had been succeeded by Governor Denny, who went to the council at Easton,
July, 1757, under a heavy guard. Tedyuskung, in his opening speech,
said: “I am sorry for what our people have done. I have gone among our
people pleading for peace. If it cost me my life I would do it.”
Tedyuskung demanded a clerk at this Easton Council on threat of leaving,
and he was assigned such official. While Tedyuskung was drunk each
night, he appeared at council each morning with a clear head and was the
equal of any in debate.
This second Easton council determined upon a general peace and
Tedyuskung promised to see that their white prisoners were all returned.
He then went to Fort Allen, where he and his warriors had a drunken
frolic. Conrad Weiser says of him at this time: “Though he is a drunkard
and a very irregular man, yet he is a man that can think well, and I
believe him to be sincere in what he said.”
A fourth council was held at Easton in October, 1758, when Post had
returned from his Western mission. Land disputes again became a
principal topic, and Tedyuskung was discredited by the Iroquois, who
attempted to destroy his influence with the Provincial Government. They
even left the council when he spoke, but the old King won out and the
council finally ended in a treaty of peace.
In 1762 the Governor offered Tedyuskung £400 as a present if he would
withdraw his charges of fraud in the “Walking Purchase,” and he accepted
the bribe.
After all the dealing with the Governors and councils of Pennsylvania,
and his personal controversies with the enemy tribes, this last of the
chiefs of the eastern Delaware traveled from Philadelphia to his home at
Wyoming, and on the night of April 16, 1763, his house was set on fire
while he lay on his couch in a drunken debauch and he was burned to
death in the flames. The perpetrators of this crime were either Seneca
or Mohawk.
He was the most virile chief of the Delaware nation during the years of
their subjugation to the Iroquois. His efforts for peace did much to win
the Ohio region from the French.
A monument to Tedyuskung has been erected in Fairmount Park,
Philadelphia.
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Lottery for Union Canal for $400,000 Authorized
by Legislature, April 17, 1795
By the act of April 17, 1795, the president and managers of the
Schuykill and Susquehanna Navigation, and the president and managers of
the Delaware and Schuykill Canal Navigation, were authorized to raise by
means of a lottery, a sum of $400,000 for the purpose of completing the
works cited in their acts of incorporation, under a prohibition that
neither of them should form the same into capital stock, upon which to
declare a dividend of profits.
An Act Passed March 4, 1807, authorized the said companies to raise
their respective sums separately, subject to the prohibition as to
dividends.
The two companies were consolidated by act of April 2, 1811 into a
corporation known as the Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania. The new
company was authorized to raise money by loan to complete the canal and
to use the proceeds of the lotteries already authorized, and by the
twenty-eighth section of the act authority was given to raise the
residue of the original sum equal to $340,000 by a lottery.
By the act of March 29, 1819 the proceeds of the above lottery were
pledged as a fund for the payment of an annual interest of 6 per cent
upon the stock of the company.
By these and subsequent acts it appears that the lottery grants were
given in the first instance, to the two companies, and afterwards
continued to the Union Canal Company to aid and encourage the
construction and completion of a canal and lock navigation uniting the
waters of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill.
In consequence of these lottery grants, individuals were induced to
invest their funds in the furtherance of the work, and loans to the
amount of $830,400 were made upon the credit of the capital stock and
the profits of the lotteries.
The Union Canal Company entered into contracts for the conduct of these
lotteries, the last one, October 6, 1824, for five years, which expired
December 31, 1829.
There was much sentiment against these lotteries and as there were laws
in force for suppressing and preventing lotteries, there was objection
made when the extension of this lottery was brought to the General
Assembly. The Committee on Ways and Means, February 9, 1828, reported
that it was inexpedient to resume the lottery grants to the Union Canal
Company at this time and further resolved, “that the committee be
instructed to bring in a bill to regulate lottery brokers, and to
restrain the sale of lottery tickets within this Commonwealth.”
