Chapter XL: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (28)

Before Morgan departed for Fort Pitt, he handed to Wilson a large peace belt of wampum and a written message to deliver to the Wyandot chief. When Wilson and Nicholson departed, they were accompanied by Cornstalk, but they advanced only as far as Pluggystown, on the Upper Scioto. This place was inhabited by renegade Indians.

The chief, Pluggy, was a Mohawk, and his followers, called Mingo, were horse thieves and murderers. Pluggy’s warriors formed a plot to seize Wilson and Nicholson and carry them to the British fort at Detroit, where a handsome reward would be theirs.

This plan was revealed to Cornstalk, who advised the white men to flee to the Delaware town of Coshocton. They were barely able to escape by night and arriving at Coshocton, they placed themselves under the protection of old King Newcomer.

That venerable sachem, believing it would not now be safe for Wilson to proceed to Sandusky, lest the Mingo should waylay the trail, sent Killbuck, a noted Delaware war captain, to bear the American message to the Wyandot chiefs. Killbuck returned eleven days later with the message the Wyandots wished to see Wilson in person as an evidence of his good intentions, but that they could not give a definite answer until they had consulted their great council beyond the lake. The seat of the nation was in Canada, near Detroit.

Wilson determined to go to Sandusky, and the Delaware Council appointed White Eyes and two young warriors to accompany him. Nicholson had been sent back to Fort Pitt with a message to Morgan. Wilson was joined later by John Montour, a grandson of the famous Madam Montour, and he served Wilson faithfully.

Before reaching Sandusky Wilson learned that the Wyandot chief had gone to the Detroit Council, and he therefore made up his mind to venture into the immediate neighborhood of the British post, so that he might deliver his message to the Wyandot chief.

It was the decision of a brave and bold man. He was received with apparent friendliness by a majority of the chiefs and on September 2 he addressed them in council, presenting his peace belt and message from Morgan. He invited them to attend the council at Fort Pitt twenty-five days from that time.

The next morning the Wyandot betrayed Wilson’s presence to the British commander, Colonel Henry Hamilton. They returned the belt to Wilson and advised him to explain his errand to the British official.

Wilson, White Eyes and John Montour were compelled to go with the Wyandots to the great Council House in Detroit. Wilson frankly announced his purpose to the Lieutenant Governor, again presented the peace belt and the written message to the Wyandot chief and handed the articles to Colonel Hamilton.

The British commander addressed the Indians, saying those who bore this message were enemies to his King, and before he would take any of them by the hand he would suffer his right hand to be cut off.

Hamilton thereupon tore up the speech, cut the belt in pieces and scattered the fragments about the Council House. He then spoke to the Wyandot Indians in French, which Wilson did not understand. Hamilton abused Montour for aiding the colonists and denounced White Eyes, whom he ordered to leave Detroit in twenty-four hours if he valued his life.

Hamilton, notwithstanding his anger, respected Wilson’s character as an ambassador and gave him safe conduct through the Indian country. The trader returned to Fort Pitt much discouraged by the outlook and reported to Morgan that the Wyandot would go on the warpath. The Mingo were already in the British service.

In spite of Hamilton’s opposition, Indians of four tribes attended the council with the “rebels” at Fort Pitt, in the latter part of October. The Delaware sent their ruling chiefs; the Wyandot sent Half King; the Shawnee, the great Cornstalk, and the distant Ottawa sent one sachem. Costly presents were given them by the commissioners, and effusive peace speeches were made by the savages, but only the Delaware were sincere.

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James Logan, Penn’s Secretary and Trusted
Friend and Agent, Born October
28, 1674

The lives of men like James Logan ennoble the pages of history and make its study an elevating pursuit and a reinforcement to the resources of public morality. This man was worthy the compliment which the great vicegerent Shikellamy paid him, when he named his son in his honor; he was worthy to have been the trusted friend of William Penn, and to have had Benjamin Franklin for his printer.

The world has not produced many men, who, after forty years spent in the whirl and muddy currents of active business and intense political strife, can, with clean hands and unsullied reputation, calmly step aside out of the turmoil and retire to the company of his books, to endow a library and make a translation of Cicero’s “De Senectute,” printing it, as the writer himself pleasantly says, “in a large and fair character so that old men may not be vexed by the defective eyesight in reading what was so appropriate to their years.”

James Logan was born in Lurgan, Ireland, October 28, 1674. His father, Patrick Logan, grandson of Sir Robert Logan of Restairig, Scotland, sprang from that stock of proud Scottish lairds, distinguished for long pedigrees and barren acres, whose children have lent their genius to the service of the world.

James Logan was a lad of precocious mind—at sixteen he knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and made rapid progress in mathematics. He afterwards mastered French, Italian and Spanish, and probably Dutch and German. He became familiar with several Indian dialects.

He went into trade as a linen-draper’s apprentice in Dublin, then in the Bristol trade for himself.

At Bristol, in 1698, he met William Penn, and became his private secretary and devoted follower ever after.

In the year 1699, he sailed with William Penn on his second visit to his province in America. In mid-ocean another ship came into sight, and as England and France were at war, all feared that the strange vessel might be an enemy. The crew prepared for action. Penn and his friends, who did not believe in warfare, went below. Only one of Penn’s party remained on deck to help defend the ship, James Logan.

Soon Logan went below to tell Penn that the strange vessel was English, when Penn reproved him for undertaking to engage in fighting, as he was a Quaker. The young man replied with spirit: “Why did thee not order me to come down? Thee was willing enough that I should stay and help to fight, when thee thought there was danger!”

