USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 17
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them, in the way of force. The magistrates, therefore, at the same time that they continue with steadiness to exercise the jurisdiction of Pennsyl- vania with respect to the distributions of justice and the punishment of vice, must be cautious of entering into any such contests with the officers of my Lord Dunmore as may tend to widen the present unhappy breach; and, therefore, as things are at present circumstanced. I would not advise the magistracy of Westmoreland County to proceed by way of criminal prosecution against them for exercising the government of Virginia."
Though it was humiliating for the legally constituted authorities of Westmoreland to have their authority defied by a set of officers who received their orders to act from Virginia, backed by a lawless military force called out by direction of another colony, yet it was for the time being judicious not to provoke a contest. As we view it now, with State lines all fixed and all county governments crystallized, it seems strange that any such con- flict should have arisen. But it must be remembered that the matter of priority of charter, the impossibility of making the actual surveys conform to the language of the royal grants, and the fact that no accurate astronom- ical observations had been taken, left this whole subject of western boundary at loose ends. Until something definite was settled, it was better, as Penn advised, that force be not resorted to, as the hot-headed Virginia Governor had done. This policy thus recommended, white it left the court at Hannas- town in operation, practically yielded all this Monongahela country to the authority of the Virginian.
The result of Dunmore's diplomacy was, of course, communicated to Connolly, and he was strengthened in asserting his authority. He discarded the name "Fort Pitt" and gave the fort the name "Fort Dunmore," in honor of his chief. On the 21st of April. 1774, Connolly notified the set- tlers along the Ohio that the Shawnees were not to be trusted, and that the whites ought to be prepared to avenge the wrong done them by this tribe. This gave authority to the settlers for the taking of the right of punish- ment into their own hands and lighted anew the fires of Indian warfare. It was known as Dunmore's war. A boat containing goods was attacked while going down the Ohio by a party of Cherokees and one white man was killed. In retaliation, two friendly Indians of another tribe, in no way re- sponsible for the crime, were murdered. This was cause enough for the Indians to take up the hatchet, and terrible was the penalty paid. On the
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evening of the same day Captain Cressap, who had led in the affair, learning that a party of Indians were encamped at the mouth of Captina Creek, went stealthily and attacked it, killing several of them and having one of his own party wounded. A few days afterward Daniel Greathouse, with a band of thirty-two followers, attacked the natives at Baker's, and by stratagem, in the most dishonorable manner, killed twelve and wounded others. The murdered Indians were all scalped. Of the number of the slain was the entire family of the noted Indian chief Logan.
The savage instinct of revenge was now aroused. Logan had been the firm friend of the white man and had done him many services; but left alone, all his family slain, he thirsted for blood. His vengeance was wreaked upon the inhabitants west of the Monongahela, along Ten Mile Creek, and he rested not until he had taken thirteen scalps, the number of his own family who had been slain, when he declared himself satisfied and ready for peace. The tidings of the hostile acts Cressap and Greathouse and the stealthy and midnight deeds of savagery by the red men spread terror and con- sternation on all sides, and the inhabitants west of the Monongahela fled, driving before them their flocks and herds, and bearing away their most easily transportable valuables. "There were more than a thousand people who." writes Crawford to Washington, "crossed the Monongahela in one day at three ferries that are not one mile apart." "Upon a fresh report of Indians, I immediately took horse," wrote St. Clair to Governor Penn, "and rode up to inquire, and found it, if not totally groundless, at least very im- probable; but it was impossible to persuade the people so, and I am certain I did not meet less than one hundred families and. I think, two thousand head of cattle, in twenty miles riding."
