently called upon by Pennsyl- vanians to represent that colony in adjusting Indian affairs.

will acquaint our Brother, the Governor, of this, and prevent their hunting there for the future." This claim should be remembered, for while it seems to have been ignored then, it may have been the underlying cause of many depredations years afterward, until the Delaware and other subordinate titles were finally recognized by a purchase twenty years later.

This attempt at Fort Pitt was only preliminary, for the great treaty and purchase including the land of Washington County took place at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y., for the convenience and in the home land of the ever-feared Iroquois or United People.

The deed made November 5, 1768, frequently called the new purchase, was for all the land on the east side of a boundary "beginning where the northern state line crosses the north branch of the Susquehanna River, and running a circuitous course by the west branch of that river to the Ohio (Allegheny) at Kittanning; thence down that river to where the western boundary of Penn- sylvania crosses the Main Ohio; then southward and eastward by the westward and southward boundaries of the State, to the east side of the Allegheny Mountains." The deed was made by the Six Nations alone.

What could be more indefinite than such a description? Nobody knew where the western boundary of Pennsyl- vania was, nor where it crossed the Ohio; yet intelligent men made that imaginary and undetermined line a boun- dary between their trespassing people and the incensed and belligerent savages.

To emphasize and illustrate this uncertainty, we must in the following chapter examine the contest then brew- ing between Pennsylvania and Virginia over this same boundary question. The wisdom and foresight of the settlers is demonstrated by the fact that on April 3, of the following spring their lands were thrown open to public settlement by Pennsylvania, after only thirty-five days' notice given by the advertisements of the eastern land office.

CHAPTER IV

EVENTS OF 1763-1769.

Boundary Complications Affecting Washington County-Mason's and Dixon's Line-Agreement between Lord Baltimore and the Penns-Troublesome Titles-Penn's Boundary-American Surveyors Fail to Complete- Indians Stop the Imported Surveyors-English Surveyors Fail to Complete-Uncertainty-The Virginia Controversy-An Aggressive People-Handicapped.

MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

In 1763, when the hosts of Pontiac from the northwest, were making the existence of the pioneer settler extremely precarious an important event was taking place at the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania. All the adjoining colonies were interested in the little seg- ment of a circle which always looks so odd on the map of our State. And the Indians were vitally interested also, for upon that circle, drawn twelve miles out from the court house at New Castle, Delaware, and the line to start west from it, would depend not only the lines of four provinces, but also the western boundary of the Indian land soon to be purchased in 1768-the western boundary of Pennsylvania.

Lord Baltimore of Maryland and the Penns of Penn- sylvania agreed in August, 1763, to have the dividing line measured and located by Charles Mason and Jere- miah Dixon of England, and in November hurried them across the ocean to Philadelphia to begin work with the most approved instruments, among them a four-foot zenith sector. These two provinces and Delaware had become weary of over eighty years of litigation con- cerning their lines, and had one of the parties been Indians, bloodshed would have been resorted to instead of courts. The great grants of the English Kings were as prolific of disputes and trouble as the Indian titles, but the troubles were fought out in a legal form until the principal was established, which many litigants miss, that adjustment is better than contention.

The land grant to William Penn by England's King in 1681, was not only a puzzle to him and his successors, but to all his adjoiners. The portion of the description which concerns Washington County is:

"All of that tract or part of land in America,

as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware River, from twelve miles distant northwards of New Castle. The said land to extend westwards five degrees

in longitude to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the . south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle northwards unto the beginning of the for- tieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westwards to the limit of longitude above men- tioned. "

William Penn never knew where his western line was, nor whether it was straight or crooked. Indeed it is stated that his successors supposed his western boundary line was as crooked as the Delaware River on the east. It is possible he may have thought his five degrees measured westward would carry his possessions to the Pacific Ocean, for at this time the Pacific Ocean or South Sea was supposed to be much closer than it is to the Atlantic .*

The location of the western line of Washington County being dependent entirely upon the little bow around New Castle and on the Mason and Dixon line, one of the most noted boundary lines in history, some attention must be given to this most noted survey and to the effects upon our country had there been some dif- ferent interpretation given the words used in the King's Charter.

