Chapter XXVII: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (15)

“In the evening we were visited by a number of Indians—Shawnese and Cayugas. Here dwell in three houses Shawnese, Maquas and Delaware; among the latter an Indian from Albany, who spoke Low Dutch. In all three houses were cases of smallpox. In one hut hung a kettle in which grass was being stewed, which they ate with avidity.

“July 12. Brother Zeisberger learned from our host that many Indians passed and repassed his hut. Today he brought out some dried venison and gave us some, and we in turn gave his child some of our bread, for which they were very thankful.

“In the afternoon told our host we desired to visit the island to see the Indians there, and he, unasked, went with us, and led us to all the huts.

“We found some clever people here who had just returned from the woods and who shared with us grapes, green and hard, which they ate with avidity. We prayed silently to the Lord to have mercy on this people.

“Returned to our lodgings, and our host again asked us why we had come so far and had we not come in search of land? He said there was fine land in the neighborhood. We explained that was not our object.

“July 13. We found an opportunity to speak to our host of the Saviour. He had heard somewhat of God, and said he believed what we had told him was good and true. He then gave us some dried venison and we in turn some needles and thread to his wife.

“Set out on our return down the Susquehanna. At night camped on a large flat by a creek, ate some mouldy bread, the last of our stock and built four fires to keep off the vermin.”

In the year 1758 Christian Frederic Post, another Moravian missionary, was sent by the Government of Pennsylvania to the Delaware, Shawnee and Mingo Indians settled on the Ohio. In his journal under the date of July 29 we find the following entry:

“29th. We crossed the Susquehanna over the Big Island. My companions were now very fearful and this night went a great way out of the road, to sleep without fire, but could not sleep on account of the mosquitoes and vermin.”

On his return from his mission under the date of September 18, he records:

“Came to the Big Island, where having nothing to live on, we were obliged to stay and hunt.

“19th. We met twenty warriors, who were returning from the habitations with five prisoners and one scalp; six of them were Delaware and the rest Mingo. We sat down all in one ring together. I informed them where I had been and what was done; they asked me to go back a little and so I did, and slept all night with them. I informed them of the particulars of the peace proposed; they said if they had known so much before they would not have gone to war. They killed two deer and gave us one.”

Post’s mission had been undertaken with the object of making peace with the Indians, for, following Braddock’s disastrous campaign against Fort Duquesne, the Indians had attacked the settlements, and the entire West Branch Valley as far down as Sunbury was in complete control of the French and their Indian allies.

In 1755 Andrew Montour, who had been employed on various occasions as interpreter for the province, and who at this time was captain of a company of Indians in the English service, following an attack upon settlers on Penn’s Creek, in which a number of the settlers were killed, was summoned to the Great Island by the friendly Delaware living there. Here he was informed that the French had made overtures to the Indians to go on the war path against the English settlers in Pennsylvania.

In November these Indians also sent word that two messengers had come from Ohio to Great Island; and seeing an Englishman who happened to be there at the time, said “Kill him.” “No,” said the Indians of the Great Island, “we will not kill him nor suffer him to be killed. We have lived in peace many years with the English; if you are so bloodthirsty go somewhere else for blood. We will have no blood spilt here.”

At this period as well as at the time of Post’s mission, three years later, Great Island was being visited by both French and English in their desires to secure the Indians as their allies. It was at this period also that the Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania issued a proclamation which encouraged the whites to scalp the Indians by the offer of a bounty for every Indian scalp brought in.

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Riots in Philadelphia Caused by Boy
Assaulting Master, July 12, 1835

Feelings of animosity against people of color had been manifested in Philadelphia for several years, and were again brought forth conspicuously through a most unfortunate circumstance July 12, 1835.

Robert E. Stewart, a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, who had been United States Consul to Trinidad, resided on the east side of Sixth Street, between Prune and Walnut.

He had in his service an African boy, called Juan, who was a native of the Eboe nation, the representatives of which bore the character of being vindictive, revengeful and easily moved to anger. Juan had been brought to the United States from the West Indies by Mr. Stewart.

For some reason not known Juan determined to take the life of his master. The attack was made upon Mr. Stewart while he was sleeping in the afternoon in his chamber. The butt end of a hatchet was used in a shocking manner upon his head. He was frightfully mutilated and injured, and it was supposed that he could never recover. He died several years afterward.

The brutal attack upon Stewart was made July 12. A statement of the circumstances in the newspapers of the next day created intense excitement, and soon as the story was read crowds began to assemble, and by evening a large crowd had gathered in the neighborhood of Sixth and Locust Streets.

By this time the city authorities had learned something from the events of former years, when the racial hatred had caused many fatal clashes, and a large body of watchmen and police were dispatched to that section of the city.

Crowds began to join those already in that neighborhood, and they were made up of men and half-grown boys, usually in an angry mood. The citizens soon dispersed about the neighborhood, talking together, in small groups.

The presence of the police rendered any outburst impossible so they carried their destructive propensities into an adjoining district, and there commenced an attack upon houses occupied by colored people in Small Street between Sixth and Seventh. The inmates were beaten and put to flight, and their furniture destroyed.

From that place their ravages were resumed upon the colored residents in Seventh and Shippen Streets. Thence the destruction was transferred to “Red Row”—a block of eight houses on Eighth Street below Shippen.

