disappointed in the just hopes which had been entertained of seeing a
final period put to those long pending disputes between this Government
and that of Maryland, touching their respective boundaries, by the
execution of the solemn agreement concluded between the Proprietaries of
each. It is, however, no small satisfaction to me that I can now
acquaint you that this agreement, with the proceedings of the
commissioners thereon, having been laid before his Majesty’s attorney
and solicitor general, we have had the pleasure of lately receiving the
opinion, that the agreement still remains valid and binding, on both
Proprietaries, although their commissioners, by reason of difference in
sentiments, have not carried into execution.
“Now, as the northern bounds, formerly set by Lord Baltimore to himself,
differ not much from those lately agreed upon, I know not how we can
judge better or with more certainty of any bounds by which we limit our
present jurisdiction than near the place where it is known they will
fall when the lines shall be actually run.
“In the meantime, that a stop may be put to any further insults on the
people of this Government, and encroachments on lands within the bounds
of the same, I am again to renew to you those pressing instances I have
repeatedly made, that agreeable to the duty of your stations, you exert
your utmost endeavors for preserving peace throughout your county, and
protecting all the inhabitants in the just and right possessions, in
legal and necessary defense of which every person ought to be encouraged
to appear with boldness, and to be assured of receiving all the
countenance that lawful authority can give.
“And as the late disturbances have been in a great measure owing to the
unjust attempts of those who, pretending right to, or claiming disputed
lands, under that pretense, have come many miles into this Province, and
with force possessed themselves of lands for which they can have no
lawful grant from any other persons but our Honorable Proprietaries
only, and have likewise committed very great violences upon sundry of
our inhabitants, you are to give strict orders for apprehending and
securing all such who have been principals or accessories therein, as
well as those who hereafter shall presume to offer an injury to the
persons or professions of his Majesty’s peaceable subjects or encroach
on any lands within the known and reputed limits of your county, that
they may be brought to condign punishment.
“But as in the year 1724, it was agreed ‘that for avoiding all manner of
contention or difference between the inhabitants of the two Provinces,
no person or persons should be disturbed or molested in their
possessions they then held on either side,’ you are desired still to
have a particular regard to those entitled to the benefit of that
agreement, while they behave themselves peaceably.”
The letters then gave implicit instructions to the sheriffs, directing
them to frequently visit the borders, particularly where the
disturbances happened, and give all assistance possible to the injured
and apprehend those who caused the trouble and seize and secure them.
It was particularly fortunate that the Indians continued to live
amicably with the settlers at this period.
----------
Dr. Nicholas More, First Chief Justice,
Impeached May 15, 1685
William Penn appointed his cousin, Captain William Markham, Deputy
Governor, and he arrived in the Province in October, 1681. He then
appointed commissioners to lay out the proposed great city, who came
over toward the end of that year. The commissioners, as originally
appointed were William Crispin, Nathaniel Allen and John Bezar.
These commissioners sailed in the ship John and Sarah, taking the
southern passage and stopping at Barbadoes, where Crispin died. Crispin
was head of the commission, a man of mature years and Penn’s own
kinsman, like Markham.
It appears by a letter from Penn to Markham, dated London, October 18,
1681, that Penn intended Crispin to hold high office in the new
province. He says:
“I have sent my cosen, William Crispen, to be thy assistant, as my
commission will appear. His Skill, experience, Industry and Integrity
are well known to me, and particularly in Court keeping &c., so yt is my
will and pleasure that he be as Chief Justice to keep ye Seal, ye Courts
and Sessions, & he shall be accountable to me for it.”
The honor, therefore, of discharging the highest judicial office in
Pennsylvania is to be attributed to the man appointed by the proprietary
in pursuance of the act of 1684—that man was Dr. Nicholas More.
It is difficult to understand the abilities and character of More. He
was educated in medicine, but drifted away, in his mature years, from
the practice of his profession, and in 1681 became the president of the
Society of Free Traders, and a large purchaser of land in the new
Province of Pennsylvania.