Penn expected to stay in Pennsylvania the rest of his life, but on his visit he was able to spend less than two years here. But during his stay, Logan had become not only a helper but also an intimate friend.

Penn trusted his secretary to the utmost, and when he sailed away, left all his affairs in Pennsylvania under Logan’s direction. “I have left thee in an uncommon trust,” wrote Penn, “with a singular dependence on thy justice and care.”

There was no mistake in trusting James Logan. He kept Penn informed of everything, and scrupulously attended to all Penn’s business affairs.

William Penn never came back to see his province again. During the last six years of his life his mind failed, so that his wife, Hannah, carried on all business for him. Had it not been for James Logan, poverty would often have oppressed the great founder and his family.

From the moment of Penn’s departure, in 1701, to Logan’s death, 1751, he was always the power behind the proprietary throne, wielding what was sometimes almost absolute authority with singular propriety and judgment.

He was secretary of the province, commissioner of property, and of Indian affairs, member and president of Council, acting Governor, and chief justice.

After more than twenty-five years of residence in Philadelphia, Logan decided to build a country home for himself. He erected a fine mansion, which he called Stenton, near the Old York Road. Here he lived for nearly a quarter century more.

His thigh was broken in a fall, and he was compelled to live retired, but his love of books was so constant and sincere that the pursuit of literature became his passion.

But even in seclusion he never neglected his public duties for his private tastes. Many important affairs of state were transacted at Stenton, which was nearly always surrounded by deputations of Indians, who camped about the house to seek advice and favors from their honored friend “hid in the bushes.” As many as a hundred Iroquois once stayed at Stenton for three days as Logan’s guests.

Thomas Godfrey’s improvements in the quadrant were made at Stenton under Logan’s eye, and Franklin and he worked together with a thorough appreciation of each other’s good qualities.

The British determined to burn Stenton, when they captured Philadelphia, but the cleverness of an old Negro woman servant saved the historic mansion. Lord Howe afterwards made Stenton his headquarters.

Now the famous house, quite two hundred years old, is owned by the Philadelphia Society of Colonial Dames, and is kept in good condition and open for visitors. It stands near the station at Wayne Junction.

Logan was an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Ann, daughter of Edward Shippen, who married Thomas Story. His wife was Sarah Read, daughter of a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia, to whom he was wedded eight years after his ill-success with Miss Shippen.

His children were not literary in their tastes and it was on this account that he left his library to Philadelphia, endowing it for its perpetual maintenance, with the Springettsbury Manor property which he had received from Penn’s estate.

Logan was a fine type, dignified yet courteous, and his conversation was quiet and reserved.

Gordon says, “Never was power and trust more safely bestowed for the donor. The secretary faithfully devoted his time and his thoughts to promote the interests of his master, and bore with firmness, if not with cheerfulness, the odium which his unlimited devotion drew upon himself.”

He died at Stenton, October 31, 1751.

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Penn Lands at Upland and Changes Name to
Chester, October 29, 1682

After William Penn issued his frame of government for his new Province of Pennsylvania and had sent a description of his property throughout England, especially among the Friends, offering easy terms of sale, there were many persons from London, Liverpool and Bristol who embarked in this enterprise and the association called “The Free Traders’ Society of Pennsylvania” purchased large tracts of land.

Penn then obtained a deed for the three lower counties (now the State of Delaware), which was duly recorded in New York November 21, 1682.

Having completed all arrangements for his voyage to America, Penn wrote an affectionate letter to his wife and children and another “to all faithful friends in England.” Accompanied by about 100 passengers, mostly Friends from Sussex, he embarked in August on the ship Welcome, a vessel of about 300 tons burden.

After a voyage of two months they sighted the American coast about Egg Harbor, in New Jersey, on October 24, 1682, and reached New Castle, Del., on the 27th.

On the following morning Penn produced his deeds from the Duke of York and received possession by the solemn “delivery of turf, and twig, and water, and soil of the River Delaware.”

His arrival off the coast and passage up the river was a continuous demonstration of great joy by all classes—English, Dutch, Swedes, and especially by his devoted followers.

The day following his landing Penn summoned the inhabitants to the court-house at New Castle, where, says Clarkson, “he made a speech to the old magistrates, in which he explained to them the design of his coming, the nature and end of government and of that more particularly which he came to establish.”

At this time he took formal possession of the country and renewed the commissions of the magistrates.

Penn then proceeded to Upland, where he arrived October 29, 1682. This was a memorable event, says Clarkson, and to be distinguished by some marked circumstances. Penn determined, therefore, to change the name of the place, and turning toward his friend Pearson, one of his own society, who had accompanied him on the ship Welcome, he said:

“Providence has brought us here safe. Thou hast been the companion of my perils. What wilt thou that I shall call this place?”

Pearson said, “Chester,” in remembrance of the place from which he came. William Penn replied, that it should be called Chester, and that when he divided the land into counties, one of them should be called by the same name.

From Chester Penn proceeded, with some of his friends, in an open barge, in the earliest days of November, to a place about four miles above the mouth of the Schuylkill, called Coaquannock, “where there was a high bold shore, covered with lofty pines.”

Here the infant city of Philadelphia had been established, and Penn’s approach was hailed with joy by the whole population.

Immediately after his arrival in the “City of Brotherly Love,” Penn dispatched two persons to Lord Baltimore to ask of his health, offer kind neighborhood and agree upon a time of meeting. Penn then went to New York to pay his respects to the Duke, returning to Philadelphia before the close of November.

