USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume One > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
428
Remains of Old Magazine at Fort Augusta in 1896
Reproduced by courtesy of the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society
The French Invasion
Hamilton having asked to be superseded, Robert Hunter Morris arrived, October 3, from England. He was son of Lewis Morris, once Governor of New Jersey, and had been himself Chief Justice of that Province. He sent a polite message to the Indians, and the Assembly enabled him to assure them that he would maintain their people left behind while some of them went to Onondaga.
The King of England, although ostensibly at peace with France, decided to send two military expeditions against the lat- ter's subjects, and ordered two regiments of foot, each of 500 men, besides the officers, commanded by Sir Peter Halket and Thomas Dunbar, respectively, to proceed from Ireland to Vir- ginia, and there be increased to 750 men each, and two regiments to be recruited in America of 1,000 men each, to be commanded by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts and Sir William Pepper- rell, respectively; towards this enlistment of about 3,000 men and supplying victuals and necessaries for traveling and a common fund for the common defense, Pennsylvania was to do her share. To superintend this war as commander-in-chief in America, Edward Braddock, a general officer of reputation, was sent from England. He was to lead Halket's and Dunbar's regi- ments and their Provincial auxiliaries against the French on the Ohio, while Shirley and Pepperrell were to carry on campaigns elsewhere. It had been suggested that a certain American gov- ernor, recommended for his integrity, who, we suppose, was Din- widdie, should command the expedition against the Ohio, but King George II said : "A little more ability and a little less hon- esty upon the present occasion may serve our turn better." Shir- ley's son, shortly before losing his life as Braddock's secretary, thought it a pity that such a view had not been applied to the case of the very honest Braddock.
Scarrooyady came to Philadelphia, his heart set on war, and arranged for a meeting of the Six Nations at Winchester in the spring. Before he left. John Shickcalamy's belt from Shamokin
431
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
arrived with a message that white people from the other side of New York were coming to settle on land at Wyoming and north of the Western branch, over which the Six Nations at the treaty at Albany had given him charge, and that the strangers claimed to have bought it from the Six Nations since the treaty. Scar- rooyady was thereupon intrusted with a further message to the Six Nations to the effect that if they had actually sold these lands it was a breach of faith. Some people then beyond the mountains in Northampton county took shares in the Connecticut adventure; but on the other hand Governor Fitch of Connecticut disavowed any authorization for it. About 300 Indians of the Six Nations on the Ohio had fled from the French to the branches of the Susquehanna, and these sent word that they would kill the cattle of any whites who settled there, and if the latter still re- mained, would treat them as enemies and destroy them. Hen- drick Peter, chief of the Mohawks, came to Philadelphia, and planned a general council between the Six Nations and the gov- ernment of Connecticut to destroy the fraudulent deed under which the intruders claimed. He complained of bad treatment in the matter of land by the government of New York, and told how liberal the French were to the Indians, so much so as to have made some division in the Six Nations; but he and his compan- ions, on leaving Philadelphia, gave hearty thanks for the enter- tainments and kindness which they had received, declaring that the people of Pennsylvania had treated them like brothers and sis- ters, and that the Governor could depend upon the fidelity of the Mohawks for counsel or action.
Two hundred Pennsylvanians soon enlisted in the regiment of Governor Shirley, and the Assembly, on the rejection of its first bill to raise 25,000l., intrusted a committee with 5,000l., raised by negotiating drafts bearing interest against the money due the Province. so as to purchase all the flour required for the army expected at Will's creek, where Colonel Innes had made a fort. Sir John St. Clair, a Scotch baronet, the quartermaster, had
432
The French Invasion
already arrived in America. Some years after this he married Miss Moland of Philadelphia. The Assembly, however, was not dis- posed to lay a tax which would pay off the necessary bills of credit in five years, nor would it grant 40,000l. in bills of credit for the raising of troops, both propositions being made by the Lieuten-
House of Conrad Weiser, Reading
Engraved especially for this work from a photo- graph in possession of Dr. W. J. Holland
ant-Governor and supported by Franklin. Twenty-five thousand pounds were voted, but only 5,000l. were subjected to General Braddock's order, the balance to be applied by a committee of the House in the following manner : 5,000l. for provisions for the forces in Virginia, 10,000/. for provisions for the forces in New England, and 5,000/. for subsistence of the refugee Indians, clear- ing of roads, hire of carriages, and other contingent expenses.