The Virginia authorities immediately called out the militia. A force under Colonel McDonald assembled at Wheeling and marched against Wapatomica, on the Muskingum. The Indians, being unprepared for war, feigned submission, and gave five of their chiefs as hostages. But the troops destroyed their towns and crops and retreated. Sir William John- son counseled the Indians to keep peace. In the meantime Andrew Lewis had organized a force of 1, 100 in the neighborhood of the since famed White Sulphur Springs and was marching for the mouth of the Great Kanawha, where he was to meet the force gathered in the northern part of the State under Dunmore in person. Before the arrival of the latter the Indians ---
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Delawares, Iroquois, Wyandots, Shawnees-under Cornstalk, Logan and all their most noted chiefs, gathered in upon Lewis and attacked him with great fury, the battle raging the entire day; but in the end the Indians were driven across the Ohio, though with a loss of Colonels Lewis (brother of the commander) and Field killed, Colonel Fleming wounded and seventy-five men killed and 140 wounded-a fifth of the entire force. The loss of the Indians could not be ascertained, though thirty-three dead were left behind them. Lewis was determined to follow up his advantage which had been gained at so grievous a loss; but Dunmore, who was now approaching with his division of the army, having been visited by the chiefs who offered peace, and himself having little stomach for fighting, accepted their terms and ordered Lewis to desist in his pursuit. Lewis refused to obey, and pushed on, determined to avenge the slaughter of his brave men, and it was not until Dunmore came up with him could he be prevailed upon to give up an attack which he had planned upon the Indian town of Old Chillicothe.
The army now retired, though a detachment of one hundred men was left at the mouth of the Great Kanawha and small detachments at Wheeling and at Pittsburg. Thus ended as causeless a war, known as Dunmore's war, as was ever undertaken, all induced by the meddling policy of Dun- more in a matter in which the Crown alone had the authority at that time to decide, and the overofficiousness of Connolly, who, "dressed in a little brief authority," exercised it in an arbitrary and anger-provoking way. The wrong, as the simple natives regarded it, rankled long in their breasts and was undoubtedly the cause of many acts of savagery on their part in later days. It was undertaken in the mistaken belief that all this beautiful coun- try west of Laurel Hill belonged to Virginia and, whether rightfully or wrongfully, the determination was to hold it. It was provoked by the Virginians, and was prosecuted wholly by Virginians, designated by the Indians as "Long-Knives."
Having thus cut a large figure in a military way. Dunmore issued his proclamation denouncing the claims of the Pennsylvanians and says: "I do hereby in His Majesty's name require and command all His Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to this my proclama- tion, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania at their peril in this country."
Quite ready to join in this war of proclamations and not unprepared to
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wield the ponderous words of authority, Governor John Penn caught up the cudgel and hurled back his claims in a brave pronunciamento.
After acknowledging the receipt of Dunmore's shrill blast, Penn re- cites the claims of the province as set forth in the great charter, shows that the settlers all over the western portion of the State have taken up their lands under Pennsylvania titles in good faith, and concludes thus: "In justice, therefore, to the Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, who are only desirous to secure their own undoubted property from the en- croachments of others, I have thought fit, with the advice of the Council, to issue this, my proclamation, hereby requiring all persons west of the Laure Hill to retain their settlements as aforesaid made under this province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this government; and all magistrates and other officers who hold commissions or offices under this government to proceed as usual in the administration of justice without paying the least regard to the said recited proclamation, until His Majesty's pleasure shal be known in the premises; at the same time strictly charging and enjoining the said inhabitants and magistrates to use their utmost endeavors to pre- serve peace and good order."
It will be noticed that in the matter of thundering with his whereases and wherefores Penn is quite equal to Dunmore, and in that part where some doubt is thrown upon the statement of the latter, that he is acting under the instructions of the Crown, Penn has decidedly the advantage It had been the intention of Dunmore to open a court at Pittsburg with Virginia magistrates and by Virginia authority. But the counter-proclama tion of Penn had somewhat cooled his controversy, as he might be com pelled to defend his usurpations by force. But when he discovered that the Pennsylvania authorities were disposed to have their differences submitted to peaceful arbitrament he concluded that he might venture a little furthe: on the scheme of holding possession of this fine country. He, accordingly had the court of Augusta County, which had formerly been held at Staun ton, adjourn to open its next term on the 21st of February at Pittsburg Augusta County being made to embrace all the western part of Virginia and Pennsylvania. On the day appointed the following named persons ap peared, took the oath of office and sat as justices of the Virginia court George Croghan, John Connolly, Thomas Smallman, John Cambell, Dorse Pentecost, William Goe, John Gibson and George Vallandingham. Ther
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were now two organized courts, assessors, tax gatherers, sheriffs and all the machinery for conducting a county government over the same territory, Virginia calling it Augusta and Pennsylvania Westmoreland.
