of Virginia began to construct a fort on the site of Pittsburgh, but the
French surprised the little garrison, captured the works, finished it,
and named it Fort Duquesne.
The French held the fort until English forces, under General John
Forbes, invested it November 25, 1758. It was abandoned in 1771.
Some time prior to 1756 Virginia erected the District of West Augusta,
covering the territory of Pennsylvania west of the Laurel Hills and
south of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers, and in that year divided it into
three counties, viz: Monongalia, Yohogania and Ohio.
Pennsylvania also erected upon this disputed territory Bedford County,
in 1771, and Westmoreland County, in 1773 Penn’s Manor of Pittsburgh,
too, was surveyed for the proprietaries early in 1769, and in the
beginning of 1771 magistrates were appointed by Pennsylvania and for
some time discharged the duties of their offices without having their
authority questioned.
The new Governor of Virginia was John, Earl of Dunmore, or Lord Dunmore,
of whom Bancroft says: “No royal governor ever showed more rapacity in
the use of royal power.” He at once determined on seizing control of the
“Forks of the Ohio,” for Virginia and for himself. He appointed Dr. John
Connolly, a man of much energy and talent, but without principle, to be
“captain commandant of Pittsburgh and its dependencies.”
Connolly arrived in Pittsburgh late in December, 1773, and early in
January, 1774, took possession of the dismantled fort, which he renamed,
calling it “Fort Dunmore,” required and commanded the people to assemble
themselves there as a militia.
He mustered the militia under Virginia law, intimidated the Pennsylvania
magistrates, marched some of them off to prison and established the
authority of Virginia throughout all the region between the Monongahela
and the Ohio.
While a large part of the inhabitants of that region were Virginians by
birth and predilection, there were some fearless and loyal Pennsylvania
adherents who did all in their power to resist Connolly’s high-handed
proceedings.
One of these, Arthur St. Clair (afterward General St. Clair), then
prothonotary of the new county of Westmoreland, issued a warrant against
Connolly and had him committed to jail at Hannastown, from which he was
soon released on giving bail for court appearance there.
Connolly returned to Virginia, was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace
for Augusta County, and when court met at Hannastown, he appeared with
his militia, armed and with colors flying, and refused to admit the
Pennsylvania magistrates. He arrested three of the magistrates and sent
them to Staunton, where they were confined in jail.
Subsequently, Simon Girty led a mob to Hannastown, stormed the jail and
released such prisoners as were Virginia partisans.
The Tory conduct of Connolly at Pittsburgh became so bold and obnoxious
that in June, 1775, he was seized by twenty men, under orders of Captain
St. Clair, and carried to Ligonier, with the intention of delivering him
to the Continental Government at Philadelphia. He was released, however,
and fled from Pittsburgh by night and made his way to Portsmouth,
Virginia, where he joined Lord Dunmore on a man-of-war, taking refuge in
Canada.
Virginia had revolted from Dunmore’s tyranny at home, but showed no
disposition to repudiate his aggressions in Pennsylvania nor the
machinations of Connolly.
The boundary dispute was maintained, although, in view of the troubles
with the mother country fast approaching, the Virginia and Pennsylvania
delegates in Congress, including such men as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick
Henry and Benjamin Franklin, had united in a circular urging the people
in the disturbed region to mutual forbearance.
This action of Congress and the constant fear of an Indian uprising
persuaded the Virginia Provincial Convention, in session at
Williamsburg, July 17, 1775, to pass a resolution which sent Captain
John Neville with one hundred men from the Shenandoah Valley to take
possession of Fort Pitt.
The following year the Virginia counties in the disputed territory were
organized with their loyal and administrative machinery, but the rancor
of the contest had, however, somewhat diminished and there were no such
acts of violence committed as during the regime of Connolly and his
master.
Captain John Neville continued to command until the Continental Congress
determined to take Fort Pitt under its care and provide a garrison at
the continental expense. The offer was accepted by Virginia and General
Washington selected Brigadier General Edward Hand to relieve Captain
Neville of his command.
