positions of high public trust, both in this and other states.
Abner Lacock obtained the title of General in the early part of his
public career while serving as an officer of the Pennsylvania militia.
As early as 1807 he was a brigadier general, commanding a brigade in the
counties of Beaver and Butler.
General Lacock was the friend and earnest champion of the common school
system, which when first proposed was very unpopular in Pennsylvania.
His library was one of the largest in Western Pennsylvania, and was
partially destroyed by a flood in the Ohio River in 1832.
General Lacock was of medium height and well proportioned. He was strong
and athletic. He was the father of a large family, but there are no
living male descendants of this distinguished citizen.
He died at his residence, near Freedom, on Wednesday morning, April 12,
1837, after a long and painful illness.
----------
Family of Richard Bard Captured by Indians
April 13, 1758
During the French and Indian War of 1755–58, the barrier of the South
Mountain shielded the settlers of York County, from the savage
incursions that desolated the Cumberland Valley and other parts of the
frontier of Pennsylvania. Yet occasionally a party more daring than the
rest would push across the mountain and murder or carry defenseless
families into captivity.
An affecting instance of this kind was the captivity of Richard Bard,
which is narrated in detail by his son, the late Archibald Bard, of
Franklin County.
Richard Bard owned and resided near a mill, which was later known as
Marshall’s Mill, on the Carroll tract, in now Adams County.
On the morning of April 13, 1758, his house was invested by a party of
nineteen Delaware Indians, who were discovered by a little girl named
Hannah McBride. She was at the door and when they approached she
screamed and ran into the house, where were Richard Bard and his wife, a
child six months old, a bound boy, and a relative of the Bards,
Lieutenant Thomas Potter, a brother of General James Potter.
The Indians rushed into the house, and one of them, with a large cutlass
in his grasp, made a blow at Potter, who wrested it from the savage. Mr.
Bard laid hold of a pistol that hung on the wall and snapped it at the
breast of one of the Indians, but there being tow in the pan it did not
fire, but the Indians ran out of the house.
The savages were numerous and there was no ammunition in the Bard home,
and fearing a slaughter or being burned alive, those inside surrendered,
as the Indians promised no harm would befall them. The Indians went to a
field and made prisoners of Samuel Hunter, Daniel McManimy, and a lad
named William White, who was coming to the mill.
Having secured the prisoners the Indians plundered the house and set
fire to the mill. About seventy rods from the house, contrary to their
promises, they put to death Thomas Potter; and having proceeded on the
mountain three or four miles, one of the Indians sunk the spear of his
tomahawk into the breast of the small child, and after repeated blows
scalped it.
The prisoners were taken over the mountain past McCord’s fort, into the
Path Valley, where they encamped for the night. The second day the
Indians discovered a party of white men in pursuit, on which they
hastened the pace of their prisoners, under threat of being tomahawked.
When they reached the top of the Tuscarora Mountain, they sat down to
rest, when an Indian, without any previous warning, sunk a tomahawk into
the forehead of Samuel Hunter, who was seated next to Richard Bard,
killed and scalped him.
Passing over Sideling Hill, and the Allegheny Mountains, by Blair’s Gap,
they encamped beyond Stony Creek. Here Bard’s head had been painted red
on one side only, denoting that a council has been held, and an equal
number were for killing him, and for saving his life, and that his fate
would be determined at the next council.
While Mr. and Mrs. Bard were engaged together in plucking a turkey, the
former told his wife of his design to escape. Some of the Indians were
asleep, and one was amusing the others by dressing himself in Mrs.
Bard’s gown. Bard was sent to the spring for water and contrived to
escape, while his wife kept the Indians amused with the gown.
The Indians made an unsuccessful search for Bard, and proceeded to Fort
Duquesne, then twenty miles down the Ohio River to Kuskusky, in what is
now Butler County.
Here Mrs. Bard and two boys and girls were compelled to run the
gauntlet, and were beaten in an unmerciful manner. It was at this place
that Daniel McManimy was put to death. The Indians formed themselves
into a circle round the prisoner, and beat him with sticks and
tomahawks, then tied him to a post, and after more torturing he was
scalped alive, a gun barrel was heated and passed over his body, and he
was pierced in the body until he was relieved from further torture by
death.
