Chapter XXV: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (13)

Binns came out against Dr. Leib for Assembly and Duane for the Senate. The former was elected, but Duane was badly beaten. This was the Aurora’s first defeat and it groaned aloud.

Binns was powerful in the election of Snyder in 1808. He had brought back the Constitutional Republicans into the fold and was able to control the party against both Duane and Leib.

Dr. Leib was elected to the United States Senate early in 1809, but Governor Snyder’s course was by no means pleasing to Duane. The Press defended him, while the Aurora criticized everything he did. The Aurora threatened to impeach the Governor, and Binns called the Aurora and its supporters “The Philadelphia Junto.”

Binns and his party favored war with England, and here again he came into opposition with “Leib, Duane & Co.,” as the Press called them.

Duane and Leib lost all control of the Legislature. In 1811 the Federalists were successful, and Snyder was overwhelmingly re-elected. The Aurora published nothing about the impending war, the Press supported every movement which forwarded its progress, and this was the popular side. Governor Snyder appointed his friend Binns as aide-de-camp, and he was active throughout the war.

Leib was appointed Postmaster at Philadelphia in February, 1814, but Binns succeeded in having Postmaster General Granger removed, and his successor immediately removed Leib, who then disappeared from the political field.

Duane soon followed Leib into political obscurity and Binns was in the zenith of his power. Had Binns not quarreled with Findlay soon as his election he would have held his power for many more years. It was particularly unfortunate that he opposed the election of Andrew Jackson in 1824 and afterward.

He was appointed an alderman by Governor Hiester in 1822, a position he held for many years.

The Democratic Press was issued for the last time on November 14, 1829, it having been absorbed by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1840 Binns published “A Digest of the Laws and Judicial Decisions of Pennsylvania Touching of Authority of Justices of the Peace,” which was revised and republished under the title “Magistrate’s Manual,” a book popularly known as “Binns’ Justice.”

Binns held a number of positions of honor and trust, among which was directorship of the Pennsylvania Bank.

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First Deed for Chester County Conveyed to
William Penn, June 25, 1683

The territory now included in Chester County was honorably purchased of the Indians by William Penn and conveyed in several distinct deeds. The first, bearing date June 25, 1683, and signed by an Indian called Wingebone, conveys to William Penn all his lands on the west side of the Schuylkill, beginning at the first falls and extending along and back from that river, in the language of the instrument, “so far as my right goeth.”

By another deed of July 14, 1683, two chiefs granted to the Proprietary the land lying between the Chester and Schuylkill Rivers. From Kekelappan and Machaloa, the Conestoga chiefs, he purchased half the land between the Susquehanna and the Delaware in September, and from Malchaloa all the lands from the Delaware to Chesapeake Bay up to the falls of the Susquehanna in October.

These were all the land transactions Penn had with the Indians in 1683 of which the conveyances have been recorded.

By a deed of July 30, 1684, Shakhoppoh, Secane and Malibor conveyed the land between the Chester and Pennypack Creeks. Another conveyance was made on October 2, 1685, for the greater portion of the lands constituting the present county of Chester. This last instrument is a quaint piece of conveyancing and shows the value attached by the natives to their lands.

“This indenture witnesseth that we, Packenah, Jackham, Sikals, Portquesott, Jervis, Essepenaick, Felkstrug, Porvey, Indian kings, sachemmakers, right owners of all lands from Quing Quingus, called Duck cr., unto Upland, called Chester cr., all along said west side of Delaware River, and so between the said creeks backwards as far as man can ride in two days with a horse, for in consideration of these following goods to us in hand paid, and secured to be paid by William Penn, Proprietary of Pennsylvania and the territories thereof, viz.; 20 guns, 20 fathoms match coat, 20 fathoms stroud water, 20 blankets, 20 kettles, 20 pounds of powder, 100 bars of lead, 40 tomahawks, 100 knives, 40 pairs of stockings, 1 barrel of beer, 20 pounds of red lead, 100 fathoms of wampum, 30 glass bottles, 30 pewter spoons, 100 awl blades, 300 tobacco pipes, 100 hands tobacco, 20 tobacco tongs, 20 steels, 300 flints, 30 pair of scissors, 30 combs, 60 looking glasses, 200 needles, 1 skipple of salt, 30 pounds of sugar, 5 gallons of molasses, 20 tobacco boxes, 100 jews harps, 20 hoes, 30 gimlets, 30 wooden screw boxes, 103 strings of beads—do hereby acknowledge, &c., &c. Given under our hands and seals, at New Castle, 2d of the 8th month, 1685.”

The Quing Quingus Creek referred to Duck Creek, in present Delaware County, or to Appoquinimink Creek, which runs some distance north of Duck Creek.

In June, 1692, Kings Tamment, Tangorus, Swampes and Hickoqueon gave a confirmatory deed of their former conveyances of land lying between Neshaminey and Poquessing Creeks, “upon the Delaware, and extending backwards to the utmost bounds of the Province.” Taminy, his brother, and his three sons executed a second deed in confirmation of his former ones, July 5, 1697, for lands between Neshaminy and Pennypack, extending backward from the Delaware “so far as a horse can travel in two summer days.”

In this last deed the grantors are described as: “Taminy, sachem, and Weheelam, my brother, and Weheequeckhon (alias Andrew), who is to be king after my death; Yaqueekhon (alias Nicholas), and Quenameckquid (alias Charles), my sons.” Weheequekhon was none other than the celebrated Sassoonan, or Allummapees, head chief of the Delaware from 1715 to 1747.

