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 41

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 41

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From the Pittsburg Gazette. BRADDOCK.

The late publication of Walpole's Letters, has brought up again the name of this unfortunate officer, who met his fate in our neighborhood. Walpole is not very good authority; in giving the current scandal of the day, he evidently cares more for piquancy than accuracy. That Braddock was rash and opinionative, we know. Dr. Franklin was a good deal in his camp, had much per- sonal intercourse with him, and thus speaks of him in his Memoirs.

"This General was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him on his march with 100 of those people, who might have been of great use to his army as guides, scouts, &c., if he had treated them kindly: but he slighted and ne- glected them, and they gradually left him. In con- versation with him one day, he was giving me some account of his intended progress. 'After taking Fort Duquesne,' said he, 'I am to proceed to Niaga- ra; and having taken that, to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, and I suppose it will; for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.' Having before revolved in my mind the long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and bushes, and also what I had read of a former defeat of 1500 French, who invaded the Illinois country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears for the event of the campaign. But I ventured only to say, 'To be sure, Sir, if you ar- rive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, though complete- ly fortified, and assisted with a very strong garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger, I apprehend, of obstruction to your march, is from the ambuscades of the Indians, who by constant practice, are dextrous in laying and executing them: and the slender line, nearly four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be attacked by sur- prise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into seve- ral pieces which from their distance cannot come up in time to support each other ' He smiled at my ignorance, and replied, 'These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia; but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, Sir, it is impossi- ble they should make any impression.' I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a military man, in matters of his profession, and said no more. 'The enemy however did not take the advantage of his army, which I apprehended its long line of march exposed it

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to, but let it advance without interruption till within nine miles of the place; and then, when more in a body, (for it had just passed a river, where the front had halt- ed till all were come over,) and in a more open part of the woods than any it had passed, attacked its advanced guard, by a heavy fire from beliind trees and bushes; which was the first intelligence the general had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being disordered, the General hurried the troops up to their assistance, which was done in great confusion, through wagons, baggage, and cattle, and presently the fire came upon their flank: the officers being on horseback were more easily distinguished, picked out as marks, and fell very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together in a hud- dle, liaving or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till two-thirds of them were killed; and then be- ing seized with a panic, the remainder fled with preci- pitation. The wagoners took each a horse out of his team, and scampered; their example was immediately followed by others; so that all the wagons, provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The Ge- neral being wounded was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side, and out of 86 officers 63 were killed or wounded; and 714 men killed of 1,100. These 1,100 had been picked men from the whole army; the rest had been left be- hind with Col. Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of the stores, provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pursued, arrived at Dunbar's camp, and the panic they brought with them instantly seized him and all his people. And though he had now above 1000 men, and the enemy who had beaten Brad- dock, did not at most exceed 400 Indians and French together, instead of proceeding and endeavoring to re- cover some of the lost honor, he ordered all the stores, ammunition, &c. to be destroyed, that he might have more horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and less lumber to remove. He was there met with re- quests from the governor of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the fron- tiers, so as to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but he continued his hasty march through all the coun- try, not thinking himself safe till he arrived at Philadel- phia, where the inhabitants could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular troops had not been well founded.

"In their first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally ruining some poor fami- lies, besides insulting, abusing, and confining the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march through the most inhabited part of our country, from Rhode Island to Virginia, near 700 miles, occasioned not the smallest complaint, for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple!

"Captain Orme was one of the General's aids de camp, and being grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continued with him to his death, which happened in a few days, told me that he was totally si- lent all the first day, and at night only said, "Who would have thought it?" That he was silent again the follow- ing day, saying only at last, "We shall better know how to deal with them another time;" and died in a few min- utes after."

The Doctor mentions one anecdote of a favorable cast :

"As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which was, that he would give orders to his officers not to en- list any more of our bought servants, and that he would discharge such as had been already enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were accordingly returned to their masters, on my application."

In another circumstance, we are bound to recognize a just and elevated, though reserved temper, on the i to speak hereafter.

part of the unfortunate General. By mere accident, Franklin learned, long afterwards, that Braddock, in his despatches to Government, had borne earnest testi- mony to the Doctor's zeal and efficiency.

"The Secretary's papers, with all the General's or- ders, instructions, and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed, to prove the hostile intentions of the British Court before the declaration of war. Among these, I saw some letters of the General to the ministry, speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the army, and recommend- ing me to their notice."

From the Commercial Herald. SKETCHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. No. 10.

We proceed, according to promise, to attempt a ge- neral account of the Susquehanna river.

