on scientific principles and on the astronomical calculations which he
had prepared. After three years of labor, in 1779, the “Rittenhouse
orrery” was completed.
This orrery was purchased by Princeton University for £300. The trustees
of the College of Philadelphia were offended, but Rittenhouse
immediately set to work and constructed a duplicate, which was purchased
for the college by the proceeds of a series of lectures on astronomy by
Dr. William Smith, provost of the college.
The second orrery was much larger than the original, but was constructed
on the same model. This was sold for £400.
David Rittenhouse was elected one of the secretaries of the American
Philosophical Society in 1771. He delivered a most elaborate address
before the society February 23, 1775, entitled “An Oration on
Astronomy.” This address was inscribed and dedicated to the delegates
assembled in the Continental Congress. In 1790 he became one of its vice
presidents.
On the death of Dr. Franklin he succeeded to the office of president,
January, 1791, which office he held until his death, when he was
succeeded by Thomas Jefferson.
----------
Indians Succeed in Destroying Presqu' Isle,
June 4, 1763
In 1763 Pontiac’s grand scheme of destroying all the English forts was
completed, and it was determined the attack should be made
simultaneously on June 4. Henry L. Harvey, in the Erie Observer, gives
the following account of the attack on Fort Presqu' Isle.
“The troops had retired to their quarters to procure their morning
repast; some had already finished, and were sauntering about the
fortress or the shores of the lake. All were joyous, in holiday attire
and dreaming of nought but the pleasures of the occasion. A knocking was
heard at the gate, and three Indians were announced, in hunting garb,
desiring an interview with the commander. Their tale was soon told; they
said they belonged to a hunting party which had started to Niagara with
a lot of furs; that their canoes were bad, and they would prefer
disposing of them here, if they could do so to advantage, and return
rather than go farther; that their party was encamped by a small stream
west of the fort, about a mile, where they had landed the previous
night, and where they wished the commander to go and examine their
peltries, as it was difficult to bring them as they wished to embark
from where they were if they did not trade.
“The commander, accompanied by a clerk, left the fort with the Indians,
charging his lieutenant that none should leave the fort, and none but
its inmates be admitted until his return. Well would it probably have
been had this order been obeyed. After the lapse of sufficient time for
the captain to have visited the encampment of the Indians and return, a
party of the latter—variously estimated, but probably about one hundred
and fifty—advanced toward the fort, bearing upon their backs what
appeared to be large packs of furs, which they informed the lieutenant
the captain had purchased and ordered deposited in the fort.
“The stratagem succeeded, and when the party were all within the fort,
the work of an instant threw off the packs and the short cloaks which
covered their weapons—the whole being fastened by one loop and button at
the neck. Resistance at this time was useless or ineffectual, and the
work of death was as rapid as savage strength and weapons could make it.
The shortened rifles, which had been sawed off for the purpose of
concealing them under their cloaks and in the packs of furs, were once
discharged, and of what remained the tomahawk and knife were made to do
the execution.
“The history of savage war presents not a scene of more heartless or
blood-thirsty vengeance than was exhibited on this occasion, and few its
equal in horror. The few who were taken prisoners in the fort were
doomed to the various tortures devised by savage ingenuity, until, save
two individuals, all who awoke to celebrate that day at the fort had
passed away to the eternal world.
“Of these two, one was a soldier who had gone into the woods near the
fort, and on his return, observing a body of Indians dragging away some
prisoners, he escaped and immediately proceeded to Niagara. The other
was a female who had taken shelter in a small building below the hill,
near the mouth of the creek. Here she remained undiscovered until near
night of the fatal day, when she was drawn forth, but her life, for some
reason, was spared, and she was made prisoner, and ultimately ransomed
and restored to civilized life. She was subsequently married and settled
in Canada. From her statement, and the information she obtained during
her captivity, corroborated by other sources, this account of the
massacre is gathered.