Nicholas More arrived in the province with Penn in 1682, and though not
a member of the Society of Friends, he so far won their confidence that
he was returned a member of the first Assembly at Chester, and probably
was the speaker of that body. He continued a member for three years, and
in 1684 was again elected its speaker.
In August, 1684, he was commissioned Chief Justice by the Proprietary
and at once entered upon the discharge of the functions of that high
office.
In spite of the estimable qualities which entitled him to these honors,
his character was stained with faults, and his haughty demeanor, harsh
and ungoverned temper, incensed those with whom he was brought in
contact.
In 1683 a Council and Assembly attempted to function with less members
than required by the Frame of Government. More reminded them they had
broken the Charter and their acts would amount to nothing. He further
said: “Hundreds in England will curse you * * * and their children after
them, and you may be impeached for treason for what you do.”
He denounced them when they passed laws which he opposed, and used
language which was not in common usage among the pious Quakers.
These practices and his overbearing and haughty spirit made More many
enemies in all classes. It is therefore with but little surprise that
the Assembly formally impeached him early in his judicial career.
On the morning of May 15, 1685, a member of the House presented a formal
complaint. More, who was sitting as a delegate, was ordered to withdraw.
The articles of accusation were read and approved, and a committee named
to conduct the impeachment. But the Council received the accusers with
grave civility and gave the Judge until 7 o’clock the following morning
to answer the charges.
More was not inclined to gracefully submit himself to the judgment of
the Council and bitterly accused Abraham Mann as “a person of a
seditious spirit.” He did not appear before Council and also refused to
attend when warned by a committee.
The Assembly prudently resolved to collect the testimony necessary to
make good their charges. They required the records of the Provincial
Court, which were in possession of Patrick Robinson, clerk of the Court,
who happened to be present in the House. He was little in sympathy with
the impeachment and refused to produce the desired records. He even
alleged that the records were “written in Latin where one word stood for
a sentence and in unintelligible characters which no person could read
but himself; no, not an angel from Heaven.”
The clerk held firm and then withdrew from the House. A warrant was
issued by the Speaker and he was placed in the custody of the sheriff.
More all this time, secretly supported by the Governor and his friends
in the Council, took no notice of the proceedings against him. He told
John Briggs, a member of the House, “Either I myself or some of you will
be hanged and I advise you to enter your protest against it.”
On the morning of May 18 the Assembly met after a long conference with
the Council. They once more endeavored to extort the records from
Robinson, who was brought into the House in the custody of the Sheriff,
but in vain. Robinson threw himself on the floor and refused to arise or
answer any questions put to him. The House, therefore, hastened to make
an end of the business. They expelled More, resolved to ask that
Robinson should be removed from office, hastily gathered together their
evidence, and presented themselves before the Council.
More again absented himself, but the evidence against him was
sufficiently serious. He was proved to have acted in a summary and
unlawful way in summoning juries; to have perverted the sense of the
testimony; to have unduly harassed a jury into finding an unjust
verdict, etc., and finally of having used “several contemptuous and
derogatory expressions ... of the Provincial Council and of the present
state of Government by calling the members thereof fooles and
loggerheads,” and by saying “it was well if all the laws had dropt and
that it never would be good times as long as ye Quakers had ye
administration.”
The speaker requested that both More and Robinson be dismissed from
office, and the Assembly withdrew.
The Governor and Council were puzzled how to act. Robinson was retained
until he became so insolent that he was dismissed. But More had incurred
the displeasure of public opinion, yet they could not proceed against
him. The further prosecution of his case was postponed month by month by
trivial excuses, till more important matters took its place in the
public mind.
It is reasonable to conclude that Judge More must have been possessed of
some sterling qualities and considerable natural parts to warrant Penn
in his appointment. His dismissal from office ended his career as a
public man.
Dr. More was the founder of the Manor of Moreland. He died after a
languishing illness in 1689.
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Massacre at French Jacob Groshong’s in
Union County, May 16, 1780
In the spring of 1780 occurred an Indian massacre at what was then known
as French Jacob’s Mill. The site of this fatal attack is on a farm long
in the possession of the Wohlheiter family, situated about one-half a
mile southeast of the Forest House, at the end of Brush Valley Narrows,
in what is now Union County.
