entered Carlisle, and after a hearty meal he started in pursuit of the
departing enemy. During all of this day regiment after regiment arrived
and took position along the streets and in the public square. A battery
of artillery arrived toward evening.
After 6 o’clock General Smith arrived, bringing three regiments of
infantry and about one hundred cavalry. The General posted his artillery
for action. This had hardly been done, when, at 7 o’clock, a body of
rebel cavalry under command of General Fitzhugh Lee, made its appearance
at the junction of the Trindle Spring and Dillsburg roads. These troops
at first were supposed to be a portion of our own forces. Their boldness
was well calculated to produce such an impression.
The call to arms brought the infantry into position. Members of the
local militia companies, commanded by Captains Low, Kuhn, Black and
Smiley, each on his own account, hurried to the eastern section of the
town and, selecting secure positions, opened a very effective fire on
the invading cavalry, which compelled them to fall back.
Soon the shelling of the town commenced, which was kept up nearly an
hour. This was followed by raking Main Street with grape and canister
until nearly dark, when a rebel officer came in with a flag of truce to
General Smith’s headquarters, demanding an unconditional surrender of
the town. General Smith refused and the officer, bearing the flag of
truce, returned to his command.
Then began a second shelling of the town, more terrific than the first.
To add to the general consternation the rebels applied the torch; the
gas works, barracks, dwellings, stores, etc., were fired. Again an
officer interviewed General Smith and again he refused to surrender.
A third bombardment commenced, which, however, did not last long. By 3
o’clock Thursday morning the rebel command left by way of Boiling Spring
road, thence across South Mountain for Gettysburg, to join General
Robert E. Lee’s forces in the great battle which had opened there the
previous day.
During the bombardment of Carlisle not one citizen was killed, neither
was a Union soldier, but fifteen of the latter were wounded.
----------
British Flag Captured by Pennsylvanians in
Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778
Just before dawn June 18, 1778, the British began their evacuation of
Philadelphia. They crossed the Delaware, and that evening encamped
around Haddonfield, N. J.
The news of this evacuation reached Washington, at Valley Forge, before
morning. He immediately sent General Maxwell, with his brigade, to
co-operate with the New Jersey militia, under General Dickinson, in
retarding the march of the British.
They were 17,000 strong, marching in two divisions, one under Cornwallis
and the other led by Knyphausen.
General Arnold, whose wounds kept him from the field, entered
Philadelphia with a detachment before the rear guard of the British had
left it. The remainder of the army, under the immediate command of
Washington, crossed the Delaware above Trenton and pursued.
General Clinton had intended to march to New Brunswick and embark his
army for New York, but, finding Washington’s army in his path, he turned
toward Monmouth Court House. Washington followed him in a parallel line,
prepared to strike him whenever an opportunity should offer. But Clinton
wished to avoid a battle, for he was encumbered with baggage, wagons and
a host of camp followers, which made his line twelve miles in length. He
encamped in Freehold on the night of June 27, and there Washington
resolved to strike him if he should move the next morning.
General Lee was in command of the advanced corps. Washington ordered him
to form a plan of attack, but he failed to do so, or to forward any
orders to Generals Wayne, Lafayette or Maxwell, who called upon him.
On the morning of June 28, a hot Sabbath, Washington was told Clinton
was about to move, and he ordered Lee to fall upon the British rear, but
he was so tardy that the enemy had ample time to prepare for battle.
When Lee did move he had no plan for battle, and his orders so perplexed
his generals that they requested Washington to appear on the field with
the main army immediately.
Wayne attacked with vigor, with a sure prospect of victory, Lee ordered
him only to make a feint. Clinton, at that moment changed front, and
sent a large force against Wayne; Lafayette sensed the situation and
asked Lee for permission to gain the rear of the British. At first he
refused, then ordered him to attack Clinton’s left. At the same time he
weakened Wayne’s detachment by taking three regiments from it to support
the right. While Wayne was in a desperate struggle Lee’s courage
weakened and he withdrew, saying that the temerity of Wayne had brought
against him the whole flower of the British army.