“Others have varied it so far as relates to the result, particularly
Thatcher, who, in his Life of Pontiac, says: ‘The officer who commanded
at Presqu’ Isle defended himself two days during which time the savages
are said to have fired his blockhouse about fifty times, but the
soldiers extinguished the flames as often. It was then undermined, and a
train laid for an explosion, when a capitulation was proposed and agreed
upon, under which a part of the garrison was carried captive to the
Northwest. The officer was afterward given up at Detroit.' He does not,
however, give any authority for his statements, while most writers
concur that all were destroyed.
“The number who escaped from Le Boeuf is variously estimated from three
to seven. Their escape was effected through a secret or underground
passage, having its outlet in the direction of the swamp adjoining Le
Boeuf Lake. Tradition, however, says that of these only one survived to
reach a civilized settlement.”
So adroitly was the whole campaign managed that nine of the garrisons
received no notice of the design in time to guard against it, and fell
an easy conquest to the assailants.
Niagara, Pittsburgh, Ligonier and Bedford were strongly invested, but
withstood the attacks until relief arrived from the Eastern settlements.
The scattered settlers in their vicinity were generally murdered or
forced to flee to the fort. Depredations were committed as far east as
Carlisle and Reading, and the whole country was alarmed.
Colonel Bradstreet and Colonel Bouquet attacked the savages everywhere.
General Gage directed the movements against the Indians. Bradstreet
failed to comprehend the Indian character, but Bouquet conquered the
savages everywhere on his route, and so completely defeated them that he
was able to dictate terms of peace, and received a large number of
persons who had been carried into captivity from Pennsylvania and
Virginia. He was hailed as a deliverer by the people and received the
thanks of the Governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
----------
James Pollock Nominated by Know Nothing
Party, June 5, 1854
Governor William Bigler’s administration was universally acceptable to
his party, and even his most earnest political opponents found little
ground for criticism, but when he came up for re-election two entirely
new and unexpected factors confronted him and doomed him to defeat on
issues which had no relation to the administration of State affairs.
First of these was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and second,
the advent of the secret American, or Know Nothing Party.
The American, or Know Nothing, organization that became such an
important political power in 1854, was the culmination of various
spasmodic native American organizations beginning in New York, as early
as 1835, and extending to Philadelphia and Boston. The original Native
American organization of New York was directed wholly against foreigners
who held positions on the police force and in other city departments. It
came into its greatest power in 1844, when it controlled the entire city
government.
The Native Americans carried the fall elections in Philadelphia, in
1844, with material aid from the Whigs, and remained an important
element in both City and State politics in Pennsylvania for a number of
years.
The name Know Nothing was applied to this organization because the
members were ordered to reply to any question in regard to the party or
its purposes, “I don’t know.” In the same way “Sam” was nicknamed for
that party. This was applied frequently to persons suspected of being
members of which it was said they had “seen Sam.”
Chief Justice Black said of the Know Nothings: “They’re like the bee,
biggest when it’s born; it will perish as quickly as it rose to power.”
Truly a prophecy.
In 1854 the Whig candidate for the office of Mayor, Robert T. Conrad,
was supported by the Know Nothings and defeated Richard Vaux by more
than 8000 votes. After this the Know Nothing Party declined in strength,
and finally what was left of it and the remnant of the Whig organization
were absorbed in the Republican Party. After 1856 the Know Nothing party
practically disappeared as a general political factor.
The Whigs and Democrats held their regular State conventions early in
the year of 1854. Governor Bigler was renominated by the Democrats, and
James Pollock was nominated by the Whigs.
Pollock indicated Andrew G. Curtin as the man to take charge of his
campaign, and Curtin was made chairman of the Whig State Committee. He
entered upon his new duties with the ardor that was always manifested in
his public efforts, and everything seemed to be going along smoothly,
until he learned that there was a secret organization in the State that
embraced a clear majority of the Whig voters and not a few of the
Democratic voters.
There were three men of low cunning who had managed to obtain possession
of the machinery of the Know Nothing organization and they availed
themselves of the peculiar facilities offered by a secret organization
to assume autocratic authority.
These three leaders sought out Curtin, and, proving to him that they had
it in their power to compute the returns of the Know Nothing lodges and
declare for or against any candidate for office, declared their purpose
to defeat the Whig candidate for Governor if their wishes were not
acceded to. Each of the three men required of Curtin a pledge that three
of the most lucrative offices in the gift of the Governor, the
inspectorships of Philadelphia, should be given them.