The mob here made a discrimination. All the young colored men who could be found were brutally assaulted, because the colored youth were generally saucy and impudent, but the old men and women of color were not molested or in any manner injured.

During the proceedings “Red Row” was set on fire and all the houses destroyed. The mob had now become so infuriated that they were unrestrained even by the presence of police, and from the burning homes in “Red Row” they proceeded to Christian and Ninth Streets, where several brick and frame houses occupied by colored people were attacked.

Several of those houses were defended by the owners, and others who had sought refuge in them. Several shots were fired from behind doors and windows, and two persons in the mob were wounded. By the time the houses were finally entered the residents had escaped.

The houses in flames in “Red Row” had brought the firemen to the scene, but when they set up their apparatus, they were opposed by the mob. The hose was cut and no water could be brought into play. The firemen, however, fought their way and succeeded in saving from total destruction all the houses, except the one in which the fire was started. The mob became even more determined and attacked houses which had been passed by at the beginning of the attack.

By these occurrences the colored people in the lower part of the city were frightened to a degree of terror which had not affected them in previous years.

On the day after this riot hundreds of families moved out of the neighborhood, or, locking up their houses, sought refuge where they could find it. Numbers of men, women and children bivouacked in the woods and fields, and not a few fugitives were given shelter in barns and outbuildings.

On Tuesday evening, July 14, crowds again began to assemble in the vicinity of Sixth and South Streets, on the rumor that a house on St. Mary Street was garrisoned by armed Negroes.

The mob proceeded to this house and upon their arrival found that the statement was true. Fifty or sixty colored men were in the building, armed with knives, razors, bludgeons and pistols, besides a great stock of bricks and paving stones, which were stored on the third floor, where they could be hurled with effect upon an attacking party. These men were desperate and were rendered savage by the occurrences of the two previous days.

The city police force was promptly upon the scene and prepared to prevent the assault intended to be made by the whites upon the house. The police, at the same time, had the difficult task of getting the colored men away from the building in safety. This they were able to do.

With this attack frustrated, the trouble was finally quieted and there were no further racial disturbances.

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Hannastown, Seat of Justice for Westmoreland
County, Burned by Indians
July 13, 1782

The county of Westmoreland was established by the Provincial Assembly, February 26, 1773, and the courts directed to be held at Hannastown. This was the first place west of the Allegheny Mountains where justice was dispensed according to the legal forms by the white man.

Hannastown contained about thirty habitations and a few crude cabins. Most of the former were two stories high and built of hewn logs. There was also a wooden court house, a jail and a stockade, both built of logs.

Robert Hanna, the first presiding Judge, was a member of the family from whom the town derived its name. Arthur St. Clair, afterward the distinguished general in the Continental Army, was the first prothonotary and clerk of the courts.

On the morning of July 13, 1782, a party of townsfolk went to O'Connor’s fields, about a mile north of the village, to cut wheat. The reapers had completed one field when one of their number reported that he had seen a number of Indians approaching. Every one rushed for town, each intent upon his own safety, each seeking his own wife and children, to hurry them into the stockade.

After a period of frightful suspense, it was agreed that some one should reconnoiter and relieve the balance from uncertainty. David Shaw, James Brison and two other young men, armed with rifles, started on foot through the highlands between the fort and Crabtree Creek, pursuing a direct course toward O'Conner’s fields.

An officer who had been on duty in the town pursued a more circuitous route on horseback, and no sooner arrived at the fields than he beheld the whole force of the savages there assembled. He turned his horse to escape, but was followed. He met the four others who were on foot and warned them to fly for their lives.

The four young men were hotly pursued by the Indians, who did not fire upon them, for they expected to take the inhabitants by a surprise attack. Shaw rushed into the town to learn if his kindred had gone into the fort. As he reached his father’s threshold he saw all within desolate and, as he turned, discovered the savages rushing toward him with their brandished tomahawks, and yelling the fearful warwhoop. He counted upon making one give the death halloo, and raising his rifle, the bullet sped true, for the savage at whom he aimed bounded in the air and fell dead. Shaw then darted for the fort, which he reached in safety.

The Indians were exasperated when they found the village deserted, pillaged the houses and then set them on fire.

An Indian who had donned a military coat of one of the inhabitants and paraded himself in the open was shot down. Except this one and the Indian killed by Shaw, it is not believed any others were killed.

Only fourteen or fifteen rifles were in the fort, and but few of the men of military experience, as a company had been recruited there but a short time before and marched away with Lochry’s ill-fated campaign, leaving not more than a score of men in the village. A maiden, Janet Shaw, and a child were killed in the fort.

Soon after the Indians had set fire to the buildings of the village some of them were observed to break away from the main body and go towards Miller’s Station.

Unfortunately there had been a wedding at that place the day before and many guests were still at the scene of the festivities. Among them was John Brownlee, known along the frontier for his courage in scouting against the savage marauder. The bridal party was in the midst of their happy games, when, like a lightning flash, came the dreaded warwhoop.

Those in the cabins and the men in the fields made their escape. In the house, where all was merriment, the scene was instantly changed by the cries of women and children mingled with the yell of the savage. Few escaped.