For more than half a century after the founding of the Province,
Pennsylvania was dominated by the Quakers, who were constantly opposed
to all games of chance. At the very first meeting of the Assembly, at
Chester, in 1682, an act was passed against cards, dice, lotteries, etc.
This and similar acts were annulled by the English Government.
Although lotteries were not legally prohibited only one lottery appears
to have been drawn during the next several decades. In 1720 a Mr. Reed
by means of a lottery of 350 tickets, which were sold for twenty
shillings each, disposed of a new brick house and several lots in
Philadelphia.
In 1730 lotteries were prohibited under a penalty of £100, half of which
was to go to the Governor, and half to the party bringing suit.
It seems probable that the Provincial Assembly authorized lotteries by
special legislation for at least two lotteries had the official sanction
of the Philadelphia Council; one in 1747, for the fortification of the
City, the other a year later for street paving. From this time until the
passage of the anti-lottery act of 1762, lotteries increased in number.
During this period lotteries were drawn for the college, academy and
charitable school of Philadelphia, to complete the Episcopal Church,
etc.
The act of 1762 proved to be effective in limiting the number and
purposes for which lotteries might be established. Between 1762 and
1796, there were only twenty-three lotteries in Pennsylvania. Of these
six were private, eight were for public use and nine for the erection of
church buildings, in which twenty-one churches were concerned.
With the establishment of the Federal Government the financial condition
of the country rapidly improved. With the gradual growth of population,
and rapid development of business, came increased demands for new
churches, schools, public buildings and improved transportation. To meet
these public needs the regular revenue was insufficient and to avoid an
abnormal increase in taxation, petitions were presented to the
Legislature for the privilege of establishing public or semi-public
lotteries.
The Legislature rejected all requests for lotteries, except when some
important purpose was to be served. Only one lottery was authorized in
1790, for the erection of a Jewish synagogue; none then until 1795, when
one was granted the Aaronsburg Town Lottery, in now Center County, and
the other was to aid in opening the canal navigation between the
Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers.
From 1796 to 1808 inclusive seventy-eight different lotteries were
authorized.
The lottery of 1782 for the improvement of roads west of Philadelphia
was managed as a state lottery. Others were county, city, borough and
township schemes. Some were for erection of bridges, ferries and even
improving creeks. One was for a garden and public bath in Philadelphia,
one for the pay of soldiers in the French and Indian War; hospitals were
also included, as were schools.
Many churches were built by means of lotteries and the newspapers of
that period carried many advertisements, both from those authorized by
the Pennsylvania Legislature and those of other States. It is estimated
that at least fifty lotteries chartered by other States had agencies in
Pennsylvania.
From 1747 to 1883 there were 176 separate lotteries. One single lottery,
Union Canal lottery, awarded in prizes more than $33,000,000 between
1811 and December 31, 1833.
The State became flooded with local and foreign lottery tickets, and
many memorials were presented to the Legislature against all form of
lotteries, but they continued to thrive until December 31, 1833, when
they were abolished by law, Pennsylvania taking the lead of all States
in banishing lotteries.
Governor George Wolf said in a message to the General Assembly: “A more
pernicious, ruinous and demoralizing evil can scarcely be imagined.”
----------
First Northern Camp in Civil War
Established April 18, 1861
On April 18, 1861, Camp Curtin was regularly and formally established in
the northwestern suburbs of Harrisburg. It was the first regular camp
formed north of the Susquehanna in the loyal States, and before the end
of the month twenty-five regiments were sent to the front from the
counties of Pennsylvania.
The willing and prompt response to the call of President Lincoln and the
appeal of Governor Curtin created immediately the necessity for a great
rendezvous for the State’s troops. Harrisburg was the logical place for
such a camp, for it had the advantage of being the seat of government
and railroad lines extending in all directions.
The troops began to pour into Harrisburg so suddenly that temporary
shelter was erected on all public grounds, within three days after the
President’s call for volunteers.