They did not conceal the fact that it made no difference how the Know
Nothing lodges voted, they would declare the nomination in favor of or
against Pollock, depending upon Curtin’s agreement to their proposition.
Curtin deliberated long and had several conferences before he finally
acceded to their demands to the extent that he would recommend the
appointments they demanded, but that he would not give an unqualified
pledge as to the action of the Governor, and that Pollock was to have no
knowledge nor was he to be advised of it during the contest.
The entire program was then arranged that the State Council on June 5
should announce as the nominees of the Know Nothing Party James Pollock,
Whig, for Governor; Henry S. Mott, Democrat, for Canal Commissioner, and
Thomas Bair, Know Nothing Party, for Supreme Judge.
Neither Pollock nor Mott were members of the Know Nothing Party, and
both were placed in nomination without their personal knowledge of being
candidates of that organization.
Pollock was elected by 37,007 over Bigler; Mott was elected over Darsie
by 190,743; and Jeremiah S. Black was elected by 45,535 over Bair, Know
Nothing, and Smyser, Whig.
As soon as the election was over and Mott realized that he had been
given this large majority by the Know Nothing vote, he openly denounced
the organization as deliberately guilty of a fraud in making him its
candidate, and from that day was the most vindictive opponent of Know
Nothingism the State could furnish.
The alleged nomination of Pollock and Mott by the Know Nothing
organization was a deliberate fraud upon the Know Nothing people, as was
evidenced by the fact that their names were submitted to the various
lodges by the State Council as candidates and as members of the order,
when, in fact, neither of them was a member, but it mattered little
whether the lodges voted for or against Pollock and Mott, there was no
power to revise the returns, and they were accepted as candidates
without a question and their election assured.
Few knew of the Know Nothing organization. Even Curtin had no conception
of its strength and never dreamed of the political revolution that it
was about to work out.
The three Know Nothing traders decided that they would accept the
position of flour inspector, leather inspector and bark inspector.
Curtin literally fulfilled his pledge, stating to the Governor all that
had transpired and left the Governor to solve the problem.
The Governor was first determined to appoint none of them, but
reconsidered and gave one of them a minor inspectorship of the city. The
disappointed Know Nothing leaders had to accept defeat as they had no
other way of visiting vengeance upon any one, and their party went to
pieces within a year.
----------
John Penn Found First Wife Dying After
Second Marriage, June 6, 1766
A sad incident in the life of John Penn has been told in the story of
Tulliallan.[2] While Richard and Thomas Penn, sons of the founder, were
selecting plate they intended to present to the English battleship
Admiral Penn, John, the seventeen-year-old son of Richard, accompanied
them to the establishment of James Cox, the silversmith.
Footnote 2:
The first of a delightful collection of folk lore and legends
collected and published as “Allegheny Episodes,” by Colonel Henry W.
Shoemaker, 1922.
During this errand John Penn met for the first time Marie Cox, the
silversmith’s only daughter, and they fell desperately in love with each
other. Many visits were made to the fine Quaker home of James Cox, which
annoyed the elder Penn, and remonstrate as he did it proved of no avail.
A trip to Gretna Green was made, and John Penn, aged nineteen, and Marie
Cox, aged seventeen, were duly made husband and wife.
When Richard Penn, the father, and his brother Thomas were apprised by
young John of what he had done, he was locked in his room, and after
dark he was taken to the waterfront and placed aboard a ship sailing for
the coast of France. He was carried to Paris, and there carefully
watched, but supplied with all the money he required.
Temporarily John Penn forgot about his wife, Marie, as he plunged into
the gayeties of the French capital. The pace was rapid and he soon
became seriously ill, but he grew better and was taken to Geneva to
convalesce. There he was followed by agents of his creditors, who
threatened him with imprisonment for debt. John wrote his father in
London, who turned a deaf ear to the prodigal; not so Uncle Thomas.
