Part 77

Mr. Wilson was proscribed by the mob for having exercised his professional duty as a lawyer, and the punishment decreed for his crime was banishment to the enemy, yet in New York. But this was not the real cause which produced so lamentable an instance of popular delusion. That was to be found in the superior talents and respectability of the Republican Party.

The gentlemen threatened determined to defend themselves, and with a great number of their friends, to the amount of thirty or forty, took post at the southwest corner of Walnut and Third streets, in a house belonging to and occupied by James Wilson. It was a large old-fashioned brick building, with extensive gardens.

In the house were James Wilson, Robert Morris, Edward Burd, George Clymer, John T. Mifflin, Allen McLane, Sharp Delaney, George Campbell, Paul Beck, Thomas Lawrence, Andrew Robinson, John Potts, Samuel C. Morris, Captain Robert Campbell, General Thomas Mifflin, General Nichols and General Thompson. They were provided with arms but their supply of ammunition was very limited.

While the mob was marching down town, General Nichols and Daniel Clymer proceeded hastily to the arsenal at Carpenters’ Hall and filled their pockets with cartridges, this constituting their entire supply.

In the meantime the mob and militia assembled on the commons, while a meeting of the principal citizens took place at the coffee house. A deputation was sent to prevail on them to disperse, but without effect.

The First Troop of City Cavalry being apprised of what was going forward and anxious for the safety of their fellow citizens, quickly assembled at their stables, a fixed place of rendezvous.

For a time a deceitful calm prevailed; at the hour of noon the members of the troop retired to their respective homes for dinner, and the rebels seized the opportunity to march into the city.

The armed men in the mob amounted to 200, and were commanded by Captain Mills, a North Carolinian; one Falkner, a shipjoiner; Pickering, a tailor, and John Bonham. They marched to the home of Mr. Wilson, with drums beating, and two pieces of cannon. They immediately commenced firing on the house, which was warmly returned by the garrison.

Finding they could make no impression, the mob procured crowbars, sledges and bars, and with them proceeded to force the door. At the critical moment when the door yielded to their efforts, the First City Troop appeared and saved the lives of those in the house.

Many of the mob were arrested and committed to prison, and as the troopers used the sword very freely, many were severely wounded. One man and one boy were killed in the streets. In “Fort Wilson,” Captain Campbell was killed, and General Mifflin and Mr. Samuel C. Morris were wounded.

The Troop patrolled the streets the greater part of the night. The citizens turned out in great numbers and formed a volunteer guard at the powder magazine and the arsenal.

It was some days before order was restored and the First Troop, on account of the active part they had taken in the affair, found it necessary to keep together in small groups, and be on the alert to support each other.

The gentlemen who had comprised the garrison were advised to leave the city where their lives were endangered.

General Mifflin, and about thirty others, accordingly met at Mr. Gray’s home about five miles below Gray’s Ferry, where a council was called, and it was resolved to return to town without any appearance of intimidation.

But it was deemed expedient that Mr. Wilson should absent himself for a time. The others continued to walk as usual in public and attended the funeral of the unfortunate Captain Campbell. For some time each of them, however, was in danger of his life from the sympathizers with the killed and wounded assailants.

Thus ended the disgraceful affair known as the “Mob of 1779” and the “Attack on Fort Wilson.”

Had it not been for the spirited conduct of the First Troop, the lives of many valuable citizens, and genuine Whigs, would have been sacrificed, and an indelible disgrace entailed upon the City of Philadelphia.

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First German Immigrants Settle Germantown October 6, 1683

The Germans have played a most important part in the history of Pennsylvania, much more conspicuous than has been accorded them. They are the progressive farmers, and leaders in politics, literature and science.

The first great teacher was Pastorius; the first paper mill was established in 1690, on a branch of Wissahickon Creek, by William Rittinghuysen; the Bible was first printed in German, by Christopher Saur, thirty-nine years before it appeared in English; the same enterprising Germans, in 1735, established the first type foundry in America in Germantown and so on, but it is of the establishment of German Town or Germantown which this story is to relate.

The first German emigration was from Crefeld, a city of the lower Rhine. William Penn conveyed 5000 acres in Pennsylvania to each of three merchants of that city, March 10, 1682, one of whom, Jacob Telner, had made a trip to America in 1678–81.

Francis Daniel Pastorius first heard of the Pennsylvania plan in 1682, and became a purchaser of land while in London between the 8th of May and 6th of June, 1683.

Eight original purchasers, November 12, 1686, formed themselves into a company which was called the Frankford Company. Up to June 8, 1683, these persons had purchased 15,000 acres, and they mostly lived in Frankfort, but Pastorius was the only one of the original company who ever came to Pennsylvania.

Thirteen families, comprising thirty-three persons, set out for London, from which city, after many delays, they embarked, July 24, 1683, aboard the Concord.

