USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 16
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HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
cerned in, and they thought it most proper for the English themselves to compel their own people to remove from the Indian lands.
The commissioners, finding all efforts fruitless to gain over the Indian deputies, determined to return to Philadelphia, and, while making their arrangements, they were visited at their lodgings by one of the principal warriors of the Six Nations, who stated that he regretted the state of affairs, fearing the ill-will of the white people, yet pledging his Indian faith and Indian honor, that the Six Nations had good hearts to all their English brethren. Thus ended the treaty at Fort Pitt, and the white set- tlers were left on the lands.
From this period the country west of the Alleghanies began to fill up with a further white immigation, but the boundary question was still a source of trouble, involving not only the extent of Pennsylvania, but the title to lands. The difficulties, too, were aggravated by one Michael Cre- sap, who sought to create disturbances on the boundary question, declar- ing that the province of Pennsylvania did not extend west of the Allegha- nies, but that all " westward of them was the King's land."
In the midst of the trouble, Dr. John Connolly, a citizen of Virginia, appeared, and posted up the following significant notice, taking up the controversy on behalf of Virginia :
" Whereas, his Excellency, John, Earl of Dunmore, Governor of the colony of Virginia, has been pleased to nominate and appoint me Captain- Commandant of the militia of Pittsburg and its dependencies, with in- structions to assure his Majesty's subjects, settled on the western waters, that having the greatest regard to their prosperity and interest, and con- vinced, from the reported memorials of the grievances of which they com- plain, that he purposes recommending to the House of Burgesses the necessity of erecting a new county, to include Pittsburg, for the redress of your grievances, and to take every other step that may tend to afford you that justice which you solicit. In order to facilitate this desirable circum- stance, I (John Connolly) hereby require and command all persons in the dependency of Pittsburg to assemble themselves there, as militia, on the 25th inst., at which time I shall communicate other matters for the pro- motion of public utility."
The Pennsylvanians immediately arrested Connolly, and on his refusal to find security for his good behavior, committed him to gaol. Connolly induced the Sheriff to give him leave of absence for a few days, during which, guarded by the settlers of Redstone, with Virginian predilections, he returned to Virginia. Penn wrote to Dunmore demanding an explana- tion of his sending Connolly to the State, and calling on and requiring the law officers of Pennsylvania to assert her rights and protect her people " within her own limits."
The correspondence between Penn and Dunmore was spicy, and in it Dunmore supported Connolly, who returned to Pittsburg, and kept around him an armed body of men, to execute his orders in defence of Virginia's
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laws. The magistrates of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, refusing to acknowledge any authority but that of Pennsylvania, were arrested when returning from court, April 9, 1774, by order of Connolly, and refusing to give bail under the laws of Virginia, arrangements were made, and they were sent to Staunton for trial. The magistrates sent to Staunton were Smith, Mackay, and McFarland. On their way to Staunton, Mackay called at Williamsburg to visit Lord Dunmore, who informed him that Connolly was authorized by him to prosecute the claim of Virginia to Pittsburg and its dependencies. On arriving in Staunton, the three jus- tices gave security and returned to their homes.
Col. Wm. Crawford, President of the Court, immediately sent an express to Gov. Penn, detailing the facts, and at the same time stating that Capt. Connolly, a few weeks before, went to Staunton, and was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace for Augusta county, in which " it is pretended that the country about Pittsburg is included, and he is constantly surrounded by about 180 militia, and obstructs the execution of every legal process,"
The Provincial Council ordered the arrest of Connolly, and sent com- missioners to Lord Dunmore. At the same time, they deprecated the alarming situation of affairs, and advised Col. Crawford, as " Virginia had the power to raise a much larger military force than Pennsylvania, pru- dence would dictate the propriety of not attempting to contend with them by way of force."
