>* V^*/ v^-/ V^V.- ■^tf* 'bV ,•1°^ .^ ^^-^-^^ 'j>«,- >°-nK 'J HO ' V'^^\/ %^^*/ \.*^^^\/. <> *-T7V*\^0^ ^"^ ••-•-t.'?^^ '* -o"^ .•V** "O^ 'o sP-n^. V %/ ' V >. ^^..^^ .•^- ^ %. '''^' ^^ <- ^^^* ^y % ••' t^ ... CONTINENTAL SKETCHES Distinguished Pennsylvania's. BY • r -- DAVID R. B: NEVIN. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS, AND VALUABLE STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL INFORMATION, SELECTED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES, 822 CHESTNUT STREET. 1875- 1 1 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by DAVID R. B. NEVIN, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFATORY. ON the threshold of our Centennial festivities while the air is redolent with the rich aroma of cherished memories and pure resolves, we proffer no apology for giving to the world brief but truthful sketches of distinguished Pennsjlvanians, whose wisdom in council, and valor in battle, contributed so much to the triumph of the national arms, in the grand old days of the Revolution. The galaxy of greatness developed in that historic period borrowed much of its splendor from our own local firmament, and the names of Franklin, Wayne, and Morris, stanch exponents of philosophy, valor, and finance, have always been recognized as among its brightest stars. A plain, unadorned recital of the virtues of such an ancestry cannot fail to impart a useful moral, and stimulate a noble ambition to emulate those heroic traits of which they were the bold, expressive type. Aside from our natural personal obligations to cherish their memories on the basis of gratitude and consanguinity, a closer scrutiny of their motives. 4 Prefatory. and a more acute analysis of their actions, cannot fail to elicit onr most enthusiastic commendation. Amid a cloudy atmosphere of doubt and danger, they exhibited a blended patience and fortitude al- most peerless in the annals of history. Their mil- itary prowess seemed whetted by adversity, and the bright sunshine of long delayed victory culminated in the development of a profound and exalted states- manship. The spirit that animated, and the ambition that spurred them, were neither restricted nor central- ized, but as limitless and elastic as the mountain air, permeating the length and breadth of their colonial area, flourishing as generously amid the hills and glens of the interior as beneath the sacred shadows of Independence Hall in their own loyal metropolis. There was a simplicity, purity, dignity, and positive culture, about these colonial heroes worthy our strict- est emulation, and the life of each was a compen- dium of penury, peril, and heroic sacrifice; his ma- terial and moral victories being achieved on battle fields well studded with monuments of private grief and personal ruin. The primitive legislation of col- onial Pennsylvania, though eminently cautious and conservative, was firm and prudent. It was not of the Vesuvian order, belching forth an indiscriminate Prefatory. 5 volume of patriotic lava ; but, like the waters of her own majestic Delaware, its fountains were pure, its channels deep, and its progress irresistible. Its clear, straight, manly denunciation of Ministerial despotism was only awarded when public wrongs or private grievances were clearly ascertained and distinctly specified. That cautious legislation which at the incipiency of the Revolution was condemned by many as too tardy for an imminent crisis, asserted itself at the proper time in a proud and lofty vindi- cation of colonial honor, and a happy avoidance of flagrant blunders, humiliating rescindings, and un- manly compromises. Our general government has passed through the Revolutionary, the Confederate, and the Constitutional forms. The first extended from the meeting of the first Continental Congress, March 5, 1774, to the final ratification of the Arti- cles of Confederation, March 1, 1781. The second extended from the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, to the time the Constitu- tion went into operation, March 4, 1789. The third is that form which has existed from the latter period to the present time. The Revolutionary and Confederate forms, ex- tending from 1774 to 1789, were eminently fruitful in the production of great men, and to that period 6 Prefatory. we will more particularly, though not exclusively, confine our selections. Their lives have survived the criticisms of a cen- tury, their memories are deeply imbedded in the national heart, and a reproduction of their virtues we trust will be acceptable to their worthy descend- ants throughout the stanch old Commonwealth for which they did so much. For the historical and statistical matter contained in the Appendix, we acknowledge our indebtedness, to, more particularly. Hazard's Archives of Penn- sylvania, the American Archives, Hazard's Eegis- ter and Proud's History of Pennsylvania. 1 CONTIiNENTAL SKETCHES. ROBERT MORRIS, OF PHIL'A. Incidents and Developments in the life of the Great Financier of the Revolution — From the school to the counting-house — Schemes and theories conceived and executed luith wonderfid celerity and dash — The de- liberate hut cheerful sacrifice when the crisis in our history came — A hard knot untied. THE great financier of the Eevolution, who un- doubtedly contributed more to its successful termination than any civilian of that historic period, was a lifelong resident, but not a native, of Philadel- phia. Eobert Morris was born in Lancashire, Eng- land, in 1733, and removed to this country at the early age of thirteen. His father was a Liverpool merchant, largely engaged in the American trade, a gentleman of strict integrity, and active, progressive business habits and tastes. The captain of a vessel con- signed to him, on its arrival fired what was intended as a complimentary salute to Mr. Morris, but the gun-wad unfortunately struck that gentleman, pro- ducing so serious a wound as to terminate his life in a few days thereafter. Young Morris, immedi- 8 Continental Sketches. atelj on his arrival here, was placed at one of the best schools in Philadelphia, but, for some inexpli- cable reason, his scholastic career was not remark- able. At fifteen he was withdrawn from aca- demic walls and inducted into the commercial office of Mr. Charles Willing, at that time one of the lead- ing merchants of Philadelphia. He served what was then termed a regular apprenticeship with that gentleman for two years — for in those days commer- cial as well as literary educations were more thor- ough and complete than now, and only attainable by much labor and system. Keady-made merchants were as rarely heard of at that time as ready-made lawyers, and the solid foundations thus cautiously prepared were generally surmounted by worthy and honorable superstructures. Mr. Morris had the ad- vantage of superior culture and training, for his pre- ceptor, Charles Willing, as we have intimated, was an honor to the mercantile profession, and remarka- ble for the scope, vigor, and forecast of his under- standing, his great executive ability, unblemished integrity, and the amenity of his disposition and manners. In such a school, with such an instructor, the young commercial aspirant made great headway, and in a few years formed intimate business relations with Mr. Thomas WilHng, the son of his esteemed patron, and for forty years the old firm of Willing & Morris was recognized in commercial circles as one of the most trustworthy and reliable in the city of Philadelphia. This firm was amicably dissolved EOBEET MOERIS. 9 in 1798, and Thomas Willing, the senior member, a high-toned, christian gentleman, died in 1821, aged 89 years. Bereft of parental connsel, the early life of Mr. Morris makes a glowing exhibit of fidelity, executive ability, self-reliance, and expansive ideas. His whole life, from early childhood to venerable old age, is dotted with incidents and developments indicating great breadth of thought in everything pertaining to ^nance. Schemes and theories of his, before which the ordinary mind would quail with nervous fear, were conceived and executed by him with wonderful celerity and dash, sometimes evok- ing from him heavy personal sacrifices to carry his point. Some minds have a sufficiency of nerve and daring to attempt the tunneling of the Andes, whilst others, cast in a more cautious mould, shrink from the perforation of a molehill. Robert Morris watched with an intelligent and anxious eye the encroachments of the British gov- ernment upon the liberties of his countrymen, and, although his private interests might suffer, he never shrank from honest protest and vigorous action in her defence, when duty made the demand. His firm was the largest importing one, perhaps, in Philadel- phia; yet in 1765, when the crisis seemed to render it necessary, he cheerfully signed the non-importa- tion agreement entered into by his fellow-merchants, although he sustained very heavy private losses by the act. The sacrifice was a deliberate but cheer- ful one ; yet he allowed no selfish consideration to 1* 10 . Continental Sketches. clog the path of honorable duty. There is a moral grandeur in the performance of any conscientious duty, doubly itensified when the act conflicts with private interests, draining your depleted treasury, and severing perhaps the friendships of a lifetime. The battle of Lexington was fought April, 1775, and the news reached Philadelphia in four days, which at that time was considered a remarkably speedy transmittal. It produced a thrilling sensa- tion throughout the whole land, particularly in Philadelphia. Mr. Morris, when the news reached the city, was one of a large number of gentlemen assembled at the famous old "City Tavern" to cele- brate St. George's day. Immediately after the re- ception of the news the groaning, hospitable tables were all deserted, and the patron saint was soon for- gotten in the eager and restless anxiety to hear the news from Lexington. From that moment Mr. Mor- ris was in favor of a quick and final separation from the mother country, and, during the balance of his life did all he could to effect that object. On the 3d of November, 1775, he was elected by the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania a delegate to the second Con- gress that met in Philadelphia. A short time there- after he was appointed on a secret committee author- ized by the preceding Congress, whose duty it was "to contract for the importation of arms, ammuni- tion, sulphur and saltpetre, and to export produce on the public account to pay for the same." His rec- ognized business capacity, the celerity of his actions, KoBEKT Morris. 11 and his almost inexhaastible creative power, made his presence indispensable on all important commit- tees where finance and revenue were considered. He was well and favorably acquainted with every business man and firm in Philadelphia, and availed himself of this fact to borrow money on his own personal responsibility whenever the stringent exi- gencies of the Government required assistance. This he did very frequently, and was always prompt and punctual in the re-payment of all personal loans thus negotiated. When Congress, in December, 1776, was unfortunately compelled to retire from Philadelphia, owing to the approach of the British army, Mr. Mor- ris was one of a committee of three detailed to re- main and transact all Continental business. While engaged in this sphere, he received a sad letter from General Washington, in which he gave a vivid de- scription of the lamentable condition of the army, on account of their not being paid. Our forces were at that time located on the Delaware river, opposite Trenton. The General was anxious to make an offensive demonstration, and to do this required ten thousand dollars. He looked anxiously for relief to Mr. Morris as his last and only hope. He had made several similar applications to other parties, but in each instance had been disappointed. Mr. Morris, with deep feeling and emotion, read and re-read the letter from his beloved chieftain, but what to do he knew not. The sum desired, it was true, was small, but his own private exchequer was exhausted and 12 Continental Sktchees. demoralized, and the men of means (and they were comparatively few in those days) had left the city. He pondered over the letter in his counting-room until weary, not knowing what to do or where to go for this comparatively trifling and yet essentially necessary sum. On his way home he met an old Quaker, with whom he had but a slight acquaint- ance, and who, in addition, was a practical, conscien- tious Peace man, opposed to all wars except against Satan, and that he desired to prosecute with nervous vigor. This was a hard knot to untie, but Morris, who had great tact and magnetic conversational powers attempted the discouraging task. To the inquiry of the Quaker as to the news of the day, Morris replied that he had but little, and that was very depressing. He then, in his own enthusiastic and attractive way, told him all the facts, and closed by showing him the autograph letter of Washington, and explaining the almost vital necessity of having ten thousand dollars at once. The honest Quaker faltered but a moment under fire of such guns, and replied composedly, " Friend Rohert^ thou slialt have W In one hour the money was transmitted to Washington's headquarters, and was indirectly in- strumental, under Providence, in gaining a signal victory over the Hessians at Trenton, thus changing the whole current of the war, animating the droop- ing spirits of the tattered, hungry, and penniless patriots, and correspondingly depressing the proud hopes and predictions of the arrogant foe. EoBEET MOEEIS. 13 In 1779 the army was alarmingly destitute of all sorts of military stores and supplies, particularly lead. Old clock-weights, and all similar articles that could possibly be used for the purpose, were melted down for army use, but the supply could not be kept up in this crude and irregular way, and the crisis was becoming serious and startling. At this critical juncture one of Mr. Morris' privateers for- tunately arrived with a cargo of ninety tons of lead, one-half of which belonging to him personally he immediately forwarded to the army, and two days thereafter bought the balance with his own private means, and shipped it on the same patriotic errand. We might multiply instances of the genuine liber- ality and opportune tact of this great man, but will refer to but one more, which cannot be repeated too often, and which is eminently worthy the admiration and gratitude of every American citizen. In 1781 General Washington contemplated the capture of New York city. This was in accordance with an understanding between him and Count Eo- chambeau, and it was arranged that the French fleet under De Barras and De Grasse should co-operate with our land forces to secure the desired result. On the arrival of the fleet the whole plan was frus- trated by the announcement of the Admiral that he would not enter the bay of New York, but would harbor for a few weeks in Chesapeake Bay. The reduction of New York was not only rendered im- practicable, but actually impossible. It is very re- 14 Continental Sketches. liable history that at this very critical moment Eobert Morris, of Philadelphia, suggested quietly to the commanding general the propriety of immedi- ately attacking Cornwallis in the South. It is also well known that this was the most brilliant military move of the campaign, and practically ended the whole war. However historiographers may differ as to the creative mind that developed this move, they cannot differ as to where the funds came from to prosecute that particular part of the campaign. Nearly every dollar and every war supply of that memorable campaign was a generous personal ad- vance based on the individual credit of Eobert Mor- ris. He furnished the army of General Washing- ton, at a time when victory was not by any means an assured fact, and the loan therefore proportion- ately more risky, with eighty siege guns, one hun- dred pieces of field artillery, with all necessary ammu- nition and other appurtenances, and within thirty days from his original interview with Washington all these supplies and artillery were in possession of the latter. This was astounding; but the whole has not been told. The entire army at this time was fed, clothed, and paid solely on the personal credit of this same Robert Morris, who actually is- sued his own promissory notes for the enormous sum of one million four hundred thousand dollars, every dime of which was promptly paid by him at maturity. All this was done without the slightest Egbert Morris. 15 hope of profit or plunder, for the integrity of the great financier was above all suspicion. In 1781 he was unanimously appointed what was termed Superintendent of Finance. The duties of this office were multifarious and onerous, and, we may add, thankless. He had to examine the state of the public debt, expenditures and revenue, di- gest and report plans for improving and regulating the finances, and had also sole control of the man- agement and disbursement of all the foreign loans, national and individual, in France and Holland, pub- lic funds of every possible character, and the dis- bursement of the same for the support of every branch of the Grovernment, military, naval, and civil — in brief, all the moneyed operations of the country were under his control, and this, too, at a time when great distress prevailed in every section of the land, and public credit was a shattered wreck. The Treasury was two and a half millions in arrears, the creditors generally being illiberal and grasping, and unwilling to compromise for aught but cash. The paper bills of credit, floating loosely and promiscu- ously around the country, were almost entirely valueless, and soldier and citizen jointly suffered in the midst of this alarming distress. All this time the private notes of Morris were worth "their face," and constituted the principal medium for all large transactions. He worked with a will in his official position to bring public confidence to a wholesome standard, and gradually succeeded in bringing or- 16 Continental Sketches. der, system and symmetry out of distrust, demoral- ization and chaos. He established the old Bank of North America, which was eminently instrumental in restoring public credit, encouraging public im- provements, and producing general and unbounded public confidence, the true panacea of all financial crises. Though many financiers may have had more brilliant administrations, producing, perhaps, more voluminous results, receiving the praise of servile dependents, echoed by a subsidized and partisan press, we fail to find, in the history of this country at least, a financier of such creative genius, bold de- sign, and fearless execution, as Eobert Morris of Pennsylvania. His Congressional career, like his private character, was "without spot or blemish." Whatever he did was always well done ; and as Co- lonial legislator, member of Congress and of the Constitutional Convention, no one ever exhibited more zeal and sacrificed more comfort and ease for the good of his country and his fellow- men. An unfortunate land speculation, however, shattered his private fortune in his latter days, and the brilliant financier of Colonial and Eevolutionary times was in his old days reduced to comparative poverty. Amidst all these severe trials and afflictions, he al- ways asserted his inherent manhood by a calm, dig- nified, and philosophic demeanor. Worn down with public labor and private misfortune, he died, May 8, 1806, aged 78 years. BENJAMIN RUSH, OF PHILADELPHIA. His early studies at a Maryland Academy^ Princeton College^ and Edinhurgli University — Professor in the First Medical School ever organized in the Uni- ted States — The Onslaught hy Journalists^ Pamph- leteers^ and anonymous writers during the reign of the yellow fever in 1793, &c. IN the old township of Byberry, some fourteen miles northeast of Philadelphia, Dr. Benjamin Eusli was horn on the 24th of December, 1745, his ancestors having emigrated from England to that sec- tion of Pennsylvania about the year 1683. His father dying when he was six years old, his mother, a most estimable lady, with a keen appreciation of the inestimable advantages of a good education, de- termined to give her son the very best opportunity for its acquisition her limited means would allow. He was accordingly sent to a somewhat celebrated academy located at Nottingham, Md., at that time under the control and management of the venerable Eev. Dr. Finley, a ripe scholar and cultivated gentle- man, subsequently president of Princeton College. The residents of that section of Maryland were re- markable for their honest simplicity and correct morality, and this fact, coupled with the literary (17) 18 Continental Sketches. tastes and solid merits of his pious and learned pre- ceptor, contributed no little to tlie formation of his early acquired good character. After a residence here of five years, where his moraj qualities were always abreast of his classical attainments, he entered Princeton College, as an advanced student, in 1759. Such was the completeness of his preparatory course at ISTottingham, that, although the youngest student in his class, in fact, a mere boy, he w^as the peer of any of his fellows in all his collegiate studies. He received his degree of A. B. in 1760, before he had reached his fifteenth year, perhaps the youngest graduate before or since of his venerable Alma Mater. Soon after the completion of his jcoUegiate course he enrolled himself as a student in the medi- cal office of the eminent Dr. Eedman, of Phila- delphia, and was one of Dr. Shippen's ten pupils who attended the first course of anatomical lectures ever given in this country. Gifted with an investi- gating mind he studied closely and assiduously, with a determination to learn, and in 1766 sailed for Edinburgh, where he resumed his studies for two years, receiving at the end of that time, 1768, his degree of M. D. from the University there. After spending a year in Continental travel, mingling with the most cultivated medical men in London and Paris, he returned to his native country and com- menced the practice of medicine in Philadelphia. At the very early age of twenty-four he was elected professor of chemistry in the college of Philadelphia, Benjamin Eush. 19 and became, about the same time, a popular contri- butor to medical and general literature, his foreign residence and unwearied industry having materially enlarged his professional views and attainments. The present University of Pennsylvania was at that time in creative process, Drs. Shippen, Euhn, Bond, and Morgan, having for a year or two been deliver- ing lectures at irregular and uncertain intervals. The acquisition of young Eush completed the corps of professors of the first medical school ever or- ganized in the United States. Some fifteen years thereafter the primitive institution referred to was merged in the present University, and Dr. Eush, then recognized as one of the brilliant young phy- sicians of the country, held the position of professor of the institutes and practice, also of clinical practice, in the new combination which for almost a century has wielded such a power in medical circles, and quietly earned such an honorable reputation. With- out possessing any very marked oratorical powers, Dr. Eush was an interesting and popular lecturer. His language was simple and always intelligible, his scientific disquisitions profound, without being- drowsy and heavy, and his lectures abounded with pleasant and pointed anecdotes, and occasional bril- liant sallies of a somewhat poetic imagination. He was an eminently minute man, garnering care- fully every floating fact, theory, and incident, and treasuring them carefully for future utilization ; ab- sorbing everything, forgetting nothing. 