barbarous and shocking murders and other depredations having been
committed by Indians on inhabitants of Northampton County, in
consequence whereof great numbers of those who escaped the rage of the
enemy have already deserted, and are daily deserting their habitations;
so that, unless some effectual aid can be speedily granted them, to
induce them to stand their ground, it is difficult to say where these
desertions will stop, or to how small a distance from the capital our
frontier may be reduced.”
Captain Bull, who headed this war party of Western Delaware in these
incursions, had spent ten years among these Indians west of the Ohio
River. He was thoroughly familiar with their sentiments toward the
English.
The first intimation of the presence of hostile Indians was on October
8, 1763, when before daybreak, Captain Bull attacked the house of John
Stenton, on the road from Bethlehem to Fort Allen, where Captain
Wetherhold and a squad of soldiers were lodging for the night.
Wetherhold and several others of the whites were wounded and three were
killed.
A day or two later Yost’s mill, about eleven miles from Bethlehem, was
destroyed, and the people there cut off. Altogether twenty-three persons
were killed and many wounded, and these depredations committed within a
few miles of Captain Bull’s ancestral home.
On Saturday, October 15, the self-same day that Major Clayton’s
expedition set out from Fort Augusta for Wyoming, the settlers of Mill
Creek, in Wyoming Valley, were busily engaged in their various
occupations at different places unaware of danger and unprepared for
disaster.
Captain Bull and his warriors to the number of 135 swooped down on the
settlers and death, desperation and destruction quickly followed.
Eighteen or more were killed, including many persons of importance. The
scene was terrible.
The settlers who heard the gun shots and war whoops of the Indians fled
in great haste to the mountains. At night time the torch was applied and
soon the homes of the settlers were masses of ruins.
The settlers who escaped death tramped back to Connecticut, and Wyoming
was, in very truth, deserted and forsaken.
Major Clayton arrived soon after this massacre, but did not remain, and
returned to Fort Augusta. An extract from a letter written by a soldier
says:
“Our party under Major Asher Clayton is returned from Wyoming, where we
met with no Indians, but found the New Englanders who had been killed
and scalped a day or two before we got there. We buried the dead—nine
men and a woman—who had been most cruelly butchered.
“The woman was roasted, and had two hinges in her hands—supposed to be
put in red hot—and several of the men had awls thrust in their eyes, and
spears, arrows, pitchforks, etc., sticking in their bodies.
“They (Clayton’s troops) burnt what houses the Indians had left, and
destroyed a quantity of Indian corn. The enemy’s tracks were up the
river toward Wyalusing.”
Many writers have expressed different opinions about this massacre. Some
thought it to have been done by the Delaware who believed the
Connecticut settlers killed their king Tedyuskung; some believe it to
have been done by Six Nations, who thought the whites had assassinated
the Delaware king; but others believe there is not sufficient ground for
supposing it to have been done by friends of Tedyuskung, even though the
hostile party was led by his son, Captain Bull.
Whoever was to blame, or whoever committed the bloodthirsty deed,
matters not, but the fact remains that the Delaware Indians were
treacherous and none of them more so than King Tedyuskung and his sons,
especially Captain Bull, the perpetrator of this horrible massacre.
----------
First Terrible Massacre of Settlers at Penn’s
Creek, October 16, 1755
The year 1755 was anything but one of promise for the English colonies
in America. The French were aggressively pushing their domain from
Canada southward toward the Mississippi Valley, and what was more
alarming to the English was the effort of the French to gain a foothold
in the region of the Allegheny Mountains, in what is now Western
Pennsylvania.
Three great rivers virtually determined the strategic situation of the
territory involved between these two great nations. The Hudson River
Valley was held by the English, the Susquehanna River Valley by the Six
Nations of the great Indian Confederation and the Allegheny River Valley
by French, along the banks of which a chain of French forts had been
erected. Fort Duquesne, at the forks of the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers,
where Pittsburgh now stands, was the principal defense of that valley.