The principal branch of the Susquehanna has its rise in the Otsego Lake, in the county of Otsego, and state of New York. This beautiful sheet of water lies about 50 miles north of the boundary line between Pennsylva- nia and New York, and about 20 miles south of the Mo- hawk river, and the Little Falls. At the foot of the lake, and where its outlet forms the infant Susquehan- na, is the beautiful village of Cooperstown, remarkable as the scene of the incidents in the favourite novel of the Pioneers. To that justly celebrated work we must refer for an accurate and yet highly poetical descrip- tion of the romantic scenery from which the Susque- hanna derives its birth.

The outlet is narrow, and gives but faint promise of the greatness to which its waters are destined before they mingle with the tides of the ocean. It is said that, during the revolutionary war, on the occasion of an ex- pedition against the Indian settlement in Pennsylvania, a dam was constructed across the outlet, so as to con- fine the waters of the lake for some days, and consider- ably to raise its level. When the boats were prepared and manned the dam was opened, and the expedition floated for many miles down stream upon the artificial freshet thus produced. This simple expedient was at a late period resorted to with success by the Lehigh Coal Company, for the purpose of forming a descend- ing navigation. It was subsequently abandoned, from conviction that such a navigation could not be perme- nantly profitable, and the noble canal from Mauch Chunk to Easton was substituted in its place.

Besides the stream issuing from the Otsego Lake, two other head branches of the Susquehanna of nearly equal importance, the Unadilla and the Chenango, rise in the same neighbourhood. Every one accustom- ed to examine a map with a view to practical results will be struck by the proximity of the head waters of the Susquehanna to the Mohawk river, in the valley of which lies the great New York canal. We have said that Otsego Lake is 20 miles south of the Mohawk at the Little Falls. The head waters of the Unadilla are about the same distance from Herkimer on the Mo- hawk, and those of the Clienango an equal distance from Utica. To this we may add, that the head of the Cayuga Lake, which is navigable by steam boats, is only 30 miles distant from the Susquehanna river at Owego. A knowledge of these facts has given rise to various projects for connecting the Susquehanna with the New York canal. Of these the Chenango canal, commenc- ing at the village of Binghampton, at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna, and terminating at the Mohawk, and a rail road from Ithaca to Owego are per! fectly practicable and have already been undertaken with spirit. Of the importance of these communications to Pennsylvania, especially as affording an outlet for the coal of the Wyoming valley, and the bituminous coal of the Tioga and West Branch, we shall have occasion

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From the Otsego Lake the Susquehanna flows in a southerly direction for about 20 miles, then turns to the southwest, and at the end of 20 miles more receives the Unadilla. After continuing the same course for about 10 miles, it suddenly turns to the south and en- ters Pennsylvania, at what is properly called the Great Bend. Turning again to the northwest it again enters New York, and assuming a course about west by south, finally enters Pennsylvania three miles above Tioga Point, where it receives the Tioga river.

The Great Bend is remarkable as the point where the Delaware and Susquehanna approach nearest to each other-the former making a great curve to the west, and the latter to the east-so that the distance between them in a right line does not exceed 15 miles. Above and below the Great Bend, there is a singular parallel- ism between the course of the two rivers, which seems to indicate that the same obstacles interposed by the mountains have diverted them from pursuing a right line to the ocean. Compare, for example, the Delaware from the north line of the state to Carpenter's Point, with the Susquehanna from Tioga Point to the mouth of the Lackawanna. Both run south east, and preserve a uniform distance. At Carpenter's Point, and at the mouth of Lackawanna, which stand on nearly the same parallel of latitude, the rivers make an abrupt bend to the southwest-which course the Delaware pursues to the Water Gap, and the Susquehanna to Northumber. berland. At these points respectively, they turn to the south, and keep that course until one reaches the mouth of Durham creek, and the other the mouth of the Juni- ata. From the mouth of Juniata to the head of the Chesapeake Bay, the course of the Susquehanna is south east, and parallel to that of the Delaware between Durham and Bordentown. At Bordentown, the Dela- ware having entered the alluvial ground of the sea coast, and being released from those obstacles which impede the Susquehanna, to its very mouth, chooses its own path, and assumes a south west course, converg- ing towards the Susquehanna, which is continued to a point two miles below New Castle, where it loses it- self in Delaware Bay. At this point the distance in a right line to the Susquehanna, does not exceed 25 miles-and next to that of the Great Bend, it is the nearest approach which the two make. At intermedi- ate points their distance apart is generally from 60 to 70 miles-and in some places amounts to 90 or 100 miles. We have been thus particular in comparing the courses of the two rivers, at the expense of some departure from regular order, because a knowledge of such things is indispensably necessary to a proper understanding of the great communications of the country. Most of the important roads and other improvements have been re- gulated in some degree by these facts. At Tioga Point, the Susquehanna is increased in volume by the acces- sion of the Tioga-a river almost equal to itself in mag- nitude and interest. The main branch of Tioga has its rise in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and on the wes- tern slope of the Great Allegheny mountain. Its head waters interlock with those of Lycoming and Pine creek, tributaries of the west branch, and of the Towan- da, a tributary of the north branch, which we have re- garded as the main Susquehanna. An immense deposit of bituminous coal, with its usual accompaniment of salt springs, distinguishres the region in which these streams take their rise. A desire to bring this mineral to market, has given rise to a number of projects for canals and rail roads in the northern part of the state.

