THE OLDEN TIME; A MONTHLY PUBLICATION DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF DOCUMENTS AND OTHER AUTHENTIC INFORMATION IN RELATION TO THE EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND THE Settlement and Improvement of the Country AROUND THE HEAD OF THE OHIO VOL. I CEL. Well, the beginning —that is dead and buried CEL. I could match this beginning with an old tale SHAKSPEARE EDITED BY NEVILLE B. CRAIG, ESQ PITTSBURGH PRINTED BY DUMARS & CO.-CHRONICLE BUILDINGS 1846 CINCINNATI REPRINTED BY ROBERT CLARKE & CO 1876 PREFACE. IT is now thirty years since my father, the late Neville B. Craig, Esq., of Pittsburgh, commenced the publication of a monthly periodical under the title of the "Olden Time." It was "devoted to the preservation of documents and other authentic information relating to the early explorations, and settlement and improvement of the country around the head of the Ohio." Mr. Craig was peculiarly fitted for such an undertaking. Born in the Redoubt built by Colonel Bouquet in 1764, his life, extending to more than three score and ten, was spent within rifle-shot of the place of his birth. Familiar in his boyhood and early years with many of the characters who appear upon these pages, in later life his antiquarian tastes led him to spend much of his time in searching for and preserving everything relating to the early history of the country about the head-waters of the Ohio. This publication was continued for two years, resulting in two octavo volumes, of together some eleven hundred pages, containing many documents that are both rare and of great interest-in some instances the private journals of persons taking a prominent part in those early events. The work is now seldom met with, and can only be found in the libraries of those who were subscribers to it as it came out monthly. The frequency with which it has been sought for of late years has led me to believe that its republication, in a more compact form than the serial one in which it was originally issued, will meet with the appreciation its merits justify. MRS. E. G. WALLINGFORD. PITTSBURGH, January 25, 1876. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. JANUARY, 1846. No, 1. INTRODUCTION. The editor of the "Olden Time," in presenting the first number to the public, avails.himself of the opportunity to state that he does not presume even to hope, that he will furnish much that is new, to that portion of readers who have facilities and leisure to examine the various publications which have from time to time been made upon the subject of the early explorations and subsequent settlement and improvement of the country around. His wishes are not so aspiring, his undertaking not so presumptuous; but, although more humble, he trusts it will not be valueless. He hopes, at least, to furnish to those of his fellow citizens who have not the facilities to investigate the subjects in question, or, having the facilities, want the leisure necessary to such investigation, desired information in a very cheap and convenient form, and at such intervals as will suit the most industrious, and afford them, at stated periods, and in moderate portions, authentic information of the progress of this country from a wild and uncultivated condition to its present advancement in civilization and all the useful arts. He means to treat his subject in a plain matter-of-fact manner, and will labor to enable his readers to realize and appreciate the actual condition of affairs at each period of the history of the country. It is his intention, as is intimated in the Prospectus, to republish in whole or in part, various interesting papers in relation to the early history of this country, in preference to undertaking the task of the historian, by forming from such docuqpents his own inferences and opinions, and presenting them to his readers as historical facts. In pursuing this course, he has a double object in view, to preserve unbroken those authentic and early notices of the country, and place them in the possession of many persons who will otherwise probably never have an opportunity to peruse them, and to furnish a more accurate and satisfactory account of the actual state of the country, and of the views and feelings of the different actors, at particular periods, than could in any other way be given. It is not an unusual experiment of historians, orators and poets, to manufacture speeches for the prominent characters in their 2 THE OLDEN TIME. histories, orations and poems; in order to give their readers or hearers a clearer insight into the position of affairs and the views and feelings of actors, than could in any other way be accomplished. Such historians or authors only conjecture what were the motives or feelings of those for whom they speak, and may often be mistaken; while in this respect we run no risk of misapprehension, we make our actors speak for themselves, and tell only what was really said and done. Washington, for instance, relates, in his journal, all that was done and said at the Forks, at Logstown, at Venango, and Le Bceuf, during his visit to those places in 1753. So also Frederick Post, the honest and simple hearted Moravian, in the plainest and most unpretending style, leads his readers, step by step, to the most intimate knowledge of the fears and wishes and schemes of the different Indians, and of the French, about the time Forbes was advancing to Fort Duquesne. The editor feels satisfied that by pursuing the course he has decided on, and giving various contemporaneous accounts of occurrences in this vicinity, where it can be done in a reasonable space, he will render more clear and intelligible all such occurrences, than can possibly be done by a mere history, drawn from those same accounts; just as an intelligent juror can better understand the testimony of a witness when given orally, than he can from the most carefully drawn deposition. In the former case, he tells his own story; in the latter, the scrivener interprets for him. The editor will go even yet a step further; when he can find well considered articles in relation to particular occurrences, he will adopt and republish them, his aim not being to pen a narrative himself, but to collect together all such matters as are calculated to throw light upon the early history of our section of country. Whenever interesting documents and articles giving plain and intelligible accounts of particular events in the history can not be obtained, the editor will endeavor to fill up any hiatus which might exist, by plain unpretending statements drawn from memoranda, notes and other materials within his reach. He feels conscious that such portions of the Olden Time will be less valuable than original contemporaneous diaries, letters or publications, but they are necessary to complete the narrative. There are now existing in the hands of many of our fellow citizens numerous letters, newspapers, pamphlets, diaries and numerous other articles written or printed, which separated as they are, may appear of little value, and yet might become valuable as materials of history, if collected together. There are also still resting in the memories of many of our aged citizens the knowledge of various deeply interesting incidents, which will soon be forever lost, if not placed in safer keeping than the frail memory of man. He, therefore, most earnestly solicits all persons possessing any such papers, whether written or printed, and all persons having the NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 3 knowledge of such early incidents, to furnish the means of using them. We have already very liberal offers of such papers and narratives to a very considerable amount, and trust that this invitation may induce a large addition to the number of such favors. We will add here the assurance that all such papers will be safely kept until used, and then safely returned to the respective owners, when so directed. With these introductory remarks, hesubmits the first numberto the public, trusting that more anxiety will be evinced in searching for merits, than in discerning deficiencies. The editor has, however, been too long engaged in that capacity to hope, even, that the Olden Time will satisfy all the various and dissimilar tastes of its readers. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. In a narrative of the first visits of Europeans to the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, and in a notice of the controversy and war of Great Britain and France for the possession of that territory, it is impossible to overlook the toils, the sufferings, the devotion to their prescribed duties and the self-sacrificing spirit of the Jesuit missionaries. In 1665, one hundred and eighty years ago, and sixteen years before the charter for this commonwealth was granted to William Penn, Father Claude Allouez, carried forward by zeal for the conversion of the heathen, had ascended the Ottawas river to Lake Huron, sailed in his bark canoe along its northern shore to the Sault of St. Mary, entered Lake Superior, passed by the rich copper mines, of which he had even at that early day heard, and established a mission house at the western extremity of that inland sea. Fourteen years later, in 1679, La Salle built the Griffin, the first vessel that ever unfurled a sail on Lake Erie, and three years later, the year after the charter was granted to Penn, this enterprising traveler descended the Illinois and the Mississippi to its mouth. Finally, in 1684, in attempting to enter the Mississippi by sea, he passed by it, discovered Texas and landed there. Upon these two voyages of Robert Cavalier La Salle, the one to the mouth of the Mississippi, the other to Texas, and upon European treaties, rest the claims formerly urged by France to the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, and to Texas as a part of Louisiana. Great Britain rested her claim to the valleys of the Ohio upon the treaties with the Six Nations of Indians, who claimed to have conquered the whole country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the lakes,to Carolina. Prominent among these treaties was one made at Lancaster 4 THE OLDEN TIME. in this State, in June, 1744, by which a territory of undefined extent was ceded. It seems to be very certain from the declarations of the Indians at subsequent treaties, that they had been deceived in some way at Lancaster, and that they did not intend to cede any lands west of the mountains. But the history of Indian treaties has been, except in a few cases, a mere history of fraud and usurpation. To the poor Indian, it made but little difference whether he agreed to a treaty dictated by the other party, or refused to treat at all. Might would prevail, even were there no pretense of right. We have thus very briefly stated the titles by which two European nations, distant three thousand miles, claimed the territory in the very heart of another continent, and occupied by another independent people. But it certainly was not the design of the Almighty that this great region should be held by a very few thousand Indians sparsely scattered over a country capable of supporting many millions. To prevent, as far as possible, collisions among European nations, it was necessary to adopt some rules for their government, and one of these, that the nation discovering the mouth of a river should exclude all other European nations from the whole valley watered byits tributaries, was convenient. That was the claim set up by France, and resisted by the colonists in 1754, and now we set up that claim to the river Columbia. It is, too, not a little singular that, after resisting the French title to the Ohio under La Salle's discovery, our title to Texas rested upon his discovery of that country. Between these two contending nations, it would be no easy task to decide which claim was the better one, or which the worse. Such as they were, however, they were destined to lead those powers into a war, which extended its ravages from the banks of the Ohio to the shores of the Ganges, and to wrest from one of them the vast and extensive region, obtained by the toils and blood of so many of her subjects. The principal occupants of this portion of Pennsylvania were the Six Nations, called Iroquois by the French, Maqua by the Dutch, Mingoes by the English, and Mengwe by other Indian nations; the Lennilenape or Delawares, and the Shawanos or Shawanese. The Six Nations were originally five, viz: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas and the Senekas; subsequently, however, the Tuscaroras upon being driven from North Carolina, applied for admission into the Five Nations, and since their admission in 1712, the union has been styled the Six Nations. The home of the Five Nations was in New York, but they were a very warlike people and their conquests had extended, as we are told by Colden, in his history of the Five Nations, from New York to Carolina, and frbm New England to the Mississippi. To manage their common concerns they had a Council composed of Sachems of different nations, who met annually, it is said, at Onondaga. This council has been compared to the Wittenagemot of the Saxons. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 5 Mingoeswere found scattered through Western Pennsylvania and in Ohio. Washington in 1753 found Tanacharison, the Half-King of the Six Nations, at Logstown, and a portion of them settled in the rich bottom on the Ohio, below Steubenville, have left their name there. The Delawares, another nation of Indians occupying this region of country, were once the formidable enemies of the Iroquois, but about two hundred years ago their condition was greatly altered. The mediators among the Indians were women. It is deemed disgraceful for a warrior to speak of peace while war rages. About 1617, the Iroquois had, by their own account, conquered the Delawares and forced them to put on petticoats and assume the character of women. The Delawares admit the fact of the assumption of the new character, but say the Iroquois accomplished their purpose by artifice; by persuading them that it would be magnanimous for a great and heroic nation like the Delawares to assume the character of a mediator. The ceremony of the metamorphosis was celebrated with great pomp at Albany, in presence of the Dutch, whom the Delawares accused of conspiring with their enemies, the Mengwe, to degrade them. The cause of the Delawares, and their explanation of this strange occurrence, is zealously advocated by the Rev. Mr. Heekewelder; but that view of the matter seems far from satisfactory. The Iroquois, upon several subsequent occasions, assumed that dictatorial or authoritative tone to the Delawares, which might be expected from a conqueror, but not from a treacherous deceiver. The submissiveness, too, of the Delawares under such treatment, seems rather to resemble the timidity of a conquered, than the fierce resentment of a deceived people. A single instance will elucidate this point. In 1736, there was a dispute between the Delawares and the proprietaries of Pennsylvania arising out of what was called the walking purchase of land, in the forks of the Delaware river. In 1742, a new treaty was to be made with Governor Thomas, at Philadelphia. He solicited the influence of the Six Nations, who sent down two hundred and thirty warriors. After the council had assembled, Canassatego, an Iroquois chief, told the Governor " That they saw the Delawares had been an unruly people, and were altogether in the wrong; that they had concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over the river Delaware and quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they had received pay for them, anditeis gone through their guts long ago." " They deserved to be taken by the hair of the head and shaken severely until they recovered their senses." "We conquered you and made women of you, and you know you can no more sell lands than women." " For all these reasons, we charge you to remove instantly; we don't give you liberty to think about it. You are women. Don't deliberate, but remove away." The Delawares dared not disobey. They left the council immediately, and soon after removed from the forks of the Delaware; some to Sham 6 THE OLDEN TIME. kin and Wyoming, the places assigned them by Canassatego, and some to the Ohio. Certainly the language of the Iroquois resembled that of a conqueror, rather than that of a mere deceiver, and the conduct of the Delawares was not such, as we would expect from persons who were shamefully deceived and imposed upon. Other instances might be cited of similar arrogance on the one side, and submissiveness on the other. But the above is sufficient for our purpose. The Delawares have a tale of a long course of treachery, deception and falsehood, practiced by the Iroquois, and of equally long continued simplicity, or stupidity, on their part. But the very excess of both forbids credence. Again, at a treaty held at Fort Pitt, in May, 1768, of which we will hereafter give a more full account, a little incident occurred, which showed that the Shawanese also submitted very patiently to the rebukes of the Iroquois, and tended to show that the latter well deserved the name given by the late De Witt Clinton, of the Romans of America. Nymwha, a Shawanese, addressing the Pennsylvania Commissioners and the English present, said: " We desired you to destroy your forts, &c. We also desired you not to go down the river," &c. Next day Keyashuta, a Seneca chief (one of the Indians, by the way, who accompanied Washington from Logstown to Le Bceuf, in 1753, and whom the editor well recollects), rose with a copy of the Treaty of 1764 with Col. Bradstreet, in his hand, and addressing the Commissioners, said: " By this treaty, we agreed that you had a right to build forts and trading-houses where you pleased, and to travel the road of peace from the sun rising to the sun setting. At that treaty the Shawanese and Delawares were with me, and know all this well, and I am surprised they should speak to you as they did yesterday." Two days' afterwards, Kissinaughta, a Shawanese chief, rose, and said: " You desired us to speak from our hearts, and tell you what gave us uneasiness of mind' and we did so. We are very sorry we should have said any thing to give offense, and we acknowledge we were wrong." At the time of the charter to William Penn, the Delawares occupied New Jersey, the valley of the Delaware river, and the entire basin of the Schuylkill. Subsequently they removed to the Ohio, and in 1753, Washington found Shingiss, their King, near McKee's Rocks, and Queen Aliquippa at the mouth of the Youghiogany, now McKeesport. The Shawanos, or Shawanese, are described as a restless people, who were constantly engaged in war with some of their neighbors. They were originally from the South; the French say from the Cumberland river; Mr. Heckewelder was told by other Indians that they were from Florida, and Mr. Johnson, United States Agent of Indian affairs, at Piqua, in Ohio, states that they came from the Suwaney river, Florida, and that it derived its name NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 7 from them. He also. states, that they, and they only, of all the Indian tribes, have a tradition that their ancestors crossed the sea. He also says, that until lately they kept a yearly sacrifice for their safe arrival. About 1698, they first appeared in Pennsylvania, some settling, as Mr. Heckewelder states, at Montour's Island, six miles below Pittsburgh, some advanced to Conestoga, and others settled on the head waters of the Susquehanna and Delaware. In 1728. they were again in motion to the West, and located themselves near the Allegheny and Ohio. In 1732, of seven hundred Indian warriors in this State, three hundred and fifty were Shawanese. They had several villages within the limits of the present counties of Allegheny and Beaver. Christian Frederick Post passed through three Shawanese villages between Fort Duquesne and Sawcunk, which, we believe, was at the mouth of Beaver, about where Beaver town now stands. Their principal residence was afterwards on the Scioto. Having thus briefly noticed the claims set up by France and Great Britain to this country, and given a brief account of the occupants of the soil, at the time those powers began to feel each other in this Valley, we will proceed to notice the gradual brewing of that storm, which was destined to prostrate forever the rule of the former power in North America. In 1688, the census for French North America showed but eleven thousand two hundred and forty-nine persons; scarcely-a twentieth part of the population of English North America at the same time. A contest between such unequal forces, it would seem, must be very brief indeed; but there was but one government in the French possessions, while in the British colonies there were many. The consequence was, that before the latter were prepared to act, the former had established itself in several commanding positions. As early as the year 1716, Governor Spottswood, of Virginia, alarmed by the extent of the French claims, aimed to interrupt the chain of communication between the French possessions in Canada and Louisiana, by extending the line of Virginia settlements westward. He caused the passes in the mountains to be examined; desired to promote settlements west of them, and sought to collect friendly Indians within that province. He also planned the incorporation of a Virginia Indian Company, which, from the profits of the monopoly of the traffic, might support forts at eligible points. He was, however, opposed by the people, and accomplished nothing. In Pennsylvania, also, alarm was felt, and as early as 1719, Governor Keith urged upon the lords of trade, the erection of a fort on Lake Erie. After the migration of the Delawares and the Shawanese to the West, Secretary Logan was very earnest in calling the attention of the proprietary to the ambitious designs of France, which extended to the head waters of 8 THE OLDEN TIME. the Ohio, and thus interfered with the five degrees of longitude of Pennsylvania. Again, in 1731, Logan prepared a memorial, on the state of the British plantations, and, through a member of Parliament, it was presented to Sir Robert Walpole; but he was too much occupied with his own concerns to notice interests so far distant. In this way, were the French permitted to establish themselves from Lake Erie, along French creek, to the Allegheny. Of course, as the subjects of the two governments approached more closely to each other, jealousies would grow stronger and collisions more probable. Canadian traders found their way to the Shawanese and Delawares near the Ohio, at an early period, and in 1730, several chiefs of those nations, under the invitation ofJoncaire, a French emissary, went with him to visit the Governor at Montreal. Next year, more of them followed, and the warriors placed themselves under the protection of Louis XV. The government of Canada annually sent them presents,!and deliberately aimed to estrange them from Great Britain. In 1743, Peter Chartier,* a half blood and trader with the Indians, and a French spy, who dwelt chiefly in Philadelphia, endeavored to enlist the Shawanese in a war against the Six Nations, the steady friends of the English. In 1745, being reprimanded by Governor Thomas for some misconduct, he became alarmed, fled to the Shawanese and induced them to declare for the French. Soon after, with a large number of their warriors, he captured two Pennsylvania traders and seized their property to the value of sixteen hundred pounds. French intrigues had been so untiring, that fears began to be felt even for the fidelity of the Six Nations, and counter efforts were made to induce them to take up the hatchet against the French. They, however, determined to remain neutral. On the 7th of October, 1748, a definitive treaty of peace was concluded at Aix La Chappelle. It, however, did not arrest the movements of either nation to strengthen themselves on the Ohio. We must now give brief accounts of the movements of both nations, beginning with the English. In the 6th note to the 2d volume of Spark's Writings of Washington, we have the following account of the first movement toward making a settlement on the Ohio. "In the year 1748, Thomas Lee, one of his Majesty's council in Virginia, formed the design of effecting a settlement on the wild lands west of the Allegheny mountains, through the agency of an association.of gentlemen. Before this date, there were no English residents in those regions A few traders wandered from tribe to tribe, and dwelt among the Indians, but they neither cultivated nor occupied the land." Mr. Lee associated with himself Mr. Hanbury, a merchant from London, and twelve persons in Virginia and Maryland, composing the " Ohio Land: This Chartier was probably the person from whom. Chartier's creek received its name. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 9 Company." One half million acres of land were granted them, to be taken principally on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kenhawa. In 1750, Mr. Christopher Gist, who afterward acted as Washington's guide to Le Boeuf, was dispatched by the company to explore the country along the Ohio.1 lie kept a journal of his trip, which we have never seen; but a writer who has seen it, states that he went from Virginia to the Juniata, ascended that river and descended the Kiskiminitas to the Alleghany. He crossed that river about four miles above this city, and passed on to the Ohio. In his journal he makes no mention of the Monongahela, and the writerwho gives us this information presumes that he was ignorant of its existence. If he passed to the north of Hogback hill, as that writer supposes, the Monongahela might very readily escape notice. In this expedition, Gist went as far as the Falls, on the north side of the Ohio, and in November, 1751, he examined the country on the south side of the Ohio as far as Kenhawa. In 1744, a treaty had been made with the Six Nation Indians at Lancaster by which they ceded to the King all the land within the bounds of Virginia. This was the first treaty supposed to contain a cession of lands on the Ohio. In 1752, a treaty was held at Logstown; Col. Fry and two* other commissioners present on the part of Virginia, and Gist as agent of the Ohio Company. One of the old chiefs declared that the Indians considered that the treaty at Lancaster did not cede any lands west of the first hills on the east side of the Allegheny mountains. They agreed, however, not to molest any settlements, that might be made on the southeast side of the Ohio. Soon after the treaty at Logstown, Gist was appointed Surveyor for the Ohio Company, and directed to lay off a town and fort near the mouth of Chartier's creek. Nothing, however, we presume, was done in that matter, as Washington, in his journal of his visit to Le Bceuf, used the following language: "About two miles from this (the Forks), on the southeast side of the river, at the place where the Ohio Company intended to lay off their fort, lives Shingiss, King of the Delawares," * Our late esteemed friend, James M'Kee, has often pointed out the place where Shingiss resided; it was near the river, and a short distance southwest of M'Kee's rocks. In 1749, Capt. Celeron, a French officer, at the head of three hundred men, came to the Ohio, took possession of the country in the name of his King, and deposited leaden plates at different places on the river. * Lunsford Lomax and James Patton. 10 THE OLDEN TIME. May 21st, 1753. Accounts received that 150 French and Indians,had arrived at a camping place, leading from the Niagara to the head of the Ohio. August 7th, 1753. Information received of the passage of a large number of canoes, with French troops, by Oswego, on their way to the Ohio. In October, 1753, a man-of-war arrived in Virginia with letters from the Earl of Holdernesse, Secretary of State, to all the Governors of the Provinces. It was in consequence of one of these letters, that Governor Dinwiddie appointed George Washington to proceed to the nearest French commandant on the Ohio. The following documents will explain the objects of his journey: INSTRUCTIONS FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON. "Whereas I have received information of a body of French forces being assembled in a hostile manner on the river Ohio, intending by force of arms to erect certain forts on the said river within this territory, and contrary to the dignity and peace of our sovereign, the King of Great Britain; " These are, therefore, to require and direct you, the said George Washington,forthwith to repair to Logstown on the said river Ohio; and having there informed yourself where the said French forces have posted themselves, thereupon to proceed to such place; and, being there arrived, to present your credentials, together with my letter to the chief commanding officer, and in the name of his Britannic Majesty to demand an answer thereto. "On your arrival at Logstown, you are to address yourself to the HalfKing, to Monacatoocha, and the other sacheias of the Six Nations, acquainting them with your orders to visit and deliver my letter to the French commanding officer, and desiring the said chiefs to appoint you a sufficient number of their warriors to be your safeguard, as near the French as you may desire, and wait your further direction. " You are diligently to inquire into the numbers and force of the French on the Ohio, and the adjacent country; how they are likely to be assisted from Canada; and what are the difficulties and conveniences of that communication, and the time required for it. " You are to take care to be truly informed what forts the French have erected, and where; how they are garrisoned and appointed, and what is their distance from each other and from Logstown; and from the best intelligence you can procure, you are to learn what gave occasion to this expedition of the French; how they are likely to be supported, and what their pretensions are. " When the French commandant has given you the required and necessary dispatches, you are to desire of him a proper guard to protect you as NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 11 far on your return, as you may judge for your safety, against any straggling Indians or hunters, that may be ignorant of your character, and molest you.' Wishing you good success in your negotiation, and safe and speedy return, I am, &c. ROBERT DINWIDDIE." "WILLIAMSBURG, 30 OCTOBER, 1753." " TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQUIRE, ONE OF THE ADJUTANTS-GENERAL OF THE TROOPS AND FORCES IN THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. " I, reposing especial trust and confidence in the ability, conduct, and fidelity of you, the said George Washington, have appointed you my express messenger; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed hence, with all convenient and possible dispatch, to the part or place, on the river Ohio, where the French have lately erected a fort or forts, or where the commandant of the French forces resides, in order to deliver my letter and message to him; and after waiting not exceeding one week for an answer, you are to take your leave and return immediately back. "' To this commission I have set my hand, and caused the great seal of this Dominion to be affixed, at the city of Williamsburg, the seat of my government, this 30th day of October, in the twenty-seventy year of the reign of his Majesty, George the Second, King of Great Britain, &c., &c., annoque Domini 1753. ROBERT DINWIDDIE." "TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME OR CONCERN, GREETING: "Whereas I have appointed George Washington, Esquire, by commission under the great seal, my express messenger to the commandant of the French forces on the river Ohio, and as he is charged with business of great importance to his Majesty and this Dominion; " I do hereby command all his Majesty's subjects, and particularly require all in alliance and amity with the crown of Great Britain, and all others to whom this passport may come, agreeably to the law of nations, to be aiding and assisting as a safeguard to the said George Washington and his attendants, in his present passage to and from the river Ohio as aforesaid. ROBERT DINWIDDIE." " TO THE LORDS OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. " RIGHT HONORABLE: * "My last to you was on the 16th of June, to which I beg you to be referred. In that, I acquainted you of the accounts we have had of the French, with the Indians in their interest, invading the Majesty's lands on the river Ohio. "The person sent as a commissioner to the commandant of the French forces neglected his duty, and went no further than Logstown on the Ohio. He reports the French were then one hundred and fifty miles further up that river, and I believe was afraid to go to them. On the application of 12 THE OLDEN TIME. the Indians in friendship with us on the Ohio, I sent Mr. William Trent, with guns, powder, and shot to them, with some clothing; and inclosed I send you his report and conferences with these people, on his delivering them the present.* "I have received, by a man-of-war sloop, orders from the Right Honorable Earl of Holdernesse, and instructions from his Majesty. In consequence thereof, I have sent one of the adjutants of the militia out to the commander of the French forces, to know their intentions and by what authority they presume to invade his Majesty's dominions in the time of tranquil peace. When he returns, I shall transmit you an account of his proceedings, and the French commander's answer. Your Lordships', &c. ROBERT DINWIDDIE." We insert the whole of this journal, containing as it does, an interesting account of Washington's first public service, and indicating some strong traits of the writer's character. WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL OF A TOUR OVER THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS. " I was commissioned and appointed by the Honorable Robert Dinwiddie, Esquire. Governor, &c., of Virginia, to visit and deliver a letter to the commandant of the French forces at the Ohio, and set out on the intended journey on the same day; the next, I arrived at Frederickburg, and engaged Mr. Jacob Vanbraam to be my French interpreter, and proceeded with him to Alexandria, where we provided necessaries. From thence, we went to Winchester, and got baggage horses, &c., and fiom thence we pursued the new road to Wills' creek, where we arrived on the 14th November. " Here I engaged Mr. Gist to pilot us out, and also hired four others as servitors, Barney Currin, and John McQuire, Indian traders, Henry Steward, and William Jenkins; and in company with these persons left the inhabitants the next day. *A copy of Trent's journal is preserved among the papers in the office of the Board of Trade. Trent reports his having been informed by an Indian, that "the French say they took possession of all the lands on the other side of the Allegheny hill, for the King of France, three years ago, by sinking iron plates at the mouth of several of the creeks, and putting up tin plates on the trees." (MS. Journal.) This circumstance is also mentioned in Smith's "History of Canada," Volume 1, * page 209. Within a few years, one of these plates has been found near the mouth of, the Muskingum. It was a leaden and not an iron plate, eight inches by ten in size, and three-eighths of an inch thick, with an inscription dated August 16th, 1749. In addition to the names and words of form, the inscription affirms: "We have deposited this plate as a monument and a memorial of the re-establishment of our power in the territory which we claim near that river (Ohio), and near all those which empty into it, and in all that country, on both sides, in the neighborhood of the sources of those rivers, and which we have gained to our empire by a long line of wise and prudent princes, maintained by our arms and solemn treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix-la-Chapelle." The name of the officer who deposited the plates was Celeron. Communicated by Mr. William Smith, of Quebec, author of the "History of Canada." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 13 "The excessive rains and vast quantities of snow which had fallen, prevented our reaching Mr. Frazier's, an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle creek, on Monongahela river, till Thursday, the 22d. We were informed here that expresses had been sent a few days before to the traders down the river, to acquaint them with the French general's death, and the return of the major part of the French army into winter quarters. " The waters were quite impassable without swimming our horses, which obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from Frazier, and to send Barnaby Currin and Henry Steward down the Monongahela, with our baggage, to meet us at the forks of Ohio, about ten miles below; there, to cross the Allegheny. " As I got down before the canoe, I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well situated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty-five feet above the common surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat, well timbered land all around it very convenient for building. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very nearly at right angles; Allegheny bearing northeast; and Monongahela, southeast. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift running water, the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall. " About two miles from this, on the southeast side of the river, at the place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a fort, lives Shingiss, king of the Delawares. We called upon him, to invite him to a council at Logstown. "As I had taken a good deal of notice yesterday of the situation at the fork, my curiosity led me to examine this more particularly, and I think it greatly inferior, either for defense or advantages; especially the latter. For a fort at the fork would be equally well situated on the Ohio, and have the entire command of the Monongahela, which runs up our settlement, and is extremely well designed for water carriage, as it is of a deep, still nature. Besides, a fort at the fork might be built at much less expense, than at the other place. " Nature has well contrived this lower place for water defense; but the hill whereon it must stand being about a quarter of a mile in length, and then descending gradually on the land side, will render it difficult and very expensive to make a sufficient fortification there. The whole flat upon the hill must be taken in, the side next the descent made extremely high, or else the hill itself cut away; otherwise, the enemy may raise batteries within that distance without being exposed to a single shot from the fort. "Shingiss attended us to the Logstown,* where we arrived between * We have spoken to several persons in both this county and Beaver, all of whom, with one exception, located Logstown on the left side of the Ohio, descending the river. All the old authorities we have seen place it on the right or northwest side. 14 THE OLDEN TIME. sun-setting and dark, the twenty-fifth day after I left Williamsburg. We traveled over some extremely good and bad land to get to this place. " As soon as I came into town, I went to Monakatoocha (as the Half-King was out at his hunting cabin on Little Beaver creek, about fifteen miles off), and informed him by John Davidson, my Indian interpreter, that I was sent a messenger to the French general; and was ordered to call upon the sachems of the Six Nations to Acquaint them with it. I gave him a string of wampum and a twist of tobacco, and desired him to send for the HalfKing, which he promised to do, by a runner, in the morning, and for other sachems. I invited him and the other great men present to my tent, where they stayed about an hour and returned. " According to the best observation I could make, Mr. Gist's new settlement (which we passed by) bears about west northwest seventy miles from Wills' creek; Shanopins, or the forks, north by west or north northwest about fifty miles from that; and from thence to the Logstown, the course is nearly west about eighteen or twenty miles; so that the whole distance, as we went and computed it, is at least one hundred and thirtyfive or one hundred and forty miles from our back inhabitants. " 25th. Came to town, four of ten Frenchmen, who had deserted from a company at the Kuskuskas, which lies at the mouth of this river. I got the following account from them: They were sent from New Orleans with a hundred men, and eight canoe loads of provisions, to this place, where they expected to have met the same number of men from the forts on this side of Lake Erie, to convoy them and the stores up, who were not arrived when they ran off. " I inquired into the situation of the French on the Mississippi, their numbers, and what forts they had built. They informed me that there were four small forts between New Orleans and the Black Islands, garrisoned with about thirty or forty men, and a few small pieces in each. That at New Orleans, which is near the mouth of the Mississippi, there are thirtyfive companies of forty men each, with a pretty strong fort, mounting eight Washington, in a letter to Wm. Fairfax, dated 11th of August, 3754, says: " It is known we must pass the French fort and the Ohio to get to Logstown." Certainly, if that place had been on the left or southeast side of the Ohio, this would not have been necessary. Fredtrick Post says: "I, with my companions, came to Logstown, situated on a hill. On the east end, is a great piece of low land, where the old Logstown used to stand. In the new Logstown, the French have built about thirty houses for the Indians." When it is known Post was traveling from the mouth of the Beaver along the northwest bank of the Ohio, this seems conclusive against the common opinion. Hutchins, in his account of the march of Col. Bouquet to the Muskingum, along the north side of the Ohio, says: "We passed through Logstown;" and in his map he places it on the right hand side as the army passed down. The fine bottom of rich land on the southeast side of the Ohio, opposite where Logstown stood, was called "Logstown bottom." An old resident on that bottom has recently told us that the late Col. John Gibson had built a fort or block-house there, which was called Gibson's fort. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 15 carriage guns; and at the Black islands there are several companies and a fort with six guns. The Black islands are about a hundred and thirty leagues above the mouth of the Ohio, which is about three hundred and fifty above New Orleans. They also acquainted me that there was a small pallisadoed fort on the Ohio, at the mouth of the Obaish, about sixty leagues from the Mississippi. The Obaish heads near the west end of lake Erie, and affords the communication between the French on the Mississippi and those on the lakes. Th'ese deserters came up from the lower Shannoah town with one Brown, an Indian trader, and were going to Philadelphia. " About three o'clock this evening, the Half-King* came to town. I went up and invited him, with Davidson, privately, to my tent; and desired him to relate some of the particulars of his journey to the French commandant and of his reception there; also, to give me an account of the ways and distance. He told me, that the nearest and levelest way was now impassable, by reason of many large miry savannas; that we must be obliged to go by Venango, and should not get to the near fort in less than five or six nights sleep, good traveling. When he went to the fort, he said, he was received in a very stern manner by the late commander, who asked him very abruptly, what he had corme about, and to declare his business; which he said he did in the following speech: "'Fathers, I am come to tell you your own speeches, what your own mouths have declared. Fathers, you, in former days, set a silver basin before us, wherein there was the leg of a beaver, and desired all the nations to come and eat of it-to eat in peace and plenty, and not to be churlish to one another; and that if any such person should be found to be a disturber, I here lay down by the edge of the dish a rod, which you must scourge them with; and if your father should get foolish, in my old days, I desire you may use it upon me as well as others. "'Now, fathers, it is you who are the disturbers in this land, by coming and building your towns, and taking it away unknown to us, and by force. "' Fathers, we kindled a fire a long time ago, at a place called Montreal, where we desired you to stay, and not to come and intrude upon our land. I now desire you may despatch to that place; for be it known to you, fathers, that this is our land and not yours. * "' Fathers, I desire you may hear me in civilness; if not, we must handle that rod which was laid down for the use of the obstreperous. If you had *" The Half-King, or Tanacharison," was a good friend of the English, but he died at Harris' Ferry (Harrisburgh), in October, 1754. No doubt, his death was a serious loss to the British. lis advice might have been useful to Braddock in his march toward this place, and his conduct when Ensign Ward was taken prisoner, and again when Jumonville was killed, prove him to have been a willing and active friend. 16 THE OLDEN TIME. come in a peaceable manner, like our brothers the English, we would not have been against your trading with us as they do; but to come, fathers, and build houses upon our land, and to take it by force, is what we can not submit to. "' Fathers, both you and the English are white; we live in a country between; therefore, the land belongs to neither one nor the other. But the Great Being above allowed it to be a place of residence for us; so, fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our brothers the English; for I will keep you at arm's length. I lay this down as a trial for both, to see which will have the greatest regard to it, and that side we will stand by, and make equal sharers with us. Our brothers the English, have heard this, and I come now to tell it to you; for I am not afraid to discharge you off this land.' "This, he said, was the substance of what he spoke to the general, who made this reply: "' Now, my child, I have heard your speech; you spoke first, and it is my time to speak now. Where is my wampum that you took away, with the marks of towns on it? This wampum I do not know, which you have discharged me off the land with; but you need not put yourself to the trouble of speaking, for 1 will not hear you. I am not afraid of flies or musquitoes, for Indians are such as those; I tell you that down that river I will go, and build upon it, according to my command. If the river was blocked up, I have forces sufficient to burst it open, and tread under my feet all that stand in opposition, together with their alliances; for my force is as the sand upon the sea shore; therefore here is your wampum; I sling it at you. Child, you talk foolish; you say this land belongs to you, but there is not the black of my nail yours. I saw the land sooner than you did, before the Shannoahs and you were at war. Lead was the man who went down and took possession of that river. It is my land, and I will have it, let who will stand up for, or say against it. I will buy and sell with the English (mockingly). If people will be ruled by me, they may expect kindness, but not else.'' The Half-King told me he had inquired of the general after two Englishmen who were'made prisoners, and received this answer. t' Child, you think it is a very great hardship that I made prisoners of those two people at Venango. Don't you concern yourself with it; we took and carried them to Canada, to get intelligence of what the Engilsh were doing in Virginia.' "He informed me, that they had built two forts, one on lake Erie,* and another on French creek, near a small lake, about fifteen miles asunder, * These two forts were one at Presquile, where Erie now stands; the other where the village of Waterford is situated. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 17 and a large wagon road between. They are both built after the same model, but different in size; that on the lake the largest. He gave me a plan of them of his own drawing. " The Indians inquired very particular after their brothers in Carolina goal. "They also asked what sort of a boy it was, who was taken from the South Branch; for they were told by some Indians, that a party of French Indians had carried a white boy by Kuskuska Town,* toward the lakes. "36th.-We met in council at the long-house about nine o'clock, where I spoke to them as follows: "'Brothers, I have called you together in council, by order of your brother, the Governor of Virginia, to acquaint you that I am sent with all possible despatch, to visit and deliver a letter to the French commandant. of very great importance to your brothers, the English; and I dare say to you, their friends and allies. "'I was desired, brothers, by your brother, the Governor, to call upon you, the sachems of the nations, to inform you of it, and to ask your advice and assistance to proceed by the nearest and best road to the French. You see, brothers, I have gotten thus far on my journey. "' His Honor likewise desired me to apply for some of your young men to conduct and provide provisions for us on our way, and be a safeguard against those French Indians, who have taken up the hatchet against us. I have spoken thus particularly to you, brothers, because his Honor, our Governor, treates you as good friends and allies, and holds you in great esteem. To confirm what I have said, I give you this string of wampum.' " After they had considered for some time on the above discourse, the Half-King got up and spoke.''Now, my brother, in regard to what my brother, the Governor, had desired of me, I return you this answer. "' I rely upon you as a brother ought to do, as you say we are brothers, and one people. We shall put our heart in hand and speak to ourfathers, the French, concerning the speech they made to me; and you may depend that we will endeavor to be your guard. "'Brother, as you have asked my advice, I hope you will be ruled by it, and stay until I can provide a company to go with you. The French speech-belt is not here; I have to go forit to my hunting cabin. Likewise, the people whom I have ordered in are not yet come, and can not until the third night from this; until which time, brother, I must beg you to stay. "'I intend to send the guard of Mingoes, Shannoahs, and Delawares, that our brothers may see the love and loyalty we bear them.' This town is placed in Hutchin's map on the west side of Big Beaver, about one mile below where the Shenango and Malioning unite. 18 THE OLDEN TIME. "As I had orders to make all possible dispatch, and waiting here was very contrary to my inclination, I thanked him in the most suitable manner I could, and told him that my business required the greatest expedition, and would not admit of that delay. He was not pleased that I should offer to go before the time he had appointed, and told me that he could not consent to our going without a guard, for fear some accident should befall us, and draw a reflection upon him. Besides, said he, this is a matter of no small moment, and must not be entered into without due consideration; for I intend to deliver up the French speech-belt, and make the Shannoahs and Delawares do the same. And accordingly he gave orders to King Shingiss, who was present, to attend on Wednesday night with the wampum; and two men of their nation to be in readiness to set out with us the next morning. As I found it was impossible to get off without affronting them in the most egregious manner, I consented to stay. " I gave them back a string of wampum, which I met with at Mr. Frazier's, and which they sent with a speech to his Honor the Governor, to inform him that three nations of French Indians, namely, Chippewas, Ottaways, and Orundaks, had taken up the hatchet against the English; and desired them to repeat it over again. But this they postponed doing until they met in full council with the Shannoah and Delaware chiefs. L" 27th.-Runners were dispatched very early for the Shannoah chiefs. The Half-King set out himself to fetch the French speech-belt from his hunting cabin. " 28th.-He returned this evening, and came with Monakatoocha, and two other sachems to my tent; and begged (as they had complied with his Honor the Governor's request, in providing men, &c.) to know on what business we were going to the French? This was a question I had all long expected, and had provided as satisfactory answers to as I could; which allayed their curiosity a little. " Monakatoocha informed me that an Indian from Venango brought news, a few days ago, that the French had called all the Mingoes, Delawares, &c., together at that place; and told them that they intended to have been down the river this fall, but the waters were growing cold, and the winter advancing, which obliged them to go into quarters; but that they might assuredly expect them in the spring, with a fargreater number; and desired that they might be quite passive, and not intermeddle, unless they had a mind to draw all their force upon them: for that they expected to fight the English three years (as they supposed there would be some attempt, made to stop them), in which time they should conquer. But that if they should prove equally strong, they and the English would join to cut them all off, and divide the land between them; that though they had lost their general and some few of their soldiers, yet there were men enough to reinforce them, and make them masters of the Ohio. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 19 "This speech, he said, was delivered to them by one Captain Joncaire, their interpreter-in-chief, living at Venango, and a man of note in the army. "29th.-The Half-King and Monakatoocha came very early, and begged me to stay one day more; for notwithstanding they had used all the diligence in their power, the Shannoah chiefs had not brought the wampum they ordered, but would certainly be in to-night; if not, they would delay me no longer, but would send it after us as soon as they arrived. When I found them so pressing in their request, and knew that returning of wampum was the abolishing of agreements; and giving this up was shaking off all dependence upon the French, I consented to stay, as I believe an offence, offered at this crisis, might be attended with greater ill consequence than another day's delay. They also informed me that Shingiss could not get in his men; and was prevented from coming himself by his wife's sickness (I believe, by fear of the French); but that the wampum of that nation was lodged with Kustalogo, one of their chiefs at Venango. " In the evening, late, they came again, and acquainted me that the Shannoahs were not yet arrived, but that should not retard the prosecution of our journey. He delivered in my hearing the speech that was to be made to the French by Jeskakake, one of their old chiefs, which was giving up the belt the late commandant had asked for, and repeating nearly the same speech he himself had done before. "He also delivered a string of wampum to this chief, which was sent by King Shingiss, to be given to Kustalogo, with orders to repair to the French and deliver up the wampum. "He likewise gave a very large string of black and white wampum, which was to be sent up immediately to the Six Nations, if the French refused to quit the land at this warning; which was the the third and last time, and was the right of this Jeskakake to deliver. " 30th.-Last night, the great men assembled at their council house, to consult further about this journey, and who were to go; the result of which was that only three of their chiefs, with one of their best hunters, should be our convoy. The reason they gave for not sendiug more, after what had been proposed at council the 26th, was, that a greater number might give the French suspicions of some bad design, and cause them to be treated rudely; but I rather think they could not get their hunters in. *" We set out about nine o'clock with the Half-King, Jeskakake, White Thunder, and the Hunter, and traveled on the road to Venango, where we arrived the fourth of December, without anything remarkable happening but a continued series of bad weather. " This is an old Indian town, situated at the mouth of French creek, on Ohio, and lies near north about sixty miles from the Logstown, but more than seventy the way we were obliged to go. " We found the French colors hoisted at a house from which they had 20 THE OLDEN TIME. driven Mr. John Frazier, an English subject. 1 immediately repaired to it, to know where the commandant resided. There were three officers, one of whom, Captain Joncaire, informed me that he had the command of the Ohio; but that there was a general officer at the near fort, where he advised me to apply for an answer. He invited us to sup with him, and treated us with great complaisance. "The wine, as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banished the restraint which at first appeared in their conversation, and gave a license to their tongues to reveal their sentiments more freely. "They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and, by G-d, they would do it; for that, although they were sensible the English could raise two men for their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs. They pretend to have an undoubted right to the river from a discovery made by one La Salle, sixty years ago; and the rise of this expedition is to prevent our settling on the river or waters of it, as they heard of some families moving out in order thereto. From the best intelligence I could get, there have been fifteen hundred men on this side Ontario lake. But upon the death of the General, all were recalled to about six or seven hundred, who were left to garrison four forts-one hundred and fifty or thereabout in each. The first of them is on French creek, near a small lake, about sixty miles from Venango, near north northwest; the next lies on Lake Erie, where the greater part of the stores are kept, about fifteen miles from the other. From this it is one hundred and twenty miles to the carrying place, at the falls of Lake Erie, where there is a small fort, at which they should lodge their goods in bringing them from Montreal, the place from whence all their stores are brought. The next fort lies about twenty miles from this, on Ontario lake. Between this fort and Montreal, there are three others, the first of which is nearly opposite to the English Fort Oswego. From the fort on Lake Erie to Montreal is about six hundred miles, which, they say, requires no more (if good weather) than four weeks' voyage, if they go in barks or large vessels, so that they may cross the lake; but if they come in canoes, it will require five or six weeks, for they are obliged to keep under the shore. "December 5th. —Rained excessively all day, which prevented our traveling. Captain Joncaire sent for the Half-King, as he had but just heard that he came with me. He affected to be much concerned that I did not make free to bring them in before. I excused it in the best manner of which I was capable, and told him I did not think their company agreeable, as I had heard him say a good deal in dispraise of Indians in general; but another motive prevented me from bringing them into his company: I knew that he was an interpreter and a person of great.influence among the Indians, and had lately used all possible means to draw them over to his NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 21 interest; therefore I was desirous of giving him no opportunity that could be avoided. " When they came in, there was great pleasure expressed at seeing them. He wondered how they could be so near without coming to visit him, made several trifling presents, and applied liquor so fast, that they were soon rendered incapable of the business they came about, notwithstanding the caution which was given. 6th.-The IHalf-Kinga came to my tent quite sober, and insisted very much that I should stay and hear what he had to say to the French. I fain would have prevented him from speaking any thing until he came to the commandant, but could not prevail. He told me that at this place a council-fire was kindled, where all their business with these people was to:-e transacted, and that the management of the Indian affairs was left solely to Monsieur Joncaire. As I was desirous of knowing the issue of this, I agreed to stay; but sent our horses a little way up French Creek, to raft over and encamp; which I knew would make it near night, "About ten o'clock, they met in council. The King spoke'much the same as he had done before to the general; and offered the French speechbelt which had before been demanded, with the marks of four towns on it, which Monsieur Joncaire refused to receive, but desired him to carry it to the fort to the commander. "' 7th.-Monsieur La Force, commissary of the French stores, and three other soldiers, came over to accompany us up. We found it extremely difficult to get the Indians off to-day, as every stratagem had been used to prevent their going up with me. I had, last night, left John Davidson (the Indian interpreter), whom I brought with me from town, and strictly charged him not to be out of their company, as'l could not get them over to my tent; for they had some business with Kustalogo, chiefly to know why he did not deliver up the French speech-belt which he had in keeping; but I was obliged to send Mr. Gist over to-day to fetch them, which he did with great persuasion. " At twelve o'clock, we set out for the fort, and were prevented arriving there until the 11th by excessive rains, snows, and bad traveling through many mires and swamps; these we were obliged to pass to avoid crossing the creek, which was impassable either by fording or rafting, the water wAs so high and rapid. " We passed over much good land since we left Venango, and through several very extensive and rich meadows, one of which, I believe, was nearly four miles in length, and considerably wide in some places. "12th. —I prepared early to wait upon the commander, and was received and conducted to him by the second officer in command. I acquainted him with my business, and offered my commission and letter; both of 22 THE OLDEN TIME. which he requested me to keep until the arrival of Monsieur Reparti, captain at the next fort, who was sent for, and expected every hour. " The commander is a knight of the military order of St. Louis, and named Legardeur de St. Pierre. He is an elderly gentleman, and has much the air of a soldier. He was sent over to take the command immediately upon the death of the late general, and arrived here about seven days before me. " At two o'clock, the gentleman who was sent for arrived, when I offered the letter, &c., again, which they received, and adjourned into a private apartment for the captain. to translate, who understood a little English. After he had done it, the commander desired I would walk in and bring my interpreter to peruse and correct it, which I did. " 13th.-The chief officers retired to hold a council of war, which gave me an opportunity of taking the dimensions of the fort, and making what observations I could. " It is situated on the south or west fork of French creek, near the water; and is almost surrounded by the creek and a small branch of it, which form a kind of island. Four houses compose the sides. The bastions are made of piles driven into the ground, standing more than twelve feet above it, and sharp at the top, with port-holes cut for cannon, and loop-holes for the small arms to fire through. There are eight six pound pieces mounted in each bastion, and one piece of four pounds before the gate. In the bastions, are a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging, and the commander's private store, round which are laid platforms for the cannon and men to stand on. There are several barracks without the fort, for the soldiers' dwellings, covered, some with bark, and some with boards, made chiefly of logs. There are also several other houses, such as stables, smith's shop, &c. " I could get no certain account of the number of men here; but, according to the best judgment I could form, there are a hundred, exclusive of officers, of whom there are many. I also gave orders to the people who were with me, to take an exact account of the canoes, which were hauled up to convey their forces down in the spring. This they did, and told fifty of birch bark, and a hundred and seventy of pine; besides many others which were blocked out, in readiness for being made. " 14th.-As the snow increased very fast, and our horses daily became weaker, I sent them off unloaded, under the care of Barnaby Currin and two others, to make all convenient dispatch to Venango, and there to wait our arrival, if there was a prospect of the river's freezing; if not, then to continue down to Shanapin's town,* at the forks of Ohio, and there to * Shanapin's was an Indian town, situated on the east side of the Allegheny river, extending from the two mile run down toward the forks. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 23 wait until we came to cross the Allegheny; intending myself to go down by water, as I had the offer of a canoe or two. "As I found many plots concerted to retard the Indians' business, and prevent their returning with me; I endeavored, all that lay in my power, to frustrate their schemes, and hurried them on to execute their intended design. They accordingly pressed for admittance this evening, which at length was granted them, privately, to the commander and one or two other officers. The Half-King told me that he offered the wampum to the commander, who evaded taking it, and made many fair promises of love and friendship; said he wanted to live in peace and trade amicably with them, as a proof of which, he would send some goods immediately down to the Logstown for them. But I rather think the design of that is to bring away all our straggling traders they meet with, as I privately understood they intended-to carry an officer, &c., with them. And what rather confirms this opinion, I was inquiring of the commander by what authority he had made prisoners of several of our English subjects. He told me that the country belonged to them; that no Englishman had a right to trade upon those waters; and that he had orders to make every person prisoner who attempted it on the Ohio, or the waters of it. "I inquired of Captain Reparti about the boy that was carried by this place, as it was done while the command devolved on him, between the death of the late general and the arrival of the present. He acknowledged that a boy had been carried past; and that the Indians had two or three white men's scalps (I was told by some of the Indians at Venango, eight) but pretended to have forgotten the name of the place where the boy came from, and all the particular facts, though he had questioned him-for some hours, as they were carrying past. I likewise inquired what they had done with John Trotter and James M'Clocklan, two Pennsylvania traders, whom they had taken with all their goods. They told me that they had been sent to Canada, but were now returned home. " This evening, I received an answer to his Honor the Governor's letter from the commandant. " 15th.-The commandant ordered a plentiful store of liquor, provision, &c., to be put on board our canoes, and appeared to be extremely complaisant, though he was exerting every artifice which he could invent to set our Indians at variance with us, to prevent their going until after our departure: presents, rewards, and everything which could be suggested by him or his officers. I can not say that ever in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I did in this affair: I saw that every stratagem, which the most fruitful brain could invent, was practiced to win the Half-King to their interest; and that leaving him there was giving them the opportunity they aimed at. I went to the Half-King and pressed him in the strongest terms to go; he told me that the commandant would not discharge him until the 24 THE OLDEN TIME. morning I then went to the commandant, and desired him to do their business, and complained of ill-treatment; for keeping them, as they were part of my company, was detaining me. This he promised not to do, but to forward my journey as much as he could. He protested he did not keep them, but was ignorant of the cause of their stay; though I soon found it out. He had promised them a present of guns, &c., if they would wait until the morning. As I was very much pressed by the Indians to wait this day for them, I consented, on a promise that nothing should hinder them in the morning. "16th.-The French were not slack in their inventions to keep the Indians this day also. But as they were obliged, according to promise, to give the present, they then endeavored to try the power of liquor, which I doubt not would have prevailed at any other time than this; but I urged and insisted with the King so closely upon his word, that he refrained, and set off with us as he had engaged. " We had a tedious and very fatiguing passage down the creek. Several times we had like to have been staved against rocks; and many times were obliged all hands to get out and remain in the water half an hour or more, getting over the shoals. At one place, the ice had lodged, and made it impassable by water; we were, therefore, obliged to carry our canoe across the neck of land, a quarter of a mile over. We did not reach Venango until the 22d, where we met with our horses. This creek is extremely crooked. I dare say the distance between the fort and Yenango, can not be less than one hundred and thirty miles to follow the meanders. " 23d. —When I got things ready to set off, I sent for the Half-King, to know whether he intended to go with us, or by water. He told me that White Thunder had hurt himself much, and was sick and unable to walk; therefore, he was obliged to carry him down in a canoe. As I found he intended to stay here a day or two, and knew that Monsieur Joncaire would employ every scheme to set him against the English, as he had before done, 1 told'him I hoped he would guard against his flattery, and let no fine speeches influence him in their favor. He desired I might not be concerned, for he knew the French too well, for anything to engage him in their favor; and that though he could not go down with us, he yet would endeavor to meet at the forks with Joseph Campbell, to deliver a speech for me to carry to his Honor the Governor. HIe told me he would order the Young Hunter to attend us, and get provisions, &c., if wanted. "Our horses were now so weak and feeble, and the baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the necessaries which the journey would require), that we doubted much their performing it. Therefore, myself and the others, except the drivers, who were obliged to ride, gave up our horses for packs, to assist along with the baggage. I put myself in an NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 25 Indian walking dress, and continued with them three days, until I found there was no probability of their getting home in reasonable time. The horses became less able to travel every day; the cold increased very fast; and the roads were becoming much worse by a deep snow, continually freezing; therefore, as I was uneasy to get back, to make report of my proceedings to his Honor the Governor, I determined to prosecute my journey, the nearest way through the woods, on foot. "Accordingly, I left Mr. Vanbraam in charge of our baggage, with money and directions to provide necessaries from place to place for themselves and horses, and to make the most convenient dispatch in traveling. "I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes, and tied myself up in a watch-coat. Then, with gun in hand, and pack on my back, in which were my papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same manner, on Wednesday, the 26th. The day following, just after we had passed a place called Murderingtown (where we intended to quit the path and steer across the country for Shanapin's town), we fell in with a party of French Indians, who had laid in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed. We took this fellow into custody, and kept him until about nine o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked all the remaining part of the night without making any stop, that we might get the start, so far as to be out of the reach of their pursuit the next day, since we were well assured they would follow our track as soon as it was light. The next day, we continued traveling until quite dark, and got to the river about two miles above Shanapin's. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it was not, only about fifty yards fiom each shore. The ice, I suppose, had broken up above, for it was driving in vast quantities. " There was no way for getting over but on a raft; which we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and finished just after sun-setting. This was a whole day's work; we next got it launched, then went on board of it, and set off; but before we were half way over, we were jammed in the ice in such a manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting-pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass by; when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet water; but I fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it. "The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and some of his toes frozen; and the water was shut up so hard, that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the morning,* and *The editor, many years ago, satisfied his own mind that this island must have been Wainright's, not 26 THE OLDEN TIME. went to Mr. Frazier's. We met here with twenty warriors, who were going to the southward to war; but coming to a place on the head of the Great Kenhawa, where they found seven people killed and scalped (all but one woman with very light hair), they turned about and ran back, for fear the inhabitants should rise and take them as the authors of the murder. They report that the bodies were lying about the house, and some of them much torn and eaten by the hogs. By the marks which were left, they say they were French Indians, of the Ottoway nation, who did it. "As we intended to take horses here, and it required some time to find them, I went up about three miles to the mouth of the Youghiogany, to visit Queen Aliquippa, who had expressed great concern that we passed her in going to the fort. I made her a present of a watch-coat and a bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present of the two. " Tuesday, the first of January, we left Mr. Frazier's house, and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela, the second, where I bought a horse and saddle. The sixth, we met seventeen horses loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the fork of the Ohio, and the day after, some families going out to settle. This day, we arrived at Will's creek, after as fatiguing a journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad weather. From the first day of December to the fifteenth, there was but one day on which it did not rain or snow incessantly; and throughout the whole journey, we met with nothing but one continued series of cold, wet weather, which occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, especially after we had quitted our tent, which was some screen from the inclemency of it. " On the 11th, I got to Belvoir, where I stopped one day to take necessary rest; and then set out and arrived in Williamsburg the 16th, when I waited upon his Honor the Governor, with the letter I had brought from the French commandant, and to give an account of the success of my proceedings. This I beg leave to do by offering the foregoing narrative, as it contains the most remarkable occurrences which, happened in my journey.' I hope what has been said will be sufficient to make your Honor satisfied with my conduct; for that was my aim in undertaking the journey, and chief study throughout the prosecution of it." We might let the journal suffice for all the events mentioned in it, but Gist, the pilot, also kept a diary, and his narrative of the occurrence near Murderingtown is so creditable to the humanity of Washington, and so fully meets the charge of want of feeling made against him, in the case of Jumonville, and afterwards in the case of Major Andre, that we can not refrain from republishing it from Sparks' Life of Washington. Herr's. The former island is near the castern bank of the Allegheny, and that branch of the river might freeze over in one night, so as to bear Washington and Gist; but the wide channel between Herr's island and Shanapin's would scarcely so freeze in one night. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 27 " We rose early in the morning, and set out about two o'clock, and got to theMurderingtown, on the southeast fork of Beaver creek. Here we met an Indian, whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire's, at Venango, when on our journey up to the French fort. This fellow called me by my Indian name, and pretended to be glad to see me. "I thought very ill of the fellow, but did not care to let the Major know I mistrusted him. But he soon mistrusted him as much as I did. The Indian said he could hear a gun from his cabin and steered us more northwardly. We grew uneasy, and then he said two whoops might be heard from his cabin. We went two miles further. Then the Major said he would stay at the next water, and we desired the Indian to stop at the next water; we came to water; we came to a clear meadow. It was very light, and snow was on the ground. The Indian made a stop, and turned about. The Major saw him point his gun towards us, and he fired. Said the Major,' Are you shot?''No,' said 1; upon which the Indian ran forward to a big standing white oak, and began loading his gun, but we were soon with him. I would have killed him, but the Major would not suffer me. We let him charge his gun. We found he put in a ball; then we took care of him. Either the Major or I always stood by the guns. We made him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended to sleep there. I said, to the Major,'As you will not have him killed, we must get him away, and then we must travel all night;' upon which I said to the Indian,'I suppose you were lost, and fired your gun. He said he knew the way to his cabin, and it was but a little way.'Well,' said I,' do you go home; and, as we are tired, we will follow your track in the morning, and here is a cake of bread for you, and you must give us meat for it in the morning.' He was glad to get away. I followed him, and listened, until he was fairly out of the way; and then we went about a half a mile, when we made a fire, set our compass, fixed our course, and traveled all night. In the morning, we were on the head of Piny creek." All doubt as to the intentions and movements of the French was removed by Washington's narrative, and Governor Dinwiddie, to arouse the people and to excite their indignation, caused the journal to be published. It was copied, said Mr Sparks, into nearly all newspapers of the other colonies. In London, it was reprinted under the auspices of the government, and accounted a document of much importance, as unfolding the views of the French, and announcing the first positive proof of their hostile acts in the disputed territory. As we propose only to give a narrative of the proceedings here, we do not deem it necessary to give any account of the means adopted for the raising of troops to be sent here. It is sufficient to state that arrangements were made to send troops from Virginia to this point. One company, under the command of Captain Trent, being first ready; marched and 28 THE OLDEN TIME. arrived here. While they were marching to this place, it seems, by the following extract fiom the records at Harrisburg, that the French had built a fort at Logstown. "March 12th, 1754. Evidence sent to the House that Venango and Logst,;wn, where the French forts are built, are in the province of Pennsylvania. This is the only intimation we have seen of the French having built a fort at Logstown, before they took possession of this place. There were no French troops there in November, when Washington visited that place. On the 21st of March, 1754, Governor Dinwiddie said, in a letter to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, "I am much misled by our surveyors, if the Forks of the Monongahela be within the bonds of the province of Pennsylvania." This is the first notice of a controversy between those two States about Pittsburgh, and the country around it, which we have found. Thus the region around us was the bone of double contention. England and France were about to go to war for it, and Pennsylvania and Virginia to commence a controversy about it, which endured for more than twenty years, in the course of which much ill blood and angry feeling were displayed. It was, perhaps, a fortunate circumstance that considerable doubt excited as to which State the "Fork" belonged. Both States were probably induced to contribute more liberally in the efforts to recover it from the French, from the belief entertained by each, that the country belonged to it. The Virginia troops very reluctantly accompanied Forbes by the Pennsylvania route, and had they known that this country belonged to Pennsylvania they might have declined altogether. In April, Captain Trent's company was at this place, under Ensign Ward, erecting a fort, Captain Trent himself was still at Cumberland, and Lieut. Fraser at his residence on Turtle creek. On the 17th of April, 1754, Monsieur Contrecoeur descended the Allegheny with a considerable force of French and Indians, and summoned Ward to surrender his unfinished work. Ward afterward reported the number of French to be one thousand, with eighteen pieces of cannon, in about sixty batteaux, and three hundred canoes. This number has been said to be an exaggeration; but when it is recollected that during Washington's stay at Fort Le Bceuf he had the canoes counted, and found that there were at that place on the 13th of December, " fifty birch bark, and one hundred and seventy pine canoes, besides many others that were blocked out, ready to be made," we may readily believe that the number, in April, might reach three hundred. The batteaux could be built there and at Fort Venango, or they might be drawn on sledges from Presquisle. Altogether, we think, the statement of Ward may not have been very wide of the truth. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 29 Resistance, by about forty men, even with the aid of an unfinished stockade, to several hundred French with several pieces of cannon, was, of course, out of the question. Ward had no brother officer to consult with; but Tanacharison, the Half-King of the Six Nations of Indians, a zealous friend of the English, was present, and advised him to inform the French that he was not an officer of rank, nor was he invested with authority to answer their demands, and to request them to await the arrival of the chief commander. He went accordingly with his reply to the French camp, Tanacharison accompanying him; Contrecceur, however, refused to wait, and demanded an immediate surrender, declaring that he would otherwise take possession by force. An immediate capitulation, of course, followed. On the subsequent day, Ensign Ward, with his men, ascended the Monongahela to the mouth of Red Stone creek. A full narrative of the whole affair was given under oath, by Ensign Ward to Governor Dinwiddie, who transmitted it to the British Government. Mr. Sparks, in his edition of the Writings of Washington, states that the original was in the Plantation Office, in England, where he examined it and prepared his account of the matter, which we follow. In his narrative, Ward states that Contrecceur invited him to supper the evening of the capitulation, and treated him very politely. Poor Ward probably had but little appetite, and had his host foreseen all the consequences of the doings of that day, his happiness would, no doubt, have been much clouded. This affair has always been considered as the commencement of that memorable war which was terminated by the treaty of Paris, by which France renounced all claim to Nova Scotia, and ceded to Great Britain Canada and all the territory east of the Mississippi, except the Isle of Orleans, and Spain ceded to the same power all Florida. Monsieur Contrecceur proceeded immediately to complete the work begun by Ward, and called it Fort Duquesne, after the then Governor of Canada. Washington reached Will's creek with three companies, on the 20th of April, and two days after, Ensign Ward arrived with the intelligence of his capture. Washington immediately sent expresses to the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, asking for reinforcements, and then, after a consultation with his brother officers, resolved to advance, and, if possible, to reach the Monongahela, near where Brownsville now stands, and there erect a fortification. On the 9th of May, he was at the Little Meadows, and there received information that Contrecceur had been reinforced with eight hundred men. On the 18th he was encamped on the Youghiogany, near where Smithfield, in Fayette county, now stands. From that point, he, with Lieutenant West, three soldiers, and an Indian, descended the river about thirty miles, hoping to find it navigable, so that he could transport his cannon in canoes, but was disappointed. He had scarcely returned to his troops, when a messenger from his old friend Tana 30 THE OLDEN TIME. charison arrived, with information that the French were marching toward him, with a determination to attack him. The same day he received further information that the enemy were at the crossings of the Youghiogany, near where Connelsville now stands, about eighteen miles from his own encampment. He then hurried to the Great Meadows, where he made an intrenchment, and by clearing away the bushes prepared a fine field for an encounter. Next day, M. Gist, his old pilot, who resided near the crossings, arrived with the news that a French detachment of fifty men had been at his place the day before. That same night (May 27th), about nine o'clock, an express arrived from Tanacharison, who was then encamped with some of his warriors about six miles off, with information that the French were near his encampment. Col. Washington, says Sparks, immediately started with forty men to join the Half-King. The night was dark, the rain fell in torrents, the woods were intricate, the soldiers often lost their way groping in the bushes and clambering over rocks and logs, but at length they arrived at the Indian camp just before sunrise (May 28th). A council with Tanacharison was immediately held, and joint operations against the French were determined on. Two Indian spies discovered the enemy's position in an obscure place, surrounded by rocks, and a half mile from the road. Washington was to advance on the right, Tanacharison on the left. Thus they approached in single file, until they were discovered by the French who immediately seized their arms and prepared for action. The action commenced by a brisk firing on both sides, which was kept up for a quarter of an hour, when the French ceased to resist. Monsieur Jumonville, the commandant, and ten of his men were killed, and twenty-two were taken prisoners, one of whom was wounded. A Canadian escaped during the action. Washington had one man killed and two wounded. No harm happened the Indians. The prisoners were sent to Governor Dinwiddie. This affair was misrepresented greatly to the injury of Washington. War had not yet been declared, and it was the policy of each nation to exaggerate the proceedings of the other. Hence it was officially stated by the French Government that Jumonville was waylaid and assasinated, while bearing a peaceful message to Washington. We are confident that no man with an American heart will fail to approve our republication of the following note, giving a triumphant refutation of the calumny, from Sparks' Writings of Washington: DEATH OF JUMONVILLE. "The circumstances attending the death of Jumonville have been so remarkably misunderstood and perverted by the French historians, and the character of Washington, in regard to this event, has suffered so much in their hands, that the subject demands a further consideration. The following extracts, from three of the most recent and accredited French writers, NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 31 will show in what light this point of history is still viewed by that nation. The first extract is from Flassan, whose history holds a high rank in French literature, and was written with the approbation of Napoleon, if not in consequence of his suggestion. "' M. De Jumonville,' says Flassan,' setting off with an escort of thirty men, found himself surrounded in the morning by a body of English and savages. The former fired twice in rapid succession, and killed several Frenchmen. Jumonville made a sign, that he was the bearer of a letter from his commandant. The fire ceased, and they gathered around him to hear the letter. He caused the summons to be read, but the reading was not finished when the English reiterated their fire and killed him. T/he remaining Frenchmen of his escort were immediately made prisoners of war.' "' The next extract is from Lacretelle, whose history likewise enjoys a distinguished reputation in his native country: "'An officer by the name of Jumonville, was sent with an escort of thirty men. The English, ranged in a circle around him, listened to the representations which he came to make. Had they premeditated so atrocious a crime? Were they moved by a sudden impulse of hatred and ferocity? This can not now be known; but they disgraced the New World by an outrage never before heard of among civilized people, and which excited the savages to a transport of indignation. They assassinated Jumonville, and immolated eight soldiers, who fell bleeding by the side of' their chief. They made prisoners of the rest of the escort.' "To this passage M. Lacretelle adds the following note: "'it is painful to state, that the detachment of the English who committed this atrocity was commanded by Washington. This officer, who afterward displayed the purest virtues of the warrior, the citizen, and the sage, was then no more than twenty-two years old. He could not restrain the wild and undisciplined troops who marched under his orders.' "Montaillard, another French historian, who has sketched with great ability and eloquence, in the form of annals, the events of the French Revolution, thus speaks of Washington, after quoting the elegant tribute to his memory by Mallet-Dupan: "' This great man, the only person with whom no other in modern history can be compared, would have enjoyed a renown without reproach, his public career would have been without fault, his glory would have shone with an unsullied lustre, had it not been for the fatal event of the death of Jumonville, a young officer sent to him with a summons by the commandant of the French establishments on the Ohio. Washington, then a Major in the forces of the King of England, commanded the post which assassinated Jumonville. He was then twenty-three [twenty-two] years of age. Far from offering any reparation, himself attacked by the brother of Jumonville, and made prisoner with his troops, he received his life and liberty on 32 THE OLDEN TIME. the condition of sending back the Frenchman who escaped from the massacre; yet he violated his promise. The French could never efface the remembrance of this deplorable circumstance, whatever veneration the political life of this illustrious citizen might have merited.' "Many other French historians might be cited, who make the same statements, in almost the same words; and even very recently the writer of a life of Washington in the Biographie Universelle, who aims apparently to be accurate and impartial, and who has done justice for the most part to Washington's character, repeats this story of the assassination of Jumonville, adding, like Lacretelle, as the only extenuating circumstances, the youth of Washington, and the ungovernable ferocity of his soldiers. "It will be seen, by comparing the above extracts, that they are in substance precisely the same, and must unquestionably have been derived from a common source. Every thing will depend on the degree of credit that is due to this single authority, upon which alone all the accounts of subsequent writers are founded. A supposed fact is not strengthened by the repetition of one historian from another, whatever merit each writer may have on the score of talents and honest intentions. All history is built on evidence, and if this is fallacious, or partial, or dubious, the deductions from it must be equally uncertain and deceptive. Of this obvious position, the present instance affords a remarkable illustration. "'The authority from which all the French historians have drawn their intelligence, is a letter written by M. de Contrecceur to the Marquis Duquesne, at that time Governor of Canada. This letter is dated June 2d, 1754. The following is a literal translation of the part which relates to the subject in question; "'Since the letter, which I had the honor of writing to you on the 30th ultimo, in which I informed you that I expected the return of M. de Jumonville in four days, it has been reported by the savages that his party has been taken, and eight men killed, among whom is M. de Jumonville. A Canadian belonging to the party, named Mouceau, made his escape, who says that they had built cabins in a low bottom, where they lay during a heavy rain. At seven o'clock in the morning, they saw themselves encircled on one side by the English, and by savages on the other. Two discharges of musketry were fired upon them by the English, but none by the savages, M. de Jumonville called to them by an interpreter to desist, as he had something to say to them. The firing ceased. M. de Jumonville caused the summons to be read, which I sent, admonishing them to retire, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose. Whilst this was reading, the said Mouceau saw the French gathered close around M. de Jumonville, in the midst of the English and the savages. At that time, Mouceau escaped through the woods, making his way hither partly by land, and partly in a small canoe on the river Monongahela. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 33 "'This, sir, is all that I have been able to learn from Mouceau. The misfortune is, that our people were taken by surprise. The English had surrounded and come upon them before they were seen. "'I have this moment received a letter from M. de Chauvignerie, which I have the honor to send you herewith, from which you will see that we have certainly lost eight men, of whom M. de Jumonville is one. The savages who were present say that M. de Jumonville was killed by a musket-shot in the head, while he was listening to the reading of the summons, and that the English would immediately have destroyed the whole party, if the savages had not rushed in before them and prevented their attempt. M. Drouillon and M. de La Force were made prisoners. We are not informed whether M. de Boucherville and M. du Sable, two cadets, are among the slain. Such is the account which we have received from the savages.' " Here we have all the particulars, as they appear in the citations from the French historians, and almost in the same language. And this is the original and sole authority from which has been derived all the succeeding French accounts of the conflict between the forces of Washington and Jumonville, which terminated so fatally to the latter. By what testimony is this statement of M. de Contrecceur sustained? First, by the report of a Canadian, who fled affrighted at the beginning of the action; and, next, by the vague rumors of the savages who were said to have been on the spot These savages, if any there were, who returned to M. de Contrecoeur, must have come out with the French party. No such savages are mentioned as being seen by the English; and consequently, if there were any originally with the party, they escaped, like the Canadian, at the beginning of the action, and could have had no knowledge of the manner in which it was conducted. In any other case, would such testimony be taken as evidence of facts? It can certainly have no claim to be made the basis of a historical narrative. Much less can it warrant severe censures upon the character of an officer, who was in reality discharging his duty in the execution of his orders. "In the year 1759, five years after these events, M. Thomas published his epic in four cantos, entitled'JUMONVILLE,' founded on the incidents, real and imaginary, of the skirmish in which his hero fell, and of the attack of M. de Villiers upon Fort Necessity, which soon followed. He states the subject of his poem to be, L'Assassinat de M. de Jumonville en Amerique, et la Vengeance de ce Meurtre. It is written with extreme warmth of patriotic passion throughout; and Zimmerman, in his treatise on National Pride, cites the' Jumonville' of Thomas, as a remarkable instance of the effect of national antipathy. The preface contains an exaggerated paraphrase of M. de Contrecceur's letter, as the groundwork of the author's poetical fabric. With the materials thus furnished, and with the machinery VOL. I-3 34 THE OLDEN TIME. of the deep and wild forests, the savages, the demon of battles, and the ghost of Jumonville, his epic speedily assumes a tragic garb, and the scenes of horror and cries of vengeance cease not till the poem closes. The general merits of this piece, as a poetical composition, and the high character of M. Thomas as a man of letters, gave it a currency in the literary world, which had the effect of perpetuating the impressions then received, and so far of biasing prevalent opinions, as to prevent that cautious examination into facts, which is the first duty of the faithful historian. " The official letters of Washington, now for the first time published, and also the manuscript letters of Governor Dinwiddie, throw much additional light upon this subject, and afford the means for drawing up the following accurate statement of all the essential particulars: " When the news of the capitulation of Ensign Ward to the French on the Ohio, in consequence of a military summons, reached Will's creek, where the Virginia troops were encamped, Colonel Washington considered the frontiers to be actually invaded, and that, in compliance with the tenor of his orders, it was his duty to march forward and be prepared to meet the invading forces wherever they should present themselves. A council of war was immediately held, by which this opinion was confirmed, and it was resolved to proceed to the junction of Red-stone creek with the Monongahela, thirty-seven miles from the fort captured by the French, construct such a fortification there as circumstance would permit, and wait for reinforcements. On the 1st of May, the little army, amounting to one hundred and fifty men, set off for Will's creek, and advanced by slow and tedious marches into the wilderness. The Indians brought in frequent reports of their having seen French scouts in the woods, and on the 24th of May the Half-King sent a message to Washington, apprising him that a French force, in what numbers he could not tell, was on its march to attack the English wherever they should be found, and warning him to be on his guard. He was now a few miles beyond the Great Meadows, and on receiving this intelligence he hastened back to that place, and threw up an intrenchment, determined to wait there the approach of the enemy, whom he supposed to be coming out with a hostile intention. " Early in the morning of the 27th, Mr. Gist arrived in camp from his residence, which was about thirteen miles distant, and informed Colonel Washington that M. La Force, with fifty men, had been at his plantation the day before, and that on his way he had seen the tracks of the same party five miles from the encampment at the Great Meadows. Seventyfive men were immediately dispatched in pursuit of this party, but they returned without having discovered it. Between eight and nine o'clock the same night, an express arrived from the Half-King, who was then six miles off, with intelligence that he had seen the tracks of two Frenchmen, which had been traced to an obscure retreat, and that he imagined the whole party NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 35 to be concealed within a short distance. Fearing this might be a stratagem of the French for attacking his camp, Colonel Washington put his ammunition in a place of safety, and leaving a strong guard to protect it, he set out with forty men, and reached the Indians' camp a little before sunrise, having marched through a rainy and exceedingly dark night. "On counselling with the Half-King, and the other Indians of his party, it was agreed that they should march together and make the attack in concert on the French. They then proceeded in single file through the woods, after the manner of the Indians, till they came upon the tracks of the two Frenchmen, when the Half-King sent two Indians forward to retrace these tracks, and discover the position of the main body. This was found to be in a very retired place, surrounded by rocks, and half a mile from the road. A disposition for attack was then formed, in which the English occupied the right wing, and the Indians the left. In this manner they advanced, till they came so near as to be discovered by the French, who instantly ran to their arms. Washington then ordered his men to fire, and a skirmish ensued. The firing continued on both sides about fifteen minutes, till the French were defeated, with the loss of their whole party, ten men being killed, including their commander, M. de Jumonville, one wounded, and twenty-one taken prisoners. Colonel Washington's loss was one man killed, and two or three wounded. The Indians escaped without injury, as the firing of the French was directed chiefly against the right wing, where Washington and his men were stationed.' This is a brief and simple narrative of facts, drawn from Washington's official letters written at the time, and from the account transmitted by Governor Dinwiddie to the British ministry, which are both confirmed by the extracts from Washington's private journal published by the French government. It is worthy of remark, that this journal, kept for his own private use, and captured the year following by the French at Braddock's defeat, accords in every essential point with his public communications to Governor 1)inwiddie. Is not this accordance an irrefragable proof of the fidelity of his statement, even if his character permitted us to demand any other proof, than his single declaration? Were it possible for him to give a deceptive coloring to his public dispatches, yet there could be no conceivable inducement for recording such deceptions among the broken minutes ofiis daily transactions, which were intended for no eye but his own. " Let it now be asked what ground there can be for calling the death of Jumonville in that skirmish an assassination, or affixing to it the stigma of a crime, with which it has been marked by the French historians? Is this charge authorized either by the act itself, or by the nature of the causes which led to it? "As to the act itself, it differs in no respect from that of any other commander who leads his men into an engagement, in which some of the 36 THE OLDEN TIME. enemy are slain. It was a conflict into which both parties entered, with such means of annoyance as they could command. One of Washington's men was killed by the French, and others were wounded. There would be as much justice in calling the death of this man an assassination, as that of M. de Jumonville. It is true, as M. de Contrecceur wrote to Marquis Duquesne, that Washington came upon the French by surprise; but this circumstance, so far as being a matter of censure, is not only considered allowable among the stratagems of honorable warfare, but an object of praise in the commander who effects it with success. The report of the Canadian, that the reading of the summons was begun by M. de Jumonville's order, and of the savages, that he was killed while the interpreter was reading it, are manifestly fictions, as these incidents are nowhere else mentioned. Some of the prisoners said, after they were taken, that when the firing commenced, the French called out to the English, with the design to make known the object of their mission, and the purport of the summons brought by M. de Jumonville. This was not told to Washington by the prisoners, nor was he informed of it till after their departure. He wrote to the Governor, however, stating that he had heard such a report, and affirming it to be false. The same particulars and the same affirmation were entered in his journal. As he was at the head of his men, and the first person seen by the French, he believed it impossible that any such call should have been made without his hearing it, which was not the case, but, on the contrary, he saw them run to their arms, and they immediately commenced firing. " In regard to the causes which led to the attack, it has been presumed by the French writers, that hostilities had not been committed, and that war did not really exist. Without discussing the abstract merits of the question, it is certain that the Governor and people of Virginia looked upon the frontiers as at that time in a state of war, and supposed it lawful to repel by force the French, and Indians in league with thelh, wherever found. M. de Contrecceur had appeared with an army before the fort on the Ohio, which was held by a party of Virginia troops, had drawn up his cannon in a menacing attitude, demanding a surrender and threatening to take forcible possession in case his demand was disregarded. Compelled by this threat, the chief officer of the fort had capitulated. This act on the part of the French commander was considered as the beginning of an open war. Governor Dinwiddie, alluding to this subject in his letter to the Governor of South Carolina, says:' I think there can be no greater act of hostility than taking a fort begun to be built by his Majesty's immediate commands, and this must be esteemed the first breach from the French; and what followed in taking some of their people prisoners, and killing others, was in consequence thereof.' In his message to the House of Burgesses in Virginia, August 23d, 1754, the Governor also says:'In open contempt and violation of the treaties now subsisting between the crowns of Great Bri NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 37 tain and France, they have unjustly invaded his Majesty's lands on the Ohio river, and with an armed force taken a fort that, by his Majesty's orders, I had directed to be built on that river.' It is, moreover, certain that Colonel Washington acted in strict conformity with the orders he had received; for the Governor approved his conduct in writing to the ministry in England, and to M. Drouillon, one of the prisoners who complained of his detention. It must be inferred, therefore, that whatever may be the political aspect of this question, as concerning the relations between France and England, Washington was in no degree censurable for the course he pursued, but, on the contrary, was engaged in the discharge of his duty, by acting in strict obedience to the will and direction of the Government of Virginia, under whose authority he held his commission. " The'representations of the French prisoners, that Jumonville's detachment did not come out in amilitary capacity, but merely to bring a civil message or summons, is well answererd in Washington's letters to the Governor of Virginia. The same reasoning is used by the Governor himself in his reply to M. Drouillon, who made to him similar representations after he reached Winchester. "; The protection due to messengers of peace is so universally acknowledged,' says Governor Dinwiddie,' and the sacredness of their character so inviolably preserved, that even among barbarous nations their persons are safe and unhurt. You can not be ignorant how much all the various tribes of Indians revere the calumet, and you must know that a flag of truce would sooner have induced our protection and regard than a body of men armed with the instruments of destruction. Thus, I think, the inconsistency of your appearance with your pretensions obliges me to consider you in no other light than that in which you presented yourselves. You remained several days about our camp without telling your message, nor would you do it till you were prepared for our destruction. You had neither right to demand, nor Colonel Washington to discuss, the King, my master's, title to the land on the Ohio river. Such a disquisition lay only with your superiors. But it was his duty to preserve his Majesty's dominions in peace, and protect his subjects; and they who attempt the violation of either, must acknowledge the justice of their fate, if they meet with destruction. Colonel Washington assures me of the contrary to what you represent, regarding the circumstances of the action; and, after it, the papers of summons and instructions to Sieur Jumonville are incontestable proofs and justifications of his conduct, and laid him under the necessity of continuing to act as he afterward did.' "Again, alluding to this subject, Governor Dinwiddie writes to Lord Albermarle':' The prisoners said they were come on an embassy from their fort; but your Lordship knows, that embassadors do not come with such an armed force, without a trumpet, or any other sign of friendship; nor 38 THE OLDEN TIME. can it be thought they were on an embassy, by staying so long reconnoitering our small camp, but more probably, that they expected a reinforcement from their fort to cut them all off.' "It may not be possible to ascertain at this time the precise object for which the party under Jumonville was sent out. The tenor of his instructions, and the manner in which he approached Colonel Washington's camp, make it evident enough that he deviated widely from the mode usually adopted in conveying a summons; and his conduct was unquestionably such as to create just suspicions, if not to afford a demonstration of his hostile designs. His appearance on the route at the head of an armed force, his subsequent concealment at a distance from the road, his remaining there for nearly three days, his sending off messengers to M. de Contrecoeur, were all circumstances unfavorable to pacific purposes. If he came really as a peaceful messenger, and if any fault was committed by the attack upon him, it must be ascribed to his own imprudence and injudicious mode of conducting his enterprise, and not to any deviation from strict military rules on the part of Colonel Washington, who did no more than execute the duty of a vigilant officer, for which he received the unqualified approbation of his superiors and of the public." Among the prisoners taken on the 28th of May, were Messieurs DrouilIon and La Force, and two cadets. La Force was described as a bold, enterprising man, of great subtlety and cunning, and we will hereafter find Captain Stobo, while a prisoner at Fort Duquesne, speaking of his absence as a great loss to the French. Washington, in a letter to Governor Dinwiddie, thus speaks of him: " Besides, La Force would, if released, I really think, do more disservice than fifty other men, as he is a person whose active spirit leads him into all parties, and has brought him acquainted with all parts of the country. Add to this a perfect use of the Indian tongue and great influence with the Indians." The Canadian who escaped at the time of Jumonville's death would, of course, carry the news of that affair to Fort Duquesne, and Washington, anticipating that a larger force would be sent against him, set his troops to work to enlarge and strengthen the work he had prepared at the Great Meadows, and called it Fort Necessity. The Indians began to flock around him-Tanacharison and, his followers, Queen Aliquippa and her son, and others, to the number of forty or fifty families. Captain Mackay, with an independent company of one hundred men from South Carolina, also joined him. That officer had a royal commission, which he thought placed him over Washington. He, however, wasa prudent man, and no disagreement occurred. On the 10th of June, nine deserters from the French arrived at Washington's camp, and confirmed intelligence previously received by a messenger sent from Logstown to Tanach DESCRIPTION OF FORT DUQUESNE. 39 arison, that the Shawanese and Delawares had agreed to take up the hatchet against the English. These deserters also stated that the fort at the Forks was completed. They stated that there were not above five hundred men in the fort when they left, but supposed that two hundred had since arrived. These same deserters also stated, as Washington said in his letter, that Jumonville's party was sent out as spies. On the 11th of June, Washington, leaving Captain Mackay at Fort Necessity, marched with his troops, intending to advance to Redstone. After two weeks of toil, he reached Gist's farm, only thirteen miles from Fort Necessity. Here information was received that reinforcements had arrived at Fort Duquesne, from Canada, and that a large detachment would soon be sent againt the English. A retreat was then decided upon. [TO BE CONTINUED.] JOHN M'KINNEY'S DESCRIPTION OF FORT DUQUESNE. From a portion of a MS. entitled "A general description of the several French forts on the lakes, &c., taken from the mouth of John M'Kinney, who had been taken prisoner by the Indians, in February, 1756, and by them carried to Fort Duquesne, and from thence to Canada, from whence he made his escape to Connecticut." [Taken from his own mouth.] " PHILADELPHIA, November 17, 1756. "Fort Duquesne is situated on the east side of the Monongahela, in the fork between that and the Ohio. It is four square, has bastions at each corner; it is about fifty yards long, and about forty yards wide-has a well in the middle of the fort, but the water bad; about half the fort is made of square logs, and the other half, next the water, of stockadoes; there are intrenchments cast up all around the fort, about seven feet high, which consist of stockadoes drove into the ground near to each other, and wattled with poles like basket-work, against which earth is thrown up, in a gradual ascent; the steep part is next the fort, and has three steps all along the intrenchment, for the men to go up and down, to fire at an enemy-these intrenchments are about four rods from the fort, and go all around, as well on the side next the water, as the land; the outside of the intrenchment, next the water, joins to the water. The fort has two gates, one of which opens to the land side, and the other to the water side, where the magazine is built; that to the land side is, in fact, a drawbridge, which in daytime serves as a bridge for the people, and in the night is drawn up by iron chains and levers. "Under the drawbridge is a pit or well, the width of the gate, dug down deep to water; the pit is about eight or ten feet broad; the gate is made of square logs; the back gate is made of logs also, and goes upon hinges, and has a wicket in it for the people to pass through in common; there is no ditch or pit at this gate. It is through this gate they go to the magazine and bake-house, which are built a little below the gate, within the intrench 40 THE OLDEN TIME. ments; the magazine is made almost under ground, and of large logs and covered four feet thick with clay over it. It is about 10 feet wide, and about thirty-five feet long; the bake-house is opposite the magazine; the waters sometimes rise so high as that the whole fort is surrounded with it, so that canoes may go around it; he imagines he saw it rise at one time near thirty feet. The stockadoes are round logs, better than a foot over, and about eleven or twelve feet high; the joints are secured by split logs; in the stockadoes are loop-holes, made so as to fire slanting toward the ground. The bastions are filled with earth, solid, about eight feet high; each bastion has four carriage guns, about four pound; no swivels, nor any mortars, that he knows of; they have no cannon but at the bastions. The back of the barracks and buildings in the fort are of logs placed about three feet distance from the logs of the fort; between the buildings and the logs of the fort, it is filled with earth, about eight feet high, and the logs of the fort extend about four feet higher, so that the whole height of the fort is about 12 feet. " There are no pickets nor palisadoes on the top of the fort to defend it against scaling; the eaves of the houses in the fort are about even with the top of the logs or wall of the fort; the houses are all covered with boards, as well the roof as the side that looks inside the fort, which they saw there by hand; there are no bogs nor morasses near the fort, but good dry ground, which is cleared for some distance from the fort, and the stumps cut close to the ground; a little without musket-shot of the fort, in the fork, is a thick wood of some bigness, full of large timber. "About thirty yards from the fort, without the intrenchments and picketing, is a house, which contains a great quantity of tools, such as broad and narrow axes, planes, chisels, hoes, mattocks, pickaxes, spades, shovels, &c., and a great quantity of wagon-wheels and tire. Opposite the fort, on the west side of the Monongahela, is a long, high mountain, about a quarter of a mile from the fort, from which the fort might very easily be bombarded, and the bombarder be quite safe; from them, the distance would not exceed a quarter of a mile; the mountain is said to extend six miles up the Monongahela, from the fort; Monongahela, opposite the fort, is not quite musket-shot wide; neither the Ohio nor Monongahela can be forded opposite the fort. The fort has no defense against bombs. There were about 250 Frenchmen in this fort, besides Indians, which at one time amounted to 500; but the Indians were very uncertain-sometimes hardly any there; that there were about 20 or 30 ordinary Indian cabins about the fort. " While he was at Fort Duquesne, there came up the Ohio, from the Mississippi, about thirty batteaux, and about 150 men, ladened with pork, flour, brandy, tobacco, peas, and Indian corn; they were three months'in coming to Fort Duquesne, and came all the way up the falls without unloading." THE CONTRAST. 41 THE CONTRAST. Having now traced the history of the country around our city from the period of its earliest exploration down to the time when Washington made his bold and adventurous journey to " the Fork," Logstown, Fort Venango, and Le Bceuf, and also given his own account of his distressing passage across the Allegheny river-having also given an account of the building of Fort Duquesne, and John McKinney's description of it-we annex two articles, which must exhibit, in striking light, the progress in civilization and the arts made in the intervening ninety years, from 1754 to 1845. The first item we refer to is an account, furnished to the editor of the " Olden Time," while he conducted the Pittsburgh Gazette, of the first steamboat trip from this city to Franklin, formerly Fort Venango, and Olean, or Hamilton, in New York. This account was written by Mr. John McKee, then a citizen of Pittsburgh, who was a passenger on board, during that voyage. He publishes this article now with the greater pleasure, because he hopes and believes, that it may furnish some additional inducement to the early extension of the New York and Erie railroad to Olean, and also furnish arguments in favor of the improvement of the Allegheny river. This is not the proper place to press upon public attention, or we would delight to dwell upon the commercial and military advantages which would be gained by the extension of a railroad from the seat of our national government, by way of Harper's Ferry, to Pittsburgh, in connection with canal and railroad communications to Cleveland and Erie, on Lake Erie, and to Lake Ontario, by the Allegheny river and Genessee canal, and in connection also with our vast steamboat navigation throughout the great valley of the Mississippi. The second item which we refer to is the description of that great and unprecedented work of art, the Suspension Aqueduct across the Allegheny river, a short distance below the point where Washington and Gist, ninety ytars ago, performed their painful and perilous passage on a raft. The description of this truly noble structure was furnished by Mr. John A. Roebling, the very ingenious and skillful engineer who constructed it, to the New York Railroad Journal, and we believe, strange as it may seem, has never been published in a Pittsburgh paper. We hope to be indebted to the politeness of Mr. Roebling for a full and accurate description of the Suspension Bridge, now almost completed over the Monongahela river, in time for our next number. 42 STEAMBOAT ALLEGHENY. STEAMBOAT ALLEGHENY. In our paper of this day will be found an interesting account of the first passage of a steamboat from Pittsburgh to Olean Point. The village situated near this point is commonly called Olean, but is designated on the maps as Hamilton, and is in Cataraugus county, in the State of New York. From this village to the nearest point on the Genessee river is about twenty-five miles; and from the same village to Buffalo, by the post-road, is about sixty-eight miles. From a point on the Allegheny, about eighteen miles below Olean, the distance to Buffalo can not exceed fifty-eight miles.-Pittsburgh Gazette, May 28, 1830. The new steamboat Allegheny, built on an improved plan, by Mr. Blanchard, of Connecticut, 90 feet long and 18 wide, cabin on deck, separated lengthwise, giving each 30 feet, worked by a distinct double engine, principally made of wrought iron, two stern wheels, extending 12 feet behind the boat, drawing, with wood and water, about 12 inches, left Pittsburgh on the 14th May, 1830, on her third trip up the Allegheny, with 64 passengers and 25 to 30 tons freight, stemming the current of this noble and most valuable river (affording lumber in the greatest quantities), at the rate of three miles per hour. The great Pennsylvania canal passes up on the bank of this river thirty miles, crossing by an aqueduct at the outlet of the Kiskeminetas river, at Freeport, Armstrong county-a handsome, thriving village, pleasantly situated, containing four or five hundred inhabitants —forty miles up. Lawrenceville, near the mouth of Bear creek, is 18 miles above Freeport; Foxburgh, two miles above Lawrenceville. Patterson's Falls, one hundred and fifteen miles up, is one of the worst rapids on this river. Here a very useful improvement aided the engine, a poling machine, worked by the capstan or windlass, in the bow of the boat, which drew her over with ease. Montgomery's falls, five miles further, nearly as bad. Franklin is situated at the outlet of French creek (which is navigable for keel boats to Le Bceuf, above Meadville, forty-six miles). This is an old village, and surrounded by iron furnaces, where also is now made good quality bar iron, one hundred and twenty-five miles up. Oil creek is seven miles above. On this stream there are quantities of Seneca oil gathered. Its smell is very perceptible at its outlet. Here there is a valuable furnace. We arrived in Warren, a beautiful village, situate at the outlet of Conewango creek, at 9 o'clock, on the 19th of May, near two hundred miles above Pittsburgh, in three and a half days' running time. Conewango creek is navigable, in the rafting season, until within seven miles of the Chautauque lake, where it is expected ere long a canal will be cut through. STEAMBOAT ALLEGHENY. 43 It requires from eighteen to twenty-five days for canoes and keel boats, manned in the best manner, to perform this trip. This is the highest point on the river that ever had been made by a steamboat, and to this point only by this boat. However, the usual enterprise of its owners prompted them to explore further this valuable river, and, on the evening of the 19th May, she departed from Warren for Olean, in the State of New York, seventy-five miles above (by water), with freight and passengers from Pittsburgh. At nine o'clock next day, she arrived opposite the Indian village of Cornplanter, seventeen miles up. Here a deputation of gentlemen waited on this ancient and well known Indian King, or Chief, and invited him on board this new, and to him wonderful, visitor, a steamboat. -We found him in all his native simplicity of dress and manner of living, lying on his couch, made of rough pine boards, and covered with deer skins and blankets. His habitation, a two-story log house, is in a state of decay, without furniture, except a few benches, and wooden bowls and spoons to eat out of. This convinced us of his determination to retain old habits and customs. This venerable old chief was a lad in the first French war, in 1754, and is now nearly one hundred years of age. He is a smart, active man, seemingly possessed of all his strength of mind, and in perfect health, and retains, among his nation, all that uncontrolled influence he has ever done. He, with his son Charles, sixty years of age, and his son-in-law, came on board, and remained until she passed six miles up, and then they returned home in their own canoe, after expressing great pleasure. His dominion is a delightful bottom of rich land, two miles square, nearly adjoining the line between Pennsylvania and New York. On this, his own family, about fifty in number, in eight or ten houses, reside. Cornplanter's wife and her mother, one hundred and fifteen years of age, are in good health. The lands of the tribe, being forty miles long, and half a mile wide on each side of the river, lie just above, but all in the State of New York. They have a number of villages, and are about seven hundred in number, scattered all along this reserve., Many of them have good dwellings, and, like the whites, some are intelligent, industrious and useful, while others of them are the reverse. On the whole, they are becoming civilized and Christianized as fast as can be expected. The natives appeared in great numbers (we counted four hundred), who were attracted to view this unexpected sight on their water. Their lands terminate eight miles below Olean. We found many rapids, and generally very strong water, until within twenty miles of our destination, at the Great Valley. Here the mountains began to decrease fast, and the current became easy, until, gradually, we seemed to have reached the top of the mountain which we had been so long ascending. At 11 o'clock, A. M., on Friday, the 21st May, we landed safely at Olean Point, nearly three hundred miles from Pittsburgh, amidst the 44 THE OLDEN TIME. loud and constant rejoicing of the hospitable citizens of the village. The first person landed was Mr. D. Dick, of Meadville, the principal and enterprising owner of this boat, and the first passenger, William, the son of Mr. Nelson of Pittsburgh, a child of seven years old, who may live to tell, some thirty or forty years hence, the great interest created on this occasion. Here we found ourselves on the highest ground ever occupied by a steamboat, six hundred feet above Pittsburgh, nearly one thousand four hundred feet above the level of, and two thousand five hundred miles, by the course of the river from, the ocean. Olean village is half a mile from the river. Olean creek is navigable thirty miles up, and the Allegheny river but four miles, on account of a milldam. One hundred and thirty of the inhabitants assembled and took a pleasant excursion seven miles down the river and back, which was performed in thirty minutes going, and fifty-five minutes returning. The trip up from Warren to Olean was performed in about twenty hours, and she returned the next day safely to Warren, in six hours' running time-thus performing, in this day of wonders, what the most sanguine mind, a few years ago, never anticipated. No doubt but in this same channel, ere long, a valuable trade and free intercourse will be opened for the mutual advantage of the enterprising citizens of the State of New York, and our own prosperous and flourishing city of Pittsburgh. The scenery along the Allegheny river affords the greatest variety, and is in many places truly sublime. It would generally be very much like the celebrated North River scenery, if equally improved and cultivated; more particularly so from Warren up to the Great Valley. Here the hills rise higher, and the river narrows. Its courses are in all directions, and its mountains in all shapes, dressed, at this season of the year, in its richest robes. The wild flowers along the shores, the beautiful evergreens, and towering pines and hemlocks, interspersed with the lighter maple green, give to the whole scenery an indescribable beauty, One particular spot surpassed all others. In the evening, after a heavy shower, above the Kenjua island, all at once the sun beamed forth in all its glory, and a brilliant rainbow presented itself. The mountains are unusually high, and the river narrow, so that we could only view these extraordinary works of nature far above us, tinging the tops of these lofty hills, and convincing us that nothing but an Almighty power could furnish the * imagination with such a feast. Upon the whole, as a trip of pleasure or health, we would recommend this route before any other now known. The boat left Warren on the morning of the 23d, and landed at Pittsburgh at 4 o'clock, p. M., on the 24th, with a number of passengers, 18 tons pig metal, and 9 tons bar iron, in perfect safety. The time employed in running, during the trip, was seven days (running by daylight only), exclusive of delays at Franklin, Warren, and Olean, but including stoppages for wood, &c. WIRE SUSPENSION AQUEDUCT. 45 [From the American Railroad Journal.] WIRE SUSPENSION AQUEDUCT OVER THE ALLEGHENY RIVER AT PITTSBURGH. This work, recently constructed under the superintendence of John A. Roebling, the designer and contractor, has supplied the place of the old wooden structure, which originally was built by the State of Pennsylvania, at the western terminus of the Pennsylvania canal. The councils of the city of Pittsburgh, by whom, in consequence of an arrangement with the State, the tolls of this aqueduct are of late received, and who are bound to keep the work in repair, decided on rebuilding, and after considering various plans, adopted that of Mr. Roebling, and entered into contract with him to reconstruct the communication for the gross sum, including the removal of the old ponderous structure, and the repair of the piers and abutments, of $62,000, a very small sum indeed for a work of such magnitude. As this work is the first of the kind ever attempted, its construction speaks well for the enterprise of the city of Pittsburgh. The removal of the old work was commenced in September, 1844, and boats were passed through the new viaduct in May, 1845. This work consists of seven spans of 160 feet each, from center to center of pier; the trunk is of wood, and 1,140 feet long, 14 feet at bottom, 161 feet on top, the sides 8~ feet deep. These, as well as the bottom, are composed of a double course of 21 inch white plank, laid diagonally, the two courses crossing each other at right angles, so as to form a solid lattice work of great strength and stiffness, sufficient to bear its own weight and to resist the effects of the most violent storms. The bottom of the trunk rests upon transverse beams, arranged in pairs, of 4 feet apart; between these the posts which support the side of the trunk are let in with dovetailed tenons secured by bolts. The outside posts, which support'the sidewalk and towpath, incline toward, and are connected with, the beams in a similar manner. Each trunk-post is held by two braces, 2~ by 10 inches, and connected with the outside posts by a double joist of 21 by 10 inches. The trunk-posts are 7 inches square on top, and 7 by 14 at the heel; the transverse beams are 27 feet long and 16 by 6 inches, the space between two adjoining is 4 inches. It will be observed that all parts of the framing are double with the exception of the posts, so as to admit of the suspension rods; each pair of beams is, on each side of the trunk, supported by a double suspension rod of 1 inch round iron, bent in the shape of a stirrup, and mounted on a small cast-iron saddle, which rests on the cable; these saddles are on top of the cable, connected by links, which diminish 46 THE OLDEN TIME. in size from the pier toward the center. The sides of the trunk rest solid against the bodies of masonry, which are erected on each pier and abutment as bases for the pyramids which support the cables. These pyramids, which are constructed of three blocks of a durable, hard sandstone, rise five feet above the level of the sidewalk and towpath, and measure 3 by 5 feet on top, and 4 by 61 feet in base. The sidewalk and towpath being 7 feet wide, leave three feet space for the passage of the pyramids. The ample width of the tow and footpath is therefore contracted on every pier, but this arrangement proves no inconvenience, and was'necessary for the suspension next to the trunk. The wire cables are suspended next to the trunk, one on each side; each of these two cables is exactly seven inches in diameter, perfectly compact, and constructed in one piece from shore to shore, 1,175 feet long. It is composed of 1,900 wires of - inch thickness, which are laid parallel to each other, great care being taken to insure an equal tension of the wires. Oxidation is guarded against by a varnish applied to each wire separately; their preservation, however, is insured by a close, compact, and continuous wrapping, made of annealed wire, and laid on by machinery in the most perfect manner. A continuous wrapping is an important improvement, which in this case has for the first time been successfully applied. A well-constructed and well-wrapped cable presents the appearance of a solid cylinder, which in strength greatly surpasses a chain made of bars of the same aggregate section or weight. It is not only the great relative strength of wire which renders it superior to bar iron, but its great elasticity, which enables it to support strong and repeated vibrations, adds still more to its value as a material for bridge building. The extremities of the cables do not extend below ground, but connect with anchor chains, which, in a curved line, pass through large masses of masonry, the last links occupying a vertical position. The bars composing these chains average 1~ by 4 inches, and are from 4 to 12 feet long; they are manufactured of boiler scrap, and forged in one piece without a weld. The extreme links are anchored to heavy cast-iron plates of 6 feet square, which are held down by the foundations, upon which the weight of 700 perches of masonry rests. The stability of this part of the structure is fully insured, as the resistance of the anchorage is twice as great as the greatest strain to which the chains can ever be subjected. The plan of anchorage adopted on the aqueduct varies materially from those methods usually applied to suspension bridges, where an open channel is formed under ground for the passage of the chains. On the aqueduct, the chains below ground are imbedded and completely surrounded by cement. In the construction of the masonry, this material as well as lime mortar have been abundantly applied. The bars are painted with red lead; their preservation is rendered certain by the known quality of calcareous WIRE SUSPENSION AQUEDUCT. 47 cements, to prevent oxidation. If moisture should find its way to the chains, it will be saturated with lime, and add another calcareous coating to the iron. This portion of the work has been executed with scrupulous care, so as to render it unnecessary on the part of those who exercise a surveillance over the structure, to examine it. The repainting of the cables every two or three years will insure their duration for a long period. Where the cables rest on the saddles, their size is increased at two points by introducing short wires, and thus forming swells, which fit into corresponding recesses on the casting. Between those swells, the cable is forcibly pressed down by three sets of strong iron wedges, driven through openings, which are cast in the sides of the saddle. When the merits of the suspension plan were discussed, previous to the commencement of the structure, doubts were raised as to the stability of the pyramids and the masonry below, when unequal forces should happen to disturb the equilibrium of adjoining spans. It was then proved by a statistical demonstration, that any of the arches with the water in the trunk could support an extra weight of 120 tons, without disturbance to any part of the work. In this examination, no allowance at all was made for the great resistance of the woodwork and the stiffness of the trunk itself. During the raising of the framework the several arches were repeatedly subjected to very considerable unequal forces, which never. disturbed the balance, and proved the correctness of previous calculation. The stiffness and rigidity of the structure is so great, that no doubt is entertained, that each of the several arches would sustain itself, in case the woodwork of the next one adjoining should be consumed by fire. The.woodwork in any of the arches separately may be removed and substituted by new material, without affecting the equilibrium of the next one. The original idea, upon which the plan has been perfected, was to form a wooden trunk, strong enough to support its own weight, and stiff enough for an aqueduct or bridge, and to combine this structure with wire cables of a sufficient strength to bear safely the great weight of water. The plan of this work, therefore, is a combination which presents very superior advantages, viz: great strength, stiffness, safety, durability and economy. This system, for the first time successfully carried out on the Pittsburgh aqueduct, may hereafter be applied with the happiest results to railroad bridges, which have to resist the.powerful weight and great vibrations which result from the passage of heavy locomotives and trains of cars. REMARK.-The quantities in the following table-are calculated for a depth of water four feet, which has been in the aqueduct ever since the opening. The depth contemplated was three and a half feet; a greater depth is at present required, on account of the raising of the bottom of the canal by bars and sediment, which have to be removed before the level canbe lowered. 48 THE OLDEN TIME. TABLE OF QUANTITIES ON AQUEDUCT. Length of Aqueduct without extensions............................1,140 feet. " Cables.................................................1,175 feet. " Cables and chains.........................................1,283 feet. Diameter of cables..............................................................7 inches. Aggregate weight of both cables........................................110 tons. Aeriel section of 4 feet of water in trunk..............................59 feet. Total weight of water in Aqueduct...............................2,100 tons. " it " one span......................................295 tons. W eight of one span, including all.....................................420 tons. Aggregate number of wires in both cables........................3,800. Aggregate solid wire section of both cables in superficial inches................................................................. 53 inches. Aggregate solid section of anchor chains................................72 inches. Deflection of cables...................................................14 feet 6 inches. Elevation of pyramid above piers................................16 feet 5 inches. Weight of water in one Bpan between piers..........................275 tons. Tension of cables resulting from this weight.........................392 tons. Tension of a single wire............................................206 lbs. Average ultimate strength of one wire..............................1,100 lbs. Ultim ate strength of cables.............................................2,090 tons. Tension resulting from weight of water upon one solid square inch of wire cable................................................14,800 lbs. Tension resulting from weight of water upon one square inch of anchor chains.................................................11,000 lbs. Pressure resulting from weight of water upon a pyramid......137~ tons. Pressure resulting from weight of water upon one superficial foot of pyramid.................................... 18,400 lbs. DIED. On the 7th of February, 1836, on the Seneca Reservation, in Pennsylvania, the celebrated chief; Gar-yan-wah-gaw, or Cornplanter, aged about one hundred years. This noble Indian, at an early period of the Revolutionary War, took an active part on the side of the Americans in that glorious struggle, and has ever since manifested the utmost friendship for the whites. When solicited by Washington to send some of his young men to Philadelphia, for the purpose of being educated, he sent at the head of the band his son, Henry O'Bail-an evidence of a strong mind overcoming deep-rooted and long-existing prejudice. He, with his associate, Red Jacket, was for many years the counsellor and protector of the interests of his nation, and we regret that'our sources of information are too limited to give the particulars more fully of the eventful life of this "nature's nobleman."-Buffalo Daily Journal. The editor of the Olden Time can readily imagine and appreciate the feeling of regret expressed by the Buffalo editor on account of his limited knowledge of the life of Cornplanter. We, too, have often lamented the oblivion which has come over the memories of such men as Shingiss, Tanacharison, Guyasutha, and others, who were prominent actors in the stirring incidents which formerly took place here. We refer to the matter now, in the hope that some friend may yet be able to furnish notices of them. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. FEBRUARY, 1846. No. 2. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OP THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY, AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] Our last number closed with the account of the advance of the French from Fort Duquesne, and the determination of Washington to retreat from Gist's farm. It was the intention to continue the retreat toward Fort Cumberland, but upon their arrival at Fort Necessity, it was found the men were so much exhausted, having had no bread for eight days, that they could proceed no further. It was therefore determined to remain and abide the issue there. Here we again avail ourselves of the labors of Mr. Sparks, who gives the fullest account of the affair at the Great Meadows, and gives a satisfactory refutation of a calumny which was revived and circulated against Washington toward the close of his administration. " Preparations for a retreat commenced immediately. The horses were few, and Colonel Washington set a noble example to the officers, by lading his own horse with ammunition and other public stores, leaving his baggage behind, and giving the soldiers four pistoles to carry it forward. The other officers followed this example. There were nine swivels, which were drawn by the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, over a very broken road, unassisted by the men belonging to the independent company, who refused to perform any service of this kind. Nor would they act as pioneers, nor aid in transporting the public stores, considering this a duty not incumbent upon them as king's soldiers. This conduct had a discouraging effect upon the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, by dampening their ardor, and making them more dissatisfied with their extreme fatigue; but the whole party reached the Great Meadows on the 1st of July. " It was not the intention of Colonel Washington, at first, to halt at this place, but his men had become so much fatigued from great labor, and a VOL. I-4 50 THE OLDEN TIME. deficiency of provisions, that they could draw the swivels no further, nor carry baggage on their backs. They had been eight days without bread, and at the Great Meadows they found only a few bags of flour. It was thought advisable to wait here, therefore, and fortify themselves in the best manner they could, till they should receive supplies and reinforcements. They had heard of the arrival at Alexandria, of two independent companies from New York, twenty days before, and it was presumed they must, by this time, have reached Will's creek. An express was sent to hasten them on with as much dispatch as possible. " Meantime, Colonel Washington set his men to felling trees, and carrying logs to the fort, with a view to raise a breastwork, and enlarge and strengthen the fortification in the best manner that circumstances would permit. The space of ground called the Great Meadows, is a level bottom, through which passes a small creek, and is surrounded by hills of a moderate and gradual ascent. This bottom, or glade, is entirely level, covered with long grass and small bushes, and varies in width. At the point where the fort stood, it is about two hundred and fifty yards wide, from the base of one hill to that of the opposite. The position of the fort was well chosen, being about one hundred yards from the upland or wooden ground on the one side, and one hundred and fifty on the other, and so situated on the margin of the creek as to afford an easy access to water. At one point the high ground comes within sixty yards of the fort, and this was the nearest distance to which an enemy could approach under the shelter of trees. The outlines of the fort were still visible, when the spot was visited by the writer, in 1830, occupying an irregular square, the dimensions of which were about one hundred feet on each-side. One of the angles was prolonged further than the others, for the purpose of reaching the water in the creek. On the west side, next to the nearest wood, were three entrances, protected by short breastworks or bastions. The remains of a ditch, stretching round the south and west sides, were also distinctly seen. The site of this fort, named Fort Necessity, from the circumstances attending its erection and original use, is three or four hundred yards south of what is now called the National road, four miles from the foot of Laurel hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland, at Will's creek. On the 3d of July, early in the morning, an alarm was received from a sentinel, who had been wounded by the enemy; and at nine o'clock intelligence came that the whole body of the enemy, amounting, as was reported, to nine hundred men, was only four miles off. At eleven o'clock, they approached the fort, and began to fire at the distance of six hundred yards, but without effect. Colonel Washington had drawn up his men on the open and level ground outside of the trenches, waiting for the attack, which he presumed would be made as soon as the enemy's forces emerged from the woods; and he ordered his men to reserve their fire till they should be NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 51 near enough to do execution. The distant firing was supposed to be a stratagem to draw Washington's men into the woods, and thus to take them at a disadvantage. He suspected the design, and maintained his post till he found the French did not incline to leave the woods and attack the fort by an assault, as he supposed they would, considering their superiority of numbers. He then drew his men back within the trenches, and gave them orders to fire according to their discretion, as suitable opportunities might present themselves. The French and Indians remained on the side of the rising ground, which was nearest to the fort, and, sheltered by the trees, kept up a brisk fire of musketry, but never appeared in the open plain below. The rain fell heavily through the day, the trenches were filled with water, and many of the arms of Colonel Washington's men were out of order, and used with difficulty. In this way, the battle continued from eleven o'clock in the morning till eight at night, when the French called and requested a parley. Suspecting this to be a feint to procure the admission of an officer into the fort, that he might discover their condition, Colonel Washington at first declined listening to the proposal, but when the call was repeated, with the additional request that an officer might be sent to them, engaging at the same time their parole for his safety, he sent out Captain Vanbraam, the only person under his command that could speak French, except the Chevalier de Peyrouny, an ensign in the Virginia regiment, who was dangerously wounded and disabled from rendering any service on this occasion. Vanbraam returned, and brought with him fiom M. de Villiers, the French commander, who proposed articles of capitulation. These he read and pretended to interpret, and some changes having been made by mutual agreement, both parties signed them about midnight. "By the terms of the capitulation, the whole garrison was to retire, and return without molestation to the inhabited parts of the country, and the French commander promised that no embarrassment should be interposed, either by his own men or the savages. The English were to take away everything in their possession, except their artillery, and to march out of the tort the next morning with the honors of war, their drums beating and colors flying. As the French had killed all the horses and cattle, Colonel Washington had no means of transporting his heavy baggage and stores, andeit was conceded to him that his men might conceal their effects, and that a guardl might be left to protect them till horses could be sent up to take them away. Colonel Washington agreed to restore the prisoners who had been taken at the skirmish with Jumonville; and, as a surety for this article, two hostages, Captains Vanbraam and Stobo, were delivered up to the French, and were retained till the prisoners should return. It was moreover agreed that the party capitulating should not attempt to build anymore establishments at that place, or beyond the mountains, for the space of a year. 52 THE OLDEN TIME. " Early the next morning, Colonel Washington began to march from the fort in good order, but he had proceeded only a short distance, when a body of one hundred Indians, being a reinforcement to the French, came upon him, and could hardly be restrained from attacking his men. They pilfered the baggage, and did other mischief. He marched forward, however, with as much speed as possible, in the weakened and incumbered condition of his army, there being no other mode of conveying the wounded men and baggage than on the soldiers' backs. As the provisions were nearly exhausted, no time was to be lost; and leaving much of the baggage behind, he hastened to Will's creek, where all the necessary supplies were in store. Thence Colonel Washington and Captain Mackay proceeded to Williamsburg, and communicated in person to the governor the events of the campaign. "A good deal of dissatisfaction was expressed with some of the articles of capitulation when they came to be made public. The truth is, Colonel Washington had been grossly deceived by the interpreter, either through ignorance or design. An officer of his regiment, who was present at the reading and signing of the articles, wrote as follows on this point, five weeks afterward, in a letter to a friend: "'When Mr. Vanbraam returned with the French proposals, we were obliged to take the sense of them from his mouth; it rained so hard that he could not give us a written translation of them; we could scarcely keep the candle lighted to read them by; and every officer there is ready to declare that there was no such word as assassination mentioned. The terms expressed were the death of Jumonville. If it had been mentioned, we would by all means have had it altered, as the French, during the course of this interview, seemed very condescending, and desirous to bring things to a conclusion; and, upon our insisting, altered the articles relating to stores and ammunition, which they wanted to detain; and that of the cannon, which they agreed to have destroyed, instead of reserved for their use. "' Another article which appears to our disadvantage, is that whereby we oblige ourselves not to attempt an establishment beyond the mountains. This was translated to us, not to attempt buildings or improvements on the lands of his most Christain majesty. This we never intended, as we denied he had any there, and therefore thought it needless to dispute the point. "' The last article, which relates to the hostages, is quite different from the translation of it given to us. It is mentioned for the security of the performance of this treaty, as well as for the return of the prisoners. There was no such an intention on our side or mention of it made on theirs by our interpreter. Thus, by the evil intention or negligence of Vanbraam, our conduct is scrutinized by a busy world, fond of criticising the proceedings of others, without considering circumstances or giving just attention to reasons which might be offered to obviate their censures.' NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 53 "Vanbraam was a Dutchman, and had but an imperfect knowledge of either the French or English language. How far his ignorance should be taken as an apology for his blunders is uncertain. Although he had approved himself a good officer, yet there were other circumstances which brought his fidelity in question. Governor Dinwiddie, in giving an account of this affair to Lord Albemarle, says:'In the capitulation they made use of the word assassination, but Washington, not knowing French, was deceived by the interpreter, who was a poltroon, and though an officer with us, they say he has joined the French.' How long Vanbraam was detained as a hostage is not known, but he never returned to Virginia, and it was the general belief, that he practiced an intentional deception in his attempts to interpret the articles of capitulation. But whether this be true or not, the consequence was unfortunate, as the articles in their written form implied an acknowledgment of the charge of assassinating Jumonville. The French writers, regarding this as an authentic public document, were confirmed by it in their false impressions derived from M. de Contrecceur's letter-concerning the fate of Jumonville; and thus a grave historical error, inflicting a deep injustice on the character of Washington, has been sanctioned by eminent names, and perpetuated in the belief of the reading portion of the French people. " M. de Villiers, the commander of the French forces, was the brother of Jumonville. His account of the march from Fort Duquesne, and the transactions at the Great Meadows, was published by the French government, in connection with what purported to be extracts from Colonel Washington's journal taken at Braddock's defeat. Many years afterward, some person sent to Washington a translation of these papers, upon which he made a brief comment, which it is proper to introduce in this place, after inserting an extract from that part of M. de Villiers' nairative, which relates to the affair of the Great Meadows. "' As we had no knowledge of the place,' says M. de Villiers,'we presented our flank to the fort, when they began to fire on us with their cannon. Almost at the same instant that I saw the English on the right coming toward us, the Indians, as well as ourselves, set up a loud cry, and we advanced upon them; but they did not give us time to fire before they retreated behind an intrenchment adjoining the fort. We then prepared ourselves to invest the fort. It was advantageously situated in a meadow, and within musket-shot of the wood. We approached as near to them as possible, and not uselessly expose his majesty's subjects. The fire was spirited on both sides, and I placed myself in the position where it seemed to me most likely a sortie would be attempted. If the expression may be allowed, we almost extinguished the fire of their cannon by our musketry., "' About six o'clock in the evening, the fire of the enemy increased with renewed vigor, and continued till eight. We returned it briskly. We had 54 TIHE OLDEN TIME. taken effectual measures to secure our posts, and keep the enemy in the fort all night; and, after having put ourselves in the best position possible, we called out to the English, that if they desired a parley with us, we would cease firing. They accepted the proposal. A captain came out, and I sent M. de Mercier to receive him, and went to the Meadow myself, where we told him, that, not being at war, we were willing to save them from the cruelties to which they would expose themselves on the part of the savages, by an obstinate resistance; that we could take from them all the hope of escape during the night; that we consented nevertheless to show them favor, as we had come only to avenge the assassination which they had inflicted upon my brother, in violation of the most sacred laws, and to oblige them to depart from the territories of the king We then agreed to accord to them the capitulation, a copy of which is hereunto annexed. "' We consider that nothing could be more advantageous to the nation than this capitulation, as it was unnatural in the time of peace, to make prisoners. We made the English consent to sign that they had assassinated my brother in his camp. We took hostages for the French who were in their power; we caused them to abandon the lands belonging to the king; we obliged them to leave their cannon, which consisted of nine pieees; we had destroyed all their horses and cattle, and made them sign that the favor we granted them was only to prove how much we desired to treat them as friends. That very night the articles were signed, and I received in camp the hostages whom I had demanded. "' On the 4th, at the dawn of day, I sent a detachment to take possession of the fort. The garrison defiled, and the number of their dead and wounded excited my pity, in spite of the resentment which I felt for the manner in which they had taken away the life of my brother. "' The savages, who, in everything, had adhered to my wishes, claimed the right of plunder, but I prevented them. The English, struck with a panic, took to flight, and left their flag and one of their colors. I demolished the fort, and M. de Mercier caused the cannon to be broken, as also the one granted by the capitulation, the English not being able to take it away. I hastened my departure, after having burst open th.e casks of liquor, to prevent the disorders which would otherwise infallibly have followed. One of my Indians took ten Englishmen, whom he brought to me, and whom I sent back by another.'-Memoire contenant le Precis des Faits, &c., p. 147. " Such is the statement of AM. de Yilliers. The incident mentioned at the close, of an Indian taking ten Englishmen, is so ludicrous, that it must necessarily cast a shade of doubt over the whole, and cause us to suspect the writer's accuracy of facts and soundness of judgment, whatever we may think of the fertility of his imagination, and his exuberant self-complacency. Washington's remarks on this extract were communicated in the following letter to a gentleman, who had previously written to him on the subject: NOTICES TO THE SETTLEMENT. 55 "' SIR:I am really sorry that I have it not in my power to answer your request in a more satisfactory manner. If you had favored me with the journal a few days sooner, I would have examined it carefully, and endeavored to point out such errors as might conduce to your use, my advantage, and the public satisfaction; but now it is out of my power. "' I had no time to make any remarks upon that piece, which is called my journal. The inclosed are observations on the French notes. They are of no use to me separated, nor will they, I believe, be of any to you; yet I send them, unconnected and incoherent, as they were taken, for I have no opportunity to correct them. "'In regard to the journal, I can only observe, in general, that I kept no regular one during that expedition; rough minutes of occurrences I certainly took, and find them as certainly and strangely metamorphosed; some parts left out, which I remember were entered, and many things added that never were thought of; the names of men and things egregiously miscalled; and the whole of what I saw Englished is very incorrect and nonsensical; yet I will not pretend to say that the little body, who brought it to me, has not made a literal translation, and a good one. "' Short as my time is, I can not help remarking on Villiers' account of the battle of, and transactions at, the Meadows, as it is very extraordinary, and not less erroneous than inconsistent. He says the French received the first fire. It is well known that we received it at six hundred paces distance. He also says our fears obliged us to retreat in a most disorderly manner after the capitulation. How is this consistent with his other account! He acknowledges that we sustained the attack warmly from ten in the morning until dark, and that he called first to parley, which strongly indicates that we were not totally absorbed in fear. If the gentleman, in his account, had adhered to the truth, he must have confessed that we looked upon his offer to parley as an artifice to get into and examine our trenches, and refused on this account, until they desired an officer might be sent to them, and gave their parol for his safe return. He might also, if he had been as great a lover of the truth as of vainglory, have said that we absolutely refused their first and second proposals, and would consent to capitulate on no other terms than such as we obtained. That we were willfully, or ignorantly, deceived by our interpreter in regard to the word assassination, I do aver, and will to my dying moment; so will every officer that was present. The interpreter was a Dutchman, little acquainted with the English tongue, therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English; but whatever his motives were for so doing, certain it is, he called it the death, or the loss, of the Sieur Jumonville. So we received, and so we understood it, until to our great surprise and mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal translation.' That we left our baggage and horses at the Meadows is certain; that 56 THE OLDEN TIME. there was not even a possibility to bring them away, is equally certain, as we had every horse belonging to the camp killed or taken away during the action; so that it was impracticable to bring anything off that our shoulders were not able to bear; and to wait there was impossible, for we had scarce three days' provisions, and were seventy miles from a supply; yet, to say we came off precipitately is absolutely false, notwithstanding they did, contrary to articles, suffer their Indians to pillage our baggage, and commit all kinds of irregularity; we were with them until ten o'clock the next day; we destroyed our powder and other stores, nay, even our private baggage, to prevent its falling into their hands, as we could not bring it off. When we had got about a mile from the place of action, we missed two or three of the wounded, and sent a party back to bring them up; this is the party he speaks of. We brought them all safe off, and encamped within three miles of the Meadows. These are circumstances, I think, that make it evidently clear that we were not very apprehensive of danger. The colors he speaks of as left, were a large flag of immense size and weight; our regimental colors were brought off and are now in my possession. Their gasconades and boasted clemency must appear in the most ludicrous light to every considerate person who reads Villier's journal; such preparations for an attack, such vigor and intrepidity as he pretends to have conducted his march with, such revenge as by his own account appeared in his attack, considered, it will hardly be thought that compassion was his motive for calling a parley. But to sum up the whole, M. Villiers pays himself, no great compliment in saying we were struck with a panic when matters were adjusted. We surely could not be afraid without cause, and if we had cause after capitulation, it was a reflection upon himself. "' I do not doubt but your good nature will excuse the badness of my paper, and the incoherence of my writing; think you see me in a public house in a crowd, surrounded with noise, and you hit my case. You do me particular honor in offering your friendship; I wish I may be so happy as always to merit it, and deserve your correspondence, which I should be glad to cultivate.' " In September, somewhat more than two months after the capitulation, Captain Mackay wrote to Washington from Will's creek, stating that he had recently returned from Philadelphia, and adding, I had several disputes about our capitulation, but I satisfied every person that mentioned the subject as to the articles in question, that they were owing to a bad interpreter, and contrary to the translation made to us when we signed them.' "No more needs be said to show the true light in which the articles of capitulation were understood by Washington and his officers. It is not to be inferred, however, that M. de Villiers was knowingly guilty of an imposition in regard to the clause relating to the death of his brother. On the contrary, it seems more than probable that he really believed the report of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 57 the assassination, for he had received no other intelligence, or explanation, than the rumor brought to M. Contrecceur by the Canadian and the savages. This fact, however, does not lessen the injury done to Washington, in seriously using the articles of capitulation as a historical document to sanction a charge, equally untrue in all its essentials and particulars, and unjust in its application. " When the Virginia house of burgesses met in August, they requested the governor to lay before them a copy of the capitulation, and, upon a due consideration of the subject, passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Washington and his officers' for their bravery and gallant defense of their country.' The names of all the officers were enumerated, except those of the major of the regiment and of Captain Vanbraam, the former of whom was charged with cowardice, and the latter of having acted a treacherous part in his interpretation of the articles. The burgesses also, in an address to the governor, expressed their approbation of the instructions he had given to the officers and forces sent on the Ohio expedition. In short, all the proceedings of the campaign were not only approved, but applauded. by the representatives of the people, and by the public generally. A pistole was granted to each of the soldiers who had been in the engagement. To the vote of thanks Washington replied as follows: "' TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES. "'( WILLIAMSBURG, October 23, 1754. " SIR:-Nothing could give me, and the officers under my command, greater satisfaction, than to receive the thanks of the house of burgesses, in so particular and public a manner, for our behavior in the late unsuccessful engagement with the French; and we unanimously hope that our future proceedings in the service of our country will entitle us to a continuance of your approbation. I assure you, sir, I shall always look upon it as my indispensable duty to endeavor to deserve it. "' I was desired by the officers of the Virginia regiment to make their suitable acknowledgments for the honor they have received in your thanks. I therefore hope the inclosed will be agreeable, and answer their and the intended purpose of, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, "' GEORGE WASHINGTON.' "' TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE SPEAKER AND THE GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES. "' We, the officers of the Virginia regiment, are highly sensible of the particular mark of distinction with which you have honored us, in returning your thanks for our behavior in the late action, and can not help testifying our grateful acknowledgments for your high sense of what we shall always esteem a duty to our country and the best of kings. 58 THE OLDEN TIME. "'Favored with your regard, we shall zealously endeavor to deserve your applause, and, by our future actions, strive to convince the worshipful house of burgesses how much we esteem their approbation, and, as it ought to be, regard it as the voice of our country. "'Signed for the whole corps, GEORGE WASHINGTON.' "The exact number of men engaged in the action of the Great Meadows can not be ascertained. The Virginia regiment consisted of three hundred and five, including officers, of whom twelve were killed and forty-three wounded. These numbers are stated in a return made out by Colonel Washington himself. Captain Mackay's independent company was supposed to contain about one hundred, but the number of killed and wounded is not known. The two independent companies from New York, which arrived at Alexandria, never joined the Virginia regiment, although former writers in describing this event have said they were-present. The amount of the French force is also uncertain. It was believed by Colonel Washington, from such information as he could get, to consist of nine hundred men. M. de Villiers says that he left Fort Duquesne with five hundred Frenchmen and eleven Indians. The number of French is perhaps correct, but the Indians were much more numerous when they arrived at the scene of action; and there is good reason for believing that the French and Indians, together, made a body of at least nine hundred. " It was a subject of mortification to Colonel Washington that Governor Dinwiddie refused to ratify the capitulation, in regard to the French prisoners. The governor thus explained his conduct in a letter to the board of trade:' The French, after the capitulation entered into with Colonel Washington, took eight of our people and exposed them to sale, and, missing thereof, sent them prisoners to Canada. On hearing of this, I detained the seventeen prisoners, the officer, and two cadets, as I am of opinion, after they were in my custody, Washington could not engage for their being returned. I have ordered a flag of truce to be sent to the French, offering the return of their officer and the two cadets for the two hostages they have of ours.' This course of proceeding was not suitable to the principles of honor and sense of equity entertained by Colonel Washington, but he had no further control of the affair. " The hostages were not returned, as was requested by the governor's flag of truce, and the French prisoners were detained in Virginia, and supported and clothed at the public charge, having a weekly allowance for that purpose. The private men were kept in confinement, but Drouillon and the two cadets were allowed to go at large, first in Williamsburg, then at Winchester, and last at Alexandria, where they resided when General Braddock arrived. It was then deemed improper for them to go at large, observing the motions of the general's army, and the governor applied to NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 59 Commodore Keppel to take them on board his ships; but he declined, on the ground that he had no instructions about prisoners. By the advice of General Braddock, the privates were put on board the transports and sent to England. M. Drouillon and the cadets went passengers il another ship at the charge of the colony. La Force having been only a volunteer in the skirmish, and not in a military capacity, and having previously committed acts of depredation on the frontiers, was kept in prison at Williamsburg. Being a person of ready resources, and an enterprising spirit, he broke from prison and made his way several miles into the country, when his foreign accent betrayed him, and he was taken up and remanded to close confinement. "Vanbraam and Stobo were conveyed to Quebec,' and retained there as prisoners till they were sent to England by the governor of Canada." From the time when the French took possession of this place, the English and Americans received but little information fiom the country around. Captain Stobo, who was given up as a hostage at the surrender of Fort Necessity, was detained for some time at that place, and wrote the two following letters, which give some knowledge of what was doing here about the time he wrote: LETTERS FROM CAPTAIN STOBO, JULY 28, 1754.'The Indians are greatly alarmed at a report said to be brought up by an Indian named Tuscararo John. He reports that the Half-King, Monakatoocha, and a Shawanese king, &c., to the number of 37, were confined by the English, and carried as prisoners. That John Meinors, alias Jacob Cork, of Montour's company told him so soon as they got them to the inhabitants they would hang them all, and advised him to make his escape. This was industriously reported the day before the Shawanese counseled with the French and their Indians. The French made them a very long and eloquent speech; telling them they did not come to make war with any, but the English would not let them alone. That they expected their children would not see their father abused in his old age; but that if they had a mind to join the English they might, if not, and to live in peace with all, there were goods for them. This was all I could pick up. The lrench gave two very large belts of wampum and as many strings. Their Indians gave an equal number. The French gave them likewise a large present-viz., 16 very fine guns, 2 barrels of gunpowder, and bullets in proportion, 16 fine suits of clothes, several of a meaner kind, blankets, strouds, &c. The Shawanese made no answer at that time, nor have I heard they have as yet.'T is now reported for certain that the HalfKing, &c., are killed, and their wives and children given up to the barbarity of the Cherokees and Catawbas, of whom they say there are 300 at 60 THE OLDEN TIME. the new store. True or false, it has greatly alarmed them, and had it not been for that report, I believe, a great many Indians and of several nations would have been with you now. If true (which I can not think), there will be no farther dependence on any Indians this way, and will make our return very hazardous, but that is not to be considered. The Shawanese, Picts, and Delawares have had a grand council by themselves; what they have determined, I know not; but I have persuaded some of them to venture to see you, by assuring them they will be used in the best manner, and there is large presents at the new store. A present, well timed now, will be of great service. If peace be made with!the Indians, Catawbas and Cherokees, I hope all will go well. I assure you there was not any of those Indians we call ours at the battle, except six or seven. I believe of the Mingo nation, two fellows not regarded by them, particularly one English John; he was at Gist's with those that were suspected as spies. I am informed he intends to see you with some of the rest. Take care of them. I send this by Monakatoocha's brother-in-law; a worthy fellow, and may be trusted. On the other side, you havea draft of the fort, such as time and opportunity would admit of at this time; The garrison consists of 200 workmen, and all the rest went, in several detachments, to the number of i,000, two days hence. Mencin, a fine soldier, goes; so that Contrecceur, with a few young officers and cadets, remain here. A lieutenant went off some days ago, with 200 men, for provisions. He is daily expected. When he arrives, the garrison will. La Force is greatly wanted here-no scouting now-he certainly must have been an extraordinary man amongst them-he is so much regretted and wished for. When we engaged to serve the country, it was expected we were to do it with our lives. Let them not be disappointed. Consider thegood of the expedition without the least regard to us. For my part, I would die a thousand deaths, to have the pleasure of possessing this fort but one day. They are so vain of their success at the Meadows, it is worse than death to hear them. Strike this fall as soon as possible. Make the Indians ours. Prevent intelligence. Get the best, and't is done. 100 trusty Indians might surprise this fort. They have access all day, and might lodge themselves so that they might secure the guard with the tomahawks; shut the sally gate, and the fort is ours. None but the guard and Contrecceur stay in the,fort. For God's sake, communicate this to but few, and them you can trust. Intelligence comes here unaccountably. If they should know 1 wrote, I should lose the little liberty I have. I should be glad to hear from you. But take no notice of this in yours. Excuse errors, bad diction, &c. Pray be kind to this Indian. Springes and Delaware George have been here." [Here follows a plan of the fort.] SIR-I wrote you yesterday by an Indian named the Long or Mono; he will be with you in seven days. This goes by Delaware George. If NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 61 these discharge their trust, they ought to be well rewarded. The purport of yesterday's letter was to inform you of a report, and I hope false, which greatly alarms the Indians: that the Half-King and Monakatoocha are killed, their wives and children given to the Catawbas, Cattoways, and Cherokees. I wish a peace may be made up between the Catawbas and the nations here; they are much afraid of them. Many would have joined you ere now had it not been for that report. You have as just a plan of the fort as time and opportunity would allow. The French manage the Indians with the greatest artifice. I mentioned yesterday a council the Shawanese had with the French, the present they gave, and if they made the French a speech yesterday, the bearer, who was present, will inform you to what purport. If yesterday's letter reaches you, it will give you a particular account of most things. I have scarce a minute; therefore can only add one more thing: there are but 200 men here at this time, 200 more expected in a few days; the rest went off in several detachments to the amount of 1,000, besides Indians. The Indians have great liberty here; they go out and in when they please without notice. If 100 trusty Shawanese, Mingoes, and Delawares were picked out, they might surprise the fort, lodging themselves under the platform behind the palisadoes by day, and at night secure the guard with the tomahawks. The guard consists of 40 men only, and 5 officers. None lodge in the fort but the guard, except Contrecceur-the rest in bark cabins around the fort. All this you have more particular in yesterday's account. Your humble servant, &c. La Force is greatly missed here. Let the good of the expedition be considered preferable to our safety. Haste to strike. "A list of deserters and prisoners at the French fort: Mercer's company-John Smith, John Baker. Did not get here till after the detachment of deserters. " Vanbraam's do.-Barnabas Deven. " Mercer's do.-Jacob Arants, John Ramsey. This man is the cause of all our misfortunes. He deserted the day before the battle. The French got to Gist's at dawn of day, surrounding the fort, imagining that we were still there, gave a general fire. But when they found we were gone, they were determined to return with all expedition, thinking we had returned to the inhabitants-when up comes Mr. Driscall, told them he had deserted the day before, and that the regiment was still at the Meadows, in a starving condition, which caused his deserting, and hearing they were coming, deserted to them. They confined him-told him, if true, he should be rewarded; if false, hanged. This I had from the English interpreters. " Mechas' do.-John Stuerdfages, wounded in the right arm. "Montour's do.-Daniel Laferty, Henry O'Brien, prisoners. "Taken at Guests, by an Indian named English John, Lowrey's Traders, Andrew M'Brier, Nehemiah Stevens, John Kennedy, Elizabeth Williams. 62 THE OLDEN TIME. " The Indians offered their prisoners for sale. Inquired the price-40 pistoles for each. A good ransom. "All sent to Canada in custody of the Indian who took them, except John Kennedy; he was given to the Owl to weigh upon while his leg was curing. He was wounded with ten others, and four Indians. All are recovering, but one, who died after having his arm cut off. Four were shot on the spot. That is all the loss I can hear of. On the 23d, three of their people deserted. I hope they are got with you by this time. I hear more intend it soon. I spoke to the commander several times concerning the prisoners, telling him as long as we came to a capitulation to make them prisoners-he told me they were the Indians', and he could not get them from them." We regret exceedingly that we have so little knowledge of the gallant and enthusiastic soldier who wrote these letters; he was sent from Fort Duquesne to Quebec, and thence to England, and that is the last we have ever heard of him. Should this article meet the eye of any person who knows more about him, we would rejoice to hear any further particulars. It will be seen that Captain Stobo states in the above letters that " few of the Indians called ours " (that is, English) acted with the French at Fort Necessity. The only Indians in the West who could be regarded as special Iriends of the English, were the Mingoes, or Six Nations, the Delawares, the Shawanese, and, perhaps, the Twightees, said by Mr. Sparks to be Ottowas, but really Miamies. The French were very industrious in their efforts to seduce the Indians from their fidelity to the English, but it appears they were at that time entirely unsuccessful. But, on the 14th of June, at the very time when Washington was advancing from Fort Necessity toward Gist's plantation, a convention of delegates from the four New England States, and New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, assembled at Albany, to hold a treaty with the Six Nations of Indians, and to form a plan of union of the colonies. This was the first attempt to form such a union, and was singularly unfortunate in its results. A plan of union was reported and adopted, the delegates from Connecticut alone dissenting, on account of the power intrusted to the president-a crown appointment. It was subsequently rejected in England, because it was supposed to give too much importance to the colonial assemblies, and was disapproved by the colonies, because it was supposed to place too much power in the hands of the king. This matter does not come precisely within the scope of the design of this publication; but we have thought proper to take this brief notice of it, because it was an interesting incident in our history, and because, at that same time, a treaty was made with the Six Nations, which produced considerable change in the state of feeling among the Delawares and Shawanese. The treaty, referred to, was made on the 6th of July, just two days af NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 63 ter the surrender of Washington at Fort Necessity, and by it the Six Nations ceded to John Penn a large portion of lands in this State. The ceded territory is described as follows: " Beginning on the west bank of the Susquehanna, where the Kittochtinny,* or Blue hills, strike that river; thence up the same to one mile above Penn's creek; thence northwest and by west, to the western boundary of the province; thence by the same to the south boundary of the province; thence along the same to the south side of the Blue hills; thence along the same to the place of beginning." These boundaries would embrace twenty odd entire counties, and parts of several others. The Indians soon became much dissatisfied with a cession which, as they alleged, " did not leave them a country to subsist in;" they declared that they did not understand the course of the compass, and if the west branch of the Susquehanna were included, they would never agree to it. " The northwest and by west course" would not touch the western boundary, but would cross the north line of the State about the middle of the north line of Warren county. This dissatisfaction of the Indians became a very convenient argument, to be used by the French to seduce the Delawares and Shawanese, and they did not neglect to take advantage of it. They told those Indians, that they would restore the lands to them; and it was not strange that they, under such circumstances, should desert the nation whose friendship and incroachments had already impoverished them, and almost deprived them of a home. Many of those Indians soon after abandoned the English, and caused their hostility to be severely felt the ensuing year, at Braddock's field. From the date of Captain Stobo's last letter, we have no account from Fort Duquesne, until the advance of General Braddock toward this place. The general arrived in Virginia in the spring of 1755, with two regiments of British troops. In May the army was united at Fort Cumberland, and there, probably, the general had the first actual experience of the difficulties attending a campaign in America. The horses and wagons necessary to transport the baggage, provisions and artillery beyond that place, had not arrived. Happily, however, Dr. Franklin, then postmaster-general of the provinces, arrived in camp, and he undertook to furnish one hundred and fifty wagons, and the requisite number of horses. Upon their arrival, the army moved forward, but their progress ~was slow and laborious. It was, at length, determined to divide the army, to leave a portion under Colonel Dunbar, with the heavy artillery and baggage at Little Meadows, and to push forward with twelve hundred men, taking only such light stores and The Kittochtinny, or Kittatinny mountains, or hills, is that range which separates Franklin county from Bedford, and Huntingdon and Perry counties from Juniata. The Cove mountain is a part of the range. 