USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Allegheny in Allegheny County > Recollections of seventy years and historical gleanings of Allegheny, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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" Who are you, and on what errand ?" the guard inquired.
" A friend of the pale-faces, come to open their ears, that they may hear the war-whoop of their enemies," was the reply. " Advance, and give the countersign !"
" Before my brother strikes, let him listen : the red man has not learned the strange words that the pale-faced warriors whisper into each other's ears. I am a friend to your people ; and I come to tell them that evil birds are flying around them, watching for prey. I am an Indian brave, a friend of the white man, and will speak the truth. Guide me to the wigwam of my friend Oliver Harris. He knows that I am a good man, and I will tell him how to drive the bad birds away."
After a further conference of a few moments, the sentinel gave a preconcerted signal, and two others of the guard joined him. It was agreed that the Indian who had caused the alarm, and who was recognized as one of the most steadfast friends of the whites, should be conducted, agreeably to his request, to the house of Oliver Harris. He was, therefore, taken thither by one of the sentinels, while the others resumed their duty. When the sentinel and his Indian companion arrived at Harris's residence, the former tapped lightly at the window.
" Who is there ?" inquired Harris.
"Here's our friend, Guyasutha,"' answered the sentinel, " come to bring us news from our red neighbors, that intend to pay us a visit without giving us notice."
Harris knew Guyasutha to be worthy of the confidence which the whites had long reposed in him. He therefore, without hesitation, opened the door, and invited him to enter.
* According to Craig's history, the name of this celebrated chief is spelled in various ways : the same sound, however, is preserved in all variations; viz., Guyasutha, Guy-as-ootha ; Guyasudy, Keyasutha, Kiasutha, and Kaishuta. In the war between France and Great Britain, he early espoused the cause of the latter, and afterwards the Americans. He acted a very prominent part in several important treaties with the various Indian tribes : he also accompanied Gen. Washington on his journey from Logstown to Fort Le Bœuf, in 1753. He died about the close of the last century, in his humble wigwam, on the West Penn Rail- road, situate on the farm owned and occupied by William M. Darlington, Esq.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
" Guyasutha will not rest in the wigwams of his friends, the pale-faces, while the evil redskins are on the warpath to do them harm. Tell your warriors to wake from their slumbers, to open their eyes, and look towards the setting sun, before the tomahawk strikes them, and the keen scalping-knife severs the bloody trophies. I have listened to the wicked chiefs and war- riors, and heard them speak angry words against my white brothers. I have seen the war-fires kindled, and the dark wam- pum circulate among the tribes. Rank weeds cover the path that was once smooth between my white and red brothers ; and the bright chain of friendship, that they held in their hands, is now broken. Listen to the words of Guyasutha, for they are true. I have seen the big eagle sitting on the rock, while the hawk seized the little bird, and carried it away in its claws, and the eagle pretended not to look that way, and did not tell the little bird to fly away quick, and hide itself in its nest, till the hawk was no more in its path. I have spoken to my brother. He will open his ears wide, and listen to my words."
Guyasutha was a chief of the Seneca tribe of Indians, which formed a part of the powerful confederacy of the Six Nations. His daring but cautious character, his intelligence and fidelity to the interests of Great Britain, and his knowledge of the Eng- lish language, had secured for him the respect and confidence of Sir William Johnson, the superintendent of Indian affairs in North America, by whom he was often employed on important embassies to different tribes and to his subordinate agents. Firm in his adherence to the English cause, he never meanly betrayed that of his tribe, or degenerated from that lofty dig- nity of character which distinguishes the aboriginal inhabitants of North America. It was ascertained from this friendly chief, that an alliance had been consummated between the several hostile tribes in the North-West, that frequent war-councils had been held among them, and that the black wampum of war was freely circulating among the tribes to invite a speedy invasion of the settlements. He said that he had obtained correct and minute information relative to the whole plan of operations that was to be pursucd. Simultaneous attacks were to be made upon the entire line of the settlements, from the Canadas to
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A LEGEND OF THE " SHERTEE."
the Mississippi ; and a numerous party, and especially chosen for the enterprise, was now within a short distance of Chartiers, under able leaders, among whom the notorious Luke Purdy held a principal command, and who was represented to be par- ticularly exasperated against the settlers who resided in and about the Forks of the Ohio, and was urging on the savages to take prompt and bloody revenge upon them, denouncing special vengeance against some, whom he named as his most active and relentless persecutors.
