USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Old Westmoreland : a history of western Pennsylvania during the Revolution > Part 11
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Doddridge said: "The whole number of the Indians in the village . . . were made prisoners without firing a single shot. . . . A little after dark a council of war was held to determine on the fate of the warriors in custody. They were doomed to deatlı, and, by order of the command- er, they were bound, taken a little distance below the town and dispatched with tomahawks and spears and scalped."
This was a vicious accusation against Colonel Brod- head and is contradictory of the whole history of that strict disciplinarian and high-minded officer. The town was not taken without a shot. Brodhead's report said: "The troops behaved with great spirit, and although there was considerable firing between them and the Indians, I had not a man killed or wounded, and only one horse shot."
But Rev. Mr. Doddridge was only warming to his work. Here is his conclusion of the story: "Brodhead committed the care of the prisoners to the militia. They
were about 20 in number. After marching about half a
4 For Brodhead's Report, Pennsylvania Archives, First Serles, vol. 1x., p. 161.
5 Doddridge's Notes, p. 291; Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, vol. l., p. 480; Western Aunals, p. 330.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF COSHOCTON.
mile, the men commenced killing them. In a short time they were all dispatched, except a few women and children, who were spared and taken to Fort Pitt, and, after some time, were exchanged for an equal number of their prison- ers."
The only truth in this statement consists in the num- ber of the prisoners. It may be said that Colonel Brod- head would not be likely to mention so disgraceful an affair in his report, and that his silence is therefore no evidence that the prisoners were not butchered. But the story is disproved by the testimony of the enemy. A few days after Colonel Brodhead retired, the ruins of Coshocton were visited by twenty Wyandots, who learned from the released prisoners and other survivors the particulars of the Ameri- can raid. These Wyandots quickly bore the news to Si- mon Girty, at Upper Sandusky, and he promptly sent a let- ter to Lieutenant Governor DePeyster at Detroit. Girty had reasons to hate Colonel Brodhead and would have re- ported that officer's conduct in the worst possible light. Yet Girty wrote that Brodhead had released the prisoners, in- cluding four warriors who had satisfied him that they had not engaged in hostilities against the frontier, and had even expressed regret to these Indian men that their tribesmen had been killed during the attack on the Indian town.6
Doddridge's book has still thousands of readers. Doubtless, it well describes the conditions of pioneer life in Western Pennsylvania, but as to historical events it is to- tally unreliable. At the time Brodhead destroyed Coshoc- ton, Joseph Doddridge was about 12 years old, and he did not write his "Notes" until 40 years afterward. His only sources of information were the exaggerated yarns told by ignorant frontiersmen, beside the log cabin fires, into the ears of the wondering boy. Long vears afterward he en- deavored to recall and set down these stories heard in child- hood, and many persons have considered the result history. The official report of Colonel Brodhead, kept among the archives at Harrisburg, was not made public until 1854, and
6 The Girtys, p. 128. See also Winsor's Westward Movement, p. 192.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
other contemporary records, bearing on the Coshocton campaign, have come to light in later years.
As a result of the Coshocton campaign, the hostile Delawares migrated to the headwaters of the Sandusky and to other places farther westward, while the portion of the tribe adhering to Killbuck and the American moved to Pittsburg and erected their rude cabins on Smoky Island, at the northern side of the junction of the Allegheny and the Monongahela.
I31
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT.
CHAPTER XX.
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT.
During the spring and summer months of 1781 the Pennsylvania frontier was sorely disturbed by the efforts of General George Rogers Clark to raise troops for an expe- dition, in the interest of Virginia, against the British post at Detroit. In the summer of 1778 Clark had conquered the Illinois country and the valley of the Wabash for Vir- ginia, and, as it afterward turned out, for the United States. Virginia claimed all that northwestern country by king's charter, but, since king's charters had fallen into disfavor in America, she felt more reliance in a claim based on actual conquest. Clark was ambitious for the enterprise against Detroit and was supported by many of the leading men of the Kentucky and Virginia borders. They saw Detroit as the source of all their afflictions, and were eager for the con- quest of that breeding place of savage warfare.
