in November, 1771, by John Dunlap. During the British occupancy Dunlap
continued the publication of the Packet at Lancaster, and in July, 1778,
he published at Philadelphia, and made it a semi-weekly, and then a
tri-weekly.
In 1783, Dunlap sold his paper to D. C. Claypoole, who had previously
been a partner, and a year later the Packet was published daily. This
then became the first daily newspaper in the United States.
The Pennsylvania Ledger, or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey Weekly Advertiser, was first published in Philadelphia, January
28, 1775, by James Humphreys, Jr. Humphreys was deemed a Tory and his
paper denounced as being under corrupt influence. Humphreys was obliged
in November, 1776, to discontinue the Ledger, and leave the city.
He returned when the British occupied Philadelphia and revived the
publication as a semi-weekly. The last number was published May 23,
1778, a month before the British evacuated the city. He was in
possession of advance information, as are some editors of today.
The Pennsylvania Evening Post by Benjamin Towne, as a tri-weekly, was
first published January 24, 1775, and it was the third newspaper in the
colonies which was published as an evening paper. This paper continued
publication in Philadelphia during the British occupancy.
Towne was proscribed by a law of Pennsylvania. He did not, however,
leave the State, and continued to publish the Post until 1782, when it
died a natural death.
Story and Humphrey’s Pennsylvania Mercury and Universal Advertiser first
came before the public in April, 1775. This was the last newspaper to be
established in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution. The Mercury was
short lived. The printing house, with all its contents, was destroyed by
fire in December, 1775, and in consequence of the event, the paper was
discontinued.
----------
John F. Watson, Annalist, Historian, Antiquarian
and Collector of Historical Objects,
Died December 23, 1860
John Fanning Watson died December 23, 1860, at the age of eighty-two
years, and left behind him a monument to his mental powers in his
“Annals of Philadelphia.”
Mr. Watson was a native of Burlington County, N. J., where he was born
June 13, 1779. His parents were of English origin; his grandfather,
Thomas Watson, came to America in 1667, settling at Salem, where William
Watson, father of John F. was born.
Among his ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of our country.
All were devoted patriots, with the exception of one, a distinguished
Tory, General Edmund Fanning, a graduate of Yale, in 1757, of whom The
Gentleman’s Magazine, for 1818, says, “the world contained no better
man.”
After completing the usual course of education to qualify himself for
mercantile pursuits, John Fanning Watson entered the counting-house of
James Vanuxem, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, with whom he
remained but a short time, having offended the French interests of that
firm by becoming a member of the Macpherson Blues, of which body of
volunteer militiamen, he was one of last six surviving members at the
time of his decease.
He was now nineteen years of age, and a clerkship in the War Department
at Washington was offered him, which he accepted, and held until 1804,
when he engaged himself in business with General James O'Hara, formerly
Quartermaster-General to General Anthony Wayne’s Indian Army, and chief
founder of the City of Pittsburgh.
During this business connection Watson resided at New Orleans, holding
the responsible position of Commissary of Provisions for the United
States Army at all the posts in Louisiana.
At this period there was no Protestant worship in that city, and to
remedy this, together with Edward Livingston, he became the prime. mover
in establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church by giving a call to the
Reverend Mr. Chase, since the venerable Bishop of Ohio and Illinois.
After a residence of two years at New Orleans sudden domestic affliction
caused his return to Philadelphia to the support of his widowed mother,
and to this event the public are profoundly indebted for his invaluable
services as a local historian of the olden time. As such his works will
ever be enduring monuments of his wonderful assiduity and laborious
research.
Following his return to Philadelphia he made his first essay as a
bookseller and publisher, establishing a business on Chestnut Street.
Among the various works he published were Dr. Adam Clark’s Commentary on
the Old and New Testament, the Select Reviews of Literature, etc.
He contributed frequently to the columns of various literary,
scientific, historical, and ecclesiastical serials.
Besides historical works, he left some unpublished manuscript volumes on
theology, which show great originality of thought and deep research. He
also devoted some pages to the vindication of Cromwell. To his marriage
with a lineal descendant of the Lord Protector may be attributed some of
the interest he evinced on this subject.
