when the Lieutenant Governor Patrick Gordon was waited upon by John
Smith and Nicholas Schonhoven, two Indian traders from Pechoquealon, who
delivered to him a verbal message from Kakowwatchy, which was an
explanation of the unfortunate affair, and for which the chief sent his
regrets, and asked the Governor for a return of the gun which the
wounded leader had lost.
The Lieutenant Governor, accompanied by many other citizens of
Philadelphia went to the troubled district, and personally pleaded with
those who had fled from their plantations to return. So excited were the
whites that they seemed ready to kill any red man or woman.
On May 20, an Indian man, two women and two girls, appeared at John
Roberts, at Cucussea, then in Chester County. Their neighbors fearing
danger, rallied to their defense, and shot the man and one of the women,
beat out the brains of the other woman, and wounded the girls. Their
excuse was that the Indian had put an arrow into his bow.
The Provincial authorities were fearful that revenge upon the people
might be attempted, so the two neighbors who committed the atrocity were
arrested and sent to Chester for trial, and notice of the affair was
sent to Sassoonan, Opekasset, and Manawhyhickon, with a request that
they bring their people to a treaty, arranged to be held at Conestoga
with Chief Civility and the Indians there.
The Pennsylvania Government did not leave all to diplomacy. John
Pawling, Marcus Hulings and Mordecai Lincoln (a relative of President
Abraham Lincoln) were commissioned to gather the inhabitants and to put
them in a posture to defend themselves.
Having forwarded to Kakowwatchy the watchcoats, belts and tomahawks
dropped by the eleven warriors, and having sent a present, together with
a request that he warn his Indians to be more cautious in the future,
Governor Gordon expressed a wish to see Kakowwatchy at Durham, then went
to Conestoga, and met Civility, Tawenne and other Conestoga, some
Delaware and three Shawnee chiefs.
Gordon began by reminding the Indians of the links in the chain of
friendship and that neither the Indians nor Christians would believe ill
reports of each other without investigation of the facts. The Governor
then made them presents of watchcoats, duffels, blankets, shirts,
gunpowder, lead, flints and knives.
The Governor then told them of the recent murders, and of the intention
to punish those who killed the Indians, if found guilty. The chiefs, in
turn, declared that they had no cause of complaint.
Sassoonan, or Allummapees, the head of the Delaware, and his nephew,
Opekasset, and some other chiefs, including the great Shikellamy,
vicegerent of the Six Nations, met with Governor Gordon at Molatton, and
from there went to Philadelphia, where a great council was held June 4,
1728, which was concluded most satisfactorily for all concerned.
----------
Christian Post, Moravian Missionary and
Messenger, Died April 29, 1785
Christian Frederic Post, who has been denominated “the great Moravian
peace-maker,” was a simple uneducated missionary of the Moravian Church.
He was born in Polish Prussia, in 1710, and at an early age came under
the influence of the Moravians. He emigrated to this country as a member
of the “Sea Congregation,” which arrived on the Catherine, at New
London, Conn., May 30, 1742. Post, with the other members, joined the
congregation at Bethlehem, Pa., three weeks later.
From that time until his death, at Germantown, April 29, 1785, he
performed many hazardous missions for his church and the Provincial
Government of Pennsylvania, and many times was in imminent peril. The
first several years of his residence in Pennsylvania he was employed as
a Moravian missionary, but afterwards was almost constantly performing
important services for the Province in its Indian dealings.
Some of the journals of Post, which appear in the Archives of
Pennsylvania, and have been republished elsewhere, are valuable for the
intimate history of the peoples and the country through which he
traveled. One of the editors who republished his journals, wrote as
follows concerning the missionary and mediator: “Antiquarians and
historians have alike admired the sublime courage of the man and the
heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing into the heart of
a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and treacherous foe.
But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a shrewd knowledge
of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an ambassador
requested by the Western tribes his mission would be a source of
protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Dusquesne, he
trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.”
When Conrad Weiser visited Shikellamy at Shamokin, May, 1743, he wrote:
“As I saw their old men seated on rude benches and on the ground
listening with decorous gravity and rapt attention to Post, I fancied I
saw before me a congregation of primitive Christians.”
