USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Old Westmoreland : a history of western Pennsylvania during the Revolution > Part 9
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THE WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW.
A winter and a summer, each remarkable in its way, followed the expedition of Brodhead to the upper Alle- gheny. These seasons were known as "the winter of the deep snow" and "the summer of the big harvest." The soldiers and settlers on the frontier were much indebted to the character of that winter for their immunity from Indian raids. It bound their enemies, but also afflicted them. Hunger and cold are probably preferable, however, to the torch, the rifle and the scalping knife of the savage.
While the incursions to the Seneca country had much to do with checking the savage inroads in the autumn, the border was poorly prepared for defense during the winter. The Indian raids of the spring and summer of 1779 had in- terfered with sowing and reaping, and there was small sur- plus of food in the barns and cellars of the settlers. A quarrel in the autumn between Colonel Brodhead and the militia officers of Westmoreland county prevented co-opera- tion on any system for guarding the border. Had the en- suing season been an open one, Westmoreland county would have been devastated. During the 12 months be- ginning with November, 1779, the influence of the weather on human affairs was strongly manifested.
Both Colonel Brodhead, the regular officer in com- mand of the Western Department, and Archibald Lochry, the county lieutenant of Westmoreland, claimed author- ity over the two companies of rangers formed in West-
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THE WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW.
moreland. On the approach of winter, Brodhead ordered these two companies to evacuate Forts Armstrong and Crawford, where they lacked supplies and clothing, and join the regulars at Fort Pitt. Lochry ordered them to Hannastown, that he might post them along the line of the Kiskiminetas river. Much time was wasted by the dis- pute, but Lochry showed that he had authority to direct the movements of the rangers except in times of aggressive action, and they marched to Hannastown. Then Brod- head, in a fit of pique, refused to provide the rangers with food and ammunition, although they were in the conti- nental service. Lochry had no supplies for them, and he was forced to quarter them, in little parties of four and five, at the houses of the principal settlers. These settlers were willing to feed the men out of their slender stores, rather than lose their protection.2
The winter of 1779-80 began early and continued until March. It was perhaps the severest winter in the history of the United States. In January the harbor of New York was frozen over so solidly that the British drove laden wagons on the ice from the city to Staten Island. In West- ern Pennsylvania the snow began to fall heavily about the holidays and was followed by exceedingly cold weather for two months.
The snow accumulated at intervals, and by February I was four feet deep in the woods and on the mountains. This stopped all the supply trains from the East, and the garrison at Fort Pitt suffered severely for food and clothing. Many of the soldiers were without shoes, and scouting expeditions were out of the question. The officers were without money or credit, and were reduced to extreme straits. Delaware Indians, who visited the fort in the fall, clung to it all winter, and seem to have found whisky easier to procure than bread.2
1 For Brodhead's quarrels with the frontier officers and for other facts narrated in this chapter, see the numerous letters from the fron- tier in Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, vols. viii. and xii. The latter volume contains Brodhead's Letter Book.
2 Albach's Western Annals, p. 311; Magazine of American His- tory, vol. iii.
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Great was the destruction of animals and birds in the forest. The snow was so deep that they could not get food, and when the spring came the hunters found only the dead bodies of deer, turkeys and smaller game. The Indians suffered sorely in their woodland villages. Especially was the destitution great among the Senecas, whose corn and vegetables had been destroyed by Sullivan and Brodhead. In Western New York scores of Senecas died of starvation and cold. Increased hatred of the Americans was the result, and revenge is very sweet to the Indian.3
This hard winter so weakened and distressed the Sen- ecas that when spring came they could not renew their raids on Westmoreland county. Their hunters found it neces- sary to look after game, and this was exceedingly scarce and poor. The settlers of Westmoreland thus enjoyed an unusual opportunity to plant their fields and gardens, but this immunity was not granted to the inhabitants of the region between the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, under the jurisdiction of Virginia.
That part of the frontier was troubled by the Indians of the Ohio tribes, either Shawnees from the Scioto, or Wyandots and Muncys from the Sandusky. These tribes had not been without plentiful stores of corn, and had passed a comfortable winter. They were supplied with guns, am- munition and clothing by the British at Detroit and were ready to take the warpath as soon as the snow began to melt. The Shawnees were occupied with the growing and aggressive settlements of Kentucky. The bold warriors of the Wyandot or Huron nation fell upon the settlements on the Ohio river and its tributaries.
