Chapter XXXVI: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (24)

Moses, the captain of the gang, with two of his brothers, had taken refuge in a cabin occupied by a drunken man, near the mouth of Tohickon Creek. Mr. Shaw learned of the place of their concealment, rallied a party with Colonel Hart as leader, and surrounded them.

Instead of shooting them down at once, Colonel Hart opened the door, and cried out, “Ah! You’re here, are you?”

The Doans seized their guns and shot down Mr. Kennedy, one of the party. Two of the outlaws crawled through a window unseen, and escaped in the woods. Moses, the most respectable of all the brothers, surrendered. Immediately after he gave himself up he was shot down by one of the attacking party. It was discovered that the man who killed Moses was a former member of his outlaw band and killed him to close his mouth forever.

Two others of the Doan brothers, Abraham and Levi, were later captured in Chester County, and afterward hanged on September 24, 1788, in Philadelphia. Their bodies were taken back to Plumstead Township for burial.

Their valor and generosity made them respected above ordinary robbers, and many temperate people in the county expressed or felt great commiseration for them.

The Doans made a desperate fight to obtain pardons and their case caused intense excitement throughout the entire State, but they paid the price their lawlessness deserved.

Many years after the Shaw robbery, young Shaw became a magistrate in Doylestown. One day Joseph Doan, the robber and schoolmaster, now a refugee from prison, entered his office. The Squire gave him a cool reception but inquired of his errand.

The old scoundrel had returned from Canada to bring suit against a Quaker for a small legacy of $40. He had the impudence to require Squire Shaw’s services, although he had robbed and nearly killed his father. Squire Shaw performed his professional duties, but treated his unwelcome client with cool disdain and hatred.

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Dutch Gain Control of the Delaware River
September 25, 1655

After the arrival of John Claudius Rysingh, as the successor of John Printz, Governor of New Sweden, May 20, 1654, he became a very aggressive officer. He began his administration by capturing the Dutch Fort Casimer, thus destroying the authority of the Dutch on the Delaware River.

On June 17, he held a great convocation of Indians at Printz Hall, on Tinicum Island, now Essington, on the Delaware River near Chester, at which a new treaty was successfully consummated.

The triumph of Rysingh was regarded as a reconquest of usurped territory and no other means to reclaim it by the Dutch were apprehended. That was a fatal delusion, for at the close of 1654, while estimates were being made in Sweden for the support of their colony during the ensuing year, on a peace basis, an armament was being fitted out in Holland not only sufficient “to replace matters on the Delaware in their former position,” but “to drive out the Swedes from every side of the river.”

In the spring of 1655 five armed vessels, well equipped and with 600 men, were forwarded by Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor at Manhattan. This expedition was commanded by Stuyvesant in person and arrived in Delaware Bay Monday afternoon, September 5, 1655.

By Friday the fleet reached Fort Casimer, now in control of the Swedes, and renamed Fort Trinity. The garrison was in command of Sven Schute, while Governor Rysingh, in person, had charge of Christina, in what is now Wilmington, Del.

To prevent a communication of the two forts Stuyvesant had landed fifty men. The demand made by the Dutch was a “direct restitution of their own property,” to which Commander Schute, after having had an interview with Stuyvesant, reluctantly yielded on the following day upon very favorable terms of capitulation.

The nine guns of the fort were to be reserved for the Swedish “crown” and removed when convenient. The Swedes were to march out, twelve fully equipped, the rest with their side-arms. Stuyvesant proclaimed that Swedes who would take the oath of allegiance to him might remain unmolested, and twenty did so.

The surrender of Schute was unknown to Governor Rysingh, and his position was virtually untenable. He had placed some of his best men in the captured fort, and an additional party, sent the very day of the surrender. He prepared for resistance, collected all the people for the defense of Fort Christina, and strengthened the ramparts.

On September 12, the Dutch appeared on the opposite side of Christina Creek, and the siege began, which was continued uninterruptedly for fourteen days.

On the 16th, Stuyvesant sent a letter “claiming the whole river.” Rysingh replied asserting the rights of the Swedes on the Delaware and protesting against the Dutch invasion. Stuyvesant renewed his demand, and Rysingh next urged that the boundaries between the Swedish and Dutch colonies be settled by the Governments at home, or by commissioners to be agreed upon.

Only delay resulted. Stuyvesant was cocksure of his ability to capture the fort, and was satisfied to wait. It would have been folly in Rysingh, with his thirty men to have begun to fight. During the long siege no one was killed or wounded. September 25, Rysingh surrendered. A formal capitulation was drawn up and signed by the two commanders on the parade-ground outside the fort.

The soldiers were to march out with the honors of war. The guns and everything to remain the property of the Swedes. The Swedish settlers might stay or go, as they chose, and for a year and six weeks, if they stayed, need not take the Dutch oath of allegiance.

Swedes who remained should enjoy the Lutheran faith, and have a minister to instruct them. Rysingh and the commissary, Elswick, were to be taken to Manhattan, and thence provided with passage to Europe. Thus ended the short but exciting career of Governor Rysingh, and with him fell the whole Swedish Colony.

Soon thereafter, Rysingh with other Swedish officials, proceeded to Manhattan. Rysingh, Lindstrom, the engineer; Elswick, the commissary, and the two clergymen, Hjort and Nertunius, sailed on a Dutch merchant vessel early in November, and were landed in Plymouth, England, where a report of the Dutch conquest was made to Lyderberg, the Swedish Ambassador to England.