----------
Susquehanna Company Organized in
Connecticut, July 18, 1753
Early charters granted to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and the
Carolinas made the Pacific Ocean the nominal western boundary of those
colonies. Prior occupancy by the Dutch and the settlement of the
boundaries had created an exception in favor of New York and New Jersey,
but all the country west of the Delaware River within the same parallel
of latitude with Connecticut was still claimed by that colony as part of
her domain.
The southern boundary was to be a straight line beginning at the mouth
of Narragansett Bay. The line extended west would have entered
Pennsylvania near Stroudsburg and crossed the North Branch of the
Susquehanna at Bloomsburg, the West Branch at Milton, and passing
through Clearfield and Newcastle would cut the State nearly through the
middle. Penn’s charter fixed the northern boundary of his province at
the forty-second degree of latitude. A large strip of territory was thus
granted to both Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
On July 18, 1753, about 250 men, mostly from Connecticut, met at
Windham, that State, and organized “The Susquehanna Company.” Then, with
the consent of the Connecticut Assembly, application was made to the
Crown for leave to plant a new colony west of the Delaware. It was
granted, and the company sent agents to the Indian treaty at Albany,
June, 1754, who succeeded in obtaining from representatives of the Six
Nations the cession of a tract of land on the northern branch of the
Susquehanna River, where eleven years before King Tedyuskung and his
tribe had built the town of Wyoming.
The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania protested against this purchase, and
claimed that this land was within the limits of their charter. They also
claimed that the purchase had not been made in open council, but had
been effected after making the Indians drunk.
As this council at Albany had been called to form a union of the
Colonies with the Six Nations as their allies against the French, the
purchase was not then seriously opposed. Besides, Pennsylvania bought a
large tract of land from the Six Nations at the same treaty, and in a
way not satisfactory to the Indians.
The French and Indian War prevented any attempt at settlement of the
Wyoming Valley until 1762, when about 200 colonists and their families
entered the valley and commenced building and planting near the site of
the present Wilkes-Barre. Before winter set in, extensive fields of
wheat had been sown upon lands covered with forest trees in August. But
owing to the scantiness of provisions, the settlers returned to
Connecticut for the winter.
About the same time another Connecticut association, called the
“Delaware Company,” had begun a settlement on the Delaware River.
Proclamations were issued and writs of ejectment were placed in the
hands of the Sheriff of Northampton County.
Early in the month of May, 1763, the settlers returned, accompanied by
many others. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Northampton County, to
which the Wyoming Valley then belonged, settlements were made at
Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Plymouth and Hanover.
Several hundred acres were improved with corn and other grain, and a
large quantity of hay cut and gathered, and everything was moving
forward in a prosperous and happy manner when, without the least
warning, on October 15, the settlers were attacked while dispersed and
engaged in their work, and about twenty of them slain.
Men, women and children fled to the mountains, from which they saw their
homes plundered and burned and their cattle taken away. They abandoned
their settlement and made their way back to Connecticut or to Orange
County, New York. This is known in the history of Pennsylvania as the
first massacre of Wyoming. It was the work of the Delaware Indians, led
by Captain Bull, son of King Tedyuskung.
Some believe the Iroquois convinced the Delaware that the white settlers
had murdered Tedyuskung and that this massacre was committed in
retribution.
For six years after this assault no settlement was attempted. The
Indians, anticipating revenge for the massacre, left the valley.
Meanwhile the Penn family made every effort to prove that the title
given to the Susquehanna Company was not complete and that their charter
was valid. Finally some chiefs, assisted by Sir William Johnson, openly
disclaimed the sale to the Susquehanna Company. Then the Six Nations
assembled in council at Fort Stanwix and on November 5, 1768, gave a
deed of the disputed lands to the Penns.
Meanwhile Pennsylvanians took possession of the Wyoming Valley and built
a fortified trading house there. They laid out two manors, one on each
side of the river, and extending over the farms abandoned by the New
Englanders.