Among those who got away are two incidents of intense interest. A man was carrying his child and assisting his aged mother in the flight, the savages were gaining on them, the son and father put down and abandoned the child, the better to assist his mother. The next morning the father returned to his cabin and found his little innocent curled up in his bed, sound asleep, the only human thing left amidst the desolation.

The other incident occurred when a powerful young man grasped a child, who stood near him and made his escape, reaching a rye field and taking advantage of some large bushes, he mounted a fence and leaped far into the tall rye, where he lay down with the child. He heard the quick tread of the savages as they rushed by and their slower steps as they returned, voicing their disappointment.

The wedding party were made prisoners, including the bride and groom, and several of the Miller family.

When the Indians were all assembled and the prisoners secured, the latter were loaded with plunder and the march commenced. They had proceeded less than a mile when one of the Indians recognized Brownlee and communicated it to the others. As he stooped to readjust the child on his back, who he carried in addition to the luggage they had put on him, an Indian buried a tomahawk in his head. When he fell the child was killed by the same Indian.

One woman screamed at the sight of this butchery and the same tomahawk ended her agony. These bodies were found next day and decently buried.

At nightfall thirty men assembled and determined to give succor to those in the fort. They armed themselves and hastened with great caution, knowing that if the Indians intended to attack the fort at dawn that they had retired to the low land at Crabtree Creek.

Fifty rifles were too few to attack 300 Indians and sixty white savages, so they put in action strategy which won. They mounted all the horses they had and trotted back and forth across a bridge of plank, near the stockade, two drums and a fife completed the deception that re-enforcements were arriving in great numbers. The ruse had the desired effect. The cowardly Indians, fearing the retribution they deserved, stealthily fled during the night.

The prisoners were surrendered by the Indians to the British and taken to Canada. After the peace eighty-three prisoners who survived were freed and returned to their homes.

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George Ross, Lawyer, Iron Manufacturer,
Soldier, Statesman, Patriot, Signer of
Declaration of Independence,
Died July 14, 1779

The Philadelphia Packet, July 15, 1779, contained this item:

“Yesterday died at his seat near this city, the Honorable George Ross, Judge of Admiralty of this State.” He was interred in the churchyard of Christ’s Church, Philadelphia, the day following his death. The Supreme Executive Council attended the obsequies in a body.

George Ross, the son of Reverend George Ross, minister of the Established Church, and Catherine Van Gezel Ross, was born in New Castle, Lower Counties, May 10, 1730. He was of excellent Scotch stock, his family traced their descent from the Earls of Ross.

George received an excellent education, with special instruction in the classics; studied law in Philadelphia, with his half brother, John, and was admitted to the bar at Lancaster in 1750. He rose rapidly in his profession, and was interested in the manufacture of iron, which he continued to the time of his death.

Soon after settling at Lancaster, in 1751, he married Miss Anne Lawlor.

He was made prosecutor for the Crown and took a deep interest in the welfare of the growing town of Lancaster, which was soon recognized by his neighbors and he was elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1768. From this time on his short life of forty-nine years was crowded with civic and patriotic duties; while the State and Federal Governments honored him with many positions of trust.

He immediately became a leader in the Assembly where he was a most pronounced Whig. By successive elections he was continued in that body until 1774, when he was a member of the Provincial Conference and then a member of the first Continental Congress.

George Ross was one of a committee to whom was referred the patriotic communication of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, recommending a Congress of the colonies for the purpose of resisting British arbitrary enactments, and in Congress he consistently furthered those measures which finally led to American Independence.

In 1775, Governor John Penn having written a message disapproving any protective measures on the part of the colonies, Mr. Ross drew up a strong and convincing reply.

He was a true friend of the Indians, and served as one of the Commissioners to Fort Pitt in 1776.

Mr. Ross was made a member of the Committee of Safety for Pennsylvania; vice president of the Constitutional Convention of 1776; colonel of the First Battalion of Associators for Lancaster County; and as a fitting climax, he signed the Declaration of Independence.

During his service as a member of the Continental Congress he was named on the committee with General George Washington and Robert Morris to prepare a design for a new flag. It was through his suggestion that the committee called on his niece, Betsy Ross, and with her help the beautiful flag of the United States was designed and adopted.

Ill health forced Colonel Ross to resign from Congress and on leaving office the citizens of Lancaster voted him a piece of silver to cost £150, which he declined to receive.

After varied and valuable labors in the service of the colonies and of Pennsylvania he was appointed a judge of the Court of Admiralty, as a minute of the Supreme Executive Council for March 1, 1779, records the following:

“Resolved, That the Honorable George Ross, Esquire, be commissioned Judge of the Admiralty of this State, under the Act of Assembly; that this Board highly approve the firmness and ability he has hitherto shown in the discharge of his said office.”

During his incumbency, which lasted but a brief period, he was regarded as learned and prompt, a happy combination.

Judge Ross probably knew the standing of every merchant in Philadelphia.

His house in Lancaster stood on the site of the present Court House, and his country home was a farm in what was then a suburb of Lancaster, now a part of the city, called in his honor, Rossmere.