Had not internal troubles arisen in Sweden at this time, their claim might have been pressed with effect, but in 1664 the whole of New Netherlands was seized by the English, and both Sweden and Holland had lost their colonies. Neither was likely to obtain much satisfaction from the other, and the controversy faded away.

Many improvements had been made by the Swedes, from Henlopen to the Falls of Alumingh. They laid the foundation of Upland, the present Chester; Korsholm Fort was built at Passyunk; Manayunk Fort was placed at the mouth of the Schuylkill; they marked the sites of Nya Wasa and Gripsholm, somewhere near the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill, Straus Mijk, Nieu Causeland, the present New Castle; and forts were erected at Kingsessing, Wicacoa, Finland and other places.

The Swedes lived at peace with the Indians. The Government of the Dutch was established by the appointment of John Paul Jacquet as vice director and commander-in-chief, and Andreas Hudde as secretary and surveyor, keeper of the keys of the fort, etc.

The overthrow of the Swedish authority on the Delaware was complete and final, and for a period of nine years the white settlements on the river, on both sides, remained wholly under control of the Dutch. The Swedes lived together, mostly north of Christina, and the Dutch gathered about Fort Casimer, where a little hamlet sprang up, which became known as New Amstel, the New Castle of the English and of the present.

The authority centered at New Amstel. Christina was eclipsed, and Tinicum ceased to have importance except as the residence of Madam Popegoja and the location of a church. The log forts at both places rotted down and were not rebuilt.

In April, 1657, Jacob Alricks assumed the governorship of the colony for the Dutch, when Hudde was appointed to command at Fort Christina, the name of which was changed to Altona.

Stuyvesant again visited the Delaware in May, 1658. At Tinicum he conferred with Sheriff Van Dyck, Magistrate Olaf Stille, Mathys Hansson, Peter Rambo and Peter Cock. These and Sven Schute and others took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch authority and were granted a number of requests.

In July, 1658, William Beekman was appointed by Stuyvesant to represent the Dutch West India Company on the Delaware.

But Pennsylvania was soon to be wrested from the Dutch and England gained possession October 1, 1664.

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British Under General Howe Invest City of
Philadelphia, September 26, 1777

After the defeat of the American Army in the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, the British did not pursue Washington’s Army, which marched to Chester and then to Germantown. Here provisions and ammunition, both much needed, were obtained.

The British advanced toward Philadelphia, which was unprepared to make an adequate defense, and General Mifflin, who was to take command, was too ill to do so.

When the news reached the city, early on the morning of September 19, that the British had crossed the Schuylkill, all was in confusion.

Congress and the Supreme Executive Council of the State, which had remained in Philadelphia during the exciting events transpiring before the city, now adjourned to meet elsewhere, the former, on the 18th, to meet in Lancaster. After a flight to Bethlehem and then via Reading it reached Lancaster, where it convened on the 27th, but three days later removed to York, which became the capital of the United States.

The State Government remained until the 24th, when it also went to Lancaster, the archives, etc., having previously been removed to Easton. The first meeting of Wharton and his councilors was held in Lancaster September 29.

On the 19th Washington passed the Schuylkill at Parkers Ford, leaving Wayne with 2000 men on the west side to fall upon any detachment of the enemy or destroy his baggage. That night occurred the Paoli massacre.

The British crossed the Schuylkill at Fatland Ford on the 22d. General Howe established headquarters at Norristown on the 23d and 24th.

Washington had marched his army in the direction of Reading. On the 25th the British began an encampment at Germantown, Howe making Stenton his headquarters.

Lord Cornwallis entered Philadelphia on September 26 at the head of a detachment of British and Hessian grenadiers.

An American flotilla held the channel of the Delaware River below the city, but the British immediately constructed batteries which repulsed an attack the following day.

The main army of the enemy remained in camp at Germantown. Thus the richest and most populous capital of the whole confederation fell into the enemy’s hands, after a sanguinary battle, and a series of maneuvers no less masterly than painful to the two armies.

Washington, descending along the left bank of the Schuylkill, approached to within sixteen miles of Germantown, where he encamped at Skippack Creek.

General Howe, having occupied Philadelphia, at once took measures to secure the unobstructed passage of his fleet up the Delaware. Colonel Sterling was sent with a detachment to attack the American fort at Billingsport, on the Jersey side of the Delaware River, as its capture would place it in their power to make a passage through the obstructions in the channel and enable their vessels to approach within striking distance of Fort Mifflin.

Colonel Sterling’s attack was successful October 2, as no resistance was offered by the small garrison under Colonel Bradford. They had taken off all the ammunition and some of the cannon, spiking those that remained and burned the barracks.

While this action was in progress, General Washington regarded it as a favorable opportunity for making an attack on the British force encamped at Germantown, and with between eight and nine thousand Continentals, besides some militia marched toward that place on the night of October 3.

When Washington gave the order to retire the Americans executed their retreat in good order, followed by the British for about nine miles.

The American Army gathered at the back of Perkiomen Creek with a post formed on the hillside of the road near White Marsh Church, and Washington at Pennypacker’s mill.

The Congress expressed its approbation, both of the plan of enterprise and the courage with which it was executed, for which votes of thanks were given to General Washington and the army.

On October 13 the Assembly at Lancaster established a Council of Safety consisting of the members of the Supreme Executive Council and John Bayard, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, Jonathan B. Smith, David Rittenhouse, Joseph Gardner, Robert Whitehill, Christopher Marshall, James Smith, of York; Jacob Arndt, Curtis Grubb, James Cannon and William Henry with power to punish even capitally in a summary manner, and to take at their appraisement any necessaries for the army.

