Government was raised by excise is evidenced from a report made by
Governor John Penn June 26, 1775, which was an account of the several
amounts of the excise tax collected for the years 1771, 72, 73 and 74,
the total amount of which, after deducting the commissions to the
Treasurer and collectors exceeded £28,000. Together with this report was
another indorsed “State of the Bills of Credit struck on the Excise for
several years, laid before the Governor with the bill for the support of
Government & paymt of public debts.”
In the Act of 1722 a duty was levied on domestic and foreign spirits. At
first, however, as to home-distilled spirits it was not executed, and,
indeed, hardly any steps were taken for the purpose particularly in the
older counties. But, during the Revolutionary War, the necessities of
the State and a temporary unpopularity of distillation, owing to the
immense amount of grain consumed, when the troops so much needed it as a
food, rendered the collection of duties both necessary and practicable,
and a considerable revenue was thereby obtained. Toward the end of the
war the act was repealed.
In 1780 Congress resolved that an allowance of an additional sum should
be made to the army, to compensate the troops for the depreciation in
their pay. This was distributed among the several States for discharge.
Pennsylvania made several appropriations for the purpose, but the
revenues so applied turned out to be unproductive.
The depreciation fund was always favorably regarded, and upon an
application of officers of the Pennsylvania Line, another effort was
made, the revenue arising from the excise remaining uncollected was
appropriated to this fund, and vigorous measures were taken for its
collection.
Great changes, however, had taken place in the disposition of the people
since the first imposition of these duties. The neighboring States were
free from the burden, and in New Jersey, where a law had been passed for
the purpose, its execution had been entirely prevented by a powerful
combination. The Pennsylvania law, therefore, met with great opposition,
especially west of the Allegheny Mountains and there is no evidence that
the excise was ever paid in that section.
The excise law of Pennsylvania, after remaining for years a dead letter,
was repealed, and the people were to submit to a similar law passed by
the Congress of the new Federal Government March 3, 1791. This laid an
excise of fourpence per gallon on all distilled spirits.
The members of Congress from Western Pennsylvania, Smilie, of Fayette,
and Findley, of Westmoreland, stoutly opposed the passage of the law,
and on their return among their constituents loudly and openly
disapproved of it. Albert Gallatin, then residing in Fayette County,
also opposed the law by all constitutional methods.
The majority of the people in the western counties of the State were of
Scotch-Irish descent. They had heard of the exaction and oppression in
the Old Country under the excise laws—that houses were entered by excise
officers, the most private apartments examined, and confiscation and
imprisonment followed if the smallest quantity of whisky was discovered
not marked with the official brand. They also remembered the effective
resistance to the Stamp Act, that those who forced the repeal of the
odious law were the real factors in bringing about the independence of
America. Holding these opinions, it is not to be wondered at that the
more hot-headed resorted to threats of violence and precipitated the
riotous proceedings known in Pennsylvania history as the Whisky
Insurrection.
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Pittsburgh Built in 1760, Incorporated April
22, 1794, and Chartered as City
March 18, 1816
On April 17, 1754, Ensign Ward was surprised by the appearance of
Frenchmen, who landed, planted their cannon and summoned the English to
surrender. The French soon demolished an unfinished fort and built in
its place a much larger and better one, calling it Fort Duquesne, in
honor of the Marquis Duquesne, the French Governor of Canada.
This was the actual beginning of what is now Pittsburgh, but there were
many stirring conflicts for permanent possession of the site at the
“Forks of the Ohio.”
When General John Forbes invested Fort Duquesne November 25, 1758, he
marched into a place which had been abandoned by the French and instead
of a formidable fortress it was now nothing but a mass of blackened and
smoldering ruins. The enemy, after burning the barracks and storehouses,
had blown up the fortifications. Forbes’ first care was to provide a
better defense and shelter for his troops, and a strong stockade was
built, which he named Pittsburgh, in honor of England’s great Minister
William Pitt.
A strong fort was subsequently built, which was known as Fort Pitt, and
which continued until after the Revolutionary War to be the western base
of the military department.
