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TRIBUTE

PRINCIPLES, VIRTUES, HABITS AND PUBLIC USEFULNESS

Irisl) anh 0cotcl) ^athj 0ettlcrs

OF PENNSYLVANIA.

BT .\ DESCENDANT.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. :
PRINTED BT M. KIEFFER & CO.
1856.

PKEFACE.
The writer of the Tribute contained in this work, had long desired to
see from the Historical publications in Pennsylvania, a vindication of
the character and principles of the Irish and Scotch early settlers of
this great State and their descendants against reproach, as well as
aspersion, cast upon them in some modern compilations having pre
tensions to Historical accuracy.
Appreciating highly the religious and moral character, intelligence,
industry and energy of those settlers, as well as their great useful
ness in raising the standard of education — in promoting religious
Christian influence — in defending the frontier against the wars of the
French and Indians, and in their patriotic devotion of their lives and
fortunes to the cause of American Independence; he did think if
there were any class of citizens of Pennsylvania entitled' to gratitude
and reverence, not only from their descendants, but from all others
enjoying the blessings of a home and residence under this free gov
ernment, it was the Irish and Scotch early settlers of Pennsylvania,
The events in the lives of these men, and the incidents of the times
in which they were actors, political, civil, religious or military, which
led to the prosperity of the State and the establishment of the free
institutiona under which we live, prosper and are happy, should be
to every American citizen objects of peculiar interest.
Instead of acknowledgments of gratitude and reverence for the men
who were the pioneers of the Pro'vdnce of Pennsylvania, laying broad
and deep the foundations of its prosperity and republican government,
we have been chagrined to find them slighted in some historical com
pilations of Pennsylvania History; whilst by others, we have been
incensed at the unjust and unfounded aspersions cast upon the race.
Having the blood of some of those early settlers flowing in our
veins, and having been born, ever lived and prospered on Pennsylva
nia soil, we feel as if we were under obligations, in common with many

IV. PREFACE.
others, to come up to the vindication of the reputation of ancestors,
who long since have rested from their labors, and who, by toil and
sacrifices, did much to achieve the inheritance which their posterity
and others are enjoying.
We have presumed to offer the sketch herein contained as our
Tribute to the memory and reverence of those settlers. The writer,
feeling as if the sand of his Time glass was nearly run out, and that
he ere long must be laid aside from labor, and that if any thing were
done by him in vindication of the principles, virtues and habits, of
these settlers of a past age, it must be done quickly — has hastUy
thrown together in his leisure hours, taken from other avocations, the
remarks contained in the subsequent pages.
It has little merit, other than a compilation from public documents,
historical records, and traditions from reliable sources, together with
some observations of the writer, whose reminiscences go into the past
century. It is but a summary of facts and illustrations and an outline to be
extended by some one better qualified, having more time and better
access to historical collections of the early history of Pennsylvania, of
which there is a dearth. It will be ample gratification to him if this
Tribute shall be a leader to some more extended vindication of the
character of the Irish and Scotch early settlers of Pennsylvania, which
will be worthy of a place amongst the historical records of this great
State. The author acknowledges his obligations for information, in the
preparation of this work, to Dr. Foote's Sketches of North Carolina —
and Virginia — Day's Historical collections— Dr. Smith's Old Red
stone — Dr. Alexander's Log College — Dr. Miller's Life of Dr. Rogers
— Dr. Elliott's Life of McCurdy and others — Craig's History of
Pittsburg — Hazard's Colonial Records and Archives of Pennsylvania
and American Archives by Force — and Gordon's History of Penn
sylvania — Mr. Rupp's — Histories of Lancaster, Cumberland and
Franklin counties.
Chambersburg, Pa. (J. q_

CHAPTER I.
Classes of Emigrants— Dissensions — Rivalries — James Logan
— Dickinson — Franklin in opposition to Emigrants — Mr.
Day's accusation — Trespasses on Lands claimed hy Indians
— Their complaints — Redress — Other causes of dissatisfac
tion with the white Inhabitants and Proprietory Agents —
Traders — and French Influence — Causes of War.
The Province of Pennsylvania was early attractive to emi
grants from other countries. It was recommended by its free
and constitutional government — by the character of its funda
mental Laws, adopted and established by the first emigrants to
its territory — its fertile soil, salubrious and temperate climate
— its adaptation to a large and rural population; with advan
tages for trade, commerce and manufactures. The dissatis
faction prevailing with large classes of intelligent, industrious
and enterprising men, under several of the European govern
ments, directed their attention to the American colonies, and
to men of this character, Pennsylvania was generally preferred
for their abode, after the organization of its government.
The population of Pennsylvania was made up of emigrants
from various parts of Europe. They were not homogeneous,
TDut were diversified by their origin, religious principles, habits,
and language. They were united in devotion to the principles
of the Reformation, and in favor of civil and religious liberty.
Equality of rights and the liberty of worship according to the
dictates of conscience, were standard principles so founded and
guarded, that no party or power dared to assail them. These
established and avowed principles made Pennsylvania a desira
ble asylum for the oppressed and persecuted of all nations.
The diversity which characterized the inhabitants, divided
them into three classes, whose separation was maintained un
broken for some generations, and is not even yet effaced. They
were the English, the Scots and Irish, and the Germans. The
associates and followers of Penn, who were amongst the first

to establish her government, were an honest, intelligent, virtu
ous, peaceful and benevolent population, known in England
and the Colonies by the name of Friends or Quakers. Much
of the wealth of the Province was with them, and as their loca
tion was in the city of Philadelphia, or in the country near it,
they were influential in the organization of the Provincial gov
ernment. They were able also, from their numbers, to main
tain an ascendency in the Assembly, and control its legislation.
As the Proprietory was, in his associations and principles, of
their Society, there was generally harmony and correspondent
sentiment between the Quaker party and the Proprietory and
the officers of his appointment, most of whom were of the So
ciety of Friends. The Quakers were an orderly, industrious
and law abiding people, cultivating peace with all men. They
had their peculiarities of dress, manners, language and religious
worship, opposition to war and military service, which distin
guished them from the other population of the Province.
The Germans were of different denominations of Christians
and various origin. The Swiss Mennonites were amongst the
earliest who entered this Province, about the beginning of the
last century. They eame in considerable numbers and settled
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, about Pequea and other
parts of what formed Lancaster county. They were orderly,
industrious and frugal, farmers ; peaceful and honest in all
their relations and dealings. They resembled the Quakers in
opposition to war and military service, and in maintenance of
peace principles. The Lutheran and German Reformed Ger
mans, who had been emigrating since 1710, settled before 1720
in considerable numbers in parts of what are now in the coun
ties of Montgomery, Bucks, Berks and Lancaster. Others of
the same class continued to arrive yearly, and in some yeav.^
the influx of these German emigrants was so great as to alarm
some of the English first settlers, lest the Germans should
make a German province of Pennsylvania. Amongst these
Germans, though mostly Lutheran and German Reformed,
there were some Mennonites and Dunkards.
The French Huguenots who settled in Pennsylvania were
but few, some of whom settled about 1712 on Pequea creek,.

which seems to have been an attractive country for settlement
to emigrants from different parts of Europe.
These Germans were a hardy, frugal and industrious people,
and in many districts have preserved their foreign manners
and language. They have established in every part of the
State, communities much respected for religious and moral
character ; many of them emigrated for conscience' sake, and
others to improve their condition and circumstances. Their
industry and frugality have enabled them to add greatly to
their own wealth and resources, whilst they were increasing
that of the Province and State. With most of this class, edu
cation has been promoted and their descendants, in acquire
ments and intelligence, are in advance of their ancestors, and
many are amongst the most respectable and useful citizens of
the Commonwealth, whilst they have, by branches of their
families, contributed greatly to the industrious and useful pop
ulation of several of the Western States.
Emigrants from Scotland and Ireland constituted a large
portion of the early settlers of Pennsylvania. Many of these
were called Scotch-Irish, from the circumstance that they were
the descendants of Scots, who had by the government been
encouraged to take up their residence in the north of Ireland,
and to the improvement and civilization of which they had
greatly contributed ; but being oppressed by the tyranny and
exactions of a despotic and profligate monarch, and the re
strictions and penalties imposed by an obsequious parliament,
as well as the intolerance and persecutions of a haughty hierar
chy, expatriated themselves, with their families to the Ameri
can colonies. To these were added many of the native Irish
from the north of Ireland, as well as emigrants from Scotland.
Pennsylvania was the selection of most of them, when they
considered, that, under the charter of Penn and the fundamen
tal laws of the Province, they could enjoy civil and religious
liberty. They sought an asylum from Church and State intol
erance and oppression, if it were to be had only in the wilder
ness of another continent, under a government of equal rights.
They were nearly all Presbyterians in their Church relations,
and many of them had settled in Pennsylvania before the close
of the seventeenth century.

The emigrants from Ireland and Scotland approached so
close in national character, and were so congenial in sentiments,
habits and religious principles, having in the land from which
they emigrated, suffered from common grievances, that they
were identified as one people. As professors of religion, they
united in church organizations and worshipped together at the
same Christian altars.
The first settlements of this class were in Bucks county,
but chiefly in the territory, which, in 1729, was organized into
the county of Lancaster. Settlements were made in it about
1717, on Octorora creek, and about the same time or earlier,
in Pequea, and in 1722 in Donegal and Paxton. In 1730 and
'34, the same class of emigrants, with the license of the Pro
prietory government, located themselves in the Kittochtinny
valley, west of the Susquehanna, where they increased rapidly
and in a few years formed there a large, respectable and influ
ential community.
Under a free government of equal rights, with political
power accessible to all the citizens, it was to be expected that
amongst these different classes or races of emigrants, there
would be rivalries and competition, as well as jealousies of
ascendency and political power. They would be apt to differ
in their opinions of public measures, as well as in their predi
lections for the men who were to establish measures or execute
them. The Quakers had the advantage of the other classes, that
they were parties to the first organization of the government,
and in the establishment of the three first counties of Phila
delphia, Chester and Bucks, and in regulating their represen
tation. In those counties they had the majority of the inhab
itants, which enabled them to elect as members of Assembly
and Council, such as were entirely acceptable to them.
Their majority in the Assemblj^, which prevailed for a long
time, made its legislation to conform to their wishes and prin
ciples ; tiie Proprietory, who belonged to their Society, being
disposed generally to cooperate with them.
From the great influx of emigrants from Ireland, Scotland
and Germany, there was every prospect, that the control of the

9
Legislature of the provincial government would pass from the
hands of the Quakers into that of one of these other classes,
and that they, who had been instrumental in establishing the
government and putting it in operation, should be reduced to a
powerless minority.
In the early administration of the Provincial government,
James Logan was a prominent, intelligent and influential mem
ber, being for many years a member of Council, and also the
President of Council, as well as enjoying other high and im
portant offices. Though of Irish origin, he had become affili
ated with the Society of Friends, of which he professed to be
one. He adopted their principles and manifested his willing
ness to maintain them, except he was disposed to go further
for the defence of the country against its enemies, and was
not entirely adverse to all military measures.
He had, however, the confidence of the Quaker party, who
retained him in influential stations of the government, as long
as his health and age would allow. Logan saw clearly, from
the accession which the Province was yearly receiving of sub
stantial, intelligent and respectable emigrants from Scotland
and Ireland, that the Quaker rule in the government would be
restrained or supplanted. He knew well the character of his
countrymen, to be inquisitive, energetic, and independent.
They would know their rights, and knowing them, would dare
to maintain them without the fear of man. It was not to be
expected that men, who had scrutinized and contested the
powers of a royal government, were going to live passive un
der the administration of a government in which they had
equal rights with all its citizens. The day must come, when
their voice would be heard, felt and respected in the govern
ment of the Province.
They did exercise their right of suffrage at the elections in
Lancaster and York counties, in opposition to the candidate
selected from and supported by the Quakers. They were
sometimes successful in their opposition, and in the election of
their own candidates. In these election contests there was
much excitement and feeling, and they were attended with ir
regularities, disorder and breaches of the peace discreditable

10
to the authors; yet, these excesses were short of like disorders
and of the frauds committed on the elective franchise, in these
days of progress and refinement, under the laws of our great
Republic, and which are to be reprobated as great public
offences, subversive of the rights of the citizens and the purity
of elections, and reproachful to the law and its officers. In
these election contests the Germans generally took part with
the Friends and supported their candidates. The German
Mennonites accorded so much with the Quakers, in their oppo
sition to military service, supplies or measures of defence,
that they were the partisans of the candidate supported by the
Quakers. About this time James Logan began to undervalue
his countrymen, and speak disparagingly of emigrants from
Ireland, as being undesirable settlers.
In 1729 he expresses " himself glad to find that the Parlia
ment is about to take. measures to prevent their too free emi
gration to this country." " It looks," says he, " as if Ireland
is to send all her inhabitants hither ; for last week not less than
six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive also. The
common fear is, that if they continue to come, they will make
themselves proprietors of the province." "It is strange,"
says he, " that they thus crowd where they are not wanted."
What made him pronounce them "audacious and disorderly,"
was, that they entered on and settled lands in the southern
part of Lancaster county, towards the Maryland line, " York
Barrens," without approaching him to propose to purchase,
and when challenged for their titles, said, as their excuse,
" that the Proprietory and his agents had solicited for colo
nists and that they had come accordingly."
And in 1725 he complains " that there are so much as one
hundred thousand acres of land possessed by persons (including
Germans), who resolutely set down and improve lands, without
any right, and he is much at a loss to determine how to dispos
sess them."
He also represents the Irish emigrants as " troublesome
settlers to the government and hard neighbors to the Indians."
In placing an estimate upon the opinions of Logan, respecting
the Irish emigrants, regard must be had to his position at the

11
time in the government. He had so long enjoyed a command
ing influence in the affairs of this government, under Quaker
rule, that he was jealous of any power that would thwart him
in measures and policy, or impair his influence. There were
parties under the provincial government, as well as under that
of the Commonwealth. The Governor had his friends and par
tisans and the Assembly theirs ; whilst the Council went with
one or the other as they were inclined. Between these there
were conflicts in the exercise of their respective powers that
were marked with feeling and excitement. Logan was the
leader of the Proprietory party and had to encounter often
opposition and defeat from the Assembly. The Irish and
Scotch vote in the Province was becoming larger, and com
manding, and often exercised control in the election of mem
bers of Assembly and other officers. Logan had occasion to
know its power and opposition, and would have preferred an
unbroken influence in the Council and in the measures of gov
ernment. He was generally in opposition to Governor Keith,
decidedly the best and most popular of the Proprietory depu
ties, and was thus arrayed against the popular will, of which
the intelligent and patriotic emigrants of Ireland and Scotland
were influential exponents. There is much reason to believe
that it was this limitation on his power in the government,
that made him hostile to Irish and Scotch emigration, and led him
to speak disparagingly of their character, as well as disposed to
adopt the policy of restraining their emigration into the Pro
vince, by prohibition or taxation.
His declaration was " that the common fear is, that if they
continue to come, they will make themselves Proprietors of the
Province." He would have preferred that the government
should continue permanently under the rule of the Quaker
party, though the population of the Province could be number
ed by hundreds, and its cultivated lands by a hand-breadth.
A like prejudice was exhibited about the same period, in
another quarter, against the German influence in the Province.
The influx of German emigrants was so great as to cause alarm
to some politicians. It was feared by them " that the numbers
from Germany, at the rate they were coming, in 1726-'27,

12
will soon," as Jonathan Dickinson expressed himself at the time,
" produce a German colony here, and perhaps such an one as
Britain once received from Saxony." Jonathan Dickinson
was respected for integrity and intelligence, having the public
confidence. He had held the offices of Chief Justice of the
Province, Speaker of the Assembly, and member of Council.
This apprehension led to the imposition of a tax, by the As
sembly, on German emigrants, to discourage their emigration
to this Province.
Even the great, liberal and sagacious Franklin, allowed pre
judice to influence his gigantic mind, in the view which he took
of the German population of Pennsylvania, when, in 1755, he
addressed the British public in favor of excluding any more
Germans from the colonies. * Franklin, we might suppose, would
have discriminated between the intelligent, moral and indus
trious portion of the German population, that were desirable
as settlers, for good and useful habits, and who in time would
comprehend their relations to a new government and conform
to its requisitions, and the immense swarms of Palatine Boors
who were landed in the Province, ignorant, indolent, unruly
and vicious.
In those days of party divisions and dissensions, this emi
nent and patriotic statesman did not escape reproach and calum
ny in high places. " Governor Morris, under the influence of
angry feelings, accused Franklin to the ministry, of using his
office of Post Master General, to obstruct the King's service;
and to the Proprietories, of the design of wresting from them
the government."t Franklin devoted his time and labor to
the discoveries of science and to promote the prosperity and
welfare of his country, and lived to establish a reputation for
genius, ability, integrity and patriotism that is imperishable.
Time and experience reconciled him, and the wise and good of
all parties, to the great acquisition in the German emigration,
for the growth, resources and prosperity of Pennsylvania as a
Province and State.
A representation unfavorable to the character of the Mennon
ites was made to Governor Gordon in 1727 : " That a large

• Spark's Franklifl. Vol. 7, p. 71.
•i" Qord. 830.

13
number of Germans, peculiar in their dress, religion and no
tions of political government, had settled on Pequea and were
determined not to obey the lawful authority of government ;
that they had resolved to speak their own language, and to
acknowledge no sovereign but the great Creator of the uni
verse." Opposition was made to their admission as citizens,
and it was not until 1741, that a law wae passed for their
naturalization. They had declared their readiness to pay their
taxes and that they were subject to those in authority.
From their conscientious scruples against bearing arms, they
did not enter the army to fight the battles of the country, but
when Independence was acknowledged and a new government
organized and established, they were obedient in all things to
its requisitions. They have ever been in Pennsylvania a
peaceable, industrious and moral community, paying their
taxes regularly, avoiding strife, and living in peace with all
men, with whom they had intercourse. They never allow the
poor members of their society to be a public charge, but sup
port them in the society.
The Quakers, who had a majority in the Assembly, and who
could and did control its Legislature, in the early history of the
provincial government, were subjected to severe strictures, for
their neglect and unwillingness to provide for the defence of
the frontier of the Province, against the many cruel murders
perpetrated by the Indians on the inhabitants.
¦ The numerous petitions of the inhabitants of the frontier in
1754, after the defeat of the Virginia troops under Washing
ton, and again after Braddock's defeat in 1755, imploring from
the provincial government measures for their defence and pro
tection, had but little regard from the majority of the provin
cial Assembly, and led to the adoption of no efficient measures
for the relief of the alarmed inhabitants and their families ;
and when the Indian war broke out in all its fury, along the
extended frontier of the Province, and carried massacre into
hundreds of defenceless families, sparing neither age nor sex,
the government had not furnished a single soldier, arms or
ammunition, either for the defence or aid of the frontier.
The inhabitants of the frontier finding that their repeated

14
applications, as well as their unmitigated sufferings from expo
sure to savage enemies, were disregarded by the majority of
the Assembly, though Governor Morris had pressed upon their
attention, the measures of defence, demanded by every obliga
tion of duty, as well as humanity, in 1756, their memorial was
sent to the King, and Royal government, respecting the de
fenceless state of j;he Province, and praying the interposition
of the King, for the protection which was withheld from them
by the Assembly of the provincial government. The petition
ers, as well as Assembly complained of, were heard by their
agents and respective counsel, before a committee of the Privy
Council of the Royal government. That committee, after con
sideration, by their report which was approved by the Board,
" condemned the conduct of the Assembly in relation to the
public defence since the year 1742." Their expressed opin
ion was, that the Legislature of Pennsylvania, as of every other
country, was bound by the original compact of government to
support such government and its subjects. That the measures
intended for that purpose by the Assembly, were improper,
inadequate and ineffectual, and that there was no cause to hope
for other measures, whilst the majority of the Assembly con
sisted of persons, whose avowed principles were against milita
ry services, who, though not a sixth part of the inhabitants of
the province, were, contrary to the principles, the policy and
the practice of the mother country, admitted to hold offices of
trust and profit, and to sit in the Assemblies without their
allegiance being secured by the sanction of an oath. This
report was adopted by the Privy Council and a copy directed
to be sent to the Province.*
The repeated complaints of the inhabitants, against the re
missness and neglect of a Quaker Legislature to provide for the
defence of the frontier, were thus sustained by the Royal gov
ernment. When the opinion of the ministry on the conduct
of the Quakers was communicated to the Provincial Assembly,
some of the members of that society resigned their seats.
Others declined re-election, and some flattered they could re
concile their consciences with the measures of the Assembly.
* Gordon's Hist. 337, 339.

15
The dissensions between the inhabitants of the frontier in
terior of the Province, who were mostly of Scot or Irish origin,
with the Quaker party, were still continued with excited feel
ings and prejudices, on both sides. The Scotch Irish freemen
complained whilst they had increased greatly in numbers, and
were opening out the wilderness, and extending cultivation, as
well as defending the frontier of the Province at the expense
of their blood and lives against the Indians and the French
allies, who were the public enemy of the country, they were
without the assistance and protection from the provincial gov
ernment, to which they were justly entitled, and amongst the
grievances complained of, influencing the legislation of the As
sembly to their prejudice, was the inequality in 1764, in the
representation of the counties, the three counties of Philadel
phia, Chester and Bucks, with a Quaker population having twenty
six representatives, whilst the counties of Lancaster, Y^ork,
Cumberland, Berks and Northampton had collectively but ten
members. The dissatisfaction existing between the Scotch and Irish
inhabitants and the Quakers under the provincial government,
was the occasion of criminations and recriminations. The
Quakers charged the Scotch Irish with being haters of the
Indian, inimical to him and as exciting the Indian wars by
their encroachments ; whilst the Scotch and Irish inhabitants,
in their memorial to the Royal government, charged the Qua
kers with secretly supporting the Indians, by holding treaties
and correspondence with them during the war ; " and of having
bestowed on them arms, ammunition and tomahawks, even when
they were murdering the frontier inhabitants."* The opinions
and accusations of both parties, were made, it is believed,
under a cloud of prejudices, excited by partisans, with discol
ored representations, and founded on slight evidence, weighed
in scales held by a partial hand.
Time and experience proved the policy advocated by politi
cians of distinction in the Province, of restraining the emigra
tion of both the Irish and Germans, into the settlement of its
wild land, to be so short sighted and contracted, that, if adopted.

Gordon's Hist. 422.

16
would have been ruinous to the fundamental interests of the
Province and its government. The opinion of such politicians
deserves but little regard, in their estimations of the principles
and character of whole and numerous classes of their fellow-
men, who are commended or censured as they accorded with,
or opposed their views or purposes, in times of party excite
ment, when there is a contest between such leaders for official
power and influence. Their opinions receive their bias and
coloring from their own selfish feelings, and fluctuate with the
rise and fall of parties.
Had the policy advocated by Logan, Dickinson and Frank
lin been adopted, as a permanent one, in the provincial gov
ernment, of restraining emigration, by which the population
demanded for its security and prosperity, and which has elevated
it to the highest rank in the American colonies, was to be ex
cluded the privilege of an asylum on its territory ; these exclu
ded emigrants would have sought permanent homes in other
colonies, and the growth and improvement of Pennsylvania
have been greatly retarded.
Without the aid, strength and resources afforded to Penn
sylvania by its emigration of Irish, Scotch and Germans from
1725 to 1750, who would have been the pioneers of its immense
wilderness, opened out its unbroken forests, cultivated its lands,
and, in the infancy of the Province, reared so many habitations
for Christian families, or erected in the " back woods " so many
edifices, dedicated to the worship of the God of their fathers ?
Without such emigration, before the Indian wars, the frontiers
of the Province would have extended little beyond the Schuyl
kill, and the citizens of Philadelphia, with their wives and
children, would have been exposed to the torch, hatchet and
scalping knife of the savage, and their midnight murderous
assault and slaughter, and the Kittochtinny valley in its
length and breadth, have remained a wilderness. Without
such emigrants and their descendants, how few would have
been found in Pennsylvania the advocates of American Inde
pendence and resistance to Royal usurpation and tyranny, and
who would have filled up the ranks, or commanded the armies
of Pennsylvania in the war of the Revolution, in which the

17
liberties of the American people were defended and their inde
pendence established.
A more impartial age has expunged from historical record
the prejudices and aspersions, which, in the early history of
this Province, were cast on the German population, or the So
ciety of Friends, and they have been allowed to pass almost
into oblivion, and if recalled, it is only to make known the oc
casion of their existence and the temper, feelings and rivalry
which brought them to life. Both of these great classes of
the early settlers of the Province, are respected and commend
ed for their virtues and usefulness.
Why is it, that a like liberality and justice, are not extend
ed to the Scotch and Irish settlers of Pennsylvania and their
descendants ? Why is time not allowed to cast a shade over
accusations against them, which had a like origin in party
rivalry, and no better foundation, than bad temper and per
verted judgment ?
Were their evil deeds so many, and great that the mantle
of charity can neither conceal nor cover them ? If so, where
is the evidence of them ?
They were men, who laid broad and deep the foundations of
a great Province, and who, with a master's hand, erected a
structure of Government that was stable, capacious and eleva
ted; whose prosperity and greatness commands admiration,
and which, by public accord, constitutes the great Key Stone of
the political Arch of the American Union.
The men, who were instrumental in this structure of gov
ernment, with its free institutions, of religious and civil liberty,
were more than ordinary men, to hold the plough and handle
the axe, or ply the shuttle. They had other qualities, we
would infer from their works, than enterprize, energy, bravery
and patriotism, and they were not surpassed, for lofty virtue
and consistent piety.
When we survey the Kittochtinny valley, between the Sus
quehanna and Potomac, with its cultivated and improved farms,
flourishing towns and villages, its church edifices, in which
Christian worship, and ordinances, are regularly observed
— seminaries of learning of every grade, its high intellectual,
2

18
social and moral condition, and remember that little more than
one century since, the same valley was a wilderness-— its pop
ulation the Indian hunter, and its habitations the hut of the
savage or the dwelling of the beaver, are we not led to inquire,
who, -ijnder God, were the authors of this great work? A large
portion of the population of this valley, at the present time,
are the descendants of its first settlers. Do they not feel, that
to their ancestors and their memory, they owe a debt of end
less gratitude, for their works and services ? Are they not
interested in knowing and proclaiming the principles, that guided
the first settlers in making this valley the abode of civilization
and the homes of an intelligent, enterprizing, religious and
moral community ? Who is it, that now shares the common
blessings, that result to the now comfortable and independent
occupants of this delightful free valley, from the privations,
toils, sacrifices, persevering industry, and virtue of the men, who
dwelt in it when a wilderness, and transformed it to cultiva
ted fields, meadows and gardens, with commodious and elegant
dwellings, that does not feel an interest in knowing the charac
ter of those who accompliBhed so much, for those of this gener
ation and their posterity ? Other communities of the same
Scot and Irish origin, have, at an early period, peopled other
parts of Pennsylvania, whose progress, improvement, princi
ples and virtues, were attended with the same happy success and
prosperity, as characterized this portion of the Kittochtinny
valley. The Scotch and Irish element was here more univer
sal, and extensive, and embracing a larger community of the
same religious creed, and forms of worship, and of the same
homogeneous tastes and principles.
The character of the people who first settle any country, or
establish their government, generally determines that of their
descendants. Such is our estimation of the character, princi
ples and habits of the first Irish and Scotch settlers of this
Province, that all their descendants may, we think, be satisfied
to have their character measured by the same standard. What
Pennsylvania is, as a great and prosperous State of free Insti
tutions, she owes to the mass of her original settlers.
Justice has not been done to the Scotch and Irish race, w

19
the Histories of the American Colonies and States. In some
instances they are slighted, and in others traduced. For per
mitting this without rebuke and vindication, their descendants
are not free from censure. The character of their ancestors is
part of their inheritance, which they are bound by every obli
gation of duty, to reverence and defend.
To the Puritan settlers of New England there has been a
different measure of justice, respect and honor. Their princi
ples, virtues, institutions and public usefulness, have not only
been recorded on the pages of History, but in numerous eulo
gies and addresses, on the return of the anniversary of the
Landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. Whilst the sons
of New England, unite yearly, in bearing their testimony and
tribute to the purity and transcendent merits of their ancestors,
the descendants of other races, throughout the Republic, con
cur in honoring their memory, and in commemorating their
principles and virtues. There were errors and public wrongs
that were reproachful, imputable to some of the first settlers
of New England ; chargeable to individual communities and
arising out of the state of the country, prejudices, excitement
and delusions ; but Historic truth does not require, that they
should be permanently recorded to their reproach, without an
exhibit of the extenuating circumstances, under which they
originated, and, much less, that the misdeeds of individuals,
or of a limited community, should be proclaimed as a stig
ma on the whole Puritan race, of the New England colonies.
Blemishes that might be found, in the early history of these
colonies, have been allowed to pass into oblivion; and lost in
the effulgence of the mass of excellence, which adorned the
character of many, of the early settlers of New England.
To the credit of New England men, they have led off in
paying an early tribute, to the memory of their ancestors, by
recording and perpetuating their principles, patriotism and
public usefalness. Such was the position of the colonies of
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, during the Revolutionary
contest, and the War of Independence, that their history and
that of their inhabitants, in earlier times, are matters of na
tional interest, and deserving of national gratitude, and rever-

20
ence. Whilst we accord to the early settlers of New England,
great merits, and eminent usefulness, it is believed that the
Scotch and Irish early settlers of Pennsylvania, Virginia and
North Carolina, in energy, enterprise, intelligence, patriotism,
religious and moral character, the maintenance of civil and re
ligious liberty and in inflexible resistance of all usurpation in
Church or State, were not surpassed by any class of settlers
in the American colonies. Has this high character been re
garded, and acknowledged as it deserved, by the compilers of
History in Pennsylvania? It has not. Some compilers of local
history in Pennsylvania, have accorded to the Scotch and Irish
early settlers, religious and moral character of a high standard,
as well as great public service and usefulness ; whilst the au
thors of some historical collections and memoirs have indulged
in wholesale accusations to their reproach.
The aspersions cast upon the ancestors of the mass of the
best citizens of this State, require investigation, and that the
accusers furnish the evidence to which they refer, in order to
sustain their calumnies. From the acquaintance of the writer
with the character of the Irish and Scotch settlers, who were
the early actors in the settlement of the Province of Pennsyl
vania, he affirms that the accusations and reproaches thus im
puted to the Scotch Irish race in Pennsylvania, are unfounded
and unjust.
If such accusations, to the reproach of our ancestors, who
have been in their graves for a half century or more, be allow
ed to pass without contradiction or refutation, time and repe
tition may give them currency and credit: and the fair fame
of the men who had high claims on the country and posterity,
for a life of labor, industry, toil, sacrifices and peril, in its im
provement, defence and prosperity, may be unjustly prejudiced
in the estimation of readers, who may take their opinions from
an author, who has adopted some stale and selfish prejudice,
which, in its origin, had neither foundation, credit, nor influence.
Mr. Sherman Day, in his Historical Collections of Pennsyl
vania, (in 1843, page 28,) in speaking of the Scotch Irish,
says, they were "a pertinacious and pugnacious race," "push
ing their settlements upon unpurchased lands about the

21
Juniata, producing fresh exasperation among the Indians.
Massacres ensued, the settlers were driven below the moun
tains and the whole Province was alive with the alarms and
excitements of war."
The only approach to a specification, is by Mr. Day, wherein
he charges upon the Scotch Irish, the encroachments upon the
unpurchased lands of the Indians about the Juniata, and the
massacres and war, which ensued from these encroachments.
For a charge so grave and reproachful, as being the authors
of the savage war, that desolated the border settlements of the
Province, the reader is not referred, by Mr. Day, to either
dates, events, or any historical record, or document to verify
the accusation. We are unwilling to believe, that Mr. Day had
any disposition to misrepresent the Scotch Irish of Pennsyl
vania ; but as his historical work was a hasty compilation of
much general and local history, opinions and statements may
have been adopted, without full investigation, and the preju
dices and misrepresentations of the leaders or classes, opposed
to the Scotch Irish race in the Province of Pennsylvania, re
ceived as veritable history, in which he was misled, and his
publication made the instrument of wrong and injustice, to a
numerous and most respectable class of citizens.
The wars between the Indians of Pennsylvania and its white
inhabitants, did not occur before 1755, the year of Braddock's
expedition and defeat. Then, and for some years preceding,
the Scotch and Irish emigrants constituted the great mass of
the effective population of the Province. They were settled
in great numbers in various parts of the county of Lancaster,
on the south eastern and western borders of York county, in
the county of Northampton, and formed nearly the entire pop
ulation of the Kittochtinny valley, in the county of Cumber
land, between the Susquehanna, and the Potomac rivers. As
the cession by the Indians, in 1736, of their claim to lands
west of the Susquehanna and to the Kittochtinny mountains,
as a western boundary, together with the adjustment, in 1737,
of the temporary line between the Provinces of Pennsylvania
and Maryland, left this great valley, between these rivers, open
to settlement; the influx into it of substantial settlers of Irish

22
and Scotch origin, was great, after 1737, and continued, with
little abatement, for many years. Yet, with all this influx of
settlers and appropriation of land, it is believed, that in 1750,
more than one half of the arable land, in this valley, desirable
for both fertility and other advantages, was still open to entry
and settlement. At that time, there were in the Kittochtinny
valley, about one thousand families, and in the counties of
Cumberland and Franklin, which embrace this part of the
same valley, it appears by the United States Census of 1850,
that there were then in occupation 4,089 farms. From the
condition of this valley, as an agricultural district, it is mani
fest, that, in 1750 and before, there was vacant land within its
boundaries, that was suitable and desirable for a settler, great
ly beyond what was required, to satisfy the wants or reasona
ble demands of emigration. It does not appear from Provin
cial records, that the Indians, at any time, complained of
the settlements in the Kittochtinny valley, west of the Sus
quehanna. These settlements were made under licenses from
the Proprietory government, before the cession, with the ap
probation of the Indians, and after the cession, by official grants
in the regular form from the Land Office, to which Indian con
sent was not wanting.
The complaints by the Indians of encroachments, by the
white inhabitants, on their unpurchased lands, were in 1742,
and after; and were confined to illegal settlements on lands in
Tulpehocken, on the Juniata, Aughwick, Path Valley and on
Licking Creek, near the Potomac river, which embraced the
Big and Little Coves. These settlements, with the exception
of Tulpehocken, were in a mountainous country, extending
from the Susquehanna to the Potomac, a distance of eighty
miles, being west of the Kittochtinny mountains, and most of
them west of the Tuscarora. Mr. Day, in the extract from
his History recited, referred only to the Juniata, as the locality
of the Scotch Irish encroachments, which were so oflensive to
the Indians. There is the highest authority, being that of R.
Peters, Esq., Secretary of the Provincial Government, in his
Report to the Governor, that the first settlers, who entered
on the unpurchased lands at the Juniata, were Germans,* and
* Vol. 0. Col. Roc. 445.