The title of the particular Indian chiefs to the lands claimed by them was not always very clear, but it was the policy of the Proprietary Government to quiet all claims which might be made by purchasing them. Accordingly, purchases were made from time to time of claims made by chiefs which they alleged had not been extinguished by purchase.

The Indians, after the sale of their lands, continued to occupy them until needed by the settlers, and gradually abandoned them as the whites advanced and took possession.

They were an amiable race, and when they left the burial places of their fathers, in search of new homes, it was without a stain on their honor. Considerable numbers, however, remained in Chester County, inhabiting the woods and unoccupied places, until the breaking out of the French and Indian War in 1755; about which time they generally removed beyond the limits of the county and took up their abode in the valley of Wyoming, at the Forks of the Susquehanna, and at Wyalusing in the North Branch of the Susquehanna.

At the making of the treaty of St. Mary’s, in 1720, there were present some chiefs of the Nanticoke, one of whom had withstood the storms of ninety winters, who told the commissioners that he and his people had once roamed through their own domains along the Brandywine.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the number of Indians resident in the county was reduced to four who dwelt in wigwams in Marlborough Township. After the death of three of them, the remaining one known as Indian Hannah, took up her abode in a wigwam near the Brandywine, or as she considered it, her own lands. During the summer she traveled through different parts of the county, selling willow baskets of her own production and visiting those who would receive her kindly.

As she grew old she quitted her wigwam and dwelt in friendly families. Though a long time domesticated with the whites, she retained her Indian character to the last. She had a proud haughty spirit, hated the blacks and did not even deign to associate with the lower order of the whites.

Without a companion of her race—without kindred—she felt her situation desolate, and often spoke of the wrongs and misfortunes of her people. She died in the year 1803, at the age of nearly one hundred years—the last of the Lenni Lenape resident in Chester County.

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Colonel Timothy Pickering Abducted by
Yankees at Wyoming June 26, 1787

The County of Luzerne was erected from parts of Northumberland County by act of September 26, 1786.

The act of December 27, 1786, provided, “That Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler and John Franklin notify the electors that an election would be holden to choose a Counsellor, member of the Assembly, Sheriff, Coroner, and Commissioners on the first day of February.”

Colonel Pickering was one of the eminent men in the Union. He had the confidence of Washington and Congress, having executed with fidelity the office of Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. A native of Massachusetts, after the peace he settled in Philadelphia, becoming a citizen of Pennsylvania. He was selected, in addition to his great abilities and weight of character, for the reason that he was a New England man, to organize the new county and introduce the laws of the State among the Wyoming people.

Colonel Zebulon Butler was a hero of the French and Indian War, a colonel in the Revolution and an honored and respected citizen among the Connecticut people in the Wyoming Valley. He was now old and desired peace.

Colonel John Franklin, except in education and polish, was in no respect the inferior of Pickering. It was a wise stroke of policy to endeavor to conciliate the great Yankee leader by naming him as one of the deputies.

When Colonel Pickering arrived at Wyoming, January, 1787, he assured the Connecticut settlers that he had strong reasons to believe the Legislature would pass a law to quiet them in their possessions. Major John Jenkins, a leader of the Yankees, replied they had too often experienced the bad faith of Pennsylvania. Colonel Franklin at that moment was consulting with the Susquehanna Company on means of defeating the pacific measures of Pennsylvania.

Colonel Pickering was soon brought into collision with Franklin and Jenkins and their followers. Franklin became so aggressive in opposing the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania that Chief Justice McKean ordered his arrest by four resolute men. A scuffle ensued, in which Colonel Pickering interfered and advised them to place Colonel Franklin on a horse, with his legs tied together, and in this condition he was carried to Philadelphia. This act, of course, exposed Colonel Pickering to the vengeful resentment of Franklin’s adherents.

Colonel Pickering had taken up his abode in the Wyoming Valley, near Wilkes-Barre, to show the confidence he had that quiet would soon be restored. On June 26, 1788, at the dead of night, a party of armed men, with their faces blackened, broke into his bedroom, where he and his wife were asleep. His arms were secured with cords, and he was led off up the Susquehanna River.

Immediately on the abduction of Colonel Pickering being known, vigorous measures were adopted for his rescue. Four companies of militia were ordered out, and a thorough search for him was pursued.

It was evident from many circumstances that their object was merely to make reprisals for Colonel Franklin’s imprisonment and to endeavor to procure his release. No attempt was made upon Colonel Pickering’s life; even certain instances of respect were shown for his person and rank in society.

The party crossed Lackawannock Creek and camped in the wild glens. The Colonel endured much suffering, incident to a march through a wilderness and on account of heavy rains.

The fifth day of his captivity Colonel Pickering discovered that two of his captors were Gideon and Joseph Dudley, near neighbors of his; also two Earle brothers, two more by the name of Kilborn, and one Cady, all neighbors.

The next day they formed an iron band, with a chain attached to it, round the Colonel’s ankle and fastened the chain to a tree. They told him their “great men” said that is the way Colonel Franklin is held in Philadelphia. At night the chain was fastened to one of the party, so the Colonel could not escape without awakening him.

Colonel Pickering had no thought of escape, for he expected them to weary of their enterprise, as well as to come to an understanding of the seriousness of their crime. He also realized they could easily capture him at any time they determined.

During breakfast one of the party, who had gone for provisions, returned in great haste and told his comrades that their militia had met in battle and Captain William Ross had been seriously wounded. This battle occurred near Black Walnut Bottom, about sixteen miles above Tunkhannock.

