the Hollidays were in active service. At the destruction of Kittaning,
William Holliday was a lieutenant in Colonel Armstrong’s company, and
fought with great bravery in that conflict with the savages. The
Hollidays were emphatically frontiermen; and on the restoration of peace
in 1768, probably under the impression that the Conococheague Valley was
becoming too thickly populated, they disposed of their land, placed
their families and effects upon pack-horses, and again turned their
faces toward the west. They passed through Aughwick, but found no
unappropriated lands there worthy of their attention. Thence they
proceeded to the Standing Stone, but nothing offered there; nor even at
Frankstown could they find any inducement to stop; so they concluded to
cross the mountain by the Kittaning Path and settle on the Alleghany at
or near Kittaning.
William knew the road, and had noticed fine lands in that direction.
However, when they reached the place where Hollidaysburg now stands, and
were just on the point of descending the hill toward the river, Adam
halted, and declared his intention to pitch his tent and travel no
farther. He argued with his cousin that the Indian titles west of the
mountains were not extinguished; and if they bought from the Indians
they would be forced, on the extinguishment of their titles, to purchase
a second time, or lose their lands and live in constant dread of the
savages. Although William had a covetous eye on the fine lands of the
Alleghany, the wise counsel of Adam prevailed, and they dismounted and
prepared to build a temporary shelter. When Adam drove the first stake
into the ground he casually remarked to William, “Whoever is alive a
hundred years after this will see a tolerable-sized town here, and this
will be near about the middle of it.” This prediction had been verified
to the letter long before the expiration of the allotted time.
In a day or two after a shelter had been erected for the families,
William crossed the river to where Gaysport now stands, for the purpose
of locating. The land, however, was too swampy, and he returned. Next
day he crossed again, and found a ravine, south of where he had been
prospecting, which appeared to possess the desired qualifications; and
there he staked out a farm—the one now owned by Mr. J. R. Crawford.
Through this farm the old Frankstown and Johnstown Road ran for many
years—the third road constructed in Pennsylvania crossing the Alleghany
Mountains.
These lands belonged to the new purchase, and were in the market at a
very low price, in order to encourage settlers on the frontier.
Accordingly, Adam Holliday took out a warrant for 1,000 acres,
comprising all the land upon which Hollidaysburg now stands.
(Hollidaysburg, named after Adam and William Hollidays, is now the
county seat of Blair County.) The lower or southern part was too marshy
to work; so Mr. Holliday erected his cabin near where the American House
now stands, and made a clearing on the high ground stretching toward the
east. In the meantime, William Holliday purchased of Mr. Peters 1,000
acres of land, which embraced the present Crawford and Jackson farms and
a greater part of Gaysport. Some years after, finding that he had more
land than he could conveniently cultivate, he disposed of nearly one
half of his original purchase to his son-in-law, James Somerville. Adam
Holliday, too, having a large lot of land, disposed of a portion of it
to Lazarus Lowry. Thus matters progressed smoothly for a time, until,
unfortunately, a Scotchman, named Henry Gordon, in search of lands,
happened to see and admire his farm. Gordon was a keen, shrewd fellow,
and, in overlooking the records of the land office, discovered a flaw or
informality in Adam’s grant. He immediately took advantage of his
discovery, and took out a patent for the land. Litigation followed as a
matter of course. Gordon possessed considerable legal acumen, and had
withal money and a determined spirit. The case was tried in the courts
below and the courts above—decided sometimes in favor of one party and
sometimes in favor of the other, but eventually resulted in Gordon
wresting from Adam Holliday and Lazarus Lowry all their land. This
unfortunate circumstance deeply affected Mr. Holliday, for he had been
grossly wronged by the adroitness and cunning of Gordon; but relief came
to him when he least expected it. When the war broke out, Gordon was
among the very first to sail for Europe; and soon after the Council
proclaimed him an attainted traitor, and his property was confiscated
and brought under the hammer. The circumstances under which he had
wrested the property from Holliday were known, so that no person would
bid, which enabled him to regain his land at a mere nominal price. He
then went on and improved, and built a house on the bank of the river,
near where the bridge connects the boroughs of Hollidaysburg and
Gaysport.