In February, 1769, the Susquehanna Company sent forty men into the
valley, to be followed shortly by 200 more. They were given land and 200
pounds Connecticut currency to provide themselves with farming tools and
weapons, on condition that they would stay in the valley and defend it
against Pennsylvania. They built a blockhouse called, from their
numbers, Forty Fort. Their leader was Colonel Zebulon Butler, a hero of
the French and Indian War, a brave partisan commander.
A civil war prevailed for some years known as the “Pennamite and Yankee
War.” Forts were constructed and many sieges and skirmishes followed.
Both parties led men to prison, drove women and children away and
committed other outrages.
The Connecticut men were generally successful in this strife. They
organized a separate State, but could not maintain it. So in 1774 they
attached themselves to Connecticut, as the town of Westmoreland, in the
County of Litchfield.
During the Revolution there was a lull in the strife in Wyoming.
However, as soon as the war ended the old feud broke out in all its
former fury.
Pennsylvania having, in 1779, succeeded the heirs of William Penn, now
appealed to Congress to settle the dispute. A commission met at Trenton
in 1782 and, after five weeks of deliberation, decided that Connecticut
had no right to the land, and that the jurisdiction of the same belonged
to Pennsylvania.
----------
Tom Quick, the Indian Killer and Picturesque
Character, Born July 19, 1734
Early in the year 1733 a Hollander, named Thomas Quick, came to the
colony of New York, a few months later located on the Delaware River, on
what afterward became known as Upper Smithfield, near where Milford,
Pike County, now stands. He appears to have been the pioneer settler on
the Pennsylvania side; here he cleared lands, erected a log cabin and
barns, and raised wheat and maize. A son was born July 19, 1734, named
Thomas, and he was familiarly known in after years as Tom Quick, the
Indian killer.
He was the pet of the household, and even the Indians who roamed over
that region frequently visited Quick’s place and much admired the fine
looking, stout lad, and often made him presents of plumes, feathers,
skins and other articles.
Tom grew up among these Indians, learned their language, and was taught
by them how to hunt wild animals, and fish after the manner of the
Indians. He grew fond of the Indian life, and became such an expert
hunter, trapper and fisherman, that his father could never induce him to
follow any other occupation. He even refused to attend school with his
sisters, and in fact became almost an Indian by nature.
In the meantime Thomas Quick, Sr., had become the prosperous owner of a
grist and saw mill on a small stream entering the Delaware near Milford,
called the Vandemark. But Tom, Jr., never became an employe, but did
learn much of the beautiful Minisink Valley, with its high cliffs on the
Pennsylvania side and receding hills on the New Jersey side, as it
extends from Port Jervis to the Delaware Water Gap. The romantic water
falls and rocky glens were his hunting and fishing grounds. This
knowledge afterward served his purpose in waylaying and murdering
Indians.
The Delaware Indians viewed with alarm the steady encroachments of the
whites, and many had already taken up arms against the English. The
Quick family, however, had always lived on friendly terms with them, but
the Indians were not unmindful of the fact that this sturdy Hollander
had been the very first to push that far into their favorite hunting
grounds.
The prospect of plundering an opulent man like Quick overcame any
feelings of gratitude that might linger in the savage breast.
When the French and Indian War commenced, the Quicks were uneasy and
their alarm increased as the Indians grew less sociable, and finally
withdrew altogether from the Delaware River.
Quiet reigned until the Quicks became careless and one day the father
crossed the river to grind grist, accompanied by Tom and his
brother-in-law, all unarmed. As they rounded a point near the river they
were fired upon from ambush, and the old man fell mortally wounded.
The young men endeavored to carry him across the frozen river but as
they stepped on the ice they were fired on and Tom was hit in the foot.
They soon got out of danger, but not before they saw the savages take
Tom Quick’s scalp.
Young Tom was frantic with rage and grief, and that moment swore that he
would never make peace with the Indians as long as one remained upon the
banks of the river.
From this time forth the demon of unrelenting savage hatred entered
Tom’s heart and he became more like the savages he pursued than like a
civilized man. He never entered the army but took Indians at all times,
whether in peace or war, and without regard to age or sex.
