History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 16

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046

USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 16
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 16

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"betide the red men when their blood-stained tracks once met their eyes." The Paxtang rangers were truly the terror of the red men, swift on foot, excel- lent horsemen, good shots, skillful in pursuit or in escape, dexterous as scouts, and expert in maniuv- ring.

On the 4th of August, 1763, Col. Elder wrote to the Governor, "The service your honor was pleased to appoint me to I have performed to the best of my power, though not with success equal to my desires. However, both companies will, I imagine, be com- pdlete in a few days. There are now upward- of thirty men in each, exclusive of officers, who are now and have been employed since their enlistment in such service as is thought most safe and encouraging to the frontier inhabitants, who are here and everywhere else in the back connties quite sunk and dispirited, so that it is to be feared that at any attack of the enemy a considerable part of the country will be evacuated, as all seem inclinable to seek safety rather in flight than in opposing the savage foe."

Unfortunately they were prohibited by law from going over the boundaries of the purchased lands after the enemy, and it is not to be supposed, there- fore, they could guard successfully the entire line of outposts.

During the subsequent harvest the reaper- of Pax- tang. Hanover, and Derry took their guns and am- munition with them into the fields to defend them- selves from the sudden attacks of the enemy. Ou the Sabbath the tru-ty rifle was taken to the sanctuary, and the pastor of Paxtang had at hand his weapon of defen-e.

In August, Col. Armstrong, the "hero of Kittan- ning," with two hundred Paxtang and Hanover rangers and a few soldiers from Cumberland County, marched to the Indian town on the Big I-land. While en route, learning that a party of fifty Indiaus were on their way to the settlements, a portion of the volunteers followed them and routed them on Muncy Hill. The rest of Col. Armstrong's force proceeded to the Indian town, but found it deserted, the Indians having been apprised of the approach of the volun- teers. The latter returned home, enraged at learning that the Conestogas had sent messengers to inform their friends of the expedition.

Subsequently, on the 9th of September. 1763, a few of the rangers who had eneamped in Berks County were apprised of the approach of the Indians by their ont-scouts. The Indians advanced caution-ly to take them by surprise. When near, with savage yells, they rushed forward; but the rangers, springing to their feet, shot the three in front. The rest fled into a thicket and escaped. The Indians were armed with guns and provided with ammunition. These Indian- were on their way from the Moravian Iadians in Northampton County to the Big Island. Runners were sent to the different parties of rangers with information, and others set out in pursuit of those who fled. The

GENERAL HISTORY.

rangers who started in pursuit were baffled by the superior skill and artifee of the Indians. That they went to the Big Island was beyond a doubt. The Paxtang band were now determined to watch with serutinizing eyes the Indians who visited Conestoga and the Moravian towns, and ascertain the treach- erous.

The Provincial commissioners, however, on being informed of the foregoing particulars, inquired into the facts with the Governor, and reported the result to the Assembly on the 21st of October: " Upon in- quiry made before the Governor into the late conduct of the Moravians and their Indians at Nain and Wichetunk, it was their opinion that the -aid Indians have been, and still are, secretly -upplied by the Brethren with arms and ammunition, which they, the said Indians, having an intercourse with our enemies on the frontiers, do barter and exchange with them, to the great danger of the neighboring inhabitants, and that there is much reason to suspect the said Moravian Indians have also been principally con- cerned in the late murders committed near Bethle- hem, in the county of Northampton, which renders it absolutely necessary to remove them into the in- terior parts of the Province, where their behavior may be more closely observed. It was ordered by the House of Assembly that the Indians be invited down and lodged at some convenient place, and sup- ported at the public expense. Some were placed in the barrack-, others on Province Island."