During the alarms and troubles which followed in the course of the war
Adam Holliday took a conspicuous part in defending the frontier. He
aided, first, in erecting Fetter’s Fort, and afterwards expended his
means in turning Titus’s stable into a fort. This fort was located on a
flat, nearly opposite the second lock below Hollidaysburg, and the two
served as a place of refuge for all the settlers of what was then merely
called the Upper End of Frankstown District. He, also, with his own
money purchased provisions, and through his exertions arms and
ammunition were brought from the eastern counties. His courage and
energy inspired the settlers to make a stand at a time when they were on
the very point of flying to Cumberland County. In December, 1777, Mr.
Holliday visited Philadelphia for the purpose of securing a part of the
funds appropriated to the defence of the frontier. The following letter
to President Wharton was given to him by Colonel John Piper, of Bedford
County:
“Bedford County, December 19, 1777.
“Sir: Permit me, sir, to recommend to you, for counsel and direction,
the bearer, Mr. Holliday, an inhabitant of Frankstown, one of the
frontier settlements of our county, who has, at his own risk, been
extremely active in assembling the people of that settlement together
and in purchasing provisions to serve the militia who came to their
assistance. As there was no person appointed either to purchase
provisions or to serve them out, necessity obliged the bearer, with
the assistance of some neighbors, to purchase a considerable quantity
of provisions for that purpose, by which the inhabitants have been
enabled to make a stand. His request is that he may be supplied with
cash not only to discharge the debts already contracted, but likewise
to enable him to lay up a store for future demand. I beg leave, sir,
to refer to the bearer for further information, in hopes you will
provide for their further support. Their situation requires immediate
assistance.
“I am, sir, with all due respect, your Excellency’s most obedient
humble servant,
“JOHN PIPER.”
Mr. Holliday’s mission was successful; and he returned with means to
recruit the fort with provisions and ammunition, and continued to be an
active and energetic frontier-man during all the Indian troubles which
followed. Notwithstanding the distracted state of society during the
Revolution, William Holliday devoted much time and attention to his
farm. His family, consisting of his wife, his sons, John, William,
Patrick, Adam, and his daughter Janet, were quartered at Holliday’s
Fort; and it was only when absolute necessity demanded it that they
ventured to the farm to attend to the crops, after the savage marauders
so boldly entered the settlements.
James, who we believe was next to the eldest of William Holliday’s
children, joined the Continental army soon after the war broke out. He
is represented as having been a noble-looking fellow, filled with
enthusiasm, who sought for, and obtained without much difficulty, a
lieutenant’s commission. He was engaged in several battles, and
conducted himself in such a manner as to merit the approbation of his
senior officers; but he fell gloriously at Brandywine, while the battle
was waging, pierced through the heart by a musket ball. He was shot by a
Hessian, who was under cover, and who had, from the same place, already
dispatched a number of persons. But this was his last shot, for a young
Virginian, who stood by the side of Holliday when he fell, rushed upon
the Hessian, braving all danger, and hewed him to pieces with his sword
before any defence could be made. The death of young Holliday was deeply
lamented by his companions-in-arms, for he was brave and generous, and
had not a single enemy in the line. His friends, after the battle,
buried him near the spot where he fell; and it is doubtful whether even
now a hillock of greensward remains to his memory.
About the beginning of the year 1779, the Indians along the frontier,
emboldened by numerous successful depredations, came into Bedford
County—within the boundaries of which Holliday’s Fort then was—in such
formidable bands that many of the inhabitants fled to the eastern
counties. The Hollidays, however, and some few others, tarried, in the
hope that the Executive Council would render them aid. The following
petition, drawn up on the 29th of May, 1779, and signed by William
Holliday and others, will give the reader some idea of the distress
suffered by the pioneers:
“To the Honorable President and Council:
“The Indians being now in the county, the frontier inhabitants being
generally fled, leaves the few that remains in such a distressed
condition that pen can hardily describe, nor your honors can only have
a faint idea of; nor can it be conceived properly by any such as are
the subjects thereof; but while we suffer in the part of the county
that is most frontier, the inhabitants of the interior part of this
county live at ease and safety.