The first town of Pittsburgh was built near Fort Pitt in 1760. In a very
carefully prepared list of the houses and the inhabitants outside of the
fort, headed “a return of the number of houses of the names of the
owners and number of the names of the owners and number of men, women
and children in each house Fort Pitt, April 14, 1761,” the number of
inhabitants is 233, with the addition of ninety-five officers, soldiers
and their families residing in the town, making the whole number 328.
There were 104 houses. The lower town was nearer the fort, the upper on
higher ground, principally along the bank of the Monongahela, extending
as far as the present Market Street.
This town enjoyed comparative quiet until the Pontiac War, in 1763, when
Fort Pitt was completely surrounded by the savage foe and the garrison
reduced to dire straits until relieved by Colonel Bouquet.
The second town of Pittsburgh was laid out in 1765, by Colonel John
Campbell, by permission of the commandant of Fort Pitt. It comprised the
ground bounded by present Water Street, Second and Ferry Streets.
Campbell’s plan of lots was subsequently incorporated unaltered in the
survey made by George Woods for the Penns in 1784, and is known as the
“Old Military Plan.” Several of these houses built of hewn logs and
weather-boarded stood until quite recently and the old redoubt of
Colonel Bouquet, built in 1764, north of the present Penn Street, west
of Point, remains the most valued relic of the pre-Revolutionary days in
Western Pennsylvania.
The little building is of brick, five-sided, with two floors having a
squared oak log with loop holes on each floor. There are two underground
passages, one connecting it with the fort, and the other leading to the
Monongahela River. This building and ground upon which it stands is
owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Allegheny County,
who keep it in excellent repair. It was the gift of Mrs. Mary E.
Schenley, April 1, 1894.
During the Revolution the Assembly confiscated the property of the Penn
family, excepting certain manors and other property which the
Proprietaries held in their private capacities by devise, purchase, or
descent. The Manor of Pittsburgh contained 5766 acres and included the
present city of Pittsburgh and the country eastward of it and south of
the Monongahela; this was surveyed March 27, 1769, and remained as the
property of the Penns.
In 1784 Tench Francis, of Philadelphia, as agent for the Proprietaries,
laid out this Manor in town and outlots. The surveyor’s work was done by
George Woods, of Bedford. These lots found ready sale and by 1786 there
were 100 houses and 500 population. The fur trade was still the most
important, although the general business was improving.
The first newspaper published west of the Alleghenies was the Pittsburgh
Gazette, now the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, established July 29, 1786.
Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough April 22, 1794.
Another important event occurred May 19, 1798, when the galley President
Adams was launched at Pittsburgh. She was the first vessel built here
which was competent for a sea voyage, and was constructed by the
Government, in preparation for the threatened war with France. The
Senator Ross was launched the following spring.
The first glass works were established here in 1797 by James O’Hara and
Isaac Craig. William Eichbaum was brought from near Philadelphia to
superintend this new enterprise, the first real manufacturing venture in
this place. The first paper mill west of the Alleghenies was erected
this same year in Pittsburgh.
During the three years from 1802 to 1805 four ships, three brigs and
three schooners were built in Pittsburgh.
The first bank in the western part of the State was a branch of the Bank
of Pennsylvania, which opened for business January 1, 1804, on Second
Street, between Ferry and Chancery Lane. An iron foundry was established
by Joseph McClurg during 1804.
On March 24, 1811, the New Orleans, the first steamboat ever built or
run on Western waters, was launched at Pittsburgh. This boat started on
its initial trip to the Crescent City, December 24 following. The second
such boat was christened the Comet and launched in Pittsburgh in 1813. A
large number of boats was built in this city, and the trade was immense.
The first canal boat ever built or run west of the mountains was the
General Abner Lacock. She was owned by Patrick Leonard, of Pittsburgh,
but was built in Apollo. This was a fine packet boat, with berths and
dining service, as well as capacity for carrying freight.
The first railroad entered Pittsburgh in the fall of 1834, on the
completion of the Philadelphia and Columbia, and the Allegheny portage
railroads.
