were fatigued by the contest,” were his pathetic words. Soon afterwards
the President sent him as a commissioner to Detroit and on his return he
died at Presque Isle, now Erie, December 15, 1796.
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Chief Tedyuskung Annoys Moravian Brethren;
Arrives at Bethlehem
August 21, 1756
Tedyuskung, the great king of the Delaware tribe and one of the most
powerful of the Indian sachems in Pennsylvania, much enjoyed the
prominence he gained by frequent councils and conferences with the
Governor and other Provincial dignitaries, even at the expense of
causing a great jealousy among Indian chiefs of other nations. He was a
skilled diplomat, a good speaker and a friend of the English, yet he was
rather crafty in his dealings with both the whites and his own race, and
was given over to excessive intemperance.
At the conclusion of the great treaty held at Easton, July 24–31, 1756,
the Governor and others in authority doubted the sincerity of
Tedyuskung, but he satisfied them on that score, and during August
remained almost constantly in or about Fort Allen on a drunken debauch.
Finally on August 21, he removed with his retinue to Bethlehem, where
his wife, Elizabeth, and her three young children determined to remain,
while the King went on an expedition to the Minisinks to put a stop to
some Indian depredations.
Tedyuskung went from there to Wyoming and sent word to Major Parsons, at
Easton, that he wanted his wife and children sent to him. Major Parsons
went immediately to Bethlehem and made known the King’s desire to his
wife, but she decided to remain where she was. This then was the cause
of frequent visits to Bethlehem, where Tedyuskung much annoyed the
Moravian Brethren, who were not in position to control his actions when
he was their unwelcome visitor.
July, 1757, he was for some time in and about Fort Allen and then in
attendance at the second great conference at Easton, during which time
his wife and children were with him. Two days after this conference
closed Tedyuskung, his family and others went to Bethlehem. Reichel, in
his “Memorials of the Moravian Church,” says:
“Some of these unwelcome visitors halted for a few days, and some
proceeded as far as Fort Allen and then returned, undecided as to where
to go and what to do. During the month full 200 were counted—men, women
and children—among them lawless crowds who annoyed the Brethren by
depredations, molested the Indians at the Manakasy, and wrangled with
each other over their cups at ‘The Crown’.”
Tedyuskung tarried in Bethlehem several days when he set out on a
mission to Tioga, but on the way he was met by messengers from the Ohio
Indians, who bore such glad tidings that the King determined he should
go to Philadelphia and appraise the Governor and Council of the good
news.
At Bethlehem Tedyuskung spent a few days with his wife and family,
meantime holding a conference with Bishop Spangenberg, Reverend Mack and
other Moravian Brethren—Augustus, the christianized Delaware chief
serving as interpreter. Tedyuskung inquired of the Moravians why the
converted Indians could not move to Wyoming. Bishop Spangenberg told him
they would require a town of their own, where a school and church could
be built. The king said these should be built there.
He then surprised the Brethren by telling them that reports had been
circulated among the Indians that the Moravians had decapitated the
Indians among them, placed their heads in bags and sent them to
Philadelphia. These charges had so exasperated the Indians that they
conspired to attack the Brethren’s settlements and cut off the
inhabitants without regard to age or sex. He and Paxinoso had on one
occasion persuaded 200 warriors, who had banded together for this
purpose, to desist from their design.
After his interview with the Governor and Council in Philadelphia,
Tedyuskung returned to Bethlehem, where he remained with his wife and
children until October 7 when he again went to Philadelphia.
During all her sojourn in Bethlehem the King’s wife was maintained by
the Moravian Brethren at the expense of the Province. Tedyuskung was
back in Bethlehem in about ten days and remained until the 27th, when
they set out for Wyoming, where the Commissioners were daily expected to
build a fort and some houses for the Delaware.
Having previously signified to the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem his
desire to spend the winter at Bethlehem, permission for him and his
family to do so was reluctantly granted. Thereupon, upon his return from
New Jersey, a lodge was built for him near “The Crown” inn. There he
held court and gave audience to the wild embassies that would come from
the Indian country.
