OLD INDIAN TOWN OF FRANKSTOWN--INDIAN BURIAL-PLACES--MASSACRE OF THE
BEDFORD SCOUT, ETC.
Frankstown is probably the oldest place on the Juniata River--traders
having mentioned it as early as 1750. The Indian town was located at
the mouth of a small run, near where McCune's Mill now stands, and at
one time contained a considerable number of inhabitants. The Indian
name of the place was _Assunepachla_, which signifies a meeting of
many waters, or the place where the waters join. This would seem to be
an appropriate name, since, within a short distance of the place, the
river is formed by what was then known as the Frankstown Branch, the
Beaver Dam Branch, the Brush Run, and the small run near McCune's Mill.
The name of Frankstown was given it by the traders. Harris, in his
report of the distances between the Susquehanna and the Alleghany,
called it "Frank (Stephen's) Town." The general impression is that the
town was named by the traders in honor of an old chief named Frank.
This, however, is an error. It was named after an old German Indian
trader named Stephen Franks, who lived cotemporaneously with old Hart,
and whose post was at this old Indian town. The truth of this becomes
apparent when we remember that the Indians could not pronounce the
_r_ in their language; hence no chief was likely to bear the name
of Frank at that early day. Old Franks, being a great friend of the
Indians, lived and died among them, and it was after his death that one
of the chiefs took his name; hence arose the erroneous impression that
the name was given to the town in honor of the chief.
[Illustration: EASTERN RESERVOIR FROM CATFISH TAVERN.]
How long Assunepachla was an Indian settlement cannot be conjectured,
but, unquestionably, long before the Indians of the valley had any
intercourse with the whites. This is evidenced by the fact that where
the town stood, as well as on the flat west of the town, relics of
rudely-constructed pottery, stone arrow-heads, stone hatchets, &c.,
have repeatedly been found until within the last few years.
The use of stone edge-tools was abandoned as soon as the savages
obtained a sight of a superior article,--probably as early as 1730. The
first were brought to the valley by Indians, who had received them as
presents from the proprietary family.
It is stated that the first brought to Assunepachla cost a special trip
to Philadelphia. Three chiefs, having seen hatchets and knives at
Standing Stone, were so fascinated with their utility that they
resolved to have some. Accordingly they went to work at trapping; and
in the fall, each with an immense load of skins, started on foot for
Philadelphia, where they arrived after a long and fatiguing march. They
soon found what they wanted at the shop of an Englishman; but, being
unable to talk English, they merely deposited their furs upon the
counter and pointed to the tomahawks and knives. This indicated trade;
and the Englishman, after a critical examination of their skins, which
he found would yield him not less than £100, threw them carelessly
under the counter, and gave them a hatchet and a knife each. With these
the savages were about to depart, well satisfied; but the trader
suddenly bethinking himself of the possibility of their falling in with
the interpreters, and their ascertaining the manner in which they had
been swindled, called them back, and very generously added three
clasp-knives and a quantity of brass jewelry.
With these they wended their way back, proud as emperors of their
newly-acquired weapons. Never did chiefs enter a place with more pomp
and importance than our warriors. The very dogs barked a welcome, and
the Indians came forth from their wigwams to greet the great eastern
travellers. Their hatchets, knives, and trinkets passed from hand to
hand, and savage encomiums were lavished unsparingly upon them; but
when their practicability was tested, the climax of savage enthusiasm
was reached. The envied possessors were lions: they cut, hewed, and
scored, just because they could.
But--alas for all things mutable!--their glory was not destined to last
long. The traders soon appeared with the same kind of articles, and
readily exchanged for half a dozen skins what the warriors had spent a
season in trapping and a long journey to procure.
On the point of Chimney Ridge, near Wert's farm, below Hollidaysburg,
was an Indian burial-place, and another on the small piece of
table-land near the mouth of Brush Run. At both places skeletons of
mighty chiefs and all-powerful warriors have been ruthlessly torn from
their places of sepulture by the plough, and many other relics have
been exhumed.
The greater portion of the warriors residing at Frankstown went to
Ohio in 1755, and took up the hatchet for their "brothers," the
French, and against _Onus_, or their Father Penn. This act, the
colonial government persuaded itself to believe, was altogether
mercenary on the part of the savages. The real cause, as we have
already stated, was the dissatisfaction which followed the purchase of
the Juniata Valley by the Penns, for a few paltry pounds, from the
Iroquois, at Albany, in 1754.
