chosen to continue the expedition, the balance remained in camp under
command of Colonel Dunbar. A halt of two days was made twenty-five miles
from their objective, to await reports of the Indian scouts. That was
fatal.
On the morning of July 9 the little army forded the Monongahela River
and advanced in solid platoons along the southern shore of that stream.
Colonel Washington saw the perilous arrangement of the troops after the
fashion of European tactics, and he ventured to advise Braddock to
disperse his men in open order and employ the Indian mode of fighting in
the forests.
The haughty General angrily replied: “What! a provincial colonel teach a
British General how to fight!”
The army moved forward, recrossing the river. Meantime the French
commander Contrecœur had decided to withdraw, but Captain Beaujeu gained
his permission to resist Braddock’s passage at the second ford.
Beaujeu’s command was reinforced by several hundred savages.
When Captain Beaujeu came in sight of the English they had already
crossed the river, and had advanced so that both flanks would be exposed
about two hundred yards to an enemy occupying the deep ravines, thick
with tangled forest growth and vines.
Braddock marched directly into the worst ambuscade known in American
history. Into these ravines the Indians glided while their white
comrades blocked the English path in front and the head of the marching
column went down under a storm of lead. Shaken for a moment, the
vanguard moved against the concentric ring and, after another terrible
discharge, returned the fire with such deadly effect that every enemy in
sight was swept before it. Beaujeu and dozens of others fell victims.
The Indians turned to flee, but rallied by other French officers, they
returned to cover and under their unerring fire the English advance
broke and retreated. Mixing with the rear in the narrow path, both
became mingled in a mob which Braddock could not restore to order.
Huddled in a twelve-foot roadway, shut in by a forest alive with yells
and filled with invisible fire, they lost all sense or perception, and
twice shot down bodies of their own men who had gained slight vantage
points, mistaking their smoke for that of the enemy. Fifty Virginians
were thus slain at one blow.
The regulars refused to charge, though Braddock, with four horses
successively shot from under him, and other officers strove to hearten
them to invade the woods. The Provincials fought Indian fashion from
behind trees and fallen logs, but Braddock with furious threats and
blows drove them back again into the ranks, where they fell in scores.
Washington and Halket both pleaded to have them allowed to leave the
ranks and fight the Indians in their own way, but Braddock still
refused.
At this point the supply of ammunition failed; the baggage train was
attacked; all Braddock’s aides excepting Washington were shot down;
three-fourths of the officers and three-fifths of the entire army were
killed or wounded, and only then would the ill-judging but heroic
Braddock give the signal for retreat. Shortly afterward Braddock
received a ball through his lungs, and not one English soldier remained
to carry him off the field. He was picked up by one English and two
American officers and carried to a spot across the river a half mile
distant.
The dying commander tried to rally his troops, by establishing a camp to
care for the wounded. Here he waited for Washington to return from
Dunbar’s camp, where he had been sent by Braddock. The French and
Indians did not follow Braddock across the river, yet the hundred or
more English soldiers he had induced to halt there, stole away and fled.
On the 10th the officers who remained with General Braddock marched with
him until 10 o’clock at night, when they halted and met the convoy sent
by Dunbar. Braddock never ceased to give calm, skillful and humane
orders. He reached Dunbar’s camp on the 11th, where the news of his rout
had already reached the soldiers under Dunbar, and they were fleeing in
wild panic.
Braddock by this time realized that any further attempt to pursue the
expedition was futile, and he must have known his wounds were fatal, for
he ordered the stores destroyed lest they fall into the enemy’s hands,
saving only sufficient for a flying march. He then proceeded with the
remnant of his army toward Great Meadows, where he died and was buried
in the center of the road. The entire army marched over the spot in
order that the remains of the unfortunate general might not be
desecrated by the savages. In 1802, his body was reinterred at the foot
of a large white oak tree.
After the retreat of Braddock’s army, the savages, unwilling to follow
the French in pursuit, fell upon the field and preyed on the rich
plunder which lay before them. Three years later (1758) by direction of
General Forbes, the remains of many of the slain in Braddock’s army were
gathered up and buried.