In addition to Tedyuskung and his family nearly one hundred Indians
spent the winter of 1757–58 in the neighborhood of “The Crown.” Reichel
says: “Government was imposing an additional burden upon the Brethren
when it committed this lawless crowd to their keeping * * * We are at a
loss how to act. Furthermore, we are told that some of our neighbors are
growing uneasy at our receiving such murdering Indians, as they style
them. I fear we shall be obliged to set watches to keep such of them off
as are disposed to quarrel with, or may attempt to hurt any of them.”
Tedyuskung attended a long conference in Philadelphia in the early part
of 1758, and made trips to and from Bethlehem for this purpose.
He was back in Bethlehem in April, and on the 17th sent a number of the
Delaware, who had wintered in the Moravian town, to Fort Allen, there to
join Captain Jacob Arndt’s soldiers in ranging the frontiers. He also
sent his sons, Captains John Jacob and Amos and three other Delaware
over the Allegheny to the Indians towns of the Delaware and Shawnee.
Tedyuskung remained in Bethlehem, and Justice Horsfield wrote on April
18: “I never before was so much convinced of Tedyuskung’s zeal for the
English cause.” Five days later, however, a soldier came to Bethlehem
from Fort Allen with a letter from Captain Arndt in which he stated that
he was having trouble with the Indians sent to the fort by
Tedyuskung—the messengers, who were still there, as well as those who
were to range being continually drunk, having brought with them some
casks of rum from Easton.
Tedyuskung made another trip to Philadelphia in May to urge the Governor
to again send the Commissioners to finish the fort and the houses. He
returned to Bethlehem about May 8.
Reichel says: “When the swelling of the maple buds and the whitening of
the shad-bush on the river’s bank betokened the advent of Spring, there
were busy preparations going on in Tedyuskung’s company over the matter
of their long-expected removal to the Indian Eldorado on the flats of
the Winding River. It was the 16th of cornplanting month (May), the
month called Tauwinipen, when the Delaware King, his Queen, his
counsellors and his warriors led by the Commissioners, took up the line
of march for Fort Allen, beyond there to strike the Indian trail that
led over the mountains to Wyoming Valley—and on the going out of these
spirits ‘The Crown’ was swept and garnished and Ephriam Colver, the
publican, had rest.”
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Gilbert Family in Indian Captivity Twenty-nine
Months Released August 22,1782
Benjamin Gilbert and family, living on Mahoning Creek, about five miles
from Fort Allen, now Weissport, Carbon County, were carried into a
bitterly painful captivity by a party of Indians, who took them to
Canada, and there separated them. At the time of this occurrence, April
25, 1780, the event caused intense excitement throughout the State, and
from an interesting narrative published shortly after their release from
captivity, August 22, 1782, the following facts are ascertained.
Benjamin Gilbert was a Quaker from Byberry, near Philadelphia, and in
1775 removed with his family to a farm on Mahoning Creek, near Fort
Allen. They lived comfortably in a good log dwelling house, with barn
and saw and grist mill. For five years all was peace and industry.
On the eventful day, about sunrise they were surprised by a party of
Indians who took the following prisoners: Benjamin Gilbert, aged 69;
Elizabeth, his wife, 55 years; sons, Joseph, aged 41; Jesse, 19; Abner,
14; and daughters, Rebecca, 16; and Elizabeth, 12; and Sarah, wife of
Jesse; Thomas Peart, son of Benjamin Gilbert’s wife; Benjamin Gilbert, a
nephew of the elder Gilbert; Andrew Harrigar, a German servant and
Abigail Dodson, a neighbor’s daughter, the whole number taken being
twelve. The Indians then proceeded about half a mile to Benjamin Peart’s
and there captured himself and his wife and their nine months’ old
child.
The last look the poor captives had of their once comfortable homes was
to view the buildings in flames as they were led over Summer Hill, on
their way over Mauch Chunk and Broad Mountains into the Nescopeck Path,
and then across Quakake Creek to Mahanoy Mountain, where they passed the
first night, fastened between notched saplings, with straps around their
necks and fastened to a tree.