Governor Curtin acted promptly in procuring accommodations for the
troops, and on April 18 requested Captain E. C. Williams to take charge
of the grounds controlled by the Dauphin County Agricultural Society,
near the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on the east and
less than a quarter of a mile from the Susquehanna on the west.
It was the original intention to call this rendezvous “Camp Union,” but
Captain E. C. Williams, Captain J. P. Knipe and others very
appropriately changed the name in honor of the patriotic and beloved
Governor of Pennsylvania.
When the war broke out in all its suddenness, and Washington was cut off
from the loyal States of the North by the riotous proceedings at
Baltimore, there was an utter lack of military organization in
Pennsylvania. The military system of the State had decayed and aside
from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there were very few military companies
in the State fully armed and equipped. Of these only a few contained the
minimum number of thirty-two men. But, as the appeal for men was
disseminated through the towns and villages of the interior counties,
the officers of such military companies as did exist very promptly
rallied their men and tendered their services to the Governor.
Ringgold Light Artillery, Captain McKnight, of Reading; the Logan
Guards, Captain Selheimer, of Lewistown; the Washington Artillery,
Captain Wren, and the National Light Infantry, Captain McDonald, both of
Pottsville, and the Allen Rifles, Captain Yeager, of Allentown, were the
first to offer their services in an armed and disciplined condition for
immediate action. When the Ringgold Light Artillery, numbering one
hundred and two men, reached Harrisburg and word was sent to the
Secretary of War of the presence of so strong a company at the State
Capital, he at once telegraphed for its immediate presence in
Washington, but for prudence the order was suppressed.
On the morning of the 18th, the day Camp Curtin was established, a
detachment of Company H, Fourth United States Artillery, numbering
fifty, arrived from the West, in command of Lieutenant Pemberton.
The five volunteer companies, first to report at Camp Curtin, were
promptly mustered into the United States service by Captain, afterwards
Colonel Seneca G. Simmons, of the Seventh United States Infantry, and
the regulars, mentioned above, and these volunteers departed on the same
train for Fort McHenry, to assist in the defense of Washington.
The volunteers marched through Baltimore, then filled with Southern
sympathizers, ready and eager to obstruct their passage through the
city. On leaving the cars at Bolton station to march to the Camden
station, a battalion was formed. As the march began the Baltimore police
appeared in large force, headed by Marshall Kane, followed by a mob, who
at once attacked the volunteers and were countenanced by the police sent
to give safe conduct through the city. The troops were ordered to
maintain their discipline.
When in the center of the city, the regulars under Lieutenant Pemberton
marched off toward Fort McHenry leaving the volunteers to pursue their
march to Camden station. This seemed to be a signal to the mob, and at
once the air was filled with flying missiles, while every species of
oath and imprecation were flung at the volunteers as they marched
forward. Not a man made a reply, but steadily, sternly, and undauntedly
the five companies of Pennsylvanians moved over the cobble-stoned
streets of the city. At every step the mob increased, but with
unblanched faces and martial step the brave men never for one moment
wavered, marching like veterans as the mob gave way before and around
them as they forced their passage to the depot.
The mob believed that a portion of the Logan Guards carried loaded guns,
because their half-cocked pieces displayed percussion caps, but in
reality there was not a load of powder and ball in the entire five
companies. Nevertheless, the feint of displaying the caps, which was
done partly as a jest on leaving the cars at Bolton Station, saved the
men from the bloody attack which was hurled the next day at the force of
Massachusetts troops passing through the city. As it was, when the
troops were boarding the cars at Camden station, the infuriated rabble
who had dogged their steps, hurled bricks, stones, clubs and mud into
their disorganized ranks, without, fortunately, injuring a single
volunteer.
Attempts were made to throw the cars from the track, to detach the
locomotive, and even to break the driving mechanism of the engine, all
of which failed, and the train pulled out of the station amid the
demoniac yells of the disappointed ruffians whose thirst for blood was
now aroused to a savage fury.
