Part 35

This association held another and more important meeting at Carlisle, April 30, 1765, when they elected officers and renewed their application to the proprietaries and asked for 24,000 acres of land along the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

In this formal application they stated their object was “to embody themselves on some good land at some distance from the inhabited part of the Province, where by their industry they might procure a comfortable subsistance for themselves and by their arms, union and increase become a powerful barrier to the Province.”

These officers knew that the Proprietaries had not that much land to award them and that they had not yet purchased the West Branch lands from the Indians, but at this meeting they adopted a strong resolution calling upon them to make such a purchase.

Following the French and Indian War the lawless white men had been encroaching upon Indian lands, provoked hostilities and murdered many innocent Indians. The situation became so acute that General Gage offered troops to assist Governor Penn in removing and punishing these intruders.

Governor Penn appealed to the Assembly for help. In the discussion of this important matter it was learned from George Croghan, Sir William Johnson and others that the Indians designed a northern confederacy, and were determined to avenge this intrusion and the murder of the Conestoga Indians at Lancaster.

The Assembly agreed to pass a boundary bill. They also sent a message to the Indians promising to punish those responsible for the Conestoga massacre, and urged a conference at which a boundary line could be established. They also appropriated £3000 as a present to appease the Indians.

During the following spring several conferences were held, the largest being at Fort Pitt, where many chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations were present; in all 1103 men, women and children. The explanations were satisfactory and the presents and cash joyously received.

But it is quite probable that another savage war was averted by the intervention of Sir William Johnson, who, at this critical period, suggested a great council be held at Fort Stanwix, where this vital question could be definitely decided. This council was held in October, 1768, with Governor Penn present in person, as well as the principal chiefs of the tribes which had grievances to air.

The council, in the treaty of November 5, 1768, settled the boundary dispute and the Indians sold to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania most of the central and western end of the State, excepting a small strip along Lake Erie. The consideration was $10,000.

Now that the Proprietaries had purchased the land desired by the association, on February 3, 1769, it was ordered by the Board of Property “that Colonel Francis and the officers of the First and Second Battalions of the Pennsylvania Regiment be allowed to take up 24,000 acres, to be divided among them in district surveys on the waters of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, to be seated with a family for each 300 acres, within two years from the time of the survey, paying £5 per hundred and one penny sterling per acre.”

Near the close of February many of the officers met at Fort Augusta and agreed to take the land proposed by the Proprietaries, and that one of the tracts should be surveyed on the West Branch, adjoining Andrew Montour’s place at Chillisquaque Creek, and one in Buffalo Valley. It was also agreed that Captains Plunket, Brady, Piper and Lieutenant Askey should accompany William Scull to the eastern side of the river as they made the surveys.

These surveys were promptly made and another meeting was held at Fort Augusta, when it was determined that the third tract of 8000 acres should be surveyed on Bald Eagle Creek. Captains Hunter, Brady and Piper were appointed to accompany Charles Lukens as he made the survey.

May 16, 1769, the officers met at Harris Ferry, where Messrs. Maclay, Scull and Lukens laid before them the drafts of their respective surveys. They agreed that Colonel Turbutt Francis should receive his share, 2075 acres, surveyed to him in one tract. Accordingly he selected land upon which the town of Milton is now the center.

Lots were then drawn by the other officers for the choice of lands. Captain William Hendricks, Captain William Plunket, Captain John Brady, Captain John Kern, Lieutenant Dr. Thomas Wiggins, Captain Conrad Bucher, Captain William Irvine and Lieutenants Askey, Stewart and McAllister took land in Buffalo Valley.

Ensign A. Stein, Lieutenant Daniel Hunsicker, Captain William Piper, Lieutenant James Hayes, Captain Samuel Hunter, Captain Nicholas Hausegger took lands above Chillisquaque Creek. Major John Philip de Haas was the principal officer to be awarded land on the Bald Eagle, and near him were Lieutenant James Hays and Thomas Wiggans, Ensign William McMeen, Lieutenant Hunsicker, Captain Timothy Green, Captain John Brady, Captain James Irvine and Captain William Plunket.