I-28
+33
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
Morris declared that to give the disposition of the public money to members of the Assembly would be inconsistent with his duty to the Crown, and he would show the bill to his superiors in Lon- don. The Assembly decided in its turn to appeal to His Maj- esty, and sent over to England a representation of the case.
To raise without delay the money necessary at this time of imminent danger, the Assembly appointed certain persons to draw drafts to the amount of 10,000l. on the provincial treas- urer or trustees of the loan office, payable in one year, with inter- est, and apply these, or, in fact, the proceeds of negotiating these, to the King's use. But the intention of the British govern- ment was to have a common fund established by contributions from all the colonies, out of which the additional men for Halket's and Dunbar's regiments and those in Nova Scotia, should be pro- vided for. The Assembly told Morris, on May 20, that, while the bill he had rejected had given Braddock the disposal of 5,000l. and appropriated the whole 25,000l. for the army's benefit, no other colony, could the members learn, had offered him power over as many pence as they had pounds; and that they could not look upon the Governor as a friend to his country while he was "en- deavoring to render the inhabitants of Pennsylvania odious to our gracious sovereign and his ministers, to the British nation, to all the neighboring colonies, and to the army that is come to pro- tect us." British officers were much stirred up against the colony. Sir John St. Clair met the commissioners appointed by Morris to lay out the roads from Carlisle to the three forks of the Yough- iogheny and to Will's creek, and, the commissioners said, "stormed like a lion rampant." He declared that they should have been appointed to the work in January, the want of this road and of the provisions promised by Pennsylvania had retarded the ex- pedition, and cost many lives, because of the fresh numbers of French likely to arrive; for his part he would, instead of march- ing to the Ohio, march in nine days into Cumberland County, and by fire and sword force the inhabitants to make roads, and
434
The French Invasion
would seize horses and wagons, etc .; he would to-morrow write to England, and shake Mr. Penn's Proprietaryship, etc. Ben- jamin Franklin went to see Braddock to disabuse his mind as to the Assembly, and, meeting him at Frederick, Maryland, suc- ceeded. Then Franklin heard that there had been collected only 25 wagons when 150 were required, to transport the stores, bag- gage, etc. Braddock and his officers were in despair. Franklin said it was a pity that the troops had not been landed in Penn- sylvania, where every farmer had his wagon. Braddock at once begged Franklin, as a man of influence there, to procure what was indispensable. Franklin went to Lancaster, published an offer of 15s. a day for each wagon with a driver and four horses, and 2s. a day for each horse with a pack saddle or other saddle, and 18d. for a horse without a saddle, all to be at Will's creek by May 20, seven days' pay to be advanced, if desired, at the time of hiring, the drivers not to serve as soldiers. Franklin stayed several days in Lancaster and two days in York to receive offers; his son attending to the offers in Cumberland County. A let- ter signed by that wonderful man showed the people of the back counties that here was a chance for obtaining a large amount of gold and silver currency for easy work by those who served in it, and that if this plan did not succeed in fourteen days, the General would be notified and the soldiers would seize the best carriages and horses, and, perhaps, without compensation. The wagons were secured. The owners said that they did not know Brad -. dock, but would take Franklin's bond. At his suggestion, more- over, the committee of the Assembly sent twenty packs of gro- ceries on horses to as many subaltern officers, these arriving as soon as the wagons. Rev. Richard Peters, secretary of the Gov- ernor's Council, who went to hurry the construction of the roads. found 108 men at work, but the commissioners discouraged for want of cash, "rum and carriage" being too high, he agreed for what was necessary at moderate prices. He ordered the road to be cut no wider than twelve feet, and only the one to the forks
+35
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
to be pushed, and told Braddock that he must furnish an escort to protect the men, who could not be kept together a single day in case of any alarm from Indians; moreover, the General would find his own march difficult, if Indians were induced by the French to annoy him, and, against them, he would be unable to reach Fort Duquesne without a body of Indian allies and several companies of rangers, both foot and mounted. Braddock de- spised this fear of Indians, and said that the Province might, but he could not, send men to protect the road cutters. At that time, the troops were short of provisions; in the tents of the officers Peters saw no butter and little fresh meat, and the Gen- eral's own fare was scanty, and his beef was not sweet. Scar- rooyady and about forty Indians were at camp, mad at not being consulted, and with trouble likely to arise from the scandalous behavior of the officers with the squaws; so that Peters induced Braddock to send the Indian women home, and to forbid their presence in future. All but seven warriors left to escort these to Aughwick; and, when the army had gotten off. and murders along Will's creek began, it was suspected that, not the French Indians, to whom they were attributed, but these friendly Indians committed them. The General sent, moreover, the soldiers' wives into Pennsylvania, to be supported by the Province, except so far as one-third of the husbands' pay would suffice.