64 THE OLDEN TIME. artillery as were necessary. On the evening of the 8th of July, the advanced division of the army encamped in the fork between the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers; here Washington, who had been detained by sickness, joined them. The nature of the ground on the east side of the Monongahela, between the mouths of the Youghiogany and Turtle creek, was such as to discourage a march in that direction. The army, therefore, crossed the Monongahela above the junction of the Youghiogany, and marched down along the west side of the former river, until about noon it reached the point where it was to recross the river. At length the river is repassed,the army is once more assembled on the eastern bank. Here, however, we arrest our own narrative to substitute contemporaneous accounts and other authentic notices of the famous defeat of General Braddock. This affair was one of the most remarkable occurrences in tte history of our country; one of the most destructive actions in proportion to the numbers engaged; and it laid open to the ravages of the French and their Indian allies almost two-thirds of the State. We shall, therefore, devote to our account of it a large portion of this number of the Olden Time. The first item we present to our readers is a letter from Captain Orme, one of the aids of the general. " DEAR SIR:-I am extremely ill in bed with the wound I have received in my thigh, that I am under the necessity of employing my friend, Captain Dobson, to write for me. I conclude you have had some account of the action near the banks of the Monongahela, about seven miles from the French fort. As the reports spread are very imperfect, what you have heard must consequently be so, too: You should have heard more early accounts of it, but every officer whose business it was to have informed you was either killed or wounded, and our distressful situation put it out of our power to attend to it so much as we would otherwise have done. The 9th inst., we passed and repassed the Monongahela, by advancing first a party of three hundred men, which was immediately followed by another of two hundred. The general, with the column of artillery, baggage, and main body of the army, passed the river the last time about one o'clock. As soon as the whole had got on the fort side of the Monongahela, we heard a very heavy and quick fire in our front. We immediately advanced, in order to'sustain them, but the detach ments of two hundred and three hundred men gave way and fell back upon us, which caused such confusion and struck so great a panic among our men, that afterward no military expedient could be made use of that had any effect upon them. The men were so extremely deaf to the exhortation of the general and the officers, that they fired away, in the most irregular manner, all their ammunition, and then ran off, leaving to the enemy the artillery, ammunition, provisions, and baggage; nor could they be persuaded to stop till they got as far as Gist's plantation, nor there, only in part; many of them proceeded as far as NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 65 Colonel Dunbar's party, who lay six miles on this side. The officers were absolutely sacrificed by their unparalleled good behavior, advancing'sometimes in bodies and sometimes separately, hoping by such example to engage the soldiers to follow them, but to no purpose. The General had five horses killed under him, and at last received a wound through the right arm, into the lungs, of which he died the 13th inst. Poor Shirley was shot through the head; Captain Morris wounded. Mr. Washington had two horses shot under him, and his clothes shot through in several places, behaving the whole time with the greatest courage and resolution. Sir Peter Halkett was killed upon the spot; Colonel Burton and Sir John St. Clair wounded; and inclosed I have sent you a list of killed and wounded, according to as exact an amount as we are yet able to get. Upon our proceeding with the whole convoy to the Little Meadows, it was found impracticable to advance in that manner. The General, therefore, advanced with twelve hundred men, with the necessary artillery, ammunition and provision, leaving the main body of the convoy under the command of Col. Dunbar, with orders to join him as soon as possible. In this manner, we proceeded with safety and expedition, till the fatal day I have just related; and happy it was that this disposition was made; otherwise the whole must either have starved or fallen into the hands of the enemy, as numbers would have been of no service to us, and our provisions were all lost. As our horses were so much reduced, and those extremely weak, and many carriages being wanted for the wounded men, occasioned our destroying the ammunition and superfluous part of the provisions left in Colonel Dunbar's convoy, to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy; as the whole of the artillery is lost, and the troops are so extremely weakened by deaths, wounds, and sickness, it was judged impossible to make any further attempts; therefore, Colonel Dunbar is returning to Fort Cumberland, with everything he is able to bring up with him; I propose remaining here till my wound will suffer me to remove to Philadelphia; from thence I shall proceed to England. Whatever commands you may have for me, you will do me the honor to direct to me here. By the particular disposition of the French and Indians, it was impossible to judge the number they had that day in the field. Killed-General Braddock, William Shirley, Sec'y, Colonel Halkett. Wounded-Roger Morris and Robert Orme, Aidsde'Camp; Sir John St. Clair, Deputy Quarter Master General; Matthew Leslie, Assistant; Lieutenant-Colonel Gage; between six and seven hundred officers and soldiers killed and wounded." The next article which we shall give in relation to that action, is the notice of it in the Gentleman's Magazine, published in London, in August 1755, a few weeks after the defeat took place. This is a contemporaneous account; it exhibits the feeling then existing, and giving the fullest list of killed and wounded officers which we have seen. It will be seen, too, that VOL. I-5 66 THE OLDEN TIME. even at that (lay there were rumors that officers killed some of the flying soldiers, and were in return shot down by them, thus giving some countenance to the story that General Braddock was shot by Fawcet. Our readers will scarcely fail to notice, that although the Virginia troops received full credit for the gallantry they displayed, the name of Washington is not mentioned. "Of the expeditions set on foot against the French in America, mentioned in our last, the issue of one only was then known, the capture of Fort Beausejour, by Gen. Monkton, who commanded the expedition to Fundy. We have received the following accounts of General Braddock, who was destined to the Ohio. "It was said by letters from Virginia, dated June 22d, that on the 12th, General Braddock, with 2,000 regular troops, had passed the Allegheny mountains, and was within 5 days' march of Duquesne, a French fort on the Monongahela river, which runs into the Ohio. Sir John St. Clair having advanced near enough to view it, and consider the adjacent ground, remarked a small eminence that was within cannon shot; and the fort being built of wood, and garrisoned with 1,000 men, it was proposed to erect a battery on this eminence, and set fire to the place, by throwing into it a great number of red hot balls. "Letters from Philadelphia, dated June 25, gave an account, that the General had been long detained at Will's Creek, and greatly distressed for want of forage and provisions. Landing the troops at Virginia is said to have been a most unfortunate error, as neither forage, provisions, nor carriages were there to be had, and that if they had landed in Pennsylvania it would have saved ~40,000 sterling, and shortened the march six weeks. He was, however, promised 150 wagons, and 300 horses, with a large quantity of forage and provisions, to be furnished from the back settlements of Pennsylvania; but after tedious and anxious expectation of these succors, he received, instead of 150 wagons, only 15; and instead of 300 horses only 100. This disappointment, however great, was much aggravated when the wagons were unloaded, for the provisions stunk so intolerably, that he must have suffered very greatly from hunger who could eat it. While he was in this distress, he received an unexpected supply of ~500, in provisions and wine, from Philadelphia, which was sent him by the hands of Mr. Franklin. The General accepted this present with great joy, and urged Mr. Franklin to use his interest to procure further assistance. Mr. Franklin observed that General St Clair's dress was of the Hussar kind, and this gave him a hint which he immediately improved. He caused a report to be propagated among the Germans, that except 150 wagons could be got ready, and sent to the General within a certain time, St Clair, who was a Hussar, would come among them, and take away what he found by force. The Germans having formerly lived under despotic power, knew NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 67 the Hussars too well to doubt their serving themselves, and believing that General St. Clair was indeed a Hussar, they provided, instead of 150, 200 wagons, and sent them within the time that Mr. Franklin had limited. " The Pennsylvanians also advanced a further sum above the King's bounty, and sent him 190 wagons more, laden each with a ton of corn and oats, four wagons with provisions and wine for the officers, and 60 head of fine cattle for the army. "The General, as soon as he had received these supplies, pursued his march, having received from time to time various and contradictory accounts of the strength and motions of the enemy. Fort Duquesne was sometimes said to be garrisoned by its full complement, 1,000 men; sometimes he was assured by French deserters, that the garrison did not consist of more than 200, and that there were but 500 at Venango and Presq' Isle, on the banks of the Lake Erie, distant from Duquesne about 90 miles. He received also frequent intelligence of French parties in motion, particularly of a considerable number that were seen in batteaux, on the Lake Ontario, as we supposed on their way to the Ohio, and of 600 that had passed the lake in 120 canoes and batteaux, and were going to Niagara. It was now expected that the next advices would give an account of the siege, if not of the capture of Fort Duquesne, as every one had been taught to believe, that our force in this part of the world was so much superior to the French, that to march and take possession was the same thing; but in the midst of this impatience and confidence, we were alarmed with the report that Gen. Braddock had been defeated, and soon after the following article appeared in the Gazette: "WHITEHALL, August 26, 1755. " By his Majesty's ship, the Sea-Horse, from Virginia, advice has been received that Major-General Braddock, having advanced with 2,000 men, and all the stores and provisions, to the Little Meadows (about twenty miles beyond Fort Cumberland, at Will's Creek), found it necessary to leave the greatest part of his wagons, &c., at that place, under the command of Colonel Dunbar, with a detachment of 800 men, ordering him to follow as fast as the nature of the service would admit. The General, having by this means lessened his line of march, proceeded with great expedition, his corps then consisting of about 1,200 men, and 12 pieces of artillery, together with the necessary ammunition, stores, and provisions. On the 8th of July he encamped within ten miles of Fort Duquesne; and on the 9th, on his march through the woods toward that Fort, was attacked by a body of French and Indians, who made a sudden fire from the woods, which put the troops into great confusion, and occasioned their retiring with great'precipitation, notwithstanding all the endeavors of the General and the officers, many of whom were killed whilst they were using all possible means to rally the men. The General, who exerted himself as much as any man 68 THE OLDEN TIME. could do, after having five horses killed under him, was shot through the arm and the lungs, of which he died the fourth day. Sir Peter Halket was killed on the spot. Two of the General's aids-de-camp (Captain Orme and Captain Morris) were wounded. His Secretary (son to Governor Shirley) was killed. Sir John St. Clair, Quarter Master General, and his assistant, Mr. Leslie, both wounded. It is reckoned there were about 200 killed, and 400 wounded; the latter are mostly collected at Will's Creek, to which place Colonel Dunbar, with the remainder of the troops, was retired; from whom a more particular account is expected. "The following list has been received of the officers killed and wounded on this occasion: STAFF. Major-General Braddock, died of his wounds. Robert Orme, Esq., Aid-de-Camp, wounded. Roger Morris, Esq., } d William Shirley, Esq., Secretary, killed. Sir John St. Clair, Deputy Quarter Master General, wounded. Matthew Leslie, Gent., his Assistant, " LATE SIR PETER HALKET'S REGIMENT. Sir P. Halket, Colonel, killed. Captain Tatton, killed. Lieut. Col. Gage, wounded. Captain Gethins, " SUBALTERNS. Lieutenant Littleler, wounded. Lieutenant Lock, wounded. ( Dunbar, " " Disney, " (" Halket, killed. " Kennedy, " " Treeby, wounded. " Townsend, killed. (' Allen, killed. " Nartlow, ('" Simpson, wounded. " Pennington, wounded. COLONEL DUNBAR'S REGIMENT. Lieutenant-Col. Burton, wounded. Captain Rowyer, wounded. Major Sparkes, " Captain Ross, " Captain Cholmley, " SUBALTERNS. Barbut, wounded. Brereton, killed. Walsham, A" Hart, " Crimble, killed. Montreseur, wounded. Wideman, " Macmullen, Hanfbrd, " Crow, " Gladwin, wounded. Sterling, " Edmeston, ARTILLERY. Lieutenant Smith, killed. Lieutenant M'Cloud, wounded. " Buchanon, wounded. " M'Culler, " NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 69 ENGINEERS. Peter McKeller, Esq., wounded. - Williamson, Esq., wounded. Robert Gordon, Esq., " DETACHMENT OF SAILORS. Lieutenant Spendelow, killed. Mr. Talbot, Midshipman, " Captain Stone, of General Lascelle's Regiment, wounded. " Floyer, of General Warburton's Regiment, INDEPENDENT COMPANIES OF NEW YORK. Captain Gates, wounded. Lieutenant Howarth, wounded. Lieutenant Sumain, killed. " Gray, c VIRGINIA TROOPS. Captain Stevens, wounded. Captain Peronie, killed. " Poulson, killed. SUBALTERNS. Hamilton, killed. I Stuart, wounded. Wright, " Wagoner, killed. Splitdorff, ( Several other accounts of this action, and lists of the dead and wounded have appeared in the papers, and are said to be taken from private letters. By the Gazette account, General Braddock seems to have been attacked by an ambuscade of French and Indians, on his march through the woods, before he came within sight of the enemy; by the other accounts, he seemed to have reached an advanced party of French, before the action began. They are to this effect: "l The French who were posted at Fort Duquesne, and on the Ohio, consisted of 1,500 regular, and 600 irregular troops, who had with them a considerable number of Indians in their interest. These forces, having gained very particular intelligence of General Braddock's design, of the number and condition of his forces, and the route they were to take, no sooner found that he was advancing after having received his last supply of provisions, than they also advanced toward him, and having chosen a very advantageous pie'ce of ground, about six miles south of their Fort, they formed a camp and intrenched themselves in a masterly manner, having a thick wood on each side of them, which extended along the route the General was to take. When he was come within three miles of their intrenchments, they drew out of their lines, placing their 600 irregulars in front, as a forlorn hope, and their 1,500 regulars behind, to support them; they also stationed a great number of their Indians in the wood, on each side, who effectually concealed themselves behind trees and bushes. " Soon after this fatal disposition was made, General Braddock appeared with his troops in the following order: 70 THE OLDEN TIME. Colonels Gage and Burton, of Halkett's Regiment. The General, with Dunbar's Regiment. The troops from Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. "As soon as the whole army was got between the two ambuscades, the men were alarmed by the Indians, who fired singly at the General and other particular officers; upon this, they pushed forward, as the enemy was in sight, though not within musket-shot, and as soon as they came near enough. the attack was began by the Colonels Gage and Burton. This was a signal to the Indians in ambush, who immediately gave the war whoop, and rising from the thickets, discovered themselves on both sides, flanking our men in volleys which did incredible execution. The advanced guard, being now between three fires, immediately gave way, but, being rallied with much difficulty by the officers, they gave one fire, and then retreated in the utmost confusion, and threw Dunbar's regiment, which was behind them, in the same disorder. They were, with unspeakable difficulty and trouble, once more rallied by their officers, and stood one fire from the enemy, but then, without returning it, both the regiments fled with the utmost terror and precipitation, deserting their officers, who, though alone, kept their ground until, of sixty, only five remained that'were not either killed or wounded. The Virginians, who formed the rear, still stood unbroken, and continued the engagement on very unequal terms near three hours, but were then compelled to retire. These letters give the same account of the General as that in the Gazette, but add that all the baggage, provisions, and even military chests, have fallen into the enemy's hands. Other letters, however, contradict this particular, and say that the artillery, baggage, and military chests are safe, being two days behind the army. " There is, indeed, some reason to hope that this is true, from the account published by authority, for it is there said, that the General left the baggage, &c., behind him twenty miles, that he might march with the greater expedition; the very reason of his leaving them behind, seems to prove that he went forward without halting, and that it was impossible the men with the baggage should keep near him; so that, as they must have been considerably behind him when the action happened, it is probable the broken troops joined them in their retreat, and proceeded safely with the baggage to Will's Creek. " The European troops, whose cowardice has thus injured the country, are the same that ran away so shamefully at Preston-Pans. To prevent, however, any unjust national reflections, it must be remarked, that though they are called Irish regiments, they are not regiments of Irishmen, but regiments on the Irish establishment, consistingof English, Irish, and Scots, as other regiments do. It is, however, said that the slaughter among our officers was not made by the enemy; but that, as they ran, several fugitives, through the body, to intimidate the rest, when they were attempting in vain NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 71 to rally them, some others, who expected the same fate, discharged their pieces at them, which, though loaded, they could not be brought to level at the French. On the other hand, it is alleged that the defeat is owing more to presumption and want of conduct in the officers, than to cowardice in the private men; that a retreat ought to have been resolved upon the moment they found themselves surprised by an ambuscade; and that they were told by the men, when they refused to return to the charge, that if they could see their enemy they would fight them, but that they would not waste their ammunition against trees and bushes, nor stand exposed to invisible assailants: the French and Indian Rangers, who were excellent marksmen, and, in such a situation, would inevitably destroy any number of the best troops in the world." Thus closed that ill-conducted march, from which so much was expected. Thus was that fine body of troops, after a long and fatiguing march of many days, after it had arrived within ten miles of its destination; when everything seemed to smile upon their undertaking; when the brave commander was elate with every assurance of success, in one brief afternoon overwhelmed with disaster and inglorious defeat, and sent back disheartened and dismayed upon their comrades under Dunbar. It is not our purpose to enter into a detailed notice of the causes of this overwhelming catastrophe. It is an everyday remark that Braddock was a rash, headstrong man, unused to contend with such foes as he found on the Monongahela, and that his defeat was a natural result of the haste with which he moved forward. We believe that he was a rash, conceited man; that he held his enemy in too much contempt, and paid too little attention to the counsel of men who had experience in Indian warfare; yet we believe that one of the leading causes of defeat arose from the detention of his advanced parties after they had crossed the Monongahela the second time. From all the accounts of the action, it is settled that the whole army had crossed the river before the attack commenced, and yet no portion of it had previously passed the rising ground where the attack took place; so that the whole number of the troops, with all the artillery, provisions, ammunition, and baggage, with the horses, were collected in a few acres of ground between the river and the foot of the hill. In such circumstances, there could be no reserve; no party upon which the troops in advance, when driven back, could rally; there was no ndan of the whole twelve hundred who stood beyond the range of the musket-shot of the enemy. U nder such disadvantages, all the desperate exertions of thegallant officers to rally the men were only hopeless sacrifices of their own lives. It is, therefore, no doubt true, as Captain Orme remarks in his letter, that it was happy that Dunbar was left behind, " as numbers could have been of no service." In fact, every additional battalion would only have increased the confusion and embarrassment. We believe, therefore, that the radical 72 THE OLDEN TIME. error of Braddock on that day, the immediate cause of his defeat, was the crowding his army into too small a field, placing the whole body of his men and all the accompaniments of his march, artillery, provisions, ammunition, teams, &c., in a space where every man was within range of the enemy's guns, and where, of course, there could be no reserve. It is true, the trees and brush would afford some protection to the army; but, on the other hand, they would greatly embarrass the movements of troops accustomed to manevuer on the plains of the Netherlands. We conclude with an extract fiom a work published in Kentucky, called "Sketches of Western Adventure," giving a narrative of Colonel James Smith's capture by the Indians, and of the terrille scene which he witnessed near Fort Duquesne on the day after Braddock's defeat, the 10th of July, 1755. It might be hoped, for the credit of humanity, that such transactions never took place here, but Colonel James Smith was well known in Pennsylvania, and, we believe, his veracity was unimpeachable. He subsequently removed to Kentucky, and was a member of the Legislature of that State. That he was a prisoner among the Indians, there is no doubt; the Colonial Records at Harrisburg notice his capture. The French, too, were a small proportion of the combined force at Braddock's Field; the prisoners there taken were as likely to fall into the hands of the Indians as of the French, and being once in that position, probably could not be rescued without violence, which could hardly be looked for, under the circumstances. Without further comment, we submit to our readers this melancholy tale, which, we believe, has never been contradicted: " In the spring of the year 1755, James Smith, then a youth of eighteen, accompanied a party of three hundred men from the frontiers of Pennsylvania, who advanced in front of Braddock's army, for the purpose of opening a road over the mountain. When within a few miles of Bedford Springs, he was sent back to the rear, to hasten the progress of some wagons loaded with provisions and stores for the use of the wood-cutters. Having delivered his orders, he was returning, in company with another young man, when they were suddenly fired upon by a party of three Indians, from a cedar thicket which skirted the road. Smith's companion was killed upon the spot; and although he himself was unhurt, yet his horse was so much frightened by the flash and report of the guns, as to become totally unmanageable, and, after a few plunges, threw him with violence to the ground. Before he could recover his feet, the Indians sprang upon him, and overpowering his resistance, secured him as a prisoner. One of them demanded, in broken English, whether' more white men were coming up,' and, upon his answering in the negative, he was seized by each arm and compelled to run with great rapidity over the mountain until night, when the small party encamped and cooked their suppers. An equal share of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 73 their scanty stock of provisions was given to the prisoner, and in other respects, although strictly guarded, he was treated with great kindness. On the evening of the next day, after a rapid walk of fifty miles through cedar thickets, and over very rocky ground, they reached the western side of the Laurel mountain, and beheld, at a little distance, the smoke of an Indian encampment. His captors now fired their guns and raised the scalp halloo! This is a long yell for every scalp that has been taken, followed,by a rapid succession of shrill, quick, piercing shrieks-shrieks somewhat resembling laughter in the most excited tones. They were answered from the Indian camp below by a discharge of rifles, and a long whoop, followed by shrill cries ofjoy, and all thronged out to meet the party. Smith expected instant death at their hands, as they crowded around him; but, to his surprise, no one offered him any violence. They belonged to another tribe, and entertained the party in their camp with great hospitality, respecting the prisoner as the property of their guests. On the following morning Smith's captors continued their march, and on the evening of the next day arrived at Fort Duquesne-now Pittsburgh. When within half a mile of the fort, they again raised the scalp halloo, and fired their guns as before. Instantly the whole garrison was in commotion. The cannons were firedthe drums were beaten, and the French and Indians ran out in great numbers to meet the party and partake of their triumph. Smith was again surrounded by a multitude of savages, painted in various colors and shouting with delight; but their demeanor was by no means as pacific as that of the last party he had encountered. They rapidly formed into lines, and brandishing their hatchets, ramrods, switches, &c., called aloud for him to run the gauntlet. Never having heard of this Indian ceremony before, he stood amazed for some time, not knowing what to do; but one of his captors explained to him that he was to run between the two lines and receive a blow from each Indian, as he passed, concluding his explanation by exhorting him to'run his best,' as the faster he ran the sooner the affair would be over. The truth was very plain-and young Smith entered upon his race with great spirit. He was switched very handsomely along the lines for about three-fourths of the distance, the stripes only acting as a spur to greater exertions, and he had almost reached the extremity of the line, when a tall chief struck him a furious blow with a club upon the back ofthe head, andsinstantly felled him to the ground. Recovering himself in a moment, he sprang to his feet and started forward again, when a handful of sand was thrown in his eyes, which, in addition to the great pain, completely blinded him. He still attempted to grope his way through, but was again knocked down and beaten with merciless severity. He soon became insensible under such barbarous treatment, and recollected nothing more until he found himself in the hospital of the fort, under the hands of a French surgeon, beaten to a jelly, and unable to move a limb. Here he 74 THE OLDEN TIME. was quickly visited by one of his captors-the same who had given him such good advice when about to commence his race. He now inquired, with some interest, if he felt'very sore.' Young Smith replied that he had been bruised almost to death, and asked what he had done to merit such barbarity. The Indian replied, that he had done nothing, but that it was the customary greeting of the Indians to their prisoners-that it was something like the English'how d' ye do,' and that now all ceremony would be laid aside, and he would be treated with kindness. Smith inquired if they had any news of General Braddock. The Indian replied, that their scouts saw him every day from the mountains-that he was advancing in close columns through the woods-(this he indicated by placing a number of red sticks parallel to each other, and pressed closely together)-and that the Indians would be able to shoot them down' like pigeons.' " Smith rapidly recovered, and was soon able to walk upon the battlements of the fort, with the aid of a stick. While engaged in this exercise, on the morning of the 9th --. he observed an unusual bustle in the Fort. The Indians stood in crowds at the great gate, armed and painted. Many barrels of powder, balls, flints, &c., were brought out to them, from which each warrior helped himself to such articles as he required. They were soon joined by a small detachment of French regulars, when the whole party marched off together. He had a full view of them as they passed, and was confident that they could not exceed four hundred men. He soon learned that it was detached against Braddock, who was now within a few miles of the Fort; but from their great inferiority in numbers, he regarded their destruction as certain, and looked joyfully to the arrival of Braddock in the evening, as the hour which was to deliver him from the power of the Indians. In the afternoon, however, an Indian runner arrived with far different intelligence. The battle had not yet ended when he left the; field; but he announced that the English had been surrounded, and were shot down in heaps by an invisible enemy; that instead of flyingat once orrushing upon their concealed foe, they appeared completely bewildered, huddled together in the centre of the ring, and before sun down there would not be a man of them alive. This intelligence fell like a thunderbolt upon Smith, who now saw himself irretrievably in the power of the savages, and could look forward to nothing but torture or endless captivity. He waited anxiously for further intelligence, still hoping that the fortune of the day might change. But about sunset, he heard at a distance the well known scalp halloo, followed by wild, quick, joyful shrieks, and accompanied by a long continued firing. This too surely announced the fate of the day. About dusk, the party returned to the fort, driving before them twelve British regulars, stripped naked, and with their faces painted black! an evidence that the unhappy wretches were devoted to death. Next came the Indians, displaying their bloody scalps, of which they had immence numbers, and dressed in the scarlet NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 75 coats, sashes and military hats of the officers and soldiers. Behind all came a train of baggage horses, laden with piles of scalps, canteens, and all the accoutrements of British soldiers. The savages appeared frantic with joy, and when Smith beheld them entering the fort, dancing, yelling, brandishing their red tomahawks, and waving their scalps in the air, while the great guns of the fort replied to the incessant discharge of the rifles without, he says that it looked as if h-1 had given a holiday, and turned loose its inhabitants upon the upper world. The most melancholy spectacle was the band of prisoners. They appeared dejected and anxious. Poor fellows! They had but a few months before left London, at the command of their superiors, and we may easily imagine their feelings at the strange and dreadful spectacle around them. The yells of delight and.congratulation were scarcely over, when those of vengeance began. The devoted prisoners (British regulars), were led out from the fort to the banks of the Allegheny, and to the eternal disgrace of the French commandant, were there burnt to death, with the most awful tortures. Smith stood upon the battlements, and witnessed the shocking spectacle. The prisoner was tied to a stake, with his hands raised above his head, stripped naked, and surrounded by Indians. Thev would touch him with red hot irons, and stick his body full of pine splinters, and set them on fire-drowning the shrieks of the victim in the yells of delight with which they danced around him. His companions in the mean time stood in a group near the stake, and had a foretaste of what was in reserve for each of them. As fast as one prisoner died under his tortures, another filled his place, until the whole perished. All this took place so near the fort, that every scream of the victims must have rang in the ears of the French commandant! " Two or three days after this shocking spectacle, most of the Indian tribes dispersed, and returned to their homes, as is usual with them after a great and decisive battle. Young Smith was demanded of the French by the tribe to whom he belonged, and was immediately surrendered into their hands." From the 10th of July, 1755, until the retaking of this place by General Forbes, in November, 1758, we have but little intelligence of what was passing here. About the first of April, 1756, a Mr. Paris, with a scouting party from Fort Cumberland, fell in with a small body of Indians, commanded by a Monsieur Donville; an engagement ensued; the commandant was killed and scalped, and the following instructions, written at Fort Duquesne, were found about him: "FORT DUQUESNE, 23d March, 1756. "The Sieur Donville, at the head of a detachment of fifty savages, is ordered to go and observe the motions of the enemy in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland. He will endeavor to harass their convoys, and burn 76 THE OLDEN TIME. their magazines at Gonococheague, should this be practicable. He must use every effort to take prisoners who may confirm what we already know of the enemy's designs. The Sieur Donville will employ all his talents, and all his credit, to prevent the savages from committing any cruelties upon those who may fall into their hands. Honor and humanity ought, in this respect, to serve as our guide. DUMAS." From these instructions, we learn that Monsieur Contreceur had left Fort Duquesne prior to the 23d of March, 1756, and that Dumas was then in command of that post. He was, no doubt, the same person who commanded at Braddock's Field after the death of Beaujeu. His direction that Sieur Donville should use every exertion to prevent the Indians from using cruelly the persons who might fall into their hands, are highly creditable to his character as a humane as well as gallant soldier. The extent to which Pennsylvania was laid open to the incursions of the enemy, by Braddock's defeat, is shown in the suggestion, that Donville might destroy magazines on the Gonococheague. On the 28th of August, 1756, a petition from the town and county of York, was presented, setting forth, that Franklin county was almost evacuated, and that part of York county had become a frontier, where the enemy may come and take provisions sufficient for many thousand men, and be thereby enabled to extend their hostilities even to the metropolis (Philadelphia). Families were murdered within a few miles of where Harrisburg now stands; but it is useless and rather transgressing the limits first assigned to the Olden Time, to give further notices of the incursions of the Indians east of the mountains. We therefore will let the above suffice. Kittanning was then an Indian town of considerable consequence, from which incursions up the Kiskeminitas, and down the Juniata, were made with great facilities. Captain Jacobs, a Delaware of note, lived there, and Shingiss sometimes resided or visited that place. English prisoners who had escaped, reported that there were many more prisoners detained there.. To break up this rallying point for the hostile Indians, and to rescue the unfortunate English prisoners, were both very desirable objects, and to accomplish these purposes, Col. John Armstrong undertook his daring expedition against that town. We annex his own account of the matter in full, as we have never seen it in print: TAKING OF KITTANNING EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM COL. JOHN ARMSTRONG, DATED FORT LITTLETON, SEPT. 14, 1756. "We marched from Fort Shirley* on the 30th of August, and on Wednesday the 3d instant, joined our advanced party at the Beaver dams, a few miles from Frankstown, on the North Branch of the Juniata. We were *Fort Shirley stood near where Shirleyburgh, in Huntingdon county, is now situated. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. / 77 there informed that some of our men, having been sent out on a scout, had discovered the tracks of two Indians, about two miles on this side of the Allegheny mountains, and but a few miles from the camp. From the freshness of the tracks, their killing of a cub bear, and the marks of their fires, it seemed evident they were not twenty-four hours before us, which might be looked upon as a particular providence in our favor, that we were not discovered. Next morning we decamped, and in two days came within fifty miles of Kittanning. It was then adjudged necessary to send some person to reconnoiter the town, and get the best intelligence they could concerning the position and situation of the enemy. Whereupon an officer, and one of the pilots, and two soldiers, were sent off for that purpose. The day following we met them on their return, and they informed us that the roads were entirely clear of the enemy, and that they had the greatest reason to believe they were not discovered, but from the rest of the intelligence they gave, it appeared they had not been nigh enough the town either to perceive the true situation of it, the number of the enemy, or how it might most advantageously be attacked. We continued our march, intending to get as near'the town as possible that night, so as to be able to attack it next morning about daylight, but to our general dissatisfaction, about nine or ten o'clock at night, one of our guides came and told us that he perceived a fire by the road side, at which he saw two or three Indians a few perches in our front. Whereupon, with all possible silence, I ordered the rear to retreat about one hundred perches, in order to make way for the front, that we might consult how we could best proceed without being discovered by the enemy. Soon after, the pilot returned a second time, and assured us, from the best observation he could make, there were not above three or four Indians at the fire. On which it was proposed that we should immediately surround and cut them off, but this was thought too hazardous, for if but one of the enemy had escaped, it would have been the means of discovering the whole design; and the light of the moon, on which depended our advantageously posting our men, and attacking the town, would not admit of our staying until the Indians fell asleep. On which it was agreed to leave Lieut. Hogg with twelve men and the person who first discovered the fire, with orders to watch the enemy, but not to attack them until daybreak, and tlen, if possible, to cut them off. It was algo agreed (we believing ourselves to be but about six miles from the town) to leave the horses, many of them being tired, with what blankets and other baggage we then had, and take a circuit of the road, which was very rough and incommodious on account of stone and failen timber, in order to prevent our being heard bythe enemy at the fire-place. This interruption mluch retarded our march, but a still greater loss arose from the ignorance of our pilots, who neither knew the true situation of the town, nor the best paths that led thereto. By which means, after crossing a num 78 THE OLDEN TIME. ber of hills and valleys, our front reached the river Ohio, about one hundred perches below the main body of the town, a little before the setting of the moon; to which place, rather than by the pilots, we were guided by the beating of a drum and the whooping of the warriors at their dance. It then became us to make the best use of the remaining moonlight, but ere we were aware, an Indian whistled in a very singular manner, about thirty yards in our front, at the foot of a cornfield; upon which we immediately sat down, and after passing silence to the rear, I asked one Baker, a soldier who was our best assistant, whether that was not a signal to the warriors, of our approach. He answered no, and said it was the manner of a young fellow's calling a squaw after he had done his dance, who accordingly, kindled a fire, cleaned his gun, and shot it off, before he went to sleep. All this time we were obliged to lay quiet and hush, till the moon was fairly set; immediately after, a number of fires appeared in different places in the cornfield, by which Baker said the Indians lay, the night being warm, and that these fires would immediately be out as they were only designed to disperse the gnats. By this time it was break of day, and the men having marched thirty miles, were almost asleep. The line being long, the three companies in the rear were not yet brought over the last precipice. For these some proper persons were immediately dispached, and the weary soldiers, being roused to their feet, a proper number, under sundry officers, were ordered to take the end of the hill, at which we then lay, and march along the top of said hill at least one hundred perches, and as much further, it then being daylight, as would carry them opposite the upper part, or at least the body of the town. For the lower part thereof, and the cornfield, (presuming the warriors were there), I kept rather the larger number of the men, promising to postpone the attack on that part for eighteen or twenty minutes, until the detachment along the hill should have time to advance to the place assigned them, in doing of which they were a little unfortunate. The time being elapsed, the attack was begun in the cornfield, and the men, with all expedition possible, dispatched to the several parts thereof, a party being also dispatched to the houses, which were then discovered by the lightof the day. Capt. Jacobs immediately gave the war-whoop, and with sundry other Indians, as the English prisoners afterwards told us, cried that'the white men were come at last, and they would have scalps enough;' but at the same time ordered their squaws and children to flee to the woods. Our men with great eagerness passed through and fired into the cornfield, where they had several returns from the enemy, as they also had fiom the opposite side of the river. Presently after, a brisk fire began among the houses, which, from the house of Captain Jacobs, was returned with a great deal of resolution. To that place I immediately repaired, and found that, from the advantage of the house and the port-holes, sundry of our people were wounded and some killed and finding that returning the fire NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 79 upon the house was ineffectual, ordered the contiguous houses to be set on fire, which was done by sundry of the officers and soldiers with a great deal of activity, the Indians always firing when an object presented itself, and seldom missed of wounding or killing some of our people. From this house, in moving about to give the necessary orders and directions, I was wounded by a large musket ball, in my shoulder. Sundry persons, during the action, were ordered to tell the Indians to surrender themselves prisoners, but one of the Indians in particular answered and said he was a man and would not be taken prisoner, upon which he was told he would be burnt: to this he answered he did not care, for he would kill four or five before he died; and had we not desisted from exposing ourselves, they would have killed a great many more, they having a number of loaded guns by them. As the fire began to approach, and the smoke grew thick, one of the Indians began to sing. A squaw, in the same house, at the same time, was heard to cry and make a noise, but for so doing was severely rebuked by the men; but by and by the fire being too hot for them, two Indians and a squaw sprang out and made for the cornfield, and were immediately shot down by our people. Then surrounding the houses, it was thought Captain Jacobs tumbled himself out of a garret or cock-loft, at which time he was shot, our prisoners offering to be qualified to the powder-horn and pouch there taken off him, which they say he had lately got from a French officer in exchange for Lieutenant Armstrong's boots, which he carried from Fort Granville, where the Lieutenant was killed. The same prisoners say they are perfectly assured of the scalp, as no other Indians there wore their hair in the same manner. They also say they knew his squaw's scalp, and the scalp of a young Indian named the King's Son. Before this time, Captain Hugh Mercer, who, early in the action, was wounded in the arm, had been taken to the top of a hill above the town (to whom a number of' men and some officers were gathered), from whence they had discovered some Indians cross the river and take to the hill, with an intent, as they thought, to surround us, and cut off our retreat, from whom I had sundry pressing messages to leave the houses and retreat to the hill, or we should all be cut off; but to this I could by no means consent, until all the houses were set on fire; though our spreading on the hill appeared very necessary, yet it did not prevent our researches of the cornfield and river side, by which means sundry scalps were left behind, and doubtless some squaws, children and English prisoners, that otherwise might have been got. During the burning of the houses, which were near thirty in number, we were agreeably entertained with a succession of reports of charged guns gradually firing off, as the fire reached them, but much more so with the vast explosion of sundry bags, and large kegs of gunpowder, wherewith almost every house abounded. The prisoners afterwards told us, that the Indians had often boasted that they had powder enough for a two years' war with the English. 80 THE OLDEN TIME. With the roof of Captain Jacobs' house, when the powder blew up, was thrown the leg and thigh of an Indian, with a child three or four years old, to such a height, that they appeared as nothing, and fell in the adjacent cornfield. There was also a great quantity of goods burnt, which the Indians had received as a present but ten days before from the French. By this time I had proceeded to the hill to have my wound tied up and the blood stopped, where the prisoners, who had come to us in the morning, informed me that that very day two batteaux of Frenchmen, with a large party of Delaware and French Indians, were to join Captain Jacobs at Kittanning, and to set out early the next morning to take Fort Shirley, or, as they called it, George Croghan's Fort, and that twenty-four warriors, who had lately come to the town, were sent out the evening before, for what purpose they did not know, whether to prepare meat, to spy the fort, or to make an attack on some of our back inhabitants. Soon after, upon a little reflection, we were convinced these warriors were all at the fire we had discovered the night before, and began to doubt the fate of Lieutenant Hogg and his party. From this intelligence of the prisoners (our provisions being scaffolded some thirty miles back, except what were in the men's haversacks, which were left with the horses and blankets, with Lieutenant Hogg and his party, and a number of wounded people, then on hand), and by the advice of the officers, it was thought imprudent then to wait for the cutting down of the cornfield (which was before designed), but immediately to collect our wounded, and force our march back in the best manner we could, which we did by collecting a few Indian horses to carry off our wounded. From the apprehensions of being waylaid and surrounded (especially by some of tle woodsmen), it was difficult to keep the men together, our march for sundry miles not exceeding two miles an hour, which apprehensions were heightened by the attempts of a few Indians, who, for some time after the march, fired upon each wing and ran off immediately, from whom we received no other damage than one of our men being wounded through both legs. Captain Mercer being wounded, he was induced, we have reason to believe, to leave the main body with his ensign, John Scott, and ten or twelve men (they being overheard to tell him we were in great danger, and that they could take him into the road by a nigh way), and is probably lost, there being yet no account of him.'A detachment of most of our men was sent back to bring him in, but could not find him, and upon the return of the detachment it wasgenerally reported that he was seen with the above number of men to take a different road. Upon our return to the place where the Indian fire had been seen the night before, we met a sergeant of Captain Mercer's company and two or three'others of his men, who had deserted us that morning, immediately after the action at Kittanning. These men, on running away, had met with Lieutenant Hogg, who lay wounded in two different parts of the body, near the road side. He then told them of the NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 81 fatal mistake of the pilot, who had assured us there were but three Indians at the most, at the fire-place, but when he came to attack them that morning, according to orders, he found a number considerably superior to his, and believes they killed and mortally wounded three of them the first fire, after which a warm engagement began, and continued for above an hour, when three of his best men were killed, and himself twice wounded. The residue fleeing off, he was obliged to squat in a thicket, where he might have laid securely until the main body came up, if this cowardly sergeant, and others that fled with him, had not taken him away. They had marched but a short distance, when four Indians appeared, upon which these deserters began to flee; the Lieutenant, notwithstanding his wounds, as a brave soldier, urging and commanding them to stand and fight, which they all refused. The Indians pursued, killing one man and wounding the lieutenant a third time, in the belly, of which he died in a few hours;, but having been placed on horseback some time before, he rode some miles from the place of action. But this attack of the Indians upon Lieutenant Hogg was represented by the cowardly sergeant in an entirely different light; he tells us there were a far larger number of Indians there than appeared to them, and that he and the men with him had fought five rounds; that he had there seen the Lieutenant and sundry others killed and scalped, and had also discovered a number of Indians throwing themselves before us. and insinuated a great deal of such stuff as threw us into much confusion, so that the officers had a great deal to do to keep the men together, but could not prevail with them to collect the horses and what other baggage the Indians had left after their conquest of Lieutenant Hogg and the party under his command, in the morning, except a few of the horses, which a few of the bravest men were prevailed upon to collect; so that from the mistake of the pilot who spied the Indians at the fire, and the cowardice of the said sergeant and other deserters, we have sustained a considerble loss of horses and baggage. It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of the enemy killed in the action, as some were destroyed by fire, and others in different parts of the cornfield; but, upon a moderate computation, it is generally believed there can not be less than thirty or forty killed and mortally wounded, as much blood was found in the cornfield, and Indians seen to crawl into the weeds on their hands and feet, whom the soldiers in pursuit of others then overlooked, expecting to find and scalp them afterward, and also several killed and wounded in crossing the river. On beginning our march back we had about a dozen of scalps and eleven English prisoners, but now find that four or five of the scalps are missing, part of which were lost on the road, and part in possession of those men who, with Captain Mercer, separated from the main body, with whom, also, went four of the prisoners, the other seven being now at this place, where we arrived on Sunday night, not being even separated or attacked by the enemy during VOL. 1-6 82 THE OLDEN TIME. our whole march. Upon the whole, had our pilots understood the true situation of the town, and the paths leading to it, so as to have posted us at a convenient place, where the disposition of the men and the duty assigned to them, could have been performed with greater advantage, we had, by Divine assistance, destroyed a much greater number of the enemy, recovered a greater number of prisoners, and sustained less damage than we at present have; but though the advantage gained over our common enemy is far from being satisfactory to us, yet must we not despise the smallest degrees of success that God was pleased to give, especially at a time of such general calamity, when the attempts of our enemies have been so prevalent and successful. I am sure there was the greatest inclination to do more, had it been in our power, as the officers, and most of the men, throughout the whole action, exerted themselves with as much activity and resolution as could possibly be expected. " Our prisoners inform us that the Indians have for some time talked of fortifying Kittanning and other towns; that the number of French at Fort Duquesne was about four hundred: that the principal part of their provisions came up the river from the Mississippi; and that in three other forts which the French have on the Ohio, there are not more men altogether than there is at Fort Duquesne." The residue of this letter is of no interest at this day. LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED. FORT LITTLETON, September 14, 1756. Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong, wounded-two men of his company killed, and one wounded. Captain Hamilton's Company-one man killed. Captain Mercer's Company-himself and one man wounded; seven killed; himself, ensign, and seven men missing. Captain Armstrong's Company-Lieutenant James Hogg and five men killed; five wounded and six missing. Captain Ward's Company-one killed, one wounded, and three missing. Captain Potter's Company-Ensign James Potter and one man wounded. Captain Steele's Company-one man missing. [TO BE CONTINUED.] REMARKABLE DOCUMENT. 83 REMARKABLE DOCUMENT. We now present to the readers of the Olden Time, a very remarkable document, which, we believe, was never before published, viz: the summons sent by Monsieur Contrecceur to Ensign Ward. This article should have appeared in the last number, but we had not, when that was issued, any suspicion that such a paper could be found in this country. This summons, it will be seen, is dated 16th of April, 1754; all previous accounts fix the surrender on the 17th; yet there is no intimation that a night passed between the summons and the surrender. "A SUMMONS,' BY ORDER OF MONSIEUR CONTREC(EUR, CAPTAIN OF ONE OF THE COMPANIES OF THE DETACHMENT OF THE FRENCH MARINE, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY'S TROOPS, NOW ON THE BEAUTIFUL RIVER, TO THE COMMANDER OF THOSE OF THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, AT THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER MONONGAHELA.' SIR-Nothing can surprise me more than to see you attemnpt a settlement upon the lands of the King, my master, which obliges me now, Sir, to send you this gentleman, Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of the Artillery of Canada, to know of you, Sir, by virtue of what authority you are come to fortify yourself within the dominions of the King, my master. This action seems so contrary to the last Treaty of Peace, at Aix La Chapelle, between his Most Christian Majesty and the King of Great Britain, that I do not know to whom to impute such an usurpation, as it is incontestable that the lands situated along the Beautiful River belong to his Most Christian Majesty. "I am informed, Sir, that your undertaking has been concerted by none else than by a Company, who have more in view the advantage of a trade, than to endeavor to keep the union and harmony which subsists between the two crowns of France and Great Britain, although it is as much the interest, Sir, of your nation as ours, to preserve it. " Let it be as it will, Sir, if you come out into this place, charged with orders, I summon you in the name of the King, my master, by virtue of orders which I got from my General, to retreat peaceably with your troops from off the lands of the King, and not to return, or else I will find myself obliged to fulfil my duty, and compel you to it. I hope, Sir, you will not 84 THE OLDEN TIME. defer an instant, and that you will not force me to the last extremity. In that case, Sir, you may be persuaded that I will give orders that there shall be no damage done by my detachment. " I prevent you, Sir, from asking me one hour of delay, nor to wait for my consent to receive orders from your Governor. He can give none within the dominions of the King, my master. Those I have received of my General are my laws, so that I cannot depart from them. " On the contrary, Sir, if you have not got orders, and only come to trade, I am sorry to tell you, that I can't avoid seizing you, and to confiscate your effects to the use of the Indians, our children, allies, and friends, as you are not allowed to carry on a contraband trade. It is for this reason, Sir, that we stopped two Englishmen, last year, who were trading upon our lands; moreover, the King, my master, asks nothing but his right; he has not the least intention to trouble the good harmony and friendship which reigns between his Majesty and the King of Great Britain. " The Governor of Canada can give proof of his having done his utmost endeavours to maintain the perfect union which reigns between two friendly Princes. As he had learned that the Iroquois and the Nipissinguos of the Lake of the Two Mountains, had struck and destroyed an English family, towards Carolina, he has barred up the road, and forced them to give him a little boy belonging to that family, and which Mr. Ulerich, a merchant of Montreal, has carried to Boston; and what is more, he has forbid the savages from exercising their accustomed cruelty upon the English, our friends. "I could complain bitterly, Sir, of the means taken all last winter to instigate the Indians to accept the hatchet and to strike us, while we were striving to maintain the peace. I am well persuaded, Sir, of the polite manner in which you will receive M. Le Mercier, as well out of regard to his business as his distinction and personal merit. I expect you will send him back with one of your officers, who will bring me a precise answer. As you have got some Indians with you, Sir, I join with M. Le Mercier, an interpreter, that he may inform them of my intentions upon that subject. "I am, with great regard, Sir, " Your most humble and most obedient servant, " CONTRECCEUR. "Done at our Camp, April 16, 1754." FIRST HOUSE IN OHIO. 85 EARLY HISTORY. FIRST HOUSE IN OHIO BUILT IN STARK COUNTY. Those of your readers who are tolerably conversant with the history of our State, its early settlement, and the labors of the Moravian Missionaries among the Indians, will doubtless be much interested in the following scrap of history touching this zealous denomination of Christians. You are aware that in 1840, Lewis Vail, Esquire, of this town, published a map of Stark county. In this he noted on section twenty-five, in Bethlehem township, as follows: "Moravian Missionary Sttaion, 1761." This he locates near the junction of the Sandy and Tuscarawas, where they form the Muskingum, about two-thirds of a mile from Bolivar, in a northeast direction. Some time after its publication, Jacob Blickensderfer, Esquire, of Canal Dover, and a highly intelligent Moravian preacher, (Mr. Wolle), being in Canton, called on Mr. Vail and demanded his authority for locating a Missionary Station at that point. He gave Joseph H. Larwill, the original surveyor, who he said obtained it from Mr. Heckewelder. This authority was not received by those gentlemen as satisfactory evidence of the fact. A correspondence was subsequently had between Messrs. Vail and Blickensderfer without coming to any satisfactory conclusion, until recently-when Mr. Vail found in the Hesperian, published in Cincinnati, an article, which had been originally extracted from a work published in Switzerland, which furnished the name of Frederick Post, as an early laborer in the Moravian missions of this region. The correspondence was therefore resumed, and by the politeness of Mr. Vail, I am permitted to furnish you with so much of the reply of Mr. Blickensderfer as will satisfy yod of the result of their investigations upon the subject. Correspondent of the (Canton) Ohio Repository. " NEAR DOVER, January 10, 1846. "DEAR SIR-Your favor of the 29th ult., enclosing a letter from Mrs. Legerwood to Mrs. Blickensderfer, was received a few days ago, and its contents carefully perused. From the guide it furnished as to dates, and particularly from Missionary Post's name, I have been enabled, I hope, 86 THE OLDEN TIME. effectually to investigate the subject, and shall now furnish you the result, from which you will see that, as a certain German mayor once decided, we were both right. "When I had the pleasure of seeing you some years ago, and asked you for your authority for locating a' Moravian Mission Station' on your map of Stark county, I felt well assured that the first Moravian Mission in Ohio was located by the Rev. David Ziesberger, in 1772, in Shcenbrun, below this place, in this (Tuscarawas) county, The Rev. Mr. Wolle, the Moravian Minister in Gnaddenhutten, who was with me in Canton, and who noticed the station first on your map, and drew my attention to it, coin cided with me in opinion, and who is as anxious as myself, to ascertain the authority which led you to make that location on your map. Since receiving your letter of the 29th ult., I have examined with much care'Loskiel's History of the Missions of the United Brethren among the Indians of North America,''Memoirs of the Rev. David Ziesberger,'' Memoirs of John Heckewelder, and Heckewelder's -Narrative.' In Loskiel's history of the missions, etc., in the German work, page 458, I find the following: (I translate hastily from the German)-' On the Ohio river, where, since the last war some Indians lived, who had been baptized by the brethren, nothing could be done up to this time. However, Brother Frederick Post lived, though of his own choice, about 100 English miles west of Pittsburgh, at Tuscaroratown, with a view to commence a mission among those Indians. The Brethren wished him the blessings of the Almighty on his undertaking; and when he asked for an assistant, to help him in his outward concerns, and who might, during the same time learn the language of the Delaware Indians, they (the Brethren) made it known to the cogregation of Bethlehem, whereupon the brother, John Heckewelder, concluded of his own choice to assist him; went to that place and actually learned the language. Post's missionary intentions were, however, defeated.' This closes the paragraph in which is compressed the history of the years 1759,'60,'61 and'62. We know of Post that he was an active and zealous missionary, but had married an Indian squaw, contrary to the wishes and advice of the directors, Who had the oversight of the Moravian Missions, and by that act had forfeited so much of his standing, that he would not be acknowledged as one of the missionaries in any other manner than under the direction and guidance of another missionary. Whenever he went further, and acted on his own accord, he was not opposed; he had the good will of the society, of which he continued a member and its directory, and even their assistance, so far as to make known his wants to the congregation, and threw no obstacles in the way, if any person felt inclined of his own choice to assist him; but he was not then acknowledged as their missionary, nor entitled to any further or pecuniary assistance. This will explain the above passage in Loskiel. FIRST HOUSE IN OHIO. 87 " In Heckewelder's memoirs, written by himself, and printed in Germany, there is a short allusion to the same subject. He says, in substance,'that he had in his early youth frequent opportunities of seeing Indians, and that gradually he became desirous of becoming useful to them; that already in his nineteenth year his desire was in some measure gratified, as he was called upon by Government, to accompany Brother Frederick Post to the western Indians on the Ohio.' ~ " He then mentions some of the fatigues and dangers of the journey, and that he returned in the latter half of the year 1762. He was born March 12, 1743, consequently his nineteenth year commenced in March, 1761, when he was eighteen years old, and it would therefore seem that he left Bethlehem in 1761 and returned in 1762. In the above it is evidently wrong that Government had any hand in it, at least I think so. Loskiel is very full in his details, when Government and the Moravians, or their missions, came in contact, and as he says nothing on the subject, but, mentioned another way, I should feel strongly inclined to credit him. At least, if Government had any thing to do with it, Post and Heckewelder must have had their dealings with Government on their own account. " In Zeisberger's memoirs there is no allusion to the subject; and if any thing is said about it in his biographytin the Basle Mission Magazine (which I have never seen), it must have been brought in incidentally, without any direct reference to Zeisberger's acts, though Zeisberger and Post were frequently associates at an earlier date, and at one time, in 1745, imprisoned together in New York as spies. Zeisberger was (from November, 1755, when a Missionary station near the present Mauch Chunk, in Pennsylvania, was attacked and eleven persons killed by the Indians, until the peace of 1763) no further employed among the Indians, than attending on those which were kept by government on an Island in the river Delaware, and one or two journeys to Wyoming, now Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania. His first journey west was in 1767, when he reconnoitered, and the year following removed part of an Indian congregation from somewhere on the Susequehanna, to an Indian village, as he says, on the Ohio; but it was above Pittsburgh, because their next move, after a year or two, was down the Ohio, past Pittsburgh, to Big Beaver; from which place they moved, in 1772, to Schoenbrun, in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. "In Heckewelder's Narrative of the Missions of the United Brethren, among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, &c., there is a more detailed account of your station, page 59, &c. It says, in substance, that Frederick Post, who had the preceding year visited the Indians on the Muskingum, thought he would be able to introduce Christianity among them; that the writer of the narrative, by and with the consent of the Directors of the Society (not by being requested by government), went with him principal 83 THE OLDEN TIME. ly to teach the Indian children to read and write. They set out early in March, apparently, from the narrative, in 1762, and came to where Post had, the preceding year, built a house, on the bank of the river Muskingum, at the distance of about a mile from the Indian village, which lay at the south across the river. When they commenced clearing, the Indians ordered them to stop, and appear before the Council the next day, where Post appeared, and was charged with deceit, inasmuch as he had informed the Indians, that his intentions were to teach them the word of God, and now he took possession of their lands, &c. Post answered, that he wanted no more land than sufficient to live from it, as he intended to be no burthen to them, &c. Whereupon they concluded that Post should have fifty steps in every direction, which was stepped off by the Chief next day; that an Indian treaty being to be held at Lancaster, in the latter part of the summer, Post was requested by the Governor of Pennsylvania, to bring some of the western Delawares to it, which he did, leaving Heckewelder, who returned the same fall, in October, from fear of war, &c. Post probably never returned to it. " Here it would seem as if Heckewelder did not winter here, though it is not plain to me from the narrative, that it must have been in 1762 when they set out together. If their setting out' early in March,' as the narrative has it, was before the 12th of that month, Heckewelder was still in his 19th year, as he has it his memoirs, otherwise the two cannot be reconciled, unless we take the apparent date of 1762, given as the date of their setting out, to be wrong. At the same time, if they set out in March, 1761, and returned in' October, 1762, it would bring Post's commencement' the year before,' into 1760, which seems to clash with other accounts. "From this investigation, I feel satisfied that you have hit upon and rescued from oblivion the true spot where, probably, the first white Missionary in Ohio had established himself, and he a Moravian Missionary; but on the other hand, it was never a' Moravian Missionary Station,' because not authorized and directed by the Society or its Directors. This, however, you could not know, and it would probably be thought at any time unnecessary to make this nice distinction on a map. Now on becoming acquainted with all the facts, I feel highly gratified that you have given the spot some notoriety, and prevented its being entirely lost, at least for some time. Hence it would seem, that in 1761 the Rev. Frederick Post, a Moravian Missionary, settled on what is now known as section twenty-five, Bethlehem township, Stark county, on the north side of the river, where the Sandy and Tuscarawas form the Muskingum. Tuscaroratown was on the south side, just above Fort Lawrence, and contiguous to Bolivar, about one mile from the spot pointed out by Mr. Vail, on his map as the Missionary Station. The general course of the stream is southerly, but at this spot it runs nearly west, which explains what I mean when I deno DR. FRANKLIN ON BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 89 minate the two sides as North and South. Just at that place was the Indian fording, and is in the course of the Great Indian Path or thoroughfare running from Pittsburgh to Detroit, and traversed by the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, and also at the commencement of the Greenville treaty line running from thence to Fort Loramies. " The house built by Post must have been the first house erected in Ohio, for the Indian and Moravian Village of Schbenbrun was not commenced until 1772, eleven years afterwards. "Efforts have been made (and they are very laudable) to raise funds for the purpose of raising a monument at Gnaddenhutten, to commemorate the horrid massacre of about one hundred Christian Indians by a party of Americans, in March, 1782. Would it not be also very appropriate to erect a monument on the spot where Post's house stood, commemorating that event, and indicating its precise location? T. G." DR. FRANKLIN'S NOTICE OF BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT AND OF THAT OFFICER'S CHARACTER. Dr. Franklin was a good deal in his camp, had much personal intercourse with him, and thus speaks of him in his Memoirs: "This General was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him on his march with one hundred of those people who might have been of great use to his army as guides, scouts, &c., if he had treated them kindly; but he slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left him. In conversation with him, one day, he was giving me some account of his intended progress.' After taking Fort Duquesne,' said he,' I am to proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, and I suppose it will; for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.' Having before resolved in my mind the long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and bushes, and also what I had read of a former defeat of one thousand five hundred French, who invaded the Illinois country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears for the event of the campaign. But I ventured only to say,'To be sure, Sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne with these fine troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, though completely fortified, and assisted with a very strong garrison, 90 THE OLDEN TIME. can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march, is from the ambuscades of the Indians who, by constant practice, are dextrous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be attacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which, from their distance, can not come up in time to support each other.' He smiled at my ignorance, and replied,' These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, Sir, it is impossible they should make any impression.' I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a military man, in matters of his profession, and said no more. The enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his army which I apprehended its long line of march exposed it to, but let it advance, without interruption, till within nine miles of the place; and then, when more in a body (for it had just passed a river where the front had halted till all were come over), and in a more open part of the woods than any it had passed, attacked its advanced guard, by a heavy fire from behind trees and bushes; which was the first intelligence the General had of any enemy's being near him. This guard being disordered, the General hurried the troops up to their assistance, which was done in great confusion, through wagons, baggage, and cattle; and presently the fire came upon their flank; the officers being on horseback were more easily distinguished, picked out as marks, and fell very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together in a huddle, having or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at, till two-thirds of them were killed; and then, being seized with a panic, the remainder fled with precipitation. The wagoners took each a horse out of his team and scampered; their example was immediately followed by others; so that all the wagons, provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The General being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side, and out of eighty-six officers sixty-three were killed or wounded; and seven hundred and fourteen men killed of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of the stores, provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pursued, arrived at Dunbar's camp, and the panic they brought with them instantly seized him and all his people. And though he had now above one thousand men, and the enemy who had beaten Braddock did not exceed four hundred Indians and French together, instead of proceeding and endeavoring to recover some of the lost honor, he ordered all the stores, ammunition, &c., to be destroyed, that he might have more horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and less lumber to remove. He was there met with requests from the Governors of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the frontiers, so as to afford DR. FRANKLIN ON BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 91 some protection to the inhabitants; but he continued his hasty march through all the country, not thinking himself safe, till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of theprowess of British regular troops had not been well founded. "In the first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally ruining some poor families, besides insulting, abusing and confining the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march through the most inhabited part of our country, from Rhode Island to Virginia, near 700 miles, occasioned not the smallest complaint, for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple! "Captain Orme, who was one of the General's Aides de Camp, and being grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continued with him to his death, which happened in a few days, told me that he was totally silent all the first day, and at night only said' Who would have thought it?' That he was silent again the following day, saying only at last,' We shall better know how to deal with them another time,' and died in a few minutes after." The Doctor mentions one anecdote of a favorable cast: "As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which was, that he would give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our bought servants, and that he would discharge such as had been already enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were accordingly returned to their masters, on my application." In another circumstance, we are bound to recognize a just and elevated though reserved temper, on the part of the unfortunate General. By mere accident, Franklin learned, long afterwards, that Braddock, in his despatches to Government, had borne earnest testimony to the Doctor's zeal and efficiency. " The Secretary's papers, with all the General's orders, instructions, and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed, to prbve the hostile intentions of the British Court before the declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters of the General to the ministry, speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the army, and recommending me to their notice." 92 THE OLDEN TIME. CORNPLANTER. TO THE EDITOR OF THE OLDEN TIME: If any proof were wanting of the value of a publication like yours, it would be found in an extract in your first number, on the death of Cornplanter. Long a resident of our State-a prominent actor in our Revolutionary and succeeding wars-a distinguished orator-a warm friend of civilization and the whites-he dies, and the extract referred to composes nearly all that is generally known of his history. Permit me, then, to col lect some scattered materials towards a monument to this brave and good savage, in hopes that all who can will add a stone to the heap. Cornplanter was a Chief of the Senecas, the most important tribe of the Five Nations, and the fourth, according to Conrad Weiser, to join the confederacy. He was a half-breed, the son of an Irish trader, named O'Bail, and he himself was often called John O'Bail, and so called himself in his singular introduction to his father, described by Mary Jamison. Her story is this: " In one of his excursions he seized his father, and marched him off several miles. Then, suddenly stopping before him, he announced himself as his son, promising him (if he chose.to follow his fortunes), an old age of ease and plenty. If, on the other hand, he preferred returning home, he promised to send some of his young men to protect him. The father chose to return, and he was safely escorted back." Cornplanter's version, as told in his memorial to the Legislature, is very different. "When I was a child I played with the butterfly. When I grew up, and played with the Indian boys, they took notice of my skin being a different color from theirs, and spoke about it. I enquired of my mother the cause, and she told me my father was a resident of Albany. I still ate my victuals out of a bark dish. I grew up to be a young man, and married a wife; but I had no kettle or gun. I then knew where my father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a white man, and spoke the English language. He gave me victuals while I was at his house; but when I started to return home, he gave me no provisions to eat on the way. He gave me neither kettle nor gun; neither did he tell me that the United States were about to rebel against the government of England." He was, at all events, born on the Genessee river; and at the breaking out of the Revolution, had attained the dignity of a Chief. At the Indian Council, at the Miami, in 1734, he was earnestly engaged with Brant, in endeavoring to prevent hostilities with the United States. He, from CORNPLANTER. 93 friendship to the Americans-Brant, who clung to the British under all circumstances from policy. In this, it is well known, they failed; and some of the Senecas were undoubtedly in the battle with Wayne that followed. Brant would have been present, but was prevented by illness. The Senecas produced more orators than any other tribe of Indians. Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother, and Cornplanter were all Senecas, and were all distinguished for eloquence. It is true, that Red Jacket enjoyed a reputation for eloquence which Cornplanter never attained. If one may judge, however, from the specimens of their eloquence that have come down to us, I should say, that Red Jacket's superiority must have been more in manner than in matter. The address delivered to Gen. Washington, in Philadelphia, 1790, though in the names of Great-tree, Cornplanter and Half-town, was undoubtedly dictated by Cornplanter, and will bear comparison with any Indian speech on record. Totally unlike ordinary Indian speeches, which are loose and declamatory, this is closely logical. Take a single extract: "FATHER-When you kindled your thirteen fires separately, the wise men assembled at them told us that you were all brothers; the children of one Great Father, who regarded the red people as his children. They called us brothers, and invited us to his protection. They told us that he resided beyond the great waters where the sun first rises; and that he was a King whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was as bright as the sun. What they said went to our hearts. We accepted the invitation, and promised to obey him. What the Seneca nation promises, they faithfully perform. When you refused obedience to that King, he commanded us to assist his beloved men in making you sober. In obeying him we did no more than yourselves had bid us to promise. We were deceived; but your people, teaching us to confide in that King, had helped to deceive us, and we now appeal to your breast. Is all the blame ours? "You told us you could crush us to nothing; and you demanded from us a great country, as the price of that peace, which you had offered us, as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights." Be the question of eloquence as it may, in every other respect he was vastly Red Jacket's superior. Brant, though we must make some allowance for his intense hatred of Red Jacket, who at one time had him deposed, openly charged him with being "destitute of principle and courage." It is certain he was a drunkard, and bitterly opposed the introduction of civilization and Christianity into his tribe. Cornplanter was a great friend of Christianity and temperance. On the invitation of Washington he sent his son, Henry O'Bail, to be educated among the whites, a wonderful stride in advance of his people-and his wisdom in Council and courage in battle were never doubted. Red Jacket was a great demagogue, and if he was a brave man, he, for a savage, mixed a singular amount of discretion with his valor. When General Sullivan invaded their territory, in 94 THE OLDEN TIME. 1779, his pacific councils gave Brant an immense deal of trouble, and it is well known that Brant was compelled to have a messenger, that Red Jacket and his party had dispatched to Sullivan with overtures of peace, waylaid and shot. Their conduct on the occasion of the celebrated ballplay between the Senecas and Mohawks form a striking contrast, and was very characteristic of each. The history of the transaction is this: The Mohawks challenged the Senecas to a game of ball. During the play a Mohawk, in a struggle for the ball, struck a Seneca. Instantly every Seneca dropped his bat, and gathering up their stakes returned to their camp without uttering a word, though their looks expressed the deepest indignation. From their camp they soon departed for the village on the head waters of the Genessee. With the usual Indian deliberation, they allowed days after their return to elapse before they took any notice of the insult. Then they sent messengers to the Mohawks demanding reparation for the injury, and threatening war in case of refusal. The Mohawks, sensible they were wrong, proposed a conference. This Red Jacket most strenuously resisted, making a most inflammatory speech, and insisting on an immediate declaration of war. Cornplanter and some of the older Chiefs advised a conference, which they carried, in spite of Red Jacket's eloquent phillipics, and the difficulty was adjusted. Three years afterwards, in the summer of 1797, the Senecas challenged the Mohawks to another match, which was played out at the Mohawk village on Grand river. The players, counting both sides, numbered twelve hundred, and the stakes, amounting to $3,000, were placed on the ground in a heap, consisting of guns, blankets, watches, broaches, beads, in short every article of Indian utility or finery. The contest lasted three days, and the result was, the Senecas swept the stakes to the great mortification of the Mohawks. At what time he moved to the Seneca Reservation, on the Allegheny, I have no means of ascertaining; but it must have been soon after, if not during, the Revolutionary war. It was thought by those engaged in Broadhead's expedition, in 1779, from the number of houses building, and the extent of land preparing for cultivation, that the whole nation intended settling there. This expedition alone destroyed five hundred acres of corn. Cornplanter early turned his attention to agriculture, and built, probably, one of the first saw mills on the Allegheny river. General Washington, in his answer to Cornplanter's speech, before referred to, offered to introduce the domestic animals amongst them, and improve their agriculture; and at one time it was proposed to place Colonel Pickering at the head of affairs for the Six Nations; but the scheme from some cause or other fell through, which is greatly to be regretted. He earnestly labored for the civilization of his tribe. Not by intermarriage to gradually merge them in the whites; but by introducing the mechanic CORNPLANTER. 95 arts and Christianity amongst them. In religion, his own opinions in the latter part of his life, seem to have inclined to Quakerism, or at least passive obedience, for the Rev. Mr. Alden states that he solemnly burned a sword and military hat presented him by General Washington. He opposed on all occasions, the introduction of ardent spirits amongst his people. His temperance speech, delivered in 1822, is very characteristic, and well worthy of perusal. I can only give a short abstract of it. He declared that the Great Spirit had ordered him to quit drinking; had ordered the different colors to be kept separate. White people had broken that law, but Indians had done better by not doing so. He then goes on to recite what the Great Spirit had made, and ends by emphatically declaring that stills to make whiskey, to give to Indians, he had not made. At his death he must have been one hundred years old. I distinctly recollect him, in the winter of 1817, when he visited Pittsburgh for medical advice, as he suffered exceedingly from rheumatism of the head, which he imputed to witchcraft. With his family, he occupied the cellar of Mr. Anderson's house, on the corner of Penn street and Irwin's alley. He was then an old man, very much broken in health, but still showing evident traces of his white blood. Judging from his appearance, he must then have been eighty years old; he was a Chief, too, before the Revolution; and he died in 1836. Putting these facts together, we may fairly infer that he was one hundred years old. He died, the last of the Senecas. A warrior, an orator, a statesman, and a Christian, he clearly was, and he only does not stand more clearly out on the page of history, from the narrow field on which he acted. He was what mankind have in all ages honored men for being. During his whole life he contended for objects that he considered sacred, and if he erred, it was more from his education than his heart. His fidelity to his tribe, and his truth to us have never been doubted, and he came out of the many trials to which he was exposed, without a stain upon his name. For all these things I honor him, and deeply regret I cannot do justice to his memory. FORT PITT. 96 THE OLDEN TIME. SHANNOPINSTOWN. The question has often occurred to me, what is the meaning of this word " Shannopin?" I have never been satisfied, until looking over the papers in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office, I found a letter signed by the marks of several Delaware Chiefs, dated " at Alleegaeening on the main river." Among these names and marks is that of " Shawannopin," with a mark resembling a turtle. Now I think it is very probable that "Shannopin" is a contraction of "Shawannopin," and pronounced Shawnnopin. EDITOR'S NOTICE.; To OUR READERS in the various counties of Western Pennsylvania, North-western and Western Virginia, and Eastern and North-eastern Ohio, we wish to say that our undertaking is not a contracted one. That we intend to embrace in our memorial, the histories of all the counties in the region above stated; and that plain and brief accounts of the first settlement and improvements of each of those counties will be inserted, provided they are furnished to us by citizens of the respective counties, or by other reliable person. PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. The favor with which the first number of " The Olden Time " has been received, has been exceedingly gratifying to the publisher. Copies of the first number can still be supplied, but the number printed will probably be exhausted before the work is three months old, if new subscribers continue to come in as fast as they have done. Persons wishing to secure complete sets of the work, will therefore do well to send in their names at once. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. MARCH, 1846. No. 3. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY, AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] Our last number brought our notice down to the expedition of Colonel Armstrong to Kittanning. The French still remaiining in possession of Fort Duquesne, and having the control of the Delawares, Shawanese and other western Indians, were thereby enabled to extend their incursions almost to the Susquehanna, and thus interrupt all communication with the Ohio. The consequence was, that the English only had occasional information as to what was passing at this place. On the 8th of June, 1767, Lieutenant Baker returned to Fort Cumberland from an expedition, with five soldiers and fifteen Cherokee Indians, toward Fort Duquesne. They had fallen in with a party of three French officers and seven men on the head waters of Turtle Creek, about twenty miles from Fort Duquesne. They killed five of the Frenchmen and took one officer prisoner. From this officer they learned that Captain Lignery then commanded at Fort Duquesne, and that the force then there was six hundred French troops, and two hundred Indians. This Captain Lignery was, probably, the same who accompanied Beaujen to Braddock's Field, and was second in command after the death of that enterprising soldier. From this time we have notice of Fort Duquesne until late in the succeeding year, 1758. The war between Great Britain and France had, up to the end of 1757, been a disgraceful and unfortunate one on the part of the former power. While France, from April, 1754, down to November, 1758, maintained her dominion at the head of the Ohio, the proud banner of England was VOL. I-7 98 THE OLDEN TIME. humbled in the dust on the banks of the Ganges, where British power was almost annihilated, and British subjects cruelly sacrificed in the Black Hole. Minorca in the Mediterranean, was taken by the French, and Admiral Byng executed by his countrymen, and in the north of Europe thirtysix thousand Hanoverian troops were surrendered to the French at the Convention of Closter Seven. Some of the most enlightened men of Great Britain were alarmed at the prospect before them. In June. 1757, the Earl of Chesterfield wrote a letter to Mr. Dayrolles, from which we make the following extract, showing the despondency which then pervaded some breasts: "Whoever is in, or whoever is out, I am sure we are undone, both at home and abroad; at home by our increasing debt and expenses; abroad by our ill-luck and incapacity. The King of Prussia,* the only ally we had in the world, is now, I fear, hors du combat. Hanover, I look upon to be in the same situation as Saxony; the fatal consequence of which is, but too obvious. The French are masters in America, to do what they please. We are no longer a nation. 1 never yet saw so dreadful a prospect." Such was the language of one of the nobility of England in allusion to the condition of public affairs, when that extraordinary man, from whom our city received its name, was called upon to direct the affairs of government. Under his wise and energetic administration, new spirit was infused into the councils of the nation, and increased vigor into the operations of her armies. Three years of disaster, disgrace and despondency, were succeeded by two or three years of triumph and success, by sea and land, scarcely ever surpassed in English history. During the administration of WILLIAM PITT, the military genius of a Clive was called forth in the East Indies, and under his guidance, British power in India was re-established and widely extended. While in America, Amherst and Wolfe and Forbes, swept the enemy from the continent of North America, and even the almost impregnable Havanna was forced to yield to British skill and gallantry. Among the earliest of those brillant successes was the capture of Fort Duquesne by General John Forbes. FREDERICK POST'S JOURNAL. We must now introduce to our readers the journals of a man who visited this country about the time of Forbes' march here. The author of this journal is the same person who, a few years later, built the first house in Ohio. This document is valuable, as containing a very plain, lucid, and *He had just been defeated at Kolin. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 99 manifestly a most veritable account of the condition and feeling of the Indians near this point, while the French were in possession. From it, we also learn much of the geography of the country, the position of the Indians, and their names for different places. We, therefore, feel it necessary to re-publish both journals, although by so doing, we exclude from the numbers of the Olden Time, the variety which we desire to serve up to our readers. THE FIRST JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST. FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE OHIO, ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO THE DELAWARE, SHAWANESE, AND MINGO INDIANS SETTLED THERE, AND FORMERLY IN ALLIANCE WITH THE ENGLISH, IN ORDER TO PREVAIL ON THEM TO WITHDRAW FROM THE FRENCH INTEREST, IN THE YEAR 1758. "July 15th, 1758.-This day I received orders from his honor, the Governor, to set out on my intended journey, and proceeded as far as Germantown, where I found all the Indians drunk. Willamegicken returned to Philadelphia, for a horse that was promised him. " 16th-This day I waited for the said Willamegicken till near noon, and when he came, being very drunk, he could proceed no further, so that I left him and went to Bethlehemr* " 17th —I arrived at Bethlehem, and prepared for my journey. "18th —I read over both the last treaties, that at Easton, and that at Philadelphia, and made myself acquainted with the particulars of each. "19th-With much difficulty I persuaded the Indians to leave Bethlehem, and traveled this day no further than Hayes's, having a hard shower of rain. " 20th-Arrived at fort Allen.t "21st-I called my company together, to know if we should proceed. They complained they were sick, and must rest that day. This day, I think, Teedyuscung laid many'obstacles in my may, and was very much against my proceeding; he said he was afraid I should never return; and that the Indians would kill me. About dinner time two Indians arrived from Wyoming, with an account that Teedyuscung's son, Hans Jacob, was returned, and brought news from the French and Allegheny Indians. Teedyuscung then called ouncil, and proposed that I should only go to Wyoming, and return with the message his son had brought to Philadelphia. I made answer, that it was too late, that he should have proposed that in Philadelphia; for that the writings containing my orders were so drawn, as obliged me to go, though I should lose my life. * The Moravian Brethren's settlement. t Fort Allen was on the Lehigh, where Gnadenhutten now stands. 100 THE OLDEN TIME. "22nd-I desired my companions to prepare to set out, upon which Teedyuscung called them all together in the fort, and protested against my going. His reasons were, that he was afraid the Indians would kill me, or the French get me; and if that should be the case, he should be very sorry, and did not know what he should do. I gave for answer,' that I did not know what to think of their conduct. It is plain,' said I,' that the French have a public road* to your towns, yet you will not let your own flesh and blood, the English, come near them; which is very hard, and if that be the case, the French must be your masters.' I added, that if I died in the undertaking, it would be as much for the Indians as the English; and that I hoped my journey would be of this advantage: that it would be the means of saving the lives of many hundred of the Indians; therefore, I was resolved to go forward, taking my life in my hand, as one ready to part with it for their good. Immediately after I had spoken thus, three rose up and offered to go with me the nearest way, and we concluded to go through the inhabitants, under the Blue Mountains to Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna; where we arrived the 25th. " It gave me great pain to observe many plantations deserted and laid waste, and I could not but reflect on the distress the poor owners must be drove to, who once lived in plenty, and I prayed the Lord to restore peace and prosperity to the distressed. "At Fort Augusta we were entertained very kindly, had our horses shod, and one being lame, we exchanged for another. Here we received, by Indians from Diahogo,t the disagreeable news that our army was, as they said, entirely cut off at Ticonderoga, which discouraged one of my companions, Lappopetung's son, so much that he would proceed no further. Shamokin Daniel here asked me if I thought he should be satisfied for his trouble in going with me. I told him every body that did any service for the province, I thought, would be paid. "27th-They furnished us here with every necessity for our journey, and we set out with good courage. After we rode about ten miles, we.were caught in a hard gust of rain. "28th-We came to Wekeeponall, where the road turns off for Wyoming, and slept this night at Queenashawakee. "29th-We crossed the Susquehanna over the Big Island. My companions were now very fearful, and this night went a great way out of the road to sleep without fire, but could not sleep for the musquetoes and vermin. "' 30th, 3lst-We were glad it was day that we might set out. We got upon the mountains and had heavy rains all night. The heavens alone * An Indian expression, meaning free admission. t This was an Indian settlement towards the heads of the Susquehanna. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 101 were our covering, and we accepted of all that was poured down from thence. "August 1st-We saw three hoops* on a bush; to one of them there remained some long white hair. Our horses left us, I suppose not being fond of the dry food on the mountains; with a good deal of trouble we found them again. We slept this night on the same mountain. " 2d-We came across several places where two poles, pairned red, were stuck in the ground by the Indians, to which they tie their prisoners, when they stop at night in their return from their incursions. We arrived this night at Shinglimuhee, where was another of the same posts. It is a disagreeable and melancholy sight to see the means they make use of, according to their savage way, to distress others.' 3d-We came to a part of a river called Tobeco, over the mountains; a very bad road. "4th-We lost one of our horses, and with much difficulty found him, but were detained a whole day on that account. " I had much conversation with Pisqueturnen,t of which 1 think to inform myself further when I get to my journey's end. " 5th-We set out early this day, and made a good long stretch, crossing the big river Tobeco, and lodged between two mountains. I had the misfortune to lose my pocket-book, with three pound five shillings, and sundry other things. What writings it contained were illegible to anybody but myself. " 6th-We passed all the mountains and the big river Weshawaucks, and crossed a fine meadow two miles in length, where we slept that night, having nothing to eat. " 7th-We came in sight of Fort Venango, belonging to the French, situate between two mountains in a fork of the Ohio river. I prayed the Lord to blind them as he did the enemies of Lot and Elisha, that I might pass unknown. When we arrived, the fort being on the other side of the river, we hallooed, and desired them to fetch us over, which they were afraid to do, but showed us a place where we might ford. We slept that night within half gun-shot of the fort. " 8th-This morning I hunted for my horse round the fort within ten yards of it. The Lord heard my prayer, and I passed unknown, till we had mounted our horses to go off, when two Frenchmen came to take leave of the Indians, and were much surprised at seeing me, but said nothing. "By what I could learn of Pisquetumen and the Indians, who went into the fort, the garrison consisted of only six men and an officer, blind of one eye. They inquired much of the Indianis concerning the English, whether * Little hoops on which the Indians stretch and dress the raw scalps. t An Indian Chief that traveled with him. 102 THE OLDEN TIME. they knew of any party coming to attack them, of which they were very apprehensive. " 9th-Heavy rains all night and day; we slept on swampy ground. "10th-We imagined we were near Kushkushkee, and having traveled three miles we met three Frenchmen, who appeared very shy of us, but said nothing more than to enquire whether we knew of any English coming against Fort Venango. "After we traveled two miles further, we met with an Indian, and one that I took to be a renegade English Indian trader. He spoke good English, was very curious in examining everything, particularly the silver medal about Pisquetumen's neck. He appeared by his countenance to be guilty. We enquired of them where we were, and found we were lost, and within twenty miles of Fort Duquesne. We struck out of the road to the right, and slept between two mountains, and, being destitute of food, two went to hunt and the others to seek a road, but to no purpose. "11th-We went to the place where they had killed two deer, and Pisquetumen and I roasted the meat. Two went to hunt for the road, to know which way we should go; one came back, and had found the road; the other lost himself. "12th-The rest hunted for him, but in vain; so, as we could not find him, we concluded to set off, leaving such marks that, if he returned, he might know which way to follow us; and we left him some meat. We came to the river Conoquonashon,* where was an old Indian town. We were then fifteen miles from Kushkushkee.t "There we stopped, and sent forward Pisquetumen, with four strings of wampum, to apprize the town of our coming, with this message:' Brother,J thy brethren are come a great way, and want to see thee at thy fire, to smoke that good tobacco~ which our good grandfathers used to smoke. Turn thy eyes once more upon that road which I came.ll I bring thee words of great consequence from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania, and from the King of England. Now, I desire thee to call all the kings and captains from all the towns, that none may be missing. I do not desire that my words may be hid, or spoken under cover. 1 want to speak loud, that all the Indians may hear me. I hope thou wilt bring * This was, no doubt, the Conneqaenessing. tTbis town is laid down, in Hutchin's map, on the west side of Big Beaver, about one mile below the mou h of the Mahoning, and in a map of Kalm's travels in America, it is placed on the east side of Beaver, just opposite the mouth of the Maloning. When the people of a town, or of a nation, are addressed, the Indians always use the singular number. ~ To confer in a friendly manner. 1I Call to mind our ancient friendly intercourse. NOTICES OF THE' SETTLEMENT. 103 me on the road, and lead me into the town. I blind the French, that they may not see me; and stop their ears, that they may not hear the great news I bring you.' "About noon we met some Shawanese, that used to live at Wyoming. They knew me, and received me very kindly. *I saluted them, and assured them that the government of Pennsylvania wished them well, and wished to live in peace and friendship with them. Before we came to the town, two men came out to us and led us in. King Beaver showed us a large house to lodge in. The people soon came and shook hands with us. The number was about sixty young, able men. Soon after king Beaver came and told his men:'Boys, hearken, we sat here without ever expecting to see our brethren, the English, but now one of them is again before you, that you may see your brethren the English, with your own eyes; and I wish you to take it into consideration.' Afterwards, he turned to me and said: "'Brother, I am very glad to see you; I never thought we should have had the opportunity to see one another more; but now I am very glad, and thank God, who has brought you to us. It is a great satisfaction to me.' I said,'Brother, I rejoice in my heart; I thank God, who has brought me to you. I bring you joyful news from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania, and from your children, the Friends;* and, as I have words of great consequence, I will lay them before you when all the kings and captains are called together from the other towns. I wish there may not be a man of them missing, but that they may be all here to hear.' "In the evening King Beaver came again, and told me they had held a council, and sent out to all their towns, but it would take five days before they could all come together. I thanked him for his care. Ten captains came and saluted me. One said to the others:'We never expect to see our brethren, the English, again; but now God has granted us once more to shake hands with them, which we shall not forget.' They sat by my fire till midnight. " 14th-The people crowded to my house; it was full. We had much talk. Delaware George said he had not slept all night, so much had he been engaged on account of my coming. The French came, and would speak with me. There were then fifteen of them building houses for the Indians. The Captain had gone with fifteen to another town. He could speak the Indian tongue well. The Indians say he is a cunning fox; that they get a great deal of goods from the French; and that the French clothe the Indians every year, men, women and children, and give them as much powder and lead as they want. "15th-King Beaver was informed that Teedyuscung had said he had The Quakers, for whom the Indians had particular regard. 104 THE OLiEN TIME. turned the hatchet against the French, by advice of the Allegheny Indians. This he blamed, as they had never sent him such advice. But being informed it was his own doing, without any persuasion from the Governor, he was easy on that head. Delaware Daniel prepared a dinner,to which he invited me, and all the kings and emptains; and when I came, he said:' Brother, we are as glad to see you among us as if we dined with the Governor and people in Philadelphia. We have thought a great deal since you have been here. We never thought so much before.'* I thanked them for their kind reception; I said it was something great that God had spared our lives to see one another again in the old brother-like love and friendship. There were in all thirteen, who dined together. "In the evening they danced at my fire; first the men and then the women, till after midnight. "On the 16th, the king and the captains called on me privately. They wanted to hear what Teedyuscung had said of them, and begged me to take out the writings. I read to them what Teedyuscung had said, and told them, as Teedyuscung had said, he would speak so loud that all at Allegheny, and beyond, should hear it; I would conceal nothing from them. They said they never sent any such advice (as above mentioned) to Teedyuscung, nor ever sent a message at all to the government. And now the French were here; their Captain would come to hear, and this would make disturbance. I then told them I would read the rest, and leave out that part, and they might tell the kings and captains of it when they came together. "'17th-Early this morning they called all the people together to clean the place where they intended to hold the council, it being in the middle of the town. Kushkushkee is divided into four towns, each at a distance from the others; and the whole consists of about ninety houses, and two hundred able warriors. "About noon, two public messengers arrived from the Indians at Fort Duquesne and the other towns. They brought three large belts and two bundles of strings;t there came with them a French captain and fifteen men. The two messengers insisted that I should go with them to Fort Duquesne; that there were Indians of eight nations who wanted to hear me; that if brought good news, they inclined to leave off war, and live in friendship with the English. The above messengers being Indian captains, * That is, we look on your coming as a matter of importance, it engages our attention. t These belts and strings are made of shell-beads, called wampum. The wampum serves, among the Indians, as money; of it they also make their necklaces, bracelets, and other ornaments. Belts and strings of it are used in all public negotiations: to each belt or string there is connected a message, speech, or part of a speech, to be delivered with a belt by the messenger or speaker. These belts also serve for records, being worked with figures composed of beads of different colors, to assist the memory. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 105 were very surly. When I went to shake hands with one of them, he gave me his little finger; the other withdiew his hand entirely, upon which I appeared as stout as either, and withdrew my hand as quick as I could. Their rudeness to me was taken very ill by the captains, who treated them in the same manner, in their turn.' I told them my order was to go to the Indian towns, kings and captains, and not to the French; that the English were at war with the French, but not with those Indians who withdrew from the French, and would be at peace with the English. " King Beaver invited me to his house to dinner, and afterwards he invited the French captain, and said before the Frenchman that the Indians were very proud to see one of their brothers, the English, among them, at which the French captain appeared low spirited, and seemed to eat his dinner with very little appetite. "In the afternoon the Indian kings and captains called me aside and desired me to read them the writings that I had. First, I read part of the Easton treaty to them; but they presently stopped me, and would not hear it; I then began with the articles of peace made with the Indians there. They stopped me again, and said they had nothing to say to any treaty, or league of peace made at Easton, nor had any thing to do with Teedyuscung; that if I had nothing to say to them from the government or Governor, they would have nothing to say to me; and further said, they had hitherto been at war with the English, and had never expected to be at peace with them again, and that there were six of their men now gone to war against them, with other Indians; that had there been peace between us, those men should not have gone to war. I then showed them the belts And strings from the Governor, and they again told me to lay aside Teedyuscung, and the peace made by him, for they had nothing to do with it.* I desired them to suffer me to produce my papers, and I would read what I had to say to them. "18th-Delaware George is very active in endeavoring to establish a peace. I believe he is in earnest. Hitherto they have all treated me kindly. "In the afternoon all the kings and captains were called together, and sent for me to their council. King Beaver first addressed himself to the captains, and afterwards spoke to me, as follows:'i' Brother, you have been here now five days by our fire.t We have sent to all the kings and captains, desiring them to come to our fire and hear the good news you brought. Yesterday they sent two captains to *The peace made with Teedyuscung, was for the Delwares, &c., on the Susquehanna only, and did not include the Indians on the Ohio, they having no disputes at the treaty. But he had promised to halloo to them; that is, to send messengers to them, and endeavor to draw them into the peace, which he accordingly did. tA fire in public affairs, signifies among the Indians, a council. 106 THE OLDEN TIME. acquaint us that they were glad to hear our English brother was come among us, and were desirous to hear the good news he brought, and since there are a great many nations that went to see our brother, they have invited us to their fire that they may hear us all. Now, brother, we have but one great fire, so, brother, by this string we will take you to our arms, and deliver you into the arms of other kings, and when we have called all the nations there, we will hear the good news you have brought.' (Delivers four strings.) "King Beaver, Shingas, and Delaware George, spoke as follows: "' Brother, we alone cannot make a peace; it would be of no signification, for, as all the Indians from the sun-rise to the sun-set are united in a body, it is necessary that the whole should join in a peace, or it can be no peace; and we can assure you all the Indians a great way from this, even beyond the lakes, are desirous of, and wish for a peace with the English, and have desired us, as we are the nearest of kin, if we see the English incline to a peace, t6 hold it fast.' " On the 19th, all the people gathered together, men, women and children, and King Beaver desired me to read to them the news I had brought, and told me that all the able men would go with me to the other town. I complied with his desire, and they appeared very much pleased at everything, till I came to that part respecting the prisoners. This they disliked; for, they say, it appears very odd and unreasonable that we should demand prisoners before there is an established peace; such an unreasonable demand makes us appear as if we wanted brains " 20th-We set out from Kushkushkee for Sankonk;* my company consisted of twenty-five horsemen and fifteen foot. We arrived at Sankonk in the afternoon. The people of the town were much disturbed at my coming, and received me in a very rough manner. They surrounded me with drawn knives in their hands in such a manner that I could hardly get along, running up against me, with their breasts open, as if they wanted some pretence to kill me. I saw by their countenances they sought my death. Their faces were quite distorted with rage, and they went so far as to say I should not live long, but some Indians with whom' I was formerly acquainted, coming up and saluting me in a friendly manner, their behavior to me was quickly changed. " On the 21st, they sent messengers to Fort Duquesne, to let them know I was there, and invited them to their fire. In the afternoon I read them *This word is subsequently spelt SAWCUNCa, SACCUNO and SAWCUNG, by Post. We think it stood where Beaver town now stands. The reason of this belief is as follows. In the second Journal, Post speaks of it as on the Beaver, and going from thence to Fort Duquesne, they crossed the Beaver, thus showing that it was on the west side of that river. Post also mentions that the French were seen to pass by Sawkunk when they fled from Fort Duquesne, so that it must have been west of Beaver and near the Ohio. In Dr. Kalm's and Evan's maps, Shingoe's town is marked at the same point, so that Sawwunk and Shingoe's town were probably the same place. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 107 all my message, the French captain being present, for he still continued with us, upon which they were more kind to me. In the evening fifteen' more arrived here from Kushkushkee. The men here now number about one hundred and twenty. " 22nd —Arrived about twenty Shawanese and Mingos. I read to them the message, at which they seemed well pleased. Then the two kings came to me and spoke in the following manner: "'Brother, we, the Shawanese and Mingos, have heard your message; the messenger we sent to Fort Duquesne is returned, and tells us there are eight different nations there who want to hear your message; we will conduct you there, and let both the Indians and French hear what our brothers, the English, have to say.' " I protested against going to Fort Duquesne, but all in vain, for they insisted on my going, and said that I need not fear the French, for they would carry me in their bosoms, i. e. engage for my safety. "23d-We set off for Fort Duquesne, and went no farther this night than Logstown, where I met with four Shawanese who lived in Wyoming when I did. They received me very kindly, and called the prisoners to shake hands with me as their countryman, and gave me leave to go into every house to see them, which was done in no other town besides. "24th-They called me, and desired that I would write to the general for them. The jealousy natural to the Indian is not to be described, for though they wanted me to write for them, they were afraid I would at the same time give other information, and this perplexed them. " We continued our journey to the fort, and arrived in sight on this side the river in the afternoon, and all the Indian chiefs immediately came over; they called me into the middle, and King Beaver presented me to them, and said,' Here is our English brother, who has brought great news.' Two of them rose up and signified they were glad to see me, but an old deaf Onondago Indian rose up and signified his displeasure. This Indian is much disliked by the others; he had heard nothing yet that had passed; he has lived here a great while and constantly lives in the fort, and is mightily attached to the French; he spoke as follows to the Delawares: "' I do not know this Swannock;* it may be that you know him. I, the Shawanese, and our father,t do not know him. I stand here (stamping hl foot) as a man on his own ground; therefore, I, the Shawanese, and my father, do not like that a Swannock come on our ground.' Then there "That is, this Englishman. t By father, they express the French. fBy I, lie here means the Six Nations, of which the Onondagoes were one of the greatest. This was, therefore, a claim of the Ohio lands, as belonging to the Six Nations, exclusive of the Delawares, whom they formerly called women. 108 THE OLDEN TIME. was silence awhile, till the pipe went round; after that was over, one of the Delawares rose up, and spoke in opposition to him that spoke last, and delivered himself as follows: "' That man speaks not as a man; he endeavors to frighten us, by saying this ground is his; he dreams; he and his father have certainly drank too much liquor; they are drunk; pray let them go to sleep till they be sober. You do not know what your own nation does, at home; how much they have to say to the Swannocks. You are quite rotten; you stink.* You do nothing but smoke your pipe here. Go to sleep with your father, and when you are sober we will speak to you.' " After this the French demanded me of the Indians. They said it was a custom among the white people, when a messenger came, even if it was the Governor, to blind his eyes, and lead him into the fort, to a prison, or private room. They, with some of the Indians, insisted very much on my being sent into the fort, but to no purpose; for the other Indians said to the French:' It maybe a rule among you, but we have brought him here, that all the Indians might see him, and hear what our brothers, the English, have to say; and we will not suffer him to be blinded and carried into the fort.' The French still insisted on my being delivered to them; but the Indians desired them to let them hear no more about it; but to send them one hundred loaves of bread, for they were hungry. " 25th-This morning early they sent us over a large bullock, and all the Indian chiefs came over again, and counseled a great deal among themselves; then the Delaware that handled the old Onondago Indian so roughly yesterday, addressed himself to him, in this manner:'I hope, to-day, you are sober. I am certain you did not know what you said yesterday. You endeavored to frighten us; but know we are now men, and not so easily frightened. You said something yesterday of the Shawanese; see here what they have sent you' (presenting him with a large roll of tobacco). " Then the old deaf Indian rose up, and acknowledged he had been in the wrong; he said he had now cleaned himselft and he hoped they would forgive him. " Then the Delaware delivered the message that was sent by the Shawanese, which was:'That they hoped the Delawares, &c., would be strong+,in what they were undertaking; that they were extremely proud to hear such good news from their brothers, the English; that whatever contracts they made with the English, the Shawanese would agree to; that they were their brothers, and that they loved them. * That is, the sentiments you express are offensive to the company. t That is, he had changed his offensive sentiments. I That is, that they would act vigorously. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 109 "The French whispered to the Indians, as I imagined, to insist on my delivering what I had to say on the other side of the water, which they did to no purpose, for my company still insisted on a hearing on this side the water. The Indians crossed the river to counsel with their Fathers.* My company desired to know whether they would hear me or no. This afternoon three hundred Canadians arrived at the fort, and reported that six hundred more were soon to follow them, and forty batteaux, laden with ammunition. Some of my party desired me not to stir from the fire, for that the French had offered a great reward for my scalp, and that there were several parties out on that purpose. Accordingly I stuck constantly as close to the fire as if I had been chained there. "26th-The Indians, with a great many of the French officers, came over to hear what I had to say. The officers brought with them a table, pens, ink, and paper. I spoke in the middle of them with a free conscience, and perceived, by the look of the French, they were not pleased with what 1 said, the particulars of which were as follows. I spoke in the name of the government and people of Pennsylvania. "' Brethren at Allegheny: We have a long time desired to see and hear from you; you know the road was quite stopt, and we did not know how to come through. We have sent many messengers to you; but we did not hear of you; now we are very glad we have found an opening to come and see you, and to speak with you, and to hear your true mind and resolution. We salute you very heartily. (A string, No. 1.) "'Brethren at Alleghany, take notice of what I say. You know that the bad spirit had brought something between us, that has kept us at a distance, one from another. I now, by this belt, take every thing out of the way that the bad spirit has brought between us; and all the jealousy and fearfulness we had of one another, and whatever else the bad spirit might have poisoned your heart and mind with, that nothing of it may be left. Moreover, let us look up to God, and beg for his assistance, that he may put into our hearts what pleases him, join us close in that brotherly love and friendship which our grandfathers had. We assure you of our love towards you. (A belt of eleven rows.) "' Brethren at Allegheny, hearken to what I say. We began to hear of you from Wellemeghihink, who returned from Allegheny. We heard you had but a slight, confused account of us, and did not know of the peace we made twelve months past, in Easton. It was then agreed that the large belt of peace should be sent you, at Allegheny. As these, our two old friends from Allegheny, who are well known to many here, found an opening to come to our council fire; to see with their own eyes; to sit with *The French at the fort. 110 THE OLDEN TIME. us face to face; to hear with their own ears, every thing that has been transacted between us. It gives me and all the people of the province great pleasure to see them among us. And I assure all my brethren at Allegheny, that nothing would please me and all the people of the province better than to see our countrymen, the Delawares, well settled among us. (A belt.) "' Hearken, my brethren at Allegheny. When we began to make peace with the Delawares, twelve months ago, in behalf of ten other nations, we opened a road, and cleared the bushes from the blood, and gathered all the bones, on both sides, together; and when we brought them together in one heap, we could find no place to bury them. We would not bury them as our grandfathers did. They buried them under ground, where they may be found again. We prayed to God that he would have mercy on us, and take all these bones away from us and hide them, that they might never be found any more; and take from both sides all the remembrance of them out of our heart and mind. And we have a firm confidence that God will be pleased to take all the bones and hide them from us, that they may never be remembered by us while we live, nor our children nor grandchildren, hereafter. The hatchet was buried on both sides, and large belts of peace exchanged. Since, we have cleared everything from the heart, and cleared every thing out of the way. Now, my brethren in Allegheny, every one that hears me, if you will join with us in that brotherly love and friendship, which our grandfathers had, we assure you that all past offences shall be forgotten, and never more talked of by us, our children, and grandchildren, hereafter. This belt assures you of our sincerity, and honest and upright hearts towards you. (A belt of seven rows.) "' Hearken, brethren at Allegheny. I have told you that we really made peace with part of your nation twelve months past. I now, by this belt, open the road from Allegheny to our council fire, where your grandfathers kept good councils with us, that all may pass without molestation or danger. You must be sensible, that unless a road be kept open, people at variance can never come together to make up their differences. Messengers are free in all nations throughout the world, by a particular token. Now, brethren at Allegheny, I desire you will join with me in keeping the road open, and let us know in what manner we may come free to you, and, what the token shall be. I join both my hands to yours, and will do all in my power to keep the road open. (A belt of seven rows.) "'Now, brethren at Allegheny, hear what I say. Every one that lays hold of this belt of peace, I proclaim peace to them from the English nation, and let you know that the Great King of England does not incline to have war with the Indians; but he wants to live in peace and love with them, if they will lay down the hatchet, and leave off war against him. "' We love you, further; we let you know that the Great King of Eng NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 111 land has sent a great number of warriors into this country, not to go to war against the Indians, in their towns. No, not at all. These warriors are going against the French. They are on the march to the Ohio, to revenge the blood they have shed. And by this belt I take you by the hand, and lead you at a distance from the French, for your own safety, that your legs may not be stained with blood. Come away on this side of the mountain, where we may oftener converse together, and where your own flesh and blood lives. We look upon you as our countryman, that sprung out of the same ground with us. We think, therefore, that it is our duty to take care of you, and we in brotherly love advise you to come away with your whole nation, and as many of your friends as you can get to follow you. We do not come to hurt you; we love you; therefore we do not call you to war, that you may be slain. What benefit will it be to you, to go to war with your own flesh and blood? We wish you may live without fear or danger, with your women and children. (The large peace belt.) "'Brethren, I have almost finished what I had to say, and hope it will be to your satisfaction. My wish is, that we may join close together in that old brotherly love and friendship which our grandfathers had; so that all the nations may hear and see us, and have the benefit of it. And if you have any uneasiness or complaint in your hearts and mind, do not keep it to yourself. We have opened the road to the council fire; therefore, my brethren, come and acquaint the Governor with it; you will be readily heard, and full justice will be done you. (A belt.) "'Brethren, one thing I must bring to your remembrance. You know if any body loses a little child, or somebody takes it from him, he cannot be easy; he will think on his child by day and night. Since our flesh and blood is in captivity in the Indian towns, we desire you will rejoice the country's heart, and bring them to me. I shall stretch out my arms to receive you kindly.' (A string.) " After I had done, 1 left my belts and strings still before them. The Delawares took them all up, and laid them before the Mingoes.* Upon which they spoke as follows: "' Chau, what I have heard pleases me well; I do not know why I go to war against the English. iNoques, what do you think? You must be strong. I did not begin the war; therefore I have little to say. But whatever you agree to, I will do the same.' Then he addressed himself to the Shawanese, and said:'You brought the hatchet to us from the French and pursuaded us to strike our brothers the English; you may consider (laying the belts &c., before them) wherefore you have done this.' "The Shawanese acknowledged they received the hatchet from the *'The Six Nations. 112 THE OLDEN TIME. French, who persuaded them to strike the English; that they would now send the belts to all the Indians, and in twelve days would meet again. " Present at this council, three hundred French and Indians. They all took leave, and went over again to the fort, but my companions, who were about seventy in number. " Shamokin Daniel, who came with me, went over to the fort by himself (which my companions disapproved of), and counseled with the Governor, who presented him with a laced coat and hat, a blanket, shirts, ribbons, a new gun, powder, lead, &c. When he returned he was quite changed, and said,' See here, you fools, what the French have given me. I was in Philadelphia, and never received a farthing;' and, directing himself to me, he said,'The English are fools, and so are you.' In short, he behaved in a very proud, saucy, and imperious manner. He further said,' The English never give the Indians any powder, and that the French would have given him a horse-load, if he would have taken it. See that young man there; he was at Philadelphia, and never got any thing; I will take him over to the French, and get some clothing for him.' "Three Indians informed me, that as soon as the French got over, they called a Council with their own Indians, among whom there happened accidently to be a Delaware Captain, who was privately invited by one of his acquaintance to hear what the French had to say. And when they were assembled the French spoke as follows: "'My children now we are alone, hearken to what I have to say. I perceive the Delawares are wavering; they incline to the English, and will be faithful to us no longer. Now, all their chiefs are here and but a handful; let us cut them off, and then we shall be troubled with them no longer.' Then the Tawaas answered:' No, we cannot do this thing; for though there is but a handful here, the Delawares are a strong people, and are spread to a great distance, and whatever they agree to must be.' "' This afternoon, in council, on the other side of the river, the French insisted that I must be given up to then, and that it was not lawful for me to go away, which occasioned a quarrel between them and the Indians who immediately came away and crossed the river to me; and some of them to let me know that Daniel had received a string from the French, to leave me there. But it was to no purpose, for they would not give their consent; and then agreed that I should set off before day the next morning. " 27th-Accordingly I set out before day, with six Indians, and took another road, that we might not be seen. The main body told me they would stay behind, to know whether the French would make an attempt to take me by force; that if they did, they (the Indians), would endeavor to prevent their crossing the river, and coming secretly upon me. Just as I set off, the French fired all their great guns, it being Sunday (I counted nine NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 113 teen), and concluded they did the same every Sabbath. We passed through three Shawanese towns; the Indians appeared very proud to see me return, and we arrived about night at Sawcunk, where they were likewise very glad to see me return. Here I met with the two captains who treated me so uncivilly before; they now received me very kindly, and accepted of my hand, and apologized for their former rude behavior. Their names are Kuckquetackton and Killbuck. They said: " Brother, we, in behalf of the people of Sawcunk, desire that you will hold fast what you have begun, and be strong.* We are but little and poor, and therefore can not do much. You are rich, and must go on and be strong. We have done all in our power towards bringing about a peace; we have had a great quarrel about you with the French; but we do not mind them. Do you make haste, and be strong, and let us see you again.' The said Killbuck is a great captain and conjuror; he desires me to mention him to the Governor, and ask him if he would be pleased to send him a good saddle by the next messenger; and that he would do all in his power for the service of the English. " 28th-We set out from Sawcunk, in company with twenty, for Kushkushkee; on the road Shingiss addressed himself to me, and asked, if I did not think that, if he came to the English, they would hang him, as they had offered a great reward for his head. He spoke in a very soft and easy manner. I told him that was a great while ago; it was all forgotten and wiped clean away; that the English would receive him very kindly. Then Daniel interrupted me, and said to Shingiss:' Do not believe him; he tells nothing but idle lying stories. Wherefore did the English hire one thousand two hundred Indianst to kill us?' I protested it was false; he said,'G-d d-n you for a fool; did you not see the woman lying in the road that was killed by the Indians, that the English hired?' I said,' Brother, do consider how many thousand Indians the French have hired to kill the English, and how many they have killed along the frontier.' Then Daniel said,'D-n you, why do not you and the French fight on the sea? You come here only to cheat the poor Indians, and take their land from them.' Then Shingiss told hin to be still, for he did not know what he said. We arrived at Kushkushkee before night, and I informed Pisquetumen of Daniel's behavior, at which he appeared sorry.'429th-I dined with Shingiss; he told me, though the English had set a great price on his head, he had never thought to revenge himself, but was always kind to any prisoners that were brought in; and that he assured the Governor he would do all in his power to bring about an established peace, and wished he could be certain of the English being in earnest. * That is, go on steadily with this good work of establishing a peace. t Meaning the Cherokees. VOL. 1-8. 114 THE OLDEN TIME. "Then seven chiefs present said, when the Governor sends the next messenger, let him send two or three white men, at least, to' confirm the thing, and not send such a man as Daniel; they did not understand him; he always speaks, said they, as if he was drunk; and if a great many of them had not known me, they should not know what to think, for everything I said he contradicted. I assured them I would faithfully inform the Governor of what they said, and they should see, as messengers, otherwise Indians than Daniel, for the time to come; and I further informed them that he was not sent by the Governor, but came of his own accord: and I would endeavor to prevent his coming again. Daniel demanded of me his pay, and I gave him three dollars; and he took as much wampum from me as he pleased, and would not suffer me to count it. I imagined there was about two thousand. "About night, nine Tawaas passed by here, on their way to the French fort. " 30th, 31st —The Indians feasted greatly, during which time I several times begged of them to consider and dispatch me. " September 1st-Shingiss, King Beaver, Delaware George, and Pisquetumen, with several other captains, said to me: "Brother, we have thought a great deal since God has brought you to us; and this is a matter of great consequence, which we can not readily answer. We think on it, and will answer you as soon as we can. Our feast hinders us; all our young men, women and children are glad to see you. Before you came, they all agreed together to go and join the French, but since they have seen you, they all draw back, though we have great reason to believe you intend to drive us away, and settle the country; or else, why do you come to fight in the land that God has given us?' I said we did not intend to take the land from them; but only to drive the French away. The said they knew better; for that they were informed so by our greatest traders; and some justices of the peace had told them the same, and the French, said they, tell us much the same thing,'that the English intend to destroy us, and take our lands from us; but that they are only come to defend us and our lands;' but the land is ours, and not theirs; therefore we say, if you will be at peace with us, we will send the French home. It is you that have begun the war, and it is necessary that you hold fast, and be not discouraged in the work of peace. We love you more than you love us; for when we take any prisoners from you, we treat them as our own children. We are poor, and yet we clothe them as well as we can, though you see our children are as naked as at the first. By this you may see that our hearts are better than yours. It is plain that you white people are the cause of this war. Why do not you and the French fight in the old country, and on the sea? Why do you come to fight on our land? This makes everybody believe you want to take the land from us by force, and settle it.' NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 115 " I told them:' Brothers, as for my part I have not one foot of land, nor do I desire to have any, and if I had any land, I had rather give it to you than to take any from you. Yes, brothers, if I die you will get a little more land from me, for I shall then no longer walk on that ground which God has made. We told you that you should keep nothing in your heart, but bring it before the council fire, and before the Governor and his council; they will readily hear you, and I promise you, what they answer they will stand to. I further read to you what agreements they made about Wyoming,* and they stand to them.' " They said:' Brother, your heart is good; you speak always sincerely; but we know there are always a great number of people that want to get rich; they never have enough; look, we do not want to be rich and take away that which others have. God has given you the tame creatures; we do not want to take them from you. God has given us the deer and other wild creatures, which we must feed on, and we rejoice in that which springs out of the ground, and thank God for it. Look now, my brother, the white people think we have no brains in our heads, but that they are great and big, and that makes them make war with us. We are but a little handful to what you are, but remember, when you look for a wild turkey you can not always find it; it is so little it hides itself under the bushes, and when you hunt for a rattlesnake you can not find it, and perhaps it will bite you before you see it. However, since you are so great and big, and we so little, do you use your greatness and strength in completing this work of peace. This is the first time that we saw or heard of you, since the war begun, and we have great reason to think about it since such a great body of you comes into our lands.t It is told us that you and the French contrived the war to waste the Indians between you, and that you and the French intended to divide the lands between you; this was told us by the chief of the Indian traders, and they said further, brothers, this is the last time we shall come among you, for the French and English intend to kill all the Indians, and then divide the lands among themselves.' " Then they addressed themselves to me and said:'Brother, I suppose you know something about it; or has the Governor stopped your mouth that you can not tell us?' " Then I said:'Brothers, I am very sorry to see you so jealous. I am your own flesh and blood, and sooner than I would be of hurt to you or your children, I would suffer death; and if I did not know that it was the desire of the Governor that we should renew our old brotherly love and friendship that subsisted between our grandfathers, I would not have *The agreement made with Teedyuscung was, that he should enjoy the Wyoming lands and have houses built there for him and his people. t The army under General Forbes. 116 THE OLDEN TIME. undertaken this journey. I do assure you of mine and the people's honesty. If the French had not been here, the English would not have come; and consider, brothers, whether, in such a case, we can always sit still.' "Then they said:'It is a thousand pities we did not know this sooner; if we had, it would have been peace long before now.''; Then I said: My brothers, I know you have been wrongly persuaded by many wicked people; for you must know that there are a great many Papists in the country, in French interest, who appear like gentlemen, and have sent many runaway Irish Papist servants* among you, who have put bad notions into your heads, and strengthened you against your brothers, the English. "(' Brothers, I beg that you would not believe every idle and false story that ill-designing people may bring to you against us, your English brothers. Let us not hearken to what lying and foolish people may bring to you against us, your brothers. Let us not hearken to what lying and foolish people say, but let us hear what wise and good people say; they will tell us what is good for us and our children.' "1Mem.-There are a great number of Irish traders nowamongthe Indians, who have always endeavored to spirit up the Indians against the English, which made some that I was acquainted with from their infancy, desire the chiefs to enquire of me, for they were certain I would speak the truth.' Pisquetumen told me we could not go to the General; that it was very dangerous, the French having sent out several scouts to wait for me on the road. And further, Pisquetumen told me it was a pity the Governor had no eart to bring intelligence; that the French had three ears, whom they rewarded with great presents, and signified that he and Shingiss would be ears at the service of his honor, if he pleased. " 2nd-I bade Shingiss to make haste and dispatch me, and once more desired to know of them if it was possible for them to guide me to the General. Of all which they told me they would consider, and Shingiss gave me his hand, and said:'Brother, the next time you come, 1 will return with you to Philadelphia, and will do all in my power to prevent any body's coming to hurt the English more.' "3d —To-day I found myself unwell, and made a little tea, which refreshed me: had manyvery pretty discourses with George. In the afternoon they called a council together, and gave me the following answer in council; the speaker addressing the Governor and people of Pennsylvania: "'Brethren, it is a great many days since we have seen and heard you. *The Indian traders used to buy the transported Irish, and other convicts, as servants, to be employed in carrying up goods among the Indians; many of these ran away from their mast< rs, and joined the Indians. The ill-behaviour of these people has always hurt the character of the English among the Indians. tNo spy among his enemies. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 117 I now speak to you in behalf of all the nations that have heard you heretofore. "' Brethren, it is the first message which we have seen or heard from you. Brethren, you have talked of that peace and friendship which we had formerly with you. Brethren, we tell you,to be strong, and always remember that friendship which we had formerly. Brethren, we desire you would be strong, and let us once more hear of our good friendship and peace we had formerly. Brethren, we desire that you make haste, and let us hear of you again, for as yet we have not heard you rightly. (Gives a string.) "'Brethren, hear what I have to say: look, brethren, we who have seen and heard you: we, who are present, are part of all the several nations that heard you some days ago; we see that you are sorry we have not that friendship we formerly had. "'Look, brethren, we at Allegheny are likewise sorry we have not that friendship with you which we formerly had. Brethren, we long for that peace and friendship we formerly had. Brethren, it is good you desire that friendship that was formerly among our fathers and grandfathers. Brethren, we will tell you, you must not let that friendship be quite lost which was formerly between us. "'Now, brethren, it is three years since we dropped that peace and friendship which we formerly had with you. Brethren, it was dropped and lay buried in the ground where you and I stand, in the middle between us both. Brethren, I see you have digged up and revived that friendship which was buried in the ground; and now you have it, hold it fast. Do be strong, brethren, and exert yourselves, that that friendship may be well established and finished between us. Brethren, if you will be strong, it is in your power to finish that peace and friendship well. Therefore, brethren, we desire you to be strong and establish it, and make known to all the English this peace and friendship, that it may embrace all and cover all. As you are of one nation and color, in all the English governments, so let the peace be the same with all. Brethren, when you have finished that peace which you have begun; when it is known everywhere among your brethren, and you have everywhere agreed together on this peace and friendship, then you will be pleased to send the great peace belt to us at Allegheny.' Brethren, when you have settled this peace and friendship, and finished it well, and you send the great peace-belt to me, I will send it to all the nations of my color; they will all join to it, and we all will hold it fast. "' Brethren, when all the nations join to this friendship, then the day will begin to shine clear over us. When we hear once more of you, and we join together, then the day will be still, and no wind or storm will come over us, to disturb us. 118 THE OLDEN TIME. "' Now, brethren, you know our hearts, and what we have to say; be strong; if you do what we have now told you, in this peace all the nations agree to join. Now, brethren, let the king of England know what our mind is as soon as possibly you can.'* (Gives a belt of eight rows.) " I received the above speech and belt from the underwritten, who are all captains and counsellors: BEAVER, KING, CAPTAIN PETER, DELAWARE GEORGE, MACOMAL, PISQUETUMEN, POPAUCE, TASUCAMIN, WASHAOCAUTAUT, AWAKANOMIN, COCHQUACAUKEHLTON, CUSHAWMEKWY, JOHN EIICKOMEN, KEYHEYNAPALIN, KILL BUCK. "Delaware George spoke as follows: "'Look, brothers, we are here of three different nations. I am of the Unami nation: I have heard all the speeches that you have made to us, with the many other nations. "'Brothers, you did let us know, that every one that takes hold of this peace-belt, you would take them by the hand, and lead them to the council-fire, where our grandfathers kept good council. So soon as I heard this, I took hold of it. "'Brother, I now let you know that my heart'never was parted from you. I am sorry that I should make friendship with the French against the English. I now assure you my heart sticks close to the English interest. One of our great captains, when he heard it, immediately took hold of it, as well as myself. Now, brother, I let you know that you soon shall see me by your council-fire, and then I shall hear from you myself, the plain truth, in every respect. "'I love that which is good, like as our grandfathers did; they chose to speak the sentiments of their mind. All the Five Nations know me, and know that I always spoke truth; and so shall you find, when I come to your council-fire.' (Gives a string.) "The following, Delaware George had in company with him: CUSHAWMEKWY, JOHN PETER, KEHKEHNOPATIN, STINFEOR. CAPTAIN PETER, * In this speech the Indians carefully guard the honor of their nation, by frequently intimating that the peace is sought by the English; you have talked of peace; you are sorry for the war; you have digged up the peace that was buried, etc. Then they declare their readiness to grant peace, if the English agree to its being general for all the colonies. The Indian word that is translated, be strong, so often repeated, is an expression they use to spirit up persons who have undertaken some difficult task, as to lift or move a great weight, or execute a difficult enterprise, nearly equivalent to our words, courage, courage. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 119 "4th-Present: Shingiss, King Beaver, Pisquetumen, and several others. I asked what they meant by saying,'They had not rightly heard me yet.' They said: "' Brother, you very well know that you have collected all your young men about the country, which makes a large body;* and now they are standing before our doors;t you come with good news and fine speeches. Brother, this is what makes us jealous, and we do not know what to think of it; if you had brought the news of peace before your army had begun to march, it would have caused a great deal more good. We do not so readily believe you, because a great many great men and traders have told us, long before the war, that you and the French intended to join and cut all the Indians off. These were people of your own color, and your own countrymen; and some told us to join the French, for that they would be our fathers; besides, many runaways have told us. the same story; and some we took prisoners told us how you would use us if you caught us: therefore, brother, I say, we can not conclude, at this time, but must see and hear you once more.' And further, they said: "'Now, brother, you are here with us; you are our flesh and blood; speak from the bottom of your heart; will not the French and English join together to cut off the Indians? Speak, brother, from your heart, and tell us the truth, and let us know who were the beginners of the war.' "Then I delivered myself thus: "'Brothers, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I am extremely sorry to see the jealousy so deeply rooted in your hearts and minds. I have told you the truth; and yet, if I was to tell it to you a hundred times, it seems you would not rightly believe me. My Indian brothers, I wish you would draw your hearts to God, that he may convince you of the truth. ".' I do now declare before God, that the English never did, nor never will, join with the French to destroy you. As far as I can know, the French are the beginners of this war. Brothers, about twelve years ago, you may remember, they had war with the English, and they both agreed to articles of peace. The English gave up Cape Breton in Acadia, but the French never gave up the part of that country which they had agreed to give up; and, in a very little time, made their children strike the English. This was the first cause of the war. Now, brothers, if anybody strike you three times, one after another, you still sit still and consider; they strike you again, then, my brothers, you say it is time, and you will rise up to defend yourselves. Now, my brothers, this is exactly the case between the French and English. Consider, further, my brothers, what a Al Meaning General Forbes's army. Just ready to enter our country. 120 THE OLDEN TIME. great number of our poor back inhabitants have been killed since the French came to the Ohio. The French are the cause of their death, and if they were not there, the English would not trouble themselves to go there. They go nowhere to war but where the French are. Those wicked people that set you at variance with the English, by telling you many wicked stories, are Papists in French pay; besides, there are many among us, in the French service, who appear like gentlemen, and buy Irish Papist servants, and promise them great rewards to run away to you and strengthen you against the English, by making them appear as black as devils.' "This day arrived here, two hundred French and Indians, on their way to Fort Duquesne. They staid all night. In the middle of the night King Beaver's daughter died, on which a great many guns were fired in the town. " 5th-I made a general stop in my journey. The French said to their children, they should catch me privately, or get my scalp. The commander wanted to examine me, as he was going to Fort Duquesne. When they told me of it, I said, as he was going to Fort Duquesne, he might enquire about me there; I had nothing at all to say or do with the French; they would tell them every particular they wanted to know in the fort. They all came into the house where I was, as if they would see a new creature. " In the afternoon there came six Indians, and brought their German prisoners, and two scalps of the Catabaws. " As Daniel blamed the English, that they never paid him for his trouble, I asked him whether he was pleased with what I paid him. He said no. I said,'Brother, you took as much as you pleased. I asked you whether you was satisfied; you said yes.' I told him I was ashamed to hear him blame the country so. I told him,'You shall have for this journey whatever you desire, when I reach the inhabitants.' "6th-Pisquetumen, Tom Hickman and Shingiss told me: " Brother, it is good that you have stayed so long with us; we love to see you, and wish to see you here longer. But since you are so desirous to go, you may set off to-morrow. Pisquetumen has brought you here, and he may carry you home again; you have seen us, and we have talked a great deal together, which we have not done for a long time before. Now, brother, we love you, but can not help wondering why the English and French do not make up with one another, and tell one another not to fight on our land.' "I told them:'Brothers, if the English told the French so a thousand times, they never would go away. Brothers, you know so long as the world has stood there has not been such a war. You know when the French lived on the other side, the war was there, and here we lived in peace. Consider how many thousand men are killed, and how many houses are NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 121 burned since the French lived here; if they had not been here, it would not have been so; you know we do not blame you; we blame the French; they are the cause of this war; therefore we do not come to hurt you, but to chastise the French.' " They told me that at the great council held at Onondago, among the Five Nations, before the war began (Conrad Weiser was there and wrote everything down), it was said to the Indians at the Ohio, that they should let the French alone there, and leave it entirely to the Five Nations; the Five Nations would know what to do with them. Yet, soon after, two hundred French and Indians came and built Fort Duquesne. " King Beaver and Shingiss spoke to Pisquetumen: "' Brother, you told us that the Governor of Philadelphia and Teedyuscung took this man out of their bosoms and put him into your bosom, that you should bring him here, and you have brought him here to us; and we have seen and heard him, and now give him into your bosom, to bring him to the same place again, before the Governor; but do not let him quite loose; we shall rejoice when we shall see him here again.' They desired me to speak to the Governor in their behalf; as follows: "' Brother: we beg you to remember our oldest brother, Pisquetumen, and furnish him with good clothes, and reward him well for his trouble; for we all shall look upon him when he comes back.' "7th-When we were ready to go, they began to council which way we should go to be safest: and then they hunted for the horses, but could not find them, and so we lost that day's journey.' It is is a troublesome cross and heavy yoke to draw this people. They can punish and squeeze a body's heart to the utmost. I suspect the reason they kept me here so long was by instigation of the French. I remember somebody told me that the French told them to keep me twelve days longer, for that they were afraid I should get back too soon and give information to the General. My heart has been very heavy here, because they kept me to no purpose. The Lord knows how they have been counselling about my life, but they did not know who was my protector and deliverer; I believe my Lord has been too strong against them; my enemies have done what lies in their power.' 8th-We prepared for our journey on the morning, and made ourselves ready. There came sometogether and examined me about what I had wrote yesterday. I told them I wondered what need they had to concern themselves about my writing. They said if they knew I had wrote about the prisoners, they would not let me go out of the town. I told them what I writ was my duty to do.' Brotherms: I tell you I am not afraid of you, if there were a thousand more. I have a good conscience before God and man. I tell you I have wrote nothing about the prisoners. I tell you, brothers, this is not good; there's a bad spirit in your hearts, which breeds 122 THE OLDEN TIME. that jealousy; and it will keep you ever in fear that you will never get rest. I beg you would pray to God for grace to resist that wicked spirit that breeds such wicked jealousies in you; which is the reason you have kept me here so long. How often have I begged of you to dispatch me? I am ashamed to see you so jealous; I am not in the least afraid of you. Have I not brought writings to you? and what, do you think I must not carry some home to the Governor? or shall I shut my mouth and say nothing? Look into your own hearts and see if it would be right or wrong, if anybody gives a salutation to their friends, and it is not returned in the same way. You told me many times how kind you were to the prisoners, and now you are afraid that any of them should speak to me.' " They told me they had reason to be afraid, and then made a draft and showed me how they were surrounded with war. Then I told them if they would be quiet, and keep at a distance, they need not fear. Then they went away, very much ashamed, one after another. I told my men that we must make haste and go; and, accordingly, we set off in the afternoon from Kushkushkee and came ten miles. " 9th-We took a little foot-path, hardly to be seen. We lost it, and went through thick bushes, till we came to a mire, which we we did not see till we were in it; and Tom Hickman fell in and almost broke his leg. We had hard work before we could get the horse out again. The Lord helped me, that I got safe from my horse. I and Pisquetumen had enough to do to come through. We passed many such places; it rained all day, and we got a double portion of it, because we received all that hung on the bushes. We were as wet as if we were swimming all the day; and at night we laid ourselves down in a swampy place to sleep, where we had nothing but the heavens for our covering. "10th-We had but little to live on. Tom Hickman shot a deer on the road. Everything here, upon the Ohio, is extremely dear, much more so than in Pennsylvania: I gave for one dish of corn four hundred and sixty wampums. They told me that the Governor of Fort Duquesne kept a store of his own, and that all the Indians must come and buy the goods of him. And when they come and buy, he tells them if they will go to war they shall have as much goods as they please. Before I set off, I heard, further, that a French captain, who goes to all the Indian towns,* came to Sacunck, and said:'Children, will you not come and help your father against the English?' They answered,' Why should we go to war against our brethren? They are now our friends.''O! children,' said he,'I hope you do not own them for friends.'' Yes,' said they,' we do; we are their friends, and we hope they will remain ours.'' O! children,' said He was sent to collect the Indians together, to attack General Forbes's army, once more on their march. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 123 he,' you must not believe what you have heard, and what has been told you by that man.' They said to him,'Yes, we do believe him more than wedo you; it was you that set us against them; and we will by and by have peace with them.' And then he spoke not a word more, but returned to the fort. So I hope some good is done; praised be the name of the Lord. " llth —Being Monday, we went over Antigoc. Went down a very steep hill, and our horses slipped so far that I expected every moment they would fall heels over head. We found fresh Indian tracks on the other side of the river. We crossed Allegheny river, and went through the bushes on a high hill, and slept upon the side of the mountain, without fire, for fear of the enemy. It was a cold night, and I had but a thin blanket to cover myself. " 12th-We made a little fire to warm ourselves in the morning. Our horses began to be weary with climbing up and down the steep mountains. We came this night to the top of a mountain, where we found a log house. Here we made a small fire, just to boil ourselves a little victuals. The Indians were very much afraid, and lay with their guns and tomhocks on all night. They heard something run and whisper in the night. I slept very sound, and in the morning they asked me if I was not afraid the enemy Indians would kill me. I said,'No, I am not afraid of the Indians nor the devil himself; I fear my Creator, God.''Aye,' they said,'you know you will go to a good place when you die, but we do not know that; that makes us afraid.' "13th-In the afternoon we twice crossed Chowatin, and came to Poncheflanning, an old, deserted Indian town, that lies on the same creekWe went through a bad swamp, where were very thick and sharp thorns, so that they tore our clothes and flesh, both hands and face, to a bad degree. We had this kind of road all the (lay. In the evening we made a fire, and then they heard something rush in the bushes, as though they heard somebody walk. Then we went about three gun-shot from our fire, and could find no place to lie down on, for the innumerable rocks; so that we were obliged to get small stones to fill up the hollow places in the rocks for our bed. But it was very uneasy; almost skin and shirt grew together. They kept watch, one after another, all night. " 14th —In the morning I asked them what made them afraid. They sail I knew nothing; the French had set a great price on my head; and they knew there was gone out a great scout, to lie in wait for me. We went over great mountains, and a very bad road.' 15th-We came to Susquehanna, and crossed it six times, and came to Catawaweshink, where had been an old Indian town. In the evening there came three Indians, and said they saw two Indian tracks, which came to the place where we slept, and turned back, as if to give information of us to a party; so that we were sure they followed us. 124 THE OLDEN TIME. "16th and 17th-We crossed the mountain. "18th-Came to the Big Island, where, having nothing to live on, we were obliged to stay to hunt. "19th-We met twenty warriors, who were returning from the inhabitants, with five prisoners and one scalp. Six of them were Delawares, the rest Mingoes. We sat down all in one ring together. I informed them where I had been, and what was done. They asked me to go back a little, and so I did, and slept all night with them. I informed them of the particulars of the peace proposed. They said,'If they had known so much before, they would not have gone to war. Be strong. If you make a good peace then we will bring all the prisoners back again.' They killed two deer, and gave me one. "20th-We took leave of each other, and went on our journey, and arrived the 22nd at Fort Augusta, in the afternoon, very weary and hungry; but greatly rejoiced of our return from this tedious journey. " There is not a prouder, or more high minded people in themselves, than the Indians. They think themselves the wisest and prudentest men in the world; and that they can overpower both the French and English when they please. The whites are, in their eyes, nothing at all. They say that through their conjuring craft they can do what they please, and nothing can withstand them. In their way of fighting they have this method, to see that they first shoot the officers and commanders; and then, they say, we shall be sure to have them. They also say, that if their conjurers run through the middle of our people no bullet will hurt them. They say, too, that when they have shot the commanders, the soldiers will all be confused, and will n'ot know what to do. They say, of themselves, that every one of them is like a king and captain, and fights for himself. By this way they imagine they can overthrow any body of men that may come against them. They say,' The English people \are fools; they hold their guns half man high, and then let them snap. We take sight and have them at a shot, and so do the French. They do not only shoot with a bullet but with big swan-shot.' They say the French load with a bullet and six swanshot. They further say,' We take care to have the first shot at our enemies, and then they are half dead before they begin to fight.'' "The Indians are a people full of jealousy, and will not easily trust anybody; and they are very easily affronted and brought into jealousy; then afterwards they will have nothing at all to do with those they suspect; and it is not brought so easily out of their minds; they keep it to their graves, and leave the seed of it in their children and grand-children's minds; so, if they can, they will revenge themselves for every imagined injury. They are a very distrustful people. Through their imagination and reason they think themselves a thousand times stronger than all the other people. Fort Duquesne is said to be undermined. The French have given out, that, if NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 125 we overpower them, and they should die, we should certainly all die with them. When I came to the fort, the garrison, it was said, consisted of about one thousand four hundred men; and I am told they will now be full three thousand French and Indians. They are almost all Canadians, and will certainly meet the General before he comes to the fort, in an ambush. You may depend upon it, the French will make no open fieldbattle, as in the old country, but lie in ambush. The Canadians are all hunters. The Indians have agreed to draw back. But how far we may give credit to their promises, the Lord knows. It is the best way to be on our guard against them, as if they really could with one thousand overpower eight thousand. "Thirty-two nights I lay in the woods; the heavens were my covering. The dew came so hard sometimes, that it pinched close to the skin. There was nothing that laid so heavy on my heart, as the man that went along with me. Hie thwarted me in everything I said or did; not that he did it against me, but against the country, on whose business I was sent; I was afraid he would overthrow what I went about. When he was with the English he would speak against the French, and when with the French against the English. The Indians observed that he was a false fellow, and desired me that I would not bring him any more to transact any business between the English and them, and told me it was through his means. I could not have the liberty to talk with the prisoners. " Praise and glory be to the Lamb that has been slain, and brought me through the country of dreadful jealousy and mistrust, where the prince of this world has his rule and government over the children of disobedience. "The Lord has preserved me through all the dangers and difficulties that I have ever been under. He directed me according to his will, by his holy spirit. 1 had no one to converse with but him. He brought me under a thick, heavy, and dark cloud, into the open air; for which I adore, praise and worship the Lord my God, that I know has grasped me in his hands, and has forgiven me for all sins, and sent and washed my heart with his most precious blood; that I now live not for myself, but for Him that made me; and to do his holy will is my pleasure. I own that in the chil-. dren of light there dwells another kind of spirit than there does in the children of this world; therefore these two spirits cannot rightly agree in fellewship. "CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST." 126 THE OLDEN TIME. BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. The following article, from the second volume of Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington, giving the most satisfactory account ever published of that affair, though selected by the editor for the last number of the Olden Time, was accidentally omitted: i' The defeat of General Braddock, on the banks of the Monongahela, is one of the most remarkable events in American history. Great preparations had been made for the expedition under that experienced officer, and there was the most sanguine anticipation, both in England and America, of its entire success. Such was the confidence in the prowess of Braddock's army, according to Dr. Franklin, that, while he was on his march to Fort Duquesne, a subscription paper was handed about in Philadelphia to raise money to celebrate his victory by bonfires and illuminations, as soon as the intelligence should arrive. When, therefore, the news of his total defeat and overthrow went abroad, the effect produced on the public mind was like the shock of an earthquake, unexpected and astounding. Of the possibility of such an issue no one had dreamed, and the expressions of surprise, as well as of disappointment, were loud and universal. The consequences were alarming to the middle colonies, as their frontiers were left exposed to the ravages of the French and Indians, in which situation they continued till Fort Duquesne was taken by General Forbes, more than three years afterwards. " General Braddock landed in Virginia on the 20th of February, 1755, with two regiments of the British army from Ireland, the forty-fourth and forty-eighth, each consisting of five h undred men, one of them commanded by Sir Peter Halket, and the other by Col. Dunbar. To these was joined a suitable train of artillery, with military supplies and provisions. The General's first head-quarters were at Alexandria, and the troops were stationed in that place and its vicinity, till they marched for Will's Creek, where they arrived about the middle of May. It took four weeks to effect that march. In letters written at Will's Creek, Gen. Braddock, with much severity of censure, complained of the lukewarmness of the colonial governments, and tardiness of the people in facilitating his enterprise, the dishonesty of agents, and the faithlessness of contractors. The forces which he brought to Will's Creek, however, amounted to somewhat more than two thousand effective men, of whom BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 127 about one thousand belonged to the royal regiments, and the remainder were furnished by the colonies. In this number were embraced the fragments of two Independent Companies from New York, one of which was commanded by Captain Gates, afterwards a major-general in the Revolutionary war. Thirty sailors had also been granted for the expedition by Admiral Keppel, who commanded the squadron that brought over the two regiments. "At this post the army was detained three weeks, nor could it then have moved, had it not been for the energetic personal services of Franklin among the Pennsylvania farmers, in procuring horses and wagons to transport the artillery, provisions, and baggage. The details of the march are well described in Colonel Washington's letters. The army was separated into two divisions. The advanced division, under General Braddock, consisted of twelve hundred men, besides officers. The other, under Colonel Dunbar, was left in the rear, to proceed by slower marches. On the 8th of July, the General arrived with his division, all in excellent health and spirits, at the junction of the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers. At this place Colonel Washington joined the advanced division, being but partially recovered from a severe attack of fever, which had been the cause of his remaining behind. The officers and soldiers were now in higher spirits, and firm in the conviction that they should, within a few hours, victoriously enter the walls of Fort Duquesne. " The steep and rugged grounds on the north side of the Monongahela, prevented the army from marching in that direction, and it was necessary, in approaching the fort, now about fifteen miles distant, to ford the river twice, and march a part of the way on the south side. Early on the morning of the 9th, all things were in readiness, and the whole train passed through the river a little below the mouth of the Youghiogany, and proceeded in perfect order along the southern margin of the Monongahela. Washington was often heard to say during his lifetime, that the most beautiful spectacle he had ever beheld, was the beautiful display of the British troops on this eventful morning. Every man was beautifully dressed in full uniform; the soldiers were arranged in columns, and marched in exact order; the sun gleamed from their burnished arms, the river flowed tranquilly on the right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur on their left. Officers and men were equally inspirited with cheering hopes and confident expectations. " In this manner they marched forward till about noon, when they arrived at the second crossing-place, ten miles from Fort Duquesne. They halted but a little time, and then began to ford the river and regain its northern bank. As soon as they had crossed, they came upon a level plain, elevated but a few feet above the surface of the river, and extending northward nearly half a mile from its margin. Then commenced a gradual ascent at an angle of about three degrees, which terminated in hills of a considerable 128 THE OLDEN TIME. height, at no great distance beyond. The road from the fording-place to Fort Duquesne led across the plain and up this ascent, and thence proceeded through an uneven country, at that time covered with wood. " By the order of march, a body of three hundred men, under Colonel Gage, made the advanced party, which was immediately followed by another of two hundred. Next came the General with the columns of artillery, the main body of the army, and the baggage.' At one o'clock the whole had crossed the river, and almost at this moment, a sharp firing was heard upon the advanced parties, who were now ascending the hill, and had got forward about a hundred yards from the termination of the plain. A heavy discharge of musketry was poured in upon their front, which was the first intelligence they had of the proximity of an enemy, and this was suddenly followed by another on the right flank. They were filled with greater consternation, as no enemy was in sight, and the firing seemed to proceed from an invisible foe. They fired in their turn, however, but quite at random, and obviously without effect, as the enemy kept up a discharge in quick and continued succession. " The General advanced speedily to the relief of these detachments; but before he could reach the spot which they occupied, they gave way and fell back upon the artillery and the other columns of the army, causing extreme confusion, and striking the whole mass with such a panic, that no order could afterwards be restored. The General and the officers behaved with the utmost courage, and used every effort to rally the men, and bring them to order, but all in vain. In this state they continued nearly three hours, huddling together in confused bodies, firing irregularly, shooting down their own officers and men, and doing no perceptible harm to the enemy. The Virginia provincials were the only troops who seemed to retain their senses, and they behaved with a bravery and resolution worthy a better fate. They adopted the Indian mode, and fought each man for himself behind a tree. This was prohibited by the General, who endeavored to form his men into platoons and columns, as if they had been manoeuvring on the plains of Flanders. Meantime, the French and Indians, concealed in the ravines and behind trees, kept up a deadly and unceasing discharge of musketry, singling out their objects, taking deliberate aim, and producing a carnage almost unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare. More than half of the whole army, which had crossed the river in so proud an array only three hours before, were killed or wounded; the General himself had received a mortal wound, and many of his best officers had fallen by his side. " In describing the action a few days afterwards, Colonel Orme wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania:' The men were so extremely deaf to the exhortation of the General and the officers, that they fired away in the most irregular manner all their ammunition, and then ran off, leaving to the enemy the artillery, ammunition, provision, and baggage; nor could they be BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 129 persuaded to stop till they got as far as Gist's plantation, nor there only in part, many of them proceeding as far as Colonel Dunbar's party, who lay six miles on this side. The officers were absolutely sacrificed by their good behavior, advancing sometimes in bodies, sometimes separately, hoping by such example to engage the soldiers to follow them, but to no purpose. The General had five horses shot under him, and at last received a wound through his right arm into his lungs, of which he died the 13th inst. Secretary Shirley was shot through the head, Capt. Morris wounded. Col. Washington had two horses shot under him, and his clothes shot through in several places, behaving the whole time with the greatest courage and resolution. Sir Peter Halket was killed upon the spot. Colonel Burton and Sir John St. Clair were wounded. In addition to these, the other fieldofficers wounded were Lieutenant-Colonel Gage (afterwards so well known as the commander of the British forces in Boston, at the beginning of the Revolution), Colonel Orme, Major Sparks, and Brigade-Major Halket. Ten captains were killed, and five wounded; fifteen lieutenants killed, and twenty-two wounded; the whole number of officers in the engagement was eighty-six, of whom twenty-six were killed, and thirty-seven wounded. The killed and wounded of the privates amounted to seven hundred and fourteen. Of these at least one half were supposed to be killed. Their bodies, left on the field of action, were stripped and scalped by the Indians. All the artillery, ammunition, provisions, and baggage, everything in the train of the army, fell into the enemy's hands, and were given up to be pillaged by the savages. General Braddock's papers were also taken, among which were his instructions and correspondence with the ministry after his arrival in Virginia. The same fhte befell the papers of Colonel Washington, including a private journal and his official correspondence during his campaign of the preceding year. " No circumstantial account of this affair has ever been published by the French, nor has it hitherto been known, from any authentic, source what numbers were engaged on their side. Washington conjectured, as stated in his letters, that there were no more than three hundred, and Dr. Franklin,' in his account of the battle, considers them at most as not exceeding four hundred. The truth is, there was no accurate information on the subject, and writers have been obliged to rely on conjecture. " In the archives of the War Department, at Paris, I found three separate narratives of this event, written at the time, all brief and imperfect, but one of them apparently drawn up by a person on the spot. From these I have collected the following particulars:'M. de Contrecoeur, the commandant of Fort Duquesne, received early intelligence of the arrival of General Braddock and the British regiments in Virginia. After his remove from Will's Creek, French and Indian scouts were constantly abroad, who watched his motions, reported the progress VOL. I-9 130 THE OLDEN TIME. of his march, and the route he was pursuing. His army was represented to consist of three thousand men. M. de Contrecceur was hesitating what measures to take, believing his small force wholly inadequate to encounter so formidable an army, when M. de Beaujeu, a captain in the French service, proposed to head a detachment of French and Indians, and meet the enemy in their march. The consent of the Indians was first to be obtained. A large body of them was then encamped in the vicinity of the bort, and M. de Beaujeu opened to them his plan, and requested their aid. This they at first declined, giving as a reason the superior force of the enemy, and the impossibility of success. But, at the pressing solicitation of M. de Beaujeu, they agreed to hold a council on the subject, and to talk with him again the next morning. They still adhered to their first decision, and when M. de Beaujeu went out among them to enquire the result of their deliberation, they told him a second time that they could not go. This was a severe disappointment to M. de Beaujeu, who had set his heart upon the enterprise, and was resolved to prosecute it. Being a man of great good nature, affability, and ardor, and much beloved by the savages, he said to them:'I am determined to go out and meet the enemy. What! will you suffer your Father to go out alone? I am sure we shall conquer.' With this spirited harangue, delivered in a manner that pleased the Indians, and won upon their confidence, he subdued their unwillingness, and they agreed to accompany him. " It was now the 7th of July, and news came that the English were within six leagues of the fort. This day and the next were spent in making preparations and reconnoitreing the ground for attack. Two other captains, Dumas and Liguery, were joined with M. de Beaujeu, and also four lieutenants, six ensigns, and two cadets. On the morning of the 9th, they were all in readiness, and began their march at an early hour. It seems to have been their first intention to make a stand at the ford, and annoy the English while crossing the river, and then retreat to the ambuscade on the side of the hill where the contest actually commenced. The trees on the bank of the river afforded a good opportunity to effect this manceuvre, in the Indian mode of warfare, since the artillery could be of little avail against an enemy, where every man was protected by a tree, and at the same time the English would be exposed to a point-blank musket shot in fording the river. As it happened, however, M. de Beaujeu and his party did not arrive in time to execute this part of the plan. The English were preparing to cross the river, when the French and Indians reached the defiles on the rising ground, where they posted themselves, and waited till Braddock's advanced columns came up. This was a signal for the attack, which was made at first in front, and repelled by so heavy a discharge from the British, that the Indians believed it proceeded from artillery and showed symptoms of wavering and retreat. At this BRADDOC'S DEFEAT. 131 moment M. de Beaujeu was killed, and the command devolving on M. Dumas, he showed great presence of mind in rallying the Indians, and ordered his officers to lead them to the wings and attack the enemy in flank, while he with the French troops would maintain the position in front. The order was promptly obeyed and the attack became general. The action was warm and severely contested for a short time; but the English fought in the European method, firing at random, which had little effect in the woods, while the Indians fired from concealed places, took aim, and almost every shot brought down a man. The English column soon got into confusion; the yell of the savages, with which the woods resounded, struck terror into the hearts of the soldiers, till at length they took to flight, and resisted all the endeavours of their officers to restore any degree of order in their escape. The rout was complete, and the field of battle was left covered with the dead and wounded, and all the artillery, ammunition, provisions and baggage of the English army. The Indians gave themselves up to pillage, which prevented them from pursuing the English in their flight. " Such is the substance of the accounts written at the time by the French officers, and sent home to their government. In regard to the numbers engaged, there are some slight variations in the three statements. The largest number reported is two hundred and fifty French and Canadians, and six hundred and forty-one Indians; and the smallest, two hundred and thirty-three French and Canadians, and six hundred Indians. If we take a medium, it will make the whole number led out by M. de Beaujeu at least eight hundred and fifty. In an imperfect return, three officers were stated to be killed, and four wounded; about thirty soldiers and Indians killed, and as many wounded. " When these facts are taken into view, the result of the action will appear much less wonderful than has generally been supposed. And this wonder will be still diminished when another circumstance is recurred to, worthy of particular consideration, and that is, the shape of the ground on which the battle was fought. This part of the description, so essential to the understanding of military operations, and above all in the present instance, has never been touched upon, it is believed, by any writer. We have seen that Braddock's advanced columns, after crossing the valley extending for nearly half a mile from the margin of the river, began to move up a hill, so uniform in its assent, that it was little else than an inclined plane of a somewhat crowning form. Down this inclined surface extended two ravines, beginning near together, at about one hundred and fifty yards from the bottom of the hill, and proceeding in different directions till they terminated in the valley below. In these ravines the French and Indians were concealed and protected. At this day they are from eight to ten feet deep, and sufficient to contain at least a thousand men. At the time of the battle the ground was covered with trees and long grass, so that the ravines 132 THE OLDEN TIME. were entirely hidden from view, till they were approached within a few feet. Indeed, at the present day, although the place is cleared from trees, and converted into pasture, they are perceptible only at a very short distance. By this knowledge of local peculiarities of the battle-ground, the mystery, that the British conceived themselves to be contending with an invisible foe, is solved. Such was literally the fact. They were so paraded between the ravines that their whole front and right flank were exposed to the incessant fire of the enemy, who discharged their muskets over the edge of the ravines, concealed during that operation by the grass and bushes, and protected by an invincible barrier below the surface of the earth. William Butler, a veteran soldier still living (1832), who was in this action, and afterwards at the Plains of Abraham, said to me:'We could only tell where the enemies were by the smoke of their muskets.' A few scattering Indians were behind trees, and some were killed in venturing out to take scalps, but much the larger portion fought wholly in the ravines. "It is not probable that either General Braddock or any one of his officers suspected the actual situation of the enemy, during the whole bloody contest. It was a fault in the General, for which no apology can be offered, that he did not keep scouts and guards in advance, and on the wings of his army, who would have made all proper discoveries before the whole had been brought into a snare. This neglect was the primary cause of his defeat which might have been avoided. Had he charged with the bayonet, the ravines would have been cleared instantly; or had he brought his artillery to the points where the ravines terminated in the valley, and scoured them with grape-shot, the same consequence would have followed. But the total insubordination of his troops would have prevented both these movements, even if he had become acquainted with the ground, in the early part of the action. The disasters of this day, and the fate of the commander, brave and resolute as he undoubtedly was, are to be ascribed to his contempt of Indian warfare; his overweening confidence in the prowess of veteran troops; his obstinate self-complacency; his disregard of prudent counsel; and the negligence in leaving his army exposed to a surprise on their march. He freely consulted Colonel Washington, whose experience and judgment, notwithstanding his youth, claimed the highest respect for his opinions; but the General gave little heed to his advice. While on his march, George Croghan, the Indian interpreter, joined hin with one hundred friendly Indians, who offered their services. These were accepted in so cold a manner, and the Indians themselves treated with so much neglect, that they deserted him one after another. Washington pressed upon him the importance of these men, and the necessity of conciliating and retaining them, but without effect. "A report has long been current, in Pennsylvania, that Braddock was shot by one of his own men, founded on the declaration of a provincial BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 133 soldier, who was in the action. There is another tradition, also, worthy of notice, which rests on the authority of Dr. Craik, the intimate, friend of Washington from his boyhood to his death, and who was with him at the battle of the Monongahela. Fifteen years after that event, they traveled together on an expedition to the western country, with a party of woodsmen, for the purpose of exploring wild lands. While near the junction of the Great Kenhawa and Ohio Rivers, a company of Indians came to them with an interpreter, at the head of whom was an aged and venerable chief. This personage made known to them by the interpreter, that, hearing Colonel Washington was in that region, be had come a long way to visit him, adding that during the battle of the Monongahela, he had singled him out as a conspicuous object: fired his rifle at him many times, and directed his young warriors to do the same, but to his utter astonishment none of their balls took effect. He was then persuaded that the youthful hero was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and ceased to fire at him any longer. He was now come to pay homage to the man who was the particular favorite of heaven, and who could never die in battle. Mr. Custis of Arlington, to whom these incidents were related by Dr. Craik, has dramatized them in a piece called The Indian Prophecy. When the battle was over, and the remnant of Braddock's army had gained in their flight, the opposite bank of the river, Colonel Washington was dispatched by the General to meet Colonel Dunbar, and order forward wagons for the wounded, with all possible speed. But it was not till the 11th, after they had reached Gist's plantation, with great difficulty and much suffering from hunger, that any arrived. The General was at first brought off in a tumbril; he was next put on horseback, but being unable to ride, was obliged to be carried by the soldiers. They all reached Dunbar's camp, to which the panic had already extended, and a day was passed in the greatest confusion. The artillery was destroyed, and the public stores and heavy baggage were burnt, by whose order was never known. They moved forward on the 13th, and that night General Braddock died and was buried in the road, for the purpose of concealing his body from the Indians. The spot is pointed out, within a few yards of the present National Road, and about a mile west of the site of Fort Necessity at the Great Meadows. Captain Steward, of the Virginia forces, had taken particuNr charge of him from the time he was wounded until his death. On the 17th the sick and wounded arrived at Fort Cumberland, and were soon after joined by Colonel Dunbar with the remaining fragments of the army. The French sent out a party as far as Dunbar's camp, and destroyed every thing that was left. Colonel Washington being in very feeble health, proceeded in a few days to Mount Vernon. 134 THE OLDEN TIME. FREDERICK POST'S CHARACTER OF THE FIVE NATIONS. In the following journal I have not made any reflections; I only put down the most remarkable facts as they occurred, from day to day. Now I intend, by way of a short preface, to communicate to his Honor, the Governor, an observation or two made in my several conversations with Indians, and especially on this journey. As the Five Nations are the most potent among our western Indians, they are also the wisest, among all the rest. They have their settled maxims of government, as well as other nations, and their political school is at Onondago. Their first principles are to bring all other nations, if not under an absolute dependency, at least under an absolute-submission. The means they make use of to come to those ends are sometimes overt force, sometimes treaties and alliances. Prudence and circumspection are their guides. When they see that their neighboring Indians like a particular tract of land such land will be very valuable to the Five Nations. They will invite these nations to come and live there, and promise to grant them such a tract forever. But they only mean for a short time. When their friends have dwelt there five or six years, then they call others in their place, ordering them to move further back in the country. They grant their lands to the new comers also forever. So they have done with the Wyomink; They gave it first to the Tuteloes, afterward to the Shawanese, then to the Nanticokes, then to the Mohickons, then to the Delawares, and at last they invited the Chickasaw's to come and live there.. And according as each of these several Indian nations are in the favor or interest of the Five Nations, so they receive the same into alliance. In consequence they settle these new allies on the frontiers of the white people, and give them this as their instruction: "Be watchful that no body of the white people may come to settle near you. You must appear frightful, and if, notwithstanding, they come too near, give them a push; we will secure and defend you against them." And if one of these petty nations, viz: Delawares and Shawanese, declares war, it is certainly by the consent and approbation of all the Five Nations, who send or permit their young people to follow such nations in their war; and in company of twenty such warriors I met but six Delawares, the rest were of the Five Nations. If we think the Delawares CHARACTER OF THE FIVE NATIONS. 135 and the Shawanes are the enemy, we are, in my opinion, mistaken. The chain of union between the several Indian nations is of that nature, that if we have a war with one of them, we have war with all. Although it seems that certain nations are neutral, and pretend to be the mediators to bring about a peace between the English and the nations at war with them, these neutral powers are, by their influence, the arbitrators of the affairs, and peace is no sooner restored than they think fit. In the meantime they have everywhere, as well among the white people as among the several Indian nations, their emissaries who attend the treaties and take notice of everything that happens, and give information thereof to their councils, at Onondago, from whence they receive their further directions. The present union or unity of the Indians seems to be greater and stronger than it has ever been. When the two Cayuga chiefs showed the belt of eight diamonds, from the eight northern nations to King Beaver, then he produced another belt of seven diamonds, saying these are the seven numerous powerful nations to the westward, who are also united with us. The Indians are liars in common conversation, even as the white people; nevertheless, in public negotiations, they will have words to be depended upon. It is not only speeches and messages that they want to bear that character, but also the words in conversation of persons sent to them. These ought to be spoken within the exactest limits of truth. Gain is the chief view of the children of men, and when a person cometh in the names of the king's great men to the Indians, then they listen to what advantages this messenger will give them hopes of receiving, and they are apt to believe, if even such messenger promise that each should have every year three new suits of clothes. But what can be the consequence of such fair words, bitterness and revenge? 136 THE OLDEN TIME. FIRST MEETING OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH AUTHORITIES, ON THE OHIO. ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF GEORGE CROGHAN AND ANDREW MONTOUR, AT OHIO, IN THE EXECUTION OF THE GOVERNOR'S INSTRUCTIONS TO DELIVER TIHE PROVINCIAL PRESENT TO THE SEVERAL TRIBES OF INDIANS SETTLED THERE, MAY 18TH, 1751. I arrived at the Logstown, on the Ohio, with the provincial present to the several tribes of Indians settled there, where I was received by a great number of the Six Nations, Delawares, and Shawanese, in a very complaisant manner in their way; by firing guns and hoisting the English colors. As soon as I came to the shore, their chiefs took me by the hand, bidding me welcome to their country. May 19th-One of the Six Nation kings, from the head of the Ohio, came to the Logstown to the council; he immediately came to visit me, and told me he was glad to see a messenger from his brother Onas, on the waters of the Ohio. 20th-Forty warriors from the heads of the Ohio, came to the town with M. Joncoeur and one other Frenchman. 21st-M. Joncceur, the French interpreter, called a council with all the Indians then present, and made the following speech: Children, I now desire you may give me an answer from your hearts to the speech Monsieur Celeron [the commandant of a party of two hundred Frenchmen, that went down the river two years ago] made to you. His speech was that your Father, the Governor of Canada, desired his children on the Ohio to drive away the English traders from amongst them, and to discharge them from ever coming to trade amongst them again, or on any of the branches, on pain of incurring his displeasure, and to enforce that speeech he gave them a very large belt of wampum. Immediately one of the chiefs of the Six Nations made the following answer: Fathers, I mean you that call yourselves our fathers, hear what I am going to say to you. You desire we may turn away our brothers, the English, and not suffer them to come and trade with us again. I now tell you from our hearts, we will not, for we ourselves brought them here to trade with us, and they shall live among us as long as there is one of us alive, FRENCH AND ENGLISH ON THE OHIO. 137 you are always threatening our brothers what you will do to them, and particularly to that man (pointing to me); now if you have any thing to say to our brothers, tell it to him, if you be a man, as you Frenchmen always say you are, and the head of all nations. Our brothers are the people we will trade with, and not you. Go and tell your Governor to ask the Onondago council if I don't speak the mind of all the Six Nations; and then returned the belt. I paid Cochawitchake, the old Shawanese king, a visit, as he was rendered incapable by his great age of attending council, and let him know that his brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was glad to hear that he was still alive and retained his senses, and had ordered me to clothe him and to acquaint him that he had not forgot his strict attachment to the English interest. I gave him a shirt, match-coat and a pair of stockings, for which he gave the Governor many thanks. May 22nd-About forty of the Six Nations came up the river Ohio to Logstown, to wait on the council. 23rd-Conajarca and a party with him (of the Six Nations), came from the Kuskuske town. 25th-I had a conference with Mons. Joncceur; he desired I would excuse him, and not think hard of him for the speech he had made to the Indians, requesting them to turn away the English traders, for it was the Governor of Canada's orders to him, and he was obliged to obey them, although he was very sensible how the Indians would receive them, for he was very sure the French could not accomplish their designs with the Six Nations unless they would do it by force, which he thought they would find as difficult as the course they had tried, and would meet with like success. 26th-A Dunkard from Virginia came to town and requested leave of the Six Nation Chiefs to settle on the Yogh'yo'gaine river, a branch of the Ohio. He was told that he must apply to the Onondago Council, and that he must be recommended by the Governor of Pennsylvania. Speeches were made on May 28th to the Six Nations, Delaware, Shawanese, Owendatts and Twightwees. 138 THE OLDEN TIME. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. The following extracts from " The Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from the year 1763 until the year 1783 inclusive, by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Doddridge," will give the.readers of the Olden Time some idea of the state of society and manners of the first settlers of the Western country. The poverty, the labors and the sufferings of our forefathers form a striking contrast with the easy comforts and luxuries now enjoyed by their children, and to which they have become so thoroughly accustomed, that it seems almost impossible that they should exist without them. We commence our extracts at page 108. HOUSE FURNITURE AND DIET.' The settlement of a new country in the immediate neighborhood of an old one, is not attended with much difficulty, because supplies can be readily obtained from the latter; but the settlement of a country very remote from any cultivated region, is a very different thing, because at the outset, food, raiment, and the implements of husbandry are obtained only in small supplies and with great difficulty. The task of making new establishments in a remote wilderness, in a time of profound peace is sufficiently difficult; but when in addition to all the unavoidable hardships attendant on this business, those resulting from an extensive and furious warfare with savages are superadded, toil, privations and sufferings are then carried to the full extent of the capacity of men to endure them. "Such was the wretched condition of our forefathers in making their settlements here. To all their difficulties and privations the Indian was a weighty addition. This destructive warfare they were compelled to sustain almost single handed, because the Revolutionary contest with England gave full employment for military strength and resources on the east side of the mountains. " The following history of the poverty, labors, suffering, manners and customs of our forefathers, will appear like a collection of'tales of olden times,' without any garnish of language-to spoil the original portraits by giving them shades of coloring which they did not possess. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 139 "I shall follow the order of things as they occurred during the period of time embraced in these narratives, beginning with those rude accommodations with which our first adventurers into this country furnished themselves at the commencement of their establishments. It will be a homely narrative, yet valuable on the ground of its being real history. " In this chapter it is my design to give a brief account of the household furniture and articles of diet which were used by the first inhabitants of our country. A description of their cabins and half-faced camps and their manner of building them will be found elsewhere. " The furniture for the table, for several years after the settlement of this country, consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates, and spoons; but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. " The iron pots, knives, and forks were brought from the east side of the mountains, along with the salt and iron, on pack horses. " These articles of furniture corresponded very well with the articles of diet on which they were employed.'Hog and hominy' were proverbial for the dish, of which they were the component parts. Jonny-cake and pone were, at the outset of the settlements of the country, the only forms of bread in use in breakfast and dinner. At supper, milk and mush were the standard dish. When milk was not plenty, which was often the case, owing to the scarcity of cattle, or the want of proper pasture for them, the substantial dish of hominy had to supply the place of them; mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, molasses, bear's oil, or the gravy of fried meat. " Every family, besides a little garden for the few vegetables which they cultivated, had another small enclosure, containing from half an acre to an acre, which they called a' truck patch, in which they raised corn for roasting-ears, pumpkins, squashes, beans, and potatoes. These, in the latter part of the summer and fall, were cooked with their pork, venison and bear-meat for dinner, and made very wholesome and well tasted dishes. The standard dinner dish for every log-rolling, house-raising, and harvest day, was a pot-pie, or what in other countries is called'sea-pie.' This, besides answering for dinner, served for a part of the supper also; the remainder of it fron dinner being eaten with milk in the evening, after the conclusion of the labor of the day. "In our whole display of furniture, the delft, china, and silver, were unknown. It did not then, as now, require contributions from the four quarters of the globe, to furnish the breakfast table, viz: the silver from Mexico; the coffee from the West Indies; the tea from China, and delft and porcelain from Europe or Asia. Yet our homely fare, and unsightly cabins and furniture, produced a hardy veteran race, who planted the first footsteps of society and civilization in the immense regions of the west. 140 THE OLDEN TIME. Inured to hardihood, bravery, and labor from their early youth, they sustained, with manly fortitude, the fatigue of the chase, the campaign and scout, and, with strong arms,' turned the wilderness into fruitful fields,' and have left to their descendants the rich inheritance of an immense empire, blessed with peace and wealth. "t I well recollect the first time I ever saw a tea-cup and saucer, and tasted coffee. My mother died when I was about six or seven years of age. My father then sent me to Maryland, with a brother of my grandfather, Mr. Alexander Wells, to school. "At Colonel Brown's, in the mountains, at Stony Creek Glades, I for the first time saw tame geese, and by bantering a pet gander, I got a severe biting by his bill, and beating by his wings. I wonrdered very much that birds so large and strong should be so much tamer than the wild turkies. At this place, however, all was right, excepting the large birds which they called geese. The cabin and its furniture were such as I had been accustomed to see in the backwoods, as my country was then called.'At Bedford everything was changed. The tavern at which my uncle put up was a stone house, and to make the change still more complete, it was plastered in the inside, both as to the walls and ceiling. On going into the dining room I was struck with astonishment at the appearance of the house. I had no idea that there was a house in the world which was not built of logs; but here I looked round the house and could see no logs, and above I could see no joists; whether such a thing had been made by the hands of man, or had grown of itself, I could not conjecture. " When supper came on,'my confusion was worse confounded.' A little cup stood in a bigger one, with some brownish looking stuff in it, which was neither milk, hominy, nor broth; what to do with these little cups, and the little spoon belonging to them, 1 could not tell, and I was afraid to ask anything concerning the use of them. " It was in the time of the war, and the company were giving accounts of catching, whipping and hanging tories. The word jail frequently occurred; this word I had never heard before, but I soon discovered, and was much terrified at its meaning, and supposed we were in much danger of the fate of the tories, for I thought, as we had come from the backwoods, it was altogether likely that we must be tories too. For fear of being discovered I durst not utter a single word. I therefore watched attentively what the big folks would do with their little cups and spoons. I imitated them, and found the taste of the coffee nauseous beyond anything I ever had tasted in my life. I continued to drink as the rest of the company did, with the tears streaming from my eyes, but when it was to end I was at a loss to know, as the little cups were filled immediately after being emptied. This circumstance distressed me very much, as I durst not say I had enough. Looking attentively at the grown persons, I saw one man turn MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 141 his little cup bottom upwards and put his little spoon across it. I observed that after this his cup was not filled again: I followed his example, and to my great satisfaction the result as to my cup was the same. " The introduction of the delft ware was considered by many of the backwoods people as a culpable innovation. It was too easily broken, and the plates of that ware dulled their scalping and clasp knives; tea ware was too small for men, they might do for women and children. Tea and coffee were only slops, which, in the adage of the day,' did not stick to the ribs.' The idea was, they were designed only for people of quality, who do not labor, or the sick. A genuine backwoodsman would have thought himself disgraced by showing a fondness for these slops. Indeed many of them have to this day very little respect for them." DRESS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. "On the frontiers, and particularly amongst those who were much in the habit of hunting, and going on scouts and campaigns, the dress of the men was partly Indian, and partly that of ci ilized nations. "The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself: The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jirk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which was always tied behind, answered several purposes, besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather, the mittens, and sometimes the bullet-bag occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk, and to the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers, or breeches, and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gather, as high as the ankle joint, or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles, and lower part of the leg by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow could get within the moccasin. "The moccasins in ordinary use cost but a few hour's labor to make 142 THE OLDEN TIME. them. This was done by an instrument denominated a moccasin awl, which was made of the backspring of an old clasp-knife. This awl, with its buckhorn handle, was an appendage of every shot-pouch strap, together with a roll of buckskin for mending the moccasins. This was the labor of almost every evening. They were sewed together, and patched with deer skin thongs, or whangs, as they were commonly called. " In cold weather the moccasins were well stuffed with deer's hair, or dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm; but in wet weather it was usually said the wearing them was'a decent way of going barefooted,' and such was the fact, owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made. " Owing to this defective covering of the feet, more than to any other circumstance, the greater number of our hunters and warriors were afflicted with the rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all apprehensive in cold or wet weather, and therefore always slept with their feet to the fire to prevent or cure it as well as they could. This practice unquestionably had a very salutary effect, and prevented many of them from becoming confirmed cripples in early life. " In the latter years of the Indian War our young men became more enamoured of the Indian dress throughout, with the exception of the match-coat. The drawers were laid aside, and the leggins made longer so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. The Indian breech-clout was adopted. This was a piece of linen or cloth nearly a yard long, and eight or nine inches broad. This passed under the belt before and behind, leaving the ends for flaps hanging before and behind over the belt. These flaps were sometimes ornamented with some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the same belts which secured the breech-clout, strings which supported the long leggins were attached.. When this belt, as was often the case, passed over the hunting shirt, the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips were naked. " The young warrior, instead of being abashed by this nudity, was proud of his Indian-like dress. In some few instances, I have seen them go into places of public worship in this dress. Their appearance, however, did not add much to the devotion of the young ladies. " The linsey petticoat and bed gown, which were the universal dress of our women in early times, would make a singular figure in our days. A small home-made handkerchief, in point of elegance, would illy supply the profusion of ruffles with which the necks of our ladies are now ornamented. "' They went barefooted in warm weather, and in cold, their feet were covered with moccasins, coarse shoes, or shoe-packs, which would make but a sorry figure beside the elegant morocco slippers, often embossed with bullion, which at present ornament the feet of their daughters and granddaughters. "The coats and bed-gowns of the women, as well as the hunting shirts MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 143 of the men, were hung in full display on wooden pegs round the walls of their cabins, so that while they answered in some degree the place of paper hangings or tapestry, they announced to the stranger, as well as neighbor, the wealth or poverty of the family in the articles of clothing. This practice has not yet been wholly laid aside amongst the backwoods families. " The historian would say to the ladies of the present time: Our ancestors of your sex know nothing of the ruffles, leghorns, curls, combs, rings, and other jewels with which their fair daughters now decorate themselves. Such things were not then to be had. Many of the younger part of them were pretty well grown up before they ever saw the inside of a store-room, or even knew there was such a thing in the world, unless by hearsay, and, indeed, scarcely that. " Instead of the toilet, they had to handle the distaff or shuttle, the sickle, or weeding hoe, contented if they could obtain their linsey clcthing, and cover their heads with a sun-bonnet, made of six or seven hundred linen." THE HOUSE-WARMING. The following description of a "House-Warming" we extract from page 134: " I will proceed to state the usual manner of settling a young couple in the world. A spot was selected on a piece of land of one of the parents for their habitation. A day was appointed, shortly after the marriage, for commencing the work of building their cabin. The fatigue party consisted of choppers, whose business it was to fell the trees and cut them off at proper lengths. A man with a team for hauling them to the place, and arranging them, properly assorted, at the sides and ends of the building; a carpenter, if such he might be called, whose business it was to search the woods for a proper tree for making clapboards for the roof. The tree for this purpose must be straight-grained, and from three to four feet in diameter. The boards were split four feet long, with a large furrow, and as wide as the timber would allow. They were used without shaving. Another division were employed in getting puncheons for the floor of the cabin; this was done by splitting trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewingthe faces of them with a broad-axe. They were half the length of the floor they were intended to make. " The materials for the cabin were mostly prepared on the first day, and sometimes the foundation laid in the evening. The second day was alloted for the raising. " In the morning of the next day, the neighbors collected for the raising. The first thing to be done was the election of four corner-men, whose business it was to notch and place the logs. The rest of the company fur 144 THE OLDEN TIME. nished them with the timbers. In the meantime, the boards and puncheons were collecting for the floor and roof, so that by the time the cabin was a few rounds high, the sleepers and floor began to be laid. The door was made by sawing or cutting the logs in one side, so as to make an opening about three feet wide. This opening was secured by upright pieces of timber, about three inches thick, through which holes were bored into the ends of the logs, for the purpose of pinning them fast. A similar opening, but wider, was made at the end for the chimney. This was built of logs, and made large to admit of a back and jams of stone. At the square, two end logs projected a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall, to receive the butting poles, as they were called, against which the first row of clapboards was supported. The roof was formed by making the end logs shorter, until a single log formed the comb of the roof; on these logs the clapboards were placed, the ranges of them lapping some distance over those next below them, and kept in their places by logs placed at proper distances upon them. " The roof, and sometimes the floor, were finished on the same day of the raising. A third day was commonly spent by a few carpenters in leveling off the floor, making a clapboard door and a table. This last was made of a split slab, and supported by four round legs set in auger holes. Some three-legged stools were made in the same manner. Some pins stuck in the logs at the back of the house supported some clapboards, which served for shelves for the table furniture. A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor, and the upper end fastened to a joist, served for a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork, with one end through a crack between the logs of the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the front pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house, the boards were put on which formed the bottom of the bed. Sometimes other poles were pinned to the fork, a little distance above these, for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the supports of its back and its head. A few pegs around the walls, for a display of the coats of the women and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks or buck's horns to a joist for the rifle and shot-pouch, completed the carpenter work. "In the meantime the masons were at work. With the heart pieces of timber of which the clapboards were made, they made billets for chunking up the cracks between the logs of the cabin and chimney; a large bed of mortar was made for daubing up those cracks; a few stones formed the back and jams of the chimney.' Tile cabin being furnished, the ceremony of the house-warming took place before the young couple were permitted to move into it. " The house-warming was a dance of a whole night's continuance, made up of the relations of the bride and groom, and their neighbors. On the day following the young couple took possession of their new mansion." THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. APRIL, 1846. No, 4. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY, AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] SECOND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST. ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO THE INDIANS ON THE OHIO, IN THE LATTER PART OF THE YEAR 1758.' October 25th, 1758-Having received the orders of the Hon. Governor Denny, I set out from Easton to Bethlehem, and arrived there about three o'clock in the afternoon. I was employed most of the night in preparing myself with necessaries, &c., for the journey. " 26th-Rose early, but my horse being lame, though I traveled all the day, I could not, till after night, reach to an inn, about ten miles from Reading. " 27th-I set out early, and about seven o'clock irt the morning, came to Reading, and there found Captain Bull, Mr. Hays, and the Indians, just mounted, and ready to set out on their journey; they were heartily glad to see me. Pisquetumen stretched out his arms and said;'Now, Brother, I am glad I have got you in my arms; I will not let you go; I will not let you go again from me.' And I likewise said the same to him, and told him,'I will accompany you, if you will go the same way as I must go.' And then 1 called them together, in Mr. Weiser's house, and read a letter to them which I had received from the Governor, which is as follows, viz: VOL. I-10 146 THE OLDEN TIME. "' TO PISQUETUMEN AND THOMAS HICKMAN, TO TOTINIONTONNA AND SCHICKALAMY, AND TO ISAAC STILL. " Brethren, Mr. Frederick Post is come express from the General, who sends his compliments to you, and desires you would come by the way of his camp, and give him an opportunity of talking with you. "'By this string of wampum, I request of you to alter your intended route by way of Shamokin, and to go to the General, who will give you a kind reception. It is a nigher way, in which you will be better supplied with provisions, and can travel with less fatigue and more safety. "' WILLIAM DENNY. "'EASTON, October 22d, 1758.' " To which I added,'Brethren, I take you by this string,* by the hand, and lift you from this place, and lead you along to the General.' "After which they consulted among themselves, and soon resolved to go with me. We shook hands with each other, and Mr. Hays immediately set out with them. After which, having with some difficulty procured a fresh horse, in the king's service, I set off about noon, with Captain Bull, and when we came to Conrad Weiser's plantation, we found Pisquetumen lying on the ground very drunk, which obliged us to stay there all night. The other Indians were gone eight miles further on their journey. "28th-We rose early, and I spoke to Pisquetumen a great deal. He was very sick, and could hardly stir. When we overtook the rest, we found them in the same condition. Aud they seemed discouraged from going the way to the General, and wanted to go through the woods. I told them I was sorry to see them wavering, and reminded them that when I went to their towns, I was not sent to the French, but when your old men insisted on my going to them, I followed their advice and went; and as the General is in the king's name, over the provinces in matters of war and peace, and the Indians at Allegheny- want to know whether all the English governments will join in the peace with them; the way to obtain full satisfaction is to go to him, and there you will receive another great belt to carry home; which I desire you seriously to take into consideration. They then resolved to go to Harris's Ferry, and consider about it as they went. We arrived there late in the night. "29th-In the morning the two Cayugas being most desirous of going through the woods, the others continued irresolute.T Upon which I told them:' I wish you would go with good courage, and with hearty resolu*A string of wampum beads. Nothing of importance is said, or proposed without wampum. t The Ohio. They were afraid of going where our people were all in arms, lest some of the indiscreet soldiers might kill them. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 147 tion,' and repeated what I had said to them yesterday, and reminded them, as they were messengers, they should consider what would be the best for their whole nation;'consult among yourselves, and let me know your true mind and determination.' And I informed them I could not go with them, unless they would go to the General, as I had messages to deliver him. After which, having consulted together, Pisquetumen came and gave me his hand and said:'Brother, here is my hand, we have all joined to go with you, and we put ourselves under your protection, to bring us safe through, and to secure us from all danger.' We came that night to Carlisle, and found a small house without the fort, for the Indians to be by themselves, and hired a woman to dress their victuals, which pleased them well. " 30th-Setting out early, we came to Shippensburg, and were lodged in the fort, where the Indians had a house to themselves. " 31st-Set out early. In our passing by Chambers's Fort, some of the Irish people, knowing some of the Indians, in a rash manner exclaimed against them, and we had some difficulty to get them off clear. At Fort London we met about sixteen of the Cherokees, who came in a friendly manner to our Indians, enquiring for Bill Sockum, and showed the pipe* they had received from the Shwanese, and gave it according to their custom, to smoke out of, and said they hoped they were friends of the English. They knew me. Pisquetumen begged me to give him some wampum, that he might speak to them. I gave him 400 white wampum, and he then said to them:'We formerly had friendship one with another; we are only messengers and cannot say much, but by these strings we let you know we are friends; and we are about settling a peace with the English, and wish to be at peace also with you and all other Indians.' And informed them further, they came from a treaty, which was held at Easton, between the Eight United Nations, and their confederates, and the English, in which peace was established; and showed them the two messengers from the Five Nations, who were going with them, to make it known to all the Indians to the westward. Then the Cherokees answered and said:'they should be glad to know how far the friendship was to reach; they, for'themselves, wished it might reach from the sun-rise to the sun-set; for, as they were in friendship with the English, they would be at peace with all their friends, and at war with their enemies.' "Nbvember 1st-We reached Fort Littleton in company with the Cherokees, and were lodged in the fort; they and our Indians in distinct places, and they entertained each other with stories of their warlike adventures. " 2nd-Pisquetumen said to me,'you have led us this way, through the fire; if any mischief should befall us, we shall lay it entirely to you; for *A calumet pipe; the signal of peace. 148 THE OLDEN TIME. we think it was your doing, to bring us this way; you should have told us at Easton, if it was necessary we should go to the General.' " I told him,'that I had informed the great men at Easton, that I then thought it would be best not let them go from thence, until they had seen the General's letter, and assured them that it was agreeable to the General's pleasure.' "3d-Pisquetumen began to argue with Captain Bull and Mr. Hays, upon the same subject, as they did with me, when I went to them with my first message, which was,' that they should tell them whether the General would claim the land as his own, when he should drive the French away? or, whether the English thought to settle the country? We are always jealous the English will take the land from us. Look, brother, what makes you come with such a large body of men, and make such large roads into our country; we could drive away the French ourselves, without your coming into our country.' "Then I desired Captain Bull and Mr. Hays to be carefil how they argued with the Indians; and be sure to say nothing that might affront them, for it may prove to our disadvantage when we come amongst them. This day we came to Raystown, and with much difficulty got a place to lodge the Indians by themselves, to their satisfaction. "4th-We intended to set out, but our Indians told us the Cherokees had desired them to stay that day, as they intended to hold a council. And they desired us to read over to them the Governor's message, which we accordingly did. Pisquetumen finding Jenny Frazer there, who had been their prisoner, and escaped, spoke to her a little rashly. Our Indians, waiting all the day, and the Cherokees not sending to them, were displeased. "5th-Rose early, and, it raining smartly, we asked our Indians if they would go, which they took time to consult about. " The Cherokees came and told them the English had killed about thirty of their people, for taking some horses; which they resented much; and told our Indians they had better go home, than go any farther with us, lest they should meet the same. On hearing this, I told them how I had heard it happen. Upon which our Indians said they had behaved like fools, and brought the mischief on themselves. "Pisquetumen, before we went from hence, made it up with Jenny Frazer, and parted good friends. And, though it rained hard, we set out at 10 o'clock, and got to the foot of the Allegheny, and lodged at the first run of water. "6tzh-One of our horses went back; we hunted a good while for him. Then we set off, and found one of the worst roads that ever was traveled until Stony creek. Upon the road we overtook n great number of pack horses, whereupon Pisquetumen said,'Brother, now you see if you had not come to us before, this road would not be so safe as it is; now you see, we could have POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 149 destroyed all this people on the road, and great mischief would have been done, if you had not stopt, and drawn our people back.' We were informed that the General was not yet gone to Fort Duquesne, wherefore Pisquetumen said he was glad, and expressed,'If I can come to our towns before the General begins the attack, I know our people will draw back and leave the French.' We lodged this night at Stony creek. "7th-We arose early, and made all the haste we could on bur journey. We crossed the large creek, Rekempalin, near Laurel hill. Upon this hill we overtook the artillery, and came before sun-set to Loyal Hanning. We were gladly received in the camp by the General, and most of the people. We made our fire near the other Indian camps, which pleased our people. Soon after some of the officers came, and spoke very rashly to our Indians, in respect to their conduct to our people, at which they were much displeased, and answered as rashly, and said,'they did not understand such usage; for they were come upon a message of peace; if we had a mind to war, they knew how to help themselves; and they were not afraid of us.' "Sth-At eleven o'clock the General called the Indians together, the Cherokees and Catawbas being present. He spoke to them in a kind and loving manner, and bid them heartily welcome to his camp, and expressed his joy to see them, and desired them to give his compliments to all their kings and captains. He desired them that had any love for the English nation, to withdraw from the French; for if he should find them among the French, he must treat them as enemies, as he should advance with a large army very soon, and could not wait longer on account of the winter season. After that he drank the king's health, and all that wished well to the English nation; then he drank King Beaver's, Shingiss's, and all the warrior's healths, and recommended us (the messengers) to their care; and desired them to give credit to what we should say. After that we went to another house with the General alone; and he showed them the belt, and said he would furnish them with a writing for both the belt and string. And after a little discourse more, our Indians parted in love, and well satisfied. And we made all necessary preparation for our journey. "9th-Some of the colonels and chief commanders wondered how I came through so many difficulties, and how I could rule and bring these people to reason, making no use of gun or sword. I told them, it is done by no other means than by faith. Then they asked me if I had faith to venture myself to come safe through with my companions. I told them it was in my heart to pray for them;'you know that the Lord has given many promises to his servants, and what he promises you may depend upon he will perform.' Then they wished us good success. We waited till almost noon for the writing of the General. We were escorted by one hundred men, rank and file, commanded by Captain Haselet. We passed 150 THE OLDEN TIME. through a track of good land, about six miles on the old trading path, and came to the creek again, where there is a large fine bottom, well timbered. From thence we came upon a hill, to an advanced breast-work, about ten miles from the camp, well situated for strength, facing a small branch of the aforesaid creek. The hill is steep down, perpendicular about twenty feet, on south side, which is a great defence, and on the west side the breastwork is about seven feet high, where we encamped that night. Our Indian companions heard that we were to part in the morning, and that twelve men were to be sent with us, and the other part of the company to go towards Fort Duquesne. Our Indians desired that the Captain would send twenty men, instead of twelve, that if any accident should happen, they could be more able to defend themselves in returning back,'for we know, say they, the enemy will follow the smallest party.' It began to rain. Within five miles from the breast-work we parted from Captain Haselet. He kept the old trading path to the Ohio. Lieutenant Hays was ordered to accompany us to the Allegheny river,* with fourteen men. We went the path that leads along the Loyal Hanning creek, where there is a rich fine bottom, land well timbered, good springs and small creeks. At four o'clock we were alarmed by three men, in Indian dress, and preparation was made on both sides for defence. Isaac Still showed a white token; Pisquetumen gave an Indian halloo: after which they threw down their bundles, and ran away as fast as they could. We afterwards took up their bundles, and found that it was a small party of our men, that had been long-out. We were sorry that we scared them, for they lost their bundles with all their food. Then I held a conference with our Indians, and asked them it it would not be good to send one of our Indians to Logstown and Fort Duquesne, and call the Indians from thence before we arrived at Kushkushking. They all agreed it would not be good, as they were but messengers; it must be done by their chief men. The wolves made a terrible music this night. "11th-We started early, and came to the old Shawanese town called Keckkeknepolin, grown up so thick with weeds, briars and bushes, that we scarcely could get through. Pisquetumen led us upon a steep hill, that our horses could hardly get up; and Thomas Hickman's horse tumbled, and rolled down the hill like a wheel; on which he grew angry and would go no further with us, and said, he would go by himself. It happened we found a path on the top of the hill. At three o'clock we came to Kiskemeneco, an old Indian town, a rich bottom, well timbered, good fine English grass, well watered, and lays waste since the war began. We let our horses feed here, and agreed that Lieutenant Hays might go back with his. * The Ohio, as it is called by the Senecas. Allegheny is the name of the same river in the Delaware language. Both words signify the fine, or fair river. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 151 party; and as they were short of provisions, we therefore gave them a little of ours, which they took very kind of us. Thomas Hickman could find no other road, and came to us again a little ashamed; we were glad to see him; and we went about three miles farther, where we made a large fire. Here the Indians looked over their presents, and grumbled at me; they thought if they had gone the other way, by Shamokin, they would have got more. Captain Bull spoke in their favor against me. Then I said to them,' I am ashamed to see you grumble about the presents; I thought you were sent to establish peace,' though I confess I was not pleased that the Indians were so slightly fitted out from Easton, as the general had nothing to give them, in the critical circumstances he was in, fit for their purpose. " 12th.-Early in the morning, I spoke to the Indians of my company:'Brethren, you have now passed through the heart of the country back and forward, likewise through the midst of the army, without any difficulty or danger; you have seen and heard a great deal. When I was among you at Allegheny, you told me I should not regard what the common people would say, but only hearken to the chiefs; I should take no bad stories along. I did accordingly, and when I left Allegheny, I dropt all evil reports, and only carried the agreeable news, which was pleasing to all that heard it. Now, brethren, I beg of you to do the same, and to drop all evil reports which you may have heard of bad people, and only to observe and keep what you have heard of your rulers, and the wise people, so that all your young men, women, and children, may rejoice at our coming to them, and may have the benefit of it.''1 They took it very kindly. After awhile they spoke in the following manner to us, and said;' Brethren, when you come to Kushkuskking, you must not mind the prisoners, and have nothing to do with them. Mr. Post when he was first there, listened too much to the prisoners; the Indians were almost mad with him for it, and would have confined him for it; for, they said, he had wrote something of them.' " As we were hunting for our horses, we found Thomas Hickman's horse dead, which rolled yesterday down the hill. At one o'clock we came to the Allegheny, to an old Shawano town, situated under a high hill on the east, opposite an island of about one hundred acres, very rich land, well timbered. We looked for a place to cross the river, but in vain; we then went smartly to work and made a raft; we cut the wood, and carried it to the water side. The wolves and owls made a great noise in the night.' 13th-We got up early and boiled some chocolate for breakfast, and then began to finish our rafts; we clothed ourselves as well as we could in Indian dress; it was about two o'clock in the afternoon before we all got over to the other side, near an old Indian town. The Indians told us we should not call Mr. Bull captain; their young men would be mad that we 152 THE OLDEN TIME. brought a warrior there. We went up a steep hill, good land, to the creek Cowewanic, where we made our fire. They wanted to hunt for meat, and looked for a road. Captain Bull shot a squirrel, and broke his gun. I cut fire wood and boiled some chocolate for supper. The others came home and brought nothing. Pisquetumen wanted to hear the writing from the general, which we read to them to their great satisfaction. This was the first night we slept in the open air. Mr. Bull took the tent along with him. We discoursed a great deal of the night together. "14th-We rose early and thought to make good progress on our way. At one o'clock, Thomas Hickman shot a large buck, and as our people were hungry for meat, we made our camp there, and called the water Buck run. In the evening we heard the great guns fire from Fort Duquesne. Whenever I looked towards that place I felt a dismal impression; the very place seemed shocking and dark. Pisquetumen looked his things over and found a white belt, sent by the commissioners of trade,* for the Indian affairs. We could find no writing concerning the belt, and did not know what was the signification thereof. They seemed much concerned to know it. "15th-We arose early, and had a good day's journey; we passed these two days through thick bushes of briars and thorns, so that it was very difficult to get through. We crossed the creek Paquakonink; the land is very indifferent. At twelve o'clock we crossed the road from Venango to Fort Duquesne. We went towards Kushkushing, about sixteen miles from the fort. We went over a large barren plain, and made our lodging by a little run. Pisquetumen told us we must send a messenger to let them know of our coming, as the French live amongst them; he desired a string of wampum; I gave him three hundred and fifty. We concluded to go within three miles of Kushkushing, to their sugar cabins, and to call their chiefs there. In discourse, Mr. Bull told the Indians the English should let all the prisoners stay amongst them that liked to stay. " 16th-We met two Indians on the road, and sat down with them to dinner. They informed us that nobody was at home at Kushkushing; that one hundred and sixty from that town were gone to war against our party. We crossed the above mentioned creek; good land, but hilly. Went down a long valley to Beaver creek, through old Kushkushking, a large spot of land about three miles long; they both went with us to the town; one of them rode before us, to let the people in town know of our coming; we found there but two men and some women. Those that were at home received us kindly. Pisquetumen desired us to read the message to them that were there. * Persons appointed by law to manage the Indian trade for the public; the private trade, on account of its abuses, being abolished. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 153 "17th-There were five Frenchmen in town; the rest were gone to war. We held a council with Delaware George, delivered him the string and presents that were sent to him, and informed him of the General's sentiments, and what he desired of them, upon which he agreed, and complied to go with Mr. Bull to the General. Towards night Keckkenepalin came home from the war, and told us the disagreeable news that they had fallen in with that party that had guided us; they had killed Lieutenant Hays and four more, and took five prisoners; the others got clear off. They had a skirmish with them within twelve miles of Fort Duquesne. Further, he told us that one of the captives was to be burnt, which grieved us. By the prisoners they were informed of our arrival, on which they concluded to leave the French, and to hear what news we brought them. In the evening they brought a prisoner to town. We called the Indians together that were at home, and explained the matter to them, and told them as their own people had desired the General to give them a guide to conduct them safe home, and by a misfortune your people have fallen in with this party, and killed five and taken five prisoners, and we are now informed that one of them is to be burnt:'Consider, my brethren, if you should give us a guide to bring us safe on our way home, and our parties should fall in with you, how hard you would take it.' " They said:' Brother, it is a hard matter, and we are sorry it hath happened so.' I answered:'Let us, therefore, spare no pains to relieve them from any cruelty.' We could scarce find a messenger that would undertake to go to Sawcung, where the prisoner was to be burnt. We promised to one, named Compass, five hundred black wampum, and Mr. Hays gave him a shirt and a dollar, on which he promised to go. We sent him as a messenger. By a string of wampum I spoke these words:'Brethren, consider the messengers are come home with good news, and three of your brethren, the English, with them. We desire you would pity your own young men, women, and children, and use no hardships toward the captives as having been guiding our party.' "Afterwards the warriors informed us that their design had not been to go to war, but that they had a mind to go to the General and speak with him; and on the road the French made a division among them, that they could not agree; after wlich they were discovered by the Cherokees and Catawbas,'who fled and left their bundles, where they found an English color. So Kekeuscung told them he would go before them to the General, if they would follow him, but they would not agree to it; and the French persuaded them to fall upon the English at Loyal Hanning; they accordingly did, and as they were driven back, they fell in with that party that guided us, which they did not know. They seemed very sorry for it. " 18th-Captain Bull acted as commander, without letting us know any thing, or communicating with us. He and George relieved a prisoner from 154 THE OLDEN TIME. the warriors, by what means I do not know. When the warriors were met, he then called us first to sit down, and to hear what they had to say. The Indian that delivered the prisoners to Bull and George, spoke as follows: "My brethren, the English are at such a distance from us as if they were under ground, that I cannot hear them. I am very glad to hear from you such good news, and I am very sorry that it happened so that I went to war. Now I let the General know he should consider his young men, and if you should have any of us to set them at liberty, so as we do to you.' "Then Pisquetumen said:'As the Governor gave these three messengers into my bosom, so I now likewise, by this string of wampum, give Bull into Delaware George's bosom to bring him safe home to the General.' Mr. Bull sat down with the prisoner, who gave him some intelligence in writing, at which the Indians grew very jealous, and asked them what they had to write there? I wrote a letter to the General by Mr. Bull. In the afternoon Mr. Bull, Delaware George, and Keskenepalen set out for the camp. Towards night they brought in another prisoner. When Mr. Bull and companywere gone,the Indians took the same prisonerwhom Mr.Bull had relieved, and bound him and carried him to another town, without our knowledge. I a thousand times wished Mr. Bull had never meddled in the affair, fearing they would exceedingly punish and bring the prisoner to confession of the contents of the writing. " 19th-A great many of the warriors came home. The French had infused bad notions into the Indians, by means of the letters they found upon Lieutenant Hays, who was killed, which they falsely interpreted to them, viz: That in one letter it was wrote that the General should do all that was in his power to conquer the French, and, in the meantime, the messengers to the Indians should do their utmost to draw the Indians back and keep them together in conferences till he, the General, had made a conquest of the French, and afterwards he should fall upon all the Indians and destroy them. And that if we should lose our lives, the English would carry on the war so long as an Indian or Frenchman was alive. Thereupon the French said to the Indians: "'Now you can see, my children, how the English want to deceive you, and if it would not offend you, I would go and knock these messengers on the head before you should be deceived by them.' One of the Indian captains spoke to the French, and said:' To be sure it would offend us if you should offer to knock them on the head. If you have a mind to go to war, go to the English army and knock them on the head, and not these three men that came with a message to us.' "After this speech the Indians went all off and left the French. Nevertheless it had enraged some of the young people, and made them suspicious, so that it was a precarious time for us. I said:'Brethren, have good POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 155 courage, and be strong; let not every wind disturb your mind; let the French bring the letter here; for, as you cannot read, they may tell you thousands of false stories. We will read the letter to you. As Isaac Still* can read, he will tell you the truth.' "After this all the young~men were gathered together, Isaac Still being in company. The young men said:'One that had but half an eye could see that the English only intended to cheat them; and that it was best to knock every one of us messengers on the head.' "Then Isaac began to speak, and said:'I am ashamed to hear such talking from you; you are but boys like me; you should not talk of such a thing. There have been thirteen nations at Easton, where they have established a firm peace with the English; and I have heard that the Five Nations weie always called the wisest; go tell them that they are fools, and cannot see; and tell that you are kings and wise men. Go and tell the Cayuga chiefs so, that are here; and you will become great men.' Afterwards they were all still, and said not one word more.' 20th-There came a great many more into the town, and brought Henry Osten, the serjeant, who was to have been burnt. They halloed the war hallo, and the men and women beat him till he came into the house.t It is a grievous and melancholy sight to see our fellow mortals so abused. Isaac Still had a long discourse with the French captain,who made himself great by telling how he had fought the English at Loyal Hanning. Isaac rallied him, and said he had seen them scalp horses and take others for food. The first he denied, but the second he owned. Isaac ran the captain quite down, before them all. The French captain spoke with the two Cayugas; at last the Cayugas spoke very sharp to him, so that he grew pale, and was quite silent. "These three days past was precarious time for us. We were warned not to go far from the house, because the people who came from the slaughter, having been driven back, were possessed with a murdering spirit, which led them as in a halter, in which they were catched, and with bloody vengeance were thirsty and drunk. This afforded a melancholy prospect, Isaac Hill was himself dubious of our lives. We did not let Mr. Hays know of the danger. I said:'As God hath stopped the mouths of the lions that they could not devour Daniel, so he will preserve us from their fuly, and bring us through.' I had a discourse with Mr. Hays concerning our message, and begged him he would pray to God for grace and wisdom, that he would granl us peace among this people. We will remain in still*An Indlian with an English name. An Indian sometimes changes his name with an Englishman he respects; it is a seal of friendship, and creates a kind of relation between them. t When a prisoner is brought to an Indian town, he runs a kind of gauntlet through the mob, and every one, even the children, endeavor to have a stroke at him, but as soon as he can get into any of their huts, he is under protection, anl refreshments are administered to him. 156 THE OLDEN TIME. ness, and look to our own credit. We are in the service of our king and country. This people are rebellious in heart; now we are here to reconcile them again to the General, Governor, and the English nation; to turn them again from their errors. And I wish that God would grant us his grace, whereby we may do it, which I hope and believe he will do. Mr. Hays took it to heart and was convinced of all, which much rejoiced me. I begged Isaac Still to watch over himself, and not to be discouraged, for I hoped the storm would soon pass by. " In the afternoon all the captains gathered together in the middle town; they sent for us, and desired we should give them information of our message. Accordingly we did. We read the message with great satisfaction to them. It was a great lleasure both to them and us. The number of captains and counselors were sixteen. In the evening messengers arrived from Fort Duquesne, with a string of wampum from the commander; upon which they all came together in the house where we lodged. The messengers delivered their string, with these words from their father, the French King' "' My children, come to me, and hear what I have to say. The English are coming with an army to destroy both you and me. I therefore desire you immediately, my children, to hasten with all the young men; we will drive the English and destroy them. I, as a father, will tell you always what is best.' He laid the string before one of the captains. After a little conversation the captain stood up and said:'I have just heard something of our brethren, the English, which pleaseth me much better. I will not go. Give it to the others, maybe they will go.' The messenger took up again the string, and said:'He won't go, he has heard of the English.' Then all cried out,'Yes, yes, we have heard from the English.' IHe then threw the string to the other fire place, where the other captains were; but they kicked it from one to another, as if it was a snake. Captain Peter took a stick, and with it flung the string from one end of the room to the other,* and said:' Give it to the French captain, and let him go with his young men; he boasted much of his fighting; now let us see his fighting. We have often ventured our lives for him; and had hardly a loaf of bread when we came to him; and now he thinks we should jump to serve him.' Then we saw the French captain mortified to the uttermost; he looked as pale *as death, The Indians discoursed and joked till midnight; and the French captain sent messengers at midnight to Fort Duquesne. " 21st-We were informed that the general was within twenty miles of Fort Duquesne. As the Indians were afraid the English would come over the river Ohio, I spoke with some of the captains, and told them that'I:: Kicking the string about, and throwing it with a stick, not touching it with their hands, were marks of dislike of the message that accompanied it. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 157 supposed the General intended to surround the French, and therefore must come to this side of the river; but we assure you that he will not come to -your towns to hurt you.' I begged them to let the Shawanese at Logstown know it, and gave them four strings of three hundred wampum, with this message:'Brethren, we are arrived with good news waiting for you; we desire you to be strong, and remember the ancient friendship your grandfathers had with the English. We wish you would remember it, and pity your young men, women, and children, and keep away from the French; and if the English should come to surround the French, be not afraid. We assure you they won't hurt you.' 22nd-Kittiuskund came home and sent for us, being very glad to see us. He informed us that the general was within fifteen miles of the French fort; that the French had uncovered their houses, and laid the roofs round the fort to set it on fire, and made ready to go off, and would demolish the fort, and let the English have the bare ground, saying:' They are not able to build a strong fort this winter, and we will be early enough in the spring to destroy them. We will come with seventeen nations of Indians, and a great many French, and build a stone fort.' "The Indians danced round the fire till midnight, for joy of their brethren. the English, coming. There went some scouting parties towards the army. Some of the captains told me that Shamokin Daniel, who came with me in my former journey, had fairly sold me to the French, and the French had been very much displeased that the Indians had brought me away. "23d-The liar raised a story as if the English were divided into three bodies, to come on this side of the river. They told us the Cayugas, that came with us, had said so. We told the Cayugas of it; on which they called the other Indians together, denied they ever said so, and snid they were sent to this place from the Five Nations to tell them to do their best endeavors to send the French off from this country; and when that was done they would go and tell the General to go back over the mountains. " I see the Indians concern themselves very much about the affair of land, and are continually jealous, and are afraid the English will take their land. I told them to be still and content themselves,' for there are some chiefs of the Five Nations with the army; they will settle the affair, as they are the chief owners of the land; and it will be well for you to come and speak with the General yourselves.' ~ "Isaac Still asked the French captain whether it was true that Daniel had sold me to the French. He owned it, and said I was theirs, they had bought me fairly; and, if the Indians would give them leave, he would take me. " 24th-We hanged out the English flag in spite of the French, on which our prisoners folded their hands, in hopes that their redemption was nigh, 158' THE OLDEN TIME. looking up to God, which melted my heart in tears and prayers to God to hear their prayers, and change the times and situation which our prisoners are in, and under which they groan.' 0 Lord,' said they,' When will our redemption come, that we shall be delivered and return home?' And if any accident happeneth, which the Indians dislike, the prisoners all tremble with fear, saying,'Lord, what will become of us, and what will be the end of our lives?' So that they often wish themselves rather under the ground than in this life. King Beaver came home and called us to his house, and saluted us in a friendly manner, which we, in like manner, did to him. Afterwards, I spoke by four strings of three hundred and fifty wampum, and said as followeth: "' I have a salutation to you and all your people from the General, the Governor, and many other gentlemen. Brother, it pleases me that the day is come to see you and your people. We have warmed ourselves by your fire, and waited for you, and thank you that you did not come home. We have good news of great importance, which we hope will make you and all your people's hearts glad. By these strings I desire you would be pleased to call all your kings and captains from all the towns and nations, so that they all may hear us, and have the benefit thereof, while they live, and their children after them.' " Then he said,'As soon as I heard of your coming, I rose up directly to come to you. Then there came another message, which called me to another place, where six kings of six nations were met together. I sent them word they should sit together a while and smoke their pipes, and I would come to them.' King Beaver said, further: "'Brother, it pleaseth me to hear that you brought such good news, and my heart rejoices already at what you have said to me. It rejoices me that I have now heard of you.' I said:'Brother, you did well that you first came here, before you went to the kings, as the good news we brought is to all nations, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, that want to be in peace and friendship with the English. So it will give them satisfaction, when they hear it.' The French captain told us that they would demolish the fort; and he thought the English would be to-day at the place. "25th-Shingiss came home and saluted us in a friendly manner, and so did Beaver, in our house; and then they told us they would hear our message; and we perceived that the French captain had an inclination to hear it. We called Beaver and Shingiss, and informed them that all the nations at Easton had agreed with the Governor that everything should be kept secret from the French. lie said:'It was no matter, they were beaten already. It is good news, and if he would say anything, we would tell him what friendship we have together.' Accordingly, they met together, and the French captain was present. The number consisted of about fifty. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 159 "King Beaver first spoke to his men:'Hearken, all you captains and warriors, here are our brethren, the English; I wish that you may give attention, and take notice what they say. As it is for our good that there may an everlasting peace be established, although there is a great deal of mischief done, if it pleaseth God to help us, we may live in peace again.' "Then I began to speak by four strings to them, and said: "'Brethren, being come here to see you, I perceive your bodies are all stained with blood, and observe tears and sorrow in your eyes. With this string I clean your body from blood, and wipe and anoint your eyes with the healing oil, so that you may see your brethren clearly. And as so many storms have blown since we last saw one another, and we are at such a distance from you that you could not rightly hear us as yet, I, by this string, take a soft feather, and with that good oil our grandfathers used, open and clear your ears so that you may both hear and understand what your brethren have to say to you. And by these strings I clear your throat from the dust, and take all the bitterness out of your heart, and clear the passage from the heart to the throat, that you may speak freely with your brethren, the English, from the heart.' " Then Isaac Still gave the pipe sent by the Friends,* filled with tobacco, and handed round, after their custom, and said: "Brethren, here is the pipe which your grandfathers used to smoke with when they met together in councils of peace. And here is some of that good tobacco, prepared for our grandfathers from God. When you shall taste of it, you shall feel it through all of your body; and it will put you in remembrance of the good councils your grandfathers used to hold with the English, your brethren, and that ancient friendship they had together. "King Beaver rose, and thanked us first, that we had cleaned his body from the blood, and wiped the tears and sorrow from his eyes, and opened his ears, so that now he could well hear and understand. Likewise he returned thanks for the pipe and tobacco, that we brought, which our grandfathers used to smoke. He said,' When I tasted that good tobacco, I felt it all through my body, and it made me all over well.' Then we delivered the messages, as followeth: "Governor Denny's answer to the message of the Ohio Indians, brought byFrederick Post, Pisquetumen and Thomas Hickman. "'By this string, my Indian brethren of the United Nations and Delawares, join with me, in requiring of the Indian Councils, to which these following messages shall be presented, to keep everything private from the eyes and ears of the French. (A string.) "'Brethren, we received your message by Pisquetumen and Frederick * The Quakers of Philadelphia, who first set on foot these negotiations of peace; and for whom the Indians have always had a great regard. 160 THE OLDEN TIME. Post, and thank you for the care you have taken of our messenger"of peace; and that you have put him in your bosom, and protected him against our enemy, Onontio, and his children, and sent him safe back to our council fire, by the same man that received him from us. (A string.) "'Brethren, I only sent Post to peep into your cabins, and to know the sentiments of your old men, and to look at your faces, to see how you look. And I am glad to hear from him, that you look friendly; and that there still remain some sparks of love towards us. It is what we believed beforehand, and therefore we never let slip the chain of friendship, but held it fast, on our side, and it has never dropt out of our hands. By this belt we desire that you will dig up your end of the chain of friendship. that you suffered, by the subtlety of the French, to be buried. (A belt.) "'Brethren, it happened that the Governor of Jersey was with me, and a great many Indian brethren, sitting in council at Easton, when your messengers arrived; and it gave pleasure to every one that heard it; and it will afford the same satisfaction to our neighboring Governors, and their people, when they come to hear it. I shall send messengers to them, and acquaint them with what you have said. "'Your requesting us to let the King of England know your good dispositions we took to heart, and shall let him know it; and we will speak in your favor to his majesty, who has, for some time past, looked upon you as his lost children. And we can assure you, that, as a tender father over all his children, he will forgive what is past, and receive you again into his arms. (A belt.) "'Brethren, if you are in earnest to be reconciled to us, you will keep your young men from attacking our country, and killing, and carrying captive our back inhabitants. And will likewise give orders that your people may be kept at a distance from Fort Duquesne; that they may not be hurt by our warriors, who are sent by our King to chastise the French, and not to hurt you. Consider the commanding officer of that army treads heavy, and would be very sorry to hurt any of his Indian brethren. (A large belt.) "'And brethren, the chiefs of the United Nations, with their cousins, our brethren, the Delawares, and others now here, jointly with me send this belt, which has upon it two figures, that represent all the English, and all the Indians, now present, taking hands, and delivering it to Pisquetumen, and we desire it may be likewise sent to the Indians, who are named at the end of these messages;* as they have all been formerly our very good fiiends and allies; and we desire they will all go among the French to their own towns, and no longer help the French. "'Brethren on the Ohio, if you take the belts we just now gave you, in * Sastaghretsy Anigh Kalicken, Atowateany, Towigh, Towighroano, Geghdageghroano, Oyaghtanont, Sisaghroano, Stiaggeghroauo, Jenontadynago. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 161 which all here join, English and Indians, as we do not doubt you will; then, by this belt, I make a road for you, and invite you to come to Philadelphia, to your first old council fire, which was kindled when we first saw one another; which fire we will kindle up again, and remove all disputes, and renew the old and first treaties of friendship. This is a clear and open road for you; fear, therefore, nothing, and come to us with as many as can be of the Delawares, Shawanese, or of the Six Nations. We will be glad to see you; we desire all tribes and nations of Indians, who are in alliance with you, may come. As soon as we hear of your coming, of which you will give us timely notice, we will lay up provisions for you along the road. (A large white belt, with the figure of a man at each end, and streaks of black, representing the road from the Ohio to Philadelphia.) "'Brethren, the Six Nations and Delaware chiefs, join with me in those belts, which are tied together, to signify our union and friendship for each other; with them we jointly take the tomahawks out of your hands, and bury them under ground. " We speak aloud, so as you may hear us; you see we all stand together, joined hand in hand.' (Two belts tied together.) " General Forbes to the Shawanese, and Delawares, on the Ohio. "'Brethren, I embrace this opportunity by our brother, Pisquetumen, who is now on his return home with some of your uncles of the Six Nations, from the treaty of Easton, of giving you joy of the happy conclusion of that great council, which is perfectly agreeable to me; as it is for the mutual advantage of our brethren, the Indians, as well as the English nation. "'I am glad to find that all past disputes and animosities are now finally settled, and amicably adjusted; and I hope they will be for ever buried in oblivion, and that you will now again be firmly united in the interest of your brethren, the English. "' As I am now advancing, at the head of a large army, against his Majesty's enemies, the French, on the Ohio, I must strongly recommend to you to send immediate notice to any of your people, who may be at the French Fort, to return forthwith to your towns; where you may sit by your fires, with your wives and children, quiet and undisturbed, and smoke your pipes in safety. Let the French fight their own battles, as they were thefirst cause of the war, and the occasion of the long difference which hath subsisted between you and your brethren, the English; but I must entreat you to restrain your young men from crossing the Ohio, as it will be impossible for me to distinguish them from our enemies; which I expect you will comply with, without delay; lest, by your neglect thereof; I should be the innocent cause of some of our brethren's death. This advice take and keep in your own breasts, and suffer it not to reach the ears of the French. VOL. 1-.11 162 THE OLDEN TIME. "'As a proof of the truth and sincerity of what I say, and to confirm the tender regard I have for the lives and welfare of our brethren on the Ohio, I send you this string of wampum. "'I am, brethren and warriors,'; Your friend and brother, "' JOHN FORBES.' "'Brethren, kings Beaver and Shingiss, and all the warriors, who join with you: "'The many acts of hostility, committed by the French against the British subjects, made it necessary for the king to take up arms in their defence, and to redress their wrongs, which have been done them; heaven hath favored the justice of the cause, and given success to his fleets and armies, in different parts of the world. I have received his commands, with regard to what is to be done on the Ohio, and shall endeavor to act like a soldier, by driving the French from thence, or destroying them. "' It is a particular pleasure to me to learn, that the Indians, who inhabit near that river, have lately concluded a treaty of peace with the English; by which the ancient friendship is renewed with their brethren, and fixed on a firmer foundation than ever. May it be lasting and unmoveable as the mountains. I make no doubt but it gives you equal satisfaction, and that you will unite your endeavors with mine, and all the Governors of these provinces, to strengthen it. The clouds, that for some time hung over the English, and their friends, the Indians on the Ohio, and kept them both in darkness, are now dispersed, and the cheerful light now again shines upon us, and warms us both. May it continue to do so, while the sun and moon give light. "'Your people, who were sent to us, were received by us with open arms; they were kindly entertained, while they were here; and I have taken care that they shall return safe to you; with them come trusty messengers, whom I earnestly recommend to your protection; they have several matters in charge; and I desire you may give credit to what they say. In particular, they have a large belt of wampum, and by this belt we let you know, that it is agreed by me, and all the Governors, that there shall be an everlasting peace with all the Indians, established as sure as the mountains, between the English nation and the Indians, all over, from the sun rising to the sun setting; and as your influence on them is great, so you will make it known to all the different nations, that want to be in friendship with the English; and I hope, by your means and persuasion, many will lay hold on this belt, and immediately withdraw from the French; this will be greatly to their own interest and your honor, and I shall not fail to acquaint the great king of it. I sincerely wish it, for their good; for it will fill me with concern, to find any of you joined with the French; as in that POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 163 case, you must be sensible I must treat them as enemies. However, I once more repeat, that there is no time to be lost; for I intend to march with the army very soon; and I hope to enjoy the pleasure of thanking you for your zeal, and of entertaining you in the Fort ere long. In the mean time I wish happiness and prosperity to you, your women and children. "' 1 write to you as a warrior should, that is, with candor and love, and I recommend secresy and dispatch. "'I am, kings Beaver and Shingiss, "'And brother warriors, "'Your assured friend and brother, "'JOHN FORBES. "'From my camp at Loyalhannon, Nov. 9, 1758.' "4 The messages pleased and gave satisfaction to all the hearers, except the French Captain. He shook his head with bitter grief, and often changed his countenance. Isaac Still ran down the French Captain with great boldness, and pointed at him, saying,'There he sits.' Afterwards Shingiss rose up and said: "'Brethren, now we have rightly heard and understood you; it pleaseth me and all the young men that hear it; we shall think of it, and take it into due consideration; and when we have considered it well, then we will give you an answer, and send it to all the towns and nations, as you desired us.' i' We thanked them and wished then good success in their undertaking; and wished it might have the same effect on all other nations, that may hereafter hear it, as it had on them. We went a little out of the house. In the mean time Isaac Still demanded the letter, which the French had falsely interpreted, that it might be read in public. Then they called us back, and I, Frederick Post, found it was my own letter I had wrote to the General. I therefore stood up, and read it, which Isaac interpreted. The Indians were well pleased, and took it as if it was written to them; thereupon they all said:'We always thought the French report of the letter was a lie; they always deceived us;' pointing at the French Captain; who, bowing down his head, turned quite pale, and could look no one in the face. All the Indians began to mock and laugh at him; hecould hold it no longer, and went out. Then the Cayuga chief delivered a string, in the name of the Six Nations, with these words: "'Cousins, hear what I have to say; I see you are sorry, and the tears stand in your eyes. I would open your ears, and clear your eyes from tears, so that you may see, and hear what your uncles, the Six Nations, have to say. We have established a friendship with your brethren, the English. We see that you are all over bloody, on your body; I clean your heart from the dust, and your eyes from the tears, and your bodies from the blood, that you may hear and see your brethren, the English, and appear 164 THE OLDEN TIME. clean before them, and that you may speak from the heart with them.' (Delivered four strings.) "Then he showed to them a string from the Cherokees, with these words: "'Nephews, we let you know, that we are exceeding glad there is such a warm friendship established on so good a foundation, with so many nations, that it will last for ever; and, as the Six Nations have agreed with the English, so we wish that you may lay hold of the same friendship, We will remind you, that we were formerly good friends. Likewise we let you know that the Six Nations gave us a tomahawk, and, if any body offended us, we should strike him with it; likewise they gave me a knife, to take off the scalp. So we let you know, that we are desirous to hear very soon from you, what you determine. It may be we shall use the hatchet very soon; therefore I long to hear from you.' " Then the council broke up. After a little while messengers arrived, and Beaver came into our' house, and gave us the pleasure to hear, that the English had the field, and that the French had demolished and burnt the place entirely, and went off; that the commander is gone with two hundred men to Venango, and the rest gone down the river in batteaux, to the lower Shawanese town, with an intention to build a fort there; they were seen yesterday passing by Sawcung. " We ended this day with pleasure and great satisfaction on both sides; the Cayuga chief said, he would speak further to them to-morrow. "26th-We met together about ten o'clock. First, King Beaver addressed himself to the Cayuga chief, and said: "My uncles, as it is customary to answer one another, so I thank you, that you took so much notice of your cousins, and that you have wiped the tears from our eyes, and cleaned our bodies from the blood; when you spoke to me I saw myself all over bloody; and since you cleaned me I feel myself quite pleasant through my whole body, and I can see the sun shine clear over us.' (Delivered four strings.) "He said further,'As you took so much pains, and came a great way through the bushes, I, by this string, clean you from the sweat, and clean the dust out of your throat, so that you may speak what you have to say from your brethren, the English, and our uncles, the Six Nations, to your cousins. I am ready to hear.' "Then Petiniontonka, the Cayuga chief, took the belt with eight diamonds,* and said: "'Cousins, take notice of what I have to say; we let you know what agreement we have made with our brethren, the English. We had almost *Diamond figures, formed by beads of wampum, of different colors. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 165 slipt and dropt the chain of friendship with our brethren, the English; now we let you know that we have renewed the peace and friendship with our brethren, the English; and we have made a new agreement with them. We see that you have dropt the peace and friendship with them. We desire you would lay hold of the covenant we have made with our brethren, the English, and be strong. We likewise take the tomahawk out of your hands, that you received from the white people; use it no longer; sling the tomahawk away; it is the white people's; let them use it among themselves; it is theirs, and they are of one color; let them fight with one another, and do you be still and quiet in Kushkushking. Let our grandchildren, the Shawanese, likewise know of the covenant we established with our fiiends, the English, and also let all other nations know it.'' Then he explained to them tie eight diamonds on the belt, signifying the five united nations, and the three younger nations, which join them; these all united with the English. Then he proceeded thus: "' Brethren (delivering a belt with eight diamonds, the second belt), we hear that you did not sit right; and when I came I found you in a moving posture, ready to jump'towards the sunset; so we will set you at ease and quietly down, that you may sit well at Kushkushking; and we desire you to be strong; and if you will be strong, your women and children will see from day to day, the light shining more over them; and our children and grand-children will see that there will be an everlasting peace established. We desire you to be still; we do not know as yet, what to do; towards the spring you shall hear from your uncles what they conclude; in the mean time, do you sit still by your fire at Kushkushking.' " In the evening the devil made a general disturbance, to hinder them in their good disposition. It was reported they saw three Catawba Indians in their town; and they roved about all that cold night in great fear and confusion. When I consider with what tyranny and power the prince of this world rules over this people, it breaks my heart over them; and I wish that God would have mercy upon them, and that their redemption may draw nigh, and open their eyes, that they may see what bondage they are in, and deliver them from the evil. " 27th-We waited all the day for an answer. Beaver came and told us,' They were busy all the day long.' He said:' It is a great matter, and wants much consideration. We are three tribes, which must separately agree among ourselves; it takes time before we hear each agreement, and the particulars thereof.' He desired us to read our message once more to them in private; we told them, we were at their service at any time; and then we explained him the whole again. There arrived a messenger from Sawcung, and informed us that four of their people had gone to our camp, to see what the English were about; and that one of them climbing upon a tree was discovered by falling down; and then our people spoke to them; 166 THE OLDEN TIME. three resolved to go to the other side, and one came back and brought the news, which pleased the company. Some of the Captains and counsellors were together; they said, that the French would build a strong fort, at the lower Shawanese town. I answered them,'Brethren, if you suffer the French to build a fort there, you must suffer likewise the English to come and destroy the place; English will follow the French, and pursue them, let it cost whatever it will; and wherever the French settle, the English will follow and destroy them.' "They said:' We think the same, and would endeavor to prevent it, if the English only would go back, after having drove away the French, and not settle there.' I said:'I can tell you no certainty in this affair; it is best for you to go with us to the General, and speak with him. So much I know, that they only want to establish a trade with you; and you know yourselves that you cannot do without being supplied with such goods as you stand in need of; but, brethren, be assured you must entirely quit the French, and have no communication with them, else they will always breed disturbance and confusion amongst you, and persuade your young people to go to war against your brethren, the English. c' I spoke with them further about Venango, and said,' I believed the English would go there, if they suffered the French longer to live there.' This speech had much influence on them, and they said:'We are convinced of all that you have said; it will be so.' I found them inclined to send off the French from Venango; but they wanted first to know the disposition of the English, and not to suffer the French to build any where. "28th-King Beaver arose early, before the break of day, and bid all his people a good morning, desired them to rise early and prepare victuals; for they had to answer their brethren, the English, and their uncles, and therefore they should be in a good humor and disposition. At ten o'clock they met together; Beaver addressed himself to his people, and said: "' Take notice all ouyou young men and warriors, to what we answer now: it is three days since we heard our brethren, the English, and our uncles: and what we have heard of both is very good; and we are all much pleased with what we have heard. Our uncles have made an agreement, and peace is established with our brethren, the English, and they have shook hands with them; and we likewise agree in the peace and friendship, they have established between them.' Then he spoke to the French Captain Canaquais, and said: "' You may hear what I answer; it is good news that we have heard. I have not made myself a king. My uncles have made me like a queen, that 1 always should mind what is good and right, and whatever I agree with, they will assist me, and help me through. Since, the warriors came amongst us, I could not follow that which is good and right; which has made me heavy; and since it is my duty to do that which good, so I will POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 167 endeavor to do and to speak what is good, and not let myself be disturbed by the warriors.' "Then he spoke to the Mingoes, and said:' My uncles, hear me: It is two days since you told me that you have made peace and fiiendship, and shook hands with our brethren, the English. I am really very much pleased with what you told me; and I join with you in the same; and, as you said, I should let the Shawanese and Delamattanoes know of the agreement you have made with our brethren, the English, I took it to heart, and shall let them know it very soon.' (He delivered a string.) "'Look now, my uncles, and hear what your cousins say: you have spoken the day before yesterday to me. I have heard you. You told me you would set me at Kushkushking easy down. I took it to heart; and I shall do so, and be still, and lay myself easy down, arid keep my matchcoat close to my breast. You told me, you will let me know in the next spring, what to do; so I will be still, and want to hear from you.' (Gave him a belt.) "Then he turned himself to us and gave us the following answers. First, to the general: "'Brother, by these strings I would desire, in a most kind and friendly manner, you would be pleased to hear me what I have to say, as you are not far off. "Brother, now you told me you have heard of that good agreement, that has been agreed to at the treaty at Easton; and that you have put your hands to it, to strengthen it, so that it may last for ever. Brother, you have told me, that after you have come to hear it, you have taken it to heart, and then you sent it to me, and let me know it. Brother, I would desire you would be pleased to hear me, and I would tell you, in a most soft, loving, and friendly manner, to go back over the mountain, and to stay there; for, if you will do that, I will use it for an argument, to argue with other nations of Indians. Now, brother, you have told me you have made a road clear, from the sunset to our first old council fire, at Philadelphia, and therefore I should fear nothing, and come into that road. Brother, after these far Indians shall come to hear of that good and wide road, that you have laid out for us, then they will turn and look at the road, and see nothing in the way; and that is the reason that maketh me tell you to go back over the mountain again, and stay there; for then the road will be clear, and nothing in the way.' " Then he addressed himself to the Governor of Pennsylvania, as follows: "'Brother, give good attention to what I am going to say; for I speak 168 THE OLDEN TIME. from my heart; and think nothing the less of it, though the strings be small.* "'Brother, I now tell'you what I have heard from you is quite agreeable to my mind; and I love to hear you. I tell you likewise, that all the chief men of Allegheny are well pleased with what you have said to us; and all my young men, women, and.children, that are able to understand, are well pleased with what you have said to me. "'Brother, you tell me that all the Governors of the several provinces have agreed to a well established and everlasting peace with the Indians; and you likewise tell me, that my uncles, the Six Nations, and my brethren, the Delawares, and several other tribes of Indians, join with you in it, to establish it, so that it may be everlasting; you likewise tell me. you have all agreed on a treaty of peace to last for ever; and for these reasons I tell you, I am pleased with what you have told me. "' Brother, I am heartily pleased to hear that you never let slip the chain of friendship out of your hands, which our grandfathers had between them, so that they could agree as brethren and friends in anything.;' Brother, as you have been pleased to let me know of that good and desirable agreement, that you and my uncles and brethren have agreed to, at the treaty of peace, I now tell you I heartily join and agree in it, and to it; and now I desire you to go on steadily in that great and good work you have taken in hand; and I will do as you desire me to do; that is, to let the other tribes of Indians know it, and more especially my uncles, the Six Nations, and the Shawanese, my grand-children, and all other nations settled to the westward. "'Brother, I desire you not to be out of patience, as I have a great many friends at a great distance; and I shall use my best endeavors to let them know it as soon as possile; and as soon as I obtain their answer, shall let you know it.' (Then he gave six strings all white.) "In the evening arrived a messenger from Sawcung, Netodwebement and desired they should make all the haste to di.patch us, and we should come to Sawcung; for, as they did not know what is become of those three that went to our camp, they were afraid the English would keep them, till they heard what was become of us, their messengers. " 29th-Before daybreak Beaver and Shingiss came, and called us into their council. They had been all night together. They said'Brethren, now is the day coming, you will set offfrom here. It is a good many days since we heard you; and what we have heard is very pleasing and agreeable to us. It rejoices all our hearts; and all our:: Important matters should be accompanied with large strings, or belts; but sometimes a sufficient quantity of wampum is not at hand. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 169 young men, women and chlidren, that are capable to understand, are really very well pleased with what they have heard; it is so agreeable to us, that we never received such good news before; we think God has made it so; he pities us, and has mercy on us. And now, brethren. you desire that I should let it be known to all other nations; and I shall let them know very soon. Therefore Shingiss cannot go with you. He must go with me, to help me in this great work; and I shall send nobody, but go myself, to make it known to all nations. "Then we thanked them for their care, and wished him good success on his journey and undertaking; and, as this message had such a good effect on them we hoped it would have the same on all other nations when they came to hear it. I hoped that all the clouds would pass away, and the cheerful light would shine over all nations; so I wished them good assistance and help on their journey. Farther, he said to us: "'Now we desire you to be strong, because I shall make it my strong argument with other nations, but as we have given credit to what you have said, hoping it is true, and we agree to it; if it should prove the contrary, it would make me so ashamed that I never could lift up my head, and never undertake to speak any word more for the interest of the English.' " I told them: 6 Brethren, you will remember that it was wrote to you by the General, that you might give credit to what we say; so I am glad to hear of you, that you give credit, and we assure you that what we have told you is the truth, and you will find it so.' " They said further:'Brethren, we let you know that the French have used our people kindly in every respect; they have used them like gentlemen, especially those that live near them. So they have treated the chiefs. Now we desire you to be strong; we wish you would take the same method and use our people well: for the other Indians will look upon us,* and we do not otherwise know how to convince them, and to bring them into the English interest, without your using such means as will convince them. For the French will still do more to keep them to their interest.' "I told them,' I would take it to heart, and inform the Governor, and other gentlemen of it, and speak to them in their favor.' Then they said:'It is so far well, and the road is cleared, but they thought we should send them another call, when they may come.' I told them:'We did not know when they would have agreed with the other nations. Brother it is you who must give us the first notice when you can come; the sooner the better; and so soon as you send us word we will prepare for you on the road.' After this we made ready for our journey. "Ketiuskund, a noted Indian, one of the chief counselors, told us in secret,' That all the nations had jointly agreed to defend their hunting-place: They will observe how we are dressed. 170 THE OLDEN TIME. at Allegheny, and suffer nobody to settle there; and as these Indians are very much inclined to the English interest, so he begged us very much to tell the Governor, General, and all other people not to settle there. And if the English would draw back over the mountain, they would get all the other nations into their interest; but if they staid and settled there, all the nations would be against them, and he was afraid it would be a great war, and never come to a peace again.' "I promised to inform the Governor, General, and all other people of it, and repeated my former request to them, not to suffer any French to settle amongst them. After we had fetched our horses, we went from Kushkushking and came at five o'clock to Saccung, in company with twenty Indians. When we came about half way we met a messenger from Fort Duquesne, with a belt from Thomas King, inviting all the chiefs to Saccung. We heard at the same time that Mr. Croghn and Henry Montour would be there to-day. The'messenger was one of those three that wentto our camp; and it seemed to rejoice all the company; for some of them were much troubled in their minds, fearing that the English had kept them as prisoners or killed them. In the evening we arrived at Succung, on the Beaver creek. We were well received. The king provided for us. After a little while we visited Mr. Croghn and his company. "30th-In the morning the Indians of the town visited us. About eleven o'clock about forty came together, when we read the message to them; Mr. Croghn, Henry Montour and Thomas King, being present, They were all pleased with the message. In the evening we came together with the chiefs, and explained the signification of the belts, which lasted till eleven o'clock at night. "December 1st-After hunting a great while for our horses, without finding them we were obliged to give an Indian three hundred wampum for looking for them. We bought corn for four hundred and fifty wampun for our horses. The Indians met together to hear what Mr. Croghn had to say. Thomas King spoke by a belt, and invited them to come to the General, upon which they all resolved to go. " In the evening the captains and counselors came together, I and Isaac Still being present; they told us they had formerly agreed not to give any credit to any message sent from the English by Indians, thinking if the English would have peace with them, they would come themselves:'So soon, therefore, as you came, it was as if the weather changed; and a great cloud passed away, and we could think again on our ancient friendship with our brethren, the English. We have thought since that time more on the English than ever before, although the French have done all in their power to prejudice our young men against the English. Since you now come the second time, we think it is God's work; he pities us that we POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 171 should not all die; and if we should not accept of the peace offered to us we think God would forsake us.' "In discourse, they spoke about preaching, and said:' They wished many times to hear the word of God, but they were always afraid the' English would take the opportunity to bring them into bondage.' They invited me to come and live amongst them, since I had taken so much pains in bringing a peace about between them and the English. I told them,' It might be that, when peace was firmly established, I would come to proclaim the peace and love of God to them.' " In the evening, arrived a message, with a string of wampum, to a noted Indian, Ketiuscund, to come to Wenango, to meet the Unami chief, Quitahicung, there; he said that a French Mohock had killed a Delaware Indian, and when he was asked why he did it, he said the French bid him do it. "2 2d-Early before we set out, I gave three hundred wampum to the Cayugas, to buy some corn for their horses; they agreed that I should go before to the General, to acquaint him of their coming. The Beaver creek being very high, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon before we came over the creek; this land seems to be very rich. I, with my companion, Kekuscund's son, came to Logstown, situated on a hill. On the east end, is a great piece of low land, where the old Logstown used to stand. In the new Logstown, the French have built about thirty houses for the Indians. They have a large corn-field on the south side, where the corn stands ungathered. Then we went further through a large tract of fine land, along the river side. We came within eight miles of Pittsburgh, where we lodged on a hill, in the open air. It was a cold night, and I had forgot my blanket, being packed on Mr. Hays's horse. Between Saweung and Pittsburgh, all the Shawanos towns are empty of people. "3d-We started early, and came to the river by Pittsburgh; we called that they should come over the river and fetch us; but their boats having gone adrift, they made a raft of black oak pallisadoes, which sunk as soon as as it came into the water. We were very hungry, and staid on that island, where I had kept council with the Indians in the month of August last. For all I had nothing to live on, I thought myself a great deal better off now than at that time, having now liberty to walk about the island accoraing to pleasure, and it seemed as if the dark clouds were dispersed. "While I waited here, I saw the General march off from Pittsburgh, which made me sorry that I could not have the pleasure of speaking with him. Towards evening, our whole party arrived, upon which they fired from the fort twelve great guns, and our Indians saluted again three times round with their small guns. By accident, some of the Indians found a raft hid in the bushes, and Mr. Hays, coming last, went over first with two Indians. They sent us but a small allowance, so that it would not serve 172 THE OLDEN TIME. each round. I tied my belt a little closer, being very hungry, and nothing to eat.* It snowed, and we were obliged to sleep without shelter. In the evening, they threw light balls from the fort, at which the Indians started, thinking they would fire at them, but seeing it was not aimed at them, they rejoiced to see them fly so high. " 4th-We got up early and cleared a place from the snow, cut some fire wood, and halloed till we were tired. Towards noon, Mr. Hays came with a raft, and the Indian chiefs went over; he informed me of Colonel Bouquet's displeasure with the Indians' answer to the General, and his desire that they should alter their mind, in insisting upon the General's going back, but the Indians had no inclination to alter their mind. In the afternoon, some provisions were sent over, but a small allowance. When I caime over to the fort, the council with the Indians was almost at an end. I had a discourse with Colonel Bouquet about the affairs, disposition, and resolution of the Indians. "I drew provisions for our journey to Fort Ligonier, and baked bread for our whole company; towards noon, the Indians met together in conference. First, King Beaver addressed himself to the Mohocks, desiring them to give their brother an answer about settling at Pittsburgh. The Mohock said:'They lived at such a distance that they could not defend the English there if any accident should befall them; but you, cousins, who live close here, must think what to do.' Then Beaver said by a string "' What this messenger has brought is very agreeable to us, and as our uncles has made peace with you, the English, and many other nations, so we likewise join and accept of the peace offered to us; and we have already answered by your messenger what we have to say to the General, that he should go back over the mountains; we have nothing to say to the contrary.' "Neither Mr. Croghn, or Henry Montour would tell Colonel Bouquet the Indian's answer. Then Mr. Croghn, Colonel Armstrong, and Colonel Bouquet, went into the tent by themselves, and I went upon my business. What they have further agreed I do not know, but when they had done I called King Beaver, Shingiss, and Kekeuscund, and said:';Brethren, if you have any alteration to make in the answer to the General concerning leaving this place, you will be pleased to let me know.' They said they would alter nothing.'We have told them three times to leave *As it often happens to the Indians on their long marches in war, and sometimes in their hunting expeditions, to be without victuals for several days, occasioned by bad weather and other accidents, they have this custom, in such cases, which Post probably learned of them, viz.: girding their bellies tight when they have nothing to put in them, and they say it prevents the pain of hunger. POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 173 the place and go back, but they insist upon staying here; if, therefore, they will be destroyed by the French and the Indians, we cannot help them." Colonel Bouquet set out for Loyalhannon. The Indians got spine liquor between ten and eleven o'clock. One Mohock died; the others fired guns three times over him; at the last firing one had accidentally loaded his gun with a double charge; this gun burst to pieces and broke his hand clean off; he also got a hard knock on the breast, and in the morning at nine o'clock he died, and they buried them in that place, both in one hole. "6th-It was a cold morning; we swam our horses over the river, the ice running violently. Mr. Croghn told me that the Indians had spoke upon the same string that I had, to Colonel Bouquet, and altered their mind; and agreed and desired that two hundred men should stay at the fort. I refused to make any alteration in the answer to the General, till I myself did hear it of the Indians, at which Mr. Croghn grew very angry. I told him I had already spoke with the Indians; he said it was a d-d lie, and desired Mr. Hays to enquire of the Indians, and take down in writing what they said. Accordingly he called them, and asked them if they had altered their speech or spoke to Colonel Bouquet on that string they gave me. Shingiss and the other counselor said they had spoken nothing to Colonel Bouquet on the string they gave me but what was agreed between the Indians at Kushkushking. They said Mr. Croghn and Henry Montour had not spoke and acted honestly and uprightly; they bid us not alter the least, and said:' We have told them three times to go back, but they will not go, insisting upon staying here. Now you will let the Governor, General, and all people know that our desire is that they should go back till the other nations have joined in the peace, and then they may come and build a trading house.' "Then they repeated what they had said on the 5th instant. Then we took leave of them, and promised to inform the General, Governor, and all other gentle people, of their disposition; and so we set out from Pittsburgh and came within fifteen miles of the breast-work, where we encamped. It snowed, and we made a little cabin of hides. "7th —Our horses were fainting, having little or no food. We came that day about twenty miles, to another breast-work, where the whole army had encamped on a hill, the water being far to fetch. 8th-Between Pittsburgh and Fort Ligonier the country is hilly, with rich bottoms, well timbered, but scantily watered. We arrived at Fort Ligonier in the afternoon, about four o'clock; where we found the General very sick; and therefore could have no opportunity to speak with him. " 9th-We waited to see the General; they told us he would march the next day, and we should go with him. Captain Sinclair wrote us a return for provisions for four days. 174 THE OLDEN TIME. "10th-The General was still sick; so that he could not go on the journey. "' 11th-We longed very much to go farther; and therefore spoke to Major Halket, and desired him to enquire of the General, if he intended to speak with us, or if we might go; as we were in a poor condition, for want of linen, and other necessaries. He desired us to bring the Indians' answer, and our journal to the General. Mr. Hays read his journal to Major Halket and Governor Glen. They took memorandums, and went to the General. 12th-They told us we should stay till the General went. "14th-The General intended to go; but his horses could not be found. They thought the Indians had carried them off. They hunted all day for the horses, but could not find them. I spoke to Colonel Bouquet about our allowance being so small, that we could hardly subsist; and that we were without money; and desired him to let us have some money, that we might buy necessaries. Provisions, and everything is exceeding dear. One pound of bread cost a shilling; one pound of sugar four shillings, a quart of rum seven shillings and six pence, and so in proportion. Colonel Bouquet laid our matters before the General; who let me call, and excused himself, that his distemper had hindered him from speaking with me; and promised to help me in everything I should want, and ordered him to give me some money. He said farther, that I often should call; and when he was alone he would speak with me. "116th-Mr. Hays, being a hunting, was so lucky as to find the General's horses, and brought them home; for which the General was very thankful to him.' 17th-Mr. Hays being desired by Major Halket to go and look for the other horses, went, but found none. " 18th-The General told me to hold myself ready, to go with him down the country. "20th-After we had been out two days, to hunt for our horses, in the rain, we went again to-day, and were informed, they had been seen in a lost condition one lying on the hill, and the other standing; they had been hoppled together; but a person told us, he had cut the hopples. When we came home we found the horses; they having made home to the fort. "22d-It was cold and stormy weather. "23d-I hunted for our horses, and having found them, we gave them both to the king's commissary; they not being able to carry us farther. "The serjeant, Henry Osten, being one of the company that guided us, as above mentioned, and was that same prisoner, whom the Shawanos intended to burn alive, came to-day to the fort. He was much rejoiced to see us, and said,'I thank you a thousand times for my deliverance from the fire; POST'S SECOND JOURNAL. 175 and think it not too much to be at your service my whole life time.' He gave us intelligence that the Indians were, as yet, mightily for the English. His master had offered to set him at liberty, and bring him to Pittsburgh if he would promise him ten gallons of rum; which he did, and he was brought safe to Pittsburgh. Delaware George is still faithful to the English; and was very helpful to procure his liberty. Isaac Still, Shingiss and Beaver are gone with the message to the nations living further off. When the French had heard that the garrison, at Pittsburgh, consisted only of two hundred men, they resolved to go down from Venango and destroy the English fort. So soon as the Indians at Kushkushking heard of their intention, they sent a message to the French, desiring them to draw back; for they would have no war in their country. The friendly Indians have sent out parties with that intention, that if the French went on, in their march towards the fort, they would catch them, and bring them to the English. They showed to Osten the place where eight French Indian spies had lain near the fort. By their marks upon the place, they learned that these eight were gone back, and five more were to come to the same place again. He told us further, that the Indians had spoken among themselves, that if the English would join them, they would go to Venango and destroy the French there. We hear that the friendly Indians intend to hunt around the fort, at Pittsburgh, and bring the garrison fresh meat. And upon this intelligence the General sent Captain Wedderholz with fifty men, to reinforce the garrison at Pittsburgh. "25th-The people in the camp prepared for a Christmas frolic; but I kept Christmas in the woods by myself. "26th-To-day an express came from Pittsburgh to inform the General that the French had called all the Indians in their interest together, and intended to come and destroy them there. "27th-Towards noon the General set out; which caused a great joy among the garrison, which had hitherto lain in tents, but now being a smaller company, could be more comfortably lolged. It snowed the whole day. We encamped by a beaver dam, under Laurel Hill. " 28th-We came to Stony Creek, where Mr. Quicksell is stationed. The General sent Mr. Hays express to Fort Bedford (Raystown), and commanded him to see if the place for encampment, under the Allegheny mountain, was prepared; as also to take care that refreshments should be at hand, at his coming. It was stormy, and snowed all the day. "29th-On the road I came up with some wagons; and found my horses with the company; who had taken my horse up, and intended to carry him the same way. We encamped on this side, under the Allegheny hill. "30th-Very early I hunted for my horses, but in vain, and therefore was obliged to carry my saddle bags, and other baggage on my back. The 176 THE OLDEN TIME. burden was heavy and the road bad; which made me very tired, and I came late to Bedford; where I took my old lodging with Mr. Frazier. They received me kindly, and refreshed me according to their ability. "31st-This day we rested, and, contrary to expectation, preparation was made for moving further to-morrow. Mr. Hays, who has his lodging with the commander of that place, visited me. "January 1st, 1759-We set out early.. I got my saddle bags upon a wagon; but my bed and covering I carried upon my back; and came that day to the crossing of Juniata; where I had poor lodgings, being obliged to sleep in the open air, the night being very cold. "2d-We set out early. I wondered very much that the horses, in these slippery roads, came so well with the wagons over these steep hills. We came to Fort Littleton; where I drew provisions; but could not find any who had bread, to exchange for flour. I took lodging in a common house. Mr. Hays arrived late. " 3d-We rose early. I thought to travel the nearest road to Shippenstown, and therefore desired leave of the General to prosecute my journey to Lancaster, and wait for his Excellency there; but he desired me to follow in his company. It snowed, freezed, rained, and was stormy the whole day. All were exceeding glad that the General arrived safe at Fort Loudon. There was no room in the fort for such a great company; I therefore, and some others went two miles further, and got lodging at a plantation. "4th-I and my company took the upper road; which is three miles nearer to Shippenstown, where we arrived this evening. The slippery roads made me, as a traveler, very tired. "5th-To-day I stayed here for the General. Mr. Hays went ten miles further, to see some of his relations. In the afternoon, Israel Pemberton came from Philadelphia to wait upon the General. "6th —I came to-day ten miles to Mr. Miller's, where I lodged, having no comfortable place in Shippenstown; all the houses being crowded with people. " 7th —They made preparation, at Mr. Miller's, for the reception of the General; but he, being so well to-day, resolved to go as far as Carlisle. I could scarce find any lodging there. Henry Montour was so kind as to take me in his room. " 8th-I begged the General for leave to go to Lancaster, having some business, which he at last granted. I went to Captain Sinclair for a horse, who ordered me to go to the Chief Justice of the town; who ought to procure one for me, in the province service. According to this order I went; but the Justice told me that he did not know how to get any horse; if I would go and look for one, he should be glad if I found aiy. But having no mind to run fiom one to another, I resolved to walk, as I had CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE, &C. 177 done before; and so traveled along, and came about ten miles that day to a tavern keeper's, named Chesnut. "9th-To-day I crossed the Susquehanna over the ice, and came within thirteen miles of Lancaster. It was slippery and heavy traveling. "10th-It rained all the day. I arrived at three o'clock, in the afternoon, in Lancaster; and was quite refreshed, to have the favor to see my brethren." HISTORICAL INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE. In the preceding number of the Olden Time it was stated that the war between Great Britain and France had been unfortunate and disgraceful on the part of the former power, during the years 1755, 1756 and 1757. The campaign of 1757 closed, leaving the affairs of Great Britain in North America in a more gloomy situation than at any former period. By the capture of Fort William Henry, on Lake George, in New York, by the Marquis de Montcalm, the French obtained complete possession of that lake and Champlain, which afford the easiest passage into Canada, or from that province into the British colonies. By the destruction of Oswego they had obtained control of the Great Lakes, and by their possession of Fort Duquesne they maintained their ascendency over the Western Indians, and held control of all the country west of the Allegheny mountains. Under such circumstances it was natural enough fbr Lord Chesterfield to say, "I never yet saw so dreadful a time." In June, 1757, at the very time when that noble man was writing in so desponding a tone, the great man from whom our city derived its name, was placed at the head of the ministry, and a very short time showed that in him were combined in an extraordinary manner qualities seldom united in one person. His talent for action seemed even to eclipse those displayed in debate, and in directing the vast and complicated movements of war, extending on both elements, over every quarter of the world, he evinced a vigorPof mind, a clearness of judgment, and a decision of character, surpassing the expectations, even of those who bad long been accustomed to admire the firmness which he had exhibited in his political course. His plans partaking of the proud character of his own mind, and the exalted opinion he entertained of his countrymen, were always grand, and the means he employed for their execution never failed to be adequate to the object. Possessing without limitation the public confidence, he commanded all the VOL. i-12 178 THE OLDEN TIME. resources of the nation, and drew liberally from the public purse; but the money was always faithfully applied in the public service. Too great in his spirit, too sublime in his views, to become the instrument of faction when placed at the head of the nation, he regarded only the interests of the nation, and overlooking the country or the party which had given birth to merit, he searched only for merit, and employed it wherever it could be found." We have deemed it proper to give this notice of that great man, WILLIAM PITT, Earl of Chatham, from whom our city derived its name, although it does not come within the strict limits which we have prescribed for our publication. When that great man assumed the control of public affairs in Great Britain, Earl Loudown was commander-in-chief in America. The following notice of him, from Graham's History of North America, proves him to have been an unfit agent in the hands of the new Premier: " If it had been the wish of the British Ministers to render the guardian care of the parent State ridiculous, and its supremacy odious to the colonists, they could hardly have selected a fitter instrument for the achievement of the sinister purpose than Lord Loudown. Devoid of genius, either civil or military; always hurried, and hurrying others, yet making little progress in the dispatch of business; hasty to project and threaten, but mutable, indecisive, and languid in pursuit and action; negligent of even the semblance of public virtue; impotent against the enemy whom he was sent to destroy; formidable only to the spirit and liberty of the people whom he was commissioned to defend; he excited alternately the disgust, the apprehensions, and the contemptuous amazement of the colonists.' He is like St. George on a sign,' said a Philadelphian to Dr. Franklin,'always on horseback, but never advancing.'" In February, 1758, Lord Loudown was superseded, and Gen. Abercrombie appointed in his place. Mr. Pitt is reported to have assigned as a reason for removing the Earl, " that he could never learn what he was doing." Admiral Boscawen arrived early in the spring of 1758, at Halifax, with a formidable fleet and about twelve thousand British troops, under the command of General Amherst. On board this fleet (we may mention in passing), came ARTHUR'ST: CLAIR, who afterwards became a citizen of an adjoining county, and who was subsequently much distinguished by his talents, services and misfortunes. General Abercrombie had then under his command the most powerful army ever before seen in the new world. His whole numbers, comprehending troops of every description, were computed by Mr. Belsham at fifty thousand men, of whom about twenty thousand were provincials. The plan of the campaign of 1758 embraced three expeditions. Two of these come not within the scope of our work; we shall, therefore, barely mention, that the first was against Louisbourg, in the island of Cape Breton. The direction of this expedition was entrusted to CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE, &C. 179 General Amherst, with fourteen thousand men, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line, and thirty frigates. It proved completely successful. The second expedition was against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and was undertaken by General Abercrombie himself, with sixteen thousand men. It proved unsuccessful; but, afterwards, a detachment of three thousand men from the same army, under Colonel Bradstreet, took possession of Fort Frontenac, where Kingston, in Upper Canada, now stands, with sixty pieces of cannon, a large number of small arms, provisions, military stores, and goods to a very large amount; nine armed vessels, mounting from eight to eighteen guns, also fell into the hands of the English. Having destroyed the fort, the vessels, and such stores as could not be brought away, Colonel Bradstreet recrossed the lake and rejoined the army. The success of Colonel Bradstreet is supposed to have contributed materially to the fortunate result of the expedition, which was directed against Fort Duquesne, by cutting off the communication between Quebec and the Ohio river by intercepting supplies intended for the latter place. The third expedition, that one which comes directly within the scope of our publication, was against Fort Duquesne. This was committed to General John Forbes, with an army of near nine thousand men, consisting of British regulars, and provincials from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir. ginia, North Carolina, and the lower counties, now Delaware. General Forbes marched from Philadephia about the middle of July, 1758, to join Colonel Bouquet at Raystown, now Bedford. Great, probably unavoidable delays, were experienced in making the necessary arrangements for advancing fiom the latter place, and it was not until the month of September that the Virginia provincials, under Col. George Washington, were ordered from Fort Cumberland to Raystown. While the advanced division of the army lay at the Loyal Hanning, near Fort Ligonier, Major Grant marched to the vicinity of Fort Duquesne, where he was defeated. The following letter published soon after in the Pennsylvania Gazette, gives the fullest account of that affair which we have seen. 3<^~~~ "a~' ANNAPOLIS, October 5th, 1758. "We are informed, by a letter from Frederick county, that on Monday, the 11th day of September, Maj. Grant, of the Highland regiment, marched from Our camp on the waters of the Kiskiminitas, with 37 officers and 805 privates, taken from the different regiments that compose the Western Army, on an expedition against Fort Duquesne. " The tb ird day after their march, they arrived within eleven miles of Fort Duquesne, and halted till three o'clock in the afternoon; then marched within two miles of Fort Duquesne, and left their baggage there, guarded by a captain, two subalterns, and fifty men, and marched with the rest of the troops, and arrived at eleven o'clock at night upon a hill, a quarter of a mile from 180 THE OLDEN TIME. the fort. Maj. Grant sent two officers and fifty men to the fort, to attack all the Indians, &c., they should find lying out of the fort; they saw none, nor were they challenged by the sentries. As they returned, they set fire to a large store house, which was put out as soon as they left it. At break of day, Major Lewis was sent, with 200 men (loyal Americans and Virginians), to lie in ambush a mile and a half from the main body, on the path on which they left their baggage, imagining the French would send to attack the baggage guard and seize it. Four hundred men were posted along the hill facing the fort, to cover the retreat of Major M'Donald's company, who marched with drums beating toward the fort, in order to draw a party out of the fort, as Maj. Grant had some reason to believe there were not above 200 men in the fort, including Indians; but as soon as they heard the drums, they sallied out in great numbers, both French and Indians, and fell upon Captain M'Donnald, and two columns that were posted lower on the hill to receive them. The Highlanders exposed themselves without any cover, and were shot down in great numbers, and soon forced to retreat. The Carolinians, Marylanders, and Lower Countrymen, concealing themselves behind trees and the brush, made a good defence; but were overpowered by numbers, and not being supported, were obliged to follow the rest. Maj. Grant exposed himself in the thickest of the fire, and endeavored to rally his men, but all to no purpose, as they were by this time flanked on all sides. Major Lewis and his party came up and engaged, but were soon obliged to give way, the enemy having the hill of him, and flanking him every way. A number were drove into the Ohio, most of whom were drowned. Major Grant retreated to the baggage, where Captain Bullet was posted with fifty men, and again endeavored to rally the flying soldiers, by entreating them in the most pathetic manner to stand by him, but all in vain, as the enemy were close at their heels. As soon as the enemy came up to Captain Bullet, he attacked them very furiously, for some time, but not being supported, and most of his men killed, was obliged to give way. However, his attacking them stopped the pursuit, so as to give many an opportunity of escaping. The enemy followed Major Grant, and at last separated them, and Captain Bullet was obliged to make off. He imagines the Major must be taken, as he was surrounded on all sides, but the enemy would not kill him, and often called to him to surrender. The French gave quarters to all that would accept it." On the 14th of October, the rear division of the army advanced from Raystown, towards Loyal Hanning. On the same day a letter was written at the latter place, from which we make the following extract: " We were attacked on Thursday (12th), by 1,200 French and 200 Indians, beginning at 11 A. M. and continuing until 3 P. M., when I had the pleasure of seeing victory attend the British arms. The enemy attempted to attack CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE, AC. 181 us again at night, when in return for their melodious music, we gave them some shells from our mortars, which soon made them retreat. The following is a list of the killed, wounded, and missing: KILLED. WOUNDED. MISSING. Highlanders 1 0 0 1st Virginia Reg't 4 6 0 N. Carolina Companies 0 0 3 Maryland, do. 2 6 11 1st Penna. Reg't 4 5 12 2d do. do. 1 0 4 Lower Country Comp. 0 0 1 Total, 12 17 31 The above letter and list are from the Pennsylvania Gazette, and is the only account we have seen of the affair. On the 18th of November, General Forbes advanced with the rear division of the army from Loyal HIanning, and on the 24th arrived near Fort Duquesne, where the incident noticed in the following paragraphs occurred: "We received the following account of some incidents which occurred on the day of the taking possession of this place, by General Forbes, from an esteemed friend, to whom it was related by Captain Craighead, who commanded a company of Provincials on that day. "On the evening of the 24th of November, 1758, General Forbes encamped twelve miles from this place. During the day he had received intelligence that the French commandant was preparing to abandon Fort Duquesne. The defeat of General Braddock, only three years before, was too recent to be forgotten, and of course operated as a salutary hint to General Forbes, not to advance rashly. The intelligence, therefore, even if believed, was not to be relied upon, and was not communicated to the troops. / "On the morning of the next day, the 25th of November, 1758, the army advanced from their encampment-the provincial troops in front 4followed by a body of Highlanders. "Upon their arrival near Fort Duquesne, they entered upon an Indian race path, upon each side of which a number of stakes, with the bark peeled off, where stuck into the earth, and upon each stake was fixed the head and kilt of a Highlander who had been killed or taken prisoner at Grant's defeat. The provincials, being front, obtained the first view of these horrible spectacles, which it may readily be believed, excited no very kindly feelings in their breasts. They passed along, however, without any manifestation of their violent wrath. But as soon as the Highlanders came in sight of the remains of their countrymen, a slight buzz was heard in their ranks, which rapidly swelled and grew louder and louder. Exasperated not only by the barbarous outrages upon the persons of their unfortunate 182 THE OLDEN TIME. fellow soldiers who had fallen only a few days before, but maddened by the insult which was conveyed by the exhibition of their kilts, and which they well understood, as they had long been nicknamed the'petticoat warriors' by the Indians, their wrath knew no bounds. "Directly a rapid and violent tramping was heard, and immediately the whole corps of the Highlanders, with their muskets abandoned, and broad swords drawn, rushed by the provincials, foaming with rage, and resembling, as Captain Craighead coarsely expressed it,'mad boars engaged in battle,' swearing vengeance and extermination upon the French troops who had permitted such outrages. Their march was now hastened-the whole army moved forward after the Highlanders, and when they arrived somewhere about where the canal now passes, the Fort was discovered to be in flames, and the last of the boats, with the flying Frenchmen, were seen passing down the Ohio by Smoky Island. Great was the disappointment of the exasperated Highlanders at the escape of the French, and their wrath subsided into a sullen and relentless desire for vengeance."-Pittsburgh Gazette. The following letters give a full account of the taking possession of the remains of Fort Duquesne: A LETTER FROM THE HON. COLONEL BOUQUET, TO WM. ALLEN, ESQ., CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA. " Fort Duquesne, 25th November, 1758. "Dear Sir-I take, with great pleasure, this first opportunity of informing you of the reduction of this important place, persuaded that the success of his Majesty's arms on this side, will give you a great satisfaction, and reward you for all the pains you have taken for the difficult supply of this army. " We marched from Loyal Hannon with twenty-five hundred picked men, without tents or baggage, and a light train of artillery, in the expectation of meeting the enemies, and determining, by a battle, who should possess this country. The distance is about fifty miles, which we marched in five days, a great diligence considering the season-the uncertainty of the roads entirely unknown, and the difficulty of making them practicable for the artillery. " The 23d we took post at twelve miles from hence, and halted the 24th for intelligence. In the evening our Indians reported that they had discovered a very thick smoke from the fort, extending in the bottom along the Ohio. A few hours after, they sent word that the enemies had abandoned their fort, after having burnt everything. "We marched this morning, and found the report true. They have CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE, &C. 183 blown up and destroyed all their fortifications, houses, ovens and magazines; all their Indian goods were burnt in the stores, which seems to have been very considerable. " They seem to have been about four hundred men; part have gone down the Ohio; one hundred by land, supposed to Presque-Isle, and two hundred with the Governor, M. de Lignery, to Venango, where, he told the Indians, he intended to stay this winter, with an intention to dislodge us in the spring. We would soon make him shift his quarters, had we only provisions, but we are scarcely able to maintain ourselves a few days here to treat with the neighboring Indians, who are summoned to meet us. The destruction of the fort, the want of victuals, and the impossibility of being supplied in time, at this distance and season of the year, obliges us to go back and leave a small detachment of two hundred men only, by way of keeping possession of the ground. " This successful expedition can be of great service to the provinces, provided they will improve and support it. It is now the time to take vigorous measures to secure this conquest; and unless Virginia and Pennsylvania can agree upon an immediate assistance, all our pains and advantages will be lost. "An immediate supply of provisions, clothing and necessaries, should at any rate be sent up for the support of the troops; and measures taken for the formation of magazines on the frontiers (Raystown and Cumberland), for the supply of an army to act early in the spring. " The succors and directions from England would be too late, and if the colonies do not exert themselves to the utmost of their power, I am afraid they will have occasion to repent it. "Indian goods ought to be provided without delay, with a Commissary, or proper person to dispose of them, either for trade or presents, as our new friends cannot remain long unprovided, and would soon return to the French, were we to let them be in want. Some artificers are also greatly wanted, such as carpenters, smiths, masons, gun-smiths, and chiefly ship-builders, &c., &c. "A number of cows and bulls, mares and stallions, garden seeds, corn, &c. Every moment is precious, and the land so rich, and the pastures so abundant, that everything would thrive, and the garrison would soon be able to support itself. " Fish nets and hooks would likewise be of great use for people reduced to salt meat; and some rice, barley, &c., to prevent the scurvy among the men. " I enter into all these details with you, because I think the safety of this post depends upon it, and in the plenty you are used to live, they would not so readily occur to you, as to us who are deficient of every necessary of life. Could you diffuse into the Assembly the public spirit that directs 184 THE OLDEN TIME. all your actions, I would be very easy about the consequences; but I know the dispositions of the people in general, always indolent and ready to fall asleep on the smallest gleam of ease and quiet; you must rouse them, and make them sensible that this business is but half done. We have acted our part, let you do yours. It is now in your power to enjoy in peace and quietness your lands and possessions, if you will only lay out some money, which may save you ten times more, and the lives of thousands of your poor inhabitants. "After God, the success of this expedition is entirely due to the General, who, by bringing about the treaty with the Indians at Easton, has struck the blow which has knocked the French on the head; in temporizing wisely to expect the effects of that treaty; in securing all his posts, and giving nothing to chance: and not yielding to the urgent instances for taking Braddock's road, which would have been our destruction. In all those measures, I say, he has shown the greatest prudence, firmness and ability. Nobody is better informed of the numberless difficulties he had to surmount, than I am, who had an opportunity to see every step that was taken from the beginning, and every obstruction that was thrown in the way. I wish the nation may be as sensible of his service as he really deserves, and give him the only reward that can flatter him, the pleasure of seeing them pleased and satisfied.; I expect the satisfaction to see you this winter, and to talk more at large upon the subject.' I beg you will present my compliments to Mrs. Allen, and believe me, with great truth, dear sir, "Your most obedient humble servant, "HENRY BOUQUET." A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN HASLET TO THE REV. DR. ALISON. "Fort Duquesne, November 26th, 1758. "R. D. Sir-I have now the pleasure to write you from the ruins of the fort. On the 24th, at night, we were informed by one of our Indian scouts, that he had discovered a cloud of smoke above the place, and soon after another came in with certain intelligence, that it was burnt and abandoned by the enemy. We were then about fifteen miles from it; a troop of horse was sent forward immediately to extinguish the burning, and the whole army followed. We arrived at 6 o'clock last night, and found it in a great measure destroyed. There are two forts, about two hundred yards distant, the one built with immense labor, small, but a great deal of very strong works collected into very little room, and stands on the point of a narrow neck of land at the confluence of the two rivers.'Tis square, and has two CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE, &C. 185 ravelins, gabions at each corner, &c. The other fort stands on the bank of the Allegheny, in form of a parallelogram, but nothing so strong as the other: several of the out-works are lately begun and still unfinished, There are, I think, thirty stacks of chimneys standing, the houses all burnt down. They sprung one mine, which ruined one of their magazines. In the other we found sixteen barrels of ammunition, a prodigious quantity of old carriage iron, barrels of guns, about a cart load of scalping knives, &c. They went off in such haste, that they could not make quite the havoc of their works they intended. We are told, by the Indians, that they lay the night before last at Beaver Creek, forty miles down the Ohio from here. Whether they buried their cannon in the river, or carried them down in their batteaux, we have not yet learned. A boy twelve years old, who has been their prisoner two years, who escaped on the 2d inst., tells us they carried a prodigious quantity of wood into the fort, that they had burned five of the prisoners they took at Major Grant's defeat, on the parade, and delivered others to the Indians, who were tomahawked on the spot. We have found numbers of dead bodies within a quarter of a mile of the fort, unburied, and so many monuments of French humanity. A great many Indians, mostly Delawares, are gathered on the Island last night and this morning, to treat with the General, and we are making rafts to bring them over. Whether the General will think of repairing the ruins, or leaving any of the troops here, I have not yet heard. Mr. Beatty is appointed to preach a thanksgiving sermon for the remarkable superiority of his Majesty's arms. We left all our tents at Loyal Hannon, and everyconveniency except a blanket and knapsack. You'11 excuse the errors of haste, and believe me to be, Rev'd Sir, "Your most obed't serv't, "JOHN HASLET." 186 THE OLDEN TIME. VISIT TO BRADDOCK'S FIELD. The acquisition of this place was of immense importance to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Its possession had given the French absolute control over the Indians of the Ohio, who were accustomed to assemble there and make from this place most destructive excursions against the frontiers of those colonies. Finding the current of success running against their French friends, the Indians manifested a disposition to reconcile themselves to the most powerful, and a peace was soon concluded with all the Indians between the lakes and the Ohio. Thus the whole country constituting the original cause of quarrel, had now again changed masters, and was in the possession of the English. Soon after, an expedition to Braddock's Field, to bury the remains of the sufferers, on the 9th of July, 1755, was concerted. The following graphic account of that interesting, though melancholy incident, is from Galt's Life of Benjamin West: "After the taking of Fort Duquesne, General Forbes resolved to search for the relics of Braddock's army. As the European soldiers were not so well qualified to explore the forests, Captain West, the elder brother of Benjamin West, the painter, was appointed, with his company of American Sharpshooters, to assist in the execution of this duty, and a party of Indian warriors, who had returned to the British interests, were requested to conduct him to the places where the bones of the slain were likely to be found. In this solemn and affecting duty several officers belonging to the 42d Regiment, accompanied the detach ment, and with them Major Sir Peter Halket, who had lost his father and a brother in the fatal destruction of the army. It might have been thought a hopeless task that he should be able to discriminate their remains from the common relics of the other soldiers, but he was induced to think otherwise, as one of the Indian warriors assured him that he had seen an officer fall near a remarkable tree, which he thought he could discover, informing him, at the same time, that the incident was impressed on his memory by observing a young subaltern, who, in running to the officer's assistance, was almost shot dead on his reaching the spot, and f1ll across the other's body. The major had a mournful conviction on his mind, that the two officers were his father and brother; and indeed VISIT TO BRADDOCK'S FIELD. 187 it was chiefly owing to his anxiety on the subject, that this pious expedition, the second one of the kind that history records, was undertaken. "Captain West and his companions proceeded through the woods, and along the banks of the river, towards the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the expedition as a religious rite, and guided the troops with awe, and in profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less serious, and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast forests, their hearts were often melted with inexpressible sorrow, for they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees-a mournful proof to their imaginations, that the men who sat there had perished of hunger, in vainly attempting to find their way to the plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of horror by the sight of sculls and hones scattered on the ground-a certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts; and in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amidst the relics-the tremendous evidence of atrocious rites. " At length they reached a turn of the river, not far from the principal scene of destruction, and the Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped; the detachment also halted. He then looked round in quest of some object which might recall, distinctly, his recollection of the ground, and suddenly darted into the woods. The soldiers rested their arms without speaking. A shrill cry was soon heard after, and the other guides made signs for the troops to follow them towards the spot from which it came. In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry, had announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was posted on the day of battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men around the spot, and with Sir Peter Halket and other officers formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground. The skeletons were found, as the Indians expected, lying across each other. The officers having looked at them some time, the Major said that, as his father had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if they were indeed his bones and those of his brother. "The Indians were, therefore, ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to view that of the old officer. This was done, and, after a short examination, Major Halket exclaimed,' It is my father,' and fell back into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them, and they were interred with the customary honors. " When Lord Grosvernor bought the picture of the Death of Wolfe, Mr. West mentioned to him the finding of the bones of Braddock's army, as a pictorial subject, capable of being managed with great effect. The gloom of the vast forest, the naked and simple Indians supporting the skeletons, 188 THE OLDEN TIME. the grief of the son on recognizing the relics of his father, the subdued melancholy of the spectators, and the picturesque garb of the Pennsylvania Sharpshooters, undoubtedly furnished topics capable of every effect which the pencil could bestow, or the imagination require, in the treatment of so sublime a scene. His Lordship admitted that in possessing so affecting an incident as the discovery of the bones of the Halkets, it was superior even to that of the search of the remains of the army of Varus; but, as the transaction was little known, and not recorded by any historian, he thought it (the painting) would not be interesting to the public." DEATH OF GENERAL FORBES. 189 DEATH OF GENERAL FORBES. Extract from the Pennsylvania Gazette, published at Philadelphia on the 18th of January, 1759. " Last night General Forbes arrived in town, when the guns were fired and bells rung." The following notice of the death of. General Forbes, is from the same paper of the 15th of March, 1759. "' On Sunday last, died, of a tedious illness, John Forbes, Esq., in the 49th year of his age, son to F- orbes, Esq., of Pentecrief, in the Shire of Fife, in Scotland, Brigadier General, Colonel of the 17th Regiment of Foot, and Commander of his Majesty's troops in the Southern Provinces of North America; a gentleman generally known and esteemed, and most sincerely and universally regretted. In his younger days he was bred to the profession of physic, but, early ambitious of the military character, he purchased into the Regiment of Scot's Grey Dragoons, where, by repeated purchases and faithful services, he arrived to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His superior abilities soon recommended him to the protection of General Campbell, the Earl of Stair, Duke of Bedford, Lord Ligonier, and other distinguished characters in the army: with some of them as an aid; with the rest in the familiarity of a family man. During the last war he had the honor to be employed iu the post of Quarter-Master General, in the army under his Royal Highness, the Duke, which he discharged with accuracy, dignity and dispatch. His services in America are well known. By a steady pursuit of well concerted measures, in defiance of disease and numberless obstructions, he brought to a happy issue a most extraordinary campaign, and made a willing sacrifice of his own life to what he valued more —the interests of his king and country. As a man he was just and without prejudices; brave without ostentation; uncommonly warm in his friendships, and incapable of flattery; acquainted with the world and mankind, he was well bred, but absolutely impatient of formality and affectation. As an officer, he was quick to discern useful men and useful measures, generally seeing both at first view, according to their real qualities; steady in his measures, and open to information and council; in command he had 190 THE OLDEN TIME. dignity without superciliousness; and thought perfectly master of the forms, never hesitated to drop them, when the spirit and more essential parts of the service required it. "Yesterday (14th), he was interred in the Chancel of Christ's Church, in this city." NOTICE OF THE GERMAN HERO ARMINIUS. The circumstances attending the defeat of Varus, and the subsequent visit to the field by a Roman army, under Germanicus, so closely resemble those above detailed, that we cannot resist the temptation to notice them; although certainly in doing so, we depart widely from the design of our Magazine. ARMINIUS (in English, Hermann), the deliverer of Germany from the Roman yoke, was the son of Sigimer, the Prince of the Cherusci. He was educated at Rome, but continued faithful to his country, and determined to assert her independence. In the year of Christ, 9, Quintilius Varus, the Roman commander, was appointed with the flower of the army, to maintain tranquillity in the new territory on the right bank of the Rhine, insurrections having broken out among the Germans. Varus was induced, by treacherous counselors, to advance far into the territory of the Bructeri, near the source of the river Lippe. His army consisted of three legions, some cohorts and German auxiliaries. Having advanced for many days, through thick forests, they suddenly found themselves in a deep valley, surrounded by hills occupied by their German foes, and to add to their consternation, their rear guard, composed of Germans, joined in the assault upon them. For three days the struggles of the doomed Romans continued. But their fate was only so long delayed. Yarus himself committed suicide.'The field of'destruction is supposed to have been near the little village of Detmold, near the sources of the Ems and the Lippe. Germanicus was the son of Drusus and Antonia, the niece of the deceased Emperor Augustus. He was adopted by Tiberius, who afterwards became jealous of his military services and popularity. He died a few years after his visit to the field where Yarus and his army were destroyed. Strong suspicions existed that he was poisoned through the instigation of Tiberius. NOTICE OF THE GERMAN HERO, ARMINIUS, &C. 191 This statement is sufficient to render intelligible the following article: EXTRACT FROM' THE ANNALS OF TACITUS, BOOK 1, SECTIONS 60, 61, and 62: "Lucius Stertinius, with a detachment of the light horse, was ordered to pursue the fugitives. That officer came up with the enemy, and put the whole body to the rout. Amidst the slaughter that followed, some of the soldiers were intent on plunder. Among the spoils was found the eagle of the nineteenth legion, lost in the massacre of Varus. The army pushed on with vigor to the furthest limit of the Bructerians. The whole country between the river Amisia and the Luppia was made a desert. The Romans were now at a short distance from the forest of Tentoburgium, where the bones of Varus and his (three) legions were said to be still unburied. "' Touched by this affecting circumstance, Germanicus resolved to pay the last human office to the relics of that unfortunate commander and his slaughtered soldiers. The same tender sentiment diffused itself through the army; some felt the touch of nature for their relatives, others for their friends, and all lamented the disasters of war, and the wretched lot of human kind. Ccecina was sent forward to explore the woods where the waters were out, to throw up bridges, and by heaping loads of earth on the swampy soil, to secure a solid footing The army marched through a gloomy solitude. The place presented an awful spectacle, and the memory of a tragical event increased the horror of the scene. The first camp of Varus appeared in view. The extent of the ground, and the three different inclosures for the eagles still distinctly seen, left no doubt but that the whole was the work of the three legions. Further on we traced the ruins of a rampart, and the hollow of a ditch well nigh filled up. This was supposed to be the spot where the few who escaped the general massacre made their last effort, and perished in the attempt. The plains around were white with bones; in some palaces thinly scattered, in others lying in heaps, as the men happened to fall in flight, or in a body resisted to the last. Fragments of javelins, and limbs of horses, lay scattered in the field. Human skulls were seen upon the trunks of trees. In the adjacent woods stood the savage altars where the tribunes and principal centurians were offered up a sacrifice with barbarous rites. Some of the soldiers who survived that dreadful day, and afterwards broke their chains, related, circumstantially, several particulars.' Here the commanders of the legions were put to the sword; on that spot the eagles were seized. There Varus received his first wound; and this the place where he gave himself the mortal stab, and died by his own sword. Yonder mound was the tribunal from which Arminius harangued his countrymen; here he fixed his gibbets: there he dug the funeral trenches; and in that quarter he offered every mark of scorn and insolence to the colors and the Roman eagles.' 192 THE OLDEN TIME. "Six years had elapsed since the overthrow of Varus; and now, on the same spot, the Roman army collected the bones of their slaughtered countrymen. Whether they were burying the remains of strangers, or of their own friends, no man knew; all, however, considered themselves as performing the last obsequies to their kindred and their brother soldiers. While employed in this pious office, their hearts were torn with contending passions; by turns oppressed with grief, and burning for revenge. A monument to the memory of the dead was raised with turf. Germanicus, with his own hand, laid the first sod; discharging at once the tribute due to the legions, and sympathizing with the rest of the army." THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. MAY, 1846. No, B. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] FORT DUQUESNE having been destroyed, or at least greatly injured by the French before their departure, it became necessary for the defence of this place, that a new work should be erected. There was, of course, great difficulty in supplying a large force with provisions, at so great a distance from the settlements, at so late a season of the year. It was, therefore, determined to erect a small work, to be occupied by two hundred men, and march the rest of the army into the interior. A small square stockade, with a bastion at each angle, was erected on the bank of the Monongahela, between Liberty and West Streets. This work was built in 1758, but was only intended for temporary occupancy. We found in the Colonial Records at Harrisburgh, and in the Pennsylvania Gazette, occasional reference to movements here, at that early period, which we propose to preserve in this publication. It was stated in the last number of the OLDEN TIME, that General Forbes arrived in Philadelphia on the 17th of January, 1759. Upon his departure Col. Hugh Mercer was left in command here. His situation was really a perilous one. The French, though driven from here, were still in possession of Fort Venango, where Franklin now stands, and had also a post at Kuskuskee, on the Big Beaver, near the mouth of the Mahoning. VOL. -13 194 THE OLDEN TIME. EXTRACT OF A LETER FROM COLONEL HIUGH MERCER, DATED PITTSBURGH, JANUARY 8TH. 1759. "The intelligence I have from every quarter makes it evident that the French have not lost hopes of securing a post here. They are extremely busy in collecting their over-the-lake Indians, and assembling them near Kuskuskee, where they are forming a magazine of arms and provisions. They have yet many friends among the Delawares. The Deputies of the Six Nations, who have just came in from Venango, inform us that there is but a small force there. This garrison now consists of two hundred and eighty men, and is capable of some defence, though huddled up in a very hasty manner, the weather being extremely severe." A letter from Gen. Amherst, dated March 11th, 1759, announces the death of General Forbes, and the nomination of General John Stanwix to succeed him. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM COL. MERCER, DATED M ARCH 1ST, 1759. "The Delawares at the mouth of Beaver intend to remove to Kuskuskee." EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM COL. HUGH MERCER, DATED PITTSBURGH, JULY 17TH, 1759. "The greatly superior force which the enemy had collected at Venango greatly alarmed them (the Indians). Again on the 15th instant we had the following accounts from two Six Nations Indians sent to spy at Venango, who left this place the 7th. They found at Venango, 700 French and 400 Indians. The commanding officer told them he expected 600 more Indians, that as soon as they arrived he would come and drive us from this place. Next day 200 Indians came to Venango, and the same number next day, and the third day they were all fitted off for the expedition by the 11th at night, and three pieces of cannon brought from Le Boeuf, the others expected every hour, with a great many batteaux loaded with provisions. In the morning, the 12th, a grand council was held, in which the commandant thanked the Indians for attending him, threw down the war-belt, and told them he would set off the next day. The Indians consented, but were somewhat disconcerted by one of the Six Nations, who gave them wampum, telling them to consider what they did, and not to be in too great hurry; soon after, messengers arrived with a packet for the officer who held the council, at which he and the other officers appeared much concerned, and at length he told the Indians,'Children, I have received bad news, the English are gone against Niagara.* We must give *In 1759 three expeditions were planned, one under Wolfe, against Quebec; the second under Amherst, against Crown Point and Ticonderoga; the third under General Prideaux, against Fort Niagara. The latter landed near Niagara on the 6th of July, which he soon invested, but was soon killed by the bursting of a coe-horn. The command then devolved on Sir William Johnson, who pressed NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 195 over thoughts of going Idown the river, till we have cleared that place of the enemy. If it should be taken, our road to you is stopped, and you must become poor.' Orders were immediately given to proceed with the artillery, provisions, &c., up French Creek, which the spies saw set off, and the Indians making up their bundles to follow. They reckon there were upwards of 1000 Indians, collected from twelve different nations, at Venango. Half the party that attacked Ligonier were returned without prisoner and scalp. They had, by their own account, one Indian killed and one wounded. Twenty-two Wyandots have just arrived probably of those collected at Venango. Since the Conference, we have, in conjunction with the Delawares, sent messengers with belts to all the nations in the French interest, to inform them of what their chiefs have agreed to here, and this, with the enemies embarrassed situation, we expect may break off numbers from them." OFFICERS AT FORT PITT, JULY 9TH, 1759. Colonel Hugh Mercer. Captains-Waggoner, Woodward, Prentice, Morgan, Smallman, Ward and Clayton. Lieutenants-Matthews, Hydler, Biddle, Conrod, Kennedy, Sumner, Anderson, Hutchins, Dangerfield and Wright of the train. Ensigns-Crawford, Crawford and Morgan. Sparks in his Life and Writings of Washington has the following remark about the gentleman who built Fort Pitt. "General Stanwix was a military man, and a gentleman of an elevated and liberal spirit. His letters bear a high testimony to his good sense, as well as to the delicacy of his feeling, the amenity of his temper and the generosity of his character." We have no precise information as to what time he arrived here, but the following extract of a letter, written at this place on the 24th of September, 1759, shows that he must have commenced operations about the last of August, or the first of September of that year. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM PITTSBURGH, SEPTEMBER 24. "It is now near a month since the army has been employed in erecting a most formidable fortification; such a one as will, to latest posterity, secure the British empire on the Ohio. There is no need to enumerate the abilities of the chief Engineer, nor the spirit shown by the troops, in executing the important task; the fort will soon be a lasting monument of the seige with great vigor. On the 24th of July, the French and Indians from Forts Venango, Detroit and Presqu'ile arrived near the Falls of Niagara, where an action took place. The combined forces of French and Indians were defeated, and the next day Fort Niagara with its garrison of 607 men surrendered.-ED. 196 THE OLDEN TIME. both. Upon the General's arrival, about 400 Indians, of different nations, came to confirm the peace with the English, particularly the Ottawas and Wyandotts, who inhabit about Fort Detroit; these confessed the errors they had been led into by the perfidy of the French; showed the deepest contrition for their past conduct, and promised not only to remain fast friends to the English, but to assist us in distressing the common enemy, whenever we should call on them to do it. And all the nations that have been at variance with the English, said they would deliver up what prisoners they had in their hands to the General, at a grand meeting that is to be held in about three weeks. As soon as the Congress was ended, the head of each nation presented the calumet of peace to the General, and showed every token of sincerity that could be expected, which their surrender of the prisoners will confirm. In this, as in every thing that can secure the lasting peace and happiness of these colonies, the General is indefatigable." We find this letter in a fragment of the New American Magazine, printed at Woodbridge, New Jersey, in November, 1759. Smollet, in his history of England, also mentions that General Stanwix spent the winter of 1759 and 1760 at this place, strengthening it by fortifications, and cultivating peace and friendship with the Indians. He says: "The happy consequences of these measures were soon apparent in the production of a considerable trade between the natives and the merchants of Pittsburgh, and in the perfect security of about four thousand settlers, who now returned to the quiet possession of lands, from whence they had been driven by the enemy on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia." The work, erected by General Stanwix, was five sided, though not all equal, as Washington erroneously stated in his journal in 1770. Washington also had the following remarks, "two (sides) of which near the land are of brick, the others stockade." The earth around the proposed work was dug and thrown up so as to enclose the selected position with a rampart of earth. On the two sides facing the country, this rampart was supported by what military men call a revetment,-a brick work, nearly perpendicular, supporting the rampart on the outside, and thus presenting an obstacle to the enemy not easily overcome. On the other three sides, the earth in the rampart had no support, and, of course it presented a more inclined surface to the enemyone which could readily be ascended. To remedy, in some degree, this defect in the work, a line of pickets was fixed on the outside of the foot of the slope of the rampart. Around the yhole work was a wide ditch which would of course, be filled with water when the river was at a moderate stage. In summer, however, when the river was low, the ditch was dry and NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 197 perfectly smooth, so that the officers and men had ball-alleys in the ditch, and against the revetments. This ditch extended from the salient angle of the north bastion —that is, the point of the fort which approached nearest to Marbury street, back of the South end of Hoke's row,-down to the Allegheny where Marbury street strikes it. This part of the ditch was, during our boyhood, and even since, called Butler's Gut, from the circumstance of General Richard Butler and Col. Wm. Butler residing nearest to it, —their houses being the same which now stand at the corner on the south side of Penn and east side of Marbury. Another part of the ditch extended to the Monongahela, a little west of West street, and a third debouche into the river was made just about the end of Penn street. The redout, which still remains near the point, the last relic of British labor at this place, was not erected until 1764. The other redout, which stood at the mouth of Redout Alley, was erected by Col. Wm. Grant; and our recollection is, that the year mentioned on the stone tablet was 1765, but we are not positive on that point. MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE HELD AT FORT PITT, 24TH OCTOBER, 1759. Present, Brigadier General John Stanwix, several officers of the army, George Croghan, Deputy Agent of Sir William Johnson, Captain William Trent, Captain Thos. McKee, Captain Henry Montour, Interpreter, and the following Indians: Six Nations, Wyandots, Shawanese, and Twightees. Captain Montour lighted the pipe of peace, left here by the Ottawas, handing it to the General, the other officers and the Indians to smoke. The General then made a speech. Captain Montour then informed the Indians that we had taken Quebec, and expected soon to drive the French out of America. The speaker of the Wyandots (as they are the oldest nation) got up, shook hands with the General, and said: "Brethren, I am glad to meet you in Council; here are the Six Nations, Shawanese, Delawares, and Twightees; as we are the oldest I shall speak first." We find the following expression in this speech, which seems, from its singulrity, worthy of notice: " Brethren, the women of our nation return thanks for the speeches we received by our deputies, they are glad to hear of peace, and hope you are sincere, they have promised to tell their children that it was the English who gave peace, they hope it is not your intention to go any further." The late Judge Brackenridge, in an article published in the first number of the Pittsburgh Gazette, on the 29th of July, 1786, states that the building of Fort Pitt cost the British Government sixty thousand pounds sterling. 198 THE OLDEN TIME. We know not at what time precisely the work was completed, but the following letter shows that it was before the 21st of March, 1760: FORT AT PITTSBURGH, March 21st, 1760. "This day Major General Stanwix set out for Philadelphia, escorted by thirty-five chiefs of the Ohio Indians, and fifty of the Royal Americans. The presence of the General has been of the utmost consequence at this post during the winter, as well as for cultivating the friendship and alliance of the Indians, as for continuing the fortifications and supplying the troops here and on the communications. The works are now quite perfected, according to the plan, from the Ohio to the Monongahela, and eighteen pieces of artillery mounted on the bastions that cover the isthmus; and casemates, barracks, and storehouses are also completed for a garrison of 1000 men and officers, so that it may now be asserted, with very great truth, that the British dominion is established on the Ohio. The Indians are carrying on a vast trade with the merchants of Pittsburgh, and instead of desolating the frontiers of these colonies, are entirely employed in increasing the trade and wealth thereof. The happy effects of our military operations are also felt by about four thousand of our poor inhabitants, who are now in quiet possession of the lands they were driven fiom on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia." "On Saturday last his Excellency General Stanwix arrived in town (Philadelphia), accompanied by a number of gentlemen of the army."Pennsylvania Gazette, April 17th, 1760.When General Stanwix left Fort Pitt there were present, as a garrison, 150 Virginians, 150 Pennsylvanians, and 400 of the 1st battalion of Royal Americans, all commanded by Major Tulikens. We know but little more about this General, who seems to have been highly esteemed and respected. A London paper of July 29th, 1760, says: " Thursday last Major Gen. Stanwix arrived from America, waited on his Majesty, and was most graciously received." The following article, which we find in the Seventh Volume of Hazard's Pennsylvania Register, is the last notice of him which we have seen: " PHILADELPHIA, 2d January, 1767. "Shipwreck.-It is with much regret that we announce the loss of the Eagle, on board of which was General Stanwix, his lady, and only daughter, a relative, and four servants, who all untimely perished." We have no further information as to that melancholy occurrence; we know not where the Eagle sailed from, nor whither she was bound. If the writer of the letter, of which we have given an extract above, lived four years longer, he may have found that his expectation of a durable peace with the Indians was entirely fallacious; and if he lived fifteen years, NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 199 longer, he might have witnessed the issuing of orders for the abandonment of that very work which was to secure to "latest posterity the British empire on the Ohio." The completion of Fort Pitt in the spring of 1760, and the surrender of Montreal and the French troops in Canada in September of that year, terminated hostilities in America, and held out the promise of a permanent peace in the interior of this country. The promise, however, proved delusive. The preliminaries of a treaty of peace, between France, Spain, and Great Britain, were signed and interchanged on the 3d of November, 1762, and the difinitive treaty on the 10th of February, 1763; and probably at that very time Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawa Indians, was arranging that grand confederacy of Indian tribes, which scattered death and desolation on the frontier, from Niagara and Fort Pitt to Mackina. We intend to give a full notice of the operations of the combined Indian forces in this quarter, but must first refer to movements here in 1760, and then introduce General Bouquet, a distinguished actor in the Pontiac war. MOVEMENTS ABOUT PITTSBURGH IN THE SUMMER OF 1760. EXTRACT OF A LETTER DATED PITTSBURGH. JULY 4th, 1760. " General Monckton arrived here the 29th ult., and immediately gave orders for the march of a large detachment of the army to Presqu'ile (now Erie). The troops are to march on Monday." "PHILADELPHIA, July 24th, 1760. "On the 7th instant, four companies of the Royal Americans, under command of Col. Bouquet, marched from Pittsburgh towards Presqu'ile, as did also Captain McNeil's company of the brig Regiment. On the Wednesday following, Col. Hugh Mercer, with three companies of the Pennsylvania Regiment, under Captains Biddle, Clapham and Anderson, and two days after two other companies of the same Regiment, under Captains Atlee and Miles, were to follow." "PHILADELPHIA, July 31st, 1760. "From Pittsburgh, we learn that Major Gladwin had arrived at Presqu'ile, with 400 men from the northward, and that our troops from Pittsburgh would be at the same place by the 15th of this month." These troops were probably on their route towards Montreal, the last post held by the French in Canada. Whether they arrived in time to participate in the taking of that place, we have not learnt. How changed the scene in this region from 1754 to 1760. At the former day French troops and their Indian.allies were advancing from Pres 200 THE OLDEN TIME. r qu'ile to the Ohio; and in 1760, British troops were proceeding from the Ohio to the Lakes in pursuit of the flying Frenchmen. "PHILADELPHIA, November 6th, 1760. "Last night the Honorable General Monckton arrived in town from Pittsburgh." "PHILADELPHIA, December 11th, 1760. "On Monday last the Honorable Sir John St. Clair, Dep. Q. M. Gen. of his Majesty's forces, arrived from Pittsburgh with several other gentlemen. All were there." The surrender of Montreal to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, on the 8th of September, completed the conquest of Canada. The following notices of Sir Jeffrey Amherst and Sir John Ligonier, after whom Fort Ligonier was called, will probably interest some of our readers, "Sir Jeffrey, Lord Amherst, born at Riverhead, in Kent, 1717, was aid to Lord Ligonier at Dettingen, Fontenoy and Roucoux, and also to Duke of Cumberland at Laffeldt and Hastenbeck. In 1758 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Army sent against Louisburg, which surrendered on the 26th of July. He (next year, 1759) commanded the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, both of which were taken, the former on the 26th of July, the latter on the 4th of August, 1759. Soon after, he, with two other bodies of troops, under Murray and Haviland, arrived before Montreal, which immediately capitulated, thus completing the conquest of Canada." "In October, 1757, Sir John Ligonier was made Commander-in-Chief of the land forces in Great Britain in October, 1757, and raised to the peerage by the title of Viscount Ligonier, of Enniskillen. He had greatly distinguished himself as a soldier, under the Duke of Marlborough, and afterwards in Germany. In 1763 he was created an English Baron, and in 1766, an English Earl. He died in 1770, aged 91 years. He was born in France, his father was a Huguenot of a noble family. He fought in the battles of Blenheim, Oudenarde, Ramilies, and at Malplaquet 22 balls passed through his clothes without injuring him." BRIGADIER GENERAL HENRY BOUQUET. Among the distinguished men who acted a prominent part, in this section of country, during the eventful period which occurred between the year 1754, and the commencement of our Revolution, none except Washington and Forbes, rendered more important services than the soldier whose name stands at the head of this article. We would have been gratified to have presented to our readers biographical sketches of all those men, such as Forbes and Stanwix, and those others, whose actions were connected with NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 201 the early operations at this place. After diligent search, both at Harrisburg and in the public libraries of Philadelphia, which are so liberally opened to all visitors, we have found nothing but the notice of General Stanwix's loss at sea, and the brief obituary sketch of General Forbes, which appeared in the last number of the Olden Time. As to General Bouquet, we have been a little more fortunate. We have, in our possession, a work published in Philadelphia, and re-published in London, giving an account of his march from Carlisle to this place, and of his brilliant and successful action at Bushy Run, on the 5th and 6th of August, 1763; also of his subsequent expedition to the Muskingum, and of his treaty with the Delawares, Shawanese, Mingoes, and other Indians at that place. This work is very scarce, and has been pronounced by a very intelligent friend in Ohio, to whom we lent our copy, a "precious book." We have also had in our possession a French translation of the work, with a biographical sketch of Bouquet. While this copy was in our hands, we made a very imperfect translation of that sketch for our own satisfaction, without any thought of publishing it. Since the commencement of the Olden Time, we have made an effort to get the French work again, in order to get a better translation than the hasty and defective one which we before made, but the owner is now in Texas, and we have failed to get a second sight of the work. No alternative, therefore, remained to us but to pass over the biographical sketch entirely, or to use our own imperfect production, and we have concluded to adopt the latter course. It is a fact, not noticed in this sketch of Bouquet, and one of considerable interest to Americans, or at least to Pennsylvanians, that almost the first prominent appearance of the name of Bouquet in our history, is in a letter from Washington, noticing, in very energetic language, a difference of opinion between himself and Bouquet as to the route which Forbes should pursue from Raystown, now Bedford, to Fort Duquesne. Washington very urgently advocated the march by Braddock's road; while Bouquet as earnestly advised a new route through Pennsylvania, by the Loyal Hanning. Forbes adopted the Pennsylvania route, and succeeded, although at one time he almost despaired of the result. It would be a matter of considerable interest could we know the arguments urged by Bouquet against the march by the road already opened to a pdint so near Fort Duquesne. We doubt one of those arguments, and perhaps the most weighty, was predicated on the circumstances, that the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers had to be crossed and re-crossed within a few miles of the enemies post at Fort Duquesne, and that those rivers might both be high and difficult to pass, at the earliest day when the army could be expected to reach them. Braddock had arrived within ten miles of Fort Duquesne on the 9th of July; while the discussion of the route of Forbes' army from Raystown 202 THE OLDEN TIME. did not take place until the last of July. This difference in the time of the year may have been the very circumstance which controlled Forbes' decision, and determined him to pursue a route which required the opening of one hundred miles of road over the mountains and through a wilderness. It is, however, impossible at this day to conceive adequately the reasonings by which Bouquet met the arguments of Washington, and it has been alleged that it was Pennsylvania influence which triumphed in the acquisition of a Pennsylvania road to the Ohio river. It was once remarked to us by a very sagacious friend, that it was perhaps a fortunate circumstance for these States, that General Bouquet died before the Revolution; for, as our friend remarked, "a man of his military talent would have made a much more formidable enemy than Howe or Clinton."' While we entertain no doubt of his ability as a commander, we think it altogether improbable that he, a foreigner by birth and a soldier of fortune by profession, would ever have been trusted with the chief command of a British army. At the formation of the Regiment of Royal Americans, which he in part commanded, and which acted so prominent a part in this country from 1757 down to 1765, much jealousy was excited in Great Britain. Very strenuous opposition was made to the bill in Parliament, and in the House of Lords several distinguished noblemen entered protest against its passage. It is, therefore, altogether improbable that he could have had the chief command of a British army in this country. There is one fact in relation to General Bouquet, which would seem to connect his memory more closely with the history of our city, than that of either Forbes or Stanwix. Fort Pitt has entirely disappeared; scarcely a vestige even of the wall of its ramparts is now visible; but a redoubt, built by General, then Colonel Bouquet, with the following inscription on a stone tablet in its walls, "Col. Bouquet, A. D., 1764," is an existing monument of his presence and command here. There was a singular fatality attending those British officers who acted prominent parts here during the ten years from 1754 to 1764. Braddock was mortally wounded on the day of his defeat. Forbes survived his success in taking Fort Duquesne only a few months. Stanwix was lost at sea not long after the completion of Fort Pitt, and Bouquet survived his expedition to the Muskingum only one year. We might extend this list of early deaths attending the prominent actors in this country during the period above stated. Thus, Beaujeau, the French officer who commanded at Braddock's Field, fell on that day. Jumonville also fell in the subsequent action, in Fayette county, and Monsieur Donville was killed in a skirmish near Fort Duquesne about the 1st of April, 1756, as will be seen on p. 75 of the Olden Time. Washington, the great and good Washington, was, however, preserved COLbNEL HENRY BOUQUET. 203 through all these perils, to conduct the armies of this country through all the trying scenes of our revolution. But let us proceed to the book. AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION. AGAINST THE OHIO INDIANS IN 1764, UNDER THE COMMAND OF HENRY BOUQUET, ESQ., COLONEL OF INFANTRY, AND NOW BRIGADIER GENERAL IN AMERICA, EMBRACING HIS TRANSACTIONS WITH THE INDIANS IN RELATION TO THE DELIVERING UP THE PRISONERS, AND TO THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE PEACE, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE PREVIOUS CAMPAIGN OF 1763, AND OF THE BATTLE AT BUSHY RUN. TO WHICH IS ADDED SOME MILITARY PAPERS, CONTAINING SOME REFLECTIONS UPON WAR WITH THE SAVAGES; A METHOD OF FORMING ESTABLISHMENTS UPON THE FRONTIER; SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE INDIAN COUNTRY, WITH A LIST OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES, THE NUMBER OF THEIR WARRIORS, TOWNS, AND DIFFERENT ROADS. THE WHOLE ENRICHED BY MAPS AND COPPER PLATE ENGRAVINGS. TRANSLATED FROM THE ENGLISH BY C. G. F. DUMAS, AT AMSTERDAM, IN MARC. MICHEL ROW, A. D. 1769. PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR, WITH A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE LATE GEN. BOUQUET. "The kind reception which has been given to my translation of the Voyages of the Russians to the north-east of Asia, and the favorable notice of it in divers Journals, encourages me to present to the public the work of which the title is just given. "If I have succeeded in attaining a small share only of the elegance and force of the English work, my production must please and affect. That is already much, but there may be still more. "If I have translated faithfully that portion of it which is instructive, it will be useful, and there will be but few of the pages of the work which will not combine the agreeable with the substantial. " We should not forget another peculiar feature of this little work, that of novelty. A work abounding with taste, sentiment and penetration, written and printed originally in Pennsylvania (lately* a desert), has really:Towards the close of the last century, William Penn established himself there at the head of a considerable colony of Friends, whom oppression had driven from England. He prepared for them excellent laws, built Philadelphia, which now contains three or four thousand houses, and at least twenty thousand inhabitants; rendered the Province hereditary in his family, and at last languished in prison in London, because he had deranged his business in order to secure their happiness. It was not long that the Friends only were admitted into that fine country. The mildness of the climate, the beneficence of the governmont, the fertility of the soil, and the great advantages which it presented to those who settled there, drew an 204 THE OLDEN TIME. something to stimulate the curiosity, and excite even the surprise of those who, having only an imperfect knowledge* of the English colonies in North America, are ignorant that some of them are most improperly called by the modest name of COLONISTS;t that there are already numerous people,. flourishing states, which have their cities of the first and second rank, their boroughs and villages, with forms of government, calculated for the greatest advantage of the citizens, public schools, libraries, newspapers and magazines. "I could, on that head, enter into a detail as extended as interesting, if this were a proper place for it. But a long-preface suits badly at the head of a small volume; and I have yet to speak of the late Col. Bouquet, the principal character of the work. I intended to write his life, and to do so with success, I relied upon the aid of the letters written by Col. Bouquet himself, to his parents and various friends. He managed the pen as well as the sword, and that is saying much; so that I did not despair in availing myself of his own colors, of painting him in a manner worthy of himimmense number of immigrants to the province. In 1729, there arrived as many as 6,207 hired passengers, principally from Ireland. In 1750, there were carried there 4,317 German, and about 1,000 English, Scotch, and Irish emigrants. A t the present time (1769), there are computed to be at least 250,000 souls in the province, and among them 6 or 7,000 negroes at the utmost. Notwithstanding this intermixture of nations, the Pennsylvanians have already a national character, which is suitable to them. They are generally hardy, industrious, and it is not usual to hear them with much complacency make a distinction between themselves and strangers, by announcing that they are Pennsylvanians by birth. They have indeed much reason to love a country in which every citizen of the towns, and every planter in the country, is a little king at home. All are in easy circumstances; but with this difference: that a person night say generally that the inhabitants of tha towns are all rich, and that the farmers want for nothing. The latter are all well lodged, well fed, and according to their condttion, well clad, the lower class making their own linen and their woolen clothes.-AccOUNT OF THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA. ROGERS' ACCOUNT OF THE AMERICAN VOYAGES OF PROFESSOR KALM. *To speak plainly: there are many persons who have no knowledge at all. I know some'persons who suppose that one can only see their negroes, with here and there some whites, toiling for their masters, who waste their incomes in Europe: that the resistance which these parts of the British empire offer to the will of the metropolis, is of the same character as the revolt of the slaves of Berbice, and will be terminated like that by garnishing the gibbets and the wheels. Let us correct, as far as the place permits, the errors of those persons. There is a very great difference between the different establishments of the Europeans in the other parts of the world. Those in Asia and Africa consist but of the soil on which the factories or the warehouses stand. Surinam and the Islands are nothing more than so many negro yards. The New Englanders are a nation, but a nation of working people, animated with a republican spirit, accustomed from their infancy to labor, to exposure, to the weather, and to the handling of arms; and their militia, though nothing less than contemptible, with our discipline and subordination, would not be excelled by our best regular troops. See the excellent account of the European settlements in America, vol. 2, part 6, chap. 7. As to the causes and the effects, present and future, of the misunderstanding which now exists between the parent and her colonies, their detail would carry us to far. Those who wish for information upon those subjects, should read the English periodicals, such as the Gentleman's Magazine, and the London Magazine, and add to them, the sensible and impartial judgment of the Swedish Professor Kalm in his Voyage to America, vol. 2, page 389, &c., the German translation. t Ttey number about 350,000 souls in the four New England provinces, and from 4 to 5,000 houses in Boston, which is its principal town. Between these provinces and Pennsylvania, tilere lie New York, whose inhabitants are reckoned to be 100,000, and New Jersey, where-there are computed to be about 60 or 70,000. I pass in silence the colonies further south, solely because the number of negroes there is already more considerable; to also those more to the north, because they are yet in their infancy. COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET. 205 But that which has preserved to posterity the papers of so many other great men, their intrinsic value, has brought disaster to those of Colonel Bouquet. Every body wished to read his letters; so that as they arrived they were seized; they passed into various hands; those to whom they were addressed, have not been able to recover them; finally they disappeared, and although I have used much exertion, I have not recovered a single one. All that I have succeeded in getting, are the dates of some of the principal events of his life, which I here introduce, with the little that I recollect to have heard related in company by some of his friends. " Henry Bouquet was of a majestic stature, of great genius, and under a cold and imposing appearance, possessed a sensitive heart. He sought not the good opinion of others, much less did he solicit it. They were forced to esteem him, and on that account, many trades-people greatly relied upon his integrity and fidelity to his engagements. Firmness, intrepidity, calmness, presence of mind in the greatest dangers, virtues so essential to a commander, were natural to him. His presence inspired confidence, and commanded respect, it encouraged his soldiers, it confounded his enemies. " He was born at Rolle, in the Canton of Berne (quere, Vaud*), in Switzerland. In 1736 (he being about 17 years of age), he was received as a Cadet in the Regiment of Constant, in the service of L. L., H. H., P. P., and in 1738, he obtained an Ensigncy in the same Regiment. From thence he passed into that of Roquin, in the service of the King of Sardinia, and distinguished himself first, as a 1st Lieutenant, and afterwards as Adjutant, in the skillful and memorable wars which that great Prince sustained against the combined forces of France and Spain. At the battle of Coni, being commanded to take possession of a plain bounded by a precipice, he conducted his men there in such a way, that not one of them perceived that they had no way of retreat, in case the enemy came to attack them there; in the mean time, a tranquil spectator of the movements of both armies, to amuse his men, he caused them to notice that they could observe the movements much better by the light of the moon than in broad daylight. " The accounts, as exact as interesting of the operations of these campaigns which were transmitted to Holland, came to the knowledge of the late Prince of Orange, and induced him to engage that officer in the service of the Republic. In consequence of which, Mr. Bouquet entered, in 1748, in the quality of Captain Commandant, with the rank of Lieut. Colonel, in the regiment of Swiss Guards, recently formed at the Hague; and soon after, he was selected to go with the Generals Burmannia and Cornabie, to receive from the French, the fortresses in the low country, which they *There is a town called Rolle on lake Geneva, in the Canton of Vaud; but none that I can find in the Canton of Berne. 206 THE OLDEN TIME. were bound to give up, and to conduct the return of the prisoners of war which France gave up to the Republic, in conformity with the treaty of Aix La Chapelle. Some months afterwards Lord Middleton engaged him as a companion in his travels in France and Italy. Upon his return to the Hague, he devoted all the leisure time which the duties of the regiment allowed him to the diligent study of the Military art, and above all of mathematics, which are the foundation of it. The intimate friendship which he formed with Professors Hemsterhnis, Konig, Allemand, and with many other learned men of every kind, facilitated very much the acquisition of that profound knowledge which enabled him yet more to distinguish himself in the sequel, and to appear with so much advantage upon the vast theatre of the war which broke out between England and France in 1754. That war making it necessary for England to send troops to America, it was proposed to raise a corps under the name of Royal Americans, composed of three battalions, under the command of a single leader, and of which the officers were to be indifferently Americans or strangers, but men of talent and experience. This project, patronized by the Duke of Cumberland, was carried out, though mutilated and altered by a contrary faction. Mr. Bouquet and his friend Mr. Haldimand, were the first upon whom they cast their eyes, and whom they solicited to serve in the Brigade, in therank of Lieutenant Colonels. Both ofthem had already been raised to that rank at the Hague, and by a singular fieak of fortune, he who was to command in America, was inferior in rank to them in Europe. This caused them to hesitate for some time. In the mean time, by the earnest persuasion of General Sir Joseph Yorke, the British Minister at the Hague, and by the promise that was made to them, that they should be immediately placed as Colonels commandant, upon a footing of equality with the Colonel in Chief of the Brigade, they were prevailed upon to accept the commissions offered to them. As soon as their resolution was made known, he intrusted to them to draw into the corps a sufficient number of good men, either for the corps of engineers, or for the military service. " He had no reason to regret having intrusted this matter to them. The greater part of those who joined them were drawn from the service of the republic, and they have answered the expectations of those who selected them in a manner which has done honor to all concerned. " I am not about to enter into a historical detail of the project which called into existence the brigade of which I have just spoken; it has already carried me too far from mv subject. I will content myself with saying, that, through mere chance, it was suggested and favorably received; but that its happy consummation is due entirely to the discernment and zeal for the public service of General Sir Joseph Yorke. It is, therefore, to him that the British empire is indebted for the distinguished services NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 207 which those gallant officers have performed. To return then to Mr. Bouquet. Having arrived in America, his integrity and his great ability soon secured to him great confidence, especially in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Respected by the troops, confided in by all who had a share in the interior government of the Provinces; esteemed and loved by all, he had but to ask and he at once obtained all that it was possible to afford him, because it was believed that he asked for nothing but what was necessary and proper, and that all would be faithfully employed in the service of the king and of the provinces. This good understanding between the civil and military authorities contributed as much to his successes, as his ability. "Immediately after the peace was concluded with the Indians, the king made him Brigadier General and Commandant of the troops in all the southern colonies of British America. He died at Pensacola (in 1765), lamented by his friends and regretted universally.' I wish that the colonies, which I sincerely love, may have a long succession of such defenders, Will the young soldiers who read this, permit me to propose him to them as a model to imitate, and a very proper example to excite among them a noble emulation. It is to his honor that I have undertaken the following translation, and it is to his memory that I have dedicated it." INTRODUCTION. " The general peace, concluded between Great Britain, France and Spain, in the year 1762, although viewed in different lights by persons variously affected in the mother country, was nevertheless universally considered as a most happy event in America. "' To behold the French, who had so long instigated and supported the Indians, in the most destructive wars and cruel depredations on our frontier settlements, at last compelled to cede all Canada; and restricted to the western side of Mississippi, was what we had long wished, but scarcely hoped an accomplishment' of in our own days. The precision with which our boundaries were expressed, admitted of no ground for future disputes, and was malter of exultation to every one who understood and regarded the interest of these colonies. We had now the pleasing prospect of'entire* security from all molestation of the Indians, since French intrigues could no longer be employed to seduce, or French force to support them.' "'Unhappily, however, we were disappointed in this expectation. Our danger arose from that very quarter in which we imagined ourselves in the * The several quotations in this introduction are taken from the Annual Register, 1763, which is written with great elegance and truth, so far as the author appears to have been furnished with materials. 208 THE OLDEN TIME. most perfect security; and just at the time when we concluded the Indians to be entirely awed, and almost subjected by our power, they suddenly fell upon the frontiers of our most valuable settlements, and upon all our outlying forts, with such unanimity in the design, and with such savage fury in the attack, as we had not experienced, even in the hottest times of any former war.' "Several reasons have been assigned for this perfidious conduct on their part; such as an omission of the usual presents,. and some settlements made on lands not yet purchased from them. But these causes, if true, could only affect a few tribes, and never could have formed so general a combination against us. The true reason seems to have been a jealousy of our growing power, heightened by their seeing the French almost wholly driven out of America, and a number of Forts now possessed by us, which commanded the great lakes and rivers communicating with them, and awed the whole Indian country. They probably imagined that they beheld'in every little garrison the germ of a future colony,' and thought it incumbent on them to make one general and timely effort to crush our power in the birth. "By the papers in the Appendix, a general idea may be formed of the strength of the different Indian nations surrounding our settlements, and their situation with respect to each other. "The Shawanese, Delawares and other Ohio tribes, took the lead in this war, and seem to have begun it rather too precipitately, before the other tribes in confederacy with them, were ready for action. "Their scheme appears to have been projected with much deliberate mischief in the intention, and more than usual skill in the system of execution. They were to make one general and sudden attack upon our frontier settlements in the time of harvest, to destroy our men, corn, cattle, &c., as far as they could penetrate, and to starve our out-posts, by cutting off their supplies, and all communication with the inhabitants of the provinces. "In pursuance of this bold and bloody project, they fell suddenly upon our traders whom they had invited into their country, murdered many of them, and made one general plunder of their effects, to an immense value. "The frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, were immediately over-run with scalping parties, making their way with blood and devastation wherever they came, and all those examples of savage cruelty, which never fail to accompany an Indian war. "'All our out-forts, even at the remotest distances, were attacked about the same time; and the following ones soon fell into the enemy's hands, viz: Le Boeuf, Venango, Presqu'isle, on and near lake Erio; La Bay, upon lake Michigan; St. Joseph's, upon the river of that name; Miamis, upon the Miamis river; Ouachtanon upon the Ouabache; Sandusky upon lake Junundat; and Michilimackinac. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 209 "Being but weakly garrisoned, trusting to the security of a general peace so lately established, unable to obtain the least intelligence from the colonies, or from each other, and being separately persuaded by their treacherous and savage assailants that they had carried every other place before them, it could not be expected that these small posts could hold out long; and the fate of their garrison is terrible to relate. " The news of the surrender, and the continued ravages of the enemy, struck all America with consternation, and depopulated a great part of our frontiers. We now saw most of those posts suddenly wrested from us, which had been the great object of the late war, and one of the principal advantages acquired by the peace. Only the forts of Niagara, the Detroit, and Fort Pitt, remained in our hands, of all that had been purchased with so much blood and treasure. But these were places of consequence, and we hope it will ever remain an argument of their importance, and of the attention that should be paid to their future support, that they alone continued to awe the whole power of the Indians, and balanced the fate of the war between them and us! "ThLse forts, being larger, were better garrisoned and supplied to stand a siege of some length, than the places that fell. Niagara was not attacked, the enemy judging it too strong.'( The officers who commanded the other two deserved the highest honor for the firmness with which they defended them, and the hardships they sustained rather than deliver up places of such importance. "Major Gladwin in particular, who commanded at the Detroit, had to withstand the united and vigorous attacks of all the nations living upon the Lakes. "The design of this publication, and the materials in my hands, lead me more immediately to speak of the defence and relief of Fort Pitt. " The Indians had early surrounded that place, and cut off all communication from it, even by message. Though they had no cannon, nor understood the methods of a regular siege, yet, with incredible boldness, they posted themselves under the banks of both rivers* by the walls of the fort, and continued as it were buried there, from day to day, with astonishing patience; pouring in an incessant storm of musquetry and fire arrows; hoping at length, by famine, by fire, or by harassing out the garrison, to carry their point.' Captai n Ecuyer, who commanded there, though he wanted several necessaries for sustaining a siege, and the fortifications had been greatly damaged by the floods, took all the precautions which art and judgment could suggest for the repair of the place, and repulsing the enemy. His garrison, The Ohio and Monongahela, at the junction of which stands Fort Pitt. VOL. I-14 ,210 THE OLDEN TIME. joined by the inhabitants, and surviving traders who had taken refuge there, seconded his efforts with resolution. Their situation was alarming, being remote from all immediate assistance, and having to deal with an enemy from whom they had no mercy to expect. "General Amherst, the commander in chief, not being able to provide in time for the safety of the remote posts, bent his chief attention to the relief of the Detroit, Niagara, and Fort Pitt. The communication with the two former was chiefly by water, from the province of New York; and it was on that account the more easy to throw succors into them. The detachment sent to the Detroit arrived there on the 29th of July, 1763; but Captain Dalyell, who commanded that detachment, and seventy of his men, lost their lives in a rencontre with the Indians near the fort. Previous to this disaster he had passed through Niagara, and left a reinforcement there. "Fort Pitt remained all this while in a most critical situation. No account could be obtained from the garrison, nor any relief sent to it, but by,a long and tedious land march of near 200 miles beyond the settlements; and through those dangerous passes where the fate of Braddocksand others still rises on the imagination.'" Colonel Bouquet was appointed to march to the relief of this fort, with a large quantity of military stores and provisions, escorted by the shattered remainder of the 43d and 77th regiments, lately returned in a dismal condition firom the West Indies, and far from being recovered of their fatigues at the siege of the Havannah. General Amherst, having at that time no other i troops to spare, was obliged to employ them in a service' which would have required men of the strongest constitution and vigor. " Early orders had been given to prepare a convoy of provisions on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, but such were the universal terror and consternation of the inhabitants, that when Col. Bouquet arrived at Carlisle, nothing had yet been done. A great number of the plantations had been plundered and burnt by the savages; many of the mills destroyed, and,the fall-ripe crops stood waving in the field, ready for the sickle, but the reapers were not to be found! "The greatest part of the county of Cumberland, through which the army had to pass, was deserted, and the roads were covered with distressed families, flying from their settlements, and destitute of all the necessaries of life. "In the midst of that general confusion, the supplies necessary for the expedition became very precarious, nor was it less difficult to procure horses and carriages for the use of the troops. ~ The commander found that, instead of expecting such supplies from a miserable petople,. he himself was called by the voice of humanity to bestow on them some share of his own provisions to relieve their present exigen NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 211 cy. However, in eighteen days after his arrival at Carlisle, by the prudent and active measures which he pursued, joined to his knowledge of the country, and the diligence of the persons he employed, the convoy and carriages were procured with the assistance of the interior parts of the country, and the army proceeded. " Their march did not abate the fears of the dejected inhabitants. They knew the strength and ferocity of the enemy. They remembered the former defeats even of our best troops, and were full of diffidence and apprehensions on beholding the small number and sickly state of the regulars employed in this expedition. Without the least hopes, therefore, of success, they seemed only to wait for the fatal event, which they dreaded, to abandon all the country beyond the Susquehanna. "' In such despondency of mind, it is not surprising, that though their whole was at stake, and depended entirely upon the fate of this little army, none of them offered to assist in the defence of the country, by joining the expedition in which they would have been of infinite service, being in general well acquainted with the woods, and excellent marksmen. " It cannot be contested that the defeat of the regular troops on this occasion, would have left the province of Pennsylvania in particular, exposed to the most imminent danger, from a victorious, daring, and barbarous enemy; for (excepting the frontier people of Cumberland county) the bulk of its industrious inhabitants is composed of merchants, tradesmen and farmers unaccustomed to arms, and without a militia law. ( The Legislature ordered, indeed, 700 men to be raised for the protection of the frontiers during'harvest; but what dependence could be placed in raw troops, newly raised, and undisciplined? Under so many discouraging circumstances, the Colonel (deprived of all assistance from the provinces, and having none to expect from the General, who had sent him the last man that could be removed from the hospitals) had nothing else to trust to, but about 500 soldiers of approved courage and resolution indeed, but infirm, and entire strangers to the woods, and to this new kind of war. A number of them were even so weak, as not to be able to march, and sixty -were carried in wagons to reinforce the garrisons of the small posts on the communication. "Meanwhile Fort Ligonier, situated beyond the Allegheny Mountains, was iu the greatest danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, before the army could reach it. The stockade being very bad, and the garrison extremely weak, they had attacked it vigorously, but had been repulsed by the bravery and good conduct of Lieutenant Blane, who commanded there. "The preservation of that post was of the utmost consequence, on account of its situation and the quantity of military stores it contained, which, if the enemy could have got possession of, would have enabled them to 212 THE OLDEN TIME. tinue their attack upon Fort Pitt, and reduce the army to the greatest straits. For an object of that importance, every risk was to be run; and the Colonel determined to send through the woods, with proper guides, a party of thirty men to join that garrison. They succeeded by forced marches in that hazardous attempt, not having been discovered by the enemy till they came within sight of the fort, into which they threw themselves, after receiving some running shot. "Previous to that reinforcement of regulars, twenty volunteers, all good woodsmen, had been sent to Fort Ligonier by Captain Ourry, who commanded at Fort Bedford, another very considerable magazine of provisions, and military stores, the principal and centrical stage between Carlisle and Fort Pitt, being about 100 miles distance from each. This fort was also in a ruinous condition, and very weakly garrisoned, although the two small intermediate posts, at the crossings of the Juniata and of Stony Creek, had been abandoned to strengthen it. " Here the distressed families, scattered for twelve or fifteen miles round, fled for protection, leaving most of their effects a prey. to the savages. "All the necessary precautions were taken by the commanding officer, to prevent surprise, and repel open force, as also to render ineffectual the enemy's fire arrows. He armed all the fighting men, who formed two companies of volunteers, and did duty with the garrison till the arrival of two companies of light infantry, detached as soon as possible from Colonel Bouquet's little army. "These two magazines being secured, the Colonel advanced to the remotest verge of our settlements, where he could receive no sort of intelligence of the number, position, or motions of the enemy. Not even at Fort Bedford, where.he arrived with his whole convoy on the 25th of J uly, for though the Indians did not attempt to attack the fort, they had by this time killed, scalped, and taken eighteen persons in that neighborhood, and their skulking parties were so spread, that at last no express could escape them.' Tis' (want of intelligence)'is often a very embarrassing circumstance in the conduct of a campaign in America. The Indians had better intelligence, and no sooner were they informed of the march of our army, than they broke up the siege of Fort Pitt, and took the route by which they knew we were to proceed, resolved to take the first advantageous opportunity of an attack on the march.' "In this uncertainty of intelligence under which the Colonel laboured, he marched from Fort Bedford on the 28th of July, and as soon as he reached Fort Ligonier, he determined very prudently to leave his wagons at that post, and to proceed only with the pack horses. Thus disburdened, the army continued their route. Before them lay a dangerous defile at Turtle Creek, several miles in length, commanded the whole way by high and craggy hills. This defile he intended to have passed the ensuing night, by NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 213 a double or forced march; thereby, if possible, to elude the vigilance of so alert an enemy, proposing only to make a short halt in his way, to refresh the troops, at Bushy Run. "When they came within half a mile of that place, about one in the afternoon (August 5th, 1763), after an harrassing march of seventeen miles, and just as they were expecting to relax from their fatigue, they were suddenly attacked by the Indians, on their advanced guard; which, being speedily and firmly supported, the enemy was beat off, and even pursued to a considerable distance. "* But the flight of these barbarians must often be considered as a part of the engagement (if we may use the expression), rather than a dereliction of the field. The moment the pursuit ended. they returned with renewed vigor to the attack. Several other parties, who had been in ambush in some high grounds which lay along the flanks of the army, now started up at once, and falling with a resolution equal to that of their companions, galled our troops with a most obstinate fire. "'It was necessary to make a general charge with the whole line to dislodge them from'these hights. This charge succeeded; but still the success produced no decisive advantage; for as soon as the savages were driven from one post, they still appeared on another, till by constant reinforcements they were at length able to surround the whole detachment, and attack the convoy which had been left in the rear. "'This manceuvre obliged the main body to fall back in order to protect it. The action, which grew every moment hotter and hotter, now became general. Our troops were attacked on every side; the savages supported their spirit throughout; but the steady behavior of the English troops who were not thrown into the least confusion by the very discouraging nature of this service, in the end prevailed; they repulsed the enemy, and drove them from all their posts with fixed bayonets. "'The engagement ended only with the day, having continued from one without any intermission. ~ "'The ground, on which the action ended, was not altogether inconvenient for an encampment.t The convoy and the wounded were in the middle, and the troops, disposed in a circle, encompassed the whole. In this *The above quotation is from the writer already mentioned, and seems so accurately and elegantly drawn up, from the account of this engagement sent to his Majesty's ministers, that notling better can be inserted in its room. There are but one or two small mistakes in it, which are here corrected. tThis place was in what is now called Westmoreland county, about twenty or twenty-one miles from Pittsburgh, and between one and two miles north of Jacksonville. The editor and sone of his friends have frequently conversed about a visit to the battle field, and throwing up some little work to perpetuate the menory of the precise spot. It is now, however, settled for the 5th and 6th of August next. 214 THE OLDEN TIME. manner, and with little repose, they passed an anxious night, obliged to the strictest vigilance by an enterprising enemy who had surrounded them. "' Those who have only experienced the severities and dangers of a campaign in Europe, can scarcely form an idea of what is to be done and endured in an American war. To act in a country cultivated and inhabited, where roads are made, magazines are established, and hospitals provided; where there are good towns to retreat to in case of misfortune; or, at the worst, a generous enemy to yield to, from whom no consolation, but the honor of victory, can be wanting; this may be considered as the exercise of a spirited and adventurous mind, rather than a rigid contest where all is at stake, and mutual destruction the object; and as a contention between rivals for glory, rather than a real struggle between sanguinary enemies. But in an American campaign every thing is terrible; the face of the country, the climate, the enemy. There is no refreshment for the healthy, nor relief for the sick. A vast unhospitable desert, unsafe and treacherous, surrounds them, where victories are not decisive, but defeats are ruinous; and simple death is the least misfortune which can happen to them. This forms a service truly critical, in which all the firmness of the body and mind is put to the severest trial; and all the exertions of courage and address are called out. If the actions of these rude campaigns are of less dignity, the adventures in them are more interesting to the heart, and more amusing to the imagination, than the events of a regular war. "'But to return to the party of English, whom we left in the woods. At the first dawn of light the savages began to declare themselves, all about the camp, at the distance of about 500 yards; and by shouting and yelling in the most horrid manner, quite round that extensive circumference, endeavoured to strike terror by an ostentation of their numbers, and their ferocity. "'After this alarming preparative, they attacked our forces, and, under the favour of an incessant fire, made several bold efforts to penetrate into the camp. They were repulsed in every attempt, but by no means discouraged from new ones. Our troops, continually victorious, were continually in danger. They were besides, extremely fatigued with a long march, and with the equally long action of the preceding day; and they were distressed to the last degree by a total want of water, much more intolerable than the enemy's fire. "'Tied to their convoy, they could not lose sight of it for a moment, without exposing, not only that interesting object, but their wounded men, to fall a prey to the savages, who pressed them on every side. To move was impracticable. Many of the horses were lost, and many of the drivers, stupefied by their fears, hid themselves in the bushes, and were incapable of hearing or obeying orders. "'Their situation became extremely critical and perplexing, having ex NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 215. perienced that the most lively efforts made no impression upon an enemy, who always gave way when passed; but who, the moment the pursuit was over, returned with as much alacrity as ever to the attack. Besieged; rather than engaged; attacked without interruption, and without decision; able neither to advance nor to retreat, they saw before them the most melancholy prospect of crumbling away by degrees, and entirely perishing without revenge or honor, in the midst of those dreadful deserts. The fate of Braddock was every moment before their eyes; but they were more ably conducted. "'The commander was sensible that everything depended upon bringing the savages to a close engagement, and to stand their ground when attacked. Their audaciousness, which had increased with their success, seemed favorable to this design. He endeavoured, therefore, to increase their confidence as much as possible. "'For that purpose he contrived the following stratagem: Our troops were posted on an eminence, and formed a circle round their convoy from the preceding night, which order they still retained. Col. Bouquet gave directions that two companies of his troops, who had been posted in the most advanced situations, should fall within the circle; the troops on the right and left immediately opened their files, and filled up the vacant space, that they might seem to cover their retreat. Another company of light infantry, with one of grenadiers, were ordered "to lie in ambuscade," to support the two first companies of grenadiers, who moved on the feigned treat, and were intended to begin the real attack. The dispositions were well made, and the plan executed without the least confusion.'" The savages gave entirely into the snare. The thin line of troops, which took possession of the ground which the two companies of light foot had left, being brought in nearer to the centre of the circle, the barbarians mistook those motions for retreat, abandoned the woods which covered them, hurried headlong on, and advancing with the most daring intrepidity, galled the English troops with their heavy fire. But at the very moment when, certain of success, they thought themselves masters of the camp, the two first companies made a sudden turn, and sallying out from a part of the hill, which could not be observed, fell furiously upon their right flank. "'The savages, though they found themselves disappointed a.nd exposed, preserved their recollection, and resolutely returned the fire which they had received. Then it was the superiority of combined strength and discipline appeared. On the second charge they could no longer sustain the irresistible shock of the regular troops, who, rushing upon them, killed many, and put the rest to flight. "'At the instant when the savages betook themselves to flight, the other two companies, which had been ordered to support the first, rose "from the ambuscade," marched to the enemy, and gave them their full fire. This 216 THE OLDEN TIME. accomplished their defeat. The four companies, now united, did not give them time to look behind them, but pursued the enemy till they were totally dispersed. "'The other bodies of the savages attempted nothing. They were kept in awe during the engagement by the rest of the British troops, who were so posted as to be ready to fall on them upon the least motion. Having been witnesses to the defeat of their companions, without any effort to support or assist them, they at length followed their example and fled. "'This judicious and successful manceuvre rescued the party from the most imminent danger. The victory secured the field, and cleared all the adjacent woods. But still the march was so difficult, and the army had suffered so much, and so many horses were lost, that before they were able to proceed, they were reluctantly obliged to destroy such part of their convoy of provisions as they could not carry with them for want of horses. Being lightened by this sacrifice, they proceeded to Bushy Run, where finding water, they encamped.' "A plan* of this engagement is annexed, and it was thought the more necessary here to insert a particular account of it, as the new manceuvrest and skillful conduct of the commander, seem to have been the principal means, not only of preserving his army in the most critical situation, but likewise of ensuring them a complete victory.'The enemy lost about forty men on this occasion, some of them their chief warriors; which they reputed a very severe stroke. They had likewise many wounded in the pursuit. The English lost about fifty men and had about sixty wounded. "The savages: thus signally defeated in all their attempts to cut off this reinforement upon its march, began to retreat with the utmost precipitation to their remote settlements, wholly giving up their designs against Fort Pitt; at which Colonel Bouquet arrived safe with his convoy, four days after the action; receiving no further molestation on the road, except a few scattered shot from a disheartened and flying enemy. "Here the Colonel was obliged to put an end to the operations of this campaign, not having a sufficient force to pursue the enemy beyond the Ohio and take advantage of the victory obtained over them; nor having any *The plan here referred to was not obtained from the lithograher in time for this number, but shall appear in the next. tAnother reason fo.r being so particular in the account, is that the military papers annexed to this work, and the plan for carrying on any future war with the Indians were composed upon the experience of this engagement, by an officer long employed in the service he describes. Ilis own improvement was his principal motive in the composition of them; but being told that they might convey many useful hints to others, and be of much service if laid before the public, he was pleased, upon my request, freely to communicate them to me for that purpose. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 217 reason to expect a timely reinforcement from the provinces in their distressed situation. He was therefore forced to content himself with supplying Fort Pitt, and other places on the communication, with provisions, ammunition, and stores; stationing his small army to the best advantage he could, against the approach of winter. "The transactions of the succeeding campaign will be the subject of the following work, and we shall conclude this introduction, by showing the sense which his Majesty was pleased to entertain of the conduct and bravery of the officers and army, on this trying occasion." "HEAD-QUARTERS, NEW YORK, JANUARY 5, 1764. ORDERS. "His Majesty has been graciously pleased to signify to the Commander in Chief, his royal approbation of the conduct and bravery of Col. Bouquet, and the officers and troops under his command, in the two actions of 5th and 6th of August; in which, notwithstanding the many circumstances of difficulty and distress they labored under, and the unusual spirit and resolution of the Indians, they repelled and defeated the repeated attacks of the savages, and conducted their convoy safe to Fort Pitt. [Signed.] "MONCREIF, Major of Brigade. "To COLONEL BOUQUET, or officer commanding at Fort Pitt." AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF COLONEL BOUQUET'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE OHIO INDIANS IN THE YEAR 1764. "In the preceding introduction, some account hath been given of the sudden, treacherous and unprovoked attack, made by the Indians upon the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, soon after the publication of the general peace, at a time when we were but just beginning to respire from our former calamities, and looked for an approach of quiet on every side. The principal transactions of the campaign 1763, have likewise been briefly recapitulated, and the reader informed by what means the editor became possessed of the valuable papers which have enabled him to bring the history of this Indian war to a conclusion, and furnished the materials of the following sheets. "Colonel Bouquet, as before mentioned, not having a sufficient number of troops to garrison the posts, under his command, and at the same time to cross the Ohio and take advantage of the dejection into which he had thrown the enemy, by the defeat at Bushy Run, was obliged to restrain his operations to the supplying the forts with provisions, ammunition and other necessaries. 218:. THE OLDEN TIME. "In the execution of this service, he received no annoyances from the enemy, for they now saw themselves not only forced to give up their designs against Fort Pitt; but, retreating beyond the Ohio, they deserted their former towns and abandoned all the country between Presqu'ile and Sandusky; not thinking themselves safe till they arrived at Muskingum. "Here they began to form new settlements, and remained quiet during the winter. But, in the meantime, having supplied themselves with powder, &c., from the French traders (and not flattering themselves that the great distance of their settlements would render then inaccessible to our troops), the ensuing spring, 1764, presented these savage enemies afresh on our frontiers; ravaging and murdering with their usual barbarity. "To chastise them for their perfidy, General Gage resolved to attack them on two different sides, and to force them from our frontiers; by carrying the war into the heart of their own country. With this view, he destined a corps of troops to proceed under Col. Bradstreet, to act against the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas and other nations, living upon or near the lakes; while another corps, under the command of Colonel Bouquet, should attack the Delawares, Shawanese, Mingoes, Mohickons, and other nations, between the Ohio and the lakes. "These two corps were to act in concert; and as that of Col. Bradstreet could be ready much sooner than the other, he was to proceed to Detroit, Michilimackinac and other places. On his return he was to encamp and remain at Sandusky, to awe, by that position, the numerous tribes of western Indians, so as to prevent their sending any assistance to the Ohio Indians, while Colonel Bouquet should execute his plan of attacking them in the heart of their settlements. "Col. Bouquet's expedition was to proceed altogether by land, and was on that account attended with great difficulties. His men were to penetrate through a continued depth of woods, and a savage unexplored country; without roads, without posts, and without a retreat if they failed of success. When once engaged in these deserts, they had no convoy, nor any kind of assistance to expect. Every thing was to be carried with them-their ammunition, baggage, tools, stores, and provisions necessary for the troops during the whole expedition. And besides, they were liable to many embarrassments, and difficulties which no prudence could foresee, nor any caution prevent; so that, in this account, sundry things, which, in the usual method of conducting military operations, might not be thought worthy of a detail, may nevertheless be found highly serviceable to those who may afterwards be employed in this species of war, which is new to Europeans, who must submit to be instructed in it by experience, and in many articles even by the savages themselves. "Parts of the 42d and 60th regiments were ordered on this expedition, and were to be joined by two hundred friendly Indians, and the troops re NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 219 quired of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Indians never came, and the Virginians plead their inability to raise men, having already in pay about 700 militia for the defence of their own frontier. In Pennsylvania, a bill for raising 1,000 men was passed May 30th; but, with the utmost diligence that could be used, the number could not be completed till the beginning of August. " On the 5ih of that month, the men being assembled at Carlisle, one hundred and eighteen miles to the westward of Philadelphia, Governor Penn, who had accompanied Col. Bouquet to that place, acquainted the two Pennsylvania battalions with the necessity we were laid under of chastising the Indians' for their repeated and unprovoked barbarities on the inhabitants of the province; a just resentment of which, added to a remembrance of the loyalty and courage of our provincial troops on former occasions, he did not doubt, would animate them to do honor to their country; and that they could not but hope to be crowned with success, as they were to be united with the same regular troops, and under the same able commander, who had by themselves, on that very day, the memorable 5th of August il the preceding year, sustained the repeated attacks of the savages, and obtained a complete victory over them.' He also reminded them' of the exemplary punishments that would be inflicted on the grievous crime of desertion, if any of them were capable of so far forgetting their solemn oath and duty to their king and country, as to be involved in it.' " Colonel Bouquet then assumed the command of the regular and provincial troops; and the four following days were spent in the necessary preparations for their march; the Colonel giving the most express orders to the officers and men to observe strict discipline, and not to commit the least violation of the civil rights or peace of the inhabitants. He, at the same time, made the most prudent regulations for a safe and commodious carriage of the baggage, taking care to rid himself of all unnecessary incumbrances. "The 13th of August this small army got to Fort Loudon; but notwithstanding all the precautions taken to prevent desertion, the Pennsylvania troops were now reduced to about 700 men. The Colonel was therefore under a necessity to apply to the government of that province to enable him to complete their number to the full complement; which was generously granted by a resolve of the Governor and Commissioners, August 16th; and the army advancing now beyond the settled parts of Pennsylvania, he made application to the colony of Virginia, where (under the countenance of Governor Fauquier) the men wanted were soon raised, and joined the army at Pittsburgh, about the latter end of September. "Nothing material happened in their march from Fort Loudon to Fort Pitt (formerly Fort Duquesne), on the Ohio, three hundred and twenty 220 THE OLDEN TIME. miles west from Philadelphia; at which place Colonel Bouquet arrived the 17th of September. "During this interval, several large convoys were forwarded under strong escorts; and though the enemy continued their ravages all that time on the frontiers, they durst not attack any of those convoys, which all arrived safe at Fort Pitt. " While Colonel Bouquet was at Fort Loudon, he received dispatches by express fromn Colonel Bradstreet, dated from Presqu'isle, August 14th, acquainting him that he (Colonel Bradstreet) had concluded a peace with the Delawares and Shawanese; but Colonel Bouquet perceiving clearly that they were not sincere in their intentions, as they continued their murders and depredations, he determined to prosecute his plan without remission, till he should receive further instructions from General Gage; who, upon the same principles, refused to ratify the treaty, and renewed his orders to both armies to attack the enemy. "About the time of Colonel Bouquet's arrival at Fort Pitt, ten Indians appeared on the north side of the Ohio, desiring a conference; which stratagem the savages had made use of before, to obtain intelligence of our numbers and intentions. Three of the party consented, though with apparent reluctance, to come over to the Fort; and as they could give no satisfactory reason for their visit, they were detained as spies, and their associates fled back to their towns. "On the 20th of September Colonel Bouquet sen t one of the above three Indians after them with a message, in substance as follows: "I have received an account from Colonel Bradstreet that your nations had begged for peace, which he had consented to grant, upon assurance that you had recalled all your warriors from our frontiers; and in consequence thereof, I would not have proceeded against your towns, if I had not heard that, in open violation of your engagements, you have since murdered several of our people. "'As soon as the rest of the army joins me, which I expect immediately, I was therefore determined to have attacked you, as a people whose promises can no more be relied on. But I will put it once more in your power to save yourselves and your families from total destruction, by giving us satisfaction for the hostilities committed against us. And first you are to,leave the path open for my expresses from hence to Detroit; and as I am now to send two men with dispatches to Colonel Bradstreet, who commands on the lakes, I desire to know whether you will send two of your people with them to bring them safe back with an answer? And if they receive any injury either in going or coming, or if the letters are taken from them, I will immediately put the Indians now in my power to death, and will show no mercy for the future to any of your nations that shall fall NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 221 into my hands. I allow you ten days to have my letters delivered at Detroit, and ten days to bring me back an answer.' " He added'that he had lately had it in his power, while they remained on the other side of the river, to have put their whole party to death, which punishment they had deserved by their former treachery; and that if they did not improve the clemency now offered to them, by returning back as soon as possible with all their prisoners, they might expect to feel the full weight of a just vengeance and resentment.' " We have been the more particular in our account of this first transaction with the Indians; because the Colonel's firm and determined conduct in opening the campaign, had happy effects in the prosecution of it, and shows by what methods these faithless savages are to be best reduced to reason. "O On the 1st of October, two of the Six Nation tribes, an Onondago and Oneida Indian came to Fort Pitt, and under color of our ancient friendship with them, and their pretended regard to the English, endeavored to dissuade the Colonel from proceeding with the army. They told him that his force was not sufficient to withstand the power of the numerous nations through whose countries he was to pass, and assured him that if le would wait a little, they would all come and make peace with him; at the same time recommending it particularly to him to send back the three Indians detained as spies. These little arts being clearly made use of to spin out the season till the approach of winter should render it impossible to proceed, they made but little impression. He told them that he could not depend on the promises of the Delawares and Shawanese, and was determined to proceed to Tuscarawas, where, if they had anything to say, he would hear them. "In the meantime, he was using the utmost diligence to prepare for his march, and was obliged to enforce the severest discipline. One woman belonging to each corps, and two nurses for the general hospital, were all that were permitted to follow the army. The other women in the camp, and those unnecessary in the garrison, were ordered immediately down the country into the settlements. Two soldiers were shot for desertion; an example which became absolutely necessary to suppress a crime which in such an expedition, would have been attended with fatal consequences, by weakening an army already too small. [TO BE CONTINUED.] 222 THE OLDEN TIME. CONFERENCE WITH THE INDIANS IN 1762. At a Conference held at Lancaster on the 27th of August, 1762 (present Governor Hamilton and other gentlemen, and five hundred and fiftyseven Indians, of all the Six Nations, except the Mohocks, and also Nanticokes, Conoys, Sapony, Shawanese and Munseys), Teedyuscung rose and said he desired Beaver to acquaint all the Indians at Allegheny that the Delawares have now no claim to the lands on Allegheny that have been in dispute. On the same day the Governor informed the Indians that he had for their benefit opened a large store at Pittsburgh, and asked the privilege of running boats up the west branch, so that goods might be furnished cheaper. Then, says the record, Kinderuntie, the head warrior of the Seneca Nation, suddenly rose up and spoke as follows: " You have laid out two roads already; one you told me was a good one; the other leads from Potomac, and now you want another road to go by water. We cannot grant it to you, because our chief men are not here, &c. "Brother, you may remember you told me when you was going to Pittsburgh you would build a fort against the French, and you told me you wanted none of our lands; our cousins know this; and that you promised to go away as soon as you drove the French away, and yet you stay there and build houses, and make it stronger and stronger every day; for this reason we entirely deny your request; you shall not have a road this way." To this the governor replied that he only made the request for the benefit of the Delawares, and that he would say iothing more about it. To which Kinderuntie said: "1 am glad to hear it did not come from you, but that it came from our cousins. 1 really quite wonder at my cousins that they did not tell me this, but since they have swallowed up all their own land, and live to the westward, I believe they are growing proud. The lands belong to me* where they are living. I conquered it with my sword, but they are growing proud, and will not own us, I suppose, for their uncles." Kinderuntie, with some other Six Nation Indians, brought Peter Weese a prisoner; the Governor took him into a private room, so that he might speak freely. Peter desired that he might not be detained from the Indians, but suffered to return with the Indians, and that on his way he would call on his brother, who lived near Pittsburgh, and speak to him, and return to the Governor in the spring. To which the Governor assented. t Meaning the Seneca Nation. THE WAR OF 1754. 223 THE WAR OF 1754. The war which began at this place on the 17th day of April, 1754, and which was so disastrous to Great Britain, until the great man after whom our place was named, was selected to direct the affairs of that kingdom, proved, under his auspices, the most glorious and successful which, up to that period, had ever signalized her history. In Europe, Asia, Africa and America, by sea and on land, on the Pacific and on the Atlantic oceans, her arms had triumphed. The occurrences in other quarters of the globe come not within the design of this publication; but the following article, giving a summary of the triumphs of British arms on the continent of America, may with great propriety be introduced here: Sir Jeffrey Amherst, who is the subject of the article annexed, is briefly noticed in a previous part of this number of the Olden Time. The family seem to have been peculiarly fortunate during this war; the two brothers spoken of in the ensuing article as "being successfully engaged in various climes, all reached distinguished stations in the British service." One was an Admiral of the blue, the other a Lieutenant General. Sir Jeffrey himself was appointed Governor of Virginia in 1763, and was made Field Marshal in 1790. tie died in 1797, at the advanced age of eighty-one. He was twice married, but left no issue, and was succeeded in his title of Baron Amherst, of Montreal, by his nephew William Pitt Amherst, son of the Admiral. Lord Amherst was regarded as a man of collected and temperate mind, without brilliancy or parade, a strict officer, yet a friend of the soldiers. After having contributed so much towards the conquest of Canada and Cape Breton, and to the seeming consolidation and perpetuation of British power on this continent, he survived to see the original English colonies become entirely independent of the British crown, and to see the authority of his own government acknowledged on this continent, only in those regions where mainly by his gallantry and military skill it was established. "Copy of an inscription on a monument, about 35 or 36 feet high, erected by Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Knight of the Bath, &c., on a pleasant eminence almost opposite to his house, now building, called Montreal, near Riverhead, in Kent."-ENG. ANNUAL REGISTER, 1768. 224 THE OLDEN TIME. First Side, Facing almost South East. DEDICATED TO THAT MOST ABLE STATESMAN, DURING WHOSE ADMINISTRATION CAPE BRETON AND CANADA WERE CONQUERED, AND FROM WHOSE INFLUENCE THE BRITISH ARMS DERIVED A DEGREE OF LUSTRE UNPARALLELED IN PAST AGES. Second Side, North East. TO COMMEMORATE THE PROVIDENTIAL AND HAPPY MEETING OF THE THREE BROTHERS, ON THIS THEIR PATERNAL GROUND, ON THE 25TH OF JANUARY, 1764, AFTER A SIX YEARS' GLORIOUS WAR, IN WHICH THE THREE WERE SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGED IN VARIOUS CLIMES, SEASONS AND SERVICES. Third Side, North West. LOUISBURG SURRENDERED, AND SIX FRENCH BATTALIONS PRISONERS OF WAR, THE 26TH OF JULY, 1758. FORT DUQUESNE TAKEN POSSESSION OF THE 24TH OF NOVEMBER, 1758. TICONDEROGA TAKEN POSSESSION OF THE 26TH OF JULY, 1759. CRO WN POINT TAKEN POSSESSION the 4th of Aug., 1759. QUEBEC CAPITULATED, THE 18TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1759. Fourth Side, South West. FORT LEVI SURRENDERED, THE 25TH OF AUGUST, 1760. ISLE AU NOIX ABANDONED, THE 28TH OF AUGUST, 1760. MONTREAL SURRENDERED, And with it all Canada, and 10 French Battalloas laid down their Arms, THE STH OF SEPTEMBER, 1760. ST. JOHN'S, NE W FOUNDLAND, RE-TAKEN, THE 18TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1760. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ERIES. 225 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ERIES. We publish in the OLDEN TIME, an account of the destruction of the Erie tribe of Indians by the Six Nations, or Iroquois, which was first published in the Buffalo Commercial, about one year ago. This account is a mere Indian tradition, and may be, in some particulars, fabulous; still, for such early occurrences among the Indians, we can expect nothing better than tradition. "This account," says the editor of the Buffalo paper, "was taken from the lips of Blacksnake, and other venerable chiefs of the Senecas and Tonewandes, who still cherish the traditions of their fathers." "The Indians hereabouts," says the editor, "believe that a small remnant of the Eries still exist beyond the Mississippi. The small tribe known as the Quapaws in that region, are also believed to be remains of the Kaukwaus, the allies of the Eries." We give this narrative to our readers, because it gives the only detailed account of an event, which all the histories of the Five and Six Nations record as having occurred about the year 1654. The authority for the narrative is therefore, at least, equal to that which we have for many of the statements contained in the histories of the early periods of Greece and Rome. The Eries once were, and now they are no more seen in the land of their forefathers, and have left no memorial of their existence, except in the beautiful name of that lovely lake on whose shores they dwelt. Their destroyers, too, whose dominion once extended so far and wide over this great continent, are fast disappearing, leaving no other circumstantial account of their fierce warfare with their rivals and their final triumph over them, than that which we publish. TO t'E EDITORS OF THE BUFFALO COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER: It may interest your readers to know the Indian tradition of the origin and consequence of the war between the Five (afterwards the " Six ") Nations and the powerful nation "Eries," who inhabited this region of country before its subjugation by the combined forces of the "Iroquois," and of the stirring scenes which have been enacted on the spot where Buffalo now stands..I-EU-WA-NAH. VOL. I-15 226 THE OLDEN TIME. INDIAN TRADITION. "The Eries were the most powerful and warlike of all the Indian tribes. They resided at the foot of the great Lake (Erie), where now stands the city of Buffalo, the Indian name for which was'Tu-shu-way.' "When the Eries heard of the confederation which was formed between the Mohawks, who reside in the valley of that name, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas and the Senecas, who resided, for the most part, upon the shores of the outlets of the Lakes bearing their names respectively (called by the French the Iroquois nation), they imagined it must be for some mischievous purpose. Although confident of their superiority over any one of the tribes inhabiting the countries within the- bounds of their knowledge they dreaded the power of such combined forces. In order to satisfy themselves in regard to the character, disposition and power of those they considered their natural enemies, the Eries resorted to the following means: " They sent a friendly message to the Senecas, who were their nearest neighbors, inviting them to select one hundred of their most active, athletic young men, to play a game of ball, against the same number, to be selected by tile Eries, for a wager which should be considered worthy the occasion, and the character of the great nation in whose behalf the offer was made. "The message was received and entertained in the most respectful manner. A council of the' Five Nations' was called, and tlhproposition fully discussed, and a messenger in due time despatched with the decision of the council, respectfully declining the challenge. This emboldened the Erie, and the next year the offer was renewed, and after being again considered, was again formally declined. This was far from satisfying the proud lords of the' Great Lake.' and the challenge was renewed tile third time. The young warriors of the Iroquois became now greatly excited. They importuned the old men to allow them to accept the challenge and the wise councils which had hitherto prevailed, at last gave way and the challenge was accepted. "Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which each tribe sent forth its chosen champions for the contest. The only difficulty seemed to be to make a selection, where all were so worthy. After much delay, one hun-dred of the flower of all the tribes were finally designated, and the day for their departure was fixed. An experienced chief was chosen as the leader of the party, whose orders the young men were strictly enjoined to obey. A grand Council was called, and in the presence of the assembled multitude, the party was charged, in the most solemn manner, to observe a pacific DESTRUCTION OF THE ERIES. 227 course of conduct towards their competitors, and the nation whose guests they were to become, and to allow no provocation, however great, to be resented by any act of aggression on their part, but in all respects to acquit themselves worthy the representatives of a great and powerful people, anxious to cultivate peace and friendship with their neighbors. "Under these solemn injunctions, the party took up its line of march for'Tu-shu-way.' When the chosen band had arrived in the vicinity of the point of their destination, a messenger was sent forward to notify the Eries of their arrival, and the next day was set apart for their entree. "The elegant and athletic forms, the tasteful yet not cumbrous dress, the dignified, noble bearing of' their chief, and more than all the modest demeanor of the young warriors of the Iroquois party, won the admiration of all beholders. They brought no arms. Each one bore a bat, used to throw or strike a ball, tastefully ornamented, being a hickory stick about five feet long, bent over at the end and a thong netting wove into the bow. After a day of repose and refreshment, all things were arranged for the contest. The chief of the Iroquois brought forward and deposited upon the ground, a large pile of elegantly wrought belts of wampum, costly jewels, silver bands, beautifully ornamented moccasins, and other articles of great value in the eyes of the sons of the forest, as the stake, or wager on the part of his people. These were carefully matched by the Eries with articles of equal value-article by article, tied together and again deposited on the pile.' The game began, and although contested with desperation and great skill by the Eries, was won by the Iroquois, and they bore off the prize in triumph-thus ended the first day. The Iroquois now having accomplished the object of their visit, proposed to take their leave, but the chief of the Eries, addressing himself to their leader, said their young men, though fairly beaten in the game of ball, would not be satisfied unless they could have a foot race, and proposed to match ten of their number against an equal number of the Iroquois party, which was assented to, and the Iroquois were again victorious. The' Kaukwaus,' who resided on the Eighteen Mile Creek, being present as friends and allies of the Eries, now invited the Iroquois party to visit them before they returned home, and thither the whole party repaired. The chief'of the Eries, as a last trial of the courage and prowess of his guests, proposed to select ten men, to be matched by the same number from the Iroquois party, to wrestle-and that the victor should dispatch his adversary on the spot by braining him with a tomahawk and bearing off the scalp as a trophy. " This sanguinary proposition was not at all pleasing to the Iroquois; they however concluded to accept the challenge, with a determination, should they be victorious, not to execute the bloody part of the proposition. 228 THE OLDEN TIME. "The champions were accordingly chosen-a Seneca was the first to step into the ring, and threw his adversary amid the shouts of the multitude. He stepped back and declined to slay his victim, who lay passive at his feet. As quick as thought,.the chief of the Eries seized the tomahawk and at a single blow scattered the brains of his vanquished warrior over the ground. His body was dragged out of the way, and another champion of the Eries presented himself, he was as quickly thrown by his more powerful antagonist of the Iroquois party, and as quickly dispatched by the infuriated chief. A third met the same fate. " The chief of the Iroquois party seeing the terrible excitement that agitated the multitude gave a signal to retreat. Every man obeyed the signal, and in an instant they were out of sight. " In two hours they arrived in Tu-shu-way, gathered up the trophies of their victories, and were on their way home. " The visit of the hundred warriors of the five nations, and its results, only served to increase the jealousy of the Eries, and to convince them that they had powerful rivals to contend with. It was no part of their policy to cultivate friendship and strengthen their own power by cultivating peace with other tribes. " They knew of no mode of securing peace to themselves but by exterminating all who might oppose them; but the combination of several powerful tribes, any one of whom might be almost an equal match for them, and of whose personal prowess they had seen such an exhibition, inspired the Eries with the most anxious forebodings. To cope with them collectively they saw was impossible. Their only hope therefore was in being able, by a vigorous and sudden movement, to destroy them in detail. With this view, a powerful war party was immediately organized to attack the Senecas, who resided at the foot of Seneca Lake (the present site of Geneva), and along the banks of the Seneca river. It happened that at this time there resided among the Eries a Seneca women, who in early life had been taken prisoner, and had married a husband of the Erie tribe. He died and left her a widow without children, a stranger among strangers. Seeing the terrible note of preparation for a bloody onslaught upon her kindred and friends, she formed the resolution of apprising them of their danger. As soon as night set in, taking the course of the Niagara river, she traveled all night, and early next morning reached the shore of Lake Ontario. She jumped into a canoe, she found fastened to a tree, and boldly pushed into the open lake. " Coasting down the lake she arrived at the mouth of the Oswego river in the night, where a large settlement of the nation resided. "She directed her steps to the house of the third chief and disclosed the object of her journey. She was secreted by the chief, and runners were dispatched to all the tribes, summoning them immediately to meet in council DESTRUCTION OF THE ERIES. 229 which was held at Onondago Hollow. When all were convened the chief arose, and in the most solemn manner rehearsed a vision, in which he said a beautiful bird appeared to him, and told him that a great war party of the Eries was preparing to make a secret and sudden descent upon them and destroy them; that nothing could save them but an immediate rally of all the warriors of the five nations to meet the enemy before they could be able to strike the blow. These solemn announcements were heard in breathless silence. When the chief had finished and sat down, there arose one immense yell of menacing madness, and the earth shook when the mighty mass brandished high in the air their war clubs, and stamped the ground like furious beasts. "No time was to be lost; a body of five thousand warriors was organized, and a corps of reserve, consisting of one thousand young men, who had never been in battle. The bravest chiefs from all the tribes were put in command, and spies immediately sent out in search of the enemy, the whole body taking up a line of march in the direction from whence they expected an attack. "The advance of the war party was continued for several days, passing through successively the settlements of their fiiends, the Onondagos, the Cayugas and Senecas; but they had scarcely passed the last wigwam near the foot of the Can-an-da-gua (Canandaigua) lake, when their scouts brought in intelligence of the advance of the Eries, who had already crossed the Ce-nis-se-u (Genesee) river in great force. The Eries had not the slightest intimation of the approach of their enemies. They relied upon the secrecy and celerity of their movements to surprise and subdue the Senecas almost without resistance. "The two parties met at a point about half-way between the foot of Canandaigua lake and Genesee river and near the outlet of the two small lakes, near the foot of one of which (the Honeoye) the battle was fought. When the two parties came in sight of each other, the outlet of the lake only intervened between them. "The entire force of the five confederate tribes was not in view of the Eries. The reserve corps of one thousand young men had not been allowed to advance in sight of the enemy. Nothing could resist the impetuosity of the Eries at the first sight of the opposing force, on the opposite side of the stream. They rushed through it and fell upon them with tremendous fury. The undaunted courage and determined bravery of the Iroquois could not avail against such a terrible onslaught, and they were compelled to yield the ground on the bank of the stream. The whole force of the combined tribes except the corps of reserve, now became engaged, they fought hand to hand and foot to foot, the battle raged hori'ibly. No quarter was asked or given on either side. "As the fight thickened and became more desperate, the Eries, for the first 230 THE OLDEN TIME. time, became sensible of their true situation. What they had long anticipated had become a fearful reality. Their enemies had combined for their destruction, and they had now found themselves engaged suddenly and unexpectedly in a struggle involving not only the glory but perhaps the very existence of their nation. "They were proud, and had been hitherto victorious over all their enemies. Their superiority was felt and acknowledged by all the tribes; they knew how to conquer, but not to yield. All these considerations flashed upon the minds of the bold Eries, and nerved every arm with almost superhuman power. On the other hand, the united forces of the weaker tribes, now made strong by union, fired with a spirit of emulation excited to the highest pitch among the warriors of the different tribes, brought for the first time to act in concert, inspired with zeal and confidence by the counsels of the wisest chiefs, and led on by the most experienced warriors of all the tribes, the Iroquois were invincible. "Though staggered by the first desperate rush of their opponents, they rallied at once, and stood their ground. And now the din of battle rises higher, the war-club, the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, wielded by herculean hands, do terrible deeds of death. During the hottest of the battle, which was fierce and long, the corps of reserve, consisting of one thousand young men, were, by a skillful movement under their experienced chief, placed in the rear of the Eries on the opposite side of the stream in ambush. "The Eries had been driven seven times across the stream and had as often regained their ground, but the eighth time, at a signal given from their chief, the corps of young warriors in ambush, rushed upon the almost exhausted Eries, with a tremendous yell and at once decided the fortunes of the day. Hundreds, disdaining to fly, were struck down by the war-clubs of the vigorous young warriors, whose thirst for the blood of the enemy knew no bounds. A few of the vanquished Eries escaped, to carry the news of their terrible overthrow to their wives and children, and their old men, who remained at home. But the victors did not allow them a moment's repose, but pursued them in their flight, killing without discrimination all who fell into their hanids. The pursuit was continued for many weeks, and it was five months before the victorious war party of the Five Nations returned to their friends, to join in celebrating the victory over their last and most powerful enemy, the Eries. "Tradition adds, that many years after, a powerful war party of the descendants of the Eries, came from beyond the Mississippi, ascended the Ohio, crossed the country, and attacked the Senecas who had settled in the seat of their fathers at'Tu-shu-way.' A great battle was fought near the present site of the Indian Mission House, in which the Eries were again defeated, and slain to a man, and their bones lie bleaching in the sun to the DESTRUCTION OF THE ERIES. 231 present day, a monument at once of the indomitable courage of the'terri-ble Eries,' and their brave conquerors, the Senecas." Governor Cass, who has paid considerable attention to Indian history, has the following remarks in relation to the Shawanese: "Their history is involved in much obscurity. Their language is Algonquin, and closely allied to the Kickapoo and other dialects spoken by tribes who have lived for ages north of the Ohio. But they are known to have recently emigrated from the South, where they were surrounded by a family of tribes, Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, &c., with whose language their own had no affinity. Their traditions assign to them a foreign origin, and a wild story has come down to them of a solemn procession in the midst of the ocean, and of a miraculous passage through the great deep. " That they were closely connected with the Kickapoos, the actual identity of language furnishes irrefragible proof; and the incidents of the separation yet live in the oral history of each tribe. We are strongly inclined to believe that not long before the arrival of the French upon these great lakes, the Kickapoos and Shawanese composed the tribe known as the Erie, living on the Eastern shore of the lake to which they gave their name. It is said the tribe was exterminated by the victorious Iroquois. But it was more probable that a series of misfortunes divided them into two parties, one of which, under the name of Kickapoos, sought refuge from their enemies in the immense prairies between the Illinois and Mississippi, and the other, under the name of Shawanese, fled into the Cherokee country, and thence further South. Father Segard, in 1632, called the Eries the' nation du chat' or the raccoon, on account of the magnitude of these animals in their country, and that is the soubriquet, which to this day, is applied by the Canadians to the Shawanese." We give the above conjecture of Governor Cass for what it may be worth. The history of the Shawanese certainly seems to be a peculiar one; they seem to be a roving band somewhat like the gipseys of the old continent, having no fixed residence. On pages 6 and 7 of the first number of the Olden Time, our readers will see a notice of a tradition among them which conflicts greatly with the suggestion of Governor Cass, in the above extract. We have no decided opinion upon the subject, but intend to give from time to time all the traditions and conjectures which are calculated to throw light on the subject. Our aim is to collect. 232 THE OLDEN TIME. [From the American Pioneer.] AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES AT GRAVE CREEK. " The following graphic account of the mammoth mound, &c., at Grave Creek, was obtained from A. B. Tomlinson, the proprietor. Great praise is due to him for his careful preservation of that tremendous structure of ancient American aboriginal industry. His museum will, with care, become one of the most interesting in the West. Many of our towns, Vandal-like, have destroyed their ancient curiosities. What a pity! " From A. B. Boreman, Esq., of Elizabethtown, we received a fac-simile of the engraving on the stone. We extract from his letter the following, but as Mr. Tomlinson's account is the most full, we give it entire. "'The fac-simile gives the true shape and size of the stone; its color is dark and of a grayish cast. It was found in the above mentioned mound by Mr. A. B. Tomlinson, in 1838, while excavating it, a short distance from the centre, and near one of the skeletons found therein. The characters engraved on this stone have produced excitement in the different parts of the United States, unto which the fac-similes have been transmitted, and also in Europe. I have been informed that the antiquarians of England, more particularly, have been exerting their minds and historical faculties, in order to decipher those characters, and discover something by which they can trace them to their origin. This is a problem which, if solved, would no doubt throw some light upon the antiquities of America. There are a great many mounds in the vicinity and country surrounding Elizabethtown, some of which have been digged down, in which there has been found a great many bones of human beings, among which are skulls, &c. Copper beads have also been found, and a number of stone tubes ten and one-half inches in length, having a calibre of three-fourths of an inch, some of which were full of something which might be called red paint of a light shade, with other things of a similar character. But I will proceed to the description of the mammoth mound. It is beautifully situated on the same extensive plain, and within the suburbs of Elizabethtown, two hundred and fifty yards from the court house, and a quarter of a mile from the Ohio river. Its altitude is sixth-nine feet, the circumference of its base is a little more than three hundred yards. Its shape is that of a frustum of a cone, being flat on the top, and the distance across is fifty feet."' MOUND AT GRAVE CREEK. 233 MR. TOMLINSON'S LETTER. Flats of Grave Creek-Settlement-Elizabethtown-Mammoth Mound-Its antiquity- Horizontal excavation-Lower vault-Its contents-Perpendicular excavation-Upper vaults-Its contents-Trinkets -Skeletons-Their state of preservation-Their character-Beads, &c., how situated-Kinds of earthPreservation of vaults-Arrangement of Curiosities-Observatory-Stone image and other relics. "J. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. "Sir: The flats of Grave creek are a large scope of bottom land in Marshall county, Virginia, and on the eastern shore of the Ohio river, which here runs due south. They extend from north to south about four miles, and contain about three thousand acres. Big and Little Grave creeks both empty into the Ohio at these flats, from which they derive their names. The creeks themselves doubtless derived their names from various tumuli or mounds, commonly called Indian graves, which are found on these flats, and especially between the two creeks. Little Grave creek enters the flats at the upper end and' runs parallel with the Ohio about three miles, and then turns at right angles and enters the river one mile above the Big creek, which occupies the lower termination'of the flats. These creeks are what are called mill streams, and of course are not navigable. These flats are composed of first and second bottoms. The first bottom is about two hundred yards wide, and runs the whole length of the flats. The great flood of 1832 was about ten feet deep on the first, but lacked from ten to twenty feet of the height of the second bottom, on which all the ancient Indian works and mounds are situated; no signs of them being on the lower land. It may reasonably be inferred that the brow of the second bottom was the bank of the river, when these ancient works were erected. This, I believe, is not an uncommon circumstance where mounds and ancient works appear near the streams that have first and second bottoms. " The flats were early settled. My grandfather settled on them in 1772, two years before the murder of Logan's family. It was to these flats that young Cresap pursued the Indians as related by Colonel Ebenezer Zane in his affidavit, published in the appendix to Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. There are many interesting incidents connected with the settlement of these flats, which I may at another time communicate, from the lips of my father, but is those incidents are not my present subject, I will proceed. " Elizabethtown is about twelve miles below Wheeling, and is situated on the second bottom, near the mouth of the little Grave creek, and at the widest part of the flats; it is the seat of justice for Marshall county. "In the suberbs of Elizabethtown stands what is called Mammoth Mound, which with its contents is made the subject of this narrative. This mound is surrounded by various other mounds and ancient works, and in respect to the surrounding localities, the situation, as respects defence 234 THE OLDEN TIME. was well chosen, on the brow of the second bottom, and partially encompassed by steeps and ravines. The Mtmmoth Mound is sixty-nine feet high. Its circumference at the base is over three hundred yards. It is the frustum of a cone, and has a flat top of fifty feet in diameter. This flat on the top of the mound, until lately, was dish shaped. The depth of the depression in the centre was three feet, and its width forty feet. This depression was doubtless occasioned by the falling in of two vaults, which were originally constructed in the mound, but which afterwards fell in; the earth sinking over them, occasioned the depression on the top. "The mound was discovered by my grandfather soon after he settled the flats, and was covered with as large timbers as any in the surrounding forests, and as close together. The centre of the hollow on the top was occupied by a large beech. This mound was early and much visited. Dates were cut on this beech as early as 1734! It was literally covered with names and dates to the height of ten feet; none of a more remote period than the above; most of them were added after the country began to be settled-mostly from 1770 to 1790. On the very summit of the mound stood a white oak, which seemed to die of old age fifteen years ago. It stood on the western edge of the dish. We cut it off, and with great care and nicety, counted the growths, which evidently showed the tree to have been about five hundred years old when it died. It carried its thickness well for about fifty feet, where it branched out into several large limbs. Top and all, it was about seventy feet high, which, added to the height of the mound, it might well have been styled the Ancient Monarch of the Flats, if not of the forest. A black oak stands now on the east side of the mound, which is as large as the white oak was, but it is situated on the side of the mound, about ten feet lower that the throne of the white oak, to which it may now be proclaimed the rightful heir. " Prompted by curiosity or some other cause, on the 19th of March, 1838, we commenced an excavation in this mound. I wrought at it myself from the commencement to the termination, and what I am about to tell you is from my own personal observation, which, if necessary, could be substantiated by others. We commenced on the north side, and excavated towards the centre. Our horizontal shaft was ten feet high and seven feet wide, and ran on the natural surface of the ground or floor of the mound. "At the distance of one hundred and eleven feet we came to a vault that had been excavated in the natural earth before the mound was commenced. This vault was dug out eight by twelve feet square, and seven feet deep. Along each side and the two ends, upright timbers were placed, which supported timbers that were thrown across the vault, and formed for a time its ceiling. These timbers were covered over with loose unhewn stone, of the same quality as is common in the neighborhood. These timbers rotted, and the stone tumbled into the vault; the earth of MOUND AT GRAVE CREEK. 235 the mound following, quite filled it. The timbers were entirely deranged, but could be traced by the rotten wood, which was in such a condition as to be rubbed to pieces between the fingers. The vault was as dry as any tight room; its sides very nearly correspond with the cardinal points of the compass, and it was lengthwise from north to south. "In this vault were found two human skeletons, one of which had no ornaments or artificial work of any kind about it. The other was surrounded by six hundred and fifty ivory beads, and an ivory ornament about six inches long of this shape [see figure 8*]. It is one and five-eighths inches wide in the middle, and half an inch wide at the ends, with two holes through it of one-eighth of an inch diameter, and shaped as in the drawing. It is flat on one side and oval shaped on the other. The beads resemble button molds, and vary in diameter from three to five-eighths of an inch. In thickness they vary from that of a common pasteboard to onefourth of an inch; the size of the holes through them varying with the diameter of the beads from one-eighth of an inch in the largest. Some of the beads are in a good state of lreservation, retaining even the original polish; others, not so favorably situated, are decayed-somre crumbled to dust. Above I count only the whole ones left. The large ornament is in a good state of preservation, but is somewhat corroded. The first skeleton we found on the 4th of April, and the second on the 16th; but I shall speak more particularly of these further on. "After searching this vault, we commenced a shaft ten feet in diameter, at the center of the mound on top, and in the bottom of the depression before spoken of. At the depth of thirty four or thirty-five above the vault, at the bottom, we discovered another vault, which occupied the middle space between the bottom and the top. The shaft we continued quite down through the mound to our first excavation.'l The second or upper vault was discovered on the 9th of June. It had been constructed in every respect like that at the base of the mound, except that its length lay east and west, or across that at the base, but perpendicularly over it. It was equally filled with earth, rotten wood, stones, &c., by the falling in of the ceiling. The floor of this vault was also sunken by the falling in of the lower one, with the exception of a portion of one end. "In the upper vault was found one skeleton only, but many trinkets, as seventeen hundred ivory beads, five hundred sea shells of the involute species, that were worn as beads, and five copper bracelets that were about the wrist bones of the skeleton. There were also one hundred and fifty pieces of isinglass [mica.] and the stone, a fac-simile drawing of which I send you herewith. Thei stone is flat on both sides, and is about *This figure we must omit. 236 THE OLDEN TIME. three-eighths of an inch thick. It has no engraving on it, except on one side, as sent you. There is no appearance of any hole or ear, as if it had been worn as a medal. The drawing is the exact size of it. It is sandstone of a very fine and close grit. The beads found in this vault were like those found in the lower one, as to size, materials, decay, &c. The shells were three-eighths of an inch long and one-fourth of an inch in diameter at the swell or largest part. The bracelets are of pure copper, coated with rust as thick as brown paper. They are an oblong circle. The inner diameter of one is two and one-fourth inches one way, and two and fiveeighths the other. They vary in size and thickness; the largest is half an inch thick, and the smallest half that thickness. They were made of round bars bent so that the ends came together, which forms the circle. The five bracelets weigh seventeen ounces. The pieces of isinglass are but little thicker than writing paper, and are generally from one and a-half to two inches square; each piece had two or three holes through it about the size of a knitting needle, most likely for the purpose of sewing or in some way fastening them to the clothing. "The beads were found about the neck and breast bones of the skeletons. The bea shells were in like manner distributed over the neck and breast bones of the skeleton in the upper vault. The bracelets were around the wrist bones. The pieces of isinglass were strewed all over the body. What a gorgeous looking object this monarch must have been! Five bracelets shining on the wrists, seventeen beads, and five hundred sea shells, that we found whole about his breast and neck, besides one hundred and fifty brilliants of mica on all parts of his body! no doubt oft the object of the throng's admiring gaze. The stone with the characters on it was found about two feet from the skeleton; could it be read, doubtless would tell something of the history of this illustrious dead, interred high above his quite gorgeous companion in the lower story. "' The skeleton first found in the lower vault, was found lying on the back, parallel with and close to the west side of the vault. The feet were about the middle of the vault; its body was extended at full length; the left arm was lying along the left side; the right arm as if raised over the head, the bones lying near the right ear and crossed over the crown of the head. The head of this skeleton was toward the south. There were no ornaments found with it. The earth had fallen and covered it over before the ceiling fell, and thus protected, it was not much broken. We have it preserved for the inspection of visitors; it is five feet nine inches high, and has a full and perfect set of teeth, in a good state of preservation; the head is of a fine intellectual mould; whether male or female cannot be ascertained, as the pelvis was broken. Opinions differ as to sex; my own is, that it is that of a male. " The second skeleton found in this vault, and which had the trinkets MOUND AT GRAVE CREEK. 237 about it lay on the west side, with the head to the east, or in the same direction as that on the opposite side. The feet of this one were likewise near the centre of the west side. The earth had not crumbled down over it before the ceiling fell, consequently it was not much broken (as was also that in the upper vault). There is nothing in the remains of any of these, skeletons which differ materially from those of common people. "The skeleton in the upper vault lay with its feet against the south side of the vault, and the head toward the north-east. It is highly probable that the corpses were all placed in a standing position, and subsequently fell. Those in the lower vault most likely stood on the east and west side, opposite to each other; and the one in the upper vault on the south side. " The mound is composed of the same kind of earth as that around it, being a fine loamy sand, but differs very much in color from that of the natural ground. After penetrating about eight feet with the first or horizontal excavation, blue spots began to appear in the earth of which the mound is composed. On close examination, these spots were found to contain ashes and bits of burnt bones. These spots increased as we approached the centre; at the distance of one hundred and twenty feet within, the spots were so numerous and condensed as to give the earth a clouded appearance, and excited the admiration of all who saw it. Every part of the mound presents the same appearance, except near the surface. I am convinced that the blue spots were occasioned by depositing the remains of bodies consumed by fire. I am also of the opinion that the upper vault was constructed long after the lower one, but for this opinion I do not know that there is any evidence. " We have overlaid the excavation, from the side to the centre, with brick, and paved the bottom. We excavated the vault in the centre twenty-eight feet in diameter. It is well walled with brick and neatly plastered. The rotunda or shaft in the centre, is also walled with brick. The foundation of the rotunda is in the centre of the lower vault, and around this we have made departments for the safe keeping of the relics nearly where they were found; this vault we light with twenty candles, for the accommodation of visitors, many of whom have never seen it. "Upon the top of the mound, and directly over the rotunda, we have erected a three story frame building, which we call an observatory. The lowed story is thirty-two feet in diameter, the second story is twenty-six feet, and the story upper ten. The manner of constructing the building accommodates the visitor with a walk quite round on the top of each story, and a good stand for observation on the top. From either of these elevations the visitor has an unobstructed view of the surrounding country and river to a considerable distance. It is our intention to run a winding stairway from the bottom of the mound through the rotunda and observatory on 238 THE OLDEN TIME. the top. The bight of this stairway will be over one hundred feet. The observatory was built in 1837. "In addition to the relics found in the Mammoth Mound, I have a great number and variety of relics found in the neighborhood; many of' them were found with skeletons which were nearly decayed. I have some beads, found about two miles from this great mound, that are evidently a kind of porcelain, and very similar if not identical in substance with artificial teeth set by dentists. I have also an image of stone, found with other relics about eight miles distant; it is in human shape, sitting in a cramped position, the face and eyes projecting upwards; the nose is what is called Roman. On the crown of the head is a knot, in which the hair is concentrated and tied. The head and features particularly is a display of great workmanship and ingenuity: it is eleven inches in height, but if it were straight would be double that height. It is generally believed to have been an idol. Your fiiend, "A. B. TO4MLINSON." TOKENS OF FRENCH POSSESSION ALONG THE OHIO. We pub:ish in the present number of the Olden Time an account of the finding of one of the leaden plates deposited by Sieur Celeron de Bienville, the agent of the Governor General of Canada, at different points along the Allegheny and the Ohio, in the summer of 1749, as memorials of the arrival of French at those places. The plate referred to in this instance was found in the town of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. We have the plate at this time in our possession, but can add nothing to the description given of it in the article which we copy from the Parkersburgh Gazette, except to add that on the back of it the following words are very distinctly seen, "PAUL LABROSSE, Fecit." It is not known how many of these plates were deposited, or at what points on the Ohio, the then received name, both of the Ohio and Allegheny, One plate, however, was found at the mouth of the Muskingum; and Mr. Atwater, the historian of Ohio, states that he had seen one, that was found at the mouth of the Venango or French Creek. This one found at Point Pleasant is, at least, the third that has been found. The writer of the annexed article alludes to some confusion as to the dates, or rather as to the period when Monsieur Galissoniere was Governor. Professor Kalm was in Canada in 1749, and, he states that La Jonquiere arrived from France on the 14th of August, 1749, and was installed with considerable ceremony and pomp, as the successor of La Gallisoniere FRENCH POSSESSIONS ALONG THE OHIO. 239 on the succeeding day. This removes all seeming inconsistency in the matter. Bouchette, in his account of the British Dominions in America, a work of high authority, has the following account of the matter: "Count De Galissoniere, who succeeded Admiral De La Jonquiere in the government of Canada (August 16th, 1749), detached an officer with 300 men to the frontier of Canada. Monsieur Celeron de Bienville, proceeded to Detroit; and then traversed the country to the Appalachian Mountains where he deposited under-ground at different stations, leaden plates on which were engraved the arms of France, recording the fact informal acts or proces verbeux, which he submitted to La Galissoniere, who afterwards transmitted them to France." It will be seen that Bouchette speaks of the arms of France being on the plates. The correspondent of the Parkersburgh paper says nothing about this, but upon examination, we find the lily in six different places. Professor Kalm states that the Governor Galissoniere was the same person who afterwards commanded the French fleet in the Mediterranean, which Admiral Byng did not defeat, for which he was afterwards murdered under the guise of law. We received this plate at so late a day that we cannot have a fac-simile of it for this number of the Olden Time, but hope to have one for the next number. [From the Parkersburg Gazette.] RELIC OF THE FRENCII DOMINATION, FOUND AT POINT PLEASANT. Point Pleasant, April, 1846. "This village is situated at the confluence of the Great Kanawha with the Ohio. SNature has faithfully accomplished her part in beautifying the situation; but I regret to say, that its inhabitants are guilty of gross injustice and neglect, in contributing to its improvements. "Since my arrival I have met with a relic of an early exploring expedition by the French, which is very conclusive as to their encroachments on the colony of Virginia. It is a lead plate about nine inches in breadth, twelve or fourteen in length, and near an eighth of an inch in thickness. The inscription appears evidently to have been made by stamps, with the exception of the words in italics in a copy which I send you, placed so, not because they are italicised in the original, but that they may more easily be discerned. These appear to have been engraved with a knife or other instrument for that purpose, and are of the same size and shape of the 240 THE OLDEN TIME. stamped letters. It was doubtless made in France with others similar, expressly for the purpose of preserving memorials of their claims. It was picked out of the bank at the junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio, by a little son of J. W. Beale, Esq., while playing on the margin of the river. Believing it will be equally a matter of curious interest with your readers as with myself, I have procured the following copy for publication: Lan 1749 dv regne de Lovis XV Roy de France novs Celoron commandant dun tachment envoie par monsievr le - de la Galissoniere commandant general de la Novvelle France povr retablir tranqvlilite dans qvelqves villages sauvages de ces cantons avons enterre cette plaive a lentree de la Rivierre Chinodahichetha le 18 Aoust pres de la Rivierre Oyo autrement Belle Rivierre povr monvment dv renovellement de possession qve novs avons pris de la ditte Rivierre Oyo et tovtes ceiles qvi y tombent et de tovtes les terres des devs cotes jusqve avx sovrces des dittes rivieres vinsi qven ont jovy sv (lv jovir les precedents Roys de France et qvils sont maintenys par les armes et par les traittes specialement par cevx de Risvvick et D'Aix la Chapelle. TRANSLATION. "In the year 1749, in the reign of Louis XV, King of France, we, Celoron, commandant of a detachment sent by the Marquis de la Galissoniere, commandant General of New France, to re-establish tranquility in some Indian towns in these departments, have buried this plate at the mouth of the river Chinodahichetha, this 18th day of August, near the river Ohio, otherwise called Beautiful River, as a memorial of the resumption of possession we have made of the said river Ohio, and all those that fall into it, and of all the lands on both sides up to the sources of the said rivers, the same as the preceding Kings of France have enjoyed or were entitled to enjoy, and as they are established by arms and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utretht, and Aix la Chapelle." " The above translation is nearly literal, and at least preserves the sense of the original. The French is none of the purest, and.the accents, apostrophes, and punctuation are wanting, except that the circumflex is placed over the initial 0 in Oyo the first time that word occurs, while the I's, though capitals, are invariably dotted, and the Q's are of the old black letter form, like a P reversed. "' Chinodahichetha' is doubtless the Indian name of the river now known as the Great Kanawha. The latter word is said to signify muddy or clayey banks,* a very proper description of both the rivers to which it is applied. As the French orthography will bear the pronunciation Ka-no-da-he-ke-ta, the present name is possibly a corruption of the first three syllables of the other, or they may be names given to the same river by different tribes of the aboriginees. We must omit a portion of this article for want of room. *A mistake. Kanawha signifies in the Indian dialect, "River of the Woods." This river is not characterized by " muddy " or " clayey " banks.-ED. KANAWHA REPUB. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. JUNE, 1846. No. 6. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] "COLONEL BOUQUET, having at length, with great difficulty, collected his troops, formed his magazines, and provided for the safety of the posts he was to leave behind him, was ready on the 2d of October to proceed from Fort Pitt, with about 1500 men, including drivers and other necessary followers of the army. "' The Colonel, expressing the greatest confidence in the bravery of the troops, told them,'he did not doubt but this war would soon be ended, under God, to their own honor, and the future safety of the country, provided the men were strictly obedient to orders, and guarded against the surprises and sudden attacks of a treacherous enemy, who never dared to face British troops in an open field; that the distance of the enemy's towns, and the clearing roads to them, must necessarily require a consider-,able time; that the troops in those deserts had no other supplies to expect but the ammunition and provisions they carried with them; and that therefore the utmost care and frugality would be necessary in the use of them.' He published the severest penalties against those who should be found guilty of stealing or embezzling any part of them, and ordered his march in the following manner: "A corps of Virginia* volunteers advanced before the whole, detaching three scouting parties. One of them, furnished with a guide, marched * These were the men raised in Virginia to complete the Pennsylvania troops, and were in the pay of the last mentioned province. VOL. I-16 242 THE OLDEN TIME. in the centre path, which the army was to follow. The other two extended themselves in a line abreast, on the right and left of the aforesaid party, to reconnoitre the woods. "Under cover of this corps, the axe-men, consisting of all the artificers, and two companies of light infantry, followed in three divisions, under the direction of the chief engineer, to clear three different paths, in which the troops and convoy followed, viz: " The front face of the square, composed of the 42d regiment, marched in a column, two deep, in the centre path. "The right face of the square, composed of the remainder of the 42d and of the 60th regiment, marched in a single file in the right hand path. "The first battalion of Pennsylvanians composed the left face, marching in like manner in the path to the left of the centre. " The corps de reserve, composed of two platoons of grenadiers, followed the right and left faces of the square. "'The 2d battalion of Pennsylvanians formed the rear face of the square, and followed the corps de reserve, each in a single file, on the right and left hand paths; all these troops covering the convoy, which moved in the centre path. "A party of light horsemen marched behind the rear face of the square, followed by another troop of Virginia volunteers, forming the rear-guard. "The Pennsylvania volunteers, dividing themselves equally, and marching in a single file, at a proper distance, flanked the right and left faces of the square. " This was the general order of march. Nor was less attention paid to particular matters of a subordinate nature. The ammunition and tools were placed in the rear of the first column, or front face of the square, followed by the officers' baggage and tents. The oxen and sheep came after the baggage, in separate droves, properly guarded. The provisions came next to the baggage, in four divisions, or brigades of pack-horses, each conducted by a horse master. " The troops were ordered to observe the most profound silence, and the men to march at two yards distance from one another. When the line or any part of it halted, the whole were to face outwards; and if attacked on their march, they were to halt immediately, ready to form the square when ordered. The light horse were then to march into the square, with the cattle, provisions, ammunition and baggage. Proper dispositions were likewise made in case of an attack in the night; and for encampments, guards, communications between the sentries, signals, and the like. "Things being thus settled, the army decamped from Fort Pitt on Wednesday, October 3d, and marched about one mile and a half over a rich level country, with stately timber, to camp No. 2, a strong piece of ground, pleasantly situated, with plenty of water and food for cattle. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 243' Thursday, October 4th, having proceeded about two miles, they came to the Ohio, at the beginning of the narrows, and from thence followed the course of the river along a'flat gravelly beach, about six miles and a quarter; with two islands on their left, the lowermost about six miles long, with a rising ground running across, and gently sloping on both sides to its banks, which are high and upright. At the lower end of this island, the army left the river, marching though good land, broken with small hollows to camp No. 3; this day's march being nine miles and a quarter. "Friday, October 5th. In this day's march the army passed through Logstown,* situated seventeen miles and a half, fifty-seven perches, by the path, from Fort Pitt. This place was noted before the last war for the great trade carried on there by the English and French; but its inhabitants, the Shawanese and Delawares, abandoned it in the year 1750. The lower town extended about sixty perches over a rich bottom to the foot of a low steep ridge, on the summit of which, near the declivity, stood the upper town, commanding a most agreeable prospect over the lower, and quite across the Ohio, which is about 500 yards wide here, and by its majestic easy current adds much to the beauty of the place. Proceeding beyond Logstown, through a fine country, interspersed with hill and rich valleys, watered by many rivulets, and covered with stately timber, they came to camp No. 4; on a level piece of ground, with a thicket in the rear, a small precipice round the front, with a run of water at the foot, and good food for cattle. This day's march was nine miles, one half, and fifty-three perches. " Saturday, October 6th, at about three miles distance from this camp they came again to the Ohio, pursuing its course half a mile farther, and then turning off, over a steep ridge, they crossed Big Beaver Creek, which is twenty perches wide, the ford stony and pretty deep. It runs through a rich vale, with a pretty strong current, its banks high, the upland adjoining, it very good, the timber tall and young. About a mile below its confluence with the Ohio, stood formerly a large town, on a steep bank, built by the French, of square logs, with stone chimneys, for some of the Shawanese,'Delaware and Mingo tribes, who abandoned it in the year 1758, when the French deserted Fort Duquesne. Near the fording of Beaver Creek also stood about seven houses, which were deserted and destroyed by the Indians,' after their defeat at Bushy Run, when they forsook all their remaining settlements in this part of the country, as has been mentioned above. *We had occasion to mention in the first number that the common belief was, that Logstown was on the left side of the Ohio as you descended, and to express our own opinion, that this was an error. In support of our view of the matter we cited such evidence as we then had in our hands. Since then we have seen Mitchell's, Evan's, and the map in Du Kalm's travels, and find they all agree with Post's Journal and the above text, in placing Logstown on the right or north bank of the Ohio. 244 THE OLDEN TIME. "About two miles before the army came to Beaver Creek, one of our people, who had been made prisoner by six Delawares about a week before, near Fort Bedford, having made his escape from them, came and informed the Colonel that these Indians had the day before fallen in with the army, but kept themselves concealed, being surprised at our numbers. Two miles beyond Beaver Creek, by two small springs, we seen the scull of a child, that had been fixed on a pole by the Indians. The tracks of fifteen Indians were this day discovered. The camp No. 5 is seven miles one quarter and fifty-seven perches from Big Beaver Creek; the whole march of this day being about twelve miles. " Sunday, 6th October, passing a high ridge, they had a fine prospect of an extensive country to the right, which in general appeared level, with abundance of tall timber. The camp No. 6 lies at the foot of a steep descent, in a rich valley, on a strong ground, three sides thereof surrounded by a hollow, and on the fourth side a small hill, which was occupied by a detached guard. This day's march was six miles sixty-five perches. "Monday, 8th October, the army crossed little Beaver Creek, and one of its branches. This creek is eight perches wide, with a good ford, the country about it interspersed with hills, rivulets and rich valleys, like that described above. Camp No. 7 lies by a small run on the side of the hill, commanding the ground about it. and is distant eleven miles one quarter and forty-nine perches from the last encampment. Tuesday, October 9th. In this day's march, the path divided into two branches, that to the southwest leading to the lower towns upon the Muskingham. In the forks of the path stand several trees painted by the Indians, in a hieroglyphic manner, denoting the number of wars in which they have been engaged, and the particulars of their success in prisoners and scalps. The camp No. 8 lies on a run, and level piece of ground, with Yellow Creek close on the left, and a rising ground near the rear of the right face. The path, after the army left the forks, was so brushy and entangled, that they were obliged to cut all the way before them, and also to lay several bridges, in order to make it passable for the horses; so that this day they proceeded only five miles, three quarters and seventy perches. " Wednesday, 10th. Marched one mile, with Yellow Creek on the left at a small distance all the way, and crossed it at a good ford fifty feet wide; proceeding through an alternate succession of small hills and rich vales, finely watered with rivulets, to camp No. 9, seventy miles and sixty perches in the whole. " Thursday, 11th. Crossed a branch of Muskingham river about fifty feet wide, the country much the same as that described above, discovering a good deal of free-stone. The camp No. 10, had this branch of the FRENCH POSSESSIONS ALONG THE OHIO. 245 river parallel to its left face, and lies ten miles one quarter and forty perches from the former encampment. "Friday 12th. Keeping the aforesaid creek on their left, they marched through much fine land, watered with small rivers and springs; proceeding likewise through several savannahs or cleared spots, which are by nature extremely beautiful; the second which they passed, being in particular, one continued plain of near two miles, with a fine rising ground forming a semicircle round the right hand side, and a pleasant stream of water at about a quarter of a mile distant on the left. The camp No. 11, has the above mentioned branch of Muskingham on the left, and is distant ten miles and three quarters from the last encampment. " Saturday 13th. Crossed Nemenshehelas creek, about fifty feet wide, a little above where it empties itself into the aforesaid branch of Muskingham, having in their way a pleasant prospect over a large plain, for near two miles on the left. A little further, they came to another small river, which they crossed about fifty perches above where it empties into the said branch of Muskingham. Here a high ridge on the right, and the creek close on the left, form a narrow defile about seventy perches long. Passing afterwards over a very rich bottom, they came to the main branch of Muskingham, about seventy yards wide, with a good ford. A little below and above the forks of this river is Tuscarowas, a place exceedingly beautiful by situation, the lands rich on both sides of the river; the country on the north-west side being an entire level plane, upwards of five miles in circumference. From the ruined houses appearing here, the Indians who inhabited the place and are now with the Delawares, are supposed to have had about one hundred and fifty warriors. This camp, No. 12, is distant eight miles nineteen perches from the former. "'Sunday 14th. The army remained in camp; and two men who had been dispatched by Colonel Bouquet from Fort Pitt, with letters for Col. Bradstreet, returned and reported:'That, within a few miles of this place, they had been made prisoners by the Delawares, and carried to one of their towns, sixteen miles from hence, where they were kept, till the savages, knowing of the arrival of the army here, set them at liberty, ordering them to acquaint the Colonel that the head men of the Delawares and Shawanese were coming as soon as possible to treat of peace with him.' "11 onday 15th. The army moved two miles forty perches further down the Muskingum to camp No. 13, situated on a very high bank, with the river at the foot of it, which is upwards of 100 yards wide at this place, with a fine level country at some distance from its banks, producing stately timber, free from underwood, and plenty of food for cattle. "The day following, six Indians came to inform the Colonel that all their chiefs were assembled about eight miles from the camp, and were ready to treat with him of peace, which they were earnestly desirous of 246 THE OLDEN TIME. obtaining. He returned for answer that he would meet them the next day in a bower at some distance from the camp. In the mean time, he ordered a small stockaded fort to be built to deposite provisions for the use of the troops on.their return, and to lighten the convoy. " As several large bodies of Indians were now within a few miles of the camp, whose former instances of treachery, although they now declared they came for peace, made it prudent to trust nothing to their intentions, the strictest orders were repeated to prevent a surprise. "Wednesday 17th. The Colonel, with most of the regular troops, Virginia volunteers and light horse, marched from the camp to the bower erected for the congress. And soon after the troops were stationed, so as to appear to the best advantage, the Indians arrived, and were conducted to the bower. Being seated, they began, in a short time, to smoke their pipe or calumet, agreeable to their custom. This ceremony being over, their speaker laid down their pipes, and opened their pouches, wherein were their strings and belts of wampum. The Indians present were-'" Senecas-Kiyashuta, chief with fifteen warriors. "Delawares-Custaloga, chief of the Wolf tribe, Beaver, chief of the Turkey tribe, with twenty warriors. "Shawanese-Keissinautchtha, a chief and six warriors. "Kiyashuta, Turtle-Heart, Custalogo and Beaver, were the speakers. "The general substance of what they had to offer, consisted in excuses for their late treachery and misconduct, throwing the blame on the rashness of their young men and the nations living to the westward of them, sueing for peace in the most abject manner, and promising severally to deliver up all their prisoners. After they had concluded, the Colonel promised to give them an answer the next day, and then dismissed them, the army returning to the camp. The badness of the weather, however, prevented his meeting them again till the 20th, when he spoke to them in substance as follows: " That their pretences to palliate their guilt by throwing the blame on the western nations, and the rashness of their young men, were weak and frivolous, as it was in our power to have protected them against all these nations, if they had solicited our assistance, and that it was their own duty to have chastised their young men when they did wrong, and not to suffer themselves to be directed by them.' "He recapitulated to them many instances of their former perfidy-'their killing or captivating the traders who had been sent among them at their own request, and plundering their effects; their attacking Fort Pitt, which had been built with their express consent; their murdering four men that had been sent on a public message to them, thereby violating the customs held sacred among all nations, however barbarous; their attacking the king's troops last year in the woods, and after being defeated in that NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 247 attempt, falling upon our frontiers, where they had continued to murder our people to this day, &c.' "lie told them how treacherously they had violated even their late engagements with Colonel Bradstreet, to whom they had promised to deliver up their prisoners by the 10th of September last, and to recall all their warriors from the frontiers, which they had been so far from complying with, that the prisoners still remained in their custody, and some of their people were even now continuing their depredations; adding, that these things which he had mentioned, were only a' small part of their numberless murders and breaches of faith; and that their conduct had always been equally perfidious. You have,' said he,'promised at every former treaty, as you do now, that you would deliver up all your prisoners, and have received every time, on that account, considerable presents, but have never complied with that or any other engagement. I am now to tell you, therefore, that we will be no longer imposed upon by your promises. This army shall not leave your country till you have fully complied with every condition that is to precede my treaty with you. "'I have brought with me the relations of the people you have massacred, or taken prisoners. They are impatient for revenge; and it is with great difficulty that I can protect you against their just resentment, which is only restrained by the assurances given them, that no peace shall ever be concluded till you have given us full satisfaction. "'Your former allies, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and others, have made their peace with us. The Six Nations have joined us against you. We now surround you, having possession of all the waters of the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Miamis, and the lakes. All the French living in those parts are now subjects to the king of Great Britain, and dare no longer assist you. It is therefore in our power totally to extirpate you from being a people. But the English are a mercifil and generous nation, averse to shed the blood, even of their most cruel enemies; and if it were possible that you convince us that you sincerely repent of your past perfidy, and' that we could depend on your good behavior for the future, you might yet hope for mercy and peace. If I find that you faithfully execute the following preliminary conditions, I will not treat you with the severity you deserve. "'I give you twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands at Wakatamake, all the prisoners in your possession, without any exception, Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and children; whether adopted in your tribes, married, or living amongst you under any denomination and pretence whatsoever, together with all negroes. And you are to furnish the said prisoners with clothing, provisions, and horses, to carry them to Fort Pitt. 248 THE OLDEN TIME.'"When you.have fully complied with these conditions, you shall then know on what terms you may obtain the peace you sue for.' "This speech made an impression on the minds of the savages, which, it is hoped, will not soon be eradicated. The firm and determined spirit with which the Colonel delivered himself, their consciousness of the aggravated injuries they had done us, and the view of the same commander and army that had so severely chastised them at Bushy Run the preceding year, now advanced into the very heart of their remote settlements, after penetrating through wildernesses which they had deemed impassable by regular troops-all these things contributed to bend the haughty temper of the savages to the lowest degree of abasement; so that even their speeches seem to exhibit but few specimens of that strong and ferocious eloquence, which their inflexible spirit of independency has on former occasions inspired. And though it is not to be doubted, if an opportunity had offered, but they would have fallen upon our army with their usual fierceness, yet when they saw the vigilance and spirit of our troops were such, that they could neither be attacked nor surprised with any prospect of success, their spirits seemed to revolt from the one extreme of insolent boldness, to the other of abject timidity. And happy will it be for them and for us, if the instances of our humanity and mercy, which they experienced in that critical situation, shall make as lasting impressions on their savage dispositions, as it is believed the instances of our bravery and power have done; so that they may come to unite, with their fear of the latter, a love of the former; and have their minds gradually opened, by such examples, to the mild dictates of peace and civility. "The reader, it is to be hoped, will readily excuse this digression, if it should be thought one. I now resume our narrative. The two Delaware chiefs, at the close of their speech on the 17th, delivered eighteen white prisoners, and eighty-three small sticks, expressing the number of other prisoners which they had in their possession, and promised to bring them in as soon as possible. None of the Shawanese kings appeared at the congress, and Keissinautchtha, their deputy, declined speaking until the Colonel had answered the Delawares, and then with a dejected sullenness he promised, in behalf of his nation, that they would submit to the terms prescribed to other tribes. "The Colonel, however, determined to march farther into their country, knowing that the presence of his army would be the best security for the performance of their promises; and required some of each nation to attend him in his march. "Kiyashuta addressed the several nations, before their departure,'desiring them to be strong in complying with their engagements, that they might wipe away the reproach of their former breach of faith, and convince their NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 249 brothers the English that they could speak the truth; adding that he-would conduct the army to the place appointed for receiving the prisoners.' "Monday, October 22d. The army, attended by the Indian deputies, marched nine miles to camp No. 14, crossing Margaret's Creek, about fifty feet wide. The day following, they proceeded sixteen miles one quarter and seventy-seven perches farther to camp No. 15, and halted there one day. "Thursday, 25th. They marched six miles, one half and sixteen perches to camp No. 16, situated within a mile of the Forks of Muskingham; and this place was fixed upon instead of Wakautamike, as the most central and convenient place to receive the prisoners; for the princpial Indian towns now lay round them, distant from seven to twenty miles; excepting only the lower Shawanese town situated on Scioto river, which was about eighty m.iles; so that from this place the army had it in their power to awe all the enemy's settlements and destroy their towns, if they should not punctually fulfill the engagements they had entered into. Four redoubts were built here opposite to the four angles of the camp; the ground in the front was cleared, a store-house for the provisions erected, and likewise a house to receive, and treat of peace with, the Indians, when they should return. Three houses with separate apartments were also raised for the reception of the captives of the respective provinces, and proper officers appointed to take charge of them, with a matron to attend the women and children; so that with the officers' mess-houses, ovens, &c., this camp had the appearance of a little town in which the greatest order and regularity were observed. " On Saturday, 27th, a messenger arrived from king Custaloga, informing that he was on his way with his prisoners, and also a messenger from the lower Shawanese towns of the like import. The Colonel, however, having no reason to suspect the latter nation of backwardness, sent one of their own people, desiring them,'to be punctual as to the time fixed; to provide a sufficient quantity of provisions to subsist the prisoners; to bring the letters wrote to him last winter by the French commandant at Fort Chartres, which some of their people had stopped ever since;' adding that,'as their nation had expressed some uneasiness at our not shaking hands with them, they were to know that the English never took their enemies by the hand, before peace was finally concluded.' " The day following, the Shawanese messenger returned, saying that when he had proceeded as far as Wakautamike, the chief of that town undertook to proceed with the message himself, and desired the other to return and acquaint the English that all his prisoners were ready, and he was going to the lower towns to hasten theirs. " October 28th. Peter, the Caughnawaga chief, and twenty Indians of that nation arrived from Sandusky, with a letter from Colonel Bradstreet, 250 THE OLDEN TIME. in answer to one which Colonel Bouquet had sent to him from Fort Pitt, by two of the Indians who first spoke to him in favor of the Shawanese, as hath been already mentioned. The substance of Colonel Bradstreet's letter was,' that he had settled nothing with the Shawanese and Delawares, nor received any prisoners from them. That he had acquainted all the Indian nations, as far as the Illinois, the bay, &c., with the instructions he had received from General Gage, respecting the peace he had lately made; that he had been in Sanduski lake and up the river, as far as navigable for Indians canoes, for near a month; but that he found it impossible to stay longer in these parts; absolute necessity obliging him to turn off the other way,' &c. " Colonel Bradstreet, without doubt, did all which circumstances would permit, in his department; but his not being able to remain at Sanduski agreeably to the original plan, till matters were finally settled with the Ohio Indians, would have been an unfavorable incident, if Colonel Bouquet had not now had the chiefs of sundry tribes with him, and was so far advanced into the Indian country, that they thought it advisable to submit to the conditions imposed upon them. "The Caughnawagas reported that the Indians on the lakes had delivered but few of their prisoners; that the Ottawas had killed a great part of theirs, and the other nations had either done the same, or else kept them. " From this time to November 9th, was chiefly spent in sending and receiving messages to and from the Indian towns, relative to the prisoners, who were now coming into the camp one day after another in small parties, as the different nations arrived in whose possession they had been. The Colonel kept so steadfastly to this article of having every prisoner delivered, that when the Delaware kings, Beaver and Custaloga, had brought in all theirs except twelve, which they promised to bring in a few days, he refused to shake hands or have the least talk with them, while a single captive remained among them. " By the 9th of November, most of the prisoners were arrived that could be expected this season, amounting to 206* in the whole; besides about 100 more in possession of the Shawanese, which they promised to deliver the following spring. Mr. Smallman, formerly a major in the Pennsylvania troops, who had been taken last summer near Detroit by the Wyandots, and delivered to the Shawanese, was among the number of those whom they now brought in, and informed the Colonel that the reason of their not VIRGINIAN - Males................................................... 32 Females and children...................................................................................... 58 PENNSYLVANIANS-Males.......................................................49 Females and children....................................................................................... 67 In all...........................................................................................206 NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 251 bringing the remainder of their prisoners, was that many of their principal men, to whom they belonged, were gone to trade with the French, and would not return for six weeks; but that every one of their nation who were at home, had either brought or sent theirs. He further said that, on the army's first coming into the county, it had been reported among the Shawanese that our intention was to destroy them all, on which they had resolved to kill their prisoners and fight us; that a French trader who was with them, and had many barrels of powder and ball, made them a present of the whole, as soon as they had come to this resolution; but that, happily for the poor captives, just as the Shawanese were preparing to execute this tragedy, they received the Colonel's message, informing them that his intentions were only to receive the prisoners and to make peace with them on the same terms he should give to the Delawares. "On this intelligence they suspended their cruel purpose, and began to collect as many of the prisoners as they had power to deliver; but hearing immediately afterwards that one of our soldiers had been killed near the camp at Muskingham, and that some of their nation were suspected as guilty of the murder, they again imagined they would fall under our resentment, and therefore determined once more to stand out against us. For which purpose, after having brought their prisoners as far as Wakautamike, where they heard this news, they collected them all into'a field, and were going to kill them, when a second express providentially arrived from Col. Bouquet, who assured them that their nation was not even suspected of having any concern in the aforesaid murder; upon which they proceeded to the camp to deliver up the captives, who had thus twice so narrowly escaped becoming the victims of their barbarity. " On Friday, November 9th, the Colonel, attended by most of the principal officers, went to the conference-house. The Senecas and Delawares were first treated with. Kiryashuta and ten warriors represented the former. Custaloga and twenty warriors the latter. "Kiryashuta spoke:'With this string of wampum, we wipe the tears from your eyes-we deliver you these three prisoners, which are the last of your flesh and blood that remained among the Senecas and Custaloga's tribe of Delawares; we gather together and bury with this belt* all the bones of the people that have been killed during this unhappy war, which the evil spirit occasioned among us. We cover the bones that have been buried, that they may be never more remembered. We again cover their place with leaves that it may be no more seen. As we have been long astray, and the path between you and us stopped, we extend this belt that it may be again cleared, and we may travel in peace to see our brethren as our ancestors formerly did. While you hold it fast by one end, and we by *A belt or string is always delivered when thus mentioned. 252 THE OLDEN TIME. the other, we shall always be able to discover anything that may disturb our friendship.' "The Colonel answered that' he had heard them with pleasure; that he received these three last prisoners they had to deliver, and joined in burying the bones of those who had fallen in the war, so that their place might be no more known. The peace you ask for, you shall now have. The king, my master and your father, has appointed me only to make war; but he has other servants who are employed in the work of peace. Sir Wm. Johnson is empowered for that purpose. To him you are to apply; but before I give you leave to go, two things are to be settled. "'1. As peace cannot be finally concluded here, you will deliver me two hostages for the Senecas, and two for Custaloga's tribe, to remain in our hands at Fort Pitt, as a security that you shall commit no further hostilities or violence against any of his majesty's subjects; and when the peace is concluded these hostages shall be delivered safe back to you. "' 2. The deupties you are to send to Sir Wm. Johnson, must be fully empowered to treat for your tribes, and you shall engage to abide by whatever they stipulate. In that treaty, everything concerned trade and other matters will be settled by Sir William, to render the peace everlasting; and the deputies you are to send to him, as well as the hostages to be delivered to me, are to be named and presented to me for my approbation.' "The Colonel, after promising to deliver back two of their people, Capt. Pipe, and Capt. John, whom he had detained at Fort Pitt, took the chiefs by the hand for the first time, which gave them great joy. " The next conference was on November 10th, with the Turkey and Turtle tribes of Delawares. King Beaver their chief and thirty warriors representing the former; and Kelappama brother to their chief* with twentyfive warriors the latter. The Senecas and Custaloga's tribe of Delawares were also present. Their speech and the answer given, were much the same as above; excepting that the Colonel insisted on their delivering up an Englishman, who had murdered one of our people on the frontiers and brought the scalp to them; and that they should appoint the same number of hostages, for each of their tribes, as had been stipulated for Custaloga's tribe. "November 11. King Beaver presented six hostages to remain with.Col. Bouquet, and five deputies to treat with Sir William Johnson, who were approved of. This day he acquainted the chiefs present that as he had great reason to be dissatisfied with the conduct of Nettowhatways, the chief of the Turtle tribe, who had not appeared, he therefore deposed him; and that tribe were to choose and present another for his approbation. *The chief of the Turtle tribe, for some reason, chose to absent himself. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 253 This they did a few days afterwards. Smile not, reader, at this transaction; for though it may not be attended with so many splendid and flattering circumstances to a commander, as the deposing an East Indian nabob or chief; yet to penetrate into the wilderness where those stern West Indian chieftains hold their sway, and to frown them from their throne, though but composed of the unhewn log, will be found to require both resolution and firmness; and their submitting to it clearly shows to what degree of humiliation they were reduced. "But to proceed. The Shawanese still remained to be treated with, and though this nation saw themselves under the necessity of yielding to the same conditions with the other tribes, yet there had appeared a dilatoriness and sullen haughtiness in all their conduct, which rendered it very suspicious. "The 12th of November was appointed for the conference with them; which was managed on their part by Keissinautchtha and Nimwha, their chiefs, with the Red Hawke, Lavissimo, Bensivasica, Eweecunwee, Keigleighque, and forty warriors; the Caughnawaga, Seneca and Delaware chiefs, with about sixty warriors, being also present. "The Red Hawke was their speaker, and as he delivered himself with strange mixture of fierce pride and humble submission, I shall add a passage or two from his speech. "'BROTHER: You will listen to us, your younger brothers; and as we discover something in your eyes that looks dissatisfaction with us, we now wipe away everything bad between us that you may clearly see. You have heard many bad stories of us. We clean your ears that you may hear. We remove every thing bad from your heart, that it may be like the heart of your ancestors, when they thought of' nothing but good.' [Here he gave a string.] "'BROTHER: When we saw you coming this road, you advanced towards us with a tomahawk in your hand; but we, your younger brothers, take it out of your hands and throw it up to God* to dispose of as he pleases; by which means we hope never to see it more. And now, brother, we beg leave that you who are a warrior, will take hold of this chain (giving a string) of friendship, and receive it from us, who are also warriors, and let us think no more of war, in pity to our old men, women and childre i'-intimating by this last expression, that it was mere compassion to them, and not inability to fight, that made their nation desire peace. " He then produced a treaty held with the government of Pennsylvania, *Their usual figure for making peace is burying the hatchet; but as such hatchets may be dug up again, perhaps he thought this new expression of "sending it up to God, or the Good Spirit," a much stronger emblem of the permanency and steadfastness of the peace now to be made. 254 THE OLDEN TIME. 1701, and three messages or letters from that government of different dates, and concluded thus: "' Now, brother, I beg we who are warriors may forget our disputes, and renew the friendship which appears by these papers to have subsisted between our fathers.' ie promised, in behalf of the rest of their nation, who were gone to a great distance to hunt, and could not have notice to attend the treaty, that they should certainly come to Fort Pitt in the spring, and bring the remainder of the prisoners with them. "As the season was far advanced, and the Colonel could not stay long in these remote parts, he was obliged to rest satisfied with the prisoners the Shawanese had brought; taking hostages, and laying them under the strongest obligations for the delivery of the rest; knowing that no other effectual method could at present be pursued. " He expostulated with them on account of their past conduct, and told them-' that the speech they had delivered would have been agreeable to him, if their actions had corresponded with their words. You have spoken, said he, much of peace, but have neglected to comply with the only condition upon which you can obtain it. Keissinautchtha, one of your chiefs, met me a month ago at Tuscarawas, and accepted the same terms of peace for your nation that were prescribed to the Senecas and Delawares; promising in ten days from that time to meet me here with all your prisoners. After waiting for you till now, you are come at last, only with a part of them, and propose putting off the delivery of the rest till the spring. What right have you to expect different terms from those granted to the Delawares, &c., who have given me entire satisfaction by their ready submission to every thing required of them. But I will cut this matter short with you; and before I explain myself further, I insist on your immediate answer to the following questions: "' Ist. Will you forthwith collect and deliver up all the prisoners yet in your possession, and the French living among you, with all the negroes you have taken from us in this or any other war; and that without any exception or evasion whatsoever? "' 2d. Will you deliver six hostages into my hands as a security for your punctual performance of the above article, and that your nations shall commit no farther hostilities against the persons or property of his majesty's subjects?' "Benevissico replied, that'they agreed to give the hostages required, and said that he himself would immediately return to their lower towns and collect all our flesh and blood that remained among them, and that we should see them at Fort Pitt* as soon as possible. That as to the *It will appear, by the postscript to this account, that the Shawanese have fulfilled this engagement. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 255 French, they had no power over them. They were subjects to the king of England. We might do with them what we pleased; though he believed they were all returned before this time to their own country.' "They then delivered their hostages, and the Colonel told them'that though he had brought a tomahawk in his hand, yet as they had now submitted, he would not let it fall on their heads, but let it drop to the ground, no more to be seen. He exhorted them to exercise kindness to the captives, and look upon them now as brothers and no longer prisoners; adding, that he intended to send some of their relations along with the Indians, to see their friends collected and brought to Fort Pitt. He promised to give them letters to Sir William Johnson, to facilitate a final peace, and desired them to be strong in performing everything stipulated.' "The Caughnawagas, the Delawares and Senecas, severally addressed the Shawanese, as grandchildren and nephews,' to perform their promises, and to be strong in doing good, that this peace might be everlasting.' " And here I am to enter on a scene, reserved on purpose for this place, that the thread of the foregoing narrative might not be interrupted-a scene, which language indeed can but weakly describe; and to which the poet or painter might have repaired to enrich their highest colorings of the variety of human passions; the philosopher to find ample subject for his most serious reflections; and the man to exercise all the tender and sympathetic feelings of the soul. The scene I mean was, the arrival of the prisoners in the camp; where were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing and clasping their once lost babes; husbands hanging around the necks of their newly recovered wives; sisters and brothers unexpectedly meeting together after long separations, scarce able to speak the same language, or, for some time, to be sure that they were children of the same parents! In all these interviews, joy and rapture inexpressible were seen, while feelings of a very different nature were painted in the looks of others; flying from place to place in eager enquiries after relatives not found! trembling to receive an answer to their questions! distracted with doubts, hopes and fears, on obtaining no account of those they sought for! or stiffened into living monuments of horror and woe, on learning their unhappy fate! ",The Indians, too, as if wholly forgetting their usual savageness, bore a capital part in heightening this most affecting scene. They delivered up their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance; shed torrents of tears over them, recommending them to the care and protection of the commanding officer. Their regard to them continued all the time they remained in camp. They visited them from day to day; and brought them what corn, skins, horses, and other matters, they had bestowed on them, while in their families; accompanied with other presents, and all the marks of 256 THE OLDEN TIME. most sincere and tender affection. Nay, they did not stop here, but, when the army mnarched, some of the Indians solicited and obtained leave to accompany their former captives all the way to Fort Pitt, and employed themselves in hunting and bringing provisions for them on the road. A young Mingo carried this still further, and gave an instance of love which would make a figure even in romance. A young woman of Virginia was among the captives, to whom he had formed so strong an attachment, as to call her his wife. Against all remonstrances of the imminent danger to which he exposed himself by approaching to the frontiers, he persisted in following her, at the risk of being killed by the surviving relations of many unfortunate persons, who had been captivated or scalped by those of his nation. " These qualities in savages challenge our just esteem. They should make us charitably consider their barbarities as the effects of wrong education, and false notions of bravery and heroism; while we should look on their virtues as sure marks that nature has made them fit subjects of cultivation as well as us; and that we are called by our superior advantages to yield them all the helps we can in this way. Cruel and unmerciful as they are, by habit and long example, in war, yet whenever they come to give way to the native dictates of humanity, they exercise virtues which Christians need not blush to imitate. When they once determine to give life, they give every thing with it, which, in their apprehension, belongs to it. From every inquiry that has been made, it appears that no woman thus saved is preserved from base motives, or need fear the violation of her honor. No child is otherwise treated by the persons adopting it than the children of their own body. The perpetual slavery of those captivated in war, is a notion which even their barbarity has not yet suggested to them. Every captive whom their affection, their caprice, or whatever else, leads themn to save, is soon incorporated with them, and fares alike with themselves. "These instances of Indian tenderness and humanity were thought worthy of particular notice. The like instances among our own people will not seem strange; and therefore I shall only mention one, out of a multitude that might be given on this occasion. "Among the captives a woman was brought into the camp at Muskingham, with a babe about three months old at her breast. One of the Virginia volunteers soon knew her to be his wife, who had been taken by the Indians about six months before. She was immediately delivered to her overjoyed husband. He flew with her to his tent, and clothed her and his child in proper apparel. But their joy, after the first transports, was soon damped by the reflection that another dear child of about two years old, captivated with the mother, and separated from her, was still missing, although many children had been brought in. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 257 "A few days afterwards, a number of other prisoners were brought to the camp, among whom were several more children. The woman was sent'for, and one, supposed to be hers, was produced to her. At first sight she was uncertain, but viewing the child with great earnestness, she soon recollected its features; and was so overcome with joy, that, literally forgetting her sucking child, she dropt it from her arms, and catching up the new found child in an ecstasy, pressed it to her breast, and bursting into tears, carried it off, unable to speak for joy. The father seizing up the babe she had let fall, followed her in no less transport and affection. "Among the children who had been carried off young, and had long lived with the Indians, it is not to be expected that any marks of joy would appear on being restored to their parents or relatives. Having been accustomed to look upon the Indians as the only connections they had, having been tenderly treated by them, and speaking their language, it is no wonder that they considered their new state in the light of a captivity, and parted from the savages with tears. " But it must not be denied that there were even some grown persons who showed an unwillingness to return. The Shawanese were obliged to bind several of their prisoners and force them along to the camp; and some women, who had been delivered up, afterward found means to escape and run back to the Indian towns. Some, who could not make their escape, clung to their savage acquaintance at parting, and continued many days in bitter lamentations, even refusing sustenance. "For the honor of humanity, we would suppose these persons to have been of the lowest rank, either bred up in ignorance and distressing penury, or who had lived so long with the Indians as to forget all their former connections. For, easy and unconstrained as the savage life is, certainly it could never be put in competition with the blessings of improved life and the light of religion, by any persons who have had the happiness of enjoying and the capacity of discerning them. " Everything being now settled with the Indians, the army decamped on Sunday, 18th November, and marched for Fort Pitt, where they arrived. on the 28th. The regular troops were immediately sent to garrison the different posts on the communication, and the provincial troops, with the captives, to their several provinces. Here ended this expedition, in which it is remarkable that, notwithstanding the many difficulties attending it, the troops were never in want of any necessaries; continuing perfectly healthy during the whole campaign; in which no life was lost, except the man mentioned to have been killed at Muskingham. "In the beginning of January, 1765, General Bouquet arrived at Philadelphia, receiving, wherever he came, every possible mark of gratitude and esteem from the people in general; and particularly from the overjoyed relations of the captives, whom he had so happily, and without bloodshed, VOL. i-17 258 THE OLDEN TIME. restored to their country and friends. Nor was the legislative part of the provinces less sensible of his important services. The Assembly of Pennsylvania, at their first sitting, unanimously voted him the following address: THE ADDRESS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FREEMEN OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MET: "IN ASSEMBLY, January 15, 1765, A. M. "'To THE HONORABLE HENRY BOUQUET, ESQ., COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT OF AMERICA: " Sir: The representatives of the freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met, being informed that you intend shortly to embark for England, and moved with a due sense of the important services you have rendered to his majesty, his northern colonies in general, and to this province in particular, during our late wars with the French and barbarous Indians, in the remarkable victory over the savage enemy, united to oppose you, near Bushy Run, in August, 1763, when on your march for the relief of Pittsburgh, owing, under God, to your intrepidity and superior skill in command, together with the bravery of your officers and little army; as also in your late march to the country of the savage nations, with the troops under your direction; thereby striking terror through the numerous Indian tribes around you; laying the foundation for a lasting as well as honorable peace with them; and rescuing, from savage captivity, upwards of two hundred of our christian brethren, prisoners among them; these emineut services, and your constant attention to the civil rights of his majesty's subjects in this province, demand, sir, the grateful tribute of thanks from all good men; and therefore we, the representatives of the fieemen of Pennsylvania, unanimously for ourselves, and in behalf of all the people of this province, do return you our most sincere and hearty thanks for these your great services, wishing you a safe and pleasant voyage to England, with a kind and gracious reception from his majesty. "'Signed, by order of the House, "'JOSEPH FOX, Speaker.' "The Colonel's answer was as follows, viz - " TO THE HONORABLE, THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FREEMEN OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MET: "' Gentlemen: With a heart impressed with the most lively sense of gratitude, I return you my humble and sincere thanks for the honor you have done me in your polite address of the 15th of January, transmitted me to New York, by your speaker. "' Next to the approbation of His Sacred Majesty, and my superior offi FRENCH POSSESSIONS ALONG THE OHIO. 259 cers, nothing could afford me higher pleasure than your favorable opinion of my conduct, in the charge of those military commands with which I have been intrusted. "'Gratitude, as well as justice, demand of me to acknowledge that the aids granted by the legislature of this province, and the constant assistance and support afforded me by the Honorable, the Governor and Commissioners in the last expedition, have enabled me to recover so many of his Majesty's subjects from cruel captivity, and be the happy instrument of restoring them to freedom and liberty. To you therefore, gentlemen, is the greater share of that merit due, which you are generously pleased on this occasion to impute to my services. (' Your kind testimony of my constant attention to the civil rights of his majesty's subjects in this Province, does me singular honor, and calls for the return of my warmest acknowledgments. "'Permit me to take this public opportunity of doing justice to the officers of the regular and provincial troops, and the volunteers, who have served with me, by declaring that, under Divine Providence, the repeated success of his majesty's arms against a savage enemy, are principally to be ascribed to their courage and resolution, and to their perseverance under the severest hardships and fatigue. ""I sincerely wish prosperity and happiness to the province, and have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, gentlemen, " Your most obedient, and most humble servant, "'HENRY BOUQUET. "' February 4, 1765.' "Soon afterwards the Colonel received a very polite and affectionate letter from Governor Fauquier, dated 25th of December, inclosing resolves of the honorable members of his Majesty's Council, and of the House of Burgesses, for the colony and dominion of Virginia. "Those respectable bodies unanimously returned their thanks to him for the activity, spirit and zeal, with which he had reduced the Indians to "terms of peace, and compelled those savages to deliver up so many of his Majesty's subjects whom they had in captivity. They further required the Governor to recommend him to his Majesty's ministers, as an officer of distinguished merit, in this and every former service in which he has been engaged. "The Colonel, in his answer, acknowledged the ready assistance and countenance which he had always received from the Governor and colony of Virginia in carrying on the King's service; and mentioned his particular obligations to Col. Lewis, for his zeal and good conduct during the campaign. "The honors thus bestowed on him, his own modesty made him desir 260 THE OLDEN TIME. ous of transferring to the officers and army under his command; and indeed the mutual confidence and harmony subsisting between him and them, highly redounded to the reputation of both. He has taken every occasion of doing justice to the particular merit of Colonel Reid, who was second in command; and also to all the officers who served in the expedition, regulars as well as provincials.* "The reader will observe that the public bodies who presented these addresses to the Colonel, not only wished to express their own gratitude, but likewise to be instrumental in recommending him to the advancement his services merited. And surely it is a happy circumstance to obtain promotion, not only unenvied, but even with the general approbation and good wishes of the public. It ought, however, to be mentioned that on the first account his Majesty received of this expedition, and long before those testimonies could reach England, he was graciously pleased of his own royal goodness, and as a merit, to promote him to the rank of Brigadier General, and to the command of the southern district of America. And as he is rendered as dear by his private virtues, to those who have the honor of his more intimate acquaintance, as he is by his military services to the public, it is hoped he may long continue among us, where his experienced abilities will enable him, and his love of the English constitution enable him to fill any future trust to which his Majesty may be pleased to call him." POSTSCRIPT. "It was mentioned in the 25th page of this account that the Shawanese brought only a part of their prisoners with them to Colonel Bouquet at MIuskingham, in November last; and that as the season was far advanced, he was obliged to rest satisfied with taking hostages for the delivery of the remainder at Fort Pitt in the ensuing spring. "The escape of these hostages soon afterwards, as well as the former equivocal conduct of their nation, had given reason to doubt the sincerity of their intentions with respect to the performance of their promises. But we have the satisfaction to find that they punctually have fulfilled them. Ten of their chiefs, and about fifty of their warriors, attended with many of their women and children, met George Croghan, Esq., deputy agent to Sir William Johnson, at Fort Pitt, the 9th of last May, together with a large body of Delawares, Senecas, Sandusky and Munsy Indians, where they delivered the remainder of their prisoners, brightened the chain of friendship, and gave every assurance of their firm intentions to preserve the peace inviolable forever. * The Pennsylvania troops were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Francis and Lieutenant Colonel Clayton. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 261 "There is something remarkable in the appellation they gave to the English on this occasion, calling them fathers instead of brethren. " Lawaughqua, the Shawanese speaker, delivered himself in the following terms: "'Fathers, for so we call you henceforward, listen to what we are going to say to you. "'It gave us great pleasure yesterday to be called the children of the great king of England.; and convinces us your intentions toward us are upright, as we know a father will be tender to his children, and they are more ready to obey him than a brother. Therefore, we hope our father will now take better care of his children than has heretofore been done. "'You put us in mind of our promise to Colonel Bouquet, which was to bring your flesh and blood to be delivered at this place. Father, you have not spoken in vain-you see we brought them with us-except a few that were out with our hunting parties, which will be brought here as soon as they return. "'They have been all united to us by adoption, and although we now deliver them up to you, we will always look upon them as our relations whenever the Great Spirit is pleased that we may visit them. "' Father, we have taken as much care of them, as if they were our own flesh and blood. They are now become unacquainted with your customs and manners; and therefore, we request you will use them tenderly and kindly, which will induce them to live contentedly with you. "'Here is a belt with the figure of our Father the King of Great Britain at one end, and the Chief of our nation at the other. It represents them holding the chain of friendship; and we hope neither side will slip their hands fromn it, so long as the Sun and Moon give light.''' The reader will further remember that one of the engagements which the different Indian Tribes entered into with Colonel Bouquet, was to send deputies to conclude a peace with Sir William Johnson. This has also been punctually fulfilled; and we are assured that Sir William'has finished his congress greatly to his satisfaction, and even beyond his expectations.' Thus every good consequence has ensued from this important expedition. which our fondest wishes could have induced us to expect from the known valor and spirit of the able commander who had the conduct of it; and we now have the pleasure once more to behold the temple of Janus shut, in this western world." NOTE.-Throughout the foregoing article we have preserved the spelling of the name of the " Muskingum," as the author, Col. Hutchins, wrote it, viz.: " Muskinghaln." 262 THE OLDEN TIME. GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HENRY BOUQUET. We publish this month an interesting communication from the pen of a very able and intelligent gentleman, on the subject of the controversy about the best route to Fort Duquesne, between the two officers whose names stand at the head of this article. Our correspondent urges with much earnestness and ability arguments in favor of the Pennsylvania route. In order to place the whole question, which was once a very important and interesting one, fairly before our readers, we insert the reasons advanced by Washington in favor of the Southern or Cumberland route. We have always considered it to be a noble trait in Washington's character, that although his favorite project was overruled, he gave a most cordial support to General Forbes in his march here, and afterwards voluntarily gave his warm approval to the exertions of that commander, borne down as he was by a painful illness. The same intelligent correspondent also gives some interesting information in relation to the death of General John Stanwix, who superintended the construction of Fort Pitt. By turning to our last number it will be seen that our knowledge of the circumstances was limited to the simple statement that the vessel on board of which he was with his daughter, was lost at sea, and all on board perished. Our correspondent informs us that a case referred to in Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. 2, p. 516, was the case of our General Stanwix. The case had made a strong impression on our mind while we were reading Blackstone nearly forty years ago, but we had never connected the constructor of Fort Pitt with the subject of that case. Upon the clue he has given us, we have followed the matter up, and have ascertained that the Eagle was on her voyage from Ireland to England when she was lost. A controversy arose between the representative of the father and of the daughter. The former was the nephew of the general; the latter was the daughter's maternal uncle. The arguments will be found in Fearne's Posthumous Works. Since the publication of the last number, a friend has called our attention to a volume of the Gentleman's London Magazine for December, 1765, in which we find the following among the list of promotions in the British army: Lieutenant Colonel, Augustus Prevost, to be Lieutenant Colonel NOTES BY A READER. 263 in the Royal American Regiment, in the room of Brigadier General Bouquet, deceased." From this we infer that Bouquet must have died as early as October or November, 1765, and of course only survived his expedition to the Muskingum eleven or twelve months. NOTES BY A READER OF THE MAY NUMBER OF THE OLDEN TIME. The question is reopened [p. 201] as to the conduct of Forbes and Bouquet in awaiting the completion of a Pennsylvania road, instead of pushing on by the old Braddock route. Washington has left on record a severe denunciation of this timid policy, and such is the deserved influence of a name so great, that probably few readers will hesitate to concur in his strictures. I have always doubted their justice, and propose to offer a few suggestions in support of my views. When we reflect, however, that with regard to military events of our own day, there is often the widest discrepancy of opinion, the task may seem a vain one, of attempting to dispel the obscurity that rests over these by-gone transactions. We must remember that the great object of the expedition was not so much to achieve a military triumph as to place in permanent security the population rapidly spreading out to the west. By imparting a feeling of confidence to emigration, the maintenance of the British title would be far better advanced than by the most brilliant coup de main. Thus, in the passage from Smollet, quoted in the May number, it is triumphantly stated as the great result of Forbes' operations, that four thousand persons were enabled to reoccupy their deserted farms. Now, the continued safety of these persons, and the supplies to the fort itself, required the means of prompt communication with the heart of Pennsylvania. A mere military occupation was nothing, as is strikingly proved by the fact, that as late as 1763, the savages had broken in upon the settlements, and even attacked, with the utmost boldness, the troops marching from Philadelphia to its relief. Every unprejudiced person, then, must acknowledge the vital importance of opening a spacious military road to communicate with the quarter whence supplies were to be obtained, succor promptly forwarded, and'by which emigrants could see a known familiar way to advance or to retire. Colonel Bouquet, writing to a Pennsylvania functionary on the day the smoking ruins of Fort Duquesne were taken possession of [see April number, p. 183], says that the French Governor had retired to Venango, where he told the Indians he intended to stay this winter, with an intention to dislodge the English in the spring. He adds: "We would soon make him shift his quarters had we only provisions, but we are scarcely able to maintain ourselves a few days here to treat with the neighboring Indians 264 THE OLDEN TIME. who are summoned to meet us." Washington, in a letter from Loyal Hannan on his return, says: "The General has, in his letters, told you what garrison he proposed to leave at Fort Duquesne, but the want of provisions has rendered it impossible to leave more than two hundred men in all." Let us remember that Braddock, three years before, had been absolutely arrested for want of the means of transportation. All the fine promises made to him proved delusive. In this extremity, Doctor Franklin, it seems, resorted to the expedient of going amongst the Pennsylvanians, and by taking a Hussar officer along, he so practiced on their terrors as to raise an abundant supply. Without this aid, which no slave State could, at that time, have furnished, Braddock must have folded his arms. The trick on the Pennsylvanians could not be played off twice with any chance of success. Teamsters might be willing to advance along a road cut, progressively, through their own State, but what motive could induce them again to toil across to that fatal route which had conducted them and their wagons and horses to the fatal field of Braddock? Many of the Pennsylvania farmers had, doubtless been slain on that occasion. The survivors had witnessed the rank cowardice of the British Regulars. In all likelihood not a dollar of remuneration for lost property had ever been paid. Nor are we to forget how often circumstances, apparently trifling, affect the spirits and tone of' an army, and may, therefore, enter with propriety into the calculations of a discreet commander. The forces under General Forbes were of a mixed character, regular and irregular. Was it desirable that every step of the way should be known to lead them nearer to the dismal spot where the flower of the British army had miserably perished before a mere handful of French and savages? Was such a spectacle at the end of their toilsome march, and at the crisis of their duty, likely to inspire confidence in themselves and a buoyant feeling of superiority over the enemy? Such are some of the reflections that occur, even now, to justify the decision of these veteran officers. Yet it may be [readily conceived with what impatience they would be listened to by the young colonel of 26, with the Virginia road open to him, eager for military fame, and smarting under a charge by the French, of assassination in a previous campaign. It is not the less our duty, however, when wielding the sacred power of adjusting by history the reputation of the dead, to weigh deliberately the facts; and, above all, to make every fair presumption in favor of those whose courage, patriotism, and maturity of judgment, cannot seriously be drawn in question. The late Bishop White mentioned to the writer, that he remembered, as a boy, going to gaze at the dead body of Forbes, as it lay, in solemn state, at Philadelphia. NOTES BY A READER. 265 Mr. Ross used to relate a story that had come down by tradition. The disease which proved fatal to Forbes increased so rapidly on the march, that in approaching Fort Duquesne he had to be carried on a litter. This excited remark and derision among the Indians. To counteract unfavorable impressions, it was stated that the British chief had a temper so impetuous and irascible and combative, that it was not thought safe to trust him at large, even among his own people, but that the practice was to let him out on the eve of battle. The name of General Stanwix, the accomplished officer under whose superintendence Fort Pitt was constructed, is associated, in the law books, with a curious and knotty point. He and his daughter perished at sea in the same vessel. The distribution of a large sum of money turned upon the question, whether the father or daughter should, in presumption of law, be deemed the survivor. Which of them in a catastrophe that no human eye actually beheld, shall be supposed to have longest retained life? Imagination presents the last scene of the veteran and his child in endless shapes of deep interest. The case is alluded to in a note to Blackstone's Commentaries, and the works of Fearne, the celebrated lawyer, contain two opinions, presenting each side of the mooted question with great learning and fertility of illustration. A compromise took place, at the suggestion of the Chancellor, who admitted himself to be puzzled by the ingenious arguments of counsel. The Roman law, with the wonderful minuteness which distinguishes the stupendous monument of human wisdom, provides expressly for the case, by declaring that where there is no evidence to the contrary, a child shall be presumed to have outlived its parents. Mention is made [p. 195] of Lieutenant Biddle, and [p. 199] of Captain Biddle, as an officer stationed at Fort Pitt in 1759 and 1760. This was Edward Biddle, who resigned at the peace of 1763; was afterwards a distinguished Whig of the Revolution, and a member of the first Congress of 1774. General Wilkinson in his Memoirs [vol. 1, p. 338], says of him:'He was Speaker of the last Assembly of Pennsylvania, under the Proprietary Government, and in the dawn of the Revolution devoted himself to the cause of his country, and successfully opposed the overbearing influence of Joseph Galloway. Ardent, eloquent, and full of zeal, by his exertions during several days and nights of obstinate, warm and animated discussion, in extremely sultry weather, he overheated himself, and brought on an attack that radically destroyed his health and deprived society of one of its greatest ornaments, and his country of a statesman, patriot and soldier, for he had served several campaigns, in the war of 1756, and if his health had been spared, would, no doubt, have reached the second or third place in the revolutionary armies." 266 THE OLDEN TIME. WASHINGTON'S REASONS IN FAVOR OF THE SOUTHERN ROUTE. "CAMP AT FORT CUMBERLAND, AUGUST 2, 1758. " Sir: —The matters of which we spoke relative to the roads, have, since our parting, been the subject of my closest reflection; and, so far am I from altering my opinion, that the more time and attention I bestow, the more I am confirmed in it and the reasons for taking Braddock's road appear in a stronger point of view. To enumerate the whole of these reasons would be tedious, and to you, who are become so much master of the subject unnecessary. I shall, therefore, briefly mention a few only, which I think so obvious in themselves, that they must effectually remove objections. "Several years ago the Virginians and Pennsylvanians commenced a trade with the. Indians settled on the Ohio, and to obviate the many inconveniences of a bad road, they, after reiterated and ineffectual efforts to discover where a good one might be made, employed for the purpose several of the most intelligent Indians, who, in the course of many years hunting had acquired a perfect knowledge of these mountains. The Indians, having taken the greatest pains to gain the rewards offered for this discovery, declared that the path leading from Will's Creek was infinitely preferable to any that could be made at any other place. Time and experience so clearly demonstrated this truth, that the Pennsylvania traders commonly carried out their goods by Will's Creek. Therefore, the Ohio Company in 17-53, at a considerable expense, opened the road. In 1754 the troops, whom I had the honor to command, greatly repaired it, as far as Gist's plantation; and, in 1755, it was widened and completed by General Braddock to within six miles of Fort Dequesne. A road that has so long been opened, and so well and so often repaired, must be much firmer and better than a new one, allowing the ground to be equally good. "But, supposing it were practicable to make a road from Raystown quite as good as General Braddock's, I ask, have we time to do it? Certainly not. To surmount the difficulties to be encountered in making it over such mountains, covered with woods and rocks, would require so much time, as to blast our otherwise well-grounded hopes of striking the important stroke this season. WASHINGTON'S REASONS, &C. 267 "The favorable accounts that some give of the forage on the Raystown road, as being so much better than that on the other, are certainly exagerated. It is well known, that, on both routes, the rich valleys between the mountains abound with good forage, and that those, which are stony and bushy, are destitute of it. Colonel Byrd and the engineer who accompanied him, confirm this fact. Surely the meadows or Braddock's road would greatly overbalance the advantage of having grass to the foot of the ridge, on the Raystown road; and all agree, that a more barren road is nowhere to be found, than that from Raystown to the inhabitants, which is likewise to be considered. "Another principal objection made to General Braddock's road is in regard to the waters. But these seldom swell so much as to obstruct the passage. The Youghiogany river, which is the most rapid and soonest filled, I have crossed with a body of troops, after more than thirty day's almost continued rain. In fine, any difficulties on this score are so trivial, that they really are not worth mentioning. The Monongahela, the largest of all these rivers, may, if necessary, easily be avoided, as Mr. Frazier the principal guide informs me, by passing a defile, and even that, he says, may be shunned. " Again, it is said that there are many defiles on this road. I grant that there are some, but I know of none that may not be traversed; and I should be glad to be informed where a road can be had, over these mountains, not subject to the same inconvenience. The shortness of the distance between Raystown and Loyal Hanna is used as an argument against this road, which bears in it something unaccountable to me; for I must beg leave to ask, whether it requires more time or is more difficult and expensive, to go one hundred and forty-five miles on a good road already made to our hands, than to cut one hundred mile anew, and a great part of the way over impassable mountains. " That tie old road is many miles nearer Winchester in Virginia, and Fort Frederick in Maryland, than the contemplated one, is incontestable; and I will here show the distance from Carlisle by the two routes, fixing the different stages, some of which I have from information only, but others I believe to be exact.* From this computation there appears to be a differFROM CARLISLE TO FORT DUQUESNE, BY WAY FROM CARLISLE TO FORT DUQUESNE, BY WAY OF OF RAYSTOWN. FORTS FREDERIC AND CUMBERLAND. Miles. Miles. From Carlisle to Shippensburg........................ 21 From Carlisle to Shippensburg........................... 21 " Shippensburg to Fort London.................. 24 " Shippensburg to Chambers's................... 12 " Fort London to Fort Littleton................ 20 " Chambers's to Pacelin's....................... 12 Fort Littleton to Juiiatta Crossing......... 14' Pacelin's to Fort Frederic........................ 12 " Juniatta Crossing to Raystown............... 14 " Fort Frederic to Fort Cumberland............ 40 93 97 " aystown to Fovt Duquesne.................... 100 " Fort Cumberland to Fort Duquesne........ 115 193 212 268 THE OLDEN TIME. ence of nineteen miles only. Were all the supplies necessarily to come from Carlisle, it is well known that the goodness of the old road is a sufficient compensation for the shortness of the other, as the wrecked and broken wagons there clearly demonstrate." THE LEADEN PLATE LEFT BY CELERON. We are disappointed by circumstances beyond our control, in our expectation of presenting in this number a fac simile of the plate found at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa, where it had been deposited by Celeron, as an evidence of the resumption of the possession of the country by the French. Our readers may recollect that in our last number, we spoke of some discrepancies in the chronology of the administrations of the Governors of Canada. Murray in his account of British America, states that De la Galissonniere was succeeded by Le Jonquiere, in 1746. Bouchette in his work, in the extract which we published in our last number, gives a very satisfactory account of the whole matter of Celeron's mission, but probably from mere inadvertence made Galissonniere to succeed Le Jonquiere, in August, 1749. Professor Du Kalm, however, who was in Canada at the time, and present at the festival given upon the occasion of the inauguration of Le Jonquiere, as the successor of La Galissonniere, and who was intimately acquainted with both, fixed the commencement of the former's administration, and the close of the latter's, on the 15th of August, 1749. This reconciles all difficulty. La Galissonniere dispatched Celeron to the Ohio, while he was Governor; but his term of office expired three days before the deposition of the plate at the mouth of the Kenhawa. There is a great difference in the letters in the words: Chinodahichetha le 18 Aoust," i. e. the name of the river and the 18th of August, the day of depositing the plate. No doubt the plates were fully prepared in France or Canada, leaving blanks for the river, and the dates to be filled up when used, and perhaps done with a knife. That Bouchette inadvertently placed La Galissonniere after Le Jonquiere, is manifest, because in his appendix he has a list of the Governors of Canada, and in that list he agrees with Du Kalm. If any doubt remained on the subject, the following copy and translation of a letter from Joncaire, the French agent, to Governor Hamiltoni, of Pennsylvania, the original of which we saw at Harrisburg, must dissipate that doubt: CELERON'S LEADEN PLATE. 269 DE CHININQUE,* June 6th, 1751. "Sir: Monsieur the Marquis De Le Jonquiere, Governor of the whole of New France, having honored me with his orders to watch that the English should make no treaty in the country of the Ohio, I have directed the traders of your government to withdraw. You cannot be ignorant, sir, that all the lands of this region have always belonged to the King of France, and that the English have no right to come there to trade. My superior has commanded me to apprise you of what I have done, in order that you might not affect ignorance of the reasons of it, and he has given me this order with so much the greater reason, because it is now two years since Monsieur Celeron, by order of Monsieur De la Galissonniere, then Commandant General, warned many English who were trading with the Indians along the Ohio, against so doing, and they promised him not to return to trade on the lands, as Monsieur Celeron wrote to you. "I have the honor to be, with great respect, " Sir, your very humble and obedient servant, "JONCAIRE, "Lieutenant of a detachment of the Navy." Here Le Jonquiere is spoken of as the Governor of Canada, and La Galissonniere as having been Governor two years previous. As Joncaire acted a busy part about those days, our readers may be pleased to know something about him. Smith, in his history of New York, has the following notice of him and his father: " Canada was very much indebted to the incessant intrigues of this man. He had been adopted by the Senecas, and was well esteemed by the Onondagas. He spoke the Indian language, as Charlevoix informs us,'avec la plus sublime eloquence Iroquoise,' and had lived amongst them, after their manner, from the beginning of Queen Anne's reign. All these advantages he improved for the interest of his country; he facilitated the missionaries in their progress through the cantons, and more than any man contributed to render their dependence upon the English, weak and precarious. Convinced of this, Colonel Schuyler urged the Indians, at his treaty with them, in 1719, to drive Joncaire out of their country: but his endeavors were fruitless.t re *This " Chininque " probably means Shenango. ~+ "The same thing has since been frequently labored, but to no purpose. His son continued the course of intrigues begun by the father, till General Shirely, while he was at Oswego in 1755, prevailed upon the Senecas to order him to Canada." 270 THE OLDEN TIME. THE MARQUIS DE LA GALISSONNIERE. The following notice of this personage, who sent Celeron to the Ohio, and who subsequently acted a distinguished part in the Mediterranean, is from the pen of Professor Du Kalm, and will probably interest some of our readers. Little would we expect to find a man of such tastes, habits, and accomplishments, engaged in the heat of a frontier controversy. " September 11th, 1749.-The Marquis de la Galissonniere is one of the three noblemen who, above all others, have gained high esteem with the French admiralty in the last war. They are the Marquisses de la Galissonniere, de la Jonquiere, and de l'Etendue. The first of these was of a low stature, and somewhat hump-backed. He has a surprising knowledge in all branches of science, and especially in natural history, in which he is so well versed, that when he began to speak with me about it, I imagined I saw our great Linnueus under a new form. When he spoke of the use of natural history, of the method of learning, and employing it to raise the state of a country, I was astonished to see him take his reasons from politics, as well as natural philosophy, mathematics and other sciences. I own that my conversation with this nobleman was very instructive to me, and I always drew a deal of useful knowledge from it. He told me several ways of employing natural history to the purposes of politics, and to make a country powerful, in order to depress its envious neighbors. Never has natural history had a greater promoter in this country, and it is very doubtful whether it will ever have its equal here. As soon as he got the place of Governor-general, he began to take those measures for getting information in natural history which I have mentioned before. When he saw people who had been for some time in a settled place of the country, especially in the more remote parts, or had travelled in those parts, he always.questioned them about the trees, plants, earths, stones, ores, animals, &c., of the place. He also enquired what use the inhabitants made of these things; in what state their husbandry was; what lakes, rivers and passages there are, and a number of other particulars. Those who seemed to have clearer notions than the rest, were obliged to give him circumstantial descriptions of what they had seen. He himself wrote down all the accounts he had received; and by this great application, so uncommon among persons of his rank, he soon acquired a knowledge of the most distant parts INDIAN TRADITIONS, &C. 271 of America. The priests, commandants of forts, and of several distant places, are often surprised by his questions, and wonder at his knowledge, when they come to Quebec to pay their visits to him; for he often tells them that near such a mountain, or on such a shore, &c., where they often went a hunting, there are some particular plants, trees, earths, ores, &c., for he had got a knowledge of those things before. From hence it happened that some of the inhabitants believed he had a preternatural knowledge of things, as he was able to mention all the curiosities of places, sometimes near two hundred Swedish miles from Quebec, though he never was there himself. Never was there a better statesman than he; and nobody can take better measures, and choose more proper means for improving a country, and increasing its welfare. Canada was hardly acquainted with the treasure it possessed in the person of this nobleman, when it lost him again. The king wanted his services at home, and could not leave him so far off. He was going to France with a collection of natural curiosities, and a quantity of young trees and plants, in boxes full of earth." [Extract from the Proceedings of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, September, 1845.] SOME REMARKS AND ANNOTATIONS CONCERNING THE TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, LANGUAGES, &C., OF THE INDIANS IN NORTH AMERICA, FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DAVID ZEISBERGER, AND OTHER MISSIONARIES OF THE UNITED STATES. I. OF THEIR OLD TRADITIONS. "The Indians say: Our forefathers knew that there is a God, who has made men and all things, before any white man came to this continent. The old men told the younger, that God is almighty, that he can do what he pleases. They made offerings to him, as a good being, who gave them all good things. Of the Devil they knew nothing; now all Indians believe in a spirit that does all evil. "Priests they had none, but the old men admonished others not to murdernot to steal, not to whore, not to cheat one another, and said that such as observed their rules would come to a better place after death, but the others to a bad dark place. " They directed their children in their prayers to turn their faces towards the east, because God hath his dwelling on the other side of the rising sun. "They had some confused notion of the flood, and said: All men were once drowned; only a few got on the back of an old big tortoise, floating on the water; that a diver at last brought them some earth in his bill, and 272 THE OLDEN TIME. directed the tortoise to a small spot of ground, where they alighted and multiplied again. Therefore has the great tortoise tribe the preference among the tribes. "Of their origin or coming into this country, some old Mingoes relate, that they lived under the earth in great darkness and saw no sun; they hunted, but got nothing; they lived on linowa (mice) which they killed with their own hands; the ground hog had worked a hole through the ground, through which some of them crept out, ran about the earth, and finding a dead deer, they brought the meat into the earth; the good taste of it, and the account how light and fine it was upon the earth, brought them to the resolution to go out of their dark place; some stayed behind; those coming forth began to plant corn, &c. "Others say: The first men came from under the water upon this land. The Nantikokes say that seven Indians found themselves all at once sitting on the sea shore, not knowing where they came from, but from these all the Indians did come. "Others say: The first person had been a woman, who fell from heaven, where her husband had put her away; that she was pregnant and bore twins, which peopled this country; that above was another world inhabited by men, and from them the Indians came. " They say that some of their old men had prophesied that God would send somebody to them, before any white people came into this country; that they even appointed the day, when they looked out and saw the first ship; that they adored the first white men; they themselves were so stupid that they did not find out the use of the hatchet and other things, but used them only as ornaments, until the white people showed them how to make use of them. (Perhaps some had seen or heard of the Europeans landing in other places on the continent, and from that pretended a foreknowledge.)'The Indians know no reason for the difference of the several nations, but that it must proceed from their different settlements; when some families settled together in a town, they were called commonly by the name of the town. "All the nations from the east, far west and south, have but two original mother tongues, as far as the missionaries could find out, viz: the Maqua or Meugo, and the Delaware. (I suppose that is the language the French called Algonkin.) The Five Nations have different dialects of the Maquaish. The Hurons and Wiondots (by the Delawares called Delamatinos), come near the Maqua. " The Delawares are divided in three tribes: Unamies, Unalacticos and Munzies; the last differ much in the language with the first; with it agrees the Mahican and Wampanos, the Nautikok and Shawanese with the Delaware and Mahican, only that they lay the accent more on the last syllable. INDIAN TRADITIONS, &C. 273 "The Twitchtwees, Wawiachtenos and Ottowas with the Shawanese, and the Chippewas with the Delawares; the Cherokee is a mixture of other languages. The Maqua or Mingo is much easier to learn than the Delaware. "The Five Nations call the Mahikans, Delawares, and all New England savages, Agozhagauta. "The Delawares were called Woapanachki, that is, people from the east. When the Europeans came into this country, they lived between Hudson river and Susquehanna, on both sides the river now called Delaware river, from whence they got the name Delawares. They themselves pretend to be the original people, and bear the name lenni lennape, original men, and call no other nation lennape, but say, somebody of the Mohocks, Chippewas, Delamatinos, &c. "There is a sort of Indian corn which they call lenni chosquem, as they had that sort before the Europeans came; it bears short, rough, and thick ears; it requires less time to grow and ripen than other corn; the grains are not in rows, and there grows commonly between two grains a third farther out; they have also beans and pompions, and a sort of tobacco; also a sort of original dogs, with short, pointed ears; they show their teeth as they grow angry, and never attack a wolf, when set on, as other dogs do. "Their way of life in old times was very simple; with arrows pointed with sharp stones they killed the deer and other creatures; with sharp stones they skinned and divided them. They made a sort of axes from stones, which they fastened to a stick to kill the trees where they intended to plant. They opened and worked the ground with a sort of hoes, taking the shoulder blade of a deer or a tortoise shell, sharpened with stones on one side, and fastening them to a stick. They made pots of clay, mixed with powdered muscle shells, and burnt in the fire, to dress their victuals. Fire they made by friction of two pieces of hard wood. The trees for fire wood they burnt down and into pieces. On their journeys they carried fire in punk, or sponges growing on the trees, a great way. They burnt down great trees, and shaped them into canoes by fire, and the help of sharp stones. Men and women were dressed in skins, the women made themselves also petticoats of wild hemp; of that hemp they made twine to knit the feathers of turkeys, eagles, &c., into baskets. "'heir arms and weapons were bows and arrows, and a heavy club, they used also a shield of a thick, dried buffalo skin, shaped round, which they hold before their bodies, so that the arrows from their enemy were turned off by it. " In war they used some ramparts about their towns, and round hillocks, in the top of which they made a hollow place to shelter their women and children in, they placing themselves around and upon it, to fight; in such battles were commonly many killed, whom they buried all in a heap, covVOL. i-18 274 THE OLDEN TIME. ering the corpses with bark of trees, stones, earth, &c. On the spot where Shoenbrunn, the Christian Indian town was built, one can plainly see such a wall or rampart, of considerable extent, and not a great way off in the plain, is such a burial place or made hillock, on which now large oaks stand. "West and northwest are yet strong nations, who preserve the use of bows and arrows. They say: Who will give us powder and lead enough if we use guns? " The Delawares had great wars with the northern Indians before the Europeans came, and were always conquerors. "About fifty or sixty years before the white people came into Hudson's river, the Five Nations made a league orconfederacy. "Toganawita, the MIohock; Otatschechte, the Onayiut, Oneider. "Tototarko, Onondago; Tagahajon, Gajuger. "Caniadario and Satagarunjes, Seneker. "These names were forever to be remembered, and therefore always a chief of such a nation was to have a name of the founder of the union. " The Tuscarores are called the youngest son, because they were not at the beginning, but afterwards received into the confederacy, and since that time they are called the Six Nations, Aquanosshionihaga. "The Mohocks lived most easterly, and the Senekers most Westerly. "By craft and false pretences the Six Nations drew in and subdued the Delaware nation, took the hatchet out of their hands, gave them the hoe and made women out of them, and in consequence acted as their masters and sold their land. About the year 1755, they gave the Delawares (whom they called their sister's children) secretly the hatchet, to use it against the English, but soon. after betrayed them and assisted in destroying their towns. Ever since is a secret bitterness in them and the western Indians against the Six Nations, and they watched an opportunity to give them a blow and be avenged on them. "The Shawanos, a warlike people, lived in Florida, but being subdued in war by the Moshkos, they left their land and removed to Susquehanna, and from one place to another; meeting a strong party of Delawares, and relating to them their forlorn condition, they took them unto their protection as grandchildren; the Shawanos call the Delaware nation their grandfather. They lived thereupon in the forks of Delaware, and settled for a time in Wyoming; when they had increased again, they removed by degrees to Allegheny again. "About eighty years ago, when the Cherokees dwelt on Ohio river, some of them met a party of Munzies or Minisink Indians in hunting, and killed some of them; the Delawares were for revenging it directly, but the chief quieted them till the year after, when some hundreds went to seek their enemies. The Cherokees hearing of their coming, retired from their towns downwards the Ohio, below the fork, where Pittsburgh now stands, INDIAN TRADITIONS, &C. 275 near the big Island; the Delawares came up with them; having already guns, the Cherokees were prepared for battle, but finding the Delawares so numerous, they surrendered as prisoners. A great party of them being displeased decamped in the night down the river to a branch now called Cherokee river, where they settled. War continued for many years between these two nations. From that time the Delawares began to move to Allegheny, and settle in the western country. They called the country Alligeweneork, which signifies a war path; the river itself they call Alligewi-sipo. The Delawares say that elks were then very plenty on the river now called Muskingum, and that they were so very tame that the Indians could come so near them as to see into their eyes, from which circumstance they called the river Mooskingung, i. e. elk's eye. II. OF THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE INDIANS. " Every nation has its own council fire to treat their national affairs, but only a few have the right and privilege to call other nations to their fire, or to be the head of a union or confederacy; this right the Delaware nation has; that chief may send embassies and make treaties. " Netawatwees, the late Delaware chief; was a very good man; he studied the welfare of his nation, and was particularly active to get'many Indian nations into his friendship, sending everywhere some messengers to make alliances. The Mahikans, Shawanos, Cherokees, Twitchtwees, Wawiachtinos, Kikapus, Moskos, Hurons or Wiondots, Chippawas, Ottawas, Puteowatamen, Kaski, were all linked together in the chain of friendship by his endeavors. " Every nation is divided into three branches or tribes, distinguished by their particular mark or coat of arms. " The Six Nations have, 1. The tribe Anowara, the great Tortoise; the most noble. 2. Ochquari, the Bear. 3. Oquacho, the Wolf, the lowest class. " The Delawares: 1. The great Tortoise, Pachoango. 2. The Wolf, Ptuohsit. 3. The Turkey, Blaen. " They say, that these tribes and divisions were introduced by them, chiefly to prevent marriage of consanguinity, in which they were, at least in old times, very punctual. A man of the Tortoise tribe may not marry a woman'of that tribe, but must take one of the Wolf or Turkey tribe, and so vice versa. " The children follow always the mother, and come into that tribe whereof she is. If married people separate, the mother takes all the children, except they themselves choose to keep to their father. "Each tribe has a chief. The chief of the great Tortoise is the head, but the Tortoise tribe cannot make or choose him; that is the work of the chiefs of the other tribes, and so vice versa. None of the chief's sons 276 THE OLDEN TIME. can follow him in his dignity, because they are not of that tribe, but the son of his sister, or his daughter's son, may follow him. The candidate is commonly in the lifetime of a chief appointed to learn and be informed in the affairs of the chief. " The election and appointment is made in the following manner: After the death and burial of a chief, the two other chiefs meet with their counselors and people; the new chief being agreed upon, they prepare the speeches and necessary belts. Then they march in procession to the town where the candidate is, the two chiefs walking in front sing the intended speeches, and enter the town singing; they go on to the east side into the council-house and round the several fires prepared, then sit down on one side of them, upon which the town's people come in, shake hands with them and place themselves over against them. One of the chiefs sings a speech, signifying the aim of their meeting, condoles the new chief about the death of the old one, wiping off his tears, &c., and then declares him to be chief in the place of the deceased. He gives the people present a serious admonition to be obedient unto their chief and to assist him whereever they can with two belts. Thereupon he addresses also the wife of the chief and the women present to be subject unto the chief with a belt. He then tells the chief his duties, and the new chief promises to observe them. All is sung. " This is the ancient usual way; but after Netawatwee's death it has not been observed by the Delawares; a certain party with some American officers appointed the present chief, but neither the other chiefs, nor counselors, nor people regard him, and each does as he pleases. " The head chief with the two others, has to take care of the national concerns, to cherish the friendship with other nations. None can rule or command absolute; he has no preference, nobody is forced to give him anything, but he is commonly well provided with meat, and the women assist his wife in planting, that he may get much corn, because he must be hospitable and his house open to all. They are generally courteous and conversable. He has the keeping of the council bag with the belts, &c., and his house is commonly the council house and therefore large. " In their Councils great decorum is observed, and it is awful to see and hear them in their deliberations. After the chiefs and counselors, one after the other have given their opinion, one of them is appointed to bring the sentiments into one speech. "The chief duty of a chief is to preserve peace as long as possible; he cannot make war,without the consent of the captains, and also not receive a war belt. If he finds his captains and people will have war, he must yield to them, and the captains get the government. But as the chief cannot make war, so the captains cannot make peace. If a captain receives a proposition for peace, he refers it to his chief and says: I am a warrior, 1 INDIAN TRADITIONS, &C. 277 cannot make peace. If a captain brings such a proposition to his chief and he likes it, he bids him to sit down, and takes the hatchet from him, and a truce begins. Then the chief says to the captain: as thou art not used to sit still, to smoke only thy pipe, help me in that good word, I will use thee as a messenger of peace among the nations; and thus the warriors are discharged. "Captains are not chosen. A dream or an enthusiastic turn for war, with which an old conjuror joins, persuading the man that he would be a lucky captain, is his call, upon which he acts. After he has been six or seven timesin war so lucky as to lose none of his company, or got, for each one lost, a prisoner, he is declared captain. If the contrary happens, he is broke. There are seldom many captains, yet always some in each tribe.'They go often six or eight hundred miles to war, suffer great hardships, and if an Indian enemy follows them, they travel oft for one hundred miles day and night, and live upon bark from the trees, roots and herbs. The captain fares like the others; their provision, if they get any, is divided as equally as possible. " The evening before the warriors set off, they have a great feast, and thereupon the war dance. "III. OF THEIR CUSTOMS, ETC. " Offerings have been usual among the Indians, time immemorial; they must not be neglected, if they shall not be exposed to sickness and other evil. They usually have an offering feast every two years in a family or town. First it is resolved how many deer and bears shall be provided, then they go a hunting. When they have the full number, they bring it to a separate house or hut prepared for it; when the meat is boiled, four waiters, who are well paid, serve the guests with meat and bread; all is eaten, only some fat and the bones are burnt. Dogs must not get anything of it. After eating they dance devoutly, and one sings, mentioning the elements, fruits of the earth, and all the gifts of God. When one has done singing, another begins. "Such festivals they have four or five, but they cannot explain the names of them all. "At one of them the males have nothing on but their breech clout, and besmear themselves all over with white clay, and in dancing sing their dreams. "About twenty years ago, something marvelous happened at one of their kentikeys, near the great salt spring on the Muskingum. When a number of Indians were assembled, in the height of their mirth, very late in the night, a big wolf came into the long hut, running straight up to the old doctor or conjuror who gave * jumping up at him and biting him * Blank in the MS. 278 THE OLDEN TIME. on the side of his neck under the ear, so that he fell down and soon after died, to the great terror of the company. Two of them, who some years after it were converted, both of them creditable men, told it their minister, and mentioned some other Indians who could attest the truth of the fact.' One of these offering festivals is in honor of the fire, which the Indians call their grandfather, and is called mashtuzin, sweating. A sweating place, in the form of a hay cock, is prepared of twelve poles, which must be of twelve different sorts or kinds of wood, each being hallowed to a manitto, creatures or fruits of the earth. These twelve sticks or poles being stuck into the ground, are covered with blankets, so that a man may walk upright in it. After eating, a fire is made before the entrance of the hut. Twelve stones of the bigness of the head are made red hot in it, and so put into the hut. These stones get particular names; the first is called Getaunetowiit, the Almighty. 2d. Gischuohk, the Sun, hnd so on. Then in some places twelve men, and in others but one, of the oldest men, go into it, and remain as long as possible; whilst they are in, twelve pipes of tobacco, one after the other, are thrown upon the stones, or where but one man is, he goes' round, strewing tobacco upon the stones, singing; when they come out of the hut, they commonly lie a while as in a trance. A buck skin with head and horns is thereby erected on a post, about which the company sings and prays in honor of God, as they say. " Of cursing and swearing they know nothing, they have no words for it. Lewdness and adultry is very common in later times; these and drunkenness are the cause of their having so few children and bringing up very few of them. "( If an Indian intends to marry, he prepares a present, brings it in a bundie to the father or friends of the object, who are to speak in his favor; when he is gone, the present is inspected and resolved whether he is to have her or not; if they resolve in his favor, and she consents, he is informed of it and takes her to be his wife, and the friends divide the presents among themselves. "When a youth kills the first deer, if it is a buck, it is given to an old man, if a doe, to an old woman, before they bring it into a hut. The old man or woman, with the deer or part of it, with the head and as much as they can carry, turn their face towards the east and give a loud long tune, signifying that they were calling on the gods for the youth, to make him lucky. Then the old men or women eat it, the boy and his relations do not partake. He is then instructed how to act to be a good hunter and lucky in it, that he shall honor the greyheaded and learn from them. "When a girl gets the first time her menses (between twelve and sixteen years) they separate her for ten or twelve days from all company; the mother or another old woman attends her; she sits with her blanket over her head, gets little to eat, is vomited, and must not do anything. After that INDIAN TRADITIONS, &C. 279 she is washed and wears for two months a cap reaching over her face, that she cannot well be seen, and then she is declared fit to marry. The Mingoes and Shawanos let such a person remain in the house, but she must eat alone by herself. "When a Delaware squaw has her menses, she retires from company to a separate hut, and dares not cook or do anything in the house; to eat victuals dressed by such a woman would cause belly-ache. This is not so with the Mingoes. "A widow is to mourn one whole year and not to marry again before that time. Widowers are not bound to any time of mourning. "In the house where a person dies, the female relations meet in the evening after sun-set, and morning before sun-rise, and weep about the corpse, until it is buried. At putting the corpse into the grave, the women begin a great howling. The mother or grandmother, or near relation of the deceased, visits morning and evening the grave, and weeps there, and they carry sometimes victuals there, laying it on the grave which the dogs eat. "The Nantikoks, after three or four months or longer, open the grave again, take all the flesh from the arms and legs, dry them and put them in new cloths, and bury them anew; all the rest they bury or burn separately. "Their doctors or conjurors are great cheats, who pretend to have converse with God or the Devil, and impose upon the sick and others to get their goods. " There are a few Indians who have an actual knowledge of the virtues of roots and herbs, which they got from their forefathers, and can cure certain diseases, but they seldom communicate their secrets, until they see they must die. Their medicine or beson is not for a white man's stomach, it is always in great portions. "They have for a bite of each particular snake a particular herb. Roberts' Plantain, called Csesar's antidote, is commonly used for the bite of a rattle snake, the herb bruised and some of the juice taken inwardly and the rest laid on the wound. "Roberts' Plantain, bruised and laid warm between linen upon a sore breast, makes it good, even if it is open. "To cure the gravel, they take chips of water birch, water beech or button wood, wild cherry and maple tree, cut out of the east side of the trees, towards the roots, altogether a hatful, with a handful of white clover, herb and root, clean but not washed, all this boiled in three gallons water to one gallon. Morning and evening one gill, more or less, drank according as the patient feels the effect in his bladder or urinary passage. IV. OF THEIR LANGUAGE. "It is an old opinion that the North American Indians were descendants of the lost ten tribes of the children of Israel, whom Shalmanesar, king of 280 THE OLDEN TIME. Assyria, carried from their land far off into captivity. Some think that the remembrance of the Assyrians was the proper reason why the Indians call the Europeans Asseroni. "There are several plausible reasons to support that opinion. "They have the very same ornaments of their noses, ears, arms and feet mentioned in the holy Scriptures. "They have the same way of expressing their grief and their joy; in comforting they speak of wiping the tears off; in removing difficulties, of clearing the way from stumps and stones, &c. "The separation of the women in certain circumstances. "The observance of consanguinity in marriage. "Some of their offerings, and the turn of their language, which is quite in the oriental way. " I read of two different nations about Kamskatka, one of them not using an R, and the other no L, which is the case with the Delawares and Mahikans. In a great collection of words and phrases of the Mahikan, I do not find one L or R. If they shall say molasses, they say morasses; and the Delawares always put L instead of R, and say lun instead of run, vely instead of very. If the words of the Delawares and Mahikan could be compared with the words of the said two nations, it would, be found out whether they are kindred; so as the Esquimaux with the Greenlanders. In David Cranz's History of Greenland, 1st part, page 217, is a specimen of that tongue. "The Rev. David Zeisberger, who lived at Onandago several years, and was there adopted in an Indian family, made a collection of their words and phrases, and has composed a grammar of the Maqua, or Six Nation language, and is now about a Delaware grammar. " There are many words in these two languages of a seeming analogy with the Hebrew: e. g. iaar in Hebrew, forest, is gaarhager in Maqua. Breathing —Hebr. heg: Delaw. la leche or lechriyan. Breath-Continually-Hebr. gom; Delaw. gomwiteek always, at all times. Mother-Hebr. ami; Delaw. amimens, a baby. A song-Hebr. anam; Delaw. aneskik, thankful. Fruit-Hebr. geresh; Maqua, gerunta, a tree. Water-Hebr. maim; Delaw. m'bee or maimbee, water. A chief-Hebr. schack; Delaw. sakiinau, Sachem, Chuor, Damascus, Anajot, and other words. "In the Maqua or Mingo, there is no B, F, M, P, Ph; instead of Peter they say Quiter; instead of Frederick, Wrederick. "The Delawares have in their words no R, F, V, but like the Calmuks and Greenlanders many k's and many aspirations where gch is brought deep out of the throat. "The Maqua decline and vary their words by fixed rules, with prefix a and suffix a. Both tongues are very rich in words, and bring often three or four words into one, e. g. euiage, hand; ostrei, little; euistroi, a little WASHINGTON'S ACCOUNT, &C. 281 hand; ochgita, foot; goano, big; ochsitowano, a big foot; ostroi, little; gastroi, I am little; sastroi, thou art little; hostroi, he is little; garouta, a tree; garoutoeu, under the tree; garoutacta, on the tree; garoutactuntie, round about the tree; garoutees, a long tree; garoutagajung, an old tree; gareutave, a green tree. i" Amemintit, a babe, a little child; pitawroetit, a little boy; pilapeas, a boy; wuskileuno, a youth; leuno, a man; kikuwileuno, a man of years; mihillasis, and old man. "Ochquetit, a little girl; ocquezitsh, a girl; wuskockqueu, a virgin; ochqueu, a woman; kikochquees, a woman of years; chauchschusit, an old woman; paalochqueu, a whore. "Machk, a bear; cbwachk, a big bear; mihillusachk, an old bear; nonscheachk, a breeding bear; wuskonscheck, a young she bear; gachtiunachk, a yearling bear; taukachkus, a very young bear. Personae orationis three by praefix a, mag ge hawak, my child; sahawak, thy child; hehawak, his child; ganochsaja, my house; sauochsaja, thy house; honochsaja, his house; go or hagonochsaja, her house; gattake, I run; satakke, you run; hatakke, he runs; gotakke, she runs. "Delaware by n, k, w; nitshau, my child; knitsau, thy child; wunitshau, his child. "The future is in Maqua expressed by the Praefix n; in Delaware by etsch or otsch." WASH1NGTON'S ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING OF FORT DUQUESNE. " CAMP AT FORT DUQUESNE, 28 NOVEMBER, 1758. " To GOVENOR FAUQUIER: "Sir: I have the pleasure to inform you, that Fort Duquesne, or the ground rather on which it stood, was possessed by his Majesty's troops on the 25th instant. The enemy, after letting us get within a day's march of the place, burned the fort, and ran away by the light of it, at night, going down the Ohio by water, to the number of about five hundred men, according to our best information. This possession of the fort has been matter of surprise to the whole army, and we cannot attribute it to more probable causes, than the weakness of the enemy, want of provisions, and the defection of their Indians. Of these circumstances we were luckily informed by three prisoners, who providentially fell into our hands at Loyal Hanna, when we despaired of proceeding further. A council of war had deter 282 THE OLDEN TIME. mined that it was not advisable to advance this season beyond that place; but the above information caused us to march on without tents or baggage, and with only a light train of artillery. We have thus happily succeeded. It would be tedious, and I think unnecessary, to relate every trivial circumstance that has happened since my last. To do this, if needful, shall be the employment of a leisure hour, when I shall have the pleasure to pay my respects to your Honor. " The General intends to wait here a few days to settle matters with the Indians, and then all the troops, except a sufficient garrison to secure the place, will march to their respective governments. I give your Honor this early notice, that your directions relative to the troops of Virginia may meet me on the road. I cannot help reminding you, in this place; of the hardships they have undergone, and of their naked condition, that you may judge if it is not essential for them to have some little recess from fatigue, and time to provide themselves with necessaries. At present they are destitute of every comfort of life. If I do not get your orders to the contrary, I shall march the troops under my command directly to Winchester. They may then be disposed of as you shall afterwards direct. "General Forbes desires me to inform you, that he is prevented by a multiplicity of affairs fiom writing to you so fully now as he would otherwise have done. He has written to the commanding officers stationed on the communication from hence to Winchester, relative to the conduct of the Little Carpenter, a chief of the Cherokees, the purport of which was to desire, that they would escort him from one place to another, to prevent his doing any mischief to the inhabitants. "This fortunate, and, indeed, unexpected success of our arms will be attended with happy effects. The Delawares are suing for peace, and I doubt not that other tribes on the Ohio will follow their example. A trade, free, open, and on equitable terms, is what they seem much to desire, and I do not know so effectual a way of riveting them to our interest, as by sending out goods immediately to this place for that purpose. It will, at the same time, be a means of supplying the garrison with such necessaries as may be wanted; and I think the other colonies, which are as greatly interested in the support of this place as Virginia, should neglect no means in their power to establish and maintain a strong garrison here. Our business, without this precaution, will be but half finished; while, on the other hand, we shall obtain a firm and lasting peace with the Indians, if this end is once accomplished. " General Forbes is very assiduous in getting these matters settled upon a solid basis, and has great merit for the happy issue to which he has brought our affairs, infirm and worn down as he is.* At present I have *General Forbes died a few months afterwards in Philadelphia. CAPTAIN STOBO. 283 nothing further to add, but the strongest assurances of my being your Honor's most obedient and most humble servant." CAPTAIN STOBO. This personage, who was with Washington at the time of the surrender of Fort Necessity, and who was then given up as a hostage to the French, has always been a subject of interest and curiosity to us. His letters written from Fort Duquesne while he was a prisoner, the fearless spirit which he displayed in those letters, his great anxiety that the place should be recaptured, reckless of its effect upon himself, has always excited a strong interest in our mind for further information about him. We have made many inquiries about him, but have never until recently heard a word more about him. We had never found any person of the name of Stobo, so that we could not even learn what countryman he was. A short time since, however, we were on a visit to our aged mother in the country, who has a very respectable old fashioned library, and while there happened to pick up an early volume of the "Port Folio," and upon opening it, the very first words that met our eyes were " Captain Stobo." Our attention, of course, was arrested, and we found the following extract of a letter from David Hume to Dr. Tobias Smollet, dated: "RAGLEY, 21st September, 1768.' I did not see your friend, Captain Stobo, till the day before I left Cirencester, and only for a little time: but he seemed to be a man of good sense, and has surely had the most extraordinary adventures in the world. He has promised to call on me when he comes to London, and I shall always see him with pleasure." We were struck with the singularity of the whole matter. We entertain no doubt that this was our Chptain Stobo, and are equally confident that he was a Scotchman: so we are a little wiser than we were. Perhaps if we could get the correspondence of Smollet, we could learn something more about him. Will not some of our Scotch friends give us some aid in the ~earch after the gallant Captain Stobo's adventures? He appeared " extraordinary" to the great historian Hume, and would surely be interesting on the site of Fort Duquesne. 284 THE OLDEN TIME. THE PEACE OF 1764. The treaty made by Colonel Bouquet, with the Indians, at Muskingum, was an important event, a marked era in the history of our city and the country around. A little more than ten years had elapsed, since at this place the first blow was struck in the war which extended its ravages into every quarter of the world. In that period of ten years, the French had not only been driven from the Forks, but from their vast possessions in Canada and Louisiana, and the crowning act of the glorious successes of British arms was performed on the banks of the Muskingum. From that event Pittsburgh dates her beginning as a regular town. In 1764, John Campbell laid out into regular streets and lots, that part of our present city which lies between Ferry and Market streets and between the Monongahela river and Second street. We have never seen any notice of the authority by which he undertook to act, nor do we know precisely at what season of the year 1764, the division into streets and lots was made. At this particular point, in the notices of the country around the head of the Ohio, we mean to pause a short time to look around, to collect various matters connected with the early history of this region, to introduce some matters which may have been previously omitted, and to post up our " notices " fairly and correctly before we advance further.. Our original plan allows us pretty wide scope and room enough, and we mean to avail ourselves of our privilege, always, however, keeping in view our great design to familiarise our readers with every matter relating to the earliest history of our country and its settlement and gradual improvement. We flatter ourselves, that we have already accomplished something, and that there are perhaps within the entire number of the patrons of the Olden Time, not a half a dozen, who have not gained some information by our labors; and even if there should be a few persons who have gained nothing new from this publication, they have at least the whole amount of the intelligence collected together in a convenient and accessible form. The Olden Time, simply as a memorial of the early connection of the Father of his Country with our location and the country round us, must be desirable to every man having a patriotic heart, and we feel confident that no reader or subscriber can regret the time or money spent upon it. To the editor the work has been the fruit of no little research and labor, but it has really been a labor of love. FORBES' ROUTE. 285 FORBES' ROUTE. We republish the following letter from Robert Munford to Theodorick Bland, senior, which we find in the "Bland Papers," as a specimen of the temper of the Virginians in relation to the proposed road from Raystown to Fort Duquesne: " CAMP, NEAR FORT CUMBERLAND, AUGUST 4TH, 1758. "Hon'd Sir: If't is honorable to be in the service of one's country,'tis a reputation gain'd by the most cruel hardships you can imagine, occasioned more by a real anxiety for its welfare, than by what the poor carcase suffers. Every officer seems discontented in camp, happy on command, so deep is the interest of our country implanted in the minds of all. Sometimes the army wears a gloomy, then a joyous aspect, just as the news either confirms our stay here, or immediate departure. The General,* with the small-pox in one, the flux in the other division of our forces, and no provision ready, are indeed excuses for our being here at present; yet all might have been prevented. A few hearty prayers are every moment offered up for those self-interested Pennsylvanians who endeavor to prevail on our General to cut a road for their convenience, from Raystown to Fort Duquesne,t that a trifling good to particulars, should retard what would conduce to the general welfare I'T is a set of dirty Dutchmen, they say, that keep us here! It would be impertinent to condemn, yet I must [think] our leaders too deliberate at this important juncture, when all are warm for action, all breathing revenge against an enemy that have even dared to scalp our men before our eyes. The amusement we have in the mean time is only following the brave dogs over the mountains for some miles, and our sole satisfaction sufficient fatigue to make us sleep sound. An old scoundrel has intimated to the General that the Virginians have bribed the guides, for't is practicable to go the new road, contrary to their report. We have lost all our Indians by the assistance of a man, the [aforesaid] old dog, who interposed through some dirty views he has of superseding Mr. Atkin. Thus are officers in a manner ruin'd by persons whose souls scorn a thought that tends not immediately to their own advantage. I'm sorry to live upon * General Forbes. t See Spark's writings of Washington, vol. 2, p. 302. 286 THE OLDEN TIME. my country when I've so small a prospect of repaying her by any service. We shall march to Raystown shortly, thence to the Fort,* if permitted. I shall embrace the next opportunity of writing you our transactions, and am as always, dear sir, your most Aff'te nephew, &c. "P. S. By express, we have an acc't that some of the enemy Indians have joined the Pennsylvanians." THE WIRE SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE MONONGAHELA RIVER AT PITTSBURGH. We take the following description of this noble work from The New York Rail Road Journal, a valuable periodical which we cannot pass by without an acknowledgment of its merits. The account of the bridge is from the pen of our fellow citizen, John A. Roebling, the enterprising engineer and constructor of the bridge. We rejoice at the opportunity of publishing this description, and thus giving our aid to make more generally known this admirable species of bridges, whibh is destined, as we think, to supersede all others. "The new Suspension Bridge over the Monongahela river, at Pittsburgh, was commenced in June, 1845, and opened for travel in February, 1846. The piers and abutments of the old wooden structure, which was destroyed by the great fire, required extensive repairs to be fitted for the reception of the new superstructure. The whole length of the work between the abutments, is exactly 1,500 feet, and is divided intoe ight spans of 188 feet, average distance from centre to centre. The piers are 50 feet long at bottom, 36 feet high, and 11 feet wide on top, battering 1 inch to the foot. " Two bodies of substantial cut stone masonry, measuring 9 feet square and 3 feet high, are erected on each pier, at a distance of 18 feet apart. On these the bed plates are laid down for the support of the cast iron towers, to which the wire cables are suspended by means of pendulums. Each span being supported by two sepaarte cables, there are therefore, 18 cables suspended to 18 towers. "The towers are composed of four columns moulded in the form of a two sided or cornered pilaster; they are connected by four lattice pannels, secured by screw bolts. The pannels up and down stream close the whole side of a tower, but those in the direction of the bridge form an open doorway, which serves for the continuation of sidewalks from one span to the other. ~ Duquesne. WIRE SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 287 "On top of the pilasters or columns, a massive casting rests, which supports the pendulum to which the cables are attached. The upper pin of the pendulum lies in a seat which is formed by the sides and ribs of a square box occupying the centre of the casting. For the purpose of throwing the whole pressure upon the four colums underneath, 12 segments of arches butt against the centre box, and rest with the other end upon the four. corners. " The pendulums are composed of four solid bars of 2 feet 6 inches long, from centre to centre of pin, 4 inches by one inch-the pins are three inches in diameter. To the lower pin, the cable of one span is attached directly and the connection formed with the next cable by means of four links of 3 feet 6 inches long and 4 inches by 1{ inch. " The opposite cables, as well as the pendulums, are inclined towards each other-the distance between being 27 feet at the top of the towers, and 22 feet at the centre of a span. The pendulums on the abutments, however, occupy a vertical position. "' The two sidewalks are outside of the cables, and 5 feet wide. The roadway is contracted to 20 feet, and separated from the sidewalks by fender rails, which are raised from the floor by means of blocks of 6 inches high, 8 feet apart. The total width of the bridge between the railings is 32 feet. " The anchor chains which hold the cables of the first and last span, are secured below the ground in the same method which was applied to the aqueduct-their oxidation is guarded against in the same manner. "The cables are 41 inches in diameter, and protected by a solid wrapper; they are assisted by stays, made of 1~ inch round charcoal iron; the suspenders are of the same material, 1~ inch diameter, and placed 4 feet apart. " The peculiar construction of the Monongahela bridge was planned with the view of obtaining a high degree of stiffness, which is a great desideratum in all suspension bridges; this object has been fully attained. The wind has no effect on this structure, and the vibrations produced by two heavy coal teams, weighing seven tons each, and closely following each other, are no greater than is generally observed on wooden arch and truss bridges of the same span. This bridge is principally used for heavy hauling; a large portion of the coal consumed in the city of Pittsburgh passes oven it in four and six horse teams. "As a heavy load passes over a span, the adjoining pendulums, when closely observed, can be noticed to move correspondingly-the extent of this motion not exceeding one half inch. By this accommodation of the pendulums, all jarring of the cast iron towers is effectually avoided. Another object of the pendulums is to direct the resultant of any forces to which the work may be subjected, through the centre of the towers, as well as of the masonry below. 288 THE OLDEN TIME. "Two of the piers of the old structure had once given way in consequence of the shaking and pressure of the arch timbers, when subjected to heavy loads. Such an accident can never take place on the new structure, as the piers are only subjected to the quiet and vertical pressure of the towers. "I do not recommend the application of pendulums in all cases; but in this, it appeared to me the best plan which could be adopted. " The two towers on each pier are connected by a wooden beam, properly encased and lined by the same mouldings which ornament the top of the castings. "The lightness and graceful appearance of this structure is somewhat impaired by the heavy proportions of these connections, but I had to resort to it for motives of economy. "The whole expense of this structure does not exceed $55,000-a very small sum indeed for such an extensive work. "A great portion of this work had to be done during the winter, and in cold weather; it was accomplished without any accident, with the exception of one of the workmen who was seized by fits and killed by falling off a pier. "TABLE OF QUANTITIES OF MONONGAHELA BRIDGE. Length of bridge between abutments............................ 1500 feet. Number of spans........................................................... 8 Average width of spans from centre to centre.................... 188' Diameter of cables......................................................... 4i inch. N umber of wires in each.................................................. 750 Weight of superstructure of one span, as far as supported by the cables............................................. 70 tons. Tension of cables resulting from it...................................... 122 " Weight of four six horse teams, loaded with 104 bushels of coal each........................ 28 " Tension resulting from it when at rest................................ 49 " Weight of 100 head of cattle at 800 lbs........................... 40 " Tension resulting from it when at rest............................... 70 " Aggregate weight of one span as far as supported by the cables, plus 100 cattle at rest................................ 110 " Tension resulting from it................................... 192 " Ultimate strength of two cables......................................... 860 " Section of anchor chains................................................... 26 inch. Section of pendulums.................................................... 63 " THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. JULY, 1846. No, 7. EARLY NOTICE OF FRENCH CLAIMS ON THE OHIO. At a Council held at Philadelphia, August 4th, 1731. Present, the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Esq., Lieut. Governor. James Logan, Clemt. Plumsted, Isaac Norris, Ralph Asheton, Samuel Preston, Samuel Hasell. The President laid before the Board a message prepared for the House of Representatives, which being read, was approved. The former part related to the Sugar Islands.' The Governor then proceeded to inform the Board that the matter mentioned in the close of the preceding message related to Indian affairs, and would be found to be likewise of very great consequence to the whole province; the detail whereof his Honor said he would leave to Mr. Logan, to whom the information had been first given, and who from his long experience and knowledge in those affairs, could give the best account of it.' That gentlemen then producing the map of Louisiana, as inserted in a'book called a New General Atlas, published at London, in 1721, first observed from thence how exorbitant the French claims were on the continent of America; that by the description in the said map they claimed a greatpart of Carolina and Virginia, and had laid down Susquehannah as a boundary of Pennsylvania. Then he proceeded to observe that by virtue of some treaty, as they allege, the French pretend a right to all lands lying on livers of the mouths of which they are possessed; that the river Ohio (a branch of Mississippi) comes close to those mountains which lie about 129 or 130 miles back of Susquehannah, within the boundaries of this province, as granted by the King's Letters Patent; that adjoining VOL. I-19 290 THE OLDEN TIME. thereto there is a fine tract of land called Allegheny, on which several Shawanese Indians had seated themselves; and that by the advices lately brought to him by several traders in these parts, it appears that the French have been using endeavors to gain over those Indians to their interest, and for this end a French gentleman had come amongst them some years since, sent as'twas believed, from the Governor of Montreal, and at his departure last year carried with him some of the Shawanese chiefs to that Governor, with whom they at their return appeared to be highly pleased: That the same French gentleman, with five or six others in company with him, had this last spring again come amongst the said Indians and brought with him a Shawanese interpreter, was well received by them, had again carried some of their chiefs to the said Governor, and the better to gain the affections of the said Indians, brought with him a gunsmith to work for them gratis. Mr. Logan then went on to represent how destructive this attempt of the French, if attended with success, may prove to the English interest on this continent, and how deeply in its consequences it may affect this province, and after having spoke fully on these two heads, moved that to prevent or put a stop to these designs if possible, a treaty should be set on foot with the Five Nations, who have an absolute authority as well over the Shawanese as all our Indians, that by their means the Shawanese may not only be kept firm to the English interest, but likewise be induced to remove from Allegheny nearer to the English settlements, and that such a treaty becomes now the more necessary, because'tis several years since any of those nations have visited us, and no opportunity ought to be lost of cultivating and improving the friendship which has always subsisted between this government and them. "After which he observed to the Board that such frequent complaints of late had been made of the abuses committed by large quantities of' rum amongst the Indians, that it would be necessary for the Legislature to take the same into their consideration, and to provide a remedy to so great an evil. That to this pernicious liquor a late unhappy accident in the chief family of our Delaware Indians had been in a great measure owing, viz: the death of Shackatawlin, whom Sassoonan, his uncle, had in a fit of drunkenness killed. "The Board, upon mature consideration hereof, were unanimously of opinion that a treaty with the Five Nations is absolutely necessary, and that it should be recommended to the House to make proper provision for defraying the charges thereof, and likewise to prevent the abuses committed by carrying rum amongst the Indians: but because it may be inconvenient in several respects to have those reasons for entering into a treaty at this time with the Five Nations, made public, the Clerk of the Council is ordered to represent the same verbally to the House, and to deliver a shorter written message on this subject, which was drawn up in these words: THE OHIO COMPANY. 291 "' GENTLEMEN:-Upon some notices I have lately received, the import of which will be now verbally communicated to the House, you will, I believe, clearly see the necessity of entering into some further treaties with the Five Nations of Indians, whose friendship is well known to be of the highest importance to the peace and security of these countries. And I must further add, that a most unfortunate late accident in the chief family of our late Delaware Indians, by means of that pernicious liquor, rum, and the abuses these poor people suffer by its being carried to them in large quantities under the pretence of trade, call also for a redress, which at this time becomes the more necessary, because by a due provision of this kind, our treaties with them will be much facilitated and strengthened.'" THE OHIO COMPANY. The first projector of a Company to settle lands on the Ohio river, was Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, as early as 1716. This scheme, however, failed, owing partly to the timidity of the British ministry of that day, who were afraid of giving offence to the French, and partly to jealousy among the colonies. In 1748, the project was revived; a grant was made to the Company of a large body of land on the south side of the Ohio between the Monongahela and Kenhawa. Mr. Gist was sent to explore the country. The Governor of Canada became alarmed at his movements, and labored to excite the fears of the Indians, and also gave notice to the Governors of New York and Pennsylvania, that the English traders had encroached on the French territory, and that if they did not desist, they would be seized wherever found. It is also stated by Judge Marshall in his life of Washington, that the traders from Pennsylvania becoming apprehensive that the Ohio Company would transfer the Indian trade, previously enjoyed almost entirely by that tolony, to the Potomac, communicated to the Indians the object for which the English visited the Ohio. The notice sent by the Governor of Canada being disregarded, the British traders among the Twightees were seized and sent as prisoners to Presqu'ile, where a fort was then building. The attempt of the English to prosecute the trade with the Indians, could not have been the real motive for this act of violence, because neither nation pretended to have an exclusive right to the trade, and the treaty of 292 THE OLDEN TIME. Utretcht expressly stipulated for its freedom. France had then projected the magnificent scheme of uniting Canada and Louisiana, and to carry it into effect it became necessary to put an end to the English trade with the Indians in the country between the Lakes and the Ohio. This grant of land to the Ohio Company being the first grant on the Ohio river by any European power, cannot be passed by unnoticed in our publication. We have, therefore, selected the following notice from "Spark's Life and Writings of Washington." Our examination of this subject has led us to notice and wonder at the rapid extension of the Anglo Saxon race on this continent. It is not yet one hundred years since this first effort at settlement on the Ohio was made, and now our banner waves in triumph on the Rio Grande, at the distance of two thousand miles from the site of Fort Duquesne. What a change has occurred in thosebhundred years! France, whose power was felt from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, through the Great Lakes, and along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, has not now a foothold on the continent, and Spain, whose authority was extensively recognized in both North and South America, possesses now not one acre of land in either. While Great Britain, rejected by her own colonies, is only known in the territories first settled by her most formidable rival. " As the Ohio Company is often mentioned in this volume, and as two of Washington's brothers were much concerned in it, a brief sketch of its history may not be unsuitable in this place. " In the year 1748, Thomas Lee, one of his Majesty's Council in Virginia, formed the design of effecting settlements on the wild lands west of the Allegany mountains, through the agency of an association of gentlemen. Before this date there were no English residents in those regions. A few traders wandered from tribe to tribe, and dwelt among the Indians, but they neither cultivated nor occupied the lands. " With the view of carrying his plan into operation, Mr. Lee associated himself with twelve other persons in Virginia and Maryland, and with Mr. Hanbury, a merchant in London, who formed what they called' The Ohio Company.' Lawrence Washington, and his brother Augustine Washington, were among the first who engaged in this scheme. A petition was presented to the King in behalf of the Company, which was approved, and five hundred thousand acres of land was granted almost in the terms requested by the Company. " The object of the Company was to settle the lands, and to carry on the Indian trade upon a large scale. Hitherto the trade with the western Indians had been mostly in the hands of the Pennsylvanians. The Com THE OHIO COMPANY. 