In 1743 Post was married to a converted Indian woman, and endeared
himself to all the Indians. But all was not smooth, for the Brethren
were persecuted and humbled before their converts. Post, who had been on
a journey to the Iroquois country, in March, 1745, was arrested at
Canajoharie and sent to New York, where he was imprisoned for weeks, on
a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian raids. He was released April 10.
In 1758 it became a matter of importance with Governor Denny and Sir
William Johnson, that a treaty of peace be secured with the Western
Indians. Post was selected to convey to them the white belt of peace and
reconciliation. Tedyuskung, the Delaware king, protested against his
going, declaring he would never return alive, but the bold and confident
Christian said it was a mission of peace, that God would protect him,
and that he must go.
On July 15, 1758, Post departed from Philadelphia with five Indian
guides. He carried with him copies of the treaties made with Tedyuskung,
belts of wampum and messages from the Governor. He made his trip by way
of Bethlehem, Shamokin, Great Island, Chinclamoose, etc.
It was a perilous journey. Twice he got lost in the woods, and one of
his guides strayed away and could not be found. Without food and
drenched with rain, night after night he slept on the cold, wet ground.
He was frequently very near the French. Finally he arrived at King
Beaver’s, who ruled over the Delaware in the West. These Indians
remembered him when he preached the gospel at Wyoming, and were glad to
see him. They gave him a public dinner, to which they invited the
surrounding tribes.
The French sent spies to watch him and to induce him to go to Fort
Duquesne. Post refused to be trapped, but instead succeeded in making
arrangements for kindling a great council-fire at Easton in October
following.
Post now set out on his return and had not proceeded far when he heard
the thunder of nineteen cannon discharged at the fort. Under the very
mouths of these guns he had, singly and alone, with the full knowledge
of the French, laid a plan which rent asunder the alliance between them
and their Indian allies.
Post succeeded in his mission, and the French at the fort, finding
themselves abandoned by their allies, fired it and fled, as the invalid
general, John Forbes, and his army made their appearance.
Frank Cowan, poet of Southwestern Pennsylvania, tells the story in one
of his songs, of which the following is a verse:
“The Head of Iron from his couch,
Gave courage and command,
Which Washington, Bouquet and Grant
Repeated to the band;
Till Hark! the Highlanders began
With their chieftain’s word to swell,
‘Tonight, I shall sup and drain my cup
In Fort Du Quense—or Hell!’
But the Man of Prayer, and not of boast,
Had spoken first, in Frederic Post.”
Again, in 1761, he proceeded to the Muskingum and built the first white
man’s house within the present State of Ohio. He had made previous trips
into this country, and always succeeded in persuading the Shawnee and
Delaware to “bury the hatchet” and desert the French. He did this with a
heavy reward upon his scalp, and while his every footstep was surrounded
with danger.
In 1762 the Reverend John G. B. Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary and
writer, especially among the Delaware, was an assistant to Post.
Toward the close of his eventful life Post retired from the Moravian
sect and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. He died at Germantown
on April 29, 1785, and on May 1 his remains were interred in the “Lower
graveyard of that place, the Reverend William White, then rector of
Christ Church,” conducting the funeral service.
----------
Veterans of French and Indian Wars
Organize April 30, 1765
As early as 1764 officers of the First and Second Battalions of
Pennsylvania who had served under Colonel Henry Bouquet during the
French and Indian War tarried at Bedford on their way home and formed an
association. The purpose of this organization was that they be awarded
the land to which they were entitled for service rendered.
This association held another and more important meeting at Carlisle,
April 30, 1765, when they elected officers and renewed their application
to the proprietaries and asked for 24,000 acres of land along the West
Branch of the Susquehanna.
In this formal application they stated their object was “to embody
themselves on some good land at some distance from the inhabited part of
the Province, where by their industry they might procure a comfortable
subsistance for themselves and by their arms, union and increase become
a powerful barrier to the Province.”
These officers knew that the Proprietaries had not that much land to
award them and that they had not yet purchased the West Branch lands
from the Indians, but at this meeting they adopted a strong resolution
calling upon them to make such a purchase.