23
' were followed by some Irish emigrants, and at the visit of Mr.
Peters, he found but six. The settlers who entered on the
lands at Tulpehocken, before the purchase, were German Pa
latines, who came from the Province of New York.f
The settlements in Path valley, Sherman's valley, and
Aughwick, were made up of a few families of Irish and Ger
man origin ; whilst those on the Licking creek hills, near the
Potomac, were by settlers, most of whom came from Maryland
and claimed under Maryland rights, and consisted of emigrants
from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Germany.^ The provin
cial boundary line, having been extended by survey only to the
summit of the Kittochtinny mountain, it was still uncertain
how much of the Licking creek hills or coves were within the
boundary and jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, which was not
established until by the Mason and Dixon Line in 1767. It
was on this district of uncertain jurisdiction that the Indians,
with their French allies, made their first bloody and murder
ous slaughter of the defenceless settlers and their families, in
October, 1755.
Immediately after the organization of the county of Cum
berland, in 1750, the Provincial government took measures
for the removal of the settlers west of the Kittochtinny and
Tuscarora mountains. Richard Peters, Esq., Secretary, with
the aid of the magistrates and sheriff of Cumberland county,
repaired to the several places of settlement, being accompa
nied with delegates from some of the Indian tribes, and an in
terpreter. The measures of these officers were effective. The
settlers were required, to abandon their dwellings, which were
destroyed and burned, and compelled to enter into recogni
zances for their appearance at the next Court in Cumber
land county, to answer for their breach of the Law. The
settlers disclaimed right, acknowledged their offence and
acquiesced in the requisitions of the magistrates, and the de
struction of their houses, with the exception of one man, who
resisted with threats, and was disarmed and imprisoned. The
number of settlers found at these several places, amounted
f Vol. 3, Col. Rec. 323. In all visited by R. Peters and Blagistratea, 62,
X Vol- 5 CoL Rec. 446,

24
to sixty-two. To whatever class of emigrants they belonged^
they could not be considered as either " pertinacious," or
"pugnacious." Their possessions were in the wilderness, re
mote from the settlements, and if lawless and disposed to
resist the officers of the law, and oppose their purposes, it
might easily have been effected. They were submissive, and
under the most trying circumstances of a summary expulsion,
with their families, from their dwellings, which were burned
in their presence, they were left in an unbroken mountain
forest, without a habitation or shelter of any kind, for their
families. The secretary and magistrates executed this public
duty, with fidelity^ to the Indians and Provincial government,
and with as much lenity to jthe settlers, as the execution of
the law would allow.
The magistrates of Cumberland county who assisted in the
performance of this painful duty, were of Scotch or Irish ori-
igin or descent; and were under no legal obligations to leave
their homes in the Kittochtinny valley and seek offenders
against the law,, by traversing the wilderness for more than fifty
miles, and crossing rugged and elevated mountain ranges, by the
Indian or Trader's path, and then impose, and execute summa
ry, rigid punishment on men and their families, for a trans
gression of the laws, arising out of the indulgence of the pro
prietory government, and their ignorance of the law and its
penalties. Benjamin Chambers and George Croghan, two of their Jus
tices, and who were of Irish nativity, without the aid of Mr.
Peters, visited the settlers, eleven in number, on Sherman's
creek, and adopted and executed the same measures for their
removal, and the destruction of their houses. Whatever
sympathy they may have felt for them, some of whom, no doubt,
were their countrymen, yet their sense of public duty, made
them enforce the law, whilst they had to witness the great
distress of poor sufferers in its execution.
Such is the history from public documents of the encroachments
by the white settlers on the unpurchased lands in Pennsylva
nia, west of the Kittochtinny mountain, and the measures for
their removal. When examined by an impartial and in tell i-

25
gent enquirer, can they discover anything to warrant the im
putation, to the whole Scotch Irish race, in the then Province
of Pennsylvania, the wrongs committed by a few misguided
settlers, who, with most peril to themselves and their families,
from both the Indians and government, ventured to settle in
the wilderness on unpurchased lands. The great mass of the
Scotch and Irish settlers, who were cultivating and improving
their farms, in the remote parts of the Province, knew no more
probably of the existence, or acts of these settlers, than they
did of their countrymen who might be taking up an abode in
other colonies or continents.
Even the inhabitants of the Kittochtinny valley, which was
the settlement of civilization nearest them, were in no respect
responsible for their acts or character. They were separated
from them by ranges of lofty mountains, and in place of en
couraging their Scotch, or Irish friends, or acquaintances, to
make settlements, where they would be exposed to Indian hos
tility, as well as contravene the law, would have directed them
to their own attractive valley, where there was abundance of
fertile vacant land, and where it was desirable as well as poli
tic, to increase the numbers and strength of the settlement,
by every accession of peaceful and industrious freemen. We
affirm it to be illiberal, and unjust, to reproach the Scotch Irish
settlers of Pennsylvania, as a race, with being regardless of
the forms of the Land office and laws, pushing their settlements
upon unpurchased lands, to the exasperation of the Indians,
because some few individuals of that race, with emigrants from
other countries, may, under an infatuation that is unaccounta
ble, and with an adventurous spirit that was reckless, have
ventured- upon some of those lands remote from the settlements.
The insinuation, that these encroachments were the exciting
cause of the war, waged by the Indians on the white inhabitants
of the frontier settlements, is not supported by public documents.
The Indians in 1742, and for some years after, did complain
of these encroachments. The measures of the government in
1750, in removing the settlers, and the destruction of their
dwellings by public authority, in the presence of some of the
Indian tribes, were significant evidence of the energy and s-in

26
cerity of the government, to restrain such encroachments, and
punish the trespassers ; and though these efficient measiures
did not entirely prevent further encroachments by a few roving
adventurers, it had a tendency to discourage and restrain it,
as well as to reconcile the Indians, who were but little incom
moded or interfered with, by the few settlers who placed them
selves, on the unpurchased lands, when it was their inter
est and safety to avoid strife with the Indians.
Whatever dissatisfaction they might still have, and exhibit,
was quieted, and removed by the Treaty, and cession at Albany,
in 1754. The lands, on which encroachments, had been made,
west of the Kittochtinny, were an acknowledged part of that
cession, which the Indians understood, and intended to be
embraced by it, and for which alone they said they had re
ceived remuneration.
The most early, frequent and continued subject of complaint
by the Indians, in their conferences with the Proprietory, his
agents or the officers of the Provincial government, was the
" long tolerated usage of Traders, licensed by the government,
carrying to their towns and trading posts, rum and other in
toxicating liquors, for traffic, by sale or barter — many of the
Indians, under the influence of this drink, were tempted to
part with all they had for it, to their degradation and ruin,"
were excited to broils, bloodshed and murder, and when re
stored to sobriety, they found themselves deprived of their
skins and furs, and were left without anything of value, to clothe
themselves or their families, or to procure the ammunition ne
cessary to enable them to resume the chase. Their destitution
made them desperate, and ready to embark in any project,
though of peril, when there was any hope of plunder or reward.
The Governor of Pennsylvania, in his message of 1744, says:
" I cannot but be apprehensive that the Indian trade, as it is
now carried on, will involve us in some fatal general war with
the Indians. Our traders, in defiance of the law, carry spirit
uous liquors amongst them and take the advantage of their in
ordinate appetite for it, to cheat them of their skins and their
wampum, which is their money, and often to debauch their
wives into the bargain. Is it to be wondered at then, if, when

27
they recover from their drunken fit, they should take some
severe revenjre ?"*
Though the provincial laws forbade the traffic in intoxi
cating liquors with the Indians, under severe penalties: and
proclamations were issued almost annually, by the Governor
against it, calling on the officers of the government to enforce
the laws, yet so great were its profits to the trader, and so tempt
ing to the poor infatuated sons of the forest, that this vile
trade remained unabated, and was pursued by the white traders
under license from the Governor to trade, regardless of the
law and its penalties, and of the evils inflicted on the Indians.
The injuries done to the Indians, by a few white settlers,
putting up their cabins and clearing and cultivating a fleld, or
a corner of the wild lands of the Province, on which the In
dians claimed the right to hunt, were but light and trivial,
compared to those inflicted on their nations, by the traffic in
intoxicating liquors, tolerated by the government and practised
by unprincipled white men.
The great dissatisfaction of the Indians in Pennsylvania, was
with the Government of the Province, and the Proprietory
agents, arising out of the cessions of land obtained from them
within the Province. The boundaries of some of these cessions
were obscure and uncertain, and yet so comprehensive, as to
embrace half the Province. It is not-to be supposed, that
there was any design in this, on the part of the Proprietory or
his agents, that advantage might accrue to the Proprietory
from the obscurity.
As there was a great inequality in the capacity of the con
tracting parties, in both intelligence and power, it behooved
the Proprietory and his officers, to use abundant caution in
making the terms of the cession clearly intelligible, to the ig
norant and feeble savage. The lands should have been bound
ed by a description, referring to natural boundaries, that could
not be mistaken, or be open to future cavil.
The cession of 1737, by the Indians, conveying lands on the
Delaware, was " to extend back into the woods, as far as a

Vols, of Penn. Arch. Vol. 3, p. 555.

man can go in one day and a half." What a hook was here
left to hang a controversy on. The Indians soon after, ex
pressed their dissatisfaction with a boundary so uncertain, and
when the walk was made, it only tended to increase the dissat
isfaction. The white walkers selected, were so expert and
indefatigable, that the Indians who were to accompany them,
complained that they could not keep up with the white men
who ran.* The wound made by the agents of the Proprietory
in Indian confidence by this treaty, and the claim and execu
tion of it, remained long an open one, and could scarcely be
said to be healed, when the more comprehensive and important
treaty and cession were made at Albany in 1754, between the
Proprietory of Pennsylvania and officers, and the six nations,
which swept from under the feet of the Indians, nearly all the
lands claimed by them within the Province, in consideration of
the small sum of .£400 pounds. The Indians could not have
understood this wholesale disposition of this claim to their
hunting grounds. When they came to consider where they
stood, and how little was left to them of their wide domain,
their dissatisfaction was intense and general, but more partic
ularly with the Delawares, a small, but formidable tribe. They
alleged, that they only intended to cede the lands unsold on
which the settlers had eneroaclied, which did not form a tithe
of what was embraced in the Albany cession.
To the Indians, the encroachments of the few white settlers
on the hills, and in some of the small valleys west of the Kit
tochtinny mountains, were but a small grievance. The white
settlements on the east side of those mountains, would make
the hunting grounds on the immediate border of little value,
as the game would seek more retired woods, and the Indians
had for many years before these settlements withdrawn from
them. The acts of the settlers were individual wrongs, not

* The Proprietory agents had advertised in the public paper.s for the most
expert walkers, to make the -walk, off'cring a reward of five hundred acres ot
land in the purchase, and £5 in money, to the person -who should attend and
¦walk the farthest in the given time. The vpalkers desired, entered on this
novel race on time, through the woods, and though supplied -with refresh
ments at points, ¦without rest or loss of time, one of the white men sank down
exhausted, under the effort, and one only was able to contiuue until the
exhaustion of the time. — Day. Col. 508.

29
justified under any pretended right, and which the Proprieto
ry government was bound to redress, and which its agents de
clared should be redressed, by government authority. But the
wrongs done the Indians, by the officers and agents of the
Proprietory and Provincial government, were on a much more
extensive scale. They were by public authority, in whose acts
the Indians had reposed confidence, and they were not to be
satisfied, that the marks of a few Indian chiefs to a single in
strument of writing, which they could not read, was to be an
absolute, legitimate and conclusive transfer of their nation's
claim to the lands of half the Province, and for any wrong or
fraud perpetrated on them by the public agents, they were
without appeal to or redress by higher authority.
The dissatisfactions of the Indians, under the conipact of
1754, were continued without redress from the Proprietory, or
the Provincial government; and they were allowed to grieve
over their lost hunting grounds and the homes of their families,
taken from them by the public agents and officers of a govern
ment, they had regarded as their friend and protector.
The French, who were aspiring to dominion in North Amer
ica, at the expense of the English possessions, were extending
rapidly their posts and fortresses, from the northern lakes into
the valley of the Ohio. Every art and device was used by
them, to attach the Indians to their: influence, and withdraw
them from English alliance. They, by the line of their forti
fications, were more in the neighborhood of the Indian towns
and hunting grounds, which were to them places of trade and
barter, for supplies adapted to their condition and wants. The
Indians had an opportunity of seeing their armaments, and
military stores, as well as to witness their enterprise, prompti
tude and perseverence to further the purposes of their govern
ment. They did not admire the pacific temper of the Provin
cial government, and the few English forces which they had
seen before 1755, in the Provinces of the English government,
did not impress them much in favor of the power of the gov
ernment, or of the bravery and intrepidity of its soldiers.
The French ingratiated themselves by presents, and marked
attentions, that were captivating ; whilst they endeavored to

so
impress on them the suspicion that the English, whose settlements
were extending from the Atlantic westward, were intended
to be permanent, and take from them all their hunting grounds,
whilst they drove them to the extremity of the land.
The extended dissatisfaction with the English, that followed
the Albany cession, was opportune for French infiuence, which
was at once artfully used, to withdraw the Indian nations from
English to French alliance. The vast territory obtained and
claimed by the Proprietories of Pennsylvania, under the Deed of
1754, was to the Indians a confirmation of the suspicions, that the
French had endeavored to excite, as to the design of the Eng
lish to take their lands. The French, at a crisis when they
were preparing for hostilities, were successful in bringing to
their alliance, the Indians within the Province of Pennsylvania,
with the exception of a small number. The French posts and
garrisons now became places not only for Indian resort, but of
organization and armament, for the approaching war. Indian
hostilities were soon witnessed, with a vengeance and unparal-
lelled success in the defeat of Braddock. In a few months
after, they waged a cruel and merciless war on the defenceless
settlers and their families of Pennsylvania; also simultaneously
on those of Maryland and Virginia. The cause of that hos
tility could not be mistaken. For a twelvemonth it had been
rankling in the breast of every Indian warrior. Their dissatis
faction was notorious, and yet the Proprietory of Pennsylva
nia and the Provincial government slumbered amidst the indi
cations of an approaching war, without any efficient measures
to avert it or to provide for the defence of the frontier.
The constituted authorities of the Province understood well.
at the time, the cause of the Indian hostilities, with which the
inhabitants were visited. They did not attribute them to the
encroachments of the few Irish, Scotch or German settlers on
the unpurchased lands, many of whom, with their families, had
fallen victims to the savage warfare to which, from their loca
tion, they were exposed. The responsibility for these hostil
ities was to be charged to those in power and authority in the
Province. Gov. Morris, in his address to the Assembly, of Nov., 3, 1755,

81
expressly tells them, " that it seemed clear, from the different
accounts he had received, that the French had gained to their
interest the Delaware and Shawnese Indians, under the en
snaring pretence ot restoring them to their country."
At a treaty at Easton, in 1756, the Governor desired to
know of the Indians the cause of th^ir hostile conduct. Tu-
dyuscung, chief of the Delawares, and who represented several
nations, replied, " I have not far to go for an instance ; this
very ground, that is under me," striking it with his foot, "was
my land and inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud. When
I say this ground, I mean all the land between Toheccon
creek and Wyoming, on the river Susquehanna."
The Assembly, in their reply to Gov. Denny, in June, 1757,
say, " It is rendered beyond contradiction plain, that the
cause of the present Indian incursions in this Province, and
the dreadful calamities many of the inhabitants have suffer
ed, have arisen, in a great measure, from the exorbitant
and unreasonable purchases made, or supposed to be made of
the Indians, and the manner of making them — so exorbitant,
that the natives complain that they have not a country left to
subsist in."* This fact was known to the Royal government,
which interposed its influence with the Proprietories of Penn
sylvania, and desired that the Indians should be conciliated
on the subject of the boundary of the Albany cession. This
was done at Easton, in 1758, by a Deed from the Proprietories
hy their agents, abridging the bounds of the conveyance of
1754, and which released to the Indians the lands situate
northward and westward of the Allegheny mountain.
The Proprietories of Pennsylvania, in their dealings and
negotiations with both natives and settlers, were just, honora
ble and generous. They were incapable of any fraud, or im
position, and did not allow it to be practised by their agents.
Their disposition to accommodate the settlers, made them in
dulgent to them for the small amount of purchase money asked
for their lands, and made them tolerate many irregularities in
the acquisition, and evidence of appropriation of land from

* 2 Smith's Laws, 120.

32
regard to the wants and necessities of the settlers and exigen
cy of the time. A fair settlement, prosecuted with ordinary
diligence, without regard to the efficient forms of grant of land
provided for and required, was yet tolerated and recognized as
valid as if obtained and prosecuted, in all the form required
for official grants.
In their negotiations with the Indians, the Commissioners
appointed by the Proprietories, were instructed " to conduct
themselves with candor, justice and humanity." They ever
manifested their wishes to conciliate them by probity and
kindness. As the residence of the Proprietories, was most of
the time in England, the management of the affairs in the
Province, was necessarily committed to their agents, on whose
representations they were, in a great measure, dependent for
information respecting the measures in the Province. They
would no doubt sometimes be misled by the representations of
their agents, and redress for alleged wrongs to either thsi
Indian nations or the white settlers, would, in consequence of
the absence of the Proprietories from the Province, and the
few and tardy channels of communication there were between
the Province and England, be delayed, to the injury and dis
satisfaction of all parties. There would have been no war be
tween the Indians of Pennsylvania and its inhabitants, had it
not been for the war waged between the English and French
governments, a part of which was transferred to the Ameri
can continent, where both governments were ambitious of ex
tending their dominion. Into this conflict the Indians were
brought by the French, who had been most successful in 1755
in seducing them into their alliance. The prominent and in
fluential cause placed before the Pennsylvania Indians, to ex
cite them against the English, and the Provincial government
of Pennsylvania, were the wrongs inflicted on them under the
Albany cession. The exciting cause of Indian hostilities im
mediately before, and after Braddock's defeat, is to be traced
not to the encroachments of the few white settlers, but to the
more extensive wrongs by the government and its agents.
The settlers and their famiUes on the frontier, being near
est and most defenceless, were the first victims to the attack,

83
in which the Indians were encouraged by Braddock's defeat,
Dunbar's flight with the remains of the army, and the omission
of the Royal and Provincial governments to provide measures
for the defence of the Province, against the terrible incursions
of the savages, which were to be apprehended; and were soon
realized in the murder, and slaughter of the inhabitants, of nu
merous settlements, without regard to age, sex or condition.

CHAPTER IL
Detraction of Scotch Irish by Mr. Sargent — Vindication re
quired — Where did they reside? — Who and what were
they ? — Religious and moral character — Religious organi
zation — Institutions of learning — William Tennent, Senior
— Blairs — Finley — Davies — Allisons — Smiths, and others
— Settlement in York Barrens — The men from that settle
ment — in Donegal — Paxton — and in western part of York
county, now Adams.
In the introductory memoir to the Journal of Braddock's ex
pedition, by Mr. Winthrop Sargent, published within the last
year in Philadelphia, by Messrs. Lippincott, Grambo, & Co.,
the author has taken occasion to refer to the Scotch Irish race
in Pennsylvania, in terms so opprobrious, as to call for notice.
He says : " They were a hardy, brave, hot-headed race ; ex
citable in temper, unrestrainable in passion, invincible in pre
judice. Their hand opened as impetuously to a friend, as it
clinched against an enemy. They loathed the Pope as sin
cerely as they venerated Calvin or Knox, and they did not
particularly respect the Quakers. If often rude and lawless,
it was partly the fault of their position. They hated the In
dian, while they despised him ; and it does not seem, in their
dealings with this race, as though there were any sentiments
of honor or magnanimity in their bosoms, that could hold way
against the furious tide of passionate, blind resentment. Im
patient of restraint, rebellious against any thing that, in their
eyes, bore the semblance of injustice, we find these men
readiest among the ready, on the battle fields of the revolution.
3

34
If they had faults, a lack of patriotism or of courage was
not among the number."*
This concentrated denunciation, of a numerous race, has a
meagre qualification in the preceding page, when it is stated,
that, in each of the classes referred to by the author, " were to
be found men of education, intelligence and virtue."
For this measure of reproach and opprobrium cast upon the
ancestors of a large portion of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania
and other States, there is no reference to authority or facts.
The author does not accord to them integrity, enterprise, reli
gious or moral character. The character thus imputed to men,
who did much for the improvement and prosperity of the Pro
vince and State of Pennsylvania, and for the defence of civil
and religious liberty, as well as for the free institutions and
independence of the Republic, is at variance with all that is
generally received, as matter of historical truth. It is true,
that error and mistatement on a subject of such interest, should
be corrected, if they exist. Accusations and reproaches, if
unfounded, are to be refuted, and the character of men who
deserved well of society and their country, should be vindi
cated. Character is said to be transmissible, and that the charac
ter of descendants, may be determined by what was that of
their ancestors. If this be so, it is of interest to inquire into
what, in truth, was the character of the Scotch, and Irish, early
settlers of the Province of Pennsylvania, that their descen
dants may know themselves, as well as the character of their
ancestors. The descendants of the early settlers in Pennsyl
vania, of Scotch, or Irish origin, have nothing to apprehend
from the investigation, to the prejudice of their ancestors or
themselves. To this wholesale denunciation of the Scotch
Irish race in Pennsylvania, by Mr. Sargent, we propose to re
ply, by inquiring, where these settlers were in Pennsylvania,
and who they were, and what they were ?
The accusations made against the men, who were actors in
this Province at " the time that tried men's souls," are to be
* His. of Brad. Exp. 77.

35
met by the history of the settlements, made, in the infancy of
the Province, by the emigrants from Ireland and Scotland,
with their energy, progress, intelligence, religious and moral
character, social condition, religious, educational and patriotic
tendencies. Their ancestors were not without faults; they were men with
their infirmities, and made mistakes. Individuals of the race
have done wrongs against society, and their brethren, but not to
a greater degree, than were perpetrated elsewhere, in civilized
communities of the same number in like circumstances. The
offences of a few infatuated, vicious or turbulent men, under a
feeble government, are not to be imputed as a lasting stigma
and reproach to all, of the same foreign origin, dwelling under
the same government.
As well might the respectable families of emigrants, who are
in these days coming to our land, as their future abode, be
identified with the fugitives from justice, and liberated felons,
who may have got a passage in the same steamer. Into the Pro
vince of Pennsylvania, for many years, were shipped from Ire
land and Germany, great numbers of ignorant and poor subjects,
who were unable to pay their passage, and were sold into service
for a term of years to the colonists, for the amount of their
passage money, and were called "Redemptioners." They were
held in service by the farmers and others, to assist in the labor
required in the towns and country, some of whom became use
ful and respectable citizens, but many were low and vulgar, and
of disorderly and vicious habits. The English government,
by its authority, for a time, transported to the colonies many
of its convicts, against the wishes, interests and remonstrances
of the colonists, as well as against the public peace and wel
fare.* In the most orderly communities, into which a portion

* By British policy, the American colonies were made an asylum for the
worst of felons, transported to them. Those persons, who, by their enor
mous crimes, were unfit for society in England, were to be let loose on socie
ty in America, and be deemed fit servants for the colonists, and that their labor
and industry, might be the means ofimproving the said colonies, more usefully
to his majesty. Both Virginia and Maryland passed laws in restraint of this
transportation, which were disallowed by the King and Council, as derogato
ry to the Crown and Parliament. The colonies had still to endure the evils of
this vicious system from the mother country, for a considerable time, without

36
of such material should be infused, it might be expected; that
there would be occasional exhibitions of vice, violence, and
crime, to the annoyance of the public, under a new govern
ment, with few officers, in an extended and wild territory.
The first emigrants, from Ireland, to the Province of Penn
sylvania, came, about the beginning of the last century, and
settled in and near Philadelphia, in the counties of Bucks,
Chester, and several parts of Lancaster. They were Protest
ant Christians, of the Presbyterian denomination, and as
characterised them and their Scotch associates, wherever they
formed a settlement, as soon as they had reared, or obtained
houses for their families, they organized congregations for
Christian worship. For this purpose, they habitually assem
bled themselves together, holding to the government, creed
and doctrines, of their fathers, as contained in the Westmin
ster Confession of Faith, with its Catechisms, as the rule of
Faith and ecclesiastical organization, which they intended to
maintain for themselves and their children; and which they
reverenced, as the offspring of the religious liberty, that they
sought to found, in a Province settled under a Charter, that
pioclaimed religious freedom and equal rights.
They had fled from civil oppression and religious tyranny,
in the land of their fathers, and they hastened, in their new
homes, to manifest their sincerity and regard for their privi
leges, under a government of free institutions, and limited pow
ers, by erecting their houses of public worship, called " meet
ing houses," dedicated to the only true God. Not being sat
isfied long with a licensed ministry, that afforded them occa
sional supplies, they sought, and had settled Pastors, of learn
ing and piety, installed to the office of their Christian minister,
who was to go in and out before the people, and administer
the received ordinances of the Church.
The first Presbyterian ministers in this country, were near
ly all men of liberal education. Some had received their ed-

remedy. It ie said, about 1750, not less than from three to four hundred
felons were annually brought into the State of Maryland.f These convicts had,
after they landed, the run and choice of the colonies before them.
-)¦ British Empii-e in Am. Vol. 3, page 23.

37
ucation in the Universities of Scotland ; some in Ireland, and
a few at one of the New England Colleges. Though there
was a great demand for ministers, in the rapid settlement of
¦some parts of the Province, by emigrants of the Presbyterian
denomination, yet, from Dr. Alexander's research, there would
seem to have been but one instance, of introducing into the
ministry, of that Church, a candidate, without a college or
university education, and that was under extraordinary cir
cumstances. The first Presbyterian church organized, with a place of
public worship, was in Philadelphia, in 1703, and in the next
year, or year after, a Presbytery was formed, called the Pres
bytery of Philadelphia. In 1716, the Presbyterian body had
so far increased, that a Synod was constituted, consisting of
four Presbyteries, viz: Philadelphia, New Castle, Snow Hill,
and Long Island.
" After the formation of the Synod, the body went on in
creasing, receiving additions, not only by emigrants from Scot
land and Ireland, but also from natives of England and Wales,
who came to the middle colonies, and were thrown by circum
stances, into the neighborhood of Presbyterian churches, and
also from natives, or their descendants, of France, Holland,
and Switzerland, who preferred the Presbyterian form of wor
ship or government. To these, may be added, a number from
New England, who were induced, by local considerations, or
other circumstances, to connect themselves with the Presby
terian body."*
As the Irish and Scotch emigrants, generally, preferred
-agriculture, to other occupations, they located , themselves in
the rural districts, on lands open to appropriation in the Pro
vince, or by purchase from some earlier settler. In conse
quence of this rural taste, and settlement, Presbyterian influ
ence and increase were more manifest, and extended in the
country, than in the city.
Settlements of Scotch Irish were made on the banks of the
Octorora creek, Lancaster county, in 1717. " They and their

* Dr. Miller on Preeb. Ch., Ency. Rel. Knowl.

38
descendants," saysMr. Rupp, in the History of Lancaster coun
ty, by him compiled and published, " have always been justly
regarded as amongst the most intelligent people of Lancaster
county. Their progress will be found to be but little behind
the boasted efforts of the colony at Plymouth."* They had
for their pastor the Rev. Andrew Boyd, who preached to them
in 1724. This testimony to the character of the settlers on
Octorora, is not from one who can be suspected of partiality,
from any affinity to the Scotch Irish, but from an impartial
historian, of German descent, and German religious asso
ciations. A number of emigrants from Ireland, settled about 1720,
or before, in Bucks county, north of Philadelphia. They
shortly after their settlement, organized Presbyterian congre
gations. One of them became of notoriety in the Province,
in having for its pastor, the Rev. William Tennent, Senior,
who received a call to the Presbyterian congregation on Nesh-
aminy creek, in 1726, which he accepted. He was an
emigrant from Ireland, and had been in connection with
the established Church, but shortly after his arrival in Amer
ica, he renounced his connection with it, and joined the Pres
bytery of Philadelphia. He was celebrated for his profound
and accurate acquaintance with the Latin and Greek classics.
At the time he was engaged with his pastoral charge at Nesh-
aminy, there existed no college or academy, of a high order, in
the middle colonies, where young men, seeking the ministry,
could obtain the necessary learning. About the beginning of
the last century, a public school was established at Philadel
phia, by the Society of Friends. Its first preceptor, George
Keith, though a man of genius and learning, yet, being eccen
tric and restless, he left the school, after a year, and, so far as
we can discover, it did not flourish, or acquire any celebrity.
To obtain a quahfication, young men, desirous of entering
the Presbyterian ministry, were obliged to go to Scotland, or
New England, for their education, and there were few candi
dates in the Presbyterian connection, who were able to bear
the expense of an education, at places so remote. f WilHam

•* Rupp's His. Lan. 439. f Whitfield's Journal.

39
Tennent, resolved to supply this destitution, as far as he was
capable, by opening a school for the education of young men,
in the knowledge of the classics, as well as in divinity. For
this, no man was better qualified, by attainments, as well as
his ability and aptness, as an instructor. His school was es
tablished, and in operation, in 1726. The building for it, was
erected by him, a few steps from his dwelling, and was made
of logs, from the forest near it. It, and its principal, were
visited by the celebrated Rev. George Whitfield, who traversed
this country. In speaking of the building, he- says, "the
place wherein the young men study now, is called, in contempt,
' The College ;' it is a log house about twenty feet long, and
near as many broad, and to me, it seemed to resemble the
school of the old prophets, for their habitations were mean. AU
that we can say, of most of our universities, is, they are glo
rious without. From this despised place, seven or eight wor
thy ministers of Jesus, have lately been sent forth, more are
almost ready to be sent, and the foundation is now laying for
the instruction of many others."*
The Hon. Elias Boudinot, LL. D., who knew Mr. Tennent
well, says : " That he was well skilled in the Latin language,
that he could speak and converse in it, with as much facility,
as in his vernacular tongue, and also, that he was a proficient
in the other languages." His general character appears to
have been that of a man of integrity, simplicity, industry and
piety. Such was the reputation of the man, who assumed to
establish the first place and means of education in the colony;
above that of the common school, in which only the rudiments
of education were taught. Whilst he discharged his pastoral
labors to his congregation faithfully, "in season and out of
reason," at the same time, his learning and talents were de
voted to the education of the young men, who sought their in
tellectual improvement, and religious training, under his teach
ings. At such a time there was no project, so desirable for the
best interests of the Province, as to raise the standard of edu-

* Whitfield's Journal

40
cation within it ; and Mr. Tennent was the very man for the
work. With the aid of his eminent son, Gilbert, for a time,
who was also a native of Ireland ; and who received his educa
tion under his father, the school was opened, and conducted
with success, and great usefulness. The health of William
Tennent, Senior, declined in 1743, and he died in 1746,
aged 73.
The character of this school, and its founder, is further at
tested by the attainments, and reputation of its pupils. Plain
and unpretending, as was the edifice, " a log cabin " in the
woods, with the minister of the neighborhood for Principal
and Teacher, and with opponents who ridiculed the experi
ment, by giving to the school, in derision, the name of " the
Log College," yet, it attracted young men of studious habits,
who applied themselves with diligence. It was also blessed by
Providence, in having for its pupils, young men of superior
talents, who left it with minds cultivated, disciplined and
stored with knowledge, that qualified them for the study of
any of the learned professions. The young men of this school,
prosecuted their studies as preparatory to the ministry, on
which they entered. " Amongst these pupils, educated in that
school, were the four sons of the Principal, all of whom were
members of the Presbyterian Church. Gilbert Tennent was
ordained as a pastor in 1727. He is supposed to have been
the first candidate licensed in the Presbyterian Church, who
was educated within its limits."* Mr. Whitfield, in his journal
of his visit to the American colonies, says : " I went to the
meeting house to hear Mr. Gilbert Tennent preach ; and never
before heard I such a searching sermon. He went to the bottom
indeed, and did not daub with untempered mortar. He con
vinced me more, that we can preach the Gospel of Christ no
further than we have experienced the power of it in our hearts.
Hypocrites must either soon be converted or enraged at his
preaching. He is a " son of thunder," and does not regard
the face of man. He is deeply sensible of the deaduess and
formality of the Christian Church, in these parts, and has
* Alexander's Log College, 43.

41
given noble testimonies against it." It has been remarked,
by an eminent divine, "that higher testimony and from high
er authority could not be given upon earth, and that it is
doubtful, whether Mr. Whitfield had ever expressed so high an
opinion of any other preacher of any denomination."
In 1744, Mr. Gilbert Tennent established a new Presbyte
rian Church in Philadelphia, chiefly composed of those, who
were denominated the converts and followers of Mr. Whitfield.
Dr. S. Miller says, "he was a bold, ardent, practical and un
usually impressive preacher. He died in 1764, in the 62nd
year of his age."*
One of the most distinguished men educated at the Log Col
lege, was the Rev. Samuel Blair, a native of Ireland, who was
among the first pupils of this institution. After finishing his
classical and theological studies, he put himself under the care
of the New Castle Presbytery, by which he was licensed to
preach the Gospel. Soon after he was settled in the Presby
terian congregation at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, where he la
bored for five or six years. From this, in 1739, he received
an earnest call from a Presbyterian congregation of Scotch
Irish settlers, in New Londonderry, otherwise called Fagg's
Manor, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. When he received
this call, he left it to the Presbytery to decide, whether he
should go or stay. He was advised to accept, and went, and
was installed as the pastor of this congregation, in 1740.
Shortly after, he established at this place a classical school, of
the character of that before instituted at Neshaminy, by Mr.
William Tennent, Sr., where he received his education. His
school had particular reference to the study of Theology, as a
science. He was esteemed as one of the most able, learned,
pious, excellent and venerable men of his day ; was a most
profound divine, and a most solemn and impressive preacher.
To his pupils, he was himself an excellent model of pulpit elo
quence. In his life, he gave them an admirable example of
Christian meekness, of ministerial diligence, of candor and
Catholicism, without a dereliction of principle. He was emi-

Miller's Life of Rogers.

42
nently serviceable in the part of the country where he lived,
not only as a minister of the Gospel, but as a teacher of human
knowledge. From his academy, the school of the prophets, as
it was frequently called, there came forth many distinguished
pupils, who did honor to their instructor, both as scholars and
Christian ministers."* Under his ministry at New Londonder
ry, there occurred a remarkable revival of religion. " As a
preacher, there was a solemnity in his very appearance, which
struck his hearers with awe, before he opened his mouth. He
spoke as in the view of eternity, as in the immediate presence
of God." The opinion entertained by the eloquent and pious
Mr. Davies of Mr. Blair, as a preacher, was given to Mr.
Davies' friends, who, on his return from Europe, were curious
to know his opinion of the celebrated ministers, whom he had
heard in England and Scotland. After dealing out liberal com
mendations on such as he had most admired, he concluded by say
ing, "that he had heard no one, who, in hisjudgment, was superior
to his former teacher, the Rev. Samuel Blair. "f Very great
assemblies, would ordinarily meet to hear Mr. Blair on any day
of the week, and often times a surprising power accompanied
his preaching, which was visible, among the multitude of hear
ers. Mr. Blair, in a communication to a friend, in speaking
of his congregation, says : " Except in some singular instances
of behavior, which, alas ! proceed from, and show, the sad
remains of original corruption, even in the regenerate children
of God, while in this imperfect state, their walk is habitually
tender and conscientious, their carriage towards their neigh
bors just and kind ; and they appear to have an agreeable, pe
culiar love one for another, and for all in whom appears the
image of God. "J
Among the students at Mr. Blair's academy, -was the Rev.
Samuel Davies, born in the county of New Castle, State of
Delaware, in 1721. He received the greater part of his
academic and theological education under the teaching of the
Rev. Samuel Blair, and was licensed to preach in 1745. He
was eminent for eloquence, piety and learning, and acquired
1 Miller's Retr. 2, 343. Ency. Rel. Knowl.
¦j- Miller's Life of Dr. Rodgers. J Log College. 183.

43
a reputation so well known for genius, and taste, that it is not
deemed necessary to dwell on them here. Having settled as
Pastor of a Presbyterian congregation in Virginia, shortly
after he was licensed, where he remained for some years, ad
mired, respected and useful, in 1769 he was elected President
of Princeton College, in which situation, he remained but
eighteen months, being removed by death in 1761, in the thirty-
seventh year of his age. *
The Rev. John Rodgers, who was born in Boston, of Irish
parents, at the age of sixteen, entered the academy, under the
care of the Rev. Samuel Blair, where he pursued his classical
and theological education, and finished his theological studies,
under the direction of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, in Philadel
phia. In 1747, he was licensed by the Presbytery of New
Castle, and gave in his public ministrations, as well as in his
exemplary private deportment, indications of the future excel
lence and usefulness for which he was happily distinguished.
As associates of Davies and Rogers, at Blair's academy,
were Mr. Alexander Gumming, one of the ministers of the
Presbyterian Church in New York, and who held a high place
among the ministers of the day ; also Messrs. Robert Smith,
James Finley, Hugh Henry, and a number of others, who be
came distinguished in the ministry.* The health of the Rev.
Samuel Blair, gave way, under the labors of his ministry, and
school, and. death removed him from both, in 1751, at the age
of thirty-nine.
The Rev. John Blair, the brother of Samuel, was also an
alumnus of the Log College ; where he received his education,
and as a theologian, was not inferior to any man, in the Pres
byterian Church, in his day.
He was ordained in the pastoral charge of three congrega
tions, in the Kittochtinny valley, west of the Susquehanna, as
early as 1742, before Cumberland county was erected, and
when the district was a part of Lancaster county. His pasto
ral charge embraced the " Big Spring " congregation, (now
Newville,) and some other congregations in the new settlement.

Miller's Life of Rodgers.

44
But as the incursions of the Indians, after Braddock's defeat,
dispersed the inhabitants, Mr. Blair retreated to the eastern part
of the colony. He accepted a call from Fagg's Manor in
1757, which had been formed under the ministry of his favored
brother Samuel. Mr. Blair discharged the duties of his min
istry, and conducted a flourishing Grammar school at this
place for about nine years, where he prepared many young
men, for the ministry. He was afterwards chosen Vice Presi
dent of Princeton College, and Professor of Divinity, which
places he filled with great ability, fidelity and reputation. He
died in 1771, in the fifty-second year of his age.
One of the most eminent men in the Province of Pennsylva
nia, in its early history, was Dr. Samuel Finley, President of
Princeton College. He was born in Ireland, where he receiv
ed part of his classical education, and arrived in the Province
in 1734. It is believed that he finished his education at the
Log College, as there was then no other institution, in the
Presbyterian Church, where young men were prepared for
the ministry; and he was under the care of the New Bruns
wick Presbytery, most of whose members were educated in
that school. He was licensed in 1740. After he was ordain
ed as an evangelist, for some years, he visited various parts of
the country, where the inhabitants were most destitute of reli
gious instruction; and it was said, much success attended these
itinerant labors of this pious and talented minister. That Dr.
Finley was an accomplished scholar and skilful teacher, was
universally admitted. In 1744 he accepted a call from Not
tingham, in Chester county, adjacent to Maryland, having a
congregation of settlers resident in both Provinces. In this
place he instituted an academy, with the view chiefly of pre
paring young men for the ministry. This school was conduct
ed with admirable wisdom and success, and acquired a higher
reputation than any other in the middle colonies, so that stu
dents from a great distance were attracted to it. Some of the
most distinguished men in our country, laid the foundation of
their education, eminence, and usefulness in this academy ;
amongst whom were Governor Martin, of North Carolina,
Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, his brother. Judge Rush,

45
Ebenezer Hazard, Esq., Rev. James Waddel, D. D., the elo
quent and blind preacher of great celebrity in Virginia, Dr.
McWhorter of New Jersey, Col. John Bayard and Governor
Henry of Maryland. There were no better classical scholars
formed anywhere in this country, than in this school. The
method of instruction in the Latin and Greek languages, was
thorough and complete. The temper of Dr. Finley was re
markably benignant and sweet, and his manners affable and
polite. The degree of doctor of divinity was bestowed on him
by the L'niversity of Glasgow, which seems to have been the
first instance of any Presbyterian minister in America, receiv
ing that honorary distinction.
In 1761, he was elected President of Princeton College, and
entered on the duties of that station, in which he was distin
guished for wisdom and efficiency. He died in 1766, in the
fifty-first year of his age.* " Dr. Finley was a man of sound
and vigorous mind, of extensive learning, and of unusually
fervent piety. Seldom has a life been more exemplary, or
more useful."!
In the early history of Pennsylvania, there was no man of
more eminence and usefulness and worthy of historical notice,
than Francis Allison, D. D. He was born in Ireland, and
after an early classical education, at an academy, completed
his studies at the University of Glasgow. In 1735 he came to
America, and was appointed pastor of a Presbyterian congre
gation at New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania. About
1741 his solicitude for the interests of the Redeemer's king
dom, and his desire of engaging and preparing young men for
the ministry, and of promoting public usefulness and learning,
induced him to open, at New London, a public school. There
was, at the time, a great want of learning in the middle colo
nies, and he generally instructed all that came to him, without
fee or reward. The Synod of Philadelphia assumed the pa
tronage and supervision of this school, and allowed Mr. Alli
son a salary of ,£20 a year, and his usher £15, and called on
their congregations to contribute, for a time, to the support of

* Dr. Alexander's Log College, 204. f Dr. Miller's Life of Rodgers, 57.

