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THE 


MONONGAHELA  OF  OLD; 


OR, 


HISTORICAL    SKETCHES    OF    SOUTH-WESTERN 
PENNSYLVANIA    TO    THE    YEAR    1800. 


JAMES  VEECH. 


FOR    PRIVATE   DISTRIBUTION   ONLY. 


PITTSBURGH 
1858-1892. 


X 


[This  unfinished  work  of  the  author,  which  has  been  "  in  sheets  "  since  1858,  is  now 
issued  for  private  distribution  only.  By  the  addition  of  pages  241-259,  which  were 
included  in  a  pamphlet  issued  in  1857,  entitled  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line,"  the  cliapter 
relating  to  the  boundary  controversy  between  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  is  completed.] 


f^ec0tv«d  frortft 

CoDvright  Office. 

MAR  4  1911 


Copyright  : 

Mrs.  E.  V.  Blainb. 

1892. 


L-'^^^^^ 


THE  MOIOIGAHELA  OF  OLD 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANTIQUITIES. 

Ante-Indian  Inhabitants — Old  Forts ;    their  forms ;    sites  ;  localities — Mounds — Indian 
Towns — Indians  Graves — Curious  chain. 

Of  tlie  original  liuman  iuhabitants  of  the  territory,  of  which 
Fayette  county  is  a  part,  we  know  but  little.  When  Anglo-Saxon 
traders  and  hunters  first  penetrated  its  wilds,  it  was  the  hunting 
ground  of  the  Mingo  Indians,  or  Six  Nations :  ^  the  seat  of  whose 
power  and  chief  population  was  Western  ISTew  York.  Delawares, 
whose  original  home  was  the  western  shore  of  the  river  of  that 
name,  and  Shawnese,  who  came  from  the  Cumberland  river,  were 
also  found.  But  that  these  were  the  successors  of  a  race  more 
intelligent,  or  of  a  people  of  different  habits  of  life,  seems  clearly 
deducible  from  the  remains  of  fortifications  scattered  all  over  the 
territory,  and  which  are  very  distinct  from  those  known  to  have 
been  constructed  by  the  tribes  of  Indians  named,  or  any  of  their 
modern  compeers. 

These  remains  of  embankments,  or  "old  forts,"  are  numerous 
in  Fayette  county.  That  they  are  very  ancient  is  shown  by  many 
facts.  The  Indians,  known  to  us,  could  give  no  satisfactory 
account  of  when,  how,  or  by  whom  they  were  erected ;  or  for 
what  purpose,  except  for  defence.  While  the  trees  of  the  sur- 
rounding forests  were  chiefly  oak,  the  growths  upon,  and  within 
the  lines  of,  the  old  forts,  were  generally  of  large  black  walnut. 


1  Called  also  the  Iroquois.     They  ■were  a  Confederacy  of   the  Mohawks,   Oneidas, 
Onondagoes,  Cayugas,  Senecas  and  Tuscaroras.     The  Delawares  and  Shawnese  were  in 
league  with  them,  but  rather  as  conquered  dependents. 
9 


18  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  I. 

wild  cherry,  and  sometimes  locust.  We  have  examined  some 
which  indicated  an  age  of  from  three  to  five  hundred  years,  and 
they  evidently  of  a  second  or  third  generation,  as  they  were 
standing  amid  the  decayed  remains  of  their  ancestors.  How  they 
got  there,  whether  hy  transplanting,  hy  deposits  of  floods,  or  of 
birds,  or  otherwise,  is  a  speculation  into  which  we  will  not  go. 

These  embankments  may  have  been  originally  composed  of 
wood,  as  their  debris  is  generally  a  vegetable  mould.  No  stone 
were  used  in  their  construction  ;  and  among  their  ruins  are  always 
found  some  remains  of  old  pottery,  composed  of  clay,  mixed  with 
crushed  muscle  shells,  even  when  far  oif  from  a  river.  This  compo- 
site was  not  burnt,  but  only  baked  in  the  sunshine.  These  vessels 
were  generally  circular ;  and,  judging  from  those  we  have  seen, 
they  were  made  to  hold  from  one  to  three  quarts. 

These  old  forts  were  of  various /orws,  square,  oblong,  triangular, 
circular  and  semi-circular.  Their  superficial  areas  range  from 
one-fourth  of  an  acre  to  ten  acres. 

Their  sites  were  generally  well  chosen,  in  reference  to  defence 
and  observation.  And  what  is  a  very  singular  fact,  they  were 
very  often,  generally  in  Fayette  county,  located  on  the  highest 
and  richest  hills,  and  at  a  distance  from  any  spring  or  stream  of 
water.  In  a  few  instances  this  was  otherwise,  water  being  enclosed 
or  contiguous,  as  they  are  generally  in  Ohio,  and  other  more 
western  parts  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 

Having  seen  and  examined  many  of  these  "old  forts  "  in  Fayette, 
and  also  those  at  Marietta,  Newark,  and  elsewhere,  in  Ohio,  we 
believe  they  are  all  the  work  of  the  same  race  of  people ;  as  are 
also  the  famous  Grave  Creek  Mounds  near  Elizabethtown,  Virginia; 
and  if  this  belief  be  correct,  then  the  conclusion  follows  irre- 
sistibly, that  that  race  of  people  was  much  superior,  and 
existed  long  anterior  to  the  modern  Indian.  But  who  they  were, 
and  what  became  of  them,  must  perhaps  forever  be  unknown. 

We  will  briefly  indicate  the  localities  of  some  of  these  "old  forts" 
in  Fayette  county.  To  enumerate  all,  or,  to  describe  them  sepa- 
rately, would  weary  the  reader  and  waste  our  space.  The  curious 
in  such  matters  may  yet  trace  their  remains. 

A  very  noted  one,  and  of  most  commanding  location,  was  at 
Brownsville,  on  the  site  of  "Fort  Burd,"  but  covering  a  much 
larger  area.  Even  after  Col.  Burd  built  his  fort  there,  in  1759,  it 
retained  the  names  of  iJAc  "  Old  Fort," — Hedstone  Old  Fort,  or,  Fort 
Redstone. 

There  was  one  on   laud  formerly  of  William  Goe,  near  the 


OH.  I.]  ANTIQUITIES.  19 

Monongahela  Eiver,  and  just  above  the  mouth  of  Little  Redstone  ; 
where  afterward  was  a  Settler's  Fort,  called  Cassel's  or  Castle  Fort. 
And  an  old  map  which  we  have  seen  has  another  of  these  old  forts 
noted  at  the  mouth  of  Speers'  run,  where  Bellevernon  now  is. 

Two  or  three  are  found  on  a  high  ridge  southwardly  of  Perry- 
opohs,  on  the  State  road,  and  on  land  late  of  John  F.  Martin. 

Another  noted  one  is  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Youghiogheny 
river,  nearlj'  opposite  the  Broad  ford,  on  land  lately  held  by  James 
Collins. 

There  are  several  on  the  high  ridge  of  land,  leading  from  the 
Collin's  fort  above  referred  to,  southwestwardly  toward  Plumpsock, 
on  lands  of  James  Paull,  John  M.  Austin,  John  Bute  and  others; 
a  remarkable  one  being  on  land  lately  owned  by  James  Gilchrist 
and  the  Byers;  where  some  very  large  human  bones  have  been 
found. 

There  is  one  on  the  north  side  of  Mountz's  creek,  above  Irish- 
man's run. 

A  very  large  one,  containing  six  or  eight  acres,  is  on  the  summit 
of  Laurel  Hill,  where  the  Mud  pike  crosses  it;  covered  with  a  large 
growth  of  black  walnut. 

One  specially  noted,  as  containing  a  great  quantity  of  broken 
shells  and  potter}'',  existed  on  the  high  laud  between  Laurel  run  and 
the  Yough  river,  on  a  tract  formerly  owned  by  Judge  Young. 

There  are  yet  distinct  traces  of  one  on  land  of  Gen.  Henry  W. 
Beeson,  formerly  Col.  M' Clean,  about  two  miles  east  of  Union- 
town. 

There  was  one  north-east  of  Kew  Geneva,  at  the  locality  known 
as  the  "Flint  Hill,"  on  land  now  of  John  Franks. 

About  two  miles  north-east  of  New  Geneva,  on  the  road  to 
Uniontown,  and  on  land  late  of  William  Morris,  now  Nicholas  B. 
Johnson,  was  one  celebrated  for  its  great  abundance  of  ,musc]c 
shells. 

On  the  high  ridge  southwardly  of  the  head  waters  of  Middle 
run,  several  existed;  of  which  may  be  named — one  on  the 
Bixler  land — one  on  the  high  knob  eastwardly  of  Clark  Bread- 
ing's- — one  on  the  Alexander  Wilson  tract — and  one  on  the  land  of 
Dennis  Riley,  deceased,  formerly  Andrew  C.  Johnson. 

These  comprise  the  most  prominent  of  the  "Old  Forts,"  in 
Fayette. 

Of  their  cognates,  JKounds,  erected  as  monuments  of  conquest, 
or,  like  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt,  as  the  tombs  of  kings,  we  have 


20  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  I. 

none.  Those  that  we  have  seen  were  of  diminutive  size,  and  may 
have  been  thrown  up  to  commemorate  some  minor  events,  or  to 
cover  the  remains  of  a  warrior. 

Our  territory,  having  been  an  Indian  hunting  ground,  had  within 
it  but  few  Indian  towns  or  villages,  and  these  of  no  great  magnitude 
or  celebrity.  There  was  one  on  the  farm  of  James  Ewing,  near  the 
southern  corner  of  Redstone,  and  the  line  between  German  and 
Luzerne  townships,  close  to  a  line  limestone  spring.  Near  it,  on 
a  ridge,  were  many  Indian  graves.  Another  was  near  where 
Abram  Brown  lived,  about  four  miles  west  of  Uniontown.  There 
was  also  one  on  land  of  John  M.  Austin,  Esq.,  formerly  Samuel 
Stevens,  near  '  Sock.  The  only  one  we  know  of  north  of  the 
Yough,  was  on  the  Strickler  land,  eastward  of  the  Broad  ford. 

Piles  of  stones,  called  Indian  graves,  were  numerous  in  many 
places  in  Fayette,  generally  near  the  sites  of  Indian  villages.  They 
were  generally  on  stony  ridges,  often  twenty  or  thirty  of  them  in  a 
row.  In  many  of  them  have  been  found  human  bones  indicating 
a  stature  of  from  six  to  seven  feet.  They  also  contained  arrow 
heads,  spear  points  and  hatchets,  of  stone  and  flint,  nicely  and 
regularly  shaped — but  how  done,  is  the  wonder.  On  a  commanding 
eminence,  overlooking  the  Yough  river,  upon  land  now  of  Col. 
A,  M.  Hill,  formerly  Wm.  Dickerson,  there  are  great  numbers 
of  these  Indian  graves ;  among  which,  underneath  a  large  stone, 
Mr.  John  Cottom,  a  few  years  ago  found  a  very  curious  chain,  con- 
sisting of  a  central  ring,  and  five  chains  of  about  two  feet  in  length, 
each  branching  off  from  it,  having  at  their  end,  clamps,  somewhat 
after  the  manner  of  hand-cufl's,  largo  enough  to  enclose  a  man's 
neck — indicating  that  its  use  was  to  confine  prisoners — perhaps  to 
fasten  them  to  the  burning  stake.  The  chains  were  of  an  antique 
character,  but  well  made,  and  seemed  to  have  gone  through  fire. 

There  are  many  other  localities  within  our  county  limits,  which 
maybe  justly  ranked  as  antiquities;  but  we  reserve  them  to  be 
interspersed  in  our  subsequent  sketches  of  events,  and  localities  of 
distinct  classes,  with  which  they  are  intimately  connected.  They 
will  lose  none  of  their  interest  by  their  associations. 


CHAPTER  II. 

settlers'    forts. 

Fayette  territory  exempt  from  Indian  cruelties — Description  of  Settlers'  Forts ;  their 
names  and  localities — An  all-smoke  incident. 

We  might  refer  these  to  our  sketch  of  "  Early  Settlements ;"  but, 
as  localities,  we  prefer  introducing  them  immediately  after  the  old 
forts,  with  which  they  are  often  confounded. 

For  reasons  which  will  be  unfolded  in  the  sequel,  the  territory 
of  Fayette  County  was,  after  the  end  of  the  old  French  war,  in 
17(33,  and  during  all  the  period  of  its  early  settlement,  remarkably 
exempt  from  those  terrific  incursions  of  the  savages  which  made 
forting  so  common  and  necessary  in  the  surrounding  country. 
Hence  we  had  but  few  Settlers'  Forts,  and  those  few  of  but  little  note. 

These  forts  were  erected  by  the  associated  effort  of  settlers  in 
particular  neighborhoods,  upon  the  land  of  some  one,  whose  name 
was  thereupon  given  to  the  fort,  as  Ashcraffs,  Morris',  &c.  They 
consisted  of  a  greater  or  less  space  of  land,  enclosed  on  all  sides  by 
high  log  parapets,  or  stockades,  and  cabins  adapted  to  the  abode  of 
families.  The  only  external  openings  were  a  large  puncheon  gate 
and  small  port-holes  among  the  logs,  through  which  the  unerring 
rifle  of  the  settler  could  be  pointed  against  the  assailants.  Some- 
times, as  at  Lindley's,  and  many  of  the  other  forts  in  the  adjacent 
country  west  of  the  Monongahela,  additional  cabins  were  erected 
outside  the  fort,  for  temporary  abode  in  times  of  danger,  from 
which  the  sojourners  could,  in  case  of  attack,  retreat  within  the 
fort.  All  these  erections  were  of  rough  logs,  covered  with  clap- 
boards and  weight  poles,  the  roofs  sloping  inwards.  A  regular-built 
fort,  of  the  first  class,  had,  at  its  angles,  block-houses,  and  some- 
times a  ditch  protected  a  vulnerable  part.  These  block-houses 
projected  a  little  past  the  line  of  the  cabins,  and  the  upper  half 
was  made  to  extend  some  two  feet  further,  like  the  over-jut  of  a 
barn,  so  as  to  leave  an  overhanging  space,  secured  against  entrance 
by  heavy  log  floors,  with  small  port  holes  for  repelling  close  attacks, 
or  attempts  to  dig  down,  or  fire  the  forts.  These  rude  defences 
were  very  secure,  were  seldom  attacked,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  cap- 


i 

22  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  II. 

tured.  They  were  always  located  upon  open,  commanding  emi- 
nences, sufficiently  remote  from  coverts  and  wooded  heights  to 
prevent  surprise. 

The  sites  of  the  "old  forts"  already  described  were  sometimes 
chosen  for  settlers'  forts.  This  was  the  case  with  the  site  on  the 
Goe  land,  just  above  the  mouth  of  Little  Redstone,  where,  as 
already  stated,  was  a  settler's  fort,  called  Cassel's,  or  Castle  Fort. 
How  far  Redstone  Old  Fort  was  so  used  cannot  certainly  be  known, 
as,  while  it  existed  as  a  place  of  defence,  after  settlements  began, 
it  was  a  kind  of  government  fort,  for  the  storage  of  ammunition 
and  supplies,  guarded  by  soldiers.  Its  proper  name,  after  1759, 
though  seldom  given  to  it,  was  Fort  Burd.  And  there  is  evidence 
that,  besides  its  governmental  purposes,  it  was  often  resorted  to  by 
the  early  settlers,  with  their  families,  for  protection,  though  for 
that  object  it  was  less  adapted  than  many  of  the  private  forts — a 
few  of  which,  within  our  county  limits,  we  will  now  notice. 

One  of  the  earliest  erected  forts  of  this  kind  was  by  John 
Minter,  the  Stevenson's,  Crawford's  and  others,  on  land  of  the 
former,  since  Blackiston,  now  Ebenezer  Moore,  about  a  mile  and 
a  half  westwardly  of  Pennsville. 

There  was  one  on  the  old  Thomas  Gaddis  farm,  where  Bazil 
Brownfield  now  lives,  about  two  miles  south  of  Uniontown;  but 
what  was  its  name  we  cannot  certainly  learn,  or  by  whom  or  when 
erected, — probably,  however,  by  Col.  Gaddis,  as  he  was  an  early 
settler,  and  a  man  of  large  public  spirit. 

Another,  called  Pearses  Fort,  was  on  the  Catawba  Indian  trail, 
about  four  miles  north-east  of  Uniontown,  near  the  residences  of 
William  and  John  Jones.  Some  old  Lombardy  poplars,  recently 
fallen,  denoted  its  site. 

About  one  mile  north-west  of  Merrittstown  there  was  one,  on 
land  now  of  John  Craft.     Its  name  is  forgotten, 

Swearingen's  Fort  was  in  Springhill  township,  near  the  cross-road 
from  Cheat  river  towards  Brownsville.  It  derived  its  name  from 
John  Swearingen,  who  owned  the  land  on  which  it  stood,  or  from 
his  son.  Van  Swearingen,  afterward  Sheriff  of  Washington  County, 
a  Captain  in  the  Revolution  and  in  the  frontier  wars,  and  whose 
nephew  of  the  same  name  fell  at  St.  Clair's  defeat. 

One  of  considerable  capacity,  called  Lucas'  Fo7%  was  on  the 
old  Richard  Brown  farm,  now  Fordyce,  near  the  frame  meeting- 
house in  Nicholson  township. 

M Coy's  Fort,  on  land  of  James  M'Coy,  stood  where  now  stands 
the  barn  of  the  late  Eli  Baily,  in  South  Union  township. 


CH.  II.]  settlers'  forts.  23 

Morns'  Fort,  which  was  one  of  the  first  grade,  was  much  resorted 
to  by  the  early  settlers  on  the  upper  Monongahela  and  Cheat,  and 
from  Ten  Mile.  It  stood  on  Sandy  Creek,  just  beyond  the  Virginia 
line,  outside  our  County  limits.  It  was  to  this  fort  that  the  family 
of  the  father  of  the  late  Dr.  Joseph  Doddridge  resorted,  in  1774,  as 
mentioned  in  his  Notes.  The  late  Col.  Andrew  Moore,  who 
resided  long  near  its  site,  said  that  he  had  frequently  seen  the 
ruins  of  the  fort  and  its  cabins,  which  may  yet  be  traced. 

Ashcraft's  Fort  stood  on  land  of  the  late  Jesse  Evans,  Esq.,  where 
Phineas  Sturgis  lived,  in  Georges  township.  Tradition  tells  of  a 
great  alarm  and  resort  to  this  fort,  on  one  occasion,  caused  thus : 
On  land  lately  owned  by  Robert  Britt,  in  that  vicinity,  there  is  a 
very  high  knob  called  Prospect  Mill,  or  Point  Look- Out.  To  this 
eminence  the  early  settlers  were  wont,  in  times  of  danger,  daily  to 
resort,  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  sometimes  climbing  trees,  to  see 
whether  any  Indians  had  crossed  the  borders,  of  which  they  judged 
by  the  smoke  of  their  camps.  This  hill  commanded  a  view  from 
the  mountains  to  the  Monongahela,  and  from  Cheat  hills  far  to  the 
northward.  On  the  occasion  referred  to,  the  scouts  reported  that 
Indians  had  crossed  the  Monongahela,  judging  from  some  smoke 
"  which  so  gracefully  curled."  The  alarm  was  given.  The  settlers 
flocked  to  Ashcraft's  Fort,  with  wives  and  children ,  guns  and  pro- 
visions, and  prepared  to  meet  the  foe — when  lo  !  much  to  the 
vexation  of  some  and  the  joy  of  others,  the  alarm  soon  proved  to 
be  "all  smoke." 


CHAPTER  III. 

INDIAN  TRAILS,  TRADERS'  PATHS,  ARMY  ROADS,  &C. 

Indians  had  roads — Their  night  compasses — Catawba  or  Cherokee  trail — Nemacolin's — 
Dunlap's  path — Burd's  road  to  Redstone — Fort  Burd — Cresap — Month  of  Redstone — 
Turkey-foot  roads  —  James  Smith  —  Bullock  pens  —  M'Culloch's  path  —  M'Culloch 
caught — Sandy  Creek  road — Froman's  road — Old  County  roads — Pack-horse  business 
and  travel — Prices. 

At  the  risk  of  some  infractions  of  chronological  order,  before  we 
go  into  the  eventful  portion  of  these  sketches,  we  prefer  now  to 
trace  these  old  highways ;  and,  to  avoid  repetitions,  we  must  occa- 
sionally encroach  upon  subsequent  narratives. 

An  erroneous  impression  obtains  among  many  of  the  present 
day,  that  the  Indian,  in  traversing  the  interminable  forests  which 
once  covered  our  towns  and  fields,  roamed  at  random,  like  a 
modern  afternoon  hunter,  by  no  fixed  paths,  or  that  he  was  guided, 
in  his  long  journeys,  solely  by  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  or  by  the 
courses  of  streams  and  mountains.  And  true  it  is  that  these 
untutored  sons  of  the  woods  were  considerable  astronomers  and 
geographers,  and  relied  much  upon  these  unerring  guide-marks  of 
nature.  Even  in  the  most  starless  night  they  could  determine 
their  course  by  feeling  the  bark  of  the  oak-trees,  which  is  always 
smoothest  on  the  south  side  and  roughest  on  the  north.  But  still 
they  had  their  trails  or  paths,  as  distinctly  marked  as  are  our 
County  and  State  roads,  and  often  better  located.  The  white 
traders  adopted  them,  and  often  stole  their  names,  to  be  in  turn 
surrendered  to  the  leader  of  some  Anglo-Saxon  army,  and  finally 
obliterated  by  some  costly  highway  of  travel  and  commerce. 
They  are  now  almost  wholly  effaced  and  forgotten.  Hundreds 
travel  along,  and  plough  across  them,  unconscious  that  they  are  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  red  men,  as  they  were  wont  to  hasten,  in  single 
file,  to  the  lick,  after  the  deer  and  buffalo,  or  to  the  wigwams  of 
their  enemy,  in  quest  of  scalps. 

The  most  prominent,  and  perhaps  the  most  ancient  of  these  old 
pathways  across  our  county,  was  the  old  Catawba  or  Cherokee 
Trail,  leading  from  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Florida,  &c.,  through 
Virginia  and  Western  Pennsylvania,  on  to  "Western  New  York 


CH.  III.]  INDIAN   TRAILS,    TRADERS'    PATHS,    &C.  26 

and  Canada.  We  will  trace  it  within  our  limits  as  well  as  we  can. 
After  crossing  and  uniting  with  numerous  other  trails,  the  princi- 
pal one  entered  Fayette  territory,  at  the  State  line,  at  the  mouth  of 
Grassy  run.  A  tributary  trail,  called  the  Warrior  Branch,  coming 
from  Tennessee,  through  Kentucky  and  Southern  Ohio,  came  up 
Fish  creek  and  down  Dunkard,  crossing  Cheat  river  at  M'Far- 
land's.  It  run  out  a  junction  with  the  chief  trail,  intersecting  it  in 
William  Gan's  sugar  camp,  but  it  kept  on  by  Crow's  mill,  James 
Robinson's,  and  the  old  gun  factory,^  and  thence  towards  the 
mouth  of  Redstone,  intersecting  the  old  Redstone  trail  from  the 
top  of  Laurel  Hill,  afterward  Burd's  road,  near  Jackson's,  or  Grace 
Church,  on  the  I^ational  road.  The  main  Catawba  trail  pursued 
"the  even  tenor  of  its  way,"  regardless  of  minor  points,  which, 
like  a  modern  grand  rail  road,  it  served  by  branches  and  turn-outs. 
After  receiving  the  Warrior  Branch  junction,  it  kept  on  through 
land  late  of  Charles  Griffin,  by  Long's  Mill,  Ashcraft's  Fort,  Philip 
Rogers'  (now  Alfred  Stewart's),  the  Diamond  Spring,  (now  William 
James');  thence  nearly  on  the  route  of  the  present  Morgantown 
road,  until  it  came  to  the  Misses  Hadden's ;  thence  across  Hellen's 
fields,  passing  near  the  Rev.  William  Brownfield's  mansion,  and 
about  five  rods  west  of  the  old  Henry  Beeson  brick  house ; 
thence  through  IJniontown,  over  the  old  Bank  house  lot,  crossing 
the  creek  where  the  bridge  now  is,  back  of  the  Sheriff's  house; 
thence  along  the  northern  side  of  the  public  grave-yard  on 
the  hill,  through  the  eastern  edge  of  John  Gallagher's  land,  about 
six  rods  south  of  John  F.  Foster's  (formerly  Samuel  Clarke's) 
house,  it  crossed  Shute's  run  where  the  fording  now  is,  between 
the  two  meadows,  keeping  the  high  land  through  Col.  Evans' 
plantation,  and  passed  between  William  and  John  Jones'  to  the 
site  of  Pearse's  Fort;  thence  by  the  Murphy  school-house,  and 
bearing  about  thirty  rods  westward  of  the  Mount  Braddock  man- 
sion, it  passed  a  few  rods  to  the  east  of  the  old  Conrad  Strickler 
house,  where  it  is  still  visible.  Keeping  on  through  land  formerly 
of  John  Hamilton,  (now  Freeman,)  it  crossed  the  old  Connellsville 
road  immediately  on  the  summit  of  the  Limestone  hill,  a  few  rods 
west  of  the  old  Strickler  distillery;  thence  through  the  old  Law- 
rence Harrison  land  (James  Blackiston's)  to  Robinson's  falls  of 
Mill  run,  and  thence  down  it  to  the  Yough  river,  crossing  it  just 
below  the  run's  mouth,  where  Braddock's  army  crossed,  at  Stewart's 


^  See  memoir  oi  Albert  Gallatin,  in  "Early  Settlers" — postea,  Chap.  VII. 


26  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  III. 

crossings.  The  trail  thence  kept  through  the  Narrows,  by  Rist's, 
near  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  beyond  Pennsville,  passing  by  the 
old  Saltwell  on  Green  Lick  run,  to  the  mouth  of  Bushy  run,  at 
Tinsman's  or  Welshonse's  mill.  Thence  it  bore  across  Westmore- 
land county,  up  the  Allegheny,  to  the  heads  of  the  Susquehanna, 
and  into  Western  'New  York,  then  the  empire  of  the  Iroquois. 
A  branch  left  the  main  trail  at  Robinson's  mill,  on  Mill  or  Opossum 
run,  which  crossed  the  Yough  at  the  Broad  ford,  bearing  down 
across  Jacob's  creek,  Sewickley  and  Turtle  creeks,  to  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio,  at  Pittsburgh,  by  the  highland  route.  This  branch,  and 
the  northern  part  within  our  county,  of  the  main  route,  will  be 
ibund  to  possess  much  interest  in  connection  with  Braddock's  line 
of  march  to  his  disastrous  destiny. 

This  Cherokee  or  Caiaioba  Indian  trail,  including  its  Warrior 
branch,  is  the  only  one  of  note  which  traversed  our  county  north- 
ward and  southward.  Generally,  they  passed  eastward  and  west- 
ward, from  the  river,  to  and  across  the  mountains.  To  trace  all 
these  would  be  uninteresting.  We  will  therefore  confine  our 
sketchings  to  those  which  have  had  their  importance  enhanced  by 
having  been  adopted  as  traders'"  paths,  and  as  army  or  emigrants'  roads. 

Decidedly  the  most  prominent  of  all  these  is  Nem.acoUn's  trail, 
afterwards  adopted  and  improved  by  Washington,  and  Braddock, 
the  latter  of  whom,  by  a  not  unusual  freak  of  fame,  has  given  to 
the  road  its  name,  while  its  shrewd  old  Indian  engineer,  like  him 
who  traced  for  ISTapoleon  the  great  road  across  the  Simplon,  has 
been  buried  in  forgetfulness. 

Nemacolin's  path  led  from  the  mouth  of  Wills'  creek  (Cumber- 
land, Md.)  to  the  "forks  of  the  Ohio"  (Pittsburgh).  It  doubtless 
existed  as  a  purely  Indian  trail  before  Kemacolin's  time.  For 
when  the  Virginia,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  traders  with  the 
Indians  on  the  Ohio,  began  their  operations,  perhaps  as  early  as 
1740,-  they  procured  Indians  to  show  them  the  best  and  easiest 
route,  and  this  was  the  one  they  adopted.  So  says  Washington. 
And  when  the  "  Ohio  Company,"  hereafter  to  be  noticed,  was 
formed,  in  1748,  and  preparing  to  go  into  the  Ohio  Indian  trade 
on  a  large  scale,  they  procured  Col.  Thomas  Cresap,  of  Old  Town, 
Md.,  to  engage  some  trusty  Indians  to  mark  and  clear  the  path- 
way. For  this  purpose  he  engaged  Nemacolin,  a  well  known  Dela- 
ware Indian,  who  resided  at  the  mouth  of  Dunlap's  creek,  which, 


"  There  is  some  evidence  that  Indian  traders,  both  English  and  French,  were  in  this? 
country  much  earlier. 


CH.  III.]  INDIAN   TRAILS,    TRADERS'    PATHS,    &C.  27 

in  early  times,  was  called  Nemacolin's  creek.^  The  commissioner 
and  engineer,  with  the  aid  of  other  Indians,  executed  the  work,  in 
1750,  by  blazing  the  trees,  and  cutting  away  and  removing  the 
bushes  and  fallen  timber,  so  as  to  make  it  a  good  pack-horse 
path.  Washington  says  that  "  the  Ohio  Company,  in  1753,  at  a 
'Considerable  expense,  opened  the  road.  In  1754,  the  troops  whom  I 
had  the  honor  to  command,  greatly  repaired  it,  as  far  as  Gisfs  plan- 
tation ;  and,  in  1755,  it  was  loidenedand  completed  by  Gen.  Braddock 
to  within  six  miles  of  Fort  Du  Quesne."  *  This  is  a  brief  history  of 
the  celebrated  "Braddock's  road."  We  will  hereafter  take  the 
reader  over  it  more  leisurely.  It  was,  until  near  its  fatal  termina- 
tion, identical  with  Nemacolin's  path,  which,  also,  from  Gist's 
northward,  with  a  few  variations,  was  identical  with  the  old 
Catawba  trail,  or  -with  its  westward  branch  to  the  head  of  the  Ohio. 
And  we  will  see  what  Braddock  lost  by  not  following  it  implicitly 
to  the  end. 

Dunlap's  path,  or  road,  was  a  very  early  one.  It  came  from 
Winchester,  by  way  of  Wills'  creek,  to  the  mouth  of  Dunlap's 
creek.  Dunlap  was  a  trader,  and,  as  Braddock  did  with  the  road, 
so  he  succeeded  in  wresting  from  ]^emacolin  the  name  of  the  creek, 
which  now  bears  his  name.  From  Wills'  creek  to  the  top  of 
Laurel  hill,  near  the  Great  Kock,  the  route  of  Dunlap's  road  was 
identical  with  that  of  Nemacolin  or  Braddock.^  From  that  point 
Nemacolin's  path  bore  north-east,  along  the  crest  of  the  moun- 
tain ;  while  Dunlap's  bore  westwardly,  descending  the  mountain  a 
little  south  of  the  present  ISTational  road,  taking  to  Lick  run  about 
a  mile  from  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Thence  it  passed  through  the 
southern  part  of  Monroe,  by  Isaac  Brownfield's,  past  James 
McCoy's  fort,  near  Samuel  Hatfield's  brick  barn,  crossing  the 
Cherokee  trail  some  eight  rods  north  of  Rev.  W.  Brownfield's 
house ;    thence  to  Coal  lick  or  Jacob's  run,  on  land  now  of  N. 


*  In  Gen.  Richard  Butlei-'s  journal  of  his  expedition  down  the  Ohio,  in  1785,  in  com- 
pany with  Colonel,  afterwards  President  Monroe,  to  treat  with  the  Miami  Indians,  he 
speaks  of  an  island  called  Nemacolin's,  between  the  mouths  of  the  Little  Kenahwa  and 
Hocking,  doubtless  a  subsequent  abode  of  the  same  Indian. 

*  II.  Sparks'  Washington,  302,  in  an  eloquent  letter  to  Col.  Bouquet,  urging  this 
route  to  be  taken  by  Gen.  Forbes,  in  1758. 

5  Col.  Burd,  in  the  .journal  of  his  expedition  to  Redstone,  in  1759,  says:  "At  the 
foot  of  the  hill  [meaning  the  eastern  base  of  Laurel  hill]  we  found  the  path  that  went 
to  Dunlap's ^lace,  that  Col.  Shippen  and  Capt.  Gordon  traveled  last  winter ;  and  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  this  we  saw  the  Big  rock,  so  called."  Dunlap's  place,  we 
believe,  was  where  Wm.  Stone  now  resides,  on  the  Burnt  Cabin  fork  of  Dunlap's  creek. 


28  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  III. 

Brownfield  (where  a  braucli  led  ofi"  to  Provance's  bottom,  or  mouth 
of  Big  Whitely) ;  thence  passing  by  David  Jennings',  on  Jennings' 
run,  near  Samuel  Harris',  and  through  the  old  John  Woods'  land, 
towards  Jackson's  or  Grace  churcli,  near  to  which,  in  the  head  of 
Vail's  sugar  camp  hollow,  it  united  with  the  Redstone  trail,  or 
Burd's  road,  presently  to  be  sketched.  And  were  it  not  that  a 
Virginia  statute,  hereafter  to  be  cited,  calls  for  this  road  as  starting 
at  Medstone  Old  Fori,  we  would  make  its  western  terminus  at  Craw- 
ford's ferry,  to  which  it  is  certain  a  branch  led.  Perhaps  the 
main  path  originally  went  from  the  fort  up  the  river  to  the  ferry 
or  ford  there,  to  connect  with  the  road  to  Catfish's  camp,  ("Wash- 
ington, Pa.)  which  took  to  the  river  there  to  avoid  the  steep  and 
rugged  bluff  opposite  Brownsville. 

When  Virginia  took  it  into  her  head  to  claim  and  exercise  juris- 
diction over  this  region  of  country,^  she,  by  a  statute  passed  in 
October,  1776,  gave  a  temporary  legal  existence  to  Dunlap's  road, 
by  making  it  part  of  the  dividing  line  between  the  counties  of  Mon- 
ongalia and  Yohogania.  It  is  now  as  completely  sunk  in  oblivion 
as  most  of  her  politicians  wish  the  line  of  36°  30'  to  become. 

The  "road  to  Redstone,"  or  Burd's  road,  as  it  was  afterwards 
called,  was  originally  an  Indian  trail,  from  the  mouth  of  Redstone 
to  the  summit  of  Laurel  hill,  near  the  Great  Rock  and  Washing- 
ton's spring — the  great  focus  of  old  roads — where  it  united  with 
Dunlap's  road  and  others.  From  Gist's  to  the  Rock  it  seems  to 
have  been  identical  with  JS'emacolin's  or  Braddoek's  road.  It  was 
a  much  traveled  path  by  the  Indians,  by  early  traders  and  adven- 
turers, and  by  the  French  during  the  early  part  of  the  war  of 
1754-63.  Captain  Trent  passed  over  it  in  February,  1754,  on  his 
way  with  men  and  tools  and  stores,  to  build  a  fort  for  the  Ohio 
Company  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  when  he  built  the  Hangard 
at  the  mouth  of  Redstone.  By  this  path,  also,  came  the  French 
and  Indians,  under  M.  de  Villiers,  who  attacked  Col.  Washington 
at  Fort  Necessity,  and  it  was  much  used  by  them  in  their  annoying 
excursions,  during  Braddoek's  and  Dunbar's  marches,  in  connection 
with  canoe  navigation  up  and  down  the  Monongahela,  of  all  which 
we  will  read  further  in  subsequent  sketches.'' 

We  will  also  see  hereafter,'  that  when  Col.  Washington,  in 
June,  1754,  found  himself  not  strong  enough  to  advance  to  Fort 


^  See  postea — sketch  of  ^^  Boundary  Controversy,  <j-c." — Chap.  IX. 
'  See  the  next  succeeding  sketches — "  French   War — Washington  and  Braddoek's  Cam- 
paigns,''— Chaps.  IV.  and  V. 


CH.  III.]  INDIAN    TRAILS,    ARMY    ROADS,    <tC.  29 

Dm  Quesne,  he  determined  to  proceed  by  this  path  to  the  mouth  ot 
Redstone,  and  there  erect  a  fort,  and  wait  for  reinforcements. 
Having  come  on  to  Gist's,  (Mount  Braddock),  he  sent  on  a  party, 
under  Captain  Lewis,  to  open  a  road  to  Redstone  ;  that  is,  to  widen 
and  improve  the  Indian  trail,  so  as  to  fit  it  for  passing  wagons,  &c. 
This  party  had  advanced  with  the  work  "about  eight  miles,'" 
when,  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  they  retreated,  or 
were  called  back  by  Washington,  to  the  incipient  entrenchments 
at  Gist's.  The  point  at  which  the  road  was  then  stopped,  was,  we 
believe,  at  or  near  where  it  crosses  Jennings'  run,  between  John 
Gaddis'  and  B.  Courtney's.  It  would  seem  that  very  little  work 
was  done  on  it ;  for,  live  years  afterwards,  Col.  Burd  had  great 
difiiculty  to  trace  it. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1759,  Col.  James  Burd  was 
sent  out  with  two  hundred  men,  by  order  of  Col.  Bouquet,  then 
commanding  the  king's  troops  at  Carlisle,  to  open  and  complete 
this  road  to  the  Monongahela  river,  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Red- 
stone, and  there  erect  a  fort.  The  English,  under  Gen.  Stanwix. 
were,  about  the  same  time,  commencing  to  build  Fori  Pitt,  at  the 
head  of  the  Ohio,  in  lieu  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  from  which  the  French 
had  been  driven  by  Gen.  Forbes,  and  which  they  had  burnt,  the 
previous  year.  The  great  object  of  Col.  Burd's  expedition  was  to 
facilitate  communications  with  this  important  fort  from  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  by  using  the  river.^  Col.  Burd  seems  to  have  had 
no  other  authority  for  his  road  and  fort  than  Col.  Bouquet's  order;;. 
If  he  had,  it  was  not  from  Pennsylvania,  but  from  Virginia  or  the 
King,  who  doubtless  provided  the  ways  and  means  the  more  cheer- 
fully, as  the  French  were  now  effectually,  and,  as  it  turned  out. 
permanently  routed  from  this  region  of  country.  The  Colon  e! 
came  out  by  Braddock's  road,  from  Fort  Cumberland.  Col.  Thos. 
Cresap,  the  commissioner  of  Kemacolin's  road,  was  with  him  ;  and 
the  Rev.  Francis  Allison  was  his  chaplain,  preaching  every  Sab- 
bath. 

On  the  12th  of  September,  being  encamped  at  Gisfsj^lace,  he 
sent  out  parties  to  trace  the  route.  His  journal  now  reads  thus  : 
"  At  noon  (13th)  began  to  cut  the  road  to  Redstone,  along  some 
old  blazes,  which  we  take  to  be  Col.  Washington's.  Began  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  camp,  the  course  N.  N".  W.     The  course  of 


^  Thus  early  was  it  seen  that  the  route  bet-ween  Cumberland  and  Brownsville  was 
the  shortest  and  easiest  land  transit  between  the  eastern  and  western  waters.  Alas  .' 
how  rail  roads  have  paled  its  glory. 


30  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  III. 

Gen.  Braddock's  road  N.  IST.  E.,  and  turns  much  to  the  eastward. 
Marked  two  trees  at  the  place  of  beginning,  thus  :  '  The  road  to 
Redstone,  Coh  J.  Burd,  1759— The  road  to  Pittsburgh,  1759.'  " 
These  trees  stood  near  the  beginning  of  Jacob  Murphey's  avenue, 
on  the  west  of  the  Connellsville  road.  The  road  followed  the 
Indian  trail,  passing  through  the  Rankin  and  Henshaw  lands; 
thence  nearly  parallel  with  Butes'  run,  through  the  Carter  lands, 
crossing  the  run  and  the  creek  near  the  run's  mouth,  and  near 
Lucky's,  now  Vance's  mill,  into  Jacob  Gaddis'  land.  It  crossed 
Jennings'  run  near  John  Gaddis',  or  B.  Courtney's;  thence,  in  a 
pretty  direct  line,  on  through  the  old  Hugh  Crawford  and  Adams 
tracts,  now  Jacob  B.  Graham,  "Wm.  TIattield  and  others,  until  it 
came  to  a  point  a  little  north-west  of  where  the  Johnson  or  Ilat- 
iield  stone  tavern  house  stands.  Here  the  old  trail  bore  too  much 
to  the  right,  going  through  the  old  Grable  place,  the  old  Fulton 
place,  (now  A¥illiam  Colvin's),  by  the  old  Colvin  house,  the  school- 
house,  Ayres  Linn's  and  Isaac  Linn's,  to  the  mouth  of  Redstone. 
But  Col.  Burd  left  this  trail  at  the  point  above  indicated,  and  took 
along  the  high  ridges,  through  the  Colley  and  Hastings  lands, 
near  Brashears'  and  Eli  Cope's,  until  he  reached  the  site  of  his 
fort,  "a  hill  in  the  fork  of  the  river  Monongahela  and  ISTemo-cal- 
ing's  Creek ;"  being  on  the  south  side  of  Front  street,  opposite 
where  the  fort-like  mansion  of  N.  B.  Bowman,  Esq.,  now  stands. 
When  completed,  the  road  was  found  to  be  sixteen  miles  one 
quarter  and  sixteen  perches,  from  the  beginning,  near  Gist's,  to 
the  centre  of  the  fort. 

Col.  Burd  mentions  a  run  which  he  calls  "  Coal  Run,"  from  being 
"entirely  paved  on  the  bottom  with  fine  stone  coal,"  which  he 
crossed  and  where  he  encamped.  By  his  journal  he  makes  it  only 
two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  river.  Were  it  not  for  this  we 
would  have  said  it  was  Jennings'  Run.  But  it  must  have  been 
the  run  which  passes  down  by  D.  C.  Colvin's  to  the  paper  milL 

Fort  Burd  was  erected  upon  the  site  of  "Redstone  Old  Fort;  " 
but  in  common,  or  even  official  designation,  could  never  supplant 
it,  in  its  name.  According  to  the  science  of  backwoods  fortifica- 
tion in  those  days,  it  was  a  regularly  constructed  work  of  defence, 
with  bastions,  ditch  and  draw-bridge;  built,  however,  wholly  of 
earth  and  wood.  The  bastions  and  central  "house,"  were  of 
timbers  laid  horizontally;  the  "curtains"  were  of  logs  set  in  the 
<rround  vertically,  like  posts,  in  close  contact — called  a  stockade, 
or  palisades. 

In  XII  Pennsylvania  Archives,  347,  we  find  the  following  plan 


OH.  III.] 


INDIAN   TRAILS,    FORT   BURD,    &C. 


31 


and  dimensions  of  the  fort,  as  found  among  the  papers  of  Joseph 
Shippen,  an  Engineer,  &c.,  who  accompanied  Colonel  Burd  :  "  The 
curtain,  97|  feet ;  the  flanks,  16  feet ;  the  faces  of  the  bastions,  30 
feet.  A  ditch,  between  the  bastions  24  feet  wide,  and  opposite  the 
faces,  12  feet.  The  log-house  for  a  magazine,  and  to  contain  the 
women  and  children,  39  feet  square.  A  gate  6  feet  wide  and  8 
feet  high ;  and  a  draw-bridge  —  feet  wide." 

From    this    description,    we   have   constructed    the    following 
diagram : 

SECTION    A_B 


The  gallant  colonel  had  rather  a  hard  time  of  it,  in  constructing 
his  fort.  "I  have,"  sajs  he,  "kept  the  people  constantly  employed 
on  the  works  since  m j  arrival ;  although  we  have  been  for  eight 
days  past  upon  the  small  allowance  of  one  pound  of  beef  and  half 
a  pound  of  flour,  per  man,  a  day  ;  and  this  day  we  begin  upon  one 
pound  of  beef,  not  having  an  ounce  of  flour  left,  and  only  three 
bullocks.      I  am  therefore  obliged  to  give  over  working  until  I 


32  THE    MONONGAHBLA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  III. 

receive  some  supplies."  He,  however,  soon  got  some  supplies,  and 
held  on.  The  following  is  from  his  journal;  "October  28. — 
Sunday. — Continue  on  the  works  ;  had  sermon  in  the  fort."  The 
last  entry  is — "November  4. — Sunday. — Snowed  to-day — no  work. 
Sermon  in  the  fort.     Dr.  Allison  sets  out  for  Philadelphia." 

The  fort  was  not  designed  to  be  a  place  of  great  strength  or 
danger.  Col.  Burd  garrisoned  it  with  one  officer  and  twenty-five 
men.  How  long  the  garrison  held  it  is  unknown.  But  it  seems 
to  have  been  under  some  kind  of  military  possession  in  1774, 
during  "  Dunmore's  War;"  and  during  the  Revolution  and  the 
cotemporary  Indian  troubles,  it  was  used  as  a  store  house  and  a 
rallying  point  for  defence,  supply  and  observation,  by  the  early 
settlers  and  adventurers.  It  was  never  rendered  famous  by  a  seige 
or  a  sally.  We  know  that  the  late  Col.  James  Paull  served  a 
month's  duty  in  a  drafted  militia  company,  in  guarding  continental 
stores  here,  in  1778.  It  is  said  that  in  and  prior  to  1774,  Capt. 
Michael  Cresap,^  (who  has  unjustly  acquired  an  odious  fame  by 
being  charged  with  the  murder  of  Logan's  family,)  made  this  fort 
the  centre  of  operations  for  a  long  period.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
daring  and  influence  on  the  frontier.  He  early  acquired  a  kind  of 
Virginia  right  to  the  land  around  the  fort,  which  he  improved, 
erecting  upon  it  a  hewed  log,  shingle-roofed  house — the  first  of 
that  grade  in  the  settlement.  He  held  his  title  for  many  years, 
and  sold  out  to  John  M'Cullough,  or  to  Thomas,  or  Bazil  Brown, 
to  whom  a  Patent  issued  from  Pennsylvania,  in  1785. 

The  opening  of  the  "road  to  Pedstone,"  being  an  extension  of 
Braddock's  road  to  the  nearest  navigable  water  of  the  West ;  and 
the  subsequent  establishment  of  two  other  roads,  hereafter  noticed — 
the  Pennsylvania  road  from  Bedford,  by  way  of  Berlin,  Connells- 
ville,  Uniontown,   &c.,   and   the  combination  of  Braddock's  and 


9  This  Captain  Michael  Cresap  was  the  son  of  Col.  Thomas  Cresap,  of  Old  Town, 
Maryland,  and  father-in-law  of  the  renowned  Luther  Martin  of  that  State.  He  bore  a 
very  conspicuous  part  in  the  Indian  troubles  about  Wheeling,  Pittsburgh,  &c.,  in  1774. 
In  June,  1775,  he  led  a  company  of  riflemen  from  Maryland  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  to 
join  Gen.  Washington's  army.  He  soon  took  sick,  and  died  on  his  way  home,  at  New 
York,  in  October,  1775.  His  son,  Michael,  and  John  J.  Jacob,  (who  married  his  widow,) 
of  Allegheny  Co.,  Md.,  were  his  executors,  and  as  such,  had  some  moneys  to  collect  by 
suit  in  this  county.  His  fame  has  been  successfully  vindicated  from  the  murder  of 
Logan's  relatives,  by  his  illustrious  kinsmen,  Martin  and  Jacob,  who  have  proved  most 
conclusively,  not  only  that  he  did  not  do  the  deed,  but  that  the  name  of  Cresap  was  not 
in  Logan's  celebrated  speech,  as  it  was  originally  written,  and  that  Logan  never  wrote 
or  spoke  it.     See  the  evidence,  &c  ,  in  II.  Craig's  Olden  Time,  44,  49,  &c. 


OH.  III.]  INDIAN   TRAILS,    ARMY    ROADS,    AC.  33 

Dunlap's  roads,  called  the  Virginia  road — soon  caused  the  "mouth 
of  Redstone,"  or,  rather,  the  month  of  Dunlap's  creek,  to  become  a 
very  notable  place.  It  was  the  place  of  general  embarkation  by 
traders  and  emigrants  to  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  or,  as  it  was  termed, 
"going  down  the  river."  It  became  the  great  place  for  shipping 
mill  stones,  made  on  Laurel  Hill,  to  Kentucky  and  the  West.  "  The 
writer  has  seen  as  many  as  thirty  pairs  lying  at  the  mouth  of 
Dunlap's  creek  at  a  time,  from  1796  to  1808,  waiting  for  boats  and 
water  to  float  oft'  to  Limestone.  Kentucky  and  Southern  Ohio 
were  peopled  from  this  point  and  the  Lower  Yough.  John  Moore, 
a  very  early  settler  on  the  farm  now  the  residence  of  Johnson 
Yankirk,  used  to  relate,  that  in  the  long  cold  winter  of  1780 — a 
proto-type  of  those  of  1856-57 — the  snow  being  three  or  four 
feet  deep  and  crusted,  he  saw  the  road  from  Sandy  Hollow  (Bru- 
baker's,)  to  the  verge  of  Brownsville,  where  "William  Hogg  lived, 
lined  on  both  sides  with  wagons  and  families,  camped  out,  waiting 
the  loosing  of  the  icy  bands  from  the  waters,  and  the  preparation 
of  boats  to  embark  for  the  West — the  men  dragging  in  old  logs 
and  stumps  for  fuel,  to  save  their  wives  and  children  from  freezing." 
Simultaneous  with  Braddock's  march  across  the  mountains,  in 
June,  1755,  an  army  road  was  being  made  by  the  colony  of  Penn- 
sylvania, under  the  superintendence  of  Col.  James  Burd  and 
others,  from  Shippensburg,  by  Raystdwn  (Bedford,)  to  the  Turkey 
Foot;  thence  to  intersect  Braddock's  road  at  some  convenient 
point,  probably  the  Great  Crossings  (Somerfield.)  Its  purpose  was 
to  transport  supplies  to  Braddock's  army.  It  was  opened,  at  great 
cost  and  labor,  as  far  as  the  top  of  Allegheny  mountain,  within 
about  eighteen  miles  .of  Turkey  Foot;  when  the  battle. of  Turtle 
creek  having  occurred,  the  laborers  were  alarmed  and  driven  m^H 
by  the  French  and  Indians  to  Fort  Cumberland.  Thereupon  the 
road  was  forsaken,  until  some  years  after  Forbes  captured  Fort 
Du  Quesne,  when  its  opening  was  resumed  and  completed.  It  was 
called  the  Turkey  Foot  or  Smith's  road^°  It  crossed  the  three  rivers 
at  Turkey  Foot,  and  passed  a  little  south  of  Sugar  Loaf  mountain  by 


'*  The  name  of  Smith  Avas  given  to  the  road,  because  while  it  was  being  made,  a  lad  of 
about  si:jteen,  James  Smith,  was  captured  by  the  Indians  and  carried  to  Fort  Du  Quesne, 
where  he  was  on  the  eventful  9th  of  July,  1755,  and  witnessed  the  departure  and  return 
of  the  conquerors  of  Braddock,  and  the  horrid  orgies  and  tortures  of  prisoners  which 
occurred  that  night.  Mr.  Smith  afterwards  became  famous  in  the  frontier  and  Revolu- 
tionary wars,  in  Westmoreland  and  Bedford  counties,  and  held  civil  offices  of  honor.  Ho 
subsequently  removed  to  Kentucky,  where  he  became  a  colonel  and  a  member  of  the 
Legislature. 

3 


34  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  III. 

Dunbar's  Camp  to  Unioiitown.  It  crossed  Redstoue  where  the 
N^ational  road  now  crosses  it,  and  passing  just  north  of  the  Metho- 
dist grave-yard,  it  fell  into  the  route  of  the  turnpike  again,  near 
Jennings'  run;  thence  by  the  old  Brownsville  road  to  its  junction 
with  Burd's  road,  near  Jackson's  church,  from  w^hich  the  two 
became  identical. 

The  "Turkey  Foot  settlement"  is  one  of  the  oldest  west  of  the 
mountains.  Hence  roads  to  and  through  it  were  established  very 
early;  and  every  such  road  came  to  be  called  a  "Turkey  Foot 
road."  Indeed,  most  of  the  early  roads  took  the  names  ol  the 
localities  to  or  through  which  they  passed — as  the  Pennsylvania 
road,  the  Virginia  road,  3Ioorfield  road,  Sandy  Creek  road,  &c. 
There  was,  however,  one  Turkey  Foot  road  which  was  an  impor- 
tant one,  though  it  is  now  mostly  abandoned,  and  much  of  it  over- 
grown with  bushes,  or  fenced  in.  It  was  established  as  a  nearer 
route  to  Fort  Pitt  from  Cumberland,  than  Braddock's  road.  It  left 
the  last  named  road  somewhere  in  Maryland,  east  of  the  Greart 
Crossings,  and  entered  Fayette  county,  from  Somerset,  as  it 
crossed  the  summit  of  Laurel  Hill;  thence,  passing  down  Skinner's 
Mill  run  to  near  its  entrance  into  Indian  creek,  crossing  it  a 
little  above  the  junction,  and  the  Mud  Pike  near  where  Spring- 
field now  is,  it  passed  by  Cornelius  Woodruff's  old  place,  descen- 
ded the  Chestnut  ridge,  and  crossed  Mountz's  creek  at  Cathcart's, 
or  Andrews'  Mill,  and  crossed  Jacob's  creek  about  a  mile  below 
the  old  Chain  Bridge,  there  leaving  this  county ;  and  soon  coming 
into  the  route  of  Braddock,  it  passed  through  the  Sewickley  settle- 
ment, &c.  to  Fort  Pitt. 

On  this  road,  about  the  junction  of  Skinner's  Mill  run  and 
Indian  creek,  were  the  well  known  "bullock  pens."  As  early  as 
1776,  if  not  earlier.  Gen.  George  Morgan,  afterwards  Indian 
Agent  in  the  Pittsburgh  region,  came  out  by  this  road  with  a  lot 
of  cattle,  either  on  private  account,  or  for  the  garrison  at  Fort 
Pitt,  and  finding  fine  range  and  natural  meadow  here,  he  stopped, 
had  a  large  body  of  laud,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  creek,  enclosed 
with  a  rail  fence,  (some  of  which  was  visible  within  ten  years  past,) 
and  kept  the  cattle  there  a  long  time.  He  afterwards  had  two 
warrants  and  surveys  of  the  land  in  the  names  of  George  Morgan 
and  John  Morgan,  w^hich  tracts  he  sold  to  some  Germans,  and 
they  have  since  been  known  as  laud  of  Storman's  heirs,  and  more 
recently  of  James  Paull,  Jr. 

M'CuUoch's  Path  was  an  Indian  and  Traders'  trail  from  Win- 
chester and  Moorfield,  Va.,  westward.     It  came  by  way  of  Little 


CH.  III.]  INDIAN    TRAILS,    ARMY    ROADS,    AC.  35 

Yough,  near  the  route  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail  Road, 
crossing  the  Big  Yough  near  the  same  point  where  that  rail  road 
crosses  it,  passing  through  Herrington's  and  Hurley's  Glades,  and 
by  the  Crab  Orchard.  It  entered  Peuusylvania  and  Fayette 
county  a  little  east  of  the  summit  of  Laurel  Hill,  which  it  crossed 
at  Wymp's  Gap;  thence  passmg  a  little  north  of  Morris'  Cross 
roads,  it  crossed  the  Monongahela  into  Green  county,  between  the 
mouth  of  Cheat  and  ISTeal's  ferry. 

M'CuUoch  was  an  Indian  Trader.  His  "camp"  was  just  across 
the  State  line  on  the  Monongahela  river.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
supplying  the  Indians,  even  in  times  of  war,  with  knives, 
hatchets,  powder,  &c.  The  settlers  complained  of  this,  and  threat- 
ened him,  but  he  would  not  desist.  At  length  they  determined  to 
enforce  their  threats.  Learning  that  he  sometimes  returned  by 
Sandy  Creek  and  Braddock's  road,  a  number  of  the  settlers  from 
about  the  Great  Crossings  and  Turkey  Foot,  disguised  themselves, 
and  went  in  pursuit.  They  caught  him  at  Jesse  Tomlinsou's,  at 
the  Little  Crossings,  or  Castleman's  river.  They  gave  him  to  know 
that  his  contraband  trade  must  cease.  Mac  resisted  and  threat- 
ened and  entreated.  Tomlinson,  it  is  said,  sought  to  protect  him 
as  his  guest.  But  the  men  were  in  earnest.  Tom  Fossit  was  one 
of  them.  Tom  caught  and  held  him  in  his  giant  grasp,  while 
others,  as  the  term  used  was,  "deviled  him,"  until  he  promised 
never  more  to  transgress.  After  despoiling  him  of  his  ill  gotten 
peltry  and  other  pelf,  they  let  him  go,  and  he  never  was  seen  again 
in  this  region  of  country. 

There  were  other  old  roads  traversing  the  territory  of  Fayette, 
long  before  we  had  any  County  Courts,  and  consequently  no 
record  of  them  exists  here,  or  in  Bedford,  or  Westmoreland, 
except  where  they  have  been  adopted  in  whole  or  in  part  us 
legalized  highways.  We  will  not  attempt  their  enumeration,  or 
location.^^ 


'*  The  very  first  petition  for  a  road  presented  to  the  Court  of  Westmoreland,  after  its 
erection,  was  in  April,  1773,  by  inhabitants  of  Springhill  and  west  of  the  Monongahela 
river,  setting  forth  their  "difiBcult  circumstance  for  want  of  a  road  leading  into  any 
public  road  where  we  can  possibly  pass  with  convenience,"  and  therefore  praying  for 
"  a  public  road  to  begin  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Fish  Pot  run,  about  five  miles  below 
the  mouth  of  Ten  Mile  creek,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mouong.ihela  river,  (it  being  a 
convenient  place  for  a  ferry  [Crawford's  Ferry,]  as  also  a  good  direction  for  a  rend 
leading  to  the  most  western  part  of  the  setticment,)  thence  the  nearest  and  best  way 
to  the  Forks  of  Duulap's  path,  and  Gen.  Braddock's  road  on  the  top  of  Laurel  Hill." 
Viewers  appointed — .John  Moore,  Thomas  Scott,  Henry  lieeson,  Thomas  Browufieid, 
James  M'Cleau,  and  Philip  Shutc. 


3G  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  III. 

There  was,  however,  one  called  the  Sandy  Creek  road,  which  was 
of  considerable  note.  It  came  from  the  Ten  Mile  settlement, 
through  G-reen  county,  crossing  the  river  at  Hyde's  Ferry,  or 
mouth  of  Big  Whiteley,  passing  by  the  south  side  of  Masontown, 
through  Haydentown,  or  by  David  Johns'  Alill,  up  Laurel  Hill, 
through  the  Sandy  Creek  settlement  to  Daniel  M'Peak's  and  into 
Virginia.  It  was  by  this  road  that  the  father  and  family  of  Dr. 
Joseph  Doddridge,  passed  to  Morris'  Fort,  in  1774,  as  related  in 
his  "Kotes."  This  was  the  second  road  viewed  and  laid  out  by 
order  of  the  Court  of  Fayette  county,  after  its  erection  in  1783  ; 
a  road  from  Uniontown  to  the  mouth  of  Grassy  Run,  on  Cheat, 
being  the  first.  '- 

Another  of  these  old  roads  we  may  refer  to.  It  was  called 
Fromaii's  road,  which  led  from  Grist's,  past  Perryopolis  and  Col. 
Cook's  to  Pittsburgh.  ^^     It  has  been  improperly  called  Washing- 


At  the  same  Court  a  petition  was  presented  for  a  road  from  Washington's  Spring  to 
Sewickley,  but  the  route  is  not  designated. 

At  April  Sessions,  1774,  a  petition  was  presented  by  inhabitants  of  Tyrone  and 
Menallen,  (see  "outline  of  Civil  History,"  &c.  postea,)  setting  forth  the  "want  of  a 
road  leading  into  Braddock's  road,  or  any  part  of  the  mountain ;  and  further  we  would 
observe,  that  from  the  natural  situation  of  the  country,  we  who  at  present  live  on  the 
loest  side  of  the  Monongahela  river,  are  obliged  freqiiently  to  carry  our  corn  twenty 
miles  to  the  mill  of  Henry  Beeson,  near  Laurel  Hill,  and  in  all  probability,  at  some 
seasons  of  the  year,  will  ever  have  to  do  so  ;  and  therefore  praying  for  a  road  from 
near  Redstone  Old  Fort  to  Henry  Beeson's  mill,  and  thence  to  intersect  Braddock's  road 
near  the  forks  of  Dunlap's  road  and  said  road  on  the  top  of  Laurel  Hill."  Viewers 
appointed — Richard  Waller,  Andrew  Linn,  Jr.,  William  Colvin,  Thomas  Crooks,  Henry 
Hart,  and  Joseph  Grayble.  The  road  was  reported  and  approved  at  January  Sessions, 
1784. 

At  January  Sessions,  1783,  a  petition  was  presented  for  a  road  "from  Beeson's  Town, 
in  the  Forks  of  Youghiogheny  to  the  Salt  Works,  and  thence  eastward  to  Bedford 
Town."  The  Salt  Works  referred  to  were  those  on  Green  Lick  and  Jacob's  creek,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Tinsman's,  or  Welshonse's  and  Lobengier's  Mills. 

At  January  Sessions,  1784,  of  Westmoreland  county,  a  road  from  Beeson's  Town  to 
Col.  Cook's  was  reported  and  approved. 

^^  Petitions  for  these  roads  Lad  previously  been  acted  upon  in  AVcstmoreland  county, 
the  latter  one  beginning  at  Stewart's  Crossing.     (Connellsville.) 

'^  A  petition  for  this  road  was  presented  to  the  Westmoreland  Court  at  January 
Sessions,  1774,  describing  it  as  to  lead  "from  Thomas  Gisfsto  Paul  Froman's  Mill  near 
the  Monongahela,  (on  Spear's  Run,  near  Bellevernon,)  and  thence  to  his  other  mill  on 
Chartlers'  creek,"  (a  few  miles  west  of  Pittsburgh.)  It  seems  that  at  that  date  a  mill 
was  a  more  important  place  than  Pittsburgh.  Froman's  Mill,  on  Chartiers,  was  a  prom- 
inent place  in  the  boundary  troubles  of  that  year.  This  Paul  Froman  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  mills,  for  we  find  that  Daniel  M'Peak's  or  M'Peck's,  named  in  the  text, 
was,  in  1783,  on  a  road  "from  Froman's  Mill." 


CH, 


III.]  INDIAN   TRAILS,    ARMY   ROADS,    AC.  37 


ton's  road.  But  he  never  passed  over  it,  except  in  part,  perhaps, 
when  in  1770,  and  again  in  1784,  he  went  from  Col.  Crawford's,  or 
Gist's,  to  look  after  his  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  Perryopolis.  It 
was  used  to  carry  supplies  to  Fort  Pitt,  and  as  a  nearer  and  safer 
route  than  Burd's  or  Braddock's  roads. 

We  will  here  close  our  tracings  of  these  primitive  highways,  by 
a  brief  recurrence  to  their  early  uses  by  the  old  settlers  and  traders. 
Besides  the  ordinary  uses  for  milling,  visiting,  church  going,  &c., 
their  great  use  was  for  emigration  and  transportation  of  goods, 
even  the  most  weighty  and  cumbrous,  by  pack-horses.  To  this  end 
alone,  were  they  fitted.  Wone  of  the  streams  were  bridged  ;  and 
a  five  degrees'  grade  was  not  thought  of.  Except  as  to  the  Army 
7'oads,  they  were  all  mere  paths  through  the  woods,  and  among 
the  laurel  and  rocks  of  the  mountains.  The  two  great  emigrant 
and  pack-horse  routes,  up  to  1800,  were  the  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Virginia  roads,  heretofore  noticed.  "  The  writer  has  seen  as  many 
^as  thirty  pack-horses  in  a  caravan,  pass  through  Uniontowu  in  a 
day — an  occurrence  so  frequent  as  not  to  attract  unusual  notice. 
They  were  as  common  as  droves  of  cattle  or  horses  now-a-days. 
They  were  freighted  with  salt,  sugar  kettles,  bar  iron,  nail  rods, 
dry  goods,  glass,  kegs  of  rum,  powder,  lead,  &c.,  &c.  A  good 
horse  carried  from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  pounds,  besides 
provisions  and  feed.  These  they  would  take  up  along  the  way, 
at  places  where  they  had  dropped  them  in  'going  down;'  having 
no  other  heavy  'down  loading'  merely  peltry,  ginseng,  feathers, 
&c.  The  provisions  consisted  generally,  of  poe7i,  cheese  and  dried 
venison.  A  bear  skin  to  each  horse  was  an  indispensable  accom- 
paniment, for  a  bed  to- the  drivers,  and  to  protect  the  cargo  from 
rain.  Each  horse  had  his  bell,  silent  by  day,  but  let  loose  at  night 
when  browsing.  Two  men  generally  managed  ten  or  twelve  horses, 
one  before  and  one  behind  each  train,  to  guide  them  among  the 
trees,  and  protect  the  loading  from  side  contact.  Strength  was 
also  needful  to  load  and  unload  daily.  Emigrants  would  have 
their  little  all  swung  across  one,  two,  or  more  horses,  according  to 
their  abundance,  surmounted  by  their  wives  and  children,  or  the 
old  folk,  with  the  little  bag,  or  stocking  of  guineas,  joes,  or  pista- 
reens  snugly  esconced  in  the  salt  or  clothes  bag — after  the  manner 
of  Joseph's  brethren  on  their  trip  to  Egypt  for  corn."  In  1784,  the 
freight  on  goods  from  Philadelphia  to  Uniontown,  was  Five  Dollars 
per  one  hundred  pounds.  In  1789,  thirty  shillings,  {Four  Dollars,) 
from  Carlisle — the  beginning  of  the  pack-horse  transportation. 
We  have  before  us  a  copy  of  the  "Pittsburgh  Gazette,"  of  May 


38  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  III. 

17,  1794,  (Vol.  VII. — measuring  sixteen  by  twenty-two  inches,)  in 
which,  among  other  antiques,  is  an  advertisement  offering  $15 
per  month  for  pack-horse  drivers,  to  all  who  may  apply.  James 
L.  Bowman,  Esq.,  has  stated  that  the  first  wagon  load  of  goods 
brought  over  the  mountains,  by  the  Virginia  or  Braddock's 
road,  was  in  1789,  by  John  Hayden,  (of  w^hom  more  hereafter,) 
from  Ilagerstowu  to  Brownsville,  for  his  father,  the  late  Jacob 
Bowman,  Esq.  With  four  horses  he  brought  over  two  thousand 
pounds,  at  $3  per  hundred,  making  the  trip  in  about  a  month. 

This  state  of  things  made  goods — even  the  necessaries  of  life, 
very  high.  The  best  of  alum  salt  rated  here  at  from  $4  to  $5  per 
bushel,  of  ninety-six  pounds;  ground  alum  salt,  at  from  $3  to 
$3.50;  coffee,  33  cents  per  pound;  sugar,  25  cents;  Jamaica 
spirits,  $2.33  per  gallon.  In  1784,  wheat  sold  for  67  cents  per 
bushel;  corn,  22  cents;  rye,  50  cents.  But  flour  at  iNTatchez — if 
you  could  get  it  there,  was  worth  $25  per  barrel !  A  good  two 
horse  wagon  and  gears  could  be  bought  for  two  pack-horse  loads 
of  salt ;  or,  a  good  tract  of  land,  of  four  hundred  acres,  for  a  rifle 
gun  and  a  horn  of  powder ! 

Having  opened  the  ivays,  we  are  now  prepared  to  introduce  upon 
them  actors  and  movements  of  a  very  different  character  from 
pack-horse  drivers,  and  pack-horse  loads  of  salt  and  emigrants. 
The  war-whoop  and  the  drum,  are  now,  for  a  while,  to  precede 
the  merry  shout  of  the  mover,  and  the  glad  greetings  of  the  settler. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    FRENCH    WAR. — WASHINGTON'S    CAMPAIGN,     AC. 

Origin  of  the  War — First  Bloodshed — Washington's  Embassy,  in  1753 — Gist  —  Ohio 
Company  —  Captain  Trent — The  Hangard  —  Ensign  Ward  —  Colonel  Washington  at 
Great  Meadows — at  Gist's — his  Forces — who  were  with  him — Attacks  Juraonville — 
Jumonville's  Camp — The  Half-King's  Camp — Great  Rock — De  Villiers — Retreat  to 
"Fort Necessity" — The  Battle — Surrender — Retreat — Demolition — Garrison  Drunk — 
Prayers — Fort  Necessity  described — Wants  a  Monument. 

The  nations  were  at  peace.  France  held  Canada  on  the  north, 
and  ^  Louisiana  on  the  south  and  west.  The  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  nearly  united  these  possessions,  which  Louis  XIV. 
with  much  show  of  right,  claimed  to  hold  by  virtue  of  discovery 
and  settlement.  The  Appalachian  mountains  seemed  a  natural 
boundary  to  the  English  colonies.  The  purpose  of  France  was  to 
make  them  such,  in  fact  and  forever :— by  establishing  a  chain  of  forts 
from  Lake  Erie  down  the  most  western  branch  of  the  Allegheny, 
(French  creek,)  and  thence,  by  that  river  and  the  Ohio,  to  Louisi- 
ana; and  by  these,  and  by  securing  the  friendship  and  fears  of  the 
Indian  tribes,  establish  an  impregnable  dominion.  The  move- 
ments to  these  ends  rekindled  the  smothered  jealousy  of  England 
and  her  Colonies,  and  led  to  the  long  and  disastrous  war  of  1754 — 
1763,  as  ruinous  to  the  power  of  France  in  its  results,  as  her  con- 
duct in  the  beginning  was  plausible  and  bold.  The  territory  which 
at  first  appeared  to  be  the  prize  of  the  contest,  was  that  drained  by 
the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio.  Each  party  claimed  it,  upon  varied 
pretexts, — discovery,  treaties,  &c.,  but  neither  had  any  solid  basis  of 
claim, — the  Indian  was  the  rightful  owner.  The  destinies  of  civili- 
zation were  against  the  further  continuance  of  the  red  man's  occu- 
pancy; and  the  struggle  was  as  to  who  should  guide  those 
destinies — the  Anglo  Saxon  or  the  Gaul — the  Jesuit  and  Jan- 
senist,  or  the  Puritan  and  Covenanter. 


1  Louisiana,  as  held  by  France,  and  ceded  to  the  United  States,  in  1803,  included  all  of 
the  States  and  Territories  now  belonging  to  the  United  States  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  embracing  also  that  part  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  which  is 
east  of  the  Mississippi. 


40  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

It  is  not  proposed  here  to  write  the  history  of  this  eventful  war. 
But  Fayette  county  was  by  it  made  historic,  nay,  classic  ground. 
From  behind  its  Laurel  Hill  the  star  of  Washington's  fame  first 
beamed.  The  first  English  army  sent  into  the  strife,  traversed  its 
territory.  The  first  blood  shed  in  the  conflict  moistened  the  rock- 
bottomed  soil  of  its  mountains;  germinating  seeds  from  which 
sprang  the  revolt  and  independence  of  the  old  thirteen  colonies, 
and  the  horrors  and  triumphs  of  the  French  Revolution : — thus 
bringing  upon  both  parties  the  visitations  of  retributive  justice,  for 
the  wrongs  done  to  the  Indian,  and  to  each  other,  in  the  inceptive 
strife.  The  reader  of  these  sketches  will  therefore  not  regret  to 
find  even  here  recorded  such  of  the  events  of  this  war  as  occurred 
in  Fayette  county. 

The  scene  opens  in  November,  1753;  when  Major  George 
Washington,  then  in  his  twenty-second  year,  crossed  our  moun- 
tains, by  Il^emacolin's  trail,  from  Wills'  creek,  (Cumberland)  as  a 
special  envoy,  commissioned  by  Gov.  Dinwiddle,  of  Virginia,  to 
the  French  posts,  between  the  head  of  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie,  to 
spy  out  the  French  force  and  designs,  to  inquire  of  them  why 
they  came  there,  and  to  warn  them  off. 

His  party  consisted  of  himself,  John  Davidson,  an  Indian  inter- 
preter, Captain  Jacob  Van  Braam,  as  French  interpreter, — a  per- 
sonage conspicuous  the  next  year  in  the  surrender  of  Fort 
Necessity, — Christopher  Gist,  as  Guide,  who  in  that  year  had 
settled  at  the  place  in  Fayette,  since  known  as  Mt.  Braddock, — 
Currau  and  M'Quire,  Indian  traders,  and  Stewart  and  Jenkins,^ — 
these  four  as  "servitors."  They  left  Wills'  creek,  November 
15th,  with  horses,  tents  and  baggage ;  and  after  seven  days  of  toil 
over  the  mountains,  amid  snow  and  swollen  streams,  reached 
Frazier's  trading  post,  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  creek;  whence 
they  proceeded,  accompanied  by  some  Indians,  to  the  fulfillment 
of  their  mission.  Washington,  in  his  journal,  says,  they  passed 
''Mr.  Gist's  new  settlement,"  and  that  he,  with  Gist,  returned  by 
the  same  route.  "We  arrived,"  says  he,  "at  Mr.  Gist's,*  at  Monon- 
gahela,  the  2d  of  January,  (1754)  where  I  bought  a  horse  and  saddle. 


*  This  Stewart  is  probably  one  of  the  family  of  that  name  who  settled  at,  and  gave 
name  to  "Stewart's  Crossings."  (Connellsville.)  See  Affidavit  of  William  Stewart  in 
note  21  to  memoir  of  ike  Gist's  in  "Early  Settlers," — postea.  Chapter  VII. 

*  The  reader  must  understand,  that  at  this  early  day,  ilonongahela  was  a  locality 
which  covered  an  ample  scope  of  territory.  "  Gist's  Plantation"  was  about  sixteen 
miles  from  the  river,  which,  when  Washington  wrote  this,  he  had  never  seen. 


CH.  IV.]      THE    FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S    CAMPAIGN,  &C.  41 

The  6th,  we  met  seventeen  horses,  loaded  witli  materials  and  stores 
for  a  fort  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  day  after,  some  families 
going  out  to  settle." 

These  parties  whom  Washington  met,  were  going  out  under  the 
auspices  of  the  "Ohio  Company,"  an  association  formed  in  Vir- 
ginia, about  the  year  1748,  under  a  royal  grant.  Hitherto,  the 
French  and  Pennsylvanians  had  enjoyed  the  trade  with  the 
Indians  north  of  the  Ohio,  and  around  its  head  waters.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  Company  was  to  divert  this  trade  southward,  by  the 
Potomac  route,  and  to  settle  the  country  around  the  head  of  the 
Ohio  with  English  colonists  from  Virginia  and  Maryland.  To 
this  end,  the  king  granted  to  the  Company  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  west  of  the  mountains,  "to  be  taken  chiefly  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ohio,  between  the  Monongahela  and  Kenhawa,  but 
with  privilege  to  take  part  of  the  quantity  north  of  the  Ohio. 
Two  hundred  thousand  acres  were  to  be  taken  up  at  once,  and  to 
be  free  of  quit  rents,  or  taxes  to  the  king  for  ten  years,  upon  con- 
dition that  the  Company  should,  within  seven  years,  seat  one  hun- 
dred families  on  the  lands,  build  a  fort,  and  maintain  a  garrison, 
to  protect  the  settlement."  It  will  be  seen  that  this  grant  did  not, 
in  its  terms,  embrace  Fayette  county  territory ;  yet,  in  the  loose 
interpretations  of  that  early  period,  the  Company  attempted  settle- 
ments within  our  limits,  which  for  many  years  afterwards  were 
supposed  not  to  be  included  in  Penn's  Charter;  but  to  be  part  of 
the  vast  and  undefined  royal  domain  of  Virginia.*  The  incipient 
movements  of  this  Company  provoked  the  French  and  Pennsyl- 
vania traders  to  jealousy,  and  to  stir  up  the  Indians  to  hostility; 
thereby  at  once  raising  a  cloud  upon  its  prospects,  which  eventfully 
produced  a  torrent  of'  blood  which  obliterated  all  its  labors. 
Still,  to  this  Company  Fayette  county  is  much  indebted,  not  only 
for  many  scenes  of  historic  interest,  but  to  its  early  settlement,  by 
means  of  the  easy  access,  caused  by  the  making  of  Braddock's 
road;  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  but  an  improvement  of  the 
Company's  road,  originally  opened  by  Nemacolin. 

It  is  said  that  Col.  Cresap,  of  Maryland,  the  "Commissioner" 
of  the  Nemacolin  road,  was  one  of  the  Company.  It  is  certain 
that  Gen.  Washington's  brothers,  Lawrence  and  John  Augustine, 
were  largely  interested  in  it,  and,  as  well  as  their  more  illustrious 


*  See  further  as  to  these  matters,  in  the  subsequent  Sketches  of  "Boundary  Contro- 
versy," and  "Early  Settlements" — Chaps.  VI.  and  IX. 


42  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

brother,  were  anxious  for  its  success.  Christopher  Gist  was  the 
Company's  agent  to  select  the  lands  and  conciliate  the  Indians.* 
The  Company,  having  imported  from  London  large  quantities  of 
goods  for  the  Indian  trade,  and  engaged  several  settlers,  had  estab- 
lished trading  posts  at  Wills'  creek,  (the  New  Store,)  the  mouth  of 
Redstone,  (the  Hangard,)  the  mouth  of  Turtle  creek,  (Frazier's,) 
and  elsewhere;  had  planned  their  fort  at  the  "forks  of  the  Ohio," 
(Pittsburgh)  and  were  proceeding  energetically  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  their  designs ; — designs  which,  although  they  did  not  orig- 
inate, yet  served  to  hasten  the  great  and  decisive  contest  for 
supremacy  over  the  land  we  now  inhabit,  between  two  very  dissim- 
ilar branches  of  the  great  Teutonic  race.  The  parties  whom 
Washington  met,  were  the  pioneer  heralds  of  the  conflict. 

The  next  movement  in  furtherance  of  the  great  end,  was  of  a  \ 
martial  character;  and  it  too  traversed  our  territory.  Early  in 
1754,  Captain  Trent  was  sent  out  from  Virginia,  with  about  forty 
men — intended  to  be  recruited  on  the  way — to  aid  in  finishing  the 
fort  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  already  supposed  to  be  begun  by  the 
Ohio  Company.  The  captain's  line  of  march  was  along  Nema- 
colin's  trail  to  Gist's,  and  then,  by  the  Redstone  trail  to  the  mouth 
of  that  creek ;  where,  after  having  built  the  store  house  called 
the  Hangard,^  he  proceeded,  probably  by  land  and  ice,  to  the  forks 
of  Ohio,  where  he  arrived  on  the  17th  of  February,  and  went  to 
work  on  the  fort — which  soon  proved  a  vain  labor. 

Trent  had  returned  to  Wills'  creek,  and  Frazier  (Lieutenant  of 
the  forces,)  was  at  his  trading  post,  leaving  Ensign  Ward  in  com- 
mand ;  when,  on  the  17th  of  April,  he  had  to  surrender  to  a  large 
French  force,  which  suddenly  descended  the  Allegheny  upon  him ; 
and  he,  with  his  little  party,  thereupon  retreated,  by  canoes,  up  the 
Monongahela  to  Redstone,  and  thence  across  the  mountains.  The 
French  thereupon  finished  the  fort,  naming  it  Fort  Du  Quesne,  in 
honor  of  the  Governor-general  of  Canada. 

The  repulse  of  Ensign  Ward  was  regarded  as  an  overt  act  of 
war,  for  which  preparations  had  before  been  made  in  several  of  the 
Colonies;  and  the  loyal  descendants  of  the  old  cavaliers  in  Vir- 
ginia flew  to  arms.  About  the  first  of  May,  1754,  three  com- 
panies of  a  regiment  of  Virginia  provincials,  commanded  by 
Lieutenant-colonel  George  Washington,  set  out  from  Wills'  creek 


5  See  further  us  to    Christopher  Gist,  in  the  memoir  of  him  among  "Early  Settlers," 
postea, — Chap.  VII. 

®  This  ancient  erection  and  its  site,  &c.,  will  be  particularly  described  hereafter. 


CH.  IV.]      THE   FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S    CAMPAIGN,  &C.  43 

to  drive  the  French  from  Fort  Du  Quesne.  They  had  to  make  the 
road  which  Braddock  adopted  the  next  year.  By  the  9th  they 
reached  the  Little  Meadows,  (Tomlinson's)  where  more  than  two 
days  were  spent  in  bridging  the  Little  Yough.  On  the  18th  they 
arrived  at  the  Great  Crossings,  (Somerfield)  and  remained  there 
several  days,  while  Washington,  with  five  men  in  a  canoe, 
descended  the  river  to  ascertain  if  it  was  navigable.  His  hopes 
and  his  voyage  ended  at  the  Ohio  Pile  Falls.  They  crossed  this 
river  without  bridging. 

May  24th,  the  forces  arrived  at  the  Great  Meadows,  (Mount 
Washington)  where,  and  in  its  vicinity,  events  of  stirring  and 
lasting  interest  were  soon  to  be  enacted.  We  must  now  ask  to  be 
more  special  in  our  details. 
^  When  Washington  first  encamped  at  the  Great  Meadows,  he 
had  but  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  soon  after  increased  to 
three  hundred,  in  six  deficient  companies,  commanded  by  Cap- 
tains Stephen,  (to  whom  Washington  there  gave  a  Major's  com- 
mission,) Stobo,  Van  Braam,  Hogg,  Lewis,  George  Mercer  and 
Poison ;  and  by  Major  Muse,  who  joined  Washington,  with  rein- 
forcements, and  with  nine  swivels,  powder  and  ball,  on  the  9th  of 
June.  He  had  been  Washington's  military  instructor,  three  years 
before,  and  now  acted  as  quartermaster.  Captain  Mackay,  with  the 
Independent  Royal  Company,  from  South  Carolina,  of  about  one 
hundred  men,  came  up  on  the  10th  of  June,  bringing  with  him 
sixty  beeves,  jive  days  allowance  of  flour,  and  some  ammunition, 
but  no  cannon,  as  expected.  Among  the  subordinate  officers,  were 
Ensign  Peyronie,  and  Lieutenants  Waggoner  and  John  Mercer. 

Besides  the  illustrious  commander,  who  became  a  hero,  "  not 
for  one  age,  but  for  all  time,"  several  of  these  officers  became, 
afterwards,  sooner  or  later,  men  of  note.  Stephen  was  a  captain  in 
the  Virginia  regiment,  at  Braddock's  defeat,  and  wounded.  He 
rose  to  be  a  colonel  in  the  Virginia  troops,  and  to  be  a  general  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Stobo  was  the  engineer  of  "Fort 
Necessity,"  and  he,  with  Van  Braam,  were,  at  the  surrender,  given 
up  as  hostages  to  the  French,  until  the  return  of  the  French 
oflicers  taken  in  the  fight  with  Jumonville.  But  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  refusing  to  return  them,  the  hostages  were  sent  to  Canada. 
Stobo,  after  many  hair-breadth  escapes,  finally  returned  to  Virginia 
in  1759,  whence  he  went  to  England.'      Van  Braam  was  a  Dutch- 


■f  Neville  B.  Craig,    Esq.,  of  Pittsburgh,   has   made  quite  an    interesting  little  book 
out  of  the  "Life  and  Adventures  of  Cuptain  Stobo." 

Van  Braam  had  been  Washington's  instructor  in  the  sword  exercise. 


44  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

man,  who  knew  a  little  French,  and  having  served  Washington  as 
French  interpreter  the  previous  year,  was  called  upon  to  interpret 
the  articles  of  capitulation,  at  the  surrender  of  "Fort  Necessity;" 
and  has  been  generally,  but  unjustly,  charged  with  havmg  ivillfuUi/ 
entrapped  Washington  to  admit  that  the  killing  of  Jumonville,  was 
an  assassination.  He  returned  to  Virginia  in  1760,  having  been 
released  after  the  conquest  of  Canada  by  the  English;  but  the 
capitulation  blunder  sunk  him.  Captain  Lewis  was  the  General 
Andrew  Lewis,  of  Bottetourt,  in  the  great  battle  with  the  Indians 
at  Point  Pleasant,  in  Dunmore's  war  of  1774,  and  was  a  distin- 
guished general  officer  in  the  Revolution,  whom  Washington,  it 
is  said,  recommended  for  commander-in-chief.  He  was  a  captain 
in  Braddo^k's  campaign,  but  had  no  command  in  the  fatal  action, 
and  was  with  Major  Grant  at  his  defeat,  at  Grant's  Hill,  (Pitts- 
burgh) in  September,  1758.  Poison  w^as  a  captain  at  Braddock's 
defeat,  and  killed.  Of  Captain  Hogg,  we  know  but  little.  Captain 
Mackay^  was  a  royal  officer,  and  behaved  in  this  campaign  with 
discretion,  yet  with  some  hauteur,  as  we  shall  see.  Except  that  he 
afterwards  aided  Colonel  Innes,  of  l!^orth  Carolina,  in  building 
Fort  Cumberland,  nothing  more  is  known  of  him.  Peyronie  was 
a  French  Protestant  Chevalier,  settled  in  Virginia,  was  badly 
wounded  at  "Fort  ^Necessity,"  and  was  a  Virginia  captain  in 
Braddock's  defeat,  and  killed.  Waggoner  was  wounded  in  the 
Jumonville  skirmish,  became  a  captain  in  Braddock's  campaign, 
and  behaved  in  the  fatal  action  with  signal  good  sense  and 
gallantry.     He  escaped  unhurt. 

We  may  as  well  here  mention  other  distinguished  personages 
who  figured  about  "Fort  ISTecessity"  while  Washington's  little 
army  was  there.  Of  these  were  Christopher  Gist,  already  named. 
Dr.  James  Craik,  the  friend  and  family  physician  of  Washington, 
until  his  death.  Tenacharison,  the  half-king  of  the  Seneca  tribe 
of  the  Iroquois,  a  fast  friend  of  Colonel  Washington  and  the  Eng- 
lish; Monacatootha,  alias  Scarayoddy,  also  a  Six  Illation  Chief; 
Queen  Aliquippa^  and  her  son,  and  Shiugiss,  a  Delaware  Chief. 
Between   the   affair   with  Jumonville  and   the   surrender,   manv 


8  Famous  for  her  residence  where  M'Keesport  now  is,  and  for  having  taken  offence 
at  Washington  for  not  having  called  to  see  her  when  on  his  outward  trip  to  the  French 
posts  in  November,  1753 ;  which,  however,  he  atoned  for  on  his  return,  by  paying  her  a 
visit  and  presenting  to  her  a  watch  coat  and  a  bottle  of  rum, — the  latter  of  which,  he 
says,  she  prized  much  the  most  highly.  No  wonder.  He  should  have  given  her  a  peltt- 
coat. 


OH.  IV,]       THE   FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S  CAMPAIGN,  &C.  45 

friendly  Indians,  with  their  families,  in  alarm,  took  refuge  at  the 
fort — in  all  about  two  hundred.  Except  the  efficient  aid  of  the 
half-king,  and  a  few  others  as  scouts,  they  were  of  no  other  ser- 
vice than  to  consume  the  scanty  provisions  at  the  fort.  In  the 
action  of  the  3d  of  July  they  were  wholly  inefficient — though 
they  did  some  execution  in  the  attack  on  Jumonville's  party. 
After  the  surrender  they  retreated  with  Washington  to  Virginia ; 
but  soon  after  took  refuge  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
Aughwick,  and  were  for  a  while  maintained  by  that  Colony. 
Under  the  influence  of  Colonel  Croghan,  the  Deputy  Koyal 
Indian  Agent,  their  services  were  offered  to  General  Braddock  the 
next  year ;  but  he  treated  them  so  neglectfully  that  they  gradually 
left  him.  The  half-king  died  in  October,  1754,  at  Harris's  Ferry. 
We  now  return  to  the  narrative  of  events  in  their  order. 

When  Washington  marched  from  Wills'  creek  with  his  little 
force,  it  was  not  his  purpose,  without  strong  reinforcements  and 
artillery,  to  proceed  to  attack  the  French  in  their  new  Fort 
Du  Quesne.  From  the  first  he  designed  only  to  make  a  road  across 
the  mountains,  and  to  reach  the  Ohio  Company's  store  house  at 
the  mouth  of  Redstone,  and  there  erect  a  fort;  whence,  when 
sufficiently  rei*iforced,  he  could  move  to  the  attack,  sending  his 
artillery  and  heavy  stores  by  water.  To  accomplish  this  was  his 
aim  throughout  the  campaign 

During  his  march,  almost  daily,  reports  were  brought  to  him 
from  the  French  Fort,  by  scouts,  traders,  Indians  and  deserters. 
He  had  also  intelligence  of  parties  of  French  and  Indians  coming 
towards  him  for  various  purposes,  hostile  and  inquisitive.  About 
the  first  of  May,  a  party,  under  M.  La  Force,  left  their  fort,  as 
they  represented,  to  hunt  deserters.  Washington  sent  a  party  to 
hunt  them — but  did  not  find  them. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  Washington  at  the 
Great  Meadows  (May  24th.)  the  half-king  sent  him  a  letter  saying 
that  "the  French  army"  was  moving  against  him.  He  thereupon 
hastened  to  the  Meadows,  where,  the  same  evening,  the  half-king's 
warning  was  confirmed  by  a  trader,  who  told  him  the  French 
were  at  the  Crossings  of  the  Youghiogheny  (Stewart's)  about 
eighteen  miles  distant,  and  that  he  had  seen  two  Frenchmen  at 
Gist's  the  night  before.  Washington  immediately  began  to  lortify. 
And  three  days  afterwards,  in  the  effervescence  of  youthful  valor, 
as  yet  untried,  he  writes, — "  We  have,  with  nature's  assistance, 
made  a  good  entrenchment,  and  by  clearing  the  bushes  out  of 
these  meadows,  prepared  a  charming  field  for  an  encounter." 


46  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

This  "French  army"  was  the  Jumonville  party,  commanded  hy 
M.  La  Force.  Under  date  of  May  27th,  Washington  writes, — 
"  This  morning  Mr.  Gist  arrived  from  his  place,  where  a  detachment 
of  fifty  men  was  seen  yesterday  at  noon,  commanded  by  M  La 
Force  He  afterwards  saw  their  tracks  within  five  miles  of  our 
camp.  I  immediately  detached  seventy-five  men  in  pursuit  of 
them,  who  I  hope  will  overtake  them  before  they  get  to  Redstone^ 
where  their  canoes  lie."  This  latter  idea  seems  to  have  been  an 
error.  If  canoes  were  there  they  probably  belonged  to  friendly 
Indians  ;  for  the  French  came  by  the  ISTemacolin  path. 

That  same  night  (27th)  the  half-king,  who,  with  some  of  his 
people  and  Monacatootha,  were  encamped  about  six  miles  from  the 
Meadows,  sent  Washington  an  express,  saying  that  he  had  tracked 
the  Jumonville  party  to  its  hiding  place,  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  path,  in  a  very  obscure  camp,  surrounded  with  rocks.  Wash- 
ington, with  forty  men,  set  out  that  dark  and  rainy  night  for  the 
Indian  camp  ;  where,  after  council  held,  an  attack  was  determined 
to  be  made  at  once.  It  was  done  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
28th.  The  French  were  surprised,  Jumonville  and  others  killed 
and  scalped  by  the  Indians,  and  M.  La  Force,  M.  Drouillon,  two 
Cadets,  and  seventeen  others  made  prisoners."  Tkese  were  sent 
off  at  once  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  where  most  of  them, 
especially  M.  La  Force,  "a  person  of  great  subtilty  and  cunning,'" 
and  who  gave  Washington  a  good  deal  of  trouble  at  Venango  the 
year  previous,  were  detained  a  long  time,  contrary  to  Washington's 
agreement  at  the  subsequent  surrender. 

This  attack,  and  the  killing  of  Jumonville,  raised  the  ire  of  the 
French  to  a  high  degree,  and  have  figured  largely  in  the  annals 
of  that  period.  It  was  the  first  shedding  of  blood  in  this  eventful 
war.  The  French  made  a  hero  of  Jumonville,  and  called  his 
killing  an  assassination.  And  amid  the  confusion  of  the  surrender 
of  the  3d  of  July,  and  the  stupidity  of  Van  Braam,  Washington 


^  This, — not  Fort  Necessity,  was  really  "  Wasliingti  n's  first  battle  ground."  Con- 
cerning it  he  wrote  shortly  after,  "  I  fortunately  escaped  without  any  wound;  for  the 
right  wing  where  I  stood,  was  exposed  to,  and  received  all  the  enemy's  fire;  and  it  wa» 
the  part  where  the  man  was  killed  and  tlie  rest  wounded.  I  heard  Ike,  bullets  whistle;  and 
believe  vie,  there  is  something  charming  in  the  sound"  The  letter  from  which  this  is  taken 
was  written  to  his  brother,  and  was  published  in  the  London  Magazine ;  where  George 
II.  saw  it;  and  thereupon  dryly  observed,  "  He  Avould  not  say  so  if  he  had  been  used 
to  hear  many."  So  thought  Washington  himself  in  after  j^ears,  when  suc'ri  music  Lad 
lost  its  charm.  Upon  being  asked  if  he  had  ever  uttered  such  rodomontade,  he  auswerwl 
gravely — "If  I  said  so,  it  was  when  1  was  young." 


CH.  IV.]       THE  FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S  CAMPAIGN,  &C.  47 

was  made  to  sign  an  admission,  in  the  Frencli  language,  which  he 
knew  not,  of  the  truth  of  the  charge  ; — a  blander  which  afterwards 
gave  him  no  little  uneasiness,  but  from  which  his  fame  has  been 
fully  relieved. 

It  was  claimed  by  the  French  that  Jumonville  was  a  peaceful 
envoy,  with  a  martial  retinue  for  protection ;  and  it  may  be  that  in 
some  sense  he  was  such.  But  his  circumjacents  were  sadly  against 
him.  His  party  were  acting  as  spies,  and  were  in  hostile  array. 
Hostilities  had  begun  by  the  repulse  of  Ensign  Ward.  Besides, 
this  French  party  had  been  near  to  Washington's  camp  for  several 
days  without  revealing  themselves  or  seeking  an  interview  ;  and 
they  had  chosen  a  singular  locality  for  an  ambassador's  Court. 
Washington  would  have  been  greatly  derelict  had  he  not  attacked 
them. 

''^  Jumonville' s  Camp  "  is  a  place  well  known  in  our  Mountains. 
It  is  near  half  a  mile  southward  of  Dunbar's  Camp,  and  about  five 
hundred  yards  eastward  of  Braddock's  road — the  same  which 
Washington  was  then  making.  The  Half-king's  Camp  was  about 
two  miles  farther  south,  near  a  fine  spring,  since  called  WasJwig- 
ton's  Spring,  about  fifty  rods  northward  of  the  Great  Rock. 

The  half-king  discovered  Jumonville's,  or  La  Force's  Camp  by 
the  smoke  which  rose  from  it,  and  by  the  tracks  of  two  of  the 
party  who  were  out  on  a  scouting  excursion.  Crawling  stealthily 
through  the  laurel  thicket  which  surmounts  the  wall  of  rock 
twenty  feet  high,  he  looked  down  upon  their  bark  huts  or  lean-to's; 
and,  retreating  with  like  Indian  quietness,  he  immediately  gave 
Washington  the  alarm.  There  is  not  above  ground,  in  Fayette 
County,  a  place  so  well  calculated  for  concealment,  and  for  secretly 
watching  and  counting  AVashiugton's  little  army  as  it  would  pass 
along  the  road,  as  this  same  Jumonville's  Camp. 

The  discomfiture  of  La  Force's  party,  and  death  of  Jumonville, 
were  immediately  heralded  to  Contrecoeur  at  Fort  Du  Quesne  by  a 
frightened,  barefooted  fugitive  Canadian ;  and  vengeance  was 
vowed  at  once.  But  it  was  not  yet  quite  ready  to  be  executed. 
Washington,  however,  knowing  the  impressions  which  this,  his 
first  encounter,  would  make  upon  the  enemy,  at  once  set  about 
strengthening  his  defences.  He  sent  back  for  reinforcements,  and 
had  his  fort  at  the  Meadows  palisadoed  and  otherwise  improved. 
And,  to  increase  his  anxieties,  the  friendly  Indians,  with  their 
families,  and  several  deserters  from  the  French,  flocked  around  his 
camp,  to  hasten  the  redaction  of  his  little  store  of  provisions. 
Farther  embarrassments  awaited  him. 


48  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  TCH.  IV. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  Major  Muse  came  up  with  the  residue  of 
the  Virginia  regiment,  the  swivels  and  some  ammunition  ;  but  it 
was  now  ascertained  that  the  two  independent  companies  from 
New  York,  and  one  from  North  Carolina,  that  were  promised, 
would  fail  to  arrive  until  too  late.  The  latter  only  reached  Cum- 
berland after  the  surrender  ;  while  the  fixed  antipathies  to  war  and 
proprietory  prerogative,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  had 
rendered  all  Governor  Hamilton's  entreaties  for  aid  from  that 
Colony  ineffectual.  In  this  extremity,  Colonel  "Washington  dis- 
played the  same  energy  and  prudence  which  carried  him  so 
successfully  through  the  dangers  and  disappointments  of  the 
Revolution.  He  hired  horses  to  go  back  to  Wills'  creek  for  more 
balls  and  provisions,  and  induced  Mr.  Gist  to  endeavor  to  have  the 
artillery,  &c.,  hauled  out  by  Pennsylvania  teams — the  reliance  upon 
Southern  promises  of  transport  having  failed,  as  it  did  with 
Braddock.  But  no  artillery  came  in  time,  ten  only,  of  the  thirty 
four-pounder  cannon  and  carriages,  which  had  been  sent  from 
England,  having  been  forwarded  to  Wills'  creek,  but  too  late. 
Washington  also  took  active  measures  to  have  a  rendezvous  at 
Redstone,  of  friendly  Indians  from  Logstown  and  elsewhere  below 
Du  Quesne  ;  but  in  this  he  failed. 

