Marched up with Knyphausen, they stopped on their way
At the 'farm,' where his wife, with a child in her arms,
Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew
But God--and that one of the hireling crew
Who fired the shot! Enough!--there she lay,
And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away!
"Did he preach--did he pray? Think of him as you stand
By the old church to-day--think of him and his band
Of military ploughboys! See the smoke and the heat
Of that reckless advance, of that straggling retreat!
Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in your view--
And what could you, what should you, what would you do?
"Why, just what he did! They were left in the lurch
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church,
Broke down the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out in the road
With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw down his load
At their feet! Then above all the shouting and shots
Rang his voice, 'Put Watts into 'em! Boys, give 'em
Watts.'
"And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago.
You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball--
But not always a hero like this--and that's all."
The battle of Springfield is not named among the important battles of
the Revolution, but it had a special meaning to the people of all that
region, for it taught them that the enemy, who had been harassing them
for months, was not invulnerable. From that day they took fresh
courage, and their courage increased when they realized that the
British would not come again to trouble them.
After the burning of the Springfield church, the pastor, Rev. Jacob
Vanarsdal, gathered his people in the barn of the parsonage. Later the
building was ceiled and galleries were built.
For ten years the barn was the home of the congregation, but in 1791
the building was erected which is in use to-day.
FOUR: RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
_In that delightful land which is washed by the Delaware's waters,
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the apostle,
Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city he founded.
There all the air is balm, and the peach is the emblem of beauty,
And the streets still re-echo the names of the trees of the forest,
As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts they molested.
There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an exile,
Finding among the children of Penn a home and a country.
There old Rene Leblanc had died; and when he departed,
Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants.
Something at least there was in the friendly streets of the city,
Something that spake to her heart, and made her no longer a stranger;
And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou of the Quakers,
For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country,
Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and sisters._
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
FOUR: RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
[Illustration: LETITIA PENN HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA
_Photo by Ph. B. Wallace_
See page 145]
XXXI
THE LETITIA PENN HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA
WILLIAM PENN'S FIRST AMERICAN HOME
When William Penn, English Quaker, met Guli Springett, he fell in love
with her at once. In 1672 they were married.
Ten years later when, as Proprietor of Pennsylvania, Penn was about to
sail in the _Welcome_ for America, he wrote a letter of which the
following is a portion:
"My dear wife and children, my love, which neither sea, nor
land, nor death itself, can extinguish or lessen toward you,
most tenderly visits you with eternal embraces and will abide
with you for ever.... My dear wife, remember thou wast the
love of my youth and the joy of my life, the most beloved as
well as the most worthy of all my earthly comfort, and the
reason of that love were more thy inward than thy outward
excellencies, which were yet many. God knows, and thou
knowest it, that it was a match of Providence's making, and
God's image in us both was the first thing and the most
amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes. Now I am to leave
thee, and that without knowing whether I shall ever see thee
more in this world."
Penn landed at New Castle, Delaware, in October, 1682. He had already
sent forward the plot of his new country village; his cousin,
Lieutenant Governor Markham, had come to America in 1681, bringing
with him instructions for the beginning of the settlement. On this
plot there was evidence of his thought for his wife and his daughter
Letitia; two lots were set apart for the family, on one of which he
planned to build, while the other he designed for Letitia.
When he reached America, he found that, by some mistake, Letitia's lot
had been given to the Friends for a meeting house. He was vexed, but
nothing could be done. So he decided that the lot reserved for his own
use should be made over to her. He did not carry out his purpose for
some time, however.
For a time Penn remained at Upland (now Chester), but in 1684, he went
to Philadelphia to oversee the erection of the houses for the
settlers. His own house he built on a large plot facing the Delaware
River and south of what is now Market Street. The house was of brick,
which was probably made nearby, though many of the interior fittings
had been brought from England in the _John and Sarah_ in 1681. It was
the first brick house in the new settlement, the first house which had
a cellar, and was built in accordance with the request the Proprietor
had made:
"Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in the
middle of the plat, as to breadth way of it, that so there
may be ground on each side for garden or orchard, or fields,
that it may be a green country town, which will never be
burnt and always wholesome."
For a few months the Quaker kept bachelor's hall in his new house.
Then he went to England, intending to return before long. Before his
departure he arranged that the house should be used in the public
service. Probably it was the gathering place for the Provincial
Council for many years. Thus it was the first state house of
Pennsylvania.
During the fourteen years' stay in England many misfortunes came to
Penn. He was accused of treason, and his title to the American lands
was taken away from him. Later he was acquitted, and his lands were
returned.
In 1692 Guli Penn died, and in 1696 Penn married Hannah Callowhill. In
1699, when he returned to America, he brought with him his wife and
Letitia, who was then about twenty-five years old.
