1682 to 1790, invaluable in their importance to a full comprehension of
the early history of Pennsylvania. The work has been continued and only
recently the seventh series of the Archives appeared.
In 1849 considerable excitement existed in Pittsburgh and in the western
part of the State, occasioned by the erection of a bridge over the Ohio
River at Wheeling, W. Va., which obstructed the river to navigation in
time of high water. Appeals for relief were made to the Legislature, and
to Congress, and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Measures, however, were adopted which removed all objections.
Governor Johnston was renominated for a second term. His Democratic
opponent was William Bigler, of Clearfield. The campaign was unusually
spirited and was carried on vigorously from midsummer until the day of
the election in October. State questions were forgotten, the Fugitive
Slave law and slavery in the Territories now demanded universal
attention. Bigler was elected by a good majority, and was inaugurated
January 20, 1852.
By a remarkable coincidence his own election as Governor of Pennsylvania
was simultaneous with the election of his elder brother, John, also a
native of Pennsylvania, to the same dignity in the new State of
California.
Governor Bigler’s Administration is marked with stronger features than
any one of his immediate predecessors. Several very important measures
were adopted by the Legislature, the principle of which were the
establishing of the office of the County Superintendent of Common
Schools and the founding of the Pennsylvania Training School for
Feeble-Minded Children.
The completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Harrisburg to
Pittsburgh in February, 1854, added a powerful impulse to the
development of the resources of the State.
The County of Philadelphia was merged with the city February 2, 1854, a
measure of great importance, as it enlarged the sphere of municipal
action.
Governor Bigler urged the payment of the public debt, and used his great
influence in behalf of the public schools with beneficent results.
In March, 1854, Bigler was unanimously nominated for a second term and
immediately entered upon another hard campaign for re-election. Opposed
to him was James Pollock, of Milton, a man of rare culture and ability.
In the midst of the campaign Governor Bigler was stricken down with
sickness, and he lay ill at his home in Clearfield during most of the
canvass, thus being unable to stir up his followers by his personal
presence and earnestness. Pollock’s campaign was allied with the Native
American or Know-Nothing Party. He also was an active leader in the Free
Soil movement. Bigler had violently opposed the Know-Nothing Party from
its first organization, and his attitude toward the Kansas-Nebraska Bill
cost him many votes. As a result Pollock was elected Governor by a large
majority.
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General U. S. Grant Leaves Philadelphia on
Trip Around World, Arriving There on
Return December 16, 1879
There were several incidents in life of General Ulysses Simpson Grant
which are of especial interest to Pennsylvanians.
On June 10, 1865, he was tendered a formal reception at the Union League
Club house in Philadelphia, at which he was received with such
enthusiasm, the general was engaged more than three hours in shaking
hands with his visitors.
When the great fair was held at the Academy of Music, commencing October
23, 1865, to aid the Soldiers and Sailors’ Home, the inauguration
ceremonies were conducted by Lieutenant-General Grant, Major General
Meade, and Admiral Farragut, and an executive committee, including the
most distinguished officers and civilians.
As these three most distinguished officers appeared together, the entire
audience rose and saluted them with long continued applause. They each
made short addresses.
August 14, 1866, General Grant accompanied President Johnson and other
distinguished citizens to Philadelphia, where they were received by a
great procession of militia and firemen.
The burial of General George G. Meade at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia,
November 11, 1872, was the occasion of much mourning.
General Meade was the one conspicuous Philadelphian who stood out above
all other Pennsylvanians in the Civil War, and in the years after the
Rebellion he was an object of admiration to all the people. His death
was regarded as a genuine public loss, and his funeral was attended with
most impressive ceremonies.
The procession contained many of the greatest soldiers and civilians in
the country, chiefest among whom was General Grant, President of the
United States.
On December 18, 1875, President Grant, members of his cabinet and a
large number of senators and representatives in Congress made a trip to
Philadelphia to inspect the Centennial buildings, then nearly completed.
They were entertained at a sumptuous banquet in Horticultural Hall, at
which President Grant delivered the principal address.