Here in 1776 Jacob Groshong, or French Jacob, as he was called by his
neighbors, built a log mill, which was patronized by the settlers for
many miles around.
On May 16, 1780, a patrol of Continental soldiers on duty as a garrison
at the mill, was attacked by a party of Indians, and four of the
defenders were killed and several wounded. Those killed were John
Foster, James Chambers, George Etzweiler and Samuel McLaughlin.
The soldiers were outside the mill at the time of the attack washing
themselves. They had just returned from patroling that neighborhood and
were confident the immediate country was free of redskins.
Christian Shively heard the firing as he was threshing grain in a field.
He immediately concealed his wife and two small children near the creek,
then rolled some logs into the stream and tied them into a raft, put his
wife and children on, and floated down stream to safety. Henry Pontius,
a neighbor, also heard the shots, secured his gun, hurriedly mounted a
horse and made a circuit through the woods, and came to the mill just in
time to see the Indians fleeing with their plunder.
An appeal for assistance was sent to the seat of Government, and the
following day messengers set off for Philadelphia. A detail started for
New Berlin, bearing the bodies of the murdered soldiers, but when John
Clark’s farm was reached the party was divided. Those carrying the
bodies of John Foster and James Chambers were compelled to make burial
in the Lewis graveyard, as the weather was too excessively hot. The
other party, bearing the body of George Etzweiler, buried it on the farm
of John Brook, where his grave was suitably marked. The body of Samuel
McLaughlin was carried to New Berlin and buried in the Dry Run Cemetery.
Colonel Matthew Smith sent a letter to General Joseph Reed, president of
the State, dated Northumberland, May 18, 1780, in which he complained
bitterly of the defenseless frontiers, and begged for immediate
assistance. He said:
“Sir, unless some support can be instantly afforded, the State must
shortly count one county less than formerly—which God forbid. I refer
you, Dear Sir, to the bearer, General Potter, for further information,
as he waits on horseback, whilst I write this imperfect, distressed
account. Provisions none; cash none, nor can it be had in this place.
General Potter’s account from this place to the Honorable Assembly,
which I doubt not you will see, will fully satisfy you of the state of
this place.”
This mill, where the Indian fight occurred, was a favorite place for
visitors as long as it stood.
Some time between 1776 and 1779 Jacob Groshong built a little log mill
on a site long afterward known as Solomon Heberling’s. He thought he had
a clear title to the location, but he was defeated in a law suit for
possession.
Groshong later moved up into the Nittany Mountain, in now Center County,
and then went West. His name, or rather his nickname, is still preserved
in connection with a rather large spring a little above the tavern, on
the Bush Valley road. He is the hero of many of the wild tales of Indian
troubles in that part of the valley.
On July 14, following this attack at French Jacob’s, the Indians
attacked the family of Allens living at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, now
Lewisburg. The woman succeeded in making her escape across the creek,
but the husband and three children were killed.
The same day Baltzer Klinesmith was killed and his two daughters,
Elizabeth and Catherine, were carried off. This was in the vicinity of
the present Dreisbach Church, Union County.
The Indians and their prisoners arrived at a spring north of New Berlin,
where they left the girls in charge of an old Indian and went down Dry
Valley. It soon began to rain and the Indian made the girls gather brush
to cover a bag of flour they had stolen. He laid down under a tree with
his tomahawk under his head. The girls, passing with brush, gradually
worked it from under him as he slept. Elizabeth secured it and motioned
to her sister to run. She then sank it into the old Indian’s head and
made her escape.
The Indians returned about this time and pursued the girls, reaching
them when they neared the house. A rifle ball passed through Catherine’s
shoulder, which maimed her for life, but the girls succeeded in reaching
their home and the men, already alarmed and prepared, gave chase to the
savages.
Two days after these attacks Colonel John Kelly enrolled a company of
Northumberland County militia, with James Thompson as captain; Joseph
Poak, lieutenant, and Alexander Ewing, ensign.
