Chapter XLVII: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (35)

Benjamin Franklin soon after he began business formed the design of publishing a newspaper, but was prevented by the sudden appearance of this Gazette, and was so greatly disappointed that he used his endeavors to bring it into contempt. In this he was successful, and Keimer was soon obliged to relinquish it, for a trifling consideration, and Franklin purchased the good will and fixtures.

At this time Franklin was in partnership with Hugh Meredith. The first part of the title was soon dropped and the paper was called the Pennsylvania Gazette. It soon gained reputation, and when Franklin became postmaster the Gazette enjoyed a wide circulation and liberal advertising patronage.

The partnership was dissolved in 1732, and Franklin in 1748 took into partnership David Hall.

On May 9, 1754, the device of a snake divided into parts, with the motto—“Join or Die,” appeared in this paper. It accompanied an account of the French and Indians having killed and scalped many inhabitants along the frontiers. The account was published with this device, with a view to rouse the British Colonies and cause them to unite in effectual measures for their defense and security against common enemy.

The snake was divided into eight parts to represent first New England; second, New York; third, New Jersey; fourth, Pennsylvania; fifth, Maryland; sixth, Virginia; seventh, North Carolina, and eighth, South Carolina.

The Gazette put on mourning October 31, 1765, on account of the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, which was to take effect the next day. From that time until November 21 following the publication of it was suspended.

In the interim, large handbills, as substitutes, were published. When revived, it was published without an imprint until February 6, 1766, when it then appeared with the name of David Hall, only, who now became the proprietor and the printer of it.

In May, 1766, it was published by Hall and Sellers, who continued it until 1777; but on the approach of the British Army, the publishers retired from Philadelphia and the publication was suspended while the British possessed the city.

On the evacuation of Philadelphia, the Gazette was again revived, and published once a week until the death of Sellers in 1804. After this event, it was printed by William and David Hall, then later by Hall and Pierre. When the Gazette observed its centennial of publication, a grandson of David and son of William Hall was the publisher.

The next newspaper to be established in Pennsylvania was the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, which made its initial bow to the public, Tuesday, December 2, 1742. Its publisher was William Bradford.

In 1776, William and Thomas Bradford were the publishers and, like the Gazette, suspended publication during the British occupancy of Philadelphia, but it was revived soon afterward.

A newspaper in the German language was published in Philadelphia as early as May, 1743, by Joseph Crellius. It was called the “High Dutch Pennsylvania Journal.”

In September, 1751, the “Dutch and English Gazette” was published in the two languages “at the German Printing Office,” in Arch Street, by Gotthan Armbruster.

Der Wochentliche Philadelphische Staatsbote was first printed in the German language in January, 1762, by Henry Miller. This was a successful newspaper. It continued until 1779.

Two papers printed in German were published in Germantown, one by Christopher Sower, in 1739, called the Pennsylvania German Recorder of Events. This was discontinued in 1744, when Christopher Sower, Jr., began the publication of the Germantown Zeitung, and continued until the Revolutionary War.

The Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser made its appearance Monday, January 6, 1767. It was published by William Goddard.

This was the fourth paper in the English language established in Philadelphia and the first one with four columns to the page, printed in all the colonies. Joseph Galloway and Thomas Wharton were silent partners of Goddard. The Chronicle was published until February, 1773, when it was removed to Baltimore.

The Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser, was first published in November, 1771, by John Dunlap. During the British occupancy Dunlap continued the publication of the Packet at Lancaster, and in July, 1778, he published at Philadelphia, and made it a semi-weekly, and then a tri-weekly.

In 1783, Dunlap sold his paper to D. C. Claypoole, who had previously been a partner, and a year later the Packet was published daily. This then became the first daily newspaper in the United States.

The Pennsylvania Ledger, or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey Weekly Advertiser, was first published in Philadelphia, January 28, 1775, by James Humphreys, Jr. Humphreys was deemed a Tory and his paper denounced as being under corrupt influence. Humphreys was obliged in November, 1776, to discontinue the Ledger, and leave the city.

He returned when the British occupied Philadelphia and revived the publication as a semi-weekly. The last number was published May 23, 1778, a month before the British evacuated the city. He was in possession of advance information, as are some editors of today.

The Pennsylvania Evening Post by Benjamin Towne, as a tri-weekly, was first published January 24, 1775, and it was the third newspaper in the colonies which was published as an evening paper. This paper continued publication in Philadelphia during the British occupancy.

Towne was proscribed by a law of Pennsylvania. He did not, however, leave the State, and continued to publish the Post until 1782, when it died a natural death.

Story and Humphrey’s Pennsylvania Mercury and Universal Advertiser first came before the public in April, 1775. This was the last newspaper to be established in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution. The Mercury was short lived. The printing house, with all its contents, was destroyed by fire in December, 1775, and in consequence of the event, the paper was discontinued.

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John F. Watson, Annalist, Historian, Antiquarian
and Collector of Historical Objects,
Died December 23, 1860

John Fanning Watson died December 23, 1860, at the age of eighty-two years, and left behind him a monument to his mental powers in his “Annals of Philadelphia.”

Mr. Watson was a native of Burlington County, N. J., where he was born June 13, 1779. His parents were of English origin; his grandfather, Thomas Watson, came to America in 1667, settling at Salem, where William Watson, father of John F. was born.

Among his ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of our country. All were devoted patriots, with the exception of one, a distinguished Tory, General Edmund Fanning, a graduate of Yale, in 1757, of whom The Gentleman’s Magazine, for 1818, says, “the world contained no better man.”

