Part 57

“Sixty Susquehannocks came to us, with skins, bows, arrowes, targets, beeds, swords & tobacco pipes for presents. Such great and well proportioned men are seldom seen, for they seemed like giants to the English, yea, and to the neighbors, yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition. They were with much adoe restrained from adoring us as gods.

“These are the strangest people of all these countries, both in language and attire; for their language may well become their proportions; sounding from them as a voyce in the vault. Their attire is the skinnes of bears, and wolves, some have cossacks made of beares heads and skinnes, that a man’s head goes through the skinnes neck, and the eares of the beare fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging down his breast, another beares face split behind him, and at the end of the nose hung a paw, the half sleeves coming to the elbowes were the necks of the beares, and the arms through the mouth with the pawes hanging at their noses. One had the head of a wolfe hanging in a chain for a jewell, his tobacco-pipe three-quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird, a deare, or some such devise at the great end, sufficient to beat out ones braines; with bowes, arrowes, and clubs, sutable to their greatness. Five of their chiefe warriors came aboord us and crossed the bay in the barge. The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the mappe.

“The calf of whose leg was three quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hayre, the one side was long, the other shore close with a ridge over his crowne like a cocks combe. His arrowes were five quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white christall-like stone, in form of a heart, an inch broad, an inch and a halfe or more long. These he wore in a woolves skinne at his backe for his quiver, his bow in the one hand and his clubbe in the other, as is described.

“They can make neere 600 able and mighty men, and are pallisadoed in their townes to defend them from the Massawomekes, their mortal enemies * * * They are seated (on the Susquehanna River) 2 daies higher than was passage for the discoverer’s barge.”

Smith further describes the Susquehannocks, and very much exaggerates their strength of numbers and other qualifications, but there can be no doubt that the great adventurer was thoroughly impressed with this powerful tribe. This was the first contact of white men with the native people of Pennsylvania. Smith almost reached Pennsylvania on this voyage.

His map of Virginia made in 1612 also shows a number of Indian villages in the interior of Pennsylvania. Besides the town of Sasquesahanough, he locates on the east bank of the Susquehanna, near its head, Tesinigh, and about midway between these two, Quadroque, which is also on the east bank. Near the heads of two tributaries of the same river he locates Attaock, and some distance north, Utchowig. Mr. A. L. Guss places Attaock as on the Juniata; Quadroque at or near the forks of the North and West Branches; Tesinigh on the North Branch, towards Wyoming; and Utchowig, Mr. Guss suggests might have been a town of the Erie, or Cat Nation.

During another voyage in December, 1607, Captain Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians, but afterwards released on promise to furnish a ransom of two great guns and a grindstone. Tradition says that he was saved from death during this captivity by Pocahontas.

Smith made maps of his exploration and, in 1614, explored the New England coast and made a map of that shore from the Penobscot to Cape Cod.

Captain Smith served as president of the colony of Jamestown, but he was too strict a disciplinarian. When his successor was elected, September 29, 1609, Smith sailed for England and never returned to Jamestown.

He had achieved much for Virginia, he was a good example of Elizabethian versatility, “bookman, penman, swordsman, diplomat, sailor, courtier, orator, explorer.” His works have been published.

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Colonel Thompson’s Battalion of Riflemen Among First to Reach Boston, July 25, 1775

Colonel Thompson’s Battalion of Riflemen, so styled in General Washington’s general orders, was one of the Pennsylvania regiments in the Revolutionary War of which every citizen has pardonable right to be proud.

This command was enlisted in the latter part of June, and in the beginning of July, 1775, in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, dated June 14, for raising six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia, which, as soon as completed, were to join the army near Boston.

By a resolution adopted June 22, the “Colony of Pennsylvania” was directed to raise two more companies, which with the six, were to be formed into a battalion, and be commanded by such officers as the Assembly or Convention should recommend.

This resolution having been communicated to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, it resolved, June 24, “that the members of Congress deputed by this Assembly be a committee to consider of, and recommend proper officers of the said battalion.”

This committee performed the duty thus delegated them and William Thompson, of Carlisle, was commissioned colonel; Edward Hand, of Lancaster, lieutenant colonel; Robert Magaw, of Carlisle, major; and William Magaw, Carlisle, surgeon.

Each company in this battalion consisted of one captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter, and sixty-eight privates.

On July 11 Congress was informed that two companies had been raised in Lancaster instead of one, and it resolved that both companies be taken into the Continental service. The battalion, therefore, consisted of nine companies, enlisted as follows:

James Chambers and William Hendricks in Cumberland County; Michael Doudel in York County; James Ross and Matthew Smith in Lancaster County; John Lowden in Northumberland County; Robert Cluggage in Bedford County; George Nagel in Berks County; and Abraham Miller in Northampton County.

