Chapter XXI: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (9)

Early in the morning of the 20th, while Lafayette was conversing with a girl who was preparing to go into Philadelphia for intelligence under the pretense of visiting her relations, news came that a body of cavalry had been seen at Whitemarsh, dressed in red. As Lafayette was expecting a detachment of dragoons to join him in that direction, he at first supposed they were his own men and felt no concern.

Lafayette, however, sent out an officer to reconnoiter, who soon returned with the report that a column of the enemy was in full march along the road from Whitemarsh to Swede’s Ford, a little more than a mile from his encampment, and that the front of the column had actually gained the road which led from Barren Hill to Valley Forge.

This was Grant’s division and as another was approaching on the Philadelphia road, the situation of Lafayette’s force was alarming and critical, being nearly surrounded by the enemy.

No time was to be lost. In a few minutes retreat would have been cut off and the army would have fallen an easy prey to the British. Lafayette immediately sent forward small bodies of troops with the view of deceiving Grant into the belief that they were the heads of a large attacking force.

This ruse succeeded. Grant halted and prepared for action to prevent his line from being attacked on its flank, and during the interval thus gained Lafayette and General Poor, with the main body, conducted a skillful retreat over the country between the Ridge road and the Schuylkill, which he crossed at Matson’s Ford.

Grey, with his intercepting force, had cut off the direct retreat to Valley Forge, but had failed to cover Matson’s Ford. The detachments which Lafayette had thrown forward as a “blind” retreated in good order, and when the two columns of the British Army united near Barren Hill Church, General Howe discovered that his intended prize had outwitted and escaped him.

While the artillery was crossing the river, there was a skirmish at Matson’s Ford, in which nine Americans were killed or captured and two British troopers killed and several wounded.

Lafayette drew up his force in strong position on the west bank of the river, and, having planted his cannon, awaited the enemy’s approach. But the British generals made no further movement in that direction, and the army was forced to return to Philadelphia, after a long and fatiguing march, without having accomplished anything. Seldom has a military maneuvre been executed with more success.

Howe and the British officers were intensely mortified at this failure. So sure were they of success that it is said that before the troops left for Barren Hill the General invited some ladies to sup with Lafayette upon his return, while his brother, the admiral, prepared a frigate to send the distinguished prisoner immediately to England.

Fortune had favored the British in so far that Lafayette would not have been surprised, but for the negligence of the Pennsylvania militia, who in disobedience of orders, had removed from their station at Whitemarsh without the General’s knowledge.

An amusing adventure occurred during the retreat. A body of British light horse came suddenly upon the Indians, who were posted in a wood at a considerable distance from the main army. The Indians fired their muskets and set up a hideous yell, according to their custom in battle. Both parties ran off, equally frightened at the unexpected and terrific appearance of their antagonists.

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Stephen Girard, Resident of Philadelphia by
Accident, Born May 21, 1750

Stephen Girard was born near Bordeaux, France, May 21, 1750, the son of a sea captain. At the age of eight a little playmate threw an oyster shell into the open fire, it cracked, a piece struck Stephen and put out his right eye. The other boys of the neighborhood made fun of the one-eyed lad, which, with the sternness of his parents soured Stephen’s disposition, and he became sullen and gloomy.

His mother died, and Stephen could no longer bear to live at home. Although but fourteen he sailed as cabin boy on the ship Pelerin for St. Domingo, and then for nine years sailed between Bordeaux and the French West Indies, during which time he studied navigation, until October 4, 1773, a license was issued “to Stephen Girard, of Bordeaux, full authority to act as captain, master and patron of a merchant vessel.”

His attention now turned to commercial affairs in connection with the pursuit of the sea. His journal contains records of invoices and sales of goods suited to a West Indian market. These goods, amounting in value to $3000 Federal money, were disposed of in St. Domingo, February, 1774.

From the West Indies he sailed to New York, arrived there July, 1774. Here his business tact and shrewdness in trade attracted the notice of Thomas Randall, a prosperous merchant, and for more than two years Girard traded with New York, New Orleans and Port au Prince, on his own account and jointly with Mr. Randall.

One night in May, 1776, Stephen Girard’s vessel was overtaken by a storm and the ship was driven before the gale, until Captain Girard could hear the waves upon the shore. He cast anchor and waited for the morning. When daylight dawned the fog was too heavy for him to locate his position.

Girard fired a cannon as a signal of distress, which was soon answered by the approach of a pilot. “Where are we?” asked Captain Girard. “You are in Delaware Bay,” answered the pilot. “I wish to go to New York,” said Girard. “It can’t be done,” was the reply, “the British ships are swarming outside. You escaped them because of the fog but as soon as it disappears they will see and capture you. You must sail up to Philadelphia.”

Captain Stephen Girard saw that the advice was good, went to Philadelphia, sold his vessel and cargo, and made the city his home.

He set up a small store on Water Street, a short distance from the spot where he afterward located. He had no friends, and could speak English but poorly, but his business ability was so pronounced that he succeeded from the very beginning.

In July, 1777, he married Mary Lumm, of Philadelphia, the daughter of a shipbuilder, but the union was unhappy. Mr. Girard applied for a divorce, but his wife died of insanity in a hospital.