20 Continetnttal Sketches. In 1790, after a siiccessfal professional experience of twenty years, he gave to the public, in book form, his new principles of medicine. His views were con- fronted by strong opposition at the time of their pro- mulgation. He had great confidence in a free use of the lancet, and abiding faith in the power and utility of calomel, which he styled " the Samson of the Materia Medica." His opponents yielded to the Samsonian illustration, because, as they jocosely re- remarked, "it has slain its thousands." Modern science, although not entirely abandoning, has very greatly modified the use of these potential agencies, for which Dr. Eush so ably contended, and which, under his skillful control, were productive of such beneficent results. In 1793, Philadelphia was terribly scourged with the yellow fever. The city had been free from it for thirty- one years, but now it assumed the shape of a fearful epidemic, and swept over the town with the horrible celerity of a prairie fire, destroying everything it touched. It thus raged from July to November, averaging forty deaths daily, and aggre- gating some five thousand victims, a heavy propor - tion considering the population of Philadelphia at that time. The whole city was panic-stricken, for the swift-winged messenger of death bafiled all pro- fessional skill to subdue it, and the great metropolis was being rapidly transformed into a huge charnel house. During this fearful crisis Dr. Eush was mak - ing herculean efforts to subdue the deadly foe, work- Benjamin Eush. 21 ing with a will during part of his time, and ap- propriating the balance to a thorough analysis of the desease from a scientific standpoint. He visited over one hundred and fifty patients a week, and saved many thousand lives by his original and judicious treatment. His special mode of treatment, success- ful as it was, was severely criticised by many dis- tinguished medical contemporaries and was produc- tive of great prejudice against him. Journalists, pamphleteers, and scurrilous anonymous writers hurled their fierce javelins at him with reckless malignity, until the discussion, originally based on questions of professional skill, degenerated into a petty, personal persecution. He was even stigma- tized as a murderer, and threatened with mobocratic expulsion from his native city. In this instance public sentiment assumed one of those peculiar roles not uncommon in history, invariably as unjust as they are inexplicable. As a penalty for his blood -circulation theory Harvey blunted his professional prospects, and was hooted as a common fool ; and Dr. Rush, by his bril- liant practice, productive of the most successful re- sults in saving human life, lost public confidence because he bravely wandered from the beaten path of official routine to subdue a pestilential foe which, until then, had never been vanquished. On the ter- mination of the fever a motion was made in a pub- lic meeting of the citizens to cordially thank the medical faculty of Philadelphia generally, and Dr. 22 Continental Sketches. Benjamin Rush specially, for their eminent services during the epidemic, but no one in the vast audi- ence was bold enough to second it, and it failed. The noble survivors were grateful to Providence and their own strong constitutions for the general result, but were cautious aboat taking any addi- tional stock in the medical fraternity. Phil Frenan, the dashing, reckless editor of the New York Ad- vertiser^ who had acquired a national reputation by his pungent paragraphs and satirical verses, com- plained that the physicians had fled the city : On prancing steed, with sponge at nose, From town behold Sangrado fly ; Camphor and tar, where'er he goes, The infected shafts of death defy— Safe in an atmosphere of scents He leaves us to our own defence. William Cobbett, an intelligent EngHshman, re- siding in Philadelphia at the time, a popular politi- cal paniphleteer, flying the original nom de plume of " Peter Porcupine," was a man of bitter force and strength, and a consummate master of invective. He violently attacked Rush in one of his publica- tions, and was sued by the latter for libel, and made to pay $5,000 for his sport. This was one of the many assaults made upon Dr. Rush, but he survived them all, and built up and retained by all odds the largest practice in Philadelphia. A few years afterwards there was a re-actionary feel- ing in his favor by his receiving from the King of Prussia, in 1805, a gold medal for his replies to cer- Benjamin Rush. 23 tain questions about the treatment of yellow fever. For the same consideration he received, in 1807, a medal from the Queen of Etruria, and in 1811 the Emperor of Russia gave him a brilliant diamond ring, through respect for his great medical fame. Dr. Rush was a voluminous and able writer, and one wonders how he could spare so much time from his laborious professional duties to assume the role of an essayist and a general writer on literary, moral, philosophical, and political subjects. One so- lution is that he was a most zealous, indefatigable worker, allowing no small fragments of time to be wasted. His writings consist principally of seven volumes, six of which are devoted to medical sub- jects, the remaining one being a compendium of various literary articles. His " Medical Inquiries and Observations," "Diseases of the Mind," " Medi- cal Tracts," " Health, Temperance, and Exercise," gave him a deservedly high reputation at home, and honorable recognition abroad. In the early part of his life Dr. Rush found suffi- cient leisure time to study politics, not with the circumscribed instincts of a selfish, sordid partisan, but as a good citizen, with an honest desire to assist in shaping the political* destinies of his coantry. In 1776 he was a member of the celebrated Con- gress that gave us an historic Declaration of Inde- pendence, to which he cheerfully and proudly gave his name and influence. In 1777 he was appointed physician-general of the militarj^ hospital in the 24 Continental Sketches. Middle Department, and in 1787 was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention wliicli ratified tke Federal Constitution, but was not a member of the General Constitutional Convention, as has been er- roneously stated by some authorities. He did all he could do for its adoption, considering it " a mas- terpiece of human wisdom." In 1799, President Adams appointed him Treasurer of the United States Mint, solely on account of his faultless char- acter and sterling integrity, and which was en- tirely unsolicited on his part. The duties of this office he faithfully performed during the last four- teen years of his life. But few cities in Europe, and certainly none in this country, have such nu- merous and various charitable institutions as Phila- delphia. No one citizen contributed more to the successful organization of man}^ of these than Dr. Benjamin Kush. In 1785, he planned and organ- ized the Philadelphia Dispensary, the first institu- tion of the kind in the country. He was president of the Philadelphia Society for the Abohtion of Slavery, and also of the Philadelphia Medical Society. He was the founder of the Philadelphia Bible Society, and for many years one of its hon- ored presiding officers, and for several years was vice president of the celebrated American Philo- sophical Society. He was a strong, practical friend of the temperance cause, and his work entitled "An Inquiry into the Effect of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind" is full of valu- Benjamin Kush. 25 able information, and is considered standard au- thority among the friends of this particular reform- atory movement. He presented a thousand copies of this interesting tract to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church for general distribution among their members, evoking from them at the time a ^stronger resolution in favor of temperance than they have ever promulgated since. Dr. Rush was a public writer for forty-nine years, and was not a mere collator of other men's opinions, but an original, honest searcher after truth, combining util- ity and elegance in all his essays on physical science or polite literature. He was, moreover, a high- toned. Christian gentleman, and the sneers and fasci- nations of what are termed fashionable circles were powerless to divert him from the path of honest and honorable rectitude. His private life was one of unsullied purity, and his public career is unsur- passed for its many brilliant developments and prac- tical results for the common good of his country and his fellow men. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRINTER. The man in whose honor the Franklin Institute was named — A Boston and Philadelphia Statesman — The central figure of our local Continental wor- thies — A home portrait of the Editor- Statesman of 1776. THE Pennsylvania signers to the Declaration of Independence were Kobert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clj- mer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, and George Ross. The signers to the Constitution were Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Wilson, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, and Gouvernenr Morris. It will be observed that several of the original signers of the Declaration were leading members of the Constitutional Convention, and remembered that a majority of them were active participants in our Continental Congress. The average intellectuality of the convention was high, and, happily, very equally distributed, so far as latitude was concerned. Even in those primitive times there was consider- able sectional feeling, and it required consummate tact and diplomacy to reconcile and harmonize these antagonisms. The Cavaliers of the South, as they (26) Benjamin Franklin. 27 were pleased to term themselves, were nobly repre- sented by Washington, " President and deputy from Yirginia, " Jas. Madison, from the same State, Rut- ledge, the two Pinckneys, and Pierce Butler, of South Carolina. The focus of New England's ad- miration was old Roger Sherman, a severe Puri- tan and an ardent patriot. New York was justly proud of the youthful, petite^ but graceful and elo- quent, Alexander Hamilton, while Pennsylvania's grand central figure was the grave and thoughtful old Ben Franklin. Indeed, as diplomat, scientist, philosopher, and patriot, he was a sort of paterfa- milias in the grand group of national celebrities. No shafts of envy were hurled at the veteran states- man, then in his eighty-first year; but his sugges- tions, theories, and opinions, had a wonderful influ- ence on his fellow-members. To sketch the civil heroes of our Colonial and Continental historj^, and make no mention of Franklin, even on the hypoth- esis that everybody knows all about him, would be a flagrant and palpable omission of Hamlet in the play. Although his name is a household word and his fame historically grand, it is a singular fact that no complete popular biography of this great man has ever been published. One rarely meets with his autobiography, save on the dusty shelves of some second-hand book store ; and Sparks' Life of Franklin is too voluminous and heavy for general currency and utility. As if to fill the vacancy, a compact three-volume Life of Franklin is, at the 28 Continental Sketches. present writing, being issued from the press, edited by the Hon. John Bigelow, ex-minister to France. Frankhn was perhaps the best specimen, of what is usually termed a self-made man, e^er produced in this country. Men of this class are generally strong, but superficial, too often lacking culture and finish ; but he was just the reverse of this, profound in learning, with the natural simplicity of a little child, and possessed of highly polished personal manners. Franklin was a remarkably handsome man, with a commanding figure above the middle size, and was in his early days, quite an athlete, and famous for his physical strength and activity. His counte- nance indicated self-poise and serenity, great depth of thought, and inflexible resolution. He possessed captivating conversational powers, and could adapt these very felicitously to circumstances, either in the laboratory of the scientist or at the desk of a school boy. Although a philosopher, he was some- thing of a wag, and brimful of quaint good humor. When John Hancock appended his signature to the Declaration of Independence, in large, bold charac- ters, he remarked with an air of excusable bravado^ " There ! John* Bull can read my name without spectacles." A moment after, he turned to Franklin, and somewhat nervously suggested, " We must all hang together now." "Yes," responded the reso- lute old philosopher, "or most assuredly we will all hang separately," which was a good joke, and very true at the same time. Benjamin Franklin. 29 Born in Boston, January 17, 1706, it is not sur- prising that at an early age lie soon wearied of the respectable, but not very intellectual, avocation of soap-boiler and chandler, a sphere which his practi- cal father had selected for him. In 1722 he landed in Philadelphia, being at that time but a mere boy. From that date until his death, April 17, 1790, he was most thoroughly identified with all the impor- tant interests and developments of his adopted State, and, solely through intrinsic merit, was the recipient from her of many civil and political honors. He was made successively Clerk of the Assembly (1736), Postmaster of Philadelphia (1737), and Deputy Post- master General for the British Colonies (1753). No young man in these days of zealous effort to win fame by short cuts and air-line routes, can fail to obtain much valuable information by studying close- ly the salient points in the character of this most remarkable man. Although a century has elapsed since he has passed away, an intelligent posterity cannot fail to mark the admirable and exquisitely adjusted features of his character, and the harmoni- ous and massive grandeur of his magnificent and finely -developed manhood. Penniless and footsore, at sixteen years of age he entered our city, and in a few brief years (1752), without any of the mod- ern manipulation and lobbying for titular distinc- tion, the Eoyal Society of London unanimously elected him a member of their dignified body, and bestowed upon him the Copley gold medal for his 30 Continental Sketches. brilliant discovery of the identity of lightning with the electric fluid. In the interim of these eventful years, his failures and successes, his defeats and tri- umphs, form a consolidated volume of profound in- terest, more thrilling than the most popular romance of modern times. Whether you view him as editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette and "Poor Richard's Almanac ; " as mediator between the Assembly and the proprietary governments, compromising difficul- ties between them about taxation before the Privy Council of England; or, before the House of Com- mons, endeavoring to repeal the odious Stamp Act ; or, again, as ambassador at the court of France, adroitly securing the memorable treaty of alliance between that country and our own, so immense- ly favorable to us ; in all these varied spheres of poverty, honor and trust, we find astounding de- velopments of individuality and wisdom. Frank- lin's ancestral tree was not one of hot-house culture. His father was a plain, practical, poor man, from Northampton, England, a strict Puritan, and left his native soil during the reign of Charles II. to avoid the persecution raging there with fanatical zeal. He settled in Boston, and married a lady of respect- able family in that city. The parents determined to make a clergyman of Benjamin, nolens volens ; but slender resources, and, perhaps, lack of theolog- ical taste in the young man, changed their views, and he was withdrawn to assist his father in his business of tallow chandler. He soon became tired Benjamin Franklin. 31 of this, for tlie business itself was not a congenial one, and, restless and uneasy, he longed for the deep blue sea — that El Dorado of so many romantic youths of fifteen who become tired of the despotism of home rule. Then he became taciturn and thought- ful, developing a wonderful taste for reading, de- vouring everything within his reach, "Plutarch's Lives," "Defoe's Essay on Projects," and every- thing else in his father's scanty library. At twelve we find him at the printer's desk; at fourteen, proficient in the mechanical part of his trade, and zealously perfecting himself in prose composition. "With great taste for learning, he imbibed a kin- dred one for disputation, and adopting the Socratic method, he became dextrous in confuting and con- founding an antagonist by a series of questions. In early life he was somewhat skeptical in religious matters, and propagated his peculiar tenets with more zeal, perhaps, than judgment, until he found he did much injury to his companions by this course, when he very prudently desisted. In his maturer years, however, according to his warm, personal friend. Dr. William Smith, he became a believer in Divine revelation. In his " Memoirs," written by himself, he says : " And here let me, with all humility, acknowledge that to Divine Providence I am indebted for all the happiness I have hitherto en- joyed. It is that power alone which has furnished me with the means I have employed and that has crowned them with success. My faith in this re- 32 Continental Sketches. spect leads me to hope that the Divine goodness will still be exercised towards me. My future fortune is unknown but to Him in whose hand is our destiny." In this connection we insert the quaint epitaph written by himself long before his death : — The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out And stript of its lettering and gilding, Lies here, food for worms. Yet the book itself shall not be lost. For it will (as he believed) appear once more, in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by the Author. The early life of Franklin, as we have seen, was obscured by dark clouds, and his pathway full of thorns. His parents were poor, and his father more particularly, unappreciative and unsympathetic ; his brother, to whom he was indentured as a printer's apprentice, harsh, parsimonious, and despotic ; his own means limited, and his health delicate. This was the atmosphere surrounding him, when at six- teen he sailed from Boston for New York, and failing to secure employment there, walked from the latter city to Philadelphia. On his arrival he had not a farthing, no counsellor, no acquaintance, no friend ; he had to start from the crude surface and build up. He wandered through our long, narrow streets, not a pauper, but a delicate, penniless youth, but one Benjamin Franklin. 33 within whose bosom was a riveted determination to work and win. Space will not permit ns to enter into minute details of his career during the first few years of his life in Philadelphia. Sir William Keith, Governor of the Province, took stock in the young- printer, and suggested the propriety of his going to England to purchase printing material and supplies to start his new paper in Philadelphia. He sailed for London, and when he arrived there found that Sir William, upon whose letters of credit he had relied, had deceived him, and he was compelled to search for something to do to support himself in that mammoth city. In 1726 he returned to Phila- delphia and started his paper. In 1730 he married, and in 1732 began the publication of "Poor Rich- ard's Almanac," which was continued for twenty-five years — a most valuable compendium of prudential maxims and sound common-sense, a republication of which might furnish useful reading, during the long winter nights, for our National and State leg- islators. Franklin's political career commenced in 1736, and during the same year he assisted in the establishment of the American Philosophical So- ciety and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1738 he formed the first fire company ever organized in Philadelphia, to which was shortly afterward added an insurance office against losses by fire. In 1742 he published his celebrated treatise upon the im- provement of chimneys, following this by inventing a stove known as the " Franklin," used for a century 2* 34 Continental Sketches. in all parts of tlie country. In the French war of 1744 he proposed a plan of voluntary association for the defence of the country, which was joined by ten thousand persons, trained to the use and exer- cise of arms. He was chosen colonel of the Phila- delphia regiment, but declined the honor in favor of a friend. The same year he was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly, where he remained for ten years. He now devoted his time more particu- larly to philosophical and scientific researches, and in 1752 fixed an insulated iron rod to his own resi- dence to protect it from lightning, for which act his profound and wise neighbors deemed him a fit sub- ject for a lunatic asylum. In 1753 he assumed the office of Deputy Postmaster General of America, and, strange as it may seem to our modern postal officials, he made the Post Office Department a source of revenue to the British Crown, instead of a tax upon the people for its support. At this period Brad- dock was defeated in his wild and reckless expedi- tion against Fort Du Quesne, and the whole frontier was exposed to the incursions of the savages and the French. Franklin dropped his philosophy and his metaphysics, and at the head of a company of bold volunteers marched to the protection of our frontier. In 1757 the militia were disbanded by order of the British government, shortly after which Franklin was appointed agent to adjust the difficulties which had arisen between the citizens of Pennsylvania and the proprietary government. He sailed for Europe Benjamin Franklin. 85 to lay the matter before the Privy Council. His fame as a philosojDher had preceded him, and un- sought on his part he received honorable degrees at London, Edinburgh, and Oxford. In 1764 he again returned to England to settle if possible the stamp- act difficulty, and lay the facts before the Crown. In 1766 and 1767 he made a trip to Holland, Ger- many, and France, where he met with most flatter- ing and distinguished receptions. His subsequent connection with the celebrated treaty of alliance, negotiated mainly through his instrumentality, is well known to every one conversant with our early national career. His connection with the conven- tion that framed the Constitution is also valuable subject matter of history. He was eighty-one years of age when a delegate to the latter position, the oldest member of that body. In 1788 he withdrew from public life, his great age rendering retirement desirable. He had two children, a son and a daugh- ter. The son under the British government was appointed Governor of New Jersey, and at the com- mencement of the Eevolution took up his residence in England, where he spent the remainder of his life. The daughter was married to an accomplished gentleman of Philadelphia, Mr. William Bache. Dr. Franklin died in Philadelphia on the 17th of April, 1790, aged 84 years. His death produced the most profound sensation throughout the coun- try, and it was computed that not less than twentv thousand persons attended the funeral. He was ad- 36 Continental Sketches. mired and revered next to Washington. Congress directed a general mourning for him throughout the United States for the space of a month, and the National Assembly of France testified their sense of the loss which the whole world had sustained by decreeing that each member should wear mourning for three days. Genuine grief for the loss of the great and good man was universal. In reviewing the imperfect synopsis we have given of the leading points in the life of this great man who contributed so much to Colonial, State, and National history, indeed for the universal broth- erhood of man, one cannot fail to admire his many sterling, genuine traits of character. His individu- ality^ that characteristic of all great minds, is most marked. His resolute will bade defiance to every obstacle in his path, bounding swallow-like through sunshine and cloud with almost mathematical celer- ity and certainty. Such minds never fail. His most wonderful executive powers also stand out in bold relief. His labor triumphs and achievements are astounding and almost incomprehensible to the ordi- nary mind. View his whole life from any stand- point we may desire, as mechanic, inventor, public official, diplomat, statesman or philanthropist, and the golden fruits of his versatile life are rich, mellow, and abundant. His whole life was one of continu- ous hard work. He abhorred fashionable laziness and sickly sentimentalism, never calling on Hercules, but relying on his own strong shoulder to make the Benjamin Franklin. 37 wheels move. Then, again, his sobriety assisted him in his physical and mental labors, for Frank- lin, although not noisy and demonstrative, was a practical, conscientious temperance man. He con- sidered intemperance the great enemy of the labor- ing classes, demoralizing and robbing them of their hard earnings ; and he advocated this, as he did all practical reforms, without fear or favor. His integ- rity^ however, was the brightest jewel in the casket, for in all his private and pubhc relations Franklin was scrupulously an honest man, abhorring debt, always fortifying his honor behind the entrench- ments of prudence and economy. His loyalty was above suspicion, and his efforts to assist his sorrow- stricken country in her hours of darkness and dis- tress should be familiar to every American school- boy. At no period of his life was he wealthy, but always in what might be termed comfortable cir- cumstances. Mere crude wealth, divorced from no- bler aspirations, is always flimsy and ephemeral, but well-directed intellect has the world as its audi- tory and lives forever in history. The titled Colo- nial aristocracy of our early career, and the daz- zling millionaires of our more advanced history, are nameless and forgotten, but their humble contem- porary — the penniless Franklin — will be remem- bered as long as science has a friend and honest loyalty an admirer. It is perhaps a lamentable but nevertheless an historical fact which cannot be ig- nored, that on the occasion of the passage of the 38 Continental Sketches. Declaration of Independence there was considerable absenteeism, and a tremendous outside pressure to prevent its consummation. We will return to this part of our subject matter in a future article, and simply refer to it now to state that, although others, and many of them, were absent through real or fictitious cause, Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, was always at his post of duty, calm and serene, but firm and immovable as the cliffs of Gibraltar. EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF JOHN MORTON, The Man who held the balance of power in the Pennsylvania Delegation at the time of the pas- sage of the Declaration of Independence^ as de- scribed almost a century cfter his death — His ser- vices in the General Assembly and Congress — Some well- authenticated facts connected with the history of our Colonial severance. IN the quiet cemetery of St. James' Church, in the thrifty young city of Chester, on the Dela- ware,repose the remains of John Morton, one of the Pennsylvania signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. It is subject-matter of history, and true beyond cavil, that this same John Morton, at the time of our Colonial severance, by his ballot, held the balance of power in the Pennsylvania delega- tion, and by his single vote, if he had so desired, could have defeated the unanimous passage of the Declaration of Independence. 3y his intrepidity the social compact was sealed as a unit^ and our ca- reer as a Republic inaugurated. The defection of a single State at this thrilling crisis would have en- dangered the success of the whole grand movement, and thus completely changed the current of our national history. (39) 40 Continental Sketches. A plain, practical, good man, of great personal purity, strict integrity, and marked decision of character, John Morton played no unimportant part in the early history of his country. With an instinc- tive love of freedom, he combined intense moral sen- sibility, and a conscientiousness which never allowed him, under the most trying circumstances, to swerve a hair's breadth from what he conceived to be the path of duty. These are the kindred elements and characteristics which in the past have given to religion and patriotism their martyrs and heroes. Before entering somewhat into detail as regards the many interesting events connected with the life of Judge Morton, some well- authenticated facts con- nected with the history of the Declaration may not prove uninteresting to the general reader. The prevailing popular opinion is that immediately on the passage of the historic document, July 4, 1776, it was signed on that day by the members whose names are affixed. Such, however, is not the fact ; not a single name was attached to it at that time. Fifteen days thereafter Congress ordered that it be engrossed on parchment and signed by every mem- ber. This was done on the 2d of the following August, almost thirty days after its original passage. It was on that day signed by all who were then members, and afterwards by several who were sub- sequently elected. A number who voted for the Declaration did not sign it on August 2d for in the interim their respective terms of office had expired. John Mokton. 