Of 1460 men in the battle, 456 were killed and 421 wounded; 63 of the 89
commissioned officers, and every field officer, were killed or wounded.
The enemy’s casualties were only about sixty.
The entire borders were left defenseless and this defeat was not only a
fatal termination of a campaign which had been expected would inflict a
decisive blow upon the French and their Indian allies, but it gave the
signal to the disaffected Indians to make the frontiers of the Province
the scene of a predatory warfare in which every section was severely
scourged.
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“Sawdust War” in Williamsport Lumber
Regions Began July 10, 1872
In the decade from 1870 to 1880, Williamsport was the largest lumbering
center in the United States. Everywhere Williamsport was known as “The
Lumber City.”
It was customary to send gangs into the woods in winter to cut down the
trees, saw them into logs and pile them on the banks of small streams
and afterward, when the water was at flood height in the spring, to roll
them into the streams whence they floated down the river to
Williamsport, where they were caught in the big boom and rafted to the
various mills to be sawed and manufactured into lumber.
After the men were through their work in the woods it was customary to
bring them to Williamsport and place them in the mills to help saw up
the logs. As the season was short and it was important to clean up the
work of sawing before the next winter, the mills operated twelve hours a
day.
The “sawdust war,” as it was called, was a strike on the part of the
workmen in the mills for a ten-hour day instead of twelve. There was no
question of wages involved, and the principal advocates for the change
were men who were not employed in the lumber industry, but were simply
labor agitators.
The move for the ten-hour day began in June, 1872, and was characterized
by frequent public meetings at which the speakers urged the men to go on
strike. This finally culminated in a large number of men walking out,
July 1, 1872, and adopting as their slogan, “ten-hour day or no
sawdust.”
The strike reached to Lock Haven, where the men followed the lead of
their Williamsport fellow-workmen.
Many of the mills were compelled to shut down on account of a depleted
force until July 10, when an attempt was made to start up the mills, but
without success. This precipitated the “Sawdust War.”
Parades and marches were held every day, the strikers going to the
several mills and endeavoring to induce the workers still on the job to
quit. Meetings were held every night. Thomas H. Greevy, by reason of
being secretary of the local union and secretary of the State Labor
Organization, was a prominent figure and always addressed these
meetings.
After the strike had been in progress for a few weeks some of the men
were induced to go back to work, but others, who were not willing to
return, interfered, when a number of breaches of the peace took place.
The marches to the mills finally resulted in assaults being made upon
the loyal workmen, and several attacks were made on mill owners on the
streets of the city. These assaults finally became so frequent and so
serious that Mayor S. W. Starkweather and Samuel Van Buskirk, sheriff of
the county, called upon Governor John W. Geary for militia to be sent to
Williamsport.
This request was complied with, and on July 22 troops were ordered to
the city. They arrived the next day, July 23, and consisted of the
following units: City Grays, Harrisburg, Captain Thomas Maloney; City
Zouaves, Harrisburg, Captain Robert V. Vaughn; Middletown Zouaves,
Middletown, Captain James Stanley; Washington Zouaves, Lebanon, Captain
B. Y. Hean; Coleman Guards, Lebanon, Captain J. P. S. Gobin; City Grays,
Williamsport, Captain A. H. Stead; Taylor Guards, Williamsport, Captain
John H. White.
Williamsport was placed under martial law. On the same day, July 23,
Thomas H. Greevy, James M. Birmingham, A. J. Whitten, Thomas F. Blake,
Henry Crook and Alem Tate were arrested on charge of inciting to riot
and at a hearing on July 25, before the City Recorder, were held in
$10,000 bail for their appearance at the September term of court. Bail
was promptly furnished, but an hour later Greevy was rearrested and
$15,000 additional bail demanded. As other charges were pending, the men
were taken to jail to await trial. On July 27 motion was made for a writ
of habeas corpus and reduction of the amount of bail, which, on July 29,
was refused by the court.
Subsequent arrests were made on the same charge and all held for the
next term of court, but those above mentioned were the principals. On
July 31 all defendants were released on bail.