The approach of the British troops to Philadelphia drove Mr. Girard to Mount Holly, N. J., where he enjoyed a profitable trade with the American sailors, until the evacuation of Philadelphia, when he returned and for a few years was associated in business with his brother, John. This connection was dissolved in 1780, by which time Stephen had gained a fortune of $30,000.

During the next ten years he acquired a number of vessels, and had secured the lease on a range of stores at a time when rents were low, which he underlet at a large profit. He began to build a splendid fleet of ships, and soon every ocean saw Girard’s vessels.

Once when the United States was again troubled by the British, a ship owned by Girard, carrying a rich cargo from the East, almost in sight of Delaware Bay, was captured. Girard drove a bargain with the British captain and bought back his vessel for $180,000. Then he brought her to Philadelphia and sold the cargo for $500,000. It was difficult to beat Stephen Girard.

He was very frugal in private life, but generous in public affairs. During the yellow fever epidemic in 1793, Girard personally devoted several hours each day serving in the hospital. Of all his benefactions for the poor of his adopted country, this was really his noblest work.

His mercantile business had grown so profitable and his fortune had increased so rapidly that in June, 1812, he determined to devote his attention to banking. To this end he purchased the bank-house of the Bank of the United States and opened “The Bank of Stephen Girard,” with a capital of $1,200,000, which was increased afterward to $4,000,000.

Just as Robert Morris was the financier of the Revolution, so Stephen Girard was the financier of the War of 1812. In 1814 it looked as though the American cause must fail for lack of funds, and the heads of the national Government were in despair. A loan was offered in the money market, but so low was the credit of the Nation that only $200,000 was subscribed. Thereupon Stephen Girard took the whole issue of bonds, amounting to $5,000,000, and saved us from defeat and a disgraceful peace with England.

Girard contributed liberally to public improvements, and adorned Philadelphia with many handsome buildings.

At the age of eighty Girard was the richest man in America. The same year he was knocked down by a carriage and badly injured. “Go on, doctor, I am an old sailor; I can bear a great deal,” he said to his physician. He lived two years afterward.

When he died, December 26, 1831, his estate was valued at $9,000,000. Besides large bequests to public institutions, he gave $500,000 to improve the water front of Philadelphia. He gave $2,000,000 and a plot of ground for the erection and support of a college for orphans, which was opened January 1, 1848.

At his death he was buried in the vault of the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, but on the completion of Girard College his remains were reinterred in a sarcophagus beneath the statue of the donor in the vestibule of the main building of the college.

Girard College is the most richly endowed educational institution in the world, and its founder was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived, and his accidental residence in Philadelphia was one of the most fortunate incidents in the history of Pennsylvania.

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Philadelphia Paid Homage to Lady
Washington, May 22, 1789

The completion of the Federal Constitution and its adoption by ten of the United States was celebrated on July 4, 1788, by a great procession in the City of Philadelphia. And it was truly a great affair, far surpassing in extent and magnificence anything of the kind the young Nation had yet known.

Immediately after the close of the constitutional convention which this pageant celebrated, General Washington, who had presided over the convention as its president, left Philadelphia for his home at Mount Vernon, again hoping that he might enjoy the freedom of life on his extensive lands on the banks of the Potomac. But this could not be so in his case.

The first election for President of the United States was held January 7, 1789, and the country called Washington to be its first President under the Constitution which he had helped to formulate. President-elect Washington set out from Mount Vernon for New York, where Congress was in session, in April, after having been officially notified of his election.

His many friends in Philadelphia were reluctant to see him go to New York, but made elaborate preparations for his reception in Philadelphia when he should pass through that city on the way to assume the high office. He was met by the Hon. Thomas Mifflin, president of the State; distinguished officers, the First City Troop of Horse and citizens. The imposing parade passed through arches formed of laurel, and along streets crowded with people and buildings decorated with flags. A banquet was spread, toasts were drunk and addresses delivered by the high officials of the State.

The next day President Washington set out for Trenton in his carriage.

Less than a month later Mrs. Washington, or Lady Washington, as many persisted in calling her, followed the general to New York and like her distinguished husband, she was delightfully entertained by her many friends and admirers in Philadelphia.

On Friday, May 22, the two troops of Light Horse, commanded by Captain Miles and Bingham, accompanied by General Mifflin, president of the State; Richard Peters, Speaker of the Assembly, and many ladies and gentlemen prominent in Philadelphia and the State, went to a point near Darby to meet her. Mrs. Robert Morris with a company of ladies in carriages joined the escort there.

When Mrs. Washington arrived all went to Grays Ferry where a fine collation was served at Gray’s Garden. In the party besides the president of the State and Speaker of the Assembly, were Temple Franklin, Benjamin Crew, Jr., Robert Morris, Jr., William Morris, Richard Bache, John Ross, Robert Hare, George Harrison, Samuel Meredith, also the gentlemen troopers, a large number of Continental officers, citizens and about twenty ladies.

There is a record of this luncheon and bill of expenses which reveal that the company consumed ten bottles of Madeira wine, one bottle of champagne, two bottles of claret, forty-five bowls of punch, ten bottles of American porter, one bottle of ale, and two bottles of cider.

The honored visitor was then escorted by the troopers to the residence of Robert Morris, on High Street, amid the ringing of bells, the discharge of salvos of artillery, and the shouts of great crowds of people.

Mrs. Washington remained in Philadelphia over the week-end. There were entertainments given in her honor during these two days.