President Grant was the guest of honor at the opening of the great
exhibition, May 10, 1876, when simple but appropriate exercises were
held. Four thousand soldiers escorted the President to the grounds. One
hundred and fifty thousand people acclaimed the President and the
Centennial Exposition.
On May 15, 1877, ex-President Grant started on his memorable trip around
the world.
He sailed from the port of Philadelphia in the ship “Indiana.” His
departure attracted much attention, and on the day previous he had held
a public reception in Independence Hall.
He was accompanied down the Delaware River on the steamboat “Twilight”
by a crowd of distinguished citizens, among whom were General Sherman,
Senator Zachariah Chandler, Senator Simon Cameron, and others prominent
in State and Nation.
He was accompanied by his wife and one son, and they made a tour of the
whole civilized world, visiting especially the great countries of Europe
and Asia, and receiving, as a soldier and civilian and the first citizen
of the United States, all the honor which rulers and people could
bestow. As the unofficial representative of his country, his bearing was
such as to win universal admiration and respect.
When he arrived in the Mersey River, England, the ships of all nations
gathered there displayed their flags to greet him.
In England a grand reception was accorded him in every city he visited.
He was received by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales in London, and
later visited the Queen in Windsor Castle.
After visiting the other countries of Europe and being entertained by
all the crowned heads, the United States man-of-war “Vandalia” was
placed at his service and on board her he made a cruise of the
Mediterranean Sea.
He then visited Bombay and Calcutta in India, Hong Kong, Canton and
Peking in China, and finally Japan.
On September 20, 1879, he arrived at San Francisco, where a magnificent
demonstration was made in his honor, and during his route East, across
the United States, he was given public receptions and greeted with every
mark of honor wherever he stopped.
His circuit around the world was accomplished in two years and seven
months, and when he arrived back in Philadelphia, December 16, 1879, on
the Pennsylvania Railroad, a great procession awaited him. All business
was suspended by general consent.
The decorations along the route of the parade were unprecedented in
number, variety and costliness.
The procession under the marshalship of Colonel A. Loudon Snowden, took
nearly half the day in passing a given point, and it is supposed that
hardly less than 40,000 men were in line.
For several days and nights the ex-President and great general had
hardly any time that he could call his own; receptions, entertainments,
banquets, and other methods of welcome and hospitality being kept up in
rapid succession.
He was placed on the retired list of the army by a special act of
Congress, March, 1884, with the rank and pay of General.
During the last few months of his life he wrote his “Memoirs,” which was
published soon after his death, which occurred on Mount McGregor, near
Saratoga, N. Y., July 23, 1885.
His body found its final resting place in a magnificent mausoleum in
Riverside Park, New York City, overlooking the Hudson River.
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Shikellamy, Vicegerent of Six Nations, Died
in Shamokin, December 17, 1748
Shikellamy is the most picturesque and historic Indian character who
ever lived in Pennsylvania. His early life is shrouded in mystery.
It has been claimed that he was a Susquehannock by birth, but others
claim his father was a Frenchman. John Bartram, who accompanied Conrad
Weiser and Lewis Evans to Onondaga in 1743, wrote of Shikellamy in his
journal: “July 10, 1743—He was of the Six Nations, or rather a Frenchman
born at Montreal, and adopted by the Oneidoes after being taken a
prisoner, but his son told me that he (the son) was of the Cayuga
Nations.”
Dr. Crantz, in the “History of the Brethren,” 1768, writes of
Shikellamy:
“When he was spoken to concerning baptism, he said he had been baptized
in infancy. We were informed afterward that he was born of European
parents in French Canada, taken prisoner when a child two years old and
brought up among the Indians. He was so much altered in his way of life
that he was hardly distinguished from other savages.”
His name, according to Dr. George P. Donehoo, State Librarian and an
eminent authority on the Indians of Pennsylvania, is a much corrupted
form of the Oneida chieftain title, Ongwaternohiat-he, meaning, “It has
caused the sky to be light for us.” The other name, Swataney, is a
corrupt form of Onkhiswathe-tani, “He causes it to be light for us.”
The official spelling of the name is Skikellamy.