Evidently the old house was not good enough for the ladies of the
family. At any rate they occupied for a time the "slate-roof house,"
one of the most pretentious buildings in the Colony. When the manor,
Pennsbury, twenty miles up the Delaware, was completed, the family was
taken there. Great style was maintained at the country estate in the
woods. The house had cost L5,000, and was "the most imposing house
between the Hudson and Potomac rivers."
The Philadelphia house was transferred to Letitia on "the 29th of the
1st month 1701." At once extravagant Letitia tried to dispose of it.
She succeeded in selling a portion of the generous lot, but it was
some years before she was able to sell the whole.
In the meantime the Proprietor felt that he must return to England
because of the threat of Parliament to change the government of the
American Colonies. Mrs. Penn and Letitia, who did not like America,
pleaded to go with him. He thought he would be returning soon, and he
urged them to remain. They insisted. In a letter to James Logan he
wrote: "I cannot prevail on my wife to stay, and still less with
_Tish_. I know not what to do." Later he wrote: "The going of my wife
and Tish will add greatly to the expense.... But they will not be
denied."
In 1702 Letitia married William Aubrey, who had all of Penn's keenness
and none of his genial qualities. Almost from the day of the marriage
both husband and wife pestered Penn for money. Aubrey insisted on a
prompt payment of his wife's marriage portion. His father-in-law was
already beginning to feel the grip of financial embarrassment that
later brought him to the verge of bankruptcy, but, on this occasion as
well as later, he felt compelled to yield to the insistent demands of
the grasping Aubrey.
The only members of the Penn family who ever returned to America were
the children of the second wife, to whom most of the property
descended.
The Letitia Penn House, as it came to be known, fell on evil days. It
was an eating house in 1800, and in 1824 it was the Rising Sun Inn.
Later it was called the Woolpack Hotel.
In 1882 funds were raised by public subscription, and the venerable
house was taken down and rebuilt in Fairmount Park. Visitors who enter
the city by the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City may easily
see it from a right-hand car window, for it is the only house in the
corner of the park on the west side of the river.
XXXII
CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA
CALLED BY BENSON J. LOSSING "THE TEMPLE OF FREEDOM"
Philadelphia was but forty-two years old when a number of builders in
the growing town decided to have a guild like the journeymen's guilds
of London. Accordingly they formed, in 1724, "The Carpenters' Company
of the City and County of Philadelphia," whose object should be "to
obtain instruction in the science of architecture; to assist such of
the members, or the widows and children of members, as should be by
accident in need of support," as well as "the adoption of such a
system of measurements and prices that every one concerned in a
building may have the value of his money, and every workman the worth
of his labor."
At first the meetings were held here and there, probably in taverns.
In 1768 the Company decided to build a home. A lot was secured on
Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth streets, for which an annual
ground rent of "176 Spanish milled pieces of eight" was to be paid.
The sum of three hundred pounds necessary to begin operations was
subscribed in about a week.
The Company's annual meeting of January 21, 1771, was held within the
walls, though the building was not entirely completed until 1792.
Three years after the opening of the hall came the first event that
linked the building with the history of America. A general meeting of
the people of Philadelphia was held here to protest against the
failure of Governor Penn to convene the Assembly of the Colony. A
committee of three was appointed to wait on the Speaker and ask him
for "a positive answer as to whether he would call the Assembly
together or not."
The Assembly was then called to meet on the "18th day of the 6th
month." Three days before the time fixed, another meeting was held in
Carpenters' Hall to consider what measures for the welfare of the
Colony should be proposed to the Assembly. At this meeting the
necessity of holding "a general Congress of delegates from all the
Colonies" was voiced. Later the Assembly approved of the idea of such
a conference, and a call was issued.
On September 5, 1774, the delegates from eleven provinces met in the
City Tavern. Learning that the Carpenters' Company had offered the
hall for the use of the Continental Congress, the delegates voted to
inspect the accommodations. John Adams, one of their number, said
after the visit: "They took a view of the room and of the chamber,
where there is an excellent library. There is also a long entry, where
gentlemen may walk, and also a convenient chamber opposite to the
library. The general cry was that this was a good room."
When this First Continental Congress met, it was decided that the
session of the second day should be opened with prayer. Rev. Jacob
Duche of Christ Church and St. Peter's was asked to be present and
conduct an opening service. This historic account of the service was
written by John Adams:
"Next morning he appeared with his clerk and having on his
pontificals, and read several prayers in the established
form, and then read the Psalter for the seventh day of
September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must
remember that this was the next morning after we had heard of
the horrible cannonade of Boston (the account proved to be an
error). It seemed as if heaven had ordered that Psalm to be
read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duche, unexpectedly to
everybody, struck out into extemporary prayer, which filled
the bosom of every man present. I must confess, I never heard
a better prayer, or one so well pronounced."