On Monday she was similarly complimented upon her departure for New York, and accompanied by Mrs. Robert Morris, she was escorted upon her way for a considerable distance.

In New York, on May 29, at the opening levee, Mrs. Morris occupied the first place on the right of the hostess. This position of honor was accorded her whenever she was present at a similar function, either in New York or Philadelphia.

The glad news was soon received in Philadelphia that the capital was to be removed from New York to the city which had been the capital of the thirteen colonies during the Revolution and where the Constitution of the United States was born.

President and Mrs. Washington soon became comfortably settled in the fine home of Robert Morris, the same house which Sir William Howe occupied while the British were in possession of Philadelphia and General Washington was suffering with the Colonial troops at Valley Forge. The Morris house was built of brick, three stories high. The stable could accommodate twelve horses. This property was purchased by Mr. Morris in August, 1785, and at once he rebuilt the house, which had been destroyed by fire in 1780. Mr. and Mrs. Morris moved into the house which had been confiscated from Joseph Galloway during the Revolution. It adjoined the other residence.

The President and Mrs. Washington reached Philadelphia November 27, 1790. At the first levee given Mr. and Mrs. Morris were, as usual, honored guests.

The home of the Washingtons became noted for its generous hospitality. The younger people of the President’s household, as well as their elders, were fond of going to the theatre.

The family of the President and his wife included Miss Custis, a granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, aged about sixteen, and George Washington Custis, her brother, about eighteen years old.

Their dinners were elegant and in good taste. President Washington had a stud of twelve or fourteen horses and occasionally rode out to take the air with six horses to the coach, and always two footmen behind his carriage.

When the news reached Philadelphia that Washington had died, bells were muffled for three days, a funeral procession was held and Major General Henry Lee delivered an oration.

With Washington gone, the removal of the capital to the new Federal City did not bring such a wrench to the people of Philadelphia, who dearly loved the great and good man and his estimable wife.

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Moravian Mission at Wyalusing Established
May 23, 1763

During the month of May, 1760, Christian Frederic Post, the renowned Moravian, on his way with a message from James Hamilton, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, to the Great Indian Council at Onondaga, the seat of government of the Six Nations, stopped overnight at Wyalusing in now Bradford County. At the request of Papunhank, the chief of the Munsee, and the other Indians, he preached a sermon. Among those in the crowd on that occasion were Job Chilloway, the friendly Delaware Indian interpreter, and Tom Curtis, another Indian of much consequence.

Papunhank was losing his influence among his people on account of his own dissolute life, and a movement was started to bring in white teachers. In their councils, however, they were divided in opinion, one party favoring the Quakers and the other the Moravians, and so equal was the strength of the two parties that neither was willing to yield to the other. Their differences were compromised by agreeing to accept the first teacher who came.

John Woolman, the prominent Quaker evangelist, having made the acquaintance of some of the Wyalusing Indians at Philadelphia, probably of Papunhank himself, after much deliberation, set out in company with Benjamin Parvin, to visit the town, in May, 1763, purposing, if he should be well received, to remain with them and teach them the gospel.

In the meantime, news of the awakened interest in religion at Wyalusing reached the ears of Reverend David Zeisberger, the celebrated Moravian apostle to the Indians, and he left Bethlehem May 18, 1763, meeting Woolman on the mountain below Wilkes-Barre, where they dined together. Zeisberger proceeded on his way and reached Wyalusing on May 23, two days before Woolman arrived there.

When Zeisberger had arrived a short distance above the Lackawanna, he was met by Job Chilloway who informed him of the conclusion of the council at Onondaga, and accompanied him to Papunhank’s town. Here Zeisberger was received as the divinely sent messenger, and though wearied by his long journey, at once set about preaching the gospel to his waiting and anxious hearers.

Woolman, on his arrival two days later, was received kindly, but was informed that, according to the decisions of their council, Zeisberger must be regarded as their accepted teacher. After remaining five days to assist in inaugurating the good work, he departed, with many prayers for the abundant success of the mission. The opportune arrival of Zeisberger was the occasion of founding one of the most important and successful missions ever established among the North American Indians.

Zeisberger was appointed resident missionary at Wyalusing soon as it was learned that he had been so well received. He prosecuted his labors there and at Tawandaemenk, a village at the mouth of Towanda Creek, with great success.

Scarcely had a month elapsed from the time Zeisberger’s first visit to Wyalusing, before the Pontiac War broke out, and the messengers of that celebrated chieftain were sent to every village on the Susquehanna, to urge the Indians to again take up the hatchet which they had so recently buried. These emissaries arrived at Wyalusing and Zeisberger was soon commanded to leave the town. All was now excitement and commotion. The intrepid missionary was compelled to suspend the work so auspiciously begun, but not before he had baptised Papunhank, who received the name of John, and another Indian who was called Peter.

The Moravian Christian Indians, for their greater security during the Pontiac War, in which they refused to take any part, were removed first to a settlement near Bethlehem, and then to Province Island, in the Delaware River, a little below Philadelphia, where they were sheltered in Government barracks. Thither Papunhank and twenty of his followers hastened. Here they lived for seventeen months, and at the first dawn of peace, emerged from their prison-like home and again sought homes in the forest. Papunhank invited the whole company to settle in his town on the Susquehanna. They accepted and marched to that place, led by their beloved teachers, Reverend Zeisberger and Reverend John Jacob Schmick.