41 Strange to say, among those who subscribed their names was one who opposed its passage — Hon. Geo. Keed, of Delaware. The Pennsylvania delegation on this memorable occasion consisted of seven members, Messrs. Ben- jamin Franklin, James Wilson, John Morton, John Dickinson, Eobert Morris, Thos. Willing, and Chas. Humphreys. All arguments on the matter being ex- hausted, Congress resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole July 1, 1776. Without any preliminary skirmishing, the chairman, to test the matter, put the question direct to the convention, and all the States voted in the affirmative except Pennsylvania and Delaware, which gave the negative vote. Of the seven Pennsylvanians present, Morton, Franklin, and Wilson voted in favor of, and Dickinson, Mor- ris, Willing, and Humphreys in opposition to the measure. Delaware was a tie — Thomas McKean (born in Chester county, and afterwards Chief Jus- tice of our Commonwealth) voted in favor of the bill, and George Keed against it, Caesar Eodney, the third member, being unavoidably absent from his post of duty. On the next Thursday, July 4, 1776, amid the most intense excitement, the vital civil question of the age came before Congress. The scene in the old Independence Hall was morally grand beyond description, and the pulsation of pat- riotic hearts could almost be heard in the profound stillness imparted by the solemnity of the historic occasion. Even were the Colonial heroes successful 42 Continental Sketches. in the vote which in a moment was to be taken, their future was fearfully problematic and dark, and each man knew it well. They represented a con- stituency of but three millions of people, scattered over a widely extended domain, with no recognized political status^ a depleted treasury, a disjointed brotherhood, bankrupt in everything but honest manhood, and bound together by no other bond than common sufferings, common danger, and com- mon necessities. Here was a crisis, for glory or shame, history or the halter. Eleven Colonies vo- ted successively in favor of the measure, and as each Colonial vote was announced, legislative dig- nity was for a moment dethroned by the suppressed, but still audible exultation of the triumphant pat- riots. And now, once more, there is almost the stillness of the sepulchre as the Colony of Delaware is called, and, like the lightning flash, all eyes are concentrated on her delegation. There is manifest surprise, and low whisperings and mutterings as the discovery is made that again one of her delegates is absent. The stern voice of the courteous but im- partial Speaker commands the clerk to proceed with the vote. McKean, true as steel, voted an emphatic aye, while Eeed, his colleague, equally loyal perhaps, but timidly created, rendered a vote for the opposition. At this moment the clatter of horses' feet is heard in front of State House Eow, and quickly dismounting from his foaming steed, booted and spurred, the third delegate from little John Morton. 43 Delaware, the gallant Csesar Eodney, rushes into the assembly just in time to make the historic Declara- tion, thus far, a unit and a success. Anticipating the issue, McKean had dispatched a messenger for Rodney, and the latter, with whip and spur, had rid- den eighty miles, from the county of Kent, through marsh and swamp, with the dash and enthusiasm of a Richard Coeur de Leon, until he reached his loyal goal. To this point the friends of the meas- ure had been favored with blue skies and fair weather, but sturdy old Pennsylvania was yet to cast her ponderous vote, and the nervous anxiety as to the result was almost painful. Of the seven members enumerated above as composing her dele- gation, but five are actually in their seats in the convention. Dickinson and Morris, though present in the hall, are not in their official positions during the calling of the roll. One of the five is even ab- sent temporarily, and John Hancock, surveying the field, resorted to a little excusable legislative strat- egy, and, in order to kill time until the arrival of the mysterious absentee of the Pennsylvania dele- gation, was addressing the house on some minor parliamentary point, when the hall- door opened, and the missing delegate entered and quietly took his seat. That man was John Morton^ of Delaware comity. His blanched cheek, quivering lip, and clenched hand indicate a fearful internal struggle. Once more the sound of the Speaker's gavel is heard, silence ordered, and Pennsylvania, the last of the Thirteen 44 Continental Sketches. Colonies, and the first in commercial importance, is ' called upon to record her vote. Franklin votes aye, Willing nay, Wilson aye, and Humphrey nay. When the name of John Morton is called he is for an instant the focus of all eyes. The lip has ceased to quiver, the clenched hand has relaxed, and the blanched cheek is now crimsoned with the hot flush of conscientious resolve, and the utterance of his honest " Aye ! " reverberating through the old hall gives him historic fame and confirms the unanimity of the Declaration of Independence. All historical authority, contemporaneous or otherwise, unites in awarding the honor of giving the casting vote to Judge Morton, and it has never been denied by any reputable historiographer. In referring once more to the signers of the Declaration we find that of the seven members present from Pennsylvania — present at its passage — but four of their names are affixed to it, viz. : Eobert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, and James Wil- son. The other five names subsequently added are Benjamin Kush, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, and George Boss, who were ap- pointed delegates to the Continental Congress by the Legislature, on the 26th of July, 1776. John Morton deserves to be remembered with peculiar respect by State and Nation. The respon- sibility he assumed was great, even fearful, should the measure be attended with disastrous consequences, as was then most probable. Every element of a John Morton. 45 potential lobby was brought into play to subvert and control his judgment in relation to this vote. But threats and bribes fell harmless at the feet of this Christian patriot. Friends, relatives, and neigh- bors ostracised him socially and politically for what they were pleased to term his criminal imprudence. During his last illness, on the very verge of the eternal world, he requested those who stood around his bedside to tell his enemies " that the hour would yet come when it would be acknowledged that his vote in favor of American independence was the most illustrious act of his life." Morton was a re- markably sensitive man, but lacked neither indi- viduahty nor decision, as the crowning act of his life testifies. For some time immediately after the promulgation of the Declaration our army in the field met with an almost unbroken series of disas- ters ; and solicitude on this point, coupled with the local persecutions he suffered, no doubt hastened his death. He lived only long enough to witness with a sad heart the calamities and misfortunes that befel the national arms in almost all the engagements of 1776 and the spring of 1777, and was not permitted, in the wisdom of a Higher Power, to witness the bright sunlight of a glorious peace, enunciated on the nineteenth of April, 1783, after eight long years of sanguinary, desolating war. In relation to the status of a majority of that portion of the members of the Continental Congress who voted against the 46 Continental Sketches. Declaration, it may be remarked tliat their patri- otism was never doubted by their colleagues, their constituents, or reliable history. There were thou- sands in the country of reliable, worthy, patriotic men, who deemed the agitation of so important a question at that particular time as premature and consequently inexpedient. This was the strong argument adduced by the opponents of the measure in the Continental Congress, timid croakers, but yet at heart genuine patriots, men who ardently desired but yet lacked the moral courage to assert their rights. Such a class is even yet always largely represented in all large deliberative bodies ; follow- ers, not leaders; good elements for reinforcements, but poor material for the advance guard. John Morton did not belong to the class to which we have alluded, but was blunt, frank and decided, and voted for independence simply because his con- scientious convictions led him in that direction. The opponents of the measure in the Pennsylvania delegation claimed, with some show of reason, that their instructions from the Legislature were of a pacific character and restricted the latitude of per- sonal judgment. It will be remembered that the members of the Continental Congress were elected by the several Colonial Legislatures, and not di- rectly by the people. The following is the closing paragraph of certain instructions issued by the Pennsylvania Legislature to the Congressional dele- gation on the 9th of November, 1775 : John Moeton. 47 "Thougli the oppressive measures of the British Parliament and administration have compelled us to resist their violence by force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin you that you, in behalf of this Colony, dis- sent from and utterly reject any propositions, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our mother country, or to a change of the form of this Government." On the 14th of the following June we find addi- tional instructions issued, of which the following is the closing portion: "The happiness of these Colo- nies has, during the whole course of this fatal con- troversy, been our first wish — their reconciliation with Great Britain our next. Ardently have we prayed for the accomplishment of both. But if we renounce the one or the other, Ave humbly trust to the mercies of the Supreme Governor of the Uni- verse, that we shall not stand condemned before His throne, if our choice is determined by that over- ruling law of self-preservation which His divine wisdom has thought fit to implant in the hearts of His creatures." The last series of instructions in the main are pointed and decided, couched in language indicating earnest, solemn, religious conviction, and both are signed "by order of the House," John Morton, Speaker. He seems to have interpreted the instruc- tions in his own patriotic and original way. John Morton was born in 1724, in Kidley township, now Delaware county, formerly a part of Chester 48 Continental Sketches. county, Pa. The house in which he was born is still standing on the Chester turnpike, (the old Queen's highway,) twelve miles from Philadelphia and three from the city of Chester. His ancestors were of Swedish extraction, and were among the first Swed- ish emigrants who settled on the banks of the Dela- ware, below Philadelphia. His father, for whom he was named, died a few months before his birth. His mother some time after was married to an in- telligent Englishman, John Sketchley, who possessed more than an ordinary education, and who, with great kindness and consideration, superintended the home education of his bright, promising step-son. His active mind rapidly expanded, and gave great promise of future usefulness. Under the guidance and management of Mr. Sketchley, young Morton became quite a profound mathematician, and very proficient as a surveyor, a profession most admirably adapted to the development of method, system and precision, in both thought and action. He never ceased to remember the kindness of Mr. Sketchley, who was indeed a skillful tutor, and a most faithful guardian* and friend. In 1764 he was commissioned as a justice of the peace, and the same year was sent as a delegate to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, of which he was, for many years, an influential member, and for some time was Speaker of the Lower House. In 1765 he was appointed by our Legislature to attend the General Congress, assembled in New York, to John Morton. 49 concert measures for the repeal of the odious stamp act. In 1766 he was appointed sheriff of Chester county, which position he held for three years. In 1772 he was elevated to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which honorable position he filled with great dignity and ability. In July, 1774, he was elected a member of the historic Congress that convened in Philadelphia the follow- ing September to make one final effort to effect a reconciliation between the Colonies and the mother country. This body was composed of men of pro- found learning, inflexible firmness, and unblemished private and public character; men who could not be seduced from the straight path of duty by any of the glittering temptations of money or power unfortunately so potential in more modern times. Judge Morton earnestly concurred in all the ad- vanced movements and deliberations of that body, which virtually kindled the fires of the Eevolution. In May, 1775, he took his seat in Congress, and was re-elected in November. In July, 1776, he brilliantly closed his Congressional career by his historic vote in the creation of a unanimous Decla- ration of Independence, to which we have already feebly alluded. In April, 1777, he was attacked by an inflammatory fever, which terminated his hfe after a few days' illness, at the early age of fifty-four, just nine months after he had given his famous vote in the Continental Congress. John Morton was no ordinary man. To the cool caution of his calm 60 Continental Sketches. temperament was strongly allied the inflexible will of a Cromwell. A stranger to cunning^ that ready weapon of small minds, he never viewed any Na- tional or State question from the stand-point of selfish policy. Such was his devotion to integrity that he would sacrifice his best personal friend, if that friend blocked his own path of duty. In private life and the social circle he was esteemed and beloved for his intelligent vivacity, unspotted personal character, and sweet Christian virtues. His descendants are widely scattered over the different sections of our country, some lingering around and about the old homestead in Delaware county, whilst others are prominently identified with the leading business in- terests of Philadelphia. GEORGE CLYMER'S MARKED TRAITS. A man who never bought or sought office^ who never traduced another'^ s character^ and whose devotion to his country developed itself in a long and honorable life — An orphan at seven years — From the counting- room to the head of a leading firm — His record in Congress. THE same strata of sterling qualities and attrac- tive excellencies appear to have pervaded the characters of the leading men of Pennsylvania, signers and others, who figured in our Kevolutionary history. Practical common sense, dignified gravity, intense conscientiousness, and burning patriotic zeal, seem to have permeated every fibre and muscle of those primitive patriots. Prominent among his compeers for stateliness of manners, elegant courtesy, and that ease and grace which sorae men seem to inherit, and which others can never acquire, was George Clymer. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1739. His father emigrated to this country from Bristol, England, and married a cultivated lady of Philadelphia. At the early age of seven young Clymer was left an orphan, and Mr. William Coleman, a maternal uncle, a gentleman of refinement and culture, and a prominent merchant, (51) 52 Continental Sketches. claimed him as his ward, and personally superin- tended his early education. The guardian was emi- nently qualified for his responsible position, and the young orphan was peculiarly fortunate in securing in him a proficient tutor and most judicious coun- sellor and friend. On the completion of his pre- liminary education he was forthwith inducted into the counting-room of his worthy uncle, which he entered, however, under the silent protest of his own judgment. His genius was poorly adapted to mercantile life and the dull routine of commercial pursuits, being more friendly disposed to literary and scientific aspirations. However, he had too much good sense and gratitude to openly revolt against the judgment of his worthy relative, and a merchant he became. He inaugurated his commer- cial career by transacting business in the name of George Clymer, merchant, then in the name of Cly- mer & Eitchie : then formed a business alliance part- nership with a Mr. Meredith, and subsequently at the age of twenty-seven, a matrimonial alliance with the daughter of his last partner, a lady recognized among the elite of that period as one of the brilliant stars in fashionable circles. Mr. Clymer continued for several years a leading business man in Phila- delphia, and, although the bulk of his time was ab- sorbed by the cares and duties of his legitimate vocation, found sufficient leisure to store his mind with the general principles of international law, history, politics and light literature, and a vast George Clymer. 63 amount of valuable general information. By nature he was a lover of free institutions and a democratic form of government, having implicit faith in the will of the people. At a very early age his feelings were strongly enlisted against the many arbitrary acts of the British government, and when concilia- tory measures failed to secure our rights, and the logic of protest, petition and appeal had become thoroughly exhausted, he was among the first men in Philadelphia to suggest and adopt proper meas- ures of national defence. George Clymer was not a theoretic patriot, feasting amid dreamy visions on hopes that could never be realized, but, Hke the ma- jority of his colleagues of that period, a practical, aggressive one, and in 1773 accepted a captain's commission of a volunteer company raised for the defence of the province. During that year a cargo of tea was sent out by Great Britain, consigned to certain parties in Philadelphia, for the purpose of indirectly levying a contribution on her citizens without their consent. Its arrival at our wharves created the most intense excitement. A mass or town meeting was called at once, and a committee was appointed, of which George Clymer was chair- man, to wait on the consignees and request them under no circumstances to offer that tea for sale in Philadelphia. The delicate task was faithfully per- formed by the committee, and not an ounce of the tea was allowed to be sold within the limits of the city. 54 Continental Sketches. Two years after this (1776) Clymer was appointed a member of the historic Committee on Safety ; on the 20th day of July, 1776, he was appointed by the Colonial Legislature a member of the Continental Congress, sixteen days after the passage of the Declaration of Independence. As we have stated, however, in a previous article, he had the honor of affixing his name to that document on the second day of the following month. His practical business habits received honorable recognition by the Government in September, 1775, when he was appointed at that time, jointly with Mr. Stockton, to inspect and report upon the general condition of the northern wing of our army. In December of the same year the good citizens of Philadelphia were startled by the rumor that the British army was moving rapidly upon them. All was alarm and excitement. Congress, then in ses- sion there, deeming discretion the better part of valor, wisely concluded to adjourn at once to Balti- more, and there was no tie vote on that question. Eobert Morris, George Clymer and George Walton were appointed by Congress a committee to remain in Philadelphia and adopt such measures and trans- act such business as the extraordinary circumstances of the critical occasion might require. In 1777 he was once more returned to Congress, and so arduous were his duties, and so unremitting his exertions during that session, that his health was seriously impaired, and he was compelled for a brief season George Clymer. 55 to withdraw from public life. His family resided at this time in Chester county, some twenty miles from Philadelphia. During the fall of that year a roving band of British stragglers attacked his house, destroying all his furniture, his family with the greatest difficulty escaping with their lives. Mr. Clymer himself was in Philadelphia at the time, and when the invaders reached that city in a few days they sought out his residence, and with a vulgar, mob- ocratic spirit, at variance with all recognized rules of honorable warfare, proceeded to level it to the ground, and were only dissuaded from their purpose when informed that the building was a leased one, in which Mr. Clymer had no financial interest what- ever. The fact that he was a shining mark for the wrath of the ruthless foe is the highest compliment that could be paid to his unswerving loyalty. But his country had still more work for the young, un- tiring patriot, and, in December of the same year, he was appointed a commissioner, in conjunction with several other gentlemen, to visit the wilds of Western Pennsylvania on important business of a secret and confidential nature. It is generally un- derstood that the object of this mission was to pre- serve friendly relations with the Indians of the border, and enlist some of the more friendly of the Shawnees and Delawares into the service of the United States. In 1780 our general army was suf- fering intensely from a combination of unpropitious causes, which threatened almost to eventuate in its 66 Continental Sketches. disbandment. The suggestive mind of Kobert Mor- ris, the financial genius of our early history, origi- nated the old Bank of North America in the city of Philadelphia. This institution subserved many great and good purposes in its early days ; revived public credit ; promoted internal improvements ; but, better than all this, was instrumental, to a very great de- gree, in relieving the wants of our noble army, whose sufferings at that crisis were almost beyond human endurance. As an expression of its faith in and gratitude to this well-managed financial institu- tion Congress passed a formal resolution in its favor, and pledged the faith of the United States to indem- nify all subscriptions to its stock. George Clymer was one of the active minds of this financial experi- ment that ultimately developed into such grand proportions, and served for many years as one of its most efficient directors. In 1780 we find Mr. Clymer again re-elected or re-appointed to Congress. These renewals of public confidence in him were entirely unsolicited on his part, for in those halcyon days of primitive simplicity the office actually did seek the man and not the man the office. For two successive years he served his constituency and State most faithfully, seldom being absent from his post of duty, never allowing personal considerations to interfere with the discharge of his official duties; and never drawing any more compensation than he was honestly entitled to. In 1782 he removed with his family to the old town of Princeton, JST. J., for George Clymer. 57 the purpose of educating his family at Nassau Hall, then as now one of the leading collegiate institutions of the land. At the beginning of the war, the old college doors were closed, and faculty and students were scattered, many of them fighting the battles of their country. The venerable Dr. Witherspoon, the patriot-president of the college, had exchanged the pulpit for the forum, and was now a Federal lawmaker in the Continental Congress at Philadel- phia. In 1782 it was re-opened, however, and in the quiet village of Princeton, with its literary at- mosphere and captivating social attractions, George Clymer settled down to enjoy the peace and luxury of private life after the toils, troubles and privations of a long, busy and eventful public career. In two brief years, however, he responded to another call from his native State, this time to be a representa- tive in her Legislature. Of this body he was an influential member, and was appointed by it to rep- resent the State in the great convention which met to frame the Constitution, which was but lately- changed. After its adoption he represented the State once more in a Congressional term of two years, when, declining a renomination, he closed his long, most honorable and highly useful legislative career. In 1791 Mr. Clymer was placed at the head of the excise department in Pennsylvania, at the time when Congress, judiciously or otherwise, passed a bill im- posing a duty on all spirits distilled in the country. This legislation was very unpopular in certain sec- 3* 58 Continental Sketches. tions of the country, and was particularly obnoxious to the citizens of Western Pennsylvania. This dis- satisfaction eventuated in what is known as the "whisky insurrection," and for a time assumed a most threatening attitude. Mr. Clymer had no taste for factious broils based on whisky, and soon re- signed an office which was very distasteful to him. In 1796 he was appointed, in connection with Colo- nels Hawkins and Pickens, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek Indians in Georgia. He sailed from Philadelphia, for Savannah, in April of that year, and narrowly escaped shipwreck by a violent storm, which continued for several days. He satisfactorily completed the object of his mission and returned to Philadelphia, and shortly after re- tired to that private life he so earnestly coveted. He subsequently officiated as president of the Phila- delphia Bank, the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, and the Academy of Fine Arts. He died January 28, 1813, in the 74th year of his age. George Cly- mer was a little above the medium size, of fair com- plexion, and erect and manly in his personal bear- ing. His marked features indicated intelligence and benevolence, and resolution without arrogance. He possessed all that delicacy and sensibility so essential to taste, and was always an active friend of the fine arts and polite literature. He was a man of warm feelings, ardent in his affections, and the very life of the social circle. Modest and diffident, he was no ora- tor, but a writer of considerable force and elegance. George Clymer. 59 There was a simplicity and frank honesty in his whole character well calculated to win the friend- ship of all with whom he came in contact. This charming trait, so rare in public men, was never blunted or blurred by contact with the rude elements of the rough outside world. He never bought or sought office, and scorned to practice the duplicity of the demagogue as the condition of any political preferment he ever received. He never spoke ill of the absent, never traduced any man's character, and in all matters, great or small, was most punc- tilious and exact in fulfilling all his promises. So- cially connected with some of the leading famihes of Philadelphia in her early history, the home of Mr. Clymer was the abode of taste, wealth, and generous hospitality. In all the varied spheres of life, in the public arena of politics or the quiet elegance of his own home, he was a man whose purity of character was unquestionable, and whose devotion to his country developed itself in a long, honorable life, devoted to her best interests. JAMES SMITH. IRISH AMERICAN. A man 'practical and prudent in his loyal career^ and brimful of that mother wit for which his race is proverbial — From College to the law office — An un- compromising advocate of prompt and vigorous measures — Colonel in the Army^ member of the Pro- vincial Convention of 1775, and one of the body to frame the first Constitution of Pennsylvania. AN interesting and somewhat remarkable fact, connected not only witli the Pennsylvania signers of the Declaration, but with all of them, was their astonishing longevity. They numbered fifty six persons and averaged sixty five years. Four of the number attained the age of ninety and upwards, fourteen exceeded eighty years, and twenty-three reached the venerable Psalmist's standard of three- score and ten. The fourteen members composing the New England delegation averaged seventy-five years. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was the last survivor of the noble fifty-six. Of the nine signers of the Pennsylvania delegation five were natives of the province, one was born in Delaware, one in Scotland, and two in Ireland. The subject of our memoir, James Smith, was a native of the Emerald Isle, and, although his name has not figured conspicuously in (60) James Smith. 