On June 6, there having been no rain for two or three months, as well as in view of the starting of Braddock's expedition, Gov- ernor Morris appointed June 19 as a day of fasting and prayer.
The army left Will's creek on June 14, and in two days reached Little Meadows, whither St. Clair and Major Chapman had preceded them, erecting a fort there. On the advice of Washington, who was serving as one of Braddock's military fam- ily, the General determined to make haste with 1,200 chosen men under Sir Peter Halket, Lieut .- Col. Gage, Lieut .- Col. Burton and Major Sparks, with only such wagons as were necessary ; St. Clair starting with one-third the force on the 17th, and Braddock
436
George II King of England from 1727 to 1760
The French Invasion
with 800 men the next day, leaving to follow them some days later Colonel Dunbar, Major Chapman, and the residue of the two regiments with some independent companies, women, etc. From Governor Sharpe's letter we learn that before June 22, the advance guard discovered a small body of French, who captured Scarrooyady, but on the troops coming up fell back and let him escape. From Edward Shippen's letter we learn that St. Clair beat off 200 or 300 French Indians. The 1,200, "halting to level every mole hill and erect bridges over every brook," made only twelve miles in four days. Washington, who was too sick to go on horseback, was left behind, but rejoined Braddock on July 8. On the 9th this force, largely of regular troops, was attacked by 250 French and 650 Indians, just after it had crossed the Monongahela, the second time that day, about seven miles from Fort DuQuesne. The British army was in
three divisions. The first, of 300 men with two cannon, had been sent across the river under Thomas Gage, then Lieutenant- Colonel, afterwards the celebrated General, to secure the house and plantation of James Frazier, a trader, not far from a run named after him. On finding the river muddy, Gage suspected that it had just been crossed by the enemy, and, on crossing, he found many footprints; so he warned Braddock, although pos- sessing himself of the plantation without opposition. The sec- ond division, being the road makers, 200 strong, under St. Clair, was closely following, and the remaining 800 under Braddock himself with the artillery had made the crossing, when Gage's 300, ascending a hill at a place where a ravine on each side con- cealed the foe, were suddenly fired at from behind trees and bushes. There are various accounts of the battle. If the reader takes up that written by Orme, the aid-de-camp, and published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, let it be remembered that Orme's influence over his General was blamed for the result. When the British returned the enemy's fire. 100 Canadian militia- men, being nearly half the whites at the attack, ran away, crying
+39
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
"Sauve qui peut," and headed by two cadets. Braddock hurried forward with Burton and 400 men, while at the third volley of musketry, Beaujeu, the French commander, was killed, and with the bringing of cannon into play, the savages retired from within
range. Dumas ordered them to attack on the flank. Charles
Langlade led them. The British found themselves assailed from
nearly all directions, their fire apparently making no impression, the enemy apparently in vast numbers, their own officers fall- ing. Those familiar with Indian warfare wished to distribute themselves among the trees, but Braddock would not permit it, even striking some of them with his sword and calling them cow- ards. His secretary, Governor Shirley's son, was killed, two of his aids-de-camp were wounded. Washington, his other aid-de-camp, had two horses shot under him, and four bullet holes in his coat. St. Clair was wounded. Halket, who had command of the rear well posted, Orme says, around the bag- gage, was killed, and his men ran back in confusion. The wagoneers, separating the horses they mounted from the rest of the teams, abandoned everything.