He seems to have operated about the close of the Indian War, at a time
when they began to again visit their former haunts, supposing they would
be well received.
Among the Indians who returned was a drunken vagabond named Muskwink,
one who had assisted in murdering Tom’s father.
Tom met Muskwink at Decker’s Tavern, on the Neversink, where he had
become very bold and abusive, claiming Tom’s acquaintance and desiring
him to drink with him. Tom refused and cursed him, which caused a heated
exchange of words, during which Muskwink boasted of the part he played
in the murder of Tom Quick, Sr. He bragged that he scalped him with his
own hands, and at the same time mimicked the grimaces of the dying man,
to corroborate his assertion, exhibited the sleeve buttons worn by his
victim at the time.
Tom seized a musket, which was hanging in the bar room, and ordered
Muskwink to leave the place. He arose slowly and departed, pursued by
Tom until they had gone about a mile, when Tom overtook the savage and
shot him dead. Tom returned to the tavern, gave up the musket, drank a
glass of rum, and left the neighborhood.
His next exploit was when he espied an Indian family in a canoe near
Butler’s Rift. Tom concealed himself in the tall grass and as the canoe
glided nearer he recognized the Indian as one who had committed many
outrages on the frontier.
Only a few words were exchanged when Quick shot the man and tomahawked
the woman and three children. He sank the bodies and destroyed the
canoe, and did not tell of this crime for years, when he was asked why
he killed the children. He replied, “Nits make lice.”
There are many stories told of Tom Quick, which have been preserved by
tradition and which are firmly believed by descendants of the older
families of Pike County.
One story is told in which several Indians caught him splitting rails
and told him to go along with them. Tom asked them to assist him split
open the last log and as they put their fingers in the crack to help
pull it apart Tom knocked out the wedge and caught them all. He then
killed each one at his leisure.
He went on a hunting trip with an Indian and they killed seven deer. He
took the meat but gave the Indian the skins. He threw them across his
shoulder, Tom fell behind and shot the Indian and took the skins as well
as the meat, saying he had shot a buck with seven skins.
He was hunting with another Indian and pushed him off of the high rocks.
Tradition says that on his death bed he claimed to have killed
ninety-nine Indians, and that he begged them to bring an old Indian, who
lived near, in order that he might bring his record to an even hundred.
In his old age he was regarded as a hero by the pioneer hunters and
trappers. He died at James Rosencrantz’s in 1795, and was buried on his
farm.
The time has long since passed when such a revengeful murderer can be
exalted to the rank of a hero, yet Tom Quick, the Indian slayer,
weather-beaten, and with wornout accoutrements and costume in keeping,
presented a picturesque and Rip Van Winkle-like appearance that would
have formed no bad subject for an artist’s pencil.
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William Maclay, First United States Senator,
Born in Chester, July 20, 1737
William Maclay, son of Charles and Eleanor Query Maclay, was born July
20, 1737, in New Garden Township, Chester County, Pa. He attended the
classical school of the Reverend John Blair, in Chester County. He
studied law and was admitted to practice at the York County bar in 1760.
During the French and Indian War he served as a lieutenant in Colonel
Hugh Mercer’s battalion, and distinguished himself during General Forbes
expedition in 1758. In 1763 he participated at the Battle of Bushy Run,
and during the subsequent progress of Colonel Bouquet’s campaign was
stationed in command of a company at one of the stockades on the route
of the expedition.
On account of this service he never practiced his profession. Much of
his time was taken up in surveying lands allotted to officers, but at a
later period Governor John Penn was instrumental in having him admitted
to the Cumberland County bar, and for a short time he acted as
Prothonotary.
At the close of the French and Indian War he visited England and had an
interview with Thomas Penn, one of the Proprietaries, relative to
surveys in parts of the Province, and on his return became an assistant
of Surveyor General Lukens on the frontier.
In April, 1769, he married Mary McClure Harris, daughter of John Harris,
the founder of Harrisburg.
On the organization of Northumberland County March 21, 1772, he was
appointed Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts.
