USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 15
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INTRODUCTION.
ciprocally committed" among the whites and Indians, are in point.
The first case of murder, by the whites, of friendly Indi- ans, is that of Doctor John, a Delaware Indian, who came with his family, consisting of a woman and two children, to Cumberland county, in the winter of 1760, and lived in a hunting cabin on Conodoguinet creek, not far from Carlisle. He and his family were murdered in the early part of Febru- ary. The news of this barbarous deed was immediately com- municated to Governor Hamilton, by Francis West, Esq., of Carlisle. The governor left nothing undone to bring to pun- ishment those who had perpetrated this inhuman murder.
From the Provincial Records, it appears " the governor informed the council, that on the 21st of February, 1760, he had received a letter from Justice West, of Carlisle, acquaint- ing him of a cruel murder having been committed on an Indi- an called John, and a little boy of his, and that there was reason to think his wife was also murdered, and Capt. Cal- lender coming to town from Carlisle, his Honor had exam- ined him, and by him was told that an inquest had been held on the bodies of the said Doctor John, and a male child, two Delaware Indians in friendship with us, and that it was the opinion and verdict, that they were wilfully murdered; and it was further said by Captain Callender that there was reason to believe, Doctor John's wife and her child were also mur- dered, whereupon the governor sent a verbal message to the House informing them of this matter, and recommending to them, a reward for the detection of the murderers, &c.
The Assembly sent for Callender, and after interrogating him on the subject, they then offered a reward of a hundred pounds for the apprehension of each person concerned in the murder. The excitement occasioned was immense; for it was feared that the Indians might seek to avenge the murder on the settlers. That reparation on the part of the chiefs would be demanded. The inhabitants of Carlisle and vicinity made every exertion to seek out the offenders, as will appear from the following :
CARLISLE, Feb. 28, 1760.
Sir-
An inhuman and barbarous murder was performed on Doctor John and his family. This Indian, who has been considered a friend to the whites has been treacherously murdered, by some persons unknown.
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INTRODUCTION.
He belongs to the Delawares; and I grieve to say that their chiefs will demand reparation.
So many cruelties have been practiced upon the whites by the Indi- ans, that the innocent (Indians) are not secure from their revenge.
I regret that it should have happened in our village. Be assured, we shall do all in our power to bring the offenders to justice.
CARLISLE, March 7, 1760.
To Gov. Hamilton :
Sir-
I was honored with your letter of February 21st, and in obedience thereto, have caused diligent search, and inquiry to be made for the murderers, by the constables, along and between Connogogwinet, and the Kittatinny mountain to Susquehannah ; but the least discovery has not been made.
- Doctor John, the Indian who was lately murdered, was of the Dela- ware tribe (as I am informed) ; but what Nation his squaw and the boy were of, I can't clearly learn : he followed hunting whilst in this neigh- borhood, and behaved insolently, as you will see by the enclosed depo- sitions.
You may be assured I will use my best endeavors to find out the per- sons who perpetrated that barbarous act; I will for the future, afford protection to every friendly and peaceable Indian that shall sojourn in this county.
I am with great respect, your Honor's most obedient and humble servant,
FRAS. WEST.
Cumberland county, ss.
The deposition of Peter Title of Carlisle, aged about thirty-five years, taken before me, &c. Being sworn, &c., deposeth and saith that about the 15th day of January last, a certain Indian, called Doctor John, was in his house at Carlisle : the said Doctor John spoke contemptuously of the soldiers, by saying they were good for nothing, and that he and two or three more of them would drive the whole of them; and this depo- nent further saith, that said Doctor John said that they killed Captain Jacobs, but that he had another Capt. Jacobs, a young big man, bigger and stronger than him that was killed, and further this deponent saith not.
PETER TITTEL.
Sworn and subscribed, the 4th day of March, 1760, before Fias. West.
Richard Davis, aged fifteen years, said the Indian called Doctor John, was in the house of Peter Tittle, about the 15th day of January, when he (the deponent) told a certain Thomas Evans, that he killed sixty white people and captured six, and said deponent said he heard Doctor John say, if the war would break out again he would do the same, and asked the said Evans if he would taste it-(meaning death)-and he heard John say in an insulting and angry tone, that the white people
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killed his Captain Jacobs, but that he had one twice as big, and that they were fools, for when he caught a white prisoner he would lie down on the ground till he would kill and scalp him.
Sworn and subscribed, &c.,
March 4, 1760.