46
the school. In 1747, Mr. Allison, by solicitation, took charge ,
of the Academy in Philadelphia, and in 1755 was elected
Vice Provost and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Col
lege, which had just been established. He was then also min
ister of the first Presbyterian Church. Besides an unusually
accurate and profound acquaintance with the Latin and Greek
classics, he was well informed in moral philosophy, history and
general literature. To his zeal for the diffusion of knowledge,
Pennsylvania owes much of that taste for solid learning, and
classical literature, for which many of her principal charac
ters have been distinguished. The private virtues of Dr. Alli
son conciliated the esteem of all who knew him; and his public
usefulness, has erected a lasting monument to his praise. In
his public services he was plain, practical and argumentative,
warm, animated, and pathetic. He was frank and generous
in his natural temper ; warm and zealous in his friendships,
catholic in his sentiments, and the friend of civil and religious
liberty, abhorring the intolerant spirit of persecution, bigotry
and superstition, together with all the arts of dishonesty and
deceit. His humanity and compassion led him to spare no
pains or trouble, in relieving and assisting the poor, and dis
tressed, by his advice and influence, or by his own private lib
erality. His friend and successor. Rev. Dr. Ewing, said of
him, that he was " one of the brightest luminaries that ever
shone on this western world ;" and the venerable Dr. Alexan
der has given his opinion " that Dr. Allison was one of the.
most accomplished scholars who had adorned the Presbyterian
Church in the United States." He continued in the discharge
of his laborious duties until his death in 1777 ; aged 72.*
There was an extensive settlement made by Scotch Irish
emigrants about 1720, on the Pequea and its tributaries, in the
county of Lancaster. The Rev. Adam Boyd was commission
ed to collect a congregation at that place, which he did, prob
ably about the time he was settled as a pastor over upper Oc
torora, which was in 1724. The congregation at Pequea was,
for years, under the pastoral care of Rev. A. Craighead, and
* Eno. Ret,, Miller's Rel., Alexander's Log Col.

47
his successor, the Rev. D. Alexander, until 1750, when the
Rev. Robert Smith, D. D., was installed. He labored faithful
ly, not only as the pastor of this congregation, but gave a por
tion of his time and labor to the congregation at " the Run,"
after, and now known as the " Cedar Grove Presbyterian
church." Dr. Smith was not only a faithful pastor, but one
of talents, learning, and piety. Having received his education
at the Log College, like many others educated there, he di
rected his talents, and attainments, to the instruction of others.
He established at Pequea a classical and theological institu
tion of a high character, about a half mile from the church.
At this school, amongst many others of usefulness, were edu
cated the three sons of Dr. Robert Smith. Here was laid the
foundation of the eminence of his son. Rev. Samuel S. Smith, D.
D., President of Hampden Sidney College in Virginia, and
afterwards President of Princeton College, where he presided
for eighteen years, with great ability, being eminent as a
scholar, author, and for pulpit eloquence. At Pequea was
also born Dr. Smith's second son. Rev. John Blair Smith, who
received there his education, and succeeded his brother, as
President of Hampden Sidney, and was afterwards the first
President of Union College in Schenectady. He was an elo
quent, evangelical and successful minister. At the same
place, was born and educated, the Rev. William Smith, the
third son, who was a pious and judicious minister, and though
less distinguished, than either of his other brothers, yet, in the
opinion of his good father, "to comfort and edify the plain
Christian, he was equal to either of them."* Dr. Robert
Smith, after a life of labor and great usefulness at Pequea,
for forty-two years, died, at the age of seventy. The labors
of such a pastor, and instructor, for such a period, must have
been blessed to the conversion, and edification of many of the
community, where he labored. -
The Rev. Patrick Allison, D. D., was born in Lancaster
county in 1740, and received his education in the College of
Philadelphia, and was installed pastor of the Presbyteriais

* Log College by Alexander, 200,

48
church in Baltimore in 1762, where he remained honored and
useful until his death in 1802, in the sixty-second year of his
age. Dr. Allison held a place in the very first rank of Amer
ican clergy. He shone with distinguished lustre in the judi
catories of the Church. For the perspicuity, correctness,
sound reasoning and masculine eloquence of his speeches in
ecclesiastical assembhes, he was long admired and had scarcely
an equal."*
To the extended list of eminent men of Irish origin or de
scent, already presented, distinguished for usefulness in the
Province of Pennsylvania, in its early history, might be added
that of the Rev. Charles Beaty, a native of Ireland, who had
received there a good classical education, and which he exten
ded and finished at the Log College, and being licensed to
preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, was settled as
Pastor of the church at Neshaminy, left vacant by the death
of the venerable founder of the Log College. Rev. Mr. Bea
ty was engaged much in missionary labors about 1745, visit
ing destitute Presbyterian settlements. Dr. Alexander says,
he was an able, evangelical preacher, and was much esteemed
for his private virtues and public labors. He was distinguish
ed for public spirit and popular address. He died on the
Island of Barbadoes, where he was taken sick in collecting funds
for the aid of the College at Princeton in 1772. The Rev.
John Ewing, pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Phila-
dalphia in 1759, graduated in the College of New Jersey, and
was elected Provost of the University of Pennsylvania in 1779,
and died in 1802, in the seventy-first year of his age. Dr.
Miller said that " the eminent character of this gentleman,
the vigor of his talents, the extent of his learning, his extraor
dinary accomplishments, at the head of a literary institution,
and his excellence as a preacher, is well known."
To appreciate the value of l^he labors and usefulness of the
learned public benefactors, referred to, it is necessary to have
in view the times and circumstances, under which they appear
ed, and in which they were actors. The Province of Penn-
* Miller's Life of Rodgers, 179.

49
sylvania was in its infancy ; with a government, simple, ex
perimental and inefficient for the maintenance of its laws ;
with an extensive territory, nine-tenths of which, was a wilder
ness ; whose population was made up of emigrants from differ
ent countries ; with finances inadequate to the purposes of gov
ernment, and with its Proprietary, who was the owner of the
soil; possessing great control in the government, yet, during
the greater part of the time, residing in England. At such
time, this Province was blessed, in having within its borders the
eminent men, of whose lives a sketch has been given ; classical
and scientific education were not provided for in any insti
tution by government, or by any associations contributing
funds to its support.* It was left to individual enterprise to
supply the destitution, and at this crisis, William Tennent,
Sr., was the individual, under Providence, first to apply his
talents and acquirements, to the experiment of establishing a
school under his care, for the classical, scientific and xeligious
education of young men. Though his undertaking was ridi
culed, as presumptuous and visionary, yet, as narrated, it was
eminently successful. That success is fully attested by the
brief history of the men educated in that school, who, for learn
ing, eloquence, piety and usefulness were not surpassed, in their
day, by the educated men of this or any other country. The influ
ence of the Log College Institution, and of the kindred ones
established and maintained by some of its pupils, in elevating
and extending education, sanctified by the teachings of the
Bible, with its precepts of the Law and Gospel, was incalculable
for the best interests of the Province. A warm and earnest
Christianity, was the animating spirit of these humble semina
ries, which was infused into most of their pupils, and made
them the instruments of religious and moral instruction to
others.

¦* At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Colleges in the colonies did
receive but little patronage from England, and were dependent on the
labors, enterprise, literary and benevolent efforts of a few individuals. In
England many said, " Let the colonists attend to the production of the
earth, and look to England for learning and learned men." W^hen
pressed on the subject of religion in the colony, one of the lords of trade
implicated a curse upon their souls, and said, " let them make tobacco." —
Footc'B Virg., 151.
4

50
During the first half of the last century, where were there
in office or station, under government, men whose services or
usefulness to the community, were to be compared with that of
the founders of the schools referred to ? There were politicians
and office holders, who were more conspicuous, whose power
and patronage commanded influence and attention, yet much
of their time was passed in the routine of prescribed, subordi
nate, official duties, or in intrigue to maintain and advance
their power and interests. The best and most prominent of
the men in the Provincial government, were then, in a great
measure, engrossed with frivolous controversies between differ
ent departments of the government, about the legitimate ex
ercise of their respective powers, and to the neglect and pre
judice of the public interests. The men who signalized them
selves at this period, by their acts of public usefulness, were
the founders and conductors of the institutions for education
described. They were men of learning, piety, and great puri
ty of character, who appreciated education, and deplored the
want of suitable institutions for it, as required by a rapidly in
creasing and destitute community. They were poor Presbyte
rian ministers of Scotch Irish nativity or descent. Ha'ving neith
er silver nor gold to give, in founding institutions for the
intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of the people,
they gave what they had, their time, labor, talents, and learn
ing. They planted and watered, and, under God, their work
prospered ; the fruits of which were gathered and enjoyed, not
only in their own day, but by generations, then unborn.
Extensive settlements, by respectable emigrants from Ire
land and Scotland, were made in other parts of Lancaster
county, than those already enumerated. They had their min
isters of the Gospel and their schools, but not of the eminence
of those described. The settlement in the district, which we
presume, received its name of Donegal, from the origin and
choice of the settlers^ was extensive, embracing a large dis
trict of fertile and choice lands. As early as 1726, this settle
ment had progressed so far in improvement and organization,
as to have ths Rev. James Anderson, from Ireland, as their
pastor, the church being called that of " New Donegal." In

51
1732, the increase in the number of Presbyterian congrega
tions, induced the formation of another Presbytery in Penn
sylvania, which was called the Donegal Presbytery. Its
jurisdiction embraced the frontier settlements, and though its
boundaries became, in the progress and increase of population
and the Church, reduced, it still exists under its ancient name.
From the township of Donegal, many respectable settlers
sought to improve their circumstances, by removing into the
Kittochtinny valley, west of the Susquehanna, and some made
their homes in the southern colonies, in the same extended
valley, which made Donegal a place of note, in the dis
tant south.
In the history of York county, by Messrs. Carter & Gloss-
brenner, it is stated : "That about the years 1734-35 and 36,
families from Ireland and Scotland settled in the southern
part of the county of York, (then Lancaster county) and what
is known as the " York Barrens." They consisted of the bet
ter order of peasantry ; were a sober, industrious, moral and
intelligent people, and were, for the most part, rigid Presby
terians. Their manners partook of that simplicity, kindness
and hospitality characteristic of the class to which they be
longed in their native countries. The descendants of these
people still retain the lands which their respectable progeni
tors selected. And we are happy to add, that the present in
habitants, with the lands, inherited the sobriety, industry, in
telligence, morality and hospitable kindness of their predeces
sors." This is the testimony of impartial compilers of history,
to the character of the early Irish and Scotch settlers, who,
with their descendants, have occupied for more than a century,
a large portion of the county of York. Soon after the origi
nal settlement, they erected a church near Muddy creek, which,
with the neighboring settlements of Presbyterians, was
supplied by an approved ministry of the Gospel and its ordi
nances. To these settlements in the "Barrens," the semina
ry and classical school of Dr. Finley, at Nottingham, was so
convenient of access, that young men, desirous of classical and
scientific education, would be able to attain it there without
inconvenience. That attention was given to education in these

52
settlements, js attested by the eminence of some of its sons.
It was from this Scotch Irish district of sterile soil, came the
Hon. James Smith, a native of Ireland, who, as a youth in the
family of his father, settled there. He received his education
under the immediate care of the celebrated Dr. Allison, at
Philadelphia. Mr. Smith was one of the most distinguished
Lawyers of Pennsylvania, enjoying an extensive and liicrative
practice, in York and other counties. He was a prominent
member of the Revolutionary Congress, and one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, as well as an active and
efficient member of many important committees appointed by
Congress. He commanded, as Colonel, a Regiment in the
Revolutionary army, and was a practising lawyer for about
sixty years. He died in 1806, at the age of 93, in the bor
ough of York. From the same district, emanated Judge Hugh
H. Breckenridge, well known for his classical attainments, his
legal learning, and his ability, as a Judge of the Supreme
Court of the State. Also, about the same time, the Hon.
James Ross, of Pittsburg, distinguished and eminent, as a
lawyer and statesman, and who, at the Bar, as a lawyer and
advocate, or as a statesman in the United States, had no su
perior. Also, the Hon. John Rowan, who represented the
State of Kentucky, in the United States Senate.
These men were of the Scotch Irish race, reared and edu
cated in the Province of Pennsylvania, adorning the profession
of the Law, in which they were engaged, and an honor to
their progenitors, as well as to the State.
Pennsylvania furnished in its early history, from Scotch Irish
families, men educated in the schools of Dr. Finley, Dr. Alli
son, and others, distinguished, not only in the ministry, but
as lawyers, jurists and statesmen, and for their literary and
scientific attainments. Thomas McKean was born in Chester
county in 1734, his father being a native of Ireland. He ac
quired an accurate knowledge of the languages ; of the practi
cal branches of mathematics, rhetoric, logic and moral philos
ophy, under the tuition and direction of Dr. Francis Allison,
preparatory to the study of the Law. His subsequent celeb
rity and reputation are so well known to the American people.

53
as to require no detail. A summary here is sufficient. He
was an eminent lawyer, and a member of the Revolutionary
Congress, from its opening, in 1774, until the peace of 1783 ;
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of
Congress for a time. Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylva
nia, and Governor of the State for the Constitutional period.
Hugh Williamson, of Scotch descent, was born in Chester
county, in 1735, and received his education at the College of
Philadelphia, under the direction of Dr. Allison, where he grad
uated in 1757. He was a man of great scientific acquire
ments, eminent for talents as well as learning. He removed
from Pennsylvania, before the Revolution, to North Carolina,
which State he represented in Congress for several terms with
ability, and was a Delegate to the Convention that framed the
Federal Constitution, of which he was a decided advocate.
His history of North Carolina, in three volumes, attests his
erudition, ability and research.
David Ramsay, the American Hiatorian, was born in Lan
caster county, in 1749, the son of James Ramsay, a respecta
ble farmer, who had emigrated from Ireland, and who, by the
cultivation of his farm, provided for the subsistence and edu
cation of his family. His son, David, received his early edu
cation, in a common school, and in one of the academies of the
country, and finished in Princeton College, where he graduated
in 1765. Dr. Ramsay studied medicine at Philadelphia,
where he graduated with great distinction ; and was distin
guished for abilities and literary attainments. Dr. Rush, who
was intimate with him,. said: " His talents and knowledge are
universal. His manners polished and agreeable, and his be
havior to all men always without offence ; joined to all these,
he is sound in his principles, strict, nay, more, severe in his
morals, and attached, not by education only, but by principle,
to the dissenting interest." The predominant trait in his
character, was philanthrophy and piety, which influenced all
his actions. He was the zealous advocate of American Inde
pendence, and attended the army in the capacity of Surgeon.
Having removed to South Carolina, he represented that State
in the Revolutionary Congress, and, during the absence of

54
John Hancock, President, presided for a year, with ability,
industry and impartiality. His historical works, and other
productions, form part of the permanent literature of our
country. Robert Fulton, the successful applier of steam to naviga
tion, was born in Little Britain, Lancaster county, 1765, of
respectable Irish parents, who removed to Lancaster borough,
where he received a good English education. His attainments
and inventions, bespeak the high superiority of his talents.
There was also a Scotch Irish settlement, at an early day>
at Paxton, in the neighborhood of where Harrishurg is, coun
ty of Dauphin. This district was one of some notoriety, as
near the frontier, where a ferry was established and maintain
ed by Mr. Harris, for crossing the Susquehanna — a great pub
lic accommodation — as well as being on the great road from
Eastern Pennsylvania, through the Kittochtinny valley, to Vir
ginia, and the more southern Provinces. Traders, as well as
Indians, met there for traffic and conference. It acquired also
an ignominious notoriety, for the massacre of the Conestoga
Indians, perpetrated by a few of its violent men. This deed
was a J)arbarous one, and indefensible. Yet, it has been
greatly exaggerated, without reference to the circumstances,
that existed, to extenuate it. We shall take occasion to no
tice it more fully, before we terminate this vindication.
About 1737, emigrants from the North of Ireland and Scot
land, settled in the north western part of York county, on the
waters of Tom's and Marsh creeks, (now Adams county.)
They were the first settlers in that district, which was sepa
rated from the Kittochtinny valley on the west, by a range of
mountains about ten miles in width. These settlers were a
highly respectable community, moral, energetic, industrious,
and intelligent ; of frugal and plain habits, but kind, friendly
and hospitable. In their religious organization, they were
Presbyterian, and as early 1740, missionary supplies were provi
ded for them by the Presbytery of Donegah It would appear,
that they had settled on some of the choice lands, on the water
courses referred to. Actual settlers had been invited and
encouraged, by agents of the Proprietary, to make permanent

55
settlements on the lands in Pennsylvania, open to appropria
tion. Though this form of title was at first objected to by
some of the Proprietary agents, unless followed by an official
grant, yet it soon became prevalent, and was recognized, and
established, as of validity with the Land Office grants, and
only yielded to priority. Many of the settlers on Marsh creek,
had made their settlements on lands, that had been surveyed, or
set apart for a Proprietary manor. These manors were re
served, from sale or grant, in the ordinary forms. As the
lands were wild, unimproved, and were the property of the
Proprietary, remote from the settlements on a frontier, the
settlers might readily suppose that, like all the other lands,
not appropriated by settlers, they were open to settlement.
This mistake of the settlers, was the occasion of unpleasant
difficulty and controversy, between them and some of the Pro
prietary officers.
Mr. Peters, as Secretary of the Proprietory, with some as
sistants, in 1743, went into this settlement, to survey the
manor lines, which would include the settlements and improve
ments of a number, who, for years, had been expending their
money, time, and labor, in clearing and improving their sup
posed homesteads. The settlers, in considerable numbers,
forbade the Proprietary agents to proceed with the survey, and
on their persisting, broke the Surveyor's chain, and compelled
the party to retire. The settlers were prosecuted, but sub
mitted, and accepted leases for a time, and purchased the
lands before the leases expired, to the satisfaction of the par
ties interested. This resistance of the Proprietary agents,
was deemed by them, a great indignity, and public offence, and
the settlers implicated, were reproached as " lawless," by the
Proprietary officers, and the opponents of the Irish, in the
Province. As these settlers had been in the actual and peaceable pos
session of the lands, they occupied for years, which were en
hanced much in value by their labors, they had the legal right,
by the common law, to retain their possession, and defend
that possession until they were ejected by a superior title, un
der the Judgment of a proper Court, and by due course of law.

56
The resistance of these settlers, was not of the officers of the
law, or its authorities. The rights of the Proprietaries, in re
gard to their lands, were like those of any other individual, or
vender, and were to be construed according to their contracts,
express or implied. The Proprietary was not the government;
their agents were not public magistrates, and were liable to
mistakes, and could, and often did, commit wrongs, which were
redressed by their superiors. The resistance, on this occasion,
was not a " public offence," if it only restrained the Proprie
tary agents from disturbing the peaceable possession of the
settlers, until it should be adjudged, by a competent Court, that
they were to be removed. It was no other wrong than is com
mitted every day, by men who are in possession of real estate,
by what they suppose a sufficient title, and who refuse to sur
render that possession, on the demand of a claimant, until there
is an investigation of that title, by the tribunal of the law.
These Marsh creek settlers, as soon as they understood their
legal relation to the Proprietary, and before any trial, acqui
esced, and became tenents and purchasers, to the satisfaction
of the Proprietary claimants. They were not, from principle,
or habit, inured to passive obedience, irrespective of legal
rights and authority, but as soon as the law was made mani
fest, they were obedient to its requisitions. Though the oppo
nents of the Irish race, in the Province of Pennsylvania, were
disposed to make much of this " Marsh creek resistance," to
the prejudice of the Scotch Irish early settlers, as evidence of
their turbulent and lawless spirit, it was because they hati lit
tle to complain of, in a class of citizens, who took care to un
derstand their rights, civil, religious, and political, and to
maintain them, as well as respect the rights of others.
The inhabitants of this part of the Province, increased in
numbers and resources, and extended their improvements and
the cultivation of their lands. Several large Presbyterian
congregations were organized and maintained, within their
bounds, and as was done by their kindred, in other places, the
school-house building soon followed the erection of their own
habitations, and the school-master was abroad in their midst;
and the minister of the Gospel, was to them, a watchman and
shepherd, as well as their instructor.

57
LTpon these settlers, and their families, was devolved the
perilous duty of defending the whole settlement from the In
dian incursions and ravages, in the wars, which followed Brad
dock's defeat, in 1755. The massacre and dispersion of the
inhabitants of the Kittochtinny valley, during those wars,
made Marsh creek settlement a frontier, and as the Indians
crossed the Kittochtinny valley and its mountains, they both
massacred, as well as carried off captive many of its inhabi
tants. The hardy settlers of this district, were, necessarily, called
out, to defend their families and habitations, against the in
cursions of savage and cruel enemies, that spared neither age, or
sex. These settlers organized themselves into military com
panies, and in concert with the inhabitants of the Kittochtin
ny valley, pursued the Indians, in their retreats, to their hiding
places, in the western mountains ; whilst some of them formed
a part of that gallant, brave, intrepid, and successful expedi
tion, under the command of Col. Armstrong, which attacked
and captured the Indian fort and town of Kittaning, on the
Allegheny river, in 1756.
The men who had resisted the Proprietary agents, that came
to survey their lands, on a claim for the Proprietary, periled
their lives, in a distant campaign, across the mountains, to at
tack the Indians, and their French allies, and defend the lands
and province of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, against the
invasions and devastation of the enepiy, whilst the agents and
favorites of the same Proprietary, with few exceptions, took
care, to keep themselves at a safe distance from the enemy,
and dangers. These resolute"settlers held on to their lands,
as a permanent abode for their families, and when the war
of the Revolution broke out, all of them having the ability to
bear arms, responded, with alacrity, to the calls of their coun
try, in defence of American liberty and independence. More
willing or brave hearts, and higher patriotic feeling, were not
to be found in the colonies.
After the close of the Revolutionary War, some of the de
scendants of these Irish settlers, sought homes in western
Pennsylvania, and after the lapse of some more years, others emi-

58
grated further west, where they became prominent, respecta
ble, and influential citizens of western States.
Many of the descendants of this race, remained on the
farm s, or in the neighborhood, where their ances tors had resided.
Some cultivate the same farms, and worship on the same hill,
or near the same spring, where those ancestors, more than a
century since, were accustomed to assemble, with their fam
ilies, for worship, with their Presbyterian brethren, accord
ing to their approved forms, and in the maintenance of vener
ated creeds.
These descendants, who dwell in the neighborhood of those
early settlements, form an intelligent, religious, and moral
community, of law abiding and conservative habits ; many of
whom, have enjoyed, and still possess, political and social dis
tinction, and are respected for enterprise, intelligence, and
public usefulness.

CHAPTER IIL
The attractions of the Kittochtinny Valley to Settlers — Who
they were — Improvement and Progress — Religious and
moral character of population^— Church organizations —
Frontier — Peaceable intercourse with Indians, until after
Braddock's defeat — Exposure to Indian massacre and de
vastation — Neglected by government — Sarassed by Indian
Wars — Dispersion of inhabitants — Murder of Conestoga
Indians in Lancaster county — Indian Traders attacked —
Murder of Indians by Frederick Stump in Sherman's val
ley — His rescue and escape-^— Return of inhabitants to the
Kittochtinny valley in 1765 — Their progress, increase and
occupation.
There was no 'district of country, in the Province of Penn
sylvania, that had more to recommend it, to the early set
tlers, for agricultural purposes, than the valley of the Susque
hanna, opposite Harris' ferry. It was known by its Indian
name of the Kittochtinny valley, from the extensive mountain
r ange, as its western boundary, called the "Kittochtinny,"

59
signifying "Endless mountains," extending through several of
the Atlantic provinces. The Indian name of Kittochtinny, was,
by the white population, softened, by dropping some of its
consonants, and in general acceptation by them, after some
time, called Kittatinny, which it retained, until supplanted
by Cumberland, the name of the county. It is to be regret
ted, that it had not been allowed to retain its appropriate
Indian joame of Kittochtinny. That part of the valley, west of
the Susquehanna, embraced, what now constitutes the county
of Cumberland, and almost all of the county of Franklin. For
fertility of soil, abundance of copious springs, clear running
streams, variety of forest timber, luxuriance of vegetation, and
salubrity of climate; presenting, as a boundary, on two sides,
mountain ranges, with a wide valley, made up of hills, planes,
and dales, it was not surpassed, by any of the American colo
nies. Attractive as it was, its settlement was retarded, from
being a frontier, remote from the eastern settlements, the In
dian claim to which, was not purchased by the Proprietary of
Pennsylvania, until October, 1736. A great part of it was in
controversy with the Proprietary of Maryland, who claimed
the same as belonging to that Province.
To assert and maintain the claim and jurisdiction of Penn
sylvania, to this valley, west of the Susquehanna, some reso
lute and enterprising citizens were induced, by the Proprieta
ry agents of Pennsylvania, to make settlements in this district,
under Pennsylvania authority, which was done in a few instan
ces, as early as 1730-31, and were continued until January,
1734, when a commission was issued to Samuel Blunston, from
the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, authorizing him to grant
licenses, in writing, to settle lands west of the Susquehanna.
They were an inception of title to much of the most desirable
lands in the valley, extending from the Susquehanna, to near
the Potomac. With those settlements, under Pennsylvania au
thority, the Indians were satisfied, as they had been with those
before, made west of Wright's ferry, near York. Their ten
dency was to restrain encroachments, under Maryland author
ity. The Proprietary of Pennsylvania, acknowledged the In
dian claim, and for some time, had been negotiating with them,

60
for a cession of it, delay of which, was occasioned by the re
tirement of some of the five nations, to the western rivers or
lakes. That 'cession being obtained in 1736, and the Maryland con
troversy, being at the same time, suspended, by agreement of
the Proprietaries of the two Provinces, the Land Office of
Pennsylvania was opened in January, 1737, for the sale and
appropriation of lands west of the Susquehanna, on the usual
terms. The application for warrants, and the influx of settlers,
were now great into this valley.
The settlers, who occupied this part of the Kittochtinny
valley, under the license system, were from Ireland and Scot
land. They were men of energy, enterprize, industry, and
intelligence, being substantial farmers, with capital and re
sources, for improving and extending their farms. Their ori
gin, character, and the attractions of the country, induced
the emigrants of the same nationalities, to flock to this dis
trict of country. Some of these, had been resident for a time,
in the eastern part of the Province, and sought now to obtain
a permanent home in the Kittochtinny valley.
Though the frontier of the Province, it increased rapidly,
and in 1750 had about 1000 taxables, its population being five
or six thousand. Nine-tenths of the population were natives
of Ireland or Scotland. There were a few respectable families
of German Mennonites, settled east of where the town of
Greencastle is now located, on the waters flowing into the
Conococheague ; and also on the head waters of the Antietam.
There were also some Germans, of substance and good charac
ter, who had settled near the Grindstone Hill, south of where
Chambersburg is situated, belonging to the German Reformed
Church, and a settlement of emigrants from Wales, on the
Maryland boundary, on a stream of water flowing into west
Conococheague, which gave to this stream, and the adja
cent country, the name of Welsh Run, by which it is still known.
There were some German families settled, at an early day, in
the eastern part of the valley, near the Susquehanna.
The taste, of the early settlers of this valley, was rural, and
the occupation looked to for their families, was agricultural.

61
They selected lands, with a view to permanent residence, and
as the means of maintaining their families. The first dwelling
house erected in the Conococheague valley, was at the mouth
of the Falling Spring, of hewed logs, and covered with a lapped
shingle roof, secured by nails, in the usual manner. Many of
the dwelling houses, of the first settlers, were built of choice
logs, hewed and well put together, two stories high, and with
several apartments above and below ; and as early as 1744,
stone dwelling houses, of two stories, were erected, in different
parts of the valley ; some of which, are still standing, and com
fortable residences for a family. The stranger, who came to
view the land, was not regarded as an intruder ; but if of fair
character, was received with warm hearts, and taken into hos
pitable families, and information and aid given to him, that
would enable them to select lands that were eligible, and open
to appropriation. Good, and convenient neighbors, were more
desirable than extended territory.
The settlers, in their settlement, were engaged in extend
ing their improvements, by buildings, clearing and enclosing
lands for cultivation. They were characterized by enterprize,
and persevering industry, and were generally of steady habits,
religious and moral character. The great mass of them in
this valley, being of Irish or Scotch ^nativity, had as their
standard of Church organization, government, and creed, the
Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Catechisms received
from the Westminster Assembly. That standard was one on
which their ancestors, and themselves, had stood and main
tained in a foreign land, of religious intolerance, and which, in
a land of religious liberty, they were not disposed to depart
from. As the settlements progressed, they were desirous of being
supplied with a Gospel ministry, and as early as 1734, the
Presbytery of Donegal sent supplies or missionaries into this
valley, which, in their minutes is called the country, " Over the
River." As the settlement progressed, under the "Blunston
Licenses," congregations were organized in the years 1734-5-
6, and 7. Before 1740, there were not less than eight
Presbyterian congregations, organized in the valley, which had

62
church buildings erected, for public worship, and most of them
supplied by pastors, of their choice. The Presbyterian minis
ters, of that day, were nearly all of Irish nativity, and education.
They were good classical scholars, as well as sound and learn
ed theologians. Among the early ministry of this valley, was
the Rev. John Blair, educated at the Log College, of whose
life a very brief memoir has been given. He was settled at
the Great Spring, as early as 1741, having the charge of that
and some neighboring congregations.
Simultaneous with the organization of congregations by
these settlers, was the establishment of school houses, in every
neighborhood. In these schools, were taught little more than
the rudiments of education, of which a part was generally ob
tained at home, under parental instruction. Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic, Trigonometry, and Practical Geometry, were the
branches to which attention was given. The Bible was the
standard daily reader, by all classes able to read ; and the
Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, was to be
recited, and heard by all in the school, as a standard exercise,
on every Saturday morning.
The government of this extended community, was, in a great
measure, patriarchial. The father was the instructor, and ru
ler of his household. Subordination to parents, was the uni
versal education and training, and obedience was the settled
habit of the youth of the family. The great instrumentali
ties, in the instruction of youth, were home, the school, and the
Church. Religion was the great principle, on which was
founded the early government of this people; the regulator of
their families, their social and domestic habits. That religion,
was that of the Bible, the fear and love of God, as the begin
ning of wisdom, and the keeping of his commandments, as
taught in the. Scriptures, as the great duty of man. In a
community, without public magistrates, and officers of the
law in the neighborhood ; influence and rule, would be with
the eldest, and wisest of the people, and which, by common
consent, would be extended over the morals and actions of in
dividuals. Public safety, peace and happiness, required this
exercise of control by public sentiment, and respect for it
would be accorded.

63
In 1735, by the order and appointment of the Court, the
valley was divided into two townships, by a line crossing the
valley at the " Great Spring," now Newville ; the eastern one
called, " Pennsborough," and the western one, "Hopewell,"
atid a Justice of the Peace and a Constable, appointed for each-
In 1741, the township of Antrim was established, embra
cing the Conococheague settlement, and what now constitutes
the county of Franklin, with a Justice of the Peace and Con
stable for it.
These conservators of the peace, would be so few, over this
extended country, as to afford but little aid to the maintenance
of peace, order, and the authority of the laws. The great
conservator and arbiter of right, would be the well regulated
religious and moral sentiment of the community. The settlers
were farmers, pursuing the even tenor of their way, in im
proving and cultivating their farms, rearing and educating their
children, and providing for their schools and churches. The
people were obliged to be a law unto themselves. Having
emigrated from a country, where the common law was the
standard of right and wrong, in the relations of persons, it,
and its principles, would be applied in aid of the moral law,
to the actions of individuals. The provincial government
had its place of business, with its offices and officers,, at Phila
delphia ; the only officers of this government, seen by the set
tlers of this valley, for many years after its first settlement, was
the Deputy Surveyor, to survey and return their lands. Whilst
the local county government, until 1750, was at Lancaster, a
distance, to many of the inhabitants, of one hundred miles, or
more, the officers of this local government, with which the peo
ple of the valley had intercourse, before that period, were the
assessors and collectors of the public taxes. The Courts, for
the trial of criminals, was so distant from a great part of the
valley, as to afford but little protection to the inhabitants.
Yet the settlement of this division of the Kittochtinfiy valley,
was expanding; its improvements progressing, and the comfort
and resources of the inhabitants, rapidly increasing. This
Scotch Irish settlement, was the most extensive of any in the
Province, Laving in it, in 1748, about 800 taxables, dwelling

64
in peace, and in the offices of good neighborhood with one
another. During this period of patriarchal government, we
do not learn, from history, or any public document, that any
outrage was perpetrated within its bounds, by any riotous, or
unlawful assembly, or any high crimes committed against the
laws. Predominant, as was the Scotch Irish element, in this set
tlement, with its numerous Presbyterian congregations, in
every part of it ; yet it was not intolerant, or a persecutor of
the small Mennonite and German Reformed societies, that were
in its midst, or of any other denomination, that was inclined to
make their abode in the valley. They lived in harmony with
all, as Christian brethren, interchanging the offices of good and
obliging neighbors. The population of this valley, had, for
their southern boundary, the Province of Maryland, with which
the vexed question of the actual location of that boundary,
before 1739, was unsettled. In 1735-6, the conflict between
the inhabitants of the two Provinces, in the eastern part of the
county of Lancaster, was harassing, attended with riot, breach
es of the peace, blood-shed, and alleged murder, and where the
settlers belonged to different classes of emigrants ; yet, in the
Kittochtinny valley, with settlers living near, and adjacent to,
the place where the temporary and permanent boundary lines
were surveyed, there was no strife amongst them, about their
respective possessions, which all were allowed peaceably to
hold, until the proper Provincial jurisdiction was established,
which was done first, in 1739, by the temporary line, which in
the valley, was only half a mile north of the permanent line,
established by Mason and Dixon's survey, in 1767. The
western boundary, of the same valley, was the Kittochtinny
mountains, of seventy miles in extent, being the frontier of the
Province, and the Indian claim, extending from that boundary
to the far west. The inhabitants of the valley, had for their
neighbors, on the frontier, the Indian tribes of the west.
Though most of the Indian nations had retired, on the advance
of the white settlements, to the western waters, yet, they oc
casionally, or parts of them, visited the white settlements, for
traffic, conference, or to meet other tribes. There was inter-

65
course between them, and the inhabitants of the valley. From
the first settlement, in this valley, until the Indians became,
with their French allies, the public enemy of the English, and of
the inhabitants of their colonies, the life of an Indian was not
taken, or the blood of any shed, nor were they deprived of their
property, by the inhabitants of this part of the Kittochtinny
valley. History, or the public documents, furnish no record
of any such wrong to the Indians ; and had there been any
such, it would have been made known by the Indians, or by
the agents of the Provincial government, who visited them.
The Indians, and the inhabitants of this valley, many of whom
resided at the base of the Kittochtinny mountain, did maintain
an intercourse in peace, and without strife, until 1753, when a
hostile spirit was first manifested, under the influence and insti
gation of the French. Several of the inhabitants of this valley,
were carried into captivity, by the Indians, in 1752 and '53.
They were subjected to great hardships, by a confinement, for
a time, at Quebec, and afterwards in France, where their re
lease was procured by the English Ambassador. On their
return to Pennsylvania, the Assembly made provision for their
restoration to their homes in the valley. Acts of Assembly,
vol. 4.
In September, 1754, a conference was had with the Indians,
at the residence of George Croghan, the Indian Agent, at
Aughwick. Notwithstanding Mr. Weiser, as the agent of the
government, was there, to secure their friendly relations, aid
ed by liberal donations of money; yet, within a few days after,
an Indian killed Joseph Campble, a white man, on the Conoco
cheague, near Parnel's Knob, without any known provocation,
and made his escape. We have not seen any evidence, docu
mentary, or other, that the inhabitants of this valley were in
censed by these repeated outrages of the Indians, at a time of
professed peace, to commit against them any acts of revenge,
in retaliation for the atrocious wrongs recited, and treacher
ously perpetrated by the Indians, on the white inhabitants of
this valley. In this forbearance, the Scotch Irish race, exhib
ited a spirit far from being "pugnacious," or that they "hated
the Indians," but, that there "were sentiments of honor, or
5

66
magnanimity in their bosoms, that could restrain resentment."
The success and prosperity of this community, in prosecu
ting the improvements of their farms, dwelling together in
peace, maintaining their social and religious associations, with
but the shadow of a public government, is evidence how little
government is required for an agricultural people of religious,
moral, and industrious habits, content with their occupation.
This community, left to their own government, will, we think,
for their good habits, bear a comparison with any other popu
lation, or any other settlement, of the American colonies, or
with any settlement of the lands of the United States, to the
same extent.
For fifteen years and more, they lived, with the place of their
county offices and sessions of their Courts, at a distance from
them, of fifty to one hundred miles ; and when they petitioned
the Legislature for the organization of the county of Cum
berland, in 1749, they " represented the great hardships they
laid under, by being so remote from Lancaster, where the
Courts were held, and the public offices kept, and how hard
and difficult it was for the ' sober and quiet part ' of the peo
ple to secure themselves against thefts and other abuses, fre
quently committed by idle and dissolute persons, who, to es
cape punishment, resort to the more remote parts of the Pro
vince ; and owing to the great distance from the Court, or
prison, frequently escaped." The obvious necessity, for the
relief desired, induced an immediate organization of the coun
ty of Cumberland in 1750.
For some time before this, this part of the Kittochtinny
valley was called by the whites " the North valley," to dis
tinguish it, we believe, from the extension of the same valley
in Virginia, south of the Potomac river. After the organi
zation of Cumberland county, it very generally received the
name of the " Cumberland valley," taking its name from the
county, of which it was a small part. The Indians, however,
long after, in their allusions to it, and the mountain ranwe
west, retained their ancient name of "Kittochtinny."
The inhabitants of this valley were destined to experience
the sad deficiency, of their Provincial government, in the rela-

67
tions of war. The storm, indicated by the defeat of Braddock,
and the dastardly flight of his successor in command, Dunbar,
was viewed with terrible apprehension and danger, by the in
habitants along the frontier. These apprehensions were made
known, in many memorials to the Assembly and Governor,
signed by the mass of the people, imploring immediate mea
sures of defence by the government, for the protection of the
settlements exposed. These supplications, acknowledged to
be reasonable, and demanding the attention of the government,
were not met by legislation, that had any efficiency for the
relief of the alarmed inhabitants. The war was allowed to
fall on the defenceless inhabitants of this valley, and other
settlements, in all the horrors of savage cruelty. Families were
surprised in their dwellings, and every member murdered and
scalped ; their houses and buildings burned, and their cattle
destroyed. The men organized themselves into companies,
with their own small supply of arms and ammunition, to pur
sue the enemy, who were generally successful in their rapid
retreat to the mountains and the wilderness. This barbarous
warfare, was continued for about seven, or more years, against
the inhabitants of this valley, who were left, in a great mea
sure, to their own resources and bravery, for the defence of
the country against these cruel and powerful enemies. The
forts, provided by the government, in the Cumberland valley,
at Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Loudon, garrisoned each with
about seventy men, afforded little or no protection. Separated
by great distances, the Indians, in their incursions, could
readily avoid them, as they did, and find still a wide field for
an inhuman war, that was regardless of age, sex, or infancy.
Even the Royal government, after the defeat of Braddock, in
July, 1755, permitted three years and more, to elapse, when
in the autumn of 1758, another army, under Gen. Forbes, was
marched into the enemy's country, and took possession of Fort
Du Quesne, abandoned by the French. So repeated were the
massacres of the inhabitants of Cumberland valley, for years,
that three fourths of them with their families, sought shelter
and safety in the eastern parts of Lancaster and York counties.
The men often returned to occupy some dwellings, that escaped

68
the torch of the savage, and cooperate with others, to watch and
resist the Indians, whose mode of warfare was secrecy and sur
prise, murder of tile defenceless, and a hasty retreat. The num
ber of white inhabitants, in this valley, slain, scalped, or carried
into captivity, was great. The whole extended valley was
made one of desolation and blood ; every neighborhood had its
victims. The Indian warriors estimated, that in the first years
of this war, they killed fifty whites for one Indian that
was killed, and in after years, when the white inhabitants bet
ter understood their warfare, they still killed ten whites for one
of their nation killed by the white inhabitants. This great
disproportion arose from the slaughter by the Indians, of wo
men and children, for whose scalps their French allies reward
ed them liberally.
The distress of the inhabitants of the Cumberland valley,
during these wars, may be conceived better than described.
Gordon, in his History of Pennsylvania, 383, says : " that in
cessant anxiety pervaded every family; their slumbers were
broken by the yell of demons, or by the dread of an attack,
scarce less horrid than an actual attack. The ground was
ploughed, the seed sown and the harvest gathered, under the
fear of the tomahawk and rifle. Scaicely any outdoor labor
was safely executed, unless protected by arms in the hands of
the laborers, or by regular troop's. Women, visiting iheir sick
neighbors, were shot or captured; children, driving home cattle
from the field, were killed and scalped; whilst tlie enemy das
tardly, as well as cruel, shrunk from every equality of force.
Many of the richest neighborhoods were deserted, and prop-
city of every kind given up to the foe. Many instances of
heroism were displayed by men, women and children, in de
fence of themselves and their homes, and in pursuing and
combatting the enemy. There was certainly a great want of
ability and energy in the constituted authorities and the govern
ment of the Province. United councils, and well directed efforts,
might have driven the barbarians to their savage haunts, and
repeated the chastisement they received at Kittanning, until
they sued for peace. But imbecility distinguished the British
ministers and officers, and paralized the efforts of the Provin
ces, especially that of Pennsylvania."