Colonel Francis acquired by purchase land from Chillisquaque Creek to and including the present town of Northumberland, and then owned a continuous strip from the North Branch to a point near Watsontown, a distance of eighteen miles along the West Branch. This made him one of the most extensive land owners of that time.

By these awards the West Branch Valley was permanently settled by these distinguished officers or their kin, and many of the families resident there today are descendants of these sturdy patriots.

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British Foragers Massacre Americans at Crooked Billet, May 1, 1778

With the exception of occasional depredations committed by the British foraging parties during the winter of 1777–78, all was quiet on the Delaware. The vigilance of Generals James Potter and John Lacey greatly restrained these forays. In the meantime General Washington, with the aid of Baron von Steuben and other foreign officers in the Continental army, transformed the band of American patriots into a well-disciplined, well-drilled and confident army.

General Wayne’s command was encamped during the whole winter and spring at Mount Joy, in Montgomery County, and materially assisted in securing supplies of provisions for the army at Valley Forge.

When Washington withdrew from Whitemarsh, he was anxious that the upper part of the Delaware-Schuylkill peninsula should be well guarded. A thousand Pennsylvania militia were placed under command of General John Lacey, January 9, 1778. Lacey established his headquarters at the Crooked Billet Tavern, Bucks County, now called Hatboro, about twenty-five miles north of Philadelphia.

The country nearer Philadelphia, where the British were encamped, was thus open to the Queen’s Rangers and James’ and Hovenden’s Loyalists, who foraged and ravaged as they pleased. There was intense hatred between these Tories and the Continentals.

The British continually employed troops to forage and plunder, and while Lacey was himself in Bucks County, he could do nothing to save it from their ravages. But his energy and enterprise, even with his small forces, enabled him to reduce the supplies of Philadelphia so materially that the attempt was made to destroy his command, and an expedition was sent against him.

The party was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, comprising light infantry, cavalry and Simcoe’s Rangers, and started on May 1, 1778. Simcoe was to get in Lacey’s rear and a party was to be placed in ambush, while the mounted infantry and cavalry advanced along the road.

Lacey’s officers and patrols were negligent, and his force was completely surprised and surrounded on all sides. They retreated fighting, but without their baggage, and finally got away with a loss of twenty-six killed, eight or ten wounded, and fifty-eight missing.

The British, as at Paoli, bayoneted many of the American troops after they were so seriously wounded they could be of no further effect against them; others of the wounded were thrown in among some buckwheat straw, which was then set on fire, and they were roasted to death. The bodies of many of the killed among the Americans were then thrown into the burning straw. The famous scoundrels who committed these atrocities were the Tory soldiers of Simcoe’s Rangers. The British loss was nominal.

Among the American slain in this massacre was Captain John Downey, who had been a schoolmaster in Philadelphia and a gallant volunteer at Trenton and Princeton. He had surveyed the Delaware River for the Committee of Safety, and was acting as commissary to General Lacey’s brigade. He was bayoneted and mutilated while lying wounded and a prisoner at the Crooked Billet.

A monument was erected in December, 1861, to the victims of Lacey’s command in this fight, on the battlefield at Hatboro. The surprise was a legitimate act of war, but the massacre after surrender was a barbarous atrocity.

The Supreme Executive Council of the State, and the Assembly in session at Lancaster, and the Continental Congress at York had been principally engaged in legislating for the interests of the army, preparing for the ensuing campaign. The Assembly passed the “act for the attainder of divers traitors,” among whom were specially mentioned Joseph Galloway, Andrew Allen, Reverend Jacob Duche, John Biddle, John Allen, William Allen, James Rankin, of York County, Gilbert Hicks, of Bucks County, Samuel Shoemaker, late of Penn’s Council, John Potts, Nathaniel Vernon, ex-Sheriff of Chester County, Christian Fouts, formerly lieutenant-colonel in Lancaster militia, Reynold Keen and John Biddle, latter two of Berks County. Reverend Duche had made the prayer at the opening of the first Continental Congress and since had been chaplain to Congress, but had prayed for the King.