After completing the usual course of education to qualify himself for mercantile pursuits, John Fanning Watson entered the counting-house of James Vanuxem, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, with whom he remained but a short time, having offended the French interests of that firm by becoming a member of the Macpherson Blues, of which body of volunteer militiamen, he was one of last six surviving members at the time of his decease.

He was now nineteen years of age, and a clerkship in the War Department at Washington was offered him, which he accepted, and held until 1804, when he engaged himself in business with General James O'Hara, formerly Quartermaster-General to General Anthony Wayne’s Indian Army, and chief founder of the City of Pittsburgh.

During this business connection Watson resided at New Orleans, holding the responsible position of Commissary of Provisions for the United States Army at all the posts in Louisiana.

At this period there was no Protestant worship in that city, and to remedy this, together with Edward Livingston, he became the prime. mover in establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church by giving a call to the Reverend Mr. Chase, since the venerable Bishop of Ohio and Illinois.

After a residence of two years at New Orleans sudden domestic affliction caused his return to Philadelphia to the support of his widowed mother, and to this event the public are profoundly indebted for his invaluable services as a local historian of the olden time. As such his works will ever be enduring monuments of his wonderful assiduity and laborious research.

Following his return to Philadelphia he made his first essay as a bookseller and publisher, establishing a business on Chestnut Street.

Among the various works he published were Dr. Adam Clark’s Commentary on the Old and New Testament, the Select Reviews of Literature, etc.

He contributed frequently to the columns of various literary, scientific, historical, and ecclesiastical serials.

Besides historical works, he left some unpublished manuscript volumes on theology, which show great originality of thought and deep research. He also devoted some pages to the vindication of Cromwell. To his marriage with a lineal descendant of the Lord Protector may be attributed some of the interest he evinced on this subject.

In 1814, Mr. Watson was elected cashier of the Bank of Germantown, which position he held till 1847, when he was chosen treasurer and secretary of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Company.

During his connection with the Bank of Germantown he resided in the stone bank building of which the celebrated annalist himself says, “The house in which I now reside was once honoured with the presence of Generals Washington, Knox and Greene, shortly after the battle of Germantown. They slept in it one or two nights.”

In 1859, being at that time eighty years of age, he retired from all active business.

In 1820, he began to collect antiquarian material, the first being history and legends of Germantown, though none of them were printed until about 1828, when some extracts from his manuscript books were printed in Hazard’s “Register of Pennsylvania.”

In 1830 the first edition of the “Annals of Philadelphia,” was issued, the same “being a Collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Incidents of the City and its Inhabitants from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers; also Olden Time Researches and Reminiscences of New York City in 1828.” It was in one volume of eight hundred pages, and illustrated by lithographs.

In 1842 the work was republished in two volumes, revised and enlarged, and again, in 1856, he made a full and final revision, adding an appendix to the second volume. The editions subsequent to the first did not contain the matter relative to New York.

A noteworthy characteristic of Watson was his reverence for the graves of great and good men, who had been useful in their generation, as illustrated in the removal of the remains of Thomas Godfrey, the inventor of the quadrant, and family from a neglected spot on his old farm to Laurel Hill, where a suitable monument was erected by subscription to his memory.

In 1832, he published “Historic Tales of Olden Time” of New York City, which was followed the next year by “Historic Tales of Olden Time, concerning the Early Settlement and Progress of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.”

Then followed other volumes of both New York annals and works other than history.

Mr. Watson’s first publisher and most active co-worker was Samuel Hazard, and to them is due the awakening of that spirit of antiquarianism and historical research from which sprung the great Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Watson was an ardent collector of all objects of historic interest, many of which are now deposited in the Philadelphia Library and with the Historical Society.

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Colonel Plunket Begins Action in Second
Pennamite War on December 24, 1775

The first armed conflict between the Proprietary Government and the Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley occurred when the Yankees came down into the region in 1769 and seated themselves under the Government of Connecticut. The conflict lasted, with more or less intensity, until 1771, when the Penns were compelled to surrender and leave the intruders in questioned possession of that territory. This series of attacks, assaults and real battles has since been known as the first Pennamite War.

For four years the Yankees lived in tranquillity, and were not even seriously disturbed by the Indians.

On September 28, 1775, Colonel William Plunket, the Provincial commandant at Fort Augusta, at the head of a large body of troops, defeated the Yankees at Squire John Vincent’s in Judea Township on the West Branch, and marched all the men as prisoners to Sunbury.

The old colonel was more elated than wisdom seems to have justified. He became the man of the hour and, supported by a resolution of the Provincial Assembly, October 27, 1775, which justified the attack on the Yankees, he set about to muster troops for an expedition against the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, in spite of the fact that the weather was becoming very severe. Snow had fallen early in November.

The Council of Safety of Connecticut learned of the determination to send a large armed force against their settlement at Wyoming, and Governor Trumbull wrote to the President of Congress, November 11, 1775, complaining of this invasion.

Congress adopted a resolution requesting both States to prevent hostilities. But the Assembly did not welcome this interference, especially as they had received a letter from Colonel Samuel Hunter, lieutenant for Northumberland County, dated Sunbury, November 20, 1775, acquainting the House that two of the Magistrates and Sheriff William Cooke had an interview with Colonel Zebulon Butler and some of the principal men among the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming. They read the late Resolves of the Pennsylvania Assembly to them, and inquired whether they would peaceably submit themselves to the laws of Pennsylvania. They answered that they despised the laws of that Province and never would submit unless compelled by force.