Clark was in Richmond in January, 1781, where the prestige of his exploits easily gained for him the approval and support of the state government. He received a com- mission as brigadier general and ample funds to buy provi- sions in the country west of the Alleghany mountains. A small body of Virginia regulars, about 140, was placed at his service and he was empowered to raise and equip volunteers in the border counties.
Agents were sent ahead of Clark into the country be- tween Laurel Hill and the Ohio river and began to buy
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
flour and live cattle.1 Colonel Brodhead complained to the president of Pennsylvania that the food supply on which he was dependent was to be taken out of the country in the in- terest of Virginia, and he revealed a jealousy of Clark's en- terprise. "I have hitherto been encouraged to flatter my- self," he wrote, "that I should, sooner or later, be enabled to reduce that place (Detroit), but it seems the United States cannot furnish either troops or resources for the purpose, but the state of Virginia can."
Brodhead threatened to prevent the sending of any supplies out of the country, but in February he received a letter from General Washington, directing him to give aid to General Clark's undertaking and to detach from his own little force Captain Isaac Craig's field artillery and at least a captain's command of infantry, to assist the Virginia expe- dition.2
General Clark arrived on the Pennsylvania frontier about the beginning of March and made his headquarters at the house of Colonel Crawford, on the Youghiogheny. A part of his time he spent with Colonel Dorsey Pentecost, on Chartiers creek. He instituted vigorous efforts to raise men in the same region where he had found the hardy vol-
unteers for his first raid into the western territory. Then arose a bitter contention throughout all Southwestern Pennsylvania. The frontiersmen seemed to be about equal- ly divided between support and opposition to Clark's plans. It was generally known by this time that all of the Virginia county of Yohogania and much of the counties of Mo- nongalia and Ohio belonged to Pennsylvania, but the boundary line had not been surveyed west of the Monon- gahela river and the magistrates from Pittsburg southward were all Virginians.
Among the settlers there were many factions. Some would obey no law but that of Pennsylvania, and declared that Clark, as a Virginia officer, had no business in that neighborhood. Others adhered to Virginia until the line
1 Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, vol. viil., p. 767; vol. ix., p. 190.
2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 743, 766, 769.
I33
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT.
should be officially surveyed and ardently supported Clark's plans. A few refused to obey any law or acknowledge any jurisdiction, saying they did not know which state was over them. They could not decide such a great dispute, and had enough to do to plant their corn and potatoes and to keep their rifles in good condition for the savages. Some were for a new state of their own, stoutly protesting that the wiseacres at Philadelphia and Richmond never could under- stand the needs of the over-mountain people. Many of the bolder spirits on the border said they did not care a bad penny whether Clark were a Virginian or a Pennsylvanian ; if he could clean out Detroit he would strike a heart blow to the enemy and rescue the border from savage depredations. So they were for him.
Clark's intention was to raise 2,000 men in Southwest- ern Pennsylvania, float them down the Ohio to the Wa- bash, ascend that stream as far as possible and march over- land to Detroit. When he arrived at Colonel Crawford's he found that the frontiers were being raided by bands of Shawnees from the Scioto, Delawares from the Muskingum and Wyandots from the Sandusky. An expedition against those tribes was more popular among the Pennsylvanians than a campaign against distant Detroit, and therefore Clark made an ostensible change in his plans. He gave it out that he was going against the Ohio savages, for the immediate benefit of the Westmoreland frontier; but his real aim was not altered to conquer Detroit and an addi- tional empire for the Old Dominion.3
Brodhead was not deceived, but many Pennsylvania of- ficers were. On March 23 Clark wrote to President Reed, of Pennsylvania, asking his endorsement of the project, for the effect it would have on the frontiersmen who called themselves Pennsylvanians. Clark wrote: "If our re- sources should not be such as to enable us to remain in the Indian country during the fair season, I am in hopes they will be sufficient to visit the Shawnees, Delawares and San-
3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 189, 239.
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OLD WESTMORELAND,
dusky towns. Defeating the enemy and laying those coun- tries waste would give great ease to the frontiers of both states.""
