USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 3rd ed > Part 15
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
I am, sir, your servant,
"JOHN CONNOLY."
This letter, although short, contained so many things for remark and animadversion, that we scarcely know where to begin. It ex- hibits, however, a real picture of the man, and a mere superificial glance at its phraseology will prove that he is angry, and his nerves in a tremor. It is, in fact, an incoherent jumble of words and sen- tences, all in the adjunctive.
But it is a perfect original and anomaly in the epistolary line ; and contains in itself internal marks of genuine authenticity.
The first thing in this letter that calls for our attention is the language he uses towards the people he calls "militia deserters." That they may be dealt with, he says, as their crime merits. Now I pray you who were those people? Doubtless the respectable farm- ers and others in the vicinity of Pittsburg. And what does this Mogul of the west intend to do with them? Why hang them, to be
* During the government of Connoly in this place, he changed the name from Pitt to Dunmore ; but subsequent events have blotted out Dunmore's name.
I33
JACOB'S ACCOUNT
sure ; for this is military law. But the true state of this case doubt- less is, that these militia considered themselves free men ; that they were not well pleased either with Connoly or garrison duty ; that viewing their country in danger, and their wives and children ex- posed to savage barbarity, they preferred more active service, and joined the standard of Capt. Cresap. And is this a new thing, or reprehensible? How often do our militia enter into the regular army, and whoever dreamed of hanging them for so doing ?
But, secondly, we say it is possible Capt. Cresap did not know from whence these men came ; and if he did, he deserves no cen- sure for receiving them ; and as to the charge of inveigling away the militia from the garrison, we know this must be positively false, because he was not in Pittsburg in the year 1774, either personally or by proxy.
As to the general charge against Capt. Cresap, of attacking the Indians, and the great injury he had done them, I need only say that this charge is refuted again and again in the course of this his- tory, and its unparalleled impudence especially, or the date of this letter, merits the deepest contempt. But the most extraordinary feature in this most extraordinary letter is couched in these words, namely, "That the Indians relied upon the expressions of friendship he made them and deported themselves accordingly."
Be astonished, O ye nations of the earth, and all ye kindreds of people at this ! For be it remembered that this the 14th day of July, 1774, when Connoly has the unblushing impudence to assert that the Indians relied upon his expressions of friendship, and deported themselves accordingly, when at this very time we were engaged in the hottest part of Dunmore's war; when Dunmore himself was raising an army and personally on his way to take the command ; when Lewis was on his march from Augusta county, Virginia, to the Ohio River ; when Cornstalk, with his Indian army, was in 1110- tion to meet Lewis ; and when Capt. Cresap was actually raising a company to join the Earl of Dunmore when he arrived. And it was while engaged in this business, that he received this letter from Connoly.
Now, if any man can account for this strange and extraordinary letter upon rational principles, let him do so if he can ; he has more ingenuity and a more acute discernment than I have.
Soon after receiving this letter, Capt. Cresap left his company on the west side of the mountain and rode home, where he met the Earl of Dunmore at his house, and where he (the Earl) remained a few days in habits of friendship and cordiality with the family. One day while the Earl was at his house, Capt. Cresap finding him alone, introduced the subject of Connoly's ill-treatment, with a view, I suppose, of obtaining redress, or of exposing the character of a man he knew to be high in the estimation and confidence of the Earl. But what effect, suppose ye, had this remonstrance on the Earl? I'll tell you ; it lulled him into a profound sleep. Aye, eye, thinks
I34
OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
I to myself, (young as I then was), this will not do, captain ; there are wheels within wheels, dark things behind the curtain between this noble Earl and his sub-satellite.
Capt. Cresap, was himself open, candid and unsuspicious, and I do not know what he thought, but I well remember my own thoughts upon this occasion.
But let us, as nearly as possible, finish our business with Con- noly, although we must thereby get a little ahead of our history ; yet, as already remarked, we think it less perplexing to the reader, than to give him here a little and there a little of this extraordin- ary character.