----------
Indian War Known as Pontiac Conspiracy
Opened May 17, 1763
General John Forbes and his invincible army invested the ruins of Fort
Duquesne, November 24, 1758. There was no attempt made to restore the
old fortification, but about one year later work was begun on a new
fort, under the personal direction of General John Stanwix, who
succeeded General Forbes, which has since been known as Fort Pitt.
It was built near the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela unite
their waters, but a little farther inland than the site of Fort
Duquesne. The exact date of its completion is not known, but on March
21, 1760, Major General Stanwix, having finished his work, set out on
his return journey to Philadelphia.
The effect of this stronghold was soon apparent in the return of about
4000 settlers to their lands on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland
and Virginia, from which they had been driven by their savage enemies,
and the brisk trade which at once began to be carried on with the now,
to all appearance, friendly Indians. However, this security was not of
long duration. The definite treaty of peace between England, Spain and
France was signed February 10, 1763, but before that time, Pontiac, the
great chief of the Ottawas, was planning his conspiracy, which carried
death and desolation throughout the frontier.
The French had always tried to ingratiate themselves with the Indians.
When their warriors came to the French forts they were hospitably
welcomed and liberally supplied with guns, ammunition and clothing. The
English, on the contrary, either gave reluctantly or did not give at
all.
In a spirit of revenge and hatred a powerful confederacy was formed
which included all the Western tribes, under the command of Pontiac,
alike renowned for his warlike spirit, his wisdom and his bravery, and
whose name was a terror to the entire region of the lakes. The blow was
to be struck the middle of May, 1763. The tribes were to rise
simultaneously and attack the English garrisons. Thus a sudden attack
was made May 17, on all Western posts.
Detroit was saved after a long and close siege. Forts Pitt and Niagara
narrowly escaped, while Le Boeuff, Venango, Presque Isle, Miami, St.
Joseph, Ouachtown, Sandusky, and Michillimackimac all fell into the
hands of the savages. Their garrisons were either butchered on the spot,
or carried off to be tortured for the amusement of their cruel captors.
The Indians swept over the surrounding country, carrying death and
destruction wherever they went. Hundreds of traders were slaughtered
without mercy, while their wives and children, if not murdered, were
carried off captives. The property destroyed or stolen amounted, it is
said, to five hundred thousand pounds.
Attacks were made at Forts Bedford and Ligonier, but without success.
Fort Ligonier was under siege for two months. The preservation of this
post was of the utmost importance, and Lieutenant Blaine, by his courage
and good conduct, managed to hold out until August 2, 1763, when Colonel
Henry Bouquet arrived with his little army to relieve him.
In the meantime, every preparation was made at Fort Pitt for an attack.
The garrison at that post numbered 330, commanded by Captain Simeon
Ecuyer, a brave Swiss. The fortifications were repaired, barracks were
made shot-proof and a rude fire-engine was constructed to extinguish any
flames kindled by the fire arrows of the Indians. All the houses and
cabins outside the walls were leveled to the ground. The fort was
crowded with the families of the settlers.
Several weeks elapsed before there was any determined attack from the
enemy. Only July 26 some chiefs asked for a parley with Captain Ecuyer,
which was granted. They demanded that he and all in the fort should
leave it immediately or it and they would all be destroyed.
On the night succeeding this parley the Indians approached in great
numbers, crawling under the banks of the two rivers, in which they were
completely sheltered from the fire of the fort. On the one side the
entire bank was lined with the burrows, from which they shot volleys of
bullets, arrows and fire-arrows into the fort. The yelling was terrific,
and the women and children in the crowded barracks clung to each other
in abject terror. This attack lasted for five days. On August 1, the
Indians heard the rumor that Colonel Bouquet was approaching with a
large force of troops, which caused them to give up the attack and move
off, thus relieving the garrison.
When the news of this sudden Indian uprising reached General Amherst he
ordered Colonel Bouquet to march with a detachment of 500 men to the
relief of the besieged forts. This force was composed of regulars and
six companies of Provincial Rangers.
