USA > Pennsylvania > York County > The Historical Sketch, and Account of the Centennial Celebration at York, PA., July 4, 1876. > Part 5
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There is one noted instance of resistance to the ex cise tax in York county previous to this combination. In 1786, a citizen of Manchester township, having refus- ed payment of his tax, the constable distrained a do- mestic animal of his and brought it to York. On the day of sale a company of one hundred men marched from the township to attempt a rescue. They were met by citizens of York and an affray occurred, which was sufficient to alarm one of the justices, who it is rela- ted, holding to a corner with both hands exclaimed "I command thee in my name to keep peace." These insurgents were soon dispersed by some of the brav- er men who assembled to maintain the authority of the law, among whom were Henry Miller, Jol:n Hay and others.
The first act of the nineteenth century affecting
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Adams the county of York was the erection of Adams County. county, on the 22nd of January, in the year 1800, taking off an area of 337,920 acres, and about I 2,000 people, still leaving York county with fair pro- portions, with 589,440 acres, 921 square miles, and about 25,000 inhabitants. This separation is represent- ed by contemporary chronicles to have been the result of a prolonged and bitter contest with the western section of the county, commencing in the days of Richard McAlister and Hans Hamilton. The name of Adams at that period in our history, shows the po- litical predilections of the separatists.
The people of the county of York have always been thoroughly a part of the American people-subject to the same party excitements from the days of Adams and Jefferson to those of Hayes and Tilden. Taking their part in the great political contests; and also their full part and share in the glory of the wars of the Republic.
A war with Great Britain broke out in June, 1812, War of resulting in great glory to the American arms, 1812. on sea and land. Such as the celebrated na- val battles of the Constitution and Guerriere and of Lake Erie, on the water, and of Fort George, Lundy's Lane, North Point and New Orleans, on land.
A flag borne in the battle of Lake Erie is now in the possession of the widow of Commodore Elliott, residing in this borough. Elliott commanded the U. S. Frigate Niagara, in that brilliant engagement, and for his gallant conduct was voted a gold medal by
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congress. It was from the Lawrence to the Niagara, that the celebrated transfer of the flag, inscribed "Don't give up the ship," by Commodore Oli. er Haz- ard Perry, in the heat of the engagement, took place. Commodore Elliott subsequently commanded the far famed frigate Constitution.
The war of 1812 was opposed by the Federalists, but York County was Republican. The capture of Washington city, on the 25h of August, 1814, by Gen eral Ross, and the burning of the capitol, the president's house and other public buildings, caused the oppo- nents of the war to exult, but roused the patriots. When General Ross undertook the expedition against Baltimore, which he boasted he would make "his winter "quarters," and also that "with his command he could march where he pleased in Maryland," word came here of the danger to that city, and several companies were raised, ready to march to its defence.
James Madison, the President of the United States, had issued a proclamation calling on the militia of the several states, and Simon Snyder, the Governor of Pennsylvania, had issued his order on the 26th of August, 1814, to have marched to Yorktown, in the county of York, the place of rendezvous, five thou- sand men, Pennsylvania militia, on the 5th of Sep tember, under the command of General William Winder. A large portion of these troops marched here and occupied the commons, awaiting orders.
In the meantime, however, "The York Volunteers," nearly one hundred strong, composed principally of young men, "the flower of the county," commanded
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by Captain Michael H. Spangler, of the Borough of York, had already marched on the 29th of August, 1814, to Baltimore, provisioned by the citizens of the Borough. They were well disciplined and presented a fine appearance, and were attached to the fifth Maryland regiment. They marched with it to North Point, and fought with great gallantry in the battle of the 12th of September, where the enemy were repuls- ed, and General Ross was killed. The York volun- teers received the thanks and commendations of the commanding General Stricker, and of the officers of the fifth Maryland regiment. Grafton Duvall and Henry Sleeger are the only survivors of this company.
Two companies marched out of Hanover for Bal- timore, in September, and were attached to a Mary- land regiment participating in the battle of North Point-of one Frederick Metzgar was captain, John Immell, Ist lieutenant, of the other, John Bair, captain and Henry Wirt, Ist lieutenant. These companies contained fifty to sixty men.