The solicitude of Governor Curtin for the safe transportation of these
troops through Baltimore was intense. He remained at the telegraph
office in Harrisburg receiving dispatches which depicted the stirring
scenes in the streets of Baltimore. When it was finally announced that
the trains had passed out of reach of their assailants with the men
safely aboard, he emphatically declared that not another Pennsylvania
soldier should march through Baltimore unarmed, but fully prepared to
defend himself.
At 7 o’clock in the evening of the eighteenth, the five Pennsylvania
companies reached Washington, the first troops which arrived from any
State to defend the National Capital. On July 22 Congress adopted a
resolution commending these Pennsylvania volunteers for the gallantry
displayed in passing through the Baltimore mob and reaching Washington
so promptly. It is of interest to note that our own Pennsylvanian,
Galusha A. Grow, was then Speaker of the House of Representatives and
signed this resolution.
----------
Training of Troops Began at Camp Curtin,
April 19, 1861
When the First Defenders departed from Camp Curtin and were the first
troops which arrived at Washington from any State to defend the National
Capital, the real activities of this famous training camp began.
Beginning on the morning of April 19 every inbound train brought troops
to Harrisburg, and soon Camp Curtin was a hive of activity.
Eli Seifer, Secretary of the Commonwealth, assumed the discharge of
certain military functions, such as replying to telegraphic offer of
troops, etc., but beginning April 19, Captain G. A. C. Seiler, the
commandant, assumed the responsibilities, and displayed great energy.
His administration was characterized by earnestness and activity, until
by exposure and over-work, he contracted a disease from which he died.
He was succeeded July 31 by Colonel John H. Taggart, of Philadelphia.
Colonel Taggart was the editor of the Sunday Times, in Philadelphia, and
when the news of hostilities reached there, he raised a company of
volunteers called “The Wayne Guards” and marched them from Philadelphia
to Harrisburg. They arrived at Camp Curtin June 7.
Governor Curtin was not over sanguine that the war was likely to be
concluded at the first contest so when the responses to the first call
for volunteers brought enough to make twenty-five regiments instead of
only the eight asked for, the Governor did not disband them, but
directed that they preserve their organizations, and immediately applied
to the Legislature for authority to form a corps of thirteen regiments
of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, to be organized and
equipped by the State, to be subject to the call of the National
Government if needed, and at all times to be in readiness for immediate
service.
On May 15, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization of
the “Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth,” and Governor Curtin
issued his call for men to compose the corps, and apportioned the number
that would be received from each county, in order that each section of
the State and every class of its people should be duly represented in
it.
Four camps of instruction were established; one at Easton, under command
of Colonel William B. Mann, of Philadelphia; one at West Chester, under
Captain Henry M. McIntire, of West Chester; one at Pittsburgh, under
Colonel John W. McLean; and one at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, under
Colonel G. A. C. Seiler, of Harrisburg.
George A. McCall, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, of the
class of 1822, a distinguished soldier in the war with Mexico, was
appointed a Major General to command the corps. General McCall
immediately organized his staff by appointing Henry J. Biddle, Assistant
Adjutant General, and Henry Sheets and Eldrige McConkey, Aids-de-Camp.
Subsequently, Professor Henry Coppee was attached to the staff as
Inspector General.
On June 22 two of the regiments were ordered to Cumberland, Md., and
soon afterward rendered excellent service at New Creek and Piedmont, in
West Virginia until ordered to the lower Potomac regions.
On July 22, the day after the disaster at Bull Run, a requisition was
made on the State for its Reserve Corps, and as quickly as the means of
transportation could be provided, eleven thousand of these troops, fully
armed and equipped, were sent to the defenses of Washington, and a few
days later the regiments were mustered into the United States service
for three years, or during the war.
This was the beginning of the Pennsylvania Reserves, an organization,
which, during the later years of the war, won fame on many battlefields,
and many of whose members sleep beneath the sod in Southern States.
Their skill was everywhere recognized, and no others were more renowned
for bravery.