On the day ensuing the visit of Guyasutha at Chartiers, a meeting was convened to consider measures adapted to the perilous condition of the country. The conference was earnest and brief. Few speeches were delivered. There was evidently little disposition to indulge in florid and verbose declamation : the informal but sage counsel of Oliver Harris and one or two other experienced advisers was all that was deemed necessary to present the importance of maintaining the strict vigilance which had hitherto been observed for the security of the settle- ment.
The respective posts and duties of all composing the garrison were assigned ; and they were enjoined, by a regard for the public welfare and their personal security, to be strenuous and unremitting in the observance of discipline, and performance of their allotted services.
Guyasutha, who was a warrior well tried and intrepid, was charged with the duty of collecting the few friendly Indians who were at Fort Pitt and in the immediate vicinity of the set- tlements ; and at his suggestion it was determined that under his direction they should constitute a reconnoitering party, to harass the enemy, and impede their approach, or form an ambush in the rear, and complete their rout, should the garrison suc- ceed in repelling their assault.
The attack, which had been awaited with so much anxiety, was not long delayed. A large body of Indians, after rapid marches, prosecuted with all the wariness incident to their mode of warfare, on the evening of the day succeeding the meeting referred to, was within a mile of the little fortress. The scouts brought the intelligence of the enemy's arrival ; and
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each individual of the garrison braced himself for the encoun- ter, as if its happy issue depended solely on his personal exer- tions. Shortly after midnight, the discharge of a rifle, by one of the sentinels stationed at a distant outpost, warned the gar- rison that the conflict was about to commence. In a few min- utes the report of fire-arms and the war-cry of several hundred savages broke in wild and loud peals upon the stillness of the night; and the vivid flashes that incessantly came from the surrounding forest, glared through the darkness like sheets of electric fluid. The scouts and sentinels were driven within the stockade, and took their posts among the defenders.
"Now, my brave friends," said the elder Harris, to those who were stationed with him in one of the blockhouses, " stand fast for your homes and all that makes them dear to you. Reserve your fire until the foe is within good point-blank dis- tance, and let each bullet give a good account of its errand."
The word was passed rapidly through the fort, until it came to the post which young Harris superintended.
"Prime well, my lads," he said, " and pick your flints, so that your pieces shall not hang fire. When you see the flash of their rifles at fifty yards distance, give them a volley. Remem- ber what we fight for, and let us fight like men."
The assailants rushed forward with eagerness, to obtain the easy triumph they so fondly anticipated. Peal on peal of their rifles and their shrill war-whoops resounded through the woods, and were echoed back by the rocks and hills. They approached the palisades which formed the external defence of the garrison, and attempted to tear them away, or leap over them, to gain nearer access to their devoted prey. They were met by a reg- ular and general discharge from the rifles of the besieged, which, as it was entirely unexpected, created surprise among them, and for a few moments arrested their advance.
One terrific and shrill yell arose from the living mass that crowded before the stockade, indicating the astonishment which the resistance of the defenders occasioned. The compact body of the invaders, who had thus incautiously exposed themselves to the bullets of the besieged, was instantly broken ; and each of the assailants betook himself to the shelter of a tree, from
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which he could more securely continue the assault. But again, after the interval of a few seconds, the powerful voice of one of their leaders was heard, giving orders to renew the attack ; and the entire force of the enemy, extended so as nearly to surround the works, dashed onward, and were endeavoring to surmount or remove the pickets, when another united and effective volley compelled them to recoil. Their yells and shouts now became louder and more furious. Their thirst for blood had been inflamed by the shame of a momentary. dis- comfiture. The orders of their chiefs became more audible and distinct as the combat thickened ; and mingled reproaches on the timid, with encouragement for the more resolute, were heard rolling in deep and sullen mutterings among the scattered and disconcerted enemy. The onsets were renewed in frequent and quick succession ; the savages, impelled by their native ferocity and the instigations of their leaders, making desperate efforts to leap over or remove the palisades, and always driven back by the well-timed, steady fire of the besieged, aimed in the direction indicated by the shouts of the assailants or the flashes of their rifles. The conflict grew every moment more fierce and terrible; the yells, shrill and deep-toned, of the Indians uniting with the loud and mutual exhortations of the men within the lines, and the irregular discharges of rifles from both sides. A few of the assailants, led on by Purdy, after a furious struggle, succeeded in entering the stockade ; and the combat was sustained for a considerable time hand to hand, with desperate effect.
