John MacDonald commanded more than one hundred British regulars.
Hiokatoo, with the help of a few Indians, tomahawked every wounded
American while earnestly begging with uplifted hands for quarter.”
In an expedition against Cherry Valley, N. Y., Hiokatoo was second in
command. This force of hundreds of Indians was determined upon the total
destruction of the whites.
Besides these instances, he was in a number of parties during the
Revolution, where he ever acted a conspicuous part.
When Tory Colonel John Butler and Chief Joe Brant were making their
terrible incursions against the settlers in lower New York and
Pennsylvania they frequently resided with Chief Hiokatoo and his wife,
Mary Jemison, at their home in the German Flats.
During General Sullivan’s expedition against the Indians in the summer
of 1779, Hiokatoo was most active in his attempt to frustrate his plans.
During this march Lieutenant Thomas Boyd was captured by the Indians in
ambush. While Chief Little Beard was in command at Boyd’s cruel
execution, Hiokatoo was a close second.
Hiokatoo was one of the leading actors in the diabolical scene following
the capture of Colonel William Crawford, July, 1782, when he was put to
death after the most inhuman barbarities were inflicted upon him.
The cruel Indian chief was assisted in these fiendish scenes by Simon
Girty, the white savage renegade and outlaw Tory. Hiokatoo was the
leading chief in the battle which destroyed Colonel Crawford’s command
and personally directed the colonel’s execution. He painted Dr. Knight’s
face black with his own hands and had him conducted to the place where
he was to be executed. Dr. Knight escaped during the night and was able
to reach his home and give the horrid details of Crawford’s execution.
Chief Hiokatoo served in seventeen campaigns during the period of the
Revolution, until his death, which occurred on November 20, 1811, at the
advanced age of 103 years.
Hiokatoo was about six feet four inches tall, large boned and rather
inclined to leanness. He was very powerful and active for a man of his
unusual size, and his wife said of him that he never found an Indian who
could keep up with him in a race or throw him wrestling.
His eye was quick and penetrating and his voice was so harsh and
powerful that amongst the Indians it always commanded attention. His
health was uniformly good, and he was never confined by illness until
attacked with tuberculosis when quite 100 years of age.
During his married life as the husband of the White Woman of the Genesee
he was the father of four daughters and two sons. The elder of the two
sons, John, killed his half-brother, Thomas, in a family feud which had
existed between them since John was born, although Thomas was a fine
character and John dissolute.
John a few years later, May, 1812, killed his own brother, Jesse, in a
drunken frenzy, inflicting no less than eighteen wounds with a knife,
each so deep that it would have been fatal. Jesse was twenty-seven years
old and had been more like his mother than the other children. He
shunned the Indian frolics, dressed and acted more like a white man and
was sober and industrious.
Thus we see the cruelty of old Chief Hiokatoo inherited by his own son
and inflicted upon his own blood in a most fiendish manner.
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Delegates to the Constitutional Convention
Chosen November 21, 1789
On November 5, 1788, General Thomas Mifflin succeeded Dr. Benjamin
Franklin as president of the Supreme Executive Council. Dr. Franklin was
now eighty-two years old and desired to be relieved of so exacting a
responsibility and declined the re-election, which was assured him. At
the same time George Ross, of Lancaster, was elected vice president.
The first election for electors of President and Vice President of the
United States, under the new Constitution was held January 7, 1789. The
Federal ticket was successful. The ten votes of Pennsylvania were given
to General George Washington as President, and eight votes for John
Adams, and two for John Hancock, for Vice President.
The National Government, feeble at first, had no buildings and no home.
During seven years of Washington’s term as President the capital was at
Philadelphia. Congress met at Sixth and Chestnut Streets. The Supreme
Court met at Fifth and Chestnut Streets. The President lived on Market
Street below Sixth Street. The Government of the United States has never
paid the rent for these public buildings and in its infancy and
weakness, Pennsylvania gave our National Government a home without
compensation therefor.
The Constitution of Pennsylvania as adopted in 1776, had long since
proved inadequate for the requirements of a useful and effective
government, and its revision was demanded. The Assembly, March 24, 1789,
adopted resolutions recommending the election of delegates to form a new
Constitution. The Supreme Executive Council refused to promulgate this
action of the Assembly. In September following the Assembly adopted
resolutions for calling a convention.