293 pany conceived that they might derive an important advantage over their competitors in this trade, from the water communication of the Potomac and the eastern branches of the Ohio, whose head waters approximated each other. The lands were to be chiefly taken on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kenhawa rivers, and west of the Alleganies. The privilege was reserved, however, by the Company, of embracing a portion of the lands on the north side of the river, if it should be deemed expedient. Two hundred thousand acres were to be selected immediately, and to be held for ten years free from quitrent or any tax to the King, on condition that the Company should, at their own expense, seat one hundred families on the lands within seven years, and build a fort, and maintain a garrison sufficient to protect the settlement. "The first steps taken by the Company were to order Mr. Hanbury, their agent in London, to send over for their use two cargoes of goods suited to the Indian trade, amounting in the whole to four thousand pounds sterling, one cargo to arrive in November, 1749, the other in March following. They resolved, also, that such roads should be made and houses built, as would facilitate the communication from the head of navigation on the Potomac river across the mountains to some point on the Monongahela. And as no attempt at establishing settlements could safely be made without some previous arrangements with the Indians, the Company petitioned the government of Virginia to invite them to a treaty. As a preliminary to other proceedings, the Company also sent out Mr. Christopher Gist with instructions to explore the country, examine theiuality of the lands, keep a journal of his adventures, draw as accurate a plan of the country as his observations would permit, and report the same to the board. On his first our he was absent nearly seven months, penetrated the country for several hundred miles north of the Ohio, visited the Twightwee Indians, and proceeded as far south as the falls of that river. In November following (1751), he passed down the south side of the river, as far as the Great Kenhawa, and spent the winter in exploring the lands on that route. Meantime the Indians had failed to assemble at Logstown, where they had been invited by the Governor of Virginia to hold a treaty. It was natural that the traders, who had already got possession of the ground, should endeavour to bias the Indians, and throw obstacles in the way of any interference from another quarter. The French were likewise tampering with them, and from political motives were using means to withdraw them from every kind of alliance or intimacy with the English. The Company found that it would be in vain to expect much progress in their designs, till measures had been adopted for winning over the Indians; and accordingly the proposed treaty of Logstown took place the next year, when Mr. Gist attended as an agent from the Company, and the Indians agreed not to molest any settlements that might be made on the south-east side of the Ohio 294 THE OLDEN TIME. This treaty was concluded June 13th, 1752. Colonel Fry, and two other commissioners, were present on the part of Virginia. "It is remarkable, that in the debates attending the negotiation of this treaty, the Indians took care to disclaim a recognition of the English title to any of these lands. In a speech to the Commissioners, one of the old chiefs said,'You acquainted us yesterday with the King's right to all the lands in Virginia, as far as it is settled, and back from thence to the sunsetting, whenever he shall think fit to extend his settlements. You produced also, a copy of his deed from the Onondaga Council, at the Treaty of Lancaster [1744], and desired, that your brethren of the Ohio might likewise confirm the deed. We are well acquainted that our chief council at the treaty of Lancaster, confirmed a deed to you for a quantity of land in Virginia, which you have a right to; but we never understood, before you told us yesterday, that the lands then sold were to extend farther to the sun-setting than the hill on the other side of the Allegany Hill, so that we can give you no farther answer.'-MS. Journal of the Commissioners. "Hence it appears that the Indians west of the Ohio, who inhabited the lands, had never consented to any treaty ceding them to the English, nor understood that this cession extended beyond the Allegany mountains.* "When the Company was first instituted, Mr. Lee, its projector, was its principal organ, and most efficient member. He died soon afterwards, and then the chief management fell on Lawrence Washington, who had engaged in the enterprise with an enthusiasm and energy peculiar to his character. His agency was short, however, as his rapidly declining health soon terminated in his death. Several of the Company's shares changed hands. Governor Dinwiddie and George Mason became proprietors. There were originally but twenty shares, and the Company never consisted of more than that number of members. " Mr. Lawrence Washington had a project for inducing German settlers to take up the lands. lHe wrote to Mr. Hanbury as follows: "'Whilst the unhappy state of my health called me back to our Springs [at Bath in Virginia], I conversed with all the Pennsylvanian Dutch, whom I met either there or elsewhere, and much recommended their settling on the Ohio. The chief reason against it was the paying an English clergyman, when few understood, and none made use of him. It has been my opinion, and I hope ever will be, that restraints on conscience are cruel, in regard to those on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the country imposing them. England, Holland and Prussia I may quote as examples, and much more Pennsylvania, which has flourished under that delightful liberty, so as to become the admiration of every man, who considers the'A more full notice of the treaty at Lancaster and the conference, will hereafter be given.-EDITOR OLDEN TIME. THE OHIO COMPANY. 295 short time it has been settled. As the ministry have thus far shown the true spirit of patriotism, by encouraging the extending of our dominions in America, I doubt not by an application they would still go further, and complete what they have begun, by procuring some kind of charter to prevent the residents on the Ohio and its branches from being subject to parish taxes. They all assured me, that they might have from Germany any number of settlers, could they obtain their favorite exemption. I have promised to endeavor for it, and now do my utmost by this letter. I am well assured we shall never obtain it by a law here. This colony was greatly settled in the latter part of Charles the First's time, and during the usurpation, by the zealous churchmen; and that spirit, which was then brought in, has ever since continued, so that except a few Quakers we have no dissenters. But what has been the consequence? We have increased by slow degrees, except negroes and convicts, whilst our neighboring colonies, whose natural advantages are greatly inferior to ours, have become populous.' "A proposition was made by several Germans in Pennsylvania, that, if they could have the above exemption, they would take fifty thousand acres of the Company's land, and settle it with two hundred families. Mr. Washington wrote likewise on the subject to Governor Dinwiddie, then in England, who replied:' It gave me pleasure, that the Dutch wanted fifty thousand acres of land granted to the Ohio Company, and I observe what you write about their own clergyman, and your endeavor to have them freed from paying the church of England. I fear this will be a difficult task to get over; and at present the Parliament is so busy with public affairs, and the ministry in course engaged, that we must wait some time before we can reply; but be assured of my utmost endeavors therein.' No proof exists that any other steps were taken in the affair. "Soon after the treaty at Logstown, Mr. Gist was appointed the Company's surveyor, and instructed to lay off a town and fort at Shurtees Creek, a little below the present site of Pittsburgh, and on the east side of the Ohio. The company assessed on themselves four hundred pounds towards constructing the fort. In the mean time Mr. Gist had fixed his residence on the other side of the Alleghanies, in the valley of the Monongahela, and induced eleven families to settle around him on lands, which it wts presumed would be within the Company's grant. The goods had come over from England, but had never been taken farther into the interior than Will's Creek, where they were sold to traders and Indians, who received them at that post. Some progress had been made in constructing a road to the Monongahela, but the temper of the Indians was such as to discourage an attempt to send the goods at the Company's risk to a more remote point. " Things were in this state, when the troubles on the frontiers broke out 296. THE OLDEN TIME. between the French and English, involving on one side or the other the various Indian tribes. All further operations were suspended till towards the close of the war, when hostilities had nearly ceased on the Virginia frontier from the capture of Fort Duquesne and the weakened efforts of the French. In 1760 a state of the Company's case was drawn up by Mr. John Mercer, secretary to the board, and forwarded to Mr. Charlton Palmer, a solicitor in London, who was employed by the Company to apply to the King for such further orders and instructions to the government in Virginia, as might enable the Company to carry their grant into execution. The business was kept in a state of suspense for three years, when the Company resolved to send out an agent, with full powers to bring it as speedily as possible to a close. Colonel George Mercer was selected for this commission, and instructed to procure leave for the Company to take up their lands, according to the conditions of the original grant, or to obtain a reimbursement of the money, which had been paid on the faith of that grant. He repaired to London accordingly, and entered upon his charge. But at this time the counteracting interests of private individuals in Virginia, the claims of the officers and soldiers under Dinwiddie's proclamation, which extended to lands within the Ohio Company's grant, and moreover the schemes and application of the proprietors of Walpole's Grant, were obstacles not to be overcome. Colonel Mercer remained six years in London, without making any apparent progress in the object of his mission, and at last he agreed to merge the interests of the Ohio Company in those of Walpole's, or the Grand Company, as it was called, on condition of securing to the former two shares in the latter, amounting to one thirty-sixth part of the whole. These terms were not approved by the members of the Ohio Company in Virginia, nor was it clear that Colonel Mercer's instructions authorized him to conclude such an arrangement. While the subject was still in agitation, the Revolutionary war came on, and put an end, not only to the controversy, but to the existence of the two companies. Thus the Ohio Company was in action only about four years, having never in reality revived after its first check, at the commencement of hostilities with the French and Indians on the frontiers. All persons concerned were losers to a considerable amount, though at its outset the scheme promised important advantages both to individuals, and to the country at large. The original records and papers of the Ohio Company are now in possession of Mr. Charles Fenton Mercer, of Virginia, by whose politeness I have been favored with the use of them in drawing up this brief outline." THE FIVE NATIONS. 297 THE FIVE NATIONS. The following notice of the Indians who once acted so prominent a part in the history of this portion of the American continent, and who by their arts and arms earned the title bestowed upon them by De Witt Clinton, of the "Romans of America," is the introduction to Colden's History of the Five Nations. It comes properly within the scope of our undertaking, and will, no doubt, be acceptable to our readers. A SHORT VIEW OF THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF THE FIVE NATIONS, AND OF THEIR LAWS, CUSTOMS, &c. "It is necessary to know something of the form of government of the people whose historyhne is about to know, and a few words will be sufficient to give the reader a conception of that of the Five Nations, because it still remains under original simplicity, and free from those complicated contrivances which have become necessary to the nations, where deceit and cunning have increased as much as their knowledge and wisdom. " The Five Nations (as their name denotes) consist of so many tribes or nations, joined together by a league or confederacy, like the United Provinces, and without any superiority of the one over the other. This union has continued so long, that the Christians know nothing of the original of it. Tie people in it are known by the English under the names of Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. " Each of these nations is again divided into three tribes or families, who( distinguish themselves by three different arms or ensigns, the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf; and the Sachems, or old men of these families, put this ensign, or mark of their family, to every public paper, when they sign it. " Each of these nations is an absolute republic by itself, and every castle in each nation makes an independent republic, and is governed in all public affairs by its own Sachems or old men. The authority of these rulers is gained by, and consists wholly in the opinion the rest of the nation 298 THE OLDEN TIME. have of their wisdom and integrity. They never execute their resolutions by force upon any of their people. Honor and esteem are their principal rewards; as shame, and being despised, their punishments. They have certain customs, which they observe in their public transactions with other nations, and in their private affairs among themselves; which it is scandalous for any one among them not to observe, and these always draw after them either public or private resentment, whenever they are broke. "Their leaders and captains, in like manner, obtain their authority, by the general opinion of their courage and conduct, and lose it by a failure in those virtues. "Their great men, both sachems and captains, are generally poorer than the common people; for they affect to give away and distribute all the presents or plunder they get in their treaties or in war, so as to leave nothing to themselves. There is not a man in the ministry of the Five Nations who has gained his office otherwise than by merit; there is not the least salary, or any sort of profit, annexed to any office, to tempt the covetous or sordid; but, on the contrary, every unworthy action is unavoidably attended with the forfeiture of their commission; for their authority is only the esteem of the people, and ceases the moment that esteem is lost. Here we see the natural origin of all power and authority amongst a free people, and whatever artificial power or sovereignty any man may have acquired, by the law and constitution of a country, his real power will be ever much greater or less, in proportion to the esteem the people have of him, " The Five Nations think themselves by nature superior to the rest of mankind, and call themselves Ongue-honwe; that is, men surpassing all others. This opinion, which they take care to cultivate into their children, gives them that courage which has been so terrible to all the nations of North America; and they have taken such care to impress the same opinion of their people on all their neighbors, that they, on all occasions, yield the most submissive obedience to them. 1 have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time when the Mohawks made war on their Indians, that as soon as a single Mohawk was discovered in the country, their Indians raised a cry from hill to hill, a Mohawk! a Mohawk! upon which they all fled like sheep before wolves, without attempting to make the least resistance, whatever odds were on their side. The poor New England Indians immediately ran to the christian houses, and the Mohawks often pursued them so closely, that they entered along with them, and knocked their brains out in the presence of the people of the house; but if the family had time to shut the door, they never attempted to force it, and on no occasion did any injury to the christians. All the nations round them have, for many years, entirely submitted to them, and pay a yearly THE FIVE NATIONS. 299 tribute to them in Wampum;* they dare neither make war nor peace, without the consent of the Mohawks. Two old men commonly go about every year or two, to receive this tribute; and I have often had opportunity to observe what anxiety the poor Indians were under while these two old men remained in that part of the country where I was. An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor blanket and a dirty shirt, may be seen issuing his orders with as arbitrary an authority as a Roman Dictator. It is not for the sake of tribute, however, that they make war, but from the notions of glory, which they hlave ever most strongly imprinted on their minds; and the farther they go to seek an enemy, the greater glory they think they gain; there cannot, I think, be a greater or stronger instance than this, how much the sentiments, impressed upon the people's mind, conduce to their grandeur, or one that more verifies a saying often to be met with, though but too little minded, That it is in the power of the rulers of a people to make them either great or little; for by inculcating only the notions of honor and virtue, or those of luxury and riches, the people in a little time will become such as their rulers desire. The Five Nations in their love of liberty, and of their country, in their bravery in battle, and their constancy in enduring torments, equal the fortitude of the most renowned Romans. I shall finish their general character by what an enemy, a Frenchman, says of them, Monsieur de la Poterie, in his History of North America. "'When we speak,' says he,'of the Five Nations in France, they are thought, by a common mistake, to be mere barbarians, always thirsting after human blood; but their true character is very different. They are indeed the fiercest and most formidable people in North America, and, at the same time, are as politic and judicious as well can be conceived; and this appears from the management of all the affairs which they transact, not only with the French and English, but likewise with almost all the Indian nations of this vast continent.' "Their matters of consequence, which concern all the nations, are transacted in a general meeting of the Sachems of each nation. These conventions are commonly held at Onondaga, which is nearly the centre of their country; but they have fixed on Albany for the place of treating with the British colonies. "They strictly follow one maxim, formerly used by the Romans to increase their strength, that is, they encourage the people of other nations to * Wampum is the current money among the Indians. It is of two sorts, white and purple; the white is worked out of the inside of the great conques into the form of a bead, and perforated, to string on leather, the purple is worked out of the inside of tle muscle shell; they are wove as broad as one's hand, and about two feet long; these they call belts, and give and receive at their treaties as the seals of friendship; for lesser matters a single string is given. Every bead is of a known value, and a belt of a less number is made to equal one of a greater, by so many as is wanting fastened to the belt by a string. 300 THE OLDEN TIME. incorporate with them; and when they have subdued any people, after they have satisfied their revenge by some cruel examples, they adopt the rest of their captives; who, if they behave well, become equally esteemed with their own people; so that some of their captives have afterwards become their greatest Sachems and captains. The Tuskaroras, after the war they had with the people of Carolina, fled to the Five Nations, and are now incorporated with them; so that they now properly indeed consist of six nations, though they still retain the old name of the Five Nations among the English. The Cowetas also, or Creek Indians, are in the same friendship with them. "The Tuskaroras, since they came came under the province of New York, behave themselves well, and remain peaceable and quiet; and by this may be seen the advantage of using the Indians well, and I believe, if they were still better used (as there is room enough to do it), they would be proportionably more useful to us. "The cruelty the Indians use in their wars towards those that do not or cannot resist, such as women and children, and to their prisoners after they have them in their power, is deservedly indeed held in abhorrence. But whoever reads the history of the so famed ancient heroes, will find them, I'm afraid, not much better in this respect. Does Achilles' behavior to Hector's dead body, in Homer, appear less savage? This cruelty is also not peculiar to the Five Nations, but equally practiced by all other Indians. It is wonderful how custom and education are able to soften the most horrid actions, even among a polite and learned people; witness the Carthaginians and Phoenicians burning their own children alive in sacrifice; and several passages in the Jewish History; and witness, in later times, the Christians burning one another alive for God's sake. "When any of the young men of these nations have a mind to signalize themselves, and to gain a reputation among their countrymen, by some notable enterprise against their enemy, they at first communicate their designs to two or three of their most intimate friends; and if they come into it, an invitation is made, in their names, to all the young men of the castle, to feast on dog's flesh; but whether this be because dog's flesh is most agreeable to Indian palates, or whether it be as an emblem of fidelity, for which the dog is distinguished by all nations, that it is always used on this occa-,sion, I have not sufficient information to determine. When the company is met, the promoters of the enterprize set forth the undertaking in the best colors they can; they boast of what they intend to do, and incite others to join, from the glory there is to be obtained; and all who eat of the dog's flesh, thereby enlist themselves. "The night before they set out, they make a grand feast; to this all the noted warriors of the nation are invited; and here they have their war dance, to the beat of a kind of kettle-drum. The warriors are seated in THE FIVE NATIONS. 301 two rows in the house, and each rises up in his turn, and sings the great acts he has himself performed, and the deeds of his ancestors; and this is always accompanied with a kind of a dance, or rather action, representing the manner in which they were performed; and from time to time, all present join in a chorus, applauding every notable act. They exaggerate the injuries they have at any time received from their enemies, and extol the glory which any of their ancestors have gained by their bravery and courage; so that they work up their spirits to a high degree of warlike enthusiasm. I have sometimes persuaded some of their young Indians to act these dances, for our diversion, and to show us the manner of them; and even, on these occasions, they have worked themselves up to such a pitch, that they have made all present uneasy. Is it not probable, that such designs as these have given the first rise to tragedy? "They come to these dances with their faces painted in a frightful manner, as they always are when they go to war, to make themselves terrible to their enemies; and in this manner the night is spent. Next day they march out with much formality, dressed in their finest apparel, and in their march observe a profound silence. An officer of the regular troops told me, that while he was commandant of Fort Hunter, the Mohawks on one of these occasions told him, that they expected the usual military honors as they passed the garrison. Accordingly he drew out his garrison, the men presented their pieces as the Indians passed, and the drum beat a march; and with less respect, the officer said, they would have been dissatisfied. The Indians passed in a single row, one after another with great gravity and profound silence; and every one of them, as he passed the officer, took his gun from his shoulder, and fired into the ground near the officer's foot. They marched in this manner three or four miles from their castle. The women, on these occasions, always followed them with their old clothes, and they send back by them their finery in which they marched from the castle. But before they go from this place, where they exchange their clothes, they always peel a large piece of the bark from some great tree; they commonly choose an oak, as most lasting; upon the smooth side of this wood, they, with their red paint, draw one or more canoes, going from home, with the number of men in them padling, which go upon the expedition and some animal, as a deer or fox, an emblem of the nation against which the expedition is designed, is painted at the head of the canoes, for they always travel in canoes along the rivers, which lead to the country against which the expedition is designed, as far as they can. "After the expedition is over, they stop at the same place in their return, and send to their castle, to inform their friends of their arrival, that they may be prepared to give them a solemn reception, suited to the success they have had. In the mean time, they represent on the same, or some tree near it, the event of the enterprize, and now the canoes are painted with 302 THE OLDEN TIME. their heads turned towards the castle; the number of the enemy killed, is represented by scalps painted black, and the number of prisoners by as many withes (in their painting not unlike pothooks), which they usually pinion their captives. These trees are the annals, or rather trophies of the Five Nations: I have seen many of them; and by them, and their war songs, they preserve the history of their great achievernents. The solemn reception of these warriors, and the acclamations of applause which they receive at their return, cannot but have in the hearers the same effect, in raising an emulation for glory, that a triumph had on the old Romans. "After their prisoners are secured, they never offer them the least maltreatment, but, on the contrary, will rather starve themselves than suffer them to want; and I have been always assured, that there is not one instance of their offering the least violence to the chastity of any woman that was their captive. But notwithstanding this, the poor prisoners afterwards undergo severe punishments before they receive the last doom of life or death. The warriors think it for their glory, to lead them through all the villages of the nations subject to them, which lie near the road; and these, to show their affection to the Five Nations and their abhorrence of their enemies, draw up in two lines, through which the poor prisoners, stark naked, must run the gauntlet; and on this occasion, it is always observed the women are much more cruel than the men. The prisoners meet with the same sad reception when they reach their journey's end; and after this, they are presented to those that have lost any relation in that or any former enterprize. If the captives be accepted, there is an end to their sorrow from that moment, they are dressed as fine as they can make them, they are absolutely free (except to return to their own country), and enjoy all the privileges the person had, in whose place they are accepted; but if otherwise they die in torments, to satiate the revenge of those that refuse them. "If a young man or boy be received in place of a husband that was killed, all the children of the deceased call that boy father; so that one may sometimes hear a man of thirty say, that such a boy of fifteen or twenty is his father. " Their castles are generally squares surrounded with palisadoes, without any bastions or out-works; for, since the general peace, their villages lie all open. "Their only instruments of war are muskets, hatchets, and long sharp pointed knives, these they always carry about with them; their hatchet, in war-time, is stuck in their girdle behind them; and besides what use they make of this weapon in their hand, they have a dexterous way of throwing it, which I have seen them often practice in their exercise, by throwing it into a tree at a distance: they have, in this, the art of directing and regulating the motion, so that though the hatchet turns around as it flies, the THE FIVE NATIONS. 303 edge always sticks in the tree, and near the place at which they aim it. The use of bows and arrows are now entirely laid aside, except among the boys, who are still very dexterous in killing fowls and other animals with them. "They use neither drum nor trumpet, nor any kind of musical instrument in their wars; their throats serve them on all occasions, where such are necessary. Many of them have a surprising faculty of raising their voice, not only in inarticulate sounds, but likewise to make their words understood at a great distance; and we find the same was practised by lomer's horoes, Thrice to its pitch his lofty voice he rears,0 friend! Ulysses' shouts invade my ears. "The Five Nations have such absolute notions of liberty, that they allow of no kind of superiority of one over another, and banish all servitude from their territories. They never make any prisoner a slave; but it is customary among them to make a compliment of naturalization into the Five.Nations; and, considering how highly they value themselves above all others, this must be no small compliment. This is not done by any general act of the Nation, but every single person has a right to do it, by a kind of adoption. The first time I was among the Mohawks, I had this compliment fiom one of their old sachems, which he did by giving me his own name, Cayenderongue. He had been a notable warrior, and told me, that now I had a right to assume to myself all the acts of valor he had performed, and that now my name would echo from hill to hill all over the Five Nations. As for my part, I thought no more of it at that time, than as an artifice to draw a belly full of strong liquor from me, for himself and his companions; but when about ten or twelve years afterwards, my business led me among them, I directed the interpreter to say something from me to the sachems, he was for some time at a loss to understand their answer, till he had asked me whether 1 had any name among them; I then found that I was really known to them by that name, and that the old sachem, from the time he had given me his name, had assumed another to himself. I was adopted, at that time, into the tribe of the Bear, and, for that reason, I often afterwards had the kind compliment of brother Bear. "The hospitality of these Indians is no less remarkable than their other virtues; as soon as any stranger comes, they are sure to offer him victuals. If there be several in company, and come fiom afar, one of their best houses is cleaned and given up for their entertainment. Their complaisance, on these occasions, goes even farther than christian civility allows of, as they have no other rule for it, than the furnishing their guest with every thing they think will be agreeable to him; for this reason, some of their prettiest girls are always ordered to wash themselves, and dress in their best apparel, in order to be presented to the stranger for his 304 THE OLDEN TIME. choice, and the young lady who has the honor to be preferred on these occasions, performs all the duties of a fond wife during the stranger's stay; but this last piece of hospitality is now either laid aside by the Mohawks, or at least they never offer it to any christian. This nation indeed has laid aside many of its ancient customs, and so likewise have the other nations, with whom we are best acquainted, and have adopted many of ours, so that it is not easy now to distinguish their original and genuine manners from those which they have lately acquired; and for this reason it is that they now seldom offer victuals to persons of any distinction, because they know that their food and cookery is not agreeably to our delicate palates. Their men value themselves in having all kinds of food in esteem. A Mohawk sachem told me with a kind of pride, that a man eats every thing without distinction, bears, cats, dogs, snakes, frogs, &c., intimating that it is womanish to have any delicacy in the choice of food. " I can however give two strong instances of the hospitality of the JIohawks, which fell under my own observation, and which show that they have the very same notion of hospitality which we find in the ancient Poets. When I was last in the Mohawk's country, the sachems told me that they had an Englishman among their people, a servant who had run away fiom his master in New York. I immediately told them that they must deliver him up. No, they answered, we never serve any man so, who puts himself under our protection. On this I insisted on the injury they did thereby to his master, and they allowed it might be an injury, and replied, though we never will deliver him up, we are willing to pay the value of the servant to the master. Another man made his escape from the jail of Albany, where he was in prison on an execution for debt; the Mohawks received him, and, as they protected him against the Sheriff and his officers, they not only paid the debt for him, but gave him land, over and above, sufficient for a good farm, whereon he lived when I was last there. To this it may be added, all their extraordinary visits are accompanied with giving and receiving presents of some value; as we learn likewise from Homer was the practice in old time. " Polygamy is not usual among them, and indeed in any nation where all are on a par as to riches and power, plurality of wives cannot well be introduced. As all kind of slavery is banished from the countries of the Five 7Nations, so they keep themselves free also from the bondage of wedlock; and when either of the parties becomes disgusted, they separate without formality or ignominy to either unless it be occasioned by some scandalous offence in one of them. And in case of divorce, the children, according to the natural course of all animals, follow the mother. The women here bring forth their children with as much ease as other animals, and without the help of a midwife, and, soon after their delivery, return to their usual employment. They alone also perform all the drudgery about their houses, THE FIVE NATIONS. 305 they plant their corn, and labor it, in every respect, till it is brought to the table; they likewise cut all their fire-wood, and bring it home on their backs, and in their marches bear the burdens. The men disdain all kind of labor, and employ themselves alone in hunting, as the only proper business for soldiers. At times, when it is not proper to hunt, one finds the old men in companies, in conversation, the young men at their exercises, shooting at marks, throwing the hatchet, wrestling, or running, and the women all busy at labor in the fields. " On these occassions, the state of Lacedemon ever occurs to my mind, which that of the Five Nations, in many respects, resemble; their laws, or customs, being in both formed to render the minds and bodies of the people fit for war. "Theft is very scandalous among them, and it is necessary it should be so among all Indians, since they have no locks, but those of their minds, to preserve their goods. " There is one vice which the Indians have all fallen into, since their acquaintance with the christians, and of which they could not be guilty before that time, that is drunkenness. It is strange how all the Indian nations, and almost every person among them, male and female, are infatuated with the love of strong drink, they know no bounds to their desire, while they can swallow it down, and then indeed the greatest man among them scarcely deserves the name of a brute. " They never have been taught to conquer any passion but by some contrary passion; and the traders, with whom they chiefly converse, are so far from giving them any abhorrence of this vice,, that they encourage it all they can, not only for the profit of the liquor they sell, but that they may have an opportunity to impose upon them. And this, as they chiefly drink spirits, has destroyed greater numbers than all their wars and diseases put together. " The people of the Five Nations are much given to speech-making, ever the natural consequence of a perfect Republican Government, where no single person has a power to compel, the arts of persuasion alone must prevail. As their best speakers distinguished themselves in their public councils and treaties with other nations, and thereby gain the esteem and applause of their countrymen (the only superiority which any one of them has over the others), it is probable they apply themselves to this art, by some kind of study and exercise, in a great measure. It is impossible for me to judge how far they excel, as I am ignorant of their language, but the speakers whom I have heard, had all a great fluency of words, and much more grace in their manner than any man could expect among a people entirely ignorant of all the liberal arts and sciences. "( I am informed that they are very nice in the turn of their expressions, and that few of themselves are so far masters of their language, as never to VOL. I-20 306 THE OLDEN TIME. offend the ears of their Indian auditory, by an impolite expression. They have, it seems, a certain urbanitas or atticism in their language, of which the common ears are ever sensible, though only their great speakers attain to it. They are so much given to speech-making, that their common compliments, to any person they respect, at meeting and parting, are made in harangues. " They have some kind of elegancy in varying and compounding their words, to which not many of themselves attain, and this principally distinguishes their best speakers. I have endeavored to get some account of this, as a thing that might be acceptable to the curious, but, as I have not met with any one person who understands their language, and also knows any thing of grammar, or of the learned languages, I have not been able to attain the least satisfaction. Their present minister tells me, that their verbs are varied, but in a manner so different from the Greek or Latin, that he cannot discover by what rule it was done, and even suspects, that every verb has a peculiar mode. They have but few radical words, but they compound their words without end, by this their language becomes sufficiently copious, and leaves room for a good deal of art to please a delicate ear. Sometimes one word among them includes an entire definition of the thing, for example, they call Wine Oneharadesehoengtseragherie, as much as to say, a liquor made of the juice of the grape. The words expressings things lately come to their knowledge are all compounds. They have no labials in their language, nor can they pronounce perfectly any word wherein there is a labial, and.when one endeavors to teach them these words, they tell one they think it ridiculous that they must shut their lips to speak. Their language abounds with gutturals and strong aspirations, these make it very sonorous and bold, and their speeches abound with metaphors after the manner of the eastern nations, as will best appear by the speeches that I have copied. "As to what religious notions they have it is difficult to judge of them, because the Indians that speak any English, and live near us, have learned many things of us, and it is not easy to distinguish the notions they had originally among themselves, from those they had learned of the christians. It is certain they have no kind of public worship, and I am told that they have no radical word to express God, but use a compound word signifying the preserver, sustainer, or master of the universe; neither could I ever learn what sentiments they have of a future existence. Their funeral rites seem to be formed upon a notion of some kind of existence after death. They make a large round hole in which the body can be placed upright, or upon its haunches, which, after the body is placed in it, is covered with timber to support the earth which they lay over, and thereby keep the body free from being pressed, they then raise the earth in a round hill over it. They always dress the corpse in all its finery, and put wampum and other THE FIVE NATIONS. 307 things into the grave with it, and the relations suffer not grass or any weed to grow on the grave and frequently visit it with lamentation. But whether these things be done only as marks of respect to the deceased, or from a notion of some kind of existence after death, must be left to the judgment of the reader. "They are very superstitious in observing omens and dreams. I have observed them show a superstitious awe of the owl, and be highly displeased with some that mimicked the cry of that bird in the night. An officer of the regular troops has informed me also, that while he had the command-of the garrison at Oswego, a boy of one of the far westward nations died there, the parents made a regular pile of split wood, laid the corps upon it and burnt it, while the pile was burning they stood gravely looking on without any lamentation, but when it was burnt down, they gathered up the bones with many tears, put them in a box and carried them away with them; and this inclination which all ignorant people have to superstition and amusing ceremonies, gives the Popish priests a great advantage in recommending their religion, beyond what the regularity of the Protestant doctrine allows of. "Queen Anne sent over a missionary to reside among the Mohawks, and allowed him a sufficient subsistence from the privy purse; she sent furniture for a chapel, and a valuable set of plate for the communion table, and'(if I am not mistaken) the like furniture and plate for each of the other nations, though that of the Mohawks was only applied to the use designed. The common prayer, or at least a considerable part of it, was translated also into their language and printed; some other pieces were likewise translated for the minister's use, viz: an exposition of the creed, decalogue, Lord's prayer, and church catechism, and a discourse on the sacraments. But as that minister was never able to attain any tolerable knowledge of their language, and was naturally a heavy man, he had but small success, and his allowances failing by the Queen's death, he left them. These nations had no teacher from that time till within these few years, that a young gentleman, out of pious zeal, went voluntarily among the Mohawks. He was at first entirely ignorant of their language and had no interpreter except one of the Indians who understood a little English, and had, in the late missionary's time, learned to read and write in his own language. He learned from him how to pronounce the words in the translations, which had been made for the late missionary's use. He set up a school to teach their children to read and write their own language, and they made surprising proficiency considering their master did not understand their language. I happened to be in the Mohawk country and saw several of their performances; I was present at their worship where they went through some parts of the common prayer with great decency. I was likewise present several times at their private devotions, which some of them performed duly morn 308 THE OLDEN TIME. ing and evening. I had also many opportunities of observing the great regard they had for this young man; so far, that the fear of his leaving them made the greatest restraint on them, with which he threatened them, after they had been guilty of any offence. Soon after that time, this gentleman went to England, received orders, and was sent by the Society, Missionary to Albany, with liberty to spend some part of his time among the Mohawks. " had lately a letter from him, dated the 7th of December, 1641, in which he writes as follows:' Drunkenness was so common among them, that I doubt whether there was one grown person of either sex free from it; seldom a day passed, without some, and very often forty or fifty being drunk at a time. But I found they were very fond of keeping me among them, and afraid I should leave them, which I made use of to good purpose; daily threatening them with my departure, in case they did not forsake that vice, and frequently requiring a particular promise from them singly; by which means (through God's blessing) there was a gradual reformation; and I know not that I have seen above ten or twelve persons drunk among them this summer. The women are almost all entirely reformed, and the men very much. They have entirely left off divorces, and are legally married. They are very constant and devout at church and family devotions. They have not been known to exercise cruelty to prisoners, and have, in a great measure, left off going a fighting, which find the most difficult of all things to dissuade them from. They seem also persuaded of the truths of Christianity. The greatest inconveniency 1 labor under is the want of an interpreter, which, could I obtain for two or three years, I should hope to be tolerably master of their language, and be able to render it easier to my successor.' (' This gentleman's uncommon zeal deserves, I think, this public testimony, that it may be a means of his receiving such encouragement as may enable him to pursue the pious purposes he has in view. " The Mohawks, were they civilized, might be useful to us many ways, and, on many occasions, more than any of our own people could be; and this well deserves to be considered. " There is one custom their men constantly observe, which I must not forget to mention; that if they be sent with any message, though it demand the greatest dispatch, or though they bring intelligence of any imminent danger, they never tell it at their first approach; but sit down for a minute or two, at least, in silence, to recollect themselves, before they speak, that they may not show any degree of fear or surprise, by an indecent expression. Every sudden repartee, in a public treaty, leaves with them an impression of a light inconsiderate mind; but, in private conversation, they use, and are delighted with brisk witty answers, as we can be. By this they show THE TWIGHTWEES. 309 the great difference they place between the conversations of man and man, and of nation and nation; and in this, and a thousand other things, might well be an example to the European Nations." THE TWIGHTWEES. These Indians, said by Mr. Sparks to be Ottawas, but who were really Miamies, were probably the same whom Captain Stobo called Picts. This latter name always reminded us of some of the early inhabitants of Scotland, and seemed very strange in the wilds of America. In looking over a map in Kalm's Travels in America, we found the following note in relation to a village on the Great Miami or Mimeami: "T The English Tawichtwi, or Pique, taken 1752." From which we infer that Pique was one of the names of the Miamies. The following is an account of their first conference with the authorities of Pennsylvania: Extract from a message of the President and Council to the House of Representatives, August 24th, 1748. " We have the satisfaction to acquaint you, that the Twightwees, a considerable nation of Indians, living on the Owabache, a branch of the Ohio, hitherto in the French interest, being desirous to enter into friendship with the English, communicated their intentions to the Indians of the Six Nations at the Allegany, who conducted their deputies to Lancaster, where a firm treaty of friendship and alliance has been established between us." A treaty with the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawanese, Nanticokes and Twightwees at Lancaster, in July, 1748. " On the 22d of that month, the Commissioners gave a handsome entertainment of the deputies of the Twightwees, and the Indians who conducted them from the Ohio, and after dinner entered into a free conference with them about the number and situation of their towns, and those of their allies, and by their information, it appears that the river Owabache takes its rise from a lake at a small distance from Lake Erie, from which it runs south-westerly four or five hundred miles to the Ohio, about three hundred miles from the Mississippi; that on this river and another called the Hatchet, the Twightwees and their allies have about twenty towns, and that they count about one thousand fighting men; that it is a plain country, and of a rich soil, abounding with game. The principal deputy of the Twightwees laid down with chalk the course of the Mississippi, the Owabache and of Ohio, marking the situation of their towns, of Lake Erie and two forts 310 THE OLDEN TIME. which the French have on the Mississippi, whereby it is manifest, that if these Indians and their allies prove faithful to the English, the French will be deprived of the most convenient and nearest communication with their forts on the Mississippi, the ready road lying through their nations, and that there will be nothing to interrupt an intercourse between this province and that great river." LETTER FROM WILLIAM PITT. The following extract of a letter from the great man after whom our city was called, dated Whitehall, January 23d, 1759, just sixty days after the taking of Fort Duquesne, deserves to be preserved in the Olden Time, as an evidence of the spirit and feeling which prevailed in Great Britain at that time, and of the importance then attached to this place both as a military and trading post. " SIR: I am now to acquaint you that the King has been pleased, immediately upon receiving the news of the success of his arms on the river Ohio, to direct the Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces, in North America, and General Forbes, to lose no time in concerting the properest and speediest means for completely restoring, if possible, the ruined Fort Duquesne to a defensible and respectable state, or for erecting another in the xoom of it of sufficient strength'and every way adequate to the great importance of the several objects of maintaining his Majesty's subjects in the undisputed possession of the Ohio; of effectually cutting off all trade and communication this way, between Canada and the western and southwestern Indians; of protecting the British colonies from the incursion to which they have been exposed since the French built the above fort, and thereby made themselves masters of the navigation of the Ohio, and of fixing again the several Indian nations in their alliance with and dependence upon his Majesty's government." THE DELAWARES. 311 THE DELAWARES. We find the following notice of the Lenni Lenape, the ancestors of the Delawares, in Mr. Hieckewelder's account of the Indian nations. We insert this notice of one of the most important and numerous tribes of Indians in this region, during the period embraced in our previous numbers. We also give Mr. Heckewelder's account of the Shawanese. These accounts with Colden's account of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, gives a full description of the principal Indian tribes which occupied the country around us about the time of the war of 1754. HISTORICAL TRADITIONS OF THE INDIANS. " The Lenni Lenape (according to the traditions handed down to them by their ancestors) resided many hundred years ago, in a very distant country in the western part of the American continent. For some reason, which I do not find accounted for, they determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a body. After a very long journey, and many night's encampments* by the way, they at length arrived on the Namzcsi Sipu,t where they fell in with the Mengwe,J who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. Their object was the same with that of the Delawares; they were proceeding on to the eastward, until they should find a country that would please them. The spies which the Lenape had sent forwqrd for the purpose of reconnoitring, had long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi was inhabited by a very powerful nation who had many large towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land. Those people (as I was told) called themselves *'Night's encampment' is a halt of one year at a place. tThe Mississippi, or River of Fish; Names, a Fish; Sipu, a River. I The Iroquois, or FiYe Nations. 312 THE OLDEN TIME. Talligewi. Colonel John Gibson, however, a gentleman who has a thorough knowledge of the Indians, and speaks several of their languages, is of opinion that they were not called Talligewi, but Alligewi, and it would seem that he is right, from the traces of their name which still remain in the country, the Allegheny river and mountains have indubitably been named after them. The Delawares still call the former Alligewi Sipu, the river of the Alligewi. We have adopted, I know not for what reason, its Iroquois name, Ohio, which the French had literally translated into La Belle Riviere, the Beautiful River.* A branch of it, however, still retains the ancient name Allegheny. " Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been remarkable tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape. It is related that they had built to themselves regular fortifications or intrenchments, from whence they would sally out, but were generally repulsed. I have seen many of the fortifications said to have been built by them, two of which, in particular, were remarkable. One of them was near the mouth of the river Huron, which empties itself into the Lake St. Clair, on the north side of that Lake, at the distance of about 29 miles N. E. of Detroit. This spot of ground was, in the year 1786, owned and occupied by a Mr. Tucker. The other works, properly entrenchments, being walls or banks of earth regularly thrown up, with a deep ditch on the outside, were on the Huron river, east of the Sanduslky, about six or eight miles from Lake Erie. Outside of the gateways of each of these two entrenchments, which lay within a mile of each other, were a number of large flat mounds, in which, the Indian pilot said, were buried hundreds of the slain Talligewi, whom I shall hereafter, with Col. Gibson, call Alligewi. Of these entrenchments, Mr. Abraham Steiner, who was with me at the time when I saw them, gave a very accurate description, which was published at Philadelphia, in 1789 or 1790, in some periodical work the name of which I cannot at present remember. " When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a message to the Alligewi to request permission to settle themselves in their neighborhood. This was refused them, but they obtained leave to pass through the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Namaesi Sipu, when the Alligewi, seeing that their numbers were so very great, and in fact they consisted of many thousands, made a furious attack on those who had crossed, threatening them all with destruction, if they dared to persist in coming over to their side of the river. Fired at the treachery of these people, and the great loss * Loskeil's History of the Mission of the United Brethren, Part 1, chap. 1. THE DELAWARES. 313 of men they had sustained, and besides, not being prepared for a conflict, the Lenape consulted on what was to be done; whether to retreat in the best manner they could, or try their strength, and let the enemy see that they were not cowards, but men, and too high minded to suffer themselves to be driven off before they had made a trial of their strength, and were convinced that the enemy was too powerful for them. The Mengwe, who had hitherto been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, offered to join them, on condition that, after conquering the country, they should be entitled to share it with them; their proposal was accepted, and the resolution was taken by the two nations, to conquer or die. "Having thus united their forces, the Lenape and Mengwe declared war against the Alligewi, and great battles were fought, in which many warriors fell on both sides. The enemy fortified their large towns and erected fortifications, especially on large rivers, and near lakes, where they were successively attacked and sometimes stormed by the allies. An engagement took place in which hundreds fell, who were afterwards buried in holes or laid together in heaps and covered with earth. No quarters were given, so that the Alligewi, at last, finding that their destruction was inevitable if they persisted in their obstinacy, abandoned the country to the conquerors, and fled down the Mississippi river, from whence they never returned. The war which was carried on with this nation lasted many years, during which the Lenape lost a great number of their warriors, while the Mengwe would always hang back in the rear, leaving them to face the enemy. In the end, the conquerors divided the country between themselves; the Mengwe made choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great Lakes, and on their tributary streams, and the Lenape took possession of the country to the south. For a long period of time, some say many hundred years, the two nations resided peaceably in this country, and increased very fast; some of their most enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the great swamps,* and falling on streams running to the eastward, followed them down to the great Bay River,t thence into the Bay itself, which we call Chesapeake. As they pursued their travels, partly by land, and partly by water, sometimes near and at other times on the great Saltwater Lake, as they call the sea, they discovered the great river, which we call the Delaware; and thence exploring still eastward, the Scheyichbi country, now naned New Jersey, they arrived at another great stream, that which we call the Hudson or North River. Satisfied with what they had seen, they, or some of them, after a long absence, returned to their nation and reported the discoveries they had made; they described the country they had dis* The Glades, that is to say that they crossed the mountains. t Meaning the river Susquehannah, which they call the " great Buy river," from where the west branch falls into the main stream. 314 THE OLDEN TIME. covered, as abounding in game and various kinds of fruits; and the rivers and bays with fish, tortoises, &c., together with abundance of water-fowl, and no enemy to be dreaded. They considered the event as a fortunate one for them, and concluding this to be the country destined for them by the Great Spirit, they began to emigrate thither, as yet but in small bodies, so as not to be straitened for want of provisions by the way, some even laying by for a whole year; at last they settled on the four great rivers (which we call Delaware, Hudson, Susquehannah, and Potomac), making the Delaware, to which they gave the name of'Lenapewihittuck'* (the river or stream of the Lenape), the centre of their possessions. "They say, however, that the whole of their nation did not reach this country; that many remained behind in order to aid and assist that great body of their people which had not crossed the Namesi Sipu, but had retreated into the interior of the country on the other side, on being informed of the reception which those who had crossed had met with, and probably thinking that they had all been killed by the enemy. "Their nation finally became divided into three separate bodies; the larger body, which they suppose to have been one half of the whole, were settled on the Atlantic, and the other half was again divided into two parts, one of which, the strongest as they suppose, remained beyond the Mississippi, and the remainder where they left them, on this side of that river. " Those of the Delawares who fixed their abode on the shores of the Atlantic, divided themselves into three tribes. Two of them, distinguished by the names of the Turtle and the Turkey, the former calling themselves Unamis and the other Unalachtgo, chose those grounds to settle on, which lay nearest to the sea, between the coast and the high mountains. As they multiplied, their settlements extended from the Mohicannittuck (river of the Mohicans, which we call the North or Hudson river) to beyond the Potomac. Many families with their connections choosing to live by themselves, were scattered not only on the larger but also on the small streams, throughout the country, having towns and villages, where they lived together in separate bodies, in each of which a chief resided; those chiefs, however, were subordinate (by their own free will, the only kind of subordination which the Indians know) to the head chiefs or great council of the nation, whom they officially informed of all events or occurrences affecting the general interest which came to their knowledge. The third tribe, the Wolf, commonly called the Minsi, which we have corrupted into Monseys, had chosen to live back of the two other tribes, and formed a kind of bulwark for their protection, watching the motions of the Mengwe, and being at hand to afford their aid in case of a rupture with them. The Minsi were * The word " Hittuck," in the language of the Delawares, means a rapid stream. " Sipo," or'" Sipu," is the proper name for a river. THE DELAWARES. 315 considered the most warlike and active branch of the Lenape. They extended their settlements from the Minisink, a place named after them, where they had their council seat and fire, quite up to the Hudson on the east; and to the west or south west far beyond the Susquehanna; their northern boundaries were supposed originally to be the heads of the great rivers Susquehannah and Delaware, and their southern boundaries that ridge of hills known in New Jersey by the name of Muskanecun, and in Pennsylvania, by those of Lehigh, Coghnewago, &c. Within this boundary were their principal settlements; and even as late as the year 1742, they had a town, with a large peach orchard, on the tract of land where Nazareth, in Pennsylvania, has since been built; another on Lehigh (the west branch of the Delaware), and others beyond the Blue Ridge, besides small family settlements here and there scattered. "From the above three tribes, the Unamis, Unalchtgo, and the Minsi, comprising together the body of those people we call Delawares, had in the course of time, sprung many others, who, having for their own conveniency chosen distant spots to settle on, and increasing in numbers, gave themselves names or received them from others. Those names, generally given after some simple natural objects, or after something striking or extraordinary, they continued to bear even after they ceased to be applicable, when they removed to other places, where the object after which they were named was not to be found; thus they formed separate and distinct tribes, yet did not deny their origin, but retained their affection for their parent tribe, of which they were even proud to be called the grandchildren." THE SHAWANOS OR SAWANOS.*'The history of these people is here given, principally from the relations of old Indians of the Mohican t tribe, who say that they formerly inhabited the southern country, Savannah, in Georgia, and the Floridas. They were a restless people, delighting in wars, in which they were constantly engaged with some of the neighboring nations. At last their neighbors, tired of being continually harrassed by them, formed a league for their destruction. The Shawanos finding themselves thus dangerously situated, asked to be permitted to leave the country, which was granted to them, and they fled immediately to the Ohio. Here their main body settled, and sent * General John Gibson thinks that Sawano is their proper name; they are so called by the other Indian nations, from their being southern people. Shawaneu, in the Lenape language, means the south; Shawanachau, the south wind, &c. We commonly call them the Shawanese. t The Shawanos call the Mohicans their elder brother. 316 THE OLDEN TIME. messengers to their elder brother* the Mohicans, requesting them to intercede for them with their grandfather the Lenni Lenape, that he might take them under his protection. This the Mohicans willingly did, and even sent a body of their own people to conduct their younger brother into the country of the Delawares. The Shawanos finding themselves safe under the protection of their grandfather, did not choose to proceed farther to the eastward, but many of them remained on the Ohio, some of whom settled even as high up that river as the long island, above which the French afterwards built Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. Those who proceeded farther, were accompanied by their chief, named Gachgawatschiqua, and settled principally at and about the forks of the Delaware, some few between that and the confluence of Delaware and Schuylkill, and some even on the spot where Philadelphia now stands; others were conducted by the Mohicans into their own country, where they intermarried with them and became one people. When those settled near the Delaware had multiplied, they returned to Wyoming, on the Susquehannah, where they resided for a great number of years. "In the mean while, those who had remained on the Ohio increased in numbers, and in process of-time began again to be troublesome to their neighbors. At last they crossed the Allegheny mountains, and falling upon the camps of the Lenape on Juniata river,]they committed several murders and went off with their plunder. It was soon discovered who were the aggressors; but the Lenape had now assumed the station of'the woman,' and could not engage in wars. They could only apply for protection to the Five Nations, which they did, expecting that they would immediately pursue the offenders and inflict an exemplary punishment upon them: but the Five Nations found means to evade the demand for the present. They told the Delawares that the season was too far advanced to commence a war; that it was better to put off their intended expedition until the ensuing spring; that in the mean time, both nations should put themselves in readiness, and keep their preparations secret, and that as soon as the season should open, they would march off separately and meet together at an appointed time and place on the Allegheny, then push on together for the Shawano towns below the confluence of that river and the Monongahela, where they could fall together unawares on the aggressors and punish them. The Iroquois promised, as usual, that they would place themselves in the front of the battle, so that the Delawares would have nothing to do but to look on and see how bravely their protectors would fight for them, and if they were not satisfied with that, they might take their revenge themselves. *Loskiel, part II., ch. 10. THE SHAWANOS OR SAWANOS. 317 "Agreeably to this plan, the Lenape remained quiet till the spring, when, with a body of their most valiant men, they marched to the appointed spot; but how great was their surprise when their pretended champions did not make their appearance? They suspected treachery, and were not mistaken; for having immediately marched forward to the Shawano towns, bent on taking an exemplary revenge, they had the disappointment to see on their arrival their enemies pushing off as fast as they could down the Ohio river in their canoes. Some of them were flying by land, as probably they had not a sufficient number of canoes to convey their whole number; these they pursued and attacked, beat them severely, and took several prisoners. Here they had a striking instance of the treachery of the Mengwe, who had warned the Shawanos of their approach. Some time after this, the Shawanos who resided on the north branch of the Susquehannah began to draw off by degrees, first to the west branch of that river and the Juniata, and then to the Ohio; so that at the commencement of the French war in 1755, they had all, except a few families, with whom was their chief Paxnos, retired to the Ohio, where they joined their countrymen in the war against the English.* " Peace was made in 1763, between Great Britain and France; but the restless spirit of the Shawanos did not permit them to remain quiet; they commenced wart against their southern neighbors, the Cherokees, who, while in pursuit of the aggressors, would sometimes, through mistake, fall upon the Lenape, who resided in the same country with the Shawanos, through whom they also became involved in a war with that nation, which lasted some time. The Mengwe being then also at war with the Cherokees, and frequently returning with their prisoners and scalps through their country, the warlike spirit was kept alive among all, until at length, in 1768, the Cherokees sought a renewal of the friendship formerly existing between them and their grandfather the Lenape, which being, effected, they, C While these people lived at Wyoming and its vicinity, they were frequently visited by missionaries of the Society of the United Brethren, who knowing them to be the most depraved and ferocious tribe of all the Indian nations they had heard of, sought to establish a friendship with them, so as not to be interrupted in their journeys from one Indian Mission to another. Count Zinzendorff being at that time in the country, went in 1742 with some other missionari6s to visit them at Wyoming, staid with them twenty lays, and endeavored to impress the gospel truths upon their minds; but these hardened people suspecting his vtews, and believing that he wanted to purchase their land, on which it was reported there were mines of silver, conspired to murder him, and would have effected their purpose, but that Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, arrived fortunately in time to prevent it. (Loskiel, part II., ch. 1.) Notwithstanding this, the brethren frequently visited them, and Shekellemus, a chief of great influence, having become their friend (Loskiel, ibid. ch. 8), they could now travel with greater safety. IHe died at Shaniokin in 1749; the Brethren were, however, fortunate enough to obtain the friendship of Paxnos, or Paxinos, another chief of the Shawanos, who gave them full proof of it by sending his sons to escort one of them to Bethlehem from Shamokin, where he was in the most perilous situation, the war har having just broke out. (Loskiel, ibid. ch. 12.) tLoskiel, part, I. ch. 10. 318 THE OLDEN TIME. by their mediation, also brought about a peace between them and the Five Nations. " The Shawanos not being disposed to continue the war with the Cherokees by themselves, and having been reprimanded by their grandfather, for being the instigators of all those troubles, willingly submitted to the dictates of the Lenape, and from that time remained at peace with all the nations until the year 1774, when they were involved in a war with the people of Virginia, occasioned by some murders which were committed on Logan's family connections and others by white people. In this instance it cannot, I think, be said that they were the aggressors, yet their thirst for revenge was so great, and the injured Mengwe at their side called out so loudly for revenge, that they with great spirit engaged in a war with the Virginians, which, however, was of but short duration, as they were opposed with an equal degree of courage, and after a severe battle between the two rivals, at or near the mouth of the great Kanhawa, and the destruction of many of their towns by the Virginians, the Shawanos were brought to make peace once more; which did not last long, as they joined the British against the American people, some time after the commencement of the revolution, and remained our enemies after that time, never establishing a firm peace with us, until the memorable treaty which took place in 1795, after the decisive defeat of the Indian nations by the late General Wayne. "The Shawanos lost many of their men during these contests; but they were in a manner replaced by individuals of other nations joining them. Thus, during the revolutionary war, about one hundred turbulent Cherokees, who could not be brought by their own nation to be at peace with the American people, and were on that account driven out of their country, came over to the Shawanos, while others from the Five Nations joined them, or became their neighbors. " The Shawanos are considered to be good warriors and hunters. They are courageous, high spirited and manly, and more careful in providing a supply of ammunition to keep in reserve for an emergency, than any other nation that I have heard of. Their language is more easily learned than that of the Lenape, and has a great affinity to the Mohican, Chippewa, and other kindred languages. They generally place the accent on the last syllable." ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH FORTS. 319 ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH FORTS CEDED TO GREAT BRITAIN IN LOUISIANA. The following paper was written by an officer well acquainted with the places he describes, and it is.thought worthy of a place here, as every thing is material which can increase our knowledge of the vast countries ceded to us (by the treaty of 1763) and of the various nations that inhabit them. "' The settlement of the Illinois being in 40 degrees of latitude, is 500 leagues from New Orleans by water and 35~ by land. " The most proper time of the year for going there, is the beginning of February. The waters of the Mississippi are then high, and the country being overflowed, there is less to fear from the savages, who are hunting in that season. " The encampments should be on the left of the river, as the enemies are on the right, and cannot have a sufficient number of crafts to cross if their party is large. " They generally attack at day-break, or at the time of embarking. "The inhabitants might bring provisions half way, if they were allowed good pay. "The Delawares and Shawanese lie near Fort Duquesne,* which is about 500 leagues from the Illinois. The Wiandots and Ottawas (who are at the Detroit) are about 250 leagues from the Illinois by land. And the Miamis about 200 by land. "Nevertheless as intelligence is carried very fast by the savages, and as all the nations with whom we are at war can come by the Ohio,t we must be vigilant to prevent a surprise. * So the French formerly called what is now Fort Pitt. t Part of the navigation of the Ohio, from Fort Pitt, is described as follows, viz: That the difficult part of the river is from Fort Pitt about 50 or 60 miles downwards. There are 52 islands between Fort Pitt and the lower Shawanese town on Scioto; and none of them difficult to pass in the night, but one at the mouth of Muskingum, occasioned by a number of trees lying in the channel. From the lower Shawanese town to the falls, there are but eight or nine islands. At the falls, the river is very broad, with only one passage on the east side, in which there is water enough at all seasons of the year to pass without difficulty. Below the falls, the navigation is every way clear, down to the Mississippi. 320 THE OLDEN TIME. "The mouth of the Ohio, in the Mississippi, is 35 leagues from the Illinois. "' Thirteen leagues from the Mississippi, on the left of the Ohio, is Fort Massac, or Assumption, built in 1757, a little below the mouth of the river Cherokec.* It is only a stockake, with four bastions and eight pieces of cannon. It may contain 100 men. In four days one may go by land from this fort to the Illinois. "It is of consequence for the English to preserve it, as it secures the communication between the Illinois and Fort Pitt. "Fort Vincennes, which is the last post belonging to Louisiana, is upon the river Ouabache,t 60 leagues from its couflux with the Ohio. It is a small stockade fort, in which there may be about 20 soldiers. There are also a few inhabitants. The soil is extremely fertile, and produces plenty of corn and tobacco. " The distance from this fort to the Illinois, is 155 leagues by water. And it may be traveled by land in six days. " The nation of savages living at this post is called Pianquicha. It can furnish 60 warriors. " Although we do not occupy Fort Vincennes at present, yet it would be of the utmost consequence for us to settle it, as there is a communication from it with Canada, by going up the Ouabache. "From this post to the Ouachtanons is 60 leagues, and from thence to the Miamis (still going up the Ouabache) is 60 leagues further; then thence is a portage of six leagues to the river Miamis, and you go down that river 24 leagues to Lake Erie. " Mr. Daubry went by that route in 1759 from the Illinois to Venango,j with above four hundred men, and two hundred thousand weight of flour. * River Cherokee falls into the Ohio about eight hundred miles below Fort Pitt. This river is in general wide and shoal up to the south mountains, passable only with bark canoes, after which it grows very small t Ouabache or Wabash empties itself into the Ohio about sixty miles above the Cherokee river, on the opposite or west river. I By the above paper the route is given up the Mississippi, part of the Ohio, and up the Ouabache to Fort Vincennes, and likewise to the Illinois. Again from Vincennes and the Ouachtanons by water, on the westerly communication to the Miamis portage, then by water down that river by the easterly route into Lake Erie, proceeding as far as Presqu' Isle, then by the fifteen mile portage into Buffalo or Beef river, lately called French creek, then down the same to Venango on the Ohio. In order, therefore, to carry this route still further, we shall continue it from Venango to the mouth of Juniata in Susquehannah, which brings it within the settled part of Pennsylvania, viz: From Venango to Licking creek, 10 miles. To Toby's creek, 13. To a small creek, 1. To the parting of the road, 5. To a large run, 3. To Leycaumeyhoning, 9. To Pine creek, 7. To Chuck'aughting, 8. To Wheeling creek, 4. To the crossing of do., 4. To a miry swamp, 8. To the head of Susquehanna, 10. To Meytauning creek, 18. To Clearfield creek, 6. To the top of Allegheny, 1. To the other side do., 6. To Beaver dams, 5. To Frankstown, 5. To the Canoe place, 6. To the mouth of Juniata, 110. Total 239 miles. ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH FORTS, &C. 321 "Thirty-five leagues from the month of the Ohio, in going up the Mississippi, on the right, is the river Kaskasquias. Two leagues up this river, on the left, is the settlement of the Kaskasquias, which is the most considerable of the Illinois. " There is a fort built upon the height on the other side of the river, over against Kaskasquias; which, as the river is narrow, commands and protects the town. "I don't know how many guns there may be, nor how many men it may contain. There may be about 400 inhabitants. "The Illinois Indians, called Kaskasquias, are settled half a league from the town and able to turn out 100 warriors. They are very lazy and great drunkards. "Six leagues from Kaskasquias, on the bank of the Mississippi, is Fort Chartres, built of stone, and contains 300 soldiers. There may be 20 cannon at most, and about 100 inhabitants around Chartres. "The Illinois Indians at that place, who are called Metchis, can furnish forty warriors. "Between the Kaskasquias and Fort Chartres is a small village, called La Prairie du Rocher (the Rock Meadow), containing about fifty white inhabitants; but there is neither fort nor savages. "Near Fort Chartres is a little village, in which is about a score of inhabitants. Here are neither savages nor fort. "Fifteen leagues from Fort Chartres, going up the Mississippi, is the village of the Casquiars. There is a small stockade fort; I don't know if there is any cannon. There may be about one hundred inhabitants. "The Illinois Indians living near this village are called Casquiars, and can turn out sixty warriors.' I compute that there are about three hundred negroes at the Illinois. "The country of the Illinois is fertile, producing good wheat and corn. All kinds of European fruits succeeded there suprisingly well, and they have wild grapes with which they make tolerable wine. Their beer is.pretty good. " There are mines of lead, and some salt. They make sugar of maple, and there are stone quarries." VOL. i-21 322 THE OLDEN TIME. THE DEATH OF PONTIAC. I. N. Nicollet, in.his report intended to illustrate a map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi river, gives the following account of this daring chieftain: "In the meanwhile, the second year after the signature of the treaty of peace had elapsed, and the British had not yet been able to take possession of Illinois. Thiswas owing to the opposition made by several Indian tribes, who, as alluded to above, had refused to abide by the treaty, and were waging a most cruel war against the British. These tribes had formed a comfederacy, under the command of Pontiac, a bold warrior, who had already become celebrated for his prowess, and his devoted attachment to France during the whole of the war which the latter had carried on against Great Britain, in America. The confederated Indian army was composed of Hurons, Miamis, Chippewas, Ottowas, Pottawatomies, Missourians, &c. The name of Pontiac was the terror of the whole region of the lakes; and, by his bands, he effectually interrupted the British intercourse with the rest of the nations that had remained friendly to that government. The taking of Fort Michilimackkinac, the attempt at Detroit, and the attack upon the schooner Gladwin, on Lake Michigan, are memorable events, evincing a spirit of cunning and daring highly characteristic of the genius of the red man. "In the winter of 1764, 1765, Pontiac, whilst engaged in his acts of depredation, learned that an armed British force was about to start from New Orleans, to take possession of the left bank of the Mississippi. He immediately proceeded to the neighborhood of Fort Chartres, accompanied by 600 warriors, to oppose this occupation of the country; and, finding there some Illinois Indians, who had placed themselves under the protection of the French garrison, he proposed to them to join him. But these people, disheartened by recent calamities, and, as it were, foredoomed to a final extinction, were unwilling to assume a hostile attitude toward their new rulers, from whom interest, if not generosity, would lead them to expect the same protection which they were then receiving. To this refusal Pontiac replied, with characteristic energy:'Hesitate not, or I destroy you THE DEATH OF PONTIAC. 323 with the same rapidity that fire destroys the grass of the prairie. Listen, and recollect that these are Pontiac's words.' Having then dispatched scouts upon the Mississippi and the Ohio, he hastened with some of his warriors to Fort Chartres, where he addressed Mr. St. Ange de Bellerive in the following terms: "'Father, we have long wished to see thee, to shake hands with thee; and, whilst smoking the calumet of peace, to recall the battles in which we fought together against the misguided Indians and the English dogs. I love the French, and I have come here with my warriors to avenge their wrongs,' &c., &c. Mr. de St. Ange was a Canadian officer of great bravery, and too much honor to be seduced by this language. Besides, he knew too well the Indian character, to lose sight of the fact that the love of plunder was probably at bottom, a stronger inducement for Pontiac tfian his love for the French. This visit, which was terminated by an exchange of civilities, might, nevertheless have brought difficulties upon the same garrison of Fort Chartres. But news arrived that the Indians of Lower Louisiana had attacked the British expedition, some miles below Natchez, and repulsed it. Pontiac became then less active in guarding the rivers; and, as he believed that the occupation of the country had been retarded again, he and his party were about to retire altogether. During the time, however, that the news took to arrive, the British had succeeded in getting up another expedition, on the Ohio; and Captain Sterling, at the head of a company of Scots, arrived unexpectedly in the summer of'1765; taking possession of the fort before the Indians had time to offer any resistance. At this news, Pontiac raved; swearing that, before he left the country, he would retake the fort and bear away Captain Sterling's scalp. But the intervention of Mr. St. Ange and Mir. Laclede put an end to these savage threats. Pontiac returned to the north, made peace with the British, from whom he received a pension, and seemed to have buried all animosity against them. But, by his restless spirit, he soon aroused new suspicions; and we are informed by Captain Jonathan Carver, that Pontiac, having gone, in the year 1767, to hold a council in the Illinois country, an Indian, who was either commissioned by one of the English governors, or instigated by the love he bore the English nation, attended him as a spy; and being convinced, from the speech Pontiac made in the council, that he still retained his former prejudice against those for whom he now professed friendship, he plunged his knife into his heart as soon as he had done speaking, and laid him dead on the spot. " Captain Carver traveled through the northern regions, but never was south of the Prairie du Chien; so that his information is probably incorrect. The celebrity of Pontiac, as well as the distinguished part he took in the Indian wars of the West, will justify me, therefore, for introducing here a somewhat different statement of the manner of his death, as I have it 324. THE OLDEN TIME. from two of the most respectable living authorities of the day-Col. Pierre Chouteau, of St. Louis, and Col. Pierre Menard, of Kaskaskia. It is as follows: Pontiac's last residence was in St. Louis. One day he came to Mr. de St. Ange, and told him that he was going to pay a visit to the Kaskaskia Indians. Mr. de St. Ange endeavored to dissuade him from it, reminding him of the little friendship that existed between him and the British. Pontiac's answer was:' Captain, I am a man! I know how to fight. I have always fought openly. They will not murder me; and if any one attacks me as a brave man, I am his match.' He went off; was feasted; got drunk; and retired into the wood, to sing his medicine songs. In the mean while, an English merchant, named Williamson, bribed a Kaskaskia Indian with a barrel of rum, and the promise of a greater reward, if he could succeed in killing Pontiac. He was strnck with a pakamagon (tomahawk), and his skull fractured, which caused his death. This murder, which roused the vengeance of all the Indian tribes friendly to Pontiac, brought about the successive wars and almost total extermination of the Illinois nation. " Pontiac was a remarkably well-looking man; nice in his person, and full of taste in his dress, and in the arrangement of his exterior ornaments. His complexion is said to have approached that of the whites. His origin is still uncertain; for some have supposed him to belong to the tribe of Ottowas, others to the Miamis, &c.; but Col. P. Chouteau, senior, who knew him well, is of opinion that he was a Nipissing." THOS. HUTCHINS-ABORIGINAL ETYMOLOGY. 325 THOMAS HUTCHINS. The account of Colonel Bouquet's expedition to the Muskingum, was written by THOMAS HUTCHINS,* who subsequently died in Pittsburgh, and who thus seems to have a double claim to some notice in the Olden Time. We, therefore, select the following brief biographical notice from the Encyclopaedia Americana: "Hutchins, Thomas, geographer to the United States, was born in New Jersey, about 1730. He entered the army in the French war, and served at Fort Pitt, and against the Indians in Florida. He was imprisoned in England in 1779, on the charge of having correspondence with Doctor Franklin, then American agent in France. On recovering his liberty, he joined the army of General Greene, at Charleston. He was nominated geographer-general to the United States, and died at Pittsburgh in 1789. He published an Historical Sketch of the Expedition of Bouquet against the Indians of Ohio, in 1794; a Topographical Description of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Carolina, with maps (London, 1778); a Historical Account and Topographical Description of Louisiana, West Florida, and Philadelphia (1784)." ABORIGINAL ETYMOLOGY. The late Rev. Timothy Alden, of Meadville, in this State, was intimately acquainted with Cornplanter, the Seneca chief, and understood several of the Indian languages. In 1816, he published the Allegheny Magazine, and in it he introduced a number of articles upon the orthography and etymology of Indian names of towns, rivers, creeks, &c. From these, we select a few. His derivation of the word Allegheny is different from that generally received. He thinks it takes its name from the mountain, and supposes the word to mean the great war path. To our judgment it seems * It has since been discovered that this work was not written by Hutchins, but by Dr. William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia. See R. Clarke & Co.'s edition of Bouquet, p. xv. 326 THE OLDEN TIME. unlikely that a mountain should be distinguished as a war path; and we rather incline to think that the common etymology, clear water, is the correct one. The Five Nations, "the Romans of America," might, in their warlike excursions, travel along the mountains going southward. But Mr. Alden admits that the Seneca name Ohio, or Ho-he-yu, means clear water. It is very likely that he was more familiar with the language of the Senecas (the tribe to which Cornplanter belonged) than any other. Proud, in his history of Pennsylvania, adopts the opinion of Frederick Post, that Allegheny is the Delaware name for the Ohio. Even, however, when we follow either Mr. Alden or Post, there seems some obscurity in the matter. The Lenni Lenape in their earliest tradition speak of Allegewi, whom they met on the banks of the Mississippi. Has their name any connection with that of the Allegheny river. Unless some satisfactory explanation can be given, we incline to prefer Post's interpretation of the word. It is admirably descriptive of one of the loveliest streams of this earth. Lewis Evans' Map, published in 1755, states that the Shawanese called the Allegheny or Ohio Palawa-Kunki. "Winnipee, as written by the first settlers of the Old Plymouth Colony, and by their successors to the present day, is the name of a certain beautiful pond, in the county of Barnstable. A few years since, the late Rev. Professor Tappan, in passing this, to the traveller, charming object in the midst of an extensive grove, met an aged squaw, who had still a knowledge of her venacular tongue. He asked her the name of this pond. She told him that the white people called it Winnipee. He then asked her what the Indians called it. She at once said, in the true aboriginal manner. Wauh-hauh-pee-yuh; and added that the word meant'beautiful river.' "Ohio, as universally pronounced, affords another instance of similar corruption. If it were written Ho-hee-yu, and the drawling accent placed on the middle syllable, a tolerable idea would be formed of the aboriginal method of pronouncing it. This name, in a different dialect, appears to have the same appropriate import with Wauh-hauh-pee-yuh. "Allegheny is the name which has likewise been applied, by the people of the United States, to one of our navigable rivers, probably in consequence of some of its contributory streams taking their rise in the Allegheny mountain. This noble river, descending from the north-east, cutting its channel through lofty mountains, forms a confluence with the Monongahela at the City of Pittsburgh. The junction of these is now considered as the commencement of the Ohio. Though we retain this corruption of the aboriginal name, for an extent of eleven hundred miles; yet our Ohio is several hundred miles less than the Ho-he-yu, or Oh-he-yu, of our tawny predecessors. The fact is, the Allegheny river, now so called, was always known by the name of Hoheyu, in ancient times, and the Senecas are still tenacious of this appellation. It is a'handsome' or'beautiful river,' ABORIGINAL ETYMOLOGY. 327 according to the original import, as well as the modern Ohio. If any one were to ask a Seneca the length of the Ohio, or rather Hoheyu, his calculations would be made from its entrance into the Mississippi, at least to Olean. " The writer of these papers has made many inquiries for the Indian name of Pittsburgh, denominated, with much propriety, the Birmingham of America. It appears that it was known among the Senecas by the appropriate term, De-un-da-ga, which is, literally,'the forks.' In this, every syllable is short, except the penultimate, which has an accent somewhat prolonged, but less so than many other aboriginal words. " French Creek is a beautiful, transparent, rapid stream. For many miles from its confluence with the Allegheny, or the Hoheyu of the aborigines, it is a little less than one hundred feet in width. Its ramifications are very numerous and overspread a large extent of territory abounding in good land and blessed with a salubrious climate. From the head of one of its principal forks, which is within the limits of the state of New York, to its termination, its general course, though in some parts extremely crooked, is not greatly different from that of a semi-circle. At certain seasons its waters are navigable for boats carrying 20 tons, to Waterford, fourteen miles from the borough of Erie; yet, for a few weeks in the summer, it is usually impassable by any craft larger than a canoe. The three considerable branches, commonly called the Forks, which unite a few miles below Waterford, are susceptible of boat navigation. Washington, in his Journal, calls Le Boeuf Creek the Western fork, which is correct, but besides this, there are three others, and these are now particularly designated by that name. In addition to many small streams, in all directions, proceeding northerly from the mouth of French Creek, its most noted contributory waters, All of which have mill privileges and the most of which are furnished with saw mills and grist mills, are Big Sugar Creek, Deer Creek, Little Sugar Creek, the outlet of Konneyaut, Kossewaugo, Woodcock, the outlet of Konneautte, Muddy Creek, and Le Boeuf Creek, on the banks of which, about a hundred perches above a small lake, Waterford is built, three or four miles above its union with French Creek. The most of these, as well as the Forks before mentioned, have their rise in lakes, which are of different dimensions, but not exceeding four or five miles in length. Sonfe of the rivulets, which are to find their way along the channel of French Creek and on to the Gulf of Mexico, proceed from the lofty swell of land in the vicinity of Lake Erie, and wind in such a manner as to inlock others, which descend into the great lake in their course for the gulf of Saint Lawrence. "From Franklin to Waterford, to pursue the public road, the distance is fifty-two miles; yet, to measure the meanders of French Creek and Le 328 THE OLDEN TIME. Bceuf, to the last named village, it is nearly one hundred miles. Washington thought it one hundred and thirty, at the time of his perilous descent. "The ancient Indian path from Franklin was on the eastern side of French Creek, not far from the present lower road to Meadville, where it crossed and stretched over the island opposite to the town, and continued on the western side a number of miles, and again crossed the creek. In December, 1753, when the youthful hero, destined in providence afterwards to become the political saviour of millions in America, travelled from the French fort at Venango, now Franklin, to the Fort at Le Bceuf, now Waterford, he was obliged to take his route altogether on the eastern side of French Creek, on account of the high state of its waters, leaving the Indian path at Meadville and shaping his course through a pathless desert. The correctness of his remark, as to the fine* quality of the bottoms of, French Creek, time has abundantly verified. After delivering his letter from Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie to Monsieur De Saint Pierre, the commanding officer of the French forces in these western regions, then at the fort of Le Boeuf; making various judicious observations, worthy of greater age and experience, with which his interesting Journal is enriched; and effecting the object of his hazardous embassy, he entered a canoe, accompanied by his Indian guides, Jeskakake, White Thunder, and the Hunter, and passed down to Venango; winding his course among the tall and venerable trees which overhung the creek; sometimes conflicting with the floating ice; sometimes in danger of being dashed to pieces by the strength of the current among the rocks; once dragging his canoe a quarter of a mile across a point of land, and many times compelled to wade in the water at that inclement season, to get over the shoals, to the jeopardy of his life. Had he then known the conspicuous part he was to act on the great theatre of this western continent, he might well have said, in the language of the Roman emperor,'Ne time, Csesarem vehis;' or rather, in a language more congenial with the feelings of his heart,' I will fear no evil, for God is with me.' "This description ought not to be closed without remarking, that French Creek will be an interesting object to the traveller, not only from the delightful scenery, which the country every where about it exhibits, but from the circumstance that it bore upon its bosom the adventurous and youthful Washington, in accomplishing the first distinguished enterprize which marked the progress of his public career. " Venango is the name by which, among the settlers of European extract, French Creek has been formerly known. This is the name which': His words are," we passed over Inuch good land since we left Venango, and through several extensive and very rich meadows, one of which, I believe, was nearly four miles in length, and considerably wide in some places." THE PEACE OF 1763. 329 the French gave to their establishment at the mouth of the creek. It is the name of a county, of which Franklin is the seat of justice. It is also the name of a township in the county of Crawford. It is. however, a gross corruption of the aboriginal appellation of French Creek, which, perhaps, can scarcely be better expressed in the letters of our alphabet, than in this manner; In-nun-ga-ch. The mode of pronouncing this word it is difficult to explain, except viva voce. The two first syllables are short and are to be uttered as spelled; but the a of the next is flat, as in the word, make, and is to be prolonged, in the Indian characteristic way, with an accent, and an aspirate designated by the German ch, and forming a very short syllable, not unlike in sound, though shorter, to the German pronoun, ich. This name is given to the Creek by the Senecas, in consequence of a certain figure carved on the bark of a tree near its bank, noticed at an early period after they came to this region, and expressive of the representation made by the rude sculpture, but an explanation of which delicacy forbids to record." THE PEACE OF 1763. The treaty of 1763 was one which exercised a very strong influence upon the destinies, not only of North America, but of France and of Great Britain. Throughout this section of country, its effects were highly beneficial, and entitle it to a fuller notice perhaps, than we have given it. It removed forever from our vicinity the fear of the arts and arms of the French nation, and put an end to all danger of the intrigues of the artful and indefatigable Celerons and Joncaires, and other French among the Indians. From the conclusion of that treaty, the Six [Nations, and the Delawares, and Shawanese, and other tribes in the western territory were cut off from all hope of foreign aid. So long as France retained Canada the nations of the forest might flatter themselves that they held the balance of power between the subjects of the British and the French kings, and might calculate upon more liberal treatment from each power, than under the new circumstances in which they were placed. From the conclusion of that treaty, America ceased to be the debatable ground of rival European nations, and the settlers of this region of the country, under the powerful protection of Great Britain, began rapidly to increase in numbers, and to extend civilization and the arts of peace where before they were unknown. It is true, that the combined Indian nations, at a later date, under the guidance of Pontiac and other leaders, made one most vigorous effort to get rid of the impending peril of British rule; but that 330 THE OLDEN TIME. effort was soon crushed. During the ensuing eleven years, until the commencement of the American revolution, they stood alone and at the mercy of the combined power of Great Britain and the colonies. Upon French power in America, that treaty was even more decisive than upon the Indians. By a treaty made with Spain in November, 1762, France had ceded to Spain the Isle of Orleans, and all the country she possessed west of the Mississippi, to which ceded territory the name of Louisiana was thereafter confined. By the treaty of 1763, she ceded to Great Britain, Canada and all her territory east of the Mississippi. Lyman, in his History of the Diplomacy of the United States, has the following remarks upon this treaty: " Before the disastrous peace of'63, France surpassed all the civilized people of Europe in the extent and the value of her commerce, colonies, and foreign possessions, and in her spirit of enterprise. But at that period began the downfall of one of the most enlightened and polished nations known in history." The influence which the extinction of French power in America may have exercised in hastening the independence of the United States, is a question which might elicit much grave discussion. That the continuance of French power in Canada might have delayed that event, we think highly probable. Great Britain, while she had such a formidable rival bordering on her colonies, might have been more forbearing in the exercise of her power over them, while they would probably have perceived more distinctly and valued more highly the protection which she could afford them. Be this as it may, it is most clear that French power in Canada would greatly have aided the colonies in any struggle for independence. It is said "there is nothing new under the sun," and this very question as to the policy of extinguishing a rival may have been well discussed two thousand years ago. "Carthage must be destroyed," was the studied cry of Cato; while Scipio Nasica, in a more generous, if not a more politic, spirit, urged the preservation of'that city as a rival whose power could not be dangerous, and whose existence would exercise a beneficial influence at Rome. But as to the " poor Indian," even before the total expulsion of the French from Canada, he began to feel that he was at the mercy of that same AngloSaxon race, which pursued his ancestors from the banks of the Delaware to the Ohio, and that same race which has. driven his posterity from the Ohio beyond the Mississippi, and whose power is now felt even in Mexico. Much of the history of the period between the capture of Fort Duquesne, by an English army, in 1758, and the abandonment of Fort Pitt, in 1774, consists of accounts of the encroachments of frontier men on Indian territory, of frequent treaties with the Indians, of promises made and violated, THE PEACE OF 1763. 331 of proclamations issued and disregarded, in short, the mere repetition of white men's encroachments and Indians' complaints. The following notice is the only one we have seen, of a treaty held at this place August 1760: " On the 20th of August, 1760, General Monckton held a treaty at Fort Pitt, on the eastern side of the Ohio, with the Six Nations, Shawnese and Delawares, and delivered a speech from Sir Jeffery Amherst, then Commander-in-chief of his Britannic Majesty's forces in North America, and therein mentioned that his Majesty'had not sent him to deprive them of any of their lands and property; that he did not mean to take any of their lands, but as the necessity of his Majesty's service obliged him to take posts and build forts in some parts of their country, to prevent the enemy from taking possession of their lands, he assured them, that no part whatever of their lands joining to the forts should be taken from them; nor any of the English people be permitted to settle upon them; and the General also promised them that their lands should remain their absolute property,, and he would even give them some presents as a consideration for the land where such forts and trading houses should be built upon; and concluded by declaring, that if they would'lay but a space of ground adjoining each fort, to raise corn, in that case, he said, fix yourselves the limits of your lands, so appropriated to us, and you shall receive such consideration for the same as shall be agreed between you and us, to your satisfaction." The latter end of the year 1762, the following proclamation was issued at Fort Pitt, on the Ohio:, "PROCLAMATION, BY HENRY BOUQUET, ESQUIRE, COLONEL OF FOOT, AND COMMANDING AT FORT PITT AND DEPENDENCIES. "WHEREAS; by a treaty at Easton, in the year 1758, and afterwards ratified by his Majesty's ministers, the country to the west of the Allegany mountain is allowed to the Indians for their hunting ground. And as it is of the highest importance to his Majesty's service, and the preservation of the peace, and a good understanding with the Indians, to avoid giving them any just cause of complaint: This is therefore to forbid any of his Majesty's subjects to settle or hunt to the west of the Allegany mountains, on any pretence whatever, unless such have obtained leave in writing from the General, or the Governors of their respective provinces, and produce the same to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt. And all the officers and noncommissioned officers, commanding at the several posts erected in that part of the country, for the protection of the trade, are hereby ordered to seize, or cause to be seized, any of his Majesty's subjects, who. without the above authority, should pretend, after the publication hereof, to settle or hunt upon the said lands, and send them, with their horses and effects, to Fort Pitt, 332 THE OLDEN TIME. there to be tried and punished according to the nature of their offence, by the sentence of a court martial. Signed, "HENRY BOUQUET." THE ROYAL AMERICANS. This regiment was so active and so very prominent in all the military movements in this country, during the war, from 1756 down to its close, as to merit some further notice than the mere mention of its name. It was the body of troops to which General Bouquet was attached and was at one time commanded by General Sir Jeffrey Amherst. It was composed principally of persons of foreign birth, and when the bill creating the corps was pending in parliament, it was most violently oppcsed, and in the House of Lords a number of the nobility entered their protest against its passage. Smollet, in his History of England, has the following notice of the matter: " The next object of the immediate attention of parliament in this session (November 1755) was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North America; for which purpose the sum of eighty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, to which the estimate thereof amounted, was voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of a thousand men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the Germans and Swiss, who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great numbers to the British plantations in America, where waste lands had been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English inhabitants of the place. To this circumstance it is owing, that they have continued to correspond and converse only with one another; so that very few of them, even of those who have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the English tongue. However, as they were all zealous protestants, and in general strong hardy men, and accustomed to the climate, it was judged that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of them, particularly proper to oppose the French: but to this end it was necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who understand military discipline, and could speak the German language; and as a sufficient number of each could not be found among the English officers, it was.necessary to bring over and grant commissions to several German and Swiss officers and engineers; but as this step, by the act of settlement, could not be taken without the authority of parliament, an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant commissions to a certain number of foreign protestants, who had served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only." LEWIS EVANS' MAP. 333 LEWIS EVANS' MAP. We annex a notice of the map of the middle colonies, published by Lewis Evans in 1755, which we found in the Cincinnati Gazette. We saw last winter a copy of this map, while at Harrisburg, and made a few memoranda from it, in relation to our own region, which we here introduce. French creek is called Wenango. The Ohio river has the following names extending up along the Allegheny into New York: " Ohio or Allegheny river, or La Belle Riviere," and under those names it is stated that the Shawanese call it " Palawa Kunki." Logstown is placed on the northern or right hand bank, as we descend the Ohio, and Shannopin's town is placed about two miles above the Forks. [From the Cleveland Herald.] ANCIENT MAP. HISTORICAL MATTER FOR THE WEST. Mr. Editor:-A brief notice which you gave about two years since of a map of the middle colonies, in the possession of Mrs. P. Mathivet, of this city, induced me to give it an examination. This map came to Mrs. M. from her grandfather, formerly of Philadelphia, but afterwards a resident of Nova Scotia. It was " published according to an act of Parliament, by Lewis Evans, June 23, 1755, and sold by R. Dodsley in Pall Mall, London, and by the author in Philadelphia," and contains in addition to the geography of that day, much historical information engraved upon the vacant spaces in writing. Much of it relates to the West, embracing the Ohio river country, lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a part of the Upper Mississippi. There is also much that relates to the number, names and location of the Indian tribes and villages; and although only a meagre outline can be given in a newspaper column, it will be found so interesting and rare to those who study western history, that I make a few extracts. The French forts and trading posts are laid down. It should be remembered that it was issued during the old French war, and about the time of the defeat of Braddock near Pittsburgh. The routes or trails of the French traders from post to 334 THE OLDEN TIME. post are given, and the Indian war paths. Upon the Cuyahoga, about twenty miles from the lakes, two villages, one of Tawas or Ottawas, the other of Mingoes, are represented, near which is a French trading post. A memorandum is made that this river is "muddy and pretty gentle." At Sandusky there are two forts, Fort Sandusky on the north side of the bay, and Fort Junundot near the mouth of the river, on the south side. Near a village of Tuscaroras in the forks of Sandy and Tuscaroras river at Bolivar, a mine of stone coal is noted, and in other parts of Ohio there are other mines laid down. The heading of the map is as follows: " A general map of the Middle British Colonies in America, viz: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, of Aqanishuonigy, the country of the confederate Indians, comprising Aqanishuonigy proper, their place of residence. Ohio Thuxsoxruntie, their deer hunting country; Couxsaxrage and Skaniadarade, their beaver hunting country, of the lakes Erie, Ontario and Champlain, and of part of New France, wherein is also shown the ancient and present seats of the Indian nations." The "deer hunting" country was in northern Ohio and Michigan, the "beaver hunting" country in Canada and northern New York. "The confederates, July 19, 1701, at Albany, surrendered their beaver hunting country to the English, to be defended for them by said confederates, their heirs and successors forever. And the same was confirmed September 14, 1728, when the Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas surrendered their habitations fiom Cuyahoga to Oswego, and sixty miles inland to the same for the same use." " The confederates, formerly of five, now of seven nations, called by the French Iroquois, consist of, 1st, the Canungues, or Mohocks; 2d, the Onaguts; 3d, Onandagoes; 4th, Cuyugaes; 5th, Chemanoes, or Cenecas; 6th, Tuscaroras; 7th, Sississagoes." In a circular form around the west end of lake Erie the following words are written:-" These posts were by the confederates allotted for the Wiandots when they were lately admitted into their league." Across the head waters of the Wabash is the following sentence: " The western league or Welinis, corruptly called Illinois by the French, consisting of the Tawixtawis, Mineamis, Piankashas, Wawiaxtas, Piquas and IKuskukis, were seated till lately on the Illinois river and posts adjacent, but are all except the last now moved to the Ohio and its branches, by the express leave of the confederates about 16 years ago." The Miami river is called the Mineami, Niagara Falls the " Oxniagara," Wheeling creek " Weeling " creek, Scioto " Sioto," and the country south of the Ohio river as well as north is called Ohio. The map was "engraved by James Turner in Philadelphia," and dedicated to the " Honorable Thomas Pownall." ABDITUS. NATIONS IN ALLIANCE WITH THE SIX NATIONS. 335 NATIONS IN ALLIANCE WITH THE SIX NATIONS IN 1742. At a treaty held at Philadelphia in July, 1742, there were present delegates from the Onontagos, Cayouguos, Anayints, Sinikers or Jonontowanos, Tuscaroras, Shawanos, Conestogos, Indians that speak the Anayient language, Conestogo Indians of the Nanticokes, by us called the Cannoyios, Delawares of the Shamokins, Delawares of Forks. The several nations of Indians with whom the Six Nations are in alliance, according to the information given, in open council, held at Tulpehocken, at their return from Philadelphia, viz: 1st. A nation of Indians living on the west side of Lake Erie, and along the straits to Huron's lake, and along the south side of that lake. They are called by the Six Nations, Unighkalliawkon. Thirty towns, each about two hundred fighting men. 2d. The second nation lives among the Unighkalliawkons; four towns of their own people, supposed four hundred in all, called 3d. The third nation called by the Iroquois, Tisawgeghroani, live on the east side of the Huron's lake, several of the council have been there, they all agree that they have three large towns of six hundred, eight hundred, and one thousand able men. 4th. The fourth, called Twightwis-roanu; two towns, about two hundred able men in all, live on the Huakitty river, near the little lakes. 5th. Oskiawkisas, living on a branch of Ohio, that heads near the Lake Erie; four large towns, about one thousand warriors. 6th. Oyaghtaronig-roanu, near Black river; four towns, about one thousand warriors. 7th. Keghdawkeghroanu, several savage nations of Indians, as their name signifies (the people of the wilderness), live on the north side of the Huron's lake, they do not plant corn or anything else, but live altogether upon flesh, fish, roots and herbs; an infinite number of people of late become allies to the Six Nations. 336 THE OLDEN TIME. CAPTAIN STOBO AGAINs A friend, whose notice nothing escapes, and who never forgets anything, has reminded us, by a note, that we have another glimpse of this brave fellow three years after the allusion to him in Hume's letter to Smollet. This glimpse we catch in a letter from Washington to Geo. Mercer, dated Nov. 7th, 1771. Stobo was then still alive and probably living in London. He was an applicant for land, and, as our friend suggests, if he succeded in his application some further trace of him may be found on the records of Virginia. Will some Virginia friend take the trouble to make some inquiry? The gentleman to whom we are indebted for the above glimpse, also states, that in a recent trial for a tract of land in Greene County, Pennsylvania, there was offered as the basis of plaintiffs title, a warrant in favor of Thomas Stobo. This, as our correspondent remarked, seemed to promise some further information, but furnished little or none, the warrant being merely one of a long string taken out by Robert Morris of revolutionary and land speculating memory. It shows, however, that the name Stobo was known to Morris, but whether Thomas was a son or brother, or otherwise related to Capt. Robert Stobo, does not appear. THE LEADEN PLATE. We give to our readers a representation, as accurate as it could be made, of the plate left by Celeron at the mouth of the Big Kenhawa, now Point Pleasant. The work is done by our townsman William Gillespie, and is creditable to his skill as an engraver. The roughness on one corner of the plate represents the corrosion of the plate in that part. For a full history of the Leaden Plate see our two previous numbers. At page 269, the name La Gallisoniere where it first occurs should have been La Jonquiere. .:rr PP""9Ps"BL"""""""""""""bifins-;~; Till lbliLsl %Ji i~:3%sn8slaarPp %-iBliiBBeP$ g -PL I(~~BlsslBIP~Bsl Ipj:ejB b :7E%IIIllalE_El$flsLlf$a rsB8Bsg I *::;~-:: rllla r; BL:-" il BIICFRI sB::t :!fllllS;CIP~~YI r FsrllEl~seaas'sslrss8- ~~~:-r; lg' ":';i;PaBPPPslBBSBBBb;l 61BB iibh`bBibPffffdB j iacl i: r; " JBBFbl -al -r~c::;:::'";-~" ~~i;:~wllllrassasl~l-s;g — r I —CI 1 LI jy: L~~"sPslllrs-sas plgls;' s*pppp:.ss8%8e,~?: i, i'll~rppp~-i Erlii;: —~~~~~':::1~3 l;r.. i""ms g;il$8B O'" i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ I I THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. AUGUST, 1846. No. 8. COL. JOHN BRADSTREET'S EXPEDITION. This expedition, which took place rather earlier than that of Colonel Bouquet to the Muskingum, should have appeared in the same number of the Olden Time, but escaped our attention. The campaign of Bradstreet was not, it is true, precisely within the territory "around the Ohio," but some of the men who figured in the treaty dictated by him, also figured in this quarter, and thus seem to connect his expedition with this region. That ubiquitous character (whose name is so variously spelt Guyasoota, Keyasutha, Guyasotha, Kiashuta, and various other names), who long acted a conspicuous part near the Ohio, was at the treaty with Bradstreet, and afterwards was a leading actor in the conference with Bouquet. By the way, we would be much pleased to have a brief sketch of his life and character, if any friend could furnish it. He was certainly a very active leader among the warriors of the Six Nations. The first notice that we have of him is in Washington's journal of his visit to Le Boeuf, in 1753. The name does not appear in that journal, but Washington mentions in the diary of his visit to the Kenhawa in 1770, that Kiashuta called to see him while he was descending the Ohio, and then states that he was one of the three Indians who accompanied him to Le Bceuf. He was afterwards, as we have before stated, one of the deputies at the treaties with Bradstreet and Bouquet. In 1768, he attended a treaty held in this place, of which we will give a full account. He was, we understand, the master spirit in the attack upon and burning of Hannahstown. The war of 1764 has sometimes been spoken of as Pontiac and Guyasootha's war. We recollect him well, have often seen him about our father's house, he being still within our memory, a stout active man. He died, and was VOL. 1-22 338 THE OLDEN TIME. buried, as we are told, on the farm now owned by James O'Hara, called "Guyasootha's Bottom." We have not been able to learn where Colonel Bradstreet collected his army, but presume it must have been at Niagara or Oswego. Hutchins, in his account of Bouquet's expedition, states that General Gage had ordered him to proceed to Detroit, Mackina, &c., and then return to Sandusky Bay, and remain there to overawe the numerous neighboring tribes. We know not how far he advanced, nor how long he remained in that country. The late great fire destroyed some of our best libraries, and thus deprived us of many facilities for the performance of our task. The annexed notice is taken from the journal of the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania: " September 14, 1764. "Tlhe Governor, by Mr. Secretary, sent down to the House a letter from Colonel Bradstreet, dated at Presque'isle, the 14th ult., enclosing the Articles of a Treaty of Peace lately held by him with several tribes of Indians to the westward; which papers were read by order, and are as they respectively follow, viz: COL. BRADSTREET'S LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. " Presque'isle, August 14, 1764. "SIR-As it may be agreeable to you and the people under your government, to know as soon as possible of the peace concluded with all the nations of Indians that have done you so much damage, 1 enclose you a copy of what has passed upon the occasion. I am, "Sir, your most humble servant, "JOHN BRADSTREET. "P. S. Perhaps under the present circumstances of the troops acting from your quarter, and the advanced season, it may be agreeable to the southern governments to have early information of this affair, in which you will be pleased to act as may be most agreeable to you. Lake Erie Camp, at l'Anie aux Feuilles, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, August 12, 1764. " At the request of ten savages, who arrived this morning, saying they were from the Hurons of Sandusky, the Shawanese, the Delawares, what they call the Five Nations, inhabiting the Scioto Plains, the Banks of the Ohio, Presque'isle, &c., &c. I received from them the following speeches. " First-A long compliment, with a string of wampum. " Secondly-A string of wampum, begging leave to speak and be heard.' Thirdly-We ask, in the name of the whole of the above nations, where this army is going, and what are your intentions? " That on receiving certain intelligence that you were coming against us with an army, we immediately called in all our warriors who were out COL. BRADSTREET'S EXPEDITION. 339 against your frontiers, and determined to meet you on this lake, and beg for mercy, and forgiveness and peace, which we now do in the name of and by the order of the nations above mentioned, the whole being truly sensible of their past folly and unjust behavior to the English, without cause. [A string of wampum.] COL. BRADSTREET'S ANSWER TO THE ABOVE. "First -I thank you for your compliment. " Secondly-You may have leave to speak openly and freely. "Thirdly-The reason for marching the army this way, is to revenge the insults and injuries done to the English, on those savages who have not asked forgiveness, and given sureties for their future good behavior. "You have done well in calling all your warriors, begging peace, and truly repenting of your late insolence and bad conduct toward the English, without any provocation whatsoever; and I am surprised to find you begging peace and forgiveness so soon after writing such an inpertinent letter as that you sent by Smallman to Pittsburgh, Detroit, &c. Notwithstanding which, since you implore forgiveness and mercy, I will, on the following terms, grant peace unto you, provided you are fully empowered from the nations above mentioned, and that the chiefs will ratify it as soon as possible, and that you name the chiefs. ANSWER. "We are fully empowered to conclude and sign a peace, if we can obtain it; the chiefs of the above nations will ratify it, and their names are as followeth, viz: "For the Shawanese, Scobalectic, the great War Chief. "For the Delawares, the whole of the chiefs. "For the Sandusky Hurons, Sastaregi, Chief of the Warriors. "And themselves of the Five Nations of the Scioto Plains, & &c.&c., viz: Cuyashota, Deceneytaryectoo, Tisnennockshoree, Aleywayuneta and Anarunqua. TERMS ON WHICH PEACE IS GRANTED. " First-All prisoners shall be delivered up at Sandusky directly, English, French and blacks, without reserve or excuse of being married, or any otherwise connected with you, or should there be any unwilling to leave you, they must be obliged to come. ".Secondly-All the chiefs above mentioned shall come with the prisoners, and ratify the peace I shall now grant. "Thirdly-Six of the principal men of the deputation now here, must remain as hostages for the true performance of the engagements they hereby enter into, and in consideration of my not marching immediately on my landing against their castles, as I at first intended; and the other four, with one of my officers, and an Indian belonging to this army, must pro 340 THE OLDEN TIME. ceed with the utmost dispatch to acquaint the chiefs of the peace granted, and what is expected from them, as I am determined not to lose time, or suffer myself to be imposed on. "Fou'thly-That this peace may last for ever, the nations above mentioned must entirely relinquish their claims to the forts and posts the English now have in their country, and that they shall be at liberty to build and erect as many forts and trading houses as they may find necessary for carrying on trade betwixt them and the savages without interruption, and they shall grant as much land around the forts as a cannon can throw a shot over, for the raising a proper supply of provisions for the use of the garrison and traders, which lands they are to renounce, and look on as the property of the English for ever. " Fifthly-That I shall be at liberty to send in safety from this army to your castles, six English, six Canadians, and six Indians, to see that you bring away all the prisoners that you have, which prisoners you are to furnish with horses and provisions during their journey, and treat them with all the tenderness and kindness you can show; and that I may, for the security of the people I send, have with me an equal number of Indians of your nations, till the return of the above six English, six Canadians and six Indians. " Sixthly-That if hereafter it should happen that any person belonging to the above nations shall kill or plunder any of the English, the person or persons so offending shall be immediately given up, and delivered at Fort Pitt, there to be tried for the offence committed, agreeable to the laws and customs of the English, with this difference only, that one half of the jury shall be Indians of the same nation as the offender. " Seventhly-You cannot be ignorant of an army's marching against the above nations by the Ohio; but in consideration of your truly repenting of your late bad conduct towards the English, and the engagements you hereby enter into, and the promises you also make of your future good behavior, I shall send and prevent their proceeding against you; but be assured, should ever you be guilty of the like bad behavior again, you shall be cut off from the face of the earth. " Eighthly-If any of the nations or tribes herein mentioned should separately violate this peace, and disturb the public tranquillity, the others shall consider themselves as bound to make war on them separately or jointly with the English and their allies, till they have brought them to reason, as also against any Indians, enemies to the English, and the English will assist them against their enemies. "'Ninthly-To avoid being imposed on by delays in ratifying this peace, and so lose the season for acting against the above Indians, I do allow twenty-five days, from the date hereof, for the arrival of the chiefs of the above nations, with all their prisoners, at Sandusky, and should they fail herein, COL. BRADSTREET'S EXPEDITION. 341 what has been done I shall look on as void, and they may expect to find us warriors instead of brothers and friends. "By the power invested in me by his Excellency Major General Gage, Commander in Chif of his Majesty's forces in North America, &c., these are the terms of peace I grant to the nations heretofore mentioned; that is to say, to the Shawanese, Delawares, the Hurons of Sandusky, the Five Nations of Scioto, the Ohio and Presque'isle. Given under my hand and seal at the place, and on the date above mentioned. "JOHN BRADSTREET. "From the power we have received from the chiefs of the Delawares the Shawanese, the Hurons of Sandusky, the Five Nations of the Indians inhabiting the Plains of Scioto, the banks of the Ohio, Presque'isle, &c., &c., we do, in the name of the above nations, together with ourselves, most gratefully accept the terms above mentioned and granted, and we do also most solemnly bind ourselves and them to the true performance of each article in every respect. "Signed after the manner of the Indians, with the Representatives of a Turtle, a Fox and Wolf, with two crosses. "This peace being agreed on, the Six Nations and Indians of Canada got up, and took the deputies by the hand, saying they were glad to see they were come to their senses, and hoped they would continue so; if they did not, on the first breach of this peace which they were witnesses to their concluding, they would immediately make war against them. [" A true copy.] " THOMAS MANT, Aid de Camp." 342 THE OLDEN TIME. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] Immediately after the conclusion of the peace of 1763, the white men commenced encroaching on the lands west of the mountains, and along the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers. The Indians complained about these encroachments. The British government and the government of this State labored to check these invasions of Indian territory. The history of this section of the country from 1764, down to 1774, presents but little of general interest. To continue the connection it is necessary we should give a brief notice of the spirit of encroachment on the part of the whites, of the. complaints of the Indians, and of the exertions of the various authorities to avert these encroachments, and to allay these complaints. EXTRACT FROM MR. CROGHAN'S JOURNAL, DATED FORT PITT, MAY 22, 1796. "Major Murray informed me that there were several chiefs of the Shawanese, Delaware, Six Nations and Hurons from Sandusky, with a considerable number of warriors, who had waited a long time to see me. " 24th of May. I had a meeting with the Six Nations, Delawares and Huron chiefs, when they made great complaints about several of their people being murdered on the frontiers of the several provinces. Say they have lost five men on the frontiers of Virginia, one near Bedford in Pennsylvania, and one in the Jerseys. This conduct of their Fathers, they say does not look as if they were disposed to live in peace with their children, the Indians. Besides that, as soon as peace was made last year, contrary to our engagements, a number of our people came over the great mountain and settled at Redstone Creek, and on the Monongahela, before they had given the country to the King their father." At an early period of 1764, instructions from the king of Great Britain were sent to John Penn, which recited that several persons from Pennsylvania and the back parts of Virginia, had migrated west of the Allegheny NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 343 Mountains, and seated themselves on lands near the Ohio in express disobedience of the proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763, and therefore enjoined upon the Governor to use all means in his power to prevent such encroachments, and to cause those to remove who had seated themselves on those lands. A letter from General Gage, the Commander in Chief of the British forces in America, dated July 2d, 1766, assures Governor John Penn, that if he will take proper steps, "as I presume Redstone is within your government, the garrison at Fort Pitt shall assist to drive away the settlers, and it seems proper that a number of the chiefs should be present to see our desire to do them justice." A letter from Governor Penn to Governor Fauquier of Virginia, dated 23d of Sept. 1766, asks his aid for the removal of the settlers, states that as the boundary line between the two States had not been settled, such settlers might take shelter under an unsettled jurisdiction. Reply of Governor Fauquier, dated Williamsburg, December 11, 1766, states that the Commander in Chief had taken "more effectual measures, by giving orders to an officer and party to summon the settlers to remove, and in case of refusal to threaten military execution." Letter from John Penn to Earl Shelbourne, January 21st, 1767, recites what had been done by himself, by Governor Fauquier, and by General Gage, and says, "I am at a loss to know what more can be done by the civil power." Letter from General Gage, dated New York, December 7, 1767, says: "You are a witness how little attention has been paid to the proclamations that have been published, and that even the removing these people from the lands last summer by the garrison at Fort Pitt, had been only a temporary expedient; as they met with no punishment, we learn they are returned again to Redstone Creek and Cheat river. Recommends that more effective laws should be passed." On the 3d of February, 1768, an Act was passed inflicting death without benefit of clergy upon any person settled upon lands not purchased of the Indians, who shall refuse after days notice to quit the same, or having removed, shall return to the same or other unpurchased lands: Provided, however, that this law shall not extend to persons who now are, or may hereafter be settled on the main communication leading to Fort Pitt, under the permission of the Commander in Chief, or to a settlement made by Geo. Croghan, Esq., Deputy Superintendent under Sir William Johnson, upon the Ohio above said fort. 24th February, 1768. Proclamation issued in pursuance of the above Act, 250 copies printed, and J. Burd, John Steel, J. Allison, Chr. Lemer, and Capt. James Potter of' Cumberland, requested to go to the Monongahela, Youghiogheny and other places west of the Allegheny, where such 344 THE OLDEN TIME. forbidden settlements were, to set up the proclamations, to explain them to the people, and to endeavor to induce them to remove. Letter of instructions, a number of the proclamations, and ~60 in cash for their expenses given them. In April, 1768, conferences with the Indians were held at this place, and some proceedings proposed against the settlers. The Indians, however, as it seems to us, very wisely declined sending some of their chiefs to witness the ejection of the settlers, as General Gage had suggested. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in November, 1768, a large extent of territory, including all the country south of Kittanning, east of the Allegheny river and south of the Ohio, was ceded to Thomas and Richard Penn, and thus the ill-feeling between the Indians and the settlers on the Monongahela was abated. We annex a full account of the conferences held here in April and May, 1768. The assemblage of Indian warriors, their wives and children, must have made a formidable display in our little village. MINUTES OF CONFERENCES, HELD AT FORT PITT, IN APRIL AND MAY, 1768, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GEORGE CROGHAN, ESQ., DEPUTY AGENT FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS, WITH THE CHIEFS AND WARRIORS OF THE OHIO AND OTHER WESTERN INDIANS. " At a conference held at Fort Pitt, on Tuesday, the twenty-sixth day of April, 1768, with the chiefs and principal warriors of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawanese, Munsies and Mohicons, residing on the waters of the Ohio. PRESENT: "George Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent for Indian Affairs. "John Allen and Joseph Shippen, jr., Esqs., Commissioners from the Province of Pennsylvania. "Alexander M'Kee, Esq., Commissary of Indian Affairs. "Colonel John Reed, Commandant. "Captains-Charles Edmonston and Pownall. "Lieutenants-Thomas Ford, Alexander Maclellan, Jesse Wright, Sam. Steel, William Wood and Thomas Batt. "Ensigns-Thomas Hutchins, Robert Hamilton, James Savage and Godfirey Tracy. "Interpreter-Mr. Henry Montour. CHIEFS. "Six Nations-Keyashuta, White Mingo, Soneno, Allyondongo, Onaughkong, Gettyqueaye, Onondagago, Cadedonago, Soggoyadentha, Thonissagarawa, Oyanay, Toeaughquottet. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 345: "-Delawares-Nettawatways or Newcomer, Custettoga. Beaver, Latort Spawgassa, Nessicuthethem, Cascatehon, Kekiwenum, Washawanon, Mahetoaughkong, Loyalaughaland, Tugasso. CHIEF WARRIORS. "Six Nations-Toeageda, Toedassaho, Kennissoen, Thagonneyesus, Dawatdehough, Awanneynatha, with 293 warriors, besides women and children. "Delawares-Captain Jacobs, Winganum, Captain Pipe, Capt. Jonny, Quequedagaytho or Grey Eyes, White Wolf, Theckhoton, Opemalughim, Killaykhehon, Wiesahoxon, with 311 warriors, besides women and children. CHIEFS. " Shawanese-Kaysinnaughtha or the Hard Man, Etawakissaho, Maughkateymawaywa, Nymwha, Bennoxcumma, Naynichtha, Wassaynametha, Wethawathocka. CHIEF WARRIORS. "Thethawgay, Waughcomme, Othawaydia, Mawaydia, Munnena, Kawcomme, Shilleywathetha, Quighbya, with one hundred and forty-one warriors, besides women and children. CHIEFS. "Munsies-Auttemaway, Kendasseong, Wassawayhim, Quekquahim, Waughellapo, with one hundred and ninety-six warriors, besides women and children. l Mohicons-Wennighjalis, Kelligheon, with ninety warriors, besides women and children. " Seven Wyandotts sent to attend the Conference.'In the whole, 1103 Indians, besides women and children. " The Indians having taken their seats in order, Mr. Croghan opened the Conference as follows, viz. "Brethren of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawanese, Munsies and Mohickons, I am glad to see so many of your different nations assembled at this council fire, and with this string of wampum I clear your eyes, and wipe away your tears, that you may see and look on your brethren the English with pleasure. (A string.) " Brethren, with this string I clean the sweat off your bodies, and remove all evil thoughts from your minds, and clean the passage to your hearts, that every thing which may be said to you from your brethren the English, may rest easy there. (A string.) "Brethren, with this string I clear your ears, that you may hear and consider well what is going to be said at this general meeting of your several tribes. (A string.) 346 THE OLDEN TIME. " Brethren, I take this first opportunity of the meeting of Council, to introduce to you the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, appointed by your brother Onas, and the wise men of that Government, and desire you will give particular attention to the several messages those gentlemen are charged with, to deliver to your several nations. (A belt.) "After the above speeches were explained to the different nations, Mr. McKee delivered to them the message which Governor Penn sent to his care in February last, having had no opportunity, till now, of meeting with the Chiefs of the several tribes together, though he had dispatched messengers to inform them of his having such a message to communicate to them. The message follows in these words, viz. "By the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor, and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex, on Delaware, &c., &c. A MESSAGE TO THE CHIEFS AND WARRIORS OF THE SIX NATIONS, DELAWARES AND SHAWANESE, AT OHIO. "Brethren, I am sorry to acquaint you that one Frederick Stump and John Ironcutter, some time ago, having sold some rum to a few Indians of your nation, they all got drunk at Stump's house on Middle Creek, and in their liquor, threatened to kill him and his family, as he says; on which those two wicked men murdered several of your people. " Brethren, you must all be sensible that there are bad and foolish people of all nations, whom at times the evil spirit gets the better of, and tempts to murder their most intimate friends, and even relations, in order to disturb the peace and tranquillity of their neighbors. These accidents often happen amongst yourselves, as well as among us, but the imprudent act of a few foolish people should not disturb the peace of the many wise and innocent amongst us. "The great giver of life has given us a good heart, and tongues to speak the sentiments of our hearts to each other. And when any misfortune happens of this kind to either of us, we should consider well the consequences, and meet under the tree of peace, and smoke together as our forefathers formerly did, and endeavor to adjust and settle any disputes that might formerly happen, so that no black clouds might arise over our heads, to prevent us from seeing the sun rise and set over us in the strictest friendship. " This is the method I propose to take on this unlucky occasion, and recommend you, brethren, and desire you may rest easy and satisfied till you hear from me again. The strictest justice shall be done you, and I make no doubt you will be satisfied with my conduct. " On first hearing of this unfortunate affair, I issued a proclamation, and had those two men apprehended and put into prison, and make no doubt NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 347 but to bring them to that punishment so heinous a crime deserves, by the laws of their country. "I have wrote to Sir William Johnson, and informed him of this accident; and as soon as my express returns, you may be sure to hear from me and him farther on this matter, and more to your satisfaction, as you will be convinced of the justice and upright intentions of all his Majesty's subjects towards your several nations. (A belt.) { _ "Given under my hand, and the lesser Seal of the said Province L. s. } of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, the twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord, 1767. "JOHN PENN. "By his Honor's command, JOHN SHIPPEN Jun. Secretary. "Wednesday, 27th April. Mr. Croghan and the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, had a meeting with the chiefs of the several tribes, and explained to them the heads of the several speeches to be delivered to them from the Governor of Pennsylvania. After the above chiefs had considered what had been told them, the Delawares and Shawanese, on a belt and string of wampum, expressed their satisfaction at seeing Commissioners from Pennsylvania at their Council fire, and returned Mr. Croghan thanks for introducing them to their several nations, assuring him they would pay due attention to what those gentlemen should say to them from their brother Onas and their brethren of that Province." (A belt and string.) AT A CONFERENCE HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON FRIDAY THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF APRIL, 1768. "Mr. Croghan addressed himself to all the different tribes, and spoke as follows, viz: "Brethren, The other day I introduced you to the Commissioners from Pennsylvania, and informed you they had several messages to you from the Governor and good people of that province. They are now going to speak to you, and I desire you will pay due attention to what they shall say. " The Commissioners then, in the name of the Governor of Pennsylvania' delivered the following messages to the Indians: "The Hon. John Penn, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, to the several tribes of Indians living on and beyond the Ohio, viz: Six Nations, Shawanese, Delawares, &c. "Brethren, It is not long since I sent a message to you, to be delivered by Mr. Alexander M'Kee. "You will see that the message was sent on purpose to acquaint you 348 THE OLDEN TIME. that two of ourbad inhabitants had murdered some of our Indian brethren, at Middle Creek, near Susquehanna, and that I was taking all the pains in my power to have the murderers apprehended, and brought to the punishment they justly deserve. "Ever since I sent that message to you my heart has been so deeply afflicted with sorrow, for the loss you have sustained by that barbarous act, that I could not rest or sleep quiet in my bed, as I well knew it was a very great breach of the solemn engagements we had entered into of preserving the strictest friendship between us, in not suffering the least link in the chain to be broken or any ways hurt. "I have longed much myself to come to the Ohio, to take you by the hand, and sit down and condole with you on so melancholy an occasion, in the losses you have sustained in the death of some of our good brethren the Indians; but I must let you know that the great affairs I have to manage in the government, necessarily detain me at this time in Philadelphia. I have therefore appointed my good brother, John Allen, Esq., and the provincial Secretary, Joseph Shippen, Esq., Commissioners, to meet you on this occasion, and to speak and condole with you in my stead. They will deliver this message to you in my name, and whatever they shall say to you, you may hear and believe in the same manner as if I was present among you and spoke to you myself; for you may depend on it, they will say nothing to you but the real truth, and what are the sincere sentiments of my heart. (A string.) "Brethren, I told you also. in that message, that I had communicated this melancholy news to Sir William Johnson, and promised you that as soon as I should receive his answer, you should hear from me again; and I hoped in such a manner as would be to your satisfaction. " Brethren, I am now to inform you, that I have since received Sir Wm. Johnson's answer, and am pleased to hear that he has laid this matter before a large number of Indians, as well of the Six Nations as of several other northern tribes of Indians. with whom he has lately held friendly Conferences at his house. And Mr. Croghan will relate to you whatever was done at that treaty. (A string.) "Brethren, The unhappy accidents which have happened to some of your people in my government, have given me great concern, as I have al~ready told you; I, with this string of wampum, gather up the bones of all our dead friends, and bury them in the earth that they may be no more seen. (A string.) "Brethren, As I have buried the bones of all our deceased friends, I condole with you for the loss you have sustained in them, and cover their graves with these few goods. (Delivered the condolence presents.) " Brethren, With this belt of wampum, I clean the blood off the leaves and earth whereon it was sprinkled, that the sweet herbs, which come NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 349 through the earth, may have their usual verdure, and that we may all forget the unhappy accidents that have happened. (A large white belt.) "1 Brethren, Hearken now to what I have to say further to you, in behalf of myself and all the good people of this province. "I am informed that some wicked and ill-disposed people have told you many lies, endeavored to make you believe that the good people of my province are not well affected towards you, but intend you some mischief, and are not desirous of preserving the chain of friendship bright and entire between us. You may depend on it that all such representations are false and without the least foundation, and are made with no other view than to make a breach between us, and the authors must be looked upon as our greatest enemies. To assure you that I am desirous and sincere in my intentions, to live always in the strictest harmony with you, and to remove every uneasiness that may be lodged in your breasts, I have empowered and instructed my Commissioners to confer with you on any matters which immediately relate to my government; and to hear what you may have to say to me with regard to all such things as may contribute to preserve the peace, and strengthen that band of friendship in which you are united with the good people of this province: And I make no doubt but you have the same good dispositions that I have to promote that end; and that all things will be freely communicated to one another in these Conferences, I desire, therefore, that you will fully inform my Commissioners of every thing that gives you the least uneasiness, that I may know it, and endeavor to remove all cause of discontent among you. (A belt.)." Brethren, I have told you every thing I had to say to you relative to the unhappy murder committed on two of our wicked people, on some of your brethren; and as I am, and have been, doing every thing in my power to bring those offenders to justice, I cannot help reminding you of the number of people I have lost in the Indian country, by some of your foolish young men; and as I am determined that the strictest justice shall be done you, I must let you know that I expect the same justice from you for the loss of his Majesty's subjects entrusted to my care. This is agreeable to the treaties of friendship long subsisting between your several nations and us; and if we both unite in attending strictly to those treaties, we shall be able to preserve the chain of friendship bright, and without rust. I" It was likewise agreed at those treaties, that whenever any accident should happen that might give the least uneasiness, or in manner endanger the fiiendship subsisting between us, we should immediately inform each other of it. Now you see that I have not forgot those ancient treaties, for as soon as I had knowledge of those unlucky accidents which have happened in my province, I immediately sent you a notice of them by a speech and belt, to be delivered to you by Mr. McKee; and I now send my two Commissioners to condole with you on that melancholy occasion. I must 350 THE OLDEN TIME. now inform you of such English subjects belonging to my province, as have been murdered in the Indian country, viz: Henry O'Brien, Peter Brown, and eight other men, in proceeding down the Ohio last August with two large batteaux loaded with goods, were murdered by the Indians, and part of the goods taken away near the falls of that river. Thomas Mitchell, a trader, was likewise murdered in one of the Shawanese villages last fall. John M'Donald was also murdered near Fort Pitt, in December last, by a Delaware Indian. (A belt.) " Brethren, With this belt I renew, brighten, and make strong the chain of friendship that subsists between us; I have still fast hold of one end of it, and desire you will also keep fast hold of the other end; and let us both for ever hold it fast, that we may hereafter continue as one man, and act together in all matters relating to our mutual welfare, as brothers who have the same interests and concern for each others' peace and happiness. (A belt, representing a chain, held by a hand at each end, of 11 rows.) "Dated at Fort Pitt, the 29th day of April, 1768. "JOHN PENN. " By his Commissioners, { JOHN ALLEN,, [L S. JOSEPH SHIPPEN, jr. L. S. ( The Commissioners having delivered the Governor's Message in Council, Mr. Croghan addressed the Indians as follows: "Brethren, You have now heard what the Governor of Pennsylvania hath said to you by his Commissioners; and you see that he and the wise men of that province have not forgot the former friendship which subsisted between your forefathers and theirs. They have now condoled with you for your lost friends, agreeably to your ancient custom, and spoke their minds freely on every subject that has caused their meeting with you at this time, and have called upon you to do the same on your parts. They have brightened the chain of friendship, and have done everything in their power to preserve that friendship which was made between your forefathers and the first settlers of that province, who came over with your ancient brother Onas. " Brethren, I now desire you will assemble all the wise men of your several tribes together, and call to mind your former treaties with the good people of Pennsylvania, and consider what has been said to you, and speak,your minds freely and openly to the Governor's Commissioners, that everything which gives you uneasiness, or discontent, may be fully known to your brother Onas, as he desired. (A belt.) "After the above speeches were interpreted to the different nations, one of the chiefs spoke, and said they would take them into consideration, and let us know when they should be ready to answer them. "Then a deputy sent from the Six Nation country got up and delivered the following message to the several nations present: NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 351 "Brethren, I am sent from the Six Nation Council with this speech, to inform you, that they have considered well the past conduct of their warriors in going through this country to and from war, who have made a practise of stealing horses, and behaving otherwise very ill to their brethren the English, and have forbid their doing any mischief for the future; and do now desire you, the Shawanese, Delawares, and Wyandots to do the same, and to throw all evil thoughts out of our minds and hearts; and to think of nothing but promoting a lasting friendship with your brethren the English, as we your elder brothers, the Six Nations, have determined to do. (A belt.) "After the Six Nation deputy had finished the foregoing speech, and it was interpreted to the Indians, Mr. Croghan informed them of the Congress Sir William Johnson lately held with the Six Nations, Canada Indians, and other northern tribes, of the business transacted with them,and the peace settled between those several nations and the Cherokees, and that the deputies of the latter, with a number of the Six Nations, were to return home by the way of Fort Pitt, and recommended it to the different tribes present to behave in a friendly manner to them, and see that they passed safe through their country; on which Mr. Croghan gave them a belt. AT A CONFERENCE HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON SUNDAY, THE 1ST OF MAY, 1768. "Present, the same as before." "Quequedagaytho, Speaker for the Delawares, rose up,and made the following answer to the message from the Governor of Pennsylvania.' Brother, we return you thanks for your kindness in sending Commissioners to condole with us, on account of the unhappy accidents which have happened between us; as also for the friendly messages they have delivered to us in your name, and you may be assured we shall pay due regard to everything you have therein said to us. " He then requested the several nations present to attend to what he was about to say further to their brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania; and proceeded: "Brother, the grief and concern which you have expressed to us, on account of the late mischiefs committed on our people, we believe to be very sincere, and that they were caused by the Evil Spirit. You have also mentioned, in a particular manner, several losses which you have sustained in the Indian country; we are heartily sorry for them, but must acquaint you that as to the murder of the ten men in the batteaux, down this river, we have heard of it as well as you, but it was committed by other nations, and 352 THE OLDEN TIME. not by any of the tribes here present, so that we have not had the least concern in this unhappy affair. It is too true that one of your people was killed by the Shawanese, and we are also very sorry for that accident. As to the man who you say was killed near Fort Pitt, by a Delaware Indian, we tell you that the person who committed that act was half a white man, and the other half an Indian; so you see, brother, that you are equally concerned with us in that breach of friendship; but I hope, brother, all these misfortunes are now buried in oblivion, and that our children may never think of them more, and that we may continue in the strictest friendship. (A belt.) " Brother, I shall, in the next place, speak to you concerning the friendship that subsists between us; 1 hope we shall always be firm in it; and we shall endeavor, on our parts, to keep the chain as bright and strong as our forefathers did at their first Councils, which were held by wise men. (A string.) " He then repeated the same ceremonies that we had used in burying the bones and said: " Brother, I now gather all the bones of your deceased friends, and bury them in the ground, in the same place with ours, so deep that none of' our young people may ever know that any misfortunes have happened between us; and it gives us great satisfaction that our brother Onas has not forgot this ancient custom of condoling with us in our losses. (A belt.) "Brother, by this belt, I also wipe away the blood, as you have done, from the earth, and make your bodies quite clean, that you may appear to have as good hearts as those of our wise forefather; and we hope what passes in this Council will never be forgotten. (A belt.) "After repeating what had been said to them relating to the chain of friendship, he concluded: " Brethren, we are much obliged to the Governor for speaking so freely and openly to us from his heart, and as he has recommended to us to take fast hold of the chain of friendship, we assure him we shall take his advice, and will do it; and that we shall likewise speak to him from our hearts, for we look upon this as the only way to preserve our friendship; and we shall take care to guide and direct our young people to behave as they ought to do, in promoting the peace, and cultivating the strictest harmony between us. (A belt:) "The Beaver, a chief of the Delawares, then rising up, desired all present to pay attention to what he should say to his brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania. "Brother, We, the old men of the different nations present, are much rejoiced that the chain of friendship is now brightened by our brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania, and we return him thanks for putting it into NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 353 our hands, in the kind manner he has done, which convinces us of his good intentions. "We, the Delawares, Munsies, Mohicons, Wyandotts and our uncle the Six Nations, will keep fast hold of the chain of friendship in the manner you desire us. We now desire the Governor will also take hold of the end of this belt, which we stretch along the road between him and us, in order to clear it of the briars and brush that have grown up in it, that we may all travel it in peace and safety. "Brother, we make the road smooth and pleasant for your Commissioners to travel home, and make a report to you at our ancient council fire in Philadelphia, of what they now hear from us. And when you consider our speeches, you will find that our hearts are good, and that we are determined to preserve the road of peace free from any interruption on our parts: We desire you will take the same care on your parts, for if any logs shall be laid across it by any of your people, it will be undoing every thing that is now agreed on between our several nations and you at this meeting. (A belt.) " Then Quequedagaytho rose and said that they had spoken everything they had to say at this time to their brother Onas; and, addressing himself to Mr. Croghan, spoke as follows: "Brother, We have been long acquainted with you, and are well pleased with your behavior towards us; and, at this time, are the more obliged to you for introducing to us the commissioners fiom the government of Pennsylvania; as it has given us a good opportunity of renewing our peace with the good people of that province, with whom our forefathers always lived in most perfect friendship. You spoke to us the other day, and recommended to us to take into our most serious consideration the several matters we have heard from the Governor of Pennsylvania, by his commissioners, and to weigh them well in our minds before we gave our answers to them. "Brother, We have taken your advice, and you may be convinced.of this by what we have just now said in behalf of the Delawares, Munsies and Mohicons. (A belt.) "The Speaker of the Delawares then observed that they had finished what they had to say at this time. "The chief of the Six Nations rose up, and, addressing himself to the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, said,"Brethren, We have heard with attention what the Delawares have now said to you, and we shall speak to you to-morrow; and so will our younger brothers, the Shawanese." VOL. I -23 354 THE OLDEN TIME. AT A CONFERENCE HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON MONDAY THE 2ND OF MAY, 1768.' Present. the same as before. "Tohonissahgarawa, a chief of the Six Nations, got up, and, addressing himself to the several nations present, said," Brethren, The Great Giver of life has brought us all together at this council fire, in order to promote the good work of peace; and we have heard what our brother Onas has said to us by his Commissioners; and you will now hearken attentively to what the Six Nations are about to say to him in answer to his messages. (A string.) "'Then, addressing himself to the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, he said,"Brethren, You have already heard what our nephews, the Delawares, have said to you; they have spoken freely and openly to you from their hearts; and we hope it has made a proper impression on you; we are now in like manner going to open our hearts to you freely, and we also hope that what we shall deliver will be received by you in a friendly manner. (A string.) " Brother Onas, In your several speeches you have desired us to open our minds freely, and to speak before you every thing that gives us uneasiness; we are obliged to you for this advice, which we shall follow, and are glad of an opportunity to speak to you in council. " Brother, It is not without grief that we see our country settled by you without our knowledge or consent; and it is a long time since we first complained to you of this grievance; which we find has not as yet been redressed; but settlements are still extending further into our country. Some of them are made directly on our war path leading to our enemies' country, and we do not like it. " Brother, You have laws amongst you to govern your people by, and it will be the strongest proof of the sincerity of your friendship to let us see that you remove the people from our lands; as we look upon it, it will be time enough for you to settle them when you have purchased them, and the country becomes yours. (A belt.) " Brother, We have heard with pleasure what you have made our hearts easy with respect to the losses we have suffered by you; and, therefore, we shall not take notice of any past misfortunes. We are glad to see our nephews, the Delawares, have taken fast hold of the chain of friendship with you, and by this belt we join our hands with you and them in holding it fast. We speak in behalf of the Six Nations residing in this country, as there is some of every tribe present, and we wish, brother, that you may be strong, and as well disposed to preserve that friendship as we are. (A belt.) NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 355 "Brother, I have now done speaking, and have told you everything that remains in our hearts, which gives us and the several nations in this country any uneasiness." AT A CONFERENCE HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON TUESDAY THE 3D OF MAY, 1768, "Present, the same as before. " Nymwha, a speaker for the Shawanese, addressing himself to all the Indians, desired they would attend to what he was going to say to the Commissioners of Pennsylvania and all his brethren, the English, present, and spoke as follows: "Brethren, When you talked of peace to us at the time we were struggling in war, we did not hearken to you at first. You mentioned it a second time to us, we still refused to attend to you; but after repeating it to us several times, we consented to hear you. We then looked at you, and saw you holding instruments of war in your hands, which we took from you, and cast them into the air out of our sight. We afterwards desired you to destroy your forts, as that would be the way to make all nations of Indians believe you were sincere in your friendship; and we now repeat the same request to you again. We also desire you not to go down this river, in the way of the warriors belonging to the foolish nations to the westward; and told you that the waters of this river a great way below this place, were colored with blood; you did not pay any regard to this, but asked us to accompany you in going down, which we did, and we felt the smart of our rashness, and with difficulty returned to our friends. We see you now about making batteaux, and we make no doubt you intend going down the river again, which we now tell you is disagreeable to all nations of Indians, and now again desire you to sit still at this place. " They are also uneasy to see that you think yourselves masters of this country, because you have taken it from the French, who you know had no right to it, as it is the property of us Indians. We often hear that you intend to fight with the French again; if you do, we desire you will remove your quarrel out of this country, and carry it over the great waters where you used to fight, and where we shall neither see or know anything of it. All we desire is to enjoy a quiet peace with you both, and that we should be strong in talking of peace. "(' e have now spoken to you from our hearts, and we hope we shall exert ourselves in promoting a lasting friendship. All we have to say to you now is, to be strong, and let us agree to what we desire of each other. When you first talked of peace to us, you desired us to sit over the river quietly at our fires; but our women and children were frightened away by the noise you made in repairing your fort; but, if you do as we desired you, they will return without fear. (A belt.) "Brethren, You have heard what we have desired in our last speech, 356 THE OLDEN TIME. and we hope you will comply with our request, and not attempt to go down this river again, as the nations who live that way are surprised to see you make a practice of this at the same time that you were making professions of friendship to,us. We therefore desire that you will put a stop to your people going down this river till we have spoken to the nations living in that country; which we intend to do, with the assistance of our brothers the Six Nations, and our grandfathers the Delawares. (A string.) "Brethren, The reason of our mentioning this matter at this time is because we hope you will take pity on us, and do as we have desired you.' Then Kissonaucththa, a chief of the Shawanese, rose up and said,' "Brethren, We are glad to see you here, and that you are sent by the Governor of Pennsylvania to confer with us at this council. It much rejoiced our hearts to take you by the hand on your arrival, and we assure you that the several nations now present are equally rejoiced with us on this account. (A string.) " Brethren, You have informed us that you are sent by the Governor and wise men of Pennsylvania, to hear whatever may pass at this council. We are glad to hear you say you had made the road clear and smooth as you came along, and that you have brought to us the chain of fiiendship in your hands from our brethren the wise men of Pennsylvania. This has dispersed the dark clouds of night which hung over our heads, on account of many late misfortunes which have happened, and brought to us the light of the clear day. You have, no doubt, heard of many bad reports of mischief, which may have made an ill impression on your minds against us; we now remove them quite away, and make your hearts easy like those of your wise forefathers. We also clear the road on our parts, that, when you set off, you may travel it back with pleasure to your council house at Philadelphia, which I likewise sweep clean, that your wise men, when you return, may sit down in it with satisfaction and comfort, and look back upon us, their brethren, remembering that we have not forgot our ancient friendship.."Brethren, We have now, on all sides, cleared and made smooth the road between you and us; and we desire you, on your parts, to be strong and not suffer any of your soldiers to travel it, who carry sharp edged weapons with them, as that may injure the friendship subsisting between us. (A belt.) "Mr. Croghan then acquainted the Indians, that the Commissioners of Pennsylvania and he would take the above speeches into consideration, and answer them to-morrow. N. B. This afternoon fourteen canoes arrived here containing thirtyeight Munsies and Mohicons, exclusive of women and children, who reside on the heads of the west branch of the Susquehanna." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 357 AT A CONFERENCE HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON WEDNESDAY THE 4TH OF MAY, 1768, P. M. "Present, the same as before. "Thonissahgarawa, a chief of the Six Nations, rose up, and, addressing himself to the gentlemen and several nations present, apologized for some indifference which happened this morning among themselves, as it was the means of preventing our meeting them in the forenoon, and desired that their brethren, the English and the tribes of Indians present, would take no notice of it. (A string.) "The same chief then spoke as follows: "Brethren, I am sorry to hear what our brethren, the Shawanese, said to you yesterday, as we did not expect that they would have made any mention of your keeping possession of the forts you have taken from the French; for it was agreed upon by the Six Nations, as well as all other Indians, that the French should be driven out of this country, and the possession of all their forts and towns put into the hands of our brethren the English; and the road of peace was opened, from the sun rising to the sun setting, for all nations to travel in. (A string.) " Then Kayashuta, a chief of the Senecas, got up, and laying down a copy of the treaty of peace, made by Col. Bradstreet with the Indians, in the year 1764, spoke as follows: "Brethren, What our chief has just now mentioned to you is very true, and you will see by this paper, that, during the late unhappy differences between us, we held a treaty with Col. Bradstreet, by which we agreed that you had a right to build forts and trading houses where you pleased, and to travel the road of peace, from-the sun rising to the sun setting. At that treaty the Shawanese and Delawares were with me, and know all this well, and I am much surprised that the Shawanese should speak to you in the manner they did yesterday. " The Commissioners then addressed themselves to the Six Nations, and spoke as follows: "Brethren of the Six Nations, It gave us great pleasure to hear what you said the other day to your brother Onas, and we thank you in his name for the readiness you discovered in brightening and making strong our ancient chain of friendship. This will be very agreeable to him, as we know he is sincerely determined to continue to do the same on his part. "Brethren, We esteem it a strong mark of the sincerity and goodness of your hearts, that you have opened them to us so freely and fully, as your brother Onas earnestly desired you, that he might know whatever lay still concealed within your breasts, which gavp you any uneasiness. " Brethren, You have candidly and publicly told us that you are now easy with respect to all former losses you have suffered by our means, and 358 THE OLDEN TIME. that you will take no further notice of such things. This entirely corresponds with your strong professions of friendship. (A string.) "Brethren, You have also freely, and without reserve, informed us that the only grievance which you now have reason to complain of is the set tlement made on your lands. We are glad, brethren, we have now so good an opportunity of acquainting you, as well as the several nations present, with the mind of your brother Onas, and the endeavors which have been used to do you justice in this respect. " Brethren, We can assure you that nothing has given him more concern than to find a number of foolish people should dare to seat themselves on lands in this province, which your good friends the proprietors have not as yet purchased from you. Governor Penn, therefore, as well from his own sincere and earnest inclinations to remove this injury done you, as by the express commands of our great King George, issued proclamations, near two years ago, ordering all persons whatsoever who had settled on your lands to remove without delay, and forbidding others from taking the least possession of any, under the severest penalty of the law. "Brethren, As the people who have settled your lands came chiefly from Virginia, the Governor of that province likewise issued proclamations and orders to the same purpose. The king's General, too (his Excellency General Gage). hath twice sent up parties of soldiers to the people living on Redstone Creek and the Monongahela, to warn them off your lands, and threatened them with seizing their persons and effects if they refused to move away. But, brethren, we are sorry to tell you that none of these measures'have had the desired effect; and, therefore, Governor Penn and his Assembly, having still your interest greatly at heart, passed a law in February last, inflicting the penalty of death on all persons who should continue on your lands after the first day of June next; and in order that the people who were settled on them might have timely and proper notice of that law, Governor Penn, near two months ago, sent to them four prudent and honest men to distribute copies of it among them, with a number of proclamations, commanding them to obey it strictly, under the penalty of death, and also to read and explain them fully to all those people. "Brethren, Those four men have lately returned home, and reported to the Governor of Pennsylvania that they had executed his orders; but that they were told by the people settled at and near Redstone Creek, that they had been encouraged by the Indians themselves to continue on those lands; that, however, they are determined to obey the law and move off without delay. But, brethren, we are sorry to tell you as soon as the men sent by the Governor had prevailed on the settlers to consent to a compliance with the law, there came among them eight Indians, who live at the Mingo town down this river, and desired the people not to leave their settlements, but to sit quiet on them till the present treaty at this place should be NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 359 concluded. The people, on receiving this advice and encouragement, suddenly changed their minds, and determined not to quit their places till they should hear further from the Indians. " The Indians then delivered to the men sent by the Governor a string of wampum and a speech, which they desired them to carry to the Governor. The speech was this:'You are sent here by your great men to tell these people to go away from the lands which you say is ours, and our great men have sent us, and we are glad to meet here the same day. We tell you the white people must stop, and we stop them till the treaty; and when George Croghan and our great men shall speak together, we will tell them what to do.' "Now, brethren, we cannot help expressing to you our great concern at this behavior of those Indians, as it has absolutely frustrated the steps the Governor was taking to do you justice, by the immediate removal of those people from your lands. And we must tell you, brethren, that the conduct of those Indians appears to us very astonishing; and we are much at a loss to account for the reason of it at this time, when the Six Nations are complaining of encroachments being made on their lands. You, yourselves, brethren, must be very sensible that, while any of the Indians encourage the people to stay on your lands, it will inevitably defeat all our measures to remove them. But, brethren, all that we have now to desire of you is, that you will immediately send off some of your prudent and wise men with a message to the people settled at Redstone, Youghiogheny and Monongahela, to contradict the advice of the Indians from the Mingo town; and to acquaint them that you very much disapprove of their continuing any longer on their settlements; and that you expect they will quit them without delay. " If you agree to this, we will send an honest and discrete white man to accompany your messengers. And, brethren, if after receiving such notice from you, they shall refuse to remove by the time limited them, you may depend upon it, the Governor will not fail to put the law into immediate execution against them. (A string.) "The Commissioners then, addressing themselves to the Shawanese, spoke as follows: "Brethren, In the first part of your speeches yesterday, you acquainted us that it was very disagreeable to you to see a fort continued at this place, contrary to your expectations, and that you were very sorry to find a number of batteaux building here, in order to go down the river. With regard to these things we can only say, it is not a little surprising to us that you should mention them at this time, as we have always understood that this matter was settled with the Six Nations and all other Indians several years ago, and their full consent obtained for keeping forts in your country, as well as for going down this river to trade. But, brethren, as we came here 360 THE OLDEN TIME. to confer with you on subjects which only relate to the province of Pennsylvania, we have no concern in this business. It is an affair of our great king of England, and as such we must refer you for a more particular answer to Mr. Croghan, who, you know, is appointed by his Majesty to transact his affairs with the Indians in this country. " The Commissioners then spoke to the Delawares, Shawanese, Munsies, Mohicons and Wyandots, as follows: "Brethren, We now return you thanks in the name of the Governor of Pennsylvania, and in behalf of the good people of that province, for the kind manner in which you have received his messages by us. We assure you it gave us great satisfaction to hear you declare in this public council, your hearty concurrence with him in keeping fast hold of the chain of friendship, and your determination to preserve it bright, and not to suffer any little accidents to make a breach in it. " Brethren, It is a strong proof of the sincerity of your hearts, that you have resolved to forget entirely all the past mischiefs and injuries which have been committed by the folly of our wicked and rash young men,, and we now hope these things will never interrupt our future peace and happiness. "Brethren, We also thank you for making the road smooth between you and the people of Pennsylvania, by removing all the obstructions that were in it, in such a manner that it may be traveled by all people with ease and safety. " Brethren, It will give us much pleasure when we return to Philadelphia to communicate to the Governor all that has passed between us in these conferences; and to assure him of your friendly dispositions and upright intentions, which you may depend on we shall faithfully do. (A belt.)'The Commissioners having finished what they had to say to the Indians, Mr. Croghan made them the following speeches:' Brethren the Shawanese, When you spoke yesterday to the Governor of Pennsylvania, you desired him to destroy this fort, and not to pass down this river, as it was bloody; and said that our warriors passing through your country, gave you and all other nations great uneasiness in your minds. You are the only nation that has mentioned this circumstance, and I must tell you that this fort was built by the king's orders, and that your brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania, has no concern in this matter. "Brethren, I well remember that when the French first built a fort here, and passed up and down this river, you did not desire them to destroy their forts and leave your country. We were at war with your old fathers, the French, when we drove them away and took possession of this fort: after that we conquered them, which you well know, and when we came here the Six Nations agreed to it, and came with us and opened a road NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 361 of peace through all this country from the sun rising to the sun setting, both by land and water, that we might talk in peace with all nations of Indians to the westward; and we thought the Six Nations had a right so to do, as we always understood that they were the original proprietors of this country. "Brethren, when I was first going down this river, by order of his excellence General Gage, and the honorable Sir William Johnson, all the nations now present agreed to it, and sent deputies with me to promote the good work of peace with all the nations of Indians to the westward; and to receive them into the chain of friendship subsisting between the king's subjects, the Six Nations, and all others in alliance with them; and to take them under his Majesty's most gracious protection, which has beeh since done. It is very true when we first went down we met with a misfortune from some of the nations we were going to speak to, through the instiga-, tion of the French, who then had an influence with those people to persuade them to do mischief, but ever since that time those nations have behaved well to their brethren, the English, and after that unhappy accident, by which we were sufferers, Captain Murray and Mr. M'Kee condoled with your nation for your losses, agreeable to the ancient custom of our forefathers, and buried the bones of our deceased friends, whose loss gave me great pain of mind; and I did not expect to find their bones raked out of the ground and brought into council at this time, especially as you must know that we were struck by the very hatchet you yourselves put into their hands to strike the English with. " Brethren, By the late treaty of peace between the king of Great Britain and the French king, the latter gave us possession of all their forts and towns as we had conquered them. You likewise took notice yesterday of our building boats and making repairs to this fort. I must tell you, that the king my master never made war on any Indian nation in this country; on the contrary, he has always promoted peace among you; an instance of which you see in the peace brought about between the Six Nations and Cherokees. But you all well know that the French acted on different principles, by setting one nation at war against another. This conduct of theirs was not pleasing to the Six Nations; they, therefore, requested the English to go with them and Sir William Johnson to drive the French from Niagara and put it into the possesion of the English, which you all well know they did; and since that time our warriors have passed through this country from fort to fort, and back again, and no difference has happened between them and your people. 1 am therefore surprised, brethren, to hear you want to stop the road of peace that hath been so long opened for all nations, from the sun rising to the sun setting. (A belt.) "Brethren of the Six Nations, Shawanese, Delawares, Wyandotts, Munsies and Mohicons, give attention to what I am going to say to you. 362 THE OLDEN TIME. "It gives me great satisfaction to find that the measures taken by the Governor of Pennsylvania and the wise people of that province, have proved so effectual and agreeable to your several nations as to remove all uneasiness from your minds, on account of the many accidents that have happened between your people and the king's subjects in that province; and that you have buried them so deep in the earth that neither you nor your children yet unborn may call them to remembrance. "Brethren, Your forefathers lived in the strictest friendship with the worthy founder of that province and the good people that came with him; and you have now renewed and brightened that ancient chain of friendship with the Governor's Commissioners, in behalf of the king's subjects in that government. I now recommend it to your several nations to hold fast by that chain and act on the same principles your forefathers formerly did. (A string.) "Brethren, You have all heard what the Six Nations said to you by their deputies, that they heartily repented of their own past ill conduct towards their brethren, the English, in stealing horses and committing other abuses; and they have desired you, brethren, to cast out all evil thoughts from your minds, and return any stolen horses you may have amongst you, and think of nothing for the future but promoting the good work of peace between you and your good brethren the English. " Brethren, the king of Great Britain, your father and my master, takes delight in promoting peace among all nations of Indians, in this country, and his own subjects, which you must be well acquainted with. You all daily experience his love towards you, and his pity for your necessities, by the favors you constantly receive from his officers here and elswhere, and I am sorry to say that your past conduct shows a want of gratitude in you to his subjects. " Whenever the king makes peace with any nation, he never violates his engagements,Athough he always has it in his power to chastise any people that dare be so hardy as to disturb the tranquility of their neighbors. But I now trust, brethren, that your future conduct will be such as may merit his Majesty's esteem and protection. " By this belt I now clear the road of peace and make it smooth and easy to travel from the sun rising to the sun setting, that your brethren the English, and all nations of Indians may travel it with pleasure as one people, united in the strongest chain of friendship, that our women and children yet unborn may mutually enjoy the blessings of a lasting peace. "Brethren of the Six Nations, who are settled at the Two Creeks, I am sorry to hear from some of your brethren the English, that whenever any of them pass by your village, you take rum and other things from them. You must be sensible this conduct is very wrong, and a breach of your engagements to us. I hope I shall hear no more of it. You have NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 363 been desired three years ago by the Six Nation council, to remove up this river nearer to their country, and I now desire you will take that message into your most serious consideration, and do as they have directed you, which will be very agreeable to all your brethren the English. (A string.) "Mr. Croghan having finished what he had to say to the Indians, the Commissioners addressed themselves to all the nations present, and said: "Brethren, We are now to acquaint you, that, by order of the government of Pennsylvania, we deliver to you a present of goods, to be distributed among the several tribes present, to clothe your women and children; and we desire you will receive them as a testimony of the affection and regard which the Governor and good people of this province have for you. " The Commissioners then delivered the presents to the different tribes, amounting to one thousand and fifty pounds, Pennsylvania currency, including the several private presents made to the chiefs and principal warriors. "This evening arrived here twenty-five Six Nation warriors on their return from the Cherokee country, and brought with them twenty-two prisoners." AT A PRIVATE CONFERENCE HELD AT FORT PITT, ON FRIDAY THE 6TH OF MAY, 1768, WITH ALL THE CHIEFS AND PRINCIPAL WARRIORS OF THE DELAWARES, MUNSIES AND MOHICONS. "Present, Mr. Croghan and the Commissioners. "The Beaver rose up and spoke as follows in behalf of the Delawares, Munsies and Mohicons. " Brethren, It gives us great pleasure that the Conferences are now ended, that the ancient chain of friendship is now renewed, and the road made smooth between our several tribes and our brother the Governor of Pennsylvania. Every thing you have said respecting the folly of our young people in stealing your horses and committing other abuses, we have laid to our hearts, and will take care to prevent any such misconduct in them for the future; and we desire, brethren, you will take care that none of your young people steal any horses from us, which they have frequently done. (A belt.) " He then addressed himself to the Commissioners, and said, "Brethren, We now speak to you on account of trade. The traders who supply us with goods come from your province, and we do not take upon us to judge whether the goods they sell to us are dear or not, as we are ignorant of what they cost them; but we are certain, from our own knowledge, that they do not allow us the same price for our skins and furs 364 THE OLDEN TIME. as they did formerly, and hope you will speak to them to allow us a sufficient price for our peltry. (A belt.) "Brethren, The country lying between this river and the Allegheny mountains, has always been our hunting ground; but the white people who have scattered themselves over it, have, by their hunting, deprived us of the game, which we look upon ourselves to have the only right to; and we desire you will acquaint our brother, the Governor, of this, and prevent their hunting there for the future. (A string.) "Brethren, We have now done speaking on business, and every thing has been settled at this conference to our satisfaction; and we have agreed that two of our principal warriors, named Quequedaguedo and Killbuck, shall accompany you to Philadelphia, in order to see the Governor, and bring us such answers as he shall think proper to send us respecting our trade and hunting country. (A belt.) " To which the Commissioners replied: "Brethren, We have already communicated to you and the other nations, the several steps taken by tfle government to do you all justice, with respect to the encroachments on your lands; and we shall carefully report to the Governor every thing you have now said to us on this head, that he may take such measures as may be judged most expedient to satisfy you; and you may expect to receive his answer as soon as a convenient opportunity offers." AT A MEETING HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON SATURDAY THE 7TH OF MAY, 1768, WITH THE CH1EFS AND PRINCIPAL WARRIORS OF THE SHAWANESE. "Present, Mr. Croghan and the Commissioners. " Kissinaughtha, a chief of the Shawanese, addressed himself to the Commissioners, and said: "Brethren, When you spoke to us from the Governor, you desired us to speak from our hearts, and tell you whatever gave us any uneasiness of mind. We considered your speeches, and did so, which we find by your answer was not agreeable to you. You tell us, what we spoke to you did not belong to the Governor of Pennsylvania, but to the king. " Brethren, We assure you that we are as well disposed to live in friendship with our brethren the English as any other nation in this country, and will hold fast by the chain of friendship, now renewed and brightened by our Brother Onas, as long as the grass grows, or waters run, with all our brethren the English. (A string.) "The same speaker addressed himself to Mr. Croghan, and spoke as follows: NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 365 " Brother, We are all very sorry that we should have said any thing the other day to our brother Onas, that should give you or his Commissioners any offence, or our brethren the Six Nations. But as the Governor of Pennsylvania, in his speeches, desired us to open our minds, and to tell everything that gives us any uneasiness, we were determined to do so. "Brother, When you spoke to us the next day, you told us every thing that passed in the time of war, as well as since, which is very true; and we acknowledge we were wrong, though we did not expect you would do as we requested. And fiom what you have told us, we know that it is not in the power of any other person but the king our father. And though you say we are the only nation that has mentioned this to you, we know that all other nations of Indians wish, as well as we, that there were no forts in this country.'"As to what we said about the boats going down the river, we did not mean that they should not go, but desired you would not send them till we had time to go and counsel with the nations in that country, as we have heard bad news from thence. And as to what we said about our people that were killed when you were taken prisoner, we only mentioned to show you what a foolish people the Indians there are. It is very true, brother, we did send a hatchet to those nations in time of war; but it was sent to us from the Senecas to carry to them. "Brother, We now desire that you may forget what we first spoke to you about those things; and help us to some council wampum, as we are very poor; and we will immediately set out to talk to all the nations in that country, and take back from them all the belts we sent them, and do every thing in our power to make the road smooth and easy to travel, and convince you that we are as much disposed to hold fast the chain of friendship as any nation in this country." (A belt.) AT A MEETING HELD WITH THE INDIANS AT FORT PITT, ON MONDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF MAY, 1768, WITH THE CHIEFS AND PRINCIPAL WARRIORS OF THE SIX NATIONS. A It was agreed upon by them to comply with the request of the Commissioners in sending messengers to the people settled at Redstone, Youghiogany and Monongahela, to signify to them the great displeasure of the Six Nations at their taking possession of the lands there, and making settlements on them; and also that it is expected they will, with their families, remove without further notice. They accordingly appointed the White Mingo and the three deputies sent from the Six Nation country, to carry a message to that effect; and the Commissioners agreed to send Mr. 366 THE OLDEN TIME. John Frazer and Mr. William Thompson, to accompany them, with written instructions in behalf of the government of Pennsylvania." "MONDAY, MAY 9TH, 1768. P. M. "The Indian messengers having agreed to set out for Redstone Creek to-morrow, the Commissioners, as an encouragement to them for the trouble of their journey, made them a present of some black wampum. " They then desired Mr. Frazer and Capt. Thompson to hold themselves prepared for accompanying the Indian messengers in the morning, and wrote them a letter of instructions, which follows in these words, viz: "FORT PITT, MAY 9TH, 1768. "Gentlemen, The Six Nations, at the public conferences held last week with them and other tribes of Indians at this place, renewed their complaints of encroachments being made on their lands; and they have agreed, at our instance, to send four messengers to the people settled on the waters of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny, to express their great disapprobation of their continuing still there; and also to let them know that it is expected by the whole confederacy of the Six Nations, that they will remove from the lands they have unjustly taken possession of without further dblay. But as it is necessary, in order to enforce the message from the Indians, and to see that it is properly and effectually communicated to the people, that some prudent persons should accompany the Indian messengers, we request you will do us the favor to undertake this business. "As soon as you arrive in the midst of the settlements near Redstone Creek, it will be proper to convene as many of the settlers as possible, to whom the Indians may then deliver their message, which shall be given to you in writing; and we desire you will leave a few copies of it with the principal people, that they may communicate the same to those who live at any considerable distance from them. We herewith furnish you with a copy of the speech delivered to us at this treaty by the Six Nations, respecting the settlement of their lands, which you will be pleased to read to the settlers for their information. "You may then acquaint them, that they must now be convinced by this message and the speech of the Six Nations, that they have hitherto been grossly deceived by a few straggling Indians of no consequence, who may have encouraged them to continue on their settlements; and that they will now be left without the least pretence or excuse for staying on them any longer. However, we make no doubt but before you reach Redstone many of the families will have removed, in obedience to the late law passed in this province, which has been read and fully explained to them by the Rev. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 367 Mr. Steel, and the other gentlemen whom the Governor sent up to them in March last. "But should you find any of those inconsiderate people still actuated by a lawless and obstinate spirit to bid defiance to the civil authority, you may let them know that we were under no necessity of sending, in the name of the Governor, any further notice to them, or of being at the pains of making them acquainted with the real minds of the Indians, to induce them to quit their settlements, for that the powers of government are sufficient to compel them to pay due obedience to the laws; and they may depend upon it, they will be effectually exerted if they persist in their obstinacy. "You may likewise assure them, that they need not attempt to make an offer of terms with the government respecting their removal, as we hear some of them have vainly proposed to do, by saying they would go off the lands immediately, on condition that they should be secured to them as soon as the proprietary purchase is made. It is a high insult to government for those people even to hint such things. "' The only motives, therefore, which excite us to make use of the present expedient of sending you with messengers from the Indians on this occasion, is the compassionate concern we have for the dangerous situation and distress of those unhappy people, and the hopes we have that by this means they may be convinced it is their true and best interest to pay a due submission to the laws, by relinquishing their settlements without delay. If any of them should talk of petitioning the Governor for a preference in taking up the lands they have improved, you may assure them from us, that it will be to no manner of purpose till they have first complied with the law. " We depend greatly on your care and prudence in executing this business to our satisfaction, and recommend it to you to be particularly careful that the Indian messengers are treated with the greatest civility and kindness. When you return to Fort Bedford, we beg you will write us an account of your proceedings. We wish you a safe return to your families, and are, with great regard, "Gentlemen, your most humble servants, "JOHN ALLEN, "JOSEPH SHIPPEN, jr. " To MESSRS. JOHN FRAZER AND WM. THOMPSON." " Messrs. Frazer and Thompson being in readiness with their horses and provisions for their journey to Redstone Creek, the Commissioners sent several times for the Indian messengers, who at last came to them to 368 THE OLDEN TIME. the fort, and acquainted them that they had been seriously considering the business they were going to be sent on, and it now appeared to them so disagreeable that they could by no means consent to undertake it, and immediately returned the wampum which had been given them. Upon being interrogated as to the reasons of their declining to perform what they had consented to, they answered that three of them were sent as deputies by the Six Nation council to attend the treaty here; and having received no directions from them to proceed any further, they chose to return home, in order to make report of what they had seen and heard at this place. They further added, that the driving white people away from their settlements was a matter which no Indians could, with any satisfaction, be concerned in, and they thought it most proper for the English themselves to compel their own people to remove from the Indian lands. " After this refusal of the Indians, who had been appointed to carry the message from the Six Nations, the commissioners in vain attempted to persuade or procure others to execute the business, though they used great endeavors for that purpose, and they thought it both useless and imprudent to continue to press a matter on the Indians which they found they were generally much averse to; and therefore concluded to set out on their return to Philadelphia witlout further delay. But in a short time afterwards Kayashuta came with Arroas (a principal warrior of the Six Nations), to the Comnisssioners at their lodgings, where the former addressed himself to'them in effect as follows, viz: "Brethren, I am very sorry to find that you have been disappointed in your expectations of the Indian messengers going to Redstone, according to your desire and our agreement; and I am much afraid that you are now going away from us with a discontented mind on this account. Believe me, brethren, this thought fills my heart with the deepest grief, and I could not suffer you to leave us without speaking to you on this subject, and endeavoring to make your minds easy. We were all of us much disposed to comply with your request, and expected it could have been done without difficulty, but I now find not only the Indians appointed by us, but all our other young men are very unwilling to carry a message from us to the white people, ordering them to remove from our lands. They say they would not choose to incur the ill will of those people, for, if they should be now removed, they will hereafter return to their settlements when the English have purchased the country from us. And we shall be very unhappy, if, by our conduct towards them at this time, we shall give them reason to dislike us, and treat us in an unkind manner when they again become our neighbors. We therefore hope, brethren, you will not be displeased at us for not performing our agreement with you, for you may be assured that we have good hearts towards all our brethren the English. "The Commissioners returned Kayashuta many thanks for his friendly CAPTAIN STOBO. 