President Reed approved of the campaign, but the let- ters of both Clark and Reed were unreasonably delayed. President Reed wrote, on May 15: "It will give us great satisfaction if the inhabitants of this state cheerfully concur in it, and we authorize you to declare that, so far from giv- ing offense to their government, we shall consider their ser- vice with you as highly meritorious."" This letter was car- ried to the frontier by Colonel Christopher Hays, the West- moreland county member of the Supreme Executive Coun- cil. Hays was directed by the council to aid Clark's expe- dition, but it soon developed that he was opposed to it. Al- though he arrived in Westmoreland about the beginning of June, the letter which he carried was not delivered to Clark until July 3, when it was too late to do much good.®
Hays called a meeting of all the commissioned officers of the Westmoreland militia to arrange a plan for the fron- tier defense. Doubtless he was confident that he and his friends could control this meeting, but he was disappointed. The officers met on June 18, at the home of Captain John McClelland, on Big Sewickley creek, and, to the chagrin of Colonel Hays, decided by a majority vote to give aid to General Clark. It was resolved to furnish 300 men out of the county militia to join Clark's army, and Colonel Lochry was directed to see that this quota was raised "by volun- teers or draft."7
This was the first effort made on the Pennsylvania frontier to raise soldiers by draft and it caused a great out- cry. The meeting of officers directed Colonel Lochry to consult General Clark respecting the manner of drafting men in Virginia and to agree on a day for a general rendez- vous. Lochry met Clark one week later at Crawford's set- tlement and the rendezvous was ordered for Monday, July
4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 23.
5 l'ennsylvania Archives, vol. Ix., p. 137.
6 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 141, 331.
7 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 239, 247, 369, 559.
I35
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT.
16. This day was chosen to enable the farmers to finish their wheat and oats harvesting before taking down their rifles and powder horns.
By act of March 28, 1781, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania created the county of Washington, to com- prise all the territory of the state west of the Monongahela river. James Marshel was appointed county lieutenant and he set to work to establish the Pennsylvania jurisdic- tion in a region where most of the inhabitants were Vir- ginians. The Virginia officers clung to their commissions and were supported by the stronger faction. Such men as Colonel Pentecost, John Canon, Gabriel Cox and Daniel Leet worked hard to muster men for General Clark, while Marshel and his adherents were just as active to defeat the Virginia project. This rivalry, which grew exceedingly bitter, was fatal to Clark's enterprise and unfortunate for the real interests of the frontier. It is probable that Clark, if unitedly supported, would have taken Detroit, overawed the savages and saved the border many years of desolating warfare.8
On the day of the rendezvous the attendance at the several designated places was discouragingly small. Clark and his lieutenants immediately proceeded to raise men by draft. Such action was without warrant of law. It gave opportunity for the rougher element among the Virginians to exploit their hatred of their Pennsylvania neighbors. The work of drafting was carried on with many examples of pillage, cruelty and personal violence. Virginia raiding parties scoured the country on both sides of the Monon- gahela, seizing and beating men, frightening and abusing women, breaking houses and barns, plundering cellars, im- pressing grain and live stock and causing a general reign of terror. The long restrained animosities growing out of the boundary dispute now had play. Examples of the acts of violence have been preserved in letters written by the pioneers.
8 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 193, 233, 304, 315, 332, 356, 367.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
One of the men most vigorous in denouncing the Vir- ginia proccedings and advising their neighbors to resist the draft was Captain John Hardin, who kept a grist mill ncar Redstone. His eldest son was Lieutenant John Hardin, of the Eighth Pennsylvania, afterward famous as General Hardin, of Kentucky. At the head of 40 or 50 horsemen, General Clark visited Hardin's settlement, announcing his purpose to hang the stubborn old pioneer. Hardin could not be found, but the Virginians caught one of his sons and kept him bound for several days. They broke open the mill, fed the grain to their horses, took possession of the dwelling, killed sheep and hogs for their food and feasted for three days at Hardin's expense. Then General Clark declared the old man's estate forfeited for treason, but was kind enough to give the property to the wife."
A settler who visited one of Clark's camps made so bold as to say that the draft was illegal. He was arrested and confined in a log jail and Clark gave judgment that the man should be hanged in due course of time. The threat of execution was not carried out. It was merely one of the general's "bluffs," for which he was somewhat notorious. Some of the events of this time suggest that Clark had begun to drink pretty hard. He was in the home of Mo- nongahela rye and the wealthier Virginia settlers were gen- erous in their hospitality.