Of the original purchasers three were Mennonites, and many of the remainder of the party belonged to that sect, so it must be stated that this emigration was also the beginning of that great church in America.

The pioneers had a pleasant voyage and reached Philadelphia October 6. On the 10th of the same month a warrant was issued to Pastorius for 6000 acres “on behalf of the German and Dutch purchasers.” On the 24th, Thomas Fairman measured off fourteen divisions of land, and the next day, meeting together in the cave of Pastorius they drew lots for choice of location.

Under a warrant, 5350 acres were laid out, May 2, 1684, for Pastorius, as trustee for them and future purchasers; in addition 200 acres were laid out for Pastorius in his own right, and 150 acres to Jurian Hartsfelder, a stray Dutchman, who had been a deputy sheriff under Andros in 1676 and who now cast in his lot with the settlers at Germantown.

Immediately after the division in the cave of Pastorius they began to dig cellars and build the huts in which, not without much hardship, they spent the following winter. Thus commenced the settlement of Germantown.

Other emigrants began to appear in the little town, and soon we catch a glimpse of the home life of the early dwellers of Germantown.

Pastorius had no glass, so he made windows of oiled paper.

Bom wrote to Rotterdam October 12, 1684: “I have here a shop of many kinds of goods and edibles. Sometimes I ride out with merchandise, and sometimes, bring something back, mostly from Indians, and deal with them in many things. I have no regular servants except one Negro, whom I bought. I have no rent or tax or excise to pay. I have a cow which gives plenty of milk, a horse to ride around, my pigs increase rapidly, so that in the summer I had seventeen when at first I had only two. I have many chickens and geese, and a garden, and shall next year have an orchard if I remain well, so that my wife and I are in good spirits.”

Bom died before 1689, and his daughter, Agnes, married Anthony Morris, the ancestor of the distinguished family of that name.

The first person to die in the new settlement was Jan Seimens. The first time that fire caused a loss in the village was in 1686. A small church was built that year. It is strange but true, that this was a Quaker meeting house, and also that before 1692 all the original thirteen, except Jan Lensen, had in one way or another been associated with the Quakers.

An event of importance was the arrival of William Rittinghuysen, a Mennonite minister, who with his two sons, Gerhard and Claus, and a daughter, came from Holland. In 1690 he built the first paper mill in America on a branch of the Wissahickon Creek.

On April 18, 1688, Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck Opden Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius and Abraham Opden Graeff sent to the Friends’ Meeting the first public protest ever made on this continent against the holding of slaves. There was then started something which became the greatest question of all time in America.

On January 14, 1690, 2950 acres, north of Germantown, were divided into three districts, called Krishelm, Sommerhausen and Crefeld.

The village had now become populous enough to warrant a separate existence, and on May 31, 1691, a charter of incorporation was issued to Francis Daniel Pastorius, bailiff, and four burgesses and six committeemen, with power to hold a court and a market, to admit citizens, to impose fines, and to make ordinances.

It was ordered that “on the 19th of one month in each year the people shall be called together and the laws and ordinances read aloud to them.”

The seal was devised by Pastorius and he honored the weavers by selecting a clover, on one of the leaves being a vine, on another a stalk of flax, and on the third a weaver’s spool.

The corporation continued until January 11, 1707. Newcomers were required to pay £1 for the right of citizenship.

On June 28, 1701, a tax was laid for the building of a prison, erection of a market, and other objects for the public good. The prison preceded the school house, but the interval was not long.

December 30, following, “it was found good to start a school here in Germantown.” Pastorius was the first pedagogue.

As early as January 25, 1694, stocks were erected for the punishment of evildoers.

February 10, 1702, three square perches of land were given to the Mennonites for a church, which edifice was built 1708.

Little did the industrious German of that day think, as he tilled the soil, or worked at his trade, that in after years the countrymen of Penn would be fighting the Quakers and others in that very town, that the streets of Germantown would be reddened by English blood, as it was on that eventful day, October 4, 1777.

The government of Germantown lasted fifteen years. Today this old town is one of the most delightful sections of the old city of Philadelphia.

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Colonel Richard McAllister, Soldier, Statesman and Citizen of York County, Died October 7, 1795

Colonel Richard McAllister, a hero of the Revolution, died at his home in Hanover, York County, October 7, 1795.

During that great struggle for the independence of the colonies York County gave many of her loyal sons, and none rendered more signal service or has been held in fonder patriotic reverence than Colonel McAllister.

He was the son of Archibald McAllister, who came to this country from Scotland in 1732. Richard was born in Scotland in 1724.

About 1745 Richard moved from Cumberland County to the present site of Hanover, where he purchased a large tract of land, and made a settlement.

On February 23, 1748, he married Mary Dill, daughter of Colonel Matthew Dill, who commanded a regiment in the French and Indian War, and whose son, Matthew, founded Dillsburg.