The pay of the officers and privates was as follows: Captain, twenty dollars per month; a lieutenant, thirteen and one-third dollars; sergeant, eight; corporal, seven and one-third; drummer, the same; privates, six and two-thirds, and to find their own arms and clothes.

The patriotism of Pennsylvania was still further evinced in the haste with which these companies of Colonel Thompson’s battalion were filled to overflowing and the promptitude with which they took up their march.

Eight of the companies arrived at Boston by July 25, which may properly be the date the activities of these riflemen actually began.

A large number of gentlemen went along as independent volunteers. Their names were not entered on the rolls, and they claimed the privilege of paying their own expenses and returning at their pleasure. Among them were Edward Burd, afterwards prothonotary of the Supreme Court, Jesse Lukens and Matthew Duncan.

The command got into action almost upon its arrival at Cambridge.

The Military Journal of the Revolution described this battalion as “remarkably stout and hardy men; many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks or rifle shirts and round hats. These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim; striking a mark with great certainty at 200 yards distance. At a review, a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter, at a distance of 250 yards. They are now stationed in our lines, and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers who expose themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of common musket shot.”

The battalion became the Second regiment (after January 1, 1776, the First regiment) of the army of the United Colonies.

This regiment formed the picket guard of the 2,000 provincials, who, on the evening of August 26, took possession of and threw up intrenchments on Ploughed Hill, and on the following morning met with its first loss, Private William Simpson, of Paxtang, a member of Captain Matthew Smith’s company, who was wounded in the leg in front of Boston. A cannon ball shattered his leg, which was amputated but the lad died three days later.

The first soldier to make the supreme sacrifice was a brother of Lieutenant, afterward General Michael Simpson, and of John Simpson, for years recorder of Northumberland County.

On September 5 the companies of Captain Matthew Smith and Captain William Hendricks were ordered to join the expedition against Quebec, commanded by General Benedict Arnold.

An interesting account of the hardships and sufferings of these two companies was written by Judge John Joseph Henry, of Lancaster, a private in Smith’s company. At the attack on Quebec, December 31, Captain Hendricks was killed, and those who did not fall were taken prisoners, and held until paroled August 7, 1776.

The balance of Colonel Thompson’s command earned the public thanks of General Washington for services rendered at Lechmere’s Point, November 9, 1775. In this action the men waded through the tide up to their armpits and drove the British from their cover and into their boats. Colonel Thompson lost only one killed and three wounded. British loss was seventeen killed and one wounded.

January 1, 1776, the new army organization was commenced and this battalion became the First Regiment of the Continental Army. Colonel Thompson was promoted to brigadier general, March 1, 1776, and Edward Hand became colonel. He was later promoted to brigadier. The First Pennsylvania participated with General Sullivan in New York and Long Island.

Washington wrote to Congress, on April 22, 1776:

“The time for which the riflemen enlisted will expire on the 1st of July next, and as the loss of such a valuable and brave body of men will be of great injury to the service, I would submit it to the consideration of Congress whether it would not be best to adopt some method to induce them to continue. They are, indeed, a very useful corps; but I need not mention this, as their importance is already well known to the Congress.”

On July 1 the battalion entered upon another term of service.

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Indians Massacre Inhabitants in the Conococheague Valley on July 26, 1756

July 26 is a date which recalls to the minds of many inhabitants of the present Franklin County two atrocities committed by Indians, either of which is horrible in its every detail.

On July 26, 1756, the Indians killed Joseph Martin, and took captive two brothers, named John and James McCullough, all residents of the Conococheague settlement. This was followed, August 27, with a great slaughter, wherein the Indians killed thirty-nine persons, near the mouth of the Conococheague Creek.

Early in November following, the Indians discovered some soldiers of the garrison at Fort McDowell, a few miles distant, ambushed them and killed and scalped Privates James McDonald, William McDonald, Bartholemew McCafferty, and Anthony McQuoid; and carried off Captain James Corken and Private William Cornwall. The following inhabitants were killed: John Culbertson, Samuel Perry, Hugh Kerrel, John Woods and his mother-in-law, and Elizabeth Archer; and carried off four children belonging to John Archer; and two lads named Samuel Neily and James McQuoid.

To return to the first atrocity. James McCullough had but a few years before removed from Delaware to what is now Montgomery Township, Franklin County, where he immediately began to clear the land and till the soil.

The McCullough family had been temporarily living in a cabin three miles distant from their home, and the parents and their daughter, Mary, went home to pull flax. A neighbor, John Allen, who had business at Fort Loudon accompanied them, and promised to come that way in the evening and go along back to the cabin.

Allen had proceeded about two miles when he learned that the Indians had that morning killed a man, a short distance from the McCullough home. Allen failed to keep his promise and returned by a circuitous route.