Having succeeded in setting up their court, the new officials bethought them that they must break up any vestiges of a rival court, and accordingly issued warrants for the arrest of Robert Hanna and James Caveat, which were served by the Augusta sheriff, and the two Pennsylvania officials were brought in and incarcerated in the Fort Dunmore jail, where they lan- guished for three months, in vain seeking for release. Finally the sheriff of Westmoreland County, assisted by a strong posse, proceeded to Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg) and released the prisoners and arrested John Con- nolly at the suit of Robert Hanna, who claimed damages for unlawful impris- onment. Incensed by this treatment of their leader, his adherents from Chartiers came in force and seized three of the party who had been engaged in the arrest of Connolly-George Wilson, Joseph Spear and Devereaux Smith.
It was probably some time in June or July before Hanna and Caveat were set at liberty, as the records show that they were constantly entering complaints of their hardships and petitioning for relief. In the meantime an event had transpired which overshadowed all the petty strife of contending factions and united all hearts in a common cause. On the 19th of April of this year, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, which aroused all hearts with singular unanimity to resistance to the British Crown all over the habitable portion of this broad land, even to the cabins of the frontiersman, far remote from towns or cities. The news of these bloody frays had no sooner reached Hannastown and Pittsburg than public meetings were held at both those places, at which Virginians and Pennsyl- vanians united in their approval of resistance and pledging support. These resolves are important and curious as showing the unanimity which they, laying aside domestic troubles, united in a common cause. The meet- ings were held on the same day, the 16th of May, 1775. The resolves of that at Hannastown, representing Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, were conceived in these temperate words: "Resolved, unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the in- habitants of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the ministry, by en- deavoring to enforce those acts, have attempted to reduce the said in-
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habitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any State or country; not content with violating the constitutional and char- tered rights of humanity, exposing their lives to the licentious soldiery and depriving them of the very means of subsistence. Resolved, unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppres- sion will (should it meet with success in Massachusetts Bay) be extended to other parts of America; it is, therefore, become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish this we will immediately form ourselves into a military body, to consist of military companies to be made up of the several townships under the following association, which is declared to be the association of Westmoreland County."
At Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg) not only the adherents of the Virginia, but the men acknowledging no government but that of Pennsylvania, joined in expressing the sentiment of firm resistance. A committee of some thirty members was appointed, in which not only the names of Connolly and Vallandingham, but also those of Devereaux Smith and George Wilson, appear, and they unanimously declare "that they have the highest sense of the spirited behavior of their brethren in New England, and do most cor- dially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and priv- ileges to the utmost extreme." And they proceed to pledge themselves to assist by personal service, to contribute of their means and use their best endeavors to influence their neighbors to resist this attempt at subjugation. As an earnest of their determination they proposed to contribute half a pomid of powder and a pound of lead, flints and cartridge paper, which they estimate will cost two shillings and sixpence, and accordingly advise the collection of this amount from each tithable person. It is indeed surprising that a little skirmish away in a distant part of New England should arouse a sentiment so strong and unwavering, and prompt them, laying aside col- onial quarrels, to unite as one man in aid of the struggle soon to open, even though they had scarcely a cabin to shelter their defenseless heads and were exposed on this distant frontier to the sudden incursions of the savages.