P. S. Lest the above mentioned Thomas Evans should be suspected of the murder of the Indians, on account of their insolent talk and be- havior to him, I undertake to say, he is a drunken, stupid fellow, inca- pable of such enterprise.
FRANS. WEST.
Cumberland county, ss.
The deposition of John Loughry, of York county, Pa,, aged twenty- three years ; by trade a weaver.
That on or about the beginning of February last, a certain John Ma- son, son of John Mason of Cumberland county, applied to have this deponent to be assistant with him in perpetrating the murder of a party of Indians, to the number of four or thereabouts, residing in cabins on Connodogwinham creek ; this said deponent desired the said Mason not to be concerned in such an affair, for it would bring him to trouble. 'That some time after that, this deponent being at Mrs. Allison's in Con- nogojigg, in the county and province aforesaid, a certain James Foster of Paxton, in Lancaster county, then informed him, this deponent, that James Foster, together with William George, and some of the boys of Arthur Foster, which said boys, this deponent imagined to be sons of the said Arthur Foster, all of the county of Cumberland, perpetrated the murder of said Indians, by forcibly entering into the cabins of said Indians in the night, when asleep, with axes, &c., and killed and scalp- ed said Indians ; and that some time near the beginning of March last, being at Pittsburgh, (at which time the governor's proclamation for discovering said murderers was there publicly known) that the afore- said James told him, this deponent, that he, the said Foster, was afraid the murder would be found out upon him and his accomplices. This deponent further saith not.
Sworn before us, two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, for the county aforesaid, at Carlisle, May 6, 1760.
JOHN LOUGHRY.
Fras. West, Herm. Alricks.
'To Gov. Hamilton :
CARLISLE, May the 7th, 1760.
Sir-Herewith we send you inclosed the copy of John Loughry's depo- sition, against James Foster, John Mason, (who are now at Pittsburgh in the Battoe service) William George, and the boys or sons of Arthur Foster, for the murder of four Indians, near this town, we issued our warrant to the constables, to apprehend such as there are in this coun- ty ; and we intend by the first opportunity to the commanding officers at Pittsburg, to forward a copy of the deposition, with a request to ap- prehend and confine, both Mason and Foster, till your orders for trans- mitting them here, arrive there.
As Loughry had no bail for his appearance, at Court to prosecute,
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and for his personal safety, we have confined him in prison : and fur- ther, as his evidence is only hearsay, we want information whether William George and the sons of Arthur Foster, are bailable or not. We therefore request your answer and advice on this head.
We are, with the greatest respect,
Your Honor's most obedient and humble servants,
FRAS. WEST, HERMANUS ALRICKS.
A few years after this murder had been committed, the subject was formally considered in a Conference held with Indians, relatives of the deceased, at Philadelphia, May 6th, 1762.
The persons present were Gov. Hamilton, Richard Peters, Joseph Fox, and the following Indians, viz : Se-con-guep-po, Naw-tow-his-son, and Wal-la-guon-ta-hic-con.
In relation to the death of Doctor John, Gov. Hamilton said to the Indians :
"I have taken notice of every thing you said to me- Brethren, the news you heard about the death of your rela- tive is but two true. Your relative came with his family, consisting of a woman and two children, in the winter, two years ago, into Cumberland county, and lived in a hunting cabin on the river Conedaguainet, near the town of Carlisle, and he and one of his children, a little boy, were found mur- dered, not far from town, and the woman with the other child was missing, &c."-Pro. Rec. S. p. 235.
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CHAPTER XII.
INDIANS MASSACRED IN LANCASTER COUNTY-(1763).
Frontier settlers harassed and separated --- Paxton Boys concert to make an onslaught upon the Indians at Conestogo ; meet for that purpose --- Rev. John Elder expostulates with them in vain --- He sends an express with a written message --- Rev. Elder, &c .--- Deposition of Newcomer. Hambright, Cunningham, Mary Le Roy --- The Paxton Boys attacked the Indian village and massacred a number of Indians and set fire to their huts -- Shippen's letter --- Beaty and Miller's letter --- Inquisition held --- Penn's proclamation and letter --- Indians massacred in Lancas- ter jait -- Sherid' Hay's letter -- Shippen's letter --- William Henry's letter.
Doctor John's murder was a kind of prelude; for there were still causes, as late as 1763, to exasperate the whites.
