The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII, Part 11

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 438

USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII > Part 11

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).

The ceremony of depositing the box was performed by Mr. S. Carey, another aged veteran who was in the battle. He was assisted by Judge Scott, who had been selected for that purpose, and who delivered a short and interesting extemporaneous address. Mr. Carey then spoke a short time, during which he evinced much feeling, and a greater degree of satisfaction with the proceed- ings of the day. The bones were then placed in the grave, in the foundation prepared for the Monument. During the time occupied in depositing these, the Bat- talion fired three rounds After prayer by the Rev. John Dorrance, the assemblage dispersed in good or- der.

Never, we presume, was there so large a multitude collected together in this county. The number of those present was estimated at from two to three thousand .- Wyoming Republican.

The ceremony of laying the corner stone of the Wyo- ming Monument was performed on the 3d instant, that being the 55th anniversary of the Wyoming Massacre. The remains of those heroes who fell in defence of American liberty, were found scattered over Abraham's Plains, in various directions, from near Wintermoot to Forty Fort, and collected together by the survivors, some two months after the day of battle, and deposited in a large pit, serving as one common grave, over which many a widow wept, and many relatives shed tears of grief.+ Most of the few survivors of that event- ful day, yet residents of the valley, were present on the occasion. Of those who were in the battle, we noticed Elisha Blackman, Rufus Bennett, Samuel Carey, and George P. Ransom. (There may have been others whose names we did not learn.) The Address, deliv- ered by Chester Butler, Esq. was appropriate, and well suited to the occasion, and is deservedly spoken of in high terms of commendation. At the close of the Ora- tion, Judge Scott addressed the assembled multitude, in his usual clear, lucid, and impressive manner. After which the ceremony of laying the corner stone, and depositing the memorials selected for the purpose, was performed by the few survivors present on the occa- sion, preceded by a few appropriate remarks by one of their number .-- Herald.

* See Reg. Vol. IX. p. 352.

t See Reg. Vol. X pp. 13, 39, 52.

THE WYOMING MASSACRE MONUMENT.

LJULY

ADDRESS BY CHESTER BUTLER, ESQ. Pronounced on the occasion of laying the Corner Stone of the Wyoming Monument, July 3d, 1833.

Fellow Citizens,-The committee who superintend the arrangement of the day have paid me the unex- pected compliment of assigning me a part in its inter- esting ceremonies, by requesting from me a few brief remarks, before those ceremonies shall be closed. Brief and imperfect indeed they must be, and I must be indulged with the apology, that"adequate time has not been allowed me to do justice to the subject or the oc- casion, or fulfil the just expectations of this numerous assemblage. Every feeling of my heart is embarked in the cause, and gladly would I have devoted weeks, instead of hours, in preparation for the task.

The subject is ample in materials, and replete with reflection. Melancholy, it is true, in its details, is the story of Wyoming's massacre; but there is much in it upon which we can dwell with feelings of pride and ex- ultation, while we mingle the tears of sorrow and re- gret with the mouldering dust of the sufferers. Who that now hears me, connected though he be but by the most distant ties of relationship with those brave men who so nobly fought and suffered on that fatal day, whose disasters have been the means of bringing us to- gether at this distant period, that does not feel elated with the thought of such connection. Nay more, the sentiment takes a wider range, and reaches the heart of every inhabitant of our now happy valley. Though the struggle in which they bled and died was unsuccess- ful, there is nothing in it for us to regret, but its issue, and the consequences of misery which it entailed upon the survivors, for whose defence and protection they so bravely fought and fell. They could not command success, but where all was done that could be done to deserve it, no dishonor followed defeat.

