.0^ f " • ^' «o r.V >. ■•>" '^ f^r.'i o:^""^. .-^^ ..-^,-v. ^^ % ^N <, o . . v.. ^ u .<^- h^-^4- • A* i HISTORY ALLEGHENY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA. INCLUDING ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT AND FROGEESS TO THE PRESENT TIME; A DESCRIPTION OF ITS HISTORIC AND INTERESTING LOCALITIES; ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES; RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, SOCIAL AND MILITARY HISTORY ; MINING, MANUFACTURING AND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS ; IMPROVEMENTS, RESOURCES, STATISTICS, ETC. PORTRAITS OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MANY OF ITS REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS. IN TA\^0 PARTS. CHICAGO, ill: A. WARNER & CO., Publishers, r/^7 Copyright 1889, by A. Warner & Co. CHICAGO. ILl PREFACE. THE story of the struggle for empire in the Mississippi valley, stretching away from the line of the Alleghanies to the farthest summits of the Rocky mountains, which had its rallying point and termination at Fort Duquesne, has often been told in a more or less fragmentary way. In view of the local impor- tance of this event it has been thought proper by the f>ublishers of this work to give it here complete, making brief statements of the parts which, fi'om frequent repetition, have become hackneyed, and giving with more fullness of detail the other portions. The controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia, inaugurated by the Ohio Company under charter of the British Parliament — the uncertain track of the southern line of the state — the long and wasting wars with the natives of the forest, luminous with deeds of savagery novel even in a barbarous age — the part taken by the bounty in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Mexican, and the recent civil war — the material resources in soil and mineral treasures — the vast manufacturing interests — the tonnage upon river and rail — the hand which the county has shown in state and national policy — the educational and religious interests of its people — and its eleemosynary institutions, have all been treated with the care and fullness of detail which the plan of the work would allow. The plan was settled and work begun in the spring of 1887, and has been carried to completion by the following-named corps of writers: Dr. Thomas Cushingi, of Barre Centre, N. Y. , general supervisor, and writer of Chapters X, XII, XVII, XXXVII, and parts of XXXIV and XXXVI. A. A. Lambing, LL. D. , Chapters I to VIII inclusive. Hon. Russell Ereett, Chapters IX, XIII, XIV, from XIX to XXXIII inclusive, and parts of XXXIV and XXXVI. Mr. R. H. Kelley, Se. , of Verona, Pa. , Chapter XI. Rev. W. J. Holland, Ph. D. , History of the Presbyterian, Reformed Pres- byterian, Cumberland Presbyterian and Reformed (German) Churches. IV PUEFACE. Ukv. J. C. Boyd, D. D., the United Prosbytcrinii Chinch. Rev. M. Byllesby, the Protestant Episcopal Church. Rev. C. W. Smith, D. D., the Methodist Churcli. Rev. B. F. Wooi>bui!N. D. D., the Bapti.st Cliurch. Rev. W. F. Cowden, the Disciph^s of Christ. Rev. a. a. Lambing, LL. D., the Catholic Church. Prof. T. J. Vandergrift, Chapter XVIII, with diagiam. George J. Luckev, A. M., first part of Chapter XXXV. John Morrow, M. S., last part of Chapter XXXV. Mr. H. C. Bei.l, of Waynesburg, Pa., township and borough histories. Acknowledgments are due to the Hon. John Harper, and N. B. Hooo, Esq. — to the secretary of the board of trade for courtesies extended — to Messrs. Snowden & Peterson for use of cuts — to the public press of Pittsburgh, the Gazette, the Chronicle, the Post and the Dispatch, and other of the daily and weekly issues for access to their files — to the Pittsburgh Library association for the use of its historical collections — to the officers and teachers in the various lit- erary institutions, the officers of the benevolent and charitable institutions, and to the many intelligent citizens throughout the county for the valuable aid which they gave to the writers. The part devoted to biography and genealogy includes representatives of nearly every important calling in the country. The large number of sketches necessitated brevity of treatment. They were submitted for correction before printing, and constitute an interesting portion of the work, which will increase in value with the lapse of time. Trusting that it may prove satisfactory to the citizens of the county, it is submitted to their considerate judgment. THE PUBLISHERS. CONTEJSTTS. PART L CHAPTER I.— Eakliest Times to the French War. — Aborigines and Pioneers — Indian Villages and Trails — Royal Land Pat- ents — Adventurers — Land Companies — In- dian Treaties — Forts — Settlements 9-33 CHAPTER II. — Contest for the Ohio Val- ley. — War-Clouds — French and Eujjlisli Claims — Defeat of the Colonial Forces — Gen. Braddock's Defeat — Gen. Forhes' Operations — Destruction of Fort Duquesne — End of French Rule in Pennsylvania 23- 4i CHAPTER in.— Ali.eohext from 1759 to 1779.— The Fourth Treaty— Fort Pitt— Con- centration of Forces — Chief Pontiac — The Shawanese and Delawares — Advent of Set- tlers-Land Sales 45-61 CHAPTER rV'.— The Boundary Dispi te.— Territory Grants— The Ohio Company— Earl of Duumore — Subdi\isious of Virginia and the Disputed Territory- Dr. John Connolly — Fort Pitt the Bone of Contention — The Manor of Kittanning — Mason and Dixon 61-74 CHAPTER v.— The REvoLtTioxARY Period — News of the Battle of Leximrton — Meetings at Hannastown and Pittsburgh — Fort Pitt in the Struggle — Gen. Hand — Gen. Mcintosh — Regiments Ordered to Fort Pitt — Concentra- tion of Storehouses at Fort Pitt— Fort Mc- Int'ish — Fort Laurens 74- 91 CHAPTER VL— The Revoli tio.vary Period (Co.vcn ded). — Fort Crawford — Fort Arm- strong — Brodhead's Expedition — Capt. Isaac Craig — Defeat of the Delawares — Col. Clarke's Expedition — Internal Di-affiction — Crawford's Expedition — His Fate — Indian Attack on Hannastown and Miller's Station 91-109 CHAPTER Aai.— From 1784 TO the Erection- op THE CorxTY. — Conflicting Claims — Penn- sylvania's Last Treaty with the Natives — "The New Purchase" — Settlements and Land-Titles — Depreciation and Reservation Lands — .\dministratioa of Justice — Court- houses, Jails, etc. — Erection of County — First County Officers, etc 109-122 CHAPTER VIIL— Pioneer Life. — High- ways — Early Preaching — "Whisky Path" — Homes of the Pioneers — Caravans — Taverns — Scarcity of Mechanics — Primitive Mill.'' — Sports, Weddings, etc.— Witches and Wiz- ards — Religion and Education — Conclusion 12-i-149 CHAPTER IX.— The Whisky Ixsurrec- Tiox. — Condition of Things in Western Penn- sylvania in 1791 — Surplus Produci — Distil- leries— Tax on Spirits— Public M.i-tiiigs— Condition of Affairs from 1792 to 1794— The Revolt — ^Arrival of Troops — Elcetion.s — Re- trospect 149-1 73 CHAPTER X.— The War of 1812— Prelim- inaries of the Struir^le — .\lle!^heny County in the War— The Pittsburgh Blues— BriL'ade of Militia at Pittsburgli— Rigging for Flur- ry's Fleet 174-179 CHAPTER XL— Mexican- War.— Soldiers from Allegheny Conntv — ^Siege of Vera Cruz —Battle of Plan del "Rio— Capture of the City of Mexico — Peace Proclaimed — Return of the Troops— Losses 179-183 CHAPTER Xn.— War of the Rebellion. — Regiments from Allegheny — Relief and other Committees — Military Supplies — The 1863 "Scare" — Defense of Pittj-burgh- SkeUhcs of RcgimenU li*4-323 CH-\PTER XIIL— Politics— Early Elec- tions — Gallatin and Brackenridge — Party Politics — Volunteer Candidat«.s — The Jones and Po.stlethwaite Contest — The Slavery Question — The Anti-Masonic Party — Elec- tion Returns 323-341 CHAPTER XIV— Bench and Bar.— Early Courts — Judicial Officers — Stocks and Pil- lory — William Penn's "Peacemakers" — Cir- cuit and Judicial Districts — The Bench — The Bar 341-280 CH.\PTER XV.— Churches. — Presbyt»?rian — United Presbyterian — Reformed Presbyte- rian— ^Cumberland Presbyterian — Reformed (German) 380-329 Vi COKfEKTS. CIIAP'I'KK .\\1.— I'm liciiKs (CciNTi.rnET.). — I'rnlrstiuil Ki,iM..|,;il-K..nn:ili..ii ..f tin- Diocsc (if I'ittsl.urL'li-.M'tlinilist Epis.MiiKil —Till- Bunk Dtpusiliiry— licniiim Cciii'Trga- tiou— Luthuruu— Baptist^Disciples of Christ — t'litliulie-Tjcwish Congregation 339-411 CHMTEK XVII.— Tiiii-K' TssTiTrTioxs.— Tli(M,l,..M,;il S.-iiiirKirifs— IVuf ;iih1 Dunil. In- slitutiun— Wcslrni l',-iiiis,vlv:iiii;i Jlo^pitul— Tli.^Couiilv lloiiK— \Vurkl.(m.-.c:uulI'Liiitrn- tiary ." -"1^34 CHAPTER XVIIT.— (Jeoi.ooy axo Topog- KAiMiY.— InlrDihi.tiirv— (■ohniiii:ir Sc^cticiii— Tl.c- E:irUrs Crust— TIm- I'ittsUui -1. Bitumi- uous Coal— IVtrdUuni ami Natural (ias— Samlstoni-s, etc.— tieuural Toposrapliy. .-tio-ia- CIIAPTER XIX.— The Centennial Cele- BmTioN.— OUl and New County Buildings— The Celebration— Object of the Parades- Dedication of New Buildings— Civic and Military Procession 427^.« CHAPTER XX.— PiTTSBi'KGn.— Advantages of the Site of Pittsburgh— McKee's Rocks and "The Forks "— Eorts-Intlux of Settlers — C(M75 CHAPTER XXn.—PlTTSBUBGH(CONTINUED). -Divesting the Penns of their Title— Sur- vev of the Town of Pittsburgh— Vickroy's I),-'po.Mtiun— The Town in 1786— Bracken- rid^i's Description of It— Comments .. .476-509 CHAPTER XXIIL— PiTTSBUKGH and Alle- gheny.— From 1786 to 17(M:.— Rcdemptioners —Early Schools and Professions— Mail and Postofiice Established- High Freights— Mar. ket-Housc— Lotteries, etc.— F.>rniation of Allegheny City — Chartering of Pittsburgh as a Borough 510-533 CHAPTER XXIV.— PiTTSBiTRGH and Alle- gheny (CoNTiNiEO). —Effect of Wayne's Victorv — First (ilasshousc — Paper-mills- Pittsburgh in 17Hli — Boat-buildiu^' — Oriiriuof the Coal Trade- Pittsburuli from 1810 to 1830— In 1828— Mrs. Royall's Account of the Place 53^-557 CHAPTER XXV.— PiTTsBiuGn and Alle- gheny (CoNTixrEii).— Transjiortation— Earliest Modes— First Stau'cs fr.im Pitts- burgh — Canals — Railroads — Steamboats- Bridges 557-.576 CHAPTER XXVI.— PiTTsniKGH and Alle- gheny (CoNTiNi!Ei>).—Floods— Disappear- ance of Smoky Island- Low Water— Fires- Conflagration of 1845— Relief Appropria- tions— 1.09ses 57ft-582 ClIAn'ER XXVIl— I'lTTsTU-non and AllS- oiiF-.NV (CiiNTiM i:oi, — BaiiKinL.'— TbcPitts- liuri;li Manufacturiim- (.mipanv— Insurance —Manufactures ami Trade, 18<>1-13— Manu- facturing Advantages of Pittsburgh — General Business — Statistics .585-614 CHAPTER XXVITL— PiTTsniBon and Ai.le- (iiiENY (Contixiedi. — Lost Indiistri's of Pittsburgh — First Oil-Burings— Gaswclls— Sources of Sujiply — .\rliliiial m. Natural Gas — Decrease in the Amount of Coal Used —Qualities of the Gas 014r-t!20 CHAPTER XXIX.— PiTTsniKGii and Alle- gheny (Ciintixi;ed).— Pujiulatinii — Health — W.alth — Water — Strc-ts— Debt- City Boundaries- The Wards— Additions . . . .620-636 Chapter XXX.— Pittsburgh and Alle- gheny (Continied). — Fire Department — Its History— The Bucket Brigade— FireEn- gines— The Paid Department — Police De- partment — Its Growth in Numljcrs and Effi- ciency : 636-047 CHAPTER XXXL— PiTTSBiKGH and Alle- gheny fCoNTiNVED). — The Medical Profes- sion — First and Other Early Pliysicians of Pittsl)urLrb— -VUcuhcny Comity Medical So- ciety — Medical Colleges — Homeopathic Pliysicians and Hospital 648-653 CHAPTER XXXII.— Pittsburgh and Alle- gheny (Continied). — The Press — The Pittsliurgh Giuitte and Mr. Scull— Subse- qent Newspapers — Contrast Between the Press of 1786 and That of 1889 6>4--(>TER X.— Townships and Boroughs (Continued). — Willvin.s- Stcrrctt (Willvius- burs)— Braddock (Braddoclc) 115-137 CHAPTER XL— Townships and Boroughs (Continued).— Plum— Patton—Peun (Vero- ua) 138-137 CHAPTER XIL— Townships and Boroioiis (Continued). — West Deer — Richland — Hampton 137-144 CHAPTER XIII.— Townships and Boroughs (Continued). —East Deer (Tarentuni)— Fawn — Harrison 144-153 CHAPTER XIV.— Townships and Boroughs Continued).— Indiana — O'Hara (Sharps- burg) 154-163 CHAPTER XV.— Townships and Boroughs (Continued).— Harmar—Spriugdale.. . . 163-168 CHAPTER XVI. — Townships and Bor- oughs (Continued). — Pine — McCandless 169-173 CHAPTER XVIL — Townships and Bor- ouGHS (Continued). — Ross (Bellcvue) — Re- serve (Spring Garden) — Shaler (Etna — Mill- vale) 17:J-1S5 CHAPTER XVIIL— Townships and Bor- oughs (Continued). — Ohio — Kilbuek — Aleppo (Gleulield— Oslwrn) 185-193 CHAPTER XIX. —Townships and Bor- oughs (Continued). — Franklin — Marshall 193-195 CHAPTER XX.— Townships and Boroughs (Concluded). — Sewickley — Leet (Sewiek- ley) 196-308 GENEALOGY AND BIOGRAPHY 309-776 INDICES 777-790 ILLUSTRATIONS. Anderson, W. B 13 Brown, Col. Joseph 305 Burns, Andrew 195) Calhoon, D. K 79 Calhoon, John K 35 Cochran, H. B 45 Courthouse, Pittsburgli (View of), opposite 1 Graham, R. T 177 Heinz, H. J 161 Hezlep, Joseph B 189 Hickey, Very Rev. John 117 Jamison, John C 311 Kennedy, John, Jr 145 Kenny, Thomas J 73 McClure, Abdiel 67 McKown, John 33 McRoberts, John 183 Meek, Jeremiah 7 O'Neil, J. N 101 Orr, William 321 Pollock, D. H 95 Porter, A. A opposite 230 Prager, Peter 167 Reynolds, Thomas Ill Risher,J.C 51 Risher, Rev. Levi 139 Roberts, George W 89 Sample, William, Sr 155 Sharp, T. W 123 Spahr, Jesse 29 Tomlinson, W. A 133 West, Lowry H 57 History of Allegheny County, CHAPTER I. EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FRENCH WAR. Aborigines and Pioneers— Indian Villages and Trails— Royal Land Pat- ents— Adventurers— Land Companies— Indian Treaties — Forts— Set- tlements. THE growth and development of our country, especially west of the Alle- gheny mountains, has been something phenomenal. Where, a century ago or less, nothing was to be seen but vast primeval forests or boundless prairies, inhabited by wild animals and savages only a little less ferocious, all has been changed by the rapid march of civilization. The few villages that dared to spring up at that early day have become populous cities, the solitary cabins of the hardy adventurers have given place to thriving towns and villages, the forests and prairies have been transformed into rich agricultural districts, and in every direction lines of railroad are seen threading their coui'ses to carry the fi-uits of industry to a ready market. Telegraphic lines facilitate communication, and over all religion spreads her peaceful influence, education sheds her cheering light, and a popular government secures for all equal rights. The peoples of the Old World, confined to traditional grooves, contemplate with wonder the gigantic strides of the Great Republic of the West, and speculate on what is to be the end of this onward march of national prosperity and domestic happiness. Nowhere, perhaps, is this extraordinary growth more marked than in Southwestern Pennsylvania, nearly all of which was once included in Allegheny county, where nature has been unusually lavish of her choicest gifts. Mineral wealth in coal, oil and natural gas has given to this section of country a prominence that leaves it without a rival; while water and railroad communi- cation unites it with every part of the world. But while the present arrests the attention of all, the past, to those who wish to inquire into its historic wealth, affords a field for investigation very pleasing to the student of history. 12 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. coi;ntry around the beatlwaters of the river, named it the 0-he yii, which in their dialect signifies the Beautiful river, and which the French simply translated into La Bello Kivif-re. The English took the sound rather than the sense of this Indian term, and named the river Ohio, a designation which was at first applied to the entire stream, but which came, in process of time, to be applied to that part of it only which lay below its confluence with the Monongahela. It would be impossible to form anything like an accurate estimate of the number of Indians of the several tribes living in "Western Pennsylvania at the time of the first appearance of the whites, both because no reliable record was ever kept, and because their residence was not permanent; suffice it to say that, considering the extensive territory, the population was very sparse. The character of the Indians naturally gave rise to numerous towns and villages, or what were popularly designated as such, composed sometimes of the members of one tribe, and at other times of the members of several tribes living together in harmony. These villages, usually quite small, consisting at times of only a few cabins, were situated for the most part along streams, and were frequently removed from one place to another as necessity or caprice dictated. Only a few of them will be mentioned in this place, on account of the part they played in the country's history. One of the principal of these was Kittanning, which was known to the French as Attiqu6, situated where the town of the same name now stands, and which figured conspicuously in the French war prior to its destruction by Col. Armstrong, in September, 1756. Another was Shannopinstown, located on the eastern bank of the Allegheny about two miles above its confluence with the Monongahela; and C^loron, in the journal of his expedition, to be referred to later, declares it to have been the most beautiful place he saw on his journey. But it was of little or no historic importance. Eighteen miles further down on the north bank of the Ohio stood Logstown, the most important of all the Indian towns, as will be seen in the sequel. It was the principal point in the western part of the colony for trading and conferring with the whites. A mile below the mouth of the Beaver river stood Sakunk, seldom mentioned in pioneer his- tory; and about four miles below the present New Castle was situated Kiska- kunk, a name variously spelled, which, though of considerable size, was rather a place of meeting for the Indians themselves than of importance to the whites. Besides these there were other villages, but so insignificant as not to be deserving of mention. The nomadic life of the Indians and the fact that they had certain points where they were accustomed to assemble from time to time naturally led to the formation of paths or trails, which traversed the countiy in various direc- tions. While afi'ording means of easy communication for the natives, they were scarcely less advantageous to the early traders and explorers, and were particularly useful in showing the best routes for military and national roads, HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 13 especially in the iiiouutainous parts of the country. The most noted, and per- haps the most ancient, of these pathways was the old Catawba or Cherokee trail, leading from the Carolinas and Georgia through Virginia, Western Penn- sylvania and Western New York to Canada. It was intersected by the Warrior branch, another path which, coming from Tennessee through Kentucky and Southern Ohio, entered oiu- state and united with it somewhere in Fayette county. These two were the only important trails that traversed the country north and south. Of greater importance, however, both to the Indians and to the whites, were the numerous trails which led east and west, one of the most noted of which was Nemackolin's path, afterward adopted and improved by Gen. Braddock and Washington, and known as Braddock's road. Starting from the mouth of Will's creek, where the city of Cumberland now stands, it crossed the mountains to the Monongahela river at the mouth of the Redstone creek, at the present Brownsville; while a branch leaving it near Uniontown continued on to the forks of the Ohio. It was not, however, used by the explorers or traders to the west until after Braddock's ill-fated expedition. Dunlap's path was also a very early one. Starting from in the vicinity of Winchester, Va. , it crossed the mountains to the mouth of the creek of the same name, immediately above Brownsville; and as Braddock robbed Nemack- olin of the name of his path, so did Dunlap of the name of his creek, which had been previously known as Nemackolin's creek. But perhaps the most important of all the Indian trails was the Kittauning path, which, coming up the Juniata and crossing the Allegheny mountains at Kittanning Point, passed westward by a somewhat northerly route to the Allegheny at the village of the same name, and thence west to Detroit. A trail extended also from the forks of the Ohio down the northern bank of the river to Beaver, and continued on into Ohio; and another from Logstown north to Lake Erie and the country of the Iroquois. Besides these there were numerous other trails of minor importance, which we shall not pause to consider. The better to understand the gradual development of the country from a forest wilderness to its present advanced condition it will be necessary to go back to the time when the territory first came into the possession of 'the white man. Naturally enough strange errors were committed in the portioning out of the New World among the powers of Europe, and by them in turn among their favorites. The ignorance of the geography of the recently discovered continent, the thirst for dominion, and the fabulous mineral wealth which was b elieved to lie concealed beneath the surface of the New World were elements of confusion that can hardly be appreciated at their proper value in the present advanced state of civilization. Add to this that the revival of learning was then beginning to dawn, thanks to the invention of printing, and men were not as yet fully released from the strange notions that had long prevailed re- garding what lay beyond the " Gloomy Ocean." Evidences of this are found in abundance in the early accounts of the newly discovered continent, and in 14 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. the grotesque figures that adorn some of the earlier maps, which endeavored to convey some idea to kings and people of what explorers had seen, or im- agined they had seen, beyond the waters. AVhile the thoughtless may smile at this display of ignorance, the philanthropist rejoice at the amelioration of man' s condition, and the philosopher mark with pleasure the development of the human mind, the student of our history will discover in it a source of both pleasure and perplexity — of pleasure that some record, however imperfect, of the past has come down to us of the ideas entertained by the early ad- venturers, and of perplexity to solve the historical and geographical problems upon which, unfortunately, they shed so little light. Nor is the territory now under consideration free from these. "What a variety in the early maps; what conflicts in the early claims! Yet we must address ourselves to the task of unraveling them as well as circumstances and the information obtainable from every source will permit. As early as March, 1564, Queen Elizabeth granted to her favorite. Sir Walter Raleigh, a patent for a vast tract of land extending along the Atlantic seaboard of the New World, and back from it to an indefinite distance; but whether it could be so construed as to include the territory now embraced in Allegheny county, or not, it would be difiicult to determine, owing to the im- perfect knowledge then had of the geography of this continent, and the con- sequent indefinite terms of the patent. Be that as it may, it is not a matter of importance, inasmuch as no permanent settlement was ever made under the patent, which soon lapsed, while he in whose favor it had been granted fell from the loyal favor. Permanent possession dates from the charter granted May '23, 1009, by James II, to a company at the head of which appeared the name of the successful rival and inveterate enemy of Raleigh, Robert Cecil. Earl of Salisbury. That Allegheny county was embraced within the limits of this charter there can be no doubt, for the territory granted to the company extended two hundred miles north and as many south of Old Point Comfort, "up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest," as the charter expressed it. Thus was the claim to Southwestern Pennsylvania established in favor of Virginia. But owing to the still indefinite knowl- edge of America, the rapacity of adventurers and the desire of crowned heads to please their favorites at little cost to themselves it need not be a mat- ter of surprise that charters were granted which conflicted with each other, and that the same lands were bestowed upon two or more persons or com- panies. A notable instance of this is the territory around the head of the Ohio; for while it was granted to a Virginia company in 1609, it was after ward included in the charter granted to William Penn by Charles II, March 4, 1681. By this instrument he was constituted sole proprietary of certain lands which, in the terms of the charter, were to extend westward five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river, and to include all the territory from the beginning of the fortieth to the beginning of the forty-third degree of HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 15 northern latitude. Whether it was the royal will to take from Virginia part of her territory and bestow it upon Peun, or that the king was ignorant of the exact terms of the charter of that colony, it matters little; both colonies continued to claim the territory by virtue of a grant from the crown, and a long and bitter contest arose, which will form one of the most interest- ing chapters of this history. Although the English adventurers did not push into the forests with the same intrepidity as the French, they were early in the country west of the ' ' Allegheny hills, ' ' as the range of mountains was at first called. Col. Ward, who lived at the falls of the James river, sent one Mr. Needham, in 1654:, on an exploring expedition, who, crossing the mountains, entered the country of the Ohio, and in ten years' time is said to have discovered several branches, not only of that river, but also of the Mississippi. Thomas Woods and Robert Pallam were commissioned by Maj.-Gen. Woods, of Virginia, "for ye finding of the ebbing and flowing of ye waters be- hinde the mountains in order to the discovery of ye South Sea." These men, with an Appomattox Indian and one servant and five horses, started from the Appomattox town in Virginia on Friday, September 1, 1671, crossed the mount- ains and descended to what is known as the falls of the Kanawha, where they marked some trees with marking-irons on September 17th. They returned to the Appomattox town on Sunday morning, October 1st. In 1674 Caj)t. Botts made another tour through the same country. As early as 1715 Father Marmet, at Kaskaskia, wrote to the governor of Canada that " the encroaching English were building forts on the Ohio and Missis- sippi rivers;" and^ though this is incorrect, it shows the presence of the English in the vicinity at that time. "Gov. Spottswood, of Virginia, made an effort, as early as 1711, to resist French encroachments, by attempting to establish the line of Virginia settlements far enough to the west to interrupt the contemplated chain of communication between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. For this purjiose he also caused the passes of the mountains to be examined; desired to promote settlements beyond them, and sought to concen- trate within his province bands of fi'iendly Indians. Finding other measures unavailing, he j)lanned the incorporation of a Virginia Indian company, which, from the emoluments of the monopoly of the traffic, should sustain forts in the western country. Disappointed by the determined opposition of the people to a privileged company, he was still earnest to resist the encroachments of the French. But from Williamsburg to Kaskaskia the distance was too wide; and though, by a journey across the mountains, the right of Virginia might be sus- tained, yet no active resistance would be possible till the posts of the two na- tions should be nearer." In 1719 Gov. Keith urged upon the lords of trade the erection of a fort on Lake Erie. No settlements, however, had as yet been made in the territory embraced within the limits of Allegheny county; and little precise knowledge was had of the geography of that section of country. 