On  the  next  day  (the  10th,)  Captain  Mackay  came  up  with  the 
South  Carolina  Company  ;  but  as  he  bore  a  king's  commission, 
he  would  not  receive  orders  from  the  provincial  colonel,  and 
encamped  separate  from  the  Virginia  troops ;  neither  would  his 
men  do  work  on  the  road.  To  prevent  mutiu}',  and  a  conflict  of 
authority.  Colonel  Washington  concluded  to  leave  the  royal  cap- 
tain and  his  company  to  guard  the  fort  and  stores,  while  he,  on 
the  16th,  set  out  with  his  Virginia  troops,  the  swivels,  some  wagons 
&c.,  for  Redstone,  making  the  road  as  they  went.  So  difficult  was 
this  labor  over  Laurel  Hill,  that  two  weeks  were  spent  in  reaching 
Gist's,  a  distance  of  thirteen  miles. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  Washington  detached  a  party  of  some 
seventy  men  under  Captain  Lewis,  to  endeavor  to  clear  a  road 
from  Gist's  to  the  mouth  of  Redstone ;  and  another  party  under 
Captain  Poison,  were  sent  ahead  to  reconnoitre.  Meanwhile 
Washington  completed  his  movement  to  Gist's. 

Simultaneous  with  these  detachments,  something  of  a  French 
army,  on  the  28th,  left  Fort  Du  Quesne  to  attack  Washington.  It 
consisted  of  five  hundred  French,  and  some  Indians,  afterwards 
augmented  to  about  four  hundred.  The  commander  was  M. 
Coulou  de   Villiers,  half  brother  of  Jumonville,  who  sought  the 


CH.  IV.]      THE    FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S   CAMPAIGN,  &C.  49 

command  from  Contrecoear  as  a  special  favor,  to  enable  him  to 
avenge  his  kinsman's  "assassination."  They  went  up  the  Monon- 
gahela  in  periagiias  [big  canoes,]  and  on  the  30th  came  to  the 
Hangard  at  the  mouth  of  Redstone,  and  encamped  on  rising 
ground  about  two  musket  shot  from  it.  This  Hangard  (built  the 
last  winter,  as  our  readers  will  recollect,  by  Captain  Trent,  as  a 
store  house  for  the  Ohio  Company,)  is  described  hj  M.  de  Yilliers 
as  a  "  sort  of  fort  built  with  logs,  one  upon  another,  well  notched 
in,  about  thirty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  wide."  It  stood  near 
where  Baily's  mill  now  is. 

Hearing  that  the  objects  of  his  pursuit  were  entrenching  them- 
selves at  Gist's,  M.  de  Yilliers  disencumbered  himself  of  all  his  heavy 
stores  at  the  Hangard;  and,  leaving  a  sergeant  and  a  few  men  to 
guard  them  and  the  periaguas,  rushed  on  in  the  night,  cheered  by 
the  hope  that  he  was  about  to  achieve  a  brilliant  cowp  de  main  upon 
the  young  "buckskin  Colonel."  Coming  to  the  "  plantation  "  on  the 
morning  of  July  2d,  the  gray  dawn  revealed  the  rude,  half-finished 
fort,  which  Washington  had  there  begun  to  erect.  This,  the 
French  at  once  invested,  and  gave  a  general  tire.  There  was  no 
response ;  the  prey  had  escaped.  Foiled  and  chagrined,  de  Villiers 
was  about  to  retrace  his  steps,  when  up  comes  a  half-starved  deser- 
ter from  the  Great  Meadows,  and  discloses  to  him  the  whereabouts 
and  destitute  condition  of  Washington's  forces.  Having  made 
a  prisoner  of  the  messenger,  with  a  promise  to  reward,  or  to  hang 
him,  according  as  his  tale  should  prove  true  or  false,  the  French 
commander  resolved  to  continue  the  pursuit  Upon  this  we  leave 
him,  while  we  post  up  Colonel  Washington's  movements. 

Hearing  of  the  French  approach,  Washington,  being  at  Gist's  on 
the  29th,  began  throwing  up  entrenchments,  with  a  view  there  to 
make  a  stand.  He  called  in  the  detachments  under  Captains 
Lewis  and  Poison,  and  sent  back  for  Captain  Mackay  and  his 
company.  These  all  came,  and  upon  council  held  it  was  deter- 
mined to  retreat.  The  imperfect  entrenchment  was  abandoned, 
and  sundry  tools  and  other  articles  concealed,  or  left  as  useless. 
The  lines  of  this  old  fortification  have  been  long  obliterated,  but 
its  position  is  known  by  the  numerous  relics  which  have  been 
ploughed  up.  It  was  near  Gist's  Indian's  hut  and  spring,  about 
thirty  rods  east  of  Jacob  Murphy's  barn,  and  within  fifty  rods  of 
the  centre  of  Fayette  County. 

The  retreat  was  begun  with  a  purpose  to  continue  it  to  Wills' 
creek,  but  it  ended  at  the  Meadows.  Thither  the  swivels  were 
brought  back,  and  under  the  immediate  device  and  supervision  of 
4 


50  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

Captain  Stobo,  a  ditch  and  additional  dimensions  and  strength 
were  given  to  the  fort,  now  named  "Fort  Necessity."  So  toilsome 
was  this  hasty  retreat,  there  being  but  two  poor  teams,  and  a  few 
equally  poor  pack  horses — that  Washington  and  other  officers  had 
to  lend  their  horses  to  bear  burdens,  and  to  hire  the  men  to  carry, 
and  to  drag  the  heavy  guns.  Captain  Mackay's  company  were  too 
royal  to  labor  in  this  service,  and  the  Virginians  had  to  do  it  all. 
When  they  reached  the  Meadows  on  the  1st  of  July,  their  fatigue 
was  excessive.  They  had  had  no  bread  for  eight  days ;  they  had 
milch  cows  for  beef,  but  no  salt  to  season  it.  Arrived  at  the  fort, 
they  found  some  relief  in  a  few  bags  of  chopped  flour,  and  other 
provisions  from  the  "settlements,"^"  but  only  enough  for  four  or 
five  days.  Thus  fortified  and  provisioned,  they  hoped  to  hold  out 
until  reinforcements  would  arrive,  but  they  came  not. 

After  a  rainy  night,  early  on  the  morning  of  July  3d,  the  enemy 
approached,  strong  in  numbers  and  in  confidence,  but  fortunately 
without  artillery.  A  wounded  scout  announced  their  approach. 
The  French  delivered  the  first  fire  of  musketry  from  the  woods,  at 
a  distance  of  some  four  or  five  hundred  yards,  doing  no  harm. 
Washington  formed  his  men  in  the  Meadow  outside  of  the  fort, 
wishing  to  draw  the  enemy  into  an  open  encounter.  Failing  in 
this,  he  retired  behind  his  lines,  and,  after  an  irregular  inefiective 
firing  during  the  day,  and  until  after  dark,  the  French  commander 
asked  a  parley,  which  AYashington  at  first  declined,  but  when 
again  asked,  granted.  In  this  he  behaved  with  singular  caution 
and  coolness ;  anxious  lest  his  almost  total  destitution  of  ammuni- 
tion and  provisions  should  be  discovered,  yet  betraying  no  fear  or 
precipitation.  The  French  and  Indians  had  killed,  or  stolen  all 
his  horses  and  cattle,  and  thus  his  means  of  retreat  were  rendered 
as  meagre  a,s  his  means  of  defence.  Yet  with  all  these  disadvan- 
tages, in  numbers  and  resources,  he  obtained  terms  of  surrender, 
highly  honorable  and  liberal.  Indeed,  the  French  commander 
seems  to  have  been  a  very  fair  sort  of  a  man.  The  articles  of 
capitulation  were  drawn  and  presented  by  him  in  the  French  lan- 
guage; and  after  sundry  modifications  in  Washington's  favor, 
were  signed  in  duplicate,  amid  torrents  of  rain,  by  the  dim  light 
of  a  candle,  by  Captain  Mackay,  Colonel  Washington  and  M.  de 
Villiers. 

The   French  commander  professed  to  have   no  other  purpose 


^^  See  notice  of  "Wendell  Brown  and  family,"  in  sketch  of  ^^ Early  Settlers  "  postea. 
Chapter  VII. 


en.  IV.]      THE    FRENCH   WAR. — WASHINGTON'S    CAMPAIGN,  &C.  51 

than  to  avenge  Jumonville's  "  assassination  '"  and  to  prevent. any 
"  establisliment "  by  the  English  upon  the  French  dominions. 
Hence,  the  articles  of  capitulation  agreed  on,  allowed  the  English 
forces  to  retire  without  insult  or  outrage  from  the  French  or 
Indians,  to  take  with  them  all  their  baggage  and  stores,  except 
artillery;,  the  English  colors  to  be  struck  at  once,  and  at  day-break 
next  morning  (July  4th,)  the  garrison  to  file  out  of  the  fort  and 
march  with  colors  flying,  drums  beating,  and  one  swivel  gun. 
They  were  also  allowed  to  conceal  such  of  their  effects,  as  by 
reason  of  the  loss  of  their  oxen  and  horses  they  could  not  take 
with  them,  and  to  return  for  them  hereafter,  upon  condition  that 
they  would  not  again  attempt  any  establishment  there,  or  else- 
where west  of  the  mountains.  The  English  were  to  return  to 
Fort  Du  Quesne  the  officGrs  and  cadets  taken  at  the  "  assassina- 
tion "  of  Jumonville,  as  hostages  for  which  stipulation,  Captains 
Van  Braam  and  Stobo  were  given  up  to  the  French,  as  we  have 
before  related. 

Such  was,  in  substance,  the  terms  of  the  surrender  of  "  Fort 
J^ecessity."  But  so  powerless  in  all  the  -phjsicalc  of  military 
movement  had  Washington  become,  that  nothing  could  be  carried 
off  but  the  arms  of  the  men,  and  what  little  of  other  articles  w^ere 
indispensible  for  their  march  to  Wills'  creek.  Even  the  wounded 
and  sick  had  to  be  carried  by  their  fellows.  All  the  swivels  were 
left.  These  were  the  "  artillerj^"  which  the  French  required  to  be 
given  up.  It  is  said  that  Washington  got  the  French  commander 
to  agree  to  destroy  them.  This  was  not  done  as  to  some  of  them — 
perhaps  they  were  only  spiked  ;  for  in  long  after  years,  emigrants 
found  and  used  several  of  them  there.  Eventually  the}-  were 
carried  otf  to  Kentucky  to  aid  in  protecting  the  settlers  of  the 
"bloody  ground." 

The  French  took  possession  of  the  fort,  and  demolished  it  on  the 
morning  of  the  4th  of  July,  a  day  afterwards  to  become  as  glori- 
ously memorable  in  the  recollections  of  Washington,  as  now  it 
was  gloomy. 

Washington's  loss  in  the  action,  out  of  the  Virginia  regiment, 
was  twelve  killed  and  forty-three  wounded.  Captain  Mackay's 
losses  were  never  reported.  The  French  say  they  lost  three  killed 
and  seventeen  wounded. 

The  French,  apprehensive  that  the  long  expected  reinforcements 
to  Washington  might  come  upon  them  hastily,  retired  from  the 
scene  on  the  same  day,  marching  "two  leagues,"  or  about  cix 
miles.     On  the  5th  they  passed  Washington's  abandoned  entrench- 


52  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV, 

merit  at  Gist's,  after  demolishing  it  and  burning  cdl  the  contigimcs 
houses.  At  10,  A.  M.  next  day,  they  reached  the  mouth  of  Red- 
stone, and  after  burning  the  Hangard,  reembarked  on  the  placid 
Monon<>;ahela.  On  the  7th  they  accomplished  their  triumphant 
return  to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  "having  burnt  down,"  says  M.  de 
Villiors,  in  his  Journal,  "  all  the  settlements  they  found." 

"Washington  returned,  sadly  and  slowly,  to  Wills'  creek,  and 
thence  to  Alexandria;  and  now  the  French  colors  float  over  the 
entire  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  historian  of  " Braddock's  campaign"  (W.  Sargent)  asserts, 
upon  what  authority  is  not  stated,  that  at  the  time  of  the  surrender, 
"half  the  garrison  was  drunk."  Be  this  true  or  not,  it  seems  the 
materiel  was  there,  for  M.  de  Villiers  records  that  when  he  took 
possession  of  the  fort  he  very  considerately  executed  the  "  Maine 
law "  upon  sundry  casks  of  liquor,  to  prevent  Indian  excesses. 
And  it  may  be,  that  in  accordance  with  the  "  spirit  of  the  age,"  the 
half-starved  and  rain-drenched  soldiers  w^ere  allowed  to  season 
their  sloiv  beef  and  dry  their  powder  and  clothes  with  7^mn,  the 
only  article  they  seem  to  have  had  a  surplus  of. 

There  is  cotemporary  testimony  to  a  much  more  pleasing  fact: 
that  Washington  caused  prayers  to  be  said  in  the  fort  daily ;  proba- 
bly read  by  himself  (for  he  had  no  Chaplain,)  from  the  ritual  of 
the  English  Episcopal  Church,  then  the  legal  religion  of  Virginia. 
His  friend  Lord  Fairfax  suggested  this  observance  to  influence  the 
Indians.  But  Washington  was  doubtless  "  moved  thereunto  "  by 
higher  and  holier  considerations. 

If  both  these  facts  he  fads,  what  an  incoherent  medley  of  order 
and  confusion,  of  staid  solemnity  and  swaggering  courage,  did  the 
old  Meadow  fort  present  on  that  memorable  day  I  And  who 
knows  but  that  both  contributed  to  avert  the  horrors  of  an  Indian 
onslaught,  and  to  assuage  the  anguish  of  the  surrender.  Nor 
must  we  either  w^onder  at  the  strange  association  of  influences,  or 
censure  Washington  for  their  allowance.  Two  years  afterwards, 
when  Dr.  Franklin  played  General  on  the  Lehigh,  he  had  for  his 
Chaplain  the  Rev.  Charles  Beatty,  a  very  worthy  Presbyterian 
Minister,  and  a  pioneer  of  religion  in  W^estern  Pennsylvania,  who, 
as  Franklin  records,  served  also  as  "Steward of  the  Rum,"  dealing 
it  out  just  after  the  prayers  and  exhortations,  to  secure  the  soldiers 
attendance,  "and  never,"  says  he,  "  were  prayers  more  generally 
or  more  punctually  attended." 

The  engraving  and  description  of  "Fort  N-ecessity  "  given  in 
Sparks'  Washington  (vol.  1,  p.  ;">6,  and  vol.  2,  p.  457,)   are   inaccu- 


CH.  IV.]       THE  FRENCH  AVAR. — WASHINGTON'S  CAMPAIGN,  &G.  53 

rate.  It  may  have  presented  that  diamond  shape,  in  1830.  But 
in  1816,  the  senior  author  of  these  sketches  made  a  regular  survey 
of  it,  with  compass  and  chain.  The  accompanying  engraving 
exhibits  its  form  and  proportions."  As  thereby  shown,  it  was  in 
the  form  of  an  obtuse  angled  triangle  of  105  degrees,  having  its 
base  or  hypothenuse  upon  the  run.  The  line  of  the  base  was, 
about  midway,  sected  or  broken,  and  about  two  perches  of  it 
thrown  across  the  run,  connecting  with  the  base  by  lines  of  about 
the  same  length,  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  opposite  lines  of  the 
triangle.  One  line  of  the  angle  was  six,  the  other  seven  perches; 
the  base  line  eleven  perches  long,  including  the  section  thrown 
across  the  run.  The  lines  embraced  in  all  about  fifty  square 
perches  of  land,  or  nearly  one-third  of  an  acre.  The  embank- 
ments then  (1816,)  were  nearly  three  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
Meadow.  The  outside  "trenches,"  (in  which  Captain  Mackay's 
men  were  stationed  when  the  fight  began,  but  from  which  they 
were  Jiooded  out,)  were  filled  up.  But  inside  the  lines  were  ditches 
or  excavations,  about  two  feet  deep,  formed  by  throwing  the  earth 
up  against  the  palisades.  There  were  then  no  traces  of  "  bastions," 
at  the  angles,  or  entrances.  The  junctions  of  the  Meadow,  or 
glade,  with  the  wooded  upland,  were  distant  from  the  fort  on  the 
south-east  about  80  yards, — on  the  north  about  200  yards,  and  on 
the  south  about  250.  l^orth-westward  in  the  direction  of  the 
Turnpike  road,  the  slope  was  a  very  regular  and  gradual  rise  to 
the  high  ground,  which  is  about  400  yards  distant.  From  this 
eminence  the  enemy  began  the  attack,  but  afterwards  took  posi- 
tion on  the  east  and  south-east,  nearer  the  fort.  One  or  two  field 
pieces  skillfully  aimed  and  fired  would  have  made  short  work  of  it. 
A  more  inexplicable,  and  much  more  inexcusable  error  than 
that  in  Mr.  Sparks'  great  work,  is  the  statement  of  Colonel  J3urd, 
in  the  Journal  of  his  expedition  to  Redstone  in  1759.  He  says  the 
fort  was  round  !  with  a  house  in  it !  That  Washington  may  have 
had  some  sort  of  a  log,  bark-covered  cabin  erected  within  his  lines, 
is  not  improbable ;  but  how  the  good  Carlisle  Colonel  could  meta- 
morphose the  Hues  into  a  circidar  form  is  a  mystery  which  we 
cannot  solve. 


11  The  lithographed  view  of  "Fort  Necessity,"  which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  book, 
varies  a  little,  but  not  materially,  from  the  description  here  given.  The  design  of  the 
young  artist  ( David  Shriver  Stewart,  son  of  Hon.  Andrew  Stewart,  of  Fayette,)  is  to 
represent  the  Surrender,  .on  the  morning  of  July  4,  1754.  Washington  is  shown  upon 
the  only  poor  horse  left  capable  of  locomotion.  In  every  respect,  the  picture  is  not  only 
topographically,  but  historically  correct ;  losing,  however,  much  of  its  force  and  beauty 
by  having  to  be  lithographed  upon  a  much  reduced  scale. 


54  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  IV. 

The  site  of  tliis  renowned  fort  is  well  known.  Its  ruins  are  yet 
visible.  It  stands  on  Great  Meadow  run,  whicli  empties  into  the 
Youghiogheny.  The  "  Great  Meadows,"  with  which  its  name 
associates  in  history,  was  a  large  natural  meadow  or  glade,  now 
highly  cultivated  and  improved.  The  place  is  now  better  known 
by  the  name  of  "Mount  Washington,"  on  the  National  Road,  ten 
miles  east  of  Uniontown,  the  old  fort  being  about  300  yards  south- 
ward of  the  brick  mansion,  or  tavern  house.  In  by-gone  da^'s 
thousands  of  travelers  have  stopped  here,  or  rushed  by,  without  a 
thought  of  its  being  or  history ;  while  a  few  have  thrown  a  rever- 
ential glance  upon  the  classic  spot.  Washington,  in  all  his  after 
life,  seems  to  have  loved  the  place.  As  early  as  1767  he  acquired 
from  Virginia  a  preemption  right  to  the  tract  of  land  (284  acres), 
which  includes  the  fort;  the  title  to  which  was  afterwards  confirmed 
to  him  by  Pennsylvania.  It  is  referred  to  in  his  last  will,  and  he 
owned  it  at  his  death.  His  executors  sold  it  to  Andrew  Parks  of 
Baltimore,  whose  wife,  Harriet,  was  a  relative  and  legatee  of  the 
General.  She  sold  it  to  the  late  General  Thomas  Meason,  who 
sold  it  to  Joseph  Huston,  as  whose  property  it  was  bought  at 
sheriffs  sale  by  Judge  Ewing,  who  sold  it  to  the  late  James 
Sampey,  Esq.,  whose  heirs  have  recently  sold  it  to  a  Mr.  Fasen- 
baker.  An  ineffectual  effort  was  made  some  years  ago  to  erect  a 
■monument  upon  the  site:  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  yet  be  done.  The 
"first  battle  ground  of  Washington"  surely  deserves  a  worthier 
mark  of  commemoration  than  mouldering  embankments  sur- 
mounted by  a  few  decaying  bushes. 


CHAPTER    V. 

braddock's    campaign. 

War  in  earnest — Albany  Council  —  Indians  join  the  French  —  Braddock's  march — His 
Forces,  Officers  and  Attendants — Slow  movements — His  encampments — Division  of 
Army — River  fordings — The  Battle — Terrible  defeat  and  losses — Retreat — Drought — 
Gist's  Plantation — Washington  —  N.  Gist  —  Dunbar's  division  —  Dunbar's  camp  — 
Flight  —  Ancient  tavern  —  Braddock's  death  —  Grave — Who  killed  Braddock? — Tom 
Fossit — Career  and  Character  of  Braddock — Apology  for  Dunbar — Consequences  of 
the  Defeat — Foi-bes'  conquest — No  more  battle  on  Fayette  territory. 

By  the  acta  of  both  parties  a  state  of  war  now  existed  between 
England  and  France  ;  and  the  wilds  of  America  became  the  arena 
and  the  prize  of  the  conflict.  Hence  the  expedition  of  Washing- 
ton in  1754  was  followed  in  the  next  year  by  Braddock's  campaign, 
"  an  enterprise,"  says  Mr.  Sparks,  "  one  of  the  most  memorable  in 
American  history,  and  almost  unparalleled  for  its  disasters,  and 
the  universal  disappointment  and  consternation  it  occasioned." 
It  was  heralded  with  great  preparation  and  promise,  conducted 
with  great  show  and  expenditure,  and  ended  in  unprecedented  loss 
of  life  and  treasure.  We  purpose  not  to  write  its  history,  but 
only  to  record  such  of  its  events  as  transpired  upon  Fayette  terri- 
tory ;  noticing  briefly  other  matters  which  seem  needful  for  their 
being  rightly  understood.^ 

While  Washington,  in  June,  1754,  was  wending  his  toilsome 
march  from  the  Great  Meadows  to  Gist's,  a  convention  or  council 
was  sitting  at  Albany,  composed  of  Commissioners  from  the 
colonies  of  JSTew  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  the 


1  In  the  preparation  of  this  sketch,  we  have  drawn  largely  from  that  most  valuable 
recent  publication  by  the  "  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,"  entitled  "  The  History  of 
an  Expedition  against  Fort  Du  Quesne,  in  1755,  under  Major  General  Edivard  Braddock, 
Generalissimo  of  H.  B.  M.  forces  in  America.  Edited  from  the  original  manusci'ipts,  by 
Winthrop  Sargent,  A.  M.,  member  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania."  Octavo, 
1855.  _  This  is  the  most  minute  and  interesting  detail  of  the  events  of  that  expedition, 
and  history  of  the  French  war  in  America  generally,  which  has  appeared.  Every 
Fayette  reader  should  peruse  it.  Its  chief  basis  is  the  Journal  of  Captain  Orme,  one  of 
General  Braddock's  Aids.  But  this  has  served  only  as  a  nucleus  around  which  the 
author  has  gathered  with  unwonted  labor  and  research,  a  full  narrative  of  the  causes 
and  achievements  of  that  eventful  war. 


56  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

four  jSTew  England  colonies,  of  the  one  part ;  and  chiefs  and  war- 
riors representing  the  Mingoes  or  Six  Nations,  of  the  other  part. 
Among  its  results  was  a  treaty  or  deed,  by  which  the  Indians 
named  ceded  to  the  Penns  a  very  considerable  portion  of  territory, 
calling  for  the  southern  and  western  limits  of  the  province  of 
Pennsylvania,  but  really,  by  the  descriptive  terms  used,  not  extend- 
ing to  either.  This  ambiguity,  if  such  it  could  be  called,  and  the 
ever  encroaching  spirit  of  the  colonists,  led  to  disputes  and  to 
jealousies  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  The  Delawares  and  Shawa- 
nese,  with  considerable  justness,  asserted  a  right  to  the  territory 
claimed  to  have  been  ceded,  which  the  Six  Nations  could  not 
alienate,  and  which  the  latter  asserted  with  equal  justness  that 
they  had  not  ceded,  or  did  not  intend  to  cede.  The  two  allied 
tribes  named  were  greatly  dissatisfied,  and  complained  that  the 
cession,  if  as  claimed,  "  did  not  leave  them  a  country  to  subsist 
in."  Of  these  difficulties  the  French,  who  now  held  possession 
and  power  in  the  west,  availed  themselves  with  great  ease  and 
effect  to  the  prejudice  of  the  English  pretensions.  These  Indian 
tribes  and  confederacy  of  tribes  gradually  and  generally  became 
hostile  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  colonists.  And  even  the  few  who  had 
adhered  to  Washington  in  1754,  wavered,  and  finally  and  almost 
wholly  attached  themselves  to  the  French.  As  heretofore  stated, 
these  friendly  Indians,  after  having  retired  with  Washington's 
retreating  forces  for  a  while  to  Virginia,  soon  took  refuge  at 
Aughwick,  in  Pennsylvania.  But  the  outside  influences  were,  in 
1755,  against  the  continuance  of  their  friendship.  The  Ilalf-king, 
their  IsTestor  and  Achilles,  died  in  October,  1754,  at  Harris'  Ferry  ; 
and  in  April,  1755,  the  Pennsylvania  colony  refused  longer  to  sup- 
port them  and  their  destitute  families. 

This  adverse  state  of  the  colonial  relations  with  the  lords  of  the 
soil,  told  with  terrible  effect  upon  the  fortunes  of  Braddock  and 
his  army ;  and  when  to  it  is  added  the  neglect  and  maltreatment 
by  Braddock  of  the  few  who  evinced  a  willingness  to  uphold  his 
standard,  we  have  the  key  to  his  fate.  But  eight, — among  them 
Monacatootha,  or  Scarrayoddy,  followed  his  colors  up  to  the  fatal 
day  ;  whilst,  with  other  advantages,  the  French  brought  hundreds 
to  their  aid,  led,  it  is  said,  by  the  afterwards  renowned  Pontiac. 

On  the  7th,  8th  and  10th  of  June,  1755,  the  array  of  Major 
General  Sir  Edward  Braddock  marched  from  fort  Cumberland, 
or  the  mouth  of  Wills'  creek.  It  consisted  of  the  44th  Regi- 
ment of  (English)  Infantry,  Colonel  Sir  Peter  Halket,  the  48th, 
Colonel  Thomas  Dunbar,  sundry  Independent  (colonial)  companies, 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  57 

a  company  of  horse,  another  of  artillery,  a  company  of  marines, 
&c.,  in  all  2150,  "  besides  the  usual  train   of  non-militants,  who 
always  accompany  an  army,  women  who  could  not  fight,  Indians 
who  would  not,  and  wagoners  who  cut  loose  their  horses  and  fled, 
at  the  first  onset."  The  other  field  officers  were  Lieutenant  Colonels 
Burton  and  Gage  (of  Bunker  Hill  notoriety) ;  Majors  Chapman  and 
Sparks ;  Major  Sir  John  Sinclair,  Deputy  Quarter  Master  General; 
Matthew   Leslie,  his   assistant;  Francis   Halket,  Brigade   Major; 
William  Shirley,  Secretary  ;  and  Robert  Orme,  Roger  Morris  and 
George   Washington,  Esquires,  aids-de-camp  to  the  General.     We 
have,  in  the    preceding  sketch,  named  some  of  the  Captains — 
Stephen,  Lewis,  Poison,  Hogg,  Peyronie,  Mercer  and  Waggoner. 
These  commanded  provincial  troops,  chiefly  from  Virginia.     The 
New  York  Independent  companies  were  commanded  by  Captains 
Rutherford    and    Horatio   Gates,  the    General  Gates    to    whom 
Burgoyne  surrendered  at  Saratoga.     Christopher  Gist  and  hia  son 
Ij^athaniel,  accompanied  the  army  as  guides  ;  George  Croghan,  the 
Indian  Agent,  of  Aughwick,  with  Montour,  interpreter,  were  also 
about,   trying  to  be  useful  in   the  Indian  department,  aided  by 
Monacatootha  and  Captain  Jack,  the  "  wild  hunter  of  the  Juniata." 
Among  the  Virginia  surgeons,  were  Doctors  James  Craik  and 
Hugh    Mercer,    men   of  imperishable   fame.^     They    were   both 
Scotchmen,  the  latter  having  fled  to  Virginia  from  the  service   of 
the   Pretender   on  the  fatal  field   of   CuUoden.     Dr.    Craik  had 
followed  Washington  in  his  campaign^of  1754,  was  his  companion 
in  his  journey  to  the  west  in  1770,  and  was  his  physician  at  his 


'■'■  Both  these  distingiiished  men  became  owners  of  land  in  what  is  now  Fayette  County. 
Dr.  Craik  owned  the  two  tracts  called  "  Boland's  camp,"  and  "  Froman'a  Sword,"  on 
Boland's  and  Bute's  Runs,  in  Franklin  township,  which  are  warranted  in  the  name  of 
James  Craig.  General  Douglas,  as  his  attorney  in  fact,  sold  them  to  Samuel  Bryson. 
They  have  since  been  owned  by  the  late  James  Paull,  Jr.,  John  Bute,  the  Aliens  and 
others. 

Dr.  Mercer's  lands  were  two  tracts  near  Braddock's  road  in  Bull-skin  township,  pat- 
ented to  him  by  the  Penns  in  1771.  His  executors  sold  them  to  Colonel  Isaac  Mcason. 
See  note  (13,)  to  "Early  Settlements,"  Chapter  VI.  Dr.  Mercer  was  badly  wounded  at 
Braddock's  field;  and  being  unable  to  escape  in  the  general  flight,  concealed  himself  for 
a  while  behind  a  fallen  tree,  where  he  witnessed  the  plundering  and  scalping  of  the 
dead  and  dying.  At  night  he  set  out  alone  ;  and  guided  by  the  stars  and  streams,  after 
several  days  of  painful,  half  starved  wandering,  reached  fort  Cumberland  in  safety.  A 
like  misfortune  befel  him  when  serving  as  Captain  in  Colonel  John  Armstrong's  expedi- 
tion against  the  Indians  at  Kittanning  in  1756,  from  which  he  again  returned  a  wounded 
wanderer,  to  fort  Cumberland.  He  had  a  great  life,  which  was  reserved  as  a  sacrifice 
in  a  nobler  cause. 


58  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

death.  Dr.  Mercer  became  a  field  ofiicer  in  the  Revolution,  and 
fell  at  Princeton  in  January,  1777. 

One  month  was  spent  in  the  march  from  fort  Cumberland  to  the 
fatal  field.  The  route,  as  far  as  Gist's,  was  that  of  Washington  the 
year  before  ;  and  although  Washington  had  marched  from  Wills' 
creek  to  the  Meadows  in  twenty-three  days,  making  the  road  as  he 
went,  yet  it  took  Braddock  eighteen  days  to  "  drag  his  slow  length 
along"  over  the  same  distance,  and  Colonel  Dunbar  eight  days 
longer.  Truly  did  Washington  say  that  "  instead  of  pushing  on 
with  vigor,  without  regarding  a  little  rough  road,  they  were  halting 
to  level  every  mole-hill,  and  erect  bridges  over  every  brook."  This 
needless  delay,  like  every  thing  else  in  this  campaign,  contributed 
its  share  of  adversity  to  the  disastrous  result.  For  while  Braddock 
was  halting  and  bridging,  the  enemy  was  acquiring  a  force  of  resist- 
ance and  attack  which  three  days'  quicker  movement  would  have 
anticipated. 

At  the  Little  Meadows  (Tomlinson's)  a  division  of  the  army  in 
the  march  was  made;  the  General  and  Colonel  Halket,  with  select 
portions  of  the  two  regiments,  and  of  the  other  forces,  lightly 
incumbered,  going  on  in  advance,  being  in  all  about  1400.  Colonel 
Dunbar,  with  the  residue,  about  850,  and  the  heavy  baggage,  artil- 
lery and  stores,  were  left  to  move  up  by  "  slow  and  easy  marches ;" 
an  order  which  he  executed  so  literally  as  to  earn  for  himself  the 
soubriquet  of  "Dunbar  the  tardy."  When,  on  the  28th  of  June, 
Braddock  was  at  Sieivarfs  crossings  (Connellsville,)  Dunbar  was 
only  at  the  Little  crossings.  Here,  Washington,  under  a  violent 
attack  of  fever,  had  been  left  by  Braddock,  under  the  care  of  his 
friend  Dr.  Craik  and  a  guard,  two  days  in  advance  of  Dunbar,  to 
come  on  with  him  when  able ;  the  gallant  Aid  requiring  from  the 
General  a  "  solemn  pledge  "  not  to  arrive  at  the  French  fort  until 
he  should  rejoin  him.  And  as  Washington  did  not  report  himself 
until  the  day  before  the  battle,  this  pledge  may  be  some  apology  for 
Braddock  having  consumed  eighteen  precious  days  in  marching 
about  eighty  miles. 

According  to  Captain  Orme's  journal,  the  encampments,  &c.,  of 
Braddock  in  Fayette  were  as  follows : 

On  the  24th  of  June  he  marched  from  Squaw's  fort  (near  Somer- 
field,)  six  miles  to  a  camp  east  of  the  Great  Meadows,  near  the 
"twelve  springs."  He  crossed  the  Yough  without  bridging,  about 
half  a  mile  above  where  the  national  road  now  crosses  it.  In  this 
day's  march  they  passed  a  recently  abandoned  Indian  camp,  indi- 
cating by  the  number  of  huts  that  about  170  had  been  there.  "  They 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  59 

had  stripped  and  painted  some  trees,  upon  whicli  they  and  the 
French  had  written  many  threats  and  bravadoes,  with  all  kinds  of 
scurrilous  language."  This  encampment  of  Braddock  was  between 
Mt.  Augusta  and  Marlow's,  south  of  the  ISTational  Eoad. 

June  25th. — The  army  moved  about  seven  miles,  and  encamped 
in  what  is  now  the  old  orchard,  near  and  northwest  of  "  Braddock's 
Grave,"  called  then  two  miles  west  of  the  Great  Meadows: — the 
General  riding  in  anticipated  triumph  over  the  very  spot  which  in 
twenty  days  was  to  be  his  last  encampment.  The  army  seems  to 
have  passed  the  ruins  of  Fort  ISTecessity  without  a  halt  or  a  notice. 
It  is  singular  they  did  not  encamp  there ;  for  Orme  says  they  were 
late  in  getting  to  their  ground,  because  that  morning,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  after  starting,  they  had  to  let  their  carriages  down 
a  hill  with  tackle.  In  this  day's  march  three  men  were  shot  and 
scalped  by  the  enemy ;  and  the  sentinels  fired  upon  some  French 
and  Indians  whom  they  discovered  reconnoitering  their  camp  —  an 
annoyance  now  become  so  frequent,  that  on  the  next  day  Braddock 
offered  a  bounty  of  five  pounds  for  every  scalp  that  his  Indians  or 
soldiers  would  take. 

June  26th. — They  marched  only  about  four  miles,  by  reason  of 
the  "  extreme  badness  of  the  road,"  arriving  at  what  Orme  calls 
Rock  Fort^  on  Laurel  Hill,  a  place  now  known  as  the  Great  Rock, 
near  Washington  Spring,  and  the  Half-king's  old  camp,  being  a 
little  over  two  miles  southward  of  Dunbar's  camp.  We  quote  here 
from  Orme's  journal:  "At  our  halting  place  we  found  another  In- 
dian camp,  which  they  had  abandoned  at  our  approach,  their  tires 
being  yet  burning.  They  had  marked  in  triumph  upon  trees  the 
scalps  they  had  taken  two  days  before,  and  many  of  the  French  had 
written  on  them  their  names  and  sundry  insolent  expressions.  We 
picked  up  a  commission  on  the  march,  which  mentioned  the  party 
being  under  the  command  of  the  Sieur  Kormanville.  This  Indian 
camp  was  in  a  strong  situation,  being  upon  a  high  rock,  with  a  very 
narrow  and  steep  ascent  to  the  top.  It  had  a  spring  in  the  middle, 
and  stood  at  the  termination  of  the  Indian  path  to  the  Mononga- 
hela  at  Redstone.^  By  this  pass  the  party  came  which  attacked 
Mr.  Washington  last  year,  and  also  this  which  attended  us.  By 
their  tracks  they  seem  to  have  divided  here,  the  one  party  going 
straight  forward  to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  the  other  returning  by 
Redstone  creek  to  the  Monongahela.     A  captain's  detachment  of 


^  See  preceding  sketch  of  "  Indian  Trails,  <5"C." — Cbap.  III. 


60  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

94  men  marched  with  guides,  to  fall  in  the  night  upon  the  latter 
division.  They  found  a  small  quantity  of  provisions  and  a  very 
large  batteau,  which  they  destroyed,  but  saw  no  men  ;  and  the  Cap- 
tain joined  the  General  next  day  at  Gist's." 

June  27th. — "We  marched,"  says  Orme,  "  from  the  camp  at 
Rock  Fort  to  Gist's  Plantation,  which  was  about  six  miles,  the 
road  still  mountainous  and  rocky.  Here  the  advanced  party  was 
relieved,  and  all  the  wagons  and  carrying  horses  with  provision 
belonging  to  that  detachment  joined  us."  This  advanced  party 
consisted  of  about  400,  under  Lieut.  Col.  Burton,  who,  with  Sir 
John  Sinclair,  had  been  sent  in  advance  to  cut  and  make  the  road, 
taking  with  them  two  six-pounders,  with  ammunition,  three  wag- 
ons of  tools,  and  thirty-five  days'  provisions,  all  on  pack  horses. 

June  28th. — The  army  marched  from  Gist's,  where  the  encamp- 
ment was  near  Washington's  of  the  previous  year — to  a  camp  near 
to,  and  west  of,  Stewart's  crossing*  of  the  Yough,  a  short  half  mile 
below  N"ew  Haven,  on  land  now  of  Daniel  Rogers,  formerly  Col. 
William  Crawford. 

It  has  been  commonly  supposed  that  a  division  of  the  army  in 
the  march  here  took  place  —  the  English  troops,  &c.,  here  crossing 
the  river  and  bearing  northward ;  while  the  Virginia,  or  colonial 
forces,  went  down  the  river  and  crossed  at  the  Broad-ford,  thence 
bearing  more  to  the  west,  crossing  Jacob's  creek  at  Stouffer's  mill 
—  the  two  divisions  re-uniting  at  Sewickley,  near  Painter's  salt 
works.  There  may  be  error  in  this  idea.  Orme's  journal  has  no 
notice  of  any  such  division.  The  Broad-ford  route  may  be  that 
which  was  traversed  by  the  detachments,  or  convoys  of  provisions, 
&c.,  from  Dunbar's  division,  which  were  from  time  to  time  sent  up 
to  the  main  army ;  one  of  which,  Orme  says,  came  up  at  Thicketty 
run,  a  branch  of  Sewickley,  on  the  5th  of  July.  Another  detach- 
ment of  100  men,  with  pack  horse  loads  of  flour,  and  some  beeves, 
according  to  Washington's  letters,  left  the  camp  west  of  the  Great 
Meadows  on  the  3d  of  July,  with  which  he  went,  joining  the  army 
on  the  8th,  the  day  before  the  battle,  "in  a  covered  wagon."  This 
convoy  took  up  the  one  hundred  beeves  which  were  among  the  losses 
in  the  defeat.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  that  Washington,  enfeebled 
by  a  consuming  fever,  was  so  invigorated  by  the  sight  of  the  scenes 


*  So  called  from  the  name  of  an  early  settler  and  Indian  trader,  -vrho  was  drowned  in 
the  Yough  at  or  near  the  fording  which  for  more  than  a  century  has  commemorated  the 
event.  He  probably  had  a  temporary  abode  near  the  same  place.  Seo  Affidavit  of  Wil- 
liam Stewart  in  Note  (1,)  to  Memoir  oithe  Gists,  in  "Early  Settlers" — postea,  Chap.  VII. 


CH,  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  61 

of  his  discomfiture  the  previous  year,  as  to  seize  the  opportunity  of 
celebrating  its  first  anniversary  by  hastening  on  to  partake  in  an 
achievement  which,  as  he  fondly  hoped,  would  restore  to  his  king 
and  country  all  that  had  been  lost  by  his  failure.  How  sadly  was 
he  disappointed  ! 

June  30th. —  The  army  to-day  crossed  the  Yough  at  Stewart's 
Crossing  or  Ford,  in  strict  military  style,  with  advanced  guard  first 
passed  and  posted.  There  is  here  a  little  confusion  in  Captain 
Orme's  journal.  ISTot  only  does  he  make  the  west  to  be  the  east 
side  of  the  Yough,  but  he  says,  "  We  were  obliged  to  encamp  about 
a  mile  on  the  west  [east]  side,  where  we  halted  a  day,  to  cut  a 
passage  over  a  mountain !  This  day's  march  did  not  exceed  two 
miles."  It  would  seem  the  halt  was  on  the  29th,  before  crossing 
the  river;  for  the  march  is  resumed  on  the  1st  of  July.  This 
"mountain"  is  the  bluff  known  as  "the  narrows,"  below  David- 
son's mill.  The  camp  is  not  certainly  known ;  probably  on  land 
late  of  Robert  Long,  deceased; — maybe  it  was  south  of  the  nar- 
rows, on  Mr.  Davidson's  land. 

July  1st. — Says  Orme,  "We  marched  about  five  miles,  but  could 
advance  no  further  by  reason  of  a  great  swamp,  which  required 
much  work  to  make  it  passable."  The  course  was  north-eastward. 
This  siuamp  can  be  no  other  than  that  fine  looking  champaign  land 
about  the  head  waters  of  Mountz's  creek  and  Jacob's  creek,  north 
and  east  of  the  old  chain  bridge,  embracing  lands  formerly  of  Col. 
Isaac  Meason,  now  Geo.  E.  Hogg  and  others. 

July  2d. — The  army  moved  in  the  same  direction  (east  of  north) 
about  six  miles,  to  "Jacob's  Cabin." 

The  localities  of  this  and  the  last  preceding  camp  cannot  be  pre- 
cisely fixed;  and  the  curious  reader  and  topographer  is  left  to  his 
own  conclusions  from  the  data  given.  Jacob's  Cabin  was  doubtless 
the  abode  of  an  Indian,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  creek  on  which 
he  trapped  and  hunted. 

July  3d. — "  The  swamp  being  repaired,  we  marched  about  six 
miles  to  Salt-lick  creek.  This^  Salt-lick  creek  is  Jacob's  creek, 
and  the  camp  at  the  end  of  this  day's  march  was  near  Welshonse's 
mill,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  below  Mount  Pleasant. 

Although  now  beyond  the  confines  of  Fayette,  we  may  as  well 
follow  the  army  route  to  its  end.     From  Welshonse's  mill  the 


'^  What  is  now  known  as  Indian  creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Yough  above  Connellsvillc-', 
was  also  formerly  called  Salt-lick  creek  —  whence  Salt-lick  township.  Both  derived 
their  common  name  from  the  salt  licks  in  the  vicinity  of  their  head  springs. 


62  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  V. 

course  was  northward,  passing  just  to  the  west  of  Mount  Pleasant; 
thence  crossing  Sewickley  ("  Thicketty  run  ")  near  Painter's  salt 
works;  thence,  hearing  a  little  westward,  it  crossed  the  present 
tracks  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  and  Turnpike,  west  of  Greens- 
burg,  to  the  Bush  fork  of  Turtle  creek.  Here  Braddock  aban- 
doned his  wise  design  to  approach  the  French  fort  by  the  ridge 
route,  or  Nemacolin's  path,  being  deterred  by  the  difficulties  of 
crossing  the  deep  and  rugged  ravines  of  the  streams.  Turning,  at 
almost  a  right  angle,  westward,  he  got  into  the  valley  of  Long  run 
at  or  near  Stewartsville,  and  went  down  it  past  Samson's  mill,  en- 
camping on  the  night  of  the  8th  of  July,  where  Washington  joined 
him,  about  two  miles  east  of  the  Monongahela.  The  army  moved 
from  this  encampment  early  next  morning,  turning  into  the  valley 
of  Crooked  run,  which  they  followed  to  its  mouth,  and  crossed  the 
river  at  "Braddock's  upper  ford,"  below  M'Keesport;  thence  down 
the  river  on  the  west  side,  about  three  miles,  to  Braddock's  lower 
ford,  just  below  the  mouth  of  Turtle  creek  and  Dam  jSTo.  2,  where 
they  recrossed  to  the  fatal  encounter  of  the  9th  of  July.  This 
double  crossing  of  the  river  was  to  avoid  the  intervening  narrows. 

It  does  not  come  within  our  design  to  rehearse  the  oft-told  tale  of 
Braddock's  Defeat,  which  for  more  than  a  century  has  been  a  word 
of  horror.  Braddock  had  conducted  the  march  hitherto  with  most 
commendable  care  and  with  signal  success;  and  now,  as  he  neared 
the  object  of  his  labor  and  ambition,  he  took  all  the  precautionary 
measures  to  avoid  surprise  and  disaster  which  his  military  education 
called  for.  But,  unfortunately,  he  knew  nothing  of  Indian  gunnery 
and  backwoods  tactics.  He  was  sensible  that  his  near  approach 
was  known  at  the  French  fort,  and  that  all  his  movements  were 
closely  and  secretly  watched.  Hence,  at  the  crossings  of  the  river 
he  had  his  advanced  guards  well  posted,  and  having  caused  his 
soldiery  to  be  well  appareled  and  their  arms  brightened,  he  made 
a  display  well  calculated  to  strike  terror  into  the  enemy's  spies, 
and  to  inspire  his  men  with  a  feeling  very  variant  from  a  presage 
of  the  sudden  discomfiture  and  death  which  in  a  few  hours  awaited 
them.  Washington  was  wont  to  say  that  he  never  saw  a  more 
animating  sight  than  the  army's  second  crossing  of  the  Mononga- 
hela. Coming  events  cast  no  disheartening  shadow  before  them. 
Yet  it  was  known  that  Sir  Peter  Halket,  Mr.  Secretary  Shirley  and 
Major  Washington,  were  not  without  anxious  forebodings. 

Controcoeur,  the  commandant  at  the  fort,  frightened  at  the 
exaggerated  reports  of  the  numbers  and  gun-power  of  the  English, 
had  prepared  to  surrender,  or  to  fly,  as  his  successor  did  before 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  63 

Forbes  in  1758.  Indeed  he  reluctantly  yielded  assent  to  any  re- 
sistance. And  when,  on  the  8th,  MM.  Beaujeau,  Dumas  and 
De  Ligueris  sought  a  detachment  of  regulars  and  Indian  aid,  it  was 
merely  to  dispute  the  river  passes  and  to  annoy  and  retard  the 
march  of  the  English.  They  had  caused  the  ground  to  be  thoroughly 
examined,  and  knew  well  the  ravines,  or  natural  trenches,  which  so 
well  served  them  for  attack  and  protection  in  the  conflict.  But 
the  English  knew  them  not.  Herein  was  Braddock's  decisive 
deficiency. 

To  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  action  and  the  incvitableness 
of  Braddock's  defeat,  one  must  visit  the  field.  He  will  there,  even 
yet,  see  two  ravines,  dry,  with  almost  perpendicular  banks,  just 
high  enough  to  conceal,  protect  and  tire  from,  capable  of  containing 
an  army  of  2000  men,  putting  down  across  the  gently  sloping 
second  bank  of  the  river  towards  it,  one  on  each  side  of  the  line  of 
Braddock's  march,  converging  towards  the  high  hill  which  over- 
looks the  scene.  And  if  he  will  imagine  this  second  bank  to  be 
densely  wooded,  and  covered  with  a  thick  and  tangled  web  of 
peavine  and  other  undergrowth,  with  a  newly  cut  road,  twelve  feet 
wide,  passing  about  midway  between  the  ravines,  and  at  no  place 
more  than  eighty  yards  distant  from  one  or  the  other,  he  will  have 
fully  before  him  the  scene  of  the  disaster. 

The  French  and  Indians  were  about  900  strong,  the  latter  being 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  force.  They  arrived  on  the  ground 
too  late  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  river.  The  army  had  crossed, 
formed  its  line  of  march,  and  was  moving  —  marching  into  the 
snare  —  when  the  enemy  appeared  right  in  front  and  near  the  heads 
of  the  ravines.  As  if  by  magic,  at  a  preconcerted  silent  signal  from 
M.  Beaujeau,  the  chief  in  command,  the  Indians  at  once  disappeared 
right  and  left  into  the  excavations,  leaving  only  the  little  French 
line  visible.  These  were  engaged  with  spirit  and  success  by  Lieut. 
Ool.  Gage,  and  until  the  Indians  began  to  pour  in  their  invisible 
deadly  shots,  the  poise  of  battle  favored  the  English.  It  soon 
changed,  and  no  efibrts  could  restore  it.  Even  tree  fighting  could 
not  have  saved  the  doomed  English  soldiery,  who  held  their  ground, 
fought  well,  and  obeyed  their  oflficers  as  long  as  they  had  officers 
to  command  them.  They  were  in  the  jaws  of  death,  and  nothing 
could  have  delivered  them,  except,  perhaps,  a  timely  charge  of 
dragoons  into  the  ravines,  or  a  raking  fire  of  grape  or  round  shot, 
up  or  down  their  paths.  The  excuse  for  not  essaying  these  expe- 
dients, is,  that  the  ravines  were  unknown  and  invisible.  Even  yet. 
when  all  is  clear  around  them,  you  do  not  discern  them  until  you 


64  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

are  almost  ready  to  step  into  them.  If  the  arch  demon  of  Death 
had  been  commissioned  to  fit  np  an  arena  for  surprise  and  overthrow, 
he  could  not  have  made  it  more  complete. 

The  further  stages  of  the  encounter,  v^^hich  lasted  from  about 
one  to  five,  P.  M.,  need  not  be  here  noted.  Of  the  1460,  .besides 
women  and  other  camp  followers,  who  on  that  bright  morning 
crossed  the  Monongahela,  456  were  killed,  and  421  wounded,  many 
of  them  mortally.  Out  of  89  commissioned  officers,  63  were  killed 
or  wounded.  Among  the  killed  were  the  brave  Sir  Peter  Halket 
and  the  gallant  young  Secretary  Shirley.  All  the  artillery  and 
ammunition,  baggage,  provisions,  wagons,  and  many  horses,  were 
lost.  The  General  lost  his  military  chest,  containing,  it  is  said, 
.£25,000  in  specie  ($125,000),  and  all  his  papers.  Washington  also 
lost  many  valuable  papers.  In  short,  the  officers  and  soldiers  who 
escaped  the  carnage  lost  nearly  everything,  except  the  clothes  on 
their  backs  and  the  arms  in  their  hands ;  many  abandoning  even 
these.  Captain  Orme  saved  his  journal,  now  almost  the  only 
authentic  continuous  record  of  this  most  disastrous  campaign. 

Braddock  displayed,  in  the  perplexing  circumstances  of  the 
action,  great  activity  and  courage.  His  only  shortcomings  were 
those  already  noticed.  He  had  four  horses  killed  under  him ;  and, 
after  having  mounted  a  fifth,  while  in  the  act  of  issuing  an  order, 
near  the  head  of  one  of  the  ravines,  and  near  the  end  of  the  conflict, 
he  received  a  mortal  wound,  the  ball  shattering  his  right  arm  and 
passing  into  his  lungs.  He  fell  to  the  ground,  "  surrounded  by  the 
dead  and  almost  abandoned  by  the  living."  And  had  it  not  been 
for  the  devotedness  of  his  Aid,  Captain  Orme,  and  the  almost 
obstinate  fidelity  of  Capt.  Stewart,  of  Virginia,  who  commanded 
the  light  horse,  the  fallen  General  would  have  had  his  wish  gratified 
—  that  the  scene  of  his  disaster  should  also  witness  his  death.  He 
was  borne  from  the  ground  at  great  risk,  at  first  in  a  tumbril,  then 
on  a  horse.  Every  officer  above  the  mnk  of  captain  was  now  either 
killed  or  disabled,  except  Washington,  who  escaped  unhurt,  though 
two  horses  were  shot  under  him  and  his  clothes  pierced  with  balls. 
So  feeble  and  emaciated  was  he  that  day  that  he  had  to  ride  upon 
a  pillow."  The  drums  had  beat  a  retreat  just  before  Braddock  fell, 
and  now  Washington  undertook  to  give  to  it  whatever  of  order  it 
was  susceptible  of, —  for  it  was  a  headlong  flight.     The  retreat  was 


8  Letter  of  Hon.  Wm.  Findley,  of  Westmoreland,  relating  Washington's  own  account 
of  this  disastrous  day,  in  JNiles'  llcgisler,  Vol.  XIV.,  page  179. 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  65 

by  the  same  route  as  the  advance,  crossing  the  river  at  the  same 
fording.'  The  enemy  did  not  pursue,  but  remained  to  riot  in 
scalps  and  plunder. 

Braddock  was  carried  with  the  little  remnant  of  the  army  that 
could  be  held  together.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  panic-stricken 
fugitives  all  returned  to  Gist's  by  the  same  path;  —  many,  through 
fear  of  pursuit,  betaking  themselves  to  the  woods  and  by-ways. 
The  Pennsylvania  wagoners,  it  is  said,  escaped  to  a  man,  astride 
their  fleetest  horses.  Certain  it  is  that  by  ten  o'clock  next  morning 
several  of  them  were  in  Dunbar's  camp  on  Laurel  Hill,  nearly  forty 
miles  distant,  with  the  tidings  of  Job's  messengers.  And  one  or 
two  wounded  officers  were  carried  into  the  camp  before  noon  of 
that  day. 

After  crossing  to  the  west  side  of  the  river  in  the  flight,  a  rally 
was  effected  of  about  100  men,  with  whom  were  Braddock,  Burton 
and  Washington.  From  this  point  Washington  was  sent  to  Dunbar 
for  aid,  and  wagons  to  convey  the  wounded.  The  road  was  then 
new  and  hard  to  find  in  the  night.  There  had  been  a  coldness 
between  the  General  and  Dunbar;  hence  it  was  deemed  necessary, 
to  ensure  obedience,  that  Washington,  as  an  aid-de-camp,  should 
go  with  orders.  Weak  and  exhausted  as  he  was,  he  shrunk  not 
from  the  duty.  He  set  out  with  two  men  in  a  night  so  wet  and 
dark  that  frequently  they  had  to  alight  from  their  horses  and  grope 
for  the  road.  Nevertheless,  they  reached  Dunbar's  camp  about 
sunrise.®  Braddock  and  his  few  followers  reached  Gist's  about  ten 
o'clock  that  evening.  What  a  dismal  scene  did  "  Gist's  plantation" 
present  on  that  warm  summer  night,  as  the  dying  General  and  his 
few  hungry  and  wounded  adherents  lay  prostrate  and  sleepless 
around  the  Indian's  spring,  waiting  for  food  and  surgical  aid  to 
come  from  the  camp  of  "Dunbar  the  tardy  !  " 

Nathaniel  Gist,^  son  of  Christopher,  with  "  Gist's  Indian,"  were 
dispatched  from  the  battle-field  to  Fort  Cumberland,  with  tidings 


'  It  is  probable  the  river  was  then  uncommonly  low.  In  the  Pennsylvania  Colonial 
Records,  Vol.  VI.,  under  date  of  June  6th,  1755,  a  Fast  is  proclaimed,  because  of  "there 
having  been  no  rain  for  tv;o  or  three  months,  and  all  sorts  of  grain  near  perishing,  and  as 
the  General  was  beginning  his  march."  The  Allegheny  was  so  low  that  the  French  had 
great  difBculty  in  getting  down  from  their  upper  forts.  This  fact,  not,  we  believe,  before 
noticed  in  any  account  of  this  campaign,  may  in  some  degree  explain  the  difficulties  of 
Braddock's  and  Dunbar's  marches  —  the  weakness  of  their  horse  power  and  the  scarcity 
of  flour  and  other  provisions  —  there  being  no  steam  mills  in  those  days. 

*  Letter  of  Hon.  Wm.  Findley  in  XIV.  Nilcs'  Register,  179,  before  cited. 

»  More  of  him  hereafter,  in  memoir  of  the  Gists,  among  '■'^ Early  Settlers,"  Chap.  VII. 

5 


♦56  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  V. 

of  the  overthrow,  but  with  instructions  to  avoid  passing  by,  or 
disturbing  the  repose  of  Dunbar.  They  traveled  a-foot,  and  through 
unfrequented  paths,  to  avoid  the  Indians.  While  snatching  some 
repose  during  the  darkness  of  the  first  night  of  their  journey,  in  a 
thicket  of  bushes  and  grape-vine,  on  Cove  run,  a  branch  of  Shute's 
run,  within  view  of  the  camp  fires  of  Dunbar,  they  mistook  the 
noise  of  the  movement  of* some  bird  or  beast  for  Indians,  and  run 
with  the  heedlessness  of  alarm.  They  thus  became  separated. 
But  each  wended  his  way  cautiously  and  alone.  When  nearing 
their  destination,  upon  emerging  from  the  bushes  into  the  open 
road.  Gist  saw  a  few  rods  ahead  his  long  lost  Indian,  who  had 
also  just  taken  the  highway!  Like  two  soothsayers,  they  had  to 
laugh  at  each  other  for  their  causeless  alarm  and  separation.^" 

Although  the  suflerings  of  Braddock,  in  mind  and  body,  were 
intense,  he  was  not  unmindful  of  his  dismayed  and  wounded  sol- 
diers. Upon  the  arrival,  on  the  morning  of  the  11th,  at  Gist's,  of 
some  wagons  and  stores  from  Dunbar,  he  sent  ofl"  a  convoy  of 
provisions  for  the  relief  of  those  supposed  yet  to  be  behind,  and 
ordered  up  more  wagons  and  troops  from  the  camp,  to  bring  off  the 
wounded.  It  is  probable  these  humane  provisions  were  available 
to  but  few.  Except  as  to  the  general  oflicers,  and  perhaps  a  few 
others,  all  the  badly  wounded  were  left  on  the  bloody  field  to  the 
merciless  cruelties  of  the  savages,  or  perished  in  its  vicinity.  In 
after  years  human  bones  were  found  plentifully  all  around,  some 
as  far  off  as  three  miles. 

Having  made  these  arrangements,  had  their  wounds  dressed, 
and  taken  some  food,  Braddock  and  his  adherents,  on  Friday,  the 
11th,  moved  up  to  Dunbar's  camp.  We  now  go  back  a  little,  to 
trace  the  movements  of  Col.  Dunbar. 

We  left  him  at  the  Little  Crossings  on  the  20th  of  June,  with 
about  850  of  the  army,  and  the  heavy  artillery  and  stores.  On  the 
2d  of  July  he  passed  the  Great  Meadows,  and  on  the  10th  is  found 
at  his  camp  on  the  top  of  Laurel  Hill.  How  long  he  had  lain  there 
is  uncertain  —  several  days. 

It  is,  perhaps,  ample  apology  for  the  slow  movements  of  Dunbar, 
that,  besides  the  rugged  and  steep  passes  of  the  mountains,  the 
troops  he  had  with  him  were  the  refuse  of  the  army,  very  many  of 
whom  sickened  and  died  on  the  way,  with  the  Jinx,  and  for  want 


If*  I  had  this  story  from  old  Henry ^Beeson,  the  founder  of  Uniontown,  who  had  it  from 
Uist  himself. — F.  L. 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaigx.  67 

of  fresh  provisions.  The  Indians  and  French  constantly  annoyed 
his  march  and  beset  his  camps  ;  and,  having  got  in  his  rear,  cut  off 
much  of  his  scant}^  supplies.  But  the  great  cause  of  delay  was  the 
want  of  horse  power  to  move  his  heavy  train.  After  one  day's  toil 
at  half  the  wagons  and  other  vehicles,  the  poor  jaded  beasts  had  to 
go  back  the  next  day  and  tug  up  the  other  half,  —  often  moving  not 
more  than  three  miles  in  a  day,  and  consuming  two  days  at  each 
encampment.  It  was  with  more  ease  and  rapidity  that  they  moved 
down  hill  by  block  and  tackle,  than  to  ascend,  by  all  their  motive 
power  of  man  and  beast.  So  exhausted  were  the  horses  that  an 
officer  of  the  train  estimated  it  would  require  twenty-five  days  for 
Dunbar  to  overtake  Braddock,  from  the  Great  Meadows.  And  in 
the  council  of  war  held  b}'  Braddock  at  Jacob's  creek  on  the  3d  of 
July,  to  consider  Sir  John  Sinclair's  suggestion  to  halt,  and  send  back 
all  their  horses,  to  bring  up  Dunbar's  division,  it  was  adjudged  that 
with  this  aid  he  could  not  be  brought  up  in  less  than  eleven  days, 
so  weak  were  all  the  horses.  Besides,  it  was  never  designed  that 
Dunbar  should  overtake  Braddock  until  the  fort  was  captured. 
And  this  setting  apart  of  him,  his  ofiicers  and  soldiers  to  an  ignoble 
service  —  making  it  a  "forgone  conclusion  "  that  they  were  not  to 
share  the  honors  or  spoils  of  victory,  soured  their  tempers  and 
relaxed  their  exertions. 

Dunbar's  Camp  is  situated  south-east  of  the  summit  of  Wolf  hill, 
one  of  the  highest  points  of  Laurel  Hill  mountain,  and  about  three 
thousand  feet  above  the  ocean  level.  It  is  in  full  view  of  Uniontown, 
to  the  eastward,  about  six  miles  distant,  and  is  visible  from  nearly 
all  the  high  points  in  Fayette,  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  Greene  and 
Washington  counties.  The  camp  was  about  three  hundred  feet 
below  the  summit,  and  at  about  half  a  mile's  distance,  on  the 
southern  slope.  It  was  then  cleared  of  its  timber,  but  is  since  much 
overgrown  with  bushes  and  small  trees.  It  is,  however,  easily  found 
by  the  numerous  diggings  in  search  of  relics  and  treasure,  by  the 
early  settlers  and  others  even  in  later  times.  ISTear  it  are  two  fine  sand 
springs,  below  which  a  dam  of  stones  and  earth,  two  or  three  feet 
high,  was  made,  to  aflbrd  an  abundant  supply  of  water.  This  dam 
is  still  visible,  though  much  overgrown  by  laurel.  Into  this  spring, 
pool,  or  basin,  it  is  said,  when  Dunbar's  encampment  was  broken 
up,  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  with  other  materiel  of  war,  were 
thrown,  to  render  them  useless  to  the  enemy.  Old  Henry  Beeson, 
the  proprietor  cf  Uniontown,  used  to  relate,  that  when  he  first 
visited  those  localities,  in  1767,  there  were  some  six  inches  of  black, 
nitrous  matter  visible  all  over  this  spring  basin. 


68  THE    MONONOAHELA    OF    OLD,  [CH.  V. 

The  locality  of  Jumonville's  hiding  place,  the  Half-king's  camp, 
the  Great  Kock,  and  Washington's  spring,  in  reference  to  Dunbar's 
camp,  have  been  heretofore  noticed.  The  Turkey  Foot,  or  "  Smith's 
road,"  from  Bedford,  crossed  Braddock's,  or  Nemaoolin's  road  just 
at  this  camp.  Both  are  yet  plainly  visible ;  and  the  remains  of  an 
old  stone  chimney  near  this  cross-roads  indicate  the  site  of  an 
ancient  tavern,"  where  many  a  pioneer  halted,  and  many  an  old 
emigrant  and  settler  took  his  "ease  in  mine  inn."  It  is  now  a 
lonely  spot. 

When  the  remains  of  Braddock's  division  rejoined  Dunbar  here, 
on  the  11th  of  July,  the  camp  was  found  in  great  consternation  and 
disorder.  Many  had  fled  the  day  before,  on  the  tirst  tidings  of  the 
slaughter  of  the  9th.  And,  as  had  been  the  case  upon  that  disaster, 
the  wagoners  and  pack-horse  drivers  were  among  the  first  to  fly, 
and  were  the  earliest  messengers  of  the  defeat  to  Governor  Morris 
of  Pennsylvania,  then  at  Carlisle,  superintending  the  forwarding 
of  supplies.  From  their  depositions,  taken  before  him  on  the  17th, 
they  left  about  noon  on  the  10th.  They  say  nothing  of  Washing- 
ton's arrival. that  morning,  but  say  that  Sir  John  Sinclair  and 
anotherof  the  wounded  ofiicers  had  been  borne  into  camp  on  sheets, 
and  others  of  Braddock's  men,  wounded  and  w^hole,  before  they 
left.  They  all  represented  Braddock  as  killed  —  some  qualifying 
it  by  saying  he  had  been  wounded,  put  into  a  wagon,  and 
afterwards  "fell  upon  and  murthered  by  the  Indians." 

Orders  still  continued  to  be  issued  in  Braddock's  name,  though 
his  life  was  fast  ebbing  away.  Retreat  became  inevitable.  The 
camp  was  abandoned  on  the  12th.  All  the  stores  and  supplies, 
artillery,  &c.,  which  had  been  brought  hither  at  such  great  labor 
and  expense,  were  destroyed.  Nothing  was  saved  beyond  the 
actual  necessities  of  a  flying  march.  These  included  two  six- 
pounders,  and  some  hospital  stores,  horses  and  light  wagons  for 
the  sick  and  wounded,  of  whom  there  were  over  three  hundred. 
The  rest  of  the  artillery,  cohorns,  &c.,  were  broken  up,  the  shells 
bursted,  the  powder  thrown  into  the  spring  basin,  the  provisions 
and  baggage  scattered,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons  burned. 
A  few  days  afterwards  some  of  the  enemy  came  up  and  completed 
the  work  of  destruction. 


"  Tills  must  not  be  confounded  with  Fossit's,  afterwards  Slack's,  "Hotel,"  which  was 
■further  south,  near  the  Great  Rock  and  "Washington's  spring,  where  sundry  old  roads 
'  united. 


CH.  v.]  bkaddock's  campaign.  69 

It  has  been  a  curreDt  tradition,  based  upon  cotemporary  state- 
ments/^ that  some  of  the  field  pieces  and  other  munitions  of  war, 
and  even  money,  were  buried  or  concealed  near  the  camp ;  and  much 
time  and  labor  have  been  spent  in  their  fruitless  search.  This  story, 
it  seems,  reached  the  ears  of  Dunbar  while  on  his  retreat  from 
Wills'  creek  through  Pennsylvania;  and  he  and  all  his  ofiicers,  in  a 
letter  to  Governor  Shirley,'^  dated  August  21,  1755,  expressly  con- 
ti'adict  it  in  these  words :  "  We  must  beg  leave  to  undeceive  you 
in  what  you  are  pleased  to  mention  oi  guns  being  buried  at  the  time 
General  Braddock  ordered  the  stores  to  be  destroyed ;  for  there  icas 
not  a  gun  of  any  kind  buried."  However,  such  things  as  cannon 
balls,  bullets,  brass  and  iron  kettles,  crow-bars,  files,  some  shells, 
irons  of  horse  gears  and  wagons,  &c.,  &c.,  have  been  found  by  the 
early  settlers  and  other  explorers. 

The  remains  of  the  re-united  army  encamped  on  the  night  of  the 
13th  of  July  at  the  old  orchard  camp,  "two  miles  west"  of  Fort 
JSTecessity.  Here  Braddock  died — having,  before  he  expired,  it  is 
said,  but  rather  apocryphally,  bequeathed  to  Washington  his 
favorite  charger  and  his  body  servant,  Bishop.  Mr.  Headley  has 
endeavored  to  give  to  Braddock's  funeral  the  romantic  interest  of 
the  burial  of  Sir  John  More,  "darkly,  at  dead  of  night,"  by  the 
light  of  a  torch,  instead  of  "lanterns  dimly  burning,"  and  with  the 
addition  of  Washington  reading  the  funeral  service.  But  he  was 
buried  in  daylight,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th,  in  the  road,  near 
the  run  and  old  orchard,  and  the  march  of  the  troops,  horses  and 
wagons  passsed  over  the  grave  to  obliterate  its  traces,  and  thus 
prevent  its  desecration  by  the  enemy.  The  tree  labeled  "Brad- 
dock's  Grave  "  indicates  the  place,  nearly,  where  were  re-interred, 


12  It  is  not  improbuble  that  this  belief  originated  from  a  letter  of  Col.  Burd  to  Governor 
Mori'is,  dated,  Fort  Cumberland,  July  25th,  1755,  in  -which  the  Colonel  relates  in  detail 
a  dinner  conversation  at  that  place  with  Dunbar,  then  on  his  retreat,  after  which  he 
adds: — "Col.  Dunbar  retreated  with  1500  effective  men  [effective?  —  at  least  300  sick 
and  wounded,  and  as  many  more  scared  to  death].  He  destroyed  all  his  provisions,  except 
what  he  could  carry  for  subsistence.  He  likewise  destroyed  all  the  powder  he  had  with 
him,  to  the  amount,  I  think,  of  50,000  pounds.  His  mortars  and  shells  he  buried,  and 
brought  with  him  two  six-pounders.     He  could  carry  nothing  off  for  want  of  horses." 

So  fully  impressed  was  Col.  Burd  with  this  belief,  that,  when  on  his  march  out  to  cut 
the  "road  to  Redstone"  and  build  Fort  Burd,  in  Septembei-,  1759,  he  stopped  at  Dunbar's 
camp — "the  worst  chosen  piece  of  ground  for  an  encampment  I  (he)  ever  saw"  —  and 
spent  a  day  there.  "  Reconnoitered  all  the  cayip,  and  attempted  to  find  the  cannon  and 
mortars,  but  could  not  discover  them,  although  we  dug  a  great  many  holes  where  stores 
had  been  buried,  and  concluded  the  French  had  carried  them  off." 

i»  VI.  Colonial  Records,  593. 


70  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

about  1820,  some  of  the  bones  of  a  man  supposed  to  be  Braddoek. 
They  had  been  dug  out  of  the  bank  of  the  run,  in  1812,  in  repairing 
the  old  road.  They  may,  or  may  not,  have  been  the  bones  of  Brad- 
dock.  The  military  accompaniments,  said  to  have  been  found  with 
them,  indicate  that  they  were.  Several  of  the  bones  were  carried 
off  before  the  re-interment  at  the  tree,  many  of  which,  it  is  said, 
were  afterwards  collected  by  Abraham  Stewart,  Esq.,  (who  was 
the  road  supervisor  when  they  were  dug  out,)  and  sent  to  Peale's 
Museum  at  Philadelphia,  as  curiosities  !  "We  doubt  this  tale.  But 
it  is  a  lasting  stigma  upon  the  British  Government  that  it  made  no 
effort  to  reclaim  the  reliques  of  this  brave  but  unfortunate  com- 
mander, and  that  "not  a  stone  tells  where  he  lies."  Col.  Burd 
•  says  he  found  the  spot  of  his  interment,  about  "  twenty  rods  from 
a  little  hollow,"  &c.,  when  he  came  out  in  1759.  But  Washington 
says"  that  when  he  buried  him,  "he  designed  at  some  future  day 
to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory  ;  which  he  had  no  opportunity 
of  doing  till  after  the  Revolutionary  war,  when  he  made  [in  1784] 
diligent  search  for  his  grave,  but  the  road  had  been  so  much  turned 
and  the  clear  land  so  extended,  that  it  could  not  be  found." 

Who  killed  Braddoek? — has  been  made  a  grave  question  in  tra- 
dition and  history.  For  at  least  three-quarters  of  a  century  the 
current  belief  has  been  that  he  was  shot  by  one  Thomas  Fossil,  an 
old  resident  of  Fayette  county.  The  story  is  therefore  entitled  to 
our  notice.  Mr.  Sargent,  in  his  interesting  "  History  of  Braddock's 
Campaign,"  devotes  several  pages  [244 — 252]  to  a  collation  of  the 
evidence  upon  the  question,  and  arrives  very  logically  from  the  evidence 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  story  is  false,  got  up  by  Fossit  and  others 
to  heroize  him,  at  a  time  when  it  was  popular  to  have  killed  a 
Britisher.  ISTevertheless,  the  fact  may  be  that  Fossit  shot  him. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  facts  of  the  case,  as  they  occurred  on  the 
ground,  to  contradict  it, —  nay,  they  rather  corroborate  it.  Brad- 
dock  was  shot  on  the  battle  field  by  somebody.  Fossit  was  a 
provincial  private  in  the  action.  There  was  generally  a  bad  state 
of  feeling  between  the  General  and  the  provincial  recruits,  owing 
chiefly  to  his  obstinate  opposition  to  tree  fighting,  and  to  his  infuriate 
resistance  to  the  determined  inclination  of  the  backwoodsmen  to 
fight  in  that  way,  to  which  they  were  countenanced  by  the  opinions 
of  Sir  Peter  Halket  and  Washington.  Another  fact  is  that  much  of 
the  havoc  of  the  English  troops  was  caused  by  the  firing  of  their 


"  Letter  of  Hon.  Wm.  Findley,  before  referred  to,  in  XIV.  Niles'  Register,  179. 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  71 

own  men  —  wherever  they  saw  a  smoke.  But  Braddock  raised  no 
smoke,  and  when  he  was  shot  a  retreat  had  been  sounded.  If, 
therefore,  Fossit  did  shoot  him,  he  must  have  done  it  purposely. 
And  it  is  said  he  did  so,  in  revenge  for  the  killing  of  a  brother  for 
persisting  in  firing  from  behind  a  tree.  This  is  sustained  by  the 
fact  that  Tom  had  a  brother,  Joseph,  in  the  action,  who  was  killed. 
All  these  circumstances,  with  many  others,  seem  to  sustain  the  alle- 
gation. Against  it  are  the  inconsistencies  and  falsities  of  other  ^aris 
of  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  adduced,  and  even  of  Fossit's  own 
narrations. 

"I  knew  Thomas  Fossit  well.^^  He  was  a  tall,  athletic  man, 
indicating  by  his  physiognomy  and  demeanor  a  susceptibility  of 
impetuous  rage,  and  a  disregard  of  moral  restraints.  He  was, 
moreover,  in  his  later  years,  somewhat  intemperate.  When  Fay- 
ette county  was  erected,  in  1783,  he  was  found  living  on  the  top 
of  Laurel  Hill,  at  the  junction  of  Braddock's  and  Dunlap's  roads, 
near  Washington's  spring,  claiming  to  have  there,  by  settlement,  a 
hundred  acres  of  land,  which  by  deed  dated  in  April,  1788,  he 
conveyed  to  one  Isaac  Phillips.  For  many  years  he  kept  a  kind 
of  tavern,  or  resting  place,  for  emigrants  and  pack-horse  men,  and 
afterwards  for  teamsters,  at  the  place  long  known  as  Slack's,  now 
Robert  McDowell's.  His  mental  abilities  by  no  means  equaled 
his  bodily  powers.  And,  like  a  true  man  of  the  woods,  he  often 
wearied  the  tired  traveler  with  his  tales  about  bears,  deer  and 
rattlesnakes,  lead  mines  and  Indians.  I  had  many  conversations 
with  him  about  his  adventures.  He  said  he  '  saw  Braddock  fall, 
knew  who  shot  him — knew  all  about  it,'  but  would  never  ac- 
knowledge to  me  that  he  aimed  the  deadly  shot.  To  others  it  is 
said  he  did,  and  boasted  of  it. 

"  I  once  kept  a  country  school  in  Fayette  county.  One  day, 
when  the  children  were  at  noon  play,  I  heard  a  cry  of,  '  there's  old 
Fossit,  the  man  who  killed  Braddock.'  The  children  feared  him, 
his  appearance  and  noisiness,  especially  when  intoxicated,  being 
rather  terrifying.  1  knew  him,  and  got  him  to  sit  down  by  a  tree, 
which  soon  dissipated  the  alarm  of  the  children.  He  at  once  began 
fluttering  his  fingers  over  his  moiith  to  imitate  the  roll  of  a  drum. 
This  amused  them.  He  soon  got  at  his  old  rigmarole,  which  ran 
about  thus : — '  Poor  fellows  —  poor  fellows  —  they  are  all  gone  — 
murdered  by  a  madman — Braddock  was  a  madman  —  he  would 


1*  The  reader  will  understaiul  that  it  is  the  senior  of  the  dual  authors  who  uow  speak?, 
as  elsewhere  in  these  sketches  in  like  cases. 


72  THE    MONONQAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  V. 

not  let  US  tree,  but  made  us  stand  out  and  be  shot  down,  when  we 
could  see  no  Indians: — yes,  Braddock  was  a  madman  —  he  said 
"  no  skulking,  no  treeing,  but  stand  out  and  give  them  fair  English 
play  ;" — if  he  had  been  shot  when  the  battle  begun,  and  Washing 
ton  had  taken  the  command,  we  would  have  licked  them, —  yes, 
we'd  a  licked  'em.'  'How  could  you  have  done  that?'  I  asked. 
'Why,  we'd  've  charged  on  them,  and  driven  them  out  of  the 
bushes  and  peavine — then  we  would  have  seen  their  red  skins, 
and  could  have  peppered  them — yes,  we  'd  've  peppered  their  red 
skins  ! '  He  would  then  repeat  his  'boo-oo-oo  —  my  old  Virginia 
Blues  —  poor  fellows  —  all  gone,'  &c.,  &c. — and  tears  would  roll 
over  his  rough  cheeks. 

"The  last  time  I  saw  him  was  in  October,  1816  He  was  then 
a  pauper  at  Thomas  Mitchell's,  in  Wharton  township.  He  said  he 
was  then  104  years  old,  and  perhaps  he  was.  He  was  gathering  in 
his  tobacco.  I  stayed  at  Mitchell's  two  days,  and  Fossit  and  I  had 
much  talk  about  old  times,  the  battle,  and  the  route  the  army 
traveled.  He  stated  the  facts  generally,  as  he  had  done  before. 
He  insisted  that  the  bones  found  by  Abraham  Stewart,  Esq., 
were  not  the  bones  of  Braddock,  but  of  a  Col.  Jones;  —  that 
Braddock  and  Sir  Peter  Halket  were  both  buried  in  one  grave, 
some  fifty  rods  north-eastwardly  of  the  place  since  marked  as  the 
place — that  Braddock  died  at  Dunbar's  camp  in  the  night,  and  his 
body  was  brought  on  to  the  next  encampment,  and  buried  in  the 
camp,  and  that  if  he  could  walk  to  the  place  he  thought  he  could 
point  it  out  so  exactly — near  a  forked  appletree — that  by  digging, 
the  bones  could  yet  be  found. 

"There  are  parts  of  this  story  wholly  irreconcilable  with  well 
ascertained  facts.  There  was  no  Col.  Jones  in  Braddock's  army. 
Sir  Peter  Halket  and  his  son,  Lieut.  Halket,  were  killed  and  left 
on  the  field  of  battle.  Braddock  did  not  die  at  Dunbar's  camp, 
but  at  the  first  camp  eastward  of  it,  and  it  is  nowhere  said  that 
Braddock  was  buried  in  the  camp,  —  but  that  might  be  true. 
Fossit  died,  I  believe,  in  1818,  and  was,  consequently,  according 
to  his  own  statement,  about  106  years  old." 

The  reader  will  naturally  wish  to  know  something  of  the  previous 
history  of  Braddock  and  what  was  his  military  and  private  character. 

It  is  said  he  was  an  Irishman,  but  of  Anglo-Saxon  descent.  His 
father  bore  the  same  name,  and  was  an  ofiicer  in  the  Coldstream 
Guards,  in  which  the  son  received  his  military  training.  The 
General  was  the  only  son,  and  left  no  issue.     His  two  sisters  also 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  T3 

died  unmarried.  This  destitution  of  any  near  kindred  may  aid  in 
accounting  for  the  utter  neglect  of  his  remains  and  grave  ;  and  for 
the  absence  of  any  attempt  to  vindicate  his  character  from  the 
aspersions  which  his  appalling  defeat  rendered  popular  in  England 
and  America. 

At  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  Edward  Braddock  the  younger  entered 
service  as  Ensign  in  the  second  regiment  of  the  Coldstream  or 
Foot  Guards,  a  very  aristocratic  division  of  the  army,  the  body 
guard  of  Royalty,  from  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to,  perhaps, 
the  present  day — deriving  its  name  from  the  place  of  its  quarters. 
He  rose  rapidly  through  the  grades  of  promotion  without  any  signal 
achievements,  and  in  1745  became  Lieut.  Colonel.  Yet  it  is  re- 
corded that  his  regiment,  under  his  command,  behaved  well  at  the 
battles  of  Fontenoy  and  Culloden.  His  patron  and  commander 
was  the  renowned  Duke  of  Cumberland.  In  1746  he  was  made  a 
Brigadier- Greneral  and  sent  on  duty  to  Gibraltar.  In  March,  1754, 
he  was  gazetted  a  Major-General,  and  in  September  following  was 
appointed  Generalissimo  of  the  forces  to  be  sent  to,  and  raised  in, 
America,  against  the  French. 

The  appointment  was  a  bad  one,  considering  the  country  and 
the  service  he  was  to  be  employed  in.  He  had  too  exalted  an 
opinion  of  the  universal  efiiciency  of  old  European  modes  of  war- 
fare and  of  the  regular  arm,  and  too  low  an  estimate  of  provincial 
troops  and  backwoods  tactics.  He  was,  moreover,  haughty  and 
imperious.  Little  was  said  of  his  private  character  prior  to  his 
death;  but  when  gone  to  his  last  account,  his  reputation  was 
blackened  with  almost  all  the  crimes  of  the  Decalogue,  and  many 
more — save  that  of  cowardice; — his  most  rancorous  defamers 
admit  his  bravery.  No  doubt  much  that  was  said  against  him  was 
truly  said,  but  there  is  as  little  doubt  that  great  injustice  has  been 
done  to  his  memory.  That  he  was  a  gamester  and  a  duellist  is  no 
doubt  true ;  but  these  were  vices  of  his  times  and  profession,  of 
which  better  men  than  he  were  equally  guilty.  Says  Horace  Wal- 
pole,  who  delighted  in  the  use  of  strong  terms,  "  Desperate  in  his 
fortune,  brutal  in  his  behavior,  obstinate  in  his  sentiments,  he  was 
still  intrepid  and  capable."  His  secretary,  the  lamented  young 
Shirley,  wrote  of  him  before  the  defeat:  "  We  have  a  General  most 
judiciously  chosen  for  being  disqualified  for  the  service  he  is  in,  in 
almost  every  respect.  He  may  be  brave  for  aught  I  know,  and  he 
is  honest  in  pecuniary  matters."  Bravery  and  honesty  are  very 
strong  redeeming  qualities.  Dr.  Franklin,  whose  sagacity  and 
accuracy  in  estimating  men  was  unsurpassed,  says  of  him,  that  "he 


74  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  V. 

was  a  brave  man,  and  might  probably  have  made  a  figure  as  a  good 
officer  in  some  European  war.  But  he  had  too  much  self-confi- 
dence, too  high  an  opinion  of  the  validity  of  regular  troops,  and 
too  mean  a  one  of  both  Americans  and  Indians."  But  the  opinion 
of  Washington,  given  of  him,  in  mature  years,  after  he  had  passed 
through  the  Revolution,  is  doubtless  nearer  the  truth  than  any 
other.  "I  mentioned  IS  [to  Washington]  the  bad  impression  I  had 
received  of  Gen.  Braddock  as  an  officer.  'True — true,'  said  he, 
'he  was  unfortunate,  but  his  character  was  much  too  severely 
treated.  He  was  one  of  the  honestest  and  best  men  of  the  British 
officers  with  whom  he  had  been  acquainted;  even  in  the  manner 
of  fighting  he  was  not  more  to  blame  than  others; — for,  of  all  that 
were  consulted,  only  one  person  [himself,  probabl}',]  objected  to 
it.'  And  looking  around  seriously  to  me,  he  said,  'Braddock  was 
both  my  General  and  my  physician.  I  was  attacked  with  a 
dangerous  fever  on  the  march,  and  he  left  a  sergeant  to  take  care 
of  me,  and  James'  fever  powders,  with  directions  how  to  give  them, 
and  a  wagon  to  bring  me  on  when  I  would  be  able,'  &c."  It  is 
very  manifest  that  many  of  the  idle  traditions  which  have  so 
needlessly  sought  to  exalt  that  truly  great  and  just  man  at  the 
expense  of  the  fallen  General,  could  have  received  no  frame-work 
upon  which  to  be  woven,  from  him. 

Much  opprobrium  and  censure  was  heaped  upon  Col.  Dunbar, 
for  not  making  a  further  eflJbrt  to  accomplish  the  object  of  the 
campaign,  or  at  least  making  a  stand  until  reinforced.  But  when 
it  is  recollected  that  great  numbers  of  the  troops  with  him,  say  800 
—  at  best  none  of  the  best" — were  sick ; — that  half  of  his  accessions 
from  the  crushed  remains  of  Braddock's  division,  say  400,  were 
wounded,  and  all  half  naked  and  panic-stricken — we  must  be 
satisfied  that  such  an  army  was  not  the  kind  with  which  either  to 
stand  or  advance,  in  a  wilderness  with  hostile  surroundings  fiushed 
with  spoil  and  victory,  without  horses  to  move,  or  a  prospect  of 
obtaining  them.  The  best  justification  of  Dunbar  is  in  the  fact, 
that  with  all  the  effiarts  and  resources  of  crown  and  colonies  for 


^8  Hon.  Wm.  Fiudley's  Letter  relating  a  conversation  with  Washington  while  President, 
in  XIV.  Niles'  Register,  179,  before  cited. 

^■f  The  two  regiments  —  the  44th  and  48th,  of  the  Irish  Establishment,  which  formed 
the  main  body  of  Braddock's  army,  had  been  recruited  for  the  campaign  in  Ireland  and 
London  by  enlistments  "of  the  worst  class  of  men,  who,  had  they  not  been  in  the  army, 
would  probably  have  been  in  Bridewell.'" — SargenVs  '■'History  of  Braddock's  Expedition" 
&c.,  135. 


CH.  v.]  braddock's  campaign.  .  75 

three  succeeding  years,  and  until  Forbes'  great  army  came  in  1758, 
nothing  was  accomplished  towards  driving  the  French  from  Fort 
Du  Quesne.  Great  talk  and  some  eftbrt  was  made  even  that  year 
(1755)  in  Virginia,  under  the  influence  of  Col.  Washington  and 
Governor  Dinwiddle,  but  nothing  was  done.  The  Virginia  Gov- 
ernor proposed  to  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, 
to  raise  a  force,  cross  the  mountains,  and  build,  and  garrison  with 
800  men,  a  fort  at  the  Great  Crossings,  (Someriield,)  or  at  the 
Great  Meadows.     But  the  proposal  was  the  end  of  it. 

For  a  long  period  succeeding  the  defeat  of  Braddock,  the  terri- 
tory of  Fayette,  in  common  with  its  adjacents,  was  given  up 
entirely  to  the  French  and  Indians,  who  seem  to  have  used  it  for 
the  subsistence  of  the  forests,  and  as  a  field  of  transit  for  their 
predatory  and  warlike  excursions  further  to  the  east  and  south;  — 
which  indeed  they  had  begun  before  the  defeat.  For  these  purposes 
Braddock's  road  and  the  other  ancient  trails  were  much  used. 
Says  Washington,  in  a  letter  of  May,  1756,  to  Gov.  Dinwiddie, 
"  The  roads  over  the  Allegheny  Mountains  are  as  much  beaten 
as  they  were  last  year  by  Gen.  Braddock's  army."  l^o  white 
man  not  leagued  with  the  new  confederacy  of  French  and  Indians, 
could  find  a  resting  place  in  all  the  West.  "  You  cannot  conceive," 
wrote  Gov.  Morris  of  Pennsylvania  to  Gen.  Johnson,  in  iNTovember, 
1755,  "what  a  vast  tract  of  country  has  been  depopulated  by  these 
merciless  savages.  I  assure  you  that  all  the  families  from  Augusta 
county  in  Virginia  [of  which  we  were  then  considered  a  part]  to 
the  river  Delaware,  have  been  obliged  to  quit  their  plantations,  on 
the  north  side  of  that  chain  of  mountains  that  is  called  the  'Endless 
Hills.'  "i«  Indeed  the  desolation  seems  to  have  extended  further 
eastward.  In  ITovember,  1756,  the  Provincial  Council  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  credibly  informed  that  in  Cumberland  county  (then 
embracing  all  Pennsylvania  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  except  what 
is  now  York  and  Adams)  there  were  not  left  100  men  fit  to  bear 
arms,  whereas  a  year  before  there  had  been  over  3000.  The  colonies 
of  Virginia,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  sought  to  shut  themselves 
up  behind  a  chain  of  forts  far  to  the  east  of  their  western  limits, — the 
nearest  to  us  being  Forts  Cumberland  and  Ligonier.  Things 
remained  thus,  until,  upon  the  accession  of  William  Pitt,  "the 
great  commoner,"  to  the  Prime  Ministry  of  England,  new  life  and 


if  The  range  which  separates  Franklin  county  from  Bedford,   and  Huntingdon  and 
Juniata  from  Ferry. 


76  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  V. 

energy  were  infused  into  the  civil  and  military  arms.  Thereupon, 
in  1758,  General  Forbes  was  sent  out  with  an  army  of  foreign  and 
provincial  troops,  in  all  about  7000,  who,  in  November  of  that  year, 
frightened  the  French  from  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  reestablished  the 
English  power  around  the  head  of  the  Ohio: — thus  ending  forever 
the  struggle  for  supremacy  here  between  the  Gaul  and  the  Saxon. 
Fayette  county  had  no  part  in  this  expedition.  The  conquering 
army  came  by  a  new  road  from  Bedford,  through  Westmoreland 
county,  though  strongly  urged  by  Col.  Washington,  who  com- 
manded the  Virginia  levies,  to  take  Braddock's  road. 

The  French  party  which  came  up  to  spoil  the  camp  of  Dunbar 
is  the  last  hostile  invasion  that  has  ever  pressed  the  soil  of  Fayette. 
In  the  perilous  times  which  intervened,  up  to  Wayne's  great  victory 
and  treaty  in  1794-5,  Fayette  territory  was  never,  so  far  as  known  to 
history  or  tradition,  the  scene  of  any  considerable  fight,  or  Indian 
atrocity,  of  any  kind.  We  shall  have  occasion  frequently  hereafter 
to  notice  this  peculiar  exemption,  its  reasons  and  results.  Except 
when  our  citizens  were  promptly  going  forth  to  do,  or  were 
honorably  returning  after  having  done,  yeomen's  service  in  de- 
fending their  own  or  invading  the  enemy's  country,  all  the 
subsequent  military  movements  within  our  borders  have  been  upon 
the  Peace  Establishment.     May  it  ever  be  so ;  lor 

"Peace  hath  her  victories,  no  less  than  ■war." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

EARLY     SETTLEMENTS. 

A  large  Field — Penn's  Charter — Quaker  regard  for  the  Indians — Dunkards  and  the 
Youghiogheny — Dunkards  in  Greene — First  Settlers — The  Browns  —  Gists — Gist's 
neighbors — The  Ohio  Company — French  dominion — Col.  Burd's  Expedition — Military 
Permits  —  Titles  about  Brownsville  and  Bridgeport  —  Era  of  Settlement — Non-inter- 
vention—  Pontiac's  War  —  First  Settlers  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  —  The  West  — 
Settlements  trouble  the  Indians — Kingly  and  Colonial  Anxieties — Names  of  Settle- 
ments— Settlers  warned,  and  driven  off  by  the  Military — Indian  Titles — Bald  Eagle — 
Indian  Stephen — Burnt  Cabin — Bloody  Law  against  Settlers — Mission  of  Piev.  Steel 
to  warn  them — Names  and  Number  of  Inhabitants  in  1768 — Indian  Treaty — Settlers 
let  alone — Indians  sell  out  to  the  Penns — Titles  begin — Surveys — Prices  of  Lands — 
Devesting  Act — Proprietary  Patents — Slavery  abolished — Our  Slav^-owners — Migra- 
tion to  Kentucky — New  Settlers — Quakers — Presbyterians — Dr.  McMillan's  Journal — 
Mount  Moriah  —  The  Baptists  —  Methodists  —  Associate  Reformed  —  Episcopalians — 
Catholics — German  Churches  —  Others  —  Country  Churches — Old  Schools  —  Country 
Academies — Dunlap  &  Littell's  High  School — Character  of  our  Early  Settlers. 

We  now  enter  upon  a  large  and  diversified  field.  And  if  any  of 
our  readers  shall  recollect  some  rugged  prominences,  or  little 
flowered  nooks,  whicli  we  do  not  sketch,  we  beg  them,  although 
our  ignorance  may  be  the  true  cause  of  their  omission,  to  set  down 
their  absence  to  the  want  of  room  upon  our  canvas,  and  our 
inability  to  group  them,  consistently  with  the  tout  ensemble  of 
the  picture.  Our  effort  shall  be,  faithfully  and  intelligibly  to 
present  to  view  all  the  strong  features  of  the  subject,  and  so  to 
animate  the  sketch  as  to  give  to  it,  if  not  the  reality,  at  least  the 
semblance,  of  life  and  interest. 

Whoever  has  been  curious  enough  to  peruse  the  Charter  for 
Pennsylvania,  granted,  in  1681,  by  Charles  II.  of  England,  will  have 
seen  that  His  Majesty,  assuming  the  territory  to  be  the  "king's 
own,"  conveyed  it  to  William  Penn,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  to  hold 
in  free  and  common  socage,  as  of  the  Castle  of  Windsor,  yielding 
and  paying  the  yearly  rent  of  two  beaver  skins  and  one-fifth  of  all 
gold  and  silver  ore,  and  reserving  unto  the  crown  the  sovereignty 
of  the  colony  and  the  fealty  and  allegiance  of  its  inhabitants.  The 
Governors  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  proprietaries,  "by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of"  the  king  and  council.  To  them,  and 
to  the  freemen  of  the  colony  in  Assembly,  were  committed  all  the 


78  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

powers  of  legislation  and  government,  save  that  of  making  war, — 
subject  to  the  revisal  and  approbation  of  their  laws  by  the  king  and 
council,  and  to  appeals  from  the  provincial  to  the  king's  courts. 
But  the  appointment  of  all  subordinate  otlicers  and  iJie  disposal  of 
lands  to  settlers  or  others,  were  committed  to  the  proprietaries  only^ 
or  their  deputies  or  Governors,  in  their  names;  without  any  inter- 
ference or  control  by  the  Assembly,  or  by  the  king  or  parliament. 

This  absolute  power  over  the  lands  gave  to  the  proprietaries, 
indirectly,  a  control  over  the  settlers  thereon,  and  enabled  them  to 
enforce  their  peculiar,  peaceful  and  just  policy  towards  the  Indian 
nations.  Indeed,  one  of  the  principal  specified  objects  for  which 
Penn  sought  the  grant,  was  "  to  reduce  the  savage  natives,  by 
gentle  and  just  manners,  to  the  love  of  civil  society  and  the  Chris- 
tian religion."  This  cardinal  purpose  was  steadfastly  kept  in  view 
by  the  colonial  government  during  its  entire  existence,  and  brought 
it  often  in  conflict  with  the  adverse  purposes  and  conduct  of  settlers. 
The  Penn  policy  was  never  to  grant  lands,  or  to  allow  any  settlement 
upon  them,  until  after  they  had  been  purchased  from,  and  formally 
ceded  by,  the  Indian  owners.  Immediate  or  direct  purchases  by 
individuals  from  the  Indians  were  strictly  forbidden.  And  so 
scrupulously  just  and  conciliatory  were  the  proprietaries,  that  when 
they  found  that  the  Indians  did  not  comprehend  the  import  and 
extent  of  the  terms  used  in  the  deed  of  cession  signed  at  Albany 
in  1754,  to  which  we  have  before  referred,  they  relinquished  all 
beyond  certain  limits,  to  which  the  Indians  admitted  they  meant 
to  go. 

This  unyielding  deference  to  aboriginal  title  by  the  Penns  became 
ingrafted  into  the  character  of  the  province,  and  was  transmitted 
to  the  commonwealth.  It  was  however  not  a  characteristic  of  its 
neighbor,  Virginia;  who  put  it  on,  only  as  an  outward  profession, 
when  the  king  commanded  or  self-interest  demanded  it.  We  shall 
presently  see  something  of  these  antipodal  courses  of  policy,  and 
much  more,  when  we  come  to  the  "Boundary  controversy." 

When,  as  early  as  1751,  as  related  by  Croghan  and  Montour,  at 
a  council  of  the  Six  Illations  and  Delaware  and  Shawnese  tribes 
of  Indians,  held  at  Logstown  on  the  Ohio,  some  sixteen  miles  below 
Pittsburgh,  "a  Dunkard  from  Virginia  came  to  town  and  requested 
leave  to  settle  on  the  Yogh-yo-gaine  river,  a  branch  of  the  Ohio;  he 
was  told  that  he  must  apply  to  the  Onondaga  council,  and  be 
recommended  by  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania."  This  little  item  of 
history  reflects  the  peculiar  non-intrusive  Indian  policy  of  the 
Penns,  and  is  also  the  earliest  recorded  design  (except  that  of  the 


GH.  VI.  EARLY    SETTLEMENTS.  79 

Ohio  Company,  which  did  not  recognize  Pennsylvania  proprietor- 
ship,) of  effecting  an  orderly  settlement  within  the  bounds  of  our 
county.  It  failed  of  accomplishment  from  some  cause.  Doubtless 
the  applicant  was  one  of  the  Eckerlin  brothers  who,  a  few  years 
afterwards,  located  their  little  colony  at  the  mouth  of  Dunkard 
creek  in  our  neighbor,  Greene ;  whence,  after  giving  their  name  to 
the  stream,  they  soon  removed  to  Dunkard's  bottom  on  Cheat  river, 
and  thence  to  the  south  branch  of  the  Potomac,  where  their  history 
is  as  tragical  as  their  character  was  peaceful  and  holy.  They  were 
in  advance  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  of  the  localities  which 
they  sought  to  people. 

