USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 13
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Under the Act of Assembly providing for organizing volunteer militia, twenty-five companies had been raised, which were stationed at military posts along the line of the
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frontier. Near the close of August, Colonel Armstrong led a force of about three hundred of these troops against the Indian town of Kittanning, upon the Alleghany River, some twenty-five miles above Fort Du Quesne. On approaching the place, the main body made a detour to the left, and came upon the river some three hundred yards below the town at three o'clock on the morning of the 7th of September. At dawn the attack was made. Shielded from view by the tall corn which grew upon the river flats, the approach was unobserved, and the surprise and triumph was complete. Jacobs, the chief, sounded the war-whoop, and defended himself bravely through loop-holes in the logs of his cabin. The warriors generally refused quarter, declaring that they were men, and never would be prisoners. Finding that they would listen to no terms, Armstrong ordered their cabins to be fired. " Again," says Gordon, " the Indians were required to surrender, and again refused ; one of them declaring that he did not care for death, as he could kill four or five before he died; and as the heat approached, some of them began to sing. Others burst from their houses and attempted to reach the river, but were instantly shot down. Captain Jacobs, in getting out of a window, was shot, as also a squaw, and a lad called the king's son." Considerable quantities of gun- powder, and small arms, with valuable goods which had been presented by the French a few days before, were destroyed. The severity of this blow had a marked effect upon the sur- rounding tribes, who had not before felt the power of the English arms. The gallantry of Armstrong in this affair was publicly acknowledged, and he was presented with a medal and plate by the city of Philadelphia.
On account of the repeated failure of the money bills, the Colonial Treasury had become greatly embarrassed. The need of money was imperative. The Assembly accord- ingly passed a bill, levying one hundred thousand pounds upon all estates, real and personal, including alike that of Proprietor and people. Governor Denny promptly re- jected it; and the Assembly, unable to hold out longer, 11
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was forced to exempt the Proprietary estates; but at the same time determined to send two commissioners to Eng- land to present their grievances before the throne, and seek relief. Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin were selected for this mission. The state of health and business relations of the former prevented his acceptance, and the latter pro- ceeded alone.
During the winter of 1756, the hostile Indians were busy in their work of devastation and death, and during the spring and summer months of 1757, the settlers in the counties of Cumberland, Berks, Northampton, and Lancaster were kept in a continual state of alarm; the savages lurking in every covert, and shooting laborers as they sowed and gathered, and murdering and scalping helpless women and children ; some of their hostile parties pushing down within thirty miles of the city of Philadelphia. The military operations against the French and Indians during the year 1757 were sluggish, being conducted under the chief command of the Earl of Loudoun, and resulted in nothing but defeat and dis- grace. In 1758, Loudoun was recalled; and General Aber- crombie, with Amherst, Wolfe, and Forbes as his lieutenants, was entrusted with the chief command. William Pitt was now at the head of the British Ministry, and was resolved upon wielding power in America with that mastery which he had displayed in the affairs of the Continent.
It was determined to direct operations upon three points: Louisburg, the forts upon the lakes, and Fort Du Quesne. In the meantime a conference was held at Easton, in August, 1757, with the Indians, at which the Governors of New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Virginia, and Sir William Johnson, the victor over the Baron Diesker in the battle upon Lake George, in August, 1755, were invited to partici- pate. Delegates from the "Friendly Association " of Quakers were also present, and assisted materially in inclining the savages to peaceful counsels. Charles Thomson, Master of the Quaker Free School, of Philadelphia, subsequently Secretary of the American Congress, acted as secretary to the Indians.
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The result of the council was a compact of peace with the English by the tribes represented. General Abercrombie, in person, led the main body of his forces against the forts upon the lakes. In an attack upon Ticonderoga, - a fort erected by the French in 1756, upon a narrow neck of land between Lakes George and Champlain,- he was repulsed with griev- ous loss. But at Frontignac he was successful, where large captures of guns and military stores were made, and the French force, routed, was followed and destroyed. General Forbes was intrusted with the operations against Fort Du Quesne. With a detachment of Abercrombie's army, and the militia of Pennsylvania and Virginia, under command of Colonels Bouquet and Washington, he marched from Car- lisle in July, 1758, and, after severe fighting in front of the fort, compelled its evacuation, the French escaping to their settlements upon the Mississippi. The fort was seized and garrisoned by four hundred Pennsylvanians, and the rest of the army returned, and was quartered upon the inhabitants of Lancaster, Reading, and Philadelphia; but was finally put in barracks at Lancaster.