10 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. But a short time before the middle of the last century greater activity began to be manifested; land companies were formed, and adventurers began to look wistfully to the country immediately west of the mountains. But the mount- ains themselves presented a barrier to the progress of settlement. Though not elevated, the land on their summit was not so well suited for agricultural pur- poses as that on the hills and in the valleys beyond; yet, unless the consent of the Indians could first be obtained and forts erected for the protection of the pioneers against the inconstant and vacillating savages, it would be impossible to occupy the land, even granting that the formality of an extinction of the Indian claim had been effected, both on account of the rapac- ity of the whites and the reluctance with which the Indians saw their hunting- grounds come into possession of the palefaces. Companies might be formed and lands located, but no permanent settlements could be effected without protection. The savages naturally enough tolerated the traders for the need they had of them, and they on their part were not slow in perceiving the advantages they could derive from traffic with the simple, unsophisticated natives. They were, in fact, an early and natural outgrowth of the eastern colonies, and they jsene- trated the pathless wilderness far in advance of the foremost settlements. Though paying little heed to the laws enacted to restrain their greed for gain, they did not wholly forget their allegiance to the nation that had fostered them; and they generally prepared the way for the hospitable reception of the more permanent class of the frontier community. The more adventurous of this class had already reached the lakes on the north and the Miami on the west, and suggested the plan by which the English could hope more success- fiilly to contest the possession of the Ohio vallej^ with the French. The gradual occupation of the country east of the moimtains seemed to have brought the time for the settlement of the temtory west of them: and a number of land companies were formed, the most important of which was the Ohio Company, organized in 1748 by Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia assembly, Lawrence and Arthur Washington, and ten other Virginians, who, with a Mr. Hanbury of London, joined in a jaetition to the crown for the grant of an extensive tract of land in the Ohio valley. Their petition was favorably received, and they were granted live hundred thousand acres of land south of the Ohio and between the Monongahela and the Great Kanawha, with the further privilege of locating also north of that river. The company was required to pay no quitrent for ten years, but must select two-thirds of its ter- ritory at once, and at its own cost construct and garrison a fort. Other com- panies also came into existence, but soon died out. Negotiations had already been commenced with the Indians for the two- fold purpose of preserving friendly relations with them and of obtaining per- mission to erect one or more forts on the Ohio for the protection of the traders and pioneers. These would serve also to check the threatened encroachments HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Id of the French till possession should be gradually taken of the country, aad the Indians, seeing themselves no longer able to hold it, would sell it, as they had other large tracts east of the mountains; for the boast that Pennsylvania never took any of the lands of the Indians without paying for them is to a great extent an empty mockery. The people of the province lirst occiipied the lands and then purchased them from the natives, who thought it better to sell for something than be driven off for nothing; the taking possession of the lands and keeping possession was a foregone conclusion, the obtaining of a title for them was a secondary consideration. The Indians were not slow to see this, and frequently protested; and their threatening attitude at times alarmed the colonies. The fears of the latter were only too well founded; for the colonies were still weak, while the power of the natives had not yet been broken. At the treaty of July 7, 1742, Canassatego introduced the claim of the Indians to the lands in Maryland, desiring to know what had been done in the matter, saying to the commissioners : ' ' You will inform the persons whose people are seated on our lands that that country belongs to us by right of con- quest — we have bought it with our blood and taken it from our enemies in a fair war ; we expect such consideration as the land is worth ; press him to send us a positive answer; let him say yes or no; if he says yes, we will treat with him; if no, we are able to do ourselves justice, and we will do it by going to take payment ourselves." This threat led to the convention at Lancaster, one of the most important held with the natives within the limits of our state. The preliminaries were arranged by Conrad Weiser, the Pennsylvania colonial interpreter, who met the delegates of the Six Nations at Lancaster, with the commissioners of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, June 22, 1744. The confereuce lasted twelve days; did little credit to the commissioners, who dis- tributed intoxicants very freely, and kept the Indians constantly more or less under their influence; and the result was that, while they gained their point, they gave occasion for bitter complaints for years to come, and have left a stain on their memory that would be a dark page in our history if it were not that such stains are so common. The good will of the Six Nations was secured for a time to the English and against the French, and a stimulus was given to settlement east of the mountains. But the occupation of the valley of the Ohio was still desired, and negotiations were carried on, by both Pennsylvania and Virginia, looking to the erection of forts and the taking possession of the lands. The lirst person to meet the Indians on the Ohio as the representative of the colony of Pennsylvania was Conrad Weiser, who was commissioned by Anthony Palmer, president of the executive council, in August, 1748, to treat with the Indians at Logstown. He was at the same time made the bearer of valuable presents, which had been promised the representatives of the Indians in the previous November. Among other instructions which he received were these: "You are to use the utmost diligence in acquiring a perfect knowledge 20 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. of the number, situation, disposition and strength of all the Indians in or near those parts, whether they be friends, neutrals, or enemies, and be very par- ticular in knowing the temper and influence of the tribes of Indians who send deputies to receive you." He was also to strive earnestly to turn the Indians against the French and attach them to the English cause, and to use the utmost diligence to ascertain the movements and designs of the French. In his investigation, which was to be thorough, the instructions remind him that: " You are not to satisfy yourself with generalities, but inform yourself truly and fully of the real disposition of the Indians, and what dependence can be had on them for the security of this province, and for the total prevention of hostilities within our limits. . . . You are to take special care not to disoblige the Indians, or in any wise diminish their hearti- ness for his Majesty's cause against the French. You will therefore speak to them by themselves, and give them such a quantity of goods as uj3on their present temper and the frankness of their submission you shall think they deserve. " Having made all necessary arrangements, Weiser set out from his home in Berks county, crossed the Susquehanna, and came by Huntingdon, or Standing Stone as it was then called, to Frankstown, about three miles down the Juniata from the spot occupied by the present Hollidays- burg, of which he makes this quaint entry in his journal : ' ' August 20th. Came to Frank's Town, but saw no houses." Crossing the movmtains, he continued by a western route for a distance, and then, turning to the southwest, crossed the Kiskiminetas, a few miles above its mouth, and pursued his journej' till he reached the Allegheny twenty miles above its confluence with the Monongahela. On the 27th he dined with the Seneca queen, Aliquippa, at Shannopinstown. on the east bank of the Allegheny about two miles above its mouth, and the same evening arrived at Logstown, where he immediately set about the execu- tion of the task assigned him by the executive council. His efPorts were suc- cessful in strengthening the bond of friendship between the colony and the various tribes, and winning them from their adherence to the French. The presents were next distributed, and the conference broke up. He returned September 20th, and gave in his report of the proceedings. From this time communication between the east and the Indians on the Ohio became frequent. But the French were not in the meantime idle spectators of the action of the English. Claiming by the right of discovery all the lands drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, they fixed the limits of their possessions at the summit of the Allegheny mountains, and prepared to make good their claim by the erection of a line of fortifications that should extend from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to that of the Mississippi. It is not the intention to enter in this place into a discussion of the claim made by some writers in favor of La Salle's discovery of the Allegheny and upper Ohio in the winter of 1669- 70; it is highly improbable, and the best avithorities reject it. The better to become acquainted with the geography of the country, drive out the English HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 21 traders, and secure the attachment of the Indians, the governor-general of ■Canada despatched Louis de C^loron, in the summer of 1749, with a detach- ment of soldiers and friendly Indians, to make an excursion down the Alle- gheny and Ohio. His mission, as he acknowledges in the journal of the expedition, was but partially successful; everywhere he found a strong feeling in favor of the English; and he was on more than one occasion in danger of being attacked, notwithstanding the strength of the detachment under his command. The first symptoms of the struggle that was inevitable between the French and English began to manifest themselves, but the treatment of this part of our subject will be reserved for a future chapter. George Croghan, with the Indian interpreter, Andrew Montour, was again with the tribes at Logstown in December, 1749, where he found that the French had endeavored, but without siiccess, to win the natives to their cause. The Indians were at that time in favor of the English erecting a fort some- where on the headwaters of the Ohio to protect their traders against the French. Croghan was again sent with presents by the governor of Pennsyl- vania in the early part of the following year, and the joiu-nal which he kept ■of his conference with the chiefs is still extant. The half-breed, Joncaire, who was the agent of the French, was there at the same time; but his overt- ures were contemptuously rejected by the chiefs of the Six Nations. As visual, the Indians signified their desire to trade with the colonists, but not to part with their lands. Measures having for their object the settling of families south of the Ohio were now inaugurated by the Ohio Company, as a preliminary to which they sent Christopher Gist, a noted adventurer, to explore the country. On the last day of October, 1750, he left the frontier of civilization, crossed the mountains by the Juniata and Kiskiminetas route, and came to Shannopins- town. Thence he proceeded to Logstown, but it is remarkable that in doing so he passed down the north side of the Allegheny, behind what is now known as Monument hill, in Allegheny City, and thus remained ignorant of the exist- ence of the Monongahela river, which forms its junction with the Allegheny at that point. From Logstown he proceeded by way of the mouth of the Beaver to the Muskingum, where he met Croghan. Parting from him in Jan- uary. 1751, he explored the country to the mouth of the Scioto, and thence across the Little Miami to the larger stream of the same name. From there he retraced his steps to the Ohio, where he checked his course and ascended the valley of the Kentucky river, where he found a pass to the Blue Stone, and returned to his principals by way of the Eoanoke. In the November fol- lowing he is found in another expedition, but this time in the country south of the Ohio, which he explored as far as the Great Kanawha during the winter. In April, 1751, Croghan was again at Logstown, and obtained formal per mission for the English to erect a fort at the mouth of the Monongahela. 22 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. This, from motives of economy, the Pennsylvaaia assembly refused to do. In fact each of the colonies sought to evade the burden of securing the valley of the Ohio, though all recognized the necessity of doing so, and the propriety of losing no time in the matter. The proprietaries and assembly of Pennsyl- vania tossed the subject from one to the other in fruitless disputes as to where the responsibility rested. New York would remonstrate with the governor of Canada; and Virginia, limited in resources, was equally reluctant to assume the expense involved in such an undertaking. The key to the Ohio valley was the forks of the Ohio river, and Virginia's accessibility and the extent of her charter claims at length devolved the initiative upon her. In the meantime the French were steadily pushing their claims, and the dexterity with which they were generally able to manage the Indians, as well as the imjjortant fact that they did not want to occupy the country, but only to hold dominion over it and monopolize the Indian trade, enabled them to win the natives, and to turn them against the English, whom they never really loved, but with whom they saw they could trade with advantage. Time wore on, and the spring of 1753 saw the French actively engaged in carrying out their purpose of erecting a chain of forts through the we^t. Presqu ' Isle and Le Bceuf, in Northwestern Pennsylvania, were built in the early part of that year. Before entering upon the important history of the struggle between the French and English for the possession of the rich valley of the Ohio, and the key to it, the site of the present city of Pittsburgh, a hasty glance will be cast at the progress made thus far in planting settlements west of the mountains. Prior to the occupation of the forks of the Ohio by the French the territory west of the Alleghenies had become familiar to the colonists, thanks to the land-grabbers, traders, and other adventurers; and a number of frontier cabins sent their curling smoke toward the sky through the forest trees. C61oron informs us, in the journal of his expedition, that he found an English trading-house on the Allegheny soma distance above the mouth of Oil creek, and that of John Eraser, the gunsmith, at the mouth of French creek. There were also several cabins in the vicinity of the forks, one standing at the present Sharpsburg, another at Emsworth, below Allegheny City, one in the vicinity of Sewickley. besides others. The most important settlement, how- ever, was that of Christopher Gist at the spot on the Chestnut ridge known as Dunbar's Camp, which consisted of about a dozen families. Such was the condition of the tei'ritory embraced within the limits of Allegheny county at the date of the commencement of the French war, a contest of vast importance, not only to the colonies but to the world. HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 23 CHAPTER II. CONTEST FOE THE OHIO VALLEY. W.vr-Cloxjds— French and English Claims— Defeat or the Coloxial Forces— Gen. Braddock's Defeat— Gen. Forbes' Operations- Destruc- tion OF Fort Duquesne— End of French Rule in Pennsylvania. THE rising mists of war alluded to at the close of the last chapter soon became threatening clonds, growing more dark and lowering every mo- ment. It is not the intention to enter into a lengthy account of the complica- tions of European politics, or the circumstances that led to a declaration of war between France and England, so disastrous for the former in the loss of her possessions on this side of the Atlantic, and scarcely less so for the latter in schooling her colonists in the art of war, removing by the destruction of French power the only check she had on their dependence, and training a leader for them whose name is as imperishable as the everlasting hills, the illustrious Washington. To every reflecting mind a struggle between the two powers over their American possessions was inevitable. Time might be required before the cloud of war should burst upon the New World, but that time was certain to come, and it could not be long delayed. The pioneers cared little what disposition might be made by the crowned heads of old Europe of the territory here. Being an agricultural people, they must in the nature of things move westward, slowly, it might be, and frequently checked and driven back by the natives ; but move they would, and no jjower could resist them. By the treaty of Utrecht, signed April 11, 1713, England acquired large tracts of territory from the French in America ; but by far the most important of these was that lying south of Lake Ontario, upon which the Six Nations lived, and which included a recognition of that famous confederation as En- glish subjects. This grant not only curtailed the territory of the French, but also cut off all hope of a direct line of communication with the valley of the Mississippi, and left their route by way of the lakes oj)en to attack. Still further, this concession made the English heirs to the Iroquois conquests in the west, an advantage of the first importance, which they ultimately improved. As yet, however, they seemed utterly indifferent to the possession of the interior. The charters of the seaboard colonies granted the territory "from sea to sea," but, separate in organization, and jealous of each other, as well as of the crown, their policy was narrowed and their strength weakened. Living by agriculture 24 IIISTOUY OF ALLKOHENY COUNTY. 1111(1 irndo, tlu>ir oxpiiiisioii, Uirritory for nctiial B(>ttloin(>nt in the proHeiit wiiH UiuH luckiii^j diiriiifj i,bo ourly poriod of Eiij^liHli coloiiiitl Listory, luul for luoro tlmii a coutury their W(>Ktorn boumlnry was tho mountains. The Fr(Micli, on tho otbor hand, woro grwuly of dominion, hut not for purposes of sottlonuMit. KiU'h nation oyod tho otlior with joalonsy as it gazed on the wide expanse of country between the Alleghenies and tlie groat river of the wo.st. Tiie treaty of Utr(>cht had effected no permanent peace between thorn, but only a truce which eacli was taking advantage of to prepare for whatever furtlii(l in October, 1748, as far as it referi-ed to AnH>ricH only h»ft the possessions of the respective (towers "the same as Ix^foro tho war." This was but an evasion of the point at issue, which sooner or later must demand adjudication ; and it left a peaceful adjustment of con- flicting claims raised by the former treaty out of the question. It is dilVicnlt to describe aecnratoly the geographical scope of tho early French and Fnglish claims in America. Generally stated, the former included the entire basin of tho St. Lawrence and tho Mississippi and the extensive region around tlio great lakes; but tho details of this l)road claim were as ill defined in the minds of tho claimants as they were in those of the English. In Western Pennsylvania tho Allegheny mountains formed a natural boundary, which was fixed upon by tho French as tho western limits of their rival in that section. Tho terms of the various charters were more or less vague, as has lieen stated; and while tho colonies were united in disputing tho pretensions of the French, they had disputes, sometimes very bitter and long continued, among thenjselvos. Indeed, might was the only recognized basis of right ovorywhore in the New World, and each nation was eager to anticipate the other in establishing its power within the coveted limits before trying conclu- sions. Many circumstances united in transferring the inevitable struggle between tho rivals to the valley of the Ohii>; and here it is that we shall lirietly review tlu> actions of tho twt) groat nations. Taking up the history of this section of country at the point wheii" it was dropped at the dose of tho last chajiter, it will bo remembered that at the beginning of the year 175-1 a few colonists' cabins began to appear on the western side of tho Allegheny mountains, and principally along the course of tho rivers, which gave evidence of awakening activity in extending the border settlements. Negotiations were also being actively carried on with the aborigi- nes, with the odds apparently in favor of the English; permission bad been obtained for erecting a fort on the headwaters of the Ohio; and, all things considered, tho prospects were as enconraging as could be expected. But the agents of tho French were also on tho scene; and to their acknowledged supe- rior tact in niiumgiug the Indians thev added tho argument, which the conduct IIIHTOUY 0¥ AI.r.KdllKNV rOHNTY. 25 of tlioir rivals only toiulod to coiilinu, Umt tlio Erii^liuli won* iift-fM' iht' Inuitiiif^- i^roiindH of tlio IiidiimB, find wore f^oini^ to forct* llicin buck, littlo by liltli", lis tliey Imd doiio wiHtof tho nioniifuins. Add toMiiH tliiit tlio Fr(>rich Iwid idicudy hnilt. two forts in tbo iiorthwcwtcrn puil of i'l'iinHylvnniii, with ii view of con n<«!tiiig Lako Erie with tho Alh^f^hony rivoi' by ninunH of L(( Uonif river, or FnwK^h creek, as it has since l)(>en called; and that they w(?re lu^gotiatiuf^ witii the Indians for the site of another fort at tlie conf!nenc(( of the two sti'oains,' thus ainiinf; at securiiifj coniniuiiication l)y water from the nioutli of tim St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, as well as from the lakes, witli the coveted strategic point, the forks of tll<^ Ohio, which tliey hoped soon to gi'asp. (2ui(»tly they wore pre|iariiig a fleet of canoes and battcaux to carry tlnur forces down the Boantifnl rivei', and with a favorable stage of water, snch as was natnrally to be expected in the spring, they could reacli tint forks in hiss than two days, the distance being only 121 miles, and before word of their (i|)proach (ronld be sent across the mountains. Once in possession, it would be didicidt, if not imi>ossible, to dislodge them; for before troops could be lironght from the east of the mountains, ovctr which a road niiist first be opened for their passage, a strong forlification could be erected at t\w forks, forces could bo concentrated from Detroit, the Illinois country and the forts to the noilh ; and in the meantime the enemy could be harassiMl on the nnirch. The colonies were not insensible to the dangers to which they were exjiosed; but apathy and a lack of harmony jxcevented concfuted action. Now York had suilli^ietit to engage hor attcuition in protecting her own frontier from Mie inroads of th(i French, who lay along so wide a stretch of her border; iinii in Pennsylvania there existed a protracted quarrel between the ))roprietaries and the assembly, m whicli the ol)ject seemed to be first to beat the governor and then light the French. It was only the Scotch governor of Virginia, Jtolxtrt Dinwiddle, who took the cause of the crown in hand. Acting upon instruc tions received from the mother-country, ho prepared to examinii into the move- ments and purposes of the enemy, as the territory around the h<(adwaters of the Ohio, to which their movements were directed, lay within the charter daiiu of the Old Dominion. For the arduous task of investigating the actions of the French ho selected a man who, though scarc(fly I)eyond the years of boyhood, was ecjual to the impf)rtant duty assigned him, being ni of the Companies of the De- tachment OF THE French Marine, Commander-in-Chief of His Most Chris- tian Ma.jesty's Troops, now on the Beautiful River, to the Commander of Those of the King of Gre.at Brit.wn, at the Mouth of the River Monon- gahela. Sir — Nothing can surprise me more than to see you attempt a settlement upon the lands of the king, my master, which obliges me now, sir, to send you this gentleman. Chevalier Le Mercler, captain of the artillery of Canada, to know of you. sir, by virtue of what authority you are come to fortify j'ourself within the dominions of the king, my 30 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. master. This aclion seems so contrary to the last treaty of peace, at Aix-la-Chapelle, between his most Christian majesty and the l^ing of Great Britain, that I do not know to wliom to imimle such an usurpation, as it is incontestable that the lands situated along the Beautiful river belong to his most Christian majesty. I am informed, sir, that your undertakinc has been concerted by none else than by a company, who have more in view the advantage of a trade than to endeavor to keep the union and harmony which subsists between the two crowns of France and Great Britain, although it is as much the interest, sir, of your nation as ours, to preserve it. Let it be as it will, sir, if you come out into this place, charged with orders. I sum- mon you in the name of the king, my master, by virtue of orders which I have got from my general, to retreat peaceably with your troops from off the lands of the king, and not to return, or else I shall find myself obliged to fulfill my duty, and compel you to it. I hope, sir, j'Ou will not defer an instant, and that you will not force me to the last e.xtremity. In that case, sir, you may be persuaded that I will give orders that there shall be no dam- age done by my detachment. I prevent you, sir, from asking me one hour of delay, nor to wait for my consent to receive orders from your governor. He can give none within the dominions of the king, my master. Those I have received of my general are my laws, so that I can not depart from them. On the contrarj', sir, if you have not got orders, and only come to trade, 1 am Sorry to tell you, that I can not avoid seizing you, and to confiscate your effects to the use of the Indians, our children, allies and friends, as 30U are not allowed to carrj' on a contraband trade. It is for this reason, sir, that we stopped two Englishmen last year, who were tradiug upon our lands; moreover, the king, my master, asks nothing but his right: he has not the least intention to trouble the good harmony and friendship which reigns between his majesty and the king of Great Britain. The governor of Canada can give proof of his having done his utmost endeavors to maintain the perfect union which reigns between two f riendl)- princes. As he had learned that the Iroquois and the Nipissings of the Lake of the Two Mountains had struck and destroyed an English family, toward Carolina, he has barred up the road, and forced them to give him a little boy belonging to that familjv. and which M. Ulerich, a merchant of Montreal, has carried to Boston; and what is more, he has forbid the savages from exer- cising their accustomed cruelly upou the English, our friends. I could complain bitterly, sir, of the means taken all last winter to instigate the In- dians to accept the hatchet and strike us, while we were striving to maintain peace. I am well persuaded, sir, of the polite manner in which you will receive M. Le Mercier, as well out of regard to his business as his distinction and personal merit. I expect 30U will send him back with one of your officers, who will bring me a precise answer. As )'0U have got some Indians with you, sir. I join with M. Le Mercier an interpreter, that he may inform them of my intentions upon that subject. I am, with great regard, sir. Your most humble and most ob't serv't. CONTRECfElR. Done at our camp, April Kith. IT.W.