69
The complaints against the constituted authorities of the
Provincial government, and supplications for defensive mea
sures, were not confined to the Scotch Irish inhabitants of the
frontier. The frivolous and endless disputes between the Gov
ernor and the Assembly, in a time of war and distress, incens
ed the German patience and overcame their constitutional "in
action. The inhabitants of the remote parts of Philadelphia
county, chiefly Germans, to the amount of four hundred,
marched to the city unarmed, in a peaceable and orderly man
ner, to implore the protection of their rulers, and the postpone
ment of their unreasonable debates. They first waited upon
the Governor, who accused the Assembly of procrastination ;
and that body did not fail to rebut the charge, whilst they
promised their sturdy petitioners, who crowded their hall,
that means for their protection and safety should be speedily
adopted."* The Indians were willing to avail themselves of the concili
atory pohcy of the public authorities, and meet the agents of
the Government in conference, when invited ; and in which
assurances of peace, friendship and fidelity were given by the
Chiefs, who returned to their homes liberally rewarded by pres
ents, at the expense of the government. These pledges and
assurances were regarded no longer than the time might be
favorable to renew their hostilities on the white inhabitants,
%vho might be surprised in their peaceful occupations, and there
barbarously murdered by their false and treacherous foes.
When the treaty of Peace was made, in November, 1762,
between the French and English ; and France surrendered its
possession in the northern colonies to the English, with the
assurances of friendship and peace, received from the Indians,
who were so fully represented at a conference with the public
agents at Lancaster, in September, in 1762, it was supposed
by all interested, that the peace of the Province was establish
ed on a basis not to be disturbed.
The inhabitants, who had fled with their families, to the
eastern parts of the Province, returned in the autumn of 1762,

Gordon, 315.

70
to the Kittochtinny and adjacent valleys, to resume there the
possession of their farms, laid waste by the savage enemy. In
the Cumberland valley, the inhabitants, with their character
istic energy, applied themselves to rebuild their dwellings, to
procure cattle, and cultivate their lands for a harvest expected
to be gathered in safety. All was quiet on the frontiers, not
a murmur or threat, from the Indians, that indicated hostility,
was heard by the public agents, or by the inhabitants of this
valley, who were comforting themselves on the enjoyment of a
lasting peace. Sad disappointment was not far from them.
" The unprotected state of the frontiers, consequent on the
discharge of the forces of the middle and southern colonies,
held forth irresistible temptation to the whetted appetite of the
border savages for plunder. Their hostility had been reward
ed, rather than chastised, by Pennsylvania ; every treaty of
peace was accompanied by rich presents ; and their detention
of the prisoners was overlooked, upon slight apologies, though
obviously done to afford opportunities for new treaties and ad
ditional gift. The mistaken and perverted humanity of ' the
Friendly Association,' had softened down their offences."*
A secret and wide spread confederacy among the Indians,
was suddenly executed by them, simultaneously, on all the Eng
lish forts, and the settlements of the frontiers, in the spring
and summer of 1763. Their attack on the inhabitants of the
Kittochtinny valley, east and west of the Susquehanna, was
appalling. " The whole country west of Shippensburg, in this
valley, became the prey of the fierce barbarians. They set
fire to houses, barns, corn and hay, and every thing that was
combustible. The wretched inhabitants, whom they surprised
at night, at their meals, or in the labor of the fields, were mas
sacred with the utmost cruelty and barbarity ; and those -uho
fled, were scarcely more happy, overwhelmed by sorrow, without
shelter, or means of transportation. Their tardy flight was
impeded by fainting women and weeping children. The in
habitants of Shippensburg and Carlisle, now became the barri
er towns, opened their hearts and houses to their afflicted

Gordon, 395.

71
brethren. In the towns, every stable and hovel was crowded
with miserable refugees, who, having lost their houses, their
cattle and their harvest, were reduced from independence and
happiness to beggary and despair. The streets were filled with
people, the men distracted, by grief for their losses, and the
desire for revenge, more poignantly excited by the disconsolate
females and bereaved children who wailed around them."*
The like murders and bloody cruelties were inflicted at the
same time, by the barbarous enemy, on the inhabitants of the
Kittochtinny valley, east of the Susquehanna. Amongst them,
the inhabitants of the township of Paxton, east of where Har
rishurg is, in the county of Dauphin, had been sorely afflicted.
The inhabitants, in this district, who had suffered from this
inhuman war, were exasperated to excess against the Indians,
as a treacherous enemy, on whose stipulations no confidence
could be placed, and who were to be intimidated only by a chas
tisement, that would be an example and terror. Under the
infiuence of these feelings, at a time of great alarm and ex
citement, attention was directed to the parts of the Delaware
and Six Nation tribes, resident on Conestoga, " who refused
to join their brethren in arms, professed affection for the colo
nists, and avowed their determination to remain neutral. That
neutrality was denied, and of part of them was very doubtful.
Many outrages were committed in consequence, as was gener
ally believed, of the information and advice they gave to the
invaders ; and some murders were perpetrated, which the pub
lic voice ascribed to a party under the protection of the Mora
vian brethren, "t
"That some of the Conestoga Indians were treacherous, ap
pears (says Mr. Rupp) abundantly, from the facts set forth in
the affidavits of respectable persons. It was fully believed by
the Paxtonians, that what were called the friendly Indians,
connived at, if not directly stimulated the hostile ones, in their
relentless attacks upon the frontier settlers, at that time."|
" That these friendly Indians were guilty of treachery and
perfidy, in the manor of Conestoga, would seem evident from

Gordon, 398. f Gordon, 404. } Rupp's His. Lane, 852-4.

72
a number of authentic statements and evidence, from other
credible sources."*
When the Rev. John Elder, of Paxton, heard that a number
of persons had assembled, to proceed to Conestoga, to cut off
the Indians, he did all in his power to prevent it. He remon
strated with them on its unlawfulness and barbarity, and as
sured them that they would be liable to capital punishment.
(Letter to Gov. Penn.) His advice and remonstrance were
not regarded, and on the 14th Dec, 1763, a number of men
from Paxton and Donegal, attacked the Indian village at Con
estoga, and there murdered all of the tribe at their town, being
six : three men, two women and a boy, and burned their dwel
lings. Amongst the slain, was one chief, who was distinguish
ed for his friendship to the whites. The majority of the Indians
of the town were absent, at the time of the attack. These, by
the agents of the Governor and magistrates, were afterwards
removed to the jail in Lancaster, as a place of security. Not
withstanding the proclamation of the Governor, offering a re
ward for the apprehension of the murderers at Conestoga, and
enjoining vigilance on the part of the public magistrates, a
number of Paxtonians and others, amounting to about thirty
persons, suddenly made their appearance in Lancaster, on the
27th day of December, marched to the prison, forced the doors
and inhumanly murdered all the Indians found within its walls,
regardless of their supplications and protestations of innocence.
The number thus murdered were fourteen, three men, three
women and eight children. "f
Humanity revolts at deeds so cruel and barbarous, as those
just recited, only becoming a savage enemy. Cruel as war is,
in its mildest forms, it becomes doubly cruel when waged with
savages. Their barbarous murder of women, infancy and age,
induces in their more intellectual and civilized enemies, re
venge and retaliation. It is considered by authorities on na
tional law, that such severities and retaliation, with a fero
cious and savage enemy, are legitimate warfare, that by such
retaliation they may be brought to a sense of the laws of hu-

* Rupp's His. Dauph., 163. F. vol. 4, Penn. Arch., 139. f Vol. 9, Col.
Rec, 103,

manity. It is considered, that by such retaliation only, can
Indian barbarities be encountered, and they intimidated. In
the wars which the Indians had been waging on the inhabitants
of the settlements for seven years, in which most of the victims
were women and children, their own families, being remote from
the seat of war, escaped, with the exception of the few who
fell in the attack on their town of Kittanning, 1756, under the
command of Col. Armstrong.
One of the great evils of war, is its corruption of human
nature, and hardening the heart to all the sensibilities of hu
manity. Whilst we condemn the murder of the Conestoga In
dians, as atrocious and barbarous, there is some extenuation
to be allowed to fathers and husbands, who, but a few months
before, were agonized in mourning over murdered wives and
children, whose blood, as they firmly believed, was on the
hands and skirts of the barbarous and treacherous enemy, who
were living near them, under the protection and support of the
government. " That inhabitants, whose dwellings had been
pillaged and burned, their families murdered and scalped, by
an enemy, who, but a few months before, had, in public con
ference, given the most solemn assurances of peace and friend
ship, and who renewed their hostilities, without complaint or
warning, should be driven to desperation, is not to be wonder
ed at. They were men with the infirmities and passions of
men. The desperate combination to avenge on the Conestoga
Indians, the barbarous cruelties, inflicted on the border fami
lies of the whites, was limited, and confined to a few. The
most reliable account on record of them, is to be found in the
communication of the Rev. John Elder to Governor Penn,
Dec, 16, 1763, who was the pastor of a Presbyterian congre
gation in the township of Paxton, and who was respected and
beloved for his estimable character. Mr. Elder in his letter says:
" I thought it my duty to give you this early notice, that an
action of this nature may not be imputed to these frontier set
tlements. For I know not one person of judgment or pru
dence, that has been in any wise concerned in it ; but it has
been done by some hot-headed, ill-advised persons, and espe
cially by such, I imagine, as suffered much in their relations,
hy the ravages committed by the late Indian war."

74
And in a subsequent letter, from the same, to the Governor,
of 27th January, 1764, it is stated, that, " The storm, which
had been so long gathering, has at length exploded. Had
government removed the Indians from Conestoga, which had
frequently been urged without success, this fearful catastro
phe might have been avoided. What could I do with men
heated to madness ? All that I could do was done ; I expos
tulated, but life and reason were set at defiance, and yet the
men in private life, are virtuous and respectable ; not cruel,
but mild and merciful. The time will come, when each pallia
ting circumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magni
fied into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of
those youthful ebullitions of wrath, caused by momentary ex
citement, to which human infirmity is subjected."
The outrage perpetrated by the murders in the Lancaster
jail or work house, was more flagitious, than that at the Indian
town. There had been time for passion to subside, and for
reason and humanity to resume their control. The doors of a
public prison were forced, and the barriers of the law, public
faith and security, set at defiance. The authorities of the gov
ernment, that had the Indians removed to this place, under as
surance of protection and safety, were culpable, that they did
not, at the peril of their lives, prevent the murderous assassi
nation ; or have arrested the perpetrators, in a town having a
population of over two thousand, and in it, at the time, a com
pany of the King's troops, under the command of Capt. Rob-
ison. Had the magistrates, who assumed the responsibilitv
of protection, repaired to the jail, with a few resolute men,
under the panoply of the law, they would have been a host, in
themselves, to have repelled the criminal assailants, not number
ing more than thirty. Whether successful or not, they were
bound by every obligation of duty to have made the attempt,
at the hazard of their lives. It is a reflection on the magis
trates and authorities, who were instrumental in placing the
Indians in the public jail, as well as the citizens of Lancaster,
that they permitted this outrage, and the escape of the perpe
trators. The insurgents increased in number, by accessions in
Lancaster county, and some time after repaired to the neigh-

75
borhood of Philadelphia, and made threats against the safety of
the Indians there, under the protection of the Provincial gov
ernment. Better councils prevailed with them, and they re
turned to their homes without any other acts of violence.
The inhabitants of the frontier, who had suffered for so
many years, from the ravages of Indian warfare, remained in
censed against the Provincial government, which had failed in
a first and most imperative duty to its citizens, if protection
against a public and savage enemy; and which was feeding
and maintaining then, at the public expense, more than one
hundred Indians, many of whom were believed by the settlers
to have been perpetrators of the most horrid barbarities, but
a few months before on the white settlements ; and yet the
government made no provision for more than a thousand fami-
ilies of the inhabitants of the frontier, reduced to extreme dis
tress, by the destruction of their dwellings, furniture, cattle
and crops, and who were dependent on private charity.* They
despaired of adequate protection from the government, or a
change of the policy of rewarding the Indians by presents,
for their promises of good behavior, instead of intimidating
them by chastisement, — as long as the government was organ
ized as it was, with its legislature controlled by about one tenth
of the population of the Province, who were opposed to
military armament, or appropriations for the public defence.
The killing of the Indians at Conestoga and Lancaster,
was aggravated or extenuated by the political parties in Penn
sylvania, as they were divided in relation to the administra
tion of the government. We give the representations of that
affair, and the public feeling, by the Rev. John Ewing, D. D.,
who then, and after, sustained a high reputation for learning,
intelligence, piety, and purity of character. It is in his letter
addressed to Joseph Reed, at London, who was afterwards
President of the Executive Council. Philadelphia, 1764.
" As to public affairs, our Province is greatly involved in
intestine feuds, at a time when we should rather unite, one and

* Gordon, 408.

76
all, to manage the affairs of our social government, with pru
dence and discretion. A few designing men, having engross
ed too much power into their hands, are pushing matters be
yond all bounds. There are twenty-two Quakers in our As
sembly, at present, who, although they wont absolutely refuse
to grant money for the King's use, yet never fail to contrive
matters in such a manner, as to afford little or no assistance to
the poor distressed frontiers ; while our public money is lavish
ly squandered away, in supporting a number of savages, who
have been murdering and scalping us for many years past.
This has enraged some desperate young men, who had lost
their nearest relatives, by these very Indians, to cut off about
twenty Indians, that lived near Lancaster, who had, during the
war, carried on a constant intercourse with our other enemies;
and they came down to Germantown to inquire why Indians,
known to be enemies, were supported, even in luxury, with the
best that our markets afforded, at the public expense, while
they were left in the utmost distress on the frontiers, in want
of the necessaries of life. Ample promises were made to them,
that their grievances should be redressed, upon which, they im
mediately dispersed and went home. These persons have
bee.^ unjustly represented, as endeavoring to overturn the gov
ernment, when nothing was more distant from their minds.
However this matter may be looked upon in Britain, where
you know very little of the matter, you may be assured that
ninety-nine in an hundred, of the Province, are firmly per
suaded, that they are maintaining our enemies, while our
friends, who are suffering the greatest extremities, are neglected;
and that few, but Quakers, think that the Lancaster Indians
have suffered any thing but their just deserts. Tis not a lit
tle surprising to us here, that orders should be sent from the
Crown to apprehend and bring to justice, those persons who
have cut off that nest of enemies, that lived near Lancaster.
They never were subjects to his Majesty; were a free, indepen
dent State, retaining all the powers of a free State, sat in all
our treaties with the Indians, as one of the tribes belonging to
the Six Nations, in alliance with us ; they entertained the
French and Indian spies; gave intelligence to them, of the de-

fenceless state of the Province ; furnished them with our Ga
zette every week or fortnight ; gave them intelligence of all the
dispositions of the Province army against them ; were frequent
ly with the French and Indians at their forts and towns ; sup
plied them with warlike stores; joined with the strange Indians
in their war dances, and in the parties that made excursions
on our frontiers ; were ready to take up the hatchet against
the English openly, when the French requested it ; actually
murdered and scalped some of the frontier inhabitants ; inso
lently boasted of the murders they had committed, when they
saw our blood was cooled, after the last treaty at Lancaster ;
confessed that they had been at war with us, and would soon be
at war with us again, (which accordingly happened) and even
went so far as to put one of their own warriors, Tegarie, to
death, because he refused to go to war with them against the
English. All these things were known to the frontier ijihabi-
tants, and are since proved upon oath. This occasioned them
to be cut off by about forty or fifty persons, collected from all
the frontier counties, though they are called by the name of
the little township of Paxton, where possibly the smallest part
of them resided. And what surprises us more than all, the
accounts we have from England, is, that our Assembly, in a
petition they have drawn up to the King, for a change of gov
ernment, should represent this Province in a state of uproar
and riot, and when not a man in it has once resisted a single
officer of the government, nor a single act of violence commit
ted, unless you call the Lancaster affair such, although it was
no more than going to war with that tribe, as they had done
before with others, without a formal proclamation of war by
the government. I have not time, as you may guess, by this
scrawl, to write more at this time.
P. S. You may publish the above account, of the Lancas
ter Indians, if you please." — Life of Reed, Vol. I, page 34.
At this period of excitement, the inhabitants of the frontier
and their friends, renewed their accusation against the Qua
kers, charging them with having encouraged the Indians in
their hostilities against the whites, and having aided them
when so engaged, with guns and other instruments of death.

78
These accusations were repelled by them, as unfounded, whilst
they reproached the Scotch Irish settlers of the Province, as
aiders and abettors of the Conestoga murders, by the party
from Paxton. When the charge of cruelty and hatred to the
Indian tribes, by the Scotch Irish race, has since been repeat
ed hy writers or compilers of history, the evidence to support
the allegation, when any was furnished, was a reference to the
Conestoga murders. Charges against the Society of Friends,
for having encouraged and aided the Indians in their barbarous
war on the whites, could only be referred to some few individ
uals of that respectable class of the population, whose princi
ples were opposed to war, and who were distinguished for peace,
order and obedience to the law. It was unreasonable, as well
as unjust, to charge either of these large masses of the popula
tion of the Province, with the wrongs and crimes perpetrated
by a few of their misguided individuals.
On the part of the Scotch and Irish, and the Presbyterian
Church, who were implicated by their opponents in these out
rages against humanity and law, we repel the imputation as
unfounded, and made without evidence and against evidence.
There is the authority of the Rev. Mr. Elder, who resided near
the residence of these offenders, " that they were a few hot
headed ill-advised persons ; that there was not one person of
judgment or prudence, that had been in anywise concerned in
it." " It was an ebullition of wrath caused by momentary
excitement." On these excited men, no person would be sup
posed to have more influence, than the Rev. Mr. Elder. He
was known to have no undue partiality for these Indian ene
mies, as for years, under the appointment of the Provincial
government, he had the command of a company, for the de
fence of the frontier, against the Indian ravages, which was
done faithfully, at the peril of health and life. That influence
was exerted in vain, to subdue the excitement, or restrain the
desperate purpose of these men. He also dispatched an ex
press after the party of rioters, to inform the government of
their hostile purposes. The Governor in his reply to Mr. El
der, dated 29th Dec, 1763, expresses his approbation of his
endeavors to prevent the execution of their wicked purposes.

79
The most extensive and numerous Scotch Irish settlement in
the Province, at that time, was in the Cumberland valley, hav
ing in it more of the Presbyterian element, dwelling together,
than in any other district. It had suffered more from Indian
barbarities, than any other part of the Province, and at the
time of the murder of the Conestoga Indians, hundreds of its
families were mourning over murdered and scalped members,
by the hands of treacherous savages ; and were destitute of the
necessaries of life, of which they had been deprived by the
same enemy. The eastern end of this valley was separated
from Paxton township only by the river Susquehanna; yet there
is no evidence, that the inhabitants of this valley had partici
pated in this transaction, or had any connection with it. There
is the highest evidence, from the public documents of the time,
to exonerate them from the imputation. Col. John Armstrong,
of Cumberland county, at the time a magistrate, and having
the command of the Provincial troops of that county, by his
letter to Governor Penn, from Cailise, 28th Dec. 1763, ac
knowledges the receipt of the Governor's proclamation against
the offenders at Conestoga, which he had distributed through
out the county, and states : "I have the pleasure to inform your
Honor, that not one person of the county of Cumberland, so far
as I can learn, has been consulted or concerned in that inhu
man and scandalous piece of butchery ; and I should be very
sorry, that ever the people of this county, should attempt
avenging their injuries, on the heads of a few inoffensive and
superannuated savages, whom nature had already devoted to the
dust."* This is the statement of an intelligent, brave, and hon
est man, who had the best sources of information, and who
would state truly what he did know, without being influenced
by fear or favor.
It was this extensive settlement, as before narrated, which
maintained, from its commencement, until the Indians became
the public enemy, a period of about twenty years friendly and
peaceable intercourse with them, without blood-shed, strife or
violence.

* Penn. Arch. vol. 4, p-gge 152.

§0
We are not aware of any evidence of the Scotch Irish set
tlers of Bucks, and Chester counties, eastern portion of Lan
caster or York counties, as having any connexion with the
massacres, perpetrated on the Indians at Conestoga or Lancas
ter. That they did not discover, or apprehend the perpetra
tors, if even in their power, was not a criminality that identifi
ed them with the offenders. The public mind was then con
vulsed with excitement and passion, and the public authorities
were so unsettled, as to be unsafe holders of the scales of justice.
At such a crisis, innocence might readily suffer, and the guilty,
escape. The humanity of the law, established as its maxim,
that it was better that many guilty persons might escape, than
one innocent person suffer wrong, by the adjudication of the
law. It allowed not angry passions to direct and control its
measures, and impose its penalties. The perpetrators were allow
ed to escape, by reason of public sentiment being so strong
against the Indians, as having been the treacherous and mur
derous enemy of the frontier inhabitants, and of the unwilling
ness, on the part of the great majority of the people, to appre
hend or punish the men, who had retaliated, as they supposed,
on the tribe, some of their bloody cruelties, that had been in
flicted on the defenceless white families.
The murder of the Conestoga Indians, with its extenuation,
is a stain upon the annals of Pennsylvania. It was a tragedy
performed by a few men, under the impulse of feelings excited
at the time, by the mangled bodies of wives and children on
the frontier, from the hands of Indians, in which the Conesto
ga Indians, if not active participants, were believed to be aid
ers and abettors. The reproach of this single act of barbarous
warfare, is not to be put down to the condemnation of Penn
sylvania, or any classes of her inhabitants, or to subject them
to the charge of excess against humanity.
Reproachful as this warfare was to the Province, it is to
be recollected, that Pennsylvania, was not the only colony of
North America, which, in times of excitement, had allowed
high crimes to be perpetrated with impunity, under less exten
uating circumstances in their early governments, by ex
cesses and outrages against the law and the lives and the prop-

81
erty of their people. Massachusetts had its judicial mur
ders, in the tribunals of the law, by trials conducted in the usual
form, by which innocent men and women in numbers were con
victed and executed for witchcraft. The city of New York, in
1741, with a population of about eight thousand, was the thea
tre of a cruel and bloody delusion, not less lamentable, under
which judges and lawyers prostituted their stations, to sacrifice
under color of law, slaves falsely accused of arson — tried with
out counsel — convicted upon insufficient evidence — and of whom
thirteen were burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, and sev
enty one transported.*
At the recital of such tragedies, humanity revolts, and de
plores the infirmity and depravity that perpetrated them, as
well as the weakness of the law, and the inefficiency of its con
stituted authorities, that allowed the escape of the offenders
with impunity.
Lawless and riotous proceedings were had near Fort Loudon
in March 1765, in which some of the inhabitants of Cumber
land valley, residing near the base of the Kittochtinny moun
tain, participated. It being known that a large amount of
goods had been brought into the neighborhood, from Philadel
phia, in wagons, to be carried by the Indian traders on pack
horses to places of Indian trade, in and west of the mountains,
a party of men assembled, amounting to about fifty, where
Mercersburg is now situated, being on the traders' road. They
there met the traders with their horses and goods on the way.
One of the assembled party, Mr. Duffield, who was respected
and prominent in the county, desired the persons having charge
of the horses and goods, to store them and not proceed without
further orders. They made light of this request and disregard
ed it, by pursuing their way over the mountain to the west.
The assembled party pursued them across the Tuscarora moun
tain into the Great Cove, and again urged them to store up
their goods. Mr. Duffield reasoned with them, on the impro
priety of their proceedings, and the great danger the frontier
inhabitants would be exposed to, if the Indians should now get

* Hil. His., Vol. 2, p. 392,
6

82
a supply, as it was well known they had scarcely any ammu
nition. To supply them now, would be a kind of murder, and
would be illegally trading at the expense of the blood and
safety of the frontiers. The traders ridiculed what he said,
and disregarded it. Mr. Duffield and his party returned to
their homes, without any attempt to restrain the trading party.
Lieut. James Smith, one of Mr. Duffield's party, was not satis
fied to be so repulsed. Mr. Smith had commanded, for some
years, a company of Rangers, employed in the defence of that
frontier, against the incursions of the savages. He was a man
of resolution, of indomitable courage, and infiexible from any
purpose which he deemed necessary, for the safety of the in
habitants. With ten of his old company, he, the following
night, pursued the traders, whom they overtook on Sideling
Hill. They attacked them by shooting their horses, and re
quired them to leave their goods, except their private proper
ty, and retire. This was done, and the goods for trading, con
sisting, amongst other things, of blankets, lead, tomahawks
and scalping knives, were burned and destroyed, and after
this, gun powder, which they had stored. The traders, re
turned to Fort Loudon, which was then under the command of
Lieut. Grant, a Royal officer, with a company of Highland
soldiers. The Lieutenant assigned to them a guard of sol
diers, who assisted in arresting, without oath, warrant, or any
process from a magistrate, a number of the inhabitants of the
neighborhood, who had no concern in the attack on the traders,
or the destruction of their goods, and who were brought to
Fort Loudon and there confined. Smith soon appeared before
the Fort, with three hundred rifiemen under his command,
when a parley was had, which led to the immediate release of
the confined inhabitants. There was still kept in the Fort
some of their guns, that had been taken by the soldiers. Lieut.
Grant, having gone into the country, near the Fort, was
taken into custody by some of the dissatisfied inhabitants, and
released on his promise to deliver up the guns withheld in the
Fort, and which was complied with.
The author of these violent proceedings was Lieut. Smith
having with him ten of his rangers. The inhabitants of the

83
neighborhood of Fort Loudon promptly assembled to resist and
redress the arbitrary and illegal proceedings of the soldiers
from Fort Loudon, in arresting and confining at their will, re
spectable persons who had no participation in the affair. The
proceedings of Smith, and his party, had their approbation, as
necessary to the defence and safety of that frontier against a
savage enemy. That enemy had the preceding summer, sur
prised the inhabitants of Conococheague, by their sudden and
unexpected attack, inflicted on them the most cruel barbarities,
murdering and scalping many, amongst whom, was a school
master, and the children of the school. Several tribes of In
dians were still in hostile attitude in their wild retreats, on the
western waters. As the government had no force adequate to
the protection of the frontier ; or the chastisement of the skulking
and bloody savages, who were generally successful in their rav
ages, the great reliance for peace on the frontier, was the want
of means and supplies with the Indians, to enable or encour
age them to renew their murderous incursions.
An Act of Assembly of Oct., 17G3, prohibited the selling of
guns, powder, or other warlike stores, to the Indians. The
trader, who had a license to trade with the Indians, was pro
hibited from selling them military stores, or war implements.
These traders had long been reputed, vicious, lawless and pro
fligate, regardless of the law, the Governor's proclamations
and the complaints of the Indians, in relation to their traffic
with the Indians in Ruin. The provincial government ac
knowledged its inability to restrain them, and execute the law ;
and advised the Indians before the Indian wars, to execute the
law themselves against the traders, by seizing and destroying
the Rum brought to their trading places. The government
had not yet done any thing efficient, for the defence of the
frontier inhabitants. Those in the Cumberland valley, had been
left, in a great measure, to their own resources and defences,
during the nine years of Indian war, following Braddock's de
feat. To them, these wars were attended with the sacrifice of
many men, women and children, and the destruction of much
of their property.
The apprehension of the renewal of these savage wars in the

84
coming season, was overwhelming to the inhabitants on v/est
Conococheague, who, living near the base of the mountains,
through which the Indians had their war paths, were most
exposed to their incursions. That apprehension was well found
ed, and the danger imminent, if the Indians were stimulated
by a supply from the traders of military stores and implements
of murder. The public exigency and safety demanded prompt
action; the peace of the country was involved. The question
was one of life or death, to an extensive settlement. The only
effectual restraint upon them, and others pursuing the same
trade, was the destruction of their property. This, weighed
against the blood, lives and property of the inhabitants of this
frontier, was as the dust of the balance. The men, who had
for years periled their lives in defence of that frontier, assum
ed to seize and destroy their military stores, on their way to
the enemy.
The proceedings of these border inhabitants against the In
dian traders and the garrison at Fort Loudon, were very of
fensive to the officers of government. Gen. Gage, who com
manded the Royal forces in the Province, was indignant at the
disrespect manifested for the King's fort and garrison. The
Governor had warrants issued for the arrest of Lieut. Smith,
and the other offenders.
The public sentiment, of the great mass of the people, was
so manifest, in favor of the arbitrary proceedings of Smith and
his friends, as necessary to the public defence and safety of
human lives, that the criminal proceedings instituted against
them were withdrawn; and as a treaty of peace was formed
shortly after the occurrence, with the remaining tribes of
Indians, who had been hostile, the public fears were allayed,
and the traders pursued their traffic, having more regard to
the laws and public opinion.
In the year 1768, there was a riotous and lawless proceed
ing, by a party of rioters, in rescuing from the prison in Car
lisle, Frederick Stump, a German, with his German servant
man, who were in confinement on the charge of murdering in
Sherman's valley, west of the Kittochtinny mountain, ten
Indians: four men, three women and three children. Of their

85
guilt, there was no doubt. The murder was unprovoked, and
indefensible, and in defence of himself, the monster only al
leged that the Indians were intoxicated and disorderly, and he
apprehended some injury. Some of his indignant neighbors
arrested him and his servant, and lodged them in Carlisle jail.
A warrant had been issued by the Chief Justice of the Pro
vince for the arrest of Stump, and required him to be brought
before him at Philadelphia, " to answer for said murders, and
to be dealt with according to law."* Though public opinion
was strong against the prisoners, that they ought to be con
victed and punished, with all the severity of the law, yet the
warrant for the removal of Stump to Philadelphia, was consid
ered an illegal encroachment on the rights of the citizen, who,
by law, was secured a trial for his crime in the county where
committed, and a jury of the vicinage for his triers, and that
the removal of Stump, if allowed, might be a precedent for the
removal of innocent men, who might be oppressed by a trial
in a distant jurisdiction. Opposition to his removal was express
ed and threats were made, inducing an apprehension of rescue
from the Sheriff, on his way to Philadelphia, if attempted. It
would seem that a regard to the law, public justice and the
safe keeping of the prisoner, as well as to quiet the minds of
the people, induced Justice Armstrong, with some other magis
trates, to confer on the subject, and after executing a commit
ment of Stump to the jail, on the charge of murder, they ad
vised the Sheriff, for fear of rescue on the way, which was
threatened, until further orders were received from the govern
ment, to defer the removal. A party under arms, who had
assembled for the rescue, then dispersed, when informed that
Stump and his servant man were committed to the jail of Cum
berland. Two days after, an armed party of Stump's friends from
Sherman's valley came to Carlisle, and being joined by some
others, amounting to about seventy, at an early hour in the
day, approached the jail with arms, having sent a few with
out arms before them, who were admitted within the door

* Col. Rec, Vol. 9, p. 41'J.

86
of the jail. Col. Armstrong, with some other magistrates and
citizens, on the first alarm, repaired to the jail, and there ex
postulated with the rioters and commanded thera to desist from
their unlawful purpose of rescuing the prisoners. Whilst Jus
tice Armstrong was striving to disperse them, the rioters dis
regarded the magistrates, and repelled them with indignities
and violence, and by numbers and arms effected the rescue of
Stump and Ironsetter, whom they carried off in the direction
of the mountains.* Carlisle was then but a small village, with
a population too few to repel, or arrest the armed rioters, whose
lawless act at the jail was a surprise, and occupied but a few
minutes. The rioters were immediately pursued by Col. Arm
strong, the Sheriff, Rev. Mr. Steele, and others, who hoped to
be able to induce them to return the prisoners, but did not
overtake them. The rioters, apprehensive of pursuit, hasten
ed across the mountain to Sherman's valley. The magis
trates, in person, with the sheriff, proceeded in a day or two
after, into Sherman's valley, in search of the prisoners and their
party, but without success. Stump had fled, it was said, to
Lancaster county, where his relatives resided, having his Ger
man servant with him. From that, it was believed, they made
their escape into Virginia, and of them no further intelligence
was heard, though the Governor of Pennsylvania offered a re
ward of £200 for the apprehension of Stump and ^6100 for the
apprehension of Ironsetter.
Gov. Penn, in his letter to Col. Armstrong, dated 3rd Feb.,
1768, reproves the magistrates of Cumberland county, for their
" insolence, who had taken upon them to suggest, or even to
suppose, that the government or judges intended to do so ille
gal an act, as to try the prisoners in any other county or place
than where the fact was committed," and that he was to be
removed to the city only for examinatio7i.'f The magistrates
and inhabitants of Cumberland county, were excusable, for not
comprehending why these criminals were to be convej'ed to the
city of Philadelphia, with a guard and at the risk of escape or
rescue, for the mere purpose of examination, to be reconveyed
• Col. Rec, Vol. 9, 460-4C2-4G4-484.
•j- Col. Rec, Vol. 9, 446.