Mason and Dixon broke ground immediately upon reaching Philadelphia and in two months after their arrival had completed what is said to be the first astro- nomical observatory in America and began to look at the moons of Jupiter. (Veech's History of Mason and Dixon Line.)

They found their work under headway, for they based their calculations upon certain peninsular lines estab- lished by Delaware authorities thirteen years before, and

* In 1608 an expedition was organized to find a passage to the South Sea by sailing up the James River, and Cap- tain John Smith was once commissioned to seek a new route to China by ascending the Chicahominy .. A map of 1651 represents Virginia as a narrow strip of land between the two oceans.

GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE

GEN. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR

GEN. JOSIAH HARMAR

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

upon the little segment of the circle so carefully marked out by the three years' effort of John Lukens and other American surveyors and commissioners. These had been appointed by Pennsylvania and Maryland in 1760, with instructions to complete and mark the line to the west- ern end of Maryland by Christmas of 1763. But the contract was greater than had been anticipated. The extreme carefulness of the American surveyors brought about their release and gave the English surveyors and astronomers a task which they never completed, although they worked diligently with all needed assistants during the years 1763-4-5-6-7 and took another year to make their final report before being discharged. They did complete the line of division between the three colonies, but Penn's representative must have engaged them to go to the western extremity of his lands, for they seem never to have stopped at the western end of Maryland, but cut their way on westward until abruptly halted by an authority higher than the colonial governors', the feared Iroquois. Virginia does not appear to have been consulted about the extension of Penn's lines, but the Indians must be.

None but a star-gazing mathematician can under- stand why so much time was consumed by Mason and Dixon in assuring themselves that the earlier surveyors had located correctly an apparently short circular line, and in fixing the course for the westward line at 39º, 43', 26", instead of latitude 40° as expressed in Penn's original charter. One explanation of the change is that the 40° line would have left Penn's Philadelphia town in Maryland, which was never intended by Penn or his King, and this change was one of the many made neces- sary between the lords of the soil. Suppose if you will, that Lord Baltimore had insisted and succeeded in estab- lishing that line at 40°. He would not only have owned Philadelphia, but Greene County, a southern part of Washington and nearly all of Fayette with their riches of coal, oil and gas, would be in Virginia.

At last, in June, 1765, the skilled engineers started in our direction, making a 24-foot line-way or course, by cutting the timber and setting boundary stones every mile, those at the end of every fifth mile (before enter- ing the mountains) were engraved with the English coat of arms of each of the proprietors. They make a point 95 miles west of the Susquehanna River that summer, to the end of a temporary line which seems to have been run in 1739.

Pushing on next spring, by June 5, 1766, they arrived on the first chain of the Allegheny Mountains about directly south of Johnstown. The Indians had not yet granted the lands farther than the east side of the moun- tains, and these must have used the same expression which the celebrated Pontiac used near Detroit to Maj.

Henry when his English sailors were taking possession of the country vacated for them by the French: "I shall stand in your path until morning." Everybody stops. The natives have spoiled a good summer's work by this stand, and it cost the Quaker owners and their adjoining English lords £500 to hold an Indian Six Nation pow-pow away up in New York State the follow- ing winter.