In the meantime, in order to quiet any further local contention, in
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presence of the great peril that now confronted the United Colonies, the following named gentlemen, members of the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania and Virginia, viz., John Dickinson, George Ross, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Charles Humphreys, Patrick Henry. Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Jefferson, united in the follow- ing pacific advice addressed to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Virginia 011 the west side of the Laurel Hill: "Friends and Countrymen-It gives nis much concern to find that disturbances have arisen and still continue among you concerning the boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now advise you it is unnecessary that we inquire into the origin of these unhappy disputes, and it would be improper for us to express our ap- probation or censure on either side; but as representatives of two of the colonies united among many others for the defence of the liberties of Amer- ica we think it our duty to remove, as far as lies in our power, every obstacle that may prevent her sons from co-operating as vigorously as they would wish to do towards the attainment of this great and important end. In- fluenced solely by this motive, our joint and earnest request to you is that all animosities which have heretofore subsisted among you as inhabitants of distinct colonies may how give place to generous and concurring efforts for the prevention of everything that can make our common country dear to us. We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see your differ- ences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable use we recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men kept up under either province be dis- missed, that all those on either side who are in confinement or under bail for taking part in the contests be discharged, and that until the dispute be decided every person be permitted to retain his possessions unmolested. By observing these directions the public tranquillity will be secured with- out injury to the titles on either side; the period, we flatter ourselves, will soon arrive when this unfortunate dispute, which has produced much mis- chicf and, as far as we can learn, no good, will be peaceably and constit11- tionally determined."
This document has been quoted here in its entirety, not only because of the ability and commanding influence of its anthors-such as Franklin and Dickinson, and Henry and Jefferson-the very master spirits of this age, but on account of its timely wisdom and authoritative suggestions. If the title to their lands were to be valid and secure, as here intimated, from
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whichever colony secured, a great motive for keeping up the controversy would be removed. The assurance coming from such eminent men, mem- bers of the Congress that was likely to be supreme over all the colonies, had almost the deciding influence over the minds of the settlers that a legal en- actment would have had and must be regarded as a turning point in this heated controversy that was likely at any moment to have broken out into acts of sanguinary conflict. It should therefore be considered as a vital morsel in the history of these western counties.
Dunmore had betaken himself on board a British man-of-war, Fowey, lying in Chesapeake Bay, and had taken with him the powder from the Vir- ginia arsenal. This Patrick Henry, at the head of the militia, just before sctting out to take his seat in Congress, had compelled Dunmore to settle for, by the payment of £330 by the hand of Corbin, His Majesty's receiver general.
As the war cloud of the Revolution thickened and the Virginians had broken with their Governor, Connolly, probably listening to the suggestions of Dunmore, fancied he saw an opportunity of cutting a larger figure than contending for the right to act as a justice of the peace where his authority was in question and might be successfully controverted. He accordingly abandoned his throne at Pittsburg, and having received instructions from Dunmore, who, as one of the royal Governors, represented the King, to repair to General Gage at Boston, commander in chief of His Majesty's forces in America, he was to make application for authority to raise "an army to the westward," in the name of the King, to fight against the col- onies. He fancied that he could induce a large force to join him from the neighborhood of Pittsburg, and southward, to espouse the Royal cause, and by making his headquarters at Detroit or in Canada, lie could raise an army of disaffected whites and Indians with which to make war from the rear upon the colonies, and "obstruct communication between the Southern and Northern governments."
Could anything evince the character of a black-hearted traitor more conspicuously than this? He received authority as desired, and was fur- nished with blank commissions, which he was to execute and bestow at his own discretion. But on the way to the field of his exploits, when ar- rived at Hagerstown, Maryland, he was captured, and, skilfully concealed beneath his saddle, a paper was found disclosing all the details of his traitor-
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Jus scheme. He was held as a prisoner of war until 1780-1, together with his associates, when he was exchanged. In 1782 he was at the head of a force of British and Indians in the neighborhood of Chautauqua Lake on his way to reduce Fort Pitt, and establish himself there. But, probably finding his force too feeble for such an enterprise, he abandoned it. To the honor of the friends and relatives of Connolly it should be stated that while he was concerting measures for the destruction of his country, they were equally earnest in patriotic designs.