This company, consisting of eighty adults and ninety children, set out from Bethlehem and after a tedious march of thirty-six days, arrived at Wyalusing May 9, 1765. They immediately set about building their town, and during the season thirty bark-covered huts, four log cabins, a mission house and church were erected.

The town was built on the east side of the river, about two miles south of the present borough of Wyalusing, and near the Sugar Run Station on the P. and N. Y. Railroad. The church was built of logs and had a belfry in which hung a bell. The town was surrounded by a post and rail fence. The streets were regularly cleaned by the Indian women. Adjoining the town were 250 acres of plantations. They also maintained sugar camps on Sugar Run.

The mission in 1766 received the name of Friedenshutten, meaning “Huts of Peace.” A schoolhouse was built next to the church, where adults and children were taught to read in both Delaware and German. Traders were not allowed to bring spirituous liquors into the town.

In 1767 the mission entertained Tuscarora and Nanticoke Indians on their migration northward.

Another mission was started at Sheshequanink, the present Ulster, soon after the close of the Pontiac War, but did not prosper as much as the older one. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix, November 5, 1768, the Six Nations sold this land away from the Delaware, and the Moravians were unable to induce Governor Penn to give them the land.

In September, 1766, Zeisberger left Friedenhutten, and went to the Delaware Indians on the Ohio River, where he established a mission. He soon induced the Indians at Wyalusing to follow him, and on June 11, 1772, the Indians at Wyalusing assembled in the church for the last time and then they marched in two companies for the Big Beaver, in now Lawrence County. They were led by the Reverend John Ettwein on this journey.

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Peaceful Family of Chief Logan Slain by
Whites, May 24, 1774

In the spring of the year 1774, at a time when the Indians seemed to be quiet and tranquil, a party of Virginians attacked the Mingo settlement, on the Ohio River, and slaughtered the entire population, even the women with their children in their arms, and members of the great Chief Logan’s family were among the slain.

This tragic event occurred on May 24, 1774, and according to the common belief at the time was perpetrated by Captain Michael Cresap, and a party who deliberately set out to kill every Indian they met, without regard to age or sex.

The first person to state that Logan’s family was murdered by Cresap was no other than Thomas Jefferson, in his “Notes in Virginia.”

The main authority for the vindication of Michael Cresap’s memory, is the extremely rare little volume, Jacob’s “Life of Cresap,” published in 1826. Jacob sets up an alibi for Cresap, but the present writer accepts the popular story that the wanton murder was perpetrated under the direction of Cresap.

Tahgahjute was the second son of Shikellamy, the great vicegerent of the Six Nations. He was born at Shamokin, about 1725, and was given his Christian name Logan in honor of James Logan, Secretary of the Province, who was a devoted friend of the great Shikellamy.

But little is known of the early life of Logan, but he worked his way West by degrees. He was for a time on the Juniata, where several places still bear his name, but his final home was near the mouth of the Yellow Creek, thirty miles above Wheeling.

Reverend John Heckewelder, the noted Moravian missionary among the Indians, while passing down the Ohio, in April, 1773, stopped at Logan’s settlement and in his interesting journal notes that “I received every civility I could expect from such of the family as were at home.”

Cresap was on the Ohio, below Wheeling, engaged in making a settlement. Some pioneers resolved to attack an Indian town near the mouth of the Sciota, and solicited Cresap to command the expedition. They attacked two canoes filled with Indians, chased them fifteen miles down the river, where a skirmish ensued, and the Indians who were not killed were taken. On the return of this party they planned an expedition against the settlement of Logan.

Cresap and his party proceeded to a point near the settlement and encamped on the bank, when some Indians passed them peaceably and encamped at the mouth of Grave Creek, a little below. Cresap attacked and killed the party. One of Cresap’s men fell in this action. Among the slain of the Indians were some of Logan’s family. Smith, one of the murderers, boasted of this fact in the presence of Logan’s friends.

This party then proceeded to Baker’s Bottom, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, when Greathouse, a spy, crossed over and approached the Indian camp as a friend and counted them. He reported their number too large to attack and was then warned by an Indian woman to leave, as the Indians had learned of Cresap’s murder of their relatives at Grave Creek and were angry and that they were drinking.

He returned to Baker’s, collected a large enough force, all got drunk, and then in that condition they fell upon and massacred the whole Indian camp except a girl, whom they kept as a prisoner. Among the slain was the woman who had warned him of his danger. A sister of Logan was inhumanly and indecently butchered in this attack.

This commenced the war, of which Logan’s war club was the chief factor. The first family murdered by him was the warning of what might be expected. Logan left a note in the house of the murdered family, and, true to his threat, great numbers of innocent men, women and children fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife until the decisive battle at Point Pleasant October 10, 1774.

When Lord Dunmore finally conquered the Indians and the treaty was held, Cornstalk was the principal speaker. He laid much stress for the cause of the war on the murder of Logan’s family. Logan disdained to meet with the white men in council and sat sullenly in his cabin while the treaty was in progress. Dunmore sent Captain (afterward Major General) John Gibson to invite him to the council. General Gibson later became one of the Associate Judges of Allegheny County.

The old Mingo chief took Gibson into the woods and, sitting down upon a mossy root, told him the story of the wrongs done to him and, as Gibson related, shedding many bitter tears. He refused to go to the council, but, unwilling to disturb the deliberations by seeming opposition, he sent a speech by the hand of Gibson to Governor Dunmore, which has been preserved and greatly admired for its pathetic eloquence. The speech was as follows:

“I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan’s cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the white, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man.’ I had ever thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.”