The provincial soldiers be- haved very well. The French captured the artillery, and the
English recaptured it, but could not bring it away owing to the
loss of the horses. The regulars, however, in the confusion, half the time seeing no enemy, became panic stricken, gathering into groups and firing at friend and foe alike before precipitate flight, nor could they be rallied to save the lighter things. The officers, united in squads or else singly, advanced against the enemy, as an example to the common soldiers; but only sacri- ficed themselves. In the course of three hours sixty officers were killed or wounded. Braddock himself was mortally
wounded. His money, papers, and letters were among the loot secured by the victors. Only about 300 sound men remained to retreat and unite with Dunbar, who, impeded with the heavy baggage, was in camp forty miles behind. Braddock was car- ried to Great Meadows, where he died on the 13th. Before day-
440
The French Invasion
break his body was buried, Washington reading the burial serv- ice. Dunbar did not feel strong enough to confront the enemy, and so, after destroying his ammunition and most of his pro- visions, moved back to Fort Cumberland ; and the 100 men guard- ing those employed in cutting the road were notified to make no
Chimney Rocks
Blair County ; said to have been a resort of Chief Logan and his Indians
further advance, but join him at the same fort. Thus the coun- try west of the Alleghanies was left to the French and their In- dian allies, who were free, moreover, to reinforce those who were opposing the English expedition to Niagara. Greater still was the dismay when Dunbar decided to take the remains of the two regiments to Philadelphia and spend the winter there. Leaving the independent companies to garrison the fort and take care of 400 wounded, he with 1,200 men, an ample army in those days
441
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
to protect the frontier, started for the safest part of the Province, against the protest of the Governor and Assembly, and with the population west of the Susquehanna forsaking their houses and unusually good crops.
Morris, finding that the Assembly, in raising money for de- fence, was likely to tax the Proprietary estates, thought he might create some popularity for his superiors, as well as promote re- cruiting, by offering land as an additional encouragement to those who would enlist in an expedition against the French on the Ohio; he therefore sent a message to the Assembly on July 20, promising 1,000 acres to a colonel, 750 to a lieutenant-colonel, 500 to a captain, 400 to a lieutenant or ensign, and 200 to a com- mon soldier, on condition of settlement in three years after the removal of the French, to be free of quit rent for fifteen years from March 1, 1756. Morris, after starting a fort at Carlisle and another at Shippensburg, and forming four companies of militia, wrote to Dunbar and to Governor Shirley, who had suc- ceeded Braddock as commander-in-chief, asking that such troops as were not needed at Fort Cumberland be posted at Carlisle, Shippensburg, and McDowell's Mill, at which last named place the new road to the Alleghanies began. The Assembly passed a bill on August 5, to raise 50,000 !. for the King's use by a tax for two years of 12d. yearly per l. on all estates, real and personal, and 20s. yearly per head on all taxables. Morris proposed an amendment exempting the Proprietary estates. The Assembly asked whether he was restricted by the Proprietaries' instructions against passing the bill as it stood, or he himself was of opinion that the amendment was right. Morris replied that his com- mission contained a proviso that he should not have power to do or consent to an act whereby the estate or property of the Pro- prietaries might be hurt or incumbered; therefore he deemed that any law contrary to such proviso would be void; he, moreover, would have thought it his duty to have the estates exempted, be- cause, Ist, all Governors hereditary or otherwise were exempt ;
442
The French Invasion
2nd, a law of the Province expressly declared such estates not liable for rates and taxes ; 3rd, the Proprietaries having by their Governor consented to a law vesting in the people the choice of persons to assess and lay taxes in the several counties, without reserving any negative over such choice, it would be unreason- able to empower such persons to tax these estates at discretion ; 4th, to tax them was contrary to the general practice in such governments. The reader would doubtless agree with the Assembly's declaiming against the injustice, had we space to make extracts from its well prepared messages. The law of the province then in force exempting the estates, concerned levies for paying assemblymen's wages and rewards for killing wolves, crows, and foxes and other purposes more immediately for the benefit of the inhabitants. As to what seems the strongest point made by Morris, that the Proprietaries had no voice in choosing the assessors, the latter, it was shown, were bound by oath or affirmation to value the lands impartially, and the Proprietaries had enough officers and dependents in every county to cast a pro- portion of the whole vote for assessors equal to their proportion of the tax. Morris on August 9 asked the Assembly to pass a militia law. On the 16th, as the treasury was exhausted, Mor- ris told the Assembly that he would pass a bill for striking any sum in paper money that the present exigencies might require, if such paper money was to be sunk in five years.