In 1750 Richard McAllister was a candidate for sheriff of York County against Colonel Hance Hamilton, who resided near the present site of Gettysburg. The result of the vote was so close that the election was contested and the Provincial Assembly decided in favor of Hamilton.

In 1763 Richard McAllister founded the town of Hanover and soon became one of the leading citizens of York County.

At the outbreak of the Revolution he was elected a member of the Committee of Safety for York County, and in June of the same year, 1775, he served as a delegate in the Provincial Conference, which met in Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. He again served as a member of the same body in January, 1776.

When the Fourth Battalion of York County militia was organized, 1775, Richard McAllister was commissioned colonel. And during the fall of the same year, he was made colonel of a battalion of Minute Men, formed out of the militia of York County.

In July, 1776, when Congress called for ten thousand troops, Colonel McAllister marched his battalion through Lancaster and Philadelphia to Perth Amboy, N. J.

General Hugh Mercer organized the Flying Camp, and selected Colonel McAllister to command the Second Pennsylvania Regiment.

This command was soon engaged in and about New York City and Staten Island. A short time later Colonel McAllister led the regiment in the defense of Fort Washington, where a large number of them were taken prisoners, among them being two of his captains.

In the campaign of 1776 Colonel McAllister was present with his regiment, under General James Ewing, when Washington captured the Hessians in Trenton on Christmas night.

After the expiration of his term of service in the Flying Camp, in 1777, Colonel McAllister returned to his home at Hanover, and in March of this year he was elected by the General Assembly, county lieutenant.

In the discharge of this commission he recruited six different battalions of militia in York County, which then included the present Adams County.

He drilled and disciplined the troops and made them ready for the service in the field when they were required to defend the State against the invasion of the British foe.

On August 28, 1777, Colonel McAllister wrote to President Wharton that there were dissensions among the Associators in the German townships near Hanover. Two hundred freemen had assembled at one place for the purpose of opposing the draft of the militia for service in the field.

He continued by saying that he had lived in peace among these people for twenty years or more, and knew well their customs and habits, but it was very difficult to induce them to take up arms against the country to which they had sworn allegiance.

He said that notwithstanding the difficulties he had encountered in the prosecution of his duties as lieutenant of York County, he had marched five companies to the front fully armed and equipped, and would soon have three more ready to take up the march for the main army.

Nearly every man recruited was a substitute, which had obtained by Colonel McAllister.

During the years 1783 to 1786, Colonel McAllister was a member of the Supreme Executive Council, and also served as a member of the Council of Censors. In the latter position he was engaged in the disposition of the confiscated estates of Pennsylvania Tories.

Like such a great number of the soldiers of the Revolution, Colonel McAllister also took a deep interest in legal affairs. He served as a justice of the peace, and then as justice of the court of common pleas in March, 1771.

He was a member of the First Constitutional Convention, in 1776, and on February 17, 1784, he became the presiding justice of the York County Courts.

When General Washington passed through Hanover, June 30, 1791, on his way to Philadelphia, he spent several hours the guest of Colonel McAllister.

He died at his home in Hanover, October 7, 1795.

His remains were first buried in the graveyard belonging to Emanuel’s Reformed Church of Hanover, of which he was a member and one of the leading supporters.

About 1870 the remains of this distinguished patriot were removed to Mount Olivet Cemetery, in the suburbs of Hanover, where they now repose.

On every succeeding Memorial Day commemoration services are held at the tomb of this hero and patriot, by the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic and allied organizations.

Colonel McAllister had eleven children. His eldest son, Abdiel, commanded a company in Arnold’s expedition to Quebec; another son, Archibald, commanded a company in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth.

A younger son, Matthew, became first United States district attorney of Georgia, judge of the Superior Court of that State, and was Mayor of Savannah during War of 1812.

A son of Matthew, named Julian McAllister, commanded a regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War.

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King Tedyuskung Questioned at Great Indian Conference in Easton, October 8, 1758

Governor Denny informed the Assembly September 12, 1758, that a general meeting of Indians has been agreed upon, to take place in Easton.

Tedyuskung and some of his retinue arrived early in Easton, and started on a debauch while awaiting the important event. Whereupon Reverend Richard Peters, the Provincial secretary, was requested to go to Easton immediately to keep the Indians in order.

This conference was opened Sunday, October 8, 1758, with 500 Indians in attendance. Governor Denny, members of Council and the Assembly, Commissioners for Indian Affairs in New Jersey, Conrad Weiser, George Croghan and a large number of Quakers from Philadelphia made up the attendance of the whites.

Governor Bernard, of New Jersey, joined the conference when it had been in session three days, and promptly demanded that the Munsee deliver up captives taken from that Province.