In 1814, Mr. Watson was elected cashier of the Bank of Germantown, which
position he held till 1847, when he was chosen treasurer and secretary
of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Company.
During his connection with the Bank of Germantown he resided in the
stone bank building of which the celebrated annalist himself says, “The
house in which I now reside was once honoured with the presence of
Generals Washington, Knox and Greene, shortly after the battle of
Germantown. They slept in it one or two nights.”
In 1859, being at that time eighty years of age, he retired from all
active business.
In 1820, he began to collect antiquarian material, the first being
history and legends of Germantown, though none of them were printed
until about 1828, when some extracts from his manuscript books were
printed in Hazard’s “Register of Pennsylvania.”
In 1830 the first edition of the “Annals of Philadelphia,” was issued,
the same “being a Collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Incidents of the
City and its Inhabitants from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers; also
Olden Time Researches and Reminiscences of New York City in 1828.” It
was in one volume of eight hundred pages, and illustrated by
lithographs.
In 1842 the work was republished in two volumes, revised and enlarged,
and again, in 1856, he made a full and final revision, adding an
appendix to the second volume. The editions subsequent to the first did
not contain the matter relative to New York.
A noteworthy characteristic of Watson was his reverence for the graves
of great and good men, who had been useful in their generation, as
illustrated in the removal of the remains of Thomas Godfrey, the
inventor of the quadrant, and family from a neglected spot on his old
farm to Laurel Hill, where a suitable monument was erected by
subscription to his memory.
In 1832, he published “Historic Tales of Olden Time” of New York City,
which was followed the next year by “Historic Tales of Olden Time,
concerning the Early Settlement and Progress of Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania.”
Then followed other volumes of both New York annals and works other than
history.
Mr. Watson’s first publisher and most active co-worker was Samuel
Hazard, and to them is due the awakening of that spirit of
antiquarianism and historical research from which sprung the great
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Watson was an ardent collector of all objects of historic interest,
many of which are now deposited in the Philadelphia Library and with the
Historical Society.
----------
Colonel Plunket Begins Action in Second
Pennamite War on December 24, 1775
The first armed conflict between the Proprietary Government and the
Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley occurred when the Yankees
came down into the region in 1769 and seated themselves under the
Government of Connecticut. The conflict lasted, with more or less
intensity, until 1771, when the Penns were compelled to surrender and
leave the intruders in questioned possession of that territory. This
series of attacks, assaults and real battles has since been known as the
first Pennamite War.
For four years the Yankees lived in tranquillity, and were not even
seriously disturbed by the Indians.
On September 28, 1775, Colonel William Plunket, the Provincial
commandant at Fort Augusta, at the head of a large body of troops,
defeated the Yankees at Squire John Vincent’s in Judea Township on the
West Branch, and marched all the men as prisoners to Sunbury.
The old colonel was more elated than wisdom seems to have justified. He
became the man of the hour and, supported by a resolution of the
Provincial Assembly, October 27, 1775, which justified the attack on the
Yankees, he set about to muster troops for an expedition against the
Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, in spite of the fact that the weather
was becoming very severe. Snow had fallen early in November.
The Council of Safety of Connecticut learned of the determination to
send a large armed force against their settlement at Wyoming, and
Governor Trumbull wrote to the President of Congress, November 11, 1775,
complaining of this invasion.
Congress adopted a resolution requesting both States to prevent
hostilities. But the Assembly did not welcome this interference,
especially as they had received a letter from Colonel Samuel Hunter,
lieutenant for Northumberland County, dated Sunbury, November 20, 1775,
acquainting the House that two of the Magistrates and Sheriff William
Cooke had an interview with Colonel Zebulon Butler and some of the
principal men among the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming. They read the
late Resolves of the Pennsylvania Assembly to them, and inquired whether
they would peaceably submit themselves to the laws of Pennsylvania. They
answered that they despised the laws of that Province and never would
submit unless compelled by force.