About the middle ot October, when the murder of the Stinson family and others reached the ears of the Paxtang men, they solicited their colonel, the Rev. Mr. Eldler, to obtain permission of the Governor to allow them to make an excursion against the enemy. Another object had in view was "to destroy the im- mense quantities of corn left by the New England men at Wyoming, which, if not consumed, would be a considerable magazine to the enemy, and enable them with more ease to distress the inhabitants." At the most earnest solicitation, therefore, of hi- men, Col. Elder allowed the companies of Capt -. Stewart and Clayton to proceed to Wyoming. They marched in three days and a half one hundred and ten miles on foot. When they reached Wyoming they learned that the bloodthirsty >avage had preceded them, en- tering the valley from the direction of Northampton County, and then taken their departure up the river, murdering all the settlers. Col. Elder. in his letter to Governor Hamilton, was under the impre -- ion that, owing to the exposed condition of that region of country, the New England men had fled from the valley. Dispirited and -hocked at the Indian atroc- ities, the rangers, after burying the mas-acred, burned the Indian houses and a quantity of corn left standing, and returned to their homes.

By what evidence we know not, nor by what power of reasoning. but our Connecticut friends have re- cently laid the destruction of the New England colo-

nists to the ranger- under Stewart and Clayton, the bare supposition of which we can only characterize as infamous. All the documents go to show that the in- ferences thrown out are the imagining- of an addled brain. Neither Quaker falsehoods or Yankee in- genuity did we ever suppose would go to such length -.

Indians had been traved by the scouts to the wig- wanis at Conestoga, and to those of the Moravian In- dians in Northampton County. Suspicion was awak- ened ; the questions, " Are these Indians treacherous? Are their wigwams the harbors of our deadly for ? Do they conceal the nightly prowling assassin of the forest, the villain who, with savage ferocity, tore the innocent babe from the bosom of its mother where it had been quietly reposing and hurled it in the fire ? The mangled bodies of our friend- ery aloud for vengeance." Such were the questions, surmises, and expressions of the exasperated people. The Paxtang rangers were active in endeavoring to discover the perpetrators of those acts of violence, and they sie- ceeded. Their scouts traced the Indian marauders to the Conestoga town. It was not alone the few mi-er- able, squalid wretches who had been caressed and supported by the Quaker government, but strange Indians were there harbored and protected. Capt. Lazarus Stewart, one of the boldest men of the from- tiers, who commanded a company of rangers, pro- posed to Col. Elder to capture the murderers, but the merciful colonel dissuaded him from the attempt. It was then, under date of September 13 1763. that the Rev. Elder wrote to Governor Hamilton, -

" I suggest to you the propriety of an immediate removal of the Indians from Conestoga, and placing a garrison in their room. In case this is done, I pledge myself for the future speurity of the frontiers."

Capt. (afterwards Col. ) Timothy Green. on the 15th of the same month, wrote to His Excellency,-" We live in daily fear of our lives. At the Indian town the incarnate devils are secreted, and the people here demand that those Indians be removed from among 11%."

John Harris had previously made a similar request : " The Indians here I hope your Honor will be pleased to cause to be removed to some other place, As I don't like their company."

Subsequently, on taking charge of the executive af- fairs of the Province in October, Governor John Penn replied as follows: " The Indians of Cone-toga have been represented as innocent, helpless, and dependent on this government for support. The faith ... thi- government is pledged for their protection. I cannot remove them without adequate cau-e. The contract made with William Penn was a private agreement. afterwards confirmed by severd treaties. Care has been taken by the Provincial Committee that no In- dians but our own visit Conestoga. Whatever can be faithfully executed under the laws shall be as faith - fully performed."

This " contract with William Penn" was the excuse

HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

given to the Governor by those who controlled the government,-the Quakers .- and the Governor wrote without examining into the truth of the matter. The fact is, as we have heretofore remarked, that the origi- nal Indian settlers had removed before the laying out of the Manor of Cone-toga, and those who then occupied it were not the possessors of the land, but lived on it simply by sudferance. William Penn had not assigned any land to any Indians on the Cones- toga save to the Shawane-e, but they had removed westward forty years previously. So much for Grov- ernor John Peun's objection, yet a bad exeuse some- times is better than none.

The rangers, finding their appeals to the authori- ties useless, resolved on taking the law into their own hand. The safety of the frontier inhabitants de- manded it, there was no alternative. It was at first decided to capture several of the most notorious and try them by due course of law. This was found to be impossible, as referred to in Capt. Stewart's decla- ration, which we shall farther on present. The de- struction of the Cone-togas, so called, was not then projected. That was the result. The capture of the Indians was approved of by Col. Eldler, but the at- tempt failing, as an officer of the Province it was his duty to prevent extreme measures. Parkman and Rupp state that Col. Elder, learning of an attempt to destroy the entire tribe, as they were about to set off rode after them commanding them to desist; that Stewart threatened to shoot his horse, and much more. Such was not the ease.