Pittsburgh became a city by an Act of Assembly at the sessions of
1815–1816, the date of the change in city government being March 18,
1816. At the first election for municipal officers under the City
Charter, Major Ebenezer Denny was chosen Mayor.
The first great consolidation was effected March 29, 1872, when the
South side was united with Pittsburgh. This brought into the city the
boroughs of Birmingham, East Birmingham, Ormsby, Allentown, St. Clair,
South Pittsburgh, Monongahela, Mount Washington, Union, West Pittsburgh
and Temperanceville.
The population of Pittsburgh according to the census of 1920 was
588,343.
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Margaret Junkin Preston, Poetess-Laureate,| Died March 19, 1897
It is a matter of just pride that the most brilliant and beloved poetess
of yesteryear was none other than a Pennsylvania girl, Margaret Junkin
Preston, who through her writings, both in prose and poetry, attained
Nation-wide distinction and won the title “Poetess-Laureate of the
South.”
Margaret Junkin was born in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania,
May 19, 1820, the eldest child of Rev. George and Julia Rush Miller
Junkin.
Her parents were of that stalwart, heroic race, the Covenanters of
Scotland.
Dr. Junkin’s life was devoted to religion and education, and at the time
of his marriage he was the minister of the Presbyterian Church at
Milton.
When Margaret was ten years old her parents moved to Germantown, where
her father assumed charge of the Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania.
After a delightful residence of two years Dr. Junkin was called to the
first presidency of Lafayette College, and the family moved to the
“Forks of the Delaware.”
It was during the incumbency of Dr. Junkin that the college, which for
two years was conducted on a farm south of the Lehigh, was moved to the
present site, on what has since been known as College Hill Easton, and
Old South College built. President and Mrs. Junkin and their seven
children moved into the original building, where they continued to
reside until March 30, 1841, when the doctor accepted the presidency of
Miami College, Oxford, O.
It was during her residence at Easton that Margaret and her sister,
Eleanor, became members of the First Presbyterian Church and that her
first productions in verse appeared in the columns of a local newspaper;
they were “Childhood,” “The Forest Grave” and “Where Dwelleth the Scent
of the Rose.” After her removal to Oxford, O., she wrote “Lines Written
on Reading Letters Bringing Sad News From Easton.”
In 1844 Dr. Junkin returned to Easton to again assume the presidency of
Lafayette College, in which position he capably served until 1848, when
he accepted the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee
University, at Lexington, Va.
Upon Margaret Junkin’s return to Easton, she wrote “Love’s Tribute to
the Departed,” occasioned by the death of an intimate friend, and “The
Fate of a Raindrop.” These were followed after removing to Lexington, by
“Thoughts Suggested by Powers’ Proserpine,” “The Old Dominion,” “The
Solaced Grief,” “Galileo Before the Inquisition,” and “The Polish Boy.”
The life of Margaret Junkin at Lexington differed from that which she
experienced as a young girl at Germantown, Easton and Oxford. She had
reached the age of twenty-eight, and the old town in the Shenandoah
Valley, with its educational institutions, social atmosphere and local
culture brought many interesting persons as visitors, not to speak of
the quaint life among the slaves. This all appealed to her. She entered
into the spirit of this environment to the fullest extent. Her lovely
character, unusual attainments, literary and social, were fully
recognized at home and abroad.
The death, in 1849, of her brother, Joseph, followed by that of her
mother, in 1854, and only a few months later by that of her favorite
sister, Eleanor, brought profound grief to the Junkin household.
The sister, Eleanor, survived only a year her marriage to Major Thomas
J. Jackson, a graduate of West Point, and then a professor in the
Virginia Military Institute, who later achieved fame in the Civil War
and gained the sobriquet of “Stonewall Jackson,” second only to his
commander-in-chief, Robert E. Lee. After the death of Mrs. Jackson, her
husband continued to be a member of Dr. Junkin’s household for four
years.
Margaret Junkin married, August 3, 1857, Major T. L. Preston, professor
of Latin in the Virginia Military Institute, a widower with seven
children. To this family she proved to be an affectionate and devoted
mother.