Their march was resumed soon after dawn and day after day they tramped
over the wild and rugged region between the Lehigh and the Chemunk
branch of the Susquehanna. Often ready to faint by the way, the cruel
threat of instant death urged them again to march. The old man, Benjamin
Gilbert, had begun to fail, and was already painted black, the fatal
omen among the Indians; but when they were to kill him, the pitiful
pleadings of his wife saved him. Subsequently in Canada, Gilbert told
the chief he could say what none of the other Indians could, “that he
had brought in the oldest man and the youngest child.”
On the fifty-fourth day of their captivity, the Gilbert family had to
experience the fearful ordeal of running the gauntlet.
“The prisoners,” says the narrative, “were released from the heavy loads
they had heretofore been compelled to carry, and were it not for the
treatment they expected on approaching the Indian towns, and the
hardship of separation, their situation would have been tolerable; but
the horror of their minds, arising from the dreadful yells of the
Indians as they approached the hamlets, is easier conceived than
described—for they were no strangers to the customary cruelty exercised
upon the captives on entering their towns. The Indians, men, women and
children, collect together, bringing clubs and stones in order to beat
them, which they usually do with great severity. The blows must be borne
without complaint. The prisoners are beaten until the Indians weary with
the cruel sport.
“Two of the women who were on horseback were much bruised by falling
from their horses, which were frightened by the Indians. Elizabeth, the
mother, took shelter by the side of a warrior, who sent her away, she
then received several violent blows, so that she was almost disabled.
The blood trickled from their heads in a stream. Their hair being
cropped close and the clothes they had on in rags, made their situation
truly piteous. Whilst the Indians were inflicting this revenge upon the
captives, the chief came and put a stop to any further cruelty.”
Soon after this torture, a severer trial awaited them, when they were
separated. Some were given over to other Indians to be adopted, others
were hired out as servants, and the remainder were sent down the lake to
Montreal. Among the latter was old Benjamin Gilbert, by this time broken
in body and mind, and he there succumbed. His remains were interred near
old Fort Coeur du Lac, below Ogdensburg.
Some of the family met with kind treatment from the hands of British
officers, who were interested in their story, and exerted themselves to
release them from captivity. Sarah Gilbert, wife of Jesse, became a
mother, and Elizabeth Gilbert was allowed to give her daughter every
necessary attendance. One day while Elizabeth was ironing for the family
of Adam Scott, a little girl told her some one wanted to see her and
upon entering another room, she found six of her own children. A
messenger was sent to inform Jesse and his wife, so that Joseph Gilbert,
Benjamin Peart and Elizabeth, his wife, and their young child, and Abner
and Elizabeth Gilbert the younger, were with their mother on this
occasion.
Elizabeth Gilbert, the younger, only twelve years of age, had been
adopted by an Indian family, but was permitted to live with a white
family named Secord, by whom she was treated with endearing attention.
A year later Mr. Secord took Betsy on a trip to Niagara, and there she
saw six of her relatives, most of whom had been released and were
preparing to leave for Montreal, perhaps never again to see the others.
The sight of their beloved little sister roused every energy to effect
her release, which desire was generously seconded by John Secord and the
Tory leader, Colonel John Butler, who, soon after her visit to Niagara
sent for the Indian who claimed Elizabeth as his child and made
overtures for her ransom. At first he declared that he “would not sell
his own flesh and blood,” but, attacked through his interest, or in
other words, his necessities, the negotiation succeeded and her youngest
child was among the treasures first restored to the mother at Montreal.
Eventually they were all released and collected at Montreal and on
August 22, 1782, they took leave of their friends there and returned to
Byberry, after a captivity of two years and five months.
The premises where stood the dwelling and improvements of the Gilbert
family were on the north side of Mahoning Creek, on an elevated bank
about forty perches from the main road leading from Lehighton and
Weissport to Tamaqua, and about four miles from the former. Benjamin
Peart lived about a mile farther up the creek, and about a quarter of a
mile from it on the south side.
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Alexander Wilson, the Great American
Ornithologist, Died at Philadelphia,
August 23, 1813
Alexander Wilson, the great American ornithologist, was born in Paisley,
Scotland, July 6, 1766, and died in Philadelphia, August 23, 1813. He
was the son of a distiller, but at the age of thirteen was apprenticed
to a weaver, and after seven years abandoned the loom and adopted the
life of a peddler.