87
to Carlisle for trial, when the crime of murder, with which they
were charged, was admitted by them, on which they were
committed to the county prison at Carlisle, by the magistrates of
Cumberland, having authority, where they were in confine
ment and in irons, to await their trial.
In a communication from Col. Armstrong to the Governor,
of 7th Feb., 1768, he says : "I assure you, after the closest
examination I have been able to make, even the ignorant and
giddy crowd who have committed this hasty, flagrant violation
of the estabhshed course of justice, have done it under the
mistaken apprehension of the intention of carrying Stump to
Philadelphia."* Though the feeling of the mass of the peo
ple was indignation towards these barbarous murderers, yet
they were not satisfied that a precedent should be established
in a case so criminal, that might be used again to the prejudice
of others, unjustly accused. The friends of Stump, who were
desirous of his escape, took advantage of the general feeling in
the county, against the illegality of the removal of the prison
ers, and with the assistance of some of these persons, were suc
cessful in effecting the rescue of Stump. Their offence was a
great one against public justice, to be reprobated by every
good citizen. Such offences, if allowed to pass without signal
punishment, impair the structure of government and endanger
the security and safety of the community, and lessen the re
spect for the public authorities and law, in substituting anar
chy and violence for law and peace. It was a great reflection
on the magistrates of Cumberland county, and its inhabitants,
that these two savage white men should have been allowed to
escape the severest penalty of the law, which they deserved.
This riotous act is not to be imputed to any one national
class or religious denomination. It was made up of persons
professing to belong to several. Justices Armstrong, R. Miller,
W. Lyon, Rev. Mr. Steele, and others, who were active and reso
lute in opposing the rioters, as well as pursuing them and the
prisoners, were of Irish nativity, and belonged to the Presby
terian Church. Though Stump and Ironsetter were Germans
* Col. Bee, Vol. 9, 462.

and may have been assisted in their rescue and escape, by some
of their German relatives; it would be unjust and illiberal, to
reproach the German population of Cumberland or Lancaster
counties, for the crimes of these reckless individuals.
The Kittochtinny valley, east and west of the Susquehanna,
being, during the Indian wars, the frontier of the Province of
Pennsylvania, was harassed for eight years and more, with
all the ravages and cruelties of savage warfare. The defence
of it was cast almost entirely on the inhabitants, by the remiss
ness of the Royal and Provincial governments, to provide for
the public defence ; men would organize themselves into milita
ry companies, under the command of some selected leader.
Amongst the first companies organized on west Conococheague,
on the bloody outbreak by the Delaware Indians, in 1755, was
one, which selected for its captain, the Rev. John Steele, their
Presbyterian pastor. This command was accepted by Mr.
Steele, and executed with so much skill, bravery and judg
ment, as to commend him to the Provincial government, which
appointed him a Captain of the Provincial troops. This ap
pointment he retained for many years, to the benefit of the
public service and the satisfaction of the government. He was
reputed a sound divine, of piety and learning, and did not re
linquish the ministry for arms. Such was the state of the
country, that he often exercised his ministry with his gun at his
side, addressing his congregation, the men of which, had their
weapons within their reach.
One of the most efficient men of that day, in the Cumber
land valley, was Col. John .Armstrong of Carlisle, of Irish na
tivity, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was a
man of intelligence, of integrity and of high religious and moral
character. He was resolute and brave, and though living habit
ually in the fear of the Lord, he feared not the face of man.
Dr. Hugh Mercer, a Scotchman, of talent and education,
had taken up his residence in the southern part of this valley,
near the Maryland line, a short time before Braddock's de
feat. Having enjoyed some military training and experience
in Europe, and having a taste for military life, he was early in
1756, appointed a Captain in the Provincial service, in which

89
he was continued for some years, being promoted to the rank
of Colonel.
Col. Armstrong and Col. Mercer were, in 1776, appointed
by the American Congress, Generals of its Revolutionary Ar
my, on the recommendation of Washington, who had served
with them in Forbes' campaign in 1758, and knew their quali
fications. Col. Armstrong served his country with ability and
fidelity in the trying struggle for American Independence.
General Mercer, highly esteemed by Washington, and having
the confidence of the army and the country, fell, mortally
wounded and mangled, by the British soldiery, at the battle of
Princeton, in January, 1777, whilst gallantly and bravely
leading his division against the royal army.
There might be named many other officers, who rendered
signal services, as- commanders of Provincial troops, or of
rangers, in the Kittochtinny valley, during the Indian wars,
exposing their health and lives in defence of their country and
friends. The expedition organized by Col. Armstrong, in this valley,
in 1756, for an attack on the Indian town and fortress at Kit
taning, west of the mountains, was conducted, through a moun
tainous country in the possession of the enemy, with a skill,
judgment, celerity, bravery, hardihood and success, not sur
passed by any armament, or other military expedition of the
Colonies. The corporation of Philadelphia, on this victory,
addressed a complimentary letter to Colonel Armstrong,
thanking him and his officers, for their gallant conduct, and
presented to him a piece of plate, and a medal, struck for the
occasion, with a suitable device.
During these wars, more than half of the inhabitants of the
Cumberland valley sought safety for themselves and families
in the eastern parts of York and Lancaster counties. Pastors
could no longer assemble their congregations for worship, with
out great peril, and for security, they accompanied their friends
to the older settlements. Even the schools had to be discon
tinued ; for the master and scholars of a school in the very
heart of the Conococheague settlement, were barbarously mur
dered by a party of Indians, who had penetrated the valley

90
without discovery, and when their hostilities were not appre
hended. A classical school had been established by Mr. John
King, (afterwards the Rev. Dr. King) in the year 1761, in the
Conococheague settlement, which was continued for some
years, until the incursions of the savages made it unsafe.
In and after 1765, the inhabitants, who had fled, returned
with their familes to the valley, resumed their desolate and
dilapidated farms ; applied themselves with renewed industry
and perseverance, to re-build dwellings, prepare their fields for
a crop of grain, and replenish their furniture and stock of cat
tle and farm implements, as fast as resources and opportuni
ties would allow. Congregations were assembled for worship,
as in the preceding times of peace, and in 1767-69, pastors
were again called to, and installed over the several Presbyte
rian congregations in the valley, vacated by the wars and rav
ages of a barbarous enemy. Several of these. Dr. Cooper,
Dr. King, and Dr. Duffield, were men eminent for learning,
piety, and usefulness in the Presbyterian Church.
The settlement progressed rapidly in population and im
provement. The only public grievances commanding atten
tion, for some years, were political ones, common to the inhab
itants of this Province and of the other colonies, who, in pub
lic and private, discussed the relations between the colonies
and parent State, involving the constitutional and chartered
rights of American freemen. The Irish and Scotch emigrants,
who had removed from the mother country and friends, to cross
the ocean for a wilderness, were not subjects for passive obe
dience ; or willing to surrender their rights or liberties to the
exactions of either King or Parliament.

91

CHAPTER IV.
The Scotch Irish opposition to, British taxation — Kittoch
tinny or Cumberland valley, in favor of American Inde-
pendeiice  Resolutions — Military organizations — Early
expression of public sentiment in favor of separation from
Great Britain — Participation in maintenance of Indepen
dence — Prompt action to form an army— Congress 0/ 1776
— Irish and Scotch membersfrom Pennsylvania — Abilities —
Influence and measures — After war, inhabitants of Cum
berland county resumed t?ieir labors on their farms — Regard
for Education — Dickinson College.
When the wrath of the Royal government was poured out on
the colony of Massachusetts, and the port of Boston close'd,
there was no class in any of the colonies, with whom there
was greater sympathy, for the oppressed of New England, or
who were more indignant against the tyrannical measures of
the Royal government, than with the Irish and Scotch inhabi
tants of Pennsylvania, and their immediate descendants.
At a meeting of the freeholders and freemen of Cumberland
county, held at Carlisle on the 12th of July, 1774, John Mont
gomery, Esq., of Irish nativity, in the Chair, resolutions were
adopted in cofldemnation of the act of Parliament closing the
port of Boston, and recommending vigorous and prudent mea
sures to obtain a redress of grievances. They recommended
a general Congress of deputies from all the colonies — the non
importation of any merchandize from Great Britain, or de
pendencies, and promised contributions to the relief of their
suffering brethren iu Boston. At this meeting, deputies were
appointed to meet, immediataly, others from other counties
of the Province, at Philadelphia, to concert measures prepara
tory to the general Congress. Their deputies were James
Wilson, of Scotch nativity, a member of the Congress of 1776,

92
a signer of the Declaration of Independence ; and after the or
ganization of the Federal government, a Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States, — William Irwin and Robert Magaw,
of Irish origin, the first of whom, was a General, and the lat
ter, a Colonel, in the army of the Revolution, from Pennsyl
vania. The blood of American freeman was first shed at Lexing
ton by British soldiery, under the command of their Royal
officers, on the 19th April 1775, and proclaimed, that the arbi
trary acts of parliament and the tyrannical measures of the min
istry, were to be enforced by arms. The intelligence in Penn
sylvania was received with a blaze of indignation. Though
war news, in those days, were only transmitted with the speed
of the post horse, and there were only six or eight newspapers
published in the Province, yet the tocsin of alarm soon exten
ded through its towns, villages, hills and valleys. At Phila
delphia, on the 24th of April, its citizens assembled in thou
sands, resolved to form military associations for the protection
of their property, liberties and lives. The like associations
were immediately formed in the adjoining counties. In the
distant county of Cumberland, the war cry was no sooner
sounded, than its freemen rallied in thousands, for military as
sociation and organization, in defence of their rights. The
American archives preserve a letter from Carlisle, written on
6th May, 1775, in which it is stated: "Yesterday the County
committee met from nineteen townships, on the short notice
they had. Above three thousand men have already associated,
the arms returned amounted to about fifteen hundred. The
committee have voted five hundred effective men, besides com
missioned officers, to be immediately drafted, taken into pay,
armed and disciplined to march on the first emergency, to be
paid and supported as long as necessary, by a tax on all es
tates, real and personal, in the county."* This was not vapor
on the part of the men of Cumberland valley. They were sin
cere and in earnest in their associations, and inflexible in pur
pose, as a short time evinced. The memorable engagement

* Amer. Arch., Vol. 2, 516.

93
at Breed's and Bunker's Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775, arous
ed the colonists to increased activity. It proved that untrain
ed mihtia could contend successfully with trained and disci
plined veterans; and whilst it astounded British commanders, it
increased the confidence of the Ameiican patriot, in the safe
ty of his liberty and rights. The sword was drawn by both
contending parties, and their measures were for battle; nego
tiation and concession were no longer to be allowed to subjects,
by a haughty and tyrannical government. The controversy was
to be settled by the last resort of nations — arms. The colonists
saw before them a protracted war, with all its calamities, be
tween which, and abject submission, they had no alternative.
They chose the former, regardless of its cost and sacrifices.
The Royal commanders, with their ministerial rulers, anticipa
ted but a single campaign, in which their trained and well pro
vided army was to march where it pleased to subdue and pun
ish the flying rebels.
The public service and defence of the country, demanded
from the colonies, an army adequate to the emergency. Con
gress, in May, 1775, in apportioning that army, required from
Pennsylvania four thousand three hundred men. The appoint
ment of Washington, by the unanimous vote of the Conti
nental Congress, as Commander in Chief of their army, was
in itself, a tower of strength to the colonists.
The military spirit and ardor of the freemen of Pennsylvania,
were not abated, by the prospect of immediate service in the
American army, in a distant colony.
The call for a military force was responded to from the city
of Philadelphia, and the inland counties, with great alacrity,
and by immediate measures of organization and preparation.
The freemen of this Province did not wait for forced draughts ;
companies of volunteers were immediately organized, to be
commanded by officers of their own choice. From the Cum
berland valley, in the summer of 1775, companies, under the
command of officers of their choice, obeyed from inclination
and respect, marched to join the army under the command of
Washington, in the seige of Boston. One of these companies
was from Chambersburg, under the command of James Cham-

94
bers, as Captain, which marched in June, 1775, and join
ed the army at Boston, in August, 1775, under the com
mand of Washington. James Chambers being in a short
time advanced to the rank of a Colonel of the regular army,
remained in the military service of the country till the close
of the Revolutionary war.
Other companies were from west Conococheague, Shippens
burg, Carlisle and the eastern part of the county. These were
made up of many hardy and efficient men, the heads of families,
respectable and substantial freeholders. They were without ac
quaintance with the discipline of European armies, and with
out military dress, or accoutrements. They were all familiar
with the use of fire arms, and some had experience in the frontier
wars against the French and Indians. They were the men for
the times, inured to toil and exposure : stout and athletic.
They were soldiers, who could march, when an emergency re
quired, without tents or baggage wagons, carrying their
equipments in their knapsacks. With a blanket they could
sleep on the bare earth, with the open air for their apartment,
and the firmament for their covering. The campaign of these
men was not a mere parade, or a summer excursion, to see the
enemy and return to their homes. An extended service was
before them, not to be mistaken, and many of these men are
known to have remained from that time, in the military ser
vice of their country for years, and some of them until Indepen
dence was acknowledged and the army disbanded ; having only
at distant intervals, made a short visit to their families when
the public service would allow. Some others had, in other col
onies, a soldier's burial and grave.
Notwithstanding the bloody contest with arms, in which the
colonists were now engaged, in defence of their lives, liberties,
and properties, against the armies of the Royal government,
there was still manifested universally a repugnance to dissolve
the connection between the colonists and the parent State.
The Assembly of Pennsylvania, in the appointment of dele
gates, in November, 1775, to represent the Province in Con
gress, expressly instructed them, " that you, in behalf of this
colony, dissent from and utterly reject, any propositions, should

96
such be made, that may cause, or lead to a separation from
our mother country, or a change of the form of this govern
ment."* The progress of the war and the oppressive exactions of the
British government, after a few months unsettled public opin
ion on this question, and the necessity and policy of indepen
dence, became a debatable question with the colonists, in their
social meetings. At this time there was no newspaper publish
ed in Pennsylvania, we believe, west of York. The freemen
of the county of Cumberland, in this Province, were amongst
the first to form the opinion, that the safety and welfare of the
colonies, did render separation, from the mother country, ne
cessary. The first public expression of that sentiment, and its
embodiment in a memorial, emanated from the freemen and
inhabitants of that county, to the Assembly of the Province,
and is amongst the national archives, f It is an able, temper
ate, patriotic expression of the considerations that induced
them to petition the Assembly, " that the last instructions
which it gave to the delegates of this Province in Congress,
wherein they are enjoined not to consent to any step which
may cause or lead to a separation from Great Britain, may be
withdrawn." This memorial was presented to the Assembly
on the 28th of May, 1776, and on the 5th of June, after a de
bate of considerable le'ngth, was referred, by a large majority,
to a committee, to bring in new instructions to the delegates of
this Province in Congress, J Instructions, in conformity to the
memorial of the Province of Cumberland, were reported, adopt
ed, and signed by the Speaker, June 14th, wherein it is stated:
" The situation of public affairs is since (their instructions of
November) so greatly altered, that we now think ourselves
justifiable in removing the restrictions laid upon you by those
instructions. "§ The memorial from Cumberland county bears
evidence that the inhabitants of that county were in advance
of their representatives in the Assembly, and in Congress, on
the subject of Independence. The considerations suggested
by them, had their influence on the Assembly, who adopted the

* Amer. Arch. Vol. 3, 1408^ f Amer. Arch., 4th series, Vol. 6, 850-1.
i lb. 858. i lb. 862,

96
p-etition of the memorialists, and withdrew the instructions
that had been given to the delegates in Congress, in opposi
tion to Independence. As the Cumberland memorial was pre
sented to the Assembly on the 23rd of May, 1776, it probably
had occupied the attention and consideration of the inhabitants
of the Cumberland valley, early in that month. As there was
no remonstrance from this district, by any dissatisfied with the
purposes of the memorial, we are to suppose, that it expressed
the public sentiment of that large, respectable, and influential
district of the Province, which had then many officers and
men in the ranks of the Continental army.
Resolutions, in favor of Independence, were adopted by the
citizens of Mecklenberg county. North Carolina, on the 20th
of May, 1775. But the feeling there, at that time, was by no
means general ; and counter combinations were also entered
into for sustaining the royal authority.
The Virginia convention, on the 15th of May, 1776, instruct
ed the Virginia delegates in Congress, to propose to that body
a Declaration of Independence. In obedience to this, Richard
H. Lee, of Virginia, submitted to Congress, on the 7th of June,
the resolution, " That the United Colonies, are, and ought to
be, free and independent States, and that their political con
nection with Great Britain, is, and ought to be, dissolved."*
This resolution, after much debate, was passed, on the 8th, by
a bare majority, seven States to six, the delegates of Pennsyl
vania, New Jersey and Maryland, being expressly instructed
against it. The subject was postponed till the first of July,
and a committee appointed to prepare a formal declaration of
independence. The outside infiuence of the freemen, as well
as of other public assemblies, in Pennsylvania, were in favor of
independence. The Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania
assembled at Philadelphia, of which Thomas McKean was Pres
ident, unanimously, on the 24th of June, declared " their wil
lingness to concur in a vote of the Congress, declaring the
United Colonies free and independent States," which was sign
ed and presented to Congress. f The sense of the military in
¦» Hild. U. S., Vol. 3, 74. f Am. Arch., Vol. 5, 962.

97
the rank, from Pennsylvania, then in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia, were taken by their commanders, on this momen
tous question. When the question was submitted to Col. Mc-
Kean's battalion of four hundred, on the 10th of June, it was
carried unanimously in the affirmative, and their approbation
manifested by three huzzas. In other battalions, at the same time,
resolutions were adopted unanimously, disapproving of the in
structions of the Assembly of Pennsylvania to the delegates in
Congress, restricting them in their action. The Assembly of
Pennsylvania, as before stated, yielding to the expression of
public sentiment, by the freemen of Cumberland valley, as well
as by the Pennsylvania forces, in the army, who were staking
their lives on the issue, with arms in their hands, on the side
of independence, on the 14th of June rescinded their instruc
tions to the delegates in Congress, who were at liberty to vote
on the question of independence, untrammelled by the instruc
tions of November.
The committee having reported, a formal Declaration of In
dependence, which, with the resolution on the subject, was
brought up in Congress on the 1st of July ; the majority of
the Pennsylvania delegates, remained inflexible in their unwil
lingness to vote for the measure, at the head of which opposi
tion was the distinguished patriot, John Dickinson, who op
posed the measure, not as bad, or uncalled for, but as prema
ture. But when, on the 4th of July, the subject came up for
final action, two of the Pennsylvania delegates, Dickinson and
Morris, who had voted in the negative, absented themselves,
and the vote of Pennsylvania was carried by the votes of
Franklin,* Wilson and Morton, against the votes of Willing
• " Franklin had been made to feel, iu the city of Philadelphia, in 1764,
the uncertainty of popular favor, and the power of party prejudice, by a de
feat in his election to the Assembly, after having been chosen for fourteen
years successively. This Vfas an empty triumph to his opponents, as the As
sembly who convened, by a large majority, appointed him special agent to the
Court of Great Britain, to carry out the purpose of a change of Provincial
government and to manage the general affairs of the Province. John Dick
inson, who opposed this appointment, and inveighed strenuously against the
political principles and conduct of Franklin, eulogized him as a man. The
power of party and prejudice separated, for a time, these two statesmen and
patriots, and distorted truth and perverted judgment. Franklin was more
than restored to public confidence. He was the advocate and signer of the
Declaration of Independence, and amongst those who refused to affix his
7

98
and Humphreys. The men who voted in opposition to this
measure, were esteemed honest and patriotic men, but were too
timid for the crisis. They faltered and shrunk from responsi
bility and danger, when they should have been firm and brave.
The convention of Pennsylvania at once recalled its quaking
delegates, and elected in their places. Colonels George Ross,
James Smith, Dr. Benjamin Rush, George Clymer and
George Taylor. Though the Declaration of Independence was
adopted on the 4th of July, it was not signed until the 2nd of
August, 1776, when the new delegates from Pennsylvania were
present, and affixed their names to it. The convention select
ed the majority of the new delegates from the interior of the
Province : Col. Ross, from Lancaster, Col. Smith, from York,
and George Taylor, from Northampton, James Wilson, being
then from Cumberland. Mr. Wilson, as has b^en stated, was
of Scotch nativity, whilst Col. Smith and Mr. Taylor were
Irishmen, all of whom had long been in the Province and iden
tified with its best interests, and were ready to jeopard all
that was dear to them, in defence of the liberties and indepen-
nence of their adopted country. Amongst the other signers
of the Declaration of Independence, were a number of Scotch
or Irish nativity, or their immediate descendants.
The spirit of the Presbyterian ministers, on the side of
American Independence, was exemplified by the Rev. John
Witherspoon, D. D., and LL. D., President of Princeton Col
lege, of Scotch nativity and education, and eminent for talents,
learning and eloquence. He was a member of Congress when
the Declaration of Independence was reported, and was
before the House for the signature of its members. Some
seemed to waver, and deep and solemn silence reigned through
out the Hall. This venerable man, casting on the assembly &,
look of inexpressible interest, and unconquerable determina
tion, remarked : " That noble instrument on your table, which
insures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this
name to this instrument, was the virtuous, patriotic, able, but irresolute
John Dickinson. This want of firmness, at this crisis, turned the tide of pub
lic sentiment, for a time, against him, whilst Franklin was elevated to the
highest place in public estimation. "

99
very morning by every pen in the House. He, who will not
respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into
effect its provisions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. Al
though these gray hairs must descend into the sepulchre, I
would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the
hand of the public executioner, than desert at this crisis, the
sacred cause of my country. The patriarch sat down, and
forthwith the Declaration was signed by every member pres
ent." [Rev. S. S. Templeton.]
By the Declaration of Independence, the Rubicon was pass
ed. There was no way of honorable retreat, or door open for
safe reconciliation. The prospect before the American free
men was a struggle that was awfully fearful. The contest was
one of liberty and life, against death or subjection. There
were no half way measures. It was for every American to
choose which side he would take, whether on the side of Amer
ican liberty and independence, or that of a royal and despotic
master. Some faltered, were undecided and watched to know
the end of the terrible beginning. Others, who had been bask
ing in royal favor, or whose associations had been with men
in high places, joined the enemy, and were proclaimed traitors
under a load of infamy, they could never remove from their
characters. Men and arms were now required to fill up and strengthen
the American array, which was sadly reduced, and was both
imperfectly equipped and scantily provided. To supply the
deficiency. Congress, whilst Independence was in agitation be
fore them, called for, from Pennsylvania, Delaware and Mary
land ten thousand men, of which Pennsylvania was to furnish
six thousand, to constitute a flying camp for the protection of
New Jersey. At the same time, a requisition of near fourteen
thousand more were required from New England, New York,
and New Jersey, for the general defence.
The spirit in Pennsylvania that induced the Declaration of
Independence ,was no less vigorous after that responsible act.
It did not evaporate in memorials, resolutions or speeches, but
buckled on its armor to meet the enemies of the country.
From the eastern and interior portions of the Province, the

100
requisition of Congress was promptly met, by their men in
arms, in companies, battalions and regiments. The Scotch
Irish settlements were at once thinned of their brave, hardy and
patriotic freemen. To notice their divisions, commanders and
numbers, would extend too much our remarks for this article.
The Cumberland valley, though more remote, and not free
from Indian alarm, occasioned by savage incursions, through
the western mountains, into the adjoining county of Bedford,
then having but a small and sparse population, with an alac
rity to be admired, furnished its volunteers, in companies,
under the command of officers of their choice, ready to obey
the commands of their country, in whatever battle-field, or post
of danger to which they might be called. In a letter from the
committee of Cumberland county to the President of Congress,
dated at Carlisle, July 14th, 1776, it is stated : "By the intel
ligence we have already received, we think ourselves warrant
ed to say, that we shall be able to send five companies, viz : one
from each battalion, to compose part of the flying camp, pro
vided so many good arms can be had, and three companies of
militia for the present emergency, some of whom will march
this week. With pleasure, we assure you, that a noble spirit
appears amongst the inhabitants here. The spirit of marching
to the defence of our country, is so prevalent in this town, that
we shall not have men left sufficient to mount guard, which we
think absolutely necessary for the safety of the inhabitants
and ammunition, and as a watch over the ten English officers,
with their ten servants, to keep their patrol of honor, especial
ly as their brethren, lately, at Lebanon, in Lancaster county,
lost it ; and as there will not be more left in town for the above
purpose, we shall be obliged to hire a guard of twelve men
from the county."*
In a letter, from the same committee, to Congress, dated at
Carlisle, July 31st, 1776, it is said : " The inhabitants have
voluntarily and very generally offered their services, and by
the answers which we have received from the officers, it appears
to us that eleven companies will be sufficiently armed and ac-

Amcr. Arch., 5 Ser., 1 Vol., p. 328.

101
centred, and the last of them marched from this place in about
a week from this time. Three companies more are preparing
if they can get arras, and many more declare themselves wil
ling to march ; but we are well assured, arms are not to be got
in this county. If arms and accoutrements are to be had at
Philadelphia, we can send more men."*
In a letter, from the same committee, to Congress, from
Carlisle, dated August 16th, 1776, it is stated, that " The
twelfth company of our militia are marched to day, which
companies contain, in the whole, eight hundred and thirty-
three privates, with officers, nearly nine hundred men. Six
companies more are collecting arms, and are preparing to
march. "t J
At the time these volunteers, from the Cumberland valley,
were pressing forward, in surprising numbers, it is to be re
collected, that from this district, there were then in the Conti
nental army a number of officers, as well as rank and file, who,
the year preceding, had entered the army, and were still ab
sent in the military service of their country.
Was there anywhere, in the colonies, more patriotism, reso
lution, and bravery, that was thus evinced, on a call to arms,
than by the hardy, intelligent citizen soldiers of this Scotch
Irish settlement. Their territory and dwellings were in no
danger of invasion, or of being trodden by an hostile army.
Distance, intervening forests, rugged roads and large water
courses, were obstacles not to be encountered by an enemy,
who were dependent on their ships for their supplies, and their
safe retreat, in case of reverses.
The freemen of this extensive valley, did not, at this crisis,
hold back their movements, either in time, or numbers, for
forced requisitions; in retaliation, for the indifference manifest
ed by the citizens of the eastern border of the Province of

•* Amer. Arch., 5th Ser., 1 Vol., 619. f I^-. 994.
J The companies marching from Cumberland county, in August, 1770,
were commanded by Captains John Steel, Samuel Postlethwaite, Andrew
Galbreath, Samuel McCune, Thomas Turbott, James McConuel, "William
Huston, Thomas Clark, John Hutton, Robert Culbertsou, Charles Lecher, Con
rad Schnider, Lieut. Col. Frederick Watts ; other Captains ¦were preparing
to march. Amer. Arch., 5th Series, 1 Vol., page 619.

102
Pennsylvania, for sufferings, and privations of the inhabitants
of their valley, when, for years, they were exposed to the mer
ciless cruelties of savage enemies, aided and instigated by
French power ; though they could not forget, that their re
peated supplications to the Provincial government, for measures
¦ if defence and protection, during the Indian wars, that were
laying waste their settlements, with fire and the blood of wo
men and children, were either disregarded, or met by tardy and
inefficient provision, by a government, whose legislation was
under the control then, of the representatives of Philadelphia,
Chester and Bucks. The brave and hardy men of the Cum
berland valley, who had, for ten years, been exercising their
strength and vigor to repair the waste and desolation of their
homes and property, from which many had been driven ; and
for years, compelled to seek for their families, safety in the
counties of Lancaster and York, did not allow themselves to
think of resentment or retaliation, when the enemy of their
country was menacing their State. These patriotic men were
too magnanimous and generous, in the hour of danger, and
public necessity, to speak, or think of old wrongs, committed
against them, by their fellow citizens, or their late government.
But a few days were required to arrange their affairs, collect
their arms and plain accoutrements, when they marched forth,
with drawn swords, and shouldered arms, to meet the public
enemy, wherever commanded, either on Pennsylvania soil, on
the plains of New Jersy, or elsewhere.
The Presbyterian element, was still not only the predomi
nant, but almost the universal one, in this valley. Its in
fluence, at this juncture, was pervading and powerful in behalf
of the liberties and independence of the country. The ten
dencies of the Presbyterian influence, was to a Republican
,i;overnment, to which, in its organization of ministerial parity
and workings, it was most analogous. This was manifested
by the early movements of Presbyterian communities in Penn
sylvania, Virginia and North Carolina, advocating indepen
dence by the American colonies of the British government, and
the declaration of that independence. It was also manifested
by the prompt, zealous, active, and praiseworthy cooperation

103
of Presbyterians, by their voluntary enrollment to form and
maintain, the army of the Revolution and the independence of
the colonies.
The company in the lead, in July, 1776, from Carlisle, was
that under the command of the Rev. Capt. John Steele, the
pastor of the Presbyterian congregation, worshipping in or near
Carlisle. We have before noticed Mr. Steele, as pastor of
the Presbyterian church on west Conococheague, in the same
county, during the Indian wars that followed Braddock's de
feat. Having received there, the appointment of Provincial
Captain, he officiated as the Captain of a company of rangers,
as well as Pastor of a congregation, to whom he preached until
they were dispersed by the savages and driven into exile. In
these wars he had acquired military training and experience,
which were now at the service of his country against the army
of his late, but now rejected royal master.
The spirit manifested in this valley, by its many volunteers,
had been fostered, by the Presbyterian clergymen of the con
gregations, throughout its extent. Whilst they addressed the
people, as sinners and fallen men, on their duties as Christians,
they made eloquent appeals to their feelings, as citizens, in be
half of the liberties and independence of American freemen.
In rousing the spirit of patriotism and resistance, there was
no Presbyterian clergyman more active and influential, than
the Rev. John King, then pastor on west Conococheague.
Many of his addresses and discourses, during the exciting
times of the Revolution, were in writing, and are preserved ;
extended extracts from some of them, are given in the
" Churches of the Valley," by the Rev. Alfred Nevin,
which are creditable to Dr. King, as a Christian minister and
American patriot. His sincerity and zeal were attested by
his going with his church-members, as their chaplain, to the
seat of war.
Dr. King was born in Lancaster county, at Chesnut Level,
in 1740. His father, Robert King, who resided there, was an
emigrant from Ireland, and a minister in the Presbyterian
Church. Mr. John King commenced his classical studies un-

104
derMr. Smith, and also at Newark Academy. He established,
about 1760, a classical school in the Cumberland valley, on
west Conococheague, which he pursued, to the education of
young men, for three years, until the Indian ravages and mur
ders in the settlements disbanded his school. His sister was
killed there by the savages. Mr. King, after being compelled
to leave the Conococheague settlement, on account of the In
dian wars, and the flight of the inhabitants, returned eastward,
and after a short time, entered Philadelphia College, then un
der the care of Drs. William Smith, and Francis Alhson.
Whilst prosecuting his studies in the College, he, at the same
time, taught one of the higher classes in the Academy, which
was connected with it. He graduated in 1766, and was li
censed to preach in 1767. In 1792, Dickinson College con
ferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He had good
talents, which were diligently cultivated. Beside being a good
Latin and Greek scholar, he had made himself well acquainted
with the Hebrew and French. The natural and exact scien
ces had received a good deal of his attention, whilst he was
well acquainted with theology and ecclesiastical history. His
reputation for ability and learning, with an extensive library,
attracted to him young men, whom he received into his family,
for the prosecution of their theological studies, preparatory to
the ministry. Amongst these were the Rev. David Elliott,
D. D., of Allegheny Seminary, and the late Rev. Matthew
Brown, D. D., President of Jefferson College. Dr. Kinc con
tinued in his pastoral charge, from 1769 till 1811, when he
resigned, on account of health and bodily infirmity, havino-
been eminently useful and much beloved and respected.
No less zealous, in the cause of Independence, was the Rev.
John Craighead, pastor of the Presbyterian congregation at
Rocky Spring, near Chambersburg, where he had been ordain
ed in 1768. " Though he did not fail to preach Jesus Christ,
the only hope of salvation, it is said, after the delivery of
this sacred message to fallen and sinful men, on one occasion,
he exhorted, in eloquent and patriotic strains, the youth of the
congregation, to rise up and join the noble band then engaged
under Washington, in struggling to free our beloved country

105
from British oppression. It is related that, upon another occa
sion, this patriotic preacher declaimed, from the pulpit, in such
burning and powerful terms, against the wrongs they were then
suffering, that after one glowing description of the duty of the
men, the whole congregation rose from their seats and declared
their willingness to march to the conflict."* The members of
his congregation did most heroically march, in July, 1776, and
joined the American army under the command of Washing
ton, in New Jersey, and which he accompanied as chaplain;
and with that company, was made prisoner, at Long Island,
or Fort Washington. He remained the pastor of this congre
gation until 1799, the year of his death ; " having, by his fer
vent and eloquent ministry, been instrumental, under Provi
dence, in winning many souls, from darkness and sin to light
and life, through a merciful Redeemer."
The estimate put on patriotism, associated with religious
character, by the Presbyterian Church, in the Revolutionary
times, is attested in the life of the Rev. James Crawford, who,
when a student, had been obliged to leave Princeton College,
without his Degree, owing to the interruption of the College
exercises, by the British army, and being inclined to emigrate
south, he carried with him, from his pastor, the Rev. John
Craighead, whom, we suppose to have been the ardent whig
of that name, referred to in 1777, a certificate of his church-
membership, and who appended to it a representation, deemed es
sential to his credit, and to the hospitality, fellowship and friend
ship of the Presbyterian settlements, where this student of di
vinity might visit, and where he might be disposed to take up
his abode. That addition, to the usual certificate, was in these
words : " and also, he appears well affected to the cause of
American liberty."t
The Rev. Robert Cooper, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian
congregation at Middle Spring, near Shippensburg, was also
an ardent whig, who encouraged the members of his congrega
tion to join with arms, the standard of their country. His
congregation shared his spirit and resolution, and were part of

Churches of the Valley, 1^5. f Davidson's His. Ch. of Ky., 80.

106
the force of volunteers that marched from Carlisle in August,
1776, accompanied by their brave, patriotic and pious min
ister. He returned to his pastoral charge, where he continued
to minister acceptably and usefully until 1797, when he resign
ed. " Dr. Cooper was esteemed a man of sound and strong
mind, as well as a divine of great judiciousness and piety."
He was one of the Committee appointed in 1785, by the Syn
ods of Philadelphia and New York, to revise the standards of
the Church, which led to the adoption and establishment of the
present plan.
That a like patriotic spirit pervaded the Scotch Irish race,
of this Presbyterian community, is evinced by the number of
military companies, sixteen, that volunteered in July, 1776, to
sustain, by their persons and lives, the Independence that was
proclaimed. One of these companies from the neighborhood of
Chambersburg, was made up of men of Irish and German na
tivity, and was commanded by Captain Conrad Schnider, of the
German Reformed Church, having for his first Lieutenant, John
Crawford, of Irish nativity and Presbyterian connection.
This valley, with the small adjacent ones, known as Path
and Sherman's valleys, continued, throughout the Revolution
ary struggle, to furnish, from time to time, reinforcements of
men for the army, as the public exigencies required. In the
Cumberland valley, almost every man able to carry arms and
endure a soldier's life, had been in the military service of his
country. Some performed more than one tour of service,
whilst others remained in the army, under every exposure, trial,
good and bad fortune, from the beginning of the war till the
end of it, when Independence was acknowledged and peace
proclaimed. These ready volunteers were farmers of substance, intelli
gence, and respectability ; many of them the heads of fami
lies, who were left behind. Some of the officers, as well as the
men in the ranks, were ruling elders in the Presbyterian
congregations with which they worshipped. Throughout this
great valley, a Tory, a name applied, in Revolutionary times,
to a person opposed to the war, and in favor of British claims,
¦was rare, if to be found at all. Not to be zealous in the cause

107
of American Independence, was a reproach, that not only sub
jected the suspected individual to public disfavor, but in some
instances, brought down upon him, the notice or discipline of
the church. The writer of this, saw, many years since,
amongst the papers of a deceased elder of the Presbyterian
Church of Chambersburg, an ancient writing, purporting to be
a charge preferred to the session of that church, against one
of its members, that "7te is strongly suspected of not being
sincere in his professions of attachment to the cause of the
Revolution." What action was had on this accusation, by the
church court, did not appear, and the minutes of the church of
that period, were not preserved by the church officers. It is
supposed, that the member accused, exculpated himself from
a charge, which, in that community, was not only disre
putable, but degrading. This suspected person, was well
known to the writer, as a farmer in the neighborhood, who
lived in good circumstances on his farm till his death, about
1800, respected as a good and orderly citizen, leaving descen
dants of influence and distinction.
In the notice by the Supreme Executive Council of Penn
sylvania, of April 12th 1779,* for the sale of the forfeited es
tates of persons attainted of Treason, embracing the names of
numbers in Philadelphia, and some in several of the neighbor
ing counties, there was not one in the county of Cumberland.
Amongst those at that time proclaimed as traitors, were Joseph
Galloway and Andrew Allen, Esqs. Galloway had been
Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and both had been
members of the Congress of 1776, and opposed the Declara
tion of Independence. And also Jacob Duche, an Episcopal
minister, of Philadelphia, who, on the nomination of Samuel
Adams, a stiff Congregationalist, had been appointed chaplain
to the first Continental Congress. When the British General,
Howe, entered Philadelphia, 1778, " Duche was among the
traitors that welcomed him into the possession of the Capitol
of the State, and had the effrontery of writing and sending a
letter to Washington, advising him to give over the ungodly
cause in which he was engaged.f"

* C-ol. Rec. Vol. 9, p. 745. -j- Hild. Hie., 3, p. 221,

108
The eminent John Dickinson, who opposed in Congress, the
Declaration of Independence, as premature ; yet, when it was
adopted, and the public resentment had prostrated him, he had
still a patriotism in his heart, that would neither allow him to
go over with his colleagues, Galloway and Allen, to the enemy,
or to remain neutral, but at the head of a regiment of which
he was Colonel, he repaired at once to the aid of his country,
as a part of the flying camp in New Jersey.
The Cumberland valley furnished to military service, in the
Revolutionary army, from its inhabitants, officers General
Armstrong and Irwin, Colonels Magaw, Chambers, Watts,
Blair, Smith, Wilson, Montgomery, Buchanan, and others,
and Majors, Captains and subalterns, in numbers too great to
be enumerated here ; whilst its soldiers, in the rank and file, were
in number, little below the taxables of their district.
The Scotch Irish settlers, with their immediate descendants,
from the counties of Lancaster and York, in Pennsylvania,
gave up to their country, in the Revolutionary conflict, their
brave, vigorous, and patriotic men, who, in the camp and bat
tle field, were shoulder to shoulder with their Cumberland fel
low soldiers, to do and serve, as they were commanded.
Officers and men, of this race, from the counties named,
accompanied Arnold in the campaign for the invasion of Can
ada in 1775, which they prosecuted amid hardships, privations,
toils and sufferings indescribable, through a trackless wilder
ness of several hundred miles ; and joined in the storming of
Quebec, in which they were repulsed, by an overwhelming
British force, under which, the brave and gallant General
Montgomery, of Irish nativity, fell, mortally wounded, and
many were made prisoners.
Other volunteers, of the same race, from the same counties,
overpowered by the superior force of the enemy at Fort Wash
ington, were there made prisoners, and endured for years, in
and near New York, a captivity, that was oppressive and cruel
to officers and privates, under which many were made victims.
Others, of like national origin, from the same places, were
with the army, under Washington, when it crossed the Del
aware, with its floating ice, in mid- winter, and darkness, in the

109
vicinity of their exulting and powerful enemy, and marched
on the frozen earth, with bare and bleeding feet, to gain his
rear, and surprised him by the capture of his Hessian mercena
ries, when he was reposing in the security, that the army of
Washington had fled and was dispersed.
Otheis, from the same Scotch Irish settlements, were in
that desperate assault, under General Wayne, at Stony Point,
an almost inaccessible height, defended by a garrison of six
hundred men, and a strong battery of artillery, which were
attacked at midnight, by brave American freemen, with un
loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, and who carried it without
firing a single gun — taking five hundred and forty-three pris
oners — being one of the most brilliant exploits of the war.
The same men were also, in numbers, in the battles of Bran-
dywine, Germantown and Monmouth. There were, on a few
occasions, trepidations and insubordination, amongst some por
tion of the Pennsylvania militia, when, without discipline or
experience, they were brought suddenly to encounter the well
trained, and well equipped forces of the enemy, that had been
long inured to service, and the conflict of arms.
General Armstrong, in a communication to the State Exec
utive, Dec, 1777,* whilst he complains of the conduct of some
of the militia, of his State, says : " They judge ill of the uses
of a body of men, who fix their character from a single action,
and still worse, who brand the whole with the infamous con
duct of only a part, when others, of the same body, and on the
same occasion, have fully evinced their bravery. Taken as a
body, the militia have rendered that service, that neither the
State nor the army, could have dispensed with. They have met
and skirmished with the enemy, as early and as often as oth
ers, and, except the battle of Brandywine, of which, from their
station, little fell in their way, have had a proportional share
of success, hazard and loss of blood."
It was not only a hard military service, in which the Scotch
Irish of Pennsylvania, were efficient, and distinguished, during
the Revolutionary war, but their men were of eminence and

* Penn. Arch., Vol. 6, p. 100.

