USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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Leaving Colonel Hugh Mercer with about two hundred men in a small fort hastily thrown up near the ruins of the French stronghold, Forbes, with the rest of the army, set out on their return to Philadelphia. During the winter and early spring the French concentrated forces at Fort Machault, at the mouth of French Creek, with a view of returning and retaking Fort Duquesne, but the attack on Fort Niagara caused them to abandon that idea, and hasten to the relief of that post, which, however, fell on the 5th of August. Quebec fell with the death of Montcalm, September 14th of the same year; and with the capitulation of Montreal September 8, 1760, all the possessions of the French east of the Mississippi fell into the hands of the English, and the star of France sank below the horizon never to rise in the Valley of the Ohio.
It is needless to speculate on what the consequences would have been if the French arms had triumphed west of the Alleghany Mountains. Differ- ent persons will be influenced in forming their opinions by their racial, national, religious or other bias. But it was in the nature of things that the Saxon race should obtain the mastery, both on account of the mistaken colonization policy of the French, who, although a thrifty people at home, are not so successful as their rivals across the channel in planting colonies abroad. Besides, the
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mouth of the St. Lawrence and that of the Mississippi are too far distant from the interior for ready communication and the transmission of supplies. The Appalachian Mountain ranges presented a barrier to the English, but this had its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Communication could always be had between the frontier settlements and the seaboard in a few days, and the colonies were obliged to strengthen themselves and become firmly grounded in the East before attempting to form settlements beyond the "Alleghany Hills." The progress of the English was natural; that of the French was not.
CHAPTER III.
ORIGIN OF BOUNDARY DISPUTES-MASON AND DIXON'S LINE-VIRGINIA AND PENN- SYLVANIA CHARTERS-FORT PITT DISMANTLED-VIRGINIA TAKES POSSESSION OF IT-TROUBLE AT PITTSBURG IN CONSEQUENCE-DR. JOHN CONNOLLY- EFFORTS TO SETTLE THE DISPUTE INEFFECTUAL-TRADERS RESOLVE TO BUILD A TOWN ON THE MANOR OF KITTANNING-COUNTER PROCLAMATIONS- FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT A SETTLEMENT- EXTENSION OF MASON AND DIXON'S LINE-RUNNING OF WESTERN BOUNDARY LINE-CONCLUSION OF DISPUTE.
Reference has more than once been made in previous chapters to a difference of opinion which long existed between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia regarding the boundary line which separated them, each claim- ing a large portion of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The purpose of the present chapter shall be to inquire into the cause, the consequences and the final settlement of this dispute.
It cannot be regarded as a matter of surprise that controversies should have arisen between adjoining colonies respecting the lines by which they should be divided. There were several very good reasons for them. The imperfect knowledge of the geography of the country when the first charters or grants were issucd, and the consequent indefiniteness of the terms in which they were couched; the desire of those who asked for charters to have them as ample as possible, which may have caused them at times to impose on the imperfect knowledge of the territory possessed by the rulers; the disposition to interpret the charters, when obtained, in the most liberal sense; and the importance attached to priority of occupation, will suffice to account for all the controversies found in our early history. With a more perfect knowledge of the geography of nations, there are in our own day controversies of the same kind in Africa, South America and Alaska. No boundary disputes in the United States were more important than those between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the same colony and Virginia; and the former from the influ- ence it exerted on the latter will be briefly referred to.
In sketching the running of Mason and Dixon's line it will not be necessary to enter into the details of the long and animated dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland respecting their boundaries; suffice it to say that, after much contending, the proprietaries of the two colonies, when in London together, in the year 1763, agreed to employ Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two mathematicians and surveyors, to run the dividing line between the colonies. They arrived in Philadelphia before the end of the year, received their instructions, and proceeded to the work assigned them. After consid- erable preliminary surveying, they fixed the southern boundary of Pennsyl- vania at 39° 43' 18"-now more exactly calculated to be 39° 43' 26.3". In the years 1766-67 they extended the line west to the distance of a little more than 244 miles from the Delaware River; but when they reached that point the Indians would not allow them to proceed further. The line was marked for the distance of 132 miles by stones set up at the end of every two miles,
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every fifth stone having on its northern face the arms of Thomas and Richard Penn, and on its southern face those of Lord Baltimore. These stones were imported from England. To return to the subject of this chapter.