We find, then, that in the year 1775, Connoly, discovering that his sheep-skin would not cover him much longer, he threw off the mask and fled with his friend Dunmore, who also, about the same time, was obliged to take sanctuary on board a British ship of war in the Chesapeake Bay. From this place, i. e. Portsmouth, Vir- ginia, Connoly wrote the following letter to Col. John Gibson, who, 110 doubt, he supposed, possessed sentiments congenial to his own. It happened, however, that he was mistaken in his man, for Gibson exposed him, and put his letter into the hands of the commissioners who were holding a treaty with the Indians.
But let us see this letter : it is dated Portsmouth, Virginia, August 9th, 1775.
DEAR SIR : I have safely arrived here, and am happy in the greatest degree at having so fortunately escaped the narrow inspec- tion of my enemies, the enemies of their country's good order and government. I should esteem myself defective in point of friend- ship towards you, should I neglect to caution you to avoid an over- zealous exertion of what is now ridiculously called patriotic spirit, but on the contrary to deport yourself with that moderation for which you have always been so remarkable, and which must in this instance tend to your honor and advantage. You may rest assured from me, sir, that the greatest unanimity now prevails at home, and the innovating spirit among us here is looked upon as ungenerous and undutiful, and that the utmost exertion of the powers in govern- ment (if necessary) will be used in convincing the infatuated people of their folly.
" I would, I assure you, sir, give you such convincing proofs of what I assert, and from which every reasonable person may con- clude the effects, that nothing but madness could operate upon a man so far to overlook his duty to the present constitution, and to form unwarrantable associations with enthusiasts, whose ill-timed folly must draw down upon theni inevitable destruction. His lord- ship desires you to present his hand to Captain White-eyes, (a Delaware Indian chief) and to assure him, he is sorry he had not the pleasure of seeing him at the treaty, (a treaty held by Connoly.
I35
JACOB'S ACCOUNT
in his name), or that the situation of affairs prevented him from coming down.
" Believe me, dear sir, that I have no motive in writing my sentiments thus to you, further than to endeavor to steer you clear of the misfortunes which I am confident must involve but unhappily too many. I have sent you an address from the people of Great Britain to the people of America, and desire you to consider it atten- tively, which will I flatter myself convince you of the idleness of many determinations and the absurdity of an intended slavery.
"Give my love to George, (his brother, afterwards a colonel in the Revolutionary War), and tell him he shall hear from me, and I hope to his advantage. Interpret the inclosed speech to Capt. White-eyes from his Lordship. Be prevailed upon to shun the popu- lar error, and judge for yourself, as a good subject, and expect the rewards due to your services. "I am, &c.,
"JOHN CONNOLY."
The enclosed speech to White-eyes we shall see in its proper place, after we have finished our business with Connoly. It seems, then, that either a mistaken notion of his influence, or greatly de- ceived by his calculations on the support of Col. Gibson, his brother and friends, or in obedience to the solicitations of his friend Dun- more, he undertakes (incog.) a hazardous journey from the Chesa- peake Bay to Pittsburg, in company, if I recollect right, with a cer- tain Doctor Smith ; but our Dutch republicans of Frederickstown, Maryland, smelt a rat, seized and imprisoned him, from whence he was removed to the Philadelphia jail, where we will leave him awhile to cool.
But let us now look at these two characters ; Connoly uses every effort to destroy us and subvert our liberties, and Cresap marches to Boston with a company of riflemen to defend his coun- try. If then men's actions afford us the true and best criterion to judge of their merit or demerit, we can be at no loss to decide on this occasion. Nor can there be any doubt that this man, so full of tender sensibility and sympathy for the suffering of the Indians, when arrested with his colleague (Smith) in Frederick, had a Pan- dora's box full of fire-brands, arrows and death, to scatter among the inhabitants of the west.
But it is probable the reader, as well as the writer, is weary of such company ; we therefore bid him adieu, and once more attend his excellency the Governor of Virginia, whom we left, I think, on board a British sloop of war, in the Chesapeake Bay.
The reader has not forgotten, that we long since stated it is our opinion, that it was probable, and that we had strong reasons to believe, that Dunmore himself, from political motives, though act- ing behind the scenes, was in reality at the bottom of the Indian war of 1774.
We have already alluded to several circumstances previous to
I36
OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
and during that war ; but we have in reserve several more evincive of the same fact subsequent to the war.