Mrs. Bard was taken from the other prisoners and led from place to
place, until she was finally adopted into the tribe by two Indian men,
to take the place of a deceased sister.
She was next taken to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, and during this
journey she suffered much from fatigue and illness. She lay two months
in this doleful situation, with none to comfort or sympathize with her,
a blanket her only covering, and boiled corn her only food.
She met with a woman who had been in captivity several years and was
married to an Indian. She told Mrs. Bard that soon as she could speak
the Delaware tongue she would be obliged to marry one of the Indians or
be put to death. She then resolved not to learn the language. She was
kept in captivity two years and five months, during which time she was
treated with much kindness by her adopted relations.
Richard Bard suffered extreme hardships in effecting his escape and
return to his home, traveling over mountains thick with laurel and
briers and covered with snow. His feet were sore, his clothes wet and
frozen and he was often exhausted and ready to lie down and perish for
want of food. His food during a journey of nine days was a few buds and
four snakes, when he reached Fort Littleton, in now Bedford County.
After this he did but little else than wander from place to place in
quest of information respecting his wife. He made several perilous
journeys to Fort Duquesne, in which he narrowly escaped capture several
times. He at length learned she was at Fort Augusta, at Shamokin, and
redeemed her.
Before the Bards departed from Shamokin, Richard Bard requested the
Indian, who was the adopted brother of his wife, to visit them at their
home. Accordingly, some time afterwards the Indian paid them a visit,
when the Bards were living about ten miles from Chambersburg.
The Indian remained there for some time and one day went to McCormack’s
tavern and became intoxicated, when he fell into a brawl with a rough
named Newgen, who stabbed the Indian in the neck. Newgen escaped the
wrath of the settlers by fleeing the neighborhood. The Indian was
attended by a physician and recovered, being nursed back to health by
his adopted sister, Mrs. Richard Bard.
When he returned to his own people he was put to death on the pretext of
having, as they said, joined the white people.
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Bounties for Scalps of Indians Proclaimed
April 14, 1756
After Braddock’s defeat, the protection of the frontiers of Pennsylvania
being left to the inhabitants themselves, they rapidly formed companies,
designated their own officers and received commissions from Lieutenant
Governor Morris.
It was thought that the Indians would do no mischief in Pennsylvania
until they could draw all the others out of the province and away from
the Susquehanna. But the Delaware and Shawnee had been ravaging in the
neighborhood of Fort Cumberland on both sides of the Potomac. In the
middle of October, 1755, occurred the terrible massacres of John Penn’s
Creek, at the mouth of Mahanoy Creek, and when the Great and Little
Coves were destroyed. Shortly after occurred the massacres at
Tulpehocken and other places.
When any Indians of the Delaware or Shawnee Nations were discovered they
were found in their war paint. These were under the command of Chief
Shingass.
These incursions aroused the Quakers, and November 7, 1775, an address
signed by Anthony Morris and twenty-two other Quakers was presented to
the Assembly, expressing willingness to contribute toward the exigencies
of government. But the Assembly and the Executive still fought over the
tax bill.
At this juncture Scarouady went to Philadelphia and demanded to know if
the people of Pennsylvania intended to fight, yes or no. The Governor
explained to the chieftain how the Assembly and he could not agree.
Scarouady, who had suffered defeat with Braddock and remained a firm
friend of the English, with many other Indians went to Shamokin to live,
or at least hunt, during the ensuing season.
Governor Morris sent Scarouady to the Six Nations to report the conduct
of the Delawares. While he was on this mission the Delaware destroyed
Gnadenhutten, in Northampton County, and the farm houses between that
place and Nazareth were burned January 1, 1756.
Benjamin Franklin, as Commissioner, then marched with several companies
and built Fort Allen.
The Delaware, forcing even John Shikellamy to go against the English,
sent representatives to the Six Nations to justify their conduct, but
were condemned and ordered to desist.