A rule also was made against profiteers, and any person who should buy up more bar-iron, leather, salt, wheat, cattle or other merchandise, or victuals, than proper for his own need and supply should be punished severely.

During the British occupation there were as many as 20,000 troops in and about Philadelphia. General Howe lived for a time in Stenton, the home built by James Logan, and later in the Samuel Morris house; he also lived for a time in the Perot mansion, which in 1793, was the residence of General Washington, while President of the United States. During the time he stayed in Philadelphia he seized and kept for his own use Mary Pemberton’s coach and horses, with which he rode about town.

General Knyphausen lived in General Cadwallader’s mansion, on Second Street; Lord Cornwallis dwelt in David Lewis’ house, Second, above Spruce Street; Major André dwelt in Benjamin Franklin’s mansion. Other officers occupied fine residences and it was a season of much social gayety.

On October 19 the main body of the British Army left Germantown and encamped behind the line of redoubts in the Northern Liberties.

Philadelphia was now walled in from river to river by lines of British troops, but yet the British men-of-war commanded by General Howe’s brother, Lord Howe, could not freely pass the obstructions in the Delaware River.

The artillery were quartered in Chestnut Street, between Third and Sixth Streets, the State House yard being used as a park. The Forty-second Highlanders occupied Chestnut Street below Third, and the Fifteenth Regiment was quartered in Market Street, in and about Fifth Street.

Later in October General Washington sent General McDougall to attack 1500 British at Gray’s Ferry. Generals Sullivan and Greene were to make a feint along the Germantown road. Greene got as far as Three Mile Run, where he united with Sullivan and waited for the signal that McDougall had begun the attack. The enemy had called in his troops at Gray’s Ferry and the Americans were obliged to return.

The English forced the evacuation of Fort Mifflin, November 15, and Fort Mercer was abandoned the 20th, but, in spite of this handicap, the American fleet successfully passed Philadelphia and took refuge above Bristol.

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British Open Hostilities in Long Siege on
Fort Mifflin, September 27, 1777

The British Army was in possession of Philadelphia, but the communication was not open with their fleet, and General Washington in evacuating the city had placed a garrison in Fort Mifflin, not as strong as the importance and exigencies of the place required, but such as the situation of his army could afford.

Fort Mifflin was nothing more than a wooden fort with an inclosure of palisades. It was situated on Mud Island, on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. The small Pennsylvania fleet was in command of Commodore John Hazlewood.

The British were not unacquainted with the miserable situation of the fort and knew its weaknesses and the best means to reduce it.

On September 27 the enemy on Providence Island opened two mortars and three heavy guns against the southeast blockhouse. That left these batteries unsupported, which gave an opportunity for Colonel Smith to order a sally above and below.

Two parties supported by the galleys under Commodore Hazlewood landed on the beach of Providence Island and stormed the battery, which was defended by two officers and sixty British, who surrendered themselves. They were carried into the fort before the enemy’s guards could attack the Americans, but not before the guns were spiked.

From October 10 to the 21st a severe fire was kept up; the two west blockhouses were ruined and the north one blown up by the fall of several shells.

The enemy, seeing the breaches made to the palisades, hoped to gain possession of the fort, and as it was very important for their remaining in Philadelphia that the communication be open, they determined a general storm on Mud Island October 22.

Previous to it, in the evening of the 21st, the Hessian brigade crossed at Cooper’s Ferry to storm Fort Mercer, on the Jersey shore about 1500 yards northeast of Fort Mifflin and up the river. The attack was so rash that even success could not justify its temerity.

Before the storm of the fort was attempted Colonel Donop sent a flag to Colonel Christopher Green, who commanded the fort, threatening to put the garrison to the sword if he did not surrender it immediately. Colonel Green answered with disdain, saying he would defend it till the last drop of his blood. About an hour before night the attack was begun on the north and south side.

Both the British attacks were expected. The artillery and musketry of the fort and the heavy guns of the galleys poured grapeshot and cannon balls upon them and made great slaughter. They advanced as far as the abattis, and being repulsed with great loss, they left their commanding officer dying and retreated with hurry and confusion. They rallied in the woods, and leaving their wounded and dead, about 300, in the hands of the victors, retired to Philadelphia the same night.

Colonel Green and the officers who had displayed so much courage in repulsing the enemy, treated the wounded with much humanity. Colonel Donop was attended with the greatest care, but he died a few days after the action, and was buried with the honors of war.

The morning after the attack on Fort Mercer it became Fort Mifflin’s turn. On the 22d, about 9 o’clock, the ships Eagle, Somerset, Isis, Augusta, Pearl, Liverpool and several frigates, with a galley, came up to the chevaux de frise, 500 yards from the fort. At the same time the land batteries, the fort batteries and the American galleys and the British squadron engaged.

The firing continued until noon with relentless fury; the fort frequently fired red-hot balls, one of which struck the Augusta, a sixty-four-gun ship, she took fire, and in a moment was ablaze, and soon after blew up with a thundering noise, before the enemy could take out all their hands.

A moment after, the Merlin, a twenty-two-gun frigate, ran ashore below the Augusta, and as she could not be removed before the explosion, took fire and also blew up.

The other ships, frightened by the fate of these two, retired below Hog Island; and the land batteries, which had hoisted the bloody flag, to warn the garrison that they were not to expect any quarter, continued their fighting until evening.

The weakened garrison had been re-inforced by Pennsylvania and Virginia troops, but Colonel Smith found the garrison in great danger from fatigue and salt provisions, the water they had to wade through, the cold nights and constant firing by the enemy turned many men to the hospital.

