USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania : from its discovery by Europeans, to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 > Part 35
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Thus fell the great power of France in America. Possessed of the northern and southern parts of the continent, her en- croachments became formidable to the British American empire. Her inordinate ambition goaded her into an attempt to confine her adversary to a narrow slip of sea coast, and
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brought upon her the united power of the mother and her colonies; a force which she baffled when feebly directed, but which was irresistible in the hands of a wise and energetic ministry.
The share of the provincials in this grand result is too honourable to the early history of America to be passed over without special notice. They had kept in the field an average force of twenty-five thousand men during the war, and con- tributed three millions five hundred thousand pounds sterling to the payment of its expenses .* Four hundred privateers from their ports "ravaged the French West India Islands, , and distressed the commerce of France in all parts of the world." Their. troops preserved the remains of the army wrecked by the folly of Braddock, and under Monckton cap- tured Beau Sejour, in Nova Scotia. Commanded by Sir William Johnson, they destroyed the army of baron Dieskau, took the general prisoner, and subsequently reduced fort Niagara, one of the most important posts on the continent. The merit of these actions is to be ascribed to them solely. In all the marches and battles they were principal sufferers ; and where honour was to be gained, the provincial was dis- tinguished by his fortitude in adversity, and his promptitude and courage in the hour of peril.
The subjugation of Canada left general Amherst leisure to attend to the distresses of the south. Late in May (1761) colonel Grant arrived at fort Prince George, with a strong detachment, which was reinforced by a body of colonists and friendly Indians. Early in June these entered the Cherokee country, beat the Indians in a battle fought near the spot where colonel Montgomery had been checked; and by the conflagration of their towns, the destruction of their crops, and the general waste of the district, compelled them again to sue for peace.
George the second died on the twenty-fifth of October, 1760. Official information of his death, and of the accession of his grandson, George III. having been received in Pennsyl-
* Walsh's Appeal.
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vania, the latter was proclaimed king with much solemnity on the twenty-first of January, at the court house in Phila- delphia, by the governor, attended by the mayor, recorder, governor's council, members of assembly, magistrates, the clergy, members of common council, and the principal inha- bitants, amid the acclamations of the people, the discharge of cannon and musketry, and ringing of bells. At the same time the proclamation of the new king was published, continuing incumbents in their offices pursuant to act of 6 Anne. A public entertainment was given at the Fountain tavern by the governor, and another at the ferry on Schuylkill by the mer- chants and other citizens.
The whole of the forces raised by the province of Pennsyl- vania had been discharged at the close of the last campaign, except one hundred and fifty men, a part of whom were em- ployed in transporting provisions from Niagara, and in gar- rison at Presqu'isle and Le Beof. These were detained until they should be relieved by a detachment of the royal Ame- ricans, but such was the weakness of that regiment, that this had hitherto been impracticable. The remainder was in gar- rison at forts Allen and Augusta. The latter, situated at the forks of the Susquehannah, commanded both branches of that river, which rendered its preservation highly important. The governor urged the assembly to provide means to pay the troops for the time they had remained in service beyond their contract, and to maintain fort Augusta. To the latter the house assented after much debate, voting a guard of thirty men; but the former they promptly refused, referring the men for payment to the crown, by which they were em- ployed.
The king required of the province for the year 1761 two- thirds of the force she had brought into the field during the last campaign. The despatches containing these commands were sent from England in December, (1760,) but the Leicester packet which conveyed them was captured by the enemy. The triplicates did not arrive until March. They were laid before the assembly in April, who instantly refused to com- ply with the requisition; nor could the expostulations or
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chidings of the governor and the general induce them to alter their resolution, further than to direct the levy of five hun- dred men, upon the assurance of the general that they should not be sent from the province. The supply bill of 1760 was similar in its provisions to that of 1759, and contained all the objectionable features of that act, and the apprehen- sion, fancied or real, which the house entertained of its abro- gation, and the consequent discredit of the bills issued under it, afforded them a plausible excuse to decline new engage- ments, which might oblige them to issue additional paper money.