It may be remembered that at the treaty of Chillicothe, it was remarked that some points were referred to future discussion at Pitts- burg, in the ensuing fall ; and it appears that a treaty was actually held by Connoly in Dunmore's name, with the chiefs of the Dela- ware, and some Mingo tribes in the summer ensuing. This is his- torically a fact, and matter of record, which I extract from the minutes of a treaty, held in the autumn of the same year, with sever- al tribes of Indians, by commissioners from the Congress of the United States and from Virginia. *
But to understand this perfectly, the reader must be informed, that previous to this treat, Capt. Jas. Wood, afterward governor of Virginia, was sent to that State as the herald of peace, with the olive branch in his hand, to invite all the Indian tribes bordering on the Ohio River and its waters, to a treaty at Pittsburg, on the 10th day of September following. Capt. Wood kept a journal, which is in- corporated in the proceedings of the treaty, from which journal, I copy as follows : "July the 9th, I arrived (says he) at Fort Pitt, where I received information that the chiefs of the Delawares and a few of the Mingos had lately been treating with Maj. Connoly agree- ably to instructions from Lord Dunmore, and that the Shawnees liad not come to the treaty," &c.
Capt. Wood, however, acknowledges, in a letter he wrote to the convention in Virginia from this place, that this treaty held by Connoly was "in the most open and candid manner, that it was held in the presence of the committee, and that he laid the Governor's instructions before them." Very good. But why these remarks respecting Connoly and Dunmore? Does not this language imply jealousy and suspicion, which Capt. Wood, who certainly was de- ceived, was anxious to remove? But to proceed. He says :
"July 10. White-eyes came with interpreter to my lodging. He informed me he was desirous of going to Williamsburg with Mr. Connoly to see Lord Dunmore, who had promised him his interest in procuring him a grant from the king for the lands claimed by the Delawares ; that they were all desirous of living as the white people do, and under their laws and protection ; that Lord Dunmore had engaged to make him some satisfaction for his trouble in going sev- eral times to the Shawnee towns, and serving with him on the cam- paign, &c., &c. He told me he hoped I would advise him whether it was proper for him to go or not. I was then under the necessity of acquainting him with the disputes subsisting between Lord Dunmore and the people of Virginia, and engaged, whenever the assembly
* The original minutes of this treaty are in my own possession. They were presented to me by my friend, John Madison, Secretary of the Com- missioners, with I think this remark, that they were of no use them, but might be of some to me.
I37
JACOB'S ACCOUNT
met, that I would go with him to Williamsburg, &c., &c. He was very thankful, and appeared satisfied."
The reader must observe this is July roth, 1775, and he will please refer to page 134 and 135, where he will see from Connoly's letter of August 9th, how much reliance was to be placed on his candor and sincerity, as stated by Capt. Wood to the convention on the 9th day of July. Thus we find that about thirty days after Capt. Wood's testimony in his favor, Connoly threw away the mask, and presented himself in his true character ; and from his own confession and the tenor of his letter to Gibson, it is plain that the current of suspicion run so strongly against him that he declared himself "most happy in escaping the vigilance of his enemies."
We owe the reader an apology for introducing this man again ; but the fact is that Dunmore and Connoly are so identified in all the political movements of this period, that we can seldom see one with- out the other ; and Connoly is the more prominent character, especi- ally in the affairs of the west.
But we now proceed with Capt. Wood's journal. He tells us that on the 20th of July, he met Gerritt Pendergrass about nine o'clock ; that he had just left the Delaware towns; that two days before, the Delawares had just returned from the Wyandott towns, where they had been at a grand council with a French and English officer, and the Wyandotts ; that Monsieur Baubee and the English officer told them to be on their guard, that the white people intended to strike them very soon, &c.
July 21. At one o'clock, arriving at the Moravian Indian town, examined the minister, (a Dutchman), concerning the coun- cil lately held with the Indians, &c., who confirmed the account be- fore stated.