The inhabitants of the frontiers on the west and east of the Susquehanna river, were still greatly alarmed in the sum- mer and autumn of 1763. " A number of Indians of vari- ous tribes, actuated by the love of shedding blood, or the de- sire for ruin, had committed great depredations and cruelties on the unoffending whites. The Indians committed acts of brutal violence under cover of the night."
The inhabitants of Donegal and Paxton townships, in Lancaster county, reflecting on the past, and the present with them; perhaps, in reviewing facts, thus soliloquized: " Have not the bloody barbarians, exercised on our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, children, inoffensive as they were, and kindred near and remote, the most unnatural and leisure- ly tortures ? Butchered some in their beds, in the dead hour of the night-at their meals, or in some unguarded hour ?" Recalling to their minds sights of horror! scenes of slaugh- ter ; seeing scalps clotted with gore ! mangled limbs ! men, women, children, ripped up ! the hearts and bowels still pal- pitating with life, and smoking on the ground. Seeing sav- ages swill their blood, and imbibing a more courageous fury with the human draught. They then may have reason thus
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INTRODUCTION.
-These are not human beings! They are not beasts of prey ! They are something worse; they must be "infernal furies in human shape !" Are we, asked they, tamely to look on, and suffer these infuriated demons to exercise such hellish barbarities upon our wives, children, kindred ! our brethren and fellow inhabitants! Shall these barbarians- those, whose veins return to barbarous hearts, the blood of savages-even those whom we have some reason to suspect as accessories-shall they escape ? The law-the hatchet- the rifle-fire and faggot-all must bear on them! These were, as it might be supposed, the feelings that incited the " Paxton boys," to acts of cruelty. And, it might be asked, Who could, with all the influences of such combined circum- stances, let escape one Indian, suspected of perfidy and treachery, however specious his conduct, in the light of day ? That the Paxtonians had reason to believe some of the pro- fessedly friendly Indians, to be greatly of perfidy or treache- ry-even among those in the Manor of Conestogo, would seem evident from a number of authentic statements, and evi- dence from other credible sources. So bent upon destroying the Indians at Conestogo, were the Paxtonians, that all ex- postulation on the part of their respected pastor, the Revd. Elder, was in vain. On hearing that a number of persons were assembled for the purpose of proceeding to Conestogo, to cut off the Indians, he did all in his power to dissuade them from so rash an act. He sent an express with a writ- ten message, expostulating with them, and pointing out to them the consequences-that they would be liable even to capital punishment. The following is adduced as corrobora- tive of these facts :
Rev. John Elder to Hon. Jno. Penn, Esq., Gov .- Touching Massacre of Conestogo Indians.
PAXTON, December 16, 1763.
Sir-
On receiving intelligence the 13th inst., that a number of persons were assembling, on purpose to go and cut off the Conestogo Indians, in concert with Mr. Forster, the neighboring Magistrate, I hurried off with a written message to that party, "Entreating them to desist from such an undertaking, representing to them the unlawfulness and barba- rity of such an action, that it is cruel and unchristian in its nature, and would be fatal in its consequences to themselves and families ; that, private persons have no right to take the lives of any under the protec- tion of the Legislature ; that, they must, if they proceeded in that affair,
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INTRODUCTION.
lay their accounts to meet with a severe prosecution, and become lia- ble even to capital punishment ; that they need not expect that the country would endeavor to conceal or screen them from punishment, but that they would be detected, and given up to the resentment of the government."
These things I urged in the warmest terms, in order to prevail with them to drop the enterprise, but to no purpose ; they pushed on, and have destroyed some of these Indians ; though how many I have not yet been certainly informed : I nevertheless thought it my duty to give your Honor this early notice ; that, an action of this nature may not be imputed to these frontier settlements. For I know not one person here of judgmont or prudence, that has been any wise concerned in it : but it has been done by some hot-headed, ill-advised persons ; and especially by such, I imagine, as suffered much in their relations, by the ravages cont- mitted in the late Indian war.
I am sir, Your most obedient and Very humble servant, JOHN ELDER.
To the Hon. John Penn, Esq.
Devoted as their endeared pastor was to their welfare, the Paxtonians were, as they believed, so cruelly treated by the Indians ; and having asked government to remove the In- dians from Conestogo, that, they lent a deaf ear to all that he could say, and, as will appear from the sequel, made both innocent and guilty feel their vengeance.
The palliating letter was written by the Rev. Mr. Elder, to Governor Penn, in which the character of Stewart is re- presented as humane, liberal and religious.