On a Sunday morning, March 12, 1780, a party of five men and six children were at a sugar camp on Raccoon creek, in the southern end of what is now Beaver county. They had probably been at the camp all night, boiling the maple syrup. At dawn a party of Wyandots, having crept up cautiously, shot and tomahawked the five inen and car- ried away the children, three boys and three girls. This
3 Magazine of American History, vol. iii., p. 667.
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THE WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW.
was the first blow of the opening season." Others fol- lowed, along the Ohio border. In some instances the In- dians only stole horses or slaughtered cattle and hogs.
Toward the end of March a band of Muncy warriors, led by Washnash, a notorious bandit, attacked and captured a flatboat going down the Ohio river to Kentucky. Three men were killed and 21 men, women and children were captured." On April 27 Colonel Brodhead wrote to the president of Pennsylvania: "Between 40 and 50 men, women and children have been killed or taken from what are now called the counties of Yohogania, Monongalia and Ohio, but no damage is yet done in Westmoreland."®
Brodhead wrote to the militia officers of the frontier counties to get men ready to aid him in an expedition against the Ohio Indians, but when he began to make his preparations he found that he could not gather enough provisions for a week ahead." Throughout the war the western garrisons were hampered by lack of commissary supplies. The cost of carrying stores over the mountain roads was great, frequently exceeding the original cost of the articles. The pack trains were delayed by many cir- cumstances. There were frequent robberies, sometimes by the men in charge of the transportation. Money was scarce, officials were incompetent, and administration lacked sys- tem. A great part of the expense and labor was wasted on whisky, which was considered a necessary feature of the commissary supply.
Westmoreland county raised a few militiamen, who re- occupied posts along the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas rivers. The state was so poor and so slow that for two months the expense was paid by a subscription among the principal settlers. The governing authorities at Philadelphia were, in fact, losing faith in the militia, and even in regulars, as a means of frontier protection. In spite of these soldiers, permanent and temporary, the Indians made their raids
4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 140, 152, 159.
5 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., p. 159.
6 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., p. 210.
7 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 249, 518; Ft. Pitt, pp. 235, 236.
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and their slaughters year after year, with trifling losses to themselves. The Supreme Executive Council decided to try another method, and rewards were offered for Indian and tory prisoners and scalps, $1,500 for a male prisoner and $1,000 for a male scalp. It was hoped that this would stimulate the young men of the frontier to active opera- tions.8
Early in May, Brodhead sent Godfrey Lanctot, a Frenchman who spoke several Indian languages, to visit the Ohio tribes and endeavor to persuade them into peace, but his efforts were fruitless. The Shawnees, Wyandots and Muncys would not listen to him.'
In May the Senecas, having somewhat recovered from the blow inflicted upon them, came down the Allegheny again in small bands and did considerable damage in West- moreland. They killed and captured five persons near Lig- onier, burned Laughlin's mill, killed two men on Bushy run and killed two on Braddock's old road near Turtle creek.10 The settlers left their scattered homes and gath- ered in the stockade forts and blockhouses, but the danger was soon over. The season was a very dry one, and the Allegheny river became so low that even the Indian canoes could not navigate it. The incursions from the north there- upon ceased.
Danger still threatened from the west and Brodhead received a report that an army of British and Indians was assembling on the Sandusky river, in preparation for an attack in force on Fort Pitt. He directed Lieutenant Brady to take a few chosen men, go to Sandusky and find out what was going on there. With five white companions and two Delawares, all dressed and painted like Indians, Brady set out late in May. His journey was a long, arduous and dan- gerous one. As they approached the Wyandot country the scouts traveled only by night, hiding in the thickest woods by day. One of the Delawares lost heart and return- ed to Fort Pitt.
8 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 217, 218, 283.
9 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 301, 551.
10 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 246, 282.
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THE WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW.