Colonel Gabriel Cox, who lived on Peter's creek, near Finleyville, went about with a band of armed men, drafting the reluctant settlers. He sought John Douglass, one of the newly elected magistrates for Washington county, but did not find him at home. Thinking to catch John in bed, Cox and his men returned to the house at night, burst in the door and frightened wife and children nearly to death. Douglass was not there and Cox threatened the trembling wife with his sword. The poor woman could not or would not tell where her husband was.
Colonel Marshel wrote to Philadelphia : "Cox and his
9 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 343-345.
10 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 344; vol. x., p. 81.
137
GENERAL CLARK'S DRAFT.
party have taken and confined a considerable number of the inhabitants of this county ; in a word, the instances of high treason against the state are too many to be enumer- ated.' Thomas Scott, an honored leader among the pio- neers, wrote that Clark's conduct had been "highly oppres- sive and abusive," adding, "The particulars are numerous and horrid."11 Christopher Hays and Scott wrote jointly, "The general's expedition has been wished well, and vol- unteers to that service have been encouraged, . . . but we have heartily reprobated the general's standing over these two counties with an armed force, in order to dragoon the inhabitants into obedience to a draft under the laws of Virginia."12
The factional contentions among the borderers caused the failure of Clark's expedition. The Virginia general mustered his forces at the mouth of Chartiers creek, a short distance below Pittsburg, and thence marched to Wheeling, where his boats were built. Above Wheeling the Ohio - was too shallow in midsummer to permit of navigation. Clark waited at Wheeling at least two weeks, vainly ex- pecting other additions to his band. Realizing, at length, that the army which he had hoped to lead could not be as- sembled, and that he must move, if at all, before his stock of provisions was seriously reduced or many of his volun- teers had changed their minds, he embarked his men, on the morning of August 8, and began the descent of the Ohio river. His force numbered about 400, with Captain Craig's battery of three field pieces. Although his proud spirit would not permit him to give over his enterprise, he felt little confidence in its success. Just before his embarka- tion he wrote to Governor Jefferson, of Virginia, that he had "relinquished all expectation," adding, "I have been at so much pains that the disappointment is doubly mortify- ing."
Had General Clark waited but a few hours longer, his expedition might not have been entirely fruitless. In the
11 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 325.
12 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 355.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
evening of the day in whose morning he departed from Wheeling, there arrived at that place, by overland march, about 100 volunteers from Westmoreland county, under the command of Colonel Archibald Lochry. These fine rifle- men would have been a material addition to Clark's strength and a junction of forces would have avoided that grievous disaster which befell Lochry at the mouth of the little stream which has since borne his name.
At every opportunity on the voyage down the Ohio some of Clark's men ran away, and by the time he reached Fort Nelson, opposite Louisville, his force was wholly in- adequate for a march into the Indian country. He re- mained in Fort Nelson several weeks, but before the cold weather came on most of his men dispersed and returned in small parties to their homes in Pennsylvania and Virginia.13
13 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 333; Winsor's Westward Move- ment, p. 193; Frontier Forts, vol. ii., p. 194.
I39
LOCHRY'S DISASTER.
CHAPTER XXI.
LOCHRY'S DISASTER.
The destruction of Colonel Lochry's detachment, while it was trying to overtake General Clark, was the heaviest loss suffered by Westmoreland county during the Revo- lution. It involved about one hundred choice men of the border, including the energetic county lieutenant and half a dozen capable officers. In the spring of 1781 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania voted the formation of four companies of rangers, to be enlisted and employed in the northern and western counties for the remainder of the war. One of these companies was allotted to Westmore- land, and was raised by Captain Thomas Stokely. It was made up of experienced woodsmen, and, being intended for a permanent corps, was counted on to perform much better service in defense of the settlements than had been rendered by the small bodies of militia called out at in- tervals for short periods. This company, recruited to the number of 38, was involved in Lochry's disaster. Another party lost in this expedition was Captain Samuel Shannon's company of volunteers, about 20 strong, enlisted for four months for the frontier defense. Captain Robert Orr, of Hannastown, raised and equipped a small company of rifle- men, and Captain William Campbell commanded a squad of horsemen.1
The militia officers of the county had directed Colonel
1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. vili., pp. 749, 751; vol. ix., pp. 18, 28, 330; Western Annals, p. 332.