In the first place, no descendant of the Puritans can properly understand the character of the Scotch- Irish, and we must say the same of Mr. Rupp, whose sympathies, learning, and researches were to the Ger- man element. Whether these historians were biased in their judgment by Quaker coloring we know not, but true it is, without making que inquiry, authentic records have been cast aside and the willful misinter-

up to the resentment of the government.' These things Furged in the warmest terms in order to pre- vail with them to drop the enterprise, but to no pur- pose."

Not to be deterred, the ranger- reached the Indian settlenient before daylight. The barking of some dogs discovered them, and a number of strange Indi- ans rushed from their wigwams, brandishing their tomahawks. This show of resistance was sufficient . inducement for the rangers to make use of their arins. In a few moments every Indian pre-ent fell before the unerring fire of the brave frontier-men. The act accomplished, they mounted their horses and re- turned severally to their homes. Unfortunately, a number of the Indians were absent from Cone-toga, prowling about the neighboring settlements, doubt- less on predatory incursions. The destruction at the Manor becoming known, they were placed in the Lancaster work-house. Among these vagabonds were two well known to Parson Elder's scouts. In addition, several Indians of notorious character made their way to Philadelphia and were secreted among the Moravian Indians protected in that city.

An express being sent to Philadelphia with the news, great excitement ensued, and Governor Pent issued a proclamation relative thereto. Notwith- standing its fine array of words, it fell upon the Prov- ince harmless. Outside of the Quaker settlements, every one heartily approved of the measures taken by the Paxtang rangers.

The presence of the remaining Indians at Lancaster became a cause of great uneasiness to the magistrates and people. Their removal to Philadelphia was earn- estly requested by Edward Shippen and others.

Governor Penn proved very tardy, and we are of the opinion he eared little about them, or he would have acted promptly. Day after day passed by, and the excitement throughout the frontiers became greater. The rangers, who found that their work had pretation of Quaker fiction given as current historical ! been only half done, consulted as to what measure- truths. From a letter dated Paxtang, Dec. 16, 1763, should be further procceded with. Capt. Stewart proposed to capture the principal Indian outlaw, who wa- confined in the Lancaster work-house, and take him to Carlisle jait, where he could be held for trial. This was heartily approved of, and accordingly a de- tachment of the rangers, variously estimated at from! twenty to fifty, proceeded to Lancaster on the 27th of December, broke into the work-house, and but for the show of resistance would have effected their purpose. But the younger portion of the rangers, to whom was confided this work, were so enraged at the defiance of the Indian-, that before their resentment could be re- pressed the unerring rifle was employed, and the list of the so-called Conestogas had yielded up his life. In a few minutes thereafter, mounting their horses. the daring ranger- were safe from pursuit. George Gibson, who, from his acquaintance with the principal frontier-men of his time, in a letter written some written to Governor Penn, he says. "On receiving intelligence, the 18th in-t., that a number of persons were assembled on purpose to go and cut off the Conestoga Indian-, in concert with Mr. Foster, the neighboring magistrate, I hurried off an express with a written message to that party, 'entreating them to desist from such an undertaking, representing to them the unlawfulness and barbarity of such an action, that it's cruel and unchristian in its nature, and would be fatal in its consequences to them- selves and families; that privare persons have no right to take the lives of any under the protection of the Legislature ; that they must. if they proceeded in that affair, lay their accounts to meet with a severe prosecution, an I become liable even to capital pun- ishment ; that they need not expect that the country would endeavor to conscal or screen them from pun- ishment, but that they would be detected and given . years after, gives the most plausible account of this

GENERAL IHISTORY.