110
influence, in the Councils of the National, as well as of the
State government, during these times, that called forth the
talents, energies, abilities, bravery and patriotism of the coun
try. McKean, of Philadelphia, Wilson, of Cumberland, and
Smith of York, could, as Colonels, be at the head of their reg
iments in the army, often to inspire and lead their men, as well as
to expose themselves in their command against the enemy, and
also serve as the Representatives of their constituents in Con
gress. Their services in Congress were neither few nor small,
and though without the peril of life and blood of the battle field,
they were arduous, and of great responsibility. They were
all working members, and as members of various committees,
had committed to them the most important duties and trusts,
for the public welfare, which were executed by them with a
wisdom, intelligence, and judgment, that commended them to
the Congress and the country. In November, 1776, Mr.
Wilson and Mr. Smith, were both appointed, with Messrs.
Chase, Clymer and Stockton, by Congress, an Executive Com
mittee, who were charged with full powers to carry on the
whole business of the war ; " to devise and execute measures
for effectually reinforcing General Washington, and obstruct
ing the progress of General Howe's army." This measure
showed the unbounded confidence of Congress in the wisdom
judgment, virtue and firmness of the Committee, for a delega
tion to them of the powers of Congress. Col. Smith, with part
of the committee, visited the army and General Washington,
and were " so impressed with the insuperable difficulties of their
task, the importance of the crisis, and the abilities of the Com
mander in Chief, with whom alone, they were convinced, such
powers could be advantageously placed."
Col. McKean was the commander of a Regiment, a Delegate
to Congress from Delaware, the President of Congress, and
Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylvania, combining, at one
time, all these offices. The papers emanating from the Con
gress of the Colonies and of the States, were distinguished for
style, ability, moderation and firmness, as well as unexampled
elevation and dignity of sentiment ; and evinced the talents and
high character of the members of the body, as scholars and

Ill
statesmen. It was a high eulogium of the Congress of 1775,
when Lord Chatham declared, " that though he had studied
and admired the free States of antiquity, the master spirits of
the world, yet, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and
wisdom of conclusion, no body of men could stand in prefer
ence to this Congress."
History records no instance of a political body, charged
with more important public duties, and responsibilities, than
the Congress of the American colonies. It had to organize
in the midst of war and revolution, a new and untried govetn-
ment, for the union of thirteen separate colonies. It had to
provide for the military and civil establishments of that gov
ernment ; conduct war against one of the oldest and most
powerful governments of the Old World ; regulate commerce ;
create and collect revenue. It had to legislate, not only
against the public enemy, but also against tories and traitors,
within their fold. The men who discharged these trusts with
wisdom, integrity, labor and devotion to their country, were
men of no common energy, ability and purity. Our country
was one of destiny for great purposes. Amongst the eminent
public men of Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary war, as
well as in the years preceding, of controversy with the mother
country, in relation to Colonial rights, illegal taxation, and
Parliamentary usurpation, there was no one more distinguish
ed for his civil and military services, and many virtues, than
Joseph Reed, of the city of Philadelphia, whose active life,^
was one of untiring devotion to the best interests of Pennsyl
vania and the nation ; enjoying the public confidence and re
gard for ability, integrity and patriotism, to a degree only sur
passed by the Father of his country. He was the military
secretary of Washington at Cambridge — Adjutant General of
the Continental army — ^member of the Congress of the United
States, and President of the Executive Council of the State of
Pennsylvania.* Whilst a kind Providence raised up for the
• President Reed, was of Irish descent, and had selected Philadelphia as
his residence in the profession of the Law, with all the advantages of educa
tion afforded by the best Institutions in the Colonies, aud by an attendance
at the Inns of Court for two years. His life and correspondence, edited
by his grandson, the Hon, William B. Reed, is one of the most valuable, and in--

112
Colonies a Washington, to direct and command their array, we
may believe, that the same Providential care formed for the
times, the eminent and virtuous men, who composed its early
Congress. The Scotch Irish element in the several counties of Penn
sylvania, had, during the Revolution, its full representation in
the Executive Council of the State and Assembly, and in hav
ing at the head of its Judiciary, Chief Justice McKean.
In those days, requiring clear heads, honest hearts, and sage
statesmen, we do not find any historical record of elevated
character, reproaching the Scotch Irish with being a " hot
headed race, excitable in temper, unrestrainable in passion, in
vincible in prejudice." They occupied, with public approbation
and respect, the high places in the judiciary, the floor of Con
gress, in the committee room, and in the executive government.
The emigration of the Scotch Irish from Pennsylvania, before
the Revolution, was southward, into Virginia and N. Carolina.
The first public road in the Kittochtinny valley, west of the
Susquehanna, was laid out in 1735, by order of the Court of
Lancaster, from Harris' Ferry, on the Susquehanna, to the
Potomac river at Williams' Ferry, in the same valley. The
travel and emigration was in that direction, for several reasons.
The country was more accessible, than over the mountains, by
the Traders' or Indians' paths .The country in Pennsylvania,
west of the Allegheny mountain, was not open to settlement
and purchase, until 1769, the cession from the Indians being
obtained by the Proprietaries the preceding year. Settlements
had been made in North Carolina, by Irish and Scotch emi
grants, as early as 1730, who had landed at Charleston, South
Carolina, and some in Virginia, about the same time. The
Kittochtinny valley, south of the Potomac, was attractive to
settlers, as well as what was north of that river. The settle-

teresting contributions to our Revolutionary History, and more particularly
to the participation of Pennsylvania and its citizens, in that memorable strug
gle. It is illustrated and verified by the various correspondence of Washing
ton, and otliers, prominent actors in the limes that tried men's souls. At the
early age of forty-four, his active aud useful life was closed by disease, in a
constitution worn out in the service of his country.

113
ments in that portion of this valley, between the Susquehanna
and Potomac rivers, were, as before stated, retarded to a con
siderable extent, until 1737, as the purchase of it, by the Pro
prietary of Pennsylvania, from the Indians, was only effected
in 1736, after which, the Land office was opened for the sale
of lands, in the established manner, and the controversy in re
lation to the Maryland boundary, was quieted by the Royal or
der, the same year.
The greater security in North Carolina, from Indian hostili
ties, induced some of the Pennsylvania Scotch Irish settlers,
to emigrate to the neighborhood of friends, or relatives, resi
dent in that southern State. Amongst those emigrating from
the Kittochtinny valley, west of the Susquehanna, which had
not then received the name of the Cumberland valley, was the
father of the Rev. James Hall, D. D., of Treadwell county. North
Carolina. Dr. Hall was of Scotch Irish parentage, and born
in that valley in 1744, near where Carlisle was afterwards lo
cated. In eight years after, his father removed with his fam
ily, to North Carolina. Dr. Hall, who graduated at Nassau
Hall, Princeton, in 1774, became an eminent Presbyterian
minister, and patriot, distinguished for talents, attainments,
and usefulness. He gave his powers of mind, body and estate
to the cause of his country. He not only officiated as chap
lain in the army, but organized and commanded a military
company for some time, in the Revolutionary war. To ena
ble young men to acquire a knowledge of the sciences,
who could not afford the expense of attending a northern col
lege, he, like the elder Tennent, in Pennsylvania, established
at his own house, " an Academy of the Sciences," being him
self the sole proprietor, and for which he purchased a philo
sophical apparatus. A large number of eminent men received
their scientific education there, besides a number of ministers
who studied theology under his direction. His character for
talents, and piety, and public spirit, his soundness as a theolo
gian, his great' facility in imparting instruction, and his well
selected library, caused his house to become a school of the
8

114
prophets, from which came out some of the best ministers of
southern Zioii.*
After the acknowledgement of National Independence, and
permanent relations of peace, being established with foreign
countries, as well as with the Indian tribes, the inhabitants of
Cumberland county resumed their industrial occupations in
the cultivation of their farms, and the few who were mechan
ics, in their respective employments. The taste for rural life,
was still the prevailing one, and the occupation preferred, was
that of agriculture. In this entire valley, from the Susque
hanna to the Maryland line, there were, after the close of the
Revolutionary war, but three villages, viz : Carlisle, Shippens
burg, and Chambersburg, containing severally, but a few hun
dred inhabitants. Franklin county, separated from Cumber
land county in 1784, had, within its entire boundary, but
one town, Chambersburg, the place of holding the Courts and
county Offices.
The inhabitants of Cumberland county, immediately after
the Revolutionary war, showing their appreciation of a high
grade for the education of young men in science, literature,
and theology, turned their attention to the establishment of a
College, within their bounds. They did not wait to repair the
losses and sacrifices, to which they had subjected themselves,
by a military service, in distant places, during the protracted
war for American Independence, before they would provide
for elevated education. They were ready to act at once in the
matter, and this at a time when the governments of the State,
as well as the Confederation, were embarrassed with war debts,
want of financial resources, and a confederation of independent
States, that was deficient in effective provisions, and in strength,
was little better than a rope of sand. The people were also
called on to meet heavy taxation for local, State and National
purposes, with little or no currency of value, and with very
limited resources. Yet, the spirit that animated with energy
and resolution, the men who had encountered the wilderness,
defended the frontiers of the colony, against the savages and

'* Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 330.

115
their French allies, and given themselves up to the defence of
their country, against royal despotism and parliamentary usur
pation, induced them to give their energies and perseve
rance, recruited by a short period of peace, to provide for edu
cation, by an institution that would be worthy of public confi
dence and respect. Measures were taken to collect funds for
it, and in 1783, a charter was obtained from the Legislature,
by which the Institution was located at Carlisle, and called
Dickinson College, in commemoration of John Dickinson,
President of the Supreme Executive Council of the State,
who had been liberal in his donation to it. The first faculty
organized in 1784, consisted of the Rev. Charles Nesbit, of
Montrose, Scotland, as President ; James Ross, Professor of
Languages, to which was added, the year following. Rev. Rob
ert Davidson, D. D., Professor of Belles Lettres, and Robert
Johnston, Instructor of Mathematics. Under the auspices of
this Faculty and Instructors, who were eminently qualified by
abilities and learning, and who adopted a high standard of ed
ucation for their graduates, the College prospered, and acqui
red a high reputation, that attracted to it many students, not
only from Pennsylvania, but from other States. During the
Presidency 5f Dr. Nesbit, there graduated many young men
of celebrity, as lawyers, jurists and statesmen, in this and other
States, and from the teachings of this College and the theolog
ical lectures of Dr. Nesbit to classes, preparatory to the minis
try, there were given to the Presbyterian Church, a number of
ministers of distinction for talents, acquirements, piety and
usefulness. This Institution sustained a severe loss, in the death of Dr.
Nesbit, in 1804. Dr. Davidson, Professor, and Pastor of the
Presbyterian church in Carlisle, was his successor for four
years, as President pro tem., when Dr. Atwater was appointed
President. This Institution was founded, in a great measure, by the
Scotch Irish Presbyterians of Cumberland, and neighboring
counties in Pennsylvania, who, with the ministers of that
Church, continued to foster and patronize it for many years,
during which, it was successful, and very useful, in giving to

116
the country, many well educated men. It had not been en
dowed sufficiently, to sustain a faculty, with the high qualifica
tions desired and demanded. Dr. Atwater, and a succession
of other Presidents, resigned, after short terms, which was pre
judicial to the interests of the Institution, as no one retained
the Presidency long enough, after Dr. Nesbit, to give it a
decided reputation.
Its first faculty were of Scotch nativity, or Irish descent,
and Presbyterian in their religious creed, associations and wor
ship. This predominance of Presbyterianism, in the Princi
pals and Professors, was continued, with a few exceptions, for
a series of years. The majority of its Trustees belonged to
the same denomination. Though the pervading character of
this Institution was Presbyterian, yet, it was not sectarian in
its ruling influence. There was no influence exercised to make
proselytes amongst its students, from the ranks of other denom
inations, and the Institution had the respect and confidence of
the public, as long as there were abilities, learning and atten
tion in its faculty, and efficiency in its government. The in
terest of many, who had favored it, abated, and efforts to sus
tain it, even by the Presbyterian Church, were relaxed, and
for a number of years it continued to languish, with occasional
temporary revivals, and spasmodic efforts to regain, under a
new President, some of its former vigor and reputation. This
was, in a great measure, attributed to the want of attention
and interest, on the part of its Trustees, and to dissensions
prevailing with that portion of them living in the vicinity, to
whom, as is usual, with literary and religious Institutions, its
management was chiefly committed. The Trustees of Carlisle
and its neighborhood, constituted its business board, for the
management of most of the concerns of the College; and either
discouraged, by failures of measures adopted to sustain the
College, or from unhappy dissensions amongst themselves,
dividing them, chose to give away the Institution, with all its
property, and corporate privileges ; and then abandon their
trust, by resignation, to make their donation effective. There
can be no reflection on our Methodist brethren, in being par
ties to the negotiation. This large donation was cast into their

117
lap. They could not well decline it, when all the advantages
were on their side. Their success was complete, and the Meth
odist Episcopal Church obtained the control of Dickinson Col
lege in 1833, which they have exercised ever since. They
have treated it as an Institution of their Church, by awaken
ing an interest with their denomination, to endeavor to endow
and sustain it. The zeal, abilities, and perseverance of its Trus
tees and Faculty, immediately imparted to it the vigor which it
wanted, and made it extensively useful in diffusing education.
What was the gain of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was
the loss of the Presbyterian, whose members and ministers,
had been the founders and patrons of this Institution, and who
had given their money, as well as their time, labor and servi
ces, to its establishment and organization.*
The Synod of Philad-elphia, within whose bounds this College
was, had not the vigilance, activity, and zeal, for the preserva
tion of its Institutions, in which men were to be educated for
the ministry, that characterized that Synod in its early histo
ry, or it would not have closed its eyes to the usefulness of
this Institution to the Church and State, slumbered over its
decline, or have allowed it, with all its property, advantages,
and privileges to be given away to any other religious denom-
iaation, however respectable.
It becomes this ecclesiastical body, and the Baltimore Syn
od, to make a vigorous effort to recover their lost ground, re
trieve their supineness, and supply, for Presbyterian education
and influence, an Institution in middle Pennsylvania, wherein
young men may receive a preparatory education, that may
qualify them for the ministry, or learned professions, which in
duced the establishment, in early times, when the country was
new, of the Log and other Colleges, by Presbyterian ministers,
and the members of the Presbyterian Church.

* The writer acknowledges himself as one of the remote aud delinquent
Trustees referred to, and though not one of the board that made the transfer,
to which measure he had made known his opposition, and iu execution of it,
he did not resign ; yet, he does not exculpate himself on account of absence,
las it was his duty to have been present, and oppose the measure, with what
influence he might possess, if advised of the intended action, and was able to
Attend.

118
There are amongst the descendants of the Scotch Irish set
tlers, at this time, within the bounds of these Synods, four fold
the means and resources, which their ancestors had, when they
established colleges, which have contributed much to elevate
and extend education. The number of Presbyterian churches
in the Cumberland valley, including Path valley, when Dick
inson College was established, were sixteen ; the number at
this time, within the same bounds, is over thirty. Though
the Presbyterian worshippers, have, in some of the rural con
gregations, in the Cumberland valley, diminished, by reason
of the removal of the members west, or to other residences,.
yet this has been much more than supplied, by new and addi
tional Presbyterian churches, in the towns and villages of the
same valley. Such an Institution, established west of the
Susquehanna, in middle Pennsylvania, would be incalculably
useful, without interfering with, or prejudicing kindred Insti
tutions, of like character, on the eastern or western borders of
our great State.

CHAPTER V.
Instrumentality of the Scotch Irish schools and seminaries in
Pennsylvania in the education of young men for usefulness
in other Colonies — In Virginia: Robinson, Davies, Waddell,.
the Messrs. Smiths — In North Carolina : McAden,
Caldivell — New Jersey: Establishment of Nassau Hall,
Princeton — Maryland: Baltimore church organization —
F. Allison.
It is difficult to measure, or estimate the advantages to society
and the countrj', from the establishment of the academies and
schools of the Tennents, Blairs, Finley, Smith, and Allison,.
in eastern Pensylvania, during the early part of the eighteenth
century. Many young men were enabled to obtain within
those.schools, an education on terms, and in a manner not to
be procured any where else in the middle colonies ; and who,.
without such facilities, must have been withheld from the Intel-

119
lectual education they desired, and which was necessary to
elevate them to stations of distinction and public usefulness.
Young men of good and studious habits, with abilities of
an high order and respectability, sought these seminaries, and
in the plain buildings appropriated to education, under the
teaching and direction of these eminent and faithful instruc
tors, acquired an amount of knowledge, that deservedly gave
them the reputation of scholars, in classical literature, and
mathematical proficiency ; whilst those, pursuing their theo
logical studies, preparatory to the ministry, testified, by their
attainments, success and eminent usefulness, that their labors
had been well directed, and improved, not only to their advan
tage as candidates, but to that of extending religious infiuence,
as well as moral and intellectual education.
From the Log College of the Tennents, first emanated men,
some of whom, were to be shining lights of the age, in the
Gospel ministry, and who devoted their talents and attain
ments, in proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oth
ers, combined with the ministry, the office of teacher, in Sem
inaries established, in other localities, after the model of the
original Log College.
The influence of these seminaries, established, conducted,
and maintained in the early history of the Province, by the
Scotch Irish Presbyterian ministers, was of inestimable useful
ness to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. They gave to the
rapidly increasing communities, made up of Irish and Scotch
emigrants, an educated, zealous and pious ministry, sound in
the faith, and a church organization by Presbyters, that was
to the desire and acceptance of the great mass of the people.
In the same schools, the young men of Pennsylvania, and of
some other colonies, received a classical and scientific educa
tion, that prepared some for high places in the medical profes
sion, whilst others were educated there, preparatory to the
study of the law, and acquired, deservedly, the reputation and
places of jurists, lawyers and statesmen.
From these fountains of education, issued streams of knowl
edge that flowed beyond the bounds of Pennsylvania, into oth
er colonies. Young men of talents, learning and piety, from

120
these schools, were the instruments, in the hands of Divine
Providence, of carrying to the destitute districts of neighbor
ing and distant colonies, the means and facilities of improved
education, and a pious and evangelical ministry. Amongst these
instruments of early missionary labor, was the Rev. Wm. Rob
inson, who was sent as an evangelist, by the Presbytery of New
Castle, in the winter of 1742-3, in consequence of the earnest
solicitations of the people, to visit the Presbyterian settlements
in the valley of the Shenandoah, and some parts of Virginia,
then destitute of a ministry. He entered on his mission with
zeal and perseverance, and though incommoded and obstruct
ed on entering Virginia by intolerance, and arrest, for preach
ing without a license from the Governor, he was permitted to
proceed to North Carolina ; and on his return, preached in
Hanover county, Virginia, the first sermon heard there from a
Presbyterian minister. He continued preaching four days,
successively, to large and increasing audiences, with a power,
and success, in awaking the careless, instructing the ignorant,
that was wonderful and unprecedented, and with impressions
that were lasting and permanent, and to the conversion of
many. His engagements, elsewhere, to visit the destitute dis
tricts in Virginia, soliciting the preaching of the Gospel, by a
minister of sound and practical piety, took him from Hanover.
The audiences that had heard his discourses there, with so
much interest and profit, proposed to renumerate him for his
services, which he declined. The money raised, was, without
his knowledge, put into his saddle-bags, by the gentleman at
whose house he lodged. When he afterwards discovered it, he
refused to appropriate it to his own use, though his means were
small, and applied it to aid Samuel Davies, then a student at
Fagg's Manor, Pennsylvania, pursuing his studies under the
care of the Rev. Samuel Blair, for the ministry. By an in
scrutable Providence, whose ways are those of infinite wisdom,
and past the finding out of short-sighted men, Mr. Robinson,
this eminent and faithful steward of his Lord and Master, was
removed from his labors on earth, in April, 1746. He was a
martyr, it was behoved, to the labors he voluntarily endured for
the cause of Christ, in Virginia and North Carolina. He be-

121
queathed his library to his young friend, protege and fellow-
laborer, the Rev. Samuel Davies, on whom his mantle may be
supposed to have fallen.*
Next in order of time, we may name the Rev. Samuel Da
vies, alluded to. He was of Welsh descent, and born in New
Castle county, Delaware, then Pennsylvania. Having been
licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1745, he visited
Virginia, and located himself permanently there in 1748, in
the county of Hanover, where his friend, the Rev. Mr. Robin
son, had, as a pioneer, assisted in opening the way for Gospel
instruction and ordinances, some years before. Mr. Davies,
in eloquence, piety, and learning, had no superior, was call
ed "the prince of preachers," and acquired a greater influence,
than any other preacher in Virginia ever possessed. From this
field of labor and usefulness, Mr. Davies was withdrawn, by
his election to the Presidency of the College of New Jersey,
in 1759, where he continued until his death in 1761, at the
age of thirty-seven.
James Waddell, distinguished in Virginia history and litera
ture as a scholar and orator, eminent for eloquence and piety,
was brought, in 1739, from Ireland, an infant in the arms of
his mother, to Pennsylvania, selected by his parents as their
place of abode. Having been disabled in the use of his hand,
by an accidental blow from an axe in the hand of a brother,
his parents, in consequence of this disability, were induced to
seek for him a liberal education, for which, his powers of mind
were admirably adapted. His progress at the "Log College"
of Dr. Finley, at Nottingham, was rapid. His attainments in
the Greek and Latin studies, were of so high an order, as to
occasion his promotion, when a youth, to the office of Tutor, in
the Nottingham academy, as well as in that of Rev. Rob
ert Smith, of Pequea, of Lancaster county. B[aving acquired
great proficiency in his studies, at the age of nineteen he re
moved from Pennsylvania southward, and on his way, formed
the acquaintance of the Rev. Samuel Davies, in Virginia,
where he was induced to remain, taking charge of a classical

* Foote's Sketches of Virginia.

122
school of Louisa, and commenced the studies, preparatory for
the sacred ministry in Virginia, which, thenceforth, became his
home. In 1761, he was licensed by the Presbytery, and in
the same year, several calls were put into his hands from va
cant churches in Virginia, and also one from the neighbor
hood of York, Pennsylvania, and of the many promising fields
of labor, as a minister, presented to him, he made choice of
the lower part of the great northern neck in Virginia, between
the rivers Potomac and Rappahannoc. His interesting, use
ful, and successful labors, as a minister, in the northern neck,
were ended in the early part of the Revolutionary war, by his
removal to the valley of Shenandoah in 1778, occasioned by
the emigration of leading persons in his congregations, to the
mountainous regions, and his impaired health, from bilious
attacks, in the northern neck. The call of General Green, for
aid to resist Cornwallis, in his invasion, was responded to
promptly by the Scotch Irish members of Mr. Waddell's pas
toral charge, who, before their departure for the camp, met
them in arms, and preached to them a pastor's farewell, which,
to many, were the last words they ever heard from the lips of
their revered pastor.
Mr. Waddell's great affliction, was an incurable blindness.
Though blind, he was devoted to books ; his wife and children
spending hours daily in reading to him. Owing to this, his pow
ers of mind were not impaired by his loss of sight, and he re
tained his usual flow of spirits, which often arose to hilarity.
He never declaimed in the pulpit, but prepared his exercises
for that place with study.
The graphic description, by the eminent and eloquent Wirt,
of Waddell, the blind preacher, is indelibly impressed on the
pages of Virginia history. It has been compared to the po
ems of Homer, which immortalized the writer as well as his
hero. Mr. Waddell died in 1805, with great Christian seren
ity, universally beloved, and his body was carried to the grave
by his servants, who performed this last service with reverence
and grief.
Virginia was also indebted to the same schools, for the dis
tinguished and learned Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, and Rev.

123
John Blair Smith, D. D., brothers of Irish descent, born and
educated at the Log academy, of their father, Robert Smith,
D. D., in the county of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and gradu
ates of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. The Rev. S.
S. Smith, having been licensed by the New Castle Presbytery,
visited, in 1771, Virginia, as a missionary, when he at once saw
the necessity of a literary institution in Virginia, and aided and
encouraged the efforts of Hanover Presbytery to call it into be
ing. He became the projector and founder of Hampden Sidney
College in that colony. Notwithstanding the exciting times
of the Revolution, in 1775, Mr. Smith, with the aid of this Pres
bytery, proceeded to collect funds for the establishment of the
projected literary institution. "The Presbytery, it is stated, pro
ceeded to take steps to have Mr. Smith settled as a preacher as
well as a teacher, according to the spirit of the ' Log College,'
in Pennsylvania, which had been so rich in blessings on Vir
ginia." Mr. Smith was chosen Rector of the infant institution,
then called the academy of Prince Edward, and shortly after
of Hampden Sidney College, and also installed pastor of the
united congregations of Cumberland and Prince Edward.
Amongst the Trustees selected for this humble institution of
Presbyterian origin, and Scotch Irish affinities, were James
Madison, Jr., afterwards Chief Magistrate of the United States,
and Patrick Henry, the distinguished orator, and Governor of
Virginia. The College was organized by the appointment of Mr. JohnB.
Smith, brother of the principal, as first assistant, and Mr. Sam
uel Doak, as second assistant. From the increase of students,
beyond expectation, Mr. David Witherspoon was appointed
third assistant. Hampden Sidney went on prosperously, in
creasing in reputation and usefulness, having one hundred and
ten students the first summer, notwithstanding the Revolution
ary contest.
The terms of this academy, when opened in 1776, were ^£8
for board; and for washing and bed, .£3 per year. So great was
the desire of the youth of the Scotch Irish race of Virginia to
avail themselves of the advantages to be enjoyed in education,
under the teachings of the Messrs. Smith, at their log college.

124
that there was a scarcity of apartments for their accommoda
tion, and whilst the new academy building was in rapid pro
gress, many of the students erected small temporary huts,
with the shingles prepared for the academy. In these they
were packed close, and with a plank for three or four boys to
sit upon, where they diligently pursued their studies till a late
hour of the night. From the difficulty of obtaining board and
lodging for the numbers that thronged for admission, Messrs.
N. Venable and P. Carrington, public men of eminence, honor
ed for their patriotism and religion, built houses for their sons
to occupy.
The Messrs. Smith from Pennsylvania, with the aid of the
friends of liberty, and religious and moral education in Virgin
ia, in Revolutionary times, surmounted obstacles that would
now be deemed appalling, and excited an enthusiasm seldom
equalled, to establish in that State a Seminary of learning, for
the higher branches of education, after the model of the un
pretending, but useful log colleges of Pennsylvania.
In 1779, the Rev. Samuel S. Smith, having had an invita
tion from the Trustees of New Jersey College, to accept the
office of Professor of Moral Philosophy in that Institution, with
the approbation of the Presbytery, accepted, and shortly af
ter was made president of the same Institution. His brother,
the Rev. John Blair Smith, was appointed his successor of
Hampden Sidney, under whose Presidency, this College, on
the model of the Log College of Pennsylvania, prospered, both
in its theological and literary department, in a manner never
surpassed in succeeding years. The President having also ac
cepted the call of the churches of Cumberland and Briery,
united the offices of Pastor with the Presidency of College and
the Professor of Theology, embracing work for three men, and
giving a Christian spirit to the efforts for the education of
youth. With him, men of the greatest probity and of the highest
public estimation and private worth, were associated in the
direction of this Seminary, " where the purest sentiments of
religion and patriotism, were inculcated in a most efficient
manner." " President Smith's preaching," says Dr. Hill, " was of the

125
most animating, pungent, practical character, feeling close for
the conscience, and applying truth home to the heart."
Dr. Hoge, who was President of the same College, in speak
ing of Dr. J. B. Smith, said : " A preacher possessing every
ministerial qualification, in a degree so eminent, I have never
known ; nor do I ever expect again to hear a preacher, whose
discourses will be equally calculated for the learned and un
learned, the rich and the poor, the devout Christian, and the
abandoned profiigate; in a word, every character and descrip
tion of men. Methinks I still see him stand the accredited am
bassador of the great King of kings, and Lord of lords, while
every feature and every muscle of his face, every word and
action, as well as the lightning of his eyes, seem to bespeak a
soul on fire."*
The Declaration of American Independence, by the Con
gress of the Colonies, in 1776, animated the citizens, young
and old, of Virginia, as it did their kinsmen in Pennsylvania,
and many offered themselves, as soldiers, to redeem the pledge
" oi their fortunes and saered honor," in the maintenance of
that Independence. "Engaged, as the students were, in Hamp
den Sidney College, in the pursuit of their studies, their hearts
were warm on the side of American liberty, and with the arts
and sciences, they exercised in military training, and in the
rudiments of war. The Rev. John Blair Smith, the first as
sistant of this Institution, and afterwards its President, was
chosen Captain of a company of students, about sixty-five in
number, over seventeen years of age. Mr. D. Witherspoon,
second assistant, their Lieutenant, and Mr. S. Venable, their
Ensign. The students were uniformed, viz : a hunting shirt,
died purple, and every student, although under sixteen years
of age, was mustered every month."
In 1777, there was a requisition from the Governor, for a
company of militia from Prince Edward county, to oppose an
expected invasion from the British. All the students of this
College, above sixteen years of age, with the advice of their
President, the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, exchanged their

* Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia.

126
numbers for No. 1, with the militia of the county, and marched
to Williamsburg, under their officers, to obey the Governor's
orders. After the battle of the Cowpens, in 1781, the excitement
in the southern country was great, when Morgan and Green
were retreating before the superior army of Cornwallis, Cap
tain Morton, having, in two days, raised a company of his
neighbors, to join Green. The Rev. John Blair Smith, then
President of Hampden Sidney College, set out at once to join
the company of Captain Morton, which he overtook in Hali
fax. The Captain earnestly entreated him to return to Prince
Edward, that he could serve the cause more at home, by
his exciting patriotic speeches, than by his presence in camp.
Worn out by fatigue, the President returned to the College.
"Peter Johnson, about sixteen years of age, the son of the
donor of the land on which the College was built, offered him
self, and was rejected as under age and under size. He nev
ertheless procured a horse, and offered himself to Lee, and
was, with some hesitation, received. He served during that
momentous campaign, with great honor, taking a part in sev
eral actions, beside the decisive one of Guilford Court House.
He was, in after life, a Judge of eminence in his native State."*
The College suffered from the calamities of a protracted
war, which, with its desolation, and alarms, was carried into
its very neighborhood, and students, in defence of the liberties
of their country, gave up their books for war implements, and
from their school rooms repaired to the ranks of the Revolu
tionary army. " When the war was over, the College was in
a depressed state. The enthusiasm for education was some
what abated among the people at large, objects of ambition
and speculation, and the repair of broken fortunes and ruined
estates, engrossed the great body of the people. There were
still patriots, to appreciate the immeasurable importance of the
universal dissemination of knowledge, pure morality, and
religion, for the preservation of the political liberty and its ad
vantages, acquired by the arms of freemen," The friends of

* Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, 408,

127
Hampden Sidney, after the war, applied for, and obtained,
from the Legislature, in 1783, a charter for the Academy under
the name of a College, with its privileges and powers. Dr.
Hill says, " that after the capture of Cornwallis and his army,
the students returned to College, and Dr. Smith entered de
novo, upon his various and responsible duties. The number
of students continued to increase, until the rooms in the College
were as full as they well could contain."
In 1789, Mr. Smith resigned the Presidency of the College,
and gave himself entirely to the work of the ministry.*
For men of great magnitude and brightness to illumine the
darkness of her colonial destitution, Virginia was greatly in
debted to the Scotch Irish race of Pennsylvania, and the sem
inaries, under the care and teachings of their Presbyterian
ministers, men of the same origin, or descent, being born or
receiving their early education in Pennsylvania, which was
afterwards pursued at the College of New Jersey, to the procure
ment of a Degree. This was followed by theological studies for
the ministry, which obtained for them the license of a Presby
tery, under whose care they were, and became missionaries to the
south. Some of thera were instrumental, with others, in es
tablishing, in Virginia, a Seminary of learning, which after
wards became Washington College, at Lexington.
North Carolina, as an American colony, was early debtor to
the Scotch Irish of Penns3dvania, for supphes by an elevated and
pious ministry, to their destitute Presbyterian congregations,
made up chiefly of emigrants from Ireland and Scotland, di
rectly, and others from the same countries, after a residence,
for a time, in Virginia or Pennsylvania. From the same source,
was received their pioneers in the establishment of classical
and scientific schools, for the education of the young men of
the colony in the higher branches of knowledge.
Among the first, was the Rev. Hugh McAden, born in Penn
sylvania, of Irish descent, a graduate of Nassau Hall, receiv
ing his instruction in theology under the direction of the Rev.
John Blair. He was licensed by the New Castle Presbytery,

* Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, 406,

128
1755, in which year, as a missionary, he visited the Presbyte
rian settlements of North Carolina, and preached to many
congregations, the first sermon they had heard in the colony.
In 1759, being ordained, he accepted a pastoral charge in
North Carolina, and labored faithfully, and acceptably for many
years, till his death.
He was followed, in a few years, by the eminent and learned
Rev. David Caldwell, D. D., who combined in himself the
sound and pious minister of the Gospel, with the profound, ac
complished and successful instructor of young men. He was
born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1725, and pur
sued his preparatory course of studies, under the tuition of
the Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, in that county, distinguish
ed for his usefulness, and as the father of sons, educated under
his care, who were at the same time Presidents of the Colle
ges of New Jersey and Hampden Sidney. Mr. Caldwell grad
uated at Princeton, in 1761, where he engaged, for a time, as a
Tutor and in the study of theology. Being licensed and ordained
by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he became a missionary
to some vacant congregations in North Carolina, that had so
licited supplies from the Synod of Philadelphia. In some of
these congregations were acquaintances and friends, who, a
few years before, had removed into that colony. In 1768, he
accepted a pastoral charge there, and commenced a classical
school, where he continued, until the infirmities of age disqual
ified Mm as a teacher. This school was the second classical
school, of permanence, and perhaps the first in usefulness, in
the upper part of Carohna. The instruction in this school,
was thorough, and it flourished, being instrumental, during the
long period of its continuance, in bringing more men into the
learned professions, than any other taught by a single individ
ual, or by a succession of teachers, during the same period of
time. Five of his scholars became Governors of States, a
number were promoted to high places in the Judiciary ; about
fifty became ministers of the Gospel, and a large number were
physicians and lawyers. He was of the most studious habits,
his thoughts always exalted to the true dignity of his work, and
where led by convictions of duty, and a desire to be useful, he

129
was untiring in labor, persevering and inflexible from his pur
pose. Most, if not all, of his students, received their entire clas
sical education from him, so that for a time, his school was
Academy, College and Theological Seminary.*
" Living in the exciting times of the Revolution, with the roy
al army at his door, he was an ardent whig. So great was his
influence, on the side of American Independence, that he be
came obnoxious to Lord Cornwallis, and his officers. Dr.
Caldwell's residence was but a few miles from Guilford Court
House, and his congregations were harassed by the plunder-
ings, and cruelties of the needy and irritated army of Corn
wallis, which were endured by a patriotic people with a con
stancy and bravery to be admired and held in grateful remem
brance. The house of this eminent patriot and minister of
the Gospel, on the Sabbath, was plundered, his wife and chil
dren turned out of doors, his property stolen, his library and
valuable papers burned, by the royal army. A purse of £200
was set, by his Lordship, on the Doctor's head, to any one who
would bring him in a prisoner. But the camp of General
Green, saved him from the ferocious enemy.
The useful life of Dr. Caldwell, was prolonged by Providence,
till August, 1824, when he departed this life at the age of
ninety-nine years. His pastoral services were continued until
1820, his ninety-fourth year, requiring assistance, from weak
ness, on his return home, to dismount from his horse, and be
carried into his house."
Others might be named, of Scotch Irish nativity, in Penn
sylvania, who, after receiving an education in her Log Colle
ges, which was afterwards extended at Nassau Hall, Prince
ton, were missionaries of education as well as of the Gospel,
to the Scotch Irish settlements of Virginia, North Carolina,
and Tennessee, where their labors were blessed with extensive
usefulness. •* It is a gratification to us, and the more so, as it is rare in these days, to
find a descendant of the Puritans, as the Rev. W. Henry Foote, in his Sket ch-
es of North Carolina and Virginia, exhibit a spirit of liberality and justice
to the Scotch Irish race, who form a large portion of the population of those
States, and who for intelligence, integrity, patriotism, and religious charac
ter, have received, as they deserved, high commendation.
9

130
New Jersey was indebted, chiefly, to the founders and pa
trons of the Log Colleges of eastern Pennsylvania, for the es
tablishment of the College of Nassau Hall, at Princeton, in
the infancy of that colony, and which did more to distinguish
and benefit it, than any other Institution ever created within
its bounds. It was of Scotch Irish origin, and was nursed and
fostered into great usefulness, and celebrity by the men of Irish
and Scotch nativity, or descent, in Pennsylvania. Though in
Maryland, Presbyterian congregations had been formed on the
Eastern shore, as well as in Baltimore county, in the early part
of the eighteenth century, yet they were small, and languish
ed, as the influx of emigrants of that denomination would seem
to have preferred other colonies for their settlements. Settlers,
or citizens of enterprise, were attracted from the counties of
Cumberland and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, inl760, to Baltimore
town, then containing thirty or forty houses, and about three
hundred inhabitants. These emigrants were Presbyterians of
Irish or Scotch descent ; they organized themselves into a con
gregation, and invited the Rev. Patrick Allison, as before
briefly noticed, as a supply for one year, Mr. Allison was a
native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish pa
rents, and received his classical and preparatory education at
the Philadelphia Academy, where he was engaged, for some
time, as an assistant teacher.
Mr. Allison accepted the charge, and in 1765, was fully or
dained to the pastoral office, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia.
Mr. Allison was a man of learning, and piety. The matter
of his sermons was rich and instructive, and his style clear and
nervous. He was especially distinguished . in the Church
courts, and Dr. Miller has said of him, that in debate, he had
scarce an equal. He died in 1802, having served this congre
gation nearly forty years. This congregation, from a little
handful, that organized it, and called Mr. Allison, during his
ministry, became one of the largest and most influential in the
country. Mr. Alhson was also prominent in every effort, in his
day, to promote morality, education, and liberty in Maryland.

