April 18, 1782.
Robert Morris subscribed for 633 shares of the bank on account of the
United States, paying therefore $254,000, but, owing to the necessities
of the government, he was almost immediately compelled to borrow a like
amount from the bank, so that the institution derived but little benefit
from the government subscription.
The deposits gradually assumed large proportions. Some of the States
gave to the bank the assistance of their recognition. Connecticut made
the notes receivable in payment of taxes, Rhode Island provided
punishment for counterfeiting its issue, and Massachusetts created it a
corporation according to the laws of that Commonwealth.
The operations of the bank were almost immediately attended with the
restoration of confidence and credit. The State of Pennsylvania being
unable to pay the officers of its army, relief was found in the bank,
which advanced the money for the state, and received its reimbursement
when the revenue was collected.
The public enemy infested the Delaware River and Bay, and seized vessels
in the port of Philadelphia. The bank advanced $22,500, which enabled
the merchants to fit out a ship of war, which not only cleared the river
of the enemy, but captured a cruiser of twenty guns belonging to the
British fleet.
The defense of the Western frontier was promoted by the advance of £5000
by the bank in 1782.
In the year 1785, when an ill feeling had arisen between the government
of the State of Pennsylvania and the bank, the former repealed the
charter which it had granted in 1782. The bank, however, continued its
operations under the charter granted by the Federal Government till
1787, when it was rechartered by Pennsylvania.
The charter of the Bank of North America has been renewed from time to
time, and was made a National Bank, December, 1864, and is still one of
the leading financial institutions of the State and Nation.
It is one of the only three banks in existence at the time of the
adoption of the Federal Constitution, the others being the Bank of New
York, at New York City, and the Bank of Massachusetts, at Boston.
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Matthias Baldwin Completed First Successful
Locomotive January 8, 1831
The first successful American locomotive was made in Philadelphia by
Matthias William Baldwin, and completed January 8, 1831.
The story of the man and his wonderful achievement is the story of one
of the greatest industrial plans in the world and is full of human
interest.
Matthias Baldwin was born December 10, 1795, the son of an Elizabeth, N.
J., carriage-maker, who was in affluent circumstances at the time of his
death, but the mismanagement of his property caused the loss of nearly
all. Matthias was the youngest of five children and but four years old
when his father died. He inherited his father’s skill with tools and
early began to construct labor-saving devices to assist his mother in
her housework.
At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a firm of jewelers in
Frankford, now a part of Philadelphia. His habits were sober,
industrious and earnest. He devoted much of his spare time to singing in
the little Presbyterian Church.
At twenty-one he became an apprentice in the firm of Fletcher & Gardner,
silversmiths and jewelers, of Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
In 1825 he formed a partnership with David Mason, a machinist, for the
manufacture of bookbinder tools and cylinders for calico printing. Their
first shop was in a small alley running north from Walnut Street above
Fourth. Afterwards they moved into a shop on Minor Street, where they
also began to manufacture machines of Mr. Baldwin’s invention.
The first such invention was a small upright engine adapted to the
motive power of a small factory. From this success the manufacture of
stationary steam engines took a prominent place in the establishment.
The plant now employed a number of young men. Baldwin felt that these
needed some place where they could get instruction in science and
mechanical art, so that they might become more intelligent and
inventive. He talked over the matter with many other employers, and the
result was the founding of Franklin Institute, the cornerstone of which
was laid with Masonic ceremonies, June 8, 1824. This is still one of the
active and valuable institutions of the country.
About this time Mr. Mason withdrew from the firm, Mr. Baldwin continuing
the manufacture of engines.
It was in 1829–30 that steam, as a motive power on railroads, began to
attract the attention of American engineers. George Stephenson had
produced a successful locomotive in England. In 1830 the Camden and
Amboy Railroad Company brought across the ocean a locomotive, which was
kept hidden from the public eye until it should be used.
Franklin Peale, who owned the Philadelphia Museum, where up-to-date
novelties were shown, wished to have a small working model of a
locomotive to exhibit, and he turned to Matthias Baldwin.