Brady and his men drew near the Wyandot capital, near Upper Sandusky, and at night the lieutenant and one Dela- ware companion waded to a wooded island, directly oppo- site the Indian town. There they lay in a thicket all the next day, watching the savages enjoying a horse race near the river bank. The town was overcrowded with warriors, and their festivities indicated preparations for the warpath.
At nightfall Brady and his Indian withdrew, rejoined their waiting companions and hurried away toward Fort Pitt. About two miles from Sandusky they surprised and captured two young squaws at an Indian camp, and took them along, thinking they might give valuable information. At the end of six days one of the squaws escaped. The food carried by the scouts was exhausted, and for a week they lived on berries. Game was exceedingly scarce. Brady shot an otter, but its flesh was so rank that even these hungry men could not eat it.
Near the old Indian town of Kuskuskee, at the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango rivers, when their powder was reduced to only two charges, Brady saw a deer and was able to approach within certain shooting distance of it. He pulled the trigger, but his gun flashed in the pan. He quickly stirred up the priming, and was preparing again to fire, when he heard human voices, the voices of Indians. Keeping well concealed, he saw, coming along a trail through the forest, an Indian captain riding a gray horse, followed by six warriors afoot. Riding behind the captain was a captive woman, and the Indian held the woman's child in his arms.
Brady knew the woman as Mrs. Jennie Stoops, of the Chartiers creek settlement, and he did not hesitate for an instant. As the Indian leader came opposite him he took careful aim and shot him through the head. The savage fell dead from his horse, dragging the woman and child with him. Brady dashed forward, shouting for his men to come on. The surprised warriors fired a shot or two and fled into the woods. Brady lifted the woman. She did not know him for a white man. "I am Sam Brady," he said;
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"follow me." Then he seized the child and hurried away, followed by the woman. He found his men, cowering in the thickets. In their fear and excitement, they had allowed the other Wyandot squaw to escape.
After going a few miles along the trail toward Fort McIntosh, the scouts met a band of settlers from the Char- tiers valley, pursuing the marauders. Mrs. Stoops and her infant were restored unharmed to the husband and father. Brady then returned with a party to the scene of the ad- venture, where he found and scalped the Wyandot captain. He returned to Fort Pitt, after an absence of 32 days. The one Delaware who had run away had reported that the whole party had been killed or captured, and so great was the joy of the garrison over Brady's return that he was greeted with volley after volley of musketry as he crossed the river and entered the fort. Colonel Brodhead recom- mended Brady's promotion, and on July 25 the Supreme Executive Council made him a captain, dating his com- mission and pay from the preceding September.11
11 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. viii., pp. 378, 769; Colonial Records. vol. xii., p. 436; Winning of the West, vol. ili., p. 57; Hist. Coll. of Pa., p. 105.
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THE SUMMER OF THE BIG HARVEST.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUMMER OF THE BIG HARVEST.
During the summer of 1780 the soldiers in Fort Pitt were hungry in the midst of plenty. It was a strange situa- tion. The wheat harvest was bounteous, and afterward the corn came very heavy. It has often been noted that the land yields well when the winter has been hard. Some say that the deep frost, stirring and loosening the soil, makes the earth richer. The gardens are more productive in vegetables, but severe cold is hard on the fruit trees.
After the Westmoreland farmers had cut and threshed their wheat, beating it out with the flail, the streams were so dry that no mills could run, and so there was no flour for Colonel Brodhead to buy.1 But this was not the only reason he did not get food for his garrison. His men suffered for fresh meat, and the farmers would not sell their cattle. To be honest with them, they did not have many cattle to sell. The Indian raids of the preceding three years had been destructive to the live stock. A dozen Indians would kill a great many domestic animals. They not only shot the animals for their own eating, but slaughtered them out of pure wantonness and to deprive the white men of food.