The Tioga at its source, is distant in a right line to the Susquehanna at Towanda, about 25 miles. The nature of the intervening ground, however, forbids a di- rect course. For 40 or 45 miles it flows nearly north, to the Painted Post in the state of New York, where it receives the Canisteo and Conhocton, two important tributaries, which drain the counties of Steuben and Al- legheny, in that state; it then pursues a course east by south till it reaches Pennsylvania, and joins the Susque- hanna at Tioga Point, about 15 miles above Towanda.

The courses of the Susquehanna and of the Tioga, from their heads to the point of junction, lie entirely in the secondary formation, north and west of the great mountain range which we have heretofore described as the Allegheny. Their valleys thus far are distinctly marked by the characteristics of that formation. The streams themselves are gentle, without falls or rapids, and skirted by rich alluvial bottoms, affording great profit to the farmer. Their banks abound also with timber of the first quality. A very large proportion of the lumber and agricultural produce which annually de- scend the Susquehanna, are supplied from these re- gions.

Shortly after receiving the Tioga, the Susquehanna commences its passage through the Allegheny moun- tain, and its entrance into the transition formation. As to the precise point where this is effected, there seems to be some difference of opinion, though all agree in placing it between Towanda and Tunkhannock. Be- tween the former place and the mouth of the Lacka- wannock, a marked change is observable in the charac- ter of the river. Its shores have become frequently rugged and mountainous with only occasional strips of alluvial land-and it is evident, that the Susquehanna has commenced its struggle with the great mountain ranges which continue to oppose its passage throughout the rest of its course.

Just above the mouth of the Lackawanock, the river breaks through the mountain which forms the western boundary of the Wyoming Valley. From that point to the Nanticoke Falls, 18 miles below, it continues to flow in that beautiful valley. At Nanticoke it breaks out through the same mountain which it has already passed, and which it again overcomes about eight miles lower down. It is difficult to account for this singular and apparently useless freak of the otherwise dignified and onward Susquehanna. It looks like the mere wantonness of conscious strength, a sort of Sam Patch ambition to show that some things may be done as well as others.

The Wyoming Valley, one of the great deposits of anthracite coal, follows the Susquehanna from Nanti- coke Falls north eastward, to the mouth of the Laka- wanna, a distance of 18 miles. It then leaves the river and follows the course of the Lakawanna, to near its head a distance of probably 40 miles. Throughout this whole range of 58 miles, coal is found in the greatest abundance. At Wilkesbarre, Kingston, Pittston, and Carbondale, it is extensively worked.

From Nanticoke Falls, the river pursues a W. S. W. course, through a part of what we have described as the Central mountainous region, to Northumberland, where it receives the West Branch-a stream nearly equal to itself in magnitude. At Nanticoke occurs the first falls of any importance, or which seriously ob- struct the navigation. It is caused by the rocky base of the mountain which the river has broken through. It has nothing, however, of the cataract character, and in high water is easily passed in arks and rafts. At Berwick again, something like a fall occurs, but in ge- neral, the current of the river above Northumberland is gentle, and its channel safe, when compared with what it is below.

In our next we shall describe the West Branch, and follow the main river to its mouth.

No. 11.

Our last having been occupied with an examination of the North and main branch of the Susquehanna, from its various sources to Northumberland, we proceed to a similar inquiry in reference to the West Branch.

The head springs of the West Branch are in the county of Cambria, on the west side of the Allegheny mountain. Its course is at first north and north east, parallel to that ridge, through Cambria and Clearfield counties, till it enters Lycoming, and receives the Sin-

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nemahoning, an important tributary from the north. Soon after receiving the Sinnemahoning it turns to the south east, so as to impinge at right angles upon the line of the Allegheny mountain, with which it comes in contact a short distance above the mouth of the Bald Eagle, or about 75 miles above Northumberland. Ha ving broken through this obstacle, it pursues an easter- ly course inclining to North, for about 30 miles, parallel to an important spur of the Allegheny, called Muncy Hill, which latter it finally breaks near the village of Pennsborough, forming at the pass the Muncy Ripples. Here the river, weary of its long struggle with natural impediments, turns abruptly to the south, and taking the most direct route to the ocean, joins the North Branch at Northumberland, 25 miles below Pennsbo- rough.