The commissioners sent to Dunmore were Jas. Tilghman and A. Allen, and arrived in Williamsburg in May, 1774. Dunmore informed them that " the jurisdiction of Fort Pitt would not be relinquished by Virginia without His Majesty's order." This put an end to their mission. On the departure of the commissioners, Dunmore issued the following proclama- tion :
" Whereas, I have reason to apprehend that the government of Penn- sylvania, in prosecution of their claim to Pittsburg and its dependencies, will endeavor to obstruct His Majesty's government thereof, under my administration, by illegal and unwarrantable commitment of the officers I have appointed for that purpose, and that that settlement is in some danger of annoyance from the Indians, also, and it being necessary to support the dignity of His Majesty's government and protect his subjects in the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of their rights, I have therefore thought proper, by and with the consent of His Majesty's Council, by this proclamation, in His Majesty's name, to order and require the officers of the militia in that district to embody a sufficient number of men to repel any insult whatever, and all His Majesty's liege subjects within this colony are hereby strictly required to be aiding and assisting therein, as they shall answer the con- trary at their peril. And I do further enjoin and require the several in- habitants of the territory aforesaid to pay His Majesty's quit rent, and all public dues, to such officers as are or shall be appointed to collect the same, within this Dominion, until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known."
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Events were hastening to a crisis between Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the Indians, who considered themselves as injured parties, determined to avail themselves of a conflict, to join the Pennsylvanians, and be avenged on the Virginians. Pennsylvania, too, took immediate steps to meet the emergency, though Gov. Penn sent word to the Shawanese that if any wicked Virginians had murdered any of their tribe, he would make com- plaint to the Governor of Virginia, have the guilty parties punished, and that they should not seek to take revenge upon innocent people. Similar messages were sent to the Delawares, and the Indians met in council at Pittsburg, June, 1774, and all unhappy differences were satisfactorily settled, and the red men determined, in their own language, "to hold fast the chain of friendship, and make their young men sit quiet."
Capt. Connolly was not satisfied with this friendly alliance between the Indians and the Pennsylvanians, and thus spoke in a letter to Gen. A. St. Clair in July : " I am determined no longer to be a dupe to their amiable professions, but, on the contrary, shall pursue every measure to offend them, the Indians, whether I may have the friendly assistance or not of the neighboring country."
Connolly's course hastened on the war of 1774, and its outbreak was so immediately due to the conduct of Capt. Michael Cresap, that it was by some styled "Cresap's war." Space does not admit of our entering into explanatory details.
In 1775, the conflicting jurisdiction of the provinces gave rise to further troubles, and magistrates, acting under Pennsylvanian authority, were threatened with imprisonment. Virginians, who were in prison under Pennsylvania laws, were turned loose by an armed mob, claiming to act under the laws of Virginia. Confusion reigned ; lands, already occupied, were given to friends and favorites by Virginia officers ; the courts of jus- tice, under Pennsylvania laws, were obstructed, and land offices were opened by the direction of the Government of Virginia.
The court of the District of West Virginia also engaged in promoting the interest of Virginia, as is obvious from the following facts :
" At a justice's court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg), February 22, 1775, (this was a court of Augusta), James Caveat was arraigned before the court for malevolently upbraiding the authority of His Majesty's offi- cers of the government of Virginia at sundry times, and for riotously opposing the legal establishment of His Majesty's laws. He offered as a plea the want of jurisdiction of the court, which was overruled, and he was required to give security for one year and a day, and desist from acknowl- edging, as a magistrate, within the colony of Virginia, any authority de- rived from the province of Pennsylvania.
" May 1, 1775, Thomas Scott was also bound over for acting and doing business as a Justice of the Peace under Pennsylvania laws, in contempt of the Earl of Dunmore's proclamation, and also other misdemeanors, and was required to desist from acting as a magistrate within the colony of Virginia.
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"September 20, 1775, George Wilson, gentleman. was bound over for aiding, advising, and abetting certain disorderly persons, who, on the morning of the 22d of June last, violently seized and carried away Capt. John Connolly from Fort Dunmore, and also advising others not to aid the officers of justice, when called upon, to apprehend the aforesaid dis- turbers of the peace. He, not appearing, his recognizance was forfeited."