It was determined to put a finishing stroke to the French power in America in the campaign of 1759. The general plan involved active operations along all the line of the Col- onies. General Stanwix, who was intrusted with the com- mand of the Southern Department, kept close guard of the frontier in Maryland and Pennsylvania. About the middle of July, General Prideaux, with a force strengthened by friendly Indians, invested Fort Niagara, near the Falls. While reconnoitring the trenches, he was killed by the burst- ing of a cochorn, and was succeeded by Sir William Johnson. A large French force, drawn from Detroit, Venango, and Presque Isle, which approached for the relief of the fort, was met, and, after a severe battle, was routed, and its comman- der and all his officers were taken prisoners; whereupon the garrison of the fort surrendered. General Amherst, with twelve thousand troops, fell upon Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point; but encountered little resistance, the French,
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upon his approach, withdrawing towards Quebec. Finally, to crown this series of triumphs, General Wolfe, with an army of eight thousand men, moved for the reduction of Quebec. The place was defended by a French army of six thousand men, under General Montcalm, in a position strong by nature, and rendered seemingly impregnable by art. All attempts to draw his adversary from this stronghold having proved fruitless, Wolfe moved his forces up the river, as if to land above; but, during the night of the 12th of September, dropped quietly down, under cover of darkness, and landing upon a rugged shore deemed impracticable for the debarka- tion of an assailing force, and hence little guarded, ascended the steep bluff, and at daylight stood in hostile array upon the plains of Abraham. Montcalm immediately determined to give battle, and after a desperate engagement fought with great bravery and determination, in which the commanders of both armies were killed, the English gained a signal and complete triumph. The news of this succession of brilliant victories was received in Great Britain with demonstrations of delight. A day of thanksgiving to God throughout the royal dominions was proclaimed, and Parliament voted a monument in Westminster Abbey to the fallen hero by whose gallantry the last great victory was won.
Franklin, who had arrived in London in July, 1757, laid his instructions before the Ministry, and was at once involved in a controversy with the Proprietors. Towards the close of the year 1757, Robert Charles and Richard Partridge were sent to Franklin as associates. A few days after his arrival, Franklin had presented a remonstrance to the Proprietors against the instructions they had given to their Deputy Gov- ernor. In February, 1759, the Proprietors sent a message to the Assembly in answer to this remonstrance, defending their course. In the meantime Franklin, finding that the cause of the Assembly was being grossly misrepresented, and that ignorance prevailed relative to the real condition of the Colony, had recourse to the press, and, by articles in the newspapers, and by a pamphlet entitled " Historical Review of
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the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania," sought to enlighten public sentiment. The Proprietors had pro- posed to allow their estates to be taxed, provided their value should be assessed by commissioners of their own appoint- ment. This the Assembly resisted, and passed the money bill of the session of 1759, with no discrimination in assess- ments. This was resisted by the Proprietors before the Privy Council, but it finally received the royal sanction on the en- gagement of Franklin that the Deputy Governor should be admitted to a participation in the disposal of the revenues, that the bills issued should be a tender in payment of quit- rents, and that the located uncultivated lands of the Proprie- tors should be assessed as low as the lowest uncultivated lands of the settlers. This final decision of a vexed question, substantially in the interest of the Assembly, was a signal triumph for the Commission, and Franklin was appointed agent for the colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia, in addition to Pennsylvania.