A large barn within the fortified enclosure was occupied by a party of the whites, whose repeated and deliberate fire was delivered with deadly effect : the attempts of the savages to dislodge them were often renewed, but without success. At length, Purdy, seizing a burning torch which one of his band held, darted forward, followed by several Indians, and entered the building. The fight within and around it was maintained man to man ; and the knife and tomahawk were substituted for the rifle, which was less effective in the closeness of the mêlée.
Purdy, making his way to the upper part of the building, applied the torch to the thatch-roof; and in a few minutes a
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column of flame burst into the air, casting through the dark- ness a vivid light, which extended far over the surrounding forest, and brought into distinct view the scene of battle that raged in and near the fort. The incendiary himself was seen rising from the midst of the smoke and flames that ascended from the top of the building, his long hair fluttering in the breeze, his face begrimed with blood, waving his ensanguined tomahawk above his head, with features convulsed by the tempest of his passions, his demoniac yell betraying at once the deep malignity of his soul, and the joy he felt from his triumphant achievement.
"Down with the traitor !" vociferated Peters, when he beheld the fiend-like apparition. "Down with him ! Now, my boys, take a sure sight. Give the Devil a few leaden pills to put him to sleep, and then honest people may have a chance to die in their beds."
In an instant he was the mark for a dozen bullets ; and he disappeared within the burning pile, now rapidly yielding to the fury of the conflagration. It was supposed that the charge had taken effect; and Peters exultingly cried, " Huzza, my heroes ! we've done for the bloody villain. Load and prime, and let us send his red imps to keep him company." Purdy had, however, escaped the peril, and, emerging for an instant from' the flaming roof, uttered a demoniac yell, shook his tomahawk in defiance at his enemies, and then sped from the building, which the next moment fell to the ground.
As the burning mass crashed and roared in its fall, a dazzling sheet of flame suddenly flashed upwards, and then all was lost in profound darkness, except when a faint and unsteady light was thrown off from smouldering embers that marked the place of the recent conflagration. The enemy still persevered in their efforts to gain possession of the little fortress, but it was bravely and successfully defended against an infuriated and a superior force.
Day dawned, and the cheerful beams of an unclouded sun lit up with unusual splendor the romantic prospect of forest, rock, and stream, that lay around the scene of sanguinary warfare.
The assailants, discouraged by their repeated repulses, made
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a precipitate retreat. They had fallen back but a short dis- tance, when Guyasutha, with a small body of friendly Indians under his order, rose from their ambuscade, and, shouting their fierce battle-cry, fell upon them in their disorder, and while they were unsuspicious of an enemy lurking in their rear. The rout rendered by this unexpected attack proved fatal, and was completed by a chosen party from the garrison, who, on hearing the battle-cry of Guyasutha and his chosen band of warriors, hastened to their aid, thus placing the retiring foe between two fires, who, becoming panic-stricken, broke, and sought safety in flight, from a force, which, had they remained unbroken, they might have overwhelmed by their superior num- bers. The sortie was led by Philip Harris, and Tom Peters was one of the most eager in the pursuit. Purdy was seen in the midst of his savage allies, brandishing his bloody toma- hawk ; and his strong, sonorous voice was distinguished clear above the clamor and general commotion, calling upon them to arrest their flight, to renew the combat, and to wreak ven- geance on their mutual foes. His efforts, however, to stay the living tide that was ebbing in impetuous torrent, were unavail- ing. He was left almost alone by his dismayed and flying associates.