Two days later, November 25, Governor John Penn wrote to Judge Plunket and his associate Justices as follows:

“I have just now received a message from the Assembly, founded on a letter addressed to them from the county of Northumberland, respecting the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, requesting me to give orders for a due execution of the laws of this Province in the counties of Northumberland and Northampton. In consequence thereof, I do most cheerfully order you to use your utmost diligence and activity in putting the laws of this Province in execution throughout the County of Northumberland; and you may depend on the faith of the House, and my concurrence with them, that every proper and necessary expense that may be incurred on the occasion will be defrayed.”

After the failure of the expedition to Squire Vincent’s the New Englanders in Wyoming managed, by the aid of spies, and in other ways, to keep themselves informed as to the movements of the Pennamites.

There are letters extant which reveal the activities in and about Sunbury which were written there and sent to Colonel Butler and others in authority at Wyoming. One such letter advised Colonel Butler that the Pennamites were surely going to march against Wyoming, and would not be stopped even by Congress.

It was the purpose of Colonel Plunket to recruit all the troops which could be raised along the West Branch settlements at Fort Augusta, and then form a junction with the troops which were to be raised in Northampton County, at Fishing Creek, about a mile and a half above the present borough of Bloomsburg.

The Connecticut delegates in Congress presented a memorial in that body on December 18, 1775, in which they complained bitterly of the threatened invasion, and advised Congress that the troops had begun to march December 11. This was accompanied by depositions from inhabitants, tending to strengthen their statements about the number of the invading forces and their intentions.

During the continuance of the first Pennamite War from 1769 to 1771, every expedition against Wyoming was of a civil character. There were no direct military maneuvers. The Sheriff of Northampton County, of which county Wyoming was then a part, was the chief officer on duty, merely supported by the military commanders, with their several companies; the burnished musket, the glittering bayonet, the four-pounder, the whole martial array being simply an appurtenant to a peace officer while he should serve a civil process.

The same policy was again pursued. Colonel Plunket and his large force and fine equipment, were the mere accompaniments of the Sheriff, whose business to Wyoming was to arrest two or three individuals on civil writs.

The old colonel had mustered 600 well-armed and well-equipped men and the march was taken up at Fort Augusta, December 15, 1775.

In order that the proposed expedition might be considered of a civil rather than a military character, this small army was denominated the “_posse comitatus_ of Northumberland.” Moreover it was to be accompanied on its march by William Scull, the newly elected Sheriff of Northumberland County, within whose jurisdiction the Wyoming lands lay, if to be considered a part of the Province of Pennsylvania.

He was provided with a train of boats, with two small field-pieces, one of which was mounted on the largest and leading boat, ready for action on board or to be landed if necessary. There was a second field-piece mounted on one of the other boats, a large supply of ammunition for cannon, rifles and muskets, supplies and stores.

About the time Colonel Plunket began active preparations for his expedition Benjamin Harvey, Jr., and another Yankee settler and trader of Wyoming Valley, who were returning from Harris Ferry in bateaux laden with supplies, and laboriously and slowly pulling their boats up the Susquehanna toward home, were seized by the Pennsylvanians as they reached Sunbury, thrown into jail, and their boats and cargoes confiscated.

When Plunket was ready to proceed up the river he placed Harvey in the leading boat, with orders to pilot the flotilla of the expedition to its destination.

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Pennamites Humiliatingly Defeated by
Yankees, December 25, 1775

On December 20, the very day on which Congress adopted resolutions calling on Pennsylvania and Connecticut to cease armed conflict during the period of the Revolution, it was learned by the Yankee scouts that Colonel William Plunket and the Pennamites had pushed their flotilla up the North Branch of the Susquehanna River as far as the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, about nineteen miles below Nanticoke Falls, but that they were advancing slowly on account of the snow, which was then falling, and the ice which was gathering on the river.

Colonel Zebulon Butler quickly mustered his available force, which numbered about 400 men and boys, on Saturday, December 23, and marched to the left bank of Harvey’s Creek, where he encamped for the night on a level stretch of land near the river.

The vanguard of Colonel Plunket’s expedition arrived at “Harvey’s Landing” shortly after the Yankees had gone into camp above Harvey’s Creek.

Major John Garrett was dispatched under a flag of truce to Colonel Plunket to ascertain the meaning of his approach with armed militia. The answer returned to Colonel Butler was that he came peaceably as an attendant to Sheriff Scull, who was authorized to arrest several persons at Wyoming for violating the laws of Pennsylvania, and he trusted there would be no opposition to a measure so reasonable and pacific. Major Garrett reported to Colonel Butler and advised him of the strength of the enemy.

Colonel Butler early Sunday morning (December 24) dispatched Ensign Mason F. Alden with a detail of eighteen men to remain on guard at Harvey’s Creek. Captain Lazarus Stewart, with twenty men, was detached to the east side of the river, above Nanticoke Falls, with orders to lie in ambush and prevent the landing on that shore of any boat’s crew.

Colonel Butler, with the remainder of his force, then retired up the river about a mile to a point of natural defense on the plantation of Benjamin Harvey, Sr., where a precipitous ledge of rocks extends from the Shawanese Mountains in a southerly direction almost to the bank of the river, a distance of nearly half a mile. The Yankees took up their position in this rocky rampart, and wherever it was defective for their defense they erected breastworks of logs and stones.

Later in the morning of Sunday about 11 o’clock, Ensign Alden, being apprised at the mouth of Harvey’s Creek of the approach of the Plunket expedition, retired with his men up the river and joined Colonel Butler.

Deploying his column on the flat just abandoned by the Yankees, Plunket directed a spirited advance in pursuit of Alden, not doubting but that the main force of the settlers was near and that the hour of conflict had arrived. In less than thirty minutes the advancing line was halted by Colonel Plunket, who exclaimed, “My God! What a breastwork!”