The town of Frankstown still continued to be a prominent Indian
settlement until the army of General Forbes passed up the Raystown
Branch, when the spies sent out brought such exaggerated reports of the
warlike appearance and strength of the army that the settlement was
entirely broken up, and the warriors, with their squaws, pappooses, and
movable effects, crossed the Alleghany by the Kittaning War-Path, and
bade adieu to the valley which they were only too well convinced was no
longer their own.
The remains of their bark huts, their old corn-fields, and other
indications of their presence, were in existence until after the
beginning of the present century.
On the flat, several white settlers erected their cabins at an early
day, and a few near the old town, and others where the town of
Frankstown now stands.
During the Revolution, as we have stated, a stable erected by Peter
Titus was turned into a fortress. In summer, the location of the fort
can still be traced by the luxuriant growth of vegetation upon it. This
fort was called Holliday's Fort. The fort at Fetter's, a mile west of
Hollidaysburg, was known as the Frankstown garrison. In those days
there was no such place as Hollidaysburg, and the Frankstown district
took in a scope of country which now serves for five or six very large
townships; in short, every place was Frankstown within a radius of at
least ten miles.
Holliday's Fort was a mere temporary affair; while the Frankstown
garrison was a substantial stockade, manned and provisioned in such a
manner that a thousand savages could by no possible means have taken
it. It never was assaulted except upon one occasion, and then the
red-skins were right glad to beat a retreat before they were able to
fire a gun.
Near this fort occurred the massacre of the Bedford scout. This was
unquestionably the most successful savage sortie made upon the whites
in the valley during the Revolution; and, as some of the bravest and
best men of Bedford county fell in this massacre, it did not fail to
create an excitement compared to which all other excitements that ever
occurred in the valley were perfect calms.
We shall, in the first place, proceed to give the first report of the
occurrence, sent by George Ashman, one of the sub-lieutenants of the
county, to Arthur Buchanan, at Kishicoquillas. Ashman says:--
SIR:--By an express this moment from Frankstown, we have the
bad news. As a party of volunteers from Bedford was going to
Frankstown, a party of Indians fell in with them this morning and
killed thirty of them. Only seven made their escape to the garrison
of Frankstown. I hope that you'll exert yourself in getting men to
go up to the Stone; and pray let the river-people know, as they may
turn out. I am, in health,
GEO. ASHMAN.
Of course Colonel Ashman was not near the place, and his despatch to
Buchanan is, as a natural consequence, made up from the exaggerated
reports that were carried to him at the instance of the affrighted
people residing in the vicinity where the massacre occurred. The
following is the official report, transmitted by Ashman to President
Reed:--
_Bedford County, June 12, 1781._
SIR:--I have to inform you that on Sunday, the third of this
instant, a party of the rangers under Captain Boyd, eight in
number, with twenty-five volunteers under Captain Moore and
Lieutenant Smith, of the militia of this county, had an engagement
with a party of Indians (said to be numerous) within three miles of
Frankstown, where seventy-five of the Cumberland militia were
stationed, commanded by Captain James Young. Some of the party
running into the garrison, acquainting Captain Young of what had
happened, he issued out a party immediately, and brought in seven
more, five of whom are wounded, and two made their escape to
Bedford,--eight killed and scalped,--Captain Boyd, Captain Moore,
and Captain Dunlap missing. Captain Young, expecting from the
enemy's numbers that his garrison would be surrounded, sent express
to me immediately; but, before I could collect as many volunteers
as was sufficient to march to Frankstown with, the enemy had
returned over the Alleghany Hill. The waters being high, occasioned
by heavy rains, they could not be pursued. This county, at this
time, is in a deplorable situation. A number of families are flying
away daily ever since the late damage was done. I can assure your
Excellency that if immediate assistance is not sent to this county
that the whole of the frontier inhabitants will move off in a few
days. Colonel Abraham Smith, of Cumberland, has just informed me
that he has no orders to send us any more militia from Cumberland
county to our assistance, which I am much surprised to hear. I
shall move my family to Maryland in a few days, as I am convinced
that not any one settlement is able to make any stand against such
numbers of the enemy. If your Excellency should please to order us
any assistance, less than three hundred will be of but little
relief to this county. Ammunition we have not any; and the
Cumberland militia will be discharged in two days. It is dreadful
to think what the consequence of leaving such a number of helpless
inhabitants may be to the cruelties of a savage enemy.