But such apprehension did not restrain them from sending to the governor a like bill, for issuing thirty thousand pounds for the expenses of the current year, which he rejected, pro- posing to use the money received by the provincial agent from the crown, but the house adhering to their bill, no ap- propriation was made .*
Mr. Pitt having been overruled in council on his proposi- tion to declare war against Spain, resigned his place, which was filled by the earl of Egremont. By letter from that nobleman, the assembly of Pennsylvania was required to fur- nish the like number of provincial forces as in the last year, with four hundred and eighty-two recruits for the regular army, giving to the latter such bounty for enlistment as had been given to the provincial troops; on the part of his majes- ty five pounds was promised to every able-bodied man, be- tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, enlisting in the service. The assembly promptly voted one thousand men to be levied, clothed, and paid by the province until the twenty-fifth of November; but they unanimously refused the recruits, because the province was greatly drained of its
* A curious perversion of intellect, once at least paralleled in London, discovered itself in some persons in Philadelphia during the winter of the present year. Some person or persons followed the women found in the streets in the evening, and wounded several of them severely, par derriere, with some sharp instrument provided for that purpose. Instances of this kind of violence were so frequent, that the assembly offered a reward of fifty pounds for the detection of each offender.
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population, by having furnished a greater number of regulars than had been raised by all the other colonies.
The vote for the provincial forces was rendered nugatory by the failure of the supply bill. The house sent to the go- vernor the draught of an act for issuing bills of credit for seventy thousand pounds, to be redeemed in part by thirty thousand pounds of the money granted by parliament, and the residue by the extension of the excise on spirituous liquors until the year 1772. But as this bill also possessed all the features condemned by the privy council, embracing and pro- viding for all the fiscal wants of the government, instead of being confined to one object; placing the revenue solely at the discretion of the assembly, and making no provision for the proprietary rents, the governor refused to give it his sanction.
The war with Spain, predicted by Mr. Pitt, being at length declared,* the governor convened the assembly in May, for the purpose of communicating to them the intelligence, and obtaining means for the defence of Philadelphia, which he represented to be in great danger, inviting the enemy by its weakness and its wealth. The house, sensible of the dangers arising from the union of France and Spain, with great alacri- ty appropriated twenty-three thousand five hundred pounds, the parliamentary allotment for 1759, to this object, and re- solved to erect a fort, mounting twenty cannon, on Mud island, at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, com- manding the navigation of both, for which they voted five thousand pounds.
During this summer, the governor held a treaty with Bea- ver and Shingas, chiefs of the Delaware tribe of Indians, who had received no presents since the cessation of hostilities. Fearful of admitting these visiters into the populous parts of the country, the treaty was held at Lancaster; where several tribes from the Ohio, and many individuals from the Six nations, also attended, to brighten and strengthen the chain they had resolved soon to break; yet, in testimony of their sincerity,
* 4th Jan. 1762.
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they delivered up several captives they had taken during the war, and promised to restore in a short time all others re- maining among them.
The assembly, in the present year, patronised a new edi- tion of the laws, by Weiss and Millar, taking two hundred copies, which they directed to be distributed among the judges, magistrates, and other officers; caused copies taken, by virtue of an act for that purpose, of the papers and docu- ments in the secretary's and surveyor's office, to be authenti- cated; purchased the remaining lots on the square on which the state-house now stands; passed an act for the suppres- sion of lotteries; and one for paving the streets of Phila- delphia; and incorporated the southern suburbs of the city into a district called Southwark.
Richard Peters, having grown weary of his station of se- cretary of the province, and clerk of the council, resigned these offices, and was succeeded by Joseph Shippen on the second of January, 1762.
The war against France and Spain was not of long con- tinuance; peace being made with both on the third of No- vember, 1762. Our subject requires us to notice the terms of the treaty so far only as they affected the colonies. France surrendered her pretensions to Nova Scotia, and ceded Ca- nada, including Louisiana; Spain yielded Florida. In ex- change for this mighty domain, France received the islands. of St. Pierre, and Miquelon, near Newfoundland, with a re- stricted privilege of the fishery, and the islands of Marti- nique, Guadaloupe, Marigalante, Deseada, and St. Lucia: Spain obtained the restoration of the Havanna-a price more than adequate for Florida; which would not have been paid, but with the design of preserving the eastern shore of North America from foreign influence.