When Lieutenant Governor Morris heard this chastisement given the
Delaware, and seeing that it so far had not deterred the enemy, he
determined to meet barbarity with barbarity, and gave a hatchet to
Scarouady, as a declaration of war against the Delaware, and obtained an
offer in writing from Commissioners Fox, Hamilton, Morgan, Mifflin and
Hughes to pay rewards for Indian prisoners.
Governor Morris issued a proclamation April 14, 1756, offering such
bounties that he hoped would incite not only the soldiers and more
venturesome of the inhabitants, but which would also alarm those Indians
who still remained friendly to the English.
The proclamation contains the following provisions:
“For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old, who shall be taken
prisoner and delivered at any fort, garrisoned by the troops in pay of
this Province, or at any of the county towns to the keepers of the
common jail there, the sum of 150 Spanish dollars or pieces of eight;
for the scalp of every male enemy above the age of twelve years,
produced to evidence of their being killed the sum of 130 pieces of
eight; for every female Indian taken prisoner and brought in as
aforesaid, and for every male Indian prisoner under the age of twelve
years, taken and brought in as aforesaid, 130 pieces of eight; for the
scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of their being killed,
the sum of fifty pieces of eight, and for every English subject that has
been killed and carried from this Province into captivity that shall be
recovered and brought in and delivered at the City of Philadelphia, to
the Governor of this Province, the sum of 130 pieces of eight, but
nothing for their scalps; and that there shall be paid to every officer
or soldier as are or shall be in the pay of the Province who shall
redeem and deliver any English subject carried into captivity as
aforesaid, or shall take, bring in and produce any enemy prisoner, or
scalp as aforesaid, one-half of the said several and respective premiums
and bounties.”
This proclamation gave great offense to the Assembly, but not to the
population, especially those who lived in the counties distant from
Philadelphia. The times were perilous, and the bounties were absolutely
necessary to secure better protection of the borders. To the credit of
the hardy and brave frontier pioneers of Pennsylvania be it said no
Indian was wantonly killed for the sake of the reward.
Robert Morris resigned the office of Lieutenant Governor he had held
during these stirring years, and on August 20, 1756, William Denny
arrived from England, and superseded him. Governor Denny was well
educated and held in high favor at Court. His advent here was hailed
with joy by the Assembly, who flattered themselves that with a change of
the executives at this time there would come a change of such measures
as had caused their enmity with his predecessors. Upon his assumption of
the office and making known the Proprietary instructions, to which he
stated he was compelled to adhere, all friendly feeling was at an end,
and there was a renewal of the old discord.
Before Governor Morris resigned as Lieutenant Governor he had concerted
with Colonel John Armstrong an expedition against the strong Indian town
of Kittanning, on the Allegheny River.
----------
Theatrical Performances Begun in State
April 15, 1754
The amusements of the young people were for many years of the simplest
and most innocent kind. Riding, swimming and skating afforded pleasant
outdoor sport.
Yearly Meeting, in 1716, advised Friends against “going to or being in
any way concerned in plays, games, lotteries, music and dancing.” In
1719 advice was given “that such be dealt with as run races, either on
horseback or on foot, laying wagers, or use any gaming or needless and
vain sport and pastimes, for our time passeth swiftly away, and our
pleasure and delight ought to be in the law of the Lord.”
Various early laws of the Province prohibited stage plays and
amusements, not only bull-baiting, bear-baiting and cock-fighting, but
such as were neither immoral nor cruel, as bowls, billiards and quoits.
Macauley said of the Puritans that they opposed bear-baiting “not
because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the
spectators.”
Quaker legislation as to games was, indeed, scarcely stricter than Henry
VIII’s, but Quakerism discountenanced excitement.
In 1723 a wandering showman arrived in Philadelphia and set up a stage
just below South Street, where he was outside the jurisdiction of the
City Corporation. At the desire of the Quaker Assemblymen, the Speaker,
Joseph Growdon, on March 30, asked Lieutenant Governor Keith to prohibit
any performance. This he declined to do, but promised that good order
should be kept.
So the actor issued his playbills and gave what is supposed to have been
the first entertainment in Pennsylvania that might be called theatrical.