Lossing, in his “Field-Book of the Revolution,” says: “Logan, whose majestic person and mental accomplishments were the theme of favorable remark, became a victim of intemperance. Earlier than the time when Dunmore called him to council, he was addicted to the habit. The last three years of his life were very melancholy. Notwithstanding the miseries he had suffered at the hands of the white men, his benevolences made him the prisoner’s friend, until intemperance blunted his sensibilities, and in 1780 we find him among the marauders at Ruddell’s Station.”

The manner of his death is differently related. The patient researches of Mr. Mayer lead the writer to adopt his as the correct one, as it was from the lips of an aged Mohawk whom he saw at Caghnawaga, twelve miles from Montreal, in the summer of 1848. His mother was a Shawnee woman, and when he was a boy he often saw Logan. Mayer says:

“In a drunken frenzy near Detroit, in 1780, Logan struck his wife to the ground. Believing her dead, he fled to the wilderness. Between Detroit and Sandusky, he was overtaken by a troop of Indian men, women and children. Not yet sober, he imagined that the penalty of his crime was about to be inflicted by a relative. Being well armed, he declared that the whole party should be destroyed. In defense, his nephew, Todkahdohs, killed him on the spot, by a shot from his gun. His wife recovered from his blow.” Chief Logan died November 28, 1780.

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Hamilton Pleads with Governor of Maryland
for Release of Pennsylvanians,
May 25, 1734

Thomas Penn informed the Council, May 14, 1734, that the business then to be considered by them related to some very unneighborly proceedings in the province of Maryland, in not only harassing some of the inhabitants of this province who live on the border, but likewise extending their claims much farther than has heretofore been pretended to be Maryland, and carrying off several persons and imprisoning them.

Governor Penn then advised the Council that Marylanders had entered the settlements of John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, on the Susquehanna, in what is now York County, and carried them off to Annapolis and confined them in jail.

The Governor arranged with Andrew Hamilton, Esq., to appear for the prisoners. He was accompanied by John Georges, his secretary.

They made their visit and on their return made a full report to Governor Penn.

Hamilton related that they were denied an interview with the prisoners, but this was allowed them the following day, when the prisoners gave an account of their arrest. They did not know what charges were lodged against them.

The lawyer then appealed to Governor Ogle who advised them that the charges against the prisoners were serious. Hamilton suggested that even if this be true the men were taken into custody by Maryland officials on Pennsylvania soil, and should be punished in that province.

Governor Ogle then ennumerated the many abuses the inhabitants of Maryland had suffered from those of Pennsylvania. This interview ended by appointment for a meeting before council on the following morning. At this meeting, which was pretty much bluff and bluster, but little was accomplished.

It was, however, agreed that each party should reduce their claims to writing and then present them to the King for settlement.

Hamilton prepared his instrument and ably defended the part of Pennsylvania, and recited the agreements of 1724 and 1732, which were intended to quiet all disputes on the border, until actual surveys should be concluded.

He stated that notwithstanding these agreements, “two of his Majesty’s subjects, John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, inhabitants of Lancaster County, settled upon lands legally surveyed and patented to them under the proprietors of Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river Susquehanna, had been taken from their homes, which were at least eight miles to the northward of Philadelphia, and about twenty-three miles to the northward of the line agreed upon by the aforesaid articles to be the northern bounds of Maryland, which line runs near the mouth of Octoraroe Creek, to the northward of which Maryland has never exercised any jurisdiction, except over thirteen families, that is known to Pennsylvania, till within two or three years, about the time when an absolute boundary was agreed upon by the proprietors, though Pennsylvania has maintained its government as far southward as the mouth of the said creek for above these thirty years.”

The jail was too filthy to hold further conversation with the four Pennsylvanians and permission was obtained for the sheriff to take them to his home, where the interview was had.

They insisted they had never done or said anything against Lord Baltimore, and that if such was charged against them Thomas Cresap is the only man wicked enough to bring such false charges.

Hamilton could not get his clients into court as they were under prosecution in Provincial Court, and Governor Ogle would not interfere.

Several interviews were held with the Governor, even in his own home, but at each the executive insisted on reviewing a long list of transgressions along the border and would not agree to anything Hamilton had to propose.

On May 25 the most important session was had and Governor Ogle refused even to concur in the proposal made by Hamilton that they agree upon bounds which should be judged reasonable, upon which lands no persons should plant new settlements under severe penalties.

Hamilton and Georges then said, in their report, that they saw from the first that the Governor was resolved to avoid doing anything that might prevent further differences upon the boundaries. The Governor finally ceased to further discuss the question.

When the four prisoners were tried in Provincial Court they were denied their liberty, lest it should be understood as giving up his Lordship’s right to the lands in question.

Hamilton then drew up a memorial, citing the unreasonable proceedings of Maryland and the absolute necessity Pennsylvania would be under for its own protection. It was a strong argument, but of no avail. They returned to Philadelphia in disgust.

The border troubles grew in intensity and especially when Cresap and his followers were the most active.

Hendricks and Minshall were released at the end of their sentence and many of the stirring scenes along the border occurred in the vicinity of their settlements and with them as provincial actors in the drama.