The enemy suffered also from the inclemency of the weather, and the overflowing of the island. The water was two feet deep in their fort.

The British, believing they must evacuate Philadelphia or take the fort, made new batteries, and on November 8 kept up an incessant fire.

All the palisades were broken down and the block houses ruined. The ditch filled up with mud. Captain Treat and his lieutenant were killed. Colonel Smith was wounded and the garrison nearly exhausted.

Major Thayer with some New England troops relieved the garrison. Major Fleury would not be relieved and remained with the garrison.

On November 15 the enemy made a furious attack by the river and land and floating batteries on the fort.

The ships came as near the fort as possible in the main channel, and the Vigilant, carrying 24-pounders, came up under the protection of the land batteries, behind Hog Island, and anchored forty yards from the angle of the battery.

Fort Mifflin had been so much exposed on that side that on it did not remain a single gun. Major Thayer ordered the 32-pounder to be carried there. Before the Vigilant began to fire that single gun put fourteen shots in her board. But as soon as she was at anchor and began to play all resistance became impossible.

In three or four broadsides not only the parapet and the carriages but even the irons of the guns themselves were broken, and in half an hour not a gun in the fort was able to fire.

Another sloop of war joined the Vigilant and played against the fort all the afternoon.

The garrison was buried in ruins, unable to retreat during the day and unwilling to do it as long as they could expect re-enforcements, had not any expectation but to sell their lives dearly as they could.

It was impossible to defend the fort with so small a force, and Major Thayer called for re-enforcements from Fort Mercer or he must evacuate the fort. At that moment Major Fleury and Major Talbot were wounded and another officer of artillery killed.

At 10 o’clock at night, as no re-enforcements had arrived from New Jersey, it was impossible to defend the fort any longer.

Major Thayer evacuated the fort with a degree of firmness equal to the bravery of his defense. He set fire to the remains, and with less than 200 men, having carried off all the wounded, he arrived at Fort Mercer about 1 o’clock in the morning, being the last man to march out of the fort.

The British took possession of Fort Mifflin half an hour after the Americans left it.

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Colonel William Plunket Defeats Yankees
in Pennamite War, September 28, 1775

There had been four years of tranquil enjoyment among the Yankee settlers at Wyoming following the conclusion, in 1771, of the first Pennamite War. The Proprietaries had been defeated and driven out, and for four years they made no attempt to retake their property.

With the defeat of Dick and Ogden, August, 1771, the Penns were actually driven out of Wyoming and the Yankee settlers poured into the valley in such numbers that it was considered advisable to erect five new townships, each five miles square, along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, on the lands of the Susquehanna Company.

Accordingly, in 1771 the township of Charlestown was erected at the mouth of Muncy Creek, now Lycoming County; the township of Judea was erected above the mouth of Limestone Run, which is in the center of the present borough of Milton.

In May, 1773, the township of Westminster was erected above the mouth of Buffalo Creek, in what is now Union County.

It was intended that another township, to be called New Simsburg, should be erected on the south side of the West Branch, opposite the mouth of Pine Creek. This survey was never made, but the site selected was opposite the present borough of Jersey Shore, and included the beautiful island at that place.

The fifth town, called Salem, was erected on the North Branch, May, 1773, below the mouth of Shickshinny Creek.

Northumberland County was erected March 21, 1772, and its territory, which embraced 462 square miles, included the entire Wyoming Valley, which was placed in the seventh and last township, called Wyoming.

During that summer a number of settlers arrived in Turbot Township from the State of New Jersey, among whom were John, Cornelius and Peter Vincent and their families. John and Peter were brothers and Cornelius was the son of John. They settled on a plantation one mile below the mouth of Warrior Run, which is two miles north of the present borough of Milton.

John immediately became the leader of this pioneer settlement and dominant factor and partisan of the Connecticut interest. In May, 1775, the Governor of Connecticut appointed him a justice of the peace for Litchfield County. Accompanied by his son and several others, he went to Wyoming in August and requested a number of people to go to the West Branch and make settlements.

Major William Judd, Joseph Sluman, Esq., and about eighty others arrived at Vincent’s September 23, and two days later Judd and Sluman wrote a jointly signed letter to Judge William Plunket, in which they acknowledged they had come with a view of settling, and stated that as this might be a “matter of much conversation among the inhabitants, we are willing to acquaint you with the principles on which we are come. In the first place, we intend no hostilities; we will not disturb, molest or endeavor to dispossess any person of his property, or in any ways abuse his person by threats or any action that shall tend thereto. And, as we are commissioners of the peace from the Colony of Connecticut, we mean to be governed by the laws of that colony, and shall not refuse the exercise of the law to those of the inhabitants that are now dwellers here on their request, as the Colony of Connecticut extended last May their jurisdiction over the land. Finally, as we are determined to govern ourselves as above mentioned, we expect that those who think the title of this land is not in this colony will give us no uneasiness or disturbance in our proposed settlement.”

If Major Judd and his party really supposed that their movements would meet with no opposition, they were egregiously mistaken. It is also quite evident they prepared for defense.

According to the deposition of Peter Smith, one detachment was on guard at a schoolhouse at Freeland’s Mills, three miles above the mouth of Warrior Run, and another at John Vincent’s house.

The report reached the county seat at Sunbury that the settlers had brought along entrenching tools, also swivels to be used in the entrenchments.

A petition was immediately prepared and sent to Governor John Penn, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, which was signed by William Cooke, Sheriff; James Murray, Coroner; William Plunket, President Judge; Samuel Hunter, County Lieutenant and Justice; Benjamin Alison, Robert Moodie, Michael Troy, Ellis Hughes and William Maclay, Associate Justices.