Joseph Galloway’s estate was worth in excess of £40,000 sterling, and his handsome home on the southeast corner of Sixth and High Streets in Philadelphia, was appropriated by the State of Pennsylvania as a residence for the President of the Supreme Executive Council, who was the chief executive officer of the State. This house was afterwards sold to Robert Morris.

Through the influence and negotiations of Benjamin Franklin Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, Commissioners sent to Paris by Congress, France had now openly espoused the American cause. The joyful news reached Congress sitting at York, May 2, 1778.

On May 7, Lord Howe was superseded by Sir Henry Clinton. Previous to the British commander’s departure, a magnificent fete called the “Mischianza,” was held May 18 in his honor.

On the following day, Lafayette with 2500 men and eight cannon crossed the Schuylkill to Barren Hill. Howe, with 5700 under Clinton and Knyphausen, supported by Grant in his rear, with 5,300 troops, marched to overwhelm this important post of the American army. Lafayette escaped by Matson’s Ford. Four days later, May 24, Howe embarked for England.

The same day a council of war was held under Sir Henry Clinton, and it was resolved to evacuate the city, which event occurred on June 19. This movement had been delayed owing to the arrival on June 6, of three British Commissioners to negotiate peace and a reconciliation. It was too late.

Among other intrigues, it is stated, the Commissioners secretly offered to General Joseph Reed, then delegate to Congress, and afterwards President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, £10,000 sterling, with the best office in the Colonies to promote their plans. General Reed promptly replied: “I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it.”

Upon occupation of Philadelphia, General Benedict Arnold was ordered by General Washington to take command of the city, and “prevent the disorders which were expected upon the evacuation of the place and return of the Whigs after being so long kept out of their property.”

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General Edward Hand Relieved of Command Following Squaw Campaign May 2, 1778

For some time General Washington had believed that the permanent safety of the western section of Pennsylvania could only be secured by carrying on a successful war, in an aggressive manner, against the enemy in their own country. That determination was strengthened by the Commissioners of Congress, who met in Pittsburgh late in 1777, and learned first handed of the barbarous warfare carried on against the western frontier by the British under Henry Hamilton, then Governor of Detroit, with the assistance of their Indian allies.

During October and November, 1777, while General Edward Hand, then commandant at Fort Pitt, was trying to recruit his army for the invasion of the Indian country, many raids were made in Westmoreland County. Eleven men were killed and scalped near Palmer’s Fort, in Ligonier Valley, and a few days later four children were killed within sight of the fort. Three men were killed and a woman captured within a few miles of Ligonier. A band of Indians, led by a Canadian, made a fierce attack on Fort Wallace, near Blairsville, but the Canadian was killed and the savages repulsed. These maurauders were pursued by a party of rangers led by Captain James Smith and overtaken near Kittanning, where five redskins were killed and scalped. The snows of winter prevented other ravages.

During the Christmas holidays General Hand learned that the British had built a magazine where Cleveland now stands and had stored arms, ammunition, clothing and provisions in it for the use of the Indians in the spring. He immediately planned an expedition for the destruction of the magazine. His call for troops required each man to be mounted and provided with food for a short campaign. He promised to provide the arms and ammunition.

The general proposed, as a special inducement to enlist, that all plunder would be sold and the cash proceeds divided among the force. February 15, about 500 horsemen were at Pittsburgh ready for the adventure, and this considerable force caused General Hand to be sanguine for its success.

The expedition followed the old Indian trail which descended the Ohio River to the Beaver and then ascended that stream and the Mahoning toward the Cuyahoga. The snow on the ground was soon melted by heavy rains and the marching was made difficult.

By the time the Mahoning was reached that stream was almost impassable, even some of the level lands were covered with water for wide stretches. The horsemen grumbled and Hand too was so discouraged that he was about to give up the expedition and return, when the foot-prints of some Indians were discovered on the high ground.