He was early trained in war, and for his valor was rewarded by adoption
into the Oneida tribe, of which he eventually became the chief, an
exceptional distinction for one not a member of the tribe and possibly
not a full-blooded Indian by birth. It is not probable that he was
appointed vicegerent before 1728. He was not present at the treaty with
the Five Nations in Philadelphia in July of the preceding year, and
James Le Tort does not mention him among the Indians of consequence whom
he met “on the upper parts of the River Susquehanna” in the winter of
1727–28.
The first conference that he attended in Philadelphia was that of July
4–5, 1728, but it does not appear that he took any part in the
proceedings. He was present on a similar occasion in the following
October, when, after the close of the conference, the Council considered
“what present might be proper to be made to Shikellamy, of the Five
Nations, appointed to reside among the Shawnese, whose services had been
and may yet further be of great advantage to this Government.”
At the close of a conference several years later, the Governor having
represented that Shikellamy was “a trusty good man and a great lover of
the English,” commissioned him as a bearer of a present to the Six
Nations and a message inviting them to visit Philadelphia. This they
accordingly accepted, arriving August 18, 1732.
Shikellamy was present on this occasion and he and Conrad Weiser were
employed to transact business between the Indians and the Provincial
Government. He was a great friend of James Logan, and named one of his
sons after this popular provincial officer.
In August, 1740, he went to Philadelphia to inquire against whom the
British were making preparations for war, rumors of which had reached
the great council at Onondaga. He was also present at the conference in
Philadelphia July, 1742, at the treaty in Lancaster in June and July,
1744, and at Philadelphia conference in the following August. On April,
1748, accompanied by his son and Conrad Weiser, he visited Philadelphia
for the last time, but no business of a public nature was transacted.
One of the chief facts of his life as vicegerent of the Iroquois
confederation was his great friendliness to the cause of the Moravian
missionaries among the Indians. All the prominent leaders of the
Moravian Church who came to the Susquehanna region, visited him at his
home at Shamokin, and were kindly received. Count Zinzindorf was among
these and none was more favorably impressed with the old Oneida
diplomat. His journal for September 22, 1742, reads:
“He was truly an excellent and good man, possessed of many noble
qualities of mind, that would do honor to many white men, laying claims
to refinement and intelligence. He was possessed of great dignity,
sobriety and prudence, and was particularly noted for his extreme
kindness to the inhabitants with whom he came in contact.”
Loskiel, who knew him well, thus speaks of him: “Being the first
magistrate, and head chief of all the Iroquois Indians living on the
banks of the Susquehanna, as far as Onondaga, he thought it incumbent
upon him to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white people.
He assisted the missionaries in building, and defended them against the
insults of the drunken Indians; being himself never addicted to
drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never wished to become a
fool.”
He had built his house upon pillars, for safety, in which he always shut
himself up when any drunken frolic was going on in the village.
He had been taken ill on a trip to Philadelphia, but so far recovered
that he had visited Conrad Weiser at Tulpehocken, April, 1748, and
completed the trip to Philadelphia.
He was again taken ill upon his return to Shamokin, and, in June,
Council was advised he was so ill that he might lose his eyesight, but
he recovered sufficiently to make a trip to Bethlehem early in December.
On his return he became so ill that he only reached his home by the
assistance of Bishop Zeisberger.
His death occurred December 17, 1748, and was extremely pathetic. His
daughter and the Reverend David Zeisberger were with him during his last
illness and death.
Bishop Zeisberger and Henry Fry made him a coffin, and the Indians
painted the body in their gayest colors, bedecked it with his choicest
ornaments, and placed with him his weapons, according to Indian custom.
Then after Christian rites conducted by the good Bishop, he was buried
in the Indian burying ground of his people, near the site of old Fort
Augusta, in the present Sunbury.
Shikellamy left to mourn him three sons and a daughter. Another son,
Unhappy Jake, was killed in the war with the Catawba in 1743. The three
sons who survived were Taghneghdoarus, also known as John Shikellamy,
who succeeded his distinguished father in authority, but never gained
the confidence in which he was held by Indians or whites; Tahgahjute or
Sayughtowa, better known as James Logan, the most celebrated of the
children of Shikellamy, and John Petty. His daughter was the widow of
Cajadies, the “best hunter among all the Indians,” who died in November,
1747.