We  believe  the  lirst  actual  white  settlers  within  our  present 
county  limits  were  the  Browns  —  Wendell  Brown  and  his  two  sons, 
Maunus  and  Adam,  if  not  a  third  one,  Thomas.     They  came  in 

1751  or  '52.  Their  first  location  was  on  Provance's  bottom,  a  short 
distance  below  the  mouth  of  little  Jacob's  creek.  But  soon  after, 
some  Indians  enticed  them  away  from  that  choice  alluvial  reach, 
by  promises  to  show  them  better  land,  and  where  they  would  enjoy 
greater  security.  They  were  led  to  the  lands  on  which,  in  part, 
the  descendants  of  Maunus  now  reside,  and  erected  their  cabin 
upon  the  tract  now  the  home  of  his  grandson,  Emanuel  Brown, 
really  among  the  best  in  the  county.  They  came  as  hunters,  but 
soon  became  herdsmen  and  tillers  of  the  soil.  It  has  been  said 
that  Frederick  Waltzer  was  .contemporary  with  the  Browns.  We 
think  this  an  error.     He  did  not  come  for  some  years  afterwards. 

The  next  settler  within  our  bounds  was  Christopher  Gist:   and 

1752  has  been  generally  stated  to  be  the  date  of  his  settlement. 
But  we  think  he  did  not  acquire  a  local  habitation  here  until  1753. 
In  the  Virginia  Commissioners'  certificate,  given  in  1780  to  his 
son,  Thomas  Gist,  for  the  land  on  which  his  father  first  settled, 

1753  is  fixed  as  the  year  of  his  settlement.  Washington's  embassy 
to  the  French  posts,  when  he  speaks  of  having  passed  "Mr.  Gist's 
new  settlement,"  was  in  November  of  that  year.  His  agency  for 
the  Ohio  Company  brought  him  here.  His  cabin  was,  we  believe, 
on  that  part  of  the  Mount  Braddock  lands  now  owned  by  Jacob 
Murphy,  contiguous  to  the  spring  near  his  barn.  By  this  early 
settlement  he  and  his  sons  were  enabled,  in  after  years,  to  acquire 
the  largest  and  finest  body  of  lands  ever  owned  by  any  one  family 
in  this  county,  embracing  not  only  the  Mount  Braddock  estate, 
now  owned  by  Mr.  Isaac  Beeson,  but  also  the  fine  farms  of  Isaac 
Wood,  Jacob  Murphy  and  P.  C.  Pusey; — a  domain  which  many  a 
German  prince  might  give  his  kingdom  for. 


80  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

We  have  seen  it  stated  somewhere  that  "  Gist  induced  eleven 
famihes  to  settle  around  him,  on  lands  presumed  to  be  within  the 
Ohio  Company's  grant."  This  may  be  so.  But  the  late  Col. 
James  Paull.  whose  father,  George  Paull,  was  an  early  settler  in 
that  vicinity,  and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  Gists,  said  he 
never  heard  of  these  settlers.  What  gives  great  probability,  how- 
ever, to  the  statement,  is  the  fact,  stated  by  Monsieur  Celeron,  the 
French  commander  of  the  expedition  against  Washington  at  Fort 
ISTecessity,  in  1754,  that  on  his  return,  he  not  only  ordered  the 
houses  at  the  entrenchment  at  Gist's  to  be  burnt  down,  but  detached 
an  oificer  "to  burn  the  houses  round  about."  He  also  took  several 
prisoners  at  Gist's,  It  is  certain  that  grants  of  lands  within  our 
county  limits  were  made  by  the  Ohio  Company.  These  were  prior 
to  1755,  and  were  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  in  the  Gist  neighborhood. 
The  Stewarts,  who  settled  in  the  vicinity  of,  and  gave  name  to, 
"Stewart's  crossings,"  (Counellsville,)  were  unquestionably  in  this 
class  of  settlers.^  William  Cromwell,  son-in-law  of  Gist,  set  up  a 
claim,  under  the  Ohio  Company,  to  a  part  of  the  Gist  lands,  "  in 
the  forks  of  the  roads  to  Fort  Pitt  and  Redstone,"  including  Isaac 
Wood's  farm,  asserting,  somewhat  inconsistently,  a  gift  of  it  to  his 
wife  from  her  father,  and  a  settlement  thereof  in  1753.  He  sold 
his  claim  to  one  Samuel  Lyon,  between  whom  and  the  Gists  a  long 
controversy  was  waged  for  the  title,  wherein  the  Gists  prevailed. 
It  may  be  that  others  of  the  early  settlers  in  that  part  of  the  county- 
had  grants  from  this  Company  which,  as  the  French  war  blasted 
the  Company's  prospects  in  this  region,  proved  useless,  and  obliged 
them  thereupon  to  secure  their  lands  under  Virginia  or  Pennsyl- 
vania. Such  indeed  was  the  case  with  the  Gists.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  William  Jacobs,  who  settled  in  1761  at  the  mouth  of  Redstone, 
where  the  Hangard  was  built  by  the  Ohio  Company  in  1754, 
claimed  under  that  Company. 

The  repulse  of  Washington  in  1754,  and  still  more  decisively, 
the  defeat  of  Braddock  in  1755,  put  an  end,  for  some  time,  to  all 
efforts  by  the  English  colonists  to  settle  vrest  of  the  mountains; 
and  all  that  were  here  at  and  before  those  events,  were  forced  to 
retire  for  a  time  to  the  eastward,  or  south.  The  French  never 
attempted  any  permanent  settlements  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
and  during  their  sway  universal  desolation  reigned.  Many  of  the 
old  settlers  returned  after  the  expulsion  of  the  French  in  1758,  and 


1  See  note  (1)  to  Memoirs  of  the  Gists,  in  Chapter  VII. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY    SETTLEMENTS.  81 

resumed  their  possessions.     Among  these  were  the  Browns  and 
the  Gists,  whom  we  will  further  notice  in  the  sequel. 

The  expedition  of  Col.  James  Burd,  in  1759,  to  open  the  "  road 
to  Redstone  "  and  erect  Fort  Burd,  led  to  some  settlements  in  that 
vicinity,  between  that  year  and  1764,  by  persons  who  had  been 
connected  with  the  expedition,  and  by  others.     Of  these   were 
William  Colvin,  whose  settlement  right,  acquired  in  1763,  to  lands 
now  of  Eli  Cope  and  others,  he  sold  to  Thomas  Brown.     It  is 
probable  that  such  was  the  origin  of  the  titles  of  John  and  Samuel 
M'CuUoch  to  the  land  where  Brownsville  now  is,  extending  from 
creek  to  creek,  and  whose  rights,  together  with  Cresap's,  became 
vested  in   Thomas  and  Bazil  Brown,   to  whom  patents  issued. 
Capt.  Lemuel  Barrett  held  the  land  where  Bridgeport  now  is, 
under  a    "  military  permit  from  the   commander  at  -  Fort  Pitt, 
in  1763,  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  lands  within  the  custom 
limits  of  the  garrison  then  called  Fort  Burd."     He  was  a  Mary- 
lander.     In  1783  he  conveyed  his  title  to  Rees  Cadwallader,  the 
town  proprietor.     The  land  just  above  Bridgeport,  on  the  river, 
embracing  some  three  or  four  hundred  acres,  was,  in  early  times, 
the  subject  of  long  and  angry  controversies — from  1769  to  1785  — 
between  adverse  claimants  under  "military  permits."     It  was  well 
named,  in  the  official  survey,  which  one  of  the  parties  procured  of 
it  under  a  Pennsylvania  location,  "Bone  of  Contention."     One 
Angus  M'Donald  claimed  it,  or  part  of  it,  under  a  military  permit 
from  Col.  Bouquet,  dated  April  26th,  1763,  and  a  settlement  on  it. 
In  March,  1770,  he  sold  his  claim  to  Captain  Luke  Collins,^  de- 
scribing the  land  as  "at  a  place  called  Fort  Burd,  to  include  the 
held  cleared  by  me  where  the  sawpit  was  above  the  mouth  of 
Delap's  creek."     Collins  conveyed  it  to  Captain  Michael  Cresap  (of 
Logan's  speech  celebrity)  on  the  13th  of  April,  1772,  "at  half  past 
nine  in  the  morning," — describing  it  as  situate  between  "Point 
Lookout  and  John  Martin's  land," — recently  owned,  we  believe, 
by  the  late. Mrs.  John  S.  Krepps.     Cresap's  executors,  in  June, 
1781,  conveyed  to  one  William  ISchooly,  an  old  Brownsville  mer- 
chant, who  conveyed  to  Rees  Cadwallader.     The  adverse  claimants 
were  Henry  Shryock"  and  William  Shearer,  assignee  of  George 


1  Of  some  celebrity  in  the  "  Boundary  Controversy,"  and  as  the  friend  and  correspond- 
ent of  Col.  George  Wilson,  which  see — Chap.  IX. 

2  Of  Frederick  county,  Md.  We  find  the  name  of  Henry  Shryock  among  the  members 
of  the  Maryland  Convention  to  ratify  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  April, 
1788 — probably  the  same  person. 

6 


82  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

Andrew.  Their  claim  reached  further  southward  towards  the 
creek,  and  further  up  the  river,  covering  the  John  Martin  land. 
They  sold  out  to  Robert  Adams  and  Thomas  Shain.  Although 
they  had  the  oldest  -permit  (in  1762)  their  title  seems  to  have  been 
overcome  by  the  settlement  and  official  location  and  survey  of  their 
adversary. 

One  Robert  Thorn  seems  also  to  have  been  a  claimant  of  part  of 
the  land,  but  Collins  bought  him  out.  This  protracted  contro- 
versy involved  many  curious  questions,  and  called  up  many  ancient 
recollections.  No  doubt  the  visit  to  this  locality  of  Mr.  Deputy- 
Sheriff  Woods,  of  Bedford,  in  1771,  was  parcel  of  this  controversy.* 
Many  of  these  early  claims  were  lost,  or  forfeited,  by  neglect  to 
settle  the  land,  according  to  law,  and  thus  were  supplanted  by 
ethers.  They  were  valued  by  their  owners  at  a  very  low  mark, 
and  often  sold  for  trifling  sums. 

These  settlements,  by  virtue  of  military  permits,  began  about  this 
period — from  1760  to  '65,  to  be  somewhat  numerous  in  the  vicini- 
ties of  Forts  Pitt  and  Burd,  and  along  the  army  roads  leading 
thereto.*  They  were  subsequently  recognized  as  valid  by  the  Penns, 
even  before  they  had  bought  out  the  Indian  title.  This  was  a 
departure  from  their  general  policy,  required  to  maintain  those 
forts  and  keep  up  access  to  them.  They  were  indeed  regarded  as 
mere  appendages  to  the  forts,  and  as  accessories  to  the  trade  and 
intercourse  with  the  Indians,  and  not  as  permanent  settlements  for 
homes  and  subsistence.  The  Monongahela  river  below  Fort  Burd, 
being  in  fact  an  army  highway,  came  in  for  a  share  of  these  favors. 
Their  aggregate  was  few,  and  they  were  often  far  between. 

It  was  not  until  about  1765-'6,  that  settlements,  in  the  true  and 
legitimate  sense  of  the  term,  came  to  attract  notice  in  what  is  now 


'  See  his  Affidavit  in  sketch  of  "Boundary  Controversy," — Chap.  IX. 

*  Even  these  military  settlements  would  seem  to  have  been  contrary  to  the  plighted 
faith  of  the  English  to  the  Indians,  as  given  by  Sir  Jeffry  Amherst,  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  British  in  North  America,  who  at  an  Indian  treaty  held  at  Fort  Pitt,  in  August, 
1760,  told  them  that  "no  part  whatever  of  their  lands  joining  to  the  forts  should  be 
taken  from  them ;  nor  any  English  people  be  permitted  to  settle  upon  them,"  without  their 
consent,  and  being  paid  therefor.  These  military  permits  were  generally  issued  by  Col. 
Bouquet,  who  commanded  at  Fort  Pitt  in  1762-'3,  &c.,  and  by  Capt.  Edmondstone ;  and 
the  king's  proclamation  of  October,  1763,  referred  to  hereafter,  wore  the  semblance  of 
forbidding  them.  See  a  reference  to  Col.  Bouquet's  proclamation  of  1762,  in  a  subse- 
quent note  (6).  These  royal  and  military  flourishes  of  supreme  regard  for  Indian  sov- 
ereignty had  very  much  the  consequence  of  the  modern  doctrine  of  "  non-intervention," 
yiz — to  encourage  irresponsible  individuals  to  violate  it ;  the  "poor  Indian"  being  the 
victim  in  the  one  case,  as  the  honest  settler  is  in  the  other. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  83 

South-Western  Pennsylvania.  And  it  is  a  well-ascertaiued  fact  that 
the  earliest  of  this  class  of  settlements,  for  homes  and  subsistence, 
were  in  what  is  now  Fayette  County.  This  was  the  result  of  several 
co-operating  causes,  some  of  which  have  been  alluded  to  in  a  pre- 
ceding sketch.  The  great  abundance  of  game^  the  general  impu- 
nity from  Indian  aggression,  the  fertility  of  the  land,  its  fine  springs 
and  water-courses ;  but,  above  all,  its  short  and  easy  access  from 
the  Atlantic  slope  by  Braddock's  road ; — these  were  the  combined 
causes,  which  now  near  a  century  ago,  planted  all  over  our  county 
territory,  in  almost  every  valley,  whether  large  or  small,  in  both 
mountain  and  lowland,  the  seeds  of  a  rude  but  hardy  civilization. 

Although  the  French  were  expelled  from  this  region  in  1758, 
yet  the  Indians  were  not  quieted  until  1764 ;  so  long  did  it 
require  for  the  waves  raised  by  the  storm  of  '54-'5  to  subside. 
This  was  effected  by  two  very  dissimilar  agencies  -^  conciliatory 
intercourse,  and  the  military  expeditions  of  Colonels  Bouquet 
and  Bradstreet,  of  that  and  the  previous  years.  The  reduction 
of  Canada  had  led  to  hopes  of  peace  with  the  Ohio  Indians, 
but  French  influence  was  still  at  work.  Added  to  this,  the 
progress  of  the  English  in  their  career  of  conquest,  and  the 
establishment  of  lines  of  Forts  all  over  the  Indian  territory, 
alarmed  the  natives,  and  led  to  that  powerful  Indian  confederacy 
for  war  and  rapine,  designated  in  the  bloody  annals  of  that  period 
as  Poniiac's  War, — planned  and  executed  by  that  Napoleon  of  sav- 
age warfare.  This  was  in  1763 ;  and  while  it  raged,  "  the  frontiers 
of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Maryland  were  overrun  by  scalp- 
ing parties,  marking  their  way  with  blood  and  devastation."  I^ear- 
ly  all  the  English  forts  —  Detroit,  Niagara,  Presque  Isle,  Le  Bceuf, 
Venango,  Pitt,  Ligonier,  &c.,  were  vigorously  attacked.  And  it 
was  not  until  the  decisive  but  costly  victory  of  Bouquet,  at  Bushy 
run,  between  Ligonier  and  Pitt,  and  his  bloodless  subjugation  of 
the  Indians  on  the  Aluskingum  in  the  ensuing  year,  that  peace  and 
safety  were  restored.  Although  our  county  territory  enjoyed  its 
usual  impunity  during  these  bloody  years — the  inhabitants  never 
flying,  as  they  had  to  do  from  neighboring  territory — yet  the  terror 
which  was  inspired  prevented  the  influx  of  settlers.  But  when  this 
barrier  was  removed,  the  tide  of  immigration  rolled  in  with  rapid 
and  steadily-augmenting  force,  so  that  1765  may  be  set  down  as  the 
era  of  the  settlement  of  Fayette  county. 

The  first  settlers,  almost  without  an  exception,  came  from  the 
frontier  counties  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  chiefly  from  the  for- 
mer.    The  events  in  this  region,  of  the  preceding  French  War, 


84  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

liad,  more  than  any  knowledgo  of  the  boundaries,  served  to  cre- 
ate the  general  belief,  among  the  people  of  those  counties,  that  this 
was  Virginia  territory.  Yet  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  first  set- 
tlers came,  without  knowing,  or  caring  to  know,  whether  this  belief 
was  well  founded  or  not.  They  knew  they  were  coming  into  that 
vast  and  perilous,  but  fertile  domain  denominated  the  West,  where 
land  was  cheap,  and  liberty  as  exuberant  as  the  soil.  They  had  per- 
haps heard  that  Virginia  claimed  all  the  West,  from  the  then  unde- 
fined Western  limits  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  from  the  Lakes  on  the  North,  to  36°  30'  on  the  South; 
and  supposed  that  the  only  adverse  jurisdiction  was  that  of  the 
Indians — for  as  yet  there  existed  here  no  organized  government — 
no  officers  of  the  law.  Although  nominally  embraced  within  Cum- 
berland county,  Pennsylvania,  or  Augusta  county,  Virginia,  yet,  as 
the  county-semt  of  the  former  was  Carlisle,  and  of  the  latter  Stan- 
ton, with  vast  mountain  wastes  intervening,  these  dependencies 
were  too  remote  to  be  reached  by  the  civil  arm  :  and  for  a  while  the 
settlers  were  unheeded  and  unmolested  by  the  government  of  either 
colony.  Hence  the  tide  flowed  fast  and  free.  Says  a  letter  from 
"Winchester,  Va.,  dated  April  30,  1765 — "The  frontier  inhabitants 
of  this  colony  and  Maryland  are  removing  fast  over  the  Allegheny 
Mountains  in  order  to  settle  and  live  there."  And  Geo.  Croghan, 
the  Deputy  Indian  Agent,  under  date  of  Fort  Pitt,  May  24,  1766, 
says,  "as  soon  as  the  peace  was  made  last  year  [by  Col.  Bouquet,] 
contrary  to  our  engagements  to  them  (the  Indians)  a  number  of  our 
people  came  over  the  Great  Mountain  and  settled  at  Redstone 
creek,  and  upon  the  Monongahela,  before  they  had  given  the  coun- 
try to  the  King  their  Father."  Concurrent  with  this  is  all  the  tes- 
timony of  that  period.  And  so  imposing  did  these  settlements  soon 
become,  that  they  threatened  to  bring  both  the  Governments  and 
people  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  into  trouble  with  the  Indians. 
For  this  reason,  and  this  alone,  they  now  attract  the  notice  of  the 
civil  and  military  powers. 

After  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace  between  France  and  Eng- 
land, signed  at  Paris,  in  February,  1763,  which  terminated  the  French 
War,  had  given  to  England,  Canada  and  the  Floridas,  and  ended 
the  French  power  and  possessions  on  the  American  Continent, 
except  in  Louisiana,  England  began  to  make  a  great  show  of  care 
for  the  Indians.  On  the  7th  of  October  of  that  year,  the  King  issued 
a  proclamation  regulating  the  bounds  and  affairs  of  his  newly 
acquired  possessions,  and  dealing  out,  in  large  profusion,  his  ten- 
der regard  for  the  Indian  tribes ; — declaring  that  they  must  not  be 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  85 

molested  in  their  hunting-grounds,  and  forbidding  any  governor 
or  commander-in-chief,  in  any  colony,  to  grant  warrants  of  survey, 
or  patents,  for  any  lands  beyond  the  heads  of  rivers  which  fall  into 
the  Atlantic,  or  which  had  been  ceded  by  the  Indians.  This  was 
an  interdict  to  all  settlements  and  surveys  in  what  is  now  South- 
Western  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  in  all  the  West  Yet,  as  its  viola- 
tions were  visited  by  no  specified  penalties,  it  was  disregarded  by 
settlers,  and  even,  to  some  extent,  by  the  Government  of  Virginia, 
though  never  by  that  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  by  some  of  the  best 
men  in  the  "Old  Dominion,"  even  by  Washington,*  looked  upon 
as  a  mere  ruse,  or  pretence,  to  keep  down  or  quiet  the  apprehensions 
of  the  natives.  The}'-,  however,  did  not  so  regard  it.  They  claimed 
its  enforcement,  and  were  as  clamorous  and  tenacious  of  their 
reserved  rights  to  their  lands  and  hunting-courses  as  has  been  the 
Virginia  of  the  present  century  for  the  doctrines  of  the  "  Reso- 
lutions of  '98,"  and  threatened  resistance  as  vociferously  as  did 
the  chivalry  of  Carolina  in  1832.  It  was  the  opinion  of  those  most 
conversant  with  the  Indians,  among  whom  were  the  British  Com- 
mander-in-Chief in  America,  General  Gage,  Sir  William  Johnston, 
the  Indian  Agent  General  and  his  Deputy,  Croghan,  that  unless  the 
intruding  settlers  were  speedily  removed,  a  general  Indian  war  would 
be  the  inevitable  result.  Indeed,  it  was  to  the  actual  and  threat- 
ened encroachments  upon  their  lands  in  this  region,  by  the  English, 
that  General  Gage  attributed  the  loss  of  the  Indian's  affections  in 
1754-55,  which  led  them  to  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  the 
French  for  protection,  and  brought  on  the  disasters  of  those  years, 
and  subsequent  hostilities.  A  remedy  was  imperatively  demanded. 
The  documentary  history  of  1765-'6-'7,  indeed,  of  all  that  decade, 
speaks  of  no  other  settlements  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  or  the 
West  generally,  than  those  within,  or  immediately  bordering  upon, 
the  Monongahela,  upon  Cheat,  upon  the  Yough,  the  Turkey-foot 
and  Redstone ; — the  first  and  last  being  the  most  prominent,  and 
the  last  the  most  extensive,  covering  all  the  interior  settlements 
about  Uniontown.  George's  creek  settlers  were  referred  to  Cheat; 
those  about  Gist's  to  the  Yough;  while  Turkey-foot  took  in  all  the 
mountain  districts.  All  these  settlements  seem  to  have  been  nearly 
cotemporaneous ;  those  on  the  Redstone  and  the  Monongahela  bor- 
der being  perhaps  the  earliest,  those  on  the  Yough  and  Turkey- 
foot  the  latest,  while  those  of  George's  creek  and  Cheat  occupy  an 


5  See  his  letter  to  Colonel  Wm.  Crawford,  dated  21st  Sept.,  1767,  copied  into  subse- 
quent Sketch  of  "Washington  in  Fayette" — Chap.  XIV. 


86  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

intermediate  date,  blending  with  all  the  others.     They  all  range 
from  1763  to  1768,  inclusive. 

The  earliest  efforts  to  dispossess,  or  drive  off  these  early  settlers, 
were  of  a  military  character.*  In  June,  1766,  Captain  Alexander 
Mackay,  commanding  a  party  of  the  42d  Regiment,  was  sent  from 
Fort  Pitt  by  Major  Murray,  the  commandant  there,  to  Redstone 
creek,  at  which  place,  meaning  doubtless  Fort  Burd,  he,  on  the 
22d  of  that  month,  issues  "  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,"  a  Notice, 
stating  that  the  commander-in-chief,  "  out  of  compassion  to  your 
ignorance,  before  he  proceeds  to  extremity,"  had  sent  him  there  to 
collect  them  together,  inform  them  of  their  lawless  behavior,  and 
to  order  them  all  to  return  to  their  several  provinces  without  delay, 
upon  pain  of  having  their  goods  and  merchandise  made  lawful  prize 
by  the  Indians,  of  having  their  persons  and  estates  put  out  of  the 
pale  of  protection ;  and  if  they  disobeyed,  or  remained,  of  being 
driven  from  the  lands  they  occupy  by  an  armed  force. 

This  martial  demonstration  was  quickly  followed  by  proclama- 
tions from  the  civil  arm.  On  the  31st  of  July,  1766,  Governor  Fau- 
quier, of  Virginia,  made  proclamation  of  like  requirements  and 
penalties.  And  on  the  23d  of  September,  Governor  Penn  issues 
a  similar  fulmination,  wherein  he  specially  forbids  "all  his  Majes- 
ty's subjects  of  this,  or  any  other  province,  or  colony,  from  making 
any  settlements,  or  taking  possession  of  lands,  hy  marking  trees,  or 
otherwise,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  last  Indian  purchase  [that  of 
1754  at  Albany  as  subsequently  restricted]  within  this  province, 
upon  pain  of  the  severest  penalties  of  the  law,  and  of  being  excluded 
from  the  jyrivilege  of  securing  stick  settlements  should  the  lands,  where 
they  are  made,  be  hereafter  purchased  of  the  Indians." 

Both  these  proclamations  are  declared  to  have  been  made  by  vir- 
tue of  instructions  from  his  Majesty,  given  in  October,  1765,  from 
which  it  is  inferred  that  the  settlements  had  become  alarming  to 


*  Even  before  the  King's  proclamation  of  Oct.  1763,  Col.  Henry  Bouquet,  then  com- 
manding at  Fort  Pitt,  had,  in  the  latter  part  of  17G2,  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding 
"  any  of  his  majesty's  subjects  to  sellle  or  hunt  to  the  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains, 
on  any  pretence  whatever,  unless  upon  leave  in  icriling  from  the  General  or  the  Governors 
of  their  i-espective  provinces  produced  to  the  commander  at  Fort  Pitt,"  requiring  all 
such  persons  to  be  seized,  and  sent,  with  their  horses  and  effects,  to  Fort  Pitt,  there  to 
be  tried  by  court-martial  and  punished  accordingly.  Though  often  violated,  we  read  of 
no  case  of  seizure  or  punishment.  The  policy  of  this  period  was  by  fair  pretences,  to 
counteract  the  insinuations  of  the  French,  that  the  English  were  really  seeking  to  sup- 
plant, not  to  protect  the  Indians,  in  the  possession  of  their  lands.  Hence  these  repeated 
"springes  to  catch  wood-chucks." 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  87 

the  Indians,  or  rather  the  provincial  authorities,  so  early  in  that,  or 
in  the  previous  year,  as  to  have  reached  the  royal  councils  at  that 
date.  Indeed,  Governor  Fauquier  writes  to  Governor  Penn,  in 
December,  1766,  that  he  had  issued  two  previous  proclamations  of 
like  import,  but  that  all  had  been  disregarded.  Governor  Penn, 
however,  says,  in  January,  1767,  that  the  efibrts  had  been  partially 
successful,  that  many  families  had  withdrawn,  but  some  had  since 
returned. 

This  co-operative  action  by  the  two  Governors,  seems  to  have 
been  rendered  necessary  by  the  unsettled  state  of  the  boundaries 
between  the  two  provinces.  So  thought  Governor  Penn  ;  and  Gov- 
ernor Fauquier  joined  in  the  eiibrt  very  cordially,  but  without  inti- 
mating any  claim,  on  the  part  of  Virginia,  to  the  territory  intruded 
upon.  Its  value  had  not  yet  been  weighed — the  horns  of  the  strife 
were  not  yet  grown. 

Despite  all  these  threats  and  warnings,  the  current  of  intrusive 
settlement  still  rolled  on,  expanding  with  time,  and  growing  stronger 
by  resistance.  In  the  mean  time  the  Indians  are  becoming  more 
and  more  restive  and  complaining,  especially  those  of  the  tribes 
owning  the  lands,  who  had  their  habitations  and  rovings  at  some 
distance  off:  for,  as  is  often  the  case  with  civilized  men,  those  most 
remotely  concerned  utter  the  earliest  and  loudest  complaints.  The 
settlers  generally  contrived  to  keep  themselves  at  peace  with  the 
Indians  here,  trading  and  hunting  with  them,  and  even  buying  set- 
tlement rights  from  them.  This  was  not  an  unfrequent  mode  of 
acquiring  rights  to  squat  upon  some  of  the  choicest  lands.  Indeed, 
nearly  all  the  earliest  settlers  resorted  to  it, — Gist,  the  Browns,  and 
others  already  named.  And  it  is  said  that  the  ancestral  Provance 
in  this  way  got  possession  of  Provance's  Bottom,  and  James  Har- 
rison of  the  lands  on  Brown's  run,  surveyed  in  the  names  of  John 
and  Robert  Harrison,  including  where  James  Wilson  now  resides ; 
also  the  Michael  Debolt  and  Adam  Sholly  tracts,  on  Catt's  run, 
now  owned  by  David  Johnson  and  James  S.  Rohrer,  late  George 
Rider.  These,  and  many  others  of  like  origin,  were  purchased  and 
settled  about  1760.  By  the  Indian  treaties  made  between  that  year 
and  1765,  they  bound  themselves  not  to  sell  lands  to  any  others 
than  the  King,  or  the  provincial  proprietors,  an  obligation  which 
was  not,  perhaps,  always  kept  inviolate.  Such  purchases  had  no 
validity  as  titles ;  they  only  enabled  the  purchasers  to  acquire  there- 
by, and  by  their  subsequent  improvements  thereon,  some  of  the 
best  lands.  They  gave  a  kind  of  conventional  right,  and  were 
looked  upon  as  a  grade  higher  than  mere  "  tomahawk  settlements." 


88  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

This  iu creasing  contact  and  intercourse  of  pioneer  settlers  with 
the  Indians  led,  as  might  he  expected,  to  many  disorders;  and  as 
the  jealousies  of  the  latter  grew  stronger,  occasional  personal  con- 
flicts, and  even  homicides,  occurred,  which  added  to  the  animosi- 
ties by  the  whites,  and  to  the  causes  of  complaint  by  the  natives. 
Many  Indians  were  killed  on  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  occasionally  a  white  trader  or  hunter  met  a  corre- 
sponding fate.  But  within  the  territory  of  Fayette  few  such  out- 
rages are  known  to  have  been  perpetrated.  Of  these  was  the  mur- 
der of  "Bald  Eagle,"  on  the  Monongahela,'  the  killing  of  Indian 
Stephen  at  or  near  Stewart's  Crossings,^  and  the  shooting,  and 
burning  the  cabin  of  the  two  stranger  hunters  and  settlers  near 
Mendenhall's  dam,  on  the  Burnt  Cabin  fork  of  Dunlap's  creek.^ 
When  this  case  occurred  is  not  so  certainly  known,  but  the  two 


'  "  Bald  Eagle"  was  an  inoffensive  old  Delaware  warrior.  He  was  on  intimate  terms 
with  the  early  settlers,  with  whom  he  hunted,  fished  and  visited.  He  was  well-known 
along  our  Monongahela  border,  up  and  down  which  he  frequently  passed  in  his  canoe- 
Somewhere  up  the  river,  probably  about  the  mouth  of  Cheat,  he  was  killed  —  by  whom, 
and  on  what  pretence,  is  unknown.  His  dead  body,  placed  vipri^ht  in  his  canoe,  with  a 
piece  of  corn-bread  in  his  clenched  teeth,  was  set  adrift  on  the  river.  The  canoe  came 
ashore  at  Provance's  Bottom,  where  the  familiar  old  Indian  was  at  once  recognized  by 
the  wife  of  William  Yard  Provance,  who  wondered  he  did  not  leave  his  canoe.  On  clo- 
ser observation,  she  found  he  was  dead.  She  had  him  decently  buried  on  the  Fayette 
shore,  near  the  early  residence  of  Pi,obert  McClean,  at  what  was  known  as  McClean's 
Ford.  This  murder  was  regarded,  both  by  whites  and  Indians,  as  a  great  outrage,  and 
the  latter  made  it  a  prominent  item  in  their  list  of  unavenged  grievances. 

^  This  offence  was  committed  by  one  Samuel  Jacobs,  aided  and  abetted  by  one  John 
Ingman,  an  "indented  servant"  of  Capt.  Wm.  Crawford — probably  a  negro  slave.  The 
provocation  and  other  circumstances  of  the  case  are  unknown.  The  case  acquired  impor- 
tance from  the  fact  that  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  contrary  to  the  claim  ^f  that  province 
to  the  territory  embracing  the  locality  of  the  killing,  had  sent  one  of  the  offenders  back 
from  Virginia  to  Pennsylvania  to  be  tried  for  the  offence. — See  "Boundary  Controversy." 

^  This  case,  as  related  by  Joseph  Mendenhall,  an  old  soldier,  and  settler  at  the  place 
known  as  Mendenhall's  Dam,  in  Menallen  township,  was  thus: — About  three  and  a  half 
miles  west  of  Uniontown,  on  the  south  side  of  the  State,  or  Heaton  Road,  which  leads 
from  the  Poor-House,  through  New  Salem,  &c.,  and  within  five  or  six  rods  of  the  road 
(on  land  now  of  Joshua  Woodward)  are  the  remains  of  an  old  clearingoi  about  one-fourth 
of  an  acre,  and  within  it  the  remains  of  an  old  chimney.  Two  or  three  rods  south-east- 
ward is  a  small  spring,  the  drain  of  which  leads  off  westward  into  the  "Burnt  Cabin 
fork"  of  Dunlap's  or  Nemacolin's  creek ;  and  still  further  south,  some  four  or  five  rods 
is  the  old  trail,  or  path  called  Dunlap's  road,  which  we  have  heretofore  traced.  The  story 
is,  that  in  very  early  times — perhaps  about  1767,  two  men  came  over  the  mountains  by 
this  path  to  hunt,  &c.,  and  began  an  improvement  at  this  clearing,  and  put  up  a  small 
cabin  upon  it.  While  asleep  in  their  cabin,  some  Indians  came  to  it,  and  shot  them,  and 
then  set  fire  to  the  cabin.  Their  names  are  unknown.  So  far  as  known,  this  is  the  only 
case  of  the  kind  that  ever  occurred  within  our  county  limits. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  89 

Indians  were  killed  in  1766.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  apprehend 
and  punish  the  offenders,  but  except  as  to  an  alleged  accomplice  in 
the  case  of  Stephen,  they  were  fruitless.  "At this,"  writes  Gover- 
nor Fauquier,  "I  am  not  surprised,  for  I  have  found  by  experience 
that  it  is  impossible  to  bring  any  body  to  justice  for  the  murder  of 
an  Indian,  who  takes  shelter  among  our  back  inhabitants,  among 
whom  it  is  looked  upon  as  a  meritorious  action,  and  they  are  sure 
of  being  protected." 

The  Indian  murmurs  grew  louder,  and  their  threats  of  vengeance 
more  earnest  and  alarming.  So  far  as  concerned  Pennsylvania,  the 
great  burden  of  complaint  was  the  settlements  upon  their  lands 
along  the  Monongahela,  Redstone,  the  Youghiogheny  and  Cheat. 
They  complained  also  of  the  murder  of  their  people.  And  to  these 
the  more  sober  and  discreet  of  their  tribes  added,  as  a  distinct  griev- 
ance, the  increasing  corruption  of  the  young  men  and  warriors  by 
Rum.  They  had,  however,  thus  early  learned  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  two  rival  colonies,  and  charged  nearly  all 
their  grievances  to  the  people  of  Virginia.  But,  as  the  localities 
were  in  Pennsylvania,  it  behooved  the  Penn  Government  to  devise 
and  execute  a  remedy  for  the  wrongs  complained  of,  so  as  thereby 
to  prevent  the  savage  retaliation  which  impended  over  the  border 
inhabitants. 

In  the  summer  of  1767,  another  military  effort  was  made  to 
remove  the  settlers  by  the  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt,  but  as  no  other 
punishment  ensued  than  a  temporary  removal,  no  sooner  was  the 
soldiery  withdrawn  than  the  settlers  returned  with  reinforcements. 

The  running  of  Mason  &  Dixon's  line,  our  Southern  boundary, 
in  1767,  showed  that  the  new  settlements  were  all  within  Pennsyl- 
vania; and  Virginia,  under  the  Governorships  of  Fauquier  andBote- 
tourt,  did  not  pretend  to  gainsay  it.  In  January,  1768,  Governor 
Penn  called  the  special  attention  of  his  Assembly  to  this  newly 
ascertained  jurisdiction,  and  after  rehearsing  the  fruitless  efforts 
hitherto  made  to  remove  the  settlers,  invoked  their  aid  to  devise  a 
remedy  for  the  alleged  wrongs,  and  thus,  if  possible,  avert  the 
threatened  war.  The  Assembly  appear  to  have  been  as  badly  fright- 
ened as  the  Governor.  A  perusal  of  the  historical  memoirs  of  the 
period  does  not  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  danger  was  either 
very  apparent  or  very  imminent.  JSTevertheless,  the  Governor  and 
Assembly  go  to  work,  and  enact  a  most  terrifying  law  to  drive  off 
the  settlers.  It  is  dated  February  3d,  1768.  After  reciting  that 
"  many  disorderly  people,  in  violation  of  his  Majesty's  proclamation, 
have  presumed  to  settle  upon  lands  not  yet  purchased  from  the  Indi- 


90  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

ans,  to  their  damage  and  great  dissatisfaction,  which  may  be  attend- 
ed with  dangerous  and  fatal  consequences  to  the  peace  and  safety 
of  this  province,"  it  proceeded  to  enact  that  if  any  settlers  after 
being  required  to  remove  themselves  and  families,  by  personal 
notice  or  proclamation  sent  to  them,  should  not  so  remove  within 
thirty  days  thereafter;  or,  if  after  having  removed,  they  should 
return  ;  or,  if  any  should  so  settle  after  such  notice,  every  such  per- 
son "  being  thereof  legally  convicted  by  their  own  confession,  or 
the  verdict  of  a  jury,  shall  suffer  death  without  benefit  of  clergy." 
And  if  any  persons  thereafter  should  enter  upon  such  unpurchased 
lands,  to  make  surveys,  or  should  cut  down,  or  mark  trees  thereon, 
"  every  person  so  offending  shall  forfeit  and  pay,  for  every  such 
offence,  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds,  and  suffer  three  months  imprison- 
ment without  bail,  or  mainprize,"  And,  to  make  trials  more  griev- 
ous, and  convictions  more  certain,  the  offenders  were  to  be  taken 
to  Philadelphia,  and  there  tried  by  courts  and  juries  of  that 
county. 

This  law  savors  more  of  the  fourteenth  than  of  the  eighteenth 
century ;  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  its  sanguinary  charac- 
ter rendered  it  inefficient — a  mere  brutem  fulmen.  Its  only  effect 
was  to  increase  the  irritations  between  the  settlers  and  the  Indians, 
and  to  ease  the  treasury  of  some  of  its  funds,  to  pay  for  sending 
sundry  persons  and  proclamations  among  the  settlers  to  warn 
them  off. 

There  were,  however,  specially  exempted  from  the  operations  of 
this  law,  all  settlers,  past,  present  or  future,  upon  the  main,  or  army 
roads  to  Fort  Pitt,  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  post,  by  virtue 
of  military  permits,  and  settlers  in  George  Croghan's  settlement, 
"above  the  said  fort."  These  exemptions  saved  many  of  our  set- 
tlers, along  Braddock's  and  Burd's  roads,  and  around  Fort  Burd, 
from  the  terrors  of  the  law.  If  others  feared,  yet  they  fared  no 
worse  than  these. 

In  February,  1768,  Governor  Penn  commissioned  the  Rev.  John 
Steele,  of  Carlisle,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  of  some  celebrity, 
and  three  other  citizens  of  Cumberland  county,  to  visit  the  obnox 
ious  settlements,  distribute  proclamations  embodying  the  bloody 
act,  and  warn  the  settlers  to  quit.  These  envoys  set  out  early  in 
March,  and  traveled  by  way  of  Fort  Cumberland  and  Braddock's 
road.     Our  readers  will  pardon  us  for  copying  their  Report  entire : 

"April  2d,  1768. 
""We  arrived  at  the  settlement  on  Bedstone  on  the  23d  day  of 
March.     The  people  having  heard  of  our  coming,  had  appointed  a 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  91 

meeting  among  themselves  on  the  24th,  to  consult  what  measures 
to  take.  We  took  advantage  of  this  meeting,  read  the  Act  of 
Assembly  and  Proclamation — explaining  the  law  and  giving  the 
reasons  of  it  as  well  as  we  could,  and  used  our  endeavors  to  per- 
suade them  to  comply;  alleging  to  them  that  it  was  the  most 
probable  method  to  entitle  them  to  favor  with  the  Honorable  Pro- 
prietors when  the  land  was  purchased. 

''After  lamenting  their  distressed  condition,  they  told  us  the 
people  were  not  fully  collected ;  but  they  expected  all  would  attend 
on  the  Sabbath  following,  and  then  they  would  give  us  an  answer. 
They,  however,  affirmed  that  the  Indians  were  very  peaceable,  and 
seemed  sorry  that  they  were  to  be  removed,  and  said  they  appre- 
hended the  English  intended  to  make  war  upon  the  Indians,  as 
they  were  moving  off  their  people  from  the  neighborhood. 

"  We  labored  to  persuade  them  that  they  were  imposed  upon  by 
a  few  straggling  Indians;  that  Sir  William  Johnston,  who  had 
informed  our  Government,  must  be  better  acquainted  with  the  mind 
of  the  Six  Nations,  and  that  they  were  displeased  with  the  white 
people's  settling  on  their  unpurchased  lands. 

"  On  Sabbath,  the  27th  of  March,  a  considerable  number  attended 
(their  names  are  subjoined,)  and  most  of  them  told  us  they  were 
resolved  to  move  off,  and  would  petition  your  Honor  for  a  prefer- 
ence in  obtaining  their  improvements  when  a  purchase  was  made. 
While  we  were  conversing  we  were  informed  that  a  number  of 
Indians  were  come  to  Indian  Peter's.  We,  judging  it  might  be 
subservient  to  our  main  design  that  the  Indians  should  be  present, 
while  we  were  advising  the  people  to  obey  the  law,  sent  for  them. 
They  came,  and,  after  sermon,  delivered  a  speech,  with  a  string  of 
wampum,  to  be  transmitted  to  your  Honor.  Their  speech  was — 
'Ye  are  come,  sent  by  your  great  men,  to  tell  these  people  to  go 
away  from  the  land,  which  ye  say  is  ours;  and  we  are  sent  by  our 
great  men,  and  are  glad  we  have  met  here  this  day.  We  tell 
you,  the  white  people  must  stop,  and  we  stop  them  till  the  treaty, 
and  when  George  Croghan  and  our  great  men  talk  together,  we 
will  tell  them  what  to  do.'  The  Indians  were  from  Mingo  town, 
about  eighty  miles  from  Redstone  [a  little  below  Steubenville]. 

"  After  this  the  people  were  more  confirmed  that  there  was  no 
danger  of  war.  They  dropped  the  design  of  petitioning,  and  said 
they  would  wait  the  issue  of  the  treaty.  Some,  however,  declared 
they  would  move  off.  We  had  sent  a  messenger  to  Cheat  River 
and  to  Stewart's  Crossings  of  Youghiogheny  with  several  pro- 
clamations, requesting  them  to  meet  us  at  Gist's  place  as  most 


92  THE    MONONGAHELA    OP   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

central  for  both  settlements.  On  the  30th  of  March,  about  thirty 
or  forty  men  met  us  there.  We  proceeded,  as  at  Redstone,  reading 
the  Act  of  Assembly  and  a  Proclamation,  and  endeavored  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  necessity  and  reasonableness  of  quitting  the 
unpurchased  land;  but  to  no  purpose.  They  had  heard  what  the 
Indians  had  said  at  Redstone,  and  they  reasoned  in  the  same  man- 
ner, declaring  they  had  no  apprehensions  of  a  war,  that  they  would 
attend  the  treaty,  and  take  their  measures  accordingly.  Many 
severe  things  were  said  of  Mr.  Croghan ;  and  one  Lawrence  Har- 
rison treated  the  law  and  our  Government  with  too  much  dis- 
respect. 

"  On  the  31st  of  March  we  came  to  the  Great  Crossings  of 
Youghiogheny,  and  being  informed  by  one  Speer  that  eight  or  ten 
families  lived  in  a  place  called  the  Turkey  Foot,  we  sent  some 
proclamations  thither  by  said  Speer,  as  we  did  to  some  families  nigh 
the  Crossings  of  Little  Yough,  judging  it  unnecessary  to  go 
amongst  them. 

"  It  is  our  opinion  that  some  will  move  off  in  obedience  to  the 
law;  that  the  greatest  part  wdll  await  the  treaty,  and  if  they  find 
the  Indians  are  indeed  dissatisfied,  we  think  the  whole  will  be  per- 
suaded to  remove.  The  Indians  coming  to  Redstone,  and  deliver- 
ing their  speech,  greatly  obstructed  our  design. 

"We  are,  &c. 

John  Steel, 
John  Allison, 
Christopher  Lemes, 
James  Potter. 
"  To  the  Honorable  John  Penn,  Esquire, 

Lieutenant-Governor,  &c.,  &c.." 

"  The  Indians  names  who  came  to  Redstone,  viz: 

Captains  Haven,  Hornets,  Mygog  Wigo,  Nogawach,  Strikebelt, 
Pouch,  Gilly  and  Slewbells. 

The  names  of  the  inhabitants  near  Redstone : 

John  Wiseman,  Henry  Prisser,  William  Linn,  William  Colvin, 
John  Vervalson,  Abraham  Tygard  (Teagarden,)  Thomas  Brown, 
Richard  Rodgers,  John  Delong,  Peter  Young,  George  Martin, 
Thomas  Downs,  Andrew  Gidgeon  (Gudgel,)  Philip  Sute  (Shute,) 
James  Crawford,  John  Peters,  Henry  Swats,  James  McClean,  Jesse 
Martin,  Adam  Hatton,  John  Verval,  Jr.,  James  Waller,  Thomas 
Douter  (Douthitt,)  Captain  Coburn,  Michael  Hooter,  Andrew  Linn, 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY    SETTLEMENTS.  93 

Gabriel  Conn,  John  Martin,  Hans  Cack  (Cook,)  Daniel  McKay, 
Josias  Crawford,  one  Provence  (William  Yard,  or  John  William.)^" 

Names  of  some  who  met  us  at  Guesse's  {^Gist's']  place. 

One  Bloomfield,  (Thomas  or  Empson  Brovvnfield,)  James  Lyne, 
(Lynn  or  Lyon,)  Ezekiel  Johnson,  Thomas  Guesse  (Gist,)  Charles 
Lindsay,  James  Wallace  (Waller,)  Richard  Harrison,  Phil.  Sute 
(Shute,)  Jet.  (Jediah)  Johnson,  Henry  Burkon  (Burkham,)  Law- 
rence Harrison,  Ralph  Higgenbottom.^" 

Names  of  the  people  at  Turkey  Foot : 

Henry  Abrams,"  Ezekiel  Dewitt,  James  Spencer,  Benjamin  Jen- 
nings, John  Cooper,  Ezekiel  Hickman,  John  Enslow,  Henry  Enslow, 
Benjamin  Pursley." 

In  a  supplemental  report  to  the  Governor  by  Mr.  Steel,  he  says  : 
"The  people  at  Redstone  alleged  that  the  removing  of  them  from 
the  unpurchased  lands  was  a  contrivance  of  the  gentlemen  and 
merchants  of  Philadelphia,  that  they  might  take  rights  for  their 
improvements  when  a  purchase  was  made.  In  confirmation  of 
this  they  said  that  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Harris,  and  another 
called  Wallace,  with  one  Friggs,  a  pilot,  spent  a  considerable  time 
last  August  in  viewing  the  lands  and  creeks  thereabouts.  I  am  of 
opinion,  from  the  appearance  the  people  made,  and  the  best  intelli- 
gence we  could  obtain,  that  there  are  but  about  an  hundred  and  fifty 
families  in  the  different  settlements  of  Redstone,  Youghiogheny  and 
Cheat.''  AVe  suppose  this  estimate  included  all  the  settlers  in  what 
is  now  Fayette  county  and  Turkey  Foot.  The  names  of  Harris, 
Wallace  and  Frigg  do  not  appear  in  our  early  land  titles,  so  far  as 
we  know.     They  were  perhaps  agents  for  others. 

The  treaty  referred  to  so  often  in  the  foregoing  report  was  to  be 
held  at  Fort  Pitt  in  the  ensuing  April  and  May,  by  George  Croghan, 


10  Several  of  these  persons  resided  at  considerable  distances  from  the  mouth  of  Redstone, 
or  from  Gist's — as  Pliilip  Shute  and  James  McClean,  who  lived  in  N.  Union  township,  near 
the  base  of  Laurel  Hill ;  Thomas  Douthitt  on  the  tract  where  Uniontown  now  is ;  Captain 
Coburn  some  ten  miles  southeast  of  New  Geneva;  Gabriel  Conn  probably  on  George's 
creek,  near  Woodbridgetown.  The  Provances  settled  on  Provance's  Bottom,  near  Mason- 
town,  and  on  ihc  other  side  of  tlie  river,  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Whiteley.  The  Brownfields 
located  south  and  southeast  of  Uniontown.  Ralph  Higgenbottom  resided  on  the  Waynes- 
burg  road,  in  Menallen  township,  a  little  west  of  the  Sandy  Hill  Quaker  graveyard.  The 
others,  so  far  as  we  know,  resided  near  the  places  to  which  they  came.  It  is  singular  that 
the  Commissioners  did  not  visit  the  upper  Monongahcla,  or  George's  creek  and  Cheat 
settlements.     We  infer  that  they  were  discouraged  by  their  ill  success  at  Redstone. 

"  Grandfather  of  Ex-Judge  Abrams,  of  Brownsville. 


94  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

Deputy  Indian  Agent,  with  the  Six  Nations,  Delawares,  Shawnese, 
and  other  tribes  of  western  Indians.  It  came  off  accordingly. 
Pennsylvania  bad  two  commissioners  in  attendance,  Messrs.  John 
Allen  and  Joseph  Sbippen.  Its  purposes  were  to  learn  the  minds 
of  the  Indians,  and,  by  presents  and  fair  speeches,  to  appease  their 
irritations  on  account  of  the  intrusions  upon  their  lands  and  the 
killing  of  several  of  their  people  by  the  whites.  Between  1000  and 
2000  Indians  attended,  upwards  of  <£1000  worth  of  presents 
distributed,  and  sundry  talks,  belts  and  wampums  delivered. 
Although  not  so  recorded,  yet  doubtless  many  of  the  obnoxious 
settlers  were  also  in  attendance,  plying  the  requisite  influences  to 
accomplish  their  purposes.  Tbe  only  complaint  uttered  by  the 
Indians  against  the  settlements  was  by  a  Six  Nations'  Chief,  who 
said — "  Some  of  them  are  made  directly  on  our  war  path,  leading 
to  our  enemy's  country,  and  we  do  not  like  it."  Tbe  numerous 
other  Indian  speakers  were  silent  as  to  this  grievance.  Indeed 
the  Pennsylvania  Commissioners  manifested  much  more  anxiety 
than  the  Indians,  to  have  the  settlers  driven  off;  complaining  most 
vehemently  of  the  Indians'  interference  a^id  speech  at  Redstone,  as 
related  by  Messrs.  Steel  and  others ;  and  remonstrating  against 
their  breach  of  faith  in  selling  their  lands  to  others  than  the  Pro- 
prietaries. So  palpable  was  this  play  of  cross  purposes  between 
the  Indians  and  the  Government  agents,  that  when  the  latter  solici- 
ted the  former  to  send  some  of  their  chief  men  to  the  settlements 
to  co-operate  with  two  white  men  selected  by  them,  for  the  purpose 
of  again  warning  off  the  settlers,  the  representatives  of  the  Six 
jSTations,  after  at  first  consenting  to  do  so,  upon  "sober  second 
thought"  refused. 

They  put  their  refusal  upon  two  grounds :  first,  tbat  their  dele- 
gated powers  did  not  extend  to  this  extra  duty ;  (a  precedent  for 
modern  *•' strict  constructionists,")  and  second,  that  they  didn't  like 
to  engage  in  the  business  of  driving  ofl'  the  white  people,  believing 
it  most  proper  that  the  English  should  do  that  kind  of  work  them- 
selves. Kayashuta,  an  old  Seneca  (Six  Nations')  chief  made  the 
following  very  sensible  speech  to  the  Penn  agents,  on  this  head : — 
"  We  were,  all  of  us,  much  disposed  to  comply  with  your  request, 
and  expected  it  would  have  been  done  without  difiiculty,  but  I  now 
find  that  not  only  the  Indians  appointed  by  us,  but  all  our  other 
young  men  are  very  unwilling  to  carry  a  message  from  us  to  the  white 
people,  ordering  them  to  remove  from  our  lands.  They  say  they 
would  not  choose  to  incur  the  ill  will  of  those  people;  for,  if  they 
should  be  now  removed,  they  will  hereafter  return  to  their  settle- 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  95 

ments,  when  tlie  English  have  purchased  the  country  from  us ;  and 
we  shall  be  very  unhappy  if,  by  our  conduct  towards  them  at  this 
time,  we  shall  give  them  reason  to  dislike  us,  and  treat  us  in  an 
unkind  manner  when  they  again  become  our  neighbors."  A  rare 
example  of  prudent  forecast  and  wise  moderation. 

This  brought  to  an  abrupt  termination  all  efforts  to  enforce  the 
non-intrusion  law.  Henceforth  the  settlers  were  let  alone.  But 
upon  a  review  of  these  and  other  schemes  to  dispossess  the  early 
settlers  in  our  country,  while  we  do  not  condemn  the  anxiety  of 
the  Government  to  preserve  inviolate  the  faith  of  Indian  treaties, 
we  must  censure  its  too  easy  alarm,  and  too  vindictive  efforts  and 
enactments.  These,  and  the  occurrences  at  this  Fort  Pitt  "  treaty  " 
produced  two  very  natural  consequences.  First,  they  served  to 
alienate  the  affections  of  the  settlers  from  the  Pennsylvania  Gov- 
ernment, and  hence  to  carry  them  the  more  devotedly  into  the 
embraces  of  Virginia  in  the  Boundary  Controversy  which  now  soon 
begun  ;  and  second,  they  contributed,  with  other  co-operating  in- 
fluences, to  promote  and  maintain  a  good  feeling  between  our  early 
settlers  and  the  Indians;  which,  as  we  have  more  than  once 
remarked,  was  a  striking  characteristic  of  our  early  history. 

The  speech  of  the  old  Seneca  chief,  which  we  have  quoted,  fore- 
shadowed coming  events.  The  Indians'  title  to  the  lands  intruded 
upon  was  soon  to  cease  forever;  and  although  they  were  not  to  be 
forcibly  removed,  as  has  been  the  rule  in  modern  times,  yet  soon 
henceforth  they  were  to  become  mere  tenants  by  sufferance,  their 
camp-fires  gradually  to  go  out,  and  fences  spring  up  across  their 
war  paths  and  hunting  courses. 

ISTo  doubt  the  project,  so  necessary  to  peace  and  the  fulfillment 
of  "manifest  destiny,"  of  purchasing  this  region  of  country  from 
the  native  proprietors,  had  been  agitated  for  some  time;  and  the 
Indians  looked  to  its  accomplishment  as  anxiously  as  did  the  whites. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  all  of  Western  Pennsylvania  belonged 
to  the  Mingoes  or  Six  Nations  of  Indians,  and  to  their  allies  and 
dependants,  or  "nephews,"  the  Shawnese  and  Delawares ;  com- 
posing then  a  numerous  and  powerful  body,  now  almost  extinct. 
The  seat  of  their  power  and  their  chief  home  was  in  Western  ISqw 
York.  There,  at  Fort  Stanwix,  (Rome,)  near  the  head  of  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  a  Grand  Council  or  Conference  of  the  Six  Nations, 
convened  under  the  auspices  of  Sir  William  Johnston,  was  soon  to 
assemble  to  agree  upon  a  boundary  between  their  dominions  and 
the  settlements  of  the  Middle  Colonies.  Thither  the  tribes  repaired 
in  September,  1768,  and  to  their  councils  came  Gov.  Penn  and  his 


96  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

agents,  and  representatives  from  Virginia  and  New  York,  to 
negotiate  and  make  purchases.  The  result  was  that  in  November 
the  Indians  made  large  cessions  to  those  Colonies,  the  Penns  pro- 
curing a  deed  from  the  Six  Nations,  for  the  consideration  of  X10,000, 
conveying  to  them  all  of  South-western,  and  much  of  Northern  and 
Middle  Pennsylvania.  This  was  the  first  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix, 
in  contradistinction  to  that  of  1784,  at  which  the  State  bought  out 
all  the  remaining  Indian  title  within  her  limits  ;  the  Delawares  and 
Shawnese  assenting  to  it  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Mcintosh,  (Beaver,) 
in  1785.  Their  express  assent  to  the  cession  of  '68  was  never  given, 
but  they  acquiesced. 

The  way  was  now  clear  to  settlers  and  for  the  acquisition  of  rights 
to  land.i-  The  tide  of  immigration  now  rolled  high  and  unresisted ; 
and  when  on  the  3d  of  April,  1769,  the  Proprietaries'  Land  Office 
was  opened  for  receiving  applications  for  lands  in  the  "New  Pur- 
chase," there  was  a  perfect  rush.  It  was  found  necessary  to  put 
them  in  a  box  as  received,  and  then,  after  being  shaken  or  well 
stirred  up,  to  draw  them  out,  lottery  fashion,  and  number  them  as 
drawn,  so  as  to  determine  preferences  where  there  was  more  than 
one  applicant  for  the  same  land.  Not  many  such  collisions 
occurred,  and  after  August  this  plan  was  abandoned,  and  warrants 
substituted.  In  the  first  month  the  number  of  applications  exceeded 
3200.  The  surveys  in  what  is  now  Fayette  county,  then  Cumber- 
land, began  August  22,  1769,  by  Archibald  McClean  and  Moses 
McClean,  elder  brothers  of  Col.  Alexander  McClean,  who  was  with 
them,  and  succeeded  them  as  Deputy  Surveyor,  in  1772.  In  the 
remaining  five  months  and  ten  days  of  that  year  (1769)  seventy 
official  surveys  were  executed  upon  Fayette  territory,  and  in  1770 
eighty  more  besides  great  numbers,  by  the  same  surveyors,  in  adja- 
cent parts  of  Westmoreland,  and  a  few  in  Washington,  Allegheny 
and  Somerset,  which  are  found  entered  in  our  first  Survey  Books. 


1-  The  only  instance  we  find  of  a  direct  grant  of  right  to  land  in  Fayette  (other  than  the 
military  permits  and  army  road  settlements)  prior  to  April  3,  17G9,  is,  what  is  called  a  "grant 
of  preference."'  dated  January  22,  1768,  given  by  Governor  Penn,  for  500  acres,  to  Hugh 
Crawford,  who  had  been  "Interpreter  and  conductor  of  the  Indians"  in  the  running  of  the 
western  part  of  Mason  «&.  Dixon's  Line,  in  1767.  The  order  of  survey  was  withheld  until 
January,  1770,  in  which  year  he  died,  and  his  administrator,  Wm.  Graham,  sold  the  land  for 
payment  of  debts,  by  order  of  tiie  Orphans'  Court  of  Cumberland  county,  to  Robert  Jackson. 
This  is  now  a  part  of  Col.  Samuel  Evans'  estate ;  and  it  and  one  of  the  Gist  tracts  are  the 
only  instances  in  the  county  of  a  grant  for  more  than  400  acres.  We  find  a  Hugh  Crawfordt 
an  Indian  trader  of  prominence,  in  the  Ohio  country  and  eastward,  about  1750,  who  was 
probably  the  same  man. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  97 

The  number  then  fell  off  rapidly — in  1771,  twelve ;  in  '72,  fourteen ; 
in  '73,  eleven ;  in  '74,  seven ;  and  in  '75,  two,  when  official  surveys 
entirely  ceased  until  '82  and  '83,  in  each  of  which  years  only  three  were 
executed.  This  suspension  was  owing  in  part  to  the  Boundary 
Controversy,  and  in  part  to  the  Revolution,  during  which  the  Land 
Office  was  substantially  closed,  and  was  not  opened  for  new  sales 
until  July  1,  1784.  This  caused  another  great  rush  to  vent  the 
accumulations  of  the  last  ten  years.  In  1784,  twenty  surveys  were 
executed  upon  Fayette  lands ;  in  '85,  two  hundred  and  ffty-cighi ;  in 
'86  one  hundred  and  fifty,  in  '87  eighty-eight,  in  '88  sixty-two,  in 
'89  twenty-eight,  and  in  '90  nineteen,  after  which  they  progressed 
with  a  more  equable  pace,  increasing  somewhat  after  1792. 

Despite  the  threats  to  the  contrary,  preferences  were  from  the 
first  given  to  those  settlers  who  had  made  improvements  on  the  lands 
applied  for,  regardless  of  whether  they  were  made  before  or  after 
the  Indian  purchase,  except  that  settlements  made  after  that  pur- 
chase and  before  April  8,  '69  were  disregarded,  thus  discriminating 
in  favor  of  what  the  Proprietors  had  before  fiercely  denounced. 
Settlements  made  under  military  •permits  were  also  preferred.  The 
price  of  lands  in  this  region  was  £5  per  100  acres,  and  one  penny 
per  acre  per  year  quit  rent,  under  the  Proprietary  Government,  and 
until  1784,  when  it  was  reduced  to  £3  10s.  and  no  quit  rents,  but 
with  interest  from  the  date  of  the  improvement.  In  1792  the  price 
was  further  reduced  to  505.  per  100  acres  and  interest,  at  which  it 
continued  until  the  flush  times  of  1814,  &c.,  when  it  was  put  up  to 
£10  per  100  acres  and  interest  from  date  of  settlement.  In  1835 
the  Graduating  Act  was  passed,  by  which  the  payment  of  interest 
is  regulated. 

On  the  27th  November,  1779,  was  passed  by  the  Commonwealth 
"An  Act  for  vesting  the  estates  of  the  late  Proprietaries  (the  Penns) 
in  this  Commonwealth."  The  late  Chief  Justice  Tilghman  called 
this  "a  high-handed  measure — an  instance  that  might  made  right,'' 
but  it  was  a  necessary  act  of  Revolution.  The  State  paid  them 
therefor  .£130,000  sterling  in  annual  payments  of  from  £15,000  to 
£20,000,  without  interest,  beginning  one  year  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war ;  and  reserved  to  them  their  private  and 
manor  property,  which  was  worth  perhaps  £130,000  more.  They 
prudently  took  the  money,  and  thus  confirmed  the  questionable 
legislation. 

Very  few  patents  for  lands,  within  the  limits  of  Fayette  county, 
were  issued  under  the  Proprietary  Government,  or  before  the 
7 


98  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

Revolution."  For  this  there  were  several  reasons ; — the  scarcity  of 
money — the  validity,  as  against  all  but  the  Proprietors,  of  settle- 
ments, and  of  official  surveys  and  returns ;  but  especially  the  uncer- 
tainty whether  we  were  in  Virginia  or  in  Pennsylvania.  Indeed 
there  are,  in  Fayette  county,  many  tracts  of  land  worth  from  twenty 
to  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  and  settled  from  seventy  to  ninety  years, 
which  are  yet  unpatented.  The  rich  reckonings  of  interest  which 
these,  from  time  to  time,  yield  up  to  the  State  Treasury,  make  its 
insatiate  coffers  smile. 

Thus  much  we  thought  we  might  safely  here  say  as  to  our  land 
titles.  To  go  further  into  them  would  be  an  unwarrantable  digres- 
sion from  our  main  purpose — to  which  we  now  return. 

Although  the  boundary  troubles,  the  Revolutionary  and  subse- 
quent Indian  wars  until  1794,  operated  greatly  to  retard  the  growth 
of  our  settlements,  still  they  did  progress  during  that  period,  slowly, 
but  steadily.  Indeed  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  Pennsylvania 
adopted  the  recommendation  of  Congress  to  States  having  wild 
lands,  not  to  grant  them  to  settlers,  lest  by  so  doing  they  might  hinder 
enlistment.  This,  however,  did  not  hinder,  but  only  discouraged 
immigration,  and  postponed  the  lawful  acquisition  of  titles,  as 
already  stated.  The  great  hindrances  to  settlements  here  were  the 
difficulties  of  getting  here,  the  privations  when  here,  and  the  fear 
of  the  Indians.  This  latter  cause,  however,  had  comparatively 
with  other  neighboring  territory,  little  influence.  No  bloody  Indian 
forays  ever  crossed  our  lines  after  '55.  Our  inhabitants  never  fled, 
except  sometimes  to  their  noteless  private  forts  upon  groundless 
alarm.  Often  did  our  sturdy  yeomen  and  youth  go  over  our  bor- 
ders to  the  relief  of  their  more  exposed  neighbors  of  Washington 


^*  The  only  Proprietary  Patents  for  Fayette  lands  wliich  we  know  of  are  the  following : 

John  Penn,  Governor,  &c.,  to  John  PauU,  July  7, 1770,  for  a  tract  called  "  Walnut  Level," 
in  now  Nicholson  township,  on  the  river  below  New  Geneva,  sold  by  PauU's  executors  to 
Philip  Pierce,  owned  once,  in  part,  by  Hon.  John  Smilic,  and  since  by  Jacob  and  James 
Biffle,  and  Thomas  W.  Nicholson. 

Thomas  and  Richard  Penn  to  William  Robertson,  January  12,  1771,  for  a  tract  on  or  near 
Braddock's  road,  and  on  both  sides  of  Jacob's  Creek,  between  Lobengier's  and  Tinsman's 
(Snyder's)  Mills,  in  part  in  Bullskin  township — the  scene  of  the  old  quarrels  and  lawsuits 
between  Robertson  and  Ralph  Clierry. 

Thomas  and  Richard  Penn,  March  2,  1771,  to  Doctor  Hugh  Mercer,  of  Fredericksburg, 
Virginia,  (the  General  Hugh  Mercer,  of  the  Revolution,  who  fell  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  Jan.  3, 
1777.)  for  three  tracts  in  Bullskin  township,  above  the  Chain  Bridge  ford,  and  near  Brad- 
dock's  road.     General  Mercer's  executors  sold  them  to  Col.  Isaac  Meason. 

In  September  and  November,  1766,  John  Penn  and  John  Penn,  Jr.  granted  Patents  for  a 
number  of  tracts  in  now  Wharton  and  H.  Clay  townships,  and  in  contiguous  parts  of 
Somerset  county,  to  B.  Chew  and Wilcocks. 


GU.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  99 

and  "Westmoreland.  Indeed  this  impunity  from  the  terrors  of  the 
times  conduced  to  our  increase  of  population,  and  caused  our  county 
to  far  outstrip  its  neighbors  in  this  particular.  From  150  families 
in  1768,  say  700  persons,  our  population  rose  in  1790  to  12,995 
free  whites  and  282  slaves. 

As  already  stated,  the  earliest  settlers  came  from  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  chiefly  the  fonner.  About  1770-'2  a  few  came  from  the 
Eastern  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  bordering  on  Maryland.  There 
were  occasional  instances  before  and  after  that  period,  up  to  '84, 
when  Pennsylvania  immigrants  began  to  preponderate.  The  old 
settlers  had,  as  they  thought,  come  to  Virginia  territory,  many  of 
the  better  sort  bringing  with  them  their  slaves  and  their  attach- 
ments to  Virginia  rule  and  manners.  In  1780  Pennsylvania  passed 
her  celebrated  "Act  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  Slavery,"  declaring 
that  all  colored  persons  born  on  her  soil  after  March  1,  1780,  should 
be  free,  subject  to  such  as  would  otherwise  have  been  slaves,  being 
servants  until  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  if  duly  registered.  The 
act  required  a  registry  in  the  office  of  the  Courts  of  all  slaves. 
How  many  were  registered  by  inhabitants  of  Fayette  we  do  not 
certainly  know,  as  it  was  until  1783  part  of  Westmoreland,  where 
the  Register  is  common  to  what  is  now  several  counties."  But, 
under  the  Act  of  March,  1788,  requiring  a  registry  of  those  born 
of  slave  mothers  after  March  1,  1780,  we  find  there  were  registered 
in  Fayette,  354,  between  the  5th  of  February,  '89  and  January 
12th,  1839. 

The  passage  of  this  law,  and  its  becoming  a  "fixed  fact  "  about 
the  same  time  that  this  was  Pennsylvania  territory,  combined  to 
induce  many  of  our  early  settlers  to  sell  out  and  migrate  to  Ken- 
tucky, which  about  this  date  had  opened  her  charms  to  adventure, 
settlement  and  slavery.  Fayette  gave  to  that  glorious  State  many 
of  her  best  pioneer  settlers — among  whom  were  her  Popes,  her 


1^  Among  the  largest  slave  owners,  as  shown  by  the  Registers,  were,  Pt.obert  Bcale,  18  : 
Van  Swearingcn,  13;  William  Goe,  11;  Walter  Brisco,  9;  Margaret  llutton,  9;  Isaac 
Meason,  8  ;  Edward  Cook,  8  ;  James  Cross,  8  ;  Nacy  Brashears,  12  ;  Rev.  James  Finley. 
8 ;  Andrew  Linn,  7  ;  Benoni  Dawson,  7  ;  Sarah  Hardin,  7  ;  Richard  Noble,  7  ;  Benjamin 
Stephens,  6;  James  Dearth,  6;  Thomas  Brown,  6 ;  John  Stevenson,  5  ;  Samuel  Kincadc, 
5;  Peter  Laughlln,  5;  Wm.  McCormick,  5;  John  McKibben,  5;  Edmond  Fi'eemau. 
James  Blackiston,  Isaac  Pierce,  Augustine  ]Mooi"e,  Benjamin  Davis,  Hugh  Laughlin. 
James  Hammond,  each  4;  Providence  Mountz,  Margaret  Vance,  John  Minter,  Thomas 
Moore,  William  Harrison,  Joseph  Grable,  Dennis  Springer,  John  Wells,  Robert  Harrison 
Isaac  Newman,  each  3;  Zachariah  Connell,  Mark  Hardin,  John  Hardin,  Theophilus 
Phillips,  Philip  Shutc,  John  Mason,  Robert  Ross,  John  Laughlin,  Otho  Brashears,  Rezin 
Virgin,  Jonathan  Arnold,  Richard  Stephenson,  each  2  ;  and  many  others,  one. 

I 


100  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

Rowans,  her  Metcalfs,  her  Hardins  and  others.  The  flight  to 
Kentucky  started  from  the  mouth  of  Redstone  in  Kentucky  boats,  which 
landed  at  Limestone  (Maysville).  This  current  was  kept  up  during 
the  decade  of  1780-'90,  and  to  some  extent  afterwards;  but  now  it 
began  to  blend  with  another  current  which  ran  into  the  cheap  and 
tempting  plains  of  Ohio,  a  current  which  continued  to  flow  with 
increasing  force  and  breadth  during  the  residue  of  that  century,  and 
for  many  years  afterwards  ;  and  indeed  until  after  a  protracted 
struggle  she  was  completely  supplanted  in  the  affections  of  our 
people  by  Illinois  and  Iowa. 

These  early  removals  to  Kentucky  brought  to  our  county  over- 
powering numbers  of  settlers  from  Eastern  Pennsylvania  and  l!Tew 
Jersey,  who  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  buy  out  the 
improvements  of  the  settlers  upon  easy  terms.  Of  this  class  of 
new  settlers  were  the  Friends,  or  Quakers,  who  settled  about 
Brownsville,  and  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  generally.  Many, 
however,  of  the  Friends,  especially  those  earliest  here,  came  from 
Berkeley  and  Frederick  counties  in  Virginia.  Of  such  were  the 
Beesons,  who  were  here  as  early  as  1766-'7.  There  were  also 
Presbyterians  here  before  1770 — among  them  Rev.  James  Finley, 
who  took  up  the  lands  where  his  grandchildren,  Robert,  Ebenezer 
and  Eli  now  reside,  as  early  as  1772,  having  bought  out  one  Nace 
Thompson.  The  Presbyterian  settlers  located  generally  on  Dunlap's 
creek,  and  between  Redstone  and  the  Yough — a  few  scattering  in 
other  places.  The  Rev.  John  McMillan,  in  his  journal  of  his  tour 
from  the  Valley  of  Virginia  to  Southwest  Pennsylvania,  in  1775, 
speaks  of  having  lodged  one  night  at  "one  Coburn's" — probably 
the  place  where  the  first  Monongalia  election  was  held;'*  then,  ten 
miles  distant,  he  came  to  and  lodged  at  Col.  Wilson's,'^  (now  ISTew 
Geneva,)  and  preached  at  "  Mount  Moriah.""  Thence  he  went  to 
John  Armstrong's,  on  Muddy  creek — thence  to  John  McKibben's, 
on  Dunlap's  creek,  (the  old  Judge  Breading  place,  now  George  P]. 


^  See  "Boundary  Controversy" — Chap.  IX. 

'®  See  Memoir  of  Col.  George  Wilson  among  "Early  Settlers,"  and  "  Boundary  Con- 
troversy " — Chapters  VII.  and  IX. 

1'  This  was,  and  is  a  Presbyterian  church ;  and  is  where  there  is  now  a  small  frame 
•meeting  house,  once  used  as  a  school  house,  originally  part  of  the  old  Caldwell  tract  of 
land,  now  Lee  Tate,  adjoining  the  late  James  C.  Ramsay's,  in  Springhill  township,  about 
two  miles  southeast  of  New  Geneva.  The  lot,  four  acres,  (including  a  spring)  on  which 
it  stands,  was  conveyed  to  Col.  George  Wilson  and  John  Swearingen,  (father  of  Captviiu 
'Van  Swearingen,)  as  trustees  of  the  church,  by  Joseph  Caldwell,  by  deed,  (of  record  in 
Book  A.)  dated  July  1,  1773,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  oldest  church  title  in  the  county. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  101 

Hogg,)  at  both  of  which  places  he  lodged  and  preached.  Thence 
to  Mr.  Adams',  about  four  miles,  and  preached  at  James  Pickett's  ; 
thence,  about  five  miles,  to  David  Allen's.  Mr.  Adams  was  Robert 
Adams,  Esq.,  a  Presbyterian  Elder,  who  lived  on  the  Solomon  Colley 
place,  seven  miles  west  of  Uniontown,  on  the  pike.  David  Allen's 
was  where  Robert  Smith,  Esq.  now  resides,  in  Franklin  town- 
ship. James  Pickett's  we  cannot  certainly  locate.  From  David 
Allen's  he  went  to  Col.  Edward  Cook's,  a  well  known  place,  on 
Speer's  run,  north  of  Cookstown,  and  thence  to  Pentecost's,  in 
Elizabeth  township,  Allegheny  county,  now  John  Torrence's,  and 
thence  to  Chartiers,  where  he  settled. 

And,  as  we  have  but  little  material  for  an  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  Fayette,  we  may  as  well  here  insert  what  little  we  have.        ,;.  ' 

The  Baptists  were  early  in  the  field  in  this  county,  as  early  as 
1766-'8.  They  settled  generally  near  Uniontown,  on  George's 
creek  and  Redstone,  the  former  having  for  their  minister,  perhaps 
as  early  as  1769,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Sutton,^^  who  founded  the  church 
at  Uniontown,  called  "Great  Bethel,"  and  the  one  near  Merritts- 
town,  called  "Little  Bethel."  He  settled  about  two  miles  south 
of  Uniontown,  where  some  of  his  descendants  still  reside.  Among 
his  people  were  the  Brownfields,  Gaddis',  &c.  Among  the  Red- 
stone Baptists  were  the  Linns,  Colvins,  &c.,  having  for  their 
minister  the  Rev.  W.  Stone.  The  Rev.  John  Corbly,  of  Muddy 
creek,  or  rather  Whiteley  creek,  in  now  Greene  county,  whose 
wife  and  children  (five)  were  killed  and  scalped  by  Indians  when 
on  their  way  to  church,  in  1782,  was  a  son-in-law  of  old  Andrew 
Linn,  who  settled  the  Linn's  Mill  tract — "Crab-tree  bottom,"  on 
Redstone,  near  Brownsville,  at  a  very  early  day,  that  tract  being 
the  first  official  survey  in  the  county,  made  August  22,  1769.  The 
Redstone  Association,  like  the  Redstone  Presbytery,  is  the  oldest 
of  its  kind  west  of  the  Mountains. 

The  Methodists  did  not  reach  this  county  until  some  years  after 
the  Revolution — about  the  close  of  the  last  century.^^     They  rapidly 


1^  The  Baptist  historian,  Benedict,  gives  this  honor  to  Elder  John  Sutton,  a  brother  of 
Isaac,  and  who  had  another  brother,  Moses,  who  was  a  preacher.  They  all,  we  believe, 
settled  in  the  same  vicinity.  There  was  also  a  Rev.  James  Sutton,  on  George's  creek, 
who  went  West  about  1790 — another  brother,  we  presume.  The  George's  creek  Baptist 
Church  at  Smithfield  was  founded  in  1780,  with  34  members. 

'3  The  oldest  Methodist  Ep.  Church  title  in  Fayette  county  that  we  can  find  is  a  deed 
from  Isaac  Meason  to  Thomas  Moore,  Jacob  Murphy,  Zach'h.  Connell  and  Isaac  Charles, 
Trustees,  &c.,  for  one  acre,  for  a  meeting  house,  dated  May  2G,  1700: — but  where  it 
is — in  what  township,  or  other  locality,  we  do  not  know.     It  is  in  the  northern  part  of 


102  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

rose  in  numbers  and  influence, — their  system  of  itinerancy,  or 
circuit  riding,  being  admirably  fitted  to  a  new  country.'*  They 
had  preaching  stations  at  Uniontown,  Brownsville,  Connellsville 
and  elsewhere,  at  an  early  period  of  their  progress.  Among  their 
earliest  preachers  and  exhorters  at  Uniontown,  and  perhaps  at  other 
stations,  were  Messrs.  Henry  Tomlinson,  "William  McClelland, 
John  and  Thomas  Chaplin  and  Moses  Hopwood.  The  Rev.  William 
Brownfield  began  his  clerical  labors  in  that  Church,  but  his  deep 
rooted  Calvinism  soon  led  him  to  the  Baptists,  for  whom  he  has 
long  labored.  The  Rev.  Thornton  Fleming,  of  excellent  memorj^ 
was  among  their  early  preachers. 

The  Protestant  Methodists  arose  about  1829, — the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  in  1833,  coming  here  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky, 
where  they  originated  about  1810. 

The  Associate  Reformed,  or  that  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
family  which  adheres  rigidly  to  Rouse's  version  of  Psalmody,  called 
by  various  names,  have  firmly  occupied  some  ground  in  Fayette 
from  its  earliest  settlement,  but  have  not  kept  up  with  the  progress 
of  population.  The  locality  of  their  denominational  existence  is 
now  restricted  to  Dunbar  and  Tyrone  townships,  with  a  few  mem- 
bers in  contiguous  localities.  Among  their  people  are,  and  have 
been,  the  Junks,  Gilchrists,  Byers,  Parkhills,  Pattersons,  &c. 
The  Rev.  David  Proudfoot  was  their  ancient  minister.  Indeed,  in 
early  times  all  the  Presbyterians  used  Rouse's  version  of  the  Psalms, 
many  churches  as  late  as  1 825-' 30.  The  introduction,  about  1800, 
of  the  new,  or  AVatts'  Psalms  and  Hymns,  created  much  excite- 
ment, and  caused  many  secessions,  especially  at  Laurel  Hill,  whence 
two  Meeting  Houses  in  close  contiguity.  These  sturdy  defenders 
of  the  ancient  faith  and  practice  are  among  our  best  citizens. 

The  Episcopal  Church  had  numerous  adherents  among  our 
earliest  settlers,  that  being  then  the  established  Church  of  Virginia, 
from  which  they  came.  Their  system  being,  however,  the  reverse 
of  that  of  the  Methodists  in  adaptedness  to  new  settlements,  and 


the  county  somewhere.  The  title  for  the  Meth.  Ep.  Church  property,  Uniontown,  bears 
date  August  C,  1791,  from  Jacob  Beeson  and  wife  to  David  Jennings,  Jacob  Murphy, 
Samuel  Stephens,  Jonathan  Rowland  and  Peter  Hook,  Trustees,  &c. 

*"  "I  believe  the  first  Methodist  Camp  Meeting  held  in  this  part  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania was  in  1802,  on  Pike  run,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Brownsville,  on  the 
old  Ginger  Hill,  or  Pittsburgh  Road,  in  Washington  county.  The  first  one  in  this  county 
was  in  1805,  near  Jennings'  run,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Uniontown,  on 
part  of  the  old  David  JeDnings  and  James  Henthorn  tracts,  now  owned  by  James  Veech, 
Esq.     It  was  the  largest  concourse  of  people  I  ever  saw."  F.  L. 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  103 

not  having  tlie  missionary,  or  extension  ingredient  so  well  developed 
as  had  the  Presbyterians,  Baptists  and  some  other  sects,  they  were 
long  postponed  in  obtaining  fixed  places  of  worship,  or  a  regular 
administration  of  church  ordinances.  They  have,  however,  long 
maintained  churches  at  Brownsville  and  Counellsville ;  and,  more 
recently,  at  Uniontown  and  elsewhere. 

For  a  long  period, — but  how  long,  we  cannot  state,  the  Roman 
Catholics  have  had  a  chapel  at  Brownsville ;  and  within  a  few 
years  past  they  have  erected  one  at  Uniontown. 

There  are  other  religious  sects  among  us,  of  whose  history  we 
know  almost  nothing.  Among  these  are  several  which  are  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  our  German  population,  including  the  Luther- 
ans, Tunkers,  or  Dunkards,  Mennonists,  &c.,  some  of  whom  date 
from  a  very  early  day.-'  Besides  these,  in  more  recent  times  have 
arisen  the  Disciples,  or  Campbellites,  the  IS'ew  Lights,  Free  Will 
Baptists,  &c.  We  have  no  Unitarians,  Universalists,  Mormons,  or 
Congregationalists. 

We  regret  that  our  materials  are  so  scanty  as  not  to  allow  us  to 
refer  this  important  branch  of  our  early  history  to  a  separate 
sketch.  As  the  subject  relates  to  a  "Kingdom  not  of  this  world," 
its  memorials  are  not  so  accessible  as  are  those  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  temporal  affairs.  Indeed,  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
decisive,  but  often  unseen  influence  which  religious  faith  and 
church  discipline  exert  upon  political  movements  and  every  day 
life,  the  dearth  of  materials  for  our  ecclesiastical  history  is  much  to 
be  regretted.  The  Rev.  Doctor  Smith,  in  his  valuable  work,  "Old 
Redstone,"  has  done  a  good  work  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Southwestern  Pennsylvania;  and  we  commend  his  example  to 
the  historians  of  other  denominations. 

As  the  author  of  "  Old  Redstone  "  has  well  said  and  shown, 
nearly  all  our  early  temples  were  in  the  country,  away  from  the  noise 
and  revelry  of  the  villages,  rearing  their  humble  roofs  beneath  the 


-1  We  believe  the  first  meeting  house  for  Christian  worship  erected  within  the  limits 
of  Fayette  county,  was  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  "German  Meeting  House,"  in 
German  township.  It  was  a  small  log-cabin  building.  Its  founders  were  known  by  the 
name  of  German  Calvinists,  or  Lutherans.  This  was  as  early  as  1770.  We  believe  it 
is  the  only  Church  in  the  county  having  a  glebe,  or  tract  of  land,  attached  to  it. 
The  Germans  had  also  at  a  very  early  day — say  1774,  a  meeting  house  on  Captain 
Philip  Rogers'  land,  now  Alfred  Stewart's,  near  the  Morgantown  lload,  in  George's 
township.  It  was  burnt  by  the  woods  being  fired.  Near  its  site  is  an  ancient  gi'ave- 
yard,  indicated  by  a  few  moss-grown  grave  stones,  "with  shapeless  sculpture  decked." 
Capt.  Rogers  is  buried  there. 


104  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

shade  of  the  oak,  on  some  flower-decked  eminence,  or  in  some 
quiet  vale,  beside  some  noiseless  spring,  or  prattling  rill ; — fit 
localities  at  which  to  drink  of  the  wells  of  the  water  of  life,  and  to 
hymn  the  praises  of  the  Redeemer  in  unison  with  the  bird  notes 
of  the  bushes  and  the  deep  diapason  of  the  forest.  Who,  that  can 
remember  their  attendance,  in  dry  days  or  wet,  in  warm  days  or 
cold,  upon  these  rural  sanctuaries,  that  does  not  deprecate  the 
modern  departure  from  those  primitive  habits ;  when,  instead  of 
people  coming  from  the  country  to  worship,  or  gossip,  at  edifices 
begirt  with  noise  and  stench,  and  made  cheerless  by  cold  recep- 
tions, the  villagers  rode  or  trudged  joyously  into  the  country,  there 
to  meet  warm  greetings,  and  to  listen  to  the  tidings  of  salvation 
wafted  to  their  ears  in  a  pure  atmosphere,  uucontaminated  by  the 
smell  of  a  pig-sty,  and  unmixed  with  the  cries  of  a  dog-fight ! 
There  is  poetry,  as  well  as  piety,  yet,  in  a  country  church  and  a 
country  parson. 

We  will  not  attempt  a  catalogue,  or  further  description  of  these 
old  country  cathedrals.  Many  of  them  have  mouldered  down  and 
disappeared ;  and  the  places  of  others  have  been  supplied  by 
edifices  of  more  stately  structure.  While,  as  to  all  but  a  few,  the 
forest  trees  which  sheltered  and  adorned  them,  have  been  cut 
away ;  and,  in  too  many  instances,  their  worshipers  have  not  had 
enough  of  the  grace  of  taste  to  plant  and  protect  a  substitute.  A 
treeless  church  is  worse  than  an  untombed  grave. 

And  then,  the  old  country  schools,  with  their  puncheon  floors 
and  benches,  and  long  grease-paper-glazed  windows,  and  "out"- 
paddles,  and  ferrules,  and  beech  rods,  and  pedagogue  dominies — 
where  are  they  ?  All  gone.  Hallowed  be  their  memory  !  They 
were  plentifully  scattered  among  our  early  settlements.  There  is 
scarcely  a  neighborhood  in  the  cis-montane  part  of  the  county, 
where  some  survivor  of  the  second  generation  cannot  point  you  to 
the  spot  where  his  young  ideas  were  taught  to  shoot  and  he  to  play. 
And  if  in  those  days  the  stream  of  knowledge  was  not  so  much 
diffused  as  now,  yet  perhaps  the  current  was  deeper,  and  its  fer- 
tilizing influences  more  durable.  Be  it  our  aim  still  more  to 
expand  it,  and  to  deepen  and  purify  it. 

Nor  were  the  higher  branches  of  education  neglected  by  our 
ancestors.  True,  chartered  Academies  and  Colleges  and  Union 
Schools,  with  all  their  paraphernalia  of  Trustees  and  Faculty  and 
Superintendents,  and  Libraries  and  Apparatus,  and  Endowments, 
were  unknown ;  but  it  was  not  less  true,  that  in  all  that  imparts 
dignity  and  strength  and  a  love  of  further  acquirement,  to  the  human 


CH. 


VI.]  EARLY   SETTLEMENTS.  105 


intellect,  the  facilities  then  were  as  ample  as  now.  Almost  every 
country  preacher  was  then  a  teacher  of  Latin  and  the  Mathematics — 
a  branch  of  their  calling  was  it  for  which  they  were  often  better 
qualified  than  many  modern  "professors."  They  seldom  had  a 
separate  building  for  the  purpose — their  own  humble  cabins  were 
the  recitation  halls,  and  contiguous  groves  the  study  rooms,  where 
many  a  youth,  truly  ambitious  of  fame  and  usefulness,  was  wont 

"  Inter  sylvas  Academi  querere  verum." 

We  have  before  us  a  newspaper  of  1794,  wherein  is  an  advertise- 
ment by  Rev.  James  Dunlap,  then  the  Presbyterian  Pastor  of 
Laurel  Hill  and  Dunlap's  Creek,  afterwards  President  of  Jefferson 
College,  Pa.,  and  William  Littell,  Esq.,  afterwards  a  lawyer  and 
author  of  eminence  in  Kentucky,  setting  forth  that  they  had  opened 
a  school  in  Franklin  township,"  where  they  teach  "Elocution  and 
the  English  language  grammatically,  together  with  the  Latin, 
Greek  and  Hebrew  languages,  Geometry  and  Trigonometry,  with 
their  application  to  Mensuration,  Surveying,  Gauging,  &c.,  likewise 
Geography  and  Civil  History,  Natural  and  Moral  Philosophy,  Logic 
and  Rhetoric,"  and  where  "boarding,  washing,  &c.,  may  be  had 
at  reputable  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  at  the  low  rate  of  ten 
pounds  ($26.67)  per  annum."  How  long  this  nursery  of  Literature 
and  Science  continued,  we  know  not — probably  until  1803,  when 
Mr.  Dunlap's  accession  to  the  College  Presidency  occurred.  Who, 
or  how  many  were  its  students  we  cannot  tell.  It  was,  however, 
for  a  while  well  sustained,  and  several  of  the  clergy  and  other 
professional  men  who  rose  in  this  country  and  in  the  West  in  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  there  received  their  "  learning."  "^  Among 
them  was  the  Rev.  George  Hill,  father  of  Col.  A.  M.  Hill  of  this 
county,  who  found  his  wife  at  one  of  the  "reputable  houses  in  the 
neighborhood"  (John  McClelland's)  where  he  boarded. 

Thus  deeply  did  our  forefathers  lay  the  foundations  of  that 
prosperity  which  we  now  enjoy.  Take  them  all  in  all,  they  were 
generally  men  and  women  of  whom  their  posterity  may  be  proud. 
Unlike  most  of  the  proud  nations  of  Europe,  ancient  and  modern, 


^  We  believe  this  was  on  the  old  Tanner  farm,  formerly  owned  by  Col.  Wm.  Swear- 
ingen,  now  Charles  McGlaughlin,  and  in  Dunbar  township. 

23  After  his  Presidency  at  Canonsburg,  in  1811-12,  and  when  age  and  infirmity  had 
somewhat  impaired  his  mental,  as  well  as  bodily  vigor,  Dr.  Dunlap  taught  a  Latin  and 
Mathematical  school  at  New  Geneva.  Among  his  pupils  there  were  Samuel  Evans, 
James  and  Thomas  W.  Nicholson,  Stephen  Wood,  and  David  Bradford,  Jr.,  son  of 
David  Bradford,  Esq.,  of  Washington,  Pa.,  of  Whiskey  Insurrection  celebrity. 


106  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

we  have  uo  need  of  a  fabulous  antiquity  in  which  to  bury  the  mis- 
deeds of  our  progenitors.  We  may  glory  in  the  fullest  and  most 
authentic  emblazonry  of  their  conduct.  Even  those  of  us  who  do 
not  boast  a  Fayette  ancestry,  will  find  many  things  in  the  character 
of  our  early  settlers  to  command  our  admiration — many  to  attract 
our  imitation  ;  while  in  a  few,  their  errors  and  aberrations  stand 
out  as  beacons  to  warn  us  that  with  all  their  heroic  excellencies 
they  still  were  men. 

It  is  not  within  our  purpose,  or  our  ability,  to  portray  their 
character.  It  was  that  of  original  settlers  every  where — in  many 
respects ;  but  in  others  it  was  one  peculiar  to  the  men  and  women 
of  that  age  and  of  this  country.  The  first  settlers  came  here  not 
merely  to  better  their  condition,  but  to  gratify  their  iasle.'^*  Many, 
in  crossing  the  mountains,  supposed  they  had  passed  the  ultimate 
bound  of  that  refined  and  conventional  civilization,  which  to  that 
class  of  men  denominated  piojieers,  is  too  grievous  to  be  borne. 
Rough  they  were,  but  strong.  Patient  of  toil  and  privation,  yet 
impatient  of  restraint.  Poor  in  the  wealth  which  engenders  pride, 
but  rich  in  expedients  for  substantial  comfort.  Fearless  of  danger, 
yet  fearing  their  God.  Extravagant  in  the  nois}'  sports  of  the 
chase,  the  raising,  the  harvest  and  the  husking,  but  frugal  of  all 
the  means  of  quiet,  fireside  enjoyment.  Strong  in  their  likes  and 
dislikes,  their  attachments  were  inviolable,  but  their  resentments 
dreadful.  Yet,  amid  all  this  rudeness  and  horror  of  legal  restraints, 
persons  and  property  were  generally  more  secure,  and  female 
chastity  more  sacred,  then  even  now.  And  there  were  less  of  those 
petty  trespasses  which  now  annoy  neighbors,  and  of  those  malicious 
tale  tellings  which  now  set  neighborhoods  in  an  uproar.  The 
people  of  that  day  were  governed  less  by  law  than  by  public 
opinion.  Their  capital — their  stock  in  trade,  as  well  as  their 
personal  security,  depended  much  more  upon  the  amount  of  esteem 
and  confidence  conferred  upon  them  by  their  neighbors  than  upon 
their  ability  to  drive  a  hard  bargain,  or  make  a  show  of  superior 
wealth  and  equipage.  They  lived  more  directly  under  the  sway 
of  the  original  elements  of  the  social  compact — mutual  aid  and 
dependence.  And,  notwithstanding  their  heterogeneousuess  as  to 
colonial  paternity,  religious  sentiment  and  even  language,  there 
existed  more  unity,  more  esprit  du  corps,  and  less  segregation  into 


^  We  have  heard  old  settlers  say,  that,  in  early  times,  the  common  opinion  was  that 
this  region  of  country,  despite  its  rich  soil  and  fine  springs  and  water  courses,  could 
never  come  to  much  for  want  of  iron  and  salt ! 


CH.  VI.]  EARLY    SETTLEMENTS.  107 

classes  and  castes  than  now.  What  they  lacked  in  refinement, 
was  more  than  compensated  by  their  abundant  hospitality.  The 
new  comer,  or  the  stranger  was  always  welcomed  to  their  home, 
and  their  assistance,  for  they  had  themselves  been  strangers  in  a 
strange  land.^^  If  to  resent  an  injury,  or  an  insult,  was  in  them  an 
ever  present  feeling,  there  was  just  as  constantly  absent  from  their 
breasts  that  cold  selfishness  which  is  too  apt  to  seize  upon  men  in 
more  advanced  society,  and  which  generally  chills  and  dries  up  the 
social  virtues  to  their  very  fountains. 

We  have  already  referred  to  our  early  religious  and  educational 
engraftings,  as  evincing  a  healthy  condition  of  our  social  beginnings. 
But  there  are  other  proofs,  not  less  unequivocal.  That  petty  litiga- 
tion, which  now  crowds  our  Court-houses  and  Justice's  offices,  was 
then  unknown.  The  "hundred  dollar  act"  was  not  then  enacted, 
nor  any  of  its  prototypes.  Our  county  was  seven  years  in  existence 
before  it  had  a  resident  lawyer.  And  when  our  courts  of  justice 
were  held  at  Carlisle,  or  Bedford,  or  Hannastowu,  or  even  at  old 
Beesontown,  the  sturdy  yeomanry  from  Cheat  and  George's  creek, 
from  the  Monongahela  and  Redstone,  and  the  Yough,  who  resorted 
to  their  sittings,  went  there  more  to  exchange  greetings  and  hear 
the  news  of  the  day,  than  to  foment  disputes,  or  testify  against 
their  neighbor's  honesty  or  reputation.  Assaults  and  batteries, 
unless  highly  aggravated,  were  settled  at  home,  or  in  the  field ; 
petty  thefts  were  punished  by  frowns,  or  banishment.  Many  a 
court  passed  without  the  grand  jury  having  to  find  a  single  bill. 
And  whoever  will  consult  our  early  court  records  will  learn  that 
nearly  all  the  actions  brought  and  contested  related  in  some  way 
to  the  title,  or  possession,  or  payment  of  lands;  while  ceriioraris 
and  appeals  from  justices  of  the  peace,  actions  for  slander  and  on 
horse  swaps,  and  "suits  for  settlement"  and  on  express  contracts, 
were  comparatively  unknown.     The  men  of  that  day  sought  to  be 


®  A  remarkable  instance  of  kindness  to  strangers  occurred  in  what  is  now  Luzerne 
township,  on  Coxe's  run,  at  a  very  early  day.  A  stranger,  from  the  vicinity  of  Hagers- 
town,  by  the  name  of  Applegate,  had  somehow  got  his  leg  badly  broken  in  the  woods, 
and  in  that  condition  was  found  by  an  old  settler,  who  at  once  had  him  borne  to  his 
cabin,  where  every  aid  and  comfort  within  reach  was  provided.  But  it  being  late  in  the 
fall,  and  the  stranger  knowing  that  the  remedy  for  his  misfortune  was  time  and  patience, 
was  very  anxious  to  be  again  among  his  family  and  friends.  There  was  then  no  carriage 
road  across  the  mountains,  nothing  but  a  pack-horse  path.  To  convey  him  home,  eight 
of  the  neighbors  agreed  to  carry  him  on  a  sort  of  hammock,  swung  on  two  poles  like  a 
bier.  This  they  did,  all  the  way  to  Hagerstown  !  Four  of  the  men  were  Michael  Cock, 
William  Conwell,  Thomas  Davidson  and  Rezin  Virgin.  Tradition  has  failed  to  preserve 
the  names  of  the  other  four  "good  Samaritans." 


108  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VI. 

a  law  unto  themselves,  and  were  of  too  lofty  a  spirit  to  be  actors  in 
the  low  kennels  of  modern  chicanery.  Their  word  was  their  bond — 
its  seal  their  honor — its  penalty  the  fear  of  social  degradation. 

We  have  yet  to  sketch  the  trying  times  of  the  Boundary  Contro- 
versy— the  Revolutionary  and  Indian  Wars  and  the  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection;—  events  in  our  early  history  which  are  too  prominent,  and 
too  full  of  interesting  incident,  to  be  crowded  into  any  general 
narrative.  For  their  prompt  resistance  to  the  foes  of  their  lives 
and  liberties,  native  and  foreign,  our  early  settlers  ask  not  even  the 
apologj  of  fondness  for  adventure.  And  it  must  not  be  inferred 
because  of  the  wild  excitements  into  which  they  were  thrown  in 
1774,  and  again  in  '94,  that  they  were  lawless  and  turbulent.  Their 
resistance  to  doubtful  rule  and  questionable  taxation  sprang  less 
from  criminal  propensities  than  from  their  antecedents  and  present 
privations.  Their  very  simplicity  and  hardy  virtues  made  them  an 
easy  prey  to  interested  partizans  and  designing  demagogues.  And, 
while  thus  wrought  upon,  like  the  placid  ocean  by  the  unseen  wind, 
they  were  enacting  the  stormy  resistance  of  those  periods,  they, 
when  the  appliances  which  aroused  them  were  removed,  yielded 
as  submissively  and  heartily  to  the  gravitating  influences  of  law 
and  order,  as  if  nothing  had  ever  occurred  to  disturb  them.^® 


^^  The  Hon.  William  Findley,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Western  Insurrection  of  1794," 
devotes  a  chapter  to  exhibit  this  peculiarity  of  character  among  the  eai-ly  yeomanry  of 
Southwestern  Pennsylvania — ready  and  entire  acquiescence  after  impassioned  and  well 
grounded,  though  unlawful  resistance;  in  which  respects  thej'  compare  most  favorably 
with  the  Connecticut  claimants  in  our  own  State,  the  Massachusetts  rebellion,  and 
other  similar  troubles  in  our  early  national  history. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

MEMOIRS     OF     EARLY     SETTLERS. 