* On tbe morning of the ITtb the colonial soldiers were permitted to with- draw; and they went itp the Monongahela to the month of the Redstone creek, where the Ohio Company had a trading-post. The die was cast; the two nations were at war, although it had not been formally declared. The French followed up with alacrity the advantagea they had gained. The fort was completed early in June, and named Duquesne,. •Craig's "History of Pittsburgh," pp. 23-25. HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 31 in honor of the governor-general of Canada; troops fi'om the Illinois country were hastily brought up the Ohio to inoi'ease its garrison; spies were sent among the neighboring Indian tribes to tell them of the triumph of the French and win them back to their cause; and a close watch was kept of the move- ments of the colonial forces. Washington was at Will's creek pushing forward the preparations to reinforce the frontier fort, when the news of. its capture was brought hirn. Scouts continued to bring information of the enemy's movements, but the tedious preparations for the march were not allowed to cease. The line of march lay over a broken, mountainous country, to the north of Redstone creek, and thence down through the country to the mouth of the Monongahela. Eoads had to be cut for the artillery and provision trains, and progress was made at the slow rate of from two to four miles a day. On the 27th of May the English had reached a place known as the Great Meadows, when the scouts brought word that the French forces were in the vicinity. Washing- ton, fearing a sui'prise, started out on the following morning to ascer- tain the strength of enemy, when an engagement took place in which the French lost their commander, M. de Jumonville, and nine men, the Ameri- cans losing but one. This was the first act of open hostility between the regularly arrayed forces of the two nations in the valley of the Ohio, and it was held by the French as the commencement of the war. The march of the colonial forces was continued without fui'ther incident until the latter part of June, when the report came in that the enemy was approaching in full force. A council of war was held, and it was resolved to retreat to a more defensible point. The Great Meadows was reached on the 1st of July, and here the ex- hausted condition of the provincials determined Washington to take a stand. Here, as he reported, with nature's assistance, he made a good entrenchment, and prepared a charming field for an encounter, to which, owing to the cir- cumstances in which his people were placed, he gave the name of Fort Neces- sity. The enemy appeared on the 3d, and opened the attack. For nine hours an inefPectual resistance was made against overwhelming odds, when a capitulation was agreed upon, the colonials being permitted to retire with everything save the artillery, only one piece of which they were allowed to take with them. This action was one of the causes assigned by George II for a declaration of war. For Washington it was perhaps the most humiliat- ing scene in his entire career. How differently he celebrated the Fourth of July forty years later ! But reverses sometimes bring out better than success what is in a man. With this victory on the part of the French the whole frontier became ex- posed to their inroads; the Indians who till then had faltered were won over to the French; the settlements were in the utmost alarm, and a series of mur- derous incursions was begun, and continued for four years, checked for a brief space by the march of Gen. Braddock, only to burst forth with rekindled fm-y 32 IIISTOHY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. * after his disastrous defeat. The massacred pioneers, the smoldering ruins of their frontier cabins, and the large number of prisoners taken, some to be tort- ured at the stake with the utmost refinement of savage cruelty, others to live in degradation worse than slavery, to be rescued years later by a Bouquet, or to die of hardship and exposure, tell the tale of the relentless fury of the natives. How far the French are to be held responsible for the blood that was shed and the barbarities inflicted it were difficult to determine; but the scenes described by such prisoners as James Smith seem to attach some blame at least to them. The colonists were powerless to dislodge the French from their stronghold at the forks, or to keep them in check on the frontier so long as they held it; and the season was too far advanced to expect assistance from the mother- country. Besides, England and France, though both were actively preparing for war, professed to be at peace. Thus matters stood at the close of this dis- astrous year, only to be followed, could the future have been penetrated, by a year still more disastrous. Negotiations between the two nations continued in Europe. France proposed to restore the American boimdary lines as they had been before the war of the Spanish succession, and refer all matters of dispute to the commissioners at Paris; England refused to go back to the treaty of Utrecht. France rejected this basis of discussion, and offered another com- promise — that both nations should retire fi'om the country between the A.lle- ghenies and the Ohio. To this England agreed, stipulating, however, that the French should destroy all their forts on the Ohio and its branches; but this the French refused to accept. Like nearly all such negotiations, it was an attempt on the part of each nation to outwit the other, and on the part of both to conceal, rather than manifest, their real intentions. The insincerity of the desire they mutually expressed to preserve peaceful relations is seen in the fact that, though the decision referred to was not reached till the latter part of March, 1755, yet in Febi-uary Gen. Braddock had landed in Virginia in com- mand of a strong force, with additional powers to compel the colonists to join him in an expedition for the reduction of all the French posts on the frontier. French fleets, too, with provisions and men, were on the ocean, crowding every sail to come to the rescue. But war was not even yet declared. Braddock had planned a threefold campaign against the enemy's posts — in Nova Scotia, at Crown Point and Niagara, by way of Fort Duquesne. He did not, indeed, meditate the conquest of Canada, but simply acted in obedience to his instruc- tions to resist encroachments on English territory. It is not the intention to give in this place an account of these several expeditions, but to treat only of the one which was sent into Western Pennsylvania. Gen. Braddock was everywhere beset with difiiculties, which retarded his movements and i-uffled his by no means placid temper. He had, besides, a contempt for everything colonial, which he made no effort to conceal. This antijiathy was not without its effects on the colonial troops, who, besides HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 33 being trained to Indian warfare, knew it to be the best, and felt that a leader trained according to other methods must find himself at sea among the red- skins. This ignorance of Braddock's, coupled with his peculiar disposition, caused him to make numerous blunders, none of which escaped the attention of the self-reliant frontiersmen. Among the forces under the immediate com- mand of the general were two regiments commanded respectively by Sir Peter Halket and Col. Thomas Dunbar, and which were attended with a suita- ble train of artillery. The landing in Virginia instead of Pennsylvania was the first of a series of unfortunate mistakes, as neither adequate forage, pro- vision nor transportation could be easily procured; and it is said that, if the latter province had been selected as the point of debarkation, a saving of forty thousand pounds would have been effected, and the march shortened by six weeks. It is well known that when the army was detained at Will's creek for lack of means of transportation the general was only relieved by resources drawn from Pennsylvania. The general established his headquarters at Alex- andria, and spent the time from February 20th to the middle of April in elab- orating his plans and preparing his forces to move to the rendezvous at Will's creek. The army reached that point after a tedious march of four weeks, and there received such forces from New York and Virginia as raised the number in the command to two thousand men. Here it was that he encountered the most exasperating difficulties. Instead of the one hundred and fifty wagons and three hundred horses promised him, with ample supplies of forage and pro- visions, he found only fifteen wagons, hardly a third of the horses expected, and a scanty supply of damaged provisions. It was only by the tact and influence of Dr. Franklin that he was finally rescued from his trying posi- tion. He began to feel keenly the effect of his constant disparagement of the provincial officers and militia; but his eyes were not opened, and he made no effort to correct his mistake. Indeed it is much to the credit of* the colonial officers and men that they did not utterly abandon a leader who was so little able to conceal the contempt in which he held them. He declared that he saw little courage in them, and expected only indifferent military service fi'om them. Besides, he had orders from England that all officers of whatever rank bearing royal commissions were to take precedence of those holding commis- sion under the provincial governments. Such arbitrary folly gave great offense to the provincials, both officers and men; and among others, even Washing- ton, whose self-possession never forsook him, threw up his commission, but without abandoning the expedition. While no one at all acquainted with the history of Gen. Braddock has ever doubted his courage or bravery, all agree that a worse choice could hardly have been made of a leader. Another and, if possible, a greater blunder was the contempt in which Braddock held the enemy he was sent to conquer. Space can not be given for a full account of this important expedition ; but it is necessary to know the leader of it, if we want to arrive at a correct esti- 34 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. mate of the cause of his disastrous failure, by which the enemies, not onh' of England and the colonies, but of humanity itself, were emboldened to perpe- trate deeds of cruelty which are an indelible stain upon the pages of the world's history. With what feeling do the Americans of to-day compare these words of Braddock to Franklin, who in his inimitable way attempted to give the general a timely warning: "The savages maybe a formidable foe to your raw American militia, but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops it is impossible they shoiild make any impression," with the account of his ignominious defeat and tragic death within a few miles of the enemy he so much despised ? The superiority of Washington's judgment appeared here, as on so many other occasions, and had his advice been followed the result of the expedition would doubtless have been other than it was. Accustomed to travel in the backwoods, he advised a rapid march by such trails as could be made practi- cable for an army with a pack- train; but the general, unable or unwilling to accommodate himself to circumstances, determined to proceed upon the plan to which he had been accustomed in his European campaigns. Five hundred men were sent forward to Little Meadows to open a wagon-road, and store pro- visions, following closely Nemackolin's path, of which mention has already been made. Sir Peter Halket followed with the first division of the army; but some delays intervened before the general was in motion with the second. The bal- ance of the army, under Col. Thomas Dunbar, was left behind to follow by slower marches. Owing to the difficulty of making a road the army moved slowly, leaving the enemy time to concentrate his forces. On the 30th of June the army crossed the Youghiogheny river at Stewart's crossing, about half a mile below the present town of Connellsville, and held a council of war to determine upon future movements. It was resolved not to await the arrival of Dunbar, but to push forward with the forces composing the first detachment. The route of the army lay toward the headwaters of Turtle creek, which it struck and followed till near the mouth, when it took a southern course to avoid the steep hills, and came to the Monongahela a little below the mouth of the Youghiogheny. Here the troops arrived on the morning of July 9th. The river was crossed, and the army moved down the western bank to a point opposite the mouth of Turtle creek, where the second fording was to be made. The general, not doubting that French spies were watching his movements, made this fording in such a manner as to present his forces to the best advan- tage, and make a deep impression of the strength of his command; and Wash- ington, who had been detained by sickness, and but lately joined the advance, declared in after life that it was the grandest spectacle he had ever witnessed. It was about noon, and the last of the forces reached the eastern bank of the river before 1 o'clock. The soldiers were in the best of spirits, and the play- ing of the July sun upon their polished weapons seemed but to be a reflection of the cheerfulness and hope that animated them. Only ten miles, and victory, with rest and the spoils, was theirs. HISTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 35 The French had kept themselves accurately informed of the movements of the English; but what they should do under the circumstances vras an inquiry to vrhich no satisfactory answer was forthcoming. And here a question arises in regard to which there has long been great difference of opinion, namely: Who was in command of Fort Duquesne at that time? Some authorities affirm that it was Contrecceur, while others maintain that it was Beaujeu. The following entry in the register kept in the chapel of the fort places the question beyond doubt: lu the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, on the ninth of July, was killed in the battle fought with the English, and the same day as above, Mr. Leonel Dan- iel, Esquire. Sieur de Beaujeu, captain of infantry, commander of Fort Duquesne and of the army, who was aged about forty-five years, having been at confession and performed his devotions the same day. His remains were interred on tlie twelfth of the same mouth, in the cemetery of Fort Duquesne, under the title of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin at the Beautiful river, and that with the customary ceremonies by us, Recollet priest, the undersigned chaplain of the king at the above-mentioned fort. In testimony whereof we have signed: Fk. Denys Baron, P. R., Chaplain. The conflicting statements may perhaps be reconciled in one of two ways. Either Beaujeu had not yet assumed command, and then he is spoken of in the register as commander by anticipation, as one who held the commission but had not yet begun to exercise the duties of his office; or else he was act- ually in command, as is stated in the register, but, he being dead, Contrecceur could, without fear of contradiction, take the honor of victory to himself, and claim recognition from the home government for his eminent services. The reader need not be surprised at this statement, for it is well known that verac- ity was not one of the most eminent virtues of man)' of the first adventurers in the New World. Nor would the governor of Canada be likely to refuse to countenance the fraud, if proper influence were brought to bear upon him. The reader may choose for himself which of these two theories seems most probable ; but whatever may be said of the commander at the time of the battle, it is certain that Contrecceur resumed command after that time. M. Dumas was the first subordinate officer under Beaujeu at the battle, and for his gallant conduct on the occasion he was promoted to succeed Contrecceur in the com- mand of the fort and the army before the middle of the following September. For the French to abandon the fort without a struggle was to abandon the valley of the Ohio without hope of again recovering it; yet the probabilities were against them. The Indians began to waver in their allegiance, and could not be relied on; while it appeared rash in the extreme to attack the trained forces of Great Britain with the small army at the fort. With difficulty Beau- jeu prevailed on the Indians to join him; two days were spent in preparation; and it was not until the morning of the 9th that he, at the head of about two hundred and fifty French and Canadians and some six hundred Indians, set out to meet the enemy. The French had been so long delayed that the English 36 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. were crossing the river as they reached the ravine on the side of the hill that sloped toward the stream ; and abandoning the idea of contesting the passage, Beaujeu disposed of his command in tho ravines where it was entirely concealed from the English. The position selected by the French was admiral)]y adapted to an ambuscade. Down the inclined surface which the English were ascend- ing extended two ravines, beginning near each other at al)out one hundred and fifty yards from the foot of the hill, and extending in different directions till they terminated in the valley below. In these ravines the French and Indians were concealed and protected, they being from eight to ten feet deep, and suf- ficiently large to contain at least ten thousand men. The signal for attack was the approach of the English to the place of con- cealment. The first onslaught was made on the front of the advancing column; but it was repelled by so heavy a return from the British that the Indians at once showed signs of wavering. The French commander was killed at the first fire while bravely cheering on his men; but Dumas, rallying the Indians, directed them to attack the English on the flank while he maintained the resist- ance in the front with the white men of the force. The attack soon became general. The vanguard was thrown back upon its supports in confusion, leav- ing two pieces of artillery in the hands of the enemy, and throwing that portion of the British troops already engaged into a very exposed position. Braddock did not allow his men to go behind the trees and fight the Indians in their own way, but compelled them to march in a body, while the Indians spread them- selves on every side behind trees and logs and whatever would afford them protection. Invisible, yet making the woods resound with their fiendish war- whoop, they fired with deadly aim at the compact body of the enemy. None of the English could say they saw a hundred of the enemy, and many of the offi- cers who were in the heat of the engagement the whole time would not assert that they saw even one; and they could only fire at random in the direction from which they were fired upon. The combat continued for two hours with scarcely a change in the disposition of either side. The regulars, terrified by the yells of the Indians, and dispirited by a style of fighting such as they had never imagined, gathered themselves into a body, and fired at random. The officers bravely advanced, sometimes at the head of small bodies, sometimes separately, but were sacrificed by the soldiers, who refused to follow them, and who even fired upon them fi-om the rear. Of eighty-six officers, twenty-six were killed, among whom was Sir Peter Halket, and thirty-seven were wounded, including Gage and the field officers. Of the men one-half were killed or wounded. Brad- dock braved every danger. Both his English aids were disabled early in the engagement, leaving Washington alone to distribute his orders. "I expected every moment to see him fall, ' ' said one whose eye was on him. He had two horses shot under him and four bullets through his coat, yet escaped with- out a wound. "Death," he wrote, "was leveling my companions on every side of me; but, by the all-powerful dispensation of Providence, I have been ^1^ ^^;f^^"T^ HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 39 protected." Many persons predicted a great future for Washington, seeing, as they believed they did, that a special providence had him under its protec- tion. The Virginia troops showed great valor, and of three companies scarcely thirty men were left alive. The regulars, having wasted their ammunition, broke and ran, leaving the artillery, provisions, baggage, and even the jirivate papers of the general a prey to the enemy. All attempts to rally them were vain. After having five horses shot under him unharmed, and tempting fate by his heroic service in the face of the terrible discharge of the enemy's musketry, a ball entered his side, and Braddock was borne from the field mortally wounded. With the remnant of his command he was carried across the river, and the ilight to Dunbar's camp on the Chestnut ridge was continued with all possible speed. Summing up the results of the battle, seven hundred and fourteen privates were killed or wounded, together with the army chap- lain ; while of the French and Indians only three officers and thirty men fell, and but as many more were wounded. On the 11th the retreating army reached the camp, which the news of the disaster had converted into a scene of confu- sion. On the following day the remaining artillery, stores and heavy baggage were destroyed and the retreat begun, Dunbar, who now assumed command, having determined to retire to Philadelphia for the winter. Braddock died on the 13th and was buried not far from the Great Meadows, where his grave may still be seen. The French did not pursue the retreating army across the river; the plun- der of the battle-field and the scalps proved too great an attraction for the savage allies; and with the exception of a visit to Dunbar's camp, they made no immediate efPort to reap the full advantages of victory. Had they pur- sued the English they could have cut them utterly to pieces. The effect of Braddock' s defeat was widespread and disastrous to the col- onies of Pennsylvania and Virginia; and nothing could exceed the terror with which the news filled the frontier, and reached even to Philadelphia, where some too sanguine persons were actiially engaged in collecting money to cele- brate the victory they felt certain would soon be gained over the French. But where victory and deliverance had been confidently expected, consternation alone appeared, and the tomahawk and scalping- knife were already seen in imagination to glitter at every cabin door. Nor did it require a violent stretch of the imagination; for from that day there was no security for hiiman life west of the Susquehanna. All that was ferocious in the breasts of the savages was roused to new life; the Canadians, not a few of whom were little less cruel, were ready to join them in the general devastation, while even the French soldiers felt a fresh impulse added to the race and national hatred with which they had for centuries regarded the Engish. Whence was relief to be expected ? All the forces of the colonies, suppos- ing that harmony reigned between them and between their respective governors and assemblies, would not be sufficient to check the elated victors; and assist- 40 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. aace. could not be expected from the mother country before the middle of another year. In May, 1T5G, George II declared war against France; and both as a protection of the colonies and a means of dividing the forces of the enemy he planned an American campaign. But its management was a pitia- ble manifestation of military impotence. The commander-in-chief, the Earl of Loudon, did not arrive till the latter part of July. The only single ray of light shed upon the page of this year's history emanated from the action of the colonial militia. One path of the hostile Indians led from Kittanning east across the mount- ains, and down the Juniata; and it was felt that no security could be had till that base of supplies was destroyed. This was Kittanning, an important Indian town, situated on the east bank of the Allegheny river, fifty-five miles above the forks, where the town of the same name now stands. Lying on the line of communication between the east and the west, it was important for the Indians, and being on the route of the French from the lake to Fort Duquesne, it was no less so for them. It was known to the latter as Attiqu6, and is men- tioned as a considerable town in Chlorous journal. Col. John Armstrong, who commanded the forces that garrisoned the forts in the region of the Juni- ata, determined to strike a blow at this rendezvous, and the more so as it was the home of the noted Delaware chief, Capt. Jacobs, one of the most ferocious of the leaders of the savages against the fi-ontier settlements. Hopes were also entertained of rescuing a large number of prisoners held by the Indians there. All necessary preparations having been made. Col. Ai-mstrong set out from Fort Shirley, a frontier post situated on Aughwick creek a short distance south- east of Huntingdon, on the 30th of August, 1756, with a force of three hundred men. The course of the expedition led up the Juniata, across the mountains, and west by the well-known trail to the town. A march of four days brought the troops to the close vicinity of the place, -unobserved, when one night they discovered a party on their path. Turning aside, they were enabled to come without 'further danger of alarm to the river. We can not pause to enter into details regarding this important engagement; suffice it to say that the town was destroyed, with its vast stores of ammunition, Capt. Jacobs was killed, many prisoners were rescued, and the enemy was frustrated in the execution of a well-planned attack on the frontier forts that was to have been undertaken in a few days. Col. Armstrong received a slight wound, but was enabled to lead off his forces with the most gratifying success. Altogether it must be regarded as the most successful expedition ever led against the enemy in this part of the country, and well did the colonel deserve to have the county in which it took place named after him, that future generations might revere his memory. In the French account of the affair, which was dispatched to Canada the next day, the credit of leading the colonial forces is attributed to " Le G6n6ral Wachington," whose name was already a tower of strength on the frontier. HISTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 41 The results of this well-planned and admirably executed attack were not of lasting importance, for, though it broke up the great Indian stronghold in Western Pennsylvania, it counted for little in the struggle between the two most powerful nations of Europe for the possession of the valley of the Ohio. Its results were only tem]-)orary, and could not be followed up. The blow sustained by the savages gave the frontier only a moment's repose. The En- glish forces in America were at that time under the command of an incompetent general, and the result was that the year 1757 only added to the disasters which had attended the British arms since the opening of the war. In the western part of our state the French and Indians had it all their own way; and whatever check they met with anywhere was from the provincials when they were permitted to follow the dictates of their own knowledge and expe- rience, untrammeled by the arbitrary authority of leaders unacquainted with the tactics necessary to be adopted with the enemy they had to contend against. The territory around the headwaters of the Ohio received comparatively little attention this year, the efforts of the commander-in-chief being directed toward the reduction of the French posts at the head of Lake Champlain. At the end of the year the cause of the enemy seemed everywhere triumphant; and had it not been that Pitt was restored to the ministry, the situation of the colonies would have been truly deplorable. But with the opening of the spring of 1758, the presence of that great statesman began to be felt in the British councils, and signs of healthy activity began to appear in America. Loudon was recalled and Abererombie, seconded by Lord Howe, succeeded him ; and while Amherst and Wolfe were sent to join the fleet in the northeast, and the commander-in-chief directed the movements against Tieonderoga and Crown Point, Gen. John Forbes was placed in command of the army that was to operate in the west. With his campaign only are we concerned here; and considerable space mxist be given to its details, for with it ended the ascendancy of the French not only in the valley of the Ohio, but, it may be said, within the territory of the United States. After long delays Forbes saw 1,250 Highlanders arrive fi'om South Caro lina. They were joined by 350 royal Americans. Pennsylvania, animated with an unusual military spirit, raised for the expedition 2,700 men. Their senior officer was John Armstrong. Virginia sent two regiments of about nineteen hundred men with Washington as their leader; yet vast as were the prepara- tions Forbes would never, but for Washington, have reached the Ohio. '' The Virginia chief, who at first was stationed at Fort Cumberland, clothed a part of his force in the hunting-shirt and the Indian blanket, which least impeded the progi'ess of the soldiers through the forest, and he entreated that the army might advance promptly along Braddock's road. But the expedition was not merely a military enterprise; it was also the march of civilization toward the west, and was made memorable by the construction of a better avenue to the Ohio. This required long-continued labor. September had C(jme before 42 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Forbes, whose life was slowly ebbing, was borne on a litter as far as Rays- town (now Bedford). But be preserved a clear head and a tine will, or, as he himself expressed it, was actuated by the spirit of William Pitt; and he decided to keep up the direct communication with Philadelphia as essential to present success and future security."