The occasion, too, of our assembling is one of deep and abiding interest, and which calls forth the feelings of every spmpathetic heart. It is to gaze on these mute mementos of violence and slaughter, to witness the reinterment of these mutilated bones of our ances- tors, while we perform the grateful duty of laying the corner stone of a monument to be erected by their de- scendants and others, possessors of the bloodstained soil, won and secured by their perseverance and their valor. Not undeserved is this tribute to their memory, whether we regard them as martyrs or as men. The hardy pio- neers of this valley were a race of men who in simpli- city of character and habits,-in sternness of purpose and steadiness of execution-in courage,-in virtue,- in intelligence, and in strong attachment to the true principles of freedom, were seldom equalled and never surpassed. Wyoming was not peopled by the vices or the follies of the old world, nor were her inhabitants driven by their crimes, or their misfortunes, from the " busy haunts of men," to seek in the obscurity of this once remote and distant frontier settlement, that securi- ty and seclusion which were denied them among the population of the Atlantic border. Such, I am proud to say, were not the causes or the motives which peopled our favorite valley. These are to be traced in that manly independence of character, which relies upon its resources for the accumulation of wealth, or the acqui- sition of the luxuries or comforts of life, and which is content with securing even its necessaries, if done with unaided arm; in that contempt of danger which re- gards not any hazard in the accomplishment of a lau- dable and virtuous enterprise; in that patient courage and hardy perseverance which is deterred by no obsta- · cles however great, and which is delayed by no consid- erations of personal risk; and above all in that genuine spirit of freedom, and ardent love of rational liberty, which seems to be the natural growth of every Ameri- can bosom, and which carry with them the conviction that a freeman's every thought, word and act, ought to be free as the air he breathes, controled only by reason, and those wholesome restrictions which render the ex-

ercise of freedom an enjoyment. Motives and charac- teristics like these, first sent our forefathers into these remote abodes of the lone and wandering Indian.

Unlike many who first invaded the secluded retreats of the natives of the forest, it was by honorable pur- chase, and not by force or fraud that our ancestors sought to possess themselves of the country. Unwilling to endure oppression themselves, they could not prac- tice it against others. Planted here with principles like these, and which rendered them unfit subjects for des- potic rule, they found no difficulty in governing them- selves. The form of government which they adopted was purely democratic. They excelled even the boast- ed republics of the ancients in primitive simplicity and freedom. The people governed themselves, not by re- presentation, or by delegated power, but collectively, in their primary assemblies, where the vote of the ma- jority was decisive of all questions at issue. So solicit- ous were they to preserve their original purity, and so efficient were the means adopted to prevent the inroads of corruption and vice, that they were seldom disturb- ed by its incursions. At least one instance, however, is found on record, where it became necessary, by a pub- lic vote of the assembled people, to banish an indivi- dual from the settlement, because he was, in the simple but expressive language of the record, "an unwhole- some member of the community." Of such men, nur- tured in such a school, was that heroic and devoted band, the memory of whose martydom we have met to cherish and perpetuate.

The faithful sketch of the incidents of the battle of July 3d, 1778, and of the preceding and subsequents events, which was delivered in your hearing on the last anniversary of this day, will render any attempt of mine to repeat the tale, wholly uninteresting and unnecessa- ry .* The story of Wyoming's virtues, of her patriotism and her wrongs, has been beautifully told, not only in the inspired breathings of the poet, but also in the gra- ver relations of history and tradition, and is now familiar to all as "household words."

On this occasion we can take only a rapid glance at these events, and the catastrophe which made so many mothers, widows-so many children, fatherless. Should enquiry be made into the causes which led to the de- struction of this flourishing settlement, they will be found in the patriotism of the people. It is known that no just cause of enmity against Wyoming existed in the breasts of the Indians, exciting their passions and goad- ing them on to the direful excursion. However much they may desired to repossess themselves of this beau- tiful and favorite spot, they had no peculiar feelings of hostility to gratify-no burnings of revenge to be quenched only in blood. We must look to those of our own race for the origin of her misfortunes. To the eternal dishonor and disgrace of Great Britain, to guilt of exciting the natural thirst of the savage for blood- of inflaming his hellish passions, and turning his fero- cious arm against her American brethren, must ever re- main a foul and ineffaceable blot upon her escutcheon. It will cleave to her like the fatal disgusting plague spot, till the hour of her dissolution. When the agents of her oppressions learned, that the Patriots of Wyo- ming were also deeply imbued with the sentiments and the spirit which then pervaded the whole land,-and that they had sent forth their youth and strength to fight the battles of liberty in the armies of their country, and had left few besides the patriarchs of the land to guard their homes and firesides, then was her destruction re- solved on. And terrible was the execution of that re- solve. Apt and willing instruments of massacre and devastation were at hand, and they unscrupulously were employed. The cruel and relentless savage, whose na- tural element is blood and carnage, was let loose, and in the ridiculous but ferocious language used on another occasion, by General Burgoyne, they were exhorted to

See Reg. Vol. X. p. 39.