In the spring of 1755 the expedition was fitted out which made the
ill-fated march against Fort Duquesne and resulted in the defeat of
General Edward Braddock, July 9.
This defeat was a terrible disaster and left the frontiers of
Pennsylvania threatened with ruin by victorious French and their savage
allies, who pressed through the passes of the Blue Mountains on the
heels of the fleeing British regulars.
The main body of the French encamped on the Susquehanna River near where
the borough of Liverpool now stands, thirty miles above Harris’ Ferry,
where they extended themselves on both sides of the main river.
Braddock’s defeat was not only a fatal termination of a campaign which
had been expected would inflict a decisive blow upon the French, but it
gave the signal to the disaffected Indians to make the frontiers of the
province the scene of predatory warfare in which many sections of the
Susquehanna Valley were severely scourged.
The Provincial Government did not act with the energy and promptness
which the emergency demanded. No means were adopted for the protection
of frontier settlements and the entire wilderness from the Juniata River
to Shamokin, now Sunbury, was filled with parties of hostile Indians,
murdering, scalping and burning. Every post brought to the Provincial
Council at Philadelphia heart-rending appeals for help.
The Assembly and the Governor were deadlocked, no money bills could be
passed. Troops of frontiersmen rode through the city threateningly
brandishing their weapons. A party of Germans laid the corpses of the
countrymen, scalped within sixty-five miles of the capital, at the door
of the State House. The Quaker peace policy was denounced in unmeasured
terms from the backwoods pulpits.
The Indians had driven off the Moravian missions at Shamokin and burned
their own town at that important place.
Two of Colonel Weiser’s sons, Frederick and Peter, had been at Shamokin
several days previously, then stopped at the house of George Gabriel, at
the mouth of Penn’s Creek about the head of the Isle of Que, near the
present town of Selinsgrove. While there a messenger arrived from Logan,
one of Shikellamy’s sons and Lapacpicton, a friendly Delaware, who
brought the alarming news that a large body of French and Indians was
approaching by way of the West Branch.
The Provincial Government had been warned that a band of Indians had
left the West on an expedition to the forks of the Susquehanna, but paid
no heed until too late.
These Indians crossed the Allegheny Mountains, through the headwaters of
the Otzinachson, now called West Branch, near Clearfield, thence through
the “Great Plains,” now known as Penn’s Valley, Center County, through
the gaps of Penn’s Creek, in Paddy Mountains, where they struck the
white settlements along the creek, commencing at the present town of New
Berlin and down the stream for about a mile in what is now Snyder
County.
October 16, 1755, occurred the terrible massacre at Penn’s Creek, when
fifteen persons were cruelly murdered and their bodies terribly mangled
and ten others were carried away as Indian prisoners.
Of the twenty-five victims, one man, who was wounded, was able to reach
Gabriel’s with the news of the massacre.
When the party went out to bury the dead they found thirteen bodies of
men and elderly women, and one child, two weeks old.
The house of Jacob Le Roy, where the massacre was ended, was burned and
his body lying just by it. He lay on his back, barbarously burnt and two
tomahawks sticking in his forehead.
The conditions in the immediate neighborhood of Penn’s Creek beggared
description. Conrad Weiser wrote to Governor Morris, upon the arrival of
his sons, advising of the massacre, and gave him the news of the
intended invasion. But John Harris rushed to the rescue of those in
distress, and, with a company of forty-six men from Paxtang, arrived at
the mouth of Penn’s Creek. He found the dead had been buried, and
proceeded to Shamokin to learn the attitude of the Indians there.
In the Pennsylvania archives is to be found the examination of Barbara
Leininger and Mary Le Roy, taken after their return from captivity. They
testified that the others carried away captives at Penn’s Creek were
Jacob Le Roy, Rachel Leininger, brother and sister of the testators;
Marian Wheeler; Hannah, wife of Jacob Breylinger and two of their
children, one of whom died of starvation, while they were being held at
Kittanning; Peter Lick and two sons, John and William.
They named the principal Indians and gave a detailed narrative of their
journey and captivity.