As the man who entertained by his “Comical Humour” in April, 1724,
called himself the audience’s “Old friend Pickle Herring,” he may be
presumed to have been the owner of both shows. In 1724, he introduced
the “Roap-Dancing” as “newly arrived.” The rope-walkers were a lad of
seven years and a woman. There was also a woman who would spin around
rapidly for a quarter of an hour with seven or eight swords pointed at
her eyes, mouth and breast. Governor Keith himself attended one or more
of these performances.
Small shows now, from time to time, made their appearance. In 1727, “The
Lion, King of Beasts,” was advertised to be exhibited on Water Street.
The Quakers and rigid Presbyterians, who in the early days frowned down
dancing and other “frivolous amusements,” could not be expected to
countenance the introduction of the drama in Philadelphia. So when
Murray and Kean’s company of Thespians made their appearance in 1749
they were not permitted to make a long stay, but were ordered off as
soon as the worthy rulers of the city’s morals realized the fact that
their entertainments possessed irresistible attractions. So Murray and
Kean went to New York and for five years the Philadelphians did not see
a play.
In August, 1749, mention is made of the tragedy of Cato being acted; but
January 8, 1750, attention being called to some persons having lately
taken upon themselves to act plays, and intending “to make a frequent
practice thereof,” the City Council asked the magistrates to suppress
the same.
In the year 1753 Lewis Hallam’s English company, after traveling a year
in the Southern colonies and performing in various places in Virginia
and Maryland, went to New York, where they opened their theatre in the
month of September. The report of the great success of their talented
actors awakened a desire among the more liberal-minded Philadelphians
that Hallam should visit the Quaker City.
On April 15, 1754, they gave their first performance in the large brick
warehouse of William Plumstead, situated in King or Water Street,
between Pine and Lombard Streets. This house remained standing until
1849, when it was pulled down.
The opening piece was the tragedy of “The Fair Penitent,” followed by
the farce “Miss in Her Teens.”
Mr. Rigby spoke a prologue and Mrs. Hallam an epilogue written for the
occasion, in which, after defending the stage from the accusation of
sinfulness and alluding to the effect produced by the tragedy upon the
audience, she asked:
“If then the soul in Virtue’s cause we move
Why should the friends of Virtue disapprove?”
This temporary theatre was neatly fitted up and opened to a full house.
The license was for twenty-four nights but this number was extended to
thirty, and the theatre closed June 24 after having had a brilliant and
profitable season. One of the performances was given for the benefit of
the charity school.
Hallam’s company came back to Philadelphia in 1759 to occupy a permanent
theatre erected for them in Southwark, at the corner of Cedar (or South)
and Vernon Streets, on Society Hill.
This theatre was opened June 25, 1759, but either because the house was
too small and not well equipped or because of discouraging opposition
the company only played in it one season. They remained away five years.
On their return a new house, much larger than the first one, was built
at the corner of South and Apollo Streets. This new theatre was opened
November 12, 1766.
It was in this theatre and by “The American Company” that the first play
by an American author performed on any regular stage was given April 24,
1767. This was “The Prince of Porthia,” by Thomas Godfrey, Jr., of
Philadelphia.
The American Company played at this theatre several seasons. The theatre
remained closed from the beginning of the Revolutionary War until it was
opened by the British officers during their occupancy of the city,
1777–78.
These amateur performers gave regular plays, the proceeds going to
widows and orphan children of the soldiers. The ill-fated Major Andre
and Captain Delancy painted the scenes and other decorations. The
curtain, representing a waterfall scene, the work of young Andre,
remained in use until the theatre was destroyed by fire May 9, 1823.
After the return of the Continental Congress the Legislature of
Pennsylvania legislated against theatrical performances. No plays were
given until 1789, when a petition signed by 1900 citizens, asking the
repeal of the prohibiting provision relating to theatres, was presented
to the Legislature. The religious community presented a petition signed
by more than 1000 citizens as a remonstrance against the repeal.
The restrictive portion of the act was repealed and Hallam and Henry
opened the Southwark Theatre January 6, 1790, with “The Rivals” and “The
Critic.”