THE WYOMING MASSACRE MONUMENT.

1833.]

"go forth in the miglit of their valor and their cause- strike at the common enemies of Great Britain and Ame- rica, disturbers of public order, peace and happiness- parricides of the state." So inveterate was the deter- mination of her foes, to strangle young liberty in her cradle, that they hesitated not at the means by which it was to be accomplished, and regarded not the misery which they caused. Truly, indeed, was it said of trans- atlantic liberty, that

"Her birth star was the light of burning plains, Her baptism is the blood that flows From kindred hearts."

Had Wyoming proved recreant to the sacred "cause, had she pursued the even tenor of her way, and re- gardless of the event, refrained from taking part in the glorious contest, (which the remoteness of her location might in some measure have excused, ) she would have escaped the ravages of war. Safe and unscathed, in- deed, but it would have been an inglorious safety. Her fields would not have been burning plains-the blood of her sons would have continued its sluggish course in ignoble yeins, and her name have been, not only unho- nored and unsung, but a term of reproach and scorn. Then would we have had cause to mourn as those who have no solace in their sorrows. But shame would have burned the cheek, and blistered would have been the tongue of him who should'have counselled such a course. True, the base adherent of the British cause would oc- casionally be found among them, vainly whispering his ignominious proposals of loyalty and duty, mingled with promises of protection and threats of vengeance. But no son or daughter of Wyoming could be tempted to purchase safety, or to avert the threatened vengeance, fiery and rapid as it proved, by such tame submission. And I know that I speak but the feelings of these aged veterans, the brave associates in arms of those whose bones are now exposed before us, marked and mutilat- ed by the instruments of savage warfare, when I say, that, could the choice now be offered them, between the perils they have passed, and the exemption from them which they could have purchased at the expense of honor, cheerfully would they again gird themselves for the contest, and act over the trying scenes of their youth. Again would they "follow to the field some warlike chief,"-again endure the dangers of the battle, -the mortification of defeat, -the perils of the retreat, -the sufferings of the flight, and the subsequent return to their once happy homes, made desolate and waste. Again would they perform the heart-rending duty of gathering togetlier from the field of battle, and commit- ting to this common grave, the mouldering remains of their slaughtered friends.

Tradition and history have handed down to us in vivid colors, the events of the day we commemorate, but they must ever fail to make us realize the truth. We look abroad upon the cultivated fields and fertile plains, loaded with the products of peaceful agriculture and think not of the forests which once covered them, fur- nishing a secure retreat for the lurking savage. We gaze upon and admire the green hills which surround us, and forget that their sleeping echoes were ever wakened by the starting yell of the unnurtured Indian. We tread in the very footsteps of the combatants, with- out remembering the death struggle which crimsoned the ground with the life blood of our fathers, and we till the soil ignorant that their ashes rest beneath. We now see nothing but the quiet pursuits of happy hus- bandry, and the avocations of civilized industry. Peace is indeed in all our borders, and our citizens each sitting under his own vine and figtree, with none to molest or make him afraid. But could I roll back the scroll of time, or tear from its pages the records of the last fifty five years,-could I carry you back to that eventful day of strife and blood, which we commemorate, and placing you upon yonder hill, bid you raise your eyes to the view, how different would be the prospect. The scene

of horror disclosed to your aching sight would harrow up your souls, and move every heart to rage and indig- nation. You behold the same sun which now rolls over our heads rising in beauty and splendor above the sum- mit of the eastern hill. Casting your eyes to the left you discover the assembled host of British, Indian, and Tory enemies already beginning the work of devastation. On your right you discern that little Fort which now encloses the strength and hope of the valley. The gates are thrown open, and you see the devoted band march forth to the doubtful conflict, not with all the pride and pomp and circumstance of war," but without any of the imposing trappings of military display, yet with as firm a tread as ever stepped to exhilerating terms of martial music, and with hearts as true as ever "breasted them to the shock" of battle. No mercenary motive urges them on ;- no hireling soldier is found in their ranks fighting the battle of conquest or oppression. Cast your eyes again upon the scene, and you see them rush with ardor to the onset, and, sending the swift messengers of death into the ranks of the foe, maintain for a time the unequal contest with a courage and stea- diness worthy their character and their cause.