After several ineffectual attempts to colonize Virginia, James I, in 1609, granted to a London company, by royal charter, a tract of country extending 200 miles to the north and as many to the south of Old Point Comfort; and in 1681 Charles II granted to William Penn, by a similar charter, a terri- tory reaching from "the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude the said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the eastern boundary," the Delaware River. The dispute embraced two points: The southern and the western boundary lines. Had Virginia secured the territory as far north as her charter called for, it would not have taken in the forks of the Ohio; but her governors claimed that the five degrees west of the Delaware, granted to William Penn, did not extend further west than the Laurel Ridge, or the summit of the most western spur of the Alleghany Mountains, and that all the lands lying beyond that line belonged to Virginia. So long as the country west of the mountains remained unsettled, the question of territorial boundaries attracted little attention; but when it became necessary to defend the country against the encroachments of the French, and secure the forks of the Ohio, the strategic point, it pre- scnted itself for solution, and the more so as the Governor of Virginia took the initiative in securing information regarding the intentions of the French and the strength of their armament, and in fortifying the point at the forks. The operations of the Ohio Land Company do not appear to have elicited a protest from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, although much of their grant was within the limits claimed by the Penns. Correspondence now began to be exchanged between the governors of the two colonies, but the unex- pected arrival of the French at the forks, and the necessity of uniting all the forces of the colonies to oppose them, forced the question into the back- ground, where it remained till after Pontiac's war. With the return of a sense of security, and the commencement of settlements west of the Monongahela, it again made its appearance. The territory had not as yet been purchased from the Indians, and they complained so loudly of the encroachments of the whites, that the King required the governors of the two colonies to compel them to retire to lands which had been purchased. But they paid so little heed to all authorities that nothing was left but to purchase the lands from the natives, which, as we have seen, was done by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in October, 1768. It now seemed necessary to bring the matter to a final settlement in order to give clear titles to the lands that might be purchased by settlers; yet time went on and nothing was done. So peaceable did the Indians appear that Major Edmonson, who commanded the garrison at Fort Pitt, received orders from the commander-in-chief in October, 1772, to dis- mantle the fort and withdraw his command. He did so, though not without · a protest from the settlers, who fcared, and with good reason, that the unprotected state of the frontier would encourage the Indians to a renewal of former hostilities. A more serious danger, if possible, soon menaced the incip- ient city. Unfortunately for the peace of the country, Virginia was at that time governed by a man who was more remarkable for his avarice than for his patriotism. This was Lord Dunmore, who was appointed Governor in 1771; and no sooner was he in possession of power than hc began to use it in taking up lands for himself. Says Mr. Bancroft: "No royal Governor showcd more rapacity in the use of official power than Lord Dunmore. He reluctantly left New York, where, during his short career,"-of less than a year and a half-"he acquired fifty thousand acres. . . . Upon entering upon
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the government of Virginia, his passion for land and fees outweighing the proclamation of the King and the reiterated and most positive instructions from the Secretary of State, he advocated the claims of the Colony in the West, and was himself a partner in two immense purchases of land from the Indians in Southern Illinois. The area of the ancient dominion expanded with his cupidity;" and we need not wonder that he looked with a wistful eye on the territory around the head of the Ohio. So great was the hatred the Virginians bore him, that Washington, who was not given to the utter- ance of extreme opinions, said in December, 1775: "Nothing less than depriv- ing him of life or liberty will secure peace to Virginia." Such was the man whose machinations, seconded by those of his pliant tool, Dr. John Connolly, were destined to bring upon Pittsburg and Southwestern Pennsylvania the last serious disturbance to which it was subjected; and at the same time to involve that territory and Western Virginia in what is known in history as Dunmore's War, which forced many of the settlers to withdraw to the east of the Monongahela, and seriously interfered with trade as well as with the growth and prosperity of Pittsburg.