Washington was pressing forward to the support of Lee, when he learned
that his division was in full retreat. Washington, angered at the
actions of Lee, ordered Wayne with three Pennsylvania regiments and two
others from Virginia and Maryland to stop the British pursuit.
The British, about 7000 strong, attempted to turn the American left
flank, but were repulsed and disappointed. A severe battle ensued, in
which the Americans did great execution. For a while the result seemed
doubtful, when General Wayne came up with his troops and gave victory to
the Americans.
Colonel Henry Monckton tried to drive Wayne from his position, leading
his troops in a bayonet charge. So terrible was Wayne’s storm of bullets
that almost every British officer was slain, Colonel Monckton being
among the killed.
The battle ended at twilight, when both armies rested on their weapons,
prepared for another conflict at dawn. But Clinton withdrew his army so
silently, that he was far away when the American sentinels discovered
his flight in the morning. Washington did not pursue.
The British lost 1000 by desertion while crossing New Jersey, and they
left 245 on the field. The Americans lost 228 killed, wounded and
missing.
It was during part of this action that Molly McKolly, wife of an
artilleryman in Proctor’s regiment, carried water for the thirsty
soldiers, and when her husband was wounded, an officer ordered the piece
to be withdrawn.
Molly dropped her pitcher, seized the rammer and, displaying great
courage and presence of mind, kept the gun in action. She performed the
duty with a skill and daring that attracted the attention of all who saw
her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General
Greene presented her to Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred
upon her the commission of sergeant.
She was called Captain Molly, and became a heroine, always afterward
known as “Molly Pitcher.” A monument on the battlefield at Monmouth
attests to her act, and her grave in the Carlisle, Pa., cemetery is
marked by a stone and cannon.
John Blair Linn, in his Annals of Buffalo Valley, says that the flag of
the Royal Grenadiers and the sword of Colonel Monckton were captured on
the field of Monmouth by Captain William Wilson, of Northumberland
County.
The flag is five feet four inches by four feet eight, lemon color
ground, heavy corded silk; the device at upper right corner is twenty
inches square, British Union, consisting of the cross of St. George and
St. Andrew’s Cross. The field of the device is blue, the central stripes
red, the marginal ones white.
When Monckton waved his sword and ordered his grenadiers to charge and
Wayne met them with a deadly fire, the colors were in advance, to the
right, with the colonel, and they went down with him. Captain Wilson and
his company, who were on the right of the First Pennsylvania, made a
rush for the colors and the body of the brave colonel.
Captain Wilson gave Monckton’s sword to General Wayne, who presented it
to General Lafayette, who took it with him to Europe. When he returned
to the United States in 1824, he brought the sword with him, intending
to restore it in person to Captain Wilson.
Captain Wilson having died in 1813, General Lafayette handed the sword
to Colonel Samuel Hunter, who turned it over to Judge A. S. Wilson, a
son of Captain William Wilson.
The flag has frequently been brought into requisition in patriotic
demonstrations in subsequent years. It is still in the possession of
descendants of Captain Wilson, now residents of Bellefonte.
----------
Duke of York Receives New Patent for His
Grant, June 29, 1674
The English claimed the right to the country upon the South, or Delaware
River, because of the fact that John Cabot sailed up and down the
Atlantic coast.
Captain Thomas Young and his nephew, Robert Evelin, under a commission
from King Charles “to go forth and discover lands in America,” arrived
in the South River July 24, 1634. They remained at the mouth of the
Schuylkill five days, and made two attempts to pass beyond the falls
near Trenton. They built a fort at a place called Eriwoneck, probably
the site of Philadelphia.
In 1635 the governor of Virginia sent fifteen armed men, under command
of Captain George Holmes, to the South River, and they took possession
of Fort Nassau and the contiguous country. The Dutch governor of New
Netherland promptly sent a force which recaptured the fort and made
prisoners of Holmes and his invaders.
In 1641 New Haven merchants and planters sent George Lamberton and
Nathaniel Turner to make land purchases on the South River. They bought
from the Indians and built a block house, to which place about sixty
persons from Connecticut settled. The venture proved profitable, and
soon other colonists arrived, and many houses were built near the mouth
of the Schuylkill.