These acts aroused the Pennsylvanians, and they seized Capt. Connolly and took him to Philadelphia, whereupon the county court of Augusta directed that Geo. Wilson, D. Smith and I. Spear should be kept as hos- tages for his safe return, and, to prevent their rescue, they were sent in a flat-boat to Wheeling. These matters must have led to open hostilities between the provinces, but for the merging of all local affairs in the all- absorbing question of the freedom of America, and nothing more is heard of the boundary until the second year of the Revolutionary war, when, in 1777, Pennsylvania proposed to Virginia a final settlement of the disputed boundary. The correspondence on the subject led to the appointment on part of both States of Commissioners to settle the matter.
Virginia appointed Bishop Madison and Robt. Andrews, to settle the mat- ter, and Pennsylvania, Geo. Bryan, Rev. John Ewing, DD., and David Rit- tenhouse. They met in Baltimore, Aug. 31, 1779, and after four days' nego- tions, came to this agreement : "That Mason and Dixon's line be extended due West 5°, to be computed from the river Delaware for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian, drawn from the western extremity thereof to the northern limits of the said States, respectively, be the western boundary forever," &c. This agreement, with the conditions annexed for the protection of individual rights, was adopted by the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania, September, 1780, and transmitted to Virginia for confirmation. While the negotiations were pending, Congress passed the following preamble and resolution, December 27, 1779 :
" Whereas, It appears to Congress, from the representation of the dele- gates from the State of Pennsylvania, that disputes had arisen between the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia relative to the extent of their bounda- ries, which may probably be productive of serious evils to both States, and tend to lessen their exertions in the common defence ; therefore
Resolved, That it be recommended to the contending parties not to grant any part of the disputed lands, or to disturb the possession of any person living thereon, and to avoid every appearance of force, until the dispute can be amicably adjusted by both States, or brought to a just de- cision by the intervention of Congress ; that possessions forcibly taken be restored to the original possessors, and things be placed in the situation in which they were at the commencement of the present war, without preju- dice to the claims of either party."
In 1784, Virginia confirmed the line agreed upon by the Commissioners in August, 1779, and the boundary was temporarily settled ; but it was not finally disposed of until the adoption, extension, and approval of the Mason & Dixon line.
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THE MASON & DIXON LINE.
As this line forever put to rest all questions as to boundary between the two States, a brief history of it will not be here out of place. It was fixed in the years 1763-4-5-6-7 by two distinguished mathematicians and astrono- mers, Chas. Mason and Jer. Dixon, of London, afterwards extended by authority and consent of Virginia and Pennsylvania temporarily, and finally adjusted in 1784. The line properly begins at the northeast corner of Maryland, and runs due west. The Indians, as we shall see, were trouble- some to the surveyors, but, by treaties, they permitted them to proceed as far west as the old war-path, within thirty-six miles of the whole distance to be run, when the Indian escort informed them that it was the will of the Six Nations the surveyors should cease their labors. There was no alternative. The surveyors stopped, and hence arose the difficulties which we have narrated in the preceding part of this chapter as to the boundary.
By reference to the charter granted by King Charles II to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, on the 4th of March, 1681, we find the follow- ing described land :
" All that tract or part of land in America, with all the islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from twelve miles distant northwards of New Castletown unto the three and for- tieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far north- ward; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend ; and from the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from the head of the said river unto the said three and fortieth degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds, and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern lati- tude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle northwards, and westwards unto the beginning of the fortieth de- gree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westwards to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
It is evident that Penn's grant of land from King Charles was to lie west of the Delaware river, and north of Maryland, because the charter by Lord Baltimore for Maryland included all the land to the Delaware Bay, "which lieth under the 40° of north latitude, where New England terminates "; hence the only mode by which the form and extent of Penn- sylvania could be determined was by the two natural landmarks-viz .: New Castletown and the river Delaware. This river being her eastern boundary, New Castletown was to be used as the centre of a circle of twelve miles radius, whose northwestern segment was to connect the river with the beginning of the 40°, while the province was to extend westward 5° in longitude, to be computed from said eastern bounds.