tran-action, which bore such an important part in the early history of the Province. He says, " No mur- der has been committed since the removal of the friendly Indians and the destruction of Conestoga,- a strong proof that the murders were committed under the cloak of the Moravian Indians. . . . A de- seription of an Indian who had, with great barbarity, murdered a family on the Susquehanna, near Paxtang. was sent to Lazarus Stewart, at Lancaster. This In- dian had been traced to Conestoga. On the day of it> destruction he was on a hunting expedition. When he heard that the rangers were in pursuit of him he fled to Philadelphia. . . . The three or four who en- tered the work-house at Lancaster were directed by Stewart to seize on the murderer, and give him to his charge. When those outside heard the report of the guns within, several of the rangers alighted, thinking their friends in danger, and ha-tened to the door. The more active of the Indian-, endeavoring to make their escape, were met by them and shot. No children were killed by the Pastang boys. No act of savage butchery was committed."

CHAPTER IX.

The "Faxtang Boys' Insurrection .continued,-Excitement in the Province-Characteristic Letter of Parson Elder-The Declaration of the Frontier Inhabitants.

IF the excitement throughout the Province was great after the affair at Conestoga, this last transac- tion set everything in a ferment. "No language," says Rev. Dr. Wallace, "can describe the outery which arose from the ognakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement which swayed to and fro in the fron- tiers and in the city." The Quakers blamed the Gov- ernor, the Governor the Assembly, and the latter cen- sured everybody except their own inaction. Two proclamations were issued by the Provincial author- itie-, offering rewards for the -eizure of those con- cerned in the destruction of the Indians, but this was imposible, owing to the exasperation of the fron- tier-men, who heartily approved of the action of the rangers.

caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected."

To this extenuating and warm-hearted letter came a reply, under date of Dee. 29, 1763, from the Gov- ernor: " As it is absolutely necessary, for the preserva- tion of peace and good order in the government, that an immediate stop be put to such riotous proceedings, I beg you will continue to use your best endeavors to discourage and suppress all insurrections that may appear among any of the people ever whom you have an influence, and that you will be pleased to take all the pains in your power to learn the names of the ringleader- and perpetrators of those barbarities, and to acquaint me with everything you can discover con- cerning them. The commissioners, not thinking it necessary any longer to keep in pay more than one person to command the troops on the east side of the Su-quehanna, came yesterday to a resolution to dis- continue the pay of yourself and Mr. Seeley as com- mander- of the companies in Lancaster and Berks Counties, which are for the future to be put under the direction of Maj. Clayton, as well as those in Northampton. I therefore desire' you will deliver over to him all the Provincial arms, accoutre- ments, ammunition, and other military stores re- maining in your possession, with an exact areolat of those you have distributed among the two com- panies. I return yon thanks for the good services you have performed, and for the care and prudence with which you have conducted your military com- mand from the beginning."

From the foregoing letter of Governor John Penn it is evident that the commissioners, or rather the Provincial Council, intended to punish both the fron- tier commanders, or that with the destruction of the Conestogas there was little or no danger of Indian atrocities. The latter proved to be the case, but the authorities were cognizant of the fact that the Pax- tang boys were correct in their surmisings, and that peace would follow the removal of the friendly In- dians. It shows. also, that, believing thus, the Pro- vincial authorities were culpable to a great degree in allowing the Indians to remain on the Manor, de- spite the representations of Col. Elder, John Harri -. and Edward Shippen. The Rev. Mr. Eller quietly laid by hi- sword, feeling confident that time would vindicate his course.

On the 27th of December the Rev. Mr. Elder bur- riedly wrote to Governor Penn, "The storm, which had been so long gathering. has at length exploded. Subsequently Col. Elder wrote Governor Penn, and from the original letter in our possession we will give what he had to say relative to the then erisis of affairs : Had government removed the Indians from Cone,- toga, as was frequently urged without success, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men headed to madness ? All that I could do was done. I expostulated, but life and rea- " PAXTON 30'S JauF 1561. son were set at defiance, and yet the men in private "The Resolution the Commissioners have taken. to put these two Com- panies under the direction of another prisut, is very agre salde to m. ; in cons queuce thereof I have on the 24th of the Ins' lever'd too Major Clayton the military Stores remaining at 31 Harnie's with an ac- count of what have been distributed to the Troops, and resigned to bit the whole of my military char_". life were virtuous and respectable, not cruel. but mild and merciful. . . . The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crime-, shall be " I'm greatly obliged to sell ar that you have kindly approved & my considered one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath, . proceedings in the discharge of the Trust reg sed in me ; and ball frotu

HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

time to time, use my hest Endeavours to promote peace among the people with whom I have any Conne tions

" But, I'm much concerned to find that, the rash proceedings of a few inconsiderate persons ate likely to be attended with fatal consequences : For, howmuchsoover the farty committed by them, are & have ben di -. liked by the most thinking juli ons men ; yet the indulgence shown : savages, gives a general disgust. It's thought hard that, any such under the Title of friemdla, but unjustly, as is commonly thought, shon'd be -o much raressed, & auch numbers of them taken under the protection of the province, & plentitully suppli'd at it's expense, as an additional weight to the heavy burden it already groans moler ; while many foun- tier families, Ins Majesty's loyal & faithful subjects, are driven fions house & home, reduced to poverty and want and htthe provision made for them ; these things, with many others I might mention unike a deep impressiony & indy new toneals of many: Fut such prudent measures will. I hope, be taken by the Legislature as may happily prevent the ill effects thereuf.

" Were it in my power to learn the names of any concerned in the late Riots ; I should think it advisable, on many accounts, to use silence in that case: That of an Informier is a Character too odiou- for a gen- tlem" tu bear: Besides the office I have the hon' to be invested with in the Church requires that I shou'd do nothing that may have a tendence to mar my usefulness in that station ; but any thing else that may be thought necessary to promote his Majesty's service, or beneficial to the province may at all times be expected from

" yr HonN " most obedt > & most hal serst "JOHN ELDER."

Some one has indorsed on the back of this letter "Judicious man with noble spirit," with which we heart- . ily coincide.

The first week in January, as had been agreed upon as early as the preceding November, meetings were held in all the frontier counties for the appointment of delegates to go to Philadelphia in person and dle- mand a redress of grievances. Recent events gave interest and zest to the meetings. Paxtang, Donegal, Derry, and Hanover selected each three. Similar delegates were chosen in the non-German townships of Berks County and from Cumberland and North- ampton, about forty delegates in all. persons who were not in anywise connected with the transactions at Lancaster or Conestoga. This gathering of the frontiersmen in public meeting to petition and de- mand of the Provincial Assembly proper redress and representation in that body was stigmatized as sedi- tious and riotous, and hence the "hue and ery" which heralded the contemplated visit of the dele- gates from the frontier.

Governor John Penn, writing at this time to his unele, Thomas Penn, at London, a letter which has never appeared in print, gives thi- view of affairs, it puts a different phase upon passing events: . . . "You will see by the commotion the Province has been in for a long time past, the impossibility of apprehend- ing the murderers of the Conestoga Indians. There is not a man in the county of Lancaster but is of the rioter-' party. If we had ten thousand of the king's troops I don't believe it would be possible to secure one of these people. Though I book all the pains I could even to get their names, I could not succeed, for iudeut nobody would make the discovery though ever so well acquainted with them, and there is not a magistrate in the country would have touched one of

them. The people of this town [ Philadelphia], save a certain elass, are as inveterate against the Indians as the frontier inhabitants. For it is, beyond a doubt, that many of the Indians now in town [referring to the Moravian Indians on Province Island ], have been concerned in committing murders among the back settlers ; and I believe, were it not for the few of the king's troops who are here to protect them, that the whole power of the Government would not be able to prevent their being destroyed. Nothing can satisfy these people in flying in the face of Government in the manner they have done, although what they have suffered from these cruel savages is beyond descrip- tion. Many of them have had their wives and chil- dren murdered and scalped, their houses burnt to the ground, their eattle destroyed. and from an easy, plen- tiful life are now become beggars. In short, this spirit has spread like will-fire, not only through this Province, but the neighboring Governments, which are fully as inveterate against the Indians as we are. The 14th of this month we suspect a thousand of the rioters in town to insist upon the Assembly granting their request, with regard to the increase of Repre- sentatives, to put them upon an equality with the rest of the counties. They have from time to time pre- sented several petitions for the purpose, which have been always disregarded by the House; for which reason they intend to come in person."

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History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 16

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1046

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046