1. — The  Browns  —  Wendell,  Maunus,  Thomas  and  Adam.  2. — Christopher  Gist  and 
Family — Thomas,  Nathaniel,  Richard,  Anne  and  Mrs.  Cromwell.  3. — Col.  William 
Crawford.  4.  —  Col.  James  Paull.  5.  —  Col.  George  Wilson.  6. — Col.  Alexander 
McClean.  7,  —  John  Smilie.  8.  —  Gen.  Ephraim  Douglass.  9.  —  Albert  Gallatin. — 
Appendix  —  List  of  Early  (1772)  Settlers  in  Fayette,  and  parts  of  Greene,  Washing- 
ton, Westmoreland  and  Allegheny ;  and  the  townships  then  existing  —  Spring  Hill' 
Tyrone  and  Rostraver. 

We  arrange  these,  as  nearly  as  we  can,  in  the  order  in  which 
the  subjects  of  them  became  inhabitants  of  what  is  now  Fayette 
county. 

WENDELL   BROWN   AND   SONS. 

The  most  prominent  facts,  known  to  us,  in  the  lives  of  these 
men  have  been  already  noticed — that  they  were  the  first  white 
settlers  within  our  limits,  having  come  here  as  early  as  1750-'51, 
when  our  county  was  an  unbroken  wilderness,  and  their  only 
associates  and  neighbors  the  tawny  sons  of  the  forest.  We  suppose 
the  West  is  full  of  such  instances  of  self  exile  ;  but  we  cannot 
define  the  peculiarity  of  mental  organization  which  leads  to  it. 

They  came  from  that  hive  of  our  early  settlers — Virginia  ;  but 
from  what  part  of  it,  we  are  uninformed ;  and  we  believe  that 
until  their  second  advent — after  the  dangers  from  Indian  hostility 
which  attended  and  followed  the  old  French  war  had  subsided, 
they  were  unaccompanied  by  any  females  or  children.  These 
indispensable  ingredients  in  the  cup  of  domestic  life  would  but 
have  added  bitterness  to  the  anxieties  which  beset  their  forest 
abode. 

When  Washington's  little  army  was  at  the  Great  Meadows,  or 
Fort  Necessity,  the  Browns  packed  provisions  to  him — corn  and 
beef.  And  when  he  surrendered  to  the  French  and  Indians,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1754,  they  retired,  with  the  retreating  colonial 
troops,  across  the  mountains  ;  whence  they  returned  to  their  lands 
after  the  re-instatement  of  the  English  dominion  by  Forbes'  army 
in  1758. 


110  THE    MONONGAIIELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

"I  could  repeat  numerons  Indian  stories  told  by  Abraham  and 
Christopher  Brown,  sons  of  Maunus  and  grandsons  of  Wendell 
Brown  ;  but  one  or  two  must  suffice. 

"It  is  well  known  that  while  the  Indians  held  undivided  sway 
in  this  region  they  had  one  or  more  lead  mines  in  our  mountains, 
the  localities  of  which  they  guarded  with  inviolable  secrecy.  The 
discovery  of  these  by  the  Browns  would  have  been  an  invaluable 
acquisition  to  their  venatorial  pursuits.  Many  efforts  did  they 
make  to  find  them,  and  many  sly  attempts  to  follow  the  Indians  in 
their  resorts  to  the  mines,  but  all  in  vain.  And  more  than  once 
did  they  narrowly  escape  detection  and  consequent  death,  by  their 
eagerness  to  share  the  forbidden  treasure. 

"Abraham  Brown  used  to  relate  of  his  uncle  Thomas,  that  having 
offended  the  Indians  by  some  tricks  played  upon  them,  (perhaps 
in  contrivances  to  discover  their  lead  mines  and  by  repeatedly 
escaping  from  them  when  taken  prisoner,)  he  once  escaped  being 
burnt  only  by  the  timely  interposition  of  a  friendly  chief;  but 
that  eventually  they  caught  him,  when  no  such  intercessor  was 
nigh,  and  knocked  out  all  his  teeth  with  a  piece  of  iron  and  a 
tomahawk.  This  was  savage  cruelty.  Now,  for  savage  honesty. 
In  a  season  of  scarcity,  some  Indians  came  to  the  Browns  for 
provisions.  The  old  man  sold  them  eight  rows  of  corn.  He  after- 
wards found  they  had  taken  just  the  eight  rows,  and  not  an 
ear  more. 

"I  knew  Adam  Brown  —  'old  Adam,'  as  he  was  called.  He 
boasted  of  having  been  a  king's  lieutenant  in  his  early  days  ; 
having  probably  served  with  the  Virginia  provincials  in  the  French 
and  Indian  wars.  For  his  services  he  claimed  to  have  had  a  Royal 
grant  of  land,  of  nine  miles  square,  extending  from  near  Mount 
Braddock  along  the  face  of  Laurel  Hill  southward,  and  westward 
as  far  as  New  Salem,  I  have  seen  a  large  stone,  standing  a  little 
Southwest  of  the  residence  of  Daniel  (or  William)  Moser,  in  George 
township,  which  -the  Jate  John  McClelland  said  was  a  corner  of 
Adam's  claim.  The  old  lieutenant,  it  was  said,  induced  many 
acquaintances  to  settle  around  him,  on  his  grant, — the  Downards, 
McCarty's,  Brownfields,  Henthorns,  Kindells,  Scotts.,  Jennings', 
Greens,  McDonalds',  Iligginsons,  &c. ;  and,  out  of  abundant 
caution,  he  and  his  brother  Maunus,  and  they,  entered  applications 
for  their  lands  in  the  Pennsylvania  Land-Office,  on  the  14th  of 
June,  1769,  and  had  them  surveyed  soon  after.  They  seem  to 
have  been  quiescent  in  the  'Boundary  Controversy.'     But  it  was 


CH.  VII.]  CHRISTOPHER    GIST.  Ill 

said  that  early  in  1775,  Adam  and  some  of  his  associates  had 
employed  an  agent  to  go  to  London  to  perfect  the  Royal  grant ; 
when,  npon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  which  ended  the 
King's  power  in  this  country,  they  gave  up  the  effort,  and  in  due 
time  perfected  their  titles  under  Pennsylvania.  From  this  and 
some  other  grounds,  arose  the  current  allegation  that  old  Adam 
and  sundry  of  his  neighbors  were  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of 
American  independence.  We  believe  they  were  never  guilty  of 
any  overt  acts  of  Toryism.  They  are  now  all  gone  ;  and,  with  two 
or  three  exceptions,  none  of  them  have  now  any  descendants  in 
the  county.  The  Maunus  Brown  branch  of  the  family  has  always 
been  considered  free  of  the  taint  charged  to  'old  Adam,'  and  has 
been  productive  of  good  citizens." 

CHRISTOPHER   GIST   AND    FAMILY. 

The  ancestral  head  of  the  Gists  in  Fayette  has  been  already 
noticed,  as  having  come  here  as  agent  of  the  old  Ohio  Company, 
and  settled  on  the  Mount  Braddock  lands  in  1753.  The  fact  that 
the  body  of  this  Company  was  in  Virginia,  although  its  head  was 
in  London  and  a  limb  extended  into  Maryland,  has  led  to  the 
belief,  generally  adopted,  that  Christopher  Gist  came  from  Virginia. 
And  it  seems  that,  for  a  while  at  least,  he  was  domiciled  in  that 
colony,  although  he  was,  we  believe,  a  native  of  England.  But 
when  his  agency  for  the  Ohio  Company  commenced  he  had  his 
abode  away  down  in  x^orth  Carolina,  on  the  Yadkin,  near  the 
confines  of  Virginia.  Returning  home  after  his  mission  to  the 
Ohio  Indians,  in  1751,  he  found  his  house  burnt  by  the  Southern 
savages,  and  his  family  driven  up  into  Virginia,  on  the  Roanoke. 
In  this  vicinity,  it  is  probable,  he  resided  until  he  removed  to  the 
Monongahela  country,  in  1753. 

Christopher  Gist  was  among  the  earliest  adventurers  into  this 
region  of  country,  and  had  probably  been  west  of  the  mountains 
before  his  agency  for  the  Ohio  Company.  Our  first  traces  of  his 
travels  indicate  a  considerable  knowledge  of  our  mountain  paths 
and  passes,  and  of  the  Indian  tribes  who  peopled  the  Ohio  valley. 
The  Ohio  Company  was  formed  in  1748,  and  began  its  preliminary 
operations  in  1750,  in  which  year  we  find  Mr.  Gist  the  bearer  of  a 
speech  from  the  Governor  of  Virginia  to  the  Ohio  Indians.  He 
was  out  again  in  1751 ;  when  he  visited  the  Indian  tribes  on  the 
Muskingum,  Scioto  and  Miami.     He  returned  by  the  valley  of  the 


112  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII- 

Kentucky  river  to  North  Carolina.  He  thus  became  one  of  the 
earliest  Anglo-Saxon  explorers  of  what  are  now  the  rich  States  of 
Ohio  and  Kentucky ;  of  which  he  said  "  nothing  is  wanted  but 
cultivation  to  make  this  a  most  delightful  country."  He  set  out 
again  in  the  spring  of  1752,  and  attended  an  Indian  treaty,  or 
council,  at  Logstown,  on  the  Ohio,  some  sixteen  miles  below 
Pittsburgh.  These  missions  were  all  on  behalf  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  to  conciliate  the  Indians  and  look  out  for  good  lands. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1753,  he  accompanied  Washington,  as  his 
guide,  from  Wills'  creek  (Cumberland)  to  the  French  posts  on  the 
Allegheny.  He  was  again  with  him  in  his  military  expedition  of 
1754,  and  was  with  Braddock  in  1755.  He  had  also  been  with 
Capt.  Trent  in  the  abortive  eiibrt  of  the  Ohio  Company  to  build 
their  fort  at  the  "Forks  of  the  Ohio,"  in  February,  1754. 

The  defeat  of  Braddock,  in  July,  1755,  seems  to  have  ended  his 
agency  for  the  Ohio  Company,  and  he  now  turned  his  energies 
into  other  channels.  Virginia  kept  up  her  efforts  to  repel  the 
French  and  Indians  until  after  the  conquest  by  Forbes,  in  1758, 
and  Gist  found  ample  employment  in  the  service  of  that  colony. 
In  the  fall  of  1755,  he  raised  a  company  of  scouts  in  the  frontiers 
of  Virginia  and  Maryland ;  and  thereafter  he  becomes  known  as 
Captain  Gist.  In  1756,  he  was  sent  Southwest  to  enlist  a  body  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians  into  the  English  service,  and  succeeded. 
He  thereupon,  in  1757,  became  Deputy  Indian  Agent  in  the  South, 
a  service  "for  which,"  says  Col.  Washington,  "I  know  of  no 
person  so  well  qualified.  He  has  had  extensive  dealings  with  the 
Indians,  is  in  great  esteem  among  them,  well  acquainted  with  their 
manners  and  customs,  indefatigable  and  patient;  and  as  to  his 
honesty,  capacity  and  zeal,  I  dare  venture  to  engage." 

What  part,  if  any,  he  took  in  Forbes'  campaign,  we  do  not  know. 
Perhaps  his  Indian  agency  kept  him  employed  elsewhere.  He 
seems  to  have  been  well  educated,  and  was  a  good  surveyor. 
He  was,  moreover,  a  man  of  great  natural  shrewdness  and  energy — 
a  "woodsman"  of  the  highest  order.  We  are  left  to  conjecture 
to  assign  a  motive  for  fixing  an  abode  in  these  then  inhospitable 
wilds.  Perhaps  it  was  to  establish  a  station  for  expeditions  of  the 
Ohio  Company : — perhaps  the  beautiful  body  of  land  upon  which 
he  reared  his  cabin  was  a  temptation  too  powerful  to  be  overcome 
by  the  quiet  and  comforts  of  civilized  society.  Although  he 
returned  and  resumed  his  possessions  here  after  Forbes'  conquest, 
we  think  he  did  not  again  permanently  settle  with  his  family  until 
about  1765.     He  transferred  his  land  claims  to  his  son  Thomas, 


en.  YII.]  CHRISTOPHER    GIST.  113 

aud  having  settled  liim,  and  his  son-in-law,  Cromwell,^  he  soon 
afterwards  returned  to  Virginia,  or  ISTorth  Carolina,  and  there  died, 
and  was  buried  among  his  kindred.  Doubtless,  like  the  poet  .of 
"Sweet  Auburn,"  the  wish  had  never  been  lost,  amid  all  his 
perilous  wanderings, 

" his  long  vexations  past, 

There  to  return — and  die  at  home  at  last." 

There  are  some  incidents  in  the  return  of  "Washington  and  Gist 
from  their  embassy  to  the  French,  in  1753-'54,  which  we  must 
narrate  in  their  own  language,  as  found  in  their  journals.  The 
time  is  December — the  scene,  the  unbroken  wilderness  of  what  is 
now  Butler  and  Allegheny  counties,  North  and  West  of  the 
Allegheny  river.  Snow  had  fallen.  It  was  becoming  very  cold. 
The  horses  were  very  weak  and  were  giving  out,  scarcely  able  to 
carry  the  baggage.  Washington  determined  to  leave  them  in 
charge  of  Vanbraam  and  his  other  "servitors,"  and  hasten  on  with 
Gist,  afoot. 

Says  Washington,  "I  took  my  necessary  papers,  pulled  off  my 


^  The  following  aiSdavit  of  William  Stewart  sheds  light  on  several  subjects  and  locali- 
ties embraced  in  these  sketches : — 
"Fayette  Countt,  ss. 

Before  the  subscriber, '^one  of  the  Commonwealth's  justices  of  the  peace, 
for  said  county,  personally  appeared  William  Stewakt,  who  being  of  lawful  age,  and 
duly  sworn  on  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty  God,  saith : — That  he  was  living  in  this 
country,  near  Stewart's  Crossings,  in  the  year  1753,  and  part  of  the  year  1754,  until  he 
was  obliged  to  remove  hence  on  account  of  the  French  taking  possession  of  this  coun- 
try,— that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  Captain  Christopher  Gist  and  family,  and  also 
with  Mr.  William  Cromwell,  Capt,  Gist's  son-in-law.  He  further  saith  that  the  land 
where  Jonathan  Hill  now  lives,  and  the  land  where  John  Murphy  now  lives,  was  settled 
by  William  Cromwell,  as  this  deponent  believes  and  always  understood,  as  a  tenant  to 
the  said  Christopher  Gist.  The  said  Cromwell  claimed  a  place  called  the  "Beaver 
Dams,"  which  is  the  place  now  owned  by  Philip  Shute,'  and  where  he  now  lives;  [part 
of  Col.  Evans'  estate]  and  this  deponent  further  saith  that  he  always  understood  that 
the  reason  of  said  Cromwell's  not  settling  on  his  own  land  (the  Beaver  Dams)  was,  that 
the  Indians  in  this  country  at  that  time  were  very  plenty,  and  the  said  Cromwell's  wife 
was  afraid,  or  did  not  choose  to  live  so  far  from  her  father  and  mother,  there  being  at 
that  time  but  a  very  few  families  of  white  people  settled  in  this  country.  And  this 
deponent  further  saith  *  *  *  *  that  when  this  deponenf  s  father,  himself  and 
brothers  first  came  into  this  country,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1763,  they  attempted 
to  take  possession  of  the  said  Beaver  Dams,  and  were  warned  off  by  some  of  said 
Christopher  Gist's  family,  who  informed  them  that  the  same  belonged  to  Wm.  Cromwell, 
the  said  Gist's  son-in-law.     And  further  deponent  saith  not. 

WILLIAM  STEWART." 
Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me  this  20th  day  of  April,   178G. 

James  Finley. 

8 


114  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

clothes,  and  tied  myself  up  in  a  wateli  coat.  Then,  with  gun  in 
hand,  and  pack  on  my  back,  in  which  were  my  papers  and  pro- 
visions, I  set  out  with  Mr.  Gist,  fitted  in  the  same  manner,  on 
Wednesday,  the  26th  (December).  The  day  following,  just  after 
we  had  passed  a  place  called  Murderingtown,  [in  Butler  county]  we 
fell  in  with  a  party  of  French  and  Indians,  who  had  laid  in  wait 
for  us.  One  of  them  fired  at  Mr.  Gist,  or  me,  not  fifteen  steps  off, 
hut  fortunately  missed.  We  took  this  fellow  into  custody,  and 
kept  him  until  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  then  let  him  go,  and 
walked  all  the  remaining  part  of  the  night,  without  making  any 
itop,  that  we  might  get  the  start  so  far,  as  to  be  out  of  the  reach 
of  their  pursuit  the  next  day."  Mr.  Gist  relates  this  occurrence 
thus: — "We  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  set  out  about  two 
o'clock,  and  got  to  the  Murderingtown,  on  the  south-east  fork  of 
Beaver  creek.  Here  we  met  an  Indian,  whom  I  thought  I  had 
seen  at  Joncaire's,  at  Venango,  when  on  our  journey  up  to  the 
French  Fort.  This  fellow  called  me  by  my  Indian  name  and 
pretended  to  be  glad  to  see  me.  I  thought  very  ill  of  the  fellow, 
but  did  not  care  to  let  the  Major  [Washington]  know  that  I  mis- 
trusted him.  But  he  soon  mistrusted  him  as  much  as  I  did.  The 
Indian  said  he  could  hear  a  gun  from  his  cabin,  and  steered  us 
more  northwardly.  We  grew  uneasy ;  and  then  he  said  two 
whoops  might  be  heard  from  his  cabin.  We  went  two  miles 
further.  Then  the  Major  said  he  would  stay  at  the  next  water. 
We  came  to  water,  to  a  clear  meadow.  It  was  very  light,  and 
snow  was  on  the  ground.  The  Indian  made  a  stop  and  turned 
about.  The  Major  saw  him  point  his  gun  towards  us,  and  he  fired. 
Said  the  Major,  'are  you  shot?' — 'No,'  said  I ;  upon  which  the 
Indian  ran  forward  to  a  big  standing  white  oak,  and  began  loading 
his  gun.  But  we  were  soon  with  him.  I  would  have  killed  him, 
but  the  Major  would  not  suffer  me.  We  let  him  charge  his  gun. 
We  found  he  put  in  a  ball ;  then  we  took  care  of  him.  Either  the 
Major  or  I  always  stood  by  the  guns.  We  made  the  Indian  make 
a  fire  for  us  by  a  little  run,  as  if  we  intended  to  sleep  there.  I 
said  to  the  Major:  'As  you  will  not  have  him  killed,  we  must 
get  him  away,  and  then  we  must  travel  all  night.'  Upon  which  I 
said  to  the  Indian,  'I  suppose  you  were  lost,  and  fired  your  gun.' 
He  said  he  knew  the  way  to  his  cabin,  and  it  was  but  a  little  way. 
'Well,'  said  I,  'do  you  go  home,  and  as  we  are  tired,  we  will 
follow  your  track  in  the  morning  ;  and  here  is  a  cake  for  you,  and 
you  must  give  us  meat  for  it  in  the  morning.'  He  was  glad  to 
get  away.     I  followed  him  and  listened,  until  he  was  fairly  out  of 


CH.  VII.]  CHRISTOPHER   GIST'S   CHILDREN.  115 

the  way ;  and  then  we  went  about  half  a  mile,  when  we  made  a 
fire,  set  our  compass,  fixed  our  course,  and  traveled  all  night. 
In  the  morning  we  were  on  the  head  of  Pine  creek." 

"The  next  day,"  says  Washington,  "we  continued  traveling 
until  quite  dark,  and  got  to  the  river  [Allegheny]  about  two  miles 
above  Shannopin's  town  [two  or  three  miles  above  Pittsburgh]. 
We  expected  to  have  found  the  river  frozen,  but  it  was  not,  only 
about  fifty  yards  from  each  shore.  The  ice  was  driving  in  vast 
quantities.  There  was  no  way  to  get  over  but  on  a  raft,  which  we 
set  about  making,  with  but  one  poor  hatchet,  and  finished  just 
after  sun  set.  This  was  a  whole  day's  work.  We  next  got  it 
launched,  then  went  on  board  of  it,  and  set  off.  But  before  we 
were  half  way  over,  we  were  jammed  in  the  ice  in  such  a  manner 
that  we  expected  every  moment  our  raft  to  sink  and  ourselves  to 
perish.  I  put  out  my  setting  pole,  to  try  to  stop  the  raft  that  the 
ice  might  pass  by ;  when  the  rapidity  of  the  stream  threw  it  with 
80  much  violence  against  the  pole,  that  it  jerked  me  out  into  ten 
feet  water  ;  but  I  fortunately  saved  myself  by  catching  hold  of  one 
of  the  raft  logs.  N"otwithstanding  all  our  eftbrts,  we  could  not  get 
to  either  shore,  but  were  obliged,  as  we  were  near  an  Island 
[Wainwright's]  to  quit  our  raft  and  make  to  it.  The  cold  was 
80  extremely  severe  that  Mr.  Gist  had  all  his  fingers,  and  some  of 
his  toes  frozen ;  and  the  water  was  shut  up  so  hard,  that  we  found 
no  difficulty  in  getting  ofif  the  Island  on  the  ice  the  next  morning, 
and  went  on  to  Frazier's." 

Christopher  Gist  had  three  sons,  ISTathaniel,  Thomas  and  Richard ; 
and  two  daughters,  Anne,  never  married,  and  Violet,  wife  of 
William  Cromwell,  whom  her  father  settled  on  that  part  of  his 
lands  which  is  now  owned  by  Isaac  Wood.  Cromwell  afterwards 
ungratefully  set  up  a  claim  to  it  in  his  own  right,  which  he  sold  to 
one  Samuel  Lyon,  with  whom  Thomas  Gist  had  a  protracted,  but 
successful  controversy  for  the  title.  Each  of  these  sons,  as  well  as 
the  father,  acquired  inceptive  titles  to  different  parts  of  the  Mount 
Braddock  lands.  All  their  rights  were  eventually  united  in  Thomas 
Gist,  who  perfected  the  titles.  He  died  in  1786,  on  the  Mount 
Braddock  estate,  and  is  there  buried.  By  his  last  will,  dated  in 
1772,  he  devised  his  estates  to  his  only  daughter,  Elizabeth  Johnson, 
who  married  Andrew  McKown,  and  to  his  brothers  and  sisters  and 
their  children.  These  soon  sold  out  to  Isaac  Meason,  the  elder, — 
many  of  them  having  before  that  time  removed  to  Kentucky,  where 
their  descendants  are  still  believed  to  reside.  Anne,  the  maiden 
sister,  resided  with  Thomas  until  his  death,  and  became  his  ad- 


IIG  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

ministiator  with  tlic  \Yill  annexed — as  the  executors  named  in  the 
will,  Gen.  Mordecai  Gist,  of  Baltimore,  and  George  Dawson,^  resided 
out  of  the  State. 

Thomas  Gist  was  a  man  of  some  note.  In  1770,  while  we  were 
part  of  Cumberland  county,  he  was  commissioned  a  justice  of  the 
peace.  His  commission  was,  in  1771,  renewed  for  Bedford  county, 
and  in  1773,  for  Westmoreland,  where  he  presided  in  the  October 
Sessions  of  the  Courts  of  that  year.  Washington  dined  with  him 
on  the  25th  K^ovember,  1770,  when  returning  from  his  Western 
land  tour  of  that  year;  whence,  after  dinner,  he  proceeded  to 
Hogland's,  at  the  Great  Crossings.  We  judge  that  the  dinner 
must  have  been  served  up  at  an  early  hour,  and  that  but  little  time 
was  spent  "after  the  cloth  was  removed." 

Of  Eichard  Gist  we  know,  certainly,  nothing  worthy  of  record. 
His  celebrity,  if  he  acquired  any,  was  in  Kentucky,  W'hither  he 
removed  at  an  early  period.^ 

jSTathaniel  Gist  became  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  sons,  at 
least  in  a  military  point  of  view.  Obscurity  rests  alike  upon  his 
early  and  later  career.*    He  seems  to  have  been  a  subordinate 


-  General  Gist  is  named  in  the  Will,  whicli  is  dated  in  1772,  as  "Mordecai  Gist, 
merchant,  of  Baltimore."  He  afterwards  becomes  Brigadier  General  of  the  Maryland 
Line  in  the  Revolution ;  and  Tvas  probably  a  younger  brother  of  Christopher  Gist.  He 
died  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  August,  1792.  In  1771,  he  had  a  claim  to  some  land  "near 
the  Big  Meadows,  on  Braddock's  road,"  taken  up  for  him  by  Thomas  Gist.  So  also 
had  Joshua  Gist. 

George  Dawson  was  the  grandfather  of  the  present  George  and  John  Dawson,  Esqs., 
of  Fayette,  and  great-grandfather  of  Hon.  John  Littleton  Dawson.  He  was  really  dead 
before  1786.  But  his  son  Nicholas,  who  in  1783,  had  removed  into  the  Virginia  "pan- 
handle" on  the  Ohio,  just  below  the  State  line,  was  his  executor,  and  was  thereby  sup- 
posed to  be  entitled  to  become  executor  of  Gist.  Hence  the  record  reads  as  stated  in  the 
text.  The  Dawsons  owned  and  resided  on  the  lands  in  North  Union  township,  recently 
the  home  of  Col.  Wm.  Swearingen. 

^  Sec  note  5. 

*  In  a  note  to  one  of  Col.  "Washington's  letters  in  II.  Sparks,  283,  under  date  of  May, 
1758,  we  find  the  following  story  related,  and  as  Christopher  Gist  at  this  time  was 
designated  as  " Captain  Gist,"  we  ]^vesu.mQ  Lieutenant  Gist  was  his  son  Nathaniel: — 
"An  Indian  named  Ucahula  was  sent  from  Fort  Loudoun  [Winchester]  with  a  party  of 
six  soldiers  and  thirty  Indians,  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Gist.  After  great 
fatigues  and  sufferings,  occasioned  by  the  snows  on  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  they 
reached  the  Monongahela  river,  where  Lieutenant  Gist,  by  a  fall  from  a  precipice, 
was  rendered  unable  to  proceed,  and  the  party  separated.  Ucahula,  with  two  other 
Indians,  descended  the  Monongahela  [from  the  mouth  of  Redstone]  in  a  bark  canoe, 
till  they  came  near  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Here  they  left  their  canoe,  and  concealed  them- 
selves on  the  margin  of  the  river,  tiU  they  had  the  opportunity  of  attacking  two 
Frenchmen,  who  were  fishing  in  a  canoe,  and  whom  they  killed  and  scalped.  These 
'scalps'  were  brought  to  Fort  Loudoun  by  Ucahula." 


CH, 


VII.]  NATHANIEL    GIST.  IIT 


officer  on  the  Virginia  and  Maryland  frontier  in  the  French  and 
Indian  war.  In  January,  1777,  he  was,  by  General  Washington,  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  one  of  the  sixteen  new  battalions  ordered  by 
Congress,  and  was  sent  into  the  Cherokee  country,  to  add  to  his 
four  companies  of  rangers,  five  hundred  Indians.  He  failed  in 
this,  but  held  command  of  his  battalion  of  rangers  for  some  years? 
and  was  in  the  service  at  the  close  of  the  war.  He  commanded  a 
detachment  in  the  march  of  the  American  army  from  Englishtown, 
N"ew  Jersey,  to  King's  Ferry,  in  July,  1778.  Prior  to  this,  in 
March,  1778,  he  was  again  sent  southward,  to  enlist  the  Cherokees 
into  the  service  of  the  struggling  colonies,  and  seems  to  have  had 
some  success.  Gen.  Washington  speaks  of  him  as  well  acquainted 
with  that  powerful  tribe  of  Indians  and  their  allies.  He  had 
doubtless  been  with  his  father  in  his  Indian  agency,  in  that  quarter, 
in  1756-'8 ;  and,  it  seems,  succeeded  to  the  office  after  his  father's 
death.  We  trace  him,  from  1786  to  1794,  as  General  Gist,  of 
Buckingham  county,  Virginia ;  within  which  period  he  was  several 
times  in  Fayette  county,  on  business  with  Judge  Meason.* 

It  may  be  that  we  have  not  done  full  justice  to  Col.  Nathaniel 
Gist's  Eevolutiouary  services,  from  our  inability  to  discriminate 
between  him  and  his  Baltimore  relative,  who  also  bore  the  rank 
and  designation  of  "Col.  Gist"  until  January,  1779. 


5  From  a  letter  of  Benjamin  Sharp,  in  II.  American  Pioneer,  237,  dated  Warren  county, 
Missouri,  March  3, 1843,  we  take  the  following;  -which  gives  some  light  upon  the  history 
of  the  Gists : — 

"  In  the  year  1776,  he  [Col.  Nathaniel  Gist]  was  the  British  Superintendent  of  the 
Southern  Indians,  and  was  then  in  the  Cherokee  nation.  And  when  Col.  Christian  car- 
ried his  expedition  into  the  Indian  country,  he  surrendered  himself  to  him ;  and  although 
the  inhabitants  were  so  exasperated  at  him  that  almost  every  one  that  mentioned  his 
name  wotild  threaten  his  life,  yet  Christian  conveyed  him  through  the  frontier  settle- 
ments unmolested  ;  and  he  went  on  to  head-quarters  to  General  Washington,  where,  I 
suppose,  their  former  friendship  was  revived.  He  became  a  zealous  Whig,  and  obtained, 
through  the  General's  influence,  as  was  supposed,  a  Colonel's  commission  in  the  Con- 
tinental army,  and  served  with  reputation  during  the  war.  He  afterwards  settled  in 
Kentucky,  where  he  died  not  many  years  ago.  I  well  recollect  of  the  friends  of  Gen. 
Jackson  boasting  that  a  luxuriant  young  hickory  had  sprung  out  of  his  grave,  in  honor 
of  old  hickory  face,  the  hero  of  New  Orleans.  One  of  his  uncles,  also  a  Col.  Nathaniel 
Gist  [Mordecai?]  was  uncle  to  my  wife  by  marriage;  and  Ms  youuger  brother  [Query — 
the  uncle's  or  the  nephew's?]  Richard  Gist,  lived  a  close  neighbor  to  my  father  in  1780, 
and  went  on  the  expedition  to  King's  Mountain,  and  fell  there,  within  twenty -five  or 
thirty  steps  of  the  British  lines,  of  which  I  am  yet  a  living  witness." 


118  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 


COL.   WILLIAM   CRAWFORD 

"Was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  we  believe  of  Berkeley  county. 
He  was  a  surveyor,  and  in  that  pursuit  had  early  in  life  become 
acquainted  with  Washington,  when  on  some  of  his  surveying 
excursions  into  that  the  then  frontier  part  of  Virginia.  Crawford 
was  a  Virginia  captain  in  Forbes'  army  against  the  French  and 
Indians  at  Fort  Du  Quesne,  in  1758 ;  and  in  that  expedition  behaved 
so  well  as  to  gain  largely  upon  the  confidence  of  Washington,  who 
was  ever  afterwards  his  steadfast  friend.^  After  that  signal  event, 
we  lose  sight  of  him  until  1767,  when  he  came  into  and  settled  in 
what  is  now  Fayette  county — then  Bedford,  or,  as  he  supposed. 
West  Augusta  county,  Virginia.  He  fixed  his  abode  on  Brad- 
dock's  road,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Youghiogheny  river,  a 
little  below  Wew  Haven.  The  place  was  then,  and  long  afterwards, 
known  as  Stewart's  Crossings.  Here  he  continued  to  reside  until 
his  tragical  death.  We  fix  1767  as  the  date  of  his  settlement  from 
two  pieces  of  evidence.  The  one  is  an  account  of  his  against  one 
James  McKee,  which  his  executors  sued  on  in  Fayette  county 
Court,  in  1785,  which  account  begins  in  1767.  The  other  is  a 
letter  from  Washington  to  him,  dated  Sept.  21,  1767,^  requesting 
him  to  survey  lands  for  him  in  this  country.  It  has  been  said, 
however,  that  he  did  not  remove  his  family  until  1768,  which  is 
probable.  His  wife,  Hannah,  was  a  sister  of  John  Vance,  the 
father  of  Moses  Vance,  of  Tyrone  township.  He  had  a  brother, 
Valentine  Crawford,  who  figured  to  some  extent  in  these  parts  in 
the  Boundary  troubles.^  Colonels  John  and  Richard  Stevenson 
were  his  half-brothers.  Col.  Crawford  had,  we  believe,  but  one 
son,  John,  and  two  daughters,  Ophelia,  wife  of  William  McCormick, 
and  Sarah,  who  married  Major  Wm.  Harrison,  and,  after  his  death, 
became  the  wife  of  Major  Uriah  Springer.  She  left  issue  by  both 
marriages.  Mrs.  McCormick  also  left  children.  But  it  is  said 
that  few  of  these  descendants  of  Col.  Crawford  inherit  his  energies, 


^  He  accompanied  Washington  on  bis  land  tour,  down  the  Ohio  to  Kenhawa,  in  1770. 

^  See  this  letter  in  full  in  the  sketch  entitled :   "Washington  in  Fayette." 

*  Valentine  Crawford,  styled  Colonel,  owned  land  in  Bullskin  township,  which,  about 

1784,  was  sold  by  the  Sheriff  of  Westmoreland  to  Col.  Isaac  Meason.     He  was  dead  in 

1785,  and  John  Minter  was  his  administrator.  In  1773  he  resided  in  Frederick  county, 
Maryland.  The  land  of  John  Gaddis,  Esq.,  now  his  son,  Jacob  Gaddis,  above  'Sock, 
was  held  originally  by  George  Paull,  Jr.,  in  right  of  Valentine  Crawford. 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    WILLIAM    CRAWFORD.  119 

either  physical  or  mental.  The  reader  will  remember  that  Major 
Harrison,  William  Crawford,  Jr.,  (son  of  Valentine,  we  presnme,) 
and  Major  William  Rosse,  another  nephew  of  Col.  Crawford,  lost 
their  lives  in  Crawford's  campaign,  while  John,  the  son,  escaped. 
He,  a  few  years  afterwards,  sold  his  land  to  Col.  Isaac  Meason,  and 
settled  near  the  mouth  of  Brush  Creek,  on  the  Ohio  river,  where 
he  died. 

It  appears  from  the  account  above  referred  to,  and  other  evidence, 
that  when  Capt.  Crawford  first  came  into  this  region,  he,  as  well 
as  Valentine,  were  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade,  a  pursuit  very 
common  to  our  early  settlers.  lie  also  exercised,  to  a  limited 
extent,  his  vocation  of  surveyor,  ^nd  in  that  capacity  made  numerous 
unofficial  surveys  for  Washington  and  his  brothers  Samuel  and 
John  Augustine,  and  his  relative,  Lund  Washington,  as  well  as  for 
others,  —  even  before  the  lands  were  bought  from  the  Indians. 
The  object  was  to  acquire  Virginia  rights.  The  captain  also  took 
up  several  valuable  tracts  for  himself,  in  the  vicinity  of  Stewart's 
Crossings,  but  none  of  them,  we  believe,  in  his  own  name.  The 
home  tract,  at  the  Crossings,  is  in  the  name  of  his  son  John, — 
others  are  in  the  names  of  Benjamin  Harrison,*  Wm.  Harrison, 
Battle  Harrison,  Lawrence  Harrison,  Jr.,  &c.  He  owned  other 
lands  by  purchase  from  the  original  settlers. 

Upon  the  erection  of  Bedford  county,  in  1771,  Capt.  Crawford 
was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace.  His  appointment  was 
renewed  after  the  erection  of  Westmoreland,  in  1773.  He  was 
Presiding  Justice  of  the  Courts  of  that  county,  when  his  commis- 
sions were  revoked  in  January,  1775,  for  the  reasons  noticed  in 
our  sketch  of  the  "Boundary  Controversy," — he  having  become  a 
very  active  and  somewhat  indiscreet  Virginia  partizan  against  the 
Penn  Government.  After  Virginia  had,  in  1776,  undertaken  to 
parcel  out  the  disputed  territory  into  counties,  and  established 
land  offices  within  it,  Capt.  Crawford  was  appointed  the  land 
officer,  or  surveyor  of  Yohogania  county,  which  office  he  held 
during  the  Revolution  and  until  Virginia  surrendered  her  pre- 
tensions, in  1779-'80. 

Crawford  was  fitted  by  nature  to  be  a  soldier  and  a  leader. 
Ambitious,  cool  and  brave,  he  possessed  that  peculiar  courage  and 


*  Tbe  ancestor  of  this  Harrison  family  was  Lawrence  Harrison,  who  owned  the  tract 
of  land  adjoining  the  Crawford  lands,  and  which  is  now  owned  by  Daniel  Rogers  and 
James  Blackstone,  and  perhaps  others.  His  daughter,  Catharine,  was  the  wife  of  Hon. 
Isaac  ileason,  the  elder,  of  Mount  Braddock. 


120  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD,  [CH.  VII, 

sldll  which  is  adapted  to  Indian  or  border  warfare.  His  ardent 
love  of  adventure  and  figlit,  got  the  better  of  his  prudence  and 
Pennsylvania  loyalty  in  the  controversy  with  Virginia.  In  1774, 
while  a  sworn  peace  officer  of  Pennsylvania,  he,  contrary  to  the 
Penn  policy,  led  two  bodies  of  troops  down  the  Ohio,  in  Dunmore's 
war,  and,  for  a  while,  commanded  at  "Wheeling.  He,  however, 
had  no  fighting  to  do. 

"We  find  him  taking  part,  as  a  good  American  patriot,  in  the 
first  Revolutionary  meeting  held  at  Fort  Pitt,  in  May,  1775,  along 
with  Smith,  Wilson  and  others,  to  v/hora,  as  firm  adherents  to 
Pennsylvania  in  the  recent  conflict,  he  had  been  actively  opposed. 

Soon  after  this  he  seems  to  have  entered  the  military  service  of 
Virginia.  In  February,  1776,  he  is  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  of 
the  Fifth  Regiment  of  the  forces  of  that  colony;  and  in  September 
following  we  find  him  with  his  regiment  at  "Williamsburg,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  Old  Dominion.  In  October,  1776,  he  became 
Colonel  of  the  Seventh  Virginia  Regiment.  In  February,  1777, 
Congress  appropriated  ^20,000,  "to  be  paid  to  Col.  William 
Crawford  for  raising  and  equipping  his  regiment,  which  is  part  of 
the  Virginia  new  levies."  In  a  letter  from  the  Colonel  to  Gen. 
Washington,  dated  at  Williamsburg,  in  September,  1776,  he 
expresses  his  apprehension  of  Indian  troubles  about  Fort  Pitt, 
and  says  if  they  arise  he  will  be  sent  there.  This  expectation  was 
not  realized  until  IlTovember,  1777,  when  Congress  "Resolved  that 
Gen.  Washington  be  requested  to  send  Col.  Wm.  Crawford  to 
Pittsburgh  to  take  the  command,  under  Brig.  Gen.  Hand,  of  the 
Continental  troops  and  militia  in  the  Western  Department."  He 
seems  then  to  have  been  with  Gen.  Washington  at  his  Head- 
Quarters  at  Whitemarsh,  near  Philadelphia  ;  and  Congress  being 
in  session  at  York,  Pa.,  the  colonel  repaired  thither  to  receive  his 
instructions,  and  soon  after  departed  for  the  scene  of  his  command. 
How  long  he  held  it,  and  what  he  did,  are  involved  in  obscurity. 
The  only  trace  we  find  is,  that  in  1778,  he  built  a  fort  on  the 
Allegheny,  some  sixteen  miles  above  Pittsburgh,  called  Fort 
Crawford;  and  Mr.  Sparks,  in  a  note  to  IL  Sparks'  W^ashington, 
o46,  says  he  took  command  of  the  regiment  in  May,  1778.  It  is 
probable  that  the  regiment  referred  to  was  one  of  the  two  which 
Congress,  early  in  that  year,  ordered  to  be  raised  on  the  frontiers 
of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  for  their  defence  ;  and  that  the 
regiment  of  "Virginia  new  levies,"  to  which  the  $20,000  had 
been  appropriated,  was  assigned  to  some  other  officer. 

The  dangers  from  Indian  aggression  having  subsided,  or  being 


en.  VII.]  COL.    WILLIAM    CRAWFORD.  121 

otherwise  provided  against,  it  seems  that  Col.  Crawford,  in  1779, 
returned  home  and  resumed  his  duties  as  laud  officer  of  Virginia 
for  Yohogania  county,  in  which  the  sittings  of  the  Virginia  Com- 
missioners at  Coxe's  Fort  and  Redstone  Old  Fort,  in  the  latter 
part  of  that  year  and  beginning  of  1780,  gave  him  ample  employ- 
ment. We  believe  he  never  again  engaged  in  military  service 
until  he  went  into  the  ill-fated  campaign  of  1782,  which  cost  him 
his  life. 

As  a  distinct  military  enterprise,  Crawford's  Oampaign  belongs 
to  another  sketch,^  to  which  we  refer  the  reader.  Our  purpose 
here  is  limited  to  its  fatal  personal  relations  to  its  renowned 
commander. 

Whether  from  a  presentiment  of  his  untimely  end,  or  from  the 
dictates  of  that  prudence  which  Washington  evinced  in  like  cir- 
cumstances. Col.  Crawford,  before  setting  out  in  the  perilous 
march,  made  his  last  will,''  and  disposed  of  his  estate  among  his 
children.  And  on  the  14th  of  May,  1782,  three  or  four  days  before 
leaving  home,  he  and  wife,  for  the  consideration  of  natural  love 
and  affection,  and  five  shillings,  conveyed  to  his  son-in-law,  who 
accompanied  him.  Major  William  Harrison,  sixty-eight  acres  of 
land  on  the  Yough  river,  adjoining  where  said  Harrison  then  lived. 
The  deed  is  acknowledged  the  same  day  before  Providence  Mountz, 
Esq.,  and  appended  to  it  is  a  curious  memorandum.,  in  imitation 
of  the  old  English  feudal  feoffment, — that  on  the  day  of  the  date 
thereof,  full  and  peaceable  possession  of  said  land  being  taken  and 
had  by  said  Crawford,  the  same  was  by  him,  then  and  there,  in 
due  form,  by  turf  and  twig,  delivered  to  said  Harrison,  and  the  five 
shillings  thereupon  paid :  —  Test :  Providence  Mountz  and  P. 
Mountz,  Jr.  Col.  Crawford,  however,  left  his  private  afifairs  in  a 
very  unsettled  condition,  as  he  passed  through  the  excitements  and 
vicissitudes  of  the  later  years  of  his  life ;  the  necessary  result  of 
which  was,  that  his  estate,  soon  after  his  death,  was  swept  away 
from  his  family  by  a  flood  of  claims,  some  of  which,  doubtless,  had 
no  just  foundation.  His  widow  was  sustained  for  many  years  by 
a  pension. 

In  another  sketch,  already  referred  to,  the  reader  may  acquaint 
himself  with  the  most  prominent  incidents  of  the  march  and  of  the 
disastrous  encounter  of  the  5th  of  June,  1782,  on  the  plains  of 


5  See  "Revolutionary  and  Indian  wars," — Chap.  X. 

fi  His  -will,  recorded  in  Westmoreland  county,  bears  date  May  16,  1782. 


122  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

Sandusky,  where  Col.  Crawford  "fought  his  last  battle,"— and  we 
believe  his  first  one  also. 

The  Colonel  headed  the  retreat  of  the  main  body  of  his  discom- 
fited' band.  To  assure  himself  whether  or  not  his  son  and  other 
relatives  were  safe,  he  stopped  and  went  back,  or  let  the  army  pass 
him,  to  make  inquiry.  Not  finding  them,  he  left  the  line  of 
retreat  to  make  further  search — but  in  vain.  And  now,  so  rapidly 
had  the  army  moved,  and  so  jaded  was  his  horse,  that  he  was 
unable  to  overtake  it.  This  separation  from  his  command  cost 
him  his  life,  as  a  sacrifice  to  parental  solicitude. 

He  soon  fell  in  company  with  Dr.  Knight,  the  surgeon  of  the 
regiment,  and  two  others,  and  guided  by  the  stars  they  traveled 
all  night  in  varied  directions  to  elude  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy. 
On  the  next  day  they  were  joined  by  four  others,  of  whom  were 
Capt.  John  Biggs  and  Lieut.  Ashley,  the  latter  badly  wounded. 
These  eight  now  held  together,  and  on  the  second  night  of  the 
flight  ventured  to  encamp.  The  next  day  they  came  to  the  path 
by  which  the  army  had  advanced ;  and  a  council  was  held  as  to 
whether  it  would  be  safer  to  pursue  it,  or  to  continue  their  course 
through  the  woods.  The  Colonel's  opinion  decided  them  to  keep 
the  open  path.  A  line  of  march  was  formed,  with  Crawford  and 
Knight  in  front.  Biggs  and  Ashley  in  the  centre,  on  horseback, 
while  the  other  footmen  brought  up  the  rear.  "  Scarcely  had  they 
proceeded  a  mile  when  several  Indians  sprung  up  within  twenty 
yards  of  the  path,  presented  their  guns,  and  in  good  English 
ordered  them  to  stop.  Knight  sprung  behind  a  tree,  and  leveled 
his  gun  at  one  of  them.  Crawford  ordered  him  not  to  fire,  and 
the  Doctor  reluctantly  obeyed.  The  Indians  ran  up  to  Col.  Craw- 
ford in  a  friendly  manner,  shook  his  hands  and  asked  him  how  he 
did.  Biggs  and  Ashley  halted,  while  the  men  in  the  rear  took  to 
their  heels  and  escaped.  Col.  Crawford  ordered  Capt.  Biggs  to 
come  up  and  surrender,  but  the  Captain  instead  of  doing  so,  took 
aim  at  an  Indian,  fired,  and  then  he  and  Ashley  put  spurs  to  their 
horses,  and  for  the  present  escaped.  They  were  both  overtaken 
and  killed  the  next  day. 

"On  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  June,  Col.  Crawford,  Dr.  Knight 
and  nine  other  prisoners,  were  conducted  by  seventeen  Indians  to 
the  old  Sandusky  town,  about  thirty-three  miles  distant.  They 
were  all  blacked  by  Pipe,  a  Delaware  chief,  who  led  the  captors, 
and  the  other  nine  were  marched  ahead  of  Crawford  and  Knight. 
Four  of  the  prisoners  were  tomahawked  and  scalped  on  the  way 
at  different  places,  and  when  the  other  five  arrived  at  the  town> 


CH.  VII.]  COL.   WILLIAM   CRAWFORD.  123 

the  boys  aud  squaws  fell  upon  them  and  tomahawked  them  in  a 
moment." 

We  now  approach  the  "last  scene  of  all,  which  ends  this  strange 
eventful  history,"  aud  we  borrow  the  eloquent  description  of  it  by 
Captain  McClung.' 

"  As  soon  as  the  Colonel  arrived  they  surrounded  him,  stripped 
him  naked  and  compelled  him  to  sit  on  the  ground  near  a  large 
fire,  around  which  were  about  thirty  warriors,  and  more  than 
double  that  number  of  squaws  and  boys.  They  then  fell  upon  him 
and  beat  him  severely  with  their  fists  and  sticks.  In  a  few  minutes 
a  large  stake  was  fixed  in  the  ground  and  piles  of  hickory  poles, 
about  twelve  feet  long,  were  spread  around  it.  Col.  Crawford's 
hands  were  then  tied  behind  his  back ;  a  strong  rope  was  produced, 
one  end  of  which  was  fastened  to  the  ligature  between  his  wrists, 
and  the  other  tied  to  the  bottom  of  the  stake.  The  rope  was  long 
enough  to  permit  him  to  walk  round  the  stake  several  times  and 
then  return.  Fire  was  then  applied  to  the  hickory  poles,  which 
lay  in  piles  at  the  distance  of  several  yards  from  the  stake. 

"  The  Colonel  observing  these  terrible  preparations,  called  to 
the  noted  Simon  Girty,  who  'sat  on  horseback  at  a  few  yards 
distance  from  the  fire,  and  asked  if  the  Indians  were  going  to  burn 
him.  Girty  very  coolly  replied  in  the  afiirmative.  The  Colonel 
heard  this  with  firmness,  merely  observing  that  he  would  try  and 
bear  it  with  fortitude.  When  the  hickory  poles  had  been  burnt 
asunder  in  the  middle,  Captain  Pipe  arose  and  addressed  the  crowd 
in  a  tone  of  great  energy,  and  with  animated  gestures,  pointing 
frequently  to  the  Colonel,  who  regarded  him  with  an  appearance 
of  unrufiled  composure.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  a  loud  whoop 
burst  from  the  assembled  throng,  and  they  all  at  once  rushed  upon 
the  unfortunate  victim.  For  several  seconds  the  crowd  aud  con- 
fusion were  so  great  that  Knight  could  not  see  what  they  were 
doing ;  but  in  a  short  time  they  had  sufliciently  dispersed  to  give 
him  a  view  of  the  Colonel.  His  ears  had  been  cut  offj  and  the 
blood  was  streaming  down  each  side  of  his  face.  A  terrible  scene 
of  torture  now  commenced.  The  warriors  shot  charges  of  powder 
into  his  naked  body,  commencing  with  the  calves  of  his  legs,  and 
continuing  to  his  neck.  The  boys  snatched  the  burning  hickory 
poles  and  applied  them  to  his  flesh.     As  fast  as  he  ran  around  the 


''  See  Patterson's  "History  of  the  Back-Woods." 


124  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

stake  to  avoid  one  party  of  tormentors,  he  was  promptly  met  at 
every  turn  by  others,  with  burning  poles  and  red-hot  irons  ^nd  rifles 
loaded  with  powder  only ;  so  that  in  a  few  minutes  nearly  one 
hundred  charges  of  powder  had  been  shot  into  his  body,  which 
had  become  black  and  blistered  in  a  dreadful  degree.  The  squaws 
would  take  up  quantities  of  coals  and  hot  ashes  and  throw  them 
upon  his  body,  so  that  in  a  few  minutes  he  had  nothing  but  fire  to 
walk  upon. 

"In  this  extremity  of  his  agony  the  unhappy  Colonel  called 
aloud  upon  Girty,  in  tones  that  rang  through  Knight's  brain  with 
maddening  effect  —  '  Girty  !  Girty  !  shoot  me  through  the  heart ! 
Quick!  Quick!  Don't  refuse  me!!'  —  'Don't  you  see  I  have  no 
gun,  Colonel ! '  replied  the  monster,  bursting  into  a  loud  laugh  ; 
and  then  turning  to  an  Indian  beside  him,  he  uttered  some  brutal 
jests  upon  the  naked  and  miserable  appearance  of  the  prisoner.® 

"  The  terrible  scene  had  now  lasted  more  than  two  hours,  and 
Crawford  had  become  much  exhausted.  He  walked  slowly  around 
the  stake,  spoke  in  a  low  tone,  and  earnestly  besought  God  to  look 
with  compassion  upon  him  and  to  pardon  his  sins.  His  nerves 
had  lost  much  of  their  sensibility,  and  he  no  longer  shrank  from  the 
fire  brands,  with  which  they  incessantly  touched  him.  At  length 
he  sunk,  in  a  fainting  fit,  upon  his  face  and  lay  motionless. 
Instantly  an  Indian  sprung  upon  his  back,  knelt  lightly  uipon  one 
knee,  made  a  circular  incision  with  his  knife  upon  the  crown  of 
his  head,  and,  clapping  the  knife  between  his  teeth,  tore  off  the 
scalp  with  both  hands.  Scarcely  had  this  been  done,  when  a 
withered  hag  approached  with  a  board  full  of  burning  embers,  and 
poured  them  upon  the  crown  of  his  head,  now  laid  bare  to  the 
bone.  The  Colonel  groaned  deeply,  rose  and  again  walked  slowly 
around  the  stake  !  —  But  why  continue  a  description  so  horrible  ? 
JTature  at  length  could  endure  no  more,  and  at  a  late  hour  in  the 


^  Girty's  conduct  in  this  savage  scene  is  placed  in  a  very  different  light  by  Mr. 
McCutchen's  statement,  appended  to  our  subsequent  sketch  of  Crawford's  campaign,  in 
" Ptevolutionary  and  Indian  wars,"  which  see.  A  few  years  before  this  tragedy,  Craw- 
ford and  Girty  were  acting  in  unison  in  their  resistance  of  Pennsylvania  rule,  in  the 
Boundary  Controversy.  It  is  said  that  Girty  was  a  frequent  guest  at  Capt.  Crawford's 
hospitable  cabin,  and  aspired  to  a  Captaincy  in  the  ^evolutionin-y  war,  but  was  disap- 
pointed, and  thereupon  turned  Tory.  He  had  before  been  made  an  Indian  Chief  of  the 
Senecas.  Another  story  is  that  he  blamed  Crawford  for  his  failure  to  receive  a  com- 
mand in  the  American  forces.  And  there  is  yet  another  silly  tale  that  he  aspired  to  the 
hand  of  one  of  Crawford's  daughters,  and  was  denied. 


en.  VII.]  COL.    WILLIAM    CRAWFORD.  125 

night  lie   was   released   by   death   from   the   hands    of    his    tor- 
mentors."® 

It  is  believed  that  Major  Harrison,  Major  Eosse  and  Ensign 
Wm.  Crawford,  Jr.,  being  officers  and  known  to  some  of  the 
Indians,  met  a  like  fiery  end,  at  other  places.  What  a  gorge  of 
infernal  revelry  did  the  Crawford  family  afford  to  the  infuriated 
savages.  Of  the  five,  John,  the  son,  only  escaped,  to  mourn  their 
untimely  end  with  his  widowed  mother  and  sister.  For  a  while 
the  wild  grass  of  the  prairie  refused  to  grow  upon  their  unurned 
ashes  ;  but  over  their  undug  graves  often  since  hath  "  the  peaceful 
harvest  smiled." 

"  Doctor  Knight  was  doomed  to  be  burnt  at  a  Shawnese  town, 
about  forty  miles  distant  from  Sandusky,  and  was  committed  to 
the  care  of  a  young  Indian  to  be  taken  there.  The  first  day  they 
ti'aveled  about  twenty-five  miles  and  encamped  for  the  night.  In 
the  morning,  the  gnats  being  very  troublesome,  the  Doctor 
requested  the  Indian  to  untie  him  that  he  might  help  him  to  make 
a  fire  to  keep  them  off.  With  this  request  the  Indian  complied. 
While  the  Indian  was  on  his  knees  and  elbows  blowing  the  fire, 
the  Doctor  caught  up  the  end  of  a  stick  which  had  been  burned  in 
two,  with  which  he  struck  the  Indian  on  the  head,  so  as  to  knock 
him  forward  into  the  fire.  Rising  up  instantly,  he  ran  off  with 
great  rapidity,  howling  most  piteously.  Knight  seized  the  Indian's 
rifle  and  pursued  him,  but  drawing  back  the  cock  too  violently  he 
broke  the  mainspring,  and  relinquished  the  pursuit.  The  Doctor 
then  took  to  the  woods,  and  after  many  perils  by  land  and  water, 
reached  Fort  Mcintosh  [Beaver]  on  the  twenty-second  day,  nearly 
famished.  During  his  journey  he  subsisted  on  young  birds,  roots 
and  berries."  He  recruited  a  little  strength  and  clothing  at  the 
fort,  and  then  came  home.  He  owed  his  life — and  we  the  tale  of 
Crawford's  tortures — to  the  simple  credulity  of  his  young  Indian 
bailiff".^" 


"  The  widow  of  CoL  Crawford  used  to  relate  in  addition  to  what  is  here  stated,  that 
the  Indians  stuck  his  body  full  of  dry,  sharp  sticks,  until  he  looked  like  a  porcupine,  and 
after  he  was  tied  to  the  stake  they  first  set  fire  to  these  sticks,  and  laughed  to  see  how 
they  blazed  and  crackled  around  his  naked  body. 

^^  Dr.  John  Knight  Was  a  man  of  small  size,  for  that  age  of  stalwart  men.  He  resided 
in  Bullskin  township — was  a  son-in-law  of  Col.  Richard  Stevenson  and  brother-in-law  of 
Presley  Carr  Lane.  He  removed  to  Shelby ville,  Ky.,  with  Mr.  Lane,  whose  son  John 
married  the  Doctor's  daughter.  The  same  John  Lane  was  Marshal  of  Kentucky  under 
President  Polk. 


126  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 


COL.    JAMES    PAULL. 

This  brave  and  magnanimous  old  settler,  who  was  long  spared 
to  ns  as  a  noble  specimen  of  the  men  of  the  heroic  age,  was  born  in 
Frederick,  now  Berkeley  county,  Virginia,  on  the  17th  September, 
1760.  He  died  on  the  9th  July,  1841,  aged  nearly  eighty-one  years. 
He  was  the  son  of  George  Paull,  who  removed  with  his  family  into 
what  is  now  Fayette  county,  in  1768,  and  settled  in  the  Gist 
neighborhood,  in  what  is  now  Dunbar  township,  on  the  land  where 
his  son,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  ever  afterwards  resided,  and  on 
part  of  which  his  son,  Joseph  Paull,  now  resides.  He  became  the 
owner  there  of  two  or  three  contiguous  tracts  of  laud,  and  of 
several  other  tracts  elsewhere  in  the  county. 

Col.  Paull  early  in  life  evinced  qualities  of  heart  and  soul  calcu- 
lated to  render  him  conspicuous  ;  added  to  which  was  a  physical 
constitution  of  the  hardiest  kind.  Throughout  his  long  life,  his 
bravery  and  patriotism,  like  his  generosity,  knew  no  limits.  He ' 
loved  enterprise  and  adventure  as  he  loved  his  friends,  and  shunned 
no  service  or  dangers  to  which  they  called  him.  He  came  to 
manhood  just  when  such  men  were  needed. 

His  military  services^  began  ere  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
About  the  first  of  August,  1778,  he  was  drafted  to  serve  a  month's 
duty  in  guarding  the  Continental  stores  at  Fort  Burd  (Brownsville) 
— an  easy  service,  which  consisted  in  fishing  and  swimming  all 
day,  and  taking  turns  to  stand  sentry  at  night.  Pobert  McGlaugh- 
lin,  to  whom  we  have  elsewhere  referred,  was  his  commanding 
ofiicer. 

About  the  first  of  May,  1781,  (having,  in  the  meantime,  gone 
frequently  on  occasional  brief  tours  of  service  to  the  Washington 
and  Westmoreland  frontiers)  he,  with  a  commission  as  First  Lieu- 
tenant, signed  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  Governor  of  Virginia,  was 
ordered  by  Col.  George  Rogers  Clarke,  to  recruit  in  Westmoreland 
(or  Augusta)  county,  for  the  projected  campaign  of  that  year 
against  Detroit,  then  held  by  the  British  and  Tories.  His  captain 
was  Benjamin  Whaley,  father  of  Captain  James  Whaley,  now  of 
Uniontown,  and  an  officer  of  distinction  in  the  war  of  1812.  A 
company  was  raised,  who,  taking  boat  at  Elizabethtown,  on  the 


^  For  most  of  these,  down  to  the  end  of  the  Eevolution,  in  1783,  vre  rely  upon  Colonel 
PauU's  ovra  statement,  ivhen  he  applied  for  a  pension  under  the  act  of  June,  1832.  His 
other  services  we  gather  from  other  reliable  sources. 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    JAMES    PAULL.  127 

Monongahela,  floated  down  to  the  mouth  of  Chartiers,  where  they 
halted  for  reinforcements.  At  Pittsburgh  they  were  joined  by 
Capt.  Isaac  Craig's  artillery.  They  soon  proceeded,  with  other 
troops,  to  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  now  Louisville,  from  which  the 
expedition  known  as  Clarke's  Campaign  was  to  start.  He  was 
attached  to  the  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Crockett ;  and  among 
the  other  officers  were  Col.  Hardin,  Col.  Morgan  and  Major  Lowder, 
of  Virginia,  the  last  of  whom  deserted  at  Blannerhasset's  Island. 
They  arrived  at  the  falls  in  August,  and  went  into  garrison.  The 
requisite  forces  for  the  expedition  having  failed  to  assemble,  it  was 
abandoned.  And  now  the  trouble  was  to  get  home.  He  returned, 
with  about  one  hundred  others,  through  the  wilderness  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Virginia,  to  Morgantown,  where  the  Colonel — Zachariah 
(or  Zachwell)  Morgan,  resided.  His  return  was  a  labor  of  more 
than  two  months,  amid  dangers  seen  and  unseen,  and  privations 
innumerable.     Paull  arrived  home  in  December. 

Early  in  the  ensuing  April  (1782)  he  was  again  drafted  for  a 
month's  frontier  duty  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  Creek  (Myers') 
some  nine  miles  above  Pittsburgh,  which  he  served  as  a  private, 
under  Captain  Joseph  Beckett,  of  the  Forks  of  -Yough  settle- 
ment. 

Ko  sooner  was  this  brief  and  inglorious  month  of  service  ended, 
than,  determined  to  encounter  the  perils  of  Indian  warfare,  he 
volunteered  as  a  private  in  Crawford's  Campaign  of  June,  1782 — 
the  most  prominent  incidents  and  horrors  of  which  are  elsewhere 
detailed  in  these  sketches.  His  captain  was  John  Biggs,  Lieuten- 
ant Edward  Stewart,  Ensign  William  Crawford,  Jr.,  nephew  of  the 
Colonel — all  of  whom  fell  a  prey  to  the  tortures  or  butcheries  of 
the  savages.  Paull  was  in  the  engagement  of  the  5th  of  June,  on 
the  Sandusky  prairie.  In  the  retreat,  or  flight,  he  went  in  a  squad, 
with  five  or  six  others.  They  were  soon  surprised,  and  all,  save 
Paull,  were  killed,  or  made  prisoners.  At  the  Mingo  encampment, 
Paull  had  the  misfortune  to  burn  one  of  his  feet  severely,  and  was 
lame  throughout  the  march  and  retreat.  He  lost  his  horse  in 
attempting  to  pass  the  swamp  near  the  battle  ground.  "When  sur- 
prised in  the  flight  he  was  very  lame,  and  barefoot.  The  man  at 
his  side,  on  whom  he  was  leaning  for  assistance,  was  shot  down. 
Paull  instantly  fled  from  the  path  into  the  woods — an  Indian  after 
him.  He  quickly  came  to  a  steep,  blufi*  bank  of  a  creek,  down 
which  he  instinctively  leaped,  gun  in  hand.  His  pursuer  declined 
the  leap,  and  with  a  yell  gave  up  the  pursuit.  In  the  descent  he 
hurt  his  lame  foot  badly ;  but  having  bound  it  up  with  part  of  the 


128  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

ragged  nether  extremities  of  his  pantaloons,  he  wandered  on ;  and 
by  betaking  himself  to  fallen  trees  and  crossing  his  trail  occasion- 
ally, he  escaped  further  molestation.  For  two  days,  like  Doctor 
Knight,  he  'subsisted  on  roots,  bark,  leaves,  berries  and  young 
birds — very  fresh  fare,  the  Colonel  used  to  say,  but  wholesome. 
He  had  saved  his  gun  and  some  ammunition,  but  he  was  afraid  to 
discharge  it,  lest  its  report  might  be  heard  by  the  Indians,  and  then 
all  would  be  over  with  him.  He  was  very  lame,  and  had  become 
very  weak.  Having  taken  some  rest,  he  rose  with  the  dawn  and 
resumed  his  wanderings.  Being  very  hungry,  and  seeing  a  deer 
cross  his  path,  he  shot  it.  But  he  had  lost  his  knife,  and  the  only 
device  he  could  adopt  by  which  to  open  and  remove  part  of  the 
skin  and  get  at  some  of  the  flesh,  was  to  cut  it  with  his  gun  flint 
This  he  did,  and  having  got  a  good  piece  of  the  round  out,  he 
went  on,  eating  it  raw  as  he  traveled.  At  length  he  came  to  the 
Ohio,  near  Wheeling.^  The  river  was  too  high  and  he  too  feeble 
to  swim  it.  He  therefore  constructed  a  raft,  with  drift  logs  and 
grape  vine,  launched  it,  and  thus  got  out  of  the  Indian  country. 
Having  landed  on  the  southern  shore,  he  caught  an  old  horse  which 
he  found  wandering  about  the  river  hills,  and  bestrode  him.  After 
a  little  equestrian  recreation,  he  got  into  a  path  which  led  him  to  a 
settler's  cabin.  Here  he  was  hospitably  received  and  for  some 
days  entertained.  And  after  regaining  some  strength  and  clothes, 
the  settler  kindly  sent  a  boy  and  horse  to  help  him  home. 

In  1784  or  '85  he  commanded  a  company  of  scouts  or  rangers, 
on  a  tour  to  Ryersou's  station,  on  the  western  frontier  of,  now 
Greene  county. 

In  1790  he  served  with  honor,  and  in  the  most  dangerous  position, 
as  a  Major  of  Pennsylvania  Militia  in  Gen.  Harmar's  Campaign 
against  the  Indians  at  the  head  of  the  Maumee,  as  elsewhere  rela- 
ted in  a  subsequent  sketch,  but  we  are  unable  to  give  any  further 
particulars  of  this  important  service.  History  and  tradition  both 
accord  to  Major  Paull,  in  this  perilous  march  and  series  of  encoun- 
ters, the  character  of  a  brave  and  good  officer,  although  most  of 
the  troops  belonging  to  his  command  have  been  sadly  traduced. 

With  Harmar's  Campaign  he,  we  believe,  ended  his  soldiering, 
except  that  in  after  life  he  was  elected  colonel  of  a  regiment  on 


^  It  is  related  that  Paull  struck  the  Ohio  opposite  Wheeling  Island  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, in  a  fog  so  dense  as  to  prevent  his  seeing  the  Island.  He  discovered  which  -way  the 
current  ran,  and  wandered  up  the  river  to  the  mouth  of  Short  creek,  where  he  made  his 
raft  and  crossed. 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    JAMES    PAULL.  129 

the  peace  establishment.  Having  married,  tie  settled  down  to  the 
pursuits  of  domestic  and  agricultural  life,  in  which  he  was  eminently 
successful.  He  raised  a  large  and  highly  respectable  family — seven 
sons,  James,  George,^  John,  Archibald,  Thomas,  William  and 
Joseph,  and  one  daughter,  Martha,  wife  of  William  Walker.  He 
had  some  concern  in  the  iron  manufacture,  and  was  occasionally, 
in  middle  life,  a  down-the-river  trader.  But  he  was  a  lover  of 
home,  its  quiet  cares  and  enjoyments.  He  was  never  ambitious  of 
office.  The  only  one  he  ever  held,  or  sought,  in  civil  life,  was  that 
of  Sheriff  of  the  county,  which  he  tilled  from  1793  to  '96,  with 
credit  and  success.  This  gave  him  something  to  do  with  the 
"  Whiskey  Boys,"  and  he  had  to  hang  John  McFall  for  the  murder 
of  John  Chadwick.* 

We  have  said  that  Col.  Paull  was  generous  and  devoted  to  his 
friends.  Of  this  w^e  could  give  many  illustrations.  One  must 
suffice.  Having  become  heavily  bound  for  a  friend,  he  had  to  sell 
some  cherished  lands  in  the  West  to  enable  him  to  pay  the  liability. 
At  length  it  was  paid.  Thereupon  a  more  cautious  friend  remarked 
to  him,  "I  suppose.  Colonel,  you  are  now  cured  of  endorsing." 
"  jSTo,"  he  replied  quickly,  "I  will  endorse  for  my  friends  when  I 
please." 

Such  was  Col.  James  Paull,  a  man  of  heroic  and  generous  im- 
pulses, of  integrity  and  truth  ;  which  he  evinced  by  many  deeds 
and  few  words. 


*  George  Paull  was  Colonel  of  the  27th  Regiment  U.  S.  Infantry  (Ohio  troops)  in  the 
war  of  1812,  and  served  bravely  under  Gen.  Harrison  in  the  Northwest  army. 

4  This  was  the  only  case  of  capital  punishment  ever  executed  in  Fayette  county.  The 
killing  was  on  the  10th  November,  1704.  Chadwick  kept  the  old  White  Horse  tavern 
where  James  Hughes  now  lives,  about  a  mile  northeast  of  Brownfieldtown.  McFall 
was  drunk,  and  his  first  purpose  was  to  kill  one  Martin  Myers,  a  constable,  but  Chadwick 
interfering,  and  having  shut  the  door  on  him,  he  fell  on  him  and  beat  him  with  a  club, 
from  which  he  died  two  days  afterwards.  McFall,  after  conviction,  broke  jail  and 
escaped,  and  was  on  his  way  to  Lancaster  to  get  a  pardon,  when  he  was  apprehended  at 
Hagerstown.  He  was  hung  on  land  of  Gen.  Douglass,  in  the  woods  between  the  old 
Zadok  Springer  mansion  and  Wm.  Crawford's,  about  a  mile  north  of  the  court  house. 
The  place  is  yet  known  as  the  "gallows  field."  Col.  Paull  did  not  hang  him  himself, 
but  employed  one  Edward  Bell  as  executioner — father  of  the  late  Edward  Bell.  See  the 
case  reported  in  Addison's  Reports,  255. 

9 


130  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 


COL.    GEORGE   WILSON. 

Our  materials  for  a  memoir  of  this  ancient  worthy  are  very 
scanty,  being  little  more  than  what  appears  elsewhere  in  these 
sketches.  He  was  a  Virginian,  from  the  town  or  vicinity  of  Staun- 
ton, Augusta  county,  in  which  he  owned  property ;  also  in  Romney, 
Hampshire  county.  He  had  evidently  been  a  military  officer  of 
the  King,  in  that  colony,  doubtless  in  the  French  war.  The  proof 
of  this  is,  that  in  the  inventory  of  his  goods  and  chattels  appraised 
and  filed  in  our  Register's  ofiice,  are  a  scarlet  coat,  breeches  and  vest, 
valued  at  £15,  besides  an  American  or  Revolutionary  "  Regimental 
coat,"  valued  at<£40,  and  plush  breeches  and  vest  at  X15.  Another 
proof  is  in  one  of  his  own  letters  to  Major  Luke  Collins,  copied  in 
part  in  our  "Boundary  Controversy,"  wherein  he  says — "we  had 
the  happiness  of  joining  in  sentiment  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia, 
and  as  I  may  say,  even  wading  through  blood  in  supporting  the 
cause  of  our  country,  heart  in  hand."  And  in  his  previous  letter 
to  Arthur  St.  Clair,  referred  to  in  the  same  sketch,  he  says,  "I  have 
in  my  little  time  in  life  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his 
Majesty  seven  times." 

He  seems  to  have  come  into  this  country  as  early  as  1769,  and 
settled  at  the  Mouth  of  George's  creek,  becoming  the  owner  of  the 
lands  on  both  sides  of  it  for  a  considerable*  distance  up  that  stream, 
as  well  as  other  adjacent  lands,  including  JSlk  Hills,  recently  the 
home  of  J.  W,  Nicholson,  Esq.,  now  owned  by  Michael  Franks, 
and  several  other  tracts  in  this  county.  It  is  said  he  first  came  into 
this  region  at  the  head  of  a  party  to  reclaim  some  white  prisoners 
from  the  Indians,  in  which  he  succeeded  ;  and  being  pleased  with 
the  country  about  the  mouths  of  Cheat  and  George's  creek,  soon 
afterwards  returned  and  took  up  his  residence. 

Col.  AVilson  figured  conspicuously  as  an  active  and  influential 
Pennsylvanian  in  the  Boundary  Controversy,  as  is  apparent  from 
our  sketch  of  that  important  dispute.  This  is  the  more  remarkable, 
as  he  was  by  nativity,  interest,  and  family  associations,  a  Virginian. 
When  Westmoreland  county  was  erected,  in  1773,  he  was  appointed 
Toy  the  Penn  Assembly  one  of  the  trustees  for  selecting  a  county  seat; 
and  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

When  the  eighth  Pennsylvania  Regiment  of  the  Line  was  formed 
at  Kittanning,  in  the  fall  of  1770,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress, 
upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention,  its 
Xieut.  Colonel — his  son  John  being  one  of  its  Captains.     He  did 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    ALEXANDER    M'CLEAN.  131 

not  live  to  distinguish  himself  in  battle;  but  died  in  Quibbletown, 
N.  J.,  near  Amboy,  early  in  April,  1777,  from  pleurisy,  brought  on 
by  exposure  and  overmarching,  and  was  buried  there.  On  the 
10th  of  September,  1776,  before  going  into  the  service,  he  made 
his  last  will,  disposing  of  his  estates — lands,  lots,  negroes,  &c., 
with  great  precision.  He  had  three  sons,  John,  William  George,^ 
and  Samuel ;  and  six  daughters,  Agnes  Humphreys,  Elizabeth 
Kincade,^  Jane,  Mary  Ann,  Sarah  and  Phebe.  Jane  was  thrice 
married — first  to  a  Mr.  Bullitt,  then  to  the  father  of  Hon.  "Wm.  G. 
Hawkins,  formerly  State  Senator  from  Greene  and  Washington, 
now  of  Allegheny  county ;  and  lastly  to  Hon.  John  Minor,  long  au 
Associate  Judge  of  Greene  county,  thereby  becoming  the  mother 
of  L.  L.  Minor,  Esq.,  of  that  county,  and  of  Mrs.  John  Crawford, 
of  Greensboro.  To  her  he  gave  the  land  now  in  Nicholson 
township,  recently  owned  by  John  and  Samuel  Ache.  We  cannot 
trace  the  other  descendants  of  the  old  Colonel. 


COL.  ALEXANDER  M'CLEAN. 

This  veteran  Surveyor,  and  Register  and  Recorder  of  Fayette 
county,  came  into  this  region  of  country  in  1769,  as  an  Assistant 
Surveyor  to  his  brothers  Archibald  and  Moses,  the  regular  Deputies 
for  this  part  of  the  Province.  The  opening  of  the  Land  Office,  on 
the  4th  of  April,  1769,  for  the  acquisition  of  lands  in  the  "  New 
Purchase,"  gave  employment  to  a  great  number  of  surveyors. 
Being  unmarried,  he  seems,  for  several  years,  to  have  changed  his 
residence  to  accommodate  his  employment.  His  earliest  local 
habitation  in  the  West  was  perhaps  in  Stony  Creek  Glades,  in 
Somerset,  then  Cumberland  county.  In  1772  we  find  him  assessed 
as  a  Single  Freeman,  in  Tyrone  township,  then  Bedford  county. 
He  was  married  in  1775,  in  the  Glades,  near  Stoystown,  to  Sarah 
Holmes,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1776,  removed  to  the    vicinity    of 


1  Elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Springhill  in  1789.  He  was  the  founder  of  New 
Geneva,  by  the  name  of  Wilson's  Port. 

^  Wife  of  Samuel  Kincade,  who  settled  just  at  the  junction  of  Cheat  and  Monongahela, 
north  side,  in  Springhill.  This  land,  with  half  the  ferry  rights,  was  devised  to 
him  by  his  father-in-law.  This  Samuel  Kincade  narrowly  escaped  being  killed  while 
with  a  party  of  Militia,  on  Ten  Mile  creek,  when  marching  to  Wheeling,  in' Dunmoi-e's 
war  in  1774.  Captain  M'Clure  commanded  the  party,  and  Kincade  was  Lieutenant. 
They  were  attacked  by  four  Indians  of  Logan's  party,  and  the  Captain  killed  and  Kin- 
cade wounded.  Gen.  St.  Clair  said  "it  would  have  been  no  great  matter  if  Aehad  been 
killed.^' 


132  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VIT. 

Uniontown.  In  the  Spring  of  1779  lie  moved  into  the  town,  and 
there  continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  on  the  7th  of  December, 
1834,  aged  a  little  over  eighty-eight  years,  having  been  born  on  the 
20th  November,  1746. 

He  was  a  native  of  York  county,  Pennsylvania,  being  the 
youngest  of  seven  brothers,  of  whom  Moses  and  Archibald 
were  perhaps  the  eldest,  and  who,  besides  being  the  first  Deputy 
Surveyors  in  this  part  of  Pennsylvania,  were  men  of  distinction — 
especially  the  latter,  in  old  mother  York  and  her  daughter 
Adams.  James  and  Samuel  M'Clean,  who  settled  very  early 
near  the  base  of  Laurel  Hill,  in  IST.  Union  township,  were 
also  brothers.  James  was  the  only  one  of  the  seven  who  was 
not  a  surveyor.  Archibald,  Moses,  Samuel  and  Alexander  were 
with  Mason  and  Dixon  in  running  the  celebrated  line  between 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  and  Virginia,  in  1766-'7,  Alexander 
being  then  only  about  twenty-one  years  old.  Archibald  had  had  a 
good  deal  to  do  in  running  the  lines  between  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware, and  between  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  before  Mason  and 
'Dixon  were  employed,  and  Alexander  accompanied  him.  Such 
were  the  schools  and  instructors  he  enjoyed  in  acquiring  the  art  of 
surveying. 

Although  Col.  M'Clean  was,  with  other  Assistants,  busily  em- 
ployed in  executing  orders  of  survey  in  this  part  of  the  Province, 
from  the  summer  of  1769,  yet  the  earliest  survey  executed  by  him 
as  a  deputy,  that  we  can  find,  within  the  limits  of  Fayette  county, 
was  in  1772.  Prior  to  that  year  the  returns  are  all  signed  by  Arch- 
bald  and  Moses ;  who  also,  within  that  year  and  afterwards,  signed 
returns  as  deputies.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  Alexander  was 
a  regular  Deputy  Surveyor  at  an  earlier  period,  but  operated  in 
what  is  now  the  Somerset  county  part  of  the  New  Purchase.  We 
find  him  making  surveys  at  Turkey  Foot  in  1769. 

In  1776  he  was  one  of  the  Westmoreland  members  of  the 
Assembly — the  first  after  the  revolt.  In  September  of  that  year 
he  was  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  that  county,  appointed 
by  the  Revolutionary  State  Convention.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Assembly  for  the  year  1782-'3;  the  same  by  which  Fayette 
county  was  erected.  Indeed  he  was  elected  for  its  accomplishment ; 
an  efibrt  at  the  previous  session  having  failed  by  reason  of  the  oppo- 
sition from  the  Northern  parts  of  Westmoreland.  The  reason 
assigned  was  if  the  new  county  was  erected,  the  old  one  could  not 
support  itself — the  common  argument  in  such  cases.  On  this  occa- 
sion it  was  attempted  to  be  sustained  by  the  fact  that  the  territory 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    ALEXANDER   m'CLEAN.  133 

proposed  to  be  dissevered  was  the  only  part  of  the  county  exempt 
from  Indian  depredations — to  which  fact,  rendered  more  impressive 
by  the  burning  of  Hannastown,  in  July,  1782,  Fayette  county  owes 
its  early  erection.  Long  prior  to  this — in  1778,  Col.  M'Cleau  had 
urged  Henry  Beeson  to  lay  out  Uniontown,  with  a  view  to  a  county 
seat ;  which  he  did,  and  the  Colonel  surveyed  it  for  him,  providing 
a  lot  for  the  county  buildings  at  the  elbow,  adjacent  to  which,  on  the 
east,  he  bought  a  lot,  to  which  he  removed  in  1779,  and  where  he 
died. 

The  State  Land  Office  being  in  effect  closed  from  1776  to  1784, 
no  Deputy  Surveyors  were  needed.  For  a  while,  therefore,  his 
occupation  was  gone.  In  the  meantime  he  took  to  "soldiering,' 
then  the  great  business  of  the  country.  We  believe  the  Colonel 
was  never  a  soldier  of  the  Line,  but  served  occasionally  in  the 
frontier  rangers.  He  was  also  in  M'Intosh's  campaign  of  1780 ; 
but  in  what  capacity,  or  how  he  got  there,  we  are  at  some  loss  to 
know.  Pennsylvania  sent  no  men  into  that  campaign — Virginia 
did ;  though  many  of  them  were  from  this,  the  disputed  territory. 
Of  such  were  those  we  have  named  in  our  notice  of  that  expedition.i 
When  one  of  them,  Col.  Robert  Beall,  of  Bullskin,  a  zealous  Vir- 
ginia partizan,  was  appointed  County  Lieutenant,  in  1784,  great 
indignation  was  evinced  by  the  old  Pennsylvania  adherents.  Col. 
M' Clean  was  called  upon  to  write  to  the  Sup.  Ex.  Council  on  the 
subject.  In  writing  to  President  Dickinson,  on  the  16th  of  July, 
1784,  he  says :  "  With  those  very  people  who  are  said  to  have  had  so 
little  share  in  the  burthen  of  the  war,  I  have  shared  the  fatigues  of  the 
most  difficult  campaign  that  has  been  carried  on  in  this  country, 
and  was  a  witness  to  both  their  sufferings  and  fortitude.  Many  of 
them  have  been  in  the  Continental  service,  and  Col.  Beall  in 
particular,  during  a  great  part  of  the  war."  This,  we  believe, 
refers  to  M'Intosh's  campaign.  If  so,  then  the  Colonel  served 
under  the  Virginia  standard  ;  although  in  the  Boundary  Contro- 
versy he  was  a  decided  Pennsylvanian.  Of  this  there  is  clear  proof 
in  his  correspondence  concerning  running  the  Temporary  Boundary 
and  the  Kew  State  project,  some  of  which  will  be  found  in  our 
sketch  of  those  events.^  In  going  with  "  Virginians"  into  M'Intosh's 
campaign,  he  went  as  a  soldier  and  patriot,  not  as  a  partizan.' 


^  See  Chap.  X  — "  Revolutionan/  and  Indian  Wars." 
^  See  Chapt.  IX. — ^^ Boundary  Controversi/." 

3  In  July,  1781,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  brother  Archibald,  of  York,  informing  him 
of  the  high-handed  measures  adopted  by  Gen.  Clark  and  the  Virginia  party,  in  reference 


134  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

In  1782,  Col.  M'Clean  was  appointed  a  Sub-Lieutenant  for  the 
county  of  Westmoreland,  in  the  room  of  Col.  Edward  Cook,  pro- 
moted to  be  Lieutenant  upon  the  death  of  Col.  Lochry.  To  this 
appointment  he  owed  his  rank  of   Colonel. 

In  1781,  Col.  M'Clean  was  appointed  by  the  Sup.  Ex.  Council  of 
Pennsylvania  as  the  artist,  in  conjunction  with  a  similar  appointee 
from  Virginia,  to  run  the  temporary  boundary  lines  which  had 
been  agreed  upon  in  1779.  A  vexatious  succession  of  disappoint- 
ments and  difficulties  delayed  the  execution  of  this  task  until  the 
winter  of  1782-3,  when  he  performed  it,  in  connection  with 
Joseph  JSTeville,  of  Virginia,  an  eminent  surveyor,  who  was  after- 
wards a  member  of  Congress  from  that  State.  They  run  out  our 
Southern  boundary  from  where  Mason  and  Dixon  stopped,  at  the 
Indian  war  path  on  Dunkard  creek,  in  Q-reene,  and  the  "Western 
line,  to  the  Ohio  river.*  Although  the  Council  had  at  first  offered 
only  twenty  shillings  per  day  "and  found,"  yet  they  afterwards 
resolved  that  "taking  into  consideration  the  trouble  Mr.  M'Clean 
has  had  in  running  said  line,  and  the  accuracy  [?]  with  which  the 
same  hath  been  done,  he  be  allowed  thirty-five  shillings  per  day  ;" 
— being  $4.67 — a  daily  pay  to  which  he  ever  afterwards  adhered  in 
his  charges  as  a  surveyor. 


to  recruits  for  his  projected  campaiga  of  that  year.  The  letter  was  sent  to  the  Sup.  Ex. 
Council,  and  we  gather  its  import  from  his  brother's  account  of  it;  who,  in  writing  to 
the  Council  from  Yorktown,  August  13th,  1781,  says:  "  I  have  received  no  letter  from 
him  since,  but  hath  certain  accounts  from  an  inhabitant  in  those  parts,  who  left  my 
brother's  house  about  ten  days  ago,  that  Alexander  is  drafted  to  go  with  General 
Clark,  and  that  he  was  actually  gone  to  Fort  Pitt  on  the  day  before  the  person  left  home 
who  informed  me.  *  *  I  am  well  assured  he  must  have  went  with  great  reluctance  on 
any  Virginia  expedition."  This  turned  out  to  be  a  mistake — at  least  Alexander  did  not 
go,  for  we  find  him  in  Uniontown  on  the  13th  September,  ready  to  go  out  to  survey  the 
Temporary  line  with  Virginia. 

*  These  surveyors,  it  seems,  run  the  Southern  line  a  little  too  far,  perhaps  a  mile  or 
more.  This  was  no  fault  of  theirs ;  for  they  were  instructed  to  begin  where  Mason  and 
Dixon  stopped  in  1767,  "at  the  second  crossing  of  Dunkard  creek,"  and  extend  the  line 
tiventy-threc  miles.  The  true  distance  required  to  accomplish  the  five  degrees  of  longitude 
from  the  river  Delaware,  (266  miles,  24  chains,  80  links,)  was  a  little  less  than  twenty- 
two  miles.  So  the  astronomical  surveyors  of  1784  determined.  It  is  said  also  that 
Messrs.  M'Clean  and  Neville  deflected  their  due  North  line  a  little  too  much  to  the  East, 
at  its  Southern  end ;  for  they  seem  to  have  struck  the  Ohio  at  the  right  place.  Among 
the  consequences  of  the  error  first  stated  was,  that  some  Philadelphia  gentlemen — the 
Cooks,  and  perhaps  others,  who  wished  to  appropriate  some  western  lands  between  the 
dates  of  the  two  runnings,  had  their  warrants  laid,  in  now  Greene  county,  abutting  upon 
the  temporary  line ;  and  when  the  line  came  to  be  finally  run  in  1784,  parts  of  their 
surveys  were  excinded  and  thrown  into  Virginia,  without  any  title  to  rest  upon.  We 
think  Pennsylvania  should  have  refunded  them  the  cost — which  perhaps  they  would 
rather  have  yet  than  the  lands. 


CH.  VII.]  COL,    ALEXANDER    m'CLEAN.  135 

Upon  the  erection  of  Fayette  county  in  September,  1783,  Col. 
M'Clean  sought  the  appointment  of  Prothonotary  and  Clerk  of  the 
Courts.  Gen.  Douglass  was  the  successful  applicant.  The  Colonel 
was,  however,  on  the  31st  of  October,  1783,  appointed  by  the 
Council  to  be  Presiding  Justice  of  the  Fayette  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  and  Orphans'  Court.  In  that  capacity  he  presided  in  those 
Courts  at  their  first  sittings  in  December,  1783,  and  until  April, 
1789,  when  Col.  Cook  succeeded  him  for  a  brief  period.  He  was 
also,  on  the  6th  of  December,  1783,  appointed  to  the  offices  of  Regis- 
ter and  Recorder  of  the  county  of  Fayette — offices  which  he  filled 
uninterrup,tedly  until  his  death,  in  1834,  amid  all  the  political  vicissi- 
tudes of  that  long  period.  He  was  an  expert  and  elegant  pensman, 
and  could  crowd  more  words,  distinctly  written,  into  a  line,  than 
most  modern  writers  will  put  in  three. 

In  March,  1784,  he  was  one  of  three  Justices  of  the  Peace,  elec- 
ted in  February,  commissioned  for  Union  township,^  to  serve  for 
seven  years,  under  the  old-  Constitution  of  1776.  He  does  not 
appear  ever  to  have  done  much  business  in  that  office,  beyond 
that  of  presiding  in  the  Courts  when  at  home.  He  had  too  many 
offices. 

When  the  Land  Office  was  re-opened  in  1784,  under  the  Com- 
monwealth, there  was  a  perfect  avalanche  of  warrants  to  be  executed 
in  this  country.  Col.  M'Clean  was  thereupon  appointed  Deputy 
Surveyor  for  a  district  embracing  all  of  Fayette  county,  the  town- 
ship of  Rostraver  in  "Westmoreland,  which  then  included  what, 
after  1788,  became  Elizabeth  in  Allegheny,  and  the  townships  of 
Turkey-foot,  Milford,  and  that  part  of  Quemahoning  lying  south- 
ward of  the  great  road  to  Fort  Pitt,  in  Bedford  county,  afterwards 
Somerset.  His  commission  was  renewed  for  the  same  district  on 
the  12th  of  January,  1790.  How  long  he  continued  to  serve  so 
large  a  territory  we  do  not  know.  It  was,  however,  contracted  to 
Fayette  county  alone,  for  which  he  held  the  appointment  until 
1825,  when  he  declined  its  renewal.  He  had  numerous  assistants, 
among  them  Levi  Stephens  and  William  Hart.  He,  also,  in  the 
earlier  years  of  his  service,  executed  numerous  surveys  beyond  his 
district  limits,  in  what  are  now  Allegheny,  Greene,  Washington  and 
Westmoreland  counties. 

Besides  his  official  duties  at  home,  he  performed  numerous  extra 


5  See  postscript  of  February  6th  to  Gen.  Douglass'  letter  of  February  2,  1784,  appended 
to  memoir  of  bim,  postea  ; — and  "  Outlines  of  Civil  and  Political  History  " — Chapter 
XVI. 


136  ,  T-HE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIT. 

duties  as  surveyor,  abroad.  lu  1V73,  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners, appointed  by  the  act  erecting  Westmoreland,  to  run 
the  line  which  separated  it  from  Bedford.  He  performed  the  same 
office  for  Fayette  in  1784,  after  its  severance  from  Westmoreland, 
and,  in  conjunction  with  Gabriel  Blakeney  and  John  Baddolet,  for 
Greene  in  1796,  when  it  was  dismembered  from  Washington. 

After  the  purchase  from  the  Indians  of  IsTorthwestern  Pennsyl- 
vania, by  the  second  treat}^  of  Fort  Stanwix,  he  was,  in  1783, 
appointed  to  survey  District  'No.  1  of  the  Depreciation  lands,  north 
and  west  of  the  Allegheny  and  Ohio  rivers,  on  our  Western  boun- 
dary. The  fulfillment  of  this  appointment  required  him  to  deter- 
mine where  that  boundary  was;  and  from  his  instructions,  now 
before  us,  dated  in  August,  1784,  we  infer  that,  somehow,  he  had 
in  the  previous  winter,  ascertained  that  line  for  some  distance  north 
of  the  Ohio.  The  district  was  a  parallelogram  of  twelve  miles 
wide  between  the  Ohio  river  and  the  latitude  of  the  mouth  of 
Mogulbuctetim  (Redbank).  He  was  at  the  same  time  appointed  to 
survey  the  reserved  tracts  of  3000  acres  each,  opposite  Pittsburgh, 
and  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Beaver,  which  he  did  in  this  and  the  next 
year. 

In  the  Spring  of  1786,  Col.  M'Clean,  in  connection  with  Col. 
Andrew  Porter,*^  were  appointed  by  Pennsylvania,  to  run,  by 
astronomical  observations,  &c  ,  and  mark,  the  Western  boundary 
of  the  State,  from  the  Ohio  to  Lake  Erie.  They  began  in  June, 
and,  it  seems,  some  fifty  miles  north  of  the  Ohio,  near  where  the 
line  strikes  the  Shenango — near  Sharon,  and  finished  the  work  on 
the  4th  of  October.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  they  afterwards 
retraced  and  marked  by  a  "vista"  and  stones,  the  Southern  part  of 
the  line  to  the  Ohio:  for  Col.  M'Clean  writes  from  Uniontown, 
October  10th,  1784,  that  "  having  visited  my  family  after  my  return 
from  Lake  Erie,  I  now  proceed  to  finish  the  line  of  division 
between  the  certificate  [Depreciation]  and  donation  lands,  and  lai/ 
out  the  residue  of  the  lots  in  District  No.  1;" — meaning,  we  presume, 
those  abutting  on  the  Western  boundary,  which  he  could  not 
do  until  it  was  authoritatively  fixed. 

While  the  State  was  pursuing  the  project  of  making  a  "good 
wagon  road"  from  Shippensburg  to  Fort  Pitt,  Col.  M'Clean  was, 
in  November,  1789,  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  make 


6  Father  of  Ex-Governor  David  R.  Porter,  who  had  been  commissary  to  the  Boundary 
Commissioners  in  1784,  and  who  afterwards  assisted  in  running  our  Northern  Boundary 
with  New  York. 


CH.  VII.]  COL.    ALEXANDER    m'CLEAN.'     •  13T 

the  location  from  Bedford  to  Pittsburgh.  He  began  it  at  Bedford, 
in  December,  and,  as  the  other  two  commissioners  failed  to  attend, 
he  went  through  it  himself 

Besides  all  these,  Col.  M'Clean,  in  naiddle  life,  executed  numer- 
ous other  special  official  duties  of  smaller  moment,  but  requiring 
skill  and  fidelity.  He  was  also,  in  1783,  together  with  the  Ret. 
James  Sutton,  appointed  a  trustee  of  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle, 
by  the  Act  of  Assembly  which  founded  that  venei'able  institution — 
an  office  which  he  for  a  while  filled  more  dejure  than  de  facto. 

Col.  M'Clean  was  a  quiet,  unobtrusive  man,  devoted  to  the  duties 
of  his  offices,  and  caring  for  little  else,  than  to  discharge  them  with 
diligence,  accuracy  and  fidelity.  He  held  office  longer — from  1772 
to  1834 — than  any  other  man  who  has  ever  resided  in  Western 
Pennsylvania;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  in  this  respect  he  will 
ever  have  a  successor,  so  unyielding  is  the  rotatory  tendency  of 
modern  "progress."  As  Register,  Recorder  and  Surveyor,  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  he  had  been  conversant  with  all  the 
estates,  titles  and  lands  of  the  county,  with  all  their  vacancies, 
defects  and  modes  of  settlement ;  yet  with  all  these  opportunities 
of  acquiring  wealth,  he  died  in  comparative  poverty — a  sad  monu- 
ment to  his  integrity.  He  wrote  more  deeds  and  wills  at  seven  and 
sixpence  each,  ($1)  and  dispensed  more  gratuitous  counsel  in 
ordinary  legal  affairs,  than,  at  reasonable  fees,  would  enrich  a 
modern  scrivener  or  counselor. 

He  left  a  numerous  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  most  of  whom, 
with  their  descendants,  are  now  dispersed  in  the  Western  States. 
A  few  yet  remain  in  Uniontown  and  vicinity.  The  late  Thomas 
Hadden,  Esq.,  long  a  favorite  attorney  and  justice  of  Uniontown, 
was  a  son-in-law. 


'  For  the  benefit  of  our  geometrical  readers  we  annex  the  method  adopted  by  the 
Colonel  of  determining  the  direct  course  from  Bedford  to  Pittsburgh  : — "In  order  to  gain 
the  true  situation  of  this  place  [Bedford]  I  went  to  the  158th  mile  post,  standing  about 
10  perches  west  of  the  road  from  Bedford  to  Fort  Cumberland ;  from  thence  by  a  series 
of  courses,  traversed  the  Valley  of  Cumberland  to  this  place,  and  find  it  to  be  19  miles 
290  perches  north  of  Mason  &  Dixon's  Line,  and  10  miles  86  perches  east  of  the  above 
mile  post.  And  my  memory  aiding  me  in  the  situation  of  Pittsburgh,  I  proceeded  to 
calculation  to  find  a  course  to  Pittsburgh  ;  and  estimate  it  to  stand  25,685  perches  west, 
and  9,830  perches  north  of  this  place,  being  north  69°  27''  west,  27,432  perches  =  to 
85  miles,  232  perches ;  which  course  will,  I  think,  lead  me  at  least  into  the  neighborhood 
of  Pittsburgh." 


138  THE   MONONGAHBLA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 


JOHN   SMILIE. 

Our  labors  would  be  unpardonably  incomplete  without  a  memoir, 
meager  though  it  be,  of  this  ancient  political  favorite  of  the  people 
of  Fayette,  to  whom  thev  steadfastly  and  almost  uninterruptedly 
adhered,  from  even  before  their  separate  county  existence  to  his 
death — a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years. 

Mr.  Smilie  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  came  to  America  when 
a  young  man,  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  but 
in  what  year  we  cannot  asce^jtain.  He  settled  in  Lancaster  county, 
Pa.,  and  at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  American  liberty.  He 
rapidly  acquired  the  confidence  of  his  co-patriots,  and  soon  became 
a  leader  in  the  resistance  which  they  resolved  and  executed  against 
the  tyrannies  of  the  King  and  Parliament. 

Being  one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Lancaster  county,  we 
find  him,  in  June  1776,  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Conference  of 
County  Committees  of  Pennsylvania  at  Philadelphia,  which 
declared  formally  the  sundering  of  the  ties  which  hitherto  bound  the 
colony  to  the  parent  power,  by  resolving  "  to  form  a  new  Govern- 
ment for  this  Province,  upon  the  authority  of  the  people  only." 
This  conference  called  and  provided  for  the  Convention  which 
formed  our  first  State  Constitution — that  of  1776. 

In  1778,  and  again  in  1779,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Represen- 
tatives of  Lancaster  county  in  the  Assembly,  of  which  he  was  an 
active  and  useful  member. 

Having  married  Miss  Janet  Porter,  a  daughter,  we  believe,  of 
Col.  Thomas  Porter,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Lancaster  county, 
he  was  induced,  in  1780,  to  seek  a  home  in  the  West  for  his  rising 
family.  In  that,  or  the  subsequent  year,  he  removed  to  Fayette, 
then  "Westmoreland  county  ;  and  after  looking  round  for  a  while, 
eventually  bought  an  improvement  from  old  Joseph  Huston,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Yough  river,  about  five  miles  below  Connells- 
ville,  where  he  settled  and  where  he  henceforth  resided  until  his 
death.  He  perfected  his  title  to  the  tract — about  400  acres,  in  1786. 
It  was  held  by  the  family  until  recently,  and  is  now  owned  by 
Stewart  Strickler,  Geo.  Dawson,  and  others.  The  Pittsburgh  and 
Connellsville  Rail  Road  passes  through  it. 