The arrest of Cresap put a stop to the local warfare but the survey of the Mason and Dixon Line fixed for all time the actual boundary between the States.

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General Sullivan Arrives at Easton to Subdue
Six Nations, May 26, 1779

In the summer of 1778 Colonel Thomas Hartley made a successful expedition against the Six Nations Indians, marching from Fort Muncy, in present Lycoming County, to Tioga, covering 300 miles in two weeks. His army destroyed every Indian town, defeated the Indians in each encounter and brought off much food and Indian goods.

The settlers, who had taken flight, now ventured back and harvested their crops, but by spring the Indians had become bolder and more treacherous than ever before. The attention of Congress was drawn to this distress along the frontier and General Washington was directed to relieve the situation.

The Commander-in-chief selected Major General John Sullivan, and in April, 1779, directed him to prepare for an expedition into the heart of the Six Nations’ country. General Washington made no mistake in the selection of General Sullivan. He proved equal to the stupendous undertaking.

General Sullivan immediately began his preparations, but the real start of this expedition may properly be considered as of May 26, 1779, when he arrived at Easton with his command. General Washington gave him his directions in a long and interesting letter of instructions. He told him that the expedition he was to command against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations was to discourage predatory marauds on our frontier settlements and to retaliate for the horrible massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and, “if opportunity favored, for the capture of Niagara and an invasion into Canada.”

But Washington advised him that “the immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. So soon as your preparations are in sufficient forwardness you will assemble your main body at Wyoming and proceed thence to Tioga, taking from that place the most direct and practicable route into the heart of the Indian settlements.”

General Sullivan established a rendezvous at Easton, May 26, 1779, and then marched to Wyoming, where he experienced a long and tedious wait, caused by the failure of both Continental and State authorities to properly clothe and provision the army, and the further embarrassment that promised re-enforcements were not furnished.

In spite of these discouragements, General Sullivan determined to march, and July 31, 1779, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the army left Wyoming on its march up the Susquehanna, accompanied by 120 boats.

The army was composed of the following: General Edward Hand’s brigade, which consisted of the light corps, made up of the German Regiment and that commanded by Colonel Adam Hubley and the Independent regiments of Colonels Shott and Spalding; and General Maxwell’s brigade, consisting of four regiments under Colonels Dayton, Shreeve, Ogden, and Spencer; and General Poor’s brigade, with four regiments under Colonels Cilley, Reed, Scammel and Courland. The second line, or reserves were the commands of Colonels Livingston, Dubois, Gainsworth and Olden. Colonel Thomas Proctor’s artillery was also a most important part of this army.

The several encampments were made at Lackawanna, then at Quiltimunk, Tunkhannock, Vanderlip’s farm, and Wyalusing, which was reached August 6, when a heavy rain kept the army in camp two days.

On Sunday, August 8, the army reached Standing Stone, a place which derives its name from a large stone standing erect in the river. It is twenty feet in height, fourteen feet wide and three feet in thickness.

The army was forced to go into camp at Standing Stone on account of the indisposition of General Sullivan and inability to bring up the boats.

Their next encampment was at Sheshecununk, and on the following day, August 11, had extreme difficulty fording the river before reaching Tioga Flats, where Queen Esther’s Town stood, until destroyed by Colonel Hartley the previous year.

Indians were discovered at Chemung, twelve miles distant, and an expedition was set in motion to destroy their village. The main army marched through the night and arrived at daylight, but the Indians, aware of the advancing army, had evacuated the village, but made a determined stand at Newtown.

General Sullivan pushed on with great vigor and formed a junction with General Clinton’s army August 19. On August 29, 1500 Indians, under Joe Brant and Captain John MacDonald, and the British and Tories, under Colonel John Butler and the two Johnstons, attacked the Americans near the scene of the Newtown battle.

The enemy was well entrenched, thinking to destroy our army at a narrow defile in front of their breastworks. This situation was discovered by Captain Parr when Colonel Proctor opened a cannon fire on the enemy, who retreated to a much stronger position, but too closely pursued by Poor’s troops.

The Americans charged up the hill with bayonets and poured deadly fire into their ranks, driving them from the field. Nine Indians were killed and left on the ground to be scalped by the troops.

Every Indian village was burned and the savages were made to understand that the Americans were their masters.

The return march was made to Wyoming, where the army arrived October 8. A great feast on venison and wild turkey was had in honor of their effective service.

The army reached Easton October 15, and Congress set apart October 26, as a day for a general thanksgiving.

General Sullivan had shattered his constitution by years of constant exposure in the field and suffered much from an accident received in this campaign, and he was given a leave “as long as he shall judge it expedient for the recovery of his health.” He was thanked by Congress for his services. During the whole campaign his conduct was distinguished by courage, energy and skill.

General Sullivan could not recover his full vigor and resigned from the army at the close of 1779, but was convalescing when elected to Congress. He went to that body with much reluctance, but his services there were as conspicuous and patriotic as they had been on many a bloody battlefield. He died January 23, 1795.

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Patriotic Women Feed Soldiers at Cooper
Shop and Union Saloons,
May 27, 1861

During the Civil War Philadelphia lay in the channel of the great stream of volunteers from New England, New York, New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania, that commenced flowing early in May, 1861. Working in grand harmony the national and more extended organizations for the relief of the soldiers, were houses of refreshment and temporary hospital accommodations furnished by the citizens of Philadelphia.