It was about this time that the “Great Treaty” took place at Shackamaxon. Tradition has persisted that a great treaty took place here under an elm tree, with William Penn, Deputy Governor Markham and others, and the representatives of the several Indian tribes of that and other localities.

Even if tradition errs in the details of this treaty, it is a fact that the Indians themselves alluded to “the treaty of amity and peace held with the great and good Onas” on all public occasions.

Onas was the Indian name for the Governor of Pennsylvania, and it is supposed that the “great and good Onas” referred particularly to William Penn himself.

It is also true that for a period of forty or fifty years the treaty Penn made with the Indians was not broken, and the land of Penn was preserved during all the time from the suffering of the scalping-knife, the tomahawk or the torch.

William Penn convened a General Assembly at Chester, December 4, 1682, of which Nicholas More, president of the Society of Free Traders, was chosen speaker.

During a session of four days this Assembly enacted three laws: (1) An act for the union of the Province and Territories; (2) An act of Naturalization; and (3) The great law, or code of laws, consisting of sixty-nine sections, and embracing most of the laws agreed upon in England and several others afterward suggested.

Penn, by appointment, met Lord Baltimore at West River December 19, where he was received with great ceremony, but their interview led to no solution of the vexatious question of boundary. The discussion lasted two days, but the weather became severely cold, precluding the possibility of taking observations or making the necessary surveys, so it was agreed to adjourn further consideration of the subject until spring.

The two Governors were taking measure of each other and gaining all possible knowledge of each other’s rights and claims preparatory to the struggle for the possession of this disputed fortieth degree of latitude, which case was destined to come before the home Government and give Penn a great deal of trouble.

Early in 1683 Penn divided the province and territories each into three counties—those of the former were called Bucks, Philadelphia and Chester; those of the latter were New Castle, Kent and Sussex.

Sheriffs and other officers were appointed for the several counties, writs for the election of members of Council and Assembly were issued conformable with the Constitution, and on January 10, 1683, Penn met the Council in Philadelphia and the Assembly two days later.

The Provincial Council was composed of eighteen members, three from each county, the Assembly fifty-four with nine from each county, making in all seventy-two. Thus was the Government of the province inaugurated, out of which has grown the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Penn concluded two important treaties with the Indians during June and July, 1683. He also visited the interior of his province, going as far west as the Susquehanna River.

The proprietary set sail for England June 12, 1684.

Penn wrote a farewell letter to his province when on board the vessel, which was couched in the most endearing terms.

After his departure the province and territories were divided into twenty-two townships. There were then 7000 inhabitants, of whom 2500 resided in Philadelphia, which already comprised 300 houses.

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Frightened Settlers Build and Defend Fort
Swatara October 30, 1755

The stockades and small forts built along the frontiers during the intense excitement which followed Braddock’s defeat in July, 1755, have always been of great interest to local historians and the many citizens who reside in the vicinity of these provincial defenses.

One such place, to which not a little interesting history is attached, was built about twelve miles east of Manada Gap, near the passage through the Blue Mountains, by which the Swatara Creek wends its way to the fertile acres below, and a few miles farther empties into the Susquehanna.

In the immediate vicinity of Swatara Gap was located Fort Swatara or Smith’s Fort, as it was sometimes called. An unfortunate fact was that this fort was sometimes erroneously called Fort Henry or Busse’s Fort, and many incidents in and about this place are confused.

After the disastrous beginning of the French and Indian War the Indians swept through the frontiers of Pennsylvania and committed terrible massacres.

The news of the Penn’s Creek massacre soon reached the settlements on Swatara Creek and the farmers gathered together, October 30, armed with guns, swords, axes, pitchforks, whatever they happened to possess, until some 200 rendezvoused at Benjamin Spickers, near Stoucksburg, about six miles above Womelsdorf.

The Rev. Mr. Kurtz[9] of the Lutheran faith, delivered an exhortation and offered prayer, after which Conrad Weiser divided the people into companies of thirty each.

Footnote 9:

Reverend John Nicholas Kurtz, first Lutheran Minister in Pennsylvania.

They marched toward the Susquehanna, having first sent a company of fifty men “to Tolkeo in order to possess themselves of the Capes or Narrows of the Swahatawro, where we expected the enemy would come through,” wrote Colonel Conrad Weiser, to Governor Robert Hunter Morris.

The forces were augmented on the way, and by the time they arrived at Squire Adam Read’s plantation on Swatara Creek, they received the intelligence of the surprise and slaughter of members of Captain John Harris’ party at the mouth of the Mahanoy Creek.

This news dampened the ardor of the volunteers and they soon concluded they could be of more effective service guarding their own firesides and they hurried back. The news that 500 Indians had already made their way through Tolkeo Gap and had killed a number of people did not contribute to their joy on the long march home.

Colonel Weiser sensed the situation and fully understood he could not count much upon this group, so he advised them to make a breastwork of trees at Swatara Gap, promising to procure for them a quantity of bread and ammunition. They got as far as the top of the mountain; fired their guns to alarm the neighborhood, and then hurried back.

Soon came the news of the murder of Henry Hartman, just over the mountain. When Mr. Parsons and a party went to bury the body, they learned that two others had been recently killed and scalped, and some had been captured. The roads were filled with persons fleeing from their homes and confusion reigned.