Mr.  Smilie's  energies  and  good  sense  soon  gave  him  prominence 
in  his  new  abode.  In  the  fall  election  of  1783,  he  was  chosen, 
along  with  the  celebrated  William  Findley,  to  represent  West- 
moreland in  the  Council  of  Censors — an  anomalous  revisory  body 


CH.  VII.]  JOHN   SMILIE.  139 

provided  for  by  the  Constitution  of  1776,  It  was  to  consist  of  two 
members  from  each  city  and  county,  to  be  chosen  in  1783,  and 
every  seventh  year  thereafter,  and  to  preserve  its  existence  for  one 
year  if  necessary.  It  was  a  kind  of  Grand  Jury  for  the  State. 
Its  duties  were  to  inquire  and  present — whether  the  Constitution 
had  been  kept  inviolate ;  whether  all  officers  did  their  duty  and  no 
more  ;  whether  taxes  were  justly  laid,  collected  and  expended.  It 
could  pass  censures,  order  impeachments  and  advise  the  repeal  of 
laws ;  and,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds,  call  a  convention  to  alter  the 
Constitution,  to  meet  two  years  thereafter.  The  first  Council — 
the  only  one  ever  chosen,  sat  in  Philadelphia  from  IN'ovember,  1783, 
to  January  21st,  1784,  and  again  from  June  Ist  to  September  25th, 
1784.  They  were  rather  discordant,  and  fruitless  of  any  other 
good  than  affording  convincing  proofs  to  the  people  of  the  defect- 
iveness of  that  old  and  hastily  framed  Constitution.  Indeed,  to  do 
this  was  one  of  the  principal  purposes  for  which  the  Council  was 
provided ;  but  they  accomplished  it  in  a  very  different  manner  from 
what  was  originally  intended. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Council,  the  friends  of  change,  or 
reform,  were  in  the  ascendency,  but  in  the  summer  session  of  1784, 
by  the  accession  of  Judge  George  Bryan,  of  Philadelphia,  the 
reputed  father  of  the  Constitution  of  '76,  and  other  new  or  substi- 
tuted members,  the  conservative  party  prevailed.  Mr.  Smilie  acted 
uniformly  with  the  latter,  opposing  most  pertinaciously  the  proposed 
amendments  of  the  Constitution.  By  that  old  instrument,  the 
Legislative  power  was  vested  exclusively  in  one  body — the  Assembly, 
without  check  or  veto.  The  Executive  power  reposed  in  a  Supreme 
Executive  Council  of  one  member  from  each  county ;  and  the 
judicial  tenure,  from  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
down  to  Justices  of  the  Peace,  was  for  terms  of  seven  years — the 
Judges  being  chosen  by  the  Assembly,  and  the  Justices  by  the 
freeholders  of  the  townships — all  commissioned  by  the  Ex.  Council. 
The  powers  of  these  separate  branches  of  the  Government  were 
illy  defined,  and  confusedly  interlocked.  It  was  proposed  to  make 
a  radical  change — to  add  another  branch  to  the  Legislature,  denomi- 
nated a  Legislative  Council,  similar  to  the  Senate — to  abolish  the 
Sup.  Ex.  Council,  and  vest  the  Executive  power  in  a  Governor;  and 
to  make  the  judicial  tenure  during  good  behavior.  Mr.  Smilie 
opposed  all  these  changes,  uniting  with  the  minority  at  the  first 
session  in  denouncing  the  Governor  and  Senate  feature  because  "it 
tended  to  introduce  among  the  citizens  new  and  aristocratic  ranks, 
with  a  Chief  Magistrate  at  their  head,  vested  with  powers  which 


140  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

exceed  those  which  fall  to  the  ordinary  lot  of  kings."  In  this  he 
acted  with  his  colleague,  Mr.  Findley,  and  with  Messrs.  Edgar  and 
M'Dowell  of  Washington,  and  others  of  the  then  Democratic,  or  weak 
government  opinions,  and  in  opposition  to  the  views  of  Fred.  Aug. 
Mnhlenburg,  Generals  Wayne  and  St.  Clair,  and  others,  members 
of  the  Council.  In  these  respects,  however,  Mr.  Smilie's  opinions 
underwent  a  thorough  change  in  a  few  years ;  for,  in  the  convention 
of  1789,  which  framed  the  State  Constitution  of  1790,  he  co-oper- 
ated decidedly  with  the  dominant  party  in  favor  of  a  Governor, 
with  the  veto  power  as  it  now  is,  two  legislative  branches,  and  a 
judicial  tenure  during  life,  or  good  behavior,  although  in  the  last 
he  stood  opposed  to  his  distinguished  colleague,  Albert  Gallatin, 
with  whom  he  generally  acted. 

In  1784,  Mr.  Smilie  became  the  first  elected  member  of  Assembly 
from  Fayette.     He  was  re-elected  in  1785. 

In  1786  he  was  elected  for  the  term  of  three  years,  the  second 
Fayette  member  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council — John  Woods, 
of  Uniontown,  having  been  chosen  in  1784  for  two  years,  and 
Isaac  Meason,  the  elder,  having  been,  in  1783,  elected  for  three 
years  from  Westmoreland  and  Fayette  combined,  though  actually 
dissevered  at  the  time  of  the  election. 

Mr.  Smilie's  career  in  these  State  bodies,^  although  not  marked 


1  "We  notice  one  movement  of  Mr.  Smilie,  in  the  Supreme  Executive  Council,  to  -wliich 
we  confess  our  dislike.  General  St.  Clair,  after  having  been  the  champion  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  contest  for  the  dominion  of  her  Western  territory,  against  Virginia ;  and 
after  having,  with  acknowledged  honor,  skill  and  bravery,  borne  the  rank  and  perils  of 
Major  General  through  almost  the  whole  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  thereby  entitling 
himself  if  not  to  the  friendly  regard,  at  least  to  the  gratitude  and  liberality  of  every 
true  Pennsylvanian,  had  become  so  poor  as  to  be  obliged  to  earn  the  sustenance  of  him- 
self and  family,  in  1786-7,  by  the  laborsof  a  licensed  Auctioneer  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia? 
then  by  no  means  the  lucrative  business  that  it  has  since  become.  He  was  at  the  same 
time  a  member,  elected  by  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  Confederation  Congress, 
of  which  he  was,  in  February  '87,  elected  President.  The  unkind  movement  of  Mr. 
Smilie  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Supreme  Ex.  Council,  April  13<A,  1787: 
"Motion  by  Mr.  Smilie — 'That  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Esq.,  be  removed  from  his  present 
office  of  Auctioneer  for  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  Council  proceed  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  person  in  his  stead.'  A  postponement  of  this  motion  (generally)  was  moved 
by  Mr.  Muhlenlurg,  and  negatived.  Mr.  Redick,  (of  Washington  Co.)  then  moved  the 
postponement  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  the  following;,  viz:  '  Whereas  the  Hon. 
Arthur  St.  Clair,  Auctioneer  for  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  hath  lately/  been  advanced  to  a 
high  station  by  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  and  as  it  is  the  opinion  of  this 
Board  that  his  office  of  Auctioneer  is  incompatible  with  his  present  dignified  station, 
therefore.  Resolved :  That  the  said  Arthur  St.  Clair  be  no  longer  continued  in  said  office; 
and  that  an  Auctioneer  be  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.'  "  This  motion  prevailed,  and 
he  was  removed.     The  "incompatible,  dignified  station"  could  be  nothing  else  than  the 


OH.  VII.]  JOHN    SMILIE.  141 

by  any  brilliant  prominence,  was  characterized  by  great  diligence, 
integrity  and  usefulness,  and  by  unabated  devotedness  to  tbe  wants, 
private  and  public,  of  his  constituents.  These  were  the  traits  of 
character  which  gave  him  such  a  strong  and  enduring  hold  upon 
their  confidence  and  suffrages. 

In  1789,  Mr.  Smilie  was,  with  Albert  Gallatin,  chosen  to  repre- 
sent Fayette  in  the  State  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  1790.  This  body  sat  at  Philadelphia,  from  N"ovember  24th, 
1789,  to  February  26th,  1790,  and  again,  from  August  9th  to  Sep- 
tember 2d,  1790.  It  was  a  very  grave  and  able  body,  having  in  it 
the  embodiment  of  the  learning  and  wisdom,  lay  and  legal,  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Among  its  members  were  Judge  Wilson  and 
William  Lewis,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia — the  afterwards  Governors 
Mifflin,  M'Kean,  Snyder  and  Heister,  and  Judge  Charles  Smith. 
Judge  Addison,  James  Ross,  John  Hoge  and  David  Redick  were 
the  Washington  county  members.  Westmoreland  was  represented 
by  William  Findley  and  William  Todd.  Allegheny  sent  General 
John  Gibson.  Thomas  Mifilin  was  President  of  the  Convention, 
and  William  Findley  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  reported 
the  original  draft  of  the  new  Constitution,  associated  therein  with 
Judges  Wilson,  Addison  and  Smith,  and  with  Messrs.  James  Ross, 
William  Lewis,  and  others.  Who  prepared  the  draft  is  uure- 
vealed. 

Although  the  call  of  this  Convention  had  been  long  resisted  in 
the  Council  of  Censors  and   in   the  Assembly,  and  was  finally 


Presidency  of  Congress,  of  which  he  had  been  for  nearly  two  years  a  member ;  for  he 
■was  not  appointed  Governor  of  the  North-west  Territory  until  the  succeeding  October. 
Mr.  Redick's  preamble  was  a  friendly  act,  to  give  a  plausible  cloaking  to  a  "foregone 
conclusion ;"  but  the  jnco/njpa^iSi'ZtVy  was  neither  constitutional,  legal,  orperceptible.  To  how 
many  ungenerous  cruelties  was  that  brave  old  soldier  subjected  during  his  long  and  eventful 
life  ?  The  only  apology  for  this  one  was  that  the  General  was  in  arrears  to  the  State  in 
the  payment  of  his  auction  duties.  But  the  Treasury  neither  lost,  nor  was  in  danger 
of  losing,  anything.  Mr.  Smilie  seems  to  have  allowed  his  antagonism  to  the  politics  of 
Gen.  Clair  (who  was  a  decided  Washingtonian  Federalist)  to  interfere  with  his  habitude 
of  justness  and  liberality.  For  when,  in  1811,  the  General,  in  the  extremity  of  want, 
asked  Congress  to  remunerate  him  for  moneys  advanced,  while  in  the  Eevoliitionary 
service,  Mr.  Smilie  resisted  it,  although  his  friend  Findley,  of  Westmoreland,  nobly 
advocated  it.  We  think  it  would  have  been  more  commendable  in  Mr.  Smilie  to  have 
done  likewise,  and  to  have  said,  as  did  Gen.  Ogle,  of  the  Somerset  district,  in  1817,  when 
the  same  subject  was  before  Congress, — "  As  to  the  case  of  the  aged  St.  Clair,  Mr.  Ogle 
said,  that  was  a  subject  which  ought  not  to  be  mentioned  in  this  House  in  the  face  of 
day^-the  treatment  of  that  man  ought  to  be  spoken  of  here  only  in  the  night !  For  his 
part,  if  there  was  a  statute  as  strong  as  brass,  or  as  solid  as  the  pillars  of  the  Capitol, 
he  would  blow  it  to  powder  to  do  justice  to  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution." 


142  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

opposed  in  the  latter  body  by  a  large  minority,  among  whom  were 
our  then  county  members,  John  Gilchrist  and  Theophilus  Phillips, 
yet  in  the  Convention,  on  all  the  leading  features  of  change,  already 
indicated,  the  vote  was  nearly  unanimous,  on  some  of  them  entirely 
so.  The  vote  on  the  change  of  judicial  tenure  from  terms  of  seven 
years,  &c.,  to  during  good  behavior,  was  iifty-six  to  eight ;  for  two 
Legislative  branches,  tifty-six  to  five;  for  a  Governor,  unanimous; 
and  for  the  veto  power,  sixty  to  four.  The  Constitution  finally 
passed  the  Convention  with  but  one  dissenting  voice — George 
Roberts,  of  Philadelphia.  It  stood  the  tests  and  trials  of  nearly 
half  a  century;  and  it  is  yet  to  be  determined  whether  modern 
innovations  upon  some  of  its  leading  provisions  are  really  improve- 
ments. 

The  "Debates"  of  this  Convention  are  not  reported.  But  its 
journal  shows  that  Mr.  Smilie  acted  with  the  majority  on  all  impor- 
tant questions,  generally  coinciding  with  his  colleague,  though 
occasionally,  as  on  the  judicial  tenure,  differing  with  him.  His 
radical  change  of  views  since  he  was  in  the  Council  of  Censors,  in 
1783,  has  been  already  noticed.  We  regard  his  course  in  this  par- 
ticular, not  as  evincing  a  weakness,  or  a  wish  to  surrender  his 
judgment  to  the  popular  current,  but  as  a  manifestation  of  candor 
and  good  sense.  The  defects  of  the  Constitution  of  76,  which  had 
worked  well  enough  during  the  simplicity  and  harmony  of  the 
Revolutionary  era,  became  very  palpable  after  1783,  amid  the 
growths  of  selfish  interests  and  political  partizanry.  Mr.  Smilie, 
as  well  as  other  sages,  saw  these  defects  becoming  more  and  more 
striking  and  dangerous,  and  hence  most  commendably  relaxed  his 
former  equally  commendable  adherence  to  the  maxim  that "  govern- 
ments, long  established,  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and 
transient  causes." 

In  1790,  Mr.  Smilie  and  John  Hoge,  of  Washington,  were  elected 
the  first  State  Senators  from  the  District  composed  of  Fayette  and 
Washington  counties.  The  term  for  which  he  was  elected  was  four 
years;  but  having,  in  1792,  been  elected  to  the  third  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  which  was  to  meet  in  December,  1793,  he 
resigned  the  last  year  of  the  Senatorial  term,  and  the  late  Judge 
James  Finley  was  elected  in  his  stead. 

In  1792,  Mr.  Smilie  was  one  of  a  general  ticket  for  thirteen 
members  elected,  from  Pennsylvania,  for  the  third  Congress,  under 
the  new  Federal  Constitution  of  1789  ; — Thomas  Scott,  of  Wash- 
ington, having  been  our  member,  on  a  general  ticket  for  eight 
members,  elected  to  the  first  Congress,  and  William  Findley,  of 


CH.  VII.]  JOHN    SMILIE.  143 

Westmoreland,  our  member,  elected  in  1791,  to  tlie  second  Congress, 
for  the  District  composed  of  Fayette  and  Westmoreland.  For  the 
fourth  and  fifth  Congresses,  elected  in  1794  and  '96,  Mr.  Smilie 
gave  way  to  his  friend  Findley,  who  represented  the  same  District.^ 
In  1798  and  1800  Mr.  Findley  reciprocated  the  friendly  "non- 
intervention," and  Mr.  Smilie  resumed  the  representation  of  the 
District.  In  1801  Fayette  and  Greene  were  made  the  9th  District, 
from  which  Mr.  Smilie  was  successively  returned  in  1802-'4-'6-'8- 
'10-'12.  He  died  at  the  city  of  Washington,  while  attending  the 
second  session  of  the  twelfth  Congress,  on  the  29th  December. 
1812,  and  was,  on  the  31st,  interred,  with  the  customary  honors, 
in  the  Congressional  Cemetery,  where  his  remains  yet  repose, 
designated  by  one  of  the  uniform  monuments  which  Congress 
erects  to  deceased  members,  even  though  their  bodies  be  removed. 
There  are  but  few  additional  memorials  of  Mr.  Smilie 's  long 
Congressional  career  which  require  notice.  Reports  of  the  pro- 
ceedings and  speeches  in  Congress,  during  that  period,  were  far 
from  being  as  copious  as  they  have  since  become  ;  and  very  little 
can  be  gathered  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  members  from  the 
journals.  These  exhibit  Mr.  Smilie  as  generally  acting  with  the 
anti-federal,  or  republican  party,  of  which  he  was  at  all  times  a 
consistent  member  and  leader.     In  the  sessions  of  the  third  Con- 


"  Mr.  Findley,  after  the  severance  of  Fayette  and  Westmoreland  in  the  arrangement  of 
Congressional  Districts,  continued  to  represent  the  Westmoreland  District  from  1803  to 
1817,  when  he  retired.  He  became  the  patriarchal  member  of  the  House.  He  died  at 
his  residence,  near  Youngstown,  in  April,  1821.  He  was  an  Irishman,  and  we  believe 
by  occupation,  originally,  a  weaver.  He  had  been  a  captain  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line 
in  the  American  Revolution,  and  settled  in  Westmoreland  at  an  early  day.  He  was  a 
man  of  vigorous  and  active  intellect,  and  a  good  debater.  These  endowments  gave  him 
great  prominence  in  all  the  deliberative  bodies  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He  was 
moreovera  very  decided  partizan,  of  the  Republican  or  Anti-Federal  school,  and  mingled 
with  his  political  tenets  and  deportment  considerable  ultraism  and  acrimony.  But  his 
ability,  uprightness  and  consistency  held  him  firmly  in  the  confidence  of  his  party  and 
friends,  who,  during  his  political  career,  were  constantly  in  the  ascendant  in  his  Disti'ict. 
His  complicity  with  the  "Whiskey  Insurrection  "  induced  him,  soon  after  its  suppression, 
to  write  its  history.  The  book  bears  the  impress  of  haste  and  passion ;  its  leading  purposes 
seeming  to  be  to  attack  Gen.  Hamilton  and  defend  himself.  Yet  the  work  is  valuable 
as  the  version  of  a  conspicuous  cotemporary  and  actor. 

Most  modern  compilers  of  political  history  and  statistics  confound  him  with  the 
William  Findlay  of  Franklin  county,  who,  from  1817  to  1820,  was  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  from  1821  to  1827,  a  Senator  in  Congress.  They  were  very  different  men. 
Gov.  Findlay,  we  believe,  was  never  a  member  of  the  lower  House  of  Congress. 

In  Garland's  Life  of  John  Randolph,  Findley  is  represented  to  have  been  habitually 
intemperate  while  in  Congress.     The  statement  has  some  support  from  tradition. 


144  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

^#  gress — in  1793-'4-'5,  the  first  of  which  he  was  a  member,  party 
affiliatious  were  repressed  by  the  almost  venerated  fame  and  wisdom 
of  President  Washington.  Towards  the  close  of  his  Presidency, 
however,  the  party  antagonisms,  which  had  been  gradually  grow- 
ing ever  since  the  formation  of  the  Constitution, — naj',  since  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  became  fully  developed.  And  perhaps  no 
event  contributed  more  aliment  to  their  growth  than  the  "  Whiskey 
Insurrection  "  of  1793-'4  in  Southwestern  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
financial  policy  of  Secretary  Hamilton,  which  was,  apparently,  its 
immediate  provocative. 

Mr.  Smilie  was  not  in  Congress  when  the  Excise  laws  were  passed, 
nor  during  the  fervors  of  the  "rebellion."  His  opposition  to  the 
policy  of  those  laws  is,  however,  well  attested.  But  he  was  against 
unlawful  resistance.  As  a  private  citizen  at  home,  he  took  no 
very  prominent  part  in  the  troubles  of  1792-'3-'4.^  His  friend  and 
compeer,  William  Findley  makes  but  little  mention  of  him  in  his 
history  of  those  events.  Indeed  he  is  known  to  have  pursued  a 
conservative  and  conciliatory  course — sympathizing  with  the  resist- 
ants,  yet  doing  nothing  offensive  to  the  Government,  though  strongly 
suspected.  Mr.  Findley  says  that  great  efforts  were  made  by  "the 
Secretary"  (Hamilton)  to  implicate  him,  as  a  worthy  victim,  but 
unsuccessfully.  Doubtless  he  followed  the  current  of  popular 
opposition,  but  kept  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  exposing  himself 
neither  to  submergence  by  resistance,  nor  to  danger  by  collision 
with  the  headlands  and  shore  bushes.  jSTotwithstanding  this,  his 
influences  were  peaceful  and  commendable.  Indeed,  amid  the 
turgid  popular  phrenzy  which  then  prevailed,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  a  cautious  compliance  was  not  the  only  medium  through 
which  its  fury  could  be  abated.  And  although  his  son  Robert,  in 
the  thoughtless  folly  of  youth,  was  a  participant — whether  willful 
or  constrained  is  uncertain — in  the  first  attack  on  B.  Wells'  house, 
yet,  having  been  arrested  and  carried  to  Philadelphia  for  trial,  he 
escaped  conviction,  by  the  weakness  of  the  evidence  against  him 
and  by  a  doubt  cast  upon  his  guiltiness  by  some  proof  of  an  alibi — 
in  Kentucky.  Doubtless  his  father's  good  name  and  influence  were 
strong  ingredients  in  his  impunity. 

When  Mr.   Smilie  returned  to  the  second  session  of  the  third 


'  The  verity  of  this  statement  is  perhaps  not  impugned  by  Mr.  Smilie's  participation 
in  the  Pittsburgh  meeting  of  August  21,  1792,  copied  in  our  sketch  of  the  "Whiskey 
Insurrection,"  and  noticed  in  our  memoir  of  Albert  Gallatin.  He  was  one  of  its  members ; 
but  rather  an  acquiescent  than  an  active  one. 


OH.  VII.]  JOHN    SMILIE.  145 

Congress,  in  November,  1794,  the  recent  insurrection  and  its  sup- 
pression were,  of  course,  prominent  topics  of  Congressional  dis- 
cussion.    In  his  annual  message,  or  address,*  to  Congress  at  the 
opening  of  the  session.  President  Washington  dwelt  at  considerable 
length  upon  the  rise,  progress  and  recent  suppression  of  the  revolt, 
which  he  in  very  plain  terms  attributed  to  the  malign  influence  of 
"certain  self-created  societies."     In  the  responsive  cddress  which 
in   those   times   Congress   was   wont  to  frame   and   send  to  the 
President,  it  was  proposed  to  sa}-  to  him  that,  "In  tracing  ihe 
origin  and  progress  of  the  insurrection,  we  entertain  no  doubt  that 
certain  combinations  of  men,  careless  of  consequences,  &c.,  have  had 
all  the  agency  you  ascribe  to  them  in  fomenting  this  daring  out- 
rage, &c."     It  was  moved  to  amend  this  clause  by  inserting  between 
the  words  certain  and  combinations,  the  words  "self-created  societies 
and."     This  was  carried  by  the  federal  or  administration  party,  47  to 
45.     To  engraft  upon  this  amendment  an  "  exclusion  of  the  con- 
clusion "  that  these  societies  were,  as  charged  by  Washington  and 
Hamilton  and  their  friends,  diffused  all  over  the  country,  it  was 
moved  further  to  amend  by  adding  after  the  words  combinations  of 
men,  the  words  "m  the  four  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and 
parts  adjacent."     For  this  amendment  the  wholeanti-federal  party 
voted,  including  Messrs.  Findley  and  Smilie : — thus  fastening  the 
odious  combinations  upon  the  backs  of  their  own  constituents — 
Mr.  Scott,  of  Washington,  voting  the  other  way.     And  so  deter- 
mined were  they  upon  an  exclusive  appropriation  of  these  unlawful 
''combinations"  for  the  four  counties,  that  in  the  very  next  vote 
they  refused  even  to  admit  that  they  were  "countenanced  by  self- 
created  societies  elsewhere."     We  cite  this  as  an  early  illustration  of 
the  excesses  and  absurdities  into  which  partyism  leads  its  votaries — 
not  more  frequently  then  than  now ;    many  of  us  even  sanctioning, 
if  not  enacting,  vagaries  of  partizanry  which  posterity  will  be  as 
ready  to  smile  at,  or  condemn,  as  we  are  to  wonder  at  those  of  our 
precursors  in  the  race  of  politics. 

When  Mr.  Smilie  resumed  his  membership  of  Congress  in 
December,  1799,  he  found  'the  administration  or  federal  party 
still  maintaining  a  firm,  but  fast-fading  ascendency  in  the  national 


*  Presidents  Washington  and  Adams  always  read  their  annual  messages  to  Congress, 
orally  and  in  person — the  House  going  into  the  Senate  Chamber  to  hear  them.  Mr^ 
Jefl'erson  discontinued  the  practice.  A  reason  assigned  was  that  he  was  not  a  fluent 
reader  or  speaker. 

10 


146  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

councils.  In  the  next  year,  with  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  it 
passed  into  a  minority,  from  which  it  never  recovered. 

Mr.  Smilie's  integrity,  firmness  and  long  legislative  experience 
hegin  now  to  give  him  a  prominence  in  the  councils  and  labors  of 
Congress.  In  the  session  which  began  in  November,  1800,  we 
find  him,  for  the  first  time,  on  any  important  committee.  He  was 
then  placed  on  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means — generally 
regarded  as  the  leading  committee  of  the  House.  He  kept  his 
position  on  this  committee  in  the  sessions  which  began  in  Decem- 
ber, 1801  and  1802.  He  was  displaced  in  1803,  but  resumed  his 
place  in  October,  1807,  and  continued  to  be  appointed  on  that 
committee  during  every  successive  session,  until  1812. 

In  November,  1812,  Henry  Clay  being  Speaker  of  the  House, 
Mr.  Smilie  was  appointed  Chairman  of  the  Select  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations,  being  at  that  critical  juncture — the  first  year  of 
the  war  with  Great  Britain — the  most  important  committee  in  Con- 
gress. Besides  the  tribute  to  his  merit,  implied  in  the  well  known 
discernment  and  zeal  for  the  war  possessed  by  the  eminent  Speaker 
who  appointed  him,  he  was  additionally  honored  by  having,  as  his 
associates  on  the  Committee,  men  of  such  masterly  minds  as  Cal- 
houn, Grundy,  Macon,  Nelson,  (of  Va.)  and  Desha,  (of  Ky.,)  with 
whom  were  Goldsborough,  (of  Md.,)  Harper,  (of  N.  H.,)  and  Seaver, 
(of  Mass.)  It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Clay  had  great  respect  for^ 
and  influence  with  Mr.  Smilie,  which  he  manifested  by  once  or 
twice  visiting  him  at  his  residence. 

In  connection  with  this  elevated  position  in  the  "  War  Com- 
mittee," we  may  notice  the  singular  fact  that  during  the  preceding 
session  of  Congress,  that  of  1811-'12,  in  which  the  administration 
of  Mr.  Madison  and  its  friends  were  vigorously  preparing  for  the 
bloody  issue  which  even  then  seemed  inevitable,  with  either  France 
or  England,  or  both,  Mr.  Smilie  is  very  frequently — generally  in- 
deed, found  voting  with  the  New  England  Federalists,  against 
nearly  all  the  leading  war  measures  which  were  proposed.  This 
shows,  at  least,  his  independence  of  party  rule.  However,  in  the 
next  session — his  last — he  came  in  patl^iotically  and  zealously  to  the 
support  and  prosecution  of  the  war.  Whether  this  change  of  front, 
and  his  chairmanship  had  any  of  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect 
in  them,  is  a  question  not  for  us  to  solve.  It  cannot  be  supposed 
that  Mr.  Clay  would  assign  him  to  that  important  station  without 
being  well  assured  of  his  cordial  co-operation  in  the  justice  and 
purposes  of  the  war.  Indeed  in  a  speech  by  Mr.  Smilie  in  the 
secret  seesions  of  the  House,  in  April,  1812,  he  fully  acknowledges 


CH.  VII.]  JOHN    SMILIE.  14T 

the  recentness  of  his  entire  accession  to  the  war  party : — "  The 
embargo,"  says  Mr.  S.,  "is  intended  as  a  war  measure.  He  would 
assure  his  colleague  that  it  was  so  intended  by  the  Executive  and 
the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations.  And  being  now  up,  he  would 
observe  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  [he  might  have  said 
also  at  the  last  session]  he  was  not  so  warm  for  war  as  many  were, 
but  he  was  for  commercial  restrictions.  He  was  not  for  the  25,000 
men ;  [increase  of  the  army]  but  as  the  House  have  determined 
otherwise,  he  would  now  go  to  war.  If  we  now  recede  we  shall 
be  a  reproach  among  all  nations." 

It  is  a  well  known  trait  in  the  history  of  the  early  supremacy  in 
Congress  of  the  Republican,  or  old  Democratic  party,  that  they 
resisted  all  the  efforts  of  Jfew  England  and  the  seaboard  to 
strengthen  and  extend  the  J^Tavy.  And  it  was  not  until,  by  its 
brilliant  victories  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  of  1812,  it  had  con- 
quered favor  and  popularity  with  the  people,  that  it  came  to  be  a 
cherished  child  of  power  and  patronage.  In  the  ancient  hostility  to 
this  glory-covered  protector  of  our  coasts  and  commerce,  Mr.  Smilie 
acted  with  un deviating  fidelity  to  his  party  policy.  Had  he  lived  a 
year  longer,  his  characteristic  candor,  and  readiness  to  change  upon 
good  and  sufficient  reasons,  would  doubtless  have  brought  him  to 
its  support. 

In  May,  1812,  Mr.  Smilie  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Congres- 
sional caucuses  by  which  Mr.  Madison  was  unanimously  renomina- 
ted as  the  Republican  candidate  for  President,  and  Elbridge  Gerry, 
(of  Mass.,)  for  Vice  President;  and  was  appointed  on  the  Committee 
of  Correspondence  and  Arrangement  to  inform  them  of  their 
nomination,  and  to  secure  their  election.  He  did  not,  however, 
live  to  witness  their  inauguration. 

Such  is  an  outline  and  review  of  the  public  life  of  a  man,  who  if 
not  so  gifted  as  to  be  great,  was  so  well  constituted  in  temper  and 
intellect  as  to  possess  the  confidence,  if  not  the  control,  of  the  voters 
of  the  corner  counties  for  a  longer  period  than  has  fallen,  or  per- 
haps ever  will  fall,  to  the  lot  of  any  other  man.  The  part  cast  for 
him  in  the  drama  of  life  was  not  that  of  Wolsey  or  King  Henry 
nor  yet  that  of  Brutus  or  Anthony,  but  more  resembled,  in  the 
favor  which  followed  fidelity,  that  of  the  good  Earl  of  "Westmoreland, 

" a  summer  bird, 


Which  ever  in  the  haunch  of  winter  sings 
The  lifting  up  of  day." 

The  private  character  of  Mr.  Smilie  was  most  estimable  and 
exemplary.     In  dress  and  address  he  was  dignified  and  decorous, 


148  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

sufficiently  familiar  to  be  aifable,  yet  not  so  much  so  as  to  be  de- 
grading, lie  did  not  seek  popularity  by  the  low  arts  and  plottings 
to  which  demagogues  of  more  talent  ofttimes  resort,  but  made  his 
approaches  to  the  citadel  of  public  favor  and  distinction  by  doing 
all  the  duties  of  a  good  citizen,  and  by  fearlessly  and  faithfully 
representing  his  constituents  in  all  that  he  believed  to  be  for  their 
true  interests,  yet  so  as  therein  not  to  thwart  their  determined  will- 
In  four  out  of  the  nine  times  that  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  he 
had  no  opponent;  and  in  the  other  five,  the  opposition,  though 
respectable,  was  not  formidable. 

Mr.  Smilie  was  moreover  "the  highest  style  of  man,  a  Christian;" 
having  lived  and  died  in  the  faith  and  membership  of  the  Tyrone 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  which,  if  not  an  elder,  he  was  perhaps  a 
founder  and  a  liberal  supporter.  In  this  respect  his  life  gave  clear 
evidence  that  the  highway  to  political  honors  is  not  necessarily 
divergent  from  "wisdom's  path," — a  parallelism  much  oftener 
found  in  the  good  old  times  than  in  these  days  of  railroad  routes 
to  popular  favor,  which  must  needs  traverse  low  ground, 

" through  many  a  dark  aud  dreary  vale, 


Rocks,  caves,  lakes,  fens,  bogs,  dens  and  shades  of  death." 

Mr.  Smilie  had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  Robert,  the  son,  died 
a  few  years  ago,  leaving  a  numerous  family  of  sons  and  daughters, 
nearly  all  of  whom  have  removed  to  the  West.  Mary,  one  of  the 
daughters,  was  the  v^ife  of  Joseph  Huston,  a  well  known  old  iron- 
master of  Fayette.  They  had  but  two  children,  daughters — Jane, 
wife  of  Isaiah  Marshall,  who  removed  to  Iowa,  and  Sarah,  now  the 
wife  of  George  Dawson,  Esq.  Jane,  the  other  daughter,  was  the 
wife  of  Captain  William  Craig — their  only  child  is  John  S.  Craig, 
of  N.  Union  township. 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.    BPHRAIM    DOUGLASS.  149 


GEN.   EPHRAIM   DOUGLASS. 

We  are  at  a  loss  to  locate,  with  certainty,  the  nativity  of  this 
patriarchal  officer  of  Fayette.  By  some  he  is  made  to  be  a  native 
of  Scotland,  which  his  father  undoubtedly  was — by  others,  of  Mary- 
land, in  the  vicinity  of  Ilagerstown,  and  by  others  of  Carlisle,  or 
its  adjacents,  in  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania.  The  last  is, 
we  think,  the  most  probable.  All  his  early  associations  in  business 
and  friends  cluster  around  Carlisle,  while  we  find  nothing  among 
his  books  or  papers  which  point  to  Maryland,  or  indicate  that  he 
was  a  foreigner. 

His  father  was  named  Adam  Douglass.     He  had  one  brother,' 

Joseph,  and  one  sister,  the  wife  of  Collins,  who  left  three 

sons.  This  is  all  we  know  of  his  family  relations.  He  died  on  his 
farm,  about  two  miles  north-east  of  Uniontown,  on  the  17th  July, 
1833,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  We  believe  he  never 
was.  married,  yet  he  adopted,  as  his  own,  the  children  of  one  Mary 
Lyon,  and  made  ample  provision  for  her  and  them  out  of  his 
estates.  Ephraim,  the  son,  died  in  Uniontown  in  April,  1839- 
Sarah,  who  was  the  wife  of  Daniel  Keller,  a  well  known  old  iron- 
master of  Fayette,  was  a  daughter.  The  other  daughter  was  Eliza, 
wife  of  Allen  King,  now,  we  believe,  residents  of  Clark  county, 
Ohio.     These  all  have  a  numerous  offspring. 

Our  first  traces  of  the  eventful  early  life  of  Gen.  Douglass  begin 
at  Pittsburgh  in  the  Spring  of  1769,  whither  he  seems  to  have 
come  in  the  preceding  year,  leaving  his  father,  mother  and  brother 
at  Carlisle,  until  1774,  when  they  seem  to  have  joined  him  at  Pitts- 
burgh. Ephraim  was  then  not  over  nineteen  years  old ;  yet,  having 
a  good  English  education,  steady  habits  and  unusual  energy,  dili- 
gence and  skill,  he  appears  at  once  to  have  enjoyed  the  confidence 
and  patronage  of  the  fort  officers,  and  of  many  of  the  most  eminent 
Indian  traders  and  settlers  in  and  around  that  old  frontier  post, 
among  whom  we  may  name  William  and  Richard  Butler,  Devereaux 
Smith,  Daniel  and  William  Elliott,  Alexander  Ross,  Samuel  Sample, 


^  Joseph  Douglass  seems  to  have  been  a  kind  of  attache  of  his  brother  during  the  latter 
period  of  his  operations  at  Pittsburgh,  and  the  early  years  of  his  official  tenures  at 
Uniontown,  chiefly  as  clerk  and  partner  in  a  store.  He  was  appointed  State  Excise 
Collector  in  December,  1786,  a  very  unproductive  office.  About  1790  he  removed  to 
Greensburg,  where  he  died  in  January,  1792,  unmarried.  He  too,  had  been  a  revolu- 
tionary soldier.     See  further  as  to  Joseph's  history  in  2  Yeates'  Reports,  46. 


150  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII- 

John  Ormsby  and  George  Croghan,  the  Deputy  Indian  Agent. 
Although  without  any  apparent  direct  connection  with  the  fort,  he 
lived,  with  others,  in  a  "  mess." 

For  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  his  residence  at  Pittsburgh^ 
young  Douglass  appears  to  have  been  engaged  in  almost  every 
kind  of  work — clerk,  scrivener,  carpenter,  (his  chief  business,) 
cabinet  maker,  lumberman,  blacksmith,  gunsmith,  stone  mason, 
shop  keeper,  &c.,  &c.  We  could  not  better  illustrate  his  universal 
genius  and  multiform  employments  than  by  a  few  extracts  from  his 
books  of  accounts — but  we  cannot  afford  the  space.  They  show 
him  to  have  been  a  handicraftsman  such  as  is  rarely  met  with  ;  and 
are  an  early  display  of  that  remarkable  system,  neatness  and  pre- 
cision which  characterized  his  long  official  career  in  Fayette  county ; 
— and  then  so  young  was  he.  He  surely  never  could  have  learned 
all  the  arts  he  practiced — they  must  have  come  to  him  by  intuition. 
He  was  equally  at  home  from  making  and  glazing  sash  for  Mr. 
Samuel  Sample's  bai^-room  window  to  making  new  Billy  pins  for  his 
fiddle; — was  as  ready  at  "a  day's  writing  and  drinking"  for  Mr* 
Wm.  Christy,  or  copying  bills  and  accounts  for  Mr.  Butler,  as  in 
tearing  down  and  rebuilding  Mr.  Spear's  cellar  wall, — and  was  as 
prompt  at  cleaning  Col.  Croghan's  coteau  de  chase  as  at  shoeing  his 
horse,^  or  "laying  a  grubbing  hoe"  for  John  Ormsby.  He  had  for 
sale  all  sorts  of  things,  from  a  pint  of  rum,  or  a  walnut  board,  to  a 
canoe  load  of  wood,  or  a  bushel  of  lime.  He  made  axes,  jack- 
planes,  keys,  mill  irons,  grain  cradles,  fish  darts  and  counter  drawers; 
and  repaired  everything  from  "the  rum  store  "  lock  to  a  gun  lock 
— from  a  looking  glass  to  a  tea  table.  ITothing  came  amiss  to  him 
that  required  skill  and  the  use  of  tools.  And  were  it  not  for  the 
indubitable  evidence  that  he  was  doing  all  this  on  his  own  account, 
we  would  be  led  to  believe  that  he  was  general  superintendent  of 
all  the  work  shops  in  Pittsburgh.  And  we  do  believe  he  was  then 
the  only  mechanic  there,  except  Peter  Roletter,  the  tailor,  and  Bar- 
ney Vertner,  the  turner. 

In  1771  he  began  to  engage  in  the  Indian  trade,^  then,  and  for 


2  He  had  a  journeyman  horse-shoer,  George  Phelps,  of  ■whom  are  these  entries:  — 
"George  Phelps,  Dr:  To  driving  a  set  of  shoes  wrong  for  Col.  Croghan,  for  which  he 
woiild  not  pay — 3s." — the  key  to  which,  is  the  following :  "  From  the  20th  July  gave 
George  Phelps  a  pint  of  rum  a  day,  as  he  would  not  work  without  it,  and  I  must  have 
the  work  done." 

^  The  General  used  to  tell  a  somewhat  remarkable  occurrence  that  happened  to  him 
in  one  of  his  early  hunting  excursions.  He  was  ascending  the  Allegheny  in  a  canoe, 
with  a  companion,  when,  upon  striking  the  current  of  French  Creek,  which  was  high, 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.    EPHRAIM   DOUGLASS.  161 

many  years  before  and  after,  the  great  business  of  Pittsburgh.  It 
consisted  in  selling  shirts,  leggings,  beads,  powder,  lead,  wampum, 
tomahawks,  tobacco,  and  other  unmentionables,  to  the  Indians,  for 
peltry  of  all  sorts — bear,  beaver,  elk,  fox,  raccoon,  cat,  deer,  &c., 
&c.,  rated,  not  by  money,  but  by  bucks — as,  "  By  five  deer  skins, 
three  bucks."  These,  when  dried,  &c.,  were  sent  to  Philadelphia 
on  pack-horses  and  sold  by  the  pound,  the  pack-horse  trains  bring- 
ing back  goods  for  the  traders.  Douglass  engaged  in  this  at  first 
on  his  own  account,  but  from  1772  to  1774  he  operated  as  partner 
with  Devereaux  Smith,  Esq.,  famous  in  the  "  Boundary  contro- 
versy." They  were  extensive  dealers,  having  establishments  not 
only  at  Pittsburgh,  but  at  Kuskuskia,  on  Beaver  river,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Mahoning,  and  elsewhere  in  the  Indian  country. 
Gen.  James  O'Hara  was  in  their  employ.  The  Messrs.  Gratz  and 
Thos.  Ashton  were  their  factors  at  Philadelphia.  The  business 
become  overdone  in  1773,  and  the  Indian  troubles  in  1774,  and  the 
Revolution  in  1776  put  an  end  to  it.  Douglass  seems  to  have,  how- 
ever, made  money  at  the  business.  He  took  no  part  in  the  Boun- 
dary war — his  aim  being  to  keep  on  fair  terms  with,  and  extract 
profit  from,  both  parties.  He  was  always  too  much  of  a  business 
man  to  be  much  of  a  partizan. 

The  firm  of  Smith  &  Douglass  continued  in  business  until  1776, 
when  Richard  Butler  came  into  the  firm  for  a  short  period.  But 
when  the  West  became  fully  roused  to  the  cause  of  Independence, 
and  a  fort  was,  in  1776,  being  built  at  Kittanning,  they  established 
a  store  there.  In  September  of  that  year,  the  8th  Pennsylvania 
Regiment  rendezvoused  and  was  organized  at  that  place,  -^neas 
Mackay,  Colonel ;  George  Wilson,  Lieutenant  Colonel ;  Richard 
Butler,  Major,  &c. ;  and  Ephraim  Douglass,  Quarter  Master.  We 
have  his  official  book  of  receipts,  and  the  Company's  (of  Smith, 
Butler  &  Douglass)  books  of  accounts  at  that  post.  The  Regiment 
marched  to  Amboy,  New  Jersey,  in  January,  1777,  and  Quarter 


his  canoe  was  upset,  and  guns,  powder,  peltry  and  hunters  were  precipitated  into  ten 
feet  water.  Douglass  clung  to  the  canoe,  which  he  took  ashore  and  tied.  Then,  by  diving 
and  feeling  about,  he  recovered  his  gun  and  ammunition ;  but  his  companion,  who  failed 
to  regain  his,  left  him  and  returned  home.  Douglass,  after  regaining  his  peltry,  which 
had  floated  oflf,  made  a  fire,  and  constructed  a  bark  shelter  from  the  rain,  and  bivouacked 
for  the  night.  In  the  morning  he  was  so  stiff  as  to  be  unable  to  move.  He  remained  in 
this  condition  for  several  days,  almost  without  food.  He  concluded  he  must  die,  and 
getting  a  piece  of  bark,  he  scratched  upon  it  this  auto  obituary : — "I  have  lived  doubtful, 
but  not  dissolute — I  die  undetermined,  but  not  unresigned — E.  Douglass."  He,  however, 
Bcon  got  better,  dried  his  powder,  shot  some  game  for  food,  and  made  a  successful  hunt. 


152  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

Master  Douglass  with  it — the  Company  sending  the  residue  of 
their  goods  and  liquors  back  to  Pittsburgh,  in  care  of  Joseph  Dou- 
glass, who  sold  for  a  while  and  then  boxed  up  the  remnants  for 
better  times. 

Soon  after  joining  the  main  American  Army  near  New  York, 
Major  Douglass  became  an  Aid  de  Camp  to  Major  General  Lincoln, 
of  Massachusetts,  and  was  serving  in  that  capacity  with  a  small 
body  of  troops,  under  the  General's  command,  at  Boundbrook, 
New  Jersey,  on  the  Eariton,  when,  on  the  13th  of  April,  1777, 
Lord  Cornwallis  made  an  ascent  upon  them  from  Brunswick,  and 
took  sundry  prisoners,  among  whom  was  the  Major.  He  was  car- 
ried to  New  York,  then  held  by  the  enemy,  where  be  underwent 
great  rigors  and  privations.  How  long  he  was  held  in  captivity  we 
do  not  know.  Gen.  Washington  wrote  to  Gen.  Lincoln  on  the 
25th  of  October,  1777,  that  he  would  try  to  get  him  exchanged  for 
some  of  the  captives  of  Gen.  Burgoyne's  army,  as  soon  as  his  turn 
came.  But  the  odds,  especially  in  officers,  were  then  greatly 
against  us — the  British  having  five  prisoners  to  our  one  of  theirs. 
This,  and  the  difficulties  as  to  the  treatment  of  prisoners  which 
about  this  time  arose  between  the  contending  armies,  no  doubt 
postponed  the  Major's  release  for  a  considerable  time  longer.  He 
says  himself  that  he  did  not  rejoin  the  army  until  November  4, 
1780.  And  it  is  probable  that  he  had  not  been  long  released. 
During  his  captivity  his  health,  especially  his  eyes,  suffisred  severely. 
And  it  is  said  that  from  sleeping  in  a  North  British  officer's  bed 
he  contracted  a  certain  cutaneous  disease,  to  cure  which  he  resorted 
to  remedies  and  expedients — mercury  and  bathing — which  well 
nigh  cost  him  his  life.  While  a  prisoner  he  received  from  our 
Commissaries  of  Prisoners  sundry  sums  of  money  for  subsist- 
ence, in  all  <£266,  and  soon  afterwards  $2,000  more,  continental 
money. 

In  August,  1781,  we  find  Major  Douglass  again  at  Pittsburgh, 
recruiting  his  health,  and  settling  up  his  old  Indian  trade  business. 
In  the  fall  of  that  year,  or  in  the  succeeding  winter,  he  undertook 
a  special  secret  mission  for  the  Government  into  the  Indian  coun- 
try, for  what  precise  purposes  we  do  not  know.  Its  hazardous  char- 
acter may  be  best  inferred  from  part  of  a  letfer  to  him  from  his 
friend  General  Jas.  Irvine,  dated  Philadelphia,  July  10,  1782, 
wherein  he  says  ;  "I  had  heard  of  your  magnanimous  enterprise 
in  penetrating  alone  into  the  Indian  country — that  you  had  been 
absent  and  not  heard  from  for  some  months — that  the  time  fixed 
for  your  return  was  elapsed,  and  that  your  friends  about  Pittsburgh 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.    EPHRAIM    DOUGLASS.  153 

had  given  you  up  as  lost."  He  returned  in  May.  From  the  first 
of  September,  1782,  to  the  last  of  April,  1783,  he  served  as  Inten- 
dant  of  Prisoners  at  Philadelphia,  the  duties  and  emoluments  of 
which  we  cannot  determine,  but  presume  it  related  to  the  care  of 
British  prisoners  of  war. 

On  the  first  of  May,  1783,  Congress  resolved  upon  another 
embassy  to  the  Indians  of  the  ITorth-west,  to  inform  them  that 
peace  had  been  agreed  on  and  hostilities  ceased  with  Great  Britain — 
that  the  forts  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  held  by  British 
troops  would  soon  be  evacuated — that  the  United  States  wished  to 
enter  into  friendly  treaties  with  them,  and  that  unless  they  acceded 
to  these  friendly  ofi'ers  and  ceased  their  hostilities,  Congress  would 
take  measures  to  compel  them  thereto. 

The  Secretary  at  War  immediately  selected  Major  Douglass  for 
this  delicate  and  dangerous  mission.  He  sat  out  from  Fort  Pitt 
on  the  7th  of  June,  with  horses  and  attendants,  passing  through 
the  hostile  wilderness  of  the  IS'orth-west  to  Sandusky,  where  he 
was  detained  several  days  ;  thence  to  Detroit,  thence  to  Niagara, 
Upper  Canada ;  and  thence  to  Oswego,  on  Lake  Ontario ;  all  of 
which  posts  were  then  held  by  British  Garrisons.  In  this  tour  he 
met  with  his  old  Pittsburgh  acquaintances,  Elliott  and  M'Kee,  now 
tory  employees  of  the  British,  and  with  the  celebrated  Indian 
chiefs,  Captains  Pipe  and  Brant.  The  British  commandants  would 
not  permit  him  to  make  to  the  Indians  a  public  exposition  of  the 
objects  of  his  mission.*  They,  however,  as  well  as  the  Indians, 
treated  him  with  great  civility  and  respect.  Brant  wanted  him  to 
visit  him  at  his  Mohawk  castle,  but  the  British  oflScers  forbid. 


*In  a  letter  from  General  Douglass,  dated  at  Uniontown,  in  February,  1784,  to  the 
President  of  Council,  he  communicates  some  valuable  information  about  Indian  affairs 
■which  had  como  to  his  knowledge  since  he  left  the  Canadian  country.  Its  substance  is, 
that  Sir  John  Johnson,  the  British  Indian  Agent,  had  assembled  the  western  Indians  at 
Sandusky,  and  after  a  lavish  distribution  of  presents,  had  told  them  that,  although  the 
King,  whom  they  had  served,  had  made  peace  with  the  Colonies  and  granted  them  his 
lands,  yet  he  had  not  given  them  the  Indians'  lands — that  the  Ohio  river  was  to  be  the 
boundary  in  this  quarter,  over  which  they  should  "not  allow  the  Americans  to  pass 
and  return  in  safety: "  and  that  as  the  war  was  now  ended,  "he  would,  as  was  usual  at 
the  end  of  a  war,  take  the  tomahawk  out  of  their  hands,  though  he  would  not  remove 
it  out  of  sight,  or  far  from  them,  but  lay  it  carefully  down  by  their  side,  that  they  might 
have  it  convenient  to  use  in  defence  of  their  rights  and  property  if  they  were  invaded 
or  molested  by  the  Americans."  Such  incitements  as  this  greatly  conduced  to  keep  up 
the  Indian  annoyances  in  the  North-west,  costing  us  much  blood  and  treasure  during 
many  years,  and  until  Wayne's  great  victory  of  1704. 


161:  THE    MONONGAHBLA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII- 

While  at  Detroit  there  was  a  Grand  Council  of -eleven  Indian  tribes. 
They  seemed  glad  to  hear  of  peace  and,  says  the  Major  in  his 
report,  "  gave  evident  marks  of  satisfaction  at  seeing  me  among 
them,  [an  old  acquaintance.]  They  carried  their  civilities  so  far, 
that  all  day,  when  at  home,  m}'  lodging  was  surrounded  with  crowds, 
and  the  streets  lined  with  them  to  attend  my  going  abroad,"^  He 
returned  in  August,  and  immediately  repaired  to  Princeton,  New- 
Jersey,  where  Congress  was  sitting,  and  prepared  an  extended 
report  of  the  incidents  and  results  of  his  mission.  For  this  service, 
Congress  voted  him  five  hundred  dollars. 

Upon  his  return  from  this  expedition,  he  found  the  Legislature 
about  to  erect  the  new  county  of  Fayette,  and,  waiting  its  accom- 
plishment, he  applied  for  and  was,  on  the  6th  of  October,  1783, 
ten  days  after  the  Act  passed,  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council,  Prothonotary  and  Clerk  of  the  Courts.  His  competitors 
were  Dorsey  Pentecost,  recently  Clerk  of  Yohogania  county  Courts 
under  the  Virginia  usurpation,  Alexander  M' Clean,  and  Joseph 
M'Cleery.  He  entered  at  once  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  ofiices, 
being  here  at  the  first  Court,  held  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  Decem- 
ber following;  ofiices  which  he  held  uninterruptedly  until  Decem- 
ber, 1808,  when  he  resigned. 

In  1784  he  was  appointed  County  Treasurer,  which  office  he  filled 
until  January,  1800.  The  duties  of  this  office  during  those  fifteen 
years  were  exceedingly  onerous  and  responsible.  Besides  the 
county  levies  during  all  the  period,  a  State  tax  of  greater  amount 
had,  yearly  until  1790,  to  be  collected  and  remitted,  to  meet  the 
State's  quotas  to  support  the  Federal  Government  and  pay  the  war 
debts.  For,  until  the  new  Federal  Constitution  of  1789  became 
efl^ective,  Congress  assessed  certain  sums  of  revenue  to  be  furnished 
by  each  State,  and  the  State  apportioned  the  sum  among  its  coun- 
ties. This  had  to  be  paid  in  gold  or  silver,  or  in  certain  Govern- 
ment certificates.  And  the  great  scarcity  of  money  in  this  county 
made  the  burden  of  its  payment  very  grievous,  and  its  collection 
exceedingly  difficult  and  unpleasant.     Nevertheless  Fayette  was 


*  By  long  intercourse  with  the  Indians  he  had  learned  their  language  and  manners  so 
well  as,  with  the  aid  of  their  dress,  which  he  could  assume,  to  make  a  very  good  "couh- 
terfeit  presentment"  of  a  Chief.  It  was  on  this,  or  the  former  mission,  that  he  undertook 
in  that  character  to  speak  in  Council.  He  played  the  part  so  well  that  when  he  sat 
down  an  old  Chief  rose  and  anxiously  inquired — "What  Chief  is  that  who  has  spoken?  — 
I  don't  remember  to  have  ever  before  heard  his  voice  in  Council! " 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.    EPHKAIM    DOUGLASS.  155 

generally  prompt  to  pay  her  quota.®  In  writing  to  the  State  Treas- 
urer, February  6,  1786,  Gen.  Douglass  says :  "  John  Smilie,  Esq., 
will  deliver  you  a  sum  of  money  agreeable  to  the  enclosed  inven- 
tory. And  trifling  as  this  sum  may  appear,  it  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty that  we  collected  so  much.  How  the  tax  for  the  present  year 
will  be  raised,  God  only  knows."  And  to  show  as  well  the  amount 
of  our  yearly  State  tax  in  those  days,  when  our  population  was  only 
about  8,000,  as  the  kind  of  funds  sent  to  pay  it,  we  copy  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  Gen.  Douglass  to  the  State  Treasurer,  dated 

"  Uniontown,  20th  August,  1787. 
"  Sir  : — I  have  the  honor  to  remit  you  by  Col.  Phillips  the  fol- 
lowing orders  and  bills  of  credit: 

£      s.     d. 
Col.  Andrew  Porter's  order  and  receipt  thereon  for    -     87       0     0 

Your  order  in  favor  of  Andrew  Linn  for 17       13 

Do.  "  John  M'Farland  for  -    -     -    -     33       8     8 

Do.  "  Robert  Brownfield  for      -    -    -     3      7     1 

Amounting  to     -• 140     17     0 

<£      s.    d. 

1    20s.  bill 1       0     0 

25    10s.    " 12     10     0 

12    5s.      " 3       0     0 

1    9d.     " 0       0     9 

16     10     9 

Will  make - 157       7     9 

Which,  with  what  I  sent  by  J.  Smilie,  Esq.,  -     -     -    -  231     19     3 

Will  amount  to  half  our  quota  for  this  year,    -    -  <£389       7     0 


6  Comptroller  General's  Office,    "» 
"Sir:  September  9,  1786.  / 

The  honorable  situation  in  which  the  county  of  Fayette  is  placed  by  the 
punctual  discharge  of  her  taxes,  reflects  high  credit  upon  the  officers  employed  in  the 
laying,  collecting  and  paying  the  same,  as  well  as  upon  the  county  at  large.  May  you 
long  continue,  and  I  hope  you  will  long  continue  in  the  same  laudable  situation.  Your 
example  will  have  a  good  influence  upon  others,  so  that  you  not  only  do  your  duty  your- 
selves, but  in  some  degree  procure  the  same  to  be  done  by  others.  The  bearer  is  riding 
the  State  for  money,  but  from  you  we  ask  none.  You  have  anticipated  our  demand, 
and  I  know  will  continue  to  send  it  down  as  fast  as  you  receive  it. 

I  am,  with  respect,  Sir, 

Your  most  ob't.  very  humble  serv't. 
"Ephkaim  Douglass,  Esq.  JOHN  NICHOLSON. 

Treasurer  Fayette  County." 


156  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

"  I  trust  there  will  be  no  difficulty  about  the  order  of  Col.  Por- 
ter.^ His  public  as  well  as  private  character,  and  the  necessities 
of  the  Commissioners  at  the  time,  I  hope  will  excuse  me  for 
advancing  the  money  without  your  order. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  most  respectfully, 

"  Sir,  your  very  obedient  servant, 

"Ephraim  Douglass. 
^'^  David  Eiitenhouse,  Esq." 

Besides  the  moneys  he  had  to  collect  and  remit  as  County 
Treasurer,  he  had  also,  as  Clerk  of  the  Courts,  to  collect  and  remit 
tavern  license  fees,  fines  and  forfeitures,  and  fees  on  marriage 
licenses.  Concerning  the  latter,  he  writes,  in  January,  1785,  that 
having  "  ten  marriage  licenses,  their  number  will  not  be  likely  to 
diminish  so  long  as  there  is  no  penalty  for  marrying  before  almost 
any  body  without  a  license."  He  writes  again  in  August  that 
"  there  are  yet  nine  marriage  licenses  on  hand,  and  very  little 
demand  for  them." 

We  could  illustrate  these  now  forgotten  difficulties  to  a  much 
greater  extent  by  letters  and  extracts  from  the  papers  of  Gen. 
Douglass  now  before  us,  but  having  some  of  another  class  to  copy, 
we  must  hasten  on. 

Gen.  Douglass  brought  out  to  Uniontown,  shortly  after  he  came 
here,  a  small  stock  of  goods,  the  proceeds  of  some  of  his  peltries, 
which  were  packed  over  the  mountains  from  Shippensburg,  at  five 
dollars  per  hundred  weight.  He  never,  we  believe,  renewed  the 
stock,  but  soon  began  investing  his  surplus  funds  in  town  lots  and 
lands. 

Besides  his  other  offices,  he  was,  in  1785,  appointed  to  survey 
part  of  District  No.  3  of  Depreciation  Lands,  north  of  the  Alle- 
gheny river,  which  he  seems  to  have  executed  chiefly  by  the  aid  of 
one  Robert  Stevenson.  We  find,  however,  among  Gen.  Douglass' 
papers  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  map  of  the  lands  in  his  own  hand- 
writing. It  is  of  a  part  of  the  district  chiefly  in  Allegheny  county, 
being  three  miles  wide  and  over  thirty  miles  long,  embracing  two 
hundred  and  eighteen  tracts.  For  this  service  he  got  <£763,  of 
which  he  paid  Mr.  Stevenson  above  half  the  sum. 

General  Douglass  held  also,  about  1785,  the  appointment  of 
Agent  for  the  sale  of  confiscated  estates  of  Tories  in  Fayette.     We 


''  Father  of  Ex-Governor  David  R.  Porter,  -who  had  recently  been  engaged  as  a  Com- 
missioner to  run  and  mark  our  Western  and  Northern  boundaries. 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.  EPHRAIM  DOUGLASS.  157 

are  glad  to  say  that  he  had  but  one  case,  and  he  a  non-resident. 
That  was  to  sell  the  lands  of  Dr.  Anthony  Yeldall,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  owned  the  Mendenhall  Dam  tract,  now  owned  by  William 
Wood  and  David  Poundstone.  The  General  sold  it,  we  believe, 
to  one  James  M'Donald.  Yeldall  was  supposed  to  own  another 
tract  on  the  high  hill  west  of  McClellandtown,  held  in  the  name  of 
Edward  Green,  now  owned,  we  believe,  by  John  Wilson,  Esq.,  and 
Messrs.  Parshall  and  Eenshaw,  and  the  Agent  sold  it  to,  perhaps, 
Michael  Cock;  but  Green  afterwards  recovered  it,  as  really  his 
property  and  not  Yeldall's. 

In  April,  1793,  Governor  Mifflin  commissioned  Douglass  to  be 
Brigadier  General  of  the  county  of  Fayette,  and  tradition  yet  pre- 
serves the  memory  of  his  splendid  erect  appearance  on  his  charger 
in  the  field,  and  the  rigid  exactness  of  his  commands.  He  took 
pride  in  appearances,  and  for  many  years  drove  the  only  landau  or 
four  wheeled  carriage  in  the  county. 

Gen.  Douglass  was  a  man  of  high  stature  and  most  imposing 
appearance,  remarkably  neat  and  exact  in  gait  and  dress,  with  long 
queue  and  powdered  hair.®  He  was  a  peer  among  the  great  and 
high  minded  judges  and  attorneys  of  his  day — Addison,  Ross, 
Smith,  Brackenridge,  Meason,  Galbraith,  Hadden,  Lyon,  Kennedy, 
&c. ;  enjoying  their  society  and  confidence.  He  had  a  repulsive 
sternness  and  awe-inspiring  demeanor  which  repelled  undue  famil- 
iarity and  rendered  him  unpopular  with  the  masses.  His  temper 
was  very  irritable,  and  he  was  subject  to  impetuous  rage.  He  was 
conscious  of  these  frailties,  and  assigned  them  as  a  reason  why  he 
never  married.  Yet  he  was  a  man  of  great  liberality,  generous 
and  kind  to  the  poor,  and  especially  to  a  friend  in  need.  It  is  said 
that  in  a  season  when  a  great  scarcity  of  grain  was  threatened,  he 
providently  bought  up  large  quantities  at  fair  prices,  which,  when 
the  expected  wants  of  his  neighbors  came  upon  them,  he  sold  at 
cost,  or  lent  to  be  repaid  in  kind  and  quantity  after  the  next  har- 
vest. But  the  most  striking  proof  of  his  generosity  is  the  follow- 
ing, which  we  find  among  his  papers.  To  understand  its  force  the 
reader  must  remember  that  at  its  date  Gen.  St.  Clair  had  become 
old,  broken  in  spirit,  and  very  poor,  eking  out  a  subsistence  for 


*  He  was,  moreover,  when  in  his  prime,  a  man  of  great  athletic  vigor  and  endurance. 
It  is  related  of  him,  that  having  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  in  the  winter,  he 
enticed  his  keepers  to  the  river  to  try  their  skill  with  him  in  skating.  After  amusing 
them  for  a  while  by  letting  them  excel  him,  he  at  length  put  spurs  to  his  skates  and 
away  he  went  with  such  rapidity  and  continuance  as  to  defy  pursuit,  and  thus  escaped. 


158  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

himself  and  an  afflicted  family  by  keeping  a  poor  old  log  tavern  by 
the  way  side,  on  Chesnut  Ridge  mountain,  in  Westmoreland : 

"Uniontown,  13th  February,  1809. 
"  Tieceived  of  General  Epbraim  Douglass,  one  hundred  dollars, 
which  I  promise  to  repay  him  on  demand,  or  at  furthest  by  the 
sixth  day  of  June  next.  Signed, 

"Ar.  St.  Clair." 
Underneath  which,  in  Gen.  Douglass'  handwriting,  is : — 
"  l!^ever  to  be  demanded.     To  save  the  feelings  of  an  old  friend 
I  accepted  this  receipt,  after  refusing  to  take  an  obligation. 

Signed,  "E.  Douglass." 

A  nobler  monument  is  this  scrap  of  paper  than  was  ever  reared 
in  brass  or  marble.  Who  would  not  rather  wear  the  rank  which 
its  inscription  gives,  than  be  the  possessor  of  all  the  titles,  with  all 
the  cold  domains,  of  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  ! 

"  The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp, 
The  man's  the  gold,  foi*  a'  that." 

We  will  close  this  memoir,  already  perhaps  too  extended,  with 
some  extracts  from  his  early  correspondence,  copies  of  which  he 
carefull}^  preserved. 

GEN.    DOUGLASS'    LETTERS. 

To  John  Dickinson,  Esq.,  President  of  Supreme  Executive  Council : 

"  Uniontown,  2d  February,  1784. 

"Sir:—     ='^     *     *     * 

"  The  courts  were  opened  for  this  county  on  the  23d  of 
December  last.  The  gathering  of  people  was  pretty  numerous  ; 
and  I  was  not  alone  in  fearing  that  we  should  have  had  frequent 
proofs  of  that  turbulence  of  spirit  with  which  they  have  been  so 
generally  and  perhaps  too  justly  stigmatized.  But  I  now  feel  great 
satisfaction  in  doing  them  the  justice  to  say  that  they  behaved,  to 
a  man,  with  decency  and  good  order.  Our  Grand  Jury  was  really 
respectable — equal  at  least  to  many  I  have  seen  in  courts  of  long 
standing.  Little  business  was  done  other  than  dividing  the  county 
into  townships,  a  return  of  which  is  under  cover. 

*  *  *  *  "The  instructions  of  Council  respecting  the  opposition 
to  assessment  in  Menallen  township,  I  laid  before  the  Justices  as 
directed,  but  they  have  not  yet  come  to  any  resolution  thereon. 
Some  of  them,  I  find,  are  of  opinion  that  the  reviving  it  at  this 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.    EPHRAIM    DOUGLASS.  159 

distant  time  might  be  attended  with  more  vexatious  consequences 
than  the  suffering  it  to  be  forgotten  will  probably  produce.  For 
this  reason,  and  in  consideration  of  their  since  peaceable  demeanor, 
I  should  incline  to  be  of  opinion  with  the  others,  that  for  the 
present,  until  the  authority  of  the  court  becomes,  by  degrees  and 
habitude  of  obedience,  more  firmly  established  in  the  general  acqui- 
escence of  the  people  of  the  county,  and  a  jail  and  other  objects  of 
popular  terror  be  erected,  to  impress  on  their  minds  an  idea  of  the 
punishment  annexed  to  a  breach  of  the  laws,  lenient  measures 
might  produce  as  good  effects  as  the  most  rigorous  ones  that  justice 
could  adopt,  were  not  the  wisdom  and  directions  of  Council  opposed 
to  this  opinion.  To  these  reasons  for  declining  the  prosecution  of 
the  offenders,  if  their  identity  could  be  made  appear,  (which  I 
think  very  doubtful,)  might  be  added  others  that  I  am  distressed  to 
be  obliged  to  take  notice  of.  The  tax  not  having  been  assessed 
till  after  the  division  of  the  county,  the  authority  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Westmoreland  county  then  became  justly  questionable ; 
and  the  total  want  of  Commissioners  in  this  county,  to  levy  a  tax 
of  any  kind,  either  for  the  State  or  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  the 
county ;  and  the  consequent  inability  of  the  Trustees  to  perform 
the  duties  assigned  them  by  the  Legislature,  may  all  be  subjects  of 
consideration  in  this  case.  For,  from  an  unhappy  misconception 
of  the  law  for  dividing  Westmoreland,  the  county  of  Fayette  has 
not  an  oiBcer  of  any  kind,  except  such  as  were  continued,  or  crea- 
ted by  the  Act,  or  by  the  appointment  of  Council.  Denied  the 
power  of  a  separate  election  for  a  member  of  Council  and  Repre- 
sentative in  Assembly  till  the  general  election  of  the  present  year, 
they  unfortunately  concluded  that  this  inability  extended  to  all  the 
other  elective  officers  of  the  county,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
belief,  voted  for  them  in  connection  with  Westmoreland.  The 
remedy  of  this  evil  is,  I  fear,  not  easily  pointed  out ;  but  if  there 
be  a  possible  one,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  wisdom  of  Council,  to 
which  I  now  beg  leave,  as  I  shall  in  all  other  difficulties,  to  make 
my  humble  appeal.® 

"  The  Trustees  have  appointed  next  Monday  to  meet  on,  and 
begin  the  partition  line  between  this  county  and  Westmoreland  ; 
on  this  condition,  which  Col.  M'Clean,  who  is  to  be  the  executive 
person,  has  generously  agreed  to,  to  pay  the  expense  at  some  future 


9  The  trouble  here  referred  to  occurred  in  October,  1783,  just  after  Fayette  county 
was  erected.  It  grew  to  a  more  desperate  resistance  in  the  spring  of  1784.  See  Letters 
of  May  29th  and  July  11th,  1784,  poatea,  and  notes. 


160  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

time,  when  it  shall  be  in  their  power  to  call  upon  the  Commission- 
ers for  the  money.  Necessity  has  suggested  to  us  the  expedient  of 
building  a  temporary  jail  by  subscription,  which  is  now  on  foot. 

*****  ]^^^^^ February  6th — in  continuance. 

"Want  of  an  earlier  conveyance  gives  me  the  opportunity  of 
enclosing  to  Council  the  return  of  an  election  held  here  this  day 
for  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  this  township  ;  and  I  trust  the  importance 
of  the  choice  of  officers  to  the  county  will  excuse  me  to  that  hon- 
orable body  for  offering  my  remarks  on  this  occasion. 

"  Col.  M' Clean,  though  not  the  first  on  theTcturn,  needs  no  pane- 
gyric of  mine ;  he  has  the  honor  to  be  known  to  Council.  James 
Flnley  is  a  man  of  a  good  understanding,  good  character,  and  well 
situate  to  accommodate  that  part  of  the  township  most  remote  from 
the  town.  Henry  Beeson  is  the  proprietor  of  the  town,  a  man  of 
much  modesty,  good  sense  and  great  benevolence  of  heart ;  and 
one  whose  liberality  of  property  for  public  uses  justly  entitles  him 
to  particular  attention  from  the  county,  however  far  it  may  be  a 
consideration  with  Council.  Jonathan  Rowland  is  also  a  good  man, 
with  a  good  share  of  understanding,  and  abetter  English  education 
than  either  of  the  two  last  mentioned,  but  unfortunately  of  a  pro- 
fession rather  too  much  opposed  to  the  suppression  of  vice  and 
immorality — he  keeps  a  tavern.  John  Gaddis  is  a  man  whom  I  do 
not  personally  know — one  who  has,  at  a  former  election  in  the  then 
township  of  Menallen,  been  returned  t©  Council,  but  never  com- 
missioned, for  what  reason  I  know  not.  His  popularity  is  with 
those  who  have  been  most  conspicuous  in  opposition  to  the  laws 
of  this  Commonwealth.  Moses  Sutton  is  remarkable  for  nothing 
but  aspiring  obscurity,  and  a  great  facility  at  chanting  a  psalm,  or 
stammering  a  prayer. ^"^ 

"Duty  thus  far  directs  me  to  give  Council  an  impartial  descrip- 
tion of  the  men  who  are  to  be  the  future  ofiicers  of  this  county, 
but  both  duty  and  respect  forbid  my  saying  more,  or  presuming  to 
express  a  wish  of  my  own ;  for  I  have  no  predilection  in  favor  of, 
or  personal  prejudice  against  either  of  them. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"Ephraim  Douglass.  " 


10  Father  of  the  late  Samuel  Sutton,  and,  we  believe,  a  Baptist  preacher.     M'Clean, 
Finley  and  Gaddis  were  commissioned. 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.  EPHRAIM    DOUQLASg. 

To  John  Nicholson,  OomptroUer  General : 

"Uniontown,  16th  April,  1784. 

"  And  now,  Sir,  I  will,  for  the  last  time,  trouble  you  with  the 
mention  of  an  affair  which  has  already  created  some  trouble  to  us 
both.  My  opinion,  when  founded  on  principle,  I  can  never  sacri- 
fice to  any  other  gentleman,  but  I  am  less  wedded  to  my  interest. 
The  efforts  I  have  already  made  to  accommodate  the  dispute  between 
us  have  convinced  me  that  you  are  not  less  tenacious  of  yours, 
I  have  neither  leisure,  opportunity^  nor  inclination  to  undergo  the 
drudgery  and  expense  of  a  tedious  lawsuit,  whereby  this  matter 
might  be  settled  in  time;  nor  am  I  of  that  importunacy  of  dispo- 
sition to  trouble  the  Legislature,  after  having  once  troubled  the 
Supreme  Executive  power  of  the  State,  with  an  application  on  this 
subject ;  though  I  should  not  doubt  of  a  determination  in  my  favor. 
To  avoid  therefore  both  the  one  and  the  other,  and  to  satisfy  you, 
I  have  sent  you  my  certificate,  in  the  confidence  that  I  shall  now 
be  allowed  to  enjoy  the  satisfaction  I  shall  derive  from  the  recollec- 
tion of  having  served  and  suffered,  forfeited  my  interest  and  ruined 
my  constitution,  without  any  other  reward  :  for  rather  than  accept 
of  less  than  I  believe  myself  entitled  to,  I  would  wish  to  have 


nothing." 


"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"Ephraim  Douglass." 


To  John  Armstrong,  Jr.,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  State : 

"  Uniontown,  29th  May,  1784. 
"  Sir  :***** 

"  There  is  so  seldom  a  direct  conveyance  of  a  letter  from 
this  place  to  Philadelphia,  that  I  expect  every  communication  I  can 
make  will  be  anticipated  by  some  other  person  ;  but  lest  my  silence 
might  be  attributed  to  inattention,  I  will  give  you,  in  this  official 
letter,  a  short  sketch  of  the  affairs  of  this  county. 

"The  County  Commissioners  are  so  much  counteracted  by  the 
rabble  of  this  county,  that  it  appears  hardly  probable  the  taxes  will 
ever  be  collected  in  the  present  mode.     In  the  township  of  Menallen 


"  This  difficulty  related  to  tho  adjustmaat  of  Gen.  Douglass'  pay  as  a  Revolutionary 
officer,  while  he  was  a  prisoner  of  war.  It  wa?,  we  believe,  finally  settled  according  to 
hia  views. 

11 


162  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [OH.  VII. 

in  particular,  which  includes  this  place,  agreeable  to  its  limits 
in  the  duplicate,  the  terror  of  undertaking  the  duty  of  Collector 
has  determined  several  to  refuse  it,  under  the  severe  penalty 
annexed.  Two  only  have  accepted,  and  these  have  both  been 
robbed  by  some  ruffians  unknown,  and  in  the  night,  of  their  dupli- 
cates.'^ The  inhabitants  of  the  other  townships  have  not  gone  to 
such  lengths,  but  complain  so  much  of  the  hardship  and  the  want 
of  money  that  I  fear  very  little  is  to  be  hoped  from  them. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  banditti  from"  Bucks  county,  or  some 
others  equally  bad,  or  both,  have  established  themselves  in  some 
part  of  this  county  not  certainly  known,  but  thought  to  be  in  the 
deserted  part  of  Washington  county ;  whence  they  make  frequent 
incursions  into  the  settlements  under  cover  of  the  night,  terrify  the 


'-  These  two  were  the  Collectors  for  Meaallen  and  Springhill.  The  tax  was  that  which 
had  been  levied  by  the  Westmoreland  Commissioners.  Who  theMenallen  Collector  was, 
and  what  the  facts  of  his  case,  we  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain.  The  Springhill  Col- 
lector was  Philip  Jenkins.  He  was  robbed  at  his  own  house,  about  nine  o'clock  at  night, 
on  the  2tl  of  June,  1784,  of  his  duplicate,  about  £25  in  money,  a  pocket  bottle,  a  razor 
and  some  soap.  He  testified  to  this  being  done  by  three  men  unknown  to  him,  dressed 
in  hunting  shirts,  with  their  faces  striped,  one  of  them  very  tall,  with  a  long  neck,  each 
armed  with  a  pistol  and  club.  He  and  family,  with  some  neighbors,  among  them  James 
Bell,  were  sitting  up  with  a  sick  child.  Two  of  the  robbers  spoke  Dutch.  They  cursed, 
abused  and  beat  him  badly.     Their  avowed  purpose  was  to  prevent  tax  gathering. 

These  cases  were  communicated  by  the  Commissioners  of  Westmoreland  to  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  of  the  State,  who  thereupon,  on  the  29th  June,  1784,  issued  a  procla- 
mation, offering  a  reward  of  £50  for  the  apprehension  and  conviction  of  each  offender. 
We  believe  none' of  them  were  ever  arrested  or  prosecuted. 

'^  These  were  the  Loanes,  Abraham,  Levi,  Moses,  Joseph,  and  his  three  sons,  Aaron, 
.Joseph  and  Mahlon,  with  whom  were  associated  other  persons,  by  the  names  of  Vickers, 
Paul  Woodard,  &c.,  Tories  and  Refugees  in  the  Revolution.  They  had  robbed  the 
Treasurer  and  several  Collectors  and  citizens  of  Bucks  county,  in  1782,  and  had  fled  to 
the  West  They  were  outlawed  by  the  Legislature,  and  rewards  offered  for  their  appre- 
hension. Two  of  the  Vickers,  two  or  three  Doanes,  and  some  others,  were  arrested, 
convicted  and  hung.  Two  Doanes  were  committed  to  Bedford  county  jail  in  1783 — 
Mahlon  and  Joseph  having  been  caught  in  Maryland.     Their  fate  is  unrevealed. 

The  "deserted  part  of  Washington  county"  was  the  Ten  Mile  country.  'Tis  said 
these  banditti  had  a  den  on  the  Monongahela  river,  in  Luzerne  township,  between  David- 
son's lower  ferry  and  Rice's  Landing.  Several  years  afterwards,  one  Myers  and  Pratt, 
supposed  to  be  connections  of  this  gang,  were  convicted  of  horse  stealing  in  Fayette. 

The  gang  was  an  extensive  one,  all  over  the  State  and  in  adjacent  parts  of  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  the  North-west.  They  stole  horses,  negroes,  and  other  property,  and 
were  exceedingly  bold  and  successful,  having  many  accomplices  in  the  country.  We 
will  not  name  the  three  referred  to  by  Gen.  Douglass,  as  they  were  never  tried  Abra- 
ham Doane  had  been  arrested  in  Washington  county  and  committed.  A  mob  rescued 
him.  He  was  a"-ain,  with  Thomas  Richason  and  two  women,  pursued  towards  Detroit 
by  an  armed  party,  in  June,  1784,  and  the  four  again  committed  to  the  Washington 
county  jail.     Abraham  and  Levi  were  hung  at  Philadelphia,  in  1788. 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.  EPHRAIM    DOUGLASS,  163 

defenceless  inhabitants,  sometimes  treat  them  unmercifully,  and 
rob  them  of  their  property,  and  then  retire  to  their  lurking  places. 
What  seems  to  confirm  the  belief  of  its  being  the  Doanes,  or  some 
of  their  companions,  is  drawn  from  the  circumstances  attending 
the  detection  and  confinement  of  one  of  the  gang  at  Washington 
county  in  the  beginning  of  this  spring.  After  this  wretch  had 
been  rescued  from  the  guard  there,  he,  with  others  of  his  compan- 
ions, came  to  the  house  of  the  person  who  was  the  principal  in 
taking  him,  robbed  him  of  his  horse  and  other  property,  and  cau- 
tioned him  against  meddling  with  any  of  them  hereafter  ;  and  this, 
added  to  the  frequency  of  their  robberies  in  that  county,  favors  the 
belief  of  their  residence  there.  This  county,  however,  has  also 
sufi'ered  by  them,  though  they  came  in  the  character  of  thieves  and 
not  robbers  here.  And  yet  nothing  has  hitherto  been  attempted 
to  punish  them,  or  bring  them  to  justice  ;  partly,  perhaps,  because 
there  are  not  yet  a  sufficient  number  provoked  by  their  losses,  but 
principally  from  the  improbability  of  succeeding  in  the  attempt. 
For,  though  they  cannot  be  pointed  out  with  certainty,  or  prosecu- 
ted to  conviction,  there  must  be  too  many  in  this  country  who  aid 
and  abet  them,  and  who  would  readily  notify  them  of  any  prepara- 
tion making  against  them.  And,  from  the  representation  of  their 
number,  which  is  said  to  have  been  twenty-eight  at  the  forcing  of 
the  jail  in  Washington,  nothing  can  be  undertaken  against  them 
without  such  preparation  as  must  make  it  very  generally  known. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  kc. 

"EpHRAIM  DotJGLASS." 


Sir 


To  the  President  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council. 

'^Uniontown,  July  11th,  1784. 


"Taking  it  for  certain  that  Council  have  been  informed 
of  the  capture  of  some  of  the  robbers  who  have  lately  pursued  the 
same  practices  here  for  which  they  fled  hither,  I  shall  not  trouble 
them  with  the  particulars  of  that  transaction.  Every  thing  in  our 
power  has  been  done  to  discover  their  connections  in  this  quarter, 
without  a  certainty  of  having  succeeded.  Several  have  been 
apprehended  on  suspicion,  and  three  of  them,  from  a  greater  con- 
currence of  circumstances,  have,  by  the  advice  of  the  Attorney  for 
the  State,  been  recognized  to  the  next  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer 
for  this  county.     The  others  have  been  suffered  to  return  home 


164  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

without  security,  they  being  either  innocent,  or  too  cautious  to 
admit  anything  to  appear  against  them,  though  much  suspected  by 
many. 

"I  can  make  no  other  communications  of  importance  enough  to 
merit  the  attention  of  Council,  unless  what  relates  to  the  taxes  of 
this  county  ;  and  even  that  not  with  sufficient  accuracy.  Some 
small  sums  have  been  collected  in  some  of  the  townships.  One  of 
the  collectors  was  robbed  of  what  he  had  gathered,  by  the  same 
banditti,  it  is  thought,  who  committed  the  other  robberies  in  the 
country.  Some  attempts  have  been  made  to  raise  money  by  the 
sale  of  goods  taken  by  the  collectors  for  taxes,  but  no  one  would 
bid  for  them.     Thus  the  laws  are  eluded  without  open  opposition. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"Ephraim  Douglass." 


To  His  Excellency,  Thomas  Mifflin,  Governor,  (j-c. 

"Uniontown,  24th  April,  1791. 
"  Sir  : — A  heart  susceptible  of  gratitude,  or  a  mind  subject  to  the 
impressions  of  vanity,  cannot  fail  to  be  greatly  delighted  with  your 
Excellency's  condescending  invitation  to  all  your  subordinate 
officers  to  a  candid  correspondence  with  the  first  gentleman  in  the 
State.  I  feel  myself  so  greatly  elated  with  the  prospect,  that  I  shall 
only  restrain  myself  by  the  fear  of  becoming  troublesome.  I  have, 
however,  to  lament  and  pray  that  your  Excellency  will  admit  it  in 
excuse  that  my  local  situation  is  such  as  absolutely  to  deny  me  the 
frequent  communications  which  duty  and  inclination  would  prompt 
me  to  make.  Placed  almost  on  the  southern  verge  of  the  State, 
and  at  the  distance  of  more  than  thirty  miles  from  the  post  road  to 
Pittsburgh,^*  I  cannot  avail  myself  of  that  conveyance.  As  an 
evidence  of  this,  it  was  not  until  yesterday  I  was  honored  with 
your  Excellency's  circular  letter  of  the  24th  of  December  last, 
which,  I  trust,  will  remove  the  imputation  I  may  have  incurred  of 
neglecting  the  injunctions  of  that  letter.  Other  channels  of  com- 
munication with  the  city,  or  interior  parts  of  the  State,  we  can  be  said 


J*  There  was  no  post-office  in  Fayette  county  until  after  the  Whiskey  Insurrection, 
(1794).  The  "  post-road"  referred  to  was  from  Philadelphia,  and  from  Virginia  by  way  of 
Bedford,  to  Pittsburgh;  which  was  established  (twice  a  mouth  each  way)  in  178G — the 
contractors,  or  carriers,  taking  the  postages  for  their  pay.  For  many  years  Pittsburgh 
was  the  ouly  post-office  west  of  the  mountains.  We  have  seen  a  Pittsburgh  Gazette  of 
1792,  containing  a  list  of  advertised  letters,  among  which  were  for  men  iu  Kentucky, 
and  in  Fayette  county.  The  Gazette  was  distributed  over  the  west  by  private  carriers. 
See  "Chapter  (XV.)  of  Miscellanies." 


CH.  VII.]  GEN.  EPHRAIM  DOUGLASS.  165 

to  have  none  certain,  but  the  periodical  meeting  of  the  legislature. 
A  precarious  one,  indeed,  we  have  by  people  occasionally  going  to 
the  land  office;  and  these  are  the  only  chances  of  writing  from  this 
place.  The  great  road  from  Fort  Cumberland,  on  the  river 
Potomac,  to  the  Monongahela,  at  Redstone  old  Fort,  passes  through 
the  centre  of  the  county  and  county  town.  And  by  this  road 
almost  all  our  little  trade  is  conducted  to  Hagerstown,  Winchester, 
and  Martinsburg,  (if  not  intercepted  at  Cumberland  and  Old 
Town,)  in  the  neighboring  States.  The  consideration  of  attracting 
the  trade  of  one  of  the  best  cultivated  tracts  of  country  westward 
of  the  mountains,  ought,  perhaps,  (I  say  it  with  diffidence)  to  have 
suggested  the  policy  of  bringing  the  State  road  more  to  the  south- 
ward than  where  it  is  now  laid  out.  That  to  Cumberland  is  bad, 
almost  in  the  extreme,  and  had  we  a  good  one  through  Pennsylvania 

to  the  back  towns,  I  think  there  is  little  doubt  of  our  preferring 

jf      *         t-         '.'         *         *         * 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"Ephraim  Douglass." 


To  His  Excellency,  Governor  Mifflin. 

"  Uniontown,  6th  August,  1791. 

"  Sir  : — In  obedience  to  your  Excellency's  command,  I  have  filled 
up  the  blanks  of  the  schedule  as  directed,  with  the  names  of  such 
persons  as,  from  my  own  knowledge  of  their  characters,  or  from  the 
information  of  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the  county,  I  think 
most  likely  to  fill  the  office  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  with  credit  to 
government  and  to  themselves,  and  satisfaction  to  their  neighbors. 
I  have  placed  them  in  that  order  in  which  my  judgment  places 
them,  with  respect  to  their  abilities,  without  prepossession  or 
prejudice.     ***** 

"The  Act  for  erecting  the  county  of  Washington  limits  that 
county  by  the  west  side  of  the  Monongahela  river;  and  this  county 
is  limited  '  beginning  at  Monongahela  river  where  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  crosses  the  same ;  thence  down  the  river  to  the  mouth 
of  Speer's  run,  &c.'  Now,  by  these  two  acts,  it  would  appear  that 
the  river  still  belonged  to  Westmoreland  county,  and  that  neither 
of  the  other  counties  have  any  jurisdiction  on  it.  Cases  may  easily 
be  supposed  where  this  might  eventually  happen  to  be  a  very  great 
evilj^though  no  such  a  case  has  hitherto  come  within  my  knowledge 
or  observation.     *         *         *         * 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"Ephraim  Douglass." 


166  THE    MONONGAUELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 


ALBERT    GALLATIN. 

Last,  but  not  least,  of  the  ancient  worthies  who  adorn  the  annals 
uf  Fayette,  is  Albert  Gallatin  :  last  to  come  upon  the  stage  of  action, 
last  to  leave  it.  Two  centuries  of  his  country's  history  inherit,  in 
unequal  shares,  his  character  and  services ;  Fayette  county  claims 
jurisdiction  of  their  distribution.  So  ample  is  the  inheritance,  that, 
in  the  narrow  limits  allowed  us  here,  we  can  attempt  nothing  more 
than  a  schedule  of  the  most  prominent  items  which  compose  it^ 
with  perhaps  an  occasional  effort  to  examine  and  estimate  those 
which  come  more  directly  within  the  scope  and  purpose  of  our 
labors. 

Mr.  Gallatin  was  born  at  Geneva,  in  the  Republic  of  Switzerland, 
January  29th,  1761,  and  was  allied,  on  the  part  of  both  his  parents, 
to  some  of  the  most  worthy  families  of  that  renowned  country,  inclu- 
ding that  of  the  celebrated  jSTecker,  and  his  daughter,  Madame  de 
Stael.  His  ancestor,  John  Gallatin,  Secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
emigrated  to  Geneva  early  in  the  16th  century ;  and  having  embraced 
the  Reformation,  was  one  of  the  city  magistrates  when  it  became 
an  independent  Republic. 

Becoming  an  orphan  in  infancy,  he  was  educated  under  the 
maternal  care  of  a  most  excellent  lady,  who  was  a  relative  and 
intimate  friend  of  his  mother.  His  patrimony,  though  not 
large,  was  adequate  to  his  thorough  education  and  suitable  outfit 
for  the  voyage  of  life.  Had  it  been  greater,  he  might  have  dissi- 
pated his  energies  upon  some  tranquil  bay,  or  dashed  them  against 
the  rocks  of  folly  and  vice :  had  it  been  less,  he  might  have  been 
forced  to  hug  the  shores  of  obscurity,  or  strand  upon  some  ignoble 
island,  for  lack  of  canvas  to  stem  the  current. 

Nor  was  he  less  fortunate  in  the  era  of  his  birth,  and  in  the 
locality  of  his  youthful  education.  jS^owh^re  in  the  Old  World 
could  he  have  been  so  well  fitted  for  the  career  he  was  destined  to 
run  in  the  New.  The  fruits  of  the  Reformation  had  ripened  in  the 
city  where  its  blossoms  first  bloomed.  Geneva  had  become  not  more 
famous  for  the  Institutes  of  Calvin  than  for  her  institutions  of 
learning.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  University  of  Geneva, 
and  was  graduated  in  1779.  His  after-life  attests  the  fidelity  of  his 
instructors,  and  his  diligence  and  assiduity  as  a  student.  Then 
and  there  were  acquired  and  disciplined  those  characteristic  elements 
of  his  subsequent  eminence — accuracy,  thoroughness,  reliance  upon 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  167 

the  power  of  truth  and  confidence  in  his  ability  to  wield  it. 
These  were  his  fulcrum  and  lever,  by  which  he  moved  others  and 
sustained  himself.  That  they  were  always  rightly  used  is  a  question 
we  are  not  now  considering  ;  but  that  they  gave  origin  and  success 
to  all  his  great  efforts  as  politician,  statesman,  orator,  financier, 
diplomatist,  philosopher,  and  scholar,  is  a  solution  so  adequate  to 
account  for  his  eminence  in  all  these  departments  as  to  call  for  no 
other. 

Emerging  from  the  retirement  and  restraints  of  study  at  the 
impulsive  age  of  eighteen,  young  Gallatin  saw  the  Old  World 
aghast  at  the  revolt  of  the  American  colonies,  and  at  once  felt  the 
throb  of  sympathy  which  pervaded  the  enlightened  mind  of  conti- 
nental Europe.  France,  whose  language  he  spoke,  whose  literature 
and  history  he  knew,  and  between  whose  people  and  his  own  there 
was  also  a  community  of  origin  and  jealousy  of  England,  had  just 
then  come  to  the  timely  aid  of  the  trans- Atlantic  "rebels."  The 
conjuncture  of  circumstances  was  attractive — the  prospect  of 
success  cheering — the  call  to  youthful  heroism  loud  and  charming — 
the  field  of  prospective  wealth  and  fame  rich  and  expansive.  To 
keep  him  back,  he  had  within  his  acceptance  the  offer  of  honorable 
military  rank  in  the  service  of  one  of  the  German  sovereigns. 
This  he  declined.  Unrestrained  by  any  parental  control,  though 
against  the  will  of  his  patroness  and  relatives,  he  resolved  to  seek 
the  shores  of  struggling  liberty,  and  to  peril  his  fame  and  fortunes, 
and  perhaps  his  life,  in  the  conflicts  and  consequences  of  the 
contest.  To  this  high  resolve  he  was  perhaps  stimulated  by  young 
Bache,  whom  his  grandfather.  Dr.  Franklin,  had  sent  to  Geneva  to 
enjoy  the  superior  educational  facilities  of  that  city,  and  by  others 
of  his  comrades  and  friends.  An  eminent  Frenchman,  La  Roche- 
foucald  D'Enville,  then  resident  near  Geneva,  wrote  to  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, May  22d,  1780,  asking  his  "  kind  attention  for  two  young  men 
whom  the  love  of  glory  and  of  liberty  draws  to  America.  One  of 
them  is  named  Gallatin.  He  is  nineteen  years  old,  well  informed  for 
his  age,  of  an  excellent  character  thus  far,  with  much  natural  talent . 
The  name  of  the  other  is  Serre.  They  have  concealed  their 
project  from  their  relatives,  and  therefore  we  cannot  tell  where 
they  will  land.  It  is  supposed,  however,  that  they  are  going  to 
Philadelphia,  or  to  the  Continental  army."  The  fugitives  landed 
at  Boston,  July  14th,  1780,  doubtless  from  a  French  vessel  which 
had  sailed  under  convoy  of  the  French  fleet  under  Admiral  De 
Ternay,  which  in  that  month  landed  the  Count  de  Rochambeau 
and  an  army  of  5,500  men  at  ISTewport,  R.  I.,  to  aid  us  in  our 
theu'  waning  efforts  for  independence. 


168  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

Soon  after  his  arrival,  our  young  adventurer  proceeded  to  Maine, 
and  resided  for  some  time  at  Passamaquoddy  and  at  Machias, 
where  he  served  as  a  volunteer  under  Col.  John  Allen,  commander 
of  the  Fort.  He  also  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  garrison  by 
advances  out  of  his  private  funds.  lie  seems,  however,  soon  to 
have  discovered  that  the  tented  field  and  "  all  the  current  of  a 
heady  fight  "  were  not  congenial  with  his  temper  and  habits.  And 
as  the  war  seemed  ended  by  the  capture  of  Cornwallis,  in  October, 
1781,  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  the  spring  of  1782,  accepted  the  post  of 
Instructor  in  the  French  language  in  Harvard  University,  to  which 
he  was  chosen  through  the  friendly  intervention  of  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Cooper. 

In  the  winter  of  1783-84,  Mr,  G.  was  engaged  at  Richmond, 
Virginia,  in  negotiating  for  payment  by  that  State,  of  a  claim  upon 
it  for  funds  advanced  during  the  Revolution,  by  a  European  house. 
This  brought  him  into  contact  with  the  public  men  of  that  proud 
commonwealth,  and  contributed  much  to  the  growth,  if  not  to  the 
germination,  of  an  ambition  for  political  life.  During  this  sojourn 
in  Richmond,  he  had  his  lodgings  at  the  house  of  the  widow  of  a 
French  gentleman,  Madame  Allegre,  with  whose  daughter,  an 
accomplished  lady,  he  became  enamored.  The  daughter  was 
more  charmed  with  the  interesting  stranger  than  was  the 
mother.  The  latter  seriously  objected  to  the  marriage,  because, 
whilst  she  had  nothing  else  to  say  against  him,  "  he  was  such  a 
fool !"  But  while  he  was  pursuing  these  two  very  dissimilar  nego- 
tiations— pecuniary  and  matrimonial,  he  had  occasion  frequently 
to  call  upon  Patrick  Henry,  then  the  Governor  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
upon  the  subject  of  his  mission,  when  the  conversation  would 
sometimes  digress  to  general  topics.  The  impression  made  upon 
the  Governor  by  the  brilliant  and  intelligent  observations  of  Mr. 
G.  was  so  favorable  that  he  pronounced  him  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary men  he  had  ever  seen,  and  predicted  his  future  eminence. 
So  differently  was  he  viewed  by  the  mother  and  the  orator.  Mr. 
G.  conducted  both  his  suits  to  successful  terminations.  The 
mother  yielded,  and  Mademoiselle  Allegre  soon  afterwards  became 
Mrs-  Gallatin. 

Mr.  Gallatin  was  advised  by  Gov.  Henry  to  settle  in  Western 
Virginia ;  and,  desirous  of  making  the  small  residuum  of  ready 
money  he  had  saved,  go  as  far  as  possible,  he,  during  1784,  pur- 
chased for  a  low  price  a  large  quantity  of  wild  land  in  Monongalia 
county.  He  formed  "one  grand  project"  of  settling  his  new 
domain  with  a  colony  of  emigrants  from  continental  Europe,  and 
came  out  to   survey   the  land,    and   make  requisite  preliminary 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  169 

arraDgements.  In  the  midst  of  this  labor,  the  Indian  aggressions 
upon  the  frontiers  of  Virginia,  and  of  Pennsylvania  west  of  the 
Monongahela,  became  so  alarming  and  fatal  to  the  white  inhabi- 
tants, that  the  hopeful  colony  founder  sought  a  temporary  refuge  just 
beyond  the  lines  of  danger,  in  Springhill  township,  Fayette  county, 
Pennsylvania.  The  Indian  troubles  continued,  the  colony  bubble 
burst,  and  Mr.  G.'s  temporary  residence  became  ere  long  his  per- 
manent home.  The  name  of  Albert  Gallatin  first  appears  upon 
the  assessment  rolls  of  Springhill  township,  for  the  year  1787.  In 
May,  1786,  he  bought  from  Nicholas  Blake  his  settlement  right  for 
the  "Friendship  Hill  "  tract,  upon  which  he  so  long  resided.  He 
was  naturalized  in  Virginia,  in  1785.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that 
for  some  two  years  prior  to  the  fall  of  1786,  his  residence  was  some- 
what migratory,  at  and  between  Springhill  and  Morgantown, 
Virginia — inclination  drawing  him  to  the  former,  and  business  to 
the  latter.  During  his  sojourn  at  Morgantown,  or  while  business 
continued  to  call  him  there,  he  made  the  acquaintance,  among 
others,  of  Francis  T.  Brooke,  Esq.,  then  a  young  resident  attorney 
of  that  place,  and  afterwards  an  eminent  Judge  of  the  Virginia 
Court  of  Appeals,  between  whom  and  himself  a  friendly  corres- 
pondence and  regard  subsisted  during  his  life. 

ISTotwithstanding  his  foreign  manners  and  language,  Mr.  G.  rose 
rapidly  in  the  estimation  of  the  primitive  people  among  whom  he 
had  cast  his  lot.  His  first  displays  of  political  ability  were  by  oppo- 
sing the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In 
this  he  acted  in  concert  with  a  great  many  Southern  leaders  of  the 
Republican  faith,  of  whom  was  his  friend  Patrick  Henry.  To  other 
objections,  Mr.  G.  added  that  of  opposition  to  the  intervention  of 
electors  in  choosing  a  President  and  Vice  President.  But  after  its 
adoption  by  the  States  he  gave  to  it  a  cordial  and   steady  support. 