* At the same time the events of the year seemed to promise success to an embassy to the western Indians, if the proper messenger could be found. The influence of the Quakers, together with the campaign of Armstrong, had induced the Indians located in the eastern part of the province to confer with the whites at Easton in November, 1756. The contracting parties were Gov. Denny on the part of the province, and the noted Delaware chief, Tedyuscung, on the part of the aborigines. Each party was attended by a considerable retinue. When questioned as to the cause of the dissatisfaction and hostility of the Indians, the chief mentioned the overtures of the French and the ill-usage of the provincial authorities. He boldly declared that the very land on which they stood had been taken from the rightful owners by fraud, and not only had the country fi'om Tohickon creek to Wyoming been thus taken, but several tracts in New Jersey had been similarly stolen from his people. And subse- quently, when the Six Nations had given the Shawanese the country on the •Juniata for a hunting-ground, with the full knowledge of the governor, the lat- ter permitted settlers to encroach upon their lands. Again, in 1754, the gov- ernor had gone to Albany to purchase more lands of the Six Nations, describ- ing the lands sought by points of the compass, which the Indians did not understand, and by the profusion of presents obtained grants for lands which the Iroqtiois did not intend to sell. When these things were known to the native occupants they declared they would no longer be fiiends with the English, who were trying to get all their country. This council lasted nine days, and resulted in a treaty of peace between the two parties, and the former differences were amicably adjusted. Another council for settling certain other questions was held in July, 1757. These con- ferences did not, however, include the Indians on the Ohio, who were under the immediate influence of the French, but Tedyuscung promised to endeavor to bring them into friendly relations with the English. His efforts did not, however, avail, and the western tribes contimted their hostilities. But in 1758, with Forbes' army on the point of marching against Fort Duquesne, the provincial authorities determined to make one more effort to alienate the Ohio Indians from their allegiance to the French. Accordingly Christian Frederic Post, a Moravian missionary, who was held in high esteem by the Indians in the east, was sent out in July. He proceeded by way of Venango to Kiska- skunk on the Beaver, a short distance below New Castle, and was accom- panied by several Indians to insure him a favorable reception. He was well received, though the Indians refused to hear of Tedyuscung or the Easton HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 43 treaty. He remained about a week and made a favorable impression upon all, till a French officer arrived with an Indian delegation from Fort Duquesne, which caused the Indians to waver. An effort was also made to bring him near enough to the fort to capture him; but he escaped through the influence of his friends, and after an anxious delay, so skillfully managed his cause as to get an agreement from the chief men that, if all the nations agreed to join the English in a treaty of peace, they would also join. He set out on his return journey on the 8th of September, and reached the east some two weeks later. A severe blow was then struck at the confidence of the Indians in the ultimate success of the French, which was destined to be deeply felt by the latter. A grand council was accordingly held at Easton in the fall of the same year for the adjustment of the whole question of Indian grievances, in which all matters were amicably settled, though not without difficulty. When the Indians dispersed it seemed advisable to send a messenger with the delegation fi'om the west to negotiate with the wavering tribes on the upper Ohio and claim the fulfillment of their promise. No one being so well suited as Post, he was again sent out. The army under Forbes had been making slow progress westward; audit was September before he reached Raystown, where Col. Bouquet awaited his arrival. Bu^t this very tardiness was not without its effect. It gave Post an opportunity of perfecting his negotiations with the already wavering Indians; it exhausted their patience and made many of those assembled around Fort Duquesne withdraw; and it worked the consumption of the provisions at the fort, and made it expedient to reduce the forces there; and in this way it ren- dered the capture of the fort more certain and less difficult. Washington joined the army with his command at Raystown, and Bouquet with a force of two thousand men was sent forward to the Loyalhanna. Every day seemed to seal more certainly the fate of the French, who were beginning to be disheartened by the success which attended the British arms on the lakes. Their distance from their base of supplies was another difficulty they had to contend against, which, with the mutual jealousies of the rulers in Canada, rendered the posi- tion of the garrison at Fort Duquesne far from enviable. Gen. Montcalm, writing at this time to his friend the Chevalier de Bourlamaque, gives this jjict- ure of the condition of affairs at the fort: "Mutiny among the Canadians, who want to go home ; the officers busj"^ with making money, and stealing like mandarins. Their commander sets the example, and will come back with three or four hundred francs; the pettiest ensign who does not gamble will have ten, twelve or fifteen hundred francs. The Indians do not like Ligneris, who is drunk every day."* Insignificant successes served in a measure to keep up the spirit of the French ; but the entire policy of that nation in the New World was erroneous, and the fall of their power was only a question of time. The defeat of Maj. Grant within a mile of the fort, to which he had been 44 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. sent with eight hundred men, was due rather to his imprudence than to the valor or vigilance of the enemy; while the attack of the French and Indians on Fort Ligonier produced no permanent result. The fall of Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, August '27th, by cutting off supplies, made it impossible to hold Fort Duquesne long. All hope being lost, on the 24th of November, 1758, when the English were within ten miles of the fort it was blown up and the buildings around it, to the number of about thirty, were l)urnt. The French, who counted about four hundred, besides a large force of Indians of several tribes, withdi'ew. Some of the former went down the Ohio to the Illinois country, others across the country to Presqu' Isle, and part with their commander, De Ligneris, up the Allegheny to Fort Ma- chault, at the mouth of French creek. On Saturday, November 25, 1758,. the English moved in a body, and at evening the yolithful Washington could point out to officers and men the meeting of the waters. The hand of the veteran Armstrong raised the British flag over the ruins of the fort; and as the banner floated to the breeze, the place, at the suggestion of Forbes, was named Pittsburgh. But all danger had not been removed by the capture of Fort Duquesne. That part of the French forces which retreated up the Allegheny halted at Fort Machault; that fortification was strengthened, and it was the intention to remain there during the winter, defend the place in case of an attack, and descend the river in the spring with a view of recapturing S"'ort Duquesne. L'nder favorable circumstances this would not have been difficult; for the British, after throwing vip a little fortification not far from the captured strong- hold, retired to Philadelphia, leaving a garrison of not more than two hundred men. In case of a sudden attack these could not be reinforced in time to hold the place. Having collected a force of about seven hundred French and Canadians, and a thousand Indians, with batteaux and canoes for their trans- portation, toward the end of June, 1759, the French were about to embark for the forks, when word was received that Fort Niagara was besieged. The importance of holding that point induced them to abandon Machault and hasten to concentrate all their available forces at Niagara. They saw their route to the Mississippi cut off by way of the Ohio, and if Niagara should fall into the hands of the enemy, all communication with the west would be broken off. The stores and munitions of war prepared for the expedition to the forks were hastily destroyed or distributed among the Indians, while the large fleet of batteaux and canoes was burnt. Forts Le Bceuf and Presqu' Isle, having served as relays during the occupation of Duquesne, lost their importance, and were evacuated, and the power of the French in Pennsylvania was extinguished forever. The subsequent history of the French in North America is soon told. Fort Niagara was captured on the 5th of August, 1759, and with it the French were cut off from all communication with the west; Quebec fell with the death of HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 45 Montcalm, September 14th, of the same year; and with the capitulation of Montreal, September 8, 1760, all the possessions of the French east of the Mississippi fell into the hands of the English. But as the star of the French sank behind the western horizon, the sun of American Independence rose gloriously in the east. A word on this apparent triumph of England. Long before the expulsion of the FreDch from Canada, thoughtful minds on both sides of the Atlantic foresaw that such an event must be the prelude to the fi'eedom of the colonies. The presence of the French there retarded their progress, trained them to war, and made them feel their dependence on the mother-country; and no one understood this better than the French themselves. ' ' We have caught them at last," said Choiseul, on the definite surrender of New France; and at once giving up Louisiana to Spain, his eager hopes anticipated the speedy struggle of America for separate existence. So soon as the sagacious and experienced Vergennes heard of the conditions of the peace, he said: " The consequences of the entire cession of Canada are obvious. I am persuaded England will ere long repent of having removed the only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection; she will call on them to contribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all dependence. ' ' Sixteen years later the hall in Philadelphia resounded with the Declaration of Independence; and less than seven years afterward Great Britain acknowledged the independ- ence of the colonies she had made every effort to defend. CHAPTER III. ALLEGHENY FROM 1759 TO 1779. The Fourth Treaty— Fort Pitt— Concentration of Forces— Chief Pon- TiAC — The Shawanese and Delawares— Advent of Settlers— Land Sales. TT^VERY obstacle to the colonization of the territory west of the mountains -*-—' was not removed with the overthrow of French rule in the valley of the rivers. Two formidable barriers still remained: the presence of the aborigines, and the claim of Virginia to the soil. The Indians were more jealous of the English taking possession of their hunting-grounds than of the French; and they still entertained the hope that the latter would soon retm-n, as the French continued to assure them. For this reason they entered only half-heartedly iato terms of peace with the dominant party; and the little gan-ison left at the frail Fort Pitt during the winter of 1758-59 was in a very precarious condition. 46 IIISTOliY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Any considerable force of Indians could easily have cut o£P all communication with the east, and have destroyed it: while the French at Fort Machault, who doubtless kept themselves well informed of the slate of affairs at the forks, could descend the river, should it break up in the winter, as it often does, and retake their former stronghold. The opening of the spring of 1759 was, therefore, looked forward to with apprehension, by the garrison and the front- ier settlers, lest the French should execute their threat before assistance could reach the garrison from beyond the mountains; and had it not been for the siege of Fort Niagara, referred to at the close of the last chapter, their fears woiild have been only too well groiinded. At the second treaty held at Easton, in October, 1758, and known in history as the "fourth treaty," the natives were represented by the chiefs of the Six Nations and of the Delawares, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey by George Croghan, the agent of Sir William Johnson. The causes of the late war were discussed at length, the complaints of the Indians concerning the taking pos- session of their lands were heard, and the chiefs of the Six Nations were pre- vailed upon to use their influence, which was supreme, to induce the Shawanese and Twigtwees to desist from their hostilities on the Ohio. By far the most important end attained was the gaining possession of a large tract of country by the proprietaries in the southern half of the colony, extending west from the Susquehanna river and the Kittatinny mountains to the summit of the Alleghe- nies. Besides the territory which the colony thus gained, it was enabled, as time went on, not only to extend its settlements on it, but to trespass, as usual, on lands beyond its boundaries, till the savages, seeing they could no longer hold the occupied territory, would be disposed to part with some of it by a so-called purchase, and the fair fame of Pennsylvania would go down untarnished on the pages of history for having obtained from the natives by purchase all the ter- ritory she claimed as her own. The English having gained a footing on the Ohio, the next step was to enter into more amicable relations with the tribes of the vicinity, both for their own seciu-ity and to hinder them fi-om aiding their enemies, the French. But in order to do this successfully it was necessary to lead the savages to believe that they had not come to take jjossession of their lands, but only to establish trading-posts by means of which the wants of the Indians could be more easily supplied, and a more ready market prepared for their peltries: for the Indians were always suspicious, and with good reason, as long experience had taught them that the real object of the English was permanent settlement. For this purpose a conference was held by Col. Bouquet with the chiefs of the Delaware Indians "at the Pitts-Bourgh,"' December 4, 1758, at which were present, be- sides the colonel — who appears to have been left in command by Forbes. Ijefore the arrival of Col. Hugh Mercer — Col. Armstrong and several officers, with George Croghan, deputy agent of Sir William Johnson, and Capt. Henry Montour, the interpreter. In the course of his speech Col. Bouquet said; Olslaiti/MnSd'Ai^'^- wm^^ W'&ti&T^ IIISTOKY OF AI-IJOdllUNY COUNTY. 49 " 15r(4hi(Mi, \v(i liiivo not come horo to take |)os80HHi()ii of yoiu- limiljrig country in a lioHtilo niiiunor, uh the French did when they ciinie mnoii^ yuii, but to open a Iiirf^e and exteiiHive trade with you and all other uationa of Indians to the woHtward who choose to live in friendHhip with uh. You are Hensible wo are at war with the French and can not Heud tradern among you, as, we formerly did, to be robbed and murdered by the enemy, an our traders formerly wore to your knowledge, for which reason the general has left here two hundred men in order to ))rotect our traders, and I can assure you that as soon as gcjods can be brought up you will see a large trade o])ened for you, and all other nations in alliance with you, and yon may di^pend on it, your brethren, the English, are not only the most powerful ])ooplo on this continent, but the most wealthy and best inclined to sei've you in every necessary you want, and on the cheapest terms; therefore the general ox|)octs, as you value the friendship of your brethren, the English, that you will treat those men he leaves here as your brethren, and supj)ort them, in case the enemy should come and attempt to drive them away, and as the enemy can do nothing in your country without your knowledge, ho expects you will give the commanding oflicer notice, from time to time, of the enemy's movements, or what they are doing." They were also earnestly recommended to drivo the French out of their country, as "they are a restless and mischievous people," and oblige them to destroy their forts. They wore further urged to koifj) their ])romise to send back the pris- oners they had taken in their repeated raids on the frontier. In thoir reply, which according to thoir wise custom was not delivered until the following day, they oxprossod thoir readiness to comply with the demands of the colonel, thanked him, and enlarged on the pleasure thoy felt on seeing the English come to trade with thom. But they would not promise to protect the garrison till they had conf(u-ro(l with the tribes further to the west. The iirst Fort Pitt was iinislied, most probably, al)out the 1st of January, 17oU, and was placed under the command of (Jol. Hugh Mercer, who wrote under date of January Sth; " The garrison now consists of two hundred and eighty men, and is capable of some dofcuise, though huddled up in a very hasty manner, the weather being very severe." Ho was succeeded about July of the same year l)y Gen. John Stanwix, who built the larger Fort Pitt, which was to figure so prominently in frontier history. It is said to have cost the British government .£()0,0()0. Writing of the measures taken by Gen. Stan- wix at this time, Smollot, in his " History of I'jngland," says: "The h&ppy con- setjuouces of those measures were soon apparent in the pro following report of tbe proceedings of the com- mittee bns come down to lis: The foregoing gentlemen met in committee, and resolved that John Campbell, .John Ormsby. Kdward Ward, Thomas Smallman, Samuel Sample, John Anderson, and Ueve- reu.\ Smith, or any four of them, be a standing committee and have full powers to meet at such times as they shall judge necessary, and, in case of an emergency, to call the com- mittee of this district together; and shall be vested with the same power and authority as the other standing committee and committees of correspondence are in the other counties within this colony. litsolretl, iinani'iiiouslj/, That the cordial and most grateful thanks of this committee are a tribute due to John Ilarvie, Esquire, our worthy representative in the late colonial convention held at Uichmond. for his faithful discharge of that important trust reposed in him; and to John Neville, Esquire, our worthy delegate, whom nothing but sickness prevented from representing us in that respectable assembly. lifwlettl, uHanii»ou.*li/, That this committee have the highest sense of the spirited behavior of their brethren in New England, and do most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme, and that each member of this committee, respectively, will animate and encourage their neighbor- hood to follow the brave example. The imminent danger that threatens America in general, from ministerial and parlia- mentary denunciations of o\n' ruin, and is Uow carrying into execution by open acts of unprovoked hostilities ,in our sister colony of Massachusetts, as well as the danger to be apprehended to this colony in particular from a domestic enemy, said to be prompted by the wicked minions of power to execute our ruin, added to the menaces of an Indian war, likewise said to be in contemplation, thereby thinking to engage our attentiou, and divert it from that still more interesting object of liberty and freedom that deeply, and witli so much justice, hath called forth the attention of all America; for the prevention of all or any of these impending evils it is Jit'solvid. That the recommendation of the Uichmond convention, of the "-Otli of last March, relative to the embodying arming and disciplining the militia, be immediately carried into execution with the greatest diligence in this county, by the officers appointed for that end; and that the recommendation of the said convention to the several commit- tees of this colony, to collect from their constituents, in such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gun- powder, and one pound of lead, flints and cartridge-paper, for every tithable person in their county, be likewise carried into execution. This committee, therefore, out of the deepest sense of the expediency of this measure, most earnestly entreat that every member of this committee do collect from each tithable person in their several districts the sum of two shillings and six pence, which we deem no more than sufficient for the above purpose, and give proper receipts to all such as pay the same into their hands; and the sum so collected to be paid into the hands of Mr. John Campbell, who is to give proper security to this committee, or their successors, for the due and faithful application of the money so deposited with him for the above purpose, by or with the advice of this committee or their successors; and this committee, as your representatives, who are luost ardently laboring for j'our preservation, call on you. our constituents, our friends, brethren, and fellow sufferers, in the name of God. of every- thing you hold sacred or valuable, for the sake of your wives, children, and unborn gen- erations, that you will, every one of you, in your several stations, to the utmost of your power, assist in levying such sum. by not only paying yourselves, but by assisting those who are not at present in a condition to do so. . . . And the committee do pledge their faith and fortune to you. their constituents, that we shall, without fee or reward, use our best endeavors to procure, with the money so collected, the ammunition our pres- ant exigencies have made so exceedinglj- necessary. . . . HISTOltY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 79 Resolved. That this committee do approve of the resolutions of the committee of the other part of this county, relative to the cultivating a friendship with the Indians; and if any person shall be so depraved as to take the life of any Indian that may come to us in a friendly manner, we will, as one man, use our utmost endeavors to bring such offender to condign punishment. Ordered. That the standing committee be directed to secure such arms and ammuni- tion as are not employed in actual service, or private property, and that they get the same repaired, and deliver them to such captains of independent companies as may make appli- cation for the same, and taking such captain's receipt for the same so delivered. Sneb were some of the meastires adopted by the people of Western Penn- sylvania to prepare for the threatened invasion of their rights. Among those who took part in these meetings were Arthur St. Clair, subsequently a major- general in the revohttionary army, and John Gibson, William Crawford and ■John Neville, who commanded regiments in the same service. At the commencement of the struggle of the colonies for independence the settlements to the west of the mountains had little to fear from the invading armies of Great Britain. Their dread was of a more merciless foe. Nor were their apprehensions altogether groundless; for the restless disposition of what might be termed the friendly tribes was well known. Besides, Kiashuta, whose name has already occurred in the history of the combination formed by Pontiac, and who was, perhaps, the most noted chief that ever figured in the history of Western Pennsylvania, declared the intention of the Six Nations to remain netttral in the great stritggle of the united colonies for independence, although they were afterward induced to side with the British. At a confer- ence held at Fort Pitt, just two days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and before intelligence of that memorable action could have been known with the means of communication to which recotirse had then to be had, this noted chief was present, as well as Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, Shade, a Shawanese chief, and several other Shawanese and Delawares, also Maj. Trent. Maj. Ward, Capt. Neville and his ofiicers, when Kiashtita pro- duced a belt of wampum, which was to be sent from the Six Nations to the Shawanese, Delawares, Wyandots, and other western Indians, acquainting them that the Six Nations were determined to take no part in the war between Great Britain and America, and desiring them to do the same. He was especially delegated by the Six Nations to send the belt through the Indian countiy. His address to the whites, taking their pectiliar circtimstances into account, is worthy of serious consideration: "Brothers," he said, "we will not sttfPer either the English or Americans to pass through our country. Should either attempt it, we shall forewarn them three times, and should they persist, they must abide the consequences. I am appointed by the Six Nations to take care of this country; that is, of the Indians on the other side of the Ohio ' ' [the Allegheny and Ohio were known at that early day by the common name of the Ohio], " and I desire you will not think of an expedition against Detroit, for, I repeat, we will not suffer an army to pass through otir 80 IIISTOHY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. country." He then addressed the other natives present. Capt. Neville replied to his speech, declaring that the colonists would not march an army through their territory without first acquainting his people of their intention, but stat- ing that in case the English attempted an invasion, " we must make all pos- sible haste to march and endeavor to stop them. ' ' But the chief was not to be moved from the position his people had taken, and replied that " there is not the least danger of that, as the Six Nations would make it their business to prevent either an English or an American army passing through their country." When it ia remembered that the Six Nations were not only the most powerful tribes or confederation of tribes in the entire New World, but also that all the nations with whom the jjioneers of Western Pennsylvania had to deal were under their dominion, it will be seen that their neutrality meant far more than appeared on the surface; it meant that whichever of the con- testants secured their favor would have all the Indians with them. English influence and English gold were not, all this time, dormant. The agents of the mother-country were busy, and their efforts to fasten the fetters more securely on the yet feeble colonies were not sparing. Though boasting the first place in the ranks of civilized nations, they did not hesitate to appeal to the aborigines to assist them in the struggle, which they already felt was to be final as regards their hold on the colonies. The pen in our enlightened age hesitates to chronicle the means to which they had recourse to enslave the col- onies; but fortunately one of her own sons has supplied us with all the argii- ments necessary, when he had the courage to declare in her own legislative halls that she had let loose the horrible hellhounds of war upon the exposed settlements. Painted and plumed warriors soon carried destruction and death to the dismayed frontiers, instigated by the agents of the British government. The deadly strife thus begun was made u.p largely on the side of the Indians by predatory excursions of scalping- parties, after their fashion, into the settle- ments; the tomahawk and scalping-knife sparing neither age nor sex, while the torch laid waste the rude homes of the frontiersmen. It is difiicult to appre- ciate at this distant day, and in this time of peace and security, the appalling dangers that beset the frontier in those terrible days ; for to the natural ferocity of the Indians was added the powerful support of the English, lavish, in their resources, whose western agents, especially at the commencement of the war, were noted for their zeal in obeying the behests of their government. The principal point of British power and influence in the northwest was Detroit, a post founded by the French in 1701, where Lieut. -Gov. Henry Ham- ilton was in command, who paid a bounty for scalps,- but withheld it for pris- oners. He was captured !)}• the Virginians early in 1779, but not until his systematic barbarities, carried on through the savages whom he instigated and supported, had caused the blood of uncounted helpless and unoffending pio- neers to bedew their dearly bought homes. He was succeeded by Maj. A. S. De Peyster, a man zealous in carrying out the policy of his government, but of HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. ol -a more humane disposition. Still the Indian depredations on the frontier drew their inspiration from that point. The important post of Fort Pitt was in possession of the Americans, and it continued to be the center of government authority west of the Alleghenies during the revolutionary period. In West- ern Pennsylvania nearly all military operations looked merely to the protection of the settlements. Expeditions were made from time to time into the enemy' s country, but they were not always crowned with success. Capt. John Neville, who was in command at Fort Pitt at this time, tried to observe a strict neu- trality with the Indians, but he had little influence with any except the Dela- wares, and his influence with them was not sufiicient to control their operations. Hamilton of Detroit had, on the other hand, as early as September, 1776, organized small parties of the savages against the settlers on the Ohio and its branches, though the war on the frontier was not fully inaugurated till nearly a year afterward. With a view of securing the friendship of the Indians, or at least their neii- trality. Congress appointed commisssoners to hold treaties with them at differ- ent agencies. Those appointed for Pittsburgh met there in July, 1776, but were not able to convene a sufficient number of the tribes until the following October. In the meantime a general Indian war was thought to be inevitable, owing to the sinister influences of the British at Detroit. Every effort was made to put the fort in a state of defense, and an order was issued for the assembling of all the militia there that could be spared from other places; for if it were to fall the whole country would be at the mercy of the savages. But the threatening cloud blew over, and on the 8th of November Col. Morgan, the Indian agent for the middle department, wrote to John Hancock, president of Congress, the welcome news: " I have the happiness to inform you that the ■cloud which threatened to break over us is likely to disperse. The Six Nations, with the Munsies, Delawares. Shawanese and Mohikons, who have been assem- bled here with their principal chiefs and warriors, to the number of six hun- dred and forty four, have given the strongest assurance of their neutrality with the United States." But the serious question was before the frontiersmen. How long could the Indians be trusted, with the tribes further west in the interest of the English, and they themselves liable at any time to be approached by the agents of the same government, with their proffers of gold and gifts ? On the 1st of June, 1777, Brig. -Gren. Edward Hand, of the continental army, arrived at Fort Pitt and assumed command. Not long after his arrival he resolved on an expedition against the savages — seemingly a timely movement. The frontiers of Virginia were, in the meantime, sorely afflicted with savage incursions, mostly by a lawless gang of the Mohawk Pluggy, located upon the Olentangy, or Whetstone, the principal eastern tributary of the Scioto, some distance above its confluence with that stream. This band was without tribal organization, and acted independently of other nations, but its incursions were none the less dreaded by the outposts of civilization west of the mountains. 