Governor Denny had received no pay since his first arrival in the Colony, when he was presented with five hundred pounds, all appropriations since having fallen by want of his signature. His needs finally became such that he determined to disregard his instructions, and on signing the bill taxing the Proprietary estates, he was voted a thousand pounds, a like sum on approving the bill re-emitting paper currency without a clause protecting the Proprietary interests, and an- other like sum on approving that for recording of warrants and surveys. This course gave offence to the Proprietors, and he was accordingly recalled. The Governor had a diffi- cult part assigned him to act - a part that his judgment evi- dently did not approve. He was active and judicious in con- certing measures for the defence of the Colony according to the means afforded him, and maintained the dignity and decorum of the gubernatorial office.
JAMES HAMILTON, Deputy Governor, October, 1759, to Nor ember, 1763. - Upon the recall of Governor Denny, James
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Hamilton was again invested with the office of Governor. Believing that the Colonies had borne more than their pro- portionate share of the burden in furnishing troops and money in the late war, the Prime Minister of Great Britain recom- mended, as he had promised to do, an appropriation to sat- isfy this excess of expense. Two hundred thousand pounds per annum for five years was voted to the Colonies, the share of Pennsylvania being twenty-six thousand pounds.
During the fall and winter of 1759-60 the Cherokee In- dians, who were very strong in the South, commenced hostilities. The militia, under Governor Littleton, of South Carolina, was led against them with some success; but not being in sufficient force to intimidate, it only served to em- bitter the savages and stir them to more desperate deeds of butchery. A detachment of the British army, led by Colonel Montgomery, was sent to subdue them, but suffered disastrous repulse. In May of the following year, Colonel Grant was dispatched against them with a strong force, who defeated them in battle, burnt their towns, and ravaged their territory, compelling them to sue for peace.
During the winter of 1760 the French made extraordinary efforts to recover what they had lost in the previous cam- paign. But in this they were unsuccessful, and General Am- herst, who had succeeded to the command of the British army, gathering in the forces from Quebec and from lakes Champlain and Ontario, appeared before Montreal, where the French army was concentrated, and demanded its surren- der. Seeing that resistance would be unavailing, the French yielded to the demand, and Montreal, Detroit, and all other strongholds in Canada submitted to English rule.
On the 25th of October, 1760, George II. died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. Early in the year 1762, war was declared between England and Spain, the lat- ter being shortly after joined by France. The city of P'hila- delphia was wholly without defence, and lay exposed to the visits of the enemy's privateers. Governor IIamilton con- vened the Assembly, which voted the sum receivable from
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Great Britain, for preparations to meet the threatened danger, and five thousand pounds additional, for erecting a fort and mounting it with cannon on Mud Island, at the mouth of the Schuylkill. But the war was of short continuance, peaco being concluded in November, 1762, by which Nova Scotia, Canada, Louisiana to the Mississippi, and Florida, were given up to Great Britain.
The native tribes beheld this sudden expansion of power and influence with concern. The English were everywhere encroaching upon their pleasant seats and hunting-grounds, and pushing them farther and farther towards the setting sun. To stem the tide, and, if possible, recover their coun- try, the Shawanese and the tribes upon the Ohio formed a secret league, under Pontiac, a famous chief of the Ottowas, and planned to strike a sudden and concerted blow along the whole frontier. It fell in the spring of 1763. Unsus- picious of any danger, the settlers were busy in their fields. Stealing upon them unawares, the savages shot down and murdered them without mercy. The whole line of the frontier was ablaze with the torch and musket of the savage. Forts Le Bœuf, Venango, Presque Isle, La Ray, St. Joseph's, Miamis, Ouachtanon, Sandusky, and Michilimackinack, were simultaneously assailed, and fell into the hands of the Indians, the garrisons being mercilessly slaughtered. Fort Pitt, Niagara, and Detroit were able to hold out, but having only weak garrisons, could afford no protection to the wide territory around them. The slaughter along all the border was indiscriminate, and the weak settlements one after another were broken up, until Shippensburg, Cumber- land County, became the outpost of civilization. "The sav- ages," says Gordon, " set fire to houses, barns, corn, hay, and everything that was combustible. The wretched inhabitants, whom they surprised at night, at their meals, or in the labors of the fields, were massacred with the utmost cruelty and barbarity, and those who fled were scarce more happy. Over- whelmed by sorrow, without shelter or means of transporta- tion, their tardy flight was impeded by fainting women and
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weeping children. . . . In the towns, every stable and hovel was crowded with miserable refugees, who, having lost their houses, their cattle, and their harvest, were reduced from independence and happiness to beggary and despair. The streets were filled with people; the men, distracted by grief for their losses, and the desire of revenge, were poignantly excited by the disconsolate females and bereaved children who wailed around them. In the woods for some miles on both sides of the Susquehanna, many families, with their cattle, sought shelter, being unable to find it in the towns."