The next day they crossed the river and went to the home of the Kilborn boys, where they kept Colonel Pickering overnight. Then they pushed back into the woods about four miles from the river. Here the party wearied of their enterprise and began to make overtures to the Colonel, suggesting they would liberate him if he would intercede with the Supreme Executive Council for the discharge of Colonel Franklin. The Colonel would make no promises, which enraged them, and once he feared they might tomahawk him.

Colonel Pickering agreed to endeavor to obtain their pardon, if they would name their “great men,” who had deceived them in planning his abduction. This they would not do.

After an imprisonment of nineteen days, during ten of which he had worn the chain, and sleeping night after night in the woods, with stones for pillows, living on scanty rations of salt pork, venison, corn bread and wintergreen tea, and without change of clothing, the Colonel was released on his own terms—which were merely that he would write a petition for them to the Executive Council, take it in person to Wilkes-Barre, and send it to Philadelphia.

In 1787 Colonel Pickering represented Luzerne County in the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal constitution, but did not sign the ratification. At that period he was prothonotary, for that county, and was subsequently a member of the convention called to revise the Constitution of 1776.

President Washington appointed him Postmaster General November 7, 1791, which he held until January 2, 1795, when on the resignation of General Knox he was appointed Secretary of War. December 10, 1795, Washington made him Secretary of State, which position he held until May 12, 1800.

He was poor on leaving office, and, building a log house for his family upon some wild land that he owned in Pennsylvania, he commenced clearing it for cultivation, until discovered by some friends who enabled him to return to Salem, Mass., in 1801. He became Judge in 1802, and United States Senator from 1803 to 1811, when he was made a member of the Council. During the War of 1812 he was a member of Board of War, and then served as a member of Congress from 1815 to 1817. He died at Salem, Mass., January 29, 1829.

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Ewell’s Force of Rebels Made Raid on
Carlisle June 27, 1863

General A. G. Jenkins, of the Southern Confederacy, with nearly 1000 cavalry, entered Chambersburg June 16, 1863. On June 23 his advance force re-entered the town when the Union troops fell back. On June 27 this advance force moved eastward toward Carlisle.

General Knipe, commanding the Union troops, abandoned Carlisle on the approach of the enemy, considering it a folly to offer resistance to so formidable an invader. Accordingly, the rebels were met by Colonel W. M. Penrose and Robert Allison, assistant burgess, and informed that the town was without troops and that no resistance would be made. The cavalrymen entered the town from the west about 10 o’clock Saturday morning, June 27, and rode their horses at a walk, but with their carbines in position to be used at a moment’s warning.

This force consisted of nearly 500 mounted cavalry. They passed down Main Street to the junction of the Trindle Spring and Dillsburg roads, where some of them proceeded to the garrison and the rest rode back and halted in the public square. The hotels were soon filled with officers and the streets with soldiers.

General Jenkins made a requisition on the borough authorities for 1500 rations, to be furnished in one hour and to be deposited in the market house. The demand was complied with, but not within the specified time. Soon as the troops were refreshed and their horses fed and watered the troopers remounted and rode through the streets of the town, visiting the garrison and other places of interest.

At 2 o’clock in the afternoon General Ewell’s corps marched into Carlisle, Early’s division having crossed the mountains via Fayetteville to York. The soldiers moved along shouting and laughing. The Confederate army was at this time in high spirits. The bands played “Dixie” as they swung through the town to the garrison. The condition of the troops was pitiable. The men were miserably clad, many without shoes or hats, many really ragged and dirty.

A brigade encamped upon the grounds of Dickinson College, and others at the United States garrison; guards were immediately posted and strict orders issued that no violence or outrage would be permitted. Most of the troops behaved like gentlemen, and so well did they obey their commander that but little trace of occupation by a hostile force was visible after their departure.

General Ewell and his staff, numbering thirty officers, established headquarters at the barracks. The General then dispatched one of his aides to town, with an extravagant demand on the authorities of the borough for supplies. The general wanted 1500 barrels of flour, large supplies of medicines and several cases of amputating instruments. Especially urgent was his demand for a large quantity of quinine and chloroform. The authorities could not have complied with the demand, because the articles were not to be had in Carlisle.

Strict orders were issued against the selling of intoxicating drinks to soldiers and the pillaging of private property by them.

All communication with the outside world was cut off Sunday. Services were conducted in the churches as usual and the army chaplains of the rebel regiments encamped on the campus and at the garrison conducted services for their troops. All conversations with Southern officers and soldiers led the people to believe that their movement was directed toward Harrisburg and Philadelphia.

On Monday, however, the railroad bridge was destroyed. A sigh of relief was had toward evening when rumors spread that the troops had orders to leave.

Early Tuesday morning, June 30, the trains of Rode’s division began to move, then brigade after brigade passed until the main army had disappeared by 9 o’clock, leaving less than 200 cavalrymen on provost duty in the town. These left toward evening.

Rebel pickets thronged the turnpike and the Trindle Spring road, some being very near Carlisle. Two o’clock in the afternoon about 400 cavalrymen under Colonel Cochran, entered the town from the Dillsburg road, and were soon dashing wildly through the streets, shouting, screaming and acting like madmen. During the night the entire Confederate force left Carlisle and the town was clear of rebels.

At sunrise on Wednesday Captain Boyd’s efficient command of Union troops entered Carlisle, and after a hearty meal he started in pursuit of the departing enemy. During all of this day regiment after regiment arrived and took position along the streets and in the public square. A battery of artillery arrived toward evening.