The territory east and south of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, which, as we have seen, was purchased from the Indians in October, 1768, and which included the lands upon which Pittsburg stands, was annexed to Westmore- land County, which then embraced the entire southwestern part of the Colony. In the subdivisions of that county Pittsburg was included in Pitt Township, whose boundaries may be given as a sample of a frontier township. They are as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Kiskiminetas and running down the Allegheny River to its junction with the Monongahela, then down the Ohio to the western limits of the Province; thence by the western boundary south to the line of Springfield Township (which was a line drawn due west front Redstone Creek to the western limits of the Province); thence with that line to the mouth of Redstone Creek; thence down the Monongahela to the mouth of the Youghiogheny; thence with the line of Hempfield Township to the mouth of Brush Run, thence with the line of said town- ship to the place of beginning." From the extent of this township it is evident there were not then so many judges about Pittsburg to have town- ships named after them as there were later. A further discussion of the sub- divisons of this territory will fall more naturally under the head of the judiciary in this history, and will not, for that reason, he dwelt upon in this place.
It was stated above that soon after the evacuation of Fort Pitt, in the fall of 1772, it was occupied by Virginia forces sent by Lord Dunmore. Much of the following account of this important event, and the serious troubles it entailed, is taken from Mr. Craig's History of Pittsburg. Early in the year 1774, Dr. John Connolly, a Pennsylvanian by birth, but a strong partisall of Dunmore's, was sent by that nobleman with a force to take possession of Fort Pitt and the surrounding country. He issued a proclamation calling the militia together on the 25th of January; but for so doing he was arrested on a warrant issued by Arthur St. Clair, a magistrate of Westmoreland County, and committed to the jail at Hannahstown, which was then the seat of justice for all this country. He was soon released, however, by entering bail for his appearance; and he then went to Staunton and was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace of Augusta County, Virginia, in which, it was claimed, the country around Pittsburg was embraced. Toward the latter part of March he returned with both civil and military authority to put the laws of Virginia in force. About the 5th of April the court assembled at Hannahstown, and soon after Connolly, with about 150 men, all armed, and with colors flying, appeared and placed sentinels at the doors of the courthouse, who
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refused to admit the magistrates, unless with the consent of their commander. A meeting then took place between Connolly and the magistrates, in which the former stated that he had come there in fulfillment of his promise to the sheriff, but denied the authority of the court, and declared that the mag- istrates had no authority to hold court at all. In order to prevent confusion he agreed that the magistrates might hold court in all matters that were sub- mitted to them until he should receive instructions to the contrary. The com- promise, however, was of very short duration, for on the 8th of April the justices returned to Pittsburg, where most of them resided, and were the next day arrested by Connolly's orders. On the 19th, intelligence of their arrest reached Philadelphia, and on the 21st, at a meeting of the Council, it was determined to send two commissioners to Virginia to represent to the Gov- ernment there the ill consequences that might ensue if an immediate stop was not put to the disorders which then existed in the West, and to con- sult on the best terms for establishing peace and good order there. This was the first official step looking to an adjustment of the boundary dispute. James Tilgman and Andrew Allen were appointed with instructions, first, to request the