131

CHAPTER VL
South Western Pennsylvayiia — Its early settlements — Contro
versy with Virginia as to Boundary — Purchase by Pro
prietary of Indian claim 1768 — Open to appropriation by
Pennsylvania grants after 1769 — Influx of settlers restrain
ed by apprehension of Indian hostilities, and war of Revo
lution — Boundary with Virginia settled by compact — Rap
id progress after the Revolution — Missionaries — Supervis
ion of Philadelphia and Neiu York Synod — Messrs. Power
McMillan, Smith, Dod, and others — Toil and sacrifices —
Success in organization of Presbyterian congregations —
Redstone Presbytery — Seminaries of learning — Public men:
iSt. Clair, Brackenridge, Ross, Addison, Grallatin,
Findlay — Western insurrection — Peace, and order — Lite
rary and Theological institutions — Improvements and in
crease of population — Extent of district — Religion and mor
als of people.
The great district of Pennsylvania, for the development of the
Scotch Irish character, in its energies, enterprise, religious,
and moral principles, as well as its educational tendencies and
usefulness, was southwestern Pennsylvania.
The first settlements, by the whites, in Pennsylvania, west
of the Allegheny mountains, on lands bordering on the Ohio,
Monongahela, Youghiogeny, and Allegheny rivers, and their
tributaries, were shortly before, and after Braddock's defeat,
in 1765. These were chiefly under grants or permits from the
Governor or authorities of the colony of Virginia, which claim
ed the country on these waters, embracing the locality of
Pittsburg, then called Fort Duquesne, occupied by a French
garrison. Some emigrants from Maryland had also settled in
the same country.

132
Those who settled in that attractive and fertile district, un.
der a claim of Pennsylvania jurisdiction, before 1769, did so
in contravention of public law, as those lands had not been
purchased by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, from the In
dians, until by the treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, and
were not open to purchase, settlement or appropriation, under
the laws of Pennsylvania, until after that purchase.
Yet there were adventurous and restless spirits from Penn
sylvania, and elsewhere, east of the Allegheny mountain, who,
contrary to law, and in defiance of the Proclamation of the
Governor of Pennsylvania, and public magistrates, presumed
to make settlements, to a limited extent, in this western coun
try, likely to be overrun by settlers claiming under Virginia.
By that colony, and its authorities, the Indian claim was not
regarded, and their laws allowed the grants to individuals, of
land, in quantities, as desired, and at prices less than one
tenth of that fixed by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, as the
price of vacant land within his province.
These settlements were in 1768, and shortly before the sub
ject of complaints, by the western Indians, both to the Pro
prietary of Pennsylvania, as well as the Provincial government
of that colony. A law of excessive severitv was passed by its
Legislature in 1768, subjecting to capital punishment, the of
fence of a settlement on lands unpurchased by the Proprietary,
from the Indian claimants. The Governor of Pennsylvania,
in February, 1768, issued a Proclamation, requiring settlers to
remove from these lands, informing them of the penalties to
which they were subject, and appointed the Rev. John Steele,
and others, of Cumberland county, commissioners, on behalf of
the Government and Proprietary, to visit the settlements ; car
ry with them and distribute the Proclamation ; require the
settlers to remove, and warn them of the consequences, if they
did not, to themselves, from the Governor's prosecution and
Indian hostilities. The commissioners proceeded at once to
visit these settlements, for the purpose required, and in April,
1768, reported to the Governor, that there were but about one
hundred and fifty families on the different settlements on Red
stone, Youghiogeny and Cheat Rivers, which they visited, and

133
made known the law, and requisitions of the government, but
to little purpose, as respected the removal of the settlers, who
generally were inclined to take their chances of hostilities from
the Indians, with whom the Proprietary agents were understood,
to be then negotiating, for the purchase of their claim to the
lands on those waters. The requisitions of the Governor and
the penalties'of the law, seemed to have but had little regard, in
the consideration of the settlers. The excessive severity of
the law, rendered it inoperative. No one supposed, that the
Government, or any authority under it, would attempt to carry
into execution, a law, subjecting to the punishment of death a
settler, for the offence of putting up a cabin for the residence
of his family, and clearing and cultivating some fertile land, as
the means of supporting that family, in an extensive wilderness,
because an Indian tribe of hunters, living in their wigwams, at
a distance of one hundred miles or more, made claim to half
the Province, for their hunting ground, until they received
some remuneration for tlieir release. They did not consider
their offence as mala in se, but as prohibited, from considera
tions of public policy, on whi'ch public sentiment was divided.
The Governor of Virginia had, by proclamation, at the same
time, required the removal of settlers under Virginia claims,
from the disputed territory, but with no better success.
The settlers in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt, by the per
mission of George Croghan, superintendent of Indian affairs ;
and those who had settled on the main roads, leading across
the mountains to Fort Pitt, by permits from the commanders
and other officers of the army, for the convenience of the ar
my, its reinforcements and supplies, were exempt from the pen
alties of the law, and the requisitions of the public magistrates.
The Indian claim being removed, by the purchase of the
Proprietary, at Fort Stanwix, Nov. 5, 1768, these lands
were open to settlement, grants or appropriations, under Penn
sylvania, which now progressed more rapidly, though obstruct
ed by interference of settlers under Virginia, and the uncer
tainty of title, in this conflict of jurisdiction between the two
colonies. The settlem.ents, however, were extended, in a coun
try attractive for fertility of soil, with all. the advantages of

134
climate, water, and timber. Emigrants, from the east side of
the mountains, could only reach it by a long journey, over
lofty mountains, by rugged roads, scarcely passable for any
wheel carriage, conveying their families on pack horses, with their
supplies of clothing and bedding. Yet, before the Revolution,
and pending that war, many families of subtance, intelligence,
religious and moral character, overcame obstacles, which would
seem insurmountable, in making their way to an abode, on the
choice lands of south western Pennsylvania. When these ad
venturous and resolute emigrants, got to the end of their jour
ney, it was to settle in the wilderness, with a log cabin for
their dwelling ; neighbors few and far between ; separated from
eastern friends and relatives by mountain ranges, a barrier to
an interchange of visits, except at great intervals; without the
comforts and conveniences enjoyed by eastern friends, and re
mote from all seminaries of education, and where the worship
of their heavenly Father, by an assembled congregation, was
in the open air, with the firmament for a canopy, and for their
seats, the bare earth, or the rough logs of the forest.
These settlements, during the' Revolutionaiy war, and for
years after, were exposed to the hostilities of the Indians, who,
frequently, by their stealthy marches, surprised and alarmed
the inhabitants, often marking their way by fire, and the mas
sacre of families. The conflict of jurisdiction between the two
States, in the exercise of the powers of government, obstructed
the administration of justice, incommoded the inhabitants, and
led to contests and arrests, between the officers of these bor
der States, that were harassing to both.
In 1779, the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, agreed
to terminate this unprofitable controversy, by an extension of
the Mason and Dixon line west, as a boundary, saving to all
persons previously acquired rights, under the laws and usages
of these States, according to priority, which was executed and
ratified. By the boundary provided for and established, the
large district of fine country in dispute between Virginia and
Pennsylvania, was permanently assigned to Pennsylvania, as
her territory.
The early settlers, who had settled within this district, un-

135
der either of these governments, were, with few exceptions, of
Irish and Scotch nativity or descent. Having a common ori
gin, and associations, they were much alike in principles and
habits, agreeing in their religious professions and doctrines,
devoted to the principles of the Protestant reformation, choos
ing and maintaining the Presbyterian church organization, as
that most approved by them. Amongst these Presbyterians,
there were some slight shades of difference, to separate
them, chiefly on Psalmody, which led to the organization of
separate and distinct ecclesiastical judicatories, that are yet
maintained, though agreeing in having a common standard of
doctrine and creed, as well as of church government, con
tained in the Westminster Confession of Faith, with its Church
rules and Catechisms.
The Synod of Philadelphia and New York did not overlook
the settlers, who had taken up their abode in the wilderness,
west of the Allegheny, and at an early day provision was made
by them to have these distant settlements on the frontiers sup
plied with suitable and qualified missionaries, licensed and or
dained by the Presbytery to the work of the ministry. In
1766, the Rev. Charles Beaty, of Irish nativity, who had ob
tained his classical education in Ireland, before his emigration,
pursued his studies, with a view to the Gospel ministry, at the
Log College, at Neshaminy, then under the care of the cele
brated Wm. Tennent, and was licensed by the Presbytery of
New Brunswick. He was associated with Rev. G. Duffield, a
minister of high reputation and experience, to visit the frontier
settlement of the far west region, as well as the Indians, as
missionaries, by the appointment of the Synod.
These appointments were continued, by this Synod, from
time to time, through a series of twenty years, to supply the
destitute brethren on the south western frontier of Pennsylvania
and Virginia, with not only accredited missionaries, but of a high
order for talents, learning, piety and experience in the ministry.
Their labors in preaching, catechising, and administering the
ordinances of the Church, were blessed, in organizing congre
gations amongst the settlers for the maintenance of Christian
worship, and religious instruction, training and government.

136
Messrs. Beaty and Duffield, owing to the apprehension of In
dian disturbances, were enabled only to visit some of the set
tlements, and the missions were afterwards renewed, extended
and fulfilled, by the labors of Rev. James Finley, and others,
under the appointments of the Presbyteries of New Castle and
Donegal. The first ordained minister, that settled with his family, in
Western Pennsylvania, was the Rev. James Power, D. D.
He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, the child of
pious parents, who had emigrated from the north of Ireland.
His education, preparatory to entering College, is believed to
have been at the Fagg's manor school, of that county, under the
care of the eminent Rev. John Blair. He graduated at Nas
sau Hall, Princeton, in 1766, and was licensed by the Presby
tery of New Castle in 1772. He labored for several years
as a missionary, in the western settlements, as well as in
Virginia. In the summer of 1776, in the exciting times of the
Revolution, and when the country was most agitated with the
question of Independence, Mr. Power decided upon going west
with his family, and he was ordained for that purpose at Octa-
raro, Lancaster county. In the autumn of that year, he re
moved, with his family, and took up his residence in the bounds
of Dunlap's creek congregation, which is within the county of
Fayette. Mr. Power labored, after his removal to the west,
to supply the destitute churches, over an extensive district,
though he resided at Dunlap's creek, the principal place of
his labors, and not until 1779, he became the regular pastor
of Sewickly and Mount Pleasant congregations. He lived to
the age of eighty-five, greatly venerated and beloved for his
piety, fidelity, and usefulness. " He was a graceful speaker,
and of polished manners. His sermons were clear, methodical
and expressive in language, well selected. His enunciation
was so perfect, that when he spoke in the open air, as he fre
quently did, he could be heard at a great distance. His min
istry was successful in edifying Christians, instructing the
yoitng and improving the morals of the community." Such was
the man of Irish parentage, educated in the schools of the
Scotch Irish ministers, that turned his back on the comforts of

137
more refined society, and this world's enjoyments and emolu
ments, in the older settlements, east of the mountains, and be
came the first settled minister in the bounds of the old Red
stone Presbvterv.
The great pioneer of evangelical and practical religion, as
well as of improved education in western Pennsylvania, was
the Rev. John McMillan, D. D., born in Fagg's manor, Ches
ter county, Pennsylvania, in 1752, the child of Irish parents.
His classical education was acquired at his native place, in the
academy under the care and direction of the Rev. John Blair,
distinguished for talents and learning, as well as for the emi
nence of many of his pupils, in learning, eloquence and piety.
Mr. McMillan finished his classical studies under the Rev.
Robert Smith, at Pequea, and entered Princeton College in
1770. He graduated in 1772 and returning to Pequea to
pursue his study of theology, under Dr. Robert Smith, was
licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1774. He early
exhibited his missionary zeal, and under appointments, visited
vacant congregations of Presbyterians, in the valley of Virginia,
also in western Pennsylvania. Though his talents, learn
ing, piety, and other qualifications, for an acceptable and qual
ified minister, would have commanded the most comfortable
situation in the Church, in the old settlements, yet, Mr. Mc
Millan chose to forego all these, traverse the great wilderness
of mountains, and cast his lot and that of his family, with the
settlers, on the waters of the Monongahela and Youghiogeny,
with all the sacrifices, privations, toils, sufferings, and perils,
that were attendant upon these remote settlements, destitute of
the comforts and conveniences of social life, as well as of min
isterial labors, teaching, and Gospel ordinances. He was
ordained by the Presbytery of Donegal, at Chambersburg,
June, 1776. The Revolutionary movements and Indian dis
turbances, prevented him from removing his family at once,
though he visited the congregations of Chartiers and Pigeon
creek, in western Pennsylvania, as often as circumstances
would allow, and to his new field of labor in these congrega
tions, as a settled pastor, he brought his family in November,
1778. We are furnished with his own account of the new resi-

138
dence he had for himself and family, in the new field of labor
he had chosen for his abode, and that of his family.*
The leadings of Providence would seem to be marked and
observable in the destiny, and labors, of this eminent minis
ter of the Gospel, and instructor. The times, the state of the
country, and people, to whom he went, required no ordinary
man, but one of uncommon energy, resolution, industry and
perseverance, with ability, learning, sound in the faith, of
practical piety ; apt to teach and willing to spend his powers
and be spent, in the service of his Divine Master. The Rev.
Mr. McMillan was the man for this service. Not discouraged
by the untoward circumstances of his new residence, in his
log cabin of simple structure, and plain accommodation for
his family, he entered on his pastoral labors with zeal. The
circumstances in which he was placed, required him to " work
with his own hands," in handling the axe, and the other im
plements of the sturdy laborer, in the new country. He was
of vigorous bodily powers, and during his long life, was never
confined half a day by sickness.
" Though it was necessary for him to labor in improving his
building and clearing his land, he did not allow this to inter-
• Dr. McMillan, in a letter to Dr. Carnahan, in 1832, gave the following ac
count of his arrival in this western field, in 1778. [Old Redstone. 186.]
" When I came to this country, the cabin in which I was to live, was raised,
but there was no roof to it, nor any chimney or floor. The people, however,
were very kind, they assisted me in preparing my house, and on the 16th of
December, I removed into it. But we had neither bedstead, nor tables, nor
stool, nor chair, nor bucket. All these things we had to leave behind us, as
there was no wagon road at that time over the mountains, we could bring
nothing with us but what was carried on pack horses. We placed two boxes
one on the other, which served us for a table, and two kegs served us for seats,
and having committed ourselves to God, in family worship, we spread a bed
on the floor and slept soundly till morning. The next day, a neighbor com
ing to my assistance, we made a table and stool, and in a little time, had
every thing comfortable about us. Sometimes, indeed, we had no bread for
weeks together, but we had plenty of pumpkins and potatoes, and all the ne
cessaries of life ; as for luxuries, we were not much concerned about them.
We enjoyed health, the gospel and its ordinances and pious friends. We
were in the place where we believed God would have us to be ; and we did
not doubt, but that He would provide every thing necessarv ; and glory to his
name, we were not disappointed."
He was a man of vigorous bodily powers, and could endure labor or toil
with any of his neighbors. On one occasion, having made appointments to
preach at two places, and his horse having strayed away, he proceeded on
foot, and fulfilled his appointments, by preaching at both places, and walking
in all, seventeen miles for the purpose, on the Sabbath.

139
fere with his more important duties, as a minister of the Gos
pel, to which he gave all the energies of his body and mind."
This great father of the Presbyterian Church, in the west,
was'uot content with doctrinal and practical religious instruc
tion and pastoral visitation, to the people of his several pasto
ral charges, but at an early period after his removal to the
west, in imitation of the log colleges of eastern Pennsylvania,
and with the example before him of the Principals of those
Seminaries, where he received his education, and training, he
directed his attention to the establishment, in the western wilds,
of a Log College, for the education of young men in the high
er branches of education, as well as of preparation of those of
piety for the ministry. Like the Tennents, Blairs, Smith, and
others, he erected near his own dwelling, a log building, of
which he was to be the principal and instructor of young men.
Among the early and eminent ministers and teachers, who
penetrated into western Pennsylvania, was the Rev. Thaddeus
Dod, from New Jersey, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New
York. He removed to the Redstone settlement in 1778, taking
up his abode at Fort Lenalley, on the border of what is now
Virginia. The Fort was a place of shelter and defence, to the
inhabitants of the settlement, against the Indian incursions,
then frequent and alarming. His first preaching and admin
istering the ordinance of baptism, was within the Fort. The
locality was the most perilous from Indian warfare, of any
place in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Dod settled on a farm, in
the neighborhood, and after a few years, a "meeting house"
of hewn logs, was built near the Fort. He possessed a highly
cultivated and well disciplined mind. "His power of concentra
tion, and of holding his thoughts closely upon any point, or
subject of investigation, amidst any amount of external inter
ruption, was perhaps never exceeded." Not only was he an
accurate classical scholar, thoroughly versed in the Latin,
Greek and Hebrew languages, but a profound mathematician.
Soon after his settlement in the west, he united with his great
office of preaching the Gospel, the office of instructor of youth,
in the higher branches of classical and scientific education. The
settlers of this neighborhood, in 1781, united in putting up a

140
Log Academy. It would appear, from historical records, that
Mr. Dod was the first in his efforts, in this wild country, to
promote the cause of education. His pastoral charge was
large, and received his faithful and diligent attention. In
1789, he was appointed first Principal of Washington Acade
my, at Washington, Pa., which, in 1806, was merged into
Washington College. The burning of the building in which
this Academy was conducted, induced Mr. Dod to return to his
first field of labor, where he died in 1793. His pupils held
'him in the highest respect, and "he had the happy faculty of
infusing into those who were capable of it, an intense love of
science and literature." When his various traits of character
are considered, and the remarkable combination of talents
found in him, all must admire the Providential dispensation
that assigned to such a man, so useful and responsible, but yet
perilous and self-denying charge.
Amongst his first scholars, were the Rev. James Hughes,
John Brice, James McGready, Samuel Porter, and Thomas
Marshall, men of talent, piety, and usefulness in the ministry.
The efforts of Rev. Mr. Dod, and Dr. Smith, in that western
region, in education, may have preceded those of Dr. McMil
lan a short time ; and it would appear, that many young men,
who had been studying under their direction, afterwards placed
themselves under the instruction of Dr. McMillan, as to their lit
erary course, as well as their theological instruction. Dr. McMil
lan was the great patron of the Academy founded at Canonsburg,
in 1792, and when it became a chartered College, it had, in him,
a steady and faithful friend, throughout his life. For many
years after his settlement in the west, he and his family were
exposed to great privations and trials, and sometimes to such
peril from the Indian enemy, as to compel them to seek shel
ter in the Fort. His ministerial labors were arduous, and
greatly blessed. It is said, by a biographer, who knew him
well, the late Rev. Dr. M. Brown, " that it was supposed that
hundreds and even thousands, were, through his instrumental
ity, converted and trained up for heaven, and that perhaps one
hundred ministers were trained, more or less, in his school of
the prophets, many of whom were eminently useful."

141
He preached often, in 1833, the year of his death, in the
eighty-second year of his age, and sixtieth of his ministry, on
some occasions leaning on a crutch for the support of his aged
frame.* The Rev. Joseph Smith, was an able coadjutor of Dr. Mc
Millan and Rev. James Power, D. D., in the great western
field of ministerial labor. He had graduated at Princeton in
1762, and was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, to
preach the Gospel in 1767. After laboring for some years in
the eastern settlements, and visiting the west, he accepted of
a call from Cross creek and Buffalo, in western Pennsylvania.
In 1780, he moved into the bounds of the latter, as their pas
tor. " He was a thorough classical scholar, of well disciplined
mind, sound in the faith, abounding in piety and zeal in his
ministerial work, in which his labors, as a pastor, were eminent
ly blessed, and though preaching was his great work, he was
distinguished for his usefulness out of the pulpit, in catechet
ical instruction of the young, and in his earnest and affective
conversation with his people about their eternal interests."
The first school that was opened in the west, for training
young men for the sacred office of the ministry, was begun by
Mr. Smith, at Buffalo, Washington county, Pennsylvania,
about 1785. Mr. Smith had a small building erected in a
corner of his garden, called " the students' room." In this,
and the log cabin of Dr. McMillan, were educated in the west
some men who were distinguished for their influence and use
fulness in society, and in the Church. Amongst these were
the Rev. Messrs. William Swan, Samuel Porter, James Hughes,
John Brice, David Smith, Joseph Patterson. The school for
the languages and sciences was continued for some time, and
then, by some mutual arrangement, was transferred, and or-
* In the grave yard of Charteirs, over his remains, is erected by the con
gregation, a tomb-stone, the following, is a part of the inscription : " Erected
in memory of the Rev. John McMillan, D. D., an able divine, a preacher of
the first order. His distinguished talents, his active benevolence, his private
virtue, his exalted piety, the skill and ability which he displayed in instruct
ing, and training young men for the Gospel ministry, his indefatigable zeal in
promoting his Master's cause, and the best interests of his fellow-men, have
raised a monument to his fame, far more imperishable than the stone which
bears this inscffiption. He was the leading founder of Jefferson College."

142
ganized near Canonsburg, under the care of Dr. McMillan,
and out of which was raised Jefferson College.
The first Presbytery, organized in western Pennsylvania
was, in September, 1781, by the Rev. Messrs. John McMillan,
James Power, and Thaddeus Dod, with their elders ; the Rev.
Joseph Smith, being absent. It was called " the Presbytery
of Redstone." The term " Redstone settlement," designated
most of the country in south western Pennsylvania, claimed
by Pennsylvania or Virginia, embracing what now constitutes
the counties of Fayette, Washington, Green, and parts of
Westmoreland, and Allegheny. The settlement took its name
from that of a creek, which enters the Monongahela near
Brownsville, a place of ancient notoriety, by the name of "Red
stone old Fort."
The influx of emigrants, after the Revolution, was rapid, and
continued from eastern Pennsylvania, as well as from Virgin
ia, with a considerable number direct from Ireland. The great
mass were of Irish nativity, or descent, and members of the
Presbyterian Church.
Amongst them were adventurers, of coarse and uncultivated
habits, ignorant and disorderly, looking to the chase for their
pastime and occupation ; and content with a rude cabin, and a
small patch of land for cultivation, to which there was no
great attachment, when anything more advantageous, in the
country presented itself, as an inducement to a removal. There
were, however, as stated by reliable historians, in this western
settlement, at the close of the Revolutionary war, and after,
" a numerous class of persons, possessing a degree of refine
ment and intelligence, that would have no occasion to blush
in the presence of any class of persons, native or otherwise,
now to be found amongst us. Many of them continued to gath
er around them some of the usual appendages of a higher so
cial life. Throughout a portion of Westmoreland, Fayette
land Washington counties, there were many gentlemen farmers
of refined, easy manners, courtly in their address, social and
^hospitable, always ready to receive the ministers on their wea-
:ry journey to distant meetings, or to the destitute settlements."
Thus with this class of families seated around them through

143
their respective fields of labor, the Presbyterian ministers
were greatly aided in their efforts for the general improvement
of the domestic and social state of the country." In addition
to this class, " there were amongst these settlers of the west, a
still more numerous one, of plain, substantial, Scotch Irish
people, who, though somewhat blunt and unpolished in their
manners, yet for real kindness of disposition, integrity and hos
pitality, were not excelled by any of their descendants."
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the female sex of
this middle class. There was a great energy of character, a
patient endurance of the hardships of frontier life, and a cheer
ful submission to domestic privations, which entitle them to the
grateful remembrance of the present generation." [Old Red
stone by Dr. Smith, 109.]
It must be admitted by every candid inquirer, that the debt
of gratitude owing by the western country, to the four mission
ary pioneers of south western Pennsylvania, was an immense
one ; and which we, at this distant day, are unable to compute.
Their memories should be regarded with reverence, as the great
benefactors of their age. Men of talents and education, com
missioned by the courts of the Church to preach the everlasting
Gospel, to their fellow-men, burning with missionary spirit and
zeal, sought the destitute settlements of our western frontier,
as the field of their labor. They were not held back by the
superior comforts, associations and refinements of society, east
of the mountain ranges, but with their families, at their own
expense, traversed a wilderness of mountains, by the traders'
or Indians' path, with toil, privations, and fatigue, insurmount
able to all but men and women of uncommon energy, and res
olution, to be engaged in a good work. This great western
field was only to be reached and occupied, at the peril of health
and life, from exposure in a country of almost unbroken for
est, and with savage enemies roaming from time to time through
its fastnesses, to way-lay, surprise and often massacre defence
less families. An overuling Providence directed their way,
watched over, and guarded them and their families, on their
perilous journey, and conducted them safely to the places of
their destination on the frontier settlements. When there, the

144
same Almighty care was over them, to guard, and bless them
in their labors in behalf of their fellow-men. Though labor
ing in season and out of season, their service in the work of
their Divine Master was to them all, one of many years, and
the two Messrs. Power and McMillan, who would seem to have
first entered the service, had their lives prolonged to four
score years and upwards. They were allowed to live to see
their work prosper, and the fruits of their labors, in an extend
ed and flourishing Church, an educated and elevated ministry,
and the pupils of their seminaries adorning the learned pro
fessions, and the halls of legislation, with men of education,
learning, and usefulness. There was in the lives of these apos
tles to the frontier, an exalted manifestation of disinterested
ness, and personal sacrifice seldom equalled. They were the
great instruments to promote the religious, moral and intellec
tual improvement of large and rapidly increasing settlements
of American freemen and their families, and in elevating them
to a degree in the scale of intelligence, refinement, enterprise,
elevated Christian principle, and every virtue and quality, with
the most favored communities of our great Commonwealth.
The Rev. Mr. Doddridge, an Episcopal clergyman of esti
mation in western Virginia, and author of a work on the life
and manners of the western settlers, states : "That the minis
try of the Gospel has contributed, no doubt, immensely to the
happy change which has been effected in the state of our
western society. At an early period of our settlements, three
Presbyterian clergymen commenced their clerical labors in our
infant settlements : Rev. Joseph Smith, Rev. John McMillan
and the Rev. James Power. They were pious, patient, labo
rious men, who collected their people into regular congrega
tions, and did for them all that their circumstances would al
low. It was no disparagement to them that their first church
es were the shady groves, and their first pulpits a kind of tent,
constructed of a few rough slabs, covered with clapboards. He
who dwelleth not exclusively in temples made with hands, was
propitious to their devotions." After referring, with appro
bation, to the grammar schools, established at their own hous
es, or in their immediate neighborhoods, he bears his testimo-

145
ny to their success and usefulness, in establishing, first, Can
onsburg Academy, incorporated into Jefferson College, he
says : "This institution has been remarkably successful in its
operations. It has produced a large number of good scholars,
in all the literary professions, and added immensely to the
science of the country. Next to this, Washington College has
been the means of diffusing much of the light of science through
the western country. Too much praise cannot be bestowed
on these good men, who opened these fruitful sources of in
struction for our infant country, at so early a period of its
settlement. They have immensely improved the departments
of theology, law, medicine, and legislation in the western
regions." This is impartial and high testimony, from a respectable and
intelligent minister of another Christian denomination, to the
character and usefulness of the Presbyterian ministers of. the
Scotch Irish race, who at an early day, entered western Penn
sylvania, when a wilderness, and whose labors and success were
in the neighborhood of the dwelling of Mr. Doddridge, and of
which he was for many years an observer.
The usages of our State and National Governments have
been, to accord for public services, to some of the distinguished
actors in the land and naval armaments, their honors, and re
wards, by the resolutions of their legislative bodies, by votes of
thanks, medals or swords. And sometimes the people, by the
highest gift in their power, have elevated to the Presidency of
the Republic, a successful General, with little regard to quali
fication for the office of Chief Magistrate of a constitutional
government. Where death has conquered the conqueror of a
host of his fellow-men by their slaughter, or captivity, there
has been erected to his memory a monument of marble or
bronze, to commemorate his deeds of human carnage.
The benefactors of their age, by deeds of philanthrophy, by
their labors of love, in the religious, moral, and intellectual
improvement of great communities of the people, over exten
sive districts of the]country, unprovided for by the government,
are left only to the spontaneous effusions and gratitude of in
dividuals, or the communities, specially favored by their labors.
10

146
What is there, in a Christian country, to elevate a military
chieftain in public favor, above the faithful missionary in the
service of the King of kings ? The military commander, in
his march to the seat of war, when on the frontier, has his ac
companiments of soldiers, to pitch arid strike his tent, have
the care of his horse and baggage, protect his person, minis
ter to his wants, and execute his orders, and when he reaches
the country of the enemy, his toil, exposure and peril are often
ended by a campaign of a few months, or a single battle, in
which the fortunes of war, superior numbers, or military
tactics, had given him a victory, to be applauded by his all-
observing countrymen.
It is to be deplored, that the tendencies of public sentiment,
in our great Republic, should be so much to create a war spirit,
foster and honor military prowess, place it in the front
rank of public service, and make war and the army the high
road to honor and distinction. The organization of our gov
ernment is adapted to peace, with the progress and pros
perity that are the growth of peaceful relations. War is
not the element for its success and permanency, but should be
considered and averted as a great calamity to the nation, un
less, when national honor and safety impose it.
The missionary of the Gospel of peace, is a soldier of the
cross, whose weapon is the sword of the Spirit, with the Bible
for his shield and banner. His war is with ignorance, vice,
sin and infidelity ; the conquest sought by him is not one of
blood or death, but to bring all the enemies of God and man
captive from death unto life, and from sin unto righteousness.
His energy, fortitude, bravery, and zeal, are attested by toil,
and exposure of life, not only in his solitary and perilous
journeys in the country, traversed by savage enemies, or in the
campaign of one season, or a single battle field, but by a long
life of faithful and devoted service to his Divine Master. His
reward is the satisfaction of doing that Master's work on
earth, and he may hope for the recompense of reward to a
faithful servant in the life to come, from the righteous Jud^e
of the living and the dead.
Ministers Plenipotentiary have been appointed from time to

147
time, and sent, by our national government, with expensive out
fits and salaries, to represent it in its foreign relations, to the
European governments of the highest rank; and on some occa
sions, they have been honored with a passage across the ocean
in a national ship ; and after living sumptuously, and enjoying
the society of royalty, and nobility, for some years, returned
to their country, and yet how few of these public characters,
in all their diplomacy, have rendered to the welfare and pros
perity of their country, a tithe of the benefits rendered by more
than ope of the Presbyterian ministers named, in the mission
from the Church, to the frontier settlements of western Penn
sylvania, -by their labor and services in extending religious and
moral influence, and diffusing and elevating education.
After the Revolutionary war was ended, and peace estab
lished, the emigration to western Pennsylvania increased rap
idly. The district of country, embracing the present counties
of Westmoreland, Fayette, Allegheny, Washington and Green,
was attractive to settlers from the counties of Chester, Lan
caster, York and Cumberland. Many of these were emigrants
from Ireland, who had taken up their residence for a time, in
the eastern part of the State, where they had sojourned, with
their frieads, or countrymen. Many emigrants also, as they
arrived from Ireland, directed their way to the Scotch Irish
settlements, rapidly progressing, in south western Pensylva
nia. The mass of these, were men of intelligence, resolution,
energy, religious and moral character, having means that ena
bled them to supply themselves with suitable selections of land,
for their residence and farm, and with the necessary stock and
implements, for their accomraodation. They were like their
predecessors, east of the mountains, agriculturists of substance
and industry, who sought a place for the permanent abode of
their families, and the means of supporting them.
It is matter of some surprise, that so many substantial and
respectable settlers, were attracted to such a residence at that
time, west of the mountains, when there was so much land un
cultivated in the Kittochtinny valley, and other valleys, east
of the Allegheny mountain, that were equally fertile, and so
much more accessible, and more convenient to the eastern set-

148
tlements, and markets, as well as the land and other public-
offices, of the State government. These lands were to be pur
chased from individual holders, at moderate advances on the
land office prices. We must suppose, that they had friends-
and relatives, who had preceded them, to the western waters^
whose association and neighborhood they preferred, and whose
description of the country of their settlement, and its fresh and
fertile soil, had in it much to attract them. We cannot say,
at this day, they acted unwisely, or that their circumstances
and those of their familes, would have been improved by a res
idence east of the Allegheny mountain. The resolution, ener
gy, enterprise and industry, that enabled them to overcome the
obstacles of a journey across the mountain ranges, and the toils,.
sacrifices, and perils, incident to settlements so remote from
market and more advanced communities, as well as from gov
ernment aid and protection, formed in the men and women of
those times, the characters most desirable and useful in this
new and opening country, whose labors and perseverance con
verted the wilderness into well cultivated farms, constituted a
barrier to savage incursions on the eastern settlements, organ
ized congregations of Christian worshippers, and established
and maintained schools and seminaries of education. The ac
tivity and character of such a population, were not to end with
the one generation. It was transmissible to descendants, who
had been brought up under such training and education, as
' made them, in after times, the great pioneers and founders of
settlements of the northwestern territory and the States form
ed out of it, in which these descendants of the Scotch Irish set
tlers of western Pennsylvania, were amongst the most promi
nent, useful, and distinguished citizens of the Republic.
These settlers are not to be confounded with rambling set
tlers, who were generally in advance of civilization, and on the
confines of the frontier, and who made their hasty settlement
without office grant or right, putting up a rough cabin, as a
shelter for their families, attached to which, was a small patch
of clear land, for the cultivation of some garden vegetables'
and corn, depending on their guns for supply of meat for their
families, and for the skins and furs, that furnished them some
«f their clothing and household articles, and were their staples

149
for sale or barter to the trader. This class of adventurers,
who were, it is believed, more numerous on the confines of Vir
ginia, and adjacent, and who have been graphically described
by the Rev. Mr. Doddridge, in his published notes, on their hab
its, condition, and education, were little better than the Indians,
and were ready to sell the preemption, or inception of title,
under their improvement, to some settler of more means, and
of different habits and character, who was able and willing to
pay the squatter an advance on his improvement, and take
from the land office an official grant, predicated on the im
provement, as the inception of title. The improver, or squatter,
thus selling, was ready, on short notice, to gather up his small
stock of goods and chatties, and from his knowledge of the
great extent of unimproved lands, in the country where he was
accustomed to roam in pursuit of game, or his Indian foes,
would set himself down on some other eligible tract of vacant
land, and prosecute anew his speculating and roving propensi
ties, by erecting the small log cabin, to be occupied until it
might, in time, be sold to advantage, to some exploring emi
grant, who was willing to purchase the possessory right to be
confirmed by an official grant from the State, on the establish
ed terms of the law.
Settlers of the same character are to be found, in these days,
on the frontier of the United States, intruding on the public
lands, as well as those of Indian reservation, before they are
open to appropriation and sale. They claim a preemption,
when the lands are offered for sale by the. government, and
intimidate all competition of purchasers, by threats of violence
and bloodshed, which are sometimes put into barbarous execu
tion. They generally profess a willingness to sell out their
preemption, which is often only a wrongful possession against
law, and maintained in violation of law, but to which peaceful
and orderly settlers are, for peace and safety, forced to submit.
After sale, the roaming settler will renew and pursue his squat-
-tinc propensities and uncivilized habits, in some more remote
territory. Amongst the emigrants that removed to western Pennsyl
vania, after the Revolutionary war, were ministers of the

150
Gospel in the Presbyterian Church, educated in the Log Col
leges of eastern Pennsylvania, and graduates of Princeton
College. Amongst these, was the Rev. James Finley, of Irish
nativity, educated in his classical studies at the Log College,
under the Rev. Samuel Blair, where he was trained to an ac
curate scholarship in the languages. He was the brother of
Dr. Finley, President of Princeton College. The Rev. James
Finley removed to the Forks of Youghiogeny, in western Penn
sylvania, in 1783, where he was called and settled as a pastor
in the Presbyterian Church. He had been licensed as a min
ister and officiated as such, for some years before, in eastern
Pennsylvania, and had visited the Presbyterian congregations
of west Pennsylvania, some years before his removal, to reside
in that country. He was a man of eminent piety, and a devoted,
faithful and excellent pastor.
The Rev. James Dunlap, a native of Chester county, Penn
sylvania, receiving his early education in the schools of his
neighborhood, graduated at Princeton College in 1773. He
studied divinity under the Rev. James Finley, at east Notting
ham, before his removal to the west ; was licensed by the Pres
bytery of Donegal about 1781 ; ordained, sine titulo, by the
Presbytery of New Castle, at Fagg's manor, in 1781, and
shortly after removed to western Pennsylvania, where he was
installed pastor of the Congregations of Laurel Hill and Dun
lap's creek. In 1803, he was chosen President of Jefferson Col
lege, a station which he held with great respect until 1811, hav
ing had conferred on him the title of Doctor of Divinity, by
the Trustees of the College, with which he was connected.
He was represented as a man of great piety, and eminent for his
accurate attainments in classical literature, with which it is
said, he was so familiar, as to have the ancient classics in his
memory, to recite, or hear and correct the recital of others.
There were several other ministers of the Presbyterian
Church, educated in the Log Colleges of eastern Pennsylvania,
some of whom graduated at Princeton College, directed their
way, about the same time, to western Pennsylvania, as a field
for their labor and services, and where their labors were great
ly blessed and successful. This great district of country, em-

151
bracing now six or more counties of distinction, wealth and
influence in the State, would seem to have been peculiarly
attractive to all classes of citizens, at an early day, many of
whom, were eminent for talents, intelligence, learning, and
usefulness. They disregarded the want of political, commer
cial, and social advantages, as enjoyed in eastern Pennsylva
nia, and would seem to have anticipated the improvements,
that were to overcome the mountain barriers, and place them
nearer to their State Capitol, as well as the seat of the Na
tional Government, eastern markets, and eastern associations.
Amongst these was Arthur St. Clair, of Scotch nativity,
who, as a military commander, settled at Fort Ligonier, where
he was, at the organization of Westmoreland county, in 1773,
of the Courts of which, he was appointed the first Clerk.
Though esteemed for military talents of an high order, brave
ry, integrity, and patriotism, which elevated him to the rank
of Major General in the army of the American colonies, yet
misfortune marked him as her own, and his memorable defeat
by the Indians, has always been regarded as a sad event in the
history of the Republic, imputable more to the condition and
supplies of the army, than want of Generalship, in the com
mander, who, at the time, was helpless in his tent, from dis
ease, and not able to mount his horse without assistance.
Having served his country in many civil offices, with ability
and fidelity, he died in Westmoreland county, in 1818, at the
age of 84.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, of high reputation, as a scholar,
lawyer, politician and jurist in Pennsylvania, removed to west
ern Pennsylvania, about 1781, as a place for his permanent
abode. Having been brought by his parents from Scotland to
York county, Pennsylvania, when he was a child ; his early ed
ucation was in the schools of his neighborhood, and pursued at
Princeton College, where he graduated. He was licensed in
the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and served in the
American army as a chaplain. Having relinquished the min
istry, and studied law, he entered on its practice in western
Pennsylvania, when that country was little more than a wilder
ness. In his profession, he was prosperous, and distinguished.