In July, 1772, he laid out the town of Sunbury and erected for himself a
fine stone house, which, with modern improvements, is still standing.[5]
Footnote 5:
For many years the residence of Hon. Simon P. Wolverton, and now that
of his widow.
At the outset of the Revolution, although an officer of the Proprietary
Government, William Maclay took a prominent and active part in favor of
independence, not only assisting in equipping and forwarding troops to
the Continental Army, but marched with the associators which
participated in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He held the
position of assistant commissary of purchases.
During the “Great Runaway,” following the Wyoming massacre, July 3,
1778, William Maclay fled with his family from Sunbury to Harris’ Ferry,
and in a letter to the president of the Executive Council he gave a very
graphic picture of the distress. Again after the attack and destruction
of Fort Freeland by the British, Tories and Indians, July 28, 1779,
Maclay again wrote to the seat of government in which he described the
forlorn situation of the frontiers. In a later letter he deplored the
removal of soldiers from the West Branch Valley, where the Indians had
committed such terrible depredations.
In 1781 he was elected to the Assembly, and from that time forward he
filled the various offices of member of the Supreme Executive Council,
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, deputy surveyor, etc. After the
Revolution he made a visit to England in the interest of the Penn
family.
In January, 1789, he was elected to the United States Senate, taking his
seat there as the first Senator from Pennsylvania. He drew the short
term, and his position terminated March 3, 1791, his colleague, Robert
Morris, securing the long term.
Maclay’s election to this body raised him upon a higher plane of
political activity, but contact with the Federal chiefs of the young
Republic only strengthened his political convictions, which, formed by
long intercourse with the people of Central Pennsylvania, were intensely
democratic.
Maclay differed with the opinions of President Washington; he did not
approve of the state and ceremony attendant upon the intercourse of the
President with Congress, he flatly objected to the presence of the
President in the Senate while business was being transacted, and in that
chamber boldly spoke against his policy in the immediate presence of
President Washington.
Maclay was the original promoter and later the actual founder of the
Democratic Party. Long before Thomas Jefferson’s return from Europe,
William Maclay assumed an independent position, and in his short career
of only two years in the Senate propounded ideas and gathered about him
elements to form the opposition which developed with the meeting of
Congress at Philadelphia, October 24, 1791, in a division of the people
into two great parties, the Federalists and Democrats, when, for the
first time, appeared an open and organized opposition to the
Administration.
The funding of the public debt and chartering the United States Bank
were opposed by Maclay, even at a sacrifice of personal popularity, for
he was succeeded in the Senate by James Ross, a pronounced Federalist.
While in the Senate Maclay preserved notes of his discussions, both in
open and executive sessions, with observations upon the social customs
of the statesmen of the Republic, which have since been published.
On his retirement from the Senate William Maclay resided on his farm
adjoining Harrisburg, where he erected a fine stone mansion, afterward,
for many years, occupied by the Harrisburg Academy.
In 1795 he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives and was again elected in 1803. He was a presidential
candidate in 1796, and from 1801 to 1803 was one of the Associate Judges
of Dauphin County.
William Maclay’s brother, Samuel, was almost as distinguished a citizen
as his older brother. He, too, was a soldier in the Continental Army, a
surveyor and statesman. He served as Associate Judge, was in the Fourth
Congress, State Senate and Speaker of that body, and December 14, 1802,
he was elected to the United States Senate. William and Samuel Maclay
are the only brothers to sit in that body.
William Maclay was the father of nine children. He died at his home at
Harrisburg April 16, 1804, and was interred in the old Paxton
Presbyterian Church graveyard at Paxtang. An elegant stone marks the
final resting place of this distinguished Pennsylvanian.
----------
Colonel James Cameron, First Pennsylvania
Officer Killed in Civil War July 21, 1861
It may not be generally known that the first officer of his rank to be
killed in the Civil War was none other than Colonel James Cameron, who
commanded the Seventy-ninth New York Highlanders, yet was a native of
Lancaster County, Pa., a resident of this State, and a brother of the
distinguished General Simon Cameron.