A whole year is lost before the "morning" in June, 1767, arrives, and the tree cutting and star gazing party is permitted to proceed, but under control and protection of fourteen warriors, headed by a chief of the Iroquois with his interpreter. By the 25th of August they cross the Braddock road. Here the Six Nation chief and his nephew leave. The Shawanese and Delawares, tenants of the hunting grounds, look so dangerous and threat- ening that twenty-six laborers desert and the axe-men dwindle to fifteen. Being so near the southwest corner, the surveyors run the risks by moving on while they send back for aid. The final stand is taken a month later, "where the state line crosses the Warrior branch of the old Catawba war-path, at the second crossing of the Dunkard Creek, close to the village of Mt. Morris, now in Green County and almost directly south of Zollars- ville, Scenery Hill, and Thomas Station in Washington County, and Carnegie in Allegheny County. Here the surveyors pack up their instruments, for the decree had gone forth from the great Indian council: "Thus far shalt thou come but no farther." The line has made immortal the name of Mason and Dixon, but the uncom- pleted work is stopped for fifteen years.

The reader will observe that this ending would have thrown the western part of Washington County, includ- ing Canonsburg and Washington, in Virginia. It left all claimants, red or white, to guess whether or not Fort Pitt was in Pennsylvania. The engineer's map, and re- port made to the employers November 9, 1768, show they had been stopped 23 miles and 83 perches short of the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. (Creigh's History, Appendix, p. 29.) But Mr. Latrobe says 36 miles.

A surveyor of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, (Cumberland County then extending to the western boundary), when written to, about a year after this report was filed, replied that he could not tell precisely where the western boundary crossed the Monongahela, but he "inclined to the belief that Chartiers' Creek must be in the province of Pennsylvania, as its junction with the Ohio is but four miles from Fort Pitt, about northwest, and on going to Redstone Old Fort (Browns- ville) you cross it several times, and Redstone Old Fort is several degrees to the westward of south of Fort Pitt." Col. William Crawford three years later says: "It was the opinion of some of the best judges that

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

the line of the province would not extend so far (as that of Mr. Hendricks) as it would be settled at 48 miles to a degree of longitude, which was the distance of a degree of longitude allowed at the time the charter was granted to William Penn. (The width of a degree of longitude decreases from the equator to the poles. Mason and Dixon had figured on 53 miles and 167 1-10 perches to one degree.) Lord Dunmore wanted the five degree line measured along the northern side of Penn- sylvania and this would have thrown the western line of Pennsylvania fifty miles east of Pittsburg. Michael Cresap, a trader at Redstone, diligently proclaimed that Pennsylvania did not extend west of the mountains. One of his letters argues that if any objections be made to the collection of taxes and laws of Pennsylvania it will be entirely owing to her failure in not ascertaining the true limits of her jurisdiction, and publishing it to the people.

This "standing in the path" by the Indians must have hastened the "new purchase" of their lands by the deed November 5, 1768, preceded by the two great council meetings mentioned in our last chapter. The wonder now is, why the engineering work was not im- mediately prosecuted to completion from the above date, for it certainly would have been a great satisfaction and probably a saving of life to settlers, as well as to Indians, to have known where Penn's line ended. Was it because no settlement had been made with the Dela- wares (and possibly the Shawanese), the hunting tribes, then tenants in possession of our native heath? No doubt there was dissatisfaction, and even if paid, some would express themselves in the language of Chief White Face after the final purchase of lands in 1784-85: "The price is not one pair of moccasins apiece."

Bausman's History of Beaver County (p. 181), speak- ing of Penn's dealing with the Indians, says: "Through a long term of years treaties were made with them, for the purchase of their lands. Payments were made in blankets and other wearing apparel, in pins, needles, scissors, knives, axes and guns. For some of their lands they were paid twice, on account of dissatisfaction with the purchase price, so anxious were the proprietaries to keep on friendly terms with them." No doubt the inten- tions of the authorities were honest enough, but when we consider the vast extent of the territory surrendered by the Indians, and the purchase price, a few thousand dollars worth of "goods, merchandise and trinkets," the justice of the transactions is not striking. And despite the formal acceptance of the terms made in the treaties, the Indians were wise enough to see that they were being very poorly compensated for their lands.

However, it was not the savages who stopped the next company of surveyors on this south boundary line. It was the belligerent pale-face people claiming to be from

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 7

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