Shirley, on August 12, ordered Dunbar to make a further at- tempt to capture Fort Duquesne with the troops he had, and such reinforcements as Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia should raise; and, if successful, after garrisoning it, to proceed against Fort Presque Isle; if unsuccessful in both attempts, then to cover the frontier of Pennsylvania. Morris, on hearing this, despaired of raising any colonial troops ; nothing, he felt, would be appropriated by the Assembly, and Maryland and Virginia would not act if Pennsylvania held back; so he advised Dunbar to come to Philadelphia, whence he could either go on to Albany,
++3
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
or, if the Duquesne expedition were practicable, go easily to Car- lisle and meet the reinforcements there ; he thought Niagara the most important point to possess.
Dunbar and his troops spent about a month in Philadelphia, receiving many recruits. By General Shirley's order he could not accept any indentured servants who offered themselves. When, some time later, to hasten the filling up of certain regi- ments, this order was rescinded, the masters complained to the Assembly, and the latter to the Lieutenant-Governor, saying that it presumed no colony on the continent had furnished more free recruits than Pennsylvania, where great numbers had been raised for Shirley's and Pepperrell's regiments, for Halket's and Dun- bar's, for the New York and Carolina Independent Companies, for Nova Scotia, and even for the West Indies. If the property in the service of indentured persons were not respected the people would be driven to buy negro slaves, of which there were few here, and the Province, instead of growing by the increase of white inhabitants, would be weakened, as every slave was a do- mestic enemy.
444
CHAPTER XV.
THE REVOLT OF THE DELAWARES
P ARKMAN has pointed out that the real interests of the sav- ages lay with the French, who wished only to trade, that is apart from their spiritual purposes; whereas the English were settlers, who would build towns, turn the land into farms, drive away the game, and crowd out those who lived by hunting. Charles Thomson, afterwards secretary of Congress, who acted as clerk to the Delaware king, declared that the purchase made at Al- bany, as to which they were not consulted, had thrown the Indians to the west of Pennsylvania entirely open to temptation by the French ; for by it the lands where the Shawanees and Ohio Indians lived, and the hunting ground of the Delawares, Nanticokes, and Tuteloes, were included, and those nations had nothing to expect but to see themselves violently driven, by the rate at which the English settled, and reduced to seek a settlement they knew not where.
After Braddock's defeat, the protection of the frontiers of Pennsylvania being left to the inhabitants themselves, they rap- idly formed companies, designated their own officers, and received commissions for them from Lieutenant-Governor Morris; and Scarrooyady and many other Indians went to Shamokin to live, or at least to hunt, during the ensuing season. An Indian from the Ohio warned Croghan that in his opinion the Indians would do no mischief in Pennsylvania until they could draw all the other Indians out of the province, and away from the Susquehanna, as
445
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
they were industriously endeavoring to do, and that when he should see those on the Susquehanna go back to the Ohio, then to look out for his scalp. It was found that Shawanees and Delawares had been ravaging the neighborhood of Fort Cumber- land on both sides of the Potomac. In the middle of October two French Indians of the Conewago tribe were seen near Shamokin. A few evenings after this, a "Pennsylvania Dutch" woman, on her way from there to her home on Mahanoy, or Penn's, Creek, saw two persons lying by the door of a neighbor's house murdered and scalped. Several Dutch families, hearing this, left their habi- tations immediately. When it was found that about thirteen men and older women had been murdered, and twelve women and children carried into captivity, one wounded man escaping, terror drove away nearly all the people living for miles about the creek, seventeen men, however, petitioning the Governor for guns and ammunition, with which to make a stand. A party of forty set out from lower down the Susquehanna to bury the dead, not knowing that others had done so, and were informed by Shick- calamy that a great body of French and Indians had been seen on its way into the province at a place where the Northwest Branch passes through the Alleghanies. Shickcalamy urged a consulta- tion with the Indians at Shamokin, and these were visited, and a gathering for a council was noticed. Many Delawares, strangers to those parts, had arrived, all painted black. While spending the night there, Adam Terrence overheard Delawares talking to this effect : "What have they come here for?" "To kill us, I sup- pose." "Can not we, then, send off some of our nimble young men to give our friends notice, that can soon be here?" Then they sang a war song, and four went off in two canoes, one down the Susquehanna, the other across. The majority of the white men, urged by the half-breed, Andrew Montour, to march, home along the east side of the river, thought it wiser to choose the west bank. By the mouth of Mahanoy Creek they were fired at by Indians, some of whom uttered words in the Delaware tongue,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.