82 HISTOEY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. So galling did these incursions become that it was determined to send an expe- dition against their towns; but the project was abandoned lest it should arouse the ire of the Delawares and Shawanese, whom the colonists desired to keep in a state of neutrality if not of friendship. The extreme frontier line protection extended from Kittanning down the Allegheny and Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. The important posts below Fort Pitt at this time were Fort Henry, formerly called Fort Fincaatle, at Wheeling, and Fort Kandolph, at Point Pleasant. The former was built at the commencement of Dunmore's war, 1774; the latter was erected a year later by the Virginians. Rude stockades and blockhouses were multiplied in the intervening distances, and in the most exposed settlements, and were defended by small detachments from a Virginia regiment, also by at least one independent company, and by squads of militia on short terms of duty. To these stockades and blockhouses the settlers were accustomed to hasten when the Indians were known to be in the vicinity. But it not unfrequently hap- pened that so sudden and stealthy were their raids that the warwhoop was the first indication of their presence, and no time was left for escape. Even the scouts who patrolled the country did not always discover the enemy in time, and the sufPerings of the settlements were in consequence increased. Gen. Hand still held to the opinion — and in this his view was correct — that nothing would so effectually protect the settlements and bring the Indians to terms as penetrating their country with a large force and destroying some of the towns. But he appears to have been too sanguine of success in the undertaking. The Wyandots, and particularly the Mingoes — Pluggy's Town Indians — were the most troublesome. To prepare for the expedition Hand demanded two thousand men from the western counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia, but his call was not responded to with alacrity, although eight hun- dred men were embodied, including regulars at Fort Pitt and Randolph. Although he had many difficulties to contend against, he still expressed the hope that he would be able before the winter to reach the Sandusky river. But, being deceived as to the strength and spirit of his people, he was reluctantly obliged to abandon the expedition in the latter part of the fall. One reason for the failure was a want of concert between Gen. Hand and the lieutenants of the border militia. Another reason was the influence of the boundary dispute, which prevented unity of action by the Virginia and Pennsylvania militia. The most, therefore, that Hand could accomplish was a partial protection of the settlements by acting on the defensive only. " If I can assist the inhab- itants to stand their ground, ' ' he wrote, ' ' I shall deem myself doing a great deal. ' ' The Illinois country, with its old French settlements, was still in possession of the English; and in January, 1778, Lieut. -Col. George Rogers Clarke planned an expedition for its capture. He came to the west of the mountains with a view of enlisting men for the expedition; and by the end of the month HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 83 lie had all his recruiting parties disposed properly, and at Redstone he pre- pared boats, light artillery and ammunition. But many of the backwoodsmen 02:>posed the undertaking, and he could only succeed in raising one hundred and fifty men, when, on the 12th of May, he set sail for the Falls of the Ohio. The country around the head of the Ohio was greatly distressed by the Indians at this time, and it is not to be wondered at that the frontiersmen were reluc- tant to leave their homesunprotected while they engaged in a distant expedition, the issue of which was very uncertain, with the forces at hand. A little before this time, in February, Gen. Hand, having learned that a considerable quantity of stores was deposited by the British at an Indian town on the Cuyahoga river, which flows into the lake a short distance east of Cleve- land, formed a project for capturing them. "Gathering a party of about live hundred men, mostly from Westmoreland county, ' ' writes an authority on border annals, "he proceeded on the expedition. But heavy rains falling, and the snows of winter melting, he was obliged to relinquish his design, after having arrived at a point a considerable distance above the mouth of the Beaver, on the Mahoning river. Just at this place Indian tracks were discovered, conjectured to be of warriors on a marauding expedition into the settlements. These were followed to a camp supposed to contain fifty or sixty Indians, which was immediately attacked. 'But, to my great mortification,' wrote the commander, ' only one man, with some women and children, was found. ' The Indian and one of the squaws were killed. ' Another woman was taken, ' adds the cha- grined and thoroughly disgusted general, 'and with diiSculty saved; the remainder escaped.' The prisoner reported that ten Munsie Indians were tak- ing salt ten miles further up the Mahoning. A detachment was sent to secure them. This enterprise proved even more inglorious than the first. The enemy turned out to be four women and a boy, of whom one woman only was saved. This, the first expedition to march into the Indian country from Pittsburgh after the war began, was long remembered in the west as ' the squaw campaign. ' " Gen. Hand was singularly unfortunate in his efforts to fight the Indians. For some months previous the Indians had become very bold, and the fruitless efforts made to protect the settlements by their utter failure only tended still more to embolden the savages. Kittanning had been occupied by troops from the spring of 1777, but Hand wrote to the commanding ofiicer, Capt. Samuel Moorhead, on the 14th of September: " Being convinced that, in youi- present condition, you are not able to defend yourself, much less to render the continent any service, you will withdraw from Kittanning, bringing everything away, leaving the houses and barracks standing." This evacu- ation caused the greatest alarm, especially in the northern part of Westmore- land county. Strong suspicions were entertained about this time of the loyalty of some of the inhabitants of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and numerous 84 HIKTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. arrests were made; but the greater part of those arrested were paroled. The most noted of these was Alexander McKee, who had formerly been deputy Indian agent at Pittsburgh, and who, as early as April, 1776, had been put on his parol, by a committee of whigs, "not to give any aid or comfort" to the British. In the meantime he quietly plotted with the Indians for the removal of his effects from Fort Pitt across the Allegheny into the Indian country. Well had it been for the western country had this arch-traitor been secured at once. As it was, he was sulfered to remain at large upon his prom- ise not to correspond with or give any intelligence to the enemies of the United States, or to leave the neighborhood without permission. He was soon after- ward rearrested, and, after being conlined to his own house, was paroled anew. Hand afterward ordered him to report at York, Pa., to the continental board of war; but he feigned sickness, and remained at home. The excitement against the tories subsided after a short time, and in the spring of 1778 all was apparently quiet. But it was the lull that precedes the storm. On the 2Sth of March all was changed; for not only McKee, but Mathew Elliott, who had lately arrived from Quebec, claiming to be a prisoner returned on parol, but in reality having a captain's commission from the British in his pocket, and Simon Girty, an Indian interpreter, fled from the vicinity of Fort Pitt and joined the enemy. These three renegades, as H. H. Brackenridge said, "of that horrid brood called refugees, whom the devil has long since marked as his own," proved themselves active servants of the English, causing untold sufferings on the frontier, not only during the war with Great Britain, but so long as the war with the Indians continued. Immediately after their depart- ure they began to exert a sinister influence on the tribes, mainly the Dela- wares, inducing many of them who had remained neutral to become avowed enemies of the United States. Their attempts were, however, in a measure, frustrated by the exertions of the friends of the Union. With other tribes, and especially the Shawanese, they were more successful, and aroused them to a desire to harass the settlements. After visiting neighboring tribes they made their way to Detroit. The seeds of disorder were rooted more deeply at Fort Pitt and in its vicinity than was at tirst supposed, and other traitors were soon discovered. On the night of April 20th several persons stole a boat and fled down the Ohio. They were, however, overtaken at the mouth of the Muskingum by a party sent after them, and the ringleaders were killed or capt- ured. Six of the citizens escaped; but of those captured two were shot, one hanged, and two whipped, the latter receiving one hundred lashes each. " The activity displayed by the British Indians along the western border, during the fall of 1777, induced Pennsylvania to bestir herself to protect the distant set- tlements. Congress, urgently appealed to by these suffering states, deter- mined to make common cause with them against the enemy. Commissioners, acting under authority of the United States, were sent to Fort Pitt to inquire into the disaffection of the frontier people, and to provide for carrying the HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 85 war into the enemy's country. They reported that the western Indians were stimulated in their hostility by the British commandant at Detroit. They drew up and presented to Gen. Hand an elaborate plan for the protection, by the militia alone, of the frontiers until recommendations made by them to Congress could be approved and carried into execution. On the 2d of May, 1778, Congress resolved to raise two regiments in Virginia and Pennsylvania, to serve for one year unless sooner discharged, for the protection of the western frontier, and for operation thereon — twelve companies in the former and four in the latter state. It was likewise determined that, as Gen. Hand had requested to be recalled from Pittsburgh, a proper person should be sent to relieve him. Washington was called upon to make a nomination. After much deliberation upon the subject, he named Brig. -Gen. Lachlan Mcintosh, an officer of worth and merit, a Georgian by birth."* Washington expressed the high opinion he had of the integrity and ability of this person, and declared that he parted with him with the utmost reluctance. He wrote: "His firm disposition and equal justice, his assiduity and good imderstanding, added to his being a stranger to all parties in that quarter, point him out as a proper person; and I trust extensive advantages will be derived from his command, which I could wish was more agreeable." Detroit, it was felt, not only by the inhabitants but by the military author- ities of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, was the source whence the Indians received their inspiration and support, and Congress was also at length con- vinced of the same truth. Accordingly, with the appointment of Gen. Mcin- tosh to the command of Fort Pitt and of the forces of the west, it was resolved by Congress that an expedition should be undertaken against this British stronghold, as the most certain means of overcoming the Indians and restoring peace and security to the frontier. It was proposed to enlist three thousand men in the expedition. Virginia was requested to call forth as many militia, not exceeding twenty-live hundi-ed, as should be judged necessary to complete the number appropriated for the undertaking. The continental board of war was directed to cooperate with Mcintosh, who had not yet entered on the duties of his new appointment, but who was soon to have com- mand of affairs in the west, in measures necessary for the enterprise, and give him such instructions as might appear best adapted to promote the expe- dition. Over nine hundred thousand dollars were voted to defray the expenses, and a person was appointed to procure provisions, packhorses and other neces- saries for the army. To give effect to the action of Congress, a plan was imme- diately set on foot for raising the necessary force and for the purchase of supplies for the expedition. Fifteen hundred men were to march by way of the Kanawha to Fort Randolph, and a like number was to descend the Ohio fi'om Fort Pitt to the same place, whence they were to march into the enemy's country. Prior to this Washington, having heard of the ravages of the Indians 86 HISTOliV OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. in Western Pennsylvania, had ordered the Eighth Pennsylvania regnneut, a choice body of men who had been raised in the west, to prepare to march to Pittsburgh. Col. Daniel Brodhoad was at the head of this regiment. That part of the Thirteenth Virginia regiment remaining at Valley Forge was also placed under marching orders for Fort Pitt, under command of Col. John Gib- son. Brodhead did not reach Pittsburgh before the 10th of September. The great obstacle to success against the Indians, all this while, was the posses.sion of Detroit by the English; and it was felt that so long as they were there to back the savages no telling victory could be gained. It was therefore determined to lit out an expedition against that post. But the late arrival of Brodhead at Fort Pitt and the high price of supplies were insurmountable ■obstacles; for an expedition, to have well-grounded hope of success, must leave Western Pennsylvania not later than the 1st of September. Congress for these reasons resolved that the expedition should be abandoned for the present. In lieu of it, however, Mcintosh was directed to assemble at Pittsburgh fifteen hundred continental troops and militia, and proceed without delay to destroy such towns of the hostile tribes as he, in his discretion, should think would most effectually tend to chastise and terrify the savages, and check their rav- ages on the western frontier. Mcintosh was more ambitious, and declared that Detroit and nothing less would satisfy him. Congress asked Virginia to supply him with as many militia as he should call for, and it was the inten- tion to march the force from that state by way of the Kanawha to Fort Ran- dolph to join the forces fi-om Pennsylvania that should descend the Ohio. But upon more mature deliberation this plan was abandoned. At the date of the arrival of Mcintosh there were only two forts west of the Allegheuies in Penn- sylvania occupied by continental troops. These were Forts Randolph and Hand. Fort Hand was erected in the spring of 1778, and named in honor of the commander of Fort Pitt; it was located in W'estmoreland county, about fourteen miles north of Hannastown, at a point described in an old manuscript as being " about a mile south of the ford of the Kiskiminetas; and the ford was about six miles above the mouth of the stream." It is very dif- ficult to understand what the exact position of the fort was from this descrip- tion, and it will for that reason be left to the reader to make the most of it. Besides these forts there was a large number of smaller stations or forts at difPerent times garrisoned by militia; some between Wheeling and Pittsburgh, others between the Monongahela and the Kiskiminetas, as well as others scat- tered throughout the settlements. These are described as being ' ' fi-equently altered, kept or evacuated, according to the humors, fears or interest of the people of most influence. ' ' And, however much Gen. Mcintosh may have been opposed to this, he was forced to yield to it, as his chief dependence was on the militia, who were about as independent a class as could have been found in the world in their day. But a new move was now to be made by Gen. Mcintosh. The war was to be carried into the enemy's country; and as these forts could V- - 9. / r^-/i cYi-a.c^< HISTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. «y be of no practical service, and their gan'isons seemed unnecessary when the eneniy had to defend themselves on their own territory, the general resolved to break them up as soon as he could without giving too much offense to the people upon whom he depended for the success of his enterprise. It would not, however, be prudent to leave the frontier without any protection; for the enemy might elude the pursuit of the general and fall upon the defenseless settlers and massacre them while the army was marching against their aban- doned towns. The lieutenants of Monongalia and Ohio counties, Virginia, which comprised the greater part of the valley of the Monongahela river, were authorized to raise a ranging company jointly, to scout continually along the Ohio river below the mouth of the Beaver, at such places as the savages usually forded the river to attack the settlements. At the same time Archibald Lochry, a name that figures prominently in the early history of AVestmoreland county, was empowered to organize two companies for similar service on the northern frontier, as a protection against the scalping-parties that might assail the settlers in that direction. Other companies occupied the forts in the absence of the regular garrisons. It need hardly be repeated that at this time all Western Pennsylvania, purchased from the Indians, was included in West- moreland county, although Virginia assumed jurisdiction, as has been shown, over certain parts of it. Another prudent move made by Gen. Mcintosh was the concentrating of all the storehouses at Fort Pitt. Previous to that time there had been a considerable number of such buildings, each of which required a small number of men for its defense, and, being situated in differ- ent parts of the country, streams had to be crossed with considerable risk at certain seasons. By making Fort Pitt what might be called a distributing point, provisions could be brought across the mountains, as the expression then was, without necessitating the crossing of any considerable stream, and they could then be sent to other points from it at such seasons as were most favorable. As the prosecution of the war was now in the hands of the general govern- ment, lately established, efforts were constantly being made to preserve friendly relations with some at least of the Indian tribes in Western Pennsylvania and beyond, although none could be relied on but the Delawares, and their attach- ment was beginning to grow weak. The Shawanese, the last of the other tribes to go over to the English, were now known to be unfriendly to the Americans, though from motives of interest they tried to preserve the semblance of friend- ship. But, however few of the savages might be on the side of the United States, they were more or less of a check on the British at Detroit and the Indians who drew their inspiration from that point; and, besides, they might give some warning of inroads on the settlements. Hence the value of their good will. Hence, too, the important part which Fort Pitt played in the great struggle for the independence of the colonies, as its predecessor. Fort Du- quesne, had played in the French campaign. It is difficult to overestimate the 90 HISTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. importance of the forks of the Ohio during the quarter of a century from 1754 to 1779 and later. It was a fitting prelude to her present greatness and her future prospects. With a view of producing a favorable impression on the savages who might still he counted on as favoring the American cause, the com- missioners at Fort Pitt, by the advice of Congress, resolved to hold a treaty with the Delawares, Shawanese and other Indians at Fort Pitt in the summer of 1778. The 28d of July was chosen as the day for the conference, and mes- sengers were dispatched to the Delawares and Shawanese with presents and invitations. On the part of the whites Virginia was requested to send two representatives and Pennsylvania one. The two from Virginia, Andi-ew and Thomas Lewis, appeared; but although George Morgan solicited the appoint- ment from Pennsylvania that state neglected to send any representative. The Delawares sent three of their principal chiefs; but it was September before the parties met for consultation, and the treaty was not signed till the 17th of that month. It was very favorable ^to the United States, as far as the Delawares were concerned ; for not only did they declare themselves in favor of the Union, and bury the hatchet, but they also permitted the general government to march troops through their hunting-grounds, which was a matter of no small impor- tance at that time, when the cause of American freedom was not so hoiaeful as could have been desired. They further promised to join the forces of the gen- eral government, with such a number of their most noted braves as they could spare, consistently with their own safety. A requisition for two captains and sixty braves was afterward made upon the nation by the American com- mander. The commanding officer at Fort Pitt opened a road to the mouth of the Beaver, and just below, on the table-land where the town of Beaver now stands, he built Fort Mcintosh, as a post to which loads could be carried either by land or water, and where, should there bo a failure of either suffi- cient troops or supplies to carry forward the expedition during the autumn, a footing at least would be secured, considerably advanced toward the enemy's country. This would enable the commander to be better prepared for another attempt in the spring, and would show the enemy, at the same time, that he was in earnest in his movements. The fort was a regular stockade-work, with four bastions, built of hewn logs; its figure was an irregular square, the face to the Ohio river being longer than that toward the land; and it is remarkable as being the first military post built by the United States on the Indian side of the Ohio. On the 8th of October, 1778, the headquarters of the army were removed from Fort Pitt to the new fort, where a considerable force, the largest collected west of the Allegheny mountains during the Revolution, numbering at least thirteen hundred, was assembled, consisting, besides the continental troops, of militia, mostly from the western counties of Virginia. But the want of supplies prevented any immediate movement forward. On the 3d day of November cattle from the mountain arrived, Imt they were HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 91 extremely poor, and could not be slaughtered for want of salt. At that date salt sold in Pittsburgh for twenty dollars per bushel. Alarming intelligence now reached Mcintosh from the wilderness west. He was reproached for his tardiness by fi-iendly Indians, who threatened that all their nation would unite in the Tuscarawas valley to give him battle, and oppose his progress to Detroit. Orders were therefoi-e immediately issued for twelve hundred men to get ready to march. On the 5th of November the movement of the army westward commenced, including the whole force, except one company, which was left under command of Lieut. -Col. Richard Campbell, of the Thirteenth Virginia regiment, to bring on the long-expected supplies. After a march of about seventy-live miles he was informed that the Indians had abandoned the idea of opposing his progress; and here, too, he learned the more dishearten- ing fact that the supplies promised him had not yet reached Fort Mcintosh, and that little, if any, could be expected. The result necessarily was that, like several other expeditions, this one had to be abandoned, and the army returned home, the only result produced being the confirmation of the savages in their conviction of the weakness of the Americans, and uniting them still more closely with the British at Detroit. A fort, however, was built, which was named Fort Laurens, in honor of the president of Congress. Leaving the fort with a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, with scant supplies, under command of Col. John Gibson, to finish and protect it, the rest of the army under command of the general returned to Fort Mcintosh, where the militia, who were now in a mutinous condition, were discharged. All that was left for the forces west of the mountains now to do was to act on the defensive, with such a disposition of men in the local forts and blockhouses as would best protect the fi'ontier, and await further developments. CHx\PTER VI. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (Concluded). Fort Crawford— Fort Aumstuong— Brodhead's Expedition— Capt. Isaac Craig — Defeat of the Delawares— Col. Clarke's Expedition— Inter- nal Disaffection— Crawford's Expedition — His Fate — Indian Attack ON Hannastown and Miller's Station. ^T^HE treason of McKee and his companions was a source of no little J- anxiety to the people of the frontier; for their perfect knowledge of the strength and condition of the settlements enabled them to give informa- tion that might prove very disastrous. About this time a resident of West- moreland county wrote: ""What may be the fate of this county God only ^2 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. knows; but at present it wears a most dismal aspect." On the 28th of April, 1778, a settlement at and about Wallace Fort in Westmoreland county was attacked, and a body of twenty men who were out reconnoitering the woods had nine killed and their captain wounded. Only four of the enemy were killed. By the middle of May what was known as the northern road, that is, Forbes' route to Fort Pitt — Braddock's route was the southern road — had become the northern frontier line of settlement west of the mountains. A captain who, with nine men, chiefly continental soldiers, was bringing grain from the neighborhood of Fort Hand to Fort Pitt, was surprised, on the 7th of July, by a party of savages. Other scalping-parties were frequently found on the frontier settlements both of Pennsylvania and Virginia, since the return of Mcintosh's unsuccessful expedition into the Indian country. But the frontier, as well as the rest of the country, had more enemies than the British and the Indians. Money is the sinews of war; and the deprecia- tion of the continental currency, which resulted in a great measure fi'om the unsuccessful campaign of 1777, had by this time become a very serious burden on the people, and all over the country great ingenuity was exercised to dis- cover a remedy. Among other devices the prices of commodities were fixed, and the Indian traders came in for a large share of public odium, and not without reason. A meeting of the officers of the line and staff in the western department, held in Pittsburgh in October, 1779, declares that the traders ' ' are now commonly known by the disgraceful epithet of speculators. ' ' It was also resolved at the same meeting ' ' that a select committee be appointed to collect all papers and get whatever information they can possibly obtain relative to the regulations which may have taken place down the country, and by them endeavor to ascertain the price of goods as they ought to sell at this place, and lay them, with whatever matters they may conceive necessary, before the committee at the next meeting." The committee, having been appointed, met on the 6th of October, and declared "that at the present •enormous prices, unless dire and absolute necessity compels, to buy shall be deemed as criminal as to sell; and should the traders refuse to sell at the regulated prices agreed on and fixed by this committee," they further resolved, "that the commandant of the western department be waited upon by a com- mittee, and earnestly requested for the good of the community, as well as the army, that said traders be immediately ordered to withdraw themselves and property from this post, being fully determined to have a reasonable trade, or no trade, and live upon our rations and what our country can afford us, and, should it be necessary, clothe ourselves with the produce of the forest, rather than live upon the virtuous part of the community to gratify our sanguinary enemies and enrich rapacity; and it is the unanimous opinion of this com- mittee that the specious, designing speculator is a monster of a deeper dye and more malignant nature than the savage Mingo of the wilderness, whose mischiefs are partial, while those occasioned by the speculator have become HISTOEV OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 93 universal." Much more followed in the same strain, but the portions given are sufficient to show the depth and extent of the evil, and the feeling of utter abhorrence in which the traders were held. Depredations continued, and the Indians, led by Simon Grirty, came within a few miles of Fort Pitt and attacked parties of whites, while the little gar- rison of Fort Laurens was both reduced to the verge of starvation for want of supplies and beseiged by the savages. The latter, however, fortunately aban- doned the siege, and the timely aid of Gen. Mcintosh brought provisions to the men, who for a long time had subsisted on raw hides. Strangely enough, when the relief came and the garrison fired a salute for joy, the packhorses took fright and scattered the provisions over a considerable tract of country. Gen. Mcintosh was dispirited with the small number of men at his dis- posal, the want of proper supplies, and the activity of the Indians, spurred on by the British at Detroit; and, his health failing, he requested to be relieved of the important duty of commanding the department of the west. He withdrew in April, 1779, and this was the abandonment for the time of offensive measures west of the mountains. Although he had not succeeded against the Indians, his operations were not altogether fi'uitless, and it may be said that in his defensive measures he exercised good judgment. One rock, especially, he care- fully avoided, which was interfering with the troublesome boundary question, although he had often been applied to by both sides. He also preserved cor- dial relations with the several county lieutenants, and was active and vigilant in protecting the exposed settlements. The erection of Forts Mcintosh and Laurens as a precautionary measure was approved by Gen. Washington, who wrote " that the establishing of posts of communication, which Mcintosh has done for the security of his convoys and the army, is a proceeding grounded on military practice and experience. ' ' Congress having directed the appointment of a successor to Mcintosh, Washington, on the 5th of March, 1779, made choice of Col. Daniel Brodhead, of the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment, who was first in rank in the western department under the retiring general. At the time of his appointment he was in charge of Fort Mcintosh, to which point Washington wrote him: "From my opinion of your abilities, your former acquaintance with the back country, and the knowledge you must have acquired upon this last tour of duty, I have appointed you to the command." It was a selection gratifying to the Pennsylvanians, as Brodhead was a citizen of that state. The whole force at his command at the time of his taking charge of the department, including continental and independent troops, consisted of seven hundred and twenty-two men, stationed at Forts Laurens, IMcIntosh, Henry, Randolph, Hand and Pitt. A few other stations were garrisoned by small detachments. At the same time Washington planned an expedition against the Six Nations, who had been committing depredations on the northern frontier, and it was his intention that, while a strong force set out east of the mountains, it should be joined by the commander of the western department,. 94 HISTOKV OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. who should march up the Allegheny. The latter part of this plan was, how- ever, abandoned as impracticable under the circumstances. In his communi- cations to Brodhead the couimander-in-chief warned him not to interfere in the boundary dispute, as calculated to get him into difficulties without benefiting the cause he was sent to promote. Fort Laurens, after being a source of gi-eat anxiety to the commander of Fort Pitt, and after its garrison had sufPered untold privations, was finally evacuated early in August, 1779. "Turning our attention from the wilderness beyond the Ohio to the north- ern settlements of Westmoreland, we see that as early as the 26th of February, 1779, Indian depredations began therein. On that day, about twenty miles east of Pittsburgh, on the main road leading over the mountains, eighteen persons — men, women, and children — were either killed or taken prisoners. It is not surprising, therefore,' that the first care of Brodhead, after assuming command in the west, was to protect the northern frontier. His first order directed a detachment from Fort Pitt to occupy the vacant Fort Crawford, located a few miles up the Allegheny." This fort stood a little above the mouth of Puckety creek, on the east side of the Allegheny river, probably on the site of the present village of Parnassus, eighteen miles above Fort Pitt. "The soldiers were instructed to scout on the waters of the river, as well on Puckety creek, and upon the Kiskiminetas as far as Fort Hand, thereby to protect as much as possible, from the death-dealing savages of the north, the exposed settlements to the eastward of Pittsburgh. Gen. Washington, with ' a full sense of the importance, necessity and duty of taking the most vigorous and speedy measures for the support and protection of the frontiers," decided to order to the westward Col. Moses Rawlings' corps of three companies from Fort Frederick, Md. , to assist in protecting the exposed settlements, and, at the same time, to promote the cooperation of troops from Fort Pitt with the army to be sent against the Indians of the Six Nations, by erecting posts at Kittanning and Venango. Although the plan for the movements of a force from Pittsburgh was .soon laid aside and the building of the two forts aban- doned, the march of the Maryland troops was not countermanded."* The Indians seemed to have made Westmoreland, which then included all Western Pennsylvania east and south of the rivers, the scene of their greatest activity. Here were perpetrated most of their daring and cruel raids upon the settlements. Pennsylvania determined to raise five companies to hasten to the defense of the west. Fort Hand was attacked on the 26th of April, and though Capt. Samuel Moorhead, who was in command, had only seventeen men with him, he held out, and the women busied themselves in molding bullets. The siege was raised the next day, the garrison during the action not having lost a single life. At this time a resident of the county wrote: "The savages are continually making depredations among us, not less than forty people having been killed, wounded, or captured this spring." The arrival of additional HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 95 forces gave confidence to the frontier ; but the settlements were still the scenes of Indian raids in which lives were lost and prisoners taken. During all this time the commander of Fort Pitt experienced great difficulty in obtaining jjrovisions for his soldiers, as his letters to the commander-in- chief amply testify. The presence of the British at Detroit was still the gi-eatest source of trouble on account of the use they made of the Ohio Indians and the means they employed in winning over the few who remained neutral or friendly to the American cause. For this reason it was that Brodhead com- plained of his limited resources at a time when it was of the utmost importance to rival the English in the value of the presents he gave to the savages, upon whom these were known to have a potent influence. He says in one of his letters: " The Indian captains appointed by the British commandant at Detroit are clothed in the most elegant manner, and have many valuable presents made them. The captains I have appointed by authority of congress are naked, and receive nothing but a little whisky, for which they are reviled by the Indians in general, so that unless some kind of a system is introduced I must expect to see all the Indians in favor of the British, despite of every address in my power." The Indians from the north had now become more troublesome than those of the west, and Brodhead's attention was accordingly directed to them. He sent Capt. Samuel Brady with a small party to scout the country up the Allegheny and collect such information as he could regarding the savages. Near the mouth of Mahoning creek he met a small body of them who had made a raid on the settlements, killed some persons, and taken two children prisoners, and he killed the leader of the band with others, rescued the pris- oners and recaptured the booty. Other adventui'es of this noted scout form interesting episodes in our frontier history about this time. But Brodhead very properly thought that a station at Kittanning would more effectually hold the Indians in check than any other measure he could at that time adopt. This place was well known as an Indian stronghold during the French occupa- tion of the valley of the Allegheny and Ohio. The provincials did not, how- ever, occupy it for many years after its destruction by Col. Armstrong. But on June 5, 1776, a memorial was presented to the assembly of Pennsylvania by the inhabitants of Westmoreland county that they feared an attack from the Indian country west, and that Van Swearingen had, at a considerable expense, raised a company of eflFective men which the memorialists had continued and stationed at Kittanning, and which they prayed might be continued. Congress resolved on the 15th of July that the battalion which was to garrison the posts to be established at Presqu' Isle, Le Bceuf and Kittanning be raised in the counties of Westmoreland and Bedford, which latter at that date embraced a considerable part of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Some time afterward the battalion commanded by Col. ^neas Mackay was stationed at Kittanning, where it remained till December 15th of the same year, when the commanding officer was ordered to collect his scattered forces at some convenient rendezvous yo mSTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. to march elsewhere. No troop.s %Vere stationed at Kittanning from that time till 1779, although some attempt was made to protect the northern frontier by other posts and rangers in small detachments in the pay of the state. As regards the building of the fort we have the following, which Gen. Washington wrote to Brodhead under date of March 22, 1779: "I have directed Col. Rawlings' corps, consisting of three companies, to march from Fort Frederick, in Maryland ... to Fort Pitt, as soon as he is relieved by a guard of mili - tia. Upon his arrival you are to detach him with his own corps and as many as will make up one hundred men, should his company be short of that num - her, to take post at Kittanning, and immediately throw up a stockade fort for the security of the convoys. When this is accomplished a small garrison is to be left there, and the remainder are to proceed to Venango." But the fort was not built at that time, whatever may have been the reason, for Col. Brodhead wrote on the 3d of June to Archibald Lochry, lieutenant of Westmorelan d county: "I purpose building a small fort at Kittanning as soon as possible, and that will be more effectual seciuity for the inhabitants than all the little posts now occupied by the garrisons." On the 23d he again wrote: "Lieut. -Col. Bayard is now at Kittanning, and will cover the fi-ontier effectually;" and on the 31st of July he wrote to Gen. Washington: "A complete stockade fort is erected at the Kittanning, and now called Fort Armstrong." The fort stood a little more than two miles below the present town of Kittanning, close on th e east bank of the river; and about half a mile further down there was a block- house, which was standing as late as 1834. The writer distinctly remembers the well of the fort, which, thirty-five years ago, was still visible, though filled with stumps from the surrounding field. It would seem that Col. Bayard, who built the fort, wanted to name it after himself; for, although his letters are not preserved to us, Brodhead' s replies, which we have, plainly imply so much. The correspondence was evidently animated, and appears to have had a sarcas- tic vein ninning through it as far as the commander of Fort Pitt was concerned. In a letter of his dated July 1st, he says: " I think it is a compliment due to Gen. Armstrong to call the fort after him; therefore, it is my pleasure from this time forward it be called Fort Armstrong, and I doubt not we shall soon be in the neighborhood of a place where greater regard is paid to saints than at Kittanning, where your sainthood may not be forgotten." And in another letter of the 9th of the same month he writes: "I have said that I thoiight it a compliment due to Gen. Armstrong to name the fort now erecting at Kittan- ning after him ; and I should be very sorry to have the first fort erected by my direction in the department named after me. Besides, I should consider it will be more proper to have our names at a greater distance from our metropolis. I never denied the saintship of Stephen or John, biit some regard to propriety must be necessary even among saints." The commander's trouble with the fort, however necessary it certainly was for the protection of the northern front- ier, was not to end with the naming of it. On the 1st of Augiist Bayard was HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 99 relieved of the command of the post. Early in October Brodhead ordered Capt. Irwin to take up his quarters there, but he did not obey the order, and a sharp correspondence took place between the two; for in a letter of his, dated Octo- ber 13th, Brodhead writes him : ' ' You had my positive orders to wait upon me for instructions to govern you at Fort Armstrong, which orders you have been hardy enough to disobey and are to answer for." During this dispute Francis Mcllvaine was sent to occupy the fort. There was talk of courtmartialing Irwin, but it is most probable it was not done. Discipline was at a low ebb in the department at that time, owing to the life of the pioneers, and the injurious effects of the boundary dispute, which taught the people to disregard the civil jurisdiction of one of the states. In the meantime Brodhead wrote to Lieut. Glass, or the "commanding officer of Capt. Irwin's company," October 18th: ' ' You are to march the company under your command to Fort Armstrong and there relieve the present garrison under Mr. Mcllvaine. " Still another change of officers was found necessary; and on the 27th the commander of Fort Pitt wrote to Lieut. John Jameson : "I have received your favor of the 24th inst. I am glad to hear you are at length got to Fort Armstrong. ' ' He was to be the last commander of the short-lived fort. On the 27th of November Joseph I. Finley wrote him: "I am directed by Col. Brodhead to request you to evacu- ate Fort Armstrong, and to repair to this post [Fort Pitt] with all convenient dispatch, taking care to bring ofP all the stores in your possession and pertain- ing to the garrison of whatsoever kind. ' ' The fort was never after occupied permanently, although soldiers may have lodged there for a short time occa- sionally. Why a post so favorably situated should have been abandoned so soon after its construction it is difficult, with the information at command, to determine, unless it was that the success attending the expedition up the Alle- gheny into the Indian country was thought sufficient to prevent the savages from attempting any further raids from that direction for a considerable time. Brodhead had long been anxious to carry the war into the enemy's country, declaring to the commander-in-chief that he could effect more in this way than he could with three times the number of men required if he acted on the defensive. With great difficulty he succeeded in obtaining the consent of Washington as well as of the state authorities for the expedition; a considera- ble force was collected with the usual amount of delays and annoyances of other kinds; but a greater difficulty was encountered in securing the necessary provisions. At length he was able to inform Gen. Washington of the pleasiire he felt in having upward of four hundred head of cattle and nearly a thousand kegs of flonr. "The small posts of the department garrisoned by continental or provincial troops were evacuated, that their commands might be rendered available for the enterprise. As many soldiers as could well be spared from the large ones were directed to march to Pittsburgh for the same purpose. The provincial companies in Westmoreland were called in. Exertions were made to induce volunteering. Militia from the neighborhood were ordered to 100 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Fort Pitt. By the 11th of August six hundred rank and file, with a number of Delawares, were collected. The force began to march that day under the lead ol Brodhead, with Col. Gibson second in command. The army, having one month's supplies, advanced up the Allegheny — the provisions, except live cattle, being transported by water under an escort of one hundred men — to the mouth of the Mahoning above Kittanning. The stores were now loaded on pack- horses, and the troops continued their march up the river. An advance party of fifteen light infantiy and eight Delawares, under command of Lieut. John Hardin, of the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment, fell in with thirty or forty war- riors, coming down the Allegheny in seven canoes. A sharp contest ensued. The enemy were defeated, the savages losing five of their number killed and several wounded. All their canoes with their contents were captured. Three of the Americans were wounded, also one of the Delawares. ' ' Brodhead proceeded up the river as far as an Indian village of Bucka- loons, its inhabitants fieeing upon his approach. The army threw up a breastwork of trees not far away, and a garrison of forty men was left to guard the provisions. The remainder of the force marched up the river to the mouth of the Conewango, near which was a deserted village of that name." This was at the present town of Warren, one hundred and sixty-nine miles above Pittsburgh. ' ' The troops then moved up the latter stream to within about four miles of the present state boundary line, where several towns were found just vacated."* All the villages found were burned, and the cornfields destroyed, The army returned by the Venango road, and reached Pittsburgh on the 1-lth of September without the loss of a man. On the 27th of October Congress passed the following resolution relative to this expedition: Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to his excellency, Gen. Washington, for directing, and to Col. Brodhead and the brave oflScers and soldiers under his com- mand for executing, the important expedition against the Mingo and Munsie Indians, and that part of the Senecas on the A.llegheny river, by which the depredations of those sav- ages, assisted by their merciless instigators, subjects of the king of Great Britain, upon the defenseless inhabitants of the western frontiers have been restrained and prevented. During all this time, as before, the Indians of the west were a great source of trouble, and what to do, with the limited resources at command, was the question that perplexed everyone from the commander-in-chief down. Fort Laurens had for a long time engaged the attention of the savages, but without relieving the commander of the western department, who found the care of that post as difficult as that of the frontier had been without it. Even during its occupation the frontier was not free from the raids of small war-parties, but after its evacuation, up to the setting in of winter, the Indians of the west over- ran the whole southwestern part of Pennsylvania, and life was nowhere secure. The repetition of these raids, although varying more or less according to cir- HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 101 cumstances, was the everyday expectation of the western population, and the mere recital of them became monotonous. The population around Forbes' road, in the Monongahela valley, in the immediate vicinity of Pittsburgh, and generally throughout the southwestern part of the state, had by this time become considerable. But the draft that was made on them for the war with England, for the garrisoning of the local forts and blockhouses, for the various expeditions into the enemy's country, and for the defense of their own homes, left them little time for the care of their farms. Yet at no time in the history of the state did this require greater labor. For, although the soil was as yet rich and required little cultivation, the forests had to be cleared and enclosed, the ground in most cases to be broken up with strong teams, which were not at the command of everyone, and when iinder cultivation it required constant watching to prevent wild animals, such as deer, bears, raccoons, etc., fi'om destroying large portions of the crop. The life of the frontiersman was one of great hardship, and though it bred a hardy race it frequently taxed them beyond the power of endurance. The women, too, lequired courage equally with the men, for it frequently happened that for weeks they were left alone with their families in a little ' ' patch ' ' in the forests, far from all human succor, and liable at any moment to hear the warwhoop of the savage, or discover him hirking around the premises, ready to fall upon his victim. Many a descendant of these pioneers remembers the thrilling tales of adventure with which his winter's nights were regaled by eyewitnesses of them, and actors, too, in the years of his childhood, and how he retired to rest afraid of seeing an Indian, in his childish fancy, as he crept into bed. With the narrators of those stories this was no fancy, but the sternest reality; and it may be truly said of them that they carried their lives in their hands. The Indians were again on the frontier earlier than usual in 1780, murder- ing and taking prisoners. Among the latter of these was a girl named Cath- arine Malott, who afterward became the wife of the notorious Simon Girty, whom Heckewelder called "the white savage," and who certainly deserved the name. This year threatened to be a sad one for the settlements. Says Mr. Butterfield: "By the last of April the Indians had become exceedingly troublesome; over forty men, women, and children had fallen victims of their ferocity in the country south and southwest of Fort Pitt. These depreda- tions were quickly followed by others to the northward. It really began to look as though the county of Westmoreland would again become a wilderness. A large part of the population north of the Yoaghiogheny were forced to fly to the several forts of that locality for safety. The utmost exertions of the local companies and of the half-clad, half-starved regulars^now only the cullings of last year's men, many having been sent over the mountains on account of the pressui'e of the war upon the sealsoard- — were put forth to pro- tect the homes of the borderers, but with little effect. The war, if possible, the commander realized fully, must be carried to the homes of the savages, 102 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. and, above all, it was now seen, to the homes of the Wyandots, who were more powerful for mischief to the border than either of the other tribes acting against it. In June Capt. Isaac Craig, with a detachment from the Fourth Pennsylvania Artillery, reached Fort Pitt." Mr. Craig and his descendants were destined to be among the most intelligent and public-spirited citizens of the incipient city of Pittsburgh, and his name is frequently mentioned both in military and civic matters later on in our history. His son, Neville B. Craig, has put not only Pittsburgh, but the southwestern portion of the state, under obligations to him for his seasonable publication of " The Olden Time," a collection of original- papers relating to the country around the head of the Ohio, and his ' ' History of Pittsburgh, ' ' which relates the annals of ou r city with unusual accuracy down to the date of its publication, 1851 . He was also the leading newspaper- man of his time, and published the first daily paper in Pittsburgh. On the 10th of July BroJhead informed the lieutenants of the counties of the western department of his intention to carry the war into the enemy's country; but told them at the same time that that matter must be kept a pro- found secret, and its execution must be made with dispatch. But it was much easier under the circumstances to plan an expedition than it was to carry the plan into execution, and Brodhead was not the first commander of the depart- ment to learn this unpleasant truth. An entire corps from Maryland that had been on duty guarding the frontier of Westmoreland county deserted in a body, in August; and, to embarrass the commander of the department still more, Washington informed him that he could fui'nish no soldiers for the expedition. The best that Brodhead could do in these adverse circumstances was to confine his efforts to what Washington termed " partisan strokes," to which the com- mander-in-chief encouraged him. The creation of the new county of Wash- ington, March 28, 1781, which embraced the southwestern portion of Pennsyl- vania, and the organization of a body of militia there under James Marshall, the lieutenant of the county, increased the force in that part of the country, and afforded additional security to the settlers. The strenuous efforts of the British at Detroit to win the Delawares, the only tribe that could be said to have remained faithful to the Americans, was in a measure successful about the close of the year 1780, and the beginning of the following year saw every tribe of the west up in arms against the frontier. Brodhead, still bent upon a movement into the Indian country, collected a small force in April, 1781, and, dropping down to W'heeling, was joined by David Shepherd, lieutenant of Ohio county, Va. He led the forces into the Indian country, took the savages at Coshocton completely by surprise, destroyed their town and a village just below, killed fifteen of their warriors and took twenty prisoners. Large quantities of peltry and stores were alsa destroyed, and about forty head of cattle killed. The expedition was a very decided success; the hostile Delawares fell back further to the west, and never HISTOBY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 103 again occ iipied the territory from which they had been driven. The few remain- ing friendly Delawares placed themselves under the protection of Brodhead ; and their assistance and the information they were able fi'om time to time to afford of the movements of the hostile savages were of great service to the com- mander of the western department. Early in 1781 Col. George Rogers Clarke arrived at Fort Pitt on his way down the Ohio, in command of an expedition against the Indians of the west, principally with a view of capturing the old French posts in the Illinois coimtry now in the hands of the enemy. Brodhead, whose forces then consisted of not more than two hundred men, was directed by Washington to detach his field-pieces, howitzers and train to join him. At that time Fort Pitt was little better than a heap of ruins, while the garrison, ill fed and ill equipped, were in a very sorry condition to repel an enemy, should the Indians take Fort Mc- intosh and attack them. The militia were without proper organization, and, when called into service, destitute to a great extent of military knowledge and discipline. The civil government was even in a worse condition, on account of the excitement regarding the boundary dispute. Both sides before the war had asserted their claims to an organized jurisdiction over the disputed territory, and exercised them. As between the two commonwealths, the quarrel was virtually brought to an end in 1779; but bitter feelings still existed among the people, and the line was not yet run. As a consequence, having long con- temned the authority of a neighboring state, many had come to open disrespect for their own. Hence there was a restlessness, bordering on insubordination, prevailing in many parts of the country, and a desire on the part of some to emigrate into the wilderness beyond the Ohio to form a new state. Troubles between certain of the military oiBcers added to the difficulties of the situation. Brodhead, who, according to his ability, was zealous for the advancement of the interests of his department, met with considerable opposi- tion — so much so that on the 6th of October he wrote Gen. Washington: " Col. Gibson still continues to counteract me, and the officers who favor his claim reject my orders; others refuse his, and things are in the utmost confusion." These unfortunate circumstances rendered it necessary to send some other officer to take command of the department; but who this officer should be it was not easy to determine. To an unusual degree of prudence he must add proper firmness in order to