USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Old Westmoreland : a history of western Pennsylvania during the Revolution > Part 14
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Colonel William Crawford was burned at the stake in the valley of Tymoochee creek, about five miles west of Up- per Sandusky. His torture was inflicted chiefly by women and children. It endured during four hours, in the pres- ence of Dr. Knight, Captain Matthew Elliott and Si- mon Girty. The miserable man was tied by a long rope to a pole, his body was shot full of powder, his ears were cut off, burning faggots were pressed against his skin, he was gashed with knives. When he, at length, fell unconscious, his scalp was torn off and burning embers were poured up- on his bleeding head. He arose, then, to his feet, began to walk around the pole, groaned and fell dead. The sav- ages heaped fire upon his body, and it was consumed to ashes. Thus perished a man who had performed a prom- inent but not always a creditable part in the development of the frontier. Because he was the friend and land agent of Washington, he has been the object of praise he did not deserve.º
Crawford's son John, after perilous trials, reached home in safety, but William Crawford the younger and William Harrison were put to death by the Shawnees. Their bodies were cut to pieces and hung on poles. Dr. Knight saw nine prisoners killed by squaws. One old woman cut off the head of John McKinley, and it was kicked about like
9 Concerning the character of Crawford, see Washington-Irvine Cor- respondence, note to p. 115; Diary of David McClure, p. 108; St. Clair's letter to Gov. Penn, July 22, 1774, in St. Clair Papers, vol. i.
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a football. Among others who met death were Captains John Biggs and John Hoagland, Major John McClelland and Lieutenant Ashley. All the officers were tortured, while the captured private soldiers were killed in a plain and unornamental manner. The melancholy result of the ex- pedition encouraged the savages and brought upon the frontiers a still greater visitation of desolation.10
10 By far the best narrative of this expedition is An Historical Ac- count of the Expedition Against Sandusky, by C. W. Butterfield, Cin- cinnati, 1873. See also Roosevelt's Winning of the West, vol. il.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE WOUNDED INDIAN.
Striking characteristics of border life during the Revo- lution were exhibited in the episode of the lame Indian. This was a Delaware warrior, wounded during a raid on a settle- ment, who surrendered at Fort Pitt to escape starvation and was afterward given up to a band of frontiersmen for exe- cution. His story is rather an interesting one.
The settlement attacked was Walthour's station. It was a small stockade surrounding the log house of Christo- pher Walthour, on an elevated spot south of Brush creek, about a mile and a half east of Irwin. It was the chief ral- lying place for the Brush creek settlement, composed al- most exclusively of German families, whose descendants are still numerous in that neighborhood. The Indian raid took place in April, 1782. Depredations by the savages had already been committed in several parts of Westmoreland county and the families of the farmers were gathered for refuge in the stockades scattered about the frontier. From these stockades the men issued in small parties, well armed, to perform the necessary work of planting the crops. Near Walthour's station half a dozen men were at work in a field. Among them was a son-in-law of Christopher Walthour, of the name of Willard, whose daughter, 16 years old, was also with the party, probably for the purpose of carrying water to the men.
The workers were surprised by a band of Delawares, who captured the girl. The laborers seized their guns and
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THE WOUNDED INDIAN.
made a running fight as they retired toward the fort in the face of superior numbers. Two of the white men were killed. One of them, Willard, fell not far from the stockade. An Indian rushed out of the bushes to scalp Willard, and was just twisting his fingers in the white man's long hair when a rifle bullet, fired from the fort, wounded the savage severe- ly in the leg. The Delaware uttered a howl of pain and limped away into the thicket, leaving his gun behind him, beside the body of his victim.
As soon as a considerable band of frontiersmen could be collected, pursuit of the savages was undertaken. Their trail was followed to the Allegheny river, over which they had escaped into the Indian country. It was almost two months afterward when hunters found the decomposed body of the girl in the woods, not far from Negley's run. The head had been crushed with a tomahawk and the scalp was gone.