The successful efforts of Mr. Pitt to conquer Canada, were made upon the advice of Dr. Franklin, and the agency of this distinguished American was fortunately effective in de- termining the British ministry on its retention, against those who preferred to it acquisitions in the West Indies. On a prospect of peace with France, in conjunction with Mr.
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Richard Jackson, he wrote a pamphlet, entitled "The inte- rests of Great Britain considered, with regard to the colo- nies, and the acquisition of Guadaloupe;" exhibiting clearly and forcibly the advantages resulting from the retention of Canada; demonstrating that the security of a dominion is a proper cause for demanding a cession of territory from an enemy ; that forts in the back settlements were inadequate for defence against the French and Indians; and that present and future peace and security could be found only in the possession of Canada .*
The tidings of the pacification were communicated to go- vernor Hamilton by the earl of Egremont; who commanded him to express to the assembly his majesty's high displeasure at their artful evasion of his last requisitions, in granting with seeming cheerfulness one thousand provincials, which their ob- stinate adherence to their supply bill, containing several clauses that had been disapproved by the king in council, defeated; and to inform them that the king considered such conduct as proceeding from a predetermination not to afford any assist- ance to the general service when the immediate danger was removed from their own door ; and that such conduct, equally with their absolute refusal to furnish recruits for the regular forces, had incurred his majesty's just displeasure. This un- grateful commission Mr. Hamilton executed with much deli-' cacy, by laying the original letter of the earl before the as- sembly without comment. The house entered it upon their minutes, but gave it no further attention. t
During the summer, Dr. Franklin returned to Pennsylva- nia, rich in the confidence of his constituents, and in the esteem and affection of those with whom he had lately dwelt. During his residence in England, he received the degree of doctor of laws, from the universities of St. Andrews, Edin- burgh, and Oxford, and was eagerly admitted a member of most other learned societies in Europe. These were merited rewards for his philosophical discoveries. He had retained his seat in the assembly of Pennsylvania, by annual election,
* Franklin's Memoirs.
+ Votes. Min. of Couneil.
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during the whole term of his absence; and at the October election after his arrival was again returned from the city of Philadelphia. The house voted him five hundred pounds per annum for the six years of his absence, and directed their speaker to tender him their thanks from the chair .*
The province of Pennsylvania 'now looked for the enjoy- ment of a long and undisturbed peace; since her mild and forbearing policy had conciliated the Indians, and their dan- gerous neighbours, the French, were removed. But the sources in which she sought for safety, were fruitful of dangers. The unprotected state of the frontiers, consequent on the discharge of the forces of the middle and southern colonies, held forth irresistible temptations to the whetted appetite of the border savages for plunder. Their hostility had been rewarded ra- ther than chastised by Pennsylvania; every treaty of peace was accompanied by rich presents, and their detention of the prisoners was overlooked upon slight apologies, though ob- viously done to afford opportunities for new treaties, and ad- ditional gifts. The mistaken and perverted humanity of the : " Friendly Association" had softened down their offences, and its apologies gave them confidence in their allegations of injuries received from the whites. These reasons, however, are insufficient to account for the wide extension of the : Indian confederacy, which was probably caused by motives : of profound policy. The aborigines beheld the French driven out of their whole country, themselves threatened by forts commanding the great lakes and rivers, and they felt that an immediate and mighty effort was necessary to restrain the tide, which now unimpeded would spread itself over the continent.
A secret confederacy was formed among the Shawanese, the tribes upon the Ohio and its tributary waters, and about Detroit, to attack simultaneously all the English posts and settlements on the frontiers. Their plan was deliberately and skilfully projected. The border settlements were to be invaded during harvest, the men, corn, and cattle, to be de-
Votes.