Reverend A. S. Williams who gave the historical address on the occasion
of the dedication of the statue to Governor Curtin on the site of Camp
Curtin, among other interesting facts said: “When General McDowell’s
soldiers were defeated at Bull’s Run, the trained Pennsylvania Reserve
Regiment from Camp Curtin, steadied the Government at Washington. When
General Lee attempted to invade the North in 1862, Governor Curtin
called for fifty thousand volunteers, and a strong reserve was
maintained at Camp Curtin ready to march at a moment’s notice.
“During the early months of the war, on one occasion trucks were pushed
on the tracks of the railroad to the east of the Camp and a Brigade of
Soldiers stepped on them and was carried by way of Huntingdon over the
Broad Top Railroad to Hopewell; from here they marched through Bedford
to Cumberland, Md. For two months these soldiers protected this
community from the harrassing enemy.
“In June 1863 when the people of the State became apprehensive lest
Harrisburg and Philadelphia fall into the hands of General Lee, again
the troops from Camp Curtin met the enemy but a few miles from
Harrisburg along the Carlisle Pike.”
Camp Curtin was available and often used as an Army hospital.
Among the commanders at Camp Curtin besides those above mentioned were
Colonel Thomas Welsh, of Lancaster; Colonel Charles J. Biddle, of
Philadelphia; and Colonel James A. Beaver, afterwards General and later
Governor of Pennsylvania.
Governor Curtin, after all, was the leading spirit in this greatest of
Army Camps and it is appropriate that the words on a bronze tablet on
his statue should read: “His administration of the Gubernatorial office
during the dark days of the Republic made an imperishable name for his
family, and added historic grandeur to the annals of the Commonwealth.”
----------
Colonel Brodhead Destroyed Indian Town
of Coshocton, April 20, 1781
Colonel Daniel Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt, had not been able
to execute his design to lead a force against the Wyandot and Shawnee
Indian towns in Ohio. He had expected to obtain the help of the Delaware
warriors at Coshocton for this expedition, but in the spring of 1781, a
change in the situation impelled him to strike at the Delaware.
Until December, 1780, the Delaware took no part, as a nation, in the
warfare against the frontiers of Pennsylvania, and the alliance with the
United States, made by their three principal chiefs in the autumn of
1778, was outwardly observed for more than two years. The death of their
noted chief, White Eyes, which occurred from an attack of smallpox, at
Pittsburgh, November, 1778, was followed by the election of Killbuck, or
Gelelemand, the celebrated sachem, who proved himself to be an
unswerving friend of the Americans. Chief Killbuck found himself the
leader of the minority of his nation, but his influence was sufficient
to delay the union of the Delaware with the other hostile Indian
nations.
The Americans gave no presents to the Indians and had little else of
value to offer them, while the British, especially those at the Detroit
post, gave them not only alluring promises but showered many valuable
presents upon them. It was then only a matter of time until the Shawnee,
Seneca, Miami, Wyandot and other Indians hostile to the Americans could
persuade the Delaware to join with them in war against the Colonists.
Captain Pipe was the principal Delaware chief who had long led the war
party and finally controlled their determination to take up the hatchet.
In February, 1781, a council was held at Coshocton, at which Killbuck
was not present, being then on an important mission to Fort Pitt, and
the Delaware yielded to the pressure and voted to join in warfare
against the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Killbuck was afraid to return to Coshocton, as he learned of threats
against his life, so he made his home with the Moravians and their
converted Indians at Salem, on the western branch of the Tuscarawas
River, fourteen miles below New Philadelphia. Here he professed
Christianity and was baptized and received the Christian name William
Henry, in honor of a distinguished citizen of Lancaster, Pa. He was
afterward commissioned by the United States Congress and was proud to
call himself “Colonel Henry.” When he removed his family to Salem he
took also with him the family of White Eyes and other Delaware Indians,
including the aged warriors Big Cat and Nonowland.
Killbuck wrote a long letter to Colonel Brodhead informing him of the
hostile action of the council at Coshocton. The missionary, the Reverend
John Heckewelder, who penned this letter, also sent another by the same
messenger, John Montour, in which he suggested an expedition against
Coshocton.