In part, this prayer was as follows:
"Be thou present, O God of wisdom! And direct the councils of
this honorable assembly, enable them to settle things on the
best and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be
speedily closed, that order, harmony, and peace may be
effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and
piety, prevail and flourish amongst Thy people."
On October 26 the Congress was dissolved. The second Congress was
called to meet on May 10, 1775, at the State House, later known as
Independence Hall.
When the British took possession of the city in 1777, a portion of the
army was quartered in the building. Officers and men alike borrowed
books from the Library Company of Philadelphia, which had quarters
here, invariably making deposits and paying for the use of volumes
taken in strict accordance with the rules.
In 1778 the United States Commissary of Military Stores began to
occupy the lower story and cellar of the building. From 1791 to 1821
various public organizations sought quarters here, including the Bank
of the United States, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the United States Land
Office, and the United States Custom House. The Carpenters' Company
therefore, in 1791, erected a second building on this lot, which they
occupied until 1857.
When Benson J. Lossing visited the historic hall, on November 27,
1848, he wrote of his great disappointment because the banner of an
auctioneer was on the front of the building. He said:
"I tried hard to perceive the apparition ... to be a classic
frieze, with rich historic trigliphs, but it would not do....
What a desecration! Covering the facade of the very Temple of
Freedom with the placards of grovelling Mammon! If
sensibility is shocked with this outward pollution, it is
overwhelmed with indignant shame on entering the hall where
that august Assembly of men--the godfathers of our
Republic--convened to stand as sponsors at the baptism of
infant American liberty--to find it filled with every species
of merchandise, and the walls which once echoed the eloquent
words of Henry, Lee, and the Adamses, reverberating with the
clatter of the auctioneer's voice and hammer. Is there not
patriotism strong enough in Philadelphia to enter the temple,
and 'cast out all them that buy and sell, and overthrow the
tables of the money-changers?'"
At length the Carpenters' Company decided that the time had come to do
what the historian pleaded for. In 1857 they returned to the building,
and since then they have held their meetings within the walls
consecrated by the heroes of Revolutionary days. The rooms were
restored to their original condition, and relics and mementoes of
early days were put in place. The Hall has ever since been open to
visitors "who may wish to visit the spot where Henry, Hancock, and
Adams inspired the delegates of the Colonies with nerve and the sinew
for the toils of war."
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA
_Photo by Ph. B. Wallace_
See page 153]
XXXIII
ST. PETER'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA
WHOSE BUILDING IS PRACTICALLY UNCHANGED AFTER MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY YEARS
There were but fifteen thousand people in Philadelphia when, on March
19, 1753, the suggestion was made to the vestry of Christ Church that
a new church or Chapel of Ease of Christ Church be built for the
accommodation of the people in the southern part of the city. Thomas
and Richard Penn gave a site for the building of the new church, and
on September 21, 1758, the corner stone was laid. In 1761 the church
was opened, though it was not completed until March, 1763. To the new
organization was given the name St. Peter's, and it was ordered by the
vestry of Christ Church, "that the said church ... in every respect
whatever shall be upon an equal footing with Christ Church, and be
under the same government with it."
At the same time, in view of the gift of the site, it was ordered that
"the first and best pew in the said Church shall be set apart forever
for the accommodation of the Honorable Proprietary's family."
When the building was completed the building committee reported that
the cost was L4,765, 19 s. 6-1/2 d. Added to this report were statements
that sound quite modern. "The sudden rise in the prices of materials
and labor," and "the inability of some subscribers to meet their
engagements," had added to the burdens of the committee.
From the beginning prayers were read in the church for the king and
all the royal family, but on July 4, 1776, the vestry ordered that
patriotic prayers be substituted. While the British were in
Philadelphia the prayers for the king were renewed by order of Dr.
Duche, rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's. The official history
of St. Peter's refers to Dr. Duche, who ordered this, in the following
sentences:
"From an advocate of the Colonies, he became an advocate of
the King, and on the Sunday following the occupation of
Philadelphia by the British, he restored the prayers for the
King to the Liturgy. This compromise with conditions availed
him nothing, and he was arrested for serving as chaplain to
Congress after the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence. The influence of his loyalist friends secured
his speedy release.... Not long afterward he went to England,
where he remained practically an exile for twelve years,
returning to Philadelphia several years before his death,
when, it is said, no truer American could have been found in
the City. He ... was buried in St. Peter's Churchyard."
During the occupation of the church by British troops in 1777 the pews
were burned for fuel, but the building was never closed for lack of
fuel or for any other reason, until the late winter of 1917-18, when
coal could not be secured.
The wooden fence that surrounded the property originally was burned by
the British for fuel, and the brick wall that is now in place was
built in 1784.