The Penns claimed, for the western boundary, a line beginning at 39°, at the distance of 5° of longitude, from the Delaware; thence at
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the same distance from that river in every point to north latitude 42º, which would take into the province of Pennsylvania some fifty miles square of northwestern Virginia, west of the west line of Maryland. Lord Dunmore, however, rejected this claim, and insisted it would be difficult to ascertain such a line with mathematical exactness, and that the western. boundary of Pennsylvania should be a meridian line run south from the end of 5° of longitude from the Delaware, on the line of 42°. This claim, on the other hand, would have thrown the western line of Pennsylvania fifty miles east of Pittsburg.
The foundation of the Mason & Dixon's line was based upon an agree- ment entered into July 4th, 1760, between Lord Baltimore and Thomas Penn, and the three lower counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, on the Delaware, on account of the very long litigations and contests which had subsisted between these provinces from the year 1683. These parties mutually agreed, among other things, to appoint a sufficient number of discreet persons, not more than seven on each side, to be their respective commissioners, with full power to the said seven persons, or any three or more of them, for the actual running, marking, and laying out of the said part of the circle, (as mentioned in the charter from Charles II to William Penn,) and the said before mentioned lines. The commissioners were to fix upon their time of commencing said lines not later than the following October, and proceed with all fairness, candor and dispatch, marking said line with stones and posts on both sides, and complete the same before the 25th December, 1763, so that no disputes may hereafter arise concerning the same.
James Hamilton, (Governor), Richard Peters, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, William Allen, (Chief Justice), William Coleman, Thomas Willing, and Benjamin Chew were appointed commissioners on the part of the Penns.
Horatio Sharpe, (Governor), J. Ridout, John Leeds, John Barclay, George Stewart, Daniel St. Thomas Jenefer, and J. Beale Boardley, on behalf of Lord Baltimore.
The Board of Commissioners met at New Castle in November, 1760, and each province selected its own surveyors. The Pennsylvania survey- ors were John Lukens and Archibald McClain ; those of Maryland were John F. A. Priggs and Jonathan Hall.
The commissioners and surveyors agreed that the peninsula lines from Henlopen to the Chesapeake, made under a decree of Lord Hardwicke, in 1750, were correct, hence they fixed the court-house at New Castle as the centre of the circle, and the surveyors proceeded on this data to mea- sure and mark the lines. James Veech, in his history of Mason & Dixon's line, quoted by Dr. Creigh, says :
" Three years were diligently devoted to finding the bearing of the western line of Delaware, so as to make it a tangent to the circle, at the
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end of a twelve mile radius. The instruments and appliances employed seem to have been those commonly used by surveyors. The proprietors residing in or near London, grew weary of this slow progress, which, per- haps, they set down to the incompetency of the artists. To this ground- less suspicion we owe their supersedure and the introduction of the men, Mason & Dixon, who have immortalized their memory in the name of the principal line which had yet to be run."
In August, 1763, Mason & Dixon were selected by Lord Baltimore and the Penns to complete their lines, and arrived in Philadelphia in No- vember, bringing the most approved instruments, among them a four- foot zenith sector. An observatory is erected in Cedar street, Philadelphia, to facilitate the ascertainment of its latitude, which they use until January, 1764. They then go to New Castle, adopt the radius as measured by their predecessors, and, after numerous tracings of the tangent line, adopt also their tangent point, from which they say they could not make the tangent line pass one inch to the eastward or westward. They, therefore, cause that line and point to be marked, and adjourn to Philadelphia to find its southern limit in Cedar or South street. This they make to be 39º 56' 20", while the latitude of the State has been marked as 39º 56' 20". They then extend that latitude sufficiently far to the west to be due north of the tangent point. Thence they measure down south fifteen miles to the lati- tude of the great due west line, and run its parallel for a short distance. Then they go to the tangent point and run due north to that latitude, and at the point of intersection, in a deep ravine, near a spring, they planted the corner-stone, at which point begins the celebrated Mason & Dixon's line.