After 6 o’clock General Smith arrived, bringing three regiments of infantry and about one hundred cavalry. The General posted his artillery for action. This had hardly been done, when, at 7 o’clock, a body of rebel cavalry under command of General Fitzhugh Lee, made its appearance at the junction of the Trindle Spring and Dillsburg roads. These troops at first were supposed to be a portion of our own forces. Their boldness was well calculated to produce such an impression.

The call to arms brought the infantry into position. Members of the local militia companies, commanded by Captains Low, Kuhn, Black and Smiley, each on his own account, hurried to the eastern section of the town and, selecting secure positions, opened a very effective fire on the invading cavalry, which compelled them to fall back.

Soon the shelling of the town commenced, which was kept up nearly an hour. This was followed by raking Main Street with grape and canister until nearly dark, when a rebel officer came in with a flag of truce to General Smith’s headquarters, demanding an unconditional surrender of the town. General Smith refused and the officer, bearing the flag of truce, returned to his command.

Then began a second shelling of the town, more terrific than the first. To add to the general consternation the rebels applied the torch; the gas works, barracks, dwellings, stores, etc., were fired. Again an officer interviewed General Smith and again he refused to surrender.

A third bombardment commenced, which, however, did not last long. By 3 o’clock Thursday morning the rebel command left by way of Boiling Spring road, thence across South Mountain for Gettysburg, to join General Robert E. Lee’s forces in the great battle which had opened there the previous day.

During the bombardment of Carlisle not one citizen was killed, neither was a Union soldier, but fifteen of the latter were wounded.

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British Flag Captured by Pennsylvanians in
Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778

Just before dawn June 18, 1778, the British began their evacuation of Philadelphia. They crossed the Delaware, and that evening encamped around Haddonfield, N. J.

The news of this evacuation reached Washington, at Valley Forge, before morning. He immediately sent General Maxwell, with his brigade, to co-operate with the New Jersey militia, under General Dickinson, in retarding the march of the British.

They were 17,000 strong, marching in two divisions, one under Cornwallis and the other led by Knyphausen.

General Arnold, whose wounds kept him from the field, entered Philadelphia with a detachment before the rear guard of the British had left it. The remainder of the army, under the immediate command of Washington, crossed the Delaware above Trenton and pursued.

General Clinton had intended to march to New Brunswick and embark his army for New York, but, finding Washington’s army in his path, he turned toward Monmouth Court House. Washington followed him in a parallel line, prepared to strike him whenever an opportunity should offer. But Clinton wished to avoid a battle, for he was encumbered with baggage, wagons and a host of camp followers, which made his line twelve miles in length. He encamped in Freehold on the night of June 27, and there Washington resolved to strike him if he should move the next morning.

General Lee was in command of the advanced corps. Washington ordered him to form a plan of attack, but he failed to do so, or to forward any orders to Generals Wayne, Lafayette or Maxwell, who called upon him.

On the morning of June 28, a hot Sabbath, Washington was told Clinton was about to move, and he ordered Lee to fall upon the British rear, but he was so tardy that the enemy had ample time to prepare for battle. When Lee did move he had no plan for battle, and his orders so perplexed his generals that they requested Washington to appear on the field with the main army immediately.

Wayne attacked with vigor, with a sure prospect of victory, Lee ordered him only to make a feint. Clinton, at that moment changed front, and sent a large force against Wayne; Lafayette sensed the situation and asked Lee for permission to gain the rear of the British. At first he refused, then ordered him to attack Clinton’s left. At the same time he weakened Wayne’s detachment by taking three regiments from it to support the right. While Wayne was in a desperate struggle Lee’s courage weakened and he withdrew, saying that the temerity of Wayne had brought against him the whole flower of the British army.

Washington was pressing forward to the support of Lee, when he learned that his division was in full retreat. Washington, angered at the actions of Lee, ordered Wayne with three Pennsylvania regiments and two others from Virginia and Maryland to stop the British pursuit.

The British, about 7000 strong, attempted to turn the American left flank, but were repulsed and disappointed. A severe battle ensued, in which the Americans did great execution. For a while the result seemed doubtful, when General Wayne came up with his troops and gave victory to the Americans.

Colonel Henry Monckton tried to drive Wayne from his position, leading his troops in a bayonet charge. So terrible was Wayne’s storm of bullets that almost every British officer was slain, Colonel Monckton being among the killed.

The battle ended at twilight, when both armies rested on their weapons, prepared for another conflict at dawn. But Clinton withdrew his army so silently, that he was far away when the American sentinels discovered his flight in the morning. Washington did not pursue.

The British lost 1000 by desertion while crossing New Jersey, and they left 245 on the field. The Americans lost 228 killed, wounded and missing.

It was during part of this action that Molly McKolly, wife of an artilleryman in Proctor’s regiment, carried water for the thirsty soldiers, and when her husband was wounded, an officer ordered the piece to be withdrawn.

Molly dropped her pitcher, seized the rammer and, displaying great courage and presence of mind, kept the gun in action. She performed the duty with a skill and daring that attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the commission of sergeant.

She was called Captain Molly, and became a heroine, always afterward known as “Molly Pitcher.” A monument on the battlefield at Monmouth attests to her act, and her grave in the Carlisle, Pa., cemetery is marked by a stone and cannon.

John Blair Linn, in his Annals of Buffalo Valley, says that the flag of the Royal Grenadiers and the sword of Colonel Monckton were captured on the field of Monmouth by Captain William Wilson, of Northumberland County.