It was clearly apparent that Swatara Gap must be occupied by troops and Colonel Weiser ordered Captain Christian Busse with his company of fifty men to “proceed to Tolihaio Gap, and there erect a stoccado fort of the form and dimensions given you, and to take posts there and range the woods from the fort westward towards the Swatara and eastward towards a stoccado to be built by Cap. Morgan, about half way between the said fort and Fort Lebanon.”

Governor Morris writing to Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, February 1, 1756, advised him that he had arranged to build a chain of forts, about ten or twelve miles apart, between the Delaware and Susquehanna. The best is “built at an important Pass through ye Kittahteny Hills, on our Northern Frontier and I have called it Fort Henry.” This is an error, as he should have written Fort Swatara.

This might be proved by a letter Colonel Conrad Weiser wrote to Governor Morris, July 11, 1756, giving the assignment of his troops. He stated that the men under Captain Smith are all placed in and about Swatara Gap and the Manada Fort; Captain Busse’s men were at Fort Henry and Captain Morgan’s at Fort Northkill and Fort Lebanon. This definitely proves that Fort Swatara and Fort Henry were not one and the same place.

The first and most important of the commanders of Fort Swatara was Captain Frederick Smith, whose company was recruited in Chester County. Captain Smith was ordered, January 26, to proceed as soon as possible to Swatara and in some convenient place there to erect a fort.

Captain Adam Read and Captain Hendrick, who had been ranging the mountains, were ordered to dismiss their men and turn over their arms and supplies to Captain Smith, all of which was done.

Further mention of the actual building of Fort Swatara is missing, as is the case of Manada Fort, but it is very probable that the stockade erected by the settlers was occupied by the provincial troops. This was not a very formidable fortification, and was afterward referred to in a letter to Colonel Washington as “only a block house.” It may therefore be presumed, at this late day, that it consisted of a single building, surrounded by a stockade.

The many murders committed by the savages and their stealthy approach, made it necessary to distribute the soldiers among the various farmhouses, especially during the harvest season.

The distribution of these men was usually made under the direction of Colonel Weiser, at consultations with the several commanders at Fort Henry.

This detail was not always satisfactory to the settlers, as may well be imagined. Each wanted troops to be on guard and there were never sufficient to supply the demand, but Captain Smith, at first negligent in this particular, was afterward complimented by both Colonel Weiser and Governor Morris for the faithful performance of his duty in the face of many hardships.

At the treaty held in Easton, in 1757, Conrad Weiser once more acted as agent for the Proprietaries, and interpreter. He arranged for a guard of 110 men, who were to come from sundry forts, one of which was Fort Swatara.

On February 5, 1758, Adjutant Kern reported Lieutenant Allen and thirty-three men at Fort Swatara, and “its distance to Fort Hunter, on the Susquehanna, as twenty-four miles.”

There are frequent references to be found in the Pennsylvania Archives of Paymaster Young’s visits to Fort Swatara.

Colonel James Burd’s tour of inspection in early spring of 1758 included Fort Swatara, where he remained two days longer than desired on account of incessant rains. He reviewed the garrison Tuesday morning, February 21. He did not seem very much pleased with conditions about the fort and gave orders intended to correct weaknesses. He ordered a cask of powder, 100 pounds of lead and blankets for the garrison.

After this tour of inspection there does not seem to be much more recorded of the transaction of Fort Swatara.

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Indian Ravages at McDowell’s Mill, Franklin
County, October 31, 1755

A place of much consequence in provincial Pennsylvania and frequently referred to by public officers and agents was McDowell’s Mill. This was located midway between the Reverend John Steel’s Fort and Fort Loudoun, east of Kittatinny Mountains on the east bank of the Conococheague Creek, in the western part of the present Franklin County.

This defense was built in the year 1756 and was a log structure, rectangular in shape and provided with loop-holes. It stood until the year 1840. There is at present a stone house erected on or near the site of this old fort.

This place was a private establishment, and the earliest public notice of it is in a letter written by Major General Edward Braddock to Governor Morris, dated June 18, 1755, signifying his approbation of the deposits being made at McDowell’s Mill instead of at Shippensburg.

Governor Morris wrote to General Braddock July 3, 1755, saying that he had sent certain enumerated articles to Shippensburg, where “they will remain until I go up into the country, which will be on Tuesday next, and then I shall form the magazine at or near McDowell’s Mill and put some stoccados around it to protect the magazine and the people that will have the care of it; for without something of this kind, as we have no militia and the Assembly will maintain no men, four or five Indians may destroy the magazine whenever they please, as the inhabitants of that part of the Province are very much scattered.

“I send you a plan of the fort or stoccado, which I shall make by setting logs of about ten feet long in the ground, so as to inclose the storehouses. I think to place two swivel guns in two of the opposite bastions, which will be sufficient to guard it against any attack of small arms.”

On October 31 began incursions which lasted for several days. Adam Hoops wrote to Governor Morris, dated Conococheague, November 3, 1755:

“I am sorry I have to trouble you with this Melancholy and disagreeable news, for on Saturday I recd. an Express from Peters Township that the Inhabitants of the great Cove were all murdered or taken Captive and their houses and barns all in Flames. Some few fled, upon notice brought them by a certain Patrick Burns, a Captive, that made his Escape that very Morning before this sad tragedy was done.

“Upon this information, John Potter, Esq., and Self, sent Expresses through our Neighborhood, which induced many of them to Meet with us at John McDowell’s Mill, where I with many others had the unhappy prospect to see the Smoke of two houses that was set on Fire by the Indians, viz, Matthew Patton’s and Mesheck James’s, where their cattle was shot down, the horses standing bleeding with Indian Arrows in them, but the Indians fled.