The settlers were reluctant to part with their cattle, because Colonel Brodhead had no good money to pay for them. He could offer nothing but due bills, to be redeemed by the government in its continental currency. This cur-
1 Archives, vol. viii., pp. 487, 514; vol. xii., p. 252.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
rency the western farmers did not desire, because it was so depreciated that $40 of it were equal to but $1 of the money of the state of Pennsylvania. Moreover, to get these due bills redeemed it was necessary to carry them or send them all the way to Philadelphia. The colonel might have been more successful with state money, but of that he did not have much. It maintained its credit largely because it was scarce. Even the state money, in this year of 1780, was not in full favor west of the Alleghany Moun- tains.2
The pioneers conceived that they had been neglected by the state, and a spirit of discontent and sedition was widely prevalent on the western border. This had been stimulated by the territorial dispute between Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, which involved the entire Monongahela valley re- gion. Many of the pioneers favored the erection of a new state, to be composed of the over-mountain lands of Penn- sylvania and Virginia, believing that they would receive better treatment from a state capital in the Ohio valley, than from the distant governments at Philadelphia and Richmond. The agitation for a new state was vigorous during this summer, and the settlers who favored it looked with hostility upon the garrison of regular soldiers kept at Fort Pitt. The removal of that garrison by starvation would not have been considered by the pioneers as a calamity.3
Colonel Brodhead was driven to many expedients to get food. On August 18, 1780, he wrote to the president of Pennsylvania: "The troops have been without bread for several days and begin to murmur; but I expect to get a little grain chopped in a bad horse mill near this place, and, if possible, prevent a mutiny until a further supply can be procured. I hear the pack horse men have left the service, so that not a shilling have we to purchase with." At this time the lack of food had compelled the evacuation of Forts Armstrong and Crawford on the Allegheny river.'
2 Archives, vol. viii., p. 515.
3 Archives, vol. vii., pp. 280, 713.
4 Archives, vol. vii., p. 513.
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THE SUMMER OF THE BIG HARVEST.
The Pennsylvania authorities gave up the plan of carry- ing supplies to Fort Pitt on horses from the eastern part of the state, and made effort to furnish the garrison from the county of Westmoreland. For this work they appointed William Amberson, one of the earliest settlers of Pittsburg, as commissary, and directed him to furnish flour, corn and whisky to Colonel Brodhead. Amberson seems to have been but partially successful in getting supplies, for on September 5 Colonel Brodhead wrote: "The troops have alternately been destitute of bread and meat. At present I am not possessed of two days' allowance, and I have a dull prospect as to further supplies. I have been compelled to hire a few horses to send to the mills below. . . . Unless something is speedily done, these posts, which are of the utmost importance, must be evacuated, and the country will, of course, be deserted, or, as some have hinted, join the enemy.""
About a week after this letter was written, the entire garrison of Fort Pitt paraded one morning before the house of Colonel Brodhead, ragged and gaunt, led by their ser- geants. When the commander asked the cause of the dem- onstration, the sergeants replied that the men had been with- out bread for five days and were hungry.
Colonel Brodhead was able to tell them only that every effort was making to get food for them, and that, during the period of scarcity, their officers were suffering equally with the rank and file. The men were well behaved and quietly returned to their barracks. A few days afterward a few horse loads of flour and some live cattle arrived from Cumberland county, but this supply did not last long.6
During this time the surrounding country was being ravaged by the Indians, and a starving garrison could offer no protection. On August II a party of Wyandot Indians killed ten men near the site of Morgantown, W. Va.7 On September 4 two settlers were killed near Robinson's
5 Archives, vol. viii., p. 536.
6 Archives, vol. viii., p. 558.
7 Archives, vol. viii., p. 513.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
run, now in Allegheny county. The same day two men going down the Ohio river in a canoe to Wheeling were fired upon from the bank, and one of them was wounded.8 About the middle of September the Wyandots fell upon the settlements on Ten Mile creek and killed and carried away seven persons.º Brodhead was fretting over his com- pulsory inaction. Time and again he summoned the militia to rally for a raid into the Wyandot land and each time he was baffled by the lack of supplies.
At length, in September, Colonel Brodhead, driven to desperation, determined to take extreme measures to get food for his hungry soldiers. He had received from the continental authorities permission to take supplies by force from the inhabitants, in case of dire need, and to this resort he was now driven. He chose Captain Samuel Brady to do this work, with a detachment from his company.10
Brady was instructed to attempt to buy cattle and sheep only from those who had them to spare, and, if the farmers would not sell, he was then to take the animals by force. He was not to molest the poor or those who had suffered from the Indians. All cattle and sheep siezed were to be appraised and Brady was to give a receipt for them, so that the owners might have a chance some time to recover from the United States government. Brady went into the country along Chartiers creek and on the western side of the Monongahela river, while Lieutenant Uriah Springer headed another party east of the Monongahela.