CHAPTER XIV.
ROADS AND WATERWAYS IN CRAWFORD COUNTY.
W HEN the first settlers entered the domain of Crawford County there was not a road nor a bridge in its wide expanse with perhaps one exception. The French, in their attempts to hold the en- tire Mississippi Valley, had passed up the Chautauqua Creek to Chautauqua Lake, thence on down the outlet to Warren, where they struck the Allegheny River, and there planted the first of their leaden plates of occu- pancy, and then passed on down the river to Franklin. This was a very toilsome way, inasmuch as the summit of the land between Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua was some 800 feet above the former. In their campaigns against the English they expected to make Fort Pitt their main point of possession, and hence would require much heavy transportation from their headquarters in Canada through western Pennsylvania. They accordingly abandoned the Chautauqua route and opened a road from Erie to Water- ford, where they struck the headwaters of the Venango River, down which they were expecting to float their heavy freight to the Allegheny, and then on down its current. But the Venango, except at flood stage, did not carry enough water for heavy transportation. The French were obliged, therefore, to seek some overland route. The Indians had a path along the Venango Valley, but this was very circuitous, which Washington, in his journey to Waterford in 1753 estimated at 130 miles, whereas in a direct line it was less than 90. The French engineers, accordingly, laid out a road substantially on a direct line from Waterford to Franklin, which was cut out corduroid and bridged the whole distance. If any one will draw a straight line on any map of Pennsylvania reaching from Waterford to Franklin, it will show the course which this French road followed. When the French gave up the contest, and abandoned the country, this side the Great Lakes, the bridges on this French road rotted down. trees grew up in its course, the floods in springtime tore up and carried away the road-bed, and when the surveyors and the new settlers came, thirty years later, scarcely
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any trace of this old road remained to tell the tale of its once brave existence.
When the new settlers came and established themselves in the wilder- ness they were obliged to commence road-making and bridge-building de novo, just as though no French engineer had ever set his jacob staff in these parts. But still the Venango River proved useful for heavy transpor- tation. It seems that every human being craves salt. Indeed, every ani- mal, of whatever species, seeks it, as the salt licks of the deer testify. The most convenient salt springs of consequence for the supply of settlers in the Mississippi Valley were at Salina, N. Y. In the then state of transporta- tion, the best means of supplying Pittsburg was to move it by ox team from Salina to Buffalo, thence to Erie by sailboat, thence to Waterford by team. At Waterford it was loaded upon flat boats and taken by the Venango River to Franklin, and thence to Pittsburg and points below without breaking bulk. Gen. James O'Hara was engaged in this business from 1800 to 1819. The Crawford Messenger of December 12, 1805, says: "Eleven flat-bot- tomed and six keel-boats passed by this place (Meadville) during the last freshet in French Creek, the former carrying on an average 170. and the lat- ter 60 barrels of salt each, making in the whole 2,230 barrels. This, com- puted at $II per barrel at this place, amounts to $24,530. The selling price at Pittsburg is now $13 per barrel, which will make it amount to $28,900. During the preceding spring and winter more than double the foregoing quantity has been brought across the carrying place between Erie and Waterford, which was either consumed in the county bordering on the the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers or in this and neighboring counties, amount- ing in the whole to upward of $80,000." In its issue of January 1. 1807, the Messenger says: "During the late rise in French Creek (Venango River) we had the pleasing sight of witnessing twenty-two Kentucky boats, or arks, pass by this place loaded with salt for Pittsburg, carrying in the whole be- tween 4,000 and 5,000 barrels." The same paper, in its issue of November 22, 1809, says: "There are at present at Waterford upward of 14,000 har- rels of salt, containing 5 bushels each, or 70,000 bushels. awaiting for the rise of the waters, in order to descend to Pittsburg, Wheeling and Marietta."
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