140
OLD WESTMORELAND.
Lochry to raise 300 men for Clark's campaign, but only one-third of that number could be enlisted. The reluctance of the settlers to engage in an incursion into the Indian country grew out of the fact that their own homes were threatened daily. During the summer of 1781 the Indian raids into Westmoreland county were unprecedented in number and destructiveness. Many families deserted their improvements and sought safety east of the mountains, and most of those who stood their ground felt it to be their chief duty to protect their families and property. It was with great urging and exertion that Colonel Lochry se- cured nearly 100 men for the western campaign. It is probable that he ordered the companies of Stokely and Shannon into this special service, but the two other com- panies were strictly volunteer formations of militiamen. No evidence is found that Lochry resorted to the draft to raise his contingent.
Lochry's men were detained until the harvest was fin- ished, but on August I they began to gather at Carnaghan's blockhouse, eleven miles northwest of Hannastown.2 There the formal muster was held on the following day, and on Friday, August 3, the little band, under Colonel Lochry's command, began its march to join Clark at Wheeling. Only 83 men took the road. These were the pick of the frontier riflemen, but they were poorly provided for a cam- paign. Their chief article of food was flour, carried on horses. They were badly clothed, one writer saying that they were "in a manner naked." Before their arrival at Wheeling, they were joined by a few additional men, so that the entire force was nearly 100.
The first camp was at Gaspard Markle's mill, on Big Sewickley creek, two miles east of West Newton. At that place Lochry received, by a fast-riding express, a letter from the president of Pennsylvania, approving Westmore- land's participation in Clark's enterprise. In reply to this,
2 For the details of the expedition see Lieutenant Isaac Anderson's Journal, in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, voi. xiv. Also Fron- tier Forts, vol. ii., p. 334; Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, vol. ix., p. 369.
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LOCHRY'S DISASTER.
before marching in the morning, Lochry wrote his last letter that has been preserved, saying therein: "I am now on my march with Captain Stokely's company of rangers and about 50 volunteers from this county. We shall join Gen- eral Clark at Fort Henry. . . . I expected to have had a number more volunteers, but they have by some insinua- tions been hindered from going.""
The determined little band did not travel by way of Fort Pitt. It crossed the Youghiogheny at the site of West Newton, crossed the Monongahela at Devore's ferry, where Monongahela City now is; went overland by the settlements on the headwaters of Chartiers and Raccoon creeks, and reached Fort Henry in the evening of Wednes- day, August 8. Here was a disappointment. General Clark had departed by boats that morning. To prevent the desertion of his men, he had found it necessary to remove farther from the settlements, and he left a message that he would wait for Lochry at the mouth of the Little Ka- nawha. But Lochry had no boats and could not follow immediately. For four days he was detained at Wheeling while seven boats were built, and these four days were fatal.
From the mouth of the Little Kanawha Clark's men began to desert, cutting across through the woods toward the settlements on the Monongahela, and to prevent the entire breaking up of his small force the general was com- pelled to move on down the river.
On August 13 Lochry's boats were ready and most of his men embarked in them, while the horses were conducted along shore. At this time the Ohio river was the dividing line between the white man's country and the Indian's. The boats kept near the southern shore and all encamp- ments were on the left bank. Although Colonel Lochry and his men did not know it, they were watched by Indian spies following them through the forests and thickets on the farther shore, keeping in touch by swift runners with the Indian chiefs on the Scioto and the Miamis. On those
3 Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, vol. ix., p. 333.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
streams the red warriors were gathering to resist Clark's advance, and a greater chief than any among the Ohio tribes had come with his Mohawks from Central New York to fight the white invaders.
At Fishing creek Lochry met 17 men who had de- serted from Clark and were trying to make their way to Fort Pitt. These he forced to join his party. At the Three Islands, below the Long Reach, Lochry found Major Charles Crascraft and six men who had been left by Clark in charge of a large horse boat for Lochry's animals. Into this boat the horses were put, and after that the party was able to move with increased speed. Crascraft did not remain with Lochry, but in a skiff hurried away after Clark.
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