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stroyed, and the outposts to be reduced by famine, by cut- ting off their supplies. Pursuant to this plan, the Indians fell suddenly upon the traders, whom they had invited among them, murdered many, and plundered the effects of all, to an immense value. The frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, were overrun by scalping parties, marking their way with blood and devastation. The outforts, even the most remote, were assailed about the same time. Le Bœuf, Venango, and Presq'isle, on and near lake Erie; La Ray, upon lake Michigan ; St. Joseph's, upon a river of that name; Miamis, upon the Miamis river; Ouachtanon, upon the Wabash river; Sandusky, and Michilimackinack, fell into the hands of the savages, who barbarously murdered the garrisons. These forts, in the security of general peace, were weakly manned, and now their intercourse with the colonies, and each other, being interrupted, the garrisons were sepa- rately persuaded that the others were captured, and fell with- out much resistance. Niagara, Detroit, and fort Pitt, larger, and better garrisoned, were prepared to withstand a longer siege. General Amherst, unable to save the remote posts, confined himself to the relief of these forts. Niagara was not attacked, the enemy judging it too strong. Major Glad- win, who commanded at Detroit, had to sustain the united and vigorous attacks of the nations living upon the lakes. A detachment, under captain Dalzell, was sent to Detroit, with orders to leave a reinforcement at Niagara. Having succeeded in the latter, they arrived at the former on the twenty-ninth of July, 1763, with the loss of seventy men and their com- mander.
About the first of June, the scalping parties perpetrated some murders in the vicinity of fort Pitt. Upon receipt of this intelligence, governor Hamilton, with the assistance of the provincial commissioners, immediately reinforced the gar- rison at Augusta, and sent out small parties to protect the frontiers. As the first attack was not immediately followed up by the Indians, the government was willing to believe it to have been the effect of some private resentments, rather than of a general combination for war. But such hopes were
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dissipated by inroads upon the settled parts of the province, and the flight of the inhabitants to the interior.
The whole country west of Shippensburg became the prey of the fierce barbarians. They set fire to houses, barns, corn, hay, and every thing that was combustible. The wretched inhabitants whom they surprised at night, at their meals, or in the labours of the fields, were massacred with the utmost cruelty and barbarity; and those who fled were scarce more happy. Overwhelmed by sorrow, without shelter, or means of transportation, their tardy flight was impeded by fainting women and weeping children. The inhabitants of Shippens- burg and Carlisle, now become the barrier towns, opened their hearts and their houses to their afflicted brethren. In the towns, every stable and hovel was crowded with misera- ble refugees, who, having lost their houses, their cattle, and their harvest, were reduced from independence and happiness to beggary and despair. The streets were filled with people; the men, distracted, by grief for their losses, and the desire of revenge, more poignantly excited by the disconsolate fe- males and bereaved children, who wailed around them. In the woods, for some miles, on both sides of the Susquehannah, many families, with their cattle, sought shelter, being unable to find it in the towns. The citizens of Philadelphia hastened to contribute to their relief. Large sums were collected by subscription from individuals and associations in the city, and in all the counties of the province, and judiciously applied for the relief of the sufferers.
After the first panic had passed away, the refugee settlers associated themselves together, and, under the care of divi- sions of the regular troops and militia, succeeded in collecting and saving the remnant of their crops.
In the latter end of August, a party of volunteers from Lan- caster county, one hundred and ten in number, intercepted at Muncey creek hill, a number of Indians, proceeding from Great Island, in the Susquehannah, to the frontier settlements of the province. The Indians, who were about fifty in num- ber, were compelled to fly, after a half hour's sharp firing. They renewed the attack, however, twice on the next day, .
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but without success. In these skirmishes the Indians lost twelve killed, and many wounded; the provincials, four killed, and as many wounded.
Colonel Armstrong collected a force of about three hundred volunteers from the vicinity of Shippensburg, Bedford, and Carlisle, under captains Laughlin, Patterson, jr. Bedford, Crawford, Sharp, and others, for the purpose of attacking the settlements of Muncey and the Great Island. This little army left fort Shirley, on the Aughwick, on the thirtieth of Septem- ber, in high hopes of surprising the enemy, and inflicting upon them a severe punishment. But on their arrival they discovered that the Indians had left their settlement some days before. Colonel Armstrong having learned that there was a small village called Myonaghquia, to which it was sup- posed the savages had retired, pushed on with a party of one hundred and fifty men, and travelled with such expedition and secrecy, that the enemy, a few only in number, were scarce able to escape, leaving their food hot upon their bark tables, which were prepared for dinner. The army destroyed at this village, and at Great Island, a large quantity of grain and other provisions.