The petitioners set forth that their utmost efforts had failed to halt the “ambitious designs and enterprises of the intruders from the Colony of Connecticut. That they had been re-enforced with fresh numbers: Officers, civil and military. Swarms of emissaries are seducing the ignorant, frightening the timorous, and denouncing the utmost vengeance against any who may be hardy enough to oppose them—In fine, to such a situation we are already reduced as to be under the hard necessity of keeping constant guards, not only to prevent the destruction of our jail, but for the security of our houses and persons, all of which are violently threatened.”

Without waiting for action on the above petition the militia of Northumberland County was called out, and September 25 a company of fifty men left Fort Augusta to join companies from other points, to demand the reason for “this intrusion and hostile appearance.”

On September 28 the Yankees at their encampment at John Vincent’s were attacked by the Provincial forces under Colonel Plunket. Just how much resistance was offered is not a matter of record, but that there was a battle fought is evidenced by the fact that one Yankee was killed and eight wounded.

Plunket’s militiamen collected all the movable property, which was then and there divided among the victors. The torch was applied and all the buildings burned. They then marched the men, as prisoners, to Sunbury, where they were confined in jail. The women and children had been sent back to their friends and relatives at Wyoming.

At the hearing of the prisoners, Major Judd and Joseph Sluman, the leaders, were sent to Philadelphia, where they were confined in gaol, until December 20, when they were released by resolution of Congress. Three others were detained ten days in the gaol at Sunbury, and the remainder were dismissed.

This action of the county authorities and militia was approved by the Provincial Assembly in a resolution which was passed October 27, 1775:

“Resolved, That the inhabitants of the County of Northumberland, settled under the jurisdiction of this Province, were justifiable and did their duty in repelling the said intruders and preventing the further extension of the settlements.”

No doubt this expedition resulted in breaking up the Connecticut settlements on the West Branch, and the Pennsylvania claimants remained undisturbed in full possession of the territory.

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Captain John Smith Who First Meets Native
Pennsylvanians Sailed for England,
September 29, 1609

There seems to be no doubt but that the first European to meet the Indians who resided in what is now Pennsylvania was Captain John Smith.

This adventurer explored the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1608, and made a map of his observations, which with the one he made at a later date, of his explorations along the New England coast, were for many years recognized as the authority for this hemisphere.

The Dutch who first came to these shores formed an acquaintance with the Indians in 1615, and the Swedes first met them in 1638.

It seems, therefore, that a story about this intrepid navigator, statesman, soldier, and writer is timely.

Captain John Smith, founder of the Virginia Colony, was an English soldier, a native of Willoughby, in Lincolnshire, where he was born January, 1579; he died in London, June 21, 1631.

From early youth he was a soldier, enlisting in 1596, in the French Army to fight against Spain, but after the peace of 1598, he transferred his services to the insurgents in the Netherlands, and there remained until about 1600.

Returning home he almost immediately started on a career of marvelous adventure.

He sailed from France to Italy, where he was thrown overboard because it was learned he was a Protestant, but he was rescued by a pirate and landed on Italian soil.

He traveled through Italy and Dalmatia to Styria and fought with the Austrian Army against the Turks, distinguished himself in Hungary and Transylvania, for which service he was ennobled and pensioned.

Taken prisoner by the Turks, Smith was sent a slave to Constantinople, where he won the affections of his young mistress. He was sent by her to her brother in the Crimea, with a letter avowing her attachment. The indignant Turk cruelly maltreated Smith, when the latter one day slew his taskmaster, put on the Ottoman’s clothes, mounted a horse and escaped to a Russian port.

On his return to England, in 1605, Bartholomew Gosnold persuaded Smith to engage in founding a colony in Virginia, and at the age of twenty-seven years, already greatly renowned, he sailed from Blackwell for America, December 16, 1606, with Captain C. Newport, who commanded three vessels that bore one hundred and five emigrants.

Smith was accompanied by men of property, and the voyage being by the southern route was long and tedious. They landed, May 13, 1607, about fifty miles from the mouth of the river they called the James, where they built Jamestown, and chose that for the seat of the new empire.

Captain Smith, with Newport and twenty men, explored the James River as far as the falls, the site of Richmond, and made the acquaintance of Powhatan, emperor of thirty Indian tribes.

On the voyage to Virginia, Smith had become boastful and arrogant, causing him to be much disliked by Wingfield, of the London Company.

On his return from the first exploration trip Smith found Wingfield had set himself up as president, and that he was under arrest, but was acquitted at the trial and took his seat in the council, when that body demanded that the president should pay Smith £200 for false imprisonment.

All of Wingfield’s property was seized to pay it, when Smith generously placed it in the public store for the use of the colony.

Sickness prostrated the colony before the close of the summer.

Smith was soon made the leader of the colony, and brought order out of chaos, made the Indians bring in stores of corn, and had the colony well supplied with food for the ensuing winter.

After erecting fortifications Smith began a series of excursions into the surrounding region. He proved an excellent leader and became in fact the principal head of the colony.

He went up the Chickahominy in an open boat. Leaving the craft, he with two others and two Indian guides penetrated the forest, when Smith was seized by savages under Opechancanough, King of Pumunky, an elder brother of Powhatan, and conducted to the presence of the emperor.

At a great council presided over by Powhatan, Smith was doomed to die. Matoa, or Pocahontas, a daughter of Powhatan, begged her father to spare the prisoner’s life, but in vain.