The soldiers crossing New Jersey, and the Delaware River at Camden, were landed at the foot of Washington Avenue, where, weary and hungry, they often sought in vain for sufficient refreshments in the bakeries and groceries in the neighborhood before entering the cars for Washington or other points of rendezvous.

One morning the wife of a mechanic living near, commiserating the situation of some soldiers who had just arrived, went out with her coffee-pot and a cup, and distributed its contents among them. That generous hint was the germ of a wonderful system of relief for the passing soldiers, which was immediately developed in this patriotic and historic city.

Soon other benevolent women, living in the vicinity of the landing-place of the volunteers, imitated their patriotic sister, and a few of them formed themselves into a committee for the regular distribution of coffee on the arrival of soldiers. Soon the men in the neighborhood interested themselves in procuring other supplies.

The women who formed this original committee were Mrs. William M. Cooper, Mrs. Grace Nickles, Mrs. Sarah Ewing, Mrs. Elizabeth Vansdale, Mrs. Catherine Vansdale, Mrs. Jane Coward, Mrs. Susan Turner, Mrs. Sarah Mellen, Mrs. Catherine Alexander, Mrs. Mary Plant, and Mrs. Captain Watson.

For a few days the refreshments were dispensed under the shade of trees in front of the cooper shop owned by William M. Cooper and Henry W. Pearce, on Otsego Street near Washington Avenue. Then this shop was generously offered for the purpose by the proprietors, and immediately it was equipped with tables and such kitchen arrangements as were necessary to prepare such foods as was supplied by the voluntary contributions raised among the citizens of Philadelphia. The young women, wives and daughters of those resident in the neighborhood waited upon the soldiers.

The first body of troops fed at the saloon was the Eighth New York Regiment, called the German Rifles, under Colonel Blenker. There were 780 men who partook of a coffee breakfast there on the morning of May 27, 1861.

The cooper shop was not spacious enough to accommodate the daily increasing number of soldiers, and another place of refreshment was opened on the corner of Washington Avenue and Swanson Street, in a building formerly used as a boathouse and rigger’s loft. Two Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Committees were formed and known respectively as the “Cooper Shop” and the “Union.”

Both were in effective working order on May 27. The following were the principal officers of the two associations, respectively: The Cooper Shop: President, William M. Cooper; vice president, C. V. Fort; treasurer, Adam M. Simpson; secretaries, William M. Maull and E. S. Hall. The Union: Chairman, Arad Barrows; secretary, J. B. Wade; treasurer, B. S. Brown; steward, J. T. Williams.

These two organizations worked in harmony and generous rivalry all through the period of the war and rendered wonderful service. Both saloons were enlarged as necessity required and both had temporary hospitals attached to them. These were used for such soldiers who were sick or wounded and who were unable to leave Philadelphia and who required rest or nursing and medical attendance to restore them to health and duty.

Cooper Hospital was under the charge of Dr. Andrew Nebinger, assisted by his brother, Dr. George Nebinger, and Miss Anna M. Ross. After the death of Miss Ross, Mrs. Abigail Horner became the lady principal of the “Cooper Shop Hospital.”

Dr. Eliab Ward had charge of the “Union Hospital.” He gave his services throughout the war free of charge. Nearly 11,000 sick and wounded soldiers were nursed and received medical attention at this hospital, and nearly twice that number had their wounds dressed, and more than 40,000 had a night’s lodging.

An accurate record was kept of all the operations of the “Union Saloon,” which show that 800,000 soldiers were received and 1,025,000 meals were furnished, and the total amount of money expended being $98,204.34, and for materials used there was expended $30,000, a grand total of $128,204.34, all of which was received by voluntary contributions.

The women who devoted themselves to the service of preparing the meals and waiting upon this vast host deserve the choicest blessings of their country.

At all hours of the day and night these self-sacrificing heroines, when a little signal gun employed for the purpose announced the approach of a train bearing soldiers, would repair to their saloons and cheerfully dispense their generous bounties.

The little cannon used as a signal had a notable history. It was part of the ordnance in the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande in 1846, where it was captured, only to be recaptured by a United States cruiser.

The last regiment of soldiers fed in either of these saloons was the 104th Pennsylvania, Colonel Kephart, numbering 748 men, on August 28, 1865.

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Colonel William Clapham and Family Murdered
by Indians, May 28, 1763

Colonel William Clapham was an English officer who rendered conspicuous service on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and who, like many others, paid the price with his scalp in the uneven warfare waged by the Indians and their French allies.

William Clapham was born in England July 5, 1722, and after graduating from college, entered the army as an ensign. He was sent to America during the French and Indian War. He subsequently resigned his commission and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he was living at the time of Braddock’s defeat.

This disaster to the English arms caused Captain Clapham to again offer his services, this time to the Province of Pennsylvania. He was commissioned a captain and sent by Governor Morris into Bucks County to recruit troops and to muster into the Provincial service the company recruited by Captain Insley, who were ordered to join the regular troops then posted at Reading and Easton.

While Captain Clapham was on this tour of duty he journeyed to Fort Allen to make a visit with some friends. The Assembly at this moment was pressing Colonel Benjamin Franklin to return to his seat in that body. The three forts being completed, and the inhabitants willing to remain on their plantations with soldiers in these garrisons, Colonel Franklin placed Captain Clapham in full command and departed.