The season was unusually brilliant, and the theatre in Philadelphia and
elsewhere throughout Pennsylvania has since been popular.
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Tedyuskung, Indian Chieftain, Burns to
Death in Cabin, April 16, 1763
Tedyuskung was made king of the Delaware nation in the spring of 1756,
and from that date until his untimely death this great Indian chieftain
exerted a most powerful influence throughout the entire Province of
Pennsylvania.
The name is of Munsee dialect, and signifies “the healer,” or “one who
cures wounds, bruises, etc.”
He was one of the most famous and crafty of the Delaware chiefs during
the period of discussion of the Indian claims, following the sale of the
lands along the Delaware and Susquehanna to the Proprietors of
Pennsylvania by the Iroquois.
Tedyuskung was born at the present site of Trenton, N.J., about 1705,
and died April 16, 1763. Nothing is known of his life before the time he
first appears as an historic character, prior to which he was known as
“Honest John.”
When about fifty years old he was chosen chief of the Delaware on the
Susquehanna, and from that time wielded a potent influence, although he
occupied a peculiar position.
Sir William Johnson, of New York, was a zealous friend of the Iroquois,
while Conrad Weiser and George Croghan, of Pennsylvania, were strongly
prejudiced against the Delaware and Shawnee. The problem which the
Provincial Government of Pennsylvania had to solve was how to keep peace
with the Iroquois and at the same time prevent the Delaware and the
Shawnee who were then becoming independent of the Iroquois, from going
over to the French.
The Delaware were conscious they had been unjustly deprived of their
lands by the Pennsylvania authorities, aided by the Iroquois. They had
been driven from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and many had been
forced even as far west as the Ohio, and now that France and England had
commenced to struggle for the possession of that region the Delaware
felt they were to be again driven from their home. They were revolting
not only against the English, but against their masters, the Iroquois.
At this critical time, when the border settlements in Western
Pennsylvania were being ravaged by hostile bands of Delaware and
Shawnee, and when the English were making preparations for an expedition
to take Fort Duquesne, Tedyuskung took his stand as a friend of the
English.
Christian Frederic Post had been sent on a mission to the Ohio Indians,
and Conrad Weiser and others were working to retain the friendship of
these Indians. The many squatters along the Juniata River and the
illegal sale of land at Wyoming made by the Mohawk to the Connecticut
settlers complicated the situation and made the work of these emissaries
much more difficult and trying. Then the Indians who had been in
conference at Albany in 1754, found when they returned home that lands
had been sold to the Proprietors which they did not comprehend.
Washington suffered defeat at Fort Necessity and this was followed by
the terrible Braddock disaster; which with the evil effects of the rum
traffic among the Indians and the almost total neglect by the Province
of Pennsylvania had almost entirely alienated them from the English
cause.
Then began the several attempts to win them back, but the passage of the
Scalp Act and the declaration of war against the Delaware caused this
tribe to rise in rebellion against the Province and also against their
hated title of “women,” given them by the Iroquois.
Such was the situation when the great council was called at Easton,
July, 1756, at which Tedyuskung appeared as the champion of the
Delaware. Governor Morris opened the council with a speech, in which he
warmly welcomed the chief. Tedyuskung replied: “The Delaware are no
longer the slaves of the Six Nations. I, Tedyuskung, have been appointed
King over the Five United Nations. What I do here will be approved by
all. This is a good day. I wish the same good that possessed the good
old man, William Penn, who was a friend of the Indian, may inspire the
people of the Province at this time.”
The first session was followed by a grand feast and reception, during
which King Tedyuskung and Chief Newcastle were sent to give the “big
peace halloo” to the Indians and invite them to a larger conference,
which was held at a later time.
Tedyuskung left Easton, but loitered about Fort Allen, where he became
drunk and disorderly, and so incensed Lieutenant Miller that the whole
outcome of the peace conference was, for a time, endangered.
During this drunken spree Tedyuskung was blamed for having dealings with
the French, but no evidence was produced to prove the charges; yet
Governor Morris dispatched Chief Newcastle to Sir William Johnson to
learn if the Iroquois had deputized Tedyuskung to act for them. This
they denied.