Washington frequently occupied a pew in St. Peter's, and many other
men who were prominent in the early history of the country worshipped
here. The building is practically as it was when they lived. "It is
the same church to which the colonists in their knee-breeches and rich
coats came to attend the first service in 1761," a member of the
vestry said in 1891. "The pulpit, reading desk, and chancel rails were
built in 1764, and the present organ loft was put up over the chancel
in 1789. In all other respects the plain, austere interior of this old
church ... remains unchanged, the only relic in Pennsylvania, and one
of the very few in the country at large, of the church in colonial
days. Bishop De Lancey, in his centennial sermon, preached September
4, 1861, said: 'We enter by the same doors--we tread the same
aisles--we kneel where they knelt--we sit where they sat; the voice of
prayer, instruction, and praise ascends from the same desk from which
it reached their ears, in the privacy and seclusion of the same high,
strait unostentatious pews.'"
In the crowded churchyard are the graves of many colonial worthies as
well as many leaders in the early history of America. Stephen Decatur
is buried here, and Charles Wilson Peale, who painted a famous
portrait of Washington.
The _Pennsylvania Evening Post_ of January 18, 1777, told of the
burial of one of the patriots whose bodies were laid here:
"Yesterday the remains of Captain William Shippen, who was
killed at Princeton the third instant, gloriously fighting
for the liberty of his country, were interred in St. Peter's
Churchyard. His funeral was attended by the Council of
Safety, the members of Assembly, officers of the army, a
troop of Virginia light horse, and a great number of
inhabitants. This brave and unfortunate man was in his
twenty-seventh year, and has left a widow and three children
to lament the death of an affectionate husband and a tender
parent, his servants a kind master, and his neighbors a
sincere and obliging friend."
Captain Shippen, before joining Washington's army, was captain of the
privateer _Hancock_, which, between July 1 and November 1, 1776, sent
to American ports ten prizes captured at sea.
[Illustration: CLIVEDEN, PHILADELPHIA
_Photo by Ph. B. Wallace_
See page 156]
XXXIV
CLIVEDEN, GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA
ON THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN
In the days before the Revolution there were many residents of
Philadelphia who had, in addition to a sumptuous town house, a country
house, to which they could resort in the summer or at other times when
they wished relief from the cares of daily life. Germantown, the
straggling village five miles from the town of William Penn, was one
of the popular places for such establishments.
Samuel Chew's town house was at Front and Dock streets when he built
Cliveden at Germantown in 1761. At that time he was Attorney-General
of Pennsylvania, though in 1774 he became Chief-Justice of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania.
Both in Philadelphia and in Germantown he maintained the hospitable
traditions he had learned at Maidstone, near Annapolis, where he was
born, in 1722, of a family whose first American ancestor, John Chew,
came to Virginia a century earlier.
During the days of the Continental Congress Judge Chew seemed to
sympathize with the colonists in their protests against the aggression
of Great Britain, but when independence was proposed, he let it be
known that he was unwilling to act with the patriots. Accordingly he
was arrested by order of Congress, together with John Penn, and when
he refused to sign a parole, he was banished from the State.
During his absence the battle of Germantown was fought. On October 3,
1777, the British forces were disposed on nearly all sides of the Chew
mansion. Washington planned to attack these scattered forces by four
columns, which were to advance from as many directions. General
Wayne's column successfully opened the attack at daybreak October 4,
driving before him the enemy encountered at Mount Airy. Colonel
Musgrave checked the retreat of the soldiers at Cliveden. With six
companies he took possession of the mansion, prepared to defend
themselves behind hastily barricaded doors and windows. Wayne and the
leaders who were with him pushed on past the house, continuing the
pursuit of that portion of the enemy which had continued its retreat;
he did not know that he was leaving an enemy in his rear. When
Washington came to Cliveden, he was surprised by the fire of the
entrenched enemy. After a hasty conference with others, it was decided
not to pass on, leaving a fortress behind. Cannon were planted so as
to command the door, but they were fired without much effect.
The next attempt was made by a young Frenchman who asked others to
carry hay from the barn and set fire to the front door. Thinking they
were doing as he asked, he forced open a window and climbed on the
sill. From this position he was driven back, and he found that he had
not been supported by those on whom he had counted.
In the meantime the artillery fire continued, but with little effect.
General Wilkinson, who was present, afterward wrote:
"The doors and shutters of the lower windows of the mansion
were shut and fastened, the fire of the enemy being delivered
from the iron gratings of the cellars and the windows above,
and it was closely beset on all sides with small-arms and
artillery, as is manifest from the multiplicity of traces
still visible from musket-ball and grape-shot on the interior
walls and ceilings which appear to have entered through the
doors and windows in every direction; marks of cannon-ball
are also visible, in several places on the exterior of the
wall and through the roof, though one ball only appears to
have penetrated below the roof, and that by a window in the
passage of the second story. The artillery seem to have made
no impression on the walls of the house, a few slight
indentures only being observable, except from one stroke in
the rear, which started the wall."