He was interested in several iron furnaces, the most important of which was the Mary Ann furnace of York County. This was the first blast furnace west of the Susquehanna. His partners were George Stephenson, one of the first lawyers in York County, and William Thompson, the latter’s brother-in-law, later distinguished as a general in the Revolution. George Ross also owned Spring Forge III, also in York County, and he was a partner with George Taylor, of Easton, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, in a furnace in New Jersey called Bloomsbury Forge.

His half brother John Ross, was also much interested in the iron business, and seems to have been a rather picturesque character. He was an officer of the King, and Graydon says of him: “Mr. John Ross, who loved ease and Madeira much better than liberty and strife, declared for neutrality, saying, that let who would be king, he well knew that he would be a subject.”

His health seems to have been poor for some time before his death as a letter from Edward Burd to Jasper Yeates, July 16, 1779, says:

“Poor Mr. Ross is gone at last. I was one of his Carriers. He said he was going to a cooler climate, and behaved in the same cheerful way at his exit as he did all thro the different trying scenes of life.”

He was a Churchman by inheritance, and was vestryman and warden of St. James’ Church, Lancaster, contributing liberally to its varied interests. Genial, kind and considerate, his sense of humor evidently lightened the cares of his strenuous life.

A memorial pillar was erected in 1897, on the site of his house in Lancaster.

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Provincial Convention Ends Proprietary
Government July 15, 1776

During the debate in the Continental Congress upon the Declaration of Independence, the old Provincial Government of Pennsylvania received such a mortal blow, that it soon expired without a sigh, ending forever the proprietary and royal authority in Pennsylvania.

In the meantime the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia issued a circular to all the county committees calling for a conference in that city on June 18, 1776. This conference unanimously resolved “that the present Government of this Province is not competent to the exigencies of our affairs, and that it is necessary that a Provincial Convention be called by this Conference for the express purpose of forming a new Government in this Province on the authority of the people only.”

The delegates to this convention to frame a constitution for the proposed new Government consisted of the representative men of the Province. It is only natural that in time of excitement the men chosen for such important duty should be those most active in the military organizations, or local committeemen, men whose ability, patriotism and personal popularity was unquestioned. It was to be expected that the old statesmen would be crowded out unless they were leaders in the revolutionary movement.

As such they met in Philadelphia, July 15, each taking without hesitancy the prescribed test oath and then organized by the selection of Benjamin Franklin, president; George Ross, of Lancaster, vice president, and John Morris and Jacob Garrigues, secretaries.

On July 18, Owen Biddle, Colonel John Bull, the Reverend William Vanhorn, John Jacobs, Colonel George Ross, Colonel James Smith, Jonathan Hoge, Colonel Jacob Morgan, Colonel Jacob Stroud, Colonel Thomas Smith and Robert Martin were appointed members of a committee to “make an essay for a declaration of rights for this State.”

On July 24 the same persons were directed to draw up an essay for a frame or system of Government, and John Lesher was appointed in place of Colonel Morgan, who was absent with leave.

The same day the convention established a Council of Safety to exercise authority of the Government until the new Constitution went into effect. At the head of the Council was Thomas Wharton, Jr.

During the convention the delegates not only discussed and perfected the measures for the adoption of a Constitution, but assumed the supreme authority of the State, and legislated upon matters foreign to the object for which it was convened. Not only did it form the Council of Safety, but it approved of the Declaration of Independence, recently adopted by the Continental Congress, and also it appointed justices of the peace, who were required, before assuming their functions, to each take an oath of renunciation from the authority of King George III, and one of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania.

July 25, Colonel Timothy Matlack, James Cannon, Colonel James Potter, David Rittenhouse, Robert Whitehall and Colonel Bertram Galbraith were added to the Committee on the Frame of Government.

The convention completed its labors on September 28, by adopting the first State Constitution, which went into immediate effect, without a vote of the people.

The Constitution as finally adopted vested all legislative power in the General Assembly of the Representatives of the freemen to be composed for three years of six persons annually chosen from the City of Philadelphia and six from each county of the State including Philadelphia, outside the city, afterwards the representation to be apportioned every seven years to the number of taxable inhabitants.

Laws, except in sudden necessity, were not to be passed until the next session after proposal. The executive power was vested in a Supreme Executive Council of twelve elected members, one from the City of Philadelphia, and one from each of the counties, including Philadelphia, so chosen that one-third would retire each year and no member, after serving three years, should be eligible within four years.

A president and vice president were to be annually chosen from this body, by the joint ballot of the Councillors and Assemblymen. New counties were each to have a councillor. The president and the Council, five of whom constituted a quorum, were to appoint all Judges, the Attorney General, etc.

The right to vote was given to all freemen over twenty-one years of age who had resided within the State a year before the election and paid taxes, but the sons, twenty-one years old, of Freeholders were not required to pay taxes. The freemen and their sons should be trained and armed for defense of the State under regulations and with exceptions according to law, but with the right to choose their own colonels and officers under that rank.

A debtor, except for fraud, should not be kept in prison, after giving up his real and personal estate for the benefit of his creditors. A foreigner having taken the oath of allegiance could purchase and transfer real estate and after a year’s residence have all the rights of a natural-born subject, but be ineligible as a member of Assembly until after two years’ residence.