Two sons were born to Major and Margaret Junkin Preston—George Junkin
Preston, for many years a successful specialist in nervous diseases at
Baltimore, now deceased, and Herbert Preston, now General Solicitor for
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.
The war clouds were lowering for a bitter conflict between the North and
South, and the Junkin family became divided. The father, Rev. George
Junkin, a pronounced abolitionist and opposed to secession, resigned the
presidency of Washington College, and, with his widowed daughter
departed for Philadelphia.
The story told of this trip, which was made overland, is that when the
Mason and Dixon line was reached the team pulling the heavy load of
household effects, and the one attached to the carriage in which the
doctor and his daughter were riding, were halted, the goods unloaded,
the horses, harness, wagon, carriage and themselves all carefully
washed, then again loaded and driven over the boundary line into
Pennsylvania. As the doctor afterwards related, no Southern soil should
be brought into Pennsylvania, he wanted to leave it all where it
belonged.
His son, William, espoused the Southern cause and became a captain, but
his son, John M., served as a surgeon in the Federal Army.
Following the close of the Civil War, Mrs. Preston devoted much time to
reviewing books for various publishers, and in compiling and arranging
for publication her own compositions in prose and verse, the latter
resulting in the publication, in 1866, of her “Bechenbrook,” a book of
poems voicing the sorrow and patriotism of the Southern people, and of
“Old Songs and New” in 1870.
These were followed by “Cartoons,” “Handful of Monographs,” “For Love’s
Sake,” “Colonial Ballads and Sonnets,” “Chimes for Church Children” and
“Aunt Dorothy.” In addition she contributed to Century Magazine in the
early eighties some reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee, and personal
reminiscences of General “Stonewall” Jackson.
Colonel Preston resigned his professorship in 1882, when he and his
talented wife traveled and visited among their children. The husband
died July 15, 1890, and Mrs. Preston continued to live at Lexington for
two years, but late in December, 1892, she removed to Baltimore and made
her home with her eldest son, Dr. George Junkin Preston.
Margaret Junkin Preston died March 19, 1897.
There was much written about this poetess at the time, and possibly the
best known was “An Appreciation of Margaret J. Preston, a Sketch of her
Fifty Years of Literary Life,” by Prof. James A. Harrison, of the
University of Virginia.
Mrs. Elizabeth Randolph Preston Allan compiled and published a volume
entitled “The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston,” and an
excellent sketch of her interesting life has also been written by Ethan
Allen Weaver, of Germantown, from which much of this story of the
“Poetess-Laureate of the South” has been taken.
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Military Laws of Province Repealed by
Import Act, March 20, 1780
On March 20, 1780, a law was passed to effect a reorganization of the
whole militia system in Pennsylvania. It provided for the appointment of
a lieutenant for each county, and two sub-lieutenants or more, not
exceeding the number of battalions, which were to be divided into
classes as heretofore. Fines, however for non-attendance on muster days
were fixed for commissioned officers at the price of three days’ labor.
When called out, the pay of privates was to be equal to one day’s labor.
Persons called out, but neglecting or refusing to go, were liable to pay
in each case the price of a day’s labor during the term of service,
beside a tax of fifteen shillings on the hundred pounds upon their
estates. As a relief to this class, the hiring of substitutes was
allowed. Pensions were promised the wounded in battle, and support to
the families of those militiamen who were killed, at rates to be fixed
by the courts. Considerable opposition was made to this law, from the
fact that by permitting the hiring of substitutes it would relieve the
disaffected and Tories.
While this bill, undoubtedly, had many defects, it was the first real
effort toward the establishment of a military system in the Commonwealth
upon a practical basis.
Militia companies were provided in each county, the State being divided
into districts, and all males were required to enroll, who were between
eighteen and fifty-three years of age.
This act was modified in 1783, when a more specific code of discipline
was adopted. This act remained in force until 1793.
The militia act of March 20, 1780, was the outgrowth or development of
the militia system of Pennsylvania which may be considered to have begun
in the year 1747. Altho in the charter given to William Penn, the
Governor was given authority to levy, muster and train men, to make war
upon and pursue the enemy, even beyond the limits of the province.