“And we humbly conceive that by some immediate instruction from
Council, to call them that are less exposed to our relief, we shall be
able, under God, to repulse our enemies, and put it in the power of
the distressed inhabitants to reap the fruits of their industry.
Therefore, we humbly pray you would grant us such relief in the
premises as you in your wisdom see meet. And your petitioners shall
pray, etc.
“N. B.—There is a quantity of lead at the mines (Sinking Valley) in
this county Council may procure for the use of said county, which save
carriage, and supply our wants with article, which we cannot exist
without at this place; and our flints are altogether expended.
Therefore, we beg Council would furnish us with those necessaries as
they in their wisdom see cause.
“P. S.—Please to supply us with powder to answer lead.
(Signed) “WILLIAM HOLLIDAY, _P. M._
THOMAS COULTER, _Sheriff_.
RICHARD J. DELAPT, _Captain_.
SAM. DAVIDSON.”
The prayer of these petitioners was not speedily answered, and
Holliday’s Fort was evacuated soon after. The Council undoubtedly did
all in its power to give the frontiers support; but the tardy movements
of the militia gave the savages confidence, and drove the few settlers
that remained almost to despair. Eventually relief came, but not
sufficient to prevent Indian depredations. At length, when these
depredations and the delays of the Council in furnishing sufficient
force to repel these savage invasions had brought matters to such a
crisis that forbearance ceased to be a virtue, the people of the
neighborhood moved their families to Fort Roberdeau, in Sinking Valley,
and Fetter’s Fort, and formed themselves into scouting parties, and by
these means protected the frontier and enabled the settlers to gather in
their crops in 1780; still, notwithstanding their vigilance, small bands
of scalp-hunters occasionally invaded the county, and, when no scalps
were to be found, compromised by stealing horses, or by laying waste
whatever fell in their way.
In 1781, when Continental money was so terribly depreciated that it
took, in the language of one of the old settlers, “seventeen dollars of
it to buy a quart of whiskey,” the government was in too straitened a
condition to furnish this frontier guard with ammunition and provisions,
so that the force was considerably reduced. Small scouting parties were
still kept up, however, to watch the savages, who again made their
appearance in the neighborhood in the summer, retarding the harvest
operations. About the middle of July, the scouts reported everything
quiet and no traces of Indians in the county. Accordingly, Mr. Holliday
proceeded to his farm, and, with the aid of his sons, succeeded in
getting off and housing his grain. Early in August, Mr. Holliday,
accompanied by his sons Patrick and Adam and his daughter Janet, then
about fourteen years of age, left Fort Roberdeau for the purpose of
taking off a second crop of hay. On their arrival at the farm they went
leisurely to work, and mowed the grass. The weather being extremely
fine, in a few days they began to haul it in on a rudely constructed
sled, for in those days few wagons were in use along the frontiers. They
had taken in one load, returned, and filled the sled again, when an
acquaintance named McDonald, a Scotchman, came along on horseback. He
stopped, and they commenced a conversation on the war. William Holliday
was seated upon one of the horses that were hitched to the sled, his two
sons were on one side of him, and his daughter on the opposite side. All
of the men, as was customary then, were armed with rifles.
While this conversation was going on, and without the slightest previous
intimation, a volley was suddenly fired from a thicket some sixty or
seventy yards off, by which Patrick and Adam were instantly killed and
the horse shot from under Mr. Holliday. The attack was so sudden and
unexpected that a flash of lightning and peal of thunder from a
cloudless sky could not have astonished him more. The echoes of the
Indian rifles had scarcely died away before the Indians themselves, to
the number of eight or ten, with a loud “whoop!” jumped from their place
of concealment, some brandishing their knives and hatchets and others
reloading their rifles. Appalled at the shocking tragedy, and undecided
for a moment what course to pursue, Holliday was surprised to see
McDonald leap from his horse, throw away his rifle, run toward the
Indians, and, with outstretched arms, cry “Brother! Brother!” which it
appears was a cry for quarter which the savages respected. Holliday,
however, knew too much of the savage character to trust to their
mercy—more especially as rebel scalps commanded nearly as good a price
in British gold in Canada as prisoners; so on the impulse of the moment
he sprang upon McDonald’s horse and made an effort to get his daughter
up behind him. But he was too late. The Indians were upon him, and he
turned into the path which led down the ravine. The yells of the savages
frightened the horse, and he galloped down the path; but even the
clattering of his hoofs did not drown the dying shrieks of his daughter,
who was most barbarously butchered with a hatchet.