The tracks led to a small village, where a sudden attack was made, but the place contained only one old man, some squaws and children. The warriors were away on a hunt. The startled savages scattered and all escaped except the old man and one woman, who were shot and a woman taken prisoner.

This affair took place about where Edenburg is, in Lawrence County. The Indian told her captors that ten Wolf, or Munsee, Indians were making salt ten miles farther up the Mahoning. Hand dispatched a detachment after these savages and he went into camp under uncomfortable conditions.

The reported Munsee proved to be four squaws and a boy. The soldiers killed three of the squaws and the boy, the other squaw was taken prisoner. One of the soldiers was wounded here and another drowned during the march.

The weather conditions made further campaigns impossible and General Hand led his dispirited and hungry men back to Fort Pitt. The trophies were two Indian women. His formidable force had slain one old man, four women and a boy. On his arrival at Fort Pitt his work was generally derided by the frontiersmen and his expedition was dubbed the Squaw Campaign.

This finished General Hand as an Indian fighter. He asked General Washington to relieve him and May 2, 1778, Congress voted his recall and commissioned General Lachlan McIntosh to succeed him.

General Edward Hand won distinction in other directions. He was born at Elzduffs, Kings County, Ireland, December 31, 1744.

In 1767 he was appointed by George III surgeon of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of foot, and sailed with the regiment from Cork on May 20 of the same year, arriving in Philadelphia July 11.

He served with this regiment at Fort Pitt and returning to Philadelphia in 1774, resigned his commission, receiving a regular discharge from the British service. In the same year he went to Lancaster and began the practice of his profession.

He joined the First Battalion of Pennsylvania Riflemen as lieutenant-colonel at the outbreak of the Revolution and served in the siege of Boston. He was promoted to colonel in 1776, and led his regiment in the Battle of Long Island, and also at Trenton. In April, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general; and in this capacity served in command of the Western Department until relieved May 2, 1778; in October following he succeeded General Stark in command at Albany.

In the successful expedition against the Six Nations Indians in 1779, led by General John Sullivan, General Hand was an active participant.

Near the close of 1780, General Hand succeeded General Scammel as adjutant-general. He was an intimate friend of General Washington and had his full confidence during the entire struggle of the colonies. He was one of the original members of the Order of the Cincinnati.

In 1785 General Hand was elected to the Assembly; then he was a member of Congress and assisted in the formation of the Constitution of Pennsylvania in 1789, when the second Constitution of the State was written, and adopted the following year.

General Hand died at Rockford, Lancaster County, September 3, 1802.

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Evangelist Whitefield Bought Site for Negro School at Nazareth May 3, 1740

The Reverend George Whitefield was an exceeding earnest worker for the good of souls. He came to America and spent much of his time in Georgia, where he preached effectively and established an orphan house and school near Savannah, laying the first brick himself for the building, March 25, 1740. He named it “Bethesda”—a house of mercy. It afterward became eminently useful.

Whitefield undertook to found a school for Negroes in Pennsylvania, and with it a settlement for persons converted in England by his preaching and subjected to annoyance on that account.

An agreement for a site was made with William Allen, May 3, 1740, when 5000 acres of land were purchased, situated at the Forks of the Delaware, the consideration being £2200. The title was made to Whitefield and then assigned to his friend William Seward, who was a man of considerable wealth, as security for Seward’s advancing the purchase money.

Two days afterward Whitefield preached in the morning at the German settlement on the Skippack Creek to about 5000 persons, and in the evening, after riding twelve miles to Henry Antes’, he preached to about 3000. The Moravian Boehler followed with an address in German.

During this same day Whitefield offered to hire as builders the Moravians who had arrived from Savannah on the sloop with him.

Whitefield and the Moravians then visited the ground, when the latter, by the cast of the lot, according to their custom, felt directed to engage in the enterprise.