61 our Revolutionary history in proportion to his in- trinsic merits, was a most worthy gentleman, em- inently aggressive, and withal practical and prudent in his loyal career, and brimful of that mother wit, the sauce piquante^ for which the Irish character is proverbial. One peculiarity of the man was his ret- icence concerning his age, his most intimate friends never being able to find out precisely what it was. Like some stately, fashionable maiden drifting from the whirlpool of social folly into the misty woodland of the "sere and yellow leaf," he was conscientiously opposed to telling any one his age, and pertinaciously and often bluntly refused to impart the secret to a living soul — a secret which was buried with him in his grave. His friends conjectured that he was born between the years 1715 and 1720. All that vast territory in Pennsylvania lying west of the Susquehanna, now abounding in blooming valleys, rich in agricultural wealth, dotted with smiling villages and thrifty cities, the church and academic spires indicating the positive worth and progressive spirit of the inhabitants, was a century ago a comparative wilderness. The father of James Smith, tired of the shackles and bondage of foreign despotism, left the shores of his native isle, and with a numerous family located in this unattractive waste, exiled as it were from all the comforts and luxuries of social life. They settled in 1743 in the old historic county of Cumberland, now one of the most beautiful of Southern Pennsylvania, where for many 62 Continental Sketches. years they buffeted the storms and adversities of rough frontier hfe. Placing that high estimate on Hberal education which appears to have been a strong characteristic of our primitive forefathers, he selected from his family group his son James and placed him under the educational control of the distinguished Dr. Allison, then provost of the Col- lege of Philadelphia, who appears to have been the universal Colonial schoolmaster of the period. The classical proficiency of young Smith was of a high order, but he gave special attention to surveying, then one of the useful and practical professions of the day, and for which there was an unlimited demand. After completing his collegiate course in Phila- delphia he removed to Lancaster, then one of the outposts of civilization, and entered the office of Thomas Cookson, Esq., as a law student. On his admission to the bar he removed to the old village of Shippensburgh, at that time the court town of Cumberland county, and a point of considerable business importance. Remaining here for a short time his restless ambition yearned for a wider field of operation, and he removed to the thrifty town of York, Pa., where he permanently established himself, and where he successfully practiced his profession during the balance of his life. At the very inaugura- tion of the contest between Great Britain and the Colonies, the latter found a firm friend and gallant champion in the brilliant young lawyer of York, a representative man of the rough, strong, honest James Smith. 63 elements of the rural districts of the wild frontier. In 1774, at the delegate meeting of all the counties of the State, convened to give an expression of public sentiment on the propriety and expediency of abstaining from the importation of any goods from England, James Smith was the representative from York, and was one of a committee appointed to draft instructions to the General Assembly, then about to convene. There is no disguising the fact that a most power- ful effort was being made by the friends of uncon- ditional peace to suppress anything like a public outbreak between the two countries. Many of these parties were actuated by the purest motives im- aginable, and these were encouraged by others naturally cautious and timid, representatives of that large ratio of society lacking moral courage when- ever it is essentially desirable, nervously receiving every incident as an accident, and every accident as a positive calamity. The impulsive loyalty of Smith, perhaps, drove him to the other extreme, and made him an uncompromising advocate of prompt and vigorous measures. After the adjournment of the convention to which allusion has been made, he returned in 1774 to York, and organized the first volunteer militia company ever raised in Penn- sylvania in opposition to the forces of Great Britain. He was elected captain of this company, and sub- sequently colonel of a regiment to which it became attached. Colonel Smith was a member of the 64 Continental Sketches. Provincial Convention of January, 1775, and one of the ablest champions of the spirited declaration made by that body, viz.: that "if the British ad- ministration should determine by force to effect a submission to the late arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, in such a situation we hold it as an in- dispensable duty to resist such force, and at every hazard to defend the rights and liberties of Amer- ica." This resolution had the true ring of defiant resistance to despotic usurpation; but, strange as it may seem, it was practically ignored by a series of instructions issued November 9, of the same year, by the General Assembly to the delegates appointed by it to Congress. The tenor of these instructions was not hidden, as the following positive resolution indicates : " That though the oppressive measures of the British Parliament and administration have compelled us to resist their violence by force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin you that you, in behalf of this colony, dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our mother country or a change in the form of government." The dominant Quaker element, actuated, no doubt, by conscien- tious motives, was mainly instrumental in securing the passage of this strangely constructed resolution. Here was a dead-lock, a broad antagonism, one cloud charged with positive, the other with negative elec- tricity, in close proximity, with a collision inevita- ble. The shock and reverberation came on the 15th James Smith. 65 of May, 1776, when Congress adopted a resolution which almost amounted to a separation. The citi- zens of Philadelphia assembled en masse five days after the passage of the resolution, and in front of the very building in which Congress was assembled, discussed and digested plans of positive resistance. The wildest enthusiasm prevailed, and Chestnut street was crowded with the excited populace, clam- oring for an immediate dissolution of our Colonial relations and " war to the hilt." The instructions of the Provincial Assembly were not only pointedly condemned, but hooted and spurned by the excited multitude, and a loud demand made for a Provincial Conference to establish a new form of government in Pennsylvania. This conference met on the 18th of June, 1776, and was composed of the advance guard, the progressive, intelligent young men of the State. Among these was James Smith, of York, manfully struggling in the front ranks for a clear definition of our national rights, and how to prompt- ly secure them. On the fourteenth of the same month, four days before the meeting of this confer- ence, the General Assembly had rescinded their ill- timed and obnoxious instructions to the delegates in Congress by an able and dignified State paper in the form of a resolution, closing thus : " The happi- ness of these Colonies has, during the whole course of this fatal controversy, been our first wish, their reconciliation with Great Britain our next. Ar- dently have we prayed for the accomplishment of 66 Continental Sketches. both. But, if we renounce the one or the other, we humbly trust to the mercies of the Supreme Governor of the Universe, that we shall not stand condemned before His throne if our choice is deter- mined by that law of self-preservation which His Divine wisdom has thought fit to implant in the hearts of His creatures." This was signed "by order of the House, John Morton, Speaker." This prompt action of the Assembly would seem to have obviated the necessity of the special confer- ence meeting, but meet they did, determined to give formal expression of their views in relation to the anticipated Declaration of Independence. To accomplish this a motion was made by Dr. Benja- min Kush, then comparatively a young man, which was seconded by Col. James Smith; and these two gentlemen, in connection with the impulsive but brilliant Thomas McKean, were appointed a com- mittee to draft a clear, explicit declaration of their views on the matter. On the following morning they made their report, which, being unanimously confirmed by the conference and signed by the members, was transmitted to Congress on June the 25th, a day or two before the Declaration of Inde- pendence by Congress was presented to that body. This document, with which Col. Smith was very closely identified, bears a marked resemblance to the original as drafted by Jefierson and promulgated by Congress, July 4, 1776. In the early part of July a Convention assembled James Smith. 67 in Philadelphia to frame a Constitution for the State, and on the 15th instant <3olonel Smith appeared and took his seat as a member of that body. Five days thereafter he was elected by the convention a mem- ber of Congress, which position he held for several years, and in which he was considered strong, effi- cient, and incorruptible. After his withdrawal from Congress he resumed his professional pursuits, until 1800, when he retired from the bar, after a success- ful career of sixty years, untarnished by a single dishonorable or disreputable episode. Colonel Smith was an eccentric person, of pecu- liar traits, remarkable for his love of sport and well-regulated conviviality. His satire was keen as a Damascus blade, and his humor inimitable, and in either sphere he was unsurpassed by Lucian, Swift, or Eabelais. He was a sanguine, hopeful, cheerful man, always searching for sunlight instead of clouds, his genial presence imparting almost fra- grance, stimulating the despondent, and strengthen- ing the doubtful amidst the many adversities and revolutions of the stirring times in which he lived. His memory was uncommonly retentive, and his mind well stored with humorous incidents and an- ecdotes, which he recited, when prudence and judg- ment dictated, with marked effect. His acquire- ments, however, were not by any means of a super- ficial character, for he was learned in the law, and a man of broad, comprehensive, statesmanlike views, a valuable acquisition to the niany honorable bodies 68 Continental Sketches. with which he was officially connected. His loyalty was unfaltering and uncompromising, and he cheer- fully signed his name to the charter of our liberties, without doubt, cavil, or criticism. He died in 1806, at the supposed age of eighty-six. GEORGE TAYLOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. From the atmosphere of tinctures and lotions to an iron foundry as an ordinary day laborer — Next^ proprietor of a whole establishment — The result of prudence^ tact, economy, and industry — A Represent- ative of Northampton county in the Provincial As- sembly — Taylorh Congressional career, &c. THE life of George Taylor furnishes an illustri- ous example of the natural powers of a strong, rugged mind triumphing over the deficiencies of early education, and marching straight forward in the path of honor and distinction, regardless of every intervening obstacle. Notwithstanding the veil of oblivion obscures the minute details of this plain, practical, but honest and useful life, baffling the in-; genuity of the biographer, his fame as one of the signers of the Declaration is embalmed in the na- tional heart. Although an eminently useful man in our early history, a fine parliamentarian, peerless as an executive officer in the committee room, thor- oughly reliable in all startling crises, his long official career, unstained by a single blot of corruption, there is no man in American history about whom so little is known as George Taylor. No gilt-edged eulogium perpetuates his virtues, but his acts and 70 Continental Sketches. deeds can only be found in the dusty records and ar- chives of our Colonial history. One of the nine dis- tinguished representatives of Pennsylvania who af- fixed his signature to the charter of our liberties, he is to-day almost forgotten, save through the me- dium of some brief, imperfect, unsatisfactory sketch. "What is glory? — in the socket See how dying tapers flare." Mr. Taylor was born in the North of Ireland in 1716. His father was a highly respectable minister, of more than ordinary culture, with a keen appre- ciation of the advantages of a good education. He gave his son an opportunity to improve his mind, and after some preliminary preparation the young man commenced the study of medicine. He soon, however, became disgusted with his new profession, and sooner than be classified as a Quack-salving, cheating mountebank, whose skill "Would make the sound men sick, and sick men kill, abandoned the atmosphere of tinctures and lotions for a sphere of more variety and activity. About the year 1736, without a penny or an outfit, he went on board a ship sailing for JSTew York, and was re- gistered as a redemptioner, and on his arrival his services were sold, under certain stipulations to a Mr. Savage, the proprietor of extensive iron works in the old town of Durham, a few miles from Eas- ton. Pa. Here he was employed for some time as an ordinary day laborer, his specific work being that George Taylor. 71 of a "filler" throwing coal into a furnace when in blast. In this uncongenial and trying position he never uttered a complaint, although the work was rough and his surroundings generally disagreeable. His employer soon transferred him from these menial duties to his own private office, where he was ex- ceedingly useful, and where he remained for several years. On the death of Mr. Savage young Taylor became connected in marriage with his widow, and consequently the proprietor of the whole establish- ment. In his new sphere, suddenly elevated from comparative poverty to financial independence, he exhibited great prudence, tact, economy and industry, and in a short time amassed a very large fortune. In a few years he purchased an additional estate on the Lehigh river, in Northampton county, where he erected a spacious mansion, and took up his perma- nent residence. Here he was first called into public life, and represented Northampton county in the Provincial Assembly, which met in Philadelphia, October, 15, 1764, of which body he was appointed a member of the Committee of Grievances, and where he displayed very considerable legislative capacity. In June, 1765, the Speaker of the Assem- bly received a proposal from the House of Repre- sentatives of Massachusetts Bay, soHciting a general Congress of Delegates to convene in New York city the ensuing fall. At the meeting of the Pennsyl- vania Assembly, in September, of the same year, 72 Continental Sketches. • this proposition was agreed to, and the Speaker, Mr. Fox, Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Bryan, and John Morton were elected delegates to represent the Colony. An additional committee was appointed to draft in- structions for the government of this important delegation. George Taylor was a member of this latter committee, and his prudent suggestions and practical views had great force and consideration in framing these instructions. In 1765 he was re- elected a Kepresentative to the Provincial Assembly from Northampton county, and participated in the leading questions and measures then introduced. In June, 1766, we find him one of a committee to prepare an address of thanks to the King on the repeal of the Stamp Act. From 1764 to 1770 Mr. Taylor was very closely identified with our pro- vincial legislation, serving frequently and honorably on many very important committees, such as " amending the judiciary establishment," " to regu- late the assessment of taxes," " to investigate the rights of the House," " to choose the printer of the public laws," " to raise loans on bills of credit"' and " to prepare a system to improve the navigation of of our great rivers." In 1768 he made strenuous efforts to bring to the bar of public justice some " regulators " of our Colonial borders who had wil- fully and mahciously, without the least shadow of pretext or provocation, murdered in cold blood some Indians. This outrage almost precipitated a col- lision between the province and the Indians. Mr. f George Taylor. 73 Taylor presented a strong address to the Governor on the subject, who gave it as much consideration as his conservative and dilatory character could con- sistently allow. In 1775 he was actively employed in developing his iron interests in Northampton, but met with such poor success that in order to re- cruit his failing fortune he was compelled to return to Durham, the scene of his former prosperity. Here he acted as an associate judge of the county court, and was appointed Colonel of militia. In October, 1775, he took his seat once more as a member of the Provincial Assembly, where he served as a mem- ber of the committees on " Crown Grants," " Con- necticut Claims," "Procuring Arms," and as an honorable member of the historic Committee of Safety, then and since recognized as the great revo- lutionary organ of the government. On November 4, 1775, the Assembly elected delegates to the suc- ceeding Continental Congress, and Mr. Taylor, in connection with several other prominent gentlemen, was appointed to draft a set of instructions for them. The circumstances surrounding the Colony of Penn- sylvania at that time were of a very singular char- acter. She had not felt so keenly the despotic heel of the oppressor as some of the other Colonies, her constitution was free and liberal, and her proprie- tary form of government was by no means oppres- sive. She had on more than one occasion been spe- cially favored by the Crown, and peace and general prosperity prevailed within her borders. These and 74 Continental Sketches. other considerations created at that particular time a conservative sentiment bordering on a strong re- luctance to sever the bond so long uniting her to the mother country. Hence, the series of instructions emanating from this committee of seven, of a con- ciliatory character, urging its members to seek all honorable means for the redress of American griev- ances, but not to do anything to widen the breach and destroy that harmony and union which was so essential to the welfare of both countries. However, during the winter and spring of 1776 there was a great reaction in public sentiment throughout the length and breadth of her provincial borders, event- uating in the Assembly rescinding their former in- structions, and declaring firmly and boldly that they were unwilling to purchase peace by a dishonorable submission to arbitrary power. These latter in- structions, which had the ring of sterling patriotism, authorized the Pennsylvania Kepresentatives " to con- cur with the other delegates in Congress in forming such further compacts between the united Colonies, concluding such treaties with foreign kingdoms and States, and in adopting such other measures as, upon a view of all circumstances, shall be judged neces- sary for promoting the liberty, safety and interests of America, reserving to the people of this Colony the sole and exclusive right of regulating the inter- nal government and policy of the same." These in- structions were adopted by the Assembly, June 14, 1776, and were a powerful auxiliary in promoting Geokge Taylor. 75 the passage of tlie Declaration on the 4th of the ensuing month. The approbation of Pennsylvania was only obtained by the casting vote of the Hon. John Morton. On the 20th of July the Pennsyl- vania Assembly proceeded to a new choice of Eep- resentatives, and those who had opposed the pas- sage of the Declaration were dropped from the rolls, and in their stead were appointed Messrs. Taylor, Eoss, Clymer, Eush and Smith. The Declaration was passed and proclaimed July 4, but the copy engrossed on parchment was not prepared until nearly a month after. The gentlemen named above, although not present at its formal passage, had the honor of affixing their names to it August 2, 1776, at which time it was signed by the members gen- erally. In his Congressional career George Taylor was noted for his sagacity, decision, patriotism, and fine executive powers. In March, 1777, he retired from Congress and repaired to Easton, where he concentrated his energies in recuperating his private fortune, and with very great success. He never en- tered the political arena or the legislative hall after- wards. It was glory enough for him to see his once subjugated and impoverished country swiftly and surely developing into an honorable position among the nations of the earth ; and it was the crown- ing honor of his whole life to be permitted to sign his honest name to the Magna Charta of our liber- ties. He died on the 23d of February, 1781, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. JAMES WILSON, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Student in the schools of Edinburgh and St. Andrew^ tutor in the Philadelphia College^ memher of the Bar J delegate to the Provincial Convention of the State^ elected to Congress^ and Advocate General for France in America — Accusations sufficiently dis- proved hy history. TO the multitude the name of James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, is not a familiar one. Many others, far less deserving, have been perpetuated in history under the misnomer of fame. To the well- versed student of genei^l jurisprudence and the in- telligent reader of our primitive Colonial and Revo- lutionary times, his name and fame are familiar, and to such he needs no special introduction. Born in 1742, in Scotland, the home of Wallace and Bruce, of Burns and Sir Walter Scott, the abode of stub- born but consistent theology, cultivated fiction and gentle song, he was fortunate in securing very great educational advantages. His father resided in the neighborhood of St. Andrew's, and although not wealthy, was possessed of that moderate competency which, when coupled with a contented disposition, is oftentimes more productive of real comfort than the inheritance of a kingdom. Within the classic (76) James Wilson. 77 walls of the celebrated schools of Edinburgh and St. Andrew's, young Wilson, taking advantage of fortuitous circumstances, studied with an untiring will and received a superior education. James Wil- son was a natural-born republican and a lover of free institutions. At the age of twenty-four he resolved to leave his native land and seek fortune and fame in the wilderness of America. In the spring of 1766 he arrived in the city of Philadelphia, with a fall supply of recommendations from prominent men in Scotland to leading men here. He was not long in securing a position, for in less than three months after his arrival he was appointed tutor in the Phila- delphia College, where he remained for some time, and was recognized as one of the most efficient clas- sical scholars that had ever been identified with the institution. By assiduous application to his pro- fessional duties, the cultivation of a good character, and possessing genial, fascinating personal manners, he attracted the attention of some of the leading men of the metropolis, who were generously await- ing to afford him any facilities required to promote his success. By the joint influence of the learned and good Bishop White and Judge Peters, he was afforded an opportunity of entering the office of the celebrated lawyer, John Dickinson, who received his own professional training at the Temple, in London, and was widely known as a writer of mark and a most profound jurist. Dickinson was the author of the celebrated " Farmer's Letters," written in 1767- 78 Continental Sketches. 68, and although his pohtical history is somewhat blurred by his peculiar views in relation to the pas- sage of the Declaration of Independence, he was in the main a sound, loyal man, possessing a highly cultivated mind, refined taste, habitual eloquence, and polished elegance of manners. Young Wilson was fortunate in securing such a worthy preceptor, and for two years he applied himself to his legal studies with great zeal and industry. Immediately after his admission to the bar he left Philadelphia and settled in Heading, at that time a very small, retired village. He remained there, however, but a short time, and then removed to the venerable borough of Carlisle, in Cumberland County, where he practiced with very great success for several years and acquired the reputation of being a most eminent counsellor. He removed afterwards to An- napolis, Md., whence he came to Philadelphia in 1778, where he continued permanently to reside during the remainder of his life. In 1774 he was a member of the Provincial Convention of Penn- sylvania, and, in connection with Mr. Dickinson, was nominated as a delegate to Congress. Both, however, were defeated through the manipulation and intrigue of Speaker Galloway, a gentleman of very strongly suspected loyalty, who afterwards allied himself with the British when they occupied Phila- delphia. In the following year Mr. Wilson was elected to Congress, and took his seat in that body May 10, 1775. Here he remained for two years. James Wilson. 79 doing good official duty, wlien he was removed through the intense partisan feeling then prevailing. In the fall of 1782, however, he was re-elected, and took his seat January 2, 1783. Mr. Wilson was at this particular period in the very zenith of his pro- fessional glory, and was considered by all odds the best lawyer in the whole Commonwealth. At that time a serious controversy was going on between Pennsylvania and Connecticut about the proper title to certain valuable lands claimed by the latter State and located within the charter boundary of the former. In this important controversy Mr. Wilson was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council to take charge of the interests of Pennsylvania. A court of commissioners was appointed to determine the rightful claimant, and December 30, 1782, the great question came up before that body at Trenton, K J. On this occasion Mr. Wilson put forth his ablest efforts, and by a luminous and impressive argument, which occupied the attention of the court for four days, successfully carried his point, and re- ceived from the learned commission a unanimous decision in favor of the claims of Pennsylvania. As corroborative of the very high legal character enjoyed by Mr. Wilson, it may be remarked that he received at this period from the French Government the important appointment of advocate general for France in this country. He was thus commissioned June 5, 1779, and for two years performed its re- quirements with honor and credit, when he resigned 80 Continental Sketches. on account of some minor disagreement about his official pay. He continued, however, subsequently to transact much consular and other important busi- ness for the French government, and the King, as a slight compensation for his valuable services, gave him ten thousand livres. In addition to being an intellectual giant in his chosen profession, Mr. Wil- son was a most capable and trustworthy representa- tive of the people in Congress. He steered clear of all subsidies, bounties, and bribes, and studied well the wants and interests of his constituents. His general business habits were of a superior order, and in the committee-room, being sagacious, faith- ful, and industrious, he worked assiduously and effectually, with the quiet system of a well-regula- ted machine. Such elements, combined with strong native talent and a mind most admirably trained, produced him much fame, and, as a consequence, no little persecution. In proportion as he rose in pub- lic estimation was he calumniated and slandered by puny rivals whom he had quietly but rapidly out- run in the race for professional and political honors. " Base envy, withers at another's joy, And hates the excellence it cannot reach." Two specific charges seem to have been made by this class of humanitarians against James Wilson. He was accused of being secretly opposed to the Declaration of Independence, and also of being one of a hostile combination organized against Wash- ington in 1777. History furnishes sufficient denial James Wilson. 