369 behaviour on this occasion; and assured him that they greatly approved of the conduct of all the Indians during the treaty, and were now returning home with very easy and contented minds. They further acquainted him that their reason for urging them to send a message to the Redstone settlers proceeded entirely from the great anxiety they had of contributing every thing in their power that might expedite the measures taken by the government to do them justice, and to redress every injury they complained of. Yet, as they found the compliance of their request was disagreeable to the Indians, they should not press the matter on them any further, though it appeared to be a step very necessary to be taken at this time. " They then took leave of the Indians, in the most friendly manner, and set on their return to Philadelphia." CAPTAIN STOBO. Our earnest and frequent inquiries for further information about this brave and faithful soldier have at length met with a most gratifying response, made in the most gentlemanly manner, by one most competent to instruct in the early history of our country, and who combines with great facilities for collecting such information, a most enthusiastic fondness for such researches. Mr. Lyman C. Draper, of Baltimore, who is about to publish biographical notices of many of the leading pioneers of our country, and who has spent years in collecting materials for that purpose, has responded to our inquiries in a most liberal and courteous spirit. We are much gratified by the opportunity of placing his communication before our readers, not only on account of the valuable information which it contains, but as a very favorable indication of his fitness for the important and interesting task of biographer of the bold and hardy ipirits who opened the way for the settlement of our great valley. Having access to the Maryland Gazette of that period, which is so interesting in our immediate history, he has diligently availed himself of it in presenting to us such a notice of Captain Stobo, as proves the correctness of Hume in styling his adventures " extraordinary." In relation to him we will further remark, that we have read in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the letter of tie 28th of July, 1754, published on pages 59 and 60 of the Olden Time, and have carefully examined the very neat plan of Fort Duquesne in that letter, and it has always been a mystery to us how he managed to execute it, without being detected in the very act. Indeed we think the very facts of such a letter being written, and such a plan of the fort being drawn by Stobo, affords an argument in favor of the VOL. i-24 370 THE OLDEN TIME. fidelity of Van Braam. We can readily conceive, that while Stobo was performing his task, Van Braam may have been keeping vigilant watch to prevent a surprise.* As to La Force, we have but little to add. We have no doubt that the man who is mentioned in Washington's first journal, who is again mentioned in a letter from Washington (see page 38 of Olden Time), and who is spoken of in both Stobo's letters (see page 60 and 61), is the same man who afterwards acted on Lake Ontario. ADVENTURES OF CAPT. ROBERT STOBO. WITH SOME NOTICE OF LA FORCE AND VAN BRAAM. To the Editor of the Olden Time: The anxious desire you evince in the February, June and July numbers of your meritorious Magazine, to know the details of the gallant Captain Stobo's adventures, is very natural, and, I may add, praiseworthy. And although I have no right to class myself among your Scotch friends, to whom you particularly appeal for the information desired, yet I will venture to contribute, so far as I can, what facts have come within my knowledge, having a bearing upon the interesting subject under review. As a kind of necessary preliminary to Stobo's exploits, some notice of the career and imprisonment of Mons. La Force seems indispensable to a full and proper understanding of the narrative. It will be recollected that La Force is first mentioned in Washington's Diary of his mission to the Ohio, in 1753, as a French commissary, who accompanied him on a part of his tour; and the ensuing year was captured at J umonville's defeat, and sent a prisoner to Williamsburg. From the Maryland Gazette of March 14th, 1754, I am enabled to supply a hiatus occurring between these two events; and though the extract is somewhat lengthy, it will nevertheless be found sufficiently interesting to repay the space it will occupy. It will be seen, moreover, that the article * We will remark here, however, that the two sentences in Captain Stobo's letters, which are quoted by Mr.Draper, and used in defense of Van Braam, do not, in our opinion, add much strength to an argument which was strong without them, because Stobo might have used them without consulting his co-hostage. But these very sentences are the strongest evidence of the fidelity and indomitable spirit of Stobo himself, and they are the precise sentences which many years ago awakened our admiration of his character, and incited our curiosity to know more about him. Little, however, did we anticipate that our inquiries were to elicit a narrative of such "extraordinary adventures." We must add, that even yet we are not satisfied with what we know of him; we should rejoice to trace his history until the cold hand of death chilled that lofty spirit. CAPTAIN STOBO. 371 contains the substance of two early letters addressed to Washington, the originals of which were among the number missing from the Washington papers, mentioned in a note on page 1st, vol. 2d, of Sparks' Life and Writings of that great and good man. But to the quotation. "Letters from Messieurs Trent and Gist, to Major Washington, give some account of their situation near the Ohio. The first letter is dated February the 19th, at Yaughyaughgany Big Bottom. The 17th Mr. Trent arrived at the forks of Monongohella* (from the mouth of Redstone Creek, where he has built a strong store house), and met Mr. Gist and several others. In two or three days they expected down all the people, and as soon as they came, were to lay the foundation of the fort, expecting to make out for that purpose about 70 or 80 men. The Indians were to join them and make them strong. They requested him (Major Washington) to march out to them with all possible expedition. They acquainted him that Monsieur La Force (or La Farce) had made a speech to some of our Indians, and told them that neither they nor the English there would see the sun twenty days longer; thirteen of the days being then [then?] to come. By what Mr. Croghan could learn from an Indian in the French interest, they might expect 400 French down at that time. A messenger sent from the French fort had letters for the commanders of the other forts to march immediately and join them, in order to cut off our Indians and whites, and some French Indians were likewise expected to join them. When La Force had made his speech to the Indians, they sent a string of wampum to Mr. Croghan, to desire him to hurry the English to come, for they expected soon to be attacked, and pressed him hard to come and join them; for they wanted necessaries and assistance, and then would strike. They further write that 600 French and Indians were gone against the lower Shawanese town, to cut off the Shawanese. Two hundred Ottawas and Chippewas came to Muskingum and demanded the white people there, and showed them the French hatchet. The Wyandotts, though not above 30 men, refused to let them kill them in their town; but they expected every day to hear they cut off the whites, and likewise the Wyandotts." The other letter is dated at Monongohella, *Let, then, the SEVENTEENTH OF FEBRUARY, 1754, henceforth be held in perpetual remembrance as the exact date when Trent, Gibt and their adventurous companions met "at the forks of Monongahela," fnd first pitched their half-faced camps, or hastily threw up their rudely formed cabins. That was the feeble inception of what is now the busy and thriving CITY OF PITTSBURGH, the Birmingham of America I What wonderous deeds, what mighty changes in the national domain, were consequent upon that humble lodgment, far in the wilderness, west of the Alleghenies! Forever honored be the names and memory of Capt. WILLIAM TRENT, and Captain CHRISTOPHER GIsT-names so intimately connected with the origin and infant history of the Iron City of the West! It may not be impertinent here to suggest, that the annual return of the SEVENTEENTH OF FEBRUARY should be celebrated by the citizens of Pittsburgh; and in an especial manner should the CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY, February 17th, 1754, be consecrated in advance as a gala day, and welcomed with distinguished honors. 372 THE OLDEN TIME. February 23d. Mr. Gist writes: "An Indian who was taken prisoner from the Chickasaws by the Six Nations some years ago, has been this year to see his friends there. In his passage up the Ohio, he fell in with a body of near 400 French coming up the river; he parted with them below the Falls, and then came in company with ten of them that were sent up to treat with the Shawanese at the lower town. On their arrival there, the English traders had agreed to make prisoners of them; but the French getting a hint from some Indians, they fled away in the night without discovering their business. We have also news of 600 French and Indians gone down to fall on the Shawanese, if they will not allow the lower army to pass up the river to join that above. It would, therefore, be prudent to let the Governor know this, perhaps he might send a number of Cherokees to join the Shawanese at the lower town, and defeat them, or prevent their joining those above. Pray send a line by Mr. Stewart, and let us know the exact time you will be here, that we may speak truth in all we say to our friends." The Maryland Gazette of the following week, 21st March, 1754, gives us some further insight into the council held by La Force with the Indians, and the place where it convened, viz: " There are 22 French in Logstown,* who, about five weeks ago, held a council with the Indians; in which they told them, that as they had determined not to make their fire with them, but had done it with their brothers the English, they might expect to be struck, and that their brothers the English should see the sun but twenty days, and then they would destroy all the Indians. Upon which, MONOCATOOCHA took his tomahawk out of his bosom and said:'You have often deceived us, but now tell us you shall strike our brothers the English; we believe you speak the truth; come on, we are ready for you, and will stand by and join our brothers against you.' A few days before the above council was held, the French had taken one John Patten prisoner, which the Half-King hearing, went to them, and said to this effect: _We have suffered you to take our brothers often, and have taken no notice of it; but since you have the impudence to take our brothers before our faces, we see your design; upon which he went up to the French Captain and knocked him down, and then turning to Patten, said:'My brother, you are a freeman, I discharge you, go about your business.' La Force evidently found it difficult to manage such bold and fiery spirits as Monocatoocha and the Half-King. And it seems quite likely that he was the "French Captain,"-not literally such, but acting as the leading *1' From Pittsburgh to Logstown, on the west side of the Ohio, 18% miles." MS. Journals of Robert and James McAfee, in 1773, now in possession of General Robert B. McAfee, of Kentucky, of which I have been kindly permitted to take copies. CAPTAIN STOBO. 373 French officer at the council, who received the striking honor of a knock down at the hands of the indignant Half-King.* Subsequent events, as already stated, placed La Force in prison at Williamsburg. The Maryland Gazette of September 12th, 1754, under the Williamsburg head of August 23d, contains this paragraph: "Yesterday at four o'clock in the evening, Mons. Drouillon, Mons. La Force, two cadets, and seventeen private men, who were prisoners here, set out under an escort for the French fort at the Ohio." In the same Gazette of the ensuing 10th October, and under the Williamsburg head of September 19th, the following announcement is made: " On Monday last, arrived here from Winchester, Captain Waddel, of the North Carolina regiment, who brought with him, under an escort, Mons. La Force, who is now confined in the public gaol in this city." Thus we see that La Force was conveyed only to Winchester, and thence in less than a month, was remanded back to Williamsburg. Governor Dinwiddie had given these orders in consequence of the French having captured eight of the frontier people, exposed them for sale at 40 pistoles each,t and failing to find purchasers, sent them prisoners to Canada. After near two years imprisonment, La Force, in the summer of 1756, had the address to effect his escape. This event is thus noticed in the third volume of Burk's History of Virginia, viz: "Meanwhile La Force had, by almost incredible efforts, broken the prison at Williamsburg, and the minds of the people of the whole country were in alarm. The opinion that before prevailed of his extraordinary address and activity, his desperate courage and fertility in resources, was by this new feat wrought into a mingled agony of terror and astonishment. Already had he reached King and Queen's Court House without any knowledge of the country through which he passed, without a compass, and not daring to ask a question, when he attracted the notice of a backwoodsman. Their route lay the same way; and it occured to La Force, that by the friendship and fidelity of this man, he might escape in spite of the difficulties and dangers of his situation. Some questions proposed by La Force relative to the distance and direction of Fort Duquesne, confirmed the woodsman in his suspicions, and he arrested him as he was about to cross *These two gallant chiefs remained faithful to the English. In the Gazettes of that day, it is stated that the Half-King, in the fight of the 28th May, 1751, himself dispatched Jumonville with his tomahawk, declaring he would revenge himself on the French, who had killed, boiled and eaten his father. He died, after having been sometime indisposed, at Harris' Ferry, now Harrisburg, October 4th, 1754. Monocatoocha also fought with his English brothers, in the affair with Jumonville; and at Braddock's defeat he behaved well, but had his son killed. t Maryland Gazette, September 12th, 1754. 374 THE OLDEN TIME. the ferry at West Point. In vain did La Force tempt the woodsman with an immediate offer of money, and with promises of wealth and preferment on condition that he accompanied him to Fort Duquesne. He was proof against every allurement inconsistent with his duty, and he led.him back to Williamsburg. " The condition of La Force, after this attempt, became in the highest degree distressing. He was loaded with a double weight of irons, and chained to the floor of his dungeon. "Such was the situation of affairs when Colonel Washington, after his resignation, arrived in Williamsburg. Here, for the first time, he heard of the imprisonment and persecution of La Force,* and he felt himself compelled to remonstrate with Mr. Dinwiddie against them, as an infraction of the articles of capitulation, and of the laws of honor acknowledged by soldiers. His application was strongly backed by the sympathy of the people, which now began to run strongly ih favor of the prisoner. But the Governor was inexorable." How long La Force was kept in confinement, I have no present means of determining. In the Maryland Gazette of August 30th, 1759, under the New York head of August 20th, are given many of the details relative to the conquest of Fort Niagara the July proceeding; and among them, a journal is published, kept by one of the French officers at Niagara during the siege, which fell into the hands of the English at the surrender of that garrison. By this journal it appears that "Mons. La Force, Captain of the schooner Iroquois," was dispatched by Mons. Pouchot, Commandant of Fort Niagara, with his vessel, to destroy seven barges that had been seen on the Lake, a league and a half from the Fort-fired several shot at them, and perceived the English were making an entrenchment at a little swamp, &c. Next day Mons. La Force again went out and fired on the English camp. Shortly after, July 12th, M. La Force was sent to Frontenac for relief, doubtless to raise the siege, with orders to return immediately. The schooner Iroquois returns the afternoon of the 19th. The 21st, the schooner was sent to " see two canoes over to Toronto, one of which is to post to Montreal, from thence she (the schooner) is to cruise off Oswego, to try and stop the enemy's convoys on their way." Fort Niagara soon after surrrendered to the English; La Force was cruising and thus escaped captivity, and no mention is made of him. *At the close of 1751, Washington resigned his commission; in 1755, immediately after Braddock's defeat, he was placed at the head of the Virginia regiment, and again resigned at the close of Forbes' campaign, December, 1759. What is said in this paragraph of Burk's about Washington's visiting Williamsburg qfter his resignation, and then, for the first time hearing of the imprisonment of La Force, is confusedly and blunderingly stated. No doubt Washington remonstrated with the Governor, and very likely both before and after La Force's attempted escape. CAPTAIN STOBO. 375 That this was the same person so long confined atWilliamsburg, is more than probable; and the fact that a " Mons. Villars, a Captain and Knight of the order of St. Louis,"-doubtless the M. Villars who figured at the Great Meadows and Duquesne, and the friend of La Force-was among the officers taken at Niagara, tends to corroborate, to some extent, the identity. And this last service of La Force on Lake Ontario, is in perfect keeping with the character and enterprise of the man. Captain Stobo next demands our attention. He "was born in or near Glasgow,"* Scotland, and probably emigrated early to Virginia. The genius and energy of Stobo, with something of a cultivated mind, superadded to his Scotch origin, secured from Gov. Dinwiddie the appointment of Captain in that little force which was placed on the frontiers of Virginia in the spring of 1754; and took an active part in all the operations proceeding the surrender of Fort Necessity, at the Great Meadows, on the 3d of July of that year. As already seen, contrary to the articles of capitulation, La Force and his companies were detained as prisoners, instead of being released, as they plainly should have been, and sent to their friends at Fort Duquesne. The reasons assigned by GovernorDinwiddie for violating the pledge of Washington, have considerable force, but cannot be deemed satisfactory. This impolitic detention of the French captives, was not only a palpable breach of faith with the French government and.the prisoners themselves, but bore with peculiar weight and injustice upon the English hostages, the generous Stobo and Van Braam, who had, to serve their country, voluntarily yielded themselves into the enemy's hands, to suffer hardships severe and prolonged, of which they could have had but a faint conception. The two letters of Captain Stobo, published in the February number of the Olden Time, bespeak the patriotism and devotion of the writer to his country; and as corroborative evidence of their authenticity, if any indeed were needed, the following paragraph from the Maryland Gazette of Sept. 12th, 1754, under the Williamsburg head of Aug. 29th, may be given: "We have advice from Fort Duquesne (the fort the French took from us on the Ohio, of the 29th of July), that there were but 200 men there at that time, 200 more expected in a few days, that the rest went off in several detachments to the amount of 1000, besides Indians." Int same Gazette of the ensuing 24th of October, and under the Williamsburg head of the 3rd of that month, we find the next notice of Stobo: "By Lieutenant Lyon, who arrived here last Tuesday from Fort Duquesne, upon the Ohio (whither he was sent by Col. Innes with a flag of truce, and which place he left the 20th of last month), we are advised that * Maryland Gazette, July 12th, 1759, extract of a letter from Louisburg of June 9th. 376 THE OLDEN TIME. at that time, the whole force of the French at the fort did not exceed 100 men. and those very indifferently supplied with provisions, &c. His chief business there was to propose to the French commander an exchange of Monsieur Drouillon and the two cadets, for Messrs. Stobo and Van Braam, which would not be accepted of, on which account Mr. Stobo was ordered away for Montreal the day Lieutenant Lyon left the fort." Thus we see that Captain Stobo was sent away from Fort Duquesne on the 20th of September. What was done with Van Braam does not appear. He may have been ordered to Venango, Montreal or Quebec soon after Stobo's letters of July 28th and 29th were written; for, nearthe close of each, evident reference is had to Van Braam, when he says,' Consider the good of the expedition, without the least regard to us." "Let the good of the expedition be considered preferable to our safety." Mr. Sparks tells us, that both Stobo and Van Braam were retained as prisoners at Quebec till they were sent to England. It is very probable that such may have been the final destination of Van Braam; but it will soon be shown, I trust most satisfactorily, that this could not have been the fact with regard to Stobo. Immediately succeeding the account already quoted from Burk's History of Virginia, respecting La Force's escape from prison and his recapture, the following occurs: "Meanwhile the hostages, Stobo and Van Braam, had been ordered for greater security to Quebec, and in retaliation of the sufferings of La Force, they too were confined in prison; but without any additional severity. Almost at the same moment that La Force had broken his prison, Stobo and Van Braam, by efforts equally extraordinary, had escaped from Quebec, and were passing the causeway leading from the city at the moment that the Governor of Canada was airing in his carriage. Stobo succeeded in effecting his escape; but Van Braam fainting with fatigue and hunger, and despairing of being able to effect his escape, called out to the Governor from beneath the arch of the causeway where he concealed himself, and desired to surrender. The Governor received him in his carriage, and remanded him to prison; but without any extraordinary severity. "Even these facts were not unknown to Mr. Dinwiddie. Yet without being touched by so generous an example, he persisted in his unjustifiable rigor towards La Force." It was in the summer of 1756, that La Force broke his prison; and if "almost at the same moment," Stobo and Van Braam made a similar attempt, it must have.proved in the end equally unsuccessful. Burk informs us that Stobo succeeded in effecting his escape. But if this adventure really occurred at any period prior to the spring of 1759, Stobo was as unfortune as Van Braam, though very likely he may have longer eluded recapture. This seems the most probable; for, at the time of the final CAPTAIN STOBO. 377 escape of Stobo, he does not appear to have been confined, nor could Van Braam have shared with him the romantic adventures about to be related. The letter writers from Louisburg to the Gazette of that day, chronicle the arrival there from Quebec, of Captain Stobo, late in May, or early in June, 1759. A meagre outline only is given of the particulars of his escape; but brief as it is, it gives us no small insight into his true character as a man of extraordinary daring and enterprise. The impression that Stobo made upon the officers and troops at Louisburg must have been most favorable; for the letter writers in question speak of him as " a man of most enterprising genius," showing himself " a sensible gentleman;" and, say they, " his tale is very long and very romantic, and his information is relied on by every body here." By combining their statements, we have the following narrative: As a hostage, Stobo was treated as well as he could have expected for some considerable time; but at length they began to use him at Quebec but very indifferently, frequently imprisoning him, and finally condemning him to die,* the execution of which was suspended till the necessary approval of sentence should be received from France. In due time, after, as we may well suppose, a most painful suspense on the part of poor Stobo, the long looked for intelligence came-mercy and justice triumphed, and the prisoner was set at liberty. This, however, was but a partial freedom. Well nigh five years had rolled away, rife with suffering and adventure, among the rude and halfcivilized French Canadians, and he longed once more to join his friends and countrymen. Having planned an escape, he selected four noble fellows, as intrepid as himself, for his companions in the daring enterprise. One of them was a brave young man named Stephens, formerly a Lieutenant in the Rangers under the famous Maj. Robert Rogers, and had been taken prisoner while in service, shortly before the disastrous battle at Ticonderoga, in July, 1758. A Captain Beech, then also a prisoner at Quebec, was admitted into the scheme, but declined risking his life and fortunes in so hazardous an undertaking. On the 1st of Mlay, 1759, this adventurous little band embarked in " a crazy birch canoe," with more than one thousand miles to accomplish before they could reach the first British post, Louisburg, on the island of Caple Breton; and the whole distance was like running one continued gauntlet, so numerous and watchful were the French cruisers. At this particular crisis, too, the French vessels of war were more than usually on the alert, for Wolfe and other British Generals were concentrating a large force at Louisburg, to make some capital stroke on their enemies. The: Possibly for breaking his prison, and attempting to escape with Van Braam. 378 THE OLDEN TIME. chances were strongly against Stobo and his four brave and intrepid adventurers; to have been retaken, while on their way to a British fortress, and that fortress Louisburg, with ample intelligence of things at Quebec, must have cost them their lives, and perhaps at the yard-arm without a trial; but how true it is, with scarcely an exception, that fortune favors the brave. Even the very elements seemed to interpose in their behalf, for the weather proved hazy, thus enabling them in a greater measure to evade the observation of their vigilant foe. Coming down the St. Lawrence, they discovered a French schooner "with five Monsieurs on board;" this they boldly seized, secured the prisoners, and set sail with their new craft. Soon after, on the 11th'of May, off the Isle of Beek, they observed fourteen sail of large ships under French colors, who fired two shots at the schooner to bring her too; but Stobo and his companions were made of " sterner stuff" than to yield ingloriously their prize and their liberty, and, under cover of the hazy weather, keeping, by good management, close in shore, fortunately escaped. They soon espied a French sloop with five hands on board, and contrived, either by stratagem or superior bravery, to " overpower " this vessel and its crew; and then without further molestation, made the best of their way to Louisburg, where they safely arrived with their schooner, sloop and ten prisoners. All the circumstances considered, the enterprise proved singularly successful; and Captain Stobo was warmly congratulated on his heroic adventures. A detailed account of every material event occurring from the time he left Fort Duquesne till his escape was taken down in writing by the officers at Louisburg; and although Admiral Saunders had just sailed, yet so interesting and important were the narrative and imformation of Stobo considered, that an express boat was dispatched with the intelligence to Wm. Pitt, then the distinguished head of public affairs. Nor was this all. Of the greatest moment were his reports of the number of French in the garrison of Quebec, the position of the fort and means of access to it, the concentration there of the troops from Montreal and Crown Point, and the great preparations Montcalm was making to repel the anticipated British attack, by entrenching every place below Quebec where it was thought troops could possibly affect a landing, and also by constructing sundry large floats, stored with an immense quantity of combustibles, in hopes thereby to destroy the British fleet whenever it should make its appearance. Notwithstanding the care the enemy had taken, Stobo proposed to " undertake to lead his Majesty's forces to a place not many miles below Quebec, where' No allusion is made to this interesting document in the published index of MS. collections of the State of New York, made by its agent, J. R. Brodhead, in Holland and England; the British official papers of this period appear to have been lost, for none relating to the conquest of Canada, the victory and death of Wolfe, are mentioned. CAPTAIN STOBO. 379 they might land with little or no danger." Thereupon the Governor of Louisburg, well knowing that such a man, with such intelligence, would be of infinite service to General Wolfe, who, with his troops, had some little time before sailed on his Quebec expedition, immediately ordered a vessel to be got ready to convey him speedily to the British fleet. It is to be regretted that we have no further account of this important service of Stobo's; but we may safely conclude that his local knowledge and general information proved of no small moment to the gallant Wolfe, and that he performed well.his part in the sanguinary engagement of July 31st and September 12th, at Montmorency and the memorable Plains of Abraham. The campaign over, Captain Stobo visited Williamsburg, the then capital of Virginia, where he arrived on the 18th of November, 1759. In the Maryland Gazette of Dec. 6th, under the Williamsburg head of Nov. 23d, occurs the following: " Capt. Robert Stobo, who has been many years a prisoner in Canada, came to town on Sunday last. The Assembly adjourned the succeeding Thursday, and among their resolves was this, viz: "Resolved, That the sum of one thousand pounds be paid by the treasurer of this Colony to Capt. Robert Stobo, over and above the pay that is due to him from the time of his rendering himself an hostage to this day, as a reward for his zeal to his country, and a recompense for the great hardships he has suffered during his confinement in the enemy's country." In the same Gazette, under the Williamsburg head of Nov. 30th, the following extract from the Journal of the House of Burgesses is given: "MONDAY, November 19th, 1759. "Upon a motion made, Resolved, That an humble address be made to his Honor, the Governor, to desire that he will be pleased to take Capt. Stobo into his special care and favor, and promote him in the service of this Colony; and that Mr. Richard Henry Lee do wait on his Honor with the said address. Upon a motion made, Resolved, That the thanks of this house be given to Mr. Robert Stobo, for his steady and inviolable attachment to the interest of this country; for his singular bravery and courage exerted on all occasions during the present war; and for the magnanimity with which he has supported himself during his confinement in Canada; and that he be congratulated, in the name of this House, on his safe and happy return to this Colony, and that Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Bland, and Mr. Washington do wait on him for that purpose. "THURSDAY, November 20th. "Mr. Nicholas reported that the committee appointed had, according to order, waited on Captain Stobo with the resolution of this House, to return him their thanks for his late services to this Colony, to which he returned the following answer: 380 THE OLDEN TIME. " Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses: "The distinguishing tokens of favor and benevolence which you have vouchsafed voluntarily to confer on me, and that unanimously and immediately upon my happy return to this country, have administered to my heart the greatest consolation of which it is susceptible, gratified every wish it was capable of entertaining, and imprinted upon it the most indelible sense of gratitude with which it could be possibly affected. " To be informed by the voice of the public, that I have discharged my duty to their satisfaction, and merited their thanks for my.conduct, is the highest glory my ambition could aspire to, and will determine me, upon any future occasion, to exert myself with all the vigor and alacrity which the united ardor of gratitude and duty can inspire. ROBERT STOBO." Services that called forth the spontaneous and grateful expressions of the Virginia Assembly, composed of such men as Washington, Bland, Nicholas, and Lee, could have been of no ordinary character. Little as we know of Stobo's adventures, it is not strange that the historian, Hume, should have considered them extraordinary. After Washington's mention of Stobo, as being alive and probably residing in London, as late as 1771, we hear no more of him. It is quite likely that he was there in the service, or had perhaps retired on half pay. If alive when the American Revolution broke out, he may, from age and suffering, have become unfit for the performance of active duties in the field; or, what is equally probable, and more congenial with our feelings, he may not have had it in his heart to aid in oppressing a struggling people, for whom he had once endured uncommon hardships, and who, in turn, had paid him grateful honors, and shown him lasting kindnesses which could never be forgotten. A few kind words, before closing, in behalf of Capt. Jacob Van Braam, the fellow hostage and fellow sufferer of the gallant Stobo. It seems to me that a hateful stigma, unwarranted by the facts in the case, has been placed upon his name, his services, and his character. Would that I could make a successful appeal from the inexorable decisions of the past to the justice and magnanimity of the future historians of the West! Capt. Van Braam had accompanied Washington on his mission, in 1753, to the French on the Upper Ohio. The succeeding spring he was, by Washington's partiality, made a Captain in the Virginia regiment, and so acceptable were his services, that some time prior to the battle at the Great Meadows, Washington commended him as "an experienced, good officer," who had "behaved extremely well." No hint is anywhere given, that he did not properly conduct himself in the engagement at the Meadows; the inference is plain that he fought with his characteristic bravery, else Washington would not have entrusted to him the important negotiations preceding the capitulation. Van Braam's erroneous translation of the articles caused no little subsequent difficulty and ill-feeling. His ignorance-for CAPTAIN STOBO. 381 ignorance only it could have been-was not his fault but misfortune, and we should not, therefore, too hastily impeach his fidelity and patriotism. Washington avers that he was "willfully or ignorantly deceived" by Van Braam's interpretation of the French word assassinat, which he rendered loss or death, but which was afterwards found to mean, when literally translated, the assassination of Jumonville; and adds, "the interpreter was a Dutchman, little acquainted with the English tongue, therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English." Thus Washington himself seems to have put a charitable' construction upon Van Braam's conduct. Major Adam Stephen, who was next in rank to Washington at the affair of the Great Meadows, in his letter of August 11th, 1754, which appeared in the gazettes of the day, and the substance of which is quoted in the 2d vol. of' Spark's Washington, on page 460, says: "When Mr. Van Braam returned with the French proposals, we were obliged to take the sense of them by the word of mouth: It rained so heavy that he could not give us a written translation of them; we could scarcely keep the candle lighted to read them by; they were written in a bad hand, on wet and blotted paper, so that no person could read them but Van Braam, who had heard them from the mouth of the French officer. Every officer, then present, is willing to declare that there was no such word as assassination mentioned; the terms expressed were, the death of Jumonvile." So, then, Van Braam read the articles, doubtless, as he "had heard them from the mouth of the French officer;" and this, unquestionably, is the true version of the affair. Gov. Dinwiddie's account of this transaction to Lord Albemarle, written shortly after its occurrence, when suspicions of Van Braam's treachery were rife in the land,* charges him also with desertion-" they say he has joined the French." But Dinwiddie's "they say" authority, is not sustained by subsequent facts. The two noble letters of Stobo, written from Fort Duquesne July 28th and 29th, nearly four weeks after the capitulation, contain internal evidence of Van Braam's faithfulness to his country. To repeat the expressive quotations, once already introduced, from these letters: "Consider the good of the expedition without the least regard to us:" "Let the good of the expedition be considered preferable to our safety." Stobo in using the words "us" and "our safety," clearly includes his fellow hostage with himself; and, in Stobo's estimation, the " safety " of both might be endangered, if Virginia should but do her duty and strike a bold and decisive blow, yet his patriotic and emphatic advice was to strike. * Corroborative of the prevalent feeling at that period, is the statement of Mr. Sparks, that the month following the capitulation, when the Virginia Assembly passed a vote of thanks to Col. Washington and his orticers "for their bravery and gallant defence of their country,' Van Braam was excepted, as being charged with having acted a treacherous part in his interpretation of the articles. 382 THE OLDEN TIME. This, too, must have been the counsel of Van Braam, for the plurals " our" and " us," convey a very strong probability that Van Braam was privy to their contents, if; indeed, he did not aid in their dictation. Had he evinced the least signs of treachery, or received any suspicious favors or indulgences from the French, the scrutinizing eye of Stobo would have instantly detected, and his pen as quickly exposed them. In those letters Stobo does not breathe a hint even of any such suspicion; but, on the contrary, the inference is clear and unequivocal, that his fellow prisoner as well as himself, was willing, nay, solicitous, to run the risk of suffering martyrdom itself, rather than Fort Duquesne should not be re-possessed, and its braggart occupants driven from the land. Both Burk and Sparks tell us that Van Braam as well as Stobo was sent to Quebec, and still a prisoner; and there, according to the former historian, broke from his prison, but after becoming weak from hunger and fatigue, was compelled, rather than perish, to surrender himself once more to the tender mercies of his enemies. Those who profit by treason are apt to reward the traitor; we have no such evidence in this case; no hint, no surmise even, that poor Van Braam was a whit better treated than Stobo. He was finally sent to England, which never would have been done had he " joined the French;" and, to cap the climax, he makes application from England, in 1771, through the medium of Washington himself,* for the entry of his portion of military lands, to which, for these very services, he was entitled-and the claim is acknowledged and the lands readily granted, and not a whisper from Washington but that they were richly deserved. Was ever before a traitor and deserter so leniently, so generously treated by those whon he had betrayed and deserted? Poor Van Braam! My heart bleeds for the black ingratitude with which his services and memory have been treated by his country. With his gallant companion, he voluntarily surrendered himself a hostage for his country, into the hands of semi-barbarians, in the wilderness-a service which less patriotic and less resolute spirits than Van Braam and Stobo would have found it difficult to assume; and, after years of various vicissitudes and most trying sufferings, he at length is restored to his friends and his country. Many who shrank from this dangerous and thankless service, returned home and were rewarded! And yet, despite all this, Van Braam.is set down as a traitor to his country and a deserter to her most inveterate enemies! Impossible May future historians have the generousity to do justice alike to the honored names of STOBO and VAN BRAAM; and may our future poets vie with each other in perpetuating in undying numbers their patriotic devotion, their sufferings and their praise! Excuse, I pray you, Mr. Editor, this lengthy communication; I had no * Spark's Washington, vol. 2d, page 365. CAPTAIN STOBO. 383 idea when I commenced, of spinning it out so long. Please Providence, I shall visit Richmond ere long to make some historical examinations among the archives of Virginia, and should I fortunately light upon any new facts bearing upon the interesting topics here discussed, you may hear from me again. Yours, most sincerely, BALTIMORE, July 27, 1846. LYMAN C. DRAPER. POSTSCRIPT. N. B. CRAIG:-Dear Sir: Since sending you the article on Stobo and Van Braam, I have found in the Maryland Gazette of the 20th November, 1760, some additional notice of the latter. It seems he was imprisoned in Montreal, and released when that city finally surrendered to the British, Sept. 8th, 1760, and repaired soon after to Virginia. " Williamsburg, Nov. 7.-This week arrived in town Capt. Van Braam, of the old Virginia regiment, being released from a confinement of six years in Canada, by the reduction of that country. He left Montreal on the 29th of September, at which time all our troops were gone into winter quarters. During part of the time he was confined in jail, he was allowed a pound of bread and a pound of horse flesh per day; but such was the quality of his provisions, that for four months he lived on bread and water only." So, even Van Braam was not sent to England by the French. He was a prisoner more than. a year longer than Stobo, and altogether suffered a " confinement of six years," subsisting, a part of the time, on bread and horse flesh, and " for four months on bread and water only." Pitied be the man who, in all this, can discover aught that savors of the renegade or the traitor. Few men, it seems to me, have, in any age or nation, evinced more real love of country than Jacob Van Braam. It is a burning shame that services and sufferings like his should have been so long and so ungratefully stigmatized and misrepresented. Since coming to town this morning, I find your kind favor of the 31st, and heartily thank you for it. As to your inquiry as to whether the words were " half faced camps," I answer yes, and add that I used them as I have heard them used by the old cotemporaries of Boone, Clarke and Kenton, antl think the expression is well understood in Kentucky, Tennessee, &c. But I am not at all particular about them, you can substitute any other words you please. What I understand by the term is several camps facing each other in two rows, each made of four upright posts, inserted in the earth, or saplings if convenient, with poles across at top to support bark or some thing else to cover it. This was a very common mode of a hastily formed camp for temporary occupation. They were of course much inferior in comfort, safety, and in all other respects to the log cabin. 384 THE OLDEN TIME. Amid my labors and researches, which are many, I shall try occasionally to furnish you with something of local bearing upon the upper valley of the Ohio for the Olden Time. Truly your friend, AUGUST 4, 1846. LYMAN C. DRAPER. The editor of the Olden Time prefers giving the expression used by Mr. Draper with his explanation, which will make it intelligible to the veriest cockney. When Capt. Stobo wrote his letter urging an attack on Fort Duquesne, and saying: "For my part, I would die a thousand deaths, to have the pleasure of possessing this fort one day," he could not have had the most remote anticipation that the place would be re-captured by a countryman of his own (Gen. Forbes), and that he himself should witness the taking of Quebec and the conquest of all Canada. Did he survive until the American Revolution separated Fort Duquesne and all the country around from Great Britian? or was his brave and loyal heart then as cold and passionless as the cold and insensible earth? We confess that the interesting account which our friend Draper has furnished, has sharpened our appetite for more, and further information, not only about Stobo, but about La Force and even Van Braam, whom we believe, to have been a faithful soldier, but not possessed of that Spartan, self sacrificing spirit so manifest in his fellow hostage. BOUQUET'S BATTLE GROUND. We have just received the "Greensburgh Intelligencer" containing an account of the proceedings of a preliminary meeting held at Bushy Run to make arrangements for a military encampment there, on the 9th, 10th and Ilth of September, in commemoration of battles fought there in August, 1763, with a request that we would insert the proceedings in the OldCien Time. The number for this month is made up, so that we can comply with the request only so far as is contained in this note. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. 1. SEPTEMBER, 1846. No, 9. AMERICAN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. An account of the various Indian tribes who formerly occupied, or roved over the vast region between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico and the frozen regions of the north, comes not within the precise original design of this publication; but the subject is one of deep interest to every intelligent American, and the lucid and beautiful account of them in Bancroft's admirable history of the United States having been lately re-called to our recollection, we have concluded to insert a portion of it in the Olden Time. We know that many intelligent persons have very confused notions about the divisions and the sub-divisions of the various families of Indians, some even placing the Shawanese among the Six Nations. This is not at all strange, since no very clear or condensed classification of the various families and subdivisions has been thrown into general circulation. In our own reading upon the subject we have found no article which will at all compare with that of Mr. Bancroft's in either beauty of style or distinctness of arrangement, and we feel great confidence that no portion of the Olden Time will give greater satisfaction to a greater number of our readers, than this account of the aborigines. We cannot let the opportunity pass without expressing our sincere regret that*the man who wrote the three volumes of the history of the United States, should be induced to quit a profession in which he is qualified to shine almost without a rival, to accept of an office, the duties of which require but a very small portion of the intellect possessed by Mr. Bancroft. His history will be read and admired ages after the fact of his being a cabinet officer is forgotten, and it will long be regretted, should his official duties interfere with the completion of his historical work. VOL. i-25 386 THE OLDEN TIME. THE ABORIGINES EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. "The earliest books on America contained tales as wild as fancy could invent or credulity repeat. The land was peopled with pygmies and with giants; the tropical forests were said to conceal tribes of negroes; and tenants of the hyperborean region were white, like the polar bear or the ermine. Jaques Cartier had heard of a nation that did not eat; and the pedant Lafitau believed, if not in the race of headless men, at least, that there was a nation of men with the head not rising above the shoulders. " Yet the first aspect of the original inhabitants of the United States was uniform. Between the Indians of Florida and Canada, the difference was scarcely perceptible. Their manners and institutions, as well as their organization, had a common physiognomy, and, before their languages began to be known, there was no safe method of grouping the nations into families. But when the vast variety of dialects came to be compared, there were found east of the Mississippi not more than eight radically distinct languages, of which five still constitute the speech of powerful communities, and three are known only as memorials of tribes that have almost disappeared from the earth. " I. The primitive language which was the most widely diffused, and the most fertile in dialects, received from the French the name of ALGONQUIN. It was the mother tongue of those who greeted the colonists of Raleigh at Roanoke, of those who welcomed the Pilgrims to Plymouth. It was heard from the Bay of Gaspe to the valley of the Des Moines; from Cape Fear, and, it may be, from the Savannah, to the land of the Esquimaux; from the Cumberland River of Kentucky to the southern bank of the Missinipi. It was spoken, though not exclusively, in a territory that extended through sixty degrees of longitude, and more than twenty degrees of latitude. " The Micmacs, who occupied the east of the continent, south of the little tribe that dwelt round the Bay of Gaspe, holding possession of Nova Scotia and the adjacent isles, and probably never much exceeding three thousand in number, were known to our fathers only as the active allies of the French. They often invaded, but never inhabited, New England. " The Etchemins, or Canoemen, dwelt not only on the St. John's River, the Ouygondy of the natives, but on the St. Croix, which Champlain always called from their name, and extended as far west, at least, as Mount Desert. "Next to these came the Abenakis, of whom one tribe has left its name to the Penobscot, and another to the Androscoggin; while a third, under ABORIGINES OF THE EAST. 387 the auspices of Jesuits, had its chapel and its fixed abode in the fertile fields of Norridgewock. "The clans that disappeared from their ancient hunting-grounds did not always become extinct; they often migrated to the north and west. Of the Sokokis, who appear to have dwelt near Saco, and to have had an alliance with the Mohawks, many, at an early day, abandoned the region where they first became known to European voyagers, and placed themselves under the shelter of the French in Canada. The example of emigration was often followed; the savage shunned the vicinity of the civilized; among the tribes of Texas, there are warriors who are said to trace their lineage to Algonquins on the Atlantic; and descendants from the New England Indians now roam over western prairies. " The forests beyond the Saeo, with New Hampshire, and even as far as Salem, constituted the sachemship of Pennacook, or Pawtucket, and often afforded a refuge to the remnant of feebler nations around them. The tribe-of the Massachusetts, even before the colonization of the country, had almost disappeared from the shores of the bay that bears its name; and the villages of the interior resembled insulated and nearly independent bands, that had lost themselves in the wilderness. "Of the Pokanokets, who dwelt round Mount Hope, and were sovereigns over Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and a part of Cape Cod; of the Narragansetts, who dwelt between the bay that bears their name and the present limits of Connecticut, holding dominion over Rhode Island and its neighbors, as well as a part of Long Island-the most civilized of the northern nations; of the Pequods, the branch of the Mohegans that occupied the eastern part of Connecticut, and ruled a part of Long Island-the earliest victims to the Europeans-I have already related the overthrow. The country between the banks of the Connecticut and the Hudson was possessed by independent villages of the Mohegans, kindred with the Manhattans, whose few " smokes " once rose amidst the forests on New York Island. " The Lenni Lenape, in their two divisions of the Minsi and the Delawares, occupied New Jersey, the valley of the Delaware far up towards the sources of' that river, and the entire basin of the Schuylkill. Like the benevolent William Penn, the Delawares were pledged to a system of peace; but, while Pen ri forebore retaliation freely, the passiveness of the Delawares was to them the degrading confession of their defeat and submission to the Five Nations. Their conquerors had stripped them of their rights as warriors, and compelled them to endure taunts as women. "Beyond the Delaware, on the Eastern Shore, dwelt the Nanticokes, who disappeared without glory, or melted imperceptibly into other tribes; and the names of Accomac and Pamlico are the chief memorials of tribes that made dialects of the Algonquin the mother tongue of the natives along the sea-coast as far south, at least, as Cape Hatteras. It is probable, also, 388 THE OLDEN TIME. that the Corees, or Coramines, who dwelt to the southward of the Neuse River, spoke a kindred language-thus establishing Cape Fear as the southern limit of the Algonquin speech. " In Virginia, the same language was heard throughout the whole dominion of Powhatan, which had the tribes of the Eastern Shore as its dependencies, and included all the villages west of the Chesapeake, from the most southern tributaries of James River to the Patuxent. The power of the little empire was entirely broken in the days of Opechancanough; and after the insurrection of Bacon, the confederacy disappears from history. " The Shawnees connect the south-eastern Algorquins with the west. The basin of the Cumberland River is marked by the earliest French geographers as the home of this restless nation of wanderers. A part of them afterwards had their " cabins " and their " springs " in the neighborhood of Winchester. Their principal band removed from their hunting-fields in Kentucky to the head waters of one of the great rivers of South Carolina; and, at a later day, an encampment of four hundred and fifty of them, who had been straggling in the woods for four years, was found not far north of the head waters of the Mobile River, on their way to the country of the Muskhogees. It was about the year 1698, that three or four score of their families, with the consent of the government of Pennsylvania, removed from Carolina, and planted themselves on the Susquehannah. Sad were the fruits of that hospitality. Others followed; and when, 1732, the number of Indian fighting men in Pennsylvania was estimated to be seven hundred, one half of them were Shawnee emigrants. So desolate was the wilderness, that a vagabond tribe could wander undisturbed from Cumberland River to the Alabama, from the head waters of the Santee to the Susquehannah. "c The Miamis were more stable, and their own traditions preserve the memory of their ancient limits. " My forefathers," said the Miami orator Little Turtle, at Greenville, " kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his lines to the head waters of the Scioto; from thence to its mouth; from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; and from thence to Chicago, on Lake Miehigan. These are the boundaries within which the prints of my ancestor's houses are every where to be seen." And the early French narratives confirm his words. The forests beyond Detroit were at first found unoccupied, or, it may be, roamed over by bands too feeble to attract a trader or win a missionary; the Ottawas, Algonquin fugitives from the basin of the magnificent river whose name commemorates them, fled to the Bay of Saginaw, and took possession of the whole north of the peninsula as of a derelict country; yet the Miamis occupied its southern moiety, and their principal mission was founded by Allouez on the banks of the St. Joseph, within the present state of Michigan.' The Illinois were kindred to the Miamis, and their country lay be ABORIGINES OF THE EAST. 389 tween the Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi. Marquette found a village of them on the Des Moines, but its occupants soon withdrew to the east of the Mississippi; and Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, still preserve the names of the principal bands, of which the original strength has been greatly exaggerated. The vague tales of a considerable population vanished before the accurate observation of the missionaries, who found in the wide wilderness of Illinois, scarcely three or four villages. On the discovery of America, the number of the scattered tenants of the territory which now forms the states of Ohio and Michigan, of Indiana and Illinois, and Kentucky, could hardly have exceeded eighteen thousand. "In the early part of the eighteenth century, the Potawatomies had crowded the Miamis from their dwellings at Chicago; the intruders came from the islands near the entrance of Green Bay, and were a branch of the great nation of the Chippewas. That nation, or, as some write, Ojibwas -the Algonquin tribes of whose dialect, mythology, traditions, and customs, we have the fullest accounts-held the country from the mouth of Green Bay to the head waters of Lake Superior, and were early visited by the French at Sault St. Mary and Chegoimegon. They adopted into their tribes many of the Ottawas from Upper Canada, and were themselves often included by the early French writers under that name. "Ottawa is but the Algonquin word for'trader;' and Mascoutins are but'dwellers in the prairie.' The latter hardly implies a band of Indians distinct from the Chippewas; but history recognizes, as a separate Algonquin tribe near Green Bay, the Menomonies, who were found there in 1669, who retained their ancient territory long after the period of French and of English supremacy, and who prove their high antiquity as a nation by the singular character of their dialect. "South-west of the Menomonies, the restless Sacs and Foxes, ever dreaded by the French, held the passes from Green bay and Fox river to the Mississippi, and, with insatiate avidity, roamed, in pursuit of contest, over the whole country between the Wisconsin and the upper branches of the Illinois. The Shawnees are said to have an affinity with this nation; that the Kickapoos, who established themselves, by conquest, in the north of Illinois, are but a branch of it, is demonstrated by their speech. "So numerous and so widely extended were the tribes of the Algonquin family. They were scattered over a moiety, or perhaps more than a moiety, of the territory east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence, and constituted about one half of the original population of that territory. "II. North-west of the Sacs and Foxes, west of the Chippewas, bands of the Sioux, or DAHCOTAS, had encamped on prairies east of the Mississippi, vagrants between the head waters of Lake Superior and the Falls of St. Anthony. They were a branch of the great family which, dwelling for 390 THE OLDEN TIME. the most part west of the Mississippi and the Red river, extended from the Saskatchawan to lands south of the Arkansas. French traders discovered their wigwams in 1659; Hennepin was among them, on his expedition to the north; Joseph Marest and another Jesuit visited them in 1687, and again in 1689. There seemed to exist a hereditary warfare between them and the Chippewas. Their relations to the colonists, whether of France or England, were, at this early period, accidental, and related chiefly to individuals. But one little community of the Dahcota family had penetrated the territory of the Algonquins; the Winnebagoes, dwelling between Green Bay and the Lake that bears that name, preferred rather to be environed by Algonquins than to stay in the dangerous vicinity of their own kindred. Like other western and southern tribes, their population appears of late to have greatly increased. "' III. The nations which spoke dialects of the HURON-IRoQuo Is, or, as it has also been called, of the WYANDOT, were, on the discovery of America, found powerful in numbers, and diffused over a wide territory. The peninsula enclosed between Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, had been the dwelling-place of the five confederated tribes of the Hurons. After their defeat by the Five Nations, a part descended the St. Lawrence, and their progeny may still be seen near Quebec; a part were adopted, on equal terms, into the tribes of their conquerors; the Wyandots fled beyond Lake Superior, and hid themselves in the dreary wastes that divided the Chippewas from their western foes. In 1671, they retreated before the powerful Sioux, and made their home first at St. Mary's and at Michilimackinac, and afterwards near the post of Detroit. Thus the Wyandots within our borders were emigrants from Canada. Having a mysterious influence over the Algonquin tribes, and making treaties with the Five Nations, they spread along Lake Erie; and, leaving to the Miamis the country beyond the Miami of the Lakes, they gradually acquired a claim to the whole territory from that river to the western boundary of New York. " The immediate dominion of the Iroquois-where the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onandagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, were first visited by the trader, the missionary, or the war parties of the French-stretched, as we have seen, fiom the borders of Vermont to Western New York, from the lakes to the head waters of the Ohio, the Susquehannah, and the Delaware. The number of their warriors was declared by the French, in 1660, to have been two thousand two hundred; and, in 1677, an English agent, sent on purpose to ascertain their strength, confirmed the precision of the statement. Their geographical position made them umpires in the contest of the French for dominion in the west. Besides, their political importance was increased by their conquests. Not only did they claim some supremacy in northern New England as far as the Kennebec, and to the south as far as New Haven, and were acknowledged as absolute lords over the conquered Len ABORIGINES OF THE EAST. 391 nape-the peninsula of Upper Canada was their hunting-field by right of war; they had exterminated the Eries and the Andastes, both tribes of their own family, the one dwelling on the south-eastern banks of Lake Erie, the other on the head waters of the Ohio; they had triumphantly invaded the tribes of the west as far as Illinois; their warriors had reached the soil of Kentucky and Western Virginia; and England, to whose alliance they steadily inclined, availed itself of their treaties for the cession of territories, to encroach even on the empire of France in America. "Nor had the labors of the Jesuit missionaries been fruitless. The few families of the Iroquois who migrated to the north of Lake Ontario, and raised their huts round Fort Frontenac, remained in amity with the French; and two villages of Iroquois converts, the Cahnewagos of New England writers, were established near Montreal, a barrier against their heathen countrymen and against New York. " The Huron tribes of the north were environed by Algonquins. At the south, the Chowan, the Meherrin, the Nottowa, villages of the Wyandot family, have left their namesto the rivers along which they dwelt; and the Tuscaroras, kindred with the Five Nations, were the most powerful tribe in North Carolina. In 1708, its fifteen towns still occupied the upper country on the Neuse and the Tar, and could count twelve hundred warriors, as brave as their Mohawk brothers. "IV. South of the Tuscaroras, the midlands of Carolina sheltered the CATAWBAS. Its villages included Woccons, and the nation spoke a language of its own: that language is now almost extinct, being known only to less than one hundred persons, who linger on the banks of a branch of the Santee. Imagination never assigned to the Catawbas, in their proudest days, more than twelve hundred and fifty warriors; the oldest enumeration was made in 1743, and gives but four hundred. It may therefore be inferred, that, on the first appearance of Europeans, their language was in the keeping of not more than three thousand souls. History knows them chiefly as the hereditary foes of the Iroquois tribes, before whose prowess and numbers they dwindled away. "V. The'mountaineers of aboriginal America were the CHEROKEES, who occupied the upper valley of the Tennessee River, as far west as Muscle Shoals, and the highlands of Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama-the most picturesque and most salubrious region east of the Mississippi. Their homes were encircled by blue hills rising beyond hills, of which the lofty peaks would kindle with the early light, aud the overshadowing ridges envelop the valleys like a mass of clouds. There the rocky cliffs, rising in naked grandeur, defy the lightning,and mock the loudest peals ofthe thunderstorm; there the gentler slopes are covered with magnolias and flowering forest-trees, decorated with roving climbers, and ring with the perpetual 392 THE OLDEN TIME. note of the whip-poor-will; there the wholesome water gushes profusely from the earth in transparent springs; snow-white cascades glitter on the hill-sides; and the rivers, shallow, but pleasant to the eye, rush through the narrow vales, which the abundant strawberry crimsons, and coppices of rhododendron and flaming azalea adorn. At the fall of the leaf, the fruit of the hickory and the chestnut is thickly strown on the ground. The fertile soil teems with luxuriant herbage, on which the roebuck fattens; the vivifying breeze is laden with fragrance; and daybreak is ever welcomed by the shrill cries of the social nighthawk and the liquid carols of the mockingbird. Through this lovely region were scattered the little villages of the Cherokees, nearly fifty in number, each consisting of but a few cabins, erected where the bend in the mountain stream offered at once a defence and a strip of alluvial soil for culture. Their towns were always by the side of some creek or river, and they loved their native land; above all, they loved its rivers-the Keowee, the Tugeloo, the Flint, and the beautiful branches of the Tennessee. Running waters, inviting to the bath, tempting the angler, alluring wild fowl, were necessary to their paradise. Their language, like that of the Iroquois, abounds in vowels, and is destitute of the labials. Its organization has a common character, but etymology has not yet been able to discover conclusive analogies between the roots of words. The'beloved' people of the Cherokees were a nation of themselves. Who can say for how many centuries, safe in their undiscovered fastnesses, they bad decked their war-chiefs with the feathers of the eagle's tail, and listened to the counsels of their' old beloved men?' Who can tell how often the waves of barbarous migrations may have broken harmlessly against their cliffs, where nature was the strong ally of the defenders of their land? "VI. South-east of the Cherokees dwelt the UCHEES. They claimed the country above and below Augusta, and, at the earliest period respecting which we can surmise, seem not to have extended beyond the Cha-ta-hoochee; yet they boast to have been the oldest inhabitants of that region. They now constitute an inconsiderable band in the Creek confederacy, and are known as a distinct family, not from political organization, but from their singularly harsh and guttural language. When first discovered, they were but a remnant-bewildering the inquirer by favoring the conjecture, that, from the north and west, tribe may have pressed upon tribe; that successions of nations may have been exterminated by invading nations; that even languages, which are the least perishable monument of the savages may have become extinct. "VII. The NATCHEZ, also, are now merged in the same confederacy; but they, with the Taenas, were known to history as a distinct nation, residing in scarcely more than four or five villages, of which the largest rose ABORIGINES OF THE EAST. 393 near the banks of the Mississippi. That they spoke but a dialect of the Mobilian, is an inference which the memoirs of Dumont would have warranted, and which more recent travelers have confirmed, without reservation -while the diffuse Du Pratz represents them as using at once the Mobilian and a radically different speech of their own. The missionary station among them was assigned to Franciscans; and the Jesuits who have written of them are silent respecting the tongue, which they themselves had no occasion to employ. The opinion of the acute Vater was in favor of its original character; and, by the persevering curiosity of Gallatin, it is at last known that the Natchez were distinguished from the tribes around them less by their customs and the degree of their civilization than by their language, which, as far as comparisons have been instituted, has no etymological affinity with any other whatever. Here, again, the imagination too readily kindles to invent theories; and the tradition has been widely received, that the dominion of the Natchez once extended even to the Wabash; that they are emigrants from Mexico; that they are the kindred of the incas of Peru. The close observation of the state of the arts among them, tends to dispel these illusions; and history knows them only as a feeble and inconsiderable nation, the occupants of a narrow territory round the spot where the Christian church, and the dwellings of emigrants from Europe and from Africa, have displaced the rude abode of their Great Sun, and the artless cabin of the chosen guardians of the sacred fire, which they vainly hoped should never die. "VIII. With these exceptions of the Uchees and the Natchez, the whole country south-east, south, and west of the Cherokees, to the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, to the Mississippi and the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio, was in the possession of one great family of nations, of which the language was named by the French the MOBILIAN, and is described by Gallatin as the MUSKHOGEE-CHOCTA. It included three considerable confederacies, each of which still exists, and perhaps even with some increase of numbers. "The country bounded on the Ohio at the north, on the Mississippi at the west, on the east by a line drawn from the bend in the Cumberland River to the Muscle Shoals of the Tennessee, and extending at the south into the territory of the state of Mississippi, was the land of the cheerful, brake Chicasas, the faithful, the invincible allies of the English. Marquette found them already in possession of guns, obtained probably through Virginia; La Salle built Fort Prudhomme on one of their bluffs; but their chosen abodes were on the upland country, which gives birth to the Yazoo and the Tombecbee, the finest and most fruitful on the continent-where the grass is verdant in midwinter; the blue-bird and the robin are heard in February; the springs of pure water gurgle up through the white sands, to flow through natural bowers of evergreen holly; and, if the earth be but 394 THE OLDEN TIME. carelessly gashed to receive the kernel of maize, the thick corn springs abundantly from the fertile soil. The region is as happy as any beneath the sun; and the love which it inspired made its occupants, though not numerous, yet the most intrepid warriors of the south. "Below the Chicasas, between the Mississippi and the Tombecbee, was the land of the Choctas, who were gathered, on the eastern frontier, into compact villages, but elsewhere were scattered through the interior of their territory. Dwelling in plains or among gentle hills, they excelled every North American tribe in their agriculture —subsisting chiefly on corn, and placing little dependence on the chase. Their country was healthful, abounding in brooks. The number of their warriors perhaps exceeded four thousand. Their dialect of the Mobilian so nearly resembles that of the Chicasas, that they almost seemed but one nation. The Choctas were allies of the French, yet preserving their independence: their love for their country was intense, and, in defending it, they utterly contemned danger. "The ridge that divided the Tombecbee from the Alabama, was the line that separated the Choctas from the groups of tribes which were soon united in the confederacy of the Creeks or Muskhogees. Their territory, including all Florida, reached, on the north, to the Cherokees; on the north east and east, to the country on the Savannah and to the Atlantic. Along the sea, their northern limit seems to have extended almost to Cape Fear; at least the tribes with which the settlers at Charleston first waged war are enumerated by one writer as branches of the Muskhogees. Their population, spread over a fourfold wider territory, did not exceed that of the Choctas in number. Their towns were situated on the banks of beautiful creeks, in which their country abounded; the waters of their bold rivers, from the Coosa to the Chattahooche, descended rapidly, with a clear current, through healthful and fertile regions; they were careful in their agriculture, and, before going to war, assisted their women to plant. In Florida, they welcomed the Spanish missionaries; and, throughout their country, they derived so much benefit from the arts of civilization, that their numbers soon promised to increase; and, being placed between the English of Carolina, and the French of Louisiana, the Spaniards of Florida-bordering on the Choctas, the Chicasas, and the Cherokees-their political importance made them esteemed as the most powerful Indian nation north of the Gulf of Mexico. They readily gave shelter to the fugitives from other tribes; and their speech became so modified, that, with radical resemblances, it has the widest departure from its kindred dialects. The Yamassees, on the Savannah, seem certainly to have been one of their bands; and the Seminoles of Florida are but "wild men," lost from their confederacy, and abandoning agriculture for the chase. " Such is a synopsis of the American nations east of the Mississippi. ABORIGINES OF THE EAST. 395 It is not easy to estimate their probable numbers at the period of their discovery. Many of themn-the Narragansett, the Illinois-boasted of the superior strength of their former condition; and from wonder, from fear, from the ambition of exciting surprise, early travelers often repeated the exaggerations of savage vanity. The Hurons of Upper Canada were thought to number many more than thirty thousand, perhaps even fifty thousand, souls; yet, according to the most exact enumeration of 1639, they could not have exceeded ten thousand. In the heart of a wilderness, a few cabins seemed like a city; and to the pilgrim, who had walked for weeks without meeting a human being, a territory would appear densely peopled where, in every few days, a wigwam could be encountered. Vermont, and Northwestern Massachusetts, and much of New Hampshire, were solitudes; Ohio, a part of Indiana, the largest part of Michigan, remained open to Indian emigration long after America began to be colonized by Europeans. From the portage between the Fox and the Wisconsin to the Des Moines, Marquette saw neither the countenance nor the footstep of man. In Illinois, so friendly to the habits of savage life, the Franciscan Zenobe Mambre, whose journal is preserved by Le Clercq, describes the'only large village,' as containing seven or eight thousand souls; Father Rasle imagined he had seen in one place twelve hundred fires, kindled for more than two thousand families; other missionaries who made their abode there describe their appalling journeys through absolute solitudes; they represent their vocation as a chase after a savage, that was scarce ever to be found; and they could gather hardly five, or even three, villages in the whole region. Kentucky, after the expulsion of the Shawnees, remained the wide park of the Cherokees. The banished tribe easily fled up the valley of the Cumberland River, to find a vacant wilderness in the highlands of Carolina; and a part of them for years roved to and fro in wildernesses west of the Cherokees. On early maps, the low country from the Mobile to Florida is marked as vacant. The oldest reports from Georgia exult in the entire absence of Indians from the vicinity of Savannah, and will not admit that there were more than a few within four hundred miles. There are hearsay and vague accounts of Indian war parties composed of many hundreds; those who wrote from knowledge furnish the means of comparison and correction. The whole population of the Five Nations could not have varied much from ten thousand; and their warriors strolled as conquerors from Hudson's to Carolina-from the Kennebec to the Tennessee. Very great uncertainty must, indeed, attend any estimate of the original number of Indians east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence and the chain of lakes. The diminution of their population is far less than is usually supposed; they have been exiled, but not exterminated. The use of iron, of gunpowder, of horses, has given to the savage dominion over the beasts of the forest, and new power over nature. 396 THE OLDEN. TIME. The Cherokee and Mobilian families of nations are more numerous now than ever. We shall approach, and perhaps exceed, a just estimate of their numbers two hundred years ago, if to the various tribes of the Algonquin race we allow about ninety thousand; of the Eastern Sioux, less than three thousand; of the Iroquois, including their southern kindred, about seventeen thousand; of the Catabas, three thousand; of the Cherokees, twelve thousand; of the Mobilian confederation and tribesthat is, of the Chickasas, Choctas, and Muskhogees-fifty thousand; of the Uchees, one thousand; of the Natchez, four thousand-in all, it may be, not far from one hundred and eighty thousand souls." DE WITT CLINTON'S CHARACTER OF THE SIX NATIONS. It is now thirty-five years since our law preceptor, the late Judge Baldwin, presented us with a copy of a discourse delivered by De Witt Clinton before the Historical Society of New York, upon the subject of the Six Nations. The judge was a very ardent friend of the author of the discourse, and perhaps was not unwilling to impress us with an equally exalted opinion of his talent and character. We read and re-read the discourse with great admiration of the eloquence of the author, but with absolute astonishment at his portraiture of the character, policy, and institutions of the people whom he styled the " Romans of America." We, subsequently lent our copy to some person who was careful not to return it, and we have never seen another; although we have made frequent inquiries for one. We were anxious to have made liberal extracts from it for the Olden Time, but having failed in all our efforts to obtain a copy, we abandoned all hope of getting any aid from the pen of the eloquent author. A short time since, however, in looking over Knapp's History and Topography of the United States, we found the following portions of'the discourse, from which our readers may judge of the whole. "Ex pede Herculem." The Six Nations were certainly a wonderful people among the aborigines of the soil, and as they were, whether rightfully or otherwise, lords paramount in this region, when the white man first visited it, every thing relating to their history, character, or institutions, comes properly within the scope of our undertaking. We, therefore, give the extract without further preface. THE SIX NATIONS. 397 EXTRACT.' A distinguished feature in the character of the Confederates, was an exalted spirit of liberty, which revolted with equal indignation at domestic or foreign control.' We are born free (said Garangula, in his admirable speech to the gevernor general of Canada), we neither depend on Ononthio or Corlear,' on France, or on England. Baron La Hontan, who openly avowed his utter detestation and abhorrence of them, is candid enough to acknowledge, that'they laugh at the menaces of kings and governors, for they have no idea of dependence; nay, the very word is to them insupportable. They look upon themselves as sovereigns, accountable to none but God alone, whom they call the Great Spirit.' They admitted of no hereditary distinctions. The office of sachem was the reward of personal merit; of great wisdom, or commanding eloquence; of distinguished services in the cabinet or in the field. It was conferred by silent and general consent, as the spontaneous tribute due to eminent worth; and it could only be maintained by the steady and faithful cultivation of the virtues and accomplishments which procured it. No personal slavery was permitted; their captives were either killed or adopted as a portion of the nation. The children of the chiefs were encouraged to emulate the virtues of their sires, and were frequently elevated to the dignities occupied by their progenitors. From this source has arisen an important error with respect to the establishment of privileged orders among the Confederates. "There is a striking similitude between the Romans and the Confederates, not only in their martial spirit and rage for conquest, but in their treatment of the conquered. Like the Romans, they not only adopted individuals, but incorporated the remnant of their vanquished enemies into their nation, by which they continually recruited their population, exhausted by endless and wasting wars, and were enabled to continue their career of victory and desolation; if their unhappy victims hesitated or refused, they were compelled to accept of the honours of adoption. The Hurons of the Island of Orleans, in 1656, knowing no other way to save themselves from destruction, solicited admission into the canton of the Mohawks, and were accepted; but, at the instance of the French, they declined their own proposal. On this occasion the Mohawks continuedtheir ra vages, and compelled acquiescence; they sent thirty of their warriors to Quebec, who took them avway, with the consent of the governor general; he, in fact, not daring to refuse, after having addressed him in the following terms of proud defiance; which can not but bring to our recollection similar instances of Roman spirit, when Rome was free.'Lift up thy arm, Ononthio, and allow thy children, whom thou holdest pressed to thy bosom, to depart; for if they are guilty of any imprudence, have reason to dread, lest coming to chastise them, my blows fall on thy head.' Like the Romans, also, they treated their vassal nations with extreme rigor. If there were any delay in the 398 THE OLDEN TIME. render of the annual tribute, military execution followed, and the wretched delinquents frequently took refuge in the houses of the English, to escape from destruction. On all public occasions they took care to demonstrate their superiority and dominion, and at all times they called their vassals to an awful account, if guilty of violating the injunctions of the great council. At a treaty held at the forks of the Delaware, in 1758, by the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with the Six Nations, several claims of the Munseys, Wappings, and other Delaware Indians, for lands in the latter province, were adjusted and satisfied under the cognizance of the Confederates, who ordered them to deliver up their prisoners, and to be at peace with the English, and who assumed a dictatorial tone, and appeared to exercise absolute authority over the other Indians. At a former conference on this subject, a Munsey, or Minisink Indian, had spoken sitting, not being allowed to stand, until a Cayuga chief had spoken; when the latter thus expressed himself:'I, who am the Mingoan, am by this belt to inform you, that the Munseys are women, and can not hold treaties for themselves; therefore I am sent to inform you, that the invitation you gave the Munseys is agreeable to us, the Six Nations.' " War was the favourite pursuit of this martial people, and military glory their ruling passion. Agriculture, and the laborious drudgery of domestic life, were left to the women. The education of the savage was solely directed to hunting and war. From his early infancy, he was taught to bend the bow, to point the arrow, to hurl the tomahawk, and to wield the club. He was instructed to pursue the footsteps of his enemies through the pathless and unexplored forest; to mark the most distant indications of danger; to trace his way by the appearances of the trees, and by the stars of heaven, and to endure fatigue, and cold, and famine, and every privation. He commenced his career of blood by hunting the wild beasts of the woods, and after learning the dexterous use of the weapons of destruction, he lifted his sanguinary arm against his fellow creatures. The profession of a warrior was considered the most illustrious pursuit; their youth looked forward to the time, when they could march against an enemy, with all the avidity of an epicure for the sumptuous dainties of a Heliogabalus. And this martial ardor was continually thwarting the pacific counsels of the elders, and enthralling them in perpetual and devastating wars. With savages in general, this ferocious propensity was impelled by a blind fury, and was but little regulated by the dictates of skill and judgment; on the contrary, with the Iroquois, war was an art. All their military movements were governed by system and policy. They never attacked a hostile country, until they had sent out spies to explore and to designate its vulnerable points, and whenever they encamped, they observed the greatest circumspection to guard against surprise; whereas the other savages only sent out scouts to reconnoitre; but they never went far from the camp, and FIRST TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768. 399 if they returned without perceiving any signs of an enemy, the whole band went quietly to sleep, and were often the victims of their rash confidence. " Whatever superiority of force the Iroquois might have, they never neglected the use of stratagems; they employed all the crafty wiles of the Carthaginians. The cunning of the fox, the ferocity of the tiger, and the power of the lion, were united in their conduct. They preferred to vanquish their enemy by taking him off his guard; by involving him in an ambuscade; by falling upon him in the hour of sleep: but when emergencies rendered it necessary for him to face him in the open field of battle, they exhibited a courage and contempt of death which have never been surpassed." FIRST TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768. We have in our last number briefly noticed this treaty with the Indians, but as it was the last held by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and as it was the one by which the Indian title to all the territory in this state on the east side of the Allegheny river from Kittanning downward, and all south of the Ohio was transferred, we think it deserves a more full notice than we before gave it. Fort Stanwix was situated in the state of New York near where the town of Rome now stands. It was built, about the time General Forbes was on his way to Fort Duquesne, by General Stanwix, who afterwards built Fort Pitt. This treaty was signed only by the delegates from the Six Nations of Indians, although there were present several chiefs of the Delawares and Shawanese tribes. From the non-signatures of these latter chiefs various and opposite inferences have been drawn as to the right of the Six Nations to cede the lands. Mr. Sparks observes that the withholding the names of 6.illbuck and other Delaware and Shawanese was a suspicious circumstance. On the other hand it has been argued, that the fact of the Delawares and Shawanese being present and not protesting affords the inference that they acquiesced in the cession and admitted the right of the Six Nations to cede the land. There would be much force in this argument, if it were first shown that the Shawanese and Delawares were aware of the cession, and acted freely on the subject. But when we notice how particularly the names of the Delaware and Shawanese chiefs are mentioned in the caption 400 THE OLDEN TIME. of the conferences, and then find that their signatures are not affixed, some suspicions must arise as to the fairness of the transaction. It may be remarked that the great conference held here in May, 1768; of which a full account is given in our last number, the Beaver speaking for the Delawares, Mlnsies, and Mohickons said, " the country lying between this river and the Allegheny mountains has always been our hunting ground." But when persons were to be selected to go along with the messengers to give notice to the intruders to remove, four chiefs were named, all belonging to the Six Nations, and Thonissagarawa, a Six Nation Indian said, " it is not without grief we see our country settled by you." The Commissioners, too, John Allen and Joseph Shippen, in their instructions to the messengers, speak of the Six Nations as the owners of the land. The only view which we can take, to reconcile the various allusions to the lands between the Ohio and the mountains is to suppose that the Six Nations held the absolute dominion of the territory, but assigned a portion of it to the other tribes as a hunting ground. Be this, however, as it may, the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 put an end to all controversy about the title to the territory proposed to be ceded. There were several cessions made, one to the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, one to the King of Great Britain, and one to certain traders who had been plundered by the Indians. The latter proved entirely ineffective, the former is the one of immediate interest to our state; we have concluded, however, to give a brief notice of the conference and of the cession to the King. The former, however is the only one which comes precisely within the design of our publication, we shall, therefore, only give a notice of the conference and the names of those composing it, and then give the substance of the cession to the Penns.' On the 24th of October, 1768, the Congress at Fort Stanwix was opened. Present-The Honorable Sir William Johnson, Baronet, his majesty's Superintendent of Indian Affairs. His Excellency William Franklin, Esq., Governor of New Jersey. Thomas Walker, Esq., Commissioner for the Colony of Virginia. Hon. Frederick Smith, Chief Justice of New Jersey. Richard Peters, and James Tilghman, Esqs., of the Council of Pennsylvania. George Croghan, and Daniel Claus, Esqs., Deputy Agents of Indian Affairs. Guy Johnson, Esq., Deputy Agent, and acting as Secretary; with several gentlemen from the different Colonies. "John Butler, Esq., Mr. Andrew Montour, and Philip Philips, Interpreters for the Crown.; INDIAN CHIEFS PRESENT.-Mlohawks-Abraham, Kanadagaya, Kendrick, Aroghiaecka, Kayenqueregoa, Tobarihoga, Anohario, &c. "Oneidas-Ganaghquieson, Nicholasera, Senughsis, Gajuheta, Tagawaron, &c. TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768. 401 "Onondagoes-The Bunt, Tewaruit, Diaquanda, Tawashughts, &c. " Cajugas-Tagaaia, Shanarady, Atrawawna, &c. "Shawnees —Benevissica. "Senecas-Gaustrax, Odengot, &c. " Tuscaroras-Saquareessera, Kanigot, Tyagawehe, &c. " Delawares-Killbuck, Turtleheart." Sir William Johnson in his opening address stated that Lieut. Governor Penn had been there and waited a considerable time; but was at length forced by business to return, leaving Messrs. Peters and Tilghman, as Commissioners. Several addresses were made, and finally on the 5th of November we find the following notice:' The deed to his majesty-one of the proprietors of Pennsylvaniaand the one to the traders, being then laid on the table, were executed in the presence of the Governor of New Jersey, the commissioners of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the rest of the gentlemen present. After which, the chiefs of each nation received the cash, which was piled on the table for that purpose; and then proceeded to divide the goods amongst their people, which occupied the remainder of the day." The following is the article of cession to the Penns: " We, Tyanhasare, or Abraham sachem or chief of the Indian nation called the Mohocks; Senaghsis-of the Oneydas; Chenughiata —of the Onondagos; Gaustrax-of the Senecas; Sequarisera-of the Tuscaroras; Tagaaia-of the Cayugas, in general council of the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix, assembled for the purpose of settling a general boundary line between the said Six Nations, and their confederates and independent tribes, and his majesty's middle colonies, send greeting, &c. In consideration of ten thousand dollars, they grant to Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, all that part of the province of Pennsylvania, not heretofore purchased of the Indians, within the said general boundary line, and beginning in the said boundary line, on the east side of the east branch of the river Susquehannah, at a place called Owegy, and running with the said boundary line, down the said branch on the east side thereof till it comes opposite the mouMh of a creek called by the Indians Awandac (Tawandee), and across the river and up the said creek on the south side thereof, along the range of hills called Burnett's hills by the English, and by the Indians on the north side of them, to the heads of a creek which runs into the west branch of Susquehannah, which creek is by the Indians called Tiadaghton, and down the said creek on the south side thereof, to the said west branch of Susquehannah, then crossing the said river, and running up VOL. 1-26 402 THE OLDEN TIME. the same on the south side thereof, the several courses thereof to the fork of the same river which lies nearest to a place on the river Ohio, called the Kittanning, and from the said fork by a straight line to Kittanning aforesaid, and then down the said river Ohio by the several courses thereof to where the western bounds of the said province of Pennsylvania crosses the same river, and then with the said western bounds to the south boundary thereof, and with the south boundary aforesaid to the east side of the Allegheny hills, and with the said hills on the east side of them to the west line of a tract of land purchased by the said proprietors from the Six Nation Indians, and confirmed October 23d. 1758, and then with the northern bounds of that tract to the river Susquehannah to the northern boundary line of another tract of land purchased of the Indians by deed (August 22d, 1749), and then with that northern boundary line to the river Delaware at the north side of the mouth of a creek called Lechawachsein, then up the said river Delaware on the west side thereof to the intersection of it, by an east line to be drawn from Owegy aforesaid to the said river Delaware, and then with that east line to the beginning at Owegy aforesaid." Some doubts arose as to what stream it was that was called Tiadaghton, and what hills were meant by "Burnett's Hills." At a subsequent treaty held in 1784, questions on these points were put to the Indians, and they replied that the creek was Pine Creek, which enters the west branch of the Susquehannah above Jersey Shore, and that Burnett's Hills wereby them called the Long Mountains. It is a singular circumstance in the history of this treaty, that although Virginia claimed a very considerable portion of the territory ceded to the Penns; yet her commissioner Thomas Walker, Esq., was present, saw the money paid to the Indians, and their chiefs executing a deed for a territory which embraced Pittsburgh, the very bone of contention, between those colonies, and yet made no objection, so far as we can learn. The title being thus acquired, measures were immediately taken to prepare the new purchased lands for sale. On the 23d of February, 1769, an advertisement was published for general information that the Land Office would be opened on the third day of the ensuing April, at 10 o'clock, A. M. to receive applications from all persons inclined to take up lands in the new purchase upon the terms of five pounds sterling per hundred acres, and one penny per acre, per annum, quit rent. This quit rent was afterwards abolished by the act, vesting in the Commonwealth the title of the Penns, commonly called the Divesting act, passed on the 27th of November, 1799. In Washington county, and in that portion of Allegheny, west of the Monongaliela river, many settlements were also made under Virginia titles, so that there was a rapid increase of the population from 1770 until 1775. Much of the very best land in that quarter is held by titles based on Virginia entries; which by the Compromise of 1779 are recognized as equal CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 403 ly good as a Pennsylvania warrant. A large portion of the beautiful lands on Chartier's creek is thus held, under entries made between the years 1769 and 1779 both inclusive. The place spoken of in the deed, as the fork nearest to the Kittanning, is the point which now marks the northwest corner of Cambria county. GEORGE CROGHAN'S JOURNAL OF HIS ROUTE FROM FORT PITT TO VINCENNES AND DETROIT IN 1765. Before we proceed with our notices of the settlement and improvement of this country subsequent to the treaty of Fort Stanwix, we wish to introduce to our readers two journals of voyages from this place down the Ohio river. The first of the two is that above named; it is chiefly interesting as showing the location of various Indian tribes at that period, and as proving the continued existence of French influence among some of those tribes, long after the conquest of Canada. Pontiac, the inexorable enemy of the English, and the devoted friend of the French was still living, and no doubt his influence was exerted against Croghan. It will be noticed that Croghan calls the island which we now call Brunot's, Chartier's, after the same treacherous half-breed Shawnese and Frenchman, who left his name to the creek that there debouches into the Ohio. We would be glad to see the ancient names of our islands, streams, and mountains all preserved, and not changing as the owners change. We recollect noticing in an early survey of the M'Kee property that this island was called Alliquippa's. This name would, in our estimation, be decidedly preferable even to Chartier's. The long island below it, which has been called Montour's, the Long Island, the Seven Mile Island, Simms', Neville's andCraig's, was once as our deceased friend, James M'Kee, informed us the home of Kustaloga, a sachem of the Delawares. This would certainly be a handsome name for that Island. It will be seen that Mr. Croghan places Logstown on the south side of the Ohio; in so doing, he stands alone among the ancient authorities. Mitchell's and Evan's map, and the map in Du Kalm's Travels, the Journal of Frederick Post, and the map and diary of that well informed geographer Thomas Hutchins, all place Logstown on the other side of the river. 404 THE OLDEN TIME. Some of our readers will, no doubt, be surprised to learn that buffalos were plenty along the Ohio, so far up as the mouth of the Little Kenhawa. These is no doubt, however, at all of the truth of this statement. Even so late as 1781 Colonel Broadhead, who then commanded Fort Pitt, frequently in his letters spoke of the abundance of buffalos on the Big Kenhawa. It is scarcely necessary to say that the Onabache mentioned in the journal is what we now call the Wabash, and Port Vincent is now Vincennes. THE JOURNAL OF GEORGE CROGHAN.* "May 15th, 1765.-I set off from Fort Pitt with two batteaux, and encamped at Chartier's island, in the Ohio, three miles below Fort Pitt. "16th-Being joined by the deputies of the Senecas, Shawanese, and Delawares that were to accompany me, we set off at seven o'clock in the morning, and at ten o'clock arrived at Logstown, an old settlement of the Shawanese, about seventeen miles from Fort Pitt, where we put ashore and viewed the remains of that village, which was situated on a high bank on the south side of the Ohio river, a fine fertile country around it. At eleven o'clock we re-embarked and proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of Big Beaver creek, about ten miles below the Logstown; this creek empties itself between two fine rich bottoms, a mile wide on each side from the banks of the river to the high lands. About a mile below the mouth of Beaver creek we passed an old settlement of the Delawares, where the French in 1756, built a town for that nation. On the north side of the river some of the stone chimneys are yet remaining; here the highlands come close to the banks and continue for about five miles. After which we passed several spacious bottoms on each side of the river, and came to Little Beaver creek, about fifteen miles below Big Beaver creek. A number of small rivulets fall into the river on each side. From thence we sailed to Yellow Creek, being about fifteen miles from the last mentioned creek; here and there the hills come close to the banks of' the river on each side, but where there are bottoms, they are very large, and well watered; numbers of small rivulets running through them, falling into the Ohio on both sides. We encamped on the river bank, and find a great part of the trees in the bottom are covered with grape vines. This day we passed by eleven islands, one of which being about seven miles long. For the most part of the way we made this day, the banks of the river are high and step. The course of the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of Beaver creek, inclines to the north-west; from thence to the two creeks partly due west. " 17th-At six o'clock in the morning we embarked, and were delighted *Not Colonel Croghan of Kentucky. CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 405 with the prospect of a fine open country on each side of the river as we passed down. We came to a place called the Two Creeks, about fifteen miles from Yellow creek, where we put to shore; here the Senecas have a village on a high bank on the north side of the river; the chief of this village offered me his services to go with me to the Illinois, which I could not refuse for fear of giving him offence, although I had a sufficient number of deputies with me already. From thence we proceeded down the river, passed many large, rich, and fine bottoms, the highlands being at a considerable distance from the river banks, till we came to the Buffalo creek, being about ten miles below the Seneca village; and from Buffalo creek we proceeded down the river to Fat Meat Creek, about thirty miles. The face of the country appears much like what we met with before; large, rich, and well watered bottoms, then succeeded by the hills pinching close on the river; these bottoms, on the north side, appear rather low, and consequently subject to inundations in the spring of the year, when there never fails to be high freshets in the Ohio, owing to the melting of the snows. This day we passed by ten islands, though the greatest part of them are small. They lay much higher out of the water than the main land, and of course less subject to be flooded by the freshets. At night we encamped near an Indian village. The general course of the river from the Two Creeks to Fat Mleat Creek inclines to the south-west. " 18th-At 6 o'clock, A. M. we set off in our batteaux; the country on both sides of the river appears delightful; the hills are several miles from the river banks, and consequently the bottoms large; the soil, timber, and banks of the river, much like those we have before described; about fifty miles below the Fat Meat Creek, we enter the long reach, where the river runs a straight course for twenty miles, and makes a delightful prospect; the banks continue high; the country on both sides, level, rich, and well watered. At the lower end of the reach we encamped. This day we passed nine islands, some of which are large, and lay high out of the water. " 19th-We decamped at six in the morning, and sailed to a place called the Three Islands, being about fifteen miles fiom our last encampment; here the highlands come close to the river banks, and the bottoms for the most part-till we come to the Muskingum (or Elk) river-are but narrow; this river empties itself in the Ohio about fifteen miles below the Three Islands; the banks of the river continue steep, and the country is level for several miles back from the river. The course of the river from Fat Meat Creek to Elk River, is about south-west and by south. We proceeded down the river about fifteen miles, to the mouth of Little Conhawa River, with little or no alteration in face of the country; here we encamped in a fine rich bottom, after having passed fourteen island, some of them large, and mostly lying high out of the water. Here buffalos, bears, turkeys, with all other kinds of wild game are extremely plenty. A good hunter, 406 THE OLDEN TIME. without much fatigue to himself, could here supply daily one hundred men with meat. The course of the Ohio, from Elk River to Little Conhawa, is about south. " 20th-At six in the morning we embarked in our boats, and proceeded down to the mouth of Hochocken or Bottle River, where we were obliged to encamp, having a strong head wind against us. We made but twenty miles this day, and passed by five very fine islands; the country the whole way being rich and level, with high steep banks to the rivers. From here I despatched an Indian to the Plains of Scioto, with a letter to the French traders from the Illinois residing there, amongst the Shawnese, requiring them to come and join me at the mouth of the Scioto, in order to proceed with me to their own country, and take the oaths of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, as they were now become his subjects, and had no right to trade there without license. At the same time I sent messages to the Shawnese Indians to oblige the French to come to me in case of refusal. "' 21st-We embarked at half past 8 o'clock in the morning, and sailed to a place called the Big Bend, about thirty-five miles below Bottle River. The course of the Ohio, from Little Cohnawa River to Big Bend, is about south-west by south. The country hereabout abounds with buffalo, bears, deer, and all sorts of wild game, in such plenty, that we killed out of our boats as much as we wanted. We proceeded down the river to the Buffalo Bottom, about ten miles from the beginning of the Big Bend, where we encamped. The country on both sides of the river much the same as we passed the day before. This day we passed nine islands, all lying high out of the water. " 22d-At half an hour past 5 o'clock, set off and sailed to a place called Alum Hill, so called from the great quantity of that mineral found there by the Indians; this place lays about ten miles from Buffalo Bottom; thence we sailed to the mouth of Great Conhawa River, being ten miles from the Alum Hill. The course of the river, from the Great Bend to this place is mostly west; from. hence we proceeded down to Little Guyondott River, where we encamped, about thirty miles from Great Conhawa; the country still fine and level; the bank of the river high, with abundance of creeks and rivulets falling into it. This day we passed six fine islands. In the evening one of our Indians discovered three Cherokees near our encampment, which obliged our Indians to keep out a good guard the first part of the night. Our party being pretty strong, I imagine the Cherokees were afraid to attack us, and so ran off. "23d-Decamped about five in the morning, and arrived at Big Guyondott, twenty miles from our last encampment: the country as of yesterday; from hence we proceeded down to Sandy River, being twenty miles further; thence to the mouth of Scioto, about forty miles from the last mentioned river. The general course of the river from Great Con CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 407 hawa to this place inclines to the south-west. The soil rich, the country level, and the banks of the river high. The soil on the banks of Scioto, for a vast distance up the country, is prodigious rich, the bottoms very wide, and in the spring of the year, many of them are flooded, so that the river appears to be two or three miles wide. Bears, deer, turkeys, and most sorts of wild game, are very plenty on the banks of this river. On the Ohio, just below the mouth of Scioto, on a high bank, near forty feet, formerly stood the Shawnese town, called the Lower Town, which was all carried away, except three or four houses, by a great flood in the Scioto. I was in the town at the time; though the banks of the Ohio were so high, the water was nine feet on the top, which obliged the whole town to take to their canoes, and move with their effects to the hills. The Shawnese afterwards built their town on the opposite side of the river, which, during the French war, they abandoned, for fear of the Virginians, and removed to the plains on Scioto. The Ohio is about one hundred yards wider here than at Fort Pitt, which is but a small augmentation, considering the great number of rivers and creeks that fall into it during the course of four hundred and twenty miles; and as it deepens but very little, I imagine the water sinks, though there is no visible appearance of it. In general all the lands on the Scioto River, as well as the bottoms on Ohio, are too rich for any thing but hemp, flax, or Indian corn. "24th, 25th and 26th-Stayed at the mouth of Scioto, waiting for the Shawnese and French traders, who arrived here on the evening of the 26th, in consequence of the message I sent them from Hochocken, or Bottle Creek. " 27th-The Indians requested me to stay this day, which I could not refuse. "28th-We set off: passing down the Ohio, the country on both sides the river level; the banks continue high. This day we came sixty miles; passed no islands. The river being wider and deeper, we drove all night. " 29th-We came to the Little Miame River, having proceeded sixty miles last night. " 30th —We passed the great Miame liver, about thirty miles from the little river of that name, and in the evening arrived at the place where the Eltphant's bones are found, where we encamped, intending to take a view of the place next morning. This day we came about seventy miles. The country on both sides level, and rich bottoms well watered. "31st-Early in the morning we went to the great Lick, where those bones are only found, about four miles from the river, on the south-east side. In our way we passed through a fine timbered clear wood; we came into a large road which the buffalos have beaten, spacious enough for two wagons to go abreast, and leading straight into the Lick. It ap 408 THE OLDEN TIME. pears that there are vast quantities of these bones lying five or six feet under ground, which we discovered in the bank, at the edge of the Lick. We found here two tusks above six feet long; we carried one, with some other bones, to our boats, and set off. This day we proceeded down the river about eighty miles, through a country much the same as already described, since we passed the Scioto. In this day's journey we passed the mouth of the River Kentucky, or Holsten's River. "June 1st-We arrived within a mile of the Falls of Ohio, where we encamped, after coming about fifty miles this day. "2d —Early in the morning we embarked, and passed the Falls. The river being very low we were obliged to lighten our boats, and pass on the north side of the little island, which lays in the middle of the river. In general, what is called the Falls here, is no more than rapids; and in the least fresh, a batteau of any size may come and go on each side without any risk. This day we proceed sixty miles, in the course of which we passed Pigeon River. The country pretty high on each side of the river Ohio. " 3d-In the forepart of this day's course, we passed high lands; about mid-day we came to a fine, flat, and level country, called by the Indians the Low Lands; no hills to be seen. We came about eighty miles this day, and encamped. "4th —We came to a place called the Five Islands; these islands are very long, and succeed one another in a chain; the country still flat and level, the soil exceedingly rich, and well watered. The highlands are at least fifty miles from the banks of the Ohio. In this day's course we passed about ninety miles, the current being very strong. " 5th-Having passed the Five Islands, we came to a place called the Owl River. Came about forty miles this day. The country the same as yesterday. " 6th-We arrived at the mouth of the Ouabache, where we found a breast-work erected, supposed to have been done by the Indians. The mouth of this river is about two hundred yards wide, and in its course runs through one of the finest countries in the world, the lands being exceedingly rich, and well watered; here hemp might be raised in immense quantities. All the bottoms, and almost the whole country abounds with great plenty of the white and red mulberry tree. These trees are to be found in great plenty, in all places between the mouth of Scioto and the Ouabache; the soil of the latter affords this tree in plenty as far as Ouicatonon, and some few on the Miame River. Several large fine islands lie in the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Ouabache, the banks of which are high, and consequently free from inundations; hence we proceeded down the river about six miles to encamp, as I judged some Indians were sent to way lay us, and came to a place called the Old Shawnese Village, some of that nation CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 409 having formerly lived there. In this day's proceedings we came about seventy-six miles. The general course of the river, from Scioto to this place, is south-west. "7th-We stayed here, and despatched two Indians to the Illinois by land, with letters to Lord Frazer, an English officer, who had been sent there from Fort Pitt, and Monsieur St. Ange, the French commanding officer at Fort Chartres, and some speeches to the Indians there, letting them know of my arrival here; that peace was made between us and the Six Nations, Delawares, and Shawnese, and of my having a number of deputies of those nations along with me. to conclude matters with them also on my arrival there. This day one of my men went into the woods and lost himself. " 8th-At day break we were attacked by a party of Indians, consisting of eighty warriors of the Kicapoos and Musquattimes, who killed two of my men and three Indians, wounded myself and all the rest of my party, except two white men and one Indian; then made myself and all the white men prisoners, plundering us of every thing we had. A deputy of the Shawnese, who was shot through the thigh, having concealed himself in the woods for a few minutes after he was wounded-not knowing but they were southern Indians. who are always at war with the northward Indians -after discovering what nation they were, came up to them and made a very bold speech, telling that the whole northward Indians would join in taking revenge for the insult and murder of their people; this alarmed those savages very much, who began excusing themselves, saying their fathers, the French, had spirited them up, telling them that the Indians were coming with a body of southern Indians to take their country from them, and enslave them; that it was this that induced them to commit this outrage. After dividing the plunder (they left great part of the heaviest effects behind, not being able to carry them), they set off with us to their village at Ouitacanon, in a great hurry, being in dread of a pursuit from a large party of Indians they suspected were coming after me. Our course was through a thick woody country, crossing a great many swamps, morasses, and beaver ponds. We traveled this day about forty-two miles. "9th-An hour before day we set out on our march; passed through thick woods, some highlands, and small savannahs, badly watered. Traveled this day about thirty miles. "10th-We set out very early in the morning, and marched through a high country, extremely well timbered, for three hours; then came to a branch of the Ouabache, which we crossed. The remainder of this day we traveled through fine rich bottoms, overgrown with reeds, which make the best pasture in the world, the young reeds being preferable to sheaf oats. Here is great plenty of wild game of all kinds. Came this day about twenty-eight, or thirty miles. 410 THE OLDEN TIME. " 11th-At day break we set off, making our way through a thin woodland, interspersed with savannahs. I suffered extremely by reason of the excessive heat of the weather, and scarcity of water; the little springs and runs being dried up. Traveled this day about thirty miles. "12th-We passed through some large savannahs, and clear woods; in the afternoon we came to the Ouabache; then marched along it through a prodigious rich bottom, overgrown with reeds and wild hemp; all this bottom is well watered, and an exceeding fine hunting ground. Came this day about thirty miles. " 13th-About an hour before day we set out; traveled through such bottoms as of yesterday, and through some large meadows, where no trees, for several miles together, are to be seen. Buffaloes, deer, and bears are here in plenty. We traveled about twenty-six miles this day. " 14th-The country we traveled through this day, appears the same as described yesterday, excepting this afternoon's journey through woodland, to cut off a bend of the river. Came about twenty-seven miles this day. " 15th-We set out very early, and about one o'clock came to the Ouabache, within six or seven miles of Port Vincent. On my arrival there, I found a village of about eighty or ninety French familes settled on the east side of this river, being one of the finest situations that can be found. The country is level and clear, and the soil very rich, producing wheat and tobacco. I think the latter preferable to that of Maryland or Virginia. The French inhabitants hereabouts, are an idle, lazy people, a parcel of renegadoes from Canada, and are much worse than the Indians. They took a secret pleasure at our misfortunes, and the moment we arrived, they came to the Indians, exchanging trifles for their valuable plunder. As the savages took from me a considerable quantity of gold and silver in specie, the French traders extorted ten halfjohannes from them for one pound of vermilion. Here is likewise an Indian village of the Pyankeshaws, who were much displeased with the party that took me, telling them that " our and your chiefs are gone to make peace, and you have begun a war, for which our women and children will have reason to cry." From this post the Indians permitted me to write to the commander, at Fort Chartres, but would not suffer me to write to any body else (this I apprehend was a precaution of the French, lest their villainy should be perceived too soon), although the Indians had given me permission to write to Sir William Johnson and Fort Pitt on our march, before we arrived at this place. But immediately after our arrival they had a private council with the French, in which the Indians urged (as they afterwards informed me) that as the French had engaged them in so bad an affair, which was likely to bring a war on their nation, they now expected a proof of their promise and assistance. Then delivered the French a scalp and part of the plunder, and wanted to deliver some presents to the Pyankeshaws, but they refused to accept of any CROGHAN S JOURNAL. 411 and declared they would not be concerned in the affair. This last information I got from the Pyankeshaws, as I had been well acquainted with them for several years before this time. "Port Vincent is a place of great consequence for trade, being a fine hunting country all along the Ouabache, and too far for the Indians, which reside thereabouts, to go to the Illinois or elsewhere, to fetch their necessaries. " 16th-We were obliged to stay here to get some little apparel made up for us, and to buy some horses for our journey to Ouicatonon, promising payment at Detroit, for we could not procure horses from the French for hire; though we were greatly fatigued, an-d our spirits much exhausted in our late march, they would lend us no assistance. " 17th-At mid-day we set out; traveling the first five miles through a fine thick wood. We traveled eighteen miles this day, and encamped in a large, beautiful, well watered meadow.' 18th and 19th-We traveled through a prodigious large meadow, called the Pyankeshaw's Hunting Ground: here is no wood to be seen, and the country appears like an ocean: the ground is exceedingly rich, and partly overgrown with wild hemp; the land, well watered, and full of buffalo, deer, bears, and all kinds of wild game. "20th and 21st-We passed through some very large meadows, part of which belong to the Pyankeshaws on Vermilion River: the country much the same as that we traveled over these three days past, wild hemp grows here in abundance; the game very plenty; at any time, in half an hour we could kill as much as we wanted. "22d-We passed through part of the same meadow as mentioned yesterday; then came to a high woodland, and arrived at Vermilion River, so called from a fine red earth found here by the Indians, with which they paint themselves. About half a mile from the place where we crossed this river, there is a village of Pyankeshaws, distinguished by the addition of the name of the river. We then traveled about three hours, through a clear high woody country, but a deep and rich soil; then came to a meadow, where we encamped. "23d-Early in the morning we set out through a fine meadow, then some clear woods; in the afternoon came into a very large bottom on the Outbache, within six miles of Ouicatanon; here I met several chiefs of the Kicapoos and Musquattimes, who spoke to their young men who had taken us, and reprimanded them severely for what they had done to me, after which they returned with us to their village, and delivered us all to their chiefs. "The distance from port Vincent to Ouicatanon is two hundred and ten miles. This place is situated on the Ouabache. About fourteen French families are living in the fort, which stands on the north side of the river. 412 THE OLDEN TIME. The Kicapoos and Musquattimes, whose warriors had taken us, live nigh the fort, on the same side of the river, where they have two villages; and the Ouicatanons have a village on the south side of the river. At our arrival at this post, several of the Wawcottonans (or Ouicatonans) with whom I had formerly been acquainted, came to visit me, and seemed greatly concerned at what had happened. They went immediately to the Kicapoos and Musquattimes, and charged them to take the greatest care of us, till their chiefs should arrive from the Illinois, where they were gone to meet me some time ago, and who were entirely ignorant of this affair, and said the French had spirited up this party to go and strike us. " The French have a great influence over these Indians, and never fail in telling them many lies to the prejudice of his majesty's interests, by making the English nation odious and hateful to them. I had the greatest difficulties in removing these prejudices. As these Indians are a weak, foolish, and credulous people, they are easily imposed on by designing people, who have led them hitherto as they pleased. The French told them that as the southern Indians had for two years past made war on them, it must have been at the instigation of the English, who were a bad people. However I have been fortunate enough to remove their prejudice, and in a great measure, their suspicions against the English. The country hereabouts is exceedingly pleasant, being open and clear for many miles; the soil very rich and well watered; the plants have a quick vegetation, and the climate very temperate through the winter. This post has always been a very considerable trading place. The great plenty of furs taken in this country, induced the French to establish this post, which was the first on the Ouabache, and by a very advantageous trade they have been richly recompensed for their labor. "On the south side of the Ouabache runs a big bank, in it are several fine coal mines, and behind this bank there is a very large meadow, clear for several miles. It is surprising what false information we have had respecting this country: some mention these spacious and beautiful meadows as large and barren savannahs. I apprehend it has been the artifice of the French to keep us ignorant of the country. These meadows bear fine wild grass, and wild hemp ten or twelve feet high, which if properly manufactured, would prove as good, and answer all the purposes of the hemp we cultivate. "July 25th-We set out from this place (after settling all matters happily with the natives) for the Miames, and traveled the whole way through a fine rich bottom, overgrown with wild hemp, alongside the Ouabache, till we came to Eel River, where we arrived the 27th. About six miles up this river is a small village of the Twightwees, situated on a very delightful spot of ground on the bank of the river. The Eel River heads near St. Joseph's, and runs nearly parallel to the Miames, and at some few miles CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 413 distance from it, through a fine, pleasant country, and after a course of about one hundred and eighty miles empties itself into the Ouabache. " 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st-We traveled still along side the Eel River, passing through fine clear woods, and some good meadows, though not so large as those we passed some days before. The country is more overgrown with woods, the soil is sifficiently rich, and well watered with springs. "August 1st-We arrived at the carrying place between the River Miames and the Ouabache, which is about nine miles long in dry seasons, but not above half that length in freshes. The head of the Ouabache is about forty miles from this place, and after a course of about seven hundred and sixty miles from the head spring, through one of the finest countries in the world, it empties itself into the Ohio. The navigation from hence to Ouicatanon, is very difficult in low water, on account of many rapids and rifts; but in freshes, which generally happen in the spring and fall, batteaux or canoes will pass, without difficulty, from here to Ouicatanon in three days, which is about two hundred and ten miles. From Ouicatanon to Port Vincent, and thence to the Ohio, batteaux and canoes may go at any season of the year. Throughout the whole course of the Ouabache the banks are pretty high, and in the river are a great many islands. Many shrubs and trees are found here unknown to us. " Within a mile of the Twightwee village, I was met by the chiefs of that nation, who received us very kindly. The most part of these Indians knew me, and conducted me to their village, where they immediately hoisted an English flag that I had formerly given them at Fort Pitt. The next day they held a council, after which they gave me up all the English prisoners they had, then made several speeches, in all which they expressed the great pleasure it gave them, to see the unhappy differences which embroiled the several nations in a war with their brethren, the English, were now so near a happy conclusion, and that peace was established in their country. "The Twightwee village is situated on both sides of a river called St. Joseph. This river, where it falls into the Miame river, about a quarter of a mile from this place, is one hundred yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous. " The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit, during the late Indian war; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment, came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the English. All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent people, fond of breeding mischief, and spiriting up the Indians against the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here. The country is pleasant, 414 THE OLDEN TIME. the soil rich and well watered. After several conferences with these Indians, and their delivering me up all the English prisoners they had, " On the 6th of August we set out for Detroit, down the Mliame river in a canoe. This river heads about ten miles from hence. The river is not navigable till you come to the place where the river St. Joseph joins it, and makes a considerably large stream, nevertheless we found a great deal of difficulty in getting our canoe over the shoals, as the waters at this season were very low. The banks of the river are high, and the country overgrown with lofty timber of various kinds; the land is level, and the woods clear. About ninety miles from the Miames or Twightwee, we came to where a large river, that heads in a large lick, falls into the Miame river; this they call the Forks. The Ottawas claim this country, and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the Ottawa village. This nation formerly lived at Detroit, but is now settled here, on account of the richness of the country, where game isalways to be found in plenty. Here we were obliged to get out of our canoes, and drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts which interrupt the navigation. At the end of these rifts we came to a village of the Wyandotts, who received us very kindly, and from thence we proceeded to the mouth of this river, where it falls into Lake Erie. From the Miames to the lake is computed one hundred and eighty miles, and from the entrance of the river into the lake to Detroit, is sixty miles; that is, forty-two miles upon the lake, and eighteen miles up the Detroit river to the garrison of that name. The land on the lake side is low and flat.' We passed several large rivers and bays, and on the 16th of August, in the afternoon, we arrived at Detroit river. The country here is much higher than on the lake side; the river is about nine hundred yards wide, and the current runs very strong. There are several fine and large islands in this river, one of which is nine miles long; its banks high, and the soil very good. " 17th-In the morning we arrived at the fort, which is a large stockade, inclosing about eighty houses, and stands close on the north side of the river, on a high bank, commands a very pleasant prospect for nine miles above, and nine miles below the fort; the country is thick settled with French, their plantations are generally laid out about three or four acres in breadth on the river, and eighty in depth; the soil good, producing plenty of grain. All the people here are generally poor wretches, and consist of three or four hundred French families, a lazy, idle people, depending chiefly on the savages for subsistance; though the land, with little labor, produces plenty of grain, they scarcely raise as much as will supply their wants, in imitation of the Indians, whose manners and customs they have entirely adopted, and cannot subsist without them. The men, women and children speak the Indian tongue perfectly well. In the last Indian war the most part of the French were concerned in it (although the whole CROGHAN'S JOURNAL. 415 settlement had taken the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty); they have, therefore, great reason to be thankful to the English clemency in not bringing them to deserved punishment. Before the Indian war there resided three nations of Indians at this place: the Putawatimes, whose village was on the west side of the river, about one mile below the fort; the Ottawas, on the east side, about three miles above the fort; and the Wyandotts, whose village lays on the east side, about two miles below the fort. The former two nations have removed to a considerable distance, and the latter still remain where they were, and are remarkable for their good sense and hospitality. They have a peculiar attachment to the Roman Catholic religion, the French, by their priests, having taken uncommon pains to instruct them. "During my stay here, I held frequent conferences with the different nations of Indians assembled at this place, with whom I had settled matters, to their general satisfaction. "S'eptember 26th-Set out from Detroit for Niagara; passed Lake Erie along the north shore in a birch canoe, and arrived the eighth of October at Niagara. The navigation of the lake is dangerous for batteaux or canoes, by reason that the lake is very shallow for a considerable distance from the shore. The bank for several miles is high and steep, and affords a harbor for a single batteau. The lands in general, between Detroit and Niagara, are high, and the soil good, with several fine rivers falling into the lake. The distance from Detroit to Niagara is computed three hundred miles." 416 THE OLDEN TIME. WASHINGTON'S TOUR TO THE OHIO IN 1770. It was remarked to us by a friend in a letter, accompanying a communication which we published in our sixth number, that everything which connected Washington's name with the early history of our country was interesting, and worthy of preservation. The journal of his visit to this place, and his voyage down the Ohio and back is of that character, and as such we insert it. JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE OHIO RIVER IN 1770. "October 5th-Began a journey to the Ohio, in company with Dr. Craik, his servant, and two of mine, with a led horse and baggage. Dined at Towlstown, and lodged at Leesburg, distant from Mount Vernon about forty-five miles. Here my portmanteau horse failed. " 6th-Fed our horses on the top of the Ridge, and arrived at my brother Samuel's, on Worthington's Marsh, a little after they had dined, the distance being about thirty miles; from hence I dispatched a messenger to Colonel Stephen, apprising him of my arrival and intended journey. "7th-My portmanteau horse being unable to proceed, I left him at my brother's and got one of his, and proceeded to Samuel Pritchard's on Cacapehon. Pritchard's is a pretty good house, there being fine pasturage, good fences, and beds tolerably clean. "8th-My servant being unable to travel, I left him at Pritchard's with Dr. Craik, and proceeded myself with Valentine Crawford to Colonel Cresap's, in order to learn from him (being just arrived from England) the particulars of the grant said to be lately sold to Walpole and others, for a certain tract of country on the Ohio. The distance from Pritchard's to Cresap's, according to computation, is twenty-six miles. " 9th-Went up to Rumney in order to buy work-horses, and met Dr. Craik and my baggage; arrived there about twelve o'clock. 10th-Having purchased two horses, and recovered another which had been gone from me near three years, I dispatched my boy Silas with my two riding horses home, and proceeded on my journey; arriving at one WASHINGTON'S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 417 Wise's (now Turner's) mill, about twenty-two miles, it being reckoned seven to the place where Cox's Fort formerly stood; ten to one Parker's; and five afterwards. " 11th —The morning being wet and heavy we did not set off till eleven o'clock, and arrived that night at one Killam's, on a branch of George's creek, distant ten and a half measured miles from the north branch of the Potomac, where we crossed at the lower end of my deceased brother Augustine's land, known by the name of Pendergrass's. This crossing is two miles from the aforesaid mill, and the road bad, as it likewise is to Killam's, the country being very hilly and stony. From Killam's to Fort Cumberland is the same distance, that is to the crossing above mentioned, and the road from thence to Jolliff's, by the Old Town, much better. "12th-We left Killam's early in the morning; breakfasted at the Little Meadows, ten miles off, and lodged at the Great Crossing, twenty miles further, which we found a tolerably good day's work. The country we traveled over to-day was very mountainous and stony, with but very little good land, and that lying in spots. " 13th-Set out about sunrise: breakfasted at the Great Meadows, thirteen miles, and reached Captain Crawford's* about five o'clock. The land from Gist's to Crawford's is very broken, though not mountainous; in spots exceedingly rich, and in general free from stones. Crawford's is very fine land, lying on the Youghiogheny, at a place commonly called Stewart's Crossing. " 14th-At Captain Crawford's all day. Went to see a coal mine not far from his house, on the banks of the river. The coal seemed to be of the very best kind, burning freely, and abundance of it. " 15th-Went to view some land which Captain Crawford had taken up for me near the Youghiogheny, distant about twelve miles. This tract, which contains about one thousand six hundred acres, includes some as fine land as ever I saw, and a great deal of rich meadow. It is well watered, and has a valuable mill seat, except that the stream is rather too slight, and, it is said, not constant more than seven or eight months in the year; but on account of the fall, and other conveniences, no place can exceed it. In going to this land I passed through two other tracts which Captain Crawford had taken up for my brothers Samuel and John. I intended to have visited the lancd which Crawford had procured for Lund Washington, this day also, but time falling short, I was obliged to postpone it. Night came on before I *This was William Crawford. He had been a captain in Forbes' expedition to Fort Duquesne, and was subsequently a colonel in the American army during the Revolution. In 1782 he led an expedition against the Ohio Indians, was defeated, taken prisoner and tortured to death in a most cruel manner. His resi dence, at the time of Washington's visit, was at or near where Connelsville now stands. Washington, in a letter to the Board of War in 1778, spoke of him as " a brave and active officer." VOL. i-27 418 THE OLDEN TIME. got back to Crawford's, where I found Colonel Stephen. The lands which I passed over to-day were generally hilly, and the growth chiefly white-oak, but very good notwithstanding; and what is extraordinary, and contrary to the property of all other lands I ever saw before, the hills are the richest land; the soil upon the sides and summits of them being as black as a coal, and the growth walnut and cherry. The flats are not so rich and a good deal more mixed with stone. " 16th-At Captain Crawford's till the evening, when I went to Mr. John Stephenson's on my way to Pittsburgh, and lodged. This day I was visited by one Mr. Ennis, who had traveled down the Little Kenahwa, almost from the head to the mouth, on which he says the lands are broken, the bottoms neither wide nor rich, but covered with beach. At the mouth the lands are good, and continue so up the river. About Wheeling and Fisher's creek there is, according to his account, a body of fine land. I also saw a son of Captain John Harden's, who said he had been from the mouth of Little Kenahwa to the Big; but his description of the lands seemed to be so vague and indeterminate, that it was much doubted whether he ever was there or not. " 17th-Dr. Craik and myself, with Captain Crawford and others, arrived at Fort Pitt, distant from the crossing forty-three and a half measured miles. In riding this distance we passed over a great deal of exceedingly fine land, chiefly white oak, especially from Sewickley creek to Turtle creek, but the whole broken; resembling, as I think the whole lands in this country do, the Loudoun lands. We lodged in what is called the town, distant about three hundred yards-from the fort, at one Semples,* who keeps a very good house of public entertainment. The houses, which are built of logs, and ranged in streets, are on the Monongahela, and I- suppose may be about twenty in number, and inhabited by Indian traders. The fort is built on the point between the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, but not so near the pitch of it as Fort Duquesne stood..It is five sided and regular, two of which near the land are of brick; the others stockade. A moat encompasses it. The garrison consists of two companies of Royal Irish, commanded by Captain Edmondson. "18th-Dined in the fort with Colonel Croghan and the officers of the garrison; supped there also, meeting with great civility from the gentlemen, ~ This was the house of Samuel Seinple, situated at the corner of Water and Ferry streets, where tho Virginia House now stands. It was a two story, double hewn log house, We have been informed that it was built by Colonel George Morgan about 1764, and was the first shingle roofed house in Pittsburgh. The half of the lower story next to Ferry street was divided into two rooms, while the portion to the right of the hall entering from Water street was all in one room, and in it stood the first billiard table we ever saw. No doubt the officers of the two Royal Irish companies, and gentlemen residing and visiting here, spent many a pleasant hour in Mr. Semple's " very good house of public entertainment." WASHINGTON'S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 419 and engaged to dine with Colonel Croghan the next day at his seat, about four miles up the Allegheny.* "19th-Received a message from Colonel Croghan, that the White Mingo and other chiefs of the Six Nations had something to say to me, and desiring that I would be at his house about eleven, where they were to meet me. I went up and received a speech, with a string of wampum, from the White Mingo,t to the following effect: "' That as I was a person whom some of them remember to have seen when I was sent on an embassy to the French, and most of them had heard of, they were come to bid me welcome to this country, and desire that the people of Virginia would consider them as friends and brothers, linked together in one chain; that I would inform the Governor that it was their wish to live in peace and harmony with the white people, and that though there had been some unhappy differences between them and the people on our frontiers, they were all made up, and they hoped forgotten; and concluded with saying that their brothers of Virginia did not come among them and trade as the inhabitants of other provinces did, from whence they were afraid that we did not look upon them with so friendly an eye as they could wish.' " To this I answered, after thanking them for their friendly welcome,'that all the injuries and affronts that had passed on either side, were now totally forgotten, and that I was sure nothing was more wished and desired by the people of Virginia than to live in the strictest friendship with them; that the Virginians were a people not so much engaged in trade as the Pennsylvanians, which was the reason of their not being so much among them, but that it was possible they might for the time to come have stricter connections with them, and that I would acquaint the government with their desires.':: Col. Croghan's seat was, according to our recollection, on the east side of the Allegheny river, nearly opposite to where Mr. McCtindlass is now residing. To be more precise, it was on the lot which is on our right when we first reach the Allegheny, when going from Lawrenceville up towards Sharpsburgh. t White Mingo was a chief of the Six Nations, probably a Seneca. He was present at the Conference held at this place in May in 1768, of which we have given a full account in our last number. In a draft of a suivey made for George Croglla) in 1769, " White Mingo's Castle "' is marked on the west side of the Allegheny river, and near about two miles above Wainwright's island; leing, as well as we can judge, nearly opposite to where Croghan's house stood. It seems a little singular that he should have selected his place of resi4nce just in the Narrows. Just behind his castle stood the rough and lofty hill, and just in front of himl, in full view, just across the Allegheny, was the beautiful country now occupied by Mrs. Mowry, Mrs. Cohlins, and various other persons. The treaty of Fort Stanwix in the fall of 1768, had extinguished the Indian title to all that region east of the Allegheny, and White Mingo may have reluctantly crossed over and selected a site for his new home froml which lie could take a lingering anxious look upon the lovely region which had passed froms his red brethren to the pale faces. Be this as it may, it is certain his selection of a site for his castle was not after the usual Indian taste. 420 TIE OLDEN TIME. "After we dined at Colonel Croghan's we returned to Pittsburgh, Colonel Croghan with us, who intended to accompany us part of the way down the river, having engaged an Indian called the Pheasant, and one Joseph Nicholson, an interpreter, to attend us the whole voyage, also a young Indian warrior. " 20th.-We embarked in a large canoe, with sufficient store of provisions and necessaries, and the following persons besides Dr. Craik and myself, to wit, Captain Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, William Harrison, Charles Morgan and Daniel Rendon, a boy of Captain Crawford's, and the Indians, who were in a canoe by themselves. From Fort Pitt we sent our horses and boys back to Captain Crawford's, with orders to meet us there again on the 14th day of November. Colonel Croghan, Lieutenant Hamilton and Mr. Magee set out with us. At two we dined at Mr. Magee's,* and encamped ten miles below, and four above Logstown. We passed several large islands which appeared to be very good, as the bottoms also did on each side of the river alternately; the hills on one side being opposite to the bottoms on the other, which seem generally to be about three or four hundred yards wide, and so vice versa. "21st-Left our encampment about six o'clock and breakfasted at Logstown, where we parted with Colonel Croghan and company about nine o'clock. At eleven we came to the mouth of the Big Beaver creek, opposite to which is a good situation for a house, and above it, on the same side, that is the west, there appears to be a body of fine land. About five miles lower down, on the east side, comes in Raccoon creek, at the mouth of which and up it appears to be a body of good land also. All the land between this creek and the Monongahela, and for fifteen miles back, is claimed by Colonel Croghan under a purchase from the Indians, which sale he says is confirmed by his Majesty. On this creek, where the branches thereof interlock with the waters of Shurtees creek, there is, according to Colonel Croghan's account, a body of fine, rich, level land. This tract he wants to sell, and offers it at five pound sterling per hundred acres, with an exemption of quitrents for twenty years; after which to be subject to the payment of four shillings and two pence sterling per hundred acres, provided he can sell it in ten thousand acre lots. At present the unsettled state of the country renders any purchase dangerous. From Raccoon creek to Little Beaver creek appears to me to be little short of ten miles, and about three miles below this we encamped, after hiding a barrel of biscuit in an island to lighten our canoe. "22d-As it began to snow about midnight, and continued pretty steadily, * This name is, no doubt. misspelt. The person meant was certainly Alexander McKee. James McKee, a man of scrupulous veracity, has often mentioned to us the visit of Washington to his brother. WASHINGTON S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 421 it was about half after seven before we left our encampment. At the distance of about eight miles we came to the mouth of Yellow creek, opposite to, or rather below which, appears to be a long bottom of very good land, and the ascent to the hills apparently gradual. There is another pretty large bottom of very good land about two or three miles above this. About eleven or twelve miles from this, and just above what is called the Long Island (which though so distinguished, is not very remarkable for length, breadth or goodness), comes in on the east side of the river a small creek, or run, the name of which I could not learn; and a mile or two below the Island, on the west side, comes in Big Stony Creek (not larger in appearance than the other), on neither of which does there seem to be any large bottoms or bodies of good land. About seven miles from the last mentioned creek, twenty-eight from our last encampment, and about seventy-five from Pittsburgh, we came to the Mingo Town, situate on the west side of the river, a little above the Cross creeks. This place contains about twenty cabins, and seventy inhabitants of the Six Nations. Had we set off early, and kept constantly at it, we might have reached lower than this place today, as the water in many places ran pretty swift, in general more so than yesterday. The river from Fort Pitt to Logstown has some ugly rifts and shoals, which we found somewhat difficult to pass, whether from our inexperience of the channel or not, I can not undertake to say. From Logstown to the mouth of Little Beaver creek is much the same kind of water; that is, rapid in some places, gliding gently along in others, and quite still in many. The water from Little Beaver creek to Mingo Town, in general, is swifter than we found it the preceding day, and without any shallows; there being some one part or another always deep, which is a natural consequence, as the river in all the distance from Fort Pitt to this town has not widened at all, nor do the bottoms appear to be any larger. The hills which come close to the river opposite to each bottom are steep; and on the side in view, in many places, rocky and cragged; but said to abound in good land on the tops. These are not a range of hills, but broken and cut in two, as if there were frequent water courses running through, which however we did not perceive to be the case. The river abounds in wild geese, and several kinds of ducks, but in no great quantity. We killed five wild turkeys to-day. Upon our arrival at the Mingo Town, we received the disagreeable news of two traders being killed at a town called the Grape-Vine town, thirty-eight miles below this; which caused us to hesitate whether we should proceed or wait for further intelligence. "23d —Several imperfect accounts coming in, agreeing that only one person was killed, and the Indians not supposing it to be done by their people, we resolved to pursue our passage, till we could get a more distinct account of this transaction. Accordingly about two o'clock we set out with the two Indians, who were to accompany us in our canoe, and 422 THE OLDEN TIME. after about four miles came to the mouth of a creek on the east side. The Cross creeks as they are called;are not large; that on the west side is biggest. At the Mingo Town we found and left more than sixty warriors of the Six Nations, going to the Cherokee country to proceed to war against the Catawbas. About ten miles below the town, we came to two other cross creeks; that on the west side is the larger, and called by Nicholson, French creek. About three miles, or a little more, below this, at the lower point of some islands, which stand contiguous to each other, we were told by the Indians, that three men from Virginia had marked the land from hence all the way to Red stone; that there was a body of exceedingly fine land lying about this place, and up opposite to the Mingo Town, as also down to the mouth of Fishing creek. At this place we encamped. "24th-We left our encampment before sunrise, and about six miles below it we came to the mouth of a small creek, coming in from the eastward, called by the Indians Split-Island creek, from its running in against an Island. On this creek there is the appearance of good land. Six miles below this again we came to another creek on the west side, called by Nicholson, Wheeling, and about a mile lower down appears to be another small water coming in on the east side, which I remark because of a scarcity of them, and to show how badly furnished this country is with mill seats. Two or three miles below this is another run on the west side, up which is a near way by land to the Mingo Town, and about four miles lower, comes in another on the east, at which place is a path leading to the settlement at Redstone. About a mile and a half below this comes in the Pipe creek, so called by the Indians from a stone which is found here out of which they make pipes. Opposite to this, that is, on the east side, is a bottom of exceedingly rich land; but as it seems to lie low, I am apprehensive that it is subject to be overflowed. This bottom ends where the effects of a hurricane appear, by the destruction and havoc among the trees. Two or three miles below the Pipe creek is a pretty large creek on the west side, called by Nicholson, Fox-Grape-Vine, by others, Captema creek, on which, eight miles up, is the town called the Grape-Vine town, and at the mouth of it is the place where it was said the trader was killed. To this place we came about three o'clock in the afternoon, and finding nobody there, we agreed to encamp, that Nicholson and one of the Indians might go up to the town and inquire into the truth of the report concerning the murder. "25th-About seven o'clock Nicholson and the Indian returned; they found nobody at the town but two old Indian women (the men being a hunting); from these they learned that the trader was not murdered but drowned in attempting to cross the Ohio; and that only one boy belonging to the traders was in these parts, the trader, his father, being gone for horses to take home their skins. About half an hour after seven we set out from our encampment; around which and up the creek is a body of fine land. WASHINGTON'S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 423 In our passage down to this place we saw innumerable quantities of turkeys, and many deer watering and brousing on the shore side, some of which we killed. Neither yesterday nor the day before did we pass any rifts, or very rapid water, the river gliding gently along; nor did we perceive any alteration in the general face of the country, except that the bottoms seemed to be getting a little longer and wider, as the bends of the river grew larger. "About five miles from the Vine creek comes in a very large creek to the eastward, called by the Indians Cut creek, from a town or tribe of Indians, which they say was cut off entirely in a very bloody battle between them and the Six Nations. This creek empties just at the lower end of an island and is seventy or eighty yards wide, and I fancy it is the creek commonly called Wheeling by the people of Redstone. It extends, according to the Indian account, a great way, and interlocks with the branches of Split Island creek; abounding in very fine bottoms and exceedingly good land. Just below this, on the west side, comes in a small run, and about five miles below it, on the west side also, another creek empties, called by the Indians Broken Timber creek, so named from the timber that is destroyed on it by a hurricane; on the head of this was a town of the Delawares, which is now deserted. Two miles lower down, on the same side, is another creek smaller than the last, and bearing, according to the Indians, the same name. Opposite to these two creeks, on the east side, appears to be a large bottom of good land. About two miles below the last mentioned creek, on the east side, and at the end of the bottom aforementioned, comes in a small creek. Seven miles from this is Muddy creek, on the east side of the river, a pretty large creek which heads with some of the waters of the Monongahela, according to the Indian account, and is bordered by some bottoms of very good land; but in general the hills are steep, and the country broken. At the mouth of this creek is the largest flat I have seen upon the river; the bottom extends two or three miles up the river above it and a mile below; though. it does not seem to be of the richest kind. About half way in the Long Reach we encamped, opposite to the beginning of a large bottom on the east side of the river. At this place we threw out some lines at night and found a catfish, of the size of our largest river catfish, hooked to one of them in the morning, though it was of the smallest kind here. We found the bottoms increased in size, both as to length ant breadth, and the river next the shores rather more muddy, but in general stony, as it has been all the way down. " 26th-Left our encampment at half an hour after six o'clock, and passed a small run on the west side about four miles lower. At the lower end of the Long Reach, and for some distance up it, on the east side, is a large bottom, but low, and covered with beach near the river shore, which is no indication of good land. The Long Reach is a straight course of the river for about eighteen or twenty miles, which appears the more extraor 424 THE OLDEN TIME. dinary as the Ohio in general is remarkably crooked. There are several islands in this reach, some containing an hundred or more acres of land; but all, I apprehend, liable to be overflowed. "At the end of this reach we found Martin and Lindsay, two traders, and from them learnt that the person drowned was one Philips, attempting, in company with Rogers, another Indian trader, to swim the river with their horses at an improper place; Rogers himself narrowly escaping. Five miles lower down comes in a large creek from the east, right against an island of good land, at least a mile or two in length. At the mouth of this creek, the name of which I could not learn, except that it was called by some Ball's creek, from one Ball that hunted on it, is a bottom of good land, though rather too much mixed with beach. Opposite to this island the Indians showed us a buffalo's path, the tracks of which we saw. Five or six miles below the last-mentioned creek we came to the Three Islands. Below these islands is a large body of flat land, with a water course running through it on the east side, and the hills back neither so high nor steep in appearance, as they are up the river. On the other hand, the bottoms do not appear so rich, though much longer and wider. The bottom last mentioned is upon a straight reach of the river, I suppose six or eight miles in length. About twelve miles below the Three Islands we encamped, just above the mouth of the creek, which appears pretty large at the mouth, and just above an island. All the lands from a little below the creek, which I have distinguished by the name of Ball's creek, appear to be level, with small hillocks intermixed, as far as we could see into the country. We met with no rifts to day, but some pretty strong water; upon the whole tolerably gentle. The sides of the river were a good deal incommoded with old trees, which impeded our passage a little. This day proved clear and pleasant, the only day since the 18th that it has not rained or snowed, or threatened the one or the other. " 27th-Left our encampment a quarter before seven, and after passing the creek near which we lay, and another of much the same size and on the same side, also an island about two miles in length but not wide, we came to the mouth of Muskingum, distant from our encampment about four miles. This river is about one hundred and fifty yards wide at the mouth; it runs out in a gentle current and clear stream, and is navigable a great way into the country for canoes. From Muskingum to Little Kenhawa is about thirteen miles. This is about as wide at the mouth as the Muskingum, but the water much deeper. It runs up towards the inhabitants of Monongahela, and according to the Indian account, forks about forty or fifty miles from the mouth, and the ridge between the two prongs leads directly to the settlement. To this fork, and above, the water is navigable for canoes. On the upper side of this river there appears to be a bottom of exceedingly rich land, and the country from hence quite up to WASHINGTON S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 425 the Three Islands level and in appearance fine. The Ohio running round it in the form of a horse shoe forms a neck of flat land, which, added to that running up the second Long Reach aforementioned, cannot contain less than fifty thousand acres in view. " About six or seven miles below the mouth of the Little Kenhawa, we came to a small creek on the west side, which the Indians called Little Hocklocking; but before we did this, we passed another small creek on the same side near the mouth of that river, and a cluster of islands afterwards. The lands for two or three miles below the mouth of the Little Kenhawa on both sides of the Ohio appear broken and indifferent; but opposite to the Little Hockhocking there is a bottom of good land, through which there runs a small watercourse. I suppose there may be, of this bottom and fiat land together, two or three thousand acres. The lower end of this bottom is opposite to a small island, of which I dare say little is to be seen when the river is high. About eight miles below Little Hockhocking we encamped opposite to the mouth of the Great Hockhocking, which, though so called, is not a large water, though the Indians say canoes can go up it forty or fifty miles. Since we left the Little Kenhawa the lands appear neither so level nor so good. The bends of the river and bottoms are longer, but not so rich as in the upper part of the river. "28th-Left our encampment about seven o'clock. Two miles below a small run comes in, on the east side, through a piece of land that has a very good appearance, the bottom beginning above our encampment, and continuing in appearance wide for four miles down, where we found Kiashuta and his hunting party encamped. Here we were under a necessity of paying our compliments, as this person was one of the Six Nation chiefs and the head of tlose upon this river. In the person of Kiashuta I found an old acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that went with me to the French in 1753.* He expressed a satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with him, and, in order to retard us as little as possible, moved his camp down the river just below the mouth of a creek, the name of which I could not learn. At this place we all encamped. After much counseling over night, they all came to my fire the next morning with great formality; when Kiashuta, rehearsing what had passed between me and the Sachems at Colonel Croghan's, thanked me for saying that peace and friendship with them were the wish of the people of Virginia, and for recommending it to the traders to deal with them upon' This Kiashuta is the same man who we have often before mentioned, who figured at the treaties with Bradstreet and Bouquet, and who it is said died and was buried on the farm of James O'Hara, on the west side of the Allegheny, about eight miles above Pittsburgh. The Indians who accompanied Washington to Le Bceuf in 1753, were the Half King (Tanacharison), Jeskakake, White Thunder, and the Hunter; of these we presume the latter was Guyasutha. 426 THE OLDEN TIME. a fair and equitable footing; and then again expressed their desire of having a trade opened with Viirginia, and that the Governor thereof might not only be made acquainted therewith, but with their friendly disposition towards the white people. This I promised to do. "29th —The tedious ceremony which the Indians observe in their counselings and speeches, detained us till nine o'clock. Opposite to the creek, just below which we encamped, is a pretty long bottom, and I believe tolerably wide; but about eight or nine miles below the aforementioned creek, and just below a pavement of rocks on the west side, comes in a creek with fallen timber at the mouth, on which the Indians say there are wide bottoms of good land. The river bottoms above, for some distance, are very good, and continue so for near half a mile below the creek. The pavement of rocks is only to be seen at low water. About a mile below the mouth of the creek there is another pavement of rocks on the east side, in a kind of sedgy ground. On this creek are many buffaloes, according to the Indian account. Six miles below this comes in a small creek on the west side, at the end of a small, naked island, and just above another pavement of rocks. This creek comes through a bottom of fine land, and opposite to it, on the east side of the river, appears to be a large bottom of very fine land also. At this place begins what they call the Great Bend. Two miles below, on the east side, comes in another creek, just below an island, on the upper point of which are some dead standing trees, and a parcel of white bodied sycamores; in the mouth of this creek lies a sycamore blown down by the wind. From hence an east line may be run three or four miles, thence a north line till it strikes the river, which 1 apprehend would include about three or four thousand acres of valuable land. At the mouth of this creek is the warriors' path to the Cherokee country. For two miles and a half below this the Ohio runs a north-east course, and finishes what they call the Great Bend. Two miles and a half below this we encamped. "30th-We set out about fifty minutes past seven, the weather being windy and cloudy, after a night of rain. After about two miles we came to the head of a bottom, in the shape of a horse shoe, which I judge to be about six miles round; the beginning of the bottom appeared to be very good land, but the lower part did not appear so friendly. The upper part of the bottom we encamped on was exceeding good, but the lower part rather thin land, covered with beech. In it is some clear meadow land, and a pond or lake. This bottom begins just below the rapid at the Grand Bend. The river from this place narrows very considerably, and for five or six miles is scarcely more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards over. The water yesterday, except the rapid at the Great Bend and some swift places about the islands, was quite dead, and as easily passed one way as the other; the land in general appeared level and good. WASHINGTON S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 427 "About ten miles below our encampment, and a little lower down than the bottom described to lie in the shape of a horse shoe, comes in a small creek on the west side, and opposite to this on the east begins a body of flat land, which the Indians tell us runs quite across the fork to the falls of the Kenhawa, and must be at least three days' walk across; if so, the flat land contained therein must be very considerable. A mile or two below this we landed, and after getting a little distance from the river, we came, without any rising, to a pretty lively kind of land grown up with hickory and oaks of different kinds, intermixed with walnut. We also found many shallow ponds, the sides of which, abounding with grass, invited innumerable quantities of wild fowl, among which I saw a couple of birds in size between a swan and goose, and in color somewhat between the two, being darker than the young swan and of a more sooty color. The cry of these birds was as unusual as the birds themselves; I never heard any noise resembling it before. About five miles below this we encamped in a bottom of good land, which holds tolerably flat and rich for some distance out. " 31st-I sent the canoe down about five miles to the junction of the two rivers, that is, the Kenhawa with the Ohio, and set out upon a hunting party to view the land. We steered nearly east for about eight or nine miles, then bore southwardly and westwardly, till we came to our camp at the confluence of the rivers. The land from the rivers appeared but indifferent, and very broken; whether these ridges may not be those that divide the waters of the Ohio from the Kenhawa is not certain, but I believe they are; if so, the lands may be good; if not, that which lies beyond the river bottoms is worth little. "'November 1st-Before eight o'clock we set off with our canoe up the river, to discover what kind of lands lay upon the Kenhawa. The land on both sides this river just at the mouth is very fine; but on the east side, when you get towards the hills, which I judge to be about six or seven hundred yards from the river, it appears to be wet, and better adapted for meadow than tillage. This bottom continues up the east side for about two miles; and by going up the Ohio a good tract might be got of bottom land, including the old Shawnee town which is about three miles up the Ohio, just above the mouth of a creek. We judged we went up the Kenhawa about ten miles to-day. On the east side appeared to be some good bottoms, but small, neither long nor wide, and the hills back of them rather steep and poor. " 2d —We proceeded up the river with the canoe about four miles farther, and then encamped and went a hunting; killed five buffaloes and wounded some others, three deer, &c. This country abounds in buffaloes and wild game of all kinds, as also in all kinds of wild fowl, there being in the bottoms a great many small, grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese and ducks of different kinds. Some of our people went up the river 428 THE OLDEN TIME. four or five miles higher, and found the same kind of bottom on the west side; and we were told by the Indians that it continued to the falls, which they judged to be fifty or sixty miles higher up. This bottom next the water in most places is very rich; as you approach to the hills you come to a thin white oak land and poor. The hills as far as we could judge were from half a mile to a mile from the river, poor and steep in the parts we saw, with pine growing on them. Whether they are generally so or not we cannot tell, but I fear they are. " 3d-We set Off down the river on our return homewards, and encamped at the mouth. At the beginning of the bottom above the junction of the rivers, and at the mouth of a branch on the east side, I marked two maples, an elm and hoop-wood tree, as a corner of the soldiers' land (if we can get it), intending to take all the bottom from hence to the rapids in the Great bend into one survey. I also marked at the mouth of another run lower down on the west side, at the lower end of the long bottom, an ash and hoop-wood for the beginning of another of the soldiers' surveys, to extend up so as to include all the bottom in a body on the west side. In coming from our last encampment up the Kenhawa, I endeavored to take the courses and distances of the river by a pocket compass and by guessing. "4th-After passing these hills, which may run on the river near a mile, there appears to be another pretty good bottom on the east side. At this we met a canoe going to the Illinois with sheep; and at this place also, that is, at the end of the bottom from the Kenhawa, just as we came to the hills, we met with a sycamore about sixty yards from the river of a most extraordinary size, it measuring three feet from the ground, forty-five feet round, lacking two inches; and not fifty yards from it was another thirty-one feet round. After passing this bottom and about a mile of hills, we encamped. This bottom reaches within about half a mile of the rapid at the point of the Great Bend. " 5th-I sent off the canoe with our baggage, and walked across the neck on foot, with Captain Crawford, the distance, according to our walking, about eight miles, as we kept a straight course under the foot of the hills, which run about south-east and were two hours and a half in walking it. This is a good neck of land, the soil being generally good, and in places very rich. There is a large proportion of meadow ground, and the land is high, dry and level as one could wish; the growth in most places beech intermixed with walnut, but more especially with poplar, of which there are numbers very large. The land towards the upper end is black oak, and very good. Upon the whole, a valuable tract might be had here, and I judge the quantity to be about four thousand acres. After passing this bottom and the rapid, as also some hills, which jut pretty close to the river, we came to that bottom before remarked the 29th ultimo. A little above this bottom we encamped, the afternoon being rainy and night wet. WASHINGTON'S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 429 "6th-We left our encampment a little after daylight, and after about five miles we came to Kiashuta's hunting camp, which was now removed to the mouth of that creek, noted October 29th for having fallen timber at the mouth of it, in a bottom of good land. By the kindness aud idle ceremony of the Indians, I was detained at Kiashuta's camp all the remaining part of this day; and having a good deal of conversation with him on the subject of land, he informed me, that it was further from the mouth of the Great Kenhawa to the fall of that river,than it was between the two Kenhawas"; that the bottom on the west side, which begins near the mouth of the Kenhawa, continues all the way to the falls without the interposition of hills, and widens as it goes, especially from a pretty large creek that comes in about ten or fifteen miles higher up than where we were; that in the fork there is a body of good land, and at a considerable distance above this, the river forks again at an island, and there begins, the reed, or cane, to grow; that the bottoms on the east side of the river are also very good, but broken with hills, and that the river is easily passed with canoes to the falls, which cannot be less than one hundred miles, but further it is not possible to go with them; that there is but one ridge from thence to the settlements upon the river above, on which it is possible for a man to travel, the country between being so much broken with steep hills and precipices.* " 17th-By this morning the river had fallen in the whole twenty-two or three feet, and was still lowering. About eight o'clock we set out, and passing the lower Cross Creeks we came to a pretty long and tolerably wide and good bottom on the east side of the river; then came in the hills, just above which is Buffalo creek. About three o'clock we came to the Mingo Town without seeing our horses, the Indian, who was sent express for them, having passed through only the morning before; being detained by the creeks, which were too high to ford. "Here we resolved to wait their arrival, which was expected to-morrow; and here then will end our water voyage along a river, the general course of which from Beaver creek to the Kenhawa is about south-west, as near as I could determine; but, in its windings through a narrow vale, extremely serpentine; forming on both sides of the river alternately necks of very good bottoms, some exceedingly fine, lying for the most part in the shape of a half-moon, and of various sizes. There is very little difference in the general width of the river from Fort Pitt to the Kenhawa; but in the depth I believe the odds are considerably in favor of the lower parts, as we found no shallows below the Mingo Town, except in one or two places where the river was broad, and there, I do not know but there might have been a * For the succeeding ten days the manuscript journal has been so much injured by accident, that it is impossible to transcribe it. The route, however, continued up the Ohio river, which was very much swollen by the rains. 430 THE OLDEN TIME. deep channel in some parts of it. Every here and there are islands, some larger and some smaller, which, operating in the nature of locks, or steps, occasion pretty still water above, but for the most part strong and rapid water alongside of them. However none of these is so swift but that a vessel may be rowed or set up with poles. When the river is in its natural state, large canoes, that will carry five or six thousand weight or more, may be worked against the stream by four hands, twenty or twenty-six miles a day; and down a good deal more. The Indians, who are very dexterous (even their women) in the management of canoes, have their hunting-camps and cabins all along the river, for the convenience of transporting their skins by water to market. In the fall, as soon as the hunting season comes on, they set out with their families for this purpose; and in hunting will move their camps from place to place, till by the spring they get two or three hundred miles from their towns; they catch beaver in their way up, which frequently brings them into the month of Maly, when the women are employed in planting. The men are at market, and in idleness, till the autumn again, when they pursue the same course. During the summer months they live a poor and perishing life. " The Indians who reside upon the Ohio, the upper parts of it at least, are composed of Shawanese, Delawares, and some of th'e Mingoes, who, getting but little part of the consideration that was given for the lands eastward of the Ohio, view the settlements of the people upon this river with an uneasy and jealous eye, and do not scruple to say, that they must be compensated for their right if the people settle thereon, notwithstanding the cession of the Six Nations. On the other hand, the people of Virginia and elsewhere are exploriIngand marking all the lands that are valuable, not only on the Redstone and other waters on the Monongahela, but along the Ohio as low as the Little Kenhawa; and by the next summer I suppose they will get to the Great Kenhawa at least. How difficult it may be to contend with these people afterwards is easy to be judged, from every day's experience of lands actually settled, supposing these settlements to be made; than which nothing is more probable, if the Indians permit them, from the disposition of the people at present. A few settlements in the midst of some of the large bottoms would render it impracticable to get a large quantity of land together; as the hills all way down the river, as low as I went, come pretty close, are steep and broken, and incapable of settlements (though some of them are rich), and only fit to support the bottoms with timber and wood. The land back of the bottoms, as far as I have been able to judge, either from my own observations or from information, is nearly the same, that is, exceedingly uneven and hilly; and I presume there are no bodies of flat, rich land to be found, till cne gets far'enough from the river to head the little runs and drains, that come through the hills, and to the sources of the creeks and their branches. This, it seems, is the case WASHINGTON S TOUR TO THE OHIO. 431 with the lands upon the Monongahela and Youghiogany, and I fancy holds good on this river, till you get into the flat lands below the falls. The bottom land differs a good deal in quality. That highest up the river in general is richest; though the bottoms are neither so wide nor so long as those below. Walnut, cherry, and some other kinds of wood neither tall nor large, but covered with grape vines, with the fruit of which this country at this instant abounds, are the growth of the richest bottoms; but on the other hand, these bottoms appear to me to be the lowest and most subject to floods. The sugar tree and ash, mixed with walnut, compose the growth of the next richest low grounds; beech, poplar, and oaks the last. The soil of this is also good, but inferior to either of the other kinds; and beech bottoms are objectionable on account of the difficulty of clearing them, as their roots spread over a large surface of ground and are hard to kill. " 1th-Agreed with two Delaware Indians to take up our canoe to Fort Pitt, for the doing of which I was to pay six dollars and give them a quart tin can. "1.9th-The Delawares set off with the canoe, and, our horses not arriving the day appeared exceedingly long and tedious. Upon conversing with Nicholson, I found he had been two or three times to Fort Chartres, on the Illinois, and I got fiom him an account of the lands between this place and that, and upon the Shawnee river, on which he had been a hunting. " 20th-About one o'clock our horses arrived, having been prevented from getting to Fort Pitt by the freshes. At two we set out and got about ten miles, the Indians traveling along with us. "21st —Reached Fort Pitt in the afternoon, distant from our last encampment about twenty-five miles, and, as near as I can guess, thirty-five from the Mingo Town.* The land between the Mingo Town and Pittsburgh is of different kinds. Four or five miles after leaving the first mentioned place we passed over steep, hilly ground covered with white oak, and a thin shallow soil. This was succeeded by a lively white oak, less broken; and this again by rich land, the growth of which was chiefly white and red oak mixed; which lasted,, with some intervals of indifferent ridges, all the way to Pittsburgh. It was very observable, that, as we left the river the land grew better, which is a confirmation of the accounts I had before received, that the good bodies of land lie upon the heads of the runs and cretks; but in all my travels through this country, I have seen no large body of level land. On the branches of Raccoon creek there appears to be good meadow ground, and on Shurtees creek, over both of which we passed, the land looks well. The country between the Mingo ToAwn and Fort Pitt appears to be well supplied with springs. * This Mingo Town was situated about four miles below Steubenville, on the same side of the Ohio, and near the mouth of Indian Cross Creek. 432 THE OLDEN TIME. "22d-Stayed at Pittsburgh all day. Invited the officers and some other gentlemen to dinner with me at Semple's, among whom was one Dr. Connolly,* nephew to Col. Croghan, a very sensible, intelligent man, who had traveled over a good deal of this western country both by land and water, and who confirms Nicholson's account of the good land on the Shawnee river, up which he had been near four hundred miles. This country (I mean on the Shawnee river), according to Dr. Connolly's description, must be exceedingly desirable on many accounts. The climate is fine, the soil remarkably good; the lands well watered with good streams, and level enough for any kind of cultivation. Besides these advantages from nature, it has others not less important to a new settlement, particularly game, which is so plentiful as to render the transportation of provisions thither, bread only excepted, altogether unnecessary. Dr. Connolly is so much delighted with the lands and climate on that river, that he wishes for nothing more, than to induce one hundred families to go there and live, that he might be among them. A new and most desirable government might be established there, to be bounded, according to his account, by the Ohio, northward and westward, by the ridge that divides the waters of the Tennessee or Cherokee river southward and westward, and a line to be run from the falls of the Ohio, or above, so as to cross the Shawnee River above the forks of it. Dr. Connolly gives much the same account of the land between Fort Chartres in the Illinois country, and Post St. Vincent, that Nicholson does, except in the article of water, which the Doctor says is bad, and in the summer scarce, there being little else than stagnant water to be met with. " 23d-After settling with the Indians and the people that attended me down the river, and defraying the sundry expenses accruing at Pittsburgh, I set off on my return home; and afterdining at the widow Mier's, on Turtle creek, reached Mr. John Stephenson's in the night. " 24th-When we came to Stewart's Crossing at Crawford's the river was too high to ford, and his canoe gone adrift. However, after waiting there two or three hours, a canoe was got,in which we passed, and swam our horses. The remainder of this day I spent at Captain Crawford's, it either raining or snowing hard all day. "25th-I set out early in order to see Lund Washington's land; but the ground and trees being covered with snow, I was able to form but an indistinct opinion of it; though, upon the whole, it appeared to be a good tract of land. From this I went to Mr. Thomas Gist's and dined, and then proceeded on to the Great Crossing at Hogland's, where I arrived about eight o'clock. * This was Dr. John Connolly, a native of Lancaster county, in this State; as Washington said, " an intelligent man," bold and enterprising, but unprincipled. He subsequently acted a conspicuous part here, and we shall hereafter have occasion to mention him frequently. THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. OCTOBER, 1846. No. 10. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] THE Deace of 1763 and the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 were important and interesting events in the history of this country. The former, by removing far from the settlers on the Ohio all dread of the French, left them more free and more disposed to examine and discuss the measures and policy of the mother country. While the latter, by extinguishing the Indian title to all the country between the Ohio and the mountains, and thus hastening its settlement, no doubt precipitated the crisis of a controversy which had, for many years, been brewing between Pennsylvania and Virginia about their boundary line. Even before the treaty of Fort Stanwix, neither the fear of Indian hostilities, nor the most penal laws, nor the exertion of military force, could prevent the intrusion of both Pennsylvanians and Virginians into the Indian territory along the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers. We may, therefore, readily conclude that after that treaty,when the penal laws were all repealed or ceased to operate, and when immigration was invited by b9oth the States claiming that territory, the influx of settlers would be greatly increased. These settlers came from eastern Pennsylvania, from Virginia, and from other states. As the population increased, and the country became better known, the importance of Pittsburgh was more highly estimated. Each state was anxious to possess it, the settlers from the different states would naturally favor the claim of their native soil, and'thus an angry controversy arose, which advanced to the verge of a civil war about VOL. I-28 434 THE OLDEN TIME. the very time when both States were entering into that great Revolution which separated the colonies from the mother country. This controversy, which first manifested itself in 1752, was not brought to a close until 1779. We have felt considerable difficulty and embarrassment as to the best mode of treating this subject. One plan which suggested itself to our mind was, to devote a sufficient portion of one or more numbers exclusively to that matter, so as to finish it consecutively. The other was to pursue the controversy and all other incidents here chronologically, giving all the incidents of any one year together, and thus keep the accounts all duly posted up, so that when we arrive at the date of the compromise of the boundary question, August, 1779, the reader will have before him the account of all the other events occurring here up to that time. For reasons which it is unnecessary to mention we have concluded to adopt the former course. Some years ago we published a lecture on this controversy; it was, of course, a brief narrative of transactions which extended through a quarter of a century, but in looking over it we have found no material error. Some correspondence and other documents which could only be briefly noticed in an evening lecture were necessarily omitted; while the collection and preserving all such documents of a local bearing is the very purpose of the Olden Time. We have, therefore, concluded to republish that lecture with some slight changes and omissions, and append the correspondence and other documents as notes. To those of our readers who may have read the lecture, we may perhaps owe an apology. But so many have never seen a concise and connected narrative of that controversy, that we cannot feel justified in overlooking it. LECTURE. " In the year 1606, James the First granted to the London and Plymouth Companies the privilege of making two settlements on any part of the coast ofAmerica,between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifthdegrees of North latitude, the whole of which country was called Virginia. Under this grant, the former Company made a settlement at Jamestown, and thus became entitled, under the terms of the grant, to territory one hundred miles square. " Considering this extent of territory too contracted for their purposes, the Company applied for a further enlargement of their grant, and in 1609, an additional grant was made to them in the following terms:'All those lands, countries, and territories, situate, lying and being in that part of America called Virginia, from the Point of land called Point Comfort, all along the sea-coast to the northward, two hundred miles, and from the said Point Comfort, to the southward two hundred miles, and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea-coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and northwest'. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 435 "In 1623, a Writ of Quo Warranto was issued against the Company from the Court of King's Bench, which was decided against it the next year. By this decision, the Company was dissolved, and the land within the limits of the grant, with the exception of such tracts as had been granted to settlers, reverted to the Crown. Against this decision the Company seems never to have made any objection. " In 1632, Charles the First granted-to Lord Baltimore, the present territory of Maryland, which greatly encroached upon the bounds of the grant to the London Company; yet against this grant neither the Company nor the Colonial Legislature made any opposition. This is only material in this place, as showing the submission of those interested, and as proving that the decision on the Quo Warranto was acquiesced in as legal. "1681, the grant was made to William Penn, of'All that tract or part of land in America, with all the islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from twelve miles northward of New Castletown,unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northwards; but if the said river shall not extend so far northwards; then by the said river so far as it does extend; and from the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of said river unto the said three and fortieth degrees. The said lands to extend westwardfive degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said land to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of nothern latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned.' "In this description of the territory granted to Penn, there is no vagueness or uncertainty, except in one particular, and that as to the western boundary. The words are,' Said lands to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds.' Now as the eastern'bounds'is the Delaware river, which in its meandering course varies its longitude more than forty miles, the questions soon occurred, from what point on the Delaware shall the five degrees of longitude be computed? Shall thewestern boundary be a meridian, or shall it be a crooked line corresponding to the curves of the Delaware, and distant from it five degrees of longitude at every corresponding point? These and other questions would naturally occur, in interpreting these words defining the western boundary of Pennsylvania. " I have before mentioned that the territory of Virginia, as granted to the London Company, with the exception of land actually granted to settlers,. had reverted to the Crown by the judgment of the writ of Quo Warranto. I have also stated that in 1632, forty-eight years before the grant was made 436 THE OLDEN TIME. to Penn, Maryland was granted to Lord Baltimore. In the latter grant, the northern boundary is a right-line drawn from that part of the Delaware Bay which lieth under the fortieth degree of latitude, due west to the meridian of the first fountain of the river Potomac. Here, then, is an interference of boundary lines between Penn and Lord Baltimore. Penn had a grant to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, while Baltimore had a grant to pass beyond the beginning of that degree, and to extend some indefinite distance under it. In 1769, after a long and vexatious controversy, the boundary was fixed at latitude 39 degs. 43' 42" being the line so famous in late days as Mason and Dixon's line. But although the prior charter to Lord Baltimore prevailed over the later grant to Penn, throughout the entire length of the province of Maryland, there was nogood reason why the south boundary of Pennsylvania, west of Maryland, should not conform to the charter, and extend south to latitude thirty-nine degrees, being the beginning of the fortieth degree. The grant to the London Company having been annulled, and the territory included in it having reverted to the Crown, there was no dispute between rival grantees, as in the case of Maryland; no question about priority of grants; but the simple point to be settled was this-does the charter to Penn include the territory in dispute? "Having thus made such preliminary remarks as were necessary to render the controversy between Virginia and Pennsylvania easily intelligible, I will proceed in the account of that matter. "In 1752, the proprietors of Pennsylvania understanding that the Governor of Virginia was about to erect a Fort at the Forks of the Ohio, now Pittsburgh, to repel the incursions of the French, instructed their Governor, Hamilton, to render any assistance in his power, taking, however, an acknowledgment from Virginia, that any settlement made should not be construed to the prejudice of the right of the Penns. Of these instructions, Governor Hamilton immediately gave Governor Dinwiddie notice. Nearly two years later, in 1754, Governor Dinwiddie being prepared to commence building the Fort at the Forks, issued a proclamation promising to lay out two hundred thousand acres of land, in and near this place, to be divided among those who would enlist in the service against the French. Upon receiving a copy of this proclamation, Governor Hamilton, on the 13th of March, 1754, wrote to Governor Dinwiddie, reminding him of his former intimation respecting the lands, and requesting such an acknowledgment as the proprietaries had before suggested. " On the 21st of March, 1754, Governor Dinwiddie replied. In his letter he said,' am much misled by our Surveyors, if the Forks of the Monongahela be within the limits of your proprietaries' grant. I have for some time written home, to have the line run-to have the boundaries properly NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 437 known, &c. In the mean time, that no hinderance may be given to our intended expedition, it is highly reasonable, if these lands are in your proprietor's grant, that the settlers should pay the quit-rent to Mr. Penn, and not to His Majesty. And therefore, as far as in my power lies, I agree thereto, after the time granted by my proclamation, to be clear of quit-rent ceases.' " These proceedings (1752,'54) were the first acts by the provincial government of Virginia, in which any jurisdiction was claimed over the western territory; and, as is above stated, they were promptly met by Governor Hamilton; so that there was not the slightest shadow of ground for the allegation of acquiescence, as subsequently made by Lord Dunmore. " Within a month after Dinwiddie's last letter to Governor Hamilton was written, Monsieur Contrecoeur, at the head of a large number of French and Indians, descended the Allegheny river from Fort Venango-captured Ensign Ward, with his little band of forty men-and took formal possession of the country around the head of the Ohio. Subsequently, followed Washington's first campaign, from Fort Cumberland towards the Monongahela; and finally, his surrunder to the French at Fort Necessity on the fourth day of July, 1754. From that date the French remained in possession of the country around the head of the Ohio; and all settlements, by English or Americans, were prevented, until Gen. Forbes, in November, 1758, drove the enemy from Fort Duquesne, and took possession of the country. From that time until 1774, no difficulty occurred between Virginia and Pennsylvania, in relation to the boundary. The lands in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh were surveyed for the proprietaries early in 1769; magistrates were appointed in the beginning of 1771, and entered upon, and continued in the exercise of their duties for some time, without molestation. As the difficulties, however, between the mother country and the colonies increased, the British government deemed it advisable to order the abandonment of Fort Pitt, and the withdrawal of the troops from this place. The Fort being thus abandoned, one John Connolly, a man of much energy and talent, but without principle, came here from Virginia, about the end of the year 1773 or beginning of 1774, having authority from Lord Dunmore, Governor of that State, took possession of the Fort, calling it Fort Dunmore; and as Captain Commandant of the Militia, issued his proclamation, calling on the people to meet him, as a Militia, on the 25th January, 1774. For so doing Arthur St. Clair, one of the magistrates of Westmoreland county, Pennsylunnia, issued a warrant against him, and had him'committed to the jail at Hanna's town, the seat of Justice of Westmoreland county, which embraced this place; from which, however, he was soon released, by entering bail for his appearance at Court. "Information of these transactions was transmitted to the Governor, John Penn, by express, who on the 31st of January, 1774, wrote a 438 THE OLDEN TIME. letter to Lord Dunmore, urging him to refrain from appointing officers at Pittsburgh, and suffer matters to remain as they were until a temporary boundary line could be run by Commissioners to be appointed by both governments. This letter has never, to my knowledge, appeared in print; the copy which I hold in my hand having been procured by me from the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The following portion of it will be found interesting, as showing the measures adopted by Mr. John Penn, to ascertain whether Pittsburgh was within the chartered limits of Pennsylvania.* "'The Western Extent of the Province of Pennsylvania, by the Royal Grant, is five degrees of Longitude from the River Delaware, which is its Eastern boundary. In the year 1768, an East and West line was run from Delaware, at the mouth of Christiana Creek, to the crossing of Dunkard Creek, a branch of the MIoonogahela, by Messrs. Dixon and Mason, two Surveyors of distinction who were sent over from England to run the Division-Line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. These Artists fixed the Latitude and Extent of that Line with the utmost exactness and precisionto the satisfaction of the Commissioners on both sides. "' From the 233d Mile-stone on this Line, a North Line hath since been carefully run and measured to the Ohio: from thence up to Fort Pitt, the several courses of the river have been taken with all possible care. From the line of Dixon and Mason, to a known point in the South line of the city of Philadelphia, the true course and distance hath been discovered by actual survey, as also from the point aforesaid to that part of the river Delaware which is in the same latitude as Fort Pitt; and from these several data, the most exact calculations have been made by Dr. Smith, Provost of our College,-Mr. Rittenhouse, and our Surveyor General-in order to ascertain the difference of longitude between Delaware and Pittsburgh; who all agree that the latter is near six miles Eastward of the Testern extent of the Province. "'The better to illustrate this matter, and enable your Lordship to form a judgment of the accuracy with which the work has been done and the calculations made, I have enclosed a map or draught of the several lines above mentioned, with explanatory notes, as delivered by them to me.' "The conclusion arrived at by the calculations of Messrs. Rittunhouse, Smith and Lukens, that Pittsburgh was'near six miles within' the boundary claimed by John Penn, proves to be remarkably accurate. "Indeed, so far as I can judge by the best Maps of the State, I presume Penn's curved line, parallel to the Delaware, would cross the Ohio river between five and six miles below this city. *For the whole of this letter, see Appendix A. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 339 " How strongly does this accuracy of John Penn contrast with the vague, rash and unfounded claim set up by Lord Dunmore, in his correspondence with Messrs. Tilgham and Allen as will be immediately related. "The Map referred to in John Penn's letter, could not be found at Harrisburgh, though diligent search was made, and though I have some time since applied to a friend at Richmond, I have not succeeded in obtaining a copy. "To the letter of John Penn, Lord Dunmore replied on the 3d of March, 1774; he contended that in 1753, 1754, Pennsylvania had admitted the better title of Virginia to the country in dispute; declared that he could not defer the app6intment of such other officers as may be deemed necessary for the good government of this section of country, and insisted that Mr. St. Clair should be punished by dismissal from office, unless he could prevail upon Connolly to apply for his pardon. "Governor Penn, in his reply, dated March 31st, contended that the proprietary of Pennsylvania had not admitted the claim of Virginia to be good, but had expressly denied it. He also thus states the claim of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania: —'The proprietaries of Pennsylvania do claim, as part of their province, all the lands lying west of a south line to be drawn from Mason and Dixon's line, as it is commonly called, at the western-most part of the province of Maryland, to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, to the extent of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware.' " The Governor also declined to remove Mr. St. Clair whom he pronounced to be an honest, worthy man, who had served His Majesty in the Regulars, with reputation.