Scarcely had those words been uttered when there came a discharge of musketry, crackling from end to end of the long-extended rampart, and giving no uncertain notice that the unlooked-for barricade was garrisoned.

One of Plunket’s men, Hugh McWilliams, was killed and three others wounded, while the whole body of Pennamites was thrown into great confusion and without returning the fire of the Yankees immediately retreated to Harvey’s Creek.

They then brought two of their boats from Harvey’s Landing past Nanticoke Falls by land and made preparations to cross the river in detachments, in order to march by way of the eastern shore against the village of Wyoming, the objective point of the expedition.

After nightfall the boats, well filled with soldiers, started across the river some distance above the falls. In the bow of the first boat sat Benjamin Harvey, still held a prisoner by the Pennamites, and acting as pilot under compulsion, while Colonel Plunket himself occupied a place in the second boat.

When the boats nearly reached the opposite shore they were, without warning, fired upon by Captain Lazarus Stewart and his men, who were concealed in the thick brush on the river’s bank.

Two or three men in the first boat were wounded, one of whom, Jesse Lukens, subsequently died. All the occupants of the boat would have been killed, probably, had not Harvey made his presence known to the Yankees. The boats were hurriedly backed astern, whereby they safely shot through the rifles and into the pool at Harvey’s Landing. Thus ended the occurrences of Sunday.

Early in the morning of Monday, which was Christmas, the Pennamites were astir. Colonel Plunket formed his men and marched them into two divisions toward the breastworks held by the Yankees. While one division stormed the works, the other ascended the mountain on their left in an attempt to turn the right flank of Colonel Butler’s defenders.

The conflict lasted, with frequent cessations, during the greater part of the day, and on the part of the Yankees three or four men were killed and three times as many more wounded. Toward the close of the day Colonel Plunket realized that the position of the Yankees was too strong to be carried by assault and he ordered a retreat down the west side of the river.

In this movement he was closely pursued by Captain Stewart and his party on the east side of the river, who determined, if possible, to capture at least one of the boats of the Pennamites. But Harvey, who was still a prisoner, called to them not to fire. So the expedition was permitted to float peaceably downstream toward Fort Augusta.

Colonel Zebulon Butler reported the battle to the Connecticut authorities under date of December 27, 1775, and stated the losses among the Plunket forces to have been fifty or sixty dead and wounded and that two were killed and three wounded of his own party and that one had since died.

The Pennamites reported the affair quite differently. William Scull, the Sheriff; Samuel Harris, Coroner; William Plunket, Samuel Hunter, Michael Troy and John Weitzel, Justices, wrote to Governor Penn under date Sunbury, December 30, 1775, in which they related the expedition as one to serve legal processes. They blamed the Yankees for firing upon the Sheriff’s posse without warning, and even with firing on the wounded as they retreated down the river.

The Governor transmitted this letter to the Provincial Assembly and asked them to pay the bills.

Four days after the battle the inhabitants of Westmoreland assembled in town meeting, elected officers and appointed a committee to repair to Philadelphia to “lay before the Honorable Continental Congress an account of the late invasion made by the Tory Party of the Pennsylvania people.” It was also voted to collect funds for three women whose husbands were killed in the battle.

Jesse Lukens, who lost his life in this ill-fated expedition, was a young man of much promise, the son of John Lukens, who was the Surveyor General of Pennsylvania from 1769 till his death in 1789. Jesse was born August 8, 1748, and had only recently arrived at Sunbury on a vacation and joined the Plunket expedition as a lark.

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Pennsylvania Militia in Battle of Trenton,
December 26, 1776

Early in the Revolution Pennsylvania began to suffer severe losses. Each of the battalions organized at the request of Congress had been sent immediately to the front, some to Canada, some to the defense of the Hudson, and the balance with the main army.

During the summer of 1776 the necessities of the Continental service were such that the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania placed the State battalions under Colonels Samuel Miles, Samuel J. Atlee and Daniel Brodhead at the disposal of Congress. These were marched to Long Island, where, with the Continental Regiments of the Pennsylvania Line, viz: Colonel Shee’s, Magaw’s and Lambert Cadwalader’s, they were engaged in battle August 27, which resulted in the defeat of the American forces and the evacuation of Long Island. The Pennsylvanians sustained severe loss. Lieutenant Colonel Caleb Perry and other officers were killed. Colonel Miles, Colonel Atlee and Lieutenant Colonel James Piper were among the many taken prisoners.

Fort Washington was reduced November 16 and again Pennsylvania lost heavily and the battalions of Morgan, Cadwalader, Atlee, Swope, Watts and Montgomery were taken prisoners, and, in addition to those losses, Howe was menacing Philadelphia.

Congress made a precipitate adjournment in Philadelphia and removed to Baltimore. General Washington dispatched Major General Israel Putnam to Philadelphia to direct the defense of that place. He arrived December 12, and assumed military command of the city. The fort at Billingsport was of little consequence, and works were commenced at Red Bank, N. J.

General Howe returned for winter quarters in New York, leaving British troops at Trenton and Burlington, which threatened Philadelphia from the east side of the Delaware. The Americans had brigades under Lord Stirling and Generals Mercer, Stephen and De Fermoy, at the several ferries from Coryells (New Hope) to Yardleys. General Ewing was farther south with the Pennsylvania Flying Camp. Philemon Dickinson’s troops were opposite Bordentown, Cadwalader’s were near Bristol, and Colonel Nixon’s Third Pennsylvania Battalion was at Dunks Ferry.