Bouquet established his rendezvous in Carlisle, where he arrived the
latter part of June, 1763. Here he found every building, every house,
every barn, every hovel crowded with terrified refugees. He wrote to
General Amherst, July 13, as follows:
“The list of people known to be killed increases every day. The
desolation of so many families, reduced to the last extremity of want
and misery; the despair of those who have lost their parents, relations
and friends, with the cries of distracted women and children who fill
the streets, form a scene painful to humanity and impossible to
describe.”
Strange as it may seem, the Province of Pennsylvania would do nothing to
aid the troops who gathered for its defense. Colonel Bouquet, in another
letter to General Amherst, said: “I hope we shall be able to save that
infatuated people from destruction, notwithstanding all their endeavors
to defeat your vigorous measures.”
While Bouquet, harassed and exasperated, labored on at his difficult
task, the terror of the frontier people increased, until at last,
finding they could hope for but little aid from the Government, they
bestirred themselves with admirable spirit in their own defense. They
raised small bodies of riflemen, who scoured the woods in front of the
settlements, and succeeded in driving the enemy back. In many instances
the men dressed themselves in Indian fashion, painted their faces red
and black, and adopted the savage mode of warfare.
Forts Pitt, Niagara and Detroit were saved. Colonel Bouquet relieved
Fort Pitt; Niagara was not attacked, and Detroit, after a long siege by
Pontiac in person, was relieved by Colonel Bradstreet in 1764.
The Indians were speedily subdued, but Pontiac remained hostile until
his death in 1769.
----------
Meschianza, Stupendous Entertainment for
Sir Wm. Howe, May 18, 1778
The British spent the winter of 1777–78 in Philadelphia, and while the
Americans were suffering at Valley Forge, Sir William Howe’s army
enjoyed one long round of pleasure in the capital city. The officers
entertained themselves with fetes, dances and theatre parties, and they
played cricket and had cock-fights. As Franklin said: “Howe did not take
Philadelphia—Philadelphia took Howe.”
Howe was criticized at home, where he was regarded as indolent in
command and he resigned. Sir Henry Clinton superseded him.
On May 18, 1778, before Howe’s departure, a fete at the home of Thomas
Wharton, at Walnut Grove, was arranged for him by Major John Andre, a
talented man, attractive to the ladies, who was later hanged as a spy.
It was called the Meschianza, and comprised a regatta, tournament, feast
and ball. It was a splendid folly in itself, and is notorious in
American history.
After all, the performance must have been crude and some of the features
of it in bad taste and incongruous. The elements of the medley would not
mix. Major Andre says the cost of the entertainment was defrayed by
twenty-two officers of Howe’s staff.
The Meschianza began with a regatta, which was in fact a military
procession along the waterfront; boats, barges and galleys, filled with
guests and officers, including Lord Howe, General Howe, Sir Henry
Clinton, Lord Rawdon and General Knyphausen, moving in three divisions
down the river, the surrounding vessels decked with flags and the
wharves teaming with spectators.
As the company disembarked at the Wharton mansion they marched through
files of grenadiers and light horse. On the lawn the bands in massed
formation played favorite airs. Triumphal arches were erected on the
lawn near the mansion, under which the ladies were received as at a
royal court.
Here were seated seven of the principal belles dressed in Turkish habits
and wearing in their turbans the favors with which they meant to reward
the several knights who were to contend in their honor. At a blast of
the trumpets, a band of knights, dressed in ancient habits and mounted
on gray horses, with rich trappings, dashed into the court. Each knight
was accompanied by an esquire on foot. There were heralds and others,
all in robes of ceremony.
Lord Cathcart, superbly mounted, appeared as the chief of the White
Knights. His lady was Miss Auchmuty. Then came Captain Cathcart, the
first knight, in honor of Miss N. White; Lieutenant Bygrove and Miss
Jane Craig; Captain Andre and Miss Peggy Chew; Captain Horneck and Miss
Nancy Redman; Captain Matthews and Miss Wilhelmina Bond, Lieutenant
Sloper and Miss Mary Shippen.