One evening, 38 days after the attack on Walthour's station, a lame Indian hobbled into the village of Pittsburg and made his way to the porch of one of the houses. He walked with the aid of a pole, and was, in appearance, a liv- ing skeleton. A young woman stepped forth to see him. He asked, feebly, for a drink, and she gave him a cup of milk. It was evident that he was nearly starved. After he had eaten ravenously of the food given to him, he told the members of the family, in broken English, that he had been hunting on Beaver river with a Mingo, who had quar- reled with him and had shot him in the leg.
Word was sent to the garrison, and the Indian was taken down to the fort. There he was recognized as Davy, a Delaware sub-chief, who had often visited the fort. The surgeon discovered that the Indian's wound was an old one, and the officers told Davy that his story about the Mingo was plainly a lie.
After being treated tenderly and having recovered somewhat from his fatigue and hunger, the Indian confessed that he was the man who had killed Willard and had been wounded while trying to take the scalp. The shot had
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broken the bone of his leg and he was unable to keep up with his comrades when they fled. He had dragged hini- self into a dense thicket, where he lay in one spot for three days. During that time the settlers were scouring the woods and the wounded man was afraid to stir. When the pursuit was given up Davy crawled forth and sought for food. He found nothing but berries and roots and on such articles he lived for more than five weeks. They barely kept soul and body together and he was also weakened by the loss of blood from his painful wound. He made pro- gress slowly toward the Allegheny river. He came within sight of a small stockade on Turtle creek and for a long time lay on a hill, meditating surrender. He finally satis- fied himself that the garrison of the little fort consisted of militiamen and he knew that surrender to them meant death. The Indians were well aware of the difference between militia and regulars and knew that from the buck-skinned frontiersmen they could expect no mercy. Davy hobbled onward until he reached the Allegheny river.
On the bank of the river the wounded Indian lay for many days, finding scanty food while he watched for some of his countrymen. No one came and no possibility of- fered of his being able to cross the stream. Driven to des- peration by hunger, he decided to make his way to Fort Pitt and give himself up to the regular soldiers.
Davy was confined in the guard house in the fort, in the expectation that opportunity might offer to exchange him for some white person held prisoner by the Indians. The news of his capture and his identity reached the settlement at Brush creek and caused considerable excitement there. The kindred and neighbors of the victims of the Indian raid were hot for revenge and now the chance for it was pre- sented. Mrs. Mary Willard, the widow of the man whom Davy had killed, went to Fort Pitt in company with a party of neighbors and asked General Irvine to give up the pris- oner, that he might be "properly dealt with" by those who had suffered.
At that time it was not known that Mrs. Willard's
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THE WOUNDED INDIAN.
daughter had been killed by her captors and the prospect was presented to the woman that Davy might be traded for her daughter. In the hope of such an arrangement Mrs. Willard consented that the Indian should remain some time longer at Ft. Pitt. But when the mutilated body of the girl was found, the people of Brush creek demanded the life of the captive savage. A mass meeting was held and a committee was chosen to go to Fort Pitt and renew ne- gotiations with General Irvine for the surrender of the In- dian. The members of this delegation were Joseph Stude- baker, Jacob Byerly, Francis Byerly, Jacob Rutdorf, Henry Willard and Frederick Willard. The last two were probably brothers of the man who was slain.
Having many other things to worry him at that time, General Irvine yielded to the pleadings of the committee and surrendered the prisoner ; but he compelled the dele- gates to agree to a method of procedure, which he hoped would save the Indian from abuse and torture. Here is the order of General Irvine given to the six frontiersmen :
"You are hereby enjoined and required to take the In- dian delivered into your charge by my order and carry him safe into the settlement of Brush creek. You will after- ward warn two justices of the peace, and request their at- tendance at such place as they shall think proper to appoint, with several other reputable inhabitants. Until this is done and their advice and direction had in the matter you are, at your peril, not to hurt him nor suffer any person to do it. Given under my hand at Fort Pitt, July 21, 1782.
"William Irvine."
At the same time the general sent a letter to Mrs. Wil- lard, urging her to do nothing rashly in retaliating her ven- geance on the prisoner and not to permit him to be put to death until after "some form of trial."