Colonel Armstrong, collecting a force in Cumberland . County of three hundred volunteers, advanced upon Muncy and Great Island, destroying their towns and stores; but the savages withdrew before him. Fort Pitt, which had for some time been surrounded and cut off from communication with the Government, was repeatedly attacked by musketry, and flaming arrows. But still the garrison held out. At length, General Armstrong sent Colonel Bouquet for its re- lief. Fort Ligonier, beyond the Alleghanies, was reached in safety, and a party of thirty trusty men was dispatched in advance, who pushed past the savage warriors at night and entered Fort Pitt with intelligence that succor was approach- ing, to the great joy of the garrison. But the main body was attacked near Bushy Run, on the 5th of August, 1763, and before the commander was aware of the presence of a foe, he found himself surrounded and hard-pressed on all sides. Gallantly did the little body of less than four hundred men face the enemy; but with equal resolution did the savage warriors press upon them. Utter destruction seemed inevi- table. Finally, Bouquet laid an ambuscade. He ordered a part of his force to steal away, as in retreat, while the main body was disposed so as to fall upon the Indians should they attempt to follow. The savages eagerly fell into the snare, and were routed with great slaughter, when Bouquet moved forward to Fort Pitt unmolested.
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JOHN PENN, Deputy Governor, November, 1763-1771. - In November, 1763, Governor Hamilton was superseded by John Penn, son of Richard Penn, who had come to the Col- ony in 1753, and had acted as President of the Council. During the fall and early winter following the Pontiac war, the condition of the Province along the frontier was deplora- ble. Notwithstanding the utmost vigilance of the inhabitants who had enrolled themselves as Rangers, many a hearthstone was laid waste. The Moravian and other friendly Indians were strongly suspected of treachery. Not that they them- selves were guilty of the outrages, but receiving guns and ammunition, they traded them to the hostile roving bands. On strong representations made to the Government, after investigation by the Assembly, the Indians at the towns of Nain and Wechquetank were removed to Philadelphia.
Contiguous to the Scotch-Irish settlements of Donegal and Paxton, in what was then Lancaster County, was the Indian village of Conestoga, consisting of a score of men and women. They were a miserable set of savages; but Governor Penn, notwithstanding the earnest request of Colonel (Rev.) John Elder and John Harris, failed to remove them. Indian marauders and assassins were traced by Colonel Elder's inde- fatigable Paxton Boys, or Rangers, to Conestoga, and as no assistance or protection could be had from the govern- ment, they took measures to destroy every one. A number escaped, and were placed by the magistrates in the work-house at Lancaster for protection; but their retreat was broken into by the infuriated populace, and they met the fate of their brethren. In the destruction of the Conestogas several well- known, blood-thirsty savages lurking there were killed.
This act of the frontiersmen, which aided eventually in giving peace to the borders, caused intense excitement in the interior counties, and Governor Penn issued several procla- mations, offering rewards for the chief actors in that affair.
Meetings were held on the frontiers to protest against the measures of the Government, and delegates were appointed
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to proceed to Philadelphia and lay before the Governor ind the Council a statement of the condition of the inhabitants. The news of the coming of these representatives, augmented by numbers from Berks and the adjoining counties, created an alarm, and their object being misunderstood, the militia was called out.
