reconnoiter and relieve the balance from uncertainty. David Shaw, James
Brison and two other young men, armed with rifles, started on foot
through the highlands between the fort and Crabtree Creek, pursuing a
direct course toward O'Conner’s fields.
An officer who had been on duty in the town pursued a more circuitous
route on horseback, and no sooner arrived at the fields than he beheld
the whole force of the savages there assembled. He turned his horse to
escape, but was followed. He met the four others who were on foot and
warned them to fly for their lives.
The four young men were hotly pursued by the Indians, who did not fire
upon them, for they expected to take the inhabitants by a surprise
attack. Shaw rushed into the town to learn if his kindred had gone into
the fort. As he reached his father’s threshold he saw all within
desolate and, as he turned, discovered the savages rushing toward him
with their brandished tomahawks, and yelling the fearful warwhoop. He
counted upon making one give the death halloo, and raising his rifle,
the bullet sped true, for the savage at whom he aimed bounded in the air
and fell dead. Shaw then darted for the fort, which he reached in
safety.
The Indians were exasperated when they found the village deserted,
pillaged the houses and then set them on fire.
An Indian who had donned a military coat of one of the inhabitants and
paraded himself in the open was shot down. Except this one and the
Indian killed by Shaw, it is not believed any others were killed.
Only fourteen or fifteen rifles were in the fort, and but few of the men
of military experience, as a company had been recruited there but a
short time before and marched away with Lochry’s ill-fated campaign,
leaving not more than a score of men in the village. A maiden, Janet
Shaw, and a child were killed in the fort.
Soon after the Indians had set fire to the buildings of the village some
of them were observed to break away from the main body and go towards
Miller’s Station.
Unfortunately there had been a wedding at that place the day before and
many guests were still at the scene of the festivities. Among them was
John Brownlee, known along the frontier for his courage in scouting
against the savage marauder. The bridal party was in the midst of their
happy games, when, like a lightning flash, came the dreaded warwhoop.
Those in the cabins and the men in the fields made their escape. In the
house, where all was merriment, the scene was instantly changed by the
cries of women and children mingled with the yell of the savage. Few
escaped.
Among those who got away are two incidents of intense interest. A man
was carrying his child and assisting his aged mother in the flight, the
savages were gaining on them, the son and father put down and abandoned
the child, the better to assist his mother. The next morning the father
returned to his cabin and found his little innocent curled up in his
bed, sound asleep, the only human thing left amidst the desolation.
The other incident occurred when a powerful young man grasped a child,
who stood near him and made his escape, reaching a rye field and taking
advantage of some large bushes, he mounted a fence and leaped far into
the tall rye, where he lay down with the child. He heard the quick tread
of the savages as they rushed by and their slower steps as they
returned, voicing their disappointment.
The wedding party were made prisoners, including the bride and groom,
and several of the Miller family.
When the Indians were all assembled and the prisoners secured, the
latter were loaded with plunder and the march commenced. They had
proceeded less than a mile when one of the Indians recognized Brownlee
and communicated it to the others. As he stooped to readjust the child
on his back, who he carried in addition to the luggage they had put on
him, an Indian buried a tomahawk in his head. When he fell the child was
killed by the same Indian.
One woman screamed at the sight of this butchery and the same tomahawk
ended her agony. These bodies were found next day and decently buried.
At nightfall thirty men assembled and determined to give succor to those
in the fort. They armed themselves and hastened with great caution,
knowing that if the Indians intended to attack the fort at dawn that
they had retired to the low land at Crabtree Creek.
Fifty rifles were too few to attack 300 Indians and sixty white savages,
so they put in action strategy which won. They mounted all the horses
they had and trotted back and forth across a bridge of plank, near the
stockade, two drums and a fife completed the deception that
re-enforcements were arriving in great numbers. The ruse had the desired
effect. The cowardly Indians, fearing the retribution they deserved,
stealthily fled during the night.
The prisoners were surrendered by the Indians to the British and taken
to Canada. After the peace eighty-three prisoners who survived were
freed and returned to their homes.