restore discipline, while with these he must possess all the qualities necessary to deal with the hostile savages to the north and west. After mature deliberation Washington selected Gen. William Irvine. Congress confirmed the apj)ointment, and the new commander set out for the field of his future operations, where he arrived early in November, 1781. Before the arrival of Gen. Irvine, Brodhead had been superseded in the command of the western department by his rival, Col. Gibson, and his pred- ecessor was submitted to a trial, mainly, it would appear, for his extravagant use or waste of the public stores. On this point Irvine wrote to Washington 104 HISTOKY 01'' ALLEGHENY COUNTY. under date of December, 1781: " The consumption of public stores, in my opinion, has been enormous, particularly military stores, and I fear the reason for it will not be justifiable, viz., that the militia would all fly if they had not powder and lead given them, not only when in service, but to keep at their homes. . . I find that nearly 2,000 lb. of lead and 4,000 lb. of powder have been issued to the militia since the dispute between Cols. Brodhead and Gib- son, chiefly by orders of the former, besides arms, accouteiments, etc., and not a man called into active service." He spoke at the same time of the man- ner in which he had re-formed the companies of soldiers at the fort, and also of the failure of Gen. Clarke's expedition, to which reference was made above. He further noted the encouragement the savages would feel in it, and the probability of an attack being made on the fi'ontier, seconded by the British, who were still in possession of Detroit. In view of this he thought that the site of Pittsburgh was not the best for a fort, and that it should be at the mouth of Chartier's creek, below Pittsburgh, on the south side of the Ohio. He wrote to the commander-in-chief: "I have been viewing the country in this vicinity, and find no place equal for a post to the mouth of Chartier's creek, about four miles down the river. Capt. Hutchins pointed that place out to me before I left Philadelphia, and says there is no place equal to it anywhere within forty miles of Fort Pitt. I think it best calculated on many accounts. First, the ground is such that works may be constructed to contain amy number of men from five hundred to a thousand. It is by nature almost inaccessible on three sides, and on the fourth no commanding ground within three thousand yards. Secondly, as it would effectually cover the settlements on Chartier's creek, the necessity for keeping a post at Fort Mcintosh would, of course, cease. In case of making that the main post, Fort Pitt should be demolished, except the north bastion, on which a strong blockhouse should be erected. A small party on it would as effectually keep up communication with the settlements on the Monongahela as the whole garrison now does; for the necessary detachments at Mcintosh, Wheeling, etc., so divide the troops that no one place can be held without a large body of troops. Indeed, if the enemy from Detroit should undertake to make us a visit, it would be an excel- lent place for them to take by surprise, whence they could send out Indians and other partisans and lay the whole country waste before we covild dislodge them.'" Few passages in all the correspondence relating to Western Pennsylvania contain more practical wisdom than this. The reader of our early annals will not fail to remember that the mouth of Chartier's creek was the very spot upon which the friendly Indians wanted the traders to build a fort for their protection, just before the breaking out of the French war, though Washington thought, af the end of 1753, that it was not so favorably situated as the forks; but then he had in view the protection of the mouth of the Monongahela ao-ainst the French coming down the Allegheny. Still, it is plain to all that a HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 105 fort on the low ground between the confluence of the two rivers could at any time have been easily bombarded from any of the high surrounding hills, without its being able to make any effectual defense. And when Fort Duquesne fell into the hands of the English there were not wanting those who favored the building of a large fort upon what is now known as Boyd's hill, overlooking the Monongahela, which, from the name of the principal advocate of the measure, a Scotchman by the name of Ayres, was long known as Ayres' hill. In connection with this he would have a smaller fort on the hill overlookincr the Allegheny. Viewing the matter fi'om this distance only, we can not but believe that either this plan or that of Gen. Irvine was preferable to the one adopted, as Fort Pitt was iitterly defenseless against artillery, had it been brought to bear upon it. But brighter days were beginning to dawn for the country, although the west would be the last to reap the advantage. The surrender of Cornwallis effectually broke the power of the British in her former colonies, and sealed the independence of the United States. But Detroit, the instigator of the Indians against the western settlements, was for some time longer in her pos- session. Upon receiving intelligence of the surrender of the British forces Gen. Irvine issued the following order: Fort Pitt. November 6, 1781. Parole — General. Countersign — Joy. Gen. Irvine has the pleasure to congratulate the troops upon the great and glorious news. Lord Cornwallis, with the troops under his command, surrendered prisoners of war, on the 19th of October last, to the allied armies of America and France, under the immediate command of his exellency Gen. Washington. The prisoners amount to upward of five thousand regular troops, near two thousand tories, and as many negroes, besides a number of merchants and other followers. Thirteen pieces of artillery will be fired this day at 10 o'clock, in the fort, at which time the troops will be under arms, with their colors displayed. The commissaries will issue a gill of whisky extraordinary, to the non-commissioned officers and privates, upon this joyful occasion. At the beginning of the following year, Gen. Irvine retired for a time to Carlisle; but the threatening attitude of the savages on the frontier induced the commander-in-chief to v?rite him, under date of March 8th, to hasten back to Fort Pitt. He reached it on the 25th to find the settlements in a state of alarm. The garrisons, too, of Forts Pitt and Mcintosh were in a mutinous condition ; but the firmness of the commander soon restored them to proper discipline, though not without the frequent application of ' ' one himdred lashes well laid on, ' ' and the execution of two soldiers. The settlers were anxious to be led against the Wyandots on the Sandiisky river, to which measure the better judgment of Irvine made him opposed ; but he finally consented, and did all in his power to insure the success of the expedi- tion. The distance, however, was great, and led through the enemy's country for the most part, where the little army could be harassed continually, and 106 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY'. where the difficulty of carrying provisions would be an almost insurmountable obstacle to success. The expedition proved unsuccessful: fifty of the soldiers lost their lives; William Crawford, the commander, was taken prisoner, and afterward burned at the stake. But this unhappy issue of the expedition was felt still further in emboldening the savages and convincing them of the inability of the whites to protect themselves and their settlements. Notwithstanding this, Irvine contemplated another expedition against the same Indian towns, and made preparations for it. But on the assurance of the commander of the British forces that the savages had all been required to desist from hostilities. Gen. Washington directed him to abandon it. The unprotected state of the northern portion of Westmoreland county, from which many of the soldiers had been withdrawn for the unsuccessful expedition into the west, proved too inviting for the savages to permit it to pass unprolited of. Accordingly a large war pai-ty, amounting to about three hundred, said to be in command of Kiashuta, crossed the Allegheny and pro- ceeded to Hannastown, the county seat of Westmoreland coimty, which was situated on the old Forbes road, about thirty miles east of Pittsburgh and three northeast of Greensburg. They reached this point on the 13th of July, 1782. The laborers at work in the harvest field about a mile north of the town spied the foremost skulking about the fields. Some, seizing their guns, hurried back to the fort, and others carried the news throughout the country. Then all flocked together where best they might, and within a few hoiu's the savages were around the village of Hannastown. Timely warning had been given to the villagers, and all had sought refuge in the fort. But its defenders, though brave, were few, its inmates being for the most part decrepit old men, women and children. Most of the men were out giving the alarm and assisting the helpless. Besides, they had few arms. When the savages came up the hill, north of the village, a loud yell indicated that they had been dis- appointed in their hopes of securing a rich harvest of scalps. They feared to attack the fort, but busied themselves in plundering and burning the village. Fears were entertained that the shower of sparks carried about by a strong wind blowing at the time would set fire to the fort, but a kind Providence averted them, and the garrison escaped the impending danger. While the flames were rising the savages held a consultation; a party of about sixtj' then broke olf, and, while the rest danced around the burning houses, passed toward the south to attack the station at Miller's, about three miles distant. Here about a dozen families had collected, whom the Indians hoped to surprise. But brave hearts, regardless of danger to themselves, had spread the alarm: and no sooner were the savages seen to approach the edge of the clearing at the station than Capt. Matthew Jack was gathering the men in. But resist- ance against such a body of savages was vain, and those who were most familiar with Indian warfare did not resist for fear of bringing on an indis- criminate slaughter of the innocent women and children. The whole party HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 109 was bound and carried off toward where the rest of the savages were awaiting _them. The Indians retired during the night, with their prisoners and booty, and were followed as far as the Kiskiminetas by a small body of men who had assembled from the surrounding settlements. This was the last serious attack made on the settlements east of the Allegheny, although alarms were fre- quent, and minor depredations occasionally took place for a few years longer. The winter of 1782-83 was spent in comparative quiet by the settlements, the Indians being convinced by this time that the cause of the British, who had instigated and supported them, was hopelessly lost. Gen. Irvine, on the let of October, 1783, having furlonghed his garrison, and turned over his com- mand to a small continental force, took his final leave of the western depart- ment. Pennsylvania acknowledged her gratitude for his services by donating him a valuable tract of land on Lake Erie, below the city of the same name, which was afterward known as ' ' Irvine' s reserve. ' ' The conclusion of the war with Great Britain gave a new impulse to settle- ment, weakened the confidence of the Indians, and left a body of trained sol- diers ready at any time to march against them in case of an outbreak; and an altogether new era may be said to have dawned upon Western Pennsylvania, so long accustomed to war's alarms. CHAPTER VII. FEOM 1784 TO THE EEECTION OF THE COUNTY. Conflicting Claims— Penn.sylvania's Last Treaty with the Natives— "The New Purchase "—Settlements and Land-Titles— Depreciation and Res- ervation IjAnds— Administration of Justice— Courthouses, Jails, etc. —Erection of County- First County Officers, etc. THE claim of the Indians to the coiintry west of the Allegheny and north of the Ohio had not yet been extinguished, but both the natives and the whites saw that the time was at hand for such a move; the whites, because they were pushing constantly further west from the mountains, and would not be satisfied with small tracts of land, and the Indians, because they perceived that, as usual, the palefaces continued to encroach on their domain till they were no longer able to hold it. Nor could they rely, as formerly, on the English or the French, both of whom had to yield in their turn to the colonists; nor could they feel, as in former years, that the settlers were weak and they strong; for now they were sensible that their star was fast on the wane, while that of the settlers was on the ascendant. It was with feelings like these that both parties met in conference at Fort Stanwix in October, 178-1:, the state of Penn- 110 HISTOUV OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. sylvania being represented by commissioners appointed by the governor, and the tribes of the Six Nations being represented by their chiefs. The deed for all the territory west of the Allegheny was signed by the chiefs and commis- sioners on the 23d of October, and the claim of the aborigines to the soil of Pennsylvania was forever extinguished. This purchase was confirmed by the Wyandots and Delawares, at Fort Mcintosh, by a deed executed January 21, 1785; for though these tribes were not independent of the Six Nations, whose will was their law, yet this formality was deemed advisable to prevent future cause of complaint. This was the last treaty which Pennsylvania had with the natives. She was now in possession of all the territory to which she was enti- tled; and however shallow the boast may be that she never occupied any of the territory of the aborigines without first purchasing it from them, she had it all now without any fear of serious molestation fi-om them. This last extensive acquisition was long known as ' ' the New Purchase. " ' Further on an oppor- tunity will be offered of treating of the divisions made of this new territory. The Indians were loth to permit their vast hunting-grounds to become the farms of their enemies, and continued, though not so frequently as before, nor in such formidable bands, to infest the settlements and carry off an occa- sional prisoner or his scalp. Settlements began to multiply on the Ohio, and Indian depredations were restrained to a greater or less degree in that direc- tion; but in the north and northwest the natives were very troublesome. It became necessary to build new posts on the headwaters of the Allegheny, or rather repair and garrison those which had long existed there, but which had for some years been evacuated. Accordingly we read in the •"Military Jour- nal ■' of Maj. Ebenezer Denny, under date of April 10, 1787, the following entry : '■ Fort Harmar, mouth of Muskingum river. . Capt. Heart ordered to proceed with his company to a place called Venango, on the Allegheny river, about one hundred and fifty miles above Pittsburgh, there to erect a suitable work. This place had formerly V>een occupied by the French and English troops, but burnt down. " ' The subjoined extracts from the same ' ' Joiirnal ' ' will both explain the building of the fort at the mouth of French creek and give au interesting picture of the Allegheny at that time. " Sth April. 1788. — It was the general's [Harmar" sj intention to spend a day or two here [at Pitts- burgh], and proceed up the Allegheny to Fort Franklin [formerly Venango], but a continuation of heavy i-ains and consequent high water induced him to delay for a more favorable time; but unwilling to be absent too long, we set out with high water, and rising. This day we passed seven islands, and gained fifteen miles. 18th. — Had severe thunder, with rain. Passed eight islands and several lodges of Indians near the Kiskiminetas, Lay five miles above the mouth of that river. 29th. — Clear and cold. Kiver still rising. Passed seven islands, and encamped a mile above Mahoning. 30th. — Last night the contractor' s boat, fi'om Venango, passed down on its way back to Pitt : had a pas- sage of fifteen days up. Very hard water to-day. Passed two islands: gained HLSTOIiy OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Ill twenty miles. May 1st. — Current this day very rapid. Passed Stump creek [Clarion] and six islands; made about twenty miles. 2d. — . . Five islands this day, and ruin from morning till night. 3d. — About 8 o'clock this morning, after passing one island, we entered the mouth of French creek. The fort stands half a mile up. Several miles below we were discovered by some Indians, who cut across and gave notice to Capt. Heart of our approach. The arrival of Gen. Harmar was announced with seven rounds of a six-pounder from the fort. Verj' kindly received by the captain and Lient. Frothingham, at the head of their command. The company reviewed and dismissed. Spent the day in examining Capt. Heart's work, viewing the adjacent countiy and the old fortifications of the French and British. There is a fine fiat of good land here, altogether on the lower side of French creek, but sufficient for several farms. The only flat land from Mahoning or Mohelboteetam up. Capt. Heart's fort, or Fort Franklin, as it is called, is built precisely after the plan of the one which had been erected by the British, called Venango. It is a square redoubt, with a blockhouse, three stories high, in the center; stands better than half a mile up French creek, upon very good ground; but the sit- uation, in my opinion, by no means so eligible as that of old Venango, built by the English. The last work stood upon a commanding ground pretty close to the bank of the Allegheny, half a mile below French creek, and a mile from Fort Franklin. The cellar wall and huge stack of chimneys of the block- house are of stone, and are yet quite entire. The parapet and some other parts remain perfect, and the whole work might have been rebuilt with half the labor and expense of that built by Heart. The only reason the captain could offer for taking new ground was the convenience of timV)er. ' ' This was the last fort built in the state of Pennsylvania, and, though a hundred and twenty-four miles from Pittsburgh, was yet in Allegheny county. A sad change had already come over the Six Nations, the "Eomans of America. ' ' The ' ' Journal ' ' continues with regard to the Senecas, at one time the most numerous tribe of the confederation: " We see a number of Senecas here. The Senecas who inhabit the banks of the Allegheny, some three or four days' journey above this, are frecjuently here. They bring their peltry and exchange it with the traders for such articles as suit them. We saw several families of them; all appeared indolent, dirty, inanimate creatures; most so of any Indians I had seen. 4th. — Left Fort Franklin at 5 o'clock. Allegheny river flowing brim full; current not less, perhaps, than six miles an hour. We worked twelve oars steadily. Had two extra hands that afforded some relief; and except about an hour, which was taken up in whole in eating, and a little time spent on an island, we lost no time. Arrived and landed at the fort on the Monongaheia side precisely at 8 o'clock — fifteen hours' passage. Old Kittanning a delightful place. " The subjoined extracts from the ' " Journal ' ' seem in place here, as afford- ing some idea of the scenes and state of affairs around Pittsburgh: "13th 112 HISTOKY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. [Miiy]. ^Visited my uncle John McClnre's family, nine miles above Fort Pitt, on the Monongahehi; spent a very pleasant day. Two or three gentle ae(|uaiiit- ances were along; they were formerly from Carlisle. A very r(>spectal)l(> por- tion of the society of Pittsburgh are from that place, and this circumstance, no doubt, tends to attract and to create the social intercourse and very great harmony which prevail among them. ]5th.— A Mr. White, a member of Congress, and some gentlemen fi'om Pittsburgh, acconjpanied the general [Harmar] in the barge on a visit up the Monongahela to Braddock's Field. We viewed the battle-ground. Saw several small heaps of bones which had been collected, with a little brushwood thrown over them. The bones of the poor soldiers are still lying scattered through the woods, but the ground where the heaviest of the action was is now under cultivation.'" The piu'chase of the Indian title to the land west of the Allegheny gave somewhat greater security to settlements east of that stream and south of the Ohio; although the natives were loth to leave their ancient domain, and contin- ued to pay it occasional unfriendly visits. Another imjiortant body of men, now ajipeared on the scene, the surveyors appointed by the state authorities to lay out the land prej)aratory to exposing it to sale. Apart from the ditficulties of their position, owing to the fact that almost the entire country was still a •wilderness, and the geography of it as to the particulars necessary to facilitate a survey in a great measure unknown, it was not unusual to find a lurking Indian in search of a scalp in some recess of the forest. The work, however, ■went on. although interrupted at times; and large tracts of country were taken up by emigrants from east of the mountains. The large tract purchased from the Indians west of the Allegheny and north of the Ohio rivers was divided east and west into two great sections, which were afterward surveyed into lots. Says Judge Agnew:* " The com- monwealth, having become sovereign proprietor of all the lands within the state-, and intending and anticipating the purchase of the Indian title, provided by an act of March 12, 1783, for the appropriation of all that portion of the pur- chase of 1784 and 1785 north of the Ohio and west of the Allegheny river and the Conewango creek, by dividing the same into two large and separate sec- tions. These were: 1. For the redemption of the certificates of depreciation, given to the oflScers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, in pursuance of an act of 18th December. 1780, providing that the certificates should be equal to gold or silver, in payment of unlocated lands, if the owner should think proper to purchase such. 2. In fulfillment of the promise of the state, in a resolu- tion of March 7. 1780, to the officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania line to make them certain donations in lands, according to their rank in the service. The act of March 12, 1783. therefore divided this territory by a due west line, running from Mogulbughtiton creek on the Allegheny river above Kittanning (probably Pine creek), f to the western boundary of the state. The course of this • " Settlements and Laud Titles of Northwestern Pennsjlvania." + It is Mahoning Creek. HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 113 line runs between seven and eight miles south of the present city of New Castle, which lies in the fork of the Shenango and Neshannock creeks. The land south of this boundary was appropriated to the redemption of the depre- ciation certificates, and became known as the ' depreciation lands.' Out of this section were reserved to the state two tracts of three thousand acres each, one at the mouth of the Allegheny, where the city of Allegheny now stands ; the other at the mouth of the Big Beaver creek on both sides, including Fort Mcintosh (now Beaver). The land north of the line above described was appropriated to donations to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, for their services in the revohitionary war, and became known as the ' donation lands. " The act of 1783, referred to above, required the "depreciation lands" to be laid out by the surveyor-general, under the direction of the supreme exec- utive council of the state, into lots of not less than two hundred acres, and not more than three hundred and fifty acres, numbering them on the draft or plat of the country. As soon as the whole, or at least one hundred lots, shoiild be surveyed, the surveyor- general, secretary of the land-office and receiver- general were required to proceed to sell, in numerical order, at such times and places and under such regulations as should be appointed by the supreme executive council; the full sum of each bid to be paid in gold or silver or in depreciation certificates. The surveyor was further directed to note on his map the courses and depths of the waters, places of mines, sites for towns, the quantity of each lot, and a precise description. But those employed in the survey were forbidden to give any information of the quantity and advantages of the lots, except in the return made to the council. It is generally admitted that there were not wanting those among the surveyors who took advantage of their knowledge of the country to secure good tracts for themselves. The three thousand acres reserved to the state out of the depreciation lands opposite the town of Pittsburgh is deserving of more than a mere reference. The act provides for the "reserving to the use of the state of three thousand acres, in an oblong of not less than one mile in depth from the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and extending up and down the said rivers, from opposite Fort Pitt, so far as it may be necessary to include the same." "This reservation was surveyed by Alexander McLean, in the month of April, 1785, in pur- suance of an order to make the survey, before the other lands were surveyed. The northern boundary began on the right bank of the Ohio river, nearly opposite the mouth of Chartier's creek, and ran east nine hundred and seventy-two perches to a hickory tree, north eighty perches to a sassafras, east two hundred and twenty-nine and a half perches to a mulberry, north twenty-six perches to a post and stones on the bank of Girty's run, thence down Girty's run several courses — in all one hundred and three perches — to the Allegheny river. The two rivers constituted the remainding boundaries. The following remarks on this reservation, which were made by David Ked- ick, then described as a man of mark in Western Pennsvlvania, will be read 114 HISTORY OF ALLEOHENY COUNTY. with interest and amvxsement. In a letter to Benjamin Franklin, the presi- dent of the execvitive council of the state, and dated February 19, 1788, he says, among other matters of minor importance in this connection: "On Tuesday last I went with several other gentlemen to fix on the spot for laying out the town opposite Pittsbuigh, and at the same time took a general view of the tract, and find it far inferior to expectations, although I thought I had been no stranger to it. There is some pretty low groi;nd on the rivers Ohio and Alleghenia, but there is but a small proportion of it dry land which ap- pears anyway valuable, either for timber or soil; but especially for soil; it abounds with high hills, deep hollows, almost inaccessible to a survoj'or. I am of the opinion that if the inhabitants of the moon are capable of receiving the same advantages from the earth which we do from their world, I say, if it be so, this same far-famed tract of land would afford them a variety of beauti- ful lunar spots, not unworthy the eye of a philosopher. I can not think that ten-acre lots on such pits and hills will profitably meet with purchasers, unless, like a pig in a poke, it be kept out of view. ' ' The following minor reservations are worthy of note in the legislation regarding the same tract: "The president or vice-president in council shall reserve out of the lots of the said town" — Allegheny — "for the use of the state, so much land as they shall deem necessary for a courthouse, jail and market-house, for places of public worship, and burying the dead; and without the said town one hundred acres for a common pasture; and the streets, lanes and alleys of the said town and outlets shall be common highways forever." " A noticeable feature," says Judge Agnew, "indicating the views of that time, was the inclusion of houses of public worship and burial, as public uses. However singular this may appear to men of this generation, having looser notions, at that early day this reservation accorded decidedly with their stricter notions of religious practice, under a constitution which then required the members of the assembly to be sworn to a belief in God and in the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and which declared that all religious societies or bodies of men united or incorporated for the advancement of religion and learning or other pious or charitable purposes should be encouraged." There were certain other reservations in the northern part of the new pur- chase, but, though they were then contained in Allegheny, they never figured prominently in her history. With regard to the depreciation lands the following must be premised in order that the reader may have a correct understanding of the subject; the words of Judge Agnew are once more the most fitting terms in which to treat of this matter. Says the learned jurist: " lu order to encourage enlistment, and to reward those who in the revolutionary war entered into the military serv- ice in the Pennsylvania line and in the state