The Moravian Indians were removed to Province Island, and placed under heavy guard; but feeling insecure, they asked to be sent to England. Governor Penn sent them for this purpose to New York; but the Governor of that Colony refused to allow them to enter his dominions, and Governor Franklin of New Jersey would not grant them permission to remain in his. They were obliged thus to return to Philadelphia, where they were placed in barracks for protection. The Paxton Boys, being then at German- town, a committee, of which Franklin was a member, was sent by Governor Penn to confer with them. The majority of them, after some persuasion, returned to their homes, leaving Matthew Smith and James Gibson to plead their cause, who said in justification of their conduct, "That whilst more than a thousand families, reduced to extreme distress, during the last and present war, by the attacks of skulking parties of Indians upon the frontier, were destitute, and were suffered by the public to depend on private charity, a hundred and twenty of the perpetrators of the most horrid barbarities, were supported by the Province, and protected from the fury of the brave relatives of the murdered." * Prosecutions were commenced against some of the parties to the outbreak, but so many were implicated, and so excellent the character of many of them, that no convictions were ever secured. There were two policies advocated in the Colony towards the Indians at this time, which were in direct antagonism. " Whilst one party was laboring to destroy by fire and sword a perfidious and ferocious enemy, the other was striving to conciliate an offended friend." To attempt to pursue both of these policies at once could but result disastrously.
* Gordon, p. 408.
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The British Ministry determined to prosecute the campaign of 1764 against the Indians with vigor along all the frontier. Pennsylvania was called on for one thousand troops. The Assembly voted fifty thousand pounds; but a difference of opinion arising respecting the interpretation of the agree- ment formed by the Proprietors with Franklin relative to as- sessments, the Governor withheld his assent to the bill, and the Assembly was finally forced, by the exigencies of the case, to modify it so as to meet his views ; but adopted a series of resolutions condemnatory of the course of the Proprietors, and concluding, that, for the reasons set forth, "It was the opinion of the House, that the powers of government ought, in all good policy, to be separated from the power attending that immense property, and lodged where only they could be properly and safely lodged, in the hands of the king." After passing these resolutions, the House determined to adjourn to consult the people whether an address should be drawn praying his Majesty to take the Province under his imme- diate protection and government. After an interval of fifty days the Assembly again convened, and petitioned the king to assume the direct government of the Province, though upon the adoption of this policy, strong opposition was made by the venerable Isaac Norris, John Dickinson, and a few others. The Quakers, as a denomination, favored the change, and sent up a petition from their body urging it. In the elections which followed the sittings of this Assembly, a reaction seems to have taken place, and some of the old members, who had advocated the change, were defeated, among them Franklin; still there was a majority which favored it.
On the 7th of July, 1765, Governor Penn again declared war against the Shawanese and Delaware Indians, who had been practising hostilities with great barbarity, and early in August, Colonel Bouquet, with the Pennsylvania troops, started from Carlisle for Fort Pitt. By the 3d of October he had reached the forks of the Muskingum, a tributary of the Ohio, the very heart of the Indian territory, where were
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their finest villages und most fruitful fields, the fairest of their possessions. So fearless and rapid were the movements of Bouquet, that the savages were everywhere stricken with ter- ror, and they soon came as suppliants, suing for peace and begging that their homes might be spared. Terms of pacifi- cation were concluded, by which they agreed to abstain from hostilities until a formal treaty could be concluded with Sir William Johnson, agent of Indian Affairs in America, and to deliver up all the white captives who had been carried away during the several years of hostility. "Two hundred and six prisoners, men, women, and children," says Gordon, " were restored, many of whom were joyfully received in the camp by their relations, who had joined the army with the design of redeeming them from slavery or avenging their deaths. Some of the captives had dwelt long enough with the Indians to acquire a taste for their wild and simple life, and to inspire their masters with ardent affection. Force was necessary in several instances to bring the prisoners to the camp, where their captors, with cheeks bedewed with tears, delivered them to their countrymen, loading them with corn, skins, and other property, bestowed upon them whilst in the Indian families. On the return of the army, some of the Indians obtained leave to accompany their former captives to Fort Pitt, and employed themselves in hunting and carrying provisions for them on the road." Pledges were also given for the delivery of all captives held by these tribes, many of whom had become widely scattered and could not be imme- diately reached.
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