Smith’s head was laid upon two stones, and two warriors had raised heavy clubs to crush it, when Pocahontas sprang from her father’s side, clasped Smith’s head with her arms, and laid her own on his.

The emperor yielded, and Smith was released and returned to Jamestown, where only forty persons were left, the little church burned to the ground, and the inhabitants on the point of abandoning the settlement.

On September 10, 1608, Smith was elected president of the colony; and, upon assuming this office, he enforced discipline, strove to convert their unthrifty methods, had them rebuild the church, strengthen the defenses, and make provision for agriculture and fishery.

Smith made two voyages, covering hundreds of miles, about the coast of the Chesapeake and its tributaries.

When his successor was elected Smith refused to surrender the government and served until September 29, 1609, when he sailed for England, and never again returned to Jamestown.

This was unfortunate for the colony, as his better leadership was necessary at that time to save it from frequent and serious disturbance.

In 1614 he made a voyage of exploration to New England and prepared a map of the coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod.

When Captain Smith sailed his barge up the Chesapeake, entered the Susquehanna River and pushed as far up that stream as was possible, he made the first exploration of that great river from its mouth for several miles, and if he did not actually enter Pennsylvania, he was very close and certainly did meet some of the Susquehanna Indians, who resided in what is now called Lancaster County.

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Washington Started March Through Pennsylvania
During Whisky Rebellion,
September 30, 1794

Virginia claims George Washington as her native son, but most of the deeds which made Washington famous and the greater part of both his military and official life were passed in this State.

While Philadelphia and the counties of the East have stories, legends and traditions innumerable of the great Father of His Country, while Western Pennsylvania was the scene of his early military training, Central Pennsylvania, and the Cumberland Valley especially, have also their Washington traditions.

A Lancaster County almanac, published in the latter part of 1778, is credited by many with first having called Washington “Father of His Country,” while Lebanon, Hummelstown, Harrisburg, New Cumberland, Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg and many other valley towns and places have Washington traditions as part of their historic past, because of Washington’s trip to Bedford during the “Whisky Insurrection” of 1794.

A force of 12,900 men was to be raised against the rebellion, and Carlisle was the rendezvous for the Pennsylvania contingent of 5200. Cumberland County furnished 363 men, including officers. These, with similar quotas from York, Lancaster and Franklin Counties, were under command of Brigadier General James Chambers, of Franklin County.

The President set out from his home on Market Street, Philadelphia, September 30, 1794, accompanied by Secretary Hamilton, his own private secretary and a colored servant.

Accounts of the trip say that Washington was much interested in the canals and locks between Myerstown and Lebanon; that he lodged at Lebanon for the night, breakfasted at Hummelstown, the next morning and reached Harrisburg in time for dinner October 3.

Washington’s diary mentions the First Regiment of New Jersey, about 560 strong, which he found drawn up to receive him.

He spent the rest of that day in Harrisburg, received an address delivered to him by the burgesses[8] in behalf of the citizens, and departed the morning of October 4 for Carlisle, fording the Susquehanna in his carriage, which he drove himself.

Footnote 8:

Conrad Bombaugh and Alexander Berryhill.

Washington’s diary says: “On the Cumberland side I found a detachment of the Philadelphia Light Horse, ready to receive and escort me to Carlisle, seventeen miles distant, where I arrived about 11 o’clock.”

The President remained seven days in Carlisle, the guest of Colonel Ephraim Blaine. With him, according to one account, were “the members of his Cabinet and Governor Mifflin, many Senators and Representatives from Pennsylvania, and those, together with the New Jersey troops, formed a brilliant and numerous assemblage.”

The day after his arrival General Washington attended public worship. Before his departure a number of the principal inhabitants presented him with an address.

Sunday morning, October 12, Washington set out from Carlisle on the Walnut Bottom road. Near what is now Jacksonville stood the residence of Colonel Arthur Buchanan, relative of the later President James Buchanan, a large land owner and proprietor of Pine Grove furnace.

Verification of Washington having accepted Buchanan’s hospitality, for a short time at least, is said to have been founded on the story of “Polly” Buchanan, a daughter of the host. She died in Shippensburg in 1884 at the age of 104.

As Washington and his party came down Shippensburg’s one long street the citizens were at their doors. One account says:

“He was treated with great courtesy and respect by a majority of those who came to see him. Yet there were those who sympathized with the insurgents and did not join in the general rejoicing. This class, in order to manifest their disapproval of the employment of the military force for suppression of the rebellion, collected secretively a few nights after the visit of Washington and erected a liberty pole on the corner upon which the council house now stands. This was the cause of much ill feeling and many a black eye and bloody nose. The pole was cut down at night.”

After dining at Shippensburg the party set out for Chambersburg, entering that town by the Harper’s Ferry road the same evening. Many of the citizens paid their respects to him and the night was spent at Colonel William Morrow’s stone tavern.

At daylight on Monday morning, October 13, Washington left Chambersburg. The people were at their doors and the President acknowledged their salutations as he rode through the streets on horseback, followed by his black servant carrying a large portmanteau.

After ten miles’ travel they reached Greencastle. While Washington was breakfasting at Robert McCullough’s tavern, Tom McCullough, the landlord’s ten-year-old son, who later represented the district in Congress and became the first president of the Cumberland Valley Railroad, was discovered under the table. Washington intervened as the tavern keeper was about to send his son from the room for punishment, and patted the young fellow on the head.

Leaving Greencastle, General Washington and his party went on to Bedford, from which place the return journey was started on October 21.