Following the French and Indian War the lawless white men had been
encroaching upon Indian lands, provoked hostilities and murdered many
innocent Indians. The situation became so acute that General Gage
offered troops to assist Governor Penn in removing and punishing these
intruders.
Governor Penn appealed to the Assembly for help. In the discussion of
this important matter it was learned from George Croghan, Sir William
Johnson and others that the Indians designed a northern confederacy, and
were determined to avenge this intrusion and the murder of the Conestoga
Indians at Lancaster.
The Assembly agreed to pass a boundary bill. They also sent a message to
the Indians promising to punish those responsible for the Conestoga
massacre, and urged a conference at which a boundary line could be
established. They also appropriated £3000 as a present to appease the
Indians.
During the following spring several conferences were held, the largest
being at Fort Pitt, where many chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations
were present; in all 1103 men, women and children. The explanations were
satisfactory and the presents and cash joyously received.
But it is quite probable that another savage war was averted by the
intervention of Sir William Johnson, who, at this critical period,
suggested a great council be held at Fort Stanwix, where this vital
question could be definitely decided. This council was held in October,
1768, with Governor Penn present in person, as well as the principal
chiefs of the tribes which had grievances to air.
The council, in the treaty of November 5, 1768, settled the boundary
dispute and the Indians sold to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania most
of the central and western end of the State, excepting a small strip
along Lake Erie. The consideration was $10,000.
Now that the Proprietaries had purchased the land desired by the
association, on February 3, 1769, it was ordered by the Board of
Property “that Colonel Francis and the officers of the First and Second
Battalions of the Pennsylvania Regiment be allowed to take up 24,000
acres, to be divided among them in district surveys on the waters of the
West Branch of the Susquehanna, to be seated with a family for each 300
acres, within two years from the time of the survey, paying £5 per
hundred and one penny sterling per acre.”
Near the close of February many of the officers met at Fort Augusta and
agreed to take the land proposed by the Proprietaries, and that one of
the tracts should be surveyed on the West Branch, adjoining Andrew
Montour’s place at Chillisquaque Creek, and one in Buffalo Valley. It
was also agreed that Captains Plunket, Brady, Piper and Lieutenant Askey
should accompany William Scull to the eastern side of the river as they
made the surveys.
These surveys were promptly made and another meeting was held at Fort
Augusta, when it was determined that the third tract of 8000 acres
should be surveyed on Bald Eagle Creek. Captains Hunter, Brady and Piper
were appointed to accompany Charles Lukens as he made the survey.
May 16, 1769, the officers met at Harris Ferry, where Messrs. Maclay,
Scull and Lukens laid before them the drafts of their respective
surveys. They agreed that Colonel Turbutt Francis should receive his
share, 2075 acres, surveyed to him in one tract. Accordingly he selected
land upon which the town of Milton is now the center.
Lots were then drawn by the other officers for the choice of lands.
Captain William Hendricks, Captain William Plunket, Captain John Brady,
Captain John Kern, Lieutenant Dr. Thomas Wiggins, Captain Conrad Bucher,
Captain William Irvine and Lieutenants Askey, Stewart and McAllister
took land in Buffalo Valley.
Ensign A. Stein, Lieutenant Daniel Hunsicker, Captain William Piper,
Lieutenant James Hayes, Captain Samuel Hunter, Captain Nicholas
Hausegger took lands above Chillisquaque Creek. Major John Philip de
Haas was the principal officer to be awarded land on the Bald Eagle, and
near him were Lieutenant James Hays and Thomas Wiggans, Ensign William
McMeen, Lieutenant Hunsicker, Captain Timothy Green, Captain John Brady,
Captain James Irvine and Captain William Plunket.
Colonel Francis acquired by purchase land from Chillisquaque Creek to
and including the present town of Northumberland, and then owned a
continuous strip from the North Branch to a point near Watsontown, a
distance of eighteen miles along the West Branch. This made him one of
the most extensive land owners of that time.
By these awards the West Branch Valley was permanently settled by these
distinguished officers or their kin, and many of the families resident
there today are descendants of these sturdy patriots.