July 22. About ten oclock arrived at Coshocton, (a chief town of the Delawares), and delivered to their council a speech, whichi they answered on the 23d. After expressing their thankfulness for the speech and willingness to attend the proposed treaty at Pittsburg, they delivered to Capt. Wood a belt and string they said was sent to them by an Englishman and Frenchman from Detroit, accompanied with a message that the people of Virginia were determined to strike them ; that they would come upon them two different ways, the one by the way of the lakes, and the other by the way of the Ohio River, and to take the lands, that they must be constantly on their guard, and not to give any credit to whatever you said, as you were a people not to be depended upon ; that the Virginians would invite them to a treaty, but that they must not go at any rate, and to take particular notice of the advice they gave, which proceeded from motives of the real friendship.
Now by comparing and collating this with the speech sent by Dunmore, enclosed in Connoly's letter, it will furnish us with a
18
.
I38
OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
squinting at the game that was playing with the Indians by the Earl of Dunmore and other British officers; to be convinced of which, read the following speech from Dunmore, which was enclosed in a letter to Gibson :
"Brother Capt. White-eyes, I am glad to hear your good speeches as sent to me by Maj. Connoly, and you may be assured I shall put one end of the belt you sent me into the hands of our great king, who will be glad to hear of his brothers the Delawares, and will take strong hold of it. You may rest satisfied that our foolish young men will never be permitted to have your lands ; but on the contrary the great king will protect you, and preserve you in the possession of them.
"Our young men in this country have been very foolish, and done many imprudent things, for which they must soon be sorry, and of which I make do doubt they have acquainted you ; but must desire you not to listen to them, as they would be willing you should act foolishly with themselves ; but rather let what you hear pass in at one ear and out of the other, so that it may make no impres- sion on your heart, until your hear from me fully, which shall be as soon as I can give further information.
"Capt. White-eyes will please acquaint the Cornstalk with these my sentiments, as well as the chiefs of the Mingos, and other six nations.
(Signed) "DUNMORE."
It is scarcely necessary to remark here, that the flight of Dun- more from Williamsburg, of Connoly from Pittsburg, this speech of Dunmore's, and the speech of the Delawares to Capt. Wood, are all nearly cotemporaneous, and point the reader pretty clearly to the aspect of our affairs with the Indians at this period. Dunmore's speech, as you have it above, although pretty explicit, as it had to pass through an equivocal medium ; but he tells Captain White-eyes he shall hear from him "hereafter," and this " here- after" speech was no doubt in Connoly's portmanteau when he was arrested in Frederick.
But to conclude this tedious chapter, nothing more now seems necessary than to call the attention of the reader to those inferences that the facts and circumstances detailed in the foregoing pages seem to warrant.
The first circumstance in the order of events seems to be the extraordinary and contradictory conduct of Dunmore and Connoly respecting Captain Cresap. They certainly understood each other, and had one ultimate end in view ; yet we find on all occasions Dun- more treats Cresap with the utmost confidence and cordiality, and that Connoly's conduct was continually the reverse, even outrage- ously insulting him, while under the immediate orders of Dunmore himself.
139
JACOB'S ACCOUNT
Second, we find Dunmore acting with duplicity and deception with Col. Lewis and his brigade, from Augusta county. So says Doddridge.
Third, we find Capt. Cresap's name foisted into Logan's pre- tended speech, when it is evident, as we shall hereafter prove, that no names were at all mentioned in the original speech made for Logan.
Fourth, it appears pretty plainly that much pains were taken by Dunmore, at the treaty of Chillicothe, to attach the Indian chiefs to his person, as appears from the facts that afterwards appeared.
Fifth, the last speech from Dunmore to Capt. White-eyes and other Indian chiefs, sent in Connoly's letter to Gibson ; to all which we may add, his Lordship's nap of sleep while Cresap was stating his complaints against Connoly, and all Connoly's strange and un- accountable letters to Cresap.
I say, from all which it will appear that Dunmore had his views, and those views hostile to the liberties of America, in his proceedings with the Indians in the war of 1774, the circumstances of the times, in connection with his equivocal conduct, leads us al- most naturally to infer that he knew pretty well what he was about, and among other things, he knew that a war with the Indians at this time would materially subserve the views and interest of Great Britain, and consequently he perhaps might feel it a duty to pro- mote said war, and if not, why betray such extreme solicitude to single out some conspicuous character, and make him the scape-goat, to bear all the blame of this war, that he and his friend Connoly might escape?