“The Rev. Mr. Steel, John Potter, Esq., and Several others with us, to the Number of about an hundred, went in Quest of the Indians, with all the Expedition Imaginable, but to no Success; these Indians have likewise taken two Women Captives, belonging to said Township. I very much fear the Path Valley has undergone the same Fate.

“We, to be sure, are in as bad Circumstances as ever any poor Christions were in, For the Cries of the Widowers, Widows, fatherless and Motherless Children, with many others for their Relations, are enough to Pierce the hardest of hearts; Likewise it’s a very sorrowful spectacle to see those that Escaped with their lives with not a Mouthful to Eat, or Bed to lie on, or Clothes to Cover their Nakedness, or keep them warm, but all they had consumed into Ashes.

“These deplorable Circumstances cries aloud for your Honours most Wise Consideration, that you would take Cognizance of and Grant what shall seem most meet, for it is really very Shocking, it must be, for the Husband to see the wife of his Bosom, her head cut off, and the Children’s blood drank like Water by these Bloody and Cruel Savages as We are informed has been the fate of many.”

November 6, Hoops again wrote to Governor Morris, inclosing qualifications for two officers, and said:

“Hans Hamilton is now at McDowell’s Mill with upwards of 200 men and about 200 from this county, in all about 400 men.”

So it may be safely presumed as a fact that Governor Morris finally determined to establish his magazine at McDowell’s Mills and that these soldiers stockaded the buildings according to the plans of Governor Morris.

On Wednesday, February 11, 1756, “two lads were taken or killed at the Widow Cox’s, just under Parnell’s Knob, and a lad who went from McDowell’s Mills to see what fire it was never returned, the horse coming back with reins over his neck; they burnt the House and shot down the Cattle.”

Under date of March 25, 1756, Governor Morris sent the following to the Reverend John Steele: “With these Instructions you will receive a Commission appointing you a Captain of a Company in the pay of the Province, which is to be made up by Draughts of thirteen men out of Each of the Companys composed by James Burd, Hans Hamilton, James Patterson and Hugh Mercer, Esq., * * * also a Commission appointing James Hollowday your Lieutenant * * * When you have formed your Company you are to take post at McDowell’s Mills, upon the road to Ohio, which you are to make your Head Quarters, and to detach patroling partys from time to time to scour the woods. * * * You are to apply to Mr. Adam Hoops, for the Provincial allowance of Provisions for the men under your Command.”

Governor Morris sent instructions to Elisha Salter, Commissary General of Musters, to proceed to McDowell’s Mill and muster the company under Captain John Steel, and direct him to take post at McDowell’s Mill.

Robert Callender wrote to Governor Denny from Carlisle, dated November 4, 1756: “This day I received advice from Fort McDowell that on Monday or Tuesday last, one Samuel Perry and his two sons went from the Fort to their plantation, and not returning at the time they proposed, the commanding Officer sent there a corporal and fourteen men to know the cause of their stay, who not finding them at the plantation, they marched back toward the Fort, and on their return found the said Perry killed and scalped and covered over with leaves; immediately after a party of Indians, in number about thirty, appeared and attacked the soldiers, who returned the fire, and fought for sometime until four of our people fell, the rest of them made off—six of them got into the Fort, but what became of the rest is not yet known; there are two families cut off, but cannot tell the number of people. It is likewise reported that the enemy in their retreat burnt a quantity of grain and sundry horses in the Cove.”

The activities of Fort McDowell ceased during December, 1756, when Colonel John Armstrong removed the stores to Fort Loudoun, and increased the capacity and strength of that place. Further references to McDowell’s Mill are of no consequence, it being afterwards used by rangers who were scouting along that frontier.

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Turmoil in Lower Counties; Penn Sails for
England, November 1, 1701

The Constitution, which had been under consideration for eighteen months, was finally adopted October 28, 1701, and William Penn, pressed by many claims for his presence in England, set sail November 1 and arrived there about the middle of January.

He had hardly landed before King William died, January 18, and Princess Anne of Denmark succeeded him. Penn was in great favor with her.

The new Constitution which Penn personally assisted in giving his Province was as comprehensive on the subject of civil and religious liberty as the former ones.

There was established a Council of State, composed of ten members, chiefly Quakers and his intimate friends, of whom four made a quorum who were empowered “to consult and assist with the best of their advice the Proprietary himself or his deputies in all public affairs and matters relating to the government.”

Andrew Hamilton, a native of Scotland, one of the Proprietaries of New Jersey, and formerly Governor of East and West Jersey, was appointed Deputy Governor, and James Logan Provincial Secretary and Clerk of the Council.

Governor Hamilton’s administration was very brief, for he died while on a visit to Amboy, April 20, 1703. The government then devolved upon the Council, of which Edward Shippen was president.

Almost the entire attention of the Government was directed to the consummation of a union between the Province and Territories.

The Territories, or Lower Counties, persisted in the absolute refusal to join with the Province in legislation until 1703, when it was finally determined and settled between them that they should compose different and distinct assemblies, entirely independent of each other, pursuant to the liberty allowed by the clause in the charter for that purpose.

The proprietary selected Mr. John Evans as the successor to Governor Hamilton. He arrived in the province in February, 1704, and soon increased the number of the council and called to that board, with others, William Penn the younger, who had accompanied him to the province. Pursuant to the instruction of the proprietary, he earnestly applied himself to re-unite the province and Territories; and his lack of success in this measure produced an unfavorable disposition toward the province, which embittered his whole Administration.