They were carried to Kittanning, where they were held prisoners until
Colonel John Armstrong destroyed the town, September 8, 1756, when the
Indians who had these prisoners in charge made their escape.
They were carried to Fort Duquesne and were then led twenty-five miles
lower down the river to the mouth of Big Beaver Creek. In the spring of
1757 they were taken to Kuskusky, twenty-five miles up Big Beaver Creek,
where they remained until the Indians learned that the English were
marching against Fort Duquesne, when the Indians evacuated Kuskusky and
hurried their prisoners on a forced march to the Muskingum, in the
present State of Ohio.
March 16, 1759, the testators made their escape and were able to reach
Fort Pitt fifteen days later. They reached their relatives subsequently,
and were in Philadelphia, May 6, 1759, when they gave their testimony.
Ann M. LeRoy was residing in Lancaster in 1764, when she again made an
affidavit in regards to the details of her capture and the visits of the
supposed friendly Conestoga Indians at Kittanning.
A beautiful boulder with bronze tablet was unveiled at the site of this
massacre, October, 1915. This can be seen above the bridge over Penn’s
Creek, on the Susquehanna Trail, leading from Selinsgrove to Sunbury. It
marks the scene of one of the most horrible of the Indian massacres in
Pennsylvania.
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Railroad from Williamsport to Lake Erie
Completed October 17, 1864
During the administration of Governor James Pollock the Main Line of
public works had been sold by virtue of the act of Assembly of May 16,
1857. Governor Pollock had very strongly urged the sale of the public
works, as they had become a running sore of corruption, including
political debauchery and the systematic plunder of the treasury.
On June 25 following the Governor closed the transaction by which the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, July 31, assumed ownership of the whole
line of public works between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the
consideration being $7,500,000.
Following that sale measures were taken for the disposal of the
remainder of the public improvement. They had failed to be a source of
revenue to the State, and the application of the proceeds to the payment
of the debt of the Commonwealth soon led to the removal of taxation by
the State.
With the disposal of the Main Line of public works, there were left not
a few local canals, such as the North Branch, West Branch and others, to
be managed by the Board of Canal Commissioners. This was a sore point,
and there was a very general desire that these should also be disposed
of and the State entirely divested of its interests in transportation
lines.
The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company was chartered April 3, 1837. The
road was opened between Williamsport and Milton, December 18, 1854, and
between Milton and Northumberland, September 24, 1855.
The railroad bridges over the North Branch at Northumberland were
completed for traffic January 7, 1856, which opened the road from
Williamsport to Sunbury. From this time it became a long struggle to
complete the line from Williamsport to Erie, which was to be the western
terminus.
Borough councils and prominent citizens subscribed for stock, and
various attempts were made to construct the road, but each new
organization only repeated the story of failure.
A number of very able and experienced railway men and the directors
conceived the idea of virtually borrowing the credit of the State,
without imposing any liability upon the Commonwealth, to aid in the
construction of this road.
Their proposition was that the various canals remaining in the ownership
of the State should be sold to the Sunbury and Erie Railway Company for
$3,000,000, giving the railway company the right to sell or mortgage the
several canals as might be deemed best, the proceeds to be applied to
the construction of the Erie line, and the State to accept a mortgage
upon the line for the $3,000,000 to be paid for the canals. It was
believed this would provide sufficient funds to complete the line, and
when this was accomplished the mortgage held by the State would be
abundant security against loss to the Commonwealth.
A bill to enable this sale of the canals was read in place in both House
and Senate and an earnest battle ensued as the members of the canal
board were not willing to be shorn of their immense powers, which would
result if the State sold the canals.
The Republicans in the House supported the bill; the personnel of the
canal board was entirely Democratic. No community in the State would
benefit more by the completion of the link from Williamsport to Erie
than would Philadelphia, and the great interests of that city soon
brought a solid support in both House and Senate in favor of the bill.
Many Democrats whose districts were traversed by the proposed road also
fell into line, so that in spite of desperate opposition, the bill
finally passed the House by a decided majority, and gained the narrow
margin of one vote in the Senate.