140
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
It is not within the plan of this work, to go into a general detail of the War of the Revolution. The author will only give an account of it so far as it is connected with the immediate History of the Valley.
At the beginning of the war the late Daniel Morgan was ap- pointed a captain, and very soon raised a company of brave and active young men, with whom he marched to join Gen. Washington at Boston. John Humphrey's was Morgan's first lieutenant. Mor- gan was soon promoted to the rank of major, and Humphrey's was made captain. It is believed this was one of the first regular com- panies raised in Virginia, which marched to the north. Morgan with his company was ordered to join Gen. Montgomery, and march to the attack on Quebec ; in which attack Montgomery was killed, and Morgan, after performing prodigies of valor, compelled to sur- render himself and his brave troops prisoners of war. Capt. Humphreys was killed in the assault. The Reverend Peter Muhlen- burg, a clergyman of the Lutheran * profession, in the County of Shenandoah, laid off his gown and took up the sword. He was appointed a colonel, and soon raised a regiment, called the eighth, consisting chiefly of young men of German extraction. Abraham Bowman was appointed to a majorilty in it, as was also Peter Hel- phinstine, of Winchester. It was frequently called the " German regiment." Muhlenburg was ordered to the south in 1776, and the unhealthiness of the climate proved fatal to many of his men.
James Wood, of Winchester, was aiso appointed a colonel. He soon raised another regiment, marched to the north, and joined Gen. Washington's main army.
Maj. Morgan, after several month's captivity, was exchanged together with his troops, promoted to the rank of colonel, and again joined his country's standard in the northern army. Muhlenburg returned from his southern campaign, and in 1777 also joined the northern army. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and Abraham Bowman to the rank of colonel. Helphinstine con- tracted a lingering disease in the south, returned home on furlough, and died in Winchester in the autumn of 1776. Col. Morgan, with
* The author is mistaken ; he was an Episcopalian.
141
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
a picked regiment of riflemen, was ordered to join Gen. Gates, to meet and oppose Gen. Burgoyne. It is universally admitted that Morgan, with his brave and expert rifle regiment, contributed much towards achieving the victory which followed.
After the capture of Burgoyne and his army, 17th of October, 1777, Morgan, for his great personal bravery, and superior military talents displayed on all occasions, was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. He joined the standard of Washington, and soon distinguished himself in harrassing the British army in the neigh- borhood of Philadelphia.
Numerous calls for the aid of the militia were made from time to time to assist our country in the defense of its rights and liber- ties ; which calls were generally promptly obeyed. The spirit of patriotism and love of country was the prevailing passion of a vast majority of the people of the Valley ; and with one exception, which will be noticed hereafter, our character was not tarnished by anything like a tory insurrection. The author most de- voutly wishes, for the honor of his native country, that this exception could be blotted out of our history, and consigned to etern- al oblivion.
Our Valley, at the commencement of the war, was compara- tively thinly populated. The first official return, for the county of Frederick, of the effective militia, to the Executive of Virginia, amounted only to 923 ; the whole number of people in Winchester was 800, probably a small fraction over. This return and enumera- tion was made in the year 1777.
In 1777 Gen. Sullivan "gained possession of some records and papers belonging to the Quakers, which, with a letter, were for- warded to Congress, and referred to a committee." On the 28th of August the committee reported, "That the several testimonies which have been published since the commencement of the present contest betwixt Great Britain and America, and the uniform tenor of the conduct and conversation of a number of persons of consider- able wealth, who profess themselves to belong to the society of people commonly called Quakers, render it certain and notorious that those persons are with much rancor and bitterness disaffected to the American cause ; that as those persons will have it in their power, so there is no doubt it will be their inclination, to communi- cate intelligence to the enemy, and in various other ways to injure the councils and arms of America ; that the enemy, in the month of December, 1776, were bending their progress towards the city of Philadelphia, a certain seditious publication, addressed ‘To our friends and brethren in religious profession, in these and adjacent provinces,' signed John Pemberton, 'in and on behalf of the meeting of sufferers, held in Philadelphia, for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, on the 26th of the 12th month, 1776,' was published, and as your committee is creditably informed, circulated amongst many mem- bers of the society called Quakers, throughout the different States ;
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.