* It may be as well to mention here, that this Mr. St. Clair is the same person who has long since been well known as Gen. St. Clair, and who was almost equally distinguished by his talents, social virtues, services, and hard fortune. "T While this correspondence was passing between Mr. Penn and Lord Dunmore, Connolly had gone to Staunton and was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace, of Augusta county, Virginia, in which, it was alleged, th country around Pittsburgh was embraced. Towards the latter part of March, he returned to this place, with both civil and military authority, to put the laws of Virginia in force. About the fifth of April, the Court assmbled at Hanna's town, the seat of Justice for Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Soon after, Connolly with about one hundred and fifty men, all armed and with colors flying, appeared there; placed sentinels at the door of the court house, who refused to admit the magistrates, unless with the consent of their commander. A meeting then took place between * For this correspondence in full, see Appendix, note B. 440 THE OLDEN TIME. Connolly and the magistrates, in which the former stated that he had come there in fulfillment of his promise to the Sheriff; but denied the authority of the Court, and declared that the magistrates had no right to hold a Court. He added, however, that to prevent confusion, he agreed that the magistrates might act as a Court in all matters which might be submitted to them by the acquiescence of the people, until he should receive instructions to the contrary. To this the magistrates replied, that their authority rested on the legislative authority of Pennsylvania; that it had been regularly exercised; that they would continue to exercise it in the same regular manner, and that they would do all in their power to preserve the public tranquillity. They added, in conclusion, an assurance that the province of Pennsylvania would use every exertion to accommodate differences, by fixing a temporary boundary until the true one could be ascertained. " On the eighth of April, the Justices, AEneas Mackay, Devereux Smith and Andrew M'Farlane, returned from the Court to Pittsburgh, where they resided, and on the next day they were arrested by Connolly's Sheriff, and on refusing to give bail, were sent off under guard to Staunton, in Virginia. After traveling one day together, Mr. Mackay got permission to go by way of Williamsburgh to see Lord Dunmore, and after some conversation with him, his Lordship wrote to the Sheriff requesting him to permit the prisoners to return home; and saying,'I will be answerable for their appearance, in case it be required.' Mackay immediately proceeded to Staunton; and in a letter dated at that place, on the fifth of May, he informed Governor Penn that he and his fellow prisoners were to set out on their homeward journey, forthwith. On the 19th day of April, intelligence of the arrest of the Justices reached ths Governor; and on the 21st, at the meeting of the Council, it was determined to send two Commissioners to Virginia, to represent to the government there, the ill consequences which may ensue if an immediate stop be not put to the disorders which then existed in the west, and to consult upon the most proper means for establishing peace and good order in that quarter. Tilghman and Andrew Allen were appointed, with instructions, first, to request the Governor of Virginia to unite with the proprietaries of Pennsylvania to petition His Majestyin Council, to appoint Commissioners to run the boundary line; the expense to be equally borne by the two Colonies; second, to use every exertion to induce the Governor to agree to some temporary line; but in no event to assent to any line which would give Virginia jurisdiction of the country on the east side of the Monongahela river. "The Commissioners arrived at Williamsburgh on the 19th May, and on the 21st had an oral conference with the Governor; in which he expressed his willingness to join in an application to the King, to appoint Commissioners to settle the boundary; but also declared, that Virginia NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 441 would defray no part of the expense. As to the temporary line, he desired the Commissioners to make their propositions in writing. "In compliance with this request, they, on the 23d, addressed him a letter containing the following proposition:*-' That a survey be taken by Surveyors, to be appointed by the two Governments, with as much accuracy as may serve the present purpose, of the courses of the Delaware, from the mouth of Christiana creek, or near it, where Mason and Dixon's line intersects the Delaware, so that part of said river which lies in the latitude of Fort Pitt, and as much farther as may be needful for the present purpose. That the line of Mason and Dixon be extended to the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware; and that from the end of said five degrees, a line or lines, corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, be run to the river Ohio, as nearly as may be, at the distance of five degrees from said river in every part.' And that the extension of Mason and Dixon's line, and the line or lines corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, be taken as the line of jurisdiction, until the boundary can be run and settled by Royal authority. " Lord Dunmore, in his reply, dated 24th May, contended that the western boundary could not be of' such an inconvenient and difficult to be ascertained shape,' as it would be if made to correspond to the courses of the Delaware. He thought it should be a meridian line, at the distance of five degrees from the Delaware, in the forty-second degree of latitude. " He then, after some arguments which it is unnecessary to recite, remarked, that unless the Commissioners could propose some plan that favored as much the sentiments of the government of Virginia as of Pennsylvania, he saw that no accommodation could be entered into previous to the King's decision. The Commissioners, in their reply of the 26th, say, that for the purpose of producing harmony and peace,'we shall be willing to recede fiom our Charter bounds, so far as to make the river Monongahela, from the line of Mason and Dixon, the western boundary of jurisdiction, which would at once settle our present dispute, without the great trouble and expense of running lines, or the inconvenience of keeping the jurisdiction in suspense.' " On the same day, Lord Dunmore replied in a long letter, manifesting throughout a most uncourteous and rude spirit. The following are the most material passages, showing, as they do, that further correspondence with him was utterly useless: — "'And what were your proposals to reconcile these difficulties? Why, in your first, you propose that every thing shall be given up to Pennsylvania; and in your second, that Virginia shall be content, without having any thing given up to it: at least, I can find nothing given up by your propo-: For this correspondence, see Appendix C. 442 THE OLDEN TIME. sal of the Monongahela, &c. What else then can I conclude, but that no real intention is meant to avoid the great and reciprocal inconveniences of a doubtful boundary,' &c. Further on he says,-'Your resolution, with respect to Fort Pitt (the jurisdiction over which place, I must tell you, at all events, will not be relinquished by this' Government, without His Majesty's orders), puts an entire stop to further treaty.' " On the 27th, the Commissioners, in a brief reply, state, that the determination of his Lordship not to relinquish Fort Pitt, puts a period to the treaty. "After a careful perusal of this correspondence, and an attentive consid' eration of Lord Dunmore's conduct in 1774 and 1775. the conclusion is forced upon the mind, that he was a very weak and arbitrary man, or else that the suspicion, then entertained, that he wished to promote ill will and hostility between Pennsylvanians and Virginians, as well as between the Indians and whites, was well founded. During the whole of this correspondence, this place was called Fort Pitt; the new name of Fort Dunmore was never mentioned. The Commissioners, in their first letter, gave it the old name, and Dunmore did the same in his letters to them; although he had before recognized the new name bestowed by Connolly. "This negotiation having thus failed, Connolly continued to domineer with a high-hand at Fort Pitt. In a letter from ZEneas Mackay to Governor Penn, dated June 14th, 1774, we find the following strong and emphatic language:-' The deplorable state of affairs in this part of your government, is truly distressing. We are robbed, insulted and dragooned by Connolly and his militia, in this place and its environs.' " To form an adequate conception of the condition of the inhabitants in this place, at that time, we must take into view, not only the oppressive conduct of Connolly, but also bear in mind that the war of the Revolution was rapidly approaching, and that hostilities between the Indians and Vir ginians, were actually raging at that time. The Indians, it is true, were understood to say that they would not touch the Pennsylvanians; but still they must have felt much of the embarrassment arising out of the Indian war. So great was the anxiety and distress of the adherents of the proprietary, that they at one time thought seriously of leaving this place, and removing to Kittanning, which lay in another manor. Another project was, to raise a stockade around the town of Pittsburgh, being that part of our city which lies between Water and Second streets, and Market and Ferry streets. Neither project was carried into execution, and I merely refer to them as signs of the times, and as evidences of the state of feeling then prevailing here. " On the 8th of September, the Earl of Dartmouth, one of the Secretaries of State, wrote a letter to Lord Dunmore, containing some items of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 443 intelligence, in relation to this place, which are of interest as forming a part of the history of Fort Pitt, and of the controversy. After stating that the Governor of Pennsylvania had attributed the hostility of the Indians, to the unprovoked attacks upon them by the Virginians, and had also alleged that a party of Virginians had attacked and wounded some Indians, who, at the risk of their lives, had escorted some traders to Pittsburgh, he proceeds to say: —'My intelligence, through a variety of other channels, confirms these facts.' He further adds, that he is informed, that'one Connolly, using your Lordship's name, and pleading your authority, has presumed to re-establish the Fort at Pittsburgh, which had been demolished by the King's express order.' He then concludes by stating, that he gives this infirmation so that' the facts asserted, if not true, may be contradicted by his Lordship's authority; but if true, which he cannot suppose, such steps may be taken as the King's dignity and justice shall dictate.' 4' The publication of this letter should have exonerated the British ministry from all suspicion of countenancing the scheme attributed to Dunmore or Connolly, of exciting ill blood and war between the Indians and whites. " On the 17th of September, Lord Dunmore being at this place preparing for his expedition against the Indians, issued a proclamation, dated at Fort Dunmore, reciting that,' Whereas, the ancient claim laid to this country by the Colony of Virginia, founded upon reason, upon pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons, together with the instructions I have lately received, to take this country under my administration; and the evident injustice manifestly offered to His Majesty, by the immediate strides taken by the proprietors of Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their wild claim, demand an immediate remedy.' He then calls on all His Majesty's subjects West of Laurel Hill, to pay due respect to that proclamation, prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania, at their peril; but, on the contrary, that due regard and entire obedience be paid to the laws of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, &c. "On the 12th of October, Governor Penn issued another proclamation, which is of too great length to be inserted here. In reply, however, to that portion of Lord Dunmore's proclamation, which speaks of the'general acquiescence of all persons' in the claim of Virginia, he mentions that,' in an act passed at the very last session of Parliament, for the government of Qudebec, the western extent of the Charter to Penn is fully recognized; said province being described as being bounded by the northern and western bounds of Pennsylvania. Wherefore there is reason to infer, that any instructions to the Governor of Virginia, to take that country under his administration, must be founded on some misrepresentation respecting the western extent of Pennsylvania.' It concludes by calling on all persons west of Laurel Hill, to retain the settlements made under that province, and 444 THE OLDEN TIME. to pay due obedience to the laws of that province; and by charging all magistrates to proceed as usual in the administration of justice. " On November 24th, Connolly sent out a warrant for a Mr. Scott to appear and answer for a number of offences, charged to have been committed while acting under authority from Pennsylvania. Mr. Scott refused to pay any attention to this warrant; and on the same day a number of armed men came to his house and carried him to Fort Burd, now Brownsville, where he was required either to enter into recognizance with two sureties, to appear at the next Court to be held at Pittsburgh for the county of Augusta, December 20th, 1774, or at any future day when the Court should be held there; or else be committed to prison. Mr. Scott gave the required bail; but I have not been able to ascertain the final disposition of his case; though, I presume, the prosecution was abandoned under the subsequent recommendation of the Delegates in Congress, from these two States. " On the twenty-fourth of November, a party of armed men under command of Connolly, went to Hanna's town, and released two prisoners confined in the jail under execution. " In January, 1775, information being given to the Executive Council, that William Crawford, the President Judge of Westmoreland county, had joined the Virginians in opposing the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania; the Council advised the Governor to supersede him in his office as Judge; which was done forthwith. " On the 7th of February, another party of armed men went to Hanna's town, broke open the jail, and released three prisoners. Benjamin Harrison, a son-in-law of Crawford, commanded this party, Connolly having, some days before started for Williamsburg. In April and May, three of the Pennsylvania magistrates were arrested and held in custody for performing the duties of their offices. " The power of Lord Dunmore and his agent, Connolly, was, however, fast drawing to a close. On the 8th of June, the former abandoned his palace in Williamsburg, and took refuge on board the Fowey man-of-war, where soon after he was joined by Connolly, who was then busily engaged in planning an attack upon the western frontier. "The continued collisions and disorder at Pittsburgh could not fail to attract the attention of all the patriotic citizens of the two States, and on the 25th of July, 1775, the Delegates in Congress, including among others, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin, united in a circular, urging the people in the disputed region, to mutual forbearance. In that circular was the following language:' We recommend it to you, that all bodies of armed men, kept up by either party, be dismissed; and that all those on either side, who are in confinement, or on bail, for taking part in the contest be discharged.' NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 445 "There were no armed men maintained by the Pennsylvanians; so that the expression about' either party,' was probably only used to avoid the appearance of invidiousness; and Connolly and his men had taken effectual measures for the release of Virginians from confinement. " On the 7th of August, the following resolution was adopted by the Virginia Provincial Convention, which had assembled at Williamsburg, on the first of the month: "' Resolved, That Captain John Neville be directed to march with his company of one hundred men, and take possession of Port Pitt, and that said company be in the pay of the Colony from the time of their marching.' "The arrival of Captain Neville at Port Pitt seems to have been entirely unexpected to the Pennsylvanians, and to have created considerable excitement. Commissioners appointed by Congress, were then here to hold a treaty with the Indians, and Mr. St. Clair in a letter to John Penn, dated 17th September, has the following remarks:'The treaty is not yet opened, as the Indians are not yet come in; but there are accounts of their being on the way, and well disposed. We have, however, been surprised by a manceuvre of the people of Virginia, that may have a tendency to alter disposition. "' About one hundred armed men marched from Winchester, and took possession of the Fort on the 11th instant, which has so much disturbed the Delegates from the Congress, that they have thoughts of moving some place else to hold the treaty. "' This step has already, as might be expected, served to exasperate the dispute between the inhabitants of the country, and entirely destroyed the prospect of a cessation of our grievances, from the salutary and conciliating advice of the Delegates in their circular letter.' "There is, perhaps, some difficulty in reconciling the conduct of the Virginia Convention, in ordering Captain Neville to Port Pitt, with the recommendation of the Virginia and Pennsylvania Delegates in Congress, that'all bodies of armed men in pay, of either party,' should be discharged. No doubt, however, this only referred to bodies of armed men, kept up by the Virginians or Pennsylvanians in the disputed region. Mr. St. Clair seems always to have been very watchfil of the interests of Pennsylvania daring the controversy; and no doubt, the surprise expressed by him was unaffected; and yet there were strong reasons why Fort Pitt should be promptly occupied by troops in the confidence of the Whigs of the Revolution. The war for independence had commenced by the actions at Lexington and Bunker Hill; and Connolly, a bold, able and enterprising man, was busy arranging some scheme of operations, in which Fort Pitt would be an important and controlling position. It would seem, therefore, to have been nothing more than an act of ordinary prudence and foresight to send 446 THE OLDEN TIME. here some officer, in whose firmness, fidelity and discretion, implicit confidence could be placed. "Captain Neville was then about forty-three or forty-four, about the same age as Washington, of whom he was an early acquaintance, and with whom he had served twenty years previous, in Braddock's expedition and defeat. He had, in the proceeding year been elected a Delegate to the Provincial Convention, which appointed Peyton Randolph, George Washington and others, Delegates to the first Continental Congress, but was prevented from attending by sickness. " He had some time previous become an extensive land-holder in the vicinity of Fort Pitt, and was, of course interested in promoting harmony and good feeling in the region to which he was just bringing his family. "He was a man of very frank and hearty address, of sound judgment, of much firmness and decision of character, and probably, in all respects, as well suited to the emergency for which he was selected, as any individual who could have been named, and who would have undertaken the duty. " That he acted with great prudence and impartiality, may be inferred from the fact, that after the controversy, he, for some time, represented the disputed region in the Legislature of this State, and the fall of 1783 he was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. Indeed, in several accounts of the western Insurrection, in which he was a prominent actor, it is stated that he was very popular up to that time, but had then become unpopular, because he had voted in the Pennsylvania Legislature against a tax on whisky, and afterwards accepted an office for the collection of a similar tax under the general Government. Truly this was going far for a reason for unpopularity, when a very plain and obvious one was so near at hand. In an insurrection he adhered to the laws of the land, while a very large majority of the population were in open rebellion. Even in our party contests, it rarely or never happens that any man is popular in the opposite party; surely then, it would have been strange, had John Neville preserved his popularity with those who sought his life and destroyed his property. " As to his conduct in accepting the office, there might be very substanial reasons for voting against a tax on whisky in the Legislature, which might have no weight in Congress. Besides, a Representative might vote against a bill even in Congress, and yet, with perfect propriety, assists in enforcing it when it had become a law; especially where there was no suspicion of unconstitutionality, as in the case of excise on whisky. " The result proved that Mr. St. Clair's fears were groundless. The treaty with the Indians was not interrupted, and no disturbance occurred during Captain Neville's stay here; which, however, was not of long duration. After remaining here about three months, he was promoted and ordered to join his regiment, with which he served until May, 1780, when he be NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 447 came a prisoner of war, along with Lincoln's army, at the surrender of Charleston. " I trust this passing notice of'a near relative, whom I well knew, whom even in childhood I loved, and to whose cheerful conversation and well-told adventures, I have often eagerly listened, will be forgiven. As an additional plea for indulgence, I will remark that Captain Neville was content to serve his country openly and manfully, and never deemed it necessary to write a book to relate his services, explain his conduct, or define his position. "On the 23d day of' November, 1775, Connolly, and two of his associates, were arrested at Fredericktown, Maryland. His connection with the British General, Gage, and Lord Dunmore, and the whole of his plans for invading the western frontier with British troops and Indians, and taking possession of Fort Pitt, were fully exposed. He was, therefore, confined, and subsequently, by order of Congress, for greater security, sent to Philadelphia. His arrest and confinement probably broke up the whole scheme which he had prepared, and in which he was to be the controlling spirit. Perhaps the conviction that the whole affair was exploded by the arrest of Connolly, may have induced the removal of Captain Neville from Fort Pitt, which took place in the ensuing month. Connolly, after the Revolution, resided in Canada; where he enjoyed the confidence and liberality of the English Government. " On the 18th of December, 1776, both Houses of the Legislature of Virginia passed a series of resolutions in relation to the disputed boundary, taking some new and different grounds, and making bolder claims than had been urged by Dunmore, or by any other person on the part of the State at any previous time, so far as I have seen. " The first two resolutions are merely introductory; the third authorizes the Virginia Delegates in Congress, to propose a final accommodation of the dispute in manner following: " That the Meridian line, drawn from the head of the Potomac to the north-west angle of Maryland, be extended due north, until it intersects the latitude of forty degrees, and from thence the southern boundary shall be extended on the said fortieth degree of latitude, until the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware shall be accomplished thereon; and from the said point, five degrees, either in every point, according to the meanderings of the Delaware, or (which is perhaps easier and better for both) from proper points or angles on the Delaware, with intermediate straight lines.' "I have now traced the history of this controversy from its origin, and have presented, briefly, the various claims set'up, and the different constructions given to that portion of the Charter of Penn, which fixed his western and southern boundaries. Before proceeding further, 448 THE OLDEN TIME. it may be useful to review the different interpretations, examine their merits, and thus be prepared to appreciate properly the compromise entered into between the two States. In this review, a very striking feature will be the remarkable difference between the construction of the Charter by Lord Dunmore in 1774, and by the Legislature of Virginia, in 1776. Another remarkable fact is, that no one of the proposed lines would have thrown Pittsburgh, the bone of contention, into Virginia; so that if Virginia had taken as much pains to ascertain the true state of the case, as did John Penn, no controversy need have occurred. " The first interpretation of the Charter is that of John Penn, in his letter to Dunmore. He contended, that at the extremity of Maryland the boundary line of Pennsylvania should run south to the line of latitude 39 degs. being identical with' the beginning of the 40th degree' of latitude, and that then the southern boundary should extend along that line westward to the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware, and that the western boundary should be run parallel to the Delaware; or, in other words, distant from it five degrees in every corresponding part. This construction was more fully urged by Messrs. Tilghman and Allen, in their correspondence with Dunmore at Williamsburg. " The second interpreter of the Charter was Lord Dunmore. He scouts at the idea of a western boundary which curves corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, and contends that it should be a meridian line, beginning at the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river, on the northern boundary of Pennsylvania. " He gave the following somewhat plausible reason for starting the meridian line from the northern instead of the southern boundary:' Because the grant directs that the survey shall begin at a point on the south part of the boundary and proceed northward,' &c.;' and it being usual always, in like cases, to proceed, and extend the five degrees of longitude, and not return to the south point to draw it from thence.' No doubt his Lordship thought that his government would be considerably extended, if his construction of the Charter were adopted; for he says, if my construction be the true one, then Fort Pitt, by the river Delaware running very much eastwardly, towards your northern bounds, will probably be, at least, fifty miles without your limits. " He was, however, not well informed as to the geography of the Delaware river; there being, in fact, only five or six miles difference between its longitude at the northern and southern limits of this State. Lord Dunmore does not state very explicitly his construction, as to the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, though he does speak of' the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude' as such. "The only remaining formal or official construction, is that of the Legislature of Virginia, on the 18th of December, 1776. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 449 "It makes the very first suggestion, so far as I have seen, that the boundary line should run north from the north-western angle of Maryland, to the line of latitude 40 degrees complete.; then run west along that line to the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware in that latitude, and then for the western boundary, that John Penn's scheme should be adopted; or as more convenient, a number of straight lines should be run between prominent points on the Delaware, and the western boundary be run parallel to those lines. " From this state of the different interpretations, it will be seen that the. Legislature of Virginia utterly discarded and repudiated the construction taken by Lord Dunmore, as to the mode of running the western boundary, and approved that proposed by Mr. Penn, suggesting, however, a more easy plan. The western boundary, it would seem then, was no longer a subject of difficulty in December, 1776, Virginia having adopted the views and opinions expressed on that subject, by John Penn, three years before; but at the same time, she suggested an entirely new southern boundary, and one which would have taken a considerable extent of valuable territory from Pennsylvania. " The following diagram will make the different propositions more intelligible:.<..L,.-_42~-N'.-at... I P E N N S Y L V A N I A ~.I F.. La.......'..39 N.L " The plain line, thus --, represents the boundary of Pennsylvania, as now established. The small triangle at the north-west corner of the State, was ceded to the United States by New York, in 1781, and was purchased from the General Government in 1792. VOL. 1-29 450 THE OLDEN TIME. " The curved and dotted line represents the boundary claimed by John Penn. The line drawn thus - - is the boundary proposed by Lord Dunmore. The Virginia Legislature proposed the line marked thus, -o-o-, extending from the north-west angle of Maryland to Penn's curved line, and along that to the Lake. " The break like this across the south boundary of Pennsylvania, is the west end of Mason and Dixon's line. "The letters W and F, indicate the positions of Washington and Franklin. "The Legislature of Virginia, by its resolutions of December 18th, seems indeed to have yielded the only point about which there was really any difficulty or doubt, and to have taken issue upon one of very easy solution. The expressions in the charter as to the western boundary, were,' Said lands to extend westward five degrees of longitude from said eastern bounds.' Now as the eastern boundary was a river, some doubt might well arise on the question, whether it was intended that a boundary should be run, corresponding in all points with the sinuosities of that river. I am not mathematician enough to pronounce the task impracticable; but I can readily perceive that it would be exceedingly difficult and tedious; and Lord Dunmore might well express strong doubt that such was the intention of the grantor. "But as to the southern boundary, there seems to be no loop to hang a doubt upon.' The beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude,' are the words. A degree is not a certain indivisible point, but some certain divisible space, having not only a'beginning,' of which the charter speaks, but a termination, and that beginning and termination must be different. A degree of latitude is defined to be the space or distance on a meridian, through which an observer must pass, to vary his latitude by one degree, or to increase or decrease the distance of a star from the zenith by one degree. "An observer under the equator would be at the'beginning' of the first degree: let him travel north sixty minutes of a degree, or geographical miles, he will then be at the line marked one on the maps, that is, at the end of the first degree and' beginning' of the second. So when he arrives at the line marked 39, he will be at the end of latitude thirty-nine degrees and'beginning' of forty. "' That this was the understanding of that matter about that time, was manifest in the case of the northern boundary which, in the same charter, was fixed at the' beginning of the 43d degree of latitude;' and no pretence was ever made of a right to go beyond the line marked 42. Thus if Virginia had succeeded in pushing her boundary up to 40, Pennsylvania would have been only two degrees wide; although her charter says from the beginning of the 40th to the beginning of the 43d degree. Moreover, if the line of 40 were the beginning of the 40th degree, Pennsylvania, throughout the whole length of Maryland, has acquired, and now holds NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 451 territory south of her chartered limits, and the manner of fixing the latitude of Mason and Dixon's line, would seem to have been a studied transgression of the southern boundary prescribed in the charter. " The State House in Philadelphia is in latitude 39 degrees 56' 53", being more than three geographical miles south of what the Virginia Legislature called the'beginning of the 40th degree,' and yet Mason and Dixon's line was fixed at fifteen statute miles, due south of the most southern point of Philadelphia. " Both States, however, were disposed to bring the controversy to a close, and early in 1779, movements were made for this purpose. "Finally, George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse, on the part of Pennsylvania, and Dr. James Madison, late Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and Robert Andrews, on the part of Virginia,.were appointed Commissioners to agree upon a boundary. These gentlemen met at Baltimore on the 31st of August, 1779, and entered into the following agreement: "'We (naming the Commissioners) do hereby mutually, in behalf of our respective States, ratify and confirm the following agreement, viz: To extend Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the river Delaware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian, drawn from the western extremity thereof, to the northern limit of said State, be the western boundary of said State forever.' "A narrative of what passed at the meeting of these Commissioners would, no doubt, be interesting; but I presume will never be had.* A respected friend, in whose veracity I had entire confidence, has often told me that the Virginia delegates were willing to have Mason and Dixon's line extended to the Ohio river, and that the objections of George Bryan were *In January, 1814, alter the publication of the lecture on the controversy, I received a letter from William B. Red, Esq., of Philadelphia, a grandson of Joseph REed, who was president of the Executive Council in 1779, in which he states that he had found among his grandfather's papers a letter from George Bryan, dated Baltimore, August 31st, 1779, containing the following paragraph: "The Virginia gentlemen offered to divide exactly the 40th degree with us, which I wish to accept. Mr. R. (Rittenhouse) is not averse from my idea. Perhaps we would be as well off with Mason and Dixon's line continued. Then we should have no further discussion with Maryland.' This is the only additional item of information on this point, which I have received since the delivery of the lecture, and just as it stands it is almost valueless. Connected with it, there was, no doubt, some other western boundary different from that finally agreed upon. What that western limit was we know not. It may have been the curved line first suggested by John Penn, or it may have been the Monongahela. As is remarked in the lecture, it would be desirable to know more about the meeting of the Commissioners, and of the steps by which they arrived at their compromise, but we fear there is but little hope that this desire will ever be gratified.-EDITOR OF OLDEN, TIME. 452 THE OLDEN TIME. interposed, and prevented it. I either never have heard, or have forgotten the authority of my informant, who is now dead, to: this statement. " This agreement was ratified and confirmed cy the Legislature of Virginia, on the 23d of June, 1780, upon certain conditions, which will hereafter be stated, and subsequently by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, on the 23d of September, 1780. "On the first of April, 1784, was passed an act confirming the agreement entered into between this State and Virginia. The act begins by reciting that, whereas, Commissioners (naming them) had been appointed by the two States to meet and agree upon a boundary line; that they had met and agreed; which agreement was, on the 23d day of September, 1780, unanimously confirmed by this Commonwealth, as fbllows: A resolution is then recited, stating, that although the conditions annexed to the ratification by Virginia, may tend to countenance some unwarrantable claims which may be made under the State of Virginia, in consequence of pretended purchases or settlements during the controversy, yet this State determining to give to the world the most unequivocal proof of their earnest desire to promote peace and harmony with a sister State, during the present contest with the common enemy, does agree to the conditions proposed by the State of Virginia, as follows:' That the private property and rights of all persons acquired under, founded on, or recognized by, the laws of either country, be saved and confirmed to them, although they should be found within the other; and that in the decision of disputes thereon, preference shall be given to the elder or prior right, which ever of the States the same shall be acquired under, such persons paying, within whose boundary their'lands shall be included, the same consideration money which would have been due from them to the State under which they claimed the right; and where such money hath, since the Declaration of Independence, been received by either State for lands which, under the before named agreement, falls within the other, the same shall be refunded and repaid; and that the inhabitants of the disputed territory now ceded to Pennsylvania, shall not, before the first of December, in the year 1784, be subject to the payment of any tax; nor at any time hereafter, to the payment of any arrears of taxes or impositions heretofore laid by either State; and we do hereby accept and fully ratify the said recited conditions and the boundary line formed. * "The agreement of August, 1779, being thus ratified by both States, settled this disputed question, as to the point from which the five degrees of longitude were to be measured, in the manner most favorable to Pennsylvania. Mason and Dixon's line was to be extended to the distance of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river, in that latitude; and as that river reaches farther west in that latitude than at any other point within the northern and southern limits of the State, the boundary would, of course, extend father west, than if measured from any other point. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 453 "The condition insisted upon by Virginia, in her ratification of an agreement entered into by her own enlightened Commissioners seems to have been very unreasonable, or at all events, it was not reciprocal; because there were no claims under Pennsylvania, outside of the boundary agreed upon, and many persons who had honestly purchased or settled under this State, in Westmoreland, Fayette and Washington counties, were deprived of their possessions by claimants under Virginia. Much valuable land within our present county of Allegheny, is held by Virginia titles. "This question being settled, it was now only necessary to mark upon the ground the boundaries agreed upon. "On the 21st of February, 1781, the President and Council of Pennsylvania, in pursuance of authority vested in them by General Assembly, appointed John Lukens and Archibald McClean, of York county, to extend Mason and Dixon's line to the extent of five degrees of longitude, from the river Delaware. Under this appointment, nothing appears to have been done, and on the sixth of April, 1782, Archibald McClean was appointed again. On the 19th of February, 1783, a letter from McClean, inclosing a report of the proceedings of himself and Virginia Commissioners, was read in the Executive Council. They had extended Mason and Dixon's line, and run a meridian line from its termination to the Ohio river. This line was, however, only looked upon as a temporary one, and notwithstanding its completion, controversies and mutual recrimination continued. Virginians within the limits of this State, as settled by the temporary line, made complaints to the Governor of Virginia, that the conditions upon which that State had acceded to the line, had been departed from. These complaints were transmitted to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. The Council submitted them to the Assembly; a Committee of which body, after full investigation, pronounced them groundless, and recommended that measures be taken to establish the boundary permanently. "For this desirable purpose, each State selected the best and most suitable men within its reach; so that their work when completed would merit and secure entire confidence in its accuracy. "The Commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania were, David Rittenhbuse, John Lukens, John Ewing and Captain Hutchins; and those on the part of Virginia were, Andrew Ellicott (who then resided in Mary land), Bishop Madison, the Rev. Mr. Robert Andrews, and T. Page. These gentlemen performed the duty assigned them, in the summer and fall of 1784. "The southern boundary of the State being thus extended to its western,extremity, it only remained to run a meridian line from that point to-the Ohio river, to close the controversy with Virginia. This task was committed to Messrs. Rittenhouse and Porter, from Pennsylvania, and Andrew 454 THE OLDEN TIME. Ellicott and Joseph Neville, from Virginia; who entered upon their work to May, 1785, and on the 23d of August, united in the following report: "' We, the subscribers, Commissioners, appointed by the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, to ascertain the boundary between said States, do certify, that we have carried on a meridian line from the south-west corner of Pennsylvania, northward to the river Ohio; and marked it by cutting a wide vista over all the principal hills, intersected by the said line, and by falling or deadening a line of trees, generally through all the lower grounds. And we have likewise placed stones, marked on the east side P., and on the west side V., on the most of the principal hills, and where the line strikes the Ohio; which stones are accurately placed in the true meridian, bounding the States aforesaid.' "Persons traveling on the Pittsburgh and Steubenville turnpike road, may see one of the stones a short distance west of Paris, and about thirty miles west of Pittsburgh. " Virginia having on the first of March, 1784, ceded to the United States all her territory north of the Ohio river, had no special interest in extending the boundary of Pennsylvania farther north. The boundary was extended to Lake Erie the ensuing year, by Mr. Messrs. Porter and McClean. " Having thus traced this controversy from its origin, and having, I fear, exhausted the patience of my audience, I shall now give a brief notice of the operation which each of the schemes for fixing the boundary, would have had upon the two States. "Had the proposition of John Penn been acted upon, Pennsylvania would have extended over the whole of Preston, Monongalia and'Marion, a large part of Harrison, and portions of Lewis, Randolph and Marshall counties, Va., and on the other hand, she would have lost the whole of the territory of Beaver and Mercer counties, nineteen-twentieths of Washington, portions of Greene, Fayette, Westmoreland, Butler, Venango, Crawford, Erie, and two-ffths of Allegheny. The townships of Jefferson, Upper St. Clair, Fayette, Moon and Finley, with portions of Elizabeth, Mifflin, Lower St. Clair and Robinson, in this county, would have passed to Virginia. A large portion of Ohio township and a portion of Ross, together with all those entire counties and parts of counties north of the Ohio river, though lost to Pennsylvania, would not have been gained by Virginia, but would have passed to the United States, by the cession of first March, 1784, and would, of course, now belong to the State of Ohio. The plan of the Virginia Legislature would have taken from Pennsylvania all that she would have lost under Penn's project, with the addition of the residue of Greene county, and about two-thirds or more of Fayette. "Lord Dunmore's project is not very plain, as to the southern limit of this State. He speaks of the beginning of the 40th degree of latitude, but whether he meant the 39th degree or 40th degree, is not obvious; for he NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 455 does not say whether the line should run north or south from the northwest angle of Maryland. In the one case, his southern boundary of Pennsylvania would have been the same as that of John Penn; in the other case, it would have been identical with that of the Virginia Legislature, to Penn's curved line. But as Gov. Penn, in his letter of the 31st of March, 1784, stated very distinctly to his Lordship, the claim of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, to run south along the western line of Maryland to the beginning of the 40th degree, and as his Lordship did never, so far as I have seen, controvert that claim, we may infer that he understood the words,' beginning of the 40th degree,' to mean the line of 39 degrees. "His western boundary would have cut off from Pennsylvania a strip of land four or five miles wide, and extending from the southern boundary to the Lake. " The compromise of August, 1779, seems to have been a very fair and reasonable one. Pennsylvania abandoned her claim to the parallelogram between Mason and Dixon's line extended, on the north, and' the beginning' of latitude 40 on the south, and from the west line of Maryland westward, to the extent of five degrees from the Delawares, being about fifty-four miles long and fifty miles wide. On the other hand, she gained, to the west of Penn's curved line, about an equal extent of better land. "' Both States secured more compact territories than either of the plans proposed by Lord Dunmore, John Penn, or the Virginia Legislature, would have given them; and Pennsylvania especially, has obtained the exclusive dominion of the Ohio river for more than forty miles; instead of having the States of Virginia and Ohio cornering within six miles of our city. This State has also, by the compromise, gained the territory along the Big Beaver river, through which the canals to Erie and Cleveland extend. "A few brief remarks upon the statements of Mr. Barton, in his life of Rittenhouse, and of Judge Brackenridge, in his short chapter, will conclude this lecture, which has already been extended beyond my expectations. "Mr. Barton, in a note to his work, says:'The difference between Mason and Dixon's line and the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude, was gained by Mr. Penn, as far as Maryland extended, in consequence of a compromise with Lord Baltimore, whereby the latter gained some advantage.''Some advantage' is certainly a very loose expression for the biographer of an eminent mathematician; but when that author asserted that Penn, with the younger grant, had gained something from an older grantee, it became necessary to assume that the latter had gained elsewhere, in return,'some advantage:' but it was impossible to lay a finger upon that advantage. A loose expression was, therefore, the only resource left. The truth is, that Penn's Charter would have entitled him to go south to latitude 39 degrees, being the beginning of latitude 40 degrees; but the older grant to Lord Baltimore prevailed, and Penn lost the strip of land from lati 456 THE OLDEN TIME. tude 39 degrees to Mason and Dixon's line, throughout the whole length of Maryland. Thus Pennsylvania, instead of being three degrees wide, as the Charter and the minutes of Council at the time show it was intended to be, was only a little more than two degrees in width. "Again, in the same note, Mr. Barton says:'The boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia was continued due west from the northwest angle of Maryland, instead of them coming back to the 40th degree of north latitude, by virtue of an agreement by which the former relinquished her right to run her western boundary parallel to the meanderings of the Delaware.' I think I have shown satisfactorily, that Penn's southern boundary, according to his charter, was the line of latitude 39 degrees; so that it was Pennsylvania, and not Virginia, who yielded in the location of the southern boundary. As to the western boundary: the Legislature of Virginia, in December, 1776, had acceded to the curved boundary proposed by Penn. The true terms and spirit of the compromise of 1779 were as follows: Pennsylvania relinquished her claim to the territory south of Mason and Dixon's line, and Virginia agreed that the five degrees of longitude should be measured from the most western point on the Delaware; thus compensating Pennsylvania for what she lost south of Mason and Dixon's line extended. "Judge Brackenridge differs entirely from Mr. Barton, in his account of the matter. He says:'He (Penn) had a right to run south, at the extremity of Maryland, a degree.'' Then a line due west to the extremity of the fifth degree of longitude from the Delaware.' This is correctly stated, except as to the distance Penn had a right to run south, which was really about fifty statute miles, not' a degree-' Again the Judge says:' There was in dispute with Virginia, a degree of latitude for the distance of twenty-three miles due west, after passing the charter boundary of Maryland.' The disputed territory south of Mason and Dixon's line, extended due west not twenty-three, but about fifty-four miles. The Judge's mistake probably occured in this way. From the end of Mason and Dixon's line to the south-west corner of Pennsylvania, is about twenty-three miles. This was run by Rittenhouse and his colleagues; and the Judge probably had personal knowledge of their work, and perhaps supposed that Mason and Dixon's line terminated at the north-west corner of Maryland. "Again the Judge says:'Pennsylvania claimed a line north parallel with the Delaware, but not according to the curves. Virginia claimed according to the curves; the sinuosities of which river would throw considerable bays into Virginia.' "All who have heard this lecture, may recollect that John Penn, as well as Messrs. Tilgham and Allen, claimed according to the curves in the Delaware; that Lord Dunmore insisted upon a meridian line; and that it NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 457 was not until the close of 1776, that Virginia acceded to the proposition of a crooked western boundary. "I have thus given a history of the rise, progress and final settlement of that controversy, which was once the subject of deep and exciting interest in this section of country. In giving this narrative, I have labored to make it as brief as the dispute, extending through many years, would admit, and as plain and intelligible as the short space of an evening lecture would allow. I have aimed at no ornament; but have endeavored to give a distinct knowledge of a stirring incident in our early history; an incident which merits preservation from oblivion, if not as a warning to our different States not recklessly to enter into controversies with each other, at least as a proud example of wisdom, moderation and patriotism, in its final settlement; an example which every patriot may fervently desire to see imitated, in all future collisions between the various States of our beloved Union." APPEN DIX. NOTE A. LETTER FROM JOHN PENN TO LORD DUNMORE. "Philadelphia, 31st January, 1774. " MY LORD-A few days ago I received, by express, from the western frontiers of this province the inclosed copy of an advertisement, lately set up at Pittsburgh, and divers other places in that quarter of the country by one John Connolly, who has taken upon him as Captain Commandant of the Militia of Pittsburgh, and its dependencies, by virtue of your Lordship's commission, as he says, to command the people to meet him there, as a militia on the 25th instant, and to exercise jurisdiction over them as settlers under your government, within the dominion of Virginia. " A step so sudden and unexpected could not but be matter of great surprfee to me, as well as very alarming to the inhabitants of those parts, who have taken up, improved, and hitherto peaceably enjoyed their lands under grants from the proprietaries of this province. "Being, however, two well acquainted with your Lordship's character to admit the least idea that you would countenance a measure so injurious to the rights of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or which might have a tendency to raise disturbances within their province, I flatter myself that the 458 THE OLDEN TIME. laying before you a short statement of the limits of this province, so far as regards the present question, and acquainting you with the steps that have been taken to ascertain its western extent, and the situation of Pittsburgh, will be abundantly sufficient to satisfy you that that place is beyond all doubt within this province. "The western extent of the province of Pennsylvania, by the Royal Grant is five degrees of Longitude from the river Delaware, which is its eastern boundary. " In the year 1768 an east and west line was run from Delaware, at the mouth of Christiana creek to the crossing of Dunkard creek, a branch of the Monongahela, by Messieurs Dixon and Mason, two surveyors of distinction who were sent over fiom England to run the division line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. These artists fixed the latitude and extent of that line with the utmost exactness and precision to the satisfaction of the Commissioners on both sides. From the 233d mile stone on this line a north line hath been since carefully run and measured to the Ohio, and from thence up to Fort Pitt, the several courses of the river have been taken with all possible care. From the line of Dixon and Mason to a known point in the south line of the city of Philadelphia the true course and distance hath been discovered, by actual survey, as also from the point aforesaid to that part of the river Delaware which is in the same latitude as Fort Pitt, and from these several data the most exact calculations have been made by Dr. Smith, provost of our College, Mr. Rittenhouse, and our Surveyor General, in order to ascertain the difference of longitude between Delaware and Pittsburgh, who all agree that the latter is near six miles eastwards of the western extent of the province.' " The better to illustrate this matter, and enable your Lordship to form a judgment of the accuracy with which the work has been done, and the calculations made, I have inclosed a map or draught of the several lines above mentioned, with explanatory notes delivered by them to me. " Should your Lordship, however, contrary to my expectation, still entertain any doubt respecting this matter, I hope you will at least think it reasonable for avoiding those mischiefs which must naturally arise in cases of clashing and disputed jurisdiction, to defer the appointing of officers, and exercising government in that neighborhood, and suffer the people to remain in the quiet and undisturbed possession of the lands they hold under this province till some temporary line of jurisdiction can be agreed on by Commissioners to be appointed by both governments, to confer on this subject, or until the affair can be settled by His Majesty in Council, before whom a petition, exhibited by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, for the settlement of their western, as well as otherboundaries is now depending. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 459 "I shall hope to receive your Lordship's sentiments of this matter by the first opportunity, and am with great regard your Lordship's most obedient humble servant. JOHN PENN. " To the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Province of Virginia." NOTE B. PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL. "Memorandum, 16th March, 1774. " The Governor this day received the following letter from Lord Dunmore of Virginia, by express, in answer to his Honor's letter of the 31st of January: "' WTilliamsburgh, 3d March, 1774. " SIR: I have been favored with your letter of the 31st of January, 1774, and duplicate of the same, the occasion of which having been the appointment of certain officers by me in a remote district of the county of Augusta, in this Colony, which includes Pittsburgh, which having been done, as is always my rule, with the advice of His Majesty's Council, I could not, till I had an opportunity of laying your letter before them, return you an answer, and it is not till now that I am enabled so to do. From the opinion, therefore, of His Majesty's Council of this Colony, I must inform you, that although the calculations on which you rely in the plan accompanying your letter, may possibly be found exact, yet they can by no means be considered by us, as the observation on which they were founded was made without the participation of this government, or the assistance of any person on the part of the Crown; and even if they were admitted, we apprehend they would decide nothing in the present case; for the right of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania to the country around Pittsburgh, must be founded on better authority than is there adduced to make it valid, and we are strengthened in this opinion by the principles you yourselves adopt, and the opinion of Lord Camden, which you have produced in your dispute with Connecticut. With respect to the right of this colony to that country, the transactions of the late war show sufficiently what was ever the sense of the government of Virginia with regard to it. And it seems to me that the step which I have taken ought not to have been either unexpected or surprising, as you are pleased to say it was to you, when it is well known that formal declarations were made by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, that Pittsburgh was not within the jurisdiction of that government at the time that requisitions were made to them for the defence of that place, the burden of which, on that account, fell on this government. "In conformity to these sentiments you will easily see I cannot possibly } 460 THE OLDEN TIME. in compliance with your request, either revoke the commissions and appointments already made. or defer the appointment of such other officers as I may find necessary for the good government of that part of the country, which we cannot but consider to be within the dominion of Virginia, until His Majesty shall declare to the contrary; and I flatter myself I can rely so far on the prudence and discretion of the officers whom I have appointed, that the measure which I have pursued may have no tendency to raise disturbances in your province, as you seem to apprehend, and if any should ensue I cannot but believe they will be occasioned, on the contrary, by the violent proceedings of your officers; in which opinion I am justified by what has already taken place in the irregular commitment of Mr. John Connolly for acting under my authority, which, however, as I must suppose, it was entirely without your participation, I conclude he is before this time released. But, nevertheless, the act having been of so outrageous a nature, and of a tendency so detrimental to both colonies, that, with the advice of His Majesty's Council of this dominion, I do insist upon the most ample reparation being made for so great an insult on the authority of His Majesty's Government of Virginia; and no less can possibly be admitted than the dismission of the clerk (St. Clair) of Westmoreland county, who had the audacity, without authority, to commit a magistrate in the legal discharge of his trust, unless he (St. Clair) can prevail, by proper submission, on Mr. Connolly, to demand his pardon of me. I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, DUNMORE." "John Penn, Esquire." "'Memorandum, 31st March, 1774. "The Governor having taken the foregoing letter into consideration, with the advice of the Council, wrote a letter this day to the Earl of Dunmore, in answer thereto, and sent the same by, express, which letter follows in these words, viz: " Philadelphia, 31st March, 1774. "MY LORD: I was favored with yours of the third of this month by express, which arrived when several of the gentlemen of the council were out of town, and it being also my rule to consult the council upon all occasions of a public nature, I could not possibly give your Lordship's letter an answer by the return of your messenger, who stayed but a very short time in town. I am sorry the papers I inclosed you had not the desired effect. I never expected they would be taken as decisive of the boundaries of Pennsylvania, or as conclusive upon your government, but I had reason to hope they contained such information as would show at least a very strong probability that Pittsburgh, the place of dispute, was within this province, and not subject to the government of Virginia, and from them I concluded you would be convinced of the impropriety of a step which I conceived must NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 461 have been taken upon a supposition that that place was certainly beyond our limits. But I perceive your lordship hath taken up an opinion that it is not material whether it be within our charter bounds or not, and that the right of the proprietors of Pennsylvania to the country about Pittsburgh must be founded on better authority than the Royal grant! And as your Lordship seems to imagine yourself supported in this sentiment by our own principles in Lord Camden's opinion upon our case with Connecticut, the transactions of the late war, and the declarations of our Assembly some time ago, I will take the liberty of endeavoring to set you right in some matters which you do not seem to be fully informed of, being persuaded that if I can be so happy as to place them in a different point of light from what you have heretofore viewed them in, you will be candid enough to change your sentiments. "In the year 1752, the proprietors of Pennsylvania, understanding that the government of Virginia were about to erect forts upon the Ohio, in order to repel the encroachments of the French on the properties of the subjects of his Brittanic Majesty, they instructed their then Governor, Mr. Hamilton, to assist in any measures of that sort, taking an acknowledgment from the Governor of Virginia that such settlement should not be made use of to prejudice their right to that country, and at the same time allowed him to give assurances that the people should enjoy their lands they bona fide settled on the common quit rent. Of this instruction Mr. Hamilton not long after gave notice to Governor Dinwiddie. " In the year 1754, Mr. Dinwiddie came to a resolution of raising men and building forts to the westward, in order to repel the invasions of the French. He had fixed upon the forks of the Monongahela as a proper situation for one of these forts, supposing it to be on his Majesty's lands, and issued a proclamation, expressing his purpose of erecting a fort at that place, and inviting the people to enlist in his Majesty's service against the French; and as an encouragement, promising that the quantity of two hundred thousand acres of land should be laid out and divided amongst the adventurers, when the service should be at an end; one hundred thousand acres of which to be laid out adjoining the fort, and the other one hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. I'Upon the appearance of this proclamation Mr. Hamilton wrote to Governor Dinwiddie, the 13th of March, 1754, reminding him of his former intimation respecting these lands, and inclosing an abstract of the proprietaries' instructions, and also requesting from him such an acknowledgment as the proprietaries expected; to which Mr. Dinwiddie, in his letter of the 21st of March, 1754, answers:'Your private letter of the 13th current, I have duly recieved, and am much misled by our Surveyors if the forks of the Monongahela be within the limits of your proprietaries' grant. I have 462 THE OLDEN TIME. for some time wrote home to have the line run, to have the boundaries properly known, that I may be able to appoint magistrates qn the Ohio (if in this government), to keep the traders and others in good order, and I presume soon there will be Commissioners appointed for that service. In the mean time that no hindrance may be given to our intended expedition, it is highly reasonable, if these lands are in your proprietaries' grant, that the settlers should pay the quit rent to Mr. Penn, and not to his Majesty; and, therefore, as much as lies in my power, I agree thereto, after the time granted by my proclamation, to be clear of quit rent, ceases.'' From this correspondence between the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, it appears beyond a doubt, that the terms upon which forts were built, and settlements made in that country, by.the government of Virginia, were well understood, and the rights of Pennsylvania carefully guarded; and these transactions entirely exclude the idea of that kind of settlement, or acquiescence and agreement of which Lord Camden speaks, and which are the only principles in his opinion from which your Lordship can draw any conclusions in favor of the right of Virginia. "From this view of the matter I flatter myself your Lordship will readily perceive that the principles of Lord Camden's opinion do not at all apply to the present case. As to the opinion of our Assemblies, on which you seem also to rely, the case is shortly as follows: When Governor Dinwiddie resolved to erect forts on the waters of the Ohio, and to carry an expedition against the French, who had fortified themselves in several parts of the country to the westward, he applied to Governor Hamilton to procure him the assistance of this province. Unfortunately at this time there was no very good understanding between the Government and the Assembly, and when Mr. Hamilton laid Mr. Dinwiddie's requisition before them they declined complying with it, and urged for reasons, that, by the Royal orders to the several governors, they were not to act as principals out of their own governments. That they (the Assembly) would not presume to determine upon the limits of the province; and that by the papers and evidences sent down to them, and referred to by the Governor, the limits of the province had not been clearly ascertained to their satisfaction. " It is to be observed, that at this time there had been no'real mensuration from the Delaware to the westward, except the temporary line between this province and Maryland, which extends only one hundred and forty-four miles from Delaware. From this line, and from sundry informations of Indian traders, founded on computed distances, and mountainous and crooked roads, Mr. HIamilton concluded that the French forts were considerably within this province, and it hath since appeared with certainty that the fact was so, though the Assembly were not satisfied with those proofs. And it appears, by a report of a committee of Assembly, appointed to examine NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 463 those evidences, that they laid no great stress upon the opinions of traders founded on computed distances. " Upon the whole I cannot find that the Assembly ever made any thing like formal declarations' that Pittsburgh was not within this government,' but that they rather declined making any determination upon the extent of the province. But if their declarations had been ever so formal or positive, I cannot conceive how any proceedings of theirs could affect the state of the province, control the jurisdiction, or prejudice the rights of the proprietors. "Your Lordship is pleased to say:'With respect to the right of this colony to that country, the transactions of the late war sufficiently show what was ever the sense of the government of Virginia with regard to it.' I do not know to what particular transactions you allude, nor can I apprehend upon what principle the sense of the government of Virginia can prejudice the right of Pennsylvania, especially when the governor of this province was so far from concurring in any such sense, that he took the most effectual measures to guard against any conclusions which might be drawn from it; and I may say, with the strictest truth, that the government of Virginia, with great justice, concurred in this precaution. "Upon the whole, then, my Lord, I hope the papers I heretofore had the honor of sending you, when properly attended to, will satisfy you that Pittsburgh is at least probably within the charter limits of this province; and I flatter myself that what I have now urged will be sufficient to convince you that nothing can be inferred from the transactions of the late war, the correspondence between the governors of the two provinces, the proceedings of our Assembly, or the principles of Lord Camden's opinion, to contract the extent of our charter bounds, or establish the right of Virginia to any part of this province. I therefore still hope that your Lordship will, upon a review of the subject, be induced to defer attempting to extend the jurisdiction of Virginia within the bounds of this province, and thereby avoid the occasions of disturbances and dissentions amongst his Majesty's subjects, which will probably ensue from such a step, however prudent and cautious the magistrates on each side may be inclined to be, and the rather, as a petition for a commission to run out and mark the boundaries between us is now depending before his Majesty. And to prevent the setting up claims, and making conclusions of right by the government of Virginia, from the circumstances of settlement on the one side, and non-claim on the other, I must take this opportunity of notifying to your Lordship that the proprietaries of Pennsylvania do claim, by their said petition, as part of their province of Pennsylvania, all the lands lying west of a south line, to be drawn from Dixon and Mason's line, as it is commonly called, at the westernmost part of the province of Maryland to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, to the extent of five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware; and I must request your Lordship will neither grant lands, nor ex 464 THE OLDEN TIME. ercise the government of Virginia within those limits, till his Majesty's pleasure be known. "I am truly concerned that you should think the commitment of Mr. Connolly so great an insult on the authority of Virginia, as nothing less than Mr. St. Clair's dismission from his offices can repair. The lands in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh were surveyed for the proprietaries of Pennsylvania early in the year 1769, and a very rapid settlement under this government soon took place, and magistrates were appointed by this government to act there in the beginning of 1771, who have ever since administered justice without any interposition of the government of Virginia till the present affair. It therefore could not fail of being both surprising and alarming that Mr. Connolly should appear to act on that stage under a commission from Virginia, before any intimation of claim or right was ever notified to this government. The advertisement of Mr. Connolly had a strong tendency to raise disturbances, and occasion a breach in the public peace, in a part of the country where the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania hath been exercised without objection, and therefore Mr. St. Clair thought himself bound, as a good magistrate, to take a legal notice of Mr. Connolly. "Mr. St. Clair is a gentleman who for a long time had the honor of serving his Majesty in the regulars with reputation, and in every station of life has preserved the character of a very honest worthy man; and though perhaps I should not, without first expostulating with you on the subject, have directed him to take that step, yet you must excuse my not complying with your Lordship's requisition of stripping him, on this occasion, of his offices and livelihood, which you will allow me to think not only unreasonable, but somewhat dictatorial. "I should be extremely concerned that any misunderstanding should take place between this government and that of Virginia. I shall carefully avoid every occasion of it, and shall always be ready to join you in the proper measures to prevent so disagreeable an incident, yet I cannot prevail on myself to accede in the manner you require. to a claim which I esteem, and which I.think must appear to every body else to be altogether groundless. 1 am your Lordship's obedient humble servant, "JOHN PENN. "To the Right Honorable Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commanderin-Chief of his Majesty's Province of Virginia, Williamsburgh." [Reference should have been made to what follows at page 440 of the Lecture.] "At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Wednesday, April, 1774: "Present, the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, Richard Peters, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Edward Shippen, Jun., Esquires. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 465 "The Governor laid before the board a letter which he received this morning by George Wilson, Esq., by express, from William Crawford, Esq., President of the Court of Westmoreland county, with several papers inclosed, relative to the disturbances created, and still continued, by the people of Virginia within that county, which were severally read, and are as follows, viz: "Westmoreland county, April 18, 1774. "SIR: As some very extraordinary occurrences have lately happened in this county, it is necessary to write an account of them to you. That which I now give is at the request, and with the approbation of the magistrates that are at present attending the court. A few weeks ago Mr. Connolly went to Staunton, and was sworn as a Justice of the Peace for Augusta county, in which it is pretended that the country around Pittsburgh is included. He had before this brought from Willimsburgh commissions of the peace for several gentlemen in this part of the province, but none of them, I believe, have been accepted of. A number of new militia officers have been lately appointed by Lord Dunmore. Several musters of the militia have been held, and much confusion has been occasioned by them. I am informed that the militia is composed of men without character and without fortune, and who would be equally averse to the regular administration of justice under the colony of Virginia, as they are to that under the province of Pennsylvania. The disturbances which they have produced at Pittsburgh have been particularly alarming to the inhabitants. Mr. Connolly is constantly surrounded with a body of armed men. He boasts of the countenance of the Governor of Virginia, and forcibly obstructs the execution of legal process, whether from the court or single magistrates. A deputy sheriff has come from Augusta county, and I am told he has writs in his hands against Captain St. Clair and the sheriff for the arrest and confinement of Mr. Connolly. The sheriff was last week arrested at Pittsburgh for serving a writ on one of the inhabitants there, but was, after some time, discharged. On Monday last one of Connolly's people grossly insulted Mr. Mackay, and was confined by him in order to be sent to jail. The rest of the party hearing it, immediately came to Mr. Mackay's house and proceeded to the most violent outrages. Mrs. Mackay was wounded in the arm with a cutlass; the magistrates, and those who came to their assistance, were treated with much abuse, and the prisoner was rescued. "Some days before the meeting of the court, a report was spread that the militia officers, at the head of their several companies, would come to Mr. Hanna's, use the court ill, and interrupt the administration of justice. On Wednesday, while the court was adjourned, they came to the court house and paraded before it. Sentinels were placed at the door, and Mr. Connolly went into the house. One of the magistrates was hindered by the militia from going into it till permission was first obtained from their comVOL. i-30 466 THE OLDEN TIME. mander. Mr. Connolly sent a message to the magistrates informing them that he wanted to communicate something to them, and would wait on them for that purpose. They received him in a private room. He read to them the inclosed paper, together with a copy of a letter to you, which Lord Dunmore had transmitted to him, inclosed in a letter to himself, which was written in the same angry and undignified style. The magistrates gave the inclosed answer to what he read, and he soon afterwards departed with his men. Their number was about one hundred andeighty or two hundred. On their return to Pittsburgh some of them seized Mr. Elliott, of the Bullock Pens, and threatened to put him in the stocks for something which they deemed an affront offered to their commander. Since their return, a certain Edward Thompson, and a young man who keeps store for Mr. Spear, have been arrested by them; and Mr. Connolly, who in person seized the young man, would not allow him time even to lock up the store. In other parts of the country, particularly those adjoining the river Monongahela, the magistrates have been frequently insulted in the most indecent and violent manner, and are apprehensive that unless they are speedily and vigorously supported by government, it will become both fruitless and dangerous for them to proceed to the execution of their offices. They presume not to point out the measures proper for settling the present disturbances, but beg leave to recommend the fixing of a temporary line, with the utmost expedition, as one step which in all probability will contribute very much towards producing that effect. For further particulars concerning the situation of the county, I refer you to Colonel Wilson, who is kind enough to go on the present occasion to Philadelphia. I am, sir, your very humble servant, " W. CRAWFORD. " To the Honorable John Penn, Esquire." Here follows Doctor Connolly's address to the magistrates of Westmoreland county, referred to in the foregoing letter. " GENTLEMEN: I am come here to be the occasion of no disturbances, but to prevent them. As I am countenanced by government, whatever you may say or conceive, some of the Justices of the Bench are the cause of this appearance, and not me. I have done this to prevent myself from being illegally taken to Philadelphia. My orders from the government of Virginia not being explicit, but claiming the country about Pittsburgh, I have raised the militia to support the civil authority of that colony, vested in me. I am come here to free myself of a promise made to Captain Proctor, but have not conceived myself amenable to this Court, by any authority from Pennsylvania, upon which account I cannot apprehend that you have any right to remain here as Justices of the Peace, constituting a court under that province; but in order to prevent confusion, I agree that they may continue to NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 467 act in that capacity in all such matters as may be submitted to your determination by the acquiescence of the people, until I have instructions to the contrary from Virginia, or until his Majesty's pleasure shall be further known on this subject. J. CONNOLLY." The answer of the Magistrates of Westmoreland county, to the foregoing address of Doctor Connolly, viz: "The jurisdiction of the Court and officers of the county of Westmoreland, rests on the legislative authority of the province of Pennsylvania, confirmed by his Majesty in council. That jurisdiction has been regularly exercised, and the Court and officers will continue to exercise it in the same regular manner. It is far from their intentions to occasion or foment disturbances, and they apprehend that no such intentions can with propriety be inferred from any part of their conduct; on the contrary, they wish, and will do all in their power to preserve the public tranquillity. In order to contribute to this very salutary purpose, they give information that every step will be taken on the part of the province of Pennsylvania to accommodate any differences that have arisen between it and the colony of Virginia, by fixing a temporary line betwixt them." The deposition of Henry Read, relative to the disturbances made in Westmoreland county by the Virginians, viz: " Westmoreland county, ss. " The deposition of Henry Read, of Pittsburgh, yeoman (he being of full age), taken before us, two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county aforesaid, on his solemn oath of the Evangelist of Almighty God, is as follows, viz: That on this day, about eleven o'clock, Doctor John Connolly, at the head of a number of armed men on horseback, came into Pittsburgh and alighted near the houses of John Ormsby and Joseph Spear, Esquires, when said John Connolly came into Mr. Spear's house, and soon after went out again; that this deponent, William Amberson, and some others, were tying up Mr. Spear's skins at his door; that Connolly then ordered one Reily to lay hold of that fellow, pointing to said Amberson, who is at Mr. Spear's, and acts for him as storekeeper and'clerk; that Reily laid hold of Amberson by the arm; that Amberson then requested he might have liberty to lock up the store, and was endeavoring to go towards the store door, when Connolly came up and seized Amberson by the breast, and said, let the skins and the store go to the devil, if your master was here I would serve him in the same manner; that then Connolly, with several armed men, took said Amberson down to the Fort; that after some time this deponent saw said Amberson and Edward Thompson brought up from the fort to the town, and guarded by 468 THE OLDEN TIME. a number of armed men; that after they had drank some toddy at Mr. Ormsby's porch, they took Amberson and Thompson to William Christy's house, and placed several armed men at the door; that in this state this deponent left them, and came off express to give information to Mr. Spear at Westmoreland court; that there was in Mr. Spear's house a large quantity of goods and skins. And further this deponent saith not. "HENRY READ. "Sworn and subscribed this 7th day of April, 1774. "W. CRAWFORD, "VAN SWEARINGEN. "The board taking the above letters and papers into consideration, thought it advisable for the Governor to defer writing an answer thereto, or taking any steps in consequence of the intelligence they contain, till the return of the express from Williamsburgh, who was lately dispatched by this government to the Earl of Dunmore, on the subject of the above mentioned disturbances."' At a council held at Philadelphia, on Thursday, 21st April, 1774: Present, the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, Richard Peters, Andrew Allen, James Tilghman, Edward Shippen, Jun., Esquires. " The express sent to Williamsburgh being returned without any answer from the government of Virginia, the Governor recommended to the Board the consideration of the subject relative to the disturbances and violences committed by the people of that colony within the county of Westmoreland, and laid before them three letters he received two days ago by express from 2Eneas Mackay, Devereux Smith and Andrew McFarlane, Esquires, magistrates of that county, each dated the 9th of April instant, which were severally read, and Messrs. Mackay and Smith's letters follow in these words, viz: " Pittsburgh, 9th April, 1774. "SIR: 1 have just time to inform your Honor that the Justices, Devereux Smith, Andrew McFarlane, and myself, returned from court late last night to this place; and that we were all three taken prisoners at half an hour past nine o'clock this morning by order of Doctor Connolly; and because we refused to give bail we are ordered to be sent off this afternoon to Staunton, in Virginia, where I suppose we will spend the most of this summer, which gives me no manner of concern so far as it affects my own person, although I cannot but feel for, and lament the distressing situation of my wife and children, left here exposed to the insults and tyranny of a lawless mob, whose aim is to subvert government and good order, and enrich themselves with the spoils of their neighbors. I am, with due respect, sir, your most obedient servant, A.ENEAS MACKAY." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 469 " Pittsburgh, April 9th, 1774. "SIR: When Justices Mackay, McFarlane, and I, returned from attending the court last evening, we were informed that Doctor Connolly was determined to issue King's warrants for us, which were served on the above mentioned gentlemen and myself this day by Mr. Connolly's sheriff. The crime which we are charged with is for the answer we gave Doctor Connolly in writing by the concurrence of the court of' Westmoreland, a copy of which was inclosed to your Honor per favor of Colonel Wilson. Mr. Connolly offered to enlarge us on condition of giving bail to take our trial at Staunton court in Virginia, which the other gentlemen and I refused, so that we go to jail this day, where we intend to remain till your Honor's pleasure is known, which we make no doubt will be in a short time. It is true, our going away from our families and business at this time, will be attended with very great inconveniences, but we are willing to suffer that, and a great deal more, rather than bring a disgrace on the commission which we bear under your Honor. I am with great respect, your Honor's most obedient and most humble servant, " DEVEREUX SMITH." Mr. McFarlane's letter is of the same tenor with the foregoing one from Mr. Smith. " The board taking into consideration the said letters, as well as the letters and papers laid before them at their last meeting, are of opinion, that the most. advisable step to be taken on this occasion by the government will be to appoint Commissioners to go as soon as possible to Williamsburgh, in order to represent to the government of Virginia the ill consequences which may happen to the persons and properties of his Majesty's subjects, if an immediate stop be not put to the disorders and violent proceedings which have been begun and are now carrying on under the authority of the government, within the western lands of this province; also to confer with the said government on the most proper measures for establishing peace and good order among his Majesty's subjects of both governments; and for that purpose to endeavor to agree upon a temporary line of jurisdiction; and further, to request that the said government will, without loss of time, joiA with the proprietaries of this province in an application to the Crown to appoint Commissioners for running and ascertaining the true boundary lines between Pennsylvania and Virginia. "i The board were likewise of opinion that a letter should be written to the three magistrates who have been put under an arrest by Mr. Connolly, thanking them for their spirited behavior, and acquainting them that proper care shall be taken to supply them at the expense of this government, with all necessaries which may render their situation as comfortable and easy as 470 THE OLDEN TIME. possible until their discharge can be obtained; and also that a letter of instructions be sent to the other magistrates of Westmoreland respecting their future conduct." "At a council held at Philadelphia, on Friday, 22d April, 1774: " Present, the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, Richard Peters, Andrew Allen, James Tilghman, Edward Shippen, Jun., Esquires. "A member of council laid before the board draughts of two letters proposed to be sent to the magistrates of Westmoreland county, which were read, and after a few alterations made to them, were ordered to be fairly transcribed, and dispatched to-morrow by the express, who came from that county. The letters follow in these words, viz: " Philadelphia, April 22, 1774. "GENTLEMEN: I received your several letters informing me of your arrest and confinements on warrants issued by Dr. Connolly, and cannot but greatly approve your spirit and the attachment you have shown to the interest of this province. But as the confinement of your persons at so great a distance from your homes must be very injurious to your private concerns, if you can procure your enlargement, by finding bail, I shall by no means disapprove such a step. I shall with all possible expedition, send Commissioners to my Lord Dunmore, to apply for your discharge; and as Colonel Wilson is so obliging as to offer to call at Staunton, in his way home, I have instructed him to procure for you any security or credit you may stand in need of, and shall do every thing in my power to free you from your disagreeable situation, or make it as comfortable as may be. I am, gentlemen, your very humble servant, "JOHN PENN. "To _Eneas Mackay, Devereux Smith, and Andrew McFarlane, Esquires, Justices of the Peace for the county of Westmoreland." " Philadelphia, April 22, 1774. GENTLEMEN: The present alarming situation of our affairs in Westmoreland county, occasioned by the very unaccountable conduct of the government of Virginia, requires the utmost attention of this government, and therefore I intend, with all possible expedition, to send Commissioners to expostulate with my Lord Dunmore upon the behavior of those he has thought proper to invest with such power as hath greatly disturbed the peace of that county. As the government of Virginia hath the power of raising militia, and there is not any such in this province, it will be in vain to contend with them in the way of force; the magistrates therefore, at the same time that they continue with steadiness to exercise the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania with respect to the distribution of justice and punishment of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 471 vice must be cautious of entering into any such contests with the officers of my Lord Dunmore as may tend to widen the present unhappy breach; and therefore as things are at present circumstanced I would not advise the magistracy of Westmoreland county to proceed by way of criminal prosecution against them for exercising the government of Virginia. I flatter myself that our commissioners to Virginia will succeed according our expectations, and that our affairs to the westward will soon be put upon a peaceable and quiet footing. I am, gentlemen, your very humble servant, "JOHN PENN. "To William Crawford, Esquire, and his Associates, of Westmoreland county." CORRESPONDENCE LAID BEFORE COUNCIL. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN. "Ligonier, January 15, 1774. "SIR: This will be delivered by Mr. Hanna, one of the trustees for Westmoreland county. To some management of his, I believe, the opposition to fixing the county town at Pittsburgh is chiefly owing-it is his interest it should continue where the law has fixed the courts, pro tempore; he lives there; used to keep a public house there; and has now, on that expectation, rented his house at an extravagant price. Erwen, another trustee, adjoins, and is also a public house keeper. A third trustee lives in the neighborhood, which always makes a majority for continuing the courts at the present place. A passage in the law for erecting the county is, that the courts shall be held in the foregoing place (the house of Robert Hanna) till a court house and jail are built; this puts it in their power to continue them as long as they please-for a little management might prevent a court house and jail being built these twenty years. This is an explanation of a petition to the House, which was sent down lately-it was begun and ended on the Friday of the court week. An unexpected opportunity to Philadelphia offered that day, by reason of which it is to the House only, and signed but by a few people, but the few that have signed it are the principal people; and who acted more from their feelings for multitudes whom they saw suffering than from their own inconvenience. A like petition to the Governor will soon be forwarded, which will be countenanced by, I am certain, fivesixths of the whole people. "Mr. Hoofnagle I hope will be almost home before you receive this. I beg you will excuse inaccuracies, as I wrote in the greatest hurry-Mr. Hanna holding his horse while I write. I will see you early in the spring. And am, sir, your most humble and most obedient servant, "ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. "Joseph Shippen, Jun., Esq." 472 THE OLDEN TIME. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Ligonier, February 2, 1774. " I am honored with your letter of the 20th January, which reached me the 28th, and am happy to find the method pursued at Pittsburgh, on the 25th, did not very materially differ from that you had been pleased to direct. "Doctor Connolly was arrested previous to the meeting, by my orders, on his avowing himself the author of the advertisement requiring the people to meet him as a militia. and committed on refusing to find sureties for his good behavior till next court. " I was in hopes the sending him out of the way would have put an end to it altogether; but I was mistaken. About eighty persons in arms assembled themselves, chiefly from Mr. Croghan's neighborhood, and the country west of and below the Monongahela, and parading through the town and making a kind of feu de joie, proceeded to the fort where a cask of rum was produced on the parade, and the head knocked out. This was a very effectual way of recruiting. "As a scene of drunkenness and confusion was likely to ensue, I got the magistrates (who attended in consequence of the letters I had sent them) together, and read the inclosed paper, which we had concocted that morning, and at the conclusion, when they were required to disperse, they replied they had been invited there, but came with peaceable intentions, and would go home again without molesting any one; on which we left them; however, towards night, their peaceable disposition forsook them, and I should probably have felt their resentment had I not got intimation of their design. I thought it most prudent to keep out of their way. " I have no doubt but that the magistrates will do their duty with spirit, and 1 shall take the earliest opportunity to make them acquainted with the support your Honor is determined to afford them. In some parts of the country they will have a difficult task, and I am really afraid this affair will be productive of a great deal of confusion. I shall not fail to give emthem the necessary cautions with regard to the Riot Act, and I think I can judge pretty nearly how far it may be safely extended. "Mr. Connolly has most certainly a commission from Lord Dunmore, expressly for Pittsburgh and its dependencies, and his subalterns are John Stephenson, a brother of Mr. Crawford, our senior magistrate, William Harrison, a son-in-law of his, and Dorsey Penticost, who was lately in the commission of the peace here. Penticost has, 1 hear, been down to Mr. Connolly since his confinement, and taken the necessary oaths to qualify him for his military office, and is to assemble the people at Red Stone and take possession of Fort Burd.* I have wrote to the Justices in that part of *Brownsville. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 473 the country to watch his motions. Mr. McKee is said to be appointed a Justice by Lord Dunmore, but I would fain hope without his consent; at any rate he behaved very well on the late occasion. As he was doubted, I made a point of having him there under pretence of his being Indian Agent, but in fact, as if he was a fiiend or abettor of Connolly's measures. "It is, sir, extremely grateful to me that my conduct in any part meets with your approbation; but should I forget to be attentive to any thing that may disturb the happiness of your government, or from which you may receive a personal injury, I should be guilty of the grossest breach of duty, as well as the blackest ingratitude, neither of which I trust will ever be the case. I am, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, "ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. "The Honorable John Penn, Esq." PAPER INCLOSED IN ARTHUR ST. CLAIR'S LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR, OF FEBRUARY 2, 1774. "As friends and fellow countrymen, which we ought all to consider each other, from whatever different quarters of the globe we have met here, suffer that we make you acquainted with some things of which you ought not to be ignorant. We do not blame you for having an affection for the laws of the countries and provinces in which you have been born;'tis a natural,'tis a praiseworthy affection! And it requires a length of time and diligent application to discover and give the deserved preference to different systems of laws and forms of government, for which but few have either leisure or opportunity. "We do not tell you the plan of Pennsylvania is a perfect one. Such no human institution is or ever was; but the rapid progress Pennsylvania has made, the number of people that flock to it from every part of the world, and particularly the much greater value of landed property than in the adjoining parts of the neighboring countries, evince that it is no very defective one; evince that its laws are mild and salutary, and that property and liberty, civil and religious, is well secured, and that it has some advantages over its neighbors. "We doubt not but you will readily acknowledge these matters; but you wirl reply, it is nothing to us; the soil we live on being no part of Pennsylvania; we can have no part of the advantages or disadvantages arising from its constitution. "We well know much pains have been taken to persuade many of you to a belief of this, and likewise that the proprietaries have industriously delayed to settle their boundary. There is not the least foundation for either. " The proprietaries of Pennsylvania claimed the country about Pittsburgh, and the settlers quietly acquiesced in that claim; and as soon as doubts be 474 THE OLDEN TIME. gan to arise about it they took effectual pains to satisfy themselves whether or not they were right in that claim, and actually found the country a considerable distance west of that place within their province. And so far are they from delaying the running of their boundary line, we have the best authority for saying that a petition has been a considerable time before his Majesty for that very purpose. You must be sensible it would be to little purpose to run it without the concurrence of the Crown;. certainly it would never be conclusive.' The jurisdiction of Pennsylvania has been regularly extended to Pittsburgh, and exercised there for a number of years, as the records of Cumberland, Bedford, and Westmoreland counties testify; and you yourselves have acknowledged it, by applying for your lands in that province. Whether that extension has been legally made or not, can be determined by the Crown alone; but must be submitted to till it is determined. And it must be evident to you that Lord Dunmore, as Governor of Virginia, can have no more right to determine this matter than one of us, for this plain reason: the charters of Pennsylvania and Virginia both flowed originally from the Crown; on that footing they are perfectly independent of each other; but they are both parties in this dispute, and consequently neither can be judge. " We would fondly hope no person in this country would wish to be from under the protection of law. A state of anarchy and confusion, and total subversion of property must evidently ensue. We cannot help thinking contending jurisdictions in one and the same country must produce similar effects, and every attempt to produce modes or regulations not warranted by the laws or constitution of Pennsylvania will also do so in a certain degree. "Any grievances the inhabitants of this part of the country suffer there is no doubt the Legislature want only to be informed of to redress. Should it be imagined the protection of a military force is necessary, the votes and proceedings of the last winter session of Assembly will show that, probably, it was owing to the representation of the Indian Agent, that an Indian war would certainly follow, establishing a military force at Pittsburgh, that such protection was not then granted, and time seems to have shown he was not in the wrong. "If that effect would have supervened at a time when his Majesty's troops were just withdrawn, when the country was naked, defenceless, and alarmed, and when the Indians were accustomed to the idea of troops in their neighborhood, much more is it to be doubted the establishing a militia, which is a military force, will produce that effect now when they have been so long disused to it. "As his Majesty's Justices and protectors of the public peace of Pennsylvania, it is our duty to tell you your meeting is an unlawful one, and that it tends to disquiet the minds of his Majesty's liege subjects. We do NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 475 in his Majesty's name require you to disperse, and retire yourselves peaceably to your respective habitations. Present when this was read. " Alexander McKee, JEneas Mackay, William Louchry, Van Swearingen, James Pollock, William Bracken, James Cavet, Arthur St. Clair." ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN, JUN. " Ligonier, February 25, 1774. "DEAR SIR: The disturbances that have begun in this country seem to be increasing, and unless some effectual method is soon fallen upon to put a stop to them, will soon come to a formidable head. What that method should be it is difficult to say, but probably the running a temporary line might quiet the people a little, though I doubt very much if even that would not now be opposed. " As much the greatest part of the inhabitants near the line have removed from Virginia, they are inexpressibly fond of any thing that comes from that quarter, and their minds are never suffered to be at rest. Mr. Croghan's emissaries (and it is astonishing how many he has either duped or seduced to embrace his measures) are continually irritating them against Pennsylvania, and assuring them they are not within its limits; so that unless Lord Dunmore does formally recede from what he has undertaken in this country, itwill be next to impossible to exercise the civil authority. From the very beginning I foretold a second Carolina affair was intended, I am now convinced of it. " I have letters from all the magistrates in that part of the country, complaining of the difficulties they are exposed to, and the open and avowed determination of the people not to submit to their jurisdictions. However, they are all still as yet, and I will do what in my power lies to continue them so; as one step towards it, and to convince the others that we in some measure are in earnest, I intend immediately removing my office to Pittsburgh, adjoining, there to live the moment I can get my farm off my hands here. " I inclose you a letter from Mr. Spear, which I received by the bearer. I shall immediately write to Mr. Swearingen to commit, without ceremony, any person who shall attempt to oppose or molest him in the execution of his office. Excuse the haste I am almost always obliged to write to you in; opportunities offer unexpectedly, and the people waiting. I am, dear si?, your very humble servant, ARTHUR ST. CLAIR." INCLOSED IN ARTHUR ST. CLAIR S LETTER TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN, JUN., OF FEBRUARY 25, 1774. "Pittsburgh, February 23, 1774. "DEAR SIR: I am just now informed that the Virginians up the Monongahela have had two or three musters lately; one at Red Stone Old Fort, and one yesterday at Paul Froman's, on the other side of the Monongahela; 476 THE OLDEN TIME. and I am also told that they had a meeting at Mr. Penticost's own house, in consequence of which Mr. Penticost wrote to Mr. Swearingen to act no longer there as a Pennsylvania magistrate at his peril. I therefore think it would be advisable to endeavor to have a stop put to those proceedings, if possible, as it creates the greatest disturbance, and very much retards the execution of our civil process. I am, in haste, dear sir, your humble servant, JOSEPH SPEAR." "P. S. This news has just come to hand, otherwise I would have wrote you more full. Dr. Connolly is just now going over the run to Red Stone, I know not what for." JENEAS MACKAY TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Pittsburgh, April 4, 1774. " SIR: Since the return of the celebrated Doctor Connolly from Virginia last to this place, which he did on the 28th March, our village is become the scene of anarchy and confusion. The Doctor was taken into the sheriffs custody here the 24th day of last January, in consequence of his extraordinary advertisement. He was but a few days in jail before he found means to prevail with the sheriff, and obtained his leave to visit his associates at this place, where he staid a few days, and then, instead of returning to jail, according to his promise to the sheriff, he went up to Red Stone settlement, where, with the assistance of his friends in that quarter, he assembled about twenty men, who guarded him from there to or near the frontiers of Virginia. " On the 30th of March a party from Chaster*'settlement joined the Doctor at this place. On hearing of that circumstance Sheriff Proctor and the Justices Smith, McFarlane and myself repaired to the Fort in order to discover the Doctor's intentions, and if we found them any wise tumultuously disposed, to read to them the Riot Act. There we found some twenty odd men, some with and some without arms, and the Doctor before them with two letters in his hands, both of which he said he had just received from Lord Dunmore, with orders to make them (the militia) acquainted with the contents, and this he immediately did by reading the papers to them. In the first of these letters his Lordship greatly applauded the Doctor's conduct, when taken by the sheriff, for not giving bail, and commanded him to persevere in the prosecution of the plan he had begun upon, maintaining the possession of Fort Pitt and its dependencies, and to put the militia and other Virginia laws in force, concluding with a promise of being powerfully supported by his Lordship. " Te other letter the Doctor declared to be duplicate of his Lordship's answer to Governor Penn's letter, relating to the militia muster, when first set on foot in this place last January. Just as the Doctor had done reading * Perhaps Chartiers. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 477 these instruments he turned on his heel, and gave us to understand he would be glad to speak to us in a bar room just at hand, when he said that although he, in obedience to Lord Dunmore's positive orders, had assembled these men, in order to hear the aforesaid letters read, he had no intention to take any step contrary to the established rules of law at this place, until after the court, which would set in a few days, when he said he was determined to deliver himself up and abide by the judgment of the same. and requested of us to observe the like specific measures in the mean time. We told the Doctor we were averse to violent proceedings, unless forced to it in our own defence, but expected he, the Doctor, did not mean we should desist from exercising the duty of our station, as conservators of the peace, till that lime. To this he replied, he did not. "Next morning, the 31st of March, the sheriff served a writ on William Christy, a militia Lieutenant, on notice of whiich the Doctor had the sheriff taken by a King's warrant, and he was actually in custody for some little time; and ever since that time there are parties of armed men in constant pursuit of our Deputy Sheriff and Constables, by which means it is impossible for us to do any business. "The Doctor is now in actual possession of the Fort, with a body guard of militia about him, invested, as we are told, with both civil and military powers to put the Virginia law in force in these parts; and a considerable number of the inhabitants of these back parts of this county are ready to join him on any emergency. Every artifice are used to seduce the people; some by being promoted to civil or military employments, and others with the promise of grants of lands on easy terms; and the giddy headed mob are so infatuated as to suffer themselves to be carried away by these insinuating delusions; for instance of which, the two constables appointed to serve as such in this township (one of whom, Philip Reily by name, was sworn in at last January court), both deserted us and joined the Doctor's party. It is most certain the Doctor is determined to carry his point, or lose his life in the attempt; and it is equally certain he has all the encouragement and promises of support from Virginia that he can wish for, so that unless an effectual remedy be speedily applied we know not what may be the consequence, for matters are carried to a very dangerous length already, and are likely to become more so every day.' "We are told the Colonel of militia of Augusta county is under orders to be in readiness to march to this place on the shortest notice. Lord Dunmore has actually inclosed twelve commissions to the Doctor to fill up for militia officers at his own discretion. " We will have another general muster at this place some time this month, and we are assured a strong body of the militia will appear with arms at the court, with an intention no doubt, to rescue Connolly, and perhaps will attempt something else. 478' THE OLDEN TIME. "The Indians are greatly alarmed at seeing parties of armed men patroling through our streets, not knowing but there is hostility intended against them, and their country. I remain, sir your most humble and most obedient servant, 2ENEAS MACKAY. GEORGE CROGHAN TO DAVID SAMPLE. "April 4th, 1774. "SIR: I have been long convinced that Fort Pitt and its dependencies was without the limits of Pennsylvania, and no less convinced that the laws of that Province could have no force or power beyond its limits, yet as I have always considered any law better than no law, I have countenanced the law of that province hitherto, by pleading to some actions against me, and being bail to others,though at the same time I have always denied thejurisdiction by not paying any taxes, as in that case my liberty and property was in as much danger as all the rest of my fellow subjects in the colonies have thought theirs, by submitting to a tax laid on them by the British Parliament, and which they have always withstood. Now, sir, as the colony of Virginia has this winter extended the laws of that government to this part of the country, by raising the militia and appointing civil officers, I shall no longer countenance the laws of your province by pleading to any actions brought against me, unless brought by the colony of Virginia; for it must be granted, that if any colony has a right to extend their laws to this country, Virginia must, till his Majesty's pleasure be known therein. Since this change has happened, two actions have been brought against me from your court, one at the suit Richard and William Butler, the other at the suit of Joseph Spear. As you are my attorney, I desire, when those actions are called in court, that you wont appear to them, and I request that you will inform the Court you have my directions so to act, and inform them of my reasons, which I should wish them to know, though I have many others; but as your court can have nothing to do in adjusting the present disputes I will not trouble you with any thing further on this head. And am your most humble servant,. "GEORGE CROGHAN. " To David Sample, Esquire." THOMAS SMITH TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN. "Westmoreland County, April 7, 1774. " SIR: The present transactions at this place are so very extraordinary, that I am persuaded you will be very much surprised at the relation of them, if any thing that is absurd and unwarrantable which originates from Lord Dunmore can surprise you. I think I am warranted in this observation by his Lordship's letter to his Honor, duplicate of which, together with a letter at the same time to Connolly, we have had just read to us. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 479 "After Connolly was committed to jail in the manner you have been informed, the sheriff let him at large on his word of honor to return at the court. He did return, indeed, in such a manner as might have been expected from his preceding conduct. We heard,, when we came up to this court, that he was mustering a large party in order to prevent the court from sitting. We thought that there could not be any foundation for such a report, but at the same time we thought it prudent to order the Sheriff to raise as many men as he could collect, to prevent us from being insulted by a lawless set of men acting under the color of authority. This time was so short that few were collected on our side, and those few were ill armed, so that we found ourselves in a very disagreeable situation when we received certain intelligence that Connolly was coming down with two hundred armed men. When we found they were at hand the magistrates thought it prudent to adjourn the court, as it was near the time. They soon after came down to the number of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and eighty, with colors flying, and their captains, &c., had their swords dravn. The first thing they did was to place sentinels at the court house door, and then Connolly sent a message that he would wait on the Magistrates and communicate the reasons of his appearance. The bench and bar were then assembled in Mr. Hanna's house, where we sent him word we would hear him. He and Penticost soon came down, and he read the paper which will be sent down to his Honor the Governor with the bearer of' this, and then he read a duplicate of Lord Dunmore to our Governor, together with the letter mentioned before. " The Court told him they would soon return an answer to what he had said. (They did not think it prudent to do it with6ut consulting together and taking the opinion of the bar.) We soon agreed on the terms of the answer, and the gentleman who had the principal hand in forming it, has done it in such a manner as I am persuaded will procure him the thanks of the government. It contains firmness and moderation, and, as far as I am capable of judging, it was not possible to form one more free from exceptions in our present situation. One in any other form might have been the occasion of altercations, which might have produced undue concessions, or been attended with the most fatal consequences; for I have reason to believe that the greatest part of them were wishing for some colorable reason to qtarrel. The bench proposed to deliver the answer in the court house. However, in that particular they counted without their host, for they were refused admittance, and Connolly waited for them at the court house door, where Mr. Wilson, at the request of the Court, delivered it, and after exchanging copies they departed more peaceably than might have been expected. However, the consequences of such proceedings are too apparent to need be enumerated; the administration of justice must be entirely at a stand, and, indeed, I cannot help thinking that this mob has collected for 480 THE OLDEN TIME. that purpose, as I am well assured that amongst all those who assembled there was not one single man of any property; on the contrary, the greatest part of them were such as are obliged to hide themselves fiom their creditors, or such as are under the necessity of taking shelter in this part of the country to escape the punishment of their crimes. It seems Lord Dunmore gave Connolly blank commissions, trusting to his own prudence to fill them up, by inserting the names of proper persons. Connolly, in order to be consistent with himself, bestowed one of these commissions on one Teagarden, an old fellow, who has several times been committed for felony. I don't, indeed, know that he has been convicted, because he has always broke the jail. Once I think he was committed to Lancaster jail and escaped. His character is so well known, that those who are the strongest adovcates for the present disturbances are ashamed of his being appointed one of their Captains.' The people in this part of the country who would wish to enjoy the benefits of society, and would submit to any form of government, are in the most disagreeable situation that can be imagined: their property, their liberty, and their lives, are at the mercy of a lawless desperate banditti! In such a situation they look for, and have the utmost reason to expect, the protection of government under which they have settled. What is the most proper method to be taken it would be presumption in me to suggest. There are but two ways; the one to agree on a temporary line of jurisdiction until the matter can be finally settled; the other, to establish a sufficient garrison at Fort Pitt to withstand the rabble who act under Lord Dunmore's conmmission. It would have been a happy thing for this part of the country, if this last measure had met with success when it was first recommended to the Legislature; and indeed, sensible people in this part of the country, who are well affected to this government, cannot help drawing conclusions from the opposition which that measure met with, which I am persuaded could never be the motives of those who may have made the opposition to it. "The conduct of Lord Dunmore is really the most extraordinary, in the light in which the people of this part of the country are obliged to view and feel it, that can be imagined. To establish the jurisdiction of a different province over the people who have purchased, and settled, and lived for a considerable space of time, peaceably under this; to establish this jurisdiction by a military force, is such an absurd measure, that I believe it will be difficult to suppose any in his senses would have adopted it. I hope you will excuse this incoherent scrawl, when I inform you that it is writen in a small room amidst the clamor and confusion of a number of' people. Excuse the imperfections. I am, sir, your most humble servant, "THOMAS SMITH. "Joseph Shippen, Esquire." [TO BE CONTINUED.] THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. NOVEMBER, 1846. No. 11. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY ALONG THE MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY AND UPPER OHIO RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. [APPENDIX CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] REPRESENTATION OF THE COMMISSIONERS AND ASSESSORS.' To the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor and Commander-inChief of the province of Pennsylvania. "MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: The board of Commissioners and Assessors for the county of Westmoreland, at this critical juncture, humbly beg leave to represent to your Honor the disagreeable situation they are now in, by reason of the present disturbances in this county. The board beg leave to inform your Honor, that they have duly and regularly laid the assessments of the county, according to the laws of this province; they have also issued the proper duplicates to the different collectors by them appointed to collect the same; but the people residing in the back parts of the county, or the greater part of them, absolutely refuse to pay their taxes, or to serve the county in the office of collector. On which account the'board has been under the necessity to be at a great expense by reason of their frequent meetings, which consequently must come off the public, and are unable without further assistance to execute their duty. " They therefore pray your Honor's advice and assistance in this matter, and for further particulars refer your Honor to George Wilson, Esq., who was an eye witness to the disturbance of the court, by the meeting of a number of armed men; and the board beg leave to assure your Honor VOL. i-31 482. THE OLDEN TIME. that every step shall be taken in their power for the benefit and advantage of the province. By order of the court. "JOSEPH BEELER,) ommissioners. "JAMES SMITH, "Westmoreland, April 8, 1774." THOMAS SMITH TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN, JUN. "Bedford, April 13, 1774. "SIR: If you have received my letter which I did myself the favor to write by Colonel Wilson, you will not be surprised to be informed of the continuation of the outrages committed by the Virginians. They have now arrested three of the magistrates of Westmoreland county, who are now on their way to Augusta jail, exposed to the insults of the rabble who are sent as their guard. The crime alleged against them is, I am informed, the answer which the Court gave to Connolly's modest address and proposals. I hope, for the honor of this province, that it will not set calmly looking on and see its magistrates, as its magistrates, taken by a set of lawless men, when they were within its known limits, and hurried away like criminals to the jail of another province, there to be confined contrary to all law and justice, to satisfy the whim and caprice of a man who seems either to have totally divested himself of any regard of natural justice (I was going to say to the law of nations, if I might be allowed the expression), or else be made the tool of a set of desperate men, who have more cunning than himself-for I have many reasons to think that this scheme was hatched at Fort Pitt. The reasons that could induce any man of common sense to take such a step I am at a loss to guess. " The bearer of this was sent down to go to Philadelphia with the account of these proceedings. I thought it my duty to enable him to pursue his journey, by accommodating hint with money; he has acted some time as under sheriff, and if the high sheriff had conducted himself in the same spirited, unsuspected manner, that this man has done, I am persuaded that these disturbances might have been prevented. But he, in the first place, had so little regard to his duty, that he let Connolly at liberty on his promise to return at the court, and when he was ordered to raise the posse, his conduct was a little mysterious, and he was extremely backward and remiss. The bearer can give you further information in this particular. I am, sir, your very humble servant, THOMAS SMITH." PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL. NOTE C. "At a council held at Philadelphia, on Saturday, 7th of May, 1774: "Present, the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, Benjamin Chew, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Esquires. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 483 "Mr. Tilghman and Andrew Allen having agreed, at the particular request of the governor, to undertake a journey to Williamsburgh, as commissioners from this government, to treat with the governor of Virginia on the subject of the disturbances in Westmoreland county, occasioned by his extending the jurisdiction of his government within the western limits of this province, and to negotiate such other matters with him as were agreed upon in council the 21st of last month, one of the members laid before the board a draught of a commission, and a letter of instructions, to the above named gentlemen; and also a letter to be sent with them to the Earl of Dunmore, which being severally considered, were fairly transcribed and signed by the governor, and follow in these words, viz: "John Penn, Esq., one of they proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, and counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware. " To James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Esquires, two of the council of the said province and counties, greeting: " Whereas his majesty King Charles the Second, by his letters patent, bearing date the fourth day of March, Anno Domini 1681, did, for the consideration therein mentioned, give and grant the province of Pennsylvania, by the bounds and limits therein particularly set forth and described, to William Penn, Esquire, his heirs and assigns, forever, constituting him and them proprietary and proprietaries thereof, with divers powers, franchises and jurisdictions, for the better government thereof, as by the said letters patent may at large appear: And whereas the western lines and bounds of the said province, specified in the said letters patent, having never yet been regularly and precisely run, marked out or ascertained, divers differences and disputes have of late arisen between the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commmander-in-Chief, &c., of his Majesty's colony or dominion of Virginia, and the Honorable the Proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, their respective grantees, tenants, and officers, respecting the western bounds and limits of the said province, and the jurisdiction of the said colony or dominion and province, which have been productive of great troubles and disquiets to the settlers and inhabitants there, and endanger the King's peace and the public tranquillity: To the end, therefore, that the evils which have already arisen, and which are likely to arise in the premises, may be remedied and prevented, I have nominated and appointed, and do by these presents nominate and appoint you, the said James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Esquires, to be commissioners on the part of the proprietaries of this province, to confer and treat with his Excellency the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, of and concerning the premises, and to agree upon such measures as you shall judge most expedient for settling and composing the said differences, troubles and disquiets, either by a temporary line or boundary of jurisdiction, or otherwise,. as may best answer the good purposes of preserving his Majesty's peace,. 484 THE OLDEN TIME. and quieting the minds of the inhabitants on or near the borders of the two colonies or provinces, until the final settlement of the said boundaries shall be effected, hereby ratifying and confirming whatever you shall do in the premises. "In testimony whereof, I have set my hand and caused the great seal of the said province to be hereunto affixed at Philadelphia, the seventh day of May, 1774. JOHN PENN." "Instructions to James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Esquires, Commissioners appointed to treat and agree with the Right Honorable John Earl of' Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, concerning the settlement of the western bounds and limits of the province of Pennsylvania, and preserving the public peace and tranquillity on the borders, till a final settlement of the said lines. 1st. You are to proceed, without loss of time, to Williamsburgh, the place of his Lordship's residence in Virginia, and enter upon the execution of your mission as soon as possible after your arrival. Should his Lordship be irom home, and not gone to too great a distance, you will wait his return, or send an express (as you may judge most proper), to acquaint him with your being sent from this government to treat with him on public business, and request his return. "2d. Your first point should be to prevail with him to join with the proprietaries of this province in a petition to his majesty in council, to appoint Commissioners to run and mark out the boundary division line-such as his Majesty shall please to order and direct, between this province and Virginia; the expense of which to.be equally borne by the two colonies. "3d. Whether his Lordship should accede to the above proposals or not, you should urge every argument in your power to induce him to agree to the settling a temporary line of jurisdiction between the two colonies, till the said boundary line shall be settled, or his Majesty's orders and directions can be obtained respecting the same. "4th. Should his Lordship come into the last mentioned measure, you will no doubt endeavor to fix the temporary line of jurisdiction as favorably as possible for this province, and as near to the charter bounds as you can; and in order thereto you will refer yourelves to the map or plan.heretofore transmitted by me to him, which shows to demonstration that Fort Pitt is near six miles to the eastward of our five degrees of longitude. At any rate, however, you are not to accede to any proposed temporary line which shall give jurisdiction to Virginia over any lands lying to the eastward of the river Monongahela. " 5th. Whatever may be the temporary line agreed on, you should take care to insert a clause in the articles to be drawn up, containing a saving of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 485 the rights on both sides, to the lands up to the true lines or boundaries where they shall be finally settled. "6th. If the business is not carried on by the interchange of letters, or written proposals between you, you should take private notes, or minutes, by way of diary, of every thing material that passes, not only to enable you to make an exact report of the whole transaction, but to found affidavits on to be sent to England, if necessary. As great reliance is had on your knowledge and abilities, any further instructions are unnecessary. "JOHN PENN. "Philadelphia, 7th May, 1774." Here follows the Governor's letter to the Earl of Dunmore, Governor ofViirginia, viz: " Philadelphia, 7th May, 1774. "MY LORD: By accounts received from the westward, since my last letter to your Lordship. I find that the disorders in that quarter are greatly increased by your Lordship's extending the jurisdiction of Virginia to Pittsburgh, and the country thereabouts; and that Dr. Connolly's proceedings have been such as are very alarming, and have a tendency to put the whole country beyond the Allegheny mountains into a state of confusion. The consideration of these unhappy circumstances have induced me to send two gentlemen of my council, Mr. Tilghman and Mr. Allen, to wait on your Lordship, in order to confer with you on this -important subject, and, if possible, to conclude with you upon such measures as may restore and establish the public tranquillity until the lines and boundaries of this province can be finally settled by his Majesty's authority; for which good purpose I flatter myself your Lordship will not hesitate to join with us in representing to his Majesty the necessity of such a settlement. In the mean time. I am in hopes such temporary expedients may be fallen upon as may put an end to the present disturbances, secure the public peace, and quiet the minds of the people concerned in the unhappy differences which at present subsist between the governments of Virginia and this province. I am, with great respect, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, "JOHN PENN. " To the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's province of Virginia, Williamsburgh." PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL. "At a council held at Philadelphia, on Monday, 27th of June, 1774: "Present, The Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, William Logan, James Tilghman, Richard Peters, Andrew Allen, Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, Jun., Thomas Cadwallader, Esquires. 486 THE OLDEN TIME. "Mr. Tilghman and Mr. Allen laid before the board a report of their proceedings in Virginia, pursuant to the commission and instructions of the 7th of May last, given to them to treat with the Earl of Dunmore, Governor of that province, concerning the several matters therein contained, together with copies of their several letters to his Lordship, and his original letters to them, which passed in the course of their negotiation at Williamsburgh; all which were ordered to be entered on the minutes of council, and follow in these word, viz: "The report of James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Commissioners appointed by the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor of Pennsylvania, to treat with the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, on sundry public matters mentioned in the commission, and the governor's instructions, bearing equal date therewith. " MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: In pursuance of your Honor's commission, and your instructions attending it, we sat out on our journey on Thursday the 12th of May, 1774, and on Thursday the 19th, we arrived at Williamsburgh and went to Lord Dunmore's. He was not then at home. We waited on him next morning to pay our respects, and to know when it would be agreeable to him to have our business laid before him. Saturday morning at ten o'clock was appointed to wait upon him on the occasion. We met him at his house, and informed him our business was to apply to him to join the proprietaries of Pennsylvania in a petition to the Crown to appoint Commissioners to settle and run the lines of Pennsylvania to the westward, and in the. mean time to agree with his Lordship upon some line of jurisdiction to remedy the inconveniences of the present clashing jurisdictions between Virginia and Pennsylvania, and to prevent them for the future. To the first he readily agreed, and said he had already written to Lord Dartmouth on the subject, pointing out the necessity of settling the boundaries, but he informed us that the colony of Virginia would not bear any part of the expense. As to the other point, his Lordship answered that he should be glad if our propositions, relating to a line of jurisdiction, were stated in writing, that he might be the better able to consider them and give us an answer, and desired to have a sight of any draughts or papers we had which might illustrate the matter. This request we promised to comply with as soon as possible, and on Monday the 23d, at ten o'clock, we sent our written proposals, copies of which, and several other letters which passed from us to Lord Dunmore in the course of the negotiation. as also his original letters to us, are hereunto annexed, numbered in proper order, and to which we beg leave to refer, and request that they may be taken as part of our report. We have the honor to be, with great regard, your Honor's most obedient humble servants, "JAMES TILGHMAN, "ANDREW ALLEN. "To the Honorable John Penn, Esq." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 487 JAMES TILGHMAN AND ANDREW ALLEN TO LORD DUNMORE. NO. I. " Williamsburgh, May 23, 1774. "MY LORD: In compliance with your Lordship's request we are now to state in writing our proposal of a line or lines, to ascertain, for the present, the jurisdictions of the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania. And we would beg leave first to observe, that by the terms of the Royal grant, the province of Pennsylvania is to extend five degrees of longitude from its eastern boundaries, which are the river Delaware and the twelve mile circle of New Castle. And we do presume, that all the settlements to the westward, under grants from Pennsylvania, are within that extent. But in order to ascertain that matter, and to prevent for the future such disagreeable differences and disquiets as have of late unhappily subsisted between those colonies by the clashing of their jurisdictions, we would propose that as accurate a survey as may serve the present purpose, be, with all convenient speed, taken by Surveyors to be appointed by the governments of Virginia and Pennsylvania, of the courses of the river Delaware, from the mouth of Christiana creek, or near it where the line run between Maryland and Pennsylvania, by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, intersects the said river, to' that part of the said river which lies in the latitude of Fort Pitt, and as much further as may be needful for the present purpose. That the line of Dixon and Mason be continued to the end of five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware, and from the end of the said five degrees, a line or lines corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, be run to the river Ohio, as nearly as may be, at the distance of five degrees from the said river Delaware in every part. And that the said line of Dixon and Mason, continued from the western extent of Maryland to the end of five degrees of longitude from the Delaware and the said line or lines, similar to the courses of the Delaware, be taken, deemed and reputed to be lines of jurisdiction between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania, until the boundaries of Pennsylvania can be settled, and run, and marked by Royal authority; for which purpose your Lordship has been pleased to consent to a joint application with the proprietaries of Pennsylvania to the Crown. That these lines of jurisdiction shall be established for the good purpose only of quieting the disturbances which at present subsist between the two colonies, without any prejudice to the Crown, or the proprietors of Pennsylvania, to the southward of the said line of Dixon and Mason, continued as far as the fortieth degree of north latitude (all which land the proprietaries of Pennsylvania claim), until the limits of Pennsylvania can be finally settled as aforesaid. " And we would further propose to your Lordship, that until the said lines of jurisdiction can be run, the jurisdiction of Virginia be suspended 488 THE OLDEN TIME. at F.ort Pitt and the country thereabouts, as the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania was unquestionably first extended and executed in that part of the country, as we think we can clearly satisfy your Lordship. "If these proposals, or the maps we send with them, should not be sufficiently clear and explicit, we shall be ready at any time to attend your Lordship in order to explain. "We have the honor to be your Lordship's most obedient and most humble servants, "JAMES TILGHMAN, "ANDREW ALLEN. "To his Excellency the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the colony and dominion of Virginia." LORD DUNMORE TO JAMES TILGHMAN AND ANDREW ALLEN. NO. II. " Williamsburgh, 24th 3May, 1774. "GENTLEMEN: Having considered your proposals of a boundary line or lines, to ascertain, for the present, the jurisdiction of the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the terms of the Royal grant, I am of the opinion that the latter cannot admit of the construction which you give to them, or that it could possibly be the intent of the Crown that the western bounds of your province should have the very inconvenient, and so difficult to be ascertained shape, as it would have, if, as you say, it were to correspond with the course of the river Delaware; but I think, from the words of the grant, rather'that your western boundary should be determined by a meridian line at five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware, to be computed from that point upon it which is at the extent of the forty-second degree of latitude and the line drawn from that point to the aforesaid meridian, is your north bounds; and your south bounds should be a straight line westward fiom the circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude, until that straight line westward intersect the meridian above mentioned, which is the limits of longitude mentioned in the Royal grant, and no other, as it appears to me. " Conformably to this, I am willing to agree to a temporary line, that may serve to answer the jurisdiction of both colonies, and quiet the disturbances which subsist, and prevent them in future; but if you are already determined not to depart from the proposals now given in to me, I must inform you that it will be in vain to treat any further upon the subject, as it would be utterly impossible for me, in compliance with my duty, to suspend the jurisdiction of Virginia at Fort Pitt, and the country thereabouts, which you make yourselves, following your own construction of the Royal grant, NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 489 to be only five or six miles within your limits; and if that should not, but the other which I have given, be the true construction, then Fort Pitt, by the river Delaware running very much eastwardly towards your northern bounds, will probably be at least fifty miles without your limits, which would be a concession, I really think, too great for me to make, whether it be or not for you to ask. "I must also inform you, that I am clearly of opinion, that were it possible I could admit your own construction of the Royal grant, and your own surveys and observations, your ascertaining your claim under the former has been done too late, and your ascertaining your boundary by the latter has consequently been to no purpose: for if the lands described by the Royal grant, at the time of the grant being passed, were clearly within the undoubted limits of his Majesty's dominions, which is also a question, yet still Fort Pitt, and the country thereabouts, for want of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania supporting their claim, and ascertai ning their boundary in due time, was suffered to be claimed and possessed by an enemy, from whom it was conquered by his Majesty's arms, and by whom it was confirmed to his Majesty in a treaty; consequently, therefore, no legal title, as it appears to me, can be set up to any of that territory, but under a grant of the Crown, subsequent to such possession, conquest, &c. "As to your idea of the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania having been first extended and exercised in that part of the country; it was indeed the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania having been extended and exercised, not only there where you have extended your claims, but even to a hundred miles beyond any that you have yet pretended to, that has given occasion to the inhabitants over whom your jurisdiction was exercised, and who think themselves, according to the general sense of Virginia, subject to the jurisdiction only of the latter, to apply to this government for protection and redress, which this government, in duty, could not refuse them, as far as its legal powers extend. But I am so far from thinking, as you suggest, that the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania having been first extended and exercised in that country, is a reason that should induce the government of Virginia to suspend its jurisdiction there, that in my opinion the latter is entitled to some apology from the former for attempting a measure without a participation that ought to have the sanction of both, as his Majesty had not given his to it. "I mention not these circumstances for the purpose of engaging in a dispute with the proprietors of Pennsylvania, or of throwing obstacles in the way of an accommodation which I am sensible it is the interest of both colonies, and the duty of the governors of them to facilitate; but with the design of mnaking it appear that I have not, upon very slight grounds, rejected proposals for settling the disputes and differences subsisting between the two colonies, and which require no less than that every thing which is 490 TIIE OLDEN TIME. contended for (depending on such a variety of contingencies) on the part of Pennsylvania, should be given up on the part of Virginia immediately. "I cannot but think that you entertain an erroneous opinion of the boundaries of your province, as described in the Royal grants, but even if not, that your proposals are unreasonable, and that the sincerity of your desire to settle all disputes between Pennsylvania and Virginia would appear less doubtful, if you had observed in your proposals an equitable regard to the pretensions of this government, especially as nothing thereby can prejudice the legal title of your government; therefore, unless you are authorized to agree to a plan that favors as much the sentiments of this, as of your own government, I see no accommodation that can be entered into previous to his Majesty's decision, which I shall not fail to join my application for the obtaining as soon as possible. I am, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, DUNMORE. "James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Esquires." JAMES TILGHMAN AND ANDREW ALLEN TO LORD DUNMORE. NO. III. " Williamsburgh, May 25, 1774. "MY LORD: We are honored with your Lordship's answer of yesterday, to our proposals of a boundary line or lines, to ascertain, for the present, the jurisdiction between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania, to which your Lordship will be pleased to indulge us in a reply which we are induced to make, from a persuasion that if we can be so happy as to support the principles upon which we founded our proposals, or to point out just objections to your Lordship's reasoning, we may still come to such an understanding as may answer the good purposes for which we waited on your Lordship. We thought the western boundary of Pennsylvania, when clearly understood, ought to be one of the lines of jurisdiction. YourLordship is of the same sentiment, by offering to make what you conceive to be our western bounds, the line of jurisdiction, but you are pleased to differ with us in the construction of the grant. If we have a just apprehension of your Lordship's meaning, you suppose that a meridian line drawn from the end of five degrees of longitunde from Delaware, at the beginning of the'forty-third degree of latitude, ought to determine the western boundary of Pennsylvania. We are at a loss to conceive from what expression of the charter your Lordship can collect that the western boundary of Pennsylvania should be a meridian line, or why that meridian should be drawn rather from the north than the south boundary of the province. The charter expresses that the province shall extend five degrees of longitude from its eastern boundary. The eastern boundary is the Delaware in general; but if the western bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, the province NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 491 will extend in some parts more, and in others less than five degrees of longitude from the eastern boundary. This we conceive to be against the terms of the grant, which we are of the opinion can not be satisfied by any other than a line or lines corresponding with the courses of the Delaware, and this is the only construction we have ever heard made of that part of the charter. " Your Lordship, after expressing a doubt whether that part of the country now in dispute was within the King of England's dominions, at the time of making the Pennsylvania grant, is peased to contend' That, though it were possible for you to admit our construction of the Royal grant we contend for, should be within the limits of Pennsylvania. according to such construction, yet Fort Pitt, and the country thereabouts, for want of the proprietors of Pennsylvania supporting their claim, and ascertaining their boundaries in due time, was suffered to be claimed and possessed by an enemy, fiom whom it was conquered by his Majesty's arms, and by whom it was confirmed to his Majesty, in a treaty, and consequently, that no legal title can be set up to any of that territory, but under the grant of the Crown, subsequent to such possession, conquest, &c.' " Not to enter into a discussion of the facts of claim and possession by an enemy, and conquest by his Majesty's arms, and the enemy's confirmation, or the effect of them upon the right of his Majesty's subjects, which we think needless, we shall only observe, that your Lordship's argument militates equally against Virginia, as against Pennsylvania, since there has been no new grant that we know of subsequent to such possession, conquest, &c. and that therefore, in our opinion, your Lordship ought not upon your own principles, to have extended the jurisdiction of Virginia to Fort Pitt, and the country thereabouts. Your Lordship seems to allow that there was a prior exercise of jurisdiction on the side of Pennsylvania, and you urge this as a reason of your interposition, and are pleased to think that Virginia is entitled to an apology from the government of Pennsylvania, for thus exercising a jurisdiction, without the sanction of the Crown's participation. Were it undeniablytrue, that the government of Pennsylvania had knowingly extended their jurisdiction beyond the limits of the charter, we should De far from vindicating such a conduct. And we are certain, that if any of our officers have acted officially beyond the known limits of the province they will be censured, rather than supported, by the government. But, assured as we are, that Fort Pitt must be within our charter limits, we can not be induced to think that our government were improper in exercising their jurisdiction there; and we are inclined to be of opinion, that if your Lordship, when an application was first made to you, to take that place under the government of Virginia, had thought fit to have given the least intimation of your designs to the Governor of Pennsylvania, much of 492 THE OLDEN TIME. the disagreeable consequence which has followed, would probably have been prevented. "We are really concerned, to find that our conceptions of the extent of Pennsylvania are so very different, but we are not without hope, that your Lordship will, upon reconsidering the subject, be of opinion that your construction is liable to the objections we have made. And, although we are satisfied that we shall be supported in ours, yet we are not so tenacious of our first proposals, as to adhere strictly to them, while we have any hopes that a reasonable departure from them will produce so desirable an effect as the settlement of harmony and peace between the two colonies. And for that valuable purpose, we shall be willing to recede so far from our charter bounds, as to make the river Monongahela, from the line of Dixon and Mason downward, the western boundary of jurisdiction, which would at once settle our present disputes, without the great trouble and expense of running lines, or the inconvenience of keeping the jurisdiction in suspense. This we assure your Lordship, is the farthest we can go in point of concession, and if your Lordship is determined to adhere to your proposal of a meridian line, or indeed to insist upon retaining the jurisdiction of Fort Pitt, or the lands to the eastward of the Monongahela, we can treat no further. But, we can not quit the subject, without expressing our concern that your Lordship should entertain a doubt of the sincerity of our desire to settle all disputes between Virginia and Pennsylvania, as we are not conscious of having done any thing that could give your Lordship so unfavorable an impression. And we beg leave to assure your Lordship, that nothing less than a most sincere wish and desire to restore peace and harmony, and to settle our disputes, with a due regard to the just pretensions of both colonies, could have actuated our government to send us hither, or could have induced us to underta ke a journey of such length, and so very inconvenient to us. We think the proposals we have made contain the most reasonable concessions, and it will give us real concern, should your Lordship's ideas be so different from ours, that the desired accommodation can not be effected. We thank your Lordship for your ready consent to join our proprietors in an application to the Crown to settle our bounds, and have the honor to be, with great regard, your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servants, "JAMES TILGHMAN, "ANDREW ALLEN. "His Excellency Lord Dunmore." LORD DUNMORE TO JAMES TILGHMAN AND ANDREW ALLEN. NO. IV. "Williamsburgh, May 26, 1774. GENTLEMEN: I perceive you have fallen into the error, that from my having alleged the reasons which induced me to think your first proposal NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 493 improper for me to comply with, I would enter into a discussion at length, of all the points of the claim of the proprietors of Pennsylvania, which I must assure you, was in no wise my design, nor can I by any means consent to. I must, nevertheless, repeat here, that I think, from the words of your grant, that a meridian line (which is sufficiently described in my answer to your first proposal,) is the line that should determine your western boundary; and the reason very plain, that this meridian should be drawn rather from the north, than the south, because the grant directs that the survey shall begin at a point on the south part of the boundary, and proceed northward, as far as three and forty degrees of' latitude, and it being usual, in like cases, always to proceed, consequently from thence, extend five degrees of longitude; and not to return to the south point to draw it from thence, which cannot any way be inferred, no more than it can be supposed that it was inconsiderately intended the grant should extend five degrees of longitude from every part of the river Delaware, which would make a line so difficult if not impossible to trace upon the land. "That you should think the circumstances, which I cannot but be of opinion, must render the parchment boundary of Pennsylvania, whatever it were, insufficient now to determine the limits of the province, needless to be considered, is a point which must be perfectly indifferent to me, for the reason I have given in the first part of this letter; but your idea is a mistaken one, but leads you to conclude that the same circumstances militate equally against Virginia, as against Pennsylvania; there being no less important a difference than that the one acts for the King, and the other against him. The jurisdiction of Virginia cannot be exercised over any country, but for the immediate benefit, as well as interest of his Majesty, to whom that jurisdiction secures the quitrents, and every advantage which his Majesty had proposed to draw from the granting of his unappropriated lands, but which, I presume, is not meant to be urged in vindication of the encroachments of Pennsylvania. But in the present instance, however, Virginia has interfered only, as you know before, in compliance with the request and formal petition of a numerous body of inhabitants, who, thinking themselves, from the general opinion, settled within the limits of this government, applied to the authority thereof, to be protected against the usurped jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, which Virginia did not think itself at liberty to refuse but which it granted, nevertheless without the least design of refusing obedipnlce to whatever decision his Majesty may be pleased to make thereupon, the tenor of which attempt, proceeding and determination, make another essen-' tial consideration, and which renders, 1 am inclined to believe, the case of Virginia in this dispute, impossible to be assimilated, as you would endeavor, to that of Pennsylvania. " Your interpretation of my first letter, to infer I have allowed there was a prior exercise of jurisdiction on the side of Pennsylvania, obliges me to 494 THE OLDEN TIME. recall to your view, the transaction in Governor Dinwiddie's time, and to inform you, if you are ignorant of it, of a requisition from General Gage to this colony, as that to which, by the public opinion, the territory belonged, to appoint a magistrate at Fort Pitt, where there then was none, and which magistrate was accordingly appointed, which, while it proves the prior exercise of jurisdiction to have been, not on the side of Pennsylvania, but on that of Virginia, as these were acts of public notoriety, and undertaken under the authority of public exigence; they prove also, still more the impropriety of Pennsylvania's having exercised their jurisdiction at all, in that district, without other authority than their own opinion, and motive than their private advantage, and the title still stronger of this government to an apology for it. " You proceed to intimate that you are certain if any of your officers have acted officially beyond the known limits of the province, they will be censured, rather than supported; I really think I shall be justified in questioning this assertion; for although much pains, as is pretended, have been taken to ascertain your boundary, it would seem very strange, I think it impossible, that even this very boundary is immediately unknowingly exceeded, I am warranted to say, by near a hundred miles, and yet, I have not heard of the dispensation, even of that gentle punishment you mention, though we know of one of your officers being supported and justified, in terms not very decent, in a violent act, that has been the cause of whatever disturbances or disputes subsist between the two colonies. Nor can I think, that if I had, upon application first made to me to take the country in dispute, under the government of Virginia, intimated my design to the government of Pennsylvania (which I rather believe you mention by way of recrimination), it would have had the effect you say, for there is surely as great a necessity for preventing all disagreeable consequences now, as there was then, and the pretensions of both parties were, I suppose, the same then as now. And what were your proposals to reconcile them? Why in your first you propose that every thing in dispute shall be given to Pennsylvania. And in your second, that Virginia shall be content, without having any thing given up to it-at least, I can find nothing given up by your proposal of the Monongahela, &c. What else, therefore, can I conclude from both the proposals, but that no real intention is meant to avoid the great sand reciprocal inconveniences of a doubtful boundary, which otherwise would, I conceive, as it was not intended to be final, have been in a manner that could justify this government, in general with the people, for any departure from the conceived opinion of the limits of the colony; and myself, in particular with his Majesty, for entering into any agreement that may eventually affect his right. "I join with you in concern that we should differ so widely in conception of the extent of Pennsylvania, as it affects Virginia, but must confess NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 495 that your objections have not altered my opinion of the construction of your grant, nothwithstanding you are so confident of being supported in yours. However, I am less anxious about the issue of these different opinions, than I am about the effects of them, in the mean time. Your proposals amounting in reality to nothing, could not possibly be complied with, and your resolution, with respect to Fort Pitt (the jurisdiction over which place, I must tell you, at all events, will not be relinquished by this government, without his Majesty's orders), puts an entire stop to further treaty, and makes me sincerely lament that you have put it out of my power to contribute to re-establish the peace and harmony of both colonies, and to evince my good intentions as well towards the one, as the other. I am, gentlemen, your most obedient and humble servant, " DUNMORE. "James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, Esquires." JAMES TILGHMAN AND ANDREW ALLEN TO LORD DUNMORE. NO. V. " Williamsburgh, May 27, 1774. "MY LORD: Since your Lordship is determined, as you are pleased to say, at all events not to relinquish your jurisdiction over Fort Pitt, a period is put to our treaty; and we can only with your Lordship, lament the continuance of those reciprocal inconveniences of clashing and disputed jurisdictions, which we are conscious of having done every thing that could be reasonably expected of us to prevent. And we have only to add our thanks for the polite attention your Lordship has been pleased to show us, and the dispatch you have given to our business. We intend to leave town to-morrow, but before our departure, we shall do ourselves the honor to wait on your Lordship, for your commands to the northward, where we shall be ready to render your Lordship any service in our power. We have the honor to be, with great regard, your Lordship's most obedient and most humble servants, "JAMES TILGHMAN, "ANDREW ALLEN. "His Excellency the Earl of Dunmore." "Memorandum, Tuesday, June 28, 1774.'" The Committee appointed to draw up the letters, agreed on yesterday, laid their draughts before the Governor, which being approved by him, were fairly transcribed, and ordered to be dispatched without delay. The said letters follow in these words, viz: "Philadelphia, June 28, 1774. "SIR: By the repeated accounts which I am daily receiving from Pittsburgh, and other parts of the western frontier, there seems little room to doubt but the mutual hostilities which have unhappily taken place between 496 THE OLDEN TIME. some of the inhabitants of Virginia, and the Western Indians, particularly the Shawanese, will end in a general war, unless some prudent measures are speedily taken to prevent it. "The occasion of this unfortunate breach, as well as the particulars of the murders which have been committed on both sides, have no doubt been communicated to you by the deputy agent for Indian affairs at Pittsburgh. It will, therefore, only be necessary for me to inform you in general, that a great part of the settlers in our back country have fled from their habitations, and the panic is daily increasing to such a degree that there is just reason to apprehend a total desertion of that country. "I have been induced, from a representation of the distresses of these people, to issue writs to call our Assembly, to meet at Philadelphia, on the 18th of next month, to enable me to afford them the necessary relief. "As it is of the utmost consequence that this affair should be properly represented to the Six Nations, and that they should, if possible, be induced to become mediators between us and the Shawanese and the Delawares, I must request you will take such measures as you shall think most proper to satisfy them that any injuries which the Shawanese may have received, and may consideras a provocation for the hostilities committed on their part, were by no means done by the orders or consent of this Government, but that on the contrary, we have been ever sincerely disposed to preserve peace and fiiendship with them, and are now very willing, notwithstanding what has happened, to listen to terms of accommodation, and to renew our friendship, and forget every thing that is past. Your interposition and influence in this matter may very possibly have the most salutary effects. "If a rupture can be prevented it appears to me it must be through the Six Nations; however, I submit the matter entirely to your considertion. I am, sir, with great regard, your most obedient and humble servant, JOHN PENN. " Sir William Johnson, Baronet." GOVERNOR PENN TO LORD DUNMORE. "Philadelphia, June 28, 1774. " MY LORD: I am very unhappy to find myself under the necessity of writing to your Lordship on so disagreeable a subject as an Indian war, which is now like to become general, unless the gpvernments of Virginia and Pennsylvania, by some prudent and timely interposition, may happily prevent the further progress of hostilities, which have unhappily taken place. I have taken the best measures in my power to keep the settlements from breaking up, and have called the Assembly upon the occasion, in order that every proper step may be taken, either to compose the differences between his Majesty's subjects and the Indians, or to defend the frontiers, if pacific measures should fail. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 497 "I have so many complaints of the behavior of Doctor Connolly, that I am obliged to wish your Lordship to make some inquiry into his conduct, which, if my information be true, is extremely oppressive and tyrannical, with respect to our people; and what is still worse, there is great reason to fear his military operations may have a dangerous tendency to involve the colonies in a general Indian war. IHe seizes upon the property of the people, without reserve, and treats the persons of the magistrates with the utmost insolence and disrespect, and with menaces not only of imprisoning them, but even of pulling down their houses. and it is said, he has sent out, or is to send out, parties against the Indians, with orders to destroy all they meet with, whether friend or foe. These matters may be exaggerated, but I cannot doubt but that Mr. Connolly has afforded some grounds for these complaints; and although your Lordship has been pleased to claim the jurisdiction of Pittsburgh, and the country thereabouts, I would fain hope that you would not encourage Mr. Connolly in such exorbitances and outrages as are laid to his. charge. "I have the honor to be your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, "JOHN PENN. "To the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's province of Virginia." GOVERNOR PENN TO ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. "Philadelphia, June 28, 1774.' SIR: The accounts which you have transmitted of the temper of the Indians, and the murders they have already perpetrated, are truly alarming, and give every reason to apprehend that we shall not long be exempt from the calamities of a savage war. The desertion of that country in consequence of the panic which has seized the inhabitants, on this occasion, must be attended with the most mischievous effects, and prove ruinous to the immediate sufferers, and distressing to the province in general. Every measure therefore, should be attempted to stop the progress of this evil, and to induce those who have already gone off, to return to their habitations; and, I must rely on you to exert all your prudence and activity for this purpose. The steps which have been already taken appear to me very properand I have no doubt, but that you will continue your endeavors to restore the drooping spirits of the people, and inspire them with a resolution to stand their ground, at least till they are satisfied of the intentions of the Indians towards this province. You may assure them that the government sensibly feels the distresses of their situation-that it will be attentive to their interests, and afford them every assistance and protection in its power to give. With.this disposition, I have issued writs for convening the Assembly, on the 18th of next month; and shall immediately on their meetVOL. 1-26 498 THE OLDEN TIME. ing, lay this matter before them, and have reason to expect that such measures will be adopted as may effectually enable the government to extend to them a relief, adequate to its wishes, and their wants. In the mean time I shall give orders for such further supply of ammunition to be sent up as will be sufficient for the present occasion. " I have wrote to Sir William Johnson, informing him of the intelligence we had received of these transactions, and requesting his interposition with the Six Nations, to use their influence with the Shawanese and Delawares to prevent further hostilities on their part, and to assure them of the sincere intentions of this government to continue their pacific disposition towards all our Indian brethren. I have also wroteto Lord Dunmore, complaining of Connolly's outrageous and tyrannical behavior at Pittsburgh, and representing the dangerous tendency his military operations may have to involve the colonies in a general Indian war. I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, JOHN PENN. "To Arthur S. Clair, Esq., at Ligonier, in Westmoreland county. "P. S. My Commissioners, who attended Lord Dunmore, could not induce him to come into any reasonable temporary line of jurisdiction, and therefore things must remain in the disagreeable situation of interfering jurisdictions. In this unhappy situation I am satisfied, you and other magistrates will act a prudent part. It is impossible in such a case to give particular directions. With respect to the keeping up the rangers you have raised for the security of the inhabitants, I shall recommend it to the Assembly to defray the expense that shall accrue in the necessary measure; and I cannot have the least doubt, that they will approve of what has been done on this occasion, as also the continuance of the same forces, until their seutiments can be known." ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Ligonier, May 29, 1774. "SIR: The panic that has struck this country, threatening an entire depopulation thereof, induced me a few days ago to make an excursion to Pittsburgh, to see if it can be removed, and the desertion prevented. " The only probable remedy that offered was to afford the people the appearance of some protection. Accordingly Mr. Smith, Mr. Mackay, Mr. Butler, and some others of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh, with Colonel Croghan and myself, entered into an association for the immediate raising an hundred men, to be employed as a ranging company, to cover the inhabitants in case of danger, to which association several of the magistrates and other inhabitants have acceded and in a very few days they will be on foot. "We have undertaken to maintain them for one month, at the rate of one shilling and six pence a man per diem; this we will cheerfully discharge, NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 499 at the same time we flatter ourselves that your Honor will approve the measure, and that the Government will not only relieve private persons from the burthen, but take effectual measures for the safety of this frontier, and this I am desired by the people in general to request of your Honor. I am, sir, your most obedient, most humble servant, ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Ligonier, June 26th, 1774. "SIR: I have the honor to transmit a memorial fiom the inhabitants of Pittsburgh to your Honor, with some remarks upon Mr. Connolly's conduct in support of it, which came to my hands a few minutes ago. It is most certain, sir, they are most injuriously treated. The only piece of news from above, since my last, is, that Mr. Connolly sent two parties down the river in pursuit of the Shawanese who escorted the traders, who intercepted them at Beaver creek, fired on them, and wounded one, and then ran off in the most dastardly manner. What may be the consequence God knows, but it is well if the traders do not suffer yet; their horses and peitry are not yet arrived. "Mr. McFarlane has just arrived from Virginia, and reports that four companies are on their march to Pittsburgh. I think he must be mistaken, both as their militia law is expired, and that it is not an easy matter to conduct so large a body through an uninhabited country, where no magazines are established. Any occurrences worthy of your notice shall be intimated by every opportunity. I am, sir, your Honor's most humble servant, ARTHUR ST. CLAIR." MEMORIAL TO GOVERNOR PENN FROM THE INHABITANTS OF PITTSBURGH. "Pittsburgh, June 25, 1774. "To the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor and joint proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania, &c.'The memorial of the subscribers, in behalf of themselves and the remaining few inhabitants of Pittsburgh who have adhered to the government of Pennsylvania, humbly sheweth, That your memorialists have suffered in ai unprecedented manner by the arbitrary proceedings of Dr. Connolly, since the commencement of his tyrannical government at Pittsburgh. The principal facts we shall beg leave to lay before your Honor, as followeth: Soon after the return of the magistrates of this place from Staunton jail in Virginia, Mr. Connolly being extremely enraged that Mr. Mackay should acquaint Lord Dunmore with his tyrannical behavior, took all opportunities to affront and use Mr. Mackay ill, so that in a few days after he ordered Mr. Mackay's outhouses to be pulled down, and the matenials 500 THE OLDEN TIME. to be carried to his garrison; and when Mr. Mackay complained of such oppressive measures, he was threatened by Dr. Connolly to be sent in irons to Williamsburgh. "Mr. William Butler (one of the subscribers), and an eminent trader at this place, has been cruelly treated by Mr. Connolly, nay, was threatened to be shot down, for daring to refuse carrying arms at Mr. Connolly's militia array, &c. That your memorialists are of opinion that Mr. Connolly has taken all the pains in his power to foment the disturbances between us and the Indians, for several reasons, particularly when a number of the traders arrived here lately from the Shawanese towns, escorted by three Shawanese chiefs, who were sent to the care of Colonel Croghan, till a handsome present was made fbr them, by the traders for their fidelity, Doctor Connolly ordered out forty-one of his militia to take them at all events, and to send them to his guard house, which hellish plot being discovered, Mr. Butler, and some other friends, conveyed the Indians and their presents over the river, just as the guard surrounded Mr. Croghan's house, for which Mr. Butler has been severely threatened. "That a number of the subscribers, &c., have been very severely treated by Mr. Connolly for our adherence to the Pennsylvania government, which, for brevity's sake, must be omitted. "The premises considered, your memorialists most earnestly request your Honor will fall upon some speedy method to relieve our distresses, and to send us directions, as soon as possible, how to act on this critical occasion "For a further explanation of our distresses we beg leave to refer your Honor to the enclosed remarks, which are absolute facts. "[Signed:] JEneas Mackay, Devereux Smith,' John Ormsby, Richard Britter,* William Butler, James O'Harra, James Fowler, Joseph Spear, Andrew Robinson, Frederick Farry, Robert M'Cully, George M'Cully, John Shannon, Gabriel Walker, John Walker, Benjamin Elliot, Alexander Wayne, Ralph Nailer, William Evans, William Amberson, William IHamilton, James Smith, John Irwin, Robert Elliott, Richard Carson, Joseph Carrel, Stephen Groves." REMARKS ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF DR. CONNOLLY. "Pittsburgh, June 25th, 1774. "The distressed inhabitants of this place have just cause to charge their present calamity and dread of an Indian war entirely to the tyrannical and unprecedented conduct of Doctor Connolly, whose design, as we conceive, is to better his almost desperate circumstances upon the distress of the public, and the ruin of' our fortunes, as will appear from the following facts: "1st. On the 25th of January last, a number of disorderly persons assembled themselves here in consequence of his advertisements (as militia), *No doubt' Butler." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 501 who when dispersing, wantonly and malicously fired on some friendly Indians in the.ir huts on the Intdian shore, which conduct, together with so unexpected an appearance of so many people in arms, at a time when they expected no hostile intentions on our part, greatly alarmed them, as appeared by a complaint made by them at a council with Alexander McKee, Esq., Indian Agent, and some of the inhabitants of this place, a few days after. " 2d. Michael Cresap, in vindication of his own conduct, alleges, that it was in consequence of a circular letter from said Connolly, directed to the inhabitants on the Ohio, that he murdered the Indians,' and that in a manner that savage ferocity could scarcely equal, and in cold blood, without the least provocation, amongst whom was some Delawares that had been employed by William Butler to carry goods and hands to the relief of his brother, who was at that time in the Indian country, all which property they have been deprived of to a considerable amount. Also, every part of said Connolly's conduct to our friendly Indians convinces us that he means to force them to a war, as he both refuses to protect, and endeavors to murder those, that, at the risk of their lives, came with our traders to protect them, and to deliver assurances of their friendship to the public, which can be produced if required. " 3d. A large body of.armed men broke open Mr. Mackay's and Mr. Smith's back yard gates, and rescued the villain Reily, who was sworn constable for Westmoreland county at that time, and was confined for abusing said Mackay in his own house; five of those men presented their guns at Mr. Mackay and Mr. Smith. Also, one of the party struck at Mr. Mackay with his gun and broke it in pieces, while another presented his rifle through his parlor window, swearing that he would shoot down Mrs. Mackay if she did not immediately set open the doors of her house; upon which she fled, but was immediately assaulted by one Aston (a Captain of said Connolly's appointment) with a drawn sword, who stabbed her in the arm. Mr. Spear was also abused and scratched, by said Aston, at the same time. "4th. Said Connolly, with an armed force of two hundred men, surrounded the court house, &c. " 5th. IHe sent iEnreas Mackay, Devereux Smith and Andrew McFarlane, magistrates, under an armed guard, to Staunton jail, in Virginia, then pr'oceeded to shoot down our cattle, sheep and hogs, taking, by force of arms, any part of our property he pleased; also, pressing our horses without applying for them, or tendering any satisfaction to the sufferers for so doing, " 6th. He sent an armed guard to town to plunder the house of Mr. Devereux Smith, but was prevented by Mr. William Butler at the risk of his life. "7th. He, Connolly, with his whole force, came to the house of Mr. 502 THE OLDEN TIME. Mackay, broke open his gates, and pulled down a log stable and sheep house, threatening to pull down his dwelling house if he thought proper. He came again, accompanied by one of his officers, to Mr. Mackay's and abused him in a blasphemous, outrageous manner, threatening to send him in irons to Virginia the next day. " 8th. He sent an armed guard to town with a general search warrant to search every house in town without exception, for the effects of a man that died the evening before in their fort, that some of themselves had robbed his corpse off. In the course of their search they broke open a chest in a man's house that bears a good character here, and took out several articles, and at the same time insulted the owner. "9th. He sent a party who robbed Mr. Joseph Spear's carriers of one horse load of gunpowder, about six miles from town, which was sent by said Spear for the use of the inhabitants of this county. if necessity required. This robbery was committed by a party headed by the aforesaid Aston, who beat and insolently abused the person who had said powder in charge, when he demanded a receipt for the same. "These are but a few of the many distresses we labor under, and without protection and speedy redress cannot long support ourselves under such grievances, persecution and tyranny." AENEAS MACKAY, JOSEPH SPEAR AND DEVEREUX SMITH, TO JOSEPH SHIPPEN, JUN. " Pittsburgh, July 8th, 1774. " SIR: Since our memorial to his Honor the Governor, of the 25th of June accompanied by some notes, there has several occurrences of so extraordinary a nature happened, that we hope no apology is necessary for giving you this trouble. The traders who were coming by land are all come in safe. Captain White Eyes is returned, with the strongest assurances of friendship from the Shawanese, Delawares, Wyandots and Cherokees, with whom he had been treating on our behalf. Upon his return he found his house broken open by the Virginians, about thirty pounds worth of his property taken, which was divided and sold by the robbers at one Froman's Fort, on Chartin's (no doubt this should beChartier's) Creek. " Dr. Connolly continues to exercise his authority as usual. Our persons are daily insulted, our property forcibly taken, and even our lives threatened. We had a remarkable instance of this on the first instant. A horse, the property of Messrs. Richard and William Butler, having been taken by a vagrant fellow at this place, was secreted by him in the town, which, when Messrs. Butlers were informed of, they went and took their horse, but not without obstinate resistance on the side of the thief, who, in their own defence, they were obliged to'strike; upon which the fellow ap NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 503 plied to Dr. Connolly, who sent a sergeant to Richard Butler, commanding him to appear immediately in the garrison; but Mr. Butler refused to go, and denied Dr. Connolly's authority; whereupon a certain Captain Aston was sent for them, with a party from the fort, and orders to break their house and take them at all events. Messrs. Butlers, after much debate, and repeated threats from Captain Aston, at the entreaty of their friends, consented to go down to the garrison; and when they demanded the cause of such treatment were answered that they must go immediately to jail, but they were afterwards allowed to give bail for their appearance at Augusta court. The same day Mr. Connolly informed them, and the other traders, they must pay him a duty of four pence per skin before they could remove one from this place, and immediately ordered the roads to be stopped, which was accordingly done, and a number of horses belonging to Mr. Blaine and others, were seized and brought back. A few days ago, one of the traders who went to meet his people, and some Indians that were bringing his peltry from New Comerstown, was, upon his return, waylaid by about forty Virginians, who took him, three of his men, and five Delaware men, prisoners, telling him they would for the future treat as savages and enemies every trader that they should find in the woods. About this time two Delaware men, who had come from the towns up to assist some of the traders with their horses, were pursued by a party of Virginians to Mr. Smith's house, where they flew for protection. The party followed them to the door, demanded entrance, and s.wore they would burn the house if they refused. The Indians, notwithstanding, were kept in the house till night, and then dismissed in safety. "Mr. William Butler, being insulted by a worthless drunken fellow, was under the necessity of chastising his insolence. Whereupon, Mr. Connolly issued a King's warrant for him, and his sheriff came to Mr. Smith's, where Mr. Butler then was, between eight and nine o'clock at night, and after an unsuccessful attempt to take Mr. Butler, ran out and called a guard that was waiting for that purpose, who immediately surrounded the house, remained there till after nine o'clock, and then dispersed. The Virginians, from their conduct, appear determined on a war. Colonel Lewis is supposed to be at the Kenhawas with fifteen hundred men, and several parties have gone from this place to join him. Major McDonald, Mr. Cresap, and others, are expected here shortly, who, it is said, are going down the river to build forts and station men at different places. "We have no room to doubt that Doctor Connolly has, by order of Lord Dunrnore, sent a speech to the Shawanese, importing that Logan and his party be immediately delivered up, with the three prisoners that he has taken, and some other Shawanese that are supposed to have committed a murder last winter. That on a refusal (the Virginians) are determined to proceed against them with vigor, and will show them no mercy. Doctor 504 THE OLDEN TIME. Connolly has expresses constantly on the road between this and Williamsburgh, whereby he has been able to impose on his Lordship the flagrant misrepresentations of Indian affairs that appear in the Williamsburgh paper of the 9 of June, which has been publicly confuted at this place by several persons well acquainted with the present state and sentiments of the different Nations. "We hope that it is not necessary to say any more to convince you how unhappily we are at present circumstanced, not only from the prospect of an Indian war, which the Virginians appear determined to bring upon us, but from the apprehension of further insults from Doctor Connolly's extraordinary conduct, of which we have given several specimens, and which, without the interposition of Government, we shall not be long able to support. We are, sir, with profound respect, your humble servants, ".ENEAS MACKAY, "JOSEPH SPEAR, "DEVEREUX SMITH.' To Joseph Shippen, Jun., Esq., Secretary to his Honor the Governor." ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. " Ligonier, July 17, 1774. "SIR: The business Mr. Croghan had to communicate was this, that the Virginians are determined to put a stop to the Indian trade with this province, and that Messrs. Simons, Campbell and Connolly, have obtained, an exclusive privilege of carrying it on on tlhe frontiers of Virginia. He recommends the laying out of a town up the Allegheny at the Kittanning, to which the traders might retire, as they will certainly be obliged to abandon Pittsburgh, and from which the trade might be carried on to as much advantage as the distance from thence to Kaskaskies is much the same as from Pittsburgh, and a very good road. He further recommends the building a snall stockade there to afford them protection in case of warThe Indians will certainly quit Pittsburgh, as it is at the risk of their lives they come there, to which I was an eye-witness. Croghan further says, unless somebody is sent up by the government to speak to the Indians very soon, that we shall see no more of them, and that the Delawares, who are still friendly, will be debauched. "I beg you to excuse this incoherent scrawl, as I am obliged to be held up whilst I write it. I am, sir, your very humble and most obedient servant, ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. "P. S. Henkston has left the country." EARL OF DARTMOUTH TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Whitehall, September 7, 1774. "SIR: I have received your letters of the 5th and 30th of July, and am very much obliged to you for the early intelligence they contain of NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 505 public occurrences within your province; upon which I have only to observe that it has given the King great concern to find that his subjects in the different colonies in North America have been induced, upon the grounds stated in their different resolutions, to nominate deputies to meet in general Congress at Philadelphia. "I' the objectof this Congress be humbly to represent to the King any grievances they may have to complain of; or any propositions they may have to make on the present state of America, such representation would certainly have come from each colony with greater weight in its separate capacity, than in a channel of the propriety and legality of which there may be much doubt. "I fear however the measure is gone too far to encourage any hope that may be retracted, and 1 can only express my wishes that the result of their proceedings may be such as not to cut off all hope of that union with *the mother country which is so essential to the happiness of both. "The inclosed copy of my letter of this day's date to Lord Dunmore (which I send you for your information), will inform you of the light in which the conduct of the people of Virginia towards the Indians upon the Ohio is considered by the King. I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, DARTIO()UTH. "Deputy Governor Penn." EARL OF DARTMOUTH TO THE EARL OF DUNMORE " hitehoall, September 8, 1774 "MY LORD: The deputy Governor of Pennsylvania in his message to the House of Representatives, on the 18th of July last, asserts that the hostility of the Indians upon the river Ohio, which has spread such general alarm and distress throughout the back settlements, was occasioned by the unprovoked ill treatment of those Indians by the people of Virginia, who had barbarously murdered about eleven of the Delawares and Shawanese tribes, and that many fiiendly Indians, who had generously afforded protection to the persons and goods of Indian traders from the violence of some of their young warriors, and who were, at the risk of their own lives, escorting those traders to their friends near Pittsburgh, were, contrary to all faith, attacked, and some of them wounded by a party of Virginians sent out for th% purpose by one Connolly, a militia captain, having a commission from the government of Virginia. "My intelligence through a variety of other channels confirms these facts, and adds further that this Connolly, using your Lordship's name, and pleading your authority, has presumed to re-establish the fort at Pittsburgh, which was demolished by the King's express orders; that he has destroyed the King's boats, which were kept there for the purpose of a communication with the Illinois country; and that parties were sent by his 506 THE OLDEN TIME. authority, or under his direction, for the purpose of building forts lower down the river Ohio. "The duty I owe the King, and the regard I entertain for your Lordship, induce me to take the earliest opportunity of acquainting your Lordship with this information, to the end that the facts asserted, if not true, may be contradicted by your Lordship's authority; but, if otherwise, which I can not suppose to be the case, such steps may be taken as the King's dignity and justice shall dictate. I am, &c. DARTMOUTH. "Earl of Dunmore." "By his Excellency John, Earl of Dunmore, Lieutenant and Governor General in and over his Majesty's Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same: A PROCLAMATION. " Whereas, the rapid settlement made on the west side of the Alleghany Mountains, by his Majesty's subjects within the course of these few years, has become an object of real concern to his Majesty's interest in this quarter. And whereas, the province of Pennsylvania have unduly laid claim to a very valuable and extensive quantity of his Majesty's territory; and the Executive part of that government, in consequence thereof, has most arbitrarily and unwarrantably proceeded to abuse the laudable advancements in this part of his Majesty's dominions, by many oppressive and illegal methods, in the discharge of' this imaginary authority. And whereas, the ancient claim laid to this country by the colony of Virginia, founded in. reason upon pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons, together with the instructions I have lately received from his Majesty's servants, ordering me to take this country under my administration; and as the evident injustice manifestly offered to his Majesty by the immediate strides taken by the proprietors of' Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their wild claim to this country, demand an immediate remedy, I do hereby, in his Majesty's name, require and command all his Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel Hill, to pay a due respect to this my proclamation, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania at their peril, in this country; but, on the contrary, that a due regard and entire obedience to the laws of his Majesty's colony of Virginia under my administration, be observed, to the end that regularity may ensue, and a just regard to the interest of his Majesty in this quarter, as well as to the subjects in general, may be the consequence. Given under my hand and seal, at Fort Dunmore, September 17th, 1774. "DUNMORE. "By his Excellency's command. "God save the King." NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 507 "By the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor and Commanderin-Chief of the province of Pennsylvania, and counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware: A PROCLAMATION. "Whereas, I have received information that his Excellency the Earl of Dunmore, governor-general in and over his Majesty's colony of Virginia, hath lately issued a very extraordinary proclamation, setting forth,'that the rapid settlement made on the west of the Allegheny mountains, by his Majesty's subjects, within the course of these few years, had become an object of real concern to his Majesty's interest in that quarter; that the province of Pennsylvania had unduly laid claim to a very valuable and extensive quantity of his Majesty's territory; and the Executive part of that government, in consequence thereof, had most arbitrarily and unwarrantably proceeded to abuse the laudable adventures in that part of his Majesty's dominiors, by many oppressive and illegal measures, in discharge of their imaginary authority; and that the ancient claim laid to that country by the colony of Virginia, founded in reason, upon pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescenc(e of all persons, together with the instruction he had lately received from his Majesty's servants, ordering him to take that country under his administration; and as the evident injustice manifestly offered to his Majesty, by the immediate strides taken by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their wild claim to that country, demanded an immediate remedy, he did thereby, in his Majesty's name, require and command all his Majesty's subjects west of the Laurel hill, to pay a due respect to his said proclamation, thereby strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania, at their peril, in that country; but on the'contrary, that a due regard and entire obedience to the laws of his Majesty's colony of Virginia, under his administration should be observed, to the end that regularity might ensue, and a just regard to the interest of his Majesty in that quarter, as well as to his Majesty's subjects, might be the consequence.' " And whereas, although the western limits of the province of Pennsylvania have not been settled by any authority from the Crown, yet it has been sufficiently demonstrated by lines actually run by the most skillful artists, that not only a great tract of country west of the Laurel hill, but Fart Pitt also, are comprehended within the charter bounds of this province, a great part of which country has been actually settled, and is now held under grants from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania; and the jurisdiction of this government has been peaceably exercised in that quarter of the country, till the late strange claim set up by the Earl of Dunmore, in behalf of his Majesty's colony of Virginia, founded, as his Lordship is above pleased to say,'in reason, pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons; which claim to lands within the said charter limits must appear still 508 THE OLDEN TIME. the more extraordinary, as his most gracious Majesty, in an act passed the very last session of parliament,'for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec,' has been pleased, in the fullest manner, to recognise the charter of the province of Pennsylvania, by expressly referring to the same, and binding the said province of Quebec by the northern and western bounds thereof. Wherefore, there is the greatest reason to conclude, that any instructions the governor of Virginia may have received from his Majesty's servants, to take that country under his administration, must be founded on some misrepresentation to them respecting the western extent of this province. In justice, therefore, to the proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, who are only desirous to secure their own undoubted property from the encroachment of others, I have thought fit, with the advice of the council, to issue this my proclamation, hereby requiring all persons west of Laurel hill, to retain their settlements as aforesaid made under this province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this government; and all magistrates and other officers who hold commissions or offices under this government, to proceed as usual in the administration of justice, without paying the least regard to the said recited proclamation, until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known in the premises; at the same time strictly charging and enjoining the.said inhabitants and magistrates to use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order. " Given under my hand and the great seal of the said province. at Philadelphia, the twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, and so forth. "JOHN PENN. "By his Honor's command, "EDWARD SHIPPEN, Jr., Secretary. " God save the King." ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Ligonier, December 4, 1774. "SIR: The war betwixt the Virginians and Indians is at last over. I promised myself the pleasure of giving your honor the earliest account of its issue, but I have not yet been able to get a true state of the treaty of peace. A peace however is certainly made with the Shawanese. One condition of which is the return of all property and prisoners taken from the white people, and for the performance they have given six hostages. The Mingoes, that live on the Scioto, did not appear to treat, and a party was sent to destroy their towns, which was effected, and there are twelve of them now prisoners in Fort Pitt. It is probable from these circumstances we shall have no more trouble with them, and things have come to a much NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 509 better end than there was any reason to have expected. But our troubles here are not yet over. The magistrates appointed by Lord Dunmore in this country seem determined to enforce the jurisdiction of Virginia, and have begun with arresting one of your Honor's officers. "On the 12th of' November, Mr. Connolly sent a warrant for Mr. Scott to appear before him, or the next justice, to answer for a number of offences committed by him under a pretended authority from Pennsylvania. The warrant Mr. Scott did not choose to pay any regard to, and the same evening a number of armed men came to his house to take him by force to Fort Burd; there he found Lord Dunmore, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Penticost, ready to sit in judgment upon him; much passed among them, but tAhe result was, that he was obliged to enter into recognizance with two sureties, to appear at the next court to be held in Pittsburgh, for the county of Augusta, on the 20th day of December, if the court should happen to be held there that day, or at any further day when the court should be held there, to answer fir his having acted as a magistrate for Pennsylvania, contrary to Lord Dunmore's proclamation, or be committed to jail. He chose the recognizance, the circumstances of his family and health renderinrg the other very inconvenient. There is no doubt the recognizance is in itself a mere nullity, but after what has been done already,'tis hard to say what may not be attempted, and'tis very certain the people Lord Dunmore has clothed with authority, pay little regard to the rules of law or the dictates of reason. It would be exceedingly satisfactory if your Honor would please to give us directions for our conduct, and this case of Mr. Scott requires it particularly. I have wrote to Mr. Wilson, of' Carlisle, for his advice. fearing it would be impossible to know your mind in proper time, for the necessary legal steps. I believe he may be depended upon, but it is very doubtful if his answer can arrive before the time they have appointed for their court. At any rate we must endeavor to prevent a trial till your Honor can have an opportunity of writing, if it should be by removing the indictment to Williamsburgh. " I account it a fortunate circumstance that they began with Mr. Scott, who, with a great deal of firmness, possesses a good share of natural understanding. In the course of an examination w'hich continued near two hours, he told Lord Dunmore that he had only one short answer to all his questions, which might save his Lordship a good deal of trouble,' that he had acted under commission from your Honor, and in obedience to your proclamation.' His Lordship was pleased to reply, that you had no right to give any such commission, or authority to issue such proclamation. Mr. Scott told him that was a matter of which he was not a proper judge, and would abide by the consequences. "I am sorry to be obliged to give your Honor so much trouble on so 510 THE OLDEN TIME. very disagreeable a subject, but I hope the time is not far distant when it will be put to an end. And am, sir, your Honor's most obedient and most humble servant, "ARTHUR ST. CLAIR." ARTHUR ST. CLAIR TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Hanna's Town, December 18, 1774. "SIR: Being this far on my way to Pittsburgh, I found this morning a constable from Virginia here, who had made two men prisoners, by virtue of a warrant from Major Smallman. The offence they had been guilty of, it seems, was assisting the constable in executing a judicial warrant. Mr. Hanna had committed the constable, which I could not help approving of; but as there is some danger of his being rescued by force, I have advised the sending of him to Bedford, or at least that the sheriff should remove him to some other place privately.'" The Court, it is said, will certainly be held at Pittsburgh, on the 20th. I am personally threatened, but I promised Mr. Scott to be there at that time, to give him some countenance at least, if I cannot give him assistance at his trial. I had the honor to give you an account of his arrest a short time ago. "Your Honor will judge from these circumstances, what a shocking situation we are in; to add to the distress of which, the militia are plundering the people in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, of the very substance of their families. " I met with this opportunity of writing accidentally, and would not let it slip, as I thought it of consequence that you should be early acquainted with what is passing. I have the honor to be, sir, your Honor's most obedient and most humble servant, "ARTHUR ST. CLAIR." PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL. "At a council held at Philadelphia, on Wednesday, 25th January, 1775, present, the Honorable John Penn, Esq., Governor, William Logan, Andrew Allen, Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, Junior, and James Tilghman, Esquires. "The Governor laid before the board two papers delivered to him by Captain St. Clair, which were read, and are as follows, viz: "Westmoreland County, ss. "Before us, Robert Hanna and Arthur St. Clair, Esquires, two of his Majesty's Justices for Westmoreland county, personally appeared Samuel Whitesill, keeper of the jail of the said county, and being duly sworn, according to law, deposeth and saith, that, on this instant, 24th of December, NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 511 a number of armed men came to the jail of said county, and ordered him to open the prison doors, and turn out a certain William Thomas, then in his custody, on sundry executions; that he believes a certain William Christy, and Simon Girty, who seemed to be officers from their dress, were at the head of their party. That he, this deponent, refused to deliver his prisoner, or open the door where he was confined; that they then talked of throwing down the house, when a certain Major Connolly came up, inquired who resisted the releasement of the prisoner, threatened to tie and carry off this deponent, ordered the party to fire their pieces against the house, and strip off the roof; on which he (this deponent) being afraid of'ill consequences, both to his person and property, did open the door to allow the prisoner to speak to the party, and one of them rushed in, seized him, and dragged him out, and also turned out a certain William Dawson, who was likewise in his custody on execution; and that it was Connolly himself who laid hands on Thomas, and dragged him out; and further saith not. "SAMUEL WHITESILL.' Sworn and subscribed, December 24, before us, "ROBERT HANNA, " ARTHUR ST., CLAIR." "Whereas, I am well informed that certain persons, by written instructions, directed to different people through this country, under the denomination of collectors, are apparently authorized to break open doors, cupboards, &c., and to commit sundry acts of violence, in order to extort money from the inhabitants, under the appellation of taxes. These are therefore to acquaint all his Majesty's subjects, that as there can be no authority legally vested in any persons for such acts at this juncture, that such attempts to abuse public liberty are unwarrantable, and that all persons have an undoubted natural, as well as lawful, right to repel such violence, and all his Majesty's subjects are hereby required to apprehend any person whatever, who may attempt a seizure of their effects, in consequence of such imaginary authority, to be dealt with as the law directs. Given under my hand at Fort Dunmore, this 30th day of December, 1774. "JOHN CONNOLLY." "Captain St. Clair appearing at the board, and representing that William Crawford, Esquire, President of the court in Westmoreland county, hath lately joined with the government of Virginia, in opposing the jurisdiction. of Pennsylvania, in that county, the board advised the governor to supersede him in his office as Justice of the Peace and Cfommon Pleas. A supersedeas was accordingly ordered to be issued." "At a council held at Philadelphia, on Saturday, 25th February, 1775: Present, the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor, Benjamin Chew, James Tilghman, Edward Shippen, Jun., Esquire. 