152
In 1800 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of
the State, a station which he filled with ability, and which he
retained until his death, in 1818.
James Ross, of Pittsburg, eminent for talents and learning,
and distinguished as a lawyer, advocate and statesman, emi
grated, a young man, from the Barrens of York county, to
western Pennsylvania, shortly after the revolutionary war.
He was a descendant of Scotch Irish parents, who had given
him the plain education their circumstances and neighborhood
afforded. By application, he advanced himself in his educa
tion, and for some time, was employed as a teacher. By pur
suing his studies, he soon qualified himself for admission to the
bar. His great powers of mind, with industry and application,
gave him a rank, as a lawyer, that had few equals, and as a
member of the Pennsylvania State Convention, to form a Con
stitution for its government, and as a statesman, in the United
States Senate, he was not surpassed. His high and merited
reputation, made him a public man of celebrity, in Pennsylva
nia, and of much regard in other States.
Alexander Addison, a Scotchman by birth, and education,
was licensed as a minister, by a Presbytery of Scotland, and
emigrated to the United States. He took up his abode in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1784, as a Presbyterian
minister. As such, he officiated there acceptably, to the Pres
byterian congregation in Washington, for some time, and they
were desirous of having him for their permanent pastor. Mr.
Addison there gave his attention to the study of the law, and
withdrawing from the ministry, was admitted as an attorney
of the Courts. His talents and superior acquirements, soon
commanded attention and regard. In 1791, he was appointed
the first President Judge of the Judicial District for that sec
tion of the State. He was a man of strong mind, great attain
ments, and undoubted integrity. His judicial opinions and
charges to the Grand Juries of his District, are monuments of
his sound judgment, legal learning, and political wisdom, as
well as of his devotion to the peace, and good order of society,
and the maintenance of the constitution and laws. Presiding
at a time of great party excitement, and in a district where

153
there was an organized, unlawful, but popular opposition, to
some of the laws, and constituted authorities of the national
government, he made himself obnoxious to the factious multi
tudes, by his conservative principles, and the exercise of his
judicial powers in the preservation of order, and submission to
the laws of the government. He was somewhat impatient in
temper, and could not be courteous to ignorance, combined
with rudeness and presumption.
Though impeached, and removed from his judicial station by
a partisan Legislature of Pennsylvania, for frivolous cause,
that did not impeach his integrity, he was dishonored less, in
the estimation of a virtuous and intelligent community, than
the public body, which unjustly sought to make him a victim to
party persecution, and individual hostility.*
Albert Gallatin, a Swiss young man of talents and learning,
who had graduated at Geneva, in Switzerland, sought a home
in the American republic, and after visiting several parts of
the tTjiited States, between 1783 and 1785, by the advice of
his friends, selected a place on the banks of the Monongahela,
within the present county of Fayette, Pennsylvania, for his
residence. As soon as he became known in that humble re
tirement, his talents and acquirements obtained for him the
public respect and confidence. As early as 1789, he was
elected, from the district of his residence, a member of the
Convention to amend the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which
brought him to public notice, as a man of- abilities and learn
ing. His subsequent life was one of official service, in the
highest stations in the gift of the people, or in the appointment
of the crovernment, with the exception of the Presidency. His
abilities, as a statesman, financier, and diplomatist, were ac
knowledged by the country, and are familiar to all who are
conversant with the history of our government.
William Findlay, of the county of Westmoreland, settled in
that county about the close of the Revolutionary war. He
was an emigrant from Ireland, who had first settled on the

¦* " Alexander Addison was the President of the Courts in four counties,
and I venture to say, that a more intelligent, learned, upright and fearless
Judge was not to be found in the State." [Dr. Carnahan.]

154
Conococheague, in the Kittochtinny valley, about 1764. His
means were small, and he there followed the humble occupa
tion of a weaver. He was of limited early education, but of
strong intellect, which he cultivated by reading and reflection.
He acquired a knowledge of history and government, which
made him an active and influential member of society, in its
relations, and in all public measures. As a public man, he
was respected for sagacity, experience and judgment. The
confidence of the community, in his patriotism and judgment,
was manifested where he resided, by his selection as one of
the Council of Censors of the State government under the
Constitution of 1776. He was a member of the Convention
that formed the Constitution of 1790, and represented the
district in which he resided, in other official stations of distinc
tion and responsibility.
Scotch Irish families moved to this western district, during
and immediately after, the Revolutionary war, in great num
bers. In these families, were members, who united piety with
intelligence, and a desire to cultivate their minds, and who,
under the teachings and direction of the Rev. Messrs. Smith,
McMillan, and Dod, qualified themselves, by their studies, for
the ministry, to which, after proper probation and trial, they
were admitted. Many of them were distinguished for ability
and learning, as well as their aptness to teach, and their faith
ful devotion and labor as pastors ; amongst whom, were the
Rev. Joseph Patterson, Rev. Samuel Porter, Rev. Robert
Marshall, of Irish nativity. Rev. James Hughes, Rev. John
Brice, Rev. James McGready, Rev. Elisha McCurdy, of Irish
descent, and others.
The praise of these men is still in the congregations, in
which they were ministers, laboring faithfully, acceptably, and
usefully. To these were added many other Presbyterian min
isters of education, learning and piety, from the eastern part of
the State, licensed by the Presbyteries of Donegal and Car
lisle. We cannot give a sketch of their usefulness and labors,
without extending this article beyond our proper limits.*
* The reader is referred, for full and very interesting information, respect
ing the incidents of their lives, in this western field, to Dr. Elliot's life of
McCurdy, and others, and to " Old Redstone," by Dr. Smith.

In this western country, there were, at the close of the last
century, and immediately before, a large amount of intelli
gence, with religious and moral character, as well as means and
opportunities of literary, scientific, and theological education
for young men, who would seek it, not as a pastime, for a por
tion of their life, but to be seduously improved to the acquisi
tion of knowledge, with mental cultivation and discipline.
The great majority of the early settlers, manifested their
satisfaction with their residence in this wild country, by
making it their homes until death. We may, at this day,
wonder at the contentment of intelligent and highly cultivated
minds, so much to be admired, in the midst of privations,
which, in this age, would be considered as beyond endurance,
by any who could withdraw themselves from them, and obtain
a residence, where there were more comforts, and social enjoy
ments. The occupation of almost all, was agriculture ; their taste
rural; like their friends of the Kittochtinny valley, they had
no partiality for towns and villages, which, when established,
it was only in compliance with some special necessity, and the
public wanted the accommodation. Westmoreland county was
organized in 1773, embracing all south western Pennsylvania.
The place appointed for holding of its Courts, and county
Offices, was Ilanna's town, a small village, and the only one in
the district. It was situated on the old Forbes army road,
distant but a few miles from the present town of Greensburg,
afterwards located there. Hanna's town consisted of about
thirty log houses and cabins, including a log Court House and
Jail. The Courts for this large district, were only held at this
place, and before Justices of the Peace. This was at a time
when Virginia claimed this village, as well as nearly all West
moreland county, as being her territory ; and in maintenance
of her jurisdiction and authority, had established her Courts at
a place, south a few miles, of where the tovm of Washington is
located, and also where Brownsville now is, in the county of
Fayette. There were at this period, but 'a few log cabins or
dwellings adjacent to Fort Pitt. The conflict between these
territorial claims of the two governments, were harassing to

156
the settlers under Pennsylvania, who, as well as the officers,
and magistrates, under its government, were subjected to fre
quent arrest, and imprisonment, by persons under the author
ity and command of Dunmore, the abitrary Governor of Vir
ginia. These conflicts were kept up for some years, and even
after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, and until
the royal Governor of Virginia, preferring to retain his
rank, and the royal service, to a republican government, fled
as a fugitive from Virginia, to the shelter of the army of
his King. This conflict of jurisdiction, and of the officers of
the law, were, after this, in a great measure, suspended in the
district, by mutual forbearance and accommodation. The title
to lands was uncertain, and embarassing to the settlers, and
to those who were desirous of purchasing, or making an appro
priation under the government, until the boundary line was
permanently established in 1784, by which Pennsylvania juris
diction and right were quieted, and confirmed, over this large
district of fertile and valuable country.
The settlers were for many years during the Revolution,
and for a long time after, exposed to Indian invasions, alarm
ing ravages, and massacres, and for the defence of themselves
and families, against the savage enemy, the government made
little provision, and left them, in a great measure, to their own
resources. Their means of conveyance and transportation, from the
eastern settlements and markets, were the pack horse, by the
traders' paths, across mountain ranges of great extent, not ad
mitting of wheel carriages. Their trade to New Orleans, was
tedious and perilous, for many hundred miles, through a hos
tile Indian country, and their return from New Orleans was
either by sea, to the Atlantic cities, or by traversing the west
ern wilderness for two thousand miles.
Their merchandize, and groceries, with iron and salt, were
brought across the mountains on pack horses, from Chambers
burg, Hagerstown, or Winchester. The first wagon that pass
ed over this barrier of mountain ranges, to these western set
tlements, was in 1789, from Hagerstown to Brownsville. It
was drawn by four horses, carrying two thousand pounds, and

157
was near a month on the road, of about one hundred and thirty
miles. The first newspaper published west of the Allegheny moun
tains, was the "Pittsburg Gazette," in 1786, by John Scull and
Joseph Hall. At that time there was no mail to the district ;
all correspondence was carried on by special express, or casual
travellers and traders. In the fall of 1786, the first post was
estabhshed from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and one from Vir
ginia, to meet the other at Bedford.
The cbunty of Washington was not organized until 1781,
and the town of Washington within it, laid out in 1782, at a
place known as an Indian village, called Catfish, from the
name of its Indian Chief, who had resided there at an early
day. The town of Pittsburg, was laid out in 1784, by agents of
the old Proprietary family, on a reserved manor; yet its inhab
itants had to attend their Courts at Greensburg, until 1788,
when Allegheny county was erected.
In 1786, Pittsburg contained but thirty six log houses, one
stone, and one frame house, and in it there were five small
stores. Hanna's town, the principal and only town in the district, was-
attacked by the Indians, in 1782, captured and burned, with
its log Court House, Offices and Jail. Its inhabitants having
taken shelter in the adjacent stockade fort, escaped the fury
of the savages, through the stratagem, bravery and manage
ment of a few settlers sheltered in it, and who were practised
in Indian warfare.
Merchandize and groceries were obtained for family use,
from merchants, established in various parts of the country,
who obtained their supplies from the eastern cities and towns,
through the traders and carriers by pack horsesV
It is matter of history, that the paper on which the " Pitts
burg Gazette " was printed, was brought on pack horses for
some years from Chambersburg, where it was manufactured ;
and that in 1792, the publishers, not receiving their expected
supply by the pack horse carrier, who reported, " No paper
finished," Mr. Scull borrowed from the keepers of the public

158
I stores, three reams, for a number of his paper, until the pack
horses would again return from Chambersburg.
Fayette county, was organized in 1783, yet Uniontown,
which consisted of a few log buildings, did not improve much
until after 1796. The transportation of merchandize across
the mountains, and the necessary articles of iron and salt, con
tinued by pack horses, until near the close of the last century.
, As late as 1796, at Chambersburg, pack horses were loaded
with various articles for the west, including bar iron. In that
year, the first paper mill, west of the mountains, was erected
at Brownsville, and until it was in operation, the paper mill at
Chambersburg supplied the entire west with paper, including
Kentucky. The first stage coach was established from Chambersburg to
Pittsburg, in 1804, over a rough and narrow mountain road,
opened a little by the townships, with the aid of contributions
from some citizens of public spirit, on or near the line. The
turnpike roads, from the east sids of the mountains to Pitts
burg and Brownsville, were constructed for public use about
1820. With all the disadvantages and privations enumerated, the
western district filled up rapidly, with industrious, enterpris
ing, resolute and intelligent inhabitants, who were not deterred
by such obstacles, and who were willing to risk their fortunes
in this land of promise, though forbidding, in many respects.
The predominant element of character in the population of
this western district, was that of Scotch Irish origin. The great
mass of it was of Irish and Scotch nativity, or descent. The
influence, peculiarities, and policy of that race were manifested
in the progress, improvements, and institutions of the commu
nity, spread over this wide district. In habits, taste, religious
and moral character, political sentiments, and social condition,
they resembled much the same race that peopled the Kittoch
tinny or Cumberland valley of Pennsylvania.
Like it, they were still more remote from the offices, atten
tion, supervision or provision of the State government. Their
patriotism was exhibited as early as 16th May, 1775, at a pub
lic meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland county, con-

159
vened at Hanna's town, in which they denounced the British
ministry as wicked, and the Parliament corrupt, and the acts
agninst Massachusetts Bay, as a system " of tyranny and op
pression, and that they were ready to oppose it with their hves
and fortunes."* British pohcy and cruelty having instigated
the savages on our western frontier, to renew their hostilities on
the frontier settlements, compelled all the men of Westmoreland,
fit for military service, to remain near their homes, to defend
the country, during the Revolutionary war, against the incur
sions of the many tribes of Indians that dwelled and roamed
between the Ohio and Allegheny waters and the Lakes.
In that defence, they were exercised by frequent alarms
from the savages, who frequently stole their way, unobserved
into the settlements, surprising families, and marking their
way with fire and bloodshed. After Independence, children
were often carried off captive to Detroit, still in possession of
the British, contrary to treaty, where they were permitted to
be sold. After their depredations, the Indians, in their ac
customed warfare, made a hasty retreat by their byways across
the Ohio. The continued state of alarm, and great insecurity
of the families of the settlers, induced the erection of stockade
forts and block houses, for shelter and defence. The men had
their firearms always ready for use, and generally in their
hands or at their sides, in their occupations in or near their
farms and dwelhngs.
The State government, or the Confederation, were not in con
dition to afford the necessary relief or protection. The obli
gations of the whole country and the State and National gov
ernments was great, to the brave and resolute men, who, in
the midst of many alarms and perils, to their lives and that of
their families, defended that frontier, against the incursions of
powerful tribes of savages, and in so doing, relieved the settle
ments east of the mountains, from the murderous attacks of
this terrible enemy. For this interposition and defence, these
men received no adequate requital, either in land or in money.
These harassing wars of the Indians, were continued until
* Amer. Archives, 4th Series, Vol. 2, page 615.

160
Wayne's victory, in 1794, which subdued the Indians, and gave
security and permanent peace to the settlements.
Yet, with privations, sacrifices and trials, so many and great,
this western district increased rapidly in population, improve
ment, and resources. The great majority of the people were
contented and reconciled to the country they had selected for
their abode. The great instrumentality in the improvement
of this increasing and wide spread community, in religious,
moral, intellectual and social condition, were the Presbyterian
ministers, who have been referred to, as the great pioneers
in extending religious influence and congregational organiza
tions for Christian worship, and in extending and diffusing ed
ucation. The youth were educated at home, in the rudiments of
knowledge, under parental instruction, and trained to obedi
ence and subordination, as the unbending law of the family.
They learned there the great truths of the Gospel, and " what
man was to believe concerning God, and what duty God re
quires of man." The schools established by Presbyterian min
isters, in which they were instructors, as well as the principal ;
or which were under their supervision, confirmed and extended
the home education. The scholars of these schools were de
sirous of improving their minds, adding, by application, to
their knowledge, and profiting under all the facilities and
means they enjoyed, for their instruction. The habits of obe
dience and subordination that were established at home, were
brought into the school room, in all their force.
The pastors of congregations, or the missionaries of the
Church, by their influence and knowledge, cooperated in the
great work of religious and moral instruction, by their teach
ings and exhortations, which were regarded with reverence, as
those of learned and pious men, commissioned by the courts of
the Presbyterian Church.
The impress of such instrumentalities, was not only mani
fested in the families of church members, but by association
and influence extended beyond the pale of organized congre
gations ; and their tendency was to reform, and elevate public
sentiment, and morals, as well as the habits and manners of

161
the people. The great success of the ministers, in the early
history of this new country, is evidence of the Divine blessing
and sanction, which accompanied and impressed their labors.
The old Redstone Presbytery, in 1781, embraced within its
bounds, old Westmoreland, as called, which then included all
southwestern Pennsylvania. There were then in it but four
Presbyterian ministers. Such has been the increase of Pres
byterian influence and organization, that by the census of
1850, there is reported in this district of the Presbyterian
Church, in all its branches, 204 churches.*
As has been stated, classical schools were early established by
the founders of the Redstone Presbytery, at Canonsburg, Wash
ington and some other places. These, under the patronage of
the Presbyterian ministers, and Scotch Irish settlers of the
district, were elevated to the Colleges of Washington and Jef
ferson. Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, has been eminent
ly useful in extending education in the great west. Its grad
uates have held a high place in the ministry, and in the pro
fessions of law and medicine, and it has given a superior educa
tion to many respectable citizens of various occupations. Jef
ferson College has educated nearly six hundred young men for
the ministry, during fifty-three years of existence, of whom it
is said, thirty-five have entered the foreign field.
Washington College has also been instrumental in giving to
the country a number of graduates of distinction and useful
ness. Both these Institutions have been under Presbyterian
influence and direction.
There was established, many years since, a Theological Sem
inary at Canonsburg, under the direction of the Associate
Presbyterian Church, and it is still maintained.
At Pittsburg there was established something more than
thirty years since, the Western University of Pennsylvania,
which has graduated a large number of students, a great pro
portion of whom devoted themselves to the ministry of the
Gospel, in one or other branch of the Presbyterian Church.
About the same time, was established in Allegheny city, the

* Allegheny 69, Washington 48, Westmoreland 29, Fayette 19, Green 10,
Indiana 29. 11

162
Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church,
; founded by its General Assembly, and under its care and di-
:rection. It has a faculty of able and learned Professors.
About the same time the Theological Seminary of the Asso
ciate Reformed Church, and also the Allegheny Theological
Institute of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, were estab
lished in Allegheny city, being Presbyterian Institutions.
These have been under the direction of men distinguished as
Theologians, and the purposes of the Institutions were to pre
pare, by education, candidates for the ministry, in their sever
al ecclesiastical associations, in such manner as would qualify
them for the important office of ministers of the Gospel.
In other counties within this district, have been established
Academies, furnishing a classical education to those of the
county that were desirous of it.
It is believed that this rural district of Pennsylvania, under
the workings of its Scotch Irish element, will compare with
any rural district of the Union, in the advancement of religious
institutions and Christian instruction, and in intellectual and
moral education, internal improvement, social order, good mor
als, public spirit and patriotism.
Mr. Day, in his Collections, speaking of Washington county,
says : " That the citizens, generally descendants of the Scotch
Irish, are noted as an orderly, well educated, and church going
people ; and the best evidence of this, is the number and flour
ishing state of the colleges, seminaries, and benevolent institu
tions of the town and its vicinity."* This commendation is
from a descendant of the Puritans, who, in his historic work, as
before referred to, has exhibited no partiality for the Scotch
Irish race of Pennsylvania.
In the early history of this district of Pennsylvania, there
is a dark side not to be overlooked. That great political and
moral offence committed by a large portion of their people,
against the peacb, laws and government of the United States,
in the years 1792, 3, and 4, by an organized opposition, in re
sistance of those laws, imposing a tax on distillation of whiskey,

* Day's Hist. Col., 664.

163
known as the western insurrection, or whiskey war, was too
notorious and reprehensible to be allowed to pass into oblivion.
The combinations in the counties of Washington and Alle
gheny, were large and influential, to obstruct the execution of
the laws, in doing which, violent acts were perpetrated against
the persons and property of the officers of the national govern
ment. The opposition commenced with the avowed purpose
of having repealed, by Congress, this law, as inexpedient, im
politic, unequal and oppressive in its operation, and especially
obnoxious to the people of this district. Yet this was not
enough to satisfy the views and designs of some unprincipled
and ambitious leaders, who sought a prominence and distinc
tion in public favor, by availing themselves of the hostility
with the western people to this particular law, and excited the
prejudices of the people against the national government, its
measures, and the party who administered it, at the head of
which government was then the father of his country.
That they might be elevated to power and rule, these dema
gogues were willing to involve the country in a civil war, and
pull down the pillars of the Republic. The tendency of their
measures was to subvert the government. Though they advo
cated in some of their public meetings, military organization
and resort to arms, yet, fortunately for the public peace, there
were in those meetings, some more judicious and honest men,
who had not cast off their patriotism and allegiance, were not
ready for " treason or rebellion," and had influence sufficient
to restrain the people from giving support to the violent and
treasonable measures of profligate leaders.
Congress had amended the laws complained of, so as to make
them as little objectionable as was allowable to be effective, and
the administration had exhausted all its means of conciliation
with the insurgents, without success. The civil authority was
found totally incompetent to execute the laws, and maintain the
public peace. There was no alternative left to the Executive
government, but a choice between submission to lawless combi
nations against the government and laws, or to execute the
laws passed by the Representatives of the people, in conform
ity to the Constitution, with all the powers confided to the
Chief Magistrate of the Republic.

164
The National government, under the Federal constitution,
was then in its infancy : an experiment on trial ; but for
tunately for the country, at such a crisis, Washington was at
the head of the government. Whilst the President took mea
sures to call out the militia to suppress the insurrection, he
expressed his deep regret at the occasion, but with the most
solemn conviction, that the essential interests of the Union de
manded it, that the very existence of the government and the
fundamental principles of social order were involved in the
issue, the insurgents were, by proclamation, required to dis
perse, and retire to their respective homes.
The President, though firm and decided to execute the laws
and maintain the government, made, in the midst of prepara
tion for military organization, a peaceful effort to bring the
disaffected, to a sense of their duty, appointing three commis
sioners of talents and integrity, to repair to the scene of insur
rection, and confer with them, promising amnesty, in case of
submission to the laws. In this they were unsuccessful, and
the President was under the painful necessity of putting the
military force in motion.
It is not within our proposed limits, or purpose, to give a
detail of the movements of the insurgents, or the military ope
rations that became necessary. When the alternative was im
posed on Washington, as President, of executing the law, and
maintaining the government, he was as firm and decided, as he
had before been mild and conciliating. His call for a military
force, adequate to the occasion, was cheerfully, as well as
promptly obeyed by the people. By his wise and energetic
measures, and the presence of his person, with the army of
citizen soldiers, of all classes and occupations, this formidable
insurrection was suppressed without bloodshed, and the laws
and government maintained. Bradford, the prominent agita
tor and leader, made his escape, as a fugitive from justice, into
the Spanish dominions. Two other of the principal insurgents,
Philip Vegol and John Mitchell, were tried for treason and
found guilty, but afterwards pardoned by the President.
President Washington, in his speech to Congress, remarked,
that the promptitude, with which his call for support from his

165
fellow citizens had been obeyed, demonstrated, that they un
derstood the true principles of government and liberty, and
" that, notwithstanding all the devices which have been used to
sway them from their interest and duty, they are now as ready
to maintain the authority of the laws against licentious inva
sions, as they were to defend their rights against usurpation."
In the extenuation of the great public offence committed in
this district, regard must be had to the condition of the coun
try, and the circumstances of the people, at the time. They
had, during the Revolutionary war, and for many years after,
been left, in a great measure, defenceless, by both National
and State governments, which had been disabled by embarass-
ments arising out of the war, to afford the aid required by this
isolated and exposed district. Nothing had been done to im
prove the means of communication, or transportation to the
eastern markets. As agriculturists, they could not carry their
grain entire to market on their pack horses; and because it could
not be transported to New Orleans, but with great danger, delay,
and uncertainty, they were driven to the necessity of reducing
the products of their farms, to the most portable size by dis
tillation. Yet they were not an intemperate people. Intem
perance was not the vice of those times, we are assured by Dr.
Smith, in his history of the Redstone Presbytery.* "The oppo
sition to the law, imposing duties on distillation, was not
chargeable to any special fondness, with the people, for the
intemperate use of whiskey. It was the result of a delusion,
respecting their rights, and an impression that they were wrong
fully and oppressively taxed in the very article, which alone
they could turn to account in trade, and commerce, and there
by secure for themselves and families, the very necessaries of
life." This delusion was fomented and encouraged by their
ambitious and profligate leaders, who used it to excite the peo
ple against all the measures of the National government, and
although the mass of the people who were disaffected, never
dreamed of carrying their opposition to the measures of gov
ernment to forcible resistance, yet many, by attending their

* Old Bedstone, 252.
11*

166
unlawful assemblies, aided to create a tumultuous and treason
able movement, which they could not afterwards repress, or
allay, as they desired. With the leaders, it was practical nul
lification, under their organization, for resistance to the exe
cution of the law, by violence to, and personal abuse of its offi
cers. The abuse by these leaders and their partizan confeder
ates, of all who advised moderate measures for redress, under
the constitution, intimidated many orderly and law abiding
citizens, from an expression of their opinions.
In the midst of this great excitement and delusion, there
was not, in any public meeting, a leader so bold as to threaten
disunion, or suggest it, as desirable or possible. They were
well aware, that the public virtue and patriotism of the coun
try, would recoil from any decided approach to it; and that the
man who would be so base and unfaithful to his country, as to
propose it, would be made to sink under the weight of public
odium, and if thereafter notorious, it would be by the finger of
public scorn, directed to him. In those days no one undertook
to calculate the value of the Union. It was esteemed price
less. It was reserved for the small politicians and noisy dem
agogues of these days of boasted progress, to seek elevation
and influence in communities disaffected with some legislation,
to talk of and threaten in public assemblies, dissolution of the
union, with as much flippancy, presumption and indifference,
as they would talk of dissolving some petty partnership of their
own formation. Public virtue and patriotism would seem to be
on the wane in our experimental republic, when such senti
ments are tolerated without a general burst of indignation.
It is stated by Dr. Smith, in his remarks on that disreputa
ble public movement in opposition to the government, that few
of the Presbyterians joined in the movement, and that all
their ministers opposed it strenuously and successfully.
; Mr. Findlay, who was somewhat implicated, in some of the
first movements of these unlawful assemblies, states, in refer
ence to a public meeting at Couche's Fort, " That while they
were deliberating, what was to be done, the Rev. Mr. Clark,
a venerable and very old clergyman, (of the Presbyterian
Church) expostulated with them on the impropriety of the en-

167
terprise, and used his utmost endeavors to dissuade them from
it." He has also, in his history of that insurrection, borne his
testimony to " the industry of the clergy, in promoting sub
mission to the laws," and states several instances of it.
Judge Brackenridge, who was well acquainted with the in
fluences exciting insurrection, or dissuading it, states in his
history, that "great pains were taken, particularly by the
clergy, in various congregations, to restrain it. The Rev.
Samuel Porter, the Rev. John McMillan, aud others, had from
the first, borne a decided testimony against the forcible oppo
sition to the laws." " Previous to the day of giving the test of
submission to the government, Mr. McMillan, having appoint
ed a day for giving the sacrament of bread and wine, adjourn
ed the celebration until it could be known who would submit,
meaning to exclude those from the ordinance who should re
main obstinate, and refuse this declaration of fidelity. He
attended himself on the day of submission and used his imme
diate influence."
James Edgar, an Elder of the Presbyterian Church, and
one of the Associate Judges of Washington county, distinguish
ed for sound sense, piety and purity of character, as well as
for his unpretending eloquence, addressed the assemblies of
the people with great power and influence, on the side of the
law, public order and submission. Dr. Carnahan, in his lec
ture on the whiskey insurrection, says of Mr. Edgar : " This
truly great and good man, little known beyoad the precincts
of Washington county, had removed to western Pennsylvania
at an early period. He had a good English education ; had
improved his mind by reading and reflection, so that in theo
logical and political knowledge, he was superior to many pro
fessional men. He had as clezr a head, and as pure a heart,
as ever fall to the lot of mortals ; and he possessed an elo
quence, which, although wt polished, was convincing and per
suasive. Yet he lived ifi retirement on his farm, except when
the voice of his neighbors called him to serve the Church or
State. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church,
and one of the Associate Judges of Washington county. I re
collect to have heard him at Bufalo, on Monday after a sacra-

168
mental occasion, address a congregation of at least two thou
sand people, on the subject of the insurrection, with a clear
ness of argument, and solemnity of manner, and a tenderness
of Christian eloquence, which reached the understanding, and
penetrated the heart of every hearer. The consequence was,
that very few in his neighborhood, were concerned in the law
less riots."
Judge Edgar was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in
the congregation of Slate Ridge, in 1744, and removed to
western Pennsylvania in 1779.
Whilst we have expressed commendation of the principles
and character of the early settlers of this western district of
Pennsylvania, we felt bound to notice the great criminal move
ment, in opposition to the laws and public authorities, as de
tracting much from the character of a people of religious, mor
al and law abiding professions. The unlawful and riotous as
semblies, in their midst, with measures of violence, were not
only a reproach to all who participated in them, as actors, or
abetted them in any manner, but were a reflection on the com
munity in which they were allowed, that there was not in that
community sufficient religious, moral, law respecting, and pa
triotic influence, to have restrained the bad men, who were
amongst them, in their wicked and lawless measures against
the laws and public peace.
The men who were actors in the insurrectionary movements
of those days, as well as those who permitted them, have, with
a rare exception, laeen carried to their graves, with the stigma
on their skirts, which half a century has not effaced. Their
descendants, who are now the citizens of those counties, that
were the theatre of these disorderly and criminal proceedings,
are an orderly and law abiding people. The deeds of their an
cestors, in allowing their arms to be raised against their gov
ernment, are only to be remembered to be deplored, and that
all such measures, or an approach to ihem, shall be avoided by
them, as the reproach and crime that m&.rk, and are imputable
to the enemies of the Republic.
It is a grave and important question, to be settled by politi
cians and statesmen, in time of tranquility, whether clemency

169
to offenders, against the authority of the laws, and the exis
tence of society and government, have not, in the administra
tion of the federal government, been carried too far, for the
peace and safety of the public, as well as for the authority of
the laws. All those who, in times past, have raised their arms
in violence, or conspired to resist by force the laws of the gov
ernment and its constituted authorities, have been allowed to
escape the penalties of the law for their crimes, through Exec
utive clemency and pardon. The safety and permanence of
the Republic, forbid that an ill judged benevolence shall permit
such high crimes to be perpetrated with impunity. The ne
cessity of example, for such offenders. Is as requisite as it is
for the lesser crimes, against the public peace and security, and
if the law, in the hands of a faithful Chief Magistrate, be car
ried into execution against insurgents and traitors, the public
peace will more rarely be violated by unlawful assemblies, and
the existence of society and government not be endangered by
unlawful, organized combinations of men, with their leaders,
in resistance. With a known measure of punishment before
them, to be executed upon all such offenders, without fear or
favor, men will be more submissive to the constituted authori
ties and laws, passed in conformity to the constitution, and
abstain from a resistance that will be subdued ; whilst the of
fenders receive the punishment inflicted by the law. Partizans
and demagogues will be as little disposed then to threaten re
bellion, nullification and disunion, as they would be to boast,
in public assemblies, of their purpose to murder their neighbors,
burn their houses, or pick their pockets.
The western insurrection, and other unlawful combinations
in Pennsylvania, to oppose the laws of the Union, since its
formation, are a slur on its citizens and government. If our
great Commonwealth is to maintain the position in the Union,
which she ought to have in regard to her population and territo
ry, it will be necessary, in all time to come, to manifest her
regard for it, by repressing, with her own power and authority,
every appearance, amongst her citizens, of organized combina
tion, to resist by violence and numbers, the execution of the
laws of the National and State governments.

170
Let the weight of the law and public authority, be laid upon
it in its inception, and let a well directed public sentiment
sustain the public officers, in the faithful execution of their du
ty, without regard to party or political associations and names.
By so doing, the riotous insurgent, the wicked traitor, and
turbulent demagogue, will learn that their criminal measures
and designs against the government of the people, and its free
institutions, will be as futile as they are infamous.
From the Scotch Irish settlements of eastern, middle, and
western Pennsylvania, have emigrated, in countless numbers,
intelligent, resolute, and energetic descendants of Irish and
Scotch ancestors, who, for the last half century, have con
tributed greatly to settle, and makeup the population of many
western States, bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi.
They located themselves beside the descendants of the Pu
ritans, as well as others of German origin. The communities
thus formed, have been harmonious, respectable and influen
tial, giving tone to public morals, political sentiment, social
advantages, elevated education and religious organizations.
The descendants of the Irish and Scotch, in whatever district
they may have cast their lot and fixed their stakes, are amongst
the most prominent, virtuous, religious, active, useful, indus
trious, and enterprising of the community. They have proved
by their faith and works, that they are not of ignoble blood and
descent, nor below any class of the citizens of this land, with
whom they may be compared, in their principles, virtuous hab
its, and public usefulness, or in those of their ancestors.
Though Pennsylvania has not elevated one of her own sons
to the Presidency of the United States, yet the Scotch Irish race
of the Union has furnished to that Presidency three of our
Presidents, and a majority of the United States Senators, since
the organization of the federal government. They have also,
from their ranks, in Pennsylvania, given to our Commonwealth,
five of her Governors, and a majority of the men who have
composed, and still compose, the Supreme and other Courts of
the State.
In all stations under the National or State governments,
civil or military, the men of this race, have generally been

171
prominent, eminent, patriotic and faithful, wise, judicious, and
deliberate in council, resolute, unwavering and inflexible in the
discharge of duty; and when called by their country, to face
the public enemy in arms, there were none more brave, fear
less and intrepid.
It is hoped, that the compilers of Pennsylvania History,
hereafter, in their review of the progress of improvement, in
our great Commonwealth, in education, arts, science, and man
ufactures; in the promotion of elevated religious and Christian
influence ; in the establishment of seminaries of learning, and
in the construction of great inland improvements for travel
and transportation, will inquire into the authors and founders
of these institutions, influences, and improvements, investigate
their pretensions, and do justice at least to their merits and
memory. Let them not presume to give point to a paragraph,
by heaping on a whole race, some stale and unjust reproach
from a bygone calumniator and enemy.
It behooves the men of Pennsylvania, who have State pride
and emulation, and appreciate her prosperity and greatness,
as well as the labors, services, and sacrifices of ancestors, who
did so much to lay the foundation of that prosperity and great
ness, to stand by her own men, and manifest for their memo
ry the great reverence, which they so eminently deserve.

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