The flag is five feet four inches by four feet eight, lemon color ground, heavy corded silk; the device at upper right corner is twenty inches square, British Union, consisting of the cross of St. George and St. Andrew’s Cross. The field of the device is blue, the central stripes red, the marginal ones white.

When Monckton waved his sword and ordered his grenadiers to charge and Wayne met them with a deadly fire, the colors were in advance, to the right, with the colonel, and they went down with him. Captain Wilson and his company, who were on the right of the First Pennsylvania, made a rush for the colors and the body of the brave colonel.

Captain Wilson gave Monckton’s sword to General Wayne, who presented it to General Lafayette, who took it with him to Europe. When he returned to the United States in 1824, he brought the sword with him, intending to restore it in person to Captain Wilson.

Captain Wilson having died in 1813, General Lafayette handed the sword to Colonel Samuel Hunter, who turned it over to Judge A. S. Wilson, a son of Captain William Wilson.

The flag has frequently been brought into requisition in patriotic demonstrations in subsequent years. It is still in the possession of descendants of Captain Wilson, now residents of Bellefonte.

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Duke of York Receives New Patent for His
Grant, June 29, 1674

The English claimed the right to the country upon the South, or Delaware River, because of the fact that John Cabot sailed up and down the Atlantic coast.

Captain Thomas Young and his nephew, Robert Evelin, under a commission from King Charles “to go forth and discover lands in America,” arrived in the South River July 24, 1634. They remained at the mouth of the Schuylkill five days, and made two attempts to pass beyond the falls near Trenton. They built a fort at a place called Eriwoneck, probably the site of Philadelphia.

In 1635 the governor of Virginia sent fifteen armed men, under command of Captain George Holmes, to the South River, and they took possession of Fort Nassau and the contiguous country. The Dutch governor of New Netherland promptly sent a force which recaptured the fort and made prisoners of Holmes and his invaders.

In 1641 New Haven merchants and planters sent George Lamberton and Nathaniel Turner to make land purchases on the South River. They bought from the Indians and built a block house, to which place about sixty persons from Connecticut settled. The venture proved profitable, and soon other colonists arrived, and many houses were built near the mouth of the Schuylkill.

The Swedes and Dutch both protested and in May, 1642, two sloops arrived from Manhattan with instructions to expel the English quietly, if possible, but by force, if necessary. The Dutch were compelled to use force, sent the English prisoners to Manhattan and burned their improvements.

Charles II having been restored to the throne of Great Britain, he granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, later King of England, the lands lying between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. The duke fitted out an expedition, sailed to the mouth of the Hudson, and demanded the surrender, which was made August 27, 1664.

This expedition then proceeded to the Delaware and November 3 forced the surrender of that colony. Colonel Robert Carr was appointed Deputy Governor.

This conquest caused a war between Great Britain and Holland, which ended in favor of the former. The City of New Amsterdam became City of New York; Fort Orange became Albany; the South River became Delaware River, and New Amstel became New Castle.

Colonel Richard Nicholls governed the territory with justice and good sense until August, 1668, when he was succeeded by Colonel Francis Lovelace.

The first rebellion in the country was stirred up about this time, 1669, when Konigsmark, known as the “Long Finn,” with another Finn, named Henry Coleman, who understood the Indian language, went about preaching sedition and creating disturbances among settlers and Indians.

Madame Papegoja, daughter of former Governor Printz, and Carolus Lock, the Swedish preacher, were said to have been adherents. Konigsmark was finally captured, put in irons, publicly whipped, branded with the letter “R” (for Rebellion), and sold into slavery in Barbados.

George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, arrived from England and rode through New Jersey, crossed the Delaware where is now Burlington by swimming his horse. He then rode thirty miles that day and slept on some straw in the house of a Swede. This was in 1672, and the coming of this visitor had great significance for the future of Pennsylvania.

The Maryland Government sent a surveyor in April, 1672, to survey lands in the Delaware Colony for Lord Baltimore. In a few months a more warlike demonstration was made, when a detail of thirty, commanded by one Jones, rode into the Horekill and “bound the magistrates and inhabitants, despitefully treated them, rifled and plundered them of their goods,” and when it was demanded “by what authority were these proceedings,” it was answered with a “cock’t pistol to the breast of the impudent questioner.” Jones seized all the Indian goods and skins, drove a spike into the touch-hole of the great gun, and seized all the small arms and mill stones.

War again broke out between Great Britain and Holland in March, 1672, and had its consequent effect on the affairs along the Delaware.

In August Governor Lovelace declared that the war included those in America. The blow fell suddenly at New York, and Lovelace was taken while on a visit in Connecticut.

A Dutch fleet appeared before New York, July 30, 1673, of such superior strength that effective resistance was impossible. The fort capitulated and New York again became a Dutch city.

The Delaware colony made no resistance; the English were too few in numbers, the Dutch too willing, and the Swedes too indifferent. Peter Alricks again became the commander of the Delaware River.

The renewed Dutch Government lasted only a year, when, by the treaty of Westminster, February 19, 1674, New Netherland was finally ceded to Great Britain.

On June 29, 1674, King Charles gave a new grant to the Duke of York, who appointed Major Edmund Andros governor.

Andros set up a court at Upland in which were settled the controversies of the settlers. He reinstated in office those who had been magistrates at the time of the Dutch conquest, Peter Alricks excepted.

The administration of Andros continued quite seven years, during which the only courts in what is now Pennsylvania were held at Upland. Nearly always the justices were Swedes.