A Council of Censors of two members chosen from each city and county every seven years beginning with 1783 should inquire into the violation of the Constitution and whether the legislative and executive branches of the Government had exercised greater powers than they were entitled to, and could impeach or, by a two-thirds vote of those elected, call a convention to amend the Constitution.

Articles to be amended were to be published six months before election, in order that the people might have opportunity of instructing their delegates concerning them.

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Gibson’s Lambs Start on Expedition for
Powder, July 16, 1776

Powder has always been an essential product in every epoch of the stirring history of our country. The situation was always serious, but on the western side of the Allegheny Mountains there were many times when the settlers were in desperate situation on account of little or no powder.

In times of peace the powder used in these western counties was purchased with furs, and every farmer had a quantity in his home for both hunting and defense, but when the Revolution broke out the demand was greater than the supply, and the Indian hostilities stopped the fur trade.

Companies of rangers were organized and a patrol maintained along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, so that the Indian marauders could be detected and pursued. The work of the frontiersmen was of no use without gunpowder, and in their desperation these hardy pioneers planned an exploit to New Orleans, where they could purchase a quantity from the Spanish Government.

The band of volunteers was under the leadership of Captain George Gibson and Lieutenant William Linn. The former, the son of a Lancaster tavern keeper, was a trapper and had gone to Pittsburgh with his brother John, where they engaged in the fur trade. In his youth he had made several voyages at sea and nearly all his life had traveled through the Indian country. William Linn was from Maryland, a farmer and skilled hunter. He had fought under Braddock and had been used as a scout along the Monongahela River.

Captain Gibson selected fifteen of the hardiest and bravest of his command. These came to be known as Gibson’s Lambs, on account of their fearlessness. Flatboats were built in Pittsburgh and the expedition started from that place Tuesday, July 16, 1776. A trip down the Ohio was extremely dangerous, as all along the river and especially the lower part, the Indians kept a constant watch.

The “Lambs” left behind them every evidence that they were soldiers. They retained rifles, tomahawks and knives, but were clad in coarse clothes resembling boatmen or traders. So clever was their disguise that even when in Pittsburgh their errand remained a secret. The impression was that they were venturing on a trading trip. The expedition successfully passed the British posts at Natchez and reached New Orleans in safety after five weeks on the water.

Louisiana was then a Spanish province, under the governorship of Don Luis de Ungaza, to whom Captain Gibson bore letters of commendation and credit, as well as to Oliver Pollock and other American merchants, then resident in New Orleans. Pollock was a wealthy Philadelphian and exercised great influence with the Spanish authorities. He assisted in negotiating for the powder. Spain was at peace with Great Britain, but willing to give secret aid to the Americans.

The British agents in New Orleans soon learned of the arrival of the Gibson party and, sensing their mission, made complaint to the Spanish authorities that rebels against the British Government were in the city.

Captain Gibson was arrested and lodged in a Spanish prison, where he was treated with the greatest consideration. While he was confined, Oliver Pollock obtained the powder and secreted it in his warehouse. The purchase amounted to 12,000 pounds and cost $1800.

The powder was divided into two portions. Three thousand pounds of it was packed in boxes, falsely marked as merchandise of various kinds, and quietly conveyed to a sailing vessel bound for Philadelphia by way of the gulf and ocean.

There was a coincidence in the fact that on the very night the ship sailed Captain Gibson “escaped” from prison, got on board the vessel and accompanied the precious powder to its destination.

The balance of the powder was turned over to Lieutenant Linn, as this was to be used on the Western frontier. This was in half casks, each containing about sixty pounds. These were smuggled during the night to the barges which were tied up in a secluded place above the city.

Lieutenant Linn hired a score of extra boatmen, mostly Americans, and on September 22, 1776, the little flotilla made a fine getaway without discovery and began its long journey up the Mississippi. The work was hard and the trip took seven months.

At the falls of the Ohio it was necessary to unload the cargoes and carry the heavy casks to the head of the rapids, when the barges were dragged over the shallow stream and reladen. Several times the expedition was forced to tie up by ice and many hardships were experienced before the return of the spring weather.

May 2, 1777, the expedition reached the little settlement of Wheeling, where Fort Henry had been erected. There Lieutenant Linn turned over his precious cargo to David Shepherd, county lieutenant of the newly erected Ohio County, Virginia.

Linn’s responsibility ended at Wheeling. County Lieutenant Shepherd sent the powder to Fort Pitt, under heavy guard, where it was turned over to Colonel William Crawford and safely stored in the brick magazine of the fort. The safe arrival of this powder was the cause of great rejoicing and nothing was too good for Lieutenant Linn and the fearless “Lambs.”

Virginia paid for the powder, but it was turned over for “the use of the continent.” Portions were distributed to the frontier rangers and to the two regiments then being mustered in Southern Pennsylvania for continental service. It was from this powder that Colonel George Rogers Clark drew his supply, in the spring of 1778, for his famous and successful expedition to the Illinois country.

George Gibson was promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel in the Virginia service and Lieutenant Linn was made a captain and placed in command of the “Lambs.” To each of these officers the Virginia Legislature made a grant of money in addition to their regular pay.