----------
George Ross, Lawyer, Iron Manufacturer,
Soldier, Statesman, Patriot, Signer of
Declaration of Independence,
Died July 14, 1779
The Philadelphia Packet, July 15, 1779, contained this item:
“Yesterday died at his seat near this city, the Honorable George Ross,
Judge of Admiralty of this State.” He was interred in the churchyard of
Christ’s Church, Philadelphia, the day following his death. The Supreme
Executive Council attended the obsequies in a body.
George Ross, the son of Reverend George Ross, minister of the
Established Church, and Catherine Van Gezel Ross, was born in New
Castle, Lower Counties, May 10, 1730. He was of excellent Scotch stock,
his family traced their descent from the Earls of Ross.
George received an excellent education, with special instruction in the
classics; studied law in Philadelphia, with his half brother, John, and
was admitted to the bar at Lancaster in 1750. He rose rapidly in his
profession, and was interested in the manufacture of iron, which he
continued to the time of his death.
Soon after settling at Lancaster, in 1751, he married Miss Anne Lawlor.
He was made prosecutor for the Crown and took a deep interest in the
welfare of the growing town of Lancaster, which was soon recognized by
his neighbors and he was elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania in
1768. From this time on his short life of forty-nine years was crowded
with civic and patriotic duties; while the State and Federal Governments
honored him with many positions of trust.
He immediately became a leader in the Assembly where he was a most
pronounced Whig. By successive elections he was continued in that body
until 1774, when he was a member of the Provincial Conference and then a
member of the first Continental Congress.
George Ross was one of a committee to whom was referred the patriotic
communication of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, recommending a
Congress of the colonies for the purpose of resisting British arbitrary
enactments, and in Congress he consistently furthered those measures
which finally led to American Independence.
In 1775, Governor John Penn having written a message disapproving any
protective measures on the part of the colonies, Mr. Ross drew up a
strong and convincing reply.
He was a true friend of the Indians, and served as one of the
Commissioners to Fort Pitt in 1776.
Mr. Ross was made a member of the Committee of Safety for Pennsylvania;
vice president of the Constitutional Convention of 1776; colonel of the
First Battalion of Associators for Lancaster County; and as a fitting
climax, he signed the Declaration of Independence.
During his service as a member of the Continental Congress he was named
on the committee with General George Washington and Robert Morris to
prepare a design for a new flag. It was through his suggestion that the
committee called on his niece, Betsy Ross, and with her help the
beautiful flag of the United States was designed and adopted.
Ill health forced Colonel Ross to resign from Congress and on leaving
office the citizens of Lancaster voted him a piece of silver to cost
£150, which he declined to receive.
After varied and valuable labors in the service of the colonies and of
Pennsylvania he was appointed a judge of the Court of Admiralty, as a
minute of the Supreme Executive Council for March 1, 1779, records the
following:
“Resolved, That the Honorable George Ross, Esquire, be commissioned
Judge of the Admiralty of this State, under the Act of Assembly; that
this Board highly approve the firmness and ability he has hitherto shown
in the discharge of his said office.”
During his incumbency, which lasted but a brief period, he was regarded
as learned and prompt, a happy combination.
Judge Ross probably knew the standing of every merchant in Philadelphia.
His house in Lancaster stood on the site of the present Court House, and
his country home was a farm in what was then a suburb of Lancaster, now
a part of the city, called in his honor, Rossmere.
He was interested in several iron furnaces, the most important of which
was the Mary Ann furnace of York County. This was the first blast
furnace west of the Susquehanna. His partners were George Stephenson,
one of the first lawyers in York County, and William Thompson, the
latter’s brother-in-law, later distinguished as a general in the
Revolution. George Ross also owned Spring Forge III, also in York
County, and he was a partner with George Taylor, of Easton, another
signer of the Declaration of Independence, in a furnace in New Jersey
called Bloomsbury Forge.