The Swedes and Dutch both protested and in May, 1642, two sloops arrived
from Manhattan with instructions to expel the English quietly, if
possible, but by force, if necessary. The Dutch were compelled to use
force, sent the English prisoners to Manhattan and burned their
improvements.
Charles II having been restored to the throne of Great Britain, he
granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, later King of England, the
lands lying between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. The duke fitted
out an expedition, sailed to the mouth of the Hudson, and demanded the
surrender, which was made August 27, 1664.
This expedition then proceeded to the Delaware and November 3 forced the
surrender of that colony. Colonel Robert Carr was appointed Deputy
Governor.
This conquest caused a war between Great Britain and Holland, which
ended in favor of the former. The City of New Amsterdam became City of
New York; Fort Orange became Albany; the South River became Delaware
River, and New Amstel became New Castle.
Colonel Richard Nicholls governed the territory with justice and good
sense until August, 1668, when he was succeeded by Colonel Francis
Lovelace.
The first rebellion in the country was stirred up about this time, 1669,
when Konigsmark, known as the “Long Finn,” with another Finn, named
Henry Coleman, who understood the Indian language, went about preaching
sedition and creating disturbances among settlers and Indians.
Madame Papegoja, daughter of former Governor Printz, and Carolus Lock,
the Swedish preacher, were said to have been adherents. Konigsmark was
finally captured, put in irons, publicly whipped, branded with the
letter “R” (for Rebellion), and sold into slavery in Barbados.
George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, arrived from England and
rode through New Jersey, crossed the Delaware where is now Burlington by
swimming his horse. He then rode thirty miles that day and slept on some
straw in the house of a Swede. This was in 1672, and the coming of this
visitor had great significance for the future of Pennsylvania.
The Maryland Government sent a surveyor in April, 1672, to survey lands
in the Delaware Colony for Lord Baltimore. In a few months a more
warlike demonstration was made, when a detail of thirty, commanded by
one Jones, rode into the Horekill and “bound the magistrates and
inhabitants, despitefully treated them, rifled and plundered them of
their goods,” and when it was demanded “by what authority were these
proceedings,” it was answered with a “cock’t pistol to the breast of the
impudent questioner.” Jones seized all the Indian goods and skins, drove
a spike into the touch-hole of the great gun, and seized all the small
arms and mill stones.
War again broke out between Great Britain and Holland in March, 1672,
and had its consequent effect on the affairs along the Delaware.
In August Governor Lovelace declared that the war included those in
America. The blow fell suddenly at New York, and Lovelace was taken
while on a visit in Connecticut.
A Dutch fleet appeared before New York, July 30, 1673, of such superior
strength that effective resistance was impossible. The fort capitulated
and New York again became a Dutch city.
The Delaware colony made no resistance; the English were too few in
numbers, the Dutch too willing, and the Swedes too indifferent. Peter
Alricks again became the commander of the Delaware River.
The renewed Dutch Government lasted only a year, when, by the treaty of
Westminster, February 19, 1674, New Netherland was finally ceded to
Great Britain.
On June 29, 1674, King Charles gave a new grant to the Duke of York, who
appointed Major Edmund Andros governor.
Andros set up a court at Upland in which were settled the controversies
of the settlers. He reinstated in office those who had been magistrates
at the time of the Dutch conquest, Peter Alricks excepted.
The administration of Andros continued quite seven years, during which
the only courts in what is now Pennsylvania were held at Upland. Nearly
always the justices were Swedes.
The settlers above Christina Creek formed what later became the
Pennsylvania Community. The settlers above the creek attended court at
Upland, those below obtained justice at New Castle. This marked division
was made November 12, 1678, and from that date the designation “county”
became commonly employed.
Swedes’ Mill on Cobb’s Creek set up by Printz, in 1643, continued in
use, but another was now built below New Castle. Others were built
afterward.
At this time there were no roads, simply paths for man or horse, and
cartways where merchandise was to be transported. Such were indicated by
blazed trees. November, 1678, the court ordered “that every person
should within the space of two months, as far as his land reaches, make
good and passable ways from neighbor to neighbor, with bridges where
needed, to the end that neighbors on occasion may come together.”