On July 25 the troops on duty in the city went into camp at Herdic Park
under command of Brigadier General Jesse Merrill, of Lock Haven. On July
27 the troops were reinforced by the Packer Guards, Sunbury; Sanderson
Guards, Mill Hall; Langlon Fencibles, Shamokin. On July 30 five
companies on duty were relieved and sent home. The others were relieved
a few days later.
At the September term of court for Lycoming County, on September 7, all
the twenty-nine defendants were brought to trial before Judge James
Gamble. James M. Birmingham, Thomas H. Greevy, A. J. Whitten, Thomas H.
Blake, Patrick Conlin, Jacob Wolf, Timothy Shannon, Jr., Henry Crook,
Patrick Dugan, Louis Plant, Michael Eustice, John Benway, William Iam,
Daniel McMullen, David Deauchamp, Thomas Hackett, Joseph Ludget, James
Spulong, James Sladen, John Bezel and Joseph Shear were found guilty and
sentenced to jail for periods of thirty, sixty and ninety days, pay a
fine of one dollar and the costs of prosecution, except James M.
Birmingham, A. J. Whitten, Thomas H. Greevy and Thomas F. Blake, who,
because they were outsiders and in no way connected with the lumber
industry, were sentenced to one year in the penitentiary and costs of
the prosecution.
They were sentenced on September 14; and on September 16 Peter Herdic
who was then one of the leading and most influential men in the State,
went to Harrisburg and induced Governor Geary to pardon them all.
The parties soon after left Williamsport, and except for two of them,
all other records are lost. James M. Birmingham became a prominent
citizen of Kansas City, Mo., as did his son. Thomas H. Greevy removed to
Altoona, and became a prominent citizen of the State.
Greevy was engaged in journalism and edited the Labor Reform Journal of
Williamsport. He also held important offices in the local and State
organizations.
The first labor convention in Pennsylvania was held at Danville, in
1871, and Greevy was elected secretary, a position he held at the time
of the Sawdust War. John Siney, of Schuylkill County, was State
president.
After taking up his residence in Altoona, Mr. Greevy studied law, was
admitted to the bar and since has become one of the leading attorneys of
the State. He is a prominent adviser of the Democratic State Committee,
and was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. In every walk of life he is
one of the leading citizens of the country.
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Moravians Visit Indian Town of Great
Island, July 11, 1748
Great Island, situated on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, a
short distance east of Lock Haven and opposite the mouth of Bald Eagle
Creek, was a favorite camping place and council grounds for the Indians.
An Indian village was situated on this island, which is frequently
mentioned in the early records of the Province.
In the year 1745 David Brainerd, a missionary stationed at Shamokin,
tells in his journal of a journey which he took up the West Branch. In
this he speaks of extending his journey to Great Island and of the
sufferings he endured.
In the summer of 1748 David Zeisberger and John Martin Mack made a
missionary trip up the West Branch for the purpose of visiting the
Indians, who were undergoing terrible hardships as a result of a famine.
On July 11, 1748, two days after their start from Shamokin, we find the
following entry in Mack’s journal:
“July 11. Toward evening reached Great Island and found Indians at home
residing on this side of the island. They asked us whence we came and
whether we had ought to sell. When told that we were not traders, but
had only come to visit them, it was incomprehensible to them. But a few
old squaws were living on the island; the men had been driven away by
famine. We consequently remained on this side of the island and asked an
Indian whether we could lodge in his hut. He took us in cordially and
spread a bear skin for us to sleep on, but he had nothing for us to eat.
Ascertained that he was a Five Nation Indian and his wife a Shawnese.
Whereupon Brother Zeisberger conversed with him. His father, who is
upward of seventy years, was dying of smallpox and was a most pitiful
object. His care and that of the Indians here enlisted our sympathies
and silent prayers.
“In the evening we were visited by a number of Indians—Shawnese and
Cayugas. Here dwell in three houses Shawnese, Maquas and Delaware; among
the latter an Indian from Albany, who spoke Low Dutch. In all three
houses were cases of smallpox. In one hut hung a kettle in which grass
was being stewed, which they ate with avidity.
“July 12. Brother Zeisberger learned from our host that many Indians
passed and repassed his hut. Today he brought out some dried venison and
gave us some, and we in turn gave his child some of our bread, for which
they were very thankful.