As early as 1702, Lieutenant Governor Hamilton asked the Assembly to
enact a bill to provide for “what may come against us by land or by
sea.”
Several years later Lieutenant Governor Evans urged a similar law, but
the idea was unpopular. Several other similar bills were subsequently
defeated, yet the Assembly occasionally appropriated funds for “the
King’s use,” for the purchase of bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat and
“other grain.” Franklin later commented that “other grain” meant black
grains of gunpowder.
It was through the effort and influence of Franklin, in 1747, that a
volunteer military association was effected, consisting of about 1200 of
the most influential men in the province. This soon grew to 10,000 and
the following year the “Associated Companies,” by which name the
organization became known, had enrolled 12,000 horse, foot and
artillery, each armed and equipped at personal expense, and the officers
chosen from the members. Franklin was one of the original colonels.
This association rendered conspicuous service in the French and Indian
wars and preserved its organization. Many of the companies volunteered
for service in the Revolution and formed the backbone of the State’s
militia.
In 1756 there were in Philadelphia three of these companies, with a
total of seventeen officers and 260 private men, one troop of horse with
five officers and forty men and one battery of artillery with three
officers and 150 men. In Bucks County there were nine companies with
thirty-nine officers and 513 men; in Chester County there were several
companies, under command of Captain John Singleton, Samuel West, Robert
Boyd and Jacob Richardson. In York County there were eight companies
with an enrollment of 642 men and in Lancaster County there were nine
companies and 545 men.
It was not until Braddock’s defeat that the Assembly voted a substantial
sum for the “King’s use,” but made no provision for an organized
military force. November 25, 1755, the Assembly passed “an Act for the
better ordering and regulating such as are willing and desirous to be
united for military purposes within the province.”
This was the first act of Assembly which in any way provided for the
organized defense of the province, and this was to remain in force only
until October 30, 1756.
By March 29, 1757, the Quakers had become a minority in the Assembly and
an act was passed which was more satisfactory. It also provided for the
compulsory enrollment of all male persons between the ages of seventeen
and fifty-five years. It also stated the financial responsibility
required of those who would serve as officers.
One section of this act provided “that all Quakers, Menonists, Moravians
and others conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, who shall appear
on any alarm with the militia, though without arms, and obey the
commands of the officers in extinguishing fires, suppressing
insurrection of slaves or other evil-minded persons during an attack, in
caring for the wounded, conveying intelligence as expresses or
messengers, carrying refreshments to such as are on duty, and in
conveying to places of safety women and children, aged and infirm, and
wounded persons are free and exempt from penalties of this act.” This
act remained in force until the close of the French and Indian War in
1763.
There was no special control of military affairs again until June 30,
1775, when the Assembly passed an act for “the defense of their lives,
liberty and property.”
At this same session there was established a Committee of Safety, of
twenty-five members, which constituted the Board of War, whose powers
enabled them to call into service so many of the associators as they
deemed necessary or the occasion required.
The Committee of Safety was organized July 3, 1775, with Benjamin
Franklin as president.
This committee exercised supreme control of the land and naval forces of
the province until October 13, 1777, when its powers were transferred to
the body known as the Council of Safety, this comprising the Supreme
Executive Council and nine others. The Council of Safety was dissolved
December 6, 1777, when the military authority was assumed by the Supreme
Executive Council and the Assembly.
The aggregate number of men furnished by the Associators during the
Revolution was in excess of 35,000.
Pennsylvania furnished in all arms of the service, under the various
calls, a total of 120,514 men, which number does not include many bodies
of militia and many men who were under arms for a brief period, a record
of which service was not kept during the early years of the war.
Laws were passed during the war relating to the military forces, but
these were all repealed by the formal act of March 20, 1780.
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Old Northumberland, Mother of Counties,
Erected March 21, 1772
The political development of Pennsylvania followed closely in the wake
of its expanding settlements. In 1682 the Counties of Philadelphia,
Bucks and Chester were formed, with limits intended to include not only
the populated area, but territory enough in addition to meet for a
considerable time to come the growing necessities of the rapidly
increasing immigration.