81 through the official records of the Government to the first charge, which was as foundationless as " the baseless fabric of a dream." On the first of July, 1776, as we have stated in a former article, when the grave question was discussed in Commit- tee of the Whole, and received the votes of all but two States, James Wilson's record is clear and un- impeachable ; he voted in the affirmative. On the memorable fourth of the same month, when the question was revived once more, Franklin, Morton, and James Wilson voted in favor of the sterling- measure, and thus secured a unanimous vote of the thirteen colonies in favor of its passage. As to the second charge, it was equally unfound- ed. The conspiracy against General Washington, which most certainly did exist, was more of a mili- tary than of a civil character. Washington, by a series of brilliant, rapid strides, reached the very summit of haman exaltation, and was justly termed the idol of the nation. The recital of his troubles at this particular period furnishes the same old story with which history abounds. As long as victory perched upon his banner his life was one continuous, magnificent ovation ; but when disaster came with its chilHng blasts and threatening clouds, the firm friends of yesterday fell thick and fast around him " like leaves in Yalumbrosa." When reverses over- took his special command. General Gates with the northern wing was acquiring additional fame by the capitulation of Saratoga; the latter, flushed with 4* 82 Continental Sketches. success, coveted the coronet another wore, and dimmed the lustre of all his military achieve- ments by the unsoldierly and unfriendly attitude he assumed towards George Washington. In this unworthy crusade he was assisted by some subordi- nate officers, and not a few members of Congress. But among them all there is no evidence whatever to implicate James Wilson, and nothing to compro- mise his reputation as a staunch friend of the great chieftain. Generals Gates and Conway were really the prime movers in the whole disgraceful con- spiracy against Washington, but the latter had a strong hold on public favor which he had gallantly and honestly earned, and a fierce reaction soon set in and once more entrenched him firmly in the affec- tions of the whole nation. Gates, whose vaulting ambition had sadly overleapt itself, dwindled into comparative obscurity, which was somewhat acceler- ated by his disastrous defeat at Camden. Conway, the champion calumniator of the period, scorned by all honorable men for his gross abuse of one who oc- cupied such a worthy and honorable place in the nation, being charged with palpable cowardice at the battle of Germantown, resigned his commission April 28, 1778, and quietly drifted into oblivion. Wilson was a brilliant member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1787, and, being a man of sagacity and foresight, a profound lawyer of great tact, and a fluent, forcible speaker, did as much as any one man in that famed body for the James Wilson. 83 creation of the Constitution under which we now exist. Nay, more, on the 23d of July, 1787, it was resolved " That the proceedings of the convention for the establishment of a National Government, except what respects the Supreme Executive, be referred to a committee for the purpose of reporting a Constitution conformably to the proceedings afore- said." Of this most important committee James Wilson was chairman, and on the 6tli of August they reported the Constitution. This was a high honor conferred on Pennsylvania, and its noble ap- pointee fulfilled his commission in a manner worthy the great Commonwealth he represented. Mr. Wil- son was subsequently a member of the State Legis- lature, when the important duty devolved upon it of ratifying the general Constitution, and here again his experience as a legislator and erudition as a law- yer made him eminently useful. After the Federal Constitution was ratified, a convention was called to make our State Constitution harmonize with that of the General Government, and Mr. Wilson was one of a committee appointed to make the necessary change, and upon him rested the task of making the draft. In corroboration of what we have before in- timated as to the good feeling existing between Washington and himself, in 1789 the former ap- pointed him a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The bench at that time was pro- verbially strong. John Jay was Chief Justice, and his colleagues were ex-Chief Justice Cushing, of 84 Continental Sketches. Massacliusetts ; ex- Chief Justice Harrison, of Mary- land (formerly one of the confidential secretaries of Washington) ; ex- Judge Blair, of Virginia ; John Rutledge, the accomplished scholar and statesman of South Carolina, and James Wilson, of Pennsyl- vania. This was an array of almost unparalleled intellectual brilliancy, but plain James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, was the peer of any man who sat in that court. He officiated in this high and honora- ble position for nine years. While attending court as a United States Circuit Judge in 1798, in Eden- ton, North Carolina, he was taken suddenly ill and died there, aged fifty-six years. Judge Wilson was a man about six feet in stature, of fine personal ap- pearance and graceful demeanor. He was a shining member of the Philadelphia bar in its comparative infancy, and as a citizen and gentleman was noted for his graceful courtesy and genial hospitality. He was always distinguished for great integrity of char- acter and an inviolate regard for truth. He was twice married, and many of his honorable descend- ants are yet living in the States of New York and Pennsylvania. HON. GEORGE ROSS, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW. The result of fifteen years' practice in Lancaster county — Prosecutor to the King and Representa- tive to the Pennsylvania Assembly — Points in his career as a Legislator — An ardent supporter of the demand for a General Congress — Member of the Committee of Grievances and of the General Con- vention^ (&c., dhc. THIS gentleman, whose name is the last of the Pennsylvania delegation affixed to the Declara- tion of Independence, was the son of the Eev. George Eoss, rector of the Episcopal church in the old town of New Castle, Delaware. He was born in 1730, and his youth was characterized by an unusual fond- ness for literature and thirst for learning. His worthy father, a gentleman of culture and educa- tion, accorded to the son every advantage his cir- cumstances would permit to develop and improve his literary tastes. Fortified by cherished home principles and the best educational facilities the vil- lage could afford, young Eoss, at the early age of eighteen, enrolled himself as a law student in the office of his brother, John Eoss, Esq., at that time a promising lawyer in the city of Philadelphia. After devoting three years of untiring study to his (85) 86 Continental Sketches. new profession he determined to risk his fortune in the old frontier town of Lancaster, at that time near the western limits of civilization. He timidly shrunk from the formidable competition of the Philadelphia bar, which, even at that early day, strange as it may seem, was in the very zenith of its professional glory, including in its membership the most brilliant law- yers of the whole country. George Eoss went to the Far West in Lancaster county, armed and equipped with a good character and a superior edu- cation, and Knked his youthful fortune with the humble, honest yeomanry of that distant land, now accessible in two hours by rail from Philadelphia. He settled there in 1751, and soon married Miss Ann Lawler, an accomplished and cultivated young lady residing in his newly adopted home. For fifteen long years he devoted his undivided time and energies to his profession, intellectual capi- tal well invested, producing him in return a large and lucrative practice, and for a short term the honorable local office of prosecutor to the King. During all this time he eschewed politics, entering its fascinating arena in 1768, when he was elected a Eepresentative from Lancaster county to the Penn- sylvania Assembly, taking his seat in October of the same year. He remained in this position for several consecutive years, and won the respect of his colleagues of all pohtical shades, and the appro- bation of an inteUigent constituency. Whilst there he made the Indian question a special study. This George Koss. 87 theme was as vexatious a one in old as it has been in modern times, and was a subject of constant anx- iety to the province, producing oftentimes very great differences between the Assembly and the Govern- ors. It was a sort of standing controversial ques- tion for the political magnates to fall back upon when they had a superabundance of leisure time, which was very often the case. The Governor fre- quently interfered in the matter in an arbitrary and injudicious manner, his motives being good, but his suggestions being impracticable and decidedly im- politic. On one occasion he recommended in his message an increase of the garrison at Fort Pitt. The Assembly were marked in their opposition to this, and their reply, couched in respectful but em- phatic language, was prepared by Koss, of Lancas- ter. "We all know," it recites, "that from the first settlement of the province, down to the late French and Indian war, the most perfect good understand- ing and friendship were preserved between this government and those people, by a conduct uniform- ly just and kind towards them ; that since the late Indian war the like happy effects have been pro- duced by the like policy, and that on the contrary the maintaining of garrisons in or near their country has been frequently an object of their jealousy and complaints. ^^^^^^^-^^ " We might offer other reasons for not concurring in sentiment with your Honor on the propriety of supporting a garrison at Fort Pitt; but, being of 88 Continental Sketches. opinion that any warlike preparations, even within our own frontier, at a time of prevailing harmony between us and the natives, may be attended with more ill than good consequences, we shall waive them as unnecessary, and content ourselves with as- suring you that we shall, and we have no doubt that all future Assemblies will be very ready, when there shall be real occasion, to afford every kind of protec- tion to the back inhabitants the circumstances of the province will allow." George Boss, however, was destined by his erudi- tion and force of character to play a more conspic- uous part, in a more comprehensive drama, than the maintainance of a petty garrison at Fort Pitt in the Western wilds of Pennsylvania. The arbitrary pro- ceedings of the British government were electrifying the nation, and creating deep, hoarse, colonial mut- terings and threats from New Hampshire to the Carolinas. The demand of Virginia and other States for the meeting of a general congress found an ardent supporter in Mr. Eoss. The resolutions making this request were received by the Pennsyl- vania Assembly on the very eve of its dissolution, and on account of their profound importance final action was postponed, and the matter referred to the succeeding Assembly. Mr. Eoss was appointed chair- man of a committee to communicate this action to the Virginia House of Delegates, which was done in a prompt and courteous manner. In July following a committee of seven on the part of the province was George Eoss. 89 appointed to meet the other colonial delegates at a time and place to be determined. The instructions to this committee by a singular coincidence were drafted by Ross himself, and were positive and con- cise, giving the honorable appointees considerable discretion and latitude. In obedience to these in- structions he took his seat in Congress September 5, 1774, and filled the position until January, 1777, when he obtained leave of absence on account of sick- ness, and retired. His public career as a Congres- sional Representative ehcited the warmest commen- dation from his constituents, as is evidenced by the following resolutions passed by the inhabitants of old Lancaster county : Resolved^ That the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds out of the county stock be forthwith trans- mitted to George Ross, one of the members of As- sembly for this county, and one of the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress, and that he be requested to accept the same as a testimony from this county of their sense of his attendance on the public business, to his great private loss, and of their approbation of his conduct. Resolved^ That if it be more agreeable, Mr. Ross purchase with part of the said money a genteel piece of plate, one ornamented as he thinks proper, to remain with him as a testimony of the esteem this county has for him, by reason of his patriotic con- duct in the great struggle for American liberty. These resolutions, couched perhaps in plain, homely 90 Continental Sketches. phraseology, indicate a patriotic gratitude and great personal confidence on the part of the honest yeomanry of his adopted county, and their presenta- tion was exceedingly gratifying to Mr. Koss. From a positive sense of duty, however, he felt compelled to decline an acceptance of either the pounds or the plate, considering it as he remarked, " the duty of every man, and especially of every representative of the people, to contribute by every means within' his power to the welfare of his country, without ex- pecting pecuniary rewards I'''' This was considered sound doctrine in our primitive history, but its sym- metry has not only been slightly marred, but very badly damaged, in modern Legislative circles. Al- though a member of Congress, Mr. Ross was at the same time an active, influential member of the Pro- vincial Legislature. In 1775 the Governor trans- mitted a message to the House, in which he argued in favor of pacific measures as a good stroke of Colonial policy, in view of the threatening attitude assumed by the mother country. It was a common custom at that time to reply at once to the messages of the Governor, and his present action demanded a public expression of opinion by the different mem- bers. The question was whether Pennsylvania would make an humble retraction, or order an un- compromising advance. The talent of the House developed itself in a brilliant debate, and George Ross, as the leading friend of decisive measures, succeeded in securing a committee coinciding with George Eoss. ' 91 his views, and of which he was a member. This committee presented their report in courteous, but strong terms, and its reception was the signal for an exciting debate, which lasted two days, ending, however, in its adoption by twenty-two to fifteen votes. Strange, that then, as now, numerically strong minorities were always found when great national questions were involved. In the summer of 1775 something more tangible and vigorous was demanded than Legislative resolves — something more formidable than rhetorical display or paper missiles. Keenly appreciative of the crisis, the Assembly appointed Mr. Eoss, and several other worthy gentleman, as a committee to " consider and report such measures as they might think proper to place Philadelphia and the Province in a state of defence." This committee reported promptly, recommend- ing the people to associate for the protection of their lives, liberty, and property ; and strongly urg- ing upon the inhabitants of the province the import- ance of collecting stores of ammunition and arms. This was the nucleus of the celebrated Committee of Safety, afterwards formed, which did such good practical work in the early days of the Eevolution, and of which George Eoss was an active and effi- cient member. This committee was really for a time the potential executive organ of the Govern- ment, and was clothed with almost unlimited pow- ers, which it seldom, if ever, abused. He belonged 92 Continental Sketches. also to the Committee of Grievances, and was ap- pointed, with two others, to prepare rules and regu- lations for the government of the forces of the pro- vince which might be raised. On the dissolution of the Proprietary government and a substitution of a General Convention for the previous Legislature, Mr. Eoss represented Lancas- ter county in this new body, and was recognized as one of its leading members. In this sphere he was appointed to assist in preparing a declaration of rights for the State, and was chairman of two very important committees — one for framing regulations for the government of the convention ; the other for preparing an ordinance declaratory of what should be considered high treason and misprison of treason against the State, and the punishment for the same. In rehearsing briefly the salient points in the career of this distinguished man we notice his great capa- city for labor ; his untiring industry, as proven by his voluminous work as a committee-man ; his ster- ling integrity, and his genial, unostentatious man- ners, all indicating a happy blending of the incorrupt- ible statesman and the Colonial patriot. Mr. Eoss was well versed in the law, and before the Eevolution took high rank in his profession. On its inaugura- tion and during its continuance his sphere was chang- ed from that of mere local subordinate provincial judicature to a higher plane involving the consider- ation and solution of great and grave national ques- tions. His compeers were gifted, high-toned honor- George Ross. 93 able gentlemen — James Wilson, then of Carlisle, Biddle of Reading, Read, Attorney General Sergent, and Lewis, formed a brilliant legal constellation, eminently worthy the growing fame of the young Colony. Mr. Ross was appointed a judge of the Court of Admiralty for Pennsylvania, April 14, 1779. In July of the same year he died at Lancas- ter, in the fiftieth year of his age. THE DASHING ANTHONY WAYNE. A man whose military genius never deserted him — The hero of Ticonderoga, Brandywine^ German- town^ Monmouth^ and other sanguinary battles of the Revolution^ portrayed — Stony Point — " Fort and garrison are ours " — The Pennsylvania Gen- eral's movements in the memorable campaign against Cornwallis. "Oh for the swords of former time, Oh for the men who bore them, When armed for right, they stood sublime And tyrants crouched before them ?" AMONG the gallant men who participated in our Revolutionary struggle, covering themselves with glory, honestly earning the gratitude of poster- ity, and disarming the criticism of the historian, was the distinguished Pennsylvanian, General Anthony Wayne. From the very incipiency of the war to its brilliant termination, when peace returned "with healing on her wings and majesty in her beams," his career was that of an honest patriot and a bold, dashing cavalier, his whole life a thrilling tableau of peril and glory. The mihtary genius of the man never deserted him, but gained lustre with age, spark- ling brilliantly at Ticonderoga and Brandy wine, and bursting forth in a blaze of glory on the historic and (94) Anthony Wayne. 95 sanguinary battle-fields of Germantown and Mon- mouth. Major General Anthony Wayne was born at Waynesboro, Chester county, Pa., January 1, 1745. His father was a native of the same county — an intelligent, thrifty farmer — and for several years was an honorable member of the Colonial General Assembly prior to the Kevolution. His grandfather, a fine specimen of the old English gen- tleman, was a native of Yorkshire, and commanded a squadron at the battle of the Boyne, shortly after which engagement he emigrated to America. An- thony received his primary education at Phila- delphia, and at the early age of 18 was so proficient as a land surveyor as to attract the attention of Dr. Franklin, who selected him to superintend the man- agement of a projected settlement in Nova Scotia, which position, however, he never accepted. In 1773 he was returned as a member of the As- sembly from his native county, in which position he proved himself not only an advanced friend of free institutions, but exhibited considerable talent as a legislator, the fruition of which was only thwarted by the startling military developments in which he subsequently played so conspicuous a part. On all proper occasions he opposed with consummate abil- ity and tact the encroachments of the mother coun- try upon our reserved rights, and did much towards shaping the opinion of his native State in relation to the contemplated outbreak which might burst forth at any moment from the smouldering Vesuvius of an 96 Continental Sketches. excited public sentiment. In 1775 he was married, and settling down on his little estate, was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety, in which sphere he gave considerable attention to military drill and tactics; indeed, all his military education was received in this primitive school. The same year he was authorized to raise a regiment in Ches- ter county, and such was his personal magnetism, combined with his great energy, that the trust was fulfilled in less than two weeks. Soon after, he was detached from his original command and ordered to Canada under General Thompson, where he covered the retreat of the provincial forces at Three Kivers, in which movement General Thompson was taken prisoner, and young Wayne was severely wounded. At Ticonderoga, in 1776, he displayed great cour- age and skill, and was a special favorite of General Gates, who complimented him on his personal brav- ery and eminent ability as an engineer. At Bran- dy wine he gave another magnificent exhibition of that matchless courage which is as natural to some men as cowardice is to others, brilliantly and suc- cessfully opposing for a long time the progress of the enemy at Chadd's Ford. Public sentiment, fickle as the winds, and oftentimes unreliable as it is excitable, demoralized by the repeated defeats of the National arms, forced the battle of Brandy wine at a most unpropitious time. Military authority protested in vain against the conflict, which event- uated in an unfortunate but not discreditable result. Anthony Wayne. 97 In this engagement the Americans were inferior in numbers, discipline and arms, bat not lacking in that thrilling valor which afterwards exhibited itself on so many bloody battle-fields. The ground was bravely fought inch by inch, and although par- tial defeat was our fate, the rank and file were be- guiled with the flattering theory so common under similar circumstances in our late civil war, that the enemy lo^t as many as ourselves. The American commander-in-chief determined to hazard another battle at the first opportunity, and as a preliminary step, detached General Wayne with his division of braves, with instructions to harrass the foe by every means in his power. The British troops were drawn up near the old town of Tredyffrin, and Wayne's small force was located about three miles in the rear of their left wing, near the old Paoli tavern. Notwithstanding he had taken all reasonable precautionary measures to warrant comparative safety, about 11 o'clock on the night of September 20th his pickets came flying in, hotly pursued by the British troops under Gen- eral Gray. The night was fearfully dark, and the American troops were aroused from their peaceful dreams only to meet the fixed bayonets of the ruth- less invaders. For a time Wayne and his valiant men fought desperately, but were soon compelled to succumb to superior numbers, and beat a retreat. In a short time he reformed his line a little distance from the original engagement, and found that as a 5 98 Continental Sketches. sad result of the midnight surprise he had lost, in an engagement not lasting over one hour, one hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. The blighting tongue of slander, and the freezing envy of the line, anxious to detract from the rapidly -growing fame of the intrepid young commander, whose pathway was already golden with bright promises of the future, attempted to hold him responsible for the unfortunate defeat at Paoli. He at once demanded a court-martial, which was promptly granted, and, after a full hearing of the facts, he was honorably acquitted by the finding that he had done everything "consistent with the character of an active, brave, and efficient officer." He lost victory, but not repu- tation, at the midnight slaughter of Paoli. A chaste, substantial monument marks the spot where the brave men fell on the night of September 20, 1777. Soon afterwards he gained additional fame by his gallant action at the battle of Germantown, where he led his men into the very heart of the fight with an abandon almost amounting to positive reckless- ness, having one horse shot under him, another as he was mounting him, receiving himself almost at the same moment wounds in his left foot and left hand. Although a valiant warrior in the field, Greneral Wayne was distinguished in the councils of war for his great prudence and foresight. Before the bat- tle of Monmouth the only two officers really in favor of an aggressive movement were the two distin- Anthony Wayne. 99 guished young Pennsylvania generals, Wayne and Cadwalader. The other American officers were in- fluenced and controlled by the opinions of Baron Steuben and Generals Du Portail and Lee, who vehe- mently opposed an engagement at the time as hazard- ous in the extreme. Washington, though warmly attached to these distinguished foreigners, and emi- nently grateful for their valuable assistance, dissent- ed from their theory in this matter and approved that of Calwalader and Wayne, resulting in an en- gagement so highly honorable to American arms and valor. Here once more Wayne was conspicu- ous for the ardor of his attack, as Washington makes mention in his official report to Congress. He says: "Were I to conclude my account of this day's transaction Avithout expressing my obligations to the officers of the army in general, I should do injustice to their merits and violence to my own feelings. They seemed to vie with each other in manifesting their zeal and bravery. The catalogue of those who distinguished themselves is too long to admit of par- ticularizing individuals, but T cannot forbear men- tioning Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, whose good conduct and bravery throughout the whole en- gagement deserves particular commendation." An exceptional reference of this kind from such an im- partial and distinguished source is, perhaps, the very highest compliment any man could receive. Per- haps the finest exhibition of combined skill and dash in the eventful life of General Wayne was de- 100 Continental Sketches. veloped in the storming of Stony Point, July 15, 1779. Having conceived the design, Washington prudently and wisely committed its execution to Wayne, in whom he had unlimited confidence. Stony Point was a very formidable fort on the Hud- son, its base being washed on one side by the waters of that beautiful river. The other sides were pro- tected by an extensive morass, over which there was but a single crossing place. This fine, natural posi- tion was surrounded with frowning batteries of artil- lery, heavy breastworks, and an almost impenetrable circle of skillfully prepared abattis. To make assur- ance doubly sure, and render this strong position perfectly impregnable, three British men-of-war were in the river below, the guns of which commanded the entire surroundings of the base of the hill. On the 15th of July General Wayne marched from Sandy Beach, arriving at 8 P. M. within a short distance of the fort, where he halted to perfect his prelimi- nary arrangements for the terrific assault. It was a bold task, but the perilous enterprise was in the hands of a bold man. At 11 o'clock, at the head of his column, he commenced the advance, the com- mand having unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, intent upon victory or death. The fort was carried by storm, without the firing of a gun. The garri- son consisted of six hundred men. Of these, five hundred and forty -three were made prisoners, the balance being killed in the conflict. The intrepid leader, who always led and never followed, was in Anthony Wayne. 