Please to send me by the first opportunity three hundred pounds, as
I cannot possibly do the business without money. You may depend
that nothing shall be wanting in me to serve my country as far as
my abilities.
I have the honor to be
Your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant,
GEORGE ASHMAN, _Lieut. Bedford County_.
It would appear that even a man holding an official station is liable
to gross mistakes. In this instance, Ashman, who lived remote from the
scene of the disaster, was evidently misled by the current rumors, and
such he transmitted; for there are still persons alive, who lived at
the time of the occurrence in the immediate vicinity, who pronounce
Ashman's statement as erroneous, and who give an entirely different
version of the affair.
The seventy Cumberland county militia, under strict military
discipline, were sent first to Standing Stone, and afterward to
Frankstown, early in the spring of 1781. They were under the command of
Colonel Albright and Captain Young, and were sent with a view to
waylaying the gaps of the Alleghany Mountains, and preventing any
savages from coming into the valley. Instead of doing so, however, they
proved themselves an inefficient body of men, with dilatory officers,
who chose rather the idle life of the fort than scouting to intercept
the savages. In fact, these men, in the service and pay of the Supreme
Executive Council of the State to protect the frontier, were never one
solitary cent's worth of advantage to the inhabitants. Such a force,
one would suppose, would have inspired the people with confidence, and
been fully able to cope with or repel the largest war-party of savages
that ever trod the Kittaning War-Path during the Revolutionary
struggle.
Notwithstanding the presence of this large body of men, stationed as it
were almost at the mouth of the gap through which the Indians entered
the valley, the depredations of the savages were almost of daily
occurrence. The inefficiency of the Cumberland militia, who either
could not or would not check the marauders, at length exasperated the
settlers to such an extent that they resolved to form themselves into a
scouting party, and range through the county for two months.
This project was favored by Colonel Ashman, and he agreed to furnish a
company of rangers to join them. The enrolment of volunteers by Captain
Moore, of Scotch Valley, assisted by his lieutenant, a Mr. Smith, from
the vicinity of Frankstown, proceeded; and on the second of June, 1781,
these men met at Holliday's Fort, then abandoned for want of
provisions. There they were joined by the rangers, under command of
Captain Boyd and Lieutenant Harry Woods, of Bedford, but, instead of
there being a company, as the volunteers were led to expect, there were
but eight men and the two officers above named.
From Holliday's Fort they marched to Fetter's, where they contemplated
spending the Sabbath. It was their intention to march through the
Kittaning Gap to an old State road, (long since abandoned,) from thence
to Pittsburg, and home by way of Bedford.
While debating the matter and making the necessary arrangements, two
spies came in and reported that they had come upon an Indian encampment
near Hart's Sleeping Place, which had apparently been just abandoned,
as the fire was still burning; that, from the number of bark huts, the
savages must number from twenty-five to thirty.
This raised quite a stir in the camp, as the scouts evidently were
eager for the fray. The officers, who were regular woodsmen, and knew
that the Indians would not venture into the settlement until the day
following, were confident of meeting them near the mouth of the gap and
giving them battle. They at once tendered to Colonel Albright the
command of the expedition; but he refused to accept it. They then
importuned him to let a portion of his men, who were both anxious and
willing, accompany them; but this, too, he refused.
Nothing daunted, however, the rangers and the volunteers arose by
daybreak on Sunday morning, put their rifles in condition, eat their
breakfast, and, with five days' provisions in their knapsacks, started
for the mountain.
We sincerely regret that the most strenuous effort on our part to
procure a list of this scout proved futile. Here and there we picked up
the names of a few who were in it; but nothing would have given us
greater pleasure than to insert a full and correct list of these brave
men. In addition to the officers named, we may mention the following
privates:--James Somerville, the two Colemans, two Hollidays, two
brothers named Jones, a man named Grey, one of the Beattys, Michael
Wallack, and Edward Milligan.
The path led close along the river, and the men marched in Indian file,
as the path was narrow. When they reached the flat above where
Temperance Mill now stands, and within thirty rods of the mouth of
Sugar Run, the loud warwhoop rang upon the stillness of the Sabbath
morning; a band of savages rose from the bushes on the left-hand side
of the road, firing a volley at the same time, by which fifteen of the
brave scout were stretched dead in the path. The remainder fled, in
consternation, in every direction,--some over the river in the
direction of Frankstown, others toward Fetter's Fort. A man named
Jones, one of the fleetest runners, reached the fort first. To screen
the scout from the odium of running, he reported the number of the
enemy so large that Albright refused to let any of his command go to
the relief of the unfortunate men.