Governor William F. Packer was a resident of Williamsport, and, of
course, was intensely interested in the measure.
The bill reached the Governor only three days before final adjournment,
and when he examined it, the Governor discovered a vital error in
phraseology which had been overlooked, but which would result in serious
embarrassment in executing its provisions. He could not return it with
his objections, as it could not be passed over the veto; there was not
time for the passage of a new bill, and the bill could be amended in the
hands of the Governor only by the adoption of a joint resolution
instructing such change.
A joint resolution was required to lay over a day under the rules and it
required two-thirds vote to suspend the rule, while the delay of a day
would be fatal.
The matter was submitted to Speaker Longnecker, who presided with
ability and dignity over the body, and he informed those who were
conferring with him that a joint resolution could not be read and
finally passed on the same day.
Among the prominent Democratic members was George Nelson Smith, of
Cambria County, a thorough parliamentarian and one of the most popular
members of the House.
It was suggested to the Speaker that he call Smith to the chair. The
Speaker consented, Smith took the gavel and the resolution to amend the
bill was changed from the usual form of a joint resolution by saying,
“Resolved, If the Senate concurs, etc.,” giving the appearance of a
House resolution requiring simply the concurrence of the Senate.
As soon as it was read the point was raised that it was a joint
resolution and must lie over for a day, but Smith faced the emergency
with magnificent boldness, deciding that it was not a joint resolution
and directing the final vote to be called.
It was evident that a majority of the House meant to save the bill;
tactics for delay would be defeated by previous question and by the
aggressive action of Acting Speaker Smith the House was suddenly brought
to a call of the yeas and nays and the bill was saved. The Senate had
ample time for concurrence and it was given.
Even after giving the Sunbury and Erie Railway Company the benefit of
the loan of $3,000,000 the work was pushed forward under many
embarrassments. It was on the verge of collapse in the general
prostrations of 1860, but the Legislature came to its relief by an
extension of credit.
The Civil War came with its quickening of business and large increase of
circulating medium, and the great enterprise of building a railroad
through an almost continued wilderness from Williamsport to Lake Erie, a
distance of nearly 250 miles, was completed October 17, 1864, and the
State gained not only by the sale of its canals and the abolishment of
the Canal Board, but the $3,000,000 was abundantly secured to it.
The new railroad brought multiplied wealth to the State and the people
that could never have been realized excepting by the construction of a
great railway through the boundless riches of that great region.
The name Sunbury and Erie was changed to the Philadelphia and Erie
Railroad Company by Act of Assembly March 7, 1861.
On January 1, 1862, it was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
for 999 years.
----------
None Escaped in Massacre at Mahanoy
Creek, October 18, 1755
Following the defeat of General Edward Braddock, July 9, 1755, the
savages roamed at will through the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania.
They now realized the English were no longer invincible and became
bolder and more terrible in their predatory warfare.
The first outbreak was at Penn’s Creek, in the present Snyder County,
where on October 16, they swooped down upon the industrious German
settlers of that neighborhood and cruelly massacred fifteen and carried
away ten others into captivity.
The news of the massacre struck terror in the hearts of the settlers and
all, excepting a very few, fled down the river to the older settlements.
Only two days after the Penn’s Creek massacre another occurred only a
short distance to the eastward, at the mouth of Mahanoy Creek, about
five miles south of the present city of Sunbury.
On this eventful day, October 18, 1755, twenty-five of the inhabitants
were killed or carried away into captivity, often worse than death.
Every building of the little settlement was burned, and all the
improvements destroyed.
The difference in the two massacres lies in the fact that one escaped
from the murderous savages at Penn’s Creek, who was able to make his way
to George Gabriel’s at the mouth of the creek, where he told the awful
story in detail. It also happened that two sons of Conrad Weiser were
there at the time, and they hastened to their home in Berks County.
Soon the old provincial interpreter had messengers on the way to inform
Governor Morris of the massacre and the threatened invasion of the Forks
of the Susquehanna by the French and their Indian allies, who were
approaching in great force.