When he reached the McCulloughs he told the lads to hide, that Indians were near at hand, and added, at the same time, that he supposed they had killed their parents.

John McCullough was eight years old and James but five. They alarmed their neighbors, but all hurried to make preparations to go to the fort, a mile distant. None would volunteer to warn Mr. and Mrs. McCullough of their danger, so the lads determined to do it themselves. They left their little sister, Elizabeth, aged two years sleeping in bed.

The brave lads reached a point where they could see their house and began to halloo. They were happy to reach their parents in safety. When about sixty yards from the house, five Indians and one Frenchman came rushing out of the thicket and took the lads captive. The Indians missed capturing the parents by the mere accident that the father had heard the lads and left his work to meet them and thus the Indians missed him, and failed to notice the mother and daughter in a field at work.

The lads were taken to the forks of the Ohio, whence James, the younger, was carried into Canada and all trace of him lost. John remained with the Indians for nine years, when he and hundreds of other captives were released. They eventually were able to find their way back to their homes in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

John lived in the community from which he had been taken for nearly sixty years and left a written record of what he suffered during this long captivity.

The other Indian massacres, which inhabitants of the Conococheague Valley will ever relate, began with the appearance of savages on Sunday, July 22, 1764, when several were discovered near Fort Loudon.

On Wednesday Susan King Cunningham left her home and started through the woods to call on a neighbor. As she did not return when expected a search was made, and soon her body was found lying near her home. The fiends had not been content to murder and scalp this good woman, but had performed a Caesarian operation and had placed her child on the ground beside her.

The next day, July 26, occurred the murder of Enoch Brown, schoolmaster, and ten of his pupils. A tragedy unique in the long story of Indian atrocities.

This terrible massacre occurred about three miles north of Greencastle, Franklin County. Brown and each of the ten small children were killed and scalped, and a lad, Archibald McCullough, was scalped and left for dead among the other victims, but he recovered and lived for many years.

With few exceptions the scholars were much averse to going to school that morning. And the account afterward given by McCullough is that two of the scholars informed Mr. Brown that on their way to school they had seen Indians. The master paid no attention to what had been told him, and ordered them to their books.

Soon after school had opened three Indians rushed up to the door. The schoolmaster, seeing them, prayed the Indians only to take his life and spare the children, but they refused. The Indians stood at the door, whilst the third entered the school room, and with a piece of wood in the shape of a maul, killed the master and the scholars, after which all of them were scalped.

Young McCollough, left for dead, dragged himself to a spring a short distance from the school house where he slaked his burning thirst and washed his wound.

This Archie was a cousin of John and James McCullough, taken by the Indians in that same place exactly eight years before. John was at that time a captive and living with the Indians. In his interesting narrative he says that he knew the three Indians who murdered Brown and the children, and that he was present when they returned to their chief.

They were young Indians, not over twenty years of age. Old Night Walker, the chief, called them cowards for having so many children’s scalps.

Thus it is a singular coincidence that these two crimes should be committed on July 26, that McCulloughs should figure in them both, and that the only accurate details of each massacre are given by the only two survivors, John and Archie McCullough, yet they occurred eight years apart.

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Ruffians Mob Pastor and Cause Organization of First Moravian Church July 27, 1742

An affair occurred in Philadelphia July 27, 1742, which, disgraceful as were the proceedings, was the means of establishing a separate Moravian Church in that city.

Count Nicholas Ludwig Zinzindorf arrived in Philadelphia, December 10, 1741. He came with the hope of uniting all Protestant Christians into a confederacy or league.

Almost immediately upon his arrival Henry Antes, a pious wheel-wright and farmer in Falkner’s Swamp, now Frederick Township, Montgomery County, invited Zinzindorf to attend a synod or conference at Germantown, which had for its object a movement similar to that of the distinguished visitor.

Zinzindorf accepted the invitation and attended the Synod, January 12, 1742. Indeed he went there before that date, and preached in the German Reformed Church, January 1, his first sermon in America. He got acquainted with the people and earnestly began his great work.

This Synod was the first of seven. It was held in the house of Theobold Endt, a Germantown clockmaker. Zinzindorf was made moderator.

The delegates of the different sects met and discussed the best way of bringing about a more perfect union of all Protestant denominations. There were a number of Moravians present, but not as delegates, for no settled congregation of that sect as yet existed.

No definite results were reached though Zinzindorf’s ideas impressed the assemblies.

During the earlier months of 1742 Zinzindorf preached at Oley, Falkner’s Swamp, Germantown, and other places, and gathered the nuclei of subsequent Moravian congregations.

A house was rented in Germantown for Count Zinzindorf and his assistants, which was opened as a school May 4, of that year. The Countess Benigna assisted as a teacher, as did also Anna Nitschmann, who subsequently became the second wife of Zinzindorf. The school opened with twenty-five girls as pupils.