Three years were thus spent and in 1789, having prepared a volume of
poems for publication, he offered his muslins and solicited
subscriptions for this work. It was published in 1790, but had little
success; and he again returned to the loom.
In 1792 he published “Watty and Meg,” which having appeared anonymously,
was ascribed to Robert Burns though the style is very different. It is
said to have had a sale of 100,000 copies in a few weeks. He wrote a
severe satire upon a person in Paisley and was thrown into prison, and
was afterwards compelled to burn the libel with his own hand at Paisley
Cross. Upon his release, he resolved to emigrate, and arrived at New
Castle, Delaware, July 14, 1794, with only a few borrowed shillings,
without an acquaintance, and with no decided purpose.
After working at various trades, sometimes as a copperplate printer
under Alexander Lawson, in which he showed both ambition and talent, he
went through New Jersey as a peddler and during this journey seems to
have first paid minute attention to the habits and appearance of birds.
He afterward taught school at various places in New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, finally settling in 1802 at Kingsessing on the Schuylkill.
One of the schools he taught was situated on the Darby Road, a short
distance west of the intersection with Gray’s Ferry Road. His home was
near the celebrated botanical garden of William Bartram, and he became
acquainted with the famous naturalist, who, by his own love of birds,
deeply interested young Wilson in that branch of nature. It was at this
time that Alexander Wilson resolved to form a collection of all the
birds of America.
His first excursion, October, 1804, was to Niagara Falls. He walked from
Philadelphia through the unopened wilderness of western New York, and
wrote a metrical description of his journey in the “Port Folio” under
the title of “The Foresters, a Poem.”
Elsewhere Wilson wrote:
“Sweet flows the Schuylkill’s winding tide,
By Bartram’s green emblossomed bowers,
Where nature sports in all her pride,
Of choicest plants and fruits and flowers.”
Wilson learned drawing, coloring, and etching from Alexander Lawson, the
celebrated engraver, whose tastes and instructions stimulated his own
talents.
He persuaded Bradford, a Philadelphia publisher, who had employed him in
1806, in editing the American edition of Rees’s Cyclopedia, to furnish
funds for an American ornithology on an adequate scale. The first volume
of this work appeared in September, 1808, but it was too expensive to be
very successful. The seventh volume appeared in 1813.
The interval had been passed in exploring different parts of the country
for the purpose of extending his observations, collecting specimens and
watching the habits of birds in their native haunts.
In January, 1810, the second volume appeared, but before the next was
prepared Wilson sailed down the Ohio River in a small boat as far as
Louisville, he set out on horseback from Nashville for New Orleans in
May, 1811, and arrived June 6. Sailing from there he arrived back in
Philadelphia in August, and began the third volume.
In September, 1812, he started on another tour of the eastern States. He
completed the publication of seven volumes.
In 1813 the literary materials for the eighth volume of the
“Ornithology” were ready, but its progress was greatly retarded for want
of proper assistants to color the plates. Wilson was therefore obliged
to undertake the whole of this department himself in addition to his
other duties. He employed himself so unceasingly in the preparation of
his work that he impaired his already weakened condition and hastened
death. It is said that in his eagerness to obtain a rare bird, he swam
across a river and caught cold from which he never recovered.
All the plates for the remainder of his work having been completed under
Wilson’s own eye the letter press work on the ninth volume was supplied
by his friend, George Ord, his companion in several of his expeditions,
who also wrote a memoir of Wilson to accompany the last volume, and
edited the eighth. Four supplementary volumes were afterwards added by
Charles Lincoln Bonaparte.
An edition of Alexander Wilson’s poems was published at Paisley in 1816,
and another at Belfast in 1857. A statue of him was erected at Paisley
in October, 1874.
Wilson was followed by another Pennsylvanian, John James Audubon, who
lived for many years on the Perkiomen near its mouth. He published an
immense work upon the “Birds of America,” which brought him lasting
fame. Thus the two greatest ornithologists of America are claimed as
residents of our state.
In the quiet retreat of the churchyard of the old Swedes Church, or
“Gloria Dei,” at Weccacoe, where he delighted to worship, repose the
remains of Alexander Wilson. The distinguished ornithologist requested
to be laid to rest there, as it was “a silent, shady place where the
birds would be apt to come and sing over his grave.”