Governor of Virginia to unite with the proprietaries of Penn- sylvania to petition His Majesty, in council, to appoint commissioners to run the boundary line, the expense to be equally borne by the two colonies; second, to use every exertion to induce the Governor to agree to some tem- porary line, but in no event to assent to any line which would give Vir- ginia jurisdiction of the country on the east side of the Monongahela River. The commissioners arrived in Williamsburg on the 19th of May, and on the 2Ist had an oral conference with the Governor, in which he expressed his willingness to join in an application to the King to appoint commissioners to settle the boundaries, but at the same time declared that Virginia would bear no part of the expenses. As to the temporary line, he desired the com- missioners to make their proposition in writing. In compliance with this they addressed him a letter on the 23d, containing the following propositions: "That a survey be taken by surveyors to be appointed by the two governments, with as much accuracy as may serve the present purpose, of the course of the Delaware, from the mouth of Christiana Creek, or near it, where Mason and Dixon's line intersects the Delaware, to that part of the river which is in the latitude of Fort Pitt, and as much further as may be needed for the present purpose. That the line of Mason and Dixon be extended to the distance of five degrees of latitude from the Delaware; and that from the end of said five degrees, a line or lines corresponding to the courses of the Delaware be run to the Ohio River, as nearly as may be at the distance of five degrees from the said river in every part. And that the extension of Mason and Dixon's line, and the line or lines corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, be taken as the line of jurisdiction, until the boundary can be run and settled by royal authority." Lord Dunmore, in his reply of May 24th, contended that the western boundary could not be "of such an inconvenient and difficult to be ascertained shape" as it would be if made to correspond to the courses of the Delaware; and in this he was certainly right. He thought that it should be a meridian line, at the distance of five degrees from the Delaware, in the forty-second degree of latitude. He further stated that unless the commissioners proposed some line that favorcd the Virginians as much as the Pennsylvanians, he saw that no accommodation could be entered into before the King's decision. The commissioners say, in their reply of the 26th, that for the purpose of producing harmony and peace, "we shall be willing to recede from our charter bounds so as to make the River Monongahela, from the line of Mason and Dixon, the western boundary of
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jurisdiction, which would at once settle our present dispute, without the great trouble and expense of running lines, or the inconvenience of keeping the jurisdiction in suspense."
On the same day Lord Dunmore replied in a characteristic and haughty manner, stating, among other things, that, "your resolution with respect to Fort Pitt puts an entire stop to further treaty;" and they, in their turn, answered, on the 27th, that, "the determination of His Lordship not to relinquish Fort Pitt puts a period to the treaty." Says Mr. Craig: "After a careful perusal of this correspondence, and an attentive consideration of Lord Dunmore's conduct in 1774 and 1775, the conclusion is forced upon the mind, that he was a very weak and arbitrary man, or else that the suspicion, then enter- tained, that he wished to promote ill will and hostility between the Penn- sylvanians and Virginians, as well as between the Indians and the whites, was well founded." These negotiations having failed, Connolly continued to domineer with a high hand at Fort Pitt; so much so that ÆEneus Mackay, a prominent person in the western part of the Province, wrote to Governor Penn: "The deplorable state of affairs in this part of your Government is truly distressing. We are robbed, insulted and dragooned by Connolly and his militia in this place and its environs."