The sallying party led by Philip Harris were close upon him, and the intrepid warriors led by Guyasutha were pressing rap- idly towards him. Finding all his efforts to rally his disorgan- ized force ineffectual, he stood for a moment, attended by a few of the most resolute of his band, like a lion encircled by the hunters, raving with the wildness of a maniac, and impre- cating curses, both on his foes and those who had pusillani- mously deserted him in his utmost need. Death or prompt flight were the only alternatives left him ; and even his fero- cious and daring spirit did not, in this extremity, restrain him from adopting the latter discretionary measure. He therefore sought safety by flight, with a speed unequalled by the fleetest of his savage allies, which promised him an escape from all his pursuers. But these were all as brave as himself, and several of them were well qualified to compete with him in speed and lightness of foot. The pursuit was ardent, and continued
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unabated for some time, until several of those engaged in it became so weary, that they were compelled to relax their exer- tions, and lag behind their less exhausted comrades.
The long and vigorous chase had, after a winding and intri- cate course through dense forests, deep ravines and swamps, urged Purdy to a point on the Ohio, several hundred yards below the mouth of the creek. A gradual elevation of the ground, terminating in a considerable eminence, the side facing the stream, presents a bold, precipitous, and rocky bluff, at whose base rolls the river, which at this particular point is of more than its usual depth. This singular elevation presents toward the stream a rude and wild aspect. It was generally known by the specific appellatives of "The Rocks," " Rock Hill," and is now called " McKee's Rocks," from the name of the family who have owned and occupied the premises since the time of the grant to their ancestor, Alexander McKee, by Henry Bouquet, colonel commanding his Majesty the King of Great Britain's forces at Fort Pitt, in 1764. On the summit of this height is a level piece of ground,' on which may be traced the vestige of a rude fortification, evidently constructed at a very remote period, and which is covered with trees, of a size confirmatory of the opinion that the embankment from which they rise is of great antiquity.
Purdy, having exerted himself to the utmost of his speed, called into requisition all his ingenuity to baffle his implacable pursuers, and gain the margin of the river immediately above the rock bluff, with the intention, probably, of concealing him- self in one of the recesses, which, from his intimate knowledge of the locality, he knew existed in the rocks that at intervals formed a part of the river-bank. Hemmed in by his indefati- gable pursuers, and reduced to extremity of peril by their persevering efforts to overtake him, he was compelled to ascend the "rocks" on the southern side, and rely upon
I Within the circle of the earthworks is the burial-place of many of the families residing in the vicinity. South of this, immediately on the top of the rocky bluff, is one of those mysterious tumuli so frequently met with in the West, evidently the work of the ancient mound-builders. It is about twenty feet at the base, and about twelve feet high ; and on its summit grows an oak at least three feet in diameter, attesting its ancient origin.
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stratagem for the means of final escape. In his left hand he still retained his trusty rifle with a firm grasp, while his right was left free to aid him in clambering over any obstacles that might present themselves in his onward progress. Philip Harris, Tom Peters, and two or three more of those who had engaged in the pursuit, were all who were able to continue the chase, the others having dropped behind from weariness and inferiority of speed. Purdy, having gained the brow of the rocky declivity, anxiously cast his eye around, seeking for a place of shelter from his pursuers : failing to discover one, he had either to turn back upon his course, surrender himself a prisoner, or risk the descent of the rocky precipice. He determined at once to adopt the latter alternative.
Midway to the Ohio lay a beautiful island,' the lower ex- tremity of which was directly opposite to the point he had gained. He was a bold and expert swimmer, and had fre- quently, during his life of peril and vicissitude, been compelled to cross over some of the widest and most impetuous streams of the West. With a cautious but hasty movement, he com- menced the descent from the top of the precipice, holding on to bushes and roots of the trees that grew out of the inter- stices of the rocks : he reached the base of the bank just as his pursuers had arrived upon its summit. Dashing into the stream, which was now clear of ice, he buffeted the waves with "lusty sinews," and safely arrived at the foot of the island.