As the Colemans were coming to the fort, they found the other Jones
lying behind a log for the purpose of resting, as he said. Coleman
advised him to push on to the fort, which he promised to do.
Captain Young at length started out with a party to bring in the
wounded. The man Jones was found resting behind the log, but the rest
was a lasting one; he was killed and scalped. Another man, who had been
wounded, was also followed a short distance and killed and
scalped,--making, in all, seventeen persons who fell by this sad and
unlooked-for event. In addition to the seventeen killed, five were
wounded, who were found concealed in various places in the woods and
removed to the fort. Some reached the fort in safety, others were
missing,--among the latter, Harry Woods, James Somerville, and Michael
Wallack.
It appears that these three men started over the river, and ran up what
is now known as O'Friel's Ridge, hotly pursued by a single savage.
Woods and Wallack were in front, and Somerville behind, when the
moccasin of the latter became untied. He stooped down to fix it, as it
was impossible to ascend the steep hill with the loose moccasin
retarding his progress. While in this position, the Indian, with
uplifted tomahawk, was rapidly approaching him, when Woods turned
suddenly and aimed with his empty rifle[5] at the Indian. This caused
the savage to jump behind a tree scarcely large enough to cover his
body, from which he peered, and recognised Woods.
[5] Woods shot an Indian. His rifle was the only one
discharged in what Colonel Ashman termed an "engagement."
"No hurt Woods!" yelled the Indian; "no hurt Woods!"
This Indian happened to be the son of the old Indian Hutson, to whom
George Woods of Bedford paid a small annual stipend in tobacco, for
delivering him from bondage. Hutson had frequently taken his son to
Bedford, and it was by this means that he had become acquainted with
Harry and readily recognised him. Woods, although he recognised Hutson,
had been quite as close to Indians as he cared about getting; so the
three continued their route over the ridge, and by a circuitous tramp
reached the fort in the afternoon.
Many years afterward, long after the war, when Woods lived in
Pittsburg, he went down to the Alleghany River to see several
canoe-loads of Indians that had just arrived from above. He had
scarcely reached the landing when one of the chiefs jumped out, shook
him warmly by the hand, and said--
"Woods, you run like debble up Juniata Hill."
It was Hutson--by this time a distinguished chief in his tribe.
The fate of the unfortunate scout was soon known all over the country,
expresses having been sent in every direction.
On Monday morning Captain Young again went out with a small party to
bury the dead, and many of them were interred near the spot where they
fell; while others, after the men got tired of digging graves, were
merely covered with bark and leaves, and left on the spot to be food
for the wolves, which some of the bodies unquestionably became, as
Jones sought for that of his brother on Tuesday, and found nothing but
the crushed remains of some bones.
In 1852, a young man in the employ of Mr. Burns exhumed one of these
skeletons with the plough. It was found near the surface of the earth,
on the bank of the river. The skull was perforated with a bullet-hole,
and was in a remarkable state of preservation, although it had been in
the ground uncoffined for a period of _seventy-one years_! It was
placed in the earth again.
Immediately after the news of the massacre was spread, the people from
Standing Stone and other places gathered at Fetter's; and on the
Tuesday following a party of nearly one hundred men started in pursuit
of the Indians. Colonel Albright was solicited to accompany this force
with his command and march until they overtook the enemy; but he
refused. The men went as far as Hart's Sleeping Place, but they might
just as well have remained at home; for the savages, with the scalps of
the scout dangling from their belts, were then far on their way to
Detroit.
When the firing took place, it was plainly heard at the fort; and some
of the men, fully convinced that the scout had been attacked, asked
Colonel Albright to go out with his command to their relief. He merely
answered by saying that he "knew his own business."
For his part in the matter, he gained the ill-will of the settlers, and
it was very fortunate that his time expired when it did. The settlers
were not much divided in opinion as to whether he was a rigid
disciplinarian or a _coward_.
Men, arms, and ammunition, in abundance followed this last outrage; but
it was the last formidable and warlike incursion into the Juniata
Valley.
[Illustration: OLD BRIDGE NEAR PETERSBURG.]