The journey of thirty-seven miles to Burnt Cabins is said to have been the longest of the entire trip. Leaving there the morning of October 22, Washington crossed Tuscarora Mountain, passing through Fannetsburg, where earlier a liberty pole had been erected.

The feeling of opposition had largely passed away by the time Washington reached the town. After a hearty welcome, he proceeded to Strasburg and then through Pleasant Hill.

On the west side of Herron’s Branch Washington and his party halted at a tavern called the Black Horse. Here Washington inquired if dinner could be served the retinue. “We have nothing but an old-fashioned potpie ready, to which you are welcome,” replied the maid. The great general partook and thus rescued one more hostelry from oblivion.

Four miles farther he reached Shippensburg again, coming back into the town he had left ten days before.

After spending the night at Captain William Ripley’s Black Horse tavern in Shippensburg, where much entertainment was provided, the President set out early the next morning and by evening had reached New Cumberland, then called Simpson’s Ferry, in honor of Gen. Michael Simpson, who as a boy of fifteen had marched with Colonel Bouquet’s forces.

Washington spent the night of October 23 with his friend, General Simpson, and the next day journeyed to York. The next afternoon, it is said, he rode through the rain from York to Wright’s Ferry, now Columbia, where he remained over night.

On Sunday, October 26, he proceeded to Lancaster, and on Tuesday October 28, it was noted in Philadelphia that the “President of the United States with his suite arrived in Philadelphia from Bedford and resumed his duties at the seat of government.”

Commenting on his trip, Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton from Wright’s Ferry on Sunday, October 26:

“Thus far I have proceeded without accident to man, horse or carriage, although the latter has had wherewith to try its goodness, especially in ascending the North Mountain from Skinners by a wrong road, that is, by the old road, which never was good, and is rendered next to impassable by neglect.”

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Sailors Cause of Bloody Election in
Philadelphia October 1, 1742

One of the early Mayors of Philadelphia was the distinguished Quaker, Isaac Norris, who had been a member of the Provincial Assembly and the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He had also served as a member of the Governor’s Council for more than thirty years, and was named by William Penn in his will as one of the trustees of the Province. He died June 4, 1735, and was succeeded by his son of the same name, known in the history of Pennsylvania as “The Speaker.”

Isaac Norris, “The Speaker,” married one of the daughters of James Logan, and soon retired from commercial life. He was a member of the Assembly for thirty years and for the latter half of that time its Speaker.

Notwithstanding his connection with Logan, and the further fact that he was a grandson of Hon. Thomas Lloyd, one of the Commissioners of the Province from December, 1686, to December, 1688, and Deputy Governor from March, 1691, to April 26, 1693, he was a leader of the strict Friends in the Assembly who differed in politics from Logan, “who represented the Proprietary, or Governor’s party,” on all questions relating to the Province.

So persistently did Speaker Norris oppose the Proprietaries in the various disputes between the Governor and the Quakers, or “Norris Party,” that there resulted such bitter contests for office as would be fashionable in modern times.

The re-election of Norris to the Assembly in 1741 could not be prevented, and the Quakers gained much ground with Norris in that body, and with his brother-in-law, Griffiths, and uncle, Preston, who were aldermen of the city of Philadelphia.

The corporation was too important a political factor to submit to his influence and the Proprietary Party succeeded in electing four new aldermen and five new members of the City Council who would further the Governor’s plans, but it was no easy matter to defeat Norris at a popular election.

In 1742 a most important session of the Assembly had been held, the Speaker was the head of every committee, and he worked indefatigably in superintending the completion of portions of the State House and in purchasing a site and devising plans for a public pest house or municipal hospital, and in these activities gave some reason to believe he could be defeated. The wealthy Recorder of the City, William Allen, contended for his seat in the Assembly.

Then ensued what is since known as “The Bloody Election,” but Norris proved himself an astute politician and won the support of the German settlers, who constituted a large part of the electorate.

The Germans had invariably voted with the Quakers, and it was charged that the “Norris party” would take possession of the polls, crowd out their opponents, and thus elect their candidate with the aid of unnaturalized voters.

The Governor’s friends cried “fraud” but they were not in possession of any evidence of it.

On October 1, 1742, the day of the “Bloody Election,” a party of sailors, coopers, and others, strong enough in numbers to make havoc in the little city, marched uptown from the wharves, armed with clubs, and, when they arrived at the Court House, a fight took place in which several were wounded, and the disciples of peace and order were driven from the historic building.

The affair made a great stir, and is well perpetuated in the caricatures made at the time which were drawn with the intention to traduce and stigmatize the political leaders in those days.

In the appendix to the “Votes of the Assembly” is published the interesting testimony relating to this “Bloody Election.”

The witnesses were “examined in a solemn manner,” and it appeared that some fifty to seventy sailors, armed with clubs, made their appearance at the Court House, at Second and High Streets, in support of the Proprietary Party.

William Till, Mayor of the city, was called upon to interfere against the sailors, but he declined to do so, saying, as was testified: “They had as much right at the election as the Dutchmen.”

It appears by the statement of the time, that a wagonload of hop-poles, easy to cut into clubs, made its appearance at a point so convenient that the other party availed itself of the boon.

Among the witnesses, Robert Hopkins testified that, “when the sailors were moving off, and came by William Allen one among them being a squat full-faced, pock-fretten man, with a light wig and red breeches, as he supposes, said, 'Let’s give Mr. Allen a whorrah! And said Allen reply’d: 'Ye villians begone: I'll have nothing to do with you'.”