His half brother John Ross, was also much interested in the iron
business, and seems to have been a rather picturesque character. He was
an officer of the King, and Graydon says of him: “Mr. John Ross, who
loved ease and Madeira much better than liberty and strife, declared for
neutrality, saying, that let who would be king, he well knew that he
would be a subject.”
His health seems to have been poor for some time before his death as a
letter from Edward Burd to Jasper Yeates, July 16, 1779, says:
“Poor Mr. Ross is gone at last. I was one of his Carriers. He said he
was going to a cooler climate, and behaved in the same cheerful way at
his exit as he did all thro the different trying scenes of life.”
He was a Churchman by inheritance, and was vestryman and warden of St.
James’ Church, Lancaster, contributing liberally to its varied
interests. Genial, kind and considerate, his sense of humor evidently
lightened the cares of his strenuous life.
A memorial pillar was erected in 1897, on the site of his house in
Lancaster.
----------
Provincial Convention Ends Proprietary
Government July 15, 1776
During the debate in the Continental Congress upon the Declaration of
Independence, the old Provincial Government of Pennsylvania received
such a mortal blow, that it soon expired without a sigh, ending forever
the proprietary and royal authority in Pennsylvania.
In the meantime the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia issued
a circular to all the county committees calling for a conference in that
city on June 18, 1776. This conference unanimously resolved “that the
present Government of this Province is not competent to the exigencies
of our affairs, and that it is necessary that a Provincial Convention be
called by this Conference for the express purpose of forming a new
Government in this Province on the authority of the people only.”
The delegates to this convention to frame a constitution for the
proposed new Government consisted of the representative men of the
Province. It is only natural that in time of excitement the men chosen
for such important duty should be those most active in the military
organizations, or local committeemen, men whose ability, patriotism and
personal popularity was unquestioned. It was to be expected that the old
statesmen would be crowded out unless they were leaders in the
revolutionary movement.
As such they met in Philadelphia, July 15, each taking without hesitancy
the prescribed test oath and then organized by the selection of Benjamin
Franklin, president; George Ross, of Lancaster, vice president, and John
Morris and Jacob Garrigues, secretaries.
On July 18, Owen Biddle, Colonel John Bull, the Reverend William
Vanhorn, John Jacobs, Colonel George Ross, Colonel James Smith, Jonathan
Hoge, Colonel Jacob Morgan, Colonel Jacob Stroud, Colonel Thomas Smith
and Robert Martin were appointed members of a committee to “make an
essay for a declaration of rights for this State.”
On July 24 the same persons were directed to draw up an essay for a
frame or system of Government, and John Lesher was appointed in place of
Colonel Morgan, who was absent with leave.
The same day the convention established a Council of Safety to exercise
authority of the Government until the new Constitution went into effect.
At the head of the Council was Thomas Wharton, Jr.
During the convention the delegates not only discussed and perfected the
measures for the adoption of a Constitution, but assumed the supreme
authority of the State, and legislated upon matters foreign to the
object for which it was convened. Not only did it form the Council of
Safety, but it approved of the Declaration of Independence, recently
adopted by the Continental Congress, and also it appointed justices of
the peace, who were required, before assuming their functions, to each
take an oath of renunciation from the authority of King George III, and
one of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania.
July 25, Colonel Timothy Matlack, James Cannon, Colonel James Potter,
David Rittenhouse, Robert Whitehall and Colonel Bertram Galbraith were
added to the Committee on the Frame of Government.
The convention completed its labors on September 28, by adopting the
first State Constitution, which went into immediate effect, without a
vote of the people.
The Constitution as finally adopted vested all legislative power in the
General Assembly of the Representatives of the freemen to be composed
for three years of six persons annually chosen from the City of
Philadelphia and six from each county of the State including
Philadelphia, outside the city, afterwards the representation to be
apportioned every seven years to the number of taxable inhabitants.
Laws, except in sudden necessity, were not to be passed until the next
session after proposal. The executive power was vested in a Supreme
Executive Council of twelve elected members, one from the City of
Philadelphia, and one from each of the counties, including Philadelphia,
so chosen that one-third would retire each year and no member, after
serving three years, should be eligible within four years.