101 the very centre of the desperate hand-to-hand fight, and, while encouraging the men of Febinger's regi- ment, of which he had command, was wounded in the head by a musket ball. As he fell, he thought the wound was mortal, and requested of his gallant comrades to be carried forward that he might die within the walls of the fort they had so nobly won. A faint conception of the fierceness of the encounter may be gathered from the fact that of the twenty men detailed as a "forlorn hope" to remove the abattis, seventeen were killed. For his bravery on this occasion, justly considered the most brilliant victory of the whole war. Congress presented Gen- eral Wayne with a costly gold medal, emblematic of the action. His report of the battle was com- municated to his Commander-in-Chief in the follow- ing laconic letter : Stony Point, July 16, 1779, ) 2 o'clock A. M. ) Dear General:— The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours. The officers and men behaved like men determined to be free. Yours most sincerely, Anthony Wayne. To General Washington, In 1781 he bore a conspicuous part in the mem- orable campaign which resulted in the surrender of Cornwallis. The British having made considerable advance in Georgia, Washington dispatched Wayne there to take command and bring matters up to a respectable standard. After a series of sanguinary 102 Continental Sketches. skirmislies and battles, he brought order out of chaos and established general security within the borders of the whole State. The Georgians were very grateful for his valuable services, and their Legislature gave him a valuable farm, as a slight testimonial of their esteem. Peace being declared, shortly after this he returned to his quiet home in Chester county. In 1789 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Leg- islature, and a great friend of the Federal Consti- tution. In 1792 he was appointed to succeed Gen- eral St. Clair in command of the army engaged against the Indians on our western frontier. He succeeded not only in driving them back, but oc- cupied their territory by a chain of military posts, thus effectually checking all future predatory in- cursions, and holding the ground as he won it. After a year of rough, dangerous border warfare with an unscrupulous foe, he compelled them to suc- cumb to his iron will and sue for a definite treaty of peace, which he concluded with them. He died, December 14, 1796, aged fifty-one years, at Fort Presque, then a far-off western post on the outskirts of civiHzation, now the beautiful young city of Erie. Some time afterwards his remains were exhumed by a devoted son, and removed to the quiet borders of his native county, where they were subsequently sur- mounted by a marble monument of symmetry and beauty, the grateful offering of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati. Granite, bronze, or marble never covered the grave of a braver man Anthony Wayne. 103 than Anthony "Wayne of Chester county. He won and preserved through life the love and esteem of George Washington. To his great natural mihtary genius he added the ardent enthusiasm of genuine patriotism ; and whether we view him as a stripling on the Canadian frontier, or as a bronzed veteran among the palmettoes of the South,. or fighting the local Kevolutionary battles of our own latitude, we find him one of the most remarkable military men of Revolutionary times, worthy the gratitude of the nation, and one of whom every Pennsylvanian may well be proud. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. WE shall not attempt minutely to delineate the character of General St. Clair. His his- tory is intimately connected with our early Colonial era, and from 1760 to 1812 we find him the recipient of high military and civil positions, the subject of caustic criticism and censure, and, at times, the grand central figure of that popular idolatry which always kneels and worships at the shrine of success. His whole life is an epitome of victories and defeats, wealth and poverty, gilded promises and blasted hopes. Although for half a century intimately identified with the development and progress of Pennsylvania, Arthur St. Clair was not a native of that colony, but was born at Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, in 1734. He was grandson of the Earl of Eoslyn, and studied medicine with the celebrated John Hunter. By the death of his mother he in- herited a handsome estate, and, abandoning his pro- fessional studies, he purchased an Ensigncy in the 60th Foot, May 13, 1757. He came to America with Boscawen's fleet in 1758, and served under Amherst at the capture of Louisburg. fie was made a Lieu- tenant, April 17, 1759, and gained great distinction by his intrepid valor under General Wolfe at Quebec, (104) Arthur St. Clair. 105 during tlie same year. On May 14, 1760, he mar- ried Phebe, a daughter of Balthazar Bayard and Mary Bowdoin, a half sister of Governor James Bowdoin. On April 16, 1762, he resigned his com- mission, and two years after purchased an estate in Ligonier valley, at that time on the very outskirts of civilization in Pennsylvania. Here he perma- nently located his family, erected large mills, and gave his undivided attention to manufactures and other industrial pursuits. After residing here for several years he was appointed surveyor of the old Cum- berland district, and in 1770 was made a member oi the proprietary council. In 1771 he was appointed a justice and recorder for Bedford county, and in 1773 received similar appointments for Westmore- land county. In 1775 he was appointed Colonel of militia, and in the fall of that year he accompanied, as Secretary, Commissioners James Wilson, Lewis Morris and Dr. Walker to confer and treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt. On January 3, 1776, he was made a Colonel in the Continental army, with power to raise a regiment to serve in Canada. In six weeks after this authority was granted he was ready with his troops to take the field, and, as Colonel of the 2d Pennsylvania regiment, on March 2, 1776, his gallant command took up their line of march to the north- ern wilds of Canada. After the disastrous termi- nation of the Three Kivers affair he very materially aided General Sullivan in saving his entire army from capture. He was appointed Brigadier General, *5 106 Continental Sketches. August 9, 1776, and Major General, February 19, 1777. In January, 1776, lie resigned numerous civil offices he had held, and, joining "Washington in November of the same year, he was at once ap- pointed to organize the New Jersey Militia. In council, on the night of January 2, 1777, he recom- mended the flank movement which precipitated the battle of Princeton, in which historic engagement he rendered material and effective service by pro- tecting the fords at Assumpink. For a short time he now officiated as Adjutant General of the army, and in March succeeded General Gates in command at Philadelphia. On April 1, 1777, he took com- mand at Ticonderoga. The result of this unfortu- nate affair is well known to every intelligent reader of American history. On the night of July 4, 1777, he was compelled to evacuate the fort, his command being totally inadequate to its defence. Although his garrison of 2,000 men was badly equipped, he was sanguine of holding the post, but the forces of General Burgoyne having obtained possession of Sugar Hill, which was improperly fortified, secured a commanding position, and St. Clair was compelled to withdraw his forces precipitately, which was done with a heavy loss. From this date he lost popular favor as a military leader. Public sentiment was divided in relation to the matter, but St. Clair never fully recovered from the disaster of tliat dull heavy night at Ticonderoga. He was court-martialed and officially vindicated. The court met in September, Arthur St. Clair. 107 1778, and declared " that Major General St. Clair is with the highest honor acquitted of the charges against him." Though not officially employed, and being a warm personal friend of General Washing- ton, the latter retained him on his military staff at Brandj^wine, September 11, 1777. He also assisted General Sullivan in preparing the expedition against the Six Nations, and was one of the commissioners to arrange a cartel with the British at Amboy, March 9, 1780. On August 1st of the same year, he was appointed to command a corps of light in- fantry in the absence of General Lafayette. He was also a member of the court-martial which con- demned Major Andre. He was active in raising and forwarding troops to the South, and in October joined Washington, and participated in the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. After the declaration of peace. General St. Clair returned to the State of his adoption, and took up his residence once more amid the wilds of Ligonier. He at once was the recip- ient of high civil honors. In 1783 he was a mem- ber of the Pennsylvania Council of Censors, and was a Delegate to Congress from November 2, 1785, to November 28, 1787. During the latter portion of his term he was elected presiding officer of that highly-distinguished and honorable body. In 1786 he was chosen a member of the American Philo- sophical Society, and on February 1, 1788, was ap- pointed Governor of the North Western Territory. In January, 1790, he fixed the seat of justice at 108 Continental Sketches. Cincinnati ; giving that ^place its name^ in honor of the Society of which he was the Pennsylvania Presi- dent in 1783-9. His mihtary career now seemed to brighten temporarily; and on March 4, 1790, he was appointed General-in-Chief of the Army. He shortly after moved against the Indians of the Miami and the Wabash. The proximity of the foe was communicated to General Bntler, second in com- mand, but not directly to General St. Clair. At sunrise, on the morning of the 4th, a vigorous attack was made by the Indians, and in spite of St. Clair's heroic efforts, he met with an overwhelming defeat, and lost 600 out of a force of 1,400 men. A committee of investigation, appointed by Congress, completely vindicated him, but the popular jury never did. The memory of Ticonderoga was re- vived, and his military fame was now irrevocably lost. He resigned his military position, March 5, 1792, and on November 22, 1802, he was removed by President Jefferson from his position as Gov- ernor of the Northwestern Territory. He had many friends, and, like all positive men, numerous enemies. He had many virtues, and perhaps some vices, but he was bold, brave and generous, possessing the fine courtesy of a cultivated gentleman, and the blunt dignity of a gallant soldier. After his removal from office, he retired to a small log cabin on the summit of Chestnut Eidge, in Westmoreland county, where he spent the balance of his days in compara- tive poverty. In 1813 the Legislature of Pennsylva- f I Akthue St. Claik. 109 nia granted him an annuity of $400, and a short time prior to his death he received a pension from the United States Government of sixty dollars per month. He published a "Narrative of his Cam- paign in 1791," which excited some attention and considerable comment. He died at Greensbnrg, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1818. THOS. MIFFLIN, SOLDIER-STATESMAN. From the counting-house into the arena of party pol- itics — A member of the first Congress^ Quartermaster General in the American Army^ banished from all the church privileges of the Friends^ and President of the body to which Washington tendered his res- ignation as commander of the victorious forces. THOMAS MIFFLIN, the soldier- statesman, who wore with becoming grace and modesty the passants of a major-general and the laurels of many an honorable civil position in our primitive history, was born in Philadelphia, in 1744. His parents oc- cupied commanding social positions, were Quakers in their religious faith, scrupulously jealous of their church tenets, and strict disciplinarians. His early life was surrounded by those advantages and luxu- ries incident to all well-regulated households where religion and culture shed their benign influence. His education was entrusted to the Rev. Dr. Smith, provost of the University, a profound scholar and ac- complished gentleman. For more than forty years, indeed, during his whole life, he was connected by terms of warm friendship and cordial intimacy with his honored preceptor. Of ardent temperament, sanguine disposition, and active impulses, young Mifflin, in very early life, zealously opposed the en- (110) Thomas Mifflin. Hi croaching legislation of the British Parliament upon our reserved rights. His father, intending to make him a merchant, placed him in the counting-room of Mr. WilKam Coleman, one of the leading merchants of Philadelphia at that time, a most estimable man, and an intimate friend and companion of Dr. Frank- lin. He became restive, however, under the restric- tions and limitations of commercial life, and yearned for the excitement of public position, where his ner- vous ambition could have a wider sphere of opera- tion. When the dark clouds of war hovered over the defenceless and impoverished Colonies, threaten- ing them with the deluge of extermination, although many hearts palpitated with fear, and others suc- cumbed to the potentiality of selfishness, the clarion voice of the ardent, eloquent young Pennsylvanian gave forth no uncertain sound. With the self-reli- ance of an accomplished athlete, he bounded at once into the arena of party politics, and in 1774 was elected a member of the first Congress. In this posi- tion his loyal utterances, always pointed and un- equivocal, fairly electrified his auditors by their for- cible delivery. All positive men have this redeem- ing quality — that you always know in great crises just where to find them. Morally considered, the positively bad man is perhaps the inferior of the negatively good one, but both are comparatively use- less when great deeds are to be accomplished. Known mischiefs have their cure, but doubts have none ; And better is despair than fruitless hope mix'd with a kill- ing fear. 112 Continental Sketches. Thomas Mifflin was a man of pronounced individ- uality, and his devotion to a principle was so intense that neither Church, State, nor social considerations could prevail to mar his judgment or cripple his honest convictions. He was among the very first commissioned officers of the Continental army, having been appointed Quartermaster-General in 1775. Adhering most consistently to their avowed principles, his Quaker brethren, astounded at his warlike proclivities, gave him a ticket- of-leave, and banished him from all Church privileges. Not blessed with the heritage of a calm, cool tempera- ment, he became restless under what he considered the tardy prosecution of the war, and on several oc- casions was unjustly severe in his strictures on this point, reflecting bitterly and unwisely on his supe- rior officer, the Commander-in-chief. This, however, was more an error of the head than the heart, amply compensated for in the future by the zeal with which he labored for the good of the general cause, and his many subsequent exhibitions of kindness to Wash- ington personally. He was President of Congress at Annapolis, when the the latter tendered his res- ignation as commander of the American forces. This interesting event, perhaps the most impressive and sublime in our national history, occurred on the 23d of December, 1783. All preliminary arrange- ments had been made by order of Congress, and, in obedience to the same, the great Commander-in-chief, the bronzed and victorious warrior, who for eight Thomas Mifflin. 113 years had not slept beneath the roof of his humble home in "Virginia, was formally admitted to the Con- gress of the nation, to sheath his sword and resign his commission. He moved into the audience-cham- ber of the nation he had saved with that quiet grace and majestic presence for which he was so proverbial, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of the as- sembled multitude. After he was seated, the Pre- sident, General Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, politely in- timated that they were prepared to receive his com- munications. In a brief but appropriate speech, delivered with great feeling to a tearful audience, he congratulated them felicitously on the happy ter- mination of the w^ar, and indicated a desire to resign at once into the hands of Congress the important trust committed to him. "I consider it," he elo- quently concluded, "an indispensable duty to close this last act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superinten- dence of them to His holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the theatre of action, and bidding an aff'ectionate fare- well to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the emoluments of public life." He then gracefully stepped forward a few paces, and delivered into the hands of the President his com- mission and a copy of his address. General Mifflin, who was a brilliant orator, briefly replied, review- 114 Continental Sketches. ing in his happiest ettb rt the great career brought to a close. "The glory of your virtues," he con- cluded, " will not terminate with your military com- mand ; it will continue to animate the remotest ages. We join with you in commending the interests of the country to Almighty God, beseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to im- prove the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you we ad- dress to Him our warmest prayers that a life so beloved may be fostered with all His care, that your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious, and that He will finally give you that reward which this world cannot bestow." General Mifflin asserte d .his own true, heroic manhood in his eloquent re- sponse on this most memorable occasion. Although a decided partisan, he never dealt in that coarse abuse and bitter invective so characteristic of his political friends at the close of Washington's Presi- dential career. We are apt to imagine nowadays that party fealty imperiously demands scurrilous abuse of an honest opponent, simply because he dif- fers from us in sentiment or opinion. This license, which certainly has scope enough in modern politics, is but a dim shadow of the slimy original in the period referred to, when Frenau, Bache, Genet, Tom Paine, and even Jackson and Jefferson, poured forth such torrents of abuse against the personal and offi - cial character of Washington that their reproduc - tion is painful to the historian and distasteful to the Thomas Mifflin. 115 intelligent reader. In 1787 we find the name of Thomas Mifflin affixed to the Federal Constitution, promulgated by the historic convention of which he was so prominent and distinguished a member. In reviewing its deliberations and debates, we find him a leading participant in all the discussions incident to the many grave questions then under considera- tion. His utterances and opinions had great weight, supported as they always were by an irresistible array of facts, and delivered in eloquent style, well calculated to wield immense influence in any organic political body. In October, 1788, he succeeded Dr. Franklin as President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, which position he occupied until October, 1790. He presided over the Consti- tutional Convention which met in September of the same year, and by that body was chosen the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served three terms as Governor, extending from 1790 to 1799. During the insurrection of 1794 he utilized his marked oratorical powers to the great advantage of the nation and the State. His earnest, natural, stirring appeals always met with a hearty response from the masses. The imperfections of the militia laws of Pennsylvania were oftentimes more than compensated for by the personal magnetism and thrilling eloquence of her distinguished Chief Mag- istrate, who was as potential in peace as he was formidable in war. Governor Mifflin died in Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1800, in the fifty- 116 Continental Sketches. seventh year of his age. His life was a stormy, eventful one, producing for him many friends, and not a few enemies. Perhaps the only stain resting upon his reputation was his identification with the celebrated " Conway cabal," a politico-military con- spiracy to have General Gates supersede General Washington in command of the American army. Governor Mifflin lived long enough after the failure of the enterprise to see his error, and made all the reparation he could consistent with the feelings of an honorable man. His courage and patriotism were undoubted, his statesmanship was of a high order, and his private character was without spot or blemish. GENERAL WILLIAM IRVINE. A Zealous Patriot^ Judicious Statesman^ and Con- scientious Executor of all Public Trusts — Scholastic and Literary Attai7iments of a High Order — The Meetings Preliminary to the Historic Provincial Convention at Philadelphia in July of 1774 — With the Army in Canada — An Unsuccessful Attempt to Surprise the Vanguards of the British Forces at Trois Rivieres^ &c. WILLIAM IRVINE was born at Fermanagh, Ireland, November 3, 1741. Possessed of a strong, clear, penetrating mind, admirably balanced, he was a zealous patriot, a judicious statesman, and a conscientious executor of all public trusts com- mitted to his care. His elementary education com- menced at a grammar school at Enniskillen, and was completed at the celebrated University of Dublin. His scholastic and literary attainments were of a high order, and, soon after graduating, he adopted the profession of medicine, which he studied earn- estly for several years in the office of the celebrated Dr. Cleghorn. He was soon appointed surgeon on board a man-of-war, and honorably served in that capacity during part of the war of 1756-63 between Great Britain and France. On the declaration of (117) 118 Continental Sketches. peace in 1763 he emigrated to the United States, and in 1764, attracted by the number and character of his countrymen who had settled along the southern border of Pennsylvania, he located in Carlisle. Here, by superior professional skill and urbane manners, he soon commanded public confidence and secured a large and lucrative practice. He remained at Car- lisle ten years, and deserted his successful profession- al field only at the beginning of our Eevolutionary difficulties, his sympathies and feelings being strong- ly enlisted from the first in favor of the struggling Colonies. Political controversies at that time were particularly bitter and acrimonious in Pennsylvania, requiring combined tact and prudence to promote harmony in the solution of grave colonial and na- tional questions. Great wisdom and adroit states- manship were in constant requisition to counteract the evil results arising from certain peculiar con- scientious scruples which disaffected several of the religious sects ; national prejudices, inseparable from a population of mixed habits, languages, and nation- alities ; and lastly, proprietary influence, which, through the multiplied channels of relatives, agents, and a whole army of subordinate officials, permeated the entire Colony, addressing itself alternately to the hopes and fears of the community. In such an unpromising crisis as this Mr. Irvine, by his ster- ling worth and judicious conservatism, contributed no little to pilot his adopted State through her poli- tical straits into an honorable harbor. Impelled by Geneeal William Irvine. 119 an honest love of State and country, and in order to consummate some specific and decisive measures, a preliminary meeting of distinguished gentlemen from various points in Pennsylvania convened at Philadelphia, June 18, 1774. Other meetings of a like character were held simultaneously in the dif- ferent counties of the Colony, eventuating in the historic Provincial Convention which met in Phila- delphia on July 15 of the same year. This latter body recommended a general Congress, denounced the Boston Port Bill as unconstitutional, and declar- ed their willingness and determination to make any sacrifice necessary for the vindication and support of American rights. Mr. Irvine was a representa- tive from Carlisle in this convention until January 10, 1776, at which time he was authorized by Con- gress to organize and command a regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. The appointee was a man of rapid movements and ripe executive capacity, and, in less than five months from the date of his origi- nal instructions, raised, clothed, and equipped the 6th Battalion of State troops, and was at once ordered with his command to join the army in Canada. He immediately marched to the mouth of the Sorrel river, and on June 10, 1776, united with General Thompson's brigade in an unsuccessful attempt to surprise the vanguard of the British forces station- ed at Trois Kivieres. In this gallant but unfortu- nate enterprise the commanding general. Colonel Irvine, and about two hundred subordinate officers 120 Continental Sketches. and privates, who constituted the very head and front of the assaulting party, were captured and promptly forwarded to Quebec. Colonel Irvine was released on parole, August 3, and, returning home, made every possible effort to secure an exchange, but owing to some misunderstanding between the two governments or their agents, this was not ac- complished until May 6, 1778, a period of almost two years. Immediately after his exchange he re - joined the army, and resumed command of his gal- lant old regiment. On May 12, 1779, he was ap- pointed a brigadier-general, and was assigned to command the 2d Brigade of the Pennsylvania Line, a corps of great and merited distinction. In July, of the same year, he was a member of the court- martial that tried General Charles Lee. He was also selected as one of the members of a court-mar- tial to try General Arnold, but was objected to by that officer. General Irvine commanded his brigade in the unsuccessful attack of General Wayne, at Bull's Ferry, July 21-22, 1780, his command bat- tling with a fiery heroism on that memorable occa- sion. He continued in charge of his fighting bri- gade until the fall of 1781, when he was detached to assume command at Pittsburgh, in defence of the Northwestern frontier, then menaced by a combined British and Indian invasion. He continued to dis- charge the onerous duties of his responsible position until October 1, 1783, some time after hostilities had terminated. After eight years of sanguinary and General William Irvine. 