The settlers above Christina Creek formed what later became the Pennsylvania Community. The settlers above the creek attended court at Upland, those below obtained justice at New Castle. This marked division was made November 12, 1678, and from that date the designation “county” became commonly employed.

Swedes’ Mill on Cobb’s Creek set up by Printz, in 1643, continued in use, but another was now built below New Castle. Others were built afterward.

At this time there were no roads, simply paths for man or horse, and cartways where merchandise was to be transported. Such were indicated by blazed trees. November, 1678, the court ordered “that every person should within the space of two months, as far as his land reaches, make good and passable ways from neighbor to neighbor, with bridges where needed, to the end that neighbors on occasion may come together.”

The time now approached when the lands along the shores of the Delaware became a place of refuge for all the sect of Quakers, and March 4, 1681, William Penn received a patent for the lands in America, to which the King gave the name Pennsylvania.

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Provincial Government and Indians Open
Conference June 30, 1742

In September, 1737, occurred the so-called “Walking Purchase,” by which there passed from the lands of the Delaware Indians into those of the Proprietaries, the upper portion of Bucks County, a large slice of Carbon County, and one-fourth each of Monroe and Pike counties, an area of 1200 square miles. The “walk” upon which the purchase was made was a deception and as a consequence caused trouble for the Proprietaries for many years.

The lands at the “Forks” of the Delaware were still in the occupancy of the Delaware in 1741, although the Six Nations had ordered the Delaware to remove to the Susquehanna.

In October, 1741, a Cayuga deputation returned to their county from Philadelphia bearing with them to the “Long House” of the Six Nations a message from the Lieutenant Governor urging the Six Nations “to come down and force the Delaware to quit the 'Forks’.”

In response to this appeal 230 Indians from the Six Nations, including the principal chiefs and sachems, arrived at Philadelphia June 30, 1742, and found awaiting them a number of Pennsylvania Indians, including Shikellamy, the vicegerent of the Six Nations; Allummapees, King of the Delaware, also from Shamokin, and a large delegation from the Forks of the Susquehanna, representing the different clans. All the tribes of the Six Nations were represented except the Mohawk.

In a message to the Provincial Assembly, Governor Thomas stated the coming of the Six Nations at this time “was not necessary for the present peace of the province, but for the province’s future security, likewise, in case of a rupture with the French, who will leave no methods unessayed to corrupt the Six Nations’ fidelity and to persuade them to turn their arms against us.” At this time declaration of war between England and France was daily expected.

The conference between the Governor and the Council on the one side and the Six Nations on the other lasted until July 12, during which time eight sessions were held. The Council opened in the house of James Logan, then met at “the Great Meeting House,” where the last meeting was held in the presence of “a great number of the inhabitants of Philadelphia.” Conrad Weiser was present as interpreter for the Government and the Six Nations and Cornelius Spring and Nicholas Scull appeared for the Delaware.

In opening the conference the Governor referred to the fact that the Six Nations, at the time they had released their claim to all the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna as far north as the Kittatinny Mountains, had declined to take their pay for the lands on the west side of the river, preferring to receive the same at some future time. He then announced that the goods to be given in payment for those lands were ready for delivery to the Indians.

In reply to the Governor, Canassatego, chief of the Onondaga and principal speaker of the Indians at the conference, said, among other things: “The Six Nations have obligated themselves to sell none of the land that falls within the province of Pennsylvania to any but our Brother Onas, and that to sell lands to any other is an high breach of the league of friendship.”

The Governor replied that they were correct in their position.

On the seventh day the Governor referred to the trouble with the “Forks” Indians, to which Canassatego replied that the deputies would take the matter into consideration and give an answer in a few days. Three days later Canassatego arose and said:

“The other day you informed us of the misbehavior of our Cousins the Delawares, with respect to their continuing to claim and refusing to remove from some land on the Delaware notwithstanding their ancestors had sold it by deed upwards of fifty years ago, and notwithstanding they themselves had about five years ago ratified that deed and given a fresh one. We have concluded to remove them and oblige them to go over the river Delaware and to quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they have received pay for them and it has gone through their guts long ago.”

Then turning toward the Delaware and holding a belt of wampum in his hand, Canassatego continued: “Cousins—Let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you. You ought to be taken by the hair of the head and shaked severely till you recover your senses and become sober. You don’t know what ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. Our Brother Onas’ case is very just and plain * * * on the other hand your cause is bad.

“But how came you to take upon you to sell land at all? We conquered you! We made women of you! You know you are women and can no more sell land than women. Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, since you would abuse it.” The old chief concluded his cutting arraignment as follows:

“We don’t give you the liberty to think about it. You are women. Take the advice of a wise man and remove immediately. We therefore assign you two places to go—either to Wyoming or Shamokin. You may go to either of these places and then we shall have you more under our eye and shall see how you behave. Don’t deliberate, but remove away and take this belt of wampum.”

The old chief handed them the wampum and told the Delaware that, as there was other business to transact, they should depart from the council. There was no diplomatic mincing of words in the speech of the Onondaga chief. He spoke with the air of one having authority. This speech scattered seed which in time caused more bloodshed in peaceful Pennsylvania than the “Walking Purchase” ever did.