On December 25 Colonel John Cadwalader and Colonel Samuel Miles, who was then a prisoner of war, were appointed by Pennsylvania to be brigadier generals.

General Washington, with his army, was on the west bank of the Delaware, encamped near Taylorsville, then McConkeys Ferry, eight miles above Trenton.

When Washington matured his plans to cross the Delaware River above the falls at Trenton with his main army, the two smaller divisions, under Generals Ewing and Cadwalader were ordered to cross at the same time at points lower down the shore. Cadwalader could not pass through the ice, but finally got across on the 27th from Bristol and remained on the Jersey side, the troops from Burlington having retreated. Ewing’s command crossed on the 28th and 29th and took possession at Bordentown.

General Washington made the crossing on Christmas night, and the morning of the 26th took Trenton with more than 900 prisoners: General Rall, who commanded the Hessians, was mortally wounded in the engagement.

General Washington thought it best to get back to the Pennsylvania side and before night had crossed with his forces, prisoners and other trophies of victory. But in several days he crossed again and joined the divisions of Cadwalader and Ewing. Mifflin brought to Bordentown 1800 recruits from Pennsylvania.

The British were alarmed by the blow at Trenton and broke up their encampments along the Delaware, and retired to Princeton. Washington thereupon reoccupied Trenton, where he was speedily joined by Pennsylvania Militia.

On January 3, 1777, Washington made an attack on Princeton. This battle was sharp and decisive. Mercer’s forces were furiously attacked with the deadly bayonet, and they fled in disorder. The enemy pursued until, on the brow of a hill, they discovered the American regulars and Pennsylvania Militia, under Washington, marching to the support of Mercer, who, in trying to rally his men, had his horse disabled under him, and was finally knocked down by a clubbed musket and mortally wounded.

Washington checked the flight and intercepted the British who were in pursuit. In this action the Pennsylvania militia bore the brunt of the attack, and but for the personal leadership of General Washington and the timely arrival of reinforcements, would have been compelled to yield the field.

In this short but sharp battle the British lost in killed, wounded and prisoners about 430 men. The American loss was about 100, including Colonels Haslet and James Potter, Major Morris and Captains Shippen, Fleming and Neal. General Hugh Mercer died nine days after the battle.

Here General Cadwalader distinguished himself as an able and brave officer.

Washington in his report to the president of Congress alluded to General Cadwalader as “a man of ability, a good disciplinarian and a man of good principle and of intrepid bravery.”

Chief Justice John Marshall, who was at that time an officer in the army, in a letter speaks of General Cadwalader’s “activity, talents and zeal.”

General Joseph Reed in a letter to the President of Pennsylvania, dated Morristown, January 24, 1777, said: “General Cadwalader has conducted his command with great honor to himself and the province; all the field officers supported their character; their example was followed by the inferior officers and men; so they have returned with the thanks of every general officer of the army.”

It was also in the Battle of Princeton that the Philadelphia City Troop, under command of Captain Samuel Morris, and the company of marines under Captain William Brown, belonging to the Pennsylvania ship Montgomery, distinguished themselves by their bravery.

Cornwallis was about to sail for England when the Battle of Trenton took place, and Howe detained him and rushed him to take command of the troops at Princeton. When he arrived there Washington and his little army and prisoners were far on their way in pursuit of two British regiments.

On account of the fatigue of his soldiers, Washington gave up this chase and moved into winter quarters at Morristown, N. J.

It is said that Frederick the Great of Prussia declared that the achievements of Washington and his little band of patriots between December 25, 1776, and January 4, 1777, were the most brilliant of any recorded in military history.

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Paxtang Boys Wipe Out Conestoga Indians
on December 27, 1763

It was during the Pontiac War that Governor James Hamilton, in reply to earnest appeals for help and protection, said he could give the frontiersmen no aid whatever. Neither the Governor nor the Assembly showed the proper spirit. It was a time when the tomahawk, the scalping knife and the torch were desolating the frontiers of the Province.

The Indians set fire to houses, barns, corn, hay, in short, to everything that was combustible, so that the whole frontier seemed to be one general blaze. Great numbers of back inhabitants were murdered in the most shocking manner and their dead bodies inhumanly mangled.

Paxtang, near what is now Harrisburg, became truly the frontier, for west of the Susquehanna so great was the terror that scarcely an inhabitant was left. At this juncture the Reverend John Elder, the revered pastor of the Paxton Presbyterian Church, at Paxtang, organized his rangers under authority of the Provincial Government. They were mostly members of his own and the Hanover congregations.

These brave men were ever on the alert, watching with eagle eye the Indian marauders. The Paxtang rangers were truly the terror of the red men, swift on foot, excellent horsemen, good shots, skillful in pursuit or in escape, dexterous as scouts, and expert in maneuvering.

In August, 1763, Colonel John Armstrong, the “hero of Kittanning,” with 200 Paxtang and Hanover rangers and some soldiers from Cumberland County, marched to the Indian town at Great Island (now Lock Haven). Several skirmishes were fought, and some killed in the Muncy Hills. These volunteers returned home enraged at learning that the Conestoga Indians had sent messengers to inform their friends of the expedition.

Subsequently, on September 9, 1763, the rangers who were scouting in Berks County, were apprised by their out-scouts of the approach of Indians. The savages intended to take the rangers by surprise, and during a short engagement, it was discovered these Indians were from the Moravian settlement in Northampton County. The “Paxtang Boys” were determined to ascertain the treacherous.