While crossing from the main-land to the island, he con- trived to keep his weapon above the surface of the water. The powder, therefore, retained its capacity of explosion un- diminished ; and the hand that held it was unaffected in its steadiness by the coldness of the element in which it had been immersed. The instant Purdy obtained a footing upon the firm ground, he cast his eye towards the fearful height which he had so lately descended, and perceived one of the
I Brunot's, in early times called Charteer, after Peter Chartier, a treacherous half-breed trader and French spy : it also bore the name of Alliquippa, after the celebrated Queen of the Delawares, who during her life resided at the mouth of the Youghiogheny. This island originally contained 136 acres, 21 perches, including a small island on the south side, now entirely washed away.
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pursuing party, making his way slowly down the precipitous cliff. It was one towards whom he retained a feeling of especial hostility, from the knowledge that he had been par- ticularly active and malignant in exciting against him the hatred and prejudices of the settlers by whom he had been proscribed. A vindictive smile of delight pervaded the coun- tenance of Purdy, as he now saw himself enabled to wreak his vengeance on at least one of his implacable and detested per- secutors. The distance between the spot where he stood and the point where his enemy was cautiously moving, was not greater than his trusty rifle had often carried a bullet, with unerring certainty, to the object of his aim. Springing behind a large tree that stood near, he drew a quick but deliberate and sure sight upon his victim, whom he observed, as soon as the discharge was made, to pause suddenly in his course, and place his hand on his right side. Immediately the wounded man relinquished his hold of the branch of the tree to which he had clung for support, reeled, fell, and, rolling rapidly down the rocks, was precipitated into the deep water at their foot, which whirled and plashed as it received the lifeless body, spread into successive rippling circles, and then became smooth and silent, as if its surface had not been disturbed. A loud and fiendish whoop sent forth by Purdy, attested the ferocity of the joy which he felt in having thus partially ap- peased his vindictive spirit by the sacrifice of a human victim : and, continuing his retreat along the northern shore of the island, he again plunged into the chilly waters of the Ohio, and swam to the main-land opposite, where he arrived in safety ; here he briefly paused, and, feeling that with two such indomitable foes as Harris and Peters on his track, it would be unsafe to remain in the neighborhood, fled precipitately. When next heard from, he had joined a tribe of savages far to the West, whose warriors he often led on the warpath, and dyed his knife and tomahawk in the blood of the defenceless settlers on the frontier borders ; and where, it is said, from his vindictive spirit and overbearing manners, he became em- broiled in a quarrel with one of the chiefs, resulting in the fate he so often meted out to others, - a bloody death.
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PONTIAC'S PLOT.
PONTIAC'S PLOT. - THE GREAT INDIAN UPRISING OF 1763.
A PAPER read by Judge Parke at the celebration of the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the battle of Bushy Run, Penn., Aug. 6, 1883.
We have been called together this day to celebrate one of the most important and interesting events connected with the history of our country. On this spot, sacred to the memory of the past, one hundred and twenty years ago the gallant and accomplished Col. Henry Bouquet, with his heroic little band of Highlanders and Anglo-Americans, having passed the rugged and dangerous defiles of the Allegheny, arrived at Bushy Run, Aug. 5, 1763.
The description of the prominent events connected with Bouquet's expedition, and the subsequent development into permanent settlements, the knowledge of which is of the highest importance in perpetuating the fame of these gallant men, who left the confines of civilization to brave the dangers of an unknown country, -I will leave to others more com- petent to do justice to the subjects.
The imagination fails to conceive incidents more romantic than those which sober truth reveals in the career of the men who penetrated the Western wilds in order to create new homes for themselves and families, impelled by those power- ful motives of human action, -ambition and a love of liberty.
In the career of many of the early adventurers, we see these passions overruling all others. These men stand out in bold relief as grand heroes worthy of a representation in the annals of the country. In the delineation of their deeds, and of those
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who follow after them, who occupied what they had won, faith, courage, and indomitable perseverance are prominent features in the picture. These were the necessary elements of success in the wide and dangerous fields of adventure, and were ever present in great abundance, when required in laying the foun- dation of their future homes.
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