“In the afternoon told our host we desired to visit the island to see
the Indians there, and he, unasked, went with us, and led us to all the
huts.
“We found some clever people here who had just returned from the woods
and who shared with us grapes, green and hard, which they ate with
avidity. We prayed silently to the Lord to have mercy on this people.
“Returned to our lodgings, and our host again asked us why we had come
so far and had we not come in search of land? He said there was fine
land in the neighborhood. We explained that was not our object.
“July 13. We found an opportunity to speak to our host of the Saviour.
He had heard somewhat of God, and said he believed what we had told him
was good and true. He then gave us some dried venison and we in turn
some needles and thread to his wife.
“Set out on our return down the Susquehanna. At night camped on a large
flat by a creek, ate some mouldy bread, the last of our stock and built
four fires to keep off the vermin.”
In the year 1758 Christian Frederic Post, another Moravian missionary,
was sent by the Government of Pennsylvania to the Delaware, Shawnee and
Mingo Indians settled on the Ohio. In his journal under the date of July
29 we find the following entry:
“29th. We crossed the Susquehanna over the Big Island. My companions
were now very fearful and this night went a great way out of the road,
to sleep without fire, but could not sleep on account of the mosquitoes
and vermin.”
On his return from his mission under the date of September 18, he
records:
“Came to the Big Island, where having nothing to live on, we were
obliged to stay and hunt.
“19th. We met twenty warriors, who were returning from the habitations
with five prisoners and one scalp; six of them were Delaware and the
rest Mingo. We sat down all in one ring together. I informed them where
I had been and what was done; they asked me to go back a little and so I
did, and slept all night with them. I informed them of the particulars
of the peace proposed; they said if they had known so much before they
would not have gone to war. They killed two deer and gave us one.”
Post’s mission had been undertaken with the object of making peace with
the Indians, for, following Braddock’s disastrous campaign against Fort
Duquesne, the Indians had attacked the settlements, and the entire West
Branch Valley as far down as Sunbury was in complete control of the
French and their Indian allies.
In 1755 Andrew Montour, who had been employed on various occasions as
interpreter for the province, and who at this time was captain of a
company of Indians in the English service, following an attack upon
settlers on Penn’s Creek, in which a number of the settlers were killed,
was summoned to the Great Island by the friendly Delaware living there.
Here he was informed that the French had made overtures to the Indians
to go on the war path against the English settlers in Pennsylvania.
In November these Indians also sent word that two messengers had come
from Ohio to Great Island; and seeing an Englishman who happened to be
there at the time, said “Kill him.” “No,” said the Indians of the Great
Island, “we will not kill him nor suffer him to be killed. We have lived
in peace many years with the English; if you are so bloodthirsty go
somewhere else for blood. We will have no blood spilt here.”
At this period as well as at the time of Post’s mission, three years
later, Great Island was being visited by both French and English in
their desires to secure the Indians as their allies. It was at this
period also that the Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania issued a
proclamation which encouraged the whites to scalp the Indians by the
offer of a bounty for every Indian scalp brought in.
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Riots in Philadelphia Caused by Boy
Assaulting Master, July 12, 1835
Feelings of animosity against people of color had been manifested in
Philadelphia for several years, and were again brought forth
conspicuously through a most unfortunate circumstance July 12, 1835.
Robert E. Stewart, a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, who had been
United States Consul to Trinidad, resided on the east side of Sixth
Street, between Prune and Walnut.
He had in his service an African boy, called Juan, who was a native of
the Eboe nation, the representatives of which bore the character of
being vindictive, revengeful and easily moved to anger. Juan had been
brought to the United States from the West Indies by Mr. Stewart.
For some reason not known Juan determined to take the life of his
master. The attack was made upon Mr. Stewart while he was sleeping in
the afternoon in his chamber. The butt end of a hatchet was used in a
shocking manner upon his head. He was frightfully mutilated and injured,
and it was supposed that he could never recover. He died several years
afterward.