Both these brave men performed other acts of heroism during the Revolution and both were killed by the Indians. Linn made a settlement ten miles from Louisville. While riding alone, March 5, 1781, on his way to attend court, he was surprised by a small party of Indians in the forest. Next morning his mutilated body was found, with his horse standing guard over it. Colonel Gibson was mortally wounded at St. Clair’s defeat in Northwestern Ohio, November 4, 1791.

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Virginia Sends Captain John Neville to Command
Fort Pitt, July 17, 1775

By the original charter of Virginia the northern boundary of that colony was supposed to be at the end of the fortieth degree, which was as far north as Philadelphia. This charter was dissolved in 1624, and instead of narrowing the limits of Virginia it apparently increased them.

Virginia became a royal province without any definite boundaries, and she considered herself as a keeper or trustee for the King of England of all contiguous territory not lawfully granted to another colony.

The Maryland grant to Lord Baltimore was taken out of the domain of Virginia, and she acquiesced in it. But west of Maryland she insisted that her ownership extended for an indefinite distance northward and westward, and she had made it good by occupation as far north as Pittsburgh.

This was certainly a broad claim of title, and the only remnant of it now is that curious narrow strip of land, called the Pan-Handle, which extends northward between Pennsylvania and Ohio for some distance above the fortieth degree.

The Indian trade at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela had always been an object of Virginia’s desire. In 1752 Virginia determined to erect a fort there, and Pennsylvania was willing because the fort would stop the advance of the French, their common enemy, but she reminded Virginia that the land belonged to the Penns.

The French, in 1754, had seated themselves at Logstown, and the Governor of Virginia began to construct a fort on the site of Pittsburgh, but the French surprised the little garrison, captured the works, finished it, and named it Fort Duquesne.

The French held the fort until English forces, under General John Forbes, invested it November 25, 1758. It was abandoned in 1771.

Some time prior to 1756 Virginia erected the District of West Augusta, covering the territory of Pennsylvania west of the Laurel Hills and south of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers, and in that year divided it into three counties, viz: Monongalia, Yohogania and Ohio.

Pennsylvania also erected upon this disputed territory Bedford County, in 1771, and Westmoreland County, in 1773 Penn’s Manor of Pittsburgh, too, was surveyed for the proprietaries early in 1769, and in the beginning of 1771 magistrates were appointed by Pennsylvania and for some time discharged the duties of their offices without having their authority questioned.

The new Governor of Virginia was John, Earl of Dunmore, or Lord Dunmore, of whom Bancroft says: “No royal governor ever showed more rapacity in the use of royal power.” He at once determined on seizing control of the “Forks of the Ohio,” for Virginia and for himself. He appointed Dr. John Connolly, a man of much energy and talent, but without principle, to be “captain commandant of Pittsburgh and its dependencies.”

Connolly arrived in Pittsburgh late in December, 1773, and early in January, 1774, took possession of the dismantled fort, which he renamed, calling it “Fort Dunmore,” required and commanded the people to assemble themselves there as a militia.

He mustered the militia under Virginia law, intimidated the Pennsylvania magistrates, marched some of them off to prison and established the authority of Virginia throughout all the region between the Monongahela and the Ohio.

While a large part of the inhabitants of that region were Virginians by birth and predilection, there were some fearless and loyal Pennsylvania adherents who did all in their power to resist Connolly’s high-handed proceedings.

One of these, Arthur St. Clair (afterward General St. Clair), then prothonotary of the new county of Westmoreland, issued a warrant against Connolly and had him committed to jail at Hannastown, from which he was soon released on giving bail for court appearance there.

Connolly returned to Virginia, was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace for Augusta County, and when court met at Hannastown, he appeared with his militia, armed and with colors flying, and refused to admit the Pennsylvania magistrates. He arrested three of the magistrates and sent them to Staunton, where they were confined in jail.

Subsequently, Simon Girty led a mob to Hannastown, stormed the jail and released such prisoners as were Virginia partisans.

The Tory conduct of Connolly at Pittsburgh became so bold and obnoxious that in June, 1775, he was seized by twenty men, under orders of Captain St. Clair, and carried to Ligonier, with the intention of delivering him to the Continental Government at Philadelphia. He was released, however, and fled from Pittsburgh by night and made his way to Portsmouth, Virginia, where he joined Lord Dunmore on a man-of-war, taking refuge in Canada.

Virginia had revolted from Dunmore’s tyranny at home, but showed no disposition to repudiate his aggressions in Pennsylvania nor the machinations of Connolly.

The boundary dispute was maintained, although, in view of the troubles with the mother country fast approaching, the Virginia and Pennsylvania delegates in Congress, including such men as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin, had united in a circular urging the people in the disturbed region to mutual forbearance.

This action of Congress and the constant fear of an Indian uprising persuaded the Virginia Provincial Convention, in session at Williamsburg, July 17, 1775, to pass a resolution which sent Captain John Neville with one hundred men from the Shenandoah Valley to take possession of Fort Pitt.

The following year the Virginia counties in the disputed territory were organized with their loyal and administrative machinery, but the rancor of the contest had, however, somewhat diminished and there were no such acts of violence committed as during the regime of Connolly and his master.

Captain John Neville continued to command until the Continental Congress determined to take Fort Pitt under its care and provide a garrison at the continental expense. The offer was accepted by Virginia and General Washington selected Brigadier General Edward Hand to relieve Captain Neville of his command.