In 1815, John Watson, of Bucks County, wrote of this speech: “When this terrible sentence was ended, it is said that the unfeeling political philosopher (Canassatego) walked forward, and, taking strong hold of the long hair of King Nutimus, of the Delaware, led him to the door and forcibly sent him out of the room, and stood there while all the trembling inferiors followed him. He then walked back to his place like another Cato, and calmly proceeded to another subject as if nothing had happened. The poor fellows (Nutimus and his company), in great and silent grief, went directly home, collected their families and goods, and, burning their cabins to signify they were never to return, marched reluctantly to their new homes.”

Leaving their wigwams on the banks of their favorite Delaware, the once powerful Lenni Lenape commenced their march westward. A portion went to Shamokin, a few settled on the Juniata, near Lewistown, but the greater part of them, under their chief Tadame, went to Wyoming.

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Decisive Battle of Gettysburg Opened
Wednesday, July 1, 1863

The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, marked the high tide of the Civil War. Here General Robert E. Lee hoped to win a victory which would compel the withdrawal of Union troops from other parts of the country, secure recognition of the Confederacy by foreign Governments, carry panic into the North and furnish supplies for his hungry troops.

Fresh from his brilliant victory at Chancellorsville, he moved north until his van was within sight of Harrisburg, and there, learning that General George G. Meade was in close pursuit, Lee turned his army to meet him, and Gettysburg became the scene of the decisive battle.

The battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest of the Civil War and the most terrible battle in the world’s history previous to the World’s War, and probably greater than any single action in that gigantic conflict.

The Union losses in the three days’ battle were 23,000, and the Confederate losses were probably as high in killed, wounded, captured and missing, as 29,000.

At Gettysburg was concentrated Lee’s magnificent and confident army of Confederate troops, which had invaded Pennsylvania through the Cumberland Valley, and was then on its way to Philadelphia, and then to Baltimore and Washington. The advance of Ewell’s corps marched as far as Wrightsville, seventy-five miles from Philadelphia, or only four days’ march and had watered their horses in the Susquehanna River. There the mile-long Columbia-Wrightsville bridge was burned to prevent the rebels from crossing the river.

The concentration of his forces at Gettysburg was forced upon General Lee by the rapid movement of General Hooker with the Federal army, who hurried northward, as soon as Washington was uncovered, to intercept the invading host, and so to loosen the grip it had upon the fair valleys, rich with ripe grain and teeming with money, horses, cattle, clothing, shoes and provisions. Curiously, the Southern army came into Gettysburg from the North and the Northern army came in from the South.

Lee’s army was in fine condition and Hooker’s was recently reorganized into a great machine. The two armies were well matched. Each had approximately 80,000 men, including 10,000 cavalry to each; the Union had 327 pieces of artillery, and the Southern army only forty less pieces. The main difference was in commanders, for the Federal army had at Gettysburg, a new and untried commander, General Meade, who only three days before the battle had superseded General Hooker, and had with him two new corps commanders, Sykes and Newton, while the Confederate army under Lee had their able and accomplished Longstreet as well as the competent A. P. Hill and renowned Ewell in command of their three corps.

Excluding the ground of the great cavalry fight between Gregg and Stuart on the afternoon of July 3, on the Rommel farm three miles east of Gettysburg, where for hours these skillful generals fought for possession of the field in the immediate rear of the Union army, the area of the battlefield was about twenty square miles.

Lee’s intention had been to have Stuart’s cavalry strike the Union army from the rear the same moment Pickett was carrying the line in the front. The first skirmish in the great battle occurred June 27, when part of Early’s command, on their way to the Susquehanna, drove the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment out of the borough.

On June 30, Buford’s cavalrymen, reconnoitering out on the Cashtown road, one of the seven prominent roads which converge at Gettysburg, ran into some of Pettigrew’s infantry and in the evening of that day, Colonel Gamble stationed his pickets along Marsh Creek.

Early in the following morning, July 1, Pettigrew’s Division advanced toward the town, and at Willoughby Run, with his whole brigade dismounted, Gamble held back the Confederates for two hours. Buford had advised General John F. Reynolds of this expected encounter; he placed the first division of his First Army Corps upon the road, and he then hurried forward the few miles to meet General Buford.

The two rode out the Cashtown Pike, where a conference was held at 9 o’clock. Reynolds then hurried back to his advancing troops to spur them forward and as he was leading the foremost regiment into the woods he was struck in the head and instantly killed. So passed away the greatest soldier in the Army of the Potomac.

An hour later Archer’s Brigade was captured by the Federals near Willoughby Run. Then followed two hours’ lull, during which the Confederates were preparing their lines to sweep the Union troops off Seminary Ridge. General Doubleday skillfully met this attack by throwing his two Pennsylvania brigades (of the Third Division, First Corps) into the front line, Biddle’s on the north of the woods and Stone’s on the south, both in open ground; the Second Division to the woods on the road toward Carlisle.

For three hours these fresh troops received the assaults of the enemy ten times their number, and when night came it was learned that Doubleday’s Corps had been reduced from 9403 officers and men to 2400, the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers out of 380 men and seventeen officers brought back eighty men and only one officer not wounded. The 121st, 142d, 143d, 149th and 151st Pennsylvania all lost quite as heavily.

While the First Corps was thus engaged, General Howard with the Eleventh Corps came down the Emmetsburg road onto the field. Three divisions were started for Oak Hill, that they might hold it against Ewell’s Corps, coming back from near Harrisburg. Unfortunately the enemy had already seized the hill and Howard was forced into the open, but his two divisions were skillfully placed, and for two hours he sustained an unequal and hopeless fight, being forced back to Cemetery Hill, just as Doubleday had been, and at about the same time.