With great glee the borderers set their prisoner on a horse and conducted him to Walthour's. There prepara- tions was made to burn him on the very spot where Willard died. The frontiersmen felt sure of the acquiesence of the two justices, for all through the settlements there was but
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
one opinion as to the proper way to deal with Indians. Davy was placed in a log blockhouse for two or three days and nights, while word went out for the assembling of the mag- istrates and the settlers on a certain day. Then a form of trial was to be gone through with and the fiery execution was to be witnessed by the multitude.
On the night preceding the great day the young men who were stationed outside of the blockhouse to guard it all fell asleep. The one who first awoke in the morning peeped in to see if the prisoner was still there. The block- house was empty ! The guard aroused his companions and an investigation quickly established the fact that Davy had actually escaped. The great door had been securely locked. No human being could go through one of the loop- holes. There was but one way for escape, and that was through the narrow space between the overjutting roof and the top of the wall. It seemed almost impossible for the crippled savage to have climbed up the wall and squeezed through that opening, but there was no other way out of it.
Great was the disappointment and rage among the as- sembled settlers when they learned that their prey had es- caped. In all directions eager searching parties ranged the country, but found not the wounded Delaware. For two days the hunt was maintained, but Davy had left no trail.
On the third day a lad who had gone into the wood to bring in some horses, ran almost breathless to Walthour's station and said that an Indian had stolen a gray mare. He had discovered the savage, who seemed to be crippled, mounting the mare from a large log. The Indian got astride, belabored the beast with a stout stick and went can- tering off toward the Allegheny river.
Then the pursuit was taken up by a large body of men. The trail of the horse was followed with some difficulty. The Indian had ridden along the beds of shallow streams and on hard, stony places where the footprints were faint. But the tracks were followed patiently until they approached the river near the mouth of the Kiskiminetas. There the gray
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THE WOUNDED INDIAN.
mare was found, covered with sweat, cropping grass in a glade near the water's edge, but no trace of the Indian was discovered. The river bank was searched for miles, up and down, but the frontiersmen were forced to return home empty handed.
A few years later, when peace had been restored, in- quiries were made of members of the Delaware tribe con- cerning Davy's fate. He had never returned to his home. He had either been drowned while trying to swim the river, or had starved to death in the forest wilderness.1
1 Frontier Forts, vol. ii., pp. 361 to 370; Washington-Irvine Cor- respondence, p. 384.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE DESTRUCTION OF HANNASTOWN.
Hannastown, the county seat of Westmoreland, was destroyed by Indians on Saturday, July 13, 1782. This was the hardest blow inflicted by savages during the Revo- lution within the limits of the Western Pennsylvania settle- ments. It put an end to Hannastown, effacing it so thor- oughly that thousands of the inhabitants of Westmoreland county do not know where its first county seat was lo- cated.
Hannastown was a little more than three miles north- east of Greensburg. It grew around the tavern of Robert Hanna, who set up a house of entertainment for travelers on the old Forbes road, some time before the Revolution. It never grew much, containing only about 30 log houses at the time of its destruction. One of the structures was the court house, two stories high, and another was the jail, only one story. At the northern end of the village a small stockade fort, made of pointed logs set upright, had been constructed in 1773, around a blockhouse and a spring. It was this fort, called Ft. Reed, that saved the villagers when the attack came.1
Hannastown and its neighborhood had suffered heavy loss in the preceding year by the destruction of Colonel Lochry's party on the lower Ohio. Many of the best men in the settlement had joined that expedition, and they car- ried with them most of the good guns. In 1782 the Han-
1 Ft. Pitt, p. 220, memorandum in General O'Hara's notebook.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF HANNASTOWN.
nastown community was not in fit condition for defense against the Indians.
The blow that fell upon this frontier county seat came from the North. Early in the summer the Johnsons and the Butlers, the tory leaders of Western New York, gath- ered a strong force at Niagara to descend the Allegheny river and attack Fort Pitt. Three hundred British and Canadian soldiers and five hundred Indians, with twelve pieces of artillery, advanced to Lake Chautauqua and lay there while spies penetrated the neighborhood of Pitts- burg. The report of these spies, that General Irvine had greatly strengthened the fort and increased its ordnance, caused the abandonment of the expedition, as far as its primary aim was concerned. Most of the British force returned to Niagara, but the Indians were not willing to go home without scalps and plunder. They divided into war parties, and went against the New York and Pennsyl- vania settlements.