Some years elapsed before any events of a nation- The al character transpired, but there were some
Flood of of local interest and importance. York has 1817. had its share of casualties by flood and fire, all of which have been duly chronicled. It is scarce- ly within the province of this sketch to take note of these, but one instance has become a part of history. A writer of the last century in describing a storm says: "It was one of those tempests which occur once in several centuries, and which by their extensive devas- tations, are chronicled to eternity ; for a storm that
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signalizes its course with extraordinary destruction, becomes as worthy of celebration as a hero for the same reason." So there has been recor ded a great flood of the Codorus, in August, 1817. The rain had lasted but a few hours, from about two o'clock of the preceding night until about midday following. The water of the stream rose to an unusual height. The Spring Forge dam broke and others followed. The foaming, roaring torrent rolled through the streets of York like a mighty river, from a quarter to half a mile wide, and deep enough to float a man of war, carrying ruin and destruction in its mad course .- Houses were carried off and many lives were lost. Few communities have ever suffered to such a de- gree in the loss of life and property as that caused by the memorable flood of 1817.
Storms of hail and snow, fires and riots, disturban- ces of the elements and by human commotions have been faithfully recorded as they occurred. It may be well here to mention the names of two citizens to whom we are indebted for such records, and whose memoranda and sketches should be preserved. Ja- cob Lehman, now deceased, and Lewis Miller, still living, to both of whom, we are indebted for incidents within their own time, as well as traditions noted down by them.
The rage of one of the destructive elements is of Fire constant occurrence. To stay its ravages, Companies. organizations were early formed in York. The first volunteer fire companies were bucket com- panies. The means of extinguishing fires was by ar-
,
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ranging in two lines the people, and passing the fire buckets full up one line and empty down the other.
"The Sun Fire Company of Yorktown," was or- ganized on the 3rd of April, 1772, for "the better pre- serving our own and fellow townsman's Houses, Goods and Effects from Fire." Each member was to supply "at his own proper expense, one Leathern Bucket, one Bag and one convenient Basket." One part of their duty was to save property and carry it in their bags and baskets to a place of safety and de- tail one of their members to watch it. Any member who failed to bring bucket, bag or basket on the oc- casion of a fire was fined one shilling. Among the members we find the familiar names of Henry Miller, John Hay, Michael Doudel, Baltzer Spangler and others. There was also a fire company in existence about the same time called the "Hand in Hand." Idle persons were not allowed about a fire; a com- mittee, appointed for the purpose, put all such in a row to pass buckets. There was what was called a "water engine" in York as early as August, 1772, and a house was built for it in 1773. Afterwards we hear of a fire engine with a side lever gallery, sup- plied by means of buckets as hose was then unknown. The account of a great fire in 1797, taken from the "Pennsylvania Herald" of that date, mentions the fire engine, which "some by incessant labor
kept in continual exercise." The ladies and chil . dren always assisted in the supplying of water, taking their places in the lines and passing the buckets.
The Laurel Fire company has a record of its or-
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ganization, on the 13th of February, 1790, and Hen- ry Miller was its first president. Each member fur- nished his own bucket, on which was painted his name, with the design of a hand grasping a laurel wreath. The additional implements of hooks and ladders were also provided. It is alleged that a fire company cal- led the Union, was organized previous to 1790, and on the 11th of December, 1816, changed its name to the York Vigilant Fire Company ; but it is said that the records of this company were swept away by the flood of 1817. These organizations with those since formed, namely, the Union, on the 21st day of May, 1855, and the Rescue, May, 1873, have given York an efficient fire department, which has been supplied with all the improvements in that branch of service. The steamers now in use, con- trast strongly the progress in manufactures and sci- ence, at the present day, with the primitive means of extinguishing fires.