At the election in October delegates were chosen and on November 21,
1789, the convention assembled in Philadelphia, and organized with the
election of General Thomas Mifflin, Chief Executive of the State, as
President of the convention. The sessions of the convention were long
and tedious, and an adjournment was had for a time in 1790, but their
labors were concluded, and the new Constitution adopted September 2,
1790.
The most radical changes were made in the executive and legislative
branches of the Government. The Assembly ceased to have the sole right
to make laws, a Senate being created. The Supreme Executive Council was
abolished. A Governor was directed to be elected, to whom the
administration of affairs was to be intrusted.
The former judicial system was continued, excepting that the Judges of
the higher courts were to be appointed during good behavior instead of
for seven years. The Bill of Rights re-enacted the old provincial
provision copied into the first Constitution respecting freedom of
worship, rights of conscience and exemptions from compulsory
contribution for the support of any ministry.
The recognition of God and of a future state of rewards and punishments
was still demanded of all holding office, but a belief in the divine
inspiration of the Old and New Testaments was not included. The Council
of Censors ceased to have authority, and Pennsylvania conformed in all
important matters to the system upon which the new Federal Government
was to be administered.
The first election held in Pennsylvania under the new Constitution of
the Commonwealth—that of 1790—resulted in the election of General Thomas
Mifflin, then president of the Supreme Executive Council, who had
presided at the forming of the new instrument. Mifflin had little or no
opposition. His election was evident from the start, for there were no
real issues. The result turned chiefly on his better-known personal
qualities. Parties had not yet become crystallized with definite issues.
General Arthur St. Clair, his opponent, was highly esteemed as a citizen
and brilliant soldier, but the popularity of Mifflin carried him in
triumph, and for three terms he was chosen to the chief magistracy of
Pennsylvania. His success was his own; he builded his own house.
Governor Mifflin’s chief political adviser was Alexander J. Dallas, who
was appointed to the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth. That was a
wise selection. Dallas was young, but brilliant and deeply interested in
politics. He knew the leading men of the State and maintained a close
relationship with them.
With the new Constitution functioning, the course of legislation turned
in various channels. The promotion of internal improvements which have
since become so important in Pennsylvania, and other enterprises of a
less public character, soon demanded the attention of the General
Assembly.
One of the first measures was that urged by the Society for the
Improvement of Roads and Canals, and which contemplated the construction
of highways and artificial waterways at the expense of the State. This
suggestion aroused such a storm of opposition that the Legislature was
compelled to reject the original proposition and to pass bills providing
only partial and doubtful encouragement for their establishment by
private enterprise.
A long and valuable report was made February 19, 1791, which embodied
the results of examinations made previously. The committee reported that
the Delaware River could be made an important channel for the trade of
New York by the construction of a portage canal of nineteen miles; that
a safe boat and raft navigation might be made to the northern boundary
of the State for £25,000. They gave an estimate of the grain which was
brought down the Susquehanna and the Juniata and they reported on the
probable trade along the Allegheny River and how it could be increased
by canals at certain places.
They recommended that the Governor should issue a proclamation inviting
proposals for building canals and locks in and near the waters of the
Tulpehocken and Quittapahilla; for a canal from Frankstown to Poplar
Run, and for clearing the Susquehanna from Wright’s Ferry to Havre de
Grace. They also wanted proposals for a turnpike from Philadelphia
through Lancaster to the Susquehanna and for other roads throughout the
State.
A bill was passed April 6, 1792, and in August Governor Mifflin apprised
the Legislature that he had made contracts for the improvements of
certain streams, but that “several propositions had not yet met with
persons willing to undertake the specified work.”
During the year 1793 the Bank of Pennsylvania was incorporated by the
Legislature, the opinion being expressed that it would “promote the
regular, permanent and successful operations of the finances of the
State and be productive of great benefit to trade and industry in
general.”
The State subscribed for one-third of the entire stock and branches were
established at Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading, Easton and Pittsburgh.
These were discontinued in 1810; in 1843 the State sold its stock, and
with the great financial crisis of 1857 the Bank of Pennsylvania sank in
ruin.