Two days later, November 25, Governor John Penn wrote to Judge Plunket
and his associate Justices as follows:
“I have just now received a message from the Assembly, founded on a
letter addressed to them from the county of Northumberland, respecting
the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, requesting me to give orders for a
due execution of the laws of this Province in the counties of
Northumberland and Northampton. In consequence thereof, I do most
cheerfully order you to use your utmost diligence and activity in
putting the laws of this Province in execution throughout the County of
Northumberland; and you may depend on the faith of the House, and my
concurrence with them, that every proper and necessary expense that may
be incurred on the occasion will be defrayed.”
After the failure of the expedition to Squire Vincent’s the New
Englanders in Wyoming managed, by the aid of spies, and in other ways,
to keep themselves informed as to the movements of the Pennamites.
There are letters extant which reveal the activities in and about
Sunbury which were written there and sent to Colonel Butler and others
in authority at Wyoming. One such letter advised Colonel Butler that the
Pennamites were surely going to march against Wyoming, and would not be
stopped even by Congress.
It was the purpose of Colonel Plunket to recruit all the troops which
could be raised along the West Branch settlements at Fort Augusta, and
then form a junction with the troops which were to be raised in
Northampton County, at Fishing Creek, about a mile and a half above the
present borough of Bloomsburg.
The Connecticut delegates in Congress presented a memorial in that body
on December 18, 1775, in which they complained bitterly of the
threatened invasion, and advised Congress that the troops had begun to
march December 11. This was accompanied by depositions from inhabitants,
tending to strengthen their statements about the number of the invading
forces and their intentions.
During the continuance of the first Pennamite War from 1769 to 1771,
every expedition against Wyoming was of a civil character. There were no
direct military maneuvers. The Sheriff of Northampton County, of which
county Wyoming was then a part, was the chief officer on duty, merely
supported by the military commanders, with their several companies; the
burnished musket, the glittering bayonet, the four-pounder, the whole
martial array being simply an appurtenant to a peace officer while he
should serve a civil process.
The same policy was again pursued. Colonel Plunket and his large force
and fine equipment, were the mere accompaniments of the Sheriff, whose
business to Wyoming was to arrest two or three individuals on civil
writs.
The old colonel had mustered 600 well-armed and well-equipped men and
the march was taken up at Fort Augusta, December 15, 1775.
In order that the proposed expedition might be considered of a civil
rather than a military character, this small army was denominated the
“_posse comitatus_ of Northumberland.” Moreover it was to be accompanied
on its march by William Scull, the newly elected Sheriff of
Northumberland County, within whose jurisdiction the Wyoming lands lay,
if to be considered a part of the Province of Pennsylvania.
He was provided with a train of boats, with two small field-pieces, one
of which was mounted on the largest and leading boat, ready for action
on board or to be landed if necessary. There was a second field-piece
mounted on one of the other boats, a large supply of ammunition for
cannon, rifles and muskets, supplies and stores.
About the time Colonel Plunket began active preparations for his
expedition Benjamin Harvey, Jr., and another Yankee settler and trader
of Wyoming Valley, who were returning from Harris Ferry in bateaux laden
with supplies, and laboriously and slowly pulling their boats up the
Susquehanna toward home, were seized by the Pennsylvanians as they
reached Sunbury, thrown into jail, and their boats and cargoes
confiscated.
When Plunket was ready to proceed up the river he placed Harvey in the
leading boat, with orders to pilot the flotilla of the expedition to its
destination.
----------
Pennamites Humiliatingly Defeated by
Yankees, December 25, 1775
On December 20, the very day on which Congress adopted resolutions
calling on Pennsylvania and Connecticut to cease armed conflict during
the period of the Revolution, it was learned by the Yankee scouts that
Colonel William Plunket and the Pennamites had pushed their flotilla up
the North Branch of the Susquehanna River as far as the mouth of
Nescopeck Creek, about nineteen miles below Nanticoke Falls, but that
they were advancing slowly on account of the snow, which was then
falling, and the ice which was gathering on the river.