Wide raged the battle on the plain, Spears shook, and falchions flashed amain.

But here let us pause, for who will attempt to pour- tray the fatal issue of the fight! It would require an angel's voice and an angel's tongue to adequately tell the tragic conclusion. I might perhaps revive in the minds of these few venerable survivors, who have been so long preserved and handed down to us as honored relics of that dread day, pleased but melancholy wit- nesses of these solemn ceremonies, a recollection of those events,-of their own hair-breadth escape and of what they saw of the struggle and death of their asso- ciates. I might point them to these mutilated bones of slaughtered friends, once instinct with life, and animat- ed with a like spirit with themselves, and remind them, that perhaps that broken limb belonged to him they passed.

"In the lost battle borne down by the flying"

vainly calling for that aid which none could render :- that the fatal blow which bore to the earth that crushed skull, rang its death knell in their ears, the unheeded prayers for mercy cut short by the swift descending stroke. But I forbear. Let us draw a veil over the scene, and call back our thoughts to the more pleasing duties for which we are here assembled.

We have now laid the foundation of a structure which shall evince to future ages the grateful sense we enter- tain of our obligations to the patriotic dead, and the ad- miration we feel for their character and principles. Too long have they slept in an unhonored grave. But when we again commit their lifeless remains to the bosom of this monument, we know that such cause of reproach will forever be removed. This work of gratitude is destined, in the language of the eloquent Webster, to "rise till it meet the sun in his coming; till the earliest light of morning shall gild it, and the parting day linger and play upon its summit," and as it meets the eye of present and future generations,all from lisping infancy to withered age shall greet it with the song of

Hail ! all hail ! the Patriot's grave; Valor's memorable bed, Hail the memory of the brave! Hail the memory of the dead!

Time their triumph shall proclaim, And their rich reward be this: Immortality of fame, Immortality of bliss.

But we rear this memorial not alone to perpetuate the remembrance of the bloody events which transpired upon this spot, or of the achievements of those who re- pose beneath. Their fame has found in the classic page. of history and of poetry, a monument more lasting than

SKETCHES OF PENNSYLVANIA.

[JULY

brass, more durable than marble. This shall be the shrine to which children yet unborn will be led, while they learn from maternal lips the first lesson of patriot- ism, and upon which fathers will dedicate their sons, while they exhort them to go, and emulate the virtues it commemorates.

To us, too, the events this day thus brought to our own minds, and the recollection of the sufferings and sacrifices it cost to secure for us the blessings of civil and religious freedom we now enjoy, may furnish food for salutary reflection. To-morrow's dawn will bring with it another anniversary of our national independence. It finds us in its approach still a united and free pcople; but in view of the dissensions and jealousies which have sprung up among us, and the political heresies which have been promulgated to further the ambitious schemes of "bad designing men," the melancholy doubt of the permanency of our free institutions will obtrude itself upon the mind. Thanks to the intelligence, energy, and prudence of our rulers, the budding treason has been nipped, though it is to be feared its vitality is not destroyed. It never should be forgotten that our fa- thers planted the Tree of Liberty and watered it with their blood. That they fenced it round with the strong wall of the Union, upon which was inscribed "Union and Liberty, -one and inseparable,-now and forever." Safe and untouched by hostile hands, the tree still flou- rishes, and yet unbroken is the wall which protects it. And shall our father's sons be permitted to break down the wall of safety, put forth a sacrilegious hand to the Tree, pluck its foliage, and lop its branches, till it shall stand a lifeless trunk, shorn of its "leafy honors," a monument of our folly and degeneracy? Heaven forbid! God grant that we may never be called to meet our brothers in mortal combat-but rather than see the Tree stripped of a single leaf, or one stone placed for its pro- tection removed, here let us vow, here on the altar con- secrated by the blood of martyrs-and with their bleach- ed bones at our feet, while their pleased spirits are ho- vering above us ready to carry the grateful vow to Hea- ven's registry, here let us swear to offer up our fortunes and our lives a willing sacrifice for its defence. Let us annually renew the vow, and entail its obligations as a sacred duty upon our children. Future generations will read the pledge, and while time shall last, this mo- nument shall remain proclaiming our adherence to the principles, our admiration of the character, and our respect to the memory of the honored dead to whom "a day-an hour of virtuous liberty, was worth a whole eternity of bondage."