The brutal attack upon Stewart was made July 12. A statement of the
circumstances in the newspapers of the next day created intense
excitement, and soon as the story was read crowds began to assemble, and
by evening a large crowd had gathered in the neighborhood of Sixth and
Locust Streets.
By this time the city authorities had learned something from the events
of former years, when the racial hatred had caused many fatal clashes,
and a large body of watchmen and police were dispatched to that section
of the city.
Crowds began to join those already in that neighborhood, and they were
made up of men and half-grown boys, usually in an angry mood. The
citizens soon dispersed about the neighborhood, talking together, in
small groups.
The presence of the police rendered any outburst impossible so they
carried their destructive propensities into an adjoining district, and
there commenced an attack upon houses occupied by colored people in
Small Street between Sixth and Seventh. The inmates were beaten and put
to flight, and their furniture destroyed.
From that place their ravages were resumed upon the colored residents in
Seventh and Shippen Streets. Thence the destruction was transferred to
“Red Row”—a block of eight houses on Eighth Street below Shippen.
The mob here made a discrimination. All the young colored men who could
be found were brutally assaulted, because the colored youth were
generally saucy and impudent, but the old men and women of color were
not molested or in any manner injured.
During the proceedings “Red Row” was set on fire and all the houses
destroyed. The mob had now become so infuriated that they were
unrestrained even by the presence of police, and from the burning homes
in “Red Row” they proceeded to Christian and Ninth Streets, where
several brick and frame houses occupied by colored people were attacked.
Several of those houses were defended by the owners, and others who had
sought refuge in them. Several shots were fired from behind doors and
windows, and two persons in the mob were wounded. By the time the houses
were finally entered the residents had escaped.
The houses in flames in “Red Row” had brought the firemen to the scene,
but when they set up their apparatus, they were opposed by the mob. The
hose was cut and no water could be brought into play. The firemen,
however, fought their way and succeeded in saving from total destruction
all the houses, except the one in which the fire was started. The mob
became even more determined and attacked houses which had been passed by
at the beginning of the attack.
By these occurrences the colored people in the lower part of the city
were frightened to a degree of terror which had not affected them in
previous years.
On the day after this riot hundreds of families moved out of the
neighborhood, or, locking up their houses, sought refuge where they
could find it. Numbers of men, women and children bivouacked in the
woods and fields, and not a few fugitives were given shelter in barns
and outbuildings.
On Tuesday evening, July 14, crowds again began to assemble in the
vicinity of Sixth and South Streets, on the rumor that a house on St.
Mary Street was garrisoned by armed Negroes.
The mob proceeded to this house and upon their arrival found that the
statement was true. Fifty or sixty colored men were in the building,
armed with knives, razors, bludgeons and pistols, besides a great stock
of bricks and paving stones, which were stored on the third floor, where
they could be hurled with effect upon an attacking party. These men were
desperate and were rendered savage by the occurrences of the two
previous days.
The city police force was promptly upon the scene and prepared to
prevent the assault intended to be made by the whites upon the house.
The police, at the same time, had the difficult task of getting the
colored men away from the building in safety. This they were able to do.
With this attack frustrated, the trouble was finally quieted and there
were no further racial disturbances.
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Hannastown, Seat of Justice for Westmoreland
County, Burned by Indians
July 13, 1782
The county of Westmoreland was established by the Provincial Assembly,
February 26, 1773, and the courts directed to be held at Hannastown.
This was the first place west of the Allegheny Mountains where justice
was dispensed according to the legal forms by the white man.
Hannastown contained about thirty habitations and a few crude cabins.
Most of the former were two stories high and built of hewn logs. There
was also a wooden court house, a jail and a stockade, both built of
logs.
Robert Hanna, the first presiding Judge, was a member of the family from
whom the town derived its name. Arthur St. Clair, afterward the
distinguished general in the Continental Army, was the first
prothonotary and clerk of the courts.
On the morning of July 13, 1782, a party of townsfolk went to O'Connor’s
fields, about a mile north of the village, to cut wheat. The reapers had
completed one field when one of their number reported that he had seen a
number of Indians approaching. Every one rushed for town, each intent
upon his own safety, each seeking his own wife and children, to hurry
them into the stockade.