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Governor Snyder Calls on Pennsylvania
When British Burn National Capitol
August 24, 1814
During the summer of 1813 the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributary
rivers were made a general scene of ruin and distress. The British
forces assumed the character of the incendiary in retaliation for the
burning of the town of York, in Upper Canada, which had been taken by
the American army under General Dearborn in April of that year. The
burning of York was accidental, but its destruction served as a pretext
for the general pillage and conflagration which followed the marching of
the British army.
The enemy took possession of Washington August 24, 1814, and the
commanders of the invading force, General Ross and Admiral Blackburn,
proceeded in person to direct and superintend the business of burning
the Capitol and city.
On August 26, Governor Simon Snyder issued a strong appeal for a call to
arms: “The landing upon our shores, by the enemy, of hordes of
marauders, for the purpose avowedly to create by plunder, burning and
general devastation, all possible individual and public distress, gives
scope for action to the militia of Pennsylvania by repelling that foe,
and with just indignation seek to avenge the unprovoked wrongs heaped on
our unoffending country.
“The militia generally within the counties of Dauphin, Lebannon, Berks,
Schuylkill, York, Adams and Lancaster, and that part of Chester County
which constitutes the Second Brigade of the Third Division, and those
corps particularly, who, when danger first threatened, patriotically
tendered their services in the field, are earnestly invited to rise (as
on many occasions Pennsylvania has heretofore done) superior to local
feeling and evasives that might possibly be drawn from an imperfect
military system, and to repair with that alacrity which duty commands,
and it is fondly hoped inclination will prompt, to the several places of
brigade or regimental rendezvous that shall respectively be designated
by the proper officer, and thence to march to the place of general
rendezvous.
“Pennsylvanians, whose hearts must be gladdened at the recital of the
deeds of heroism achieved by their fellow citizens, soldiers now in arms
on the Lake frontier, and within the enemy’s country, now the occasion
has occurred, will with order seek and punish that same implacable foe,
now marauding on the Atlantic shore of two of our sister States.”
Camps were established at Marcus Hook, on the Delaware, and at York. At
the latter place 5,000 men were soon under the command of Major General
Nathaniel Watson, and Brigadier Generals John Forster and John Adams.
When General Ross attempted the capture of Baltimore, these Pennsylvania
militia marched thither and had the high honor to aid in repelling the
enemy. In the same year other of the State’s military forces rendered
excellent services at Chippewa and Bridgewater, and thereby won the
gratitude of the people of the entire country.
During the entire war the soil of Pennsylvania had never been trodden by
a hostile foot, yet it had at one time a greater number of militia and
volunteers in the service of the United States than were at any time in
the field from any other state in the Union, and as she furnished more
men, so did she furnish more money to carry on the war.
The treaty of Ghent was concluded December 24, 1814, but the closing
acts in the tragedy of the war were the battle of New Orleans, January
8, 1815, and the gallant capture of the British warships “Cyane” and
“Levant,” by Captain Charles Stewart’s grand old frigate,
“Constitution,” February 20, 1815.
On February 17, 1815, the treaty of peace between the United States and
Great Britain was ratified by the Senate.
Pennsylvania’s finances were in such sound condition that only one small
temporary loan was required to pay all expenditures incurred during the
war. Business did not suffer, yet during the war period a cloud was
gathering which soon was to have a serious effect on the financial
situation in the State. The United States Bank, after twenty years of
honorable and useful life, came to an end in 1811, and at a time when
its services were needed by the government and the people.
The State banks were envious of the power of the larger institution, and
in the failure to renew its charter their officers saw the opportunity
to advance their personal ends.
The Legislature chartered State banks over the Governor’s veto, and
again the State was flooded with paper money, as it had been during the
Revolution, but the terrible consequences of that deluge had long since
been forgotten. The excess of issue and lack of faith in them was soon
reflected by rising prices. The banks had little or no specie for
redeeming their notes. Soon many banks were without funds, hence were
compelled to close their doors, and both the promoters and their victims
were led into financial ruin.