Mr. Veech continues : " Having ascertained the latitude of this line to be 39° 43' 32" (although more accurate observations, make it 39º 43' 26" .8, or a little over nineteen miles south of 40° as now located), they, under in- structions, run its parallel to the Susquehanna, twenty-three miles ; and, hav- ing verified the latitude there, they return to the tangent point, from which they run the due north line to the fifteen mile corner and that part of the circle which it cuts off to the west, and which, by agreement, was to go to New Castle county. (This little bow or arc is about a mile and a-half long, and its middle width one hundred and sixteen feet. From its upper end, where the three States join, to the fifteen mile point, where the great Mason & Dixon line begins, is a little over three and a-half miles, and from the fifteen mile corner, due east to the circle, is a little over three- quarters of a mile. This was the only part of the circle which Mason & Dixon run, Lord Baltimore having no concern in the residue. Penn, however, had it run, and marked with 'four good notches,' by Isaac Taylor and Thomas Pierson, in 1700-'I.) Where it cuts the circle is the corner of three dominions, an important point, and, therefore, they caused it to be well ascertained and well marked. This brings them to the end of 1764."
They resumed their labors in June, 1765. If to extend this parallel did not require so great skill as did the nice adjustment of the other lines and intersections, it summoned its performers to greater endurance. A tented
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army penetrates the forest, but their purposes are peaceful, and they move merrily. Besides the surveyors and their assistants, there were chain- bearers, rod men, axe men, commissioners, cooks and baggage carriers, with numerous servants and laborers. By the 27th of October, they come to the North (Cove or Kittatiny) mountain, ninety-five miles from the Susquehanna, and where the temporary line of 1739, terminated. After taking Captain Shelby with them to its summit to show them the course of the Potomac, and point out the Alleghany mountains, the surveyors and their attendants return to the settlements to pass the Winter and get their appointment renewed.
Early in 1766, they are again at their posts, and by the 4th of June they are on the top of the Little Alleghany mountain, the first west of Wills' creek. They have now carried the line about one hundred and sixty miles from its beginning. The Indians, into whose ungranted territory they had deeply penetrated, grow restless and threatening. They forbid any further advance, and they had to be obeyed. The agents of the pro- prietors now find that there are other lords of the soil whose favor must be propitiated. The Six Indian Nations were the lords paramount of the territory yet to be traversed. To obtain their consent to the consumma- tion of the line, the Governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, in the Winter of 1766-'7, at an expense of more than £500, procured, under the agency of Sir William Johnston, a grand convocation of the tribes of that powerful confederacy. The application was successful, and early in June, 1767, an escort of fourteen warriors, with an interpreter and chief, deputed by the Iroquois council, met the surveyors and their camp at the summit of the Great Alleghany to escort them down into the Valley of the Ohio, whose tributaries they were soon to cross.
Safety being thus secured, the extension of the line was pushed on vigorously in the Summer of 1767. Soon the host of red and white men, led by the London surveyors, came to the western limit of Maryland, " the meridian of the first fountain of the Potomac," and why they did not stop there is a mystery, for there their functions terminated. But they pass by it unheeded, because unknown, resolved to reach the utmost limit of Pennsylvania, " five degrees of longitude " from the Delaware, for so were they instructed. By the 24th of August they came to the crossing of Braddock's road. The escort now became restless. The Mohawk chief and his nephew leave. The Shawanese and Delaware tenants of the hunting-grounds begin to grow terrific. On the 27th of September, when encamped on the Monongehela river, two hundred and thirty-three miles from the Delaware river, twenty-six of the laborers desert, and but fifteen axe-men are left. Being so near the goal, the surveyors (for none of the commissioners were with them,) evince their courage by coolly sending back to Fort Cumberland for aid, and in the meantime they push on. At
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