Colonel Zebulon Butler quickly mustered his available force, which
numbered about 400 men and boys, on Saturday, December 23, and marched
to the left bank of Harvey’s Creek, where he encamped for the night on a
level stretch of land near the river.
The vanguard of Colonel Plunket’s expedition arrived at “Harvey’s
Landing” shortly after the Yankees had gone into camp above Harvey’s
Creek.
Major John Garrett was dispatched under a flag of truce to Colonel
Plunket to ascertain the meaning of his approach with armed militia. The
answer returned to Colonel Butler was that he came peaceably as an
attendant to Sheriff Scull, who was authorized to arrest several persons
at Wyoming for violating the laws of Pennsylvania, and he trusted there
would be no opposition to a measure so reasonable and pacific. Major
Garrett reported to Colonel Butler and advised him of the strength of
the enemy.
Colonel Butler early Sunday morning (December 24) dispatched Ensign
Mason F. Alden with a detail of eighteen men to remain on guard at
Harvey’s Creek. Captain Lazarus Stewart, with twenty men, was detached
to the east side of the river, above Nanticoke Falls, with orders to lie
in ambush and prevent the landing on that shore of any boat’s crew.
Colonel Butler, with the remainder of his force, then retired up the
river about a mile to a point of natural defense on the plantation of
Benjamin Harvey, Sr., where a precipitous ledge of rocks extends from
the Shawanese Mountains in a southerly direction almost to the bank of
the river, a distance of nearly half a mile. The Yankees took up their
position in this rocky rampart, and wherever it was defective for their
defense they erected breastworks of logs and stones.
Later in the morning of Sunday about 11 o’clock, Ensign Alden, being
apprised at the mouth of Harvey’s Creek of the approach of the Plunket
expedition, retired with his men up the river and joined Colonel Butler.
Deploying his column on the flat just abandoned by the Yankees, Plunket
directed a spirited advance in pursuit of Alden, not doubting but that
the main force of the settlers was near and that the hour of conflict
had arrived. In less than thirty minutes the advancing line was halted
by Colonel Plunket, who exclaimed, “My God! What a breastwork!”
Scarcely had those words been uttered when there came a discharge of
musketry, crackling from end to end of the long-extended rampart, and
giving no uncertain notice that the unlooked-for barricade was
garrisoned.
One of Plunket’s men, Hugh McWilliams, was killed and three others
wounded, while the whole body of Pennamites was thrown into great
confusion and without returning the fire of the Yankees immediately
retreated to Harvey’s Creek.
They then brought two of their boats from Harvey’s Landing past
Nanticoke Falls by land and made preparations to cross the river in
detachments, in order to march by way of the eastern shore against the
village of Wyoming, the objective point of the expedition.
After nightfall the boats, well filled with soldiers, started across the
river some distance above the falls. In the bow of the first boat sat
Benjamin Harvey, still held a prisoner by the Pennamites, and acting as
pilot under compulsion, while Colonel Plunket himself occupied a place
in the second boat.
When the boats nearly reached the opposite shore they were, without
warning, fired upon by Captain Lazarus Stewart and his men, who were
concealed in the thick brush on the river’s bank.
Two or three men in the first boat were wounded, one of whom, Jesse
Lukens, subsequently died. All the occupants of the boat would have been
killed, probably, had not Harvey made his presence known to the Yankees.
The boats were hurriedly backed astern, whereby they safely shot through
the rifles and into the pool at Harvey’s Landing. Thus ended the
occurrences of Sunday.
Early in the morning of Monday, which was Christmas, the Pennamites were
astir. Colonel Plunket formed his men and marched them into two
divisions toward the breastworks held by the Yankees. While one division
stormed the works, the other ascended the mountain on their left in an
attempt to turn the right flank of Colonel Butler’s defenders.
The conflict lasted, with frequent cessations, during the greater part
of the day, and on the part of the Yankees three or four men were killed
and three times as many more wounded. Toward the close of the day
Colonel Plunket realized that the position of the Yankees was too strong
to be carried by assault and he ordered a retreat down the west side of
the river.