A supply of water to a community as large as
York York, for the purpose just mentioned, as well Water as for the domestic use of the inhabitants, Company. would naturally be a subject of concern. The York water company was organized, and a charter was approved February 8, 1816. The first supply of water to the public, by means of hydrants, was in the following year. The first reservoir was of small ca- pacity, supplied altogether by springs from Erwin's farm; the right having been purchased by the com- pany. The engine and water works to obtain sup- plies from the Codorus, were erected in 1850, and in
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1852 the present large reservoir was constructed.
One other local matter may be mentioned here. The For the purpose of establishing banking in- York Bank. stitutions, the legislature by the act of March 21, 1814, divided the state into districts. The coun- ty of York was made one, and authorized to establish a bank, to be called the York Bank, which soon after went into operation. It was the only bank until 1850, when the York County Bank was chartered. There are now five National Banks, a Dime Savings Insti- tution, and the Banking House of Weiser, Son & Carl, to accommodate the financial wants of our peo- ple.
Early in the year 1825, an event occurred which Visit of revived the patriotic feelings of the American LaFayette. people and thrilled them with emotions of gratitude. It was the visit of LaFayette to this coun- try and the scenes of his youthful heroism in behalf of liberty. On Saturday, the 29th of January, 1825, at 9 o'clock, in the evening, he arrived in York and passed on to Harrisburg. He returned on Wednesday, the 2nd of February, and "our people were gratified with an opportunity of giving to their early friend and pro- tector a reception, of pouring forth overflowing hearts of gratitude and welcome to him whose name is a pass- port to the heart of every American." He arrived at 4 o'clock at the first turnpike gate, where he was met by the military and citizens. The general ascended a ba- rouche drawn by gray horses, and the procession en- tered the town, which was brilliantly illuminated and all the bells ringing, moved up George street to the
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court house, and through the principal streets of the town to his place of lodging at McGrath's hotel. A dinner was there given to him at which one hundred gentlemen sat down. To the following toast he responded :
La Fayette-we love him as a man-hail him as a deliverer, revere him as a champion of Freedom, and welcome him as a guest.
To which he gave:
The town of York-the seat of the American union in our most gloomy times-May its citizens enjoy in the same proportion their share of American prosperity.
He reviewed the military of the town the next day, Military and then left for Baltimore. The military
of York. companies at that time were, Captain Nes' Artillery, Captains Small, Barnitz, Frysinger and Stuck's Infantry, and Captain Smith's Rifle.
The Americans generally are a military people, and ever ready to obey the maxim of Washington : "In time of peace prepare for war." The militia of Pennsylvania have always been the subject of appro- priate legislation, and the militia of York county were well organized in brigades, regiments and battalions, with field and commissioned officers of every grade. In order to keep up a martial spirit and teach disci- pline, the legislature, by the act of July 11th, 1822, required the militia to be trained and paraded in com- panies, on the first Monday of May, and in battalions on the second Monday of May, called the muster and battalion days. It did not matter at the muster what.
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arms were brought to the field, whether the broom- stick, or the cornstalk, or a combination of either with small fire arms, or the genuine musket. This militia training was continued, to the delectation of the ex- empt and of urchins, until it was abolished by law in 1842.
In the meantime the true military spirit of some citizens induced the organization of companies, uni- formed, armed and equipped, who would have resent- ed the term militia, if applied to them. These were thoroughly exercised in the manual of arms and reg- imental maneuvres; not only exciting admiration, but constituting that great home growth of military power which made the American volunteer so efficient in war. The companies above named indicate the mil- itary spirit of York.
The year following the visit of La Fayette was the semi-centennial anniversary of American independ- ence, and the 4th of July, 1826, was celebrated by a memorable military and civic demonstration; its en- thusiasm inspired by that visit, as well as by the at- tainment of fifty years of independence to the nation, and the yet recent results to the national glory in what was then called the late war, wherein our sol- diers were matched with veterans of European wars. The oration on the occasion was delivered by Hon. Charles A. Barnitz.