navy, the state promised to pay them in a sound currency, and also to secure to them donations of land. In pursu- ance of this patriotic purjiose. and of the recommendation of Congress of the HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 115 15th of May, 1778, recited in the act, the state by the act of March 1, 1780, made provision for the state troops, and the officers and marines of the navy, and extended these provisions to the widows and children of those killed in battle."' In the carrying out of the provisions of this act a number of other enactments were found necessary, which it is not necessary to treat of in detail. The depreciation and donation lands were the twin progeny of patriotism and necessity. The northern portion of the lands of the New Purchase divided by the act of March 13, 1783, was ajipropriated to donations to bo made to soldiers of the Pennsylvania line. The act provides that all of a certain tract beginning at the "mouth of Mogulbughtiton creek; thence up the Allegheny river to the mouth of the Cagnawaga creek (Conewango) ; thence due north to the northern boundary of this state ; thence south by the western boundary of the state to the northwest corner of lands appropriated by this act for discharg- ing the certificates therein mentioned; and thence by the same lands east to the place of beginning; which said tract of country shall be reserved and set apart for the only and sole use of fulfilling and carrying into execution the said resolve. . . . The comptroller-general was directed to make out lists of persons, stating their rank and quantity of land, to be laid before the council, that the surveyor- general might be able to instruct his deputies as to the number and contents of the lots. The lots were to be of four descriptions, viz. , five hundred acres, three hundred acres, two hundred and fifty acres, and two hundred acres each; a quantity laid off in 500-acre lots, equal to what should be necessary for major-generals, brigadier- generals, colonels, captains and two-thirds of lieutenant-colonels; in 300-acre lots for regimental surgeons and mates, captains, majors and ensigns; in 250-acre lots for one-third of lieutenants, sergeants, sergeant-majors and quartermasters; and in 200- acre lots for lieutenants, cor- porals, drummers, fifers, drum-majors, fife-majors and privates. ... A major-general was entitled to di-aw four 500-acre lots; a brigadier-general, three 500-acre lots; a colonel, t,wo 500-acre lots; a lieutenant-colonel, one 500-acre lot and one '250-acre lot; a sergeant, chaplain or majoi', two 800-acre lots; a captain, one 500-acre lot; a lieutenant, two 200- acre lots; an ensign or regimental sergeant, one 300-acre lot; a sergeant, sergeant-major or quartermaster-ser- geant, one 200- acre lot; and a drum-major, fife-major, fifer, corporal or private, one 200-acrelot. " Such was the plan adopted by the state for the distribution of the lands of this section. It is not necessary to enter into a detailed account of the carelessness of the surveyors, nor the causes of it, and the lawsuits that followed in the course of time. It may be remarked, however, that the Indians still infested the country, and caused considerable fears in the surveyors and their aids, fears which were occasionally realized in the loss of some imfortu- nate man's scalp. The placing of these two districts in the market had the effect of increas- ing the number of settlements west of the Allegheny, and rousing the ire of the natives, who soon renewed their depredations, till they were finally van- 116 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. quished by Gen. Wayne, in the battle of the Maumee, August 20, 1794. But the principal settlements were in the valley of the Monongahela, where the country was well occupied, owing to the fact that that stream had become the thoroughfare for persons going to the west, who reached it at Brownsville. The time had not come, however, for the development of the mineral resources, and people were intent on taking up as much land as possible; for by means of farming they could best satisfy their few and simple wants. But, though the people were an industrious and hardy race, they had been so long accustomed to fight the Indians that they had become to a great extent reckless; the titles to lands were too often loosely constructed; and the boundary dispute had tended so much to complicate matters that fi'equent lawsuits varied the monotony of the life of the backwoodsmen. The inconvenience to which they were put iu attending court was the principal reason for the erec- tion of a new county, with the seat of justice at Pittsburgh. But it will be proper to cast a glance at the administration of justice in the district prior to that time. And first of the jurisdiction exercised by Virginia. The Earl of Dunmore, while governor of Virginia, first organized the courts of the West Augusta district at Fort Pitt, in December, 1774; and the first court held there was convened February 2l8t of the following year, and the last on the 20th of November. A ducking-stool for the district, it may be remarked in passing, was erected at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, on the day following the opening of the court. In the meantime a primitive courthouse was built for Augusta county at Augusta Town, a prospective village about two miles west of the site of the present town of Washington. After the formation of Youghioghania county, the seat of justice was removed. The records of this county, which are still preserved, show that the first court for that county was held at Fort Pitt — now called Fort Dunmore — December 23, 1776, and that the courts continued to be held there until August 25, 1777. They were then held at the house of Andrew Heath for about two months, and after that time, until 1781, at the new court- house ' ' on the plantation of Andrew Heath. ' ' This plantation was on the west side of the Monongahela, a short distance above and in sight of the pres- ent town of Elizabeth. Mr. Creigh, in his "History of Washington County," gives the subjoined account of the selection of the site for this courthouse and the erection of the buildings, which will be read with interest at a time when the citizens of Allegheny county are yet flushed with honest pride at the com- pletion and dedication of their magnificent temple of justice. The methods adopted by our forefathers and the results are thus given in the words of the writer named: "The electors were required to meet on the 8th of December, 1776, at the house of Andrew Heath, on the Monongahela river, to choose the most convenient place for holding courts for the county of Youghioghenia. Notices of the election were to be given by the sheriff, ministers and rectors. The law also provided that if prevented from holding the election on 2^i^ixteen years of age and upward of the four counties did not exceed sixteen thousand, and was scattered over a wide and unsettled country. This is Brackeoridge's estimate of the numbers. Later, Gallatin, on comparison HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 161 and others that their sole intention was to prevent mischief, and this was certainly the case with some who were present, among whom was Ross, the United States senator. But the very fact of this prompt obedience to their orders could not but inspire the lead- ers with a high idea of their power and influence, while it tended also to increase the mischief by giving the impression to the public at large of a general unanimity of senti- ment. Col. Cook, one of the judges of Fayette county, a member of the first popular convention held in Pennsylvania at the commencement of the Revolution, distinguished for his opposition to the excise, having repeatedly presided at the public meetings called to protest against it, was chosen president of this armed assembly. Bradford, to whom everybody cringed, assumed the character of major-general and reviewed the troops. A ■committee to whom matters of business were referred resolved that two more citizens of Pittsburgh should be expelled. The troops then marched into the town [of Pittsburgh], and after receiving refreshments, which the terrified inhabitants hastened to furnish, the greater part marched on again. The more orderly dispersed, but several parties kept together, one of which destroyed a barn belonging to Maj. Kirkpatrick, and another at- tempted, but without success, to burn his house in Pittsburgh. It was Bradford's design, in calling this armed body together, to get possession of Fort Pitt and the arms and ammunition deposited in it; but finding most of the militia officers unwilling to coiiperate, that design was abandoned.* Immediately after this armed assembly, the remaining excise officers were expelled even from those districts in which the opposition had hitherto been less violent. Many outrages were committed, some ■of the officers being cruelly treated, and their houses burned. The same spirit began to spread into the bordering counties of Virginia, and as tlie day for the meeting at Park- inson's Ferry approached things assumed a very threatening aspect. However opposition to the excise law might have been countenanced by the great body of the population, including the principal political leaders, the measuresf of actual resistance to it had been ■of the best obtainable inforiuation, estimated tlie whole body at from fifteen hundred to two thousand men. Whatever violence Bradford may have intended, none was accomplished. That he read aloud the Pittsburgh letters, taken from the mall, shows his purpose to iulluenc« the people to vindictive violence. He was accused by contemporary authorities of imitation of the methods of the French .Tacobins, which were fresh examples of revolutionary vigor. But the mass was not persuaded. After desultory conversation and discussion, the angry turn of which was at times threatening to the moderate leailers, the meeting broke up on August 2d; about one-third dispersed for their hoiues, and the remainder, marching to Pittsburgh, paraded through the streets, and finally, crossing the river, in their turn scattered. They did no damage to ihe town beyoud the burning of a larm-building belonging to Maj Kirkpatrick of the garrison- The taverns were all closed, but the citizens brought whisky to their doors. Judge Brackenridge reports that his sacrifice to peace on this occasion cost him four barrels of his best old rye." *Stevens as well as Hildreth speaks of the fort here referred to, as Fort Pitt; but the fort then occupied was Fort Fayette. The road from Braddock's Field entered Pittsburgh by Fourth avenue, and Fort Fayette was on the corner of Penn street and Garrison alley. By turning to the left, Irom Fourth to the Jlouongahela, the militia gave Fort Fayette the needed wide berth. tNo mention is made in any of the authorities (except H. M. Brackenridge) to party lines, as having any bearing on the questions involved in the whisky insurrection, but it is plain to all who can read between the lines that the newly developing party inclinations had much to do with determining the part which prominent men took in it. The new constitution of the United States was just going into operation, as this insurrection was in the tirst term of the adtuinistratiou of Washington Those who were for a strict construction of the con- stitution were known as democratic republicans, while those who favored a liberal construction were called fed- eral republicans, and for short were called democrats and federals. Washington and Hamilton, his secretary of the treasury, weie federals, and the excise law was a pet measure of Hamilton's. Gallatin, on the other hand, was a democrat, and he disliked all such exercise of the taxing power conferred by the constitution. Bradford ;ind Marshall were both democrats, and so was Hugh H. Brackenridge, although he had sided with the federals in advocating the adoption of the constitution. Gov. Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, who was very tardy in calling out the militia to put down the insurrection, was also a democrat. The excise law was not, in any sense, a party measure; but it was a strong measure, based upon a liberal construction of the constitution, and it naturally stirred up the hostility of such men as Gallatin, who deprecated any use of the taxing power that had to be backed up by force and was unequal and partial in its operation. This natural bent of the prevalent political ideas of the four western counties of Pennsylvania, combined with their anomalous commercial condition, can 162 HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. chiefly in the hands of a few violent and reckless individuals, who, sometimes by outrages and sometimes by threats, had kept in- awe not only the excise officers, but such of the distillers also as were disposed to submit to the payment of the tax. This reign of terror was now extended and completely established. No one dared utter a word against the recent proceedings for fear of banishment, personal violence or the destruction of his property. News of the bi:rning of Neville's house, of the meeting at Mingo creek, and of the robbery of the mail soon reached Philadelphia. In the eyes of the president and his cab- inet these incidents assumed a very serious character. In the present inflammatory state of the public mind the resistance to the laws in Western Pennsylvaniii, if not immediately checked, might find many imitators. Hamil- ton, Knox and Bradford, attorney-general, advised that the militia be called out at once. But upon a suggestion to Gov. Mifllin to that effect, he expressed apprehension that a resort to force might influence and augment the existing opposition and, by connecting with it other causes of complaint, might produce such an excitement as to make it neces- sary to call in aid from the neighboring states— a step by which jealousy and discontent would be still further aggravated. He even questioned whether the militia would "pay a passive obedience to the mandates of the government." He doubted also his own authority to make a call; for whatever might be the case with the federal judiciary, it did not yet appear that the ordinary course of the state law was not able to punish the rioters and to maintain order. He was therefore disposed to be content for the present with a circular letter already dispatched to the state officers of the western counties expressive of his indignation at the recent occurrence, and requiring the exertion of their utmost authority to suppress the tumults and to punisli the offenders.* easily be understood as iiupelling such men as GallatiD into open opposition to the law, and the people would readily follow any bold lead in the direction of their own inclinations; but opposition to the law, to itsorigin, design and policy, was one thing, and armed opposition was entirely another. The political instincts of such men as Brackeuridge and Galladn must, as it did, make them opponents of the law ; but when this opposition took the form of insurrection, they drew off. * As there were no "state" oflicers, at that lime, the governor must hare alluded to the "county" officers all of whom were appointed by the governor, under the old constitution, down to 18.39, except the sheriff, the only county officer chosen by the people. Of these, the only proper peace officer was the sheriU', and, practi- cally, the circular of the governor would be con6ned lo the sheriffs of the several counties. The only force of the sheriffs, beyond their immediate depulies, would lie the posse comitalus. or the body of the people of the county, and the sheriffs of the four westein counties, in calling upon this posse, would be calling upon the insurrectionists themselves to put down and su|>press their own violence. The circular of the governor, there- fore, while legally correct and proper, was practically a nullity. The sheriffs of the four western counties were as powerless as men tied hand and foot. And so are the sheriffs of to-day, under circumstances in any way similar. I have never known an instance in which a reliance upon the pos'e coniMus was not trusting to a broken reed. In the riotsof l.S77,in this city, every man that could be put into the posse was sure to have some friends in the mob he was loth to attack, and in any event service iu the posse was so disreputable that everybody avoided it. It was the same with the local militia ; they could not be brought to fire upon their personal friends in the ranks of the mob. The sheriff, while nominally, both here and in England, the governor or ruler of the shire or county, is, in' reality, but the principal executive officer of the courts to serve process and collect debts. His power to call out the posse comilalvs remains, hut practically his police power is gone. He is still a reserve police force, for extreme contingencies, but one it would be foolish lo depend on. The old time lawyers uack. therefore, to procure more general and unequivocal assurances, which they hoped to transmit to Bed- ford, where Washington was again to meet the right wing, after insjiecting the troops on the left. The Parkinson Ferry convention, augmented by many discreet citizens, was again called together for the third time. Resolutions were passed declaring the compe- r^€^i^^ ^^^ O-l-c^^^ HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. 169 tency of the civil autliorities to enforce the laws, recommending all delinquents who had not already secured an indemnity to surrender for trial, and expressing the conviction that oflSces of inspection might be opened with safety, and that the excise duties would he paid. Findley hastened back with these resolutions, but before he reached the army the president had already returned to Philadelphia. Hamilton, however, remained be- hind, and was believed to act as the president's deputy. The troops crossed the Alle- ghenies in a heavy rain, up to their knees in mud, and not without severe sufEering, which occasioned in the end a good many deaths. The two wings formed a junction at Union- town, and as they advanced into the disaffected counties the re-establishment of the authority of the law became complete. Having arrived at Parkinson's Ferry, Lee issued a proclamation confirming the amnesty to those who had entitled themselves to it, and calling upon all the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. A few days after, arrangements having previously been made for it, there was a gen- eral seizure, by parties detached for that purpose, of persons supposed to be criminally concerned in the late transactions. But as those against whom the strongest evidence existed had either fled the country or taken advantage of the amnesty, this seizure fell principally on persons who, without taking an active part, bad been content with encourag- ing and stimulating others. Many were dismissed at once for want of evidence; and of those who were bound over for trial at Philadelphia, the greater part were afterward acquitted. Among those thus bound over Brackenridge was one; but instead of being tried he was used as a witness against the others. These people complained loudly of the inconvenience to which they had been put, and of the harsh treatment which in some few cases had been experienced at the hands of the military parties by whom the arrests had been made. But such evils were only the natural consequence of lying quietly by and allowing resistance to the laws to aggravate itself into rebellion. Shortly after the seizure of prisoners the greater part of the troons were withdrawn; but a body of 2,500 men under Morgan remained through the wii.er, encamped in the district. The advances necessary to sustain the troops in the field had been made out of a sum in the treasury of about §800,000, the unexpended balance of the foreign loans. Congress being trusted to for making good the deficiency.* About the time that the troops entered the disaffected counties an election had taken place, at which were chosen not only members of the state assemblj', but members of Congress also. When the legislature of Pennsylvania met, a question was raised as to the validity of these elections. Of those returned to the assembly, Gallatin was one, and he had the greater interest in the question, since he had been elected at the same time a member of the IVth Congress, and that body might be influenced, perhaps, by the example of the Pennsylvania assembly. In the course of an able speech Gallatin con- fessed his • political sin" in having been concerned in the preparation and adoption of thePillsburgh resolutionsof August 24, 1792, which, though not illegal, he admitted to hav.- been " violent, intemperate and reprehensible; "but all the rest of the opposition made t the excise law, by means of public meetings, he was inclined to justify, and to shift oil the blame of the whole affair upon a few obscure rioters. Order, he maintained, hadbeeji substantially re-established before the elections took place. The assembly, however judged differently, and a new election was ordered. t * Stevens says that the disbursemeDt of this sum by the expenditures of the troops made money plenty and enabled the people to pay the excise taxes. They were thus saved from bankruptcy by the money spent in subduing them, t One thing puzzles us about Gallatiu's election in 1794. He was elected to the legislature from Washing- ton county, and to Congress from the district composed of Allegheny and Washington, while he was not a resi- dent of either, but of New Geneva, in Fayette county. Fayette was erected in 1783, so that this could not have been under an apportionment including Fayelte or part of another county. The election was declared void, because the district was in a state of insurrection at the time it was held. When a new election was ordered Gallatin wrote t o his friend Badollet, at Greensboro, opposite New Geneva, that an attempt would be made to 10 170 HISTOUY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY. Of all llic prisoners tried before the circuit court at Philadelphia only two were found guilty of capital offenses — one of arson and the other of robbing the mail, both of whom, from some palliating circumstances, were ultimately pardoned by the president. Accord- ing to Findley, Hamilton made great efforts to obtain evidence against himself, ijmilie and Gallaliii. But, however reprehen.sible their conduct might have been in encourag- ing and stimulating the original opposition to the excise, the late outbreak, as Gallatin maintained in his speech, and Findley afterward at great length in his history, seems to have been a sudden, unpremeditated and, in its particular circumstances, an accidental thing, with which they had no immediate concern.* They had only prepared the com- bustibles to which others set the torch; and they seem to have exerted themselves with good failli, and Gallatin at some personal risk, and with a good deal of courage, in quenching the flame when actually kindled. The vigor, energy, promptitude and decision with which the federal authority had been vindicated; the general rally in its support, even on the part of many who had leaned more or less to the opposition; the reprobation everywhere expressed against violent resistance to the law, and the subdued lone, made a great addition to the strength of the government. The federalists exulted in this energetic display of authority, and Hamilton declared that proof at last had been given of the capacity of the government to sustain itself. In that point of view both he and Washington considered the out- break, however much to l)e lamented, in other respects as a fortunate occurrence. Stevens, in his life of Gallatin, says the $800,000 disbursed to the troops who put down the insurrection made money so plenty as to revive biisiness and enable the distillers to pay the excise tax; and Mr. Craig mentions the fact that among the volunteers who came out to suppress the insurrection were many young, enterprising mechanics, young men just passing out of their apprenticeships and on the lookout for homes. Many of them were well pleased with Pittsbiu-gh or the country around, and large numbers of our citi- zens are the descendants of persons who made their first visits here as volun- teers in this bloodless war. So that, although the insurrection bade fair to be a terrible calamity, it turned out to be a great advantage to Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. The story of the whisky insuiTection, like all stories, has two sides to it, and the absolute truth probalily lies on the side of neither. It has been foolishly magnified by dignifying it with the title of "insurrection;" there was, really, no "insuiTection." For three years the mob spirit had free sway, and per- disatfect tliat assembly district " because none of ttie representatives whose seats had been vacated were resi- dents of it. I-"aIl not into the snare; take up nobody from your own district ; re-elect unanimously the same membeis.'' This advice was followed. All the old members were re-elected l)ut one, who declined, iu spite of their non-residence. This may have been legal, under the old constitution; but It is queer that Washington county should go beyond its own l)Ounds to get its representatives, when it had good miUerial at home. *rfallatin appears to have excited Hamilton's opposition from haviug been an active and leading demo crat, or democratic-republican, as they were then called. Gallatin was a Swiss, with an inborn hatred of des- potism in any form, and his great dislike of •* strong" governments, which the federals advocated, naturally drove him into the democratic ranks when he came to this country. Like the democrats who framed and passed the Virginia and Kentucky resolutious of 1798, he believed in curbing and restricting the national gov. ernment within nairow bounds, and the excise law of 1791 seemed to him an unwarrantable exercise of con- gressional power. He opjjosed it from the start, denouncing it in its inception, and his political bias carried him into opposition to its enforcement. He jirobably took hold early of this opposition in the hope of forcintr its repeal ; but when the movement took the form of violence, he abandoned it. The part of his conduct that was- wrong he acknowledged, and Hamilton, if he tried, never found any evidence to incriminate Gallatin. HISTOIIY OF ALLECillKNV COUNTY. 171 sonal outrages, togetlior with arson and roljljing the mail, took placo; Ijut whiln there was an untloubtecl insurrectionary spirit, as was shown in the military gathering at Braddock's Field, there was no military outbreak and no overt acts of reVjellion. The military demonstration made by Washington was nec- essary as a demonstration of the power of the government to make itself folt and respected, and it is plain that nothing less would have subdued the Htnbljorn opposition to the excise law; but as a force to put down armed resistance to the government, it was totally unnecessary. It found no armed resistance anywhere, and before it arrived on the ground all opposition to the law was "played out." But for what went before it, the marcli of fifteen thousand men from the seaboard to the western wilds to put down an insurrection that had no existence would have seemed ridiculous. There are various' accounts of this insurrection in print — those of Hugh H. Brackenridge and his son Henry M. in extenuation of it; that of Findley in bis ^wn vindication, and that of Stevens in his life of Gallatin of the sauie, order. On the other side we have the government version from Hamilton's hands; Craig's version in his histoiy of Pittsburgh, and the account given by Hildreth in his " History of the United States." All of those are in some sense partial and one-sided. The account of the two Brackenridges and that of Findley are violent, full of personal abuse, and tedious from their extreme length; that of Stevens is fair, but not impartial; that of Hamilton is also fair, but tinged with the party feeling of his day; Hildreth'a accoutit follows that of Hamilton, ia temper and spirit; while Craig's is, like th(! Bracken- ridges', personal and bitter, and intended more to vindicate the Nevilles than to contribute to the treasures of history. The true account, without bias, abundantly vindicates the Nevilles, and does not, in our judgment, in any way incriminate Brackenridge. Excluding the political bias, the account of Hamilton appears the coolest and the truest. It is brief, and recites the facts succinctly. The government was veiy young in his day, and such outbreaks, seen through the mists that surrounded them, douljtless loomed up in awful proportions before him. Seen in the clearer light of our day they Vjecome dwarfed to much smaller propor- tions. It was a good thing for the government that it had an opportunity, at such an early day, to make a show of the supremacy of its force, but beyond that the " incident," as the French say, was a mere local, but turbulent, out- break. The passage of the excise law necessarily developed a great deal of party bitterness. Hamilton, in his iinancial policy, had forced the assumption by the federal government of the debts of the thirteen states, and this assump- tion made more revenue necessary. To get the revenue, recourse was ha