Governor Evans was but twenty-six years old when appointed, and he was zealous and active in the proprietary’s interest; he was deficient in neither wit nor talents, but lacked experience, prudence and tact, and was offensive to the Quakers. He showed a partiality toward the lower counties, which produced unpleasant effects in the province.

England was at war with France and Spain, and Evans was ordered by the Queen to raise an armed force in Pennsylvania, but his efforts proved unsuccessful. He incurred even greater unpopularity among the Quakers and became odious to the people of Philadelphia.

He offended the merchants of Philadelphia, when he authorized the erection of a fort near New Castle, where it could be of little use to the province, and inward bound ships, not owned by residents, were obliged to deliver their half-pound of powder for each ton measurement. The provincialists remonstrated against this abuse in vain.

At length Richard Hill, William Fishbourne and Samuel Preston, three spirited Quakers, resolved to remove the nuisance by a method different from any that had yet been attempted.

Hill and his companions, on board the Philadelphia, a vessel belonging to the former, dropped down the river and anchored above the fort. Two of them went ashore and informed French, the commander, that their vessel was regularly cleared, demanding to pass without interruption. This demand was refused, when Hill, who had been bred at sea, stood at the helm and passed the fort with no other injury than a shot through the mainsail. French pursued in an armed boat and was taken aboard, while his boat, cut from the vessel, fell astern, and he was led a prisoner to the cabin.

Governor Evans was apprized of the matter and followed the Philadelphia by land to New Castle and, after she had passed the fort, pursued her in a smaller but faster boat to Salem, where he boarded her in great anger, and behaved with considerable intemperance.

Lord Cornbury, Governor of New Jersey, who was also Vice Admiral of the Delaware, happened to be at Salem, and the prisoners were taken before him. He gave them and Governor Evans, as well, a severe reprimand, and when all promised to behave in the future they were dismissed and Governor Evans was jeered.

Following this spirited action, the fort no longer impeded the navigation of the Delaware.

Governor Evans made an extended trip among the Indians, which began June 27, 1707. He was accompanied by several friends and servants. The Conestoga and other Indians had advised him that the Nanticoke of Maryland designed war against the Five Nations. Governor Evans visited in turn: Pequehan, on the Pequea; Dekonoagah, on the Susquehanna, about nine miles distant from Pequehan; Conestogoe and Peixtang.

At the latter place he seized one Nicole, a French Indian trader, against whom heavy complaints had been made. His capture was attended with difficulties, but he was finally secured and mounted upon a horse with his legs tied together, beneath the horse’s belly.

The articles of remonstrance, subsequently addressed to the Proprietary by the Assembly, make it appear that the Governor’s conduct on this occasion and among the Indians was not free from censure, it being described as “abominable, and unwarrantable.”

To add to Governor Evans’ other troubles he had a very unhappy misunderstanding with his secretary, James Logan, which, with the antagonism of the Assembly, almost paralyzed legislative action, and led to a most lamentable exhibition of ill-temper on the part of the Governor.

Remonstrances were sent to William Penn, which tended to produce the very steps which the Assembly desired to guard against, of provoking the Governor to relinquish a troublesome and ungrateful Province to the Crown of England, which had long wished to possess it.

Governor Evans was removed early in the year 1709 and Captain Charles Gookin appointed as his successor. Gookin was an officer in Earle’s Royal Regiment, quite advanced in years, and in the language of Penn “a man of pure morals, mild temper and moderate disposition.”

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Indians Captured Frances Slocum, the “Lost
Sister of Wyoming,” November 2, 1778

Among the many dramatic incidents in the history of the Wyoming Valley few, if any, are more thrilling or unusual than the carrying away into captivity of little Frances Slocum.

Jonathan Slocum, a Quaker, settled at Wyoming in 1762 and, with others who survived the awful Indian massacre of October 15, 1763, left the valley.

In the autumn of 1777 he brought his wife, six sons and three daughters from Rhode Island and again made his home at Wyoming.

On Monday, November 2, 1778, Jonathan Slocum and his sons, William and Benjamin, were at work completing their corn harvest. At the Slocum home were the other members of the family, together with Mrs. Nathan Kingsley and her two sons. About noonday the Kingsley lads were sharpening a knife on a grindstone in the front yard. Suddenly the crack of a rifle was heard, and Mrs. Slocum hastened to the front door, when she was horrified to see the lifeless body of the elder Kingsley boy lying on the ground. The Indian who killed him was preparing to scalp his victim with the very knife the boys were sharpening.

The terrified mother snatched her infant from the cradle, called to the others to run for their lives, and fled out of the rear door to a log fence beyond which lay a swamp, and there hid herself and her baby.

Meanwhile the younger Kingsley boy and Frances Slocum, then five-and-a-half years old, hid themselves under a staircase; Judith Slocum, with her three-year-old brother Isaac, fled toward the swamp, while little Mary Slocum, less than ten years old, started on a run in the direction of Fort Wyoming, carrying in her arms her baby brother, aged one-and-a-half years. Ebenezer Slocum, then thirteen years old, was a cripple and unable to get away with the others.

While the Slocums were fleeing from their home the Indian in their door-yard was joined by two others, who made their way into the house and quickly ransacked it. Frances Slocum and young Kingsley were discovered in their hiding place, and dragged forth, while Ebenezer Slocum was seized in another part of the house.

Mrs. Slocum, leaving her baby behind, rushed into the presence of the Indians and implored the savages to release the children. She pointed to the crippled feet of Ebenezer and exclaimed: “The child is lame; he can do thee no good.”