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Joe Disberry, Remarkable Thief, First
Arrested November 22, 1783
About the close of the Revolutionary War a notorious character named
Disberry lived between Selinsgrove and Sunbury. He was possessed of
great physical strength and had few superiors in running, jumping and
skating. But in thieving and lying he was considered a match for the
prince of darkness himself.
So bold was he that, according to reminiscences preserved by early
settlers, he was known to enter the kitchen of a dwelling when the
family were in bed, start up a fire, cook a meal and eat at his leisure.
If disturbed in this agreeable occupation he relied on his swiftness of
foot to escape.
At length Joe became so notorious on account of his thieving
propensities that the whole settlement was up in arms against him, and
he was finally arrested November 22, 1783, and imprisoned in the jail at
Sunbury. But as the jail—which was the first one built in Northumberland
County—was not secure he quickly escaped, and Sheriff Antes offered a
reward for his apprehension.
On another occasion Disberry took refuge on the “Isle of Que” and
concealed himself in a thicket of bushes, where he fancied himself
secure. He might have remained undiscovered and escaped but for his
inordinate love of perpetrating jokes.
Lying on the watch near the road cut through the thicket Joe heard the
footsteps of a horse and, slyly peeping from his covert, espied the
Sheriff’s wife approaching on horseback. He at once stepped into the
road and, pulling off his hat, made a polite bow, when he suddenly
disappeared in the bushes. The lady hurried to Selinsgrove and gave the
alarm.
A party headed by George Kremer was immediately formed and went to the
island in pursuit of Joe. Guided by the lady’s instructions, Kremer went
to the spot and soon had the culprit in custody. He was taken back to
jail, tried and sentenced, and his sentence is one of the strangest
found in the annals of criminal history of Pennsylvania.
In the Quarter Sessions docket of Northumberland County the record shows
that Joe Disberry was arraigned on the charge of felony, tried and found
guilty. The jury was composed as follows: Peter Hosterman, Adam Grove,
George Shaffer, Philip Frick, John Harrison, Michael Grove, William
Clark, Adam Christ, Robert Irwin, Paul Baldy, John Shaffer, Alexander
McGrady. The sentence of the Court, which still stands out boldly on the
record, was as follows:
“Judgment that the said Joseph Disberry receive thirty-nine lashes
between the hours of 8 and 9 o’clock tomorrow; to stand in the pillory
one hour; to have his ears cut off and nailed to the post; to return the
property stolen or the value thereof; remain in prison three months; pay
a fine of £30 to the honorable the president of this State for the
support of the Government, and stand convicted until fine, fees, etc.,
are paid.”
This remarkable sentence shows the estimate that was put on Joe as a
criminal. The whipping post and pillory stood in the public square in
Sunbury.
Colonel John Henry Antes was the Sheriff at that time and directed the
whipping, if he did not do it himself.
There is no record to show who did the ear chopping, but as the surgical
operation fell to the Sheriff also, it is probable that he did it.
John Buyers was the president of the court at that time, assisted by
associates, and the duty of imposing the sentence fell on him. The Court
met, according to the entry in the docket on the fourth Tuesday of
August, 1784, and as the trial took place at once, the sentence was
carried out on Wednesday.
Among the jurors were several men who were prominent as Indian fighters
and participants in the war for liberty.
Peter Hosterman, foreman, was active as a militia officer and had
command of a body of militia to watch and repel savage attacks.
Adam and Michael Grove were famous as Indian scouts, and the latter only
a short time before he served on this jury, was one of a company that
pursued a party of marauding Indians up the Sinnemahoning. Discovering
their camp they stealthily approached at night, rushed upon them,
surprised them, captured their arms and killed several. The balance
escaped. The Grove brothers then lived in Buffalo Valley, now Union
County.
This severe sentence, it seems, did not cure Joe Disberry of his
thieving propensities, for the Quarter Sessions docket for August term,
1798 (Northumberland County), shows that he was arraigned and tried on
three indictments for burglarizing the houses of Philip Bower, Peter
Jones and Isaiah Willits, and convicted on each.
The jurors who found him guilty on each count were John Clark, John
Metzgar, John Friesbach, George Clark, John Armstrong, John Cochran,
Thomas Murray, Christian Gettig, John Dewart, George Bright, Peter
Disher and Hamelius Lomison.