----------
British Foragers Massacre Americans at
Crooked Billet, May 1, 1778
With the exception of occasional depredations committed by the British
foraging parties during the winter of 1777–78, all was quiet on the
Delaware. The vigilance of Generals James Potter and John Lacey greatly
restrained these forays. In the meantime General Washington, with the
aid of Baron von Steuben and other foreign officers in the Continental
army, transformed the band of American patriots into a well-disciplined,
well-drilled and confident army.
General Wayne’s command was encamped during the whole winter and spring
at Mount Joy, in Montgomery County, and materially assisted in securing
supplies of provisions for the army at Valley Forge.
When Washington withdrew from Whitemarsh, he was anxious that the upper
part of the Delaware-Schuylkill peninsula should be well guarded. A
thousand Pennsylvania militia were placed under command of General John
Lacey, January 9, 1778. Lacey established his headquarters at the
Crooked Billet Tavern, Bucks County, now called Hatboro, about
twenty-five miles north of Philadelphia.
The country nearer Philadelphia, where the British were encamped, was
thus open to the Queen’s Rangers and James’ and Hovenden’s Loyalists,
who foraged and ravaged as they pleased. There was intense hatred
between these Tories and the Continentals.
The British continually employed troops to forage and plunder, and while
Lacey was himself in Bucks County, he could do nothing to save it from
their ravages. But his energy and enterprise, even with his small
forces, enabled him to reduce the supplies of Philadelphia so materially
that the attempt was made to destroy his command, and an expedition was
sent against him.
The party was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie,
comprising light infantry, cavalry and Simcoe’s Rangers, and started on
May 1, 1778. Simcoe was to get in Lacey’s rear and a party was to be
placed in ambush, while the mounted infantry and cavalry advanced along
the road.
Lacey’s officers and patrols were negligent, and his force was
completely surprised and surrounded on all sides. They retreated
fighting, but without their baggage, and finally got away with a loss of
twenty-six killed, eight or ten wounded, and fifty-eight missing.
The British, as at Paoli, bayoneted many of the American troops after
they were so seriously wounded they could be of no further effect
against them; others of the wounded were thrown in among some buckwheat
straw, which was then set on fire, and they were roasted to death. The
bodies of many of the killed among the Americans were then thrown into
the burning straw. The famous scoundrels who committed these atrocities
were the Tory soldiers of Simcoe’s Rangers. The British loss was
nominal.
Among the American slain in this massacre was Captain John Downey, who
had been a schoolmaster in Philadelphia and a gallant volunteer at
Trenton and Princeton. He had surveyed the Delaware River for the
Committee of Safety, and was acting as commissary to General Lacey’s
brigade. He was bayoneted and mutilated while lying wounded and a
prisoner at the Crooked Billet.
A monument was erected in December, 1861, to the victims of Lacey’s
command in this fight, on the battlefield at Hatboro. The surprise was a
legitimate act of war, but the massacre after surrender was a barbarous
atrocity.
The Supreme Executive Council of the State, and the Assembly in session
at Lancaster, and the Continental Congress at York had been principally
engaged in legislating for the interests of the army, preparing for the
ensuing campaign. The Assembly passed the “act for the attainder of
divers traitors,” among whom were specially mentioned Joseph Galloway,
Andrew Allen, Reverend Jacob Duche, John Biddle, John Allen, William
Allen, James Rankin, of York County, Gilbert Hicks, of Bucks County,
Samuel Shoemaker, late of Penn’s Council, John Potts, Nathaniel Vernon,
ex-Sheriff of Chester County, Christian Fouts, formerly
lieutenant-colonel in Lancaster militia, Reynold Keen and John Biddle,
latter two of Berks County. Reverend Duche had made the prayer at the
opening of the first Continental Congress and since had been chaplain to
Congress, but had prayed for the King.
Joseph Galloway’s estate was worth in excess of £40,000 sterling, and
his handsome home on the southeast corner of Sixth and High Streets in
Philadelphia, was appropriated by the State of Pennsylvania as a
residence for the President of the Supreme Executive Council, who was
the chief executive officer of the State. This house was afterwards sold
to Robert Morris.