The time now approached when the lands along the shores of the Delaware
became a place of refuge for all the sect of Quakers, and March 4, 1681,
William Penn received a patent for the lands in America, to which the
King gave the name Pennsylvania.
----------
Provincial Government and Indians Open
Conference June 30, 1742
In September, 1737, occurred the so-called “Walking Purchase,” by which
there passed from the lands of the Delaware Indians into those of the
Proprietaries, the upper portion of Bucks County, a large slice of
Carbon County, and one-fourth each of Monroe and Pike counties, an area
of 1200 square miles. The “walk” upon which the purchase was made was a
deception and as a consequence caused trouble for the Proprietaries for
many years.
The lands at the “Forks” of the Delaware were still in the occupancy of
the Delaware in 1741, although the Six Nations had ordered the Delaware
to remove to the Susquehanna.
In October, 1741, a Cayuga deputation returned to their county from
Philadelphia bearing with them to the “Long House” of the Six Nations a
message from the Lieutenant Governor urging the Six Nations “to come
down and force the Delaware to quit the 'Forks’.”
In response to this appeal 230 Indians from the Six Nations, including
the principal chiefs and sachems, arrived at Philadelphia June 30, 1742,
and found awaiting them a number of Pennsylvania Indians, including
Shikellamy, the vicegerent of the Six Nations; Allummapees, King of the
Delaware, also from Shamokin, and a large delegation from the Forks of
the Susquehanna, representing the different clans. All the tribes of the
Six Nations were represented except the Mohawk.
In a message to the Provincial Assembly, Governor Thomas stated the
coming of the Six Nations at this time “was not necessary for the
present peace of the province, but for the province’s future security,
likewise, in case of a rupture with the French, who will leave no
methods unessayed to corrupt the Six Nations’ fidelity and to persuade
them to turn their arms against us.” At this time declaration of war
between England and France was daily expected.
The conference between the Governor and the Council on the one side and
the Six Nations on the other lasted until July 12, during which time
eight sessions were held. The Council opened in the house of James
Logan, then met at “the Great Meeting House,” where the last meeting was
held in the presence of “a great number of the inhabitants of
Philadelphia.” Conrad Weiser was present as interpreter for the
Government and the Six Nations and Cornelius Spring and Nicholas Scull
appeared for the Delaware.
In opening the conference the Governor referred to the fact that the Six
Nations, at the time they had released their claim to all the lands on
both sides of the Susquehanna as far north as the Kittatinny Mountains,
had declined to take their pay for the lands on the west side of the
river, preferring to receive the same at some future time. He then
announced that the goods to be given in payment for those lands were
ready for delivery to the Indians.
In reply to the Governor, Canassatego, chief of the Onondaga and
principal speaker of the Indians at the conference, said, among other
things: “The Six Nations have obligated themselves to sell none of the
land that falls within the province of Pennsylvania to any but our
Brother Onas, and that to sell lands to any other is an high breach of
the league of friendship.”
The Governor replied that they were correct in their position.
On the seventh day the Governor referred to the trouble with the “Forks”
Indians, to which Canassatego replied that the deputies would take the
matter into consideration and give an answer in a few days. Three days
later Canassatego arose and said:
“The other day you informed us of the misbehavior of our Cousins the
Delawares, with respect to their continuing to claim and refusing to
remove from some land on the Delaware notwithstanding their ancestors
had sold it by deed upwards of fifty years ago, and notwithstanding they
themselves had about five years ago ratified that deed and given a fresh
one. We have concluded to remove them and oblige them to go over the
river Delaware and to quit all claim to any lands on this side for the
future, since they have received pay for them and it has gone through
their guts long ago.”
Then turning toward the Delaware and holding a belt of wampum in his
hand, Canassatego continued: “Cousins—Let this belt of wampum serve to
chastise you. You ought to be taken by the hair of the head and shaked
severely till you recover your senses and become sober. You don’t know
what ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. Our Brother Onas’ case
is very just and plain * * * on the other hand your cause is bad.