After the death of Shikellamy, Shamokin declined as a center of Indian
affairs. His death was the beginning of evil days. His son
Taghneghdoarus was made chief, but was unable to restrain his people.
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Barbara Frietchie, Native of Pennsylvania,
Died December 18, 1862
Where is the person who has not been thrilled with the reading or
recitation of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “Barbara Frietchie?”
It is even doubtful if the Massachusetts Quaker poet realized how famous
he was going to make the venerable Barbara, and himself, when he penned
his immortal poem. But there are few persons of the present generation
who know anything about the personal side of Barbara Frietchie.
This patriot was born in Lancaster County, Pa., December 3, 1766, when
George Washington was a young man of thirty-four. She was the third
daughter of John Niclaus Hauer and Catherine Zeiler Hauer, who were both
born in Germany. In 1753 they emigrated to America.
When Barbara was two years old her parents moved to Frederick, Md., then
a long distance away. The trip was made in old-fashioned ox carts.
This noted woman was born during patriotic times. The hated Stamp Act
had just been repealed. In fact, Frederick County, in 1765, was the
first to officially protest against it.
It is said of Barbara that she met many of the patriots of that day, and
when she was twenty-five years old she had the pleasure of conversing
with George Washington.
This event occurred one afternoon in 1791 at Kimball’s Tavern, now the
City Hall of Frederick.
A number of ladies were participating in a quilting bee, when a
messenger leaped from his horse in front of the hotel and announced that
President Washington would soon arrive and intended to pass the night at
the tavern.
This unusual news broke up the party, and the ladies turned in to assist
in preparing for the reception to the great Washington.
The tavern did not possess a suitable coffee urn, and Barbara Hauer
hurried to her home and returned with her choice Liverpool coffee pot, a
precious heirloom in the family.
Barbara was the one who was specially assigned to look after the
personal comfort of the President, and her pretty face, pleasant manners
and vivacious spirit greatly pleased the first President of the United
States.
After supper he gave Barbara a beautiful china bowl, which he was
carrying to Mount Vernon in his traveling bag. Nothing that she
possessed in after life did she prize so highly as this precious gift.
The beginning of the one romance of her life happened in an unusually
strange manner. When she was fourteen years old, Barbara accompanied her
mother to a quilting party, where all sorts of things and events of that
period were discussed, from parson to pig butchering, petticoats,
pumpkin pies, sickness, deaths and births. One old maiden lady coyly
announced that Mr. and Mrs. Casper Frietchie had that day been presented
with a fine baby boy. None present ventured the prediction that some day
little Barbara would become the bride of this little John Casper
Frietchie, but nevertheless, twenty-six years later, May 6, 1806, that
is just what happened.
Despite the somewhat unusual difference in their ages, they lived
happily throughout their married life. It is claimed their home was one
of the most popular in Frederick.
Young Frietchie was the proud proprietor of a prosperous glove factory
and he enjoyed a fair income.
Besides taking much pride in her housekeeping Barbara Frietchie was a
great reader and kept herself well informed upon subjects of that
period.
The Frietchies had no children of their own, but adopted Catharine
Stover, a niece of Mrs. Frietchie, who lived with them until she was
married in 1825.
Mr. Frietchie died after a very short illness in 1849. Mrs. Frietchie
continued to reside in their old home, where she devoted her time to her
flowers, garden and the entertainment of her young relatives.
At the breaking out of the Civil War, Barbara Frietchie was one of
Abraham Lincoln’s most loyal supporters.
The story of the flag-waving incident which resulted in Whittier’s poem
is heard in different ways, but it is a fact that the geographical
location of Frederick caused it to figure conspicuously in the movements
of both armies.
Sentiment was naturally divided, there being a strong feeling both for
and against the Union. It was a trying time, but the real bitterness of
the war came toward the close of the summer of 1862.
The Confederate forces had crossed the Potomac and entered Maryland on
September 5. The main body encamped at Frederick Junction, three miles
south of Frederick, but a large portion of the army marched through the
city on September 6 and went into camp.