In Philadelphia Zinzindorf began ministrations in a barn on Arch Street below Fifth, then fitted up with seats and used in partnership by the German Reformed and the Lutherans.

His Lutheran tendencies and training fitted him to take charge of a Lutheran Church, and May 30, 1742, this congregation called him to take its charge. Indeed, it is said that he claimed to be inspector-general of the Lutherans, and had for some months supplied a Lutheran Church in Germantown.

Zinzindorf accepted the call of the Philadelphia Lutherans, but wishing to do a certain amount of missionary work elsewhere, associated John Christopher Pyrlaeus, a Saxony Presbyter, with him as assistant, and left matters much in his charge.

Reverend Henry Jacobson, in his “History of the Moravian Church in Philadelphia,” proceeds to tell what the consequence was.

Pyrlaeus, though evidently a hard worker, gave offense to a strong faction, and on July 27, 1742, while in the pulpit and officiating, a gang of his opponents dragged him down from his place, trampled upon him, and roughly handled him, as they ejected him from the building.

The only accounts left do not enable us to identify the cowardly assailants, except that there seems to have been serious trouble between the growing Moravian faction and the conservative Lutheran element.

The affair was the prime cause of the establishment of a separate Moravian Church as soon as Count Zinzindorf returned from his preaching tour. Without this event to crystallize the tendencies of things, separation might have been long delayed.

Another view of this movement is that Zinzindorf built the church for the Lutheran congregation over which he claimed authority, upon his first arrival in the country, but that the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, with direct authority from the University at Halle, in the latter part of 1742, changed the tactics of Zinzindorf, and so he made arrangements to transfer the church to the Moravians.

The congregation organized by Zinzindorf consisted of thirty-four persons. They took up a lot on the east side of Bread Street and south of Sassafras (now Race) Street, which on August 20, 1742, was transferred by William Allen and wife to Samuel Powell, Joseph Powell, Edward Evans, William Rice, John Okley, and Owen Rice, for another lot on Sassafras Street.

The parties named were not all Moravians, but the deed was made to them in trust for “a certain congregation of Christian people, as well German as English, residing in the City of Philadelphia, belonging to the church of the Evangelical Brethren, who have caused to be erected thereon a new building for and to their use and service as a church and school house to S. Lewis Zinzindorf, David Nitschmann, Joseph Spangenberg, Henry Antes, John Bloomfield, and Charles Brockden.”

Additional real estate was acquired and the church building was commenced immediately. The corner stone was laid September 10, 1742, by Count Zinzindorf, and the work proceeded so rapidly that it was dedicated by him on November 25, following.

This building was set back from Sassafras Street thirty-five feet. It had a front of forty-five feet on Bread Street, afterward called Moravian Alley.

The edifice was two stories high, the first story being used as the church proper. This room was twenty feet in height from the floor, wainscoted about five feet, and whitewashed above to the ceiling. The roof was of the hip-roof design. There were large windows in each side. The congregation used this church for more than fifty years without a stove in winter.

The first Moravian congregation in Philadelphia contained those who had left the Lutherans when the Pyrlaeus affair occurred, and a number of Moravians who had been awhile at Nazareth and Bethlehem.

On the evening of his departure from America Count Zinzindorf organized these members into the First Moravian Church.

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British and Seneca Indian Allies Destroy Fort Freeland, July 28, 1779

Many Pennsylvanians may not know that a definite, well-planned battle of the Revolution was fought far up in old Northumberland County. This is a fact and until now this battle has only been known of as an ordinary Indian incursion. Such was not the case.

True there were Indians in the battle of Fort Freeland, July 28, 1779, and they were the ferocious Seneca, 300 of them under the command of Hiokatoo, the most bloodthirsty and cruel Indian of whom we have any direct evidence.

After Colonel Thomas Hartley led his successful expedition against the Indians in 1778, the savages did not long remain subdued, but the year following again became so vicious that the settlers, who had returned after the Great Runaway, lived in such constant fear of attack that General Washington ordered General John Sullivan to rendezvous his troops at Wyoming and wipe out every Indian town from that point to Elmira in New York State.

The troops were supplied with rations and stores from Fort Augusta. This fort was defended by a line of forts, or blockhouses extending in an almost straight line from Fort Jenkins near Berwick, on the North Branch, to Fort Wheeler, at Fishing Creek, to Fort Bostley, at Washingtonville, to Fort Montgomery, to Fort Freeland, two miles above McEwensville, to Fort Muncy, where the line of defense touched the West Branch.

No sooner had General Sullivan started his march from Easton toward Wyoming than the Indians learned of his plans and put into operation a series of movements which were intended to defeat the design of the Continental troops.