Through the influence and negotiations of Benjamin Franklin Silas Deane
and Arthur Lee, Commissioners sent to Paris by Congress, France had now
openly espoused the American cause. The joyful news reached Congress
sitting at York, May 2, 1778.
On May 7, Lord Howe was superseded by Sir Henry Clinton. Previous to the
British commander’s departure, a magnificent fete called the
“Mischianza,” was held May 18 in his honor.
On the following day, Lafayette with 2500 men and eight cannon crossed
the Schuylkill to Barren Hill. Howe, with 5700 under Clinton and
Knyphausen, supported by Grant in his rear, with 5,300 troops, marched
to overwhelm this important post of the American army. Lafayette escaped
by Matson’s Ford. Four days later, May 24, Howe embarked for England.
The same day a council of war was held under Sir Henry Clinton, and it
was resolved to evacuate the city, which event occurred on June 19. This
movement had been delayed owing to the arrival on June 6, of three
British Commissioners to negotiate peace and a reconciliation. It was
too late.
Among other intrigues, it is stated, the Commissioners secretly offered
to General Joseph Reed, then delegate to Congress, and afterwards
President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, £10,000
sterling, with the best office in the Colonies to promote their plans.
General Reed promptly replied: “I am not worth purchasing, but such as I
am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it.”
Upon occupation of Philadelphia, General Benedict Arnold was ordered by
General Washington to take command of the city, and “prevent the
disorders which were expected upon the evacuation of the place and
return of the Whigs after being so long kept out of their property.”
----------
General Edward Hand Relieved of Command
Following Squaw Campaign
May 2, 1778
For some time General Washington had believed that the permanent safety
of the western section of Pennsylvania could only be secured by carrying
on a successful war, in an aggressive manner, against the enemy in their
own country. That determination was strengthened by the Commissioners of
Congress, who met in Pittsburgh late in 1777, and learned first handed
of the barbarous warfare carried on against the western frontier by the
British under Henry Hamilton, then Governor of Detroit, with the
assistance of their Indian allies.
During October and November, 1777, while General Edward Hand, then
commandant at Fort Pitt, was trying to recruit his army for the invasion
of the Indian country, many raids were made in Westmoreland County.
Eleven men were killed and scalped near Palmer’s Fort, in Ligonier
Valley, and a few days later four children were killed within sight of
the fort. Three men were killed and a woman captured within a few miles
of Ligonier. A band of Indians, led by a Canadian, made a fierce attack
on Fort Wallace, near Blairsville, but the Canadian was killed and the
savages repulsed. These maurauders were pursued by a party of rangers
led by Captain James Smith and overtaken near Kittanning, where five
redskins were killed and scalped. The snows of winter prevented other
ravages.
During the Christmas holidays General Hand learned that the British had
built a magazine where Cleveland now stands and had stored arms,
ammunition, clothing and provisions in it for the use of the Indians in
the spring. He immediately planned an expedition for the destruction of
the magazine. His call for troops required each man to be mounted and
provided with food for a short campaign. He promised to provide the arms
and ammunition.
The general proposed, as a special inducement to enlist, that all
plunder would be sold and the cash proceeds divided among the force.
February 15, about 500 horsemen were at Pittsburgh ready for the
adventure, and this considerable force caused General Hand to be
sanguine for its success.
The expedition followed the old Indian trail which descended the Ohio
River to the Beaver and then ascended that stream and the Mahoning
toward the Cuyahoga. The snow on the ground was soon melted by heavy
rains and the marching was made difficult.
By the time the Mahoning was reached that stream was almost impassable,
even some of the level lands were covered with water for wide stretches.
The horsemen grumbled and Hand too was so discouraged that he was about
to give up the expedition and return, when the foot-prints of some
Indians were discovered on the high ground.
The tracks led to a small village, where a sudden attack was made, but
the place contained only one old man, some squaws and children. The
warriors were away on a hunt. The startled savages scattered and all
escaped except the old man and one woman, who were shot and a woman
taken prisoner.