The next morning (Sunday), while his troops lay resting General
“Stonewall” Jackson took advantage of the opportunity to attend divine
worship.
Early on the morning of the 10th the army broke camp and moved westward,
going out West Patrick street, passing the home of Barbara Frietchie. It
was at this time the flag incident occurred.
The venerable patriot hearing the troops were approaching, took her silk
flag from between the leaves of the old family Bible, and stepped out on
her front porch, thinking they were Union soldiers. Immediately an
officer rode up, saying: “Granny, give me your flag.” “You can’t have
it,” she said, and then she noticed the gray uniforms, but she continued
to wave the flag.
The officer spoke to his men, and they turned facing her. She thought
they intended to fire on her, but, instead, the officer rode off a short
distance to Mill Alley, and returned in a moment with another officer
and some soldiers.
This officer said to her: “Give me your flag, Granny, and I'll stick it
in my horse’s head.” “No, you can’t have it,” she said. One of the men
then called out, “Shoot her damned head off.”
The officer turned angrily upon him, saying: “If you harm a hair of her
head, I'll shoot you down like a dog.” Then turning to the trembling old
lady, he said: “Go on, Granny, wave your flag as much as you please.”
This version of the affair was related by Barbara Frietchie to her niece
who was visiting her, some time after the incident. It is also said that
this account has been certified by Confederate soldiers, who also stated
that the episode was talked about by the troops all through the lines.
McClellan’s army followed closely and none gave them a more joyous
welcome than dame Barbara, who, with her silk flag in hand, stood at her
front window. She attracted much attention, many soldiers going from the
ranks to speak to her.
Mrs. Frietchie did not live to see the victorious end of the Civil War.
Shortly after the celebration of her ninety-sixth birthday, on December
3, 1862, she was stricken with pneumonia and died December 18, 1862. Her
body was tenderly carried to the churchyard and placed by the side of
her husband.
May 30, 1913, the bodies of Barbara and her husband were reinterred in
Mount Olivet Cemetery at Frederick. On September 9, 1914, an artistic
monument in honor of the famous woman was unveiled upon which is a large
tablet bearing the words of Whittier’s poem, “Barbara Frietchie.”
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Thaddeus Stevens Inquiry of Masonry and
Odd Fellowship Began December
19, 1835
At the gubernatorial election in October, 1835, owing to an unfortunate
defection in the Democratic ranks whereby there were two nominees for
that office, Governor George Wolf and Henry A. Muhlenberg, Joseph Ritner
was elected to the highest office of the State by a minority vote.
In possession of both the executive and legislative branches of the
State Government, the Anti-Masons were determined to carry out various
measures with a high hand.
No sooner did the session of the Legislature open in December following
than did Thaddeus Stevens, bring in a bill entitled: “An act to suppress
secret societies, bound together by secret and unlawful oaths,” while
both houses were deluged with petitions “praying God an investigation
into the evils of Freemasonry.”
On December 15, the oath of office was administered to Governor Ritner,
after which he addressed the members of both House and Senate. In this
inaugural he used the following:
“The supremacy of the laws, and the equal rights of the people, whether
threatened or assailed by individuals or by secret sworn associations, I
shall, so far as may be compatible with the constitutional powers of the
executive, endeavor to maintain, as well in compliance with the known
will of the people, as from obligations of duty to the Commonwealth.
“In these endeavors I shall entertain no doubt of zealous cooperation by
the enlightened and patriotic Legislature of the State. The people have
willed the destruction of all secret bodies, and that will cannot be
disregarded.”
Four days later, December 19, on motion of Mr. Stevens himself, all the
petitions were referred to a committee consisting of “Messrs. Stevens,
Cox, Huston (of Fayette) Spackman and Frew, with power to send for
persons and papers.”
On the same day this committee organized and prepared a series of eleven
questions which were to be put to each person brought before the
committee. The questions were intended to establish the fact of
membership in Free Masonry or Odd Fellowship and whether or not such
witness could repeat the several oaths of the society to which he
belonged.