121 doubtful war, the bright sunlight of a joyous peace streamed through the dark, murky clouds on an im- poverished and bankrupt infant Eepublic. ** Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error. There were no need of arsenals and forts." The appoinment of General Irvine to the com- mand of the Pittsburgh district was a gratefal trib- ute to his sound judgment and executive ability. The elements he had to control were inharmonious and almost revolutionary. The frontier volunteer forces had been treated shabbily in regard to their pay, clothing, and even their subsistence. This was one prolific element of discord, and a very danger- ous one. In addition, a bitter controversy was going on between the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania in relation to certain boundary lines, and this diffi- culty was gradually assuming alarming proportions, exciting bad blood, and threatening the most disas- trous consequences. Indian difficulties were also numerous and complicated, and that general lawless- ness and mobocracy so characteristic of all border life was rampant and almost unmanageable. All these combined drawbacks, amply sufficient to stifle the efforts of ordinary administrative ability, were manipulated and controlled by General Irvine with consummate prudence and great skill, and his almost superhuman efforts were fruitful in good, practical results. In 1786, at the request of the Pennsylvania troops, 122 Continental Sketches. he was appointed by the State authorities an agent under "an act for directing the mode of distribut- ing the donation lands promised to the troops of the Commonwealth," the duties of which delicate posi- tion he discharged with honorable fidelity and im- partiality. About this time his suggestive mind in- dicated to the ruling powers of the State the great importance of acquiring by purchase from the United States a small tract of land ceded by the State of New York, and which, from its peculiar shape, was called the Triangle^ thus giving to Pennsylvania an outlet on Lake Erie. In 1787 he took his seat as a member of Congress under the Confederation, and was associated with Hayne, of South Carohna, and Gilman, of New Hampshire, as a committee to ad- just and settle between the several States certain finan- cial difSiculties created by the war. These were becoming quite complicated, and even at that early day were begetting sectional feelings and local pre- judices, threatening disintegration, perhaps domestic revolutions. Through the instrumentality of this judiciously-selected committee, all conflicting claims were compromised and harmonized on a basis satis- factory to all the claimants, and the tottering infant Eepublic fast assumed the full proportions of a well- developed manhood. General Irvine was subse- quently a member of the first State Convention to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania. As indi- cating the strong anti-monarchical feeling of that period, this grave Convention stripped the executive General William Irvine. 123 department of tlie State government of almost all its powers, privileges, and patronage. As the nat- ural sequence of such a heated and inflammatory course they ran to the other extreme, and gave to the legislative department a fearful excess of power, thus endangering the usefulness and stability they aimed to strengthen and perpetuate. He resumed his seat in Congress in the session of 1793-5. In 1794 he took command of the Pennsylvania troops to quell the "Whiskey Insurrection" in the western counties of the State, where the powers of the Na- tional Government were assailed and menaced. In March, 1801, he was appointed by President Jeffer- son superintendent of military stores in Philadelphia, and during his tenure of office was president of the "State Society of Cincinnati." He died at Phila- delphia, July 29, 1804, aged 63. He had two brothers attached to the Kevolutionary forces. Captain An- drew Irvine, of Wayne's Brigade, and Dr. Matthew Irvine, of "Lee's Legion." He had four sons sub- sequently connected with the United States army. In glancing briefly at the salient points in the life of General Irvine, one cannot fail to admire his in- flexible integrity and his very great executive ability. His judgment was never led captive by the glamour of speculation, nor was he a worshipper of fine-spun theories. A plain, practical, good man, he had the supreme respect of his superior officers in whatever sphere he was called to act, and what he did for his country and for posterity was always done well. MAJOR GENERAL MUHLENBERG. A Name most Intimately and Honorably connected not only with the Colonial but the subsequent His- tory of Pennsylvania — Young Peter as a Jolly High Private in a Crack Regiment of Imperial Dragoons — Ordained for Service in the Church — The Clerical Robes exchanged for the Uniform of a Soldier — His First Campaign in Georgia^ South Carolina^ &c. THE name of Muhlenberg is most intimately and honorably identified, not only with the Colonial, but the subsequent history of Pennsylva- nia. No family within the realm of the Common- wealth can present a more formidable exhibit of actual worth. For almost a century its representa- tive members figured conspicuously in the various spheres of theology, science, and politics. Their name and fame were not the result of a combination of fortuitous circumstances, nor were they reared on the ephemeral base of mere crude wealth. Their leading members were well-educated men, of strong moral stamina and irreproachable integrity. Their immediate ancestor, Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, D. D., the venerable patriarch of the Lutheran (124) Major General Muhlenberg. 125 Churcli in Americp., was born in Eimbeck, Hanover, September 6, 1711, and emigrated to America in 1742, as a missionary to Philadelphia. He shortly afterwards removed to the Trappe, Montgomery county, Pa., and there organized the first Lutheran synod of America — that of Pennsylvania. Dr. Muh- lenberg was a highly accomplished gentleman of chaste literary taste, a profound theologian, and for twenty years was a valued contributor to the Hal- lische Nachrichten^ at Halle, and the various literary and scientific journals of his adopted country. Gotthilf Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, D. D., a son of Henry Melchoir, was a distinguished scientist, an eloquent pulpit orator, a member of some of the prominent societies of France and Germany, but was better known in this country as a botanist. His chief works in this, his favorite department, were " Catologus Plantarum," " Gramina Americas Septentrionalis," and "Flora Lancastriensis." He lived in quiet elegance in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Another son, Frederick Augustus, was a man of fine natural ability, a polished speaker, and a supe- rior presiding officer. He officiated as a minister in New York until the British forces entered that city. He was subsequently a member of the old Congress of 1779-80, member and Speaker of the Pennsylva- nia Legislature in 1781-4, afterwards State treas- urer, and president of the convention that ratified the United States Constitution. He was also a member of Congress from 1789 to 1797, and pre- 126 Continental Sketches. siding officer of tlie First and Third Congresses. His casting vote carried Jay's treaty into effect. Henry A. Muhlenberg, clergyman and statesman, was a son of the Eev. Ernst, and for several years officiated as a clergyman at Beading, Pennsylvania ; was in Congress from 1829 to 1838; and was the candidate of the Democratic party in Pennsylvania for Governor in 1835, but was unsuccessful. In 1837 he declined the Secretaryship of the navy, also the mission to Eussia, but accepted the position of minister to Austria, which was tendered to him in 1838. Major General Peter Muhlenberg, the eldest of the three sons of Henry Melchoir, was born October 1, 1746, at the Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. The three sons were sent to Germany to receive all the advantages of a thor- ough and complete education. The early theologi- cal training which young Peter had received around the hearthstone of his gifted father was likely to prove an injudicious and unremunerative invest- ment. He soon became tired of monotonous class- ics and German metaphysics, absconded from Halle, and for over a year was a jolly high private in a crack regiment of Imperial dragoons. His fast life, however, was brief, for he soon recrossed the ocean, and returning to the " still waters and green pas- tures " of the Trappe, received a solid education at home, and was prepared for service in the Swedish Lutheran Church. His denomination deeming Epis- copal ordination necessary, he went to England in Major General Muhlenberg. 127 1772, with Bishop White, then also a candidate for holy orders, and they were ordained at the same time by the Bishop of London. Eeturning once more to his native land, he officiated as an Episco- pal minister for several years at Woodstock, Vir- ginia. At the inauguration of the Eevolution he exchanged his clerical robes for the uniform of a patriot soldier. On entering his pulpit for the last time, he told his parishioners that there was a time for all things — a time to preach and a time to fight — and now was the time to fight. After services he gracefully threw back his clerical robes, display- ing a full uniform. He then calmly and deliberate- ly read his commission as colonel, and ordered some drummer boys he held in reserve to beat up for recruits. The whole affair was theatrical and some- what sensational, but it had a magical effect, and the honest parishioners of Woodstock rallied in large numbers to the standard of the gallant young com- mander. They formed a prominent element in what was known as the German Eegiment, or Eighth Virginia, a corps eminently distinguished during the Revolution for its dash and gallantry. His first campaigns were in Georgia and South Caro- lina; and his masterly skill and undaunted bravery in their management elicited the highest commenda- tion from General Washington. Indeed, young Muhlenberg was a particular favorite of the Com- mander-in-Chief, the latter having great confidence in his coolness, decision, and valor. In February, 128 Continental Sketches. 1777, he was appointed a brigadier-general in the Eevokitionary army, and in the autumn of that year actively and valiantly participated in the mem- orable battles of Brandywine and Germantown. In the campaign of 1778, he was present at Monmouth, doing good service, and in 1779, commanded the re- serve at the storming of Stony Point. In 1780, when General Leslie invaded Virginia, Muhlenberg opposed him, holding at that time the chief com- mand. When the subsequent movement was made by Generals Arnold and Phillip, he was attached to the immediate command of Baron Steuben, and when Lord Cornwallis entered Virginia our gallant young Pennsylvanian was next in command to Gen- eral Lafayette. He was also present at the historic battle of Yorktown, commanding on that occasion the dashing First Brigade of Light Infantry. It has been asserted with some degree of confidence that it was General Muhlenberg who^commanded the American storming party at Yorktown, the honor of which position has been attributed by dif- ferent historiographers of the Ee volution to another person. Be this as it may, there is no disputation as to his dauntless courage and the distinguished part he played at the siege of Yorktown. At the termination of the long and eventful war, when its dark shadows were transformed into streaming sun- shine, and peace with her olive wand gave safety, strength, and glory to the new-born Eepublic, our bronzed young hero, who had exchanged the pulpit Major General Muhlenberg. 129 for the camp, sheathed his trusty sword without a stain of dishonor upon its bright blade. At the disbanding of the forces he wore the passants of a major general, and no knight of the olden time, with his shattered lance and splintered spear, was more justly entitled to meritorious recognition and promotion. Peace being formally announced, General Muh- lenberg returned to his native State, and with that remarkable power of adaptation for which Ameri- cans are proverbial, deserted the standard of Mars and devoted his energies and talents to the practical matters of quiet civil life. Men of his intellectual cal- ibre, however, are always restive in whatever sphere their lot is cast, and are seldom contented with a reserve position in the midst of exciting events. They yearn "for other worlds to conquer," and are never followers, but always agressive leaders. Gen- eral Muhlenberg immediately entered into political life, and successively filled several very high and im- portant State and National positions. He was first elected a member of the Supreme Executive Coun- cil of the State, and subsequently, in 1785, was chosen Yice-President of the State at the time Ben- jamin Franklin was President. On the adoption of the Federal Constitution he was elected a member of the First Congress, and was afterwards re-elected a member of the Third and also of the Sixth Con- gress. In 1797 he was appointed a Presidential elector, and in 1801 was elected United States Sena- s' 130 Continental Sketches. tor to represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The latter position, however, he resigned in 1802, and was appointed by Mr. Jefferson to the more lu- crative, but perhaps less honorable, position of super- visor of revenue for the district of Pennsylvania. In 1805 he was appointed collector of the port of Philadelphia, which position he held at the time of his death, which occurred on the 1st day of October, 1807, in the sixty-second year of his age, at his country seat, near the Schuylkill, in Montgomery county, Pa. General Muhlenberg, like the other leading members of that prominent family, was a strong adherent of the Democratic party, and al- though a severe partisan and an unflinching personal and political friend of Mr. Jefferson, was as incor- ruptible in public as he was honest in private life. He discharged his duties well in all the numerous military and political distinctions heaped upon him, and was as firm in the Cabinet as he was rehant in the field. ANDREW PORTER IN PEACE AND WAR. A Boy too fond of Books and Figures to be useful in any way^ even as an Apprentice — Failures at the Carpenter^ s Bench and in Agricultural Pursuits — The MarDs Army Record — Services in the Marine and Artillery Corps — After the Revolution^ dec, &c. ANDREW PORTER, the subject of the present brief memoir, was born in old Worcester township, Montgomery county. Pa., on the 24th of September, 1743. Gifted by nature with a strong, vigorous intellect, and a clear, discriminating mind, he acquired through life quite an enviable reputa- tion as a scientist, as well as an honorable record as a soldier. His early educational advantages were limited, but, by untiring industry and indomitable energy, he triumphed over all obstacles in his path, and secured a success seldom attained by those who are favored by more auspicious surroundings. His father, Mr. Robert Porter, emigrated to Pennsylva- nia in early life, and for many years was a respect- able farmer of Montgomery county, the possessor of a numerous family and slender revenues. The old gentleman determined to make a carpenter of his son, and to accomplish this placed him in charge of (131) 132 Continental Sketches. a respectable and efficient master-meclianic in the neighborhood. In a few months his employer re- ported him as entirely unfit for mechanical pursuits, "too fond of books and figures to be useful in any way, even as an apprentice." The young lad had evidently great mathematical talent, and observing a sun-dial in the neighborhood, at once determined to make one like it. He went to an adjacent soap- stone quarry, and having selected the proper mate- rial, completed a very handsome dial, but in doing so ruined the tools of his worthy employer. This brought his apprenticeship to an inglorious termi- nation, and he was banished from the shop as gross- ly inefficient and incorrigible. He next turned his atteTition to quiet agricultural pursuits, succeeding about as well in his new sphere as he did at the car- penter's bench. Sighing for other worlds to con- quer, and yearning for the dignity and autocracy of a country pedagogue, his desponding father gave him one more chance. He opened a school in the neighborhood, and the effort was a financial success. In his leisure hours he devoted himself assiduously to the study of mathematics, his favorite pursuit. Hearing that the celebrated Dr. Rittenhouse was spending some time at his country seat, not far dis- tant, young Porter paid him a visit to borrow a work on conic sections. The Doctor, after making some inquiries about his primary education, pleasantly told him he feared he could not comprehend the work he desired to borrow. In the conversation Andeew Porter. 133 that followed, Dr. Eittenhoase was fairly astounded at the proficiency of his youthful visitor in the abstruse labyrinth of mathematics, and advised him not to bury himself in the country, but go at once and open a mathematical school in Philadelphia. He carried out the suggestion of his learned friend, and, removing to Philadelphia in 1767, opened an English and mathematical school, which he managed and controlled with much reputation and success until 1776. In that memorable and historic year he bade a final adieu to his peaceful and congenial avo- cation, and went forth to fight the battles of his country. During his long residence in Philadelphia he was an intimate friend of Doctors Eush, Eitten- house, Ewing, Wilhamson, and other distinguished scientific men, building for himself in the mean- while an enviable reputation as a profound mathe- matician and an accurate astronomer. In 1776 he ex- changed his quiet literary life for the eventful de- velopments of a military career, and was immedi- ately commissioned by Congress a captain of marines, and ordered on board the frigate Effingham. At this time his school contained over a hundred pupils, the income from which enabled him to support well his five little children, their mother having recently died. No selfish or pecuniary consideration, how- ever, could restrain him from the post when duty called. Not liking the marine service on account of its circumscribed limits of action, he was soon transferred to the artillery corps, for which, from his 134 Continental Sketches. previous education, lie was better adapted. He served in this latter sphere with consummate skill and bravery until the disbanding of the army, being promoted to a majority, April 19, 1781, and subse- quently to the colonelcy of the 4th Pennsylvania Artillery. During his military career he participa- ted in the historic battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. In the latter action his command fought with a valor approaching to desperation, hurling the invaders back "As waves before a vessel under sail," losing fearfully, however, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. At Trenton he received in person on the field the warm commendation of General Washington for his masterly skill and undaunted courage. In April, 1779, he was detached with his com- pany to join General Clinton's brigade in the opera- tions under General Sullivan against the Indians. He left the grand park of artillery at Pluckemin, May 6, 1779, and on the 13th arrived in Albany, where he joined Clinton, with whom he proceed- ed to the Mohawk river. The troops were ra- pidly marched to the headquarters of Otsego Lake, and it was here that Colonel Porter suggested to his superior officers the idea of damming the out- let of the Lake to enable the forces to be trans- ported by boats to Tioga Point, where they were to meet General Sullivan's army. The experiment was successful, and a union of forces being consummated, the battle of August 29, and the subsequent destruc- Andrew Porter. 135 tion of Indian towns, cornfields, &c., accomplsihed tlie main object of the expedition, and the artillery rejoined the army proper, and wintered at Morris - town. "When the siege of Yorktown was deter- mined upon, Colonel Porter was ordered to proceed to Philadelphia and superintend the Government laboratory there, at which various kinds of ammu- nition were being prepared for the contemplated siege. With considerable warmth and zeal he pro- tested against being removed from active duty in the field. His objections were silenced, however, by the courteous, plausible arguments of his Com- mander-in-Chief. " You say," he remarked, " that you are desirous of being placed in that situation in which you can render your country the most effi- cient services. Our success depends much on the manner in which our cartridges, bombs, and matches are prepared. The eye of science is required to superintend their preparation ; and, if the informa- tion of General Knox, who knows you well and in- timately, is to be depended upon, there is no officer in the army better qualified than yourself for" the station I have assigned you." The grand object of the war having been attain- ed, and his trenchant blade honorably sheathed. Colonel Porter, in 1783, retired to private life. The trustees of the University of Pennsylvania tendered him the position of professor of mathematics in that venerable institution, which he respectfully de- clined. He was subsequently appointed by the 136 Continental Sketches. Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania a com- missioner to run the State boundary lines between Pennsylvania and the several States of Ohio, Vir- ginia, and New York, a work for which he was most admirably quahfied, and in which he was materially assisted by Drs. Eittenhouse and Ewing, Bishop Madison, General Clinton, and other distin- guished gentlemen of recognized mathematical and scientific attainments. In 1788 he retired to his farm near the place of his nativity, in Montgomery county, Pa., where he continued to reside until 1809. In 1800 he succeeded Peter Muhlenberg as Major General of the Pennsylvania Militia, and in 1809 Governor Snyder appointed him Surveyor General of the State, which position he held until his decease, November 16, 1813. As Surveyor General he exhibited great capacity and executive ability, bringing order out of chaos; the books, papers, and archives of the office being in a sadly de- moralized condition when he assumed control of its management. During 1812 and the early part of 1813 he declined the situations of Brigadier General in the United States army, and Secretary of War ; both of which positions were respectfully tendered him by President Madison. General Porter was a man of great personal popularity, decided positivism, and strong prejudices. In stature he was above the medium size, rather inclined to corpulency, and his extended army career imparted to him a proud, military air and manner, which he carried with him Andrew Porter. 