Thomas Penn wrote to his nephew that he would save him from a debtor’s
cell provided he would divorce his wife and go to Pennsylvania for an
indefinite period. John was in an attitude to promise anything, and soon
his bills were settled. While awaiting his ship to take him to
Philadelphia, the young man went to London for a day to say good-by to
his relations.
The ship was delayed several days by a severe storm and as John was
strolling up the streets in Cheapside, to his surprise he met his bride,
the deserted Marie Cox Penn. He was much in love with her and she was
ready to forgive. They spent the balance of that day together and during
dinner in a restaurant it was arranged that Marie should follow her
husband to America; meanwhile he would provide a home for her under an
assumed name, until he became of age, when he would defy his family to
again tear them apart.
John Penn arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1752. He evinced but
little interest in provincial affairs, except to make a trip into the
interior. He was accompanied by a bodyguard, among whom was Peter Allen.
Penn took a fancy to the sturdy frontiersman, “a poor relation” of Chief
Justice William Allen.
Allen had built a stone house twelve miles west of Harris’ Ferry, which
he called “Tulliallan.” This was the outpost of civilization. John Penn
selected this place for his bride, and as Peter Allen had three young
daughters, Penn soon arranged that Marie should be their teacher.
John Penn dispatched his valet to London to escort Marie to America. She
arrived and her husband took her to Peter Allen’s, where she became a
great favorite and found the new life agreeable. She assumed the name
Maria Warren. That was in 1754.
All went well until the Penns in London learned that Marie Cox Penn had
gone to America, and they traced her to “Tulliallan.”
Maria Warren mysteriously disappeared. At the same time went two
friendly Indians from that neighborhood.
Early the following summer, John Penn set out for Peter Allen’s, and
when he arrived he learned that his wife was gone a fortnight, they knew
not how or where.
Accompanied by servants and settlers, Penn hunted the mountains, far and
wide, and inquired of all with whom he came in contact, red or white,
but no trace of his wife could be found. He never gave up the search
until he suffered a nervous collapse, and was sent to his home in
England.
In 1763, he returned as Lieutenant Governor, and arrived in Philadelphia
October 30. On June 6, 1766, he married Anne, daughter of William Allen,
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.
A few years later he took a trip through the interior. He stopped at
Peter Allen’s and there learned that the Indians had carried his beloved
Marie a captive to Canada. It was not long after returning that he again
started on another expedition up the Susquehanna River.
A stop was made at Fisher’s Stone House, at what is now known as
Fisher’s Ferry, below Sunbury. He was given a noisy welcome and he
enjoyed these plain frontier people. While seated by the fireplace he
heard coughing in an inner room, and inquired of Peter Fisher who it was
who was ill.
“It’s an English woman, your Honor,” replied Fisher. “Tell me about
her,” said the Governor. Then Fisher related the strange story, telling
Penn that it is said he once loved this woman, that she was kidnapped
and carried to Canada, that the Indians were paid for keeping her, that
she made her escape and walked all the way back, but became ill and
could not reach Peter Allen’s, and was now on her deathbed.
Penn insisted on seeing her, and he went into the room. There lay his
wife. They were soon in fond embrace and others left them alone in the
room. Ten minutes later Penn ran to the door and called, “Come quick, I
fear she is going.” The household assembled but in a few minutes Marie
Cox Penn was dead. It is said she lies buried there on a hill which
overlooks the Susquehanna.
John Penn returned to Philadelphia and took no more trips through the
interior of Pennsylvania. He died childless, February 9, 1795. His wife,
nee Allen, survived him until 1813.
----------
Colonel William Clapham Began Erection
of Fort Halifax, June 7, 1756
Early in the year of 1756 Governor Morris commissioned Lieutenant
Colonel William Clapham to recruit the “Augusta Regiment” and build Fort
Augusta, at Shamokin, now Sunbury. Clapham rendezvoused his troops at
Hunter’s Mills, also known as Fort Hunter and then started his march up
the river toward Shamokin.
The first camp was established at Armstrong’s, where on June 7 the
commander wrote to Governor Morris saying this was the “most convenient
place on the river between Harris’ and Shamokin for a magazine on
account of its good natural situation above the Juniata Falls, the vast
plenty of pine timber at hand, its nearness to Shamokin and a saw within
a quarter of a mile.”