512 THE OLDEN TIME. "' The governor laid before the board several letters he had this day received by expresses from the magistrates of Westmoreland county, complaining of further violences in breaking open the jail of that county, and discharging the prisoners, and other outrages lately comn itted by the militia and people of Virginia, and enclosing sundry depositions supporting those complaints; which were severally read, and follow in these words, viz: ROBERT HANNA TO GOVERNOR PENN.:; MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: On Tuesday, the 7th inst. came a number of armed men to this town, who demanded entrance in the jail of this county. On the Jailer refusing to admit them, they in a violent manner broke said jail with a sledge, which they took out of the smithshop without leave. One William M'Geery came to me about daybreak to inform me of the affair, on which I as soon as possible went to the jail, and demanded of them what they were about. Benjamin Harrison (one of the company) answered,'what they had done, they did by the authority from Virginia.' They had before this broke the jail doors and released the prisoners. I then commanded silence, and read the riot act, and immediately tie sheriff of this county came tip, and demanded by what authority they broke the jail. They said they had authority, which they could show if they pleased. The sheriff replied, a civil question demanded a civil answer. Then they produced a paper which they read as their order from William Crawford, Esquire, President of our Court, which will further appealr rom the sheriff's deposition (and I believe the sheriff does every thing in his power in the execution of his office). After reading the riot act, tiey remained together upwards of one hour. They took three prisoners with them, and what they were committed for, your Honor will know by the inclosed depositions. One Samuel Wilson presented his gun at me at the same time, which I catched hold of to prevent his shooting me; he also used very bad language. T'here-will, it is thought (unless your Honor does something respecting this affair), be soon few Pennsylvanians here, as the chief of the people are taking out orders from Virginia. They are in so confused a situation, that they seem not to know what they are about. I have it from good authority, that David Vance, one of the above company, damned the Pennsylvania magistrates, and also their authority. I am your Honor's most humble servant, ROBERT HANNA. "To the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor-in-Chief of the province of Pennsylvania, &c. "February 8, 1775." JOHN CARNAGHAN TO GOVERNOR PENN.'Hanna's Town, February 8, 1775. "MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: Inclosed you have four depositions, by which your Honor may see the proceedings of the Virginians against this NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 513 province. I am at a loss how to proceed in matters, as I am daily threatened of my life and property, if I proceed to execute my office, which I have to the utmost of my power endeavored to do (having likewise seen a gun presented at Mr. Hanna,'Esquire, by one of the Virginia party, Samuel Wilson by name, after reading the riot act to a party of them). It is still my desire to go on accordingly, but should be glad your Honor would give me such directions as you in your wisdom shall see fit. I am your Honor's most humble servant, JOHN CARNAGHAN." DEPOSITION OF JOHN CARNAGHAN.'Westmoreland County, ss. " Personally appeared before me, the subscriber, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county aforesaid, John Carnaghan, Esquire, high sheriff for the county aforesaid, who being duly sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, doth depose and say, that, yesterday morning, he hearing that there were a number of armed men breaking the jail, he went to see whether it was so, and coming up to the jail, he saw a number of armed men (by name, as the party themselves gave them in), Benjamin Harrison, David Vance, Samuel Newal, Robert Newal, James People, Thomas Bays, Joseph Marshall, Charles Clark, Isaac Justice, David M'Kaw, John M'Kaw, William Bays, Charles Kyle, Hugh Newal (Samuel Warden, Samuel Wilson, John Neil, the three prisoners), George Watt, who having broke two of the jail doors (both being locked), upon which he, the said Carnaghan, demanded to know by what authority they broke those doors, they made answers, and told him that they had their authority, upon which he demanded to see it, when one Benjamin Harrison, who appeared to be their commander, told him they had their orders from Major William Crawford, and that he could show them, if he pleased, upon which he told him (the said Harrison), that a civil question deserved a civil answer, upon which the said Harrison, showed him, the said Carnaghan, a paper, and read to this effect, or near to this substance: For them the party aforesaid, to press horses, and what was necessary, and go to Hanna's Town, and to open the jail and let the prisoners go out; and signed by William Crawford. And the said John Carnaghan further saith, that the, party aforesaid showed a warrant signed by one Dorsey Penticost, as they told him, who acts as a magistrate under the colony of Virginia, to take one Captain James Smith, and one Edward Murray, for executing warrants, and taking one of the people, which the party aforesaid took out of jail (for committing a riot, and throwing down a man's house, and almost killing a woman), and acting as constables, under the province of Pennsylvania, and upon which warrant, signed by Dorsey Penticost (as they said), they took the aforesaid James Smith and Edward Murray along VOL. I-33 514 THE OLDEN TIME. with them to answer for the crime aforesaid (as they called it), and the said John Carnaghan further saith, that one of the aforesaid party (David Vance by name), told him that he would be taken soon, and that he, the said Vance, had positive orders, that if any Pennsylvania officer would offer to take him, or any of them, with precepts under the government of Pennsylvania, to shoot them, and that he would do it; and further the deponent saith not. JOHN CARNAGHAN. "Sworn and subscribed before me, this 8th day of February, 1775. " ROBERT HANNA." DEPOSITION OF JAMES KINKAID. " Testmoreland County, ss. "Personally appeared before me, William Lochey, one of his Majesty's Justices for the county aforesaid, James Kinkaid, coroner for said county, who, on his solemn oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that on Tuesday morning, the 7th instant, about twilight, he heard some person or persons striking with a sledge on the jail door, as he looked out of the window in a room of Robert Ianna, Esquire, and then went to the jail, found the doors broken off the hinges, and hanging on the locks, and Stephen and a number of men armed present. Mr. Hanna says, boys, you are early up to buy a rope to hang yourselves. Benjamin Harrison answered (one of the men under arms), what we have done, we have done by authority, and we are not afraid of damages. Mr. IHanna brought the riot act, and called silence, and read the same, so that every spectator might hear. Harrison, as well as others of the parties, said he might have let them alone, for they did not regard the act, nor them that read it, nor them that made it; for they had their orders for what they had done. John Carnaghan then came, and demanded said Harrison to show his authority, if he had any. At first he seemed to refuse, but at last did read, and this deponent saw the same signed by William Crawford, wherein he had orders to press horses, raise men, &c., go to Hanna's Town, open the jail doors, and set the prisoners at liberty; and further saith not. "JAMES KINKAID. " Sworn and subscribed before me, the 13th of February, 1775. "WILLIAM, LOCHEY." DEPOSITION OF SAMUEL WHITESITT. " Westmoreland County, ss. ( Personally appeared before us, the subscribers, three of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county aforesaid, Samuel Whitesitt, who being duly sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, did depose and say, that this day, the 7th day of February, in the morning, between twilight, there came a number of armed men, and with a large sledge, about NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 515 ten pounds weight, broke open the outside jail door, and one of the inside doors, both being locked, and the prisoners then in jail, being three in number (who were committed, one, by name John Neil, for'riot, and throwing down a man's house, with a number of others, the other two, by name Samuel Warden and Samuel Wilson, who were committed for a trespass), off, and giving each of the prisoners, after the jail being broke, a pistol, and told them the prisoners, that they had helped them so far, and now to clear their own way; the said Samuel Whitesitt further says, that he heard the number of armed men aforesaid say, that for their so doing they had orders from Captain William Crawford; and further this deponent saith not. "SAMUEL WHITESITT. "Sworn and subscribed before us, this 7th day of February, 1775. "ROBERT HANNA, "WILLIAM LOCHEY, "WILLIAM BRACKEN." DEPOSITION OF CHARLES FOREMAN. " Westmoreland County, ss. " Personally appeared before us, the subscribers, three of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county aforesaid. Charles Foreman, who, being duly sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, doth depose and say, that this morning, between twilight, being the 7th day of February, he heard a noise at the jail, and getting out of his bed, he saw a number of armed men breaking the door, and charging the prisoners then in jail to go about their business, and he heard John Carnaghan, Esquire, high sheriff of the county aforesaid, ask one Benjamin Harrison, who appeared to be their head nlan, whether they had any orders for their so doing, upon which he read a paper, and said it was Captain William Crawford's orders so to do; and the said Charles Foreman further saith, that he saw one Samuel Wilson make a push at one Robert Hanna, Esquire, with a gun, and told him not to be so saucy, and a great deal of ill tongue; and further this deponent saith not. CHARLES FOREMAN. " Sworn and subscribed before us, this 7th day of February, 1775. "ROBERT HANNA, "WILLIAM LOCHEY, "WILLIAM BRACKEN." ROBERT HANNA, WILLIAM LOCHEY, JOHN CARNAGHAN AND DEVEREUX SMITH TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Hanna's Town, Westmoreland County, Feb. 13, 1775.;'" MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: Sir: Our difficulties on account of the Connolly party is now grown to an extreme; all we can do or say in favor of our privileges from Pennsylvania will not do: the depositions sent 516 THE OLDEN TIME. down or transmitted to you, will, we hope, give you a sense of their very irregular proceedings. We are very sorry to have occasion to repeat our complaints so often, but William Crawford, Esquire, and Dorsey Penticost, hath each opened a land office, and assumed the title of deputy surveyors to execute their entries. Several surveys they have already made. The people in general have already given up; and what can we do to support government, there now being writs granted for almost every acting officer in this county, and we are every day expecting confinement. In short, any person applying for justice to us may be assured to be arrested by them. James Smith, captain, was takenoand bound over to the Virginia court, for only applying to the laws of Pennsylvania to have a banditti of villains punished for pulling down his house. Our jail is of no use; the worst rascal is set at liberty; so we rest with patience, waiting for the opinion of your Honor, with such instructions as you may think adequate to our present difficulties. This from, sir, your Honor's most obedient and most humble servants, "ROBERT HANNA, "WILLIAM LOCHEY, "JOHN CARNAGHAN, "DEVEREUX SMITH." DEVEREUX SMITH TO GOVERNOR PENN. "Hanna's Toun, February 14, 1775. "SIR: The situation of this county, at present, is really distressing. Every man who has the least feeling, must pity the poor inhabitants, who, after returning to their places when the disturbances with the Indians subsided, are now daily plundered of what little provisions they had to support their families, by a party of men kept up by order of Lord Dunmore, for what reason I am not able to judge. The Indians were never more peaceable than at present; it is true they have nine Mingoes prisoners in the garrison; but they have other places of confinement that might answer as well, and save the expense of keeping seventy-five men in pay, and robbing the country to support them with provisions. "A set of people who call themselves Virginians, have taken possession of the most lands fetile here, and say they have rights from the Virginia offices, two of which are held here, one by Captain William Crawford, and the other by D. Penticost. " The obstructions to the proceedings of our court, prevents us fiom recovering our just dues; unless some speedy steps be taken to prevent their outrageous proceedings, this county must be inevitably ruined. "Mr. Connelly and Mr. John Campbell left Pittsburgh about fifteen days ago, and are gone for Williamsburgh. They had a petition handed about, which was signed by some people disaffected to the government, praying the House of Burgesses that a town might be laid out near Pittsburgh. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 517 "I send you the inclosed depositions, that your Honor may see the many difficulties we labor under, and the unhappy situation of the inhabitants of this county. I am, with the greatest respect, your very humble servant, "DEVEREUX SMITH." DEPOSITION OF DEVEREUX SMITH. "Westmoreland County, ss. "Personally appeared before Joseph Spear, Esquire, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for said county, Devereux Smith, Esquire, and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that on the night of the 8th instant, between eight and nine o'clock, twelve or more armed men, belonging to the garrison kept up by Lord Dunmore's orders at this place, surrounded the house of the said Devereux Smith, in Pittsburgh, in the said county, throwed stones, and attempted to break open his doors and windows, to the great terror of his family, at the same time telling him that they would show what Virginia boys could do. That with the violence of their throwing stones, &c., they split one of his window-shutters, and continued about the street till near twelve o'clock, during which he was under the necessity of setting up in arms to protect his infant family; and further this deponent saith not. DEVEREUX SMITH. "Sworn and subscribed, the 10th day of February, 1775, before me. "JOSEPH SPEAR." DEPOSITION OF JAMES MYERS. " Westmoreland County, ss.' Came before me, Devereux Smith, Esquire, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for said county, James Myers, and being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth, that upon the 9th inst., a man who said he was one of the militia, came to my house, and remained there till after night, and then produced a green Indian scalp, which he said he had taken off an Indian that he had killed the day before; he said he was then on his way down the country; and further this deponent saith not. JAMES MYERS, Turtle Creek. "Sworn and subscribed before me, this 13th day of February, 1775. "DEVEREUX SMITH." DEPTSITION OF DR. SAMUEL M KENZIE. " Westmoreland County, ss. " Came before me, Devereux Smith, Esquire, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for said county, Doctor Samuel M'Kenzie, and being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth, that on the night of the 8th inst.,he was sitting in the house of Mr. Butler, in Pittsburgh, they heard a noise, and on going to the door of said house, a number of men, armed with bayonets, run at Mr. Richard Butler, and deponent; 518 THE OLDEN TIME. that they were obliged to retreat into the house, and there remain about three hours, till the mob dispersed. That on the 9th instant, a party again surrounded Butler's house, not less than twelve in number, armed with bayonets and large bludgeons, and threatened the life of Mr. Butler and deponent; that about three o'clock on said day; while one of the militia officers was at Butler's, a man came in who belonged to the garrison, and said that a party of their men had gone out that morning to commit murder; and further this deponent saith not. "SAMUEL M'KENZIE. "Sworn and subscribed before me, the 14th of February, 1775. "DEVEREUX SMITH." DEPOSITION OF JAMES SMITH. "Westmoreland County, ss. "Personally appeared before me, Robert Hanna, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace of the county aforesaid, Captain James Smith, who, on his solemn oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that he, this deponent, was bound over to answer the Court of Virginia, before Dorsey Penticost, one of their Justices; and at the same time said Penticost granted precepts for Robert Hanna, Esq., William Lochey, Esq., and John Carnaghan, sheriff; and at the same time this deponent said to Penticost, what do you mean by these precepts? Penticost said they were impostors on thegovernment and dominion of Virginia, and he would have them confined, and then he said he was sure he had the others forced to a compliance to their laws. This deponent further said, your proceedings are illegal and irregular; and one day or another I think you will repent of your conduct. Penticost said Lord Baltimore's heirs were not of age, and there was a dispute between the heirs of Lord Baltimore and Penn, which cannot be settled for some years, and for that time he liked to keep them in suspense; and let them do what they would until then, there would be an oblivion act made before the matters would be settled and compromised. David Vance present, said, if he did not expect such an act, he would not have done what he had done; and further this deponent saith not. JAMES SMITH. "Sworn and subscribed before me, the 14th of February, 1775. "ROBERT HANNA." "Memorandum, March 1, 1775. "The Governor, this day, wrote a letter to his Excellency the Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, inclosing copies of several depositions which he lately received relative to the disturbances in Westmoreland county, and dispatched the same by express, which letter follows in these words, viz: NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 519 "Philadelphia, March 1, 1775. "MY LORD: When you reflect how many of my letters to your Lordship on public affairs remain unanswered, you must be sensible it cannot be very agreeable to me to write to you on the present occasion; yet I find myself un(ler a necessity of troubling you once more on the subject of the disturbances in the western parts of this province. The inclosed copies of several depositions will inform your Lordship what recent outrages have been committed in the county of Westmoreland, under the sanction of your government, as those who have been active in them publicly declare; and my intelligence informs me that your Lordship has set up an office for granting lands far within the limits of this province, and that lands already patented by me have been granted by your Lordship, which cannot fail to prcduce the utmost confusion. "The justice due to myself and the other proprietors, and the protection I owe to the people who have taken up lands under this province and settled there long before your Lordship thought fit to disturb its peace by extending the government of Virginia within our charter bounds, oblige me to apply to your Lordship to know if these violent proceedings are the effect of your orders, or have your countenance, that in case they have I may take the proper measures for redress; or if they have not that they may receive your discouragement. Your Lordship well knows that a petition is depending before the Crown, for settling the bounds and running the lines of this province, which, when done, will put an end to the unhappy disputes between the two governments. You must remember that you have engaged to forward that good work, rather than throw impediments in its way; and I would fain hope that your Lordship, in the mean time, will use your power and influence in composing rather than inflaming the differences amongst his Majesty's subjects of the two colonies, occasioned by our clashing jurisdictions, especially when you consider that the county which is the seat of the present disturbances, was first settled under this province, and that our jurisdiction was extended there in the time of your predecessor, Lord Botetourt, and recognized by his Lordship, in his sending hither for trial a person who had committed a murder at Stewart's Crossings, which is westward of the Laurel hill. I shall forbear to take any steps in this disagreeable affair, till I have the honor of an answer to this letter, which I ho)e your Lordship will favor me with by the return of the express. I have the honor to be your Lordship's most obedient servant, "JOHN PENN. " To the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's Province of Virginia, Williamsburgh." 520 THE OLDEN TIME. DOCTOR JOHN CONNOLLY. We have now completed our notice of that controversy which once bore such a frowning aspect in this region, have presented to our readers the most important documents in relation to it, and are at liberty to proceed with our narration of other occurrences here, subsequent to the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1768. Many of those, however, who have perused our narrative and noticed the prominent part which John Connolly performed here, will no doubt be anxious to know something of his history subsequent to his leaving this country. We annex an account of his arrest at Hagerstown, and his examination and confinement. After his release he went to Canada, and we know but little more about him, until 1790, when he visited Kentucky, ostensibly for the purpose of inquiring about lands which he once owned, but which had been confiscated. His real, purpose, it was supposed, was to induce the Kentuckians to join the English in an expedition against the Spanish provinces. In this he failed, and from that time we have no further information about him. John Gibson, whom Connolly addressed and attempted to enlist in his desperate scheme, was an early resident of this country, and died at the residence of his son-in-law, Geo. Wallace, about 1822 or'23. He was well acquainted with some of the Indian languages and often acted as interpreter. In 1774, as he himself subsequently testified, he received the eloquent and pathetic speech, said to be Logan's,* and conveyed it to Lord Dunmore. He served as a Colonel during our revolution; and at one time had an angry controversy with Colonel Broadhead, who commanded at Fort Pitt in 1778 and 1779. After Mr. Jefferson's election, Mr. Gibson received an appointment to some office in Indiana, where he resided several years, but finally returned to this county, and died as we have before stated some twenty odd years ago, at Braddock's field. "Frederick County, Maryland, November 24, 1775.' SIR: I am directed, by the committee of this county, to transmit to you copies of the examinations of Allen Cameron, John Smith, John Connolly, and a letter to one Gibson, from Connolly, and Lord Dunmore's speech to White Eyes, and proposals by Connolly to General Gage for the raising an army for the destruction of the liberties of the colonies. Any orders reWe shall at the proper time have occiasion to say a good deal about that speech. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 521 lative to the prisoners will be strictly observed, the committee and inhabitants of this country being determined to pursue every measure which the Congress may recommend to them, as necessary for the preservation of these colonies, at this time of imminent danger. I am very respectfully, sir, your most humble servant,' JOHN HANSON. Jun., Chairman. "The Honorable John Hancock, Esq, President of the Congress." Fredericktozen, Md., in Committee Chamber, Nov. 23, 1775. "Allen Cameron, Dr. John Smith and John Connolly, being taken in custody, were brought before the committee, and the following exalminations were taken. " Allen Cameron, a native of Scotland, whiclh he left for an affair of honor, and came to Virginia, with an intention to purchase b.ck lands, and intended to go to Henderson for that purpose; but finding it difficult to pass through the back country, encouraged by Lord Dunmore and promise of advancement, lie agreed to accept a commission as first Lieutenant in the regiment to be raised by Connolly. " Dr. John Smith, a native of Scotland, left Charles county, Maryland, for political reasons, and intended to go to the Mississippi, but finding it impracticable, he returned to Norfolk, and being induced by Lord Dunmore, with promises of preferment, he accepted the appointment of surgeon to Col. Connolly's regiment. " John Connolly, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, admits his letter to Gibson, a copybeing shown him. He went the 25th of July from Fort Dunmore to Lord Dunmore, and delivered him proposals in substance the same with that found in his possession, and in his handwriting. That he was sent by Lord Dunmore to General Gage with letters, and his proposals to Gage; that he left Boston the fourteenth or fifteenth of September, and returned to Lord Dunmore in the middle of October; that he brought instructions from General Gage to Lord Dunmore, who granted him a commission of lieutenant colonel commandant of a regiment to be raised in the back parts and Canada, with powers to nominate officers, who were to be confirmed by Lord Dunmore; that he is now on his-way to Detroit, where he was to meet his commission and instructions; that he left Lord Dunmore about ten days ago, who had with him one sloop of' sixteen guns, and another of eighteen; that the ship in which Lord Dunmore is on board, is armed with six or eight guns; that a vessel of twenty guns is daily expected fiom Jamaica; that John Smith never was appointed surgeon, and he told Smith if he was the man lie represented himself to be, it was possible he would appoint him. "Resolved, That the said Allen Cameron and John Connolly be kept in close and safe custody, until the orders of the congress be known; and 522 THE OLDEN TIME. that the chairman transmit copies of the examinations and papers to the honorable the president of the congress, and to the conventions or councils of safety of the colony of Virginia and this province. "Resolved, That Dr. John Smith b3 kept in custody till the farther orders of this committee." PROPOSALS FOR RAISING AN ARMY TO THE WESTWARD, AND FOR EFFECTUALLY OBSTRUCTING A COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN GOVERNMENTS. "As I have, by directions from his Excellency Lord Dunmore, prepared the Ohio Indians to act in concert with me against his Majesty's enemies in that quarter; and have also dispatched intelligence to the different officers of the militia on the frontiers of Augusta county, in Virginia, giving them Lord Dunmore's assurances that such of them as shall hereafter evince their loyalty to his Majesty, by putting themselves under my command, when I should appear amongst them with proper authority for that purpose, of a confirmation of titles to their lands, and the quantity of three hundred acres to all who should take up arms in support of the constitution, when the present rebellion subsided, 1 will undertake to penetrate through Virginia, and join his Excellency Lord Dunmore at Alexandria early next spring, on the following conditions and authority: " 1st. That your Excellency will give me a commission to act as Major commandantof such troops as I may raise and embodyon the frontiers, with a power to command to the westward and employ such serviceable French and English partizans as I can engage by pecuniary rewards or otherwise. "2d. That your Excellency will give orders to Captain Lord on the Illinois, to remove himself, with the garrison under his command, from Fort Gage to Detroit, by the Auabache, bringing with him all the artillery, stores, &c., &c., to facilitate which undertaking he is to have authority to hire boats, horses, Frenchmen, Indians, &c., &c., to proceed with all possible expedition on that route, as the weather may occasionally permit, and to put himself under my command on hid arrival at Detroit. "3d. That the commissary at Detroit shall be empowered to furnish such provision as I may judge necessary for the good of the service, and that the commanding officer shall be instructed to give every possible assistance in encouraging the French and Indians of that settlement to join me. "4th. That an officer of artillery be immediately sent with me to pursue such route as I may find most expedient to gain Detroit, with orders to have such pieces of light ordnance as may be thought requisite for the demolishing of Fort Dunmore and Fort Fincastle, if resistance should be made by the rebels in possession of those garrisons. "5th. That your Excellency will empower me to make such reasonable presents to the Indian chiefs and others, as may urge them to act with vigor in the execution of my orders. NOTICES OF THE SETTLEMENT. 523' 6th. That your excellency will send to Lord Dunmore such arms as may be spared, in order to equip such persons as may be willing to serve his Majesty at our junction, in the vicinity of Alexandria, &c., &c. If your Excellency judges it expedient for the good of the service, to furnish me with the authority and other requisites I have mentioned, I shall embrace the earliest opportunity of setting off for Canada, and shall immediately dispatch Lord Dunmore's armed schooner, which now awaits my commands, with an account of what your Excellency has donej and that I shall be ready, if practicable, to join your Lordship by the twentieth of April, at Alexandria, where the troops under my command may fortify themselves under the cover of the men of war on that station. "If, on the contrary, your Excellency should not approve of what I propose, you will be good enough to immediately honor me with your dispatches to the Earl of Dunmore, that I may return as early as possible." JOHN CONNOLLY TO JOHN GIBSON. "Portsmouth, Virginia; August 9, 1775. " I am safely arrived here, and am happy, to the greatest degree, in having so fortunately escaped the narrow inspection of my enemies, the enemies of their country, to good order, and to government. I should esteem myself defective in point of friendship towards you, should I neglect to caution you to avoid an over zealous exertion of what is now ridiculously called patriotic spirit; but, on the contrary, to deport yourself with that moderation for which you have been always remarkable, and which must, in this instance, tend to your honor and advantage. You may be assured from me, sir, that nothingSbut the greatest unanimity now prevails at home, and that the innovating spirit amongst us here is looked upon as ungenerous and undutiful; and that the utmost exertions of the powers of government, if necessary, will be useful to convince the infatuated people of their folly. I could, I assure you, sir, give you such convincing proofs of what I assert, and from which every reasonable person may conclude the effects, that nothing but madness could operate upon a man as far as to overlook his duty to the present constitution, and to form unwarrantable associations with enthusiasts, whose ill-timed folly must draw upon them inevitable destruction. His Lordship desires you to present his hand to Captain White Eyes, and to assure him that he is very sorry that he had not the pleasure of seeing him at the treaty, or that the situation of affairs prevented him fiom coming down. Believe me, dear sir, that I have no motive in writing my sentiments thus to you, farther than to endeavor to steer you clear of the misfortunes which, I am confident, must involve but unhappily too many. I have sent you an address from the people of Great Britain to the people of America, and I desire you to considerit attentively, which will, I flatter myself, convince you of the idleness of many declarations, and of the ab 524 THE OLDEN TIME. surdity of an intended slavery. Give my love to George, and tell him he shall hear from me, and I hope to his advantage. Interpret the inclosed speech to Captain White Eyes from his Lor'dship. Be prevailed upon to shun the popular error, and judge for yourself; act as a good subject, and expect the rewards due to your services. I am, dear sir, your sincere friend and servant, JOHN CONNOLLY. "To Mr. John Gibson, near Fort Dunmore." LORD DUNMORE TO CAPTAIN WHITE EYES.' BROTHER CAPTAIN WHITE EYES: I am glad to hear your good speeches sent me by Major Connolly, and you may be assured I shall put the one end of the belt you sent me into the hands of our great King, who will be glad to hear from his brothers the Delawares, and will take a strong hold of it. You may rest satisfied that our foolish young men shall never be permitted to have your lands, but, on the contrary, the great King will protect you, and preserve you in the possession of them. Our young people in the country have been very foolish, and done many imprudent things, for which they must soon be very sorry, and of which I make no doubt they have acquainted you; but I must desire you not to listen to them, as they would be willing that you should act equally foolish with themselves. But rather let what you hear pass in at one ear and out at the other, so that it may make no impression on your heart until you hear from mefully, which shall be so soon as I can give him farther information, who am your friend and brother. "( Captain White Eyes will please to acquaint the Corn Stalk with these my sentiments also, as well as the chiefs of the Mingoes, and the other Six Nations. Your sincere fiiend and elder brother, "DUNMORE." GENERAL BRADDOCK. 525 GENERAL BRADDOCK. The following poetic effusion, written by some fiiend of the deceased General, together with the notes. is taken from an English Magazine of August, 1755. The article appears to have been prepared before it was certainly known that Braddock was dead, if we may judge from the expression "said to be slain." The defeat of Braddock is one of the most prominent incidents in the colonial history of this country, and must always be regarded with deep interest, by all the admirers of Washington, who, then even in defeat, gained many of those laurels which are usually obtained only by victory. It i: now almost one hundred years since Braddock received his death wound in the vicinity of our city, and the field where his army was defeated, which was then far beyond the fiontier of the Anglo Saxon settlement, is now but a point on the great route of travel from the east to the fiar distant west. Probably in the whole history of our country, no more striking illustration could be given of the extension of our power, than the overthrow of the English army at Braddock's field in 1755, and the capture of Monterey in 1846. In India, the year after Braddock's defeat, the English sustained severe losses, Calcutta fell into the hands of the enemy, Mr. Holwell with one hundred and forty-five followers was imprisoned in the Black Hole, and British affairs seemed to be as hopeless in India as in America; but the appointment of Clive in the former and of Amherst in the latter, to the chief direction of the armies, soon gave a mbre encouraging aspect to public affairs in both countries. From that period to the present, the Anglo Saxon race, in both countries, has extended its dominion with unexampled rapidity. * The capture of Calcutta on the Ganges and the defeat of Braddock on the Monongahela, the latter in July 1755, the former in June 1756, marked the extreme points of depression of Anglo Saxon affairs on both continents; when they are to reach the utmost extent in advance and prosperity, time alone can tell. The small tribute, perhaps of some fiiend of Braddock, who knew him well, and saw merit in his character of which the historian knew nothing, cannot be uninteresting in this region. Certainly the anticipations of the 526 THE OLDEN TIME. poet have not been verified: Braddock is now merely regarded as a headstrong, reckless soldier, with an absurd and overweaning confidence in the discipline and courage of his regular soldiers, without sufficient good sense or reflection to perceive, that mere discipline and courage could not avail against stratagem in such a case. "(From an English Magazine of August, 1755, on the death of General Braddock, said to be slain in an ambuscade, by the French and Indians, on the banks of the Ohio, July 9th, 1755." "Beneath some Indian shrut), if chance 3 ou spy "The brave remains of murdered Braddock lie, "Soldiers, with shame the guilty place survey, And weep that here your comrades fled away. Then with his brother chiefs* encircled round, "Possess the hero's bones of hostile ground, "And plant the Englisht oak, that gave his name, "Fit emblem of his valor and his fame! "Broad o'er this stream; shall thus his honors grow, "And last as long as e'er its waters flow." SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. The following notice of this very able and distinguished man, cannot be regarded as out of place in our publication. Although we have no knowledge that he ever visited this point, yet his influence with the Six Nations was always felt wherever the power of those people extended. George Croghan and Alexander McKee, two of his deputies, were generally stationed in this country, and thus serve to identify his name with our early history. He was truly a remarkable man, a successful soldier without tuition in the art of war, and an efficient Indian agent-his services in aiding to rescue this country from the French dominion were invaluable. We, therefore, cannot think of passing by the following brief notice of his ~ services and death. "On Monday evening, 11th of July, 1774, departed this life, at Johnson Hall, in his sixtieth year, to the inexpressible concern of his family, and the infinite loss of the public, particularly at this critical juncture, the Honorable Sir William Johnson, Bart., his Majesty's Superintendent of *" His officers. " Brad, In old Saxon English is the same as Broad, and Brad oke, the same as Broadoak. I"The Ohio." SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 527 Indian Affairs, and one of the oldest council of this province. He had long labored under a complication of disorders, the consequences of his former fatigues and severe services in the defence of the country in general, and this province in particular. Still persisting in the exertion of all his faculties, and at the expense of health, ease, and domestic concerns, discharging the laborious duties of a most troublesome and difficult department, though much indisposed, he attended and transacted business with the Six Nations, who came lately to Johnson Hall on account of the murders committed by some of the frontier inhabitants of Virginia. The fatigue and hurry of spirits occasioned by the difficulties he found in accommodating these affairs at last obliged him to retire to his room, where he was immediately seized with a violent attack, which carried him off in an hour's time. " The impartial public well know and enjoy the fruits of his distinguished services, whilst crowds have experienced his benevolent and private bounty; and his'united talents as a defender and improver of this country, will ever preserve his name amongst the most distinguished personages of the age in which he lived. In 1737 he came from Ireland under the auspices of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, and lived many years in the Indian country, where he learned their language and gained their affection by his great generosity and humanity. In 1755, he stood forth in the defence of this province, then in the most imminent danger from the rapid progress of the French arms, and with a force consisting entirely of provincials, totally routed the army of Baron Dieskau; that victory proved highly acceptable to his sovereign, who created him a Baronet; and he was rewarded by the parliament of Great Britain with a present of five thousand pounds sterling. In 1758, he, by an intimate acquaintance with the genius and temper of the Indian tribes, who had been debauched by France from the interest of Great Britain, effected a reconciliation with fifteen different nations of that people: which paved the way for the future success of our arms in Canada. In 1759, he defeated the French army, destined for the relief of Niagara, under M. D'Aubry, presently after which the garrison surrendered that important post to the besiegers. These glories were obtained by dint of innate courage and natural sagacity, without the help of a military education; and what remarkably enhances those endowments, is the circumstance of his having taken in both actions, the commanders of the enemy. In 1760, he assisted at the taking of Montreal, and the conquest of the French Empire in that part of the continent. Since which, he has acted at the head of the Indian Department, over whom he early acquired, and constantly maintained, a surprising ascendency, by the influence and authority of his justice, benevolence, and integrity. In short, our gracious sovereign never sustained a heavier loss, in the demise of any subject, than of Sir William Johnson, whose char 528 THE OLDEN TIME. acter was a combination of good qualities, and whose memory will be highly revered to the end of time. "His remains were decently interred in the church of his own building, at Johnstown, on Wednesday, the 13th, attended by upwards of two thousand people, in the following order, viz: "The Clergy. J. Duncan, Esquire; Captain Chapman; P. Livingston, Esquire; Judge Jones; G. Banyar, Esquire; R. Morris, Esquire; Major Edmondston; Governor Franklin; supporters of the pall. Chief mourners, Sir John Johnson, Baronet, Colonels D. Claus and G. Johnson; John Dease, Ezquire. The Physicians; Farily; Mohawks; Conajoharies; High Sheriff, followed by above two thousand persons from the neighboring country. The Chiefs and Warriors of the Six Nations, who then attended the Congress. " Where it was interred, and a suitable discourse delivered by the Reverend Mr. Stewart, Missionary to the Mohawks at Fort Hunter. "'The Indians exhibited on the occasion of Sir William Johnsofi's death, the most extraordinary signs of distress and sincere affliction, that ever were before observed among that people." THE OLDEN TIME. Vol. I. DECEMBER, 1846. No. 12. MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. THIS famous line, which for many miles separates Pennsylvania from Maryland, and which by subsequent extension became also the dividing line between portions of Pennsylvania and Virginia, seems destined to become one of the most noted astronomical lines known in history. It is already as familiar among statesmen and politicians as household words, and is regarded by all as the dividing line between the free and slave holding states, and yet its true history is understood only by a few of the thousands who daily speak about it. The controversy between the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania raged for many years, was conducted with much fierceness, and was at last terminated by an amicable agreement between Frederick, Lord Baltimore, and Thomas and Richard Penn, in pursuance of which this famous line was run. The history of that controversy, perhaps, does not come exactly within the scope of the original design of our publication; but as Mason and Dixon's line did extend into the field of our narrative, crossing, as it did, both the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers, and as it was afterwards, in 1779, adopted throughout its whole length and extended to the south-west angle of this state, as the boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia, we have considered that it may, with great propriety, receive a place in the Olden Tifne. We have, therefore, concluded to avail ourselves of a memoir upon the subject, prepared by our townsman, James Dunlop, Esq., many years ago, and published in the first volume of the transactions of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This memoir and our lecture upon the controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia, which was re-published in the tenth number of the Olden Time, form together a pretty full account of our much contested southern boundary. We regret that we had not in VOL. i-34 530 THE OLDEN TIME. our possession, a copy of the memoir, in time to have given it priority in the order of publication, as the events it narrates had in actual occurrence. That arrangement would have been more natural and the memoir would have formed an easy introduction to the lecture. A TREATISE ON MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. A MEMOIR ON THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN WILLIAM PENN AND LORD BALTIMORE, RESPECTING THE BOUNDARIES OF PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND, BY JAMES DUNLOP, ESQ. MEMBER OF THE SENATE OF PENNSYLVANIA FROM FRANKLIN COUNTY. READ AT A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, NOVEMBER 10, 1825. "THE disputes which occurred in times almost forgotten, between the proprietaries of Pennsylvania and Maryland, respecting the boundaries of their provinces, afford a subject of curious, if not useful, speculation. Their rise, progress, and termination, form not only an amusing portion of the history'of the early transactions of our country, but are important, as intimately connected with the land titles of that part of the state which lies within the limits of the disputed territory. "The clashing of the many grants made with such lavish profusion by the sovereigns of Europe, of the savages and soil of the new world, arose from their entire ignorance of the country. The thirst for gold, the spirit of adventure, and zeal of religious enthusiasm, all demanded clamorously, a participation in the wealth, independence, or retirement, which were fondly anticipated to flow from the mighty discoveries of Cabot and Vespucci. By virtue of the fancied right of priority of discovery, the Crown of England not only claimed but exercised the power of parcelling the extensive coasts and territories of North America, amongst her favorite courtiers or troublesome subjects. " Whether this assumed authority was better founded, than that which flowed from papal supremacy to the sovereigns of Spain and Portugal,. or the vacillating tenure of the thinly scattered and savage aborigines, it is now more curious than useful to inquire. For, however well founded the title derived from such sources might originally have been considered, time, possession, and power have given them a stability, which nothing can endanger, but the weakness and corruption of the holder. " From an ignorance of the geography of the dark and boundless wilderness which was so generously divided, the limits of the numerous grants were so vaguely designated, as invariably to create confusion, and embroil the claimants in difficulties and resentments which required the labor and patience of years to settle and allay. " In the year 1681, when the charter was granted to William Penn, the distinguished founder of Pennsylvania, by Charles II. King of England, al MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 531 most the whole country included in its limits, was an uncultivated wild; and to what extent the country was settled at the date of the charter, it would, perhaps, be difficult, and from the means of information within the reach of the author, impossible to ascertain with satisfactory certainty. As early as 1627, the Swedes and Fins had formed establishments within the Capes of Delaware, and in 1630, Proud (1 Hist. Penn. p. 115, 116) says, that the Dutch, or as Bozman (Hist. Maryland, p. 245) thinks the Swedes had built a fort at a place now called Lewistown, in the state of Delaware; and in the year following, the Swedes had pushed their fortifications above Wilmington, and as high up as Chester. The Swedes, says the same author (1 Pr. 205), had a meeting house at Wicocoa, now within the suburbs of Philadelphia, and the Friends one at Upland, or Chester, another at Shackamaxon, or about where Kensington now stands, and a third at the lower falls of Delaware (Ib. 160, 161), meaning, I presume, the falls at Trenton, as there are no falls below that place. Proud says, that there was not a single house built on the site of Philadelphia when it was laid out by the proprietary and his surveyor, Thomas Holme, in 1682, and that on his arrival, the first house building by George Guest,'on this spot of ground' was unfinished, and that at that time, many of the early settlers and adventurers had their holes or caves for their residence in the high bank of the Delaware, before any houses were built, or better accommodation prepared for them. But there is no doubt that the country in 1681, was partially settled along the bank of the river, as high as the falls (1 Pr. 160, 161), and near to where Philadelphia now stands, as Penn himself; in a letter to the society of Free Traders, in August, 1683 (1 Proud, 260, 261), says, that'the Dutch mostly inhabit those parts of the province that lie upon, or near the bay, and the Swedes the freshes of the river Delaware;' and Proud says (1 Hist. Penn. 233), that the site of the city itself, was claimed by some Swedes, with whom Penn exchanged other lands at small distance for it. "It is impossible to say, to what extent the English had made settlements within the limits of what is now the state of Pennsylvania, as early as the date of William Penn's charter; but that they had long exercised dominion over the country west of the bay and river Delaware, abundantly appears from the records of the proprietary government of New York (certified copies of which are on record in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth at Harrisburgh). Charles II. had granted to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664, an immense territory in America, embracing the Dutch settlements at New York, and extending southward to the eastern shore of the bay and river Delaware; and the Duke in the same year, issued a commission to Sir Robert Carr, to subdue their possessions on the eastern shore; and after the conquest, which was easily effected, governed the country as an appendage to his province of New York by his lieuten 532 THE OLDEN TIME. ants, till 1682, when he released his interest to William Penn. There is no evidence of actual settlements made within the limits of Pennsylvania, amongst the records alluded to, but of a continued and anxious care over the country on the west side of the bay and river Delaware, by the governor of the Duke, residing at New York; and amongst the same documents, is an Indian deed, of as early date as 1675, to Edmund Andros, governor and lieutenant of the Duke, for land lying at least twenty miles above Philadelphia. This deed is, perhaps, the earliest made by the aborigines to the English, of lands on the western shore of the lelaware, and exhibits a curious, but not uncommon uncertainty of boundary, that strongly displays the ignorance of the whites of the topography of the country. It describes the land as'lying on the west side of Delaware river, beginning at a certain creek next the cold spring, somewhat above Matinicunm Island, about eight or nine miles below the falls, or as far above the said falls as the other is below them, or furthest that way, as may be agreed upon to some remarkable place, for the more certain bounds, as also, all the islands in the river Delaware, within the fore-mentioned limits, both below and above the falls, excepting only one island, commonly known by the name of Peter Alrick's Island, together with all the creeks, &c., &c., to the said tract of land belonging along the river and behind into the woods, &c.' The consideration amongst the detail of ammunition, clothing, &c., exhibits the amusing predilection of the grave sachems for fifty looking glasses and one hundred jews harps. It also contains covenants of seizin and quiet enjoyment, breaches of which I presume, could only be effectually tried by the sword. This tract of country was selected probably for the peculiar excellence of its soil, and patents were granted for it, by Andros to English settlers before the country bore the name of Pennsylvania. (1 Proud, 217.) The lands below at that time remained in the tenure of the Indians, as a commission was three years afterwards issued by Andros to Cantwell and Hannum to purchase from the savages the land as yet unpurchased from the Indians,' below the late purchase at the falls on the western shore of Delaware river.' "The charter of Maryland, which its proprietor had intended to call Crescentia, but which was designated by his majesty, when the charter was presented to him, Terra Maria, in honor of his Queen Henrietta Maria, was granted by Charles I., in 1632, to Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, his'well-beloved and trusty servant.' This grant, reciting the pious and laudable zeal of the Baron of Baltimore for extending the christian religion and the territories of the empire, and his desire to transport, by his own industry and expense, a numerous colony to a certain region hereafter described in a country hitherto uncultivated in the parts of America, and partly occupied by savages having no knowledge of the Divine Being, transferred unto him, his heirs and assigns, all that part of the peninsula or Chersonese ly MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 533 ing in the parts of America, between the ocean on the east and the bay of Chesapeake on the west, divided from the residue thereof by a right line drawn from the promontory or head land, called Watkins' Point, situate upon the bay aforesaid, near the river Wighes on the west, unto the main ocean on the east, and between that boundary on the south unto that part of the bay of Delaware on the north which lieth under the fortieth degree of north latitude from the equinoctial, where New England is terminated: and all the tract of that land within the metes under-written (that is to say), passing from the said bay called Delaware Bay in a right line, by the degree aforesaid, unto the true meridian of the first fountain of the Potomac, thence verging toward the south unto the southern bank of said river, and following the same, &c. "The Lords Baltimore may well be excused for pressing their claims under this grant as extensively as they did, and which its terms seemed so strongly to justify; but there were two hidden sources of uncertainty lurking under the language of their charter, which cost the proprietaries of Maryland many years of vexation and expense. " In 1681, King Charles II. granted to William Penn the charter for the province of Pennsylvania. This venerable document, which is in the office of the secretary of the commonweaIth, is written upon large rolls of strong parchment, in the old English hand writing, with each line underscored with lines of red ink, that give it a curious appearance. The borders are gorgeously firbelowed with heraldic devices, and the top of the first page exhibits a finely executed half-length portrait of his majesty, in good preservation. Though not quite a century and a half old, it may justly be designated a valuable piece of American antiquity. The charter designates the province of Pennsylvania, as' that tract of country or part of land in A merica with the islands as therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town unto the 43d degree of north latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward, but if said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds are to be terminated by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said river the said 43d degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds, and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of north latitude, and on the south by a circle to be drawn at twelve miles' distance from New Castle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, and thence by a straight line westward to the limits of the longitude above mentioned.' "Penn, it is said (Proud's Hist. Pa. 188, 2 id. 208, n.), claimed under this charter unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, which 534 THE OLDEN TIME. would be where the thirty-ninth degree terminated. But as I have seen no evidence of such preposterous claim* from Penn himself, and as it involves the manifest absurdity of a radius of twelve miles from New Castle northward intersecting a degree of latitude lying so much further south, it is probable it was never seriously urged. The ignorance of the king's council of the geography of the country, I have no doubt, led them to believe that the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude lay twelve miles north of New Castle, as they were probably guided in their description by the chart of the celebrated Captain John Smith; but as it did not in fact, and the bounds were fixed by the twelve mile radius northward of New Castle, there was no pretension to extend it further south than the twelve miles north of that place. "It was highly important to the proprietor of Pennsylvania to extinguish the claims of the Duke of York, who claimed and exercised jurisdiction upon the western shore of the bay and river Delaware, as an appendage to his government of New York; as the procuring his title to that country would enlarge his sea board, which his sagacious eye perceived was wanted, to prevent any future interference with his province itself, and afford an extensive outlet to the produce of his planters. [Penn's Letter to the Lords of the plantations, 1 Proud's Hist. 270-7.] "Opposite as the religious and political opinions of William Penn and James Duke of York certainly were, and as we must believe in spite of the angry conclusions of the historical Review (p. 18) drawn from the ridiculous stories of the times; the former always was a particular favorite of the latter. Penn, therefore, through his influence with the Duke, obtained from him in the year succeeding the date of his charter, in consideration of his regard for the memory and many faithful services of Admiral Penn, a deed of release of all the claim of his royal highness to the country within the limits of Pennsylvania, and a grant of his claim to the country on the western side of the bay of Delaware, as far south as' Whoarkill, otherwise called cape Henlopen,' including the town of New Castle and a district of twelve miles around it, and what were afterwards called by Penn the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. This tract of country was long afterward known by the name of the territories of Pennsylvania, and the then lower counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, and now constitutes the state of Delaware. It appears from the manuscript sketch of the notes of Mr. Hamilton, of the testimony taken under the commissions issued in the famous cause in Chancery in England, between the Penns and Lord Baltimore (and now in the land-office at Harrisburgh), that these counties in more ancient time were called New Amstel, New Hale, and Whoarkill. Sussex maintained the name of Whoarkill until after-the surrender of the country to William Penn. * See note A, by the editor of the OLDEN TIME. MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 535 "The proprietary of Pennsylvania found himself immediately on his arrival in America, in 1682, involved in extreme difficulties respecting the conflicting claims of Charles Lord Baltimore, the son of Cecelius, the original patentee of Maryland, not only as respecting the western shore of the bay of Delaware, but also as to the southern limits of his province of Pennsylvania. "The latter claimed with much plausibility according to the terms of his grant not only the whole'Chersonese or peninsula, between the bay of Chesapeake and Delaware,' but all the lands lying'under the 40th degree of north latitude;''as respected the peninsula, it was objected that as his grant only contemplated the transfer of lands which were'hactenus inculta,' it could not include the western shore of Delaware which had been settled several years before its date by the Swedes and Dutch. If this obstacle to the literal construction of his charter could have been surmounted, Lord Baltimore had a clear right to the whole peninsula, but it is apparent if the settlements of the Swedes and Dutch had been effected before 1632, the king had no right to transfer the territory of other nations, and which did not appertain to the crown of England. That such settlements had been effected at that early period, seems incontrovertible, and that Lord Baltimore was aware of their existence is admitted by Kilty in his Landholder's Assistant (p. 165), as he had been in Virginia shortly before the date of his charter. And, indeed, governor Stuyvesant in a manifesto he transmitted to Lord Baltimore, respecting the claim of the Dutch to the shores of Delaware Bay, asserts their having had a settlement at Cape Henlopen as early as before the planting of Virginia, but that it had been destroyed by the Indians. "Yet it seems very unlikely that the king's council could have been entirely ignorant of those settlements, or of Clayborne's on Kent Island in the bay of Chesapeake, and it is probable that the phrase'partly inhabited,' in the preamble to the charter Was inserted purposely to embrace any settlement within its limits. " But it was afterwards alleged against the validity of his Lordship's charter, that his majesty was deceived in the representations made to him of the country being wholly uncultivated, and that therefore the charter was void, at least so far as respected the cultivated parts. The law of England holding with courteous deference to royal grantors, that if the king was deceived in the grant, or granted a greater estate than he had in himself, the grant was wholly invalid (1. Co. 144; Corn. Dig. Grant, 8. G. l. Ves. 452). This doctrine always operated beneficially for the Crown, and amounted during the terrors of the star chamber, to saying that royal donors might revoke their charters whenever it suited their policy or convenience. This imputation upon the validity of the Lord Baltimore's patent was stated in the bill (said to have been penned by Mr. Murray, afterwards 536 THE OLDEN TIME. Lord Mansfield, Bozman's Maryland) filed in Chancery, in England, by the Penns vs. Lord Baltimore, the trial of which is reported in 1. Yes. 450. The grant however was void, or might be construed to pass all the right of the Crown, such as it was, to the settled parts of the country, just as his majesty might be pleased to decree; and as they were afterwards reduced by the British arms, they might have been considered as inuring to the use of the patentee. "The grant of Maryland was at least as valid as that made in 1664, by King Charles II. to his brother James, Duke of York, of the Dutch settlements, called by them the New Netherlands, embracing in part what is now the states of New York and New Jersey, at a time when the English government and the states generally were at peace, and in violation of Oliver Cromwell's treaty of 1653, which guaranted to the Dutch the full enjoyment of their possessions in America. It is true, that at that time the two governments were not on very good terms, and were growling at each other no little, but there was no open rupture to justify the proceeding or add validity to the grant; as war did not break out till several months afterwards. [6 Hume's Hist. Eng. 233.] "The Duke of York conquered not only the Dutch settlements within the limits of his grant which was bounded westward by the bay and river Delaware, but in the same year commissioned Sir Robert Carr to subdue their possessions on the eastern shore of the same bay and river; and after their reduction, which was easily effected, exercise sovereignty over them as an appendage to his government of New York, till 1682, when he transferred his claim to the western shore and bay of Delaware to Wim. Penn. "' Lord Baltimore's claim to the land lying under the fortieth degree of north latitude, agreeably to the language of his charter, was urged with equal plausibility, and as little success. He insisted with much apparent reasonableness, that the words'which lieth under the fortieth degree of north latitude,' in his charter, meant certainly a northward extension of his boundary beyond the termination of the thirty-ninth, and that he was entitled by the plain and express words of his patent, to extend his limits to the forty-first degree of north latitude, and embrace the whole fortieth degree. But the weakness of his claim to the country north of the fortieth degree, will be manifest, when we reflect that his charter limits his northern boundary expressly to the'bay of Delaware,' and that consequently he could not, without going beyond a designated natural monument of his boundaries, extend his northern line beyond the point where the bay terminates, and that the limits of the patent must be construed with reference to the information of the country before the council, when it was granted. That information it would seem consisted entirely of the historical account and chart of that part of the new world, by the celebrated Capt. John Smith, as is alleged in the bill of Chancery already mentioned, and MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 537 supported by the testimony taken under the commission issued to America in that cause, as appears by the rough drafts of it taken for the Penns by Mr. Hamilton, and on file in the office of the secretary of the land office of Pennsylvania. James Logan deposed' that Capt. Smith's History of Virginia was the best, as it was the first book published by any Englishman of that country, and that his map of the Chesapeake bay, so called at that time, and the parts adjacent, was the most correct account of the first discoveries of a new country he had ever seen, and that he neither knew nor believed any other account or drafts or maps of that country, were published before 1632,' the date of Lord Baltimore's charter; and testimony of a similar import was taken from other witnesses well acquainted with that part of the country. As these charts, it appears, fixed the fortieth degree of north latitude at the head of the bay of Delaware, and, if the charter was to be construed with reference to the intelligence before the council, at the time it issued, as was the opinion of the attorney and solicitor generals, Ryder, Yorke, Willes, and Weary, the northern limits should be restricted to those natural boundaries, by which they were designated, and not as the latter remarks,'by an imaginary point of the heavens;' although subsequent and more accurate observations might have ascertained that latitude to lie much further north than the head of the bay. "Lord Baltimore alleged that the fortieth degree of north latitude had been ascertained, and part of the line run in 1681, in pursuance of a letter of the king; but the proprietary of Pennsylvania denied that any such line had been run, and that if any attempt had been made for that purpose, it was done without his knowledge or consent, by Lord Baltimore's agents, (1 Proud, 277), and in violation of his charter. The claims of Maryland were asserted with continued acrimony, violence, and occasional bloodshed, and as pertinaciously resisted until they were finally terminated, and abandoned in 1760, by the mutual agreement of the parties. " As the Duke of York claimed, by right of conquest, the settlements on the western shores of the bay of Delaware, and by his deed of 1682, transferred to William Penn, his title to that country, embracing the town of New Castle, and twelve miles around it (as a reasonable portion of land attached to it), and as far down as what was then called Cape Henlopen; an important subject of controversy was the true situation of that cape, afd the ascertainment of the southern and western boundaries of the country along the bay as transferred by the Duke's deed. "Though Charles Lord Baltimore, as I have heard, was a man of the fashionable world, and deeply devoted to its pleasures, yet he was by no means inactive in the protection of his interests and in the prosecution of his claims. After two personal interviews in America, the proprietaries separated without coming to any arrangement and with mutualrecriminations and dissatisfaction. And they each wrote to the Lords of plantations, excusing 538 THE OLDEN TIME. themselves and blaming the other. In 1683, Lord Baltimore petitioned the King to make Penn no fresh or confirmatory grant, and urged the plausibility of his own claims (1 Proud's Hist. 293), and in the same year issued a proclamation, offering lands at lower rates than usual within the disputed territory (Vid. 265, N.) for the purpose of inducing settlers to take out their titles under his government. The issuing of those proclamations, he afterwards very uncandidly denied to Penn's agent, until his memory was refreshed by their production, and then refused to recall them, alleging (1 Proud's Hist. 272) that they proclaimed only the ancient prices. In the same year he commissioned Col. Talbot to demand of William Penn all the lands lying south of the forty-first degree of north latitude (1 Proud, 374), and his agents shortly after made several attempts, by force, to reduce to submission to his authority the planters who lived in the disputed borders under PQnnsylvania titles, and kept the country in continual alarm. "At length in 1685, one important step was taken towards the decision of the conflicting claims of Maryland and Pennsylvania, by a decree of King James' council, which ordered,' that for avoiding further differences, the tract of land lying between the bay of Delaware and the eastern sea, on the one side, and the Chesapeake bay on the other, be divided into equal parts, by a line from the latitude of Cape Henlopen, to the fortieth degree of north latitude, the southern boundary of Pennsylvania by charter, and that the one half thereof lying toward the bay of Delaware and the eastern sea, be adjudged to belong to his Majesty, and the other half to Lord Baltimore, as comprised in his charter.' (1 Proud, 293, N) The power of the King's council.to decide upon disputed proprietary boundaries, and to enlarge or restrict their limits is fully recognized in the several opinions of the eminent council already alluded to, unless when the parties had entered into agreement to settle their disputes themselves. "This decree of King James, which evidently exhibits a partiality towards the claims of Penn, in decreeing the eastern half of the peninsula to his majesty, with whom Lord Baltimore could not presume, and indeed had declined a dispute, instead of the proprietary himself, by no means removed the difficulties which hung over this tedious, expensive, and vexatious litigation. For as we will herafter see there existed as muchluncertainty with respect to the true situation of Cape Henlopen, and the ascertainment of the middle of the penisula as any points in contest. "However, after continued altercation, betweeen the proprietaries and their respective settlers, which was interrupted, and perhaps protracted by the death of William Penn, in 1718, and the death of the first Charles Lord Baltimore, who escaped from his worldly troubles in 1714, his grandson, of the same name, and great grandson of Cecilius, the original patentee, entered into articles of agreement with John Penn, Richard Penn, and Thomas Penn (who had become, by the will of their father, sole proprietaries of MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 539 his American possessions), on the 10th May, 1732, which I suppose they fancied would settle their respective boundaries to their mutual satisfaction. "By this celebrated agreement, amongst other things, not so important to the object of this essay, it was mutually covenanted and agreed, that the chart annexed to the agreement, which embraced the country in dispute, and the adjacent parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, was a correct impression of the charts sent over to the contracting parties, that they would regulate their negotiations by it, that a semi-circle should be drawn at twelve English statute miles around New Castle, agreeably to the deed of the Duke of York to William Penn, in 1682-that an east and west line should be drawn, beginning at Cape Henlopen (which was admitted to be below Cape Cornelius), and running westward to the exact middle of the peninsula, between the two bays of Chesapeake and Delaware, and from the end of the line intersecting it in the latitude of Cape Henlopen, a line should be run northward, so as to form a tangent with the periphery of the semicircle at New Castle, drawn with the radius of twelve English statute miles, whether such line should take a due north course or not-that after the said northwardly line should touch the New Castle semi-circle, it slould be run further northward, until it reached the same latitude as fifteen English statute miles due south of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphiathat from the northern point of such line a due west line should be run, at least for the present, across the Susquehannah river, and twenty-five miles beyond it, and to the western limits of Pennsylvania, when occasion and the improvements of the country should require-that that part of the due west line not actually run, though imaginary, should be considered to be the true boundary of Maryland and Pennsylvania-that within two months seven commissioners should be appointed by each of the contracting parties, any three or more of whom should be a quorum, to run and mark the said boundaries-that the commissioners should commence their operations as early as October and finish in December of the same year, with all fairness and dispatch-that the route should be well marked by trees and other natural objects, and designated by stone pillars, sculptured with the arms of the contracting parties, facing their respective possessions-and that in case a quorum of the commissioners of either party failed to attend, that the defaulting party should forfeit to the other the sum of five thousand pbunds. " This important document, though drawn with all imaginable skill and precision, from heads furnished by the high contracting parties themselves (1 Ves. 451), and seemingly so free of ambiguity, yet was afterwards the subject of much litigation and cavil, both in England and America. But as it was finally carried into complete effect in all its parts, it affords information highly interesting. It accounts for the boundaries of what is now the state of Delaware, then called the three lower counties of New Castle, 540 THE OLDEN TIME. Kent, and Sussex, and explains why the point which is noticed on the maps, was produced between the semi-circle around New Castle, and the line running through the peninsula and past the place of contact with it, to within fifteen miles south of the latitude of Philadelphia. "The development of the negotiations between Lord Baltimore and the proprietary of Pennsylvania, shows the anxiety and vexation suffered, and the immense expense incurred by both parties in ascertaining the limits of their respective grants. In the agreement of 1732, each party fancied they had made important concessions and sacrifices for the sake of peace. That Lord Baltimore really thought so there can be little doubt, for he seems by his charter, if it was valid at all, to have a very plausible pretension, not only to all the uncultivated lands covered by the fortieth degree, but even to the uncultivated shores of the bay of Delaware. Taking from him however the settled country in that quarter at the date of his grant in 1632, and which reached perhaps up nearly to Philadelphia, and leaving the settlements a reasonable portion of back country, he might well suppose himself entitled fairly to extend his northern limits to the beginning of the forty-first degree of north latitude, instead of stopping fifteen miles below that city. This would have given him a strip of land now forming a very valuable portion of Pennsylvania, constituting great part of what is now the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, Lancaster, York, Adams, Franklin, Bedford, Somerset, Fayette, and Greene. The Penns evidently were gainers by the agreement, and made no concession of territory. They certainly had the advantage of the Maryland proprietaries, in coolness and circumspection, and the disputes, however tedious, expensive, and irksome to them, must have been equally so to him. William Penn possessed, during his whole life, the advantage of Lord Baltimore in his favor at court. He was upon the most intimate footing with King James, so much so, indeed, as to have been currently suspected, as he says himself, of being a Jesuit. He had, as well as his father, Admiral Penn, not only rendered important personal services to that Prince, but inculcated the doctrine of passive obedience, and of rendering unto Caesar the things that are Coesar's; a doctrine so sweet and soothing to the royal ears of the house of Stewart. After the revolution, though William Penn was in disgrace at court, in the reign of King William, on account of his constancy to his unfortunate benefactor, yet Lord Baltimore was no less so, as being a Roman Catholic, and on account of some delay in proclaiming in his province the accession of the Protestant dynasty, was strongly threatened with deprivation of charter by scire facias. The claims of Penn during James's reign, were somewhat the cause of the crown; and in King William's time they were actually so, as the crown had then resumed the government of Pennsylvania and its territories. And in the reign of Queen Anne, as the British government were MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 541 in treaty with the proprietary of Pennsylvania, for the entire purchase of his rights to his provinces, for the sum of 12,000 pounds, and had actually paid him 1000 pounds upon the strength of the negotiation, the Lord Baltimore must have felt the pressure of his situation and the obvious'advantage of his opponents; and despaired of ever seeing his pretensions fully successful.. " All these untoward circumstances must have influenced the mind of the Lords Baltimore during the progress of the transaction, previous to the agreement of 1732; and induced them to recede from pretensions, which they had persisted in with sufficient pertinacity and violence, and which were abandoned subsequently with much reluctance, and many captious objections. " So far in the progress of those important negotiations, the Lords Baltimore may not be blameable to a great degree, but the transactions which transpired subsequently, and the many frivolous and captious objections, and unreasonable constructions attempted to be put upon their contract of 1742, by their agents, showed more a disposition to oppose and protract, than to promote the adjustment of their disputes agreeably to that instrument. Lord Baltimore, it is true, by his council, in the argument of the cause in Chancery, in England, which arose out of the agreement, disavowed their conduct, but at the same time, urged the invalidity of the agreement, on the ground of impositions on the part of the Penns, and his own ignorance of the nature of his rights. " Every obstacle seems to have been thrown into the way of carrying the agreement between the parties into operation, by Lord Baltimore and his agents, who manifested an anxious desire to evade its provisions. "The public records at Harrisburgh furnish no detail of what transpired between the commissioners, who met at New Castle, to run the lines as agreed upon, though the minutes of their transactions seems to have been voluminous (Provincial Records, Vol. K. p. 354), and what -will be here stated of them, is taken from the articles of agreement entered into between Frederick, Lord Baltimore, and Thomas and Richard Penn, in 1760. " There are great deficiencies in the early public records of the provincial government. When the revolutionary war broke out, they were in the hands of their secretary, Joseph Shippen, who, I have been informed, when they were peremptorily demanded by the commonwealth, made a very reluctant and mutilated return, embracing only the books of the provincial records, and excluding all the loose document~ of his office. "The commissioners made little or no progress in effecting the object of their appointment, and were under the necessity of dispersing without coming to any definitive arrangements, Lord Baltimore's commissioners behaving, as Lord Hardwick afterwards remarked (1 Yes. 455), with great chicanery through their whole negotiations. 542 THE OLDEN TIME. "One of the commissioners of the Penns arriving half an hour or so later than the period designated, the Maryland commissioners at first objected to proceeding, alleging that the contract was broken, and the ~5000 penalty forfeited, and when that point was waived, they insisted that the semicircle around New Castle should be drawn with a periphery, and not a radius of twelve miles, thus shutting their eyes to the very words and manifest intention of what the Lord Chancellor declared to be the plainest part of the agreement. They made further difficulties about the centre of the semicircle around the town (which it seems even in those early days covered a considerable extent of ground), and refused to consider the true situation of Cape Henlopen to be where the proprietaries themselves had fixed it. "And Baltimore, the year following, 1734 (Kilty's Landholder, p. 171), in direct violation of his contract, presented a petition to his Majesty, praying for a confirmation of his charter, as made to his great grandfather, Cecilius, the original patentee; but I believe it was not acted upon, probably on the ground, that as the boundaries had been settled by the parties themselves in their articles of agreement, the council had no authority to interfere, as their jurisdiction was confined to original, unsettled and conflicting chartered, grants of colonial territory, and the consideration of his prayer was postponed, to give the parties an opportunity of trying the validity or abandonment of their articles of agreement of 1732, by a judicial tribunal. "In 1735, John, Richard, and Thomas Penn, filed a bill in Chancery against Lord Baltimore, praying for a decree of specific performance of the articles; which from the death of John Penn, and the necessity of adding other parties, and the unconscionable delay incident to proceedings in that court, was not finally pronounced for sixteen years. " In the mean time, the quiet of the provinces continuing to be interrupted, and riots and disturbances occurring from the violence of Maryland pretensions, both parties applied in 1737, to the King's council, for some order which should lessen or allay these ferments. A decree was made, but not having been carried into operation was rescinded, and the claimants again appeared personally, and being heard by the council, the consideration of the subject was adjourned upon an intimation of the probability of an amicable agreement. This was happily effected. It was agreed between the high contracting parties,'that all the vacant land not now possessed by, or under either of them, on the east side of the Susquehannah river down as far as fifteen miles and a quarter south of the latitude of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia; and on the west side of Susquehannah, as far south as fourteen miles and three quarters south of the latitude of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, should be subject to the temporary and provisional jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and that all vacant land not possessed by or under either, on both sides of MASON AND DIXON S LINE. 543 the Susquehannah, south of the said temporary limits, should be subject to the jurisdiction of Maryland, until the boundariesshould be finally settled, and that the provisionary and temporary limits, as thus established, should continue until the boundaries were finally settled. but to be without prejudice to either party. And when this convention was reported to the council, his Majesty was pleased to order' that the proprietaries of the said respective provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania, do cause the said agreement to be carried into execution (Prov. Record, Vol. K. p. 61).' The order was accordingly promulgated by proclamation in the provinces, and commissioners were the following year appointed to run the'temporary line:' Richard Petets and Lawrence G(rowden on the part of Pennsylvania, and Col. Levin Gale and Samuel Chamberlaine on that of Maryland. These commissioners commenced their active operations in the spring of 1739, and after proceeding as far as the eastern bank of the Susquehannah, were interrupted by the departure of Col. Gale, on account of death and sickness in his family, and the declaration of Mr. Chamberlaine, that he had no authority to continue operations without the attendance of his colleague. The Pennsylvania commissioners deeming their power to proceed confined to a united operation with those of Maryland, received further instructions to proceed alone from governor Thomas. They accordingly did so, and run the line westward of the Susquehannah,' to the most western of the Kittochtinny Hills,' which now form the western boundary of the county of Franklin. There is in the office of the Surveyor General at Harrisburgh, a copy of their minutes, and a beautiful manuscript colored map of their route. The course run by these commissioners formed the famous' temporary line,' so well known to lawyers and settlers on the southern boundary of our commonwealth, and in some measure allayed the turmoil of the provinces. "The cause in Chancery between the Penns and Lord Baltimore, was not decided until 1750. On the hearing, Lord Baltimore's counsel contended that it could not be carried into effect, on account of its vagueness and uncertainty, and that the contract had been abandoned by the neglect of the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, to meet at the time appointed, and that the ~5000 penalty was forfeited. "The Lord Chancellor, however, overcame all the objections urged in the argument, which occupied five days, and decreed a performance of the articles of agreement. He directed that new commissioners should be appointed within three months after the decree, who should commence their operations in November following (1 Ves. 453). He further ordered, that the centre of the semicircle should be fixed as near the centre of the town of New Castle as may be, that it should be described with a radius of twelve English statute miles,'so that no part of the town should be further than that distance from the periphery, and that Cape Henlopen should be 544 THE OLDEN TIME. taken to be situated as it was laid down in the chart accompanying the articles of agreement.' "The commissioners were appointed agreeably to the decree, and met at New Castle on the 15th of November, 1750. They fixed upon the court house of New Castle as the centre for drawing the semicircle, but the captious chicanery of' Lord Baltimore's commissioners conjured up a new and unexpected difficulty by insisting that the radii of the semicircle should be measured superficially without allowing for the inequalities of the ground, regardless of the absurd consequences resulting from such modes of measurement in creating inequality in the radii, and the consequent impossibility of describing any thing deserving the name of a semicircle. But, as the objection was persisted in, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania were again under the necessity of a further application to clhancery, under the reservations in the former decree, and obtained, in 1751, a decision in favor of horizontal measurement. "The commissioners again proceeding in their task, Charles Lord Baltimore died, but as the peace and happiness of the two provinces depended on the settlement of those protracted disputes, they did not on that account suspend their operations. Having run the semicircle agreeably to the Lord Chancellor's decree with a radius of twelve English statute miles by horizontal admeasurement, and marked it on the ground, they commenced their operations at Cape Henlopen. "Fixing the southern boundary of the three lower counties (now the state of Delaware) at Fenwick's Island, requires explanation, as the chart of the proprietaries, accompanying their agreement of 1732, gives to the cape opposite Cape May, at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, the name of Cape Cornelius, and the point at Fenwick's Island, that of Henlopen, and the maps of the present day transpose that order. The Swedes on their first arrival in 1672, landed at the interior cape, afterwards Inlopen, and named it Paradise Point from its pleasant appearance, (Bozman's History of Maryland, p. 244), a fatiguing voyage giving, I presume, a liveliness to their eelings which the view of a sandy bluff under ordinary circumstances would not have produced.' This Cape,' says Proud (1 Hist. Penn. 111), is frequently confounded with Cape Henlopen, the interior or False Cape at Fenwick's Island, being written in the same manner and sometimes Henlopen. It was formerly called Cape Cornelius, and afterwards by William Penn, Cape James.' Bozman (Hist. Maryland, 244) concludes that the confounding of the appellations arose'from the addition of the aspirate, which in the Swedish language when prefixed to the word Inlopen, altered the sense of it from the interior to the exterior cape. It is probable that the Swedes might have called the interior Cape Inlopen, and the exterior Henlopen, and that when the Dutch encroached upon their neighbors in those parts they gave the name of Cornelius to the interior cape, leaving the for MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. 545 mer to its original appellation of Henlopen. For it appears from Hamilton (MSS. notes of the testimony taken under the commissions issued to America in the chancery cause between the proprietaries), that in early times'the cape on Fenwick's Island was called Henlopen,' and that' South Cape, twenty miles below the mouth of Delaware Bay, was called Cape Henlopen.' One witness said that' False Cape way formerly called Henlopen in his father's time, who was a pilot living fifteen miles below the mouth of Delaware Bay,' and another, that he'had seen Dutch and English maps in which there were two capes laid down (published in 1672) to the south of the entrance into the Delaware Bay, and that the southernmost was called Cape Henlopen, and the most northwardly lying at the south side of the entrance was called Cape Cornelius;' and Lord Hardwick in delivering his judgment already alluded to, said (1 Ves. 452)'that it was clear by the proof that the true situation of Cape Henlopen was as laid down in the place accompanying the agreement, and not where Cape Cornelius is (i. e.) as the defendant (Lord Baltimore) contended, which would leave out a great part of what was intended to be included in the grant,' meaning that of the duke of York to William Penn. " How the names of Henlopen and Cornelius became transposed as they are on the maps of the present day, I leave to those who are better acquainted with modern antiquities;' but that they have changed positions since 1732, is not susceptible of contradiction.'*As the Lord Chancellor had decided that Cape Henlopen should be taken to be where Cape Henlopen had been agreed to be nineteen years before, the ingenuity of the commissioners of Maryland could devise. no further objections in that particular; and proceeding to operations in conjunction with those of Pennsylvania, they finally fixed a stone at 139 perches from tile cape at Fenwick's Island' near lour mulberry trees,' sculptured witi the arms of Baltimore on the south, and those of Penn on the north, and proceeded to run the line across the peninsula,' and ascertain the exact middle' as a point from whence to run the northwardly line to form a tangent with the semicircle at New Castle. They then run the line between the two bays in the latitude of Cape Henlopen (as agreed upon), until they reached the waters of Slaughter's creek (not now laid down in the maps), a distance of sixty miles and two hundred and forty-eight and a half perches, wlien the fruitful inventions of the Maryland commissioners, alleging that as they had reached the waters runniing into the Chesapeake bay, they had run across the peninsula, agreeably to the spirit of the articles of agreement, and insisted upon stopping. The line however was continued till they passed through Taylor's and part of James's Islands, a distance of sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half perches, from bay to bay. But as the comm issioners of Lord Baltimore refused to proceed to ascertain the middle of the peninsula, unless their computation was adopted, it became VOL. 1 —25 546 THE OLDEN TIME. necessary for the Penns to file a supplemental bill in Chancery, against Frederick Lord Baltimore, to force him to adopt the line of sixty-nine nliles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half perches, as the distance across the peninsula, from bay to bay, and ascertain its exact middle, from whence the northwardly line should be run so as to form a tangent with the New Castle semicircle, and past it to the latitude of fifteen English statute miles south of the most southern part of Philadelphia. " Whilst this bill was pending, Frederick Lord Baltimore, tired of the litigation and expense of the disputes, which he did not probably understand, as he was then young, and perhaps finding himself driven from every possible chance of further cavil, finally entered into articles of agreement with Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, in 1760, which at length effectually closed their protracted and vexatious altercations. "By this agreement it was covenanted, that the semicircle as already run should be adopted-that the distance across the peninsula in the latitude of Cape Henlopen, should be taken to have been rightly run, at sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half perches from the stone pillar east of' the mulberry tree, at Fenwick's Island,' and marked with the arms of the contracting parties, that the middle of such line should be ascertained, and a stone pillar should be fixed at that point-that from such point a northwardly line should be run, whether the same should be due north or not, so as to form a' tangent with the semicircle at New Castle, drawn with a radius of twelve English statute horizontal miles, from the court house in that place, and past the said point of contract further north till it reached the latitude of fifteen miles south of the most southern part of Philadelphia-that the supplemental bill filed should be confessed, that all claim should be released to the territory, within those limits then to be ascertained, and that the Penns should appoint commissioners to run the lines as yet unfinished. " These articles of agreement of 1760, between Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, and Frederick Lord Baltimore, are well known to our courts of justice, and have been admitted in evidence without proof, as a state paper, with which they are presumed to be conversant. They were enrolled in Chancery in England, in pursuance of a decree of that court, found amongst the papers some years ago of Dr. Ross (1 Binn. 390), who had some connections with the Penns as their agent. They are not to be found amongst the public documents of the commonwealth, but there was a copy of them taken by the secretary of that office, from the original, brought there by Samuel Riddle, Esq., who was a connection of Dr. Ross's family, under an express written stipulation, that they should be re-delivered to him after they were copied, as private property. It is to be lamented, that the original was not filed, for though it has been admitted in our courts as evidence in cases of disputes, under conflicting Maryland and Pennsylvania land titles, MASON AND DIXON S LINE. 547 yet if they should unfortunately be lost, the courts, I presume, would not admit the copy which was taken in a large unwieldy book, and much less the copy of a copy, unless an act of Assembly should be passed giving such copy, or copy of the copy, the character of legal evidence. "Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason were appointed to run the unfinished lines in 1767, and extended to the western line between the two provinces, to the distance of two hundred and thirty miles, and marked for one hundred and thirty miles by stone pillars, thus putting a final termination to disputed territory between Maryland and Pennsylvania. This line was afterwards designated' Mason and Dixon's line,' to distinguish it from' the temporary line,' run in 1739, as already related. I have never been able to see a chart or minutes of these latter surveys, as they are not amongst the public records of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. "' These disputes and negotiations of the proprietaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania, are curious and interesting, as a portion of the early history of the state, and necessary and important to a proper knowledge of the land titles within the disputed territory, the covenants respecting which, in the famous agreements of 1732 and 1760, it is foreign to this sketch to exhibit or explain. The whole history of these transactions, shows conclusively, the fairness and candor, the moderation and firmness of William Penn, the illustrious and irreproachable founder of Pennsylvania, and the justice of the claims of his posterity, and rescues his name from the imputation of injustice." NOTE A. It seems that our friend has taken a different view of the clause of the charter which fixed "the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude " as the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, from what we had taken in our lecture. He scouts the claim to go south to the line of thirty-nine degrees as preposterous, and declares that it involves a " manifest absurdity." We thought differently; we considered the words of the charter sufficient to give the title, had not the previous grant to Lord Baltimore intervened. The words of the grant as the southern boundary are as follows: On the south by a circle to be drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude." There was, however, a material difference between the two questions. In the controversy treated of in the memoir, there was a prior grantee to Penn, claiming a right to territory, at least as far north as the latitude of the head of the Delaware bay. But in the dispute with Virginia there was no prior 548 THE OLDEN TIME. grant to an adverse claimant. She was a proprietary government, and the crown could enlarge, contract or vary her boundary at its pleasure. If then the charter to Penn even encroached upon the bounds of Virginia, it was the voluntary act of the King granting to one of his subjects arportion of his royal domain. There would have been no more injustice to any human being in granting to Wmn. Penn the territory now forming the counties of Monongalia, Preston and Marion, than there was in bestowing Chester or Lancaster. The crown had the same power and right to grant the western territory of Virginia, that it exercised in granting Pennsylvania. If; then, the words of the charter to Penn, could be construed fairly to extend to the line of thirty-nine degrees, there could be no valid objection urged against it. It is true that there appears to be scome deficiency in the words of the charter. The line drawn " northward and westward " could not reach " the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude." But those words could not be used without meaning. That line was certainly intended as the southern boundary of Pennsyivania, and although Lord Baltimore's prior grant prevailed through the whole length of Maryland, yet beyond that there could be no southern boundary, except the beginning of the fortieth degree-that is, the end of the thirty-ninth. John Penn, in a letter written in reply to queries propounded to him by the Earl of Dartmouth, in 1773, states that the minutes of the council show that Pennsylvania was to be three degrees wide and five long. The northern boundary is " the beginning of the forty-third degree," that is at the line of the forty-second degree, according to the charter, and there it was fixed with entire unanimity by Pennsylvania and New York. To give the former state her three degrees, her southern boundary should in the words of her charter be "the beginning of the fortieth degree "-that is the line of the thirty-ninth degree. There may be some omission in the charter. But that instrument itself provides for such a case. As a general rule in grants by the King, where a question arises, the construction shall be most favorable to the grantor. But Penn's charter expressly provides that if any doubt or question of construction arises, that interpretation shall be adopted, which is most favorable or advantageous to the grantee. The construction most favorable to Penn, is that which gives to the words "the beginning of the fortieth degree" their true and real meaning, and it would seem to us to be a forced construction to disregard that expression or treat it as a nullity. Besides if those words are rejected, the charter would fix no southern boundary to Pennsylvania, west of Maryland. ANSWERS OF JOHN PENN. 549 ANSWERS OF JOHN PENN, TO QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH. In July, 1773,. the Earl of Dartmouth proposed a number of questions to the Governors of the different provinces, to which John Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, made very full replies in January, 1775. From these questions and replies we make the following extracts, which will be interesting, in connection with what we have published, in relation to our southern boundary. " 1. What is the situation of the province under your government; the nature of the country, soil, and climate; the latitude and longitudes of the most considerable places in it; have those latitudes and longitudes been settled by good observations or only common computations; and from whence are the longitudes computed? "Answer. The province of Pennsylvania is situated on the river Delaware, in North America, lying (agreeable to the Royal charter) from the beginning of the 40th to the beginning of the 43d degree of latitude; and in longitude computed west, from Greenwich, from 75 to 80 degrees. The nature of the country is various, being in many places much broken with hills, mountains, and barrens, but this is compensated by a proportionable number of fertile vallies and plains, watered by the noble rivers the Delaware, the Susquehannah, part of the Allegheny or Ohio, and the numerous branches, streams, and springs that empty themselves into these three great rivers. The soil, where good (which is a large proportion of the whole), is well adapted'to the raising wheat and other sorts of grain raised in England, besides some others, such as Indian corn, &c., suitable to our more southern latitude. The climate is salubrious, differing little from European climates in the same latitude, excepting in this, that the winter colds are somnething more intense from the vast extent of country to the northwestward; but the purity of the air during the cold season, which seldom lasts above two months, compensates for its keenness. The city of Philadelphia, situated near the conflux of Delaware and one of its chief branches the Schuylkill, is the most considerable town in the province, or, indeed, in North America. The State House of this city lies in north latitude 390 56' 53"; its longitude, from the royal observatory, at Greenwich, computed west 75~ 8' 45"; or, in time, 5 hours and 35 seconds. This latitude and 550 THE OLDEN TIME. longitude were both fixed by accurate astronomical observations, at the transit of Venus, 1769. Some of the county towns are considerable places, as Lancaster and York, the chief towns of the counties that go by their names; Reading, the chief town of Berks; and Carlisle, the chief town of Cumberland. But their latitudes and longitudes are not yet fixed by any accurate observations. "Easton, the chief town of Northampton county, situated at the conflux of the main branch of the Delaware, and the Lehigh branch, lies in latitude 40~ 43' 10", and about the same longitude as Philadelphia. " The conflux of the Popauchton and Mohock branches of the Delaware, lies in latitude 41~ 56' 30". And about eight miles higher than this, on the Mohock branch, is fixed, by accurate astronomical observations, the beginning of the 43d degree of' latitude, through which the boundary line of New York and Pennsylvania passes. " Sunbury, the county town of Northumberland, situated at the conflux of the East and West branches of the Susquehannah, lies in latitude 40~ 47' 7".'"Wyoming, on the East branch of the Susquehannah (where some intruders, from Connecticut, have forcibly seated themselves, under pretence of extending their colony to the South Sea), is situated in latitude 41 degrees 14' 17". "Fort Pitt, at the conflux of the Ohio and Monongehela rivers, lies in latitude 40~ 26' 22"; and its longitude, west from Greenwich, 79~ 59' 0". This has been accurately ascertained, and leaves Fort Pitt undoubtedly about six miles within our western boundary, as that part of the Delaware which lies in the latitude of Fort Pitt, is three miles forty-seven chains east of Philadelphia. " The Light-House, on Cape Henlopen, at the entrance of Delaware bay, is situated in latitude 38~ 47' 8"; its longitude, west from Greenwich, 75 5' 18". "2. What are the reputed boundaries; and are any parts thereof disputed; what parts, and by whom? "Answer. The boundaries of Pennsylvania, as described in the Royal charter, by King Charles the Second, to William Penn, the founder of the province, are as follows:'All that tract or part of land in America, with the Islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of north latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said river unto the forty-third degree. The said land to extend, westward, five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the ANSWERS OF JOHN PENN. 551 north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned.' "There was a serious contention between the proprietaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania concerning the boundaries and extent of their provinces, from the time of the original grant of Pennsylvania, till the year 1732, when they entered into articles of agreement for the settlement and establishment of their boundaries, by which it was agreed that a due north line should be drawn from the tangent point of the twelve miles circle of New Castle, so far only until it should come unto the same latitude as fifteen English statute miles due south of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, and that a due east and west line should be run in manner following: To begin at the northern point or end of the said due south and north line, and should be run thence due west across the Susquehannah river to the utmost extent of the province of Pennsylvania, which said east and west line was to be the lines of division between Maryland and Pennsylvania. And these lines are established as the boundaries between them by a decree in chancery, in England, after a long, tedious, and expensive suit, instituted in that court by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania against the proprietary of Maryland, for a specific performance of those articles. In the year 1760 another agreement was made between the proprietaries of these two provinces, reciting and ratifying the agreement of 1732, and the decree aforesaid, and this latter agreement were also established by a decree in chancery. These lines have been run and marked by commissioners on both sides, in consequence of the several agreements and decrees, and at the joint petition of the proprietaries of each province, the agreements and decrees, and the execution of them, were ratified by his Majesty, in council, on the 11th day of January, 1769, so that those divisional lines thus established, and the charter bounds of Pennsylvania, so far as the province of Maryland does not interfere, according to the agreements and decrees aforesaid, may be said, at this day, to be the reputed bounds of Pennsylvania, which, however, are considerably short of the intention of the original grant, which appears by the minutes of council at the time of the grant, arrd from the expressions of the grant itself, to have been an extent of three degrees of latitude and five of longitude, from which the province of Maryland takes off about fifty miles in latitude, in the full extent of Maryland, from east to west. A claim has lately been made by the colony of Con necticut to a part of Pennsylvania, which they have not ascertained with any degree of precision, but allege they have a right to at least the whole fortysecond degree of north latitude, in breadth, to extend the whole longitude of the province of Pennsylvania. No other part of Pennsylvania is disputed, 552 THE OLDEN TIME. that I know of, except that Lord Dunmore, as governor of Virginia, hath lately taken possessson of Pittsburgh, and claims the country as far castward as the Laurel hill, which, in many places, is at least fifty miles within the charter bounds of Pennsylvania. "3. What is the size and extent of the province; the number of acres supposed to be contained therein; what part thereof is cultivated and improved, and under what titles do the inhabitants hold their possession? "Answer. The extent of the province is mentioned in the answer to the first question, viz: Three degrees of latitude by five of longitude, as it should be/by the charter, which contains fifty-four thousand nine hundred and twelve square miles, or thirty-five millions one hundred and forty-three thousand six hundred and eighty acres. But the prior grant to Lord Baltimore having been determined to interfere with the grant to Mr. Penn, the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, so far west as Maryland extends, has been settled in chancery at fifteen miles south of Philadelphia, viz: in latitude 39~ 43' 42". By this settlement Pennsylvania loses eleven thousand sixteen square miles, or seven millions fifty thousand two hundred and forty acres, being something more than one-fifth of the whole grant; indeed, if the southern boundary was to be continued quite through to the western extremity of the province in the aforesaid latitude of 39~ 43' 42", onefourth of the whole royal grant to Pennsylvania would be lost. But as Pennsylvania reaches about fifty-one miles west of Maryland, it is presumed that there at least the province should run south to the fortieth degree, and then west to the end of five degrees from Delaware, after which the aforesaid quantity of seven millions fifty thousand two hundred and forty acres will still be deficient of what it was the gracious intention of government to grant to William Penn, and it may be submitted to his Majesty's goodness, whether this deficiency ought not to be made good somewhere. It is not easy to ascertain what proportion of the province is cultivated, but, on the whole, it is a much larger proportion than in any other. colony of the same age in North America, the country being, in general, very fully settled as far as the quality of the lands and purchase from the Indians will permit. The lands are held by the inhabitants under patents from the prop ietaries, and yearly quit rents of various denominations, the highest one penny per acre; a great part only halt a penny, and many of the old patents, under small acknowledgments in corn or wheat, &c." VIRGINIA CONTROVERSY. 553 CONTROVERSY BETWEEN PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA. We have received from a very intelligent friend in Virginia, a letter containing some comments on the lecture on this controversy which we published in our tenth number. As we desire that the whole truth should appear, we very cheerfilly give the letter a place in our work, reserving only the right of response. We publish it the more willingly, because it very naturally leads to the introduction, into the Olden Time, of a history of the manner in which the claims to the north western territory were relinquished to Congress. This history comes very properly within the scope of our undertaking, though in publishing it now we rather anticipate its regular order of publication. We wish, however, in this volume, to close what we have to say upon the subject of titles to the country on and near the head of the Ohio. The letter follows: "Peel'd Tree, November 15, 1846. "1DEAR SIR-I observe in your lecture, published in the last Olden Time, a remark, which among Virginians, will be deemed at least an inaccuracy. Speaking of the grant to Lord Baltimore, you observe'Yet against this grant neither the (Virginia) company nor the colonial legislature made any opposition..This, you say, is only material as showing the submission of those interested, and as proving that the decision on the quo warranto was acquiesced in as legal.' As to the quo warranto, the colonists of Virginia only looked upon that measure as a transfer of the rights of the London company into the hands of the King, without increase or diminution,whilst the rights of the colony remained as they were (see Mr. Jefferson's notes on Virginia, page 153), and the grant of the territory of Maryland to Lord Baltimore was most earnestly (considering their weak condition) opposed by the colonists. Burke, in his history of' Virginia (2d vol. page 39), has this paragraph:'Against this grant a petition was drafted to the King in the name of the planters* of Virginia. The members of the council acknowledged the justice of their claim; but felt themselves incompetent to afford the remedy, and with a casuistry in perfect consonance with the spirit of the courtiers of those times, they decided that Lord Baltimore See note A, by the editor. 554 THE OLDEN TIME. should retain his patent, and the petitioners their remedy at law.' And if' Virginia did not enter into a litigation with Lord Baltimore, backed as he was by the power of that arbitrary king, we can easily conjecture the reasons that deterred them. " Your lecture details a mass of facts that are germain to a question now depending in one of the courts of Virginia. You have, no doubt, understood something of the case, involving the abduction of some slaves, from the neighborhood of Parkersburgh, by citizens of Ohio. In the argument of this case, before the general court of Virginia, the Counsel representing the state of Ohio, contended that the territorial domain of the state of Virginia never extended further west than the summit of the Allegheny range of mountains-that the territory lying upon the western waters originally belonged to France, and by the treaty of Paris, in 1762, passed to the crown of England, and by the definite treaty of peace between England and the.United States passed to the United States; consequently, if this argument is sound, Virginia and Pennsylvania now hold their territory on the western waters by intrusion upon the domain of the Federal Government.* I had designed to reply to this argument, but have concluded that it was not worth' the candle.' It is true that when the charter was granted to the London company, by which the boundaries of the territory of the colony of Virginia were made to extend from the sea board at the mouth of the Chesapeake to the Pacific ocean, (embracing' all of Oregon,') the Mississippi river had not then been discovered, but was subsequently discovered and occupied by the French. The French contended that according to the law of nations, they were entitled, by reason of their first discovery and settlement of the Mississippi, to all the territory drained by that river and its tributaries, and proceeded to take possession of the country upon the Ohio river. Great Britain contended that her settlements on the sea board gave to her the right to extend back, indefinitely, and both nations prepared to settle the question by the ultimo ratio regum, and in this war Virginia took the initiative. She sent an expedition under Major Washington to dislodge the French at Fort Duquesne, and a declaration of war immediately follows-a war that terminated so gloriously for Great Britain and her colonies, and so disastrously for France. The treaty of 1762, by which France relinquished her claims to the territory on the western waters, enured to the benefit of the colonies, so far as the territory was embraced within their respective charters. The colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania so understood it, and they proceeded to extend their settlements on the western waters, and out of which arose the conflict about the right to Pittsburgh, a conflict with which the British government was well apprised, as is * See note B. VIRGINIA CONTROVERSY. 555 shown by the facts related in your lecture. This conflict of jurisdiction between the two colonies could never have arisen if neither had a right to claim the territory upon the western waters."* NOTE A. BY THE EDITOR OF THE OLDEN TIME. It will be perceived that the correctness of our statement that " neither the company nor the colonial legislature made any opposition," is not impeached or even questioned. But it is said that " the planters of Virginia" sent a petition to the King on the subject. We have not Burke's History, but entertain no doubt that he is correctly quoted by our Virginia fiiend. We think, however, that the extract contains in itself evidence that Burke was not an unprejudiced writer. To our mind, no more just and proper course could be pursued, than referring the petitioners to their remedy at law. Chief Justice Marshall, himself a Virginian, relates the matter without any such comment about;" casuistry" as Burke ventures to make. The following is his account of it. " Against this grant to Lord Baltimore, the planters of Virginia presented a petition which was heard before the privy council in July (1633) when it was decided, that that noble man should retain his patent and the petitioners their remedy at law. To this remedy they never thought proper to resort." In "a historical sketch of the formation of the confederacy particularly with reference to provincial limits, &c.," by Joseph Blunt, we find the following: " It is true that a petition was sent in, upon the grant to Baltimore, to represent, that the granting away of-some of their chief places would dishearten the planters; some difficulty also occurred between the planters in Maryland and some Virginians, as to Kent Island, which was denied to be within the limits of Baltimore's patent; but the right of the crown to grant the same was not denied. For this statement Mr. Blunt cited Hazard's State Papers, a work which we have not in our possession. NOTE B. The question as to whether France or Great Britain had the better title to the country along the Ohio is one of some difficulty. This difficulty seems to have been felt in Virginia, at least as early as 1774, and even towards the close of our revolution, some of the wisest men in that state ap* See note C. 556 THE OLDEN TIME. peared to be conscious that there was some defect in their title to the territory claimed, even east of the Ohio. Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, in his correspondence with Messrs. Tilghman and Allen, as published in the last number of the Olden Time, intimated that it was a question whether the western lands embraced in the grant to Penn, were, at that time, within the limits of his Majesty's domain, and that no legal title to any of that territory could be set up, except under a grant subsequent to the contest of the country and its cession by the treaty of'1763. And even at a later date, so late even as 1781, the legislature of Virginia required, as one condition to her cession of the territory west of the Ohio, that Congress should guarantee to her all the "territory south east of the Ohio between Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina to the Atlantic." Congress declined giving the guaranty, and the cession was subsequently made without it. No person in Pennsylvania ever thought of asking a guaranty for the territory embraced within her bounds. There is one difference between the cases of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The charter granted to William Penn remained unrevoked, and his heirs continued to be the proprietaries of the territory between her boundaries until the revolution. It is a principle of law that if a man grants land to which he has no title, and afterwards acquires one, the after acquired title shall inure to the benefit of the grantee. If this principle be applied to the grant to Penn, his title would he good whether Great Britain or France had the better title to the country around us. But as to Virginia, the charter was set aside more than one hundred and fifty years before our revolution; grants were afterwards made of territory within her chartered limits, the right of the King to make one of these grants at least was not denied, and there were no known heirs of the grantee claiming the territory, who could benefit by the conquest of this country, and its cession by the treaty of 1763. NOTE C. If the principle of common law and common honesty between private persons referred to in the foregoing note, applied to Royal grants, and we see no reason why it should not, then the heirs of Penn enjoyed a good title to all the lands within the chartered limits immediately after the treaty of 1763, even though France had the better title to this country. As to Virginia, if' she really succeeded to the whole north western territory, embracing all the territory alleged to be embraced within the charter of 1609, then her cession transferred her title to the United States, and would have sustained fully Mr. Polk's claim to 54~ 40', and yet we have no recollection that it was ever cited during the Oregon negotiation. THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 557 HISTORY OF THE CESSIONS, BY THE DIFFERENT STATES, OF THEIR CLAIMS TO THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. The following account of this interesting matter, upon which there is very great misapprehension, is taken from a very able article styled "A Historical Sketch of the Formation of the Confederacy, particularly with reference to the provincial limits under the jurisdiction of the general government over the Indian tribes and the public territory. By Joseph Blunt." " In the last chapter, the titles of the several provinces to their boundaries were set forth in detail, and the different principles applicable to their various claims discussed. These claims to territory were not all set up at the commencement of the contest; but were insisted upon, afterwards, when the nature of our government became more fully developed. In instituting the state governments, no mention was made of the extent of the several states; but they were referred to as they had previously existed when provinces. What their precise boundaries were, has been shown to have been very uncertain. The constitutions, therefore, which were then framed, were regulations for the conduct of the governors, rather than claims of territory-political instruments, and not descriptions of boundaries. Two states, however, departed from this rule, and thereby gave a rise to a question, which retarded the adoption of the articles of confederacy for nearly four years; and, indeed, endangered the existence of the republic. " Virginia, in her constitution, inserted the following provision: "'The territories contained within the charters, erecting the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby ceded, released, and forever confirmed to the people of these colonies respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government, and all other rights whatsoever, which might, at any time heretofore, have been claimed by Virginia, except the fiee navigation and use of the rivers Potomaque and Pokomoke, with the property of the Virginia shores and strands, bordering on either of the said rivers, and all improvements which have been, or shall be made thereon. The western and northern extent of Virginia shall, in all other respects, stand as fixed by the charters of king James I. in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, and by the public treaty of peace, between the courts of Britain and France, in the year one thou 558 THE OLDEN TIME. sand seven hundred and sixty-three; unless, by act of this legislature, one or more governments be established westward of the Allegheny mountains. And no purchases of lands shall be made of the Indian natives, but on behalf of the public, by authority of the general assembly.' " This was a vague assertion of title, and, in that moment of difficulty and distress, was not commented upon, possibly because it was supposed to be rather against Great Britain, than against the confederacy. "Shortly after, North Carolina followed this example, and without noticing the formal cession made in the constitution of Virginia, of the territory within the Carolina grant, set forth her claim in the following manner: "'All the territory, seas, waters and harbors, with their appurtenances, lying between the line above described, and the southern line of the state of Virginia, which begins on the sea shore, in thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and from thence runs west agreeable to the charter of King Charles, to the late proprietors of Carolina, are the right and property of the people of this state, to Je held by them in sovereignty: any partial line without the consent of the legislature of this state, at any time thereafter directed or laid out, in any wise notwithstanding: provided always, that this declaration of right shall not prejudice any nation or nations of Indians, from enjoying such hunting grounds as may have been, or hereafter shall be secured to them, by any former or future legislature of this state:-And provided, also, that it shall not be construed so as to prevent the establishment of one or more governments westward of this state, by consent of the legislature.' "The other states, whose boundaries were indefinite, viz: Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina and Georgia, inserted no description of their limits in their constitutions. In these assertions of territorial rights originated the difficulties, which so long prevented the ratification of the old federal government. 4 The wise men who framed the articles of confederation, convinced of the difficulty of then making any satisfactory arrangement, between the confederacy and the several states, as the dividing lines between their respective territories, concluded to postpone the business to a more convenient season, and to leave all parties in possession of their rights. This resolution was adopted upon the most deliberate conviction that no amicable adjustment could then be made; and after repeated attempts to devise some provision relating thereto, which would be acceptable to all. It was proposed in the original draft of the articles, that Congress should hav-e the power to limit and ascertain the boundaries of those colonies, which claimed to the south sea, to erect the territory into new states. This clause was struck out in the committee of the whole, and though several other efforts were made to settle the boundaries of those states, or fix upon some mode THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 559 by which they might be defined, they all proved abortive,* and the articles were framed without any provision upon the subject. "This omission was intentional; and upon mature consideration, it being fully understood that the rights of neither party were affected by it, another attempt was afterwards made by the delegates of Maryland, in pursuance of instructions from their constituents, to appoint commissioners to determine this dispute. Upon the final trial, the vote stood as follows, June 23, 1778: "Aye-Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. "No-New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia. "New York, divided.t "This equal division upon so important a question, produced a conviction that an amicable adjustment of these claims must be left to another generation. " Notwithstanding this willingness to postpone the settlement of these difficulties to a more fkvorable moment, no disposition was manifested to yield the rights of the confederacy to any of its members. "In 1779, the government of Virginia, disregarding this determination of the national legislature, but acting in the spirit of the above extract from her constitution, opened an office for the sale of these unappropriated lands. The subject was immediately brought before Congress, and the following resolution was introduced, and adopted by all the states then present, except Virginia and North Carolina; in the negative, New York divided.I' Whereas the appropriation of vacant lands by the several states, during the continuance of the war, will, in the opinion of Congress, be attended with great mischiefs; therefore, " Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the state of Virginia, to reconsider their late act of assembly, for opening their land office; and that it be recommended to the said state, and all other states similarly circumstanced, to forbear settling or issuing warrants for unappropriated lands, or granting the same during the continuance of the present war.' "Congress did not confine itself merely to remonstrance; but ordered Col. Broadhead, to be stationed in the western country with a competent force to prevent intrusions upon that territory. In the execution of these orders, that officer, in the month of October, 1779, being informed that certain inhabitants of' Virginia had crossed the Ohio, and made improvements on the Indian lands, from the river Muskingum to fort McIntosh, and thirty miles up the Ohio, ordered them to be apprehended as trespassers and des-'lst Secret Journal, 312. tIbid. 353. t3d Journal, Old Congress, 385. 560 THE OLDEN TIME. troyed their huts.* Information of this was immediately given to the governor of Virginia, and the next year, April 18th, Congress resolved, that Colonel Broadhead should be supported in any act or order which the nature of his service had made, or should make necessary.t This assertion of the title on the part of Virginia had now attracted the attention of some of the other states, and they insisted on an express stipulation in the articles of confederation, by which they might be effectually secured from these unreasonable claims. "Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, in particular, protested against her claims to the western territory, and proposed amendments similar to those offered previously in Congress. The amendments were disposed of in the same manner as the former, and the three first states, induced by the pressure of the war, acceded to the confederacy; but Maryland still refused, and, in May 21, 1779, her delegates presented to Congress instructions fiom her legislature refuting the extravagant pretensions of Virginia, and directing them not to sign the articles of confederation, until they were relinquished. (Vide Appendix D.) "Maryland having apparently adopted this resolution with a determination not to recede from it, Virginia authorized her delegates to ratify the articles, although some of the states should refuse to join the confederacy; and Connecticut followed the example. In this manner the Union was brought to the brink of destruction-divided into two parts, by the determination of the most central state not to accede to the articles of confederation, so long as Virginia adhered to this claim; and Virginia pertinaciously insisting upon what she regarded as her right: whilst the enemies of the country were exulting in the disorganization and distraction prevailing in the states, and fondly expecting that the confederacy was on the point of dissolution. "At this critical moment, the state of New York led the way to the removal of those difficulties, which prevented the ratification of the articles of confederation, by passing an act authorizing her delegates to limit and restrict tie boundaries of the western part of the state, in such manner as they should think proper. To this step the people of that state were prompted, solely by a desire'to manifest their regard for their sister states, promote the general interest and security, and, more especially, to accelerate the federal alliance, removing, as far as it depends upon them, the sole impediment to its final accomplishment.' The extent and value of this cession thus freely proffered to Congress, will appear by a report of a committee, May 1st, 1782, to whom the claims of Virginia were referred. " Virginia, on her part, shortly after the instructions from the Maryland assembly were entered upon the journal of Congress, presented a remon~3d Journal, Old Congress, 386. tIb. 449. THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 561 strance of her assembly in behalf of her title, which was referred, together with those instructions and the act of New York, to a committee of congress, which made the following report to that body, Sept. 6th, 1780: "'That having duly considered the several matters to them submitted, they conceive it unnecessary to examine into the merits or policy of the instructions or declaration of the general assembly of Maryland, or of the remonstrances of the general assembly of Virginia, as they involve questions, the discussion of which was declined on mature deliberation, when the articles of confederation were debated; nor, in the opinion of the committee, can such questions be now revived with any prospect of conciliation; that it appears more advisable to press upon these states which can remove the embarrassments respecting the western country, a liberal surrender of a portion of their territorial claims, since they cannot be preserved entire without endangering the stability of the general confederacy; to remind them how indispensably necessary it is to establish the federal union on a fixed and permanent basis, and on principles acceptable to all its respective members; how essential to public credit and confidence, to the support of our army, to the vigor of our councils and success of our measures, to our tranquillity at home, and our reputation abroad, to our very existence as a free, sovereign, and independent people; that they are fully persuaded the wisdom of the respective legislatures will lead them to a full and impartial consideration of a subject so interesting to the United States, and so necessary to the happy establishment of the federal union; that they are confirmed in these expectations by a view of the before mentioned act of the legislature of New York, submitted to their consideration; that this act is expressly calculated to accelerate the federal alliance. by removing, as far as depends on that state, the impediment arising from the western country, and for that purpose to yield up a portion of territorial claim for the general benefit; Whereupon, "'Resolved, That copies of the several papers referred to the committee be transmitted, with a copy of the report to the legislatures of the several states, and that it be earnestly recommended to those states, who have claims to the western country, to pass such laws, and give their delegates in Congress such powers, as may effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the articles of confederation; and that the legislature of Maryland be earnestly requested to authorize their delegates in Congress to subscribe the said articles.'* "On the 10th of October, 1780, this recommendation was reiterated in the following shape: "Resolved, That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relin* 1st Secret Journal, 427. VOL. i-36 562 THE OLDEN TIME. quished to the United States, by any particular state, pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the 6th day of September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican states, which shall become members of the federal union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence, as the other states; that each state which shall be so formed shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit; that the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular state shall have incurred since the commencement of the present war, in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts or garrisons within and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded orrelinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed:'" That the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times and under such regulations as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or any nine or more of them.' "These recommendations, the urgent remonstrances of the French minister, and the example of New York, produced the desired effects. The same month Connecticut passed an act of cession; and the 2d of January, 1781, Virginia followed her example. Neither of these acts was satisfactory; but they were, at least, indicative of a conciliatory spirit; and Maryland, on the 2d of February, authorized her delegates to accede to the confederation; but declared, at the same time, that by that accession the ~ state did not relinquish any right which she had with the other states to the back country; and relied upon the several states to do justice in that matter.* "On the first of March, 1871, the delegates of that state ratified the articles of confederation; and, on the same day, the delegates of New York executed a deed of cession to the United States on the part of New York of all her claims to territory west of a meridian line twenty miles west of the river Niagara, and north of the 45th degree of north latitude. "The general government now commenced its existence under a written constitution, with definite powers overthe Indian affairs, and with certain indefinite and unsettled claims to the territory beyond the Apalachian mountains. Before this it had proceeded to act upon those claims, firstly, by vindicating their title against the encroachments of Virginia, and, secondly, by offering bounty lands, August 27th, 1776, to British deserters,t and to the soldiers and officers of the continental army, Sept. 18, 1776.4 " It afterwards declared, upon some misapprehension concerning this last * 1st Secret Journal, 426. t 1st Journal Old Congress, 4.56. Ib. 479. THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 563 resolution, that the land was to be provided by the United States, not by the several states.* " The articles of confederation having been completed, the efforts of the states were directed to the expulsion of the British armies, and the question concerning the western territory was laid over, until the month of October, 1781, when the subject was again agitated, in consequence of some proceedings of a committee, to whom had been recommitted the territorial cessions of New York, Connecticut, and Virginia, and the petitions of the Illinois and Wabash, and Indiana companies. This committee had thought proper to examine into the claims of those companies, and to receive evidence concerning the property and sovereignty of the western territory. The delegates of Virginia refused to submit to any investigation into the title of that state; and, in order to suppress inquiry, made two several motions in Congress on the 16th and 26th of October, prohibiting the committee to take cognizance of that subject. Both those motions were supported by the votes of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and negatived by the unanimous vote of the other states.t " This committee, November 3d, 1781, brought in their report, which appears in the journal, May 1st, 1782; and that part referring to the public claims is here inserted. "' Your committee do report, that, having had a meeting with the agents on the part of New York, Connecticut and Virginia, the agents for New York and Connecticut laid before your committee their several claims to the lands said to be contained in their several states, together with vouchers to support the same; but the delegates on the part of Virginia declining any elucidation of their claim, either to the lands ceded in the act referred to your committee, or to the lands requested to be guaranteed to the said state by Congress, delivered to your committee the written paper hereto annexed and numbered twenty: "' That your committee have carefully examined all the vouchers laid before them, and obtained all the information into the state of the lands mentioned in the several cessions aforesaid, and having maturely considered the same, are unanimously of opinion, and do report the following resolutions: "' Resolved, That congress do, in behalf of the United States, accept the cession made by the state of New York, as contained in the instrument of writing executed for that purpose by the agents of New York, dated the day of last past, and now among the files of Congress; and that the president do take the proper measures to have the same legally authenticated, and registered in the public records of the state of New York. *lst Journal Old Congress, 533. t3d Journal Old Congress, 677, 681. 564 THE OLDEN TIME. "' The reasons that induced your committee to recommend the acceptance of this cession, are, 1 1st. It clearly appeared to your committee, that all the lands belonging to the Six Nations of Indians, and their tributaries, have been in due form put under the protection of the crown of England by the said Six Nations, as appendant to the late government of New York, so far as respects jurisdiction only. "'2d. That the citizens of said colony of New York have borne the burthen, both as to blood and treasure, of protecting and supporting the said Six Nations of Indians, and their tributaries, for upwards of one hundred years last past, as the dependents and allies of the said government. "' 3d. That the crown of England has always considered and treated the country of the said Six Nations, and their tributaries, inhabiting as far as the 45th degree of north latitude, as appendant to the government of New York. "'4th. That the neighboring colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, have also, from time to time, by their public acts, recognized and admitted the said Six Nations, and their tributaries, to be appendant to the government of New York. "'5th. That by Congress accepting this cession, the jurisdiction of the whole western territory belonging to the Six Nations, and their tributaries, will be vested in the United States, greatly to the advantage of the union. "'Resolved, That Congress do earnestly recommend to the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, that they do without delay release to the United States in Congress assembled, all claims and pretensions of claim to the said western territory, without any conditions or restrictions whatever. "'Resolved, That Congress cannot, consistent with the interests of the United States, the duty they owe to their constituents, or the rights necessarily vested in them as the sovereign power of the United States, accept of the cession proposed to be made by the state of Virginia, or guarantee the tract of country claimed by them in their act of cession referred to your committee. REASONS: "'1st. It appeared to your committee from the vouchers laid before them, that all the lands ceded or pretended to be ceded to the United States by the state of Virginia, are within the claims of the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, being part of the lands belonging to the said Six Nations of Indians and their tributaries. "'2d. It appeared that great part of the lands claimed by the state of Virginia, and requested to be guaranteed to them by Congress, is also within the claim of the state of New York, being also a part of the country of the said Six Nations and their tributaries. "' 3d. It also appeared that a large part of the lands last aforesaid are to THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 565 the westward of the west boundary line of the late colony of Virginia, as established by the king of Great Britain, in council, previous to the present revolution. "' 4th. It appeared that a large tract of said lands hath been legally and equitably sold and conveyed away under the government of Great Britain, before the declaration of independence, by persons claiming the absolute property thereof. "'5th. It appeared that in the year 1763, a very large part thereof was separated and appointed for a distinct government and colony by the king of Great Britain, with the knowledge and approbation of the government of Virginia. "' 6th. The conditions annexed to the said cession are incompatible with the honor, interests, and peace of the United States, and therefore, in the opinion of your committee, altogether inadmissible. "'Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the state of Virginia, as they value the peace, welfare and increase of the United States, that they reconsider their said act of cession, and by a proper act for that purpose, cede to the United States all claims and pretensions of claim to the lands and country beyond a reasonable western boundary, consistent with their former acts while a colony under the power of Great Britain, and agreeable to their just rights of soil and jurisdiction at the commencement of the present war, and that free from any conditions and restrictions whatever.'* "' Several motions were afterwards made on the subject; but no further advance was made towards an adjustment of the difficulty, until the 25th September, 1782, when the following resolutions were again passed by the unanimous vote of all the delegates in Congress, except those from Virginia, Georgia, and North and South Carolina: "' 1st. That if the several states claiming the exclusive property of the western lands would make cessions to the United States, agreeable to the recommendation of Congress of the 6th day of September, 1780, and the resolutions of Congress of'the 10th of October, 1780, it would be an important fund for the discharge of the national debt. "'2d. That therefore, it be recommended to those states which have made no cessions, to take the above recommendation and resolutions into consideration as soon as possible, and determine thereon. "' 3d. That it be recommended to those states which have made cessions not entirely agreeable to the above recommendations and resolutions, to reconsider the same, and send the result to the United States in Congress assembled.'f "These recommendations were reiterated on the 18th April, 1783, in certain resolutions relative to the extinguishment of the public debt, and on *4th Journal Old Congress, 21. t4th Journal Old Congress, 82. 566 THE OLDEN TIME. the 4th of the succeeding June, the Virginia cession was again referred to a committee, to report upon the proposed cession, without deciding upon the title of the state.* This reference excited the alarm of the New Jersey legislature, and a remonstrance was forwarded by that body to Congress within ten days after that reference, expressing their hopes that the cession of Virginia might not be accepted,t unless it was more liberal. " The committee to whom the reference had been made, consisting of Messrs. Rutledge, Ellsworth, Bedford, Gorham, and Madison, men ranking among the ablest and most judicious members of Congress, made a report, reciting the conditions of the Virginia cession, viz: "1st. That the territory north west of the Ohio, which was the tract ceded, should be laid out into republican states of certain specified dimensions, which were to be admitted into the Union, with the same rights as the other states. " 2d. That Virginia should be reimbursed by the United States her expenses in reducing the British posts, and all other expenses incurred on account of the north western territory during the war. "3d. That the inhabitants of Kaskaskies, St. Vincent, and the vicinity, should be secured in their possessions, and protected by the United States. "4th. That one hundred and fifty thousand acres in such part of the north western territory as the officers should select, should be granted to the soldiers and officers engaged in the expedition under Colonel Clarke against the British post in that country. " 5th. That certain bounty lands promised to the Virginia troops in the continental service, which were to be located in the north western territory, in case of any deficiency in the quarter to which they were first to resort. should be granted to them in the event of that contingency. "6th. That all the remaining territory, not disposed of in bounties to the American army, should be considered a common fund, for all such states as had, or might, become members of the union. "7th. That all Indian purchases, which had been, or should be, made for the use of private persons, and all royal grants inconsistent with' the chartered rights, laws, and customs of Virginia,' should be declared void. "8th. That all the territory south east of the Ohio, included between the boundaries of Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina, to the Atlantic, should be guaranteed to Virginia by the United States. " The first condition the committee decided to have been provided for by the act of Congress, October 10th, 1780. " The second condition was also considered to have been provided for in the same act; but, in order to adjust the account of such necessary and rea* 5th Journal Old Congrvss, 227, 231. t b. THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 567 sonable expenses as came within its true intent and meaning, it was agreed to appoint three commissioners for that purpose. The settlers described in the third condition, the committee. thought, ought to be protected in their possessions, rights, and liberties. " It recommended that Congress should agree to the fourth, fifth, and sixth conditions, and deemed it improper to declare the purchases void, as required by the seventh condition. "The report of the committee upon the eighth condition is as follows: "' As to the last condition, your committee are of opinion, that Congress cannot agree to guarantee to the commonwealth of Virginia the land described in the said condition, without entering into a discussion of the rights of the state of Virginia to the said land; and that, by the acts of Congress, it appears to have been their intention, which the committee cannot but approve, to avoid all discussion of the territorial rights of individual states, and only to recommend and accept a cession of their claims, whatsoever they might be, to vacant territory. Your committee conceive this condition of a guarantee, to be either unnecessary or unreasonable; inasmuch as, if the land above mentioned is really the property of the state of Virginia, it is sufficiently secured by the confederation; and if it is not.the property of that state, there is no reason or consideration for such a guarantee.' "The committee concluded by recommending that if Virginia should make a cession conformable to their report, Congress should accept it. "This report was agreed to by all the states except New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Maryland; and the legislature of Virginia passed an act accepting of the terms of compromise offered therein, and authorized their delegates to prepare a deed of cession accordingly. This was done, and on first of March, 1784, the state of Virginia ceded its title to the north western territory to the United States, upon the terms prescribed in the report of September 13th, 1783. "Whilst this compromise was going on with Virginia, the United States were negotiating the terms of peace with Great Britain. Among the unsettled questions between these contending powers, the boundary line between their respective possessions, formed an important item of discussion. The commissioners of the United States at Paris, were of course instructed to maintain the title of this republic to as large a tract of territory as they could obtain. Great Britain, on her part, contested this title; but the arms of the allies had then obtained the ascendency, and she was compelled to yield to most of their demands. " On the 29th of April, 1784, the states which had not ceded their claims to the western country, were again urged by Congress to make the necessary cessions, for the purpose of relieving the public burthens. The question as to the character of those claims again recurred, and all the states, except Virginia and North and South Carolina, were unanimous in characterizing 568 THE OLDEN TIME. them merely as claims. One delegate from Virginia, the venerable author of the declaration of independence, concurred in this vote.* Georgia and Delaware were not present at the passage of this resolution. " The legislature of Massachusetts, in conformity to this recommendation, November 13th, 1784, authorized her delegates to cede the title of that state, to all the territory west of the western boundary of New York, to the United States, without condition.t " Her delegates accordingly proceeded to execute their trust, and with a patriotic foresight, which will forever redound to his honor, one of them, Mr. Rufus King, introduced, March 16th, 1785, a resolution by which the prohibition of slavery was made a fundamental article of compact between the United States and the north western states, and afterwards they executed the deed of cession, conveying the claim of Massachusetts to the confederacy.1 The decision of the resolution respecting slavery was similar to the other votes upon the cession of territory. Virginia, Georgia, North and South Carolina, in the negative, and the other states in the affirmative.l I " The only claim to the north western territory, not then ceded to the United States, was that on the part of Connecticut; and this, although strongly insisted upon by that state, was never regarded as a title entitled to much consideratian. The western boundary of Connecticut had been so clearly defined in her agreement with New York, that all her claim beyond that state was supported upon very untenable grounds. Still, however, it was the claim of a state, and as such, the national government felt desirous of extinguishing it. In the month of May, 1786, the Connecticut legislature authorized her delegates to cede to the United States, all her right to the lands lying west of a meridian line, one hundred and twenty miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania. As it was at first thought, that by accepting this partial cession, the title of Connecticut to the part not ceded, would be admitted, Congress refused to accept it; but afterwards it consented by the votes of all the states, excepting Maryland, to accept the cession.~ A deed of cession was accordingly executed, September 13th, 1786, and claims of all the states to the north western territory extinguished, excepting to the tract called the Connecticut reservation. " This tract was speedily settled by emigrants from that state, claiming under its grants; and the general government, finding a number of settlers in possession of the land, with that regard for the harmony of the country which has invariably characterized its proceedings, offered, by an act of congress, passed April 28th, 1800, to issue letters patent granting the property in the soil to the governor of Connecticut, in trust for the grantees of * 4th Journal Old Congress, 391. t Ib. 500. 11 Ilb. 481. Ib. 648. THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 569 that state, provided she relinquished her claims of jurisdiction within eight months.* This offer was accepted, and the question as to the property and sovereignty of the north western territory finally settled." APPENDIX. (D) INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND TO THEIR DELEGATES IN CONGRESS, DIRECTING THEM NOT TO RATIFY THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. DECEMBER 15, 1778. " We think it our duty to instruct on the subject of the confederation, a subject in which, unfortunately, a supposed difference of interest has produced an almost equal division of sentiments among the several states composing the union. We say a supposed difference of interests, for if local attachments and prejudices, and the avarice and ambition of individuals, would give way to the dictates of a sound policy, founded on the principles of justice (and no other policy but what is founded on those immutable principles deserves to be called sound), we flatter ourselves, this apparent diversity of interests would soon vanish, and all the states would confederate on terms mutually advantageous to all; for they would then perceive that noother consideration than one so formed can be lasting. Although the pressure of immediate calamities, the dread of their continuance from the appearance of disunion, and some other peculiar circumstances, may have induced some states to accede to the present confederation, contrary to their own interests and judgments, it requires no great share of foresight to predict, that when those causes cease to operate, the states which have thus acceded to the confederation will consider it as no longer binding, and will eagerly embrace the first occasion of asserting their just rights, and sequring their independence. Is it possible that those states who are ambitiously grasping at territories, to which in our judgment they have not the least shadow of exclusive right, will use with greater moderation the increase of wealth and power derived from those territories, when acquired, than what they have displayed in their endeavors to acquire them? We think not. We are convinced the same spirit which prompted them to insist on a claim so extravagant, so repugnant to every principle of justice, so *3d United States Laws, 364. 570 THE OLDEN TIME. incompatible with the general welfare of all the states, will urge them on to add oppression to injustice. If they should not be incited by a superiority of wealth and strength to oppress by open force their less wealthy and less powerful neighbors; yet depopulation, and consequently the impoverishment of those states will necessarily follow, which, by an unfair construction of the confederation, may be stripped of a common interest, and the common benefits derived from the western country. Suppose, for instance, Virginia indisputably possessed of the extensive and fertile country to which she has set up a claim, what would be the probable consequence to Maryland of such an undisturbed and undisputed possession? They cannot escape the least discerning. "'Virginia, by selling on the most reasonable terms a small proportion of the lands in question, would draw into her treasury vast sums of money; and in proportion to the sums arising from such sales, would be enabled to lessen her taxes. Lands comparatively cheap, and taxes comparatively low, with the lands and taxes of an adjacent state, would quickly drain the state thus disadvantageously circumstanced of its most useful inhabitants; its wealth and its consequences in the scale of the confederated state would sink of course. A claim so injurious to more than one half, if not the whole of the United States, ought to be supported by the clearest evidence of the right. Yet what evidences of that right have been produced? What arguments'alleged in support either of the evidence or the right? None that we have heard of deserving a serious refutation. "' It has been said, that some of the delegates of a neighboring state have declared their opinion of the impracticability of governing the extensive dominion claimed by that state. Hence also the necessity was admitted of dividing its territory, and erecting a new state under the auspices and direction of the elder, from whom no doubt it would receive its form of government, to whom it would be bound by some alliance or confederacy, and by whose councils it would be influenced. Such a measure if ever attempted, would certainly be opposed by the other states as inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the proposed confederation. Should it take place by establishing a sub-confederacy, imperium in imperio, the state possessed of this extensive dominion must then either submit to all the inconveniences of an overgrown and unwieldly government, or suffer the authority of Congress to interpose at a future time, and to lop off a part of its territory, to be erected into a new and free state, and admitted into the confederation on such conditions as shall be settled by nine states. If it is necessary for the happiness and tranquillity of a state overgrown, that Congress should hereafter interfere and divide its territory, why is the claim to that territory now made, and so pertinaciously insisted on? We can suggest to ourselves but two motives; either the declaration of relinquishing at some future period a proportion of the country now contended for, was made to lull suspi THE NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY. 571 cion asleep, and to cover the designs of a secret ambition, or if the thought was seriously entertained, the lands are now claimed to reap an immediate profit from the sale. We are convinced, policy and justice require, that a country unsettled at the commencement of this war, claimed by the British crown, and ceded to it by the treaty of Paris, if wrested from the common enemy by the blood and treasure of the thirteen states, should be considered as a common property, subject to be parcelled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent governments, in such manner and at such times as the wisdom of that assembly shall hereafter direct. "' Thus convinced, we should betray the trust reposed in us by our constituents, were we to-authorize you to ratify on their behalf the confederation, unless it be farther explained: we have coolly and dispassionately considered the subject; we have weighed probable inconveniences and hardships against the sacrifice of just and essential rights; and do instruct you not to agree to the confederation, unless an article or articles be added thereto in conformity with our declaration. Should we succeed in obtaining such article or articles, then you are hereby fully empowered to accede to the confederation.' FIRST MOVEMENTS IN THIS COUNTRY IN DEFENCE OF AMERICAN RIGHTS. At the very time when the United Colonies commenced their great struggle against the arbitrary schemes of Great Britain, the inhabitants of this section of country, were not only involved in hostilities with the Indian tribes, but were almost on the verge of civil war among themselves. Under such circumstances, it would scarcely be expected that they would be at leisure and disposed to enter into the contest against the mother country, upon a mere abstract question, unaccompanied by any immediate, palpable acts of oppression. Yet we find that upon the 16th of May, 1775, only four weeks after the battle of Lexington, meetings were held at this place, and at Hanna's Town, and resolutions unanimously passed in entire consonance with the whig feeling of the other portions of the country. These proceedings cannot fail to be interesting to the readers of the Olden Time, and we therefore embrace them in our scheme. The meeting at Hanna's Town was, no doubt, composed entirely of Pennsylvanians. Arthur St. Clairmentions in one of his letters that he was present at it, and 572 THE OLDEN TIME. took part in the proceedings. The meeting here, though Augusta county, Virginia, is mentioned, was not composed exclusively of Virginians. Devereux Smith, a devoted adherent of the Penns, and several others, were present, Of those who were engaged in the two meetings, Arthur St. Clair was subsequently a Major General in the revolutionary army, and John Gibson, William Crawford and John Neville, commanded Virginia regiments in the same service. AUGUSTA COUNTY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE. "At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Augusta county that lies on the west side of the Laurel Hill, at Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May, 1775, the following gentlemen were chosen a committee for the said district viz: George Croghan, John Campbell, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman, John Cannon, John Mc.Cullough, William Gee, George Valandingham, John Gibson, Dorsey Penticost, Edward Cook, William Crawford, Devereux Smith, John Anderson, David Rodgers, Jacob Vanmetre, Henry Enoch, James Ennis, George Willson, William Vance, David Shepherd, William Elliot, Richmond Willis, Samuel Sample, John Ormsbey, Richard McMaher, John Nevill, and John Sweringen. "The following gentlemen met in committee, and resolved that John Campbell, John Ormsbey, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman, Samuel Sample, John Anderson, and Devereux Smith, or any four of them, be a Standing Committe, and have full power to meet at such times as they shall judge necessary, and in case of any emergency, to call the committee of this district together, and shall be vested with the same power and authority as the other standing committee and committees of correspondence are in the other counties within this colony. " Resolved unanimously, That the cordial and most grateful thanks of this committee are a tribute due to John Harvie, Esquire, our worthy representative in the late Colonial Cdnvention held at Richmond, for his faithful discharge of that important trust reposed in him; and to John Nevill, Esquire, our worthy delegate, whom nothing but sickness prevented from representing us in that respectable assembly. "Resolved unanimously, That this committee have the highest sense of the spirited behavior of their brethren in New England, and do most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme, and that each member of this committee, respectively, will animate and encourage their neighborhood to follow the brave example.' The imminent danger that threatens America in general, from ministerial and parliamentary denunciations of our ruin, and is now carrying into execution by open acts of unprovoked hostilities in our sister colony of PUBLIC MEETINGS, &C. 573 Massachusetts, as well as the danger to be apprehended to this colony in particular from a domestic enemy, said to be prompted by the wicked minions of power to execute our ruin, added to the menaces of an Indian war, likewise said to be in contemplatian, thereby thinking to engage our attention, and divert it from that still more interesting object of liberty and freedom, that deeply, and with so much justice, hath called forth the attention of all America; for the prevention of all, or any of those impending evils, it is " Resolved, That the recommendation of the Richmond Convention, of the 20th of last March, relative to the embodying, arming, and disciplining the militia, be immediately carried into execution with the greatest diligence in this county, by the officers appointed for that end; and that the recommendation of the said Convention to the several committees of this colony, to collect from their constituents, in such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gunpowder, and one pound of lead, flints, and cartridge paper, for every tithable person in their county, be likewise carried into execution. "This committee, therefore, out of the deepest sense of the expediency of this measure, most earnestly entreat that every mnmber of this committee do collect from each tithable person in their several districts the sum of two shillings and six pence, which we deem no more than sufficient for the above purpose, and give proper receipts to all such as pay the same into their hands; and the sum so collected to be paid into the hands of Mr. John Campbell, who is to give proper security to this committee, or their successors, for the due and faithful application of the money so deposited with him for the above purpose, by or with the advice of this committee, or their successors; and this committee, as your representatives, and who are most ardently laboring for your preservation, call on you, our constituents, our friends, brethren, and fellow-sufferers, in the name of God, of every thing you hold sacred or valuable, for the sake of your wives, children, and unborn generations, that you will, every one of you, in your several stations, to the utmost of your power, assist in levying such sum, by not only paying yourselves, but by assisting those who are not at present in a condition to do so. We heartily lament the case of' all such as have not this sum at command in this day of necessity; to all such we recommend to tender security to such as Providence has enabled to lend them so much; and this committee do pledge their faith and fortunes to you, their constituents, that we shall, without fee or reward, use our best endeavors to procure, with the money so collected, the ammunition our present exigencies have made so exceedingly necessary. "As this committee has reason to believe there is a quantity of ammunition destined for this place for the purpose of government, and as this country, on the west side of the Laurel Hill, is greatly distressed for want of 574 THE OLDEN TIME. ammunition, and deprived of the means of procuring it, by reason of its situation, as easy as the lower counties of this colony, they do earnestly request the committees of Frederick, Augusta, and Hampshire, that they will not suffer the ammunition to pass through theircounties for the purposes of government, but will secure it for the use of their destitute country, and immediately inform this committee of their having done so. "Resolved, That this committee do approve of the resolution of the committee of the other part of this county, relative to the cultivating a friendship with the Indians; and if any person shall be so depraved as to take the life of any Indian that may come to us in a friendly manner, we will, as one man, use our utmost endeavors.to bring such offender to condign punishment. "Ordered, That the standing committee be directed to secure such arms and ammunition as are not employed in actual service, or private property, and that they get the same repaired, and deliver them to such Captains of Independent Companies as may make application for the same, and taking such Captain's receipt for the arms so delivered.' Resolved, That the sum of fifteen pounds, current money, be raised by subscription, and that the same be transmitted to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esq., for the use of the deputies sent from this colony to the general Congress. Which sum of money was immediately paid by the committee then present. " Mr. John Campbell reported, from the select committee for considering the grievances, an instructions to the delegates, which he read in his place and handed it to the clerk's table, where it was again read, and is as follows: TO JOHN HARVIE AND GEORGE ROOTES, ESQUIRES. "GENTLEMEN: YOU being chosen to represent the people on the west side of Laurel Hill in the colonial Congress for the ensuing year, we, the committee for the people aforesaid, desire you will lay the grievances hereafter mentioned before the Congress at their first meeting, as we conceive it highly necessary they should be redressed, to put us on a footing with the rest of our brethren in the colony. " 1st. That many of the inhabitants in this part of the county have expended large sums of money, and supplied the soldiers in the last Indian war with provisions and other necessaries, many of whom have expended all they had; and though, at the same time, we bear a grateful remembrance of the good intentions of the late colonial Congress, so feelingly and generously expressed in their resolves, yet the unhappy situation we are reduced to by the payment of those supplies being delayed, involves this new and flourishing country in extreme poverty. "2d. That the maintaining a garrison at this place, when there is no other method used for supplying them with provisions, but by impressing from the inhabitants of the country, ought to be considered. PUBLIC MEETINGS, &C. 575 "3d. That this country, joining the Indian territory and the province of Quebec (which by its late change of constitution is rendered inimical to liberty), lies exposed to the inroads of the savages and the militia of that province; and should the ministry or their emissaries be able to stir up either of them against the colonies, this country will be in need of support to enable them to provide against, and withstand any attempt that may be made on their civil or religious liberties. "4th. That for want of freeholders we cannot get legal grand jurors, which are necessary for the well government of the country. " 5th. That the unsettled boundary between this colony and the province of Pennsylvania, is the occasion of many disputes. " 6th. That the collecting the duty on skins and furs, for which a commission hath lately been sent up here, will banish the Indian trade from this place and colony. "Which report being agreed to, " Resolved unanimously, That a fair copy be drawn off and delivered to our delegates as their instructions. " Ordered, That the foregoing proceedings be certified by the clerk of this committee, and published in the Virginia Gazette. "By order of the committee. "JAMES BERWICK, Clerk." MEETING OF THE INHABITANTS OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PA. " At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the county of Westmoreland, held at Hanna's Town the 16th day of May, 1775, for taking into consideration the very alarming situation of the country, occasioned by the dispute with Great Britain: "Resolved unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to enforce those acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of a licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of subsistence. "Resolved unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression will (should it meet with success in Massachusetts Bay) be extended to other parts of America; it is therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately 576 THE OLDEN TIME. form ourselves into a military body, to consist of companies to be made up out of the several townships under the following association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland County: "Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty, King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful King, and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire; we declare to the world, that we do not mean by this Association to deviate from that loyalty which we hold it our bounden duty to observe; but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which, with sorrow, we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by wicked Ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which we do agree and associate together: "lst. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment or regiments, and choose officers to command us in such proportions as shall be thought necessary. "2d. We will, with alacrity, endeavor to make ourselves masters of the manual exercise, and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in a body with concert; and to that end we will meet at such times and places as shall be appointed either for the companies or the regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen. " 3d. That should our country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary acts of its Parliament, we will cheerfully submit to military discipline, and to the utmost of our power resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any plan that may be formed for the defence of America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular. " 4th. That we do not wish or desire any innovation, but only that things may be restored to, and go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great, and America was happy. As a proof of this disposition, we will quietly submit to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be governed before that period, and will, in our several or associate capacities, be ready when called on to assist the civil magistrate in carrying the same into execution. "5th. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late obnoxious statutes, and shall recede from their claim to tax us, and nake laws for us in every instance, or some general plan of union and recolnciliation has been formed and accepted by America, this our Association shall be dissolved; but till then it shall remain in full force; and to the observation of it, we bind ourselves by every thing dear and sacred amongst men. "No licensed murder! no famine introduced by law!' Resolved, That on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth instant, the township meet to accede to the said Association, and choose their officers." INDEX. Abenaki Indians, 386. Blickensderfer, Mr., account of the first house Aboriginal etymology, by Rev. Timothy built in Ohio, Starke Co., 85. Alden, 325. Blunt, Joseph, history of cessions of States Act passed February 3, 1768, against settling of their claims to Northwest Territory, 557. on Indian lands, 343. Bouquet, Col. Henry, letter to William Allen, Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, in 1748, 8. Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, giving an Alden, Timothy, aboriginal etymology, 325. account of taking Ft. Duquesne, November Allegheny river and tributaries, notices of 25, 1758, 182; marches to Presqu'ile, July the settlement of the country along the, 3, 7, 1760, 199; sketch of, 200; notice of the 49, 97, 145, 193, 241, 342, 433, 481; steamer narrative of his expedition, 201; first notice trip from Pittsburg to Olean Point, 1830,42. of, in America, 201; inscription to, in Algonquin language, 386. Pittsburg, 202; biographical sketch of, 205; Allouez, Father Claude, voyages of, 3. ordered to march to relief of Ft. Pitt, 210; Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, biographical notice of, march through Pennsylvania, 210; victory 200; takes Montreal, September 8, 1760, over the Indians at Bushy Run, August 6, 200; sketch of, 223; inscription on monn- 1763, 213; expedition against Ohio Indians, ment of, 224. 1764, 217; ordered by Gen. Gage to act American antiquities at Grave Creek, 232. against Indians between the Ohio and the American rights, first meeting in favor of, lakes, 218; march from Carlisle, PennsylMay 16, 1775, held at Hanna's town, 571; vania, 219; messages from Col. Bradstreet, first meeting in favor of, held at Pittsburg, at Presqu'ile, 220; narrative of campaign May 16, 1775, 571. against Ohio Indians, 241; controversy with Anderson, Capt., ordered to Presqu'ile, July, Washington, 262; battle-ground at Bushy 1760, 199. Run, 384; treaty of 1764, 284; proclamaAndastes Indians, 391. tion of 1762, 331. Aqueduct, wire suspension, over the Alle- Braddock, Gen., arrives in Virginia, 1755, 63; gheny, at Pittsburg, 45. difficulty to obtain transportation, 63; furArminius, translation from Tacitus, 190. nished transportation by Dr. Franklin, 63; Armstrong, Col. John, account of the capture leaves Col. Dunbar at Great Meadows with of Kittaning, 76. heavy artillery, 63; pushes on with 1,200 Baker, Lieut., expedition toward Fort Du- men, 63; defeat, account by Capt. Orme, quesne, 1767.97. 64; from Gentleman's Magazine, 65; from Bancroft's account'of aborigines east of the Gazette, 67; list of killed and wounded, 68; Mississippi, 386. criticism of, 71; Col. James Smith's acBeaver King, Post's conference with, 103; at count of scenes at Ft. Duquesne the day Lancaster, Pa., 1762, 222, 252. after the defeat, 72; George Croghan, InBeaujeu, Capt. M. de, commanding French dian interpreter to, 89; defeat and his charand Indians at Braddock's defeat, 130; his acter by Dr. Franklin, 89; from Sparks' death, 131. Washington, 126; M. Contrecceur's account Biddle, Capt. Edward, to go to Presqu'ile, of, 129; conduct, 132; death and burialJuly, 1760, 199. place, 133; field, visit to, 186; notice of, Biddle, Lieut. Edward, 265. 525. Blane, Lieut., in command at Ft. Ligonier, Bradstreet, Col. John, ordered by Gen. Gage 211. to march against Indians living on the lakes, 578 INDEX. 218; messages to Col. Bouquet, from Ft. Pitt to Vincennes and Detroit, in 1765, Presqu'ile, 220; expedition, 337. 403; residence, account of by Washington, Bridge, wire suspension, at Pittsburg, 286. 419. Bushy Run, Col. Bouquet's victory, August 6, Dacotah Indians, 389. 1763, over the Indians at, 213. Dalyell, Capt., killed with his troops near DeCanada, conquest of, completed by taking troit, 210. Montreal, 200. Delawares, 5; dispute of, 1736, 5; conquered Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Col. Bouquet's march by the Six Nations, about 1617, 5; possesfrom, 219. sions of, 6; friendly to the English, 62; disCayuga Indians, 390. pleased with cession of land by Six Nations, Catawba Indians, 391. July 6, 1754, 63; George, notice of, 60, 105. Celeron de Bienville, Capt., visit to the Ohio, Dinwiddie, Governor, refuses to ratify capitu9; M. Joncoeur's speech to Indians about lation terms of Washington, 58. speech of, 136; deposits leaden plates on the Donville, M., M. Dumas, commandant at Ft. Ohio, 238; leaden plates left by, 268. Duquesne, instructions to, 75. Chartier, Peter, Indian trader, 8. Doddridge, Rev. Joseph, manners and customs Cherokees accompany Post, 147, 391. of our forefathers, 138. Chippewa Indians, 389. Draper, Lyman, C., article on Capt. Robert Chicasaw Indians, 393. Stobo, Von Braam, and La Force, 370. Choctaw Indians, 394. Dress of our forefathers, by Rev. Joseph DodClapham, Capt., to go to Prespu'ile, July, dridge, 138. 1760, 199. Dunbar, Col., left by Braddock at Great Clinton, De Witt. Character of the Six Na Meadows with heavy artillery, 63. tion, 396. Dumas, M., commandant at Ft. Duquesne, inContrecceur, M. de, descends the Allegheny structions to M. Donville, 75; succeeds with French and Indians, 28; Ensign Ward Capt. M. de Beaujeu at Braddock's defeat, surrenders fort to, 29; completes the fort, 131. calls it Fort Duquesne, 29; letter to Marquis Dunlop, James, treatise on,Mason and Duquesne, about Jumonville's death, 32; at Dixon's Line, 530. Ft. Necessity, 60; summons to Ensign Ward Ecuyer, Capt., commanding at Ft. Pitt, 209. to surrender, April 16, 1754, 83; account of Encroachment of white settlers on Indian Braddock's defeat, 129. lands, 342. Cornplanter, visit to, 43; notice of, 92. Eries, destruction of, 225; Indian tradition of, Conference with Indians at Lancaster, Penn- 226, 391. sylvania, 1762, 222; at Ft. Pitt, April and Etchemin Indians, 386. May, 1768, minutes of, 344. Evans, Lewis, map in 1755, 333. Connolly, Dr. John, notices of, 432, 437, 439, Fauquier, Governor of Virginia, letter to, from 445, 447, 520. Governor John Penn's letter for removal of Controversy in regard to boundary lines be- settlers on Indians' land, September 23, tween Maryland and Pennsylvania, 530. 1776, 343; reply, December 11, 1776, 343. Qoree Indians, 388. Five Nations, Post's character of, 134; laws, Creek Indians, 394. customs, etc., from Colden's History, 297. Cresap, Michael, 501. Fort Bedford, Captain Ourry, commanding Croghan, George, Indian interpreter to Gen. at, 212. Braddock, 89; offer of friendly Indians Fort Dunmore, Ft. Pitt named, by Dr. John coldly accepted by Braddock, 132; and An- Connolly, 437. drew Montour's account of delivering the Fort Duquesne, completed by Contrecceur, 29; provincial present to Indians on the Ohio, John McKinney's description of, 1756, 39; May 18, 1751, 136; extract from journal, Capt. Lignery, commandant of, 1767, 97; May 22, 1796, 342; deputy agent for In- Lieut. Baker's expedition toward, in 1767, dian affairs, 344; journal of travels from 97; Messengers arrive from Indians at, to INDEX. 579 Post, 104; Christian Frederick Post goes France, claims of, to valleys of Ohio and to, 107; historical incidents connected with Mississippi rivers and to Texas, 3. the capture of, 177; Major Grant's defeat Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, Postmaster-General, near, October, 1758, 179; Gen. John furnishes transportation for Gen. BradForbes' expedition against, 179; Gen. John dock's army, 63; on Braddock's defeat and Forbes takes, November 25, 1758, 181; let- character, 89; anecdote of, 264. ter from Col. Bouquet, relating the taking French forts, account of, 20-28; ceded to possession of remains of, November 25, Great Britain by treaty of 1763, 319. 1758, 182; Capt. John Haslet's letter con- French claims on the Ohio, early notice of, taining account of capture, 184; condition August 4, 1731, 289. of, in 1758, 193; stockade built there, 1758, Gage, Gen., orders Col. Bradstreet to march 193; Col. Hugh Mercer left in command at, against Indians of the lakes, 218; orders 193; singular fatality of prominent actors, Col. Bouquet to march against Indians beFrench and English, 202; Washington's ac- tween the Ohio and the lakes, 218; letter to count of taking of, 281; letter from Wm. Governor John Penn, July 2, 1766, on enPitt about rebuilding, 310. croachment of white settlers on Indians, Fort Frontenac, expedition against, 179. lands, 343. Fort Ligonier, Lieut. Blane in command at. Galt, John, account of visit to Braddock's 211; in danger of falling into enemy's Field, in Life of Benjamin West, 186. hands, 211. Gallissonniere, Marquis de la, Governor of Fort Necessity, built by Washington, its site,. New France, 268, 270. 50. Gentleman's Magazine account of Braddock's Fort Pitt, list of officers at, July 9, 1759, 195; defeat, 65. account of Gen. Stanwix building, 195; de- Gazette account of Braddock's defeat, 67. scription of, 196; minutes of a conference Gist, Christopher, appointed surveyor for Ohio held October, 1759, with Indians at, 197; Land Company, 9; exploration of Ohio' cost of, 197; letter concerning, in Pennsyl- Land Company's tract, in 1750, 9, 291, 293; vania Gazette, April, 1760, 198; Maj. Tu- Washington's guide, 12; diary, 1753, 26; likens commanding at, 1760, 198; singular and Capt. Wm. Trent build first house at fatality of prominent actors concerned at, Pittsburg, February 17, 1754, 371. 202; Capt. Ecuyer commanding at, 209; Gladwin, Maj., at Presqu'ile (now Erie), 1760, Indian attack of, 209; Col. Bouquet ordered 199. to march to relief of, 210; treaty with In- Grant, Maj., defeat near Ft. Duquesne, 179. dians, August, 1760, at, 331; minutes of Grave Creek, American antiquities at, 232. conferences with Indians, April and May, Great Meadows, action of, 50; terms of capit1768, at, 344; George Croghan's journal of ulation, 52. travel from,,to Vincennes and Detroit, 1765, Haslet, Capt. John, letter about taking Ft. 403; Capt. John Neville ordered by Vir- Duquesne, 184. ginia Provincial Convention, August, 1, Halket, Sir Peter, account of finding his re1775, to take, 445. mains on Braddock's field, 186. Fort Stanwix, first treaty of, in 1768, 399. Hanbury, Mr., agent in London for Ohio ComForbes, Gen. John, message of, 161; expedi- pany, 292. tion against Ft. Duquesne, 179; joins Col. Half-King, 372. Bouquet at Raystown, now Bedford, Pennsyl- Hanna's town, meeting at, May 16, 1775, in vania, 179; capture of Ft. Duquesne, No- favor of American rights, 571. vember 25, 1758, 181; obituary notice of, Heckewelder's narrative, account of SchoenPennsylvania Gazette, 189; story of his brun, 87. death, 265; controversy concerning his Heckewelder's memoirs, account of going route, 285. with Post, 87. Fox Indians, 389. House furniture and diet of our forefathers, by Rev. Joseph Doddridge, 138. 580 INDEX. House warming of our forefathers, by Rev. Maryland, controversy between Pennsylvania, Joseph Doddridge, 143. in regard to boundary line, 530. Hutchins, Thomas, biographical sketch of, Mason and Dixon's line, treatise on, by James 325. Dunlop, 529. Huron Indians, 395. Mercer, Col. Hugh, left in command at Ft. Illinois Indians, 388. Duquesne, 193; extract of a letter from, Indian lands, white settlers encroaching upon, dated Pittsburg, January 8, 1759, 194; or342; letters, act and proclamation against dered to march to Presqu'ile, July, 1760, settling on, 1766-1768, 343; cession of, by 199. treaty of Ft. Stanwix, 1768, 344. Mercer, John, secretary of Ohio Company, Iroquois Indians, 390. 296. Joncaire (Joncceur), Capt., Indian interpreter Menomonies Indians, 389. for the French, 19, 136; speech to Indians Micmacs Indians, 386. about speech of M. Celeron, 136. Miamis Indians, 388. Joncaire, M., French agent, letter from, 269. Mingo, White, 419. Johnson, Sir William, notice of, 526. Monongahela river and tributaries, notice of Jumonville, M. de, death and controversy settlement of the country along the, 193. about, 30. Moravian mission at Schoenbrun, Tuscarawas Kittaning, Col. John Armstrong's account of county, Ohio, located by David Ziesberger, capture of, 76. 1772, 3, 49, 86, 89, 97,145,;193, 241, 342,433, Kinderuntie, speech at Lancaster, Pennsyl- 481. vania, 1762, 222. Montour, Andrew, and George Croghan, acKiashuta, notices of, 6, 246, 248, 251, 337; count of proceedings in delivering provinaccount of, by Washington, 1776, 344, 357, cial presents to Indians, May 18, 1751, 136. 425. Montreal, taken by Sir Jeffrey Amherst, SepKickapoo Indians, 389. tember 8, 1760, 200; taking of, completes La Force, Mons., notice of, 60; notice of, by conquest of Canada, 200. Lyman C. Draper, 370. Monckton, Gen., arrival at Pittsburg, June 29, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, treaty of, in 1744, 9; 1760, 199; Philadelphia, from Pittsburg, conference with the Indians at, in 1762, November 5, 1760, 200. 222. Monocatoocha, 18, 372. La Salle, voyages of, 3. Mohawk Indians, 390. Leaden plate found at Point Pleasant, Vir- Muskhogee Indians, 394. ginia, description of, 238, 239; left by Cel- Nanticoke Indians, 387. eron de Bienville, 268; notice of, 336. Natchez Indians, 392. Lee, Thomas, connection with Ohio Com- Neville, Capt. John, ordered by Virginia Propany, 292. vincial Convention to take possession of Ft. Lenni Lenape, Heckewelder's account of, 311; Pitt, August, 1775, 445; notice of, 446, 572. Bancroft's account of, 387. Northwest Territory, Joseph Blunt's history of Lignery, Capt., commandant at Ft. Duquesne, the cessions of States to, 557. q1767, 97. Ohio, first house in, built in Starke county, 85; Ligonier, Sir John, biographical sketch of, by Rev. Frederick Post, 1761, at Schoen200. brun, Starke county, 88. Loskiel's account of Rev. C. F. Post's mission Ohio river and tributaries, notices of the setat Tuscaroratown, 86. tlement of the country along the upper, 3, Logstown, treaty of, in 1752, 9, 293; descrip- 49, 97, 145, 193, 241, 342, 433, 481; early tion of, 243, 403. notice of French claims on the, 289. McKinney, John, description of Ft. Du- Ohio Land Company, account of, 291; grant quesne, 1756, 39. of land, 291; Christopher Gist sent to explore Manners and customs of our forefathers, by grant of, 291, 293; Lawrence Washington's Rev. Joseph Doddridge, 138. connection with, 292; Augustine Washing INDEX. 581 ton's connection with, 292; Thomas Lee's Tuscaroratown, Loskiel's account of, 86; connection with, 292; Mr. Hanbury agent connection with Rev. David Zeisberger, 87; in London for, 292; John Mercer secretary first journal of, 99; sent by government of of, 296. Pennsylvania, 1758, to the Delaware, ShawOhio, George Washington's tour to, in 1770, anese, and Mingos, to persuade them to 416. withdraw from the French, 89; conference Onondaga Indians, 390. with King Beaver, 103; with messengers Orme, Capt., account of Braddock's defeat, from Indians at Ft. Duquesne, 105; goes to. 64; death, 91. Ft. Duquesne, 107; speeches to Indians, Ourry, Capt., commanding at Ft. Bedford, 109; character of Indians, 124; character Pennsylvania, 212. of Five Nations, 134; second journal of Pennsylvania authorities uneasy at en- travels, on a message from Governor of croachments of French, 7, 8; tract of Pennsylvania to Indians on the Ohio, land ceded by treaty of July 6, 1754, 63; 1758, 145; speeches to the Indians, 159; arravages of the enemy in, 76; Gazette, letter rival at Pittsburg, 171. in, about Maj. Grant's defeat, 179; Gazette, Potawatomie Indians, 389. obituary notice of Gen. John Forbes, 189; Presqu'ile (now Erie), Col. Bouquet marches controversy with Virginia concerning with troops to, July 7, 1760, 199; Col. Hugh boundary lines, 434; letters and documents Mercer to go to, with three companies of respecting controversy about boundary, Pennsylvania regiment, 199; Col. Brad457; controversy with Maryland about street's messages from, to Col. Bouquet, 220. boundary, 530; controversy with Virginia, Proclamation of February 24, 1768, against 553. persons settling on Indian land, 343. Penn, Governor John, Gen. Gage's letter to, Royal American Regiment, notice of, 332. on encroachments of white settlers on In- Sac Indians, 389. dians' lands, July 2, 1766, 343; letter Schoenbrun, account of, in Heckewelder's narto Governor Fauquier, Virginia, for re- rative, 88. moving white settlers on Indians' lands, Seminole Indians, 394. September 23, 1766, 343; answers to ques- Seneca Indians, 390. tions of Earl of Dartmouth, 549. Shannopinstown, derivation of name of, 96. Pittsburg, Virginia troops build a fort at, Shawanese, derivation of, 6; possessions of, April, 1754, 28; Ensign Ward builds a fort 7; and Delawares join the French, 8; at, 28; Post's arrival at, 171; extract from friendly to the English, 52; Heckewelder's letter of Col. Hugh Mercer, dated January account of, 315, 388. 8, 1759, 194; Gen. Monckton's arrival at, Shingiss, makes friendly overtures to the June 29,'i760, 199; inscription to Col. Bou- English, 113; notice of, 9. quet in, 202; wire suspension bridge at, Sioux Indians, 389. 286; Gist and Trent build first house, Feb- Six Nations in Pennsylvania, 4; possessions ruary 17, 1754, 371; Washington's account of, 4; government of, 4; friendly to the of, in 1770, 418; meeting in favor of Ameri- English, 62; treaty of July 6, 1754, with, can rights, held May 16, 1775, 571.6 63; tribes in alliance with, in 1742, 335; Pitt, William, character of, 177; letter from, De Witt Clinton's character of, 396. about rebuilding Ft. Duquesne, 310. Smith, Capt. James, scenes at Ft. Duquesne Point Pleasant, Virginia, description of leaden day after Braddock's defeat, 72. plate found at, 239. Sparks', Washington, account of Braddock's Pokanoket Indians, 387. defeat, 126. Pontiac, death of, account of J. N. Nicollet, St. Clair, Arthur, 178, 437, 439, 445, 571. 322. St. Clair. Sir John, Deputy Quartermaster, arPopulation of French North America, in rives at Philadelphia from Pittsburg, De1688, 7. cember, 1760, 200. Post, Rev. Christian Frederick, mission at Stanwix, Maj. Gen. John, account of his build 582 INDEX. ing Ft. Pitt, 195; arrival at Philadelphia, Virginia House of Burgesses, vote of thanks 198; presentation at court, 198; death, 198, to George Washington, 57. 262, 265. Virginia, controversy with Pennsylvania, conStobo, Capt. Robt., hostage to the French, 51; cerning boundary line, 434; letters and hostage not returned by the French, 59; documents respecting controversy about letter from Ft. Duquesne, 59; notices of, 283, boundary, 457; controversy with Pennsyl336, 370. vania, 553. Tanacharison, Half-King of Six Nations, 5, Ward, Ensign, surrenders fort at Pittsburg to 15, 29, 30, 373. Contrecceur, April 17, 1754, 28; M. ContreTeedyuscung, Post's notice of, 99; at Lancas- coeur's summons to surrender, April 16, ter, Pennsylvania, 1762, 222. 1754, 83. Ticonderoga, expedition against, 179. Washington, George, appointed by Governor Tomlinson, A. B., letter on mounds at Grave Dinwiddie to visit French forts on the Ohio, Creek, Virginia, 233. 10; Governor Dinwiddie's instructions to, Treaty of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1744, 3. 10; journal of a tour over the Allegheny Treaty of Logstown, 1752, 9. Mountains, November, 1753, 12; advance Treaty with the Six Nations, July 6, 1754, 63. on the French, 29; battle of Great Treaty of Col. Bouquet, 1764, 284. Meadows, May 27, 1754, 30;.battle of Treaty of 1763, French forts ceded by, 319; Great Meadows, official report of, 34; remarks on, 329. builds Ft. Necessity, 38; reply to M. de Treaty with Indians, August, 1760, at Ft. Villiers' account of transactions at Great Pitt, 331. Meadows, 54; joins Braddock's army, July Treaty, first, of Ft. Stanwix, in 1768, 399. 8, 1754, 64; conduct in Braddock's camTrent, Capt. Wim., sent by Governor Dinwid- paign, 132; ordered from Ft. Cumberland die to the Indians on the Ohio, 1753, 12; to Raystown, 179; preference for taking and Christopher Gist, build first house at southern route in Forbes' campaign, 201; Pittsburg, February 17, 1754, 371. controversy with Col. Bouquet, 262, 263; Tulikens, Maj., commanding at Ft. Pitt, 1760, reasons in favor of the southern route, 266; 198. account of the taking of Ft. Duquesne, Tuscarora Indians, 391. 281; journal of a tour to the Ohio, in 1770, Twightwees, account of, 309. 416. Uchee Indians, 392. Washington, Lawrence, connection with the Van Braam, Capt. Jacob, Washington's Ohio Company, 292. French interpreter, 12; hostage to the Washington, Augustine, connection with Ohio French, 51; not returned, carried to Que- Company, 292. bec, 59; notice of, by Lyman C. Draper, Wyandot Indians, 390. 370. Yamassee Indians, 394. Venango, French fort, 28. York, petition of town and county of, August Villiers, M. de, French commander at battle 28, 1756, 76. of Great Meadows, 51; account of trans- Zeisberger, Rev. David, locates Moravian misactions at battle of Great Meadows, 52; sion, 1772, in Schoenbrun, Tuscarawas ~ notice of, 375. county, Ohio, 86; connection with Post, 87; Virginia troops march.to Pittsburg, and erect remarks of traditions, etc., of Indians, 271. a fort, 28. ERRATA. Page'60, 4th line from bottom, for " Springes " read Shingiss. Page 76, 1st and 16th line fiom top, for "Gonococheague " read Conococheague. Page 92, 2d line from bottom, for " 1734 " read 1794. Page 177, 14th line from bottom, for that "noble man " read nobleman. Page 178, 12th, 18th, and 28th line from top, for "Loudown " read Loudoun. Page 179, 19th line from top, for near "nine thousand men " read near seven thousand. Page 189, 8th line from top, for "Pentecrief" read Pittencrief. Page 195, 8th line from top, for "prisoner and scalp " read prisoner or scalp. Page 325, add to note, " Captain Hutchins was the author only of the maps and plans of the book referred to." See note, page 261. Page 326, 17th line from top, and page 333, 8th line from top, for "Palawa-Kunki " read Palawa-TheDiki. Page 342, 11th line from top, for "May 22, 1796," read May 22, 1766. Page 541, 17th line from top, for "1742 " read 1732.