All the tribes of the Six Nations took part in the treaty; but the Mohawk had only one deputy, Nikes Carigiatatie, in attendance, and the Cayuga were represented by a single chief, Kandt, alias “Last Night.”

Unlike the several previous conferences, Tedyuskung was not the principal speaker at this treaty, but that proud position was assumed by Takeghsatu, a Seneca. He early addressed the Governor and others in these words:

“Brethren—I now speak at the request of Tedyuskung and our cousins the Delawares, living at Wyoming and on the waters of the River Susquehanna. We now remove the hatchet out of your heads that was struck into them by our cousins, the Delawares. It was a French hatchet that they unfortunately made use of, by the instigation of the French. We take it out of your heads and bury it under the ground, where it shall always rest and never be taken up again. Our cousins, the Delawares, have assured us they will never think of war against their brethren, the English, any more, but will employ their thoughts about peace and cultivating friendship with them, and never suffer enmity against them to enter their minds again.”

Two days later, Nikes, the Mohawk, stood up and, addressing himself to Governors Denny and Bernard, said:

“We thought proper to meet you here to have some discourse about our nephew, Tedyuskung. You all know that he gives out that he is a great man and chief of ten nations. This is his constant discourse. Now I, on behalf of the Mohawks, say that we do not know he is such a great man, if he is such a great man, we desire to know who made him so. Perhaps you have; and if this be the case, tell us so. It may be the French have made him so. We want to inquire and know whence the greatness arose.”

Takeghsatu, on behalf of the Seneca, said his nation “say the same as Nikes has done.”

Then Assarandongnas spoke on behalf of the Onondaga and said: “I am here to represent the Onondagas, and I say for them that I never heard before now that Tedyuskung was such a great man, and much less can I tell who made him so. No such thing was ever said in our town as that Tedyuskung was such a great man.”

Then followed, in the same strain, Thomas King, chief of Oneida, in behalf of the Oneida, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Nanticoke, Conoy and Tutelo.

Under this concerted attack upon his kingly pretensions Tedyuskung sat like a stoic and never said a word in reply; but Governor Denny arose and denied that he had made Tedyuskung “a great man,” but said in explanation that he had represented the Delaware at appointed places and had acted for the other Six Nations only as a messenger, who were his uncles and superiors. The Governor of New Jersey indorsed Governor Denny’s speech.

Five days after this discussion Tedyuskung arose in the public conference and addressing himself to the deputies of the Six Nations, said:

“Uncles, you may remember that you have placed us at Wyoming and Shamokin—places where Indians have lived before. Now I hear that you have since sold that land to our brethren, the English. Let the matter now be cleared up in the presence of our brethren the English. I sit here as a bird on a bough. I look about and do not know where to go. Let me, therefore, come down upon the ground and make that my own by a good deed, and I shall have a home forever. For if you, my uncles, or I, die, our brethren, the English, will say they have bought it from you, and so wrong my posterity out of it.”

Thomas King, speaking for the Six Nations the following day, addressed himself to the Delaware in these words:

“By this belt Tedyuskung desired us to make you, the Delawares, the owners of the lands at Wyoming, Shamokin and other places on the Susquehanna River. In answer to which, we, who are present, say that we have no power to convey lands to any one; but we will take your request to the Great Council fire for their sentiments, as we never sell or convey lands before it is agreed upon in the Great Council of the Six Nations. In the meantime, you may make use of those lands in conjunction with our people.”

Later in the open conference Thomas King presented Tedyuskung with a string of wampum and said: “This serves to put Tedyuskung in mind of his promises to return prisoners. You ought to have performed it before. It is a shame for one who calls himself a great man to tell lies.”

Last Night and Nikes, in behalf of the Six Nations, promised to satisfy the English as to the return of captives, adding: “If any of them are gone down our throats, we will heave them up again.”

Then Takeghsatu told Tedyuskung, the Six Nations having promised to return all captives, the Delaware and Munsee must do likewise.

Thus King Tedyuskung was humiliated in the conference, but never to the point where he ceased to be a most potent factor on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, and in the eyes of the English he was the king he professed himself to be.

One of the most important matters disposed of at this treaty related to the lands purchased by the Pennsylvania Proprietaries at Albany, July 6, 1754.

During the progress of this conference one of the Seneca chiefs in attendance died. He was interred with public ceremony; all the Indians and many of the inhabitants attended the obsequies.

On October 26, the business of the treaty having been finished after eighteen days of speech-making, “some wine and punch were ordered, and the conferences were concluded, with great joy and mutual satisfaction.”

The Indians were supplied with hats, caps, knives, jewsharps, powder, lead paints and walking-sticks (the term by which the Indians referred to rum). In addition, Tedyuskung and other chiefs each received a military hat trimmed with gold lace, a regimental coat and a ruffled shirt.

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Governor William Denny Removed and Superseded by James Hamilton, Native of Pennsylvania, October 9, 1759