Fort Pitt was in the mean time surrounded, and cut off from all communication with the government. The Indians posted themselves under the banks of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, and poured upon the garrison from day to day an incessant storm of musketry and fire arrows. But captain Ewyer, and the garrison, which had been increased by the traders who had escaped the Indians, displayed equal patience and resolution in their defence. General Amherst appointed colonel Bonquet to march to their relief, with a large quantity of military stores and provisions, which, for want of other troops, was to be escorted by the shattered re- mainder of the forty-second and seventy-seventh regiments, yet suffering from their labours at the siege of Havanna,
Colonel Bonquet commenced his march at the beginning of July. Early orders had been given to prepare a convoy of provisions on the frontier, but the affrighted inhabitants had done nothing when the colonel arrived at Carlisle. A
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great number of the plantations and mills were destroyed, and notwithstanding the province had endeavoured to save the harvest by raising seven hundred men to guard the fron- tiers, in many places the full ripe crops stood waving in the field, soliciting the hand of the reaper. The habita- tions in the greatest part of the county of Cumberland, through which the army had to pass, was deserted, and the roads were covered with families destitute of the necessaries of life, fly- ing from their homes. The supplies of provisions, horses, and carriages, had become precarious, whilst the commander was required by humanity to apportion his own stock to re- lieve the sufferers. But, after eight days of active exertion on the part of himself and agents, provisions and carriages were procured, with assistance from the interior part of the country.
The force of the colonel did not exceed five hundred men, veterans of approved courage and resolution, but infirm in health, and strangers to the woods and the Indian mode of warfare. A number of them were unable to march on foot, and sixty were carried in wagons, to reinforce the small posts on the route. The inhabitants on the frontier had no confi- dence in the power of this small army, and declining to join it, they awaited in despondency its defeat, to abandon the country beyond the Susquehannah.
Colonel Bonquet's first object was to relieve fort Ligonier, situated beyond the Allegheny mountains. This place was very important, on account of the stores it contained, which, in possession of the enemy, would enable them to persevere in their attack on fort Pitt, and to reduce the army to the greatest straits. He despatched a party of thirty men, who succeeded in joining the garrison, being undiscovered by the enemy until within sight of the fort, into which they threw themselves, after receiving some running shot.
The army advanced to the remote verge of the settlements, without intelligence of the number, position, or motions of the enemy. But the Indians had regular and correct intelli- gence of the proceedings of the English, and having learned the advance of the troops, broke up the siege of fort Pitt, with
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the resolution to attack them on their march. In this state of uncertainty the commander deemed it prudent to leave his wagons at fort Ligonier, and to proceed with pack horses. Before him lay a dangerous defile at Turtle creek, several miles in length, commanded the whole way by high and craggy hills. This he purposed to pass by a forced march the ensuing night, after a short delay to refresh his troops at Bushy Run .*
When within a half mile of that place, about one o'clock in the afternoon, his advance guard was attacked by the In- dians, but being speedily and firmly supported, the enemy was beaten off, and pursued some distance; but when the pursuit ceased, they returned with vigour to the attack, whilst several other parties who had been concealed among the heights along the English flanks, discovered themselves, and poured in an obstinate and destructive fire. A general charge was necessary to dislodge them, but it produced no decisive advantage; for as soon as the savages were driven from one post they appeared at another; and, reinforcements coming in, they at length surrounded the whole detachment, and attacked the convoy in the rear. To protect this, the main body was compelled to fall back, and though assailed with great vivacity, its steadiness and courage preserved it from confusion, and it finally succeeded, with fixed bayonets, in repelling the enemy from all their posts, when the fall of night prevented further operations.
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