After this we are not surprised at that staunch Friend, Israel Pemberton, the last witness examined, being able to testify that upward of fifty sailors were arrested and secured in prison, “and then,” he goes on to say, “the Freeholders proceeded to the choice of the Representatives to serve in the Assembly, and the other officers, which was carried on very peaceably the remainder of the day.”

A petition was read in the Provincial Council, November 5, 1742, which was addressed to Lieutenant Governor George Thomas, and among other statements the petitioners stated that the rioters attacked the constables and broke their staves and beat them up and grievously wounded divers citizens, among whom was one of the Aldermen.

They claimed many were knocked down with stones without regard to age or station. Sure enough a bloody election; especially must it have seemed so to the staid Quakers of the City of Brotherly Love.

In September, 1759, Speaker Isaac Norris resolved to relinquish his public duties and declined a re-election which was sure to be in his favor. He made his announcement in the House, and among other things said:

“You were pleased to make choice of me to succeed my father in the Assembly at the election of the year, 1735. I never sought emolument for myself or family, and I remained at disadvantage to my private interest only to oppose the measures of unreasonable men. No man shall ever stamp his foot on my grave and say, Curse him! or Here lies he who so basely betrayed the liberties of his country.”

A true patriot in motive surely.

He was succeeded as speaker by Benjamin Franklin.

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Massacre in Vicinity of Patterson’s
Fort, October 2, 1755

On October 2, 1755, the savages suddenly appeared in Tuscarora Valley, in the vicinity of Patterson’s Fort, on the north side of the Mahantango Creek, in Snyder County, and killed and captured forty persons.

This fort was situated immediately beyond the dividing line of Juniata and Snyder Counties, and in the vicinity of Pomfret Castle, which seems to be often mistaken for Fort Patterson.

There were two Fort Pattersons and two Captain Pattersons, which has also caused much confusion. The two captains were father and son, and their places near each other, and both stockaded, although Captain William Patterson’s fort was not built until 1763.

Benjamin Franklin gave the following directions to George Croghan in a letter dated December 17, 1755: “You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper places for erecting three stockades; namely, one back of Patterson’s—each of them fifty feet square, with a blockhouse on two of the corners and a barracks within, capable of lodging fifty men.”

The one “back of Patterson’s” was to be on the Mahantango Creek, where Richfield, Snyder County, now is situated, and was to be built by Colonel James Burd and Captain James Patterson.

Captain James Patterson commanded a company of rangers in Braddock’s campaign, under Colonel James Burd, and assisted in cutting the way through the forests.

In the year 1751 James Patterson, with five or six other settlers, settled in the Juniata Valley at the present town of Mexico.

Patterson cleared his land, engaged in farming and erected a large and strong log house, which afterward became known as Fort Patterson. It became the haven of refuge and defense for the settlers in the attack made upon them by the Indians.

Patterson was a man of daring and considered by the Indians to be a crack marksman. Whenever Indians appeared at his plantation he delighted to shoot at a mark, when his unerring aim impressed his visitors that he would be a dangerous foe.

His son, William, was called to Fort Augusta for the purpose of getting instructions to settle difficulties on the path through the valley. While on this mission he fell in with some Indians at Middle Creek, one of whom was killed and scalped and the rest put to flight.

One of Captain Patterson’s men was wounded. He advised the commander of Fort Augusta that the woods were full of Indians; that they found many houses burned, some still burning, and that he feared all the grain would be destroyed by the savages, who are known to be Delaware.

Fort Patterson was attacked at this time and one Hugh Mitcheltree carried off.

October 5, 1755, the savages made an incursion near Fort Patterson. Jennie McClain, a young girl, mounted a horse and hurriedly fled toward the fort, when, but a short distance from it, an Indian shot the horse through the body, when Jennie fell off the horse and was captured. The Indians surrounded the fort, but the Pattersons defended it so bravely that the savages were driven off.

In the summer of 1756 Captain Patterson marched to Shamokin (now Sunbury) with Colonel Clapham’s “Augusta Regiment” and assisted in building and defending that fort.

In 1757 Captain Patterson was detailed and placed in command of Fort Hunter, above Harrisburg, and at this post he was constantly occupied in sending out ranging parties, and had charge of the bateau men who transported provisions from Harris’ Ferry to Fort Augusta.

In July, 1758, Captain Patterson left Fort Augusta on the march to Raystown (Fort Bedford), where he joined in the Forbes expedition against Fort Duquesne. After the Indians were finally subdued Captain Patterson returned to his plantation and followed farming.

When the Indians again became violent in Pontiac’s War in 1763, Captain Patterson and his son, William, then a lieutenant, were again on guard.

Captain James Patterson died at his fort and is buried near it.

William, son of Captain James, was born in Donegal Township, Lancaster County, in 1737, and went with his father to the Juniata in 1751. Like his brave father, William was a keen marksman and a most daring and valuable aid to his father. He was with his father’s company, which was part of Braddock’s army. Later he was an ensign at Fort Augusta.

For many months he and his father, with details of privates, ranged the mountains and streams in search of Indians.

William Patterson not only displayed great capacity as a partisan soldier, but was equally conspicuous in civil life. He marched in advance of General Forbes’ army to Fort Duquesne in 1758. He also served under Colonel Burd in conveying livestock and subsistence from Fort Cumberland to Fort Burd and Fort Pitt in 1759.

After his return from the army Captain Patterson seems to have devoted his time to land surveying. His fine presence and dashing character won the admiration and esteem of the pioneer settlers, especially of the young men, who followed the chase and provided game for the large and growing settlements in Tuscarora Valley and around Patterson’s Fort.