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Susquehanna Company Organized in
Connecticut, July 18, 1753

Early charters granted to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and the Carolinas made the Pacific Ocean the nominal western boundary of those colonies. Prior occupancy by the Dutch and the settlement of the boundaries had created an exception in favor of New York and New Jersey, but all the country west of the Delaware River within the same parallel of latitude with Connecticut was still claimed by that colony as part of her domain.

The southern boundary was to be a straight line beginning at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The line extended west would have entered Pennsylvania near Stroudsburg and crossed the North Branch of the Susquehanna at Bloomsburg, the West Branch at Milton, and passing through Clearfield and Newcastle would cut the State nearly through the middle. Penn’s charter fixed the northern boundary of his province at the forty-second degree of latitude. A large strip of territory was thus granted to both Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

On July 18, 1753, about 250 men, mostly from Connecticut, met at Windham, that State, and organized “The Susquehanna Company.” Then, with the consent of the Connecticut Assembly, application was made to the Crown for leave to plant a new colony west of the Delaware. It was granted, and the company sent agents to the Indian treaty at Albany, June, 1754, who succeeded in obtaining from representatives of the Six Nations the cession of a tract of land on the northern branch of the Susquehanna River, where eleven years before King Tedyuskung and his tribe had built the town of Wyoming.

The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania protested against this purchase, and claimed that this land was within the limits of their charter. They also claimed that the purchase had not been made in open council, but had been effected after making the Indians drunk.

As this council at Albany had been called to form a union of the Colonies with the Six Nations as their allies against the French, the purchase was not then seriously opposed. Besides, Pennsylvania bought a large tract of land from the Six Nations at the same treaty, and in a way not satisfactory to the Indians.

The French and Indian War prevented any attempt at settlement of the Wyoming Valley until 1762, when about 200 colonists and their families entered the valley and commenced building and planting near the site of the present Wilkes-Barre. Before winter set in, extensive fields of wheat had been sown upon lands covered with forest trees in August. But owing to the scantiness of provisions, the settlers returned to Connecticut for the winter.

About the same time another Connecticut association, called the “Delaware Company,” had begun a settlement on the Delaware River. Proclamations were issued and writs of ejectment were placed in the hands of the Sheriff of Northampton County.

Early in the month of May, 1763, the settlers returned, accompanied by many others. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Northampton County, to which the Wyoming Valley then belonged, settlements were made at Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Plymouth and Hanover.

Several hundred acres were improved with corn and other grain, and a large quantity of hay cut and gathered, and everything was moving forward in a prosperous and happy manner when, without the least warning, on October 15, the settlers were attacked while dispersed and engaged in their work, and about twenty of them slain.

Men, women and children fled to the mountains, from which they saw their homes plundered and burned and their cattle taken away. They abandoned their settlement and made their way back to Connecticut or to Orange County, New York. This is known in the history of Pennsylvania as the first massacre of Wyoming. It was the work of the Delaware Indians, led by Captain Bull, son of King Tedyuskung.

Some believe the Iroquois convinced the Delaware that the white settlers had murdered Tedyuskung and that this massacre was committed in retribution.

For six years after this assault no settlement was attempted. The Indians, anticipating revenge for the massacre, left the valley.

Meanwhile the Penn family made every effort to prove that the title given to the Susquehanna Company was not complete and that their charter was valid. Finally some chiefs, assisted by Sir William Johnson, openly disclaimed the sale to the Susquehanna Company. Then the Six Nations assembled in council at Fort Stanwix and on November 5, 1768, gave a deed of the disputed lands to the Penns.

Meanwhile Pennsylvanians took possession of the Wyoming Valley and built a fortified trading house there. They laid out two manors, one on each side of the river, and extending over the farms abandoned by the New Englanders.

In February, 1769, the Susquehanna Company sent forty men into the valley, to be followed shortly by 200 more. They were given land and 200 pounds Connecticut currency to provide themselves with farming tools and weapons, on condition that they would stay in the valley and defend it against Pennsylvania. They built a blockhouse called, from their numbers, Forty Fort. Their leader was Colonel Zebulon Butler, a hero of the French and Indian War, a brave partisan commander.

A civil war prevailed for some years known as the “Pennamite and Yankee War.” Forts were constructed and many sieges and skirmishes followed. Both parties led men to prison, drove women and children away and committed other outrages.

The Connecticut men were generally successful in this strife. They organized a separate State, but could not maintain it. So in 1774 they attached themselves to Connecticut, as the town of Westmoreland, in the County of Litchfield.

During the Revolution there was a lull in the strife in Wyoming. However, as soon as the war ended the old feud broke out in all its former fury.

Pennsylvania having, in 1779, succeeded the heirs of William Penn, now appealed to Congress to settle the dispute. A commission met at Trenton in 1782 and, after five weeks of deliberation, decided that Connecticut had no right to the land, and that the jurisdiction of the same belonged to Pennsylvania.

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Tom Quick, the Indian Killer and Picturesque
Character, Born July 19, 1734

Early in the year 1733 a Hollander, named Thomas Quick, came to the colony of New York, a few months later located on the Delaware River, on what afterward became known as Upper Smithfield, near where Milford, Pike County, now stands. He appears to have been the pioneer settler on the Pennsylvania side; here he cleared lands, erected a log cabin and barns, and raised wheat and maize. A son was born July 19, 1734, named Thomas, and he was familiarly known in after years as Tom Quick, the Indian killer.