The two men found out where the locomotive was kept, and visited the
place. Baldwin was already familiar with the published description and
sketches of engines which had taken part in the Rainhill competitions in
England, but he now had an opportunity to see and measure for himself an
actual engine.
Baldwin made the model, completing it January 8, 1831. It was taken to
the museum and on April 25 was put in motion on a circular track made of
pine boards, covered with hoop-iron. It drew two small cars, each
holding four persons, and attracted great attention from the crowds who
saw it. Both anthracite and pine-knot coal were used as fuel, and the
steam was discharged through the smokestack to increase the draught.
The success of the model obtained for Mr. Baldwin an order for a
locomotive for the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad
Company.
This engine when completed was called “Old Ironsides” and left the shop
November 23, 1832. It stood on the rails like a “thing of life.” Its
light weight, between four and five tons, did not give it that tractive
power necessary to draw a loaded train on wet and slippery rails, hence
the newspapers of that day termed it a “fair weather” locomotive,
because the notices specified that “the locomotive built by Mr. M. W.
Baldwin, of this city, will depart daily, when the weather is fair, with
a train of passenger cars. On rainy days horses will be attached.”
The “Old Ironsides” was a four-wheeled engine, modeled essentially on
the English fashion of that day. The wheels were made with heavy
cast-iron hubs, wooden spokes and rims, and wrought-iron tires. The
price of this engine was $4,000, but the company claimed that it did not
perform according to contract, and after correction had been made as far
as possible, a compromise was effected and Mr. Baldwin received $3,500
for his work.
“Old Ironsides” on subsequent trials attained a speed of thirty miles an
hour with the usual train.
Only one man in Baldwin’s shop, besides the inventor himself, could
properly run “Old Ironsides.” This man fell sick, and others who tried,
could not get it to run satisfactorily. The president of the road was
about to throw it back on Baldwin’s hands when the engineer recovered
and the locomotive gave satisfaction. But Baldwin was so thoroughly
disgusted with all the complaints, and such was his first locomotive
that he said with much decision, “That is our last locomotive.” But
other great men have been known to change their minds, and when Matthias
Baldwin died, his works had built more than 1500 locomotives.
“The Miller,” for the Charleston and Hamburg, S. C., Railroad Company
was the next engine built by Mr. Baldwin. During 1834 he completed five
locomotives, and his business was now fairly established. It was during
this year that larger quarters were necessary, and Mr. Baldwin removed
his shops to the location on Broad and Hamilton Streets, where, in 1835,
the present Baldwin Locomotive Works had their origin, and where they
have since developed into their immense proportions.
The financial difficulties of 1836–37 did not leave Mr. Baldwin
unscathed. Great as his embarrassments were a full consultation with his
creditors resulted in the wise determination to leave him in full and
complete possession of the plant and business, under an agreement to pay
full amount of indebtedness, principal and interest. In five years
Baldwin discharged every dollar of debt.
August 25, 1842, Mr. Baldwin obtained a patent for a six-wheel connected
engine, which revived the business. In 1840 Baldwin built a locomotive
for Austria and in 1845 he built three for Wurtemburg.
Mr. Baldwin died September 7, 1865, after he had virtually perfected the
locomotive and witnessed the rise and wonderful increase of the most
important material interest of the age, to the completion of which he
had contributed more than any other individual. His name was familiar
where the locomotive was known and his personal character as a Christian
and a philanthropist was as highly esteemed by his associates and
acquaintances as his scientific achievements were valued by the
profession.
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Fort Hunter, an Important Defense,
Garrisoned January 9, 1756
A motorist touring north along the Susquehanna Trail, when six miles
above Harrisburg, just at the point in the roadway where one would turn
off sharply to the right, if going to the beautiful Country Club of
Harrisburg, can see a boulder which marks the site of Fort Hunter, one
of the busy places during the stirring period immediately following
hostilities which inaugurated the French and Indian War.
This fort stood on the south bank of Fishing Creek, at its junction with
the Susquehanna River, on property now occupied by John W. Reily near
the village known as Rockville.