In October occurred the murder of the Stinson family and others; the Paxtang men solicited their colonel to make an excursion against the enemy. The first massacre at Wyoming occurred October 15. Two companies in command of Captain Lazarus Stewart and Captain Asher Clayton were sent by Colonel Elder to Wyoming. Upon their arrival they learned first handed of the awful outrages committed by the bloodthirsty savages under “Captain Bull.”

Indians had been traced by these scouts to the wigwams at Conestoga, and some to those of the Moravian Indians at Nain and Wichetunk. The rangers insisted on captivating the murderers but the merciful colonel dissuaded them. It was then that Colonel Elder advised Governor Hamilton to remove the Indians from Conestoga.

Colonel Timothy Green wrote to the Governor: “We live in daily fear of our lives. At the Indian town the incarnate devils are secreted, and the people here demand that those Indians be removed from among us.”

John Harris wrote: “I hope Your Honor will be pleased to cause these Indians to be removed to some other place, as I don’t like their company.”

Governor Penn replied: “The Indians of Conestoga have been misrepresented as innocent, helpless and dependent on this Government for support. The faith of this Government is pledged for their protection. I cannot remove them without adequate cause.”

The rangers resolved on taking the law into their own hands. The destruction of the Conestoga Indians was not then projected. That was the result. Colonel Elder approved the capture of the most notorious Indians.

The “Paxtang Boys” reached the Indian settlement about daybreak, when the barking of a dog made their approach known. The Indians rushed from their wigwams, brandishing their tomahawks. This show of resistance was sufficient excuse for the rangers to make use of their guns.

In a few minutes every Indian fell before the unerring fire of the brave frontiersmen. Unfortunately a number of Indians were absent from Conestoga, prowling about the neighboring settlement.

Soon as this attack was known some Indians were placed in the Lancaster workhouse and several, well known to Parson Elder’s scouts, were hurried to Philadelphia, where they were secreted among the Moravian Indians protected in that city.

Governor Penn did not act with dispatch in removing the Indians from Lancaster, nor did he seem to care for them.

The “Paxtang Boys” realized their work was only half done. Captain Stewart proposed they capture the principal Indian outlaw, in the Lancaster workhouse, and take him to Carlisle jail, where he could be held for trial. This plan was heartily approved and fifty of the “Paxtang Boys” proceeded to Lancaster on December 27, broke into the workhouse, and but for the show of resistance would have effected their purpose.

But the rangers were so enraged at the defiance of the Indians that before they could be repressed the last of the so-called Conestoga Indians had yielded up his life. In a few minutes the daring rangers were safe from pursuit.

The excitement throughout the Province was great. No language could describe the outcry which arose from the Quakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement along the frontiers.

Fears were entertained for the safety of the Moravian Indian converts, and they were removed to Philadelphia and lodged in the city barracks.

This open and avowed protection of the Indians exasperated the frontiersmen, and they started for Philadelphia with the avowed purpose of killing the Indians and punishing the Quakers.

The city was greatly alarmed. Military companies were organized. Even the staid, reverent, peaceful Quakers shouldered guns and drilled. The wildest rumors were current as to the numbers and anger of the Scotch-Irish.

But the “Paxtang Boys” when they learned the effective measures for protection taken in the city, halted their march at Germantown. A delegation of leading men composed of Benjamin Franklin, Israel Pemberton and Joseph Galloway was sent by Governor Penn to meet the insurgents and hear their grievances.

The “Paxtang Boys” presented their side, and left a committee consisting of Captain Matthew Smith, afterward vice president of the State, and James Gibson, to accompany the Provincial Commissioners to Philadelphia, where they met the Governor and the Assembly, to whom they presented their grievances in the form of a declaration. The remaining members of the party returned to their homes, and the inhabitants of the city to their peaceful avocations. And thus ended the “Paxtang Boys’ Insurrection.”

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Benjamin Franklin Presents Treaty Plan to
King of France, December 28, 1776

So soon as the idea of independence had taken the practical shape of a resolution and declaration adopted by the Continental Congress, the Americans began to contemplate the necessity of foreign aid, material and moral. Congress appointed a Secret Committee of Correspondence for the purpose and sent Silas Deane, of Connecticut, upon a half-commercial, half-diplomatic mission to France.

Franklin was at first opposed to seeking foreign alliances. “A virgin state,” he said, “should preserve the virgin character, and not go about suitoring for alliance, but wait with decent dignity for the application of others.”

But Franklin soon became chief suitor in Europe.

Later in the autumn of 1776 Dr. Franklin was sent by the Continental Congress as a diplomatic agent to France. He sailed in the ship Reprisal. The passage occupied thirty days during which that vessel had been chased by British cruisers and had taken two British brigantines as prizes.

Franklin landed at Nantes, December 7. Europe was not prepared for his arrival, having had no advance notice of his coming and the event was in consequence one of great surprise. By this time Franklin’s fame was world-wide.

The courts were filled with conjectures, and in England the story was current that Dr. Franklin was a fugitive for his own personal safety. Burke said, “I never will believe that he is going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has continued, with so foul and dishonorable a flight.”

On the Continent it was concluded that he was in Europe on a most important mission. To the French he spoke frankly, saying that twenty successful campaigns could not subdue the Americans, that their decision for independence was irrevocable and that they would be forever independent states.

On the morning of December 28, Franklin, with the other commissioners—Silas Deane, of Connecticut, and Arthur Lee, of Virginia—waited upon Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, when he presented the plan as suggested by the Continental Congress for a treaty, by which it was hoped the states might obtain their independence.

The Commissioners were instructed to press for an immediate declaration of the French Government in favor of the Americans. Knowing the desire of the French to widen the breach and cause a dismemberment of the British Empire, the Commissioners were to intimate that a reunion of the Colonies with Great Britain might be the consequence of delay.