Mr.  Gallatin  made  his  debut  in  political  life  as  a  delegate  from 
Fayette,  associated  with  John  Smilie,  in  the  Pennsylvania  conven- 
tion which  framed  the  Constitution  of  1790,  to  which  he  was 
chosen  in  October,  1789.  Although  but  twenty-nine  years  of  age, 
he  soon  acquired  in  that  learned  and  grave  body  the  rank  of  one 
of  its  best  debaters,  and  defenders  of  his  party,  or  peculiar  opinions. 
He  took  ultra  Republican — in  modern  parlance,  Democratic  grounds, 
was  opposed  to  the  judicial  tenure  for  life,  or  during  good  behavior, 
and  was  for  universal  suffrage  by  all  free  males  over  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  white  and  colored,  limited  only  by  a  longer  residence 
than  is  now  required.  It  is  said  that  the  pertinacious  advocacy  of 
negro  suffrage  by  him  and  some  others,  was  the  reason  why  the 


170  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

word  lohiie  was  not  prefixed  to  that  oi  freeman  in  defining  the 
elective  franchise — an  omission  which,  as  is  well  known,  gave  to 
free  negroes  in  Pennsylvania  for  about  forty  years,  in  many  places, 
the  rights  of  voters.  A  current  tradition  is,  that  to  the  weightier 
reasons  which  were  urged  by  Mr.  G.,  he  playfully  added  that  the 
word  white  might  operate  rather  forbiddingly  upon  men  of  swarthy 
visage  like  himself. 

Simultaneously  with  the  organization  of  the  State  Government 
under  that  Constitution,  in  December,  1790 — for  it  was  not  submitted 
to  the  people  for  ratification — Mr.  Gallatin  was  returned,  with  James 
(Judge)  Finley,  to  the  Assembly  from  Fayette,  to  which  he  was 
successively  elected  every  year  until  1794,  except  in  1793.  In  the 
Legislature  he  displayed  the  same  readiness  in  debate  which  distin- 
guished him  in  the  convention ;  but  his  ultraism  was  somewhat  abated. 
To  his  high  order  of  talent  in  this  particular — oftentimes  the 
evidence  of  more  show  than  substance,  he  superadded  the  possession 
of  great  financial  skill,  and  a  capacity  for  untiring  labor  and  inde- 
fatigable research.  In  all  his  early  legislative  labors,  he  exhibited 
not  only  unusual  ability  and  practical  capabilities,  but  great  coolness, 
candor  and  sincerity.  These  high  qualifications  for  statesmanship 
led  to  his  election  by  the  legislature,  in  the  session  of  1792-'3,  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  although  a  majority  of  the 
members  were  in  political  opposition  to  him,  and  he  had  himself 
expressed  a  doubt  of  his  eligibility.  We  do  not  know  who,  or 
how  many  rivals  he  had.  But  when  we  consider  that  he  was  a 
foreigner  of  but  some  twelve  years  residence  in  America,  and  of 
only  about  half  that  short  period  in  Pennsylvania,  away  west  on  its 
southern  verge,  that  he  was  without  family  influence,  or  long 
cemented  political  associations,  and  that  he  spoke  our  language  with 
difficulty,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  so  signal  a  compliment  to  his 
character  and  talents.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  at 
this  period  there  was  in  the  United  States,  and  no  where  more  than 
in  Pennsylvania,  a  very  strong  current  of  popular  sympathy  with 
French  Republicanism ;  and  the  fact  that  Mr.  G.  was  considered  a 
Frenchman,  and  confessedly  one  of  superior  ability,  naturally 
tended  to  concentrate  upon  him  the  favor  so  lavishly  bestowed  upon 
those  who  spoke  his  language,  and  fraternized  in  the  tenets  and 
partialities  of  his  political  school. 

Mr.  Gallatin  took  his  seat  as  a  Senator  in  Congress,  in  December, 
1793.  The  question  of  his  eligibility  was  at  once  raised  against 
him,  and  referred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  adversely.  The 
position  taken  was  that  he  was  constitutionally  disqualified,  because 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT   GALLATIN.  171 

not  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Under  the  old  Articles 
of  Confederation  between  the  States  or  Colonies,  no  provision  existed 
for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners — each  State  doing  that  in  its 
own  way.  They  provided,  however,  that  "  the  free  inhabitants  of 
each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  in  the  several  States."  The  new  Federal  Constitution  of 
1789  conferred  those  privileges  only  upon  citizens  of  each  State, 
and  in  the  same  sense  required  a  Senator  to  have  been  nine  years 
a  citizen.  It  was  urged  in  support  of  his  qualification,  that  having 
been  more  than  nine  years  an  inhabitant,  the  substitution  of  the 
word  citizen  should  not  have  a  disqualifying  retroactive  operation. 
This  argument  was  somewhat  unfairly,  but  effectively  met  by 
evidence  that  Mr.  G.  had  in  1785 — not  nine  years  ago,  acquired  the 
rights  of  citizenship  under  the  naturalization  laws  of  Virginia — a 
resort  imposed  upon  him  to  enable  him  to  hold  lands  in  that  State. 
The  result  was  that  in  February,  1794,  he  was  ousted  by  a  strict 
party  vote  of  fourteen  to  twelve,  and  the  legislature  elected  James 
Ross,  of  Pittsburgh,  in  his  stead. 

During  this  stay  in  the  East — his  first  wife  having  been  dead 
some  two  or  three  years,  Mr.  Gallatin  married  Hannah,  a  daughter 
of  Commodore  James  Nicholson,  of  J^ew  York,  the  senior  captain 
of  the  American  JSTavy.  This  auspicious  and  happy  matrimonial 
alliance,  contracted  in  October,  1793,  continued  until  near  the 
close  of  his  own  long  life — ^he  surviving  her  only  about  three 
months.^     In  the  mean  time  his  friends  in  Europe,  having  heard  of 


1  Mrs.  Gallatin  died  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  spring  of  1849,  in  her  eighty- 
third  year.  She  was  a  most  estimable  woman,  a  wife  worthy  of  her  illustrious  hus- 
band. After  her  marriage,  she  was  his  constant  companion  in  all  his  subsequent  public 
life,  at  home  and  abroad ;  relieving  him  from  many  of  the  ordinary  cares  and  anxieties 
of  life  by  her  prudence  and  management,  and  sustaining  and  stimulating  him  by  her 
consolations  and  counsel.  He  habitually  consulted  her  not  only  in  private  affairs,  but 
in  all  his  public  movements. 

As  the  wife  of  a  leading  member  of  Congress,  a  cabinet  minister,  and  Representative 
of  the  United  States  at  the  two  principal  courts  of  Europe,  she  of  course  participated 
largely  and  almost  uninterruptedly,  during  a  period  of  more  than  the  third  of  a  century, 
in  the  most  elegant  and  illustrious  society,  at  home  and  abroad.  But,  while  her 
urbanity  and  courtesy  were  manifested  towards  every  one  within  her  intercourse,  she 
never  would,  by  her  compliance  or  example,  sanction  any  rule  of  high  life  which  con- 
flicted with  the  "higher  law,"  by  which  she  professed  to  be  governed  as  a  Christian. 
Such  was  the  respect  which  this  course  of  conduct  inspired,  even  at  Paris,  and  from  a 
French  Princess,  that  when,  at  one  of  the  greatest  fetes  known  in  the  circle  of  Royal 
entertainments — that  given  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  the  heir  presumptive,  and  which, 
as  custom  required,  was  given  on  the  Sabbath,  the  Duchess  D'Angouleme  inquired  of 
the  American  minister  for  his  lady,  Mr.  Gallatin  answered,   "she  is  not  here,  because 


172  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

his  fame  and  fortunes,  sent  him — perhaps  the  residue  of  his  patri- 
monial estate — a  thousand  guineas,  which  he  received  through  the 
agency  of  Robert  Morris,  the  financier  of  the  Revolution.  There- 
upon and  therewith  he  returned  to  Fayette  county,  in  May,  1794, 
after  an  absence  from  it  of  eighteen  months. 

Having  thus  replenished  his  exchequer,  he,  in  1794-'95,  bought 
from  John  and  William  George  "Wilson,  the  sons  and  devisees  of 
Col.  George  Wilson,  the  lands  at  the  mouth  of  and  on  both  sides 
of  George's  creek,  including  the  site  of  l^ew  Geneva,  a  village 
which  had  been  some  years  before  founded  by  William  George 
Wilson,  Esq.,  under  the  name  of  "  Wilson's  Port,"  but  which  Mr. 
Gallatin  somewhat  enlarged  and  changed,  calling  it  after  the  name 
of  his  native  city.  About  the  same  period  he  conceived  and 
effected  the  establishment  of  the  New  Geneva  glass  works,  which 
were  started  in  1796 — the  first  west  of  the  Allegheny  moun- 
tains.^ Attendant  upon  this  enterprise,  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  1795, 
formed  an  extensive  trading  co-partnership  with  Messrs.  James  W. 
Nicholson,  his  brother-in-law,  late  of  New  York,  Louis  Bourdelon, 
and  Charles  Anthony  Cazenove,  late  of  Geneva,  (Switzerland,) 
then  of  New  York,  and  John  Badolet,  of  Washington  county, 
Pa.,^  under  the  name  of  A.  Gallatin  ^  Co.,  to  continue  for  three 
years,  with  a  capital  of  $20,000,  subject  to  be  increased.  The 
business  was  to  consist  of  buying  and  selling  goods  and  lands,  &c. 
The  Wilson  lands,  several  lots  in  Greensboro,  over  the  river, 
and  twenty-two  acres  adjoining  that  village,  were  purchased  by 
Mr.  Gallatin,  and  held  in  trust  for  this  partnership.     How  long  it 


it  is  Sunday ;"  the  Duchess  at  ouce  assented  to  her  absence  and  said,  "  Mrs.  Gallatin 
does  right — she  teaches  us  our  duty." 

As  a  set-off  to  this,  we  find  the  following  among  the  "Foreign  Items,"  in  Nubs' 
Register,  September  20,  1817: — "There  are  several  rumors  that  the  Royal  family  of 
France  has  not  treated  Mr.  Gallatin  and  his  lady  with  the  respect  due  to  their  station 
at  court.  It  is  said  that  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  addressed  a  few  words  to  Mrs. 
Gallatin  in  French,  who  replied,  'I  do  not  speak  French,  Princess,'  on  which  the 
Princess  said,  'I  do  not  speak  English,' — and  turned  her  back  on  Mrs.  Gallatin." 

Besides  Mrs.  Gallatin,  three  others  of  the  daughters  of  Commodore  Nicholson  became 
the  wives  of  members  of  Congress: — one,  of  William  Few,  a  Representative  and  Senator 
from  Georgia;  another,  of  John  Montgomery,  a  Representative  from  Maryland,  and  the 
other,  of  Joshua  Seney,  also  a  Representative  from  Maryland, — the  father  of  Joshua 
Seney,  Esq  ,  formerly  of  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania,  afterwards  of  Tiffin,  Ohio. 

2  See  Chap.  XIII. — "Our  Early  Manufactures." 

2  Afterwards  a  prominent  man  in  Greene  county,  of  which  he  and  John  Flenniken, 
(father  of  R.  P.  Flenniken,  Esq.,  of  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania.)  were  the  first  Associate 
Judges. 


^H.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  173 

continued,  and  what  became  of  it,  we  do  not  know.  It  was  the 
origin  of  the  long  and  valued  residence  of  James  W.  ITicholson 
and  family  in  that  vicinity  ;  and  in  connection  with  the  glass 
works,  and  while  New  Geneva  was  the  head  of  navigation  and 
trade  on  the  Monongahela,  it  did**  no  doubt  a  thriving  business. 
But  men  and  trade  are  subject  to  great  mutations.  This  co-part- 
nership must  not,  however,  be  confounded  with  that  of  the  old 
Glass  Works  Company,  which  was  a  separate  concern,  although 
the  two  were  connected  to  some  extent.  And,  we  believe,  Mr. 
Gallatin's  growing  political  fortunes  induced  him,  early  in  their 
career,  to  withdraw  from  both. 

We  now  come  to  a  part  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  political  life  which  is 
the  most  difficult  to  comprehend  and  exhibit : — we  mean  his  con- 
duct in  the  series  of  events  denominated  the  "  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection." This  is  not  the  place  to  narrate  those  events — they  are 
reserved  for  another  sketch.  Mr.  Gallatin  was  so  prominent  an 
actor,  especially  in  the  closing  scenes,  that,  assuming  the  reader  to 
be  familiar  with  them,  we  will  not  incumber  our  present  purpose 
with  any  tedious  repetitions. 

Caution,  sagacity,  and  a  love  of  popular  favor  were  largely 
developed  ingredients  in  Mr.  Gallatin's  mental  construction ;  and 
he  was  so  happily  constituted  as  to  be  able  effectually  to  exert  any 
one  of  them  without  over-reaching,  or  impairing  the  force  of  the 
others.  Of  this,  no  part  of  his  eventful  public  life  affords  clearer 
evidence  than  the  safety  and  success  with  which  he  trod  the 
perilous  paths  of  this  Vesuvian  epoch. 

Regarding  the  insurrectionary  movements  as  extending  over  a 
period  of  about  three  years — from  September,  1791,  to  October, 
1794,  Mr.  Gallatin's  course  of  conduct  therein  is  divisible  into  two 
parts,  each  of  which  is  distinct,  and  very  different  from  the  other. 
The  line  of  separation  is  in  the  eighteen  mouths — from  November, 
1792,  to  May,  1794,  during  which  he  was  absent  from  Western 
Pennsylvania.  Within  this  period  of  absence,  events  of  absorbing 
interest  to  him  occurred  : — his  election  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  the  contest  for  his  seat  therein  and  his  ejection  therefrom, — 
his  courtship  and  marriage  of  Miss  Nicholson,  and  his  negotiations 
in  Europe  and  efforts  in  this  country  for  the  establishment  of  his 
New  Geneva  Glass  Works.  The  anxieties  and  kind  and  hopeful 
feelings  attendant  upon  this  cluster  of  great  and  good  things, 
favored  by  his  protracted  absence  from  the  infected  district,  would 
naturally  tend  to  sever  him  from  the  plots  and  counterplots  of  the 
incipient  rebellion,  and  soften  down   his  insurgent  animosities, 


174  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

supposing  him  to  have  been  heretofore  within  their  embrace  and 
influence.  That  he  was  so — that  he  was  really  an  instigator  of  the 
resistance  in  its  early  stages,  is  a  conclusion,  from  the  evidence, 
which  is  "irresistible.  In  assigning  to  him  this  position,  so 
variant  from  that  which  has  b^en  generally  ascribed  to  him,  we 
indulge  no  desire  to  detract  from  the  merit  of  his  pacific  exertions 
in  the  later  stages  of  the  strife,  nor  to  pluck  one  leaf  from  the 
laurels  which  grow  upon  his  grave.  The  effort  to  do  so,  would  be 
as  vain  as  ungenerous  ;  for,  in  the  light  in  which  we  view  his  con- 
duct, there  was  no  criminality  in  his  early  purposes,  nor  dishonor 
in  the  change  they  underwent. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Gallatin's  mental  habitudes  and 
party  affiliations  were  such  as  to  lead  him  into  the  path  of 
resistance.  Implicit  obedience  to  oppressive  legislation  was  not 
among  the  canons  of  his  political  faith.  And  he  had  not  that 
acquiescence  in  the  cabinet  counsels  of  Washington  which  would 
impel  him  to  their  defence  against  the  antagonisms  of  his  political 
associates.  Besides,  his  own  popularity  had  not  become  so 
impregnable  as  to  defy  the  assaults  of  those  who  stood  ready  to 
raze  its  rising  greatness.  Hence  he  allowed  himself  to  become 
identified  with  the  early  manifestations  of  popular  resistance,  and 
relied  upon  his  caution  and  sagacity  to  save  him  from  any  perilous 
consequences  which  might  ensue,  but  which  were  not  perhaps  then 
contemplated. 

It  is  a  creditable  fact  that  no  overt  acts  of  resistance  to  the  excise 
law,  or  its  officers,  were  ever  committed  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  Mr.  Gallatin's  residence  and  personal  influence.  This, 
however,  was  owing  more  to  the  absence  of  irritating  causes  than 
to  any  prevalence  of  the  spirit  of  submission  among  the  people. 
And  doubtless  he  difi'used  around  him  enough  of  his  caution  and 
conservatism  to  prevent  any  outburst,  which  might  have  involved 
him  in  danger  or  disgrace.  But  in  Greene,  then  the  "upper  end" 
of  Washington  county,  and  in  contiguous  parts  of  Western  Virginia, 
there  were  found  unmistakable  traces  of  his  influence  upon  leading 
men,  calculated  to  foment  resistance  to  the  law  and  its  officers,  and 
to  involve  them,  as  eventually  happened  to  some  of  them,  in  the 
privations  and  perils  of  governmental  prosecutions ; — results  for 
which  they  censured  him  the  more  because  he  escaped  upon  the 
merits  of  his  subsequent  services  in  favor  of  "  law  and  order." 

The  most  clear  and  decisive  evidence  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  leader- 
ship in  the  early  movements  of  the  resistants  is  his  participation  in 
the  "meeting  of  sundry  inhabitants  of  the  western  counties  of 


OH,  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  175 

Pennsylvania,  at  Pittsburgh,  August  21,  1792," — the  proceedings 
of  which  are  given  at  large  in  another  place  in  these  sketches.*  He 
was  the  Secretary  of  that  meeting,  and,  no  doubt,  conspicuous  in 
its  deliberations.  Its  resolves  were  unanimous,  an^  they  are 
certainly  very  reprehensible,  treading  closely  upon  the  confines  of 
treasonable  resistance.  Moreover,  the  officers  of  the  law  had 
already  been  resisted  and  maltreated,  and  Mr.  Gallatin  should  have 
seen  that  the  promulgation  of  the  last  resolution  was  giving 
sanction  and  incentive  to  such  outrages.  And  it  is  no  palliation, 
that  it  was  but  the  echo  of  a  proscriptive  and  incendiary  edict 
previously  fulminated  by  a  meeting  at  Washington.  So  much  the 
worse.  The  first  perpetration  of  a  mischievous  act  may  be  excused, 
while  its  repetition  should  be  severely  censured.^  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  all  the  apologists  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  conduct  in  the 
'•Insurrection,"  omit  any  mention  of  this  meeting,  or  case  over  it 
very  lightly.®  Better  have  seized  it  boldly  and  condemned  it,  as 
he  did  himself.  Although  it  mars  somewhat  the  symmetry  of  his 
character,  it  detracts  nothing  from  its  greatness. 

We  do  not  find  that  Mr.  Gallatin  took  part  in  any  other  meeting 
or  proceeding  connected  with  the  disorder  of  the  times,  until  after 
his  return  to  the  West  in  the  spring  of  1794.     Having  been  chosen 


*  See  Chap.  XL — ;"  Whiskey  Insurrection.'' 

^  The  censure  here  bestowed  accords  with  Mr.  Gallatin's  own  condemnation  of  his 
conduct  in  that  transaction,  as  we  find  it  expressed  in  his  published  Speech  before  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  in  December,  1794,  upon 
the  question  of  declaring  the  elections  of  members  from  the  "four  western  counties," 
in  October,  '94,  unconstitutional  and  void,  by  reason  of  the  insurrection  ;  in  which 
speech — an  able  and  valuable  document — he  takes  occasion  to  review  the  principal 
causes  and  events  of  that  extraordinary  excitement. 

"I  wish  not,"  says  he,  "to  exculpate  myself,  where  I  feel  I  have  been  to  blame. 
The  sentiments  thus  expressed  were  not  illegal  or  criminal ;  yet  I  will  freely  acknowledge 
that  they  were  violent,  intemperate  and  reprehensible  For,  by  attempting  to  render 
the  office  contemptible,  they  tended  to  diminish  that  respect  for  the  execution  of  the 
laws  which  is  essential  to  the  maiatainance  of  a  free  government.  But  whilst  I  feel 
regret  at  the  remembrance,  though  no  hesitation  in  this  open  confession  of  that,  my 
only  political  sin,  let  me  add  that  the  blame  ought  to  fall  where  it  is  deserved.  That 
meeting  was  not  one  of  delegates  of  the  people,  but  of  individuals  voluntarily 
assembled.     It  was  not  a  combination  of  the  people,"  &c. 

^  Fiudley's  ^^  History,  &c."  Ilev.  Dr.  Caruahan's  iec^Mre,  &c.  The  former  covers  it 
over  and  displaces  it  so  adroitly  as  to  give  it  neither  prominence  nor  distinctness  in  his 
narrative ;  while  the  latter,  who  evidently  has  made  Findley  the  basis  of  his  observa- 
tions, omits  any  notice  of  it,  and  is  thereby  foiled  into  the  error  of  saying  that  Mr. 
Gallatin  attended  no  meeting  "growing  out  of  the  insurrection,"  prior  to  the  delegate 
meeting  at  Parkinson's  Ferry,  on  the  14th  August,  1794. 


176  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  he  was  not  a  candidate  for 
reelection  to  the  State  Legislature,  in  October,  1793.  Other 
pursuits,  of  honor,  happiness  and  profit  now  engage  his  attention ; 
and  perhaps  he  purposely  prolonged  his  absence  from  the  scene  of 
tumult,  until  he  saw  that  his  presence  was  necessary  to  save  his 
friends  from  the  ruin  to  which  they  were  rushing. 

When  he  returned  to  Fayette,  in  May,  1794,  he  found  the  fires 
of  rebellion  just  beginning  to  blaze,  and  with  commendable  alacrity, 
enhanced  doubtless  by  the  consciousness  that  he  had  himself 
helped  to  scatter  the  coals  which  kindled  it,  he  betook  himself  to 
its  extinguishment.  He  kept  away  from  the  tumultuous  as- 
semblages at  Mingo  creek  meeting-house,  Braddock's  Field,  and 
elsewhere,  in  Washington  and  Allegheny  counties.  He,  perhaps, 
thought  it  best  to  let  the  fire  spend  its  fury  in  those  regions,  and 
set  himself  to  prevent  its  spread  into  his  own  vicinage.  In  this  he 
was  nearly  successful.  Had  he  returned  to  the  scene  a  little  sooner 
he  might  perhaps  have  been  entirely  so. 

The  spectacle  had  now  become  so  alarming  as  to  appall  the 
stoutest  hearts.  In  the  language  of  an  eminent  coteraporary 
writer,"  "Men  of  property  and  intelligence  who  had  contributed  to 
kindle  the  flame  under  the  common  error  of  being  able  to  regulate 
its  heat,  now  trembled  at  the  extent  of  the  conflagration.  It  had 
passed  the  limits  assigned  to  it,  and  was  no  longer  subject  to  their 
control." 

Fortunately,  our  new  Federal  Grovernment,  in  this  the  first  trial 
of  its  strength,  had  at  its  head  a  man  who  had  been  accustomed 
to  contemplate  and  surmount  all  sorts  of  dangers.  He  confronted 
this  one  with  his  usual  moderation  and  firmness ;  and,  in  the  means 
employed,  aftbrdcd  ample  verge  and  encouragement  for  the  subsi- 
diary efforts  of  all  well  disposed  men  who  were  dwellers  upon 
eminences  in  the  scene  of  strife.  Of  such  was  Mr.  Gallatin.  And 
it  is  no  disparagement  of  his  illustrious  compeers — Ross,  Bracken- 
ridge,  Edgar,  Findley  and  Smilie,  some  of  whom,  like  himself,  had 
stood  god-fathers  to,  if  not  begotten,  the  infant  monster,  to  assign 
to  him  a  more  bold,  untiring,  discreet  and  successful  activity  in 
its  subjugation  than  was  exerted  by  any  other.  He  attacked  the 
wild  and  warlike  schemes  of  Bradford  and  his  followers,  in  front 
and  rear,  covertly  and  openiy,  privately  and  publicly,  in  committees 
and  before  the  masses,  and  always  with  success.     But  in  doing  all 


T  MarthalTt  Washington,  Vol.  II.,  346. 


en.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  177 

this  he  had  often  to  encounter  the  most  trying  emergencies, 
and  bring  into  exercise  all  his  powers;  at  one  time  aiFecting 
compliance — scudding  before  the  gale;  at  another  evading  the 
issue  tendered,  and  drawing  his  adversary  off  upon  some  more 
assailable  ground :  now,  coaxing  and  persuading — anon,  defying 
and  intimidating  ;  gaining  all  the  while  upon  the  entrenchments  of 
the  foe,  and  upon  the  confidence  of  the  multitude. 

The  severest  test  which  his  aims  and  abilities  underwent  was  at 
the  Parkinson's  Ferry  meeting,  of  August  14th,  '94.  Among 
other  displays  of  argument  and  evasion  made  at  that  juncture, 
having  ventured  to  intimate  his  disapproval  of  the  burning  or 
Kirkpatrick's  barn — "What,"  said  a  fiery  fellow  in  the  crowd,  "  do 
you  blame  us  for  that?"  Gallatin  was  embarrassed  for  a  moment, 
and  paused.  His  success  depended  upon  his  reply.  "  If  you  had 
burned  Kirkpatrick  in  it  you  would  have  done  something,  but  the 
barn  had  done  no  harm."  "Aye,  aye,"  said  his  interrogator. 
'•  that's  true  enough."     The  threatened  tumult  subsided. 

His  resort  to  the  secret  ballot,  at  the  subsequent  meeting  of  the 
Committee  at  Brownsville,  is  a  signal  illustration  of  his  coolness 
and  sagacity.  JSTor  was  there  throughout  the  whole  of  his  brilliant 
forensic  career  a  fi.ner  instance  of  his  confidence  in  the  force 
of  truth,  when  not  countervailed  by  extraneous  influences.  He 
saw,  through  the  mists  of  terror  and  distraction,  which  the 
unthinking  populace  bad  thrown  around  the  Committee,  that  they 
really  wished  to  accept  the  proffered  amnesty,  and  thus  end  the 
strife ;  but  that  they  feared  the  taunts  of  their  neighbors,  and  the 
opprobrium  implied  in  any  act  of  submission  to  a  government  thev 
had  so  often  defied.  The  secret  ballot — the  only  pure  medium  or 
popular  suffrage,  enabled  them  to  give  a  true  declaration  of  their 
convictions,  without  an  open  defiance  of  the  dangers  which 
attended  it.  It  was  the  potent  alchemy  which  transformed  confu- 
sion into  order,  and  fiery  frowns  into  peaceful  smiles.  It  ended 
the  strite — except  as  to  the  retributions  which  ensued. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  Mr.  Gallatin  passed  through  all  the  stage- 
and  phases  of  this  insurrectionary  excitement,  from  an  active  par- 
ticipant to  an  active  opponent ;  yet  so  as  therein  never  to  endanger 
Ms  own  safety,  or  forfeit  his  favor  with  the  people.  An  inferior 
man  would  have  overleaped  himself  and  fallen,  if  not  on  the  other 
side,  at  least  so  low  as  never  to  recover.  Even  the  shrewd  an(' 
versatile  Brackenridge  lost  for  a  while  his  strong  hold  upon  the 
popular  confidence,  not  because  he  was  not  true  to  his  politica' 
associates,  or  lacked  in  wise  and  masterlyconformityto  the  circum- 
12 


178  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

stances  which  surrounded  him,  but  because  he  was  sometinies  too 
blunt  in  his  feigned  attacks,  and  too  sharp  in  his  real  ones — too 
frank  when  he  should  have  been  more  reserved — too  bold  when  he 
should  have  been  more  cautious.  "We  will  presently  see  how 
diiferently  the  people  judged  the  conduct  of  these  two  eminent 
actors  in  this  most  anomalous  of  all  the  instances  of  political 
upheaval  and  subsidence. 

It  is  well  known  that  Washington  county  (which  then  included 
Greene,)  and  the  southern  part  of  Allegheny  county,  were  denomi- 
nated, and  rightly,  too,  "the  seat  of  the  rebellion,"  There  its 
master  spirits  rose,  and  there  they  fell.  In  the  latter  county,  in 
the  toion  of  Pittsburgh,  Mr.  Brackenridge  resided — Hugh  Henry 
Brackenridge,  an  eminent  and  learned  lawyer,  author  of  "  Modern 
Chivalry,"  and  afterwards  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State.  Mr.  Gallatin  resided  fifty  miles  apart  form  him,  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  Fayette.  Both  were  distinguished  leaders  in  the 
republican  or  democratic  school  of  politics.  Both  had  fought  the 
fire  of  the  insurrection  in  its  fiercest  forms,  and  yet  both  had,  by 
their  seeming  compliances  with  its  exactions,  won  for  themselves 
the  honor — for  so  the  "majority"  regarded  it,  of  being  traduced 
by  the  officers  and  advocates  of  the  government. 

In  October,  1794,  Mr.  Gallatin  was  one  of  the  republican  candi- 
dates for  the  Assembly  from  Fayette — Mr.  Brackenridge  was  the 
candidate  of  the  same  party  for  Congress,  from  the  rebellious 
district.  There  were  three  other  candidates  already  in  the  field — 
Thomas  Scott  and  Daniel  Hamilton,  of  Washington,  and  John 
Woods,  of  Pittsburgh ;  but  he  had  the  lead,  and  was  confident  of 
election.  But  his  wily  policy  in  the  insurrection  had  given  great 
offence  even  to  many  of  his  own  political  friends.  They  wanted 
to  shake  him  off.  To  affect  this,  a  few  persons  got  together  at 
Ganonsburg,  a  few  days  before  the  election,  and  determined  to  run 
Mr.  Gallatin  against  the  field — even  though  he  did  not  reside  in 
the  district,  and,  it  is  said,  without  consulting  him.  The  result 
was  that  he  was  elected  over  all  competitors — one  account  says  by 
.  a  large,  others  say  by  a  small  majority ;  probably  by  only  a  plurality. 
It  is  also  said  that  this  was  accomplished  by  its  having  been  given 
out  that  Mr.  Brackenridge  (who  came  in  "second  best")  had 
declined.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  but  a  small  vote  was  polled — 
in  some  of  the  election  districts  none  at  all.  Mr.  G.  was,  on  the 
same  day,  elected  to  the  Assembly  of  the  State  from  Fayette.  But, 
upon  the  assembling  of  the  legislature,  in  December,  both  branches 
vacated  the  elections  of  members  that  year  from  the  counties  of 


CH.  Vir.]  ALBERT   GALLATIN.  179 

Allegheny,  Fayette,  Washington  and  Westmoreland,  on  account 
of  the  insurrection — declaring  them  "unconstitutional  and  void." 
New  elections  were  held  in  February,  1795,  and  every  one  of  the 
ejected  members  returned  again,  except  Senator  John  Moore,  of 
Westmoreland,  who  declined  being  a  candidate,  and  Presley  Carr 
Lane,  of  Fayette,  was  elected  in  his  stead.  On  this  occasion  Mr. 
Gallatin  made  and  published  a  long  and  able  speech  before  the 
House,  in  defence  of  his  seat.  The  speech  may  be  regarded  as  his 
history  of  the  insurrection ;  and  as  such  we  will  have  further  use 
for  it  in  another  sketch. 

As  the  Congress  to  which  Mr.  Gallatin  was  elected  did  not  meet 
until  December,  1795,  he  was  enabled  to  serve  under  both  elections. 
He  was  successively  reelected  to  Congress  in  the  years  1796,  1798 
and  1800,  from  the  same  district — Allegheny,  Washington  and 
Greene,  the  latter  county  having  been  erected  in  1796. 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  which,  taken  at  the  flood, 
leads  on  to  fortune,"  and  Mr.  Gallatin  had  now  taken  it  in  that 
stage.  With  the  commanding  talents  for  public  life  w^hich  he 
possessed,  his  success  was  now  secure.  His  Congressional  career 
covered  a  period  of  intense  party  excitement,  embracing  the  whole 
of  the  Presidential  term  of  the  elder  Adams,  and  the  two  last  years 
of  his  illustrious  predecessor.  He  rose  almost  at  once  to  one  of 
the  highest  seats  of  the  opposition  benches,  and  held  it  bravely  and 
uninterruptedly.  In  those  days  great  and  grave  questions  were 
the  subjects  of  discussion,  subjects  of  first  impression — new,  vital, 
and  exciting.  Of  these  were  the  systems  of  finance  which  sprung 
out  of  the  national  debt,  the  assumption  of  the  war  debts  of  the 
States,  the  tariff,  the  funding  system,  a  national  bank,  and  all  the 
innumerable  collateral  questions  which  attended  upon  these  great 
ones,  like  the  moons  and  belts  of  Saturn.  Added  to  these  were 
others  of  a  more  angry  character,  such  as  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws,  and  all  that  series  of  plagues  blown  upon  both  our  foreign 
and  domestic  relations  from  the  shores  of  revolutionary  France. 
In  all  these  great  questions  Mr.  G.  bore  a  conspicuous  and  influ- 
ential part,  battling  side  by  side  with  Madison,  Giles,  Livingston, 
Macon,  Yarnum  and  Randolph,  against  Hamilton,  Ames,  Otis, 
Sitgreaves,  Bayard  and  Marshall.  There  were  giants  in  those 
days,  and  these  were  of  them. 

There  is  one  vote  given  by  Mr.  G.  at  the  opening  of  the  last 
session  in  General  Washington's  administration,  which  we  would 
rather  he  had  evaded  or  reversed.  In  the  responsive  address  by  the 
House  to  the  President's  annual  message,  they  proposed  to  say 


180  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

to  him  that,  "  For  our  country's  sake,  for  the  sake  of  republican 
liberty,  it  is  our  earnest  wish  that  your  example  may  be  the  guide 
of  your  successors;  and  thus,  after  being  the  ornament  and 
safeguard  of  the  present  age,  become  the  patrimony  of  our 
descendants."  It  was  moved  to  strike  this  out,  and  Mr.  G.  was 
one  of  the  twenty-four  who  voted  for  doing  so.  In  this,  however, 
he  had  the  company  of  Wm.  B.  Giles,  Edward  Livingston,  and 
Andrew  Jackson,  with  other  stars  fof  lesser  light.  The  motion 
failed,  and^then  Mr.  G.  voted  for  the  address,  although  his  associates 
named  held  out  against  it  to  the  last.  We  exhibit  this  ultraism  of 
party  rancor  more  in  regret  than  in  resentment,  and  are  even  glad 
to  record  that  Mr.  G.  did  not  cling  to  it  with  the  tenacity  of  others 
who  have  risen  to  higher  fame. 

Although  a  firm  partisan  of  the  popular  school,  Mr.  G.  did  not, 
on  many  great  occasions,  allow  his  party  afhliations  to  drag  him 
down  into  factious  opposition.  Especially  was  this  the  case  as  to 
the  measures  sought  to  be  adopted  by  the  administration  of  John 
Adams,  in  1797-'8,  having  in  view  a  war  with  republican  France, 
for  spoliations  on  our  commerce — one  of  which  measures  resulted 
in  again  calling  Washington  to  the  head  of  the  army,  with  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant  General,  or,  rather — General.  In  this  patriotic 
manliness  he  deserted  the  lead  of  such  party  zealots  as  Findley  and 
Giles  and  Livingston,  and  his  course  is  the  more  commendable  as 
it  was  against  the  popular  leanings  towards  a  nation  to  whom  he 
was  allied  by  the  treble  ties  of  lineage,  language  and  party  alle- 
giance. 

Up  to  the  period  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  advent  to  Congress,  there 
existed  no  standing  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  that  favorite 
legislative  palladium  against  the  financial  schemes  of  the  executive. 
And  it  is  said  that  Mr.  G.  was  largely  instrumental  in  its  creation. 
Thereupon  he  became  one  of  its  members,  and  continued  to  be 
during  every  successive  session  while  in  Congress. 

The  reported  congressional  debates  of  that  period,  meagre 
though  they  be,  concur  with  tradition  and  cotemporary  writers 
in  representing  Mr.  Gallatin  as  a  fiuent  debater,  always  cool, 
always  ready,  dignified,  direct,  candid  and  convincing.  In  all 
great  conflicts,  he  was  the  champion  of  his  party,  its  Achilles  in 
attack,  its  Hector  in  defense,  and  its  Nestor  in  counsel.  Mr. 
Gallatin  was  particularly  at  home  on  financial  questions.  In  this, 
he  had  the  advantage  of  all  his  compeers,  Giles  being  too  lazy, 
Livingston  too  discursive,  Nicholas  too  impetuous,  Randolph  too 
erratic,  and  Madison  too  judicial.     But  Gallatin's  mind  was  of 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  181 

that  exact,  systematic  construction  which  fitted  him  for  such  sub- 
jects. He  had,  moreover,  strong  powers  of  analysis  and  con- 
centration, united  to  unfaltering  endurance  of  labor: — traits  of 
character  which  grew  stronger  with  age,  and  went  with  him  to 
the  grave. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  who  presided  in  the  Senate  during  Mr.  Adams' 
Presidency,  became  an  early  admirer  and  devoted  friend  of  Mr. 
Gallatin.  Their  relations  were  always  intimate  and  confiding. 
Indeed,  during  some  stages  of  the  great  struggle  of  1797-1800, 
ending  in  his  elevation  to  the  Presidency,  he  considered  Mr.  Gal- 
latin his  most  steadfast  coadjutor  and  defender,  standing  by  him 
in  Confess  when  others  of  more  vaunt  but  less  valor  forsook  bim 
and  fled.  So  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  in  the  retrospect  of  affer  years; 
and  John  Randolph  said  of  him,  in  1824,  that  he  had  done  as 
much  as  any  other  man  to  achieve  the  revolution  of  1800,  and  had 
got  as  little  for  it.®  In  this,  we  think,  John  run  out  his  devoted- 
ness  too  far.  Mr.  Gallatin  got  all  he  ever  asked,  perhaps  all  he 
ever  wished. 

In  1797,  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  passed  an  Act  to 
procure  twenty  thousand  stand  of  arms  for  the  use  of  the  State. 
This,  and  the  then  imminent  danger  of  a  war  with  France,  greatly 
stimulated  the  establishment  of  gun  factories,  or  armories,  public 
and  private,  throughout  the  country.  Among  others,  Mr.  Gallatin 
embarked  in  the  business;  and  in  company  with  Melchor  Baker,'  a 
practical  gunsmith,  in  1799,  or  1800,  established  an  extensive 
manufactory  of  muskets,  broad-swords,  &c.,  in  what  is  now  Nichol- 
son township,  on  land  now  owned  by  Philip  Keefover.  For  a 
while  they  gave  employment  to  between  fifty  and  one  hundred 
workmen.  In  the  State  Treasury  accounts  for  1800,  we  find  two 
payments  in  that  year  to  Albert  Gallatin  of  $2666.66  each,  "  on 


8  «'I  once,  Sir,  had  the  honoi-  of  being  under  the  federal  regime  in  what  was  called 
the  reign  of  terror.  I  then  enjoyed  the  liberty  of  speech — I  had  a  right  to  protest 
against  the  acts  of  the  men  in  power.  The  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  [Mr. 
Gallatin]  was  attempted  to  be  stopped  in  debate  on  the  rule  which  required  no  man  to 
speak  more  than  once  to  any  question.  That  great  man — for  great  let  me  call  him, 
laughed  in  derision  at  the  attempt." — John  Randolph's  Indignation  Speech  in  Congress, 
May  26,  1812,  on  not  being  allowed  to  speak  against  declaring  War,  until  the  House  would 
decide  to  consider  his  Resolution. 

3  One  of  the  unfortunate  Col.  Lochry's  men  in  the  expedition  to  join  in  Clarke's 
Campaign  of  1781.  See  note  to  Chap.  XVI.— "Outline  of  Ci^il  and  Political 
History."  &c.  After  the  suspension  of  the  gun  factory,  Mr.  Baker  removed  to  Clarks- 
burg, Virginia. 


182  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

account  of  his  contract  to  supply  the  State  with  two  thousand 
stand  of  arms."  The  partnership  had  also,  about  the  same  time, 
a  contract  with  the  national  government,  whose  further  patronage 
of  the  factory  was  eminently  desirable.  But,  upon  the  election  of 
Mr.  Jefterson  to  the  Presidency,  in  February,  1801,  it  became  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  Mr.  Gallatin  must  go  into  the  cabinet  as 
head  of  the  Treasury  Department.  He  determined  to  accept  the 
ofhce.  But,  before  he  could  do  so,  it  became  necessary,  in  his 
estimation,  to  sever  himself  from  all  governmental  contracts,  sub- 
sisting, or  in  prospect ;  and  from  all  interest  therein,  direct  or 
indirect,  fixed  or  contingent.  He  recognized  the  human  frailty 
which  makes  "lead  us  not  into  temptation"  a  most  wise  and 
necessary  petition  in  the  best  of  all  prayers.  He  therefore 
deferred  his  acceptance  of  the  secretaryship  until  he  could  become 
discharged  from  the  existing  contract,  and,  by  settling  with  his 
partner,  and  withdrawing  from  the  business,  relieve  his  own  ofiicial 
conduct  from  suspicion  and  Mr.  Baker  from  the  disability  to  enter 
into  future  contracts,  which  his  further  connection  with  him  would 
impose.  Mr.  Gallatin  accordingly  came  home,  dissolved  the  co- 
partnership, and  sold  out  his  interest  in  it  and  its  contracts  to  Mr. 
Baker.  The  settlement  required  an  amicable  reference,  in  which, 
it  is  said,  Mr.  Gallatin  behaved  with  great  liberality  towards  his 
less  wealthy  partner.  Mr.  Baker  carried  on  the  business  for  some 
years  afterwards — how  long,  we  do  not  certainly  know.  In  1804, 
we  find  the  State  paying  him  ^1333.33  for  supplying  arms.  But, 
the  national  armories  at  Springfield  and  Harper's  Ferry  becoming 
too  strong  for  private  competition,  the  old  Fayette  Gun  Factory 
was  abandoned. 

Having  thus  disencumbered  himself  of  this  gun  contract  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Gallatin  was,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1801,  appointed  by 
Mr.  Jefierson  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which,  but  for  that 
disability,  would  have  been  conferred  upon  him  ten  weeks  earlier. 
In  assigning  him  to  this  exalted  place,  the  new  republican  President 
was  not  embarrassed  by  the  conflicting  claims  of  any  competitor. 
He  gave  it  to  Mr.  Gallatin  in  accordance  with  his  own  wishes  and 
in  compliance  with  the  unanimous  call  of  his  political  friends. 
No  other  man  was  thought  of  by  him,  or  named  by  them.  Mr. 
Gallatin  had  well  earned  this  exalted  cabinet  place  by  his  efficient 
political  services  and  eminent  financial  abilities.  He  continued  to 
hold  it  during  the  entire  residue  of  Mr.  Jefierson's  two  Presidential 
terms,  the  whole  of  the   first  term  of  Mr.   Madison,  and  until 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  183 

February,  1814,  in  the  second,'" — the  longest  cabinet  tenure  ever 
enjoyed  by  one  man  since  the  foundation  of  the  government. 
Except  the  Secretaries  of  State,  Madison  and  Monroe,  his  minis- 
terial associates  were  not  men  of  superior  talent,  or  great  eminence. 
The  truth  is,  that  in  those  days  the  heads  of  the  departments  of 
State  and  the  Treasury,  with  the  President,  constituted  "  the 
government," — the  other  two  departments,  of  War  and  the  Navy, 
being  regarded  as  of  secondary  importance,  to  be  filled  by  second- 
rate  men." 

Having  accompanied  Mr.  Gallatin  somewhat  leisurely  into  the 
field  of  his  greatest  fame,  in  which  nearly  one-third  of  his  public 
life  was  spent,  we  must  not  rush  over  it  without  some  attempt  to 
trace  the  leading  features  of  his  financial  policy.  Fortunately 
these  are  so  prominent  as  to  require  no  nice  exercise  of  skill  in 
the  limner. 

We  have  said  that  the  place  and  plan  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  youthful 
education  were  eminently  adapted  to  his  future  career.  "  Just  as 
the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree's  inclined,"  is  an  adage  of  profound 
truth.  Nearly  all  the  peculiarities  of  human  character  and  effort 
find  their  solution  in  the  influences  and  habits  of  early  life. 
Among  the  Genevans,  great  stress  and  stringency  were  given  to 


1"  Althougli  Mr.  Gallatin  went  to  Europe,  as  a  negotiator  for  peace,  in  April,  1813, 
lie  continued  to  hold  the  secretaryship  until  February,  1814.  If  we  discount  these  ten 
months  from  his  term,  then  Gideon  Granger,  as  Postmaster  General  from  November, 
1801,  to  March,  1814,  exceeded  him  by  about  five  months. 

11  We  mean  no  undue  disparagement  of  the  worthy  men  who  filled  those  ofiices  under 
the  four  first  Presidents.  Except,  perhaps,  during  a  part  of  the  war  of  1812-15,  they 
were  fully  adequate  to  the  duties  of  their  departments,  and  discharged  them  well. 
Until  more  recently,  the  head  of  the  Postoffice  Department,  and  the  Attorney  General, 
were  not  considered  cabinet  officers.  These  were  some  times  eminent  and  able  men — 
Pickering,  Granger,  Meigs ;  and  Edward  Randolph,  Parsons,  Eodney,  Pinkney,  &c. 

Without  intending  any  invidious  comparison  with  more  ancient  or  modern  cabinets, 
we  may  point  to  those  of  Mr.  Monroe  and  J.  Q.  Adams  as  combinations  of  pre-eminent 
abilities : — John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  W.  H.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  and  Smith  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  under  Mr.  Monroe ;  and  Henry  Clay,  Secretary  of  State,  Richard  Rush,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  James  Barbour,  Secretary  of  War,  and  Samuel  L.  Southard,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  under  Mr.  Adams ;  and  John  McLean,  Postmaster  General,  and  William 
Wirt,  Attorney  General,  under  both.  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  was  so  signally 
exempt  from  party  contentions  as  to  acquire  the  designation  of  "the  era  of  good 
feeling."  Mr.  Adams  sought  to  prolong  it,  but  failed,  owing  to  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  his  election,  and  the  unbounded  popularity  of  his  competitor — Gen.  Jackson ; 
who,  having  gilded  the  lustre  of  his  coimtry's  arms,  was  destined  to  impress  himself 
upon  its  polity  and  history. 


184  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VIT. 

the  maxim  that  debt  was  dangerous,  and  disability  to  pay  dis- 
graceful. They  built  upon  this  the  somewhat  unjust  corollary, 
that  the  children  of  a  bankrupt  were  disqualified  for  any  public 
trust  80  long  as  their  father's  debts  were  unpaid.  The  policy  thus 
inculcated,  was  a  ruling  ingredient  in  the  youthful  prejudices  of 
Mr.  Gallatin,  and  controlled  his  after  life,  private  and  public.  He 
abhorred  debts  of  all  sorts,  and  exacted  their  just  and  full  payment 
from  individuals  and  governments.  He  knew  how  to  be  generous; 
but  generosity  and  defalcation  were  not  kindred  terms  in  his 
vocabulary.  Least  of  all  could  he  tolerate  repudiation  by  a  debtor 
iiaving  power  to  enforce  it  against  a  needy  or  helpless  creditor. 
To  illustrate  this  trait  of  his  character,  requires  us  to  go  back  a 
-iittle  upon  his  public  pathwa}^ 

The  requirements  and  revulsions  of  our  Revolution  had  brought 
upon  the  States  and  the  Confederacy  a  mass  of  debt,  at  home  and 
abroad.  Its  evidences  were  in  every  form,  from  "contracts"  with 
the  King  of  France  and  the  States  General  of  the  i!^etherlande, 
down  to  a  sixpenny  "certificate  of  loan."  The  foreign  debts  gave 
no  trouble,  except — to  provide  for  their  payment.  But  the  domes- 
tic indebtedness  was  as  complicated  as  an  ever-changing  Congress 
and  thirteen  independent,  sovereign  sub-debtors,  all  compelled  to 
anticipate  resources  which  were  never  realized  and  to  sustain  an 
ever-falling  credit  by  increasing  the  burdens  which  bore  it  down, 
could  make  it.  Its  evidences  were  the  currency  of  the  country ; 
and  they  came,  in  time,  to  be  held  by  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men,  from  the  poorest  soldier  up  to  the  richest  banker.  These 
had  acquired  them  at  every  conceivable  rate  of  value  and  deprecia- 
tion, from  par  to  a  hundred,  or  a  thousand  for  one.  The  most  that 
the  old  Confederation  Congress  and  the  States  could  do  during 
the  war  and  for  some  time  after  its  close,  was  to  settle  with  their 
creditors,  consolidate  the  debts,  and  issue  new  certificates  of 
indebtedness  for  the  accruing  interest  and  the  depreciation.  With 
all  this,  however,  Mr.  Gallatin  had  nothing  to  do.  But  when  the 
new  federal  government  was  formed,  in  1789,  it,  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  early  enacted,  as  in  duty  bound,  assumed  the  pa}'- 
ment  of  all  those  multiform  debts,  so  far  as  they  were  incurred  for 
the  general  cause.  The  mode  adopted  for  their  security  and  pay- 
ment, was  almost  as  complicated  as  had  been  their  forms  of 
creation.  The  foreign  debt,  unpaid,  had  to  be  provided  for  by 
loans.  The  States  and  the  domestic  creditors  were  subjected  to 
what  was  called  the  Minding  St/stem,  devised  by  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Washington.     Mr. 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN-  185 

Gallatin,  though  not  in  Congress  at  the  time  this  system  was 
adopted, — in  1790-'92,  advocated  the  plan,  but  stoutly  resisted 
some  of  its  leading  details. 

To  make  the  reader  thoroughly  understand  the  old  debts  of  the 
country,  and  the  system  adopted  for  their  funding  and  payment, 
would  be  a  task  as  hopeless  as  its  accomplishment  would  be  un- 
interesting. Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  the  funding  system  con- 
sisted in  subscriptions  to  a  national  loan,  the  subscribers  paying 
therefor  in  some  one  or  more  of  the  various  adjusted  evidences  of 
debt,  and  taking  in  lieu  thereof  certificates  of  government  stock, 
payable  or  redeemable  in  installments,  bearing  interest  and  trans- 
ferable. In  this  way  the  home  debt  became  a  marketable  com- 
modity which  its  holders  could  sell,  and  the  government,  as  well 
as  others,  could  buy,  before,  or  when  due.  By  one  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  system,  21,500,000  dollars  of  stock  was  authorized, 
to  absorb  the  debts  of  the  States,  without  having  previously 
ascertained  their  amounts  with  accuracy  ;  leaving  the  amounts  of 
surplus,  or  deficiency,  of  State  debts,  beyond  or  below  the  amount 
allowed  of  the  stock  to  each  State,  to  be  otherwise  thereafter  pro- 
vided for.  To  this  Mr.  Gallatin  was  opposed,  as  doing  injustice  to 
some  of  the  States,  and  more  than  justice  to  others.  He  was  for 
having  each  State's  share  of  the  debt  first  settled,  and  then  give 
to  each  a  correspondent  amount  of  stock.  But  he  was  reconciled 
to  this  upon  the  ground  that  the  measure  was  necessary  to  give 
immediate  relief  to  some  of  the  States,  whose  people  were  groan- 
ing under  unequal  and  oppressive  taxation.  The  relief  consisted 
in  enabling  them  to  pay  their  taxes  in  the  State  scrip  which  was 
convertible  into  stock.  But  the  most  objectionable  feature  of  the 
funding  system  adopted,  in  Mr.  Gallatin's  estimation,  consisted  in 
its  not  providing  for  full  and  entire  payment  of  the  principal  and 
interest  of  the  debts  it  was  designed  to  fund.  These  it  cut  up 
into  unequal  parts — giving  to  one  part  six  per  cent,  interest,  to 
another  three,  and  to  another  no  interest  for  ten  years.  This 
seeming  injustice  received  a  plausible  advocacy  in  the  increased 
value  which  the  funding  gave  to  the  debts,  and  in  the  well  known 
fact  that  holders  had  acquired  much  of  their  amounts  at  prices 
greatly  below  their  standard  value.  But  Mr.  Gallatin  looked  upon 
it  as  repudiation.  His  Genevan  education  was  against  it.  He 
could  not  see  that  the  precedent  inability  of  Congress  and  the 
States  to  sustain  the  credit  of  their  paper,  and  to  pay  the  interest 
thereon,  was  any  excuse  for  now  disowning  portions  of  their  liabili- 
ties.    Congressional  action  was  beyond  his  reach.     But  being  in 


186  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  he  advocated  successfully  the 
payment  by  the  State,  in  a  mode  satisfactory  to  creditors,  of  all 
those  portions  of  interest  on  her  debts,  which  were  unprovided  for 
in  the  national  loan. 

Early  in  his  congressional  service,  Mr.  Gallatin  saw,  as  he 
thought,  that  the  statesmen  of  that  era,  even  those  of  his  own 
political  party,  did  not  understand  and  appreciate  the  true  principles 
of  finance  applicable  to  our  government,  and  to  its  indebted 
condition.  This  induced  him,  in  1796,  to  give  his  views  to  the 
public  under  the  modest  title  of  "A  Sketch  on  Finances."  This 
little  treatise  greatly  elevated  him  in  the  esteem  of  the  republican 
party  ;  not  because  it  enunciated  any  new  system,  or  developed  any 
hitherto  undiscovered  principles  of  finance,  applicable  to  our  fiscal 
affairs.  It  claimed  no  such  distinction.  It  advocated  a  sinking 
fund  into  which  all  the  accumulated  surplus  revenues  should  fall, 
to  be  sacredly  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  public  debt.  But 
there  was  nothing  new  in  this.  That  fund  had  been  already 
established.  That  it  had  not  been  very  productive  was  the  fault 
of  the  times  and  not  of  those  who  administered  it.  The  sketch 
was,  in  part,  a  very  distant  echo  of  the  popular  complaints  of 
extravagance  and  unequal  taxation  ;  and  it  sounded  a  little  louder 
and  in  clearer  notes  than  had  heretofore  been  given  out  from 
the  high  places  of  power,  the  pleasing  calls  for  retrenchment  and 
reform.  The  unpretending  dissertation  was,  nevertheless,  one  of 
real  merit  and  utility.  It  presented  the  true  financial  policy  of 
the  country  at  that  period  in  bold  relief,  and  in  vivid  colors ;  and 
advocated,  with  peculiar  force  of  argument  and  appeal,  the  necessity 
of  keeping  up  the  widest  possible  margin  of  excess  of  revenue 
beyond  expenditure,  so  as  therewith  to  pay  off,  as  fast  as  it  came 
due,  or  faster,  the  public  debt,  without  a  resort  to  new  loans.  He 
fought  the  dogma  that  a  national  debt  was  a  national  blessing,  and 
contended  with  all  the  earnestness  of  resisted  truth,  that  the 
payment  of  interest  by  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  was  a  burden 
upon  progress  and  a  tax  upon  industry.  Now-a-days  all  this  is 
looked  upon  as  very  obvious  statesmanship.  But  then  it  required 
strong  advocacy  and  clear  elucidation  to  render  it  acceptable  to  the 
people  and  their  representatives :  so  deeply  had  they  become 
imbued  with  the  errors  of  European  systems,  and  the  loan  expe- 
dients of  our  Revolutionary  era. 

The  policy  and  purposes,  thus  advocated  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  became 
banner  pledges  of  the  republican  party  in  the  great  struggle  of 
1800 ;  not  that  the  Federalists  disowned  them,  but  having  been 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT   GALLATIN.  187 

long  in  power,  without  acquiring  the  prestige  of  their  fruitful 
application,  they  could  not  rally  under  them  so  successfully  as  did 
their  adversaries.  The  consequence  to  Mr.  Gallatin  was,  that  when 
his  party  succeeded  to  power  in  1801,  he  was  regarded  by  both 
parties  as  the  embodiment  and  exponent  of  a  new,  progressive 
financial  system  which  had  now  to  be  inaugurated  and  enforced ; 
and  therefore  he  must  be,  and  was,  as  already  stated,  called  to  the 
helm  of  the  Treasury  Department. 

Of  course  Mr.  Gallatin  persisted  steadily  in  the  policy  which  he 
and  his  party  had  so  earnestly  advocated — the  utmost  practicable 
increase  of  revenue,  and  the  utmost  practicable  entrenchment  of 
expenditure,  postponing  all  minor  calls  upon  the  Treasury,  however 
loud  and  tempting,  to  the  one  grand  leading  purpose  of  a  rapid 
extinguishment  of  the  national  debt.  Happily  for  his  success  and 
fame,  all  branches  of  the  government,  legislative  and  executive, 
seconded  and  sustained  his  efforts.  Moreover,  the  business  of  the 
country  had  just  begun  to  recover  from  the  deep  depression  into 
which  it  had  sunk  during  the  Revolution,  and  the  ten  or  fifteen 
years  which  ensued.  The  public  debts  had  all  been  funded,  and 
the  sources  of  revenue  established.  It  was  conceded  that  all  this 
was  wisely  done ;  and,  except  in  a  few  minor  details,  they  were  not 
disturbed.  The  revenue  from  duties  on  foreign  goods  had  risen 
from  less  than  three  millions,  in  1791,  to  over  ten  millions  and 
three  quarters  in  1801.  The  aggregate  of  all  the  revenues — 
customs,  internal  duties,  direct  tax,  postages,  public  lands  and 
miscellaneous,  rose  from  less  than  four  and  a  half  millions,  in  1791, 
to  nearly  thirteen  millions,  in  1801 ;  while  the  expenditures,  which 
in  1791  were  about  one  million  and  three  quarters,  or  nearly  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  revenues,  rose,  in  1801,  to  less  than  five  millions — 
about  the  same  proportion ;  but  leaving  about  nine  millions  to  go  to 
the  debt.  The  revenues  of  the  first  period  of  eleven  years  and  nine 
months,  from  April  1st,  1789,  to  January  1st,  1801,  were  a  little 
over  sixty-five  and  a  quarter  millions,  while  the  ordinary  expendi- 
tures were  nearly  thirty-seven  millions — leaving  less  than  twenty- 
eight  and  a  half  millions  to  go  to  the  debt — not  half  enough  to 
pay  its  annual  interest.  In  the  next  period  of  eleven  years  and 
nine  months,  from  January  1st,  1801,  to  October  1st,  1812,  the 
aggregate  revenues  were  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  and 
a  half,  and  the  gross  ordinary  expenses  a  little  over  seventy-one 
millions — leaving  a  surplus  applicable  to  the  debt  of  over  seventy- 
nine  millions.  Mr.  Gallatin  had  therefore  full  coffers  whereupon 
to  base  his  operations.     Wherein,  then,  it  is  asked,  consists  his 


188  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

merits  as  a  financier  ?  We  answer,  in  husbanding  and  rightly 
applying  the  resources  at  his  command,  and  in  devising  for  Congress 
and  executing  when  enacted,  measures  for  their  augmentation : 
and,  above  all,  in  resisting  by  argument  and  influence  any  undue 
diversion  of  the  revenues  to  other  objects  than  the  sure  and  rapid 
reduction  of  the  debt. 

The  public  debt,  on  the  first  of  April,  1801,  was,  in  round 
numbers,  80,000,000  (eighty  millions)  dollars — its  annual  interest, 
$4,180,000.  The  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  ITapoleon,  in  1803, 
added  $15,000,000  to  the  principal,  and  about  the  same  time  an  agree- 
ment, by  Jay's  treaty  of  1794,  to  pay  over  three  millions  to  British 
subjects  came  due.  Thus  the  debt  was  increased  to  about  ninety- 
eight  and  a  half  millions,  and  its  annual  interest  to  alout  five  and 
a  quarter  millions.  With  these  resources  and  liabilities  Mr. 
Gallatin  so  managed  the  finances  as  to  reduce  the  principal  of  the 
debt  on  the  first  of  April,  1812,  to  a  little  over  forty-five  millions, 
bearing  an  annual  interest  of  only  $2,220,000.  He  achieved  this 
great  result  by  inducing  Congress,  early  in  his  ofiicial  career,  to 
set  apart  an  annual  appropriation  of  $7,300,000  for  the  payment  of 
interest  and  gradual  reduction  of  the  principal ;  which  was  increased 
to  $8,000,000  after  the  purchase  of  Louisiana.  He  was  ably 
seconded  in  this  course  of  policy  by  President  Jefferson,  and 
upheld  in  it  by  Congress. 

But  the  smooth,  deep  current  of  financial  fullness  upon  which 
Mr.  Gallatin  had  sailed  so  long,  was  destined  soon  to  be  broken 
by  the  shoals  and  storms  of  war.  The  restrictive  systems  of 
France  and  England  had  blighted  our  blooming  commerce ;  and 
our  government  was  impelled  to  corresponding  commercial  restric- 
tions, which  made  sad  inroads  upon  our  revenues.  The  aggregate 
revenues  which,  in  1808,  had  risen  to  over  seventeen  millions,  fell 
in  1809,  to  less  than  eight  millions,  and  were  destined  to  still 
further  depression ;  while  the  expenditures,  which  never  in  Mr. 
Jefierson's  administration  exceeded  six  and  a  half  millions,  came 
to  more  than  double  that  sum  in  1812.  Of  course  new  loans  had 
to  be  resorted  to,  to  meet  this  deficiency,  and  the  still  growing 
deficiencies  which  war  must  inevitably  create.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  the  public  debt  had  swollen  to  $120,000,000. 

Mr.  Gallatin,  as  well  as  other  statesmen  of  sagacity,  saw,  years 
before  it  came,  the  imminent  danger  of  war.  And  when  appealed 
to,  to  allow  a  fund  to  accumulate  to  meet,  or  provide  munitions  to 
encounter  the  shock,  he  resisted  it;  saying,  "suflicient  unto  the 
day  is  the  evil  thereof,"  and  if  you   have  the  funds   you   will 


CH.  VII.]  .LBEllT    GALLATIN.  189 

squander  them : — let  us  put  our  trust  in  the  patience  and  patriotism 
of  the  people,  to  bear  the  burdens  of  privation  and  taxation  when 
the  emergency  arises : — in  the  mean  time  let  us  get  ready  for  new, 
by  paying  our  old  debts- 
It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Gallatin  was  not  an  adviser  of  the  war, 
which  public  opinion,  springing  from  wrongs  too  grievous  to  be 
borne,  forced  upon  President  Madison  and  the  country.  His  voice 
was  aye  for  peace.  War  would  not  only  arrest  his  darling  scheme 
of  getting  out  of  debt,  but  would  increase  its  amount  to  an  extent 
which  would  perhaps  weigh  down  our  national  energies  for  a  cen- 
tury. Hence  he  was  the  last  of  his  cabinet  colleagues  to  consent 
to  war.  But  patriotism  demanded  the  sacrifice,  and  he  yielded ; 
and  while  it  lasted  no  man  bent  his  energies  more  devotedly  to 
sustain  it  than  he  did. 

When  called  upon  officially  a  few  months  before  the  war  opened 
to  give  his  views  of  the  expedients  to  raise  revenue  necessary  to 
meet  the  new  order  of  things,  he  had  the  moral  courage  to  recom- 
mend, among  other  things,  a  resort  to  taxation  on  stills  and  the 
distillation  of  spirits  from  domestic  products — in  other  words,  to 
the  odious  Excise.  This  drew  down  upon  him  the  maledictions  of 
many  of  his  old  political  friends.  What,  said  they,  can  you  devise 
no  adequate  plan  of  revenue  without  including  those  execrable 
expedients  of  Hamilton  and  Wolcot  ?  His  old  Pittsburgh  meeting 
proceedings,  of  August  21, 1792,  were  trumped  upon  his  "  budget,'' 
wherein  he  declared  that  "  internal  taxes  upon  consumption,  from 
their  very  nature,  never  can  be  effectually  carried  into  operation, 
without  vesting  the  officers  appointed  to  collect  them  with  powers 
most  dangerous  to  the  civil  rights  of  freemen,  and  must  in  the  end 
destroy  the  liberties  of  every  country  in  which  they  are  introduced  !" 
This  was  a  most  terrible  argumentum  ad  hominem.  When  his  letter 
proposing  this  tax  was  read  in  the  House,  so  indignant  and  morti- 
iied  were  many  of  his  political  adherents,  among  them  his  friend 
Findley,  of  Westmoreland,  that  they  refused  to  vote  for  its  being 
printed.  Let  us  not,  said  they,  give  any  countenance  to  a  letter 
containing  propositions  which  will  not  probably  be  agreed  to  by 
Congress,  and  which  can  serve  only  unnecessarily  to  alarm  the 
people !  Congress,  however,  did  adopt  the  propositions — the  peo- 
ple were  not  alarmed — nor  were  their  liberties  destroyed. 

In  his  letter  he  says,  "  there  is  not  any  more  eligible  object  of 
taxation  than  ardent  spirits."  He  proposed,  however,  to  vary  tlie 
tax  from  what  it  was  in  the  times  of  the  Insurrection,  so  as  to 
divest  it  as  much  as  possible  of  its  odious  inequalities,  by  laying 


190  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

the  tax  upon  spirits  distilled  ivom.  foreign  materials,  (molasses,  &c.,) 
according  to  the  quantity  distilled ;  and  that  distillers  of  fruit  and 
domestic  grain,  &c.,  should  pay  a  specified  tax  per  annum.  It  was 
so  enacted. 

The  other  plans  and  subjects  of  revenue  which  he  proposed,  and 
which  Congress  substantially  adopted,  were,  ac?zWd  te.r  upon  lands, 
&c.,^-  to  yield  $3,000,000 — taxes  upon  refined  sugars — licenses  to 
retailers  of  foreign  merchandise,  and  liquors,  foreign  and  domes- 
tic— upon  sales  at  auction,  upon  carriages,  and  a  stamp  tax.  These 
and  loans,  aided  by  the  tarifl'  and  the  public  lands,  sustained  the 
war  and  paid  the  interest  of  the  debt.  "  Sweet  peace  restored," 
the  recuperative  energies  of  our  people  enabled  the  Government, 
within  twenty  years,  and  without  the  aids  of  either  direct  or  internal 
taxes,  to  pay  oft' the  debt  of  two  wars — "the  money  consideration 
of  our  independence  and  liberties." 

Although  the  National  Road  from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling  was 
the  fruit  of  a  compact  between  the  United  States  and  the  State  of 
Ohio,  upon  her  admission  into  the  Union  in  1802,  Mr.  Gallatin  was 
the  originator  of  its  plan  of  construction,  the  most  magnificent  and 
expensive  of  any  turnpike  ever  built  in  this  country.^^  It  was 
undertaken,  its  route,  as  far  as  Brownsville,  fixed,  and  partly  con- 
structed, during  his  administration  of  the  Treasury  Department ; 
to  which,  in  those  days,  such  works  pertained.  He  was  opposed 
to  the  circuitous  route  adopted — having  urged  a  more  direct  course, 
through  Greene  county  and  by  way  of  l^ew  Geneva.  But  the 
President,  (Jefferson,)  under  the  mighty  influences  brought  to  bear 
upon  him,  decided  in  favor  of  Brownsville  and  Washington — 
whether  wisely  or  not,  is  a  question  not  worth  while  now  to  consider. 
,.  In  March,  1807,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  called  upon  Mr. 
Gallatin,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  prepare  and  report  to 
them  at  their  next  session  "  a  plan  for  the  application  of  such 
means  as  are  within  the  power  of  Congress  to  the  construction  of 


"  Pennsylvania's  share  cf  tbis  tax  was  $365,479.  Fayette  county  had  to  pay  $4,500  ; 
Greene,  $2,130;  Washington,  $G,920;  Westmoreland,  $5,440;  Allegheny,  $5,210; 
Philadelphia  city,  $79,500— county,  $38,230,  &c.,  &c. 

i' This  great  work  was  begun  in  1800 — not  much  done  on  it  until  after  the  war  (1815), 
and  completed  to  Wheeling  about  1822.  It  cost,  originally,  nearly  $1,700,000;  which 
(131  miles)  is  an  average  of  nearly  $13,000  to  the  mile.  The  Eastern  Section,  from 
Uniontowu  to  Cumberland,  (03  miles,)  cost  about  $14,000  per  mile  ;  the  Western  Section 
not  so  much.  The  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  from  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburgh  was  con- 
structed (single  track)  at  an  average  cost  of  $39,000  per  mile,  inclusive  of  the  great 
tunnel. 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  191 

roads  and  canals,  with  statements  of  works  of  that  nature  which 
may  require  and  deserve  the  aid  of  Government,  and  which  have 
been  commenced — the  progress  made  upon  them  and  their  means 
and  prospects  of  being  completed,  with  such  general  information 
as  he  shall  deem  material  to  the  subject."  In  obedience  to  this 
requirement  he,  in  March,  1808,  submitted  a  most  elaborate  and 
able  report,  covering  some  seventy  pages,  containing  a  full  response 
to  every  branch  of  the  inquiry.  The  report  is  a  detailed  statement 
of  all  the  works  of  that  nature  then  completed,  in  progress,  or  pro- 
jected in  the  several  States  of  the  Union ;  and  suggests  numerous 
new  undertakings  of  a  national  character  ;  recommending  a  gradual 
appropriation  of  twenty  millions  to  their  construction.  Among 
the  works  recommended  were  four  roads  from  the  Allegheny, 
Monongahela,  Kanahwa,  and  Tennessee  rivers,  to  the  Susquehanna, 
Potomac,  James  and  Santee  :  none  of  which  were  ever  made  but 
the  second.  Other  works  he  proposed  to  aid  by  loans  or  subscrip- 
tions of  stock.  He  exhibited  on  these  points  none  of  those  consti- 
tutional scruples  which  have  borne  so  heavily  upon  the  more 
enlightened  (?)  judgment  of  modern  statesmen.  However  its 
orthodoxy  may  now  be  regarded,  the  report  is,  even  yet,  a  model 
of  lucid  conciseness  and  expansive  statesmanship. 

It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Gallatin  was  friendly  to  a  re-charter  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  a  bill  for  which  Mr.  Madison  vetoed  in 
1811,  but  signed  another  in  1816.     He  never  regarded  it  as  that 

"Monstrum  horrendum,  informe,  ingens,  cui  lumen  ademptum" 

which  modern  sages  have  faund  it  to  be ;  but  looked  upon  it  as  a 
safe,  necessary  and  useful  jQscal  agent  of  Government,  and  regulator 
of  the  exchanges  and  the  currency.  He  even  withstood  all  the 
lights  and  denunciations  which  more  recent  discussions  poured 
upon  the  subject;  and  in  the  calm  retirement  of  his  matured  life 
gave  his  views  to  the  world  in  an  extended  treatise,  entitled  "  The 
Currency,  &c."  It  was  read  only  as  the  opinions  of  a  statesman 
of  the  old  regime^  unillumined  by  the  light  of  latter  day  luminaries, 
in  whose  effulgence  the  people  have  rejoiced,  and  the  Government 
grown  strong. 

Mr.  Gallatin  was,  however,  never  the  advocate  of  a  Protective 
Tarifl'.  He  had  no  objection  to  "  incidental"  protection  ;  but  his 
theories  and  recommendations  never  went  beyond  revenue.  This 
accorded  with  the  uniform  tenor  of  his  financial  schemes — the 
utmost  attainable  increase  of  income,  so  as  thereby  the  more 
speedily  to  extinguish  the  public  debt.     His  free  trade  proclivities 


192  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

were  fixed,  yet  he  did  not  obtrude  them  in  his  State  papers.  Ouce, 
when  a  private  citizen  of  New  York,  he  did  unfold  them  to  Con- 
gress in  the  form  of  a  memorial,  from  the  Philadelphia  "  Free 
Trade  Convention,"  of  which  he  was  a  prominent  member.  It 
was  tauntingly  flouted  by  Southern  nuUifiers  in  the  faces  of  the 
friends  of  protection,  which  provoked  Mr.  Clay,  their  great  cham- 
pion, to  visit  upon  its  author  his  most  indignant  denunciation." 

We  pass  now  from  the  field  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  fiscal  displays  to 
another.  It  is  not  for  us  to  attempt  an  estimate  of  his  financial 
character.  His  long  continuance  in  that  department,  and  the  emi- 
nent suocess  which  crowned  all  his  efforts,  warrant  the  laudations 
which  were  showered  upon  him  while  in  office,  and  which  followed 
him  into  his  latest  retirement.  He  won  his  honors  well  and  wore 
them  long. 

In  conimon  with  other  ofiicers  of  the  ship  of  state,  Mr.  Gallatin 
hailed  with  delight  the  first  gleamings  of  the  star  of  peace  through 
the  murky  clouds  of  war.  And  when,  in  the  spring  of  1813,  the 
Emperor  Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  offered  his  friendly  mediation  to 
the  two  belligerent  nations,  the  President  promptly  selected  Mr. 
Gallatin  as  one  of  the  negotiators ;  this,  without  allowing  him  to 
let  go  his  hold  upon  the  helm  of  the  Treasury.  John  Quincy 
Adams  being  then  our  resident  minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  the 
President,  in  April,  1813,  in  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  appointed 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  James  A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  to  join  him  there 
as  joint  plenipotentiaries  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  under  the  proflered  mediation  ;  and  also  to  negotiate  and 
sign  a  commercial  treaty  with  Russia.  When  the  Senate  convened, 
in  June,  1813,  the  President  sent  in  his  nomination  of  the  three 
Envoys.   ,  Thereupon  quite  a  dignified  quarrel  sprung  up  between 


"  "  But,  Sir,  the  gentleman  to  whom  I  am  about  to  allude,  although  long  a  resident 
of  this  country,  has  no  feelings,  no  attachments,  no  sympathies,  no  principles  in  com- 
mon with  our  people.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago,  Pennsylvania  took  him  to  her  bosom, 
and  warmed  and  cherished,  and  honored  him.  And  how  does  he  manifest  his  gratitude  ? 
By  aiming  a  vital  blow  at  a  system  endeared  to  her  by  a  thorough  conviction  that  it  is 
indispensable  to  her  prosperity.  He  has  filled,  at  home  and  abroad,  some  of  the  highest 
offices  under  this  Government,  during  thirty  years,  and  he  is  still  at  heart  an  alien. 
The  authority  of  his  name  has  been  invoked  ;  and  the  labors  of  his  pen,  in  the  form  of 
a  Memorial  to  Congress,  have  been  engaged  to  overthrow  the  American  system,  and  to 
substitute  the  foreign.  Go  home  to  your  native  Europe,  and  there  inculcate  upon  her 
Sovereigns  your  Utopian  doctrines  of  free  trade ;  and  when  you  have  prevailed  upon 
them  to  unseal  their  ports,  and  freely  admit  the  produce  of  Pennsylvania  and  other 
States,  come  back,  and  we  shall  be  prepared  to  become  converts,  and  adopt  your  faith." 
nennj  Clay^s  Speech  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  February  2,  1832. 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  193 

the  President  and  the  Senate,  they  deciding  to  interrogate  him 
rather  closely  as  to  why  he  sent  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  what  became  of 
the  Treasury  in  the  mean  time ;  and  he  refusing  to  be  interrogated. 
The  result  was,  after  much  deliberation,  that  the  Senate  refused, 
by  a  vote'of  seventeen  to  eighteen,  to  advise  and  consent  to  Mr.  Gal- 
latin's appointment,  on  the  ground  of  incompatibility  of  the  two 
offices  of  Secretary  and  Minister.  Mr.  Adams  was  confirmed  by 
a  vote  of  thirty  to  four,  Mr.  Bayard  by  twenty-seven  to  six.  Mr. 
Gallatin  had  gone  on  the  mission,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
President  recalled  him. 

England,  however,  rejected  the  Russian  mediation,  but  offered 
to  treat  for  peace,  untrammeled,  at  Gottenburg,  in  Sweden. 
Thereupon,  on  the  9th  February,  1814,  the  President  appointed 
Mr.  Gallatin  one  of  the  Commissioners,  the  Senate  thereto  con- 
senting ;  George  W.  Campbell,  of  Tennessee,  having  been  at  the 
same  time  nominated  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  confirmed. 
The  seat  of  the  negotiations  was  subsequently  removed  to  Ghent, 
in  Belgium,  where  Messrs.  Adams,  Bayard  and  Gallatin  were  after- 
wards joined  by  Henry  Clay  and  Jonathan  Russell,  who,  as  joint 
Plenipotentiaries,  negotiated  the  terms  of  peace  with  Lord  Gam- 
bier,  Sir  Henry  Goulbourn  and  William  Adams,  and  on  the  24th 
December,  1814,  signed  the  treaty  which  terminated  the  war  as 
soon  as  known.  The  news  of  it  reached  iTew  York  on  the  11th 
February,  amid  the  rejoicings  over  the  victory  at  New  Orleans. 
Thus  was  peace  born  in  the  arms  of  victory. 

Mr.  Gallatin  had  now  entered  upon  a  long  career  of  diplomatic 
service.  In  1815,  he,  with  Messrs.  Clay  and  Adams,  negotiated 
and  signed  at  London  a  commercial  treaty  with  Great  Britain. 
Thereupon  he  returned  home  for  a  short  period,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Clay.  From  1816  to  1823,  he  was  our  Minister  resident  at 
the  court  of  France.  This  was  a  most  interesting  period  in  the 
history  of  that  long  convulsed  and  ever  changeful  nation,  and  of 
all  Europe.  Waterloo  had  sealed  up  her  fate  for  fifteen  years,  and 
her  capital,  long  the  abode  of  terror,  had  now  become  again  the 
seat  of  gaiety,  and  the  centre  of  attraction  to  civilized  Europe. 
The  long  banished  elite  of  England  had  returned,  or  rushed  thither 
anew,  to  revel  in  its  cheap  luxuries  of  sense  and  intellect.  In  such 
a  conjuncture  of  teeming  events  it  behooved  our  Republic  to  be 
well  represented.  Mr.  Gallatin  was  wisely  assigned  to  a  court 
where  now  for  a  while  the  greatest  diplomats  of  Europe  resided. 
We  had  also  claims  upon  that  nation  of  grave  and  perplexing 
importance  for  outrages  upon  our  commerce  committed  by  virtue 
13 


194  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  Napoleon  ;  and  although  it 
was  too  soon  for  a  Bourbon  to  respond  fully  for  those  depredations, 
yet  Mr.  Gallatin  was  enabled  to  pave  the  way  for  their  ultimate 
recognition  and  payment.  During  his  residence  at  Paris  he  was 
twice  deputed  by  our  Government  upon  special  missions,  to  the 
^Netherlands  in  1817,  and  to  England  in  1818.  He  returned  to  the 
United  States  with  his  family  early  in  1824,  and  for  a  while  again 
took  up  his  abode  at  his  old  home  in  Fayette,  in  a  new  and  splendid 
mansion  which  he  had  procured  to  be  erected  preparatory  to  his 
return. 

In  1824,  there  were  four  prominent  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States,  Jackson,  Adams,  Clay  and  Crawford.  The 
machinery  of  National  Conventions  had  not  yet  been  devised,  by 
which  to  combine  sectional  influences  and  crush  out  the  pretensions 
of  unavailable  aspirants.  Mr.  Gallatin's  long  absence  had  not 
estranged  him  from  his  old  political  friends ;  and,  upon  his  return, 
many  of  them,  especially  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  run  up 
his  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presidency,  in  connection  with 
William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  for  President.  For  a  long  time 
Mr.  Gallatin  regarded  the  movement  as  only  complimentary,  or 
•  experimental,  and  took  no  public  notice  of  it.  Gradually  it  became 
more  and  more  earnest  and  imposing  ;  and  the  cry  of  constitutional 
ineligibility  was  raised  against  him,  because  not  "  a  natural  born 
citizen  of  the  United  States."  Those  who  raised  this  clamor  were 
actuated  less  by  a  wish  that  "  none  but  Americans  should  rule 
America,"  than  by  motives  of  envy  or  selfishness.  Certain  it  is 
that  the  Constitution  gave  no  ground  for  the  objection  ;  for,  having 
been  a  citizen  at  its  adoption,  in  1789,  he  was  as  eligible  as  if  "  to 
the  manner  born,"  that  carefully  prepared  instrument  presenting 
the  singular  incongruity,  in  the  early  years  of  its  operation,  of  per- 
mitting a  man  to  become  President  or  Vice  President  who  could 
not  be  a  Senator  !^^  Mr.  Gallatin  had  the  good  sense  to  silence  the 
distracting  agitation  by  publicly  withdrawing  from  the  canvass. 

The  dignitied  retirement  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  at  the  home  of  his 
younger  days,  was  honored,  in  May,  1825,  by  a  visit  from  his  "long 
tried,  his  bosom  friend,"  La  Fayette.  On  the  26th,  the  "  nation's 
guest"  was  most  honorably  received  at  Uniontown  by  the  people 


1^  We  well  recollect  the  witliug  (or  witless)  newspaper  eif usions  of  the  day  upon  this 
question — illustrated  by  a  proposition  to  run  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Switzerland,  for  Vice 
President,  along  with  Joseph  Buonaparte,  of  Spain,  then  residing  in  New  Jersey,  for 
President. 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT    GALLATIN.  195 

of  the  county  whicli  wears  his  ilhistrious  name.  On  this  great 
occasion,  Mr.  Gallatin,  with  signal  appropriateness,  made  the  recep- 
tion address.  On  the  Thursdaj  following,  (May  28th,)  the  General 
and  suite,  well  accompanied,  were  driven  to  Mr.  Gallatin's  resi- 
dence, where  a  most  sumptuous  and  abundant  entertainment  was 
provided,  not  only  for  the  special  guests,  but  for  the  thronging 
multitude  who  rushed  thither  to  greet  them.  It  was  truly  a  gala 
day  at  the  stately  mansion  and  verdant  lawns  and  groves  of 
"  Friendship  Hill."  Who  that  was  there  can  ever  forget  the  "  feast 
of  reason" — and  other  good  things,  and  the  "flow  of  soul" — and 
champagne  ?  The  like  of  which  Old  Springhill  had  never  seen — 
may  never  see  again. 

But  Mr.  Gallatin  was  not  allowed  long  to  enjoy  his  retirement — 
if  indeed  it  was  an  enjoyment.  For  there  appears  to  be  a  witchery 
in  the  excitements  of  public  life  which  few  who  have  largely 
shared  them  are  ever  willing  to  resign  until  driven  to  it  by  having 
attained  the  topmost  round  of  ambition's  ladder,  or  by  the  decrepi- 
tude of  age.  He  was  still  in  the  vigor  of  a  green  old  age,  and  in 
the  maturity  of  experienced  statesmanship.  There  were  questions 
of  serious  import  yet  to  be  settled  with  Great  Britain,  springing 
out  of  all  the  precedent  treaties  with  that  power,  from  1783  to 
1818 — the  North-east  and  !N"orth-west  boundaries,  the  fisheries,  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  captured  slaves,  &c.,  with  all  of  which 
Mr,  Gallatin  was  well  acquainted — better,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
statesman  then  at  command.  To  consummate  their  adjustment, 
as  far  as  attainable,  Mr.  Adams,  in  1826,  called  him  from  his  Spring- 
hill  home,  and  sent  him  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  London. 
His  mission  was  eminently  successful  as  to  all  those  'subjects ; 
although,  as  to  some  of  them,  subsequent  events  showed  that  his 
negotiations  still  left  room  for  further  disputes.  He  returned  to 
the  United  States  in  December,  1827,  but  never  again  resumed  his 
residence  in  Fayette  county.  For  a  short  period  he  took  up  his 
abode  in  Baltimore,  where,  we  believe,  two  of  Mrs.  Gallatin's  sis- 
ters, Mrs.  Few  and  Mrs.  Montgomery,  then  resided.  He  soon 
afterwards  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  they  with  him ; 
where  he  spent  the  long  remnant  of  his  life,  not,  however,  in  stately 
ease  and  idleness,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

Although  the  sun  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  official  career  had  now  set, 
he  continued  to  shed  a  long  and  brilliant  twilight.  In  1828-29, 
at  the  instance  of  President  Adams,  he  prepared  the  celebrated 
argument  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  to  be  laid  before  the 
King  of  Holland,  the  chosen  umpire  between  us  and  Great  Britain 


196  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

ou  the  troublesome  question  of  the  North-east  boundary.  This 
umpirage  having  proved  unavailing,  the  subject  continued  to  occupy 
the  active  mind  of  Mr.  Gallatin  during  subsequent  years.  In  1840 
he  published  an  elaborate  dissertation  upon  it,  in  which  he  treated 
it  historically,  geographically,  argumentatively  and  diplomatically  ; 
in  all  of  which  he  exhibited  an  acuteness  and  fullness  of  knowledge 
never  expended  upon  a  similar  question  before  or  since.  When 
this  protracted  and  portentous  controversy  came  to  be  finally 
adjusted  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton,  in  1842,  these 
labors  of  Mr.  Gallatin — so  full,  so  clear,  so  conclusive,  contributed 
greatly  to  the  satisfactory  arrangement  embodied  in  the  treaty  of 
Washington. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Gallatin's  settlement  in  New  York,  he  became 
the  President  of  the  National  (not  United  States)  Bank,  one  of  the 
largest  banking  institutions  of  the  commercial  metropolis.  Indeed, 
we  believe  the  charter  was  procured  with  the  special  view  of  putting 
him  at  its  head,  and  thereby  adding  the  weight  and  wisdom  of  his 
financial  character  to  the  monetary  power  of  that "  mart  of  nations." 
And  perhaps  no  one  event  added  more  to  its  growing  greatness 
than  the  speedy  resumption,  in  May,  1838,  of  specie  payments  by 
the  banks  of  New  York,  after  the  general  suspension  of  1837.  To 
this  masterly  achievement  of  policy  and  right,  Mr.  Gallatin  gave 
his  most  earnest  advocacy. 

Mr.  Gallatin  continued,  almost  to  the  close  of  bis  life,  to  keep 
a  watchful  eye  upon  public  affairs.  When  the  Mexican  war  was 
sprung  upon  the  nation,  in  1846,  his  attention  was  at  once  arrested 
by  the  grounds  upon  which  it  was  begun,  and  the  pretensions  and 
purposes  of  its  continuance.  It  involved  questions  worthy  of  his 
mind  and  pen  ;  and  being  adverse  to  the  continuance,  if  not  to  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  he  hesitated  not  to  make  an  open 
avowal  of  his  views  in  an  extended  discussion  of  the  whole  subject 
entitled  "Peace  with  Mexico,"  published  in  1847.  His  opinions, 
as  to  the  grounds  of  the  war,  corresponded  with  those  of  Mr.  Ben- 
ton, and  as  to  its  further  prosecution,  with  those  of  Mr.  Calhoun. 

The  closing  years  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  life  were  spent  chiefly  in 
scientific  and  literary  labors,  partaking  of  an  antiquarian  and  his- 
torical character.  He  became  Presiaent  of  the  New  York  Histo- 
rical Society,  and  of  another  association  denominated  Ethnological, 
or  pertaining  to  the  original  races  or  divisions  of  mankind ;  taking 
great  interest  in  the  objects  of  both.  Among  his  contributions  to 
the  former,  after  the  North-east  boundary  question  had,  in  1842, 
become  a  subject  of  history,  was  his  Essay  on  Mr.  Jay's  map,  which 


CH.  VII.]  ALBERT   GALLATIN.  197 

related  to  part  of  his  celebrated  treaty  of  1794.  Long  prior  to 
this,  iu  1836,  lie  had  published  a  "Synopsis  of  the  Indian  tribes  in 
the  United  States,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  the  British 
and  Russian  possessions," — a  work  of  wonderful  labor  and  research. 
And  he  closed  his  life  amid  labors  upon  a  similar  work  relating  to 
the  Indians  of  Mexico. 

Mental  labor  and  writing  had  become  so  much  a  habit  of  his 
life  as  to  be  an  aliment  of  his  existence.  His  is  a  rare  case  of  a 
man  who  had  spent  his  life  in  sedentary  labors,  and  amid  the  ex- 
citements of  politics  and  diplomacy,  being  able  to  preserve  his 
mental  and  bodily  health  beyond  four-score  years.  In  writing  to 
his  friend.  Judge  Brooke,  of  Virginia,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1848, 
he  says : — "  Although  you  were  pleased  in  your  favor  of  December 
last,  to  admire  the  preservation  of  my  faculties,  these  are  in  truth 
sadly  impaired.  I  cannot  work  more  than  four  hours  a  day,  and  I 
write  with  great  difficulty.  Entirely  absorbed  in  a  subject  which 
engrossed  all  my  thoughts  and  feelings,"  &c. — alluding  to  his 
ethnological  labors.  He  adds: — "But  though  my  memory  fails  me 
for  recent  transactions,  it  is  unimpaired  in  reference  to  my  early 
days.  *  *  *  I  a^n  now  in  my  eighty-eighth  year,  growing  weaker 
every  month,  with  only  the  infirmities  of  mge.  For  all  chronical  dis- 
eases 1  have  no  faith  in  physicians,  consult  none,  and  take  no  physic 
whatever." 

But  his  "throwing  physic  to  the  dogs"  does  not  quite  solve  the 
phenomena.  Were  we  allowed  to  hazard  an  additional  solution, 
it  would  be  the  unimpassioned,  imperturbable  structure  of  his 
mind,  which  rescued  his  most  earnest  pursuits  and  labored  efforts 
from  that  cerebral  excitement  which  generally  superadds  mental 
debility  to  physical  prostration.  He  was  eminently  a  man  of 
thought  and  calculation,  and  not  of  feeling  or  impulse.  The  friends 
he  had,  he  grappled  with  hooks  of  steel ;  but  they  were  hooks  of 
cold,  intellectual  steel.  He  was  always  calm  and  self  possessed, 
shut  up  to  his  own  rich  resources,  keeping  out  the  fear  of  failure 
and  a  wish  for  help,  by  his  own  confident  ability  to  succeed.  Just 
as  the  student  who  is  conscious  of  having  his  proposition  in  geom- 
etry at  his  finger's  ends,  will,  with  an  examination  prize  at  stake, 
go  through  the  exercises  of  the  blackboard,  without  becoming 
either  flushed  or  pale ;  and  will  sit  down  with  as  equable  a  pulse 
as  if  in  a  morning  ride.  Another  proof  of  his  serene  equanimity, 
was  his  unvarying  vivacity  and  extraordinary  conversational 
powers.  This  may  seem  somewhat  paradoxical ;  but  if  scrutinized, 
it  will  be  found  accordant  to  all  the  principles  of  sound  intellectual 


1^  THE   MONONaAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VII. 

pathology.  Those  endowments  indicate  a  smooth,  healthful  flow 
of  mental  action,  exempt  from  the  undercurrent  of  passional  ele- 
vation or  depression.  The  attractiveness  of  their  display,  gave  to 
Mr.  G.  much  of  his  unbroken  success : — the  mental  habitude  from 
which  they  sprung,  added  years  of  health  to  his  prolonged  useful- 
ness. He  was,  moreover,  always  at  ease  in  his  pecuniary  affairs, 
and  his  domestic  relations  were  uncommonly  harmonious.  Cor- 
roding care  had  no  closet  in  either  his  heart  or  his  household. 

To  his  other  studies  Mr.  Gallatin  had  added  that  of  theological 
science.  In  youth  he  had  imbibed  Unitarian  views  of  the  charac- 
ter of  Christ ;  but  he  avowed,  in  maturer  years,  his  conviction  of 
the  errors  of  that  belief.  He  was  an  admirer  of  the  republican 
simplicity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  polity,  but  not  of  some  of 
its  doctrines.  He  was,  he  said,  an  Arminian  Presbyterian.  We 
believe  he  never  became  a  visible  member  of  any  branch  of  the 
church  militant;  but,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  he  worshiped 
at  the  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York,  of  which  the  Rev. 
Erskine  Mason,  D.  D.  (new  school)  is  pastor. 

Mr.  Gallatin  left  two  sons,  James  and  Albert,  and  one  daughter, 
Frances,  wife  of  B.  K.  Stevens,  Esq.,  to  inherit  his  great  fame 
and  ample  estates.  Thej?-  reside,  in  elegant  ease,  in  the  city  of 
New  York  and  vicinity,  James  having  succeeded  his  father  in  the 
presidency  of  the  National  Bank.  These  are  the  children  of  his 
second  wife — his  first  having  been  childless.  She,  however,  adopted 
the  fatherless  child  of  a  poor  woman, — a  boy,  whom  in  regard  for 
her  memory  after  her  death,  Mr.  Gallatin  educated,  for  which  he,  in 
return,  assumed  his  benefactor's  name.  In  early  life  he  sought 
his  fortunes  in  the  West,  but  found,  we  believe,  an  untimely 
grave. 

We  will  attempt  no  resume  of  the  character  and  achievements 
of  the  subject  of  this  extended  memoir.  If  there  be  such  a  thing 
as  a  "  self  made  man,"  rising  from  untoward  beginnings,  and 
climbing  unaided  to  the  loftiest  seats  of  fame  and  usefulness,  Mr. 
Gallatin  was  one,  of  the  highest  order.  Perhaps  Longfellow 
chants  truly  in  his  Psalm  of  Life — 

*'  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us, 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime." 

Mr.  Gallatin  died  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  in  Astoria^ 
Long  Island,  on  Sunday,  August  12th,  1849,  in  the  eighty-ninth 
year  of  his  age. 


[APPENDIX   TO  CHAPTER   VII.] 


LIST  OF  SETTLERS  m  FAYETTE, 

AND    IK    CONTIGUOUS     PARTS    OF 

aHEENE,  WASHINGTON  AND  WESTMORELAND  COUNTIES, 

INI  779: 
COPIED  FROM  THE  OFFICIAL  ASSESSMENT  ROLLS  OF  BEDFORD  COUNTY  FOR  1V73. 


In  1772,  and  until  the  erection  of  Westmoreland  in  1773,  Bedford  county  embraced 
all  of  South-western  Pennsylvania. 

All  of  what  is  now  Fayette  county,  east  of  a  straight  line  from  the  mouth  of  Redstone 
to  the  mouth  of  Jacob's  creek,  composed  two  townships,  Springhill  and  Tyrone,  between 
which  the  division  line  was  Redstone  oreek,  from  its  mouth  to  where  it  was  crossed  by 
Burd's  Road,  thence  Burd's  Road  to  Gist's,  thence  Braddock's  Road  to  the  Great  Cross- 
ings. That  part  of  Fayette  which  is  west  (or  north-west)  of  the  line  from  the  mouth 
of  Redstone  to  the  mouth  of  Jacob's  creek,  was  included  in  Rostraver  township  ;  which 
then  embraced  all  of  the  "  Forks  of  Yough"  to  the  junction. 

All  of  Greene  and  of  Washington  counties,  which  were  then  supposed  to  be  within 
the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  and  lying  west  of  Fayette,  seem  to  have  been  included  in 
Springhill. 

We  give  the  entire  lists  for  Springhill,  Tyrone  and  Rostraver.  ^ 

SPRINGHILL    TOWNSHIP. 
John  Allen,  John  Artman,  Samuel  Adams, 

William  Allen,  Ichabod  Ashcraft,  Robert  Adams, 

John  Armstrong,  John  Ally, 

Edward  Askins,  John  Allison,  George  Boydston, 


1  As  a  curiosity,  and  to  contrast  the  eastern  part  of  Allegheny  county,  including  Pittsburgh,  &c.,  with 
Fayette  county,  in  1772,  and  with  herself  and  city  now,  we  give  the  names  then  on  the  roll  for  Pitt  township, 
in  all  79,  viz : 

John  Barr,  Jacob  Bausman,  Col.  Bird,  Richard  Butler,  Wm.  Butler;  John  Covet,  Jas.  Cavet,  Wm.  Cun- 
ningham, Wm.  Christy,  Geo.  Croghan,  John  Campbell ;  Wm.  Elliott,  Joseph  Erwin;  Mary  Ferree;  Thomas 
Gibson,  Elizabeth  Gibson;  Samuel  Heath;  Thomas  Lyon,  Wm.  Lyon;  Jas.  Myers,  Eleazer  Myers,  Wm. 
Martin,  Mnaa.^  Mackay,Robt.  M'Kinney,  Jno.  M'Callister,  John  M'Daniel,  Thos.  M'Camish,  Thos.  M'Bride. 
Charles  M'Ginness,  Lachlan  M'Lean;  John  Ormsby;  Wm.  Powell,  Jonathan  Plummer;  James  Royal,  Jas. 
Reed,  Wm.  Ramage,  Peter  Roletter,  Andrew  Robeson ;  John  Sampson,  Robert  Semple,  Samuel  Sample,  Geo. 
Sly,  Devereaux  Smith,  Joseph  Spear,  John  Small ;  Wm.  Teagarden,  Wm.  Thompson,  Benjamin  Tate ;  Kinard 
Undus ;  Conrad  Winebiddle,  Conrad  Windmiller,  Philip  Whitesell.  /remaps.— Andrew  Boggs,  Charles  Bruce ; 
John  Crawford,  John  Craford,  Joseph  Closing,  David  Critslow;  Jacob  Divilbiss;  Wm.  Edwards;  Geo.  Kerr, 
Wm.  Kerr;  Wm.  Owens;  Geo.  Phelps,  Ab'm.  Powers  ;  Jas.  Rice,  Henry  Rites,  Jacob  Ribold;  Abr'm.  Slover, 
Charles  Smith;  Christian  Tubb,  John  Thompson.  Single  i^'reemen.— Richard  Butler,  Wm.  Butler;  Geo. 
Croghan,  Moses  Coe  ;  Ephr'm.  Hunter;  Geo.  Kerr ;  Wm.  Martin;  Hugh  O'Hara;  Alex'r.  Ross;  John  Samp 
son,  Alex'r.  Steel;  John  Thousman ;  Jacob  Windmiller. 


200 


THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD. 


[CH.  VII.  APP. 


Peter  Backus, 

Bazil  Brown, 

Jas.  Browa,  (Dunlap's  cr'k.) 