The date of its erection is uncertain, but it is probable that it was
built by the settlers about October, 1755, immediately after the two
terrible Indian massacres at Penn’s Creek and Mahanoy Creek. It was
completed by the Provincial Government in January, 1756.
Benjamin Chambers was the first white man to settle in that vicinity,
where he built a mill in 1720. He was the senior of four brothers, all
sturdy Presbyterians from the County of Antrim in the north of Ireland.
He was subsequently joined by his three brothers, and in 1735 all but
Thomas removed to the Cumberland Valley.
Benjamin erected Fort Chambers and became a most influential citizen.
Thomas remained on Fishing Creek and operated a mill. His son-in-law,
Robert Hunter, subsequently fell heir to the improvements and henceforth
the stockade was known as the fort at Hunter’s Mill, or Fort Hunter.
The first orders on record relating to Fort Hunter were issued January
9, 1756, by Governor Morris to Adam Read, of Hanover Township, Lancaster
County, and were as follows:
“The Commissioner thinking that a company of fifty men under your
command are sufficient to guard the frontier along the Kittektiny Hills,
from your own house to Hunter’s Mill, have refused for the present to
take any other men in that quarter into the pay of the Government, and
requested me to order, and I do hereby order you to detach twenty-five
of the men now at your house, to the fort at Hunter’s Mill, upon
Susquehanna, under the command of your lieutenant, or officer next under
yourself, or in case there be none such appointed by the Government,
then under the command of such person as you shall appoint for that
service; and you are to give orders to the commander of such detachment
to keep his men in order and fit for duty, and to cause a party of them,
from time to time, to range the woods along and near the mountains
toward your house; and you are in like manner to keep the men with you
in good order, and to cause a party of them from time to time, to range
the woods on or near the mountains toward Hunter’s Mill, and you and
they are to continue upon this service till further order.
“You are to add ten men to your company out of the township of Paxton,
and to make the detachment at Hunter’s Mill of twenty more men, which
with those ten, are to complete thirty for service, and keep an account
of the time when these ten enter themselves, that you may be enabled to
make up your muster roll upon oath.”
Hardly had the above order been executed and the men recruited until
additional orders were dispatched by the Governor to Captain Read: “I
have also appointed Thomas McKee to take post at or near Hunter’s Mill
with thirty men.”
An interesting sentence in his letter revealed the hardships of a
Provincial soldier: “But as the Province is at present in want of arms
and blankets, if any of the men you shall enlist will find themselves
with those articles, they shall receive half a dollar for the use of
their gun, and half a dollar for the use of a blanket.”
At the same time Governor Morris wrote to James Galbraith, Esq., a
Provincial Commissioner, rehearsing the sundry orders given to Captains
Read and McKee, to which he added:
“I have also instructed Capt. McKee to advise with you whether to finish
the fort already begun at Hunter’s Mill, or to build a new one, and as
to the place where it would be best to erect such new one. I therefore
desire you will assist him in those matters, or in anything else that
the King’s service and the safety of the inhabitants may require.”
On December 9, 1755, Thomas Foster and Thomas McKee were furnished with
“12½ pounds powder and 25 pounds swan shot.” It is therefore more than
probable the soldiers ordered there in January, 1756, by Governor Morris
were the first Provincial soldiers put on duty at Fort Hunter.
The activity of the French, in their efforts to enlist the Indians of
the Province to take up the hatchet against the English, was felt at
this post, as letters written by Captain McKee to Edward Shippen and
others reveal.
At this time the Province had decided to erect a great fortress at the
forks of the Susquehanna, which was subsequently built and named Fort
Augusta. Colonel William Clapham was commissioned early in April, 1756,
to recruit a regiment of 400 men for this purpose.
Governor Morris advised Colonel Clapham, April 7, that he had directed a
rendezvous to be established at Fort Hunter and advised the colonel to
use it for the safe storage of supplies and stocks which he would
require in his expedition farther up the river.
June 11, 1756, Colonel Clapham stationed twenty-four troops there, under
command of a Mr. Johnson, and directed him to “escort provisions, from
there to McKee’s store.” November 3 the garrison consisted of “2
sargants and 34 Private Men.”