Judge Jacob Rush was President Judge assisted by Captain William Wilson,
John McPherson, Thomas Strawbridge and Colonel William Cooke as
associates. Robert Irwin was high sheriff of the county. Judge Rush, on
sentencing Disberry, said:
“That the prisoner, Joseph Disberry, forfeit all and singular his goods
and chattels, lands and tenements, to and for the use of the
Commonwealth, and undergo a servitude of seven years for the burglary
committed in the house of Peter Bower, and be committed to the house of
correction, pay the cost of prosecution, &c.”
The Court then sentenced him on the two other indictments, seven years
each. Joe, who was listening very attentively remarked rather jocosely:
“Why, Your Honor, three sevens make twenty-one!”
Judge Rush then continued: “That the defendant be conveyed to the gaol
and penitentiary house of the city of Philadelphia to undergo the
servitude aforesaid for the term of twenty-one years. And that the said
Joe Disberry be kept for the space of two years in solitary cells out of
the term of twenty-one years.”
This remarkable criminal served his long sentence and returned in 1819
to his old haunts, about Sunbury and the Selinsgrove, an aged man, but
as merry as a cricket. Being a natural-born thief, he could not resist
the temptation to steal everything upon which he could lay his hands.
The date of his death is unknown. But the late Dr. Robert Harris Awl, of
Sunbury, said that some time after his return from serving his long
sentence, he went one night to a mill in Union County to steal flour and
falling through a hatchway sustained injuries which resulted in his
death. It is said that when they came to bury him, the owner of the mill
insisted that he should be buried deep. “For,” said he, “if it is not
done he will return and steal mill, dam and all!”
It is not positively known whence this remarkable man came. Tradition
says that he was a native of Connecticut. In that event he might have
been among the emigrants to Wyoming, but on account of his evil
propensities was banished to Sunbury as a punishment to Dr. Plunket and
his people, for whom the Wyomingites bore no love. Neither is it known
whether he had any family or property. His criminal record, however,
would furnish material enough for a first-class romance.
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Border Invasion by Thomas Cresap Ceased
After His Arrest, November 23, 1736
There was great conflict between the several Lords Baltimore,
Proprietaries of Maryland, and the Penns, Proprietaries of Pennsylvania,
over the boundary of their respective provinces, which lasted from the
time William Penn first received his grant until the Mason and Dixon
boundary line was surveyed in 1763–67.
Conestoga Township, in what is now Lancaster County, was originally
organized about 1712. Prior to 1719 it was divided into East and West
Conestoga. The western boundaries of the latter were not defined until
1722, when Donegal Township was erected and Chicques Creek was made its
eastern boundary. Pequea Township seems to have been to the northeast of
Conestoga, with not very well defined boundaries, and was probably
erected about the year 1720.
Lord Baltimore selected a pliant and bold adventurer for his agent in
this disputed territory named Thomas Cresap, aged twenty-six years, a
carpenter by occupation, and in religious faith a Roman Catholic, same
as the Calverts of Maryland. He was to go to Conejohela Valley and
settle, where he built a cabin and established a ferry, on March 16,
1730, near James Patterson’s land.
In a joint statement made by James Patterson to Justices John Wright and
Samuel Blunston they issued a warrant and wrote to Governor Patrick
Gordon, October 30, 1732, and said:
“About two years Since, Thomas Cresap, and some other people of Loose
Morals and Turbulent Spirits, Came and disturbed the Indians, our
friends and Allies, who were peaceably Settled on those lands from when
the said Parnel and others had been removed, Burnt their Cabbins, and
destroyed their goods, And with much threatening and Ill-usage, drove
them away, and by pretending to be under the Maryland government, sought
to Evade ours. Thus they proceeded to play booty. Disturbing the Peace
of the Government, Carrying people out of the Province by Violence,
Taking away the guns from our friends, the Indians, Tying and making
them Prisoners without any offence given; and threatening all who should
Oppose them; And by Underhand and Unfair practices, Endeavoring to
Alienate the minds of the Inhabitants of this Province, and Draw them
from Obedience to their party. Their Insolence Increasing, they killed
the horses of Such of our people whose trade with the Indians made it
Necessary to Keep them on that Side of the river, for Carrying their
Goods and Skins; assaulted those who were sent to look after them.”