The most important tributaries of the West Branch are Lycoming, Loyalsock, Pine creek, and Sinnema- honing, which it receives from the north, and the Bald Eagle and Clearfield creeks, which enter from the south. The valleys' of the Bald Eagle and Loyalsock are dis- tinguished for natural fertility and productive cultiva- tion. The valley of the West Branch itself, below Pine creek, and a number of small lateral valleys communi- cating with it, in Union, Northumberland, and Lycom- ing counties, constitute to our eye, the most beautiful and attractive portion of the state. This section rests upon limestone of the finest quality, and it presents bottom lands which almost vie in extent and depth of soil with those of Kentucky. The worst we know of it are the names which have been given to the valleys referred to. What think our readers of Nippanose valley, White Deer hole valley, Musquito valley, Dry valley, and Black-hole valley? Would they be led to expect from such unpromising names a land flowing with the boun- ties of nature. Is there no " commodity of good names" for our friends of the region bounding on the West Branch? The principal depots for this rich section of country are Lewisburg, otherwise called Derrstown, Milton, Pennsborough, and Williamsport. If any one will examine our daily list of arrivals at the Fair Mount locks, he will see how large a proportion of the wheat, rye, flour and whiskey, received in Philadelphia, comes from these places, and he may form a tolerable idea of the importance of the region referred to.

Danville, in Columbia county, is also a depot for a portion of Northumberland and Lycoming. The Loyalsock valley finds its outlet at Berwick, on the North Branch, which latter supplies the coal districts of the Lehigh with the necessaries of life. Pottsville and the adjacent region receive a similar supply from the country we have described on the West Branch.

Above the mouth of Pine creek, the valleys of the West Branch and of its tributaries assume an entirely different character. It is decidedly the least settled, and with a few exceptions, the least promising section of the state. The general aspect of the country is wild, rugged, and inhospitable, and it must be years before any thing like a dense population can be gathered to it. Its chief dependence must be on the bituminous coal which is found there in great abundance. Occasional spots nevertheless occur, which will fully repay the ag- riculturist, whenever a cheap communication with a market shall be opened.

The circumstance that the West Branch has its rise west of the Allegheny mountain, gave to that stream great interest and importance during the period when Pennsylvania was preparing to embark in her great scheme of internal improvements, and while the route of the canals remained undecided. As the dividing ridge be- tween the West Branch and the waters of the Allegheny was known .to be lower than the Allegheny mountain, which separates the Juniata from the Conemaugh, it was hoped it might admit of a complete water commu- nication between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. An ob- ject so interesting was not abandoned until the most la- borious investigation decided on its impracticability, at

least for any useful purposes of trade. It was ascertain- ed that though such a communication might be made, still it could not be so supplied with water as to answer the purposes of the great trade between the east and the west. From the surveys thus made, embracing the whole dividing ground between the eastern and western wa- ters, from about the middle of Cambria county, to the north line of the state, nearly all our knowledge of the topography of that region is derived.

The published maps are far from accurate, having been compiled from county surveys, very carelessly made, and founded probably upon conjectures as much as upon actual observation. Some of the facts elicited by the surveys made under the direction of the canal commissioners, are well worthy of notice.

The lowest known summit in Pennsylvania between the waters of the Atlantic and of the Gulf of Mexico, lies in the northeastern part of Indiana county, at the head of Cushing creek, one of the head springs of the West Branch, and divides that stream from Two-lick, a branch of the Conemaugh. This dividing ground is probably (speaking from recollection without the opportunity of referring to documents) about 500 feet lower than the Allegheny mountain at its most depressed point. To this summit and to another between Sinnemahoning and Clarion river, the hopes of those who expected a com. plete navigable communication through the state, were principally directed.

By the surveys made of the last named summit, it was ascertained that the waters of the Clarion river, ta- ken out a few miles above its forks, and where the stream is quite copious at all seasons, might be carried across it with the aid of an inconsiderable tunnel. But such was the circuitous route by which a feeder must be brought, and such the expense of its construction, that the project was necessarily abandoned. Judge Geddes in his report on this survey, states a singular fact, that an enterprising emigrant some years ago, ascended the Portage branch of the Sinnemahoning in his canoe to its head, and with the aid of his hoe, succeeded in con- necting it with a small stream running towards the Al- legheny. The same thing might occur at other points of the dividing ridge, where the head springs of the Al- legheny and of the Susquehanna streams lie within a few yards of each other. At the head of Bennet's branch of the Sinnemahoning is an extensive marsh called Flag Swamp, from which, in wet seasons, the water flows both ways, and where,at such seasons, the summit might easily be passed by a canoe. This point is remarkable as probably the only one in Pennsylvania where the Beaver may be found. Every where else they have been driven out by the approach of human footsteps. In the same region a few elks still remain. These two circumstances indicate that the wilderness character of the region has been fully preserved.

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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 41

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