He was the pet of the household, and even the Indians who roamed over that region frequently visited Quick’s place and much admired the fine looking, stout lad, and often made him presents of plumes, feathers, skins and other articles.

Tom grew up among these Indians, learned their language, and was taught by them how to hunt wild animals, and fish after the manner of the Indians. He grew fond of the Indian life, and became such an expert hunter, trapper and fisherman, that his father could never induce him to follow any other occupation. He even refused to attend school with his sisters, and in fact became almost an Indian by nature.

In the meantime Thomas Quick, Sr., had become the prosperous owner of a grist and saw mill on a small stream entering the Delaware near Milford, called the Vandemark. But Tom, Jr., never became an employe, but did learn much of the beautiful Minisink Valley, with its high cliffs on the Pennsylvania side and receding hills on the New Jersey side, as it extends from Port Jervis to the Delaware Water Gap. The romantic water falls and rocky glens were his hunting and fishing grounds. This knowledge afterward served his purpose in waylaying and murdering Indians.

The Delaware Indians viewed with alarm the steady encroachments of the whites, and many had already taken up arms against the English. The Quick family, however, had always lived on friendly terms with them, but the Indians were not unmindful of the fact that this sturdy Hollander had been the very first to push that far into their favorite hunting grounds.

The prospect of plundering an opulent man like Quick overcame any feelings of gratitude that might linger in the savage breast.

When the French and Indian War commenced, the Quicks were uneasy and their alarm increased as the Indians grew less sociable, and finally withdrew altogether from the Delaware River.

Quiet reigned until the Quicks became careless and one day the father crossed the river to grind grist, accompanied by Tom and his brother-in-law, all unarmed. As they rounded a point near the river they were fired upon from ambush, and the old man fell mortally wounded.

The young men endeavored to carry him across the frozen river but as they stepped on the ice they were fired on and Tom was hit in the foot. They soon got out of danger, but not before they saw the savages take Tom Quick’s scalp.

Young Tom was frantic with rage and grief, and that moment swore that he would never make peace with the Indians as long as one remained upon the banks of the river.

From this time forth the demon of unrelenting savage hatred entered Tom’s heart and he became more like the savages he pursued than like a civilized man. He never entered the army but took Indians at all times, whether in peace or war, and without regard to age or sex.

He seems to have operated about the close of the Indian War, at a time when they began to again visit their former haunts, supposing they would be well received.

Among the Indians who returned was a drunken vagabond named Muskwink, one who had assisted in murdering Tom’s father.

Tom met Muskwink at Decker’s Tavern, on the Neversink, where he had become very bold and abusive, claiming Tom’s acquaintance and desiring him to drink with him. Tom refused and cursed him, which caused a heated exchange of words, during which Muskwink boasted of the part he played in the murder of Tom Quick, Sr. He bragged that he scalped him with his own hands, and at the same time mimicked the grimaces of the dying man, to corroborate his assertion, exhibited the sleeve buttons worn by his victim at the time.

Tom seized a musket, which was hanging in the bar room, and ordered Muskwink to leave the place. He arose slowly and departed, pursued by Tom until they had gone about a mile, when Tom overtook the savage and shot him dead. Tom returned to the tavern, gave up the musket, drank a glass of rum, and left the neighborhood.

His next exploit was when he espied an Indian family in a canoe near Butler’s Rift. Tom concealed himself in the tall grass and as the canoe glided nearer he recognized the Indian as one who had committed many outrages on the frontier.

Only a few words were exchanged when Quick shot the man and tomahawked the woman and three children. He sank the bodies and destroyed the canoe, and did not tell of this crime for years, when he was asked why he killed the children. He replied, “Nits make lice.”

There are many stories told of Tom Quick, which have been preserved by tradition and which are firmly believed by descendants of the older families of Pike County.

One story is told in which several Indians caught him splitting rails and told him to go along with them. Tom asked them to assist him split open the last log and as they put their fingers in the crack to help pull it apart Tom knocked out the wedge and caught them all. He then killed each one at his leisure.

He went on a hunting trip with an Indian and they killed seven deer. He took the meat but gave the Indian the skins. He threw them across his shoulder, Tom fell behind and shot the Indian and took the skins as well as the meat, saying he had shot a buck with seven skins.

He was hunting with another Indian and pushed him off of the high rocks.

Tradition says that on his death bed he claimed to have killed ninety-nine Indians, and that he begged them to bring an old Indian, who lived near, in order that he might bring his record to an even hundred.

In his old age he was regarded as a hero by the pioneer hunters and trappers. He died at James Rosencrantz’s in 1795, and was buried on his farm.

The time has long since passed when such a revengeful murderer can be exalted to the rank of a hero, yet Tom Quick, the Indian slayer, weather-beaten, and with wornout accoutrements and costume in keeping, presented a picturesque and Rip Van Winkle-like appearance that would have formed no bad subject for an artist’s pencil.

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William Maclay, First United States Senator,
Born in Chester, July 20, 1737