Cresap’s house was a convenient refuge for runaway servants and debtors.
Samuel Chance, a runaway debtor of Edward Cartlidge, an Indian trader
who lived in the Manor, took up his abode with Cresap and assisted him
to row his ferryboat. A son of Cartlidge laid a plan to capture Chance
by decoying him to the east side of the river.
Cresap and Chance got into their boat and rowed over to the Blue Rock,
where they found Edward Beddock, Rice Morgan, and a Negro servant of Mr.
Cartlidge. After being taken into the boat, and rowed out into the
stream a few yards, Beddock and Morgan threw Cresap into the river, and
took Chance to shore with them. Cresap made his escape to an island
nearby, where he remained until after dark, when he was discovered by an
Indian and rescued.
Cresap made complaint to the Maryland authorities, and a sharp
correspondence between the Governors of the two Provinces resulted.
In the fall of 1733, Cresap came up to Wright’s Ferry and commenced to
build boats and erect a house. Wright and Blunston had placed a number
of men in the ferryhouse, who sallied forth and took Cresap’s men
prisoners.
John Emerson, a lawyer, who lived in Lancaster, was appointed ranger and
keeper of the Conestoga Manor. He also owned a ferry at Blue Rock. On
January 29, 1734, accompanied by Knowles Daunt and five others, Emerson
went down to Cresap’s house to arrest him. Cresap shot Daunt in the leg,
from the effects of which he died. They failed to capture Cresap and he
afterward made frequent raids into Kreitz Valley with bands of armed
men.
In July, 1735, when John Wright was harvesting his grain, Cresap
appeared with twenty men, women and lads, armed with guns, swords,
pistols, blunderbusses and drums beating.
Wright approached Cresap and demanded the reason of their military
display. Cresap replied that they came to fight the Pennsylvanians, drew
his sword and aimed his pistol at Wright’s breast, who, by his courage,
completely cowed Cresap and captured his wagons. Wright and his men then
made a fort of the ferryhouse on the west side of the river.
Cresap reported these doings to Governor Ogle, who ordered out the
Maryland militia. Wright learned of this martial movement and engaged
Benjamin Chambers to ascertain their designs. Chambers was suspected as
a spy and arrested, but escaped to Wright’s Ferry and made a full
report. He then went to Donegal and collected a number of Scotch-Irish,
and marched them to Wright’s Ferry, where they repelled two or three
hundred Marylanders, under Colonel Hall.
Cresap built a fort from which bands of armed men went out to raid
plantations, destroy houses and take the settlers prisoners to Maryland.
Joshua Minshal and John Wright, Jr., were the only two men left in
Kreitz’s Valley.
Cresap had surveyed forty tracts of land, which were owned by Germans.
This state of affairs became so critical that Provincial Council
concluded to have Cresap arrested for the murder of Knowles Daunt.
On November 23, 1736, a warrant was placed in the hands of Sheriff
Samuel Smith, who lived at Donegal. He called upon John Kelley, Benjamin
Sterratt, Arthur Buchanan, Samuel Scott, David Priest, John Sterratt,
John Galbraith, James, John and Alexander Mitchell, James Allison and
nineteen others to assist him.
On the night of November 24, 1736, they surrounded Cresap’s house, in
which he had a number of armed men, who fired upon Sheriff Smith and his
party. Laughlin Malone, of Cresap’s party, was killed, and John Copper,
of the Sheriff’s party, was wounded.
Finding that Cresap would not surrender, the Sheriff set his house on
fire, when Cresap attempted to escape, but was overpowered and carried
in triumph to Philadelphia and placed in prison.
Colonel Hall and Captain Higgenbotham came to Cresap’s fort with 300
men, and at different times marched through the valley in martial array.
In January, 1737, a company attacked these Marylanders in Cresap’s fort,
but were repulsed with the loss of eight men.
The Governor of Maryland offered £100 reward for the arrest of John
Wright, Samuel Blunston, Sheriff Samuel Smith, John Ross, Michael
Tanner, Joshua Minshal and Charles Jones. The last three persons were
arrested and taken to Annapolis jail.