The Rev. Mr. Elder died at the advanced age of 86 years, in 1792, on his farm adjoining Harrisburg, beloved in life and in death lamented.
The Rev. Mr. Elder frequently visited the Indians at Con- estogo, Pequehan and the Big Island, and was much respect- ed by them. He had frequently represented to the christian Indians, the wrong they were doing to the whites, by admit- ting stranger Indians among them; conduct which made them suspected of treachery.
Extract from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Elder, to Gov. Penn, January 27, 1764: " The storm which had been so long gathering, has at length exploded. Had Government removed the Indians from Conestogue, which had frequently been urged, without success, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated to madness ? All that I could do, was done ; I expostulated ;
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INTRODUCTION.
but life and reason were set at defiance. And yet the men in private life, are virtuous and respectable ; not cruel, but mild and merciful.
The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance. will be calmly weighed. This deed magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of those youth- ful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected."
Abraham Newcomer, a Mennonite ; by trade a gunsmith; upon his affirmation, declared that several times within these few years, Bill Soc and Indian John, two of the Conestogo Indians, threatened to scalp him for refusing to mend their tomahawks, and swore they would as soon scalp him as soon as they would a dog. A few days before Bill Soc was killed, he brought a tomahawk to be steeled. Bill said, " if you will not, I'll have it mended to your sorrow," from which expres- sion I apprehended danger.
Mrs. Thomson, of the borough of Lancaster, personally appeared the Chief Burgess, and upon her solemn oath, on the Holy Evangelists, saip that in the summer of 1761, Bill Soc came to her apartment, and threatened her life, saying, "I kill you, all Lancaster can't catch me," which filled me with terror. And this lady further said, Bill Soc added, " Lancaster is mine, and I will have it yet."
Colonel John Hambright, gentleman, an eminent brewer of the bor- ough of Lancaster, personally appeared before Robert Thompson, Esq. a justice of the county of Lancaster, and made oath on the Holy Evan- gelists, that in August, 1757, he, an officer, was sent for provision from fort Augusta to Fort Hunter, that on his way he rested at McKee's old place ; a sentinel was stationed behind a tree to prevent surprise. The sentry gave notice, Indians were near; the deponent crawled up the bank and discovered two Indians; one was Bill Soc lately killed at Lancaster. He called Soc to come to him; but the Indians ran off. When the deponent came to Fort Hunter, he learned that an old man had been killed before. Bill Soc and his companion were believed to be the perpetrators of the murder. He, the deponent, had frequently seen Bill Soc and some of the Conestogo Indians at fort Augusta, trad- ing with the Indians ; but after the murder of the old man, Bill Soc did not appear at that garrison.
JOHN HAMBRIGHT.
Sworn and subscribed, the 28th of February, 1764.
Alexander Stephen, of the county of Lancaster, personally appeared before Thomas Foster, Esq., one of the magistrates, and being duly qualified according to law, doth say, that Carmayak Sally, an Indian woman, told him that the Conestogo Indians had killed Jegrea, an In- dian, because he would not join the Conestogo Indians in destroying the English. James Cotter told the deponent that he was one of the three that killed William Hamilton, on Sherman's creek, and also an- other man, with seven of his family. James Cotter demanded of the
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INTRODUCTION.
deponent a canoe which the murderers had left, as Cotter told him when the murder was committed.
Thomas Foster, Justice.
ALEXANDER STEPHEN.
Charles Cunningham, of the county of Lancaster, personally appear- ed before me, Thos. Foster, Esq. one of the magistrates for said county, and being qualified according to law, doth depose and say, that he, the deponent, heard Joshua James, an Indian, say that he never liked a white man in his life, but six dutchmen that he killed in the Minisinks.
CHARLES CUNNINGHAM.
Sworn to and subrcribed before Thomas Foster, Justice.
Ann Mary Le Roy, of Lancaster, appeared before the Chief Burgess, and being sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, did depose and say, that in the year 1755, when her father John Jacob Le Roy, and many others were murdered by the Indians, at Mahoney, she, her bro- ther and some others were made prisoners, and taken to Kittaning ; that stranger Indians visited them ; the French told them they were Conestogo Indians, and that Isaac was the only Indian true to their in. terest ; and that the Conestogo Indians, with the exception of Isaac, were ready to lift the hatchet when ordered by the French. She asked Bill Soc's mother whether she had ever been at Kittaning? She said No, but her son, Bill Soc, had been there often; that he was good for nothing.
Robert Thompson, Justice.
MARY LE ROY.