The largest predatory band consisted of more than 100 Seneca warriors, under the command of Guyasuta, and about 60 Canadian rangers. Most of the white men were dressed and painted as Indians. This was the force that attacked and destroyed Hannastown. It descended the Allegheny river, partly in canoes and partly on horseback along shore,2 to a point a short distance above Kittanning, left the canoes on the river bank and marched overland into the Westmoreland settlements. While the expedition was at its bloody work, many of the canoes worked loose and floated down the river. Several of them were picked up at Fort Pitt.
At that time the people of the frontier were in constant apprehension of Indian raids, but there was no expectation of an attack by a large band of savages. Men never went to their farm work without their rifles, but so long had the frontiersmen been exposed to alarms and dangers that they had grown indifferent and careless. Thus it occurred that at Miller's station, about two miles south of Hannastown,
2 Some of the raiders were mounted; see Wash .- Irvine Corr., p. 176.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
men and women were gathered at a frolic, wholly unpre- pared to resist an attack.
On the Saturday when the blow fell, a party of har- vesters was at work cutting the wheat of Michael Huffnagle, about a mile and a half north of Hannastown. Huffnagle was the county clerk and lived at the county seat. One of the harvesters, going to the edge of the field, discovered, creeping through the woods, a band of Indians, stripped and painted for war. He quietly informed his companions, and the harvesters, taking up their guns, fled unseen to the village.
The alarm was spread in the little settlement and every- body was warned to take refuge within the stockade. Great was the consternation and confusion. About 60 persons, men, women and children, were in the village that day, and most of these fled into the stockade without paus- ing to save any of their goods. Huffnagle and a few other men rescued the bulk of the county records and carried them safely into the fort. Sheriff Matthew Jack mounted his horse and rode away to warn the neighboring settlers, while four young men went out scouting, to observe the movements of the enemy. They came upon the savages advancing cautiously through the thick woods across the valley of Crabtree creek, and narrowly escaped capture. They fled back to the fort with the whole pack close at their heels. The Indians evidently expected to take the place by surprise, for they did not shoot or yell until they rushed in among the log houses. All the whites escaped except one man. He had lingered to gather up his personal prop- erty, and was slightly wounded before he reached the stock- ade gate.
About one hundred Indians and white men attacked Hannastown. They drove into the woods all the horses found in the pasture lots and stables, killed a hundred cattle, many hogs and domestic fowls and plundered the deserted dwellings. Some of the white raiders threw off their jackets and donned better coats found in the houses,
3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 596.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF HANNASTOWN.
and after the assailants had retired several jackets were found bearing buttons of the King's Eighth regiment.
From the shelter of the cabins a hot rifle fire was opened on the stockade. The fort contained 20 men, who had 17 guns. It was found, however, that only nine of these were fit for use, and with this small number of weapons the men took turns at the loopholes. The main thing for them to do was to prevent the Indians from as- saulting and battering the gates, and in this they were successful. The borderers were good marksmen, and kept the besiegers at a distance. It was certain that two of the Indians were killed, and the defenders believed that they killed or wounded several others.
But one person inside of the stockade was wounded. This was Margaret Shaw, 16 years old, who exposed herself before a large hole in one of the gates to rescue a child, which had toddled into danger. Margaret received a bullet in the breast, from which she died after suffering for nearly two weeks. She is buried a short distance north of Mt. Pleasant, and her memory should be kept green.
The firing on the fort continued until nightfall. Then the assailants set fire to the town, and danced and whooped in the glare of the flames. Only two houses escaped destruction. These were the court house and one cabin. Fire was set to them but went out, and as they stood near the stockade a renewal of the attempt to burn them was frustrated by the rifles of the frontiersmen. Fortunately the wind blew strongly from the north, and carried the flames and blazing embers away from the little fort.4 After the buildings were well consumed, the savages and their white allies retired to the valley of Crabtree creek, where they feasted and reveled until a late hour. There was little sleep in the fort, and those who watched along the stock- ade heard the voices of white men mingling with those of the Indians in the enemy's camp.