March 14, 1757, at a conference on the defense of the Province, held at
Philadelphia, it was decided that 400 men should be kept at Fort
Augusta; 100 should constitute the garrison at Fort Halifax, and that
Fort Hunter should be demolished, only fifty being retained there
temporarily until the removal of the magazine which was to take place as
soon as possible.
The long frontier of the Blue Mountain, between the Susquehanna and
Delaware was to be defended by Colonel Conrad Weiser’s battalion, and
the forts reduced to three in number.
This caused consternation among the settlers near Fort Hunter and they
appealed to the Provincial authorities.
Commissary Young, the Reverend John Elder and others appeared in person
August 25 in Philadelphia, and strongly urged the retention of the
garrison at this important place. Their appeal was effective. Fort
Hunter was not demolished but strengthened.
Indians appeared within twenty rods of Fort Hunter, October, 1757.
William Martin was killed and scalped while picking chestnuts.
Colonel James Patterson was in command of the garrison in January, 1758.
From that time until the Pontiac Conspiracy in 1763, there was not much
activity about Fort Hunter, when it again became the rendezvous of
Provincial troops. After peace was declared Fort Hunter slowly but
surely passed out of existence until the last log was rotted and
disappeared and the old fort only existed as an historical memory.
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Founder of Stumpstown Murdered Ten
Indians, January 10, 1768
About a dozen years ago the members of the Lebanon County Historical
Society enjoyed three evenings of entertainment when that able and
clever historian, Dr. E. Grumbine, of Mt. Zion, gave a history of
interesting events, traditions and anecdotes of early Fredericksburg,
known for many years as Stumpstown.
The village was laid out in 1761 by Frederick Stump, who for years
afterwards led a most unusual and exciting life. The town was then in
Lancaster County, later in Dauphin, then after 1813 in Lebanon County.
In the year 1826 a postoffice was established in the place, which with
eminent propriety received the name Stumpstown. In 1843 the name of the
postoffice became Fredericksburg.
In 1828 two enterprising citizens, named Henry and Martin Meily, built a
canal boat, as the Union Canal had recently been opened and the canal
was the talk of the day. While Stumpstown was distant from the canal,
the Meilys did not seem to care for this handicap, but using a vacant
corner of the only graveyard in the village, they constructed their boat
and when finished they loaded it on heavy wagons and conveyed it four
miles overland to Jonestown, where they christened it “Columbus” and
launched it on the raging canal. It carried freight to and from
Philadelphia for many years.
In 1767 the German Lutherans erected a church of logs, which served its
purpose for sixty years.
Like many places, Stumpstown had a big fire which destroyed nearly
one-fourth of the village. That was in 1827, and was caused by a boy
shooting at a crow perched on the thatched roof of a stable. His old
flint-rock was wadded with tow, which being inflammable, set fire to the
straw thatch, and soon the barn was in flames, and fanned by a strong
northwest breeze, a total of twenty buildings including a tannery,
sheds, dwelling of owner, blacksmith shop, the only school house, and
other houses were consumed.
Frederick Stump, the founder, was a notorious character. He was born in
1735 in the neighborhood of Stumpstown, and in 1768 was living near the
mouth of Middle Creek in what is now Snyder County.
On Sunday morning, January 10, 1768, six Indians went to the house of
Frederick Stump. They were White Mingo, Cornelius, John Campbell, Jones
and two squaws. They were in a drunken condition and behaved in a
suspicious manner. Stump endeavored to get them to leave, but without
success. Fearing injury to himself, he and his servant, John Ironcutter,
killed them all, dragging their bodies to the creek, where they cut a
hole in the ice and pushed their bodies into the stream.
Fearing the news might be carried to the other Indians, Stump went the
next day to their cabins, fourteen miles up the creek, where he found
one squaw, two girls and one child. These he killed and threw their
bodies in the cabin and burned it.
The details of these murders were told by Stump to William Blythe, who
found the charred remains of the four in the cabin ruins. Blythe
testified to these acts before the Provincial authorities in
Philadelphia, January 19, 1768.