“But how came you to take upon you to sell land at all? We conquered
you! We made women of you! You know you are women and can no more sell
land than women. Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling
lands, since you would abuse it.” The old chief concluded his cutting
arraignment as follows:
“We don’t give you the liberty to think about it. You are women. Take
the advice of a wise man and remove immediately. We therefore assign you
two places to go—either to Wyoming or Shamokin. You may go to either of
these places and then we shall have you more under our eye and shall see
how you behave. Don’t deliberate, but remove away and take this belt of
wampum.”
The old chief handed them the wampum and told the Delaware that, as
there was other business to transact, they should depart from the
council. There was no diplomatic mincing of words in the speech of the
Onondaga chief. He spoke with the air of one having authority. This
speech scattered seed which in time caused more bloodshed in peaceful
Pennsylvania than the “Walking Purchase” ever did.
In 1815, John Watson, of Bucks County, wrote of this speech: “When this
terrible sentence was ended, it is said that the unfeeling political
philosopher (Canassatego) walked forward, and, taking strong hold of the
long hair of King Nutimus, of the Delaware, led him to the door and
forcibly sent him out of the room, and stood there while all the
trembling inferiors followed him. He then walked back to his place like
another Cato, and calmly proceeded to another subject as if nothing had
happened. The poor fellows (Nutimus and his company), in great and
silent grief, went directly home, collected their families and goods,
and, burning their cabins to signify they were never to return, marched
reluctantly to their new homes.”
Leaving their wigwams on the banks of their favorite Delaware, the once
powerful Lenni Lenape commenced their march westward. A portion went to
Shamokin, a few settled on the Juniata, near Lewistown, but the greater
part of them, under their chief Tadame, went to Wyoming.
----------
Decisive Battle of Gettysburg Opened
Wednesday, July 1, 1863
The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, marked the high tide of
the Civil War. Here General Robert E. Lee hoped to win a victory which
would compel the withdrawal of Union troops from other parts of the
country, secure recognition of the Confederacy by foreign Governments,
carry panic into the North and furnish supplies for his hungry troops.
Fresh from his brilliant victory at Chancellorsville, he moved north
until his van was within sight of Harrisburg, and there, learning that
General George G. Meade was in close pursuit, Lee turned his army to
meet him, and Gettysburg became the scene of the decisive battle.
The battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest of the Civil War and the most
terrible battle in the world’s history previous to the World’s War, and
probably greater than any single action in that gigantic conflict.
The Union losses in the three days’ battle were 23,000, and the
Confederate losses were probably as high in killed, wounded, captured
and missing, as 29,000.
At Gettysburg was concentrated Lee’s magnificent and confident army of
Confederate troops, which had invaded Pennsylvania through the
Cumberland Valley, and was then on its way to Philadelphia, and then to
Baltimore and Washington. The advance of Ewell’s corps marched as far as
Wrightsville, seventy-five miles from Philadelphia, or only four days’
march and had watered their horses in the Susquehanna River. There the
mile-long Columbia-Wrightsville bridge was burned to prevent the rebels
from crossing the river.
The concentration of his forces at Gettysburg was forced upon General
Lee by the rapid movement of General Hooker with the Federal army, who
hurried northward, as soon as Washington was uncovered, to intercept the
invading host, and so to loosen the grip it had upon the fair valleys,
rich with ripe grain and teeming with money, horses, cattle, clothing,
shoes and provisions. Curiously, the Southern army came into Gettysburg
from the North and the Northern army came in from the South.
Lee’s army was in fine condition and Hooker’s was recently reorganized
into a great machine. The two armies were well matched. Each had
approximately 80,000 men, including 10,000 cavalry to each; the Union
had 327 pieces of artillery, and the Southern army only forty less
pieces. The main difference was in commanders, for the Federal army had
at Gettysburg, a new and untried commander, General Meade, who only
three days before the battle had superseded General Hooker, and had with
him two new corps commanders, Sykes and Newton, while the Confederate
army under Lee had their able and accomplished Longstreet as well as the
competent A. P. Hill and renowned Ewell in command of their three corps.