A renewal of the attack was looked for in the morning,
4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 606; Washington-Irvine Cor- respondence, pp. 176, 250, 251, 252; Frontier Forts, vol. ii., pp. 299 to 321.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
but it did not come. Parties of horsemen from other set- tlements began to arrive early at the little fort, and when a reconnaissance of the creek valley was made, it was found that the enemy had slipped away. Guyasuta's raiders had departed with many stolen horses, laden with household goods, and they left a plain trail, but it was not until Mon- day that the borderers had the nerve to follow them, and then 60 men pursued the trail only to the crossing of the Kiskiminetas.
The enemy being gone, it was soon learned that great devastation had been inflicted in the surrounding country. A strong detachment of the savages had fallen upon Miller's station, two miles south of Hannastown, where they had killed eleven white persons and carried four into captivity. This station took its name from Samuel Miller, a captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment, who was killed by the Indians in July, 1778.5 His widow married Andrew Cruikshank, but the settlement retained Miller's name. A wedding took place at Cruikshank's house on July 12, and on the following day many persons were gathered there for the celebration. Upon this gay party the Indians swooped down.
The warning was barely sufficient to allow the escape of perhaps a dozen persons, who found hiding places in grain fields and forest thickets. Several men were shot dead while preparing for defense, and 15 men, women and children were taken prisoners. The houses were plun- dered and burned, and the Indians set out to rejoin their main force at Crabtree creek.
Among those taken captive were Lieutenant Joseph Brownlee, his wife and several children, Mrs. Robert Hanna and her daughter Jennie, a Mrs. White and two of her children. Lieutenant Brownlee had served in the Eiglith Pennsylvania, but had been discharged because of a wound. As the prisoners were being driven through the woods, Mrs. Hanna addressed Brownlee as "Captain." The Indians at once fell upon Brownlee and killed him, as well
5 See page 72 of this work.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF HANNASTOWN.
as a little son whom he was carrying, and nine others of the captives. Mrs. Brownlee and her infant and Mrs. Hanna and her daughter were spared and taken to Canada, but were afterward released when the war was over. Tradition says that Jennie Hanna married a British officer in Canada.®
On Sunday morning a band of Indians attacked Free- man's settlement, on the Loyalhanna creek, a few miles northeast of Hannastown, killed one of Freeman's sons and captured two of his daughters. At the same time a demonstration was made against the Brush creek settle- ment, to the westward, but the damage was confined to the killing of live stock and the burning of some farm buildings.'
At Hannastown a small force of militia was stationed by Colonel Edward Cook, the county lieutenant, and the settlers were advised to return and rebuild their houses. Only a few of them did so. Court was continued there for a few sessions and the owners of the property made an effort to retain the county seat. The General Assembly ordered the construction of a new road from Bedford to Pittsburg, and its course was located nearly three miles south of Hannastown, on the line of the present pike." This destroyed the last chance of the original county seat, and in January, 1787, the Westmoreland court began its sessions at Greensburg, on the new road.
At present Hannastown does not rise to the dignity of a village. Three or four houses and a blacksmith shop cluster at the cross roads, with a schoolhouse on the hill half a mile to the westward. Between the cross-roads and the schoolhouse the pioneer settlement lay, on what is now the farm of William Steel. The plow still turns up nu- merous bits of burned wood, and Mr. Steel has many little relics gathered from the fields. Among these is a pon- derous iron key, which once unlocked the oaken door of Westmoreland county's log jail.
6 Pension petition of Mrs. Elizabeth Guthrie, formerly Mrs. Brownlee, made Feb. 5, 1829, published in Westmoreland Democrat, May 24, 1899; Frontier Forts, vol. ii., pp. 30S, 324; Washington-Irvine Corr., p. 251.
7 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 383.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ABANDONED EXPEDITION.
The Scots and other frontiersmen were far from being discouraged by their sad experience under Colonel Craw- ford. The fugitives from the Sandusky plain had barely returned to their homes, when they began to prepare for another campaign. A fierce determination possessed the borderers to crush the "red vipers" along the Sandusky riv- er and arrangements were made to invade the Indian coun- try once more as soon as the wheat and oats were harvest- ed.
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