News of Brady's mission seems to have spread rapidly before him. Many of the larger hierds of cattle were driven into secluded forest recesses. In few places did the soldiers find stock to be spared, within the terms of their instructions. They did get some and sent them back to the fort, but they were not sufficient for the daily wants of the garrison. There was show of strong resistance to the impressing squad. In some places Brady was threatened with writs
8 Archives, vol. viil., p. 536.
9 Archives, vol. viil., p. 559.
10 Crumrine's History of Washington County. p. 89; Pennsylvania Archives, vol. vili., pp. 565, 589; vol. xli., pp. 276, 278.
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THE SUMMER OF THE BIG HARVEST.
of trespass. Crowds of angry and armed settlers gath- ered and made show of forcible resistance. Brady's in- structions commanded him not to provoke violence, with- out extreme cause, but the signs began to multiply that the country was preparing to rise against him. It was probably the most unpleasant task he was ever called upon to per- form. He was himself a farmer, and could not fail to sym- pathize with these badgered and distressed pioneers. For two months he and Springer were kept in the field before the persistent Brodhead ordered their withdrawal.
Early in October, when Brodhead had hope that Brady would bring enough beef and mutton to supply an expe- dition into the Wyandot country, he sent out another appeal to the lieutenants of the adjacent counties to raise volun- teers and join him at Fort Pitt. This appeal was a total failure. Colonel Beelor, of Yohogania county, replied that he could not get volunteers. The only way he could help Brodhead was to draft men, and this he feared to attempt, as he did not know whether to proceed under the law of Pennsylvania or Virginia. It was just about this time that the governments of the two states were coming to an agreement on the boundary line, and reports had reached the frontier that all the disputed territory would fall within the bounds of Pennsylvania. These reports caused legal chaos in what is now Southwestern Pennsylvania. The laws of Virginia lost their binding effect and the executive and judicial machinery of Pennsylvania had not yet been extended over the region so long in contention. Thus it was that Beelor found himself powerless to act, and in signing his name to his letter to Brodhead he rather pathet- ically added, "Without law to protect me."11
The reply of Colonel William McCleery, of Monongalia county, is interesting as revealing the stubborn self-reliance of the Scotch-Irish settlers on the upper Monongahela and Cheat rivers. The militia officers of that county met and decided that they could not spare any men to assist the
11 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. vili., pp. 352, 583, 589; vol. x., pp. 171, 173; Craig's History of Pittsburg, p. 124.
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OLD WESTMORELAND.
regulars in an expedition to the northwest. Colonel Mc- Cleery wrote:
"From his (Brodhead's) never having it in his power, for want, as we conceive, of the necessary supplies to put his schemes in execution, during the whole course of last summer and fall, and our unhappy people daily falling an easy prey to the enemy, obliges them to throw off all de- pendence on any natural aid on this side of the mountains this fall, but that of themselves, for their relief, and there- fore they mean to embody and and take the most plausible methods for their defense, and under the circumstances they think their number is already too small without any division."12
The Delaware chiefs, still true to their alliance with the Americans, came to Fort Pitt with a large band of warriors, to take part in the Wyandot campaign. Their chagrin was keen when Brodhead told them of his poverty and want of food, and that they could not have the opportunity of going with him on a war raid.
While these Indians, with their women and children, were encamped near the fort, a large party of settlers from Hannastown, led by militia officers, marched to Fort Pitt for the purpose of attacking the friendly savages. A ma- jority of the pioneers of that day did not distinguish between one redskin and another. All were "pizen varmints," and equally deserving of death. Colonel Brodhead was fore- warned and threw a heavy guard of regulars around the Indian camp. The design of the Westmorelanders was frustrated, and they were forced to return with bloodless hands to Hannastown. The same spirit which animated them led the men of Washington county, 16 months afterward, to murder the Christianized Delawares at Gnad- enhuetten.13
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