Seward, several days after the purchase of the site was made, sailed from Philadelphia for England, partly to convert some securities into cash and also to solicit further contributions. He was accidentally hit on the head while at Caerleon, Wales, from the effect of which blow he died a few days later, October 22, 1740.

The Moravians arrived in that part of Northampton County, which is now within the limits of Upper and Lower Nazareth and Bethlehem Townships, and there commenced to erect a large stone house which Whitefield proposed to use as the school for Negroes. This tract its proprietor named Nazareth.

Here the Moravians worked for the remainder of the year and by their efforts had built two houses. But at this time there arose a dispute between Whitefield and those employed on the buildings. It is believed Whitefield disapproved of Boehler’s doctrinal opinions and, unable in an argument conducted in Latin to convince him, discharged the workmen.

The Moravians were allowed to stay on the property for some time by Allen’s agent, but the whole project failed, largely through Seward’s death. Whitefield again secured the title and cheerfully assigned it to the Moravians.

The Moravian workmen were compelled to seek a new home. This they found when their Bishop, David Nitcshmann, secured a tract of 5000 acres at the confluence of the Monocacy Creek and the Delaware River, on which, in March, 1741, they began to build Bethlehem. This eventually became the principal settlement of the Moravians in the province.

George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England, December 16, 1714, and entered Oxford in 1732. He was a religious enthusiast in very early life, fasting twice a week for thirty-six hours and while an undergraduate became a member of the “Holy Club,” in which the denomination of Methodists took its rise.

Whitefield became intimately associated in religious matters with John and Charles Wesley. He was made deacon by the Bishop of Gloucester on Sunday, June 20, 1736, two weeks before his graduation, and attracted attention even by his first sermon; he drew such crowds in London and Bristol that people hung upon the rails of the organ loft and climbed in the windows.

The Wesleys accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia in 1736 and the following year John Wesley invited Whitefield to join him in his work in America. He came in May, 1738, and after laboring for months as a missionary in the colony of Georgia he returned to England and was ordained priest at Oxford, Sunday, January 14, 1739. On his way a second time to Georgia he first visited Pennsylvania.

Whitefield and his friend, William Seward, arrived in Philadelphia in the evening of Friday, November 2, 1739, on horseback from Lewes, where they had disembarked.

He read prayers and assisted at Christ Church in the services of the following Sunday, and preached there in the afternoon and every day for the rest of the week with increasing congregations. He dined at Thomas Penn’s, and was visited by the ministers of the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches and by many Quakers. He preached twice to more than three thousand persons.

He made a trip to New York, and on his return preached from the yard of the Reverend William Tennent’s church on the Neshaminy to about three thousand, and from the porch window of the Presbyterian Church at Abington, and again several times at Christ Church.

When Whitefield was to preach his farewell sermon in the afternoon of November 28, the church not being large enough for those expected he adjourned to the fields, and preached to 10,000. Twenty gentlemen on horseback accompanied him out of town. At Chester he spoke from a balcony to 5000, of whom one-fifth had come from Philadelphia.

He was energetically philanthropic. His main purpose in going back to Georgia was to carry on his work among the poor orphans.

On Boston Common he preached to 20,000 at one time, and was distinctly heard.

Although he was active in the establishment of the Methodist denomination, he disagreed with Wesley on points of doctrine, and was finally an evangelist without the discipline of any denomination.

Whitefield crossed the ocean many times, and made tours from Georgia to New Hampshire. In September, 1769, he started on his seventh tour there, and the day before his death he preached two hours at Exeter, N. H., and the same evening preached in the open air at Newburyport, Mass. He died of asthma the next day, September 30, 1770, and was buried under the pulpit of the Federal Street Church in that town.

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Trial of Five Mollie Maguires for Murder of B. F. Yost Begun at Pottsville May 4, 1876

On May 4, 1876, James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, James Roarty, Hugh McGehan, and James Boyle, were placed on trial in Schuylkill County Court at Pottsville, for the murder of Benjamin F. Yost, of Tamaqua.