Immediately the news of the massacre at Penn’s Creek reached Harris’
Ferry, and without waiting for advice from the provincial authorities,
John Harris, with forty-six inhabitants of the neighborhood, hastened to
the scene of the disaster, where they found and buried a number of the
mangled bodies of the victims. From this place they proceeded to
Shamokin to see the Indians and prevail upon them, if possible, to
remain neutral.
Their reception at the Indian village was civil but not cordial, and
they remained there only till the next morning.
During the night they heard the Indians talking about the English in
unfavorable terms, and soon after they sang a war song and four Indians
went away in the darkness in two canoes. They were well armed. One canoe
went down stream, the other across the river.
In the morning they made a few presents to the Indians. Before their
departure they were privately warned by Andrew Montour not to take a
certain road on the western side of the river, but to continue down the
eastern side.
They, however, disregarded his warning, either relying on the good faith
of the Indians, or suspecting that Montour intended to lead them into an
ambuscade, and they crossed the river and started to march along the
flats on the western shore.
Hardly had they got started on their march until they were fired upon by
some Indians who lay in ambush, and four were killed, four drowned and
the rest put to flight.
John Harris, under date of “Paxtang, ye 28th October, 1755,” wrote to
the Governor an account of the foregoing expedition, and how near they
all came to suffer through Indian treachery. Among other things, he
said:
“This is to acquaint you, that on the 24th of October, I arrived at
Shamokin, in order to protect our frontiers up that way till they might
make their escape from their cruel enemies, and learn the best
intelligence I could.
“The Indians on the West Branch certainly killed our inhabitants on
Penn’s Creek, and there are a hatchet and two English scalps sent them
up to North Branch, to desire them to strike with them if they are men.”
He then described the situation and warned the Governor that the Indians
entertained serious designs upon the settlers in and about the Forks of
the Susquehanna. He then wrote:
“Montour knew many days ago of the enemy being on their march against us
before he informed, for which I said as much to him as I thought
prudent, considering the place I was in.
“On the 25th inst., on my return with about forty men, we were attacked
by about twenty or thirty Indians, received their fire, and about
fifteen of our men and myself took to the trees, attacked the villains,
killed four of them on the spot and lost but three more, retreating
about half a mile through the woods, and crossing the Susquehanna, one
of whom was shot off a horse riding behind myself, through the river. My
horse was wounded, and falling into the river, I was obliged to quit him
and swim part of the way.
“Four or five of our men were drowned crossing the river. I hope our
journey, though with fatigue and loss of our substance and some of our
lives, will be of service to our country by discovering our enemy, who
will be our ruin, if not timely prevented.
“I just now received information that there was a French officer,
supposed captain, with a party of Shawnee, Delaware, etc., within six
miles of Shamokin, ten days ago, and no doubt intends to take possession
of it which will be a dreadful consequence to us, if suffered.”
Harris then told of his knowledge of the Indians who had made the attack
on Penn’s Creek; of an intended attack on Shamokin and other places. He
concluded his long and informative letter: “I expect Montour and
Monacatootha down here this week, with the determination of their
Shamokin council. The inhabitants are abandoning their plantations and
we are in a dreadful situation.”
The postscript to his interesting letter was as follows: “The night
ensuing our attack the Indians burned all George Gabriel’s houses;
danced around them.”
The person who was shot off the horse, while riding behind John Harris
in crossing the river, was a physician of Paxtang, who had accompanied
the party in his professional capacity.
On the following day John Harris wrote a letter to Edward Shippen, at
Lancaster, in which he expressed fear that the Indians would attack them
any day. He wrote: “I have this day cut loopholes in my house, and am
determined to hold out to the last extremity, if I can get some men to
stand by me. But few can be had at present, as every one is in fear of
his own family being cut off every hour.”
Harris advised the immediate building of a fort at the Forks of the
Susquehanna. The situation in the Province even as close to Philadelphia
as Harrisburg was truly desperate.
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General Edward Hand Starts on Expedition
from Fort Pitt to Wheeling, October
19,1777