There were men of enterprising, as well as martial Codorus spirit, in those days, and by them a charter Navigation. was procured. on the 12th of April, 1825, for a slack water navigation company, which utilized the
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river that runs through our town and county. The Co- dorus Navigation went into operation in 1833, and was in its day a great triumph of private enterprise. Im- mense arks of lumber and coal and grain floated on its bosom from the Susquehanna to the doors of our cit- izens. One must have lived in those days to fully ap- preciate its success. That work was abandoned nearly twenty years ago, long since superseded by the mighty transportation power of the railway and locomotive. Still as one wanders along the banks of the romantic Codorus, and views the yet open canal, here and there, now put to other uses, it brings to mind the energy that surmounted the obstacles of nature, ere the appliance of those powers in nature herself came into use to aid the feeble arm of man, and above all causes us to admire the enterprise that would bring, away from the main channels of commerce, for the benefit of our own people, articles of merchandise otherwise obtained with much difficulty and cost.
Mechanical progress was not unknown here. The Phineas railroad had been heard of and the power of Davis. steam was known. In these centennial times itis nosmall source of congratulation that the first loco- motive built in America, and now on exhibition at the great exposition at Philadelphia, in front of the Mary- land Building, was built at York, by a Yorker, in 1829. It was constructed by Phineas Davis, who lived here and married here, and citizens are living now who knew him and the fact of the building by him of his locomotive engine. This locomotive was first run upon the Baltimore and Susquehanna
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railroad. John Elger constructed about the same time an iron boat, the first of the kind, which, after successful experiment on the Codorus and Susque- hanna, was purchased and used abroad.
Enterprise in the matter of railroads has been from the first a marked feature in the progress of our community. Early in the era of the introduction of railroads in this country, communication took place between York and Baltimore, by means of the Balti- more and Susquehanna and the York and Maryland Line railroads. The first regular train of cars arriv- ed in York from Baltimore, on Thursday, the 23d of August, 1838. Thus opening a means of communi- cation, business and social, with a large city, to the great advantage of our people.
The relations between the people of Baltimore and York have been always of a most friendly character, and especially so after the defence of Baltimore in 1814. As soon as the facilities of the railroad were afforded, constant interchange of courtesies took place between the citizen soldiers of the two places, so marked for many years as to deserve especial mention. The 12th of September, the anniversary of the battle of North Point, as well as our national birth day, was celebrated with mutual rejoicings.
During the year 1839, the York military paid a vis- it to Baltimore, which was returned by the Independ- ent Blues of that city, on the 4th of July, in the same year. The Baltimoreans considered themselves treated with so much kindness, attention and hospi- tality by the citizens of York, that they were prompt-
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ed to make some acknowledgement ; and, on the 31 st of August, 1839, the Independent Blues presented a splendid U. S. flag to the volunteer companies of York. That beautiful flag is now in the possession of General George Hay, and is at this moment sus- pended in front of his residence, almost in view of this assemblage. The material of the flag is of the finest silk ; the head of the staff is a spear of massive silver, elegantly chased, with two silver tassels. On the head is the following inscription :
"Presented by the Independent Blues to the York Volunteers, August, 1839, as a mark of esteem for the unbounded hospitality extended to them during their visit, July 4, 1839."
It was presented on the 31st of August in front of the White Hall hotel, in the presence of the military and a concourse of citizens, by a committee of the "Blues," and accepted on behalf of the soldiers by Hon. Charles A. Barnitz. The companies in York, at that time, were the Washington Artillerists, Cap- tain Upp, the Washington Blues, Captain Barnitz, the York Pa. Rifles, Captain Hay, and a company of horse, the Washington Troop, Captain Garretson .- The admirable bearing and drill of which companies many here present so well remember.