Vergennes spoke of the attachment of the French nation to the American cause and requested a paper from Dr. Franklin upon the condition of America and that in the future intercourse with the sage might be in secret, without the intervention of a third person. Personal friendship between these two distinguished men became strong and abiding.

The French Minister told Franklin that as Spain and France were in perfect accord, he might communicate freely with the Spanish Minister, the Count de Aranda.

With him Franklin, Deane and Lee held secret but barren interviews, for Spain was quite indifferent. Aranda would only promise the freedom of Spanish ports to American vessels.

As for France, she was at that time unwilling to incur the risk of war with Great Britain, but when the defeat and surrender of Burgoyne was made known at Versailles late in 1777, and assured thereby that the American Colonies could help themselves, the French Court was ready to listen to Franklin. To him was chiefly due the successful negotiation of the treaty of alliance which meant so much to the American cause at that critical period in the War for Independence.

The presence of an agent of the British Ministry in Paris, on social terms with the American Commissioners, hastened the negotiations, and February, 1778, two treaties were secretly signed at Paris by the American Commissioners and the Count de Vergennes on the part of France. One was a commercial agreement, the other an alliance contingent on the breaking out of hostilities between France and Great Britain.

It was stipulated in the treaty of alliance that peace should not be made until the mercantile and political independence of the United States should be secured.

Franklin continued to represent the States in France until 1785, when he returned home. He took an important part in the negotiations for peace. In 1786 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania; and, in 1787 he was the leading member in the convention which framed the National Constitution.

Dr. Franklin had deserved confidence in his ability and honesty. To Silas Deane was intrusted the receipt and expenditure of money by the Commissioners to France. The jealous, querulous Arthur Lee, who was the third Commissioner, soon made trouble.

Lee wrote letters to his brother in Congress (Richard Henry Lee), in which he made many insinuations against both his colleagues. Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, Commissioner to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who felt offended because he was not consulted about the treaty with France, when he also was in Paris, sent home similar letters to those of Lee.

William Carmichael, of Maryland, a secretary of the Commissioners, who had returned to Philadelphia, insinuated in Congress that Deane had appropriated the public money to his own use. Deane was recalled.

Out of this incident sprang two violent parties. Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, and other members of Congress, who were commercial experts, took the side of Deane, and Richard Henry Lee, then chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, opposed him.

Deane published in the Philadelphia Gazette an “Address to the People of the United States,” in which he referred to the brothers Lee with much severity and claiming for himself the credit of obtaining supplies from France through Beaumarchais. Thomas Paine replied to Deane, making use of public documents in his charge.

The statement called out loud complaints from the French Minister and Paine’s indiscretion cost him his place as secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

This discussion among diplomatic agents soon led to the recall of all of them except Franklin, who remained sole Minister at the French Court.

Franklin testified to Deane’s strict honesty and private worth, but Arthur Lee had the ear of Congress, and Deane had to suffer. He died in obscurity and poverty at Deal, England, August 23, 1789. He has since been vindicated and all unjust suspicions have been removed, thus confirming the judgment of the wise Franklin.

From Franklin’s advent in the French Court, December 28, 1776, until he sailed for his home in Philadelphia, in 1785, he was held in the high esteem which his talents, experience and personality entitled him.

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Franklin Begins Building Chain of Forts on
December 29, 1755

Governor Robert Hunter Morris summoned the Provincial Assembly for November 3, 1755, when he laid before them an account of the depredations committed by the enemy, and demanded money and a militia law.

Petitions began to pour in from all parts of the Province; from the frontier counties praying for arms and munitions; from the middle counties, deprecating further resistance to the views of the Governor, and urging, if necessary, a sacrifice of property for the better defense of their lives. All wished that the religious scruples of the members of the Assembly might no longer prevent the better defense of the Province.

By the middle of November, and while the Assembly was receiving these petitions, the Indians entered the passes of the Blue Mountains and broke into the Counties of Lancaster, Berks and Northampton, committing murder, devastation and every other kind of horrid mischief, and yet the Assembly debated and debated the measures for defense.

The Governor, wearied with this delay, sent a message requesting the Assembly to strengthen his hands and afford assistance to the back inhabitants, but this time they made the excuse that in so doing they might alienate the affections of the Indians, and to a large degree refused to grant the means necessary for the protection of the frontiers. This was truly an unfortunate position.

But at this time the alarming news of Braddock’s defeat reached the proprietaries in England, and they came forward with a donation of £5000 for defense, to be collected from arrears in quit-rents; but they refused to grant it on any other ground than as a free gift. The Assembly waived their rights for a time, in consideration of the distressed state of the Province, and passed a bill to strike £30,000 in bills of credit, based upon the excise. This bill was approved by Governor Morris.

The population of the Province was not yet satisfied with the cold indifference of the Assembly at such a crisis and throughout all the counties there were indignant protests. Public meetings were held throughout Lancaster and the frontier counties, at which it was resolved that the people should “repair to Philadelphia and compel the provincial authorities to pass proper laws to defend the country and oppose the enemy.”

In addition, the dead bodies of some of the murdered and mangled were sent to Philadelphia and hauled about the streets with placards announcing that they were victims of the Quaker policy of nonresistance.

A large and threatening mob surrounded the House of Assembly, placed the dead bodies of their neighbors in the doorway and demanded immediate relief for the people of the frontiers. Such indeed were the desperate measures resorted to in their effort to obtain better defense.

One of the results of these demonstrative measures and the protests of the people was the erection of a chain of forts and block-houses. These were designed to guard against the Indian incursions and were erected by the Province, at a cost of £85,000.