A president and vice president were to be annually chosen from this
body, by the joint ballot of the Councillors and Assemblymen. New
counties were each to have a councillor. The president and the Council,
five of whom constituted a quorum, were to appoint all Judges, the
Attorney General, etc.
The right to vote was given to all freemen over twenty-one years of age
who had resided within the State a year before the election and paid
taxes, but the sons, twenty-one years old, of Freeholders were not
required to pay taxes. The freemen and their sons should be trained and
armed for defense of the State under regulations and with exceptions
according to law, but with the right to choose their own colonels and
officers under that rank.
A debtor, except for fraud, should not be kept in prison, after giving
up his real and personal estate for the benefit of his creditors. A
foreigner having taken the oath of allegiance could purchase and
transfer real estate and after a year’s residence have all the rights of
a natural-born subject, but be ineligible as a member of Assembly until
after two years’ residence.
A Council of Censors of two members chosen from each city and county
every seven years beginning with 1783 should inquire into the violation
of the Constitution and whether the legislative and executive branches
of the Government had exercised greater powers than they were entitled
to, and could impeach or, by a two-thirds vote of those elected, call a
convention to amend the Constitution.
Articles to be amended were to be published six months before election,
in order that the people might have opportunity of instructing their
delegates concerning them.
----------
Gibson’s Lambs Start on Expedition for
Powder, July 16, 1776
Powder has always been an essential product in every epoch of the
stirring history of our country. The situation was always serious, but
on the western side of the Allegheny Mountains there were many times
when the settlers were in desperate situation on account of little or no
powder.
In times of peace the powder used in these western counties was
purchased with furs, and every farmer had a quantity in his home for
both hunting and defense, but when the Revolution broke out the demand
was greater than the supply, and the Indian hostilities stopped the fur
trade.
Companies of rangers were organized and a patrol maintained along the
Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, so that the Indian marauders could be
detected and pursued. The work of the frontiersmen was of no use without
gunpowder, and in their desperation these hardy pioneers planned an
exploit to New Orleans, where they could purchase a quantity from the
Spanish Government.
The band of volunteers was under the leadership of Captain George Gibson
and Lieutenant William Linn. The former, the son of a Lancaster tavern
keeper, was a trapper and had gone to Pittsburgh with his brother John,
where they engaged in the fur trade. In his youth he had made several
voyages at sea and nearly all his life had traveled through the Indian
country. William Linn was from Maryland, a farmer and skilled hunter. He
had fought under Braddock and had been used as a scout along the
Monongahela River.
Captain Gibson selected fifteen of the hardiest and bravest of his
command. These came to be known as Gibson’s Lambs, on account of their
fearlessness. Flatboats were built in Pittsburgh and the expedition
started from that place Tuesday, July 16, 1776. A trip down the Ohio was
extremely dangerous, as all along the river and especially the lower
part, the Indians kept a constant watch.
The “Lambs” left behind them every evidence that they were soldiers.
They retained rifles, tomahawks and knives, but were clad in coarse
clothes resembling boatmen or traders. So clever was their disguise that
even when in Pittsburgh their errand remained a secret. The impression
was that they were venturing on a trading trip. The expedition
successfully passed the British posts at Natchez and reached New Orleans
in safety after five weeks on the water.
Louisiana was then a Spanish province, under the governorship of Don
Luis de Ungaza, to whom Captain Gibson bore letters of commendation and
credit, as well as to Oliver Pollock and other American merchants, then
resident in New Orleans. Pollock was a wealthy Philadelphian and
exercised great influence with the Spanish authorities. He assisted in
negotiating for the powder. Spain was at peace with Great Britain, but
willing to give secret aid to the Americans.
The British agents in New Orleans soon learned of the arrival of the
Gibson party and, sensing their mission, made complaint to the Spanish
authorities that rebels against the British Government were in the city.