The people were driven to the last extremity, and, though accustomed to take their own part, they had no court to which an appeal could be made, and were too weak to appeal to force of arms. The traders, especially upon whom the town of Pittsburg mainly depended, contemplated a number of plans for their relief. One of these was to raise a stockade around the town, which stood a little distance from Fort Pitt, on the banks of the Mononga- hela, and another was to build a town in the Manor of Kittanning, about four miles below Kittanning, where Ford City now stands, which they proposed to call Appleby. The town was never built, but active measures were taken looking to the building of it in the summer of 1774, as the following front the Colonial Records goes to show: At a council held at Philadelphia, on the 4th of August, 1774, "the Governor laid before the Board two letters which he received within these three days from Captain St. Clair, at Ligonier, dated the 22 and 26 of July, with certain papers enclosed relative to Indian and other affairs in Westmoreland, and the same being read and consid- ered, the Council advised the Governor to order a town to be immediately laid out in the Proprietary Manor at Kittanning, for the accommodation of the traders and other inhabitants of Pittsburg, who, by Captain St. Clair's advices, would be under the necessity of removing from that town on account of the oppressive proceedings of the Virginians." August 6th Governor Penn wrote to St. Clair: "I am now to acquaint you that I approve of the measure of laying out a town in the Proprietary Manor of Kittanning, to accommodate the traders and other inhabitants who may chuse to reside there; and there- fore enclose you an order for that purpose." On the 24th of August, 1774, while Richard Butler was conveying eight horseloads of dry goods for one James McFarlane to the site of the proposed new town, these goods, with two horseloads of flour and salt for the Pennsylvania troops, were seized by Connolly. The next day Arthur St. Clair wrote from Ligonier to Gov- ernor Penn: "I acquainted the Delawares with your orders for the erecting a trading place at the Kittanning, for which they were thankful, as they are in want of niany things already, and cannot come to Pittsburg to pur- chase, and a number of them will probably be there on Monday next, which is the time I have appointed for laying out the town." This fixes the date, August 29, 1774, as the day upon which the new town of Appleby, as it was to be named, was to be laid out. Such was the unhappy condition
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of affairs when Lord Dunmore, who was then in Pittsburg, issued the following proclamation, September 17, 1774:
"A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas, The rapid settlement made on the west side of the Alleghany Mountains by His Majesty's subjects within the course of these few years has become an object of real concern to His Majesty's interests in this quarter; and whereas, the Province of Pennsylvania have unduly laid claim to a very valuable and extensive quantity of His Majesty's territory, and the executive part of that Government, in consequence thereof, has most arbitrarily and unwarrantably proceeded to abuse the laudable advancements in the part of His Majesty's dominions by many oppressive and illegal methods in the dis- charge of this imaginary authority; and whereas, the ancient claim laid to this country by the Colony of Virginia, founded in reason, upon preoccu- pancy and the general acquiescence of all persons, together with the instruc- tions I have lately received from His Majesty's servants, ordering me to take this country under my administration, and as the evident injustice manifestly offered to His Majesty by the immediate strides taken by the proprietors of Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their wild claim to this country, demand an immediate remedy, I do hereby, in His Majesty's name, require and com- mand all His Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to this my proclamation, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the Province of Pennsylvania, at their peril, in this country; but, on the contrary, that a due regard and entire obedience to the laws of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, under my administration, be observed, to the end that regularity may ensue, and a just regard to the interest of His Majesty in this quarter, as well as to the subjects in general, may be the consequence. Given under my hand and seal at Fort Dunmore, September 7, 1774.
"DUNMORE."
The publication of this proclamation brought out the following counter proclamation from Governor Penn of Pennsylvania:
"A PROCLAMATION.
"Whercas, I have received information that His Excellency, the Earl of Dunmore, Governor-General in and over His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, hath lately issued a very extraordinary proclamation, setting forth (here is recited the substance of Lord Dunmore's proclamation); and whereas, although the western limits of the Province of Pennsylvania have not been settled by any authority from the Crown, yet it has been sufficiently demonstrated by lines accurately run by the most skilled artists, that not only a great tract of country west of the Laurel Hill, but Fort Pitt also, are comprehended within the charter bounds of this Province, a great part of which country . has been actually settled, and is now held under grants from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the jurisdiction of this Government has been peaceably exercised in that quarter of the country till the late strange claim set up by the Earl of Dunmore, in behalf of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, founded, as His Lordship is above pleased to say, in reason, preoccupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons; . . in justice, therefore, to the pro- prietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, who are only desirous to secure their own undoubted property from the encroachments of others, I have thought fit, with the advice of the Council, to issue this, my proclamation, hereby requiring all persons west of the Laurel Hill to retain their settle- ments as aforesaid made under this Province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this Government; and all magistrates and other officers who
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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 shall be known in the premises, at the same time strictly charging and enjoining the inhabitants and magis- trates to use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order. Given under my hand and the great seal of the said Province, at Philadelphia, the- twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, and so forth.
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