This chain extended from along the Kittatinny Hills, near where Stroudsburg now stands, southeasterly through the Province, to the Maryland line. They were constructed at the important passes of the mountains and at important places, almost equi-distant, so that they would the better serve as havens of refuge when attacked suddenly.

These forts were garrisoned by troops in the pay of the Province, twenty to seventy-five men always under the command of a commissioned officer. Even the Moravians at Bethlehem cheerfully fortified their town and took up arms in self-defense.

Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton were selected to repair to the forks of the Delaware and raise troops for the execution of the plan. They arrived at Easton, December 29, and appointed William Parsons to be major of the troops to be raised in Northampton County.

In the meantime Captain Hays, with his company from the Irish Settlement, in that county, had been ordered to New Gnadenhutten, which had recently been the scene of an Indian raid, in which they applied the torch, many being burned to death and others escaped to Bethlehem in their nightclothes in the cold winter air.

The troops erected a temporary stockade and a garrison was placed there to guard the Brethren’s mills, which were filled with grain, and to protect the few settlers who had the hardihood to return and again settle there.

Captain Hay’s detachment was attacked on New Year’s Day, 1756, while some of the troops were amusing themselves skating on the ice of the river, near the stockade. They noticed some Indians in the distance and thinking it an easy matter to capture or kill them the soldiers gave chase, and rapidly gained on these Indians, who proved to be decoys skilfully maneuvering to draw the untrained Indian fighters into an ambuscade.

After the troops had gone some distance a party of Indians rushed out behind them, cut off their retreat and, falling upon them with great fury, as well as with the advantage of surprise and superior numbers, quickly dispatched them. Some of the soldiers, remaining in the stockade, filled with terror by the murder of their comrades, deserted, and the few remaining thinking themselves incapable of defending the place, withdrew.

The savages then seized upon such property as they could use and set fire to the stockade, the Indians’ houses and the Brethren’s mills. Seven farm houses between Gnadenhutten and Nazareth were burned by those same Indians, who also murdered such of the people as they discovered.

This incursion was the inception of Fort Allen. It seems that “it was the intention to build a fort at New Gnadenhutten, and Colonel Franklin started to Bethlehem to carry that plan into operation.” But the situation required him to change his plans and he marched to what is now Weissport, in Carbon County, and there erected Fort Allen. The site of this provincial fort is now occupied by Fort Allen Hotel. The old well is still in existence.

The Assembly requested Franklin’s appearance and when he responded to this call he turned his command over to Colonel William Clapham.

It is interesting to note that the chain of forts began with Fort Dupui, built on the property of Samuel Dupui, a Huguenot settler, in the present town of Shawnee, on the Delaware River, five and one-half miles from the present town of Stroudsburg. Then Fort Hamilton was built on the present site of Stroudsburg, where Fort Penn was also in the eastern part of the town. These forts were in the heart of the territory which the Minsink, or Munsee, Indians occupied.

Fort Norris came next in the chain and was near Greensweig’s, Monroe County, and fifteen miles west was Fort Allen, and then Fort Franklin, in Albany Township, Berks County, and nineteen miles west was Fort Lebanon, also known as Fort William, about a mile and a half from the present town of Auburn, a short distance from Port Clinton. The next in the chain was the small fort at Deitrick Six’s, then Fort Henry; then Fort Swatara, both described in former stories, and then Fort Hunter, six miles above Harrisburg, and Fort Halifax, both on the Susquehanna River.

Crossing the river was Fort Patterson, in the Tuscarora Valley, opposite Mexico, Juniata County; Fort Granville, near Lewistown; Fort Shirley, near Aughwick Creek; Fort Lyttleton, at Sugar Cabins, and Fort McDowell, in Franklin County, the last of the line in the Province of Pennsylvania.

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Mason and Dixon Determined Starting Point
for Boundary Survey, December 30, 1763

The dispute over the boundary of the province on the south began with the acquisition of the charter and continued through the life of William Penn and his descendants, until almost the end of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania.

Charles Calvert, the fifth Lord Baltimore, drew an agreement, defining the boundaries between Maryland and Delaware and Maryland and Pennsylvania. On May 10, 1732, John and Thomas Penn agreed to this and signed the instrument. John Penn and Lord Baltimore then came to America, and, Baltimore changed his mind and caused every possible delay in having a survey made of this disputed line.

Commissioners had been appointed by both governments and they did nothing but wrangle for the eighteen months allowed in the agreement, and Baltimore believed this made it of no effect.

The Penn family won in court and the conduct of Baltimore was censured.

Frederick, the sixth Lord Baltimore, declined to be bound by any act of his predecessors, and again many years were wasted.

In 1760 a new agreement was made which was practically identical with the one of 1732. Commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania were the Governor, James Hamilton, Richard Peters, Reverend Dr. Ewing, William Allen, William Coleman, Thomas Willing, Benjamin Clew, and Edward Shippen, Jr., a selection which assured good and faithful performance.

The first three years were spent by the surveyors employed in marking the lines of Delaware. The circle around New Castle was drawn by David Rittenhouse, and added much to his reputation.

This work proceeded too slowly and on August 4, 1763, Thomas and Richard Penn, and Frederick, Lord Baltimore, then being together in London, agreed with Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two well known English astronomers, “to mark, run out, settle, fix, and determine all such parts of the circle, marks, lines, and boundaries, as were mentioned in the several articles or commissions, and were not yet completed.”

Mason and Dixon arrived in Philadelphia, November 15, 1763, and forthwith engaged in work.