Thomas   Brown,   (Ten  Mile 

creek, ) 
Joseph  Brown, 
Samuel  Brown, 
Adam  Brown, 
Maunus  Brown, 
Thomas  Brown, 
John  Brown, 
Walter  Brisco, 
Peter  Baker, 
Nicholas  Baker, 
James  Burdin, 
John  Burris, 
Rooert  Brownfield, 
Edward  Brownfield, 
Epsom  Brownfield, 
Charles  Brownfield, 
Jeremiah  Beek, 
Charles  Burkham, 
Henry  Beeson, 
Jacob  Beeson, 
Alexander  Buchanan, 
James  Black, 
John  Barkley, 
Nicholas  Bauk, 
Thomas  Banfield, 
Thomas  Batton, 
William  Brashears, 
Joseph  Barker, 
Lewis  Brimet, 
James  Branton, 
Henry  Brenton, 
John  Braddock, 

Michael  Carn, 
George  Craft, 
William  Case, 
Adam  Cumbert, 
John  Craig, 
Joseph  Caldwell, 
James  Crooks, 
William  Campbell, 
John  Carr, 
John  Carr,  Jr. 
Moses  Carr, 
William  Cochran, 
George  Conn, 
Nicholas  Crowshoe, 
Anthony  Coshaw, 


Wm.  Crawford,  Capt. 
Wm.  Crawford,  Quaker, 
Wm.  Crawford, 
Josias  Crawford, 
Oliver  Crawford, 
Richard  Chinner, 
Peter  Cleam, 
Jacob  Cleara, 
John  Casteel, 
George  Church, 
Michael  Cox, 
Joseph  Cox, 
Michael  Catt, 
Abraham  Cills, 
Anthony  Cills, 
William  Conwell, 
Jehu  Conwell, 
Michael  Cresap, 
William  Colvin, 
George  Colvin, 

Peter  Drago, 
John  Drago, 
Samuel  Douglass, 
Jeremiah  Downs, 
Augustus  Dillener, 
Edward  Death, 
John  Death, 
Owen  David, 
Jesse  Dument, 
William  Dowuard, 
Jacob  Downard, 
Henry  Debolt, 
George  Debolt, 
Henry  Dever, 
Lewis  Davison, 
Andrew  Davison, 
William  Dawson, 
Jacob  Dicks, 
Lewis  Deem, 

Henry  Enoch, 
John  Evans, 
Richard  Evans, 
Hugh  Evans, 
Edward  Elliott, 

Michael  Franks, 
Jacob  Franks, 
James  Fleeharty, 
John  Fisher, 
James  Frame, 


Nathan  Friggs, 
Henry  Friggs, 
Hugh  Ferry, 
James  Flannegan, 
David  Flowers, 
Thomas  Flowers, 

Thomas  Gaddis, 
Samuel  Glasby, 
William  Garrat, 
John  Garrard, 
John  Garrard,  Jr. 
William  Goodwin, 
Joseph  Goodwin, 
Thomas  Gooden, 
John  Glasgo, 
Fred'k.  Garrison, 
Leonard  Garrison, 
Jacob  Grow, 
Zachariah  Gobean, 
John  Griffith, 
Hugh  Gilmore, 
Robert  Gilmore, 
Thomas  Gregg, 
Charles  Gause, 
Daniel  Qoble, 
Nicholas  Gilbert, 
Andrew  Gudgel, 

Henry  Hart, 
David  Hatfield,  Jr. 
John  Hendricks, 
Henry  Hall, 
John  Hall, 
Adam  Henthorn, 
James  Henthorn, 
Jas.  Henthorn,  (the  less,) 
John  Henthorn, 
Charles  Hickman, 
Aaron  Hackney, 
Martin  Hardin, 
Benjamin  Hardin, 
William  Hardin, 
John  Hardin,  Jr. 
John  Harman, 
Geo.  Huckleberry, 
John  Huffman, 
John  Harrison, 
David  Hawkins, 
James  Herod, 
William  Herod, 
Levi  Herod, 


CH.  VII.  APP.] 


SPRINGHILL. 


201 


Henson  Hobbs, 

Samiiel  Howard, 

William  House, 

Philemon  Hughes, 

Thos.  Hughes,  (Muddy  creek) 

Thomas  Hughes, 

Owen  Hughes, 

John  Huston, 

Hugh  Jackson, 
Da'vid  Jennins, 
Aaron  Jenkins, 
Jonathan  Jones, 
John  Jones, 

Thomas  Lane, 
Absalom  Little, 
Samuel  Lucas, 
Thomas  Lucas, 
Richard  Lucas, 
Hugh  Laughlin, 
David  Long, 
John  Long, 
John  Long,  Jr. 
Jacob  Link, 

Aaron  Moore, 

John  Moore, 

Jno.  Moore,  (over  the  river,) 

Simon  Moore, 

Hans  Moore, 

David  Morgan, 

Charles  Morgan, 

William  Masters, 

John  Masterson, 

Henry  Myers, 

George  Myers, 

Ulrick  Myers, 

Martin  Mason, 

John  Mason, 

Alexander  Miller, 

John  Messmore, 

John  Mene, 

Daniel  Moredock, 

James  Moredock, 

Adam  Mannon, 

John  Mannon, 

John  Marr, 

William  M' Do  well, 

John  M'Farland, 

Francis  M'Ginness, 

Nathaniel  M'Carty, 


Samuel  M'Cray, 
James  M'Coy, 
Hugh  M'Cleary, 

Tunis  Newkirk, 
Barnet  Newkirk, 
Peter  Newkirk, 
James  Neal, 
George  Newell, 
James  Notts, 
James  Notts,  Jr. 
Charles  Nelson, 
Adam  Newlon, 
Bernard  O'Neal, 

Jacob  Poundstone, 
Frederick  Parker, 
Philip  Pearce, 
Theophilus  Phillips, 
Thomas  Phillips, 
Adam  Penter, 
Richard  Parr, 
Henry  Peters, 
John  Peters, 
Christian  Pitser, 
Ahimon  Pollock, 
John  Pollock, 
Samuel  Paine, 
John  Wm.  Provance, 

leronemus  Rimley, 
Casper  Rather, 
Telah  Rood, 
Jesse  Rood, 
Daniel  Robbins, 
John  Robbins, 
Roger  Roberts, 
Jacob  Riffle, 
Ralph  Riffle, 
William  Rail, 
David  Rogers, 
Thomas  Roch, 
Edward  Roland, 
William  Rees, 
Jonathan  Rees, 
Jacob  Rich, 

Thomas  Scott, 

Edward  Scott, 

Andrew  Scott, 

James  Scott, 

John  Smith,  (Dunlap's  creek) 


John  Smith, 
Robert  Smith, 
James  Smith, 
Philip  Smith, 
William  Smith, 
Conrad  Seix,       ^ 
Isaac  Sutton, 
Isaac  Sutton,  Jr. 
Jacob  Sutton, 
Lewis  Saltser, 
Samuel  Stilwell, 
William  Spangler, 
John  Swearingen, 
William  Shepperd, 
John  Swan, 
John  Swan,  Jr. 
Thomas  Swan, 
Robert  Sayre, 
Stephen  Styles, 
Samuel  Sampson, 
Joseph  Starkey, 
David  Shelby, 
Elias  Stone, 

Obadiah  Truax, 
John  Thompson, 
Michael  Tuck, 
Abraham  Teagarden, 
George  Teagarden, 
Edward  Taylor, 
Michael  Thomas, 


Henry  Vanmeter, 
Abraham  Vanmeter, 
Jacob  Vanmeter, 
John  Vantrees, 
John  Varvill, 

David  White, 

James  White, 
George  Williams, 
David  Walters, 
Ephraim  Walters, 
David  Wright, 
George  Wilson,  Esq. 
James  Wilson, 
John  Waits, 
John  Watson, 
George  Watson, 

Joseph  Yauger, 
Telah  Yourk.— 305. 


%Y^ 


202 


THE   MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD. 


[CH.  VII.  APP. 


Richard  Ashcraft, 
Ephraim  Ashcraft, 
Samuel  Adams, 

John  Bachus, 
William  Burt, 
John  Beeson, 
Samuel  Bridgewater, 
Coleman  Brown, 
William  Brown, 
Bazil  Brown, 
Benjamin  Brashears, 
Richard  Brownfield, 
Benjamin  Brooks, 
Alexander  Bryan, 
William  Bells, 

Gabriel  Cox, 
Israel  Cox, 
Samuel  Colson, 
Joseph  Coon, 
Robert  Cavines, 
John  Cross, 
Edward  Carn, 
Christian  Coifman, 
John  Curley, 
Nathaniel  Case, 
John  Crossley, 
Christopher  Capley, 
George  Catt, 
John  Chadwick, 
Jonathan  Chambers, 
John  Cline,    i^ 

Benajah  Dunn, 


John  Brown, 
Joseph  Batton, 
Isher  Budd, 
David  Blackston, 

Hugh  Crawford, 
John  Crawford, 
Francis  Chain, 
William  Cheny, 
Daniel  Christy, 
James  Chamberlain, 
James  Carmichael, 
James  Campbell, 


Inmate  b — [^Boarders  not  heads  of  families.'] 

Zephaniah  Dunn, 
Timothy  Downing, 
Jeremiah  Davis, 
James  Davis, 


Thomas  Edwards, 
Bernard  Eckerly, 

James  Fugate, 

John  Guthrey, 
William  Groom, 

Capt.  John  Hardin, 
William  Henthorn, 
William  Hogland, 
Edward  Hatfield, 
John  Hawkins, 
Samuel  Herod, 
John  Hargess, 
Thomas  Hargess, 

Joseph  Jackson, 
Jacob  Jacobs, 

John  Kinneson, 
Thomas  Kendle, 

William  Lee, 
Andrew  Link,  y^ 

Elijah  Mickle, 
William  Murphy, 
John  Morgan, 
Morgan  Morgan, 

Single  Freemen. 
John  Catch, 

John  Dicker, 
John  Douglass, 
Edward  Dublin, 

Elias  Eaton, 
Alexander  Ellener, 
Samuel  Eckerly, 

Thomas  Foster, 
Jacob  Funk, 
Martin  Funk, 


Samuel  Merrifield, 
John  Main,  Jr. 
William  Martin, 
John  Morris, 
Jacob  Morris, 
George  M'Coy, 
John  M'Fall, 
Alexander  M'Donald, 
William  M'Claman, 

John  Pettyjohn, 
Baltzer  Peters, 
Richard  Powell, 
Thomas  Pyburn, 
John  Phillips, 
Thomas  Provance, 

Thomas  Rail, 
Noah  Rood, 

William  Spencer, 
Alexander  Smith, 
John  Smith, 
Francis  Stannater, 

John  Taylor, 
William  Thompson, 

Jonah  Webb, 
John  Williamson, 
Alexander  White, 
Benjamin  Wells, 
Michael  Whitelock, 

Jeremiah  Yourk, 
Ezekiel  Yourk.— 89 


Joseph  Gwin, 
Bartlett  Griffith, 

John  Holton, 
Abraham  Holt, 
John  Holt, 
Joshua  Hudson, 
John  Hupp, 

Cornelius  Johnson, 

Josiah  Little, 


CH.  VII.  APP.] 


TYRONE. 


20.3 


William  Marshall, 
James  Morgan, 
Hugh  Murphey, 
George  Morris, 
Joseph  Morris, 
David  M' Donald, 
Abraham  M'Farland, 
John  M'Gilty, 

John  Notts, 
Philip  Nicholas, 


Jonathan  Arnold, 
Andrew  Arnold, 
David  Allen, 

Andrew  Byers, 
Christopher  Beeler, 
Henry  Beeson, 
John  Boggs, 
Thomas  Brownfield, 

Bernard  Cunningham, 
Daniel  Cannon, 
Edward  Conn, 
George  Clark, 
George  Clark,  Jr. 
John  Cherry, 
James  Cravin, 
John  Clem, 
John  Cornwall, 
John  Castleman, 
William  Crawford,  Esq. 
Valentine  Crawford, 
William  Collins, 

George  Dawson, 
Edward  Doyle, 
Joshua  Dickenson, 
John  Dickenson, 
Thomas  Davis, 

Robert  Erwin, 

Thomas  Freeman, 

James  Gamble, 


Reding  Blunt, 
Zechariah  Connell, 
Peter  Casiner, 


James  Peters, 
Isaac  Pritchard, 
Jonathan  Paddox, 
Ebenezer  Paddox, 

Noble  Rail, 
Nathan  Rinehart, 
Samuel  Robb, 
James  Robertson, 
Philip  Rogers, 
Total, 452. 

TYRONE   TOWNSHIP. 

Reason  Gale, 
Thomas  Gist,  Esq. 

Charles  Harrison, 
William  Harrison, 
Ezekiel  Hickman, 
Henry  Hartley, 
James  Harper, 
Joseph  Huston, 
William  Hanshaw, 

John  Keith, 

Andrew  Linn, 
David  Lindsay, 
John  Laughlin, 
Samuel  Lyon, 

Alexander  Moreland, 
Augustine  Moore, 
Edmund  Martin, 
Michael  Martin, 
Hugh  Masterson, 
Isaac  Meason, 
Philip  Meason, 
Providence  Mounts, 
WiUiam  Massey, 
William  Miller, 
Robert  M'Glaughlin, 
William  M'Kee, 

Robert  O'GuUion, 

Adam  Payne, 
Elisha  Pearce, 

Inmates. 

Smith  Corbit, 
Francis  Lovejoy, 
Agney  Maloney, 


John  Shively, 
Christopher  Swoop, 
Ralph  Smith, 
John  Sultzer, 

William  Teagarden, 
John  Taylor, 

John  Verville,  Jr. 
John  Williams. — 58. 


Isaac  Pearce, 
George  Paull, 

Andrew  Robertson, 
Edmund  Rice, 
Robert  Ross, 
Samuel  Rankin, 
William  Rankin, 

Dennis  Springer,  • 
Josiah  Springer, 
George  Smith,' 
Moses  Smith, 
Isaac  Sparks, 
William  Sparks, 
John  Stephenson, 
Richard  Stephenson, 
John  Stewart, 
Philip  Shute, 

Philip  Tanner, 
James  Torrance, 
Thomas  Tilton, 

John  Vance, 

Conrad  Walker, 
Henry  White, 
William  White, 
Joseph  Wells, 
John  Waller, 
Richard  Waller, 
Lund  Washington, 

George  Young. — 89. 


Joseph  Reily, 
Edward  Stewart. — 8, 


204 


THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD. 


[CH.  VII.  APP. 


Robert  Beall, 
James  Berwick, 
George  Brown, 

William  Castleman, 

John  Felty, 


Single   Freemen. 


Elijah  Lucas, 


Patrick  Masterson, 
Alexander  M' Clean, 


Francis  Main, 
James  Mock, 
Thomas  Moore, 
Total, 110 


Daniel  Stephens, 
William  Shepherd.— 13. 


Uncultivated  Lands. 
George  Washington,  (*)  1500  acres.  Nicholas  Dawson,  300  acres. 

John  A.  Washington,         600      "  Snively's  Administrators,  300      " 


Samuel  Washington, 

600      "                  Halvert  Adams,                   300      " 

Lund  Washington, 

300     "                 Joseph  Hunter,                  900      " 

Thomas  Gist,  Esq. 

600      " 
ROSTRAVER    TOWNSHIP 

Benjamin  Applegate, 

Christopher  Houseman, 

Robert  M'Connell, 

Daniel  Applegate, 

Thomas  Hind, 

William  Applegate, 

Peter  Hildebrand, 

Ralph  Nisley, 

Thomas  Applegate, 

Joseph  Hill, 

Llewellen  Howell, 

Dorsey  Pentecost, 

Alexander  Bowling, 

Benjamin  Pelton, 

Andrew  Baker, 

Deverich  Johnson, 

David  Price, 

Samuel  Burns, 

James  Johnson, 

John  Perry, 

James  Burns, 

Jacob  Johnson, 

Samuel  Perry, 

Isham  Barnett, 

Joseph  Jones, 

Joseph  Pearce, 

Morris  Brady, 

John  Pearce, 

Samuel  Biggon, 

John  Kiles, 

James  Peers, 

Samuel  Beckett, 

John  Kilton, 

Andrew  Pearce, 

Edward  Cook, 

Andrew  Linn, 

Edward  Smith, 

William  Linn, 

Samuel  Sinclair, 

Andrew  Dye, 

Nathan  Linn, 

Henry  Speer, 

James  Devoir, 

Frederick  Lamb, 

John  Shannon, 

John  Dogtauch, 

Michael  Springer, 

William  Dunn, 

John  Miller, 

Richard  Sparks, 

Oliver  Miller, 

William  Sultzman, 

Peter  Elrod, 

Abraham  Miller, 

Van  Swearingen, 

Peter  Easman, 

Alexander  Miller, 

Alexander  Morehead, 

William  Turner, 

Paul  Froman, 

Alexander  Mitchell, 

Philip  Tanner, 

Rev.  Jas.  Finley, 

John  Mitchell, 

Jesse  Martin, 

Joseph  Vanmeter, 

Samuel  Glass, 

Morgan  Morgan, 

Jacob  Vanmeter, 

Samuel  Grissey, 

Robert  Mays, 

John  Vanmeter, 

John  Greer, 

Daniel  M'Gogan, 

Peter  Vandola, 

James  Gragh, 

James  M'Kinley, 

*  See  Chap.  XIV. — "Washington  in  Fayette." 


CH.  VII.  APP.] 


ROSTKAVER. 


205 


Adam  Wickenhimen, 
David  Williams, 
George  Weddel, 
John  Weddel, 


James  Wall, 
Samuel  Wilson, 
James  Wilson, 
Isaac  Wilson, 


John  Wiseman, 
Thomas  Wells, 

James  Young.— 


Benjamin  Allen, 
Nathaniel  Crown, 
Benajah  Burkham, 
John  Blea'Sor, 

Samuel  Clem, 
Thomas  Cummins, 

Benajah  Dumont, 


William  Boling, 
Jesse  Dumont, 
John  Finn, 
Isaac  Greer. 
Moses  HoUiday, 


Inmates. 

Samuel  Davis, 
Thomas  Dobin, 
Hugh  Dunn, 

Peter  Hanks, 
Joseph  Hill, 

Joseph  Lemon, 


Single   Freemen. 

Peter  Johnson, 
Ignatius  Jones, 
Thomas  Miller, 
Jacob  M'Meen, 
Baltser  Shilling, 

Total 121. 


William  Moore, 
John  M'Clellan, 
Felty  M'Cormick, 

Martin  Owens, 

Abraham  Ritchey, 

Peter  Skinner.-  19. 


Levi  Stephens, 
Cornelius  Thompson, 
Robert  Turner. — 14. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MASON    AND     DIXON'S     LINE, 

Its  peculiarities — 30°  30^ — Slavery — Colonial  Titles— New  England  and  Virginia  at  40° 
— The  Dutch  Dynasty — Delaware  born  at  Swaanendael — Maryland  granted — The 
Swedes — The  Dutch  conquer  them — The  Duke  of  York  conquers  the  Dutch — His 
Domains- — William  Penn — Pennsylvania  granted — Where  was  40°— Disputes  with  Lord 
Baltimore  begin — Penn  buys  Delaware— Boundary  Negotiations — The  King  halves  the 
Peninsula — Delaware  stands  alone — Denth  and  Character  of  Penn— New  Lords — Con- 
cordat of  1723 — Agreement  of  1732 — Boundaries  agreed  upon- — Strife  renewed — Par- 
ties go  into  Chancery — Quibbling—- Border  Feuds — Cresap — Temporary  Line — Lord 
Harwicke's  Decrees — Final  Agreement  of  July  4,  1760— Gains  and  Losses  of  the 
Parties — Retributive  Justice — Pennsylvania  ahead— Connecticut  controversy — The 
Lines  run — Mason  and  Dixon — Lines  around  Delaware — Tlie  Great  Due-West  Line — 
Slow  progress— Indians  about — Halt  at  the  War-path — The  Corner  Cairn — How  the 
Line  was  marked — The  Visto — Instruments  used — Meas  iremeuts — New  Troubles — All 
quiet — Distances  and  Localities — Re-tracings  in  1849 — Errors  and  Certainties — Muta- 
tions of  Boundary  aiid  Empire-— Is  the  History  of  the  Line  ended  ?     Not  yet. 

The  southern  boundary  of  Pennsylvania  exhibits  several  striking 
peculiarities.  Its  eastern  end  consists  of  a  considerable  arc  of  a 
circle,  which,  springing  from  the  river  Delaware,  connects  itself 
with  the  latitudinal  part  of  the  line  by  a  deep,  sharp  indentation, 
or  notch,  so  as  to  resemble  what  in  architecture  is  called  a  bead. 
From  the  initial  point  of  the  latitudinal  line,  near  the  circle,  it 
stretches  away  to  the  west,  through  field  and  forest;  intent  only 
upon  preserving  its  course,  without  being  deflected  by  either  the 
channel  of  a  river  or  the  crest  of  a  mountain.  Climbing  obliquely 
the  sunmiit  of  the  Alleghenies,  it  turns  its  back  upon  the  fountains 
which  feed  the  Atlantic ;  and,  rushing  down  into  the  Ohio  Valley, 
stoops  in  its  pathway  to  drink  of  the  crystal  waters  of  the  Yough- 
iogheny.  Rising  refreshed,  and  with  its  eye  still  fixed  to  the  West, 
it  hurries  on,  regardless  of  the  intersecting  line  of  a  sister  sover- 
eignty ;  and,  stalking  across  the  Cheat  and  the  Monongahela,  stops 
amid  the  Fish  creek  hills,  within  half  a  day's  journey  of  the  river 
Ohio ;  as  if  exhausted  by  the  rugged  route  it  has  traversed,  and 
unable  to  reach  that  great  natural  boundary,  recognized  by  every 
other  h'tate  than  Pennsylvania  which  its  current  laves. 

Upon  a  closer  inspection  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  equally  regard- 
less of  the  established  lines  of  admeasurement  upon  the  earth's 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  207 

surface ;  conforming  to  neither  of  the  limits  of  a  degree  of  latitude, 
nor  to  any  of  its  easily-comprehended  parts ;  and  this,  without  being 
forced  into  its  anomalous  position  by  any  object,  or  obstacle  of 
nature.  For  at  neither  end  does  it  terminate,  nor  in  any  part  of 
its  extended  course  does  it  touch,  upon  any  prominent  natural 
landmark.  It  is  wholly,  in  every  part,  and  in  all  its  forms,  an  arti- 
ficial, arbitrary  line,  without  a  model,  or  a  fellow  upon  the  conti- 
nent.^ And  yet  it  is  perhaps  more  unalterable  than  if  nature  had 
made  it :  for  it  limits  the  sovereignty  of  four  States,  each  of  whom 
is  as  tenacious  of  its  peculiar  systems  of  law  as  of  its  soil.  It  is 
the  boundary  of  empire. 

Whence  came  these  peculiarities — this  palpable  disregard  of  the 
plain  provisions  of  nature  and  science  for  the  divisions  of  do- 
minion ?  Is  this  singular  line  the  result  of  compulsion,  or  of  compact 
— of  noisy  strife,  or  of  quiet  agreement  ?  How  old  is  it — what  its 
ancestry — whence  its  name  ?  These,  with  many  other  curious 
questions  which  spring  from  the  subject,  take  hold  upon  the  past, 
and  find  their  solution  only  in  history.  Strange  subject,  too,  for 
history,  is  a  line,  defined  to  be  "  length,  without  breadth  or  thick- 
ness." Yet  this  line  has  a  history  of  a  hundred  years'  duration, 
spreading  out  over  more  than  half  the  old  thirteen  States,  and 
sinking  deep  into  the  very  foundations  of  their  being.  It  abounds 
in  curious  conflict  of  grant  and  construction,  in  bold  encroachments 
upon  vested  rights,  in  artful  remedies  for  inconvenient  limitations. 
Kings,  lords  and  commoners,  English,  Swedes  and  Dutch,  Quakers 
and  Catholics,  figure  conspicuously  in  the  narrative,  with  dramatic 
eftect.  Upon  much  of  the  disputed  margins  of  the  line  have  been 
enacted  scenes  of  riot,  invasion,  and  even  murder;  which  want  only 
the  fanciful  pen  of  a  Scott  or  an  Irving  to  develop  their  romantic 


1  In  some  respects,  the  celebrated  36°  30''  resembles  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line ;  with 
which  political  writers  and  declaimers  sometimes  confound  it.  But  it  has  neither  the 
beauty,  the  accuracy,  nor  the  historic  interest  of  our  line.  It  is,  or  rather  was  intended 
to  be,  the  southern  boundary  of  the  States  of  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Missouri ;  but  it 
has  been  most  bunglingly  run,  as  a  glance  at  a  United  States  map  will  show.  Begin- 
ning correctly,  on  the  Atlantic,  at  Currituck  inlet,  by  the  time  it  gets  to  the  western 
confine  of  North  Carolina — to  which  it  was  run  before  the  Revolution — it  is  some  two 
miles  to  the  south.  Its  extension  was  resumed  in  1779-80  ;  and  after  correcting  the 
first  error  the  surveyors  run  into  a  greater  one,  for  at  the  Tennessee  river  they  are 
some  ten  or  twelve  miles  too  far  to  the  north.  When  afterwards  extended  to  the  south- 
west corner  of  Missouri,  the  surveyors  drop  down  to  the  true  36°  30'',  and  run  it  out 
truly  ;  except  the  deviation,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  to  take  in  the  New  Madrid  settle- 
ment. West  of  the  south-west  corner  of  Missouri,  this  line  of  36°  30^  has  a  history 
■which  it  is  too  soon  yet  to  write. 


208  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

interest.  In  the  strife  and  negotiations  whicli  led  to  its  establish- 
ment, endurance  and  evasion  were  put  to  their  highest  tests :  in 
tracing  it,  science  achieved  one  of  its  most  arduous  labors.  In  in- 
tricacy and  interest,  if  not  in  importance,  the  subject  is  inferior  to 
none  in  American  history.  We  regret  that  we  can  give  to  it  here 
only  a  condensed  exposition.  That  which,  without  undue  expan- 
sion, could  fill  a  volume,  must  here  be  limited  to  a  brief  statement 
of  why,  when  and  how  the  line  was  established,  accompanied  only 
by  such  illustrative  details  as  have  interest  to  us  who  stand  upon  its 
western  end.  It  will  be  seen  also  that  the  subject  is  an  indispensa- 
ble preliminary  to  the  boundary  controversy  with  Virginia,  to 
which  we  will  introduce  the  reader  in  our  next  chapter.  And 
although  the  two  subjects  are  as  inseparable  as  the  lines  to  which 
they  relate,  they  are  sufficiently  distinct  to  allow  them  to  be  sep- 
arately considered.     We  take  up  the  oldest  first. 

Some  inconsiderate  reader  may  be  disposed  to  turn  away  in 
disgust  from  a  further  perusal  of  this  sketch,  upon  the  assumption 
that  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  can  have  no  other  history  than  a  di- 
atribe upon  the  stale  subject  of  slavery.  To  give  instant  relief  to 
such  an  one,  we  promise  to  say  not  one  word  upon  that  subject-. 
Historically,  the  line  has  nothing  to  do  with  human  bondage.  True, 
in  the  course  of  human  events  it  has  come  to  pass  that  it  has  long 
been  the  limit,  to  the  northward,  of  the  "  peculiar  institution  ;"  and 
were  it  not  that  the  "pan-handle,"  like  an  upheaval  of  schist  through 
a  stratum  of  free  old  red  sand-stone,  mars  its  continuity,  it  would, 
by  direct  connection  with  the  Ohio,  form,  with  it,  an  unbroken 
barrier  to  the  desolations*  of  slave  labor,  from  the  Delaware  to  the 


2  We  use  this  term  in  no  harsh  or  political  sense.  Except  in  the  culture  of  the  great 
Southern  staples  of  cotton,  sugar,  rice  and  tobacco,  slaveholders  themselves  regard 
slave  labor  as  unprofitable,  and  mourn  over  its  desolations.  Wasteful  and  imperfect 
tillage  and  depreciation  of  intelligent  white  labor,  are  its  unavoidable  tendencies.  Hence 
the  Southern  avidity  for  neio  lands  in  the  West,  wherein  to  plant  the  "institution." 
Experience  has  shown  that  outside  appeals  and  arguments,  drawn  from  the  right  and 
wrong  of  the  "relation,"  will  never  sever  the  South  from  slavery.  Nor  will  climate  effect 
the  cure.  Interest — loss  and  gain,  are  the  great  solvents  before  which  it  will  crumble 
and  dissolve.  Whenever  it  can  acquire  no  more  virgin  soil  upon  which  to  spread  itself — 
whenever  its  peculiar  staples  can  be  as  well  produced  by  free  labor,  or  find  substitutes  in 
the  products  of  free  white  labor — then  will  slaveholders  become  the  advocates  of  "  abo- 
lition." Until  then,  the  policy  of  the  North  is  to  let  them  alone  ;  and  firmly,  but  kindly, 
to  resist  any  further  enlargement  of  their  territorial  or  political  dominion.  For  they 
seek  to  acquire  and  maintain  political  ascendancy  only  to  preserve  and  advance  their 
interests  Happily,  there  is  yet  room  enough  for  all — white  and  colored,  native  and 
foreign.  Let  each  have  their  proper  rights  and  places  ;  and  if  we  cannot  agree,  let  us 
not  quarrel,  about  their  distribution. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND   DIXON'S    LINE.  209 

Mississippi,  But  it  was  established  for  no  such  purpose,  and  when 
established,  negro  slavery  existed  upon  both  sides  of  it.  That  it 
has  ceased  to  exist  on  one  side  and  not  on  the  other,  are  fixed  facts, 
attributable  to  influences  which  we  are  not  here  called  to  consider. 
We  have  to  treat  of  transactions  that  reach  further  back  upon  the 
track  of  time. 

The  discovery  of  America,  in  1492,  was  a  great  event  in  the 
annals  of  human  progress.  And  yet  it  seems  to  have  come  too 
soon;  for  it  required  the  lapse  of  another  century  to  render  it 
available  for  any  real  good  to  the  mass  of  mankind.  In  the  mean- 
time, however,  mind  was  becoming  emancipated,  and  separate 
portions  of  the  ISTew  World  were  being  appropriated  by  the  nations 
who  were,  in  due  time,  to  people  its  wastes. 

The  mode  of  acquiring  title  to  distinct  parts  of  the  American 
continent  by  the  old  European  nations,  had  in  it  more  of  form  than 
of  fact,  more  of  might  than  of  right.  It  consisted  in  sending  out 
some  bold  navigator,  who,  after  sailing  in  sight  of  some  hitherto 
undiscovered  coast,  or  up  some  bay  or  river,  upon  whose  surface 
had  never  before  been  cast  the  shadow  of  a  ship,  landed  upon  its 
shores,  unfurled  the  flag  under  which  he  sailed,  and,  with  cross  in 
hand,  devoutly  took  possession  for  his  country,  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  other  Christian  claimants.  In  this  consisted  the  vaunted  Right 
of  Prior  Discovery — a  kind  of  kingly  "squatter  sovereignty,"  or 
national  preemption,  founded  upon  a  necessity  for  some  limit  to 
the  land-greed  of  nations  as  well  as  individuals. 

The  domain  of  England  in  North  America,  conferred  by  the 
prior  discoveries  in  1497,  of  John  Cabot,  and  his  son  Sebastian, 
extended,  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  'N.  latitude  58°  to  31°, 
or  from  Labrador  to  Florida.  Her  rights  to  the  extreme  latitudes 
of  this  range  were,  for  a  while,  and  very  justly,  too,  disputed  by 
France  and  Spain.  She,  therefore,  wisely  postponed  asserting  her 
rights  to  these,  until  after  she  had  firmly  seated  herself  within  the 
temperate  latitudes  of  her  claim;  which,  although  more  southward 
than  her  own,  were  nearly  isothermal  in  temperature,  and  congenial 
to  the  physical  constitutions  and  industrial  pursuits  of  her  people. 
In  due  time  she  was  thus  enabled  to  crush  out  the  pretensions  of 
her  rivals;  and,  in  the  meantime,  to  profit  by  their  competition 
with  her,  and  with  each  other. 

The  era  of  earnest  eftbrt  in  England  to  colonize  America  clusters 

within  half  a  century  around   the  year  1600.     Other  European 

nations  awoke  to  like  attempts  within  the  same  period  and  within 

the  same  latitudes;  some  of  which  will  demand  our  notice  in  the 

14 


210  THH    MONONGAHELA    OP    OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

sequel.  We  pass  over  the  premature  and  ill-fated  efforts  of  Raleigh 
and  Gilbert,  from  1578  to  1588,  under  the  patronage  of  Elizabeth; 
ill-fated  because  premature,  not  because  ill-designed,  so  far  as  under 
the  control  of  human  will.  Hence  those  early  efforts  were  fruitless 
of  aught  else  than  disaster  and  discouragement,  save  that  they 
afforded  to  that  haughty  queen  the  privilege  of  glorifying  her 
"cheerless  state  of  single  blessedness"  by  giving  the  appellation 
of  Virginia  to  the  whole  of  her  American  possessions. 

In  1603,  Westminster  Abbey  received  the  remains  of  Elizabeth. 
The  Tudor  dynasty  was  now  ended.  Had  our  colonies  been  planted 
under  their  auspices,  they  would  probably  have  grown  into  vast 
absolute  feudalities.  Happily  for  their  fundamental  adaptedness 
to  become  the  nurseries  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  nearly  all 
the  Old  Thirteen  drew  their  charters  from  the  prodigality,  and 
their  founders  from  the  oppressed  subjects,  of  the  Stuart  race  of 
kings ;  who  were  as  lavish  of  their  distant  domains  upon  "  favorite 
courtiers,  or  troublesome  subjects,"  as  they  were  tenacious  of  power 
and  prerogative  at  home.  The  set  time  for  founding  an  empire  of 
freedom  had  now  come,  and  they  were  the  appointed  agents  to 
effect  it.  Unwittingly,  they  became  sponsors  for  foundlings,  who 
within  two  centuries  rose  in  independence,  as  if  to  avenge  their 
dethronement  upon  the  haughtj^  House  of  Hanover.  They  gave 
away  the  soil  of  half  a  continent,  which  it  cost  them  nothing  to 
acquire,  and  with  it  the  seeds  of  institutions  which  "  were  not  the 
offspring  of  deliberate  forethought,  which  were  not  planted  by  the 
hand  of  man ; — they  grew  like  the  lilies,  which  neither  toil  nor 
spin."^ 

In  1606,  King  James  I.  of  England,  leaving  ample  margins  at 
the  North  and  the  South  for  disputed  dominion,  granted  eleven 
degrees  of  latitude  on  the  Atlantic — from  N.  latitude  34°  to  45°, 
or  from  the  southern  point  of  North  Carolina  to  the  northern  con- 
fines of  New  York  and  Vermont,  to  two  companies  of  corporators ; 
one  of  which,  called  the  London  Company,  was  to  possess  the 
South ;  the  other,  called  the  Plymouth  Company,  was  to  possess 
the  North ;  with  an  intervening  community  of  territory  between 


2  Bancroft.  The  voluminous  History  of  the  United  States  by  this  eminent  statesman 
and  scholar,  although  invaluable  for  its  fullness,  richness  and  general  accuracy,  is 
lamentably  deficient  in  defining  the  limits  of  the  ancient  colonial  grants.  Indeed,  who- 
ever wishes,  from  our  most  popular  standard  writers,  to  compile  a  boxindary  history, 
undertakes  an  arduous  and  perplexing  labor.  Generally,  they  are  meagre,  confused  and 
conflicting. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE,  211 

them,  from  N".  latitude  38°  to  41°.  Virginia  was  the  common 
name  to  both,  but  it  was  soon  exclusively  appropriated  by  the 
southern  company,  which  was  the  most  efficient.  Under  its 
auspices,  in  1607,  the  first  enduring  English  settlement  upon  the 
continent  was  planted  at  Jamestown.  Even  the  Puritan  Pilgrims 
who  landed  from  the  Mayflower,  on  Plymouth  Rock,  in  cold 
December,  1620,  sailed  from  Holland  under  a  grant  from  this 
company. 

In  1609,  the  same  facile  king,  by  a  new  or  amended  charter, 
greatly  enlarged  the  privileges  and  territory  of  the  southern  com- 
pany. He  now  gave  it  a  front  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  of  four 
hundred  miles,  of  which  Old  Point  Comfort,  the  southern  cape  of 
James  river,  was  to  be  the  half  way  point:  — "  and  from  the  sea- 
coast  of  the  precinct  aforesaid  up  into  the  land  throughout,  from 
sea  to  sea,  west  and  north-west:" — very  ample  limits,  truly.  Old 
Point  Comfort  is  nearly  upon  IST.  latitude  37°.  Hence,  at  69^ 
miles  to  a  degree,  this  enlargement  had  little  effect  upon  the  south- 
ern limit  of  the  Old  Dominion ;  but  northwardly,  it  gave  to  her 
two  degrees  of  latitude  of  what  had  before  been  common  territory, 
and  (making  due  allowance  for  the  coast-line  being  the  base  of  the 
triangle,)  carried  her  about  up  to  N.  latitude  40°.  This  charter  was 
revokedj  or  annulled,  by  the  king,  in  1624 ;  but,  except  when 
portions  of  her  territory  were,  by  several  subsequent  grants,  con- 
veyed away  to  other  favorites,  to  become  the  germs  of  other  States, 
no  further  change  was  ever  afterwards  made  in  the  boundaries  of 
Old  Virginia. 

The  old  i^orth  Virginia  Company  was  a  rickety,  short-lived  con- 
cern. It  accomplished  nothing  towards  colonization.  It,  however, 
did  one  good  thing.  The  southern  company  having,  by  maltreat- 
ment, driven  from  its  service  its  father  and  defender,  Captain  John 
Smith,  its  northern  rival  gave  him  employment,  and  sent  him  out 
to  explore  and  map  its  territory.  He  had  proved  his  competency 
by  having  before  performed  similar  labors  upon  the  region  around 
the  Chesapeake.  Having  accomplished  the  work  assigned  him  by 
the  Plymouth  Company,  he  returned  to  England  in  1614 ;  drew 
out  a  map  and  an  account  of  his  explorations,  which  he  presented 
to  the  king's  son,  Prince  Charles,  who  thereupon  named  the  terri- 
tory New  England.  Here  ended  the  old  North  Virginia  Company, 
whose  territory  was  from  I^.  latitude  41°  to  45°. 

While  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  on  their  ocean  way  from  old  to 
new  Plymouth,  in  1620,  a  new  charter  was  granted  by  James  I.  to 
a  new  corporation,  by  the  name  of  "  The  Council  established  at 


212  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

Plymouth,  in  the  county  of  Devon,  for  the  planting,  ruling,  order- 
ing and  governing  of  New  England  in  America."  Its  territory 
was  "all  that  part  of  America  lying  in  breadth  from  40°  to  48°  IST. 
latitude,  and  in  length  by  all  the  breadth  aforesaid  throughout  the 
main  land,  from  sea  to  sea:  " — a  grant  which  would  have  outlimited 
its  southern  rival,  had  it  not  been  that,  ere  tins,  the  French  had 
crept  in,  through  the  gulf  and  river  St.  Lawrence,  behind  them, 
and  founded  Canada.  It,  however,  became  the  father  of  the  New 
England  States.  From  it  the  numerous  colonies,  of  which  they 
are  now  the  aggregates,  derived  their  territorial  grants.  Their 
charters  of  privileges  and  government  they  obtained  directly  from 
the  throne.  These  grants  were  regarded  as  kind  of  sub-infeudations, 
carved  out  of  the  original  grant ;  and,  by  1635,  had  well  nigh 
exhausted  it.  New  England,  however,  was  regarded  as  an  entirety 
until  after  1632,  the  year  in  which  Virginia  suffered  her  first  dis- 
memberment. 

We  have  been  thus  particular  in  developing  the  foundations  and 
territorial  juxtaposition  of  these  two  old  parent  colonies,  New 
England  and  Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  with  precision 
at  what  point  or  line  they  united.  The  materiality  of  the  inquiry 
will  soon  be  apparent.  Manifestly,  their  common  boundary  was 
the  40th  line  of  north  latitude.  There  we  leave  them  together  in 
peace,  resting  upon  the  bosom  of  Pennsylvania,  while  we  go  back 
to  trace  up  the  strife  we  are  soon  to  contemplate. 

Ere  yet  these  two  old  parent  colonies  had  solemnized  their 
nuptials  at  40°,  in  1609,  there  sailed  from  the  Texel,  in  Holland,  a 
well  appointed  ship,  commanded  by  Sir  Henry  Hudson,  an  English- 
man then  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company.  His 
object  was  to  find  a  north-west  passage  to  China.  Driven  out  of 
the  arctic  inlets  by  ice  and  fogs,  he  turns  his  prow  southward  along 
the  English- American  coast,  as  far  as  the  Chesapeake.  Having 
studied  Captain  Smith's  map  of  that  region,  he  knew  where  he 
was.  His  object  was  discovery.  He  again  steers  northward. 
Keeping  more  closely  to  the  shore,  he  discovered  the  Delaware 
Bay,  into  which  he  sailed ;  but  its  flat  shores  not  suiting  his  taste, 
he  repassed  its  capes  without  landing.  Coasting  along  the  sands 
of  New  Jersey,  he  discovered  the  entrance  to  the  New  York 
waters.*    He  enters  and  anchors  within  Sandy  Hook.     The  forests 


*  Although  Hudson  was  probably  the  earliest  European  discoverer  of  the  Delaware, 
yet  Veirazzani,  who  sailed  under  the  flag  of  France,  was  in  New  York  harbor  before  him, 
in  1524.  The  Delaware  lakes  its  name  from  Lord  Delaware,  Governor  of  the  South  Vir- 
ginia Colony  in  1009,  who,  it  is  said,  perished  ofl"  its  capes. 


en.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  213 

and  slopes  of  the  Nevisink  hills  were  inviting.  The  natives  were 
kind  and  inquisitive.  He  had  found  the  objects  of  his  pursuit. 
Before  he  left  he  passed  the  Narrows,  sounded  his  way  up  the 
river  which  now  bears  his  name,  beyond  the  Highlands,  and,  in  a 
boat,  went  above  Albany.  Satisfied,  he  returned  to  England,  and 
reported  his  discoveries  to  the  Dutch.  The  next  year,  while  in 
the  service  of  London  merchants,  seeking  the  north-west  passage,  j 
he  perished  in  the  great  northern  bay  whose  name  is  his  only 
monument. 

Holland,  or  more  properly  the  States  General  of  the  United 
^Netherlands,  was  then  the  most  energetic  maritime  power  of 
Europe.  They  quickly  availed  themselves  of  Hudson's  American 
discoveries ;  and  while  Smith  was  exploring  New  England,  they 
were  seating  themselves  upon  what  are  now  the  southern  territo- 
ries of  JSTew  York  and  eastern  New  Jersey.  Operating  entirely  by 
the  agency  of  a  corporation — the  Dutch  West  India  Company, 
whose  chief  aim  was  trade,  they,  for  many  years  evinced  no  design 
to  form  any  settlements  beyond  such  as  were  convenient  attendants 
upon  traffic.  They  abode  in  strength  upon  the  island  of  Manhattan, 
founding  there,  by  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam,  what  has  become 
the  greatest  commercial  city  of  the  New  "World.  Gradually  they 
assumed  the  form  and  functions  of  a  colony.  They  spread  them- 
selves from  Staten  Island  to  Canada,  and  from  the  Connecticut  to 
the  Delaware,  giving  to  their  claim  the  name  of  New  Netherlands. 
Although  in  the  grant  of  New  England,  in  1620,  there  was  an 
express  exception  of  territory  then  in  the  possession  of  any  other 
Christian  prince  or  State,  yet  England  and  New  England  ever 
regarded  them  as  intruders,  and  omitted  no  opportunity  of  attack 
and  annoyance.  They,  however,  by  policy  and  prowess,  were  en- 
abled to  maintain  their  possessions  for  half  a  century,  "beset  with 
forts,  and  sealed  with  their  blood."  They  were  there  by  sufferance ; 
but  in  the  pages  of  one  of  our  richest  American  classics,  and  in  the 
names  of  men  and  places  upon  both  shores  of  the  Hudson,  they  were 
there  forever.  It  is,  however,  to  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  effiiced 
vestiges  of  their  power  that  our  subject  is  most  nearly  related. 

The  Dutch  continued  to  keep  an  eye  to  the  shores  of  the  Dela- 
ware. They  built  Fort  Nassau  on  the  Jersey  side,  at  Gloucester 
Point,  about  four  miles  below  Philadelphia.  Cornelius  May,  one 
of  their  sea  captains,  divided  his  name  between  its  capes,  calling 
the  stream  South  river,  as  they  had  called  the  Hudson,  North  river. 
Five  years  after  tlje  Virginia  charter  was  revoked,  and  ere  its 
northern  latitudes  had  been  re-granted  or  settled,  in  1629,  Godyn, 


214  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

a  Hollander,  bought  from  the  natives  a  tract  of  about  thirty  miles 
front  on  the  western  coast  of  the  Delaware  Bay,  between  the 
southern  limit  of  Kent  county  and  Cape  Henlopen: — not  the  cape 
now  known  by  that  name,  but  a  headland  fifteen  miles  further 
south,  now  called  Fenwick's  Island,  where  the  southern  limit  of 
Delaware  cuts  the  Atlantic.  In  1631,  he  and  his  associates  sent 
from  the  Texel,  under  the  conduct  of  Devries,  a  trio  of  vessels, 
laden  with  men  and  women  to  the  number  of  thirty,  cattle,  farming 
implements  and  seeds.  Thej^  landed  upon  the  desired  coast,  and 
there,  near  the  present  site  of  Lewistown,  planted  the  colony  of 
Swaanendael.  Wheat,  tobacco  and  furs  were  the  objects  of  the 
settlement.  At  the  end  of  a  year  Devries  left  it,  begirt  with  the 
forests  and  the  ocean,  in  peace  and  prosperity.  The  next  year  he 
returned,  and  found  its  site  marked  only  by  the  blackened  huts  and 
bleaching  bones  of  his  countrymen.  But  this  short-lived  colony 
was  the  cradle  of  a  commonwealth.  The  seed  thus  buried  in  blood 
and  ashes,  ere  long  germinated  and  grew  into  the  State  of  Dela- 
ware— small  for  its  age,  but  good  for  its  size. 

One  of  the  Secretaries  of  State  to  James  I.  was  Sir  George  Calvert, 
an  eminent  favorite  with  the  court  and  the  people,  and  whom  the 
king  created  Lord  of  the  Barony  of  Baltimore  in  Ireland.  He  re- 
signed his  office  to  embrace  the  Catholic  faith ;  and  his  new-born  zeal 
and  love  of  colonial  aggrandizement  soon  impelled  him  to  seek  for 
a  grant  of  American  territory  whereto  his  religious  brethren  might 
flee  from  the  rigors  of  conformity.  His  first  resort  was  to  ISTew- 
foundland ;  but  failing  there,  he  looked  down  into  the  more  genial 
latitudes  of  Virginia.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  old  South 
Virginia  Company,  and  hence  looked  for  some  favor  in  that  quar- 
ter. This  was  in  1629.  The  Virginia  Cavaliers,  however,  treated 
him  rather  cavalierl}^  and  put  at  him  the  test  oaths  of  conformity 
and  allegiance.  These  he  declined.  He  knew  that  the  South  Vir- 
ginia charter  was  annulled,  and  that  the  unsettled  wastes  of  her 
territory  were  subject  anew  to  the  royal  grant.  He  saw  that  no 
settlements  existed  north  of  38°  and  the  Potomac.  Its  super- 
abundant water  privileges  and  luxuriant  forests  were  sufficient  temp- 
tation to  become  its  proprietary,  without  the  incentive  of  revenge 
upon  his  old  Virginia  associates.  He  returned  to  England,  and 
besought  its  investiture.  It  was  well  known  there  that  not  only 
the  Dutch,  but  the  Swedes  and  French,  were  preparing  to  send  col- 
onies into  these  central  parts  of  the  English  dominion  ;  but  it  was 
not  known  that  any  had  yet  been  sent,  or  if  Devries'  voyage  was 
known,  it  was  unheeded.    The  Swedes  had  not  yet  moved,  and  the 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S   LINE.  215 

French  never  did.  England  herself  asserted  the  need  of  occu- 
pancy to  perfect  title  to  the  wilderness.  Hence  these  efforts  of 
other  nations  stimulated  the  readiness  of  the  king  to  yield  to  the 
solicitude  of  Lord  Baltimore.  The  charter,  drawn  by  Sir  George 
himself  with  unprecedented  wisdom  and  liberality,  was  prepared ; 
but  ere  it  passed  the  seals,  he  died ;  and  his  son,  Cecil  Calvert, 
inherited  his  Irish  title  and  seigniory  expectant  in  America. 

In  June,  1632,  Charles  I.  granted  unto  his  "trusty  and  well 
beloved  subject,"  Cecilius  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore,  all  that  part  of 
the  peninsula,  or  eastern  shore  of  the  Chesapeake,  north  of  a 
line  drawn  eastward  from  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  through 
Watkins'  Point  and  the  mouth  of  the  river  Wighco,  or  Pocomoke, 
to  the  ocean;  which  line  is  nearly  on  north  latitude  38°; — "and 
between  that  bound  on  the  soath,  unto  that  part  of  Delaware  Bay, 
on  the  north,  which  lieth  under  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
where  New  England  iermina.tes  ;  and  all  that  tract  of  land  from  the 
aforesaid  Bay  of  Delaware,  in  a  right  line,  by  the  degree  aforesaid  to 
the  (rue  meridian  of  tlie  first  fountain  of  the  river  Potomac,  and  from 
thence  tending  towards  the  south  to  the  further  bank  of  said  river, 
and  following  the  west  and  south  side  of  it  to  a  certain  place,"  kc, 
to  the  beginning.  The  young  proprietary  grantee  being  of  the 
same  faith  of  his  fatljer  and  of  Charles'  aspiring  Queen,  Henrietta 
Maria,  she  named  the  grant  Maryland. 

At  the  date  of  this  charter,  save  Claiborne's  trading  settlement 
upon  Kent  Island  in  the  Chesapeake,  which  does  not  concern  us 
here,  the  whole  territory,  within  the  conhnes  of  the  grant,  was  a 
waste  of  woods  and  waters,  uninhabited  by  a  civilized  man ;  and 
so  it  was  recited  to  be,  in  the  preamble — '■'■hactenus  terra  inculta." 
We  will  soon  sed  what  ominous  import  lay  hidden  in  these  un- 
meaning words.  The  obvious  intent  of  this  grant  was  to  convey 
to  Lord  Baltimore  the  English  title  to  all  of  the  old  revoked  Vir- 
ginia grant  which  was  north  of  the  Potomac  and  of  the  base  line 
on  the  peninsula.  It  was  intended  to  carry  Maryland  close  up  to 
New  England,  and  full  out  to  the  Delaware.  It  can  mean  nothing 
else.  No  other  grant,  no  settlement  interfered.  It  was  entitled 
to  go  to  its  uttermost  bounds.  The  only  real  ambiguity  that 
lurked  in  its  descriptive  terms  was  a  latejit  one,  of  very  consider- 
able importance,  which  we  will  discover  after  a  while. 

The  ISTew  England  Company,  as  well  as  King  Charles,  had  been 
outwitted  in  the  charter  which  he,  in  1629,  gave  to  Massachusetts. 
It  conferred  privileges  far  in  advance  of  the  age.  Thinking  to 
undermine  it,  the  Council  at  Plymouth  in  Devon,  in  1635,  sur- 


216  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

rendered  its  charter:  and  thus  were  all  the  unsettled  latitudes  of 
New  England,  south  of  the  colonies  which  had  been  carved  out  of 
it,  exposed  to  new  grants  and  settlement.  North  latitude  40°  was 
no  longer  its  southern  limit. 

New  actors  now  come  upon  the  stage.  Grustavus  Adolphus  of 
Sweden  had  long  meditated  the  planting  of  a  Protestant  colony 
upon  the  Delaware.  But  war  diverted  both  his  zeal  and  his  funds. 
He  fell,  in  defence  of  the  lieformation,  upon  the  bloody  Held  of 
Lutzen.  But  his  spirit  remained  in  his  Chancellor,  Oxenstiern, 
who  guided  the  helm  of  affairs  during  the  minority  of  Queen 
Christiana.  Under  his  auspices,  late  in  1637,  the  first  party  of 
Swedes  and  Fins  sailed  for  the  Delaware,  where  they  landed,  at 
Cape  Inlopen,  early  in  1638.  We  know  that  a  much  earlier  date 
has  been  given  to  their  advent ;  but  later  researches  have  disclosed 
the  error,  and  thereby  dissipated  a  favorite  ground  of  attack  upon 
Lord  Baltimore's  title  to  the  Delaware  shore,  under  cover  of  ^'- terra 
inculta."  Upon  their  arrival  they  bought  from  the  natives  rights 
to  settle  all  along  the  western  shore,  up  to  Trenton  Falls ;  and  gave 
to  their  domain  the  name  of  New  Sweden.  The  Dutch  scowled 
upon  them,  but  the  terror  of  Swedish  valor  gave  them  protection. 
The  new  colonists  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  prosperity,  built 
forts  and  churches,  and  were  surpassingly  suq^essful  in  cultivating 
the  soil,  and  in  trade  and  favor  with  the  Indians.  In  a  few  years 
the  power  of  Sweden  fell;  and  thereupon  the  envy  of  the  New 
Netherlanders  rose  to  resistance.  In  1655,  they  sent  into  the 
Delaware  a  fleet  of  seven  good  Dutch  ships,  well  manned,  under 
the  command  of  Governor  Stuyvesant,  who  quickly  reduced  the 
Swedish  forts  and  reestablished  the  Dutch  dominion.  Annexing 
their  conquests  to  the  effaced  colony  of  Swaanendael,  they  dated 
back  their  title,  by  relation,  to  the  purchase  by  Godyn.  It  was 
this  fiction  that  overreached  the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore.  Had 
Leonard  Calvert  led  the  first  settlers  of  Maryland  to  the  Delaware 
coast  of  his  brother's  domain,  the  American  confederacy  would 
probably  have  had  one  little  State  less. 

Charles  I.  was  beheaded  in  1649  ;  and  during  the  troubles  which 
preceded  that  event,  as  well  as  during  the  supremacy  of  Cromwell, 
the  Lords  Proprietary  of  Maryland  were  less  anxious  about  its 
boundaries  than  its  existence.  The  Catholic  colony  grew  slowly, 
and  was  weak.  Hence  no  decisive  eflbrts  to  dispossess  the  Dutch 
were  made  until  after  the  Restoration,  in  1660;  and  then  it  was  too 
late.  Possession  gave  confidence,  if  not  power.  And  to  all  the 
arguments  and  entreaties  of  Lord  Baltimore,   the  Dutch  West 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND   DIXON'S    LINE.  217 

India  Company  answered  :    "  We  will  defend  our  South  river  pos- 
sessions even  unto  the  spilling  of  blood." 

Charles  II.  came  to  the  throne  of  his  father  in  1660.  Proud, 
profligate  and  prodigal,  he  cared  less  for  the  preservation  of  his 
dominions  than  for  the  gratification  of  his  passions.  Alexander 
wept  when  he  had  no  more  nations  to  conquer — Charles  II.  sighed 
when  he  had  no  more  distant  territories  to  give  away.  He  was 
justly  caricatured  in  Holland  with  a  courtesan  upon  each  arm, 
and  courtiers  picking  his  pockets.  This  "screwed  his  courage  to 
the  sticking  point,"  and  he  resolved  to  stick  the  States  General  in 
the  extremities  of  their  possessions.  His  first  blow  was  at  New 
Guinea,  in  Africa — then  at  New  Netherlands,  in  America.  But 
he  must  needs  first  give  away  the  territory  to  be  conquered. 
Finding  no  courtier  greedy  enough  to  take  it,  with  its  in- 
cumbrances, he,  in  March,  1664,  granted  it  to  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II.  Thereupon  he  sent  out  a 
squadron  commanded  by  Col.  Nicholls,  who,  with  recruits  from 
Connecticut,  appeared  in  hostile  array  before  the  grim-visaged 
defences  of  Manhattan ;  and,  too  easily,  owing  to  intestine  divi- 
sions, achieved  a  bloodless  conquest  of  New  Netherlands  upon  the 
North  river.  The  reduction  of  the  South  river  dependencies,  by 
Sir  Robert  Carr,  quickly  ensued.  Governor  Stuyvesant  became 
an  English  subject.  New  Amsterdam  became  New  York;  Fort 
Orange,  Albany ;  and  Niewer  Amstel,  New  Castle.  In  the  vicis- 
situdes of  the  war,  the  Dutch,  in  1673,  re-conquered  their  North 
river  possessions ;  but  only  to  be,  the  next  year,  again  surrendered 
and  confirmed  by  treaty  to  the  English.  And  now  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  dominion  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  was  unbroken  from  the 
St.  Croix  to  Florida. 

The  westward  limit  of  the  Duke  of  York's  grant  was  the  Dela- 
ware river.  New  Jersey  he  granted  to  two  favorites.  Lord  John 
Berkely  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  two  of  the  proprietaries  of  the 
Carolinas.  New  York  he  kept  for  himself,  retaining  with  it  his 
conquests  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Delaware  ;  which  hence- 
forth, while  he  held  them,  were  governed  by  deputy  governors, 
resident  at  New  Castle. 

We  are  now  ready  to  introduce  the  last  great  actor  in  this  com- 
plicated boundary  drama, — the  immortal  founder  of  Pennsylvania, 
William  Peim.  Assuming  that  our  readers  are  familiar  with  his 
history  and  character,  we  will  not  pall  them  by  any  attempt  at 
their  rehearsal.  Our  subject  is  not  a  life,  but  a  line.  It  sufiiceth 
us  here  to  know  that,  within  five  or  six  years  before  his  purchase 


218  THE   MONONGAHELA    OP   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

of  Pennsylvania,  he  had  become  deeply  interested  in  the  owner- 
ship and  settlement  of  West  Jersey,  and  of  East  Jersey,  too.  This 
turned  his  attention  to  the  yet  ungranted  territory  lying  directly 
west  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  which  he  had  a  "goodly  report." 
Benevolence  rather  than  ambition  impelled  him  to  its  acquisition. 

Except  Georgia,  which  was  founded  so  late  as  1732,  Pennsyl- 
vania was  the  last  of  the  old  thirteen  British  colonies  to  derive 
its  charter  from  the  crown.  It  is  the  only  one  also  whose  territory 
is  not  touched  by  the  briny  waters  of  the  Atlantic.  At  the  date 
of  her  title,  all  the  sea  coast  claimed  by  England  had  been  "taken 
up,"  and  she  was  forced  to  take  an  inland  position, — not  a  bad  one, 
however,  but  one  with  which  her  proprietary  grantee  was  at  first 
greatly  dissatisfied,  and  for  which  to  provide  a  remedy,  as  he  sup- 
posed, he  was  led  into  the  controversy  with  Maryland,  which  we 
are  now  soon  to  consider. 

The  ostensible  consideration  of  the  grant  of  Pennsylvania  to 
William  Penn,  was  a  debt  for  services  and  of  gratitude  to  his 
father.  Admiral  Penn.  But  the  son  was  not  the  less  careful  about 
the  terms  of  his  charter,  because  it  was  given  in  payment  of  an  old 
debt.  It  would  be  insulting  his  intelligence,  to  doubt  his  full  and 
accurate  knowledge  of  all  the  grants  of  English  territory  in 
America,  which  we  have  noticed  in  this  sketch, — their  limits  and 
their  derivations.  It  is  in  evidence,  upon  most  indisputable 
authority — nay,  admitted,  that  when  he  petitioned  for  a  grant  of 
territory,  in  1680,  it  was  to  lie  west  of  the  Delaware  river  and 
north  of  Maryland.  It  is  also  admitted  that  Lord  Baltimore's 
charter  was  the  model  used  by  Penn,  who  himself  drafted  his 
charter  for  Pennsylvania.  He  thus  had  express  notice  that  Mary- 
land reached  to  the  Delaware  Bay,  and  took  in  all  the  land  abutting 
thereon  "  which  lieth  under  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
where  New  England  terminates."  He  thereby  knew,  or  was 
bound  to  know,  that  New  England  did  not  terminate  at  any 
fractional  part  of  the  fortieth  degree,  nor  at  line  39°,  its  southern 
confine.  For,  a  degree  of  latitude  is  not  an  indivisible  line,  but  a 
definite  space,  or  belt,  upon  the  earth's  surface,  of  69 J  statute 
miles.  Nothing  short  of  the  northern  confine  of  the  fortieth 
degree  would  give  to  Old  Virginia  her  complement  of  two  hundred 
miles  north  of  Old  Point  Comfort.  And  the  New  England  grant 
was  '■'■from  the  fortieth  degree,  &c." 

Great  precaution  and  formality  were  used  in  acting  upon  Penn's 
charter.  It  was  held  up  under  consideration  for  nine  months. 
The  petition  and  original  draft  of  the  charter  are  not  extant.     It 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  219 

is  known  that  the  latter  had  to  undergo  many  modifications.  When 
presented  to  the  king,  they  were  referred  to  the  Duke  of  York's 
secretary  and  Lord  Baltimore's  agents,  in  order  "that  they  might 
report  how  far  the  petitioners'  pretensions  may  consist  with  their 
boundxiries."  Both  agreed  to  his  proposals,  provided  his  patent 
might  be  so  worded  as  not  to  affect  their  rights.  The  Duke's 
commissioners  insisted  that  Perm's  southern  line  should  run  at  least 
twenty  miles  northward  of  New  Castle.  At  length  the  boundaries 
were  adjusted  so  as  to  please  all  parties.  And,  after  the  articles 
had  passed  the  scrutiny  and  emendations  of  the  Bishop  of  London 
and  Lord  Chief  Justice  JSTorth,  who  shaped  their  church  and 
governmental  franchises,  so  as  to  eschew  the  "undue  liberties" 
which  had  been  granted  to  Massachusetts  and  to  Maryland,  the 
charter  was  approved  by  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  and 
prepared  for  the  king's  allowance.  Peun's  success  depended  upon 
concession  and  conciliation :  resistance  or  pertinacity  would  have 
endangered  all.  And  yet  he  obtained  a  wonderfully  liberal  grant, 
both  of  power  and  territory. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1681,  King  Charles  II.  granted  unto  "  our 
trusty  and  well  beloved  subject,  William  Penn,  Esquire^''  the  terri- 
tory of  Pennsylvania,  [Penn's  Woods,]  by  metes  and  bounds,  as  fol- 
lows, viz : 

"  All  that  tract,  or  part  of  land  in  America,  with  the  islands 
therein  contained,  as  the  same  is  hounded  on  the  east  by  Delaware 
river,  from  twelve  miles  northward  of  New  Castle  town,  unto  the  three 
and  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude,  if  said  river  doth  extend  so 
far  northward,  but  if  not,  then  by  a  meridian  line  from  the  head  of 
said  river  to  said  forty-third  degree.  The  said  land  to  extend  west- 
ward five  degrees  in  longitude,  to  be  computed  from  said  eastern 
bounds.  And  the  said  lands  to  be  bounded  on  the.  north  by  the 
beginning  of  the  three  and  fortieth  degree  of  northern  latitude,  and 
on  the  south  by  a  circle  drawn  at  twelve  miles  distance  from  New  Castle, 
northward  and  westward  unto  the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree  of 
northern  latitude,  and  then  by  a  straight  line  westward  to  the  limits  of 
longitude  above  mentioned." 

The  partisan  advocates  of  Penn^s  pretensions  contend  that  this 
grant  gave  to  Pennsylvania  three  degrees  of  latitude  upon  the  Del- 
aware, minus  the  circular-headed  abscission  around  New  Castle — 
that  by  the  '■'■beginning''  of  the  fortieth  degree,  '■'■unto"  which  the 
circular  line,  drawn  at  twelve  miles  distance  northward  and  westward 
from  New  Castle,  was  to  reach,  was  the  southern  beginning  of  that 
degree.     The  absurdity  of  this  construction,  when  applied  to  the 


220  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

parallels  of  latitude  as  they  now  are,  is  apparent.  By  no  geometrical 
use  of  the  terms  can  a  circle  of  twelve  miles  radius  from  New  Cas- 
tle reach  either  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree,  much  less  its  southern 
confine,  which  is  nearly  fifty  miles  distant.  Moreover,  the  circle 
was  to  come  ^Hmto"  it  hy being  drawn  '■'■northward  and  westward." 
The  moment  it  began  to  go  southward  and  eastward  it  must  stop, 
and  there  the  "  straight  line  westward"  must  begin. 

We  cannot  find  that  William  Penn  himself  ever  asserted  this 
absurd  pretence;  or,  that  he  was  to  have  three  degrees  of  latitude, 
though  his  sons  and  their  apologists  did  assert  it  most  strenuously. 
The  nearest  that  he  ever  came  to  it  was  to  say  that  he  petitioned  for 
Jive  degrees  of  latitude,  [evidently  from  40°  to  45°,  the  old  northern 
limit  of  the  North  Virginia  Company,]  but  when  before  the  Board 
of  Plantations,  watching,  not  urging,  his  petition,  "  the  Lord  Presi- 
dent turned  to  me  and  said,  '  Mr.  Penn,  will  not  three  degrees  serve 
your  turn  ?'  '  I  answered,'  says  he,  '  I  submit  both  the  what  and  how 
to  the  honorable  Board.'"  He  admits  also  that  this  inquiry  was 
prompted  by  its  being  urged  that  Lord  Baltimore  had  but  tioo 
degrees,  which  must  have  meant,  from  38°  to  40°  ;  for  38°  being 
fixed  in  his  patent,  by  natural  marks,  if  Maryland  must  stop  at  39° — 
the  southern  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree,  then  she  would  have 
but  07ie  degree. 

We  may  as  well  now  disclose  that  latent  ambiguity  which  lurks 
in  Lord  Baltimore's  patent,  but  which  becomes  a  patent  one  in 
William  Penn's.  Where,  upon  the  ground,  in  lt'32,  and  in  1680,  was 
that  artificial  line,  marked  "  40°,"  believed  to  be  located  ?  The  answer 
to  this  question  solves  all  the  difficulty. 

The  knowledge  of  American  geography,  in  those  days,  was 
very  imperfect.  It  extended  little  beyond  the  great  headlands, 
bays  and  rivers,  which  varied  the  outline  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  and 
its  immediate  contiguities.  But  the  high  contracting  parties,  who 
dealt  in  conveyances  which  covered  a  continent,  assumed  that  they 
knew  all  about  it;  and  that  capes,  rivers,  bays,  islands  and  towns, 
must  conform  to  distances  in  miles  and  in  degrees  of  latitude. 
They  were  less  precise  in  their  use  of  terms  which  were  to  define 
the  boundaries  of  independent  sovereignties,  than  are  people  now- 
a-days  in  describing  a  town  lot.  The  consequences  of  this  headi- 
ness  and  heedlessness  were  conflicting  grants  and  angry  conflicts, 
memorable  instances  of  which  are  now  before  us. 

The  only  authoritative  map,  in  1632,  of  the  localities  upon  which 
this  strife  grew,  was  that  of  the  renowned  Captain  Smith,  already 
referred  to.     And  it  would  seem  that  some  of  the  errors  upon  its 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S   LINE.  221 

face  were  continued  down  to  1681.  It  is  very  certain  that  one  of 
them  was.  By  that  map,  the  transit  of  line  40°  across  the  Delaware 
was  fixed  about — a  little  below — where  New  Castle  is.  Penn  says  it 
was  at  Boles'  Isle — but  where  that  is  we  do  not  know.  Others 
fixed  it  at  the  head  of  the  hay — but  that  is  very  indefinite  ;  for  where 
the  river  ends  and  the  bay  begins  is  not  agreed.  Penn  puts  the 
bay  thirty  miles  below  ]!^ew  Castle :  if  so,  his  circular  line  could 
never  attain  "  unto"  it.  Line  38°,  the  northern  confine  of  the  first 
South  Virginia  grant,  was  correctly  fixed  on  Watkius'  Point.  The 
shortenings  were  between  that  and  JSTew  Castle.  The  efi'ect  of  this 
error — besides  eighty  years  of  angry  strife — was  to  contract  Mary- 
land, and,  as  we  shall  see,  correspondingly  to  widen  Pennsylvania. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Duke  of  York  insisted  at  first  that  Penn's 
southern  line  should  be  twenty  miles  north  of  I^ew  Castle.  This 
was  to  keep  clear  of  his  Swedo-Dutch  dominions.  But,  inasmuch 
as  that  would  leave  an  indefinite  ungranted  vacancy  north  of  40°, 
the  circle  was  introduced,  and  the  radius  shortened  to  twelve  miles, 
so  as  thereby,  by  a  "  northward  and  westward"  sweep,  and  without 
coming  any  nearer  the  Delaware,  to  reach  the  "  beginning  of  the 
fortieth  degree,"  and  leave  no  vacancy. 

This  collation  of  the  facts  and  terms  of  the  two  grants  solves  all 
the  mystery  which  hung  around  them  for  a  century.  It  undoes 
the  sophistry  which  claimed  for  Pennsylvania  three  degrees  of  lati- 
tude. The  sophism  consisted  in  assuming  that  as  Penn's  northern 
confine  was  to  be  line  42° — the  southern  beginning  of  the  forty- 
third  degree,  therefore,  as  the  same  words  were  used,  his  southern 
limit  must  be  line  39° — the  southern  beginning  of  the  fortieth 
degree.  But  Penn  must  be  considered  as  standing  between  these 
two  confines  ;  reaching  with  one  hand  to  the  southern  beginning 
of  the  former  degree,  and  with  the  other  to  the  northern  beginning 
of  the  latter.  It  matters  not  that,  upon  maps  and  globes,  the 
degrees  are  numbered  from  the  equator  northward,  so  that  39°  is 
the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree.  Reverse  the  direction,  and 
40°  is  its  beginning;  just  as  in  surveying,  the  line  which  is  north 
39°  east,  is,  when  reversed,  south  39°  west.^    In  our  next  chapter 


^  We  adopt  this  tkw  of  the  case  with  some  hesitancy — not  because  we  doubt  its  cor- 
rectness, but  because  It  stands  opposed  to  tlio  construction  given  to  Penn's  charter  by 
nearly  all  the  writers  upon  it  whom  we  have  consulted.  Of  these  are  Proud,  (History 
of  Pennsylvania,)  Bancroft,  (History  United  States,  vol.  ii.  p.  362,)  N.  B.  Craig,  (1 
Olden  Time,)  Darby,  (History  of  Pennsylvania,)  not  to  mention  the  sons  of  Fenn,  their 
agents,  attorneys  and  Governors,  in  the  controversies  with  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
The  late  James  Dunlop,  Esq.,  in  his   "  Treatise  upon  Mason  &  Dixon's  Line,"  (i  Olden 


222  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

we  will  see,  with  complacent  wonder,  what  mighty  leverage  there 
was  in  this  pretence  to  give  to  Pennsylvania  a  most  important 
addition  to  her  western  territory. 

But  we  are  getting  into  the  strife  before  all  the  elements  which 
engendered  it  are  brought  into  action.     We  return  to  our  narrative. 

Penn  was  a  favorite,  but  not  a  courtier,  at  the  court  of  the 
Stuarts.  Uprightness  and  benevolence  can  commend  their  possess- 
ors to  influence,  even  with  the  most  dissolute.  Penn  had  laudable 
purposes — to  his  sect  and  his  colony — to  accomplish,  by  his  com- 
placency. That  he  was  thrice  imprisoned  for  conscience  sake, 
and  thrice  discharged  without  guilt,  is  his  triple  shield  against  all 
the  darts  of  envy  and  abuse  which  his  traducers,  from  Oldmixou  to 
Macaulay,  have  hurled  against  him."  His  very  innoceucy  led  him 
to  boast  of  his  influence.  In  the  careless  lapse  of  years  which 
intervened  from  the  Duke's  conquest  to  Penn's  proprietorship  of 
Pennsylvania,  some  tenantry  of  Lord  Baltimore  had  settled  upon 
the  western  shore  of  the  Delaware,  within  his  chartered  limits. 
Penn,  ere  he  had  visited  the  localities,  was  led  to  believe  they  were 
upon  his  territory.  In  September,  1681,  he  wrote  them  a  friendly 
general  letter,  warning  them  "to  pay  no  more  taxes  or  assessments 


Time,  530,)  alone  sustains  our  view,  and  he  but  scouts  at  the  popuhxr  construction.  Wc 
adopted  it  at  first  impression  ourself ;  but  research  and  reflection  compelled  us  to  the 
opinion  we  here,  and  elsewhere  in  this  and  the  next  chapter,  enunciate.  There  is  no 
disloyalty  in  it;  for  we  consider  it  more  to  tlie  honor  of  Pennsylvania  and  her  illustri- 
ous founder,  than  the  opposite  construction.  Why  put  him  in  the  awkward  predica- 
ment of  wilfully  overlapping  a  degree  of  Lord  Baltimore's  grant,  when  there  is  no  need 
for  it?  and  if  he  and  his  successors  gained  for  Pennsylvania  more  territory  than  they 
contracted  for,  and  gained  it  honestly,  so  much  the  better  for  them,  and  us  who  enjoy  it. 
^  "  From  his  early  youth  to  old  age,  he  was  a  man  of  mark,  and  lived  constantly  in 
the  eye  of  the  public  ;  surrounded  by  enemies  ever  ready  to  put  the  worst  construction 
upon  his  conduct.  He  went  through  the  furnace  without  the  smell  of  fire  upon  his 
garments ;  and  left  behind  him  a  character  for  moral  virtue  upon  which  malice  itself 
could  fix  no  stain.  *  *  *  *  That  he  was  not  habitually  honest  and  upright  is  a  his- 
torical proposition  as  absurd  as  it  would  be  to  say  that  Julius  Ccesar  was  a  coward,  that 
Virgil  had  no  poetic  genius,  or  that  Cicero  could  not  speak  Latin.  Nay,  he  was  some- 
thing more  than  an  honest  man.  He  was  a  philanthropist,  who  gave  all  he  had  and  all 
he  was,  time,  talents  and  fortune,  to  the  service  of  mankind  The  heir  of  a  large 
estate,  the  founder  of  the  greatest  city  in  North  America,  the  sole  owner  of  more  than 
forty  thousand  square  miles  of  land,  he  never  spent  a  shilling  in  any  vicious  extrava- 
gance ;  but  his  large-handed  charities  so  exhausted  his  income,  that  in  his  old  age  he 
was  imprisoned  for  debt.  He  had  the  unlimited  confidence  of  a  monarch  wliose  favor 
an  unscrupulous  man  would  have  coined  into  countless  heaps  of  gold;  but  he  left  the 
court  with  his  hands  empty  ;  and  whosoever  says  they  were  not  clean  as  well  as  empty, 
knows  not  whereof  he  aflSrms." — Judge  Black's  Address  at  Pennsylvania  College,  Gettys- 
burg, September,  185G. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON    AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  223 

by  any  order  or  law  of  Maryland ;  for  if  you  do  it  will  be  greatly 
to  your  own  wrong  and  my  prejudice  ;  though  I  am  not  conscious  to 
myself  of  such  an  insufficiency  of  poioer  here  with  my  superiors,  as  not 
to  be  able  to  loeather  the  difficulty  if  you  should."  This  kind  monition 
and  harmless  boast  was  the  letting  out  of  the  water  of  strife — par- 
tisans rallied  to  their  leaders — the  contest  was  begun. 

When  Penn's  trusty  kinsman,  Markham,  had  landed  his  first 
emigrant  party  at  Upland,  his  early  care,  under  instructions  from 
the  king  and  the  proprietor,  was  to  confer  with  Lord  Baltimore 
upon  the  interesting  question  of  boundary.  They  met  in  the 
spring  of  1682,  and  then  first  discovered,  from  a  careful  astronomical 
observation,  what  neither  before  knew,  that  the  true  line  of  40° 
was  above  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill.  Lord  Baltimore's  eye 
dilated — Markham's  fell.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  They  parted  in 
peace  ;  and  Markham  reports  the  annoying  discovery  to  Penn,  in 
London. 

Penn  had  wished  and  believed  that  his  colony  would  take  in 
the  head  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  be  far  enough  down  on  the  Dela- 
ware not  to  be  locked  up  by  ice  and  enemies.  This  discovery 
frosted  his  expectations,  but  did  not  freeze  his  energies.  The 
Duke  of  York  was  his  friend,  and  his  West  Delaware  dependencies 
would  give  the  desired  outlet  in  that  direction.  True,  the  Duke 
had  no  title  from  the  crown,  and  Baltimore  had.  But  the  Duke 
had  possession.  It  was  power  against  parchment ;  and  Penn 
wisely  concluded  that  power  would  prevail.  A  glimmer  of  right 
broke  forth  from  the  smouldering  ruins  of  Swaanendael,  which 
diffused  itself  all  along  the  shore  from  the  false  Cape  of  Henlopen 
to  the  mouth  of  Christiana.  Penn  rejoiced  in  its  light.  He  im- 
portuned the  Duke  to  convey  to  him  these  unproductive  posses- 
sions. The  Duke  yielded ;  and  by  two  deeds,  in  August,  1682, 
invested  Penn  with  all  his  titles  to  twelve  miles  around  Kew 
Castle,  and  to  all  the  coast  below  that  to  Henlopen.  And  now  it 
was  parchment  and  possession  against  parchment  and  right,  with 
power  as  the  preponderant  in  the  unequal  balance.  "  Without 
adopting,"  says  an  impartial  historian,'  "the  harsh  censure  of 
Chalmers,  who  maintains  that  this  transaction  reflected  dishonor, 
both  on  the  Duke  of  York  and  William  Penn,  we  can  hardlj'^  fail 


'  Sir  James  Grahame,  of  Scotland,  whose  "History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America,  till  the  British  Revolution  in  1688," — two  volumes 
octavo, — is  exceedingly  satisfactory  upon  our  colonial  titles  and  boundaries,  especially 
those  of  purely  English  derivation. 


224  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

to  regard  it  as  a  faulty  and  ambiguous  proceeding,  or  to  regret  the 
proportions  in  whicla  its  attendant  blame  must  be  divided,  between 
a  prince  distinguished  even  among  the  Stuarts  for  perfidy  and 
injustice,  and  a  patriarch  renowned  even  among  the  Quakers  for 
humanity  and  benevolence." 

Thus  panoplied,  Penn  made  his  first  visit  to  his  Delaware 
domains,  with  "twenty-six  sail"  of  colonists,  in  the  autumn  of 
1682.  He  landed  at  Kew  Castle,  and  after  receiving  livery  of 
seizin  of  his  newly  acquired  "  territories,"  and  the  homage  of  three 
thousand  people,  he  repaired  to  Chester,  (Upland,)  which  now  was 
his  capital ;  for  as  yet  Philadelphia  had  no  existence.  After  trans- 
acting some  governmental  affairs,  and  paying  his  respects  to  the 
Duke's  governor  at  New  York,  he  repaired  to  Maryland,  to 
confer  with  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  about  boundaries.  The  inter- 
view was  friendly,  but  formal.  It  resulted  in  nothing,  except  to 
disclose  more  of  the  grounds  of  Penn's  claim.  ()ne  was,  that  Lord 
Baltimore's  two  degrees  were  to  consist  of  sixty  miles  each  : — 
another,  that  being  to  have  only  lands^  "not  yet  cultivated  or 
planted,"  [in  1632,] — hactenus  terra  inculia, — Delaware  did  not  pass, 
for  that  it  had  been  bought  and  planted  by  the  Dutch ;  "  but  if  it 
did,  it  was  forfeited,  for  not  reducing  it  during  twenty  years,  under 
the  English  sovereignty,  of  which  he  held  it,  but  was  at  last  re- 
duced by  the  king,  and  therefore  his  to  give  as  he  pleaseth."  His 
lordship  answered,  "I  stand  on  my  patent."  At  a  subsequent 
interview  at  New  Castle,  Penn  offered  to  stand  to  the  40th  line, 
provided  Lord  Baltimore  would  sell  him  some  territory  south  of 
it  on  the  Chesapeake,  "  at  a  gentlemanly  price — so  much  per  mile,'' 
in  case  he  could  not  get  it  by  latitude,  so  as  to  have  a  ^''  back  port" 
to  Pennsylvania.  His  lordship  offered  to  barter  some  territory 
in  that  direction,  for  the  "  three  lower  counties"  on  Delaware  Bay. 
"  This,"  says  Penn,  "I  presume  he  knew  I  would  not  do,  for  his 
Royal  Highness  had  the  one-half,  and  I  did  not  prize  the  thing  I 
desired  at  such  a  rate."     But  his   lordship  was  inexorable,  and 


8  It  is  strange  that  Penn  was  not  afraid  to  hazard  the  use  of  this  pretense,  for  the  very 
same  words  are  in  the  preamble  of  his  own  charter  ;  and  the  Delaware  front  of  his  grant, 
had,  long  before,  been  settled  by  Swedes,  Dutch  and  English.  He  seems  to  have  been 
aware  of  the  frailty  of  his  tenure;  for,  three  days  before  he  got  his  deeds  for  the  "  ter- 
ritories," he  procured  a  release  from  the  Duke  of  York  of  all  his  title  to  Pennsylvania. 
But  if  prior  settlement  rendered  the  grant  void,  the  release  could  give  it  no  validity ;  es- 
pecially as  the  Duke  himself  had  no  other  title  than  by  conquest. 


CH.  Vlir.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  225 

here    friendly    negotiations    were    suspended    for    half    a     cen- 

Lord  Baltimore  now  assumed  oiFensive  attitudes.  lie  first  made 
forcible  entry  upon  Penn's  territories.  His  next  resort  was  to 
the  king.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  Lords  Committee  of 
Trade  and  Plantations,  before  whom  both  parties  appeared.  Pend- 
ing the  hearings,  Charles  II.  died,  and  the  Duke  of  York  ascended 
the  throne  as  James  11.  To  him  the  committee  reported  in  ]^o- 
vember,  1685.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the  decision  was 
against  Lord  Baltimore.  It,  however,  de.cided  but  one  of  the 
questions  at  issue — the  rights  of  the  parties  upon  the  Delaware 
Bay  ;  leaving  them  still  to  find  the  "  40th  degree  "  as  best  they 
could.  The  order  of  the  king  in  council,  based  upon  the  report, 
was,  that  that  part  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  peninsula 
which  is  between  the  latitude  of  Cape  Ilenlopen  and  40°,  be  divided 
by  a  right  line  into  two  equal  parts:  that  the  eastern  half  should 
"belong  to  his  Majest}-,^"  (viz:  to  King  James,  who  granted  it  to 
William  Penn,  when  Duke  of  York,)  and  the  other  half  remain  to 
the  Lord  Baltimore,  as  comprised  in  his  charter."  Thus  was 
Maryland  dismembered.  The  little  State,  cradled  at  Swaanendael, 
could  now  "  stand  alone." 

Except  an  ineffectual  order  from  Queen  Anne,  in  1708,  to  enforce 
this  decision,  nothing  was  done  under  it.  Both  ends  of  the  di- 
visional line  were  in  dispute,  and  until  they  were  fixed,  the  exe- 
cution of  the  orders  in  council  was  impracticable  and  useless.  In 
the  midst  of  these  and  other  troubles,  harassed  by  debt  and  perse- 
cution, his  colony  mortgaged  to  money  lenders,  and  half  sold  to 
Queen  Anne,  in  1718,  William  Penn  died.  His  grave  is  in  Eng- 
land, but  his  monument  is  in  the  system  of  laws  upon  which  he 
founded  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania."  Si  monumentum 
quceris  circumspice. 


8  Penn  was  here  again  in  1099-1701,  and  would  doubtless  have  resumed,  perhaps  con- 
eummated,  the  negotiations  ;  but  he  had  no  one  to  treat  with — Lord  Baltimore's  provinco 
and  government  being  then  in  the  hands  of  a  deputy  of  William  of  Orang  e,who  had 
no  love  for  any  abettor  of  James  II.,  as  Penn  himself  had  been  made  to  feel. 

10  This,  and  Penn's  admission  to  Lord  Baltimore,  in  November,  1682,  that  his  "Royal 
Highness  had  the  one  half"  of  the  three  lower  counties — although  Penn  had  absolute 
deeds  from  him  for  them — throws  a  cloud  over  the  impartiality  of  that  adjudication  ; 
and  raises  a  suspicion  that  favor  and  interest  had  more  to  do  with  it  than  the  terra 
incuUa  pretence  upon  which  it  was  based. 

"  *'  With  one  consent  the  wise  and  the  learned  of  all  nations  have  agreed,  that, 
as  a  lawgiver,  he  was  the  greatest  that  ever  founded  a  State,  in  ancient  or  modem 

15 


226  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

Penn  was  almost  as  unfortunate  in  his  will  as  in  his  charter; 
for  it  too  gave  rise  to  contention,  as  to  whom  his  proprietary  estates 
now  belonged.  After  some  ten  years  of  doubt,  it  was  finally 
settled  that  they  went  to  his  three  sous,  John,  Thomas  and  Richard  ; 
the  last  named  being  a  minor  until  1732.  All  that  was  done  rela- 
ting to  the  strife,  during  this  abeyance,  was  an  agreement  with 
Baltimore,  by  their  mother  and  the  mortgagees,  in  February,  1723, 
to  keep  the  peace  for  eighteen  months.  In  the  meantime,  the 
proprietorship  of  Maryland  had  descended  to  Charles  Calvert,  the 
second  of  that  name,  great  grandson  of  the  first  proprietor. 

A  better  spirit  seems  now  to  have  actuated  the  parties.  The 
Protestant  succession  was  firmly  fixed  on  the  British  throne ;  with 
whom,  thus  far,  the  Catholic  proprietor  had  met  with  no  more 
favor  than  from  the  Stuarts.  The  growing  strifes  along  the  borders 
were  expensive,  and  retarded  improvements.  Policy,  interest,  and, 
we  suppose,  inclination,  all  called  for  a  compromise ;  and  as  soon 
as  Richard  Penn  was  out  of  his  minority,  tho  call  was  responded 
to.  Having  procured  from  America  a  map  of  the  localities,  re- 
garded as  authentic,  they,  on  the  10th  of  May,  1732,  enter  iuto  a 
long  agreement — covering  ten  or  twelve  closely  written  pages,  by 
which  they  provide  for  the  final  adjustment  of  all  their  disputed 
boundaries.  Its  most  remarkable  features  are,  that  it  adopts  the 
order  in  council  "of  1685,  halving  the  peninsula;  and  supersedes  all 
reference  to  40°,  or  the  40th  degree,  by  resort  to  fixed  land- 
marks. The  boundaries  provided  for  by  this  important  agreement, 
hting  those  which  subsist  to  this  day,  were  to  be  ascertained  as 
follows : 

First.  The  map  of  the  localities,  printed  upon  the  margin 
of  the  agreement,  is  that  by  which  it  is  to  be  explained  and 
understood.  Second.  Run  a  circular  line  at  twelve  Eiiirlish 
statute  miles  distance  from  New  Castle,  northward  and  westward. 
Third.  Go  down  to  Cape  Ilenlopcn,  "which  lieth  south  of  Cape 
Cornelius,'.'  and,  from  its  ocean  point,  measure  a  due  west  line  to 
Chesapeake  Bay ;  find  its  middle  point,  and  plant  a  corner  there. 


timep.  He  was  not  the  verj'  loremost,  but  he  was  among  the  foremost  to  Jiyclaim  all  poivor 
of  coercion  over  the  conscience.  This  aloue,  if  he  had  done  nothing  else,  would  mark 
the  taliuess  of  bis  iutellectual  stature.  For,  when  the  light  of  a  new  truth  is  dawning 
upon  the  world,  its  earliest  rays  are  always  shed  upon  the  loftiest  minds.  *  *  * 
His  name  is  inscribed  upon  this  mighty  Commonwealth.  Day  by  day  it  rises  higher* 
and  stands  more  fiirnly  on  its  broad  foundation ;  and  there  it  will  stand  forever — sacred 
to  the  memory  of   Willtam  J^enn."  Judye  Black's  Address,  cited  in  note  6. 


en.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  227 

Fourth.  From  said  middle  point  run  a  line  nortliward,  up  the 
peninsula,  so  as  to  be  a  tangent  line  to  the  periphery  of  the 
circle,  at  or  near  its  western  verge ;  and  mark  the  tangent  point. 
Fiflh.  From  said  tangent  point  run  a  line  du.e  north  until  it  comes 
to  a  point  fifteen  English  statute  miles  south  of  the  latitude  of  the 
most  southern  part  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  there  plant 
another  corner.  Sixth.  From  that  fifteen  mile  point,  run  a  line  due 
west,  across  the  Susquehanna,  &c.,  to  the  utmost  longitude  of 
Pennsylvania.  Seventh.  That  the  red  ink  lines  then  drawn  upon 
the  map  indicate  the  boundaries  agreed  upon ;  and,  Eighth.  That 
those  lines  when  run  and  marked  shall  be  the  boundaries  of  the 
parties  forever  :  provided,  that  if  the  due  north  line  from  the  tangent 
point  shall  cut  off  a  segment  of  the  circle  to  the  west,  it  shall 
belong  to  New  Castle  county. 

The  agreement  then  embodies  mutual  releases  from  each  party 
to  the  other,  of  such  portions  of  their  chartered  territories  as  were 
now  relinquished,  A  joint  commission  to  run  and  mark  the  lines 
is  then  provided  for;  the  commissioners  to  begin  their  work  in 
October,  1732,  and  complete  it  by  Christmas,  1733.  Default  in 
continued  punctual  attendance  by  those  of  either  party,  so  as  to 
delay  its  consummation  bej^ond  the  appointed  time,  was  to  avoid 
the  agreement  and  work  a  forfeiture  to  the  other  party  of  £5000. 

Commissioners  to  run  and  mark  the  lines  were  duly  appointed. 
They  met  at  New  Castle,  and  began  and  ended  in  fruitless  conten- 
tion. Lord  Baltimore's  commissioners  contended  that  the  "twelve 
miles  distance,"  at  which  the  circular  line  was  to  run  from  ISTew 
Castle,  meant  its  periphery,  not  its  radius ;  and  that  the  Cape  Hen- 
lopen  intended  was  the  upper  cape,  opposite  Cape  May,  the 
agreement  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Thereupon,  the  Penn 
commissioners  happening  to  come  one  day  a  few  minutes  behind 
time,  the  Marylanders  declared  the  penalty  forfeited  and  the 
agreement  avoided.  "And  now,"  says  an  excellent  Maryland 
writer  upon  this  subject,'^  "Lord  Baltimore  did  what  neither 
improved  his  cause  nor  bettered  his  reputation.  Treating  his  own 
deed  as  a  nullity,  he  asked  George  II.  for  a  confirmatory  grant 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  charter  of  1632.  It  was  very  properly 
refused,  and  the  parties  were  referred  to  the  Court  of  Chancery. 


"John  II.  B.  Latrobe,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore,  whose  lecture  npon  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line,  read  before  tbe  Pcimsjlvania  Historical  Society,  November,  1854,  ia  a  model  of 
lucid  and  concise  narration,  a»  well  as  of  eivquent  and  appropriate  comment. 


f 

228  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

And  here  Lord  Hardwicke  decided  in  efi'ect"  that  the  trueHenlopen 
was  the  point  insisted  on  by  the  Penus ;  that  the  centre  of  the 
circle  was  the  middle  of  Xew  Castle,  as  near  as  it  could  be  ascer- 
tained; and  that  the  twelve  miles  were  a  radius,  and  not  the 
periphery.  This  was  in  1750.  Other  difficulties  now  arose.  It 
was  important  to  Lord  Baltimore,  if  possible,  to  shorten  the  statute 
mile ;  and  the  mode  his  friends  proposed  was  to  measure  it  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  not  horizontally.  So  Lord  Hardwicke 
was  again  applied  to,  and  horizontal  measurements  were  ordered. 
This  was  in  March,  1751.  Still  things  were  not  clear.  The  shorter 
the  line  across  the  peninsula — its  beginning  on  the  Delaware  side 
being  fixed — the  better  for  Lord  Baltimore,  for  the  nearer  would 
the  centre  of  it  be  to  the  ocean.  And  so  here,  again,  his  friends 
came  to  his  aid,  and  insisted  that  Slaughter's  creek — a  channel 
separating  Taylor's  Island  from  the  Chesapeake,  gave  the  western 
terminus.  But  the  Peuns  demanded  that  the  line  should  be 
continued  to  the  bay  shore  itself,  from  which  the  broad  waters  of 
the  great  estuary  stretched,  unbroken  by  headland  or  island,  to 
the  remote  and  dim  horizon.  And  again  was  Lord  Hardwicke 
referred  to.  But,  in  the  mean  time,  Lord  Baltimore  died,  and  the 
euit  abated.  When  it  was  revived,  and  the  heir  [Frederick]  of  Lord 
Baltimore  was  made  a  party,  he  refused  to  be  bound  by  the  acts  of 
his  ancestor.  If,  however,  there  was  any  thing  that  could  equal 
the  faculties  of  the  Marylanders  in  making  trouble,  it  was  the 
untiring  perseverance  with  which  the  Penns  devoted  themselves  to 
the  contest,  and  followed  their  opponents  in  all  their  doublings. 
And  they  had  their  reward." 

It  was  in  1735  that  the  Penns  called  his  refractory  lordship  before 
the  High  Chancellor.  Sir  William  Murray,  afterwards  Lord 
Mansfield,  was  their  counsel.  The  bill  prayed  specific  perform- 
ance of  the  agreement  of  1732.  Baltimore  resisted  its  execution 
on  the  common  ground  of  weak  causes — fraud,  and  ignorance  of 
his  rights ;  choosing  rather  to  be  considered  a  fool  than  a  knave. 
But  the  Chancellor  reversed  his  position. 

Pending  this  tedious  judicial  controversy,  events  of  stirring 
interest  occurred  along  the  border,  especially  in  the  Susquehanna 
neighborhood.  Lord  Baltimore  had  in  1682-'3,  for  some  purpose, 
run  a  due  east  line  from  about  the  mouth  of  Octorora  creek  to  the 


"  Perm  vs.  Lord  Baltimore.     1  Veaey,  Sr,  444,  and  supplement. 


en.  VIII.]  MASON   AND   DIXON'S  LINE.  229 

Delaware,  which  is  several  miles  south  of  the  agreed  line." 
Thinking  he  meant  this  for  his  northern  limit,  Pennsj'lvania 
settlers  had  crowded  down  pretty  close  to  that  line,  especially  the 
Nottingham  settlement,  one  of  the  oldest  in  Chester  county.  On 
the  other  hand,  ere  the  precise  import  of  the  agreement  of  1732 
was  known  here,  Governor  Gordon,  of  Pennsylvania,  had  inad- 
vertently given  countenance  to  the  idea  that,  west  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, Maryland  was  to  go  up  to  the  true  40°,  as  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  Delaware.  But  long  before  this,  as  early  as  1722,  Mary- 
landers  had  begun  to  "squat "  all  along  up  the  western  shore  of  that 
river,  even  far  above  40°.     In  1730,  the  famous  Col.  Thomas  Cresap^ 


^*  In  the  map  printed  on  the  margin  of  the  agreement  of  1732,  (see  copy  prefixed  to 
4  Pa.  Archives,)  the  head  of  Elk  is  put  above  New  Castle,  and  the  due  east  and  west 
line  from  the  corner,  fifteen  miles  south  of  Philadelphia,  crosses  the  Susquehanna  at  the 
mouth  of  Octorora.  And  it  was  proven  that  Lord  Baltimore  put  that  line  on  the  map 
himself  in  red  ink.     Blood  flowed  from  the  blunder. 

1*  The  life  of  this  renowned  personage  is  a  romance  of  realities.     He  was  the  father  of 
Captain  Michael  Cresap,  of  Logan's  speech  celebrity,  and  elsewhere  noticed  in  these 
sketches.     The  Colonel  was  an  Englishman — came  to  this  country  before  Gen.  Washington 
was  born,  but  was  an  acquaintance  of  the  family.     Having  espoused  the  quarrel  of 
Lord  Baltimore  with  the  Penus,  he  became  its  champion  on  the  Susquehanna  frontier. 
After  the  temporai-y  line  was  run,  in  1739,  he  had  to  leave.     Being  an  Indian  trader, 
he  transferred  his   establishment  within  the  confines  of  Maryland,  where  he  failed  in 
business.     Thereupon  he  removed  to  Skipton,  now  called  Old  Town,  on  the  Maryland 
shore  of  the  Potomac,  nearly  opposite  the  junction  of  the  North  and  South  branches. 
Here  Washington  was  his  guest  in  March,  1748,  when  out  surveying  for  Lord  Fairfax. 
He  acquired  a  large  landed  estate  here  and  on  the  South  branch.     He  was  one  of  the 
old   Ohio  Company,  and  the  commissioner  for  locating  Nemacolin's  road,  from  Wills' 
creek  to  the  Ohio  river.     We  find  him  at  Skipton,  in  1750,  largely  in  the  Indian  trade; 
and,  true  to  hi*  hate  of  the  Pennites,  seeking  to  excite  against  them  the  enmity  of  the 
Indians.     To  this  end  he  sent  them  messages  that  the  Pennsylvania  traders  always 
cheated  them  in  all  their  dealings ;   and  taking  pity  on  them,  he  intended  to  use  them 
better,  and  would  sell  them  goods  at  less  than  cost,  viz  :    "  A  match  coat  for  a  buck  ;   a 
strowd  for  a  buck  and  a  doe ;  a  pair  of  stockings  for  two  raccoons ;  twelve  bars  of  lead 
for  a  buck,"  &c.     This  story  we  have  on  the  authority  of  Barnaby  Curran,  "a  hired 
man  of  Mr.  Parker's,"  and  one  of  Washington's  "  servitors  "  in  his  mission  to  the  French 
posts  on  the  Allegheny,  in  1753.     Col.  Cresap  was  a  contractor  for  army  supplies  to 
Gen.  Braddock,  and  was  much  censured  for  tardiness  and  selling  musty  flour.     In  the 
perilous  times  which  ensued  upon  the  defeat  of  that  General,  Cresap  was  generous, 
brave  and  energetic  in  his  contributions,  to  the  frontier  defence.     He  made  a  fort  of  his 
house  by  stockading  it ;  raised  and  equipped  a  company,  commanded  by  his  son  Thomas, 
and  kept  up  the  struggle  to  the  last.     He  mixed  himself  up  in  the  disputes  between 
Lord    Ffiiiuix  and  Lord  Baltimore,   concerning  the  western  boundary  of    Maryland; 
making  a  mnp  of  the  localities,  which  is  yet  extant.     Ever  ready  to  annoy  Pennsylvania, 
he  lent  all  his  influence  in  favor  of  Virginia  in  the  boundary  controversy  of  1770-74, 
as  we  will  see  in  the  next  chapter.     The  last  we  hear  of  him  is  in  January,  1775,  as  one 
of   a  Virginia  committee  to  raise  arms  and  supplies  wherewith  to  begin  the  battles 


230  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [oH.  VIII. 

took  a  position  at  the  "  Blue  Eock  "  ferry,  west  of  the  Susquehanna, 
a  little  below  Wrightsville,  where  he,  for  many  years,  was  the  head 
and  front  of  the  Maryland  incursions  and  resistance.  He  became 
the  right  arm  of  Lord  Baltimore  and  Governor  Ogle  in  that 
quarter.  lie  was  licensed  ferryman,  surveyor,  captain  of  the 
militia,  &c.  He  built  a  fort,  in  and  around  which  congregated 
some  of  the  worst  of  "  border  ruffians."  It  was  to  counteract  these 
encroachments  that  the  manor  of  Springettsbury,  in  York  county, 
of  ten  by  twelve  miles,  beginning  over  against  the  mouth  of 
Conestoga,  was  surveyed  in  1722,  giving  birth  to  a  dubious  class  of 
titles  not  yet  wholly  quieted.  Many  of  the  German  palatines, 
which  about  this  period  flocked  to  Pennsylvania  in  hundreds,  settled 
upon  these  lands.  The  Marylanders  wheedled  them  to  attorn  to 
Lord  Baltimore.  Some  complied  ;  but,  when  they  saw  the  trick, 
resumed  their  first  allegiance.  This  incensed  the  Marylanders. 
They  drove  them  ofi^  by  armed  force;  and,  under  well  guarded 
bands  of  surveyors,  gave  their  lands  to  others.  The  Marylanders 
denominated  the  Pennites  "  quaking  cowards ;"  and  these  retaliated 
by  calling  their  assailants  "hominy  gentry."  All  sorts  of  outrages 
were  perpetrated.  Even  the  softer  sex  became  furies  in  the  strife. 
The  deadly  rifle  told  its  aim  on  man  and  beast.  The  solemnities 
of  sepulture  became  occasions  for  revenge  ;  and  rapine  gloated  in 
arrests  and  imprisonments.  Fortunately  for  the  peace  of  the  two 
provinces.  Governor  Thomas  Penn  was  at  the  helm  in  person.  His 
policy  was  patience,  under  a  confident  hope  of  triumph  in  the 
august  tribunal  to  which  he  and  his  brothers  had  appealed.  Once 
only  did  he  resort  to  magisterial  redress.  In  a  crisis  of  the  conflict 
it  became  necessary  to  arrest  Cresap  on  a  charge  of  murder.  The 
sherifi'  of  Lancaster  accomplished  it  by  an  armed  posse,  after  firing 
his  castle  over  his  head.  And  while  on  his  way  to  prison  at  Phila- 
delphia, when  in  sight  of  the  infant  city,  this  compeer  of  Rob 
Roy  Macgregor^*^  said  to  his  bailiffs,  "  This  is  a  pretty  Mari/Iand 
town.  I  have  been  a  troublesome  fellow ;  but  in  this  last  affair  I 
have   done  a   notable  job.     For  I   have  made  a  present  of  two 


of  the  American  Revolution.  His  hospitality  was  as  unlimited  as  was  bis  resolute- 
ness and  hatred  of  Pennsylvania.  Hence  the  Indians  called  him  the  Big  Spoon. 
We  gather  these  particulars  from  various  sources,  having  never  seen  the  narratives  of 
his  relative,  John  J.  Jacob,  and  of  Brantz  Mayer. 