From the Commercial Herald. SKETCHES OF PENNSYLVANIA.

No. 1. Rail Roads-Canals-Scenery, &c.

In a former paper, we attempted to furnish our rea- ders with a general outline of the Pennsylvania system of Internal Improvement, and to demonstrate how fa- vourably it must operate upon the commerce and pros- perity of Philadelphia. We promised, also, that at some convenient season, we would examine that system with reference to the facilities of intercommunication which it will afford between the different sections of the State, and to the profit which may be expected from that source. It has since occurred to us, that a more accu- rate description of the localities through which the Pennsylvania Canals and Rail Roads pass, and of the country they are destined to accomodate, might prove interesting to our readers, while it would enable them better to appreciate the views which we promised to lay before them.

We shall now attempt such a description, under the general head of

SKETCHES OF PENNSYLVANIA.

And for our own, and the reader's accommodation, as

we mean to take a pretty general glance over the state, we have concluded to break our Essays into numbers.

We have now only to request of those who feel an interest on the subject, that they will fancy themselves travelling in our company from Philadelphia, westward, by the line of the State Rail Road and Canal.

We set off, then, at the corner of Vine and Broad streets, upon the Pennsylvania Rail Road, and pursue our course round the base of Bush-hill, and back of Fairmount, using in a great degree the bed of the old Union Canal, until we strike the margin of the Schuyl- kill, a short distance below Peter's Island, and about two miles above Fairmount dam. Here the Schuylkill is crossed by a bridge of wood, with piers and abutments of solid masonry. The length of the platform is 984 feet, and its height 37 feet above the water's surface. It has six piers, some of which are sunk in water 24 feet deep. At the end of the bridge, we ascend, by a sta- tionary steam engine, an inclined plane, the hill of Bel- mont, known as the residence of the late Judge Peters. The length of this plane is 42 chains, or a little over half a mile; and the perpendicular height above the bridge, 187 feet.

As the necessity of this inclined plane, and the pro- priety of crossing the Schuylkill at this point, were subjects of long and earnest discussion in the newspa- pers, and the Legislature, it may be well to explain the reasons which governed the Engineer in his choice.

Approaching Philadelphia from the west, with this line of country, he found himself near the 20th mile stone upon the Lancaster road, on the top of the South Valley Hill, about 550 feet above tide. A spur from this hill, of somewhat irregular course and form gra- dually diminishing in elevation as he proceeded east- ward, and admitting of a graduation within the range of locomotive power, conducted bim to the Schuylkill at Belmont. On either side of this spur, the waters di- vide-one division running to the Schuylkill, in a north easterly direction towards Norristown, and the other in a south westerly direction to the Delaware below the city. If the engineer had descended from this dividing ridge, and attempted to follow any one of the natural ravines, he must have come out far above Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill; or far below it on the Delaware-or, if having pursued one of the ravines a convenient dis- tance, he had struck off in a direct line towards the ci- ty, he must have encountered a serious rise and fall be- tween the small streams on the route, requiring, pro- bably several stationary engines. All this is avoided by keeping on the dividing ground, and that too with no material increase of distance.

Any one who has travelled the Lancaster turnpike, must recollect how remarkably undulating its surface is between the Permanent Bridge and the Warren tavern. The inclination is not unfrequently from two to three degrees, or at the rate of between two and three hundred feet in the mile. It repeatedly climbs to the submit of the dividing ridge, and then abruptly descends from it.

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.

The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII, Part 11

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870 Publication date: 1828 Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ; Number of Pages: 438

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 438