137 through life. His morals were unexceptionably pure, his friendships warm and sincere, and his en- mities severe and acrimonious. Of his sons, the Hon. David R Porter was Governor of Pennsylva- nia from 1889 to 1845 ; the Hon. George B. Porter was Governor of Michigan Territory from 1831 to 1884, and was long recognized as one of its leading business men and Democratic politicians. Another son was the Hon. James Madison Porter, late of Easton, Pa., who was appointed Secretary of War during the Administration of Mr. Tyler, but whose nomination was rejected by the Senate. The latter gentleman was a volunteer in the war of 1812 -14 ; and a leading member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1888. GEN. JOSEPH REED, OFINEW JERSEY. A Graduate of Princeton College at the age of six- teen — First a Friend of Reconciliation^ and next a zealous^ impetuous Advocate of Unconditional Separation from the Mother Country — One of the Famous Committee of Correspondence^ soon after- wards President of the State Convention^ and then Member of the Continental Congress. A GALLANT compeer of Wayne, Cadwalader, and Mifflin, aggregating a military represen- tation highly creditable to our Colonial history, was General Joseph Reed. Born in New Jersey, August 27, 1741, he enjoyed superior facilities for cultivat- ing his literary tastes, and in 1757, when only six- teen years old, he graduated creditably at Prince- ton College. His transition from the classic halls of old " Nassau " to the law-office of Richard Stock- ton, Esq., was a fortunate and propitious move for young Reed. Mr. Stockton belonged to an old and respectable family of New Jersey, was a man of letters, possessed of superior genius, highly cultiva- ted, a gifted attorney, and an honorable man. In this position he remained for some two years, pursuing his legal studies with unremitting energy and zeal. He afterwards proseoated his professional education (138) General Joseph Reed. 139 in England at the Temple. When our Colonial diffi- culties were inaugurated by the passage of the Si^amp Act, young Eeed promptly decided to return to his native land and identify himself with her very doubtful future. He married Miss Esther De Bordt, the daughter of an eminent London merchant, who, prior to the Revolution, represented the provincial interests of Massachusetts in that city. On his re- turn to America he settled in Philadelphia, where he practiced his profession with eminent success, and took an active part in the stormy military and political developments of that particular period. He was an original friend of reconciliation, but when he discovered that this could not be accom- plished without a total sacrifice of everything like national honor, he abandoned the logic of peaceful compromise, and soon became a zealous, impetuous advocate of unconditional separation from the mother country. At an early age we find him the recipient of many official positions of honor and trust in his adopted State and city. In 1774 he was appointed one of the famous committee of correspondence, soon afterwards president of the State Convention, and subsequently a member of the Continental Congress . At the opening of active military operations he closed his law-office, forfeited a lucrative practice in Philadelphia, and started at once for camp at Cam- bridge, where he was appointed to the honorable position of aid-de-camp and confidential secretary to General Washington. Although a volunteer aid, 140 Continental Sketches. he exhibited in his new sphere, during the whole of that memorable campaign, signal personal bravery, united with great military genius. His conduct was keenly appreciated by Washington, and in 1776, at the opening of the campaign, on the promotion of General Gates, our gallant young Pennsylvanian, by the special order of Washington, was advanced to the position of Adjutant-General. His local knowledge of the topography of certain portions of New Jersey made him very useful during the cam- paign, particularly in the skirmish at Trenton and the battle of Princeton. Perhaps with none of his subordinates was Washington personally and soci- ally more intimate than with young Eeed, The latter, at the close of this historic and depressing campaign, resigned his position as Adjutant Gen- eral, and was immediately appointed a general officer, with the view of giving him the entire cavalry command. This scheme, however, was frustrated by a combination of unfortunate circum- stances incident to that period of the War, and for which he was in no way responsible. General Eeed was as pertinacious in his military as he was inde- fatigable in his civil duties, and from the entrance of the British forces into Pennsylvania until the close of the campaign, in 1777, he was seldom ab- sent an hour from his post of duty. He participat- ed with great credit in the battle of Germantown, and at Whitemarsh rendered efficient aid to General Potter in the formation of his raw militia lines. General Joseph Eeed. 141 In 1778, lie was appointed a member of Congress, and signed the articles of confederation. During this year the three British commissioners. Governor Johnstone, Lord Carlisle, and the Hon. Mr. Eden ar- rived in this country on a pacific mission. Their object was to secure peace, either by diplomacy or by duplicity. The principal member of the com- mission, Governor Johnstone, unfortunately descend- ed from the high sphere of his original position, and attempted by indirect bribery to secure advan- tages he failed to obtain by legitimate treaty. He privately addressed certain letters to Kobert Morris, Francis Dana, Henry Laurens, and Joseph Eeed, offering them, in cunningly devised terms, great pecuniary advantage and royal preferment if they would consent to certain propositions. These advances, appealing to cupidity, avarice, and social ambition, were couched in language more becoming the rank and file of the modern Congres- sional lobby, and unworthy a dignified commission representing the interests of a substantial and vene- rable monarchy. Indeed, ten thousand pounds sterhng were almost directly offered to General Eeed, coupled with glittering promises of high civil distinction, if he would co-operate in compelling a speedy submission of the Colonies. He, however, spurned the sordid proposition with merited con- tempt, declaring, in his memorable language, " that he was not worth purchasing^ hut^ such as he was^ the King of Great Britain was not_ rich enough to buy 142 Continental Sketches. ^?m." The whole affair was referred to Congress, and a resolution was speedily passed by that body, reviewing all the facts, and conclnding in view of the same to have no further commnnication or cor- respondence with the redoubtable Johnstone. The latter, on his return to England, in open Parliament disclaimed ever having made any improper over- tures to Eeed or any other American citizen. In consequence of this flat denial Eeed soon published a pamphlet giving a minute narration of the whole afiair, reiterating and very satisfactorily proving his former statement. This document was exten- sively circulated in this country and England, ex- citing much angry comment and discussion. General Eeed was elected in 1778 president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, which position he honorably filled for three successive years, being elected annually. At that time ruth- less partisanship was rampant, threatening the de- struction of the whole State government. Under his gubernatorial management violent commotions, outbreaks, and almost positive insurrection were common and lamentable occurrences. The destinies of the Colony, however, were in the hands of a leader of clear head, strong arm, and iron nerve, and for his judicious control of these disorganizing elements he received a vote of thanks from the Leg- islature. During these exciting crises, when skill- fully devised arguments and influences were adroitly created and used to cause a defection in the quota of Geneeal Joseph Eeed. 143 Pennsylvania, Governor Eeed displayed great tact and administrative capacity. Witli disinterested zeal and firmness of decision commensxirate with tlie importance of the occasion, he strenuously labored to bring the revolters back to their posts of duty and a keen realization of their country's actual dan- ger. His whole career as president of the Colony was characterized by marked ability, amid many discouraging and gloomy circumstances. He was positive in his official suggestions and recommenda- tions, was in favor of a totaj demolition of the pro- prietary laws, was antagonistic to slavery, and favored a rapid, vigorous prosecution of the war. His knowledge of law was of great advantage to him in the comparatively crude condition of our Colonial government at that time. Indeed, in re- viewing in detail the official acts of his State Pres- idential career we find very much to commend and little to deprecate. The surrounding atmosphere was poisoned by political broils, filled with the barbed arrows of personal spleen, occasioned by a division in public sentiment as to the origin and management of the w^ar. Feuds, cabals, and conspiracies were rife, and required the hand of a skillful manager to soothe and quell them. After the close of his term. Gover- nor Eeed cheerfully retired from a position which had caused him much personal trouble and annoyance, and which he accepted only from a sense of positive duty. His military career was more brilliant than is generally supposed. He had three horses shot 144 Continental Sketches. under him during the war, one at Brandy wine, ano- ther at the spirited skirmish of Whitemarsh, and still another at the thrilling battle of Monmouth. He participated in numerous engagements in the northern and eastern sections of the country, but fortunately never was wounded. No stronger evi- dence of his actual worth can be adduced than his intimate, confidential relations during the whole war with such illustrious generals as Washington, Wayne, Greene, Steuben, and Lafayette. The friendship of General Greene for him was particular- ly marked, and the biographer of that distinguished man says: "Among the many inestimable friends who attached themselves to him during his military career, there was no one whom General Greene prized more, or more justly, than the late Governor Keed of Pennsylvania. It was before this gentleman had immortalized himself by his celebrated reply to the agent of corruption that these two distinguished patriots had begun to feel for each other the sympa- thy of congenial souls. Mr. Eeed had accompanied General Washington to Boston, when he first took command of the American army. There he be- came acquainted with General Greene, and, as was almost invariably the case with those who became acquainted with him and had hearts to acknowledge his worth, a friendship ensued which lasted through their Hves." By arduous application to his varied civil and military duties General Keed's health was seriously General Joseph Eeed. 145 impaired. In 1784 he visited England to recuper- ate his failing strength, but without the desired ef- fect. He died March 3, 1785, at the very early age of 43. His funeral was largely attended by the citizens of Philadelphia, the President of the Colony, the Executive Council, and the Speaker and mem- bers of the General Assembly. In private life he was a man of pure morals, graceful culture, fer- vent and faithful in all his social and domestic at- tachments. He clung to his country through doubt, danger, and distress, until she reached the threshold of per- manent security, and will always be remembered as a gallant, faithful young officer of our primitive his- tory, honest, prompt, and manly in the discharge of ev^ery official duty. 7 GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG, JR. Sterling Traits blended with Erratic Positivism — The Possessor of the Light Accomplishments of a Society Man coupled with the more Severe Elements of a Forcible^ Elegant Writer^ and a Politico- Statesman of no Mean Pretensions — Aide-de- Gamp to the Gallant Hugh Mercer — On the Staff of General Gates — 71ie First Civic Office held by Armstrong, &c. THE character of General John Armstrong, Jr., presents many points calculated to invoke criticism and challenge admiration. Many sterling traits were blended with his erratic positivism, and for almost half a century he was prominently iden- tified with the leading military and political events of his country. At times, on the swelling tide of unbounded success, he was the recipient of high civil and military positions, and soon after, perhaps, was submerged many fathoms deep by the fickle waves of popular favor. He possessed in no ordi- nary degree what might be termed the light accom- plishments of a society man, coupled with the more severe elements of a forcible, elegant writer, and was a politico -statesman of no mean pretensions. General Armstrong was born at Carlisle, Pa., No- (146) General John Akmstrong, Jr. 147 vember 25, 1758, and belonged to a family of strong local influence, marked intellectuality, and high, so- cial status. His father. General John Armstrong, Sr., also a native of Carlisle, possessed considerable military genius, and served with great distinction in the French and Indian wars. In 1756, as colo- nel of the combined provincial forces of Pennsylva- nia, he headed an expedition against the Indians at Kittanning, Pa., destroyed the entire settlement, and captured large quantities of stores and supplies sent there by the French for the use of their native allies. In return for his successful efforts in this dashing sortie the citizens of the corporation of Philadelphia presented him with a vote of thanks, a medal, and a costly silver tea service. He pos- sessed, in a great degree, the confidence of the pro- prietors of Pennsylvania, and his opinion on Indian affairs was always considered high authority. On March 1, 1776, he was appointed Brigadier-General in the Continental army, and during the long-con- tinuance of hostilities gained an ehviable reputation in military circles, doing valiant service in the de- fence of Fort Moultrie, and also at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. In the latter en- gagement he commanded the Pennsylvania militia, having left the army proper, April 4, 1777, on ac- count of some real or imaginary grievance involved in the question of rank, that prolific source of army broils in all ages and in all countries. He served as a member of Congress in the session of 1778-80, 148 Continental Sketches. and also in 1787-8, never acquiring, however, a very marked reputation as a legislator. General John Armstrong, Jr., the subject of this sketch, while a student at Princeton College, volunteered to serve his country at the early age of eighteen, and forthwith enrolled himself as a member of Potter's Pennsylvania Eegiment. Shortly after his enlist- ment he was appointed aide-de-camp to the gallant General Hugh Mercer, the latter officer having served with distinction under the young appointee's father at the battle of Kittanning, in 1756, to which we have briefly alluded. At that period General Mercer was a citizen of Pennsylvania, although he was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, having served as a surgeon in the memorable battle of CuUoden. For his good deeds at Kittanning, Philadelphia pre- sented him, also, with a gold medal. In 1763 he removed to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he practiced his profession with great success until the inauguration of the Kevolution. It was on the staff of this distinguished gentleman and soldier that young Armstrong initiated his military career, and it was in the arms of his faithful young aide- de-camp that the gallant Hugh Mercer fell, mortally wounded, on the fatal morning of January 3, 1777, near Stony Brook, adjacent to Princeton, N. J. Mercer survived his wounds about one week, and was buried in Princeton, his remains being subse- quently removed for re-interment to Philadelphia. Armstrong at this time was only 19 years old, and General John Armstrong, Jr. 149 incidentally was thrown into company with the dis- tinguished General Gates, who was so pleased with the vivacious manner and captivating conversa- tional powers of the young lad that he promptly invited him to become a member of his military family, which position was readily accepted. He continued on the staff* of General Gates, with the rank of major, until the close of the war, and was always a warm personal friend and devoted admirer of his illustrious chief. On the termination of hos- tilities, the grand result was marred in part by the very great dissatisfaction exhibited by honorably- discharged officers and men on account of the non- payment of arrears justly due them for services rendered in the field. The original spark of com- plaint was soon fanned into a threatening blaze, and required careful management to prevent its becom- ing most destructive and disastrous. The oversight in securing the proper kind of legislation was as much perhaps the result of Congressional neglect and carelessness as anything else; but no logic could quell the angry passions of the excited com- plainants, whose imperious demands were fast be- coming dangerous and revolutionary. At this criti- cal moment young Armstrong became a sort of representative of the disorganizers, and, at the re- quest of several officers of high rank, he prepared the celebrated warlike manifesto known as the "Newburg Letters," which created at the time a profound sensation in official circles, and threatened 150 Continental Sketches. to produce much mischief. They were written with vigor and ability, were inflammatory and impracti- cable in spirit, and, while they were approved by a limited few, were very generally condemned by the best men of the period. Washington interposed by a counter-address, couched in the plain language of patriotism and common sense, thus effectually cor- recting public sentiment and re-establishing public confidence. The first civil ofl&ce held by Gen. Arm- strong was that of Secretary of Pennsylvania, during the administration of Dr. Benjamin Franklin ; and some time afterwards he became a member of the Old Congress. In 1789 he married a sister of Chan- cellor Livingston, of N'ew York, a charming and cultivated lady, identified with the most refined cir- cles of metropolitan society. He retired to an ex- tensive landed estate in Duchess county, New York, where for several years he lived in quiet elegance, ostensibly an agriculturist, but in reality devoting the bulk of his time to literary and scientific pur- suits. In 1800 he was elected a United States Senator from the State of New York, by an almost unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. Three years before the expiration of his Senatorial term. President Jefferson appointed him Minister to France, the onerous duties of which position he discharged with eminent ability. During his resi- dence abroad in the latter capacity he also discharg- ed the functions of a separate mission to Spain, for which he never received nor claimed any pecuniary General John Armstrong, Jr. 151 consideration from his Government. His mission to France terminated at his own request in 1810 . He was appointed Brigadier-General, July 6, 1812, and was assigned to duty as commander of the Dis- trict of New York. In 1813-14 he was Secretary of War, having succeeded Dr. Bustes in that posi- tion. In this new and trying sphere at that pecu- liar period his troubles and difficulties increased an hundred-fold. He had no confidence whatever in the Generals appointed by Mr. Madison, and being self-willed, and somewhat arrogant, was in continu- ous collision with his military subordinates, and not unfrequently with the President himself. The ene- mies he had made, thirty years before, by his fluent, caustic pen, in his unfortunate " Newburg Letters," had not forgotten their wrongs, and massed them- selves against their old enemy, determined on his political and military overthrow. In addition to this outside organization, his military movements were not of such a character as to command public approbation. The total failure of the military opera- tions against Canada, and the capture of Washing- ton City, in August, 1814, by the British, completed the demolition of the erratic but intellectual Secre- tary, and his portfolio was soon transferred to other keeping. As fruits of his literary efforts after his retirement to private life, he published an able trea- tise on gardening and agriculture, a review of "Gen- eral Wilkinson's Memoirs" (in which he handles the author without gloves), and a two- volume His- 162 Continental Sketches. tory of the War of 1812-14. General Armstrong, with all his failings, was a man of very decided ability, and of unquestionable loyalty. His long- continned intimate personal relations with General Gates made him unpopular with the numerous ene- mies of that gentleman; and his sharp, pungent, personal assaults with his graceful but bitter pen poorly qualified him to run smoothly in what might be termed the popular groove. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, however, he secured many high civil and mihtary distinctions, the majority of which he filled with signal ability. His daughter was the estimable wife of William B. Astor, Esq., of New York City. General Armstrong died at his coun- try-seat at Eed Bank, N. J., April 1, 1843, in his eighty-fifth year. THE COMMANDER OF GIBSON'S LAMBS. A Well-known Army Favorite and His Sons in Revolutionary Times — Careers Eventful^ Perilous^ and Highly Honorable — General John Gibson^ s Interview with the Mingo Chiefs Logan^ &c. THE distinguished brothers, Generals John and George Gibson, were natives of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The latter was a well-known army favorite in revolutionary times, personally very pop- ular, of genial social qualities, and esteemed by all who knew him for the honorable and generous feel- ings of his heart. The services rendered by him to his country were neither few nor unimportant. He commenced his career in a large mercantile house in Philadelphia, subsequently making several voy- ages to the West Indies as a supercargo. After- wards he retired to Fort Pitt, at that period a fron- tier post within the jurisdiction of Yirginia. He met with but indifferent success in his Western trading operations, and soon after removed to the neighborhood of Carlisle, Cumberland county. Pa., where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, which also proved unfortunate and unr-emunerative. He then returned once more to Fort Pitt, and organized 7* (153) 154 Continental Sketches. a company of one hundred picked men, with whom he marched to WiUiamsburg, at that time the seat of government of Virginia. His men were rather a reckless set of customers, possessing that indivi- dual independence, hardihood, and desperate dar- ing characteristic of all frontiersmen familiar with danger and removed from the restraints of civiliza- tion. They were all sharpshooters, mischievous without being malicious, and during the war were known by the classic appellation of "Gibson's lambs." The career of General George Gibson during the whole term of his military experience was eventful, perilous, and highly honorable. He participated in the leading battles of the Revolution, and after the declaration of peace returned to his farm in Cum- berland county. In 1791 he took command of a- regiment under Gen. St. Clair, and in the unfortu- nate defeat of that officer, while leading his men in a fearful bayonet charge, he received a mortal wound. He was a high-toned, honorable man, quite a lin- guist, and possessed a vast fund of interesting in- formation. He was a humorist of the first water, and the author of several very popular songs, which he sung with incredible effect. One of his sons was John Bannister Gibson, LL. D., born in Carlisle, Pa., November 8, 1780, and who died in Philadel- phia, May 3, 1853. He was admitted to the Cum- berland county bar in 1803, and practiced success- fully in Carlisle and Beaver, Pa., and was appointed Judge of the old Eleventh District, July, 1818. He Gibson's Lambs. 155 was appointed to the Supreme Bench of Pennsylva- nia m 1816, and held the office of Chief- Justice from 1827 to 1851. He was possessed of very su- perior attainments, and as the fruit of long-conti- nued, severe, and regular training, his mind became so thoroughly imbued with legal principles and maxims, that they seemed to be part and parcel of his very nature. He was the peer and a worthy successor of the Tilghmans, Ingersoll, and Kawle, when the Philadelphia bar was the brilliant expo- nent of the legal talent of the country. Another son was General George Gibson, who for over forty years administered the Commissary Department of the United States army with commendable fidelity. He served with credit in the war of 1812, and was breveted Major-General, May 30, 1848, for merito- rious conduct in the Mexican war. He died in Washington, D. C, September 21, 1861. General John Gibson was born in Lancaster, Pa., on the 23d of May, 1740. He received a good pri- mary education, and entering the service at the early age of eighteen, made his first military campaign un- der General Forbes, in the famous expedition which resulted in the acquisition of Fort Du Quesne, Pitts- burgh, from the French. He settled at the latter place as an Indian trader in 1763, immediately after the declaration of peace. Shortly after this the war with the Indians was renewed, and Gibson and two companions, while descending the Ohio river in a flat-boat, were overhauled by the savages at the 156 Continental Sketches. mouth of Beaver Creek. The two companions were burned at the stake, and Gibson's hfe was preserved bj an old squaw, who adopted him in Heu of a favor- ite son, who had recently been killed in battle. He remained several years a captive, during which time he was treated well, and became familiar with the language, habits, manners, customs, and traditions of the Indians. At the termination of hostilities, he settled once more at Fort Pitt. In 1774 he was an important agent in enforcing the Indian treaty inaugurated by Lord Dunmore, and restored nume- rous prisoners to their friends after a captivity of many years. It was on this occasion that the cele- brated Mingo Chief, Logan, delivered his historic speech, Colonel Gibson being the interpreter. As the troops were drawn up in line of battle, and every- thing indicated an immediate and vigorous attack, Gibson was sent forward under a flag of truce, au- thorized to make overtures of peace to the savage enemy. En route he encountered the tall, robust figure of the bronzed Mingo Chief, a splendid specimen of physical manhood, leaning against a huge oak tree, his piercing eye flashing bold defiance, and his clenched hand and heaving breast indicating a fear- ful battle Avithin. Gibson was his peer in muscular vigor and valorous courage, and as he approached Logan, accosted him familiarly and kindly: "My old friend, how do you do ? I am glad to see you." Logan, struggling to conceal his feelings, coldly re- Gibson's Lambs. 157 plied, " I suppose you are," and turned away. With tlie exception of Logan, all the chiefs assem- bled in the council, which was immediately held, were unanimously in favor of an immediate peace. During the discussion of the terms and stipulations, Colonel Gibson felt some one plucking the skirt of his capote^ and, turning around, found Logan stand- ing at his back, his face convulsed with passion, beckoning him to follow. At first he hesitated, but, being well armed and fearless of danger, he con- cluded to follow, while the great Mingo Chief, with noiseless but hurried tread, led the way to a copse of woods some considerable distance from the coun- cil. Here they sat down together, and Logan fairly trembled with grief and excitement. He wept like a child, and for some time was so completely over- come by his feelings that he could scarcely utter a syllable. He then rose to his feet with a wild, majestic dignity, paced to and fro for a few mo- ments, and then turning to his solitary auditor, addressed him in eloquent thrilling terms as follows : " I appeal to any white man to say if he ever en- tered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, ' Logan is the friend of white men ! ' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for 168 Continental Sketches. the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge ; I have sought it ; I have killed many ; I have fully glutted my vengeance : for my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn his heel, to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." After the delivery of this speech, the last utterances of a desolate and broken heart, he sat down convulsed with grief. He begged of Colo- nel Gibson to communicate his sentiments to Lord Dunmore, for the purpose of removing all suspicion of insincerity on the part of the Indians, in conse- quence of the refusal of a chief of his position to take part in the ratification of the treaty. After making this last request, the bold, brave, stalwart Mingo Chief darted off like an arrow from a bow, and was soon lost in the denseness of the surround- ing forest. On the breaking out of the Revolution- ary War, General Gibson was appointed to the command of one of the Continental regiments, and served with the army at New York, and in the re- treat through New Jersey. During the balance of the war he was employed on the Western frontier, for which, by long experience in Indian warfare, he was admirably qualified. In 1788 he was a mem- Gibson's Lambs. 159 ber of the convention whicli framed the constitution of Pennsylvania, and was subsequently an associate judge of Alleghany county, Pa., and Major-Greneral of militia. President Jefferson appointed him in 1800 Secretary of the Territory of Indiana, which position he held until that Territory became an admitted State in 1816. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, George Wallace, Esq., at Brad- dock's Field, Pa., on the 10th of April, 1822, aged eighty-two, having borne through life the charac- ter of a brave soldier and an honest man. MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN CADWALADER. The Youthful Commander of ^^ The Silk Stocking Company^'' in the Revolution — The Reward of Strict Discipline and Military Bearing — A Com- bination of the Dash of Marion and the Personal Bravery of Mad Anthony Wayne — The Triumph at Trenton — The Struggle at Princeton^ dhc, &c. FOE zealous and inflexible adherence to the na- tional cause, coupled with gallant intrepidity as a soldier, few men of the Revolutionary times were the peers of the youthful, chivalric General, John Cadwalader of Pennsylvania. In the periods of doubt, misfortune, and positive disaster with which that era unfortunately abounded, when brave men quailed, and good men were appalled at the threatening shadows of defeat, with its stringent, fearful penalties, young Cadwalader was calm and undismayed, hopeful and determined. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1742, and at the dawn of the Revolution commanded a corps of volunteers in that city, facetiously designated as "the silk stocking- company." This fine organization was composed of select young men from the front ranks of Philadel- phia society — the very elite of the city. 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