The conviction of the guilt of some of the Conestogo In- dians having become general, and arousing feelings which the circumstances would naturally seem to justify ; and believing as they did, that some of the Inpians in Lancaster county were exceedingly treacherous, and accessory to the murder, a number of them resorted to Manor township, and on Wed- nesday, the 14th of December, 1763, at day-break a number of them, on horseback, attacked the Indian village, and bar- barously massacred some women and children, and a few old men ; amongst the latter, the chief-Shaheas-who had al- ways been distinguished for his friendship toward the whites. The majority of the Indian villagers were abroad at the time of the attack. After slaying Shaheas, whose Indian name was She-e-hays, George or Wa-a-shen, Harry or Tee- kau-ly, Ess-ca-nesh a son of She-e-hays, Sally or 'Te-a-won- sha-i-ong, an old woman, and Ka-ne-un-qu-as, another wo- man-all who were at home, they set fire to huts, and most of them were burnt down.
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LANCASTER, 14th December, 1763.
Honored Sir-
One Robert Edgar, a hired man to Capt. Thomas McKee, living near the borougb, acquainted me to day that a company of people from the frontiers had killed and scalped most of the Indians at the Conestogo town early this morning ; he said he had the information from an In- dian boy who made his escape.
Mr. Slough has been to the place, and held a Coroner's Inquest on the corpses, being six in number. Bill Sawk and some other Indians were gone towards Smith's iron works to sell brooms ; but where they are now we can't understand ; and the Indians, John Smith and Peggy, his wife, and their child, and young Joe Hays, were abroad last night too, and lodged at one Peter Swar's, about two miles from hence. These last came here this afternoon, when we acquainted them what happen- ed to their friends and relations, and advised them to put themselves under our protection, which they readily agreed to ; and they now are in our Workhouse by themselves, where they are well provided for with every necessary.
Warrants are issued for the apprehension of the murderers- said to be upwards of fifty men, well armed and mounted.
I beg my kind compliments to Mr. Richard Penn, and am with all due regard,
Sir, your Honor's obliged friend, and Most humble servant,
EDWARD SHIPPEN.
Hon. John Penn, Governor.
When Messrs. Beaty and Miller, who had been appointed agents by the proprietors to oversee the Indian Town Lands, heard of the Indians being killed, went and brought those who had been abroad and lodged them in the jail, in Lancas- ter, as a place of security. An inquest was held upon the bodies of those that had been killed.
LANCASTER, 28th December, 1763.
May it please your Honor :
We the subscribers, having been appointed by the Agents of the Hon. Proprietaries to oversee the Indian Town Lands and in the Manor of Conestogo, beg leave to inform your Honor that, immediately after the killing of six Indians at Conestogo, we conducted the residue of the Indians, being fourteen in number, to this town, (though at the risque of our lives) where they were lodged in the gaol as a place of safety. We also secured their papers, and as much of their effects as were not destroyed by those who killed them and were not embezzled by others. Since that time, the Indians whom we brought to the gaol have been killed there.
We have taken the liberty of troubling your Honor with this letter, and pray that we may have directions how to dispose of those effects.
The particulars of this unhappy affair, we presume will be comma-
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nicated to your Honor by those whose more immediate duty it is .- We are Your Honor's most obedient Humble servants,
ROBERT BEATY, JOHN MILLER.
To the Hon. Jno. Penn, Esq., Lieut. Gov. of Pa.
1
Lancaster county, SS.
Inquisition taken at Manor township, in the county of Lancaster, the 14th Dec., 1763, before Matthew Slough, Coroner of the county aforesaid.
Upon view of the bodies of six Indians, then and there lying dead, by the oath of John Hambright, John Barr, Frederick Stone, James Ralf, Patrick Work, George Stricker, Wilson Atkinson, Christopher Crawford, Christian Wertz, Andrew Graff, and the solemn affirmation of Mathias Dehuff, John Dehuff, John Miller, and Anthony Snyder, good and lawful men of the county aforesaid, who being duly sworn and affirmed, tried and charged to inquire on the part of our Sovereign Lord, the King, how, and in what manner, the same six Indians came by their deaths, upon their oaths and affirmations aforesaid respect- ively do say, that the same six Indians, on the day of taking this Inqui- sition, were killed by a person or persons, to this Inquest unknown. And so the Inquest aforesaid, upon their oaths and affirmations afore- said respectively, do say that the same six Indians came by their death in the manner aforesaid.
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