In this movement he was closely pursued by Captain Stewart and his party
on the east side of the river, who determined, if possible, to capture
at least one of the boats of the Pennamites. But Harvey, who was still a
prisoner, called to them not to fire. So the expedition was permitted to
float peaceably downstream toward Fort Augusta.
Colonel Zebulon Butler reported the battle to the Connecticut
authorities under date of December 27, 1775, and stated the losses among
the Plunket forces to have been fifty or sixty dead and wounded and that
two were killed and three wounded of his own party and that one had
since died.
The Pennamites reported the affair quite differently. William Scull, the
Sheriff; Samuel Harris, Coroner; William Plunket, Samuel Hunter, Michael
Troy and John Weitzel, Justices, wrote to Governor Penn under date
Sunbury, December 30, 1775, in which they related the expedition as one
to serve legal processes. They blamed the Yankees for firing upon the
Sheriff’s posse without warning, and even with firing on the wounded as
they retreated down the river.
The Governor transmitted this letter to the Provincial Assembly and
asked them to pay the bills.
Four days after the battle the inhabitants of Westmoreland assembled in
town meeting, elected officers and appointed a committee to repair to
Philadelphia to “lay before the Honorable Continental Congress an
account of the late invasion made by the Tory Party of the Pennsylvania
people.” It was also voted to collect funds for three women whose
husbands were killed in the battle.
Jesse Lukens, who lost his life in this ill-fated expedition, was a
young man of much promise, the son of John Lukens, who was the Surveyor
General of Pennsylvania from 1769 till his death in 1789. Jesse was born
August 8, 1748, and had only recently arrived at Sunbury on a vacation
and joined the Plunket expedition as a lark.
----------
Pennsylvania Militia in Battle of Trenton,
December 26, 1776
Early in the Revolution Pennsylvania began to suffer severe losses. Each
of the battalions organized at the request of Congress had been sent
immediately to the front, some to Canada, some to the defense of the
Hudson, and the balance with the main army.
During the summer of 1776 the necessities of the Continental service
were such that the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania placed the State
battalions under Colonels Samuel Miles, Samuel J. Atlee and Daniel
Brodhead at the disposal of Congress. These were marched to Long Island,
where, with the Continental Regiments of the Pennsylvania Line, viz:
Colonel Shee’s, Magaw’s and Lambert Cadwalader’s, they were engaged in
battle August 27, which resulted in the defeat of the American forces
and the evacuation of Long Island. The Pennsylvanians sustained severe
loss. Lieutenant Colonel Caleb Perry and other officers were killed.
Colonel Miles, Colonel Atlee and Lieutenant Colonel James Piper were
among the many taken prisoners.
Fort Washington was reduced November 16 and again Pennsylvania lost
heavily and the battalions of Morgan, Cadwalader, Atlee, Swope, Watts
and Montgomery were taken prisoners, and, in addition to those losses,
Howe was menacing Philadelphia.
Congress made a precipitate adjournment in Philadelphia and removed to
Baltimore. General Washington dispatched Major General Israel Putnam to
Philadelphia to direct the defense of that place. He arrived December
12, and assumed military command of the city. The fort at Billingsport
was of little consequence, and works were commenced at Red Bank, N. J.
General Howe returned for winter quarters in New York, leaving British
troops at Trenton and Burlington, which threatened Philadelphia from the
east side of the Delaware. The Americans had brigades under Lord
Stirling and Generals Mercer, Stephen and De Fermoy, at the several
ferries from Coryells (New Hope) to Yardleys. General Ewing was farther
south with the Pennsylvania Flying Camp. Philemon Dickinson’s troops
were opposite Bordentown, Cadwalader’s were near Bristol, and Colonel
Nixon’s Third Pennsylvania Battalion was at Dunks Ferry.
On December 25 Colonel John Cadwalader and Colonel Samuel Miles, who was
then a prisoner of war, were appointed by Pennsylvania to be brigadier
generals.
General Washington, with his army, was on the west bank of the Delaware,
encamped near Taylorsville, then McConkeys Ferry, eight miles above
Trenton.