This was only a temporary command, but Governor Morris, March 29, 1756, commissioned him lieutenant-colonel, and assigned him to the Third Battalion. He also ordered the Colonel to assemble his troops as soon as possible at Hunter’s Mill, preparatory to marching to Shamokin (now Sunbury), where he was to build a substantial fort.

Colonel Clapham recruited 400 men for that purpose. He assembled his force at Fort Hunter, where he began training them. Before they marched from this encampment Governor Morris paid them an official visit, the incidents of which are quite entertaining and very interesting.

Colonel Clapham marched his command to Armstrongs, built Fort Halifax, stationed a garrison there, and finally proceeded up the river to Shamokin, where he arrived July 1, and immediately set about building Fort Augusta. This formidable fortress was finished in October.

From the very beginning of this frontier service Colonel Clapham experienced no end of trouble with his officers. He seems to have been overbearing and a hard taskmaster. He bore many insults, as he termed them, from the Assembly. These frequent disputes and misunderstandings with his officers wore out his patience and he resigned in November, 1756, being succeeded by Major James Burd of Lancaster.

Notwithstanding the confusion and ill-feeling which prevailed among the officers and men during the building of Fort Augusta, it seems that a secret directing power had prevented everything from falling into chaos and much good was accomplished. Had it not been for this unseen power, the fort would have been captured by the French and Indians and the whole North and West Branch Valleys would have been overrun and held by the enemy at this most critical period in the history of the Province.

He was a most conspicuous figure on the early frontiers. Even Colonel Clapham’s enemies, or those who thought he was not an acceptable officer, must have been moved to deep and sincere sympathy when they learned the sad fate which so soon afterward befell him and his family on the western frontier of Pennsylvania.

He did not long remain out of the service when his resignation as commander of the garrison at Fort Augusta was accepted. In 1763 he was an active officer in the expedition of Colonel Henry Bouquet on the western frontier of the Province.

He was in command of a formidable scouting party when he was murdered on Sewickley Creek, near where the town of West Newton now stands.

This tragedy occurred on the afternoon of May 28, 1763, and was committed by The Wolf, Kektuscung and two other Indians, one of whom was called Butler.

Colonel Clapham had taken his family to this frontier, and was very near his own home when these Indians shot him from ambush, rushed into his house, killed and scalped his wife and three children and a woman. The two women were treated with brutal indecency. They left evidences of the fact that they were paying an old score with Colonel Clapham, and the scene was horrible to behold.

At the time of the murder of the Claphams, three men who were working at some distance from the Clapham house escaped through the woods and carried the terrible news to the garrison in Fort Pitt.

Two soldiers, who were in Colonel Clapham’s detail, and stationed at a sawmill near the fort, were killed and scalped by these same Indians.

It seems that there were others slain in this massacre for Colonel Burd entered in his journal, June 5, 1763, that “John Harris gave me an account of Colonel Clapham and twelve men being killed near Pittsburgh, and two Royal Americans being killed at the saw mill.”

Colonel Bouquet in a letter to General Amherst, dated Fort Pitt, May 31, 1763, says: “We have most melancholy reports here * * * the Indians have broke out in several places, and murdered Colonel Clapham and his family.”

Judge Jasper Yeates made a visit to Braddock’s battlefield in August, 1776, and then to the site of Fort Pitt. He remarked about seeing the grave of Colonel Clapham.

It is probable that the family became extinct after the Indians perpetrated their dastardly crime, and the ashes of the famous commander and builder of Fort Augusta have long since mingled with the soil.

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Free Society of Traders Organized with Aid
of Penn, May 29, 1682

Soon as William Penn received the grant of land in America which is now Pennsylvania, he immediately issued advertisements in which certain concessions were offered to settlers. Among those who made application for large quantities of land were companies organized for colonization purposes.

One such company was “The Free Society of Traders,” whose plans Penn favored and whose constitution and charter he helped to draw.

The first general court of this society was held in London May 29, 1682, at which time the “Articles, Settlement and Offices” of the society were adopted and the actual operations begun.

The charter to the Pennsylvania Company, the Free Society of Traders, bears date March 24, 1862. The incorporators named in Penn’s deed to them were “Nicholas More, of London, medical doctor; James Claypoole, merchant; Philip Ford (Penn’s unworthy steward); William Sherloe, of London, merchant; Edward Pierce, of London, leather seller; John Symcock and Thomas Brassey, of Cheshire, yeoman; Thomas Barker, of London, wine cooper, and Edward Brookes, of London, grocer.”

The deed recites Penn’s authority under his patent, mentions the conveyance to the company of 20,000 acres in Philadelphia, erects this tract into the manor of Frank, “in free and common Socage, by such rents, customs and services, as to them and their successors shall seem meet, so as to be consistent with said tenure.” It allowed them two justices’ courts a year and other legal privileges.

In addition to the first 20,000 acres, their appurtenant city lots “was an entire street, and one side of a street from river to river,” comprising 100 acres, exclusive of an additional 400 acres owned in the Liberties. The location of the property was the tract between Spruce and Pine streets, from the Delaware to the Schuylkill River, 366 feet in width. Their lands were given the name Society Hill.

The society was empowered to appoint and remove its officers and servants, to levy taxes, etc. An important privilege was the authority given to be represented in the Provincial Council by three representatives of the society.