The Indian who had him in his grasp released him to his mother. She pleaded piteously for her daughter, but in vain.

The chief Indian of the three threw Frances athwart his shoulder, one of the other Indians did likewise with young Kingsley, while the third one of the party shouldered the big bundle of plunder which had been taken from the house. They then dashed into the woods, and that was the last Mrs. Slocum ever saw of her daughter, Frances.

Years later it was learned from Frances Slocum herself that she and young Kingsley were carried to a cave where they stayed all night. Early the following morning they set out and traveled for many days. When they arrived at the village to which the Indians belonged, young Kingsley was taken away and Frances never learned what became of him.

The chief took Frances to an aged couple of the Delaware nation, who adopted her. She was given the name of Weletawash, which was the name of their youngest child, whom they had lately buried.

They were living in Ontario when the Revolution ended. They then moved to Kekionga, the present site of the city of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Frances states she was there long after she was full grown, and that she could relate incidents of Harmar’s defeat, October, 1790. In 1790 Frances married a Delaware brave named “Little Turtle.”

During four years of war in what is Ohio and Indiana, Frances and her husband and her foster-parents were almost constantly on the move. Her foster-father could speak English and so could Frances, until he died, when she lost her mother-tongue. In 1794, “Little Turtle” left her and went west.

Sometime in 1795 while on the move with her foster-parents, Frances discovered an Indian lying in the path suffering from wounds received in battle with the whites. She dressed his wounds and nursed him back to health. He supplied them with game.

When about to leave he was promised the adopted daughter in marriage and Frances became the wife of Shepoconah, a chief of the Miami tribe. Soon thereafter her foster-parents died and Frances and her husband removed to Fort Wayne.

In 1801 they, with their two sons and a daughter, removed to the Osage Village, on the Mississineva River, about one mile from its confluence with the Wabash. Here Shepoconah was made war chief, and Frances was admitted into the Miami tribe and given the name Maconaquah, signifying “A Young Bear.” Shepoconah died in 1832.

After the capture of Frances her father was killed, but many efforts were made to obtain clues as to the whereabouts of Frances. After peace was declared her brothers made a journey to Fort Niagara, where they offered a reward of 100 guineas for the recovery of their sister. These brothers never gave up the search. They visited many Indian villages and traveled thousands of miles, even enlisting the Government and large parties of Indians in their search. They attended every gathering of Indians where white children captives were to be given up. They believed she still lived, and until 1797 every possible search was made, but the Slocums could get no trace of their captive sister during the life of their mother.

In January, 1835, Colonel George W. Ewing, an Indian trader, was quartered in the home of Maconaquah and she related the story of her life to him. The next day he marveled at its mystery and wrote a narrative of this woman, and addressed it to the postmaster at Lancaster, Pa. No one was interested. Two years later John W. Forney became the publisher of the Intelligencer and ran across this letter and published it, July, 1837.

Immediately it was read by those who knew the story of the “Lost Sister of Wyoming.” Correspondence was started, and Joseph Slocum and two nephews traveled to the home of Maconaquah, where she was positively identified and acknowledged him as her brother, but expressed no inclination to leave her wigwam to partake of the comforts of his comfortable mansion in Wilkes-Barre.

She said in reply to their pleadings: “No, I cannot. I have always lived with the Indians: they have always used me very kindly; I am used to them. The Great Spirit has always allowed me to live with them, and I wish to live and die with them.”

She had indeed become an Indian even in looks. She thought, felt and reasoned like an Indian.

The Slocums had this comfort, their “Lost Sister of Wyoming” was not degraded in her habits or character; her Anglo-Saxon blood had not been tainted by savage touch, but bore itself gloriously amid long series of trials through which it had passed.

Correspondence was kept up between the relatives until the death of Frances, which occurred March 9, 1847.

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George Major, Chief Burgess of Mahanoy
City, Murdered by Mollie Maguires,
November 3, 1874

George Major, the popular chief burgess of Mahanoy City, died Tuesday, November 3, 1874, from the effects of pistol shot wounds received the Saturday previous, the assassins being members of the notorious Mollie Maguires.

A great strike was in progress in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania, and during such periods of intense excitement the Mollies were as active as a community of hornets whose nest some schoolboys had invaded with paddles.

George Major had long since gained the enmity of this nefarious organization, and was a doomed man.

James McParlan, a young Irishman from Chicago, was the Pinkerton detective who lived among the Mollies, became one of them, and who successfully rid the State of the whole organization.

On the day of this murder James McKenna (as McParlan was known to the Mollies), was in Shenandoah, but soon received intelligence of the affair. He was an officer of the Mollie organization and, in his official capacity, was detailed with Charles Hayes to go to the scene of the shooting and gather such particulars as it was possible to obtain.

This information, of course, was for the use of the Mollies in event any of their members should be arrested for the crime, that an alibi could be prepared for them.

McKenna and Hayes arrived on the scene early Monday morning, while the victim was yet alive, but not expected to survive that day.

McKenna appeared particularly sad and dejected, declaring to his fellow Mollies that his income from his (supposed) crooked peculations had run several months behind, so that he had no funds to expend in too many treats. This was an excuse to provide him with a safe cover from which to carry on his observations, and he at once commenced hunting up the facts connected with the shooting of Burgess Major.

Major had been shot through the left breast, two inches above the heart. This fact was learned by McKenna as soon as he arrived at Clark’s house, the rendezvous of the Mollies.

The proprietor, Clark, was not a member of the order, but his two sons were Mollies. He was alone when McKenna arrived, and soon started to talk about the shooting.