The saw was at Armstrong’s place, at the mouth of Armstrong’s Creek. The
soldiers cut and squared two hundred logs, each thirty feet in length,
and erected the fortification.
During the progress of this work an important Indian conference between
Colonel Clapham and the Iroquois was held. The speaker for the Indians
was Oghaghradisha, the noted chieftain of that nation. At this
conference, held June 10, 1756, the Indians agreed to the building of a
fort at Shamokin, but also wanted another fort built three days’ journey
in a canoe farther up the North Branch in their branch, called
Adjouquay, the mouth of present Lackawanna Creek. The Indians agreed to
help build this fort.
Colonel Clapham wrote to Governor Morris from the “Camp at Armstrong’s”
on June 20, 1756:
“The progress already made in this fort renders it impracticable for me
to comply with the commissioner’s desire to contract it, at which I am
more surprised, as I expected every day orders to enlarge it, it being
as yet, in my opinion, too small. I shall leave an officer and thirty
men, with orders to finish it, when I march from hence, which will be
with all possible expedition after the arrival of the blankets, the rum
and the money for the payment of the battoe-men, for want of which I am
obliged to detain them here in idleness, not thinking it prudent to
trust them on another trip for fear of their desertion, which may
totally impede the service. I could wish the commissioners would invent
some expedient to pay these men without money, or at least without the
danger of trusting me with their money, the charge of which I am not
ambitious of, or the much envied honor and trouble of expending it. This
far is certain, that without such expedient or money we cannot stir.
“I have pursuant to your Honor’s command sent down two Indian Sachems,
properly escorted and committed particularly in the care of Mr. Shippen
(Edward, of Lancaster), and hope their coming will fully answer the ends
proposed by your Honor and your Council. I have found Captain McKee
extremely useful, and have sent him also at the Sachem’s particular
request.
“The carpenters are still employed in building Battoes and carriages for
the canoes, and everybody seems disposed cheerfully to contribute their
services toward the public good; if there ever was any prospect or
assurance of being paid for it.
“I assure myself, your Honor, will omit no opportunity of extricating me
from embarrassments arising from the want of money, both for the
Battoe-men and the soldiers; twenty-six of whom being Dutch (German) are
now in confinement for mutiny on that very account. I am with all
respect your Honor’s obedient servant.
”WILLIAM CLAPHAM.
“P. S.—The Fort at this place is without a name till your Honor is
pleased to confer one.”
On the 25th of the month the Governor wrote from Philadelphia to Colonel
Clapham. “The Fort at Armstrong’s I would have it called Fort Halifax.”
This was in honor of the Earl of Halifax.
The exact location of this fort is discernible today, if one will drive
along the concrete highway above the present borough of Halifax and turn
off toward the river, after crossing the bridge which spans Armstrong’s
Run. The covered bridge, near the mouth of the creek is the site of the
old Armstrong sawmill to which Colonel Clapham referred. A short
distance below are the remains of the foundation of the Armstrong home
which was built prior to 1755, and a few hundreds yards below will be
seen a small rise in the ground which is also marked with a small square
monument. It was on this slight eminence that Fort Halifax was built.
Colonel Clapham, July 1, thanked the Governor for £100, which he
distributed to the bateau men, but complained that the sum sent was
insufficient. He commented upon the difficulties of conducting so
“amphibious” an expedition.
When Colonel Clapham departed from Fort Halifax he left a detail of
thirty men, under command of Captain Nathaniel Miles, to whom he gave
most explicit instructions, even down to the detail of mounting guard
and where the sentries should be stationed about the post, and in event
of a surprise attack, just how each one should demean himself.
During the long period in which the provincial soldiers were building
the most important Fort Augusta at Shamokin, there was much activity at
Fort Halifax.
Ammunition, clothing, food and supplies were all stored there and
carried farther up stream in bateaux when conditions permitted such
transportation. The garrison usually consisted of thirty to fifty
soldiers, under command of a captain. Escorts were furnished from this
post in either direction as the urgency of the mission required.