In a state of mind bordering on distraction, Holliday wandered about
until nearly dark, when he got upon the Brush Mountain trail, on his way
to Sinking Valley. His mind, however, was so deeply affected that he
seemed to care little whither he went; and, the night being exceedingly
dark, the horse lost the trail and wandered about the mountain for
hours. Just at daybreak Mr. Holliday reached the fort, haggard and
careworn, without hat or shoes, his clothes in tatters and his body
lacerated and bleeding. He did not recognize either the fort or the
sentinel on duty. He was taken in, and the fort alarmed, but it was some
time before he could make anything like an intelligible statement of
what had occurred the day previous. Without waiting for the particulars
in detail, a command of fifteen men were despatched to Holliday’s farm.
They found the bodies of Patrick and Adam precisely where they fell, and
that of Janet but a short distance from the shed, and all scalped. As
soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, the bodies of the
slain were interred on the farm; and a rude tombstone still marks the
spot where the victims of savage cruelty repose.
This was a sad blow to Mr. Holliday; and it was long before he recovered
from it effectually. But the times steeled men to bear misfortunes that
would now crush and annihilate the bravest.
After the declaration of peace, or, rather, after the ratification of
the treaty, Gordon came back to Pennsylvania and claimed his land under
its stipulation. He had no difficulty in proving that he had never taken
up arms against the colonies, and Congress agreed to purchase back his
lands. The Commissioners to adjust claims, after examining the lands,
reported them worth sixteen dollars an acre; and this amount was paid to
Adam Holliday, who suddenly found himself the greatest monied man in
this county—having in his possession sixteen or seventeen thousand
dollars. Adam Holliday lived to a good old age, and died at his
residence on the bank of the river, in 1801. He left two heirs—his son
John, and a daughter married to William Reynolds.
After the estate was settled up, it was found that John Holliday was the
richest man in this county. He married the daughter of Lazarus Lowry, of
Frankstown, in 1803, and in 1807 he left for Johnstown, where he
purchased the farm, and all the land upon which Johnstown now stands,
from a Doctor Anderson, of Bedford. Fearing the place would never be one
of any importance, John Holliday, in a few years, sold out to Peter
Livergood for eight dollars an acre, returned to Hollidaysburg, and
entered into mercantile pursuits.
William Holliday, too, died at a good old age, and lies buried on his
farm by the side of his children, who were massacred by the Indians. In
the ordinary transmutation of worldly affairs, the lands of both the old
pioneers passed out of the hands of their descendants; yet a beautiful
town stands as a lasting monument to the name, and the descendants have
multiplied until the name of Holliday is known, not only in
Pennsylvania, but over the whole Union.
[Note.—There are several contradictory accounts in existence touching
the massacre of the Holliday children. Our account of it is evidently
the true version, for it was given to us by Mr. Maguire, who received it
from Mr. Holliday shortly after the occurrence of the tragedy. It may be
as well here to state that the original Hollidays were Irishmen and
Presbyterians. It is necessary to state this, because we have heard
arguments about their religious faith. Some avow that they were
Catholics, and as an evidence refer to the fact that William called one
of his offspring “Patrick.” Without being able to account for the name
of a saint so prominent in the calendar as Patrick being found in a
Presbyterian family, we can only give the words of Mr. Maguire, who
said: “I was a Catholic, and old Billy and Adam Holliday were
Presbyterians; but in those days we found matters of more importance to
attend to than quarrelling about religion. We all worshipped the same
God, and some of the forms and ceremonies attending church were very
much alike, especially in 1778, when the men of all denominations, in
place of hymn-books, prayer-books, and Bibles, carried to church with
them loaded rifles!”]
GEORGE CROGAN AND AUGHWICK, HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
BY JAMES S. O’NEILL, ELIZABETH, N. J.