After the usual greetings, McKenna asked Clark if he knew who fired the shot.

“That I can’t, for the life of me, tell! There’s two stories about it. One of them puts it on Dan Dougherty, but I believe him just as innocent as the babe unborn—and the other charges it on Major’s own brother, William, hitting him be mischance, when firing after the Hibernian company’s boys—for ye must know that the whole trouble came about through a quarrel between the Hibernian an' the Citizen Fire Companies. One is wholly made up of our countrymen, an' the other of Modocs—English, German, Welsh an' what not! I suppose ye know that?

“Yes! But who started the row?” queried McKenna.

Clark replied that he was sure it was not Dougherty. He told McKenna of the fire which had called out the companies, and the fact that many firemen were drunk. That on the way home some firemen got to fighting, when Chief Burgess George Major came out of his house, flourished his revolver, and during the confusion shot a dog that was barking nearby. This led to more shooting, when someone in the crowd took off the Chief Burgess, and his brother shot Dougherty in the neck.

McKenna then met Clark’s brother, who was a Mollie, and they went to Dougherty’s home, and soon gained permission to see the wounded man.

Dougherty was almost delirious, and barely recognized his friends. He was terribly wounded, the surgeons even thinking it unsafe to probe for the bullet.

McKenna and Clark then went to McCann’s and soon gained the landlady’s confidence and she invited them upstairs, where McCann was found in bed, also wounded. He claimed Major had fired three shots at him.

Here the scheme was hatched to swear out a warrant for the Chief Burgess before he should die, charging him with an assault with a deadly weapon. That, they contended, would place McCann on the witness-stand and prevent him from being brought to the bar as a defendant. Others present desired McCann to make his escape.

The Chief Burgess succumbed to his wounds Tuesday, November 3, and received burial, with suitable honors, the ensuing day.

McKenna returned to Shenandoah and reported to the Mollies the issue of his trip. He had previously sent to Mr. Allan Pinkerton daily bulletins of his inquiries and their results.

Dougherty recovered, had his trial, early in May, and was acquitted.

McKenna was not ready to call his work at an end. Sufficient evidence had not yet been obtained to bring the band of criminals to justice.

But it was only a few months later when the murderers of Alexander Rae, Gomer James, William and Jesse Major, F. W. S. Langdon, Morgan Powell, Thomas Sanger, William Uren, and others were brought to trial and such evidence obtained that the usual Mollie alibi was broken down and those guilty were made to suffer the penalty which they deserved.

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Captain John Hambright Leads Expedition
from Fort Augusta Against Great
Island, November 4, 1756

Fort Augusta was built and garrisoned during the summer and fall of 1756 under the direction of Colonel William Clapham and 400 Provincial soldiers recruited for that purpose. This formidable fortress was situated at Shamokin, at the Forks of the Susquehanna, in what is now the city of Sunbury.

The soldiers had barely landed at Shamokin until reports were brought there that the French were coming in great force to besiege the fort.

The Indians, hostile to the English, committed such depredations that Colonel Clapham sent out expeditions against the Indian towns on the Juniata, at Chincklamoose (now Clearfield); at Great Island (now Lock Haven), and up both branches of the Susquehanna River.

During October, 1756, intelligence was received that Indian families, resident at the Great Island, were making many incursions against the settlements. Several of them had visited Shamokin in August, when they killed a bullock guard at the spring. And as they had formerly lived at Shamokin, they were capable of very great mischief.

Colonel Clapham directed Captain John Hambright, of Lancaster, to lead a company of picked men and destroy the village.

The instructions for this perilous expedition are peculiar and of unusual interest to the present day residents along the West Branch of the Susquehanna as far up as Lock Haven and, because they reveal the dangers such enterprises always encountered, they are given in full:

“Sir:

“You are to march with a Party of 2 Serjts., 2 Corporals and 38 Private men, under your Command to attack, burn and destroy an Indian Town or Towns, with their Inhabitants, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, to which Monsieur Montour will conduct you, whose advice you are directed to pursue in every Case.

“You are to attack the Town agreeable to the Plan and Disposition herewith given you, observing to Intermix the men with Bayonets equally among the three Partys in the attack, and if any Indians are found there you are to kill, Scalp, and captivate as many as you can, and if no Indians are there you are to endeavor to act in such manner, and with such Caution, as to prevent the Discovery of your having been there by any Party, which may arrive Shortly after you, for which Reason you are strictly forbid to burn, take away, Destroy or Meddle with anything found at such Places, and immediately dispatch Monsieur Montour, with one or two more to me with Intelligence.

“When ye come near the Place of action you are to detach Monsieur Montour, with as many men as he shall Judge necessary to reconnoiter the Parts, and to wait in concealment in the mean Time with your whole Party till his Return, then to form your measures accordingly.

After having burnt and destroyed the Town, you are in your Retreat to post an officer and twelve men in Ambush, close to the Road side, at the most convenient Place for such Purpose which may offer, at about Twelve miles Distance from the Place of action, who are to surprise and cut off any Party who may attempt to pursue, or may happen to be engaged in Hunting thereabouts, and at the same Time secure the Retreat of your main Body.

“'Tis very probable, that on these Moon Light Nights, you will find them engag’d in Dancing, in which case embrace that opportunity, by all means, of attacking them, which you are not to attempt at a greater distance than 20 to 25 yards, and be particularly careful to prevent the Escape of the Women and Children, whose lives Humanity will direct you to preserve as much as possible.