^^  There  is  more  in  this  allusion  than  may  strike  the  reader  at  first  blush ;  for  Rob 
Roy  was  flourishing  about  the  same  time — maybe  a  little  earlier — in  his  raids  upon  the 
dukedom  of  Montrose.     See  introduction  to  Scott's  "Rob  Roy." 


CH.  Vlir.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S   LINE.  231 

provinces  to  the  king  ;  and  if  the  people  find  themselves  bettered 
by  the  change,  they  may  thank  Tom  Cresap  for  it."  The  meaning 
of  this  gasconade  is  beyond  conjecture.  Madness  measures  its 
achievements  by  the  monstrosit}^  of  its  own  excesses.  The  provin- 
ces were  yet  safe  to  their  proprietors. 

So  rife  and  rampant  had  these  border  feuds  become,  that,  in 
1737,  the  king  and  council  had  to  interfere  ;  and,  in  1788,  the 
high  parties  litigant  came  to  an  agreement  to  stay  their  further 
progress.  The  expedient  was  a  temporary  line.  They  agreed  that, 
until  the  cause  was  decided,  they  would  conform  their  grants  and 
pretensions  to  an  east  and  west  line ;  which,  east  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, should  be  fifteen  miles  and  a  quarter  south  of  the  latitude 
of  Philadelphia ;  and,  west  of  that  river,  fourteen  miles  and  three 
quarters  south  of  the  same  latitude.  The  king  ordered  these  lines  to 
be  run  and  marked,  and  it  was  done."  This  was  in  1739.  The  western 
end  of  the  line  was  the  summit  of  the  Cove,  or  Kittatinny  moun- 
tain, near  the  western  limit  of  Franklin  county,  then  the  western 
extreme  of  the  Indian  purchase  of  1736.  This  ended  the  forays. 
Cresap,  who  had  been  liberated  and  thereupon  had  pitched  in 
again,  now  withdrew.  His  occupation  there  was  gone.  We  will 
hear  of  him  again  in  another  quarter.  He  seems  to  have  been 
"born  unto  trouble."  And  yet  his  love  of  mischief  was  no  vulgar 
propensity.  He  sacrificed  his  own  interests  to  appease  his  revenge, 
and  exorcised  personal  quarrels  that  he  might  bring  provinces 
within  the  circle  of  his  sorcery. 

We  left  the  Lord  Chancellor  deliberating  upon  the  length  of 
the  peninsular  east  and  west  line ;  and  whether  Frederick,  Lord 
Baltimore,  was  bound  by  his  father's  agreement  of  1732,  or  could 
overreach  it  by  holding  under  deeds  of  family  settlement  made  by 
more  remote  ancestors.  Happily  those  deliberations  were  cut  off 
by  a  compromise.  For,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1760,  the  parties  agree 
to  celebrate  their  independence  of  judicial  constraint  by  a  new 


1^  See  map,  in  1  Pa.  Arch.  594,  558,  &c.  It  ^was  while  measuring  down  these  15J 
miles,  from  the  latitude  of  South  Philadelphia,  that  the  first  dispute  sprnng  up  about 
horizontal  measurement.  The  Marylanders  insisted  upon  superficial.  Some  of  the 
Penn  surveyors  had  been  over  the  ground  before,  and  knew  that  about  20  perches  would 
compensate  for  the  diflference.  With  this  knowledge  they  procured  the  Maryland  com- 
missioners to  agree  to  allow  25 !  So  common  is  it  for  even  honest  (?)  men,  when 
engaged  in  controversy,  to  take  advantages,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  they 
■would  scorn.  This  line,  west  of  Susquehanna,  was  run  ex  parte — one  of  the  Maryland 
commissioners  having  to  go  home,  and  the  other  not  choosing  to  go  on  without  him.  It 
was,  however,  fairly  run. 


232  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

compact,  or  agreement,  whicli  was  to  end,  and  did  end,  all  their 
controversies.  The  claims  of  the  Penns  were  yielded  to  in  every 
particular.  The  agreement  of  that  date  is  an  embodiment  of 
the  history  of  the  dispute,  and  is  a  model  of  old  fashioned 
artistic  conveyancing,  covering  thirty-four  closely  printed  octavo 
pages.^^  Substantially,  it  is  but  a  recital  of  the  old  compromise  of 
1732,  and  of  the  events  which  bad  since  occurred ;  and  a  full  and 
absolute  contirmation  of  that  agreement,  and  assent  to  the  judicial 
constructions  which  almost  every  part  of  it  had  received.  Among 
its  new  provisions  were  stipulations  by  the  parties  respectively, 
that  the  Penns  should  confirm  the  titles  of  Lord  Baltimore's 
grantees  to  lands  east  of  the  Susquehanna,  any  where  north  of  the 
agreed  line  (fifteen  miles  south  of  the  latitude  of  the  southern 
limit  of  Philadelphia),  but  that  loest  of  that  river  such  contirmation 
should  extend  only  to  lands  Vv'ithin  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of 
that  line.  On  the  other  hand.  Lord  Baltimore  was  to  confirm 
Penn's  grants  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  south  of  the  line 
indefinitely;  but,  east  of  tliat  river,  only  to  the  extent  of  one 
quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  agreed  line  ;  provided,  in  all  cases, 
the  lands  were  then  (July  4,  1760,)  in  the  "  actual  possession  and 
occupation"  of  the  grantees.  This  feature  of  the  agreement  has 
given  rise  to  some  litigation  along  the  border.'^  The  reader  will 
remember  that  the  temporary  line  of  1737-'9  had  an  ofl'set  of  half 
a  mile  to  the  northward,  at  the  Susquehanna;  wherefore,  is  not 
disclosed.  The  agreement  then  provides  for  a  speedy  joint  com- 
mission to  determine,  run  out  and  mark  all  the  lines  between  the 
parties,  without  let  or  hindrance;  that  the  agreement  itself  shall 
be  acknowledged  and  enrolled  in  chancery,  and  thereupon  be 
humbly  submitted  to  his  Majesty  in  council,  for  his  gracious 
allowance  and  approval.  This  done,  the  proprietories  are  at  peace. 
Frederick,  Lord  Baltimore,  goes  upon  a  "tour  to  the  east;"  and 


'8  It  is  the  first  document  in  4  Pennsylvania  Archives. 

^^  See  the  Pennsylvania  case  of  Sdgera  vs.  Thomas,  5  Barr,  480;  and  again,  in  11 
Harris,  867,  -which  originated  in  Fulton  county,  near  Hancock,  Maryland.  The  contest 
was  between  an  old  Maryland  grant  and  sui'vey,  and  a  much  younger  Pennsylvania  war- 
rant, &c.  In  the  first  report  of  the  case,  the  Jlaryland  title  prevailed,  owing  to  an 
in  perfect  knowledge  of  the  history  of  this  dispute  and  of  the  agreement  of  1760.  In 
the  meantime  the  publication,  by  Pennsylvania,  of  her  Colonial  Ptecords  and  Archives, 
disclosed  all  the  details  of  the  strife,  and  the  agreement  itself.  Eventually  the  Penn- 
sylvania title  triumphed.  Judge  Lowrie,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  the 
last  case,  inadvertently  says  the  disputed  territory  was  only  half  a  mile  wide.  This  is 
an  error.     It  had  a  width  of  more  than  twenty  miles. 


en.  VIII.]  MASON  4ND  dixon's  line.  233 

tlie  Penns  remain  in  London  to  protect  their  private  and  provincial 
interests. 

Before  we  proceed  to  run  and  mark  the  lines,  let  us  pause  a 
moment  to  take  an  account  of  the  loss  and  gain  of  the  parties,  in 
the  results  of  this  long  and  perplexing  controversy.  Was  the 
agreement  of  1760,  and  its  prototype  of  1732,  a  compromise — a 
mutual  concession  of  conflicting  pretensions  ;  or  was  it  wholly  a 
surrender  by  one  party  to  the  other? 

Maryland  lost  what  is  now  the  State  of  Delaware,  that  is  cer- 
tain ;  and,  as  we  think,  she  was  thereby  unjustly  shorn  of  her  fair 
proportions.  But  that  Calvert's  loss  was  Penn's  gain,  is  not  so 
certain.  He  sought  "water,"  but  obtained  gall — the  bitterness  of 
strife.  He  asked  an  outlet  to  the  ocean  for  his  "too  backward 
lying  province,"  and  there  was  opened  unto  him  and  his  sons  an 
inlet  to  a  sea  of  troubles.  He  purchased  the  Duke's  appanage  to 
"New  York,  to  make  it  an  appendage  to  Pennsylvania ;  but,  ere  his 
title  to  it  was  settled,  it  set  up  for  itself;  and  when  the  American 
colonies  broke  the  bands  of  British  dependence,  it  too  became  an 
independent  State.^°  And  so  Delaware  was  lost  to  Pennsylvania. 
The  judicious  Scottish  historian  of  our  early  settlements,  already 
quoted,  regards  the  loss  of  Delaware  to  Lord  Baltimore  as  a 
retribution  for  his  encroachment  upon  Virginia.  May  not  the 
same  punitive  Providence  be  again  traced  in  its  ultimate  severance 
from  a  State,  all  whose  other  foundations  were  in  righteousness 
and  peace  ? 

"We  have  before  said  that  the  consequence  to  Lord  Baltimore, 
of  the  misplacement  of  the  fortieth  line  of  north  latitude,  in  the 
maps  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  region,  current  at  the  date 


20  From  1682  to  1691,  Delaware  was,  for  all  practical  purposes,  a  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, each  having  the  same  charters  of  privileges,  the  same  general  laws,  the  same 
Governor  and  Assembly — in  which  each  was  equally  represented  ;  each  having  three 
counties — New  Castle,  Kent  and  Sussex,  and  Philadelphia,  Bucks  and  Chester.  In  1691, 
when  Penn  came  under  the  ban  of  King  William,  Delaware  affected  to  become  jealous 
of  Pennsylvania ;  and,  although  uniting  in  the  same  Assembly,  had  a  separate  Governor. 
In  1704,  she  set  up  a  separate  Assembly,  under  the  same  Governor.  From  1755  to  the 
Revolution,  in  1776,  she  had  both  a  separate  Governor  and  Assembly ;  and  in  '76, 
became  a  State.  She  was  always  an  undutiful  child  to  the  Penns ;  and  had  she  only 
thought  80,  would  no  doubt  have  been  as  well  cared  for  by  Maryland — to  which  she 
naturally  and  rightfully  belongs — as  she  ever  was  by  the  Penns,  or  by  herself.  But, 
one  member  and  two  Senators,  in  Congress,  are  no  mean  privileges,  to  a  representative 
population — free  and  slave,  of  91,000,  when  the  ratio  for  one  ilcpreseutative  is  93,420  I 
But  who  complains  ?  She  has  given  us  some  great  men,  and  maj/  yet  become  the 
balance  wheel  of  the  Confederacy. 


234  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

of  his  charter,  was,  to  have  the  northern  confines  of  his  province 
considerably  restricted.  Had  the  calls  of  his  patent  been  fully 
answered,  the  Quaker  City  would  inevitably  have  become,  what 
Cresap  called  it,  a  "pretty  Maryland  town."  On  the  other  hand, 
had  his  lordship  been  forced  down  fully  to  the  line  40°,  as  it  stood 
in  1632,  and,  indeed,  until  his  and  Markham's  discovery  in  1682, 
Maryland  would  have  been  cut  in  twain  in  the  region  of  Hancock, 
and  Western  Maryland  would  have  lain  so  far  "backward"  as  to 
be  wholly  inaccessible  to  its  proprietor  by  either  land  or  "water." 
If  Penn  had  the  advantage  of  Calvert  in  the  misplaced  position  of 
40°  in  1632,  the  latter  had  an  available  set-off  in  the  requirement  of 
Penn's  patent  of  1681,  that  the  circular  part  of  his  boundary 
should  reach  the  '■'■beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree,"  by  a  north- 
ward and  westward  course.  Here,  then,  was  a  most  inviting  call  to 
compromise,  which  would  doubtless  have  been  much  sooner 
responded  to,  had  it  not  been  for  the  successive  disabilities,  of 
Lord  Baltimore's  privation  of  his  province  by  William  and  Mary, 
from  1692  to  1716,  Penn's  death  in  1715,  and  the  disputes  as  to 
his  successors  in  the  proprietorship,  and  the  minority  of  one  of 
them,  until  1732.  In  this  year,  as  we  have  seen,  a  compromise  was 
agreed  upon,  which  relieved  both  parties.  Philadelphia  was  kept 
at  the  neighborly  distance  of  fifteen  miles  from  Maryland ;  and 
Lord  Baltimore  preserved  a  lane,  of  about  a  mile  wide,  at  Hancock, 
for  access  to  his  iron  and  coal  fields — then  unknown  and  value- 
less— in  the  west.  By  this  agreement,  therefore,  Maryland  gave 
up  not  only  her  Delaware  domain  north  of  Henlopen — which  was 
in  effect  taken  from  her  by  the  royal  order  in  council  of  1685 — 
but  also  a  parallelogram  of  about  nineteen  and  a  quarter  miles 
wide  on  her  northern  confines,  extending  from  ISTew  Castle  county 
to  the  "meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of  the  Potomac."  This 
alone  exceeds  one-third  of  her  entire  present  area,  territorial  and 
aqueous.  With  Delaware  added,  it  exceeds  one-half.  So  Mary- 
land has  been  largely  the  loser  in  this  game  of  boundary.  She  is, 
however,  quite  a  respectable  sovereignty  yet. 

But  how  has  Pennsylvania  fared  in  the  play  upon  40°  ?  Evidently 
she  has  gained  the  parallelogram  which  Maryland  lost;  thereby 
restricting  Lord  Baltimore's  two  degrees  of  latitude  to  about  sixty 
miles  each, — "geographical,"  instead  of  "statute"  degrees,  as 
Penn  wanted  them  to  be  in  1682.  But  she  has  also  widened  her 
own  two  degrees  to  about  seventy-nine  miles  each.  For  in  the 
adjustment  of  her  northern  boundary  with  jSTew  York,  in  1774, 
and  again  in  1785,  the  true  42° — the  "beginning  of  the  forty  third 


en.  VIII.]  MASON   AND   DIXON'S   LINE.  235 

degree,"  was  adopted ;  without  any  effort  on  the  part  of  our 
northern  neighbor  to  push  us  down  to  where  that  line  of  latitude 
was  put  in  1G81 — if  indeed  it  had  any  location  at  that  period.  No 
hint  was  given  or  taken  of  the  old  misplacement  of  40° ;  and  thus 
Pennsylvania  was  allowed  to  hold,  on  the  north,  by  the  rule  which 
Maryland  sought  in  vain  to  enforce  against  her  on  the  south.  The 
value  of  this  item  of  fortunate  territorial  expansion  by  Pennsyl- 
vania, is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  access  to  Lake  Erie  which  was 
thereby  obtained.  But  for  this,  the  Erie  triaugle^^  would  probably 
never  have  been  a  purchasable  annexation  to  our  chartered  ter- 
ritory. Thus  far,  therefore,  Pennsylvania  has  been  largely  the 
gainer  by  her  boundary  troubles.  The  loss  of  Delaware  has  been 
more  than  compensated.  In  our  next  chapter,  we  will  see  that  her 
good  fortune,  or  superior  diplomacy,  attended  her  to  the  last.  To 
one,  or  both,  of  these  influences  do  we  of  much  of  south-western 
Pennsylvania  owe  it  that  we  are  not  now  Marylanders  or  Vir- 
ginians. 

Although  not  within  the  scope  of  these  sketches,  we  are  tempted 
here  briefly  to  notice  the  boundary  controversy  with  Connecticut, 
which  Pennsylvania  had  to  sustain  from  1760  to  1782.^^  It  inter- 
vened to  postpone  the  settlement  of  our  northern  limits  for  more 
than  ten  years  from  the  time  it  was  undertaken,  in  1774,  and  until 
rival  colonies  had  become  changed  to  fraternal  States. 

The  grant  of  Connecticut  to  Lords  Say  and  Seal,  and  others,  in 


21  The  Erie  triangle  was  -within  the  chartered  limits  of  Massachusetts,  which  claimed 
three-quarters  of  a  degree  of  New  York,  immediately  north  of  42°.  New  York  held  it, 
we  believe,  under  a  purchase  from,  and  alliance  with,  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians. 
Both  having  ceded  their  western  territory  to  the  United  States — New  York  in  1782,  and 
Massachusetts  in  1784 — the  relative  strength  of  their  titles  became  an  unimportant 
inquiry.  The  New  York  cession  was  of  all  west  of  a  due  north  line  from  the  northern 
boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  through  the  extreme  west  end  of  Lake  Ontario,  or  twenty 
miles  west  of  Niagara  river,  to  north  latitude  45° — thus  taking  in  a  considerable  portion 
of  Canada,  to  which  her  title  proved  rather  unavailable.  Pennsylvania  first  bought  the 
triangle  from  the  Indians,  in  1789,  for  $1200,  and  then  in  1792  from  the  United  States 
for  $151,640.25,  continental  certificates.  This  was  done  to  get  at  the  harbor  of 
Presq'isle,  at  Erie,  upon  which  the  United  States  have  since  expended  more  than  they 
got  for  it.  The  triangle  contains  202,187  acres.  See  its  history  by  Judge  Huston  in 
M'Call  vs.  Coover,  4  Watts  and  Sergeant's  Reports,  151-164;  and  see  1  Olden 
Time,  557. 

2^  The  controversy  lasted  much  longer  in  litigation  and  legislation,  but  this  year  ended 
the  boundary  part  of  it.  See  Huston's  Land  Titles,  14  ;  4  Journals  of  Congress,  (1782) 
129-140;  i  Pennsylvania  Archives,  679,  &c.,  and  other  volumes,  and  Colonial  Records, 
passim — indexed — Contiecticut  and  Wyoming  ;  Day's  Historical  Collections  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, "  Luzerne  County,"  and  authors  there  referred  to. 


236  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF    OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

1631,  b}^  the  'New  England  Company,  reached  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  or  "South  Sea;"  but,  like  itsparentgrant,  there  was 
excepted  out  of  it  any  territory  then  in  possession  of  any  other 
Christian  prince  or  State.  This  let  in  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey between  her  present  western  limits  and  the  Delaware.  So  it 
was  determined  by  a  Board  of  King's  Commissioners,  in  October, 
1661.  But  Connecticut  reserved  her  claims  west  of  the  Delaware, 
thereby  covering  nearly  all  the  forty-second,  or  most  northern 
degree  of  latitude,  which  is  within  the  subsequently  chartered 
limits  of  Pennsj'lvania,  and  extending  westward  indefinitely.^ 
It  is  said  that,  when  Penn's  grant  was  pending,  he  had  notice  of 
this  claim  of  Connecticut,  but  that  the  king  and  he  gave  no  heed 
to  it,  upon  the  ground  that  eighty  years  of  neglect  to  people  or  pos- 
sess it,  was  to  be  considered  as  an  abandonment.  About  1753 
Connecticut  began  to  reassert  her  claim,  and  sent  settlers  into  the 
"Wyoming  valley.  "Within  the  ensuing  twenty  years  the  Connec- 
ticut settlements  upon  the  east,  or  north  branch  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, became  numerous  and  formidable.  Their  descendants  and 
enterprise  are  there  yet.  Pennsylvania  regarded  these  intrusions 
upon  her  territory  with  a  jealous  and  angry  eye.  Conflicts  ensued, 
personal,  military,  legal  and  judicial.  Blood  and  treasure  were 
freely  expended.  Our  later  colonial  and  early  State  annals,  as 
well  as  our  law  books,  are  full  of  the  controversy.  At  length,  in 
1782,  under  the  old  articles  of  confederation,  the  dispute  was 
referred  for  settlement  to  a  committee  of  Congress,  who  sat  as  a 
court  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  in  the  fall  of  that  year.  The  parties 
were  fully  heard  by  their  proofs  and  counsel.  Connecticut  relied 
upon  her  ancient  parchments.  Pennsylvania  planted  herself  upon 
the  laches  of  Connecticut,  upon  her  own  charter  of  1681,  and  upon 
a  score  or  more  of  Indian  deeds  to  the  Penns.^*  It  was  contended 
that  the  royal  grants  gave  but  a  pre-emption  right;  that  the  natives 
were  the  true  proprietors ;  and,  as  the  Penns  had  the  Indian  titles, 


^  Connecticut,  in  1786,  ceded  all  her  western  territory,  north  of  41°,  and  west  of  a 
due  north  line,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west  of  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  the  United  States.  Her  "Western  Reserve,"  in  the  north-east  corner  of 
Ohio,  was  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  westward  of  Pennsylvania,  north  of  41° 
nearly.  In  1800,  the  United  States  offered  to  give  her  the  soil,  or  the  proceeds  of  sales, 
of  this  Reserve,  she  surrendering  ih.Q  jurisdiction,  which  was  agreed  to. 

2*  Connecticut  had  an  Indian  deed,  also,  obtained  by  one  Lydius  at  Albany,  in  1754  ; 
but  it  was  pronounced  surreptitious,  illegal  and  fraudulent.  It  does  not  appear  that  it 
was  relied  on  at  the  trial. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON   AND    DIXON'S    LINE.  237 

to  which  the  commonwealth  had  succeeded, — by  tacking  the^e  to 
the  charter,  the  old  abandoned  pre-emption  grant  to  Connecticut  was 
''  crushed  out."  The  court  so  held.  Its  decision  was  unanimous  in 
favor  of  Pennsylvania — the  ever  successful  Pennsylvania,  in  all  her 
boundary  controversies.  The  way  was  now  clear  to  fix  and  run  a 
definitive  line  between  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  ;  and  it  was 
done,  in  1785-'6-'7,  upon  the  line  of  north  latitude  42°.  "We  return 
now,  from  this  digression,  to  run  our  lines  with  Maryland. 

Eight  years  of  almost  uninterrupted  labor  were  expended  in 
running,  measuring  and  marking  these  troublesome  lines;  and 
even  then  our  line  was  left  unfinished.  For,  except  around  New 
Castle,  and  thence  to  the  Susquehanna,  the  territories  they  traversed 
were  dense  forests,  deep  swamps  and  water  courses,  or  rugged 
mountains;  inhabited  only  by  venonfous  reptiles  and  beasts  of 
prey,  with  here  and  there  the  adventurous  pioneer  and  roving 
Indian.  Nor  was  geometrical  science  then  the  perfection  that  it 
now  is.  Its  progress,  if  not  so  noisy  as  has  been  the  march  of 
material  improvement  over  these  then  dreary  wastes,  has  been  not 
the  less  sure  and  surpassing.  In  those  days  accuracy  was  a  rare 
achievement;  and,  when  its  closest  possible  approximation  was 
demanded,  much  time  and  experiment  had  to  be  disbursed.  The 
delays  were,  therefore,  wrought  by  real  difficulties. 

The  commissioners  on  the  part  of  each  province  having  been 
duly  appointed,  and  their  surveyors  selected,  they  met  at  New 
Castle,  in  November,  1760,  and  addressed  themselves  to  their  task 
in  earnest.  They  worked  with  unwonted  harmony.  Indeed,  so 
specific,  upon  every  department  of  their  labors,  had  been  the 
decrees  and  agreements,  that  there  was  no  longer  even  a  loop  hole 
through  which  either  party  could  evade  compliance.  All  that 
remained  was  to  measure  and  mark  the  lines,  as  commanded.  The 
commissioners  were  seven  for  each  proprietary,''^  three  of  whom 
together  were   competent  to   act.     The   Penn   surveyors  at  first 


^  On  the  part  of  the  Penns  they  were  Governor  James  Hamilton,  Richard  Peters,  mem- 
ber and  Secretary  of  Council ;  I^eu  John  Ewing,  D.  D.,  afterwnrds  Provost  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania;  William  Allen,  Qh\eX  iwatice  ;  Wm.  Coleman,  then  a  Justice; 
Thomas  Willing,  afterwards  a  Justice,  and  Benjamin  Chew,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  Edward  Shippen,  Jr.,  Prothonotary  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Board  part  of  the  time.  The  Maryland  gentlemen  were  Governor 
Horatio  Sharpe,  J.  Ridout,  Jno.  Leeds,  Juo.  Barclay,  Geo.  Stewart,  Dan.  of  St.  Thos. 
Jenifer,  and  J.  Beale  Boardley.  Tiie  commissioners  seem  to  have  entrusted  the  line, 
west  of  the  Susquehanna,  entirely  to  the  surveyors. 


238  THE    MONONGAHELA    OF    OLD.  [CH.  VIII 

chosen  were  John  Lukens,^  afterwards  Surveyor  General  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  Archibald  M'Clean,  of  York,  eldest  brother 
of  the  late  Col.  Alexander  M'Clean,  of  Fayette.  Two  others  were 
named,  but  never  acted.  Those  of  Maryland  were  John  F.  A. 
Priggs  and  Jonathan  Hall. 

The  peninsular  line,  from  IlenlopeTi  to  the  Chesapeake,  was  the 
only  one  which  had  been  run  under  Lord  Ilardwicke's  decree  of 
1750.  This  had  been  agreed  to  be  correctly  run  and  measured, 
and  its  middle  point  fixed  at  thirty-four  miles  three  hundred  and 
nine  perches.^'  It  had  also  been  agreed  that  the  court  house  in 
New  Castle  should  be  the  centre  of  the  circle.  Upon  these  data 
the  surveyors  proceed.  N^umerous  "vistas"  had  to  be  cleared 
through  the  forests  and  morasses  of  the  peninsula.  Three  years 
were  diligently  devoted  to  finding  the  bearing  of  the  western  line 
of  DeUiware,  so  as  to  make  it  a  tangent  to  the  circle,  at  the  end  of 
a  twelve  mile  radius ;  and  a  close  approximation  only  was  then 
attained.  The  instruments  and  appliances  employed  seem  to  have 
been  those  commonly  used  by  surveyors. 

TliC  proprietors,  residing  in  or  near  London,  grew  weary  of  this 
slow  progress,  which,  perhaps,  they  &et  down  to  the  incompetency 
of  their  artists.  To  this  groundless  suspicion  we  owe  their  super- 
sedure,  and  the  introduction  of  the  men,  Mason  and  Dixon,  who, 
unwittingly,  have  immortalized  their  memory  in  the  name  of  the 
principal  line  which  had  yet  to  be  run. 
r  Jeremiah  Mason  and  Charles  Dixon'^*  were  astronomers  of  rising 


^  We  believe  that  Mr.  Lutens,  who  was  an  excellent  officer,  died  in  October,  1789,  in 
Washington  county,  Pennsylvania;  where,  and  in  Beaver  county,  his  descendants  are 
yet  found.  He  was  the  first  Surveyor  General  of  the  Commonwealth,  from  April,  1781, 
to  his  death.     Col.  Daniel  Brodhead  succeeded  him. 

2'  The  length  of  the  west  boundary  of  Delaware,  from  the  middle  point  to  the  tangent 
point  on  the  circle,  is  eighty-two  miles,  minus  six  and  one-eighth  perches. 

^8  Mason  had  been  an  assistant  in  the  Royal  Observatury,  at  Greenwich.  Both,  prior 
to  their  service  in  America,  it  is  said,  had  been  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  make 
observations  of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun.  It  is  certain  they  were  there  in  IT'jy,  to  observe 
a  transit  of  Venus  across  the  sun's  disc.  Dixon  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  a  coal  pit. 
He  died  at  Durham,  in  England,  i  i  1777.  Mason  died  near  Philadelphia,  in  1787.  He 
was  probably  the  more  scientific  man  of  the  two.  From  a  careful  study  of  their  chi- 
rography  and  signatures,  Mr.  Latrobe  infers  that  '*  Mason  was  a  cool,  deliberate,  pr.ins- 
taking  man,  never  in  a  hurry  ;"  and  that  Dixon  "  was  a  younger  and  more  active  man,  a 
man  of  an  impatient  spirit  and  nervous  temperament ;  just  such  a  man  as  worked  best 
•with  a  sober  sided  colleague."  Their  journal  and  letters,  with  a  m<i.p  of  the  lines,  are 
preserved  in  manuscript  at  Annapolis.  "  Their  letters  are  the  merest  business  letters: 
their  journal  is  the  moat  naked  of  records."     The  Archives  of  Pennsylvania  contain  no 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON  AND   DIXON'S   LINE.  239 

celebrity  in  London,  in  1763.  In  August  of  that  year  they  were 
employed  by  the  Pcnns  and  Lord  Baltimoreiocomplete  their  lines. 
Furnished  with  instructions  and  the  most  approved  instruments, 
among  them  a  four  feet  zenith  sector,  they  sail  for  Philadelphia, 
where  they  arrive  in  November.  They  go  to  work  at  once.^  They 
adopt  the  radius  as  measured  by  their  predecessors  ;  and,  after 
numerous  tracings  of  the  tangent  line,  adopt  also  their  tangent 
point,  from  which  they  say  they  could  not  make  the  tangent  line 
pass  one  inch  to  the  eastward  or  westward.  So  that  if  the  proprie- 
tors had  only  thought  so,  the  rude  sightings  and  chainings  of  the 
American  surveyors  would  have  been  all  right.  They  thereupon 
cause  that  line  and  point  to  be  marked,  and  adjourn  to  Philadel- 
phia to  find  its  southern  limit,  on  Cedar,  or  South  street.  This 
they  make  to  be^  north  latitude  39^  56'  29".  They  then  proceed 
to  extend  that  latitude  sufficiently  far  to  the  west  to  be  due  north 
of  tlie  tangent  point.  Thence  they  measure  down  south  fifteen 
miles  to  the  latitude  of  the  great  due  west  line,  and  run  its  paral- 
lel for  a  short  distance.  Then  they  go  to  the  tangent  point,  and 
run  due  north  to  that  latitude;  and  at  the  point  of  intersection, 
in  a  deep  ravine,  near  a  spring,  they  cause  to  be  planted  the  corner 
stone  at  which  begins  the  celebrated  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line." 
Having  ascertained  the  latitude  of  this  line  to  be  39°  43'  a2'V' 
they,  under  instructions,  run  its  parallel  to  the  Susquehanna — 
twenty-three  miles;  and,  having  verified  the  latitude  there,  they 
return  to  the  tangent  point,  from  which  they  run  the  due  north  line 
to  the  fifteen  mile  corner,  and  that  part  of  the  circle  which  it  cuts 
ofit"  to  the  west,  and  which  by  the  agreements,  was  to  go  to  New 
Castle  county.^^     Where  it  cuts  the  circle  is  the  corner  of  three 


counterpart  of  these.  Even  the  agreement  of  1760  has  been  lost.  Certified  copies  hare 
supplied  the  place  of  it  and  many  others  of  our  old  colonial  piipers.  It  is  said  that 
Joseph  Shippeu,  Secretary  to  the  Pean  Governors,  refused  to  give  them  up  at  the  Revo- 
lution. Some  have  been  recovered  from  his  papers,  and  other  sources.  Those  of  Mary- 
land and  New  York  have  been  better  taken  care  of.  The  original  agreement  of  1732  is 
nowhere  to  be  found. 

'■^Tlinir  first  care  Avas  to  have  an  ohservalory  erected  on  Cedar  street,  Philadelphia,  to 
facilitate  the  ai^certaiument  of  its  latitude.  It  was  the  first  building  in  America  erected 
purposely  from  which  "to  read  the  skies."  It  was  rude  and  hastily  constructed,  for 
they  used  it  in  .January,  1764. 

s9The  latitude  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  State  House,  is  39°  56'  59'^ 

31  More  accurate  observations  make  it  39°  43-' 26.3 — consequently  it  is  a  little  over 
liinoteeu  miles  south  of  40°,  as  now  located. 

^'  This  little  bow,  or  arc,  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  and  its  middle  width  116 
feet,     from  its  upper  end,  where  the  three  States  join,  to  the  fifteen  mile  point,  where 


240  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

dominions — an  important  point ;  and,  therefore,  they  cause  it  to 
be  well  ascertained  and  well  marked.  This  brings  them  to  the 
end  of  1764. 

They  resume  their  labors  upon  the  line  in  June,  1765.  If  to 
extend  this  parallel  did  not  require  so  great  skill  as  did  the  nice 
adjustments  of  the  other  lines  and  intersections,  it  summoned  its 
performers  to  greater  endurance.  A  tented  army  penetrates  the 
forests,  but  their  purposes  are  peaceful,  and  they  move  merrily. 
Besides  the  surveyors  and  their  assistants,  the  Messrs.  M' Clean — 
Archibald,  Moses,  Alcxander^^  and  Samuel,  and  others,  there  had 
to  be  chain-bearers,  rod-men,  axe-men,  commissaries,  cooks  and 
baggage  carriers,  with  numerous  servants  and  laborers,  men  of  all 
work  and  camp  followers  of  no  work.  Tiy  the  27th  of  October, 
they  come  to  the  North  (Cove,  or  Kittatinny)  mountain,  95  miles 
from  the  Susquehanna,  and  where  the  temporary  line  of  1739  ter- 
minated. Alter  taking  Captain  Shelby  with  them  to  its  summit, 
"to  show  them  the  course  of  the  Potomac,"  and  point  out  the 
Allegheny  mountain,^^  the  surveyors  and  their  attendants  return 
to  the  settlements  to  pass  the  winter,  and  to  get  their  appoint- 
ment renewed. 

Early  in  1766,  they  are  again  at  their  posts.  They  begin  with 
an  exhausted  money  chest,  and  having  ascertained  that  the  Penus 
had  advanced  £615  more  than  Lord  Baltimore,  they  send  to  Gov- 
ernor Sharpe,  at  Annapolis,  for  X600  or  <£700,  to  be  forwarded, 
"so  that  Mr.  M'Lane  may  receive  it  at  Fredericktown,"  the  24th 
of  April.  This  obtained,  they  proceed.  By  the  4th  of  June,  they 
are  on  the  top  of  Little  Allegheny  mountain — the  first  west  of 
"Wills'  creek.  They  have  now  carried  the  line  about  160  miles 
from  its  beginning.  The  Indians,  into  whose  uugranted  territory 
they  had  deeply  penetrated,  grow  restive  and  threatening.     They 

the  great  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  begins,  is  a  little  over  three  and  a  half  miles ;  and 
from  the  fil'teen  mile  corner  due  east  to  the  circle,  is  a  little  over  three-quarters  of  a 
mile — room  enough  for  three  or  four  good  Chester  county  farms.  This  was  the  only 
part  of  the  circle  which  Mason  and  Dixou  run — Lord  Baltimore  having  no  couceru  in 
the  residue.  Penn  had  it  run  and  marked  with  "four  good  notches,"  by  "friends  Isaac 
Taylor  and  Thomas  Pierson,"  in  1700-'!  ;  but  the  trees  are  now  nearly  all  gone,  and  it 
is  hard  to  tind. 

"  See  memoir  of  Colonel  Alexander  M'Clean,  ante — Chap.  VII.  page  132. 

»♦  From  this  summit,  the  path  of  the  Potomac  through  the  mountains,  to  the  south- 
west, is  distinctly  visible  ;  and  the  Allegheny  crest — Big  Savage — can  be  well  seen.  Old 
Fort  Frederick,  too,  comes  in  for  its  share  of  the  magnificent  panorama  It  was  built 
in  1766,  and  its  ruins  are  yet  in  good  preservation,  a  little  east  of  Uancock. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON  AND  DIXOn's  LINE.  241 

thought  this  array,  though  bannerless,  meant  something.  Their 
untutored  minds  could  not  comprehend  this  nightly  gazing  at  the 
stars  through  gun-like  instruments,  and  this  daily  felling  of  the 
forests  across  their  hunting  paths.  They  forbid  any  further 
advance,  and  they  had  to  be  obeyed.  The  artists  return  leisurely, 
and  note,  as  they  pass,  the  beauty  of  their  "  visto,"  which,  they 
say,  "  from  any  eminence  on  the  line,  where  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  can  be  seen,  very  apparently  shows  itself  to  be  a  parallel  of 
latitude."     They  are  pleased  with  their  work. 

The  agents  of  the  Proprietors  now  find  that  there  are  other 
lords  of  the  soil  whose  favor  must  be  propitiated.  The  Indians 
just  at  this  time  were  deeply  exercised  upon  some  unsettled 
boundary  questions  between  them  and  the  whites,  and  were  keenly 
sensitive  to  any  anticipatory  demarcations.  The  Six  Nations,  whose 
council  fires  blazed  upon  the  Onondago  and  Mohawk,  in  Western  New 
York,  were  the  lords  paramount  of  the  territory  yet  to  be  traversed. 
To  obtain  their  consent  to  the  consummation  of  the  line,  the  Governors 
of  Pennsylvaaia  and  Maryland,  in  the  winter  of  1766-'7,  at  an  expense 
of  more  than  £500,  procured,  under  the  agency  of  Sir  William  Johnson, 
a  grand  convocation  of  the  tribes  of  that  powerful  confederacy.  The 
application  was  successful ;  and  early  in  June,  1767,  an  escort  of  four- 
teen stroud-clad  warriors,  with  an  interpreter  and  a  chief,  deputed  by 
the  Iroquois  council,  met  the  surveyors  and  their  camp  at  the  summit 
of  the  Great  Allegheny,  to  escort  them  down  into  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio,  whose  tributaries  they  were  soon  to  cross. 

Safety  being  thus  secured,  the  extension  of  the  line  was  pushed  on 
vigorously  in  the  summer  of  1767.  Soon  the  motley  host  of  red  and 
white  men,  led  by  the  London  surveyors,  come  to  the  western  limit  of 
Maryland — "  the  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of  the  Potomac  ;"  and 
why  they  did  not  stop  there  is  a  mystery,  for  there  their  functions  ter- 
minated.^* But  they  pass  it  by  unheeded,  because  unknown,  resolved 
to  reach  the  utmost  limit  of  Peun's  "  five  degrees  of  longitude"  from 

35  There  is  some  evidence  tbat  when  Penn  asked  for  his  grant,  he  intended  it  to  go  no  further 
west  than  Maryland.  It  is  the  only  one  of  the  old  royal  grants  which  is  limited  by  longitude. 
Its  introduction  was,  perhaps,  accidental,  to  square  with  his  application  for^ve  degrees  of  lat- 
itude.   He  could  as  readily  have  had  it  to  reach  to  the  Pacific. 

The  general  south-westward  bearing  of  the  Appalachian  ranges  of  mountains,  may  well  have 
led  the  most  knowing  ones  of  that  day  to  "guess"  that  "  the  meridian  of  the  first  fountain 
of  the  Potomac"  might  be  much  further  west  than  it  is.  The  prospect  from  the  North  moun- 
tain was  very  illusive.  And  yet  one  can  hardly  believe  they  would  suppose  that  meridian  to  be 
west  of  the  Monongahela,  and  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  Ohio. 

In  ^letter  from  Governor  JTeit/f,  of  Pennsylvania,  to  Governor  Spotsivood,  of  Virginia,  dated 


242  THE  MONONGAHELA  OF  OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

the  Delaware ;  for  so  were  they  instructed.  By  the  24th  of  August, 
they  come  to  the  crossing  of  Braddock's  road.  The  escort  now  become 
restless.  The  Mohawk  chief  and  his  nephew  leave.  The  Shawnees 
and  Delawares,  tenants  of  the  hunting  grounds,  begin  to  grow  terrific. 
On  the  27th  September,  when  encamped  on  the  Monongahela,  233 
miles  from  the  Delaware,  twenty-six  of  the  laborers  desert,  and  but 
fifteen  axe-men  are  left.  Being  so  near  the  goal,  the  surveyors — for 
none  of  the  commissioners  were  with  them — evince  their  courage  by 
coolly  sending -back  to  Fort  Cumberland  for  aid,  and  in  the  meantime 
they  push  on.  At  length  they  come  to  where  the  line  crosses  the 
Warrior  branch  of  the  old  Catawba  war  path,^*  at  the  second  crossing 
of  Dunkard  creek,  a  little  west  of  Mount  Morris,  in  Greene ;  and  there 
the  Indian  escort  say  to  them,  "that  they  were  instructed  by  their 
chiefs  in  council  not  to  let  the  line  be  run  to  the  westward  of  that  war 
path."  Their  commands  are  peremptory  ;  and  there,  for  fifteen  years, 
the  line  is  stayed.  It  was  afterwards  run  out  by  other  hands,  as  noted 
elsewhere  in  these  sketches."  When  completed,  its  terminus  is  a 
"  cairn"  of  stones,  on  one  of  the  slopes  of  the  Fish  creek  hills,  near 
the  Broad  Tree  tunnel  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  rail  road.  "And, 
standing  on  the  cairn,  and  looking  to  the  east  and  north,  a  fresher 
growth  of  trees  indicates  the  ranges  of  the  vistas.  But  climb  the 
highest  tree  adjacent  to  the  cairn,  that  you  may  note  the  highest  moun- 
tain within  the  range  of  vision,  and  then  ascending  its  summit,  take  in 
the  whole  horizon,  and  seek  for  a  single  home  of  a  single  descendant  of 
the  sylvan  monarchs,  whose  war  i)ath  limited  the  surveys,  and  you  will 
seek  in  vain.  But  go  back  to  the  cairn,  and  listen  there,  in  the  quiet 
of  the  woods,  and  a  roll  as  of  distant  thunder  will  come  unto  the  ear, 
and  a  shrill  shriek  will  pierce  it,  as  the  monster  and  the  miracle  of 
modern  ingenuity — excluded  from  Pennsylvania  as  effectually  by  the 
line  we  have  described,  as  the  surveyors  of  old  were  by  the  Indian  war 
path — rushes  round  the  south-western  angle  of  the  State,  on  its  way 


April,  (1721,)  he  says—"  You  very  well  know,  sir,  that  Pennsylvania,  which  is  three  degrees  in 
breadth  (?)  and  extends  live  degrees  west  of  the  river  Delaware,  must  border  upon  his 
Majesty's  dominion  of  Virginia  to  the  westward  of  Maryland,  and  upon  New  York  to  the  north- 
ward of  New  Jersey."  This  is  the  only  avowed  knowledge  we  have,  prior  to  1768,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania extending  farther  west  than  Maryland. 

36  See  ante—"  Indian  Trails,  &c."— Chap.  III. 

37 See  memoir  of  Col.  Alexander  M'Clean— an<e,  Chap.  VII. ;  and  "Boundary  Controversy," 
postea,  Chap.  IX. 


CH.  VIII.]  MASON    AND   DIXON's    LINE.  243 

from  the  city  which  perpetuates  the  title  of  the  Lord  Proprietary  of 
Maryland,  to  find  a  breathing  place  on  the  Ohio,  in  the  'pan-handle' 
of  Virginia. "^^ 

Mason  and  Dixon,  with  their  pack-horse  train .  and  attendants," 
return  to  the  east  without  molestation,  and  report  their  discomfiture  to 
the  "  gentlemen  commissioners,"  who  approve  their  conduct,  and,  on 
the  27th  December,  1767,  grant  to  them  an  honorable  discharge,  but 
agree  to  pay  them  for  a  map  or  plan  of  their  work,  which  they  were 
instructed  to  prepare,  and  did  prepare.  The  commissioners  now 
address  themselves  to  the  erection  of  the  required  monuments,  or 
stones,  upon  the  lines,  and  at  the  corners  and  intersections  around  and 
near  the  "three  counties"  of  Delaware.  This  done,  they,  on  the  9th 
November,  1768,  make  their  final  report  to  the  Proprietaries ;  and  here 
the  labor  upon  these  lines  ends,  in  America,  until  after  the  titles  of 
Baltimore  and  the  Peuns  are  wrested  from  them  by  the  strong  arm  of 
revolution. 

In  conformity  to  the  agreements  and  the  decree  of  the  Chancellor, 
the  lines  were  well  marked.  All  the  corners  and  intersections  were 
ascertained  by  firmly  fixing  thereat  "one  or  more  remarkable  stones," 
on  which  were  graven  the  arms  of  the  proprietors  on  the  sides  facing 
their  possessions  respectively.  Along  the  lines,  at  the  end  of  every 
fifth  mile,  a  stone  thus  graven  was  planted,  the  intermediate  miles  being 
noted  by  a  stone  having  M.  on  one  side  and  P.  on  the  other.  Most  of 
the  stones  on  which  the  coats  of  arms  were  graven  were  brought  from 
England.  On  the  great  due  west  line — Mason  and  Dixon's  line  proper, 
this  mode  of  demarcation  was  used  as  far  as  the  eastern  base  of  Sideling 
Hill  mountain,  132  miles  from  the  spring  corner.  But  the  difficulty 
of  transporting  the  graven  stones  any  further  westward,  compelled  the 
surveyors  to  depart  from  the  agreement,  and  to  find  their  marks  as  they 
went  along — no  very  difficult  matter.  From  Sideling  Hill  to  the 
Great  Allegheny  summit,  they  denoted  the  line  by  conical  heaps  of 
earth  or  stones,  six  or  seven  feet  high,  on  the  tops  of  all  the  ridges  and 
mountains.     From  the  summit  of  the  Allegheny  westward,  as  far  as 


38  Mr.  Latrobe's  lecture,  before  quoted.    See  ante,  note  12. 

39  Among  these,  besides  the  Messrs.  M'Clean,  were  Hugh  Crawford,  the  old  Indian  trader, 
who,  for  his  services,  got  a  grant  of  part  of  Col.  Evans'  estate,  {ante.  Chap.  VI.  note  12,)  and 
Paul  Larsh,  of  George's  creek,  father  of  Hannah,  the  wife  of  Joseph  Baker,  of  Nicholson 
township,  who  was  the  widow  of  George  Gans.  See  Larsh  vs.  Larsh,  Addison's  Keports,  310. 
Old  John  Tate,  of  Bedstone,  is  said  also  to  have  been  of  the  company. 


244  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

they  went,  similar  marks  were  erected  at  the  end  of  every  mile,  with  a 
post  inserted  in  each. 

The  "  visto"  of  the  line  was  opened  twenty-four  feet  wide,  by  felling 
all  the  trees  and  large  bushes,  which  were  left  to  rot  upon  the  ground. 
The  monuments  of  the  line  were  erected  along  the  middle  of  this  path- 
way, in  the  true  parallel. 

The  instruments  used  by  Mason  and  Dixon  were  an  ordinary  sur- 
veyor's compass,  to  find  their  bearings  generally,  a  quadrant,  and  the 
four  feet  zenith  sector  which  they  brought  from  London,  for  absolute 
accuracy.  The  ferruginous  character  of  much  of  the  territory  they 
traversed,  forbid  much  reliance  upon  the  needle.  The  sector  enabled 
them  to  be  guided  by  the  unerring  luminaries  of  the  heavens. 

The  measurements  were  made  with  a  four  pole  chain  of  one  hundred 
links,  except  that,  on  hills  and  mountains,  one  of  two  poles,  and  some- 
times a  one  pole  measure,  was  used.  These  were  frequently  tested  by 
a  statute  chain  carried  along  for  that  purpose.  Great  care  was  enjoined 
as  to  the  ])lumbings  upon  uneven  ground;  and,  so  far  as  they  have  been 
since  tested,  the  measurements  seem  to  have  been  very  true. 

While  the  surveyors  were  in  progress  upon  the  line,  the  Proprietors 
humbly  besought  his  Majesty,  George  III.,  to  allow  and  approve  their 
agreement  of  1760,  and  the  confirmatory  decree  of  the  Chancellor 
thereon,  to  the  end  that  his  Majesty's  subjects  inhabiting  the  disputed 
lands  might  have  their  minds  quieted.  His  Majesty  deferred  his 
approval  until  January,  1769,  after  the  lines  had  been  completed  and 
the  final  report  of  the  commissioners  made.  Even  all  this,  however, 
did  not  quite  end  the  disturbances.  Says  Governor  John  Penn,  in 
1774  : — "  The  people  living  between  the  ancient  temporary  line  of  juris- 
diction, and  that  lately  settled  and  marked  by  the  commissioners,  were 
in  a  lawless  state.  Murders,  and  the  most  outrageous  transgressions  of 
law  and  order,  were  committed  with  impunity  in  those  places.  In 
vain  did  persons  injured  apply  to  the  government  of  Maryland  for 
protection  and  redress."  This,  of  course,  refers  to  the  little  strip  of  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  width  along  the  southern  confines  of  York,  Adams 
and  Franklin.  Thirty  years  had  caused  the  temporary  line  to  be 
deemed  the  permanent  boundary — the  common  fate  of  accommodation 
lines  between  adjoining  land  owners. 

Nor  was  this  quite  all.  In  1771,  Frederick,  Lord  Baltimore,  died, 
and  his  heir  was  a  minor  under  guardianship.  And  when,  in  1774, 
Governor  Penn,  under  stress  of  the  "lawless  state"  of  his  south-western 


CH,  VIII.]  MASON   AND   DIXON's   LINE.  245 

frontier,  made  proclamation  of  his  purpose  to  extend  and  enforce  his 
iurisdiction  "quite  home"  to  the  established  line,  his  young  lordship's 
guardian  was  induced  to  ask  the  king  to  arrest  the  Governor's  proceed- 
ings, upon  the  grounds  that  the  Maryland  proprietary  had  not  capacity 
to  concur  in  the  ratification  of  the  line,  and  that  his  subjects  settled  on 
the  frontiers,  knowing  this,  would  resort  to  violence  and  bloodshed. 
The  partisans  of  Virginia — who  were  now  carrying  on  her  boundary 
war  with  the  Penns — had  perhaps  more  to  do  with  this  groundless 
interference  than  had  the  friends  of  the  infant  Lord  Baltimore.  When 
the  king  was  apprized  that  the  line  had  been  run,  marked,  reported 
and  confirmed,  in  pursuance  of  Frederick's  agreement,  and  all  done  in 
his  lifetime,  he  "graciously"  recalled  his  countermand  of  Governor 
Penn's  proclamation.  And  now,  finally,  and,  as  we  trust  forever, 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  are  at  peace.  The  two  oldest  and  most 
contiguous  sovereignties  carved  out  of  ancient  New  England  and  Vir- 
ginia— the  "North"  and  the  "South,"  resume  their  primitive  peaceful 
repose  upon  the  line — this  famous  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line — which  is 
the  agreed  substitute  for  the  ancient  40°. 

The  width  of  a  degree  of  longitude  varies  according  to  the  latitude 
it  traverses — expanding  towards  the  equator,  and  contracting  towards 
the  pole.  In  the  latitude  of  our  line,  Mason  and  Dixon  computed  it 
at  fifty-three  miles  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  and  one-tenth 
perches.  They  consequently  made  Penn's  five  degrees  of  longitude 
from  the  Delaware  to  be  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  miles  and  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  and  six-tenth  perches.^"  To  their  stopping 
place  at  the  war  path  on  Dunkard,  they  say,  was  two  hundred  and 
forty-four  miles  one  hundred  and  thirteen  perches  and  seven  and  one- 
fourth  feet.  Hence  they  left,  as  they  computed  it,  twenty-three  miles 
and  eighty-three  perches  to  be  run.  It  was  subsequently  ascertained 
that  this  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  too  much — a  discovery  which 
created  some  inconvenience  upon  the  western  line  of  Greeue  county. 

We  have  seen  no  evidence  that  Mason  and  Dixon  actually  measured 
the  distance  from  the  Delaware  to  where  the}'  began  the  due  west  line 


40  It  seems  it  should  have  been  only  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  miles  ninety-nine  and  one 
fifth  iierches;  and  so  we  say  it  was  found  to  be  by  the  surveyors  of  1784,  in  our  note  (4)  to  Mem- 
oir of  Col.  Alex.  M'Clean — ante,  Chapter  VII.  But  that  is  Col.  Graham's  estimate  in  1S19.  We 
have  not  found  what  it  was  made  to  be,  in  1784. 

*i  See  note  (4)  referred  to  in  note  40,  and  note  42. 


246  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

at  the  stone  near  the  spring.  But  they,  or  some  others  for  them,  must 
have  done  so,  for  it  is  part  of  the  five  degrees  of  longitude.  They 
estimated  it  at  fourteen  miles  forty  perches  and  ten  feet.  The  mile- 
stones upon  the  line  are  numbered  according  to  their  distance  from  the 
north-east  corner  of  Maryland — the  spring  corner — instead  of  from  the 
Delaware.  This  has  created  some  confusion  and  misapprehension  as  to 
the  length  of  the  line.  Our  most  aj>proved  State  map — Barnes',  of 
1848 — has  them  so  numbered  with  great  apparent  accuracy ;  although 
not  always  coinciding  with  other  notations  of  distances  upon  the  line." 

The  line  crosses  the  Cumberland,  or  National  road,  about  three  miles 
south-east  of  Petersburg;  the  Youghiogheny  about  three  miles  south  of 
Somerfield ;  the  Cheat  at  the  mouth  of  Grassy  run  (the  line  ford) ;  the 
Monongahela  near  the  mouth  of  Crooked  run. 

The  north-west  corner  of  Maryland,  upon  this  line,  is  near  the  road 
from  Haydentown  to  Selbysport,  or  Friend's,  about  half  a  mile  west  of 
the  intersection  of  Henry  Clay  and  Wharton  townships;  being  about 
one  hundred  and  ninety-nine  miles  west  of  her  north-east  corner,  and 
about  fifty-four  miles  east  of  the  south-west  corner  of  Pennsylvania; 
or,  one  degree  of  longitude  short  of  our  western  confine. 

Very  many  of  the  marks  and  monuments  upon  the  line  have  been 
removed,  or  have  crumbled  down  ;  and  its  vista  is  so  much  grown  up 
as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  adjacent  forests.  It  should 
be  re-traced  and  re-marked.  Except  in  part  of  Greene  county,  all  the 
original  surveys  of  lands  upon  the  line  were  made  after  it  was  author- 
itatively fixed.  Hence  no  inconvenience  or  trouble  has  yet  arisen  from 
its  partial  obliteration.  But  one  of  the  best  securities  for  peace 
between  neighbors  is  to  keep  up  good  division  fences. 


42  The  surveyors  of  1739  made  the  distance  from  the  Susquehanna  to  "  the  top  of  the  most 
western  of  the  Kittochtinny  hills,"  (the  North  or  Cove  mountain,)  only  eighty-eight  miles. 
The  map  shows  it  to  be  nearly  one  hundred. 

The  map  makes  the  line  cross  the  Monongahela  at  about  two  hundred  and  nineteen  and  a 
half,  or  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  a  half,  from  the  Delaware,  which  accords  with 
Mason  and  Dixon.  But  our  Book  of  Official  Surveys,  made  in  1786,  shows  the  following  mile 
posts  east  of  the  river,  viz.:  the  two  hundred  and  twenty-second  on  the  south  line  of  the  old 
Samuel  Bowen  tract;  the  two  hundred  and  twenty-first  about  half  way  in  the  south  line  of  the 
old  Robert  Henderson  tract;  the  two  hundred  and  twentieth  about  the  middle  of  the  south 
line  of  the  John  M'Farland  tract— the  Ferry  tract.  There  was  then  a  pile  of  stones  in  the  line, 
on  the  river  hill,  near  the  south-west  corner  of  the  Bowen  tract.  Col.  M'Clean  run  these 
tracts,  and  he  is  presumed  to  have  known  the  marks.  There  is  error  somewhere.  The  line 
then  (1786)  bore  south  89^  west. 


CH.  Vlir.]  MASON   AND   DTXON's   LINE.  247 

Some  trouble  did  grow  out  of  a  removal  of  some  of  the  monuments 
upon  the  eastern  parts  of  the  lines.  Many  years  asjo  the  "remarkable 
stone,"  which  marked  the  south-west  corner  of  Delaware,  was  dug  up 
in  one  of  the  fruitless  Searches  for  the  buried  treasure  of  Captain  Kidd  ; 
and  at  a  later  period  the  stone  near  the  spring,  which  marks  the  north- 
east corner  of  Maryland,  having  been  undermined  by  floods  and  fallen, 
was  taken  by  a  neighboring  farmer  for  a  chimney-piece,  and  a  post 
planted  in  its  place.  Surmises  sprung  up  that  some  others  of  the 
stones  which  defined  the  limits  of  the  little  State  had  been  displaced. 
Many  of  the  dwellers  around  the  notch  and  circle  seemed  not  to  know 
to  whom  they  belonged.  These  doubts  and  dilapidations  induced  the 
three  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  in  1849,  to 
create  a  joint  commission  to  re-trace  the  lines  in  that  vicinity,  and 
replace  the  missing  monuments.  The  commissioners  procured  Lieut. 
Col.  James  D.  Graham,  of  the  corps  of  Topographical  Engineers  of 
the  United  States,  to  execute  the  work.  He,  of  course,  had  to  review 
much  of  the  labors  of  Mason  and  Dixon  and  their  predecessors. 
Generally  he  found  that  remarkable  accuracy  characterized  those  early 
displays  of  geometrical  science.  The  post  near  the  spring  was  in  the 
right  place,  and  the  courses  all  right.  Some  errors  were,  however, 
detected.  Some  of  the  miles  had  been  made  a  few  feet  too  long.  The 
radius  was  found  to  be  two  feet  four  inches  too  short;  and  by  some 
errors  in  locating  the  tangent  point,  and  the  junction  of  the  three  States 
at  the  point  of  the  notch,  or  bead,  it  was  found  that  Maryland  had  got 
back  from  Delaware  a  little  over  one  acre  and  three-quarters  of  what 
she  had  lost  by  King  James'  order,  in  1685.  Even  these  trifling  errors 
prove  the  wonderful  certainty  of  mathematical  science.  Colonel  Gra- 
ham's labors  wrought  a  change  in  the  allegiance  of  several  gentlemen 
residing  near  the  circle,  who  had  hitherto  supposed  themselves  citizens 
of  Delaware.  A  Mr.  William  Smith,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  of  that  State,  was  found  to  be  a  full  half  mile  within  Penn- 
sylvania; which  also  took  in  the  old  Christiana  church  by  a  hundred 
yards.*^ 

It  is  ever  thus  with  all  things  terrestrial.  Men  change  and  are 
changed.  Monuments  crumble  and  are  removed.  Even  "  a  thing  of 
beauty  is  not  a  joy  forever."     Decay  and  renewal  are  the  constant  suc- 


«  See  the  carious  and  learned  report  of  Colonel  Graham,  with  other  documents,  in  Senate 
Journal  of  Pennsylvania,  1850,  vol.  2,  page  475. 


248  THE   MONONGAHELA    OP   OLD.  [CH.  VIII. 

cession  of  human  affairs  and  human  structures.  The  marks  of  boundary 
cannot  escape  this  destiny.  No  art,  no  care,  can  preserve  them  as  they 
were.  The  limits  of  empire  which  nature  establishes  are  not  unvary- 
ing. Rivers  change  their  channels — the  soil  of  one  State  becomes  the 
delta  of  another — and  ocean  takes  away  from  continents,  to  be  compen- 
sated by  new  islands  in  the  watery  waste.  An  assurance  of  permanency, 
and  of  enduring  peace  upon  its  borders,  may  be  derived  from  the 
purely  arbitrary  origin  of  our  Line — that  in  its  establishment  Nature 
had  no  agency  ;  for 

'"Lands  intersected  by  a  narrow  frith 
Abhor  each  other.    Mountains  interposed 
Make  enemies  of  nations,  who  had  else, 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  mingled  into  one." 

To  compreliGiul  the  subjtH^t  of  this  sketch,  we  have  had  to  course  over 
more  than  three  centuries  of  this  world's  history,  halting  here  and 
there  to  gather  up  and  arrange  the  events  which  relate  to  it.  It  is 
more  than  two  hundred  years  since  the  seeds  of  the  strife  were  sown, 
of  which  the  Line  is  the  harvest;  and  nearly  a  century  has  run  since 
the  surveyors  were  running  its  thread  through  the  forests.  Within 
those  periods  what  great  events  have  transpired.  Civilization,  science, 
freedom,  religion  and  population  have  rolled  their  resistless  tides  over 
this  continent.  Empires  have  risen  and  fallen  ;  dynasties  have  sunk 
into  nothingness.  Yet  this  Line  stands;  and  its  story  increases  in 
interest  as  time  grows  older.  Nor  is  its  history  yet  ended.  God 
grant  that  it  may  never  have  to  be  written  of  it  that  it  severed  this 
glorious  Union  !  What  is  yet  to  be  said  of  it  noiv  belongs  to  our  next 
chapter ;  for  *'  westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way,"  and  with 
it  goes  its  boundary  controversies 


SUP  PL E NI E  NT. 


BOUNDARY   CONTROVERSY   WITH   VIRGINIA. 


The  further  history  of  this  celebrated  line  belongs  to  another  of  the 
controversies  through  which  Pennsylvania  has  had  to  pass  to  establish 
her  boundaries.  We  refer  to  that  which  the  peculiarities  of  her  charter 
and  the  stirring  events  in  the  south-western  corner  of  the  province, 
during  the  twenty  years  preceding  1774,  brought  to  a  head  between 
her  and  Virginia,  just  as  the  great  contest  between  the  crown  and  the 
colonies  was  heading  up  to  revolution,  which  pervaded  the  entire  period 
of  that  eventful  struggle,  and  terminated  almost  cotemporaneously  with 
its  successful  close. 

We  cannot  here  narrate  the  events,  or  unfold  fully  the  grounds  of 
that  once  portentous  strife.  Its  scope  is  too  ample,  and  its  amplitude 
too  full  of  interesting  and  instructive  teachings,  to  bear  compression 
into  what  must  be  a  mere  appendage  to  the  preceding  sketch.  The 
great  subject  to  which  it  related  was  the  extent  and  shape  of  our  limits 
westward.  We  limit  our  design  now  to  such  an  exposition  only  of  its 
leading  features  as  will  fill  out  the  history  of  our  southern  boundary. 
About  four-fifths  of  the  line  was  the  result  of  a  compromise  to  which 
Virginia  was  no  party.  North  of  38°  and  the  Potomac,  she  had  to  be 
silent.  But  west  of  the  "  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  "  of  that  river, 
she  lifted  up  her  voice  loudly  against  "northern  aggression;"  not, 
however,  as  we  shall  see,  to  her  very  lasting  advantage. 

As  a  colonial  grant,  Virginia  never  had  any  rights  north  of  40°. 
And  upon  her  decapitation,  by  quo  warranto,  in  1624,  she  became  a 
mere  appendage  of  English  empire,  without  any  fixed  boundaries, 
subject  to  having  her  limits  impaired  as  often  as  it  should  please  his 
Majesty  to  confer  new  grants  out  of  her  original  domain.  Maryland 
and  North  Carolina  are  thus  derived.  And  yet,  both  as  a  colony  and 
as  a  State,  she  has  kept  up  continual  claim  to  territory  north  of  40°. 
The  "pan-handle"  still  rears  its  head  above  the  40th  degree;  and  the 
doubtful  recognition,  since  1780,  of  her  vaunted  claim  to  the  great 


250  THE   MONONGAHELA   OP  OLD.  [SUPP. 

territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the  Mississippi,  attests  her 
pretentions  in  that  direction.^  With  this  we  have  here  nothing  to  do. 
But  we  may  well  challenge  her  right  to  intrude  within  the  limits  of  a 
specific  grant,  carved  out  of  territory  which  ^he  never  owned.  Indeed, 
she  claimed  that  the  extinction  of  her  charter  enlarged  her  bounds; 
that  thereupon,  she  became  keeper  for  the  king  of  all  contiguous  terri- 
tory not  rightfully  held  by  some  other  colony.  It  was  ui)on  this 
pretense  that  she  assailed  Pennsylvania.  The  posture  was  plausible 
enough  during  her  colonial  vassalage.  But  upon  her  revolt  from  her 
kingly  allegiance — asserting  existence  as  an  independent  State — she 
forfeited  her  vice-regal  prerogatives,  and  became  shut  up  to  the  terri- 
tory which,  without  encroachment  upon  her  neighbors,  she  had  settled 

j     and  governed.     And  yet  Pennsylvania  had  to  contend  with  her  in  both 

H.  these  characters. 
J  The  site  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the  Indian  trade  which  centred  there, 
became  early  the  objects  of  Virginia  cupidity.  Her  efforts  to  acquire 
these  brought  on  the  French  war  of  1754-'63,  in  which  Washington 
rose  and  Braddock  fell.  It  was  upon  the  laggard  defence,  and  almost 
abnegation  of  ownership,  of  her  ultramontane  territory,  by  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  the  early  stages  of  this  war,  that  Virginia  based  her  claim  as 
the  king's  representative.  She  turned  upon  the  sons  of  Penn  the 
battery  which  he,  in  1682,  raised  against  Lord  Baltimore's  right  to 
Delaware.  The  position  taken  was  that  the  Penns,  by  suffering  the 
French  to  conquer  all  west  of  the  mountains,  thereby  rendering  it 
necessary  that  it  should  be  re-conquered  by  his  Majesty's  arms,  had 
forfeited,  to  that  extent,  their  chartered  limits;  and  that  U|)on  its  retro- 
cession by  France  to  the  British  king,  in  1763,  it  became  his  again 
"  to  give  as  he  pleaseth."  The  argument,  when  tested  by  the  rules  of 
right  and  the  truth  of  history,  turns  out  to  be  more  specious  than  solid. 
It  was  soon  superseded  by  other  pretexts  which  were  thought  to  possess 
greater  potency. 

The  natural  connections  of  South-western  Pennsylvania  were  with 
Maryland  and  Virginia.  These  were  greatly  strengthened  by  the 
opening  of  the  old  Ohio  Company's  path,  afterwards  Biaddock's  road, 
from   Wills'  creek  (Cumberland,)  to  the  head  of  the   Ohio,  and  the 


1  We  are  aware  that  we  are  treading  here  upon  tender  ground.  But,  were  this  the  place  to 
do  it,  it  could  readily  be  shown  that  the  postulate  of  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Taney,  in  Dred  Scott  vs- 
San/ord — that  "  this  immense  tract  of  country  M'as  within  the  acknoirledged  limits  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,"  is  an  entire  reversal  of  the  truth  of  history.  Her  claim  was  only  a  claim,  and  so 
regarded  by  the  old  Confederacy  Congress. 


SUPP.]  VIRGINIA   CONTROVERSY.  251 

events  of  the  French  war.  The  early  settlers  came  almost  wholly  from 
middle  Virginia  and  Maryland,  upon  the  Potomac,  bringing  with  them 
a  hereditary  dislike  to  Pennsylvania  rule  and  manners,  and  squatting 
down  upon  what  they  supposed  was  Virginia  territory.  Hence  when, 
in  1769,  the  Penns  began  to  sell  their  lands  at  £5  per  one  hundred 
acres,  and,  in  1771,  by  the  erection  of  Bedford  county,  extended  over 
them  the  arras  of  government,  with  its  restraints  and  taxes,  repugnance 
soon  rose  to  resistance. 

At  this  opportune  crisis  Virginia,  under  the  governorship  of  Lord 
Dunmore,  late  in  1773,  interposed  to  assert  her  jurisdiction.  The 
disputed  territory  was  made  the  western  district  of  Augusta  county, 
with  Fort  Pitt  as  the  seat  of  dominion.  The  invasion  was  at  once  both 
civil  and  military.  Early  in  the  same  year  Pennsylvania  had  erected 
the  county  of  Westmoreland  over  all  her  western  territory,  with  her 
seat  of  justice  at  Hannastown.  At  first  the  conflict  was  fierce  and 
alarming.  His  lordship,  finding  a  fit  instrument  of  mischief  in  one 
Doctor  John  Connolly,*  with  numerous  subordinates  and  a  ready  popu- 
lace, held  his  usurped  possession  with  unyielding  tenacity.  Pennsyl- 
vania officers  were  contemned  and  resisted,  her  justices  imprisoned,  her 
jail  broken  open,  and  her  courts  broken  up.  Vagaries  and  enormities 
were  for  a  while  enacted,  which  find  no  parallel  in  any  other  period  of 
our  western  history.  To  quell  the  tumult  of  the  times,  the  Penns  had 
recourse  to  negotiation ;  but  without  any  other  result  than  to  disclose 
more  fully  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  parties. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  only  fixed,  natural  landmarks 
named  in  the  charter,  by  which  to  determine  the  form  and  extent  of 
Pennsylvania,  were  New  Castle  town  and  the  river  Delaware.  The 
latter  was  her  eastern  bounds;  while  the  former  was  to  be  used  as  the 
centre  of  a  circle  of  twelve  miles  radius,  whose  north-western  segment 
was  to  connect  the  river  with  the  "  beginning  of  the  40th  degree." 
Westward,  the  province  was  to  extend  "  five  degrees  in  longitude  to  be 
computed  from  said  eastern  bounds." 

The  Penns  now  claimed,  for  their  western  boundary,  a  line  beginning 
at  39°,  at  the  distance  of  five  degrees  of  longitude  from  the  Delaware, 
thence  at  the  same  distance  from  that  river  in  every  point,  to  north  latitude 


3  As  an  adventurer— tool  of  Dunmore— instigator  of  Indian  war— Tory— prisoner— and  in 
1788,  fomentor  of  troubles  in  Kentucky,  the  life  of  this  renegade  son  of  Pennsylv.ania  is  one  of 
peril  and  mischief.  The  curious  reader  may  trace  him  in  Washington's  Journal,  1770,  Nov.  22. — 
4  Pa.  Archives,  Index  "  Connolly  "—1  Olden  Time,  520—2  Ditto,  93—3  Sparks'  Washington,  211,  269, 
271—8  Ditto,  25-9  Ditto,  474,  485—  Western  Annals,  492. 


252  THE    MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [SUPP. 

42°,  so  as  to  take  into  the  Quaker  province  some  fifty  miles  square  of 
North-western  Virginia,  west  of  the  Avest  line  of  Maryland.  Dunmore 
scouted  this  claim  and  difficult-to-be-ascertained  line.  He  insisted  that 
our  western  boundary  should  be  a  meridian  line  run  south  from  the  end 
of  five  degrees  of  longitude  from  the  Delaware,  on  line  42° ;  which, 
said  he,  will  throw  the  western  line  of  Pennsylvania  at  least  fifty  miles 
east  of  Pittsburgh.  This  pretense  was  based  upon  the  belief  that  the 
Delaware  continued  to  42°  the  north-eastward  bearing,  which  changes 
to  north-west  at  the  eastern  corner  of  Pike  county — so  little  was  then 
known  of  our  interior  geography.  The  next  expedient  by  the  Penns 
was  to  propose  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  the  Monongahela,  and  thence 
that  river  to  the  Ohio,  as  a  temporary  boundary^.  This,  too,  was 
rejected ;  his  lordship  saying  that  upon  nothing  less  than  his  Majesty's 
express  command  would  he  relinquish  Pittsburgh.  Here  negotiation 
ended;  and  violence  and  oppression  continued  their  sway,  until  checked 
up  by  more  absorbing  interests. 

The  outburst  of  the  Revolution,  in  1775,  and  the  fall  of  the  Dun- 
more  dynasty,  produced  a  lull  in  the  storm  of  inter-colonial  strife? 
^Partisans  became  patriots,  and  rushed  with  eagerness  to  repel  a  common 
foe.  For  a  brief  period  the  civil  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylvania  seems  to 
have  been  yielded.  Military  control  was  all  that  Virginia  exercised. 
But  this  blending  of  incoherent  pretensions  could  not  long  endure.  It 
severed,  as  soon  as  the  first'  intense  fervors  of  revolution  had  cooled 
down,  into  an  earnest  struggle  for  independence. 

And  now  Virginia  behaved  towards  Pennsylvania  with  an  incon- 
sistency, if  not  cool  vindictiveness,  without  precedent  or  palliation. 
On  the  15th  of  June,  1776,  her  revolutionary  convention,  justly  depre- 
cating the  conflict  of  jurisdiction  in  the  disputed  territory,  proposed  to 
Pennsylvania  a  temporary  boundary,  which,  they  said,  "  would  most 
nearly  leave  the  inhabitants  in  the  country  they  settled  under ; "  which 
boundary  is  as  follows :  from  the  north-west  corner  of  Maryland  to 
Braddock's  road — by  it  to  the  Great  Crossings  of  the  Youghiogheny — 


3  As  the  Penns  claimed  it,  not  far  from  the  true  line ;  which  would  have  left  Pittsburgh  about 
six  miles  in  Pennsylvania. 

i  Among  the  most  resolute  of  the  Penn  adherents  were,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  then  Prothonotary, 
&c.  of  Westmoreland,  afterwards  Major  General,  &c.  and  Thomas  Scott,  afterwards  first  Pro- 
thonotary of  Washington,  and  first  member  of  Congress  from  Western  Pennsylvania.  Of  the 
Virginia  partisans  were  Dorsey  Pentecost,  afterwards  Clerk  of  Yohogania  county,  first  member 
from  Washington  in  Sup.  Ex.  Council  of  Pa.;  Colonel  William  Crawford,  who  was  burnt  by  the 
Ohio  Indians  in  1782 ;  Colonel  John  Campbell,  afterwards  prominent  in  Kentucky ;  George  Croghan, 
Indian  agent,  &c. 


SUPP.]  VIRGINIA   CONTROVERSY.  253 

down  that  river  to  Chestnut  Ridge  mountain — along  its  crest  to  Green- 
lick  run  branch  of  Jacob's  creek — down  it  to  where  Braddoek's  road 
crossed — by  the  road  and  its  continuation  towards  Pittsburgh  to  the 
Bullock  Pens  [a  little  north-west  of  Wilkinsburg],  and  thence  a  straight 
line  to  the  mouth  of  Plum  run  [creek]  on  the  Allegheny  !  East  of  this 
Pennsylvania  was  to  rule — west  of  it,  Virginia.  The  Pennsylvania 
convention,  in  September,  1776,  very  properly  rejected  this  proposal; 
because,  being  very  wide  of  her  true  limits,  its  adoption  as  a  temporary 
line  would  be  productive  of  more  confusion  than  if  it  was  to  be  final. 

Ere  the  rejection  of  this  preposterous  proposition,  the  same  Virginia 
convention  that  made  it  had,  on  the  29th  of  June,  1776,  by  her  consti- 
tution, expressly  *'  ceded,  released  and  forever  confirmed  unto  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania,  all  the  territory  contained  in  her  charter,  with  all  the 
rights  of  property,  jurisdiction  and  government  which  might  at  any 
time  heretofore  have  been  claimed  by  Virginia."  At  this  time  she 
well  knew,  from  Mason  and  Dixon's  measurements  and  otherwise,  that 
much  of  the  chartered  limits  of  Pennsylvania  must  fall  west  of  the 
proposed  line,  while  no  Virginia  territory  could  lie  east  of  it.  Never- 
theless, during  the  further  progress  of  the  controversy  she  conformed 
her  jurisdiction  very  nearly  to  this  rejected  line. 

The  next  movement  by  Virginia  was  a  bold  stride  at  dominion. 
Assuming  that  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  Maryland,  should  not  reach 
further  west  than  the  "  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of  the  Potomac," 
she,  by  an  Act  of  her  Assembly,  passed  in  October,  1776,  proceeded  to 
define  the  boundary  between  her  east  and  west  Augusta  districts ;  and 
having  annexed  some  inconsiderable  parts  of  her  now  north-western 
counties,  and  all  "of  Pennsylvania  west  of  the  aforesaid  meridian,  to  the 
latter,  divided  it  into  three  counties — Ohio,  Monongalia  and  Yohogania. 
Nearly  all  of  the  last  and  much  of  the  other  two  were  composed  of 
Pennsylvania  territory.  The  last  took  in  what  are  now  the  county  seats 
of  Washington,  Fayette,  Westmoreland  and  Allegheny,  and  all  north 
of  them.  Under  this  law,  justices' courts  were  regularly  held^ — sena- 
tors and  delegates  to  the  Virginia  Legislature  chosen,  and  all  the  other 
functions  of  government,  civil  and  military,  exercised,  from  1776  to 
1780.  In  the  meantime  Pennsylvania  kept  up  her  power,  as  well  as 
she  could,  through  her  Westmoreland  county  organization,  over  the 
whole  of  her  territory  as  she  claimed  it.     There  was  literally  an  inipe- 

5  The  Yohogania  courts  were  held  in  the  upper  story  of  a  log  jail  and  court  house,  24  by  16 
feet,  on  the  farm  of  Andrew  Heath,  upon  the  Monongahela,  at  or  near  where  Elizabeth  now  is. 
We  have  seen  its  Minutes.    It  did  a  large  and  varied  business. 


254  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [SUPP. 

Hum  in  imperio,  especially  between  Braddock's  road  and  the  Monon- 
gahela,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  densely  setlled  portion  of  the 
disputed  territory.  West  of  that  river,  except  here  and  there  upon  its 
western  shore  and  the  south-east  corner  of  Greene,  Pennsylvania  did 
not  venture.  Nor  did  she  ever  intrude  her  functions  south  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line. 

The  machinery  of  the  new  district  counties  worked  badly,  especially 
in  its  military  movements,  which  at  that  warlike  i)eriod  were  of  primary 
importance.  This,  and  a  returning  sense  of  justice,  induced  Virginia, 
in  December,  1776,  to  propose  an  adjustment  of  the  lines,  as  follows: 
extend  the  west  line  of  Maryland  due  north  to  40° — thence  due  west  to 
the  limit  of  five  degrees  of  longitude  from  the  Delaware — thence  north- 
ward, at  five  degrees  distance  from  that  river  in  every  part;  or,  if 
preferred,  at  proper  points  and  angles  with  intermediate  straight  lines, 
to  42°: — thus  cutting  "a  monstrous  hantle  out"  of  south-western 
Pennsylvania — overleaping  the  ancient  40°,  but  yielding  to  the  Penn 
claim  of  1774,  which  Dunmore  so  stoutly  resisted.  There  would  have 
been  some  force  in  this  claim  of  Virginia  to  go  up  to  the  true  40°,  had 
her  charter  of  1609  not  been  recalled;  for  it  bounded  her  on  the  north, 
not  by  a  degree  of  latitude,  as  was  Maryland,  but  by  two  hundred  miles 
of  coast-line  northward  from  Point  Comfort.  But  as  between  Penn 
and  the  king,  in  1681,  the  40°  of  that  day  was  the  true  limit  of  the 
grant.     This  offer  was  rejected  also. 

The  disheartening  reverses  and  exhausting  efforts  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary  struggle,  during  1777  and  1778,  withdrew  the  disputants  from 
any  attention  to  their  boundary  troubles.  For  a  while  the  strife  stood 
still,  except  that  its  inconveniences  and  conflicts  upon  the  disputed 
territory  were  as  perplexing  as  ever.  Brighter  auspices  dawned  in 
1779.  Early  in  that  year  Pennsylvania  proposed  to  Virginia  a  joint 
commission  to  agree  upon  their  boundaries.  The  latter  acceded.  The 
commissioners  met  in  Baltimore,  and  on  the  31st  of  August,  1779, 
agreed  upon  the  following  boundaries  :®  "  to  extend  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  due  west  five  degrees  of  longitude,  to  be  computed  from  the  river 
Delaware,  for  the  southern  boundary  of  Pennsylvania;  and  tiiat  a 
meridian,  drawn  from  the  western  extremity  thereof  to  the  northern 
limit  ofsaid  State,  be  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania  forever." 

We  know  but  little  of  what  occurred  at  the  meeting  of  these  commis- 
sioners.      A  letter  is  extant  from  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  commis- 


6  The  Pennsylvania  commissioners  were,  George  Bryan,  Rev.  John  Ewing,  D.  D.,  and  David 
Rittenhouse ;  Virginia  sent  Right  Rev.  James  Madison  and  Rev.  Robert  Andrews.  , 


StJPP.]  VIRGINIA   CONTROVERSY.  255 

sioners — Jud^^e  Bryan — saying  that  the  Virginians  offered  to  divide 
equally  the  40th  degree;  but  for  what  equivalent  is  not  revealed.' 
There  is  a  tradition,  too,  that  the  judge  resisted  all  offer  to  extend 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  the  Ohio.  Doubtless  this  generosity  on  the 
part  of  Virginia  was  to  be  compensated  north  of  that  river.  It  is 
probable  that,  in  this  negotiation,  the  parties  stood  pretty  much  where 
they  did  in  May,  1774 — Pennsylvania  claiming  down  to  39°,  and  to 
have  her  western  line  an  irregular  curvilinear  parallel  to  the  Delaware,* 
and  Virginia  claiming  to  stop  her,  on  the  south,  at  40°.  The  idea  of 
making  our  western  boundary  to  be  a  straight  line,  or  chord,  subtending 
the  irregular  arc  formed  by  the  two  extremes  of  five  degrees  from  the 
Delaware,  on  the  north  and  on  the  south,  seems  never,  at  any  time,  to 
have  been  claimed  or  proposed.  A  chancellor  might  have  so  decreed 
without  any  violence  to  the  charter.  One  is  almost  tempted  to  regret 
that  the  Pennsylvania  commissioners  had  not  claimed  to  turn  round  at 
Fairfax's  stone  and  asked  for  all  of  Virginia  north  of  39°.  They  had 
as  good  ground  for  the  whole  as  for  part.  And  who  knows  but  that  a 
little  more  expanded  pretensions  in  that  direction  might  have  induced 
the  Virginians  to  give  us  the  "pan-handle!"  We  must  not,  however, 
complain.  They  did  exceedingly  well.  They  probably  did  not  know 
that  there  would  be  room  there  to  turn'  north  of  39°.  And  it  is  for- 
tunate that  Virginia  did  not  know  that  when  Pennsylvania,  in  1771, 
erected  Bedford  county,  she  expressly  recognized  the  ex  parte  extension 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  west  of  Maryland,  as  her  southern  boundary. 
But  the  troubles  were  not  yet  ended.  The  agreement  of  the  commis- 
sioners had  to  be  ratified,  and  the  lines  to  be  run.  Pennsylvania 
promptly  assented  to  the  "compromise"  in  November,  1779 — as  well 
she  might,  seeing  that  it  expanded  her  western  territory  full  half  a 
degree  without  any  equivalent  loss  on  the  south.  Virginia,  perhaps, 
seeing  this,  held  back ;  and  in  December,  1779,  sent  into  the  disputed 
territory  a  court  of  commissioners  to  adjust  land  titles.  No  event  in 
the  whole  controversy  so  roused  the  ire  of  Pennsylvania  as  did  this 
attempt  to  dispossess  her  own  settlers  and  adjudicate  their  lands  to 


7  See  1  Olden  Time,  451. 

8  The  late  Judge  H.  H.  Brackenridge  (Law  Miscellanies,  254,)  reverses  this  position  of  the 
parties.  His  views  of  the  subject  are  palpably  erronebus  in  other  particulars;  hence,  very 
probably,  in  this  also.  If  the  parties  stood  as  he  places  them,  Pennsylvania  got  more  than  she 
claimed. 

9  It  was  at  this  date  an  open  question  whether  Maryland  would  not  begin  her  western  line  at 
the  "  first  fountain"  of  the  South  branch  of  the  Potomac. 


256  THE   MONONGAHELA   OF   OLD.  [SUPP. 

claimants  who  had  defied  her  jurisdiction.  A  very  determined  intima- 
tion that  a  continuance  of  the  intrusion  would  be  repelled  by  force,  led 
to  its  withdrawal.  Thereupon,  in  June,  1780,  Virginia  ratified  the 
agreement;  clogging  it,  however,  with  a  condition  which  protected  all 
the  rights  to  persons  and  property  which  her  settlers  had  acquired  prior 
to  that  date,  providing  that  rights  to  lands  should  be  determined  by 
priority  of  title  or  settlement,  and  be  paid  for  to  Pennsylvania  at  Vir- 
ginia prices,  if  acquired  from  her.  Under  these  provisions  many  land 
titles  in  South-western  Pennsylvania  are  held  by  patents  based  upon 
Virginia  certificates,  and  west  of  the  Monongahela  there  are  many 
Virginia  patents.  They  conduced  to  many  troubles  and  hardships. 
Pennsylvania  foresaw  that  such  would  be  their  fruits;  and,  therefore, 
for  a  while  withheld  her  assent;  but  at  length,  in  September,  1780, 
declaring  herself  "determined  to  give  to  the  world  the  most  unequivocal 
proof  of  her  earnest  desire  to  promote  peace  and  harmony  with  a  sister 
State,  so  necessary  during  this  great  contest  against  the  common  enemy," 
assented  to  the  unequal  condition.  And  here  this  boundary  controversy 
closed — the  last  of  the  series  which  Pennsylvania  has  had  to  encounter. 

It  remained  yet  to  run  and  mark  the  lines.  This  it  was  intended  to 
do,  in  1781,  permanently;  but  the  pressure  of  the  "great  war  of  liberty" 
compelled  its  postponement.  The  withdrawal  of  Virginia,  in  1780, 
from  the  disputed  and  ceded  territory,  called  for  the  erection  by  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1781,  of  the  county  of  Washington,  comprising  all  of  the 
State  west  of  the  Monongahela  and  south-west  of  the  Ohio.  This  new 
organization  imperatively  demanded  some  ascertainment  of  its  boun- 
daries on  its  two  Virginia  sides.  A  promise  of  a  joint  effort  to  do 
this,  by  a  temporary  line,  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  failed  of  accomplish- 
ment on  the  part  of  Virginia.  It  was  run  in  November,  1782,  by 
Col.  Alex.  M'Clean,  of  Fayette,  (then  Westmoreland,)  and  Joseph 
Neville,  of  Virginia,  from  the  war  path  crossing  of  Dunkard  to  the 
corner,  and  thence  to  the  Ohio.  They  were  instructed  to  extend  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line  twenty-three  miles,  which  proved  to  be  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  too  much ; — an  error  which  occasioned  some  loss  to  certain 
Philadelphia  gentlemen — the  Cooks,  and  perhaps  others,  who,  before 
the  final  running  of  the  lines,  had  caused  some  land-warrants  to  be 
laid,  abutting  upon  the  temporary  line,  on  the  western  border  of,  now 
Greene  county.  Less  than  twenty-two  miles  were  wanting  to  complete 
the  distance  of  the  charter. 

Pending  these  delays  Pennsylvania  had  no  little  trouble  with  many 
of  her  newly-acquired  Washington  county  citizens,  who  hated  her  rule 


SUPP.]  VIRGINIA  CONTROVERSY.  257 

and  resisted  their  transfer.  They  asked  Congress,  under  :i  provision  in 
the  old  Articles  of  Confederation,  to  establish  the  curvilinear  parallel 
with  the  Delaware,  which  would  restore  them  to  Virginia.  Their  pe- 
titions were  unheeded.  Whereupon  they  went  deeply  into  a  project  for 
a  new  State,  which  was  to  include  Western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  east  of 
the  Muskingum,  and  Virginia  northeast  of  the  Kenhawa,  with  Pitts- 
burgh as  the  seat  of  empire.  It  was  a  resurrection  of  the  old  "  Walpole 
grant"  of  1772.^"  So  rife  had  the  scheme  become,  that  Pennsylvania 
had  to  counteract  it  by  all  her  power,  declaring  it,  by  an  Act  passed  in 
December,  1782,  to  be  treason.  In  many  other  ways  her  authority  was 
contemned,  her  laws  resisted,  and  her  officers  defied  and  maltreated.  Es- 
pecially was  this  the  case  with  her  odious  excise  law.  And  in  the  re- 
sistance which  it  encountered  is  found  the  precedents  for  many  of  the 
excesses  of  the  renowned  "Whiskey  Insurrection."  Gradually,  however, 
and  by  the  countervailing  infusions  of  a  more  thorough  Pennsylvania 
population,  the  disaffection  receded ;  and  nowhere,  for  at  least  half  a 
century,  has  any  people  been  more  proud  of  their  government,  or  more 
submissive  to  its  requirements. 

It  was  not  until  1784  that  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  was  completed, 
upon  astronomical  observations,  and  permanently  marked.  The  great 
difficulty — the  nice  point,  was  to  fix  its  western  termination.  To  do 
this,  some  of  the  most  scientific  men  of  that  day  were  employed.  On 
the  part  of  Virginia  they  were  the  Right  Rev.  James  Madison,  Bishop 
of  Virginia,  Rev.  Robert  Andrews,  John  Page  and  Andrew  Ellicott,  of 
Maryland.  The  Pennsylvania  Commissioners  were  JohnLukens,  Sur- 
veyor General,  Rev.  John  Ewing,  D.  D.,  David  Rittenhouse  and 
Thomas  Hutchins.  They  undertook  the  task  from  "an  anxious  desire," 
they  say,  "to  gratify  the  astronomical  world  in  the  performance  of  a 
problem  which  has  never  yet  been  attempted  in  any  country,  and  to 
prevent  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  from  the  chance  of  losing  many 
hundred  thousands  of  acres  secured  to  it  by  the  agreement  at  Baltimore." 
To  solve  the  novel  problem,  two  of  the  artists  of  each  State,  provided 
with  the  proper  astronomical  instruments  and  a  good  time-piece,  re- 
paired to  Wilmington,  Delaware — nearly  on  the  line,  where  they  erected 
an  observatory.  The  other  four,  in  like  manner  furnished  and  with 
commissary,  soldiers  and  servants,  proceeded  to  the  west  end  of  the 


10  Concerning  "Walpole's  grant,"  see  Sparks'  Washington,  356-7,  and  483— Sparks'  Life  of 
Franklin,  339—3  Journals  of  Old  Congress,  359—4  Ditto,  23—4  Pa.  Arch.  483,  579.  On  the  New 
S<o<e  project,  see  2  Olden  Time,  470,  537— Brackenridge's  Law  Miscell.  511—9  Pa.  Arch.  233,  316, 
324,  438,  444,  565,  572,  637—10  Ditto,  40,  41,  163. 


258  THE   MONONGAHELA    OF   OLD.  [SUPP. 

temporary  line,  near  to  which,  on  one  of  the  highest  of  the  Fish  creek 
hills,  they  also  erected  a  rude  observatory.  At  these  stations  each 
party,  during  six  long  weeks  of  days  and  nights  preceding  the  autum- 
nal equinox  of  1784,  continued  to  make  observations  of  the  eclipses  of 
Jupiter's  moons  and  other  celestial  phenomena,  for  the  purposes  of  de- 
termining their  respective  meridians  and  latitude  and  adjusting  their 
time-pieces.  This  done,  two  of  each  party  come  together,  and  they  find 
their  stations  were  apart  twenty  minutes  and  one  and  an  eighth  seconds. 
The  Wilmington  station  was  one  hundred  and  fourteen  (four  pole) 
chains  and  thirteen  links  west  of  the  Delaware.  Knowing  that  twenty 
minutes  of  time  were  equal  to  five  degrees  of  longitude,  they  make 
allowance  for  said  one  hundred  and  fourteen  chains  and  thirteen  links, 
and  for  the  said  one  and  an  eighth  seconds,  (equal,  they  say,  to  nine- 
teen chains  and  ninety-six  links,)  and  upon  these  data  they  shorten 
back  on  the  line  to  twenty  minutes  from  the  Delaware,  and  fix  the 
south-west  corner  of  the  State  by  setting  up  a  square  unlettered  white- 
oak  post,  around  which  they  rear  a  conical  pyramid  of  stones,  "and  they 
are  there  unto  this  day."" 

There  was  no  re-tracing  of  the  line  from  the  north-west  corner  of 
Maryland;  nor  was  it  measured  from  the  end  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
running  to  the  cairn  corner.  All  that  was  done  was  to  connect  these 
two  points  by  opening  vistas  over  the  most  remarkable  heights  and 
planting  posts  on  some  of  them,  at  irregular  distances,  marked  with  P. 
and  V.  on  the  sides,  each  letter  facing  the  State  of  which  it  is  the 
initial.  The  corner  was  guarded  by  two  oak  trees,  with  notches  in 
each,  as  watchers.  It  could  not  be  too  well  secured  ;  for  it,  and  the 
twenty-two  miles  from  the  war  path,  cost  the  State  £1455  specie,  equal 
to  nearly  $4000,  besides  six  dollars  per  day  to  each  of  the  "astrono- 
mers!"^" Their  commissary  was  Col.  Andrew  Porter,  father  of  ex- 
Governor  David  R.  Porter.  Being,  at  the  western  end,  some  "thirty 
miles  from  any  settlements,"  his  duties  were  exceedingly  onerous. 
And  here,  near  the  end  of  1784,  ends  the  history  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line. 

The  next  year  (1785)  the  western  line,  to  the  Ohio,  and  some  forty  or 
fifty  miles  beyond  it,  was  run  and  marked  in  like  manner,  with  the 


n  See  the  Report  in  10  Pa.  Archives,  373, 374. 

i2They  lived  well.  Among  their  "accommodations,"  ordered  by  the  State,  were  60  gallons 
spirits,  20  gallons  brandy,  40  gallons  Madeira  wine,  200  pounds  loaf  sugar,  a  small  keg  of  lime 
[lemon]  juice,  6  pounds  tea,  20  pounds  coffee,  30  pounds  chocolate, 20  pounds  Scotch  barley,  &c. 
— "a  ha'-penuy  worth  of  bread  to  this  intolerable  deal  of  sack." 


SUPP.]  VIRGINIA    CONTROVERSY.  259 

addition  of  deadening  the  trees  in  the  vistas  between  the  hills.  The 
Pennsylvania  artists  were  Col.  Andrew  Porter  and  David  Rittenhouse ; 
those  of  Virginia,  Joseph  Neville  and  Andrew  Ellicott,  the  latter  acting 
for  Pennsylvania  north  of  the  Ohio,  where  Virginia  pretensions  ended 
by  reason  of  her  cession  of  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the  United 
States  in  1784.  It  was  completed  to  Lake  Erie  in  1786,  by  Col. 
Porter  and  Col.  Alexander  M'Clean.  Its  length  is  abont  one  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  miles. 

Thus  honorably  and  successfully  has  Pennsylvania  borne  herself  in 
all  her  boundary  contests ;  never  encroaching  upon  her  neighbors' 
rights,  yet  always  gaining  by  their  intrusions  upon  her  territory.  Her 
uniformly  calm,  patient,  persevering  defensive  policy,  begun  by  her 
Proprietors  and  perpetuated  in  the  Commonwealth,  has  added  one-fourth 
to  the  area  of  her  chartered  limits.  Setting  out  in  her  controversial 
career  upon  the  maxim  :  "Be  just  and  fear  not,"  the  fiercest  assaults 
never  provoked  her  to  retaliate,  nor  did  the  boldest  invasions  ever 
compel  her  to  yield.  And  although  it  would  be  unkind,  if  not  unjust, 
to  accuse  her  invaders  of  willful  aggression,  we  may  safely  say  of  them, 
as  did  Lady  Macbeth  of  her  ''thane  :" 

"  Wouldst  not  play  false,  and  yet  wouldst  wrongly  win." 

In  the  ultimate  accessions  of  both  valuable  territory  and  valuable  pop- 
ulation, with  which  Pennsylvania  was  compensated  for  the  troubles 
they  gave  her,  may  be  read  an  instructive  lesson  to  all  the  States,  in 
the  present  and  all  coming  time — never  to  encroach  upon  any  of  the 
rights  of  a  co-equal  Sovereignty.  The  redress  of  individual  wrongs 
may  be  deferred  to  a  future  state  of  being,  but  the  retributions  which 
communities  incur  admit  of  no  such  postponement : 

"in  these  cases 
We  still  have  judgment  here;  that  we  but  teach 
Bloody  instructions,  which  being  taught,  return 
To  plague  the  inventor  " 


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