One of the bodies which Stump pushed through the hole in the ice floated
down the Susquehanna until it finally lodged against the shore on the
Cumberland County side, opposite Harrisburg, below the site of the
present bridge at Market Street.
The Indian had been killed by being struck on the forehead with some
blunt instrument, which crushed in his skull. His entire scalp,
including his ears, was torn from his head. An inquest was held February
28, 1768, at the spot where his body was found.
John Blair Linn, in his “Annals of Buffalo Valley,” places the scene of
this crime on the run that enters the creek at Middleburgh, known by the
name of Stump’s Run to this day.
This crime caused the greatest consternation throughout the Province, as
the authorities had just cause to fear a repetition of the Indian
outrages unless Stump was apprehended and punished for his crime.
A few Indians who escaped the wrath of Stump chased him toward Fort
Augusta. Stump did not enter the fort, but rushed into a house occupied
by two women. He claimed their protection, alleging he was pursued by
Indians. They did not believe him, and feared the Indians, if his story
be true, but he begged piteously they hide him between two beds.
The Indians were but a moment behind Stump, but the women insisted they
knew nothing of him. Before the Indians left the house they seized a
cat, plucked out its hair and tore it to pieces, illustrating the
reception which awaited Stump, had they found him.
Captain William Patterson led a score of his neighbors to assist in
arresting Stump and Ironcutter.
On their approach Stump fled to the woods, but Patterson pretended that
he wanted Stump to accompany him to Great Island to kill Indians. This
appealed to Stump, who returned to the house, when Patterson arrested
and bound him and took him and his servant to Carlisle, where they were
lodged in jail, Saturday evening, March 23, 1768.
But justice was to be cheated. The magistrates fought over the place of
Stump’s trial, and it was decided to try him in Philadelphia.
On Monday morning following his arrest, the Sheriff proceeded to do his
duty, but was restrained by the magistrates. On Wednesday, forty of the
country people assembled on the outskirts of Carlisle, and sent two
messengers to the jail. When they learned Stump was not to be sent to
Philadelphia for trial, they dispersed.
On Friday a company from Sherman’s Valley, where Stump had lived,
marched toward Carlisle, about eight entering the town. Two of them went
to the jail and asked the jailor for liquor. As he was serving them the
others entered with drawn cutlasses and pistols and demanded he make no
outcry. Sixty others now surrounded the jail. Stump was taken from the
dungeon, the handcuffs removed and he was released.
The Sheriff, Colonel John Armstrong and others attempted to restrain the
mob, but in the struggle which ensued Stump escaped, as did his servant,
Ironcutter.
The Governor was angered at this escape and issued instructions for his
rearrest and then a formal proclamation offering a reward of £200 for
Stump and £100 for Ironcutter.
After their rescue from the Carlisle jail both Stump and Ironcutter
returned to the neighborhood of their bloody crime, but as their
presence was not longer agreeable to the inhabitants, Stump soon left
and went to the residence of his father at Tulpehocken and Ironcutter
was spirited away by friends.
They were never again arrested, for the settlers generally sympathized
with them, but Stump and his servant both went to Virginia, where it is
known that Stump died at an advanced age.
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First Records of Courts in State Preserved
January 11, 1682
Nearly a month after the signing of the charter, March 4, 1681, King
Charles II, April 2, issued a declaration informing the inhabitants and
planters of the Province that William Penn, their absolute Proprietary,
was clothed with all the powers and pre-eminences necessary for the
Government. A few days later, April 8, the Proprietary addressed a
proclamation to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
Captain William Markham, a cousin of William Penn, was appointed Deputy
Governor and his commission contained five items of instructions, the
fourth being “to erect courts, appoint sheriffs, justices of the peace,
etc.” These courts were established and the new Government was soon
functioning.
The records of these early courts are interesting to both the lawyer and
those who care for the history of our State.
Most of our citizens are but little attracted by the tedious accounts of
routine practice, or the fine distinction between one jurisdiction and
another, yet they find gratification in contemplating the manners,
customs and modes of thought once prevalent in our courts of justice.
A review of the practice of the courts of Pennsylvania in the
seventeenth century and as late as the eighteenth present many
interesting subjects.