The following year, 1840, was characterized throughout the Union, by one ot those seasons of in- tense political excitement, which has become mem- orable. The presidential campaign, as it was cal- led, was carried on with singular ardor and vivacity; with its log cabins, and hard cider, hickory poles and
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immense processions. A plan of electioneering was then introduced which has now ceased. The times were hard and the country was flooded with paper money. Institutions of all kinds and individuals is- sued their shinplasters, wages were low, and as two dollars a day and roast beef were promised to all la- boring men, a revolution in political affairs followed as a matter of course. The minds of the people were absorbed in politics, and yet scarcely any of the ques- tions were of sufficient importance to agitate the peo- ple, and could have been readily settled but for the absurdity of making them party issues. The celebra- ted writer, De Toqueville, who visited this country about that time, speaks with surprise of the puerile subjects that agitated the public mind of America and excited such angry and bitter discussion in her legis- lative halls. He could not understand how such questions, as the rechartering of a national bank, and of the higher or lower rate of duties on articles of importation, could so engross the public attention and mould themselves into the very being of the fed-
eral government. Questions which a few statesmen who have studied political economy, could settle with benefit to the government and the people, by a prop- er observance of the laws of trade, which should gov- ern and not be controlled by legislation. So absorb- ed was the press of the country at that time, so full of tirades and party zeal, that. very little attention was paid to real news or to the interests of literature.
The newswapers in York then were the Republi-
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Newspapers can, the Gazette, (English and German,) and
the Press. The Republican had been pub- lished under that name since 1830, succeeding a pa- per published from the same office called the York Recorder, commenced in 1800, which had succeeded by a change of name to the Pennsylvania Herald, the first number of which was issued in 1789. The York Gazette was first published in 1815, and the German Gazette was first published in 1821. The first num- ber of the Democratic Press was issued in June, 1838. Since these there have been issued the York Penn- sylvanian on July 19, 1851, and the True Democrat in June, 1864. . These are the weekly newspapers in the Borough, at the present time, and with the other papers in the county, the Hanover Gazette, (German) and Spectator and Citizen, and Herald, the Wrights- ville Star and Glen Rock Item, Dillsburg Era, and two dailies in the borough, present as fair an exhibition of newspaper enterprise and editorial ability as can be found in any community. The York Daily was first issued on the 7th day of February, 1871, and has been continued since then with so much success, at least to the public, as to have become a daily want. The Even- ing Dispatch was first issued on the 29th day of May, 1876, and promises to bea successful enterprise. There was a daily paper issued during the war, called the York Recorder, and was regularly published from the 17th of June, 1861, to the 20th of August, 1861.
A list of the newspapers and periodicals, for they were many, published at various times in the Bor- . ough and County, would be interesting, but it is suffi-
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cient for this sketch to refer to a few publications in order to show the literary efforts of our people.
A monthly periodical called the Village Museum was of a high literary character, and in its original essays and selections would have done credit to any place. It was published first in the month of August, 1819, by P. Hardt, then editor of the York Recorder, and continued for four years.
The Theological Seminary, founded by the Synod of the German Reformed Church, was removed here in 1828. The principal professor of that institution, Rev. Lewis Mayer, D. D. edited a church magazine, distinguished for its ability. This seminary was re- moved to Mercersburg where it became famous for its theology, and is now a part of Franklin and Mar- shall College, at Lancaster,
In the year 1830, a publication called the Harbin- ger, was printed and edited by William O. Smith, at Shrewsbury, (a borough that had grown up within the township of that name,) for about three years, when it was removed to York, where it continued for some years.
To return to politics we find that in the years 1840 New and 1841, as well as for some time previous, Court
House. there was much party excitement at home, about local affairs. The erection of the new court house at a cost of upwards of one hundred thousand dollars was a subject of much animadversion towards the custodians of the public treasury at that time. But that great work went steadily on to completion, and on Monday the 26th day of August, 1841, (the
THE NEW COURT HOUSE.
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August Term,) was opened for the sitting of the court. It is a substantial and handsome structure to have been erected in that day, sufficient in both particu- lars, with slight enlargement which can be easily done, to continue permanently for the purposes for which it was erected. The steeple was put on the court house in 1847.
An incident that may be noticed in the year 1841 General was the removal of the remains of President Harrison. Harrison, passing through York on the way to North Bend, under a large escort of military from Washington and Baltimore. The citizens of York manifested deep feeling on the occasion. The mili- tary and civic associations of all kinds joined the passing escort, the entire pageant was one of the most solemn character and is strongly impressed upon the minds of all who participated in it, on ac- count of the occasion itself, as well as the apprehend- ed momentous political results of the untimely de- cease of the new president who held his office but one short month.
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