Among the incidents of the first day’s fight was the appearance on the field of John Burns, citizen, who came out from town dressed in a swallow tail coat with brass buttons on it, wearing a tall hat and his pockets full of powder and balls and a musket which he had used in the Mexican War. He approached the firing line, where Major Thomas Chamberlin, of the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers was standing, and begged to be allowed to fight with that regiment. While discussing the matter, he was advised to go into the woods and fight from behind a tree, which the old man did, receiving three wounds, for which Pennsylvania has erected to his memory a handsome statue, located on the ground where the 150th fought.

One civilian killed was Jennie Wade, eighteen years old, who was struck by a stray shot as she was baking bread in her home.

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Sickles’ Corps Holds Confederates Off Both
Round Tops at Gettysburg July 2, 1863

During the night of July 1 the two army commanders hurried up their troops to Gettysburg, but it was on the night of July 2 before the last of Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and the last of Longstreet’s First Corps came into position. Meantime, at Hanover Junction, twelve miles east of Gettysburg, Kilpatrick was fighting Stuart, and, having whipped him and forced the enemy cavalry around to the left and rear of the Confederate Army, he took his position on the west of the Emmetsburg road, a mile and a half from Peach Orchard, on the left flank of the Union Army.

On July 2 General Daniel E. Sickles, with his Third Corps, came up. He was assigned to a position on the “left of Hancock,” and occupied the Emmetsburg road as far as the Peach Orchard, throwing his left toward Round Top. He was hardly in position before Longstreet enveloped the Union line, where, for five hours, from 3 until 8 o’clock, the battle raged furiously, the scene changing from the Peach Orchard to the Wheatfield and from there to the valley between Round Top and back again to the Devil’s Den and again back to the Wheatfield.

The interposition of Sickles’ corps between the Confederate Army and Round Top was what Longstreet least desired, for he intended to make a vigorous attack upon that strategic position, but the Union forces obtained the eminence just as the enemy was ascending the western slope.

In the desperate struggle for Little Round Top four Union generals were killed. On the Wheatfield two colonels were killed, and near the Peach Orchard General Sickles lost his leg.

In the second day’s fight Hood was wounded, but, minus a leg and an arm, he commanded the Western Confederate Army and fought Sherman near Atlanta.

The Confederate forces had pushed the Federal line back half a mile, but had failed to seize either Big or Little Round Top, and each side had suffered frightfully in killed and wounded.

When Longstreet opened his battle behind Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill it was expected that Ewell would attack the Union lines in front. He did not hear Longstreet’s guns and failed to attack until 7 o’clock in the evening, when, supported by numerous guns in a hot artillery fire, the Louisiana Tigers and North Carolina brigade of Early’s division stormed East Cemetery Hill, carrying everything before them, even to clubbing Wiedrich’s artillerymen in their hastily thrown up intrenchments. But Carroll’s brigade of infantrymen was back of the guns across the Baltimore pike, and this brigade Hancock personally led against the foe, with the result that the Union guns and positions were saved and the Louisiana Tigers as an organization went out of existence.

Ewell, failing to win East Cemetery Hill, at 7 o’clock pushed Johnson’s troops against the enemy on the east side of Culp’s Hill, and, after an hour’s fighting, gained a lodgment in part of the works of the Twelfth Corps, which had been vacated by troops called to aid in defending the line on the extreme left against the attack of Longstreet.

Johnson’s troops pushed their advance by 9 o’clock as far as the Baltimore road; but on account of darkness and fearful of being led into a trap, did not go farther. In this contest the Confederates secured Spangler’s Spring, but all through the long night boys of both sides filled their canteens at the gurgling fountain.

At daybreak on the morning of July 3 General Slocum, of the Twelfth Corps, made a successful attempt to drive the Confederates from the Union breastworks they had gained the previous night, and for six hours the woods howled with shot and shell, as this was one of the most desperate battles. Slowly, but surely, foot by foot, the Union troops advanced until the breastworks were wrested from the enemy, who was forced back across Rock Creek. This ended the Battle of Gettysburg, so far as Ewell’s and Slocum’s corps of the two sides were considered.

From 10 until 1 there was an ominous silence over the whole field in both armies. Then came the shot and shell from 150 Confederate guns posted along Seminary Ridge, directed upon the center of the Union line, and immediately 150 guns on the Union side responded, and for nearly two hours the earth trembled.

General Hunt ordered the Federal pieces to cease firing to cool off, while he replaced disabled guns with fresh ones and replenished his supply of ammunition for the assault which was sure to come.

Lee thought the Union guns were silenced from exhaustion and promptly gave orders for 15,000 of Longstreet’s and A. P. Hill’s choicest troops to force the Federal line. Pickett was in front with his 5500 men, and bravely they marched on and on when the charge commenced. From there it was a rush, until on and beyond the stone wall, at the Angle, both sides mingled in wildest disorder, shooting and clubbing each other in a hand-to-hand struggle that seemed to have no end. One by one the Confederates threw down their arms and sought retreat.

Of Pickett’s 5500 men, 224 had been killed, 1140 wounded and 1499 surrendered. Out of fifteen Confederate flags, twelve were left with the Federals, only three with the few brave troops making their way back to the Southland.

On this third day of the battle General Hancock was carried off the field badly wounded.

While Pickett was making his charge, Stuart, with the Rebel cavalry, endeavored to break the Union line in the center of the rear, but there he met General David McMurtrie Gregg, of Berks county, in command of the Union cavalry, and was defeated in the most important cavalry battle of the war.