George Crogan was born in Dublin, Ireland. He came to Aughwick
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, about the year 1742 and soon after took
up the business of an Indian trader. At first he located at Harris’
trading house, now Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna, and from there moved
over the river into Cumberland, some eight miles from his first place.
From there he made excursions to Path Valley, Aughwick and finally to
the Ohio river by way of the old Bedford trail. His long residence among
the Indians not only enabled him to study Indian character thoroughly,
but he acquired the language of both the Delaware and Shawnee tribes.
The history of Aughwick and of Crogan are identical during the years
1754–55–56. Aughwick was not originally an Indian town, as is generally
supposed, but was a settlement of whites to which the Indians came after
Crogan had made it his residence, the time of their coming being clearly
shown by official records. It is therefore difficult, if not impossible,
to give any reliable information concerning the origin of the name.
There is no certainty that it belongs to any of the Indian languages;
the probability is that it is derived from one of the European tongues.
The first settlers there, as in nearly all parts of Huntingdon County,
were Irish. They could furnish a name, or the town which they may have
proposed founding, without resort to any other vocabulary than their
own. Aughwick is said to resemble in sound two Irish words which mean
literally “Swift running steed.” In early times the orthography of the
name was almost as various as were the hands by which it was first
written. Crogan at first wrote it “Aughick,” afterwards “Aughick Old
Town” and finally “Aughwik Old Town.” Crogan—first letter—published in
the Colonial Records, is dated “May 26, 1747,” and is directed to
Richard Peters. It was accompanied by a letter from the Six Nations,
some wampum and a French scalp, taken somewhere on Lake Erie. In a
letter from Governor Hamilton to Governor Hardy, dated July 5, 1756, in
speaking of Crogan, who was at one time suspected of being a spy in the
pay of the French, Hamilton says: “There were many Indian traders with
Braddock—Crogan among others, who acted as a captain of the Indians
under a warrant from General Braddock, and I never heard of any
objections to his conduct in that capacity. For many years he had been
very largely concerned in the Ohio trade, was upon that river
frequently, and had a considerable influence among the Indians, speaking
the language of several nations, and being very liberal in his gifts to
them, which, with the losses he sustained by the French, who seized
great quantities of his goods, and by not getting the debts due to him
from the Indians, he became bankrupt, and since has lived at a place
called Aughwick, in the back parts of this province, where he generally
had a number of Indians with him, for the maintenance of whom the
province allowed him sums of money from time to time, but not to his
satisfaction. After this he went by my order with these Indians, and
joined General Braddock, who gave the warrant I have mentioned. Since
Braddock’s defeat, he returned to Aughwick, where he remained till an
act of assembly was passed here granting him a freedom from arrest for
ten years. This was done that the province might have the benefit of his
knowledge among the Indians; and immediately thereupon, while I was last
at York, a captain’s commission was given to him, and he was ordered to
raise men for the defence of the western frontier, which he did in a
very expeditious manner, but not so frugally as the commissioners for
disposing the public money thought he might have done. He continued in
the command of the companies he had raised, and of Fort Shirley, on the
western frontier, about three months; having a dispute with the
commissioners about some accounts between them, in which he thought
himself ill-used, he resigned his commission, and about a month ago
informed me that he had not received pay upon General Braddock’s
warrant, and desired my recommendation to General Shirley; which I gave
him, and he set off directly for Albany, New York.”
Crogan settled permanently in Augwick in 1754, and built a stockade
fort, and must have been some kind of an agent among the Indians,
disbursing presents to them for the government. In December of that year
he wrote to Secretary Peters, stating the wants of his Indians, and at
the same time wrote to Governor Morris as follows:
“I am Oblige to advertize the Inhabitance of Cumberland county in ye
honours Name nott to barter or sell Spirituous Liquors to the Indians
or any other person to bring amongst them, to prevent ye Indians from
Spending there Cloase, tho I am obliged to give them a bag Now and
then my self for a frolick, but that is Attended with no Expense to ye
Government nor bad consequences to ye Indians as I do it Butt onst a
Month. I hope your honour will approve of this Proceeding, as I have
Don itt to Prevent Ill consequences attending ye Indians if they
should be always be kept Inflamed with Liquors.”