Captain Gibson was arrested and lodged in a Spanish prison, where he was
treated with the greatest consideration. While he was confined, Oliver
Pollock obtained the powder and secreted it in his warehouse. The
purchase amounted to 12,000 pounds and cost $1800.
The powder was divided into two portions. Three thousand pounds of it
was packed in boxes, falsely marked as merchandise of various kinds, and
quietly conveyed to a sailing vessel bound for Philadelphia by way of
the gulf and ocean.
There was a coincidence in the fact that on the very night the ship
sailed Captain Gibson “escaped” from prison, got on board the vessel and
accompanied the precious powder to its destination.
The balance of the powder was turned over to Lieutenant Linn, as this
was to be used on the Western frontier. This was in half casks, each
containing about sixty pounds. These were smuggled during the night to
the barges which were tied up in a secluded place above the city.
Lieutenant Linn hired a score of extra boatmen, mostly Americans, and on
September 22, 1776, the little flotilla made a fine getaway without
discovery and began its long journey up the Mississippi. The work was
hard and the trip took seven months.
At the falls of the Ohio it was necessary to unload the cargoes and
carry the heavy casks to the head of the rapids, when the barges were
dragged over the shallow stream and reladen. Several times the
expedition was forced to tie up by ice and many hardships were
experienced before the return of the spring weather.
May 2, 1777, the expedition reached the little settlement of Wheeling,
where Fort Henry had been erected. There Lieutenant Linn turned over his
precious cargo to David Shepherd, county lieutenant of the newly erected
Ohio County, Virginia.
Linn’s responsibility ended at Wheeling. County Lieutenant Shepherd sent
the powder to Fort Pitt, under heavy guard, where it was turned over to
Colonel William Crawford and safely stored in the brick magazine of the
fort. The safe arrival of this powder was the cause of great rejoicing
and nothing was too good for Lieutenant Linn and the fearless “Lambs.”
Virginia paid for the powder, but it was turned over for “the use of the
continent.” Portions were distributed to the frontier rangers and to the
two regiments then being mustered in Southern Pennsylvania for
continental service. It was from this powder that Colonel George Rogers
Clark drew his supply, in the spring of 1778, for his famous and
successful expedition to the Illinois country.
George Gibson was promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel in the Virginia
service and Lieutenant Linn was made a captain and placed in command of
the “Lambs.” To each of these officers the Virginia Legislature made a
grant of money in addition to their regular pay.
Both these brave men performed other acts of heroism during the
Revolution and both were killed by the Indians. Linn made a settlement
ten miles from Louisville. While riding alone, March 5, 1781, on his way
to attend court, he was surprised by a small party of Indians in the
forest. Next morning his mutilated body was found, with his horse
standing guard over it. Colonel Gibson was mortally wounded at St.
Clair’s defeat in Northwestern Ohio, November 4, 1791.
----------
Virginia Sends Captain John Neville to Command
Fort Pitt, July 17, 1775
By the original charter of Virginia the northern boundary of that colony
was supposed to be at the end of the fortieth degree, which was as far
north as Philadelphia. This charter was dissolved in 1624, and instead
of narrowing the limits of Virginia it apparently increased them.
Virginia became a royal province without any definite boundaries, and
she considered herself as a keeper or trustee for the King of England of
all contiguous territory not lawfully granted to another colony.
The Maryland grant to Lord Baltimore was taken out of the domain of
Virginia, and she acquiesced in it. But west of Maryland she insisted
that her ownership extended for an indefinite distance northward and
westward, and she had made it good by occupation as far north as
Pittsburgh.
This was certainly a broad claim of title, and the only remnant of it
now is that curious narrow strip of land, called the Pan-Handle, which
extends northward between Pennsylvania and Ohio for some distance above
the fortieth degree.
The Indian trade at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela had
always been an object of Virginia’s desire. In 1752 Virginia determined
to erect a fort there, and Pennsylvania was willing because the fort
would stop the advance of the French, their common enemy, but she
reminded Virginia that the land belonged to the Penns.